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This was where he often shined the brightest...locked in the heated embrace of battle. Kondo, the father to his best friend, turned out to be just as brutal as stories told and his efforts to put Gepeto down not in vein--but the brown lion was blind to anything but destruction. Where technique should have been brute force was implemented instead. In several instances, it was a successful technique in its own.

His muffled grunts and the clacking of teeth were the only sounds he could hear. A slip of step sent him into the grasp of his opponent, and landing took the breath from his lungs. Instinct kept his large paws moving, but blood had already begun to stain his maw and cloud his vision. The weight of the orange male pressed against him, but the threat of fangs sinking into his neck weighed heaviest of all.

His own neck reached forward when a opening came, and as close as they had come together his own fangs were able to find muscle and to latch on. Relentless in his effort to roll Kondo, Gepeto centered his hind legs beneath the others chest and kicked.

A cry slipped through his grit teeth. Blood would not cease its flow from every new wound that was made, and their creation seemed endless just as well. Everything would come to a head at some point. The pain would become difficult to simply ignore...but for now, just as it was for his vicious opponent; All of that could be overlooked.

He attempted to meet Kondo's paw with his own, but again Gepeto faltered and again his mistake was met with severe consequences. Pride kept him from revealing too much, that and the adrenaline, but it could not keep out the angry snarls. The bull-like rear of his head toward Kondo's. And the wild kick of his legs that would ultimately free him from his opponents grasp.

And from there, Gepeto would find his footing and with no sportsmanship in him the lion would charge at Kondo with his own claws out and his own paws raised into the air.

It took far too much in him to laugh, particularly with the bruises that, in the moment they had to spare, ached dreadfully...but a single snort would do just fine. Gepeto's sights remained pointed on his target, following Kondo's staggered gait with a similarly wounded one of his own.

"Tired...Already..." He returned loudly, heaving a breath to break his words. "Viking?"

Those eyes that were on them earned no glances from him. Not yet...

He was always taught to never turn your back on an opponent.

((DON'T LEAVE OKAY I AM SORRY.
but you like the games don't deny it

LET'S KEEP PLAYING ))

Fair was fair was fair.

Gepeto shifted his weight suddenly, the rush of adrenaline beginning to fade; the need for it diminishing with it. Despite how strong the ex-firekin was, every throbbing muscle tempted him to collapse. The length of time between his last true spar and the victory just then was extensive, to say the least, and come dawn the ache of swollen tissue would more than likely overpower any pain felt from the older males inflicted wounds.

And as for Kondo, his remark earned a scathing, albeit painful, chuckle in between heavy breaths. He was reminded of both his comrades presence as well as the strange female Zilly, who lingered some ways in the backdrop, as things began to settle. Meshindi's coaxing and the tone for which he used to do it in carried strength he could not muster a fight against. That being said, the male scoffed and rolled his shoulders, muttering a simple "Yeah" before resettling his weight with a shift of his paws. The lack of congratulatory exchanges was enough for Gepeto to feel victorious. Kondo did not have to look defeated to know he had been. And that seemed to be enough.

As it was, no more words needed saying beyond those that the older, orange male spoke. It was time to move forward...

Could he find the strength within him to reject Zilly's request? Her oddity was of no interest to him, and in fact he wished to avoid it altogether--

"Don't need it." He snarled at last, although it would seem for more than just her efforts to lend a hand. The privacy of Kondo and Meshindi's conversation was unsettling, particularly when it was Meshindi and Gepeto who, in his mind, should have been speaking of things. In time he assumed that would be the case, but for now the dark male left Gepeto with... her. And even with no other reason to be disgruntled, that would do the trick. "Just get me there."

Turning to face in the direction both Viking lions had wandered from, the male grumbled something low and incoherent before gesturing Zilly to lead the way.