Quick note:
If you want some music I'd recommend "It's a brand new day" from Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, start it after the first line break. The whole short film is great, and this song is one of my favorites from it. It suits Cynder's anger in this chapter perfectly.
That's enough from me.
Fight!
"I don't have all day." The fire dragon Feyer said. He began to walk forwards, stalking Cynder.
He reminded Cynder of a certain other fire dragon, albeit less intimidating in every way, she didn't like his attitude. Feyer had no idea what he was getting himself into, he assumed Cynder was easy prey but she would make sure he regretted that. The other four dragons formed a loose group; skilled fighters would have flanked her. None of them were ready to battle Cynder, they would regret trying.
Feyer went straight for her, Cynder tensed in readiness for an attack, but the bigger male was too busy mocking her to bother with underhanded tactics. Cynder preferred the idea of fighting four dragons to five; Feyer would be taken out first, quick and easy. Cynder wasn't above bending the rules to her advantage.
Cynder tuned the other dragon's talking out and made sure that she caught Spyro's eye. She winked and saw him nod in reply and she crossed her claws for luck, hoping that he knew what she was thinking.
Cynder refocused on him and allowed herself to be intimidated by the fire dragon. She pictured his claws cutting her scales, imagined the damage he could do to her. She didn't like the way his eyes roamed over her body at all, she shuddered under his gaze. Cynder backed away, allowed her fear to show. He saw it in her eyes and grinned with victory. He was getting too close now, or was he getting just close enough?
"I haven't said start." Cynder said hesitantly. The fire dragon didn't even blink. Spyro flipped the timer; of course he had known what she was thinking.
The round started.
Feyer didn't even notice, he was too focused on Cynder.
"Well perhaps you'd like to start by suckin-"
Feyer never saw it coming. Cynder took all the time she needed to position herself, choosing the perfect angle. The fire dragon watched Cynder coil, but didn't even imagine she was preparing to spring, he didn't see her eyes lose all traces of fear and refocus on the side of his jaw, her target. There was no way to be sure if he was still conscious to even feel the impact, Cynder surged upwards and caught Feyer's head with a devastating uppercut. The fire dragon went out like a candle flame.
"The round hasn't started yet!" The lightning dragon exclaimed in shock. The others stared at what Cynder had done to Feyer; they were too shocked by the sudden viciousness to even consider a counterattack.
"Yes it has, Spyro flipped the timer." Cynder pointed.
They turned to look, all four of them, they all turned away from Cynder to gawk at Spyro and an hourglass. Spyro smacked his face with his paw, idiots.
Cynder accelerated across the Colosseum, flying low and fast, targeting the ice dragoness like Seizo had advised. At the last second the girl turned back towards Cynder, she screamed and threw herself flat and Cynder's claws whispered inches over her head.
The black dragoness looped back for a second strike. The ice dragon rolled aside just in time as Cynder slammed into the ground where she had been lying second before. She screamed again in surprise as Cynder's tail blade snaked out seemingly of its own accord and slashed straight along her flank. Her hard scales deflected the blow, but it sent her staggering through its sheer force. The speed with which Cynder moved was terrifying.
Seeing that the Ice dragoness had rallied and gotten her guard together Cynder switched targets. She used her snake skill to dive and roll straight for Ember, not allowing the other dragons to even keep track of where she was and who she was fighting. Cynder rose to her feet in a fighting stance and sent her tail blade whistling towards Ember's throat.
Ember jerked back with a shriek. Cynder smoothly turned her strike into a lunge and rammed her with her shoulder; Ember was hurled off her feet.
Cynder wasn't able to finish her off; the electric dragon saw what was happening and launched an attack. Cynder caught his swung claw and yanked, unfurling her black and magenta wings and using a powerful downstroke to wrench the other dragon off balance. Her tail contacted the ground; she used it as leverage to bounce back and explode forwards, smashing both of her paws into the other dragon's face.
The stunning bewildering attack was practically impossible to defend against; such techniques were Cynder's specialty.
A better angle would have seen the lightning dragon, whose name Cynder had forgotten, out cold instantly, but without her wind magic Cynder was forced into using the angles that chance gave her, she couldn't create her own. No matter, she was going to win this thing one way or another.
Cynder brought her wings in close to parry the attack of the earth dragoness, by the time she had done so the ice dragoness was into the fight as well, this time she decided to circle behind Cynder, forcing her to watch two enemies. Being outnumbered really sucked, but Cynder had been outnumbered before.
Cynder grabbed the earth dragoness, was physically slimmer and weaker than her, and with strength defying her own slender frame, smoothly threw her into the path of the ice girl. The two dragons tangled and lost their footing. Cynder flipped up into the air and floated above the battlefield to catch her bearings.
Ember was up again, she looked nothing short of deranged. The electric dragon shook his head to clear it, he looked unsteady. The remaining two dragons regained their feet; this fight wasn't going to be easy.
"She's mine!" The ice dragoness said. "I want to take her."
"Bring it!" Cynder yelled.
She dove for the ground, angling to strike the ice dragoness down with brute force from above. At the last moment she threw her wings open and stopped her fall, she landed gently and immediately moved inside her enemies' defences, which had been raised to block the diving attack. Cynder managed three quick blows that sent the ice dragoness staggering and aimed to stun her, but she recovered faster than Cynder anticipated and blocked the next two strikes before countering with one of her own.
Cynder swatted the attack away as if it meant nothing, but she was concerned by the ease with which the ice dragon fought. She was definitely a threat. Cynder was beginning to focus on this girl only and nearly paid for it when Ember elected to join the one on one fight despite it being a one on one fight. Cynder ducked under Ember's tail, which nearly hit the ice dragoness. Cynder put the ice dragon between Ember and herself, backing off for safety.
"She's mine Ember!" The ice dragoness exclaimed.
"I don't care! She has to go!"
"I said she's mine!" The ice dragoness shouted. The anger penetrated Ember's emotions; the pink dragoness stared at her friend.
"Fine!"
The two dragonesses faced off, Cynder knew that there was nothing formally stopping Ember or any of the others from re-joining the fight. If she started to lose or if she gained the upper hand then the other dragons would almost certainly step in and possibly finish her off.
The pair was almost evenly matched. Cynder's aggressive and adaptive style was countered by the Ice dragon's mastery of the defensive side of normal dragon techniques. None of her counterattacks came even close to hitting Cynder, but they didn't leave the other girl open to an attack either. Wind magic rendered all defences practically useless, but Cynder wasn't allowed to use her powers. Brute forcing through the ice dragon would leave her drained and in no state to fight three more opponents.
A challenging puzzle.
Cynder fought cleverly, trying to lure the other dragon into exposing herself while she made sure to not use her full power and conserve her energy. The fight was a flurry of strikes and blocks that lasted for only a single minute, but seemed to go forever to the two dragons inside it. Then in a single instant the fight was over.
Cynder overextended, committed to much power to a strike and lost her balance. Without her wind magic to support her fighting style she suddenly realised that her best attacks left her vulnerable. The ice dragon reacted faster than Cynder would have believed was possible. She flawlessly witched from defence to attack and struck Cynder dead on. Cynder felt the air rush from her lungs and choked on nothing, the ice dragon's second attack was deflected by Cynder's scales but the third hit Cynder full in the face and her eyes blurred with tears. Blinded and stunned she looked up just in time to see the ice dragon smile in victory and come in for the knockout blow.
Cynder had been hit harder than the ice dragon had hit her, and not just once, but countless times. As much as she hated being punched she did know how to cope with it. She had known that the only way to break the other dragonesses guard was to have her abandon even using it. That required the other dragon seeing a moment to attack, and have her not just counter but fully commit to beating Cynder down.
Cynder breathed in easily, she wasn't dizzy and the tears in her eyes meant nothing to her. She caught the ice dragon's final attack, twisted her body and locked her opponent's arm out straight. The ice dragon screamed again, in panic this time, she flailed and contorted to save herself from having her arm broken. Cynder released the lock and clamped her jaws around the ice dragon's horn, and then she slammed her into the ground.
The ice dragon was winded and helpless, and she wasn't faking. There was resignation and surprise in her eyes, as well as a certain level of admiration. She knew she'd lost; Cynder's respect for the girl grew suddenly.
"Well played, black." The ice dragoness choked.
"You too." Cynder said.
"No hard feeli-"
And then Cynder knocked her out cold. There were no surrenders, after all.
There was a moment of disbelief from the three remaining dragons, they had all known that the ice dragoness was the best girl fighter in class, and better than most of the boys too, seeing Cynder defeat two of their number so quickly, almost casually, did damage to their confidence.
"Get her out of here." Cynder said calmly, a dragon flew down from the stands and did what she asked.
Cynder rubbed her nose, it was sore; the girl had certainly thrown a decent punch. She stretched out her muscles and flexed her wings; none of the others seemed willing to engage her in combat again. It was down to her to get the fight over with, so she began to prowl forwards.
The three dragons tried to surround her, finally recalling the advantage numbers were supposed to convey. Cynder changed direction and circled to ensure that Ember was always in between her and the other two. Still there was no combat, Spyro tapped the timepiece thoughtfully. Cynder got the hint, time was ticking.
Ember was caught off guard when Cynder attacked, she put her wings up to deflect a frontal attack, Cynder strolled past her and kicked her in the ribs from the side, her reward was a satisfying crunch, Ember choked and tried to turn around. Cynder leapt into the air and pirouetted smoothly to bring the blunt side of her tail blade down on Ember's skull for a dull thud.
The fire dragoness fell forward and Cynder moved on to the earth dragoness. She faked a tail attack and the girl took the bait, blocking the non-existent strike, Cynder rammed her and then clapped her wings against the dragonesses head, stunning her.
She turned just in time to see the electric dragon's claw swipe for her face, she jerked back her head and evaded the attack, he kept his momentum and she was rammed in turn and landed on her back in the dirt. The electric dragon tried to follow up his advantage but Cynder wrapped her tail around both of his forelegs and yanked, sending him sprawling. Cynder scrambled to her feet and quickly executed a striking combo on her opponent, finishing him off with a knockout.
Three down.
She sensed the attack coming, but was too late to stop it. She angled her head away from the blow and hoped that she would avoid it's full force. She didn't have a chance, she was hit dead on.
Cynder felt the impact, which meant she hadn't been knocked out on contact, which was good, but by The Ancestors that hit was hard. Her head spun, bright lights flashed in her eyes, she felt the dragon's claws seek purchase on her scales, her instincts told her that teeth were bared, she was moments away from being bitten on the side.
At this moment Cynder was left with three options, all of them were bad. Her shadow powers could get her out of this, but to use them would be cheating, and Cynder knew that she had to do this without them. Taking the bite and fighting on was the best option, she wouldn't be too injured to continue, her mind chose this option, but her body disagreed. Cynder's instincts told her that this was no option at all, Cynder hated, hated being damaged, her instincts took over and made her choice for her.
She realized what she was about to do in the final moments, far too late to stop herself from doing it, but just in time to pull her blow ever so slightly.
Her tail blade twisted away from the earth dragoness's heart.
And punched into her belly.
Cynder's vision cleared, and she looked into the shocked eyes of the other dragon. Cynder suddenly recalled her name was Flora. The expression on her face was a mixture of confusion and surprise.
"I'm sorry." Cynder whispered, and she pulled her blood soaked blade out of the girl's body with a wet sucking noise.
She was in the perfect position to watch the change in Flora's eyes, watched confusion turn to fear, and then into pure overwhelming terror as the slim dragoness realized that she had just been gutted.
Blood stained the sand.
Flora began to scream hysterically.
"I'm so sorry." Cynder whispered again, and then she knocked the dragoness out with one swipe, cutting her screaming off in a gurgle.
"What have you done?" Ember screamed.
"I've finished what you started!" Cynder screamed back at her with shocking fury. She looked up at the stands; the dragons there were looking on in horror. "Get a healer! Run!" She shouted and Spyro, always the first to react, was gone in an instant.
The wound was long and deep, the dragoness had been butchered, split from her belly to her groin. A chill gripped Cynder's heart and did not let go. Blood and other less identifiable liquid emerged from the massive cut in terrifying quantities. Cynder panicked for a moment, she knew a little bit about healing, enough to know that this wound was extremely very bad. The recovery position sprang to her mind so she hurriedly rearranged the unconscious dragon and rested her on her side. She wrapped her wing and tail around the wound, trying to hold the blood inside the dragoness. Someone arrived to help; Cynder felt numb and allowed them to take the dragoness away. She just sat and stared at the blood on the ground.
She hadn't meant to do it.
"There is no surrender." Cynder said quietly, and looked across at Ember; the two dragons were alone in the Colosseum now. "We aren't done here yet. You brought this on yourself, all of you did."
The pink dragoness stared at her for a moment, and then hatred clouded her features. She was going to use her fire, Cynder knew it.
"Use your fire, see if I care." Cynder said.
And Ember did.
Cynder leapt straight up and took wing, a fireball exploded on the ground beneath her. Ember's eyes focused on her and she took a low stance, steadying her aim. Cynder levelled out and used the updraft of heat from the fire to raise herself higher in the air. She folded her wings and dropped under a second fireball, returning to the ground.
She was getting angry again. How dare this stupid bitch challenge her, in the vain hope of separating Cynder from her beloved Spyro?
Cynder began to stalk towards Ember; she sidestepped the third fireball, then the next. The last fireball was too close to dodge and would hit her dead on, Cynder watched it come without fear, and then she did something extraordinary.
The fireball arced towards her and Cynder smoothly brought her wing up, her wingtip met the fire in mid-air and Cynder smiled gently as she easily flicked the fireball off course, it exploded on the wall behind her. She hadn't even needed her powers, not dragon time or wind magic; she'd needed nothing but her physical skill. She was going to win now. Ember stared, and then Cynder charged at her.
Ember used a comet dash, Cynder was familiar with the move, and her sense of timing was excellent. She knew how the comet dash worked, so as the devastating fire attack bore down on her Cynder turned and struck straight into the centre of the fire, her tail hit Ember and sent her crashing down. Cynder wasn't even scorched. It had been no more threatening than the fireball.
Ember was somewhat above average in terms of magical ability, but her combat skills were terrible. Dragon scales are naturally fire resistant, and only the strongest of fire attacks are hot enough to damage another dragon, Cynder was practically immune to most of Ember's fire attacks. Every advantage belonged to Cynder.
Ember used all of her anger, hit Cynder with all of her power, everything she had she gave in her determination to grind the black dragoness into the dirt. Cynder evaded Ember's best attacks with effortless grace, and she slashed threatening blows that glanced of Ember's pink scales but that could have been much harder.
Cynder was everywhere and nowhere, Ember's body was always a step behind her mind, and Cynder's mind and body were even further in front of them, Ember was simply outclassed. The pink dragoness couldn't process what was happening, Cynder was above her and beside her and behind her. Those claws cut first once, then twice, and Ember began to panic.
She was bleeding now, and she hadn't even landed a single strike on Cynder. Ember opened her mouth and exhaled the strongest firestorm she could muster. Cynder wasn't even in its path, Ember was struck from behind and she was bleeding from a third cut. She whirled in desperation and her claws came up, they deflected harmlessly of Cynder's hard black scales and the black dragoness looked at her with scorn before hitting Ember in return so hard that it made her entire world dance and whirl. Ember used her snake skill to roll out of the fight and desperately tried to flee from the terrifying specter of violence that her romantic rival had become. She was overtaken by Cynder's swift wings before she had made it even halfway to the wall.
Cynder's tail caught the dragoness by the throat as she whipped past. Cynder flew, wrenching Ember off balance and strangling the flames the fire dragon tried to produce. Cynder slammed Ember against the wall, her tail tightened on the other dragon's throat; her claws caught Ember's pathetic attempts to loosen the crushing grip. Ember was choking, unable to breathe, Cynder watched without mercy as the dragon began to die.
Ember's heart fluttered, Cynder felt it in her tail, and she released the pink dragon onto the ground. Ember sucked in an enormous gasp of air, looked at Cynder with terror and then blacked out.
The challenge was over.
It was no victory, Cynder felt hollow inside, she didn't hate Ember, or Flora, or any of them. She'd walked through practically untouched; she wasn't even hurt while the other dragons lay battered or bleeding as she'd left them.
It was a success of course, a flawless success, Cynder had singlehandedly defeated five dragons in combat. It didn't feel like a triumph to her, it was nothing to celebrate, it felt like she'd just taken out all of her anger on a class of foolish dragons who had known no better. She'd accepted the challenge when Spyro had pleaded with her not to, and now she was surrounded by destruction.
"It wasn't your fault" Spyro said softly. She had been too lost in her thoughts to notice him come to her side.
"Yes it was my fault." She said quietly.
"It wasn't anybody's fault, especially not yours, Cynder. It's in the past now though, the fight is over." He put a comforting wing around her slender body and noticed that she was trembling.
"Flora, I cut her, will she live?" Cynder whispered, terrified of what the answer would be.
"I spoke with the healers, they say she'll live." Spyro said.
"Oh… Good." Cynder said.
Then she put her head on Spyro's shoulder and began to cry.
I typed this up in a single afternoon, the quickest 3,600 words I've ever typed. It just... flowed.
Then I had to edit it around thirty times, of course, but I'm still happy.
As you'll probably know the Ember vs. Cynder catfight has been done to death. This isn't the first time these two have crossed metaphorical swords. I admit, I am an unashamed Cynder fangirl, so I'm biased, but in this story Cynder and Spyro are both extremely powerful. Ember is far from incompetent but Cynder was out of her league. I like Ember, really I do.
This fight was always going to end in tears.
Changing topics randomly:
I'd still really love to have a beta reader for this story, I'm not quite as lonely as I seem, but I want someone.
Can I have more reviews, please?
"Disagreements are actually communication errors.
We are all the same on the inside
And if you knew what I knew... well, then you would agree."
-4Dragons