Eythan, after several attempts, had finally managed to find a bit of rock that was perfectly suited to his feline rear. Not too pointy so as to jam into his ass every five seconds, but not too worn-smooth that he was about to slip off if he didn't grip the edge well enough. So, that was his all-time Judges Perch. Incredibly official and pompous, he knows, but the giant purple Master (or whatever) been sitting in the same place the entire time, so that must be his chair of choice.

Anyways... the gryphon stared at the two arrivals to the arena, simultaneously awestruck and worried. One seemed to be a young... dragon (and man, did they look like either of the monsters still sitting in the bleachers.) The other was just a cat. Either were tiny in comparison to other competitors, and he hoped they could hold their own for their sake.

Until then, he was rooting for the two of them.

His voice went up to projecting volumes fairly easily, full of over-exaggerated Officiallness: "alright - Carja 'n Alrik! I wanna see a fair 'n clean fight - no blood 'n guts 'n bones comin' outta either of ya if y'can help it! Sheng'll let y'know when to quit." Eythan paused, then crowed: "have at it!"

@Carja @Alrik

Interest at once lit his gaze, with these two. Not at Alrik--though that one was a cat, and thus bore paying some attention to--but at Carja. The glowing form, the black hide--well, blue wasn't normally their aesthetic but perhaps this one had been an exception-? It was near-perfect, and he stared with rapt interest.

If this one proved worthy, perhaps he could replicate it in the future--or convince it to lend its form to other creations.

Or maybe the tiny cat would beat the hell out of it; he'd have to wait and see.

Carja galloped into the ring with a massive grin on her face, her whole body wiggling in excitement. She lifted an arm to wave at Eythan before she spotted Vargas, finding herself utterly delighted that they had the same amount of eyes. She waved to him too!

She lifted herself onto her longer wing claws and stood up, looking for Svartis or Asimona in the crowd. If she saw them, she waved at them too before dropping back down and folding her wings in as tight as they would go, knowing that they were prone to getting yanked (as she'd unfortunately been subjected too by a teething Lass).

"Hi!" she said to Alrik, "Good luck! I hope you have fun!"

Suddenly her grin snapped wide open, revealing rows of sharp teeth that she bared in a snarl. Her claws dug into the ground and her tailfins snapped shut, making a whip out of the limb instead. She circled around the cat, trying to intimidate as much as she could.

Carja dragged her claws up and swet dust and sand directly at Alrik's eyes, hoping to blind and stun long enough to pin him down or get a hit in. She darted around to the side to flank, her practice chasing down prey of all sizes coming in handy (and a few scrabbles with lesser predators).

Round: 1/5
Attempt: Pocket sand!
Defense: N/A
Injuries: None.

@Alrik

No blood, no death, just a clean fight with a beastie Alrik could prove his muscle against.

The pallas' cat smirked at Carja's words, the weight of an audience of eyes pressure-cooking Alrik into the perfect little slice of toast. He wasn't gonna crack. He was no egg!

Carja's grin became a snarl and Alrik was a little intimidated felt as though he'd seen worse. What were a few rows of teeth to an army of bat cats' anybody else's? Beating her (which he totally could do by the way), would only be a baby step in the direction of defeating more... fearsome creatures.

Alrik tried quickly to blink the image of fluttering wings out of his mind.

The serpentine creature circled around him, and Alrik attempted to divert his attention to all sides, but mainly keep trained on her face. Faces told a lot. Intentions, motives; it was like a dance. And Alrik wasn't gonna let some sentient noodle lead him in it.

When the sand came flying, Alrik decided to counter it... with his own!

Carja's pocket sand stung in his eyes; temporarily he was indeed blinded as his instincts took over and he tried to blink the grains out, but he figured if any of his got in as well, it would stop being a contest of brain and start being one of brawn. It would all depend on who got up and kept going first.

Hopefully the message was made clear: don't try any cheap tricks on me, sweetheart!

Round: 1/5
Attempt: Double pocket sand! (Uno reverse)
Defense: Uh... nope, he's stunned for now.
Injuries: My eyes hurt now, thanks sand.
@Carja

Carja got a faceful of sand in response and snorted, her eyes watering as she pawed at her face for a moment. Ouch! She blinked through the tears and widened her other pairs of eyes to get in more input, each pair locking onto the cat and narrowing. Target locked. You're gonna need more sand than that, kitty.

Darting forward, she lunged into the air and used her blunt (for now) horns to ram into the cat, aiming for the shoulder to take at least one limb out of comission. Her advantage here was that she had more limbs to spare and more things to hit with, so she had to use them to her advantage. Horns, four forelimbs and a long, whip-like tail.

Determination flared, knowing that her family watched in the crowd. She wanted to make them proud, even if she lost. She wanted to show them that she was a dragon!

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Headbutt! (hehe butt)
Defense: N/A
Injuries: Pocket sand in the eyes.

@Alrik

They both seemed to be exactly where they'd started. Good. So Alrik was winning.

If he could just keep anything from happening for long enough, he'd get his moment to strike, surely. This was immortality! This was bathing in fire and feeling nothing. NOTHING! Even if he managed to keep her at bay the whole fight, that had to be impressive, because I mean, look at him! He was a cat going up against a dragon!

People were impressed by boulders because they were so hard to move. Alrik was the same way.

When Carja came running at him again, Alrik attempted to drop down into a stone-like stance, spread wide and low to the ground for balance. Maybe he would throw her off balance once she hit him. He didn't quite make it in time. Those blunt horns hurt for sure, but he'd taken some of the bite out of them. They hadn't hit him square on the shoulder.

His shoulder was thrumming, he bit his tongue to keep the pain in. It wasn't too bad! It wasn't too bad. He could probably still move his shoulder. In a little while.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Try to avoid being de-shouldered & maybe trip Carja up a bit.
Defense: Strong stance for balance, so he doesn't fall on impact.
Injuries: My eyes hurt now, and my shoulder has a booboo.
@Carja

Carja felt more resistance than she'd anticipated, grinding to a sudden halt. This was what she got for not growing at a normal pace. Cat-sized dragon versus actual cat. Didn't cats have 9 lives too? She'd have to remember that- though she wasn't sure it applied here, since it was just a wrestling match. Oh well.

She pulled away and darted forward again like an angry bull, head down and horns brandished. She managed to get another hit in, on the same shoulder too! Even with the pocket sand in her eyes. Take that, kitty cat! Ooh it rhymed- focus!

She got a hit in, but they weren't done yet. She had to be ready for the next wave of attacks!

Round: 3/5
Attempt: Headbutt again! (hehe butt)
Defense: N/A
Injuries: Pocket sand in the eyes.

@Alrik

don't mind me sliding in to spectate

It was strange the faces you see when you go to the same places several times a week. It'd spotted that hero deer, the cub that got ripped to shreds, and that smelly and loud cat was just here, presently playing equally as dirty (but skillful) as an opponent that was a fair bit larger in comparison.

Alpha watched the proceedings with the same lack of enthusiasm as the others, but found its gaze drifting towards the sky more than once. This was a dragon - and all dragons knew each other. It was like Monoceros was a festering hive of them.

Apparently this kid didn't think one hit to Alrik's shoulder was enough; she wanted two?! Was she trying to break his arm?!? Nevertheless, he grit his teeth and bared it, pain clutching that twice-hit shoulder like a manacle of steel.

As soon as he could, Alrik would try to move forward so he was beside Carja's flank. He didn't want to back up and charge at her again, there was no need to create more distance. If Alrik could get to Carja's side, he would then try to climb on top of her back.

That should make it a lot harder for her to ram him again! A lot harder to do anything but try to shimmy him off, really.

It um. Did not work. Apparently his shoulder had decided that functioning was stupid, and he fell on his other side. Uh oh.

Round: 3/5
Attempt: Climb onto Carja's back from her side. Actually no getting completely destroyed is much better.
Defense: Lol no
Injuries: My eyes hurt now, and my shoulder is definitely bruised (booboo'd).
@Carja

Oh the cat was down!! The cat was down! Now was her chance!

Carja whirled around to face the cat and jumped up, looking like a fox about to pounce into snow after a mouse, but instead she was aiming to bodyslam the feline and pin it down to the ground. She came down and fell onto the cat, not too hard as to seriously injure, thankfully, but hopefully enough to stun.

"Give up!" she squawked bravely in her little cute baby voice, "Yield, cat! Or I'll bodyslam you again!"

Carja kept her weight firmly on the feline, arms and legs spread out a bit awkwardly in an attempt to cage him in.

Round: 4/5
Attempt: Bodyslam
Defense: N/A
Injuries: Pocket sand in the eyes.

@Alrik