Tarentek's effort had some success, but the situation was not ideal. Thanks to his training, he was able to move with her to keep his arm from being twisted excessively as she brought herself to her feet, but there was still the matter of her free hand. As she started to jab at his shoulder, he tried to use his own free hand to grab hers, but her strikes were fast, and he couldn't get a secure grip. With each jab, Tarentek felt his grip on her arm weaken, so he had to make a decision. 

Instead of trying to grab Onyx's free arm, Tarentek tightly grasped the arm he had already grabbed with both hands. This secured his hold on Onyx, but left him open to strikes from her other hand. To combat this, Tarentek decided to try and use his size to his advantage. He quickly moved one of his sizable feet behind hers, then pushed against her with his shoulder in an attempt to trip her up and force her to the ground. His hope was that she would be too focused on her footwork to be able to do much damage with her free hand, but if not, he had to hope he could endure the pain of her retaliation long enough to secure his advantage.