Gabbie Desjardin Vs. Violet Clarkson

Even Gabbie couldn't help but be visibly surprised as Vi remained on her feet after what she thought was a pretty devastating kick. Stunned or not, she would succumb to the force of Vi's twisting and flip end over end and crash onto her butt, yelping in pain.

"Nnnngh!"

The worst part was, Vi was holding onto her arm still and using it to keep her balance for a moment until she was back up on her feet. Gabbie rolled away and hopped up, shaking off her arm as her eyes met Vi's. She didn't say a word, she didn't have to. Vi was a wounded duck and they both knew it.

Gabbie came back hard with her hands up in a tight guard, quickly shuffling towards Vi. She faked a punch and then lifted up her leg as though she might try for a high kick, but instead of aiming high, she turned her body and snapped it at Vi's knee again with a quick strike.

The Brit held her toughest face considering her fumbling posture. It was near impossible to keep her composure with all her weight on one leg. She braced herself as Gabbie came back in, managing to parry her first strike. Which as it turned out, was just a fake out. The secondary kick hit her knee which, whether physically or mentally, caused the girl to seize up.

Vi crumbled to the mat, unwilling to keep any more pressure on the battered. She curled up her limbs, her hands slightly out in front of her like suddenly she was an expert Jiu-jitsu fighter. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the ropes were in sight, but she didn't need them quite yet. It was good to keep in mind though, as she imagined Gabbie planned on taking advantage. Not that she was going to just let her.

Gabbie backed away a step as Vi turtled up and put herself in a shoot guard. Gabbie raised an eyebrow and then smiled. "I can fight like that a little bit too, you know." She said. "I sparred with the best."

Despite her bravado, Gabbie took a step forward and snapped at kick just under the base of the knee that Vi had been targeting. Even if she COULD grapple with Vi and thought she could submit the girl, she wasn't getting goaded into a ground fight when she could keep trying to kick the girl's leg off.

The look on Vi's face shifted from a glare to a scowl. If there was any doubt before that Gabbie was deliberately aiming at her injured knee, it was gone now. The Brit curled inward as the Canadian's kick struck the side of her already battered knee. She rolled to the right and under the rope. She awkwardly landed to the outside, clutching her pained knee.

It rushed back memories of what felt like a previous lifetime. But almost as soon as they came back, Vi shrugged them off. She pulled herself up to her feet, leaning heavily on her good knee and looking up at Gabbie inside. Regardless of what the Canadian actually looked like, Vi saw it as a smug, cocky grin. And she wanted to wipe it right off.

Before the referee had counted to three, Vi grabbed onto the bottom rope, cautiously waiting for a chance to get back in the ring. She didn't plan on doing so with Gabbie right there, and cautiously slid in only after she had some space. Though she doubted the Canadian would give her more room than she needed to get up.

Gabbie watched as Vi crawled under the ropes and out of the ring. She knew the tactic and it was definitely smart but she was wary about girls who liked to slip out of the ring. The young kickboxer backed up and tested her own legs with a sharp kick in the air.

She bounced on her heels as she waited patiently for Vi. She wasn't going to swarm the girl or keep her from getting in the ring. She was eager to fight, but she was sure that she could beat Vi fairly easily now. She even turned up her palms and beckoned the Brit in.

"Don't worry. I'm not like those girls who need to cheat. I know I can beat you without resorting to that."

As Vi slid in, she hugged the rope carefully before pulling herself up to her feet. She leaned heavily on her good knee, trying not to limp. She remembered the day she threw it out. It was unlike any other injury she'd felt before. For all intensive purposes, she might as well have lost her entire leg.

And now that she was in a real fight of a match, feeling it hurt again made Vi wary. Cautiously, she pushed herself off the ropes, limping forward with her hands up. "Do you now?" she asked back. "Right."

Vi knew she couldn't bounce or dodge, and she had little choice of where to engage Gabbie. Instead, she decided to just brave the blows, and lock up whenever she could. She imagined her knee was going to be the target again, but this time she'd be prepared for it with an elbow shot to the head if the Canadian pursued it.

Gabbie pulled up her guard when Vi did as well and bounced on her heels almost as if to show Vi that she could. Of course she wanted to target the knee some more, but even she knew that she probably didn't have to. Whatever speed or reaction time Vi had was most likely dropped well past what Gabbie needed to out pace her.

Still, the Canadian did have a bit of ego to her inside the ring and so she came in and swung her foot at Vi's leg again. She had her guard up, of course, but Vi seemed to understand how telegraphed a kick like that was and pushed her elbow into Gabbie's head, causing the Canadian's head to snap back and force her to stumble backwards as she tried to maintain her balance while one hand went to her forehead and her other held out her arm to try and keep Vi at bay.

In a kickboxing match, she might have been in trouble, but she thought she was fine in a wrestling match

The Brit struck Gabbie with vigor, but it wasn't as strong as it should've been. And she knew it. It was hard to do anything with a bum knee.

After the elbow shot, Vi was determined to capitalize on the slight advantage. She didn't expect to get another chance, and had to make it count. She pursued, bad knee and all, ducking her shoulder into Gabbie's midsection to lift her up, spinning around and planting the Canadian to the mat in a spine buster. Almost immediately after, she popped up to one knee hissing at the pain in her knee.

Gabbie's arm seemed to do nothing to stop Vi's incoming full body. With her reeling, she wasn't locked and loaded for another punch either so she was caught. The Brit wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly. Gabbie grunted as she was hoisted up, surprised by the act.

She was spun and came down with a crashing thud onto the canvas as the crowd gasped at the impact. Gabbie's eyes were open, but she laid motionless like she had been killed, the only indication that she hadn't been was her softly rising chest and the pained expression curled onto her face.

After taking a second to rub her knee, Vi continued the assault.  She acted quickly.  First she kicked the girl over, forcing herself to her side.  Then she tucked Gabbie's hand between her leg while interlocking her fingers in front of her head and yanking backwards.  She'd seen it done a thousand times by other wrestlers, but it was the first time Vi had ever locked in a crossface.  From the pressure in her hands it felt like Gabbie had to have been feeling it.

But practice made perfect, and she had none.