Bachiko the Grappler Ch. 02

Kaito gulped. He recalled Kaori's grip strength. Would Bachiko's hand be injured?

The square table was slightly more than waist high, and not that large. The contestants could bend over it, lock arms, and touch foreheads if they leaned forward enough.

Kaori suddenly pressed her palms together and held them just under her breasts. She took a breath, appearing to concentrate. Then she lowered herself into a squat, with perfect form.

"What's she doing?" Kaito wondered.

"Watch."

Kaori straightened up - and the difference was perceptible! Her muscles seemed more prominent than before, all over her body!

"Unbelievable! Is that even possible?" Kaito yelped. Privately he thought, if this was all he had to do to enlarge his muscles, then it'd be easier than he thought it would be!

Kaori did it twice more, and each time her iron thews, her steel sinews, seemed to get larger and more defined. She now looked an even more intimidating opponent than before, for her smaller opponent.

"For normal people, this extent of muscle pumping only happens after quite some time into a workout," Fujiko observed. "But Kaori's cardiovascular system is so enhanced that she can achieve this much 'pump' effect just from doing three simple warmup squats! This is truly Bachiko's baptism of fire. She'll have her hands full with this fight!"

Bachiko already looked pumped from her pre-match routine earlier. She cocked her head, looking at Kaori up and down from across the table. She then cracked a small smile. "Not bad." Then she flexed her right arm, making the muscles pop. "But still not good enough to match me."

Kaori stared at her opponent's sculpted arm, and slowly smiled as well. "Truly an arm worthy of the Empress's daughter," she said. "It would be an honor to break it... and really a pity to see your tears of pain as I mash your hand into pulp."

"Every bone in your fingers will be broken before that happens," Bachiko replied, still with that small smile on her face.

Kaito was shaking and sweating all over. "This... this is crazy..." he mumbled. "They... can't be serious..."

Fujiko swatted his shoulder. "Don't be squeamish. Nothing's even happened yet. They're just talking." Under her breath she muttered, "Wimp. I wonder what Bachiko-chan sees in you. I liked the last one better."

Kaito didn't hear that sotto voce bit - he was looking on raptly as the two girls stood up against the table and leaned over, bracing their feet. Bachiko put both hands on the table and adopted a waiting posture, instead of putting her arm up straightaway. "I'll let you decide how you want to compete," she told Kaori.

Kaori thought for a while, then nodded. She angled her body to the side, put her left hand on her hip, and held her right arm forward, palm open in mute invitation. "Arms first, then. Plenty of time to overpower the rest of your body later."

Bachiko mirrored the pose, and moved her elbow close to Kaori's. Their hands hovered close together, not yet locked.

"Ba-san, how are we hearing them so clearly?"

"Hidden microphones all around. Shut up."

A few more moments passed. Their eyes locked. Then their thumbs hooked, and suddenly Kaori's fingers snapped around Bachiko's hand like a bear-trap. Kaito imagined he could hear the metal clanging, the movement was that rapid.

Bachiko threw her head back and uttered a choked scream. Kaori was not levering her arm down - their arms stayed in the neutral position, dead center. But her massive arm muscles were fully flexed as she applied her crushing grip strength to Bachiko's hand. And for Bachiko to lose composure instantly, like that... the power Kaori was putting forth...!

"How do you like that, Hanma Bachiko?" Kaori said, smiling with gritted teeth as Bachiko's posture sagged slightly, her right arm shaking. "I can leave indents in steel rods. I can crack rocks. Can you feel me grinding your bones... Hanma Bachiko?"

Bachiko's back was to Kaito, so he couldn't see her face very clearly, but her agony was obvious. Her muscles, as magnificently as they were, were no use to her - fingers had tendons, not muscles. Hanayama Kaori was using all the strength in her bulging forearm and her upper arm as well, and pouring it into the vise her own fingers had made around Bachiko's. There was nothing Bachiko could do about it.

"Submit, Hanma Bachiko!" Kaori demanded. "I won't move your hand down. Our arms will stay up like this. I want to hear you say that you submit to my superior arm strength first. Will you submit, before I grind your fingers to powder?" Bachiko was starting to slump. The shaking was spreading to her whole body.

"She can't do this!" Kaito was beside himself.

Fujiko looked grim. "You're wrong there. We'll have to see if Bachiko is up to the challenge." She sighed. "Someone else is watching... someone extremely hard to impress."

Kaito's hands gripped the balcony tightly. "You mean her mother."

"Yes. Hanma Yuriko is backstage, watching."

Something was happening. Slowly, Bachiko regained her posture. Sweat beaded her entire body, but slowly she stopped slumping, and her back began to regain its arch. She raised her head. She had a strange fixed smile on her face, with her teeth bared.

"Submit? You're really starting to annoy me," she chuckled, a little breathlessly. "Your grip may be good enough for a handjob, but not much else. And as for keeping our arms up like this... let me show you the point of an arm wrestling match."

Veins began to pop out on her baseball-sized biceps. Kaori looked shocked, then grimaced as her arm began to tremble. The veins on her forearm began to stand out as well. Both girls began to groan with effort. Bachiko was fighting through the pain of Kaori's grip to channel her arm strength and take down Kaori's arm. She began to gain a slight advantage.

"Go Bachiko!" Kaito yelled, but his voice was lost in the general hubbub. The ones seated right at ringside were pounding their fists on the arena partitions.

"Some of the patrons have side bets on the outcomes of the arm wrestling matches, sometimes. It's among themselves. We don't regulate," Fujiko remarked absently. "I wonder what the odds are for this one."

Kaori was visibly straining now. The huge smooth mound of her biceps stood out like a huge lump of dough. She managed to slow Bachiko's progress down, then began to reverse it. "No!" Kaito shouted.

But Bachiko was on top of it. Kaori didn't make it up to the neutral position - Bachiko forced her arm down again, but with excruciating slowness.

Several minutes passed. Bachiko's progress was steady, but she had to fight for every inch. And the agony was real, despite her trash talk - tears of pain were flowing freely down her face, mixing in with the sweat. It still looked as if her strength might fail any moment and Kaori would slam her arm down all the way to the other side.

But today, her strength and will prevailed. Kaori held out as long as she could, but finally Bachiko pressed her hand down onto the table with a loud scream of mingled triumph and pain. Kaori let out a yell of unbridled frustration and yanked her hand away, clutching at her upper arms. Bachiko did the same, with a feral grin on her face. She looked positively monstrous, with her face a mess of sweat and tears, and the protuberant veins on her arm. Her hand looked limped but intact, but it was clear she was having trouble flexing her fingers.

Looking at the victorious Bachiko slowly raising her right arm and clenching her fist with some difficulty, Kaito found that his erection was throbbing harder than it had ever had in his life. Bachiko had triumphed in an intense physical contest - her dominance was on full display.

The servitors from before rushed onto the stage again and carried the table away. Bachiko lowered her arm, still moving her fingers gingerly. She dropped into a battle-ready crouch. Across from her, Kaori adopted the squatting pose of a sumo wrestler about to do the shiko, placing her hands on her knees.

She began to raise her right leg in the air. It looked like a relatively unprepossessing movement, because one expected it of a sumo wrestler - until one realized that she was doing it so slowly that she was in fact demonstrating supreme muscular control over her whole body. Her leg went up, up, up... until it was straight up in the air. Her pelvic flexibility was on full display - the left leg was still bent, and supporting her body, but the right leg was fully upright.

Then her foot came crashing down, and Kaito could barely believe his eyes - cracks radiated from the point of impact!

Bachiko's calm expression did not crack, but her eyes narrowed. The audience was simply agog, however, at the display of sheer lower body power.

Kaori began stepping forward, maintaining a stable crouching posture, her arms held close to her body in readiness. Bachiko began moving in more closely as well, guardedly. The distance closed - and then Kaori's palm flashed out, nearly taking Bachiko straight in the face, except that Bachiko's upper torso had swayed back almost by reflex. She tried to grab the arm, but Kaori had retracted it. A few more palm strikes followed, from both arms, but all missed. Bachiko backed up a few steps, looking wary.

"Her harite is quite something, isn't it! As fast as a light jab in boxing, but with much more power!" Fujiko exclaimed, clapping her hands with delight. "Bachiko is canny enough to avoid that, even though she's never faced off against it before!"

There was definitely a lot of strong muscle underneath the fat; that much was obvious by now. Kaito bit his lip. Speed wouldn't necessarily be Bachiko's advantage over Kaori!

Suddenly, Kaori lunged forward. Bachiko took the impact of Kaori's shoulder on her ripped abdominal muscles, and immediately tried to work Kaori into some kind of hold. But Kaori was trying to wrap her massive arms around Bachiko's waist. They grappled and tussled, stumbling around the ring.

"If she can get Kaori down on the ground somehow... isolate a limb..." Kaito would be the first to think he didn't know nuts about fighting, but he racked his brain to try and recall what he'd seen of stuff like boxing, or MMA, or even puroresu (prowrestling). Whatever the case, he felt sure Bachiko had to nullify her weight disadvantage somehow.

Fujiko was shaking her head, though. "Naïve! That wouldn't work at all! You think Kaori is some clumsy ox, do you? Or some rookie?"

They were still a tangle of limbs, but Kaori had managed to get her arms on the outside. And suddenly Bachiko seemed to be frantically struggling. Her face showed her growing agitation, while Kaori was starting to look gleeful.

"What's going on? What's happening? Why's Bachiko panicking? It looks like..." Kaito tried to get a better look.

Fujiko was on her feet. "Bachiko can sense her danger! Kaori is about to lock in a full frontal bearhug!"

"She'll squeeze the breath out of Bachiko!" Kaito gasped in dismay.

But Fujiko was shaking her head rapidly. "That's not the danger! Look carefully! If she wanted to do a normal bearhug, she would want her arms on the inside, not the outside. But now she needs to trap Bachiko's arms for what she wants to do next!"

Kaito did not need to ask what that is, for Kaori had won the tussle with the arms, and had pinned Bachiko's arms firmly to her sides. Looking at the arms and shoulders straining against each other, Kaito could only imagine the amount of strength Kaori was exerting to keep those arms subdued. "Surely she can't hold Bachiko for long like this!"

"She doesn't need to," came the grim reply.

And as Kaito watched, Kaori's legs tensed, bent slightly - and launched the both of them up into the air!

Then, Kaori performed a mid-air backflip... and came down right on top of Bachiko! Just before slamming down into the floor, Kaori released her arms and spread them wide open. Bachiko's entire body was sandwiched with force between the hard, unyielding clay floor and Kaori's even harder muscles.

All 204lbs of Kaori... accelerated by the amazing height Kaori had jumped with both of them. The vertical distance had been approximately one and a half times their height, for anyone eyeballing it. The crowd was roaring with approval, and some of them were clearly yelling, "Tsunami Crush! Tsunami Cruuuussshhh!"

"They've seen this before," Fujiko said. "Kaori's signature move. The Tsunami Crush! This is the first time as far as I know that Bachiko's ever taken a move like that. I hope the dear girl is still conscious."

Bachiko stirred slightly. Her eyes were open, but from this distance Kaito could tell they were glassy and unfocused. Kaori rose languidly to her feet, breathing deeply and slowly. She looked straight up at the VIP box, and seemed slightly surprised to see Kaito hovering at the edge, looking distraught. Then she smirked, and blew a kiss at Kaito. She then planted a foot on Bachiko's stomach, and slowly raised her arms into a flex, all the while looking Kaito in the eyes and cocking her wide hips suggestively.

"I think she's realized you're related to Bachiko in some way, and she's coming on to you, Kaito-kun," Fujiko remarked unnecessarily.

The expression on Kaori's face suddenly changed. Bachiko's left hand was gripping her calf and shin tightly. With a single forceful motion, Bachiko flung Kaori off her. It was like the toppling of a tree - for a split second Kaori looked ungainly for the first time in the match, as she flew through the air and landed on her side.

Without any leverage whatsoever, with only whatever strength she could muster in her arm from her position, Bachiko had thrown the 204lb girl off her as easily as she shrugged off a blanket!

"Yes! Amazing! Bachiko-chan, you're the best!" Kaito went nuts.

"Kaori was caught completely off-balance!" Fujiko noted. "Bachiko still showed her incredible arm strength, but that could not have happened if Kaori hadn't been showboating at you!"

Kaori had recovered, and was once again in her crouch, her face red with embarrassment and fury. The scar on the right side of her face was livid. Bachiko meanwhile had clambered to her feet. She was panting and still seemed slightly dazed, but that feral grin was back on her face. This was a side of her Kaito had never seen before - she was positively wolfish when she looked like that. He was far more accustomed to her small smile, sometimes a little wry, but usually giving away very little of her feelings or disposition.

Bachiko pointed a finger at Kaori, then started shaking that finger admonishingly at her. "That... is my boyfriend up there. Don't... EVER... flirt with him again."

"Maybe I'll take him off your hands after crushing you," Kaori said, and before she was done speaking she was already charging straight at Bachiko. But Bachiko rolled out of the way at the last second, and before Kaori could turn around she was behind the larger girl, slipping her arms into a full nelson position. Kaori roared and grabbed hold of Bachiko's wrists, trying to break free of the attempted hold by brute force. Bachiko looked as if she was trying to wrangle a wild animal.

"Bachiko's trying to get her down," Fujiko realized. "As long as she can stay behind Kaori, she can lock in a submission move - a rear naked choke, or even that full nelson she's looking for." She shook her head. "Her inexperience is telling."

They collapsed to the floor, and with an adroit twist of her body Kaori had slipped out of Bachiko's grasp, turning around to face her. They tussled wildly again, but Kaori managed to secure Bachiko's wrists. She began to squeeze.

Bachiko gritted her teeth, her face beginning to scrunch up in pain. The veins began to pop out all along her arms again, as they were doing for Kaori's forearms.

"Kaori's trying to break her wrists!" Kaito exclaimed.

"She can try, but Bachiko's muscles can resist it a lot better than Boss Hanayama could, I think," Fujiko chortled. "Still... this doesn't look good."

Almost a minute passed, with Kaori not quite pinning Bachiko's arms down, squeezing with all her considerable might, attempting to pulverize Bachiko's forearm muscles and break the bones beneath. Bachiko was resisting with every ounce of her arm strength. She was succeeding, but she was clearly on the defensive. There didn't seem to be anything she could do to reverse the situation.

"You... are very... strong," Kaori suddenly grunted. Her sweat drops were falling onto Bachiko's face.

Bachiko's face was red with exertion, but she replied. "So are... you..."

"You are still... not strong enough... to beat me!" And with that, Kaori suddenly elevated her body, using her limbs for support, creating some space between her and Bachiko. Then in an instant she closed that space, slamming her large body into Bachiko's at close range.

The breath was expelled from Bachiko's mouth in a whoosh. Once more Kaori began the maneuver, and this time Bachiko visibly tensed her torso in preparation, but the impact again seemed to do significant damage. Kaori was using her entire body to pummel Bachiko into submission.

A third time she slammed herself down onto Bachiko. Then she rose to her feet, staggering slightly, and pulled Bachiko up by the hair. Bachiko seemed barely capable of standing, and was swaying back and forth. With alacrity, Kaori once more wrapped her arms around Bachiko's. And again, her powerful thighs launched them both straight up in the air!

But then there was a small blur of movement - and when they came down it was Bachiko on top, coming down with a big splash on Kaori! Somehow, she had reversed the move!

"How did she do that?!" Kaito yelled, exhilarated.

"Are your eyes worse than mine, boy?" Fujiko shouted back. "She headbutted Kaori in the face on the way up, stunning her just enough to free her arms, and that gave her enough control to twist their bodies around and reverse the move!"

Indeed, there was blood coming out of Kaori's nose now. Bachiko made as if to secure Kaori in a pin, but with street fighting instincts Kaori slammed her own head upwards into Bachiko, who staggered back and off Kaori. They both regained their balance, both of them now sporting nosebleeds.

"This is bad... she's bleeding so badly!" Kaito shook his head, beside himself with anxiety.

"It's only nosebleeds," Fujiko said, sniffing dismissively. "A few minutes in a Yakushi tank to put it right, if that's even needed. Nosebleeds always look far worse than they actually are."

They had begun circling each other again. Some of the audience members were clearly going wild at the sight of the fresh crimson blood on the pale skin of the fighters. "Get a load of that!" and "Blood... BLOOD!" were some of the things Kaito could hear.

"Sick freaks," he muttered.

Then Bachiko did something unexpected. She dropped into a wide squatting position as well - then, she raised her arms and held them straight upwards, in a V, with her palms facing Kaori! She was wide open!

"What is she doing?!" Kaito yelled.

"It looks like... she's challenging Kaori to a straight strength match!" Fujiko was practically jumping up and down in her seat. "She's foolish! Crazy! I adore her!"

Bachiko's right hand was still probably hurting; Kaori had the height and weight advantage; and still Bachiko was challenging her in this way! There was only one way Kaori could respond. The yakuza were known for their code of honor - there was no way Kaori would take advantage of Bachiko's defenseless stance to land some kind of cheap shot. Kaori reached out, and laced fingers with Bachiko, who smiled grimly in satisfaction.

Then at the same time, both girls launched themselves forward from their haunches, so hard that their upper torsos collided with a meaty smack. Amazingly, Bachiko was not sent flying back! Both girls did audibly lose their breath with a combined "ooof", however, and took a moment to recover, before their arms flexed fully again and they struggled in their test of strength.