Stress Relief at the Dojo

Kozue moved in as her hands went up for the lockup, looking ready to clash with her head on and go arm for arm. "Don't doubt it. You ever want to come to the sunnier side of the AFW and kick ass with me and Charlie, let me-"

She broke off in mid-sentence before they met for the lockup, then tried to duck under Alaina outstretching arm and pop out behind her. If all worked well, she would have enough time to spin around and catch the Amazon with a quick low kick to the back of her legs, hoping she could at least meet one of Junko's challenges before they were done here.

Alaina fell for it, much too easily for her liking. She reached out only to watch Kozue duck underneath. As Alaina turned she felt the kick to the back of her legs, knocking her down to a knee!

"Oh shit, oh no you don't!" Alaina said frantically as she tried to twist her torso around to face behind her, at least somewhat. She also knew a blow to the neck was coming, so she put her hands up defensively on instinct to avoid the second part of Junko's challenge for Kozue to complete....

Kozue felt the immediate need to drop everything, throw her hands up, and do a victory dance the moment her kick connected. It was a small thing, but after trying so hard to make that one move work and finally having it connect, she could have thrown a party.

Instead, she simply went for the follow up and swung her leg around again for a roundhouse kick. That one was less successful - Alaina blocked it, it bounced off her guard. But that didn't mean Kozue was done using that leg.

She didn't let it go down after the kick and decided to just move into another one. She brought the leg up, twisted it around a bit to get the proper position, and brought it down towards the top of Alaina's head with an axe kick, looking to chop her right down the middle.

Well, Alainas defense partially worked. However, the axe kick brough Alaina straight down to the mat!

"Argh! S-shit!" Alaina said as she fell to her back, grabbing her head with both hands, kicking the mat in pain. Kozue really knew how to land a nasty strike...

Alaina sudden, splitting headache stunned her to say the least.

When all else failed, at least Kozue could depend on her legs for some good, quick damage. Her kick landed right on top of Alaina's skull, and the results were immediate - for one, precious moment, she had everything under control.

It wasn't going to work any miracles, but she figured she might as well take what she could get when she could get it. Kozue did a quick back drop on Alaina's stomach, then grabbed her leg and lifted it up for the pin.

As Kozue landed on Alaina, she felt the wind leave her chest cavity! Her leg was hooked and she was gasping for air as the count began at 1..... and continued to 2 before Alaina thrust Kozue off of her with her arms.

Alaina watched Kozue as she got to a knee, much more slowly than she would have liked. Kozue hit fast, which was expected. The force of the kicks was unexpected given a first glance at Kozue. "Y-you pack a lot of..." Alaina was slowly getting her breath back, but still suffering from naving the wind knocked out of her. "A lot of power in... those strikes."

Kozue managed a laugh as she rolled away and made it back to her feet. A sweaty, wheezy, tired laugh. "You keep complimenting me like that and Mamoru will get jealous." She was still dodgy about her chances, but at least she'd made a good gain, there. No satisfaction. Not nearly good enough. But it was a start.

She reached over and grabbed Alaina by the wrist, trying to send her running with an Irish Whip. Kozue's plan was to jump up and hit her with a cross-body block the moment she came back, but the best laid plans...

Alaina felt herself yanked up as she got her breath back. "Don't worry, I have plenty of ways to show him how special he is." Alaina said with a tired grin. "I also know a few ways to get out of this little spot I am in!"

She recognized what Kozue was trying to do, so she planted her feet and tried to resist the whip to the ropes completely, followed up by trying to pull Kozue in with one arm towards her other, outstretched arm for a clothesline! Unfortunately, if Kozue ducked this, Alaina was in a prime position for a lot of failure.

Fortunately, Kozue wasn't ducking this. She got slammed right into it.

Part of the problem was that she'd been in the middle of doing a jump for the cross-body block when Alaina pulled her in for the clothesline. It took her off guard - she knew Alaina was fast for a girl her size, but she didn't think there was that much pep left in her step. But there was. Oh, there was.

"Gah!" She took the hit and got laid out once more, suffering the familiar sensation of her back slapping against the canvas.

Alaina felt the impact, and heard the thud as Kozue hit the mat. She instinctively flopped herself on top of Kozue and hooked her leg.

"Sorry for the harsh landing...." Alaina said as the count began. Kozue was like non-stop motion, and Alaina felt fairly accomplished to have reigned her in at some points during the spar.

One.....

"I mighta lost track of the score, you don't happen to know do you?" Alaina asked innocently. She wasn't trying to rub anything in, she just in all honesty got caught up in the spar. Any lapse in focus would have already resulted in a Kozue victory from Alaina's appraisal of Kozue's ability.