The Arisawas vs. The Rodriguezes - World Warriors

Natsuko steadied herself on the bottom rope while taking in the masterful exchange of impactful strikes and swift recoveries. Eagerly absorbing all she could in wide-eyed admiration for both of the people fiercely going at it. She was dying to have her crack at it but was still in no hurry to interrupt the expert display between two masters of their craft.

A part of her was kinda worried about how that was a tough act to follow...but whatever. Now that they had some time to feel eachother out, Natsu was bursting in excitement to get back in there already!! She could joke around about how difficult a time she had choosing who to root for, but she knows better than to wish against family. As long as Goto could walk away with just a smidgen more respect for the lady warriors, than her plan was a moderate success.

"Ah well...She was still tougher than you thought, right?" Natsu extended her hand out and wiggled her fingers if Goto really wanted to tag her in. Despite being in her brother's corner for the altercation, she couldn't help but express some disappointment that Carmen couldn't efficiently break past his guard. They broke even. Even happens.

Carmen came back up after the dragon screw, getting ready to move back in as Goto did the kip up. Things were going well so far. She hadn’t staked an advantage over him yet, but she was fairly certain her wrestling skills would eventually make the difference in this fight. She couldn’t be sure how much Goto had trained for Tension, but she wagered her grappling skills would trump his.

If she was ever going to find out, though, it looked like this wouldn’t be the day. Goto had his fill of mixed wrestling in this mixed wrestling match, it seemed.

Carmen didn’t say anything. Not a single word, not a syllable, not a grunt. Her face did the talking for her, clearly showing the annoyance on her face, staring at him with the same face her mother gave Army when he misbehaved as a child. She straightened up and crossed her arms, waiting for him to do what he would.

Goto only narrowed his eyes at Natsuko as she tried to make light of the situation. He smacked her hand and slipped through the ropes. He crossed his arms as he inhaled from his position at their corner.

"Do your best, Na-chan." He said, his tone genuine but a bit cold. His reasons for doing the things he did were his alone and he didn't need his sister and some stranger trying to embarrass him just because they didn't like it. Aside from that, if Natsuko was serious about this career, Goto needed to make sure she was ready for it and he couldn't do that if he was beating up the prospective opponents. So far, he didn't think this place was right for his baby sister at all. He certainly didn't think it was right for him.

"Pssh...Like I would do anything else~..." Natsu giddily remarked. The stinging smack to her extended hand felt like the echoing gunshot to kickoff a horse race, the spunky schoolgirl vaulting over the top rope and bounding on the balls of her sneakered feet. Natsu respectfully offered Carmen the chance to test her mettle against her badass older brother to see what she was getting herself into by challenging him, and to hopefully put some cracks in her brothers chauvinistic barrier and have him lighten up.

But Natsu had her own deep-seated ambitions to satiate, and putting her skills to the test against a certain 24/7 Tension champion eyeing her across the ring sent a giddy thrill up her spine. "I know...I know...but I warned you not to get too pissed when you got to know him better." Natsu teasingly reminded Carmen in regards to her stubborn brother thankfully out of earshot of her. The school-girl resuming her spotty fighting stance and danced around the ring in tandem with her Puerto-Rican adversary.

In direct contrast to the granite wall of motionless defense her brother utilized, Natsu would be ceaseless ball of scurrying energy. She attempted to outpace Carmen in their circling and keep her approach unpredictable. All before abruptly rushing in to make a grab attempt for her wrist, and from their twist in place and hopefully heave Carmen off her feet in a simple over the shoulder arm drag.

As Natsu stepped inside the ring with an overabundance of cheer and energy, Carmen took a deep breath and let her hands fall to her sides, relaxing her shoulders as she forced some calm into her nerves. She was a little mad, but there wasn’t any reason to take any of that out on Natsu. She could be professional about things.

”I’ve had worse.” Carmen gave Natsu a quickly, softhearted reply as they started to circle around the ring, shuffling in a perfect circle. She managed to keep up with the lithe Japanese girl, but just barely. Natsu was nimble, impossibly light on her feet, and when she moved in Carmen only had a split second to react. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough time.

Up and over Carmen went, tossed with an impressively executed judo throw from the lighter, younger woman. She unceremoniously crashed flat on her back, taking the brunt of the impact up and down her spine with an aggravated grunt and a tight wince.

The second time in two minutes an Arisawa had knocked her down. Not a trend she planned on getting used to.

Natsu wasn't just cooling her heels while Carmen and her brother exchanged blows and spiteful glances. Being the spectator to all of that showed the schoolgirl that Carmen was remarkably adept at counter striking and regrouping after taking a heavy blow. Normally, Natsu was perfectly content with letting her fists do the talking in a match. But after tangling with Goto, she assumed that Carmen would have been looking for more of the same tactic from his adorable sister. So Natsu opted to defy expectations and go for a simple judo throw on Carm, smiling downward with a perky grin towards her freshly flipped foe.

"Whew...you're heavier than you look. Ah, no offense..." Natsu winced at the perhaps inappropriate comment she just sort of blurted out. She better cut her loses and move on before things get awkward. Her first wrestling maneuver in Tension was a success though, so what better way to celebrate than try another one?

Sprinting off to the sides, the fleet-footed schoolgirl would jump up to plant her sneakers on the middle rope and rebound back towards Carmen for an attempted flying lionsault right atop her opponents hopefully still prone figure.

Natsu was a small little thing - if she weighed so much as a pound over a buck twenty, Carmen would be surprised - but it was a testament to her fighting ability that her size didn’t seem to matter. She still flipped the heavier boxer over with less effort than you’d expect, and Carmen could certainly testify that it had quite a bit of impact behind it.

On top of that, it knocked off Carmen’s equilibrium. Not for very long, but long enough for Natsu to take advantage of it. By the time she sat up and started to recover, she had a flying schoolgirl to deal with, descending on her body at an alarming rate.

Natsu crashed with surprising force, driving the 24/7 Champion into the mat and knocking the wind clean out of her. It was only the third or fourth solid hit she’d taken in this match, so it was hardly enough to put her down for a three-count, but this wasn’t a good start.

Taking matters to the sky was another way Natsu intended to keep Carmen guessing. The 24/7 champion was surely expecting the schoolgirl to mount her and go for some ground and pounding after being flipped over like a sack of potatoes. And besides, what better to make a splash in this federation than by making some literal splashes?

Natsu tensed her abs to lessen the resounding impact on herself as she sailed through the air, closing her eyes and imagining how friggin cool she must look before crashing down on Carmen's midsection and confirming she made the right decision. "Woo-hoo!!~" Natsu delightfully punctuated her successful slam with an exuberant cheer after propping herself on her knees and raising her fists in triumphant victory. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl after hearing the audience generously respond with their own, more subdued "Woo-hoo~...", thrilled to not just get a reaction but that she was genuinely living out several dreams at once. Competing in a high-profile match on Tension and having a title holder on the ropes...oh, speaking of...

"Whew...thanks for not moving, Carm. Think I'm actually doing better than my bro. How crazy's that?" Natsu cheerfully continued her tradition of talking without thinking as shuffled over to straddle Carm's sore abdomen. Now Natsu figured was a good time for that ground and pound action. She reached down to cup the back of Carm's scruffy head and reared her clenched fist back before attempting to deliver several jarring jabs to her noggin.

Carmen could concede that, perhaps, she’d underestimated Natsu. It was plainly obvious when you looked at the fact that she’d spent the majority of their time together on her back eyes to the ceiling. It wasn’t going so well up to this point, and she certainly could’ve improved on the situation in a number of ways. Like getting back on her feet, for starters.

In fact, she’d just started to do that when the jubilant ball of energy known as Natsu Arisawa straddled her waist to keep it from happening, taking the mount. Carmen grunted as her head was grabbed and pulled up, and then came the punches.

They came in fast, slapping against Carmen’s face in rapid succession, hammering her in the jaw and the nose and the teeth and the eyes. They weren’t too powerful individually, but Natsu delivered them with precision and speed, rattling away at her guard with a staccato pace.

From the sidelines, she could hear Army calling out. ”Hey, sis, having a little trouble in there?”

”Cierra la boca, Army!” She managed to get out during a brief pause, before another blow rocked her skull.

Lacking the destructive force of her much more brawnier sibling, Natsu had to compensate for that shortcoming by being that much more aggressive when it came to connecting with as many strikes as she could, when she could. She attempted to concentrate her flurry of MMA gloved fists between Carm's eyes and the bridge of her nose to heighten her sense of disorientation, rearing her arm back with enough distance to make them impactful and hopefully not give Carm enough time to recover her rattled senses.

Eventually Natsu relented in her mounted strikes that were bobbing against Carm's head, raising an eyebrow to the fiercely hollered comeback towards her brother, Army. Natsu not having the faintest clue what she said, but assuming it wasn't anything decidedly cheerful considering the predicament she was in.

"Hrm...your brother can be a jerk sometimes too, huh?" Natsu queried towards the downed Tension champ, her pumping adrenaline keeping her tenaciously clingy and on point in terms of transitioning to her next attempted maneuver. She scooted over to Carm's side with both of her arms grabbing Carmen's right wrist, pinching her right arm between Natsu's toned legs. The back of one of her leg would drape over Carmen's face with Natsu's other leg resting on Carm's chest, the spunky schoolgirl bucking her hips and elongating Carmen's entrapped arm in the attempted armbar.