Mikoto Kusanagi vs. Suzumi Ishikawa: Friendly Foes!

Struggling valiantly to unseat her former friend from her tortured spine was apparently cutting quite the "underdog" image of the priestess, the swelling fan support ending up generating rhythmic claps as Miko shuffled to her knees and desperately clawed at Suzu's fingers. Wallowing in her own self-pity and bitter memories of matches lost against Suzu was a hurdle Miko may not have been able to overcome so quickily had she not overheard a lone voice in the crowd rooting for her. Miko recognizing it instantly and appreciating his presence in the stadium all the more now...

Whatever relief she felt from not being bent over herself in the camel clutch was short-lived when Suzu hoisted her back to her feet. Miko groaned and offered middling resistance to being sent sprinting across the ring to bounce off the adjacent ropes. Keeping the tempo of this match fast and loose was Suzu's forte. It played to her strengths and Miko knew she needed to reverse her fortune or risk being slammed and pummeled the rest of the match. Glancing up to see Suzu hop up on the middle ropes, Miko would collapse into a baseball slide under her catapulting friend, leaving her nothing but a rather stiff canvas to cushion her elbow drop.

Narrowly avoiding Suzu's springboard elbow drop with a last second baseball slide, Miko found herself sliding clear out of the ring just from how fast she was running at the time. Suzu's explosive offense meant that the slightest mistake could end up causing her to lose control of the match rather quickily. And Mikoto knew she needed to capitalize while the tide of the match was in her favor.

Rolling back under the bottom rope and approaching the rolling Suzu, Miko would pounce atop Suzu from behind with one arm encircling her opponent's neck. The priestess applying a standard but efficient rear naked choke from behind while she had the Tsunami down on the canvas.

"You were...always...so...stubborn..." Mikoto uttered in between reasserting her grip on the sleeperhold, hugging the tsunami closely from behind.

Tightened and secured with mounting pressure closing off Suzu's windpipe. Miko buckled down on the draining sleeperhold when she felt her former friend reflexively panic with sputtered coughs. As much of a veteran as Suzu was, Miko knew that escaping submissions was never exactly her forte. Her initial reaction almost always being to make the long trek towards the ropes for the breakup. And the priestess counted on this. Eventually Suzu would wear herself out from the constant slogs towards the ropes, each journey draining her more and more until their would be one submission that Suzu wouldn't have the energy to escape from...

"Su...zu...please...stop...roll...ing..." Miko sputtered out from the dizzying tumbles Suzu was taking them both for across the canvas. Miko groaned and only clenched onto Suzu tighter from the discombobulating journey until the both of them would be sent into a tumbling crash outside of the ring!! The Tsunami perhaps not gauging their distance to the ropes quite properly before the sudden decent. Miko yelped from the surprising drop and released Suzu upon impact, rolling off of Suzu and grabbing the nearby ring apron to lift herself back up. One hand holding her head to try and normalize her dizzied vision.

"Nngh...being so stubborn...is NOT...a noble virtue, Suzu. What...what if you get hurt again?" Miko worriedly explained during her ascension, keeping her attention on her former friend with earned concern on her face.

Mikoto was still showing signs of concern for her former friends well-being. Despite all of the turmoil their relationship had gone through, and despite the nagging dizziness she was only just then recouping from. Gripping the nearby apron helped straighten her slouching posture as she studied Suzu's movements. The Tsunami was sluggish in getting back and was clearly still winded from the constricting sleeperhold. Lulling Suzu into a blissful unconsciousness being one of the more peaceful ways Miko wanted to end this match...if she could.

"Then that's exactly what's going to happen to you, Suzu..." Miko eerily muttered towards her stubborn opponent, the priestess limbering up in preparation for whatever Suzu was going to toss at her next. Miko recognized Suzu's telltale slouched posture from the countless times she had been on the receiving end of her bullrush tackles.

And responded swiftly by side-stepping into the blind charge and wrapping her arm around Suzu's waist from behind, fluildly bucking her hips backward into Suzu's crotch before performing an O-Goshi hip throw to flip Suzu up and over for a hard crash onto the notoriously thin mats.

Straightening herself back up after rotating Suzu over her hips, Mikoto then took one deep exhaling breath to calm her nerves. Her split second counter could have very easily been her undoing if she was a hair's breadth off in her positioning. But luckily for her, the sharpened reflexes from years of judo training enabled her to use level the Tsunami back down to the mats, the priestess now standing over her and gazing down at her former friend judgmentally.

"...and if that happens again, I may not be there to help you recover this time, Suzu." Miko uttered down towards Suzu, finishing her earlier statement from before. Mikoto bent down to hoist Suzu back to her weary feet by tugging on her arm, the priestess intending to add to Suzu's painful woes and give her the match she wanted despite her voiced concern for her former friend.

After sneaking her head under Suzu's armpit and wrapping her own arm around Suzu's neck, Miko would hook her other arm behind Suzu's knee to have the Tsunami balancing on one foot. The priestess having Suzu bounce on one foot several times to build momentum before attempting chuck her opponent overhead in a swift and seamless exploder suplex.