Mayori vs. Cecilia Lombard

[CaptainL]

With the hold now broken, Cecilia too rolled up onto her knees, meeting Mayori's glare across the mat with one of her own. Despite being denied the opportunity to finish Mayori off with her hold, Cecilia still knew that she was likely in better shape to continue than Mayori was, with the Japanese girl still winded from the effects of Cecilia's Boston Crab. It would only be a minor setback in the grand scheme of things.

Mayori might have been ready for a counterattack should Cecilia move in, but the black-clad brunette was perfectly willing to wait. She wasn't about to rush things, and she was content to stand back and let the right opportunity present itself when the time came. Instead, she straightened herself back to her feet, looking down at Mayori with a sadistic grin. Cecilia worked some kinks out of her neck, rolling her head from side to side, as she watched to see how Mayori was going to handle this.

[Caduces]

Cecilia wasn't moving in and this was both a plus and a minus, Mayori recognized.

She could finish recuperating from the hold and get back to her feet, but Cecilia had a new target in Mayori's legs. The Hachijo girl used the ropes under her arms to push her back up to a standing position. She favored her left side upon getting her boots under her.

The sadist standing afar off was just ready to pounce and Mayori prepared herself for meeting her away from the ropes. She let out a few utterances in her own language and got her hands up in a defensive grappling stance. She made it away from the ropes. One step. Three. She was within striking distance for one of her thigh kicks - which would still be ineffective. No, Cecilia's head had to feel Mayori's calf against it or worse could be in store for the girl in white and red.

Mayori let her right leg bear the weight for the setup. Without a setup strike, she risked herself being a telegraph for the attempt.

[CaptainL]

From the sidelines, Yuki was cheering for Mayori, as she watched her friend get back up and face down her opponent. But Cecilia wasn't letting anything she saw ruffle her cool and collected attitude. She was the one who preferred to be doing the ruffling, after all, but she hoped that the confident smirk on her face would be enough to make the prospect of fighting back an awkward one for Mayori.

Even as Mayori started to steel herself and advance slowly, Cecilia would keep up with her taunts, as she haughtily gave her head a shake. "Come on, come on," she muttered. "I haven't got all day." Even if there was a question of if Mayori would be able to understand what she said, she hoped that her intent, of rushing her into making a mistake, would still be felt.

Whatever the case may have been, Mayori still went for a kick - but she had been so slow in setting it up, Cecilia could already figure what was coming her way, and she knew how to act accordingly. She waited for Mayori's leg to come up, and when the time was right, she reached out to try and catch it. With that, she would try and flip Mayori back into the mat with it.

[Caduces]

Mayori was whipped around and smacked the canvas with her shoulders, the back of her head following suit in an instant.

She was stung from upper back to the top of her head, but she wasn't stunned enough to be kept there.

"Ugh!...ugh." She had a tweaked knee from that flip-back. She rolled onto her side and sat up, propping herself on her left elbow. Cecilia was in front of her and probably going to follow up that grounding counter. Mayori had no choice and rolled once more, getting closer to the bottom ropes. A couple of more revolutions and she will be able to get to the outside of the ring to regroup. If the referee permitted it, perhaps she could get a respite on the mat outside of the ring long enough for her to re-enter the ring with a more clear picture of how to fight this woman.

That is, if Cecilia Lombard let her make it closer to the ropes.

[CaptainL]

Another thud on the canvas as Mayori made impact, and another time where Yuki had to shudder just imagining how much it had to hurt. Cecilia started to saunter towards her downed opponent, looking to close in on her once she was off her feet. She lifted her leg off the ground, ready to deliver a stomp.

"Look out-!" Yuki cried at the sight. But Mayori had more left in her than Cecilia had anticipated, and she rolled away just as Cecilia's boot slammed down into the mat. The American hissed, clenching her teeth as she tensed up in pain from bringing her foot down hard onto the mat. In doing so, she wouldn't be able to retaliate as Mayori slipped out of the ring.

Seeing the coast was clear, Yuki ran over to her friend's side as she came out through the ropes, looking her over to check her for any signs of being hurt too badly. But Cecilia was already planning on coming back their way as soon as she got back to her senses...

[Caduces]

Mayori's shoulders went up and down as she gathered in deeper breaths to recover. She used her forearms to prop herself up on the ring apron, getting back up as Yuki made it to her.

She was glad to get a moment and regroup with her friend a moment. But, coming up from behind Yuki was a very infuriated Cecilia. She was coming in hot with an attack in mind, clearly. This was Mayori's fight and she knew that if Cecilia blindsided and rammed Yuki from behind just to get back at her, that the referee would not call the match. Mayori felt a protective urge overcome her reason and she shoved Yuki off to her left and planned on absorbing the incoming Cecilia's attack all on her own.

Mayori was making a statement regarding those whom she considered friends. It served also to show the crowd that she was not a heel that was just looking for a timeout.

[CaptainL]

After checking in and doing her best to communicate across their dialectic barriers to make sure Mayori was all right, Yuki looked back over her shoulder just in time to see Cecilia coming straight for her on a collision course. She went tense, standing defensively in front of her friend. Yuki was quite aware that for Cecilia it wouldn't matter whether or not she hit her intended target. She would be willing to hit her just as much as she would to make her blow land against Mayori. But she was willing to take that risk if it meant letting Mayori stay in the game.

However, Mayori was ready to face it head-on. She pushed Yuki away, standing for Cecilia to charge in ahead and deliver a lariat straight across Mayori's jaw. Yuki's eyes went wide at the sight, but at the same time, she had to respect her friend's fighting spirit to stand and take it!

[Caduces]

The stiff lower forearm shot from Cecilia caught Mayori under the left side of her face. This caused a complicated fall to endure before Mayori's dazed body laid still on the arena floor.

The jaw hit sent the back of her head against the ring apron, which was only soft enough to slow her fall to the floor shoulder and neck first. The Hachijo girl's body was splayed and halfway covered by the LAW logo-emblazoned apron. Her right arm was under the ring technically and so was the lower part of her right boot.

A pink mark along her jawline was visible for the fans in the front row. They must have pitied Mayori after she saved her friend and took such a horrible shot. Cecilia, upon looking back at the lariat's aftermath, would see the girl's shoulders twitch and her opponent's eyes squeezed shut.

[CaptainL]

As Mayori fell to the floor below, Cecilia stepped back, smirking with a content and prideful assurance that she had made her mark. With her opponent crashing to the ground, the American was confident she wouldn't be getting back up any time soon. And as the referee began to count Mayori out of the ring, all she did was sit back, inspecting her nails as though without a care in the world.

"One! Two! Three!"

Sure, Cecilia could have gone after Mayori and punished her further. But she didn't feel the need. With a strike that hard, and with how Mayori had gone down like a sack of potatoes, she was convinced she'd be winning on a ten count. The crowd was booing her even louder now for how roughly she had treated the rookie, but Cecilia didn't care. She just lay back against the ropes, tapping her foot impatiently.

Yuki, though, was another story. She looked back at Cecilia and an angry glare crossed her face. She wanted to charge back in and get back at her for what she had done to her friend, and for a moment, she started to tense up with a mind to do just that. But then she remembered the gesture Mayori had made in shoving her away. Mayori valued Yuki too much to put her at risk by trying to pick a fight, and she respected that, even if she wanted to do something. Instead, she ran down to take Mayori's side, falling to her knees as she tried to rouse Mayori. "Come on, are you okay!?"

"Four!" The ref went over to the side of the ropes, still counting, but also keeping an eye on Mayori to make sure if she was still conscious.

[Caduces]

Shellshocked.

Mayori's glazed eyes looked up at her friend who was kneeling beside her on the floor mat. Half of what she saw was darkened, but she couldn't tell that it was the apron drape that partially obscured her form. At the count of "Five!", the Hachijo girl began to roll toward Yuki and out from under the apron. In all of her discomfort and lariat-induced fogginess, she hoped that she had spared Yuki any of that last attack. The people behind the barricade may have heard Mayori's moaned words.

Of course, Yuki couldn't understand Hachijo, but it sounded like Mayori was asking her something. The girl seemed insistent with the question as she used Yuki's help to get back up to her knees. Yuki got an up close look at Mayori's jaw. How was she even conscious given the deep color of the impact site?

"Six! Seven!"

Mayori's forearms were poised on top of the ring apron, now. She was close to getting back into the ring and thanks in most part to Yuki's steadying grasp. Once Mayori had both boots back underneath her, she lifted her left knee up and put it on top of the apron. She was going to beat an "Eight!" count.