Battle School: So, this is hell? SAPHIRA [I]

He’s nervous this time, but decides to make the best of it.

He eyes his teacher from a distance, sizing her up carefully as he starts toward her, moving at a slow jog. She is much lighter of substance, and slightly shorter than the stallion, and he prays this will give him some sort of advantage. It may be slim, but he’ll take what he can. He comes towards her head on, increasing his pace to a canter. He adjusts his body accordingly, as she moves -because let’s face it, no horse stands still to just get rammed into- and tries to come at her directly head on. Given his lack of agility, he doesn’t initiate his attack until he is a horse length away from the mare. Keeping time with his strides, he flicks his left foreleg upwards, and as his weight transfers from his hindquarters to his forehand, he brings his hoof down hard towards her left foreleg. Were she to veer to the right, he could still easily scrape her leg, hoping their proximity at the time of the attack would be too much for her to use against him. She could also try and move left with him, but then he would become a battering ram, not an entirely pleasant thing for her. She could rear as well, but that would not be wise considering the circumstances. (Really, bring that little leg straight up into the path of his hoof? It’s going to hurt, any way you slice it.) So, with all this in mind, he hopes to make a heavy enough impact upon Saphira’s left foreleg for it to be painful enough that she will favour the leg for the rest of the battle, debilitating her from beating on him too badly. His aim is just below her knee joint, at the top of her metacarpal. With his weight coming down, his hoof will drag down the entire front of her foreleg (or side, or slam onto some part of it should she rear. It all depends on where she goes.)

When he feels his weight shift towards a fall, he pushes off with his hind legs again, using his right foreleg as a sort of pivot point to steady himself. With his large body, it isn’t easy to just steer clear of Saphira and likely as not, he’ll bump into her as he makes his getaway. He doesn’t mean to, but it’s probably going to happen anyways. It’s a fact of life. Focusing on continuing his movement, he keeps his pace at a canter. His hind legs thrust powerfully, hoping to steer his own forelegs clear of Saphira’s hindquarters, should she choose to retaliate with them. With little hope to do anything else -and the fact that Requiem had chastised him for it as a first attack- Centurion executes a double barrel kick in his second stride, thick forelegs braced as his momentum takes his weight to his forehand. He hopes with the damage to her foreleg, Saphira will still be in enough shock or pain that she won’t be able to get too far away from him.

Now let’s just recap for a minute here. Centurion executed his first attack, and taking two and a half strides (he is “on pause” in the half right now) he is throwing a double barrelled kick at her. Now, considering the length of his legs and stride, he is about half a horse length away from the mare, at about a 45^o angle. (His butt and her head make the point, her butt and his head make the arms.) Ok, moving on.

With his angle and proximity, he hopes to make contact somewhere behind her shoulder, about midpoint on her ribcage. Likely on the lower half of her rib cage, closer to the curve of the barrel, rather than where it springs outwards from her spine. Even if he does lack agility -which he does- he definitely makes up for it in brute strength. He hopes that it is his strength that will get him through the battle. With the impact made, he lets his momentum push him away from the battle again, pulling his hind legs in and pushing off again into the same canter, moving into a circle around Saphira, eyeing her closely, waiting for his teacher to take her turn.

CENTURION;;
earth I