Back again, let's get this going.
Darkness and Light, Into the Chaos!
As soon as Moe was informed about the Tournament at Berserk, involving Dominion and her friend.
Malcom is waiting in the park, checking the text he had gotten from Moe when he hears footsteps. Looking up, he sees Moe approaching. "Hey Speedster. What's this about a tournament?"
She excused herself from training for the rest of the day to meet up with Malcom. She was in her running gear, working up a bit of a sweat as she ran to him "pantpant* Sorry. Yeah, I just got to know- Berserk is holding a tournament! We're both in it...and um..." she said, struggling to find her words.
"Come on, what is it? I'm assuming the bracket is set up, so who's ass am I kicking so I can have a decent fight against you or Retaliator." Malcom questioned, using his nickname for Hagiwara.
Moe hopped up and down in excitement. "Yeah, that's right...the bracket has been set up actually." She giggled a bit when he referred to Sakura as the Retaliator, it was always a funny nickname. "Well Mr...you are facing ME!" she said poking his nose in a friendly manner.
Malcom's grin rivaled the Chesire cat. "Someone likes me to give me a decent match right off the bat. Don't think things will go any differently than before though. You're still going down." he declared. "And you forgot to say boop." he added teasingly.
"Haha yeah right...you're just saying that. But yeah, I'll try my best to win this time Mal" she smiled. "You're just glad you aren't facing Miss Sakura. You know you can't beat her, right?" she laughed. "Oh yeah thanks for reminding me" she said, poking his nose again "Boop"
"You should be worried Hagiwara and Kazuma aren't around to help you. Noble won't be around to throw them into you and send you out like during the event."
"Haha I don't need Miss Sakura or Kazuma to help me...and yeah hehe about that, I'm glad she isn't this time around" Moe laughed sheepishly.
"And don't for an instant think I'll be going easy on you. You better not go easy on me either. No fun if I win any other way." Malcom taunted.
"Good, I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's give it our best." Moe smiled, bringing her hand out for a fist bump.
Malcom raised his fist, and flicked Moe in the forehead before turning with a chuckle.
Moe laughed a bit as Malcom flicked Moe in the forehead.
"I'll see you later, Speedster. Have a good one." he called behind him, waving over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I'll catch you later Mal." she said as she ran as fast as she could, looking to train hard.
...
Rio was training hard, she was due to face Derek Masters, the brother of Trent Masters. She was quite sweaty as she worked hard on the treadmill and punching bag. After a good thirty minute work-out along side with Sakura, she was finally ready for a break. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and drank from her water bottle "phew wow good work-out huh Hagiwara?" she said. "So...you're facing that rookie Jacob huh? Did you catch him in those cute briefs hehe" she said, bumping her shoulder with Sakura's.
Sakura's face turned red as a tomato before shoving her rival. "Shut up!" she shouted. "And what about you and that Derek guy? I saw you checking him out."
Rio blushed as well, "H-hey, I was only scouting the competition that's all. You two were all up-close and personal, grinding into each other in that staredown..." she said as the two argued.
"Oh and you've never had a stare down that got up-close and personal?" Sakura snapped back.
"No I didn't~ Geez what is wrong with you? Don't you get all high and mighty with me." she yelled back.
"And we were not grinding into each other. That jerk really got on my nerves!"
"Yeah you were...I saw you." Rio grinned as she looked like she struck a nerve. Rio would press up into Sakura this time "Make a move Hagiwara..." she grinned as she got close.
Sakura's face was turning redder than the trim on her wrestling gear before she got an ides. "Oh, it's Derek!" she called, waiting for the reaction.
"W-what?WHERE?" Rio said hopping up and looking behind her.
Sakura laughed as she watched her rival turn red at being caught. "What was that about just scoping the competition?" she teased.
Rio was caught and embarrassed. "Arghh y-you...little! RAWR" Rio would growl after looking back at Sakura, attempting to drive her shoulder into Sakura's belly to tackle her down onto the floor.
The attack came too suddenly for her to dodge, but she managed to build some Retaliation to swing a decent punch into the snow-haired woman.
Rio took Sakura down on her back with the silver haired wrestler on top. The two scuffled a bit before Rio was thrown off the idol turned wrestler after Sakura landed a good punch to her face. "Arghhh" Rio cried as she rolled off Hagiwara.
"If that's how it's gonna be, how about stepping into the ring?" the idol-turned-wrestler asked, glaring daggers.
"Ngh...I'm saving my strength for the tournament...you should too, I hope Jacob makes you tap." she growled.
Sakura laughed at that one. "I haven't done that in how long now?" she asked. "I doubt he'll be able to do what none of you, Malcom, and Jackal could."
Rio would glare at her. She would step up to her again, face to face as their sweaty bodies pressed into each other. "Ever since Misaki trained you and made you one of the best wrestlers...you've gotten way over your head. Someone needs to bring you back to reality...…"
"Someone did. Don't think I've forgotten Jackal, Malcom, and all the other hardships I've gone through to reach this point." Sakura hissed. "And I'll be happy to pound it into you just like last time. I said it then and I'll say it now. I'll die before I give up." she continued, turning and storming toward the showers. "Jacob may end up pinning me, but he will NEVER make me tap."
"Tsk...you...ngh, I'm done with you. You're the worst." Rio snapped back as the two left each other to head for the showers, after a heated altercation.
...
A week was left till the tournament. It was another busy day at the Berserk Gym. Everyone was doing their own thing in training its there were no partners, everyone had to do their own thing and potentially face each other. Trent Masters was hard training as well, clad in his blue briefs and white boots he had just finished a good 45 minute work-out, on the tread mill, weight training and practicing moves on a dummy.
He noticed Sakura Hagiwara in her training as well, he decided to greet her. "Ah, hello Hagiwara. You seem troubled? Nervous for the tournament?" he said as he approached her, drinking water and offering her some as well
Sakura spotted the male wrestler and smiled. "Yeah, I don't know a thing about Jacob's style. It has me worried for whether or not I can beat him. Then there's the fact Malcom will be here, and what happened there was broadcast on national television. I know I'm just spinning my wheels, but I can't help worrying, you know? What if I can't win? What if I end up embarrassing Berserk? This has been on my mind for a while now."
Trent Masters was on the Dominion's and was the mentor of Jacob but still, he wanted a good competition. "Ah, worried about Jacob eh? Well...he is my protege after all." he grinned. "However, you shouldn't underestimate yourself Hagiwara. You are trained by Misaki herself and currently, I think you're one the best wrestlers around. You won't have to worry about embarrassing Berserk at all. Let these things go, otherwise you won't be able to concentrate on the matches." he tried to calm her down. "You want some water?" he said, offering her some.
Sakura nodded and took the bottle. "Thanks. I really needed to hear that. At least that's a few worries off my mind, but there's still the issue of Malcom. He didn't end up in the Legion by accident, you know." she sighed, not realizing what she had spilled. "Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Nothing I can do but put my best foot forward, right?"
Trent could see that Sakura was still worried about Malcom. She tried to open up by trying to explain something about him in the Legion but decided to stay tight lipped, wanting to tackle that as it happened. "Hmm looks like you're still worried. How about we take your mind off those things that are distracting you?" he said as he approached her. Trent would stand right infront of her, closing in the gap. "Sakura Hagiwara...I challenge you to a match." he said, glaring into her eyes.
Sakura chuckled, nodding. "Sounds good. Anything I need to now or just standard?"
Trent knew about her record, he wanted her to be focused. "Yeah...it's going to be...submissions only" he grinned.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's gonna go well for you." she said sarcastically.
...
About a minute in, Sakura got up from a Boston Crab. "Well, that sucked." she at her opponent, she caught her breath and dropkicked him.
Sakura and Trent wrestled on, Trent had her trapped in Boston Crab but she was ready. She fought that off and got to the ropes for a rope break. "Not bad Hagiwara!" he grinned before suddenly being kicked right in the chest by the idol turned wrestler. "Urghh" he groaned as he fell flat on his back.
Sakura turned him onto his stomach and placed his legs under her armpits before sitting on her opponent's back. "How do you like it?" she asked, locking in the hold and putting some of her Retaliation into it. 'Can't use too much at once.' she told herself.
Trent was in a bad spot now as Hagiwara had him trapped in the Crab. "AHHHHHH" he yelled in the empty gym room ring as he tried to push forward on his belly, looking to crawl forward and go for the ropes. "Ngh Y-you're good Sakura...AHHHH" he grunted in pain as Hagiwara took the fight to the leader of Dominion.
Sakura grinned. "Thanks, now how about giving up?" she asked, pulling the hold tighter.
Trent was groaning in pain. His body was glistening in sweat as his back was bent awkwardly, Sakura really had the hold locked in tight. "Ahhh okay okay, I submit" he moaned, tapping the ring mats.
Sakura released Trent and helped him to his feet. "Thanks for the great match. Hope I didn't do anything permanent." she said, reaching to shake her opponent's hand.
Trent was glad to be released from the hold. He clutched his back and massaged it for a bit. "Oww no its fine...yeah, it was a good match" he said, extending his hand as he shook her hand.
"And I know why you challenged me." Sakura added after a moment. "I feel way more confident now." she declared with a small fist pump.
Trent smirked a bit, having achieved what he wanted to for her. "Heh..." he chuckled as he bumped her fist with his. "Good. I'll see you at the tournament...champ" he winked.
"I look forward to it." Sakura replied. "Although if you meet anyone in the finals, I can harbor a guess as to who." she added. "It really depends on if Moe manages to beat her crush."
Trent would grin. "Oh? Well how about it? Who do you think will be in the finals?" he asked her, interested to know.
"Me or Malcom. Moe if she gets lucky." Sakura replied. "Malcom still wants a piece of me since that draw during his little event and I know he's looking forward to taking on Moe." she explained. "It will end up coming down to who wants it more since he even said the three of us are evenly matched."
Trent was intrigued by all of this. "Really? So if its you in the finals...you think it will be Malcom or Moe against you as the other finalist? Interesting." he said rubbing his chin. "Can you beat him? or Moe."
"Moe I think I can beat. Malcom is still up in the air given his...abilities vs mine." Sakura replied, careful of her words. Stretching a bit before exiting the ring, she added. "Malcom is a tough one by anyone's standard. In one-on-one, he's almost unbeatable. Let's hope I can exploit that almost."
Trent stayed silent as heard her, once she made her way out of the ring he did too. Heading to the showers.
And done! Well, Rio and Sakura got into it and the latter got a little help with her nerves. What do people think? Are things going well? Is there something that can be worked on? Leave a review and tell me what you thought. Until next time!
