After being put through almost literal hell after sparring with Misaki, Sakura was now working on her endurance by way of jogging. Upon arriving at the stairs of a temple shrine, she began to try and catch her breath for the time being. But Misaki wouldn't allow that and told Sakura that she would have to sprint up and down the stairs 10 times.
"No time to catch your breath! Next sprint up and down these stairs 10 times!" Misaki said as a look of complete disbelief appeared on Sakura's face.
"Seriously? Can you at least wait till I catch my breath?" Sakura asked as she was really tired from the jogging.
"What are you talking about? This is special training to cultivate your ability to counter at the limits of your endurance! Okay, get going!" Misaki said as she clapped her hands together, which was the signal for Sakura to start sprinting.
As Sakura began to sprint up the stairs before eventually stopping as her body was starting to give up on her, causing her to take a few breaths. "Counter at...the limits of my endurance!" She thought to herself as she fought through the exhaustion her body was experiencing and continued to sprint up the stairs as Misaki looked on. "Perhaps she does show promise after all." She said.
A few hours later, Sakura had to endure various submission holds while training with Chinatsu Suzumoto and it was definitely painful. "Oww!" She said as it was too much for her.
Misaki would tap the mat as a way to encourage Sakura to endure through the pain. "It's only natural that it hurts. Endure it. To endure and counter is what's important." She said as Chinatsu released the hold and stood up.
"Hmm, what should I do next?" Chinatsu asked as Sakura let out a soft growl before kicking her in the shin and hitting her with a dropkick, causing Chinatsu to fall down on the mat. "Now it's my turn!" Sakura as she grabbed Chinatsu's leg and placed her in a figure four leglock submission hold, which would cause her to let out a few cries of pain.
"Get through it and counter!" Sakura said as she would keep a tight grip on the hold.
As some more time passed, Sakura had a match against a masked wrestler known as Hornet.
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As the match went on, two members of her stable held Sakura against the ropes for Hornet to take advantage. "Lookin' good, Miss Idol. But I'm not letting you get away!" She said as grabbed Sakura's head and dragged it against the ropes aggressively before throwing her down to the mat.
The crowd began to will Sakura to get back up to her feet while Hornet grabbed a kendo stick and used it to place Sakura in a camel clutch submission. As if a normal camel clutch didn't hurt as bad, a camel clutch using a kendo stick most certainly hurt even worse as Sakura whimpered in pain. Fighting through the pain, she grabbed the kendo stick and began to try and free herself from the hold. "Take it, get through it...and counter!" She thought as she freed himself from the hold and sent Hornet down to the mat with a suplex before transitioning to a boston crab submission hold and making Hornet scream in pain.
But it wouldn't last long as one of Hornet's stable members came into the ring and kicked Sakura in the back to help out Hornet. Sakura however would get back up quickly and toss the stable member out of the ring before grabbing Hornet and hitting her with a brutal powerbomb. But she wasn't done yet as she hit her with another powerbomb and signaled for the referee to count. "One--Two--" But the count would be interrupted as Hornet kicked out at the count of two.
"I'm always fine up to this point, but I still can't end it!" Sakura thought to herself but that moment of thought would cost her as Hornet grabbed her by the head and looked to be setting her up for a suplex, but instead would hit a devastating brainbuster before going for the pin. "One--Two--Three!" and Hornet would be declared the victor, thus making this Sakura's 65th straight loss.
"I've gotten stronger doing my special training with Misaki, so I should be able to take my opponents' moves. If I still can't win, there must be some reason. What am I lacking?" She thought to herself before hearing cheers from the crowd that were for her.
"It was a great fight! Do your best next time too!" Said a fan as Sakura was glad that the fans were still behind her even if she didn't win the match.
As she made her way to the back, she was greeted by Tazawa, who had an impressive streak as of late with victory after victory, and had watched the match on a tv monitor. "Hey Sakura! You were pretty good out there! And I'm sure you'll pick up a major win, so don't give up." He said in a supportive tone as Sakura showed a small smile. "Thank you Tazawa! I've gotta go all out next time and win!" She said. "By the way, if you ever need someone to help you train, I'm always up for it." He suggested. "That would be great! With you to help me train, I'll definitely get stronger!" She said with determination in her voice.
And upon hearing the news that her revenge match against Rio Kazama was lined up, this made Sakura even more determined to improve on her wrestling skills. "Actually Tazawa, I think I could use some of your help with training right now." She said as Tazawa gave her a thumbs up. "You can count on me!" He said.
In the berserk gym, Tazawa was helping Sakura train to prepare for her revenge match against Rio until Misaki noticed that something was off with Sakura at the moment. "Seems like you're having trouble concentrating. You've trained so much and gotten stronger, so why can't you win? Hmm, I wonder if that's why..." Misaki said as she had feeling that she knew the reason why.
"This fight with Kazama has been my goal the whole time. But not having won even a single fight makes me feel like...I wonder if I'm really qualified." Sakura said.
"Ohh, woe is you! So basically, you don't think you can win? In this world, there's no surefire way to win. But there is a way to clinch the victory you've got set up in front of you. A special move!" Misaki said as Sakura looked confused by what she meant.
"A special move? Like a Misaki special?" Sakura asked as Misaki nodded her head in response.
"You don't have one, so even if you drive them to within an inch of their defeat, you can't finish it." Misaki said.
"How do I find my special move?" Sakura asked her. "You'll have to figure that out on your own. A special move is not something you can be taught." Misaki said as Sakura nodded her head in understanding.
"Also, you've been keeping a pretty impressive streak as of late Tazawa. But streaks eventually come to an end, so I suggest that you be prepared for that." Misaki said.
"Don't worry, I know that streaks can still be broken. But I'll make sure my opponent will have to work their butt off to make that happen." Tazawa said as Misaki couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.
"And one other thing, don't think I didn't notice you watching me while I was training. If you really want to train with me, all you have to do is ask." Misaki said, whispering the last bit in Tazawa's ear before walking off.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Tazawa said before watching Misaki walk off.
Taking Misaki's words to heart, Sakura would try and find a way to come up with a special move. "My special move." She said as she would continue to think of a special move. As she continued this, she saw someone approach her from the shadows and the person was none other than her best friend Elena. "Elena.." She said. "Sakura...long time no see." Elena said, happy to see her best friend again.
