V-Onyx-Three had meant it when he accepted The Sentinel's offer to accompany him to train in other caves if he wished. And now he was here, to find someone to spar with. They weren't sure what kind of gembound they were looking for, though he supposed it didn't matter. Anyone would work. It was in this variety too that he could learn different strategies, counters.

It definitely felt strange to be out of Draco, though Cepheus had a voidlight just like his home cave did, so it wasn't nearly as strange as Pegasus had been. There was so much more out here in comparison to that cave, and it made him wonder how many places there could be to explore. Though there were some he wouldn't ever go to unless he became stronger, much stronger. Order. That was what he was afraid of encountering.

He had switched into a bipedal stance after completing the journey from Draco to here, as it gave him additional height as well as feeling more natural. Their pace was a slow jog, eyes looking around for someone to approach. They hoped someone would take up the offer. Though first, they need to find someone to ask.

@Alek

Alek had eagerly accompanied his dad to Cepheus. The aquatic dragon hadn't been more than two caves away from Orion since the day he had hatched in Leo alongside his siblings. This was an adventure! Sure, his dad was nearby, but Alek was still allowed to wander the cave without supervision! It was exciting.

Cooking always looked real cool to Alek, but considering he was purely carnivorous, it was easier for him to just hunt. And hunting was an effort on its own, adding cooking into that equation just didn't really work well. So Alek usually just ate raw meat.

He had previously worked best as an aquatic ambush predator lurking near enough to the surface to snatch land-prey that came to drink at the water. But Alek was getting bigger, and stealth was getting more important. He was definitely bigger than his dad now, though not by an insane amount like his parent was. Not yet, at least.

The dragon attempted to practice his stealth on land here, trying to lurk in the shadows and watch nearby beings. His stealth skill on land, however, was definitely limited. Pretty much any creature could notice the draconic being existing on the ground.

Still, he did notice something during his failed attempts at lurking. Or rather, someone. Giving up on stealth for now, Alek wandered towards the furry bipedal entity. "I like your eyes!" It wasn't often that Alek met another greater gembound with even as close to as many eyes as he had. And the eyes were pretty cool looking, too!

Many purple eyes blinked in no clear pattern as Alek observed the being. The only eye that did not blink was the one that was in truth a purple amethyst, his gemstone.

@V-Onyx-Three

He didn't have to look long before he spotted a gembound, one that didn't resemble anything he had ever seen before. And what were they doing? V-Onyx-Three stared at Alek as he tried to be stealthy, not quite understanding what they were seeing. Was the dragon scared of light? Having grown up in Voidlight his whole life, it had been a strange experience passing through Pegasus. Perhaps it was the opposite for the dragon.

And now Alek was approaching. They felt their body tense, a bit nervous at the rather large size difference. Not to mention V-Onyx-Three was not only smaller, he was way lankier. Their mind immediately started analyzing the gembound. Teeth and claws- everyone had those he supposed, but they could be deadly nonetheless. Especially from someone that large. And... antlers? They looked like bones that jutted out of ones head, and sharp too. They had potential to be dangerous. How much, he didn't know. He had never seen anyone with them before. And there were wings, which vaguely reminded him of Onyx-Two.

The dragon was in front of him in a blink. "Thank you." V-Onyx-Three felt a bit lost on how to respond. Was he supposed to say anything else? Compliments were something that he never knew how to receive, and he felt extremely awkward. "Your eyes are also many. And purple." V-Onyx-Three liked his eyes, they were a constant reminder of his parents. Especially Hunter, who he didn't get to see very often.

After a moment's pause, V-Onyx-Three having decided Alek probably had good intentions, came the introduction, "V-Onyx-Three. I am here to train. Would you like to spar with me?" Straightforward, yes, but he really didn't know what else to add to that. He didn't understand the purpose of not being direct anyways. Nor was he able to change it. Oh wait, he forgot something important. "What is your name?"

His heart was beating a bit fast, due to him still being a bit nervous about talking to Alek who was so big. Also talking to anyone at all who he didn't know. He wasn't used to social interaction. Luckily his magic came to aid him, slowing his heart rate so he didn't seem so scared.

@Alek

Alek preened at the statement that he took as a compliment. He liked his many eyes and their color, after all, so acknowledgement of these traits made him happy.

The other's introduction, however, confused the aquatic dragon. In fact, Alek did not even realize it was an introduction. Instead, he was wracking his brain, trying to figure out what a V-Onyx-Three was. Onyx was a stone, he was pretty sure. But what was the rest of that?

He tried to figure it out, but, well, he failed. "I'm Alek, and I could spar with you, I guess. I've never really sparred, though. What are the rules?" Alek had decided to approach this like a game to be won.

But there was one more thing to ask. "What's a V-Onyx-Three?"

@V-Onyx-Three

Yes! Someone who wanted to spar with him! The dragon seemed friendly despite his size. Though why was size a measure of potential friendliness anyways? It was instinctual, that things bigger than you were a larger threat. He stood up a bit straighter, ears folding back slightly. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know what the exact rules were to it. Onyx-Three just knew that you did it. He really didn't have experience with any of this. It was his first time in fact. Before he had only practiced with The Sentinel.

"You do not hit to hurt. To injure. Only to... win." What did it mean to win though? Probably when one forfeits, or when they are unable to attempt any action. "You win when your opponent can not do anything. Or quits." he hoped that was a sufficient explanation, but really it was still sort of unclear to himself.

Their eyes blinked in unison. "V-Onyx-Three is me." they pointed at their gemstone with a finger, "Onyx." then let their hand fall back to their side, "There is V-Onyx-One and V-Onyx-Two. So I am Three." Now that they thought about it, some gembounds did not have names with numbers. Did that mean they did not have siblings then? What a sad life that must be. "Is there an V-Alek-One or V-Alek-Two?"

@Alek

Alek nodded thoughtfully at the explanation. To him it made perfect sense. Mostly, at least. Well, to tell the truth, the dragon still had questions. But he was eager to play this game and try to collect a victory from it.

"Okay!" He exclaimed, ready to start. Then their question was answered, though, and Alek found himself more confused rather than less.

He tried to process and understand what he was hearing.

There was a somewhat long moment, but Alek thought he got it. Maybe.

"So... Your stone is an Onyx? And there are others with Onyx stones in your..., uh, naming system? Connected to you?" Alek tried to ask.

"Like... Oh! Like family? I have two parents! And two siblings, too! Is that what you meant? But we don't all have the same stone or names based on stones! My dad is Sprig, and my other parent is Cadenza. Then my siblings are Gaheris and Kaizer!"

"I hatched first, of my siblings! And... my stone is an Amethyst. So I'd be something like... I don't really know? None of us have the same stones, actually," Alek thoughtfully added.

But! Game!

"Do you want to start the spar? Since you know how it works?" Alek returned to the original point.

@V-Onyx-Three

Onyx-Three was glad that the gembound understood the rules, even though they had been quite difficult for him to explain. It would not be a good thing if one of them got hurt in the process. Injuries really sucked because then it meant he would be stuck recovering and not training.

He pointed at his stomach, where an onyx gemstone in the shape of a diamond was located. "Yes. My brother also has onyx. But it is not a name. A name has to be... earned. I want to earn a name. Someday." Onyx-Three was very confused about how the dragon's family did not have a naming system. Did they just- have a name when they hatched? Without having to earn it? That was incredibly strange, and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. To him, names were like rewards and privileges. One needed to prove themselves to gain one. "That is strange." they concluded, but did not dwell on it further. After all, it was time for both of them to spar. Alek seemed to be excited to begin as well.

"Be ready." Onyx-Three backed off a few feet, taking deep breaths to mentally prepare himself. Then he rushed forward on all fours, leaping off the ground in an attempt to scratch Alek on the chest with his claws.

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Scratch Alek in the chest
Defense: None
Injuries: None

@Alek

Earn... a name? Alek did not understand this, and was so confused by this that he was not prepared in the least for the V-Onyx-Three to scratch despite the warning.

The lion-sized dragon yelped, startled, as the claws scratched against his scaled chest.

As a result of his surprise, he reacted more than anything else, attempting to scratch some dirt off the ground with a front wing and hurl it at V-Onyx-Three to impair the other's vision temporarily.

It had always been a good go-to when playing games with siblings, at least.

@V-Onyx-Three

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Blind using thrown dirt
Defense: None
Injuries: Chest Scratches

Onyx-Three realized that the dragon had scales. He has not seen scales before. They were hard, like armor. This something new that he had to learn how to deal with. Yet his scratch still landed. They did not have much time to dwell upon this small victory before dirt was flung straight at their eyes. Talk about playing dirty! Onyx-Three had never fought against someone who used the environment around them to their advantage.

Due to the close range, it would be hard to dodge. They looked away to try and prevent the stuff from going straight into his face, successfully preventing it from temporarily blinding them. But now their eyes felt itchy. He reached up to try and rub it from his eyes, though it only made it worse.

Round: 2/?
Attempt: Dodge the dirt
Defense: None
Injuries: Itchy eyes.

@Alek

It had never occurred to Alek that there might be a fairer way of sparring. He had heard the rules and dirt didn't really hurt, even if it was pretty annoying to get in one's eyes. Especially if you had lots of eyes!

As V-Onyx-Three rubbed at his eyes, it was clear that Alek had found a weakness in his foe!

Dirt!!!!

Mischief was in the air, at least for Alek. That being the case, the dragon moved to get a better angle and then tried to wing-fling some more dirt at V-Onyx-Three's eyes.

Round: 2/?
Attempt: MORE DIRT TO THE EYES?
Defense: None
Injuries: Chest Scratches

@V-Onyx-Three