Chaah with a Pander on it!

They were sort of stuck. John had no intention of actually trying to choke her out; they were just sparring after all. Then again, she was going well beyond the bounds of it by stubbornly refusing to move. He had her dead to rights; she should tap so they could move on to something else. But she wasnâ€t moving. John had probed a few times, experimenting with increasing the strength of his hold a bit, pushing it to the edge, but never actually choking her. “Your beginning to look petulant.” He said with an annoyed sigh…but, the truth was he was just as petulant as her, because he could just let go and do something else.

It was only on the second BING! That John realized it was coming from her bag. He growled a bit “Well, thatâ€s unfortunate for you.” John said, trying to sound dismissive.

But, as he continued to hold on to her, he began to try to reach with one arm to grab her bag for her. That was ridiculously futile; he was way too far away. Not even close, the distance was a matter of meters and he knew it. “Compromise, call it a draw? Otherwise I'm gonna try to end it.” He offered, in his mind it was reasonable. "I'll even neglect to mention to the others about that tickling incident." He said, with a sly grin.

-------

“Hehehe…youâ€re so Canadian…” Amanda giggled, but when Ro scowled at her, she immediately stopped. Perhaps would Cassie needed was a little fun and silliness, to distract her. It worked for Amanda, after all.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU NEED! Activate Imperial Walker Ro!” Amanda shouted, spinning her propeller cap with one hand. Ro giggled and bent down, kneeling in front of Cassie so that she could easily get on her shoulders. Amanda, meanwhile, forced herself behind Cassie and playfully shoved at her, as if trying to make Cassie hop on without actually forcing her.

"Oh, my, god, you're not serious. You would want that because you've been losing. You're just going to have to deal with it when I get out of this and make you tap." Taylor shoved at John's legs again.


"Well..." She was Canadian. She didn't know how she could be so Canadian. "Oh, uh, oh, no, um..." Cassie spluttered. She tried to her best to look appreciative and politely decline without being rude or making them feel silly, and the result was a bit of facial gymnastics starring her eyebrows as the acrobats. "Um, I'm... afraid of heights. I like being low to the ground, it's why I'm so short. Heh."

She paused, and looked around, her eyes settling on the propeller-beanie-powered brunette. She shrugged, and then grabbed Amanda by the wrist and yanked her in, and picked her up across her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Petite though Cassie was, she was sturdy. Thick through the middle, so to speak.

"So where to?" She asked, seeming to not think anything at all of carrying the larger girl on her shoulders.

“Guess that phone text must not be important. You know youâ€re only sitting there because Iâ€m not willing to choke you out here.” This was just such a waste of time, if she wanted the title of most obstinate, she could have it. Heâ€d concede the scissors….but still wanted to get her to tap. Maybe he could test out that new finisher Tai helped him work on…

John then leaned back, as if he were going to rest in this position, but that was only for show. Suddenly, John tried to use his group around her neck to flip her over with his legs. He wanted to smack her head into the mat. This would leave Taylor face down on the ground, with John laying halfway up her body. Heâ€d quickly try to slide down her body, letting go of her neck and using his strong arms to quickly move himself down so heâ€d be with his chest against her back.

As long as Taylor was too stunned to keep him off, heâ€d be ready to go for his finisher, wrapping one of his arms behind her neck in a half nelson, and the other around her neck in a sleeper like choke. Meanwhile, his legs would try to wrap around her waist so he could squeeze and roll back onto his back. Even after all this frustrating, though, he was still running with about a third of his normal force in applying the hold.

----

Ro laughed at that comment about being short, and got back up, still smiling. Amanda frowned, but suddenly Cassie grabbed her and tossed her over her shoulders in the firemanâ€s carry! Amanda first squeeked, then giggled wildly! “Hehehe! YEEEES! ONWARD, MY MIGHTY STEED!” Amanda giggled some more, quite content to stay here for some time.

Ro also laughed too, giving Cassieâ€s head a ruffle as she carried Amanda. “Pretty sure itâ€s right around here, we gotta remember to bring stuff home for those two.” Ro laughed, as she led Cassie on and they both rounded a corner. Around the corner was a very lively area, filled with a variety of food stands and carts, as well as some indoor restaurants. It was apparently very popular, with a lot of younger adults and some teens about. Most importantly, there were like half a dozen different variation of Yakitotri-Ya stands. “Love this street.”

Taylor could feel it coming. John had had enough. She waited for him to shift enough that she could free her head and rain terrible vengeance down on him, but instead he rolled and she rolled with him. "Ugh!" She smacked face-first into the mat. Instinctively, she began scrambling back, but John had a hold of her, and his weight on her. She was quickly stuck again.

Her hands shot up to her head, fingers wrapped over her crown to protect her neck, but John fit one powerful arm through for force her head forward with a half nelson. She grit her teeth and snatched his other wrist before he could cinch in the choke, and did her very best to block him from doing so. Whether she was just delaying the inevitable remained to be seen.

"Rgh... I'm not that easy." She muttered. Dealing with a strength disadvantage in grappling situations was precisely the sort of thing that had always kept her up at night. The strategy she had long since settled on to deal with it became her signature, a hit-and-run approach, fast moving and never in too close for too long. Maybe if she were more skilled with this sort of thing she could hold her own against opponents as large as John, but... it just seemed like a losing battle. The only way to win was not to fight that fight.

She sighed heavily. "So like, you're obviously a better submission guy than me," she said. "Do you have any advice? Or am I just fucked no matter what."


Cassie quietly grinned while she plodded down the sidewalk. Despite herself, she was having fun.

Then she turned the corner. "Oooooh..." She loved few things as much as yakitori. She stopped and let go of Amanda's leg to fish Taylor's credit card out of her pocket, and then held it up triumphantly. "Let's get some of everything!"

Her eyes swept over the different vendors and restaurants, and she had a thought. "Hmmm..." She managed to get the card back into her pocket without dropping Amanda, but then came the harder task of getting out her phone and calling Taylor.

"I don't know if Taylor's going to be vegan again now that she's competing again," she explained, holding the phone up to her ear while it rang. "I don't think soooooo..."

John managed to lock in his finisher…sort of, she was quick enough to stop him from actually choking her. While John struggled with this, he heard Taylor ask for advice from him. “Fucked? Not you, youâ€re dam good actually.” John didnâ€t mean that emptily, he really thought that. “Well, if you really wana know what I think, I think it sounds like you already know it. You be fast, you keep going, you hit me and then you run, then you hit me again then you move. Weâ€re in a ring? Throw out high flying moves, youâ€re dam fast. Get me dazed, get me tired, make it a fight of attrition and donâ€t try to out grapple unless you have to.”

John tried to force his hand out of her grip, trying to use his raw strength to slip out of her grip and get around her neck. “THIS is the battle I want to fight, make me fight the way I donâ€t want to fight. But, like I said, pretty sure Iâ€m telling you stuff you know.” John said, then worked at it again, really wanting to pull this finisher off.

Buuuut….just as he was in the middle of that, the unmistakable sound of the phone ringing came from her bag. “Aw fuck…do you gotta get it? Call it no contest?” John offered, but didnâ€t stop struggling in case she said no.

"Well, yeah, I know that. I know what I try to do in a match, but like, in this specific situation what do I do? I can try to get this arm off my head and turn into you, that'd be something, but... yeah." She knew that it looked hopeless being stuck grappling with John, but the wheels were turning nonetheless. She'd never just admit defeat if there was anything at all she could do about it, even in training.

"There's always something to do, right?" She wiggled her neck side to side. It was getting a little stiff from being forced down. "I mean, if this was a match and I was here, I'd be done, and if you were squeezing for real it'd hurt a lot, and then I'd take a nap in front of everyone. But since if this was a match, none of that would be an option, there's got to be a way for me to..." She trailed off, and only then realized the phone had rang and stopped moments ago. "Nah, let it go. I'm busy."

She wriggled her hips to find a more comfortable spot for her ribs between John's legs. "Jeez, though, the crushing. The crushing, man, it sucks. I hate being crushed." She sighed, and tapped her hand on John's arm. "Okay, fine, let's back it up a little."

“Well if you get the arm up, Iâ€d slip my other arm around and then itâ€d be a sleeper/scissors without the nelson.” John said, moving his other arm around to indicate which she was talking about. “I believe that there are always possibilities…just because I canâ€t think of any…I mean I guess you could try elbowing me? Thatâ€s really it…Iâ€m pretty sure neither of this is gonna stop thinking till we come up with a counter, heh.”

John continued the hold, but his mind was already thinking about how Taylor might counter. He didnâ€t really have any problem sharing them, if he did come up with one. Then he heard Taylor comment on being crushed. “Yeah…thatâ€s why this works so well. That and choking someone to sleep.” John said with a chuckle, until she felt the hand tap on his arm. He immediately let go, letting Taylor get off of him.

“Yeah, letâ€s…do you wana check that phone first?”



“Not answering? Donâ€t think John tried to eat her, do you?”

“No, he swore he gave up live cannibalism.”

After Taylor didn't pick up, Cassie set down Amanda and sent her a text. After she didn't reply to that, she shrugged. "Oh, well, we can just get lots of different stuff just in case. She was a vegan for a long time, but she gave it up when she retired. She's so disciplined, I could neeever just give up food like that."

Cassie put her hands on her hips and surveyed the place. "And besides, I'd be more worried about John. Taylor's intense. I... hope they're okay." She waved her finger at Ro and Amanda and issued orders like a takeout commander. "Okay, you two spread out and find some stuff, and I'll cover Taylor and stuff, and then I'll come meet you with the card. Okay? Readyyyyy, go!"


"What? No. Forget the phone, man. Check this out, sit down." Taylor pushed at John and herded him into a sitting position like she had him in before. She got down on one knee behind him, and wrapped her arms around his neck in a sleeper hold, and squeezed just enough.

"Okay, now like before, you go to grab up here..." Taylor watched and waited for John's hands to grab for her arm, and then she quickly yanked her arms away and stood up, and then dropped back down to one knee while driving her other knee between John's shoulder blades. "See? I can hit that, it makes you arch and stops you from reaching back, and then..."

She clasped her hands together in front of John's neck and pinched her forearms tightly together, and used her leverage to muscle him to the side. She grabbed for his top arm, put a knee on his back and pushed him onto his stomach so that she ended up straddling his arm. With him on his stomach and her sitting on his back, she could lever his arm up behind him.

"Like a fujiwara, ya know. I've found a few ways to hit it. I like it because when you're on your face like that, it's a lot harder to just toss me around. Whatya think?"

Obviously, the phone must not have been important. When she was being crushed it was, but now it was not. “Heh..all right…” John grinned, sitting down and allowing her to try whatever she wanted to try. “So…yeah I…gah!” John wasnâ€t hurt by the knee on his back, but he was certainly startled, and arched as she expected. “ â€K…” John said, more observing than anything and offering no resistance, though at combat speed he was sure resistance wouldnâ€t matter to much anyway. This was very effective.

Soon John was controlled and brought to the side, and took control of his arm and sat on his back perpendicular to him. “WOW…okay, I may try that someday…” John said, as he was still on the ground. He tried to muscle his arm out, but that got no traction. “Well…wait what if I…?” John tried to twist his arm, but that was useless. He gave up on that, and instead tried to shove on the mat with his free arm and then push up. “Wait so maybe I can push myself up, maybe I can throw you off, but I feel like youâ€d just fuck my arm up if I tried that in a match……god this is fucking uncomfortable!” His stomach was bent into his own knees, and his arm did not like even this small pressure. John ahd to think of a way to get her off without her bending his arm, and decided it would be easier NOT to throw her off. “All right Iâ€m gona try this…” The next thing he did was, while continuing to shove the mat, he tried to pivot his body to the same side he was shoving (the last part proved easier said than done). The hope was so that heâ€d roll to his side and sheâ€d roll on her front.

-------

“I just…eat whatever I please.” Amanda giggled. Ro chuckled as well, grabbing Amandaâ€s arm and shaking it. “That explains that.” Ro laughed, squeezing Amandaâ€s less impressive muscle. “Shadap!” Amanda squeaked.

Ro then turned her attention to Cassie, “Ohhh, I wouldnâ€t worry about them. Theyâ€re just practicing, right? And if Taylor gets outa line, John can give her a nice little time out nap.” Obviously, Ro and Amanda had as much confidence in John as Cassie had in Taylor. But, as usual, Amanda was slightly more perceptive between the two of them. “Assumptions, Ro Larren, assumptions.” She chided, and Ro raised an eyebrow.

“What, OH! Yes, Maâ€am!” Ro let out, giving a fake, sloppy salute as she and Amanda both broke to go get their food. “I want meiji chochlaaaaaaaaaaaaate!”

Taylor adjusted her feet to keep her balance, and then John muscled her off. She opted to let go of his arm and fall into a neat forward roll, and then flopped onto her back.

"Man," she said. "You should roll with Bear sometime. You've got like a million pounds on her, and I guarantee that she'll still find ways to make you tap. She's an artist." She sat up suddenly and turned to look at John while lounging on her side, propped up on her elbow. "Hey," she said. "So, what's your deal? Like, you invited Cassie to come hang out, and you've got two chicks already hanging off you that fuckin'... look like strippers or something. What are you going for, exactly?"