BALD V SLY (Oasis) Semi Final!

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Sly Rolls First

Battle Location: Oasis

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

Semi Final! Good Luck

It was the same strategy he used before, but with sand being partially on his side. Even then, he doubted the same trick would work on him. He collapsed the tunnel not too long ago, yet the king managed to endure and strove to fly further down. This time, it was not the case.

Instead of charging through, Sly saw Baldi veering up towards where the sand poured, carrying with him what appeared to be a part of one of the pillars. What he was going to with that, Sly couldn’t really guess. All he knew at that point was to keep himself close behind him. With that he pulled up, squinting as bits of sand danced across his snout, and there he…

…met a falling pillar.

Sly’s eyes widened and he pulled left. He flew right into where the sand was falling from Baldi’s body, and the weight of it all collapsed and dragged him down a bit. He got out before he was pinned, the spike falling to the ground and crumbled, being too small for a hole to fit Baldi’s size. Looking up, Sly could only see the bottom half of the king. He was actually going to climb through the sand? Sly just shook his head and, flying up, clung onto Baldi’s tail. He did not like doing this, but it did not seem like he had any choice in getting out of the tunnels. Shooting Baldi as he was climbing was a very bad idea, considering Sly was holding onto the fear that Baldi would lose his grip and crush Sly under his weight. He ducked his head as the sand started to fall into his eyes and blind him from what was happening above. Baldi was pulling Sly up. He could feel the hot sands showering all over him, and was relieved to finally see the dark blue dome of the night sky once more.

On the dunes once again, Sly released Baldi’s tail and crawled out of the sand on his own. He found himself rising on a slanted face of the dune, and was rolling down before he realised, away from where Baldi was. When he reached the bottom, Sly groaned a bit and slowly got to his fours, panting. He made sure to not make any noise. Perhaps he needed discretion and keeping himself in the shadows if he were to defeat the king. Revealing himself in the start was honourable, but it took away his primary advantage. It was perhaps a miracle he could hide himself once again. Only this time, he would not be so foolish.

Sly sprinted across the dunes, keeping himself low and his movements as quiet as possible. Baldi somewhat had the ability to detect movement, but the sand should be able to muffle some of it, he hoped. Without a light source, who knew how far Sly went towards one specific direction? He stopped when he noticed his claws were climbing a big elevation and he rolled over the summit. There he waited, keeping his ears perked for any sounds that the king could be nearby.

Baldirak inwardly groaned when he felt the NightWing grab hold of his tail. That rock should have for in the hole. No matter, it was better his opponent be above ground, anyway. The only problem was that Sly was on the ground. Sand made noise if it moved, but did nothing in the way of transfering vibration. So instead, Baldirak relied on his sense of smell. He lowered his head down to his chest, his nostrils flared as he scented the air. The NightWing was close by, the accent strongest nesar a dune. The Earth King sent a stream of acid there, hitting the summit of the dune so the corrosive material rolled down to cover the entire thing. And in the meantime, Baldirak too a defensive stance, watching, listening and waiting for the NightWing to appear.

It was quiet.

But his opponent was about and moving. Ears perked a bit to the distant crunching of sand. He held his breath. It was getting louder. Then released when the king was on his way on another direction. This was rather ridiculous. The night was his advantage, but it was so dark that it overrode his natural night vision. At least it was getting better. Sly could see the silhouettes of the dunes. Stars somewhat helped him find where he was, as they finally emerged to decorate the sky. It was still faint, but he was relieved.

Some stars disappeared and reappeared, and after a careful look, Sly could see the silhouette of the EW King. The king had shot a stream of acid. He could not see it, but he could hear it chewing through the dunes before him. From this far away, it was unlikely it would reach him, but he knew the king was approaching.

Sly focused on Baldi’s chest before stepping back, down the dune. Now that the acid had destroyed one of the dunes, he presumed there was this one left that was in between him and the king. He focused energy into his wings, somewhat lightning where he was really hiding, and there he released two large orbs. Sly guided them to follow around the dunes, keeping themselves hidden until they would appear on both flanks of the king. As they travelled, Sly charged again and cast another 2 large orbs, this time guiding them over the dune to charge at Baldi head on. Finally, as Sly made his run to distance himself further from Baldi, he threw a volley of 12 small orbs over the dune, overtaking the 2 orbs so that they would aim and explode around the king’s head, hoping to distract his vision before all the large orbs come together and explode on the spot at once.

He ran an additional 20metres before the stars showed there were two medium-sized dunes left and right. Sly veered to the one to his left and hide.

Baldirak saw the light behind the dune which concealed the NightWing. He saw the small orbs; he turned to the left, his tail sweeping outward in a wide arc to destroy them. A stream of acid took care of two of the large orbs. The two at his flank hit their marks but didn't yield much of a result. Baldirak took to the air then and looked for Sly. It didn't take long... it was a dark night, but Baldirak was low enough still to make out his opponent's movement. The EarthWing didn't attack, however, instead he burrowed into the sands. He went low enough down that his tunneling wouldn't be detected, but so he could still launch an attack. Now, as he tunneled through the sand with his face coated in acid to keep said sand away, he wondered just hjow he could put an end to this fight.

Inactivity Warning Sly

24h to post

Not even a roar from the king. He hissed to himself. Either Baldi foresaw them coming or Sly aimed poorly. Either way, it seemed his orbs, even at their most potent, were not enough to defeat him. This was getting impossible, and at the very least, frustrating. Although a king he respected, he had enough pride within himself to not lose this fight. How would his strengths compare to another Earthwing? It was like fighting a giant, built for war, using nothing but stones to throw. He hoped it was not an ant against a dragon scenario. There had to be another way he could use to exploit the king and hopefully defeat him.

The sand ruffled and shifted very close to him. Peering out of the dunes, Sly could just see the long tail disappearing into the shadows of the distant dunes. Then all was quiet. Or so he thought when the sands beneath him began to rumble. Baldi was on the move under the sand, as usual. And it seemed likely he had detected Sly, hearing that the rumbling was getting closer.

It was simple to counteract. Sly jumped down the slope of the dunes and spread his wings, then pulled himself up and he was immediately taken into the air. It was pitch black, but Sly remembered where he last predicted Baldi was, and he stayed low enough to hear the sands but high enough so he could avoid and sudden surprises that Baldi would launch up to him, about 40metres into the air. This fight had extended far longer than Sly had hoped, and he predicted it would be even longer, since he did not secure any significant advantage. He had no idea how exhausted Baldi was after sinking a good portion of the oasis into the depths, carved a tunnel and pulled hundreds of pillars out of the walls. But Sly was getting tired. With the number of orbs he used, it would surely have put away his previous opponents. Baldi was a lot bulkier, with some extraordinary offence and defence. But now, Sly had studied him for too long to merely forget that Baldi's methods of sensing him was through the sands and through his scent. If that were the case. he would not know where Sly would be without popping out.

Sly held in a deep breath and cast a very dense cloud of sensitizing mist over the dunes. This would have many purposes that he would be rather proud of himself. He breathed the mist again, ensuring he covered a huge area of the oasis in the mist, although it would be camouflaged by the night and shadows that it would almost be impossible to see them. Sly made sure to keep himself airbourne and close to the ruffling sand, breathing mist every now and then if the king ventured too far off from where his mist would enshroud.

Baldirak went down into the tunnels again. He flew toward where he thought the pomd wasThe EarthWing needed a way to stop Sly from using his orbs. There was only one thing he could think of. It took a few minutes, but he finally found the pond: water dripped from the ceiling of the tunnel. At least the NightWing wouldn't know he was here until he breached the surface, since he flew instead of walked. Baldirak dug up to the surface through the pond. As soon as he was on solid ground, he stepped back into the desert and began beating his wings. With powerful wingbeats, he created a sandstorm and started moving forward every minute to push the storm further out across the desert. He listened and watched for the NightWing, as he expected an attack to come from above or behind.

It was not long before he lost track of him. He just hovered in the air, watching the handiwork as he had enshrouded the oasis with his mist. It was a lot of work, and it made his head dizzy. He somewhat had hopes that it was worth it.

They were well into the night, but Sly doubted he would be seeing the light any time soon. His eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness, but nothing much if he was above and the sands below looked like a very deep pit. He did not account that the king would be anywhere near the pond however. Sly’s ears perked to the rumbling and gurgling of water, not far from where he was. He estimated around 20metres from where he was. Quickly Sly huffed another breath, a big one, and blasted over the oasis with his sensitising mist. Surely he needed to crawl out, less he would drown in the rushing waters, and if he did, he would have to meet a body full of mist.

Sly flew around the oasis next, waiting for Baldi to make his next move. He could hear the beats of a pair of giant wings, followed by the loud gust of wind and the rustling sands, almost like the rushing waves in the beach. Sly felt no wind where he was, so he must be away from the gust’s direction. Assuming that his mist had touched Baldi before he could blow them away, Sly began his assault.

He flew lower, hoping to get behind and closer to Baldi, all the while relying on the darkness and the noise of the wind to shield his approach. When Sly saw he was about to crash into a giant mass, he pushed his energy into his wings, firing his large orbs at point blank at Baldi’s right ribs and shoulder within a second the desert was lit. After that, Sly quickly beat his wings and flew towards the wind. He pulled up, guided by the wind to get him out of any retaliation as quickly as possible before making a turn around to see the results of that blast.

If Baldi was still standing, or if he was howling in pain, Sly would make another pass if it was safe, making sure he did so just as the king was trying to absorb what had happened. This time, he would send six medium sized orbs into Baldi’s left side. But after that pass, he would distance himself, trying his best to avoid any counters. Sly doubted he would fall for the same trick again.

The Earth King's prediction was correct; Sly did try to attack from behind. While Baldirak's wings created a great deal of noise, there was enough of a delay between wingbeats for him to hear other sounds. One such sound was an additional pair of wings. He looked toward the sound, behind him and off to his right. He could only just make out the NightWing against the equally dark sand, and only because he was moving. As Sly charged his wings, Baldirak's front right paw shoveled sand backwards toward him, and his tail at the same time went to coil around the NightWing's body. Assuming he succeeded in at least distracting his opponent with the sand, Baldirak would fly up into the air. If he did manage to capture Sly, then he would begin lashing his tail back and forth.

He did not predict that the king would be able to retaliate before he could even land the first attack. In the dark, Sly could hear something whipping the air very close to him. But beyond that, nothing happened. Was that his tail? Perhaps he would never know. Sly shot his first set of orbs and they seemed to have connected, with the oasis flashed in purple light for only a split second like lightning. While he was staring at his handiwork in that instant, specks of sand danced at the back of his neck, and he caught a glimpse of Baldi's right fore claw shoveling it up in the air towards him.

Sly closed his eyes before he flew and distanced himself forward, letting the gust that Baldi created carry him a bit forward, but high enough so that he would not drown in a potential sandstorm. But before he could come around for a second attack, the stars before him blinked unnaturally. It was him, blocking some of the stars from Sly's view. Even though he could not make up the details or how hurt the Earthwing king was, he could at least see where he was with the star's guidance.

But now that he was in Sly's domain, he had to make sure he make the best of this moment.

Sly charged forward, taking a deep breath. When he got near, around 20metres, he stilled his wings and glided towards the large dragon. There was no beating of wings so he should not be able to hear him approach. Sly made sure to fly in direction such that he would not collide with the king, but fly past him. When he got close enough, he exhaled and blasted the front portion of Baldi's body with his mist. In the same time, he charged his wings, letting them glow for a brief second before hurling two large orbs into his chest and shoulder. He pulled his wings close and dove for a second, gaining enough distance before coming around for another pass.

If Baldi took another direct hit of those orbs and writhed in pain, Sly would quickly fly forward again, steady his wings to a glide, and blast him on the other side, in an attempt to keep up the assault before letting the dragon recover.

Baldirak didn't have time to wonder how the NightWing could have been just out of range of his tail. Two orbs collided with his right shoulder and ribcage. He roaredd in pain and was surprised by that pain. The hit to his shoulder felt not unlike what he felt everyday in his leg; it was bearable. But the hit to his ribs was worse, reminding him somewhat of his last fight. At least ribs weren't actually broken this time round. It dazed him and he stilled his wings. By now, the NightWing was coming around for another pass. Baldirak didn't dwell on his pain, he had learned young that pain is meant only to distract from what's important.

Though still a little stunned, he managed to devote some thought to instincts and cover his chest with his wings. He knew the NightWing would attack there any chance he got; any smart Dragon would. By the time he finally noticed Sly, another orb hit his left shoulder; a fourth hit his wings. Yet more pain, but Baldirak was not left dazed this time. He took to the air after the orbs landed and climbed high above the Oasis.

Baldirak constantly looked below as he continued climbing, wanting no surprises. He had to think of a way to defeat this NightWing. The only advantages the Earth King had over his opponent was his acid the darkness. He had to find some weakness of Sly's that he could exploit. Baldirak finally stopped climbing and just hovered there, looking down and all around, alert and ready to defend himself.

The assault struck the king head on, at least forcing another roar out of him. Second time he passed, he somehow shielded himself in time. Perhaps Sly was too distant from Baldi that he gave him enough time to react. No matter. He could just fly around and continue this attack. But the king, he was still beating his wings, gaining more and more altitude. Up here, there was nothing to hide behind and every part of a dragon was exposed. It was the perfect environment for Sly to fight in, especially with his scales camouflaged in the darkness and the stars outlining his opponent’s silhouette.

It was getting very quiet. Sly doubted he could get close without being heard. It was why he had to glide whenever he was close, keeping his wings still, and only just when he was inches from Baldi’s scales should he launch his orbs for a point blank burst. By now, Sly had coated him in his tenderising mist. Just one more, and Baldi would have to rethink about using his wings to shield himself.

Flying around 35metres from Baldi, and moving to get to his blindspot, which Sly predicted to be behind Baldi and just below his head, he charged forward. Keeping his wings still, Sly glided towards the king, a chest full of mist as he was to shroud him in mist once more. Only this time, even his wings would feel excruciating pain from even the smallest of orbs. Passing quietly and under the flapping wings, Sly was no more than 2metres away before he puffed his mist, charged his wings and sent two large orbs into the underside of the wings. He quickly swayed away, using the darkness to avoid any retaliation, before making a sharp turn, gliding just under where Baldi was, and unloaded another two large orbs at his sensitised underbelly, all within seconds after the first two orbs.

Although the orbs were bright, the split second flash should not be enough to give his position way if the king did not expect Sly to come in the direction he came from.

Predicting Baldi would be very much on the defensive for anymore point blank attacks, Sly fell 10metres under Baldi, and from there, he launch 12 small orbs, right into the underbelly and chest. This was only going to act as a distraction for what was to come. Though he much respected the king, it was time he finished this fight once and for all.

While the small orbs were in mid flight, Sly pushed more of his energy into his wings, forcing them to glow once more. The frequency in which he ‘flash’ shot at Baldi made them sore and sensitive, like he had burned them sometime in the past. But this last attack was what he used to defeat his previous opponents, and at this point he was getting desperate. Filling his wings to the brim, they glowed like fireflies. No doubt Baldi would be able to spot him once those small orbs dissipated. Sly then beat his wings, and every beat, four medium sized orbs would leak out and fly up towards Baldi. There he waited. How he reacted now would determine how Sly would perform his finisher.

Baldirak's eyes had since adjusted to the night, but he could not rely on them when looking down toward the ground. He used his sense of smell as he waited for the NightWing. The EarthWing knew better than to remain still. He turned constantly as he watched and smelled, hoping to notice the NightWing before an attack came. Well... he succeeded in scenting the NightWing but couldn't see him until he was 6ft away.

There were flashes and then pain. Baldirak's wings fell against his sides and he fell toward the earth just after two more orbs hit his underbelly. One wing opened slightly to send him into a spiral, his maw opened to allow acid to leak out. It would be blown back by the wind, but his spiral would allow the acid to surround his body, so at least some orbs would be destroyed. It seemed he'd done this just in time; Sly was below him now and shot 12 small orbs. Some were destroyed by the acid, others hit him. Suddenly Baldirak was able to see his opponent, his wings were alight with energy. The Earth Kingng broke out of his spiral and shot his acid full force at Sly.

What he didn't expect was the amount of orbs that were sent his way. Some came directly at him and were destroyed by the acid he sprayed. The rest came at his flanks and he couldn't counter against them without exposing his wings. So instead he spiraled once more that the orbs would at least hit different areas instead of collecting at his sides. They hit and Baldirak roared; then he seemed simply to fall. He no longer dived but gravity pulled him down. His wings opened just enough to slow his descent so his crash wouldn't harm him more. The sands was loose instead of packed, luckily, so it too lessened any damage done by the fall. But the EarthWing didn't move as the sands settled.

It is now or never!

Sly looked up to the severely wounded king. The orbs have connected and, due to the mist, not even Baldi’s wings could protect him from the sheer pain it would bring. Yeah, it was all Sly could really do at this point. His orbs could not reach deep down to penetrate the thick scales to cause any huge impact. He had to rely on pain to wear him down to submission. Seeing how all the orbs connected made him clenched his fangs a little. Baldi was spiralling downwards, seemingly spewing acid everywhere. As if a desperation move, when Baldi noticed the glow that Sly purposely let out from his wings, he retaliated with a huge stream of the same acid towards his direction. Then, as if out cold, he plummeted straight down.

He started his plan, right after the king even turned to notice Sly’s position. He calculated Baldi was a few thousand metres above ground before the drop anyways, which would provide Sly enough time to launch his barrage. Flying to his left, and therefore dodging the acid, Sly stopped after travelling 15metres, and there he spun and launched 12 medium sized orbs. Then quickly he flew clockwise, until he was north of Baldi, spinning again mid-flight to fire another 12 orbs of the same size, and continued in the clockwise direction until he launched them to his east and south, before flying back to the centre. Taking a huge risk, Sly folded his wings close and began spiralling straight down. As he did so, he charged his wings, releasing them when they were at their limit to release 2 large orbs. He folded them back in again and repeated, until he had a total of 16 large orbs, waiting right below Baldi. After those large orbs, Sly extended his wings and, while still putting energy into them, spewed out a flurry of 30 or so small orbs. Both the large and small orbs orbited around Sly for a moment before they all spiralled upwards to meet Baldi, while the medium orbs caved in from all flanks. All in a brilliant show similar to that of a spinning lotus in the night sky. Sly made sure there was enough distance between the orbs, so that they would not be put out in groups by another stream of acid.

The result of such impact would be devastating. Sly had seen it clearly when he used it against Bassasail and Guryon. It was enough to put them both away. No matter how thick the scales, no matter how Baldi would try to defend and shield himself, he was still in mid-air, with the safety of the ground below him too far to create any desperate shielding attempts, or so Sly thought. But in case he did try something like that, Sly would be prepared to destroy them as he was in position to do so. Perhaps he could try coating himself with acid again, but just how much could he cover with a simple stream?

Checkmate, Sly said under his breath. His vision began to blur, fatigue settling in to his mind, and he was struggling to remain in the air. Desperately he beat his wings, pulling up just before he struck the ground and flew over the dunes, trying to gain enough distance to avoid the eventual impact. The results of his last move was unclear for a moment, as he hurried forward, around 20metres before his wings gave in, and he toppled over a dune.

Sly dodged the stream of acid Baldirak spewed at him. Then Baldirak seemed to lose consciousness, but this was not so. He watched as the NightWing began what seemed to be his last resort attack. He couldn't see all the orbs, only the ones at his flanks and he tried to determine how far apart they were. He deterimened that they were far enough apart for him to fly through. But he was already falling and he didn't want to change his plan. Baldirak allowed the orbs to hit him without trying to destroy or avoid any. The pain was immense and all over his body, it was debilitating... Good thing he wasn't on the ground. Baldirak saw the NightWing land just before he himself crashed.

All of this felt oddly familiar to the EarthWing, minus a few things. The pain he felt, for example, was about the same. His pale eyes blinked open a few minutes after the sands settled. Everything hurt... it sort of felt like he was on fire, or at least being held over flames. His brain told him to stay still, to let the pain ebb before he tried to move. But this was one such occasion in which Baldirak ignored his brain. Slowly, he rolled over onto his stomach, groaning as he did so. Even slower, he pushed himself to his paws, hissing as the pain increased a little because of his bad leg. His legs shook violently under his weight but the Earth King was determined to stay up. He opened his wings a little, hoping it would help with his balance. Then he looked around for Sly.

It felt like he was out for ages. He puffed, sand rising and dancing over his snout as he came to. He thought he was still in a dream, until he remembered it was dark and he was resting on a desert. For a moment, a sense of dread washed over him that he had fallen asleep until close to sunrise. But then he shook the feeling when he heard loud, muffled steps approaching him. The king was still standing! But how?

Sly had given his all in that last attack, using almost every ounce of energy left within him. Was this simply it? Was he just not strong enough? Could this be the end for him? He had defeated a semigod, but to suddenly lose to the Earthwing king. It probably would not be bad, as every dragon in the Empire would consider his win against Guryon a fluke. But what if he did not want it to be a fluke? He wanted to show them that even a healer of the Nightwings could fight, just as deadly any Nightwing guard, soldier, imperial, or even assassin.

The air was clear, Sly had noticed, on top of being all dark and such. He knew Baldi would rely on his sense of smell to find him. And to do what afterwards? Force him to surrender? No! Sly still had some fight left in him.

Even if he did not have any energy left to shoot a single orb…

Sly crawled along the dunes and hid just around it, thinking it a way to surprise Baldi. He swept his tail, as hard as he could, to send sand and dust everywhere. If the king was anywhere within 10metres to Sly, the dust would reach and shield his scent. He saw Baldi, just as he passed by the summit of the dune, and knew he was not far now. With one, very deep breath, Sly shuffled himself around, until he was 8metres and to Baldi’s left. He made sure to make the least amount of sound, and ensured the dust persevered block him from trying to scent the Nightwing.

While he was hopefully hidden, Sly expelled a lungful of mist direct at Baldi. He made sure to huff out to the lowest capacity he could reach before gasping a bit for breath. The sensitising mist was more potent than the one he used and, if landed on Baldi, would completely engulf him and further stimulate all the pain he had gathered from the fight since the beginning. Sly hoped the sudden singe of pain throughout his body would be enough to put him away and discourage him from fighting. With how Baldi was moving, and predicting him to be already trying to fight back the pain, it was probably unlikely that he could react fast enough before the mist covers him once more.

And so he prays…

The Earth King still tried to keep himself balanced, never moving from where he had risen. As he looked round for his opponent, he spotted movement and was able to make out the cloud of dust that rose from behind a dune. It must be the NightWing...  but why was he doing that? To shield his movements? Surely Sly would have been able to judge how far away Baldirak was and known that wouldn't work as well as he hoped.  And indeed, Baldirak watched as the dust was disturbed when something passed through it to move off to the left.

With pain covering his entire body, the EarthWing dared not move, but mostly because he wasn't sure he could without losing his balance. So he began spraying his acid to the left of him, from his legs and outward, about 50ft, in hopes of hitting Sly.

The mist enveloped the king, covering and reaching every scale around his body and over-sensitising him even further. Old pains, from the moment the battle begin, would reawake and torment him, and Sly could only beg that it was enough to put him down. But just as he thought of such, his ears perked to the sound of sizzling, approaching very close. Acid! As quick as he concluded that it was such, he rolled across and down the dunes, behind the sands as he rolled across its side. His wings and tail started to tingle, then it itched, and just as quickly, it was burning him. Sly gritted his fangs, trying to keep himself silent as the bit of acid that found him seared into his scales. He buried his tail into the warm sands, a vain attempt at trying to ease the pain, but it helped only a little bit. His wings, there was nothing much he could do aside from bearing it.

Sly heaved and forced his weight back up, stretching his front claws, and slowly shifting his hinds. He almost stumbled, the headache flaring again as he tried to keep himself together. Baldi was still within his sights, but with how low Sly was keeping himself due to sheer exhaustion, he doubted he could be seen through the dark sands. Carefully, trying not to disturb the ground, he limped his way to another dune, the burning acid left far behind him. This dune was around 14metres from where Baldi stood, and Sly moved so that it was in between himself and the king, and he distanced himself further. Until he was standing on the foot of another dune, 10metres away, to catch his breath. The blocking dune, at least, was high enough to conceal his location. His legs went numb, and he felt them shaking. He turned his body fully towards where Baldi was, and waited for his mist to take effect…

Pain. It was all the King had known this whole fight, for most of his early life. But this was a new level of pain. The mist Sly hit him with seemed to awaken wounds that he shouldn't have been able to feel at this point in the battle. The EarthWing didn't hear his pained roars; he wasn't even sure if he actually had roared. But he did feel his limbs shake even more and his wings fall lifelessly to his side's as he fell back onto the sands, which was more uncomfortable than painful.

You should give up now... You lasted long and fought hard, but now you should give up. Know when you're beaten...

He could hear his mother's voice as he gazed at the stars and recalled one of his favorite memories. His mother was visiting and she, along with his father, was teaching him to fight. He could remember how proud his parents were to see him so determined to win, but his mother always cautioned againsted being too determined. As the memory faded away into the blackness of the night minutes later, Baldirak felt anger wash over him. Anger in that the NightWing relied so heavily on his mist to win.

"I am Zeno's son," Baldirak heard himself say as he--very slowly--moved to sit up again. The pain was nearly unbearable, nearly because the Earth King found himself paralyzed by every movement, but his stubborn determination pushed it aside for a few seconds. Baldirak clawed at the sands as he tried to ignore the pain and roll onto his stomach. Many times he fell back on his side; it felt like an hour had passed before he finally sat up.

He had managed this, but he could not hope to stand and be able to fight off the cowardly NightWing if he decided to use that mist again. Instead he remained lying down that he could see Sly better at this lower height. His gaze was drawn to a dune--and as he looked that way it amazed him the just moving his eyes didn't hurt. Surely his opponent would use whatever dune he could find to hide. Attempting not to move, he shot his acid at the dune before him, melting it away. He hadn't expected the NightWing to be hiding there but wherever it was, hopefully it saw what became of the dune.

Pain washed over again as the anger ebbed. Baldirak's body shook violently as he fought both mentally and physically to resist it. You are stubborn, but will you really go this far? Isn't your life more important? His muscles burned which added further to his torment. But there was still some ounce of will left in the EarthWing. "I... will not yield to a coward. If you wish another victory, then earn it, Dragon!"

Baldirak opened his maw again and gave them loudest roar possible for an EarthWing of his size. The Earth below cracked and splintered and gave in to the sands above. As earlier in the fight, a great portion of the sands were sucked down into the Earth, starting a few feet from the Earth King and spreading out 100ft passed the remains of the dune he'd destroyed. After, Baldirak felt as if his body were very close to a fire. The burning sensation was all over. He suddenly found himself doubting that he would last much longer. But he had meant it when he proclaimed he would not allow Sly to win while he continued to hide.

Baldirak felt himself laying on his side again. Acid flowed from his mouth to melt away the sands beneath him to expose the Earth. There was one last attack left in him if the NightWing decided this torment wasn't enough. With a sigh, he let his voice be heard again, "I am Zeno's son," he said more to himself than to Sly. "Come and face the Rogue King's heir." He chuckled faintly as he used his father's nickname and wondered briefly if he had lived to his father's expectations. As he formulated a final attack against Sly,  and waited for Sly to appear, he stared at the stars.

His leg tingled and nearly dragged him back onto the sand. Still short of breath, he figured he would need a long rest after this sort of fight. He was still conscious. That was good. At least he had some bit of energy left in reserve. Using his orbs could be dangerous, he waa unsure how many more he could shoot before he would drift into unconsciousness. This was perhaps the longest time he waited without shooting anything.

A rather close series of roar echoed in the night. It did not startle Sly. He just rolled his eyes to its direction and turned his head a little. Those pained howls awakened deep scars within his soul. From the struggle to survive since he hatched in the cruel and merciless Empire, to seeing others die before him, with him standing by to watch, helpless. How much more pain must he inflict into the king just to put him away? Persistent as always. It reminded him of himself in his youth. Persistent to live and fight another day.

Then the great king collapsed. Perhaps this was the end he hoped to achieve? Or would there be more? He could not tell. He pondered for a bit, until his ears perked to his voice. Sly froze, eyes shot wide as he saw the shadow the stars illuminated. He could still stand? Even after so much pain and damage? Even more surprisingly, he shot acid onto a dune next to the one that stood between the two, and he could see how quickly it died and sunk.

Baldi continued to speak, outing Sly as a coward, and insisting him to earn the victory, in some chivalrous way it seemed. Another roar would follow, and Sly felt the sand pulling towards the king. He walked back, trying to keep his distance as he heard the sand rattle and shift. It was draining towards the king. Within the sounds, Sly picked up another one. Acid again. He doubted he would like what was going to come next.

As he struggled to keep his dostance, Sly thought about what the king said. A coward. That was what Sly was, and forever will be. Chivalry. Honour. Code. None of those mattered in the lower classes of the Empire. He had grown up using any available means to get what he needed. Wven if ut meant to attack innocent dragons from behind or steal from the stalls when no one was looking. He was caught a few times, but he learned to live through the whipping and beating. Sly could not imagine what Baldi's upbringing was like, but no matter what, it was better than what Sly suffered. And for that, Sly could never uphold any form of honour.

It was kill, or be killed. Only the strongest survives. Adapt or perish. If one were to be born in a life of poverty, to be born under a totalitarian or oppressive regime, to be born where obe must struggle to make ends meet, they could blame no one but fate. No. There was no room for any honour. One good deed could not change how cruel the world was. No one gave him compassion. No one gave him sympathy. Nor respect. Nor honour.

If this was a competitoon, why should he even give a damn?

Sly would have to commend the king's stubborness to rise, but he had to end this madness now. When the sand slowed, Sly's claws found the hard earth below him. He looked up to the stars, wondering. Who would care if he somehow vanished? Had he lived his life to the best moments? Who would cheer or encourage him on? Silly questions. He snickered at himself before looking towards Baldi with determination.

Then Sly rushed forward. The dune before him slowly sinking, but he climbed to the top. The night camouflaging him, Sly catapulted himself off the top and spread his wings. Using every ounce of his strength left, he began to calculate his risks. There were many ways he could approach the king, but he would wait for him to expend his attack first...

As he waited, Baldirak considered his options. There was one thing he could do which might work; his opponent used the night to his advantage, Baldirak would too. Moments before he heard the sound of wings snapping open in the distance, the EarthWing raised a wall of Earth in front of him. In under a minute it reached a height of 100ft and a width of 200ft. During that time, Baldirak used what strength he had to bury himself in the sands behind him. To trick the NightWing--though it had been unintentional--a hole was left where Baldirak had just been laying, made earlier by this acid. It would suggest that the EarthWing had fled underground. But in reality he was still on the surface, disguised as a dune, perfectly still.

Many things could have gotten wrong here. A front charge towards a dragon almost twice his height... he was not even sure if Baldi could still fight, but he should have considered how defiant he was to pain. The night marked him out for the Nightwing, and the silhouette's shape indicated that the king was facing in his direction. Just one more hit, he thought. One more hit and he should be down for good. Not even the king could disguise how weakly he was standing on his legs. As if a simple push was all it takes to topple him over.

The king, instead, chose one of the possibilities that Sly did not really expect. His ears perked to rumbling, and he detected another slab if earth rising. But this late? It was going too slow. By the time Sly had reached the dune, he was 14metres away again from the king. When the wall rose, he was roughly 10metres away.

Too slow.

Sly sped forward and placed his claws right on top of the rising wall. Using it as some springboard, he lept and spun into a ball towards the king. At the last second, he saw the king slowly trying to crouch, and Sly made sure to aim for the chest as Baldi was sinking. If this succeeded, Sly could "body spin slam" into Baldi's lower neck. With his mist still in effect, this would send another shockwave of pain all over his body.

Last resort... Sly whispered to himself. A deep breath, he concentrated into his wings, pushing every last bit of energy into them. He was unsure what would happen with his orbs if his energy was rather insufficient, but he must not stop. A wedge was driven into the king. Now Sly just need to strike...

Baldirak didn't see Sly until he began charging energy into his wings. He had expected the NightWing to come from the side, so he has been looking up. He was quite surprised as he watched the smaller Dragon, who appeared to be curled in a ball, fly right over him... Maybe he had meant to the EarthWing? Baldirak watched as Sly ended up hitting a dune behind him and roll down it. This was not at all what Baldirak had planned to do, but he couldn't waste the opportunity his opponent's apparent blunder provided.

A split second after Sly landed, Baldirak slammed his tail against the base of the earthen wall, while covering the dune in acid. A portion of the wall fell, part of it hitting Baldirak, and the other half falling onto the rapidly shrinking dune. The acid would eat away the bottom of the rock, but the wall's purpose was to pin Sly, at least, not crush him. The Earth King turned his head back toward the wall and pushed the piece of wall that had fallen on himself. It felt to his side that an entire mountain was on it... and his leg felt worse; as if Cosmos had stepped on it. But it was a small price to pay if this final attack, paired with Sly's miscalculation, landed him a victory.

He had been travelling in the air for quite some time now. The moment he hit something, it was soft, and scattered all over his back. He missed! How? He thought he had calculated his attack thoroughly, but he did not let it discourage him. Baldi was definitely nearby...

Sly felt the ground tremble, followed by the crumbling of rocks. He turned towards the wall, except all he could see was a giant mass blocking the way. He saw the head turning in his direction. His heart jumped. Sly needed to get out of there. He rolled down the dune, towards the decline that Baldi had made. Behind him, he could hear the burning sands. He felt several drops had landed on him but could not feel the effects, perhaps due to the constant rolling. The ground began to 'bounce' against him, and he figured it was the wall dropping towards him. But would that also mean it will hit Baldi as well?

Once he hit the bottom, he ceased rolling. She scrambled to his feet. That was when he felt a sudden chill all over his back and wings, stretching from his neck to the base of his tail. The acid sizzled against him and he nearly collapsed. Not yet. He still had one last trick.

Feeling his wings ready from the charge, although very unstable and fluctuating, Sly ran towards Baldi, just a few steps, until he was just 5metres from him. There, Sly leapt and latched onto Baldi's side. With all his strength, he released the energy from his wings, and the membranes glowed.

Goodnight.

Sly's head flared and, as he winced and closed his eyes, there was a huge flash and something knocked him off the king, pushing him back a few metres. He tried to release the orbs, but they exploded on him, hitting both himself and the king. Sly rolled onto his side and curled, his sides and wings burning. He gapped his maw, but refrained himself from roaring. Not that he had any energy left to do that.

Sly just remained there on the sand, huffing and curling. Not what he expected but at least he did his final deed. This was his absolute final and desperate attack.

After pushing the wall off, Baldirak moved to stand again. By now, the effects of the mist was beginning to wear off. His right side was still painful, due mostly to having had a 50ft wall land on it, but his left felt much better. As he got onto his paws, he noticed a great light coming at him; Sly. But before he could do anything, the NightWing latched onto his left wing. Not knowing what else to do, Baldirak snapped that wing out to fling Sly off his side. It seemed unnecessary, however, as some unseen force appeared to do it for him. And just an instant later, some orbs exploded. Only Baldirak's wing was hit, as he still had it extended away from him, but the explosion pushed the appendage back at an odd angle. With a roar, the Earth  King jumped--somewhat awkwardly--away and landed not-so-gracefully a few feet to the right.

His left wing hurt... though whether it was merely sprained or actually broken, he couldn't tell. After a minute, Baldirak turned his attention back to his opponent. He could hear the careful breaths of the NightWing. So his acid had hit after all...  "Will you yield now, Dragon?" Baldirak asked as fatigue crept back in and he started to lay down. "I can hear your hide burning from here... My wing could be broken, and my legs will not carry me. It is a good place to end such a long battle, I should think you would agree. If you would be so... bold as to go on, I welcome you. But it would result in your death and I will not kill my kin. There is dignity enough for you and I both to take back to our Tribes. You have done a great deal to me. Even after all this time, my chest still hurts. My leg(s) feel broken and I'm fairly certain I bruised a number of things when that wall hit me.  Tell me.. Sly.. how badly have I wounded you? I cannot see."

The EarthWing sniffed at the air, trying to find the NightWing. As he spoke and asked his questions, he wasn't really sure which of them to call the winner. Perhaps it was a good thing; it meant they were evenly matched in some ways. Baldirak lowered his head to rest it on his left paw while he waited for an answer from Sly.