Garble barely had any time to react as Spike charged him with his newfound speed. Taken by surprise at how quick he was, before Garble knew it, Spike was already within a few feet of him with both claws ready to take another swipe at him. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, Garble moved as fast as he could and brought his arms up to grapple Spike's claws. However, thanks to the blood running down the left side of his face and all but blinding his eye, Garble's depth perception was off, missing both of Spike's claws just before feeling them slash against him chest in a crisscross motion.
Though they didn't hurt as bad as the one on his face, it still hurt enough that he felt to his knees and held his arms against the two wounds. But, before he had a chance to rest, Spike planted the bottom of his foot on Garble's forehead and kicking him back, sending him tumbling several yards before he came skidding to a stop. Groaning from the kick and pain in his chest, Garble looked up and glared as Spike slowly approached.
"What's wrong, Garble? Can't push me around anymore now that I'm not a little kid?" Spike growled.
Garble got up and spit out a bit of blood that had slipped into his mouth.
"Screw you, Spike. You just got lucky, that's all. Now that I have an idea of what you can do, I won't be taken by surprise so easily."
"We'll see about that."
Snorting a stream of flames from his nose, Garble snorted up a large wad of spit and spat it into the palm of his claw. However, unlike normal spit, this was burning with his fire. Rubbing it on both of his claws, garble took the flaming spit and slathered them over his bleeding wounds, hissing in pain as he felt the burning coming from them. Within seconds, the wounds on his chest and face started to seal.
"Eww. Dude, that's gross," Spike commented in disgust.
Hissing as he took in a breath, Garble back glared at Spike. "Since you've lived with ponies, I doubt that you ever knew that our spit can be used like this. What I did is something that everydragon can do, but it's used preferably if we're in the middle of a fight."
Spike raised an eyebrow. "You cover yourself in your own spit?"
"It's more than just that you idiot. Our spit can be used to cauterize any bleeding wound until we can better tend to them."
It's still gross, but at least it's effective, he thought before chuckling. "Thanks for telling me. But honestly, it was pretty stupid of you to not have kept that piece of info to yourself. Now that you've told me, what's to stop me from doing it if you manage to hurt me?"
Garble blinked as he realized that he'd pointed out an advantage that he had over Spike to him. Angered by the realization and Spike calling him stupid, he roared and charging at Spike with his claws raised.
Figuring that he'd probably get upset over that, Spike was prepared when Garble charged at him. Keeping low to the ground, Spike waited for Garble to get in close and take a swing at him before he swiftly dodged off to the right. As they talked, Spike noticed that while the bleeding from the wound on Garble's face had ceased, he was still squinting with that eye, probably from the lingering pain from the slashes near it, the leftover blood running near it, or both, leaving him with a blind spot.
Taking advantage of it, Spike kept to Garble's left where his visibility was noticeably lessened, and took a jab at the side of Garble's ribs before following it up with another. After he got his second hit off, Garble shifted and took another swipe at him, but once again ducked below it and punched him in the gut before dashing back to the right and this time taking a shot to the side of Garble's knee to hinder his mobility.
Again, Spike saw that Garble was shifting to hit him again with a swipe from his left claw. But, when he ducked down to avoid the claw, he was surprised when Garble's missed claw swipe was followed-up with a tail swipe from his spiked tail. Not thinking that he could move fast enough away from the tail to dodge outside of the spikes, Spike instead moved up closer to Garble, avoiding the spiked portion of the tail and grabbing ahold of it where there weren't any spikes. However, with his attention focused on the spiked tail, he didn't notice what was going on behind him until Garble grabbed ahold of Spike's shoulders and brought his gaping maw down to the back of his neck.
Feeling Garble's fangs sinking into his neck from behind, Spike roared in pain as he let go of Garble's tail and tried to pry his mouth off of him. Though he tried, with the position he was in, it was difficult for Spike to get ahold of Garble's maw and pry it open, which was made even harder when Garble grabbed Spike's arms after he tried to grab his mouth and held them painfully behind his back.
As he felt his fangs sinking into his neck a little further with him unable to move his neck or arms, Spike began to panic, knowing that he was almost guaranteed to die if he didn't do something fast. Becoming desperate, Spike raised a foot and dropped it in a strong kick to the side of Garble's knee. Hearing the pained grunt from Garble, Spike repeated his action and kicked at his knee again repeatedly until Garble finally let go of Spike, roaring in pain as he fell back and clung to his injured knee.
Falling to his own knees, Spike panted and cringed as he felt the stinging from around his neck. He didn't need to look to know that he was losing a bit of blood from the bite he'd received as he could feel the blood flowing down his neck and begin pooling beneath him. Recalling what Garble had just let slip, Spike spit up a wad of flaming spit onto his claws and rubbed the spit over the wounds around his neck, gritting his fangs as he felt the burning sting from it.
Dang it, that really stings.
Despite having to put up with the burning from his own spit, it did its job as the puncture marks around his neck began to cauterize, causing the blood to be reduced to dribbles, and soon, cease all together. But, though it did its job in sealing the wound for now, Spike could tell that he would need to see Sol as soon as he was done to get it properly treated.
Up on the Dragon Lord's Throne, Twilight, Starlight, and Torch watch with concern for Spike, while Rarity and Ember watched with a look of anxiety.
"I don't know how much more of this I can watch," Rarity fearfully said. "Is there any way that we can get Spike out of there before he gets hurt any further?"
Ember let out an uneasy sigh. "No, there isn't. Believe me, Rarity, I don't like seeing Spike getting hurt like this anymore than you do, but as much as I want to, there's nothing that I can do at this point to help him."
"Your concern for Spike is understandable," Torch said. "However, I think that you two are underestimating him."
"But, dad! Spike-"
"Got caught, yes. But I'm confident that he won't let himself get caught like that again. Spike's a smart drake, probably one of the smartest that I've seen, and easily the brightest one down there."
"Torch is right," Twilight confidently voiced. "Spike is very intelligent and is able to solve tough problems while under pressure. He already proved that when he targeted a crippling spot on Garble and broke free of him, and I'm sure that he'll prove it again."
"Twilight's right," Starlight agreed. "Spike was already really smart for his age, but now that he's grown up and has a newer, stronger body to back him up, I'm confident that he'll be able to handle anything that that Garble guy can throw at him."
Finishing tending to yet another injured competitor, Sol looked over the quarry where his eyes landed upon Spike and Garble.
"Good thing I'm here to heal them when they're done, otherwise, with how those two are going at it, this wouldn't end well for either of them," he muttered.
Seeing a pair of overseers dragging another competitor in, Sol turned from Spike and Garble to tend to the new dragon. Noticing that he was missing a horn near the base, Sol grimaced and lit his horns to begin healing the dragon.
"Ouch. What happened to this one's horn?" Sol asked the two overseers.
"Garble broke it off."
Sol frowned before thanking the two overseers and returning to healing the dragon.
Down in the quarry, Spike was feeling a little bit woozy from the blood he'd lost. Though he was able to seal the wounds quickly, he'd already lost a decent amount from Garble's bite to his neck, which now covered most of his upper-half in his own blood. But, though he wasn't feeling his best, one look at Garble told Spike that he wasn't fairing very well either as he was currently down and nursing his left knee. Though he was a little woozy from the blood loss, Spike didn't want to pass up this opportunity. Not trusting his balance on two legs, he dropped to all fours to better balance himself and charged Garble head-on.
Seeing Spike darting directly at him, Garble instinctively tried to get up, but immediately regretted it as a great deal of pain erupted from his knee. Failing to get up in time, Garble was unable to do anything but guard against Spike as he swung his claws, feet, and tail at him. Thanks to him being taken off-balance along with dealing with Spike's speed, Garble wasn't able to block all of Spike's strikes, nor was he able to grapple him like he had before.
Missing blocking a punch to the side of his face, Garble was sent tumbling a few yards before he shot his wings out and took to the air.
"That's it! I've had enough of you, Spike!"
Battered, bruised, and feeling humiliated, Garble lost his temper and flew over to the side of the cliff where he tore off a large chunk of rock half his size.
"Here! Dodge this!"
Throwing the rock, Garble tried to aim for where Spike was, but before it hit, Spike quickly dodged out of the way. Growling, Garble repeated the motion, tearing off another large chuck of the cliff and throwing it at Spike, knowing that without wings, Spike wouldn't be able to get up to him. And even if he did climb up to catch him, Garble could just fly away from him. However, he also knew that he couldn't continue using his advantage of having wings for too long before the other dragons watching would start calling him out as a coward.
As he continued to throw the large rocks at Spike, he started to think of a way to finish Spike off for good. He might be stronger than Spike and able to fly, but Spike's speed and agility was making it difficult for him to block his attacks, not to mention that it was equally hard to get a hit on him, save for when he got Spike from-
... actually, that might work.
Garble grinned as an idea struck. Spike may be faster than him to where it's difficult to hit and dodge him, but all that speed can't do him any good if he can't see in his blind spots, or with his vision obscured. Having an idea of how to beat him, Garble stopped throwing rocks and looked down at Spike, who'd ended up backing away towards where they first began their fight... and where Garble saw something else. Blinking, Garble chuckled to himself when he saw the possible tool to his victory.
Not wanting to waste another moment, Garble flew towards Spike and made to attack him, but deliberately missed it and landed several yards behind him on his claws and knees with his tail curved around his good knee. Glancing back, Garble grinned when he saw Spike charging him again, but didn't make a move until he was close enough. Once Spike was about a yard away, Garble swung his tail, forcing Spike to leap up over it to dodge the spikes on his tail. With him no longer on his feet, Garble threw his right claw back in a backhanded swipe, but was blocked by Spike, just as he planned. With Spike's right arm occupied, and his feet not yet hitting the ground, Garble rammed his shoulder in Spike's chest, effectively blocking his view of what was happening below him.
Spike grunted when Garble rammed him with his shoulder, but before he knew what was going on or why he did that, an excruciating pain shot through the right side of his ribs. Roaring in a cry of pain, Spike tried to bring his right arm down to cover the area, but Garble's body was blocking him from doing anything. He roared again when he felt whatever had wounded him begin to twist around inside his side before it was forcefully yanked out.
Eyes wide from having whatever was inside him sudden removed, Spike yelled when he was harshly shoved down on his back, his right arm instinctively and protectively folding over the wound. Gritting his fangs as he fought the pain and for it making it harder for him to breath, Spike took a quick look to see a two inch wide hole gushing blood from his side. Figuring that it was too big to use that spit trick on it, Spike just held his claw to it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to rest as he opened his teary eyes and looked up to see Garble hobbling over him with something bloody held in his left claw. Upon further inspection, he noticed that it was the broken-off horn from the dragon Garble had previously fought.
Dang it!
Cringing, Spike tried to move away, but as soon as he did, Garble swung his tail down just inches away from his face.
"We need to help him!" Rarity shrieked, her eyes tearing at the sound of Spike's pained cries.
"But we can't!" Ember shouted back, eyes watering as well.
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Twilight yelled. "Are you expecting us to just stand here and do nothing?!"
"Yes."
Appalled by the calm reply, Rarity, Ember, Twilight, and Starlight's heads all snapped over to Torch.
"You don't even sound like you care if Spike's about to die," Starlight growled, earning her a harsh glare from Torch.
"I do care, but there's nothing that I can do to help him. And believe me, I don't like seeing Spike like this anymore than you do-"
The earth suddenly shook like a miniature earthquake. Having an idea of who caused it, Torch glanced over to the medical station where he saw large cracks were starting to form from.
"-and apparently, neither does Sol."
Fearing that Spike was close to dying, Twilight looked over Starlight and Rarity, seeing that both wore fearful expression like herself. Even Ember was twitching as she struggled to restrain herself from charging down there herself. Feeling like she couldn't take watching anymore of this, Twilight spread her wings and lit her horn.
"I'm sorry, but as much as I want to respect your culture, I can't stand by like this and watch Spike get killed."
Though Twilight was ready to go, along with Starlight and Rarity, who too lit their horns with magic, they were stopped when Torch's claw came down on them, interrupting their teleportation spells and pinning them to the ground. Despite being pinned, Twilight didn't stop as she and the others frantically thrashed about to free themselves.
"Let me go, Torch!"
"Sorry, Princess, but none of you are going down there."
"Yes I am!"
"Please! Spike will die if we don't help him!" Rarity pleaded.
"Dad! What the heck! Let me go!" Ember shouted.
"You know I can't, Ember.
"But I didn't even do anything!"
"Don't think that I didn't notice, Ember. I could tell that you were thinking about going down there."
Ember's eyes flashed a glow of red. "I'm warning you, dad. Let us go, or I swear, I'll use the Bloodstone Scepter and make you!"
Feeling a spark of anger come from that threat, Torch lowered his head down to her level.
"Don't you dare think about it," he growled. "You may be Dragon Lord, Ember, but don't you dare forget even for a moment that I'm still your father."
Despite him being upset, Torch wouldn't hold her actions over her, especially with what was at stake. Taking a calming breath, Torch spoke in a more calm tone.
"Tell me, Ember, do you trust Spike?"
Though scared for Spike and mad at her dad, Ember nodded. "I do."
"Then trust in him that he'll pull through... because I still do."
Spike laid curled on his side, taking short, panting and wheezing with each painful breath he took. Though he was thankful that he wasn't coughing up blood, he was sure that he'd accidentally puncture a lung from the broken ribs he felt poking it whenever he took in a larger breath of air, forcing him to take at best short, moderate breaths.
Severely wounded, weak, and dizzy from the gaping hole bleeding out his side, Spike glanced out of the corner of his eye as Garble stood over him with most of his weight on his right leg.
"This ends now, Spike."
Tightening his grip on the horn, Garble raised it above his head.
"Now, be a good little dragon... and DIE!"
Seeing Garble starting to lunge down at him, Spike forced himself to roll over to the side on his claws and knees, just barely managing to move away before the horn was embedded in the ground where he had laid. Though he avoided being stabbed again, Spike grunted in pain when Garble missed and stumbled on top of him. But, despite being in this new, normally disadvantaging position, Spike actually saw that he could use this to his advantage. Lowering his head, Spike suddenly whipped his head back up, connecting the back of his head with Garble's maw.
Wincing from head-butting the back of his head like that, Spike felt Garble roll off of him where he now laid on his side with both of his claws held over his bleeding mouth. Seeing an opening, Spike felt a rush of adrenaline as he leaped over on Garble's stomach, and began to deliver one blow after another to his face. Though Garble blocked most of them at first, as Spike continued to throw punches, Garble's resistance started to gradually weaken until his strength finally gave out on him. Gritting his fangs from the pain that his movements were causing from his stab wound, and fighting his growing dizziness, Spike delivered a punch square to Garble's nose before he reached to his side and plucked the broken horn from the ground.
Grabbing hold of Garble's neck with his free claw and holding his head an inch off the ground, Spike tightened his grip on the horn and held it high above his head with its bloodied tip pointed downward. Now here Spike was, him on top, Garble pinned, weakened, and bloodied beneath him, and the means to end him permanently in his claw.
Up on the throne, Twilight and the others watched in horror as Spike sat atop of Garble with what appeared to be an intent to kill him.
"Please don't do it. Please don't do it. Dear Celestia, Spike, please don't do it."
Spike panted as he glared down at the battered and beaten Garble beneath him. He knew he had a chance to end him, and after all the times Garble tried to do the same to him and his friends, Spike felt that he had every right to do this. And yet, Spike's body hesitated to go through with it.
Why can't I do it?
Hearing the weak groan coming from below him, Spike blinked and looked back down to Garble's bloodied face, just now noticing the blood leaking from his maw and broken nose, and that a few of his fangs had broken off from his flurry of punches.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Garble weakly asked in annoyance. "Go on. Do it. Be a real dragon."
Spike paused for another moment before he brought the horn down on Garble's face. But, as his strike was half-way down, Spike rotated his claw, turning the horn tip away from Garble as he instead delivering a hard punch right between Garble's eyes. Soon as his claw connected, Spike let go of Garble's neck, causing his head to whiplash from the force of the punch and strike the back of it against the stone, effectively knocking him out while the ground cracked beneath his head.
"Not a dragon like you."
Garble knocked out and knocked out of the competition, Spike made to stand up, but as soon as he did, he was hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion. Now that the all of the excitement with Garble hand ended and his adrenaline was starting to die down a bit, the state of his body was making itself known to Spike as his legs gave out on him and his dizziness overtook his senses. Collapsing, Spike yelped in pain as he landed on his bad side, but couldn't find anymore strength to roll off of it to relieve the pain. However, although he was in quite a bit of pain, he didn't have to endure it for long before his vision started to fade and felt his consciousness slip away.