pyr min solemnly swears he is up to no good (twinclaws) wrote in emillion,
His trap worked, but because he wasn't so strong, the blow wasn't enough to knock her to the ground. As the bout went on, Pyr could feel his stamina run out little by little. He'd been running around the training grounds and training more often the past few weeks than he ever had back home, but a few laps weren't going to work miracles on his endurance. So now came the moment of truth: either he would manage to find a way to overcome Juliette's defenses and knock her down before he ran out of energy, or he would lose horribly.
On the bright side, Juliette seemed to be tiring as well; she was starting to give ground to his attacks, and her own blows were losing some of the force behind them. Just as Pyr thought that if he was going to take her down, he had to do it then, she launched into an attempt at Flurry which, though imperfect, would have been devastating against a slower opponent. Despite his looming exhaustion, Pyr somehow managed to dodge the worst of the onslaught, receiving only a few glancing blows that (thankfully) weren't strong enough to knock him back.
It cheered him up to think that her incomplete Flurry had probably been intended as her finishing blow. If she was getting tired, as he was, she would also be feeling the need to put an end to the bout as soon as possible. Now her attack had failed, Pyr had no intention of giving her a chance to try again. His muscles protested, but he ignored this and closed the distance between them before Juliette had a chance to recover after her attack.
Mustering as much speed as he was capable of, Pyr threw a punch aimed at Juliette's collarbone, catching her by surprise so that, when she moved to avoid it, her stance became unbalanced. Before she could jump back and rearrange her defense, he exploited the opening and kicked out her ankle. It worked, and she tumbled backwards onto the ground. At once he bore down on top of her to keep her there. Once he had her hands pinned, she would have to admit defeat. He hadn't cheated, as she'd called it; he'd won fair and square.
Pyr was congratulating himself when something flew toward his eyes, and he flinched, putting up his hands to protect them. Beneath him, Juliette wiggled and threw him off, reversing the position. Pyr was so shocked all he could say was, "You threw dirt in my face!"