BALD V SLY (Oasis) Semi Final!

Sly Rolls First

Battle Location: Oasis

For More info:
http://www.rpgdragons.org/t3124-the-grand-tournament-event#41541

Semi Final! Good Luck

So he was back here again. The oasis.

Not a lot of it had changed since he was last here, fighting the now Seawing Leader Bassasail. Not that he ever had the chance to ever tell him. Coming back here reminded Sly of the time he fought his first match, unsure about what his opponents could do or how much he could do to win. It was only two real battles he had fought. The scarring in his foreleg had healed and he spent more than enough time recovering his lower back after a little struggle with none other than the Seawing Semigod.

This time was a lot different and unusual. It was not another Seawing this time. An Earthwing going under the name of Baldi, for short. He was very unsure why, but he felt he should know that name somewhere before. Like he had met this Earthwing in the past. Sly shook if off as superstition and focused on what was happening now. The semi-finals. Surely after his return from fighting Guryon and his victory, the Empire greeted him with cheers, while most of them had disappointment riddled in their snouts. Their bets went on to what should have been the strongest, but Sly was the one who emerged victorious. As for this round, looking at the stakes was very strange. Baldi was no semigod, but like Sly, he defeated one to get here. The betting board was almost level between the two, with slightly lower payout from Baldi due to his size.

Sly decided to come to the Oasis early, the sun half-set in the horizon. The eventual night time would provide him some advantage against the larger dragon, though it could be unnecessary. The cloudless skies were almost blood red, turning the sand the sand colour like the red moon was upon them. Sly returned to the spot where he fought Bassasail and won. Time had washed away the charred and blackened sands, and perhaps covered up the fallen scales from the mighty fighter. The Dunes had shifted a little, some higher and some lower, but they would surely provide Sly the same advantage he needed to overcome his next opponent.

He did what he did before and hid behind the largest dune, near the summit, the oasis no further 30metres from where he was to the north-east. Again Sly would guess that his next opponent would make his way across the desert and land before the oasis to have a drink. He made sure to check all his surroundings. Nothing but the sea of sand. If he noticed any silhouette popping out from the distance, he would duck back down in his hiding spot, or if the dragon were to show up somewhere behind him, he would sneak around the dune and hide accordingly. From where he was standing, he could see anything within a 1km radius.

The Earth King was glad to find his next fight would take place in the old territory. He had spent the downtime before this round healing from the last. His attention had been focused almost exclusively on his chest and side, spending two days straight in a mud bath and one with his Healers. His ribs and right lung were completely healed now. His right foreleg was still broken and his tail severely burned, but he wasn't worried about either.

Baldirak looked down at the world below. He could see the beginning of the Oasis in the distance. Despite having once lived here, he wasn't overly familiar with the place; the Oasis was not a part of the territory he'd often visited. He made note of the watering hole... at least he's have access to a little mud if he needed it. Baldirak landed a little ways from the Oasis, on a sand dune, and looked around for any sign of his opponent's arrival.

Another warm breeze caught the tips of the dunes, and like blankets they fell to the slanted surfaces. Perhaps this was the last. The oasis was getting cold, as if winter was setting in with a freezing night ahead of them. It was beginning to tingle against his scales as he waited, watching the sun set and soon turn everything he could see into silhouettes. The air was not as humid as before, and although he could take a drink from the much more plentiful oasis, he could not risk losing his hideout.

He did not need to wait until nightfall when a huge green shadow burst from the horizon and made its way to Sly. As his heart soared in anticipation, Sly ducked accordingly behind the dunes, peeking over just slightly to witness the huge dragon flying by. Indeed it was an Earthwing, a large green dragon soaring over the sands with ease. It landed just near the oasis, and searched, no doubt looking for Sly, his next opponent. On closer inspection, Sly stiffened at who this was. The Earthwing King! So his name was Baldi. Sly never thought he would see the king himself partake in the tournament. He was incredibly strong as well, seeing how he fought and won against the Lightwing Semigod. So it seemed two undefeated underdogs progressed into the Semifinals without a single loss to their names.

Sly lowered further down the dunes until Baldi was out of sight, and he looked up into the pink and blue skies. He respected the Earthwing King, especially when he brought him into Haven to be taught under their Healers. Of course this was just a tournament and not an actual war, but Sly could not really see himself lay a claw on him. Even if he could, the king was almost 3 times his height. It could take a lot larger orbs to take him down. Possible, but it would be difficult. Sly could not guess how fast Baldi was, and if he could dodge the slow moving large orbs, but he could already see a weakpoint he could expose. As Baldi had landed, Sly caught a limp on the right foreleg. He would feel bad concentrating on that leg, but if he were desperate to win this fight, he would have to use any advantage he could find to topple the giant.

Usually Sly would remain hidden behind something and attack his opponent by surprise, hoping to grab an early advantage, like he did with Bassasail and Guryon. But with King Baldi, he figured he should first pay proper respect to him before commencing the fight. The only downside was that Sly would reveal himself to be small opponent. If there was anything he knew about fighting, it was to keep his tricks hidden. Surely Baldi would be wondering how Sly ever reached this stage of the fight like he did.

With that, Sly jumped over the dunes and spread his wings, gliding down to meet Baldi on the same level. Landing 18metres from the giant, Sly stood with a proud chest, a smirk on his face and bowed to the king. To his left and right, a mere 5metre distance, were two smaller dunes he could run and hide behind when the fight commences. Well well, never have I thought I would be graced by your presence in the battlefield, King Baldi of the Earthwings. The remaining few fighters really do hold many surprises.

The Earth King looked up at the sky as he waited. The stars were just beginning to come out; to the west, the moon shone. And then Baldirak heard an attack on the sky... wings slicing through the air. He looked down from the evening sky to see a NightWing gliding toward him. And not just any NightWing... "We meet again, Child of the Night. I had heard tale of a NightWing in the Tournament. You seem only to know my nickname; allow me to tell you it in full. Baldirak, Baldirak Sapiens Draco." He turned his pale gaze to the sky again for a moment before looking back down at his opponent. "The sky favors you. You should thank it by taking the first move, Slychotic."

On any occasion, he would have winced on the sound of his full 'name'. It was not even his true name, but an alias rewarded to him within the Empire. But this time, hearing it from the king himself made him flush. The Earthwing kind had disappeared and became one of the most mysterious tribe Sly had ever encountered. To be acknowledged by his full name was like having the gods remember his name as well, as if he had suddenly become an important friend to them. His eyes sparkled as he was deep in thought, but shook his head from his daze when Baldi reminded him that this was a tournament.

Sly also caught the full name of the Earthwing king. It was long and Sly almost forgot the first part of it, but he felt the weight of its value on his mind. So many secrets from the Earthwing tribe that he would treasure and hide with his life. He nodded to the king, giving him a smile. Not the casual smirk or smugness that he normally had, but a pure smile of determination and loyalty. I never thought we would meet again as foes within a tournament, but you are indeed strong my king. To be honest, I was expecting to fight another semigod. Though you have exceeded expectations. I... suppose it is a shame that we have to fight each other. Sly said the last phrase with his head down. Then he shot his gaze back up to him after a brief silence. May the best dragon win!

As he said that, the sun had descended further down, and Sly could see nothing more than a huge shadow standing before him. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart again. This was the King if the Earthwings. He could not underestimate him and his sheer size. Sly guessed his best hope was to keep Baldi guessing at where he would attack and how could he launch his attack. After all, not many could shoot abilities from their wings.

Sly stood with his chest proud after a deep breath and shot a cloud of silver mist towards the king. This was the sensitising mist he used to defeat his previous combatants, the effects making their scales more tender to pain and touch. It could help Sly wittle the bulky dragon down if he had to shoot his orbs

Without waiting to see how it went, Sly disappeared and hud behind the dune to his right. There, he pressed his wings close and charge, the brightness of his wings membrane somewhat betraying the darkness of the night. But he hoped the dune was large enough to conceal him.

Baldirak was surprised, yet not at the same time. "You've fought a Semi-god as well? Impressive. May the best Dragon win." Baldirak was aware of the sun's descent and he watched as the darkness shielded the NightWing. The EarthWing would have to rely on his other senses for this fight. He heard his opponent inhale and instinctively lifted his wings to shield his face and chest. But he felt nothing. How odd... And then he felt something strange; his wings and legs felt... well, strange. His right foreleg in particular was incredibly more painful than usual.

Baldirak heard Slychotic go off to the right. There were some small sand dunes behind the NightWing, he remembered. Baldirak shot a stream of acid at the left dune as he went up into the sky.

His wings were up to the brim with energy. This was it. An attack against a king he respected. He ensured he focused on what was in front of him before hiding behind the dune, his eyes locking on the bad foreleg and the underside of Baldi's neck region. It was presumed that his mist made direct contact and he should aim at where it touched. Sly had the ability to direct his attacks to follow a set path before locking and homing at areas he focused on.

Before he could expand his wings and release, he heard the king flapping his wings, blowing away a part of the dune above. He was taking flight. Perfect. It made hitting the soft underbelly easier, at least he hoped Baldi's underbelly was a weakness shared by most dragons. Sly stretched his wings out and unleashed two large orbs, directing them around but slightly higher over the dune, hoping to hit Baldi by surprise as he soared. These colourful orbs, due to their sheer mass and potency in power, were very slow, requiring just a wide side jump to avoid. Their turning circles were horrendous as well.

But it was for these reasons why Sly never let them go alone.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled his wings back, charged and hurled 12 small orbs. These were a lot faster and manoeuvrable but weak in power. For a dragon like Baldi, they could just turn a shoulder and tank all of this with just a patch of light cinder, assuming their shoulders were well plated and Sly aimed poorly. Sly made sure that would not happen by making the orbs follow an arc, flanking both sides. They would overtake the large orbs and meet Baldi first, distracting him from the main thrust of the attack that was the large orbs.

As he finished, something plopped to Sly's right, followed by strange sizzling. Acid. So that was Baldi's breath. A bit of it got onto the tip of his wing when he expanded them and he flailed that wing around, hissing, trying to suppress his howl. He needed to move. Sly did not wait to see if his attacks met their targets before dashing backwards, trying to hide behind a slightly larger dune there.

Baldirak knew better than to put his gaze anywhere other than the ground as he went into the air. He could barely see his enemy in the darkness. As he went up, he noticed two large orbs coming his way. But before he could decide what to do, 12 smaller ones followed at a much faster rate. Baldirak moved to the left of the large orbs as he shot acid at the smaller ones. Purely out of curiosity, he allowed a few to hit him: one on his right foreleg, one on his stomach, and a third on his left wing. He hissed at the first one, as his leg suddenly became more painful. The one that hit his wing also hurt, which was odd. But the last didn't bother him much. By now, the two larger orbs were quite close, so Baldirak went up higher. That mist... It must have something for do with this extra pain.These small orbs are bareable, but too many at my leg could be problematic... Now, lets test this NightWing.

Baldirak dove toward where he last saw the glow of Sly's wings. He roared, opening up the solid ground beneath the sand directly below him. At random, he shot balls of acid, hoping to hit the NightWing or flush him out. He circled around the area of the two small dunes Sly had hidden behind, firing acid.

He jumped behind a dune, slipping and tumbling with his side against the side of the dune, hoping to hide his figure. Behind, he saw how the acid Baldi spewed had met most of his smaller orbs. The few that passed through and collided with the large dragon did not produce much of a desired effect. But at least the larger orbs were still in play. At least, until Baldi descended and was chased by them.

Sly closed his wings to his sides again, charging his energy once more. He also did this to cast a bit of light, allowing him to see where the large dragon went. The last dune Sly was in was completely drenched and destroyed, with balls of acid still flying everywhere. It did not seem like he hid his figure too well, for Baldi proceeded to fly towards where Sly was hiding now.

Sly released another 2 large orbs, followed by a volley of 12 smaller orbs, the spheres scarring across the oasis in their lights before soaring towards Baldi's front, with great focus on his right foreleg. This should provide some distraction with hope that the first 2 large orbs would catch up and explode on Baldi's underbelly. He took advantage of this supposed distraction by dashing away, towards the left. There was a large arcing dune there, and he wanted to focus on concealing his location for now.

As Baldirak circled around, he saw a glowing light again. The NightWing. Knowing what was coming, he dove down toward the area of bare ground caused by his roar. The hole that had been created provided enough room for the Earth King to go down. Out the corner of his eye, he saw more of those small orbs racing toward him. He spiraled to prevent them from hitting any one spot. Two hit his right foreleg as he disappeared underground. Whether the rest hit him he wasn't sure, but it felt as if one had hit his wing. He quickly landed and closed up the hole just as the two large orbs were about to go through it.

Baldirak sat and looked at his right foreleg. The two small orbs made added to the pain, but it was nothing compared to what he felt a week ago. Baldirak began to move in the direction of the NightWing above. The sand made it difficult to track him, but in the end, Baldirak didn't need to know his exact location. Baldirak stopped and roared as loud as he could. The earth split and cracked everywhere, sand began to pour through. The stress was enough to finally open a gaping hole which acted similar to a whirl pool, sucking the sands into it. This hole was 200ft long at least and just as wide.

He stopped behind the dune and rested a bit. There, climbing up to the slanted side of the dune, he saw his glowing orbs, flying around where Baldi was like some form of fireworks. Being the only source of light upon the night of the new moon, the entire oasis lit up faintly in purple, green, red and blue, the flickering colours of those Star orbs that Sly fired. From there he could see how the large dragon spun as he dove and disappeared into the ground.

It was quite futile. The smaller orbs would catch up, and Sly already saw at least 3 of them hitting the dragon before Baldi disappeared underground. Sly climbed higher, trying to get a better look on what was happening. All 9 of his orbs joined the large dragon within the ground, followed by 2 large orbs. The other 2 failed to reach the dragon before the ground trembled and suddenly closed on them.

Sly gritted his fangs. Even if the 9 small and 2 large orbs made it, they would likely have struck the king's back. The large orbs was more potent, but would not produce the result Sly wanted. Now that he was underground, it would make this fight a lot more difficult. Perhaps the only way Sly could ever hit him now was if Baldi popped out from underground.

It was now pitch black. Sly did not need any light to know that the rising strength of the tremors below him was Baldi approaching him. Then there was a great roar, and the sand beneath Sly's claws began to sink. An earthquake!

With use of his pure instinct, Sly ran up the dune and, stomping on the peak, sprung himself into the air and beat his wings. It was rather scary, not knowing where he was going or how close he was to the ground. Bits of sand danced on his underbelly, and like hitting multiple switches, Sly flapped harder and quicker, until the rumbling sands below him became rather faint.

Charging energy into his wings, Sly lit the sands again, and almost froze at the sight. Like a giant eye, the heart of the whirlpool stared back at him, sucking sand into the crevice and filling the hole below. Then he was a little surprised. That was a very... interesting move on Baldi's part. He decided to go underground and split a huge portion of the oasis above him. The downside to this was how fast sand was falling and filling the split Baldi made, without any way of escaping except to fight against the sand.

At least that was what Sly thought.

He concentrated, narrowing his eyes for any sign of movement as he filled his wings to the brim. Should Baldirak popped out to the light, in that split second Sly would hurl 2 more large orbs at him, followed by another 12 smaller orbs. This could be the end...

The roar of the sand finally died down. Baldirak had raised two slanted slabs of rock to shield himself from the sand. Now he was buried beneath it, but perfectly safe. Baldirak could hear nothing, no walking, no flapping of wings. He had no idea where his opponent might be--perhaps he had been sucked into the sand. But the EarthWing found it unlikely; it didn't matter, of course, given what he was going to do next. He only hoped Slychotic was over the hole. Two other, larger slabs were on either side of where Baldirak was. They had served to funnel the sand into a specific place. After covering himself in acid, the EarthWing launched his attack.

A light stamp of his paw was all that was needed. An instant after, the earth beneath him raised swiftly, launching the tons of sand into the air along with the EarthWing. Baldirak fired acid directly above him as he was pushed up. The space between the two slabs enclosing him concentrated the stream like a geiser. It also weakened the rock, allowing him to break it simply by opening his wings. When he could see the sky through the sand, he did just that and flew toward the Oasis.

Around a minute seemed to have passed, with not a scale within sight. The sand continued to shift, rustling and spiralling into the gap the large dragon had made. There was nothing else. No roar, no rumbling. Dread bloomed inside him as he feared what had become of the king. Before he could check, however, a bulge appeared from the eye of the whirlpool. He squinted, the faint light of his wings not helping with distant details. Flying a bit lower, he investigated. It was not him. But two slabs of rock forming a large tent of some sort.

Before Sly could absorb this, something shot out from the crevices and soared into the air. He curled a bit, his heart leaping from his chest as the stream rose, high to his level and right in front of him before settling back down. Acid. Just as he thought about distancing himself further, the slabs cracked and flew everywhere. Baldi was there, his large wings far outstretched as he had pushed the rocks aside before pulling them upwards for a huge flap to send him towards the skies.

Now was his chance.

Sly beat his wings and sent two large orbs towards Baldi the moment he saw him, followed up by the flurry of 12 orbs he had promised himself to do. They were aimed to hone in on Baldi’s head and neck, where Sly hoped his mist had lingered long enough to make them tender to this moment. Even so, it did not seem the king wanted to close the distance to Sly. He was heading towards the oasis. For what purpose, he could not guess. It did not matter this early, since he had fired his orbs quick enough to the point that he would not reach the waters before the orbs do.

But his plans did not stop there…

Sly followed after Baldi. The king’s wings were larger, but by no means did it make him any faster. Sly gave himself a good 10m distance behind him, charging his wings again. He had to exploit a window of opportunity it seemed if he ever wanted to cut through Baldi’s defences. This was going to be a difficult battle.

Sly snuck a smirk as his wings were ready and glowing. He so loved a challenge.

The Earth King glanced behind him only once after he was in the air. The orbs were following him, the smaller ones already closing in. Baldirak was heading toward the Oasis, but it wasn't his destination. Suddenly, the great Dragon barrel rolled to the left then opened his wings and turned, still to the left. Baldirak made a wide enough arc as he circled around Sly to hit a few of the small orbs with acid. The rest hit the side of his neck and head. The ones that hit his head were bothersome but nothing more. A couple of the orbs hit the base of his neck, the only area the mist had hit. He held in a hiss so as not to alert the NightWing. As he came around behind Sly, Baldirak simultaneously shot acid at his back, between his wing, and brought his tail forward to grasp his back legs.

The orbs spun around in the air, gathering into a school as they followed the king towards the Oasis, with Sly right behind them with his wings ready for another blast. A sign. He needed something to show him when to launch a full attack. Spraying and praying would do very little against him. Baldi was smarter. Even with Sly putting him on the defensive, Baldi gave himself enough room to sneak in counter offenses. The oasis provided Sly absolutely nothing he could exploit. Dunes were a deathtrap, now that he knew the king’s abilities to manipulate the earth around him with just a single roar. His only option was the air.

The king veered towards the left suddenly. All the light orbs missed him completely and had to slow to turn and follow. The larger orbs, quite far behind, slowly moved with Baldi. They would never hit him if he knew to keep moving. As for the smaller orbs, Baldi pretty much showed his solution by blasting them one by one with his acid. Sly kept his eyes on the large dragon as Baldi soared far left, making a wide turn to get to his rear. That was too obvious. Although smart, Sly wold never expose to his rear to any foe.

In the midst of the turn, Sly turned as well, his turn a lot sharper and almost on the spot, and held in a deep breath. He had a plan. It was extremely crazy and dangerous, but he needed to produce some results now. Sly stopped, right as the king did. They were facing each other, within 3metres of each other, with Sly’s head level with Baldi’s chest. With a huge puff, he exhaled another thick mist and shot his wings out, releasing 2 large orbs at point blank. Knowing the other two large orbs behind him were about to collide as well, Sly closed his wings to his side and let gravity drag him straight down. The smaller orbs would have flown around and strike Baldi’s left flank the same time these remaining larger orbs would.

Sly dove just as Baldi shot another stream of acid, the fluid flying overhead. If it were to collide with one of the large orbs, it would cause a huge explosion that could potentially splat that acid back towards Baldi and Sly. Sly failed to account for the tail coming around, and just as he fell, something rather warm wrapped around his hindleg, and like a swing he dangled below the king.

Damn it! He took this risk and now he got himself caught. He hoped it would pay off, and perhaps Baldi would let him go. There was absolutely no point not charging another attack and lighting the dunes again, since they knew where each other were. Sly lit his wings with energy again, looking up to see the result.

And here I feared you would not be so clever, NightWing, Baldirak thought as he watched Sly's reaction to his own attack. As he hovered to attack Slychotic, he suddenly found himself only 9ft away from him. He expected the orbs but was surprised to fisrt receive the mist. Shielding with his wings wasn't an option, but he did have time for a quick shot of acid at one of the large orbs coming for his chest. It exploded, sending his acid back at him. The second (I'm assuming it wasn't destroyed by the explosion) collided with his chest as he turned his head and shot another quick ball of acid at another of the two large orbs behind him. He hadn't had much time to see where those were headed.

Now the King was caught in the middle of two explosions and collisions, both simultaneous. The large orb that hit his chest was very painful... it felt as if he had no scales there and a FireWing had hit him. This brought back a memory from a night that had felt more like a nightmare than reality. A roar left his maw as he fell a couple feet from the shock. He didn't know where the other one hit, perhaps his hind legs. But all the while, the great Dragon was aware of the fact that he had the NightWing in his grasp. In fact, his tail tightened around Sly's leg as opposed to releasing him during the impact. Shaking his head to release himself from his daze, Baldirak closed his wings and dropped from the sky. He roared both in anger and pain caused by the wind hitting his chest.

As he dove with the NightWing in tow, he opened his maw and sprayed acid at his stomach, which would be blown backward by the wind and hit Sly. He resolved to keep this up, even if his opponent had some attack planned, until he had to pull up to avoid hitting the ground.

It was rather painful to watch how the orbs directly closed in and collided all over the great king all around him. Huge explosions sent shockwaves that blasted Sly as he was held upside down below Baldi, blood quickly rushing to his head. Sly gritted his fangs, trying not to hiss at the jolting pain in his head. He had fired a lot of orbs in quick succession, so he should have expected that. As for his opponent above, the collision seemed to have produced something, hearing Baldi roar from the impact as all the orbs finally exploded.

It did nothing to faze the grip on his leg, and Sly was still left hanging. After charging another round of large orbs, he jerked and swung, then released the orbs towards the base of Baldi's tail. However, in the same time, the large dragon shifted and dove straight down. The large orbs were probably in Baldi's blindspot, and they were slow moving as well, so it was likely he noticed them too late before he rushed his underbelly into them during the dive.

Sly took a few seconds to regret this risk before feeling a massive weight tugging and dragging him down. His head was getting warm with all the blood going up to him, his vision somewhat becoming a little red as the dunes faded into darkness, with no orbs to light the way. All he could hear was the thunderous wind booming against his ears. Keeping his wings close, Sly squinted down and watched as Baldi dragged him further down. He charged his wings again, partly to light the dunes. His eyes widened at the sight of a stream of liquid flying up towards him.

No. What was he doing?

Sly dissipated the glow and drowned both himself and Baldi into darkness. The acid. It was all he really needed to see. To protect himself, Sly pulled his wings tight towards his body and at a slight angle, such that they were slanted below him to allow acid to just slide off him and across his wings. It was a valiant effort by the king, but with the speed they were going, a lot of the acid would just slip off Sly. To him, it was like heavy rain from below.

Then again, if he absolved himself from lighting the oasis for now, he predicted the darkness would make it quite impossible for Baldi to determine where the ground was. It was quite a risky move, but Sly would not allow the king to try and pull up if he was going to. He estimated when Baldi would start to make a turn. Going at such speeds, he would have to either slow down or begin turning. Sly waited for that opportunity, readying his energy slowly into his wings, but keeping them 'reserved' so as to not make them glow. Sly remembered how Baldi was oriented when he descended into the ground. Upon any slight movement that would indicate he was turning, Sly would immediately charge his wings and send 4 medium sized orbs, two from each wing, to spiral down and cover all escape, then collapse all at once on him by his flanks.

After enough time had passed where Baldi should be turning, Sly did just that.

The King never had an intention of turning or pulling up. A second after Sly launched his 4 orbs, Baldirak opened one wing and spiraled. The Earth-Splitter roared and dove into the crevasse that resulted from it. He left the earth open this time and focused on the orbs. Baldirak deliberately flew into two of them and destroyed the others with his acid. One of the orbs that he flew into hit his right foreleg, which he hadn't intended. The miscalculation left him in more pain. Another roar caused 12 spikes to shoot out of the walls of the tunnel at random. Baldirak maneuvered around them, but swung his tail into each as he passed.

Half of them did connect, but with very little effect from his angle. Another roar boomed over the oasis and Sly could already determine that the king was going to dive deep into the earth rather than pulling up. It had to be a very big tunnel if it were to fit him and allow enough movement to veer towards any walls around. Sly had a glimpse of the sands opening just as the orbs converged and drowned the oasis into darkness again, but being inside the tunnel, it seemed Baldi had forced Sly to lit his wings.

As he did so, he saw how the walls shook. From the distance below him, pylons of earth emerged and slowly crept towards the centre. Sly could not guess how many there were but he could predict that Baldi would be sending him into those, seeing how the king moved to avoid them. Sly knew he had to free himself, but now was perhaps not the best of times to do so. Preparing his wings, Sly released only one wing at a time, casting 2 medium orbs into each pillar that rose and exploding them out of the way before Baldi could flick him into them. His other wing, after waiting for that small window of opportunity, he released a large orb, aiming it at the base of Baldi's tail. It would be a huge mistake to wait and see if it did anything, as he needed to also concentrate on clearing the pillars with one wing, and trying to free himself with the other. The large orbs were usually slow, but that was if Sly was stationary. If he was moving, then they would move the same speed respective to him, which would be a lot faster. He concentrated them on the small cinder he made from the first orb, hoping the pain would accumulate enough to get himself free.

After passing through all the pillars, with only bits of dust and rubble dancing over his scales, and a few scratches from the larger rocks, Sly hooked his other hind claw on Baldi's tail, coiled his tail over the king's for a better grip, and repeatedly send volleys of large and medium orbs, in groups of 2 and 8 respectively, some blasting the backside and others moving a lot further to his front and converging onto the chest. Occasionally he would hurl 12 small orbs to go past Baldi and blast the walls in front of him. It was risky in that it could cave them both in, but Sly's thinking was the tunnels would start to collapse in front of them and Baldi had to get a head and chest full of boulders, where the mist had struck him.

The Earth King was determined not to let go of the NightWing. But it was becoming difficult with the orbs hitting the base of his tail and his chest. By the time Sly began sending small orbs at walls of the tunnel, Baldirak had to let him go, so great was the pain his chest caused. As he dodged the larger rocks falling from the ceiling and walls, he shot his tail forward shot as it uncoiled from around Sly's leg. He hoped to launch the NightWing into those rocks.

Just seconds after, Baldirak began shooting balls of acid all around Sly and where ever he might go to avoid rocks and the acid. He grabbed a large rock and quickly fashioned it into a chest plate. It was a crude bit of armor, but it would protect his chest at least, for a few hits. As soon as he had it on, Baldirak contemplated his next move as well as Sly's.

As he continued to hurl more and more orbs, fatigue was settling in. His wings ached, sore with the repetitive movements and fighting against the wind from his speed just to throw them. With every beat in his chest, his head throbbed. The orbs were becoming a drain. He was not even sure if he was using his energy out of necessity at this point. If he had to be honest, none of the fighters he encountered had ever put him in this position before.

At least his plan worked. To show that holding onto an orb-throwing dragon was rather deadly. Sly could sense that Baldi was trying to endure it, trying to keep his grip on his leg as the tail coiled more tightly than before. Just as he set his small orbs to collapse the tunnel, Baldi’s tail tensed. It flung forward, carrying Sly with it against the wind. And Sly knew that Baldi would try to flick him off.

This was why he held onto the tail tightly beforehand.

As the tail released, Sly tightened his tail and held Baldi’s tail between both his hindlegs. His grip slipped a bit when Baldi reached the peak of the tail’s movement, and inertia racked Sly hard. His hindclaws scratched, moving closer towards the tip, but he held on just as Baldi passed by, and Sly released the tail. He spread his wings and kept himself close behind the king, but not too close that he would hit him with another tail flick.

Sly liked this position, especially if they were inside the tunnel. He was right behind his opponent rather than in front of him, where Baldi probably wanted him to be. There was some sizzling as the king shot acid at where Sly would have been if he failed to hang on and had to fly being the first to dodge the incoming rocks. But now what? All Sly could see were the stronger scales covering Baldi’s back. He could not reach the chest anymore, now that Baldi created some rock armour to shield himself. Or maybe he could. While it would protect the king from some of the blasts until it break, Sly doubted it could cushion any impact, and Baldi would feel the feel force of an orb against his bones if Sly hit him—just not the burns and scarring.

He lit both his wings. His left concentrating on shooting large orbs to pass by Baldi then converge onto that armour. He made sure that the large orbs move into his predicted blindspots, where they would be converging by the time Baldi would see them. His right wing ready for any counterattack the king would launch. Sly hoped they would appear right back on the oasis in the end of this tunnel soon.

Baldirak had not been aware of Sly's grip on his tail until it was too late. But he preferred having his opponent behind him; it would work better for his next plan. Once he was back in front of the NightWing, Baldirak raised more pillars randomly. But unlike before, where the spikes came from the walls, these also came up and down from the floor and ceiling respectively. And unlike the mere dozen before, there were hundreds now. Baldirak shot balls of acid at the ceiling as well, and soon the earth gave way to the sands above. All of this made it difficult for even the EarthWing to fly, but that was the point. If he himself didn't know where or when the spikes were going to pop up, then neither would his opponent, he figured. The sand was meant to distract Sly, to cut his visibility.

The first of the sharp rock spikes caught Baldirak by surprise. It came up from the ground at an angle, and he nearly impaled himself on it, missing it by mere inches. This may possibly end up being one of my more questionable ideas... As Baldirak dodged that spike, he heard an explosion on his right. He had run into an orb. But wasn't there usually two? His answer cxame a second later when he felt his armor being pushed against his chest as something hit it. The pain wasn't as bad as he expected it to be--the armor did its job and absorbed most of the shock. But it was still painful and Baldirak knew he couldn't let too many orbs hit his chest. At least he could replace his armor if he needed to.

It seemed like he overprepared, but not in the same time. His wings were out, but the next attack the king launched did raise some questions. More of those pillars erupted and coated around the tunnel in front of them. Additionally he sent his own acid orbs in the ceiling. There were no rocks, but rather waterfalls of dust-like particles falling into the tunnel. When Sly flew past one, that was when he realized it was sand. They were very close to the surface, but not even his wings could light the way he was heading.

It was becoming difficult to see.

Sly thought about flying up and against the sand, hoping to rise back up onto surface, but he had no idea how deep was the sand. It did not look like he could escape anyways. He could not even see the night sky as he passed by another one. Doing so would just as well result in him trapping himself under the pile of sand.

As for Baldi and those pillars, Sly made sure he was just as close to the king as before. Wherever he veered, Sly would just follow him. Surely if Baldi had struck any of those pillars, he would clear a safe path for Sly. He did not need to waste any of his energy now on clearing the many pillars, even if his sight was inhibited by the falling sands. As long as he could keep up with Baldi, go where he went, he should be fine. But now what?

With the sand falling in, they would burst any of Sly's orbs if they were in contact with them. Wait. If the sand would destroy his orbs...

Sly filled his wings to the brim with energy and waited as he traversed the tunnel. Baldi certainly swiveled in all sorts of direction, with a number of narrow misses from his own spikes, and Sly did not have a lot of sharp turns to make, now that he had a lot of reaction time to avoid those 'surprise' attacks compared to the king. When he moved closer to the ceiling, that was where Sly formed 2 large orbs and hurled them, aiming them for the armour as they passed over the spike Baldi was dodging and floating under him before closing in onto the armour. Hopefully this time it took 1 orb to destroy the armour, allowing the other to blast against Baldi's chest again. At that point, Sly shot another 12 small orbs, which passed by the large orbs and straight past Baldi, where they would spiral outwards and explode against the walls again, or even any pillars in front of them.

The purpose for this was to collapse the tunnel again. In addition to making sand fall into Baldi's path, there would be large rocks. And without getting sand into his eyes, it would be very difficult for the king to grab one and defend himself. Even if the armour didn't fall off, the many large rocks that would result from the spiraling explosion would crash into and eventually break it to expose the chest. Sly then charged his wings again, taking his time to fill them with energy so as to not induce any more fatigue in his head. Although he would have to deal with the large falling boulders as well, he had Baldi, his size shielding Sly from them, as well as being forced to create a clear path for Sly to take.

Baldirak held his eyes open halfway against the sand that fell. He continued weaving through spikes as they rose up and thought about this fight. His plan might have worked better if the NightWing weren't a NightWing. Sly could just stay close enough to move with Baldirak and avoid the spikes. And then there were those orbs...

The EarthWing came out of his thoughts in time to feel a great pain on his chest. His armor had been destroyed by one of those orbs, and another hit his chest. It was enough to halt his flight for half a second--and just inches from where another spike shot up. It was time to return to the surface. Baldirak broke off the top of the spike and flew up into one of the holes. Knowing Sly would follow, he used the piece of rock to plug the hole, hopefully before Sly made it in. It would buy him some time, if it worked.

Baldirak used his front paws to shovel sand away from his face as he fired acid ahead, clearing a path. It was a tedious task, as the sands above quickly moved in, but fortunately, the sand seemed to be only 200ft deep. The EarthWing sighed as he crawled out onto the dunes. He then quickly coated himself in acid and waited for the NightWing to appear.