<div></div><br> <br>To the west of the orphanage dozens of chairs were set up many children occupied the chairs On a platfrom Lady Ironsoul stood waiting for her special guest to arrive as the fence was being set up and many priest stood by to attent to the children and whoever might get injured. "Ladies and Gentlefolk, I have brought you all together to show these children who protect thier city and to show the soulless children possible paths to take in life. Warriors the rules are simple, You will fight till one of you is too injured to continue or surrenders then the one who preformed the best will be judged by the special guests and the children so don't just fight to harm fight to entertain us all." She calls out and the children cheer waving wooden weapons. "Will the warriors please come out to the field!"<br> <br>Rogna strolls into the orphanage, casting his cape back with one arm. He approaches Kilsa cheerfully. "I hear this is a test combat skills, I should like to take part Miss Ironsoul." The hippo looks out over the children and smiles at the woodedn weaponry, surely they will become great warriors for sweetwater someday.<br> <br>Ictus hmms? as the warriors are called out to battle and smiles as he marches out, he waves to the kids and flashes a grin, "I hope this will be very entertaining for the kids."<br> <br>Peril skips up to Kilsa, the little cat having, as wellways shown up early in hopes of getting a good view of any big muscular warrior types that show up. with a broad toothy smile she gve Kilsa a playful nudge before saying to her "You should have chatted to me before doing this. I could have contributed a few funds to help you get in quality fighters from far and wide"<br> <br>Zevran walks into the orphanage when he hears the call for the warriors to gather. He glances towards the eager children waving their wooden weapons, hoping he can give them a good show even if he cannot win a match.<br> <br>Traxin walks over to Kilsa, with an amused smile at Peril's skipping, deepening into a broad grin. "This should be interesting." Rubbing his hands together excitedly, he prepares to watch the fights taking place.<br> <br>Darquan would be one of the next to arrive.  He is actually wearing very little this time around, merely a loincloth.  In fact he had changed before stepping outside, and the only thing he possesses at present is the axe he is so fond of fighting with.  He gets into position wordlessly, though he shows off to the younglings afterward, flexing for them.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles, "Rogna, I would love to see you test your metal. I'll be sure to but you in the first round. The kids are fasinated by the stories I've told them about you." She smiles at Ictus, " You're attending too right? I would love to see you in the first match as well." She nodded to Peril, "Ah my good feline please have a seat up here with me. You've get a better view, I was hoping you recived my request to judge correct?" She smiles as more people came to join in the festivites. "I wish to do it from my own funds for the good of sweetwater." She looked at Traxin, "Come Traxin join me on the judging booth with Peril." She stood up. "GIVE THESE WARRIORS A HAND" The children scream and cheer as the other priest work to calm them down. "Ictus and Rogna please stay in the arena. The rest of you please come on the plate form to enjoy the first match and get your weapons ready or in Darquan's case some clothes." She joked.<br> <br>Rogna laughs and nods, then looks to Ictus. Rogna smiles and offers them a slight respectful bow as a warrior. He then takes a fighting stance, seemingly prepared to do engage Ictus when Kilsa gives them the okay.<br> <br>Ictus nods to Kilsa with a smile and chuckles, "Yes, I will be participating." he nods and bows back to Rogna, taking a fighting stance with his sword and shield out as well<br> <br>Peril sniggered as she took her place alongside Kilsa, lifting her tail as she sat down before perking up to look over the contenders, a broad smile parting her lips as she spied a familiar gator. with a playful giggle she raised a hand to wave to Darquan "I do hope we get a few nice big ones"<br> <br>Darquan shakes his head and passes Kilsa a look, followed by a wink, "Oh, come on.  It's not like I'm going to take it off."  Still, he follows the others to the waiting area.<br> <br>Traxin grins to Kilsa, joining her and Peril in the judging booth. "Thanks for inviting me." He whispers quickly to her, chucklilng at the joke about Darquan's clothes.<br> <br>Zevran watches as the two fighters get into their stances. He takes moment  to size up each fighter before making his way to the waiting area. He can only assume that the other warrior in the waiting room is his competition. He silently glances towards the gator for a moment before turning his gaze back to the fight.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles and raises a hand. "Fighters ready! GO!"  She leans looks at Traxin and Peril, "who are you both rooting for?"<br> <br>Darquan is large and quite burly, and from his current attire it would make him look something like a barbarian.  He doesn't seem to notice the scrutiny directed toward him, for his attention is mostly on the children and the competitors on the field.<br> <br>Rogna leaps into action, using his girth to push the fox around before drawing his swords.<br> <br>Peril cackles with glee as she looks over the battleground eager to see blows flying "ohh you know. I'll root for whoever puts on the best show, and award bonus points to the one that claims the Gator's loin cloth"<br> <br>Ictus hmms? and dodges the leap, grinning slightly as he takes a swipe at Rogna's knees with his blade<br> <br>Traxin laughs, then looks at the hippo and fox. "I have no favorites at this stage, Rogna's got size, but foxes can be cunning. I expect Ictus to play things smart."<br> <br>Kilsa claps watching Rogna take the first strike, "Wow. I expected Ictus to lead the attack." The children go wild from the start of the fight. Near the stands a single Pitbull child glares at Darquan, Kilsa shouts at the fighters, "Gooo!" The crowed shouts and cheered randomly.<br> <br>Darquan soon finds his target in the stands of the orphans before long, what with the eyes boring holes into him.  The PitBull's glare is returned, though he adds a sharp salute the kid's way while calling out a simple, "Donny!"<br> <br>Rogna uses both his peace keeper and legendary sol to parry the blade, running the legendary sol to slash at Ictus's arm as he moves aside.<br> <br>Peril claps her paws together while giggling gleefully, her eyes fixed upon the action<br> <br>Ictus chuckles as he is parried and grunts as he attemps to roll with the blow to his arm, pushing inwards to try and land a blow to Rogna's stomach with his shield<br> <br>Rogna oofs slightly as his gut it pushed on, backing up slightly to disengage Ictus and prepare for another assault.<br> <br>The claps and cheers, "That it show these kids what it is to be a warrior!" The pit in the crowd give Darquan a hard look before giving him a thumbs up. "Wow I didn't except the fox to so evenly matched with someone as strong as Rogna. They seem alot more skilled since I've fought with either of them." She says to the other two judges.<br> <br>Darquan drops his arm and nods to the youngster before finally turning his attention toward the other fighter beside him, taking the time to look him over.<br> <br>Ictus grins as Rogna backs off and does a backflip, in heavy armor... With a shield! He seems to be getting some distance from the hippo<br> <br>Rogna laughs and shakes his head, and beings preparing something. His hands start to glow with the power of a priest. With the distance this should be just right.<br> <br>Traxin claps wildly. "I didn't know Ictus was THAT agile..."<br> <br>The children begin chanting "Fight Fight!" Over and over, Kilsa smiles and chuckles. "Hey if we turned this into a free for all I bet these kids would explode." She looked at Darquan and Zevran, "Do you think either of you could take either one of them?"<br> <br>Peril chuckled and shook her head "They are lucky I am not contending! I would show them a thing or two!"<br> <br>Ictus blinks as Rogna glows with priestly might and charges him while he is distracted with theh Divine Math<br> <br>Zevran glances towards Kilsa as she addresses the gator and him. "I would always be willing to try it." He responds in a baritone voice as he sizes up the two current combatants again. "I suppose the children might enjoy it." He adds, looking towards the chanting children.<br> <br>Rogna casts his spell as Ictus approaches, debilitating his power and bolstering his own. A glow surrounds him as he prepares to engage Ictus.<br> <br>Darquan finds that he is of equal height and mass as the Rhino, as they are both seven feet and of the Heavy clan.  This might prove interesting to say the least.  He then turns to the judging booth and remarks, "Anything can happen, really."<br> <br>Traxin watches fascinated at Rogna's magic, tapping his fingers idly, and sketching abstract geometric shapes without taking his eyes off the action between the fox and hippo. <br> <br>Kilsa looks at Traxin, "Oh your a Kevin scope learner?" She noties.<br> <br>Ictus grunts as the spell hits him and keeps charging shield up as he prepares to bash Rogna<br> <br>Traxin nods to Kilsa, "Indeed I am." He grins a little, perhaps at a private joke, before turning back to see how the hippo would respond to the charging fox.<br> <br>Rogna prepares to take the charge, delivering a roundhouse kick to weaken his impact and destabilize him as best he can. <br> <br>Peril is tempted to call out 'Finish Him' but represses this strange urge which she cant quite explain<br> <br>Ictus grunts at the kick and chuckles a bit as he stumbles past Rogna, clearly intent on gaining some distance<br> <br>Traxin tilts his head to the side. "What's he doing? Crafty, crafty fox..." he ponders aloud.<br> <br>Darquan crosses his arms while he cocks his head, "Just what is it you are up to, Fox?"  This is said softly, perhaps soft enough so only the Rhino beside him can hear.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles, "Come on pull out all the stops! Just don't kill anybody." She cheers to the both of them as the children begin Cheer more for the warriors each yelling "FOX!" or "Hip  Hip Hippo!"<br> <br>Rogna whirls around swords at ready and lashes out with an overhead strike using his peace keeper. <br> <br>Zevran is focused on watching the fight, but manages to hear the Gator's question. He realizes it might be rhetorical, but decides to respond anyway. "I wonder the same as well. This Fox seems to be quite crafty." He responds, his voice soft as if he is afraid that the noise might disrupt the fight.<br> <br>Ictus grunts as he lifts his shield overhead and grins as he backs off more before charging at the hippo so fast it seems he dissappears at moments, leaving a vague after image like line towards Rogna<br> <br>The children gasp at the strange skill Ictus display. "Speedy FOX!" The children start chanting obviously enjoying the quickly moving fox as the other priest hold them back from trying to hop the fence.<br> <br>Peril rolls her eyes and shakes her head "what good is all that speed if the action is too quick foe us to see hmm? Trust a fox to be all to eager to finish"<br> <br>Rogna has rather good vision, and although he cannot see the full action of the fox he takes a thrust forward as he charges, then whips around and swings his peace keeper in an arc to defend his sides.<br> <br>Darquan watches like everyone else as Ictus simply vanishes and Rogna is left to perform a whirling defense posture just to try to defend himself.  This has him rumbling softly, "Crafty bugger.  Glad I'm not his enemy."<br> <br>Ictus hmms? and grunts as he veers to the left while charging as he spots Rogna's move, coming to a stop with a shake of his head and a grin, "Well... We seem to be about even... I however, am convinced that the others should have their turns." he grins and bows to Rogna, "So, I surrender." he's panting a bit from the exertion<br> <br>Kilsa nods and looks from the stands. "Winner by Surrender Rogna!!!" She didn't feel a need to vote for the surrender the children boo at the fox while a few scream at him to do another speed run.<br> <br>Rogna frowns and shakes his head. "If you insist." he says and sheathes his swords and gets off stage. <br> <br>Zevran chuckles as the cheers of the crowd turn into boos as the fox surrenders. "I suppose you won't have to worry about fighting him now." He says to the Gator. He glances towards the finished fight, knowing that he will soon be called to fight.<br> <br>Ictus blinks at Rogna's frown and wanders over to him while the second round starts, "Something wrong?" he sighs at the boos and a bit<br> <br>Darquan chuckles a little, "I wasn't worried about fighting him.  It just so happens that now all three of us remaining are of the same clan."  A smirk follows and he claps the Rhino on a shoulder, giving it a squeeze in the process, "May the best combatant win the next round, eh?"<br> <br>Kilsa smiles to the crowd, "Now Time for our two bruisers to show us some skill." She waves the other two out to the makeshift arena. "When ever your ready! Get out there and show these kids what you can do!" Soon as they are ready Kilsa screams "Ready! GO!!!"<br> <br>Zevran gives the Gator a small nod when he is clapped on the shoulder. "Indeed. May the best win. Let's give these kids a good show, huh?" He replies to the Gator, giving him a smile before walking out into the arena.<br> <br>The near-naked gator follows his opponent out to the ring, hefting that axe over one shoulder.  His thick hide serves as his armor in this case, since gators are known for their toughness and whatnot.  Getting to his side of the ring he sets his axe in front of him in a diagonal angle, only to give it a showy twirl.  He does not make the first move.<br> <br>The young pit leans off the rails, "SMASH HIS FACE IN SCALES!!" The rest begin to cheer and kilsa claps from her seat.<br> <br>Traxin settles in to watch the new matchup. "This will be interesting, I don't think I've seena gator fight before. Who is that? He turns to Kilsa curiously, indicating the young pit.<br> <br>Zevran turns to face the Gator, leaving his own sword on his back. The clothes he is wearing will not do much to stop an axe, but he hopes his own thick hide will help. "I guess the first move is mine, then." He says across the arena, loud enough for the Gator to hear. He lowers his head slightly so that his horn is pointed towards the chest of the Gator. He stomps his foot once, then charges. As he gets closer to the Gator, he attempts to draw his sword and unleash a diagonal slash.<br> <br>Kilsa smiles at Traxin. "Thats Donny, A child I personally mentor he has taken to the gator since he saw him at a talent show I host a while back." She shrugs, "He is a good kids with a pretty tragic story. I killed his father a while back on a patol. So he is a bandits son but is trying to grow away from that life."<br> <br>Darquan can see the kid with his wide vision, but he turns his head to ackknowledge him anyway, "You know it, Donny!"  He turns his attention back once he hears the charge, and feels the ground shaking from it.  The diagonal slash is met with a parry from the axe while he sidesteps the charge, even if it was aborted.  His first strike for the battle is a fairly simple one, though it is not physical.  He steps away and stares at the rhino, analyzing his technique for a moment.<br> <br>Traxin nods to Kilsa. "A tragic story indeed. But it is good to see that he has people he can look up to." He turns back to watch the combatants.<br> <br>Zevran notices as the Gator steps back for a second. Deciding not to give the Gator too much time to plan, Zevran turns and charges again and launches an upward diagonal slash.<br> <br>The crowd roars happy as the titans go at it. The priest attending them turn around to see a little of the match with approving smiles all around.<br> <br>Darquan had been watching too intently for the simple strike to work.  Instead of blocking it, he leans back...only to twirl around in a 360 spin, his tail leading the way for his first attack.  The height and angle would mark it right to the midriff.<br> <br>Traxin watches with interest as the crocodile uses his tail as a weapon. He looks quickly to Zevran to see how he'll counter it.<br> <br>Rouge<br> <br>Darquan<br> <br>Rogna snaps to, his mind taken from the fight when he remembers Ictus had spoken to him. "I admit we were taking our time but I am shamed to have not completed the combat. A surrender does me no honor."<br> <br>Littlepaw peeks in and finds a seat in the back.<br> <br>Ictus blinks as Rogna speaks and shakes his head with a chuckle, "It's not like it was a dual of honor or anything like that." he smiles<br> <br>Moroko also peeks in, though a little bit after Littlepaw. He edges in slowly taking in the fight and begins picking his way in to try and find a spot to watch from.<br> <br>Kilsa watches the fight with renewed interest, she had never seen Zevran fight before and is curious on how he would do against the power of Darquan. "These two are beastly, I'm impressed at thier drive. You both fought well but where your matches were skill these two seem to be about raw power."<br> <br>Crowded, of course.  The heat of many bodies, and the deafening sound of cheers and jeers..  and rather quiet among them is a massive humanoid grey wolf, standing on two legs with his arms crossed, and traditional hands settled upon his arms.  His large form shifts around through the crowd until he finds a comfortable place to stand and watch.<br> <br>Sveta stalks into the orphanage, drawn by the sounds of combat coming from within. Folding her wings against her body to squeeze through the crowd watching the tournament, she finds a perch near the back of the orphanage to watch from, the distance from her to the action seemingly not bothing the goshawk.<br> <br>Littlepaw blinks and looks around the arena. slowly she can make out whos fighting and whos just cheering.<br> <br>Zevran grunts as the tail slaps into his midriff. The imbalance from the sword slash and the force of the blow causes Zevran to stumble away from the Gator and out of range of his tail. He plants the tip of his sword in the ground and quickly tries to regain his footing before the Gator can attack him again.<br> <br>"Oh well done" Traxin applauds the Gator's attack, leaning forward as the action heats up.<br> <br>Darquan finishes his twirl in due course.  He does note that his opponent is off-balance because of the low-blow strike, and with a flourish he raises his axe overhead and looks toward the Pitbull orphan, "This one's for you!"  Instead of swinging with the axe, however, he launches a high kick that is aimed right for the Rhino's head.  He is following the extatic request of 'bashing the face in' made earlier quite literally.<br> <br>Moroko watches the crowd as much as the fighters. The young lupine picking his way slightly closer. He nods to Sveta as she finds her spot at a distance but scoots a bit closer as the fighters dance around each other. He blinks, "I guess... that's one form of dedication."<br> <br>Donny cheer wildly while leaning on the fence of the arena. "Scalie SCALIE SCALIE!!!" Soon the rest of the kids are cheering with him, The whole area is filled with cheers as the opponents continue to go at it. Kilsa claps from the platform, "Things are getting heated up." She says to the other Judge."<br> <br>Sveta calmly watches the tournament proceed, wondering if she's missed the best of the fight before her arrival. Oh well...turning to Rouge who just happens to be somewhat nearby, she gives him a shrug and a smile. "Looks like a good show, doesn't it?"<br> <br>Littlepaw smirks as the kids get into the action.<br> <br>Zevran glances at the axe, but a blur of motion draws his attention to the high kick aimed for his face. He plants his feet as much as he can to ground himself and tilts his head slightly so that the Gator's foot hits the large horn on his face instead of hitting his face directly. Since the Gator is now close enough, Zevran takes a step towards him and throws an uppercut at the Gator's jaw.<br> <br>Rouge tilts his massive head with a slight pop, before glancing over to Sveta as he's spoken to.  Red eyes flicker across her form for a moment, studying the goshawk, before he gives a faint nod "It seems they have some idea of what they're doing..."<br> <br>Rogna smiles and watches the fray. "I would prefer to continue it sometime, however let us take in the performance before us." He says to Ictus. <br> <br>Ictus hmms? at Rogna and nods with a chuckle, "Sounds good to me."<br> <br>Littlepaw watches the fight, wondering if there are rules they have to follow for this sort of thing.<br> <br>The Rhino might have had more fortune with a punch right to the gator's own middle with how close they were.  Even so, the Gator is not expecting the strong uppercut to his head, and the slug causes his head to snap upward while he staggers back.  It doesn't take long, however, before he recovers and he finally uses his axe.  He actually attempts a double-swing, both of them diagonal with the second one being an upward strike.  Not aiming for any specific part this time around.<br> <br>Donny jaw drops at the fight win or lose this gator was his hero. He chants over and over again ignoring any other chant because his hero deserved it. Kilsa stand up and claps heartly resisting the urge to join the fray, her blood pumping from the amount of force being tossed around causually. "Amazing! Nether one seems to show a hint of stopping."<br> <br>Sveta chuckles and chirps at  Rouge's comment. "Perhaps. I'm sure they know what they're doing, but this is more a show than anything else, really. If they were fighting in earnest, it'd probably be over in half the time. Still, it's got to be good for the kids, yes? Never know when they might need to hold a weapon against a shadow sometime."<br> <br>Moroko continues to wander the crowd a bit more or less because he can. He winces as he sees the large Rhino staggering back, "That can't be pleasant." The wolf rubbing his jaw in sympathy. Then he's glancing around for a moment and asks the nearest person to him, "So... who do we place our bets with?" Though it might be unfortunate that the nearest person is Kilsa.<br> <br>Red eyes shift slowly back to the fight before him, a faint frown upon his lips as he studies the two fighting for a moment with a shift of his head.  White hair spills across his silver fur, and his massive chest rises against thick arms, before he nods once and looks back to Sveta "I suppose.. though if we establish that they are not fighting for real, but simply for amusement, then it perhaps is not the best lesson for a real fight."<br> <br>Littlepaw blinks as she notes that one of the little children is a mouse pup. She grins brightly as she watches the little cheering along with the rest.<br> <br>Traxin also bounds to his feet and applauds wildly. "Truly exciting!" He heartily agrees with Kilsa.<br> <br>A priest glares at Moroko, "There will be no betting here. If you have money to throw away so casaully please consider adopting a child." All of the kids around him look up at him with the best pitiful eyes they can muster.<br> <br>Zevran could see the Gator prepare to use his axe as he recovered from the blow, and he was ready for the attack. He steps backwards twice, staying just out of reach of the blade. As he takes the second step back, he braces himself with his back leg. As the Gator finishes his upward slash, Zevran pushes off with his back leg, his head tilted down slightly as he attempts to ram the Gator in the chest with his horn.<br> <br>Moroko ducks at the glare and then blinks, "Wha? Oh. Erhm... Hi kids." He gulps and backpedals at those pitiful eyes and then points at the ring, "Hey luck! The Gator's going to spin his tail and fly!" He says quickly as he tries to disappear back into the crowd from those innocent pitiful eyes.<br> <br>"You're right, it's not a good lesson." Sveta leans back and studies the rhino and gator going at it for a little while longer, idly scratching at her slightly ruffled feathers, then addresses Rouge again. "Still, there ought to be some value in getting the children to not fear the idea of having to fight. I don't know, maybe I'm just talking nonsense - this sort of brawl isn't quite my style. You, on the other hand -" she runs another glance over Rouge's lupine form- "I'm sure you can appreciate it better than I can."<br> <br>"Depends on the child and their pursuit in life, I imagine."  Deep rubies of eyes draw down to razor claws the size of small daggers as he extends them out on one hand, before sheathing them once more as his gaze turns back to Sveta "Not nonsense, though, no.."  He studies the other creature for a moment longer, before glancing back to the fight "And what do you do, then?"<br> <br>Littlepaw looks around... wondering if the show is over. Perhaps sometime they'll have a mage duel.<br> <br>Various children begin to cheer the Rhino as well, "Biiig HORN! Biiig HORN!!!! YAAAAAAY!!" The priests attending the kids smiles as they walk the lanes handing out small treats to keep the kids fed and happy. Kilsa chuckles, "I've not seen them this riled up since the talent show. I might have to do this more often." She gives big smiles to the other judges.<br> <br>Moroko finds himself a back exit and slips out away from glaring priests, the cheering of the rhino's and so on.<br> <br>This time around, the ram attack works like a charm.  Fortunately the horn itself did not pierce the thick, scaled hide of the gator, for he had sidestepped...but not far enough to avoid contact with shoulders.  The strike knocks the gator off his feet and he loses hold on his weapon.  Grunting, the gator sprawls out for a couple of seconds before rising to a crouch and taking a few deep breaths to try and center himself.  Looks like he's trying to acquire a Second Wind already.<br> <br>Sveta considers Rouge's question for a while, oblivious to the cheering that's erupted from the crowd. "Me? I'm a sellsword for now, I suppose. More a sellbow, if that's even a word. There's always work to be found at the Freesword's guild...so you could call me a vagrant of sorts." A gleam and a twitch enter one of her amber eyes. "What I really want to do, though, is set up a workshop in the city. Making guns, mathing them with a couple of equations, and of course, there's the field testing. The best part, really, although everything is good."<br> <br>Zevran knows that he needs to take advantage of this opportunity. When the Gator loses hold of his weapon, Zevran reaches down and grabs it before tossing it across the arena, low enough so that it would hit the ground and stop before reaching the crowd, but far enough that the Gator would not be able to get to it easily. He grabbed his own weapon as the Gator crouched, and charged again with the blade held low, not only for balance but also to dissuade the Gator for attacking the legs of the charging Rhino. When he got closer, he would attempt to swing the sword horizontally and hit the Gator with the flat of the blade. <br> <br>Littlepaw smiles and drops somethings into the orphanage box.<br> <br>Rouge gazes down to one of his large hands, before looking back to Svete with an eyebrow raised "I've never been the gun sort, myself.  Never used one, though..."  He takes in a slow breath, before tilting his head to the side and looking back to watch the fight as the crowd cheers around him "Rouge, by the way."  The voice is rather calm and simple - low notes formed within the massive throat of the creature.<br> <br>Even with the time that it took for the axe to be retrieved and thrown, the gator is still in the crouch by the time the rhino charges again.  This time the gator is too slow to avoid the strike that comes in.  The force of the blow is more than enough to send the gator flying several feet and strike the ground.  When the dust clears from the impact, the gator is revealed lying there still and sprawled out where he had landed.  There is some movement as the gator's head rises slightly, but it drops back down.  The strike has knocked out this contestant, and he's definitely still breathing.<br> <br>Kilsa is just in sheer awe of the skill being displayed. She calls over a Panda priest, "If you can finder our best healer and have them closer see about Darquan." The panda smiles and nods before running off. "Rogna what do you think, I want to hear your opinion of these two. I'm floor right now and even though I'm a judge I think they did equally amazing." Standing Kilsa opens her hands. "Give these two amazing warrior the praise they deserve!" <br> <br>Traxin applauds wildly. "Bravo, bravo... is he alright?" The cheetah looks at Darquan wild mild concern, hoping he hasn't been injured too badly. <br> <br>"Ah, where are my manners. Do pardon me, I'm Sveta." The goshawk appears to consider offering one of her talons to Rouge, but is distracted by the thump coming from the ring as the rhino squarely knocks out the gator. Slowly, she shakes her head and puts her talons a few times together. "Tch, that looks painful, doesn't it? Had to end sometime, though."<br> <br>Rogna gives a polite clap for the outcome of the combat, a fierce battle. <br> <br>A large green female Frog walks over to Darquan and waves some bitter leaves against his snout. "Wakey Wakey Hero." She looked over and notices that he isn't several injured but both are looking very battered. "I wouldn't want to be anything you two decided to be serious on." The frog stammers and attempt to wake up Darquan some more.<br> <br>Zevran blinks as he sees the dust settle around the prone form of the Gator. He hopes he did not cause any permanent damage, and starts to relax as he sees the Frog walk over and try to wake the Gator. He places his sword on his back before walking to the end of the arena where the axe rested. He picked up the weapon before walking back to the prone Gator and laying the weapon down next to him. He then glances up towards the judges, waiting for their decision.<br> <br>Littlepaw has to climb up on her chair to be able to see into the arena. She watches as the priestess ministers to Darquan<br> <br>It takes the herb a moment or two to have the desired effect on the unconscious gator.  A low groan is accompanied by a slight shift of the head before the eyes crack open.  How the strike didn't cause a bloody snout is a mystery considering the force behind it.  Not even a chipped or broken tooth.  With the assistance of the healer(s), he is soon back on his feet, though a bit wobbly at first.<br> <br>Rouge raises both of his large hands to clap together lightly, before lowering them to hang loosely at his side as he speaks in low notes "A pleasure, Sveta..."  The deep pools of red stare at victor and loser in silence for a moment, before moving to gaze across the rest of the crowd, curiously looking over those present.