Roleplay

((I was thinking the other way around...pin the guardian, and the imp backs down. Imp not only rasied guardian, but trained them. See where I'm going with this?))

Undyne let out another shrill whistle, but of a higher pitch then the previous one, and the spear changed direction. To do this, it cane to a sudden stop, then zipped off in the new direction. "Last chance, sweetheart." She said, watching her familiar chase the mirror down while periodically checking to make sure the ridgeback was still out cold. "Go home. There is no point in fighting a fight you won't win."

The earth around the guardian erupted into the air, meeting each bolt of ice midair with a bolt of diseased earth. "You're one to talk." She snarled, the earth swirling around her. She could almost swear she heard a voice coming from the tendrils, but she passed it off as nothing. "Come down here and see how small I am."

((Actually... Yeah, I geddit :))))

From the safety of the air, Ignition glanced downward, in particular at the chie- was that... a lightning bolt chasing her? Kakkab- oh, poor Cerena was going to have a fit- was still out cold. Suddenly, the Nocturne felt like the whole battle rested upon her. The twitch in her mind was not going away. If she didn't copy something soon, she'd go mad... But to copy that Guardian might be the last mistake she'd ever make.

Something dinged in her head. There were others to copy. Wasn't that what she did earlier? Ignition glanced at the Imp, hearing her smug tone. Maybe her ventroquilism practice would finally pay off. But in order to make it work... Ignition pelted beam after beam of ice whilst flying in arcs, so as to keep the Guardian from getting a clear visual on her. In true Nocturne fashion, she cried out in the Imp's voice, with a tone of urgency: "I told you to focus!"

In desperation, Kerrigan dashed through a shallow puddle of muck, kicking up a surf of filth in her wake as though to put out the electric sprite. With all her concentration, she willed the muddy surface to grant her mobility. Magic was never her forte and she shunned it; now, she regretted it a little bit.

The guardian grunted as she sidestepped one bolt only to step into the path of another. She lost her momentum, and was pelted with bolt after bolt of frigid magic. She looked around, vainly searching for the icy nuisance. She wasn't that magical to begin with, and her stores were still small as it was, so zhe was quickly exhausting her options.

Maybe if...it was the worth a shot. She began to flap her massive wings, slowly at first, then with increasing speed she began to climb. She stil didnt see the nocturne, but, if this worked, that would quickly change. When she had gotten a good distance up, she folded her wings and brought herself down to the ground like a meteor, slamming to the earth and forming a small crater from the force of the impact.

The spear sputtered for a before umdyne let out a short whistle and it vanished. "Come on." She said, holding her head high. "Enough games, if you want a fight, bring it."

Ignition watched as the Guardian flew into the sky-- missing her by a mere meter-- and fell to the decaying earth like a meteorite. The impact made an impressive, albeit muffled explosion. Ahhh, noooonononono-- It was like a maddening itch, to plummet into the ground like that-- even if such an impact would likely smash her bones in. An entire battle of not copying the Guardian's actions had taken its toll. That was a really neat looking crater.

As her wings began to fold in on themselves, a flash of movement caught her eye. Was that-- Kakkab? The Ridgeback had somehow managed to sneak away from the Imp and now charged, full force, toward the embedded Guardian. What? Was he playing dead? went her mind, confused, and unaware that she had begun to plummet toward the earth.

---

Some meters behind the Imp, Kakkab had come to. From how open the space around him felt and sounded-- and from the noises of battle-- he realized that he hadn't been dragged back into the lair's chambers yet, and that the fight was still ongoing. He kept his eyes closed and lay still; that Imp, by the sound of it, was preoccupied now with Kerrigan, but he dared not take the chance and charge them again. Getting hit by lightning head-on wasn't fun, and he wasn't keen on experiencing it just moments after waking up. The only time he decided to open his eyes so happened to be-- thankfully-- when the Imp addressed Kerrigan with her head high. Well, they had every right to be confident. Kakkab felt that they could take a simultaneous attack on with ease.

What of that smaller dragon? The thought had barely formed itself when Kakkab felt the ripple of the impact through the ground. That couldn't have been Ignition-- she was too light to cause that kind of force. Horror dawned on him when he remembered Ignition was a Noc, and, if she'd been holding out this long, she was likely either going to copy the Guardian or go mad. He had to do something, but if that Imp caught him... carefully, he maneuvered onto all fours and crept away as Kerrigan held the foe's attention. When he thought himself to be a safe distance, he charged, full speed and force, toward the Guardian.

---

What Kakkab missed, and what might have kept the Imp from realizing he was already on his way to their companion, was that Kerrigan likewise had enough of the game of dragon-and-mouse. This wasn't a warrior's fight at all. She was simply being toyed with, like prey, and it began to infuriate her. But if it would somehow ensure victory and survival, then as the Matriarch, she would endure the humiliating battle.

Her sharp eyes caught the Ridgeback sneaking away, quietly and discreetly as possible from this battle, before breaking into a sprint toward the other, where the Guardian and Ignition must have been. To keep the opponent from noticing, she had to act.

With a flick of her claws, she slapped some muck towards the Imperial, and charged. If she was going to go out, she would gladly go by defending the territory and clan that the Plaguebringer granted her.

The guardian quickly swept her gaze above her, looking for the now quickly decending noc. She spotted them and a smirk spread across her face as she prepared to meet them midair and pin them to the ground. She didn't want to hurt them, just incapasitate them so they would stop bugging her.

She was about to lift off yet again when she was blindsided by a towering ridgeback and sent flying sideways instead of up. She hit the ground with a thud and a "Umph." rolling to a stop in the red earth. Thanks to her armor, nothing was badly hurt or broken, but it still hurt like hell.

---

Undyne folded her wings in front of her face and slapped the dieased pojectile away before swinging around and bringing her tail around like a large, armored, mace in an aim to intercept the mirror and knock her to the ground.

@Comic1Sans Glad to see you around again XD

---

Like a Dire Hyena springing for the kill, Kerrigan leapt in time to put the easily telegraphed move to use. As the massive iron-clad tail swung beneath the Mirror, she meant to sink her razor-sharp claws and fangs into the part where the Imp's tail connected with their hindquarters-- the part the armor didn't quite cover.

---

The sight of her fellow Warrior bowling into the Guardian jolted Ignition out of autopilot mode, just in time for her to angle herself up a bit to land, underbelly first, on one of the unfurled wings of the Ridgy ignition is literally a third of kakkab's wingspan what even. It wasn't very smooth landing, though, and their combined momentum sent the pair tumbling into the ground, not too far from the Guardian.

"You coulda just landed on my back," Kakkab grunted, as he clambered gracelessly onto all fours and, carefully, tested out his left wing. It was sprained from the sudden explosive stretch, thanks to the landing Noc, but it would be fine with some rest and either one of the healers' help.

The smaller dragon groaned from where she lay on her back, on the ground, tail writhing from side to side. "You have spines," she weakly protested. Craning her neck to look at the Guardian, she gestured with a spread wing, "Go pin her, she's got weird Dirtbending magic," before collapsing once more.

Kakkab rolled his eyes and stepped over to the Guardian. "Best stay down. There's more where that came from, trespasser." Moving one of his front feet, he attempted to pin some of his weight on the downed dragon. His left wing twitched in anticipation when he felt Ignition climb onto his back, then relaxed when she clung onto his right shoulder this time.

No need to ping. Ive justbeen busy :3

---

Sloppy. Undyne had become overconfident and underestimated the mirror's speed, but she had qlready committed herself to attack, and the mirror made contact. Their fangs piercing hide as they sank them into the one spot she couldn't reach and clawing at the kink in her armor. She winced, the pain annoying despite her high tolerance as she thrashed her tail, smacking it against the earth to try to shake the smaller dragon.

---

"Get...off...spiney." the guardian grunted, pushing up against the ridgy's weight. "Or i'll drag you to the sea and throw you in myself."

The earth around them swirled but it was only for show. The guardian had run her still young stores dry with the last volley, but she was hoping to scare the larger dragon into giving her enough leyway to wriggle free.

(Still going for the live capture right?)

(yup!)

The hulking Ridgeback merely gave her a look, deadpan, firmly rooted in place. "You're kidding me, right? You do realize I was practically born in this stuff?" A plumed orange head with brilliant, ice-blue eyes popped up from behind Kakkab's wing. "Yeah," Ignition crowed, in mock imitation of the Guardian's voice. "Besides, how're you even going to drag Kakkab when you're too small to throw him off--?" "That's enough, Ig. I think you should assist the chief. Last I saw, she was still dancing with the Imp." The Noc squeaked, half in her own and in the Guardian's voice. "Oh, icicle!" Off the ironically-named dragon flew. With that, the Ridgy used one of his hind feet to tap and claw at the ground in a certain pattern. Then, his weight still secure on the smaller dragon, they began to slowly sink deep into the ground like a claw poking into thick, thick pudding. Or something like that.

"I could've sworn I hung up some signs here a few days ago," grumbled the Ridgeback... or perhaps his voice just always had a rough, jagged edge to it. "Blasted Serthis must've knocked them down again... or you and your partner don't have much respect for territorial boundaries. So." Tilting his head down, Kakkab attempted to make eye contact with the Guardian. "Which is it?"

---

Ignition nearly cried out again when she flew close enough to see that the Imp was thrashing around like some bug crawled into their fur. The bug in question happened to be... uh, the Matriarch. That and the huge dragon was threatening to squash her flat, if Ignition didn't do something quick. Kerrigan, on the other hand, was merely clinging on as tightly as possible, with the tenacity of a fire ant... even if the world was a blur and she was likely to throw up if this didn't stop soon.

With the shrill, loud voice that had granted her designation as messenger and Harbinger, she cried, "Hey, long-and-blue! Yeah, you with the horns! You better surrender, or we'll feed your friend to the Wyrmwound!"

"So was I, fish breath." The guardian retorted, a burnng rage in her eyes as she locked them with the ridgeback's annoyed stare. "And there isnt a marker for miles." She added, squirming a little in an attempt to free herself as she realised the ground was rising...no. she was sinking.

---

Undyne heard thenew voice, registered their words, and mentally scolded herself for forgetting about her apprentice. She stopped trying to buck the mirror only to once again aim herselftowards the ridgeback. ignoring the pain, she once again took stock of the situation.

Ridgeback had slipped past her, damn it. She of course could fire another volley, but that ran the risk of hitting Dianna in the crossfire. It would do more harm then good to keep fighting. She would surrender, then send ray back to base for reinforcements and a diplomat to resolve this whole ordeal.

Undyne stilled, lowering herself to the ground, breathing heavy and seemingly done in, but she was far from it. She had to bide her time before making her next move. "I yield!" She said loud enough for her companion to hear.

A brief silence ensued before Kakkab spoke again; he seemed unfazed by the Guardian's angry glare. "Guess we're gonna have to make better signposts," he sighed, as though this entire thing- capturing the trespassers and maintaining the den's surface- were simply part and parcel of a huge chore assigned to him. "You'll see your friend soon enough, kid, but since we're about to break earth, I suggest you behave yourself. The Brain's much more capable of dealing with rowdy dergs like yourself, than I am." As he finished his sentence, the earth seemed to fray beneath them like a thin fabric, and lo and behold: they were underground, inside the lair.

---

"You do? I mean-- you do?" It came out a little too excited and jubilant at first, so the Noc had to correct herself and make sure she wasn't hearing things. On the other hand, Kerrigan loosened her grip and leapt off the monstrous dragon. The tendrils under her feet wriggled, and she attempted to mentally relay an "Understood" down to her feet, the way Leviathan taught her. Telepathy was never something she could get a hold of or have patience for; it was mostly one-sided, too. "Your companion is safe in our lair," she said. There seemed to be a natural hissing quality to her voice. "Come quietly."

As Ignition watched the chief perform the same quick intricate pattern Kakkab did, which really was meant to signal entrance to the lair, she realized something. "W-Wait! Aren't they too big for our lair--?" The ground began to cave in gradually, and Kerrigan only looked at her Warrior as though she were daft. Of course there was space! Especially after all the lair expansions.