Lions and Dragons

Jack furrowed his brow as he looked Masuyo’s way, not sure what to think of the words that came out of this woman’s mouth, and this wasn’t the first time he made that look tonight. Growing up with wrestling, he’d come across some eccentric people, the bread and butter of any good promotion, but even so, she seemed a little…out there. It was hard to tell whether she was making things up to mess with him or if she was being genuine. If it was the former, it was starting to work, he couldn't lie.

Thankfully, he had more pressing things to focus on at the moment, like the carnage going on below. Key had managed to roll with Koyuki’s opening barrage and get on top, but could she make that matter? It would depend on how well she handled the return fire.

Koyuki wasted no time in her retaliation, either. Key’s body jerked up and her teeth gritted hard as she felt something stab her in the side. It was hard to believe she was being hit with a hand and not a real weapon, but when she looked down, that was what she saw. The hand formed into a spear, drilling into her ribs over and over, as if she intended to slice her way straight to the organs. If she kept up at it, she might just succeed.

Key had no intention of letting her try, though. With one hand busy striking and the other busy holding, that left Koyuki open, and she made use of that. Pulling up, she formed her hand into the shape of a C, reeled back, brought it down toward her opponents neck, looking to strike straight on the tracea. With that connecting, her first order of business was to roll off and make a little space, gain some time to deal with her demolished midsection.

Contrary to the impression of how aggressively and wildly she fought, Koyuki favored stability. Footwork was the key to the success of a mounted offense, and a firm grip upon the arena she fought in allowed her to perpetuate vicious momentum without end. This oil box was not something she was comfortable fighting in for more reasons than one, but chief of all was the slippery surface she found herself having to wage war on and the limited area she had to maneuver.

At least those were the excuses she told herself as this redheaded oaf continued to press her attacks onto her. First, it was the absurd suplex, then it was the headbutts, then the groin shot that still seethed between her legs, and as Koyuki finally found her rhythm and started carving her way into the redhead's ribs, her arms slashing through oil and pumping, pumping, pumping into ribs she was very determined to break, the neck shot came. And that close, she couldn't even dodge even if she wanted to. The blow came hard and heavy from a woman that could match her in strength and it was not pleasant. Frankly, it was worse than the low blow. Koyuki was left visibly sputtering, hand relinquished from the redhead's chin and grasping at her throat, taking deep hissing breaths.

But here lay the difference between them: she was no stranger to horrific pain. As the redhead rolled off to take a breather, Koyuki was already moving even as her throat felt like there was a hole in it. Swallowing down the pain (and it was a lot of pain), she lunged forward, a splash of slick oil accompanying her advance, as she half-stood, grabbed the redhead by her short, oil-slicked hair, and smashed a vicious knee into her head. If successfully, she would repeat again and again, before standing up and dropping a vicious foot stomp onto the redhead's head.

Bitch.

Key was no stranger to pain, either - in fact, in most cases, she liked it. Something about taking the pain, feeling that fire go through her bones, left her electrified every time. The pain was her fuel, her lifeblood, and nothing got her going in the middle of a fight like having that course through her, taking on that damage. But it was rare to find someone who could really press her like that, these days. She didn’t expect it much in the AFW, and she damn sure didn’t expect it in an oil pit.

And yet, here they were. The wonders never ceased.

As she moved off, Key took the time to feel her side, making some notes on the damage she’d taken, gritting her teeth as she ran a finger over her aching bones. Something felt loose inside there, like it was rolling around. She wasn’t sure what, but it’d be a problem later on. Just because she didn’t mind the pain didn’t mean she was immune to damage.

She figured she had the time to take stock of things, since Koyuki would be busy arranging her throat. She was wrong.

The hand on her scalp was the first and only warning that something was up, as it was swiftly followed by a knee to her skull. And another. And another. Koyuki was a simple kind of woman, it seemed, doing the same move over and over until it produced the desired results. If she were watching this, she would’ve loved the sight. On the receiving end? Less so.

She wasn’t sure how many blows. Five? Six? Enough to knock her down and lay her out, making her an easy target for the coup de grace - a vicious footstomp, crashing straight into her skull. It hammered her cheeks into the floor with enough force to make the room shake, and Key could feel the taste of blood on her tongue, thick and coppery.

It left her hazy, dazed, dizzy…but more than anything? Pissed off. Seeing that bitch looking down on her with those smug eyes, that haughty attitude and those stupid goddamn fucking tattoos. She thought it would be easy, didn’t she? Thought Key would just take all this and stay down.

Fuck. That.

Key ground her teeth down hard and reached up, wrapping her arms around Koyuki’s leg before she could pull it away. With a defining, defiant roar, she pushed her way up and clutched that leg tight to her chest as she scrambled, her muscles surging as she rose. She got up to her knees, then her feet, then kept going, higher and higher, lifting Koyuki clear off the ground, holding her up, rearing her back for the maximum height…and then, with a single, powerful thrust, she brought the woman down again, hurling her back towards the floor at maximum velocity.

"I'm not really a commentary person," Masuyo said to Jack as Koyuki took that blow right to the throat. Unlike the little cringes or winces she had displayed previously, she seemed completely unperturbed by this particularly heavy blow. Whether it was confidence or just a complete lack of concern, her face wasn't telling. She seemed content to chat on and on and on as if a potential match-changing blow had not happened. "Commentators don't say a lot. It's all empty words to manage the audience, build them up to a fever pitch. Pointless, pointless, pointless. You were born into the fight business, you understand, of course." Masuyo said, nodding to herself. "That being said, I find myself in need for some commentary at the moment, if you would indulge me. Some storytelling. What's the story behind your two girls-"

How quickly the tides of fortune changed. One moment Key was taking a breather, the next her head was getting treated to Koyuki's all-you-could-eat kneefest.

"-Well, soon to be one girl. What's their thing? I find myself curious. Or as my daughter would so elegantly put it: 'Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"." Another chuckle, this one undeniably fonder and more genuine. "She's lucky I'm not legacy Yakuza with heirs and all that, she would never make it in the biz."

She finished just as Koyuki finished, with a foot stomp that drove the Key's skull right into the oil-slick wood below. Was it enough? Koyuki kept her foot on Key's cheek, pining her down and even using her foot to maneuver her fallen opponent's head slightly such that her nostrils and mouth were submerged under the oil.

The intent was clear: she was going to drown her.

She was going to drown her in the softest, most understated way possible... and clearly, Locke didn't miss it. Koyuki stared down Locke with an unconcerned expression, as if daring her to break the rules and rush in to save her partner. Whether she would have done so? Nobody would ever know as Key came surging up, the force of her ascension sending Koyuki stumbling back, off-balance from her foot being removed so suddenly. Key helpfully offered her assistance by way of holding onto her foot and Koyuki responded to her help with a pair of vicious, desperate knees to Key's wounded head while the redhead was still kneeling. When Key still kept going and she rose to her feet, knees no longer could connect, so Koyuki swung her foot in a precise arc to tag Key on the nose with an improvised mid-air roundhouse kick.

She still kept going. Masuyo's interest was slightly perked now. Koyuki struck again with the kick, this time aiming lower, gunning for the throat. She struck the chin instead. Key went higher, and as Koyuki finally managed found the right angle from her upside-down view to strike home, Key smashed her into the oil below. Koyuki was prone for a moment and even Masuyo feared the worst... only for her legs to suddenly lash out wildly, in an attempt to keep Key at bay for a follow up.

Masuyo was spot on, more than she might have even known. Jack’s father wanted his son to be into the business in every aspect, and that included putting his time in behind the commentator’s desk. Truth told, he’d liked it a lot more than he would ever let his old man know. Best seat in the house, you get to learn a lot from the vets, keeping track of the matches and putting your own personal spin on things. Not where he wanted to be every night, but he never turned down an excuse to come over and put on the headphones.

If Masuyo wanted a little chat, he could indulge. He’d just been taken aback by Koyuki’s offense, but he knew his girls. He wasn’t concerned. Not just yet. ”Since you’re twisting my arm.” He took a quick sip to add in some flavor before he went on. ”I wasn’t there to witness any of this, but from Helena’s telling…” He gestured towards Lock, who was still standing on the sidelines with hands on hips, watching the display with some modest concern. ”Orphans. Both of them. Bullies, too, though in separate schools. When they found themselves at the same place, they went after each other, and things got serious. They took their fight into the forest where no one could see, and…”

He let that note hang for a moment, building some suspense as his attention drew to the commotion below. This whole time, Lock had been looking on and staying still. Oh, she wasn’t neutral to the events before her, she didn’t hide the small signs of worry. But she wasn’t going to charge in and interrupt this. She wasn’t going to save her friend.

And now, the reason for that was making itself clear: She didn’t need to.

Yes, Koyuki was a master of delivering pain, but Key was a master at taking it. Even as she piled on the damage, delivering blow after blow, hammering her with shots that would’ve knocked others clean out, Key kept coming. Every hit made her face more manic, every strike made her more determined to keep rising. She wasn’t stopping. She refused.

It was a supreme act of superhuman stubbornness, and it paid off as Koyuki came crashing into the floor. Key dropped to her knees, partly from the head trauma and partly from just slipping in the damn oil, but she didn’t let that stop her onslaught. Like a wild animal, she charged forward, hands out and fangs bared, only to eat a couple of feet in her bloodied face as Koyuki tried to cover herself.

The blows had the intended effect, knocking Key back and forcing her to roll off her shoulder, but the second she came down to her front, she was on the move again, scrambling forward at a feral pace. Instead of coming straight at Koyuki, this time she rose up and leaped into the air to close the distance, bringing both of her feet in and shooting them towards her opponent, trying to stomp her into the floor before she had a chance to fully rise.

Masuyo leaned in towards Jack, her white ponytail brushing against his back. "So they fucked." Masuyo said with another barely repressed giggle. The contrast between Koyuki and her was clear as day: while her captain wore her seething disdain for everything on her silk sleeves, everything was a joke to Masuyo. She found humor in everything and when there wasn't, she wrung it out of the subject matter anyway. She hid the monster underneath the fair face much, much better.  "In the woods? Not the most sanitary location, but when you gotta go, you gotta go." Masuyo said, nodding along. "Horny, horny little teenagers." She raised her voice for the next part. "Hey girls! Mr Riley told me you guys fucked in the woods! Maybe we'll see some of that libido here, yeah?"

Despite her less-than-desirable position, Koyuki very pointedly tossed the spectator balcony an accusing stare. "Who's side was she on?" was the unspoken statement. Unfortunately, she didn't have a lot of time to ponder on her Boss' peanut gallery escalation. She felt her legs hit something and the redhead was fended off for the moment. In her 20 years of life, she had been punched, kicked, grappled, choked, clinched, thrown, stabbed, shot, and an incalculable number of others - but she had never been slammed the way she did. Twice in a row. It was a new experience-

To hate.

Whatever. The redhead had taken her fair share of damage, she couldn't keep going forever. Secure in the knowledge that she had bought herself a breather, Koyuki moved to push herself up-

Only for her eyes to pop open and for her to gasp in pain as 150 pounds of elevated london muscle drove itself into her abs.

Now that, even more than the groin shot and the trachea blow, she could not keep her composure for. Her body visibly struggled with pain. Her eyes were half-lidded, stunned in the seconds after the redhead's bold move. Her bra-strapped chest heaved up and down. Her arms went limp, each one by the side of her head. Her tidy bobcut, now completely soaked in oil, was frizzled and messy. Every inch of skin and toned muscle glistened sleek oil-slicked shine. Pinned down by the redhead's full weight on her stomach, the redhead had her for the moment.

But perhaps only for the moment.

The reactions to Masuyo’s words were varied.

For Jack’s part, his brow furrowed at the thought, but now that the image was in there, there was no getting it out. Maybe they had fucked. He’d never been able to wrench that answer out of Lock, and even he knew better than to ask Key. Whatever had happened in that forest, things had changed dramatically between them. Sex did have a way of changing things, in his experience, so he couldn't rule it out. Or maybe they’d been attacked by wolves or something. Who could say?

Lock, for her part, glared up at the two, with an exceptional bit of heat aimed at Jack. Oh, yes, they would be discussing some particular aspects of their relationship the next time they had a moment in private, and the moratorium on their secret sex nights was just increased by three weeks. Maybe four.

Key, for her part, didn’t even hear it, and wouldn’t have cared much if she did.

No, she was solely focused on the attack now, as she came crashing down on her opponent…and promptly slipped off and fell flat on her ass, landing on her opponent’s stomach, because, well, fucking oil. Not the most dignified postion, but fuck it, it worked. What was on the agenda?

Ah, yeah. She’d wanted to ram Koyuki’s face into the floor until she stopped moving, right? Well, she was on her back, and Key frankly couldn't be arsed to flip her over right now, but the general idea still worked for her.

With a smile creeping along her face, she moved her way up her foe’s body, panting and wheezing the whole way. Her right eye was starting to swell up, screwing her vision, but that was fine. She only needed one for this, anyway.

”You awake, bitch?” She spat a glob of bloody, oily saliva in Koyuki’s face, then proceeded to reached out, grip her hair with one hand and her ear with the other and ram the back of her skull into the floor. One time, two times, three times, making sure to drive her shoulders into it for a little extra power. Fuck, this was even better than doing it the other way, since she could see the lock in this cunt’s eyes as she went out.

Koyuki considered the sequence of events that led to her current predicament and concluded that it started a month ago when she dialed the golf course to book them from an entire day because by every god in heaven and earth she cleeeeeeeeearly wasn't allowed to have one decent fuckin' day to herself without either of the Masuyos in her life haranguing her, or some unseemly little Yakuza underworld thing that required her attention. In this case, both at once. And so now here she was: underneath a redhead whose name she didn't know, who couldn't punch to save her life and coasted on brute force, with another blonde combatant waiting in the wings, for the benefit of a boss who was treating this as a big fat joke. She didn't care what little scheme Masuyo-san was playing at today, but she wanted no part of it.

And then the glob of warm saliva splashed down on her face, landing straight on her nose and dripping, dripping, dripping down the contours of her cheeks. Then came the hands of the redheaded enemy, one digging deep into her hair and one curling around her ear. She knew what was coming next and slam, slam, slam. Her face shifted from pain to incredulity and then to anger with each slam. Rage was the best possible wakeup call and she was just about at its peak. Today was humiliation stacked upon humiliation stacked upon humiliation, and she had just about enough.

A hand lashed out and grabbed at the redhead's neck, sharp nails digging into her opponent's apple as she applied the mother of all chokes. Reaching out with her other hand to reinforce the choke, she would yank the redhead down by the throat with both hands, seeking to bend her opponent forward at an awkward, back-aching angle until they were face to face with each other. Was there some follow up to this, some positioning to carry out some other move? Not at all. She was more than happy to suffocate her opponent, and she would suffer through whatever retaliation the redhead would throw at her, her eyes staring into her soul as she counted down the seconds towards the familiar desperation of eyes that knew they were about to drown.

Oh, pardon, one more small touch:

They were close enough to kiss and, so, they did. Koyuki pressed her face forward to engulf the redhead's lips in her own. It was all aggression and no finesse, more bite than kiss. And while she couldn't deny that was some sexual edge to it, her reason for initiating it was a simple one: to literally steal her breath away, ensuring she was cut off from air at every possible venue. And through it all, Koyuki stared and stared and stared into the redhead's eyes, still and unblinking, like a crocodile just waiting for its prey to expire under the water.

Come on, show it. Give it up. Key didn’t waste saliva on this bitch’s face for the fun of it, she wanted to see a certain reaction, even with the pain. It might take Koyuki a few seconds to show it, what with her skull being dribbled into the floor, but the neurons would click soon enough, the realization would sink in, and…

There it was. That look of rage, not unlike the one Key had been wearing for most of the fight. That little smug facade was cracking, and Key was finally getting to the chewy center. Not so above it, huh? Don’t like being the one on the bottom?

Key’s breath quickened with every thrust, as a thin, satisfied smirk began to form across her lips. How long would it take to knock Koyuki out? Couldn't hazard a guess. But she was eager to find out, and well on her way. ”Go!” Slam. ”To!” Slam. ”Sle-” Slam…wait.

Key’s bashfest was abruptly cut off by a hand at her neck. What she had originally dismissed as flailing turned out to be a little more focused, a little more dangerous, a little more sinister, as Koyuki’s fingers dug into her jugular and squeeze with iron fingers, cutting off the windpipe. Another hand joined in, and Key tongued shot out and wagged as she yanked close, brought face to face and eye to eye and…lip to lip?

It didn’t even register at first, but yeah, Koyuki was kissing her. If you could even call it a kiss. That wasn’t the wrong word, but it seemed way to soft to describe all the biting and gnashing and sucking that was going on. It was like Koyuki was trying to suck the life clean out of her, trying to kill her with a kiss, all while those evil eyes stared straight through her soul.

Kind of hot, if she was being 100%. Death by snogging.

Jack had similar thoughts, as he looked on and adjusted in his seat to get a better angle on the action. He was quick to bring out his phone and take a few pictures, too. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d use them yet, but worse case scenario, he could use them to piss Key off on command. ”Huh. Question, Masuyo - does your girl often try this sort of thing, or is she in just a special mood?”

Lock, for her part, was much less enthusiastic. ”What the fuck…” She muttered under her breath and craned her neck to the side as she walked around the perimeter, glaring their way. Was this match taking that sort of turn? She and Ophelia had an open sort of relationship, true, but they usually vetted their partners together. They definitely didn’t just start making out with random enforcers in dingy oil pits. Unwanted, uncalled for, unnecessary.

Key was above all that at the moment, focusing on the assault itself. She wasn’t losing, and she sure as fuck wasn’t losing like this. Up close like this, though, at this range? Precious few options. Only one was coming to her, though.

She reached up, brought her hand to Koyuki’s face, and went to work. One hand pulled at her wrists, trying to wrench herself free of the hold or at least still some air. The other hand, though, gripped her opponent by the side of the skull and brought her thumb over the eye. From there, it was just a simple matter of pushing in, applying more and more pressure, in an attempt to make Koyuki ask herself a simple question: Was choking Key out worth becoming a cyclops?

Koyuki could and would take an absurd amount of bullshit in order to win a fight. A concussion? Vanilla. Broken rib? Never stopped her. Snapped a finger? She had 10. Only 4 of them really mattered anyway. Broke an arm? Better than suffering the broken pride of submitting to some tacky armbar or absurd ai-kido joint lock. It would heal. They would all heal with time, and the only thing that mattered in the fight was the now. Bruises, welts, scarring - they weren't even worth fearing compared to what a serious opponent could do to her. Koyuki would meet any attack head-on.

Well, almost any attack. She could not regrow an eye, after all.

And in the micro-second before the redhead jabbed her thumb down onto it, a flash of genuine, unmistakable fear crossed Koyuki's eyes. The redhead saw it. Koyuki knew the redhead saw it, but she would have to live with it. An eye was something she could not go without for too many reasons, chief of all that she might share ol one-eyed Masuyo-san's fate as she shared her injury: becoming a wine-happy mom masquerading as a cheery pirate. No. That would not do. That would not do at all. The thumb scraped against her eye and she felt a pain that, sadly, she was both incredibly familiar yet somehow would never get used too. One sadly couldn't get their eyeballs to lift weights. She squealed, moaned in seething agony, and her hands dropped from the redhead's neck, the kiss abandoned. One swiftly gripped the redhead's offending hand away, leaving her thumb scraping at her cheek. Painful but preferable. The other went straight for her eye to soothe it, pressing against the erratic pulses of pain punching away at her eye.

She needed space, and so she made space.

Her mouth opened wide, a flash of perfect whites as her face surged into the redhead's, chomping down on her nose. She delivered a 2nd bite to her cheek, considered aiming a third at the swollen eye, but reconsidered. She sought to shove the redhead off, surging up to her feet, one hand still over her head. it wasn't bleeding, as far as she could tell, but all it saw was blurs for the moment.

"You? Dead." Koyuki said in her accented English, plucking her hand off from her face. Her eye was red as the devil, bloodshot and wild. "You so dead."

Masuyo didnt respond to Jack's query for a short while. She was too engrossed in the exchange - as well as popping into some of Jack's camera shots with a peace sign, and she went very, very still when Key went for the eye. A less charitable man might even call her shaken, but she recovered quickly, easing back into her playful demeanor as Koyuki recovered. "The kissing? No, not usually. The biting? All the time. She was so disappointed when she found out filing her teeth down to points would fuck with her dental health."