Hit Me Hard and Hit Me Fast

HighFly wrote:Charlie heeded Carmen's advice, but he was brought down a peg as Suzy hammered his gut with a punch that was hard enough to nearly knowck the wind out of him!

Charlie staggered back, with his hands up defensively as he tried to recover.  He knew he couldn't half ass anything here otherwise Suzy would make him look really bad.  However, he knew she was taking it easy on him.  He just really, really sucked at boxing.

Seriously, what fun was anything that only allowed for punching anyway?  "S-shit...."  He muttered as he sat back trying to bide his time and think of a bit of strategy instead of blindly punching away.

acuya wrote:Carmen leaned forward as Charlie went on the defensive. This wasn't working out quite as she'd planned. Nowhere  near it. He was still uncomfortable, still falling back, and it seemed the old habits just refused to completely die.

"You've got to be aggressive, Charlie." She folded her arms. "No one's expecting you to be Mike Tyson here, don't worry about the finesse. You're quick enough to hit, she's tough enough to take it. You can do it."

Suzy's playful grin only grew wider as she started to draw closer to Charlie, dancing in and out of his range like it was drawn on the floor in chalk. She knew how to work the ring to her advantage, stressing freedom of movement above all else. "I'm coming for you, Charliiiiiiiiie." She started to swing her left fist around. "Better get reaaaaaaady..."

HighFly wrote:"Ok, you heard the lady..."  Charlie thought to himself.  He knew she was right, and he knew Suzy would keep moving around in and out of his range.  Charlie kept his hands up and as soon as Suzy came back in range he was going to jab at her face with his left, while moving forward to follow up with as hard a right as he could to her body!

It sure wasn't foolproof, but it was better than covering up and letting Suzy punch him until his body was red.  "All righty, come on over then!"  Charlie said as he moved in a straight line at Suzy putting his plan into motion.  

Maybe it was part embarassment about Suzy roughing him up so far, maybe it was frustration, but Charlie was feeling much less apprehensive than he had at the very start of their little spar.

acuya wrote:Even though Suzy was an above average pupil, her eagerness could hurt her more than help her at times, and this was a golden example. She was so focused on taunting and moving that she underestimated Charlie's speed, and she wound up paying for it. Hard.

His jab snapped her head back and messed up her pattern, making her stumble back, wide open and reeling. The body shot was a good follow-up. A little sloppy, but it did the job and knocked the wind out of Suzy, forcing her to cover up and go on defense for the first time since they started.

"There you go!" Carmen stood up and clapped, egging Charlie on as he started to get a little fire. "Just keep it all in your head, remember you're in a fight. Give as good as you take, nothing wrong about that."

HighFly wrote:Charlie felt a few pangs of guilt, but it wasn't as intense as he thought it would be.  Suzy would clobber him if she were actually trying, and this was his career here.... even if the whole fighting women thing was a very recent addition to the usual tasks he'd been up to in the ring.

Charlie kept forcing Suzy to take cover.  He didn't know any real good punching combinations, but he figured if he mixed up body and face shots at the very least he could keep Suzy on the defensive.  Charlie stepped up, getting as close to Suzy as he could and throwing two punches high before planting and going for another strong body shot.

Unfortunately for Charlie, getting caught up and going on the offensive meant that he left himself so open that anyone with boxing skill could easily counter attack.  Normally he was a smarter fighter than that, but for his current training objective he needed to not worry about defense.  Besides, after that beatdown at the hands of Ryan a little toughening up might do him some good.

acuya wrote:This wasn't the easiest lesson for Charlie to learn, Carmen had to respect that. In a way, she was a bit lucky - she wished it wasn't so, but most men had a natural tendency to hold back against women, and that was an advantage that would always work in her favor. Beating around a woman, even one that was beating you first, always carried a stigma in the US, and it undoubtedly had an effect on Charlie.

But, even so, he was powering through it. He even made Suzy shut up and start getting serious, which meant it was time to start pulling them in. 

She stood up and started to make her way to the ring as Suzy blocked his two shots and wound up taking his impressive body shot, jumping up from the power and skipping away, She gathered her wits and bounced back towards him, dashing it with a quick jab at the face and following it with a hard right, straight to the chest.

acuya wrote:This wasn't the easiest lesson for Charlie to learn, Carmen had to respect that. In a way, she was a bit lucky - she wished it wasn't so, but most men had a natural tendency to hold back against women, and that was an advantage that would always work in her favor. Beating around a woman, even one that was beating you first, always carried a stigma in the US, and it undoubtedly had an effect on Charlie.

But, even so, he was powering through it. He even made Suzy shut up and start getting serious, which meant it was time to start pulling them in. 

She stood up and started to make her way to the ring as Suzy blocked his two shots and wound up taking his impressive body shot, jumping up from the power and skipping away, She gathered her wits and bounced back towards him, dashing it with a quick jab at the face and following it with a hard right, straight to the chest.

HighFly wrote:Charlie saw that Suzy looked more serious and when she swung back he was ready.  At least, he was able to block the jab to the face.  Unfortunately for him he caught a strong, straight shot to the chest!

He let out a part grunt, part gasp as he staggered back a bit.  This would leave a giant red mark for sure.  He kept one hand up and rubbed his chest with the other.  "Damn you hit hard."  Charlie said as he saw Carmen walking up.  ""Hey-o...how much longer am I stuck with the juggernaut here?"

Charlie wasn't on the attack as he spoke, but he did make sure to keep an eye on Suzy just in case she decided to make a few moves.

acuya wrote:Carmen answered Charlie's question right away, just as Suzy was starting to charge back in for a full speed follow-up. "Time!"

Suzy slammed on the brakes in mid-punch, staggering forward and nearly smacking straight into Charlie's chest. "Aw, come on!" Suzy backed off and threw a few frustrated jabs in the air. "It was just getting good."

"I think we have differing definitions of 'good', but whatever." Carmen grabbed the bottom rope and pulled her way into the ring. "So, Charlie, status report - how'd it feel? Getting better?"

HighFly wrote:Charlie smiled and shrugged at Carmen, happy for the lesson but also because he was honestly happy it was over.  "I can do it if I have to, even if I'm not a big fan ya know?"

Charlie turned his attention back to Suzy, his spunky sparring partner of the day.  "She could have torn me apart but she was nice enough not to.  I didn't hurt you or anything did I?  Also, a simple 'thanks' doesn't even begin to cover it, but thanks a lot I appreciate it."

Indeed, Charlie was very happy to have friends who were looking out for him.  For once it wasn't on Alaina who had been his only human friend his first few months in Japan, or Talia having to be the ones to have to deal with Charlie.  Now here he was, 1-1 against the men of Tension and all he had to do was step into the ring with a lady.

Before he didn't know if he could.  Now?  He liked his chances a lot better than he had at the start of the day.

acuya wrote:Charlie was feeling comfortable? Good, Carmen was glad. But, as his trainer - of sorts - that meant she had to make sure he was up to snuff. And there was only one real way to get the best level of certainty, in her book.

"Pfft, I'm fine, dude. Can't hurt me that easy. Annnnnnnd you're welcome." Suzy waved it off and put her hands on her hips, trying to do the tough act as well as someone her size could ever manage. She'd done a pretty good job, gave Charlie a great hassle for her height - fighting someone so far out of your weight class was always tough, even if you had the better training. She knew Suzy was hurting more than she let on, but Carmen wouldn't press it.

"Not done yet, Charlie." She made her way into the ring and motioned for Suzy to slide out and take the bench. "We got to see how you do in the real game, first. Take off your gloves, you and me, real sparring match." She clapped and got into a grappling stance. "Let's wrestle."

HighFly wrote:Charlie smiled and shrugged as Carmen readied herself.  In a lot of ways she reminded him of Alaina, although Carmen had a lot more overall fighting experience.

"At least I won't look as goofy doing this as I did boxing huh?"

Charlie figured if Carmen was anything like her brother the last thing he wanted was to be a punching bag.  He would move forward and try to initially grapple with Carmen, before grabbing onto her arm and leaning back trying to use his momentum as well as a twist of his upper body to armdrag Carmen down to the mat!

acuya wrote:Carmen just chuckled as she finished doing some quick stretches, while Suzy stepped out of the ring. "That all depends on how well you do, Charlie.

This was really just as much a chance for her to train as it was for him - she was still developing her style, getting to the point where she was a decent boxer, but there were still many areas that needed polish. Carmen would probably be a real threat to Charlie if she focused on striking, but she could keep it check for the spar.

Carmen moved in when Charlie did the same, expecting to start with at tie-up. Instead, she got yanked around with the arm drag and would up flopping on her back, dazed from the sudden shift, her world spinning as she tried to sit up and get back on her feet before he could capitalize.

HighFly wrote:Charlie saw Carmen getting up, so he decided to give her a hand.

He grabbed onto her arm and planted his feet before whipping her towards the ropes on the far side of the ring!  Charlie moved forward a few feet and set himself up to catch Carmen under one of her arms with his right arm and proceed to flip her over.  A hiptoss wasn't the most pleasant thing on the planet but there were a lot of other worse moves Charlie could have attempted.  He didn't want to take the spar as this was a nice, civil training.

However, he did want Carmen to know that he did mean business.

acuya wrote:Carmen was starting to see why Army had such a hard time with this guy. It was hard to really tell what fighting someone was like without actually being in the ring with them - even though she'd seen him fight, that didn't mean she had a good grasp on his style. He good, skilled, fast and determined. A painful combination.

She cried out as pulled her up only to flip her over like a pancake, slamming her down hard on her back. Not the worst of moves, sure. Not a power slam or anything. But painful all the same, and it put her in a bad position. She tried to rise up as fast as she could, using the ropes to speed it up a little so she would give him as little of an opening as possible.

HighFly wrote:Charlie was going to move in and warp up Carmen's chin, wedging his shin against her back but she was getting up to her feet very quickly.  He backed off a bit, allowing her to get back to her feet and face him.  

She was tough and strong, just like Army was.  Charlie wasn't surprised by this one bit though.  Carmen carried herself as a laid back, but no non-sense type of person who had taken her fair share of bumps in a boxing and wrestling ring.  Charlie liked that about her, and in a lot of ways she reminded him of Alaina.  That was likely a big reason the two got along so well.  

As soon as Carmen got to her feet, Charlie went to move forward and deliver a fast kick to her side hoping to catch her off guard with a strike.  After all, who in their right mind would willingly move into striking range against a fighter whose strikes often spelled the end of her opponents?

acuya wrote:Spar or not, Carmen was a competitor until the day she died. She wasn't about to go hammer and tongs on Charlie, but she didn't intend to make it easy for him, either. Just like everything, this was her learning experience as well.

She moved into her stance as he came back at her and that turned out to be a damn good move - she was in the perfect position to take his kick at her side. Sure, it still hurt, but her guard managed to take the edge of the blow and just stagger her to the side a bit, jostling her ribs but not hurting them beyond an annoying sting. Which meant she'd be more than capable of a followup, right off the bat.

She took a step back, planted her feet down to brace herself, then surged forward with a point-blank shoulder block right into him, throwing her weight into it trying to plow through him. She was actually curious to see if she had the weight advantage, here. There were worse ways to find out.

HighFly wrote:This didn't go quite as Charlie had planned at all.  He found himself going from striker to being floored to the mat hard by a shoulder block!

Charlie wasn't surprised to find that Carmen could hit almost as hard as her brother Armando.  Given his current situation he wasn't exactly pleased to make the discovery though.  His chest hurt a good deal from the impact, but not as bad as his back and the back of his head hurt from the less than graceful landing!

Charlie groaned in pain as he lay on the mat.  He knew he wanted to do something to get out of this little situation of his but he was disoriented from the sudden, and powerful counter!

acuya wrote:Charlie went down, quick and solid, and Carmen had to fight her instincts, all of which told her to give him and elbow drop and hammer him into the mat. She even started to jump up for it, but she pulled the breaks just in time stop, leaving her hopping on one leg. Carmen straightened up and took a step back, then extended her hand to help him. 

"Let's reset. One more go." She kicked her flip-flops off to the side, figuring they were slowing her down a bit. Carmen had never fought a high-flyer before, it was important she get a good feel for how she stacked up.

HighFly wrote:Charlie got back up to his feet with the help Carmen graciously offered.  "You could have kept on going with the attack you know."  He said as he moved away, readying himself for another go-round.  He appreciated Carmen easing up on one hand, but on the other he sort of resented her taking it easy on him.  People always thought the short guy couldn't take it, that they had to ease up or give it less than their all.

Charlie let Carmen get set up and once they were ready to go he had a nice little plan he wanted to put into effect.  Of course, it was a bit reckless and had a lot of moving parts but that was just what Charlie did.  

Charlie rushed forward as quickly as he could and once close enough he would duck and roll to Carmen's side, and keep running towards the ropes.  As soon as he reached the ropes he would hop up onto them and slingshot towards Carmen elbow-first!  Charlie doubted Carmen expected something like that, but all it took was one wrong move on his part, and things could go horribly wrong.  Hell, if she wasn't where he thought she would be he would simply flop onto the ring mat.  No risk, no reward.

acuya wrote:Carmen had to admit, more than a little of the hesitation was on her part, not Charlie's. He seemed more than willing to go the extra mile in their spar, but she was still holding back, being cautious, maybe even patronizing him a little bit. Maybe she was even experiencing a little of Charlie's own problem, fighting the temptation to hold back against a nice guy.

She tried to shrug it off as she moved into her grappling stance again, and as Charlie rushed towards her, it became apparent that if she wasn't going to bring the fight him, he'd send it screeching towards her.

Carmen didn't know what Charlie was planning as he went to the ropes, but he could reasonably guess it would be some fairly high, fast, and damaging, so she raised her arms up and blocked accordingly. Good move. Great move. That was the only thing that saved her as Charlie slammed into his guard and was sent staggering away, backing all up into the turnbuckle and hitting it hard.  She leaned against it as she tried to gather her strength back up and put two steady feet on the ground.

HighFly wrote:While it didn't hit with the effect Charlie planned he couldn't complain too much about the results.  He gambled and got some payoff, although his own landing on the mat was a bit harder than he'd like.

Charlie rubbed his side and got to his feet, looking over at Carmen as she was against the turnbuckle.  He doubted that she was shaken enough to be set up on top of the turnbuckle without her pummeling his face into next week, so Charlie decided to go for a less risky maneuver.

Charlie got to his feet as quickly as he could and moved towards Carmen.  He grabbed her in a headlock, standing off to one side.  He ran forward and jumped, hoping to maintain his grip on Carmen and deliver a face smacking bulldog!

acuya wrote:Charlie didn't leave Carmen unattended for too long - just like any good competitor, he knew how to close the distance and take advantage of a position. It was sort of funny, really. There was a time, only a few years ago, when she would have looked down at people like Charlie, not considering them 'real' fighters. That was the consensus with many of the others boxers she'd met. She certainly wasn't thinking that way anymore, though.

She struggled a bit as Charlie locked her head up in the hold, but she wasn't able to slip free before he launched off and flung her face into the floor. Carmen flopped over on her back and grasped her face as she rolled from side to side, groaning with the pain as her face felt like it took a hard slap from a wooden board.

HighFly wrote:Charlie winced a b it as he saw Carmen's reaction to the bulldog.  He went from feeling like he had to prove himself to suddenly wanting to tone it down a bit.  If Carmen were a guy would he have felt the same way?

Charlie wasn't exactly sure.

Charlie grabbed Carmen by the arm and hauled her up to her feet.  He knew she would want to get some payback, and she did deserve a shot at it.  However, he didn't want to just roll over and make it easy for her.  Charlie whipped her towards the nearest ropes and had himself set up to deliver a dropkick right to Carmen's chest!

acuya wrote:Carmen's head was swimming, but she was dimly aware of being lifted up and dragged around - suddenly, it didn't feel so much like a spar, but like a real match. It was a blurry line to cross, but she thought they stepped over it.

"Come on, teach!" Suzy called from the sidelines and cheered her on, slapping her glove against the mat as if it could snap Carmen back to attention. It actually did help her focus a bit through the daze, enough to realize Charlie was setting her up for a big fall.

She bounced off the ropes and came back towards him, recognizing the start of a drop-kick. It was a move she'd learned how to do reasonably well, and one she had no intention of eating - instead, she ducked and rolled under it, giving Charlie nothing but air to slam into as she passed.

HighFly wrote:"Oh shit oh shit!" Charlie thought to himself as he went to kick Carmen, catching nothing but air! He knew this wasn't good as he caught himself on the mat. He didn't eat a face full of canvass, landing on his knee's and hands but it was far from a graceful landing.

Charlie smirked as he realized the bigger Carmen executed an evasion he would have done. Great minds think alike right?

Charlie tried to hop back to a standing vertical base, ready to side-step a charging Carmen. If Charlie guessed right that she'd come straight back at him he liked his chances to dodge. If she had something else in mind he may have just set himself up for an even nastier surprise that would dwarf the missed dropkick....

acuya wrote:Carmen had all sorts of options as she bounced off the ropes and headed back towards Charlie. That was one thing her new style offered that her old one lacked - versatility.

The dropkick, a clothesline, a running knee, a spear. All sorts of ways she could come at him, but Charlie was light on his feet. He could dodge, easy. She needed something a little wider.

As she came back towards him, she jumped up and dedicated herself to a crossbody block, using everything from her head down to her toes and putting it all on the line.

HighFly wrote:Carmen was tall, and when she spread herself out that covered a lot of area. Charlie was caught off guard and taken down to the mat hard by the cross body block.

"Oomph!" Was about all he could mutter as the wind was knocked right out of him! As Charlie struggled to get his breath back and free himself, he realized being stuck underneath a bigger, stronger opponent was the last place he wanted to be.

Yeah, this was going to be a long spar if this kept up. As good as Carmen was, Charlie still held out hope that he could turn things around and show everyone that fliers can do their thing even when people least expect it.