<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

The only fights that Tanteri had ever been in, or watched, had been those for either displays of dominance or fleeing from predators. Pumping his wings furiously to escape the gaping maws of a massive carnivore, or having to grab the crest of his fellow pterosaur to put them in their place. He claimed that such an event had been where his own crest had become damaged. It was an old wound, one that had been there since his youth. Crashing into a tree when he had first been learning how to fly had been the cause. Not a wound caused by fighting, not one caused by conflict. Spare a conflict with gravity. "I'm ready whenever you are," the pterosaur clucked. He was a big creature, standing at almost exactly five feet tall. Short for a pteranodon, but big in comparison to the creatures that roamed the planet currently. A sharp beak and talons, and a length tail adorned with spikes. He had to have been told to not actually injure his sparring partner - at least, not horrifically so. Not that Tanteri hoped to do such a thing. Hushsound had come to his aid when his senses went haywire, and he owed him that. He rested on his feet, wings spread from his sides. It was not as if a pteranodon could fight on the ground. They were beasts of the air, creatures of the sky, meant for soaring high above and taking out those that weren't expecting an arial offense. Tanteri's long tail slowly moved back and forth behind him, waiting for when the sparring would begin.

<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

Tanteri had a near 14 foot wide wingspan. It was disproportionate to the rest of his body. Most male pteranodons were eighteen feet tall or bigger. Tanteri was a measly five, but his wingspan remained the same as if he were, in fact, the normal height. When he saw the other make a swing for one wing, the limb had pulled back and away, ruining his downstroke position. He felt teeth clench down on one of his wings. Tanteri's head turned, the end of his beak grabbing on to one of the feline's legs. Then his head swung to the side, and then released. His goal had been to toss the feline to the side, to release his wing from the other's hold. Yes, he expected the sudden ripping of teeth to hurt a little. The webbing of his wings was strong, though. Not to mention that a pteranodon's wings were quite tough. They were meant to soar for hours and hours while barely ever gracing the ground. It mattered not how tough his wings were. Being bit still hurt, they were still sensitive to sense the thermal currents that aided flight. Tanteri's wings gave a harsh flap. The motion launched him forward, trying to charge before the other possibly recovered. The three fingers of his wings moved to try to grab onto the feline. The pterosaur took care to keep the raking motion that followed from actually digging in past the fur, laxing them so that they more so scraped than hinge and dig in. The pteranodon knew that if he did curl his fingers, the claws would hurt. They were sharp, meant for grappling stone ledges and tearing past hardened skin so that he could peck at the flesh of prey underneath. It was how he could manage to scavenge without having to wait for something else to come and break through a thick hide. Sure, it was often more taxing, but he deemed it worth it when he didn't want to bother diving about to fish. He deemed it unfair to take to the air - for now - and so he used his limited concept of ground fighting. Tanteri knew he would get around to doing such a thing. Just not now, not while he was trying to gauge how well his abilities helped him on while grounded.

<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

The pterosaur's shoulders were very dense. They were used to ascend high into the sky, to soar for long distances. They beat and flung him through winds and storms, paddled him through water. They were durable, they were tough. That didn't stop the bite from hurting, at least a little. It probably would hurt worse in a true battle, where blood was trying to be shed. His other wing curled, and his fingers tried to grab at the feline. He couldn't reach, because the other was on his back. Tanteri's head was shoved rapidly to the side. His wings were free, though. They raised up, and then swung downwards. In a swift motion the pteranodon took to the air - and Hushsound with him. The feline was still on his back, and the rise into the air was so sudden that it left little time to leap off. Being disoriented and raising up into the air was hard. The pterosaur had a large crest that came from the back of his head. He tipped his head up and rapidly swung his head, trying to return the whacking with the crest. Was it intended for such a purpose? No. The crest was meant to be a flashy display for females, to show how bold and brilliant and healthy he was. Tanteri could care less, he was just trying to get the dizzying feeling to stop. The disorientation made his wing beats uneven, blue eyes squinting. And then, after a particularly hard knock, the flapping stopped. It had knocked him out cold, and his wings were not in the right position to simply glide. No, they were in the upstroke position when his consciousness left, which meant that the beginning of a free fall was practically imminent.

<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

The pterosaur's wings were well suited for gliding. They carried warm thermal currents beneath them and carried the ancient beast over the land. They were strong limbs meant for lifting his form into the sky where few others could follow. It was his method catching food: to dive into the ocean and snatch up his prey within the grasp of his beak. It had been his method for arriving to situations as well. It was common for the pteranodon to come speeding from the heavens, diving down as fast as he could manage. Then, as if during the last possible moment, his wings would snap open, flap, and save him from a brutal demise. There was a difference between having his wings curled close to his body in a dive, though, and this free-fall. His wings were above his body and away, rather than in a position where he only had to fling them open. His newly found sensitive hearing allowed for his mind to swiftly register the voice over the wind. It was a bit too late for comfort for Tanteri's blue eyes to blink open. Incredibly confused, for the moment forgetting where he was. Seeing the ground coming up swiftly, though, brought him back to attention. His wings slowly curled, slowly pulling to their normal gliding position. He was in no way going to be able to gracefully land with how fast they were going and with how close they were to the ground. Instead the pteranodon elected to let the momentum wear off, rising up to an almost level glide. He tilted his head, then turning it around so that he didn't smack Hush with his crest anymore. Mostly he wanted to make sure that the other was still alright, and that he didn't smack him with his crest again. "That was..something." He clucked, a nervous laugh following suit. He slowly banked a few times, letting the rest of the momentum die away. Finally Tanteri landed, his wings flopping by his sides. They hurt from the air pressure that had bellowed beneath his wings from the dive, but it was not anything that he couldn't handle. "I.. you technically did knock me out so. You win. I guess." Tanteri said after another nervous laugh. His body teetered without the support of his wings, and decided that falling on his belly would be a decent signal of defeat in this instance.