Champ vs Champ, Tension vs Friction, John vs Angel

John kept this hold going for a moment or two. Frankly, he was amazed she wasnâ€t giving in. She was stubborn and strong, two qualities that served a fighter well.

“If youâ€re trying to impress me,” John said, then wrenched the hold once more, “Youâ€ve succeeded.”

Finally, John gave up this hold, letting Angel go and rolling with her onto their sides. John got up from the ground and grabbed Angelâ€s arms, trying to haul her up with him. Once they were both on their feet, or at least John was, he would try to take her and whip her into the ropes….provided she didnâ€t take the opportunity to surprise him.

As if her prayers were being answered, John had decided to let go of Angel, rolling her onto the mat. That was fine. She didn't know if she could take any more of that hold, and she had to be honest with herself about it: if John had kept it locked in, she probably would have reached her breaking point soon. In the Latina's mind, him letting go was nothing short of a miracle.

Still though, he wasn't going to let up on her. He reached down and grabbed her arms, hauling her up to her feet and sending her flying towards the ropes. Sadly for her, she didn't have a surprise for John that could stop him. Across the mat she went flying, hitting the ropes, leaning against them for just a moment. But, before she bounced off, she desperately reached for them, grabbing on tight to keep herself from rebounding back towards him. She sighed in relief as she stopped moving, leaning against them and raising her head up to look across the ring towards John. As much pain as she was still in from that hold, she couldn't help but flash him a tired smiled.

<Not today, little boy>, she teased, holding the ropes tight as she tried to recovered herself. <If you want me, come and get me...>

John had allready had his arm out, spinning around on his heel, ready to clothesline her…when Angel caught the rope and suspended herself. The crowd let out a ‘Oooo….†And then cheered and applauded for the fight they were putting on. This made John grin, matching Angelâ€s smile.

<I see why youâ€re the champion> He grinned, and silently thanked the Puerto Rican soldier in his platoon that had made him keep up his High School Spanish. That aside, Angel was genuinely impressive. A lot of other people had given up to that hold and in a lot less time than Angel took it.

John was still smiling as he came in, his arms up, but he didnâ€t go straight for Angel…instead, he went over towards the corner which had the ropes she was on and started violently shaking them, trying to drive her off.

Angel panted as she leaned against the ropes, not offering John any words in reply, only smirking lightly at him. She braced herself, expecting him to rush her, to try and clothesline her or send her over the ropes in some other fashion. After all, that was the classic move to make against someone against the ropes. Imagine her surprise, then, as John suddenly came in towards the corner, grabbing onto the ropes and starting to shake them violently!

"W...whoa!" Angel called out, letting go of the ropes and stumbling off of them. That could have turned out badly, but she was smart, and got herself off of them before anything too bad could happen. Unfortunately though, she was still left off balance, quickly trying to regain her bearings before John could come after her again.

(100,000 pardons, please! Thank you for not getting mad about my absence or that Iâ€ve been invisible a lot the past week or two.)

John hand gambled that he could take Angel by surprise by switching it up and trying to fling her off the ropes. Unfortunately for John, she had figured out what he was going to do and at the last second gotten off the ropes.

She had been there long enough for John to unbalance her, though, so he quickly took advantage of that. When she got off the ropes, he let go of them and bent forward, charging towards her, trying to slam the big bulk of his body into her firm tummy via his shoulder in a spear.

Angel caught her balance, turning to John just in time to see him rushing at her, dipping down low for his spear. Panic instantly took over her. She couldn't afford to get hit like that, not while she was still recovering from that nasty bow-and-arrow hold. In that brief moment that she saw John charging her way, her instincts took over, and the Latina quickly threw herself towards the side, dropping towards the mat to get out of his way.

She knew that wasn't going to be enough though. She couldn't just lie there and hope John left her alone long enough for her to rest up. With a little bit of an inward sigh, Angel rolled herself towards the nearby ropes, rolling out of the ring and stepping away from it. She still needed to recover, but with John not letting up on his brutal offense, the only option she could think of was the running away option. It wasn't glamorous or anything, but any chance she could get to regain her bearings, she was going to take.

John rushed forward, ready to strike Angel, when suddenly she ducked out of the way! Johhn flew forward and his the ground hard, chest first. He shook his head a bit to shake out the cobwebs, using the ropes to get back up. John slowly got to his feet, then realized Angel was no where to be seen.

Hey, John wasnâ€t one to criticize someone for a tactical withdrawal. But he was still going to tease her a bit. And he wasnâ€t going to foolishly follow her. “ <<Retreat? Already? Come oooooon. If I were a big jerk Iâ€d kick you every time you tried to get back in here. Come out and play.”>> John said, leaning on the ropes nearest to her.

Angel backed away from the ring, the lovely Latina turning towards the sound of John's voice, looking up at him with a smirk.

"Me? Come in there?" she asked innocently, folding her arms over her chest, trying to hide the motion of her deep, heavy breaths. He had done a number on her so far, but she didn't want him to know just how badly she was hurting right now. "I don't think so, little boy. Why don't you come out here?" She wasn't expecting him to follow, honestly. She was just stalling for time while she tried to catch her breath. It wasn't the most heroic way to handle a fight, hiding outside of the ring like this, but Angel didn't care. She just needed the extra time to gather herself, that's all.

Then she would climb back into the ring and kick John's ass.

John grinned as the Latina spoke to him. He came up to the front of the ring, standing on the middle ropes as he listened. He moved casually, acting like he was just coming in to hear her better over the crowd. Of course, he wasnâ€t.

John didnâ€t want her catching her breath. Sun Tzu said not to give up the high ground to attack, but letting his enemy regroup wasnâ€t ideal either.

”Awww…come out THERE?!” John laughed loudly. “Okay!”

Before, hopefully, the Latina knew what was happening, Jouhn would suddenly grab the top rope and pivot his body so he could slide out and land with a clang on the mats bellow, his boots hitting them firmly. Then, heâ€d take off running at Angel, trying to grab her and tackle her down.

The moment that John laughed, and started to slide out of the ring, Angel's body tensed up. He was coming, she knew it, and she only had mere moments to react! She honestly didn't think her taunting would cause him to leave the ring, and to be honest she wasn't ready for him yet. She still needed just a few more moments, dammit!

She braced herself, and after the Tension champion hit the mat, suddenly lunging towards her, Angel let her leg fly upwards towards him. It was a desperate, wild kick, aimed nowhere specifically at the man. Angel just hoped it would find a mark, a spot that she would hit hard enough to stop his progress and let her start to get in some kind of offensive on him, anything to try and turn the match back around!