After all that exploring he had done it seemed like it had been forever since he had last come to the battlefield, but in reality it really hadn't been all that long. He trotted across the open area with a slight spring in his step. Who cared if his confidence was falsely founded or not. He felt like he could own this place if he really wanted to. The sun was out and shining and the snow was mostly gone. Thank goodness for spring bringing in the warm weather. The sun was warm on his fur and it made him feel way better than he had been recently even though he really hadn't even been feeling that bad to begin with. He found a nice open spot that wasn't too damp from the melting snows and gave himself a good shake so that his fur was lying nice and neat against his form. He lifted his head and howled for someone to come join him in a spar and it wasn't until after his voice faded into and echoing silence that he realized that was possibly his first real howl ever. His chest puffed out at the thought and he grinned while he waited for someone to show up. Speech Thought Others

Ashmedai heard the call and came promptly. It had been a long time since he had stood here. Much too long.

His opponent wasn't hard to find- he was bright red and orange. He was pretty sure he had seen a few of those lately. Were they all related?

Ashmedai faced his opponent, attempting to keep about 10 feet between them, "Alrigtht, Spitfire, you wanna go? Let's go. It's been a while for me, so I can't promise I'm any good, but it ought to be fun anyway."

Ashmedai shook himself, getting physically and mentally ready. It was just a spar, no need to maim the kid. He'd have to go easy, but not too easy. He'd have to control himself.

"Alright, Wilfire, you go first!"

Luckily he didn't have to wait long. The one thing he liked about this place is that pretty much everyone that came here had a purpose and knew what to expect. If you were in the battlefield you probably came to fight and that made it easy to find someone else with similar ideas. A bright grin spread across his face as a larger, slate blue man trotted up to him. He liked the man's attitude about the spar, it felt very similar to his own. "Fine by me. A spar is a spar as far as I'm concerned," he said as he started getting his defenses ready. He kept his ears down against his head while his eyes narrowed and his head lowered to even out his neck with his back. His tail laid out flat with his back as well while his paws spaced out a bit to have a nice, sturdy base under him. His toes spread out and claws dug into the soil a bit so he could get some more traction. His shoulders rolled forward to scrunch up his scruff around his neck and his knees bent a little bit so his first move would have more momentum. Pyre attempted to head toward his opponent at a run as soon as he told him to take the first move. He knew he'd probably get some injuries of some kind, even if they were minor ones, but he didn't mind. He just hoped the other guy wouldn't mind either. As soon as he got closer to the larger man he attempted to shift toward his opponent's right side, aiming to hit the lower part of his shoulder with the top part his own since there was quite a bit of height difference. He didn't want to cause too much damage right off the bat - maybe some minor bruising if his first attack landed. His lips pulled up in a snarl at the same time to expose his teeth while his head tipped down both to cover his throat and to reach for the man's leg. He parted his jaws to attempt to nip at the skin right above his sparring partner's elbow, hopefully causing some light bite marks or scratches. Mostly he just wanted to make him take his weight off the one leg for a moment while he tried to shove his weight into the other man's shoulder to knock him off balance. Speech Thought Others Pyre vs Ashmedai for Practice Round: 1/3 Height: 35" Build: Medium

The battle was started promptly, something Ashmedai was all too happy about. He was ready.

Ashmedai set his defenses: his ears flattening against his skull to protect them from getting gripped while his shoulders rolled the excess skin around his neck as he tucked his chin to minimize neck exposure. His hackles flared down his spine for extra protection and his nose wrinkled, eyes squinting to deflect attacks from his face. His toes spread and his claws dug into the ground for extra traction. He kept his knees bent and tail flagged for agility while making sure his weight was distributing evenly for balance. He lowered his head in line with his spine. Ready? Ready.

As the Firecracker shifted to Ashmedai's right and attempted to hit the lower part of Ashmedai's shoulder with the top part his own, Ashmedai aimed to jump to his own right and ram Pyre's chest full force with his own (COUNTER, DAMAGE PENDING). Pyre's teeth struck Ashmedai's left foreleg right at the inner elbow, causing some mild scratching. Ash quickly attempted to lift his left forepaw, redistributed his weight to his remaining three paws,  so that his balance wasn't thrown off, and aimed to slam down on and pin Pyre's right forepaw under his.

Opening his jaw and tilting his head to his right, Ashmedai attempted to grip Pyre's scruff right at the base of his skull while trying to throw his hefty weight to Pyre's right, hoping to tilt the man onto his right side with sheer force.

Pyre vs Ashmedai for Practice
Round: 1/3
Height: 42"
Build: Heavy

Pyre's hackles bristled as the battle truly got under way. The counter attacks made it more real, but Pyre loved it. The more fights he was in the more he realized how much he liked it. Throughout his attack and his response to his opponent's attacks he kept his defenses in place. His shoulders were rolled forward so that the skin around his neck was bunched up to protect it. His ears stayed pinned against his skull and he kept his head and tail even with his spine. His firm stance was disrupted a bit with the movement, but he tried his best to keep his paws at a fairly even distance from each other regardless. His toes stayed spread and his claws dug into the dirt with each movement and shift. His eyes were narrowed as much as they could be while still leaving him enough visibility to watch the larger man's movements. The jump into his path caught him off guard, but Pyre tried to roll with the punches so to speak. The man's chest hitting his own knocked him back a bit and he let his bent knees absorb the impact and took a step back in the motion. He was glad that at least one of his attacks landed in a sort of intended manner as his teeth scraped against the man's elbow. Since his head was lower down he easily saw the paw lifting to slam into his own so he shuffled his paw back out of the way, leaving just empty air for the attack to land on. He took the chance to redistribute his weight and settle back into his original stance at the same time. However, the bite to his scruff was a bit harder to see or avoid. He felt the teeth latch onto the rolls of skin there and he immediately tried to think fast. The larger man's weight pressing into him made him panic a bit so he quickly attempted to thrust his head up so that the top part of his skull would slam into the back portion of the man's jaw, where the lower jaw hinged with the top. He realized immediately after he did it that if it worked it would cause his sparring partner's jaws to bite deeper into his scruff in the process, but he hoped that it would at least get him to let go and back off a bit. Pyre tensed his legs just in case to offset the pressure that the man was putting on to him to keep from toppling over. Speech Thought Others Pyre vs Ashmedai for Practice Round: 2/3 Height: 35" Build: Medium

The smaller man hit into Ashmedai's chest, not really inflicting damage on either of them. His teeth hit their mark, gripping onto Pyre's scruff.

As the fight continued, Ashmedai maintained his defenses, redistributing his weight evenly as his paw missed its target and landed back on the ground. He rolled his scruff over his neck to keep it protected from the smaller man. His nails dug into the ground and his knees were bent to improve traction and agility. His tail flagged out behind him to help him balance. His hackles rose along his back and his fur fluffed to pad against attacks. His eyes narrowed, face scrunched, and ears folded back just to make sure to protect against anything crazy that might happen.

The smaller man reared his head into Ash's jaw. It didn't hurt really, and Ashmedai decided to roll with it. Ashmedai sought to tighten his grip on Pyre's scruff. Redistributing his weight to his back legs, Ashmedai attempted to rear up on his hind legs and throw his weight to his (Ashmedai's) left. At the same time, Ashmedai would try to wrap his right foreleg around Pyre's left shoulder to help Ashmedai force the man to his (Pyre's) right.

Hopefully this would knock the man off his center and topple him to the ground.

Pyre vs Ashmedai for Practice
Round: 2/2 (Shelbs agreed to change)
Height: 42"
Build: Heavy

PYRE vs ASHMEDAI for SPAR ROUND ONE PYRE: WRITING 9/10 for Power Play: Attempts -1 “As soon as he got closer to the larger man...” This should have been attempted. 5/10 for Clarity: Attack -2 “...aiming to hit the lower part of his shoulder with the top part his own...” Right or left shoulders? State things plainly; even if the answer seems obvious, state it anyway just in case. -1 “...to reach for the man's leg.” Which leg? -1 “He parted his jaws to attempt to nip at the skin right above his sparring partner's elbow...” The outside of his elbow? Which elbow? Positioning -1 “Pyre attempted to head toward his opponent at a run...” How is he approaching him? Head on? From the side? More details are needed here 2/10 for Attacks: +1 for shoulder throw +1 for bite 5/5 for Defenses: +1 for flattened ears +1 for narrowed eyes +1 for lowered head +1 for tail level with spine +1 for widened stance 10/10 for Injuries: None! Status 2/12 for Experience: +1 beginner fighter +1 for beginner intellectual 4/5 for Health: -1 for being a loner Pyre’s round one total: 37/62 ASHMEDAI: WRITING 10/10 for Power Play: None seen! 10/10 for Clarity: All clear! 3/10 for Attacks: +1 for chest slam +1 for grip +1 for paw stomp 5/5 for Defenses: +1 for ears flattened +1 for shoulders rolled +1 for chin tucked +1 for hackles raised +1 for bent knees 10/10 for Injuries: -1 for scratches to left inner elbow Status 6/12 for Experience: +3 for intermediate fighter +3 For intermediate intellectual 4/5 for Health: -1 for being a loner Ashmedai’s round one total: 48/62 ROUND TWO PYRE: WRITING 10/10 for Power Play: None seen! 8/10 for Clarity: Damage -2 What kind of damage did Pyre take from Ashemdai's successful attacks? 1/10 for Attacks: +1 for head butting 5/5 for Defenses: +1 for raised hackles +1 for rolled shoulders +1 for pinned ears +1 for lowered head +1 for tail leveled with spine 8/10 for Injuries: -1 mild bruising to chest (damage assigned by judge) -1 mild puncture wounds to scruff (damage assigned by judge) Status 2/12 for Experience: +1 beginner fighter +1 for beginner intellectual 4/5 for Health: -1 for being a loner Pyre’s round two total: 38/62 ASHMEDAI: WRITING 9/10 for Power Play: Realism -1 “The smaller man hit into Ashmedai's chest, not really inflicting damage on either of them.” I have a hard time believing a full force chest slam wouldn't cause some amount of bruising. 9/10 for Clarity: Damage -1 “The smaller man reared his head into Ash's jaw.” What damage did he take from it? 3/10 for Attacks: +1 for grip +1 for throw +1 for shove with foreleg 5/5 for Defenses: +1 for weight distributed evenly +1 for narrowed eyes +1 for bent knees +1 for raised tail +1 for raised hackles 8/10 for Injuries: -1 for mild bruising to chest (damage assigned by judge) -1 for mild bruising to lower jaw (damage assigned by judge) Status 6/12 for Experience: +3 for intermediate fighter +3 For intermediate intellectual 4/5 for Health: -1 for being a loner Ashmedai’s round two total: 44/62 Totals: Pyre: 75/124 Ashmedai: 92/124 And the winner is... ASHMEDAI! Pyre must give up by either submitting, fleeing, or passing out. Damage: BOTH: All healed by now! Notes: Tips for writing and some suggestions. (no points are deducted here): For both: Pretty much everything noteworthy is in my deductions above. Good fight, guys! - By Lazuli