Once more Xiredi found himself in the middle of the fighter's ring, prepared for his opponent to appear. After the first round many of the competitors had left the area, apparently unaware that this was a multi-stage competition. As such even if he had only participated in one fight he was at the top of the losers bracket. Whether he could stay there or not was another question as he glanced in the direction his opponent would be approaching from.

Kin-Kin, the only other red wolf he knew of in the caves. She had been the first he had met and already back then a master of magic. This was no magic coemption though, she was stepping into territory he had worked his entire life to hone. Sure, most of his work had been self-training and she had probably participated in more actual fights than he had, but even being younger he would likely have a size and strength advantage.

Still, Xireidi couldn't help but feel nervous as he waited, knowing full well how much experience likely mattered in matches like these. Even if unlike most of his sparring matches he wouldn't have to deal with blasts of energy or stones rising from the ground he had to stay focused on the goal.

Victory- salvaged from the jaws of defeat.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: None

Kin-Kin was padding back towards the arena for what she hoped was the final time. She was all for the thrill, of course, but her scrap with Imperia had passed, and that had been her main focus. And the brawl with that big black wolf- whilst it had been a promising start- had petered out like a pretty unsatisfying fart. So it was with a notably carefree attitude that Kin-Kin swaggered into the ring, her chin raised and posture confident.

Her ears pricked as she faced her new opponent though- which promised to be at least something new. Perhaps it would even bring the spark back- but she wasn't wholly convinced. "Well, isn't this a surprise," she greeted with a wry grin that showed a flash of fang. "Good to see ya, kid."

The she-wolf arched her spine and extended her forelegs ahead of her in a lengthy stretch, picking up each paw in turn. Her gaze picked over Xireidi, planning her first move. The younger wolf towered over her even though she was the elder being, but she was used to that. It ain't about size. Though her specialty was in magic- Kin-Kin hadn't necessarily slacked off on the physical front- the crystal entwined around her foreleg was proof of that, even though her sword wasn't held in it now.

She realized after these few failed fights that she'd need to get clever if she was to win without her tools.

Finally, after a few moments of preparation, Kin-Kin burst forward, pouncing in a dramatic feint for the neck. But at the last moment she dropped her muzzle and lunged for one of Xireidi's forelegs.

Round 1/5
Attack: go for the foreleg
Defense: none
Injuries: none

@Xireidi

"Good to see you as well, Kin-Kin." the large wolf responded cordially. His gaze remained mostly firm but he couldn't help but let a smile show. He'd show them how much he'd grown. He'd prove to himself that his training with Amras had not been wasted time. Even if he didn't win this he would at least give it his greatest effort.

All at once the preparations were complete and Kin-Kin took the first move, a straight attack! He had expected that from Aries, being a ram and all, but he was fully expecting his opponent this round to be a lot sneakier than that.

Xireidi focused his weight into his back paws and twisted as though he were preparing to jump left in hope of misdirecting the other red wolf. When she got close, however he jumped straight up and forward, a move ingrained in his muscle memory from cycles and cycles of practice jumping between rocks to try to learn to compensate for his lack of easy depth perception. His shifting to the left modified the movement, introducing a small spin to the leap- which coincidentally perfectly countered her sudden trick of ducking down to grab at where his legs had been just a second before.

With body spinning perpendicular to the other he brought his jaw down to try to grasp at the nape of her neck, where if he managed to get hold he would use the momentum of his jump to throw her off balance. Perhaps even disorienting her enough that he could drag her to a disadvantageous position near the edge if he was lucky.

Round 1/5
Attack: Grab the back of her neck
Defense: none
Injuries: none

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: None

Kin-Kin felt her jaws snap shut on empty air and knew immediately that she'd made a mistake. She felt Xireidi grab her scruff and her smaller weight meant that she was off-balanced almost immediately, and was completely at the larger wolf's mercy as she was dragged clean off her feet with a barely-audible growl throbbing in her chest.

Unable to wrench herself free in her current position, the she-wolf wriggled for a moment before sinking her claws and weight into the ground in an effort to stop the motion. After taking a moment to ensure that she'd regained her balance, she thrust herself onto her hind paws and jerked her head back, aiming to use the back of her skull to strike a bruising blow to Xireidi's jaw and force the other wolf to release his grip.

Round 2/5
Attack: knock Xireidi off with the back of her head
Defense: none
Injuries: none

@Xireidi

Xireidi held tight for a moment, making sure he had good footing before attempting any continuations of the maneuver. As he did so a sudden blunt force hit the blind right side of his face nearly causing him to lose grip. The blow had been lighter than he expected, or at least his resilience stronger than he realized. He'd been through worse pain before and with his positioning his good left side had been completely unaffected.

Still, he knew he'd definitely be feeling that in the morning.

Having secured his footing now Xireidi clamped down, closed both his eyes, and began to pull hard to right. He'd done this a quite a few times- mostly with branches but once with a freakishly light weight gryphon- and even if he missed the throw in the next phase or wasn't able to get very good momentum this would hopefully give him a footing advantage as the fight went on.

Kin-Kin might have been his first role-model, but that didn't mean he could afford to go easy on her.


Round 2/5
Attack: Keep grip, introduce spin
Defense: none
Injuries: pain in right side of face

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: If execution is improper can edit to a release and re-catch

Kin-Kin let out another low growl as Xireidi failed to release his grip, and felt herself being eragged, her claws scraping helplessly at the stony ground. She needed a change of strategy, and fast. Xireidi would expect her to make the same move again, so she needed to try something different. Kin-Kin was somewhat inexperienced in the way of fighting without the use of magic or the crystalline tool that was her sword, and to her frustration there was very little she could do that would feel clever or particularly worthy of her title.

In the end, though, Kin-Kin opted to put on a violent show of frenzied thrashing- more of a display than anything else to make it harder for Xireidi to hold on- and then lunge for one of his upper forelegs with glistening fangs. Hopefully, she might be slippery enough for her to make it...

And her fangs closed on flesh, but it wasn't Xireidi's. The she-wolf couldn't help but let out a little whimper, and there was a small spray of blood. Her eyes moistened and vision blurred, a bloodied tongue lolling out of her mouth, and a row of tooth marks visible on its pink surface.

Round 3/5
Attack: bite one of his upper forelegs
Defense: none
Injuries: none

The wolf kept his footing without fail, his closed eyes helping to keep him from getting too disoriented as he dragged his opponent in a circle in the direction of his blind side. A part of him felt like he might be taking the match too far, especially as he heard Kin-Kin whimper as she thrashed about. Were this any other situation he might have, but this was an actual competition rather than an informal sparring match. he couldn't let go until he got enough momentum going.

The spin continued for seconds that probably felt like hours until finally Xireidi could feel himself reach the edge of his ability to keep a stable grip. Hoping that he was pointed in a good direction the wolf put one last bit of momentum into his swing and released his jaws.

All four feet planted themselves firmly on the ground as Xireidi opened his eyes, fighting against dizziness for a short moment as he prepared for what would doubtlessly be a relentless counterattack after that stunt.

Unless of course he somehow managed to throw them out of the ring, in which case he'd have to check up on them and make sure there were no hard feelings.

Round 3/5
Attack: Throw Kin-Kin
Defense: none
Injuries: fading pain in right side of face

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: None

For a moment she was airborne, her light weight giving Xireidi an easy job. Finally, she felt her hide collide with hard stone, and skidded to a halt. With a scrabbling sound her claws managed to find purchase on the stone and she hauled herself to her feet in an instant. She felt the back of her neck where Xireidi had grabbed her throbbing, and knew that the tooth marks would bruise beneath the thick fur.

She paced, circling the other wolf, her hackles rising beneath her cape as she thought of her next move. She knew that it wouldn't be easy to clutch a victory from here- in reality, she'd probably already lost. The other wolf's size and superior weight might just be enough to snatch victory from her- an embarrassingly anticlimactic defeat, especially in front of a kid she'd seen hatch. She needed a change in strategy.

As she thought, Kin-Kin stretched herself, arching her back and extending each limb in a manner similar to a relaxed housecat. Her gaze lingered on Xireidi all the while- hopefully it would be enough to lull him into a false sense of security... and then... mid-stretch, she crouched and then lunged. She hoped that the initial leap would be enough to startle the other wolf, and give her the chance flip him onto his back from underneath if he rose up to defend.


Round 4/5
Attack: flip xireidi over
Defense: none
Injuries: grazes, bruised neck

As she leaned down as though not taking the match seriously his eyes narrowed, knowing that her pride probably wouldn't allow her to accept defeat so easily. Then again there was also the possibility that the action was part of a defense mechanism. After all, if she didn't actually put effort into the match then even if she lost it wouldn't say anything about her skill. She'd have free reign to tell herself that she would have been unstoppable if she actually cared to put in full effort.

These thoughts halted as soon as the ruse was up, prompting Xireidi to react purely out of instinct.

Kin-Kin had guessed right in her attack pattern. Xireidi was strong, but his style of training had left him with some predictable defaults. As Kin-Kin dove forward the wolf leapt straight up into the air, much higher than a creature his size really had any right to. Had the attack been quicker or Kin-Kin larger the attempt at flipping him in the air would probably have worked, but as it was he had gained just a bit too much altitude by the time she reached him.

With the areal dodge successful Xireidi braced himself for the landing, which at this point looked like it would be right on top of the other. Not an intended counter, but one that would make do perfectly well for that situation.

Round 4/5
Attack: Body slam!
Defense: none
Injuries: none

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: None

Kin-Kin already knew that she'd lost- perhaps she was simply too out of it to focus- perhaps she was too short or hadn't trained enough. But there was no denying that her head was out of the game to a serous degree. There was no way she could clutch this back, and there was no denying that now. There was no way she could convince anyone- even herself- that she had this in the bag.

She'd missed again, seeing Xireidi leap over her once again as he had earlier. This time Kin-Kin followed his path with her gaze and didn't try to dodge. Instead she tensed and leaped straight upwards towards him, trying to catch the larger wolf by the throat in what could be a devastating finishing move if used in a real fight.

Whether it worked or not, Xireidi would still come down on top of her- and probably still have the upper hand.

Round 5/5
Attack: catch xireidi by the throat.
Defense: none
Injuries: none