Giulia la Rocca vs Kyo Akamatsu

Prostyle Match
Standard rules apply
Victory conditions: Pinfall, submission, KO


The night was practically buzzing with excitement as the crowd waited for the next match to start. There had been rumours that one of the recent up and comers in Tension was about to be pitted against one of the league's bigger names, and already, theree= was speculation on why was next. Either way, she audience knew, two wrestlers would be battering the hell out of each in the ring.



The first of those wrestlers was quick to reveal himself. "Kanjite Knight" from the Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z soundtrack blared, and the fans burst into cheering as Kyo Akamatsu strode into the arena. As usual, he seemed focused and serious, giving his fans a faint smile and a nod as he entered. He was wearing his usual knee-length black tight and matching boots and pads, giving the audience a good view of his fit and tattooed upper body. He seemed focused, formidable, and ready to win.

Wordlessly, he slid under the ropes and hopped to his feet. As he strode into the ring, however, he did something unexpected-- he motioned to the ref girl, and quietly asked that he be given her microphone. As the ref girl quietly handed it to Kyo, the crowd went silent-- Kyo Akamatsu was regularly known for fancy showmanship or speeches or trash talk, or anything else like that. Whatever was going on, it was something new.

Kyo waited for the crowd to die down completely before he spoke. "Recently, someone new just joined Tension," he said. "At first, a lot of people her took no notice of her, and assumed that she wouldn't get anywhere. That all changed last night." He paused for effect before continuing. "Last night, a newcomer took on Killer King and defeated him. Rarely in the history of Tension has that ever happened, but it seems that this new girl wants to make history. I think it's only fair that I give her that opportunity."

The crowd exploded into cheering when they realized who Kyo was talking about. Ignoring them, Kyo turned to face the opposite ramp of the arena. "Giulia la Rocca, if you're listening, I challenge you!" he declared. "If you're good enough to beat Killer King, then I want to see just how good. But if you think I'm doing this just because I'm a fan, think again: we both want title shots eventually, but there can be only room for one of us in the climb to the top!"

Wordlessly, he handed the mic back to the ref girl. As the crowd went wild, Kyo waited to see if Giulia would in fact show up...

Spoiler:

It hadn't been such a good day to begin with. Giulia La Rocca would really have preferred to just stay in bed. She felt like needing rest, some time to gather strength for the day. A lot of her body had been aching. Her neck and shoulders felt like jammed.

All of them were direct results of the events of last night. She had made her debut in AFW. She had issued an open challenge to anyone who wanted to face her. And of course, the one to appear had been probably the biggest and meanest guy in Tension. Killer King, was it? Anyway, the fight against him had been anything but fun.

Well, of course, the fun part was that she had won him. That had been amazing, a true testament to her strength. And that was something she was very proud of. Still, her body had taken a beating in the process, not to mention the way King surprise attacked her after her win. But you always had to pay something in life in order to get something, right?

The hopes of a day spent resting had soon come crashing down though. Giulia's cell phone had gone mad since the morning. Win the King in your debut match and suddenly everyone wants a piece of you. And honestly, Giulia didn't complain about it. After all, that's what she wanted. For people to admire her skill and strength.

That also meant that tonight she had put on her wrestling attire, and headed to the Tension arena for a promo shoot. Before the night's matches there was a perfect time for the company to shoot some material of their new strong girl. And after that, Giulia had a good chance to check out the night's matches. See what kind of opponents there were.

Right now, there was a black-haired, tattooed guy entering the ring. Based on how the crowd was loving him despite his rather calm behaviour, Giulia betted he was Japanese. And now he was talking. Although what he said hadn't really been expected by the Italian at all.

Well, apparently he was another one wanting to get a piece of her. The theme of the day.

So, did Giulia want to wrestle against him? Definitely. Did she want to do that now? Not really! But did she want to look like a coward? Never! Even if the challenger's words about title shots sounded strange for someone with a career of one match so far in AFW, there was only one possible thing to do now. Accept the challenge and go in the ring to show what she's got.

The crowds seemed to agree with her. Not really a surprise anymore after everything that day. Still, Giulia took some time to prepare herself mentally. She could let them wait for a couple of seconds in excitement. Eventually though, the tunes of her theme song started playing in the arena, signalling everyone that the challenge had been accepted.

Appearing as energetic as ever, the Italian started marching down the ramp. Waving at the crowds, she promptly then rolled into the ring. A careful eye might have noticed some soreness in her body as she got up, before the ref girl was promptly offering her the microphone.

Now that she was closer to the guy, Giulia had a good chance to evaluate him a little more before talking. He was definitely not nearly as big as Killer King, but still seemed to have rather muscular body. She would probably have no trouble lifting him up, but the interesting question was whether he had some skill to substitute the size with.

"Buona sera... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name... But that doesn't really matter, the lunatic that I won yesterday, I didn't know his either..." she started talking with her rather confident but politely flirty tone. "I have to say, you're not the first one who's wanted to see me tonight... But it's OK. I'm used to guys desperate to become my next victims..." the Italian decided to tease a bit before a final "But don't worry, I'm nice!" in an overly convincing tone.

After that, Giulia gave the mic away and decided to proceed to her corner for a couple of squats, in case the calm Japanese guy decided to remain silent.

Kyo watched as his soon to be opponent's theme music blared, and then he tensed as he saw a new figure stride into the ring. The crowd went wild at that moment, and the newcomer responded with enthusiastic waving and smiling to the fans as she strode down the ramp. Kyo had heard little about Giulia, save a few references to her being a "tiny terror" in the ring. At the time, he had had no idea what that meant.

As Giulia rolled into the ring, however, he got a good look at just how tall...or, rather, not...Giulia actually was. The black-haired girl was startlingly short, barely coming up to Kyo's chest. What she lacked in height, however, she made up for in density: the girl's body was packed with muscle, her arms, chest and especially legs rippling with power under her one-piece sleeved outfit. Now he could see why she had given King such a tough time: in terms of sheer physical strength, she was not the lightweight her height would otherwise suggest.

He also noted that he could still see a few lingering bruises on her thighs. He felt a pang of guilt when he realized that she might still be recovering from her bout with King. Even if that was the case, Giulia had answered his challenge. She must have known what she was getting into.

As Giulia initiated her trash talk, Kyo simply gave her a polite smile. "Kyo Akamatsu," he said, introducing himself with a courteous bow, ignoring her flirty tone and responding with almost stereotypical Japanese modesty. "I apologize if you haven't heard of me before...just as I apologize for the undoubtedly stinging defeat I will have to inflict on you tonight." His eyes leveled with hers, despite the height difference. "But I hope that you will give me a challenging battle all the same."

So, what was Giulia expecting to find in the ring after a debut match against Killer King? What prejudices did she might have had of another guy confidently challenging her to a match? Needless to say, her expectations were really not on the positive side. Another day, another fight against a ruthless guy. Guess that's how it was here in AFW.

As soon as Kyo started talking again though, it was immediately clear that he was somehow different. In almost every way. Granted, he was confident as well. But unlike King, he appeared as a polite man. Rather pleasant actually. Distinctly Japanese. Oh, and a fan favorite with that as well.

Her eyes meeting with his, Giulia was very curious about how this match was going to turn out to be like. On the other hand Kyo seemed like a familiar case: a nice guy, ready to be defeated in the ring by a strong girl. On the other, he seemed very confident and experienced and it would probably be very dangerous to underestimate him. Especially as he was challenging her right after she had defeated King, a much bigger opponent than him. But it was just way too difficult to read his expressions to make anything sensible out of them.

Keeping the eye contact in place, Giulia still decided to be a tad nicer with him. He behaved respectfully, and so should she. Approaching him with her hand offered for a shake, she replied with "Nice to meet you, Kyo. If challenge is what you want, I'm happy to tell that's what you'll get."

Taking a couple of steps backwards after that, Giulia was getting all the more eager to find out what kind of fighter Kyo was like. And what could be a better way to do that than start the match off with a traditional lock-up? As soon as the bell rang, Giulia would be raising her hands up with a challenge. "So, you want to show me what you've got?"

This close, Kyo was able to get a much better look at Giulia, and what he saw impressed him. Despite her much shorter height, Giulia's frame was dense with powerful muscle, and even from a cursory glance, he could tell that she would probably favour a lot of lifts, strikes and slams-- heck, she could even lift him if he wasn't careful. He couldn't tell, however, how quick she was, or what level of skill she was. It would be an interesting challenge, fighting a powerhouse who was actually smaller than him.

As Giulia backed away and offered a test of strength as the bell rang, he smiled. "I'd be happy to, Rocca-san," he replied, mirroring her circle as he watched her carefully. Darting forward, he would lock up with her, pushing and twisting against his shorter foe as he tested her strength. He would pour pressure into the grapple, mostly in an attempt to prove to Giulia that he was no pushover in the strength department, even if he was no Killer King.

A few seconds into the grapple, however, he would suddenly dart in, clamping an arm around her head and squeezing it tightly against his abs in a frontal headlock. As he poured pressure on Giulia's skull, he would try to drop back for a quick and effective suplex to get the match rolling.

The lock-up had its pros. And it had it cons. Giulia was much more into the pros, even if she at times did take advantage of the cons. The reason was quite simple. It allowed her to show off her strength, that she was so proud of. It could also give useful information about the strength level of the opponent. And sometimes, it managed to intimidate them.

With Kyo, the first two reasons were especially of interest. Giulia could see that he was solid, and with a rather impressive build for a Japanese guy. Or compared to how she had used to Japanese guys being anyway. And luckily, Kyo seemed all too eager to go along with her plan. When he came closer and the two connected with each other, it was clear for the Italian that Kyo was meaning business. Actually, Giulia had to take a few steps backwards in the beginning. That was part of her strategy, she'd increase her efforts to full power momentarily, right after she would have given a compliment that Kyo seemed to be very strong for a local guy.

Oh, but there were the cons of lock-ups as well. Usually the most relevant one of them was the fact that you could never tell how long the foe was going to play along with it. And Kyo decided to call it quits before Giulia had managed to give out any compliments yet.

This time, the Italian found her head suddenly held tightly against Kyo's abs. Apparently the Japanese guy favored other ways of demonstrating his physical capabilities than the lock-up. Fair enough. Giulia would raise her hand and hammer his side - well, if she would have had time to do so. Instead, a fast Suplex slammed the Italian's back to the mat, the impact sparking some reminders of her last night's bout with King.

"Nice one... Got a lot more of those?" Giulia commented in a rather unimpressed tone as she rolled herself rather quickly back up again. She was slightly annoyed by Kyo managing to deliver the Suplex so fast, but wanted to give the impression that it didn't matter to her at all, and definitely trying to hide the fact that the Suplex had hurt.

Rolling smoothly back up to his feet, Kyo saw Giulia doing the same-- spinning back up to her feet as though nothing had just happened. That wasn't too surprising-- the match had just begun, after all, and someone like Giulia was probably used to far worse bumps than this. "Plenty more, Rocca-san," he replied, his faint smile returning as he and Giulia bantered. "Is that a request?"

Circling Giulia again, he would dart in for another lockup. If Giulia accepted again, then the he would obligingly grapple again...before trying to snag his boot around hers, aiming to twist her arm behind her back as he took her down onto her front. So far, this was nothing but a bit of friendly chain wrestling as Kyo tested out Giulia's abilities. If Giulia was good enough to beat King, he knew, then this was just the calm before the storm...

This Kyo guy was interesting. He was, as he had just demonstrated, skilled indeed, and the way he was was expressing himself was still rather pleasant. His words of tonight's match being a challenge were bearing more and more weight - it looked like Giulia would really need to use her skills to come out on top, and Kyo seemed to be unlikely to resort to dirty tactics himself.

"Oh, please... I'm eager to see what a skilled man like you can do to a girl like me..." she replied him in a somewhat flirty tone, noticing the faint smile on his face. Playing along fearlessly and inviting him for more sounded like a good way to play this game. Maybe she could make Kyo think that she would actually enjoy his attacks, and then trap him when he least expects it...

So currently, there she was, approaching him apparently ready for another lock-up. But would Giulia allow herself to be fooled twice? No way. Her plan was to first get close to him, but at the last second hook her arm around Kyo's neck, and then fall backwards slamming his face to the mat with a simple DDT! Maybe that would make the two even for now.

As Giulia rolled back up to her feet, she was quickly moving again, matching his quip with a grin and what Kyo was fairly sure was a flirtatious response. It wasn't the first time that a female opponent had talked to him like that, but all the same, he felt himself blush a little at her tone. He hoped that Giulia hadn't picked up on that.

For the second time, the two of them grappled, Kyo staying mindful of how his shorter opponent might try to evade him. He was expecting her to try to slip behind him...but to his surprise, she instead slipped an arm around his neck. Surprised, Kyo was propelled forward, and only had time to twist his head to the side to avoid his face taking the blow. It was still enough to hurt, and still enough to leave him stunned for now.

Gingerly, he.rolled sideways, trying to roll back to his feet. "Not...bad..." he groaned, trying not to show how much that had hurt...

So, Kyo was giving her a challenge, and had managed to score a suplex on Giulia. That was something the Italian needed to get even with. And based on how Kyo had done his, she probably needed to get a little sneaky with it.

A short girl hooking her arm around his neck? Probably unexpected. And it turned out to be just that. Kyo was caught well off guard with it, and it was fairly easy for Giulia to suddenly slam his head to the mat. Rolling away from him, the Italian quickly glanced at him to see whether it had done any damage. Possibly yes, but Kyo was hard to read.

Along with those lines had been his reactions to Giulia's comments as well. There had been a faint smile, that was for sure, but the Italian couldn't really tell if there had been anything more than that. Maybe she had to find out.

"So, you wanted to get closer to me?" Giulia decided to ask Kyo, again with her flirty tone, as she had quickly gotten back up again and was making her way towards him. And right after that statement, her aim was to get Kyo into a tight bear hug hold immediately after he would have gotten back up again himself, curious to see his reaction to her actions.