A friendly challenge

I would just like to say one thing - this took me ages to do. Was planning to not have it turn into such a long story, but it had a mind of its own.I was done with it a week ago, but then accidentally lost 3 hours of work, and had to rewrite the end.
Despite that, I hope you will enjoy this! - and yes, the describing of Salamence took nearly all day to write to perfection...

Well, reviews welcomed; and I would also want to inform that I will resume my work on Dark Flames shortly.

The waves threw themselves lazily towards the shore while they tried to reach the land, splashing repeatedly against the sandy areas. They attempted to occupy as much as possible of it. But no matter how much they tried, the waves failed to overtake the land, endlessly climbing up on the shores, for so to slip back out into the ocean where they belonged. It looked like a game between the waves; they endlessly struggled, competing among themselves to see how far up on the landmasses they could get.

From the sky, this was an amusing event to witness. The birds could see the waves at play, watching their repeated splashing, chuckling to themselves as they had no such need to overtake the land—they already had the sky. Besides, the birds could land on the earth for shelter, should the need arise.
So, for this reason, the inhabitants of the clouds did not envy the water at all.

Instead of they deliberately and regularly mocked it with their cries of glee, their calls for flock mates and loops in the air. The birds loved the freedom the winds gave them, and used it to full extent, making it a point to show off their independency.

And it was not a lie to say that many creatures did envy the birds for their ability to soar so gracefully in the sky, seemingly at peace with the world and distant from all things stressful. Many of the creatures who lacked flight ability dearly sought the sky and the peace among the clouds. Thus for the land dwellers and mammals, the birds became a true symbol of freedom.

However, some birds had things to do, and despite being able to resign to the solitude of the clouds, they could still be quite stressed out. This counted especially for the Legendaries, who were relied upon so much, it wasn't even funny.

They were needed to uphold the balance in nature, which itself was a huge task. Besides that, these magnificent birds were also expected to care for a manner of smaller chores.

So no matter how much they tried to escape their responsibilities, they just couldn't.

However, the Titan of Fire, informally known as Moltres, had attempted to make a getaway for just a few hours even though she knew it would all be in vain.

The glorious firebird needed to stress down.

Carelessly, with a desperate need to de-stress, the bird flew into the air and left her worries behind in favour for a flight around the shore of Fire Island. One she was in the sky, the bird lay in the air, soaring on the thermals while she gazed down at the sea and its waves.

As she did so, the bird allowed her eyes to close for a brief moment, and she inhaled deeply, drawing as much air into her lungs as she could The salty ocean air cleared her mind and the result was that the legendary firebird felt more awake than she had done for the last two months.

And that was wonderful.

Moltres was usually heavily burdened, and the various tasks she tended to sometimes kept her up all night. This way she had lost many nights of precious sleep, and had slowly been drained for her energy until she was reduced to a flying zombie. Now, though, she felt lively again.

Letting out a cry of delight, Moltres twirled around in the air, playing about in sheer delight; her glee making the fire on her wings glow brightly.

It was obvious that Moltres wanted to show the world her happiness, and with each turn and twist she took, the clouds flared in warm colours, bathing the earth below with various shades that normally could only be seen during a sunset or a sunrise.

In their turn, the warm colour reflected the mood of the fiery bird.

Her performance in the air was unique.

The Legendaries almost never danced, and normally, the only times these birds could be seen playing in the sky was during the mating flight—and even then, very few people were privileged to see them frolicking in the air with their partner.
Therefore, a manner of people and Pokémon gathered near the shoreline to watch the unusual event. Their gazes were fixed on her, and their eyes were wide with amazement. Many even held their breaths. It was as if they breathed, they would scare the bird away.

Moltres, however, soon tired of showing off.

Glancing down, she saw the crowd by the shore. When she noticed their obvious stares, she was insulted. For even in the world of Pokémon, manners were taught—and each and every creature knew it was rude to stare openly.

The bird knew that she was not likely to hear an apology from these people, so she positioned herself in the air, and headed off.

Her dance was over.

She flew to the other side of the island. It was quieter there, and she could settle down without fear of being disturbed as she was sheltered by many trees.

Briefly, she searched the area for a suitable perch, and it didn't take her long to find one.

Deciding to go for it, the bird went into a steep dive. Her gaze locked on the branch, and as the wind whistled in her ears, Moltres felt the blood pump faster through her veins. The bypassing rush of wind also ruffled her feathers.

After few moments, the earth came crashing towards her. It wanted to swallow her whole and destroy her upon impact with the solid ground. It wanted to see if she could withstand the power of gravity, and if she could save herself from the fall through the air. It wanted to see if the beautiful bird could save herself from a fall that would be suicidal for any non-winged creature.

However, the bird of the legends had full control. As a bird, she had naturally acquired knowledge on the art of flight, and would not fall to her death – at last not today.

When she saw that her perch was almost within reach, she flared out her wings and tail, slowing down the rush of air. Extending her talons, she angled them to get a good grip around her chosen landing spot.

Firmly grasping the rough bark on the branch, she dug her talons down into them. While she did that, Moltres flapped her wings to regain her balance. Once it was regained, her wings folded neatly and she settled down.
Once settled, the bird looked around.

Tall trees grew everywhere, and their canopies blocked out most of the sunrays, much to her disbelief. And a mild breeze caressed the treetops, making their leaves sway gently.

Moltres shifted her weight from one talon to another. She was about to drop her guard entirely, seeing no creatures that could harm her.
However, she had not been aware of a large, curled up creature on the ground.
She hadn't noticed him at first, and she cursed herself for her own inattentiveness. Ruffling her feathers, she fixed her gaze on the creature who curled up in the cool shade below an old oak tree.

Its head was rested down on its front claws, and the tail extended behind it.

Upon closer inspection, Moltres recognized it as a male Salamence. The scales on his upper body were a brilliant sea-green / turquoise, while his stomach was covered in white-grey scales. And although the position the dragon lay in did not allow the bird to see all his markings, the bird of legends knew how they looked like, anyway. Below his blunt snout there was a patch of red. It contrasted nicely against the rest of his scales.

On his underside, near the base of his tail, the red colour was seen again. From that area, it extended to the very tip of the long, flexible tail.

Moltres also knew that on the backside of his three-clawed feet, there were more patches of red. And above his eyes, the bird could see a pair of red-coloured eye ridges. They gave an impression of fierceness, and probably served to give the Salamence an intimidating look.

If she let her gaze wander a bit, she could see three horn-like, pointy extensions on the sides of his head. They pointed in different directions and she blinked when she realized that these 'horns' were probably needle-sharp.

Shuddering, she tore her gaze away from them, and looked at his wings. The wings that had made her notice the dragon in the first place. Their red colour was quite outstanding among the earthy brown and green colours of his surroundings.

Besides, the wings had the same colour as the eye ridges, and they were neatly folded together on his back, tucked safely away. Lying in that manner, they were of no annoyance when he woke up.

Moltres cooed softly.

Truthfully, she had a soft spot for the fierce-looking dragons, seeing as a good friend of hers was one. Therefore, she decided to not blast him with fire for trespassing on her territory. Instead of, the firebird launched herself off her branch, gliding gracefully down to the ground.

Landing silently, Moltres hopped forward, heading towards the sleeping Salamence. She was intent on finding out who he was, and wanted to wake him up.

As she approached, her shadow lay over the dragon. It blocked out the few rays of light that reached him down on the forest floor. This sudden lack of warmth made him shiver slightly.

His tail twitched, and he stretched in his sleep, unconsciously searching for new rays of light to re-supply him with warmth. When he found no such replacement, he opened his eyes slowly. Yawning, he woke up, and prepared to search for another tree to rest under—where there preferably were at last a few rays of sun.

But when he lifted his head, his gaze fell on Moltres's brownish talons. From there, he looked upwards, and saw the bird of the legends looming above him.

It was probably the most likely creature the dragon had expected to see.

Startled, the Salamence got up, standing on all four.

"Moltres… I didn't mean to trespass on your territory! Not at all! I was only sleeping here for the night and—" he stated bluntly, lowering his head in submission.

Moltres blinked in slight confusion. There was something familiar about this Salamence. The way he spoke and his stance was all too recognizable. She had seen him before.

The thing with that particular dragon species however, was that they all looked the same. There was no certain way to tell the particular individuals apart just by looking at them, so you had to remember them by voice and scent. Obviously, birds would have some trouble then. Avians had a much undeveloped sense of smell.

Moltres clawed at the ground. "No worries, about that," she mumbled, focusing her gaze on him again. "You are forgiven."

There was something oddly familiar with this dragon.

"Okay then. I am glad you will not do anything," said the Salamence, sighing with relief. "You scared me. I didn't expect to see you standing over me like that when I woke up."

Moltres merely nodded. "Who would expect that though? You don't see a legendary often, I tell you."

She focused on the Salamence before her, trying to figure out where she had seen this particular dragon before. He was so oddly familiar.

The only other Salamence she knew was her good friend Draglanus, so she guessed it had to be him. However, it was beyond her understanding why he would be on Fire Island on such a day. Oh well.

Deciding to check if she guessed right, Moltres opened her beak.

"Hey Draglanus…?" she said, and poked his foot with a clawed talon. "If that's you, I don't see any reason why you would not be allowed to be here. As far as I know, you are free to enter and leave my territory whenever you want."

The reaction she got was a blank stare.

For a moment, Moltres thought her guess was wrong, and that she had humiliated herself by calling him the wrong name. But then just about as she was about to apologize, the scaly creature shook his head until he was fully awake. Mumbling, he spoke: "Yep, Mol, it's me."

The fiery bird let out a hearty chuckle filled with relief. Her guess had been right after all. "Then why all this formality?" she questioned, poking him with the same clawed talon. "Just because I can't tell your species apart on sight—damn you Salamence for being so alike!—doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to recognize me. After all there is only one Moltres."

Draglanus laughed. "Hey, give me a break will ya? I just woke up after all."

Moltres chirped fondly. "Alright then I won't pester you about this."

She hopped closer to him under the tree and regarded him with a friendly nuzzle, before enthusiastically chattering about various things.

Later that day, Moltres shook Draglanus, wanting him to wake up.

It was afternoon, and the dragon had lazily fallen into a light slumber. "Hey you, sleepy, wake up!"

The Salamence stretched, and opened his eyes. He looked curiously in the direction of Moltres, wondering why she had roused him up from his sleep. "Yes? What is it?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you were up for a battle," Moltres asked, looking hopeful. She wondered who of them were the strongest, and to find out, she asked him if he was up for a friendly challenge. "Just to test who is the strongest of us."

Draglanus nodded. "I guess I am up for it," he said, "besides, there is nothing else to do at this hour—except sleeping—so I see no reason why that couldn't be done." He got to his feet. Lifting his gaze, he looked straight into Moltres's clear blue eyes. "Challenge accepted."

They took to the air, and their wings flapped in unison as they gained altitude.

Once they were in the sky, both of them flew in different directions; Draglanus headed to the east and Moltres to the west.

Eventually, they ended up facing each other, both at eye level with the other. In the sky, there was a mild breeze blowing. That breeze now caressed them both with soft touches, as if willing them the best of luck.

"Well then… The battle begins," Draglanus announced. "Let's both have fun with this, okay?"

The firebird nodded calmly. "But of course we will, my friend!"

Moltres twirled around in the air, painting the sky with fiery, warm colours, giving the whole area a dramatic look of devastation; probably just to set them both in a good mood for the upcoming battle.

Then she uttered a cry of excitement and opened her pointy beak. Inhaling deeply, she shot a blast of scorching-hot fire in the direction of Draglanus.

The Salamence flapped frantically; He had not paid attention, and the blast of fire was eerily close to him when he became aware of it. Draglanus quickly retreated, and curled up in a ball. The moment after he had done that, the fire engulfed him, and swallowed him whole. It coated him in a cloak of burning flames.

It looked as if the fire ate at him when it swallowed him like that, but no. As the flames died out, they left Draglanus unharmed, and he could safely uncurl.

Moltres flapped her wings, looking amused. She noted that the dragon had cleverly protected himself against her deadly fire.

"Remarkable," she commented lightly, smiling cheerfully. "Quite the nice way to protect yourself, my friend."

Shortly after, the bird of fire opened her beak once more, and let out a thrilling screech. The opened beak allowed her to shoot another blast of fire in the direction of the Salamence.

However, this time, the dragon was ready. He opened his mouth and started to summon energy - and a powerful beam started to form in his mouth. It quickly grew in power; glowing with all the energy it held. He threw his head forward, and unleashed the beam, sending it in the general direction of Moltres.

It swept rapidly through the air, but halfway to the target, the beam was countered by a ball of fire – which the titan of fire had cleverly sent forward when the dragon had released his powerful attack.

When the energies clashed, the result was a huge explosion. The pressure from the air threw both opponents backwards, and Draglanus found himself flapping madly to remain steady. Also, a cloud of thick, grey smoke had formed, and it clouded his vision, making his eyes water slightly. He couldn't see a thing.

And after a while, when his vision finally cleared, he saw that Moltres flew towards him at an inhuman speed. The flames of her wings were all in a blur, and she was set afire, approaching very quickly. There was no time to dodge.

Moltres crashed into him. The impact was powered by the speed, and it sent Draglanus flying.

Roaring, the dragon soon recovered, and he beat his wings to gain altitude. While he did so, he saw Moltres heading towards him again, and he twirled around. The fiery bird came flying once again, and the dragon extended his claws—and when the legendary was within reach, he grabbed her. "Gotcha."

Moltres looked surprised, and tried to rear back when she realized the opportunity Draglanus had to attack. But the Salamence kept her in a firm grasp; and as he raised a claw, the bird merely blinked. Her thoughts raced—she had to get away—but her struggles were to no avail.

The dragon's claw struck her fiercely, scratching her face, leaving a very visible claw mark from the chin down to her chest area. He raised his claw to strike again, but by then, the firebird squawked so fiercely, and her struggles had gained such power, that Draglanus simply had to let go.

Rearing back, the bird smacked him with a wing, before she tried to make a quick escape to distance herself from her attacking opponent.

The dragon growled; his strategy wasn't fantastic, but it relied on a rather slow opponent, that he obviously didn't have here—he was up against a Moltres, after all, and she was known to be rather speedy, at last in the air. He pondered a bit, and lit up at the thought of his next move. He had to be cunning, and his next move would at last ensure further chances of success. Concentrating, he managed to create about a hundred illusions of himself. These illusions formed a large circle around the legendary bird—however, only one of them was the real Draglanus.

Looking mildly confused, Moltres looked in all directions, looking for an escape route – but wherever she looked, she found herself surrounded by illusions. The bird frowned and experimentally tried to leash out at a group of them, but to no avail. Her fiery attack didn't harm the real Draglanus, and she watched with disappointment as the illusions vanished. And by then, the Salamence had charged up another of his powerful beams. Opening his mouth, he released the powerful energies and sent it towards his fiery friend—and soon after, the energy hit the target.

The firebird squawked at the sudden attack, and she found herself defenceless as she tried to recover enough to counter-attack. The hyper beam had been a direct hit, and the legendary bird had not taken well to it—or so it seemed.

Draglanus winced at the sound of the squawk. Nonetheless, he decided to take advantage of the situation. He angled himself properly, and quickly advanced towards the bird. The plan was to strike her with his sharp claws until she had to give up. However, the Salamence had not counted on her recovery. While he had aimlessly headed towards her, the bird had summoned her scorching-hot fire. With a fierce cry, the titan of fire blasted the flames at Draglanus.

Normally, the fire did not do much damage to the dragon, but at such a close range, the blast could be fatal at the worst, and despite the fact Moltres was weakened, she was still quite powerful.

As the attack hit the Salamence full-force, the dragon found himself flung back several metres in the air. He basked with his wings, struggling to remain airborne as waves upon waves of air in movement pressed him backwards.

And now it was Moltres' turn to strike—quickly, she advanced on the struggling dragon, managing to slap the side of his head with her wing as she flew by. However, when the legendary bird tried to gather power to create more of her deadly fire, she found herself powerless. She was too weakened to even make the tiniest spark. Horrified, she nervously ruffled her feathers while watching Draglanus recover from the attack. When her friend had recovered enough, she blinked—fully aware that she could have mercilessly defeated him with a series of harsh pecks while he tried to recover. But no, she thought, she wanted this battle to end fairly.

As the Salamence lifted his head, the firebird watched him more carefully than ever. She wondered how weakened he was, and if they could continue this battle. The dragon, however, didn't plan on giving up, despite the fact that he, too, found himself as powerless as Moltres. "It seems like I can't use ranged attacks at this point," he muttered before turning around, quickly flying towards the firebird.

Shocked, Moltres didn't realize what her friend planned to do before he was within a feather length away from her. At that point, the Salamence raised a claw, and was about to strike her down with it.

Reacting quickly, Moltres slapped the claw with a wing. Afterwards she extended her talons and locked them firmly around the feet of her draconian opponent—forcing him to stay close.

"Oh no you won't," she muttered, and pecked him harshly on his snout, squawking indignantly because she was approached in such a way. Draglanus yelped in response. And when he had come over the brief pain of being pecked at such a sensitive area, he resumed his struggles. "Well, if that's how you want it Mol," he responded quietly.

And from there, the battle turned into an odd, ungraceful dance in the sky with each opponent leashing out at the other with beak or claw.

Moltres held Draglanus' feet with her strong talons, while she herself flapped madly with her wings, trying to parry or dodge each strike the dragon made with his claw.

With the wind rushing around them and the blood pumping in their veins, each of them fought forcefully. But since they were both equal in power, they did equal damage to the other, and thus ended up wearing themselves out at the same time.

When Draglanus struck Moltres one last time with his claws, the bird screeched out in defeat. Her flames flickered on and off, and they seemed dimmed down, and she was drained from energy—and slowly, she admitted her defeat.

"You won this time, Draglanus," she muttered, raising her gaze to meet his as she let go of his feet with her talons. Drawing back, the bird took her time observing him.

Scratches and burn marks coated his scales. Likewise, her feathers were ruffled and torn, and some minor wounds were visible at places.

The damage wasn't beyond healing though.

"Oh boy, aren't we a pretty pair of flying creatures," commented the legendary bird, and shook her head. "You're all burnt, and my feathers are ruffled and torn. Beautiful."

Draglanus had no real reply to this statement, and instead of started to fly back towards the forested areas on Fire Island. His wings carried him safely to the ground, and he was shortly after accompanied with Moltres. Landing with a thud, the dragon flopped right down on the ground, stretching properly.

The firebird settled down and started to preen.

They both sat this way for a long time, in silence, as neither of them had something particularly interesting to say. However, in their minds, they both admitted that it had been a fun challenge indeed.