Kyouko Eijiro Vs Zheng Xiulang - Honor in the Dark

Match Type: Submission match
Victory conditions: The winner is chosen through making the opponent give up via Submission hold.

It has been a few days since receiving the information about the match and Kyouku took the time needed to prepare being it physically, doing multiple slightly more intense trainings than usual trying to get back to rhythm, but also mentally, focusing and getting back into a more fighting state of mind like once before when her training was pretty much her life, also with the addition of information… Information about the opponent.

A lot of her preparation was also based around information, studying in order to find a more suitable way to deal with situations. In the end, she didn’t end up doing actual missions, but it was crucial in her training and so it became intrinsic to her way of preparing herself.

Analyzing her opponent’s style. She wasn’t one to analyze every single thing, she wasn’t interested in knowing her entire backstory or the way that she lives her life, but enough, their fighting style, see possible weaknesses, openings or bad habits. And based on her investigation, it did seem that her opponent was based on Martial Arts, wasn’t clear which one, but her style seems to use her legs as her strongest asset. While she was taught to disable the opponent’s best weapons, right now it would be quite dangerous to do so as it could cause severe damage to a fellow sportmate and she’s not as bad as her persona leads to believe.

Now… about her persona. The former American spy was normally expected to be quite cold, but never fully became that, only showing it when in combat. Instead she was quite friendly, just not social enough to practice her interactions with people which ultimately made her unable to communicate properly. Upon training and using her skills on others while practice made her give an evil aesthetic, which she decided to use for the matches, which combined with her rather focused and cold demeanor when fighting, almost robot-like, seems quite nice for a Heel. She didn’t bother to be one as for her was just an act, and regardless was better than simply training to kill.

But the Japanese woman didn’t want to spend more time thinking about it, as had finished equipping and warming up and was about to leave the changing room. Kyouko walked through the hallway, passing through the staff members and other people that would be there, but upon arriving at the place to enter, she had vanished. Some of the staff members were curious where she was.

Hearing some far away sound of what seemed like footsteps coming from the ramp, they decided to turn on the lights to see. And once the lights erupted through the stage, Kyouko stood on the ring as if she just arrived, with no sound or effects, everyone that was looking at the ramp quickly looked around before finding her in the ring.

Attire:

“Oh… Were you looking for me??” Kyouko said jokingly, looking over her shoulder while her cap hid her face.

She continued walking forwards, calming, putting one leg in front of the other, one step at a time, towards the furthest side of the ring to the ramp. She would turn around before seemingly fall back to the ropes, leaning against them, placing both of her arms resting above them and also not letting her fall on her butt, as she waited for her opponent.

Xiulang had some time to let her feelings towards her last matches sink in. For some time the martial artist felt a little lost, as if she was being pushed towards a wall that wouldn’t allow her to further explore the limits of her fighting skill but instead she was starting to think she was being booked for matches she was intended to lose in the first time. After all, none of her matches so far had been plain, normal standard matches but all had special stipulations like submissions and of course that lewd match she was a part of. That night wasn’t different in a certain way since it was a new submission match, but the Chinese was determined to make it different from the previous ones. Finishing her warm up stretches, she gave herself a last look in the mirror to be sure her attire was properly in place and then she started her walk towards backstage.

Xiulang, the Orchid:

As soon as Xiulang’s entrance theme started echoing the woman set her feet on the ramp. For whatever it was worth, her presence in the last matches earned her a reputation, and the wrestling fans were loyal and devoted to the show to the point they were willing to even cheer for an underdog like her. When in another sport she would have been a mockery at that point, people were still willing to root for her in a match, and for that she was thankful.
Finally inside the ring Xiulang threw some kicks to the air to test her flexibility and her warmup. Then she had the first proper look at her rival. The Chinese had made some research concerning that debutant and what she found out was interesting. There wasn’t any traceable fighting background on her, not martial arts and neither wrestling. It was certainly a mystery because no matter what most of the debutants arriving in the AFW used to have some sort of fighting experience, so Xiulang was resolved not to underestimate that woman. After all, she knew nothing about her and submission wasn’t the Chinese’s area of expertise.

Her current nervousness didn’t prevent Xiulang from being perfectly formal in her manners, walking towards the center of the ring and waiting for her rival to join her in order to exchange some polite greetings before the match could start. “Good night. My name is Xiulang. Let’s have a good fight.” With a sober tone and a bow of respect Xiulang presented herself to her rival.

This was quite the position to be in… Kyouko waiting for an opponent, in a ring and in front of hundreds, maybe thousands of people? Maybe a few years ago, the idea would never pass through her mind. But it wouldn’t be the last time for it to happen hopefully… But even the match itself was different, at least from what she expected for a first one. Instead of being a standard one, it seemed like a “Submission match”, however she couldn't really be mad about it, technically it was one of her strengths, and it seemed to be one of her opponent’s weaknesses…

The Japanese woman, still waiting for the Chinese fight to appear, couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable. She trained to be outside of everyone’s view, be invisible and take everyone out sneakily, and is now about to fight someone in front of several people, with big flashy and loud moves. Exactly the opposite she has been preparing for her life, however this was all her decision and now she had to get over it… Besides, she didn’t have to wait much longer.

Kyouko watched as Xiulang walked down the ramp and entered the ring, all while the public cheered her on. She continued cold and quiet as the Martial artist decided to warm up in front of her and show her skills in front of the ex-spy. While it was a good showcase, Kyouko couldn’t help that was rather idiotic, it was good to show that she is prepared, but is also showing her competences to the enemies, instead of keeping them a secret and unleashing them once was time to strike… Of course, it wasn’t necessarily a problem for her as she already knew about her abilities, unlike her opponent which didn’t know much about her…

Upon watching Xiulang approach only to stop at the middle of the ring and introduce herself, Kyouko continued to think it was a bit of useless information, but didn’t mind as she thought that probably her opponent didn’t know that Kyouko already knew enough about her. After all it seemed honorable to introduce yourself even if the other already knows about you, however the American spy wasn’t familiarized with the concept of honor, thus couldn’t tell how it worked. Perhaps it was something she could learn from her opponent…

Using her arms, Kyouko pushed herself up to a full standing position and off the ropes. She walked forwards thinking on how to approach this situation. On one hand, she could try to be nice and introduce herself, however then it would be a weird situation once she assumed the heel persona, so perhaps it was better to keep the villain act until the end, and perhaps apologize later…? But how would she approach then? Being like some sort of supervillain seemed interesting, but seemed to soon for now, calling names and such wasn’t really her vibe… She continued to approach, closer with each step and she didn’t know yet how to address. She started panicking in her mind, while keeping a cold appearance. She took one deep breath, before stopping only a few steps away from Xiulang.

“Oh really? Well, then I shall remember that name… as my first victim…” From Kyouko’s cold stare, a quick wink at her opponent would break, to try to instill some type of insecurity in her opponent.

Xiulang was a woman that learnt with experience. When others were really good at reading oponents and unraveling the mystery that was their strategy with a simple look and a keen judgement, the Chinese martial artist learnt her lessons the hard way. In order to know how to approach a rival she needed to see how they would strike her. That night’s rival, Kyouko, was an unsettling sight because nothing she said and none of her movements would give away what could Xiulang expect from her, so in the end it would be as always has been with Xiulang: learning about her rival with resilience and dedication.

On top of that there was that attitude the woman had. The way she adressed Xiulang showed how self-confident she was. Back in her dojo, Xiulang learnt how to respect the rival’s skills but always show some confidence in oneself, but overestimating the own abilities was a quick path to defeat, so that woman was either too reckless or too strong. Also, she showed some disdain for Xiulang by calling her “her first victim”. Xiulang always aimed for the win, but knew really well that her rivals were always people with their desires and hopes, with their lights and darks, and knew well how to show respect. After all, her grandfather made sure that was the first lesson he taught her. That rival talking to her in a disrespectful way made Xiulang’s blood boil, but she collected her thoughts and emotions in a way it wouldn’t show. The martial artist wasn’t one to give witty retorts or to quip, instead she would act in an honorable way and let her fighting do the talking. Whatever Kyouko expected to achieve with that threat and the wink that came after it only made Xiulang wonder for just some seconds.

Xiulang’s thoughts were back on track as soon as the bell rang and the match started. Adoptiong a guard stance the martial artist would decide to go for the careful approach since she knew close to nothing about her rival and being in a submission match the risk of heavy damage was greater. Circling around her rival, Xiulang would try to read that woman’s guard before testing the waters with a quick kick to one of her sides. “Hyah!”

Kyouko was still working on her heel persona… She did try it for the first just now on Xiulang. She didn’t know if that was the right way to do it, but exactly being the type to just be the kind of rude that throws random insults didn’t seem her type. It was something she should try to improve on, as the spy didn’t have much experience on.

Perhaps she did sound a bit cocky, which she somewhat was as she trained for these types of encounters throughout her life, and even had studied about her opponent, however she still was cautious whether she had advantage or not. Well, she was one more to catch opponents off guard and then finish them, but still learned to take in a one-on-one if needed. So in the end, seeming cocky might be somewhat of a trap as her opponent might think she is underestimating them, but in reality she didn't, which could lead them to attack recklessly and be the ones to leave her guard open.

However it seemed that the Martial Artist wasn’t visually affected at first, as Xiulang took a guarding stance as the bell rang. Kyouko didn’t take exactly a martial artist stance, but still assumed one of being ready, lowering her body center and putting both her hands in front of her body, still wanting to see first hand how her opponent’s skills compared to hers.

Circling around the ring, with her opponent, not allowing her to get too close. She had the information advantage and she was fast and ready, so she would be ready if the Chinese woman tried anything. And then she saw it… Her opponent’s movement, her leg lifting up and in a curving trajectory towards her sides. Kyouko dash forwards, her body dropping, almost like following, as she seemingly ducked under her opponent’s kick. Being so close to the ground, the Japanese-American hybrid had to put one hand in the floor to make sure she wouldn’t fall down as she started rotate around, with her right leg stretch out and left one bent, aiming her right heel against Xiulang’s only standing leg, trying to strike her out of balance with a Low Spinning Sweep Kick.

Xiulang was starting the match slowly, taking her good time while circling around her rival, trying to read any attempt of aggression or any weak point she could exploit. But no matter how the Chinese tried making it hard for Kyouko to follow and maintain the proper discance to guard it looked like that woman was capable of maintaining her focus and also a good distance so not even Xiulang’s powerful legs could do much harm. When Xiulang threw one kick to her rival’s side it was more to test the waters and see how Kyouko’s reflexes were than to make damage.

What happened after took the martial artist by surprise. Xiulang’s kick wasn’t a very powerful or quick one, so evading it would have been pretty doable by a competent rival, but what the martial artist wasn’t expecting at all was Kyouko being able not only to duck below the sidekick and completely escape unharmed, but also maintain her distance and balance and strike before Xiulang could regain her footing with a legsweep. The Chinese got the impact on her ankle and since it was her only limb in contact with the mat Xiulang completely lost her balance and fell on her butt. The sweep itself wasn’t painful but pretty useful strategy wise. Kyuouko had managed to read her like an open book.

As she impacted the mat Xiulang’s mind completely shifted to a new priority objective which was getting out of her rival’s reach and regain her guard since as she was now Xiulang was weak and quite open. In order to do so she threw one of her heels at Kyouko’s calf so the American-Japanese would think twice before getting closer, but that woman was fast, and the threat of an early submission hold now was in Xiulang’s mind.

Such a sloppy kick. Kyouko was aware of her opponent’s style due to studying her beforehand, and once Xiulang assumed a guard stance, so did Kyouko. She wanted her opponent first to strike, not only not getting the opportunity to counter but also to actually see her abilities for herself. Seeing such a kick, the Ex-Spy was unsure if that was an actual kick or not, she wasn’t a master martial artist like her opponent, but still felt that it was a bit reckless…

Even if it was a sloppy kick or not, Kyouko would not miss this opportunity to counter such a strike, as she ducked to avoid it before eventually managing to make the Chinese woman fall down with her leg sweep. Upon seeing this Kyouko knew it was time to strike, an fallen opponent is an opponent in disadvantage.

Kyouko immediately dashed forwards from her lowered position, always staying close to the ground trying to not waste any time by getting hope, trying to catch the martial artist when she falled down. As she closed in, the ex-spy felt a sharp pain on her front leg, looking down Kyouko saw her opponent’s leg striking her own.

Noticing Xiulang’s position, Kyouko realized that even though her opponent was on the ground, she was still in a good position. To get to Xiulang, the American-Japanese had to pass through her opponent’s legs, which were her best assets. However she just fell down and a simple strike wouldn’t be enough to stop her, as she continued to go through as she dived towards Xiulang, with her hands in front of her aimed towards the Chinese woman’s head, trying to wrestle to get behind Xiulang and apply her in a choke, before trying to move to a sitting position and placing her in a sitting rear naked chokehold.

Xiulang wouldn’t need much time in the match to notice how her rival was being able to avoid every strike she threw at the former spy. Could it be that Kyouko had been studying her so thoroughly? The Chinese martial artist had to admit that most of her strategy was devised when in the ring and that rivals who liked to watch tapes and devise plans even before stepping inside the arena could be a nasty problem for her who needed some time to read a rival and adapt to whatever fighting style she had. Xiulang was at a disadvantage now and it would take her some time for her to get to understand what was Kyouko’s plan. To make things worse her rival surely was a better submissionist than Xiulang who didn’t excel at all in the submissions department.

Of course being on the mat didn’t offer Xiulang any kind of advantage at all. Before she could do anything to roll back on her knees and regain her footing Kyouko moved swiftly and got behind the martial artist in a way there was nothing she could do to prevent it! Locked in a sitting rear naked chokehold Xiulang noticed her anxiety grow as the air was escaping her. She needed to do something about her rival strangling her before the air deprivation could take its toll on the woman. At first Xiulang would try struggling with her free arms at her rival’s but that wouldn’t make her grip budge. Noticing that she needed to resort to more violent ways and before she could run out of air the martial artist threw first one and then a second elbow strike towards Kyouko’s side trying to force a release.

Studying the situation was important for Kyouko preparation for her missions, if she had actually had any, but regardless, preparing a counter in advance and finding a way inside some fortified building or something, slip past the guard and even neutralize them, and such, was something she was quite good at. And while this wasn’t quite it, the methods could still work for hand-to-hand combat, being something she trained for even if it was more for a last resort situation.

Kyouko wasn’t the perfect or best fighter, having a few problems here and there and actively trying to avoid it certainly showed that, however that didn’t stopped her from training and rather was perhaps her way of doing that not only equalized her with other opponent, but even surpassed them, with her ability to store and applying information, but also her fighting training.

And the Japanese Spy wasn’t weak either, as she managed to gain the advantage in these beginning seconds of the match, knocking down her opponent and locking her in a sitting naked rear chokehold, slowly stopping her opponent’s privileges of air. However she found herself holding a bit back, not wanting to go too far, since young being taught to instantly try to knock out someone or even kill them, however in this new environment she was afraid of not being able to hold back and lead to irreparable damages and such, wanting for her opponent to be the one to quit, rather than find out it’s too late.

As she found herself with the Chinese woman in her grasp, putting her in a rather secure lock while holding back enough to be safe, Kyouku failed to realize Xiulang’s actions, or rather noticed her struggle distracting her from her attack, as she felt a sharp pain in the side of her torso, being pierced by her elbow not once but twice. The first one being enough to weaken grip and give space to her to escape, however the second completely destroyed the hold, her arms shooting outwards completely freeing her opponent. Kyouko quickly backed away in reaction to her hold being undone, before quickly rising to her feet, keeping her vision on her opponent, waiting for her next action.