Kyo Akamatsu vs. Carmen Rodriguez - Let's You and Him Fight

Kyo sucked in air as he got back up to his knees. He had taken worse-- at least, that was what he was telling himself as he pushed himself back upright. He had faced tougher opponents than Carmen, and managed to hold his own. As the Latina made her comment, he gave her an exhausted grin. "Don't act so disappointed, Rodriguez-san," he replied respectfully.

Even as he spoke, Carmen closed the distance between them. Before Kyo could react, she dropped low and slipped under his guard, an inverted frontal headlock. "Haaaahh--" he gagged as his fit body was arched back, pawing at Carmen's encircling arm. He responded quickly, bracing his feet to prevent her from taking him down to the mat. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed Carmen's wrist and twisted, hoping to reverse her hold into a chickenwing hammerlock.

Got him. Nice. Solid. She flexed, holding Kyo tight in the headlock and snapping it in, powering down the hold and preparing to drive him into the mat with all of her weight behind it. DDT. Good, simple, effective. Her sort of move.

It would have been sweet, too. If it happened. It didn't.

Instead, Carmen was spun around and put in a move with a name she couldn't quite remember off the top of her head. But it hurt. And knowing Kyo, it wouldn't get any better. "Who said I was..." She let out a short cry as her joints flared with pain. "...disappointed?

She had to stop him before he could make it worse, she knew that much. Carmen pushed back with her feet and tried to drive him in the corner, make it as much of a hassle for him as possible. "Wouldn't have it any other way?"

Kyo sucked in air as he managed to escape from Carmen's headlock, managing to expertly reverse the hold into a chickenwing. For someone who professed not to know much about holds, Carmen still had some good clinching strength in her arms, that could be used to excellent effect in a basic submission hold. Of course, Kyo would have to wait on giving the girl tips until after he had made her tap out.

Before he could do what he planned, however-- sweep the girl's legs out from under her and fix her in either another armbar or a camel clutch-- Carmen suddenly backpedalled, forcing Kyo back as well. His back slammed against the corner post, and a silent cry escape from his lips as pain shot up is spine, causing him to release Carmen. "Egh...d-dammit, almost...had you..."

It was a desperate move, but that was definitely the tone this match was taking. Carmen figured she had a good two minutes left in her, going hard like this. Had to make them count.

She felt Kyo's body sag against her back, pinned in the corner. Even with him, she was still in dangerous territory. A guy like him could mess her up in so many ways before she even had the chance, so she made her move quick, spinning around on her heel and facing him with a tight guard. "Yeah, almost."

She kept the space tight and drilled into him with a jab to the chest and a right hook to the side, not even bothering to put much thought into where her blows landed anymore. All that mattered was hammering him so hard he couldn't get back up. Maybe even so hard he wouldn't want to.

Kyo sucked in air as he lay against the corner post, his spine resting gently against the rigid beam. It was taking all of his will and inner discipline at this point to shut out the pain. Opposite him, Carmen turned around to face him. Her eyes were level with his, and they were practically close enough to kiss.

Then a wild punch drilled him in the side. Gagging, Kyo lashed out in return with a forearm chop, but quickly recieved a strong right hook to the side. Carmen's wild punches were pulverizing him like a sack of meat, and it was with desperation, rather than finesse, that Kyo retaliated with a blind punch of his own. He was fighting a losing battle, though, trapped in a corner and forced to fight Carmen on her own terms, and it was a fight he was inevitably going to lose.

Carmen was surprised, impressed, aggravated, and annoyed to see that Kyo still had enough left in him to lash out with a chop like, crashing hard against her breast and making a noise so loud her ears rang in the aftermath. She hissed at the biting pain, but if Kyo thought that was enough to make her back off, he was proven wrong by the next punch to his chest. Carmen was throwing out everything she had.

Even she had limits, though, and she was coming up to them fast. She couldn't punch forever. Her arms were aching, not just from this strain, but the toll that had been taken from the entire match. She was wheezing now, her breath was getting ragged, and her blows were starting to wear thin, getting weake with each hit.

Carmen threw out two more punches - a left jab followed by a right hook to the head, the best of what she had left - and finally eased off, taking a step back and getting her guard up while she watched the results. "Come on, just drop..."

Sweat exploded outwards as Carmen's jab nailed his cheek. He had to escape, he knew, before Carmen's deadly fists did something he couldn't recover from. Thinking quickly, he did the most basic thing and dropped, falling flat on his ass to bring his face out of immediate punching range. From there, he threw himself sideways, rolling under the ropes to slide out of the ring.

His back hit the ringside floor, and he lay there for several seconds, his sweat-streaked chest pumping hard. His head was beating like a drum, and he was quite sure that by now he was sporting a lot of ugly bruises. A few more seconds, he knew, and he would have been done.

Taking several deep breaths, he raised his arms and fumbled around the mat, trying to fight off the wave of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him.

Carmen reeled back, preparing what she was sure would be the knockout punch. One good, final hook, and he'd be down. Then she could go home, clean up and sleep like the dead.

And, of course, since she thought that, the universe readjusted to make it didn't happen. Carmen stumbled forward as the punch sailed into stale air and whiffed off the top of the turnbuckle. For a second she was was confused, looking all around, puzzled...until she thought to look down. There he was. Outside of the ring.

She let out a long, exasperated groan and fought the urgent desire to pop out of the ring and continue pummeling him. Carmen backed away the center of the ring, then ducked down into a ready stance, bending her knees and looking ready to pounce. The moment she saw Kyo's head, she was going to run straight towards him with a baseball slide through the bottom rope, hit him right in the face.

Air pumped in Kyo's lungs as he pressed his palms and knees against the mat, and slowly but surely began to push himself up. His head was still pounding-- now, more than ever, he knew the strength behind Carmen's fists, and knew to watch out for them that much more. But there was no denying he was on a backfoot now. He needed to turn things around, and wear Carmen down with another hold.

Even as he pushed himself up to his feet, though, his instincts told him to turn around. He did-- just in time have both of Carmen's booted feet slam against his chest. "UUGH!" he gasped, the blow sending him stumbling backwards and sprawling against the steel ringside fence. He sucked in air through clenched teeth, inwardly cursing that he'd let Carmen get a hit on him like that.

Carmen let the momentum carry her all the way out of the ring as Kyo tumbled against the barricade, landing just beside the apron. As soon as she hit the floor her knees gave way and she crumbled down to them. The fight's toll was wearing her to the bone, felt like she'd be going at it for hours, the sort of strain she hadn't suffered since the last time she and Lorenza went at it. She only hoped this wouldn't put her in the hospital like that time did.

Just a little bit more...

She let out a hoarse grunt and pushed up, making her way to Kyo's side and grabbing him by the wrist and shoulder. She jerked back, spun, and tried to throw him with a classic Irish Whip, aiming for the side of the ring - if she couldn't rely on her body to finish Kyo off, she'd use ring itself.