UPS AND DOWNS
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SAMMY ROSE
Typing out another memo as she sat at her cluttered desk, Samantha Ruskin paused to scratch the side of her ruby-red-haired scalp. She shifted in her chair, dressed for office duty in a buttoned-up black shirt and comfortable flats with white slacks. With the memo complete, Samantha glanced to either side before taking out her phone and opening the web browser. After a quick refresh, she raised her eyebrows in excitement as she saw the application form she had been waiting for.
“Got a hot date tonight?” cooed a female voice.
“Huh?” Samantha lowered her phone and looked up, deflating slightly at the sight of her co-worker. “No, uh…”
“You’d get more action if you switched out those glasses for some contacts,” continued the woman, gesturing at Samantha’s thick black rims. “You’ve got such a cute babyface!”
“Thanks,” hissed Samantha as cheerfully as she could manage to, pushing her glasses farther up her nose.
The woman moved on in her social rounds, as Samantha quietly seethed. She despised being called a ‘babyface’. She had full cheeks and a slim chin, easily able to play up a cute look if she removed her glasses to reveal more of her soft, doe-eyed features. But she wanted a much different reputation. Samantha had felt something many years prior, during a fitness kickboxing class. That eventually led her to full-fledged matches, and even a nearly-lethal trip to Thailand where she was laid out on the mat by a local champion. The experience of an elbow nearly breaking her spine had a strange effect on Samantha, once she had recovered. The world of underground fighting became her second life, using a version of her name that felt more like a combative moniker.
One day, she would become strong enough to drop the identity of Samantha Ruskin entirely. Cooing coworkers would be afraid of crossing her, rather than doting on her from the other side of her desk. Samantha resumed tapping at her phone, filling in an entry form with her alter-ego.
----
“SAMMY ROSE!”
Throwing a pair of knee strikes into the air before holding out her arms proudly, Sammy Rose strode to the caged mat with her head held high. Her deep red hair was like a small mane over her shoulders. Sammy wore a strapless black camisole top, tucked into the silver waistband of a short pair of matching trunks, leaving her strong legs mostly bare for battle. As Samantha she would rarely even reveal a shoulder, but as Sammy she wanted to be powerful, beautiful, and ruthless.
“MILLIE WONG!”
A naturally-relaxed, yet slightly nervous-looking chinese girl waved to the crowd as she headed to the ring, dressed in a salmon-pink spandex t-shirt and black yoga shorts. Her black hair was in a medium bob cut, partly covering one of her cheerful and cat-like eyes. Millie could not help looking at her surroundings in slight wonder as the cage closed behind her, before offering a smirking nod to her opponent.
“FIGHT!”
Sammy returned the nod, though she immediately wished she had done something more intimidating. Millie was grinning as she approached, hands raised and ready. The chinese girl darted forward to wrestle with Sammy, but Sammy’s legs shot out to punish each attempt with kicks to Millie’s thighs. Millie bit her lower lip in thought, and then feinted another grapple attempt. As Sammy’s kick came out, Millie leapt over her opponent’s foot as she launched herself into a full-body tackle. Both fighters crashed to the mat, Sammy struggling beneath Millie as the chinese girl got into a messy mounted position. Millie threw open-handed strikes as Sammy put her forearms up to try and protect herself. Face flushed with frustration at her early predicament, Sammy snarled and stopped the assault with retaliatory punches to either side of Millie’s jaw. The chinese girl was stunned, leaving herself open for a brutal punch to her throat. Choking loudly, Millie fell to one side, gasping and clutching her neck as she crawled away from her rising opponent.
Pushing herself to her feet while still cradling her throat, Mille raised a fist to defend herself. Sammy slammed a heavy kick into Millie’s gut, cutting off her efforts and driving her back into the cage wall. Millie’s arms were wrapped around her own stomach as she moaned deeply, bending over and stumbling back. Sammy grabbed two handfuls of her opponent’s hair to shove her upright against the cage, sinking a pair of deep knee lifts into Millie’s aching stomach. The chinese girl suddenly turned to shield her midsection, and Sammy pressed her body against Millie’s back to pin her against the cage wall. With her other arm firmly pushing Millie’s face against the ring barrier, Sammy threw wild right punches into her opponent’s flanks, trying to put her fist into Millie’s liver or kidney. The chinese girl was already sputtering in pain as the punches jostled her against the cage. Then, a sudden sharp shriek caused her legs to give out, and Millie crumpled into a heap at Sammy’s feet. Millie shuddered, retching a sudden puddle of spit onto the mat as she began to curl into a ball. Sammy’s eyes filled with hunger as she realized she had managed to make contact with an organ.
Pacing around her fallen and quivering opponent, Sammy decided to throw a cruel kick into the curled-up chinese girl to try and straighten her out. “Get up,” commanded Sammy, her voice confident but clearly unused to being in such a dominant position. Millie got to her hands and knees, breathing hoarsely as she crawled away from the cage wall. Growing impatient, Sammy put Millie into a messy front headlock to yank her to her feet. Millie’s body buckled as her opponent struck her torso with various elbow and knee attacks. She could no longer fight back, only barely defending herself as Sammy’s headlock kept her upright. Sammy ended to hold by shoving both herself and Millie back into the cage wall, now using it to brace the chinese girl upright as she threw merciless knee lifts into Millie’s gut and ribs.
Millie once again crumpled, falling forward in the middle of one of Sammy’s knee lifts. She coughed up another puddle of spit, making ugly noises as she lay convulsing on the mat.
“Get up,” repeated Sammy.
“Gh-can’t…” sputtered Millie, “Can’t...fight…”
Sammy responded with a shout as she leapt into the air, and then landed knee-first on Millie’s back. Millie’s head raised up sharply, eyes wide and mouth gaping in a silent scream for a moment, before she was finally able to make a loud noise of anguish. The chinese girl’s back was on fire, and something felt agonizingly out of place.
Memories filled Sammy’s head of her match in Thailand, when the local champion almost killed her. Now, she would be the one in charge.
Quickly, Sammy pulled Millie up to her hands and knees, and then held her elbow over the small of the chinese girl’s back. Finally, Sammy spiked her elbow straight into Millie’s spine with a loud crack. Millie flopped onto the mat violently, barely moving as she lay facedown next to her opponent.
Sammy paced around to stand in front of Millie’s head, and slid her foot beneath her opponent’s face. Tensing her leg, Sammy used her bare foot to lift Millie’s head off the mat, hooking it beneath the beaten girl’s chin. Millie’s eyes were glassy and uneven, a saddened and pained expression beneath some plastered strands of hair. Sammy shifted to press her foot against Millie’s chest, slowly pushing the girl into an upright position on her knees. Millie’s arms were slack, and she wobbled slowly in place as Sammy wound up a finishing kick. With another loud crack, Sammy’s foot arced through the air and smashed into one of Millie’s cheeks. Millie’s head twisted to one side, with her upper body following suit. The kick broke her jaw, which hung crookedly open as her body finally hit the floor.
Sammy pressed a foot down onto the side of Millie’s face, mashing the unconscious chinese girl’s nose and mouth against the canvas. She raised an arm with a large smile, gesturing down at her fallen opponent with her other hand. “I win,” she uttered.
----
Weeks later, Sammy was once again warming up and waiting for her turn in the cage. She threw a series of kicks into the air, eagerly working up a sweat as her legs grew more limber.
Winning always gave her spirit a lift, even through subsequent losses if her record took a turn afterwards. But the way she stood over Millie Wong was absolutely empowering, and Sammy’s body language showed it. Her co-workers assumed she had started seeing someone new, as she walked through the office with palpable confidence.
“SAMMY ROSE!”
Grinning widely for a moment, Sammy bounced on her toes and turned to head to the ring, hungry for more.
----
Minutes later, Sammy was baring her teeth in a far more frustrated expression, backing up against the cage wall and rubbing her aching leg.
Her opponent was Taima Atlas, a powerfully-built young black girl in a silver singlet that left little to the imagination. Sammy had been keeping her distance as much as possible, fearing her fate in a wrestling contest, but Taima had been able to aggressively meet her kickboxing with some muay thai of her own. And more than once, Sammy’s kicks were counterattacked hard enough to bruise her legs for even trying.
“You can’t run forever, girl,” cooed Taima, grinning as she made her opponent flush with embarrassment. “Once I catch ya, I’m gonna have some fun with ya.”
Sammy bared her teeth in response, but also knew she had run out of space as she felt the cage brush against her back. Taima reached forward greedily, grunting through a grin as Sammy landed a knee strike counter-attack. Taima suffered the pain to gain her prize, and she firmly began to wrestle with Sammy as she pushed the red-haired girl’s body against the cage. Her fierce noises of struggle turning more desperate, Sammy threw more knees into her opponent’s body but could not squirm free of her predicament. Taima put an end to her resistance as she finally caught Sammy’s knee under one arm, locking eyes with Sammy just as the kickboxer’s face fell into an expression of dread. Using her free hand to pull Sammy’s body against her own, Taima held the trapped fighter in place for a few moments, allowing Sammy to discover that her attempts to punch Taima’s body had little effect. Delivering a sharp headbutt to stun her opponent, the powerful young grappler proceeded to hurl Sammy overhead with an exploder suplex.
After an embarrassing shriek of fear and nearly a full second of airtime, Sammy thudded against the mat as she tumbled to a rest near the center of the ring. Intending to grit her teeth and take back the fight, Sammy instead shivered on the floor as she barely lifted her head off the canvas. Beckoning to the crowd as she strode towards her prone opponent, Taima got down on one knee before wrapping her arms around Sammy’s torso. Keeping the red-haired girl pinned beneath her, Taima applied a reverse bearhug that quickly drew creaks out of Sammy’s ribs and midsection. Kicking her bare feet against the mat as she tried to pry open the muscular arms that squeezed around her, Sammy tried to throw a few sudden elbows towards her opponent’s head as it rested near the back of her own. One finally clipped Taima’s jaw, but the powerful young grappler instinctively tightened her hold instead of letting it fall loose. Sammy began to gasp in pain, her eyes growing misty and wide as her mouth hung open.
“HAH!” roared Taima as she finally felt a rib crack within the bearhug. Sammy’s response was a breathless howl of pain, which grew louder as her opponent finally released her. Looking down at the kickboxer rolling around at her feet, Taima took a few breaths before addressing Sammy. “Say I win and I’ll stop.”
Curled in a ball, clutching at her ribs with tears in her eyes, Sammy’s face flushed with shame as she briefly considered submitting to her opponent. Instead, she stammered out an unthreatening response, “F-fuck you!...”
Her expression instantly turning joyless, Taima reached down and gripped her toes onto the mat. With audible effort, she pulled Sammy straight off the floor and into a standing bearhug, wrenching the wailing kickboxer like a rag doll. Sammy’s bare arms and legs slapped against Taima’s muscular body, driven less by a focused resistance and more by their growing limpness as her midsection was wrung out like a towel. Taima heard her opponent grow quiet, and felt Sammy’s body grow heavy and still. So, she squeezed with all her might, baring her teeth like a lioness as Sammy began spasming and gasping. The red-haired fighter’s eyes were rolled back, saliva flowing freely from her mouth as her shuddering body was crushed in the bearhug.
Exhausted, Taima simply threw her opponent onto the mat like a dead weight. Sammy escaped having any more ribs cracked, but took a bruise to her freshly-spiked pride. She wanted to stand atop another felled opponent, but instead was dragged out of the ring and left to awaken on the locker room floor.
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HOLLY BROCKLER
“You’re a champ’s daughter, your record’s not spotless...but it is exciting, and this will pay you a lot of money. Are you in?”
Holly hated hearing about her mother. Krusher Kaila, the hawaiian bombshell. A pitfighting champion who retired to raise not one, but eventually two daughters. Known for finishing opponents with a brutal and decisive dragon sleeper hold.
Her firstborn was none of those things. Holly was a practiced combatant, carrying a record of wins and losses that would be just about equal, were it not for her penchant of pursuing big payouts at the risk of facing much stronger foes. She was as much a schemer as a fighter, though not without her pride. Holly did not enjoy losing a match, and deep down, she desperately wished to master her mother’s signature maneuver. However, she was far more of a brawler than a pure grappler, and as long as she was not entering into a match that could end her career before it hit its prime, she had trouble resisting a good gamble.
“You’ve got Medikade tech, right?” she replied.
“Of course! We want to work with you a lot more in the future, Miss Brockler. Kumite sees your potential.”
“Just as much as you see the draw of a David and Goliath match-up like this, right?” she added.
“That’s the scenario REGARDLESS of the challenger. And we wouldn’t ask you if we didn’t think you might succeed.”
“Or if you didn’t think I’d look good if I fail.”
“Here’s the guaranteed payout, either way.”
After a moment’s pause and a widening of her eyes, Holly nodded. “Well, um...hm-mm. I’ll need a merch cut, as well.”
----
“Already in the ring, tonight’s brave challenger...the hawaiian hottie, Holly Brockler!”
Raising her arms as the crowd gave her some due applause, Holly’s curly dark hair hung down over her bare shoulders. She slipped off her shimmering orange entrance robe, revealing an orange sports top with a pair of tight red briefs; her favourite fighting attire. Holly adjusted the tape on her wrists, exhaling as she reminded herself the fight would be worth it, no matter how it concluded.
“And tonight’s champion is a true fan-favorite whenever we are able to clear him for competition on the Kumite programming schedule.. Here comes Sukh, the mongolian body breaker!”
The muscular mongolian fighter in blood-red trousers was met with audible excitement from the crowd. Holly was all too aware of the reason, as her opponent was known for leaving broken bodies on the mat in his wake, only brought in to Kumite sanctioned events when their life-saving Medikade technology had proven itself able to allow a fighter to recover from injuries as brutal as a snapped spine.
“Our challenger has never faced off against this brutal foe before, and like many who have stood where she does now, she’s clearly got butterflies!”
No matter how much she had prepared herself, Holly’s warm-up was nervous and shaky. A broadcast match against a monster, no matter the safeguards, was well outside of her fairly large comfort zone. She met her opponent’s merciless gaze, and found herself having to look away until the bell.
Fighting on a raised platform with cameras and crowds watching from every side, neither fighter had anywhere to go but towards each other. Holly came in with fists raised, throwing punches into her opponent’s face and chest. She ducked as the unphased mongolian responded with a hard lariat, and jumped to spike an elbow into Sukh’s back. He held his ground, turning around to face her, and was met with a roundhouse kick to the face that caused him to stumble back. Holly charged in, her battlecry cut off as Sukh’s forearm slammed into her cheek out of nowhere. The hawaiian girl flipped over and landed on her stomach, quickly crawling away as she was reminded of her opponent’s power.
“It looks like it could be anybody’s game at this point! The challenger’s putting up a good fight, but she’d be smart to stay out of the way of Sukh’s lethal hands!”
Holly was on the retreat almost immediately, trying to keep control of the space between her and her advancing opponent. She pushed in with a hard knee strike, and then leapt back to avoid the counterattack. She darted in and out with punches and kicks, quickly growing frustrated with her defensive position. Sukh caught one of her wrists as she grew more aggressive, and Holly cursed as she had to use her free hand to try and pull herself free. Within seconds, she found herself in an embarassing test of strength as Sukh had one of her wrists in each of his hands, slowly forcing her arms apart as the hawaiian girl gripped her toes into the mat and flexed every muscle in her legs to try and stay upright. Holly bared her teeth in a wincing grimace as Sukh began to push her down onto her knees, methodically overpowering her as she began to sweat rapidly with effort. Kneeling in front of her opponent with her arms held out wide, Holly could do nothing as Sukh rammed a knee into her chest, sending her head-over-heels and tumbling several feet across the canvas.
“What a show of physical domination over the challenger!”
Shaking the cobwebs and clutching her chest as she got back up, Holly barely ducked under another lariat attack. Thinking quickly, she leapt and turned, landing a hard overhead kick to the back of Sukh’s neck. While it clearly left a mark on her opponent, he span around at blinding speed and connected with a backfist that flipped Holly over even faster. Her eyes wide in shock, Holly only made it to her hands and knees before Sukh began bludgeoning her back with his fists, beating her back down onto the mat. Then, he pulled her back up into a crawling position, and clubbed her back several more times into she once again flopped onto her stomach. Holly tried to crawl away, but was lifted off the floor even as her arms and legs continued their motions. Sukh pitched her up off the mat, before pulling her down into a backbreaker. Holly cried out, thrashing in place over Sukh’s knee before she was thrown to the floor.
Grunting as her opponent forced her to stand almost immediately, Holly then made a loud groan as she was booted in the gut. The hawaiian girl doubled over, stunned as Sukh grabbed hold of her midsection and raised her up to deliver a powerbomb. Holly instinctively chopped at Sukh’s ears before punching at his eyes, loosening his grip long enough for her to slip free. Latching onto her opponent’s back, Holly felt a surge of adrenaline and threw one of her arms forward, trying to curl it back around Sukh’s throat.
“Oh my god! Can this be? Shades of her mother, Krusher Kaila’s famous dragon sleeper hold?!”
With her legs scissored around Sukh’s chest, Holly scrambled to try to lock in the hold, only partly remembering exactly where to apply the pressure. Sukh grabbed at her body, trying to pull her off of his back, but Holly screamed in resistance as she held on tightly. “Gotta!...gotta lock it in!” she thought, blinking sweat out of her eyes, “So close, I just gotta--UHH!!”
Holly’s body froze after Sukh’s fists slammed together around her head. Her eyes were wide until her skull was smashed again, causing her to briefly go limp and fall from her perch, crashing to the ground. Holly clutched at her head, howling in agony as her ears rang and the world span around her.
“Ooh, too bad! Looks like the challenger’s about to suffer a real terminal headache! Ah, but first…!”
Dizzied and incapacitated, Holly could only shriek in confusion as Sukh roared and yanked her straight off of the floor to finish the business of powerbombing her. The hawaiian girl crumpled into a ball when her shoulders slammed into the mat, before her body spasmed up and flopped over onto her stomach. Limp and spreadeagled on her face, Holly twitched twice with sharp exhalations, before Sukh’s hands took hold of her head and began to force her to stand back up. Uneven on her feet, Holly desperately threw elbows and forearms into her opponent. One of the attacks was caught, and now her arm was trapped under Sukh’s. Holly tried to pull free, then looked to her opponent just in time for a headbutt to slam into her forehead. Holly cried out in pain, immediately slumping to her knees, and then moaned loudly as Sukh cranked her trapped arm to force her back to her feet. He then snatched her other arm, holding her tightly in a standing position in front of him. Holly looked up at Sukh, shaking her head, before another headbutt made her eyes glaze over. A third headbutt left her mouth gaping open and drooling. Sukh then took hold of her head, letting her arms limply hang at her sides. Holly was a rubber-legged punching bag as Sukh leaned back. Then, her entire body spasmed as her opponent slammed a final headbutt into her skull, powerful enough to drive her face straight down into the canvas. Holly bounced slightly off the mat, flopping in place like a discarded doll.
“Unless she’s playing some real convincing possum, it looks like Holly Brockler is about to pay the price for stepping up to Sukh!”
With one hand on the back of his beaten opponent’s neck, Sukh slowly pulled the hawaiian girl up and onto her feet. Standing Holly up beside him as the glassy-eyed fighter stared sorrowfully into space, reaching one hand back to weakly paw at his, Sukh raised a fist and declared, “NOW, I BREAK!” Robbed of the chance to blissfully lose consciousness, Holly felt a very unwanted spike of adrenaline as the realization of her situation began to fire fresh signals through her tired neurons and aching body. Yanking Holly against his chest as she began to protest, the mongolian fighter scooped her up and raised her high overhead.
“This is no ordinary press slam, and the hawaiian hottie knows it! I’ll bet she wishes those headbutts had knocked her out for good!”
Sukh turned to each side of the ring, displaying his struggling opponent like a trophy. “No!...ffh!...fuck!...” panted Holly, shaking her head intermittently as she stared down at the long fall that awaited her. Her eyes grew wide as panic finally overtook her wearied senses. Suddenly, her world span around and rushed by, before her body cracked loudly over Sukh’s knee. Holly shrieked in pain, shuddering as the backbreaker shocked and bent her spine.
“Call your chiropractor, because that’s gotta be a few broken vertebrae!”
Making a confused noise as her opponent cradled her entire body to lift her off his knee, Holly was forced to look into Sukh’s eyes as he held her in his arms like a damsel in distress. Then, she winced and gritted her teeth as she realized he had begun to squeeze her body together, now bending her spine the other way as he slowly folded her in half. Moaning as her torso shivered and crackled, Holly used her free hand to beat at Sukh’s chest and push against his jaw, kicking her bare feet uselessly in the desperate hope of catching the side of her dominant opponent’s face. Her eyes began to roll back as her sweat-soaked body creaked, cracked, and gave out under the strain. After a loud crunch came out of her midriff, she fell limp while she made a choked groan. With another crunch, her face was nearly forced into her knees.
Sukh continued to crush the shuddering hawaiian girl for a few more seconds, and then dumped her body straight down into a sudden and merciless second backbreaker to finish her. Holly’s mouth opened as wide as it could as she gave a final agonized howl, her back bent once again over her opponent’s knee as it became truly and audibly broken with a brutal snapping noise. She blacked out as her wailing voice faded, her eyes screwed shut in a defeated expression of agony.
“Add Holly Brockler to the list of losers that Sukh has broken in half, because she’s finished!”
The hawaiian girl’s body tumbled heavily to the mat as Sukh stood up, coming to a rest face-down and sprawled on the canvas. Some spit ran from her still-gaping mouth as she twitched softly with uneven breaths, otherwise limp at her opponent’s feet. With his arms raised, Sukh stepped on her back as he walked over her to leave the ring, cracking one last bone in his defeated foe.
----
The physical damage was mended by the top-of-the-line Medikade technology at Kumite’s disposal. But along with the days of lingering creaks and aches in her back, Holly had a weight on her mind that darkened her vision. She had made good money and had several more well-paying fights ahead of her with the company, but being beaten on Kumite’s programming meant merchandise and fandom were buzzing around the image of her as another back-broken victim of a popular champion. And something about that had sunk hooks into her psyche, hurting a pride she did not entirely realize she possessed.
‘Krusher Kaila’s first daughter broken - talent lies with sister?’
While there was a small sense of security in her belief that she was a superior fighter compared to her little sister Leilani, Holly wanted to win back a shred of respect on the Kumite platform. She thought the paycheck would be solace enough, but as she studied some of her mother’s famous battles, she realized paychecks weren’t quite enough.
----
“Place your bets, folks! Does she crack a rib, or a vertebrae?”
Feet planted solidly on the mat, the powerful young grappler named Taima Atlas had Holly locked in a tight bearhug. Taima was a cheerful, tall, and muscular black girl with a frizzy afro and a golden leotard, which showed off her impressive physique as she eagerly squeezed her opponent. The match had not been entirely one-sided, but every strike Holly landed had been returned with a full-body throw or slam that quickly took the wind out of her. Now, her torso creaked as she writhed and struggled. Her legs curled up against Taima’s solid hips as she landed a pair of weakened punches that bruised the black girl’s cheek, but did not budge her grip. A sudden crack caused Holly’s eyes to widen as she cried out in pain, feeling one of her ribs succumb within her opponent’s arms. Taima bared her teeth in a wide grin as she began to yank the bearhug from side to side, trying to ragdoll her opponent into submission. Holly was wailing as she whipped left and right, her cheeks reddening as her limbs grew limp.
With a moment of desperate clarity, Holly’s hands suddenly landed twin chops to either side of Taima’s neck. The crushing bearhug held tightly, though Taima’s efforts immediately slowed. Holly then punched her fists against her opponent’s ears, before finding herself crumpled on the mat. Crawling to her knees, Holly looked up to see Taima clutching at the sides of her head. The strong young grappler was rasping breaths as her ears rang, a look of anguish washed over her face. Ignoring the pain in her ribs, Holly pushed herself forward as she rose, throwing an elbow straight into Taima’s chin. Stumbling to one side, Taima was still stunned when her opponent’s spinning backfist collided with her cheek, sending in the opposite direction as she fell to one knee.
“It looks like Taima’s had her bells rung and brain blasted! Could this be a comeback?!”
Holly span a heel-kick towards Taima’s head to finish the job, but the powerful girl’s senses had cleared enough for her to catch the hawaiian fighter’s incoming foot. Lifting Holly with her as she stood back up, Taima held Holly over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Holly desperately threw elbows and knees at Taima from her precarious position, feeling a few satisfying impacts with her opponent’s face and upper body. Those desperate strikes suddenly became useless flails as Taima pressed Holly up into the air with a roar, her feet now unsure as she held the hawaiian girl aloft for a few moments. Holly’s heart skipped before she was dropped chest-first onto her opponent’s knee, a fresh spike of pain shooting through her ribs as she fell to the mat in a face-down sprawl.
Taima half-collapsed on top of Holly, swivelling to grip her thick thighs around the prone fighter before she bent down and began to try and get her arms around Holly’s neck. Shaking her head as she struggled, Holly squirmed on the canvas as she clawed at Taima’s arms. Feeling biceps snaking around her, Holly reached up in a moment of panic and realized she could get a grip on the back of Taima’s head. Whipping her own head back as she yanked down, Holly’s vision blurred when she smashed the top of her own skull into the softer center of Taima’s face with a small crunch. Taima cried out, falling to one side and clutching at her freshly bloodied nose. Acting on instinct and adrenaline, Holly rolled over to mount Taima, throwing several punches to capitalize on the injury. As she saw Taima’s hands get into position to fight back, Holly stood up and stamped a foot twice into her opponent’s gut. Taima gagged, curling up and gasping, as the hawaiian fighter loomed over her.
“Wait...is this…?! Can it be?!”
Holly’s eyes were slightly glazed, and her mouth hung open with heavy breaths of air, but she did not pause as she pulled Taima up to her knees. Leaning forward over one of Taima’s shoulders, Holly slid an arm back as her fatigued mind filled with one crystal-clear technique. Holly locked in Krusher Kaila’s famous dragon sleeper hold, planting her feet and arching her back as she choked out her opponent. Taima’s eyes were quickly rolled back, though she tried to wrestle her way out of the maneuver for nearly a minute, her powerful body growing slack as Holly’s held firm. Once Taima’s arms had fallen limp and her chest began convulsing with uneven breaths, Holly nodded at the audience.
“She knows it! She knows she’s done her mother proud! Taima Atlas is finished!”
Holding on tightly until foam was running from the corner of Taima’s mouth, Holly finally let go of the young grappler and watched as Taima flopped heavily onto the mat. Holly firmly pressed a foot down on the back of Taima’s head, her body filling with time-lagged fatigue as she began to raise her hands. Then, Holly threw her fists into the air with a triumphant shout, beaming with a warrior’s pride.
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SAMMY ROSE
Typing out another memo as she sat at her cluttered desk, Samantha Ruskin paused to scratch the side of her ruby-red-haired scalp. She shifted in her chair, dressed for office duty in a buttoned-up black shirt and comfortable flats with white slacks. With the memo complete, Samantha glanced to either side before taking out her phone and opening the web browser. After a quick refresh, she raised her eyebrows in excitement as she saw the application form she had been waiting for.
“Got a hot date tonight?” cooed a female voice.
“Huh?” Samantha lowered her phone and looked up, deflating slightly at the sight of her co-worker. “No, uh…”
“You’d get more action if you switched out those glasses for some contacts,” continued the woman, gesturing at Samantha’s thick black rims. “You’ve got such a cute babyface!”
“Thanks,” hissed Samantha as cheerfully as she could manage to, pushing her glasses farther up her nose.
The woman moved on in her social rounds, as Samantha quietly seethed. She despised being called a ‘babyface’. She had full cheeks and a slim chin, easily able to play up a cute look if she removed her glasses to reveal more of her soft, doe-eyed features. But she wanted a much different reputation. Samantha had felt something many years prior, during a fitness kickboxing class. That eventually led her to full-fledged matches, and even a nearly-lethal trip to Thailand where she was laid out on the mat by a local champion. The experience of an elbow nearly breaking her spine had a strange effect on Samantha, once she had recovered. The world of underground fighting became her second life, using a version of her name that felt more like a combative moniker.
One day, she would become strong enough to drop the identity of Samantha Ruskin entirely. Cooing coworkers would be afraid of crossing her, rather than doting on her from the other side of her desk. Samantha resumed tapping at her phone, filling in an entry form with her alter-ego.
----
“SAMMY ROSE!”
Throwing a pair of knee strikes into the air before holding out her arms proudly, Sammy Rose strode to the caged mat with her head held high. Her deep red hair was like a small mane over her shoulders. Sammy wore a strapless black camisole top, tucked into the silver waistband of a short pair of matching trunks, leaving her strong legs mostly bare for battle. As Samantha she would rarely even reveal a shoulder, but as Sammy she wanted to be powerful, beautiful, and ruthless.
“MILLIE WONG!”
A naturally-relaxed, yet slightly nervous-looking chinese girl waved to the crowd as she headed to the ring, dressed in a salmon-pink spandex t-shirt and black yoga shorts. Her black hair was in a medium bob cut, partly covering one of her cheerful and cat-like eyes. Millie could not help looking at her surroundings in slight wonder as the cage closed behind her, before offering a smirking nod to her opponent.
“FIGHT!”
Sammy returned the nod, though she immediately wished she had done something more intimidating. Millie was grinning as she approached, hands raised and ready. The chinese girl darted forward to wrestle with Sammy, but Sammy’s legs shot out to punish each attempt with kicks to Millie’s thighs. Millie bit her lower lip in thought, and then feinted another grapple attempt. As Sammy’s kick came out, Millie leapt over her opponent’s foot as she launched herself into a full-body tackle. Both fighters crashed to the mat, Sammy struggling beneath Millie as the chinese girl got into a messy mounted position. Millie threw open-handed strikes as Sammy put her forearms up to try and protect herself. Face flushed with frustration at her early predicament, Sammy snarled and stopped the assault with retaliatory punches to either side of Millie’s jaw. The chinese girl was stunned, leaving herself open for a brutal punch to her throat. Choking loudly, Millie fell to one side, gasping and clutching her neck as she crawled away from her rising opponent.
Pushing herself to her feet while still cradling her throat, Mille raised a fist to defend herself. Sammy slammed a heavy kick into Millie’s gut, cutting off her efforts and driving her back into the cage wall. Millie’s arms were wrapped around her own stomach as she moaned deeply, bending over and stumbling back. Sammy grabbed two handfuls of her opponent’s hair to shove her upright against the cage, sinking a pair of deep knee lifts into Millie’s aching stomach. The chinese girl suddenly turned to shield her midsection, and Sammy pressed her body against Millie’s back to pin her against the cage wall. With her other arm firmly pushing Millie’s face against the ring barrier, Sammy threw wild right punches into her opponent’s flanks, trying to put her fist into Millie’s liver or kidney. The chinese girl was already sputtering in pain as the punches jostled her against the cage. Then, a sudden sharp shriek caused her legs to give out, and Millie crumpled into a heap at Sammy’s feet. Millie shuddered, retching a sudden puddle of spit onto the mat as she began to curl into a ball. Sammy’s eyes filled with hunger as she realized she had managed to make contact with an organ.
Pacing around her fallen and quivering opponent, Sammy decided to throw a cruel kick into the curled-up chinese girl to try and straighten her out. “Get up,” commanded Sammy, her voice confident but clearly unused to being in such a dominant position. Millie got to her hands and knees, breathing hoarsely as she crawled away from the cage wall. Growing impatient, Sammy put Millie into a messy front headlock to yank her to her feet. Millie’s body buckled as her opponent struck her torso with various elbow and knee attacks. She could no longer fight back, only barely defending herself as Sammy’s headlock kept her upright. Sammy ended to hold by shoving both herself and Millie back into the cage wall, now using it to brace the chinese girl upright as she threw merciless knee lifts into Millie’s gut and ribs.
Millie once again crumpled, falling forward in the middle of one of Sammy’s knee lifts. She coughed up another puddle of spit, making ugly noises as she lay convulsing on the mat.
“Get up,” repeated Sammy.
“Gh-can’t…” sputtered Millie, “Can’t...fight…”
Sammy responded with a shout as she leapt into the air, and then landed knee-first on Millie’s back. Millie’s head raised up sharply, eyes wide and mouth gaping in a silent scream for a moment, before she was finally able to make a loud noise of anguish. The chinese girl’s back was on fire, and something felt agonizingly out of place.
Memories filled Sammy’s head of her match in Thailand, when the local champion almost killed her. Now, she would be the one in charge.
Quickly, Sammy pulled Millie up to her hands and knees, and then held her elbow over the small of the chinese girl’s back. Finally, Sammy spiked her elbow straight into Millie’s spine with a loud crack. Millie flopped onto the mat violently, barely moving as she lay facedown next to her opponent.
Sammy paced around to stand in front of Millie’s head, and slid her foot beneath her opponent’s face. Tensing her leg, Sammy used her bare foot to lift Millie’s head off the mat, hooking it beneath the beaten girl’s chin. Millie’s eyes were glassy and uneven, a saddened and pained expression beneath some plastered strands of hair. Sammy shifted to press her foot against Millie’s chest, slowly pushing the girl into an upright position on her knees. Millie’s arms were slack, and she wobbled slowly in place as Sammy wound up a finishing kick. With another loud crack, Sammy’s foot arced through the air and smashed into one of Millie’s cheeks. Millie’s head twisted to one side, with her upper body following suit. The kick broke her jaw, which hung crookedly open as her body finally hit the floor.
Sammy pressed a foot down onto the side of Millie’s face, mashing the unconscious chinese girl’s nose and mouth against the canvas. She raised an arm with a large smile, gesturing down at her fallen opponent with her other hand. “I win,” she uttered.
----
Weeks later, Sammy was once again warming up and waiting for her turn in the cage. She threw a series of kicks into the air, eagerly working up a sweat as her legs grew more limber.
Winning always gave her spirit a lift, even through subsequent losses if her record took a turn afterwards. But the way she stood over Millie Wong was absolutely empowering, and Sammy’s body language showed it. Her co-workers assumed she had started seeing someone new, as she walked through the office with palpable confidence.
“SAMMY ROSE!”
Grinning widely for a moment, Sammy bounced on her toes and turned to head to the ring, hungry for more.
----
Minutes later, Sammy was baring her teeth in a far more frustrated expression, backing up against the cage wall and rubbing her aching leg.
Her opponent was Taima Atlas, a powerfully-built young black girl in a silver singlet that left little to the imagination. Sammy had been keeping her distance as much as possible, fearing her fate in a wrestling contest, but Taima had been able to aggressively meet her kickboxing with some muay thai of her own. And more than once, Sammy’s kicks were counterattacked hard enough to bruise her legs for even trying.
“You can’t run forever, girl,” cooed Taima, grinning as she made her opponent flush with embarrassment. “Once I catch ya, I’m gonna have some fun with ya.”
Sammy bared her teeth in response, but also knew she had run out of space as she felt the cage brush against her back. Taima reached forward greedily, grunting through a grin as Sammy landed a knee strike counter-attack. Taima suffered the pain to gain her prize, and she firmly began to wrestle with Sammy as she pushed the red-haired girl’s body against the cage. Her fierce noises of struggle turning more desperate, Sammy threw more knees into her opponent’s body but could not squirm free of her predicament. Taima put an end to her resistance as she finally caught Sammy’s knee under one arm, locking eyes with Sammy just as the kickboxer’s face fell into an expression of dread. Using her free hand to pull Sammy’s body against her own, Taima held the trapped fighter in place for a few moments, allowing Sammy to discover that her attempts to punch Taima’s body had little effect. Delivering a sharp headbutt to stun her opponent, the powerful young grappler proceeded to hurl Sammy overhead with an exploder suplex.
After an embarrassing shriek of fear and nearly a full second of airtime, Sammy thudded against the mat as she tumbled to a rest near the center of the ring. Intending to grit her teeth and take back the fight, Sammy instead shivered on the floor as she barely lifted her head off the canvas. Beckoning to the crowd as she strode towards her prone opponent, Taima got down on one knee before wrapping her arms around Sammy’s torso. Keeping the red-haired girl pinned beneath her, Taima applied a reverse bearhug that quickly drew creaks out of Sammy’s ribs and midsection. Kicking her bare feet against the mat as she tried to pry open the muscular arms that squeezed around her, Sammy tried to throw a few sudden elbows towards her opponent’s head as it rested near the back of her own. One finally clipped Taima’s jaw, but the powerful young grappler instinctively tightened her hold instead of letting it fall loose. Sammy began to gasp in pain, her eyes growing misty and wide as her mouth hung open.
“HAH!” roared Taima as she finally felt a rib crack within the bearhug. Sammy’s response was a breathless howl of pain, which grew louder as her opponent finally released her. Looking down at the kickboxer rolling around at her feet, Taima took a few breaths before addressing Sammy. “Say I win and I’ll stop.”
Curled in a ball, clutching at her ribs with tears in her eyes, Sammy’s face flushed with shame as she briefly considered submitting to her opponent. Instead, she stammered out an unthreatening response, “F-fuck you!...”
Her expression instantly turning joyless, Taima reached down and gripped her toes onto the mat. With audible effort, she pulled Sammy straight off the floor and into a standing bearhug, wrenching the wailing kickboxer like a rag doll. Sammy’s bare arms and legs slapped against Taima’s muscular body, driven less by a focused resistance and more by their growing limpness as her midsection was wrung out like a towel. Taima heard her opponent grow quiet, and felt Sammy’s body grow heavy and still. So, she squeezed with all her might, baring her teeth like a lioness as Sammy began spasming and gasping. The red-haired fighter’s eyes were rolled back, saliva flowing freely from her mouth as her shuddering body was crushed in the bearhug.
Exhausted, Taima simply threw her opponent onto the mat like a dead weight. Sammy escaped having any more ribs cracked, but took a bruise to her freshly-spiked pride. She wanted to stand atop another felled opponent, but instead was dragged out of the ring and left to awaken on the locker room floor.
--------------------
HOLLY BROCKLER
“You’re a champ’s daughter, your record’s not spotless...but it is exciting, and this will pay you a lot of money. Are you in?”
Holly hated hearing about her mother. Krusher Kaila, the hawaiian bombshell. A pitfighting champion who retired to raise not one, but eventually two daughters. Known for finishing opponents with a brutal and decisive dragon sleeper hold.
Her firstborn was none of those things. Holly was a practiced combatant, carrying a record of wins and losses that would be just about equal, were it not for her penchant of pursuing big payouts at the risk of facing much stronger foes. She was as much a schemer as a fighter, though not without her pride. Holly did not enjoy losing a match, and deep down, she desperately wished to master her mother’s signature maneuver. However, she was far more of a brawler than a pure grappler, and as long as she was not entering into a match that could end her career before it hit its prime, she had trouble resisting a good gamble.
“You’ve got Medikade tech, right?” she replied.
“Of course! We want to work with you a lot more in the future, Miss Brockler. Kumite sees your potential.”
“Just as much as you see the draw of a David and Goliath match-up like this, right?” she added.
“That’s the scenario REGARDLESS of the challenger. And we wouldn’t ask you if we didn’t think you might succeed.”
“Or if you didn’t think I’d look good if I fail.”
“Here’s the guaranteed payout, either way.”
After a moment’s pause and a widening of her eyes, Holly nodded. “Well, um...hm-mm. I’ll need a merch cut, as well.”
----
“Already in the ring, tonight’s brave challenger...the hawaiian hottie, Holly Brockler!”
Raising her arms as the crowd gave her some due applause, Holly’s curly dark hair hung down over her bare shoulders. She slipped off her shimmering orange entrance robe, revealing an orange sports top with a pair of tight red briefs; her favourite fighting attire. Holly adjusted the tape on her wrists, exhaling as she reminded herself the fight would be worth it, no matter how it concluded.
“And tonight’s champion is a true fan-favorite whenever we are able to clear him for competition on the Kumite programming schedule.. Here comes Sukh, the mongolian body breaker!”
The muscular mongolian fighter in blood-red trousers was met with audible excitement from the crowd. Holly was all too aware of the reason, as her opponent was known for leaving broken bodies on the mat in his wake, only brought in to Kumite sanctioned events when their life-saving Medikade technology had proven itself able to allow a fighter to recover from injuries as brutal as a snapped spine.
“Our challenger has never faced off against this brutal foe before, and like many who have stood where she does now, she’s clearly got butterflies!”
No matter how much she had prepared herself, Holly’s warm-up was nervous and shaky. A broadcast match against a monster, no matter the safeguards, was well outside of her fairly large comfort zone. She met her opponent’s merciless gaze, and found herself having to look away until the bell.
Fighting on a raised platform with cameras and crowds watching from every side, neither fighter had anywhere to go but towards each other. Holly came in with fists raised, throwing punches into her opponent’s face and chest. She ducked as the unphased mongolian responded with a hard lariat, and jumped to spike an elbow into Sukh’s back. He held his ground, turning around to face her, and was met with a roundhouse kick to the face that caused him to stumble back. Holly charged in, her battlecry cut off as Sukh’s forearm slammed into her cheek out of nowhere. The hawaiian girl flipped over and landed on her stomach, quickly crawling away as she was reminded of her opponent’s power.
“It looks like it could be anybody’s game at this point! The challenger’s putting up a good fight, but she’d be smart to stay out of the way of Sukh’s lethal hands!”
Holly was on the retreat almost immediately, trying to keep control of the space between her and her advancing opponent. She pushed in with a hard knee strike, and then leapt back to avoid the counterattack. She darted in and out with punches and kicks, quickly growing frustrated with her defensive position. Sukh caught one of her wrists as she grew more aggressive, and Holly cursed as she had to use her free hand to try and pull herself free. Within seconds, she found herself in an embarassing test of strength as Sukh had one of her wrists in each of his hands, slowly forcing her arms apart as the hawaiian girl gripped her toes into the mat and flexed every muscle in her legs to try and stay upright. Holly bared her teeth in a wincing grimace as Sukh began to push her down onto her knees, methodically overpowering her as she began to sweat rapidly with effort. Kneeling in front of her opponent with her arms held out wide, Holly could do nothing as Sukh rammed a knee into her chest, sending her head-over-heels and tumbling several feet across the canvas.
“What a show of physical domination over the challenger!”
Shaking the cobwebs and clutching her chest as she got back up, Holly barely ducked under another lariat attack. Thinking quickly, she leapt and turned, landing a hard overhead kick to the back of Sukh’s neck. While it clearly left a mark on her opponent, he span around at blinding speed and connected with a backfist that flipped Holly over even faster. Her eyes wide in shock, Holly only made it to her hands and knees before Sukh began bludgeoning her back with his fists, beating her back down onto the mat. Then, he pulled her back up into a crawling position, and clubbed her back several more times into she once again flopped onto her stomach. Holly tried to crawl away, but was lifted off the floor even as her arms and legs continued their motions. Sukh pitched her up off the mat, before pulling her down into a backbreaker. Holly cried out, thrashing in place over Sukh’s knee before she was thrown to the floor.
Grunting as her opponent forced her to stand almost immediately, Holly then made a loud groan as she was booted in the gut. The hawaiian girl doubled over, stunned as Sukh grabbed hold of her midsection and raised her up to deliver a powerbomb. Holly instinctively chopped at Sukh’s ears before punching at his eyes, loosening his grip long enough for her to slip free. Latching onto her opponent’s back, Holly felt a surge of adrenaline and threw one of her arms forward, trying to curl it back around Sukh’s throat.
“Oh my god! Can this be? Shades of her mother, Krusher Kaila’s famous dragon sleeper hold?!”
With her legs scissored around Sukh’s chest, Holly scrambled to try to lock in the hold, only partly remembering exactly where to apply the pressure. Sukh grabbed at her body, trying to pull her off of his back, but Holly screamed in resistance as she held on tightly. “Gotta!...gotta lock it in!” she thought, blinking sweat out of her eyes, “So close, I just gotta--UHH!!”
Holly’s body froze after Sukh’s fists slammed together around her head. Her eyes were wide until her skull was smashed again, causing her to briefly go limp and fall from her perch, crashing to the ground. Holly clutched at her head, howling in agony as her ears rang and the world span around her.
“Ooh, too bad! Looks like the challenger’s about to suffer a real terminal headache! Ah, but first…!”
Dizzied and incapacitated, Holly could only shriek in confusion as Sukh roared and yanked her straight off of the floor to finish the business of powerbombing her. The hawaiian girl crumpled into a ball when her shoulders slammed into the mat, before her body spasmed up and flopped over onto her stomach. Limp and spreadeagled on her face, Holly twitched twice with sharp exhalations, before Sukh’s hands took hold of her head and began to force her to stand back up. Uneven on her feet, Holly desperately threw elbows and forearms into her opponent. One of the attacks was caught, and now her arm was trapped under Sukh’s. Holly tried to pull free, then looked to her opponent just in time for a headbutt to slam into her forehead. Holly cried out in pain, immediately slumping to her knees, and then moaned loudly as Sukh cranked her trapped arm to force her back to her feet. He then snatched her other arm, holding her tightly in a standing position in front of him. Holly looked up at Sukh, shaking her head, before another headbutt made her eyes glaze over. A third headbutt left her mouth gaping open and drooling. Sukh then took hold of her head, letting her arms limply hang at her sides. Holly was a rubber-legged punching bag as Sukh leaned back. Then, her entire body spasmed as her opponent slammed a final headbutt into her skull, powerful enough to drive her face straight down into the canvas. Holly bounced slightly off the mat, flopping in place like a discarded doll.
“Unless she’s playing some real convincing possum, it looks like Holly Brockler is about to pay the price for stepping up to Sukh!”
With one hand on the back of his beaten opponent’s neck, Sukh slowly pulled the hawaiian girl up and onto her feet. Standing Holly up beside him as the glassy-eyed fighter stared sorrowfully into space, reaching one hand back to weakly paw at his, Sukh raised a fist and declared, “NOW, I BREAK!” Robbed of the chance to blissfully lose consciousness, Holly felt a very unwanted spike of adrenaline as the realization of her situation began to fire fresh signals through her tired neurons and aching body. Yanking Holly against his chest as she began to protest, the mongolian fighter scooped her up and raised her high overhead.
“This is no ordinary press slam, and the hawaiian hottie knows it! I’ll bet she wishes those headbutts had knocked her out for good!”
Sukh turned to each side of the ring, displaying his struggling opponent like a trophy. “No!...ffh!...fuck!...” panted Holly, shaking her head intermittently as she stared down at the long fall that awaited her. Her eyes grew wide as panic finally overtook her wearied senses. Suddenly, her world span around and rushed by, before her body cracked loudly over Sukh’s knee. Holly shrieked in pain, shuddering as the backbreaker shocked and bent her spine.
“Call your chiropractor, because that’s gotta be a few broken vertebrae!”
Making a confused noise as her opponent cradled her entire body to lift her off his knee, Holly was forced to look into Sukh’s eyes as he held her in his arms like a damsel in distress. Then, she winced and gritted her teeth as she realized he had begun to squeeze her body together, now bending her spine the other way as he slowly folded her in half. Moaning as her torso shivered and crackled, Holly used her free hand to beat at Sukh’s chest and push against his jaw, kicking her bare feet uselessly in the desperate hope of catching the side of her dominant opponent’s face. Her eyes began to roll back as her sweat-soaked body creaked, cracked, and gave out under the strain. After a loud crunch came out of her midriff, she fell limp while she made a choked groan. With another crunch, her face was nearly forced into her knees.
Sukh continued to crush the shuddering hawaiian girl for a few more seconds, and then dumped her body straight down into a sudden and merciless second backbreaker to finish her. Holly’s mouth opened as wide as it could as she gave a final agonized howl, her back bent once again over her opponent’s knee as it became truly and audibly broken with a brutal snapping noise. She blacked out as her wailing voice faded, her eyes screwed shut in a defeated expression of agony.
“Add Holly Brockler to the list of losers that Sukh has broken in half, because she’s finished!”
The hawaiian girl’s body tumbled heavily to the mat as Sukh stood up, coming to a rest face-down and sprawled on the canvas. Some spit ran from her still-gaping mouth as she twitched softly with uneven breaths, otherwise limp at her opponent’s feet. With his arms raised, Sukh stepped on her back as he walked over her to leave the ring, cracking one last bone in his defeated foe.
----
The physical damage was mended by the top-of-the-line Medikade technology at Kumite’s disposal. But along with the days of lingering creaks and aches in her back, Holly had a weight on her mind that darkened her vision. She had made good money and had several more well-paying fights ahead of her with the company, but being beaten on Kumite’s programming meant merchandise and fandom were buzzing around the image of her as another back-broken victim of a popular champion. And something about that had sunk hooks into her psyche, hurting a pride she did not entirely realize she possessed.
‘Krusher Kaila’s first daughter broken - talent lies with sister?’
While there was a small sense of security in her belief that she was a superior fighter compared to her little sister Leilani, Holly wanted to win back a shred of respect on the Kumite platform. She thought the paycheck would be solace enough, but as she studied some of her mother’s famous battles, she realized paychecks weren’t quite enough.
----
“Place your bets, folks! Does she crack a rib, or a vertebrae?”
Feet planted solidly on the mat, the powerful young grappler named Taima Atlas had Holly locked in a tight bearhug. Taima was a cheerful, tall, and muscular black girl with a frizzy afro and a golden leotard, which showed off her impressive physique as she eagerly squeezed her opponent. The match had not been entirely one-sided, but every strike Holly landed had been returned with a full-body throw or slam that quickly took the wind out of her. Now, her torso creaked as she writhed and struggled. Her legs curled up against Taima’s solid hips as she landed a pair of weakened punches that bruised the black girl’s cheek, but did not budge her grip. A sudden crack caused Holly’s eyes to widen as she cried out in pain, feeling one of her ribs succumb within her opponent’s arms. Taima bared her teeth in a wide grin as she began to yank the bearhug from side to side, trying to ragdoll her opponent into submission. Holly was wailing as she whipped left and right, her cheeks reddening as her limbs grew limp.
With a moment of desperate clarity, Holly’s hands suddenly landed twin chops to either side of Taima’s neck. The crushing bearhug held tightly, though Taima’s efforts immediately slowed. Holly then punched her fists against her opponent’s ears, before finding herself crumpled on the mat. Crawling to her knees, Holly looked up to see Taima clutching at the sides of her head. The strong young grappler was rasping breaths as her ears rang, a look of anguish washed over her face. Ignoring the pain in her ribs, Holly pushed herself forward as she rose, throwing an elbow straight into Taima’s chin. Stumbling to one side, Taima was still stunned when her opponent’s spinning backfist collided with her cheek, sending in the opposite direction as she fell to one knee.
“It looks like Taima’s had her bells rung and brain blasted! Could this be a comeback?!”
Holly span a heel-kick towards Taima’s head to finish the job, but the powerful girl’s senses had cleared enough for her to catch the hawaiian fighter’s incoming foot. Lifting Holly with her as she stood back up, Taima held Holly over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Holly desperately threw elbows and knees at Taima from her precarious position, feeling a few satisfying impacts with her opponent’s face and upper body. Those desperate strikes suddenly became useless flails as Taima pressed Holly up into the air with a roar, her feet now unsure as she held the hawaiian girl aloft for a few moments. Holly’s heart skipped before she was dropped chest-first onto her opponent’s knee, a fresh spike of pain shooting through her ribs as she fell to the mat in a face-down sprawl.
Taima half-collapsed on top of Holly, swivelling to grip her thick thighs around the prone fighter before she bent down and began to try and get her arms around Holly’s neck. Shaking her head as she struggled, Holly squirmed on the canvas as she clawed at Taima’s arms. Feeling biceps snaking around her, Holly reached up in a moment of panic and realized she could get a grip on the back of Taima’s head. Whipping her own head back as she yanked down, Holly’s vision blurred when she smashed the top of her own skull into the softer center of Taima’s face with a small crunch. Taima cried out, falling to one side and clutching at her freshly bloodied nose. Acting on instinct and adrenaline, Holly rolled over to mount Taima, throwing several punches to capitalize on the injury. As she saw Taima’s hands get into position to fight back, Holly stood up and stamped a foot twice into her opponent’s gut. Taima gagged, curling up and gasping, as the hawaiian fighter loomed over her.
“Wait...is this…?! Can it be?!”
Holly’s eyes were slightly glazed, and her mouth hung open with heavy breaths of air, but she did not pause as she pulled Taima up to her knees. Leaning forward over one of Taima’s shoulders, Holly slid an arm back as her fatigued mind filled with one crystal-clear technique. Holly locked in Krusher Kaila’s famous dragon sleeper hold, planting her feet and arching her back as she choked out her opponent. Taima’s eyes were quickly rolled back, though she tried to wrestle her way out of the maneuver for nearly a minute, her powerful body growing slack as Holly’s held firm. Once Taima’s arms had fallen limp and her chest began convulsing with uneven breaths, Holly nodded at the audience.
“She knows it! She knows she’s done her mother proud! Taima Atlas is finished!”
Holding on tightly until foam was running from the corner of Taima’s mouth, Holly finally let go of the young grappler and watched as Taima flopped heavily onto the mat. Holly firmly pressed a foot down on the back of Taima’s head, her body filling with time-lagged fatigue as she began to raise her hands. Then, Holly threw her fists into the air with a triumphant shout, beaming with a warrior’s pride.
