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Azrael puffed himself up and tried to look imposing. He was going to be fighting for a place in a pride. He needed to look like he could win, or so he thought. Then again, he knew he COULD win. The question was more if he would win. There were a lot of factors that went into a fight and any combination of them could lead to loss or victory. He wanted them to lead to victory so very badly. He especially did not want his sister to get in on her try and him to lose. He would be quite unhappy if Gabriel got to brag about being in before him.

Azrael issued a challenging roar as he got to the border and waited for an answer from withing the pride lands. He knew that there were those that patrolled and would come to answer. He just had to wait. Waiting was always hard for him, but he would manage it. It took all his will power to stand there waiting instead of strutting around or something to amuse himself while nobody was around. The last thing he needed was to be caught off guard by someone because he was being an idiot.

Azrael heard the answering roar and nodded to himself. Good, someone was coming to take up the challenge. It was nice to know he was not going to be ignored. When the tan and brown male came forward, Azrael did not even speak before lunging. The other male might want to waste breath on words, but Azrael just wanted to get the fight over so he could see where he stood with this pride. This fight was a job that needed completed, and he would complete it and many more if he had to do get into the pride.

Azrael struck at the male's legs and shoulder, trying to find a weak point that he could make use of. If he could not find a weak point exposed, he would try to force the lion backward to give him one. Azrael had been trained for this by his mother. He could win. He knew that he could win. He did question if he would win, though. There were so many things that could go wrong, but he did know one thing if he lost and his sister won her challenge, he was in for one hell of a grilling by her later. He refused to go through that if he could avoid it.

Azrael dropped back as well. He had tried going in and forcing the male to give ground, but it had not really worked. They seemed to be very evenly matched for strength, and Azrael was getting a bad feeling about this fight. If their strength was matched, it was going to come down to who could last longer, and he did not like the outcome of the fight being so very cloudy. He could not be sure about how evenly they were matched, but he just had that feeling in his gut that he was right. He hated that feeling because he always seemed to be right about things he would rather not be.

Azrael kept watching the other male and they circled a bit. He could not see anything that looked like an easily exploited weakness. No limps, no open wounds from a previous fight, nothing. Why did he have to get someone on a level with him? It might be better than getting his arse kicked around and around before being sent off, but it also presented the frustration of trying to figure out where to move but not finding anything obvious. Not finding a better option, Azrael kept his head down and charged the other male, trying to bowl him over.

Azrael was oh so happy when he felt the other male fall back a step. That was the first good sign of this fight, but it was still only one step. It was a very small thing he had gained and the cost of it, hopefully, would not be great. He still was having a bad feeling about the fight overall, but at least there were good points showing up in it. That would mean he had something to build on if he had to train for a second attempt at a challenge. One thing was for sure step back or not, hitting the male head on had really been about like hitting a boulder or an old tree. The dark lion was going to pay for that move with a sore head for probably the next day or so.

Azrael was a bit distracted with trying to plow the tawny lion over when he got hit with the counter attack. He felt claws in his shoulder, but at least the hide up there was fairly thick. He would have some marks, but not grave ones from the feel of it. Azrael tried to back off to keep from being knocked over by the other male. He managed a partial retreat by giving ground sideways to try to get away from the claws in his shoulder, but he was pretty sure it was not going to be enough at this point. It seemed like another good attack at this angle, and Azrael was probably going to be done in for the day.

Azrael could not get a defense for that side blow in time, and he went down. He slide a little on the ground but not much before he picked himself back up and winced at the pain in his side. The shoulder had been bad enough, how he was sure he had a few bruised ribs. This fight was definitely over now, but at least he knew he stood a chance getting in with more practice. It had been a very close match up until this point, which was always a good sign for the person challenging. The dark male nodded to the other out of respect of his ability. He was pretty sure this lion would take his ceding the fight for the moment.

"You win this battle... but I will be back." Azrael made a promise he knew he would keep. He might not get the same lion to challenge, but he certainly would be back and fighting again soon. He just needed time to heal up first. There was no way he was going to be able to keep going with that hit to the side. It had knocked most of the breath out of the dark lion, and all fighting further was going to get him was beaten to hell and a longer healing period. "You fight well." It was barely a compliment with how it was said. Azrael was not pleased with the fact.