Aurora Vs. Cassie Elliot

The impact shook them both but Cassie's body shielded Aurora. The blonde expected to be able to climb atop the girl right after to pin her to the mat but somehow Cassie had managed to hold onto her. Annoyed again, Aurora planted one foot on the mat. Then another. She deadlifted Cassie back up into the air. She momentarily thought about crashing back down in another spine buster but she was quickly losing patience with this girl. Aurora ran towards the corner with Cassie held in front to crush her against the turnbuckle.

Cassie held on tight and squeezed her eyes shut while she braced for the inevitable crash.

"Unngh!" The impact jarred her sore back again. That one was harder to take, and she let go of her opponent with her legs to put her feet back on the mat, though she had to settle for putting them on the bottom ropes when they wouldn't quite reach. She kept Aurora close, one arm wrapped around her upper back and the other hooked over her upper arm. That way, she would at least not be able to hit her in the face, and that, at least, was a small comfort.

Mamouru watched as Aurora managed to get a couple of good slams on Cassie. He cringed every time. This was harder than he thought it might be. But when Aurora muscled Cassie into the corner, Mamouru shuffled over.

"If you have her in a good position, capitalize! Don't let up! Don't give her a chance to rest and regroup!" He barked.

Johnny moved over to that end of the ring when he saw Mamouru move. He didn't want to believe it, but his instincts were that Mamouru just very well might try and do something physical to help Cassie lose. It didn't make any sense, but those were his instincts.

"Hey dude! You can't just give advice like that!" Johnny shouted from the other side of the ring.

Mamouru looked past the girls at Johnny before shaking his head and rubbing his temples. "Yes, I can, Junichi-kun. That's what managers do." He muttered to himself. Honestly, hadn't his brother learned anything about managing from the years spent around their mother?

Johnny, meanwhile, saw Mamouru's face and furrowed his brow. Well, if he could just say anything, then he would! "Kick her in the-" Johnny stopped. He was going to suggest that Cassie kick Aurora in the junk but that was the worst idea on so many levels. It made Johnny realize how into the fight he had become. He'd never been THIS close to the action before. He was getting caught up in the moment.

"KICK HER!" He corrected, not considering whether that was even a possible tactic. There was one other thing he began to realize while he watched Aurora pin Cassie against the turnbuckle though. Seeing the action from this close up certainly made it that much... hotter. Johnny 's face flushed and he instantly turned his body away from the ring and crossed his arms, retreating to bodyguard mode as he pretended to scan the crowd dutifully.

Aurora pinned Cassie against the turnbuckle as best as she could. She had really hoped the impact would have jarred the girl off of her. But she'd settle for this. The brothers were yapping away for some reason right next to them. She neither heard nor cared about any specifics either said. Her concern was this scared child latched onto her. With her right hand, Aurora tried to punch Cassie in the kidneys several times. The angle made her attacks somewhat glancing and not forceful.

Then she remembered that they were in the corner. She knew how to get Cassie to let go. Aurora wrapped her arms tightly around Cassie to hold her into place and leaned towards the corner. Then, carefully, she lifted Cassie higher while climbing onto the bottom rope. She leaned into Cassie, ironically using the girl to balance herself as she climbed further up and onto the second rope. She suddenly started to lose balance and felt that was high enough. She kicked off her legs and spun around to drive Cassie into the mat with another spine buster.

Cassie sat on the top turnbuckle while Aurora climbed into place. She could probably just kick her off and turn things around on her if she wanted. Instead, she took one quivering breath and closed her eyes. This next one would hurt more.

She hung in the air a moment, and as she fell she hugged Aurora tightly against her as if for comfort. She finally let go when she hit with another sharp crack.

"Nyaaaah!" She wailed, and bucked up from the mat as her back involuntarily arched. She writhed in pain, and struggled to relax. She fought back the tears that stubbornly formed at the corners of her eyes.

"Nnh..." She put a hand on the mat and pushed up onto one hip. "Do you feel... better?"

The greater impact had also forced Aurora's hands free from Cassie. The blonde released Cassie and straightened her back. It was as if she had just lifted something heavy. She took a few steps away in a short breather. That had to have hurt. She turned around to inspect her work just as Cassie asked that question. "What the fuck is your problem?" She was more offended than curious. She wasn't sure why Cassie was doing this. This was all some kind of...mindgame on her part.

She was playing the victim.

But she wasn't fooling Aurora. Everyone had seen what Cassie was capable of. Aurora wasn't falling for this trick and becoming her next target. If Cassie was going to play that game, then Aurora was going to play her part. And play it well. "You sonofabitch." She grabbed ahold of Cassie's feet and dragged her back to the corner. While still holding onto Cassie's leg, Aurora climbed up to the second rope and jumped off to leg drop Cassie across the abdomen.

Cassie put a hand on her back and laid flat, staring up at the lights while she waited out the pain and wondered what she was really doing. What point exactly was there to prove like this? She could almost hear Taylor's voice calling her "Ghandi Elliot". Was she protesting? Who did she think would feel better from this?

Both, she hoped.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she was reminded that the match was still happening by Aurora dragging her. She slowly began to sit up, but her back made her stop short. She only had time to scream and curl up before Aurora came crashing down on her. She jackknifed up, and forgot about her back for the moment, instead hugging her stomach.

"Owwwww...." She whined, laying on her side, curled up into a ball.

Aurora's leg crashed down across Cassie's abdomen. The girl recoiled in pain and continued to stay down. Aurora wasn't even sure if she would notice if Cassie stopped playing. She was going to keep going until there were no other possibilities but Cassie being hurt. While still laying on the ground, Aurora crossed her legs over Cassie's left leg while holding the girl's ankle still. Then, with a rather vicious look on her face, Aurora tucked Cassie's foot under her shoulder and pulled up as hard as she could to stretch the girl's leg.

Cassie instinctively yanked her foot back just far enough to allow her to turn over and twist her leg out of danger. She didn't need her wits about her to defend submissions from the likes of Talia's sister... But then Cassie probably only didn't like Aurora because she beat her up, and because she hates her. She could've been a really nice person, otherwise.

After her nearly effortless and no doubt infuriating escape, she began crawling away toward the ropes. That she was crawling toward Johnny was purely coincidental, she just wanted a safer place where she could recover a little from the beating she'd already taken.

The ring was rattling too much for Johnny to ignore and before long he was turned back around and watching. He found himself holding his breath when Aurora went for the submission.

Cassie, however, seemed to make escape look easy. As she started crawling, he stared at her, trying to encourage her with his eyes. His hands slapped the apron. "C'mon Shorty! Get away from her, get up and kick her ass!" He called out, motioning towards himself as if it might somehow usher her forward magically.