Showdown '19: Riza Hawkeye vs Army Rodriguez Best of 5 Match Series Finale: Last Person Standing Match

It was a mistake, an absolute mistake, to not hit the Boma-Ye. In hindsight, she would know that. Hell, at the moment, she KNEW that, but she wanted to send a message, try and put a little fear into him, a thought that she could finish him at any point with a knee.

Big mistake, as it would turn out, as Army had a very similar message to send back to her, only, unlike her, he actually went all the way through with it, Hawkeye briefly recognizing his sudden spin, before his large arm smashed into her chest. While it didn't send her flipping head over heels like the first time she had taken the blow, but it still did it's damage, dropping her flat onto the mat, legs briefly kicking into the air before landing flat, the wind completely knocked out of the blonde beauty!

The audience gasped at the impact of Army’s blow, and he gasped along with them despite being the one on the giving end of things. He honestly hadn’t expected the move to hit, was already thinking of the best way to counter after she dodged and hoping he could catch her off guard with the quick recovery. The good thing about having a quick finisher like that was not being left too open if he did miss - he could usually regain his footing right after he landed the blow.

But Hawkeye took it and took it hard, flopping flat after he landed the heavy blow. He whipped about, surprised by his own impact, by not complaining.

He almost went for a pin, but caught himself at the last moment, forcing the reflex away. With a long sigh, he stepped back and leaned against the turnbuckle with a knowing smirk, waiting for her to get back up as the referee started his count.

Hawkeye really, really hated that move.

Something about how the spin made it more powerful, helped channel his strength across his entire muscle, how it nearly caved her chest in upon impact, how the back of her head always smacked into the mat when taking it...overall the move just sucked, for her at least.

The wind knocked out of her, she laid on the mat while the referee girl counted, getting to "THREE!" before she started rolling over, thankful that at least she at least took the move fresh in the fight. She was pretty sure she wouldn't want to take that move later in the fight, when they were bound to be exhausted.

By the time the ref girl counted "FOUR!" Hawkeye was already on all fours, and made the final push up to her feet right after, fans wincing at the bruise already starting to form on her chest. She simply gave Army a nod, indicating she was good to go, despite still getting her breath back, wanting to get back into the fight.

Army had never been in a Last Man Standing match before, but Carmen had, and she’d imparted a few tips on him to help him get through things. More than anything, she told him to take his time. Don’t rush the count. Don’t be in a hurry to press the advantage. This was a match about stamina more than anything else, conserving energy.

So, as he waited for Hawkeye to get back up, he took his time and stretched, controlled his breathing, and reset. She would rise, he was sure of it, but he wasn’t sure how long it would take him. While it was his finisher, that was the first time he’d hit on a fresh opponent.

As it turned out, she only took about four seconds to rise, and even then it was probably less because she needed to and more because she wanted to. Whatever the case, he was ready for the moment the match restarted, bouncing off the ropes and coming towards her with a full head of steam.

This time, he tried to press his luck with a grapple, approaching fast with arms raised in an attempt to push her into the nearest corner.

Hawkeye was cursing her stupidity, not taking the chance to nail Army with her knee when she had the chance. The one saving grace was that it was still the very start of things, so it didn't take her too long to shake everything off. Once she was up and done mentally slapping herself, she re-focused on Army.

...Who was heading right towards her with his arms up to try and grapple her. Not willing to play that game, especially having felt the strength in those arms before, she focused on avoiding his grapple attempt, feinting moving in towards him, before trying to swing around his side to get behind him, where she would throw a kick towards the back of his knee, trying to cut the tree down.

It just showed how good Hawkeye was that, even though Army had been expecting her to fake him out with the grapple, that he still wound up falling for it. There was just no amount of preparation that he could’ve done to avoid it.

She’d waited for the last moment, the exact last, to juke around his grappling, leaving him to stumble forward and hug the air. By the time he’d managed to get his footing, she was already on the attack, and the well-placed kick she gave him was more than sufficient to do the job. He fell down to a knee, hissing and gritting his teeth as the pain surged through his bones.

Not the best position to be in, not here and not with this woman. He whipped his head around as quick as he could, hoping to get an idea of what was coming next, but knowing he likely wouldn’t be able to stop whatever the move was, regardless.

It was rare that somebody got a chance to make up for a mistake, but Hawkeye seemed to run into such things more often than other people. Once again, life had seemed to give her a chance to correct a mistake.

The kick sunk into the back of his knee, and made him stumble, drop to a knee. It would only take seconds, a brief few seconds, before he was up, and the blonde made the most of it, scooting back a few steps...and charging in, closing the short distance and throwing her knee out, trying to connect with a Boma-Ye, not caring where it hit, so long as it connected!

Army whipped around, saw her knee coming, and in the instant before impact, he knew he was fucked.

Her knee cracked him square on the forehead, making a noise that wasn’t unlike a bat hitting a brick wall. Army’s head shot back as if it had just been hit by a bullet, and the rest of his body followed suit, taking him all the way to the floor, falling back in a muddle heap. That was where he stayed, too. Flat. Arms splayed. Staring up at the ceiling.

The referee rushed over to give him a quick check, then stepped back and started the usual count. ”ONE!”

Army, for his part, wasn’t even sure what planet he was on.

Hawkeye stumbled over to the corner after managing to smash her knee into his forehead, rubbing the sore appendage while watching her opponent laying on the mat, the referee girl already starting her count. She stayed in the corner, not moving to further attack the larger man. After all, he had given her the courtesy of recovering from his attack on her own without interference, the least she could do is do the same for him.

"Cmon...Cmon Armando. Get up. I know that's not enough to take you down, not in this match..."

She said aloud, warily watching to see how long it took for Army to back up, taking her jacket off and tossing it out of the ring, leaving her in just her camo and bikini top.

Hawkeye was right. That wasn’t enough to keep Army down for a ten-count.

It was damn closer than he would’ve liked, though.

The referee started her count, and he only managed to get the stars cleared as she reached the count of six. It was tempting to pop back up, but the boxer in him had a better idea - it was never a good idea to rush this sort of thing. He took it slow, reached over to grab the rope for support, and pushed his way up, rising nice and steady. He stood up just as she was making it to nine and resumed his fighting pose, turning to stare at Hawkeye once again.

”All right,” He began to move her way, clenching and unclenching his fists as he neared. ”Let’s try that again.”