[Pendant Match] Boxing: Akashi Tanikaze Vs. Taylor Parker

Akashi had managed to get Taylor back towards the ropes where she wanted her to be. Akashi thought she could start landing shots but right when Taylor was ready to take a hit, she noticed her predicament and squirreled away. "Tch." Akashi growled out as she spun around to face Taylor who was bobbing back and forth, still quite spritely. The bigger girl knew that she wouldn't be able to get to Taylor like this. Plodding forward and just attacking straight away. But with boxing, the strategies were different than in Sumo. Akashi had to think fast. Faster than Taylor was talking. She really never shut up, did she? Akashi put those thoughts aside and lifted her gloves up as she plodded towards Taylor.

She wasn't going to catch the girl just trudging after her, she knew that much. Taylor was, actually, surprisingly good at this. She was a little mad that there was a time limit on this fight now as the first round was just about halfway over. If it had been a fight to the finish, there was no doubt in her mind that she had more stamina than Taylor. The girl was a ball of energy and she definitely was rock solid, but Akashi was built for taking a lot of punishment and underneath her chubby exterior was her own solid brick wall of muscle.

Akashi snorted again as she watched Taylor. She figured she might have a little bit of a reach advantage and decided to just keep her distance. But as Taylor bounced, Akashi wasn't sure which way she was coming from. Finally, when Taylor came in, Akashi threw out a hook that arced wide and took Taylor's hook right on the chin. She stumbled backwards as saliva spewed from her mouth. She grunted and took a step back, retreating as much as she could as she threw her gloves up to protect her face. That one she had definitely felt and she tried to shake her head loose of the daze. A few more like that and she might be in trouble, but she was determined not to let Taylor get at her face again, even if she couldn't stop the blue haired girl's follow up.

Staggering Akashi was all the encouragement Taylor needed to swarm on her. With unnerving speed, she threw a string of fast right uppercuts, jamming her fist up at the gap between Akashi's arms over and over, hoping to penetrate through to her face. She threw her shoulder into the sumo and followed with a left and a right hook to her midsection, finished with a hook on top, and then circled quickly to Akashi's blind side, without backing up, in order to stay in close without letting the sumo get her bearings. She watched carefully for an opening to pick her next shots.

Akashi turtled up as she felt the sting of leather against her forearms. She did her best to cover her face, knowing that Taylor was looking to target that first and foremost. The loud slaps of Taylor's flurries caused the crowed to roar as Akashi was forced to back up just to keep Taylor from getting in good. She was able to protect her face more or less, as the sharp, quick punches snapped into her green mitts. The crisp shots to her belly, however, went undefended, but not unnoticed.

The were certainly mitigated by her chubby layer of fat and the hard muscle underneath, but Akashi knew she couldn't let Taylor just pound away at them and was thankful that the blue haired girl seemed to prefer trying tor the head.

Akashi was panting as she was assaulted, grunting as Taylor poured her fists on all parts of her. Finally, when she had had enough of searching for where the blue haired girl's next punch was going to come from, Akashi grunted and thrust out both her gloves, to shove Taylor and part them enough so that she could throw an uppercut into Taylor's stomach. With all the punches she was throwing, Akashi hoped that Taylor was confident enough that Akashi was content to sit there and take the punishment she was being handed. Akashi had to remind Taylor that in this fight, Taylor was a fly trying to punch out an elephant.

Taylor watched Akashi intently, her hands poised and ready, waiting for her to stop covering up so she could keep her backing up. She wasn't expecting to get shoved, though, and Akashi nearly threw her back. She barely had time to get her feet before Akashi's body shot was on the way. She couldn't get out of the way, so she settled for covering up with her elbows in tight against her body.

Akashi's fist slammed into her forearms, and it was like being hit with a sledgehammer. She gave with the impact, lessening it somewhat as she backpedaled away, but she felt it through her gloves and her arms and in her ribs. It felt good. Now she knew she was in a fight.

She quickly shook out her arms and looked at Akashi as if she'd barely touched her while she began to bounce on the balls of her feet again, mixing up lateral movement and random feints while she circled. Her feet never stopped moving.

"You're real good at pushing. Too bad this isn't the fat-people-pushing contest. I mean, sumo." She put her hands up and tucked her chin down and glanced up at the round timer. It was getting close to the end of round one, but she wasn't done. Not yet. It'd be stupid to think she could knock Akashi out in the first, but she wasn't hoping for that. She had to be smart, as always.

Akashi could feel the glove sink into Taylor's side and it felt great. As tough as Taylor's words were, she knew that it had to hurt. Akashi flashed a grin at Taylor. Things were just beginning in the big sumo's eyes. But Taylor tried to back away. That's what she did, back off, taunt, catch her breath and come back. Akashi furowed her brow. Not this time.

When Taylor backed up, Akashi charged and followed. As Taylor took time to taunt, Akashi bent forward and shot a jab out at Taylor's glove, using her reach to try and make up the distance between the two.

Taylor locked her eyes on the sumo's chest as she came charging in again. She backed up in step with Akashi's approach, and deftly tucked her arm up in a triangle against the side of her head to block her heavy jab.

She learned her lesson last time, and instead of continuing to move straight back she veered off to the side and sharply circled around toward Akashi's back. She paid attention to how the sumo reacted, if she would be cautious or aggressive when Taylor played with her position and circled to her blind spot.

She heard Cassie's words in her head, position, position, position. Of course, her grappler friend wasn't talking about boxing, but Taylor was smarter than she looked and could see the parallels. If she got into a bad position, nothing else mattered, she was in trouble. Taylor knew that her athleticism and her skill wasn't enough, that she had to fight smart. People ofter underestimated her in that respect. Unfortunately for her, maybe Akashi wouldn't, but then, just as unfortunate, maybe she would.

Akashi's jab made Taylor veer away. She wasn't going tor the kill anymore. One good shot had calmed her down and she was no longer thinking about just trying to destroy Taylor. The uncomfortableness of her boots, or the inexperience at boxing. was slowly beginning to wash away. Now that the two had seemed to gotten the proverbial butterflies out of their systems, Akashi had a renewed focus. She was determined on winning the match. She knew there were a few more rounds to go and she didn't need to win, right now As much as she wanted to go toe to toe with Taylor, she knew the blue haired girl was too smart and fast to do that. Still, Akashi couldn't let Taylor fight on her terms either.

The big sumo turned as Taylor tried to swing around. Akashi wasn't as fast, but she continued to throw out long jabs to make sure that Taylor couldn't settle into the kind of rhythm that she wanted to. As long as Taylor was at least partially focused on blocking or dodging, she wouldn't be one-hundred percent focused on whatever she was trying to do. When Akashi saw Taylor was starting to move faster, the bigger sumo went in. She threw two quick stiff jabs and muscled forward to try and aim a combination of punches to Taylor's midsection that ended with an uppercut shot at Taylor's chin.

Taylor nimbly danced away from Akashi while avoiding her jabs. She dropped her hands and slipped each one, knowing that the cockier she got the more Akashi would want to come after her. She watched Akashi's right hand and waited for her to load up with it, and then planted her rear foot to stop her retreat and threw herself in close to Akashi so that they were nearly chest to chest.

She tucked her elbows down against her sides and rolled back and forth to deflect the lessened force of Akashi's too-close body shots. She loaded up to step back and counter, but before she could release a punch Akashi's last shot caught her under the chin and and snapped her head back. Her legs wobbled, her knees buckled and she only just managed to keep them from hitting the mat, avoiding the knockdown. Showing her toughness, or at least her spirit, she straightened up immediately, and before her head had even cleared she set her feet and fired back with a left hook and threw her body into a wild overhand right without any regard for where that would leave her balance afterward.

Akashi could feel Taylor's breath against her. The sweat lined scent of her foe invaded her nose as their bodies nearly pressed together. Akashi felt a tingle run through her spine. She had Taylor close, of Taylor's own volition and now she wanted to really put the girl down. When her uppercut snapped into Talor's chin, Akashi smiled widely as the girl stumbled back and was nearly knocked down.

"C'mon, Taylor-chan! Don't stay up on my account!" She barked out as Taylor recovered. In the distance, her ear twitched as she heard the pounding ont he mat for last call. The round would be over in a scant ten seconds and Akashi snarled at the thought. Things were just getting good.

But Akashi was certainly not expecting Taylor to launch such an immediate and reckless attack at her. The Big Sumo's eyes were widened as she watched Taylor's arm hurtling towards her in slow motion. All she could do is turn her head enough so it glanced off the side of her head, rather than hitting her with a full force. Akashi winced and stumbled to the side. The force was more powerful than she imagined Taylor could unleash and it took a lot for her to recover without losing her balance. But still, Akashi smiled. Taylor was ready to go toe to toe, it seemed. Akashi readjusted on the fly, and leaned into a hard hook that she hoped she could plant stiffly into Taylor's chest to retaliate for the strike against her. A retaliation for the strike she had launched. A vicious cycle. Akashi couldn't help but feel alive in this fight now. The two sisters seemingly eager to mangle one another.

All of the insolent playfulness left Taylor when she connected with Akashi, her cleanest shot of the fight, and she forgot all about strategy and restraint. She wanted to take Akashi's head off.

She held up both forearms against Akashi's hook and pushed against it, but the force of it still forced her back a step. There was no way she could stop Akashi's punches from hurting, and she didn't care. She wanted them to hurt. She wanted to hurt so that when it was over they would both know that it was a fight, and Taylor would be the one still standing.

She let out an animal snarl that grew into an enraged scream. "Fuck you!" She shouted, and jumped on Akashi. She cupped her left hand behind Akashi's head and pulled down hard enough that she pulled herself up onto her toes, and then began savagely smashing her right hand into Akashi's face, frantically, with no regard for the rules, her own safety, or Akashi's well being.