Xiao La Rouge vs Tabitha "Starlight" Aimes

Xiao was feeling confident thus far in the match, so far it had been going her way. She had managed to get the opponent to dance to her tune so to speak, not on the erhu but rather in the way of the fist. Sure the enemy had struck back, but it was how the oriental rose expected it to be so. And now she had the opponent trapped and in her clutches, taking control of one of their limbs in the process.

That said it might have been that confidence in her ability to control the pace of a slugfest that left Xiao open, because suddenly Tabitha put her trapped leg into something she could take advantage of. The eyes of the lady of war went slightly wide as the opponent moved into the motions, it was too late to form any sort of defence.

"Guf!" Xiao grunted sharply as the other leg of Starlight struck her in the intended area, in response to the sudden kick the oriental rose had let go of Tabitha's held leg and staggered back. And then felt down hard on her rump and back in a rather undignified manner for one who had the moniker of oriental rose, Xiao was stunned for the time being as she processed what just happened.

Starlight was impressed that she pulled off the Enzuigiri kick. She was hoping that she would have caught Xiao more in the back of the head, but it was far better a result than whatever Xiao had planned for her.

Trying to capitalize on Xiao being knocked down. Starlight would try to take advantage by jumping ontop of Xiao with a body splash and attempting what could be the first attempt at a pinfall of the match.

Xiao was no stranger to being knocked down in battle, it was part of being in harm's way. You played with fire and it was natural to be burnt, the oriental rose knew this going in. Still didn't made it any less worse of course, Xiao was able to take a significant beating thanks to her years of sparring. But still that strike had left the lady of war rattled in her noggin, Xiao knew it hadn't been a very graceful fall to be certain.

Still it had left her vulnerable, and the enemy had taken advantage of that. And understandably so, taking an advantage when it was present of course. Tabitha had decided to leap into the air, and come down hard on the oriental rose with a body splash. Granted Starlight wasn't the biggest opponent that Ms La Rouge had ever come across, but still it was the weight of another person coming down on you.

Xiao had let out a loud grunt as the wind had been taken from her very fine sails, the ref had gotten down for a pin count as Starlight was atop the oriental rose. However after the first count the Chinese/French woman had dug down into her reservoir and gotten her shoulder up, and inwardly was actually thankful for all the times her Brother hit her in their spars.

Starlight would try to match the grace of her opponent as she splashed down upon Xiao. It was more to hopefully stun Xiao for long enough to secure the three count. Starlight would soon learn that there was a whole lot of fight left in Xiao as she did not even need a two count to recover and kick out from the pinning predicament.

Xiao would kick out at one, and Starlight would roll away to hopefully get back up on her feet. This was going to take more than one simple attack for certain as Starlight started to build a bit of respect for Xiao's toughness. Starlight saw no reason why she would not also let Xiao back up to her feet as well, since there was nothing more that Starlight felt could be accomplished from the position they were in.

Xiao, at least so far, had fought with honor and Starlight felt as if it were her duty to keep to that standard that Xiao was setting between them. Now that they were almost certainly both going to be back up on their feet, Starlight would attempt to deal with whatever Xiao would throw at her. It was almost certainly going to be a strike of some kind, and Starlight wanted to see if she could capitalize on an opening if Xiao got a little overzealous with her attack.

Xiao was still willing to continue this fight, she was far from finished. Just because she seemed to have spent several hours in the mirror and dressed elaborately didn't mean she was brittle, far from that. One couldn't call themselves a lady of war if they couldn't withstand the rigours of battle, and Xiao lived to battle.

That said though Xiao had to admit, she was admiring the respect of Tabitha here. The oriental rose had heard this woman was no stranger to wrestling, and the business had generally had respect rooted in it. The oriental rose roused herself up and slipped back from the enemy, the pain in her head subsided. She looked Starlight up and down before giving a slight nod of acknowledgement to her, a sort of thumbs up to her.

Well the oriental rose would be back on her feet shortly, and perhaps a change of pace might be in order. Xiao would remain calm and focus on the enemy, before trying to slip in and grab hold of Tabitha's left arm with her right and yank her in. To try and catch the side of her jaw with her left elbow, a sort of grapple and strike could change things up a bit.

Xiao and Starlight would back away after the attempted pin. Both women were on their feet again and moving toward each other. Starlight made an assumption that Xiao was looking to tie up again and she would find that to be a poor decision in judgment.

Xiao would catch Starlight's arm coming in and start to shift her off balance. Xiao and Starlight both seemed to react to this in different ways. Starlight would take to the air and jump upward with a knee as Xiao would attempt to land an elbow. Xiao's elbow would strike true, but possibly not against her intended target as Starlight would get hit right underneath her breasts. The big question was if Starlight acted fast enough to still land the knee as she started to crash back down to the mat.

Starlight was certainly reeling from the elbow strike, though it did not seem to hit anything vital it winded her slightly. Xiao would possibly notice Starlight landing and almost immediately dropping down to one knee as one of her hands would immediately start to cover up the affected area of her abdomen.

Xiao loved getting close in on the enemy, and performing her attacks in a graceful manner. To win and look graceful while she did so in a manner befitting her lineage, if her poise and outfit of choice was any clear indicator. But the oriental rose was also more than willing to grab hold of her opponent and attempt some more rougher offence, after all it worked against her Brother and many of her fights prior to joining Friction. A slippery opponent was more easier to track and punish when they were grabbed after all.

That said though Xiao caught Tabitha at a bad time, they both rushed in and collided with each other. The oriental rose's eyes widened as she took the knee, hitting in that toned area of hers. Covered with the elaborate sleeveless top, and her elbow struck just below the breasts of Tabitha. Xiao could feel a little bit of that softness, but paid no mind to it. Such considerations in her mind had little place in the battlefield.

"Guf!" Xiao grunted as she staggered back from the knee, one hand covered her attacked area. She wasn't going to fall on her back like the last time though, she took a few steps back though. The oriental rose saw that Tabitha was on one knee, she probably had it worse in that exchange due to being caught in the air prior to the clash. Xiao had an idea to try and take advantage of this, by trying to rush in and use Starlight's knee as leverage and come in swinging with a shining wizard!

Starlight and Xiao both were sent reeling from the last exchange. Starlight would get the worse of it as she was at least able to land a knee in panic on Xiao as well. Now left injured, Starlight would see Xiao coming back in to press the attack.

There was little she could do as the wind was knocked out of her from the elbow. Starlight could only try to brace herself for the impact of whatever had in mind next. Xiao would rush forward at Starlight and use her knee as a launching pad of sorts to deliver a kick to the back of Starlight's head.

The shining wizard kick would knock Starlight silly as she made a face that showed her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Starlight would end up laid out on her stomach. Xiao was in good shape right now though she would also need to pick herself up off the mat to follow up in some way.

The sound that was produced from Xiao's attack making contact with her enemy was resounding, at least to the oriental rose. It was moves like this she loved, the audio output gave way to a feeling of satisfaction that proved it was worth the risk and the effort. The elegant hair of Ms La Rouge swayed as she deftly struck her opponent down, despite her appearance Xiao wasn't one to consider herself arrogant as shown by her acknowledgements of respect earlier. But still she knew that was going to a be a picture moment there.

Xiao landed on the ground with a thud, and she lightly grunted as she landed on the mat. Tabitha might have been inwardly pondering what just hit her, it was an elegant strike from a Chinese/French lady of war. And the oriental rose briefly took the chance to at least admire her handiwork before quickly crawling over to her downed opponent, and roll her over for a classic pin. All that was three seconds to win, that strike to the head might have left Starlight reeling enough. At least that's what Xiao liked to believe.

The referee would move into position with a perfect look at Starlight's shoulders.
"ONE!" Would be declared as she slapped the mat for the first time. Starlight seemed to still be out of it. "TWO!" The referee would declare, as Tabby snapped back to reality and instinctively would throw her shoulder up and twist her body away from Xiao as she kicked out of the pinning predicament.

Starlight was still a little worse for wear as the referee would throw up two fingers signifying that Xiao had only gotten a two count. Starlight was now sitting up as she started to roll away from Xiao. Starlight was at least not going to be pinned by that move, and she looked to see how she could reverse her fortunes as she started to stand herself back up.