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

Blanco was shaking his head, still trying to get himself back into the fight, as he felt Kozue sidle up to him. She slight ninja girl took hold of the stunned luchador's arm with quick precision, yanked forward on him, and got him right off of his boots. Blanco fell flush against her during the pull, not being in much shape yet to offer any real resistance, and went sailing over the svelte Kubaragi without much difficulty at all. "Ghahh!" he exclaimed as his back hit the mat, his arm still trapped in her grip.

The crowd showed some appreciation for Kozue's technique, in stark contrast to Holly's reaction. "No, wait! Mister, get up!" she pleaded, hands cupped over her mouth as she watched the young ninja slam Blanco right onto his back. The British girl could hardly stand it, watching the keenly frustrating Kubaragi dominate her man like this, but Kozue was still firmly in control.

"Aghh," Blanco grunted, as he shook his head, trying to shake off the last of the effects of Kozue's shot to his face. Looking up from his back, Blanco could see that the sprightly young ninja still had a firm grip on his arm, and firm control of the match. He braced his shoulder with his free hand, still trying to keep pace mentally with the beating that Kozue was handing down on him. Honestly, it was getting a bit humiliating, at this point. He'd known early on that the girl was good, but as Kozue pulled back to fundamentals and was kicking his ass all over the ring, Blanco realized that he'd underestimated just how good!

Kozue was not known for her superior upper body strength - even though she’d upped her training ever since she came into the AFW, she was still on the low end of the power spectrum. The over-the-shoulder arm drag didn’t require all that much strength, but even still, the weight difference between the two of them made it a lot harder than it might typically be. Gato was much heavier than he looked at first glance. Solid man.

But it worked! Down Gato Blanco went, right on his ass, and she had a nice little arm that she could do all sorts of nasty things with.

Kozue fell flat on her back and brought Gato’s arm between her thighs, gripping his wrist tight with both hands. She brought one leg under his biceps, the other just under his chin, and tried to hyperextend his elbow with a standard - but very painful - armbar.

Hitting the mat hard, it was hard for Blanco to not feel a bit humiliated. There was nothing wrong with fundamental tactics and effective uses of simple moves, of course- but after all their high-flying, risk-taking offense, it was still rather humiliating to wind up planted flat on one's ass by a simple judo throw! By a girl almost half his size, no less.

And of course, that wasn't going to be the worst of it, as Kozue locked in the armbar. "Aaaaarrgghhh!" Blanco cried out, body thrashing and writhing as the ninja girl wrenched hard on the arm. One look at the svelte ninja girl was enough to tell anyone that she had strong legs- it was another thing entirely, though, to have those powerful limbs threatening to dislocate an arm!

At ringside, Holly looked beside herself with misery, running her hands through her thick black hair. Sweat was beginning to trail out from under Blanco's mask as he endured the armbar. The luchador knew he was going to have to come up with a counter quickly, and execute it without hesitation. Planting his feet on the mat, Blanco braced himself, then bridged hard and fast. Turning into Kozue's pull, the luchador was counting on his leverage and larger frame to take the ninja girl by surprise, and allow him the chance to pull this off. If he could get himself up, he would then swing his free hand fast, interlocking his fingers, trying to brace himself against further damage from Kozue's punishing grip!

Got him.

Kozue had a short laugh of triumph as she locked the arm bar in, capturing Gato in the classic hold. Granted, it wouldn’t really hurt his style too much, since he didn’t seem that big on power moves. But damage was damage, pain was pain, and she’d get in as much as she could, whenever she could, however she could.

Plus, the move gave her some time to rest her aching bones and clear her head, which was still rocking from that hellacious knee of Gato Blanco’s.

”So, I know you’re busy down there, suffering and all…” She gave Gato’s arm a tight twist. ”But if you could just go ahead and tap the fuck out, that’d be-”

Gato wasn’t tapping. Not even close. Kozue grunted as he suddenly turned into her, fighting against the hold and stacking her. This also had the effect of pushing her shoulders to the mat, which the referee picked up on.

”1…!”

Kozue lifted a shoulder up and stopped that shit cold, but her overall situation hadn’t changed. She kept the hold tight, not wanting to lose her superior position, but she wasn’t sure where Gato was going with this. She was sure that she wouldn't like it. ”Come on, man, just stay down…”

Gato's entire upper body was trembling, as he forced himself up to roll over, into Kozue's vice-like grip.  Feeling beads of sweat dripping from his mask, teeth gritting tightly, the luchador was putting everything he had into remaining in control of his body, and blocking out the pain of his joints screaming at him to just give it up.

"Hh!" he let out, listening to Kozue apparently agreeing with said joints.  Blanco desperately wanted to have a comeback to that, rib Kozue back a bit, but that wasn't an option, in his current state.  Saying anything that wasn't a gutteral cry of pain, at the moment, wasn't much of an option.

Pushing himself back up to his feet, the luchador wasn't shocked that Kozue was able to twist of out of the weak pin.  Really, that was more a testament to how dutiful the ref was.  But Blanco's plan had never been a pinfall.  Bracing his feet on the mat, the luchador was finally able to reach his wrist, locking his fingers around the trapped arm.  Then, pulling upward with it, Blanco lifted Kozue off the mat entirely.

The luchador's arm was in sheer agony, but hopefully wouldn't be for much longer.  Taking advantage a size differential that wasn't often on his side, the masked man tried to pull the young ninja up, as high as he could off the mat, then run her a few steps forward to get some momentum into a running powerbomb.  A powerbomb that would hopefully knock this wind out of her svelte body, and force her to break the hold.

Kozue wasn't discouraged when Gato Blanco didn't immediately start tapping out to her arm bar. He was a vet. Lot of tradition, lot of honor, lot of respect. There was no way such a simple move would make him down that easily.

She wasn't that discouraged when he started to lift her up, powering through the hold. Wasn't that impressive. She didn't weigh much, and if he wanted to waste precious energy lifting her up, well, that was his deal. No skin off her knee.

But when he ran forward and dropped in the middle of the ring like a sack of moldy potatoes? That was discouraging. Not to mention, painful.

Kozue’s lithe body slammed against the mat and the hold broke along with it. Arms and legs splayed to the side, all she could do was lay there, grit her teeth, and groan.

”Ah.” Kozue made an attempt at sitting up, only to be pulled back down by gravity. ”Ah, shit.”

Sweat was running down Blanco's back heavy, as he hoisted his slender opponent off the mat. His body was trembling as he charged with her, a heavy sigh exclaiming from his body as he planted her into the mat with the powerbomb counter. But he didnt' tap, couldn't let himself do that. Not yet, at least. Now with the rest of his body still willing to fight, and the fans and his girl yelling at him from ringside.

Holly breathed a heavy sigh of relief, as she watched the ring buckle under the impact. She wasn't sure how long Blanco could have lasted, trapped in that armbar. She'd seen him go through real meat grinders of matches, but Kozue's technique was obviously nothing to sneeze at. In wrestling, she was learning, even the most basic moves could be deadly, when locked in with the right control.

In the center of the ring, the white-masked luchador was looking down at his opponent, chest heaving as he tried to level his breathing. "D-damn," he gasped, grimacing beneath his mask. The counter worked, he was free, but it wasn't without cost. Blanco's fingers were twitching, involuntarily. That arm was going to need to be looked at, when this was all over. But it wasn't over, yet.

After a moment, Blanco pushed himself to his feet. That arm wasn't going to be much use to him, probably not for the rest of the match. Raising his good arm in a fist to draw the crowd's support, the surviving luchador got up, rising to his full height. "It's okay," the luchador shouted, to the crowd, "I've got two!" Then, Blanco kicked off of one foot, eventually sweeping both of them off the mat, coming down with the elbow of his good arm aimed squarely at Kozue's prone and hopefully vulnerable body.

Kozue could see it all coming. That was really the worst thing about a moment like this.

There she was, laying on her back, with Gato rising up and standing tall. Or slumping tall, at least. He was up, and he was about to hit her with something, though she couldn’t quite guess what it would be at this point. Maybe something flippy, maybe something simple.

Whatever it would be, though, she’d have to take it. Because, at the moment, her body was aching too much to do anything that involved more than the basic nescessesities.

So, when the elbow came down, she had the pleasure of watching it in close detail, observing every moment, as it crashed into her meager chest and sent waves of pain flowing away from the impact.

Kozue bounced around on the floor as if she’d just been hit by lightning, flopping about madly while panicked gasps flew from her lips. She instinctively did the only thing she could really do in this situation to make it any better: she tried to roll towards the ropes, looking to get a short reprieve before Gato could follow up. Slim chance, but worth it.

Blanco came down off the elbow drop with considerable impact, having put his entire body weight into the move. The brute force of it was a bit punishing, his wounded arm clearly not liking this much fast motion. Grimacing, the luchador knew he had to bear with it, at least long enough to put this sprightly ninja away, for the three-count.

Kozue was not giving him that option, however. The force of the elbow rocked her body, enough to send her bucking and spasming off the mat, kicking Blanco off of her before it could even become a pin attempt. Sitting upright, the luchador took a second to breathe, still trying to manage his pain. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Kozue retreating to the ropes; he might have tried to stop her, but the truth was that he needed a breather, himself. Both of them had been going hard and heavy since the opening bell. Rolling over and pushing himself up to a knee, Blanco just hoped that he could get the most, out of this momentary reprieve.

Holly, meanwhile, didn't much need to catch a breath. Striding right up to Kozue as she went under the ropes, the British bombshell was grinning like the cat who had caught the mouth. "Aww, Kozue!" Holly said, "Quick! Shake your bum! That was working out super well for you, earlier!" She wasn't necessarily taking that much enjoyment in the ninja girl's suffering, but the chance to taunt the slender fighter just a bit more was simply too much to pass up.

”Ngh…” Kozue mumbled and grumbled as she not only had to deal with the pain in her back, but the audio assault of Gato’s girlfriend. ”You keep talking about my ass.” Kozue looked over her shoulder, making sure she could see it. ”Jealous?”

Honestly, she didn't even mind their little back and forth. It had been a while since she’d had a good verbal sparring partner.

Eyes on the prize, though. Plenty of time to smack talk after her hand had been raised. Especially, then.

Kozue grabbed the ropes and started pulling herself up, one rung at a time, bit by bit. She wound up stumbling toward the nearest corner and leaned up against the turnbuckle, slouching while she caught her breath.

She beckoned Gato on with a wave of her hand and a lazy smile.”Gimme more.”