Gaining Momentum - Simone Mackenzie Skyles vs. 'Bouncing' Betty Buchanan

The referee wasn’t blind, and even if she was, the audience definitely was. While it hadn’t been noticed by everyone, some of the more sharp-eyed spectators had picked it up and thrown a few boos their way, calling on the referee to disqualify Betty, among other things.

She wouldn’t take such a drastic measure. But she wouldn’t let it go without a word, either. ”Watch those feet, Betty!”

Betty just smirked - facing away from the referee as she did - and moved in. She’d made a nice little opening with that play, clearly catching Simone off guard. She took a bold step in, not wanting to waste even a second of this opportunity.

A jab started things off, one aimed right at Simone’s face. She was reasonably sure it would hit, maybe stun her for a second, but it wouldn’t matter. The real showstopper was coming from below.

The second the jab made contact, Betty dropped down and went low, coming at Simon’s abs with a vicious uppercut, attempting to sink it in deep and take her breath away.

The second round was off to a rough start for Simone, as her opponent pulled off something of a dirty move, one which might have come off as accidental if she had shown even the least bit of remorse or shock at what had happened, and at the referee's reaction. The crowd booed the heel boxer, and, while Simone certainly appreciated the sentiment, she didn't want a disqualification just yet. That sort of thing could happen by accident, and boxers were able to fight through it.

Winning by disqualification was not something Simone enjoyed. She wanted to put Betty flat on the canvas.

The pink-haired boxer came at her, and, when that jab flew at her face, Simone brought her gloves up quickly, just barely able to get her guard up and absorb the shot. Her own leather pressed into her face, but it didn't hurt, and now she would try to fire off a quick—nothing, as her own punch died barely a second after the intent had formed in Simone's mind, as that uppercut drilled into her defenseless abs and forced all the air out of Simone's lungs, causing her to hack and gag as she stumbled back again, getting awfully close to the ropes...

And already this was working out better than Betty could’ve dreamed. She didn’t just tag Simone with that uppercut - it landed perfect. Right on target. All the power she could’ve asked for. It wouldn’t have looked more pristine if they’d been going off a script, and the effect was immediate - Simone was getting nice and close to the ropes.

”Lay into her!”

Betty didn’t need Lara to tell her that, but the sentiment was appreciated, and she went right for it. She moved in with a hard step, planting her foot down and dropping her stance for a solid foundation. From there, she launched a simple one-two, leaning hard into the right cross, hoping to drill past whatever defense Simone put up and tag her hard in the face.

Simone was coughing and choking as she staggered backwards, for a second her confident, sassy attitude seemingly shattered by pain and the urgent need to regulate her breathing. She managed to get herself breathing normally again within a couple seconds, visualizing forcing the pain in her abdomen outward to the surface as she slowly breathed in. She knew she didn't have time to go through the full arc of any such mental exercises, of course. As soon as she wasn't floundering like a fish out of water, she had to get moving.

She got her gloves up as Betty readied her stance, managing to absorb the jab, though the cross slid around the side of her guard and bashed into the side of her face even as she slid to the side, making her ears ring and rattling her jaw as she bent heavily to her right. She groaned in pain, biting down hard on her mouthpiece, as she tried to return fire and stop Betty's momentum, throwing a right jab from her low position at Betty's abs, then a rising left straight at her foe's chest!

BOOM. Nice and crisp, right in the face.

The jab didn’t land quite like she wanted, but Betty got as much of that cross as she could’ve hoped for, even if it was blocked. It connected. Good damage, had to leave her opponent’s head rattling. That was the sort of impact she could work with, and Simone had nowhere to go. All she had to do was keep the pressure up, and-

Betty gasped as a jab popped her in the stomach, right as she’d been preparing another right cross to fire. It took her off at the exact wrong moment, so much so that she wasn’t able to get a proper guard up, and she had to take the followup, too - a strong right, crashing hard into her chest.

It was more than enough to drive Betty back, but worse still, it was proof positive that her foe had plenty of life left to extinguish. Wanting to keep her place, she hammered her foot down hard, rooted herself, and threw out a left hook, a wild blow aimed at Simone’s face, hoping it would be enough to kill her little comeback in the crib.

Simone blocked the jab but was forced to eat the cross, feeling leather tan her cheek as her head snapped to the side and a bit of spit flew from between her lips. She bent down, definitely on the defensive, but also hoping she could rise up out of it and get back in the game. She felt her own jab catch Betty at a weak moment, drilling deep into the pink-haired boxer's gut, knocking the wind out of her and leaving her shocked as the follow-up smashed into her chest, throwing her backwards with as much force as the wounded Simone could muster.

Now, with Betty reeling, Simone had a second to breathe, and she took it. That second also allowed Betty to stomp her feet down into the canvas and get into a good stance again, but Simone would accept that, as she, too, planted her feet and brought her gloves up.

That left hook thundered into the side of her skull, making it ring with one of the worse headaches Simone had ever had—like lava being poured right into her ear. But she fired back with a left hook of her own, putting as much power on it as she could as she tried to drill it into Betty's temple, ready to trade shot for shot until the bell rang or one of them went down!

”Shit!”

That one syllable word was all that Betty had the time to get out as her return fire landed in Simone’s face, doing damage - but not the amount that she was really hoping for. Simone was still coming strong, pushing forward, looking determined to slug it out. Not a prospect that Betty liked.

She stood her ground as Simone took the fight to her, throwing out blows after blow, left and right, trading with her...but it wasn’t a winning proposition. Every blow she took hurt more. Every blow she threw seemed to have less impact. Simone was beating her back, slow and sure, forced her towards the center of the ring. Needing a moment to collect herself, it was all Betty could do to raise her guard, trying to weather the storm coming her way, hoping to hold out long enough to come up with a plan.

She did have options, but…

Simone didn't usually fancy herself a power boxer, but she was no slouch when it came to putting a little oomph behind her punches, and sometimes a situation was just begging for a head-on collision until one girl or the other fell down. Simone was finally starting to get a little peeved at the way Betty conducted herself in the ring, and the Chicagoan just had to give herself the opportunity to beat the dirty fighter's face in.

And, with a fire in her belly, she managed to back Betty up, smashing hook after brutal hook into her opponent's face, taking the same in return, tasting blood in the corner of her mouth, feeling her whole left cheek starting to swell up a bit from the orthodox boxer's right hooks. But Simone gave Betty everything back with interest, and, finally, Betty stopped throwing punches back, bringing up her white gloves to try to protect herself from Simone's fury.

"Come on, girl!" Simone challenged, as she would go for a powerful statement, throwing her next punch low, trying to bash in Betty's solar plexus as the clock ticked down the last few seconds of the round!

This was bad. This was bad.

Betty turtled up hard as Simone continued her onslaught, laying into her more and more, forcing her away with every punch. The round was coming to a close, yes, but thirty seconds could be an eternity in the ring. She needed to put this to a stop, fast, before Simone landed a lucky punch and put her down.

...hm.

Throwing herself forward with open arms, Betty pulled Simone into a tight clench, pressing her in close to smother her efforts. The referee moved in quick, trying to push them apart, but she held on all the way, intent to milk this for every second she could.

Simone was learning a lot from this round. About what Betty would and could do, and what she couldn't. About the pink-haired pugilist's limits, and how to really get under her skin. It felt good. The sudden reversal of their fortunes, which came through some combination of grit and luck on her part, felt really good. She didn't think she could end this in round two, with thirty—no, twenty-five, now—seconds remaining on the clock.

But she was damn well going to try, and just kept swinging away at Betty's defenses, chipping away at them bit by bit, trying to make that big statement by putting the other girl down flat on her back before the bell rang.

Simone's uppercut was swallowed up by Betty's leather as the other boxer lunged forward, before she threw her arms around Simone and clung as tightly as humanly possible to her. Simone grunted, one of her arms pinned against her side, Betty's weight forcing her to stagger back a step as they were practically glued together, cheek to cheek. The ref tried to separate them, but the seconds were ticking away, and, by the time Betty was peeled off of her and Simone put her gloves up, the bell rang.

Simone moved in anyway, though she dropped her gloves and led with her head, pressing forehead to forehead against Betty, staring into her eyes, smiling a little bit as she got in the other boxer's face. "Was that your best shot, huh?"