The rain is a drumbeat sounding upon the mammoth warlord's back, beating a staccato against his sodden flesh and thick muscle. The sky is a dark, ominous shade of grey, with the swollen bellies of the clouds blocking out most of the light. If the onyx behemoth didn't know it was midday, he would assume it was the middle of the night, so gloomy are the heavens and so chilly is the temperature. Unseasonably chilly. Volterra wonders if this is Kaos's doing, but he thinks he is giving the heathen too much credit by assuming he can control the weather.

The Indomitable turns, so his back is against the driving rain. It gives him a chance to blink water out of his eyes and shake his soaking forelock out of his face. "Fucking rain," he growls, but even his voice - a force of nature in itself, an earthquake wrapped in a baritone - is drowned out by the sudden rumble of thunder up above. It is the primal roar of the heavens, as though the Gods themselves are throwing their ire down upon the mere mortals below them. Simultaneously, the sky glows vivid with a flash of sheet lightning, indicating that the storm is directly on top of the stallion and his two very wet, very irritable dragons. "Find cave, shelter until it's over," suggests Vérzés, but his goliath bonded simply shakes his heavy head, jaw set in determination. No. It's been too long since I fought in a storm - I need the practice.

Vadir, wheeling above him on a powerful gust of wind, snorts. "Unlikely anybody else is out in this." Volterra sort of sees her point - only the maddest of men will brave these elements for the sake of a fight, but he's sure he will be able to find somebody out there to engage him.

That's when the dragons screech into his mind, informing him that yes, there's somebody out there as mad as him. With excitement pulsing in his belly, Volterra turns and begins to prowl towards his victim.

It's been too long since he crossed swords with another. With his vast battle experience and thick, powerful build, the Indomitable is a formidable opponent, and he can only hope that his chosen prey is up to the task. He breaks into a collected canter, churning up mud and filth under his colossal hooves as he rampages towards his foe, until he can make out features...and realisation hits him like a bullet. "Zhu?" After the initial shock of seeing his son has worn off, the stallion's chest swells and unleashes a mighty, delighted laugh - to fight with one of his children at last! "Show me what you know, boy!" he commands, demands. Will the young man show that he truly has Volterra's blood running through his veins?

The beast slows his stride a tad to give him time to assess his son's body properly for the first time, trying to see him as an opponent rather than his child. Zhu is stocky, well-muscled, just under a hand smaller than his father; Volterra thinks he is superior in all areas compared to his son, but the lad is clearly strong and built with enough substance to ensure a decent battle. The surroundings are difficult, to say the least - the rain has turned the ground underfoot into muddy, slippery slime, meaning that it will be difficult for the combatants to keep their footing. The rain will lower visibility, although Volterra deliberately angles himself so it's striking his back and hopefully, by extension, Zhu's face.

He seeks to approach his son head-on, chest thrust out like a battering ram. He seeks to slam hard into Zhu's own chest in his favourite battle move, attempting to barge the smaller stallion backwards and assert a swift level of dominance over him. Zhu might be his child, but he's keen to see what the youth is made of - is he forged from metal like his father, or will be break before he bends? He hopes the slippy ground will cause Zhu to lose his balance and perhaps even fall, and Volterra is careful to brace his own stocky limbs against the mud to try and stop himself from falling prey to the elements.

At the same time, his jaws snap forwards and attempt to plant a bite onto the hybrid's left cheek, just below his eye.

________

Spar for @Zhu ! Set in the Thistle Meadow during a heavy storm.

1/3 - 740 words