Ankle Locks and Other Worlds: Accounts of Shido Brooke

Shido Brooke vs Yang Xiao Long

 If I was being honest, the biggest feeling I had sitting in a corner of this squared circle was fear. Fear of whether or not I would fuck up in this match. But mostly, I had fear of my opponent. Sitting across from me was a blonde that could probably knock my head off. I gently rubbed the back of my head, looking down at my blue trunks. I had wrapped a sarashi around my gut, albeit less tight than it probably should have been. I had opted to wrap from my forearm to my hands with tape, as well as my feet. I had no plans to wear gloves for this particular grappling match.

The blonde across from me was a huntress I had heard about for a while. A gal by the name of Yang Xiao Long. She was leaning back in her corner, her arms leaning over the ropes. She had opted for yellow boxing gloves, and I could see black wrapping extending from under the gloves as far down as her forearm. She wore simple white wrestling boots, going as high as her calf. A pair of yellow shorts were her choice in attire, her shirt being a white tank top. I swore I could make out a yellow sports bra and a black chest wrap beneath the white.

At last, her purple eyes opened. She stood from her corner stool. "Ready, then?" she asked, knocking over her stool and sliding it out of the ring. I gripped my own stool, sliding it under the bottom rope. "As ready as I'll ever be," I replied, trying not to show my fear in my words. Yang pounds her gloves together before stepping toward the center of the ring. I adopt my amateur southpaw stance, holding my hands by my head.

"Ding ding," she said jokingly. I take a step back, my stance tight with my elbows tucked in. I see her left hand shoot out and instinctively step to the right, panic in my movement. Yang steps in again and throws a right cross, I barely duck to the side, panicking more and more. This dance of punches and panic would continue for another half minute before Yang suddenly put her hands together in a "T". "Alright, time real quick?" I stop mid step and lower my hands. "Yeah?" I said, trying to hide my relief in the fact that the fight was momentarily stopped.

"You're afraid of getting hit, ain't'cha?" Awkwardly, I nodded, feeling my hair pat my shoulders. Yang sighed before pointing a gloved hand at me. "Just do me a favor and hold still, okay?" I didn't feel like I had a choice, so I nodded. Without warning, she sucker punched me with her right, sending me back a few steps. The blow had stung, and I had felt the force of a lion from beneath that glove. I hear a small giggle. "See, not so bad, right?" I looked down at my shaking legs and tenderly touched my sore cheek.

"Yeah," I responded, my voice's pitch rising to cope with the sting. "Not so bad." I hear a sigh come from the blonde. "Well, we're not going to go anywhere like this, so how about this: I won't use any of my aura to put force behind my strikes. How does that sound?" The sting had faded by this point. "Sure, I certainly wouldn't mind that." Yang grinned. "As another condition though..." she then bit into her left glove, pulling it off her hand, revealing that she had wrapped up to her knuckles. With her left free, she pulled off her right.

"This way, we're on more equal footing, eh?" It was then that she gripped the bottom of her tank top and pulled it off. "Can't have you cheating by grabbing my shirt, can I?" I awkwardly direct my gaze to the white canvas beneath our feet. She then approaches me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, why don't we start off in a collar and elbow?" I nod and place my own hands on her shoulders, Yang places her other hand on my own shoulder. It was then that I realized the blonde must have had an inch on me, two tops.

I keep my gaze on Yang's face, not letting my gaze drift. Yang spoke up with a half smile; she must have been feeling confident. "You say when we're timed back in, 'kay?" I nod, steeling myself. "Time in!" I had already prepared myself for this lockup, pulling desperately at Yang, trying to get an upper hand in this grapplefest with what little skill I could muster. Yang was budging slightly, but I felt great strength in her own pulls. I hold on for dear life, but she had already pulled me onto one knee.