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Rolling his shoulder Thutmose slowly strode into the ring, his red eyes scanning the field before they landed on Bahati. ...Wait, this couldn't be right. She certainly matched the description that he had been given, and she was waiting just as any other challenger would be.

But the woman was nearly half his size! He'd be liable to break her with a friendly pat on the back!

With his face twisting into a bemused stare he finally greeted her properly, "Evening. This might be obtuse to be asking but...am I in the correct spot? I'm looking for one Bahati?"

To give credit where it was due Thutmose had seen this particular lioness around. They were of the same clan, that much he knew. However the two hadn't had the pleasure of previously introducing themselves, course with as large and diverse of a pride as the Ela the idea of 'I haven't met you' was more the rule than the exception for him at the moment!

Especially for someone who preferred to keep his head down to the grindstone like Thut.

She was successful at giving him a startle! Jolting his head up at her sudden dash forward his body instinctively moved to bounce backwards, though not in enough time to stop her surprise attack. His nose wrinkled at the mild sting, it certainly wasn't something to fall over writhing about, but she had literally smacked her point right across his face! "...Well then. Good luck to you as well." He mused softly.

That was one way to start a match-up he supposed.

The problem was that he honestly didn't know how to proceed further. She was clearly a reasonable fighter and taking this matter seriously, but on the other hand, he was actually scared of possibly hurting her! He couldn't outright forfeit the match, not only would it perhaps disqualify her for the next rounds, but he highly suspected with this particular lioness if her earlier reaction was anything to go by she would be insulted by the action.

He had no other choice but to press forward, he might not be willing to put much effort into the fight but at the very least he could make it seem like a convincing win. For both his and her sake!

Straightening out his shoulders he lurched forward, his paw coming up to swipe at her feet to aiming to seem like he was attempting to knock her off her balance.

Hmm, he had to hand it to her that she certainly was a lot more agile and quick on her feet than he had originally given her credit for. Course with her smaller stature and obvious experience it wasn't that much of a shock that she could dodge her way out of most of his attacks - even if he was actually putting his heart behind them!

Perhaps she wasn't made of glass as he had previously had thought, after all big surprises did come in small packages!

A point that came to bite him in the a** literally with her next move! Letting out a surprised yelp his head craned around to look at the lioness currently chewing him a new one. Furrowing his brows together he stared at her with a bewildered expression for a few seconds. Sure, this was a technique that was useful in spooking injured prey and possibly overwhelming their back legs with one's weight but this?

....Well this honestly reminded him of a cub's attempted at tackling their parent.

Well there was typically one reliable way to get a rowdy cub off of your back; pinning them right back! Hey, if she wanted him to start taking this more seriously than he certainly could. With a slight shrug of acceptance Thut flopped over onto his side, rolling over her to get her to release him from her grip before bouncing back to his feet.

He had expected such a spry creature to spring back into action, yet...she wasn't. s**t. His face twisted in concern as he stepped back over to her. "Bahati, are you alright?" He asked as his paw tenderly nudged at her side.

They might have been in a duel, but they were still pride mates! Her safety came first over some silly tournament.

Holy. Lee. s**t!

Thut's concern instantly morphed into shock as his body lurched backwards from the sudden assault. His paw instinctively shot up with claws out, at the ready to counter attack to pry her off of his neck.

Yet instead of attacking his body relaxed.

This was merely a display of dominance, and a solid one at that. He could feel her teeth pressing into his mane, mere inches away from real flesh (and doing some real damage!) Sure, there were ways he could perhaps knock her off and continue to fight, but it was a question of why at that point.

She had won fair and sqaure.

With a low sigh Thut's paw that was still raised in the air came down onto her shoulder, gently patting it as a sign of submission. "Congratulations." He finally spoke, a mild smile gracing his face for a brief moment. "You fought well, I look forward to watching you kick more arse in the next rounds." He remarked with a uncharacteristically playful tone.

Though he had lost Thut felt a sense of relief. The pressure to succeed and prove himself had been lifted off of his shoulders, and for that he was glad. He could honestly say that he was proud of his accomplishments in his first Sky Tournament!

For now he could sit back, enjoy a good meal, and watch his fellow competitors duel the rest of the event out. He was more eager to see who would win it all than actually disappointed that he was no longer in the running.

And hey, there was always next year!