Ryuunosuke Tachibana vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - Slobberknocker

The crowd chanted along as Army threw his punches, giving him a cheer each time they connected. That was a new thing, something he never heard out of a boxing crowd, but definitely somethig he could get used to. Before the night was over and this match was done, he intended to give them plenty more opportunities to do it, too.

He started to reel back for another blow, perfectly willing to drill a hole straight through Ryuu if he had to, when his whole world was suddenly flipped upside down.  The hip toss. Should've seen the hip toss coming, did something to stop it. Now Army was paying the price, on his back with a guy who weighed nearly as much as he did on top. Not a good spot. At all.

"Fuck!" His arms came up on reflex, blocking his face, trying to stop the onslaught he knew he was coming. He could get out of this, he was pretty sure, but he'd take a couple of lumps along the way.

Ryuu was on top of Army, throwing punch after punch as he tried to get around his opponent's well-placed guard to land some hits. Curled fist met hard arm bone as Army blocked his face and head, preventing Ryuu from getting to his target. A ground and pound was only effective if you were able to bash the daylights out of your opponent, otherwise it left you open from multiple sides to counter attack. And since Ryuu can't get any good hits in, he goes with the safe route and abandons the position.

Ryuu shoves at Army's guard to stand up, making sure he goes back down while Ryuu is backing off. However, as he gets back up to his full height, his feet suddenly come out from under him. Ryuu drops down on one knee, putting all his own weight behind it, right into Army's gut.

Ryuu rolls away for good this time, pushing up to one knee while he waits to see how Army takes that. He took very little real damage from the onslaught thanks to a well-placed guard, but Ryuu doubted he was expecting that knee drop.

Yup. Definitely some MMA in there.

Army growled from behind the guard, as Ryuu hammered away at his guard and battered him from side to side. Far from the most pleasant experience of his life, but he was surviving, weathering the storm and keeping his eye out for a chance to strike. Just a little bit longer...

Right before the chance could present itself, Ryuu hastily snatched it away, getting up quick and leaving Army with nothing to swing at but dead air. He didn't leave without a final parting gift, though: a vicious knee to the stomach that folded Army clean in half.

Army gagged and spasmed, bouncing on the floor. On pure reflex, he rolled out of the and made it to the outside, where he stumbled for a moment before tumbling into the barricade and holding onto it for support. Choking, gasping, wheezing all the way.

Not a good look.

As Army suffered and spasmed, rolling out of the ring to gain some time to recover from his pain, Ryuu stood back up with hands on his hips. Looking to the audience, he shrugged like it was no biggie, that Army was just overdramatic and weak. He walked over to the ropes and crossed his arms over the top, leaning forward as he watched Army writhe and wheeze like a balloon losing air.

A few people began to chant his name, a vocal minority to be sure, but a sign that he was gaining favor already. He made a large visible sigh as he watched Army, making a face like he pitied the other wrestler.

"If it's too much for you, you're welcome to quit here" he yelled out to Army, a slight grin working its way onto his face. Ryuu wasn't a big trash talker, his teammates were surely both better at it than he was. He much preferred to let his fists and body do the talking.

Ryuu scoffed and waved his hand like Army wasn't worth the effort. He turned his back on the Puerto Rican, setting hands on his hips and shrugging again to the crowd. So far things were turning out quite splendidly in his favor, but he knew better than to get cocky. He had gotten lucky so far, and what he had just done was the equivalent of poking a bull with a hot iron.

This was cool. Army was cool.

He steadied himself on the barricade and stood up, only needing the support for a moment. He was fine. He'd be okay. Ryuu had given him a little run at the start, but it wasn't the end of the world - he'd come back from far, far worse, in boxing and in wrestling. He looked up at the crowd, nodded as his fans cheered, and started to make his way back into the ring.

And then Ryuu just had to say something.

For a moment, Army didn't say anything. Didn't notice the referee, as he started up the count. He just stared at Ryuu, with his mouth shut tight and twitch in his eye, fury boiling beneath the surface. This guy wanted to taunt, now? Trying to make him mess up, get under his skin? Well, it was going to work, but Army was going to make sure he wished it didn't.

After the moment passed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a mouthguard, and the crowd cheered at the sight of it. They knew what it meant: business was about to pick up in a very big way. Army's gaze never left Ryuu for a second, as he put the guard in his mouth and fit it nice and tight between his teeth.

He took a deep breath. Then a deeper breath. Then an even deeper breath...and then he made his way back in the ring, popped up to his feet, and got to the feet. The moment Ryuu turned around, he was going to have a jab heading straight towards his face.

Any heavy breathing that Ryuu had expended in the first few minutes of the match was now gone and he was back to a casual rate by the time Army returned. Despite having his back turned on him, Ryuu could feel when the ring shook slightly as Army climbed in, so he knew when he ought to turn around.

Unfortunately however, he was not expecting Army's runspeed to be quite that fast, and so Ryuu misjudges the turn around time. As Ryuu whips back around to face his opponent, Army's fist is already launched and headed straight for his face. Ryuu jerks his body to the side to try to dodge, but the superior boxer's knuckles still collide with his jaw cleanly, knocking his head sideways and causing a wave of 'ooohs' of second-hand pain to erupt from the audience.

A bit of blood pools in Ryuu's mouth as he staggers back a single step, grounding his feet and halting his stagger so as to not backdown. While he's still reeling, he throws his own counter punch with his right, coming from low and aiming to cut across Army's face. Ryuu didn't expect to be able to outbox Army at this point, but it was better than leaving himself wide open for an even nastier follow-up.

Army's punch landed on target, knocked Ryuu's smug look all the way into the stands, and he was immediately reminded of why he missed fighting guys so much. The women in Tension always gave him good matches, but there was a little old fashioned side of him that felt bad while they battled. With this guy? No such problem. There was just something indescribably awesome about punching a jackass in the face.

The jackass was perfectly capable of punching back, though, and sure enough, Ryuu had a retort in the form a nasty looking wild blow, coming right towards the side of Army's head. His training was still with him, even if it had been a good while since he'd put on the gloves - by the time the blow made it, Army's guard had long since been up. That didn't mean it was a pleasant hit to take, it numbed up his forearm all the way to the bone. But he was lucid after the strike, and still had enough mind to keep the attack on, staying with the offense.

He ducked down and moved after Ryuu, coming low himself. He swung out with a double hook from his left, looking to drill his fist into Ryuu's rib with rapid succession.

Even with Ryuu firing back as quick as his reflexes and training allowed, his counter-punch was still met with the stiff resistance of Army's guard. As he drew his stinging fist back to repair his own guard Army had moved into a better position, ducking under Ryuu's half-guard to hammer home some payback.

"Hnghh" Ryuu gasped in audible pain as he was hit by a speedy double. The pain was pretty impressive for only two hits, and Ryuu went into full retreat. In only inner-middle range like this, Army's training gave him a strong advantage. He could pick Ryuu apart and dance circles around him while the S.E.M.E. wrestler would struggle to land even a simple hit.

But rather than running away though, and losing some of the cred he had built so far, Ryuu threw himself into the fire and fought forward. He tried to press himself as close to Army as he could get and then lock up with him, so that any punches he threw would be awkward. In boxing they would be call it a clinch, but in wrestling it was just good old fashioned grappling.

Both of Army's punches landed on point, and Army kicked himself for not telling his father about this fight. The old man didn't watch his Tension fights, but he would make an exception for this. This was nostalgia - how many times had he been in a boxing ring like this, slugging it out with some guy his own size, throwing down hard? He could feel all the familiar feelings coming back.

He started going after Ryuu, looking to press the advantage and take control, when the guy closed in and hugged him tight. It took Army a half second to recognize what he was doing: a clinch. He almost thought he was going for a move or something, but no, he was holding Army close, keeping him from striking. Good tactic, would've worked great in a boxing match.

But this wasn't a boxing match.

Army reeled back, then jerked forward and slammed their skulls together with a vicious headbutt, the kind he would've been immediately DQed for back in Puerto RIco. But here? Fair game.

Ryuu's clinch tactic works like a charm, no longer can he be pelted with the cannon shot Army calls punches. He starts to push at Army again, trying to corral him towards the ropes again to limit his options in preparation for a new move, but the Puerto Rican evidently has other ideas. He reels his head back and then WHAM sends a ferocious headbutt into Ryuu's skull.

Stars of pain explode across Ryuu's vision and he breaks away from Army, taking steps back on shaky legs. The combination of dizziness and pain screw with his balance, forcing him to go down to one knee rather than falling. And now Ryuu was the one on his knees, reeling from the most recent exchange of blows. Well, if you could call it that.

There was a brief flash of anger across his face; he was supposed to making a name for S.E.M.E., and here he was dazed after one headbutt. Ryuu gritted his teeth, taking a second to re-collect his calm and wash the anger away back to a neutral expression. He didn't have time to waste being angry at himself or thinking about reputation, Army surely wasn't going to give him any leeway.

Ryuu hastily shoved back his feet, stepping back to give himself more time. He brought up his guard right away in preparation for the follow-up. The ropes weren't too far behind him now, he had limited himself on accident. No time to think about that now, there was likely only a second or two before Army was on him again.