I do not own Wanna Be the Strongest in the World, nor do I wish to gain any profit from this. I am merely doing this for fun and amusement.
* So, I finally decided to check it out. And so far…
I REGRET NOTHING! * runs and jumps head-first into the nearest body of water *
But seriously, I am liking it so far. Sakura herself is what drew me in. Also, the fact she's voiced by the same woman who does Neith from Smite (which I also don't own) is an added bonus.

It was a slow Saturday night for Sakura. She had spent several long minutes preparing for a date with one guy Rio suggested, but Sakura's been regretting every second of it. True, the guy was well-mannered, and he managed to book reservations for a fancy restaurant, but he constantly talked about his achievements in soccer. And he wouldn't. stop. talking. It was driving her absolutely crazy.
"Great… I spend almost an hour preparing for this date… and the guy is SO full of himself." she thought bitterly. "I'm SO gonna make Rio pay..."

Another thing to note is that this guy isn't the first one suggested to her by Rio. There were two others. But one was not at all pleasant to be around, and the other turned out to be abusive. Rio regretted hooking Sakura up with that guy big time. Thankfully for her, Sakura forgave her once she gave the guy a massive beat-down. But Sakura knew one thing; she wouldn't let Rio be her match-maker any more.

In the midst of one of the guy's soccer stories, Sakura got up and picked her purse up.
"Hey, where you going?" he asked.
"I have to use the restroom. I'll be back." Sakura explained. He nodded his head in understanding.
"Ok. Gotcha. Do what you need to do."
Sakura smiled and left for the restroom, muttering something under her breath.

Inside the bathroom, she placed her purse on the counter and turned on the sink. She wet her hands before putting soup on to wash them. Once she was done, she took out her phone and called Rio.
"Hey, bud. How's your date going?" Rio asked while sitting on a bench near a fountain in the park.
"Not good. He keeps talking about his soccer achievements, and he won't shut up. I swear, that's the ONLY thing he talks about." Sakura explained. "And, also… I'm not much of a soccer fan."
"Ok, sit tight. I got ya." Rio told her.
"Thanks." Sakura said. "I mean, don't get me wrong; he's a nice and well-mannered guy… but he seems REALLY high on himself."
"I see." Rio said in understanding. "So… check him off?"
"What do you think?" Sakura snarked light-heartedly. Rio laughed a bit.
"Ok. I'll get ya out of there. See ya." Rio said.
"Ok. Bye." Sakura said as well before they both hung up. She put her phone away and let out a long sigh. She had a feeling she was going to regret this one.

Sakura left the bathroom and made her way back to the table, but discovered that her date had left. Sakura was left puzzled; the park was a good ways away from the restaurant she was at. Did Rio get here that quick?
"Where'd he go?" she wondered out loud. The waiter that worked their table noticed her and called her over to him.
"Ah, you're Ms. Hagiwara, am I right?" he asked her.
"Yes sir." she replied. "Where's my date?"
"Well, he told me his coach called. Said he needed to come in and put in a few extra hours of training. He already paid for everything. So you can leave." the waiter said. "He also told me to tell you that he didn't feel he'd have enough time to spend with you, considering this instance of being called in for extra training hours isn't the first."
Sakura was left silent for a while. Here she was thinking she would have to call it off with him, when HE took care of that FOR HER. It actually left her relieved. "Well… I'm sorry to hear that." she simply said. "Goodbye."
"Take care, ma'am." the waiter said. "Good luck in your next match." Sakura smiled.
"I'll do my best." she told him as she gave him a tip and left for the door.

Once outside, Sakura went to a nearby bench and sat down, letting out a long sigh. "Well… that wasn't how I imagined it would end." she said.
"You mean I missed it?" a voice said. Sakura turned her head to see Rio walking up and sit down next to her. Sakura nodded her head yes. Rio snapped her fingers. "Crap. I had this whole story about one of your Idol friends being in the hospital due to an accident, and you ended it before I even got here."
"Well… actually… HE ended it." Sakura admitted. Rio gave her a funny look.
"Why? Did he feel he wasn't good enough, or that YOU weren't good enough? But I highly doubt it was the latter; you look WAY too good to be considered not good enough." Rio said, making Sakura laugh a bit before she explained what happened.
"Ok, I guess that makes sense." Rio stated. Then there was an awkward silence between them. "So… uh… you wanna go for a walk in the park?" she asked.
"I suppose." Sakura said as she got up. "It'll help me settle my stomach." Rio got up and the two went over to the park to enjoy a friendly walk together.

"I'm sorry this one didn't work out well." Rio apologized. "I thought for sure this one would be a success."
"It's ok." Sakura assured her as she placed a hand on her white-haired friend. "Though… maybe I'll find a guy on my own next time."
Rio let out a rejected sigh. "Fair enough. I'm no Aphrodite."
"You got that right." Sakura said with a chuckle. "You're too aggressive, and you run a lot of guys off. And you failed three times to get me a good guy." Rio nodded her head in a "you have a point" manner.
"Still… I was just hoping I had got it this time." Rio said, still feeling a bit down.
"It's ok. You're good. We're still cool." Sakura assured her. Rio looked at her and smiled. The two continued their walk, each just talking about things ranging from matches they've been in to music they like. But as they were talking, Sakura heard some footsteps heading their way from behind them, and by the sound of it, it wasn't looking good.

Sakura turned around to see who it was, only to meet with a hard punch to her gut, dropping her to her knees and coughing hard. Rio turned when she heard the blow, then turned to the attackers with anger in her eyes and her teeth bared. It was three rough-looking girls. The one on the right had long jet-black hair with red at the ends, amber eyes, and she was wearing a black leather jacket over a red tank-top, black jeans and black leather boots. The one on the left had short snow-white hair and sapphire-blue eyes, a white shirt with blue slash-like marks beginning at the left shoulder and going downwards diagonally, blue jean shorts and white knee-high boots. And lastly, the middle one had long brown hair parted in the middle, hazel eyes, light tanned skin, a black leather jacket over an orange shirt with an odd serpent-like design on the front, black fingerless gloves, and black pants tucked into boots that stopped just below her knees and had what looked like Aztec pattering on it. Needless to say, these girls did NOT look friendly.

"Hey! What's the big idea, buttholes!" Rio asked, pure anger laced in her voice. Before she and Sakura became friends, she would've let anyone do what they wanted to do to her, but now she practically sees her as like a sister.
"Stay out of this, you albino-headed freak." the middle one said before she booted Rio hard in the stomach, making her fall back. She then snapped her fingers, signaling one of her goons to hold Rio down while she had the other one hold Sakura up. The leader walked towards Sakura slowly. "So… THIS is the great Sakura Hagiwara I've heard SO much about, huh?" she asked mockingly. She then laughed darkly. "How pathetic. It seems they'll let ANYONE in these days. Even Idol freaks like YOU." she spat as she poked Sakura hard in between her eyes. And it hurt worse than it would have because her nails were sharp. "You should've never left the Idol life, doll. You freaks are all talk, but you're absolutely helpless. You're as weak as insects… annoying like them, too." Sakura felt her blood begin to boil, and she struggled to break free, violently thrashing around. And she would've escaped had it not been for the leader kicking her hard in the stomach, dropping her to her knees coughing up a storm once more. Rio herself tried to break loose as well.

"HEY! YOU LEAVE IDOL GIRLS OUT OF THIS!" Rio shouted. The leader turned to Rio, and a devilish smirk broke out on her face. She slowly walked towards the struggling wrestler.

"My… funny hearing that come from YOU." she said. "If I recall, you yourself belittled and insulted them once before."
The memories of what she said to Sakura on that fateful night once upon a time rang through her head like a bell. She's grown to regret those words, seeing as how strong a woman Sakura has become, and by extension, Elena as well. She still chuckled to herself thinking of why Sakura joined wrestling in the first place; that dang red-head couldn't keep her fool-mouth shut.
"You're right… I DID." Rio admitted. "But now I know they can be caring and compassionate people. The Sweet Divas, even in spite of what I said about them and their fans, still accept me as one of their friends. Heck, I see it as an HONOR to be accepted by them, even though I KNOW I don't deserve it." Sakura was surprised to hear this coming from Rio. But it warmed her heart too to see that Rio now sees them as friends too instead of annoying pests.
"And for the record, the Idol business is NO cake-walk; ask Sakura. She'll vouch for me there." Rio added. The leader looked over at Sakura, then back at Rio in confusion.
"What… may I ask… are you talking about?" she asked.
"It's a long story. But here's the short version; I tried it, but I didn't even make it through ONE concert without throwing in the towel. Meanwhile, Sakura went from Idol singing to wrestling, lost sixty-five times IN A ROW, save for a few victories here and there, and STILL kept going." Rio explained. "So if ANYTHING, she's FAR tougher than ANY of you COMBINED!"

The leader growled and back-handed Rio hard, making her fall down. Sakura tried once more to break free, but the leader gave her a hard back-hand too, dropping her to the floor like a ragdoll. She then picked Sakura up by her throat, tightening her grip around Sakura's neck.
"Let's see how long your singer-lungs can last." she said darkly as Sakura gasped for breath, trying to pry the attacker's hand off her neck, only for her to tighten it even more. Rio tried to get up and stop her, but the two goons held her in place.
Sakura felt the world going dark; she was on the verge of passing out. The leader merely broke another wicked smirk.
"You know… you have such… beautiful eyes." she commented before raising her hand in a threating manner. "Would you mind if I CARVED THEM OUT?!" she asked sinisterly as she moved her hand threateningly close to Sakura's face. Sakura felt powerless to stop her.

The others looked on and laughed evily, save for Rio, who was still trying to break free, crying for them to leave Sakura alone.
"Maybe this will make the Idol girl think twice before disgracing wrestling again." said on of the goons.

* THWACK! *

Something hit one of the goons in the back of the head, making her let out a loud yell in pain and clutch the spot that was hit. The leader had accidently released her grip on Sakura's throat. Sakura felt color return to the world as she clutched her throat, greedily sucking in the sweet air her lungs needed so desperately.
"Luciana! Something just hit me in the head!" she yelled out.
"Oh, grow a pair, Ayane!" she yelled. "You've been hit with worse before." Ayane growled angrily at her. "Now then… where was I?" she asked as she walked back over to Sakura, grabbing a handful of her hair and yanking her up on her feet. Then she turned Sakura around and once again captured her throat in a vice grip. "Oh, I remember; clawing your eyes out!"

* THWACK! *

Something hit the other goon, hitting her in her butt this time. She let out a yell as she grabbed the spot that was hit, making Luciana let go of Sakura again.
"OH, DANG IT! THAT HURT!" she yelled. Luciana walked up to her and slapped her.
"Get a grip, Gracia!" she yelled. She then shifted her eyes downwards, and noticed what had hit both Gracia and Ayane; a small rock. She bent down to pick it up. She rolled her eyes then turned towards her goons. "So… THIS is what got your panties in a twist? A stupid rock?!"
"HEY! We weren't expecting it! Plus, it hit us fast and hard. We don't even know where it came from!" Ayane said in defense.

Soon, Luciana heard what sounded like elastic snapping and something trailing through the air towards her. She quickly raised her hand and captured the small flying rock, then looked up in the direction it came from. She saw that it had come from up in a nearby tree. Actually, it came from someone IN the tree. She crushed the rock in her hand, then let the dust fall out before wiping her hands together to get the remaining dust off. And once more, that evil smirk made its way back on her face as a lone figure jumped out of the tree and landed on all fours before standing up.

It was a male, about a year older than Sakura. He had brown hair, with his bangs parted in the middle, and the hair in the back went down to his shoulders and started to curl up a bit. He had brown eyes, light tanned skin, and a small scar on the left side of his jaw. He was wearing a red jacket with a yellow shirt underneath that had an orange hawk-like design on it that had similar detailing as Luciana's serpent, long boot-cut jeans and brown leather boots as well as a brown leather belt with a gold buckle with a piece of ruby cut into a hawk-like shape. Sakura thought he looked pretty handsome.

"Well, well, well… look who we have here..." Luciana said as she cracked her knuckles. "My old friend."
"I'm no friend of yours, you black-hearted skunk of a rat." he spat. "Especially not a person who attacks innocents for the fun of it."
"Hey, this… thing, is a disgrace to wrestling, and needs to be dealt with as such!" Luciana retorted, pointing at Sakura.
"She's better than you by a long-shot." he said. "I've never seen a girl who would stay after the amount of losses she's had."
"Wha- how do you-?" Luciana began before the boy cut her off.
"I ain't telling you a thing. Now listen; I'm giving only a few seconds to turn around, get lost, and leave these girls alone." he warned.
"Is that so?" Luciana challenged.
"Trust me Luciana. We BOTH know how this will end." he told her. Luciana thought about it for a few seconds, and decided it wasn't worth it.
"You know what? ...You're not worth our time. C'mon you two." Luciana said as she, Ayane, and Gracia turned and left.

The boy watched them leave for a few seconds before turning to Sakura and Rio, his face softening and now taking a calmer, friendlier appearance. "Hey. Are you two alright?" he asked.
"Yeah… we're a bit shaken… but we're good. We're wrestlers, so we're tough." Rio answered. Sakura nodded her head in further agreement.
"That's good. That stupid rat must be getting more desperate to get a win that she'll go after those that are unprepared to fight. Especially if, if my deduction's right, one of the girls just had a bad date." he said, getting a little mad. Sakura's eyes widened a bit; how did he know that?
"How did you know I was on a date that didn't go well?" she asked him.
"A pretty girl like you, wearing a beautiful, sparkly red dress like that, and looking as fancy and lovely as you are out here WITHOUT a guy, I kinda figured that was what happened. Plus, I've seen it before a few times with my sister." he answered. Sakura's eyes widened more; he hit the nail right smack on the head.

"Impressive." Sakura stated. "So… who are you exactly? And how did that girl know you?"
"Oh! Right! Where are my manners?" he said as he hit his forehead with his palm. "My name is Yoshi Hirano."
"Pleasure to meet you, Yoshi." Sakura said politely. "I'm Sakura Hagiwara."
"And I'm Rio Kazama." Rio chimed in.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Yoshi said as he bowed. "I've seen you two on TV before. And I've also heard a lot of things about you, Sakura."
"Like what?" she asked, curious as to what he heard.
"Well… I heard why you joined wrestling in the first place." he said. Rio turned her head and covered her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter, but a snicker still found its way out of her. Yoshi took notice of it as well as Sakura's reddening face. "I also know why she's holding in her laughter. And I've heard of your inhuman determination. And… yeah… your beauty. But seeing you here, now, and in person, I see rumors and pictures don't do you justice." he added, his own face becoming red. Sakura's face broke out with a new blush from his compliment.
"Hey, back off there, casonova. She just had a bad date. Give her some time to recover." Rio warned him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend." Yoshi replied with sincerity. "It's just… it's not everyday you meet AND save a wrestler you admire in the same night."
"Don't worry. It's good. I had a feeling we wouldn't have worked out anyways." Sakura assured him.
"Thank you." Yoshi said as he bowed. "Well, I must be going. The boys are probably worried about me."
"Ok. Bye." Rio said.
"See you around." Sakura said. Yoshi waved them good-bye and made his way out of the park to head home.

"He's got the right idea. We should be heading back home too." Rio suggested. Rio noticed Sakura wasn't paying attention. She snapped her fingers a few times before finally getting her attention.
"Huh? Oh, sorry… I guess I wasn't paying attention." she apologized.
"That boy's caught your eyes, huh?" Rio asked with a smirk as she crossed her arms.
"… Too early to say for sure." Sakura admitted. "But he is cute, and he seems to be a very nice guy."
"Yeah, you got that right." Rio said. "But anyways, we should be getting home. We have a big day tomorrow. We have a busy day of training, and we need to be up bright and early."
"Got it." Sakura said giving her a thumbs-up. "I'll see you then."
"Take care." Rio said as the two went their separate ways back to their respective homes.

* And with that, this chapter is down. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be this long, let me tell ya.
Now, after watching the first episode, I learned one thing; Rio is SAVAGE. True, her anger seemed justified, but JEEZ. If you've watched it, you know what I mean. Chances are, you've seen it if you're reading this.
Anyways, let me know how I did, and if you liked it, stay tuned for more chapters and be sure to check out my other stories if you want to.