Battle School: then it's a long road.

The large stallion remains moving at a trot around his teacher, brain quickly dissecting and sorting the information that he is given. Evidently, he had forgotten everything that his father taught him, or his father was a poor teacher. Maybe it’s a combination of both.

When Requiem launches forward for the attack, Centurion spins to face his teacher, though keeps the hard point of his shoulder turned at the black, mindful of the weakness in his throat. He may have bulk and muscle, but there is relatively little protection for the fine cartilage that makes up the trachea. He had at least retained that much from daddy. So instead of the potentially crippling blow to the shoulder, or choke hold that Requiem had shot for, Centurion sort of divides and conquers. Sort of. With the Gold half in the air, Centurion braces his hind legs, spinning himself a little farther to the right, giving the strong arch of his neck muscles for the most impact. Due to his large frame and rather slow movement however –and the fact that he had very little reaction time- when the Gold impacts, he does exert some force on the buckskin’s throat, though not enough to completely disorient him. Don’t get me wrong, it hurts a lot, and Cen can see a few stars floating around, but he has enough air to keep him from being completely helpless. The rest of the force behind Requiem’s attack lands on the thick muscle at the base of Centurion’s neck, near the point of the shoulder. The muscle feels tender when Requiem pulls away, and Centurion pulls in a quick gasp of air before tossing his head up again, fearful of the precious seconds lost.

Still gasping slightly, and his neck sore, Centurion tries to push himself forward, and away from Requiem’s attack, but he moves too slowly, and when his hind leg is lifting, one of the black’s hooves slam into the rising “shin”. A grunt and his hip dropping show that Centurion definitely felt that one. His leg shows relatively little damage, a few parted hairs and a slight scrape to the skin, but it feels like a definite bruise is growing there already, a perfect imprint of Requiem’s hoof. Limping slightly, Cen pulls himself forward into a grudging trot, right hip dipping heavily for the first couple feet. He groans at his stupidity, and his apparent lack of training, but hey, that’s what this was for.

Assuming that Requiem had followed through, Centurion pulls around in a wide circle, teeth clenched against the pain, facing his teacher. Given that his neck is sore, and his hind leg is sorer, he moves cautiously, understanding now that Gold warriors have their titles for a reason. Now, in most circumstances, Centurion would bowl himself right into the other horse again, likely brandishing his hooves like a couple of big fists. Sadly, with his hind leg buggered as it was, this would be a tough thing to accomplish. It looks like his only hope though, and so he sends himself forward again, still limping, but moving hard enough to gain some momentum.

Taking the teacher’s earlier words to heart, he just keeps driving forward, almost copying his opponent’s attack, but rather than lifting himself to try and crush the windpipe, he makes as if to use his broad chest as a battering ram. This way, he doesn’t put excessive weight on his backhand, and he can still get out of trouble if he needs to. Assuming Requiem doesn’t want to be used as a target, he keeps his options open, not pushing himself forward too hard or too fast until the very last second, where he changes his attack. He uses his stronger left hind leg to push himself towards the right –Requiem’s left. As his forehand comes up with his next stride, Centurion throws his left foreleg slightly higher, in a pawing motion, bracing himself on his right foreleg. His aim is at his opponents left foreleg, just below the knee cap, but still above the pastern; basically on the metacarpal. After the damage sustained to his right foreleg, Centurion doubts that Requiem will be wanting to throw his weight onto it to try and run away. Of course, he could rear, but with the –very minimal- damage to his rump, that would be a tad painful as well. Plus, with the hopefully successful feint, Centurion hopes that he would have distracted the black enough to be somewhat triumphant. Centurion moves on through the attack, his strides trying to compensate for the attack he had just pulled. He is limping heavier now with the exertion just put on his leg as he landed his final attack. He eyes the teacher warily, wondering what was coming next for him.

OOC:// Not sure how I was supposed to attack but I did my best. I’ve been told before not to use a bite or anything like that, unless you have the Bronze combo advantage. Also, with his hind leg injured, a double barrel kick or a cowkick seemed out of the question, so I tried to take out the other foreleg. Was I clear enough with the feint, or should I try and explain it more? I agree that battles are hard to teach but so far you’re doing a great job. I think I might get this now. XD Might.

CENTURION;;
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