//------------------------------// // Round 2: Rexy's fight // Story: Battle of the Kings // by TyrannosaurusVenom //------------------------------// After the first round of the gauntlet had come to an end, Smaug began scanning the crowd for an opponent that would be worthy enough for Tyrannosaurus Rex. His golden eyes scanned over each dragon,seeing if any of them were up for the challenge. Plenty of them looked like they were ready to fight, but Smaug knew they were only bluffing and trying to look tough. Then his eyes fell upon a dragon in the back with searing yellow eyes, and jagged looking spikes along the back of his neck. "Ah, he will do just fine. Step forward Predator." The dragon heeded Smaug's words and began to walk forward. Other dragons made way for him as he walked toward's T-Rex. When Tyrannosaurus got a full look at his opponent, his gaze intensified at the beast before him. His opponent was a bulky, dark dragon with plenty of muscle, yet his arms and legs were sort of stubby compared to the other dragons. His underside had long tufts of fur jetting out from different spots, while his back mostly bristled with spikes. The most noticeable spikes were the red, jagged ones that spread out from his head like a twisted crown. His wingspan was wider than most of the other dragons, but what really caught Tyrannosaurus's attention was his eyes. This dragon's eyes were nothing but pure yellow, like there wasn't a soul lurking within them. Seeing how perplexed T-Rex was with his opponent, Smaug proceeded to introduce the combatants. "The dragon before you is known throughout these lands as Predator. He may not be as tall as the other dragons, but his ferocity more than makes up for that. He has fought in the Final Destination many times, and is one of the few dragons to ever withstand the eruption head-on. Predator has been in the volcano so many times that it's rumored he absorbed part of the lava during one of the eruptions. He is definitely a worthy opponent for you, Tyrannosaurus." T-Rex stared back at the demonic look in the dragon's eyes with his own golden orbs. There seemed to only be savage, killer instinct buried in there that could match the dinosaurs at their absolute worst. Despite how terrifying this dragon looked, Tyrannosaurus feared no opponent. He didn't fear Black Death during their battle to the death, and he certainly didn't fear this monster. The others felt chills flow through their fur when the beast opened his mouth and talked. "I'll see to it that your skeleton rots in the darkest part of the volcano." Tyrannosaurus might have been uneasy, but he wasn't going to let some killing machine talk down to him. So he responded with a clever comeback. "I wouldn't count on it Predator. I'll show you why I'm called the King of the Dinosaurs." The carnivores stared each other down as they made their way to the edge of the volcano. Before they made their way onto the platform, Smaug had a few more things to say. "Before the second match begins boys, there are some things I need to address. For starters, I was quite surprised during the last match. Do all of you have your own set of wings? You might as well show me, since the cat's out of the bag." Tyrannosaurus and Indominus unfurled their wings to display in front of all the dragons. Their mouths fell open at seeing the incredible wing spans before them. To wipe away any suspicions that Smaug might've had, they revealed their red auras just as the raptors had. The dragon lord had a satisfied smile on his face, he couldn't wait to see them in action. "So you all had some tricks up your scales huh? Well I'll see all your power when your match begins, Indominus. Oh, one more thing. If any of your pony friends try to help again, I will send in additional dragons to fight them if they're so eager." None of the Mane Six were intending to step into the brawl. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had only been part of the last fight because Garble had tried to kill them. Predator spoke up and his statement startled everypony. "I would actually prefer to have a little pony for an appetizer during the fight." His gaze fell upon Scootaloo, and a demented smile formed on his face. "I'll start with the little chicken among the group." Hearing that word sent rage into Tyrannosaurus's heart, and he smacked Predator off the edge and into the volcano. The dragon quickly recovered from the attack and glided onto the platform. T-Rex looked over at Scootaloo before he joined the monster. "I'll destroy him for calling you that name, Scootaloo." "Go get him Rexy." T-Rex nodded to his girl, spread his wings and flew down into the volcano. He landed hard on the battlefield and bared his teeth at the monstrous dragon. The stage was set for a fight between two savage predators, each one determined to claim victory. Smaug flew above the volcano and called down to the fighters. "Carnivores, FIGHT!" The beasts charged straight towards each other, bellowing deep roars and flashing their teeth. Predator went in for a deadly bite, but T-Rex ducked and dealt him an uppercut with his head. Seizing the opportunity with his opponent stunned, Tyrannosaurus clamped down on the underside of the monster's neck. The underside was all fur and had little to no protection, so T-Rex's bite instantly caused blood to leak out from where he had bitten. Unfortunately, the attack had left Tyrannosaurus vulnerable to the dragon's claws. Because the dragon's neck was rather short, T-Rex had to get in close and it allowed the dragon to slash away at the dinosaur's body. Predator's claws dug deep, but T-Rex wouldn't release his grip. The tyrant lizard shook his head wildly and the dragon's blood splattered all over the battlefield. Predator stopped his slashing attacks, and instead, grabbed T-Rex from the underside of the neck. The force from the grab caused T-Rex to release his grip, and turned the tables on him. Predator used the advantage to force T-Rex back, then pushed the dinosaur back and bit down on the underside of his neck. With T-Rex's arms being so short, he couldn't grip Predator and stop the attacks. Instead, he shifted his body in all directions and shook the dragon loose from under his neck. T-Rex had to stop to catch his breath again after being held in the vice grip. Predator got back up and resumed slashing at T-Rex's body, and Scootaloo was getting worried for her savior. "He's in trouble, I've got to help him." Scootaloo was getting ready to fly down into the volcano, but Indominus put a hand in front of her to stop her. "You can't interfere in this battle Scootaloo, this is something T-Rex has to handle himself. After all he said he would make that monster pay for insulting you." "I know Indominus, but he's getting torn up." "He'll be alright Scootaloo. Tyrannosaurus has been in tougher battles than this. He can take care of himself." Tyrannosaurus used his wings to push Predator away, then clamped down on the dragon's face. The monster was caught off guard by the tough teeth piercing his face. Tyrannosaurus threw him off to the side, and blasted his body, sending the dragon towards the edge. Predator stood back up with blood leaking from his face, and anger written on his face. In retaliation to the damage dealt to him, Predator flew over, slammed T-Rex to the ground and used his arms to pin the dinosaur in place. With Tyrannosaurus pinned to the battlefield, Predator leaned forward and began taunting him. "Ha Ha! So this is the great carnivore that helped take down Black Death? You're nothing but a waste of my time, I'll have to end this soon so I can get to devouring that little rat on the ledge." T-Rex snapped his head up and got right in Predator's face, ignoring the blood trickling onto his scales. "What did you call her." he said in a deep and deadly voice. Predator leaned back in and repeated his taunt. "I said she was nothing but a ra-" Predator didn't get to finish because Tyrannosaurus blasted him at point blank range in the face. T-Rex's blast sent the dragon skyward and right out of the volcano. Tyrannosaurus rolled back onto his feet, unfurled his wings and zoom climbed after the dragon. All the dragons turned their heads to the sky as T-Rex flew past them and rammed Predator head on. The dragon was sent reeling from the collision with Rexy's head. The dinosaur flew a few feet apart from Predator and said in a powerful voice. "Let's dance Bozo!" The carnivores flew back and forth towards each other, nailing slashes and devastating bites on the opposing beast's body. Predator unleashed a fiery blast that looked more like lava than fire. Tyrannosaurus countered with his own blast and the two exploded on contact with each other. It was a teetering battle of attacks and explosions all across the sky. Down below, Smaug's eyes were wide with excitement at the display of sheer power. "Now that's what I call a dogfight. Tyrannosaurus is a much more capable fighter and flyer than I thought." "Well he did learn from some very gifted flyers, Smaug," Indominus said while glancing at Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. The pegasi blushed at the compliment Indominus had given them. "He's giving Predator far more trouble too. I wonder what triggered that much anger from him." Indominus didn't answer that particular question, because a shriek from above got his attention. T-Rex had bitten down on the spikes around Predator's neck, and had broken several of them off. The beast had never fought an opponent that could deal such incredible damage, and outdo him in the air. The great dinosaur proceeded to deal several bone crushing attacks all across Predator's body, until the savage dragon was howling in pain. Scootaloo's training was working to T-Rex's advantage, and he was just getting started. "I'm going to make you suffer now Predator. You're about to see what happens to those that insult my girl." Tyrannosaurus broke off one of the long spikes near the dragon's face, but kept it held in his mouth. Predator tried slashing away at T-Rex again, but having wings had made Tyrannosaurus far more maneuverable and agile in the air. He dodged the beast's claws, and dealt him a smack across the face with his tail. Then T-Rex did something unexpected and incredibly violent. He took the spike he had been holding and rammed it through Predator's right eye. Every dragon's eyes shrunk at what they had seen: to see one of their own impaled through the eye with one of his own spikes. They could see the blood spilling out of Predator and pouring into the volcano. The devastation only continued as they heard a deadly crunch and watched T-Rex bite down on Predator's neck. His head went limp and his wings were struggling desperately to keep him airborne. Tyrannosaurus had successfully crippled the dragon, and was letting him struggle with his own injuries. Then T-Rex zoom climbed again until he was only a dot in the sky. None of the dragons were sure what he was planning. The dinosaur bellowed so that all the spectators could hear him. "PREDATOR! I'M GOING TO FINISH YOU WITH THIS LAST ATTACK! THIS ONE'S FOR YOU SCOOTALOO!" The Mane Six gasped as Tyrannosaurus dove straight for Predator, and made himself as aerodynamic as a comet. His speed began building rapidly, and as the mach cone began forming around him, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's eyes shrunk. "Rainbow Dash, is he going to do what I think he's doing?" "I think so Scootaloo, but I've never seen him pull one off. Tyrannosaurus has never even tried to perform one during our training sessions. This will be his first attempt, and he's going to use it to kill the dragon. There's just one problem." "I can already see it. He won't be able to pull out from the dive, and he'll wind up...in the...volcano. It's a suicide move, I just hope he know's what he's doing." "Rainbow Dash, what is Tyrannosaurus trying to do?" "He's going to attempt the Sonic Rainboom Twilight." The others were instantly shocked. "But if he does, he'll be swallowed by the lava with that kind of speed," said Rarity. "He'll die once his body reenters the volcano," Pinkie said horrified. "All we can do is hope that T-Rex has thought this through and knows how to get out of the dive." Back in the air, Tyrannosaurus's speed was building and the mach cone was tightening around his face. The velocity was also rattling his body and making it harder to keep track of his target, but fortunately he had it all planned out. His earlier attacks had disabled Predator, who was still in agony, and he wouldn't be able to dodge the collision. Once T-Rex saw the mach cone form a spear around his snout, he did somethin unexpected. He shot forth a blast of energy that got caught in the mach cone, and traveled forward with him. Then everyone heard it. BOOOOM!! Everyone saw the trademark circles spreading out after the explosion, and there were quite a few interesting differences about this one. It was just like Scootaloo's Rainboom, with orange and magenta, but with the red aura around the edges. It left the dragons confused on what had just happened, the Mane Six however, were overcome. The ponies were amazed that T-Rex had pulled off the feat, but the biggest difference was what had happened to Tyrannosaurus. His body was completely enveloped in the energy that he had shot out in front before he had achieved the Sonic Rainboom. Now he looked like a demonic monster from Tartarus, even his eyes were glowing a fiery yellow. The dinosaur let loose a loud roar as he clamped down on Predator's face, and dragged the crippled dragon back towards the volcano. His momentum didn't even slow down with the weight from hauling Predator, and everypony shrieked in horror at what happened next. Tyrannosaurus plunged through the battlefield and dove straight into the lava with Predator in his jaws. All the spectators leaned over the edge to see if they could spot anything after what had just happened. None of them could see any sign of T-Rex or Predator, all was completely silent. The ponies were all worried that Tyrannosaurus had just committed a suicide move just to make the dragon pay. Then they felt the ground shaking violently and noticed the lava was bubbling wildly. Smaug noticed it too, and yelled for everyone to take flight. The green dragon scooped up the rest of the Mane Six and the CMC while Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo flew up as the volcano released a colossal eruption. The lava went skyward like a rocket, and it forced the dragons to scatter to avoid the fiery liquid as it rained down on the landscape. Never had they seen the volcano react so violently, or release such a massive eruption. As the lava cooled and the dragons touched down again, Smaug was wondering what had happened to trigger the eruption. The fight hadn't been long enough for the volcano's timer to run out, something must've happened after T-Rex dove into the lava to trigger the eruption. As the ponies got out of the green dragon's hands, they saw a fiery shape fly out of the volcano, and hover in the air. One of the dragons called out, "what is that thing?" The shape touched down near the edge and the dragons watched as the energy dissipated. They were all shocked by the creature behind the energy. Tyrannosaurus stepped forward and bellowed a grand victorious as the energy parted away from his body. Scootaloo was so overcome with joy that she ran forward and T-Rex bent down as she hugged him. "You did it Rexy, you pulled off the Sonic Rainboom! I was worried you wouldn't make it out of that alive. How did you pull that off?" "That's what I would like to know as well. How did you manage to survive an explosion of that caliber T-Rex? Smaug stepped towards T-Rex, looking surprised and pleased at the same time. Tyrannosaurus let Scootaloo climb onto his head as he gave his explanation. "It's actually rather simple Smaug, before I performed the Sonic Rainboom, I shot a blast that coated my body in my own energy, The energy protected my body when I dove into the lava so I wouldn't be harmed. As for Predator, I blasted his face off while we were in the lava, my blast triggered the eruption and boiled the remains of his body within the lava. I really let him have it in there." "Well done Tyrannosaurus, that was simple yet brilliant. I've never seen any creature employ such a creative attack on a dragon. You did all of that because Predator insulted the little pegasus on your head, am I right?" T-Rex nodded his head, yet none of the dragons were annoyed or troubled by it. "You hold her in the same regard that Indominus holds the rainbow one, right?" Again, T-Rex simply nodded his head. "You're not mad at me Smaug?" "Why would I be mad at a creature that absolutely destroyed an enemy for the sake of someone he cares about? That is one of the best motivators for any fighter, you are just as successful in fighting as the velociraptors, Tyrannosaurus Rex." Both kings bowed their heads to each other in respect, and Smaug turned his head to the last dinosaur to fight in the gauntlet. "I hope you're ready for your test Indominus." "Send in your best dragon Smaug, I'm ready to show you what I'm made of."