Galleon swam in once more. Mentally, she was doing great. She'd won! Twice! Though the embarassment of being caught going easy during the last match sat stubbornly in the back of her mind. Physically, she was less good. The arena fights were beginning to weigh on her--she ached in various spots, and could tell her tail was getting worn out from all the sharp turns she'd been doing.

What she'd love would be to take a good long nap under a warm cave light. That had to wait though--her opponent probably wouldn't take too kindly to Galleon napping in the middle of their fight. She let out a soft sigh. Gallleon breached, twisting her head to watch for her opponent's entrance.

"When I speak"
When I think

@Shrike

Shrike stepped into the ring, wing-walking slowly. Her serpentine tail left a trail in the packed sand behind her as she studied her new opponent.

She'd only fought once. She'd enjoyed it, a thrill of violence that coincided beautifully with her growing corruption. But Galleon-? Why had the giant fish (?) had to fight twice already? She eyed her up and down. "You had to fight twice? You go first," she offered, magnanimous.

She wondered--and hoped--that Galleon would provide as brutal a fight as Moonsetter had.

@Galleon (lmk if you also want discord tags!)

Galleon stared at Shrike. She hadn't been expecting that small kindness. She didn't have any expectations at all honestly. "Huh, if y'say so." She said eventually. Then, as if suddenly remembering, followed up with a quick: "Thanks. Good luck t'ya!"

Galleon usually didn't put much thought into her opponents forms, aside from their general size. Shrike had her attention though. She was winged. She hadn't had too many opportunities to fight winged opponents, but she thought she had a good idea of how a winged gembound liked to fight from her spar with Khavur--they liked to make distance, and strike on their own terms. She couldn't let that happen.

Galleon inhaled sharply. She dove, and with a hard flick of her tail, she charged. If she were lucky, she'd catch Shrike off guard with that burst of speed. She aimed to charge into Shrike, flipping her over with a toss of the head.

"When I speak"
When I think

@Shrike (discord tags are fine!)

ROUND 1/5

#90%

ATTEMPT: Knock shrike over
DEFENSE: N/A
INJURIES: tired, brusied

Shrike saw her coming, even as she opened her beak while considering a reply. And "coming" was an understatement: the fish was not clumsy, instead plowing for her through the sand with a "this is like a tanker truck about to hit you" sort of vibe. Shrike didn't really like that idea, because it meant getting absolutely catapulted in a way she couldn't manage with wings alone.

She would've liked to wrestle but now she was facing a new problem: Galleon was bigger than she was. Bigger, heavier. A tackle, a tussle to test strength, would leave Shrike pummeled, without question.

So Shrike's eyes widened, and she leapt, trying to get the heck out of the way in time to avoid being thrown by the massive, scaled shape and its flicking tail and tossing boulder of a head.

Her legs shoved her skyward, her wings flapping to try and grab air. She felt Galleon's body catch her feet, spinning her forward, but a frantic re-balance and more frantic flapping stabilized her. She was turning to face Galleon again by the time the giant fish-beast had probably already turned to face her again--and she hadn't really gotten high enough to avoid another attack.

ROUND 1/5

ATTEMPT: vault it!
DEFENSE: no
INJURIES: probably? healed? but tired from last fight

@Galleon

Galleon felt claws on her snout, and for a moment she thought she'd flipped her. But then she felt the faint vibration she associated with wing flaps. She twisted around. Shrike'd gotten in the air--she'd used Galleon used as a springboard. Her opponents had been smart so far! She pulled her jaw muscles back in a stiff smile.

"Nice!" she said, deathly addicted to giving some form of commentary.

Shrike was not high enough to be totally out of her reach yet. She exhaled, the noise like the gust of a weathered pipe. She gathered her energy and dove. Sand rushed in where she had been and was just as quickly blasted away as she launched herself at Shrike. Her launch lacked her usual energy and left her flying beneath Shrike, not even grazing her talons--Galleon must've been tiring faster than she realized. She hit the sand with a grunt, beginning to rebury herself again.

"When I speak"
When I think

ROUND 2/5

90%

ATTEMPT: knock shrike out of the air?
DEFENSE: N/A
INJURIES: tired, bruised

@Shrike

Shrike's response was a soft swear. That had been a close one. She was about to try and form something better, a more COHERENT response, when Galleon began to... burrow.

So Shrike swore again, realizing abruptly that this was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought. The Chaos thrumming through her Oil-scrambled brain screamed for violence, but the giant armored fish was diving. She had maybe a second to do some damage, and... she didn't know what. Her weight wouldn't hurt Galleon, maybe not even in a full dive. She couldn't tear through that armor even if it'd been allowed in the competition rules.

So she winged it. She dove, aiming to just... hit Galleon, but not in a "crash into the ground and leave yourself vulnerable" sort of way. She pulled up at the last second, aiming to deliver her weight with a couple sharp kicks to the armored beast's head area before gaining height again. It would be maybe... a light daze, at best (if she even connected) but it was all she could think to do.

ROUND 2/5

ATTEMPT: ...kick Galleon?
DEFENSE: no
INJURIES: probably? healed? but tired from last fight

@Galleon

A flash of white and glossy black flashes before Galleon's eyes. Claws. A memory of her diziness from last round shoots to the forefront of her mind. She wasn't willing to endure that again. Galleon aborts her attempt to dig below the sand again. She was a creature of physicality, and she would use her body as such. She pushes herself up with her fins. Up, she presses, towards the claws, tilting her head into the attack. It was a reckless attempt to use the shielded, smooth dorsal scales near her blowhole to take the brunt of it.

Though sometimes being reckless worked. Her gambit left Shrike's kicks and claws scraping dangerously close to her actual nostrils and the sensitive front of her face. But there was no lingering dizziness, only an ache. She still felt the slight ring--a warning of what she nearly had--but it was nowhere near enough to disorient her--for now. Galleon chuckled, a burdened yet hungering sound.

"Almost had me there," she said. Galleon tilts her head so that she can look up at Shrike. She'd lost the fight to keep Shrike out of the air. The best she had was to wait for an opportunity. Galleon stayed tense, readying herself for the next attack.

"When I speak"
When I think

@Shrike

ROUND 3/5

86%

ATTEMPT: putting her sturdier scales in the way
DEFENSE: smooth scales
INJURIES: tired, bruised, face scratched

She was at a loss, for a moment. Galleon was a massive tank of a creature with no weaknesses that Shrike could see. She couldn't lacerate in this fight--and she wasn't sure she'd have been able to, anyway, past those thick scales. A body slam would do nothing. Trying to coil around and constrict her wouldn't work; she was too damn big. She could try and break a fin, but was that even legal-? And even if so, would it do anything? She could blind the eyes--wait, no she couldn't.

Rules.

Fuck.

...It was at this point, hovering like an irritated little bee, that Shrike lost her patience. The Chaos she'd been gathering into herself wouldn't wait. Her thoughts and attempts at strategizing became a hot and violent buzz through her mind, and she just dove at Galleon.

It was an attempt to close the distance. To wrestle and pit strength against strength. The problem there was that Galleon was bigger, stronger, tougher. Shrike would likely get pounded into the dirt, crushed, smooshed and battered. But this corrupted hybrid wasn't thinking straight any longer. She crashed for Galleon, and for the ground: an attempt at a heavy strike and whatever subsequent struggle would come.

ROUND 3/5

ATTEMPT: very stupid wrestling attempt
DEFENSE: no
INJURIES: probably? healed? but tired from last fight

@Galleon

Galleon maintained her end of the staring contest her and Shrike were locked in. She wouldn't venture a guess as to what Shrike was calculating as she hovered above her, she just watched for that sign of attack. Before she could lob a bit of banter at Shrike, as if on cue, something changed. Shrike dove at her. It was unlike the strategic moves Shrike had made earlier. There was something wild in her eyes. Galleon liked that. This was Galleon's opportunity. She was not one to shy away from shows of pure strength. She would aim to meet Shrike head-on, exchange force with force.

Galleon's spiracles were heaving with exertion, but she felt revitalized. Shrike slammed into her, pure force, and with a flick of her tail, Galleon slammed back. Shrike's charge was a wild attack, more strength than she'd expected from the dragon. Galleon met it blow for blow. Were she to gain the upper hand, were Shrike to stumble, Galleon would try to use some part of her bulk to pin Shrike.

"When I speak"
When I think

@Shrike

ROUND 4/5

70%

ATTEMPT: body slam for body slam
DEFENSE: why defend when attack?
INJURIES: tired, more bruised, face scratched

Shrike hit the ground back-first with a startled grunt. She wasn't sure what'd happened--only that she was awkwardly splayed out on her back with the giant landfish smooshing her into the dust. Mandibles parted and she hissed, an intensity in her eyes that spoke not of focus but of rage and panic. Or something near to those, anyway, even if she wasn't losing control or the like.

She flailed: her wings a battering flap, her long and heavy tail whipping around to try and smack Galleon in the head. Repeatedly. There was nothing else that she could do: maybe a squiggly escape if the sand allowed it and if this didn't work, but given how Galleon could just dive in sand, she doubted that would work.

Shit.

ROUND 4/5

ATTEMPT: tail/wing battering
DEFENSE: no
INJURIES: ow

@Galleon