All suspicions are confirmed when Galleon talks again, and Vakornol barks out a short peal of disbelieving laughter. "Knew you were holdin' back on this old biddy!" To which she takes no offense, as evidenced by her follow-up: "I'm fresh out of retirement and off my game today, but that doesn't mean you gotta take it easy on me."

Tossing her grinning muzzle upward, she puts on an elderly affect: "Back in my day, the prize was just living to fight another fight. We only fought for fun some of the time."

Darting closer to Galleon— with care given to her sprained ankle, still— Vakornol continues in her normal tone, "I'm just here to have fun. Kick my ass and win your way up the tournament, if you want that kinda fun."

The sandshark's avoided the worst of her deflected assault, which is ultimately a good thing; the fight's still on, and Vakornol's got a second wind in her own sails. There's not much room for doing anything but impressing the judges and audience with her technique after being tossed around for the majority of this tussle's duration. No permanent, lasting injury is proving to be a rougher prospect than anticipated with how tough those scutes are and how tempting it is to rip at the softer parts to get a quicker ending to the match.

Everyone looks rather dandy with scars on the face though, right? That's a nice present to give. Gonna have to be quick before she re-submerges, though. Hopefully, the chatter's a good enough distraction for it.

Vakornol lunges for her face, then, claws bared to catch whatever she can that isn't something vulnerable like an eyeball (a bit hard to reach anyway) with a few claw-strikes; all intended to carving flattering vertical lines into the scutes of Galleon's dome.

Round: 4/5
Attempt: Going for scratching up Galleon's face!
Defense: Keeping eyes on Galleon.
Injuries: Sand in eyes. Bruised undersides. Sprained ankle.

@Galleon

Vakornol's less than graceful crash to earth was regarded with a head tilt. Not a terribly impressive showing for one of her experience, but even the best brawlers had their little stumbles. He elected to keep his remark short; if future blunders occurred, however, a stronger edge of mockery might sneak into the running observations. "Well, we have the answer, viewers. Seems we can give our fishy friend an award for assisting the elderly."

A shame. East had expected her to trade blows as deftly as she did banter, going off of their past meeting. Maybe a couple bashes around the ring would warm scales up and allow the old gladiator to shake away the possible lethargy plaguing her body. Now, though, he could only watch and wait for whether claw strikes eventually matched wit's speed.

An exaggerated move on Galleon's part, and the audience finally had something to be electrified by, what could have been a one-sided beating morphing into a proper struggle. Not missing the opportunity to comment, the hawk weighed in over the clash of claws against scutes.

"But let's not look away just yet. Dining on such a large catch as this young sand-swimmer might be the motivation the aging beauty of the arena needs. She may not be a growing girl, but a lady has particular tastes. See her try to carve a nice fillet out of her opponent."

Galleon's brain stuttered to a stop. Had she been that obvious? Vakornol hat noticed. East had noticed. That meant anyone listening knew. Her fin flushed a deep, embarrasseed red. Galleon experienced stage fright for the first time in her many cycles of life. She grinned sheepishly, in her usual stiff way.

"That obvious, huh? Sorry. Y'can't blame me--was feelin a lil off for beatin' on an old lady." She said. She couldn't hold back the indignant snort, learning about Vakornol's ancient time. Galleon from approximately 10 seconds in the future would kick herself for not keeping track of Vakornol's movement, but current Galleon wasn't that wise. "I think we're fellas of the same mind! Don't quite like the sound of that old time y'came from though--fighting shouldn't be no more than fun. Anyone who only cares about advancements ain't the type of fighter I like."

She'd had a similar conversation with Labradorite before--it was awkward to find herself somewhat on the opposite side. There was good news for Valornol, though-- getting Galleon embarrassed was the perfect way to get her distracted. She only realized Vakornol had gotten close enough for an attack when her outreached claws were closing in on her face.

Galleon shuttered her eyeslits. Before she could think to avoid or block, Vakornol's claws found their mark. She'd been expecting pain. What she got wasn't quite pain--she felt the gouges carved into her face, of course. But more, worse than that, was the very uncomfortable ringing from a hit near her facial pits. Galleon listened to her first instinct: swat the thing near her face away.

She swung her head like a wild bludgeon. Quite similarly, her swing went wide. Unsurprising, given her eyes were still shut. "Cheap shot!" She said, though there was little, if any, anger behind her words.


"When I speak"
When I think

@Vakornol

ROUND 5/5

80%

ATTEMPT: Toss Vakornol away
DEFENSE: N/A
INJURIES: scratched/cracked scales, bruise, face scratched and ringing

Of course, it doesn't do to have all the parties involved be suffering a mite of embarrassment. Vakornol offers a vaguely disgruntled huff in response to Galleon's indignant snort, and then she laughs, "Don't worry, champ. Making my way up the old pecking order was just a nice treat. This is just all fun and games, indeed."

Her claws hit home, and she takes note— (for potential future reference, because the timer's bound to be running out soon)— of that sensitive-seeming response to getting so close to the sand-shark's facial structures. Maybe that big, relatively featureless dome is just as important as the sail on her back for making her way around down under. Shame there's not any time to put that to good use.

At the cry out about a "Cheap shot!", Vakornol barks a short laugh, making sure she's back on the ground before bantering back lest she bite her own tongue. "Old ladies fight dirty! But, hey: You'll look very dashing with those little scrapes."

While she's just that small bit ahead, the Valkhound keeps her momentum up, skirting around Galleon's flailing front to rake her claws down her untouched flank. Her claws come short as her opponent squirms, but still she makes a valiant effort to make at least a clean finish.

Round: 5/5
Attempt: Continuing to scrape up Galleon's sides.
Defense: N/A.
Injuries: Sand in eyes. Bruised undersides. Sprained ankle.

@Galleon

[Origin Cave]

Character: Vakornol Age: +5 (119451 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +1 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +3 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +12 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +9 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +3 Penalties: - Total: 36

Character: Galleon Age: +5 (52 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +7 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +19 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +6 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +15 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +2 Penalties: - Total: 57

WINNER: Galleon

@Vakornol @Galleon

Galleon shook her head until the ringing stopped. It was a thankfully short wait, during which she was relieved she didn't feel any extra claws come down on her scales.

"Somethin to learn." Galleon said, tucking away the nugget of info on old people fighting. The fight was called--had been called--sometime while she'd been shaking her head out. Galleon blinked. She'd won? She hoped no one would vilify her for the pulled punches. Regardless of the outcome of the match nor the onlookers, she wasnt done here yet. Galleon twisted locking eyes with Vakornol. She cleared her throat. "Good fight t'ya, Vakornol!"

She went quiet for a moment. It ended with a grin, bone sheets parted. "Hey, how 'bout we have a rematch sometime, huh? Someone like you's probably seen a lot. Y'also can hit hard." Galleon chuckled, feeling the full ache of one such hit. Maybe there was something more to combat than the vibes based system Galleon ran on. "I could always use new sparring parters, if you're willin'."

"When I speak"
When I think

@Vakornol