04 - Early Advantage

Although she was too slow to guard against Valerie’s body punches, Jessica managed to flex her abdominal muscles just before impact, lessening the damage somewhat. Regardless, the force of the blows still halted her forward momentum, and gave Valerie more than enough time to set up the next part of her offensive. Now that she’d gotten in early on Jessica with a successful ploy, she fully intended to live up to her nickname and tear Jessica apart without giving her a chance to escape.

Valerie fired off two blistering hooks, a left and a right aimed for Jessica’s cheeks.  Jessica saw these coming and knew she needed to take evasive action. She started a backstep to create a bit of distance, coupled with a tilt of her head causing the first hook to merely glance her, barely making contact. Valerie pursued with the second hook, but by this time Jessica was outside the immediate effective range of the punch and a backwards lean got her away from it fully. Despite missing with that attack, Valerie still advanced, unwilling to allow Jessica to get too far away. Seeing this, Jessica shifted momentum forward again and threw a high left meant to offset her. However she did not have time to center herself before throwing it, allowing Valerie to easily dash in under it, rising with a short left uppercut that landed flush on Jessica’s chin.