Summer Splash Challenge! Taylor Vs. Adrian: Event 1!

Adrian's victory was almost complete, all she had to do now was push Taylor's arm down the last inch and she would have beaten the blonde fitness nut at her own game, even if it was with a bit of a houserule. Just the last bit to go.

Just the last bit...

Fuck.

Taylor had managed to save herself from defeat, no matter what Adrian did to push it down, the blonde just wasn't budging anymore and the strain was starting to show on Adrian. Despite the brief reprive where Taylor's resistance melted away for her trick, she had been pushing the limit of her strength for as long as she could, no matter how hard she tried there was no extra source of power to call on, just keeping the pressure on and hope Taylor's strength just gave out before hers did or her psyche out would be all for naught.

Part of Taylor was just waiting for a pop, or a snap, or some other horrible thing. It didn't matter how exhausted she became or how hopeless it looked, she would not give up before her body did, even if that meant ending up handicapped for the next two challenges and the match.

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Adrian fading, if only in her mind. Despite Adrian's little scam, she had failed to pin Taylor's arm, and Taylor could imagine her morale just melting out of her. She had to show the filthy cheater what she was really up against.

Taylor adjusted her position, and with a long growl she gathered up all her strength and poured every drop it into willing Adrian's hand to move. She just had to get it started. She knew the dork would break.

Adrian struggled and struggled but Taylor was slowly but surely fighting back, the two hands moving back towards the center as her will to win sapped. She was so close, and yet so far. That wasn't to say she wasn't about to go down fighting, she had said before Taylor was the quitter, not her, and she was about to prove it. Squeezing her eye shut she tried to pull on every bit of strength she had, trying not just to win anymore but obliterate the blonde. She didn't want to go down easy? She was going to pay for it.

Inch by inch Taylor took back all the progress she had lost to Adrian's scummy little trick. Every bit that Adrian had taken with her shortcuts, Taylor was going to take back with strength and will.

She didn't look. She didn't need to. She imagined the look on Adrian's face, growing more desperate by the second as she moved closer and closer, until finally she would collapse and mentally throw in the towel. The thought of it allowed Taylor to deal with the pain and exhaustion in her arm, her shoulder, her neck. She reveled in the pain because she knew it had all been earned while putting Adrian in her place.

Adrian's face remained stoic as possible through the strain, but her eyes betrayed her own desperation as she was pulled back beyond the half-way point, back to where she started her trick from... and then further down, down.

WHAM

Her hand hit the table, the former cosplayer's strength just completely sapped. Her arms felt numb for now, but they were going to start hurting like hell once the adrenaline wore off, but probably not as much as the inevitable verbal barrage from Taylor. Even with her stunt she'd still lost, and it probably hurt more that she'd done all that to try and win and still come up short. probably should have just stuck with writing this off... she thought. If she'd at least not tried she could have always pulled the "I let you win" card on her, maybe drudge up some half-baked comparison to their first match or something. Instead she just had to suck up the shame of it, and get the fuck out of there before the blonde got her hand on a mic.

Taylor stumbled a step alongside the table as Adrian's resistance finally stopped. She let her arms fall limp at her sides, aching and burning and crying for air. She breathed a deep sigh, more of relief than anything else. If she had lost that, her own choice for the challenges, she would never have forgotten it.

She gazed across the table at the brunette, her expression humorless and weary. "You're still doing that shit, huh?" She said.

She didn't think she needed to say anything else about it, Adrian knew what it meant for the challenge, for her as a competitor, and for her as a person, even if she wasn't willing to admit it. With a stupid plan like that, she had lost before they even began. Crutches were for cripples, and Taylor only wanted to walk on her own two feet.

If Adrian had the energy to lift her arms up, she would have probably flipped Taylor off at this point. "Still being an asshole about everything?" She mumbled back, turning to leave the ring, hanging her head in shame. She didn't want to mull on this, back to the long game, just don't think about what just happened, there's still a long way to go... just it was hard to just walk away from what felt like a car crash behind her.

Lukretia watched the match silently and when it was all over she lifted the microphone to her lips. "Ms. Parker vins ze first event. Please be sure to tune into ze next event. I hope it vill be thrilling."

Lukretia then turned to Adrian and Taylor. "Vunderbar, ladies." She said. "How spirited." She looked at Adrian. "You really have trained your body. I honestly expected zere to be no showing from you vhatsoever. Most surprising."

Lukretia turned her head. "Vell, some of it vas quite predictable." Lukretia looked dryly at the cosplayer. "You should have just spit in her face, fraulein. At least zen you vould have secured a victory. But... at least your good name is in tact."

Lukretia smiled as she snapped her fingers and commanded her maids to follow her.

Taylor gave the crowd a parting wave and a lavish bow, and then she jogged up the ramp, bumping into Lukretia's shoulder along the way. When she shoved the curtain aside and stepped backstage, she made a couple turns on her way toward the lockers and spotted Adrian up ahead.

"Hey, that Adrian Kytes, man," she said loudly enough that Adrian wouldn't be able to ignore her, and with sarcasm so thick it was a miracle it didn't get stuck. "She's serious business. Adrian's a contender. Fightin' for the title and stuff, no more goofy costumes, no more dirty tricks and fireballs, no more spitting green shit everywhere." She scowled. "Adrian Philly Kytes, she's got brass balls and she's always lookin' to brawl, and she won't quit until she's got it all."

Adrian had barely made it to the lockers by the time Taylor caught up with her, the former cosplayer trying to get some feeling back in her strained arms before the barrage of sarcasm fit, her hands balling into fists. Well at least that still worked.

"Technically, all I did was puff out my cheeks. All that was in my mouth was a stick of gum so you kinda did it to yourself." She said defensively "But you're right, dick move on my part. Sorry."