Blaise Cameron vs. Stone - The Distance

And now Stone was about to hop onto another road she didn't often travel down - submission holds. Less of her forte than the punches, far away from her usual power moves and high-flying attacks, but she didn't know a small handful. If slamming Blaise all over kingdom come wouldn't wear him down, she'd have to settle for breaking him until she made him quit. And he would quit.

Besides, they needed to have a little talk, and she didn't intend to let up while they did.

"Related?" That was a new one. She raised an eyebrow as she sat up and swung around, moving after him. "You think I'm related to Makoto Takeda?"

Stone stood and reached for Blaise's arm while he sat up, trying to grab him by the wrists and plant her boot in the center of his back. The Surfboard Hold wouldn't hurt him too much, just enough to stretch his limbs out and twist them up a bit, but it'd be a good way to start wearing him down. "Why do you care?"

Blaise props himself to sit up and finds his wrists captured and suddenly yanked behind his back! Her boot plants between his shoulders, and she begins stretching his body out. "Aah!" With this hold locked into place, the cameras are getting a fresh dose of eyecandy. The teen's abs are a little crunched under the weight of her boot, his pectorals drawn taut, and his legs outstretched along the mat, save for the occasional kick and squirm.

"Just.. takin'.. stabs in the dark..!," he calls out, the pain clear in his voice. His wrists twist, his fingers furling in some futile attempt to grab something that might work him loose. "I care.. because.. you're fightin' me.. for them!" His teeth grit briefly, before appending, "Duh!," to the statement. This is shortly followed with a pained, "Ahn!"

The referee drops to her knees beside him to check for a submission. He shakes his head firmly. "And you don't seem.. like a bad person! But.." He pauses to wince. "..that Mako girl.. she definitely looks like one! It ain't right!"

Stone heard a few girls in the closer seats throwing catcalls Blaise's way, appreciating his body. His looks weren't exactly something Stone had given much thought to, but now that she took a moment to consider it, he was pretty well-fit. She had little care for the male form, but he was a good example of it. Definitely not the weakling that she would've guessed from reading about some of his earlier matches online.

"Hate to tell you, but life's not that simple. She gave his arms a little extra wringing, applying more and more pressure by the moment. "It's not a good guy/bad guy thing, Blaise." She tried to keep emotion out of her words, but there was a wistful tone to them. Maybe she wished it was that simple.

Stone tried to push those thoughts aside as she leaned forward, putting more of her weight into the hold and forcing Blaise's arms back even further, turning it into a real submission hold, now.

Blaise digs the catcalls. It's nice to be appreciated. So even when being contorted in a submission hold, there's a silver lining.

"Aahahaow!"

Okay, Stone's not being gentle anymore.

Blaise thumps a heel against the mat, and the referee asks if he's ready to give in. It takes a moment longer, but Blaise fervently shakes his head. "N-no! Go away! Not gonna haahh-.. happen..!" The referee stays right there, of course, but the sentiment is made clear. He's not giving in. Not yet.

"It is that simple!," he barks back at Stone, head turning to look back over his shoulder to the muscled woman. There's some obvious pain in those eyes, but he's trying to focus past it to give her a sincere look from a pair of wide, bright blue eyes. "What happened was.. nng..! ..Wrong! That's... why I'm fighting..!" His fingers bundle into fists, and his arms strain, likely uselessly, against her grip in some attempt to power out of the hold. It adds some additional strain along the biceps, whether or not he sees any success. "Because... you're on... the wrong... side...!"

For a moment, one solitary second, Stone thought there might be some tapping in the words, that she might actually wrench an honest-to-god submission out of Blaise. No such luck. Defiant to the end. Stubborn to a fault...but she could be, too, and she wasn't giving up on this strategy just because the first try failed.

"You're thinking like a child." She released his arms and gave him a hard push forward with her foot, forcing him on his chest from the shove. She didn't follow up immiediately this time, instead settling to walk around him with her hands on her hips. The crowd disapproved, probably thinking she was cocky. They weren't wrong, but she wanted to take a moment to consider her next hold and recover some of her own stamina, as well. Beating on Blaise was harder work than she thought it would be.

"Tell me, Blaise." She stood beside him and looked down, her long shadow casting over his body. "What's your plan, here? Ideally, how do you see this ending up?"

Her boot shoves against him, and Blaise first feels great relief, followed by numbness along his biceps, and finally the smooth surface of the mat against his chest. The teen lies there, his face turned aside to rest his cheek on the ring, his arms flat at his sides and unable to move them just yet. His eyes remain open at halves, his mouth opened enough to pant softly.

He needs to get up. He knows he does. But he just can't rely on his arms just yet. The muscles are too stiff, too strained to cooperate. But fortunately, it seems that Stone is taking her time.

She asks him a question, and without moving yet, the young grappler forms a fresh, if weakened grin. In an even, matter-of-fact voice, he replies, "You on your back. Me on top for three seconds." The eyebrow she can see perks. In a more conversational tone, he asks, "Why? You see it going different?"

At this point, he knows he's poking the bear. But she's already twisted him up and beaten him down. What else could she do to him? Besides, he needs a moment to regain strength in his arms. Making cracks could be enough of a distraction to buy him some time...

Stone laughed.

It wasn't much of a laugh. More like a burst. A snicker, if you could even go so far as to call it that. But it happened, and she couldn't stop it despite her efforts. She wasn't quite sure what she expected Blaise to reply with - maybe something naseuatingly heroic and disgustingly daring - but that wasn't it. It was a little bit irritating, but at the same, she was grateful for the chuckle. She didn't get many of those these day.

Stone shut her lips and stopped it after a moment, going back to her usual hardened stare. There might've been a hint of a smirk, there, though. Maybe.

She brought her leg up and stepped over him, then dropped down hard on his back and reach forward, grabbing his neck from behind. "In the long run. You had to know you'd draw attention when you said what you said." Stone grunted and pulled him back, bringing her knees up to try and lock him into a camel clutch.

Blaise takes a sort of pride in that reaction. He caused the Stone to crack. How many people could lay claim to that? And at this point, he's squirming his hands closer to his shoulder level, feeling enough sensation returning to his arms to allow him to start working his way back up.

Stone, of course, has other plans. She drops onto his back, grabs his neck, and pulls back. Once again, the young wrestler's lean body is put on display, glistening with sweat under the bright overhead lights, muscle-tone stretched out. "Nng...!" His hands immediately attempt to work their way to her wrists, forearms, whatever he can grab at that might loosen the hold.

"Didn't.. matter.. wrong's... wrong...," he replies with some difficulty, thanks to the strain on his jaw. "Let.. go..!"

Stone pulled back further, and Blaise didn't tap. She pulled back even further, Blaise didn't tap. She pulled back so far that she was starting to hurt her own back, and lo and behold, Blaise still didn't tap.

She finally gave up and let Blaise fall forward, releasing the hold with a sigh. Pinning him didn't work, and he wouldn't submit, so that just meant she'd have to go for the third option: a knockout. Blunt force trauma.

"You're a nice guy." She stood up and pulled him along with her, forcing  him to turn around as she rose. "But you're naive. And what's more, you're not beating me." With that said, she pulled Blaise towards her and wrapped him up in a headlock, holding him in it tight to set up the first part of the move. Reaching forward, she grabbed his tights, reared back, and lift him straight into the air, holding him up with his legs pointing towards the ceiling. Muscles strained, bones creaked, and Stone's face tensed up as the audience looked on in awe - those of them that weren't screaming for Blaise to escape, at least.

Another suplex. A vertical suplex. The last suplex of the match. The last move of the match.

"Ghh..!"

Stone pulls harder.

"Ghh'aahh!"

Stone pulls back to a ridiculous angle, forcing the teen's body into a C, his face pointing up at the overhead lights. His body shudders in pain, his fingers gnarled, his eyes screwed shut. His chest heaves as much as it can in this strained position, every breath issuing a cry of pain or humiliating whimper.

Finally, Stone releases him. He lands in a heap on the mat, and even the referee is looking a little worried at this point. Blaise knows that his trainer is going to give him Hell over this. Amy might even hit him for it. He knows should've tapped out to that. But he couldn't. There's too much riding on this. If all he can show here tonight is an unwavering defiance, then at least that will have meant something.

If only he had a moment, an opening. God, he's in pain.

Blaise is grabbed and drawn up to his feet while Stone speaks. He turns to face her. "Didn't.. hear a bell yet..," he retorts. His head is tucked under her arm, and he feels her grip his trunks. His arm drapes over her neck as she hoists his body into the air, his boots pointing up at the sky. He rests shoulder-to-shoulder with the blonde, his body tense, rigid, knowing the end is coming.

The audience is pulling for him; screaming for him to turn things around. They were on his side in the Nathan conflict, but that was different. He never seemed in danger in that match. Tonight, he's in danger. And tonight, it feels like they're somehow more on his side. He's fighting a monster because he stood up for something. Feeling it is a rush. Blaise's body is beaten, battered, and tired, but he has enough left in him to struggle to the end. And with that in mind, he realizes Stone's giving him an opportunity. He might pay for this later, but he has to take it.

He bends his legs at the knees, then kicks them forward again. This unbalances the hold, and Blaise swings forward. His arm clenches around Stone's neck and his back plummets to the mat, attempting to reverse the vertical suplex into a high DDT!