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Monday, June 5, 2017

Dsplash Duel: Smaug v Toothless


It's time for the first Dsplash Duel! This one will pit Toothless, my favorite dragon of all time, against Smaug, the first true dragon I ever fell in love with! Special thanks to "Mr.NightFury" for the suggestion. The short story is about three pages long, and you can find it under the "read more". I did record my painting the Smaug sprite, and if you are interested, you can find that video on my YouTube channel. I plan to also potentially, make a video explaining why the fight turns out the way it does, giving the nitty-gritty details about the physics of the Gemnode's world. Now, I probably won't make a blog post for that, so stay tuned to my YouTube channel. I am not 100% sure I'll get the chance to make the analysis vid, so talons crossed. Anyway, onto the battle!
 

Dsplash Duels:
Event: Smaug vs Toothless
Time: Year 10.10 of Hiccup’s existence in the game

     Toothless walked slowly beside the ravine, his claws pressing gently into the soft moss. Hiccup and Link were getting a much needed rest, but Toothless had become bored. The day was slowly passing by, and Toothless was enjoying the fresh, cool evening.

     A monstrous roar broke out, echoing loudly through the canyon. Toothless’s eyes darted skyward, his pupils contracting as every inch of his body was primed for attack. He knew the Gemnodes were trying to find Hiccup again, and this had put him more on edge than usual. He soon saw the creature that had produced the terrific sound, and it was certainly not a Gemnode. The familiar, terrifyingly huge silhouette of Smaug was cruising through the air, rapidly approaching the alert Night Fury.

     What is he doing here? Toothless thought to himself. The gigantic red dragon made his intensions perfectly clear. He turned towards Toothless and shot a tremendous stream of flame directly at the small black form perched on the rocky ledge. Toothless leapt out of the way, barely avoiding the all consuming flames. Smaug passed overhead, then turned slowly in the air and hovered. Toothless roared angrily up into the air. 

     “So, I’ve found you at last.” Smaug’s deep, resonating voice slipped out into the air. 

     “What do you want, Smaug? Hiccup already returned the Talon to you.”

     “Ah yes, the Talon.” Smaug’s smooth tone suddenly turned to a growl. “You do realize that that legendary treasure was mine to begin with. I’ve decided that I require a bit more payment for my services to your scrawny human.” 

     “And what payment would that be?” Toothless snarled as he stepped back towards the edge of the ravine, his feet sending pebbles crumbling down. 

     “I demand you give me the Legendary Fire Gem!” Smaug roared and dove towards Toothless. His chest glowed red hot, and the light climbed up his throat until it reached his wide open maw. Toothless barely had time to think, and the small dragon backflipped and nose dived into the ravine. Smaug unleashed his flames, and they washed down after Toothless like a burning river of death. 

     Smaug circled back around and landed on the side of the canyon. The small black dragon had completely vanished. “Come out, come out, little child.” Smaug taunted, but nothing happened. No response. Smaug snarled and the sprawled out over the canyon. His massive form easily spanned the tremendous gap, and he snaked his long neck down into the abyss. The bottom of the ravine was nearly pitch black, and it was full of boulders and caves. “Coward…” Smaug breathed out in annoyance.

     Then from out of a dark shadow, a blinding light burst forth. Toothless fired a blast of blue flame, and the bolt caught Smaug directly in the face. The force of the explosion knocked his massive head sideways, but the great wyrm recovered with terrifying swiftness. He screamed out a roar and blasted another jet of flame at the small dragon. Toothless clambered up the wall, used his wings to propel himself forward, kicked off the rocky surface, and rocketed directly under Smaug’s head. The tiny black dragon latched onto his opponent’s massive neck and delivered a flurry of blows. Smaug roared out in pain, but unfortunately for Toothless, the underside of Smaug’s neck was covered by a thick crust of treasure. This armor was a mixture of some of the most valuable and powerful ores in the world of the Gemnodes, and it soaked up the majority of Toothless’s deadly attack. Smaug began to thrash around, reaching up and clawing at Toothless. The small dragon was used to this technique, and he kicked the oncoming talons away. Then, to ensure that his risky assault was not in vain, Toothless swiped his tail upward, burying the bladed tail fin into the side of Smaug’s face, just barely missing it’s target: Smaug’s eye. 

     Smaug was now seriously enrage. He slammed his head and neck into the bottom of the canyon, stunning Toothless and seriously injuring him. The Night Fury let go, and Smaug immediately lifted himself up and took to the air. He began to pass over the canyon, streaming it back and forth, over and over, with lethal blasts of flame. However, every time he made a pass, a blast of acetylene rocketed out of the shadows of the canyon, and each blast struck Smaug in the wings. Unlike the rest of his fire proof body, Smaug’s wings were relatively fragile. Toothless’s blasts were slowly blowing holes into the Smaug’s colossal wingspan, and this only continued to enrage the dragon. Finally he caught a glimpse of the Night Fury darting through the canyon, and down he dove.

     Smaug crashed into the canyon, his entire body burning with red light. His power gems were fueling his deadly Overheat ability, and Toothless whined out in pain as the entire area around Smaug became unbelievably hot. However, Toothless had his own abilities, and now was the time to use them. He rushed headlong towards Smaug, and the gigantic dragon locked eyes with him. Toothless had not anticipated this, and Smaug began his Intimidating Glare. Toothless tried to retaliate with his own version of the ability, but the tremendous dragon clearly had the upper hand, and Toothless was paralyzed. Smaug then activated his fire gems, and with a truly wicked laugh, ejected un unbelievably powerful jet of flame. The blast washed over Toothless, ripping tremendous amounts of life energy from his body. 

     It was not enough, Toothless held on, his power gems barely keeping him alive. As soon as he was able to snap out of his paralysis, he activated one of his deadliest skills. Toothless literally became untouchable. The fire washed around him, but nothing could hit him. It was time for him to disappear. For this one short moment of time, he was completely immune to any kind of projectile, and he used it to his advantage. He rushed forward, leaping onto Smaug’s head, and truly shocking his mighty opponent. Smaug struggled, and nearly tossed Toothless off, but the small dragon held on. Then, he activated yet another skill. Smaug felt a truly eerie shiver pass through his heart, and it was almost as if he could hear the words echoing in his mind “Hide, and pray it does not find you.”

     Toothless’s speed and strength were temporarily doubled. He unleashed blow after blow, carving great gashes into the skull of his enemy. The great dangon writhed and struggled, but Toothless leapt off of the thrashing head and then kicked off of the nearby wall, screaming into Smaug’s shoulder. Toothless darted around, almost invisibly fast, cutting, biting, and clawing every inch of his enemy. Smaug was completely unable to track. True, the small dragon was taking damage from Smaug’s incredibly hot body, but not nearly as much damage as Smaug was taking from Toothless’s vicious onslaught. Toothless’s access to Traumatizing Blows was now leaving Smaug with dozens of gaping, bleeding wounds, and they were quickly draining the energy from his power gems. 

     However, Toothless’s ability could only last so long, and after thirty seconds he returned to his normal strength and speed. Now, Smaug was not just angry, he was afraid. He would not lose and be humiliated by this tiny foe. True, he had lost to him before, but that was when Toothless had help from multiple allies. This should not have been difficult. Smaug roared, lifted both arms into the air, and then slammed them down. The Golden Dragon Talon discharged a wave of bright yellow energy, and the attack slammed straight through Toothless, even though the small dragon did everything he could to avoid it. The light from the blast illuminated to canyon, and now Smaug could clearly see his enemy.

     “I have you now!” The great dragon lunged forward, jaws wide open, and bit down with crushing force onto Toothless’s stunned body. The small dragon was now lodged headfirst in his enemies reeking maw. Toothless’s body was severely damaged, and the shock of the pressure placed on him by Smaug’s incredible bite nearly knocked Toothless out. Toothless could feel it, his life energy provided by the power gems was nearly depleted. A few more seconds, and he would fall to this monster.

     “You want the Legendary Fire Gem?” Toothless’s chest burned bright blue. “TAKE IT!” Toothless screamed out a roar, and before Smaug realized what was happening, the small black dragon activated the Legendary Fire Gem inside of Smaug’s crushing jaws. Smaug’s Red Dragon Scale Armor made him practically immune to fire on the outside, but the inside of his head was much less well protected. Toothless unleashed blast after blast of blue flame, stronger and hotter than any other flames he could produced. The gem just would not stop filling his mouth with burning energy, and it was all the small dragon could do to eject the blasts before they burst inside of him. After nearly twenty consecutive, utterly lethal bolts of flame, Toothless was standing, panting hard on the stony ground. Smaug’s body lay before him, the head completely disintegrated and the rest of it barely held together. Every square inch around Toothless was burnt to powder, and finally the legendary gem depleted its fuel. Toothless stumbled back, still barely clinging to life. He had won… barely.

     As Toothless began to slowly climb his way out of the terrible gorge, he looked back and saw the Legendary Golden Dragon Talon glistening in the pile of ash, tissue, bone, and treasure that used to be Smaug. For a moment Toothless considered taking it. Then he turned away. Smaug had been given that treasure by Hiccup, and the information the dragon had given the boy had clearly helped him. Toothless did not pretend to fully comprehend Hiccup’s battle with the Gemnodes, but if Smaug was an ally in that fight, it was far more important than these bloody skirmishes that the Gemnode’s world constantly encouraged. This fight was bigger than the world of the Gemnodes, and Toothless knew that one day, perhaps, Smaug might actually be a powerful force for good. After all, Smaug hated the Gemnodes more than anyone Toothless had ever met, and that was one thing they had in common.

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I have created an analysis video of this Dsplash Duel, and you can find it on my YouTube channel. If you interested in me rambling about the technicalities of this match, please feel free to go and check it out at the link below. 


Also, here are the sprites I made and used for the banner. In reality, they are very, very small!




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