Private Finished Let's Settle This With Claws

@Max!! (Destra)

(Alexis, wyvern form)

He hadn't needed to wait too long before this meet-up was set and that was just fine with Alexis. The sooner he got this over with the sooner he could get a good night's sleep for a change. Exhaustion would overcome the overwhelming quietness that was plaguing his nights here on this stupid island. Chances were high that they wouldn't be staying near the ground for too long, but they had agreed to meet in a clearing in the woods far enough from the city that no one should be around to report the fight to the police. Neither one of them wanted to get locked up for fighting. There were a few hours left before dusk. More than enough time to fight and then get back before dark but few people would be wandering this far out into the woods at that time.

Alexis had arrived to the clearing early to scout out the location and stretch his wings and muscles. It would have been stupid to assume this wasn't a trap and he wasn't taking any chances. Plus he couldn't focus on doing anything productive in the mean time aside from his bath in the ocean earlier. This was his first chance to prove he wasn't weak. All he had to do was show he could take down this dragon and he would be golden. Even if that wasn't enough to let him go home, it would rid him of the reputation for being a mouthy little twerp. He just knew that was how the dragons here were thinking of him. They always did look down on wyverns, thinking them to be lesser. Whatever, he was proud of the way his family lived. They weren't regal or stuck up and they always looked out for their own. So what if they didn't have four legs or pretty scales? Looking feral and dangerous was way more fun.

As confident in his own fighting abilities as Alexis was, he still fidgeted with nervous energy as he lurked, hunched over between a few trees. Not exactly hiding, but he wasn't making himself an easy target either. He was still young by their standards and he was used to having his clan, his family, at his back just in case things went south. Here it was just him. If he got into trouble that was it, he could only hope that his opponent spared him permanent injury. If he was being honest he felt a little sick.

No. Fuck him. I don't care how big he is, I just won't let him catch me and i've got a few tricks of my own.

Alexis snarled and clawed at the ground in frustration. Fortunately he didn't have to wait too much longer for Destra to arrive.

Alexis had been fighting with the other members of his clan and their prey pretty much all his life. He'd had to, they sparred and fought over pretty much everything but the one rule was no permanent damage. Taking one of their own out of working condition was punished harshly unless the injury was necessary. Family business still needed to get done and they had to be ready to protect their dealings at any time.

Still, even with the experience Alexis had in fighting, the sight of Destra's dragon form worried him. There was no chance he could back down from the fight, but the golden dragon had some seriously dangerous looking scales and claws. The horn and tail meant that neither of those sides would be the best approaches. More than likely he'd need to come in from one of the sides or maybe from the underside? Somewhere with the least risk of being caught by all the stabbing and slashing it looked like he could do. Perhaps he could also use his smaller size to try ducking intot he trees if he had to as a last resort. Destra was shaped like a wyvern in many ways but the rest of him, and the way he seemed so confident and smug, reeked of any other dragon that thought they were better than the Brouillards.

Alexis stalked forward out of the trees, his wings folded so he could use his forelegs to walk. He definitely wasn't a pretty creature. Where Destra had sharp scales Alexis only had thick, leathery hide. He was smaller in just about every sense, but his tail had two longer spikes on it that looked pretty dangerous. The fins on his face fluttered as Alexis snarled, "What? You thought I would wimp out and not show? I don't back down from a fight. Even if you are all pointy and sharp."

The smaller wyvern slowly walked with his crawling motion as he made a half-circle around Destra. It was obvious he wasn't going to be nimble enough to do this on the ground so he stopped and crouched. "I accept your stakes, lets just do this already." With that he flung himself into the air to try to make himself a difficult target to track. He was planning to save his mist for a later moment when he needed to obscure himself or his foe.

@Max!!

The surge of adrenaline through his system and the wind in his wings were welcome, joyous feelings. Alexis' worries and concerns all fell away as he took to the sky. As he sprung into action to actually do something. All of his focus was on this fight and nothing else mattered.

Destra had followed him into the air after Alexis had taken off and the larger dragon was very quick. He turned his head to look back and let out a sound that was more of a hissing screech than a roar. He could feel the comfort of his misty vapor condensing in his chest but he held off from letting it out just yet. In a straight fight he had zero hope of winning this. Alexis would have to be tricky.

The wyvern knew that he was very, very quick and nimble since he wasn't weighed down by all the scales. He might have been able to try just being faster than Destra but this wasn't a race. This was a fight and as much as it was going to suck if this went wrong he had to get an idea of how maneuverable his foe was. So Alexis let the dragon fly past him, noting the very dangerous talon-like claws.

I wonder if that means he fights like an eagle does? Swooping down to grab and rake with it's talons. That's what i'd do if my claws were that big.

Just as he'd had that thought he noticed Destra doubling back to come at him from above. As much as he disliked being the one chased he had no choice. Immediately he folded his wings and frills in and dove at an alarming speed to keep away from the attack.

Fuck! Why did I have to pick a fight with a dragon who can attack with lightning?

Alexis was very much aware that he was vulnerable to that type of elemental damage and flung his body in a rather harsh lurch to just barely get out of the way of the first ball of lightning. The sizzle and crackle seemed extra loud as it passed and he could practically taste the ozone in the air.

He wouldn't be able to dodge every one of the balls of lightning so he did the only thing he could think of. He flared his wings to slow his momentum, inhaled deeply and then breathed out towards the direction Destra was coming from. A huge cloud of thick, cool water vapor began spreading out and obscuring Alexis from sight. His breath was less about attacking and more about concealment, though he was also banking on the water vapor stopping the ball of lightning before they could get close to him. Whether it would actually work like that he wasn't sure. The cloud rapidly increased in size to about 20 square feet

Alexis circled and flapped his wings long enough to stop his downward momentum completely and then adjusted his flight so that he skimmed the edge of the cloud that should have been the furthest from Destra. Best case scenario was Destra plowing through the cloud and giving Alexis a chance to strike with his tail but he was fairly sure the dragon was a smarter fighter than that. He really didn't relish the thought of being knocked from the sky by a well-aimed ball of electricity or getting too up close with any of Destra's many dangerous pointy bits.


@Max!!


((marking thread as finished. Results of the fight were discussed on the side and Alexis got real beat up and lost the fight))