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Matrix watched most of the fights with a passive sort of interest. Many of the competitors were big males and their techniques did not apply to her, although she did note what sorts of tactics she may have to face. Already she was developing possible counters that she might be capable of pulling off. Her mother's fight was particularly interesting for her, even though Twilight seemed to storm right on through the match. Those powerful kicks were some of the main forms of self defence that she had been taught as a child, as well as how to effectively block or defend against them and other kinds of attacks. She smiled at her parent as she left the ring, then watched the next two fights with rapt attention. Skoll and Jantus were really going at it, both determined and quite powerful. She didn't know how the fight was going to go, but she saw that Skoll's hold was quite effective. She tucked the idea of it away for now and decided to ask him about it later.
Up until now, things seemed to be going along alright. Perhaps some of the rounds were a bit uninteresting, but everyone seemed to more or less be enjoying themselves. This all changed when the strange hybrid entered the ring and began to pummel his opponent. Matrix's hackles rose and her eyes flared with rage and distaste.
"Hey asshat!" she bellowed at him from the side-lines, much to her family's dismay,
"What the fuck are you doing? What part of friendly match don't you understand?!" Her yelling was punctuated by a growl, and her hands had balled up into fists. Everybody else who had been silently milling about now began to murmur amongst themselves and Matrix received a number of looks. For some time, everybody simply stared back and forth between the two. Xark simply sneered in her direction, at which point she lifted one finger--the middle one--and waved it at him. Perhaps sensibly realising that if he flew off the handle at the young girl he would be reprimanded by a number of fighters (Twilight being one of them), Xark chose to ignore this and stalked off into the background somewhere. Everyone got out of his way as he made his way through the crowd.
Rolling her eyes, Matrix sighed and shook her head, then glanced over to Tanya. They would hopefully be a fairly even match; Matrix's hybridised blood made her bigger, but it wasn't quite as unbalanced as the pairing that Tanya's mate had to deal with.
"You alright, kiddo?" Tanya inquired.
"Yeah, I guess. He's just such an asshole," she said, but the fury had drained from her voice. Now she mostly seemed disappointed.
"You ready then?" "Yeah, let's do this."
As they entered the ring, Matrix did her best to watch Tanya's subtler movements. Almost everyone had some sort of weakness--it was her job to find it and exploit it. Matrix bounced forward a few steps, enticing Tanya to react, then bounded back. Tanya had begun to brace herself and raised her arms to cover her face and chest, then became slightly confused when Matrix backed off--until she realised what she was doing, simply testing the water. Friendly matches could afford this sort of opportunity. The coyote now chose to do the same, and came forward at Matrix, poised to strike. Matrix wasted no time in reacting, and charged back, not allowing her opponent the same opportunity to study and retreat. Instead, she aimed an underhanded blow with her left hand while reaching out with the other to restrain Tanya's right. Tanya realised what was happening after a moment's delay and reached out to strike Matrix's face with her left palm.
Here Matrix released her grasp and retreated a few steps, her cheek stinging a bit and her one eye temporarily forced shut. Tanya saw her opportunity and began to aim another blow, but here Matrix mimicked her mother's characteristic style and rotated her body so she had time to gain some momentum. Not quite as experienced as Twilight, the kick landed on Tanya's thigh as opposed to her gut or hip, but it was enough to through the coyote off and stumbling for balance. Matrix whirled around behind her opponent and placed another kick to the back of her other leg, which was enough to send Tanya to the ground. The hybrid now more or less planted her weight on the back of Tanya's legs, at which point the coyote began to violently thrash about. After sustaining several poorly aimed smacks to the face, Matrix managed to grab one of her arms and wrestle it behind her back. Now, Tanya needed the other to balance herself from face-planting into the earth, and Matrix tightened her grip and gradually bent her arm to more and more of an awkward angle. Tanya then began to thrash about with her full body, and Matrix loosened her grip out of fear of breaking a bone. Unfortunately, she then lost her strong-hold, and was eventually bucked off. She stayed low to the ground in a crouch as Tanya regained her footing and managed to get some distance.
Matrix wasted no time. She charged forward, more or less on four legs and then leapt up at the last minute to effectively shove Tanya from behind. Tanya's own momentum, coupled with the new force from Matrix, proved to be her downfall. Their sparring had taken them closer to the edge of the ring, and although the coyote saw her own misfortune, it was too late to correct it. She could either land dangerously close to the rocky perimeter, or she could keep going a few steps further to regain her balance more gracefully (and less painfully). Matrix perked up and watched, but it did not take long for her opponent to be ran out of their designated boundary. She trotted over now to help Tanya up, who had needed to brace herself with her hands and had wound up in a crawling sort of position. Tanya accepted her hand, and her mate had come over to offer his support. Matrix waved to them as she watched them go off to the side near Apache and Niyol, then turned to watch the next match.
