“Oh come on, really?” Victoria groaned, reluctantly getting to her feet. “You’re already a better fighter than me. D’you need to learn more techniques?”

“There’s always room for improvement, even for the most formidable fighter,” Sam replied primly. Then they smirked. “Besides, this is a very special technique. An ancient and powerful form of attack.”

“Yeah? Does it have some fancy name?”

“Of course,” they said with feigned seriousness. “It’s called ‘the fish-hook’.”

Victoria’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, Sam? Pretty sure I’ve already heard of fish-hooking. And it’s illegal in tournaments!”

“Only cos the people who use it don’t know how to do it properly, in such a way that their targets can’t resist. If the victim fights back, they can end up with all kinds of injuries.” They shifted into a combat-ready stance, their mischievous grin spreading. “But I’m a Master in more ways than one. The way I do it, you should be completely helpless.”

Vicky shivered at those words, blushing and grinning back at her fiancé. She wouldn’t normally smile at someone who was threatening to fish-hook her, but she trusted Sam. She was sure they had a plan. Besides, it’d been a little while since they’d sparred. And most importantly, they wanted to do this, and she was their obedient pet.

“Fine,” she said snarkily, even as she and Sam respectfully bowed to each other, as was customary, and adopted fighting positions. “Show me whatcha got, Master.”

“Ready?” They paused so she could nod. “Fight.”

She barely had time to react as they lunged forwards, just managing to parry their first two strikes, one from the left and one from the right. They traded blows for a minute, Sam unable to raise their advantage as Victoria kept up her defence. Although historically they’d defeated her more often than not, it had always been close. They were almost evenly matched. That was part of the attraction between them - they challenged each other. They pushed each other to become better fighters. That was worth a lot of the pain they’d caused each other in the early days, at the start of their long enemies-to-friends-to-lovers journey. Not to mention, the adrenaline, the repeated physical contact between them, and the pain they inflicted on each other, got them both pretty hot, usually with sexy results...

As they fought, Victoria felt her mentality shift, the blood pumping in her veins fuelling her aggression. She grinned savagely. This was about the only time she allowed herself to slip back into her old combative mindset. She usually tried to avoid reverting to her past mentality, but she couldn’t fight as effectively as the more serene, reserved Victoria that she’d become - and certainly not as the placid, passive Vicky. This was the only way she could hope to hold out against Sam’s superior skills.

At last, though, with the gap between them having closed as each of them pressed their attacks, her fiancé breached her defences and deployed their new technique. As she deflected another blow from the right, Sam’s other hand flew towards her face, shoving their index finger into her mouth.

And suddenly she felt herself sag, all her combat energy evaporating in an instant. Her posture slouched, her arms dangling below her, as she swayed on her feet. She thought she might have toppled over if it weren’t for her owner’s finger hooked in her cheek, holding her up. She made a startled grunt, staring at them with eyes full of consternation.

“I win again,” Sam gloated, tightening their grip, their fingertip pressing into the inside of Vicky’s cheek, which bulged outwards. Giggling, they reached out with their other hand and prodded her hard in the chest, several times. She moaned indignantly, but couldn’t raise her arms to defend herself - there didn’t seem to be any bones in them any more.

“I mean, of course I won,” they mocked. They exerted the slightest force with their curled finger, and she staggered sideways, whimpering. “Look at you. You never stood a chance really. So weak, and dumb, and helpless.”

Weak and dumb and helpless, her thoughts echoed automatically, static filling her mind as she gazed dully at her owner. There was no trace left of the assertive, aggressive persona she’d adopted minutes earlier - it had vanished like a puff of smoke in the breeze. She was back to being dumb, docile Vicky again, subdued and subjugated with a single intruding digit.

“See? This is what happens when fish-hooking is used by a Master,” they taunted.

She raised an eyebrow. Even with her thoughts starting to quieten under the weight of their dominance, it seemed pretty obvious to her that this was no special ancient skill they’d learned. It was more likely than not that they’d given her a hypnotic suggestion tied to the feeling of their finger in her mouth. Not that it made much difference - she was just as helpless (and dumb, and weak) either way.

“I think that’s a good point to end our sparring session,” Sam snickered. “We should go for a little lie down, huh, pet? Rest and recuperate.”

Though they began to tug her in the direction of the bedroom, Vicky very much doubted there’d be any ‘rest’ - just the rough fucking she often received after they sparred. But even if she wanted to resist, she couldn’t. She stumbled after her Master, pulled along relentlessly by their finger, like a fish on a line.