"Hah!" Ishiyo lets out a short laugh, "No, I could not imagine that in this crowd. To rambunctious foh that." She rubs her chin in thought then starts laughing again, "Of course now that I think on it...a yeah ago I would not have imagined attending a briefing delivered in a man wearing his pajamas. But the Admiral over the Heron's task force had this senior intelligence officeh. Apparently he was a bit of an odd one, used to always give us details on theih new estimates on enemy positions and numbehs while wearing these cheap cotton pajamas. I heard the Admiral put up with him because the man was some kind of genius at intelligence work."

"Don't let her do that to you Hiruma-sama, getupgetupgetup!"

The Crane's closeness and the Phoenix's excited voice pulled Akihiko's eyes open right away.



"Ah, yes, Phoenix-sama," he says excitedly, barely registering anything about the speaker. "Very exciting!"

He closes his eyes for a moment again as he turns toward Shizuku. "I'm sorry. I'm fine. Just... overcome by the excitement for a moment," the Lion says, unconvincingly, and he knows the excuse makes no sense. He is close enough to Shizuku he has to turn his head and speak to her ear to keep any propriety. "I am fine. And I will explain when this is over. I don't want to try to get through people in the noise and everything." He shifts just slightly away from her so she can see his eyes and know this is all true.

"It's pretty clear that people enjoy it, there's no denying there. There's an audience for it but I think he would be more interested to know if people would be willing to travel to Asakaze and Shiro Yaoke to see such a show. If he could get a roomful of guests, he might even plan for the construction of a stadium."

"What?! No way!" he exclaimed at the sudden reversal of fortunes Hida Hikaru had against the Menace. "How did she kick out of that?!"

"Boom!" he cried out when Hikaru delivered the Final Justice.

It seemed elementary at this point, as Hikaru put her hands on the shoulders of the prone Menace. The referee made his way to where they were and began to initial to three-count. The Menace laid there with her eyes closed, looking like she was either unconscious or too dazed to put up much of a fight.

"Hida-senshu putting the pin on the Menace now. One. Two! THREE!"

At the three-count, the referee held up a hand and pointed to the attendant at the bell to make his official call that it was a match won by Hikaru. The bell rang twice and the crowd erupted into cheers as Hikaru's theme began to play on cue.

"Hida Hikaru-sama is your winner of the match and still Vermillion Bird Champion after a successful title defense! What an incredible match by both performers. It was close but it seems that Hida-sama's experience and most importantly, her uncanny resilience gave her a clear advantage!"

"She’s not quite out of the woods yet, I could imagine that she will continue to see more trouble from the Delinquent Club soon. The Menace failed to take the Championship away but I could only imagine that the Delinquent Club leader, Hida Yusuke the Hand, will have his sights set on Hikaru next! Sooner than later!"

Hikaru accepted the belt from the referee after he retrieved it for her and handed it to her. She took her decorative belt and climbed to the top ropes before holding it high triumphantly to the cheering crowd before her. The Menace rolled out of the ring and began staggering away like she was wounded after being defeated, making herself scarce as all of the attention was on the winner of the match.

/end of the match

[The Wrestletron Recap thread link]

At the conclusion of the match, they waited for the crowd to simmer down after the excitement. Hida Hikaru lingered for a moment to wave and greet fans who were sitting at ringside before making her departure as well. Once they did began to quiet, the lights dim slightly and one of the commentators would speak to the audience.

"Thank you for being a wonderful crowd, minisama! It is an absolute pleasure to be here in Shiro Yaoke. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Asakaze Championship! Will YOU become the Asakaze Champion?"

Ichika jumped a little at the crying out, as it was a touch more effective when it was right beside her, but she laughed it off and settled back quickly. Though she needed it, as the match quickly developed into the final moments and the crowd certainly got crazy.

For what little part she could play, Ichika joined the fun alongside Ryo who, at this point, she was rather certain she could take a lead from and for at least these next few moments turned into just another member of the crowd, some mix of cheering and clapping until things were quiet enough again.

Mal-Chin made sure to get up in order to congratulate the Warden. What a turn around! The fortitude!

And the Match was over. "She defended her title really well, don't you think?" She chuckled.

She leaned back, looking hesitant after first, then nodding at the second statement. "Okay." She didn't need to draw more attention than that.

Hyeon-ju threw her fist in the air as it was over, psyched and pumped over the dramatic action that had unfolded before them!

An intersting Match, Nishida thought.

It was now the Mantis's turn to laugh, shaking his head slightly as he tried to picture the image. "That must of made it hard to keep a straight face during the briefing. " Hayato said, eyes still dancing with amusement as he lookex towards the Crane.

"I've never encountered anything like that." He ran his fingers through his hair, and smirked, apparently having a hard time dismissing the image from his head. "Had a briefing once when the whole platoon was in swim wear out on the beach, but that's about as strange as it goes. Might of been funny in the Gunso was wearing gloaties though..."

"It was a great match, I guess I owe you dinner?"

"So it seems Kuni san." She smiled "Just let me know. Here is my communicator information... I think I forgot to give it to you last time."

"It's fun. I enjoy a good show as much as anyone else," he says with a nod to Nara. "It's my first live wrestling match so it's exciting having the crowd around here."

"You-eh bathing suits? You ground poundehs are a strange lot." Her grin remained. Then there was the roar of the crowd. "Oh looks like the winner was decided."

"So the school girl lost? I do not recall any girls of that sort in boarding school." She shook her head, "Uniform would never pass musteh. So how have you found the miai so fah?"

Satoru had noticed the Lion's reaction and saw the Crane and Lion sharing whispered words and the hesitation on her face. He leaned close to Shizuku whispering his own words to her ear "Apologies Daidoji-san, I believe my presence has disturbed your Lion company. I will depart, or at least move to a different area if that will make things better." his voice was cold and analytical as usual but his eyes betrayed some bit of emotion annoyance maybe. it was a little hard to tell.

The little Fox was ecstatic.

"WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES, GET UP EIGHT!!!!!!"

The motto of the Fox may be appropriate at this moment . . . but probably at a slightly lower volume.

"We can be." He offered with a soft chuckle. "It might just be a Mantis thing, anytime there is a beach and we have some R&R we are bound to be there."

Then the bell sounded and there was the roar of the crowd. "It seems so." That was the outcome he had expected too. 'Maybe the Uniform is a Crab style, they can be rather daring from what i hear."

He shifted away from that topic as she asked about the miai. "It's been interesting? I admot to enjoying the biathlon, but I'm not sure I'm meant to ride Otori." Hayato said with a soft chuckle. "It has been nice meeting all kinds of new people though, you?"

Ryo didn't quite jump in excitement but he did throw a few hands in the air with a bit of bravado. When the finish came from Hida Hikaru moving to make the pin, he counted along with some of the crowd who was also hoping for the Warden to get her victory here.

"One! Two! THREE! Oooooooh, wow! Get wrecked, Menace!" he called out toward the wrestling ring, as if the wrestlers could actually hear him. Maybe if he had the Kitsune's seat. He did eventually settled back down and gave a clap for a good show. "Pretty wicked, huh?"