Ryoga had only been in New York for a short amount of time, staying entirely within the Mansion's grounds, meeting it's mutants and waiting for his personal room to be built. Though it was somewhat dull to remain there, it's large natural garden was enjoyable. But now was the time to show this city it's new God, so the dragon decided to head into the city and show off his majesty. Heading through the Mansion's gates, and despite some trying to convince him this would cause undo trouble, Ryoga would do as he pleased.

Waltzing through the streets in front of the Mansion, Ryoga was already drawing tons of attention, all of it feeding his reptilian ego. He'd grin if he still could, as the large creature scaled a near by building, his claws digging easily into the brick and letting him gain some height so he could truly show himself off. Holding onto the roof and side of the building, he turned his head to stare at the people below, their breath about to be stolen from their very lungs as he ascended to the skies.

The apartment complex was large, easily tall enough to allow him to soar some distance. With a mighty push of his legs, the dragon extended his wings and did his best effort to fly. His wings, underdeveloped and encumbered by his weight couldn't lift Ryoga very much, but he was able to cover a good distance directly towards down town. His shadow and form easily blotting out the ground beneath him, dozens possibly hundreds of human and mutants alike looked on in awe, their lives suddenly halted by the presence of a legend above them. Ryoga flapped his wings, holding onto the sky for as long as he could, the wind he created blasting the ground beneath him and furthering his image as a god.

Finally his glide could no longer hold out, and the dragon was forced to land, choosing to drop himself directly into an intersection some distance from the Mansion. His weight dropped with a thud, halting what little traffic would have tried to happen as a dragon suddenly invaded the driver's world. "Behold American's, behold a divine beast, a God a midst your normal lives!" Ryoga said with power and presence, his voice booming above the world and shattering the silence his descent had made. And plenty of people took in the moment, their gasps audible and their words jumbled with various statements about him. However a good chunk of the people in their cars also took a moment to shout some rather obscene words at him and demanding he remove himself from the streets.

Ryoga snarled a bit but realized he was in fact stopping traffic, and though it was well within his right to stop their minuscule lives as he pleased, the police of this state probably wouldn't enjoy him disrupting the traffic. Ryoga began to move, his claws and wings carrying him to the sidewalk, which his mass barely fit upon and dominated. He strolled further through New York, his pride and visage scattering people before him, while drawing tons of admiration and curiosity as well. As the dragon made his way deeper into the city, he enjoyed every bit of attention he was drawing, the intimidation and admiration feeding his delusions of grandeur. "Fear not little humans, though I am a fearsome God, I come to embrace and enjoy your city, not destroy it." He bellowed with arrogant but polite tone.

However, with his mind preoccupied with the attention of the humdrum humans and mutants around him, he was unaware that more dangerous, scheming eyes might be falling upon him.

Ever since their initial attack upon the best of the mutants and the masses, the group that had identified itself as the Zodiacs had gone quiet. There were no mass attacks, no utter chaos brought about by their powerful elite(though no one could attribute the rioting as their handy work), no more examples made to the public of their abilities. It was if they had swooped in like the wind, struck fast and deadly, then faded into shadow. Some questioned whether they were serious about their claims or if the whole thing had been an elaborate hoax.

The truth was far from any of that. Yes, they had gone quiet...to the public eye. They were now conducting their actions in secret, silently removing mutants that most would not miss and planning their next course of action. The game board was ever shifting but it was still shifted in their favor. They needed another major play to tilt the odds further towards them. So their soldiers watched, hidden amongst the masses as merely another human, searching for details to plan the next step in their plan.

It came in the form of a 15 foot dragon.

To call him a dragon was simply the only way to describe the being that had suddenly landed upon the street, disturbing traffic and sending varied reactions among the people below. Shocked silence. Angry honking. Shaking fists. Awe and admiration. And fear. Most importantly, fear and anger. The two things Libra loved more then anything else to see amongst his potential victims.

They had spotted the dragon a few days ago, when he'd appeared at the Mansion. However, they had waited instead of moving on this valuable asset, mainly because moving that close to the mansion was not a wise choice yet. Instead, they had sent Libra and a squad to the areas nearest the mansion, to wait for the chance that the dragon would wander from the protection of the X-Men. And, here and now, their patience had paid off. The dragon had come to the city. And Libra was posed to take advantage of the fact.

It wasn't hard, not in the slightest, to track the dragon and position himself in the proper location for his plan. The dragon was a 15 foot target but Libra was aiming at only a small portion of that. He waited, biding his time until...there! The dragon had paused, but for a moment, to bask in the awe and fear he was causing. And he made his head the perfect target. With lethal precision, Libra's arm snapped up, the parasite his body produced bursting free from his skin and streaking like a creature possessed to its target. It struck with little spectacle, squishing against the crown of the dragon's head and burrowing itself quickly through the skin, attaching itself firmly to its target.

And then it started seeping Libra's suggestions to the beast. Subtle, little words that the dragon would think its own, all the while stroking the anger and fury in the creature to set it upon the path Libra deemed. Yes...they bow before me as they should. All should bow before me. But these are mere humans, this is to be expected. I need to make those with powers like me bow as well...Sanctuary. I will make Sanctuary bow before me and prove my godly status!

And as the dragon changed direction to visit the home of the mutants, Libra grinned. Plan in motion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For once, it was a half decent day outside and Kyle wasn't one to waste those chances. The city had been quiet for a while, save for the everyday crime that takes place in a city of this size. Those crimes didn't bother him; he was watching for the group that had laid him and several others up severely, these Zodiacs, to reappear. They had been quiet for a while now and rather then make Kyle feel at ease about the fact, all it brought to him was unease. They were no joke...and the silence worried him. He feared what kind of action would have them remain so still for so long...and feared having the ability to combat it.

A rumbling stirred him from his musings. At first, he didn't know what he was hearing. Then, as whatever it was got closer, Kyle started picking out the sounds. Car horns. Sirens. Screaming. And something big thudding against the pavement below, the sounds of metal being pushed aside or something being shattered. Getting to his feet, Kyle peered over the side of the building he had been perched atop, only a short distance from Sanctuary. What he saw made him blink twice as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing and confirm he wasn't going mad.

A dragon. There was a dragon barreling down the street towards Sanctuary's doors. With speed. And he showed little signs of slowing down. And above all else...he looked angry. Really. Angry.

Which couldn't be a good thing. It only took Kyle a moment to realize that trouble was about to hit, in a very big way. Muttering under his breath, Kyle was already moving, hoping down onto the fire escape and quickly descending the building. His mind was already working on what he would have to do to take on something like that...he knew he would be sorely outmatched in this contest if it came down to head to head. He would need help...but who could he call that could get here quick enough to assist? There just wasn't enough ti...

It hit him so quickly that he almost lost a step when he hit the pavement. There was one person he could call on...whether she would actually help was another story. Pulling his phone out, he scrolled through the contacts to one he had not used in a while and hit dial. By dumb luck(she must not have put his name down with this number), she answered. "Isabel, how would you like to catch a dragon that's about to plow through Sanctuary's doors?"

Then he jumped on his bike and gunned after the beast, hoping he made it there before the creature could do any serious damage.

The voice on the phone had barely gotten through the word 'Sanctuary' before Isabel hung up. She knew she should have attached a name to that number the last time it had popped up on her phone's screen. She was not in the mood to deal with whatever nonsense Forte was spouting off as an excuse to aggravate her.

She was just stuffing the device back in her pocket when the message he'd been delivering finally processed in the wake of her irritation. A dragon was heading toward Sanctuary, apparently at an alarming enough speed to cause enough worry that the fool felt he had to bother her for help with the situation. This was a problem that she had never encountered, nor had she ever heard of such a thing happening. She hadn't made up her mind yet whether or not she actually wanted to help the intrusive young man, but in the very least she was curious enough to want to see the chain of events unfold.

So she booked it down to the lobby, completely ignoring Lisa as she went, and slipped through the doors. One brow quirked as she spotted the over-sized lizard barreling toward the golden doors that closed behind her. She crossed her arms and her jaw set while a layer of armor spread across her skin beneath her clothing just in case. It could trash his way toward the Sanctuary if it wanted, but it wasn't going to get much further. She was not impressed.

Though Orochi had planned for his stroll to be peaceful, it seems his Father's predicted destiny of destruction would follow him still. Unaware of the plot to use him, an action that would enrage the dragon like no other, Ryoga found himself taken advantage of unknowingly as the parasitic power took hold of his head, digging it's hate into his skull. Ryoga stopped for a moment, his mind stopped as foreign thoughts invaded and began to take reign of his conciousness. He was a God, everyone should bow to him, worship the ground he walked upon, fear his might. This much was obvious, but this was different, his ego, his arrogance suddenly began to burn, like venom escaping from his heart to permeate his being. He'd been friendly with the mutants so far, those who shared his home knew to respect him, but this Sanctuary...What was Sanctuary? He'd never been to such a place...No! This Sanctuary was an affront to him, they refused to bow to a God? Such foolish arrogance!

The dragon's blood began to boil, it was time to cowl this Sanctuary and show them the wrath of an angry God. His blood so hot steam probably should have escaped his flesh, Orochi rose his head to the sky and roared, somehow knowing where he needed to be, knowing what he had to destroy, what he had to subjugate. This Sanctuary would curse the day they disrespected the Japanese God of Destruction.

Orochi began to pick up speed, his wings and legs matching a rhythm as the dragon began to run. His weight stomped into the ground, sending a shuddering vibration to those around him, and where before he avoided them, now the dragon began to barrel right through the people and traffic before him. The humans scattered, terrified of the beast before them, as Orochi stormed forward his path was blocked by a car, whose drive had freaked out and abandoned as he neared. His right wing came forward, it's claw gripping the car enough to fling the vehicle out of his way like it was branch before a bear. The car flipped into the air and smashed into another vehicle, the panicked voices of people filling the air.

Unaware of another mutant in pursuit of him, Orochi's eyes only saw one thing, the Sanctuary. As he closed in, he could see a woman standing outside it's front doors, his eyes narrowed and the anger suddenly found a new target. This woman, somewhat taller than average but no less flimsy and frail as all of mankind dared to stand before Orochi? She dared to interrupt his desire to demolish the Sanctuary into it's barest parts? What nauseating hubris she must have. Orochi's wings extended outward, and the dragon began to soar. His running leap gave the illusion of flight as the dragon blotted out the sun, casting his sovereign shadow over Isabel and the castle she defended. Orochi landed before the golden gates of Sanctuary with a ground shuddering thud.

The serpentine neck craned upward, staring down at Isabel with contempt and pride. A rumbling bellow escaped the dragon's throat as he spoke to Isabel. "I have come to claim my throne little human. The Sanctuary will fall till naught but ashes remain. Now flee and pray for mercy." The dragon finished, his intention to wreck the Sanctuary and show the world his dominance, his divinity. Why did this Sanctuary matter though? What made him hate this place? Reasons didn't matter, only wrath. But even with the parasite pulling the strings of his heart, Ryoga's own pride recognized a certain look in Isabel's eyes, two iron wills were about to clash. There was a brief moment, where Ryoga silently stared at Isabel before speaking once more.

"Or if you think yourself a dragon slayer, Come here and die woman." Though he no longer had the lips to smile with, anyone who saw could swear that Ryoga was sporting a devilish grin fueled by his delusion of Godhood.

Following the beast proved to be easy; the trail of destruction he left in his wake made driving the bike after him simple. In its rush towards Kyle's de facto home, it had pushed everything, living and not, out of his way, creating an almost linear path for Kyle for follow him. It also allowed him to put a little more speed on, only having to watch for debris big enough to derail him if he wasn't careful.

Kyle had little doubt in his mind that the dragon would beat him there; his bike was fast, but the dragon had a few minutes on him and its strides weren't lazy. And when he saw him leap, soaring through the air on his momentum alone, Kyle knew the dragon was going to be on the place for a good minute or two before he got there.

Luckily, Kyle knew there would be someone there to stop him. Isabel had hung up the phone on him mid-sentence, as soon as he'd said the word "Sanctuary", which to most would mean she couldn't be bothered. But whatever else Isabel was, she cared for Sanctuary and those that called it home, in her own round about way. So Kyle knew that she would be waiting for the dragon when it slammed down and paused before the golden doors, ready to defend her home with ruthless efficiency. Of course, there was the chance he was completely wrong on that account...

His faith didn't fail him. Sure enough, standing between the beast and Sanctuary was Isabel, looking none too impressed with the scaled creature standing only several feet away, easily dwarfing her in size. The dragon was speaking to her, something that Kyle only caught a few pieces of due to his engine, but the dragon's voice was loud enough for him to catch some choice words. Oh...she wasn't going to like being called a human. Gunning his engine, Kyle drifted the bike around so that he was also between the golden doors and the creature; of course, he wasn't afraid to be only a few feet from Isabel himself.

"I'm glad my warning got you out here in time. I'm impressed too; you stopped him just by standing still."

Turning his attention to the 15 foot creature that looked as if it could easily crush them both with a single swipe, Kyle moved away from his bike, staring up at the beast. "Apologies but I don't believe Sanctuary would make a very good throne nor would it do good in ashes. Some of us live here, you know. So, if you don't mind...kindly take your rage elsewhere. I can't promise it will end well otherwise...for you, I mean."

Isabel continued to watch unimpressed as the dragon made a show of leaping, gliding, and then landing relatively closely to where she stood. She watched him pull his head back so he could look down on her and she looked right back up at him, boredom clearly written all over her face. He was larger than she was, but not by so much that she was intimidated by his size. Standing on all fours he was just barely taller than she was, though when he puffed out his chest like he did, there was a more noticeable difference.

She kept herself from wincing at the volume of his voice when he demonstrated his ability to speak, though her expression rapidly changed. Her arms dropped to her side and her hands balled into fists as she began to bristle the second the word 'human' had been uttered. Isabel was no human and she sure as hell wasn't going to let some over-sized gecko refer to her as such, nor was she going to let him threaten her on her own doorstep. Either he didn't know who she was, or he was foolish enough to think that he could take her on. He obviously thought pretty highly of himself.

She largely ignored Forte as he arrived and took up a position not too far away. He wasn't any concern of hers, nor was his inane babble. He could pitch in if he saw fit, but if he got in her way she wouldn't hesitate to knock him back out of it with force if need be. This wannabe one dragon wrecking crew had said enough to make the oncoming fight personal and she was going to put him in his place herself.

"Don't you dare compare me to humans, you overgrown newt," she warned, a sneer settling onto her face as she spoke. From her hidden armor she sprouted her six spindly spider legs, each one ripping a semi-neat hole in the back of her shirt as they emerged before stretching to the ground and lifting her feet off the pavement. With the added leverage she easily matched the dragon's height, depriving him of the ability to look down his snout at her.

"The only one here that's going to be doing any praying is you, and it won't be for mercy." If she let him live long enough to start begging. She wasn't the patient type and she certainly wasn't one to be merciful, especially not in the face of insults.

The armor under the cuff of her right sleeve slid into sight and covered her hand, each of her knuckles growing a wicked spike while her new appendages hit the pavement with a series of audible clacks as she stepped closer to invade the dragon's space. If he was going to insult her, she was going to return the favor.

Isabel lifted her armored hand delivered a slap to the dragon's ugly snout.

It seemed that Forte's arrival did little to jar either Orochi or Isabel from their stare down, a clash of monsters about to boil over. The man who'd just showed up spoke, trying to interject himself into the moment. He claimed this place was home to some, and that he should leave, and then had the gall to threaten Ryoga? How laughable, and insulting. Orochi would have to punish the man as well, as soon as this little woman before him learned her place and ran off to whatever hovel she was from. The woman took her turn to insult Ryoga as well, were all humans this foolish? Insulting a God might as well be a request for punishment, staining your own honor just as much as Ryoga's.

However his anger was stunted for a moment as the woman began to change, the legs of a spider erupting from her back. Ryoga's fiery eyes opened up for just a bit, as he observed Isabel's mutation take over. She certainly looked better this way than as another four limbed peasent like all the other humans. However he was unimpressed, because in the end that just meant this woman was a mutant, the arrogant creature he'd come to subjugate. She would bow to him, just like everyone else. That nagging little voice in his head told him so, this woman was the guard dog of Sanctuary, the place that refused to accept his Godly status. When she fell to her knees, this burning rage would subsist, yes, this would show them all just how glorious he truly was.

Though he could not smile like a man, Ryoga's maw pulled back around his massive fangs, his body preparing to destroy all that stood up against him. However the following evens he would have never expected, a situation that even through him for a loop with the burning rage digging into the base of his skull thanks to the little parasite riding his crown. The woman, now able to stand off the Earth and stare him in the eyes stepped forward, and brought her puny little limb across his face.

She had slapped a God.

Though her flesh was now covered with armor, and equipped with weapons, more than anything the girl bring her hand across his flesh was what froze time around them. Though his head was too large to react at all to the girl's strength, it was the audacity of the act that hurt the most. A woman, of all creatures, had brought her hand against divinity. To slap a god, such a low brow way of contempt, was more infuriating than even the little worm nestled into his brain and filling his head with lies. Ryoga felt a furious growl building in his throat, rumbling from between his teeth so hot that you'd imagine steam would pour off his body.

"I will end you woman, and all that you hold dear."

As the dragon finished speaking his venomous speech he made his own move. Though they were wings, his arms still had claws, a fist, and could be folded up to be used as arms, and in a return favor his right wing rose up to back hand the woman and remove her form his sight. Ryoga weighed more than a ton, and had all the subtley of a rampaging elephant when he was angered, and that anger was now aimed at Isabel. A normal human would never hold up to a God, their mind and body would crumble from one blow, time to see how long this skeletal spider woman would last.

Kyle was not surprised nor bothered by the fact that Isabel seemed to ignore his presence at her side. It was what she did to almost everyone, try to pretend they didn't exist if they weren't worth her time for a reason she deemed worthy. Which, usually, was could she kill them for her amusement or use them to get something she wanted, then kill them for her amusement. In this case, he wasn't worth either of us. The dragon, on the other hand, merited her attention beyond question.

Kyle caught a slight bit of the dragon's angry gaze after his words, a half-acknowledgment that told him he had earned the dragon's attention...eventually. But the dragon's words had pulled the wrong cord in Isabel; the cord that usually put most people in the hospital. If they were lucky.

The sound of cloth tearing and bone cracking made Kyle turn his gaze to his side, where Isabel was quickly arming herself for combat. It was a sight Kyle had seen before, growing those spider-like legs from her back to bring her to the dragon's eye level. Kyle knew from experience how deadly that form was; Isabel was faster with them, her attacks were sharp and precise and the ends of those legs were tipped to razor sharp points. It also afforded her with a much greater attack range and that was even without considering what other surprises she could unleash from the rest of her. Your average human or even mutant would have already taken off for the hills.

The dragon was undeterred by her form change, as unimpressed with it as Isabel was with either of them. That changed quickly when Isabel took the initiative...and slapped the dragon across its snout with an armored hand.

Kyle winced inwardly at the blow...but not because of the pain he imagined it inflicted on the beast. Instead, he winced because the dragon, while stunned into surprise perhaps, seemed unharmed in the greater scheme of things by the blow. In fact, if Kyle was missing his guess, he only looked...

"I will end you woman, and all that you hold dear."

Pissed. Very pissed. Kyle knew trouble was coming and it was going to come fast. Well, at least there's not much she holds dear that he can end...except this place. And her life, he mused silently to himself as he readied himself for action. Energy surged into his body, flowing through his limbs like water through a river. Already his energy was gathering in his hands, had been that way since he'd first arrived but now ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. Which is exactly what he did when he saw that right wing rising up. He knew the blow was coming and guessed that Isabel would think her armor would protect her from it. Yea...about as well as it would if she was hit by a semi-truck at full speed.

Kyle's hand flashed up, two small bolts of energy snapping out from his palm, using his middle finger and index finger as little strips to point the bolts toward their targets. That dragon had a thick hide, no doubt. But he wasn't aiming for the hide. He was aiming for those giant, soft eyes. Hopefully it would be enough to deter the blow a little.

At this point, a little could mean life or death. Well...I did complain that it was getting too quiet...

Isabel couldn't help but smirk as the loudmouth lizard faltered in the wake of her physical insult. She wasn't one to be so easily intimidated and pushed around, especially not on the doorstep of her home. The dragon was looking for a fight and he'd found one, though so far all he's done was fling threats at her without bothering to back them up.

That didn't last too long, though, as he seemed to finally register what had happened and got his scales in a twist over it. She watched his right-side wing fold close to the limb it sprouted from before the arm was pulled back. Her spindly legs click-clacked against the pavement again as she braced herself for the impact. The dragon was big and so he was presumably strong, but the only way for her to know for sure was to see what kind of punch he packed. She was also set on proving that she couldn't be so easily pushed around and that she was the tougher of the two and taking a backhand from a dragon was as good a way to prove that as any.

Her plan, however, was apparently not going to work out as intended as Forte decided to step in with some of those damned little energy blasts of his. The dragon's attempted assault did not go as planned as he swung his head back and changed the direction of his swing to try and fend off the projectiles. Instead of getting hit full force Isabel was instead grazed with the edge of the wing, though it was still enough to push her back a few steps and tear several buttons off the front of her shirt, exposing the white bone underneath.

She was about ready to round on Forte for his interruption, but the reptile's pause and potentially the redirection of his attention presented a better opportunity for her. Her smirk grew into a devilish grin as she silently congratulated herself for her sudden creative thought. if the dragon wanted to boast about what an impressive beast he was, then she could play the same game.

The armor around her calves grew first, slipping over the edges of and encasing her boots before reshaping themselves to act as miniature stilts so that she could retain her added height. The bone clacked against the pavement as she quickly tested their stability, the toes and claws of each faux foot shifting appropriately and gripping the pavement well enough that she wouldn't slide  if she misstepped. The armor on her hands shifted to match.

Having handled the height difference in a new way, the six additional legs weren't needed to hoist her up any longer. The two closest to her hips shifted backward and fused by the base of her spine while spikes pushed their way through her shirt in a neat line up toward her neck. A tail for balance and for battle.

The four remaining legs folded upward toward her shoulders and bent accordingly to fuse with the armoring along her arms before slicing through her sleeves and unfolding outward in an imitation of the wings the other dragon possessed. For fighting, for gliding and balance.

Lastly the jutting spines along her neck near the base of her skull extended and curled forward over her head to form a helmet-like encasing. Two horns spiraled out of her head and a reptilian snout filled with razor sharp teeth covered her mouth. It moved as her jaw moved and imitated the dragon quite nicely.

Unfortunately one of the things she couldn't imitate was the deep, bellowing roar the giant salamander could produce. She could yell and scream, but the effect wasn't quite the same. However, she could move and she could posture well enough once the grew accustomed to her newest model of armor. She could fight like this and she was sure she could give the beast a run for his money.

She didn't need to be able to roar, though. She could announce her presence and her power well enough by lunging at the dragon while he was distracted and aiming to tear at its throat with teeth and claws.

People often spoke of the calm before the storm, that silent moment of peace before all hell broke loose. Perhaps people would look back at the moment as Isabel slapped Ryoga as this moment, her show of disrespect setting off every nerve in the creatures body, a cascading storm of retribution brewing in his soul as the fight began. However, as was the case with most situations in life, chaos reigned and rarely did plans go as conceived. Ryoga had intened to simply slap the woman and be done with it, unaware and unconcerned with what armor her skeleton might be, he'd swung with enough force to obliterate a normal person's body, their skeleton shattered by his anger. But Isabel seemed to not be alone in this brawl, even if she wanted to be.


Kyle had jumped in at just the right time, with a rather clever plan. Ryoga was a ton of draconic fury, clad beneath flesh like an elephant and scale armor atop that. You'd need an elephant rifle, or maybe a bazooka to truly threaten him, but Kyle had gone for the eyes, every beast's weakness. Ryoga had binocular vision just like most predator's, so he only saw the oncoming attack when it was far too late to dodge it, his body reacting as his eyes slammed shut, and his head turned to the left, trying to avoid the blast. Two bolts of energy, like bullets peppered Ryoga's head but the force only served to throw Ryoga off balance, the creature's body turning and causing him to miss Isabel and instead simply tear her clothing. Ryoga howled in rage, shouting an insult at Kyle.

"Insolent dog!" He growled, but all of this only served to let Isabel brainstorm and strike it rich with her imagination.


As Ryoga turned his head back to the right, instead of going all the way to target Kyle, he stopped and caught Isabel's transformation. The angry voice in his head, the fury in his heart, and the rage pumping through his veins could do little to stop Ryoga from staring at her. Her pitiful human form cast in a mockery of Ryoga himself. The girl had donned a suit of armor with the strict purpose of insulting a God, the audacity was beyond all comprehension. Ryoga attempted to spout more words at her as well, but struggled to get through his own growl of hatred and Isabel's sudden attack on him.

"You dare!?" Was all he managed as the skeletal mockery and he tumbled backwards, locked in a grapple.


A writhing mass of interlocked claws and two fang filled maws snapping at one another, luckily a few parked cars had dodged Ryoga's earlier rampage and were here now to break their tumble, the combined weight and activity of the brawl reducing them to rubble as Ryoga attempted get ahold of the woman with his jaws and claws to throw her off. She matched him in size and weaponry now, but she lacked his power and experience with this form, an equal match at the moment. Ryoga needed time overwhelm her, and smash her bones to dust. He needed the space to charge her, to be the aggresser, and beat her down with power. For the moment neither of them had any damage, Isabel's bones were like steel, and Ryoga's flesh was like kevlar, her claws unable to draw any blood yet.


But there was still the unknown factor, the energy slinging third wheel. What would Kyle do? Compared to these two titans he had no hope of physically intervening, but his ranged abilities might be the defining factor in this fight. Distract, redirect, wear down, he might be able to accomplish any of these things if he came to understand Ryoga's unique hidden ability, his hunger for radiant energy.

All plans could be considered full proof until first contact with the enemy. In this situation, Kyle could at least take pride in the fact that his plan had done what he'd intended it too. More or less anyway. The bolts he'd tossed at the dragon didn't hit the soft tissue of the eyes, instead connecting with the hardened skin that covered his whole body. However, the force behind them, as well as temporary blinding the beast, had been enough to alter the blow he'd sent Isabel's way.

Instead of smacking her aside, which is what would have happened he was sure, it merely knocked her a few steps back and tore open the upper portion of her shirt. She had her bone armor up beneath, which meant she was relatively unharmed from the hit; it also kept her damaged wardrobe from revealing far too much skin. The dragon, furious at the offense against him, turned that massive fury his way now, the seething rage of a beast about to bear down on him. It was in this that he made two mistakes.

One, he revealed that Kyle's attacks could at least get his attention. Harm him perhaps not, but draw his attention and ire. Something Kyle could count on in the fight to come. But the other was the most serious mistake. Kyle knew. Kyle had made it before.

He took his attention away from Isabel.

Kyle caught the fury she herself had for him. He could care less that she was probably angry with him for interrupting "her" fight. As far as he was concerned, with Sanctuary and those who called it home at risk from this raging animal, he wasn't willing to simply bet on Isabel's ability alone. She was strong; he knew it, she knew it. But with lives at stake, Kyle was going to do everything he could to turn the tide in their favor. He'd deal with her rage about it after. But for now, it appeared that she realized her time would be better spent taking advantage of the distraction.

And oh did she ever. She far surpassed what Kyle had expected she'd do. She took those few moments...and cloned their foe. Only instead of hide and flesh, this clone was made of solid bone. Kyle found himself stepping clear as the two dragons slammed into one another, a whirling mess of claw, tooth, bone and rage. It was an impressive display to say the least. "Guess she can be creative when she puts her mind to it..." Kyle muttered under his breath before darting back to his bike. He hadn't time to arm himself before arriving here and the momentary clash of dragons gave him the time to place the forearm guards and boots on, snapping the arm blades on the guards into place.

Turning back to the clashing beasts, Kyle could see the original dragon clawing for purchase. Isabel had caught him by surprise, but that wouldn't last long. And while her bone dragon was impressive, it didn't have muscle that it could use for power. If it came down to strength, the original dragon would win out. Kyle needed to do something to prevent that. Quickly glancing around, Kyle saw two quick options he could use. Make that one; with Isabel's proximity to the dragon, the first wouldn't work yet. The other, on the other hand...

Dashing around the two struggling beasts, Kyle got around behind the flailing tail of the original dragon. To be more specific, he got behind a car that had been flipped on its side from the dragon's charge. Kyle had to wait a few moments for the struggling two to get the few feet closer, for that whipping tail to settle as the dragon prepared for a big push. Then Kyle smashed into the car with a burst of energy that was strong enough to push it back over.

Right onto the dragon's tail. Followed by bolts of energy into the membrane of the dragon's wings.

Try shrugging that one off.

Isabel lacked the muscle mass and strength of the true dragon. It seemed to be a simple task for him to drag her around as she fought to keep a grip on him. She had little doubt that if he got a good hold on her or put just enough distance between them, he'd easily be able to toss her around. However, what she lacked in comparative strength she made up for in flexibility as well as versatility in her mutation.

While the dragon thrashed, bit and clawed, she was able to avoid being thrown back without too much difficulty. She could bend better than he could and extend her reach in ways he could not. Her claws could easily become hooks or ropes with which to hang on with, as could her tail. Her mock wings could become fluid in ways his could not, they could provide a shield or a weapon. He had his strength and familiarity with the oddly shaped body, but she could use the form in ways he couldn't.

Unfortunately her attempts to utilize her newest form of armor didn't appear to be doing very much. Her teeth and claws, while able to find purchase along the creases and ridges of his hide, did little to nothing in ways of damaging them. The hide was too thick for raking and biting. All she was really doing was making an annoyance of herself and was in turn becoming irritated. His teeth and claws were doing more damage, though fortunately for Isabel any grooves cut into her armor were easily repaired.

She often seemed to be on the pavement end of the tumble as she wrestled with the reptilian mutant, though she held her own well enough that she managed not to stay on the ground for very long as they rolled and writhed. She also made sure he couldn't clamp his jaws down on her for very long. If she couldn't wriggle out of the way of the sharp teeth, she simply grew a collection of spikes wherever his jaws met her body, aiming to stab at his tongue and the roof of his mouth and force him to relinquish his grasp.

Things seemed to be in a bit of a deadlock until the dragon suddenly pulled back and seemed to be trying to twist away from her. It took Isabel a moment to realize that the third wheel in their fight had taken advantage of the dragon's occupied attention and had apparently flipped a car onto the lizard's tail. That lizard also seemed to lack enough strength in the appendage to escape the pile of scrap metal by itself and had to resort to diverting his attention and lifting it off of the tail instead.

She used this second redirection of his temper to her advantage. She hadn't exactly been tossed away from the dragon, so she was still in a good position to continue her assault. While the dragon directed his anger at the car, she brought her two faux wings in front of her like a shield and covered them with spikes of varying size. She was going to use what strength she had to ram the reptilian and drive every one of those spines between his scales.

His mind clouded with anger, Ryoga could only vent his rage through unfocused violence. He was fighting two, but his mind only ever saw the target he had currently picked, which at the moment was the skeletal mockery wrestling with him on the street. His mind became more and more flooded with thoughts of destroying the Sanctuary and this woman who had dared to copy his form. This woman had no hope of defeating a God, so she donned a suit of armor to mimick his majesty? The audacity of it. This forms mashed against one another, claws scraping against flesh and bone, teeth looking for something to tear, but not being able to really win the brawl. His leathery hide held tough against the woman, but whatever her bones were made of was unnaturally durable.

If he wanted to end this, he'd need to not damage but break her. He needed to snap her bones, and crush them to dust so they couldn't recover. The only blood shed so far was that from his gums, poking them selves upon the girl's spines whenever he tried to bite through her armor. Finally a break in the fight as he managed grasp the mockery and force her back, giving him some breathing room to redefine the fight. At least that was the plan he'd thought up before he felt a heavy pressure on his tail. He roared in surprise more than pain as his head turned back to spy a damaged car dropped on his tail. The other mutant was still here, Ryoga howled. "Insolent ver!?" His words were cut short though as Kyle redoubled his efforts and popped off some energy bolts into his wings as Ryoga was attempting to turn and free himself.

The thing about leathery wings like Ryoga's is that they were designed to catch on the air and hold him up. However they also acted like a really easy target for something like Kyle's energy bolts, catching them and spreading the force about easily. The bolts caught in the membrane, they snagged and carried them downward, staggering the dragon and preventing him from flipping the car off his tail immediately. His momentum was constantly being halted by this man, and it was infuriating. "You little annoyance!" He barked at Kyle, unaware that just as before. The two mutants were working in tandem, and Kyle like the first punch grapped the attention and opened a vulnerability else where as Isabel crashed into Ryoga like a battering ram, her armor laden with spikes. And this time, there was that satisfying noise as flesh was pierced, bony spikes punched though various parts of Ryoga's body, actual first blood being drawn.

The dragon's eyes widened and he howled out in pain. Actual pain? They had dared to harm his body and spill his blood on this foreign land? That little voice in his head took the moment to spin that into a command so powerful Ryoga's mind nearly blanked. The insults, the constant secondary attacks, all of it was driving him insane. Ryoga tried to dig his claws into the asphault, every muscle in his body straining to regain his footing and fight back. "Obnoxious infuriating little vermin! Can you do nothing but mock me!?" Ryoga growled deep in his throat as his claws and jaws attempted to find holds on Isabel's dragon armor and battering ram. He was already in pain, already bleeding, he wasn't going to lose after that. He was going to lift this pathetic mockery of his form into the air and smash it back down into the Earth, and then he was going to find that little man and bite his head off!

"Not only do you need his help, but you dare use my form to stand against me? I will break you!" He roared thunderously, ignoring the bleeding, the spines digging into his muscles, the dull throb every time Kyle pelted him with an energy attack. All he could see was red, he was a rampaging animal and he needed to be stopped. But what would break first Ryoga's fury, Isabel's bones, or the city around them? Another factor that still went unnoticed was the dragon's lack of fatigue, his cells feeding upon a portion of each of Kyle's attack and fueling Orochi's power.

When one puts a plan into place, they often do so with the knowledge that the plan could either backfire in their face or succeed on some level that is hopefully satisfying. In Kyle's case, his plans were working from one simple fact; he would likely not be a fair match against this beast if it came to head to head combat. Isabel had the better chance with her abilities; which is why Kyle's plans factored around that little detail. He might not be able to physically out-battle this dragon, but he could draw its ire and rage with his actions. Actions that made the dragon lose focus on the real threat that was Isabel.

Both his attacks connected as he'd hoped; the tail was pinned beneath the car, the dragon lacking the strength to flip it without turning to move it himself. And as he did, Kyle's bolts to his wings momentarily threw him off balance, the dragon roaring at him in rage and pain, cursing him for his actions. It was as good a distraction and opening as Kyle could have hoped for. And Isabel delivered.

In the seconds that Ryoga took his eyes off her, Isabel turned one of her bone wings into a battering ram of spikes and drove it into Ryoga's hide. This time, her bone spikes weren't deterred by the armor like skin of Ryoga's hide; Kyle saw blood seeping from where the spikes had found a chink in his armor. As Ryoga howled in fury and pain, a little smirk creased at the edge of Kyle's mouth. An annoyance he might be, but one that was not to be ignored, leaving Ryoga the painful problem of having to worry both about what he might be up to trick-wise and Isabel combat wise.

There would surely be hell to pay from Isabel after this, of that Kyle had little doubt. But for now, whether she liked it or not, they were working as a pair in this. Him the bait, her the danger. And she wasn't failing in taking advantage of his distractions to maintain her pride.

What was strange, however, was that while Kyle's blows had been hitting and stunning the larger beast, it wasn't wearing him down. In fact, he almost seemed to be redoubling his efforts after Kyle's energy bolts hit him. Something to consider but not enough to worry about for now. Kyle was already looking for his next course of action...there! A fire escape that would get him above the two for his next plan. Isabel would be able to handle him for a few moments, now that she'd gained a small advantage. Dashing for the escape, Kyle used a nearby car to leap to the railing and started gaining height.

"Let's just hope the dragon doesn't have any other tricks up HIS sleeve."

Finally something was working to her advantage. Isabel grinned maliciously as the plate of bone connected with her target, the success of the attack announcing itself by way of the sickening sound of flesh being parted and blood spattering  bone and pavement followed by the bellowing cry of pain. So scratching and biting wasn't the way to go about fighting the beast but a straight forward stabbing was perfectly effective. This fight was going to be turning in her favor very quickly.

She could feel the dragon starting to push back against her barrier as he scrabbled to gain purchase on the pavement. Her own clawed feet were trying to do the same as she fought to prevent herself from sliding back too far under his weight. She could feel his claws and teeth struggling to find purchase along the barrier, though it would be difficult to avoid puncturing more of his skin as he did so. The weight was a bigger threat. She was gradually sliding backward as the reptile struggled the get a grip on her until he managed to get a claw or two under the lip of the bottom edge of the shield. She stopped moving backward as the plate of bone began moving upward.

"He called me. I don't need anyone's help!" she shouted as she scrabbled to keep her feet on the ground, extending he areas where the bone connected to her body to prevent herself from being completely lifted along with the shield. Her attempts didn't do much in the long run, however, as that shield quickly stopped rising only to be slammed back down toward her, effectively knocking her off her feet and onto her back on the pavement. The dragon skull-shaped head covering largely protected her head as it bounced off of the ground, though it still dazed her for a brief moment.

"I don't need this shape to kick your ass," she countered as her focus came back, though her words lacked the power of her previous statement as she fought to avoid being crushed under the weight of the body bearing down on her. "I just wanted to show you how stupid you look, you goddamn gecko on steroids!"

Getting squashed had not been on her agenda for the day and she sure as hell wasn't going to be changing those plans. Hoping the placement of the dragon's claws were spread enough to miss her body, she dissolved the shield separating her from the crushing force above her and instead turned it into a mass of writhing spikes that sought to loop around any part of the dragon they could reach.