Una Lección del Maestro

Mako may have been incredibly talented, but she wasn't as experienced as Carmen. This became a problem as her opponent reached up to grab the rope, which the shark hadn't been aware of in her eagerness to get the pin.

"TW-Ah fuck!" Mako would curse as she heard the words "rope break" coming from the woman below her. She hadn't seen it for herself, but the shark doubted her opponent would be lying about it. Sure enough, she'd turn her head back to see Carmen holding onto the bottom rope.

"Damn you and your long arms..." Mako would chuckle to herself as she let go of the woman's arms and got off her chest. Then taking a few steps away from former champ, she'd raise her fists and wait for her opponent to get back up. "Come on, Carmen! This won't be much fun if you don't make things harder for me!" Mako said with a playful wink to taunt her foe. It wasn't like her opponent wasn't already challenging, the shark just wanted to egg her on a little bit.

Carmen had to say, considering this was a match with nothing at stake and no one watching and worth nothing more than training, she was quite relieved to get to the ropes. She knew that Mako was a good wrestler, that she’d picked up a decent record for such a short time in Tension, but even she had to admit that this ‘rookie’ had a way of surprising her. She was well-rounded for a striker, more that Carmen herself had been at this point in her Tension career.

Impressive stuff. Didn’t meant that Carmen couldn’t find a way past it, but impressive stuff.

She nodded at Mako as she made her way back up, giving her no response beyond that. Careful now, she raised her fists into a tight guard, chest and face well protected, and started to move towards her foe with slower steps, careful with each one.

This time she was on the hunt for reaction, not looking to bring the fight straight to the Shark. Her eyes set forward, her poise unwavering, she moved in closer with each moment, narrowing the divide, giving Mako less and less space, eager to see how she’d react.

Mako smiled as Carmen nodded at her. It was her way of saying she'd make it harder, silently. At least, that's how the shark interrupted it. So as Carmen approached her, arms up in a tight guard that seemed more fitting for a boxing match than and wrestling spar, Mako had an idea. She couldn't believe she didn't think of it before, seeing as it was a boxer's biggest weakness. But now that it had come to her mind, the shark moved forward to try it out.

So as the closed in on each other, Mako would quickly pivot on her left leg to deliver a fast kick to the side of Carmen's leg. Aiming it so that the top of her foot would land just below her opponent's knee, the shark would try to weaken the woman's mobility. Seeing as boxing didn't include any hits below the belt, Mako strongly believed that her opponent wasn't used to low strikes like this. So if successful, she'd try to repeat the same kick several times before backing out of Carmen's reach. Attack, retreat, repeat as the shark had called it in the past.

Mako had used this tactic before against those with the size advantage, and it usually had great results. So the shark had a pretty good feeling about this plan of attack.

Carmen kept her eyes tight on Mako, registering her every move and logging it away for later consideration. There wasn’t any error in her form that she could see, no big weaknesses. She would’ve been quick to label such a wild woman as a brawler, rough around the edges, but that was just not the case.

In she came with kicks, moving in with swift feet along canvas and striking out like a viper, low and quick and sharp. Carmen hissed when the first kick sliced into her calves, and the subsequent ones were hardly any more pleasant, landing one after the other, leaving her leg numbed.

It was a good strategy, though, if a bit obvious. Carmen was a boxer. Why not go for the legs? The best way to take down a tree was to chop it at the trunk.

Points to her for picking the right path. But that didn’t mean it was going to work.

When Mako backed off, Carmen took a long step forward, moving deep into her personal space, within her kicking range, trying to keep things at her ideal distance. She threw out two quick jabs, then stepped to the side and came around with a flashing right hook to the side of Mako’s face. She put her footwork to good use the entire time, striving to match her opponent’s pace, never let her get too far away.

Mako plan worked just like she thought it would. The damage that her low kicks were doing was clearly visible on Carmen's face, which signaled for her to start backing off before the woman had the chance to retaliate. That's basically when when her plan started to fall apart, though.

Instead of getting away as Carmen recovered from the blows, the former champ chased her down. Ignoring whatever pain that had been inflicted, the boxer started to throw some jabs at Mako. The shark quickly put up her arms and just barely blocked her fists. That is, until Carmen took a step to the side and threw a mean right hook outta nowhere. Mako had no chance to block this one. It swung around her guard and smacked her face like a rocket.

"OOMPH!" she'd grunt while feeling the force of Carmen's fist blasting through her cheek. The shark's head shot to the side and she immediately began to stumble a bit to the right while backing up. With her vision already becoming dizzy, Mako's mind raced to think of a counter attack. That punch had thrown off her entire game plan, though, and she wasn't sure what to do. The best that Mako could manage was to throw a wild punch with her left fist. The shark normally knew better than to get into a punching contest with a boxer, but she wasn't thinking clearly. All Mako could really do was fight back and hope for the best.

Carmen attacked. Carmen watched.

She could do both at the same time well enough, and so she did, here, making note of Mako’s form even as they dueled harder and harder still. She moved in with each punch, mindful of their place and space in the ring, knowing well that, when it came to this sort of infighting, placement was crucial. If Mako hadn’t learned that lesson before, she intended to hammer it home.

Forward, forward, forward. Left and right. She worked away on Mako with a brutal efficiency, making sure to throw each punch with accurate power, looking to take ground with every step and give nothing back.

It all culminated when she took a big step forward and attempted to shove Mako back, forcing her hard into the corner and creating a gap between them - one that Carmen eagerly filled by jumping forward and lashing out with a hard right cross to the chest, looking to take all the wind out of her foe’s sails and leave her wrecked.

Mako was in trouble. Carmen was continuing her attack as she forced the shark back towards the corner. That right hook really did a number on her, so much so that her own wold swing missed so far off to Carmen's right that she didn't even flinch. Soon enough, the former champ shoved the shark into the corner where her arms would hook onto the ropes just to stay standing.

This wouldn't last, though, as Carmen suddenly fired a right cross at the center of her chest. The impact felt like she'd just punched a whole in Mako's chest. Eyes going wide, air leaving her body rapidly, and mouth opening wide to let her breathe escape their confines with no resistance. Overall, the experience sucked. Mako's arms let go of the ropes so she could hold her hurting chest, causing the woman to slide down the turnbuckles and land on her ass.

Coughing and gasping, Mako was in bad shape as she remained defenseless. If there was any time to recover she'd be able to get back up, but Carmen had momentum, and it would be stupid to think she'd stop attacking now.

"HA-ACK! HU-ACK...ugh...is that the best you can do?" Mako would taunt while struggling to speak from all the hacking. And she'd even say it with the bravest smirk she could muster. "Oh great plan...yeah keep poking the bear, Mako...that couldn't possibly make things worse..." the shark said to herself knowing how dumb she was to ask for even more punishment.

Mako was good. Okay.

Not a problem, really. It just meant that Carmen had to be better.

That was the mindset she brought when she pushed Mako into the corner and went to work. Wrestling and boxing were similar in a lot of ways, and the chief aspect for her purposes was how important setting a pace was. Mako had managed to control things for a time, sure, but now that she was in the lead, the pace was hers to decide.

She kept it fast. Frenetic. Hard. In the end, Mako fell, coming down on against the turnbuckle, sliding down, wide open. Not that her position stopped from throwing out a quick quip, of course. It was one that Carmen could’ve answered in a number of physical ways - could’ve through a punch, could’ve kicked her in the face, maybe even a knee to bust her up. Definitely would’ve put her opponent in her place.

Instead, she just extended a hand, offering to help Mako back onto her feet. ”Luckily for you, it’s not.”

Mako was expecting a beating. She'd egged her opponent on. Practically begging for the former champ to pummel her in the corner mercilessly. But Carmen didn't do any of that. No punches, kicks, or knees. Instead, she offered the shark a hand with a friendly face. Mako didn't really know what to say or do, though. First off, she felt kinda embarrassed to have taunted Carmen so much only to receive her help. Secondly, she was too proud to accept the helping hand. And thirdly, she was blushing a bit, which was making her even more embarrassed.

"Well...luckily for you...Um.....I'm not taking that hand..." Mako said as she turned her head away for a second to hide it. After a few seconds of silence in this position, though, the shark caved.

"Ugh! Fine...I'll take your god damn hand..." Mako groaned before taking Carmen's hand and standing back up with her help. "Ya didn't need to hold back, though...I could've taken it...but...well...I guess...thank you" she'd tell her opponent before reluctantly whispering her gratitude.

Things got awkward for a moment. More so.

Carmen stood there with her hand outstretched, expecting it to be shook, and Mako...didn’t. She knew the woman was stubborn, and that could be a positive trait, but she wasn’t quite expecting her to be this stubborn. They’d had a good, fair sparring match, and that was all it was - just sparring. Nothing to get excited about.

Fortunately for whatever their relationship was at this point, it was only a joke. A bad joke, in Carmen’s opinion, but a joke. ”Hm.” She pulled Mako up to her feet with a solid yank, getting her up and standing, bringing them in close…

...for a quick kiss. Just a peck on the lips. Nothing much. But a kiss.

When the second passed, Carmen nodded, gave Mako a pat on the shoulder, and proceeded to make her way out of the ring. As casual as casual could be. ”Anytime, Mako.”