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Robyn was beginning to find out what happened when two extremely similar people were pitted against each other. She and Rosalyn seemed to be matched in speed, strength, adaptability, abilities, and even attitude. So now, it would come down to who could get the drop on the other first. Robyn was not going to be the first to go down, if she could help it. She relished in the small, if expected victory of freeing her wrist, pulling her hand back to her side, still clutching her dagger. The fox girl rotated her wrist gently, wincing at the pang that went through her arm, but it was minor, nothing was really hurt, just pained and bruised.

That movement only took up an idle amount of her attention; the fox girl’s main focus was on her throw attempt. Rosalyn didn’t notice or capitalize on her shifting grip, but whether it was intentional or purely by accident, her move back after letting go of the vixen’s wrist allowed her the perfect position to resist Robyn’s tug, their arms locking as their limbs stretched above them in an inverted “V”. Unfortunately for Robyn, she couldn’t stop her throw on a dime, her lithe body twisting to the side, although she could still see Rosalyn in her peripheral vision.

But, her head was turned enough for the succubus to grab a good chunk of her light purple, ponytail-bound hair. The fact that the vixen was tugging forward (from her perspective) at the same time that Rosalyn was tugging back both helped and hurt her situation. Her forward momentum prevented her from being knocked severely off balance, her right foot jerking on the ground as she reflexively tried to maintain her footing. That same opposite motion also meant the tug would be felt that much more, the fox girl’s scalp burning from the pressure being applied. If the ponytail band hadn’t been there, she might have lost a chunk of her hair.

As it was, Robyn was now severely pissed. She really liked her hair, and usually put it up to prevent it being caught or snagged by a stray attack. Seemed her opponent needed to be taught some manners.
Since her throw attempt hadn’t worked, all it would do now was waste time, since the succubus was prepared and resisting. So, keeping in mind that Rosalyn still had a hold of her hair, she actually followed the movement somewhat, her upper body twisting to face forward again as she moved closer to the red-haired girl, left foot swinging around to the front again. Her hair would be pressed against her right ear and cheek, but that didn’t bother the fox girl. Her right arm would pull that same grip-shift again, her thumb having to actually slip off for a split second this time so that her arm would be completely under Rosalyn’s, much as if she were holding back a blow to her head. Her body was crouched down, and her head would be roughly level with the succubus’ chest as her left hand darted in, close to her body as it attempted to cross through the space between them, under her opponent’s right arm, and slice at Rosalyn’s gut once more.

However, if the succubus let go of her hair, and tried to grab at Robyn’s wrist again, she would be in for a bit of a surprise. Two surprises, actually. First off, the cursed girl was waiting for that type of move, and, having flipped the green-hilted dagger around so the sharp side was up this time, would slash upwards against the girl’s arm.

The second, no matter whether her blade’s final destination was midsection or limb, would be both her hands, along with her blade, blazing into flame.

A movie she’d seen a few years back came into her mind, and her mouth quirked in a grin as she cried out, loud enough for everyone to hear.

”Flame on!”

[Seduction: Active]
[Flame Claw: Active (1)]

Damn. The little advantage she had gained was quickly swept away again as Rosalyn broke out of her hold and jumped back, out of striking distance. Robyn slashed with the blade, but only managed to slice a thin line, and then they were back where they started. The fox wasn’t hopeful enough to think that she had done any real damage with that cut; most, if not all the people in this tournament could shrug stuff like that off.

At least the other girl had let go of her hair.

Keeping her bright green eyes on Rosalyn, the fox girl quickly brought her hands back and tugged her ponytail back into place, wincing when she pulled on the chunk that the succubus had nearly torn out. Even though her hands were aflame, it seemed to have no affect on her hair. That taken care of, she noted the blood seeping out of the wound she had made. Well, first blood went to the fox, it seemed, and said fox girl smirked her predatory grin. Her opponent laughed, and Robyn grinned with her as though on some inside joke.

”Because I thought it was obvious?” The vixen tilted her head to the side when Rosalyn finally uncurled her weapon, seeming as though she was just noticing it for the first time. The succubus’ next action, however, garnered both slightly widened eyes and raised eyebrows, her smirk faltering slightly. Had anyone else been in her body at the moment, there would have been no contest as to what would have happened. They would have dropped the dagger and just tackled the girl in a fit of lust. A bit extreme, to be sure, but we’ll get to that.

Luckily for Robyn, though, she’d been dealing with this for nearly a decade. Even the slightest thing could, and usually did set her off, but she had learned to control it and push aside her urges. Outwardly, all that would show a reaction would be her eyes. Not only the surprise shown in them, but a reemergence of the dots of glowing red. The vixen honestly hadn’t expected the flip side of her instincts to come into play during a fight, teasing and flirting aside.

So, inside she was marginally shaken up, but she knew how to keep her cool. Maybe do a little intimidation of her own. Bracing herself, she brought the blade of her dagger up to her mouth, still flaming and having burned off any traces of blood already. But it was more about the show. Quickly yet casually, she dragged the tip of the blade across her tongue, as though licking off the blood. Metal was metal though, and some of the coppery taste lingered, especially to her heightened senses, and it was all she could do to not make a face and spit to the side. She hated the taste of blood. Why did people think she never really bit anyone with those sharp fangs of hers?

Robyn kept her eyes on the succubus the whole time, even though it wasn’t that long, dropping her arm back to around her waist when she was done. Bringing her left leg back and crouching down slightly, she spoke offhandedly, to herself, it seemed. ”Mmm, I love it when they beg.” And then she was off. While she couldn’t do instant acceleration, she had developed a method of fast movement that allowed her to keep extremely mobile while still going fast. Her “run” was actually a series of incredibly fast jumps, angling her leg depending on where she wanted to go next. For what would seem a straight line, such as the distance between the two, this actually resulted in somewhat of a zig-zag movement, if a very narrow one.

Once she came within arm’s reach of Rosalyn, she would have timed it so her left leg was coming down, and would suddenly “stomp” as that foot hit the ground, sending her dashing to the right, Rosalyn’s left. Her arm would extend, trying to slash the succubus’ side as she essentially did a “drive-by stabbing”. Of course, she was wary of her opponent’s weapon, and would still keep an eye on it, but she hoped she was fast enough to either pass it or react to it, if it came down to that.

If her move was successful, the fox would move into a sliding turn, skidding around to a stop about 10 feet behind Rosalyn, facing the red-haired girl’s back.

[Seduction: Active]
[Flame Claw: Active (2)]

Robyn spoke. No reaction. Robyn licked the blade. No reaction. Robyn dashed. No reaction. Her blade sliced through the redhead’s side, and even that didn’t garner a reaction. Or at least, not an immediate reaction. Robyn spun around, boots squealing as she skidded along the floor to a stop some feet away, green eyes staring in incomprehension. That wound looked pretty deep, but the succubus hadn’t even flinched.

And then the laughter. The fox girl basically just had a “what the ********?” look on her face as the girl kept laughing. Rosalyn spun to face her, and she brought her whip into action for the first time in the fight. Robyn growled softly, not even realizing she was doing so as she studied the movements. They were extremely fast; even she was having a hard time following it. All she could pretty much tell were the boundaries of the “wall”, and her green eyes darted back and forth, trying to work out a way past it. It was extremely solid, with no real pattern to it that she could exploit enough.

She almost grew entranced by the whip, with its darting movements. Her eyes unfocused slightly as she followed the path, much like when one stared at one of those 3-D dot pictures. And just as when one stared at a dot picture in just the right way, without forcing it, the image revealed itself. The “image” in this case was the path to take in answer to this incredible defense.

Her left leg drew back, and she paused for a second in that position. Her green eyes glittered, literally, for a second, and the tattoo from before faded into being once again. Almost exactly like before, she charged at Rosalyn again. Those onlooking might equate this dance to a bullfight, Rosalyn as the matador, and Robyn as the angered bull. But the vixen was smarter than bull…right? It didn’t seem so, as she rushed right into the dangerous weapon’s range.

But those in the crowd would have the perfect vantage point to see what was really going on. She’d used the tactic to great effect in both her previous fights, and the vixen hoped it would serve her well again. That shimmer of her eyes was her creating a doppleganger, layered over herself. The copy followed her same movements, right until they reached the range of the whip, which is where their paths separated. Copy Robyn rushed right into the danger, dissipating the instant the whip crossed through her.

Real Robyn, instead of taking the high route, decided to slide, baseball style, underneath the path of the whip, where she had been able to notice it didn’t hit very low to the ground. Her body twisted to the side, left leg cocked, and she was very glad she had full pants, as the friction burns on her right leg would have been horrible without them. Since she was on her right side, her left arm, the one with the flaming dagger, would be free, and that was what she would bring up to slice along the succubus’ inner thigh.

Her right shoulder would be raised enough off the ground to keep her right arm usable for the follow up. Held out above her head (in relation to her perspective), as Robyn cleared her slide through Rosalyn’s legs, that blazing right hand would grab the redhead’s ankle, hoping surprise and momentum would be enough to topple the girl face-first, along with burning the succubus.

[Seduction: Active]
[Flame Claw: Active (3)]

Robyn grinned from her vantage point as she began her slide, watching the illusion’s legs dissipate from Rosalyn’s attack, knowing the other girl had fallen for it. The question was, had it bought her enough time? She couldn’t really see much, a foot off the floor as she was, but she didn’t feel any stinging sensations. The fox was braced for a sharp sensation along her arms, the only uncovered part of her body, and her ears were perked, listening for the pops of the whip. She noticed when they stopped, soon after her copy dissolved, but hadn’t the time to think about what that meant, seeing as her timing meant now was when her arm was rising up to slash through Rosalyn’s skirt and along her inner thigh.

Unfortunately for her, this was one of the few times her long reach worked to her detriment. Most people would have had to bring their upper arm up as well in order to reach above someone else’s knee. Not Robyn. Her elbow was right near her side, her forearm angled out, and that meant that while anyone else would have had an automatic guard for their face, the fox girl was wide open for the succubus’ kick. She saw it coming, but could do little more than think ”Oh, shiiiiiit…” before a slippered foot connected with her jaw. Somewhere in her mind, Robyn thanked the Kami that the redhead didn’t wear boots like she did, otherwise that would have hurt even more. As it was, the fox girl was quite jarred, her skull vibrating and teeth crashing together, biting the tip of her tongue painfully.

The opposite force of the kick against the fox girl’s momentum wasn’t enough to completely stop her slide, but she only slid about another foot, her head arcing back. Again, Robyn thanked the Kami that she had such a hard skull, otherwise, not only would she have likely been dealing with shattered bone, Rosalyn and the audience would have likely been dealing with a pissed off Selene.

Sadly, she was still very dazed, on her back now that she had slid to a stop, her face practically in a perfect spot to stare up Rosalyn’s skirt. Not that she had enough mind to appreciate that at the moment. But, she knew she was supposed to be doing something, and as her green eyes rapidly blinked, her still-flaming hands somewhat flailed around, trying to find a spot on the floor so she could push herself up. Because of her position, her right hand, instead of making it to her side, would likely smack into the succubus’ left leg, and she would instinctively grip, digging her now-extended claws in, and tugging as though the redhead’s leg was a support to pull herself up by.

Something wasn’t right. Not only was the thing she had grabbed soft, it apparently wasn’t sturdy, moving when she tugged it, and making her lose what little elevation she’d gained, thumping back to the floor. ”Oww…” A split second later, she nearly had the breath driven out of her when a weight dropped on her stomach, and she groaned again, growling in annoyance. That second spark of pain was enough to clear her daze, and she found herself looking up at the redhead straddling her waist, wondering exactly how they had gotten into this position.

She had little time to contemplate their situation when she suddenly found an extremely warm hand around her throat. Reflexively, she snapped her teeth at the girl, growling low in her throat as she strained against the hold. She didn’t have the succubus’ complete resistance to fire and heat, but her defenses against that element were still very good, and so what should have been scalding was only very warm. That alone, the fact that she could feel heat told her just how hot the girl’s hand was, which brought another similarity between them to light for her. Oddly enough, just as she made that connection, her own flames went out, a somewhat unconscious attempt to save her energy. Probably a good thing too, considering it wasn’t doing any damage to her opponent.

So Robyn found herself being choked, and a moment later, something hard pressing against her arm, only she couldn’t turn to look at it, what with the hand around her neck. Chest heaving, her eyes by now were furious, bright green flecked with red sparking and defiant till the very end. But this wasn’t the end, not if she had anything to say about it.

She growled again at the words Rosalyn spoke. Damn, under any other circumstance, she wouldn’t have minded, but they were competing in a competition! Was the redhead that damned desperate to get laid? Not that Robyn should have been one to talk, considering if they weren’t supposed to tear each other apart right now, she would have been perfectly happy with their positions. Underneath all her confidence and bravado, the fox girl was no alpha, and was actually quite submissive, under the right person, pardon the pun.

But no, now wasn’t the time for that, even if her body wasn’t too bothered by what was going on. Robyn strained against the hand at her neck, taking shallow breaths and very glad that her lungs could hold more oxygen than a normal human’s. She knew, though, that with their equal strength, simply “pushing” wasn’t going to get her anywhere, and the succubus’ face was looming ever closer. She let her head thump back against the floor, seemingly defeated, while she waited for Rosalyn’s mouth to nearly touch hers. At the last second, she jerked hard, slamming her head up in a furious head butt against the other girl’s forehead.

Knowing she would be slightly dazed from that as well considering her already rattled head, she’d made sure to start moving as she swung her head up, pushing as hard as she could with the rest of her body, trying to throw the other girl off.

Ok. Yeah. Wow. That hurt. Robyn’s already throbbing head throbbed even more as thinly veiled bone struck thinly veiled bone, but this time, she’d been prepared, and only shook her head to clear her buzzing vision. It had been worth it though, as she both surprised Rosalyn and managed to break free from her pressing hold. Her left hand, having long since let go of the dagger, pressed flat against the ground as she pushed herself up, right hand swinging up to slash at the succubus with her claws, just as Rosalyn grabbed her shirt.

That, however, was not a good idea. Her left wrist, still somewhat sprained from Rosalyn’s earlier crushing grasp, buckled under her weight, sending her back down to her forearm instead of her palm. Her shirt, still in the succubus’ grip, was no sort of special material, and the sudden addition of weight caused it to tear away from her neck and left shoulder, pulling her vest along with the torn cloth.

Robyn, not really caring, continued her slash at the redhead’s stomach, hoping to deepen the cut she had made earlier, panting heavily as she tried to recover from so many different aches. It was unsure whether Rosalyn would continue her attack on Robyn’s cranium, or instead move to block the dangerous slash.

What was it about this fight and dropping back to the floor? Robyn couldn’t even count right now how many times her head had thumped against the hard surface, and she was starting to get sick of it. Probably had a concussion, damnit. Not to mention, her hand was now trapped between the two of them, although the feeling of blood soaking her hand had her smirking tiredly.

Then there was another tug on her shirt, and she still didn’t care when it began ripping even more, unable to stand up to the strain of Rosalyn’s pulling. The whole right side started tearing away, leaving just enough to leave her modest, but only barely. Would be interesting when she stood up though, with that shoulder and collar gone.

Green eyes, with every increasing amounts of red, glared into pure red ones. So many people she knew with red eyes: Rylen, Celas, Rosalyn. All reminding her of Selene every time she looked at that crimson shade. She saw herself reflected back in those eyes, both literally and figuratively, and it filled her with anger. Anger at Rosalyn, for pinning her like this; anger at Selene, for the curse that was inflicted upon her; and anger at herself, for not being able to control the fact that all the scents in the air, along with the succubus being pressed so close to her, was weakening her will. To just grab her, and ravish her right there, not caring about the audience one iota, was slowly becoming an appealing idea.

Her left arm snapped through the air, and while the wrist might hurt badly, her arm was perfectly fine, and it darted quickly to block the grab for her head. Her eyes were wild as she twisted her right hand out from between them and clutched at Rosalyn’s side, not to do damage, but for leverage, even as her legs snapped up to wrap behind the succubus’ own legs. The fox girl rocked her body to the left, then forced all her weight and strength to the right, trying to flip the pair over so that Robyn was on top.

If successful, she’d hover over the other girl, using her weight to pin her down as much as possible, her right hand moving to hold the redhead’s left. She panted, staring down with such intensity at her opponent, and no one was really quite sure whether she was going to tear her or kiss her.

"So, looks like the DVD for this tournament just rose a level in ratings," said one of the tournament crew at the back as they watched the spectacle on the stage.

"The fight's over anyway. Get them off the stage before this becomes Girls Gone Wild at the GTB."

Meanwhile, Erin Karter was standing on the DJ platform, mouth opened but nothing coming out as he saw the sight of the two girls tumbling around down below on the stage. He was completely in a trance. And likely someone was at home, watching this on their TV or computer monitor with a trash bin full of used napkins.