The Queen City Sisters

Gabbie sighed as Taylor toppled to the ground. She then grinned. "Not your ass, but it'll do." She huffed. However, there was a gleam in her eye that wasn't there before. She held out her glove for Taylor. "So, everyone in your little club, or whatever... how's it going to work?" She said. Gabbie asked, though her words sounded dismissive, she was looking at Taylor with serious eyes, not the dismissive eyes she held initially.

"Ehehe, yeah!" Nicole said and clapped when Taylor went down. "Oh, she hates it when I call her that. It gets her riled up and she says things like, I'm not a child anymore!" Nicole giggled. "You're haven't stopped being called bear, eh?" Nicole said and hugged Cassie's head. "I don't think I could handle it if you got all serious on me! i mean... off the mats!"

Nicole gave Cassie's head a playful noogie and then laughed some more. "Speaking of serious, they're gonna think we're slackers if we just stand around, eh?"

Taylor swatted Gabbie's glove and was quickly back on her feet. "What?" She said, with a degree of irritability, while situating her headgear. "Well, we'll schedule out days, you'll come in and lead training sessions. You can train with us if you want. We'll pay you, but you'd have to talk to mom for all that."

She bounced a few times and put her gloves up. "C'mon, are you done already? Let's go again."

"Hrm." Cassie didn't much like the feeling when Nicole cheered for Taylor's fall. "Okay," she said, and moved out into the ring. She bent at the waist, keeping her legs back with her hands ready, poised to attack her old rival. The blow to the dojo's collective pride awoke her competitiveness in full force, and when she was ready to grapple her face went blank, as it always did.

As soon as Nicole looked to be ready, Cassie attacked. She yanked on one of her arms and stepped in, dropping for a single leg while turning a corner to dump her on the mat.

Nicole stretched and lazily stepped into the circle on the mats. She got into her stance and smiled at Cassie. She had seen that look plenty of times. It was a scary look, but it was unusually comforting as well. Nicole settled into a position, ready to go, her own face getting a bit serious, but Cassie moved quickly and in a flash, Nicole found herself on the mat.

"Eheh! Oh, Cass, you haven't lost it one bit! I better really step up my game, eh?" She said, smiling at her fellow red head.

Gabbie looked at Taylor as she stood up. "I don't want money. Maybe train fare, maybe." She said. "I just want to know..." She said. "If all the girls are as "serious" as you?" Gabbie said, tilting her head.

Gabbie smiled and slapped her gloves together. "I'm never done. I'm just getting started, really." Gabbie's face melted back into a serious stare and she focused on Taylor. She began bouncing on her heels and danced towards Taylor, trying to push her back with a few jabs to try and set up a sift kick at Taylor's thigh.

Cassie secured her position on top before working to improve it. She was singularly focused on winning. Though it was a friendly spar, it was one with her biggest rival from her competitive jiujitsu days. She assumed that Nicole would match her intensity.

"I've really grown into my jiujitsu..." She said softly while she methodically worked on Nicole's guard. She was almost completely relaxed, except when she needed to exert herself, and could be conversational. "Grappling in general, really. And I'm a lot stronger now, have you noticed?"

"They won't let you down," Taylor said, bouncing in place and waiting for Gabbie.

When she came in, Taylor resolved to stand her ground. She tucked her chin down and kept her gloves high to deal with the punches. She leaned forward and took the kick squarely on her thigh, and simultaneously countered with a lightning fast left straight at Gabbie's face, with several more punches behind it. Lead hook, left hook, a lead uppercut, pawing with the left hand before firing a stiff straight kick at Gabbie's gut.

Nicole too showed the same kind of poise as she attempted to fight off Cassie and work to a position where she could make a move of her own. Cassie was still very good and though she had wanted the friendly atmosphere, she could feel Cassie's intentions, even though the girl's body was relaxed.

"I can feel it. This is going to be even tougher, but... I'll do my best. We've both grown a lot since then, eh?" Nicole said as she worked to keep her guard up.

Gabbie's eyes raised as she watched Taylor stay put when she came in. She wasn't expecting that. It would be good to see how that went. Her smile stayed on when she hit with the kick but Taylor's return fire was something she had to focus on. Her gloves came up and she blocked the hooks and dipped away from the uppercut, but the straight kick jammed into her stomach.

"Nghh!"

Gabbie winced as she was nearly shoved back by the kick itself. She went with the momentum and backed away, huffing through her mouth before she quickly tightened her jaw and bounced away from Taylor to regroup for a brief second. There was a flicker in her eye and she came back hard at Taylor. She snapped a kick at Taylor's side, then a hard right hook at Taylor's chin and another kick at Taylor's side.

Taylor's face remained stoic, but inside she was furiously fist-pumping for herself. She kept her guard high and tight when Gabbie backed up, and this time she kept her taunts to herself.

"Yeah..." Cassie mused. She certainly had grown up... painfully. She began to overextend herself while working to advance her position, planting a foot within Nicole's reach and exposing her leg.

Taylor's strategy worked before, and she stuck with it. She just had to be willing to eat some shots, which was a terrible idea, but if she had proven anything in her time at AFW, it was that she could take it.

Gabbie came in, Taylor kept her head tucked behind her gloves, and the kick thudded against Taylor's ribs. She buckled slightly to the side, but the hook that followed hit only leather. The second kick hit, and Taylor grabbed it. She wrapped her arm over Gabbie's leg and quickly fired another straight left up the middle.

Gabbie was ready for the follow up, even though she didn't totally distract Taylor with her kicks, she wasn't going to bound away. She knew her glove work was good enough to stay inside and give Taylor that taste of leather she was, apparently, craving.

However, once again her foot was grabbed and Gabbie was so furious at Taylor's lack of respect that she only had time to turn her head as the fist slapped her in the face. "Ghn!" Her head was jarred back and with Taylor holding onto her leg, Gabbie flopped to the canvas on her butt.

"That all you can do? Grab my leg?" Gabbie snarled and yanked her foot free. She hopped back up, pounded her gloves together and bounced towards Taylor. She picked up her speed and flashed a straight at Taylor's guard. She followed with a swipe at Taylor's legs to try and throw her off balance and finished with an uppercut that she tried to break through Taylor's guard.

Nicole's eyebrows knit in serious focus as Cassie began to try and work her over. It was tough, but Nicole was patient. There wasn't a time limit and when she saw Cassie's leg, she immediately sprang into action. Her hand darted down to clutched Cassie's ankle. She used her legs to flip Cassie onto her back and take the mounted position. Now it was her turn to try and work on something. But she knew, maybe more than anyone else, how comfortable Cassie was on her back. If there was a challenge to be had, it was now, rather than just a few moments ago.

"Do you still prefer this position?" Nicole asked, just as casually as Cassie had been talking. "It's not the best spot to be for wrestling, eheh."

"Are you mad because it works?" Taylor sassed back.

"Yeah, I do..." Cassie said absently. When Nicole grabbed her ankle, Cassie deftly repositioned herself. When the other girl rolled to take top position, Cassie had her arm, and her knee in her chest. In a smooth, precise motion, she pivoted on her back and sprang her hips up, leveraging her legs against Nicole while pulling on her arm.

Before she knew it, Cassie was working to finish her with a sneaky arm bar.

Taylor's guard deflected Gabbie's punch, and her muscular thigh absorbed another painful kick. The uppercut that followed came up beneath Taylor's gloves and clipped her on the chin. Her teeth clashed against her mouth guard and she stumbled back, one arm out for balance, before righting herself again.

"Rrgh." She shook her head and smacked her gloves together, and advanced on Gabbie again. Frustration was eroding her better judgement, and caution and strategy went with it. She cocked her lead right hand for a hook, twisted her shoulders, and unleashed a body kick instead with her lead leg.

"Ha!"

Nicole's eyes widened just a bit as Cassie held onto her arm. It was like playing a game of connect four and realizing that you had just made a mistake. She felt Cassie's arm bar and tried her best to resist but she knew that when Cassie had her in that, there wasn't much else she could do.

Reluctantly, Nicole found herself patting Cassie's thigh. There was no need for her to try and work free when they could just start again. They were sparring, having fun. It was nice, and Cassie was the best. She'd get her next time! or, Nicole always thought.

"Nn."

Gabbie grunted at Taylor's response but she was still quite focused. Though, she had to admit, the spar had gotten to be a little more heated than she had expected. However, it felt good to be able to see the toll it was taking on Taylor too. She had thought the girl was just playing around, but she WAS quite serious. Maybe the leg clinches were because she felt she HAD to do that. That made Gabbie happy.

Gabbie wanted to pursue when Taylor was forced back but she was halted by the glove and Taylor's quick recovery. Gabbie bounded back and watched Taylor's movements. She turned her body when Taylor pulled her fist back. There was no way the girl was going to telegraph a bunch THAT badly. When Gabbie saw Taylor's leg move. She bit down hard on her mouth guard. She was going to take Taylor's kick, she knew that much, but she flashed her own kick upwards, aimed at Taylor's head. She knew a body shot wasn't going to knock her down and since Taylor had decided to eat some of Gabbie's leather, Gabbie was curious enough at what Taylor's best felt like. Plus, if she could kick Taylor in the head, it was well worth eating a foot to the side.

Cassie let go and sat back on her ankles. She took a breath and relaxed, and put a hand on Nicole's shoulder.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" She said with a genuine smile.

She couldn't deny being concerned for her former rival. She couldn't say that they were ever truly friends, but comrades, in a way. Colleagues. She wanted good things for everyone, but she had a special kind of affection for Nicole. Like a little sister, despite being the same age.

And that's why she found Nicole's lack of fire so troubling. The girl was always easy going, but she had had a competitive streak that took her to the top, or at least just shy of it, where they met. Now, she just seemed resigned to losing. Maybe it was just Cassie, but...

"Go again?"

Taylor's kick hit with a heavy smack, and the padding of the shin guard compressed against Gabbie's ribs. She pulled the kick back to follow up, but ate another unexpected shin to her face that sent her stumbling. She had to put a hand down to keep from falling.

"Rrrrrrraaagh!" She growled in frustration, and punched the mat. She wiped her face with the back of her glove, and felt a warm trickle of blood in her nose. Just what her ugly-ass, crooked nose needed.

"Fuck!" She spat. "Are you taking notes? I want to fix all of this. This is totally, fuckin'... unacceptable. Shit, man..." She put her gloves up again and squared up with Gabbie. "Again."

The scene caught Cassie's attention, and her eyes drifted off to the kickboxers.