Gato Blanco vs. Kozue Kaburagi - She's Lost Control

And, once again, luck was on Kozue’s side, with a bit of skill for added flavor.

While she hadn’t expected Gato to be turned around when she landed the dropkick, she was glad it had gone down the way it had. Him being on his back instead of his chest offered certain opportunities for a fledgling high-flyer like herself.

Kozue did a quick kip up a moment after her back hit the ground, making her way up to her feet in a flash. She took a quick second to wink Holly’s way - because why not, she was enjoying herself - then took off in mad dash towards the ropes perpendicular to Gato Blanco, moving at top speed. She’d need all the momentum she could get for what she had in mind, here.

She bounced off the ropes and came running back to Gato, but she’d only taken a couple of steps before she leaped up and committed herself to the move. Kozue did a backflip as the momentum carried her body forward, but that wasn’t all - she also twisted her body around, putting it into a spinning motion. The end result was a little in-ring poetry, as she came down on the veteran luchadore’s chest with a move she hoped he’d appreciation: a standing corkscrew shooting star press!

Still in a recovery position, Blanco was staring up at the lights. Shaking his masked head, the luchador was glad to at least be taking in air, again, and was trying to get himself back to a hundred percent. Or, at least as close to it as he could be, given the pounding Kozue had just given him.

At ringside, Holly was a bit beside herself. Watching Blanco take hits like that was never easy, no matter how many times it happened. Even worse, though, was the cheeky wink that the Kubaragi girl flashed at her. "Oooh!!" Holly growled, face reddening in irritation. "Just- just kick her pert little butt, Mister!" Holly shouted.

Blanco looked up then, trying to figure out what had made Holly so angry. Which, unfortunately, drew his attention to ringside. Not to the spinning ninja that had just springboarded off the ropes and, quick as a hiccup, was coming hurtling down toward his vulnerable body.

"Aaarghh!" Blanco grunted. "NO!" Holly cried out. "OOOOOOH ..." the awed crowd cried out, as the impact rocked the ring. Even as small as she was, Kozue came down off the move with considerable force, making Blanco feel incredibly fortunate that his arms had been over the chest. Not the best protection, and he was still reeling from the blow, but it was better than a set of cracked ribs. The white-masked luchador rolled over onto his side, after that, coughs wracking his entire, lean body. Needing a breather, quite literally, the luchador tried to roll end over end, to put himself beneath the bottom rope.

Kozue rolled off Gato’s body with her fists raised high in the air, quite satisfied with herself at the moment. The match was young, but she was coming out strong so far, picking up a sizeable lead when it came to bodily harm inflicted. Now she just had to pin him and capitalize…

”Ah, shit.” She grumbled under her breath as she spotted Gato wisely rolling away to the ropes, getting into the safe zone. The pin probably wouldn’t have worked, anyway, but she’d been itching to try. Missed opportunity.

Oh, well. Others were opening up.

Gato was safe from a pinfall, but there were other things Kozue could do to follow up and keep the pressure poured on. She rose to her feet and gave Holly another wink, followed by a quick slap on her ‘pert little butt’ - which the crowd, of course, approved of. ”Watch this, babe.”

With that said, Kozue took off once more, barreling to the other side of the ring and hitting the ropes. She ran back towards Gato and dropped down on her side at the last moment with her legs extended, looking to hit her down foe with a baseball slide dropkick and force him all the way out of the ring.

Holly's face went from horrified concern to total rage in an instant- the slap of Kozue's bottom and the cocky wink sent her into a bit of a tizzy. Holly's chest heaved as she huffed and silently raged at the ninja. It didn't help that the ninja's cute little build was everything that made the buxom Brit feel insecure, but she was also kicking her man's ass! Any second now, Blanco was going to get back up, wasn't he?

Blanco, meanwhile was still trying to collect himself on the apron. Two heavy hits in a row like that were hard enough to take, let alone from someone with the speed and skill of the ninja. Even in Mexico, Blanco struggled to think of anyone that could match the Kubaragi girl for quickness. Reaching up, he grabbed hold of the middle rope, waiting to pull himself up. His eyes widened, however, at Kozue's next step: rushing at him with a baseball slide, aimed square at his chest.

Blanco released the rope and tried to slide off the mat, escape the blow, but between his aching chest and Kozue's impressive speed, that wasn't going to be in the cards. "AGH!" he cried out, as the ninja girl's precise boots slammed into his torso. Dropping off the rope, spinning with the force of the kick, Blanco managed to land on his feet. The luchador was reeling, though, walking around in slight circles, trying to get himself recalibrated to standing upright. This had turned into a faster-paced affair than he'd anticipated, and pretty quickly, he was going to need to do something to change the pace or momentum of this match.

God, Kozue was feeling good. Really damn good. Not quite as good as great sex, but it was up there.

It was still early, but she was already doing better in this match than she ever dreamed. A year ago, she wouldn't have seen herself going to toe-to-toe with a straight up luchador and holding her own, but here they were. He was on the outside, trying to catch his breath and reeling, while she was doing a whirlwind kip up back to her feet and bathing in the crowd’s applause. Could it get better?

Yes, she decided. Yes, it could.

Kozue took a few steps back, waiting for Gato to get up just enough for her to see his pretty little head over the ring apron. When she caught sight of her target, she broke into a sprint, but this time she wasn’t going for him - instead, she went towards the turnbuckle.

She bounded up the pad and a popped up to the very top, standing tall on the highest rung. After a quick breath, she turned her back to Gato and backflipped right off the turnbuckle, flying towards him on the outside of the ring with the famed Golden Triangle Moonsault!

At ringside, Blanco was still shaking his head, trying to catch his breath after the beating Kozue had been laying out on him. The young ninja was really taking it to him hardcore, once she'd found her groove, leaving the luchador reeling. Hanging with both arms draped over the barricade, Blanco's chest and shoulders heaved, as he caught his breath. His masked face bobbed for a second, as he tried to gather his wits.

From the other side of the arena, Blanco could hear Holly shouting something, something he couldn't make out. As he turned back toward the ring and looked for Kozue, though, he felt he could make an educated guess at it: Kozue, sprinting up the turnbuckle, getting into position for a moonsault!

Blanco watched the young woman come sailing off the turnbuckle, boldly throwing herself down with the high-risk move. Blanco admired her courage, and her technique looked solid. He almost hated to evade it. However, the luchador knew that he would have hated eating yet another of her high-flying moves even more! With a short dash, Blanco adjusted his position at the last second, backing off to see exactly where Kozue would land, and how hard.

As Kozue went flying off the turnbuckle and entrusted her fate to gravity, she had a wide smile on her face. She’d been practicing this particular move for a good, long while now, but hadn’t really had much of a chance to bust it out. AFW matches, more often than not, stayed inside the ring.

But now she had the opportunity, and she was going for it - a beautiful, picture perfect moonsault that was guaranteed to make the highlight reel. The only thing that would’ve made it even better would’ve been if her opponent was actually in position to eat it. Which he wasn’t.

”Shit!”

Kozue had the good fortune of landing on her feet after the moonsault instead of crashing flat on the unforgiving floor, but that was really a small blessing. The momentum made her stumble away, flailing backwards, and she wound up smacking hard enough into the barricade to make it move a couple of inches. It was all down from there, as she slumped into a sit with her legs spread wide, eyes shut tight while she nursed her back and shook her head.

Hopefully, they’d cut that part out of the highlight reel.

The voices of the crowd rose in awe, as Kozue flew through the air. Unfortunately, they all died out rather quickly, when her moonsault ended up catching the floor, instead of its intended target. For his part, Blanco was impressed with the ninja girl's crisp technique, and especially that she had managed to land on her feet instead of taking a full face to the floor, like many might have.

"HA!" Holly exclaimed from across the ring, sounding somewhat less impressed.

With Kozue disoriented and staggering back to the barricade, however, the luchador knew that he wouldn't have much time to delay. With a quick dash toward Kozue, Blanco jumped up a bit, placing his hand on the top of the barricade to assist him in stiking the Kubaragi girl with a modified enzuigiri, a kick straight to the head that would hopefully stun her enough for Blanco to get control. Meanwhile, the referee was motioning for the two of them to return to the actual ring, before starting a count-out.

It was a little hard to tell - what with the screaming audience and being in a load of pain and all dizzy - but Kozue could've sworn she heard a distinctly British laugh over the Japanese peanut gallery. She was down now, but when her chance came, she’d be sure to let Gato’s girlfriend know exactly how she felt about that.

”Getting up, getting up…” Kozue mumbled as she steadily rose back to her feet. It had been a rough landing, but nothing she couldn't get back from. She just had to keep her opponent in view. Speaking of which, where was Gato Blanco?

Kozue got her answer when she turned to the side and saw him. Or, to be more precise, she saw his foot, heading towards her face at terminal velocity.

The telltale sound of a boot connecting with a skull rang out through the arena, as the enziguiri knocked Kozue’s head to the side. The rest of her body followed in short order as she stumbled away from the barricade and got all of three feet away before falling to her knees. Her eyes were wide open for a number of reasons - surprise, pain, confusion. Just a wee bit out of it.

Blanco watched Kozue's body fall limply to her knees, and felt a twinge of sympathy. Still, he knew it would be more than a little insulting to the ninja- who had been, to be fair, rather handily kicking his ass- to let up, now. Reaching out, Blanco took Kozue with one hand clutching her top, the other grabbing the waistline of her shorts, and pulling her upright.

With the referee still waving them back in, Blanco took a moment. With a swift swing of his leg, the luchador delivered a hard knee right to Kozue's belly, trying to wind the ninja and keep her a bit pliable, before walking her back to the ring. Blanco swung the girl upright, rolling her back into the ring under the bottom rope and into the ring. Then, using the rope for a handhold, hoisted himself up onto the ring apron.

Knowing what was coming next, Holly began clapping, raising her arms, trying to get the crowd anticipating it, too. Gripping his hands across the top rope, Blanco sank back for a second, built some tension off the rope, then used that tension to help flip him over the top and back into the ring. Mid-swing, Blanco could feel the muscles of his aching core punishing him, but he was committed to the move, now. Turning over completely at the apex of the swing, the luchador extended his arms and legs fully, coming back down toward Kozue's body with a springboard senton that would- he hoped, at least- come crashing down onto her.