Lightning Tournament: Round 1: Gabbie Desjardin Vs. Lucy Grange

Lucy was thinking that she had the advantage here, her wrestling moves had served to whittle down Gabbie. If she could just keep on it then perhaps victory would be assured for the British girl, in the squared circle Lucy had proved that she could adjust her strategy if need be to suit the opponent. That was how success could be gained.

But perhaps in the adjustment of her strategy Lucy had chosen to go back to her striking attacks, which might have made a bad choice. As Gabbie just demonstrated, while Lucy was on the rebound from the ring ropes Lucy couldn't change her course. Gabbie might be fuelled by being desperate, but either way her attack would hit.

Ms Grange's eyes bulged in their sockets as Gabbie drilled her with the spear, tackling the young woman right out of her boots. She fell to the mat with a heavy thud, earning a very loud grunt as the wind was taken out of her sails. Lucy groaned under her breath, great and there went the momentum.

Gabbie grunted when Lucy's soft body broke her fall as they both crashed into the mat. The spear was satisfying but it wasn't enough. The Canadian shifted her body enough so she could reach one of Lucy's smooth legs and yank it up above her, rolling Lucy into a pinning position.

"ONE!"

Lucy was no stranger to being hit with a spear, given that she was often smaller than her male or female opponents it made sense to ram her down. Ms Grange was inwardly thankful that Gabbie wasn't some giant, cause then it would have hurt a lot more. But still that wasn't much of a relief, because it still hurt!

Ms Grange grunted as Gabbie did what she did, try to go for a pin. The Brit was dazed with the air taken out of her sails, she gazed up at the bright lights high above her. Lucy took a deep breath, to try and recover as best she could.

"TWO!"

That was the warning Lucy needed, gritting her teeth the Brit would quickly yank her arm up and that was going to break the pin. Just what Ms Grange needed, Gabbie was going to have to try harder if she wanted that win. The match had gone on for quite a bit, it was time to see who could hang in there longer.

Gabbie shifted when Lucy's arm shot up. She rolled off Lucy, but unlike before, there was much more even look. As she looked down at the Brit and reached for her head, there was even the faintest hint of a smile on her face. Maybe she was gloating that she got a two count to Lucy's one or maybe she was enjoying the fight in general or maybe it was both, but it was there, briefly, before fading back to her determined scowl.

Gabbie tried to keep a hold on Lucy and stand her up so she was hunched over in a loose side headlock. If she could haul Lucy up, then she would try and drive a vicious knee into Lucy's gut.

Yeah Lucy knew this wasn't good, it was that little thing called woman's intuition. Ms Grange often relied on making sure the pace of the fight was in her control, so when the enemy busted out something like this. It was like the proverbial needle scratch.

Still Lucy knew she had to keep fighting, she was going to try and rise up. But Gabbie was doing that already, but the British girl knew that it wasn't out of good sportsmanship. Nope what Gabbie did give Ms Grange was a hard knee to the gut, okay that one hurt. Given how the enemy displayed great skill in striking that had been a harsh reminder, Lucy elicited a hard grunt in response to the attack.

But the Brit knew she had to get something in, some form of offence. The knee meant the leg was close to Lucy, so Ms Grange felt it best to wrap her arms around it while taking a step away from the enemy. Well her left anyway, and Lucy would try to stretch the leg out and slam her elbow down near the knee. Wasn't the fanciest thing but it was all she could think of.

Gabbie grunted as Lucy grabbed her knee. It wasn't something unexpected, but it was quite annoying. She was left hopping on one foot while Lucy backed away enough to set up the elbow strike. Gabbie's mind was working though. She had a plan and Lucy was walking right into it!

At least, until the elbow crashed into her knee.

"Oooughh!"

Gabbie yelped and collapsed to the canvas on one knee, her long, smooth and toned leg still in the grip of the Brit. Gabbie knew she couldn't allow Lucy to just have free reign at her knee so she pulled her free leg out from underneath her and retaliated, lashing her foot right back out at Lucy's own knee. She was still pretty confident she could beat Lucy even if they both had to fight at half height.

Lucy was thinking that slugging it out wouldn't be in her favour against Gabbie, but the match had gone on long enough to warrant a change in tactics. Fuelled by just a twinge of desperation, which could be used as a rather good source of power.

The elbow strike jiggled Gabbie to be sure, and sent her down to the floor. Lucy thought that this was something she could build on, keeping the enemy down meant perhaps she could apply more submissions. But in for a penny in for a pound, Gabbie hit Lucy in the knee too.

"Argh! Damnit!" Ms Grange shouted as she fell down like a sack of potatoes, Lucy wasn't sure if she could really stand up for a bit. The British girl relented on her hold in Gabbie's leg, in an effort to try and crawl away. Lucy had one good leg, and with that she was in a sort of semi crouched position as she tried to move away. This was an emergency, gonna need an icepack there after all this.

"My thoughts exactly!"

Gabbie growled at Lucy as she fell down. The Canadian took a moment to nurse her leg and as Lucy crawled away, Gabbie decided to as well, putting a bit of distance between them. The match had been pretty long, and Gabbie was feeling the fatigue too, but she could also smell victory.

She tried to use the ropes to stand up, testing her knee. It throbbed, but she hoped it would hold. She looked across the way at Lucy. "Ready to give up, yet?" She asked with a grin, hobbling toward the center of the ring with a bit of a limp.

Lucy wasn't liking this, not one bit. Gabbie got one of her legs, that was never good. Didn't matter how you fought in the ring, legs let you move about. For Ms Grange it was a rather big deal given her reliance on moving about, this match had to end and soon.

Like Gabbie made sure to get up, but Lucy didn't have the luxury of the ropes. So the Brit was just a bit slower in getting up, gotta make sure she didn't pull anything. A nail she could break, but a pulled muscle was something far worse. Still Lucy had to admit she liked Gabbie's jive, being able to crack a quip like that in the current situation was a little admirable. She didn't strike Ms Grange as the type that would do so.

Still Lucy smirked and said "Was gonna ask you the same thing...." with that out the way Ms Grange was going to try and meet Gabbie in the centre of the ring. The Brit was slower than she often was, with her arms somewhat out as if ready to grapple. As much as Ms Grange wanted to rush in and take the fight to Gabbie, her body wasn't really thinking like that due to the match and what she had just gone through.

Gabbie smirked at Lucy as she spoke, but she could see Lucy was slower to the draw. She wanted to take advantage of it and bring the match to a close. As Lucy raised her hand for a grapple, Gabbie planted her good foot and lifted up her other leg and pressed it close to her chest. She then lashed it out, aiming it at Lucy's face, hoping to slam it into the Brit's chin.