The War in the Ward

Lydia blinked a few times as Colleen was dropped like a bad habit, as if her mind simply couldn't process what just happened. Seeing wasn't always believing. "Holy crap, that worked?"

Was that really the first knockdown? Lydia could scarcely believe that punch worked so splendidly, that she could deal out that much force into a blow, but the proof was right there in front of her in a sweaty puddle. She stepped back as Lorenza began the count, taking the moment to gather breath.

"Quick count, quick count!" Carmen waved a finger at Lorenza, but she needn't have bothered. She should have know her girl would be able to take more than that. She was up even before the halfway point,ready to give every bit as good as she got.

Colleen wanted her in close, and Lydia was all too happy to oblige. She brought her fists up and moved back in, swinging out with a crisp double-jab, going high and low. She'd hammer away at Colleen, weather her way and drive the nail in once more when she was more pliable.

“Bullshit, there was nothing wrong with my count,” Lorenza would snap at Carmen, but it really didnâ€t matter, since Colleen managed to get back up onto her feet before Lorenza could even count to four. The spar would continue, but Lorenza was confident that her tattooed beauty would manage to keep the momentum on her side and finish off her reeling opponent.

Colleen was standing again, and managed to keep herself steady, despite the fact that she had just been knocked down into a puddle of her own sweat on the floor. She beckoned for Lydia to come at her, and the tattoo artist would come at her, gloves up, obviously confident and determined to knock Colleen down on her ass again. Lydia would launch a jab at Colleenâ€s face, and Colleen brought her gloves up to block it without difficulty. Then, Lydia went low. Colleen would take a major risk here. She allowed Lydiaâ€s jab to tag her in her upper stomach, while, at the same time, she would strike at her opponentâ€s face. Colleen would launch a hard straight right at the center of Lydiaâ€s face, hoping to force her foe back, following that up with a hard right hook as she tried to change the momentum of their sparring match, as they reached the halfway point of the third and final round.

Lydia was starting to wonder just what it would take to keep Colleen down for ten seconds. It was like she had this infinite well of stamina, and no matter how hard Lydia hit her, she would just keep coming, like a light-skinned Terminator. It was amazing and terrifying all at once.

After getting knocked down herself, Lydia was quite sure Colleen would be looking to put her down for a little while, too. Just because they were friendly enough when the gloves came off didn't mean that either of them wouldn't get satisfaction from dropping the other, and the lovely light-haired lass was clearly starving for it.

Her jab landed, but it wasn't enough to keep Colleen back. She kept coming and threw out a furious straight, forcing Lydia to step back and avoid it and bob just out of the glove's reach. It wouldn't be easy, but Lydia tried to move in while Colleen was recoiling, seeing a big chance to score another good hit.

She was wrong. Agonizingly wrong. Colleen's hook slammed into her face with all the subtlety of an eighteen-wheeler, flooding her head with pain. She spun around, and she must have blacked out for a second, because she was on the floor in the very next second, groaning as she laid flat on her chest.

Lydiaâ€s jab slammed into Colleenâ€s stomach, making the girl almost scream in pain as she felt her tummy being compressed underneath the white gloves which Lydia had borrowed from her Mexican paramour. Colleen endured the blow and managed to strike back, however. Her first punch missed, but, ironically, that wouldnâ€t matter, as Lydia would actually doom herself by throwing her head right into Colleenâ€s right hook.

“Haaah!” Colleen groaned, in an oddly triumphant tone, as she sent Lydia sprawling onto the tiled floor. At the same time, though, Colleen was forced to stagger back, clutching one glove to her stomach and letting out a long, low sound of pure pain. She would hunch over, putting her other glove on Carmenâ€s bed as she would try to calm herself down and recover while her sparring partner was immobilized on the floor.

Lorenza cried out in shock and dismay as Lydia went down. “Come on, mi reina! Get up and finish her off! Kick her pale ass!”

Carmen winced as Lydia went down. Friend or foe, it was always hard to watch someone take a dive, especially when Carmen was on the outside of the ring, and the fact that it was a linoleum floor instead of the soft canvas. That had to hurt.

She placed her hand on Colleen's glove as she came over to the bedside, lovingly stroking it as she started the count."One. Two. Three..."

Lydia heard Lorenza's encouragement and used it as much as she could, making it a focal point as she started to push up. It wasn't hard. It couldn't be that hard. All she needed to do was stand up. People stood up all the time. She'd stood up more times than she could count. All she had to do was stand up one more time.

"Four. Five."

She pushed her gloves against the floor and pushed up, groaning as she raised up to her feet. It hurt. Every inch hurt. But she made it and raised her gloves. She got back into position and glaring hard at Colleen. Ice cold eyes. "Ready."

“Now thatâ€s a quick count…” Lorenza would grumble as she heard Carmen starting to count her lover out. Regardless of the speed of the count, Lydia was not going to stay down for very long. She got up when the count had only just reached its halfway point, getting her feet under her, raising her gloves, and inviting her opponent to come at her again.

Colleen would rise up from her doubled-over position on Carmenâ€s bed to put her gloves up, too, staring Lydia down across the small space between them. She was hurting, and Lydia was hurting. Neither of them had much left in the tank—as inexperienced as they were when it came to fighting, it was remarkable that they had both lasted even this long. But the end was quickly approaching. Now they were in the endgame.

Warily, but determinedly, Colleen would wade in towards Lydia, making close quarters for the two of them. She would start off with another jab at Lydiaâ€s guard, then a pair of punishing hooks aimed at both of Lydiaâ€s lovely breasts, trying to flatten those inked orbs with her black leather fists.

Carmen just stuck her tongue out at Lorenza for a response, not wanting to waist any words as the match started up again. As much time as she spent preparing for matches and and actually fighting in them, it was easy to forget how thrilling a boxing bout could be from the sidelines, too, and the girls were quickly reminding her. Even if they weren't a pair of topless, seductive, sultry sirens, this still would've been fun to watch, and it got Carmen's blood flowing in more ways than one. Maybe after the ladies left and things settled down, Carmen could convince Lorenza to watch a little ESPN Classic...

Back in reality, Lydia kept her place as Colleen made her way over, not budging as they met up for what would likely be the last time. Energy was running low. Sweat was running dry. Mind was running wild. Lydia didn't have much energy to devote to dodging or tricks, anymore. It was going to be sheer blunt force trauma from here on out.

She took the jab hard and suffered through both hooks as they pancaked her chest. Her ribs cried out for mercy, but she promptly told them to shut up - just a little while longer, and they could rest for days. Lydia stumbled back on wobbly legs, before letting out a Comanche war cry and surging forward. She ducked low and came up with two hard blows of her own, vicious left and right uppercuts aimed at Colleen's breadbasket, as she pushed into her opponent.

There were going to be no more tricks and no more dodging for the rest of the way. For the minute and change that remained in this surprisingly vicious spar, it was going to be all power, and all pain, until one of them dropped.

Colleenâ€s jab and hooks all hit home, forcing Lydia back on shaky legs. Colleen would move with her opponent, trying to press her advantage, but before she could do any more damage Lydia retaliated, going low and aiming vicious left and right uppercuts into Colleenâ€s breadbasket. Colleen cried out in agony as she felt her midsection brutalized, and she wobbled backwards on noodle-like legs, letting Lydia push her back.

But she would not bend to her opponentâ€s will, and she was determined to see this spar through to a victorious completion. She would plant her feet solidly, grab onto Lydiaâ€s shoulder for support with one hand, and then, with the other, she would begin to hammer away at the side of Lydiaâ€s face, throwing right hook after right hook into the girlâ€s cheek to try to send her spinning to the floor.

For a flash, Lydia saw a board game laying off to the side - Rock 'Em' Sock 'Em Robots. She'd never owned it as a kid, but she got the concept, and she couldn't help but smile at the coincidence. Right now, they had quite a bit in common with it. She might have laughed if her jaw didn't hurt so much.

She pushed the thought to the side and moved forward, falling into Colleen's trap and getting a hailstorm of hooks. One. Two.Three hooks rattled into her face, each one bashing her head to the side as Carmen clapped from the sidelines. Lydia had to clench her teeth just to keep from spitting the mouthguard out, and each blow brought her closer to the floor, only a foot or so away from taking a knee.

But not yet.

Lydia let out a feral growl and surged upwards, bringing her fist up from way down look and throwing her own right at Colleen's face as she popped up, even jumping a little bit to get some of her weight behind the blow.

Colleen pounded away at Lydiaâ€s face, and she could feel her opponent weakening in her grasp, sinking down towards the floor with each punch. But Lydia wasnâ€t about to go down easily. She was just as determined to win as Colleen, and Colleen recognized that. This fight was coming right down to the wire.

Lydia surged upwards and slammed her glove into Colleenâ€s face for a vicious half-hook, half-uppercut. That was enough to break the close body contact between them, as Colleen would go spinning backwards, looking for sure as if she was going to fall, perhaps even fall down out cold. But, somehow, Colleen managed to rally. She would put her arms out to her sides and plant her feet, wobbling and swaying as if blown by a strong wind, but she would not fall. Then, she would turn back to Lydia. She pointed a glove at the tattoo artist. The one simple motion said all that Colleen wanted to say.

Colleen would march forward again, weakly, shakily, but she would do it. Then, she would throw a vicious barrage of hooks at Lydia, getting a little wild as she would aim left and right punches for her rivalâ€s temple, chin, and chest.