Daisuke Takeuchi vs. Hagiwara, Sakura - Part II

While her last putting in this three match series hadn't exactly gone as smooth as she may have liked, in the end she managed to squeak out a victory over Daisuke Takeuchi. It had been an embarrassing but valuable experience to tangle with the self-proclaimed wrestling prince in oil but she was happy that tonight's venture was going to be more straightforward. It was pretty clear to her that their first encounter had been designed to be in his favor, taking advantage of her inexperience with that sort of match to try and secure an easy win… maybe that would have worked when she was first starting out, but after here time in Berserk, the idol wrestler knew a thing or two about not backing down and seeing her matches through, even if all seemed lost. Tonight, he was going to get a good taste of what she could actually do… she didn't think he was ready.

Theme:

Sakura Hagiwara:

Sakura Hagiwara came charging through the curtains onto the stage to a deafening roar of the crowd. The idol known round the world was an obvious can favorite which was easily seen and heard from the audience rising up to about and cheer for Sweet Diva's own lead singer. Signs for herself, for Berserk, and Sweet Diva littered the crowd, bobbing up and down through a sea of cheering bodies. Her following was fierce and loyal, coming out in mass to show their support ever since news she joined AFW hit the presses.

Dashing down the ramp, she stretched out a hand to clap her palm against outstretched high fives, making sure she got as many as she could. Bounding up the steel steps, she planted her hand on the top rope and vaulted over to land easily with silent grace. Throwing a hand up, fingers parted with a V for victory as she shouted her thanks out to the crowd. With loud pops, an explosion of red and wilhite streamers were fired off from the ringside area to flutter through the air and into the ring. She held the pose with a wide smile until the last paper streamer settled, turning her attention to Daisuke where a bit of her glowing charisma gave way to a more stern and serious look.

"I hope you are ready for a real battle this time. No oil here to slip me up anymore." Sakura gave him the smallest of nods, a simple acknowledgement from one wrestler to another. She cuddled with her wrist bands and shifted her weight from side to side, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "Looking forward to see what you can do… but don't think I've forgotten our last match." The idol gave a casual warning, still looking for a measure of justice for some of his last transgressions in the ring. Him trying to smother her with his crotch and the dirty trick he used to blind her for the last leg of their first match, specifically. Matters like this needed to be settled in the ring with a bit of tough love and she was more than happy to collect on that had karma here tonight.

"Hmph. Go ahead and try. The only thing you are going to be reminding me about is what it's going to sound like when they announce I've beat you, again." Sakura flashed Daisuke a smirk, no real malice in her tone, just making some lighthearted trash talk. Step over step the idol circled opposite the wrestling Prince with arms raised in waiting expectation for him to charge her. To her surprise, he was being reserved and cautious, perhaps having learned not to underestimate her after all. After a few more moments of inaction, Sakura dipped forward to dash toward him, zooming forward in a curved path to approve from an angle.

She closed the last of the distance with a small hop, twisting her whole body with the landing motion to snap her leg out with a vicious high roundhouse, carrying her mom's fun into the strike. "Hah!" Her long leg extended all the way, whipping around to try and catch him heavily in the side of the head, looking to knock the sense out of him with her opening move. If she managed to land the blow, she would immediately attempt to lock up with him, taking advantage of him possibly reeling to get the upper hand in a collar and elbow lock.

Surprised and a bit impressed, Sakura found her high kick intercepted, sinking into Daisuke's arm rather than landing where she had intended. It was a solid impact, one he seemed to absorb easily enough. She hadn't taken him for being capable when dealing with strikers given their last match up but it made sense for the self proclaimed wrestling prince to be well rounded. Despite not gaining the upper hand in their tie up, she thankfully had locked horns with him before he had a chance to exploit the opening in her kick. That was something to be thankful for.

Without the oil, gaining a good trip was child's play. While her history in the ring with men was all but non existent, she had battled her way through the ranks of many women of comparable size to Daisuke making the exchange feel familiar despite their differences in gender. Still, something as small as thirty pounds made a big difference when he started to bear down on her. Taking a bracing step back she struggled at first with shaky arms as he pushed, using his small height advantage against her. In turn, she spread her legs a bit wider and lowered her center of gravity, pushing towards him instead of up to force him to lean in awkwardly or step back to keep pushing against her.

"No tricks here, just good wrestling acumen!" With a sudden surge of power she went low, trying to shrug off the hand hooked behind her neck, reaching out to attempt to hook one of her arms around one of his thighs. She shoved her shoulder towards his midsection while trying to yank his leg off the mat trying to knock him down onto the mat with a single leg takedown while remaining upright herself. If she managed to get him down, she would keep hold of the captured leg, holding it at an angle before throwing her weight up and kicking her own shapely legs out to drop them down across the suspended limb, trying to stack up damage early on one of his legs to make things easier later.

Sakura's weight came crashing down across Daisuke's leg, adding more force than a simple strike could have done. Even now, she kept a hold of his ankle, showing no sign of slowing down as she looked to keep up her momentum with a bout of chain wrestling. Tucking her legs in between her opponent's, she popped back up holding his battered limb, stepping one leg over it gave it a hard twist, trying to flop the man beneath her onto his front. From there she lowered herself down, tucking his leg under one of her arms as she declined to seat herself on the small of his back to lock in a single leg boston crab.

Anyone who was familiar with her utter failure in wrestling when she had first started would know she was familiar with this hold, one that had been used so many times to defeat her in rings just like this. Those days however were done and she had since taken back use of this move in particular to show just how far she had come. The wrestling idol clapped a hand on Daisuke's knee, using that as added leverage to crank the limb backwards. "Give up?"

"Hmph!" Sakura let out a slightly incredulous huff at her opponent's refusal to surrender, despite her being almost certain he wouldn't. He had already proven himself to be just as stubborn as he was arrogant when it came to facing her. She wasn't certain if it was something he directed at all female wrestlers who stepped into a Tension ring or just her due to her idol beginnings, but she wasn't about to let him make light of just how threatening a wrestler she really was. Their first match had done quite a lot to undermine her skill, making the battlefield so different he had almost beaten her handily in the beginning. The tables had turned now.

Sakura hiked her hands on her legs, getting a good firm grip as she declined along his back. With each hard tug she bounced a bit, scooting herself back a bit farther to make the angle of the hold steeper and more painful as she worked to maintain it. If he wanted to get free, he was going to have to work for it and she was going to Make him pay for every inch of that journey to the ropes. She was confident in her ability to keep him locked down, until he unexpectedly gave her boot a hard tug when she was repositioning.

Her leg slipped out from under her, her knee banging against the canvas as she rocked to the side, awkwardly fighting to keep her balance. To do that she promptly let one of his legs go, keeping her knee planted and the other sole of her foot on the mat she transitioned the hold quickly into a single leg boston crab. It had been a close call but she had managed to still keep some measure of control.

"Give up now?" She called back over her shoulder again, letting him struggle to drag their weight towards the ropes.