TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 15 the tournament
The Legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 15 the tournament
A pink dragoness woke up and stretched her body. Her room was the same as ever. It had a dark blue floor and light blue walls. On the walls were star patters of darker blue. She slept on a pile of straw covered by a sheet to keep the straw from stinging. On the side was a box for her personal possessions and there were some toys littered around since she had played a long time yesterday.
Ember had fallen asleep late last night because she was very excited about the tournament.
"That battle between them was awesome" Ember thought to again.
"I don't care if he lost, I want to fight against Spyro" Ember had decided who she was going to battle and she was not going to divert from it.
Feeling that she was full of energy again Ember decided to practice her fire moves in the garden to pass the time.
She walked out of her room and looked at her mother sleeping on the floor close to her room.
Her mother didn't have a room of her own but she had also chosen for that and Ember never could figure out why.
She just dismissed it walked outside to practice.
Once she was outside she started with some basic drills. She lashed with her front claws and spun around and lashed with her hind claws as well.
She then flew up and did a horn dive down again before biting the invisible foe and tossing him away.
She continued with her exercises until she was feeling that her joints were loose again and that she was fully awake.
She now got to her fire moves and spends more time perfecting her secret weapon. It was the thing she hoped would win her the tournament so she spends hours practicing on it.
A friend had taught her how to use it but had only fully mastered it a few days ago.
Although she could now control it fine she could still practice to make it even more powerful.
After a few hours of practice Ember's energy levels were starting to get a bit low and she decided to call it quits because she couldn't afford to use up too much of her power.
She walked back inside the house and saw her mother already awake and reading a book.
"Ah there you are" Her mother said looking up from her book "Ready for the tournament?"
"You bet," Ember replied.
"Good, although you aren't going to win" Her mother drew a smirk "Because I am in it as well"
"You are?" Ember said very surprised. She had never expected her mother to enter in an event like this.
"Yes so you better watch out young lady" Her mother of course meant it teasingly but the sentence still sent a cold vibe down Ember's spine.
"I will mom" Ember forced out a smile.
"Good" Her mother rose up and walked towards the drawers and picked out the breakfast.
She cooked the meat and put it down on the floor.
Ember waited for her mother to lie down before starting to eat herself.
Only when her mother had swallowed her first bite did Ember join her.
She ripped off pieces but small pieces so that no meat fell on the floor.
"Hey mom?" Ember asked before taking another bite.
"Yes?"
"Which one of the two would you fight if you won?" Ember asked.
"I think I want Cynder" her mom answered.
"Cynder? Why her" Ember asked.
"She is the strongest after all" her mom said after swallowing another bite.
"Well that maybe true but I am still going for Spyro" Ember said determined.
"Well that's your choice" her mother said ending the conversation.
Ember and her mother didn't say anything more while they ate their breakfast.
After they were finished and had cleaned Ember headed towards the citadel to view the match-ups.
It took her about 15 minutes of flying to reach the citadel and by then it was already a hub of activity.
There were many dragons, moles and cheetahs talking and looking up the matches. Ember actually didn't like being around this many people but she could stand it.
Ember quickly got to the poster of the battles anxious to know in what block she was.
She found the poster with all the blocks and searched for her name.
She found it in block E. In block E as well were Zerzelie, Celsus and Inge.
"Hey, Inge is in the same block as I am" Ember thought as she knew Inge because they were both part of the group of friends that came together to play tailball sometimes.
"Well hallo there Ember" Ember turned and spotted Georga walking up to her.
"Hallo Georga, why are you here?" Ember asked.
"Cynder asked me if I could help Spyro with something and I agreed"
"How nice of you" It was no surprise to Ember as she knew that Georga would never refuse a favour for a friend.
"Hey Ember know in what block you are?" Georga asked.
"Yeah, just looked it up I am in block E"
"Good when is your first battle?" Georga then asked.
"I don't know that yet"
"Well the time table is over there so come and take a look at it" Georga walked up to another even larger poster on the other side of the room and Ember followed her.
"Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember" Georga muttered as she scanned the poster.
"Ah there you are!" Georga said to Ember when Ember stood next to her.
"Where?" Ember asked quickly scanning the poster as well.
"There" Georga pointed "Your first match is against Celsus and it is at 3:30 this afternoon"
"Sorry but I need to go now" Georga said quickly before Ember even had a chance to reply.
"Okay Georga, bye" Ember said friendly.
"Bye" Georga managed to say before she was absorbed into the crowd.
Ember looked on the timetable to see if there were any interesting matches she could watch until she was up.
Suddenly there was something that caught her eye '11:30 Wilmfe VS Friant'
But it wasn't even near halve past eleven yet so Ember continued to look further but she made a mental note of the time.
'9:00 Igüsa VS Feusus' the timetable read.
"Igüsa, that would be interesting" Ember hadn't expected her to enter. She knew that Igüsa was Oxidus' sister because she had seen her often with him.
"Well let's go to the arena" Ember said to herself and followed the signs to the same spot where she had been watching the battle yesterday.
There was quite a crowd and Ember had to watch out not getting crushed by the large adult dragons.
After she had managed to get an empty young dragon seat in front of the honour box she laid down and turned her eye to the arena.
Volteer was standing as the judge now but the previous fire dragons were gone and the new ones hadn't entered yet.
"And now!" Volteer shouted as impressive as he could.
Ember chuckled as Volteer didn't sound as thundering as Terrador did because of his light and high pitched voice.
"Furno dragoness Igüsa will face smouldering soldier Feusus" He pronounced
Ember spotted Igüsa appearing from behind the iron fence with a confident look on her face. She was going to go for it all the way.
Ember then turned towards Igüsa's opponent. Feusus was a rather small fire dragon who was about 53 years of age. He seemed pretty plain and Ember spotted nothing remarkable.
Igüsa and Feusus walked to the middle of the arena and collided their tails into a sword like manner before nudging and walking back to their positions
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Volteer declared.
Igüsa was the one who unleashed the first attack. She breathed a stream of fire towards her opponent. The stream was steady but to Ember it seemed rather weak.
Feusus apparently had the same opinion and countered it with his own fire breath thinking he could overpower her.
The two fire streams were pushed back and forth but it was obvious that Igüsa was not going to win it.
The meeting point of the beams got closer and closer to her. She tried to force more energy into it but she just couldn't put muster up the necessary power.
The fire engulfed her and Ember saw her disappear into the fire.
Feusus now speeded towards her and try and grapple her and win.
However Igüsa was down but not out yet and blew the flames away with her wings.
She quickly fired a fireball towards her opponent and Feusus was blown sideways.
Igüsa fired another fireball towards him but Feusus already had gotten back to his feet and dodged it.
He used a comet dash to knock her down on her back and now that he had the chance he pinned her down.
Igüsa tried to struggle but was no match for the fire dragon.
The fire dragon stood on her wings pinning them to the ground and the weight of his body was too much for her to push off.
He put his claws against her throat and Igüsa then instantly stopped struggling.
"And the winner is Smouldering Soldier Feusus" Volteer shouted.
Ember had partially expected it already. Because Igüsa's fire attack was so weak that she would lose seemed very likely.
"And now Terror Inferno Ash will face Blazing sky Blaze" Volteer shouted indicating that the next battle was already underway.
Ember continued to watch the matches proceed one by one waiting for the one of her mother.
After a lot of matches had passed Ember finally heard the names what she was longing for.
"And now the Infernal Diva Wilmfe will face the Iron Fireball Friant"
"Infernal Diva?" The name sounded really scary for Ember.
She spotted her mother come from the exit that had the letter B above it.
Her mother had a fierce look in her eyes and she was clearly ready for battle.
This made Ember shiver because is was the exact same look her mother had during a spanking.
Now Ember shifted her attention to her mother's opponent.
It was a rather large male fire dragon who Ember guessed was about 83 years of age. He looked quite tough because he was muscled and strongly build. He could prove to be a challenge.
Her mother and Friant walked up to each other and gently slammed their tails against each other. Then they nudged and returned to their original positions.
"Ready, get set" Volteer shouted as he raised his wings "Fight!" He shouted as he slammed his wings down in an x like fashion.
Friant was the first to move and used a comet dash to crash into Wilmfe.
However Wilmfe was very fast and sidestepped. She used her wings to spin all they way around and get behind Friant.
Friant had to stop his comet dash because he was about to smash into the wall and that gave Wilmfe a window of opportunity.
She headed for him with her horns trying to scoop him up.
However although he didn't actually see it his battle instinct warned him and he jumped up and dodged Wilmfe's attack.
He now spotted her and quickly flapped his wings to dash up to her once more not having the room for another comet dash.
This time Wilmfe was too late and she got hit in her back and thrown to the floor.
The fire dragoness wheezed as she fell down from the hard blow in her back.
Friant quickly wanted to grapple her and make a win but Wilmfe struggled quite feisty.
He couldn't grab a hold of her but she couldn't counter-attack either. Someone had to break this and take the initiative in the battle.
Then Wilmfe used her tail appendage and smacked him hard on his rump.
This move was so familiar to Ember that she almost felt a tendency to scream but she kept her jaws shut.
Friant was very surprised by the move and his confusion was all Wilmfe needed.
She spun around underneath him and gave him a powerful kick right in his belly.
Friant backed away gasping trying to recover but Wilmfe was not going to give him the opportunity to.
She now used her own comet dash and quickly hit him right in the chest before he had a chance to even see it coming.
The blow was hard and Friant was sent skating across the battlefield.
Wilmfe quickly shot a fireball at him and Friant screamed as the fireball was a direct hit. Wilmfe now kept of firing the fireballs at him; although Friant managed to dodge some of them he couldn't get any opportunity to take a stand against her.
Fraint countered-attacked by shooting a fireball but because Wilmfe was still bombarding him he couldn't aim it and missed her by more than 10 metres.
Wilmfe continued her assault on him as the missed shot was further indication for her that her tactic worked.
When Friant got hit by a fireball again Wilmfe took a couple of seconds to charge up a powerful attack and to aim it properly. This was going to be the her big move.
Friant was gasping for breath and already looked exhausted so he couldn't do much to stop her.
Wilmfe shot a fast and powerful fire stream at him and it blasted him all the way across the battlefield and into the wall.
Wilmfe now used a comet dash to quickly get over to him before Friant had even noticed what she was doing Wilmfe already had her tail coiled around him to keep him down and had her claw at his throat.
"And the winner is the Infernal Diva Wilmfe!" Volteer shouted as he lifted his right wing.
Wilmfe now was gasping and walked out of the battle arena leaving Friant to get himself up.
Ember quickly got out of the stands and raced to meet her mother very impressed by how well she had fought.
She looked around and then she spotted the sign for participant entrance B so she followed the signs and until she couldn't get any further.
She stood trembling from excitement and eagerly waited behind the small fence that was made so that only participants would enter the battle arena.
After a few minutes her mother appeared in the hallway, looking tired but still fine.
"Mom!" Ember shouted to get her mother's attention.
"Huh? Oh Ember" Her mother said when she saw her. Luckily for Ember her pink body made her easy to spot.
"That was awesome Mom" Ember said as she rushed over to her.
"Yeah, that guy was tough but he was no match for the likes of me" Her mother said a bit boastful.
"Yeah, he was no match for you" Ember said looking up at her mother.
"Let's go home now okay" Her mother suggested looking a bit tired.
"Sure" Ember chirped.
Ember and her mother got back home and her mother lay down, exhausted from the battle.
"Well my battle is up soon so I will go outside now okay?" Ember asked.
"Sure, just be back before dinner" Her mother replied.
"What?! You are not going to watch my fight?" Ember asked a bit shocked.
"No, I'm too tired for that" Her mother replied.
Ember didn't pursue it as she knew it wasn't a smart move but that her mother wasn't going to watch her match came down hard.
She just walked outside and tried to forget about it by practicing her moves.
She practiced her physical attacks and some basic fire attacks to warm up her body so that when she was up she would be at her best.
However she didn't practice her best moves because she had to save her energy. She had already practiced today but this was her first battle so she wanted it to go perfectly.
When she had decided it was enough she got back inside and looked on the clock.
She saw that it indicated 1 o'clock and that it was time for her to go.
"Bye mom" Ember said.
Her mother was already asleep and Ember didn't bother saying anything more to her.
Ember now flew to the citadel again and this time she knew what to do so she just got to the participant entrance E1 and kept walking until she encountered the iron fence.
"Queen of burns Ember?" Ember looked and saw an earth dragon keeping watch.
"That's me" Ember confirmed.
"So, feeling scared?" the earth dragon then asked now that he was sure he got the right dragon.
"No, I think I can handle it" She said confident.
"Okay then" The dragon didn't say anything more.
Ember was almost shaking with excitement. Because of her exercise her body was warmed up and ready for action.
"The winner is the lava hammer Therofous!" The voice of Cyril sounded.
Ember could barely wait for the gates to open and the battle to begin. Every second that passed seemed like hours.
"And now the Queen of burns Ember will face the souring fire Celsus" Cyril shouted and the gate opened and Ember sprinted out into the arena.
When she entered the arena the intimidating view of the thousands of spectators quickly drained away her excitement and made her feel nervous.
However she used the meditating skills she had learned from her mentor and focused her mind.
She felt the soothing warm energy of fire inside her body and the tranquilly in her heart. She was now ready for battle.
Ember turned her eyes towards her opponent. It was an adult fire dragon of about 73 years of age. He was of a medium built and a few battle scars. He appeared pretty ordinary except for the large black spikes on his back.
Ember took a mental note of his appearance and especially kept his spikes in mind as it meant she couldn't get around him. Not that it really mattered with her battle style. She had learned to always inspect her opponent and take in everything that was relevant to a battle.
She had seen the ritual before so she knew what to do. She walked to the middle and put her tail up in a sort of defensive stance towards the adult fire dragon.
The dragon signed and lowered his tail to get down to her level. He seemed annoyed that he had to fight an 13 aged dragon instead of an adult.
"Don't worry little hatchling I won't cause you pain" He whispered in a soothing tone although Ember knew perfectly he meant it as an taunt.
"I'm more worried about you mister Celsus" Ember whispered back before nodding and returning to her original position.
She calmed her soul and unleashed to fire inside of her. Having practiced a couple of times today already so her body was already warmed up so it was easy to summon it.
"Get set, ready" Cyril shouted but Ember paid it no attention. The only thing that mattered now was her inner fire.
"Fight!" Ember finished activating her power just in time and opened her eyes and turned her attention back to the battle at hand.
Celsus rushed at her and then lashed out with his claw he obviously was thinking that he could easily knock her around.
Ember didn't move a muscle and although she could see his entire attack she didn't do a single thing to defend herself.
When he had hit her the crowd heard a loud squeal but the big surprise was that it wasn't from Ember.
Celsus squealed in pain and looked gaspingly at his paw. The paw was even redder than normal and felt very sore. It had been seriously burned and was still smouldering.
Ember drew an evil smirk as she ran up to him and jumped into him. Looking much like a little hatchling burying her head into her daddy in a hug.
"AAAH!" Celsus screamed his lungs out and when Ember jumped away she could see a picture of herself burned into his chest.
"Are you going to come at me already or what" She said taunting and she took a step towards him.
Celsus backed away from her looking very scared.
Celsus breathed a stream of hot flames at her and Ember got hit right in the chest because again she wasn't defending herself.
However Celsus jaw fell open as Ember simply walked out of the flames. Totally unshaved and not even making a sound, it looked like to her the flames weren't even there.
"Is that the best you can do?" Ember said throwing her head on the side and smirking with retreated lips to reveal her fangs. This gave Ember a look like she insane and pure evil.
Celsus took another step back and launched a powerful fireball at the monstrous little pink dragoness.
Ember took the fireball head on. She got a small push from the blast wave but the heat of the fire was far to low to hurt her.
She took another step towards Celsus who took another step back looking in disbelief that his fire attacks didn't have any effect on her at all.
Ember then sneered and barked and growled at him spitting up saliva.
Celsus now started to gasp in fear and helplessness. He breathed an enormous stream of fire at her; this was clearly the most powerful attack he had.
However although there was a lot more fire, it wasn't any hotter than the last attack so Ember still didn't feel a thing.
She kept walking slowly up to him and didn't even seem to notice the flames that completely surrounded her.
To further scare him Ember chuckled very evilly and showed Celsus her paw while she made a sizzling sound reminding him of what would happen if she put that paw on him.
Celsus took another step back but now was backed up against the wall with no way to escape from the untouchable and invincible dragoness.
Ember took another step towards him and Celsus stared down at her. Scared to death by a little pink dragoness that wasn't even a quarter of his size.
Ember took yet one more step towards him and now was standing less than two metres in front him. She was still making a sizzling sound and was having a look of pure evil in her eyes.
Seeing that there was no way out Celsus put his claw at his own throat, surrendering the match to Ember.
"And the Winner is the Queen of Burns Ember" Cyril shouted although a bit of awe was audible in his voice.
The entire crowd was silent as Ember retreated her energy back inside the core of her body and walked out of the arena.
"What? What? What was that?" The earth dragon asked her as soon as he got the chance.
"That's a secret" Ember sneered as she walked away.
She got to the main hall that functioned as a break room and laid down on one of the dragon couches.
"Wow Ember that was awesome" Ember looked and saw Georga walking up to her.
"Yeah, it went pretty well for the first real time" Ember said as sometimes the move could still go wrong.
Ember had actually been a little bit nervous that maybe under the pressure of the crowd her fire move might explode again as it had done before but luckily that didn't happen.
"Yeah you looked very scary in that arena for sure" Ember now spotted a strange looking red dragon appear behind Georga.
"Sorry but do I know you?" Ember asked as the dragon did look familiar somewhere.
He strongly reminded her of her best friend Flame but she could see it wasn't him.
"Why don't you come along Ember and I will introduce you to him" Georga said very joyful.
Ember had no idea what Georga found so amusing but she just followed her and waited for it.
Georga let them out of the crowd and up a staircase.
Suddenly Ember recognized it as the staircase that went up to Spyro's and Cynder's room.
"Wait Georga, we aren't allowed up here" She said.
"Nah, don't worry about it" the red dragon assured her.
Ember felt a bit odd but followed the pair up the stairs nonetheless.
When Ember of the stairs had reached the top she spotted the door already open and followed Georga inside before settling down.
"So why do we need to be here?" Ember asked, she looked at the new dragon who only sneered.
"Ember I would like you to meet Spyro" Georga said grinning.
"Spyro!" Ember shouted in surprise.
"A pleasure" Spyro said before nodding to her grinning as well.
"Why? Why is this?" Ember asked not getting it. Now that she knew it was Spyro she also recognized him but that he was red instead of purple didn't make any sense.
"I just wanted to walk around" Spyro said.
"Huh? And what do you mean by that?"
"Well Cynder and I never can just walk around in a place like this because we are so famous" Spyro said clearly not happy with that fact.
"Since the problem is that I am the purple dragon I just guessed the solution is for me to become a different"
"Wait a minute; is this the favour you had to do for him Georga?" Ember asked her as she suddenly remembered that Cynder was a bit clumsy. She had hung up posters with her a few days before and Cynder didn't have the dexterity to do it.
"That's right, we figured red would be the best choice since there are so many fire dragons around" Georga said.
"But what was that what you did back there?" Spyro asked very intrigued.
Now it was Ember's turn to smirk "That's secret"
"Come on Ember just tell us" Georga urged.
"Secret" Ember said drawing the same evil face as during the battle.
Apparently Georga and Spyro gave up and shifted their mind to other business.
"So Ember I'm sure you are going to watch the matches again now" Georga said to her sounding rhetorically.
"Well, yes but why do you say that?" Ember asked thinking that Georga's tone was very strange.
"Well Flame's battle is up very soon" Spyro pointed out.
"What Flame?!" Ember exclaimed.
"Yes so want to watch his battle?" Georga rhetorically asked her.
"Of course" Ember said as she already headed out of the room.
Ember ran through the crowded citadel and got to her position, Spyro and Georga were hurrying to catch up.
They spotted an empty spot in the stands for young dragons and quickly settled down.
A battle was going on between two adult male fire dragons but Ember didn't really pay it much attention.
She looked around and spotted Cynder sitting in the honour seat box. She appeared to be looking at them.
"Does Cynder know about it" Ember whispered to Georga.
"Of course she does" Georga whispered back making sure no one would hear it "Do you really think we could fool her with such a lame disguise"
"Good point there" Ember whispered.
"And the winner is hell fire Dareat" The voice of Terrador shouted.
"Why is it constantly another one?" Ember asked Spyro.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Another guardian" Ember pointed out.
"They rotate the shift of referee" Spyro explained "A tournament day lasts for 12 hours starting from 8 o'clock. The shifts last for 2 hours. Terrador takes the first, then Volteer and then Cyril and then they do it all over again"
"I get it" Ember said.
"Now the Inferno king Flame will face the Explosion Breath Soara"
The gates opened and Ember spotted an adult female fire dragoness walk out into the ring.
She was of quite a heavy build for a dragoness and had a lot of muscle. However it was nothing remarkable and she looked pretty plain. Ember knew she was an opponent that Flame could handle with ease.
Ember shifted her view to the other side of the arena but to her surprise she didn't spot Flame anywhere.
"Inferno King Flame?" Terrador said a bit surprised that Flame hadn't appeared yet.
Then Flame slowly appeared and walked into the ring. He appeared very timid and scared.
His head spun around the arena and all his attention seemed to be on the crowd.
"I was afraid of this" Georga said to Ember.
However Ember didn't reply and Georga didn't say it again.
Suddenly Flame stopped before he had reached the middle of the arena.
He stood idle while he seemed plunged in thought.
Soara already had her tail into the right position for his small size and was waiting.
"You are supposed to greet your opponent" Terrador said to the frightened fire dragon after he hadn't moved for a while.
"Ye-ye-ye-ye-yes s-s-s-sir" Flame stuttered as he walked into the middle of the ring and put his tail up.
The large adult female dragon collided her tail with his knocking him over on his side.
The entire crowd laughed at the little fire dragon getting knocked over by only the greet.
"Oh no" Ember muttered and she slammed her front paw against her face.
Flame took quite a long while before getting back up and nodded to the fire dragoness and with a bit of a puzzled look in her eyes the dragoness did the same.
"Ready, get set" Terrador shouted.
Flame cringed in to almost hatchling size and although Ember couldn't hear it from so far away, she knew that he was making hatchling squeaking sounds as well.
"Fight!" Terrador said although it didn't sound as impressive as usual as he was a bit thrown off by the fire dragon's demeanour.
The fire dragoness started quickly and breathed a stream of fire at Flame.
Flame nervously looked around the crowd so he was hit right in the chest by the fire attack.
Flame slowly rose up but his opponent had already started firing fire balls at him and he took hit after hit and squalled from the blasts, not paying any attention to the battle.
"Come on Flame, fight back!" Ember shouted.
The dragoness didn't wait for him to get back up and quickly rushed over to him.
The crowd started to boo him and shout at him. They were clearly not pleased by that Flame was not battling.
Ember knew it was over for now when Flame looked at her. Ember saw nothing but a timid and frightened dragon in those eyes. There was no strength in his gaze. And with the crowd like that it would be impossible for Flame to pull himself together.
As expected the fire dragoness grabbed him in her paws and put her jaws around his neck.
"The winner is explosion breath Soara!" Terrador shouted.
Flame ran crying out of the arena totally embarrassed and humiliated.
Ember knew what to do and took to the skies to the place she knew he was heading.
Nobody paid it much attention as the next fight was already underway. Also Georga and Spyro didn't follow her. This was her job to take care of.
Ember flew to the middle of town and landed in front of a large squire shaped building and just waited in front of the door.
Suddenly a very scared fire dragon came flying up to her just like she had expected.
"Flame what in the name of the ancestors was that back there?!" Ember scolded at him while she moved so that she blocked the way for him.
"Please just let me through Ember" Flame begged.
"No way, you are coming along with me!" Ember put on a very grievous tone.
Flame's weak will broke easily and he submissively followed her into an alley so that Ember could speak with him without being interrupted.
"What were you thinking back there!?" Ember scolded.
"I, just, well the crowd" Flame stammered.
"That fight was pathetic Flame!" Ember kept scolding at him
"Sorry that was just all I could do" Flame whimpered.
Ember now smacked him with her tail appendage "You and I both know you can do way better than that!"
"Ember you" Flame started to cry a little.
"Well... come on, are you just going to stand there take this or are you going to do something?!" She said angrily.
"Ember do you...?" Flame still was at a loss of words.
"Come on Flame, I am challenging you now so bring it on" Ember said giving him a hard push with her horns to try and provoke him.
"I just don't..." Flame whimpered.
"Want to fight?" Ember finished for him "Well I do so I guess you better start defending yourself"
Flame started to spread his wings to try and escape but Ember jumped on him and knocked him on his back.
"Well come on now" She urged but he still didn't fight back.
Flame was struggling underneath her but since Ember knew that Flame had far more strength than she did she wasn't impressed by it.
She jumped off of him and started to bark at him as he gaspingly got to his feet.
"Well Flame ready to fight already?" She asked him.
"Ember why...?" Flame's response answered the question for her.
"Come on Flame! Do something!" Ember demanded.
"Ember why?" Flame asked again.
Ember now decided to raise the pressure on him further and shot a low powered fireball at him. Just words didn't seem to be enough now.
Flame got hit in the chest and fell from his feet and again on his back.
"Flame! What are you doing?!" Ember shouted at him "I know such an attack means nothing to you"
"But Ember you can't expect me to..." Flame whimpered.
Ember had no patience for it and smacked his head with her tail again.
Flame rubbed against his burning cheek, he couldn't believe that Ember was acting so hostile towards him.
"You should be ashamed of that display you gave" Ember shouted "That antic wasn't even worth my time watching"
"I just lost it there okay!" Flame shouted back now starting to get angry himself.
"Well Flame this time there is no crowd. So go on and strike"
"But Ember why?" Flame demanded.
Ember didn't reply and got to her battle stance awaiting an attack.
"Come on Flame. Do it!" She demanded.
"I..."
"Now!" Ember shouted at him.
With tears in his eyes Flame did as Ember requested and launched a fireball at her.
Ember was hit on the head but she was expecting it and it was very low powered so she didn't even fall down.
"Now was that really so difficult?" She asked.
"You don't understand Ember, that crowd, all those eyes" Flame stammered.
"You just have to see through that Flame. I too was intimated by the crowd at first but the spectators don't matter"
"But what if I mess it up. You were in that crowd and you saw how they reacted" Flame said.
"And why do you care about that? I didn't boo you and what do you care what a couple of random dragons might think of you?" Ember said.
"I, just..."
"Come on Flame, you have already lost one match. If you lose another one your chance at the tournament will be gone" Ember walked another step towards him and now looked him straight in the eye.
"Are you a tough fighter or are you a weenie lizard?" She asked while standing less than one meter away from him.
"I'm no lizard" Flame whimpered.
"Sorry but I didn't hear you" Ember said although she was standing right in front of him.
"I'm no lizard" Flame said a little louder.
"I can't hear you" Ember said encouraging.
"I'm no lizard!" Flame now shouted.
"Good, very good Flame so what does it matter what some dragons might think about you? Once they see you in action they will cheer you on for curtain" Ember said encouraging.
"You really think so Ember?" Flame asked hopeful, he was starting to cry again.
"Of course Flame, remember the first time you fought while really going for it?" Ember said hoping to further encourage him.
"Sure do" Flame recalled him fighting and emerging victorious in a battle with a large bully that always picked on him.
"So remember him and picture him as your opponent every time you start to have stage freight again" Ember suggested.
"I'll try Ember" Flame replied.
"That's the spirit Flame" Ember smiled at him. She brought her tail to his cheek once again but now she was gently rubbing it. Helping to sooth the pain a little from her smacks.
"Sorry Flame but I really have to get home now so I hope that I will watch a real match tomorrow okay?" Ember asked as she took a step back and spread her wings.
"You will Ember" Flame replied as Ember flew away.
Flame's orphanage was close to her home so Ember reached it very quickly.
"Mom, I'm home" Ember shouted.
"Just in time" Her mother's voice sounded sternly.
Ember held her breath in fear.
"But still in time" Her mother appeared with the dish of food.
Ember signed relieved that she wouldn't get another spanking.
She waited for her mother to put the dish down and only started eating after her mother had already begun.
"So won the match?" Her mother asked.
"Sure did" Ember chirped.
Her mother didn't ask anything more so Ember didn't do either.
The two never really talked much during meals. That was just not really their thing.
Once the food was gone her mother got to the book she was reading and Ember got to her room to play.
She could also train but she was too tired now for that now.
She struggled with some ropes and used that to entertain herself for the rest of the evening.
At 9:30 her mother walked into her room "Ember it's bedtime" she said clearly.
"Okay mom" Ember replied as she put away her ropes and laid down on her bed.
"Good night mom" She said before her mother had left the room.
"Good night Ember" Her mother replied.
Feeling both physically exhausted and mentally satisfied Ember quickly fell asleep.