Mitsuru 'Izanami' Satou vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - It Takes Two

They’d just met, but Army could tell that, among all the things Mitsuru was, stupid wasn’t one of them. He thought she might dodge the punch, but he didn’t expect to get so far out of dodge that she slid out of the ring in full retreat. He ground his teeth down hard as she managed to escape, leaving him with nothing but stale air to slice through. He knew the game. Sort of like in a boxing match, when some jackass started clinching to buy for time. Any momentum he hoped to build up was rapidly falling away, and while the audience didn’t approve, it hardly mattered. Crowd participation didn’t exactly win matches.

Army had two choices: he could either wait and let her recoup on the outside, or he could follow and try to keep his rhythm going. The referee was already starting the count, she’d have to get in some time, and when she did, he’d have the high ground…

...on the other hand, he didn’t like the idea of Mitsuru having time to scheme and plan and think and come up with more ways to screw with him. He let the referee get to two before he dropped down and rolled out under the bottom rope, exiting near her.

She had to hand it to him, Army was developing a knack for throwing a wrench in her carefully laid out plans. That, or she really didn't know him as well as she thought, which might be an even worse option. In either case, Army began to drop down and roll towards the outside of the mat to follow her.

The count hit three as Army's feet hit the ground. That was a good thing, the amount of time they could interact was limited. Similarly, she had forced him to come fight on her terms, meaning she had readied herself with what little time she had.

Mitsuru turned and grabbed hold of the bottom rope. Using the elasticity, she helped launch herself upwards. With the mobility she launched an upwards kick aimed at his jaw.

Army, never the most agile fighter on the Tension roster, had a little trouble dropping down and making his way out of the ring. He managed it just in time for the three count, figuring he had enough time to close in on her before she could run away again.

That turned out to be a poor assumption, however, when he found himself eating the business end of Mitsuru’s foot.

The crowd collectively recoiled as her stylized boot cracked the tip of his jaw, knocking his back up against the apron as he reeled. Army managed to stand for all of one second before his legs gave out and he fell to one knee, tasting blood in his mouth.

He was loopy, but not done for just yet, only needed two seconds to get back. He started to rub his chin and pushed off his knee, rising as his brian rebooted.

Mitsuru's boot connected with the hard bone of Army's jaw, knocking him back briefly. The referee had just called the five count when her feet hit the ground again. It didn't have enough stopping power evidently as Army pushed to his feet like a warrior only a few seconds later. She was now faced with another decision: did she climb back into the ring, or risk distracting Army further outside the ring and get him to lose to DQ twice? Though the second option was quite tempting, it also risked that the opponent could do the same to her. Time was precious right now, the count was already halfway towards the disqualification and if she could choose how she lost, that wouldn't be the way.

She gave Army a wink as she bent down, then jumped and swung up once more, this time sliding just under the bottom rope. She rolled a few times and then back into that ready-crouch. Her little kick, while satisfying, was likely the equivalent of prodding the bull one too many times. The Puerto Rican would be hot on her heels, but again he'd be playing catch-up, and therefore fighting on her terms.

b]”Army, what are you doing?”

“Get back up!”

“Don't let play you like that!”[/b]

Army appreciated his fan’s advice - hell, he appreciated the fact that he even had fans - but being screamed at by a bunch of loud Japanese people wasn’t exactly doing wonders for his growing migraine. Mitsuru’s blow scrambled his brains, and by the time he made his way back up, the referee was already up to…

”8…!”

”Shit!” He rolled back in right as the referee started to count to nine, coming closer to a second countout DQ than he ever wanted. There was still some sluggishness in his movement, though, as Mitsuru’s kick hadn’t quite worn off.

"Cutting it close there, eh?" Mitsuru said with a coy smile as Army rushed to enter the ring at the last possible second before the count out. Maybe he was a bit sluggish after her kick, and maybe he was just taking his time to recover as well. She doubted the pain in his arm was completely gone, but surely some of the initial intensity had faded.

Mitsuru ran towards Army as he got to his feet again and she jumped into the air with feet stretched out towards him. Her goal was to get a headscissors on him so that she could use the rest of her running momentum to swing about and flip the big guy onto the mat via a hurricanrana.

Army had just rolled into the ring when he heard the pitter-patter of Mitsuru’s feet heading right for him. Not good.

He looked up to see her heading straight towards him and leaping with her legs wide open. Also not good.

Her thighs clasped around his head, she jerked back, gravity and momentum did the rest, and he wound up
get flipped across the ring, head over heels. Very not good.

The only saving grace was that the hurricanrana ended up with his legs hitting the ropes, taking off some of the move’s impact, but that didn’t erase the fact that he was, once again, thrown for a loop by Mitsuru.Getting his bearings back long enough to even stand up, much less hurt her, was becoming a more and more distant proposition. Army brought his legs down and reached up, grabbing the ropes to pull himself back to his feet as the world spun around him.

Mitsuru's lighter frame tumbled harmlessly to the mat while her target had a much harsher landing. Army went literally head over heels for her thanks to the hurricanrana, though the big lug got lucky when his feet caught the ropes to save him. Still, the move had the desired effect, more confusion and disorientation to limit Army's arsenal. She judged now to be an opportune time to try another targeted assault, and Army even helped by getting himself to his feet.

Mitsuru got into position behind him and took a well-practiced karate stance. She spun around quickly and her leg swiftly bit into Army's right side. Clearly that wouldn't be enough just on it's own, so she followed up by spinning the opposite way to land a chop across his exposed back. Ideally this would distract him enough that she could go after her real target; she tried to stomp backwards on the back of the kneecap in a way that would damage Army and allow her to push off and create some distance in case she failed.

There was a clear pattern here: Mitsuru liked her openings. She’d be coming in a second, hitting him while he was trying to recover, and the only thing he could do was try to figure out where it was coming from before it hit. Of course, just like the other times, he failed.

The kick was bad, sure, stung like crazy right to the bone, but the worst part of it was that it softened him up. He’d just started to register it when her chop sliced across his other side like a lightning, fast and powerful and gone in an instant.

But he was ready, this time. He twisted around and swung his mighty arm out in a wide arc that would’ve surely knocked Mitsuru clear out of the ring. If it connected. Which it didn’t. She was long gone before she even had the chance.

”Stand still!” He smacked his fist on the canvas and sprung up, charging after Mitsuru. He came at her, wild and reckless, and swung out with a lariat.

Her hit and run tactic seemed like it did its job when Army came bounding up like a madman. His anger made his movements sloppy and easily telepgraphed, so she didn't have too much trouble seeing his lariat coming. "Not a chance~!" she cooed as she ducked under the arm and swung her own leg around to try to sweep the big man off his feet.