"I guess I could try something with Maya," he decided to Raven. "Granted, she could probably beat my flank quickly, but maybe I could learn a thing or two."
"OW!" Asmo rubbed the back of his head, pained, then turned to walk over towards Nightshade. "Hell do you want?" ~~~~~~~~~~~ Maya led Blackened some distance away, beginning to talk about normal pegasus ability. "Alright, dude. You're a pega, which as you know, means you're naturally a lot more agile than most other ponies. You know how to turn that to your advantage?"
"Not fully," he responded, "But I think I'm about to find out now. Then again, I did do a few agile flips some minutes ago."
"Spar with Raven." Nightshade answered. "Like, real fighting type stuff. My dad wants to see what she can do."
"Alright, that sounds fair enough." Asmo made his way over to Raven, walked up to her and headbutted her in the snout before she had a chance to realize they were starting. Raven stumbled back, clutching her nose. "What the hell?!" "Nightshade said real combat stuff!" He charged and shoulder rammed her, knocking her on her back. "No warnings in real combat, are there?" Raven struggled back up to her hooves after what was essentially a sucker punch, some blood running from her nostrils, and a few scrapes on her body. "Alright, b****. Wanna test me?" Her eye slits narrowed down to being about paper thin, and she bared her fangs as Asmo began to run back at her.
"I-" He suddenly jumped out of the way of the jab. "I suppose they're in check, which isn't too surprising, I guess."
*As the Council gestured, the shining light in the sky that was the ship, started to readjust its course and once more move towards Apophis*
"I do hope that actually does some damage," Dusty said, watching the ship fall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You sure?" Maya spun her body, launching a spin kick at his jaw with her back leg.
NORTHERN YAK TERRITORY "Keep fighting!" the old yak commander shouted over the screams of his own overwhelmed troops, and the roars of the wraiths that were overrunning them. "Never give up!" He knew it was hopeless. The plan had fallen apart almost instantly, and now only a small force of yaks remained on the battlefield, fighting to give what remained of the main army a chance to escape. There hadn't been enough of the vaccine to go around. The fastest pegasus couriers in Equestria had been dispatched from the bar, but they'd only been able to carry enough for half the of the yak army. Nevertheless, they'd all stayed, waiting for the monster to arrive. They were to be the distraction. They would draw Apophis and his hordes to themselves, steering them well clear of Yakyakistan, and putting them on a path that led away from the Crystal Empire. And when the had succeeded, and the horde was moving where they wanted it to, they would disappear. It had gone as they'd expected. They'd allowed the horde to draw close, then hidden themselves in tunnels they'd dug beneath the snow. They were certain that the nearly mindless wraiths would ignore them once they were out of sight. And they'd been right. The wraiths and windigos ignored them. Apophis did not. Moments after the yaks vanished from sight, the snake god opened his gargantuan maw and vomited out a deluge of magma onto the snow below. Many yaks died instantly. They were the lucky ones. Many others were caught in the sudden flood of superheated snowmelt, screaming as they were boiled alive. As the snow continued to melt, and the boiling water cooled, the Yak commander looked around at what remained of his army. With a single attack, their number had been cut in half. His elite warriors were ordered to his side. They would buy the others, mostly civilian volunteers, the time they needed to get away.
As Asmo drew close enough, Raven did a quick backflip, slamming her rear hooves into his chin and knocking him hard enough for him to be forced up to his hind legs. Before he could fall back to all fours, Raven very rapidly drove her wing claws into nearly every pressure point on the front of his body, including the eyes and groin, every strike jerking his body as if he was being shot with a machine gun. At the end of the assault, Asmo fell slowly onto his back, kicking up a cloud of dirt, while Raven stood over him, huffing and panting. "Sucker buck me... That fast enough for you, Silver? Don't think we made it to the two minute mark!"
*The Shadow creature growled at the edge of the shield. It knew the ones it was after were inside, but it couldn't get to them.*
Silver nodded. "Very good, Raven. You show tremendous potential." He walked over to Asmo and pulled him to his hooves. "Now stop playing around. We both know what you are really capable of. Remember, Asmodeus, what she will be facing. If you care about that little mare at all, do not let her go into this battle unprepared." ************************************************************************************************************************* Moments after the final yak fell to the swarm, Apophis turned his attention to the bothersome pests that were attempting to slow him down. By a mortal's standards, the power they'd pulled from him was unimaginable. Enough to tear apart an entire solar system many times over. But Apophis was power. His might, his fury, his hunger... it was infinite. The tiny amount they'd taken from him was barely worth noticing. But it was his. They'd flung something at him, obviously in hopes of harming him. A spacefaring vessel of some sort. A second before impact, he looked up, and the ship stopped. Slowly, it rotated above Apophis as the god examined the feeble missile.
"Fine..." Asmo conjured a tentacle from the ground, grabbed Raven around the waist, lifted her, slammed her into the ground while she tried to bite her way out, then hurled her straight up into the sky. "Good enough for you, Sil? I think she'll survive that." Raven was too far up to be seen by the naked eye. It seemed like she might need to be rescued before she hit the ground and died. Until... Moments later, a loud sonic boom echoed through the sky, and before Asmo could react, Raven slammed hoof-first into his back like a cruise missile, the force sending them both sliding along, displacing the dirt in their path. The two hopped back up to their hooves and started trading vicious blows. Asmo would throw several tentacle and tooth-based attacks, with Raven ducking, weaving, striking pressure points, and generally hopping around him and striking like a jackrabbit on steroids. After about a minute and a half of an even match, Raven decided to finish the fight herself by waving her hoof, lifting Asmo up into the air with that magic of hers, and spiking him into the dirt, all in one motion. This left Asmo with severe pain and temporary paralysis, a wrecked demon heap, laying limp on his side. In other words, not holding back, Raven *squee!*ed his *squee!* up.
Silver nodded, pulling a healing potion from his pack and offering it to Az. Raven had impressed him. He'd never have thought that a music-talent pony would be so tough. She'd been fast. Aggressive. Chaotic and unpredictable, yet brutally precise when needed. He smiled. "You fight like Nightshade."
Raven grinned, wiping some blood from her nose. "Thanks." Asmo reached out, grabbed the potion and slowly drank it down. ~~~~~~~~ Maya wasn't swinging at nearly full force, and thus was very possible to block.
Black jumped above her leg, proving that he had definitely picked up on a few things from his spar with Raven.
