24/7 Championship Match - Carmen Rodriguez (C) vs. Soledad 'Sola' Vega - Wake Up Call

Carmen rolled around on the floor, trying her best to cover up her most vital areas, as Soledad’s assualt continued to fall over her. While there was quite a lot of strength in her fellow Latina’s legs, that wasn’t what made the stomps so damaging. Every single hit was carrying raw hate behind it, dug deep into her body with vicious intent. Sola attacked Carmen like her continued resistance was an unforgiveable insult.

When she was finally, finally done, Carmen laid on the floor, groaning and coughing as her body struggled to put everything back in order. It was a sad state to be in and, true to her nature, Soledad took advantage.

”1…!”

Carmen didn’t move after the first count. There was so much pain all over, her body felt sluggish, slowed down her reaction times. She was wide awake now, at least, but she wasn’t in a good state to make use of that.

”2…!”

The rereferee started to raise her hand for a final count, but Carmen got her shoulder off the floor in time, saved herself with less than half a second to spare. A good thing, but being so winded this early into a fight was troubling. Would she be able to do that again if Soledad did a bit more damage? Just a bit?

Carmen had no intention of finding out. She’d have to keep surviving, wait on Sola to give her an opening, and she figured the best way to do that was to keep her angry and heated and hope on her getting sloppy. After she broke the count, she threw up her hand and gave the younger wrestler a quick slap across the face - wouldn’t hurt all that much, but it was the best way she could think to convey a message.

Not in my house.

Soledad sat back and stared in utter disbelief at Carmen, as she kicked out of the pinfall. "What the hell?" she exclaimed, staring down at the champions prone body. "What the hell!?"

Then, came the slap across the face. The blow stunned Sola, sending a loud, echoing clap through the apartment. She couldn't believe what was happening. Not only had Carmen kicked out of the pin, not only was her championship run still alive, but she had the gall to simply slap her?

Hurriedly, without grace or technique, Sola went right back after her opponent. Grasping Carmen by both cheeks, cupping the champion's face in both hands, Sola tried to drive Carmen's head clumsily into the cabinet, beneath the sink.

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted, shoving Carmen's head into the stiff cabinet doors. "The fuck makes you think this is okay, huh?" She would keep pushing, keep shoving Carmen's head back again and again, trying to keep her grip on the champion's jawline, above all else.

Carmen's technique was sloppy at this point, however. Her grip was loose, the force with which she shoved her opponent into the cabinets was passionate, and not nearly as forceful as it could be. Soledad didn't care. She only wanted to punish Carmen, at this point. To put a hurt on the champion, to break her down. To make her want to submit, to Soledad. "Why won't you go down?" she carried on, her voice getting louder and louder with every word she'd been crying out, at her opponent.

Carmen wanted to say that she was getting under Soledad’s skin, but she had the suspicion that was where she'd resided since the first moment they met. There was something deeply personal to the way she was being attacked, here - no one, not Diana, not Gai, not Clyde, not any of her fiercest opponents had poured so much fervor into their attacks. The way Sola came at her, you’d be justified in thinking they hated each other more than anything in the world.

To be fair, though, Carmen was quickly reaching that point, herself. Not quite there, but Soledad was making impressive progress.

As her head was slammed repeatedly into the doors, Carmen found herself glad that she’d chose wood cabinets over metal, wanting to give her kitchen a more rustic vibe. Between that and the sloppy way she was getting beaten, this was the closest thing she was going to get from a break, she figured. If she was ever going to turn this around, it had to be right here. Right now.

She waited for Soledad to reel back for another hit, then went into action while she had a window. Reaching up, she grabbed the fierce upstart’s hair and got a tight grip, pulling her head down. At the same time, Carmen jumped up, just enough to put the underside of Sola’s mouth on the top of her head, then fell down to her knees in one solid motion, trying to give back some of the pain with a quick - but harsh- jawbreaker.

Soledad's anger and frustrations were pouring out of her fists, small beads of sweat flying in every direction as her entire body sloppily and clumsily threw itself into this beatdown. This had to be it, she told herself. If anything she'd done today was going to mean anything, if any of her efforts to take her opportunities and become a champion were going to mean a damned thing, she was going to have to put down one hell of a beating on Carmen, and finish her. Sola had come this far, from so low- this was her time, dammit!

Still, she was running hot and starting to burn out quick. Carmen had proven a hell of a lot tougher than the spoiled, rich athlete that Sola would have taken her for. The Puerto Rican teen fighter couldn't think of a single opponent she'd ever had back home- even the ones that had beaten her- who had taken this kind of abuse and kept fighting.

Sola's mind wandering ended up costing her, as Carmen reached up and got a firm grip on her hair. "Aaooww, you bitch!" she snapped, face reddening in shock, "what are you doing?" Not the kind of street tactic that Sola would have expected from Carmen, and the surprise of it bought the veteran all the leeway she needed to complete the jawbreaker!

A loud "CLOK" sound rang through the apartment, as Carmen's skull rocked Sola's jaw, stunning her. "Gaahhhhooow!" she groaned, trying to roll off, back to the relative safety of a kitchen wall. Both hands nursing her aching jaw, Sola was shocked at the sudden resistance from Carmen. Trying to massage out the pain, Sola would need a minute to get her bearings. Carmen had delivered the blow in a flash, with practiced precision, and she'd managed to completely rock the unexpecting challenger. On one knee, foot kicked out wide to support herself, Sola shook her head off. Her anger was starting to rekindle, but it was going to be a bit too long before she'd be able to take advantage of that.

Not that it would matter one bit to Soledad one way or the other, but Carmen really did mean what she’d told the younger wrestler about her skills and potential. She was good. Very good. This match would be going differently if Carmen hadn’t be sideswiped in the wee hours of the morning, but just how different was anyone’s guess.

Sola had her flaws, though. Carmen had hoped to teach them verbally to her, but since she was pressing the issue, it was about to happen the hard way. The painful way.

With her opponent stunned, she knew what had to happen next: this was a lighter, faster opponent with some deadly kicks on her side. She needed to start wearing her down, sap away at her stamina. More importantly, she needed to get out of this kitchen, before her shopping list got any bigger.

With Soledad stilll reeling and on the wall, Carmen slid over towards her on her knees. She couldn’t do her full damage from a position like this, but all the same, she swung out with a right hook at her fellow Puerto Rican’s face, throwing her knuckles hard against the same mouth that had been talking so much junk just a minute ago.

Sola's eyes were flashing. Her frustrations were bubbling over, getting the best of her. Instead of recovering, the young street fighter was instead seething in the pain that Carmen was inflicting on her. To her mind, Soledad was moments away from victory. She felt like she'd had that damned belt on lock down. And now, she felt like that was getting taken away from her.

"Nasty puta," Sola grunted, trying to massage her jaw. She turned back to face Carmen, just in time to catch a right hook, square in her jaw! "Daaammnnnn!"she wailed, the impact of the blow rocking her back. Soledad fell right back into the wall. Her shoulders planted against the wall for support, she was left there, a moment. Chest heaving as she breathed, sat there stewing in her anger, Sola's wide eyes turned back to the referee and crew she had brought with her.

"Rich bitch wins again, huh?" Sola hissed, trying to rally herself. She swung a left hook back at Carmen, throwing herself into the blow. It was a wild swing, with power and intent, but sloppy. At this point, Soledad was trying more to hurt and intimidate her opponent with the attack, than re-establish dominance. And, if she were honest with herself, she was maybe trying to put some of those personal issues and frustrations behind the strike, as well, going right for Carmen's face.

The blow wouldn't be terribly graceful, but it would get Soledad's back off the wall once again. She punched from the hip, standing herself back upright, as well. Whatever kind of counter Carmen might formulate, if she didn't just take the punch full-on, she would have Carmen's entire body to work with.

Even though it didn’t hit with nearly the full amount of power that Carmen could muster, she had to admit - striking Soledad in the face was supremely satisfying. Occasionally, she felt a little bad about giving people unprotected shots in the face, but not with her. She fully intended to pummel the intruder until her arms got tired or the bitch was too loopy to remember her own name. Whichever came first.

She rose to a knee and pulled back, looking for another, more substantial blow, but Soledad was resilient for a woman her size, maybe for any size. She recovered faster than Carmen anticipated and retaliated in kind, throwing a sloppy punch that she would’ve chastised her student for pulling off.

That didn’t make in ineffective, though. Far from it.

The blow knocked Carmen on her back and had her reeling for a second, trying to pull her thoughts together. This tussling on the floor wasn’t doing either of them any good, but particularly not her. She needed to stand. Make Soledad take her head-on, straight-up, where she could do her best work and lay waste to the upstart.

Reaching up, Carmen grabbed hold of the kitchen table and started to pull herself back up, getting on bare foot on the floor, then the other, as she steadily rose.

Soledad shook her head out, a mass of wild hair flying in every direction. Her blow had connected, thankfully, but all that really meant was that she'd get a chance to recover, somewhat, from Carmen's own face-rocking punch. Back upright, a bit, Soledad worked her jaw, massaging it with one hand while leaning on a wall for support.

Looking over her shoulder, she could see Carmen working her way back to her feet. Soledad was shocked, feeling her advantage and what she thought was her inevitable title win slipping right between her fingers. If Carmen got back to her feet, there was no telling how this might go. Sola had just taken a couple of shots to the face from the expert striker- she wasn't exactly game for taking too many more.

Sola cast a glance around the kitchen. In a bit of a panic, the latina street fighter couldn't see anything that seemed like a suitable weapon, in arm's reach. At least, not for this fight. Carmen's knife set could stay in their wooden block. Her bananas would be left in place. Everything else was splattered and scattered around the floor, from what she could tell. If there were options, she was not in a frame of mind to see them. And those moments searching were moments Carmen would be able to use for recovery ...

Giving up, Sola just decided to go all-in. "Oh no you don't, bitch," she said, lunging forward. It hurt to speak. Soledad grabbed Carmen under the arms and pulled her the rest of the way up. She pulled her arms up and over, twisting the woman into an elbow-and-collar tie-up. A technical move when this brawl had been anything but, Sola thought mixing it up would keep her opponent off guard, help her finish this. With everything she had, Sola pressed forward, tried to push Carmen into the opposite wall.

Carmen could admit, Sola had a good punch for a smaller woman. For any woman, really, but it was especially impressive with her body type. She had figured the tougher fighter would be more of a kicker, going by her getup, but she had stunning power all over.

Carmen simply shook her head as she continued to rise, trying to turn off the part of her mind that was still analyzing Soledad’s potential, thinking there was something there. That ship had looked so promising, but it had long since sailed away and wasn't coming back.

She had more pressing things to focus on, now, like getting back to her feet and mounting a consistent offense. She'd just started to get on that when Soledad decided it was time to resume her attack, plowing into the current - and hopefully future - 24/7 Champion and driving her into the refrigerator.

Carmen stored her receipts in a bowl on top of the fridge, and they all came tumbling off when the two of them hit. At first glance, it seemed like a bad position for her to be in, and that wasn't wrong. But she could work with it.

Carmen brought her mouth next to Soledad’s ear as the two of them tussled, growling straight into her skull.”More than you can handle, rata.”

She surged up and pulled Soledad’s head down as they grappled, trying to get over her smaller foe. The first step to winning this fight was to lock her agile enemy down, and the best way to accomplish that was with a good hold - to that end, she attempted to pull Soledad into a front facelock, grip her tight around the head to bring her under control.

With Carmen's fighting, her struggles, her refusal to lose this fight, Soledad couldn't help herself- she was going to lose her shit. Despite all she had thrown at the 24/7 Champion, it just wasn't enough to put her down. How was this even possible, Sola asked herself? How could she still be fighting?

Sola pushed forward with everything she had. She wanted nothing less than to plant Carmen against that wall, to knock the last of the air out of her and finally finish this. Their bodies slammed into the fridge, bringing a bowl of discarded receipts and paperwork crashing down around their heads. The bowl went bouncing between skull and wall, echoing between, as the two of them tussled against the wall.

The echo of that crashing bowl filled Soledad's ears. It distracted her, as Carmen pulled her down, got her into position. More focused on that element of the match than on the match itself, Sola was easy prey as she felt Carmen hook her over the back of the head, yanking her down into a front face lock.

In a bit of a panic, Soledad began to squirm and writhe in Carmen's grip. "Lemme go, dammit!" she shouted, her head still tucked firmly in Carmen's grip. Soledad began swinging hard, aiming some stiff forearm strikes at Carmen's midsection. However, the toned and taut veteran still had the floor. Despite whatever pummeling Soledad would give her, Carmen had control of the match, and the teenage latina had to simply hope she could withstand whatever Carmen was going to throw at her, next.