Round one, fight four; Bobby vs. Darnell

[Slayer†]

If it's alright with Clueless, I'd like him to post first.

[Namira]

((Continued from The Mind of Angelic Ones))

It was funny, considered Bobby Jacks, that the first time he ever walked in through the doors of Shooter was to participate in a tournament which was decidedly under the table - and that wasn't just because it was being held in the basement. Hell... why had he even bothered to sign up once he had gotten wind of it? He could end up breaking an arm, and where would that leave his boxing?

By the wayside... right where it is now. A small voice replied to him. Let's face it, I'm stagnating, I haven't had a match for more than two months. Goddamn agent, he just wants his ten percent to amount to more. Moron...

The guy standing at the basement stairs took one look at Bobby and stood aside to let him past. Bobby had been packing on the muscle over the past few months, and in all honesty, he wasn't exactly tiny in the first place. Still, he wasn't as fast as he had been either... the punches slowed down, even if there was more power behind them. Bobby grunted as he walked down the stairs, looking at each bicep. Too big, he needed to get a little leaner, too much weightlifting, not enough working on his quickness, and his agility. Did it really matter if you could lay somebody out with a punch or two if you couldn't catch them in the first place?

In the basement, it was hot, muggy, and the atmosphere was electric -just as Bobby had been anticipating. There was a brief ceasatation to the clamour when Bobby entered, but it soon started up again. Bobby pushed his way through the throng and absentmindedly looked at the large sheet of paper, affixed to a bulletin board, which held the fixtures. Bobby's eyes travelled across the sheet until he saw his name. It looked as if he was facing Darnell 'The Bull' Butler. A small smile touched his lips. Wasn't it just earlier that year that he and Darnell were squaring off, with a backdrop of the sea and a bonfire. Now that was cinematic... but so was having a fight which was rather scetchy on the legality and held in a below ground club.

Bobby smiled again, add a damsel in distress and an interesting sub-plot and you had yourself a movie. He settled back against a wall, and waited for Darnell to show.

[Slayer†]

((Continued from What's in the Past is History))

Though he had had the chance in the past, Darnell had never really been in Shooters until this day. Nevertheless, it hadn't been hard to find; every self respecting Southridge student knew where it was, and if he hadn't Montezzo would've offered directions anyway when he signed up. As he pulled into the parking lot of the bar/restaurant Darnell allowed the irony of his signing up for an underground tournament to sink in quickly. He used to be one of the tough guys of the school, but had mellowed out quickly; nowadays he never really liked to fight, especially since he had been keeping himself on a relatively short disciplinary leash. Apart from that, he just hated the idea of hurting people these days. So, one might ask, as he did while going through the front door of Shooters and heading through the crowd to the basement door and the big man guarding it, why was someone like him in a fighting tournament? In reality, he wasn't too sure at first.

I suppose I just did it because I felt like it at the time.

He had been paying more attention to his thoughts than his surroundings at the time, and thus barely noticed when the bouncer (was he a bouncer? Darnell didn't know, but wouldn't be surprised), after taking a look at the black man and checking a clipboard, waved him through. Regardless, he walked through the door and started to descend down to the basement pool hall where Montezzo said the tournament was being held. Really, the year had been piling on the stress so far, and Darnell Butler had needed an outlet for it all. Sometimes working out just wasn't enough. Not only that, but Montezzo had asked him to participate as a favour between friends, and Darnell wanted to be sure he hadn't gotten rusty since the last time he had been in a real fight anyway.

Just like Bobby, Darnell noticed how hot and muggy the basement was as he finished going down the slightly creaky stairs, the clamour of excited patrons (both fighters and spectators) ceasing as they noticed his arrival. The basement was normally Shooters' pool hall, but Darnell noticed upon looking around that Montezzo and the rest of the Shooters staff, some of whom were in the crowd, had mostly cleared out the tables and other billiards equipment. Understandable, they had to make room for the fighters. They were still all over the place, but there was a specific area near the bulletin board with the brackets written on them cleared out, probably the designated fight area. He'd head over there in time, but in the hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants he currently had on the basement was stifling (it had been rather chilly outside, so he had worn them over his planned fighting outfit). To take care of that, he swiftly took them off, leaving him in his classic black T-shirt and shorts combination, and placed them on a nearby table. Memorizing their location so he could come back to get them after the fights, however many he had, he found himself moving over to the large piece of paper on the bulletin board to find his matchup, the sneakers making a light scraping noise on the concrete.

You're fucking me...

His heart nearly sank when he saw just who he was fighting. His first opponent was ace boxer Bobby Jacks, the very one he had had a standoff with at the Bonfire earlier in the year...one of the few people in the school he didn't think he could stand up to in a fight. Still, he would have to try his best. He didn't need the money offered as a prize like he figured people like Brad and Lance did, and he wasn't here for pride either, it was just something to do. He supposed it was an interesting matchup anyway, the classic boxer vs. wrestler fare. Finally finding Bobby among the sea of faces as he stood on a spot in the designated fighting area, he would wait for the boy to step forward while flashing him a mild grin. Judging from Bobby's added bulk, it looked like Darnell would have a speed advantage at least. Once Bobby got close enough the crowd would start to form a sort of ring around them, and in his peripheral vision Darnell spotted Montezzo's suited figure stepping out, ready to act as referee.

"Heh, boxer versus wrestler, just like the old days," Darnell said with a bit of a laugh, "well, good luck Bobby. First move is yours."

With that Darnell would sink into a small crouch, raising his hands so that his right was at his chin and his left a bit in front of and below his left eye, both elbows down and over his torso. This would allow him to have a pretty solid defense while waiting for Bobby's move.

Who knows, maybe I'll actually pull this off.

[Namira]

Bobby flashed Darnell a smile as he entered the fighting area, and noted that he took up a compact stance, low to the ground. The lower you were, the harder you were to knock down, and Darnell certainly knew his stuff as regards to those matters... If Bobby wasn't careful, the wrestler would knock him from his feet. Not to mention that it was the stuff of Southridge football legend that Darnell had once picked up and slammed an opposing player about half a foot bigger than even Bobby.

Pushing these thoughts from his mind, Bobby asumed a fighting posture, that being a standard boxing one, fists close in, and feet set. It was a little uncomfortable - Bobby usually danced around the ring, with speed in mind, but with the extra weight, that wasn't really an option. Good thing he knew the general idea of fighting with power.

Bobby stepped forward, towards Darnell, then lashed out with a kick at his left leg, figuring that he wouldn't expect it. He was supposed to be good at punching after all.

He really didn't have anything against Darnell, but he wasn't going to go easy on him either. After all, this had started a while ago, this was an appropriate face to finish it, or at least write the next chapter... That though, was getting a little overdramtic, it was just a unique fight - probably one of the few Bobby would ever have that weren't boxing.

[Slayer†]

Easy.

Darnell's trick was somewhat more devious than he was comfortable with, but it did seem to work. The whole time he had been waiting for Bobby to move he had also been making very small, nigh un-noticeable movements forward, sliding both legs slowly in order to just barely close the distance at a pace slow enough that Bobby would have had to specifically look for the signs to spot it. It was a trick he had been taught when he first joined the wrestling team, a way to subtly shift one's position without giving away intent. The main advantage was that it looked more like the person using it was adjusting their balance than actually moving. It had worked quite a few times in the past, so he had thought to try it with Bobby.

Therefore, Bobby was already easily in range for a quick dash by the time he started his assault. Jacks had one thing right though, Darnell hadn't expected a boxer like him to start the fight by throwing a kick. Still, he wasn't caught completely off guard as he saw Bobby's right leg raise for the kick; he had dealt with kicks before. Indeed, as soon as he saw the telltale signs of a kick being prepared part of his mind had gotten to work processing several different possible responses to the attack. In the end, he decided on the simplest; a charge.

It was indeed quite simple; relying on his dash speed and the relatively close proximity between the two fighters, Darnell would rush forward at Bobby as the kick was being set up and thrown while also ducking down slightly as he had done before. The kick wasn't as fast as it could have been due to Bobby's bulk, and Darnell didn't need to be that close for what he was about to do anyway; those two factors coupled with Darnell's impressive dash speed, as many people forgot the constant drills and practice in both football and wrestling made him almost as fast as he was strong, and he arrived at the "target" in practically a split second. As soon as he did so, his left arm hooked around Bobby's leg above the knee and lifted it up in order to trap it against Darnell, slightly above his hips. This meant that Bobby's kick still technically hit, though rather harmlessly as the act of taking hold of it and forcing it against his side removed a good deal of the force from the blow, but the point was to unbalance Bobby--if he had wanted to defend against the kick itself he would have done something else.

That was where the next part of the attack came in. He didn't run much further after seizing Bobby's leg, but still continued to push forwards into/at him. Planting his own legs so they could serve as a sort of base, he essentially pushed his upper body at Bobby's gut area with his forearm placed diagonally in front of his head, basically using the momentum of his upper body and the bone/muscle of the forearm to ram Bobby. The logic was that with the sudden loss of balance (Bobby's leg being trapped) and the amount of force pushed against it, the boxer's body would be forced in the only possible direction; backwards, and down, crashing onto the concrete floor of the basement with Darnell on top. The whole move would take a second, at most.

Quickly moving himself into a mount, Darnell would immediately thereafter try to take advantage of what he hoped would be a small window of opportunity, perhaps a couple seconds or so, where Bobby might be stunned from the hard fall by sending a quick but powerful combination of two short right hooks to the other boy's left temple. It was nothing personal, he just knew he had to keep Bobby tied up in order to win.

OOC: Sorry I took so long, I spent almost literally all day playing a videogame and still spent a few hours deciding just what to do. If the wording seems awkward it might be because I've been without sleep since roughly twenty four hours ago and just wrote how I thought the move would work. Still, if you want clarification you know how to reach me.

[Namira]

Bobby realised that he should have been expecting Darnell to go for a grapple, and before he knew it - bam, he was down on the ground. That wasn't exactly a postive start to the fight, but Bobby was far from out of this little brawl. Bobby knew enough to realise when he was going down, so he had the foresight to throw back a hand, which cushioned his fall a little, at the expense of some strain to his wrist.

As such, Bobby wasn't quite as stunned as he might have been if he had just fallen. He couldn't quite react to stop Darnell from getting on top of him, but if there was one thing Bobby did have, it was an instinct for punches. As Darnell tried to punch him, Bobby's arms snapped up into a defensive position, cushioning his head from the first of the blows. Bobby then shifted his left arm slightly, and when the second punch came down, he parried it with his hand. With Darnell momentarily open, Bobby snapped forward his right arm with a jab, which would hit Darnell's chin from this angle. Of course, the position meant he couldn't throw a proper punch, but all he needed to do was get Darnell off.

((I'm kinda sucky at fighting posts, sorry))

[Slayer†]

Everything would have gone as planned for Bobby, having parried the second hook after removing almost all force from the first by blocking and then sending a right jab at his face, if he hadn't forgotten to take Darnell Butler's left hand into account. Darnell took part in his own boxing training from time to time, and thus knew to always keep the non-striking hand up to guard against attacks. Because of this, Bobby's punch was being sent right towards a location on Darnell's body that the wrestler was actively defending. Darnell would be sure to make Bobby pay for that mistake.

As the jab--which was more of a straight--approached, Darnell first acted by moving his head slightly back and to the right. At the same time as he dodged the punch, his left hand moved just barely to the left and shot forward, grabbing Bobby's arm hard just below the wrist and almost instantly pulling to the right while his right hand grabbed his left and pulled it down. The result was that Bobby's right was stretched across his body and pinned over his left arm at around the bicep/elbow joint. This quasi-hold would put strain on Bobby's collarbone and the shoulder area, meaning it would be rather painful and the perfect setup for the next part of his move.

Starting things off by taking his left arm off of Bobby's, he immediately replaced the left arm with the right as he temporarily rose slightly and stepped to the left, pivoting and bringing his knees down in a very quick movement before Bobby would have the chance to capitalize on his brief freedom. His right knee would be on Bobby's chest, but the left rested square on his throat, forcibly driven down by Darnell's own body weight. The positioning of his knees was designed as to constrict Bobby's breathing while also reinforcing his hold due to the fact that Bobby's right arm was currently underneath him. With both the choke and the hold taken care of, as Darnell's right was still pinning both of his opponent's arms, Darnell would bring his left hand up after forming it into a fist and promptly bring it down into Bobby's face in a barrage of quick and powerful hammerfists.

Meanwhile Montezzo had noticed their situation and moved to Bobby's right, closing in and positioning himself to give himself the best view. It would be clear to anyone watching by taking account of his body language that the referee was ready to stop the fight if Bobby proved unable to defend himself against Darnell's assault.

[Namira]

...Crap

Bobby was put into a little difficulty when Darnell managed to snag his punch in mid flight, especially as he then proceeded to attack with a hold of sorts. But... Bobby was by no means just going to let Darnell pull him every which way, and immediately began to push his arm outwards, even whilst Darnell was bringing his arm across. Although his position meant that the arm would be brought across in time, it would be slowed as Bobby struggled against it.

Meanwhile, Darnell was up to tricks on the other side as well, evidently this move was made with a procession in mind - he appeared to be going for something big, and Bobby guessed that it wouldn't be in his best interests to let that happen. With Darnell going to grab Bobby's left arm, the boxer had a little time, since the hand had to reassert its position after being parried earlier. Darnell took hold of the arm, but Bobby twisted, wincing at the discomfort caused by moving through Darnell's tight grip, then grasped Darnell's own wrist.

With Darnell's left hand still trying to pull Bobby's right across, Bobby gave a tug on Darnell's opposite hand (which was set to pinning down Bobby's left hand) this would have the effect of pulling Darnell slightly forwards, leaning closer in to Bobby. At the same time, Bobby brought up both of his knees and slammed them at Darnell's back. Since to effectively mount and get a good hold on Bobby's arms, Darnell would have to be on top of Bobby around his abdomen. As this attack drove Darnell further forward again, Bobby would bring his head into play and attempt to drive it into Darnell's face as he was pushed towards him.

By this point, Bobby's right arm was pinned down by Darnell, but it would be a little difficult to concentrate on holding on when you had a headbutt on an appointment with your face.

[Slayer†]

Adaptation.

That was the name of the game. Animals knew it, soldiers knew it, and anyone who had ever been in a fight knew it. Plans never went exactly as expected, and if you couldn't adapt you couldn't survive. In a fight, the winner was usually the one who was better at changing their plan on the fly. Knowing this, Darnell was not in the least surprised when he encountered resistance to his move. In fact, he would've been more surprised if it worked perfectly. While trying to resist the arm pull subjected to his right, which was mostly unsuccessful because of momentum, Bobby used Darnell's own pinning motion to pull Darnell forward. While the pin and armhold would still be applied, the whole exchange would now take a couple seconds longer. Also Darnell would find himself falling forward a bit.

Whatever Bobby was planning, it was the additional forward lurch of his upper body that would be the part where Darnell ended the counter. Relying on his downward momentum and the fact that he currently had Bobby's means of defense tied up he forced himself forwards even more than Bobby had intended, meaning he essentially dropped downwards at Bobby. This drop was headfirst, the top of the forehead--being the hardest part of the skull--rapidly falling towards the bridge of Bobby's nose. Like every other strike coming from Darnell, this would hit hard, and Darnell hoped it would break the nose outright. Regardless of the condition of Bobby's nose, Darnell would rear back slightly from the headbutt and bring his head down again. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times.

He seemed to be content at five headbutts, starting to return to a normal mount, but then the kick struck his back. Sent downwards again, Darnell sent yet another headbutt, which would have an even stronger landing due to the added force given by the fact that Bobby's kick gave his fall more momentum than his previous strikes. After this, Darnell finally let himself back up and went through the same move he had planned last time, ignoring the pain from the relatively hard kick as he pivoted after switching the hand that held down Bobby's arms like he had originally planned. This time, though, he quickly dropped to a sitting position while using both of his hands to pull up Bobby's left and then wrapped his legs around the arm near the shoulder and bicep. Tightly holding Bobby's arm to his own shoulder with his hands, Darnell then allowed himself to fall backwards.

The fall onto the hard concrete irritated his already sore back, but it was worth it to apply such a perfect armbar. Just like he had done to win a match in the previous year, he slowly started to push his hips upward against Bobby's elbow, also forcing that joint up. Still tightly holding on with both his arms and legs, he would continue this pushing upward for ten seconds in the hope that it would be enough time in the painful submission hold for Bobby to realize the danger and give up. If the desired tapout did not happen, Darnell would slowly lower his hips, and then immediately thrust them upwards again, up to three times if necessary. This would snap the arm like a wishbone, and the fight would surely be over.

I'm sorry to do this, Bobby, but the sooner I win the less damage you take.

[Namira]

Bobby looked across at Darnell, and felt the warning twinge of pain in his arm.

Fuck this. A chance at 200 dollars is not worth a broken arm.

Bobby looked over at Darnell and smiled.
"Alright man, you got me. I'd appreciate it if you didn't snap my arm in half. Still... you'd better win after this man, I won't look as bad," Bobby tipped him a wink at this last - he didn't really care about his reputation. For the sake of appearences, Bobby raised his other arm and tapped on the ground a couple of times, signifying submission.

[Slayer†]

OOC: I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like formally wrapping this up, both in the lack of motivation sense and the fact that lately I've been too sick to think up a very good post. Just assume Darnell released the hold, was declared the winner and then went upstairs to relax and mingle for the half hour between rounds.