Tension in Ueno: 24/7 Championship Match- Carmen Rodriguez (c) vs Akino Sanada

Carmen wasn’t quite as out of it as she was pretending to be while Akino led her on, but she didn’t have to put all that much effort into pretending. The one-eyed maid really did rock her world. She really was hurting. She really would be feeling that dropkick long after this match was over.

But she still had plenty in the tank. Definitely enough to keep her head from getting smashed into a box.

When Akino jerked her forward, Carmen brought her hand up and grabbed the edge of the box, stopping the attack halfway. Her other arm was on offense, as she swung around and tried to hit Japanese beauty with an elbow right in the stomach, twisting her torso around to get some extra force behind it.

It probably should’ve occurred to Akino that she’d been able to drag Carmen as far as she had a little too easily. Had she noticed, the maid might’ve realized her resourceful foe was simply waiting patiently for the best chance to strike. Should’ve, would’ve could’ve. But the thought didn’t occur to Akino. The result, when she tried to throw Carmen forward, her effort was stopped midway before the one-eyed girl instead found herself gasping as an elbow crashed into her stomach.

“Ughh!” she cried out, immediately doubling over and clutching at her stomach upon impact. Carmen was now finally free from the maid’s clutches, and even worse for Akino, there was a wide open opportunity to shift the balance of momentum once more.

Patience always paid off, and this was a textbook example: Carmen had waited for her opportunity to turn things back on Akino, and now she not only had it, but she was feeling good enough to make the most out of it, too. The first step was going to be getting Akino under control. Not the easiest thing to accomplish with such a wily, devilish opponent, but there were ways.

Creative ways. Painful ways.

Carmen reached up and pulled Akino’s head under chin, catching it in a tight front facelock and squeezing tight. Bad enough by itself with her upper body strength, but there were ways to improve..

Like ramming Akino’s head into the same box that she’d try to crack Carmen’s skull against. Sounded fitting, and that was exactly what the 24/7 Champion went for.

Akino grunted as Carmen’s arm coiled around her head and face and began squeezing. The champ’s height and weight advantage only were only amplified by her upper body strength, which served to apply a good amount of painful pressure to the bluennette’s head. But only got worse from there.

Bang!

The maid’s skull was sent crashing into the large box as if she were a human battering ram! The impact rang out through the hallway loud enough to almost drown out the cry of pain that burst from Akino’s lips upon impact. Her hands immediately went to cradle her throbbing skull, and whether her body began to roll and writhe about on the dirty floor depended entirely on whether or not Carmen maintained her hold on Akino’s head then or released it from the clutches of her powerful arms.

Slamming Akino’s head into the crate like that was a good way to deal some good damage - or start to, anyway. She didn't let go of the facelock, though. It was a superior position, and she knew better than to give that up easily.

”Brace yourself, querida.” She grabbed Akino’s arm and draped it over her shoulder. ”Here’s where it gets rough.”

With a sudden heave, Valley lifted Akino’s lithe body straight up off the ground, getting her high enough to look like she was going for a vertical suplex...but instead, she fell forward and threw her back down, letting her body drop on the unforgiving tiled floor.

Akino’s bell was far too rung for the maid to put up any kind of a fight in Carmen’s clutches. Her hands remained covered over her aching head, and even after her foe’s ominous warning she gave no resistance while being set up for what seemed like a standard suplex.

The one-eyed maiden felt herself being elevated until she was practically upside down. She slammed her eyelid shut and tensed up, expecting a wave of pain to surge through her back at any moment. But, that didn’t happen...only because Carmen threw her down onto her front instead.

“Ugh!” Akino cried out as she crashed face-first, chest-first, stomach-first, knees-first, thighs-first into the hard floor all at the same time. She weakly writhed about, but her body was feeling a lingering, stinging pain in so many places she didn’t even know what to try to tend to. Ultimately she just ended up groaning and writhing there, unable to do much more at the moment.

Carmen brought Akino down, and she brought her down hard. Maybe a little harder than the move required - she was hitting bare ground, it was already guaranteed to hurt. But from her standpoint, it was a simple matter of pragmatism. The sooner she put Akino down, the less she’d have to hurt her in the long run.

”You’re good, love.” Carmen sighed and dropped down and rolled Akino over. ”But this is my wheelhouse. Just stay down.”

She laid over the maid’s chest, grabbed one of those perfectly toned thighs, and leaned on her for the pin, which the referee kindly obliged.

”1…!”

“Nghh..” Akino groaned as Carmen rolled her over and laid over her chest for the pin attempt. She heard the ref slap the ground by her head, and there were some logical reasons to do just what Carmen said: stay down, let the count go to three, and leave it at that. For one, she’d only just made a full recovery from her previous injury, and getting injured again wasn’t exactly at the top of her “to do” list. And, they would both still be in good enough condition they could shake hands, then maybe go casually tour Ueno together for a good time. Maybe even get intimate again before it’s all said and done.

But as wonderful as that sounded, a prideful fighter like Akino would never allow herself to let a fight end before she’d given it her all, especially considering this was her first opportunity to ever challenge for a championship. And this match was still young, even if they both hadn’t wasted any time in moving to some heavy firepower. Losses Akino could handle. But she had no intention of giving the impression, to Carmen or anyone else, that she would give up a battle while there was even an ounce of fight left in her.

“Two...!”

As the ref’s hand was just starting to come down for the final count, Akino grunted she threw one arm up to jolt her shoulder off the ground. “Not a chance...” she said, though because she was still winded the words were barely more audible than a soft mutter.

Carmen had a moment where she thought she might’ve actually gotten the chance to put away Akino, looking forward to finishing the maid off early. The match hadn’t gone on too long, but it didn’t really need to - bouts like this could end at anytime, for any reason.

So, she was a bit annoyed when Akino defied her good intentions and kicked out of the pin. Just a little. she could respect her lover’s pride, but there was going to be a point where it became a nuisance, she could tell.

”Some chance.” She pulled Akino up by the arm and lifted her up, putting her on her shoulders. From there, she grabbed her by the chin and thigh, then pressed down and bent her at the middle, going for a torture rack.

It wasn’t the strongest move, but Carmen wasn’t looking to make her tap with it. She just wanted to keep her in pain as she walked down the hall and moved into the cafeteria, figuring that might be a good place to make things more interesting.

Akino had broken the pin and was soon back on her feet, though not by her own efforts. Carmen had dragged her back up, only to hoist the maid face up onto her shoulders, forcing her to stare up at the florescent lights in the ceiling. The brightness made her squint, but was a minor annoyance compared to the pain that began surging through her back.

“Argh!!” Akino yelled out, while writhing in place over Carmen’s shoulders. Her immediate instinct was to reach out for the champ’s head in an attempt to coil her arm around the girl’s neck for another surprise sleeper attempt. But as she tried, Akino was dismayed to find her arm couldn’t quite reach far enough to make it work. Her hand essentially pawed at Carmen’s face, but that was about as far as she’d get with it. She cursed under her breath, knowing her only option for the moment seemed to be to ride out the pain while Carmen carried her around backstage.

If there were any first-time viewers watching this match, seeing Akino drag the champ around by the hair moments ago probably didn’t give them a very strong, or accurate, impression of Carmen’s skill. But any doubts made then were now being erased. Akino was trapped while the boxer went wherever she pleased, and did whatever she pleased. Not a good spot for the maid. And as the scents of various foods soon became noticeable, Akino had a feeling things were only going to get messier.