Kumo vs Zohara

Kumo only offered a sly grin at Zohara's words, hoping that the gypsy would soon learn to eat them. Her intentions for the lock-up were simple: feign it and go straight for a take-down by diving for Zohara's legs and pulling them out from underneath her. If the raven-haired girl was successful, she intended on holding one leg hostage while dropping to the mat and wrapping her own legs around it while pulling on it in a leg submission hold.

She didn't expect a tap-out from it, only to weaken it and send a message to the red-haired girl.

Zohara had expected a lock-up again, already having a plan formulated. But in the blink of an eye, that strategy was void. Zohara found herself on her back, looking at the high ceiling. It was only moments later, when the discomfort began shooting through her legs. She knew it was bad to get caught in these holds early, depending on the duration and the intensity, she could have ended up immobilized. Zohara breathed deeply, trying to figure a way out. Zohara would seek out one of Kumo's legs with her long arms, keeping her a safe distance away. If she got a hold of one, she'd try prying it out of the hold, not wanting to stay in it a second longer than necessary.

Kumo was feeling rather proud of herself for locking in the leg hold, yanking back on the foot every now and then. However, she started feeling a disturbance as her left leg was grabbed onto by the lengthy arms of Zohara. In a battle of legs and arms, unless the arms were those of a weight lifter, the winner was usually legs, but Kumo didn't intend to make this a submission. Fighting her leg being loosened from the hold she had, Kumo would give one more good yank before unraveling her legs from Zohara's leg, but not release her grip on the foot.

Trying to keep her momentum going, Kumo would try rolling so that the two women were on their stomachs. From here, Kumo hoped to get to her knees and then her feet in an attempt to turn this into a one-legged Boston crab, but the only issue may be if Zohara can keep her grip on Kumo's leg!

Zohara gripped at Kumo's leg, with purpose. She hadn't gone into this underestimating her opponent, she knew she could find herself in a bad way if Kumo stayed in control much longer. So far they had stuck to light moves, and no one had sustained so much as a bit of fatigue yet, Zohara was intent on escape, she wanted to be the one to exploit control and turn the match in her favor. She was a snake in that manner, a venomous strike was always what she favored. Her opponent was obviously submission minded, Zohara pondered trying to keep this match off the mat, as Kumo had her matched in speed, but Zohara also felt compelled to use her long, powerful, legs on her opponent.

For now, it wasn't of any concern, she had to escape her current predicament. Her wandering mind got her in trouble, slowly her grip faded, and she realized she was being put into a half-boston crab, a bit more of a dangerous hold for the tall girl. She began to writhe, hoping to make it hard for Kumo to apply pressure, as well as trying to hook her free leg around Kumo's, planning on setting her escape up.

Kumo couldn't help but feel like there may truly be something to the fact that she had a height disadvantage as she tried pulling that leg fully upwards while leaning backwards. What made matters worse were that the gypsy girl was struggling. Then it happened, Kumo felt the leg hook around her own, provoking the raven-haired girl to release the hold on the leg and try and walk her way away from Zohara before she could manage to try her with the leg!

Kumo had squirmed away. Zohara had noticed already, that she would play things safe. That meant she had to catch her and maintain control if she was going to get anywhere. Zohara quickly somersaulted to her feet and quickly turned to face Kumo again. "Smart move." She said with a smirk, not forgetting Kumo's previous strategy of avoiding a lock-up. Zohara was quick this time however, she stepped towards Kumo, with hands raised once more, deceptively coming off as a grapple, when in reality, she'd try throwing a barrage of strikes, starting with a jab, a hard kick to the stomach, and if the kick doubled her opponent over, a stiff uppercut to the chin. She hoped the abrupt striking would shock her a bit so that she could begin higher impact moves.

Kumo quickly made her way to the ropes before turning around and facing Zohara, nodding when she complimented her move. She noticed that the gypsy got to her feet rather quickly from just being in the holds she was in. She would keep her distance when the redhead raised her hands up. The gypsy tricked her the first time, Kumo returned the favor the second time, chances were this was another deceptive tactic.

Hesitantly approaching Zohara, Kumo would be on her toes when Zohara tried barraging her with strikes. She backed up from the jab and nearly jumped back to the ropes when the kick was sent her way. Dodging would only get her so far though. She needed to fight. Feeling the ropes behind her, Kumo would stretch them back to launch at Zohara with a jab of her own, expecting the gypsy to be ready with her own strike.

Zohara stopped short with her kick, Kumo being rather quick. Zohara half-expected the return blows, and seeing the jab coming, she would side step it and attempt to grasp Kumo's wrist, trying to keep her in range and send a decent left hook hook at her head. Both the competitors were clearly dodgy, and the only way Zohara felt she could get anywhere, was to keep a Kumo boxed in, force her to fight without a retreat. If her hook landed, the follow up would be a knee her opponent's stomach and a quick re-positioning to get her in a headlock.

"Damnit!" Kumo cursed under breath as she felt nothing but a grab at her wrist as she launched her jab. The quick grasp was enough for Zohara to get her strong left hook to Kumo's head, sending it backwards. However, the damage was still to be done while the knee flew at her stomach, bending her over from the impact as the headlock was quickly put in place. How had the tides turned so quickly for her?!

Zohara felt the tide turn herself. An opening presented itself, and she didn't intend to squander it. She never underestimated an opponent, but fighting the same person for years, had put her at a bit of a disadvantage. She knew no weaknesses of her new opponent, so it was best to wear her down and attack everywhere, until she found a weak point. Zohara knew better than to let up, she locked her grip tight, to choke Kumo as best she could. The delicate exterior showed a venomous drive, as she tried to drag Kumo to the mat, seeing a possibility of a knockout, this early in the fight if she could get Kumo down and hold her on the mat and keep her in the headlock. Zohara would try just that, hoping to keep her opponent defenseless for the time, and cut off her air supply.