Round Two

The irony of Diana calling her a ‘smug bitch’ was just far too much for even Carmen to let go. [color=#400000]”Like you can talk…”[color]

She gave her foe some room to breath, but sure enough, the gap was quickly closed. Diana liked to keep things close and intense, and so did Carmen, as the two inched closer and closer together, so near that they could feel the sweltering heat radiating for their bodies. Carmen, for her part, felt like she was in a boxing match without any rounds, and she could only imagine how it was wearing on Diana.

Now that she had a target to work with, Carmen started to hone in on Diana’s head. She threw out a couple of quick, sharp jabs towards her rival’s skull, trying to drive her back towards the corner with each shot.

Funnily enough, Carmen clearly heard her mutter, even though the Italian didn't care much. This was already a brutal fight, what difference would one woman hearing the other's bitching make?

Diana had become somewhat agitated by the fact the match turned into the briefest of standstills, both women stood across with their super heroine style poses, but at the same time, the Italian was getting some sort of adrenaline fix from it. In a regular match, you'd of course consistently be on your guard, fighting and mashing against your opponent non-stop until one of you simply could not stand. In this fight, the brief moments of respite would make both women the definition of unnerved, at the prospect their opponent could suddenly change from a staunch posture to trying to take the other woman's head near clean off their shoulders. And with Carmen and Diana, one single failure to react could spell the end.

As Carmen brought up her hands to again pummel the Italian, Diana brought her own up, covering herself in a standard boxing defence posture, not at all attempting to fight back when her head was still ringing like a bell. She'd gladly step back into the corner with every strike from the champion; her stepping backwards from each blow alongside her defence quelled near all the power, something Diana was more than happy to enjoy, even if the pay off was her back to the corner.

She could catch her breath as she was forced backwards, and in the corner, the Italian was confident she could only heighten her defence. Or at least, she thought.

This was a little irritating.

Carmen had to keep in mind that, for all her ferocity, Diana did have a brain inside her dense skull. While many fighters would have stood their ground or tried to push back in the onslaught, she was steadily retreating from the 24/7. To many people, that might’ve looked like a sign of weakness, but in reality it was just dilluting every blow she threw. Carmen was having serious trouble connecting.

But the end result worked well in her favor, pressing Diana into the corner. Now she just had to keep the Italian there.

Carmen took a step back as soon as Diana’s back touched the turnbuckle, making a little space between theme, all so she could build some momentum for her next move. She rushed forward and shot out with fierce right cross, this one aimed at the impressive chest of her enemy. "Gotcha!"

Not so much diluting, but turning what should of been rib shattering blows into slaps to the Italian's arms, a fact she couldn't help but me smug at. An onlooker couldn't fault Carmen in the slightest; Diana was giving her every bit of ground to halt the power of those punches; it was simply impossible to punch someone effectively pacing backwards, without jumping in with such momentum you'd be leaving yourself wide open to been caught.

Diana still kept her somewhat smug grin, even when she was cornered, apparently no worry on her face. In her mind, all it would take was a quick clinch, and she could use her heftier figure to switch Carmen with her place. That was the plan anyway. Her arms blocking her now somewhat less aching skull, Diana instead found her impressive assets the victim of a shattering strike.

With the force Carmen put behind it, Diana would of yelped. But after been in a 'chopping contest' of sorts with the champion level boxer just moments before, with a clean cross connecting neatly in the same spot? Diana's eyes nearly shot out of her head, as she'd splutter into her own defence, bending over, appearing as if Carmen had just broken the Italian's ribs.

With almos anyone else, Carmen might have backed off at this moment and given her opponent some time to breath, not wanting to risk seriously injuring her. And, in truth, she didn’t want to injure Diana, either. Despite the way this woman set her on edge, Carmen respected her ability and thought she was a great, if wild, addition to the AFW roster. The last thing she wanted was for Diana to be taken out of action.

At the same time, though, this was no ordinary opponent she was up against here. She was dealing with a fighting machine. And that meant she was going to need every opening she could find.

When Diana bent over, Carmen moved in and pushed her chest up, straightening her against the turnbuckle. She only needed her in that position for a moment - that was all the time the 24/7 Champion needed to grab the middle ropes, duck down, and ram her shoulder into Diana’s stomach, trying to hammer into the corner with powerful thrusts.

Diana's mouth was wide, as she still failed to draw full breath into that Italian frame. First her bell being rung, and now her chest been near popped? A bad spot didn't exactly do the Italian justice.

Her hand would come out to grab a handful of air, as she still failed to fully comprehended the pain in her body. She'd take a deep breath, through the nose, head coming back somewhat, as that hand would come down to a rope to brace the amazon.

The champion would soon continue her assault, this time somewhat lower, trying to drive the air directly out of the Italian with a series of almost football like shoulder thrusts. Diana would bare her teeth, her free hand on the back of Carmen as she rammed, pulled back, rammed, pulled back, over and over. Diana's body would bend with each thrust, her own chest somewhat rubbing on the back of the champion as her face became a visible mixture of pain and frustration. She was somewhat resting on the champion, keeping her shoulder almost in the turn buckle. But with the resistance Diana had in her, Carmen wouldn't exactly struggle to simply step back or straighten up, should she of desired.

Carmen put her full force into every thrust, making the most out of her superior position. it wasn’t a simple task - Diana’s stomach was like a fleshy wall, and each push took real effort to ram home past those tight muscles of hers. But she could feel the way her rival’s body contorted around her shoulder, felt her chest flopping over her back. She had this and she wasn’t letting up. No way.

After a few good hits, Carmen finally backed away and pushed Diana against the turnbuckle, keeping her upright and a perfect target. She’d been doing a good job of wearing the Amazon down over the past few minutes, but now she had to bring it home. That meant going big.

With a quick nod, she charged away from Diana to the other side fo the ring, crossing it in a few bold strides. She went all the way to the opposite turnbuckle, wanting as much space as possible, and then she took off in a full sprint towards the Amazon.

Carmen stormed across the ring at ramming speed, and that was exactly what she did, too - when she was near enough, she ducked and tried to cut Diana in half with a spear, aiming for her already-abused ribs.

Diana's teeth would stay consistently bared, as she was forced time and time again backwards painfully into the turn-buckle her stomach turning a shade of red to rival her chest. Thankfully, Carmen would let up, but not before shoving Diana backwards so that she would be left draped over the corner ropes, almost doing an impression of a scarecrow. Her eyes consistently on her foe as she'd pant wildly, hiding her worry over the fact that Carmen was building to something. Something big.

At first thinking Carmen was merely mocking the Italian by mirroring her posture in the opposite turn buckle, the champion would suddenly burst forward, at horrible speeds square towards the Italian. Carmen didn't have an enormous figure; she definitely wasn't about to splash her foe. And she didn't much seem the sort for a form of high impact turn buckle kick. Her hand briefly rubbing her near crushed stomach, Diana's eyes would widen as it became blatantly obvious what her foe was charging up to do; aiming for the target she'd just been trying to damn near break with those shoulder thrusts.

Biting her lip out of sheer worry and fear, Diana would simply do the only thing she could do. Move.

Pulling on her right arm attached firmly to a top rope, Diana would prey the champion would miss her as she'd effectively try to sidestep her, even if by a fraction of an inch, perhaps carrying on her brutal charge, straight into the corner!

Carmen could admit, as she charged across the ring at full speed, that there was a lot of risk to this. She thought Diana was sufficiently winded from the repeated attacks, enough that she could set up to something. After all, that seemed to be the winning pattern with wrestling: wearing you oppoent down with smaller attacks, then hit with something bigger. Rinse, repeat. On top of that, she knew that punches weren’t going to be enough to knock Diana out anytime soon.

So she took the gamble. And it cost her.

”No-” Carmen barely had enough time for that single syllable, as Diana moved out of the way with a speed she didn’t think she still had. It was too late now. She was flying through space, on a collision course, and the only thing she could do was brace for impact. It didn’t help much.

Carmen’s shoulder slammed into the post with a hollow ring, and she cried out as the pain ran through her body. She barely had time to grab hold of it to keep from falling clear out of the ring, and after a moment she just oozed out of the corner and fell on her back, nursing her aching bones, in too much pain to even register what Diana was doing.

It was the fact that Diana was so winded, that she opted to simply move out of the way of the train instead of trying to stop it. In a way, had Carmen not near bruised her stomach already with those shoulder thrusts, the cocky Italian would of likely taken the blow head on, confident she would somehow be the one to come out on top from it.

Falling to her knees from the speed she stumbled out of the corner, she didn't need to turn her head to hear the sound of flesh meeting steel, almost ringing out in the empty gym. She simply tutted, with a smile on her face, and begun to stand, hand holding her wounded stomach.

She'd step in front of her downed foe, hand still to her stomach, almost as if she had been shot. Again, she'd smile, making sure her witnessed her this time. With still that almost sadistic smile on her face, she'd raise a leg, kicking it neatly into the front of her downed rival, her shin aiming to connect somewhere along the chest and stomach of the girl. It wasn't exactly a kick that would cripple Carmen, but more of a test, to see if the champion had all but just broken herself.