Coming Up Roses - Masuyo Ai vs. Sabrina Rose

Taking the low road seemed like a better idea when she thought of it. Trying to fight with her reach hadn’t worked out for her when she tried it a moment ago, so her plan was to use her weight instead. Try to play to her strength and maybe use Sabrina’s most obvious disadvantage against her.

Wishful thinking, as fate would have it. It wasn’t enough for her to simply counter the move. She had to redirect it too, sending her off balance in the blink of an eye. Underestimating her opponent's skill once again ended up being in more pain for the Demon and, just like before, it all happened too quickly for her mind to keep up.

The moment the kick connected, she used the momentum Sabrina had wound up to roll herself forward and make some distance. She came back up on one knee, slapping one hand against the canvas and the other at the back of her head. She was just about to spin herself around when the aftereffects of that kick decided rattled her brain a little further. She stayed on one knee for the moment, furrowing her brows and waiting for her vision to realign.

In terms of first impressions, Masuyo could easily say that Ms. Rose was going to impress faster than most newcomers. The competition was just getting harder and harder these days if this was anything to go by.

Despite her short stature, fighting Sabrina wasn't gonna be all too easy as the Demon would no doubt find out.

Years of experience in fighting people bigger than she is has the Rose gotten rather used to it all. She played to win, as she always done. Masuyo was bigger and stronger than her by a big margin but she was never a stranger to this. It was the one thing that she could count on...

The back of the head was always quite the tender spot, hence Sabrina would aim at that particular spot, her foot knocking her head and rattling her brain some. Though that wasn't all on Sabrina herself, Masuyo kept on moving and looked like she was about to strike, something that Sabrina herself didn't expect for her to do as she went to bring her leg back after the hook kick. But it would come at a cost with Masuyo self inflicting damage to herself, her brain rattling inside her head and kept her at bay before she would do anything. And that gave her a nice opening for the small woman.

Not one to waste time with a opportunity presented to her so openly, Sabrina would bring her leg back, but would also twist and pivot so that the leg goes back to the rear, the other side of Sabrina's open palm in turn would fire at the Demon. Her palm shooting at the side of Masuyo's head, particularly the palm heel aiming where the jaw and the skull joins up, looking to rattle that brain even further.

Someone was snickering out there. It was faint, but Masuyo could hear it as her vision came back into alignment, and the world. It actually may have been two people. Maybe three. Hard to tell with her ears ringing like this.

And honestly, that was an appropriate reaction. If she were in the audience, watching this girl half anyone’s size jostling her opponent around left and right with what looked like simple brushes of her hands, Masuyo would probably be trying to stifle her laughter too. With about the same amount of success.

She had to give it to Sabrina, though. If she was looking to make a splash tonight, she was off to a pretty good first impression without any help on Masuyo’s part. Between the parry and the hook kick, she seemed to exude confidence despite being a stranger to the wrestling ring. Her skill her was her own, and that spoke volumes right now. If the Demon had any intention of coming back from this, she had to be smarter about things.

Later, though. Right now, she was too busy getting smacked across the jaw by the petite martial artist. A hard ripple went across her cheeks as the air was knocked clear out of her head. A nasty-sounding smack caused a few members in the audience to lean back in their seats. Masuyo took a tumble to the side, ending face up on her back and looking at the stage lights through narrowed slits. From the chatter, it seemed there were more than a few patrons that were concerned this would end in an upset. Masuyo, however, was just left wondering how someone so small could hit with so much force.

Despite how things were looking for her, she was really starting to get into this match.

Quick and decisive. That was how she was going to play in this match. With how Masuyo was skilled and of course much bigger than Sabrina, it was right for her to follow with that playstyle. The Rose needed to make a good start with this match and with the quick and hard strikes that hit with precision and accuracy, Sabrina was giving this mixed martial artist a nice taste of her Kung Fu. Even though this was still a wrestling ring, she thought that it would be a refreshing change.

The palm strike worked as intended, hitting her right in the jaw and the loud smack that followed certainly had the audience cringe. That didn’t sound or look good for the MMA Maven as she tumbled off to the side, Sabrina bringing back her palm and getting back into her stance. Again, she doesn’t seem to be in any rush to get in closer and go in on the offensive, even with Masuyo reeling from that palm strike. “Seems that thorn did more than sting…” Relaxing as she walked up towards the taller woman.

She knew what her policy was. No attacks on a grounded opponent. Though that only involved strikes, so with that, her supple hands reached down to grab onto the opponent and pull Masuyo up to her feet. If she manages to do so, the smaller girl looks to yank on her arm and sling the bigger woman towards the turnbuckles with a simple Irish Whip. One of the few standard wrestling procedures that she knows how to do.

Masuyo had to admit that she was feeling pretty stupid right about now. Not because she was getting kicked around by a girl her age that couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. Though that was part of it. No, it was because she’d gone and sold her opponent short off the bat. Even if she wasn’t making it obvious, or consciously doing it, she had to admit that was the case.

It seemed as though she had fallen into a trap that no doubt much of this woman’s past competition had fallen into: seeing her height as a disadvantage. Sabrina must have picked up on that soon enough and, like a true martial artist, learned how to turn a negative into a positive. She may have been short, but she had mastery over her center of gravity. Channeled her energy and thrust it forward in each individual strike. And, honestly, Masuyo couldn’t help but admire it. That constitution that reminded her so much of her herself in her younger years.

She was even nice enough to help her back up to her feet. The way she was thrown into the corner, however, was the slightly less appreciated. Masuyo’s managed to pivot on her front foot and met the corner with her back. Didn’t save her from the shock, but it was way less painful alternative than taking a turnbuckle to the guy.

The reality of the situation was starting to creep up on her. Her smaller adversary may have been a newbie, but she was by no means inexperienced. Where she got that much power and technique was beyond her understanding She’d taken harder shots in the past, but she could easily say Sabrina was reaching towards the upper end.

“Right. Can’t go easy on you.”