SS 16 hardcore Title Match: Adrian Kytes (C) Vs. Alicia Wells in the Sea Lion's Den

Despite her best attempts to keep her hold, the shock of her skull slamming into a steel bar was more than enough to give Adrian her chance to escape. Alicia had done as much damage as she could to the champ’s ribs, enough hopefully to soften her opponent up, so she’d have to be content with that for now.

She did have more immediate issues. Given she’d been basically standing over Adrian after the champion cannoned her into the bars, she hadn’t had a chance to stop the brunette dropping and popping back up behind her. Before Alicia had finished blinking away the shock of the first impact, she felt the champion’s arms snake up, around her own to lock at the back of the neck. The Full Nelson wasn’t going to do that much damage by itself.

But it stopped her clinging onto the cage long enough for Adrian to sweep one foot out from under her and put her head back on a collision course with the metal bars she’d just met.

In a desperate gamble, Alicia tried to get one leg up to block Adrian’s attempt to put her face first into the cage. In an ideal world, she’d manage it in time to push them both backwards, so that they’d fall back onto the mat with Alicia on top – hopefully that would force Adrian to release the full nelson. And it certainly wouldn’t help her ribs to have one-sixty pounds of muscular Brit dropped on them.

More likely, she’d only be able to stop them both faceplanting into the cage. And, well, it was even odds whether she’d manage to do anything at all. Another impact like that would thoroughly daze her, leaving her open to however Adrian intended to follow up.

Well, she wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

Struggling with the big Brit as Alicia managed to put her strong legs to good use and push away from the cage, Adrian was forced to abandon her attempts to slam the amazon face first into the steel again, unless she wanted to be sat on again. Releasing one of the redhead's arms as she pushed herself just out of the way as the two fighters went pitching back towards the comparatively comfortable canvas instead of the metalwork.

Still, given the situation Adrian was in not a minute prior, being free from anyone's grasp was a major improvement for the former cosplayer as she shuffled away from Alicia, trying to get some space to pull herself up as she cradled her sides, wincing all the way. Perhaps moving fast after having her ribs crushed like a toothpaste tube wasn't the safest option, but she couldn't really afford to slow down at all, not now she'd managed to make the big Brit bleed.

It was time to re-scale the cage for Adrian, this time trying to push herself up the sloped steel with her back pressed against it, trying to keep an eye on Alicia before she pulled herself up onto the balcony, up with the referee and the weapons as she flashed the official a quick thumbs up. The high ground was a legitimate strategy here, especially when it put a bit of distance between Adrian and the Amazon.

It was a definite relief not to be slammed into the bars again, though she could have done without dropping butt first onto the canvas. Admittedly, the redhead’s curvy posterior did help in that regard, but it still hurt even if it had got her out of the full nelson as hoped.

With Adrian off her back, Alicia took the force of the impact with a grunt that was decidedly irked in nature. Her movements too were slower as she climbed back to her feet, turning in time to see the champion yank herself up onto the platform that ringed the cage.

Well. Damn. That was a smart move.

Alicia’s gaze flickered up and down as though she were immediately contemplating climbing right up after Adrian but she knew it’d be stupid even as she looked. She might be quick for her size but Adrian would have the high ground and an arsenal of weapons to bludgeon her with. It would never end well and fighting up there would be as risky as any match she’d gotten herself into. There wasn’t a lot of foot room and a decidedly nasty drop either side if she wasn’t careful.

Finally noticing something was off, Alicia raised a hand to her forehead. Swiped a couple of fingers across. And blinked when they came away wet. Yes. She was actually bleeding. Not that it bothered the British amazon. She merely eyed it for a moment, her expression unreadable, then turned her unflinching gaze back on Adrian.

It seemed like, for the moment at least, they had a bit of a standoff. She should have brought a deck of cards.

Adrian popped her head over the balcony, seeing Alicia down in the ring with the small spot of a different shade of red gave her a small smile as she looked down on the British amazon before rolling back more securely onto the balcony, holding her ribs as she chuckled softly. As much as it hurt, she had been making some progress at least.

Still she had some time up here, the redhead didn't want to chase and that gave her time to pick and choose her weapon of choice. The Kendo Stick was an obvious choice, longest range over the various martial arts sticks, but in the close quarters, it might have been unwieldy. The sticks were too small to really do some damage, the chain could be used against her, she'd already chucked down the nunchucks into the ring, and then there was the bag she'd brought all of it in, lying down on the side. She hadn't completely emptied it as she scattered the rest of the weapons around the balcony and it had some of her favourite weapons still inside.

Grabbing the kendo stick and the bag, she swung her legs back over the edge of the cage, facing the ring before she dropped back down, stick in one hand, the other holding the cage with her bag slung over her shoulder. Time to show why Alicia why in the division filled with pit fighters, brawlers and a bunch of crazies why she was on top of the pile as her feet hit the ground.

Staring up at Adrian, Alicia had to resist the urge to pace in frustration. Instead, she merely watched and waited, aside from pointedly and pointlessly booting the abandoned chain-weapon into a corner. Basically, unless she went up there to get Adrian, the champion was under no pressure at all. She could take all the time she liked recovering, before coming back down when it suited her.

That annoyed her on a very basic level, as well as being bad strategy. Letting her opponent pick when they fought… No, Alicia much preferred to do the choosing wherever possible. But there was no way she was going up, so it was just a question of waiting as the brunette picked her next weapon.

Some might have tried taunting but, well, not her style. And, give Adrian credit where it was due, Alicia really didn’t think she’d be stupid enough to fall into that obvious a trap.

So, she waited. And her patience was rewarded when the champion dropped back down to ground level, a Kendo stick in one hand and an obviously not empty bag in the other. The moment Adrian made her move, Alicia came storming towards her, readying a side kick aimed at those ribs.

It was a risk, sure, but she was gambling that her speed would let her close the gap and strike before the champion could ready herself.

Well that was to be expected. Adrian knew the moment she dropped back in the shark tank of a ring that Alicia would come swimming in; going back to trying to break the Hardcore champion down with her kicks again. But unlike the last time Adrian had climbed down with weapon in hand, the brunette could see the redhead amazon coming straight at her, and she had a bigger weapon this time.

Swinging the Kendo stick out, she tried to catch the incoming kick with the cane strike to her shin, taking away the brunt of the force from the former cosplayer's already hurt ribs, and give Alicia a reason to stop trying to do that same kick every chance she got. Even if it did once again force her off center it would give the Brit a stinging reminder that the range game was in Adrian's court for now, she'd have to brave some dangerous ground if she wanted to get in striking or grappling range instead as Adrian started to circle her, back to the cage wall as she held the kendo stick like a sword before darting in for a quick swipe at the kickboxer's knees.

Going in, Alicia had known Adrian would see her coming. She could see the champion had a longer weapon. And she could definitely believe that her opponent knew exactly how to do the most damage with it. None of that took much imagination. But fights were risky business, and she couldn’t just sit back. Rushing in and trying to land a hit before Adrian was ready for her was her best chance.

That didn’t mean it was guaranteed to work, just that she’d got to try something. Unfortunately, Adrian was a bit quicker than she’d hoped and Alicia herself wasn’t as fast as she’d have liked. The net result was her taking a kendo stick to the shin. It stung, but the redhead’s boot at least meant she didn’t take it to the skin.

Warned off, Alicia backed off, eyeing her opponent less than happily as thoughts ran through her mind. She was going to have to take a shot, maybe two, from that thing if she wanted to get close enough to attack. That didn’t worry her except one good hit might lead to her taking a lot more.

Adrian didn’t seem to want to wait. The redhead turned to keep her opponent in front of her, refusing to let the champion get behind her. Then the champ darted forward, Alicia tensed and went for a kick- Only to misjudge the distance and take a shot to her wounded knee. She’d had a chance to rest it but the sharp blow reawakened a lot of the pain from earlier.

The British amazon remained standing, but the knee nearly buckled under her, forcing her to back up sharply in an attempt to avoid any more hits like that.

It was Adrian's turn to smile as she laid the hurt down on the British Amazon, taking full advantage of her new-found reach and striking damage to keep the redhead moving slowly "Surprised you didn't go for something." she taunted as she circled the big Brit, pulling the bag she had slung over her shoulder in front of her. "Considering you had to know what kind of match this was gonna turn into, don't tell me your research didn't include 'what happens when I grab a weapon and start hitting you with it'?" she asked before tossing her Kendo Stick at Alicia "Let me help you with that."

Reaching her hand inside the open bag, Adrian seemingly pulled out nothing but a closed fist with eyebrows raised in intruige. "Now..." the brunette began again, "If you've done as much homework, what's in my hand?" the Hardcore champ asked, acting so smug despite giving away her main weapon, rubbing the closed fist across her lips.

It certainly rankled to have that sort of thing thrown in her face, but aside from a tightening of her fists and her expression, Alicia did her best not to let the brunette see it bothered her at all. She couldn’t afford to lose her temper now, she really couldn’t.

It was hard when her opponent mockingly threw her the best weapon she’d brought down (on the surface at least). But she gritted her teeth and endured it.

Without taking her eyes off Adrian, the Brit stooped down to secure the Kendo stick, hefting it in her hand to test the weight and feel of the thing. She rolled her shoulders back before giving the champion a slight shrug.

”Didn’t help Abattoir much.” Alicia twirled the stick thoughtfully, violet gaze still trained on her opponent, ”Or Liberty.”

She didn’t expect to do anything with those comments. But she wanted to let the champion know that she wasn’t going to get under Alicia’s skin by talking that way. Actually, she really just wished people hereabouts would shut up and fight but it was what it was. More importantly, that was all she had to say.

She really wasn’t interested in playing guessing games with Adrian, though she had a fairly good idea of what was in her clenched fist – or had been in the clenched fist – and it was a large part of just why Alicia wasn’t rushing in. She had no interest in getting a face full of whatever that mist was either. With the Kendo stick in her hand, the ranged advantage was solidly in her court and she could still punish Adrian if the champ rushed her.

And every second they were in a standoff helped her more, giving her knee time to recover a bit and her temper time to cool.

"Heh." Adrian chuckled as Alicia blew off the need for weapons, but took the kendo stick anyway. Pulling up her fists in front of her chin like a boxer, the hardcore champion darted back into the fray. Trying to get inside the red-head's now enhanced range with a toothless smile on her face, lips firmly sealed as she ducked and weaved her way to get face to face, only to send out the same fist she reached into her back with and reveal what she'd pulled out.

As she threw the punch from outside her own range, she opened a hand full of white powder, now sailing through the air at Alicia with a call of "Pocket sand!" like she was on King of the Hill, her own palm now chalky white as she braced for the retaliatory strike.