The War in the Ward

Carmen raised an eyebrow as Lydia went into a frenzy. It was a decent sort of move, wading into your opponent with everything you had, death by a thousand cuts. But there were some notable drawbacks - chief among them being that the human body just wasn't built for that sort of thing. Not without the training to sustain it for any real length of time. Training that Lydia lacked.

Sure enough, the Tattooed Lady began to tire, at the wrong moment, too. Right as Colleen was about to try the same thing. "Go for it!"

The first punch slapped Lydia in the face, just as she was starting to withdraw from her her flurry, and while she got her guard up enough to block the others, she was still driven back a few steps and lost whatever ground she'd gained. Colleen would probably tire soon, too, but it wasn't something Lydia wanted to gamble on. She decided to take chance out of the equation and ducked down, trying to come under Colleen's punches and throw a hard, desperate uppercut in her stomach. A shame to strike something so beautiful, but it would be worth it if it gave her some breathing room.

Colleen heard Carmen give the go-ahead, and then she would unleash a powerful barrage of her own, flinging punches at Lydiaâ€s head and chest in a flurry of skin and leather. Her first punch popped Lydia square in the face, and, while all the others were blocked, Lydia was still forced to backpedal, all the ground she had won in her own barrage disappearing as Colleen threw punch after punch into her guard, the sheer force of the blows making her back up.

Lorenza was concerned. Lydiaâ€s tactic was a risky one, but it had seemed to pay off, as Colleen was pushed back and looked visibly battered. Colleen came right back and retaliated in kind, however, and that made Lorenza worry as she say Lydia being pushed back. “Get around her punches! Get underneath them and hit her hard!” Lorenza called out.

Lydia did just that. Her uppercut slammed into Colleenâ€s stomach just as she was beginning to tire. It hurt like hell, forcing the rest of the air out of Colleen. She cried out and folded over as the blow bent her in half at her navel, her body draping over Lydiaâ€s shoulder, spit spraying across the other womanâ€s tattooed back. Colleenâ€s breasts rubbed against Lydiaâ€s shoulder blade as she would slowly slide herself back, clinching tightly with Lydia to try to recover following the hard blow.

Lydia's fists were Lorenza's fists. Her will was Lorenza's. Her skill was Lorenza. She was Lorenza.

That's what she told herself, anyway. A little mantra in her head, to help build up the confidence. She focused and envisioned herself as Lorenza in the ring, taking another epic fight, defending her title once again, and she felt like the champion herself. It helped. Immensely.

She let out a hard grunt as they collided and felt Colleen's stomach fold on impact, knocking her back. In a normal fight, this would probably be a very bad position - exposed back, vulnerable to elbows. But in boxing, it made things awkward. Lydia wasn't going to press her luck and stay there, but she did have damage to inflict.

She stayed low and threw out two right hooks, going right into the ribs as she continued to drive Colleen forward and earned every step.

Lorenza swelled with pride as she watched Lydia go in for the kill. Her lover was almost there, and Lorenza had no more advice to give. Lydia was virtually an expert herself, now.

Colleen tried to clinch with Lydia, but the tattoo artist would come at her harder and faster, knocking her back, putting some space between them that allowed her to sink two hard right hooks into Colleenâ€s stomach. The lighter-haired girl spluttered and coughed, crying out at each punch and dousing Lydiaâ€s face with her spittle. She would hold her gloves up in front of her face as she backpedaled, trying to get some space and rally.

She would try to back up a little faster to put just a little bit of separation between the two of them. As she did, she would summon all her strength to strike back. The tattoo artist had her on the ropes, but Colleen was not done yet. As she stepped off to the side, she would pull her right fist out then send it in a long arc, hoping to nail Lydia in the side of her face, to stagger her and force her to take a step back.

While Lydia didn't want to deal any permanent damage to Colleen, a part of her realized that desire might not factor into the equation. She'd reached a point where she couldn't hold back, where they were really going at each other, and now, in the final minutes, Lydia was throwing in with everything she had. There was just no other way.

She winced when the spit hit her face, almost expecting there to be some blood mixed in with it. More annoyed than anything, she moved in as Colleen moved back, wanting to kill her escape route before she even had a chance to make it.

She was expecting a punch to stop her, but she thought it would come head on. Instead, it came at her from the side, a wide blow that knocked her off course and made her stumble into Colleen with a clumsy gait. Her fists went up in a guard, purely on the instinct she'd been building through this fight, and she readied herself to eat a few blows while her senses returned.

Colleen wondered what Lydiaâ€s strategy was going to be. Evidently, the tattoo artist simply intended to go all-out, coming after Colleen as the lighter-haired pugilist stumbled backwards. Colleen would manage to stop Lydiaâ€s advance, with a hard, desperate right hook that somehow managed to sneak around behind Lydiaâ€s gloves to slam into her face. The blow caused Lydia to lose her balance and stumble into Colleen, and Colleen would grunt as her evenly-matched foeâ€s body smacked fleshily into hers once again.

“Ugghgh…” Colleen would groan, hurting after the impact, and after receiving all of those brutal blows from Lydia. Now, though, it was her turn. She had to rally and throw some punches of her own now, even though her gloves were feeling heavy and her whole body was feeling fatigued. Colleen would put her gloves on Lydiaâ€s shoulders. “Back up…this isnâ€t a titfight,” she would growl through her mouthguard, using a word she had picked up from reading on the AFW website as she would try to shove Lydia away and break the contact between their breasts.

Colleen would then go to work, throwing punch after punch at Lydia. She started with a jab or two, straight into her foeâ€s guard to try to lull her into a false sense of security. Then, Colleen would swing for the fences, aiming hard, wide left and right hooks that tried to swing around Lydiaâ€s gloves to smack her upside the head, hopefully throwing her for a loop.

A titfight? Colleen had point. This match had been undeniably more intimate than your average boxing match. Not that Lydia was one to complain. In truth, she couldn't be happier. But her lovely light-skinned opponent was right. A little space would do them both a world of good.

Lydia had a little chuckle as Colleen pushed her back, but that laugh was cut short when Colleen went for broke. Lydia barely had time to get her fists up as she was drilled into. Most of the punches just hammered away at her tight guard, but a few of them came in at the side and rocked the Tattooed Lady about like a ship in the maelstrom, a relentless battering that threatened to wash her away.

Opening her shell at the wrong time would be fatal, Lydia knew that too well. So she waited. Took the pain. Tried to think past it, establish Colleen's rhythm and timing. The moment she saw an opening, any break at all, Lydia planned to lash out and hit Colleen with a hard 1-2 combination on her chin, enough to stop her roll before she could let it take away the match.

The intimacy had been one of Colleenâ€s favorite parts of this spar, actually. She wondered if she should ask Lydia to help her put on a little show for their two bedridden companions. Something physical and sexy to watch on top of the thrilling boxing spectacle they were already putting on.

All of that could wait until Colleen had won the spar, however. If she was able to pull through and eke out a victory in the state that she was in. She pounded away at Lydia, throwing left and right hooks as she tried to make Lydia punch-drunk and send her down to the tiled floor. She rocked the tattoo artist, punching her back and forth, back and forth, but Lydia didnâ€t fall. Instead, Lydia slipped in towards Colleen in between punches, nailing Colleen with a one-two combination right to her chin. Colleen would groan and stagger back, throwing out a hard straight towards Lydiaâ€s face to encourage her to keep her distance, or at least be prepared for battle if she waded in to face Colleen head-on.

Carmen watched on and nodded along with Colleen's rhythm, focused on every punch. Good form. Good movement. Good strength. Good pacing. She had a solid front going on. But at the same time, a pattern that was hard to detect was still a pattern, and it was only a question of how long it took for Lydia to come to her senses and-

She winched as Colleen took it on the chin, pushing her back a few steps. Colleen threw out a punch to keep her back, but thist time Lydia was ready for the retaliation. It was risky, but she tried to duck under the punch and shoot her arm up, bringing her fist high and around the incoming arm, to hit before Colleen even had a pray of getting her guard up. A cross-counter. Risky, but well worth it, if it worked.

If.

Colleen had hoped the punch would knock Lydia back, force her to keep her distance for another few seconds so that Colleen could rally and throw some real punches. But the tattoo artist seemed to be out for blood, now, ready to knock Colleen down and maybe even knock her out. Lydia ducked the punch, coming at Colleen as she was still reeling, stumbling backwards. The lighter-haired girl hadnâ€t had a chance to recover before Lydiaâ€s gloved fist surged upwards and slammed into Colleenâ€s chin.

“Grruughlgh!” Colleen spluttered as she was launched up and backwards, her body twisting around as she would smack into the tiled floor hard. Her head was spinning, and she was panting heavily. She spit her mouthguard out and sucked in air through her mouth, slowly recovering from Lydiaâ€s impressive punch.

As she saw the girl hit the floor, Lorenza would look up at Lydia and smile, wasting no time in counting Carmenâ€s lover out. “One! Two! Three!”

Colleen groaned and smacked a fist against the cold floor. She would push herself up, lifting herself all the way onto her feet before Lorenzaâ€s count could reach four. She wiped at her face with a glove, and saw a little bit of blood come off on the black leather. She groaned again, looking up at Lydia, taking a last deep breath. She beckoned with a glove. “Come on,” she would say. “Come on.” She slid her mouthguard back in and pounded her fists together.