AV 14 Dark Match: Avery Shields Vs. Eka Guramishvili

Avery had Eka on the brink, she had to believe that. The stubborn thought was the only thing keeping the steady creep of her fatigue at bay. Avery's taunting words had been full of confidence, after all. Now, she was obligated to back it up! Accepting Eka's clinch, the fiery redhead would drive herself heavily into her opponent with a sudden burst of strength--attempting to unbalance the Georgian and push her on to the balls of her feet. The tomboy would pump a punishing knee strike into Eka's ribs with her right leg before adeptly driving another vicious knee into the other side of the girl's torso with her left knee in rapid succession.

Much like Eka, Avery found herself relying on her roots to help soften her opponent up.

Both knees produced an awful crunching noise against Eka's body. Eka was literally on her back feet before both of the strikes hit their marks and her cry echoed around the arena. All the smiles the Eka had shared with Avery were gone. They were now face to face with each other and Eka was worn down both by the recent rain of blows and the tiredness she felt. Eka felt herself getting pushed back and she didn't like it.

Eka's legs were shaking. Her arms were less able to resist the redhead and her head was still pounding from the beating she had taken just moments earlier. It wasn't time for desperation, not yet, but the time was coming and Eka knew it. "I will not be defeated!" Eka shouted. More to encourage herself than anything else.

She unclinched with one hand and dropped it down. She then shot it upwards with as much force as she could muster for a vicious uppercut aimed directly at Avery's jaw. The hope was that she could get Avery to reel back as Eka had done. The hope was that Eka could rattle Avery a little bit and put her on the back heel. The hope was imminent, as a fist came up, trying to meet with flesh and bone and knock the slobber out of the freckled woman.

Avery's head shot back with a distinct pop from Eka's fierce uppercut. The jarring blow staggered the teenager, but she stood her ground and defiantly refused to be felled by the skull-rattling blow. With a warm, metallic, taste invading her mouth, Avery hastily turned her head before spitting some bloody saliva from her busted lips. She wasn't sure if it had been Eka's fist or her own teeth that had split open her bottom lip; nor did she really care in such a heated moment. Avery's visage hardened as a prideful fury washed over the fiery fighter.

"C'mon! Is that all you got!?" Ave spat her challenge sharply through gritted, bloodied, teeth as she sprang forward and stepped in quickly with a retaliative right cross. She'd attempt to hammer Eka's face with the vicious punch and outright clean the pretty Georgian's clock!

Avery knew just how bad Eka wanted this win, perhaps, more than anyone else. Unfortunately, only one of them could walk out of this ring the winner tonight. Emotions were high and everything they had both fought so spectacularly for was now clearly at stake. As much as Avery found herself genuinely liking the blue-eyed girl, she couldn't afford to hold anything back with the match now working its way towards a grueling climax.

The crowd gave a vehement roar of approval at the sudden explosive exchange. It seemed the submission-fall-only match was quickly escalating into an outright slug fest!

Eka was terrified that this woman would just spit out blood in such a nonchalant fashion. It was clear Avery was capable of all sorts of nasty things, and one of her least favorite was the wide cross that came slamming in to the side of her face and rattling her skull. Eka staggered in the clinch and held on to being awake as much as she could. For the moment she was still part of the world that thinks and wrestles and punches and not part of the blackness. A few more hits, though....

Eka gritted her teeth and tried to put those thoughts out of her mind. "I! Will! Not! Be! Defeated!" Eka was bellowing right in the redhead's face. She meant it with all her heart. This was slowly becoming a brawl, and even though Eka might have been a it out of her element, she was determined to make the woman woozy enough to get her on the ground.

Eka had displayed a bit of reticence to hit the redhead's face before but she wasn't going to hesitate anymore. A half step forward brought her close enough to see every freckle on Avery's face and a quick twist brought her elbow around aiming for at Avery's cranium. That would bring her low, surely...

It was hard for Avery to fight off the urge to match Eka's intensity, the distinct sting at her bloodied face and the Georgian's furious shouts easily riled the teenager's blood. Avery's instincts and reflexes remained sharp, however. The young redhead tore free from the clinch while allowing herself to duck swiftly beneath the vicious elbow that was thrown her way. Still very much in her own element at close quarters combat, Ave would attempt to punish Eka by rocking the young girls abdomen with two, lightning-fast, body blows delivered with the courtesy of Avery's hammering fists.

Confident that the quick exchange would momentarily stagger the stubborn Georgian, Avery would quickly seize one of Eka's arms before tossing her opponent with an Irish whip and outright sending Eka to bounce into the waiting ropes. The Georgian's rebound would be met by the potentially explosive clash of the fiery redhead's boot as Avery intended to run her opponent into the sweeping strike of a roundhouse kick. Ave pivoted fiercely and launched her lethal leg in a fierce arc--if her aim was true she'd blast the poor Georgian's head with the unforgiving blow and surely knock the young woman right off her feet in the process!

Eka was forced back a few steps after the two blows came in hard on her stomach. The backwards movement was abruptly halted when Avery grabbed her and sent her flying into the ropes. As Eka came bounding back she tensed with fright. Avery was pivoting, and attempting a kick that might knock her head clear off her shoulders. Eka was accustomed to life with her head firmly attached to her torso and decided to duck under it.

So there Eka was, behind her opponent, thinking as quickly as she could. She quickly put her arm in front of Avery's face and leaped up into the air for a double knee backbreaker. When the two women came crashing down, Eka would have Avery in a crossface, stretching her neck and back. Eka yanked backwards and pulled Avery's head.

She was banking on the fact that Avery had been loosened up by the blows enough to tap. Eka closed her big blue eyes, hoping to hear a tap and then the bell. Her breathing was quick and ragged. Come one, come on, tap, damn you. Let this be the end...

The Georgian's vicious backbreaker left Avery cringing against the mat. The sudden reversal left her as easy prey for Eka's follow up, which came in the form of a potent crossface. Ave's lean figure strained against the agonizing hold as an overwhelming sense of fatigue washed over the young redhead. A fresh sheen of sweat covered the freckled fighter, she panted desperately, fighting against the Georgian's tightening grasp. Eka's vast array of submission holds were truly beginning to take their toll, Avery couldn't deny her own weariness anymore.

The referee was there in an instant, excitedly hounding the captured redhead for her submission. In that moment, the easiest thing Ave could have done was simply give up...

You didn't join the AFW because you were looking for something easy. Fight, Ave! The words resounded within the young girl's mind and filled the spirited redhead once more with steeled resolve. She would fight with every shred of strength she still possessed!

Those fiery sentiments would suddenly become crystal clear as Ave finally gave the referee the answer she was waiting for, "N-No!... I-I won't give up now, or ever!"

Despite her emotional hyperbole, the burning words seemed to spur the desperate tomboy into action. Avery planted both of her palms to the mat before heaving upwards with her hips and jostling Eka's weight fiercely. The sudden surge would allow Ave to get her knees under her once more and, with Eka's leverage disrupted, the the determined youth forcefully pulled away from her opponent's inverted chinlock.

Ave rolled briefly and settled into a low, defensive, crouch. She couldn't even begin to try and hide her exhaustion now, but there was no denying the fire that flickered in the teenager's visage as she set her adamant gaze on the Georgian once more.

Eka cried out in surprise as she was unseated. She was jostled away from Avery, who purchased some distance between them with a quick roll. Eka hopped up and crouched into her own stance. Both of the women were tired and sore and aching. It would have been so easy for Avery to quit then, Eka thought. It would have been so easy to give up after the knee to the back and the crossface. But the fierce redhead wouldn't give up, wouldn't tap. Eka was beginning to admire her opponent more and more.

Eka took a wobbly step forward. She was in pain from the slug fest and every muscle protested her movement. Fatigue was becoming a factor as she took another small step. This one wasn't quite as unsure. Eka broke into a run at her opponent even as every muscle did its best to refuse to play along. She would form tackle Avery, clothesline Avery, something Avery just to get her on the ground so she could hit her finisher and bring this thrilling match to a close.

I won't give up, now, or ever.... Avery's tortured words played back in her mind. Me neither, Eka thought, as the distance between them became next to nothing. Eka extended her arms and made herself ready to bring Avery down to the mat.

Eka was relentless, but Avery could hardly blame the Georgian. Sure, Ave's defiant words had been compelling and full of conviction, but could she realistically hope to actually escape from the next crushing submission hold? Eka was surely eager to find out and if Ave was stupid enough to remain a sitting duck for the Georgian, her opponent would certainly get her wish. If Avery was going to win this fight she had to go on the offensive and take her opponent down--hard.

As Eka made her desperate charge, Ave raised to meet the challenge--dashing and clashing straight into Georgian. The fiery redhead would wind up sharply before suddenly lunging into Eka with a Superman punch--or, perhaps, a Supergirl punch, in this respect! Fully-cocked, Ave's gloved fist would launch over into a leaping cross and attempt to slam Eka's face with a devastational blow. The fiery redhead leaned heavily into her swing and snapped her leg straight back to give the punch its iconic form and thunderous stopping power.

It was certainly daring to answer Eka's charging assault with an equal amount of aggression, but, sometimes, you just have to go for broke!

Eka was charging in full speed ahead and simply couldn't react to the devastating punch hurtling at her face. It was a fastball to the face and the Georgian girl went down hard. She bounced on the mat before coming to a stop. The white canvas almost became her makeshift bed but she fought off unconsciousness as best she could.

Eka was banking on the fact that Avery was too drained, too out of it to react to her desperate charge. That proved to be somewhat less that sagacious as she cradled her aching head and offered some weak muttered curses in Georgian to the lights high above her. "Uhhh..." was all she could produce at the moment.

The dull roar of the crowd might have told her that the end was nigh. All Eka could do was lay against the mat and hope beyond hope that Avery was too tired to press her attack even further. She was in too much pain too tired to even brace her body for what was to come next.