Match of the Millennium

Description: Two spectators of the Southtown underground fighting circuit find a boring fight is made better the only way they know how; entering the fray themselves to show people how it's done. The Bear Wrestling Finn, Tarmo throws down with the Fighting Marvel, Shina!

[TARMO]
As many sanctioned martial arts matches as there are, somehow the underground fighting scene still finds a way to flourish. Some provide for even more visceral experiences with much less in the way of rules in the way (save for much more brutal definitions on when a fighter has won or lost in some circles). Others exist purely for the sake of illegal gambling circles -- the latter of which would surely take advantage of 'below board' matches in Japan, in particular, where the laws on gambling as a whole are still much stricter than in most places in the world.

Even here in Southtown - the so-called fighting capital of the world - such things are found here and there. A certain restaurant within the otherwise busy downtown district acts as an elaborate front for a large, basement-level floor that holds within it a wide, open fighting ring built to a bit lower depth than the rest of the flooring. The surprisingly-comfortable seating arrangements and the drinking bars lining each side of the spectator ring make this one a bit more higher-end than most underground fighting venues, perhaps -- but the sense of upper class is most likely broken almost immediately when one so much as glances at hte ring proper. Even when fighters aren't actively taking it up, old stains of crimson streaked across the cold floor act as a constant reminder of what truly goes on within.

Not to mention the bookies constantly weaving through the widely-spread seats and booths to take up wagers for whatever fight is lined up next.

Up over by one of the bars, a particularly large figure has taken up a stool -- but with his back turned against the coutner proper with a large glass of foamy beer in his hand, so that he might watch the two clearly-rookie fighters exchanging flimsy blows in the ring below.

Not that this particular figure is someone one would imagine is here purely to spectate. Not with the amount of muscle that lines his body, left exposed by the winter jacket he wears, unbuttoned, over his otherwise topless, massive form.

Perhaps Tarmo Karmala is simply waiting for his turn here now?

[SHINA]
Like Nature, Markets abhor a vacuum and where there are sanctioned fights there will always be the unsanctioned. Like the secretive Midnight Channel where Darkstalkers, Gears, and the weird are given their chance to be front and center for the masses that shun them by daylight. There is always an opening for people who will not, or cannot, meet the standards of official fighting leagues.

Sometimes, it's just a matter of knowing where greater challenges may yet await.

A young woman walks with an outsider's comfort among the crowds. As foreigner as much as the big man, she nevertheless uses that fact of her nature to brush aside the more well to-do of the crowd as she makes her way to where the drinks are. There, she sidles with the big man and makes an order for a drink, wine, and turns about to watch the ring with predatory anticipation.

It isn't long before she speaks up. "Have any of these fights been any interesting?" she asks the man, gesturing to the stained ring below. "Or is it all this?" She's clearly amused by the rookies trying their luck, rather than having any particular interest in the technicality or ferocity in the match. It's like watching clowns.

She is given her wine, and she holds it roughly, gripping the bowl rather than the stem. And she drinks hungrily, coughing at the end before looking back to Tarmo for an answer.

[TARMO]
While the massive Finn's attention might have appeared to have been primarily on the ring, the approach of the woman does draw him to peek sidelong at her. Just briefly , at first, but then he's turning a more full look down at her once she's settled down besides him with an order for a drink put in.

"Hmmm... The ones I've been here to see anyhow," he notes in answer to her with a slight roll of one boulder-sized shoulder, before his eyes drift back towards the two rookies in the ring.

"They don't really have much of a bracket here tonight it turns out," he observes then, pausing for just long enough that he can get a taste of a sip of the beer. "Mm. More or less whoever just yells out first when the ring's free gets to have a go. Like an open mic night except... with fists. I'm guessin' the gamblers like it as a special kinda night too, since they gotta make their wagers based on just what they see in the first few seconds instead of gettin' to do research. Buuut..."

Tarmo grimaces at one particularly ungraceful spinning kick from one combatant that ends up resulting in both falling over -- the victim out of the impact, and the offender purely out of horrible balance. "...That does result in horrid showings like this too."

[SHINA]
"These guys are a joke."

Shina scoffs and quaffs at the same time, leaving the glass behind her along with a small bundle of yen to pay off whatever it might cost. She never bothered to ask and ends up overpaying. Unrefined as she is, she sniffles and shoves her hands in to the pockets of her fatigues. She considers the fights going on, and Tarmo's explanation of the situation of this place. A pout on her face lasts until she eventually hits on the nature around her.

"So anyone can just call in on this thing and make it a real fight?" she asks, gesturing to the ring. She huffs. "Probably not even worth throwing down if this is the kind of fighter they have around."

She slumps against the bar, chewing on her cheek, considering. After a moment she looks at the big guy and asks, "You just here to watch?"

[TARMO]
"They're not gonna let people just butt in on a fight already going on, but otherwise yeah," Tarmo offers in further explanation, with a frown still painting his face while he glares down towards the ring. He seems to more or less share Shina's distaste with the ongoing of the ring.

With a sigh, he takes a good, long swig of the beer, all the way until the glass has been drained out, and promptly slams it down onto the counter behind him.

"Wasn't originally," he confesses when she asks on his purpose behind being here. "But I'm kinda reconsiderin' if I want to even bother with it now."

[SHINA]
"Fight hard enough and they don't have much choice." Shina says with a dry confidence. "Hey, more of that wine. It's weak!" she calls back to the bartender, yet again she overpays.

"You said these people let anyone step up and fight?" she asks again. "You look like you can handle yourself, big man, what do you think about fighting a girl?" Her question has a challenging mischief in her eyes. "Or are all those muscles display only?"

She laughs and reaches behind her to once again take a wine glass by its bowl. "I need to stretch out. And don't worry, I'll take it easy on you."

[TARMO]
What does Tarmo think about fighting a girl? That question yanks his attention right over to Shina, with his thick brows raised first, before he more or less sizes her up there.

And then she's accusing him of just building all that muscle just to put it on display? "Them's fightin' words there, lass," he rumbles back, with a wide, toothy grin flashed down to her. "You seem plenty feisty enough for me to not feel bad about anythin'. So don't you go holdin' back on me either when it comes to that, huh?" He stretches his own arms up over his head for a moment, before pushing himself off the stool.

"Win or lose, I like seein' people goin' off at their full strength. You wanna give these rich bastards a show once those two idiots are done then?"

[SHINA]
The blonde smirks up at Tarmo. She nods about the grin. But she knows there's some things worth holding back at the moment. Still, the big guy doesn't need to know that just yet. She puts down the remainder of her glass. She drags the back of her hand over her mouth and wags a finger up at Tarmo. "You're on."

The rest of the fight is a lot easier to watch now, a glass and a half deep and with the promise of a real fight just on the other side of this weak opening act. She's gauged Tarmo as a guy with a physique close enough to the rogue Gado. It might not be a bad idea to figure out how she works against a burly figure like his own.

She may not want to, but she understands that there's always a chance she might have to fight her father.

But for now, she's leaning with her elbows propped up on the bar. "Call me Shina, by the way," she informs the man. Using her mercenary name, the birth one is saved for more official and formal uses. She prefers it, anyhow.

[TARMO]
"Then call me Tarmo, Shina," the large man offers in return to her with another toothy flash of a smile -- it's not quite beastial, but it might seem just a bit too eager for what's supposed to be coming ahead. Either way, his mood has certainly picked up considerably now, too, thanks to this chance encounter. "Settle the tab on the winner?"

Whatever she might respond with to his suggestion - be it an agreement, denial or counter-wager - the Finn grows much more patient with waiting for the two amateurs to get done with their ungraceful slugfest.

And once the fight is truly called, and the two are carted away?

"Come on," he rumbles out in quick urging, with a hurried push away from the bar. "'Fore someone else gets in on it."

For such a huge man, Tarmo sure can get speedy when he puts his mind to it. Off the stool, he goes all but running right for the ring -- and rather than taking the normal stairs down, he just leaps over the edge of the spectator balconies and down to land into the ring with a resounding *THUMP* of his weight once his boots hit the concrete.

Even the staff is a bit taken aback by this, but after the initial shock, they have little choice but to declare that they have one of their next fighters ready to go at least!

[SHINA]
Now those are some good stakes! "Deal," Shina says in a low voice. She laughs quietly to herself, confident in that she just missed on having to pay for anything else tonight. Not that she intended to drink or eat a lot more, but hey a wager made any bout more interesting. And looking at the general shape of Tarmo, Shina expects this will make good on the big guy throwing all his weight around.

She doesn't care about the amateur outcome, already pushing off the bar to head after Tarmo. She uses the Finn as an ice breaker to walk through the crowds to take up the ring. She hops to the safety railing and takes a rolling leap after the Finn.

Landing, rolling, and getting back up to her boots, she turns on heel and points up to the staff. Her and Tarmo making good on demanding the place for themselves as she keeps her back to the Finn. "So, think we got their attention?" she asks her co conspirator.

She steps out toward the sidewall of the ring, just to keep things all on the up and up and proper so the people above can pretend this is is a formal fight.

[TARMO]
"I think I would say so," Tarmo observes with a throaty chuckle, all the while following Shina's example to sidle up towards the sidewall. It might not be anywhere near an official or in any way approved match for certain, but some standards just remain even in situations like this. Tarmo even lifts one chunky fist up high above his head!

Though after a few seconds, he brings that hand down to grab onto his jacket, giving it enough of a tug to let him shrug it off of himself and then toss it up to the safety railing seperating the spectators from the drop into the ring above. The impact of Tarmo stripping the clothes from his upper body might not be as heavy with him having already left his chest and stomach bared to begin with, but still.

"You prolly guessed this already, but I don't like easy fights," he declares when he turns to facing Shina again, pressing his palm to the knuckles of the other hand to lightly crack them. "You won't disappoint me, will ya?"

COMBATSYS: Shina has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Shina            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Tarmo has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tarmo            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Shina

[SHINA]
Shina rolls her shoulder and gives Tarmo a challenging stare. "Don't like it easy, do you?" she asks. "Good. Cause I wouldn't want to disappoint."

She crouches, slapping her knee, and she looks down across the ring to Tarmo. She nods to herself and sets off with a burst. Her boots thud against the ring, raising louder with each step, as building chi energy starts to crackle and burst from her heels. She blasts forward to Tarmo and kicks herself up into the air. A quick turn, and she crashes down for Tarmo's big and exposed chest with her heels crackling with purple lightning.

COMBATSYS: Shina successfully hits Tarmo with Double Leg Missile.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Tarmo            0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Shina

[TARMO]
Tamro might have bene hopeful for a good, challenging fight to begin with -- but still, the sheer speed and ferocity that Shina crosses the arena with does actually take him by surprise. "Wh-"

Quicker than he even realized, for that matter. His arm comes up to try and sweep her aside, but he finds her flying right past that effort of a defense like a missile. SLamming right into his chest with enough force for him to let out a groan of mixed surprise and pain, and his enormous form to be sent skidding back along the concrete a few paces before a stomp of his boot-covered foot halts his motion.

"W-whoa there--" he rumbles out with a faint cough, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "Even feistier than I thought then--!"

Another stomp, this one ahead of him, and he leaps right back across the little bit of distance her kick ended up creating. He's not going for a kick, no-- he's just coming in to leverage his own mass to violently shoulderchek the blonde.

COMBATSYS: Shina interrupts Rynnakko from Tarmo with Trap Leg Through.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Tarmo            0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0            Shina

[SHINA]
Bang! Off of the man's chest! Shina rolls backward in the air and lands in a low three-point stance. "Are you feeling regret for asking me to go all-in?" she asks, teasing while she picks herself back up to her proper stance.

She shifts when he comes at her, this freight train of meat. Squaring herself, she holds her position and when he slams bodily into her, she goes for the ride.

The weight of the check shudders through her body. Even prepared, even planned for, this kind of power that Tarmo has isn't something that can be simply ignored or just battered through. Even for Shina. And her head rings as she rethinks her plan; she's going to have to up her game in this realm.

But despite the dull ache, she knows it's just the beginning and it's just the start of her positioning. "Thank you so much for giving me this arm," she says, using her position to grapple hard with Tarmo's arm. Then, she whips herself up and onto Tarmo's shoulders. There, she tightens a vice-leg grip onto his head and with a wrenching twist she crashes down to the mat with the larger man.

[TARMO]
"Wouldn't have it any other way!" Tarmo manages to roar out just before his shoulder smacks into the woman, and--

"Eh?!"

That was definitely unexpected. Shina has quite quickly figured out how to use the size difference to her advantage, as it turns out, and before Tarmo even fully realizes what's happening, he finds thighs clamping down around his head and the momentum of his charge is turned to leverage his body down with a mighty crash!

"Gah--! You--!" The Finn growls, writhing his head this way and that to defiantly try to peek up at her in spite of the... rather akward positioning left there. But-- then, he finds himself grinning, anyway.

"Thank you for the legs...!"

One large hand goes to grip at one of the legs locking onto him. Not to pull her off however, no. Instead, he holds on tight there, while his other arm leverages his body up just enough to get onto one knee, and then simply launch himself up, the weight of the momentum carrying him all the way to falling backwards again -- but bent just enough to guide Shina's body into the ground first.

COMBATSYS: Shina blocks Tarmo's Improvised Throw.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Tarmo            1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0            Shina

[SHINA]
Tucking, rolling, Shina holds on tight when she goes up into the air. Carried easily by the great mass of Tarmo, she's hoisted high and begins to feel the air through her short, spiked hair. Close in makes it a little harder to get away from the situation, show she has to move herself in the least jarring way.

When she goes down with Tarmo, she hits with a huff, squirming free of the grapple and rolling away before the weight of Tarmo could crush her down. "You wrestle?" she asks, laughing, "Then let us." Down low, she stands almost on all fours, before scrambling for Tarmo before he can get back up. She moves fluidly, slipping up for his back to grab on, to hug tight, and to plant her feet. With everything she has she yanks back and pulls with all the force she can muster to try and hoist the Finn up and over into a brain crunching suplex.

With total flow of herself, she continues to roll after the attempted through, pushing up to the air to send herself carriage wheeling to kick with a heavy heel atop Tarmo's head.

COMBATSYS: Shina blitzes into action and acts again!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tarmo            1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0            Shina

COMBATSYS: Shina successfully hits Tarmo with Toughness Driver.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Tarmo            1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0            Shina

COMBATSYS: Tarmo interrupts Fierce Strike from Shina with Moukari-Isku EX.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tarmo            1/-----==/=======|=======\==-----\1            Shina

[TARMO]
"Slippery..." Rumbles Tarmo after rolling himself away, too -- but he clearly seems to not be exactly disappointed by this revelation either. He *did* say he doesn't like things easy, and the challenge Shina is putting up now is clearly something he relishes too.

A challenge she reiterates with how quickly she's moving around him all over again. The shock on Tarmo's features is all too evident to everyone -- except perhaps for Shina herself, considering where she's positioned. Very few people are able to hoist his mass up so easily!

"Ga--!"

He doesn't even have time to let the yelp of surprise come out completely before his skull is poudned down onto the ground, and left slumping down after the blonde has rolled away. He does start pushing himself up with one elbow, but he seems left open otherwise for the incoming kick!

...That is, until his other hand suddenly shoots up and slams his palm into the heel of her boot, halting the momentum of the kick and letting his thick fingers clamp on tight onto that foot.

"...Thanks for the leg," he growls with a grin, before using the bit of height he's managed to get back with his rise to suddenly turn and toss his whole body over. And with his hand still holding onto her foot, she's brought swinging across the air by a powerful yank of his hand, assisted by the momentum of his own forceful turn, until she's brought down to the floor face-first.

"Hhhaahhh... I haven't had this much fun in a while..." The Finn rumbles while he pushes himself up to one knee again, from his stomach this time, while the grip of his hand turns from the bottom of Shina's foot to her ankle. "You're really pushin' me to my limit here!"

[SHINA]
Shina is lucky she isn't most people. Though given her secrets, she isn't entirely human herself anymore. Her grip is prodigious and her speed unnatural at points. But it only holds her so well when Tarmo has such sheer bulk and experience on his side. Despite talents, Shina herself is barely out of high school. Her exuberance and excitement at the fight is a sign of that underlying immaturity at approaching this contest.

And it's that that leaves her open to getting swung like a bat into the ring with with a crash. The crowd, now with something to watch and people worth watching, are beginning to make noise. Noise that blends in with the ringing of Shina's ears.

She wonders, for a moment, if she could get away with truly opening up on this guy. But she bites her tongue and knows it's not the time or the place. Even if she loses, it's a lesson in her weaknesses. She can keep going as she is.

"If this is your limit, big guy," Shina grunts, lifting off the mat and doing a quick show of a push-up. "Then I'm still on easy street!"

She pushes, hard, and twists herself around to get for Tarmo's wrist and forearm. Up close, she uses her held weight to wrench at Tarmo's arm and to bend his elbow to pull the big guy down to the ground.

COMBATSYS: Tarmo fails to interrupt Power Throw from Shina with Ihmiskeihas EX.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Tarmo            0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1            Shina

[TARMO]
"Don't go counting on it--!" Tarmo all but roars out, shooting his body up and out at the same time Shina does. Both of his large, powerful hands go reaching out for her with a threat of a vice grip in each.

...But somewhere along the way, there was a miscalculation. The speed and strength packed into the woman's smaller body still had not been hammered in properly, perhaps. Just the quick twist of her body that works to grab for his wrist is enough to jostle his reaching motion aside, and his momentum to get turned quickly against himself. His free arm gets swept aside by the uncontrolled shift itself, and his ather arm is wringed painfully to send the man down to the floor with a hefty groan from the impact as he goes down face-first.

"Hrrr... Okay... you're real strong..." He growls. Were it anyone else, that admission might sound like an outright complaint. But when Tarmo manages to crane his neck to turn a look back up to her? He's still somehow smiling.

"Figured I'd like you when you first came along."

[SHINA]
A peal of laughter when Shina rides Tarmo to the ground. And when he can't keep up with her momentum, he takes her to the mat and releases so that she can roll backward and up into position. Chest rising and falling with heavy breathes, her face is flush and for a moment, he eyes seem brighter, and the pupils slit to narrow the focus of the light.

"You're fun," she says, "But come on, I'm just getting warmed up! Let's go, let's go, let's fucking go!" Her cry is loud and she calls to the roof before shaking out her bristly backswept hair. Her eyes starting to settle and look more human after the outburst.

She squares her stance and cocks her arm back. Crackling purple energy sparks up like lightning, crawling from fist to forearm as she readies herself and locks onto her target. Finding it, she blasts forward. There's no real technique, just pure speed and the force of a blasting electric chi that comes with the lightning fast right cross to Tarmo's lifting head. All with a single warning. "Keep up!"

COMBATSYS: Tarmo blocks Shina's Assault Blow.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tarmo            0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1            Shina

[TARMO]
Upon getting released, Tarmo is quick to roll himself over too, and start pushing himself upwards. To one knee, first, and then the other. Breathing ragged, blood dripping down from his nostrils after the forceful slam that brought him down to the ground. With a grunt, he wipes his hand over his nose briefly, and just... grins at the woman while she's letting out her excited battlecry. Does he notice the way her eyes shift? If he does, he's not put off by them, then.

"Come on then!" He roars out right back at her as he forcefully pushes himself upwards with one foot stomping down into the mat below with enough force for the sound of it to echo through the room. "Show me everything you got!!!"

And that she does! He's still working himself up from a one-knee'd posture after that one posture when she comes in.

"Rraaaahhh--!"

Another stomp that digs the Finn's heels down onto the ground, hissing past his teeth as an electrified fist comes in for his head while he's still hunched over from the incomplete rise.

And up comes his arm. This time he manages to get it imposed in the way-- a thick tree trunk of a forearm lined with a mass of meat soaking the impact, even if the electifying chi visibly burns at his skin.

Boot-clad feet shuffle back a few inches in the wake of the force behind Shina's strike. "Y-...yeah--! That's it! Give me everythin'!" He still roars out, words hsaking with almost maniacal laughter while his other arm winds far back behind himself--

And launches forward in a wide, sweeping uppercut for the blonde woman's gut. An uphill battle this might be for him, but he'll be damned if he won't defiantly put everything he has into stubbornly running up that hill!

COMBATSYS: Shina dodges Tarmo's Ilmahyokkays.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tarmo            0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1            Shina

[SHINA]
A drilling punch meets sturdy meat. And the response. It's fiery. Shina like. She digs that crackling fist in deep as she can before breaking it back when she's sure it won't crack the Finn's defenses. "You want everything? Nope. You ain't there yet," she tells him.

That's when his fist comes up for her. She sees it before it comes and she skips back away from the heavy blow to let it bite the air and to give her some room to breath again. "C'mon," she taunts, dancing from foot to foot, "This is what you have? I'm still warming up. Don't get so tired on me." Hints of her native accent begin to bleed in her husky voice.

She shuffle steps forward. A slinking approach that has her come in with a simple, direct, facially directed side heel kick that swings around with a sharp and focused strike pattern. Not flashy, not crackling, just a direct show of precision and training of a lifelong mercenary.

COMBATSYS: Tarmo interrupts Medium Kick from Shina with Karhun Isku EX.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Tarmo            0/-------/--=====|=======\=======\1            Shina

[TARMO]
The meaty fist swings wide past, and Tarmo himself is left to hobbling a step or two forward after the sudden denial of something for his hand to strike against and slow his own momentum. It's forced to a halt with another stomp, but it does leave his side momentarily exposed still.

"Cocky..." He grunts in accusation past grinning, subtly-bloodied teeth.

And in comes the kick. With a slight breath, however, he suddenly spins himself around to facing her, one high raised foot arcing with it and then stomping down HARD to forcefully push his body forward even while the kick is coming.

"GRAAAAHH!!"

Her foot slams right into the man's side. But it doesn't stop him. His fist, brought up overhead, arcs wide after the brief wind-up, and quickly comes plummeting right back down for Shina while her leg is still raised up in the wake of the kick.

It collides right into the side of her head, enough to knock her back and clear some room between the two of them after that briefly-uncomfortable closing.

"Come on," he growls after steadying himself again, with a splatter of blood spat down onto the mat below him, only to flash a bloodied grin to his opponent "Don't hold out on me now..."

[SHINA]
Gawp!

A sudden shocked gulp of a cry comes from Shina when the brute takes her kick and uses it to buy the time he needs to crown her hard. The blow knocks her head aside, she crumbles down, hurled through the air. She lands with a winded bark. That was a hit. This is a rush.

She considers again. She knows she can unleash, but not now and not when she still feels she has everything to hold onto. Can't just tip a hand because you like a big guy who shows you a bit of fun. This ain't the battlefield and he didn't do anything to deserve that bullet to the brainpan.

She tightens a fist and punches the mat. "Damn right!" she calls back, delayed, to the accusation. "Are you just now deciding to fight me, Tarmo?" she asks, spitting a gob of saliva and blood to the canvas and lifting herself up again. "I wonder if you have it in you to keep up the pace? I think I can outlast what you have."

She bounces on the balls of her feet to work out the pitching and rolling angle of the mat caused by that brain scrambling blow. And when she's found her approach, she makes it. A sudden, sharp lurch. She rolls one way, scrambles low, and then rolls outward and raises opposite. She leaps, lifting into the air to get height enough to come careening back to earth with a downward raining haymaker blow to her wrestling opponent.

COMBATSYS: Shina successfully hits Tarmo with Strong Strike.

[                            \\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Tarmo            1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Shina

[TARMO]
"Let's find out..." It might not be considered wise to egg Shina on, but Tarmo just relishes in it regardless. Pain's not enough of a discouraging factor for him to stop wanting to see what this girl has to give.

Even if he is barely keeping himself up on his feet.

Pain-hazed eyes try to track her while she steps and rolls, green eyes twitching with just a bit of delay behind her motions. Enough of a delay that when she suddenly disappears from his vision, it takes him just too long to properly realize where she's coming from.

And so his eyes find her above him only early enough for him to see the incoming strike. To see it coming, but not early enough to do anything about it.

BAM!

Her knuckles strike down straight in the center of the Finn's skull. Everything rings. Vision doubles and his jaws clamp together almost hard enough to threaten fractures in his teeth. A backward stagger, an uneven wobble, and finally--

The mountain of flesh that is Tarmo falls back, with a mighty THUMP as his heft hits the mat with a small bounce.

"Gah... ahahaha... You..." The Finn laughs breathlessly down there, broad chest heaving up and down a bit unevenly with his breaths. "...Really are something... I guess I'm the one disappointin' here afterall..."

A pained groan, and one elbow pushing down at the mat to work his upper body upwards. Just by a few degrees. Enough for him to level his eye - the other one's been forced closed after that hit - on Shina before he lifts his other hand up high, fingers slightly splayed out.

"That was... fun though..."

COMBATSYS: Tarmo takes no action.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Shina            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

COMBATSYS: Tarmo can no longer fight.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Shina            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

[SHINA]
Shina stands, arms checked, ready to keep going. She felt that crack and with it came a rush. But then the big man has had enough and finally spent, he takes the fall. She stays in her position, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. Ready to snap a kick or a hold should the fight be continuing. Each blow bringing back more of her energy. But it doesn't come.

So she does what needs be done and shakes out her fist from the painful crack it took against Tarmo's thick skull. That shit stings. And she blows on her knuckles before turning about to throw her arms out and cry out to the crowd with a wordless shout of victory. Not quite a roar, but the tone and timbre is there.

She turns back around and reaches for the outstretched hand. To give it a grip and to help Tarmo back up to his feet. "Damn, that was a blast. You got good grip, big hands too," she comments. "Wrestlers always surprise me. Never expect them to be so fast."

She laughs, eyes bright and excited. "And there is nothing else tonight in this place that will match us. No way about it."

COMBATSYS: Shina has ended the fight here.


[TARMO]
A couple more breaths are needed for Tarmo to properly refocus himself after all that, regardless. Still, he gives a faint smirk when she steps over to take the hand he'd raised in signal of relention. The help might not have been entirely expected, but he welcomes it all the same, with his fingers clamping onto her forearm for further support while he heaves himself up.

"What's the point of havin' hands this big if you can't do anything with them, huh?" He points out with a low, rough sound of laughter once he's up on his feet, giving a friendly squeeze to her arm for emphasis while her hold on him from helping him up still remains, too. "You really got my blood pumpin' there too... You hit like a fuckin' truck, you know that?"

His eyes meet hers with her final declaration, and he mirrors her laugh with his own. "No doubt. We gotta do this again sometime. For now though--"

His grip on her arm shifts, tugging it upwards in further cementing of her victory for the crowds -- and a show of respect for his opponent.

"You got some drinkin' to do on my dime!"

Log created on 12:30:14 06/22/2021 by Shina, and last modified on 21:22:46 06/22/2021.