TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 27 tough challenge
_Here, at long last is chapter 27. I have had a straining series of difficulties now so I'm sorry for the irregular updates. Now I have completely ran out of my spare chapters so it will be impossible to say when 28 will be. Anyway, I like this chapter and I do consider it good. Maybe not one of my best but for the situation and the difficulty I don't think it is half bad. As is obvious Ember really seems to struggle with fighting her mom. I really like the mediation scene, I can do it as well a little, it really helps you relax in stressful times. I also think that battle is good. That chat before the battle also has charmes to it in some way.
Things are now really starting to speed up for my story. The endless string of filler chapters is over and now things are going to heat up. Believe me, from here on in you are going to have to pay close attention. Just what is Ember going to exeriance?_
The legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 27 tough challenge
Ember blinked a little and tiredly raised her head as she slowly woke up from a heavily troubled night.
She yawned deeply before lazily laying her head back down on her bed.
Her body felt like it was so heavy, she couldn't even lift herself off the ground.
However, try as she might, Ember couldn't fall asleep again.
After almost an hour of fruitless tries Ember gave up on it and just rested her head on her paws to try and get her thoughts in order.
What was troubling her was pretty easy to comprehend.
When she had entered this tournament she had never even thought about the prospect of fighting her mom.
The thought of fighting her friends had more than once occurred to her but she was convinced she could do that. However her mom was an entirely different matter.
The thought had haunted her through the evening and kept her awake well beyond her normal bed-time.
"How can I do something like this?" Ember thought desperately.
"I don't know if I have the power but, even if I did-" Ember just couldn't see how she was going to fight her mother in the first place.
Yet there were important prices for her to win.
The position of guardian would be something of a dream for her, and a possible battle with Spyro was the entire reason she entered this tournament in the first place. She didn't want to give those up.
Ember really wanted to win, but still...
"Why do I have to fight her?" Ember loved her mother but what's more she also knew that she really wanted to win as well.
Even though she tried to hide it, Ember had seen her mother fight with an amount of zeal and passion that was only possible when you really want to win it. She knew that her mother wanted the position of guardian just as desperately as she did.
Her mother had entered this tournament to win it.
Ember was also really worried about her performance during the practice fight they had two days back. She could still very well remember the humiliating display of her being knocked around the garden by her mom like it was nothing.
Her mother clearly had been faster, stronger and tougher.
Ember hadn't learned any new tricks yet so she was deeply worried that she would be no match for her.
"Should I really have spent yesterday on playing?" She now thought a bit regretful. If she hadn't wasted that day she might have found some sort of way that could help her in this battle.
However the second the thoughts entered her mind, Ember shook her head to dismiss them. "It's useless to regret a lost day." She said to herself. "Just what am I going to do now?"
The thoughts about both the battle itself and the principle of fighting of mother kept circling in her head as Ember just stayed on her bed and waited for her mother to come in and get her.
This happened about half an hour later.
"Ember?"
Ember looked up to see her mother appearing through the curtain.
She looked down at Ember curiously and almost seemed worried.
Ember was always up early in the morning, especially now during the Igus cup. Normally she could always be found outside in the garden; training hard or warming up for her next battle. It was very unusual that she would just keep lazing around in her room.
"Morning mom." Ember said half friendly, looking up at her still from a curled up sleeping position.
"Let me guess." Her mother said in a amused tone.
"You're scared of our battle today?" she concluded grinning.
Ember was only mildly surprised that her mother could just guess right away what was wrong with her. Wilmfe had always been able to read Ember as if she was an open book to her.
"Well, yes." Ember admitted a bit reluctant, she didn't really want to admit fear but lying to her mother was not only pointless, but also very dangerous.
Her mother looked at her with a mixed expression and it took quite some time before she spoke.
"Just do your best Ember and have no regrets." her mother said very simply.
However for Ember it wasn't that simple "I know that mom but-" Ember just didn't know if she would be able to fight her. It just seemed so, impossible.
Even if she had the power for it, could she really fight her? It just didn't seem real.
"Ember-" Her mother shook her head. "Every warrior must overcome her fears and doubts." she said, her voice now a bit more firm.
"On their own, fear and doubt are not things for a warrior to be ashamed of" Her mother lectured "Every warrior will encounter fear at one point, it's natural."
This sentence really peaked Ember's attention.
"What matters is that you must overcome your fears, just like every warrior must."
"A dragon who never feels fear is no warrior but just an arrogant and reckless fool. You must know what to be afraid of and how to respond to it"
Ember nodded to indicate that she had listened to what her mother had said and that she understood.
"Let's give it our all Ember. So that neither one of us will have any regrets." Her mother concluded.
"Okay mom, let's do it!" Ember said strongly as she forced herself up her feet. If she wanted to fight Spyro she would have to win this, she had no choice.
"Good, now that we have that settled, I have breakfast already up." Her mother switched subject quickly.
"Thanks mom!" Ember said as she followed her mother out of her room.
As she passed her Ember looked up and saw that her mother was smiling. It wasn't directed at her but she was smiling for some reason.
She didn't understand what her mother was smiling about but Ember didn't really think about it for long.
She just concluded that her mother was looked forwards to their match.
When she entered the room the dish with food indeed was already there and Ember stopped.
She waited for her mother to start and only when she was sure her mother had swallowed her bite did Ember start herself.
As they ate her mother then went against her habits again and got into a spirited conversation with her.
It had been a long time since Ember has had such a lively breakfast. Ember really enjoyed it.
"Mom." Ember thought happily. Her mother had been so kind and supportive to her since this tournament started that Ember partially hoped it would never end.
Her mother really wanted her to fight in their match. That was the way she could make her mother proud of her.
"So what did you do yesterday?" Her mother next question snapped Ember's attention back.
"Well I invited my friends to come and play and after that we watched a few matches, but other than that; nothing special." Ember said casually as she couldn't think of anything remarkable that had happened yesterday.
She shortly felt a bit of hear that her mother would get angry that she had been playing yesterday instead of training.
However Wilmfe just looked curious at her as if wanting Ember to continue. Ember mentally sighed in relief.
"But the day before yesterday I went with Spyro and he and his parents told me all about his life when he was growing up." Ember said as she did judge that as a major event.
"They did?" her mother said curiously "So did you also learn anything from them?" Her mother asked as Ember always was very curious and would grab any opportunity to learn more about the outside world with both paws.
"Yes, it was very interesting, I never knew a dragon could live inside a swamp. It was just so different what they all told me." Ember said.
"It sure would be something to visit the swamp one day." She said a bit dreamy.
"Maybe we could, I too would like to see it one day." Her mother said, really catching Ember by surprise.
"Huh? But why?" Ember asked as it didn't make any sense.
"Oh, no reason." Her mother said innocent and she quickly drove her snout back into the animal again to tear off some more meat.
Ember thought about it for a second but then decided just to leave it at that. She picked another bite herself and chewed the cooked pork meat. Her mother could often be strange and unpredictable.
Although she was her mother Wilmfe still could surprise Ember a lot of time, reacting in ways Ember never had expected of her.
Ember swallowed the meat and forgot about it as her mother asked her a new question again.
Ember was quite hungry and all the chatting of her mother really prevented slowed down her eating. However Ember didn't complain about it at all. Her mother was acting so cheerful and so supportive of her that it hardly mattered.
Because they talked so much it was already over ten o'clock before they had finally finished their meal.
Ember helped her mother with putting the dish away and removing the bones.
When they were finished Ember looked at the clock and it was already 10:15. Ember hadn't checked the time-tables yet so one of the battles of her friends could already be underway.
"Let's go to the citadel now." Ember suggested, not wanting to miss any of their battles.
"Okay." Her mother agreed.
She walked outside and Ember merrily walked along. She felt really happy that her so often went along with her towards the citadel. It sure was a whole lot better then going alone.
When they were outside, they both took off towards the citadel where they would spend their time until their match was.
As Ember flew above the city she looked to her mother that was flying a few metres to her right.
The thought that she had to face her mother still felt nasty to Ember, but with her mother supporting her she now believed that, hard as it would be, she could do it.
It was not like she had much choice in the matter.
Ember and her mother landed near the front gates a few minutes later and walked inside. Ember stayed close to her since she hated crowds. A disadvantage of her was that her unique pink colour attracted a lot of attention.
However, while she stayed very close she didn't cling on to her like she did yesterday. Her mother did not allow that so instead Ember just walked as closely as she could.
"I'm going to the honour box now, okay mom?" Ember asked as they neared the stairs going upwards.
"Okay, I'll see you again in the arena." Her mother replied, for a change looking at her as she spoke.
However it didn't really make Ember feel any comfortable "Yes, there I will see you again." She thought grimly as she parted ways and headed up to the honour box.
When Ember entered the large square shaped honour box she looked around to check who was there.
Inside the honour box she could spot: Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, Nina, Flash, Georga and Volt. However she couldn't spot Frost anywhere.
"Hi Ember!" Spyro said as he spotted her.
"Hi Spyro, where's Frost?" Ember asked him.
"He said that has some problems with his dad but he promised that he would be in time for your match." Cynder answered before Spyro could.
"Okay." Ember replied.
Ember didn't need much additional information to get herself a picture of what kind of problems Frost was having.
Maybe his dad had heard about him playing in her garden yesterday. He most certainly wouldn't like it if Frost played those silly games with them.
Ember didn't think about it for long, right now she only had room in her head for just 1 thing.
Ember looked at Spyro and Cynder for a second and then walked up to them. For a change she walked to Cynder and laid down on her right side.
Cynder looked quite surprised that Ember had chosen to lie down next to her instead of Spyro or Georga, however she felt no reason to send Ember away.
Instead she just tried to start a conversation "So, do you already know it?" Cynder asked a bit careful.
"Know? About what?" Ember asked clueless, cocking her head sideways. However that was an act as she knew perfectly well what Cynder meant. She just didn't want to say it.
"You know, about your opponent" Cynder hinted.
"Yeah," Ember sighed "I know that I have to face my mother in my next battle." She replied sadly while dropping her head and her wings.
Cynder spotted what effect it had on Ember and quickly thought of something she could say to bring her spirit back up.
Suddenly she remembered something that she had once stated herself.
"You can do it Ember, it is only a battle after all." Cynder said smiling.
"Yeah but I love my mother and I don't want to hurt her." Ember said as an excuse, she didn't want to say the real reason why she was struggling so much.
"I understand that Ember." Cynder said softly, believing her excuse.
"Do you remember that exhibition match between me and Spyro at the start of the tournament?" Cynder said, switched topics.
"Of course I remember that" Ember replied, lifting up her head to make eye-contact again.
"Well, I really thought the same way." Cynder said smiling warmly.
"You did?" Ember was quite surprised by that.
"Yes, before the battle I just didn't know if I could do it. I didn't want to fight Spyro." Cynder said to her.
"However after I actually really thought over it I realised that it was only a battle and that it's all just for fun." She said trying to give her hope.
"When I realised that it was easy." she said.
"Then what was that kiss for, Cynder?" Spyro suddenly asked, his voice sounding almost angrily.
"Kiss?" Ember repeated puzzled.
Cynder turned her head towards Spyro, who was on her left side. "Well, can't a girl just express herself?" Cynder asked him with a sly voice.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wait a second there man, she kissed you, for real? I mean truly mouth to mouth." Sparx now involved himself into the conversation as well as it was starting to get interesting.
Spyro growled with closed jaws and then snapped his head away "Yes, she kissed me full." He admitted exasperated.
"So, was it good loverboy?" Sparx eagerly asked him.
Spyro was about to open his mouth but Cynder beat him to it "Well I liked it very much." She said giggling.
"Just like that time just before we went out to spread the news for the first time." She remembered out loud.
"Well that was a different thing Cynder!" Spyro now all but yelled at her.
However Cynder wasn't even the slightest bit intimidated "It was? What was so different about it?" she asked him sly.
"Well, it wasn't really, I mean it was. No it wasn't like that-" Spyro stammered as Cynder continued to look at him, a mischievous smirk across her face.
Ember turned her head away and just let them talk as they apparently forgot that she was even there.
"So how are you feeling dear?" Ember looked up to see that Nina had addressed her.
"I'm fine." Ember said very unconvincing.
"I understand that it is difficult to fight your parent." Ember turned her head and saw Georga walking up to her and laying down next to her. She just ignored Spyro and Cynder as they got more and more caught up in their talk.
"Yeah but I will just have to do it, I really want that match with Spyro." Ember said, as it was the only thing that was really important for her in the tournament.
"That's right." Georga agreed.
Then she was quiet for a few moments as if she needed to formulate her next sentence more carefully "You know that your mother is very powerful Ember, you would have to face her sooner or later." She pointed out.
"Yeah" Ember sighed, knowing Georga was right.
"Ember, If you want to win then you'll have to force her rule over you aside for a moment." Georga said her voice suddenly sounding a lot more serious and she looked at Ember intensely.
Ember knew that Georga was referring to the spankings of her mom as she had told her all about them. Georga had made a promise to keep the spankings secret so she didn't mention them in public.
But still, to just shove the rule of her mother aside like Georga said was something Ember didn't view possible, not even for just one battle. Her mother, well, she was her mother; she decided what she did, Ember had to do what her mother told her to.
"Just for one battle you'll have to forget about it." Georga said simply.
"That's easy for you to say!" Ember thought, clenching her jaws together to make sure none of the angry words came out. She didn't want to shout to her friend but it really made her fierce that Georga talked so casually about it, like it was nothing.
Ember now looked to the enormous electric parent of her that stood a few metres away. Volt truly loved Georga and never in his life would do anything to hurt her. He might hit her sometimes maybe but those cases were rare and not like Ember's brutal spankings at all. Georga never had any reason to be afraid of him.
But her situation, well it was just so different. Her mother was just such a completely different dragon than Volt.
Ember had every reason to be afraid her. That was just the reality. Her mother told her what to do. If she didn't- Ember now dispelled the thoughts as she spotted Georga looking at her a bit worried.
"That's easier said than done Georga." Ember shot back doing her best not to sound as agitated as she really did "You know how the situation is for me." She pointed out.
"Just what can I do?" Ember almost whimpered.
"Come on Ember, you're thirteen now and that means you're not hatchling anymore!" Georga suddenly scolded, her voice shooting up in volume and becoming surprisingly harsh and stern.
However right away afterwards she started grinning "Sound familiar?" Georga asked with a sly smile.
"Yeah, you've got me that time" Ember admitted while also grinning. It was the exact same thing she had said to Georga when Georga was whimpering.
"I'll go and fight okay?" Ember said but it was mostly to just make Georga feel satisfied so that she would stop asking.
"Okay then" Georga said smiling.
While Spyro and Cynder argued some more about their relationship and Sparx randomly threw insults to either side, Ember and Georga turned their attention back to the matches below.
However Ember wasn't taking in any of it, there was simply too much on her mind for her to focus.
Despite having said that she would do it Ember still found it very difficult to imagine it.
Ember tried forcing her attention towards the match down below her. Hoping to get at least a little bit more grip on her thoughts but it didn't work out well.
The battle below was a match between two females. Although they were both adults one was considerably smaller than the other one.
With that scene Ember's thoughts again quickly drifted off towards her coming match.
When she would be standing in that arena and her mother would be standing across her on the other side.
Ember had practiced with her mother many times before in order to train. One down side of that now was that she could picture the entire scene of the battle perfectly.
She could see her mother's body standing in front of her; all her muscles were tensed and the wings slowly waving in the wind. The intimidating sound of her anxious breathing but more than anything else, the glaring look in her eyes.
Her mother's eyes, that gaze could always scare Ember to the core no matter how old she became, no matter how many times she had seen it before. Her mother's eyes never lost their deep and frightening power. Every time those burning red eyes pierced her body all of Ember's courage sank away.
Ember didn't want to think about it but couldn't help it. Slowly but surely the scene of the future battle slowly started to materialize in her head as she added more and more details to it.
She wished the match to stay away but as the matches unfolded one after the other it became closer and closer.
Ember watched the match of Oxidus and tried to focus at least a little bit of attention to it. However not only was that very difficult because her upcoming match but the match was also just boring.
Oxidus won in like three seconds and didn't even care one little bit about his victory. He hadn't made any improvements.
However neither did Ember with her struggle of coming to terms with her upcoming battle against her mother.
Actually much too quickly Ember saw the last match that she knew was before hers.
The match wasn't really very interesting and Ember didn't really pay much attention.
When the match was over Ember almost reluctantly turned towards her friends.
"Guys..." she said a bit unsecure.
"Good luck" Spyro said before she had even told them.
"You can do it!" Georga said encouraging.
"Just have fun." Cynder reminded her.
"I will, thanks." Ember nodded to them and then walked out towards the arena, heading slowly towards the most dreaded match of her life.
As Ember walked in nervous pace through the citadel she remained very deep in thought.
Having created the image already during her hours standing in the honour box, it was a snap for her to picture them standing face to face, however it was impossible to see herself in that picture also truly fighting against her.
However regardless if she could picture it or not it had to happen in just a few minutes from now.
"Mom" Ember now stopped walking and stood in the middle of the stadium as she was deeply in thought.
Could she really do it? Did she really have the strength to fight against her own mother? After all, just the thought of it...
"No! No! No! Get a hold of yourself Ember!" She thought as she forced herself not to despair before the dark thoughts had a chance to get in.
"If you want to have that match with Spyro, and to become guardian one day you have to win and prove yourself over all other fire dragons!"
"All! Including mom!"
However as she stood there she knew that thinking it and actually doing it where two completely different things.
She then remembered the meditation skills she had learned from her mentor and she went through them in the hope that maybe, they could help calm her mind a little.
Ember closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nostrils, she slowly exhaled a few seconds later.
Then she took another deep breath and exhaled again, slowly building up a rhythm.
The crowd was still rushing past her but Ember didn't noticed that anymore.
She was slowly starting to feel the pleasant feeling of tranquillity deep inside of her heart and she could feel the warm energy of her fire element spread itself through every single vain and part of her pink body.
From the core deep inside of her energy flowed out and was absorbed into her. Ember's heart rate slowly decreased and her breathing became superficial and rhythmic.
She just stood there, listening to her own heartbeat. The sound might be small and insignificant but it was there nonetheless. The constant soft thumbs that came with every second, they would never stop. They were certain and constant. It was such a beautiful sound.
Slowly the pleasant flow of fire filled up her body, driving away all her empty feelings. Slowly they filled up her body until no empty area's remained.
All her worries were pushed out of her body or completely incinerated by her fire energy. From her heart they were all forced out of her.
Through her legs they were then absorbed into the ground. All the worries, doubts and fears, she all just shed them. They were only going to bring her down.
Ember now opened her eyes and nodded to herself in approval.
She took a deep calming breath and slowly started thinking about what she had to do now.
Why was she going to this battle? Why did she want this?
She wanted this because she wanted to fight against Spyro.
If she wanted to fight him then that meant that she had to get past this round, and if she wanted to get past this round that meant she had to defeat her opponent.
She had to defeat her opponent, no matter who that might be.
Now feeling calm and relaxed Ember started walking again towards the arena. She did her best to keep up her empty and clear mind and not let it be clouded again with doubts and fears.
She walked into the participant's entrance and stopped before the familiar large heavy iron gate.
"Queen of burns Ember?" the dragon asked who was on duty.
"That's me" Ember confirmed, not turning to look at the dragon and speaking with a monotone voice.
The dragon said no more and Ember just looked into the arena as she waited for the gates to open.
However as she waited the doubts and fears started to return again.
How could she possibly to this sort of thing? Her mother was just...
Recognising the thoughts she closed her eyes and meditated again. She had to make sure she was going to be ready and focused for it, because this battle was not going to be an easy one in any way.
It was not only going to be tough for her to gather the courage she needed. Her mother was also simply an extremely powerful fire dragoness. Possibly one of the strongest ones around and it was going to take everything Ember had to defeat her.
She knew her mother was not going to give any quarters. Her mother was going to do everything she could to defeat her so the only way for Ember to win was to do the same.
She had to fight this battle with everything she had if she even wanted to stand a chance against her mother.
It was going to be a very tough battle for the young fire dragoness, both mentally and physically.
After a few minutes of waiting Ember heard the words she both longed for and graved.
"And now Queen of Burns Ember will face Infernal Diva Wilmfe!" She heard the high pitched tone of Volteer declare.
The gate opened with a grinding noise and the large empty battle arena opened up in front of her. Like inviting her to walk through.
However Ember didn't move from her position. She stared into the large void in front of her, like the gates were still down and blocking her path.
"This is it." Ember gulped as it required a shocking amount of willpower from her to even make her first steps into the giant sand filled battleground.
Using her strong will Ember slowly walked into the arena and towards the centre.
Ember could hear the crowd cheering her on, especially her friends. Ember for some reason allowed herself to look around the arena.
The crowd today was quite large. About 5/6 of the stadium was filled what meant that about 10.000 spectators were watching her.
Ember felt a light gentle breeze push against her wings and unlike yesterday the sun was shining and felt warm and soothing on her pink scales.
The conditions for battle today were perfect but nothing could make this any easier for the little Ember.
Because as soon as she turned her head around she saw the sight of her mother entering the arena as well. Immediately it felt like all the confidence and strength she had build up during the day just sank away into the sand.
She had seen her mother inside the arena many times before during all of her matches. But up in the stands the Infernal Diva didn't even look close as intimidating as it did face to face.
The razor sharp red pupils of her eyes seemed sharper than ever and drilled into her all the way to the heart. All the muscles in her body were tense and the dragoness looked focused and totally ready for this. The picture Ember had made for herself during her pondering had been wrong. From down here it looked ten times more scary than she had ever imagined.
Ss she slowly walked towards the centre of the arena Ember needed every bit of self control she had not to stop and whimper. Her mother also walked towards the centre, watching her daughter intensely with a sharp gaze.
When Ember had now reached the middle of the arena and she almost quacked in fear as she slowly put her tail up for the greet.
Her mother slowly approached her and Ember gulped while doing her best not to show fear.
When Wilmfe had reached her daughter she right away slammed her large tail hard against Ember, not being to type to be gentle with anybody, and especially not with her daughter.
Wilmfe was more than four times Ember's size so for her small body it was quite an impact.
Her legs deeply bend down but Ember managed not to fall down, although it was close.
Wilmfe didn't nod but just silently turned around and walked back.
Ember now also did the same as she tried any way to prepare herself for this. The fight now only seconds away.
While she walked to her position she invoked her mediating for the third time now in only a minutes.
With her mother walking behind her it was very difficult but she forced all thoughts out of her head and used her fire element again to calm herself.
Ember strictly forced out every thought that even had the slightest scent of doubt, fear or reluctance to it. She was going to do this and she was going to go all out! That was the only right answer.
When she had reached her position to turn she tried to activate her thermal coat.
It was going to be difficult because Ember needed a clear mind to activate the move. It required every bit of self control the fire dragoness possessed to keep her head focused and clear under these circumstances.
As she slowly turned around she could see her mother now doing the same and glaring down at her pink daughter from a few dozen metres away.
Ember was always tough and confident. She was afraid of no-one and never showed doubt but her mother was the one exception to that.
No matter when or how Ember was impressed by her.
However despite now almost looking at her directly Ember somehow did succeed in getting her mind clear enough and she could slowly feel her thermal coat starting to activate.
Slowly but surely Ember's body lit up with the same familiar intense glow and the hot energy of fire burned away all her doubts.
Now that she had activated her thermal coat Ember's mind totally changed and the danger because of her doubts and fear vanished.
Now there was no more fear, no more uncertainty or doubts. Only the power of her fire spreading through every single part of her body.
"I'm going to win this fight!" Ember thought as she grinned arrogantly.
She looked towards her opponent and bend down into her fighting stance "She won't even know what hit her." Ember said to herself arrogantly.
"Heh, and when she discovers it she won't like it" Ember chuckled evilly at the thought of burning away this hot-shot.
Her fire element ruled her mind and filled her with strength and confidence. That was the thing that Ember had prepared for. That she would be able to activate her thermal coat. Now that she had she felt no more fear. The fear was completely insignificant next to the tremendous amount of heat and power she now held inside of her body.
Now, for the first time she was truly ready for it.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Volteer shouted.
As soon as the sign was given Wilmfe instantly shot towards her daughter.
Ember watched her unmoving as the crimson red dragoness flashed across the arena and went straight for her daughter.
When Ember was in range she raised her paws and made a strong swipe.
Ember just smirked and waited for it. Her eyes taking in every single movement her mother's body made as it came towards her.
Last time she fought against her mother she was tossed around the garden left and right but this time was going to be different.
This time she was going to do the tossing around.
She followed the paw up to the moment it hit her side, she didn't even put the slightest amount of effort in trying to avoid it.
Ember was hit hard but she had seen it coming and as soon as she felt her mother's paw make contact she reached out and grabbed it.
Her mother was clearly tough as she didn't make a sound from feeling of Ember's hot body on her paw.
She shook her paw wildly and Ember had to dig her claws in but she managed to hold on.
Then Wilmfe lashed at her with her other paw and swooped Ember off.
Ember was smacked downwards and landed hard on her head.
However now both of Wilmfe's paws had nasty burn marks on so, although Ember had taken a hard hit just now it was clear that Wilmfe had taken far more damage in this first attack than Ember had.
Wilmfe glared and snarled at Ember with retreated lips but, with her thermal coat clouding her thoughts Ember just glared back and did the same.
Mother and daughter glared and snarled at each other, waiting for the first one to make a move.
That one was Wilmfe as she shot a fireball towards Ember now.
Ember stood idle and didn't make any sort of move to avoid it, she was just going to take the attack head on just like the first one.
The fire ball was more powerful than Ember had expected and the shockwave forced her back by over a metre.
However she didn't lose her footing and her thermal coat protected her from the fire. As long as she had her thermal coat on she couldn't be harmed.
Wilmfe growled in frustration at first from her lack of success but then stood still and seemed to be focusing on something.
Ember moved her head forwards curiously and wondered what her mother was doing.
However Ember didn't have to wait long for it as suddenly Wilmfe roared and unleashed an immensely powerful fire ball that flew at an incredible speed towards Ember.
Ember had no chance to get out of the way in time as the white hot fireball hit her less than a second later. Ember yelped as for the first time the fire was actually burning her scales.
The sensation was a new one for her. The heat from her thermal coat still inside her scales yet being burned by something that was even stronger, even more hot than she was.
Her protection had always been enough but it seemed that her mother was just so strong that she could break right through it. Just defensive tactics weren't going to do it this time.
Hoping that taking the offensive might help Ember ran towards Wilmfe while shooting fireballs at her mother to try and pin her down.
However the fireballs were very weak and Ember ran very slowly as almost all of her energy went into maintaining her thermal coat.
Therefore her mother didn't seem impressed by the attacks but for some reason didn't flee away from Ember either. This was strange as she clearly had the ability to do so.
When Ember was close enough she jumped up towards her chest to try and make a major burn but Wilmfe flapped her wings and shot backward.
Ember just missed her by a few mere centimetres.
However she didn't reach the ground as Wilmfe lashed out with her tail at lightning speed and hit Ember very hard on the side of her head.
This time Ember couldn't grab hold and was bounced hard one the ground five times before coming to a stop. Her chest and head really having received a few bruises.
"Is that all you can do Ember?" Her mother asked her degrading "Pathetic!"
"Believe me mommy-" Ember said as she got up again, her thermal coat still ruling her thoughts. "You haven't seen anything yet" She shot back.
"Well bring it on then!" Her mother jumped into an exaggerated battle stance in order to taunt Ember "I'm waiting." She said slyly while she shook her hips.
Her thermal coat might cloud her thoughts a little and cast out her fears but Ember was still thinking clearly.
Because of that she concluded that just her thermal coat wasn't going to win it this time. Even not if she used it for both offense and defence.
No, against an opponent that was of such a high level as her mother she needed to step it up a few nudges if she still wanted to win.
She had to fight better than she had ever fought before. Her mother was an opponent unlike any she had ever faced. Someone who could truly push Ember to her limits. In order to defeat her she needed a new strategy. Something her mother wouldn't expect of her.
Ember lowered the power of her secret weapon to get more power to use for her elemental attacks and physical movements.
She needed to fight more creative and couldn't just rely on power. In raw power she stood no chance against her mom but, there still was a way to take her down.
As her mother had said herself; Everyone has a weakness. This included Ember but, 'everyone' also included Wilmfe herself.
She also had a weakness and Ember just had to find it.
With the fire energy in her body much lower Ember once again could feel the intimidating aura as her mother hissed down at her.
However she now was really into her battle rhythm so she managed to handle that.
Running towards her mother Ember watched every move Wilmfe was going to make very closely. Looking intensely for even the slightest signs of weaknesses or flaws in her battle style and powers. Anything that she might be able to use to win.
Like last time her mother raised her paw up and prepared to swat Ember away again.
What she didn't know however was that Ember had lowered the power on it. The change in intensity of the light was very difficult to spot in the bright sunlight and sand filled battleground. Also, Ember had lowered the power of the thermal coat but had not completely shut it off. The light was slightly lower in intensity but it was still there.
She lashed out with her right front paw but Ember jumped and with her now increased speed she managed to dodge it.
As Wilmfe's strike missed Ember spotted her balance being off for a moment.
Taking that moment Ember jumped towards her mother and clung on to her chest.
Wilmfe cringed in but still didn't make a sound.
Despite that Ember's intensity was lowered she was now touching Wilmfe with every part of her body so it was even more painful than last time.
Ember was very surprised that her mother didn't make a sound, she never knew that her mother had such a high tolerance for pain.
She climbed up towards her mother's neck to make another win. Just like she had done in her match yesterday against Nitrus.
However her mother was aware of what she was up to and she was going to make that it wasn't going to work.
She jumped up and shook wildly like a wild beast. Then she bucked and twisted back and forth, it almost looked a bit silly seeing the dragoness trash around in every direction but Wilmfe didn't care. She never really believed in elegance in battle.
Ember tried to hold on with all her might but after a wild swing to the right she lost her grip and was hurdled up into the air.
Ember had partially seen it coming however and flapped her wings hard as soon as she lost her grip.
She managed to regain control of her flight and as quickly as possible did a comet dash back down towards her mother, not wanting to give her mother time to recover.
Wilmfe was very fast however and moved her body sideways.
Ember missed her by only a tiny margin but still smashed head first into the ground.
As soon as she could she turned around but it was already too late.
Her mother's tail lashed out with a wide sweep and hit Ember full on her side.
Ember was sent skidding across the battlefield before coming to a stop a few metres beyond.
Now she did get up quickly enough and breathed a firestream at her mother.
Wilmfe countered that move with a fire stream of her own.
The two attacks clashed inside the arena and both Ember and her mother tried to force the clashing point away from them.
Ember shifted her footing a little to get a better stance and forced even more power into the attack. The recoil was strong as the pink dragoness summoned forth every bit of power she possessed.
However as strong as she was it seemed Wilmfe was stronger still as the clashing point came closer and closer towards her.
Ember kept pushing it away but the opposite attack slowly kept coming towards her.
She couldn't win this, she had to do something.
Just as the attack was about to hit her Ember broke the attack and rolled over to the side.
The attack glanced her side but her thermal coat protecting her from the heat.
As soon as she could she shot a fireball in the direction of her mother.
The moment she had fired it she flapped her wings and headed up, not looking if her fireball had hit mark.
Wilmfe shot a fireball of her own to counter the attack and the two fireball exploded into the arena.
When Ember heard the bang she speeded down towards her mother.
She surrounded herself with flames and, empowered by a comet dash she rushed towards her with everything she had.
Because of the explosion her mother had temporarily lost sight of her and she only spotted the blazing missile coming towards her at the last second.
She still tried to move out of the way but wasn't fast enough.
Ember crashed full force against the side of her head what made Wilmfe loose her footing.
She fell over on her side and Ember was going to use this tiny opportunity to the fullest.
At the moment that she hit her mother she coiled her tail around the neck and grabbed her horns to stop her dash, very much like the technique of Oxidus.
The speed was high and Ember had to hold on tightly but she somewhere found the strength to hold on.
As quickly as possible Ember firmly grabbed the head and put her claws at her mother's trachea. Being too small to grab hold of the entire neck.
"The winner is Queen of Burns Ember!" Volteer declared.
Ember was still lying on top of her mother's head and Wilmfe hadn't yet risen up.
"I won?" Ember thought with a sense of amazement.
The final moments of the battle had all happened so fast that Ember had fought on pure instinct so she hadn't really recorded what had happened.
Only now did it start to dawn on her what she had just achieved with this.
She had done it! She had won! She had actually defeated her mother!
Seeing that she still had her mother held down in a very uncomfortable position Ember quickly deactivated her thermal coat and released her.
She jumped off and turned around but for some reason her mother didn't get up and kept lying on the ground.
Ember walked carefully up to her "Are you okay mom?" She asked concerned as she was worried that she might have actually injured her.
Suddenly her mother shot her head towards her "Grrrr." She snarled aggressively, her eyes glaring daggers.
Ember staggered back in surprise by this but she was glad that her mother wasn't injured.
After her mother got back to her feet she turned around and walked out of the arena without saying a single word to Ember.
Ember just did the same and walked towards the exit of the arena. She still felt very proud about her win though the response of her mother confused her a bit.
It didn't make sense. Was there something going on with her?
When she walked into the tunnel that towards the central room the sentry addressed her "Do you know her?" He asked.
"Why do you ask that?" Ember asked.
The earth dragon looked at her surprised by the counter question "I don't know, something in the way you two were battling indicated that you two know each other well" he said .
"Well to be honest, that dragoness is my mother." Ember admitted as she saw no reason to hide it. Actually, she loved to say it after the amount of effort it took.
"Did you just defeated your own mother?!" The sentry repeated in shock and amazement.
"Yes I have, but please excuse me" Ember bowed and walked out.
She didn't really want to talk with the dragon right now. She wanted to know what was wrong with her mother. Why she had reacted the way she did in the arena. It just didn't feel right.
She walked out into the main hall and looked around in search the black and red shape of her mother.
Ember didn't have to search for long as in under a minute Wilmfe appeared from the crowd.
Ember watched her in search of something that was out of the ordinary.
She couldn't find anything to point at but her mother still looked a bit strange. Her wings were down and she walked very slowly. Her head was hanging down so Ember couldn't see her face.
"We're going home." Her mother said in an empty voice before Ember had a chance to ask her something.
The cold tone in her voice surprised Ember. She couldn't think of a reason for it, it didn't make any sense. If anything she would expect her to be excited. The battle had been awesome but for some reason her mother didn't seem enthusiastic at all.
"What was that about?" She wondered but as her mother walked out of the citadel Ember followed her nonetheless.
She didn't ask the question to her mother, that just had to wait until they were home.
When they were out of the building her mother spread her wings and took off and Ember did the same shortly afterwards.
During their flight home Ember kept a certain amount of distance between herself and her mother as something seemed wrong.
Her mother wasn't acting like normal. What was different about her behaviour Ember couldn't really tell but something just didn't feel right.
It almost seemed like she was hiding something. Like she had something going inside her head.
Her mother landed in the streets with Ember beside her and walked inside.
Ember, as faithful as always followed her inside the house, having no idea of what was going to be in store for her.