Ninjette vs. The Mask - Dogfight

HHKozue was a small little thing, but people often made the mistake of thinking that made her fragile. True, she couldn't dish the straight out damage like heavy-hitters, but she'd grown up in Jersey. The unpleasant part of Jersey. Even if you took away her training, she was no stranger to pain - dealing it and getting dealt it.

The stomps to her back hurt, but she could take them, and she didn't blame Mask for doing it, either - if the positions were switched, she'd be doing the same. Probably worse. The crowd had a way of siding with the women in these matches, but she didn't think that was fair. She made the decision to come in here, go toe to toe with a man and put herself on equal footing, and that meant taking what any guy would have taken in her position. She would have greatly preferred that he not grab her hair, but even so...fair is fair.

He eased up on the assault and backed up, giving her some room, and she started to rise. Hurting, yes, but not quite as much as she let on, not too groggy, and with enough presence to see him from the shadow of her hair as she rose. When he bounced off the ropes and came towards her, she ran towards him and jumped, trying to close the distance before he could react and hitting him with a running dropkick.

Charging in for his Twister, The Mask was surprised that Ninjette was also running towards him. More so when she jumped and one upped him by landing that drop kick to the chest, bringing the masked guy down on his back like a twig. He groaned, an arm holding his chest while the other was raised above his head, his body rolled weakly onto his side. That failed epically.

"Gao...!"

Maybe he should have kicked her harder instead of just making a show about it. Good lesson to take on for the next time. For now, though, it seemed another turnover was in the agenda...

And down he went, like a tree in the forest, only she was around to hear him make a noise. A weird noise, but she was getting used to it.

She was starting to learn that she couldn't take anything for granted, though, not with him - he was a list full of question marks. She had to follow up, keep the momentum going as long as she could and seize the moment, and the best way to do that was with a good aerial attack, sticking with the running theme for this match.

She ran over him and jumped on the ropes, flipping off with a moonsault and getting a full 360° before she crashed into him with a senton, using her back to hammer him into the mat. If that connected - big 'if'- she'd go for the pin.

Even without being able to hear the sound of Ninjette rushing to the ropes or see her clearly, the rumbling on the mat gave The Mask a bit of ideas about what's going on. He glanced over to see his opponent already taking off the ropes, going for an aerial strike. This is going to be nasty. The audiences were already gasping at the flight of the ninja girl, most of them expecting her to hit her target.

With only seconds to move out of the way, The Mask grunted and push himself off the mat, rolling himself outside the landing area of the ninja girl, just barely. It took a lot of effort, or at least it felt like it did, but he managed to pull it of in the end.

Kozue had come to love the feel of flight. You jump off, you go airborne, and there's this moment, this golden second where the cameras are flashing and you're bathed in a world of light. It was like a shot of energy right in the veins, a flashing high.

But what goes up must come down, and it doesn't always do so gracefully.

It was a senton, so she landed on her back and not her face, but that was the only saving grace when she came down, hitting the mat hard and rolling away on impact. She flopped onto her chest and kicked her legs a bit, burying her face into the canvas.

The Mask slowly sat up after he evaded the air strike, panting a bit as he watched the ninja girl flopped to the mat. Following danger came opportunity, and it might be a chance for him to start cracking up her resistance. She might not appreciate it, though, and there's a good chance that the crowds wouldn't too. Not that it'd matter for him. The worst thing they could do was probably booing him anyways.

Shifting to his knees, he started crawling towards his opponent, wanting to lay his side onto her back before wrapping his arms around her face for a Crippler Crossface. An obligatory beast-like roar would also follow once he managed to apply the lock completely.

And once again, the momentum had flipped on its head, changing sides faster than a hockey puck in the last period.

She started to roll away, but she wasn't fast enough to get out of the ring, not nearly enough to get away from him. He was on her, fast and furious, getting all over her back, gripping her head and pulling back with a move that lived up to its name, one she even recognized long before she stepped into the ring - the Crippler Crossface.

Kozue shrieked - not screamed, but legitimately shrieked - as her head was pulled back and her neck was wrenched. She managed to bite it back after a moment, but the wail lingered in her head. This hurt. This hurt more than any other submission hold she'd been put through so far, and it had strong competition. Gritting her teeth, she tried to push forward and get to the ropes.

"Orrraaa!" The Mask roared again while still holding Ninjette in the crossface hold, trying to keep her still in the spot.

He kept the hold for several more seconds before letting the ninja girl go and rolled away from her, but that's not because he took pity on her. The masked fighter got up and stood next to his opponent, raising his right elbow and patted it a few times with his other hand to show everyone what's coming next. He probably could have done worse things, but taking his time to set up for a fancy move hadn't paid so well so far.

Having declared his intention, The Mask would then drop himself to the mat, thrusting his elbow downwards as he aimed for Ninjette's back again. Should he succeed in doing that, he would follow up by rolling the girl onto her back, hooked one of her legs, and pinned her.

Luckily, Ninjette didn't have to make it to the ropes to get the Mask to let up - he just didn't. But Kozue had know the Mask long enough - ten or so minutes - that she could guess he wasn't doing it out the goodness of his heart. It just meant more pain was coming.

Sure enough, he came down on her with his full weight and crashed into her back, making her body convulse as the pain shot up her spine, flopping about a fish on a hook. He went for the pin, scooping her up, and the ref slid in for the count.

"1...!"

Okay, the guy wasn't just good, he was really good. Kozue almost wished he could talk just so she could figure out what his deal was, maybe pick up a few pointers herself. He hadn't been in the AFW ring before this as far as she knew, but he'd been somewhere before. Someone had given him some damn fine training.

"2...!"

But be that as it may, she wasn't just rolling over and letting him get it. Kozue had no intention of being the first wrestler in Tension history to get pinned after an elbow drop, of all things.

She shot her arm up right before the three-count, earning a fresh round of cheers from the audience as the suspense started to build - this was a tough match to call, no doubt.

The pin was broken after two counts, and The Masks let her go, letting out a sigh afterwards. He stood up and jerked the arm which he used to elbow her a bit before moving behind her. The masked guy kept his distance relatively short this time, his body lowered while his hands rested on the knees. He was waiting.

All Ninjette had to do was to raise herself and turned around. The Mask was planning to strike her down again, and he decided that a close range move might give him a better chance than an aerial strike or a charge. A stomp to her knee followed with a stunner, for example, might work wonders.