Fiery Hearts: Makie Akamatsu vs Mindy Priest

For a few moments, Makie lay on her back, breathing hard as she finally had an opportunity to relax. Her back was throbbing with a dull pain from all those slams that Mindy had inflicted on her, and her waist and neck were still feeling sore as well. She felt too exhausted and was hurting too much to try to move...but fans were cheering, and her name was being announced as the winner, so she had to get up at some point.

Gritting her teeth, Makie slowly and agonizingly rolled onto her front. Taking several deep breaths as pain shot up her back again, she took a few seconds to recover, before pushing herself up to her hands and knees, sweat dripping from her hair. In front of her, Makie was face down on the mat, though whether she was still in pain or just ashamed, Makie couldn't tell. She remembered, though, the stinging humiliation of defeat from when she first started here at AFW.

"Hey..." Makie breathed, grabbing one of Mindy's hands with her own and clasping it firmly. "Great match. You...gave me...a real tough fight..."

As Mindy slowly recovered from the choke, her senses came back to normal bit by bit. Her vision was no longer blurred and hazy, and she could now clearly hear the booming sounds around her. The clapping, the crowd's wild cheer, the announcer's voice... all in unanimous applaud for Makie, the rightful victor of tonight's match. All this did was rub salt into the wounds in Mindy's confidence.

The blonde felt her hand being lifted off the mat. Looking up, she saw Makie kneeling in front of her, holding her hand tightly and complimenting her. "Really? I feel like... I screwed up so many times..." She didn't have the heart to face the crowd yet, but for some reason she wasn't ashamed of looking at Makie. Maybe it was because they had been wrestling each other for such a long time.

Mindy could be down, but she harbored no ill will towards the Japanese girl. They had fought each other fair and square, and in the end the strongest of them won. Her body shifted a little on the mat. She had to at least take the loss like a good sport. "Congrats... you deserve the win."

It was as Makie had suspected: Mindy felt ashamed of losing. Even as the larger American girl lay on the mat, however, she still managed to look up at her. That was something, at least: she wasn't so ashamed that she couldn't look up at her opponent and be a good sport about it.

She smiled. "Hey, it's always rough the first few times," she said. "At least, that's what the person who first beat me said." She remembered her first humiliating loss to Midori Himeno, and how Midori had done a lot to put her back on her feet after that. "Trust me, it'll get better after this. And besides, you were one move away from kicking my ass anyway."

Slowly and painfully, Makie moved to get up to her feet, using her hold on Mindy's hand to try to pull the larger girl up as well. The crowd cheered at this act of good sportswomanship from the victor. "Seriously, you did great. A little more experience, and I bet you'd be a match for Kyo, even." She blushed, then, at the mention of her brother. "Umm...and, uh...sorry, by the way, for teasing you like that earlier. About my brother. I...know it wasn't cool."

Being forced to submit had left a bruise on the Mindy's ego, but Makie's smile and her words of encouragement helped her soothe her shame at least a little. Gradually, her expression softened, and although she didn't have the spirit to smile back, the Japanese girl would at least be able to notice that she was grateful of being treated with respect. "You're right... I hope."

The American then realized Makie was pulling her up. She was still hesitant to get up, but if she refused the help and stayed down then she would be just making a sorry display of herself. Because of this, she swallowed her discomfort and struggled to rise to her feet; a few moments later, she was standing in front of Makie, holding her hand. She focused her attention on the veteran, trying her best to avoid looking around and facing the crowd.

At the mention of Kyo, however, Mindy also blushed from remembering all the things Makie said to her. "I-it's fine! Let's just... forget about it, okay?" It was a topic she didn't want to dwell in any longer, even if it did bother her. She just wondered if Makie was telling the truth back then, or if it was just an empty taunt... but this was definitely not the time or place to ask about that.

A sting of pain in her abs made her wince, reminding her that there were some wounds she had to take care of. "Thanks for the support. I promise I'll get better at this... but for now, how about we head back? My body's killing me..."

Makie gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, you're not the only one," she replied. Her back was still killing her after taking all of Mindy's repeated slams. "I think I'll need to sleep in the rest of the weekend after this." She gave Mindy a knowing smile. "But when you do get better, and you come looking for me for a rematch...I'll be happy to kick your ass for a second time."

And with that, the two girls began to hobble towards the edge of the ring. Around them, the crowd roared in approval, not only at the end to a hard-fought match, but also at the good sportswomanship being shown by these two wrestlers.