This whole sordid affair had taken quite a while. It took so long, he was able to complete the following activities with plenty of time to spare: get heckled by his little sister; be caught pissing behind a rock; mentoring a barely-dry chick and adopting her, Eythan supposed; go for a stroll; and preen at himself.

But finally, finally it was his turn. The gryphon strolled out from his place in the crowd, casual as ever and taking his place in the center of the ring. If he had been properly keeping track... I should be fightin' Asimona.

He lowered his head, squaring off already. This should be interesting.

The first fight had gone quite well, although Asimona couldn't really shake the feeling that Jayberry was up to no good. She was bold to stick her nose into an event like this, but, to be honest, it really wasn't any of Asimona's business, as long as she didn't start trouble. Which she hadn't.

But now she knew that she was in for a real fight - Eythan was her next contender. He was older then her, a lot older, and a more experienced fighter. She doubted that she'd be able to come out victorious, but she wasn't a quitter. And she wasn't going to let that stop her from doing her best.

She stepped into the ring to find Eythan was already there. She smiled and gave him a nod of greeting. "Hey, Eythan." But she didn't know what else to say, really.

She glanced up to the judges, itching for the fight to begin.

Eythan smirked, bright eyes narrowing only with genuine greeting, and nodded back. "Been a while since I've seen your mug," he chirped in a teasing tone, chuckling. His shoulders rolled slightly, getting blood moving. Small ears pricked forward, just barely obscuring the reflective shine of his horns, as he demanded, "you better not hold anything back on me just because I'm your pal, Asimona!"

He sure wasn't going to either, and immediately took to the sky with a swell of his wings. Head tilting downward as he hovered in place, he called down to Asimona, "let's spice it up, homie! You get the first shot."

A spot of aerial acrobatics never hurt anyone --- okay, it hurt him, sometimes.

Asimona smiled. She wasn't quite used to Eythan's harsher dialect, but she found herself amused by it. As the judge called out for the fight to begin, she found herself looking forward to this. As she spread open her wings, she snickered back. "Not a chance!"

She jumped into the air, intending on reaching forward to slam into him, but at the last moment, she realized that her claws were out. She was getting far too enthusiastic and she hesitated, closing her fists so that any hit from her limbs wouldn't cut him. However, this easily created an opening that Eythan could use to attack. Oops.

No holding back? The deal was sealed, then.

Asimona quickly met him in the sky with a swell of enormous bat-like wings, driving Eythan to full-on grin with glee. The adrenaline was pumping now, limbs twitching slightly to sheer excitement: he had yet to fight a flying foe in a non-aggressive situation. No, the free-fall with Carni did not count. That was not a fight. That was an argument.

The gryphon had gotten caught up in his thoughts, swerving out of Asimona's way at the last possible second. Bright eyes flickered to and fro, checking his foe's positioning in the sky. Already, they were both at least ten meters off the ground, providing plenty of wiggle room for maneuvers that may cause falling. Eythan slalomed through the air for a moment, continuing to swerve around the dragon.

Maybe I could try the same slammin' tactic, he thought briefly, before putting on a burst of speed directly into one of Asimona's enormous wings, right at the base where limb met shoulder. His ears flattened against his skull, eyes closing as he involuntarily braced himself for an impact that would never come.

As Eythan came barreling closer, Asimona watched carefully. He was coming towards one of her wings and she tried to grab at him and toss him away from her, using his own momentum against him, but her claws closed on empty air and she merely found herself facing away from him, neither of their attacks having hit each other.

There was no impact, immediately causing Eythan to swoop low and then ascend into a sweeping curve around the dragon. Already, things were looking pretty... evasive. No contact had even come close to being made.

Time to switch up his tactics.

Asimona was most certainly larger than him, with enormous wings to support her own weight and another's. The gryphon was, of course, going to use this against her. Plus, y'know, tactics of staying out from underneath heavier Gembound. Talons balled up, keeping any possibility of drawn blood away (despite a scaled hide definitely preventing accidental scratches) Eythan climbed a little higher and dove straight for the dragon's back, intending to wrap his forelimbs about her neck and get a fairly strong grip.

Asimona turned to face Eythan again just as he swerved and disappeared above her. She turned up to look just a little too late as he crashed into her neck. She snarled and began rolling around in the air, trying to throw him off her, but her struggles weren't nearly strong enough to get him to let go. It looked impressive, though.