Back in Action: Training the Brawn for Brains

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After Ivy stopped Annie's attempt at punching her way out of the Grasping Void, the American then tried to roll over the top of the Englishwoman to reach for the ropes. But with Ivy in control of both Annie's legs, one of her arms, while holding the redhead in a position that was making her other arm useless, the larger woman would keep the powerhouse in place despite her strength.

"I am more than just speed and mobility, you know," Ivy cooed into Annie's ear, more than a little pleased that she was the one in control now after the submissions she had just been on the receiving end of. "I would even beat Tiki in a pure battle of strength without any tricks."

"Ivy's right, Annie," Tiki said as she continued watching the redhead struggle. "No matter how strong you are, you have to respect your opponent's strength. You can't just say, 'I'm stronger' and expect to be able to impose your will on them without issue. Even you aren't going to outmuscle someone as strong as Ivy when she has you in a spot like this. You must find the point in the hold where your strength will be most effective, and then concentrate it there." Tiki then checked her stopwatch, "A task which you have a little over 3 minutes left to do."

[Epicsnivy]

Annie’s attempt to roll to the ropes and break the hold wasd completely stopped by Ivy who was strong herself. “DAMN IT!” Annie said as she slammed her fist to the mat in frustration, seemingly nothing was working, three of her limbs were trapped, and she had no were to go.

Annie had to do something she rarely does, think, she needed to think of something and fast. Then she realized something, her head was not that far from Ivy’s head. Maybe her strength could come into play here.

Using her strength, Annie attempted to thrust her head as hard as she could backwards, hoping to hit Ivy with the headbutt, hoping the force could cause her to lose her grip.

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As Ivy continued to deny Annie's escape attempts, the redhead's frustration was visibly increasing. She had underestimated the Englishwoman's strength, and had lost precious seconds and energy for doing so. The only thing Ivy was concerned about was that Annie didn't even seem to be considering tapping despite how this hold's victims were usually wailing in pain by now.

Whenever Ivy had to restrain her opponent's free arm when using Grasping Void, it meant that she had to give up her grip on their head. This didn't just release pressure on their neck, but gave their head freedom of movement. It was something she was aware of, so the purplette was cognizant of the possibility of her opponent's potentially attempting to knock noggins to escape. So when Annie attempted that tactic, Ivy lowered her head so that she met the powerhouse's headbutt with the crown of her skull to protect her face and jaw.

"Urg!" grunted Ivy. It still hurt to be struck by a headbutt from Annie, but it was much less disorienting than it would've been had the American caught her in one of the softer parts of her head. Which meant that she could maintain her hold.

"Oh, the old Niko Tomiji special, eh Annie?" Tiki said in reference to her other student's propensity for weaponizing her skull. "One and a half minutes left. If it's any hint, you still have yet to try what i would do if I were you, Annie."

[Epicsnivy]

Everyone knew how Annie was too stubborn to ever tap out to a submission hold, no matter how painful the submission was. So, there was no way she was going to tap to Ivy’s Grasping Void submission. But her headbutt did not work, Ivy did not lose her grip, seemingly nothing was working.

Then she noticed something, Ivy’s arm was still behind her head. Maybe there was something she could try.

Annie attempted to grab Ivy’s arm, if she managed to grab it, she would attempt to stretch out Ivy’s arm as far as she could using her strength. Hoping that she would cause so much pain to Ivy to make her lose her grip.

She did not have much time, so she needed this to work

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When Ivy had stopped Annie from punching her earlier, she had done so by pinning the powerhouse's arm down by the shoulder. This meant that Annie's arm still had its full range of movement from the elbow up. The Lightweight used this freedom to try to go after Ivy's arm. Running out of options and time, Annie was resorting to whatever she could try in order to escape Ivy.

Ivy, for her part, saw Annie's attempt coming and tightened her grip on the redhead's shoulder as tightly as she could muster. She would make Annie pry her grip loose, bit by bit if she wanted to damage her arm. It was a rather weird sight; Ivy gripping Annie's shoulder as Annie pulled on Ivy's forearm. They were struggling for awhile, the Englishwoman's strength barely holding out against the American's muscles. It was time that Annie didn't have.

"30 seconds," called Tiki. "Ivy, assuming you hold on, don't release the hold when the timer runs out. I want to see if my escape idea would have worked for Annie had she thought of it."

[Epicsnivy]

Annie struggled and struggled with Ivy for a while, but even stretching the purple women’s arm out was not working on freeing her, and with only thirty seconds left, she had no idea left what to do, it seemed as though all hope was lost.

The only thing Annie could do was lay there, feeling defeated as she could never find a way out. If Ivy had caught her with this move in an actual match, she would have been finished.

She could only slam her fist in frustration.

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Ivy had done it. She had certainly been hoping to win by making Annie tap rather than having to hold her in the Grasping Void for all 5 minutes, but she had won the drill nonetheless. Definitely a nice bit of get back against the girl who had made her scream out with painful submissions earlier. It was difficult not to let herself lax upon the timer going off, but as per Tiki's instructions, she continued to hold the submission.

"Now Annie," Tiki said. "Your leg that's stretched up behind Ivy's head, try to pull it back down. Make sure you're using the muscles in all of your hip, core, and thigh to try to pull loose. I'm far from certain if this will work, and if this is possible, I would owe it largely to your strength. I'm curious to see if this hold does have a path out, even if only possible by a select few."

[Epicsnivy]

Annie was frustrated, she could not get out of the submission for five minutes, letting Ivy win the duel, all she could do now is listen to Tiki while being stuck in the hold. “nice job partner.” Annie said to Ivy while pouting.

Annie then listened to what Tiki was saying, wondering why she never thought of doing that. She then took a deep breath.

Annie concentrated all her strength in her leg, and started pushing down on Ivy’s grip, hoping to break her leg free of Ivy’s grasp.

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Ivy knew that she was in for a more effective escape attempt the moment Annie's might muscles moved to close her legs. The redhead was pulling with a much greater, much more significant force than she had been previously. But the Englishwoman was not without a course of action herself. She gripped Annie's shin, used her elbow to raise the redhead's leg to put it at a more awkward angle, and pressed her hip up into Annie's thigh to try to block it off from coming down.

"It would appear as though I was right," Tiki said as she watched her two student's struggle. "This does seem to be the most effective tactic to at least try to escape Grasping Void." The veteran wished that Annie had done this from the start, she wished to see what would have happened if the powerhouse had tried this while her legs were fresh. As it were now, Annie's legs might be too strained from the hold to muster up the power needed to overcome Ivy.

Tiki could see Annie's tendons trembling inside her leg as she fought against Ivy, who for her own part, was visibly struggling to keep the farmgirl contained. Had Annie tried this with fresh legs, Tiki was confident she'd have freed herself. As it stood now, though, things were less certain. Annie could be as stubborn as she wanted about not tapping, but biology was biology. Sooner or later, her leg would lose stamina, and therefore power, and be rendered too weak to break out no matter how long she stayed in there. It seemed that the question now was if Ivy could hold out long enough for that to happen.

[Epicsnivy]

Annie’s leg seemed to have been able to almost escape, but sadly her body was running out of energy and stamina and therefore she was unable to make an escape attempt. Her body was slowing down, her head was turning blue, and she was running out of time.

She just needed to put as much power into her leg as she could and hope that Ivy breaks before she did. So, Annie closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and pulled down her leg as hard as she could.

It was either this or she was fainting once again, just like she did with Tiki.