Sophia Nechiporenko vs. Senji Takijima - Cold Rage

This is why Sophia could never give up fighting. These two reasons.

One reason was savoring moments such as these. Feeling the reverb and feedback from his skull as her elbows blew him away. The grunts of strained effort and frustration as the new fighter stuck beneath her superior body struggled for freedom. She was looking forward to the sight of him on his knees. To see true fear in his gaze.

The other reason was because of what came next. Sophia’s brow raised in surprise as she was suddenly flipped over. She moved to punish him before his knee pinned her down and limited her movement. A single moment of restraint was all he needed to get above her. Carelessness.

She grunted beneath his heftier weight falling onto her chest. Before she had the opportunity to strike him down, his legs were around her head. The ex-Spetsnaz knew exactly what he was setting up, but that did not mean she was in a position to stop it as his legs swiftly locked in a mounted triangle choke. The Russian croaked inside of her throat and used her free arm to grasp Senji’s thigh, desperate for breathing room.

This was a rare position for her when dealing with this particular technique. Usually, it was her sitting comfortably atop another while sapping the life from their lungs, especially with men. This was far from her liking; difficult to breathe and the pressure between his legs was slightly worse than his size would suggest. Senji chose his moments carefully and her neck was paying for it dearly.

Her legs shot up from behind and attempted to wrap themselves around Senji’s torso. If she was quick enough to catch him off guard, she would dig her shins beneath his arms and attempt to throw him off.

Not so fun when the shoe's on the other foot, is it?

Yet, Senji swore...he swore he had the match. Then something unexpected happened. This technique was rather unfamiliar and he couldn't recall it for the life of him. As for the actual events at hand, before he could claim it finally and fully locked, the Triangle was interrupted by two legs digging underneath his arms. These then transferred into crossing themselves at around where his pectorals were, making Senji look down with widened eyes. He found himself flung a short distance away in the next few moments, landing semi-hard onto his rear and back.

His thoughts could best be summarized as a a two word statement.

["Oh no-"]

She could capitalize on it. That he was sure of. He had to make a choice here before she did so, that he was sure of. Defense. He needed to concentrate on defense. If she was too late to mount the young man on his middle, he'd turn on his stomach and turtle up. That consisted of Senji curling his legs into the center of his body, bringing his arms upward to cover his throat. This may have put him at the risk of having his back taken, but it defended him from other submissions and might stall her. No defense was invincible, as Senji was still only human. Mainly, Senji was concerned with watching his neck so it'd not suffer a debilitating squeeze - Gis (even the collar on his jacket) allowed further chokes too so he needed to keep an eye out for those. Joint locks would obviously draw a quicker tap out since Senji refused to have something fracture. Sophia would respect that, right? Sounded right in his head, at least.


On the more analytical end, Senji was fully aware she was outright physically superior to him. Whoever decided to put him against her must have a sick sense of humor. Her legs were far more potent, reminding him of malleable steel cables in terms of texture. Not in strength per se, as the human body had a limit. Regardless, Takijima's conclusion came from when she just scissored him and the half guard from earlier. If she wanted him to bend, Natasha needed to put forth effort into it.

Desperation isn’t what Sophia would call this. Urgency. Haste. Those were terms she preferred.

Seconds were precious in the triangle choke. It was a lethal hold on its own and one that Senji applied well, only she could tell that he hadn’t managed the execution he was looking for. She sought not to give him that chance and thought on her feet. Or with them, in this case.

Sophia flipped over and stood up quickly to the sight of her opponent closing up on the ground. Hiding from her now? A half-second glance read all of his openings: namely none. He hid his neck and guarded his joints. From a grappler’s perspective, this was attempting to storm a castle through the front gates. she would have to work very hard to earn her prize.

So instead…

Sophia lunged forward and rushed him. Once her shadow was before him, the Russian raised her leg high above her head and dropped it down with an axe kick, driving heel-first into his exposed back. Her aim was centered on his spine to crush it like a hammer to a helpless turtle's shell, but even if she fell short of the mark, there were an ample amount of surrounding targets she would be fortunate to land a strike on. The shoulder blades, the ribs, the small of his back.

So many ways to suffer. In the blink of an eye, her foot cracked down like a whip to her prostrating prey.

Miscalculation. He had miscalculated. Senji predicted that she'd pounce on him either before or after he turtled up. This wasn't in that equation. He was aware that people could have multiple fighting styles, but in his haste he'd slipped up and did not compensate for the possibility of striking. He heard the telltale sign of her above him and the whistle of a heel slicing clean through air. She was very clearly staring at him too. A white, scorching pain shot up and down his spine, nerves and neurons communicating before reaching the conclusion that their body took a lot of trauma.

The reaction came in the form of a yelp. Well, that exclamation of pain alongside the partial breaking of his defenses. If she chose to do it once more, then Senji would've tried to turn on his side only to get a sole buried into his ribcage. This made him curl up on reflex due to hitting the weak spots that all humans shared. Thankfully, she had not broken anything....yet. She'd managed to put the flow back into her favor despite Senji technically winning the first exchange.

He must get out of this. But, it hurt to even shift around. He wasn't crippled, at the very least.

He muttered something resembling "Moh ii." in his average ability to speak Japanese. It came out strained obviously, due to the aforementioned strikes that he was currently attempting to push through. The intended meaning was "I've had enough." as indicated by his stressing of the words even if he was without injury. Senji attempted a last inhale as she stood above him before snapping into action. He went to finish turning onto his stomach, moving to stomp his right leg onto the floor beneath him, going forward as to grab ahold of Sophia's leg that she hadn't used to kick the shit out of him with. If he managed to pull it off, Senji drove his weight forward for a low single leg takedown. Should she sprawl, Senji threw both his arms out as to catch himself instead of marrying the canvas. This came with its own share of problems that he was too busy recovering from the spinal abuse to think too much about.

Aside from the reaction and counter, he could not do anything else given Sophia's reaction speed and being a bit hampered by the strikes. He was thinking it was better to take his chances on the ground instead of his face being turned into a punching bag.

Sophia herself wasn't one to miscalculate. In her former occupation, that was a very good way to end up dead and quickly. She planned her steps deliberately and analyzed the situation with an often-startling attention to detail.

As easy as she made this seem, there was an awful lot of work that went into suffering and submission. Though she hoped Senji could appreciate that, the art appeared somewhat lost on him. He was innocent, almost naive to a fault. That was why he was going to suffer.

Sophia’s leg raised high and smashed her heel into his exposed back. Her thin smile peeked open, revealing her hungry fangs ready to rend flesh again and again. She only hesitated when she heard him speak. She understood the phrase that her adversary uttered in his native tongue, but failed to decipher its meaning straight away. Was he frustrated or simply giving up?

The Russian didn't have to guess after Senji suddenly charged into her left leg, knocking her off balance and falling back to the floor.

Sophia reached up to grab the back of his head, pulling him forward as she raised her shin and jabbed it into his neck to execute a swift gogoplata. If he was too slow to prevent himself from being captured, she would lean back and press her back into the canvas. One hand would loop around and connect with her foot, fully encircling his throat and sealing off his airways.

To an extent, Sophia was right on both opinions. Senji did think about his actions, hence why he'd lasted this long against her. That either spoke about his skill, considering the gap in Belt between them, or if Sophia was simply restricting herself so he'd be able to fight back. If he was some average person on the street, Sophia probably would've put him out earlier using a Triangle. But no, there was a process and careful selection of moves he followed. It wasn't exactly random, per se. The Double and Single Leg takedowns for example. They were reliable and used a lot, however that made the opponent easy to predict, usually. However, a Gogoplata wasn't the first choice in his list of moves.

Uh oh.

A foot came across his face, with the man initially thinking she'd be setting up a Rubber Guard. That position was not something he practiced often, nor used. However, Sophia wanted to go a step further, it appeared. A shin jammed into his throat suddenly! At the establishment of the circumstantial move, Senji could only hear the cheers of the crowd as they watched the submission match go on. One of his arms had been snagged in the leg's movement too.

Then, the dizziness started to set in. Barely anything was getting into his brain at this point. As such, the blood choke was doing what it meant to do. Still, there were still (maybe) 10ish seconds before he went completely under. Senji refused to submit in this hold, that was clear. No tapping, whether good or bad. That was a safety net to be used if a limb was about to be annihilated or if you couldn't handle being choked out. While Takijima did think that much, he kept his free arm by Sophia's hip just in case he changed his disposition. There wasn't too much he could do for now though.

Those yellowed eyes looked mellowed, lacking the figurative fire due to being entrapped in a submission hold. Regardless of how heavy it felt, Senji must perform an act! No matter how basic. He put his right foot forward in a kneeling position, endeavoring to posture up or raise his entire body as to prevent Sophia from leaning back fully. As it stood currently, the Russian began to rend the life from his body while the commendable resistance took place.

Though Sophia was renowned in her training hall for being the single most aggressive practitioner in their garrison, there were a far greater number of strengths to her arsenal than an overwhelming offensive. Flawless technique and blinding speed were other aspects that made her repertoire all the more deadly.

A singular interest (obsession) in pressure points and vital areas would bring Sophia to the sparring circles again and again. Each time she walked away, she would learn something new. How to break, how to evade, and how to counter. She was the hunter on these grounds. And those who would be called hunters simply found themselves trapped, again and again, pleading like mice in her clutches.

Senji was enjoying that pressure right now. Those pulsating eyes, the haste in his breath. Like torrents of ecstasy through her veins.

Though, he was defiant. All the way to the end.

The Russian’s thin brows raised with the ever slightest surprise as she was lifted up from the ground before she was able to fully torque the hold on his throat. One strong grip on her leg was all it seemed to take for Seni to slowly hoist Sophia. To where? Who knew. Wasted heaps of effort were not a phenomenon Sophia associated herself with. The harder Senji pushed, the more Sophia pulled down and constricted him between her lithe shins. His skin was starting to match his hair.

The Russian chuckled. “Keep trying. You make good face.”

Senji was tempered, as stated before. He endeavored to be careful and not be that bloodthirsty unless certain circumstances were met. However, this was contrasted by Sophia's need to break. To destroy. To hurt. And unfortunately, he was the target with only the rules to (hopefully) prevent her from going too far. He didn't hate her, make no mistake. She just felt....off. Senji didn't have many qualms with Russia either aside from the climate. The cold was horrific whenever he'd not been layered up in clothing...which was particularly rare.

Now for the match! Senji's head couldn't really do much, with her hands in his hair to pull his neck and throat down. He at least managed to get on a knee like he wanted, though his thoughts were beginning to swim. Those erratic eyes looked in two places, Sophia's battle-driven gaze and her midsection or stomach. He recalled various escape techniques, only finding one that might work. Senji kept a hand on her stomach, reasoning that she wouldn't care if he left it there since it'd be a minor concern.

The sound of an unintentional wheeze filled his own ears as she continued to constrict his breathing.

Using his lone right hand, he went to move it over to the hands on the back of his scalp. After that, Senji tried to alleviate some of the pressure by going to grapple her left hand, specifically, and forcefully separating her locked grip on his head. If she was too strong to resist, then he abandoned whatever control of her middle he had in order to use two palms instead to overpower Natasha.

Finally, if Senji managed to do that, then he'd bring his head away and escape her clutches. However, it'd take too much time to escape from her Full Guard when he was already recovering from the Gogoplata, so he would be compelled to stay in their neutral position. That being, him on top and her on the bottom. Passing it could be worried about later, if he could get this far overall with a still-reddened face. The young man, or boy depending on how old you were, leered down at her with a general smile on his face...clearly happy he could continue to roll with Sophia as opposed to it ending. The crowd didn't really matter now, they were the backdrop to the struggle between just the two of them and whatever future opponents Sophia and Senji would face following this.

Sophia thought she would have been able to get him with that one. Her preferred strategy on the ground was - much like the battlefield - to strike where the enemy was weakest; exhaust and then overwhelm. She applied constant pressure and provided escape only on her terms. She had expected him to be much more fatigued than this.

Stamina was one thing Senji had in spades, it seemed. He put that youthful energy to good use and took the most sensible route to freedom, attacking her grip rather than trying to brute force his way to freedom. The latter would have certainly spelled his end. Men larger and more determined than Senji have attempted that in the past and none have been able to find relief. Aside from the relative solace of a deep and painful slumber.

Despite Sophia’s confidence in her grappling repertoire, his strategy paid off. Second by second, she felt her ironclad grip slipping away from his head. Her teeth grit behind pursed lips, working to deepen the choke on his throat while clawing at her opponent’s matted hair, desperate to retain some amount of control. However, Senji had proven himself to be a persistent fellow. That was the trick of breaking any submission hold. Persistence.

The Japanese fighter’s head slipped free from her grasp and Sophia released the gogoplata. There was no sense in keeping him bundled, leading them back into a full guard position with her legs at his sides.

Fair enough. She had miscalculated. A momentary surprise flashed across her face, noticing Senji’s leer and blush-soaked face. The Russian’s face was still and unreadable for the longest moment. Then, as if from nothing, a simple smile sprouted on her lips. “I believe you enjoyed that, yes?”

The claws that interweaved into his locks and the shin across his throat eventually were broken out of. He'd done it. Senji had managed to stop her momentum entirely. This was due to two factors. What looked to be, first and foremost, Sophia's underestimation. The second was his endurance. His body was clearly focused on lasting through the grueling rounds, being helped by his young body not having hit its peak yet before going into the decline of old age. There were pros and cons to the condition. While he could last against superior opponents, Senji would be on the backfoot if their strength was simply too much to defy.

The firm ascension of her legs on his midsection made their presence known after his escape, however. Senji lightly grunted since he was now aware of the danger those limbs posed to him. Her guard didn't hurt...Senji simply couldn't ignore it is all. He chose not to humor the thought of them enclosing so hard they flattened his abdomen and touched the spinal cord. That wasn't particularly common anyway --- to say the least. Ah, another question. Senji chose to pick his words carefully, burying the minor urge to offend Sophia with a taunt.

"-----I enjoy all my rolls and grapples. The opponent contributes around half of the effort towards that. You've not been a disappointment, if that's what you're saying."

Concise, safe, and complementary. Senji, as he was new to interaction like this in the middle of a tussle, thought she'd probably like that answer. She thought his previous answer to her first evaluation was good enough. A woman's fury given their position would be hard to control; this would be in addition to his clear apprehension towards Sophia that hadn't gone away. When put in this way, it's clear why Senji was being more careful towards Nechiporenko. To an extent he isn't privy to, the huntress presumably likes him as well.

Retreating to his thoughts for a potential plan of action, they summarized as follows, ["I must keep her here in the ground. I...cannot keep up with her on the standing positions nor allow her to strike at my back again. I barely know the woman and I am not sure if Sophia'll 'comply' if she figures out what I'm thinking. I should tread carefully if I don't want to end this fight at me being unconscious.---Dammit, my body's getting hot. Can't unzip it though."]

Other than that, Senji elected to await Sophia's move where he could then spring for a guard pass if she couldn't thwart his efforts. Pounding her face into the canvas wouldn't be as effective as a submission, and if she managed to reverse it, it'd put the younger Takijima at a major disadvantage. Keeping his peripheral vision on her two arms and eyes with his head raised up high over Sophia's body to prevent a Guillotine Choke, Senji planted his right hand on her stomach while keeping the left hand up near his chest. Ah, so Senji was trying to stay steps ahead by compensating for popular set ups and keeping her at a distance. She had coerced him to not rush in otherwise he'd suffer more, as any high-level grappler would implore their opponent to do....