The Wild Card vs. Cryska Barchenowa

For a few moments that seemed so brief, Kira flew. For a few moments that seemed almost never-ending, she saw Cryska stir. The Russian brought her powerful legs to bear and Kira could only watch as she fell, her painful landing a fait accompli.

The bear hug had almost felt like she was being cracked in two. The painful crash against Cryska's legs felt as though they meant to finish the job. "Hhhk!" The Wild Card sputtered as she crashed into Cryska's legs only to seem to bounce off as Cryska kicked her off onto the cold steel floor. Hissing weakly in pain, Kira lay there, curled up, rubbing her torso in pain, cursing her luck and, especially, Cryska. After taking a few seconds to recover, the Wild Card finally unfolded herself. The Russian had reentered the ring, as Kira now noticed, and she quickly followed suit, sliding in the bottom rope and slowly rolling over before climbing to her feet, still in tremendous pain from that landing. Even breathing was becoming trickier as each breath flared up the pain in those muscles.

Kira would lean back against the ropes and, if Cryska had not moved to attack her, she would call out, "Heh... That all you got?" As much as she would try to hide it, the pain would be apparent in her voice, her favoring of her stomach even more apparent, but she was not done yet.

Cryska had taken her own amount of damage in this battle, but she wasn't going to allow the pain to overcome here, she was here to set an example, that she was not only stronger then the Wild Card, but she was going to endure the pain all those attacks had given her. She drew one leg forward, along the mat and press her boot against it when she bend her knee, pressing her hands upon the mat and slowly started to lift herself up, bracing herself so she could stand up straight and not lose her balance when she was lifting up, watching Kira getting up upon her own feet at the same time.

Her taunt might not have been necessary, but Cryska didn't seem to even pay much attention to it anyway. She rubbed her own shoulder a few times, rolling her head around so she could get back into her senses and soon was ready to attack her opponent once more. She didn't rush this time, she made slow steps towards her opponent, whom had now had taken enough damage that she knew where to strike. It wasn't the head this time she was going to lash towards. She leaped forward to close the distance between them, her hand clenched into a tight fist and send it straight towards Kira's right side, that familiar spot that she had been punishing for quite a while, aslong as she kept working that, the speed would not be effective without recieving pain in wielding it.

Cryska remained stoic in the face of the Wild Card's prodding, aggravating her further. Kira grit her teeth, taking in a painful breath before stepping forward to meet the Russian head on. She ignored the pain, eager to tear this woman a new one.

Cryska stepped in, and Kira dodged a split second too slow. The Russian's powerful fist hit Kira's still aching side, reigniting the blaze of pain again. Kira recoiled, stepping back, clutching her flank, catching herself against the ropes. Kira quickly tried to catch up to what happened as that blow was a wakeup call. The Russian's powerful frame was one thing, but with the way that last punch struck, Cryska's fist may as well have been a speeding car. The Wild Card was hurting a lot more than she had thought. Something might have even been broken. While she could take a lot of pain, this was just not a winning strategy. She scowled defiantly at Cryska. Reckless aggression had not worked so far. Kira's instincts immediately flipped to the next course of action: More recklessness. More aggression.

Springing off the ropes, the Wild Card would sprint toward Cryska, only to tumble aside Cryska (A maneuver that her body protested furiously, but Kira was accustomed to ignoring pain.), sliding past her and regaining her footing to spring off the ropes behind Cryska. Leaping off of those, Kira would twist back, aiming a flying punch for Cryska's head.