Caves, he thought his ankle was going to break underneath that weight. His wings flapped futilely at the tanky beast, teeth snapping but never quite able to reach.

Everything got worse as he continued to be dragged and hauled around, four massive paws slamming down onto his wings and keeping them in place. Svartis shrieked this time, thoughts starting to kick into overdrive around one center - which he voiced very clearly, "stop! You're gonna break something!"

Just in case his crying out wasn't enough of a deterrent, ice crackled from somewhere above his head. Only a few meager crystals spawned, but nothing.

Round: 5/?
Attempt: Spear Alpha with ice
Defense: n/a
Injuries: Fairly deep bite on left calf, steam burns on right wing, bruised right ankle

"Stop! You're gonna break something!"

A snarl tore from its maw, then a full roar: "that's it? I pin you down and you start whining?" (How ironic that was coming out of Alpha's mouth, and it knew it.) "COME ON. Give me SOMETHING! Stop holding back on me! You defeated Vargas in a battle, show me that!"

Being on the other end of this shouting was... exhilarating. The orthoclase hissed, pushing Svartis across the floor by the shoulders, "I'll kill you if you don't!" It stopped as he started to lift up onto the (now melting) icy perch he'd started on. Head lowering and jaws leaning close, it was unsettlingly sincere about that.

Round: 5/?
Attempt: Keep Svartis pinned
Defense: n/a
Injuries: Boiled crab legs, chilled eyeballs

"I don't know who Vargas IS," Svartis shrieked back up, thrashing as best he could and pushing against the kaiju's chest with his uninjured foot - even then, blood dribbled down his leg with each motion and sent a searing-hot pain coursing through his body. "I'm hurt and I'm done!"

He tried again with his magic, not showing restraint in his blind panic. "GET OFF OF ME!" came the roar, and then a hissing shriek.

Rather than a twin pair of spikes aimed at pushing Alpha up and away, twenty-some icy blades stabbed through his wings, entering clear and emerging stained a wicked red and hoisting leather flags on top.

Svartis screamed. "Get off, get off - get OFF!" His neck twisted, a much more primal screech tearing from his throat, still dangerously close to wicked rows of teeth:

"DAAAD!"

Round: 6/?
Attempt: Spear Alpha with ice... TWO!
Defense: n/a
Injuries: Fairly deep bite on left calf, steam burns on right wing, bruised right ankle, bruised shoulders, holes in the wings!

The dragon continued to thrash around and scream to no effect, and Alpha was - for lack of better phrasing - living for it. Maybe this wasn't the winged beast its Overseer had fought, but he was one, and it'd felled him.

He screamed for something called Dad, and it's quills rattled. It wasn't entirely planning to kill something that Vargas might want to use later, but it was going to show him who was boss, for good measure.

"I'm Orthoclase-Alpha, and you'd better remember it," the kaiju hissed against Svartis's throat, and lurched down to fit its jaws around his throat, to leave a savage bite mark as a memory.

Round: 6/?
Attempt: Throat grab
Defense: n/a
Injuries: Boiled crab legs, chilled eyeballs

The dragon family had been, at Dread's suggestion, hunting shinies. They had at some point split up, and had been too far to hear much of the battle--but Svartis' cry reached Dread's ears. (Such as they were.)

Fatherly ferocity sparked, panic and rage igniting in his gut. The dragon turned, wings pumping powerfully to sweep him toward the sound.

_____________

Wing-thump. Wing-thump. Wing-thump.

The bass whoomphs drew rapidly closer, and then Dread swept up and over a cluster of buildings and into view, eyes glowing with fire and fury. His jaws opened and he emitted a deafening, shrieking roar as he flew toward them, his predatory gaze locking on Alpha, his fins raised in hackled threat.

There was magicka in that roar: a threat of fire and death and hooked talons, of tearing and flinging and burning, and it was as if it came through the sound directly to Orthoclase-Alpha's mind.

Dread did not speak--he simply angled, dropping lower, jaw opening... flameglow light flaring up down his gullet as he swept closer.

Bone had never been in a fight before. But she loved her brother, and hearing the sudden cry sparked real fear in her. What in the caves could make a dragon cry for mercy-?

She turned, arcing alongside her father--she'd still been close to him, and Blight bobbing near her (and he was an adorable thing; she loved him already). As Dread powered over the buildings and into view, Bone was close behind, and off to his right (left, if one were facing them). She was careful not to draw too close, so that their wings would not impact and send them both flying, a lesson they'd learned the hard way in Monoceros as she grew.

Svartis--there, with another beast, a green-glittering spike-quilled monster--its jaws around his throat. Her pale eyes sprang wide, an indignant, helpless roar bellowing from her own chest, echoing after Dread's.

She swept off to one side, unwilling to blast them both with flame; Svartis was not like her, not like her father. He was ice, and fire would harm him badly. But she could blow flame around them, a warning to Alpha, to frighten or drive it off.

The fire came--and Bone failed to account, being entirely unfamiliar with her fire (a gentle being, usually, at heart) for its path. She breathed it, but she did not project it, and swept through it rather than pouring it down across the rock. A moment later the white dragon shot past the pair of fighters, engulfed in flames, a second, horrid roar shrieking from her throat.

OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW-

The tiny hatchling could not keep up with his new family, not by any means. When he heard Dad cry for help, panic flared in his chest, and he turned, following frantically as Dread and Bone immediately swept off at high speed toward him.

Blight, only a couple feet long, went bobbing along slowly in their wake, trying to catch up.

By the time he came into view, Bone was already on fire. He didn't know why, or how, but it was scary, and--"DAD!" he cried, seeing Alpha there, straddling Svartis' throat. Fear ran through him and he bobbed his way toward Alpha as rapidly as he could, aiming his own tiny dragon breath for the monster--assuming he even got that far before Alpha bailed.

If Alpha didn't flee (or snatch the hatchling from the air), Blight was prepared to breathe his tiny plague sneezing fit at the monster! "LET GO OF MY DAD!" he squealed.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

As its teeth sheared a path through thick plating and hide, leaving bloody streaks to drip down Svartis's throat, something - came to mind. Something that made its limbs freeze. Panic ran cold through its veins, steely, coppery... tasting suspiciously like fire, brimstone, soot, all other things related to fire.

Roars sounded around it, and Alpha let go of the dragon entirely to search the skies. Not one, not two, but three (it was counting the smallest one, of course) of the damn beasts were haunting the sky, one completely on fire and screeching by. If she was in pain, the orthoclase didn't notice through it the fear overclocking its heartrate. Blood roared in its ears as it damn near tumbled off of where it was straddling Svartis.

Magicka flaring - good riddance - it scattered like a rat escaping the ship before it was even on fire.

exit Alpha, unless stopped

Svartis went stiff as teeth grazed his throat, giving a weak hiss of pain as they went deeper, leaving ragged paths through his flesh and hide. One, he'd run out of fight; two, he didn't want to move for fear of making this more painful.

Draconic roars echoed in the distance, calamity approaching, wings beating heavily.

The weight across his body shifted, then vanished entirely. Icy eyes followed the kaiju as it vanished out of sight.

If there was ever an approximation of silence, the black dragon peeled himself from the ground, one tender, torn wing at a time. His eyes went glassy with pain, fins physically drooping. Carefully, Svartis placed himself on shaky feet, barely able to keep himself up on only one good foot (even then, his calf was furiously bleeding yet) and wing.

A breathy hiss of pain echoed through him as he swallowed, disturbing the freshest of his wounds. He - needed to keep that in him. Svartis reached feebly, and pressed against his throat with magic. Some sort of impromptu bandage made out of ice would have to do for now. It was bitterly cold, but... reassuring.

He stood in place while his family - thank the Caves - circled around him, settling, maybe. His chest felt altogether too tight as he called, raspy from all of his screaming, "th-ank you."

@Dread

[Origin Cave]

Character: Svartis Age: +4 (4 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Pupil) ROUND 1 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +19 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +12 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 6 Attempt: +1 (oof) Penalties: -0 Total: 54

Character: Orthoclase-Alpha Age: +3 (3 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +16 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +10 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -5 (ignored failure to pin?? bro idk) ROUND 6 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 Total: 82

WINNER: Orthoclase-Alpha

[judges own fight lol] - navy