Rebellion Attack (Ceana)

[Draetrialis]

Drae flew as fast as he could to the front lines. A large mass of Ammon soldiers were waiting and he could see there were a ton of Rebellion soldiers, not so many ground troops, but there were lots of griffins. The Shadow, who had become invisible, let out a roar. The Ammon soldiers cheered and most of the Rebellion forces took a few steps back. So, Drae revealed himself, becoming visible again, and he called. "You Rebellion never learn! You can't defeat Ammon while I'm alive!" With that, he roared, "CHARGE!" and let out a burst of darkfire and fried a dozen soldiers. The Ammon force moved out to meet the Rebellion forces and Drae faded from view again, only to reappear above several griffins and wound them severely with his claws. "Best me if you can, PIDGEONS!" he taunted, launching more darkfireballs, clipping the wings of a few griffins and burning the feathers straight off of several others, causing them to plummet to the ground. Drae laughed before diving at the ground soldiers, few of the weapons leaving a mark on his armor, but he did get a few of them killed due to his distraction. The Shadow roared again and blasted the griffins with more fire.

[Ceana]

OC -- I decided to have Ceana wanting revenge...too much? I think it'll be funny if she still looses and goes home with another singed flank and barely being able to fly. But she does have new moves so don't count her out of being fight worthy. (She learned them just to fight Drae)

IC -- Ceana immediately noticed and recognized this intruder as Draetrialis, the Shadow. So..he has come to best me again? Well not this time... She thought, glaring at him through beady eyes. She had learned a few maneuvers specifically in hopes of beating this stuck-up dragon.

"He's mine!" She called out to her fellow wingmates, diving toward Draetrialis. "Oh no you won't. Not this time. This time, you'll learn who's really the lord of the sky." She said to herself quietly as she speeded toward the dark flapping shape. So you think you're all that. Well you're not the only invisible being in the sky. She was going so fast she was nearly invisible.

But instead of a head on collision, she pulled one of her wings even tighter to her body, causing her to veer ever so slightly to one side, preventing collision. But she didn't let him off the hook, for she lashed out one of her claws to rake across his side as she passed. She also used the claw as a way to slow her speed as she turned to hover in mid-air near the Shadow.

"So we meet again, lizard." She spat the insult at him, clicking her beak as she had fantasies of sinking it into his flesh for revenge.

"Your only real challenge here is me. I'm the only one who had to go through months of pain as I tried to work my muscles back to flying strength, let alone fighting strength. You shattered part of my world, but now I'm back and you're not going to win this time." But instead of attacking, she merely waited. She didn't want to start off this duel with a possibly fatal attack. No, she would wait until just the right moment to strike, the right moment to get under his defenses and injure him.

[Draetrialis]

Drae roared when the griffin's talons managed to get under his armor and raked down his side. He turned his head and found Ceana hovering nearby. "Bitch!" he spat, flames licking the edge of his maw and he blasted a stream of darkfire at the griffiness. After a few minutes, he shut off the stream and rose higher into the sky. "You still can't win, pidgeon!" the dragon called before he started a divebomb at Ceana. His wings were tucked close to his body and the wind was deafening in his helm. "DIE!" he roared, mouth staying open so he could crush the griffin between his teeth, or maybe just slice her in two. Flames licked at the edge of his jaw again. When he was about 10 feet away from the griffin, he burst his darkfire and swerved away, but he misjudged the distance and smashed into a few soldiers, both Ammon and Rebellion. "Damn." he swore and rose, unharmed, though the soldiers were slain. He raised his head and roared again, looking pretty intimidating. With that, he turned his entire body, sweeping his tail and impaling a couple Rebellion soldiers on his spikes and he quickly threw the bodies off his tail at the griffin. Gruesome... But it works. he thought.

[Ceana]

Ceana had been expecting the darkfire, what had done her in last time. She screeched as she folded her wings and did a roll, falling a few feet but avoiding her deadly opponent. She smiled and clicked her beak together as he careened into the soldiers.

She screeched a battle cry as she dove toward him, planning the last-minute specifics of her next attack when she got hit mid-air by the dead bodies of her fellow army-mates. She was sent downward, the weight of the bodies too much for her to fly with. Landing in a spot of already-dead bodies, she tried to get out of the mass.

Damn bastard. She spat, heaving herself off the ground once she had gotten her dead comrades off of her. It took her a second to spot the Shadow but not more than that to plan her attack. She growled to herself before she spotted something to her advantage.

She grabbed a spear off of a dead Ammon soldier and a few lengths of cloth. Using these components, she quickly tied the spear to her tail in such a way it was mostly concealed. To outside eyes however, it would appear she was treating her wounds (for the weapons of the bodies had scratched her flank) and as such, also tied those up too. He won't notice till last second. Her beak curled upward in anticipation.

So she launched her self into the air, barely noticing the cuts on her flank that she had treated. She struggled to get up to a good height, the weight of the surprise she had grabbed for Draetrialis weighing her down. But when she was high enough, she threw the body at him, the dead Ammon soldier flying toward the Shadow. "Here, I have a present for you!" She watched as the dead weight fell downward, toward the Ammon Dragon.

This will be a fun fight. And then I can get revenge at last. She thought as she remembered tying the spear onto her tail, but not turning to look at it. That would give it away, and I wouldn't want that. So instead she watched through beady eyes to see how Draetrialis would react and ultimately, attack.

[Draetrialis]

Drae hissed and burned the soldier, the force of the fire pushing it away from him. He then watched Ceana carefully, trying to figure out what to do. For once, he wasn't letting fury cloud his vision. What are you planning...? he mused, swinging his tail no-so-blindly and taking out a couple soldiers, not caring if he impaled them or not, which he didn't. The battle seemed to become a silent movie for him, and eventually even that faded away till all he saw was Ceana. She's planning something, but I can't see what it is... Fine. He crouched down and flew into the air, above Ceana. He looked down and saw a glimmer of steel in the griffin's tail. So that's what you're planning... Problem is, my own plan is in effect and I can't desert it now. Better take it and pretend it worked for her. He roared and dropped like a stone, darkfire surrounding him as he blasted it from his maw and the force of his fall whipped it back and over his body. He turned into a literal comet, aimed for a collision course with the griffiness. It could have been suicide, had any other dragon done it, but he had grabbed a charged gem and was prepared to teleport before he hit the ground.

[Ceana]

OC -- NOT godmoding, it's kinda a preconcieved fact that Drae is going to hit the ground. And anyways, he has that teleport stone that keeps him from going splat. So I just wanted to make sure everyone knew this was not godmoding.

IC -- Ceana waited as she sad Draetrialis watching her for the longest time. This is uncharacteristic. But she waited it through, not wanting to abandon her secret advantage.

But that changed when she saw him climb in the air and hurdle at her, which would have been good if he had not been covered in his 'dragon fire'. Oh crap. Not good, not good. But she thought on her feet (so to speak as she was hovering about fifty feet off the ground) and thought of a back-up plan.

She waited (yet again) until he was close enough for a too-late change in course and she tucked her wings in once more and rolled, only this time she didn't drop as far down. But she had her attack already planned in her mind and as soon as she flared her wings again, she used her fore claw to rip off one of the cloth strips quickly and loosened the other. Then, with a forceful flick of her tail, she threw the spear right where the Shadow would be. I don't care how strong his armor is, that's gonna hurt.

Anticipating some sort of recoil attack or some sort of assault one way or another, she back-winged even more and added more distance between herself and her opponent. In doing so, she also gained some altitude back, prepared to go into another steep dive if need-be. Well, this is certainly entertaining, isn't it? A smile crept on her beak at the thought, knowing, for once and for all, she might finish her arch-enemy off. There's no way he can make it out of a drop like that. Even if he turned now, he'd end up skimming the ground rather hard for sure.

[Draetrialis]

Drae roared when the spear pierced in between the plates on the side of his neck. He was just about to hit the ground when he triggered his teleport and he appeared 25 feet above the ground, slowly flapping as he grabbed the spear with one of his claws and ripped it free. "I figured you would do that after I saw that spear... but it still hurts like hell!" the dragon hissed before snapping the spear. His armor contained the blood, except for a small trickle. The Shadow's wingbeats were slow, causing him to drop and rise five feet per beat. "What do you hope to gain from this battle, Ceana? Or from this war?" Drae finally asked, keeping his slow wingbeat. "Vengence? That is only emotional satisfaction. Freedom? You griffins were already free. Glory? I think you found at the lake that it isn't quite as glorious as you thought. So why are you fighting?" He hoped he would put her off, but he was honestly curious as to why this griffin kept fighting. Drae kept watching Ceana, not moving his neck in case he tore the scab that was now forming. She is rather brave for challenging me... he thought, watching carefully.

[Ceana]

OC -- Not sure how you want to respond. I'm not sure how active Drae's been in killing griffins recently but Ceana seems to think so, so you can correct her if you want (w/ Drae). Maybe Ceana over exaggerated or not about the Rebellion's last hope thing but who knows. If Drae suddenly leaves or something (since I'm assuming you don't want him to die) and Ceana is left without her opponent maybe she can go and kill a few foot soldiers or end up lectured by her wing leader for not paying attention to the battle and helping attack the foot soldiers.

IC -- Ceana was momentarily scared stiff when she saw the Shadow disappear right before her eyes. But once she saw he wasn't attacking her she calmed down and matched a rough pace of wing beat he was at, except she was tensed for if he attacked.

"What do I gain? You idiot, I gain honor, satisfaction that you aren't here. Do you know how long I was held in my aerie due to your 'dark fire'? I spent months in there, just watching my team mates fly off every day to die. Everyday, fewer and fewer would come back. Everyday I knew, you were the cause of most of the deaths." She glared at him, hate beyond hate bubbled up.

"You were the only thing that kept us from actually pushing back the lines. Haven't you noticed? The lines have only gotten pushed back about thirty feet into our territory." Every new accusation just piled on more as she spat the words of loathe and hate at the infamous Draetrialis.

"So I waited, and waited, and when fully healed, trained; just for the opportunity to kill you and allow my broken-spirited brethren a sliver of hope that we can win. So what's in it for me? Now you know, so do you fight, or 'teleport' away again to flee from the battle? I'm the Rebellion's last hope in this war. If I can't do something to bring back their spirit, we will all die." She hoped this speech would deter him.

Now riled up, she plotted her next attack and defense as she waited for a response. I will not let him win! So she clenched her feet in an anxious manner, wanting to get back to fighting. When he dies, I will rip apart his body. But I will save the head to bring back to the Dark Dragons, they will surely appreciate the 'great Draetrialis' hanging from their wall. She mentally laughed at that, already planning to give her wing leader the armor of the Shadow to wear into battle.

Half a battle is won by spirit and sheer willpower. And if my wing leader is wearing the armor of the Shadow, it will scare the Ammons stiff. But after allowing herself that little 'break' of plotting, she focused all her attention on the battle at hand. For if she was too busy day plotting (since she really wasn't dreaming), he could kill her before she could use any of her strategies.

[Draetrialis]

Drae snorted. "This is the first time I've been on the battlefield for AGES!" he spat, speeding up his wingbeats. "And besides... How can you be the last hope for the Rebellion when you are barely more than a hatchling?" He smirked before barking, "Halt the assault! Lay down your weapons! I wish for a truce for now!" The Ammon soldiers backed away and set their weapons on the ground, and Draetrialis landed in front of them, his head facing the Rebellion forces. Some of the Rebels were confused, and so stayed back. Drae merely watched the soldiers. "Ceana... Ask your commander for you to lay down your weapons. I swear I won't try anything. You know I can, since I kept myself in control at your camp." He waited patiently as he began to think. If I manage to psyche her out enough... I might be able to incapacitate her without physically touching her. His face betrayed no emotion as he thought. Maybe if I gave her a false plan... Make her go paranoid. That would do the trick... Drae contained the chuckle. Ah, the genius I pride myself in has yet to fail me... One of the soldiers stepped forward and Drae growled at him, forcing him back.

[Ceana]

Ceana hissed when the Shadow called her out. He is asking for my wrath...idiot. She clenched her front claws, wishing it was tearing through his throat. "I may be young but I am still a thousand times the better fighter than you will ever be. Griffins are trained for air combat and are known as the best fliers in all the land. You cannot say I am juvenile while I am still better at aerial maneuvers than you."

But she narrowed her eyes even further (if possible) when he offered a ceasefire. How can he speak of ceasefire at a time like this!? Ammon looses one inch of it's land and suddenly they are calling retreat? This land was ours to begin with! I cannot let this to pass. But, planning to do something incredible, she did what Draetrialis had suggested; go to her leaders. But, through the fact she knew Draetrialis wouldn't be able to understand or hear what she said, she simply warned her leaders of what the Shadow was and told them to obey while keeping a weapon well hidden and be prepared for anything.

So when she flew back down, she didn't land near the front line as she figured the Shadow Dragon would want her to do. She landed quite a ways away, only able to see the large dark shape through her accurate, eagle eyes. She landed on an outcrop that stuck fairly high up and waited. But, anticipating attack or otherwise, she had her back legs posed to spring in the air at a half second's notice. She held this plan by hiding this posture behind her front legs that appeared to be at rest. Now, let's see what he is planning.

Her fellow Griffins did the same, landing on trees and outcroppings near her, keeping away from the potentially dangerous enemy. "Trust is not the issue here. We just don't like to be so close to the Ammon soldiers who could easily pick up their arrows or betray what you have called them to do and fire on us." Her call rang out to all the surrounding area, making sure her words carried on to the Shadow.

[Draetrialis]

Drae snorted. "If you honestly want me to prove I won't try anything..." He focused a moment before conjuring another gem, tiring him a little, and set it down and most of the weapons, excluding the couple hundred nearest Drae floated into the air. "If any of you with weapons still near you pick them up until I say otherwise, I will personally rip you apart." he growled without looking at the soldiers behind him. Drae looked at Ceana. "While I won't be trying anything, I can't say the same for a small team I made that's on its way to your camp. You can be sure that they will be going after you, pidgeon." He chuckled. None bothered to ask him in the army since they knew if they did, they wouldn't last long. "Maybe they'll arrive today and wait for you... Maybe they'll arrive next week. Who knows? I certainly don't. Just hope your flanks are covered well enough." The dragon popped his neck casually and kept his gaze on Ceana. He picked up the gem and fit it into a slot in his armor, causing it to fade and the weapons floated down to the ground. "I'll give you a choice, pidgeon. Go home and protect yourself, or stay here and maybe die when you get back. Your choice." The soldiers bent down and picked up their weapons and Drae stood on his back legs, wings flared.

[Ceana]

Ceana growled at the Shadow's mention of an army coming to her camp. No, he wouldn't dare... But this thought was false, for she knew that Draetrialis could and would send an army. But he could also be bluffing. So she had to make a command decision.

After conferring with the wing leaders of the Griffins they had decided a smart battle plan. So, beginning the gamble of strategy during warfare, they initiated their plan and sent a wing (out of five total wings, consisting of about five to eight Griffins each) of Griffins back to the main camp to check on the camp and safeguard it. It happened to be Ceana's wing but she elected to send a different Griffin in her place so she could stay and fight.

"Even if we were to trust you, what would you give us? Nothing. You have and never will give the Rebellion anything, even the respect they deserve. You and I both know this and as such, we will react and plan accordingly." With a side glance that showed an approving nod from one of the more vital wing leaders, she continued. "I speak for all of us Rebellion when I say we are tired of always being pushed back, we have lost much land now in this war. But we gain one inch against you Ammons and you decide to call a ceasefire? You cannot think we are so stupid as to fall for this obvious plan of trying to trap us! You can say whatever you want but we are going to stay in this war to win!"

A smile crept on her beak when she finished her speech, seeing as all of the army of Rebellion, glad in it's green colors and having backed up a little from Drae for safety, cheered and raised their swords and weapons in the air. I seem to have been able to restore the morale to our army.

With a little appraisal from the other Griffins and support on her speech, she decided to use the new morale to push back the Ammons even more. "My brothers and sisters of Rebellion, let us push back their border even more and regain what is rightfully ours!" She had to pause due to more cheering from her fellow army men. "Lets give these Ammons a taste of what we have been suffering from for a long time now! Attack!" Anticipating the war-cry after having been riled up, all the Rebellion army called in unison of their attack.

"The Shadow is mine!" Everyone obeyed, not wanting to go against Draetrialis themselves, while they themselves attacked the other creatures and humans. "You shall die today, lizard. Today is the day you will meet my wrath." She added to herself, knowing he couldn't hear over the sounds of battle.

But to change up the pace and make her style unexpected, she attacked first. She dove off the outcrop, picking up a large rock on the way to her climb for elevation. Once up high enough (and over the Shadow), she dropped the rock. She watched as it dropped fast, plummeting toward Draetrialis. But before she could watch it possibly hit her target, she dove off, going to retrieve a different weapon. Picking up a large log, she rose again. But once dropping off this new load, she banked sideways, carrying her toward a large tree to hover by. I should be decently safe here, for now. Her wings were flapping at a medium speed, keeping her aloft and allowing her to drop like a stone if need-be.

[Draetrialis]

Drae roared with pain as he got hit by the rock and log dead center on his head. Am I glad I wore my armor... he groaned. He managed to stay on his hindlegs, though he was finding it hard to stay standing since his head was spinning. Urf... After a couple minutes, the world stopped moving for him and he glared at Ceana. "Well, well... You certainly have picked up a few tricks." he hissed, loud enough to be heard over the battle. With that, he shifted his stance, kicking a few Rebels over and leaped into the air, swiftly winging his way towards the griffiness. Before he got there, he also swerved away, but set a lone spark of darkfire towards the trees beneath her. The dragon started laughing as he spiraled higher into the air. While he waited for the fire to start, he thought, Well, it didn't work as well as I had hoped, but it still worked... Then, just when he wondered if the inferno would take, there was a loud crack and the entire pocket-forest beneath Ceana burst into flames, the smoke pillar rising quickly and Drae lost sight of his opponent. Hmph. There we go. With his inferno started, the dragon backwinged so he wouldn't get affected by the smoke and surveyed the battlefield below, waiting for an oppertunity to strike at them all.


((misspelled it...))

[Ceana]

Ceana, caught in the sudden forest fire, fought to fly out. She tumbled in the air, trying to get away from the inferno the Shadow had started. All she could see was thick gray smoke and tendrils of flames she kept dodging. Coughing while fighting for not only air but survival, she shot out of the side of the big smoke cloud that covered the fire behind her.

But when she shot out, she looked around and noticed she had not come out the way she had gone in. She had come out on the opposite side of the pocket forest from where she had gone in. Oh that's wonderful. So, knowing she's be momentarily safe, she landed on a stone a little farther away from the fire so as not to get burned further.

Once she came off of the adrenaline of survival, she decided to do something productive. So she checked for damages, and noticed that her lungs were sore from so much smoke and that she had burns all over her flanks and wings. Oh well, none too serious. She thought as she gingerly tested the pain of each one. Well I made it out of there in a good shape. So Draetrialis, you're gonna die! Her eyes narrowed, her focus on beating her enemy was high.

So she shoved off of the stone, sending a mini-avalanche of pebbles down the little hill she had been on. She winced as she, now off of the adrenaline that had taken away any aches and pains, flapped her wings, moving the burns with each flap. But she shook off the jolt of pain as she came back to where she had come out of the out-of-control inferno in front of her. Should i go over and drop down on my target or go around... She decided the one that would hurt her the least and took that path

She, hugging the fire without getting too close and burning herself, flew around the side of the inferno, heading back to her fight. She winced when her wing tip dipped within the fires right next to her. But, pulling away quickly, she finally came around and spotted the Shadow.

Good, this time he won't be so lucky. But rather than attacking, she climbed above him and simply circled like a buzzard. Lets see if this intimidates him. Or perhaps he will do something else. She kept her eyes trained on Draetrialis, in the event he would move and attack, she didn't want to miss it.

[Draetrialis]

Drae suddenly had that sinking feeling, like the eyes of a larger predator was focused on his heart. She couldn't... The dragon turned his head quickly, looking every which way, except up. She couldn't have survived, and even if she did, she would be too burned to fly! Drae hissed and an idea came to him. But she can fly... And she's above me. I can't let her know I figured her out... But maybe I could grab her with my tail and get to the castle for interrogation... Yes... That will work... But no matter what, I can't let her go. He smirked and kept looking around, like he didn't know where Ceana was, even diving down a little to 'see' if she was hidden on the ground. Storm clouds had gathered and it started to rain, and after a few minutes, the fire was out, though the fire of battle was not. Drae flew higher, though this proved to be a potentially fatal mistake. FLASH! Lightning struck him, conducting through his armor, and the dragon roared with a pain and fury unheard of for years. The lightning faded and the electrified dragon plummeted to the earth, smoking. He crashed into the mid line of the armies, taking out soldiers from both sides. He was barely breathing and his last thought was, Valerie... I'll... Be back soon...