AV 13 Loser Leaves Friction Match: Cassie Vs. Dark Angel

All three of them were still standing. John and Ro both looked very worried. Amanda, though, was there more for Ro and John than for Cassie and didn't seem to care as much.

“I think your girl is gonna lose.” Amanda said flatly. John, doing something that one would normally expect Ro to do, shoved Amanda back down into her seat, as if afraid Cassie would hear that. He then shouted on the top of his lungs again, hoping she could hear his booming, deep, and resonant voice.

“YOUâ€RE NOT OUT YET! KEEP FIGHTING! GIVE IT YOUR ALL RIGHT TO THE END!”

As Talia's leg crashed down across Cassie's throat, the true redhead curled up in pain. Only then had she realized just how much punishment she had given Cassie throughout the match. Never before had she been in such control of her opponent without using unfair tactics. In any other situation it would've made Talia feel accomplished and proud of all the training she had done prior to the match. But this wasn't just any other situation. This was essentially a win or die match. Talia had to take an opportunity that she may not get later on.

She shoved Cassie over to her back and pulled up on her leg in a quick pin. The referee slid beside the two and pounded the mat. "One!" She was so close to winning. She was so close to finally being rid of her greatest enemy to date. "Two!" All she needed was one more second...just one more second and all of this could be over.

Cassie flopped onto her back and stared up at the lights. In the back of her mind, she registered the voices of Akashi and John. The way they sounded, the urgency in their voices, she must really have been doing badly. The way she felt, she couldn't disagree.

The referee's hand came down once, and she thought about what they said. Maybe she couldn't win, but at least she could make it as miserable for Talia as possible.

There was the two count. She drew a breath and kicked with everything she had, a threw an arm up in the air to roll her shoulder off the mat.

"Th-" The referee stopped her hand right before it hit the mat. She shouted, "Two!"o![/b]" just to clarify that it wasn't a three count. Talia pulled herself to her feet and showed three fingers to the referee. The referee just shook her head and restated, "Two count." Unbelievable. What did she have to do? Frustrated, Talia ran up and kicked Cassie in the middle of her back and then shoved her to her back. "You're just making this worse on yourself, Cassie."

She reached down and grabbed Cassie by the hair to drag her into a sitting position. She took a few steps behind her and slightly bent down. Then, with all her might, Talia took a step forward and aimed at kick to the back of Cassie's head.

"For you too," Cassie panted.

She had to get up. She had to get back in the match, if that was even possible. She didn't know if her knee was okay to use, because she hadn't had a chance to walk on it since Talia's figure four. She let out a sharp cry when Talia dragged her up by the hair, and the kick that followed snapped her head forward. She slumped to the side, covering her aching head with her arms.

"Nnnnnngh..." She groaned, and slapped her ankle against the mat. She wondered, even if she won, would she have a career left after this match?

Talia looked at Cassie in pain for a few seconds while taking deep breaths to relax. She was a little tired but she couldn't rest now. Cassie needed to be finished. She needed to finish this once and for all. Only when everything was over was she going to have a chance to rest.

She kicked Cassie over so she was facing up and dragged her to the nearest corner of the ring. Talia climbed the turnbuckle and looked down at Cassie. Butterflies flooded her stomach. This felt all too familiar. But now there was no turning back. She couldn't be afraid. With one quick moment of courage, Talia leaped off the top rope and dove at Cassie in a frog splash!

Cassie head was swimming. The last kick had rattled her, she barely knew where she was. She probably had a concussion. As she laid sprawled out on the mat, unable to get up, she could only think of how completely different she and Talia were from when they first met in the ring, and yet the match had been so similar to the other two. What did she do wrong?

She wasn't disappointed. Talia went up high, just like in the last match, and almost automatically, Cassie drew her knees up to her chest, and instead of crushing Cassie's ribs under her weight, Talia instead found a rough landing across Cassie's shins.

Talia saw Cassie's reflex too late. She crashed into the girl's shins and rolled off to the side while crossing her arms across her abdomen. For a moment, she gasped as if hyperventilating. Her ribs hurts. But as she came to realize, they weren't nearly as damaged as they had been the last match. They just hurt. With that fear still fresh in her mind, Talia struggled to her feet while the pain was still fresh. Subconsciously, she knew she couldn't just lay there and let Cassie kill her for the mistake again. She stumbled as she turned around to face her opponent once more.

"Guuhh..." The impact knocked the wind out of Cassie, even if Talia got the worst of it. She slowly rolled over, folded over on her knees, and realized that she'd bought herself an opening. Talia was hurt. She couldn't let it slip away.

Without bothering to stand up first, she threw herself at Talia and grabbed for her ankle. She wrapped her legs around Talia's leg and her arms around Talia's foot, and then desperately twisted is around with what remained of her strength.

Before Talia realized what had happened, Cassie had already latched onto her ankle and was twisting it painfully. "Aah!" Talia groaned out loud. She tried to pry Cassie's legs off her own but to no success. She grabbed her own hair and ground her teeth together in agony. She reached out for the rope but it wasn't in reach. She used in her free leg to try and kick her way towards the nearest rope. She had to escape. She couldn't lose like this after coming so far. Talia fought and fought. Having pressed the advantage for so long had luckily kept her with enough energy to fight. She reached out and barely, and only barely, grabbed the bottom rope with her right hand.