The Flaming Ice

Chapter 9: Fire Spotted

I let out a puff of breath as Aqua slams her body into my flank, and my talons scrape the stone floor as I skid from the impact. Right when I recover, I flap my wings to give me a height advantage before I dive back down toward the lilac-scaled dragonette, crashing into her. She loses her balance from my blow, and I quickly move behind her, grab her tail in my mouth, and yank it. A thud sounds as Aqua falls to the ground, and I climb on top of her to keep her down.

But unfortunately for me, Aqua squirms beneath me, and I feel the bunch of her muscles beneath her scales right before she forces herself up with all her strength, which causes me to be thrown off of her. Before I can hit the ground, however, I flap my wings once again and kick off with my hind legs to give me a boost into the air. Aqua follows me, and a moment later we are twirling around in the air as if we were dancing, trying to swipe our talons across each others' scales, wrap our tails around legs or necks, or push the other to the ground.

I successfully bring my talons across Aqua's back as I float above her, and I let out a satisfied growl. As I fly beneath her then, I ready another blow to her belly.

But she swiftly flies down right as I reach out to swipe her, and I realize how close we are to the wall of the Novice Cave. I turn over to face the dragonette beneath me, but all I can do is watch her face as she secures her talons on my chest and pushes me against the wall, holding me there tightly. She flaps her wings hard enough to take both her weight in the air and my weight against the wall, as my wings are now spread out on the stone on either side of me, useless of flying in their position. I look into her sea-green eyes.

From below, we hear, "One revolution, two revolution, three revolution... Aqua wins!"

Her eyes shine with triumph, and the corners of her mouth reveal her teeth in a smile. I roll my eyes playfully.

"The only reason why I didn't fight back when you did this to me is because I was scared I was just going to plummet down," I explain mischievously.

"Then I guess you'll have to work on that," Aqua laughs in reply. "Here, try kicking me away and then kicking at the wall behind you to give you a boost out. Don't worry," she adds as I widen my eyes, "I'll catch you if you fall."

"Or just have you fall with me," I say with a snort.

I take a moment to review in my mind what I'm going to have to do. Once I feel confident enough - enough is the key word - I kick out with my hind legs, which connect with Aqua's stomach, and she flies backward from the force. Now swinging my legs back, I kick the stone behind me before I start falling, and I surge away from the wall, flapping my wings to keep me in the air. While I'm at it, I fly straight toward Aqua with my extra momentum from the wall-kick and grab her with my talons, forcing her down. Before we crashed on the floor, though, I slow both of our movements by flapping my wings harder, and we land softly on the stone ground, both of us panting.

"While that was an excellent move, Zoey," Cryptic Abyss says, "Aqua still wins."

"I'm just trying to improve a bit more, Cryptic Abyss," I respond as I get off of Aqua and let her stand up. I look at my novice Tribe fighter trainer. "I didn't know how to get out of that pin against the wall, but Aqua gave me tips afterward."

The purple-and-pink dragonette nods. "As long as you're learning, that's fine. Now," she goes on, looking at the rest of the novice group, "who wants to spar now?"

"I do!" River volunteers instantly. "I want to spar with Zoey."

Both Aqua and I jerk our heads at him in shock and exchange a glance before looking back at him.

"I haven't sparred with her for the past two lessons we've been doing this," the blue-scaled dragon goes on, not looking at either of us. "Obviously I won't use my waterbreath, but no promises on going easy on her."