“Gator, this is Nya,” Slate, the dragon king, said as Nya followed him over to where the others were training. The fellow in question, a ginormous man, only an inch or so shorter than Slate himself, with massive, bulging muscles, was dressed all in black, a similar outfit to the one Slate always wore, except there were no red accents.
Gator eyed Nya for a moment, his eyes traveling from her head to her toes and then back again. He nodded, his dark, shoulder-length hair swaying slightly with the movement of his head. “Nya?” he questioned.
“Yes. That’s me,” she said, taking a deep breath and brushing her own hair over her shoulder. She was dressed in the same outfit she’d worn when she arrived but it had been cleaned. She knew she could move in it well since it was what she’d worn to ambush Slate. Still, fighting a man of this size wasn’t going to be easy. She still felt like she could take him, though, especially if she used her talent.
Slate continued to explain to Gator what it was that he needed from the warrior. It became clear to Nya that they’d known each other for a long time. She caught Gavin’s eyes out in the crowd. He looked worried. If she was still the same fighter she was when he’d left, then, she wouldn’t be able to handle someone like Gator, but she’d trained a lot since Gavin was given to the dragon, so she thought he might just be surprised.
Or at least he’d be there to help her clean up her own blood.
Slate must’ve finished his directions to the massive man who must’ve also been a dragon shifter at one time, before the Heart of Magic had been stolen from them. The rest of the crowd backed up, and Gator took a defensive stance. Since she hadn’t been listening to Slate when he was talking to the other dragon, she didn’t know for sure what was about to happen, until she utilized her mind’s eye and realized she was meant to attack this gigantic warrior.
Nya took a deep breath and thought about what would be most effective. In her mind, the first move she tried ended up with her arm being snapped in two, so she thought about something else, and once she was certain she had a plan of attack that would at least get her through the first round unscathed, she launched herself at the man.
With a sweep of her leg, she took Gator’s leg out from underneath him. He hadn’t been expecting a blow so low, and he fell, hard to the rocky earth, giving her a chance to leap on top of him. She landed several blows to his midsection and his jaw before retreating. She could see him about to kick her high into the air just seconds before she leapt to safety. Scrambling to his feet, the angry man came after her. Nya was actually better on the defensive because she could see his blows coming and could react a millisecond before he moved. Using this strategy, she not only kept herself from any direct hits from the fists flying at her and the feet kicking at her, she was able to land a few blows of her own away from his attack.
Seeing that his strategy wasn’t working, Gator backed up and reassessed the situation. Nya was much smaller than him. The girl was at least a foot shorter than him and probably weighed 150 pounds less than him. She was quick, though, and as far as he knew she was just good at reacting to his blow. He had no way of knowing she could actually see what he was going to do before he even moved.
When he attacked again, it was a flurry of punches and kicks. Nya had to think quickly to block each blow. Even with her abilities, she was just barely able to defend herself. This time, as Gator swung at her face, she was able to get another swing in. Rather than just striking him in the head, she extended her fingers and poked him right in the eyes.
The massive man screamed and backed up, clenching a hand to his face. Nya thought perhaps she’d gone too far. What happened if she permanently hurt him? When he pulled his giant palms away from his eyes, they were watering.
He came back at her, angrier than ever, but this time, she had an even better advantage than she had before because he couldn’t see her clearly. Nya took the opportunity to launch a counter attack, kicking him several times in the gut. He stumbled back, and she spun around, landing a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He tumbled backward again, connecting hard on the rock.
Nya moved in again, intending to make sure that this was over now, but Slate stepped between her and Gator, putting a hand on her shoulder. “That… that will be enough.”
Raising an eyebrow, she gave him a questioning look but said nothing, They could discuss the situation later. But it looked like he had seen enough. She had to assume that she’d done everything she could to convince Slate that they were ready to go to Beelzanborg now, that she could handle herself. But until she got a chance to talk to the king in person, she’d just have to keep her composure and step aside.
It took Gator a moment to stand up. A few of the students rushed to him to help, but he angrily pushed them away and stumbled to his feet, wiping sweat and blood from his face. One thing Rok had taught her was to never apologize to an opponent for whipping their ass, even if they were a friend, so she said nothing, only stood with her hands folded behind her back. Gator limped away, and Slate called someone in to take his place to lead the training. Then, to Nya, he said, “Come with me.” He turned and walked toward a nearby building, and she rushed after him, hoping he wasn’t as angry as he sounded.