A Little Friendly Competition

It didn’t show in Alicia’s eyes or manner, let alone her expression, but the big redhead felt a beat of concern at Eka’s reaction. She was canny enough to know that her own laissez-faire attitude to winning or losing wasn’t the norm among competitive athletes in any sport – the clue was the word ‘competitive’ – but most she knew didn’t get so worked up about a single lost point in a sparring match either. And Eka hadn’t seemed the type to be that worried about it. Alicia knew the Georgian was worried about a losing streak she felt she was on but…

Well, nothing to do about it. They had another two rounds to go, there was still everything to play for.

But it definitely played into why she said what she did.

Giving Eka a hand back up, the kickboxer took a moment to glance her over. By contrast, Alicia was covered in only a thin sheen of sweat, her breathing free and easy, her body stood tall and strong. The round hadn’t taken that much out of her, though she favoured the arm that had nearly ended up in the Kimura. Slight, but probably noticeably if Eka was looking.

”Closer than most people I get on the ground,” The bigger woman pointed out lightly, with a faint grin, before she nodded and took a few steps back to open the distance again.

She sank back into her fighting stance, keeping the slightly sore arm back out of the line of fire. This time, she’d let Eka set the pace.

”Ready.”

Eka mentally prepared herself. That was most of wrestling. Hell, that was most of everything. The Georgian girl had been psyching herself out of win after win, and it was past time to show a little fortitude. If there were clouds above her, they would darken to pitch black, and had her angry been shown in the canvas the wrestling women stood upon, it would have split open. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. Eka was ready. She had to be ready.

"Go!" Eka shouted as she tore across the canvas towards her redheaded opponent. Should another of Alicia's kicks find its home in her side, she would be done for sure. So the Georgian minimized the time Alicia had to send one of her mighty legs in the direction of Eka's side by launching in to a full sprint. She hoped to take Alicia by surprise by her sudden movements.

But moreso in her plan of attack. She didn't have much time to plant her feet as she was running so quickly, but she had practiced this move a million times before. Perhaps Alicia watched some of her matches. If she did, the redhead would have assuredly seen this move before. Eka jumped into the air with all of her momentum going forward, trying to crest the top of Alicia. On the way down, she would attempt to latch on to Alicia's hips for a flying squirrel takedown.

It was one of her favorite moves. First, because it was exhilarating to launch oneself into the air like that, but most of all because the move was deadly effective. And if anyone in the world was an expert at it, it was Eka.

Alicia wasn’t given much time to muse on things before Eka kicked things off again, the Georgian sprinting forward at high speed in what was clearly an attempt to close the range before she could take any more kicks.

Smart. Or it would have been if she’d been moving faster than Alicia’s reflexes and she wasn’t. Alicia waited… waited… waited…

Snapped a kick aimed for where Eka was going to be only to find-

She wasn’t there.

She was in mid-air.

When she’d been watching Eka’s matches, she’d seen this move before but in the interests of it being a spar Alicia hadn’t spent time thinking of ways to counter it. Well, she probably wouldn’t have done anyway. While she liked to know what she was up against, she’d also seen plenty of people plan themselves out of a win. No plan survives contact with the enemy and all that jazz.

A bit of thought, yes. Dealing with specific moves, not so much.

Not that she had any idea how she’d deal with this thing. High flyers continued to give Alicia troubles and she hadn’t realised just how fast Eka’s little trick was. Before she knew what happened, Eka’s arms were around her waist in a reverse bearhug. Alicia twisted desperately but to no avail – as the Georgian’s weight came down, she brought the redhead down with her. The two women rolled as they fell, the British fighter coming down underneath with a hiss as her curvy form was sandwiched between Eka’s own and the mat underneath.

Ok, she thought through the daze, that was an impressive trick.

Almost instinctively, her legs snapped up, on the off chance that Eka would be careless enough to leave her head vulnerable. It was a tiny chance but Alicia wasn’t one to miss any opportunities.

It worked. For a second, Eka could not believe it. Her string of losses and her early failure made her doubt her own prowess, but by sheer luck and sheer pluck Eka pulled the move off. The Georgian girl was usually pretty grounded in more ways than one and must have taken Alicia by complete surprise when she took off like a mountain eagle. But not all was right in the world. Alicia was still a very dangerous opponent, and two strong legs swung perilously close to her head. Eka recognized immediately that she was going for a headscissors, and took pains to pull her head back lest she be caught in the bear trap that was Alicia's thighs.

The redhead's legs passed by without incident. Eka was inwardly relieved that her head escaped the constriction, and now the impetus was on her to act. Eka scrambled forward, down Alicia's body. The sweat coating her body would be a helpful lubricant for her arm as she attempted to worm it between Alicia's leg and the mat. It occurred to her that it was a bit dirty to try and completely nullify Alicia's advantage by going for her legs, but Eka consoled herself by reckoning that she had a green light for what she was going to try and do.

The blade of her arm was on Alicia's achilles tendon, with the top of Alicia's foot tucked safely into Eka's armpit. Eka cranked her arm to apply a little pressure to the redhead's ankle. The move was called an Achilles Lock, and it was not a fun joint lock to be in. They hadn't talked about Greek myths, and Eka was sure that would be an interesting conversation. But the words of body language are far more meaningful. And all of those words were all trying to prove that Eka could win.

Unsurprisingly, the try for a headscissors didn’t work – it’d been a shot in the dark and Alicia wasn’t that surprised. It’d have been nice but she had more important concerns now. She could feel Eka moving towards her legs which meant some form of submission hold targeting them. Smart, if increasingly and boringly predictable hereabouts.

A range of options crossed her mind as she felt the Georgian grab at her leg, none of them pleasant, but things solidified in her head the second she felt the forearm pressing behind her ankle.

Ah. Alicia thought she knew what Eka was going for and, if it was, she couldn’t let her lock it in or she’d be down a leg and down a fall.

An Achilles Tendon Hold was seriously bad news.

The big redhead started tossing and turning as hard and fast as she could, doing her absolute utmost to shake Eka’s grip before she could do any damage. Simultaneously, she curled her free leg back and started to throw hard, fast kicks at the Georgian’s head.

Neither was exactly a good, technical counter to the move but good technical counters weren’t as important as not letting Eka at her tendon for a second longer than necessary.

Even as she struggled though, a part of Alicia’s mind recognised that Eka was playing hard here. A Kimura was one thing, but an Achilles Tendon Hold might not be risking injury but it was agonisingly painful.

Eka felt as if she was wrestling an alligator. She knew the power Alicia had in her legs, but this vantage point was very personal. The tossing and turning did practically nothing in Alicia's attempt to rid herself of the stubborn Georgian girl as all of Eka's body weight was on top of Alicia's leg. The ravenhaired girl was struggling, but she maintained the hold by sheer grit. Then Alicia's other strong leg came in and thumped her, once, twice. That was enough to disabuse Eka of sustaining her current course of action, and she released the hold.

The Georgian girl rolled twice to purchase herself some distance from Alicia's mighty kicks. Her fist clenched into a tight ball and a flash of anger came across her face. What she just did was bad. Worse, it was cowardly. She should have been pushing as hard as she possibly could have from the very beginning, and she should have hung in there and taken a few kicks in order to get a submission out of Alicia.

Never again. If Eka had to snap a bone, she would snap a bone. Eka lurched forward, scrambling towards her opponent on her knees. She knew she could not give Alicia even a moment's respite, lest those powerful legs start swinging her way again. Her blue eyes belay her intentions- she tried to get wrist control before quickly snapping her body around for an armbar. This was not the ideal position for it, but Eka was going for whatever she could get.

Predictably enough, Eka was clamped on too tightly for any amount of wriggling or writhing to knock her loose. While Alicia was bigger and heavier, much of her advantage in power was in her lower body and the Georgian was way too canny to give her the opportunity to make use of that. Instead, it was her free leg driving kick after kick after kick that got her free. If not, she’d have had to tap.

As soon as she was loose again, Alicia rolled the other way. She knew that she’d only got out of that by luck and, if she wanted to put up a fight, she needed to be on her feet.

But no, Eka was back on her before the redhead could do more than get her knees back under her. With her legs occupied, Alicia took a swipe in the brunette’s direction, but that didn’t do anything except let her opponent get her hands on Alicia’s wrist and start to set up an armbar.

Acting as quickly as she could, Alicia went to roll into Eka, doing her best to stack the Georgian up on her shoulders and prevent her from gaining the leverage she needed for the armbar. Fortunately for her, the positioning was working more in her favour than in Eka’s but she needed to get out or get a hold of her own. At the same time, she was trying desperately to link her hands – she knew that potentially opened her up for other holds but she needed to stop the armbar first.

Alicia defended the armbar. She was a trained MMA fighter, and this was one of the most important submissions for that sport. Of course Alicia knew the defense for it, and Eka would have been mighty disappointed had she not known what to do when Eka was searching for it. The Georgian girl felt a glimmer of hope, as she anticipated Alicia doing exactly this. Given that Alicia had pounded Eka so far in this spar, the Georgian girl was sorely tempted to hammerfist her in the head a few times to get her to break the grip. At this point, she didn't really care if it was fair, but she wanted to do something a little more cunning.

And far more brutal. Eka tugged upwards. She doubted she had the strength to break the chain like that, but that wasn't even what she was going for. What she was trying to do was create a window for herself. Her leg was over Alicia's stomach and she attempted to thread it between the space she created for herself and curl it. She released Alicia's arm and attempted to grab the back of the Brit's head and force it up into the leg she just forced through the open window. And from there, the final part of the move was completing the triangle.

Triangle choke. It took a little creativity to see it, but Eka was always looking. Of all the chokes, the triangle was one of the worst, and Eka knew that. Her blue eyes never wavered from Alicia's pretty face and her red hair, and her face was contorted with focus and a hint of anger. She had to show what she could do. Eka had to show that she wasn't just some pushover.

The second the leg threaded the hole, Alicia knew what was coming. But there was a whole world between knowing what Eka had in mind and being able to do anything about it. If the Georgian had been planning this all along, she’d just completely outplayed Alicia. If she’d seized the opportunity, well, that was just as impressive in its own way.

Regardless, Alicia did her best to fight it but one of her arms was trapped out of position and she didn’t have the leverage to stop the other leg curling around Eka’s already-positioned ankle to complete the triangle.

From there, it was just a matter of time – and not very much time at that. She could already feel the other woman’s inner thigh muscles biting into her neck, depriving her brain of oxygen.

There was maybe an outside, small chance that she’d be able to get Eka up and slam her down fast enough to get out. There were maybe some other things she could try. But Alicia was an old enough hand at MMA to know when she was grasping at straws. Eka’s legs might not be as thick and hard with muscle as her own, but they were more than strong enough and perfectly positioned. She could feel her pulse pounding in her ears already, could see the edges of her vision starting to blur.

That didn't stop her violet eyes meeting Eka's as Alicia's hands gripped at her legs, looking for any illusive weak spot, determination in the redhead's gaze.

Besides, she thought, a touch groggily, it wasn’t like she hadn’t earnt it. And taking a nap wouldn't help anyone.

With that in mind, Alicia slapped the mat three times sharply, indicating she’d like to be let out now.

Preferably before she went to sleep please.

Alicia tapped the mat once. It was probably in frustration. She would twist or something, using her strong legs to get out of this hellish hold.Then she tapped again. The Georgian girl could not believe it. This must be some sort of mistake. Alicia had thrashed her just a few minutes ago. And then there was a third tap. That was it. That was the confirmation that Eka's tricky maneuvering had paid off in full. Eka held the choke a quarter second longer than she actually had to. She wasn't sure why. The Georgian girl could rationalize it as not recognizing what had just happened, but she knew that wasn't the truth. Eka was angry at herself, and Alicia was someone she could take things out on.

And it was only a short period of time. It wasn't like she was going to send the redhead to la la land by just that time. The Georgian girl returned Alicia's head and unfurled her legs. She dusted herself off once she stood up all the way, and offered Alicia a hand up just as the British woman had done for her. "You could kill someone with your legs, yes?" Eka smiled. Her tone was friendly to the point of being saccharine, not quite sarcastic but definitely seeking forgiveness for something. Perhaps for holding Alicia too long, even if it was an infinitesimal amount of time. Maybe it was something deeper, more awkward for her. It could have been apologizing for winning, as if the Georgian girl were completely unworthy of winning a single frame.

Either way, Eka was forcing a smile and doing her best not to show how tired she was. Those kicks she dealt with while she maintained the hold on Alicia's ankle did little for her physical state, and the mental toll she was paying pushed her into a weird place emotionally. The Georgian girl was a bit of a wreck in more ways than one, and had done something she had never done before. Eka was young and still trying to figure out who she was and wanted to be. But she had never dealt with it in such a visceral way before.