[attr="class","text"]With Ziadem out of action he had to resort to his second-favorite flier. Despite this, he’d still rather be in the sky than on the ground, any day.
[break][break]
Much of Rocket’s real-and-true offensive had, characteristically, shattered into a million fucking pieces; the real power hitters were absorbing much of the attention at the center of the action, while the rank-and-file grunts, like yours truly, were freewheeling and taking potshots at any League operatives they could find.
[break][break]
Weaponized chaos.
[break][break]
He clocked kyle lopez about the same time Kyle clocked him, though he didn’t know who it was he was about to go toe-to-toe with. Sliding his hand back along Petra’s neck, he pulled the Aerodactyl up through a banking cloud till he was level with the other rider.
[break][break]
They flew like that, through darkness and clouds, for a bit. It was kind of peaceful.
[break][break]
Then Onyx reverted to his number one skyfighting technique and threw a Pokeball at the enemy Aerodactyl; a Froakie was launched forward, aiming to sticky-cling to the other dinosaur’s wings.
[break][break]
The battle’d begun.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

[attr="class","text"]The Froakie didn’t think much of anything. It had a very small, undeveloped brain, and up until now Onyx hadn’t paid it much attention. It was just, simply, another piece of cannon fodder he’d stuffed in his Pokeball belt in order to sow some chaos.
[break][break]
It flails and grips with its sticky feet as the Aerodactyl’s even flight pattern disintegrates, and then is gone completely. It looks into Kyle’s eyes as they plummet into freefall, blinking with the squeak-sounding Spongebob blink effect.
[break][break]
Then, as though the realization of what was happening hit it at a thousand MPH, it began to thrash about, squeaking in terror and throwing itself forward to try and bounce off Kyle’s face.
[break][break]
Onyx circles above, peering down, curious as to where this social experiment will go.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

[attr="class","text"]Aranai does little damage, using Kyle’s face as a springboard. She does leave a solid frog footprint on his cheek, in any case.
[break][break]
Onyx watches the Leaguer do some fucking anime shit where it looked like he stopped time between animation frames.
[break][break]
Aranai goes screaming away. Onyx clicks his tongue. “Let’s go get her.”
[break][break]
Petra’s chuckle sounds like rocks grinding together. She couches her wings and dives-- the hyper beam booming loudly through the air clips her tail and messes with her balance, sending her askew, wings flailing in the air.
[break][break]
Onyx sighs and lets go, plummeting for a bit. He crosses his arms and taps his feet against nothing… really Wil E. Coyote shit.
[break][break]
Eventually, Petra swoops down to collect him, smoke rising off of her singed hind end. He knocks his heels into her and she charges at Kyle, ice-cold energy brewing between her teeth.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

[attr="class","text"]Far, far below, Aranai has one last moment of panic before she hits the water from such a height that it kills her on impact. Oops.
[break][break]
Onyx’s Aerodactyl bites Kyle’s Aerodactyl, teeth meeting through purple wing membranes and delivering sharp shards of frost straight to semi-fragile wing bones. In turn, the wing attack smacks Petra in the face, knocking her head back and leaving a long scratch over one eye.
[break][break]
The two pterodactyls are forced apart. A glutton for punishment, Onyx puts his heels to Petra’s sides, urging her forward with another ice fang.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

[attr="class","text"]He’s taking his fair share of beatings, in this span of days and just, in general, during his lifetime. So he’s not about to give up the chase (and what looks like a win) when the Aerodactyl buckles and falls. He presses a hand to Petra’s neck, urging her downward.
[break][break]
kyle lopez falls through a bank of clouds, and disappears from sight for about seven seconds as Onyx drops and follows.
[break][break]
His vision goes white for a moment.
[break][break]
Then the sky opens up and he’s staring down a fucking Ho-oh.
[break][break]
His eyebrows go up. The breath goes from his lungs. Something akin to electricity sluices through his veins, and he realizes it’s excitement-- real, actual excitement (that is not andres buenaventura based) for the first time in a long time.
[break][break]
“Well, shit.”
[break][break]
He also realizes, somewhat belatedly, that Petra’s downward momentum has left them somewhat of a pair of sitting ducks. And they’re still dropping.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

[attr="class","text"]I’m trying really hard to hold back, but you have to blame the florist for this.
[break][break]
Onyx has no idea what any of that means. He just knows he’s staring down the rainbow-colored barrel.
[break][break]
The only thing that saves him is Petra. She flares her wings so hard the tendons tear, and while she doesn’t manage to get them out of the way, she does put herself between trainer and lightning bolt. The gigantic zap knocks her out instantly, savagely burning the underside of her body and filling the clouds with the scent of scorched earth.
[break][break]
Onyx feels it, too, traveling up his legs and thighs, setting his blood alight. Through some stroke of luck, he manages to stay conscious, and it’s only because he’s oft practiced switching mounts in freefall that he manages to do so before hitting the ground.
[break][break]
So, he survives. His brain is slightly addled, he hurts everywhere, and he keeps having uncontrolled twitches that make him look like a tweaking addict… but he’s alive. For all the good that’s worth.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]