Milestone

As the dinosaur pokemon descended deeper into the cavern, curiosity won out in Osiris. He butted his head against the side of her mouth until he was granted a small reprieve, sticking his face out in a manner not unlike a dog in a car. From there, he was free to revel in all of their amazing surroundings. They'd come to a place that looked like a holy arena belonging to a long-dead warrior society, rife with history and storied gladiators, and ruined by time. The howl of the lycanroc caused him to jump out of fear, and her voice roused both powerful curiosity and rising dread in Osiris.

"A prize," he echoed, his head hanging out the side of Victoria's jaw loosely. The dratini wriggled in an attempt to get free, looking up at the tyrantrum. "It would be nice if we had something to show for all of our trouble in this rotten cave."

Fighting right now wasn't appealing to Osiris. Whether or not he was a "warrior at heart" was something he didn't have an answer to—he enjoyed sparring with pokemon relative to his strength level, but mortal combat was not at all a pleasant experience to him. Perhaps in the aftermath of it, when the fear was gone and he was left only with the memories of pitting himself against an opponent and seeing which of them was superior, he might have called himself a fighter... but this wasn't such a moment.

He and Victoria had been put through the wringer. It wasn't long ago that they had been thrashed by a raging giant, and their path to this arena had been rife with conflict as well. But... well, she'd mentioned a reward, and aside from that, she wasn't hostile so much as she was simply inviting them to a seemingly non-fatal (but very serious) battle. On top of that, Osiris still had a myriad of medicine in his bag, even if it was crushed to a point where its effectiveness dwindled. It wasn't the worst idea.

The dratini glanced at the rock-type canine, who was still perched up on her podium. It seemed like the battle wouldn't start until they verbally consented, which was a great change of pace. "What do you think? I kinda wanna give it a shot." he asked his companion, offering her a tremulous smile.

The site was a wonder to see. She felt almost small in comparison to it all. In a way, it irritated her. She'd enough of being belittled for one day. Was the world just out to nip at her heels for no good reason? A howl brought her attention to the lycanroc. She observed in calculating silence as it challenged them...or rather forced them into a challenge.

It was likely not meant to be interpreted in such a way, but the way the lycanroc worded her challenge...it sounded as if it was more along the lines of "If you're a coward leave." That didn't sit right with her. The tyrantrum allowed the dratini to slip out if he wanted to, a heavy huff in arrogance as she readied herself for an attack. The lycanroc looked down upon the two, waiting patiently for them to decide.

"Bring it," she sneered. She might have still been weak, but damn if she was about to take this insult to her ego laying down.

Achillia's gaze shifted over to the dratini, an eyebrow quirked underneath the rocky spine that stuck outwards from her mane. She awaited his answer.

Well, that answered that question—Victoria was going to fight this lycanroc now, and he was pretty sure that he couldn't stop her even if he wanted to. As fantastic as that was, it still left him with just one more question. The dratini took the opening his tyrantrum friend gave him, slithering out of her maw and landing smoothly onto the rocky arena floor.

He looked up at the regal gladiator woman, inwardly marveling at how she didn't even blink at Victoria's aggressive display. Outwardly, he simply rose up and gave her a respectful nod. "I'm game, too. Should I wait for my turn at one-on-one, or do you want us to fight together?" he asked. While he absolutely had better chances fighting with Victoria, he didn't want to impose any unfair disadvantages on the most civil pokemon they'd come across in this place.

Either way, he slithered a few paces away from his ally, loosening himself up in preparation for another battle.

Achillia gave a thoughtful hum as she contemplated the regal little wyrm's question. She stood herself up from her seat on the podium and leaped off of it. From the top of a pillar, to a smaller collection of rocks, to the side of an odd stone wall, to the sand below. A confident smirk stretched from ear to ear, now clearly seen from the distance she stood at. While it was a fair amount, it was still rather close. "I'll tell you what," her soft and amused voice started, "If your wannabe-groudon-friend here can get off a good hit against me, then maybe I'll consider one on one...otherwise, you're going to need the teamwork." While her words were mocking, her expression seemed much more light-hearted, as if this were all just fun.

Victoria, on the other hand, very much took offense with all of this. The tyrantrum's deep grumble echoed in response. The lycanroc gestured her challenge with a nod, before Victoria charged straight towards the canine at full speed. A roar echoed through the cavern as stones ripped through the sand and rose out of the ground entirely, floating alongside the tyrantrum before shooting forward to slam into the significantly smaller pokemon.

The duo disappeared into a cloud of dust and debris, shattered rocks rocketed in every direction as the sound of clashing boulders cracked through the arena. It wasn't even a second before the startled screech of a tyrantrum started just as the form of the prehistoric pokemon was sent flying out of the cloud and over the head of the dratini. Victoria crashed into another ancient piece of wall that crumbled under her weight and fell over onto her.

Once the dust settled, the lycanroc was revealed to be among the aftermath of her Stone Edge with a particular glow to her eyes, "Nope," she chimed, "Try again."

Osiris swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as the lycanroc lady answered his question with aplomb. He felt only exasperation when Victoria charged forward at the other pokemon's taunt, but his heart had sunk down into his belly when their opponent turned the tables on the tyrantrum immediately. The dratini glanced between the orange wolf pokemon and the queen that'd just been unceremoniously tossed behind him, visibly contemplating something.

He reached his decision an instant later as he quite literally turned tail and blasted off at rocket speed. He wasn't running away exactly, but with the aid of Extremespeed, he raced in a very wide circle around the lycanroc, speeding around her in an attempt to... well, mostly buy time. Victoria wasn't down and out—she couldn't be down and out after just one hit—and he wasn't going to win without her. Ergo, he had to waste some time so she could pick herself up, and that meant making himself a difficult target for this lady.

The wyrm was certain of one other thing; he was not about to rush directly at her after seeing all the good it'd done Victoria. "If you insist!" Osiris called out at her as he sped around the lycanroc. He didn't intend to lash out right away; rather, he was going to keep running around her, alert and ready to disengage at the first sign of movement. He wanted to see what she could do; what was she likely to do? He'd need to know if they had any chance of devising a plan.

Her head hurt. The arena spun around the tyrantrum as she struggled up. Her head suddenly felt as if it were the heaviest part of he body. She gave herself a shake, rocks and debris fell off of her, suddenly her head didn't feel as heavy anymore. She opened her eyes to the sight of two Osirises fighting two Achillias.

A deep grumble echoed in her throat. What was with everything kicking her butt lately? She staggered out of the spot she fell into, rocks crunching under her weight. She watched the two closely as she tried to give her approach a little more thought than the previous blind charge.

Achillia had trouble keeping up with Turbo the Dratini, but she didn't seem all that worried about it. A grin on her expression, she didn't seem to react at all to the dratini's actions. She sat in the spot and continued to face the Tyrantrum's direction, as if the wyrm weren't a threat to begin with. She was ready for an attack, however, unflinching with every false charge. She wanted him to hit her.

Amidst his frenzied circling of the lycanroc, Osiris was doing his best to keep an eye on the tyrantrum that had just been sent flying. He felt relief when she picked herself up, even more so when the warrior queen elected to study her opponent rather than rushing in headfirst again. That was the kind of mindset they both needed if they were going to take this one home. It was something he had to remind himself of; seeing this pokemon so blatantly ignore him when he was threatening to charge her with every pass rankled him.

As much as he wanted her to see him as a threat, though, he knew that being underestimated was a blessing in disguise. Having faith that Victoria would come to his aid when he finally made his move, the dratini sucked in a deep breath and decided to finally get things going. He did not attack her. Instead, what he did was branch off his circling path once he was behind her, cutting across horizontally as she faced what she seemed to view as the real threat; Victoria. His tail crackled with electricity, and he sacrificed a smooth landing in favor of lashing out with a lance of electricity aimed right for the lycanroc's tail. Osiris was not a heavy hitter—his value in this fight lay in slowing their opponent down and making it easier for Victoria to lay on the damage.

Hit or miss, Osiris had practically leaped through the air to throw a thunder-wave at her blindspot, and thus was not at all prepared for any payback. The dratini hit the ground sliding on the harsh rock, not fully healed cuts smearing blood across the arena floor as he came to a stop; very vulnerable to retaliation. It was a very dramatic and probably unnecessary flourish, but he wanted to increase the odds of getting this wolf paralyzed from the get-go, and he was even prepared to pay the price of pain for it.

The wave of electricity arced through the air, but instead of making its landing on the lycanroc's tail, it met the ground. Achillia dodged off to the side with a quick skit before she smirked back at the dratini, "Oh come on now, that'd be no fun for any of us!" The lycanroc took on a blue glow as little pebbles floated up off the ground around her. They hesitated for a mere split second before they shot forward with the speed of a bullet towards the wyrm.

Victoria took this as an opportunity. The tyrantrum charged forward once again, her breath became colder and colder with each step until the frost was visible on her teeth. The Lycanroc look in her direction just in time to witness the large jaws of the Tyrantrum close in on her. Victoria clamped down on the lycanroc with as much force as she could muster, the icy blanket steadily made its way down the lycanroc's sides. The ice shattered instantly, much to her frustration, before the spikes of the canine's mane dug into her mouth.

She was forced to release the lycanroc with a surprised cry, but was even more surprised about the orange glow the dog took on. Achillia pounced forward towards Victoria's chest, but twisted so that she kicked off of her. With just as much force as Victoria dealt with before, she was blasted. This time, however, she was a bit more prepared for it. The push of the Counter attack sent her back, but her claws dug into the ground. Long lines formed in the dirt as she recovered from the sudden kickback, an ache in her chest developing where she slid.

Immediately after colliding with the ground, Osiris cried out as a mass of pebbbles blasted into him, tearing through his scales and creating fresh flesh wounds. Blood and rocks splattered across the arena floor as he bit down on his jaw and stifled his voice, his face flush with pain and embarrassment. How, exactly, had that been different than what Victoria tried?

He messed up. His aim was different, but he had done the same thing as the tyrantrum; rush right at the wolf with no help. Osiris had gone for her blind spot, but that didn't help him any. What they needed to do was work together—as skilled as this lycanroc seemed, she couldn't possibly defend against two attacks at the same time. The dratini looked up from what he lay, eyes brimming with pained tears as he witnessed Victoria's latest charge. She was repelled again but seemed to fare better than last time.

Osiris quickly made his way over closer to her—not directly at her side, but near enough that either one of them could intervene on behalf of the other in case this wolf went on the offensive for the first time. "I'll go first," he murmured under his breath, loud enough for her to pick up on. "She'll dodge me again. When she does, let her have it." It was very possible that their opponent picked up on his comment as well. He found that he didn't care much; if this pokemon was skilled enough to evade two strikes at the same time, then they had bigger problems.

The dragon-type's tail pulsed with a viridian hue, not unlike his dragon rage attack. If this wolf was too quick for him to paralyze, then they'd just have to pin her down first. As soon as he saw a sign of acceptance from Victoria, he was going to blast forward with Extremespeed again and try his luck once more.

Victoria responded with a deep grumble, yep, she accepted that plan. It felt a little odd to take instructions from the kid, but she wasn't about to shoot him down just because he was younger. If the kid thought it would work and it didn't sound entirely stupid, then she would give it a shot. The tyrantrum charged behind the dratini, unable to keep up, but that didn't matter.

Achillia watched the two converse, the grin on her face refused to settle down as her tail wagged happily behind her-as if this were a game. The wolf pokemon saw the approach of the dratini rocket towards her, but this time she didn't move. She braced herself for impact and lowered her head so that the dratini would strike the top stony spine of her mane head on. If the dratini made contact, she'd unleash back the same force with double the power-having quite a bit of fun with this particular move it seemed.

It was up to Osiris whether he would cancel the plan or continue...and potentially get blasted back just as Victoria had before.

Victoria's rumble of assent set him off like a rocket. Sand exploded behind him as the dratini blasted off, his vision tunneling as he made a direct dash toward the lycanroc staring them down. As he approached—quickly—he felt his stomach sink, inwardly panicking at the fact that she wasn't moving. There was nothing he could do to change his path, however, and in the heat of the moment, he decided to simply follow through. The dragon wyrm whirled into a front flip, spinning like a top as he zeroed in on his target. Trailing behind his head, his tail vibrantly pulsed with viridian power, the Dragon Tail forming flawlessly.

Normally, this move sent its targets flying backward, not unlike Victoria's own Roar. But such a thing would ruin his plan. Thusly, in the instant Osiris got into range, instead of lashing outward with his tail, he brought it down. The Dragon Tail descended from the sky like a falling hammer, as Osiris was aiming to drive the enemy gladiator into the ground rather than drive her back. That way, she would hopefully be immobile just long enough for Victoria to catch up and make her move. Such a plan put him at risk of a counter-attack, of course, but everything came with a price. This one was steep.

Ignoring the purposeful way the lycanroc lowered her head like she was doing something, Osiris brought down the Dragon Tail, slamming it onto her spiky mane. The impact was impressive; likely the strongest Dragon Tail he'd ever pulled off, and he knew this because instantaneously that same force was brought back onto him. No sooner than when Osiris whipped his tail down on his enemy, cutting himself nastily on her stony spines, he was repelled bodily. And due to the nature of his attack's angle, instead of being blown backward, the little dratini was launched skyward, rising high into the air like a wayward stringer at a festival. Blood trailed through the air as he sailed, his consciousness suddenly in-and-out as he was blasted with a concussive force twice as powerful as his best shot.

The tyrantrum's assault was aborted the moment she saw Osiris flying. She looked up in shock, but she wasn't permitted much time to think. The sound of pawsteps rushing towards her in front of her caused her to look back down. It was just in time for the Lycanroc to leap right up onto her snout and vault herself up in the air after the dratini. Utterly insulted and mortified that the lycanroc was going in for the kill, she took in a deep breath and bellowed at the canine.

It was too late, Achillia had already latched onto the worm's body, gently, before she was sent flying off into the seating of the arena towards the very back wall. With an expert twist of her body, her paws met the wall, but not without a bit of bruising along the way. She dropped to the ground on her feet and set the dratini down soon after. She gave the dragon type a quick glance before she uttered, "You're out."

She took off around the seats and down the stairs, returning to the arena and the giant raging tyrantrum.

Barely awake and having being rescued by the very person he'd been trying to bring down, Osiris felt nothing but agony and humiliation. He couldn't voice it—all that was escaping him was muted, struggling breaths in between bouts of consciousness. As he was lay on the ground, watching the lycanroc race back into the fight, he had the thought of blasting her with a Dragon Rage, but he couldn't even muster the anger to conjure it. He was just disappointed.

In the heat of the moment, he'd made the wrong decision and put himself out of the fight. The dragon-type knew now he should have aborted his attack and tried something else, but he didn't have the time to think it through seconds earlier. The dratini did nothing but lay there and breathe, eyes clenched shut as he listened to the sound of the gladiator wolf leaving him alone. What had he been thinking, getting involved in the first place? He had no place in a fight between Victoria and a pokemon as skilled as this lycanroc. He could barely make himself useful against the half-wild denizens of this cavern. There was no comparison. He'd gotten in over his head, again, and someone else had to pick up his slack now.

Demoralized and heavily injured, Osiris was forced to regain his breath. Tethered to him by a nearly frayed strap and laying on the ground was his satchel, filled with damaged healing items and ruined failsafes, but it had not yet occurred to him to make use of them.

The lycanroc was back in the arena in no time. The tyrantrum's roars bellowed throughout the cavern and shook the arena. The canine jumped from column to wall, using the massive debris around the area as stepping stones in order to attain the higher ground over the dragon type.

Victoria was left in the pits of the arena, unable to just climb up the walls and use the massive structures as platforms like the canine could. Rage boiled within, as she had no clue if Osiris was alright or not. Whether he was or wasn't, she was ready to make this pup pay the price. Her steps grew forceful, more intent put behind the impact they had against the ground. The arena rattled as shockwaves burst forth and slammed into the ruins.

The lycanroc struggled to keep a good standing on them, so she made the executive decision to leap towards the tyrantrum. Victoria lifted her jaws with the intent of snapping the wolf out of the air, but she was met with pellets of tiny rocks raining down on her. They were weaker than what she experienced before, which only lead her to believe that this dog was holding back. Achillia was mocking them.

Osiris could feel and hear the echoes of Victoria's rage. Her roars bounced around the abandoned arena and her movements forced it to tremble; was she upset on his behalf? In contrast to the physical agony that enveloped him, a wave of warmth enveloped the dratini. She cared that he'd been hurt.

Maybe that was his contribution to the battle. Not even Achilla could stand up to an enraged Victoria, right? He at least wanted to find out. Iris willed himself to rise up off the ground but despaired when his body refused. The little dragon could at least drag himself to the edge of the seating balcony, having to resort to using the low standing wall to prop himself up. Leaning on it heavily, he could at least observe the rest of the fight.

Victoria wasn't done yet. She had yet to pin down her opponent, but it was only a matter of time. Osiris watched with enraptured eyes, willing her to do something.