Chapter 13 - Blackwing's Might

"Are you sure you still want to enter the portal? 'This 'killer kitty' is just stage 1."

Jamie let out a sigh."I'll be fine. I'll just keep you both close to me in the portal. The Battlepet Masters from this store will deal with most of the threats, in any case. We just need to focus on defending ourselves."

Jamie tinkered with the settings. He set both Eve and Blackwing to fight, the fighting style to Life and Death (Frontal Encounter), and the location to a Stadium. A single stage 2 leopard was set, and Jamie kept the pain feedback to low. Once the match was started and the countdown finished, Jaime issued two mental commands.

"Eve, stay with me."

"Blackwing, attack the leopard, don't climb too high."

Blackwing ran forwards, flapping his wings before taking off, keeping his height two meters above the stage By the time Blackwing was a quarter of the distance across the stadium, Blackwing opened it's mouth and spat out an ember at the leopard. The leopard's tail tilted, and it zagged to the left, avoiding the ember. Upon seeing the ember going wide, Blackwing tilted it's body, flying to his right to intercept the leopard. As Blackwing drew closer he dived, and opened his mouth to release another ember. The leopard let out a growl before it dashed, moving forwards two meters near instantaneously, avoiding the second ember attack. Blackwing immediately flapped it's wings furiously, rising from the dive and circling around. As the leopard ran past Blackwing, it started running towards Jamie. As it approached, Eve stepped forward and let out a growl. Jamie issued another mental command. "Eve, just hassle it. Try at all costs to avoid it's attacks."

After saying that, Jamie tensed, ready to leap to one side once the leopard dashed. Eve ran forwards, and as soon as she was 3 meters away from the leopard she opened her jaws and moved forwards instantaneously, biting down on the leopards right foot as hard as possible. The bite didn't manage to penetrate, but the impact knocked the leg back, causing the leopard to destabilize and tumble to the ground with a hiss..

"Eve, get away from it."

As the leopard tumbled to the ground, Eve opened her jaws, letting go of the foot, then tumbling to the ground. As Eve and the leopard got up, Jamie ran to his right, trying to put Blackwing between him and the leopard. When the leopard had finally gotten up, an ember spat towards it from Blackwing, hitting it's back. As it yowled in pain, trying to roll on the ground to get rid of the fire on it's back, Blackwing dived on it, pinning it to the ground and tearing it's throat.

Match Over. Trainer Wins.

Once the trio reappeared at their starting positions, Jamie smiled and rubbed Eve and Blackwing, mentally congratulating them. Eve nipped at Jamie's heels with her tail raised, while Blackwing let out a roar, standing up straight. Once he was done praising them, Jamie sent a transmission to Blackwing, asking "How often can you spit out the ember?"

"5"

"Five times before you need a break?"

Blackwing nodded.

Jamie turned to Eve then said out loud "How often can you use your abilities before you need a break?"

Eve paused in thought before responding back via transmission "Telekinesis depends on the objects weight, and how fast I move it. Healing wounds with my paw likewise depends on the damage I have to heal and the duration I keep the ability active for. Dash I can use ten times consecutively before needing a rest."

Jamie nodded, then replayed the log of the fight, thinking he missed something. He then paused on the moment that Eve dashed at the leopard, then rewound back to the moment the leopard dashed from Blackwing. His eyes narrowed and Jamie said out loud "Your dash range is bigger then the leopards. How long did you need to practice it before doing that?"

"If we are talking about time spent using the skill, it should add up to about one year. When I started, I could only dash one meter."

Jamie nodded. He looked at Blackwing and his eyes narrowed, before he said "I'll get you to use your ember on the dummy every time we enter this building. Lets see if we can increase it's power."

Blackwing let out a roar. Jamie walked forward and scratched Blackwing for a bit, before asking "How was the fight?"

Blackwing transmitted back to Jaime "Fun. More."

Jamie grinned. He then said "Let's see how you can deal with aerial threats."

Jamie then altered with the settings. He set both Eve and Blackwing to fight, the fighting style to Life and Death (Frontal Encounter), and the location to a Stadium. A single stage 2 eagle was set, and Jamie kept the pain feedback to low. Once the match was started and the countdown finished, Jamie issued two mental commands.

"Eve, stay with me." "Blackwing, take flight, but once your airborne, hover while gathering altitude."

As Blackwing ran forwards, Jamie ran after him, with Eve on his heels. Once Blackwing was in the air and started flapping his wings, Jamie issued said mentally to Blackwing "I'll be beneath you. If it tries to ignore you and dive on me, it'll be an easy target for your claws, jaws, or tail."

Blackwing roared, then tried to keep a hovering distance of six meters above Jamie, while noticeable dropping and rising as it tried to remain airborne in the same location. When the eagle approached, Blackwing spat out an ember which the eagle avoided by dropping it's altitude slightly before flying past Blackwing, circling around. Jamie sent a thought to Blackwing "It's circling to your right. Don't let it launch an attack at you from behind, at a higher altitude."

Blackwing let out a roar, before beating his wings and rotating his body to the right, to keep the eagle in sight.

With this, a stalemate started for ten minutes, with the eagle circling around the trio, and Blackwing rotating his body to keep the eagle in sight. Eventually, the eagle started to climb, before diving towards Blackwing. Blackwing spat out an ember at the eagle as it neared. The ember flew far above the eagle, missing it completely. Blackwing spat out another ember.

Upon seeing the second embers trajectory, the eagle pulled out of it's dive, flapping furiously, and a slight gust rippled from it's wings, causing it to hover and avoiding the ember. The eagle then flapped it's wings again and flew forwards. Another five minute passed while the eagle circled around, before going into another dive.

"Blackwing, don't attack until I tell you to."

The eagle dived down, rapidly closing the gap between the two. Jamie's eyes narrowed as he focused on the eagle as it approached . 20 meters. 15 meters. 10 meters. 5 meters. "Now."

Blackwing spat out an ember, and it soared up, striking the eagle before it could pull out of the dive. It crashed against Blackwing's back, the impact knocking Blackwing to the ground, as Jamie and Eve below them moved to avoid getting hit. A resounding thud sounded as they both hit the stage below. When they hit the ground, Jamie issued a mental command to Eve "Eve, attack the eagle, don't let it take off."

Eve dashed forwards towards eagle and Blackwing. The eagle was was still clinging to Blackwing while burning as both creatures lay on the stage in a daze. As Eve approached Jamie mentally yelled to Blackwing "GET UP! NOW!"

Blackwing started to twitch just as Eve dashed into the eagle, hitting it's center and knocking it off Blackwing. Blackwing let out a loud roar, a mixture of pain and anger, as it stood up, and glared at the eagle before opening it's mouth and unleashing it's last ember, finishing the eagle.

"Match over. Tamer wins."

As the trio reappeared in there original spots after a flash of light, Jamie looked down and grinned at Blackwing. Jamie mentally sent Blackwing a congratulations before coming forwards and rubbing Blackwing on the neck. "How was the fight Blackwing?"

Blackwing sent Jamie a mix of emotions, of enjoyment it felt when fighting at the beginning and the end when it killed the eagle, and the pain it felt when the eagle crashed into him. Jamie then sent to Blackwing "Do you want to go again?"

Blackwing let out an eager roar.

Blackwing fought the Eagle for two hours, eventually getting to the point where it could beat the Eagle without using it's ember. Finally, just as Jamie was about to get Eve to fight the stage 1 cat, the stadium around Jaime, and him and his bonded beasts started to flash. In their head a bland voice could be heard "Warning. You are being ejected from Virtual Beast Training. Returning in 5...."

Eve huffed then sent "I wanted to fight the stage 1 cat in a one versus one. Blackwing hogged all the fun."

"3..."

Jamie smiled, and mentally sent back "look on the bright side. Once we exit Virtual Beast Trainer and return home, we can evolve you."

Eve immediately perked up at that as the countdown continued.

"1"