this is the dragon he begged for in their ring. this is calculation and stoicism, bottled rage kept on a tight leash. malleable enough that she can slip her fingers around his, hold tight while she watches all sorts of emotions she doesn't yet know how to read flit over his face. she doesn't press. now isn't the time. 

when the roar makes its way to them, her fingers tighten around his. panic flutters in her chest. 

"that wasn't - " she starts, but doesn't bother finishing, because lyune's roar comes soon after the first. aeris hisses beside her and takes off, coiling through the air as quickly as she can. she'll move faster without freya and king on her back. 

her pace picks up and through the ash, there is a spot of warmth. static sparks around it. flashfire. two salamence dance in the air. one, the lithe, thin dragon she'd sent in search of lyune. 

and the other is the behemoth himself, wild with rage. he hasn't acted like this since... but this awful place drove him nearly as mad as his master. 

"i have to get up there," she says and looks grimly at king. "you need to help me get on his back."

KING WAYLAND

☉

king grimaces as he lifts his gaze up, watching the dragons dance their fiery tango. it wasn't fear that held him back, but something more calculated.
[break][break]
could he kill freya's greatest friend and ally?
[break][break]
would it even come to that?
[break][break]
he wasn't sure how a contest between lucario and salamence would go, but he had more than just the jackal strapped to his hip. he could take to the skies, or just as easily bring it toppling down around them.
[break][break]
he turns to face freya, expression calm amidst the storm of fire around them. a question rises to his lips, a concern, but he lets it die there.
[break][break]
"okay, but we'll need ta keep it still for anythin' ta work."

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she gathers her tresses up and binds them in a tight braid. watches the pattern lyune flies as he spars with ori. she can tell the smaller dragon is already running out of stamina. he must have exerted himself darting out here. and as they watch and deliberate, he falters. lyune scores a nasty rake on his side and he bellows in pain. 

she shoots a look at king and points at his noivern's pokeball. 

"i know my dragons, king. get me up there now." there's not enough time to tell him she's done this a few dozen times before. not onto the back of an angry, erratic dragon, sure, but aerial combat requires knowing how to fall under duress. 

she wouldn't fancy herself an acrobat but she's pretty damn close. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

what begins as a sigh, dies as a growl of frustration. he runs a hand through sweat covered locks of cyan, before finally allowing resignation to win-out the day.
[break][break]
"no," he says after a second or two, his fingers reaching out to a ball at his hip, "not the bat."
[break][break]
in a flash of ivory light, the form takes shape into something far more predatorial. it's arms end in hooks and a number of fins jut out from its body. it was the perfect predator, even if, it was out of its comfort zone.
[break][break]
"a dragon fer a Dragon Rider, after all."
[break][break]
with a nudge of his head, he urges to the woman forward, crossing his arms over his chest as he settles himself to his spot.
[break][break]
"try not ta die, but know i'll catch ye if ye fall."

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she will stand her ground. she will pry the pokeball from his grasp if she has to. and he knows this. she can see it on his face. smug satisfaction twinges on her lips, but she keeps her comments to herself. there are more pressing matters to tend to. 

while she's made a point to train on the back of all of her dragons, garchomp are by far her least practiced. pride stifles her, though, and she lets it rest that he doesn't offer her his noivern. 

malice drops her pronged talons to the ground, exposing her back. 

freya trails a hand over king's shoulder as she goes. "i know you won't." and then she swings a leg over the beast; malice leaps forward, fins swinging out as she lurches into a breakneck gait. 

no steady thwump-thwump of massive wings. she is built for speed. but freya hunkers against her, squinting against the wind. above, ori lets out another growl. she tilts her head, spies the two dragons with locked claws, wings fluttering as they spiral downward together. 

freya yanks on malice's shoulder and the garchomp growls, but veers all the same. she careens straight at them; both salamence draw back, tongues forking, and freya goes wide-eyed as both belch out a wave of flame at the other.

malice stays the course only because of freya's guttural command and into the flame they go. on the other side, malice turns, skyrocketing to the ground. a shockwave ripples through the earth as she slams into the earth some feet away from king, nostrils flaring, a rider absent from her back.

KING WAYLAND

☉

something primal, natural, and guided by trauma, has king tossing his arm up in defense against the heat of the flames. when it subsides he jumps as a figure slams into the ground beside him and he squints as the dragon has no rider.
[break][break]
"xen." he calls out, nudging his head towards the sky. "find her."
[break][break]
before she gets herself fucking killed.

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

when xen searches for her with auric pulses, he will find her flat on the back of her rampaging salamence, another presence wrapped tightly around her neck. moxie's pokeball is still in hand, pinched between her fingers. the last of her PROTECT wither away like a crumbling shed skin. 

the snake slithers down her front, away from the riptide wind that steals her breath. 

ori blasts another jet of flame and she ducks down quickly, hollering for the dragon to disengage. she'd return him, but she doesn't dare let go of lyune's saddle right now. so ori turns hard, finding his second wind, and lurches away from them. 

lyune follows hot on his trail, despite freya's frantic snarls.

and then she has a really dumb idea.

KING WAYLAND

☉

even had to admit the amount of bravery? stupidity? that he's seeing right now is something else. whatever one wishes to call it, they can't deny it's not at least a modicum impressive.
[break][break]
"xen," he says steadily, pointing his finger up. "be ready."
[break][break]
he begins to palm an AURA SPHERE between both of his hands, nestling it just at the apex of his hip. he grows it steadily, keeping the ball compressed as it slowly takes on a more vibrant sky blue color.
[break][break]
she'd never forgive him for killing her dragon, but her life was a priority.
[break][break]
for now? he'd just have to trust her.

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she would, in fact, do much more than not forgive him if he ever dared strike a killing blow against lyune. the ancient dragon gives another bellow, claws grasping at ori's tail as the slippery salamence gets away from him again. he cannot hear her cries. he cannot feel her pulses. she cannot reach him. 

like this. and when she leans over, spying xen preparing a move of his own, it clicks. 

so she breathes deeply, an archer's sigh. the mega stone wrapped in her hair glows and lyune's muscles bulge. bones break as a silver light envelops the two of them. ori pivots wildly, chest heaving, and flies low to the ground towards king and xen. 

lyune's mega evolution breaks around him and his shuddering cry is all the more harrowing for it. freya slams her shoulder into his neck, fingers scraping against scales hard as diamond. 

his wings extend at their fullest extent; his claws leave fissures in the ground as he slices them through the earth. he lands at a run, yellow eyes wide with wild fury. 

snap him out of it, king. do it now.

freya morningstar

☉

standing before a rampaging dragon, king smiles. it was moments like this that he knew he was alive. he lifts his wrist up, positioning it at a diagonal to his chest. the orb glows a pure blue, a sphere of energy wrapping the lucario in a ball as it empowers him with mega evoltuion.
[break][break]
there's no grand ceremony this time, however, as the fighting- and steel-type emerges in a burst of EXTREMESPEED.
[break][break]
one moment he's facing the dragon, the next he's standing effortlessly on the creatures back just in-front of freya. then, almost lazily, he brings down a METEOR MASH to the creatures neck with one hand, picking up the princess in the other.
[break][break]
then, in a blur, he's by king's side once more.

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

king prepares his own titan and lyune's blood simmers. freya braces for impact, for the crunch that will inevitably follow, but it does not come. his dripping fangs clamp down on air, and then he's grounded without mercy. his back twinges, wings snapping upward. the metal binding his wing's tendon together groans at the unnatural angle. 

her grip tightens, but it's not enough to keep her astride him as king's lucario plucks her off of him. 

he goes crashing into the ground. the blow does not keep him down for long. wings furl agitatedly and he stands, legs trembling in anger. he spins and that forked tongue comes out again, tasting his prey. 

but grounded now, he's at a disadvantage. freya disentangles herself and runs up to the beast. flames gather in his maw, but she stands her ground, arms outstretched. his tongue forks again. recognition flickers. 

and he settles. rests his weight into his haunches, eyes closing, and nudges a large, scaled head into freya's shoulder. 

"welcome back, buddy," she murmurs and pats his side. his eyes open over her shoulder and the dragon regards the lucario and its companion with something close to respect. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

the duo stand still, allowing freya her reunion with the beast. a newly formed AURA SPHERE dissipates from lucario's palm, fading into blue mist.
[break][break]
another back-up measure. unneeded, thankfully.
[break][break]
xen nods in the direction of the salamence and wills away the mega evolution. he releases a deep breath as the excess power fades.
[break][break]
"well," king butts in, "bit closer than i'd like, but, alls well 'n ends well — er somethin'." it ends closer to a grumble, than anything coherent.
[break][break]
"we just wait this shit out, or?"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

freya touches her forehead to lyune's and he hums deeply, but king's awkward trailing doesn't go unnoticed. she smiles and steps back from the dragon so she can turn to him instead. her hands find his and she ducks down, looking up to catch his gaze, smiling amusedly. 

"thank you for trusting me. and for getting him back."

and then, more wickedly, she looks back at lyune, who still hasn't released his mega evolution. "no, we don't, but i don't think you're going to like this very much either."

KING WAYLAND

☉