Tension World Title Match: Reira Kirishima (C) vs. Kozue Kaburagi

Reira smirked her arrogant smirk, easily shoving the ninja back, planning on trapping the fool into the corner and taking her apart, until a sudden kick took her off guard, leaving her now standing in the ring with Kozue behind her, trapping her arm in a hammerlock.

"Gah, you little sneak!"

The champ yelled angrily, embarrassed at having been so easily played. Not thinking clearly, she used her free arm and started throwing her elbow back, trying to elbow the New Jersey Ninja in the head as she struggled to free her arm.

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"Well, maybe, but I don't think she's gonna win with a hammerlock. I think she's just stirrin up a hornet's nest, Clyde! That Ninja Gal's flexible and got the champ in a good position, but she ain't got clear skies just yet!"

”Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a little sneak, bitch, jerk, whatever.” Kozue rolled her eyes, getting pretty used to the name calling that always came in these sorts of matches. ”If you don’t mind, just need your-”

Kozue brought her forearm up to block the predictable elbow that came shooting towards her face. She slid her hand down Reira’s arm quick, grabbed it by the wrist, and forced it into a hammerlock, too.

”Thanks! Just what I needed!” Kozue wrenched both arms now, greatly enjoying the leverage. ”Small thought, might want to ditch this funky-looking gloves you got on. Making you real easy to grab, just letting you know.”

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"Ninjette's sure gon' need more than hammerlock to keep this firey veteran down! Look at her go! Throwin the elbow but Kaburagi caught it and we now we got a double hammer lock!"

"Say there Ms. Belle... You uh... Got someone you rootin' for? Who's your odds on favorite tonight?"

Well that didn't fucking work now did it!? Mentally chiding herself, gritting her teeth as her arms were wrenched.

Rather than respond to Kozue's taunt, Reira took the simple and easy option to break out of the hold, raising and stomping her foot down upon the challengers, hoping to squash it and force Kozue to break the hold, before her toes were broken instead. Cheap and simple, but effective.

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"Nope! Belle B. Barker could take em both! Though maybe I wouldn't mind seein the champ get hers fer not pickin you, Clyde! Owwww! See! Reira stomped that ninja gal's pretty lil pigges! This' why it pays ta wear boots!"

As Reira brought her foot down with the stomp, Kozue severely regretted taking her shoes off.

She let out a shrill yawp as the boot crashed right on her big toe and reflexes immediately took over, forcing her to let go of the hold. She hopped back on one aching foot, hissing as the numbness started to set into her bone, and she just there would be the ugliest bruise there after the match. She couldn't be mad, really, since she would've done the exact same thing if their positions had been swapped. Smart move from the champ. But if Reira thought that would be enough to make Kozue back off, she was about to be proven wrong. Painfully wrong.

A moment after the stomp, Kozue put her agility to use jumped up with her good foot. At the apex of her leap, she shot her legs straight out, hitting Reira with a dropkick before she'd have a chance to capitalize on the opening.

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"Aww why... Uh... Thank ya Belle that's mighty nice of ya... Uh... AND THERE'S Reira with a stomp to the foot!

Ninjette releases but she's quick to follow up with a high angle dropkick all the way to back of Reira's head and down goes Kirishima! Man! That's on helluva leap from Ninjette enough to make me jealous! And now our champ is on the defensive again against the corner!"

Ha, sometimes the simple moves were the best.

Reira was just patting herself on the back for that clearly awesome escape, giving her arms a quick stretch, when she was suddenly struck hard from behind, some kind of blow from Kozue to the back of Reira's head, pain exploding from her skull  as she stumbled forward, falling to her knees by the corner turnbuckle, groaning and rubbing the back of her head.

"GAH! FUCKING BITCH!"

Kozue flipped backward after the impact, her body turning into a full backflip as she arched through the air. Her hair whipped about, her back bent to its farthest, her legs swung overhead, and it all ended with her coming down on both feet. Perfect 10.

Of course, as soon as her foot hit the ground, she had to fall to one knee thanks to the roaring pain in her foot, but that was a small price to pay after such a slick move, one that allowed her to watch Reira go stumbling forward after a dropkick. Her dropkick. This was Kozue’s first title outing, and she had the World Champion on her fucking knees. She could do this.

Good feeling. She wanted more.

Kozue could’ve followed up with a lot of things - a tiger feint kick, some kind of bulldog, some weird sort of springboard kick thing. Instead, she decided to go with something a bit more simple and a lot more brutal. She popped to her feet, ran towards Reira in a furious dash, and hit her with a running knee to the back of the head at full steam, sandwiching her face into the turnbuckle.

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"Oh yeah, she's real flexible! An brutal too! The champ's been smashed real good. I know a move like that could finish someone off er at least make em woozy!"

Reira rubbed the back of her head, giving it a shake. She was the champ. Nothing was going to keep her down, especially not some goddamn dropkick bullshit!

Then came a second hard impact to the back of her head as Kozue's knee slammed into her, causing her head to propel forward and smash into the middle turnbuckle, Reira falling flat onto her back, groaning and dazed from the hard smashing blow.

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"Well If I didn't know it before, I do now! Gah Damn! What a display by Kozue Kaburagi with those flips! Oh baby~! And now the challanger is back on the attack.... Oh damn! Big knee to the back of the skull by Kaburagi! You said it first, Ms. Barker! Ninjettte. Is. Brutal!"

"You seem to be a fan of that flexibility! Ninjette your type, Ms. Belle?"

The audience collectively recoiled from the harsh blow. The impact was sonorous, heard all the way in the back row, and Kozue could only imagine how much the rough treatment sucked for the poor, poor, Tension World Champion. The champion who'd wormed her way into a title shot, who'd snatched the title away from John, who'd talked mountains worth of shit at every opportunity she'd got, who'd popped right in and hid the belt away from Tension wrestlers who'd been around the league far, far long than she had.

Yeah. Kozue didn't feel bad. Not one bit. She wished she could do it again "That's what you get."

She hopped back a couple of steps, but paused when she saw the position Reira was in. On the floor. Near the turnbuckle. Looking like she didn't know what planet she was on. Kozue knew exactly what to do with that. It was a little risky, but fuck it - if she was going to go nuts, this was the match to do it with. Judging from the crowd's cheers, they shared her sentiment.

Kozue ran forward, hopped over her opponent's prone body, jumped up to the top turnbuckle, the leaped backwards straight off, making sure to get as much air as she could. As she moved through space and gravity started to take hold, the New Jersey Ninja tucked her body inwards and did a full rotation forward, spinning around in the air as she fell, so she could come down on Reira with a perfectly executed Imploding 450° Splash!

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"Weeelll, ya know I only got eyes fer you, Clyde, but I wouldn't mind playing with her a bit! She's got sass, too, taunting\ the downed champ as she quickly scrambles up the top rope aaand-"

"Bawh garsh! She hit the champ with a big time move! That was so many turns I'm dizzy! This match is gonna be over before it even gets started, Clyde! I'm callin it now We gotta new champ right here, folks!"

"Ugh...dumb bi-DOOF!"

Reira yelled, her body reaching upwards as Kozue landed perfectly on her stomach with a powerful 450 splash, the redhead flopping back onto the mat with a groan. The crowd applauded loudly as the ref girl slid into position, expecting a pin attempt, wondering if she was about to crown a new Tension Champion in near record time!

So, that move sucked.

Not the move itself, really. Kozue executed it well, got just the right amount of torque, landed on target like she was supposed. Not bad considering she’d never even  used that one in a match before. What sucked about it was the impact, crashing into Reira’s chest with her own. The blow went straight into Kozue’s bones, rattled her ribs, knocked the wind clean out of her, and she had to roll away in pain right after touchdown as she hissed from the pain.

But it was worth it. As bad as it felt for her, it hurt Reira so much more.

Kozue scrambled over, flopped on Reira’s chest, hooked her leg, and pressed her shoulders to the mat. She took a deep breath, getting ready for what could be the most important three seconds of her life.

”1…!”