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

As much as Kozue really appreciated the fan’s enthusiasm, as they patted her on the shoulder and screamed at her to get back up and take the fight back, she kind of wished they’d shut the fuck up and back the fuck off. It was not doing wonders for her concentration. Nor was getting kneed in the stomach, for that matter.

Gato’s brought his leg up hard into Kozue’s toned stomach, folding her in half at the point of impact and driving her breath out. She might have fallen back down to her knees once more if not for Gato helping her along, but she got the distinct feeling it wasn’t out of any gentlemanly leanings. Nope, she was being set up for something. Something big and painful.

She learned what he had in mind after she was rolled into the ring. There, lying on her back, she saw the silhouette of Gato Blanco etched into the arena lights, as he came sailing over the ropes. It was a pretty sight, and she had all the time in the world to appreciate it. After all, she couldn’t move out of the way.

He came down on her chest, earning a squawk from the flattened Kozue on impact. She rolled over to her side, grasping her hammered chest as a flood of muttered curses poured from her mouth, both in English and Japanese.

The crowd was cheering, as Blanco rolled out of the senton and off of Kozue's slender, battered body. Coming up to a knee, the luchador raised a hand in acknowledgement of the crowd, soaking in their cheers. However, he was also soaking in the string of venemous profanity coming from the ninja girl, behind him.

Holly had gotten a bit excited, too, coming over to their side of the ring, now. With an open palm, the Brit kept slapping the edge of the ring apron. "Come on, mister! Now's your chance! Make her pay for flaunting that bum at me!"

Blanco knew she was right, even if it seemed a bit opportunistic. And if he wasn't exactly sure why Holly was talking about her bum. Pumping his fist to build up some excitement in the crowd, as he walked out of the kneeling position. The masked man wouldn't go far, however: instead, he kept the high-flying train rolling by squaring his feet below him, taking a deep breath to brace himself, and jumping upward, pulling his legs up over himself, flipping over into a standing moonsault. Slightly modified to ensure he'd miss the ring ropes, Blanco came down in such a way that he'd catch himself by landing palms-first on the mat (hopefully sparing his aching ribs from too much impact with the mat), while his legs would land with his knees coming down hard onto the slender Kubaragi girl's taut abs!

Even with all the pain, all the air getting driven out of her body, all the dizziness she was going through, Kozue couldn’t help but crack a smile when she heard Holly’s cheering.

”Heh.” She muttered as Gato Blanco rolled away from her. ”Don’t think your girl likes me all that much.” Just a fun little observation. Really, Kozue was overjoyed at her newfound ability to not only hold her own in a match against a luchadore, but simultaneously piss off said luchadore’s girlfriend. Represented a benchmark. Kind of.

She didn’t have much time to enjoy it, though. Not when Gato was back on the attack, flipping around and coming down hard - incredibly hard - with his knees on her stomach.

Kozue’s body flopped up like it’d been hit with a defibrillator, then flopped down on the mat. Flat on her back, wheezing hard, just trying to cope with the pain.

After the modified moonsault, Blanco rolld back a bit, and draped his arms over the nearby second rope. He watched the Kubaragi girl writhing in pain from the move, having taken it full-on to the midsection.

At ringside, Holly was ecstatic, arms raised overhead, cheering from the deftly-executed move. Between this and both women's earlier comments, Blanco couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Yeah! Kick her perky ass, mister!"

"Did you want to fight her?" Blanco asked, with a joking shrug. Still, he did have a job to do. If that moonsault had hurt as much as it looked, he luchador wasn't sure he wanted to keep punishing his opponent. Coming off the ropes, Blanco went for a pinfall. Hooking Kozue's legs and pulling them up high, high enough that he was lifting much of her back off the mat, Blanco pressed his chest down on her and pinned the suffering ninja against the mat.

It’s wasn’t too surprising when Blanco went for a cover a moment later, pinning her hard to the mat. She would’ve gone for the same thing if the roles were reversed - there she was, on her back like a flipped turtle, looking all vulnerable, after he’d landed a sweet move.

”1…!”

Didn’t mean it was going to work, though.

”2…!”

Kozue got her shoulder at the exact moment the referee came down for two, getting nowhere near the deadly third slap. She was hurt, yeah, but she’d been through worse…and ultimately lost, but nevermind that. This time was different.

”Nah, don’t do straight matches.” Kozue gave Blanco a weak little push in the face, messing around with him. ”Fucking up dudes is way too fun.”

The voices of the crowd came to a sudden stop, as the count got to two. A pinfall, even after a move like that, would have been quite the upset. Blanco pressed in, keeping his arms wrapped tight around Kozue's legs. Holly was white-knuckling the bottom rope, now, in anticipation. However, that third count never came.

Kozue rocked up, knocking Blanco off of her and evading the pinfall. The sound of the crowd releasing their breath was audible. Blanco nodded, silently. He didn't really expect someone as accomplished as Kubaragi to go down that quickly, but there was still going to be a bit of disappointment. Not nearly as much so as Holly, however, who looked absolutely deflated.

Until that little shove from the ninja girl, however, playfully pushing Blanco away. With that, the British girl stomped her foot, and angrily flushed red from her hairline to the edge of her low-cut cocktail dress. "Hey!" she said, curtly.

Blanco hadn't thought much of it, but clearly he wasn't going to want to get himself in trouble. Swallowing hard, he reached out to try and hook Kozue's head, trapping her in a headlock beneath his armpit, then walk her up to her feet. If he was able to accomplish that, the luchador turn her around, and use that momentum to irish whip her into the opposite ropes, setting up a high-momentum move that would hopefully get the match back to its break-neck pacing. And keep him from having to deal with any future tongue lashings.

Naptime was over. Time for Kozue to get back to her feet.

Gato Blanco, gentleman that he was, made sure to help her along with that. In a way. It was hard to really classify getting gripped around her head and yanked up to a standing position as ‘help’, but it got the job done. Kozue was up and standing, though she didn’t stay that way for long.

Despite them both being high-flyers, Gato was easily the heavier one between them, so when he sent Kozue - lithe, light, Kozue - off towards the ropes, she went with gusto, whipping across the ring. No doubt, he had something quick and painful in mind, maybe even something with enough oomph to put the kibosh on her. Which meant that she had to stop his momentum, and the best way she could think to do that was by increasing her own.

Instead of fighting the whip, she leaned forward and dashed even harder, dedicating herself to the move. She came storming towards Gato Blanco at top speed, eager to see what he had in store for her.

Watching Kozue come back off the opposite rope, Blanco waited for her to be in position. The ninja was doing a solid job of staying on her feet, showing the luchador that she was well into her recovery from the earlier assault. Really, he should have expected nothing less from the young Kubaragi. Women in the AFW- especially title contenders- could take a hell of a lot more than he had just dished out, and kept on coming.

He did notice, though, that Kozue was coming back on him with greater speed than he'd anticipated. He'd have to step up his plans, it seemed- stepping forward, the luchador jumped into the air, pushing and rolling off of his hip to swing his body around in a jumping somersault. As he did so, the masked man would tuck his head in, extending a leg as he did so. If she remained in her current position, Kozue would end up catching a rolling high kick, square to her face, the boot right in line with her petite face.

Meanwhile, at ringside, Holly held both her hands over her heart. She was anticipating the contact, now, wanting to see Kozue take a bit more punishment. She knew she should be taking more careful notes of the actual action happening in the ring, but she was too in the moment. "Yeah!" she called out, excited, "Eat that boot, Kozue!"

A guy like Gato had a library of moves to choose from, so there was no way for Kozue in advance what he was about to go for. She could make some educated guesses, though.

It would likely involve jumping.

It would come fast.

It would knock the sense clean out of her if it connected.

As Gato went into motion, he confirmed the first two suspicions, and she had no interest in learning how true the last one was. Time to react.

There was only a split second to react, and Kozue made the best out of her limited time. As Gato went up, Kozue ducked down and slid on her knees under his somersaulting form. ”Not today!”

She whipped around and pivoted on her kneecap, spinning to face Gato as he went flipping without a target to hit. Eager and ready to see just how he'd come down and figure out a way to capitalize on it.

Kozue was coming in fast, faster than Blanco had anticipated. So, when Blanco swung upward to where Kozue's head was supposed to be- it simply wasn't there! "What!?" Holly exclaimed, from ringside, shock and disappointment clear as day on her face.

Beneath his mask, Blanco's eyes widened, as well. The ninja had ducked right under his kick, leaving him spinning through the air. The somersault itself was simple enough, but the luchador was going to have to work overtime to compensate for his swing meeting considerably less resistance than he was expecting.

As he completing the swing, Blanco extended his legs. He landed on one boot, still doubled over, and spun out of the roll as he put the other down. It was a relatively graceful landing, considering. But it was also one that left the white-masked luchador completely open. Blanco had been so concerned with managing a proper landing that he lost all track of where Kozue actually was- leaving the ninja free to take full advantage.