Round 1: Ivanov / Ashina vs. Michiba / Grayson

His attack had been effective in forcing Ishiko off of Pepper, but she'd avoided most of the blast by a hair's breadth and leaped out of the way. Peter arced sharply upwards seconds before he would have hit the ground, palms leaving a trail of steam behind him as he raced through the air. Moments later, the second girl, who had transformed into a diamond with a thousand, glimmering facets, had taken her partner's place where Pepper's scales had been pried off.

There wasn't much that fire could do against diamond. Anyone who'd taken a basic biology class would know that. Both Peter and Pepper's elemental attacks would have little effect on Cassandra. Pepper, however, had both immense size and immense strength, so if she relied on that instead of her fire breath, he was sure she could find a way to dispose of her attacker.

The other girl, despite how monstrously strong she was, didn't have unbreakable skin, and wasn't blast-proof.

He hated this.

Circling around Pepper, Peter dipped lower down into the surrounding dust cloud and began to circle his way back around. It was starting to get increasingly difficult to avoid falling rocks and twisted support beams, but he was thankful that he could fly fast enough to get out of the way in time. As his circle around the ensuing battle came to gradual completion, energy started to crackle at both of his palms once more. He could feel little cuts forming on his face as he whizzed through the dust and flying pebbles, but the cloud was useful in some sense: cover.

Racing up behind Ishiko, Peter loosed another burst of energy.

Upon being hit by her own teammate's blast, Pepper let out a screech of pain and looked down to her shoulder where it'd it. It didn't do any permanent pain but stung like hell. 'Guess that's payback for earlier,' she thought to herself and focused back on the task at hand.

Twisting her head around so that she peered onto the lower part of the back of her neck, she was able to see something shiny sitting under one of her larger scales. So that's what that aching feeling had been. Stupid pest. They were clever, but so was she, and Pepper was determined to win this battle one way or the other.

Stretching out her wings, the dragon wasted no time in lifting herself towards the sky. The white, expansive webbed claws didn't lift the creature, but gripped the sky and pulled the world down as she sent bits and pieces of the rubble bellow flying every which way. Pushing her legs off the ground to help get her massive body off the crumbled earth, Pepper was soon air born, leaving Ms. Super Strength stuck on ground level. In climbing higher into the open air, she made sure to stay at a safe height so if she fell she wouldn't get hurt too badly seeing that to her she wasn't that far from the ground to begin with, but if anyone else decided to take a little drop towards the barren earth bellow, it'd be a nasty fall.

With the diamond girl in tow still partially in her shoulder, Pepper looked down and tried to spot her partner. "One at a time! Help get this girl off me!" The dragon spoke in a low and raspy voice as she hovered above the building, waiting for her partner and praying to what ever God was out there that he would come assist her.

That really worked.

Ishiko stared up with wide eyes as the dragon took off into the air. She could make out the small shape of Mr. Roboto in the distance, flying up high as the Pepper girl made her escape, leaving her alone on the earth. "Fine with me, She muttered to herself. Even if she couldn't rocket away or grow wings, there was no way she was going to stand there uselessly while Cassie-san stayed up there taking them on alone. The raven-hair gritted her teeth, digging through rubble and pulling out bent and broken beams of steel, much like the one she'd stabbed into the beast's back.

"Take this!" With a deep breath and a mighty thrust, she sent the metal flying straight through the air and at the dragon - aiming for it's stomach, it's wings, it's torso. Such a large target flying so close to the ground couldn't dodge her attack, could it? At least, not more than one. Thrust after thrust, Ishiko sent more projectiles through the air, refusing to let her run away.

She'd caught herself staring up at the sky, waiting for any sign that her onslaught had worked, in any ways - anything felt like it could help at this point. He took a deep breath, brushing the dirt off her arm and gripping at the sore on her shoulder. It was pretty unfair. Dragon lady could turn into a giant scale covered creature. Cassie was invincible diamond hard. And a robot. How could you feel pain if your limbs were all metal? That robot gu-

The summer froze. Where was he? A large whirling sounded off behind her. She whipped around, all dust and wide eyes. "Shi-!" Thank God for all this destruction. Ishiko picked up the closest slate of roof she could; ripened with ice, concrete and pipes, and threw it before her. She tried to block what she could, but the blast had seemed to eat through most of what she'd thrown. He was too close.

She went flying back, tumbling through the rock and gravel - crushing most of what she'd hit, turning it to pebbles and dust. By the time she'd settled to a stop, she was a mess. The girl damn near coughed up a lung, horrible creaking sounds echoing out as she gripped onto old, gritty ruins. "Not nice," she gasped, wiping away at her forehead. "J-JERK!" She picked up whatever was around her; panes of class, bent steel, old gravel, whatever she could; chucking it his way.

His blast was successful in hitting its target this time, but not without repercussion.

Peter had started to fly away from her, but a large, rogue piece of metal she'd thrown caught his shoulder and suddenly send him spinning wildly forward, off of his intended course. He had enough sense to cover his head before he collided with anything, but he'd been sent spinning, unable to control his thrusters. He crashed to the ground and went reeling across the rubble, catching all sorts of stones and bits before he slammed into a support beam.

The Spring could already feel a dozen bruises forming, and his head rang incessantly from the impact. It'd been a hard hit, but there was no time to dwell on it. He was glad it hadn't knocked the wind out of him.

He leaped back onto his feet in one swift action, excess steam leaking from his arms and legs in thick droves, energy sparking at his palms already. Dashing forward, he sent a shower of bullets of energy racing towards Ishiko.

Feeling a sharp pain shoot up her neck, Pepper let out a screech and craned her neck around to see the diamond girl digging into the flesh under one of her scales. No one had ever attempted to do such a thing and while she had to admit that it was a resourceful idea, the large beast was starting to be done with this whole scenario. Feeling a pinch of pain in her foot, she looked down to see a pole wedged between her toes and snapped her head the ground where the other girl was and saw that she was throwing stuff. Pepper would've done something about her, but her partner seemed to have it covered and she had her own problems to deal with at the moment.

Turning her gaze back to Cassidy, Pepper took a deep breath and opened her mouth, readying herself. The angle that she was forced to keep her neck was a bit odd, but it she had a pretty long neck to begin with, so it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

With a clicking sort of sound emitting from her throat, the dragon wasted no time and let the flames of hell. Diamond couldn't be melted, could it? Well, it didn't matter at this point. Anyone that faced her fire at this close of range was surely a goner, even Ms. Shiny, especially since she's pried off the scale and now was out in the open as she kept poking and prodding at the flesh.

Keeping her jaw open for a few moments and sending scorching flames down onto the girl, Pepper quickly snapped her jaw shut and began to flap her wings even harder, flying higher and higher into the sky. Twisting and turning, the white beast moved as much as possible in attempt to fling the most likely dazed girl off and winced at the pain in her shoulder that now wasn't only from the girl, but also from burning her skin a bit. 'Pain is just a feeling. You can choose to ignore it,' she reminded herself as she thrashed around in the air. The pole that was once jammed in her foot slipped out and fell to the ground bellow and Pepper let out a roar of rage at the pain that shot up her foot. 'Ignore it!' she tried to remind herself as she continued to soar around with no grace at all.

Fishy's computer and internet router are being pieces of laggy garbage rn so this is gonna be brief.

Before Peter could even see if his latest attack had done it's job, the air began to fizzle. Suddenly, the temperature rose dramatically. Peter's head snapped up. A column of flames unlike anything he'd ever seen was racing down towards the ground from Pepper's airborne attack on Cassandra, ready to torch anything in its path. It's trajectory didn't lead directly to him, but the excess heat would surely be enough to burn the first two layers of his skin off. The Spring scrambled around a boulder and flew madly away from where he'd been standing. He had to squint a little to see where exactly he was going. His vision was still blurred slightly from Ishiko's attack, and his head began to ring even worse as he took off.

Perhaps his crash-landing had affected him more harshly than he'd initially thought..

In the mean time, he had to try and find solid ground to assess the rapidly-evolving situation.

Beams of energy sounded off around her, breaking into the ground and turning the entire place into a mine field. She hid where she could, living on a prayer and waiting for the onslaught to pass. The way things were now, there was no way she could give any sort of decent retaliation. The girl let out a small scream, a heated beam of light grazing all too closer to her. Although it didn't hit, it's sheer energy was enough to send heated rubble splattering against her, burning the length of her arm and leg. It would pass, she told herself through choked tears.

Smoke and dust and flames. She could make out the faintest shadow of Peter soaring off into the distance, away from the flames, out of control and spraying all over the clearing. What on earth was his partner thinking, she wondered. Even to her, it was obvious that one scorch of that sort of attack and Mr. Roboto would be up in flames. Was it worth the risk? Ishiko savored what moment she could to catch her breath, forcing herself back up onto her feet. She was scraped and bruised all over, but with firm resolution, she was well prepared to endure. She was strong. She had to remember that. She was strong.

The Summer wiped the dust and sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, staring up into the sky. There was no way she could leave Cassandra up there all alone. Or at least, there had to be something she could do - besides giving the enormous dragon a measly little splinter. Anger. Fury. Determination. That's what the tournament was all about, wasn't it? And she'd never felt quite so determined before. Ishiko bunched up her muscles, brushing her fingers against the ruined, chilled earth before springing off - her leap so might it left a crater and dust in it's wake.

She fell beside the remains of an old car, mangled and torn from the damage, it's edges jagged. Good enough for her. With a heavy grunt and the veins in her arms damn near popping, she lifting it, sending it heaving through the air and straight for Pepper. She couldn't dodge everything. The young woman threw heavy pieces of broken pipes, wall, whatever the clearing around her had to offer - whatever would help take down the dragon. And if that weren't enough... then... then...!

Ishiko climbed to the heights of the shattered building and - with one firm breath - made the jump of a life-time, leaving whatever was below her in crumbles. There was no way she could reach up for her neck, straight up to help Cass, but there were other places she could grip onto. With a mighty grip, she wrapped her arm and legs around Pepper's foot, clasping tight around the slate of metal she'd thrown into her toes not long before. With a jerk, the broken weapon was hers again as she pulled herself together, stabbing it through the tight scaled leather wherever she could and beginning her climb upwards back onto Pepper's back.

So apparently fire wasn't the best solution.

Screeching at the diamond girl dug into her back once more, Pepper had to think fast and came to a conclusion. In this case, bigger wasn't better and so other measures would have to be taken. Looking down to the other girl who was now holding onto her leg and stabbed the metal back in it. The beast let out a final roar and let her wings cease their flapping.

Focusing her mind on what she intended to do, the giant white dragon disappeared, leaving the three girls plummeting down towards earth.

Opening her eyes, Pepper let out a scream at the pain that shot up her shoulder and foot from the injuries that she'd obtained as the dragon, seeing that it always hurt more when she wasn't so big and tough. Wincing at the pain, she looked down, wide eyed as she remembered the problem at hand. If she didn't do something soon, she was going to go splat, and that was not the way she intended to go.

Trying to ignore the pain for at least a few seconds, the girl closed her eyes. 'Come on... you've done this before!' her mind screamed and after a few seconds of struggling to focus her thoughts, wings sprouted from her back, ripping holes through her school uniform, causing her to shriek again from the pain in her shoulder.

Flapping the much smaller wings, Pepper landed on the cold, desolate ground safely, though not gracefully. Running a few steps, she tripped over her own feet and fell face first. 'Get up, get up!' she told herself. Letting out a groan, she pushed herself off the ground and looked around. Just a little ways in the distance sat the ruins of the building that she destroyed and snapping her head around, she spotted the super strength girl. While she wasn't a big dragon anymore, she prayed to what ever god out there that she'd be able to stand and fight, at least for a little longer, and hopefully her partner would get out here and help her out.

Standing her ground and trying not to show the limp in her injured foot, Pepper lifted her hands up to her face to block any quick blows that might be thrown at her, and more of her human-dragon form emerged. Her pupils turned to little slits, horns sprouted from her head, and sharp canines, claws, and a tail also grew from her body. At least now she had a fighting chance in hand to hand combat, what ever that may look like.

By now, Peter had reached the crumbled roof of the research facility - a good point to assess what was happening both above and below. In the sky, Pepper screeched as she flew in jagged circles. By the looks of things, the diamond girl was still attached to her. Blood was streaming down the dragon's neck, staining her white scales scarlet. She was simply too big to reach back and pry Cassandra off. If this kept up, Peter was going to lose his partner and have to face the two girls alone. That would not be easy. He was confident enough he could take them on in a one-on-one fight, but both of them at once? The odds didn't look good for him in that hypothetical situation. He knew the math.

Just as he touched down on the roof, however, the unthinkable happened -- Pepper shed her dragon form. In the blink of an eye, all three girls began a steep, wild plummet towards the ground. A bolt of urgency striking him, Peter poised to leap to his partner's aid, but   she she descended, her dragon form slowly began to return to her.. More or less. Wings sprouted out of her back and rapidly slowed her fall, but the ninety-foot beast she'd once been had vanished into thin air..

Maybe this was more efficient, though. The bigger she was, the more difficult it was to keep track of her tiny opponents - and to shake them off of her. Most importantly, though, it would be much easier for the Spring to co-operate with her in her current state.

Wasting no more time observing, Peter leaped off of the roof and dove down to where Pepper had landed. In seconds, he'd arrived at her side, kicking up rubble with his landing. It appeared as thought she'd taken on a sort of pseudo-dragon form. She had scales, horns, claws, wings, and eerie reptilian eyes, but her stature was very much still human. It was.. A little unnerving, but far preferable to the hulking creature she'd been not a minute ago. His tone was barely above a whisper, but sharp nonetheless. "We need to start working together if we want to make it out of this round. No more of this solo work. It's not benefiting anyone." He took a moment to scan the area for any oncoming threats, but there were none yet, thankfully. He turned back to her, but kept his ears trained on the surrounding area. "You might not have the same strength you had as a dragon, but you're quicker now, and you can still fly. Both of us can - the enemy can't. Neither of them. Don't forget that."

Peter shifted his stance to ready himself for take-off, paused, and then added, "And if you still have any firepower, make use of it. I'll do the same."

Energy sparked around his forearms as he shot upwards for the umpteenth time, festering and building.

One moment, she was riding in the air, and the next there was nothing but empty space beneath her. Ishiko felt her heart leap up into her throat. Off in the corner of her eye she spotted a glimmer in the distance, undoubtably her partner. She wasn't fast enough to help her, but the Summer wasn't about tii go off and abandon her partner again. As the wind roared I'm her ears, she twisted around, tossing away her stake and landing with the balls of her feet firmly on the ground. Another crater awoken around her, kicking dust and dirt high into the air. It gave her a short window of cover, allowing her to leap back off through the rubble, towards the other crash landing in what had been the former research arena. It was nothing but a pure mess now.

"Cassie!" She shouted, rushing up to her side. Individually, they didn't stand much of a chance, buut together they might have been able to make things work out. Ishiko grabbed a large slab of melted rubble and wall, pulling it aside to use as cover for when fire inevbitably came raining down in them. Cassandra might have been fine, but she didn't like her own odds other wise. "I'll watch your back," she promised, pressing her back to hers. Following the diamond girl's lead, she swooped several stakes up into her arms - sending giant mangled rods flying straight for the shape of - the now smaller - Pepper, and a few off to the side, for when she inevitably tried to dodge.

Looking to Peter who had landed beside her, Pepper listened intently, nodding in agreement at what he said. It felt good to have an actual plan and now that she wasn't so big, it'd be easier to communicate with her partner.

Giving a final firm nod, Pepper watched as the mechanic boy took off, going towards where Cass and Ishiko stood. This was it, the possible final moments of their battle. She'd give it her all, no matter what happened.

Letting out a dragon like growl, Pepper waited till the metal rods that were hurled at her got a bit closer and started to crouch down. In a graceful leap, she jumped straight up, avoiding what was racing towards her. Flapping her wings, the girl flew towards her two opponents, making sure to fly in a sort of zig-zag path. She had to make sure not to stay still too long or else she'd be an easier target, and she couldn't risk that.

Coming to a halt when she was a couple yard away from the other two girls, Pepper opened her mouth and let out a gust of flames that would engulf the two other girls at this range, at the same time that Peter was attacking. While Cass might have been fireproof, the super strength girl wasn't.

Once she had waited a few moments, she shut her jaw and flapped her wings in the opposite direction, wincing and clenching her teeth as she she flew up and backwards, making some distance from the girls.