Cancelled

“Here she is”, - Charlotte thought when the female figure appeared from behind the curtains.

And literally in one second the smile disappeared from Charlotte's face as if the mime had passed a hand over his face, changing joy to sadness. Instead of greeting to the side of the second fighter, insults and negativity flew. Can't to say that Lotta did not expect something like this, because the reputation of her rival went ahead of her. But, faced with this personally, the pink-haired girl felt it with all her skin. After the Cicilia's way out it got cold here. Sand Lizard did not know if her rival really deserved it. But in any case, she did not approve of such a reaction from the audience.

The German girl was approaching the ring, but something was wrong, Charlotte's eyes narrowed. Cicilia walked without paying attention to the insults to her back, but it did not look like a defense. It was like she didn't care what they saying about her. As if she doesn't care what happens next. Too... detached.

“What the...” - the Frenchwoman thought.

When her rival rose to the ring, Charlotte raised her eyebrows, because now she could see Cicilia in detail. And she certainly did not expect it. Now she did not even pay attention to their difference in height and body type. She thought that an opponent full of confidence would come to her, but now she saw only a tired person. There was a void in Cicilia's eyes, which seemed to indicate that the German girl did not want to be here. Lotta did not know her, it would be foolish to assume that she understands what caused the state of Cicilia. However, something told her that this was partly due to the negative attitude from the audience. Well…

Charlotte took a breath, and then went to the center of the ring, closer to Cicilia. The Frenchwoman put a clenched fist of her right hand to the straightened palm of her left hand, and then made a bow to Cicilia.

- My name is Charlotte Ravel', - she said, straightening up, the girl looked into Cicilia’s eyes for a few seconds, and then added: - I don’t know you and you don’t know me. So you don’t have to listen to me and take this as advice, but don't let them make you weak, keep your head held high. Let it be a good match for both of us.

And after that Sand Lizard reached right hand to Cicilia for a handshake. For Charlotte it was no secret that for some her bow was not the most classic decision, but it was the respect she showed to each of her rivals. But in order not to embarrass such people, she was always ready for the usual handshake.

Charlotte took a short breath, and her lips pursed in a sad smile when Cicilia did not accept the handshake and did not say anything in response. Despite the fact that the first opponent of Charlotte did the same, now the Frenchwoman felt two fundamental differences between Lucy and Cicilia. Well, maybe trust should be deserved. Sand Lizard lowered her right hand and took a step back.

"Quelle horreur", - the Frenchwoman thought, and her eyes involuntarily widened.

When the German girl took off her jacket, scars all over the body of her rival became visible to Charlotte. What is it? It was as if some experiments were being conducted on a brunette in a secret laboratory. However, Charlotte was not born yesterday, she perfectly understood that all these scars were received from those with whom Cicilia encountered right in this ring. Is this the reason? Is this the reason why she looking so oddly at Charlotte? Does she think Sand Lizard is here to add new scars?

Charlotte looked into the eyes of her rival. She did not know the answers to these questions, the pink-haired girl did not know how to read thoughts, and a alien soul it is a obscurity. However, she was sure of some other things. Now she was sure that in front of her was the person who passed fire, water and copper pipes and who is still strong enough in spirit to continue to fight. And it deserved respect. Great respect. Although Charlotte did not know what Cicilia was thinking about her, Charlotte herself knew that she was not here to inflict new scars on her rival.

It will not do without pain, it is a fact. Because it's the ring, it's the sport, it's the wrestling, it's the fight. Here people try to prove to themselves and others that they were worth something. If a person does not want to feel pain, then this is not the right place. However, who said that a match cannot be just a match? Charlotte's goal as such wasn't to hurt anyone. Here Charlotte was for the sake of self-improvement because the fight for her is a way of self-expression. This was one of many things that she took for herself after pilgrimage at a Chinese monastery.

The Frenchwoman shifted her right foot half a step back, the distance between the legs was half the width of the shoulders, her knees were slightly bent, and the torso was slightly bent forward. Her fists clenched and rose to the level of her chin, her left hand was slightly in front, and her chin gow down slightly.

“The path of insight”, - the girl thought to herself, finishing her boxing stance, she needed to feel her opponent a bit in order to start moving on to other forms of fight.

Ding-Ding-Ding.

She nodded briefly to her rival and rushed forward. Taking the first step, Charlotte shifted slightly to the left, and the second step was followed by a pendulum movement down and to the right. At the exit of her dive, Sand Lizard's torso turned to the left to increase speed and strength, and her right hand went to the left cheek of Cicilia, with the intention of starting this match with a good right hook.

Faced with Cicilia, the Frenchwoman almost from the first seconds began to realize with whom she would have to deal. Few people are able to meet an attack so effectively, send their own punch at almost the same time that the enemy sends a punch in your direction, it's requiring certain skills. Noticing the hook going to the side of her head, Charlotte turned her head to the side, as a result of which the brunette's fist only slipped across the skin of her cheek, leaving a burning pain from the scratched surface of the skin, but this way she was able to avoid a critical hit.

“She is dangerous, the punch is extremely powerful, but too sweeping...” - thought the pink-haired girl.

When her own hook hit the cheek of Cicilia, Charlotte was determined to continue her attack. All this was not supposed to last long. Boxing was a universal martial arts that helped Charlotte learn basic information about the opponent, after which she could begin to act more freely. Therefore, she could...

“Damn... what the... you don’t have time, exhale and get ready”, - sounded in Charlotte’s head.

Maybe she was able to see the response hook of Cicilia, but she could not do anything about it. The German girl did not seem to feel the punch of Charlotte. The pink-haired girl did not expect her rival to be able to launch an attack after a direct punch on her face. Sand Lizard could not escape the punch, which means she needed to deal with the consequences. The girl exhaled almost all the air an instant before the punch, thereby saving her lungs about a sudden compression and partially reducing the pain. Reducing?

- Gha!! - burst out from her mouth.

Damn it, this German girl had tremendous power. Charlotte felt it in all its glory. It was as if she was a train that constantly takes firewood, and this train rushing forward and skip any stop. But that was not enough. Charlotte's strength was not in endurance, but such a blow is clearly not enough.

When you cannot cope with a problem, your responsibility is to prevent the situation from worsening. After a missed blow, Sand Lizard knew that the next would come to her. The pink-haired girl's eyes seemed to sparkle when Cicilia's hand began to cut through the air toward Charlotte's head. The Frenchwoman's shoulders sank lower, and she made a pendulum movement down and to the left, sliding under the hand of her rival.

At the same time, Charlotte's left leg moved forward, she was determined not only to dodge the punch of Cicilia. A step forward was to give the master of martial arts an acceleration and create an offensive wave that the girl planned to use to emerge from her dive and send the cross punch with her right hand directly into the chin of the German girl along her hand.

Spoiler:

Sand Lizard did not have outstanding physical strength, and although its speed was very impressive due to its fairly light weight and honed movements, it also did not stand out too much against the general background. However, all this was offset by her professionalism and composure. She did not work with arms or legs, she worked with her whole body, and so her every blow could be much more dangerous than from stronger or faster opponent.

There are always things to hope for and things to expect. In this case, Charlotte hoped that her attack, amplified by speed, would surely make Cicilia, if not fall, then definitely step back, because it doesn’t happen that a person received such a powerful punch and after that pretended like nothing was happend. Okay, Chuck Norris can do that. "You call it a hit?" and e.t.c. But the German girl was very little like him, at least she didn't have a beard.

On the other hand, after the brunette almost completely ignored the first hook from Sand Lizard, the master of martial arts had some thoughts about what to expect from her rival. Charlotte did not want to believe it, but if her hunch that Cicilia has the reckless ability to ignore the blows will turn out as true, then... something will have to be done with this. But first, it had to be checked.

And such a chance was presented when the fist of a pink-haired girl stuck into the chin of her rival. All the laws of logic shouted that now Cicilia would have to fall, but Charlotte noticed this. She saw something flare up in the eyes of the German girl and it was clearly not a blinding flash. It was anger. It was a rage. Somewhere deep down, the Frenchwoman knew that the situation had taken the path that was to be expected, and not which to hope for. And this was confirmed when Cicilia grabbed her wrist of right hand. Damn it, it hurt. Even the usual grip on this girl is monstrous. Interestingly, was she ever told that in matches with standard rules fractures and other serious injuries are not welcome?

Although, judging by the right hand, which Cicilia brought back, she was not aware of this. Charlotte's eyes narrowed for a moment, and then the girl exhaled deeply, completely removing the excitement from her body and mind. The punches of Cicilia were powerful and ferocious. But to achieve such results, she used a wide sweep. In boxing, this works great because your opponent is limited to the same techniques as you. But Sand Lizard preferred to save time and strengthen her strikes not with an additional sweep, but with pure technical performance. But was Cicilia really going to deal with her in the most ferocious and cruel way? Did she really want to chop off her head? Like a mad hyena attacking a meerkat?

“The path of flexibility”, - said the master of martial arts in her head.

The girl was going to bend down and, taking half a step forward, pulling her captured arm up to grab the brunette by the left shoulder. This time, she hoped that the blow of Cicilia would pass over her head. Blitzkrieg... in theory, on paper it sounds effective, but the last blitzkrieg for the Germans ended very badly. If she had managed to avoid the fate that provided for her decapitation, the Frenchwoman was determined to straighten up and put her right foot behind the left foot of Cicilia. And then she just had to push her opponent with all her weight to throw her on the mat with one of her signature movements, which was called trip around the world! Charlotte did not intend to break bones or tear off parts of the body of her rival, she considered herself a fighter, not a wild beast. But if she has to beat Cicilia over and over until she can no longer ignore the blows coming to her, then so be it! Because she refused to voluntarily allow herself to be beaten to the point of bloody mass for no apparent reason. It's interesting if there was anything else left of the fighter in Cicilia herself? Or now is she really just a beast who enters the ring just because decapitating someone is the only way to get her own food?