Gaucho was furious. How the fuck this dusty pip-squeak had managed to evade his attack by rearing in the one-stride timespan he had before Gaucho took out his rib cage, the brute was unsure. All he knew for certain, was that we seeing red. As Note’s hooves pushed into his thick neck, surely causing blood blisters, Gaucho grunted as the jolt twinged his muscles; yet his momentum helplessly carried him forward. As he bucked, his rage only intensified as Note moved out of the way of this thrashing hooves. NO! his mind screamed. The bay suddenly wished he had claws, so that he could quite literally tear into this chump; the desire for carnage was almost overwhelming. He had been robbed of feeling Note’s flesh beneath him not once, but twice now. He heard Note’s teeth snap, but given that his head was twisted around to the right, he couldnt’ tell just where he though he was biting. He wouldn’t be so dumb as to try and bite a leg that was kicking at him, would he? Briskly, the bay snapped his tail around his legs, just in case. As Gaucho’s buck connected with Note’s stifle, he became even more confused; maybe he’s just lucky, he thought with a snort.

As Gaucho righted himself, making Note’s smaller frame in front of him and slightly to the right, the sound of lightning cracking caused his head to shoot straight up. Nostrils flared, Gaucho only had time to see the after-image of the lighting as it faded from the sky. Almost instantaneously, he felt a searing white-hot pain, as the bolt struck the hardened bone of his withers. Screaming in brtual agony as his flesh burned away, Gaucho wriggled his wings as if that would prevent the burn from some how spreading, for the pain which flared through his joints seemed to imply the lightning was everywhere. The only real consolation was the numbness which crept through his wither and upper shoulders, dulling the sensation of painful cearing, but leaving the tightness of newly burned flesh. Was that part of Note’s magic too? Or had all of his cells simply died?

As his wound blistered and blood leaked from the burst blood vessels near the entry point, Gaucho visciously felt the stirrings of his own magic begin to boil in his blood. Ears pinned to his head, he felt the sensation of emptying, as an eathereal mist poured from the dream catcher woven between his antlers. It floated high above Note before beginning to take shape. Slowly, muscles began to form, and the great hump of a grizzly bear. Landing behind Note, and standing about 12hh at the top of its massive head, the spirit-bear roared; great balls of smokey-saliva dripping from its jaws. Positioning both himself and the bear, to force Note to choose between one of them, Gaucho’s muscles moved with trained endurance given his recent spars, and yet the numbing of his back was an odd thing. He couldn’t feel where his wings joined his sides, nor could he feel his mane whip across his wither; it was bitter sweet, really. Either the numbing was only temporary, and Gaucho was in for a whole world of hurt in about 15 seconds, or it was permanent and....that wasn’t so good either.

Yet Gaucho’s primitive mind could only hold so many thoughts at once, and as he lunged towards Note, quickly eating up the 2 strides of distance between them, all he could think about was how much he wanted to make the stallion pay for whatever damage his lightning had done. Tucking his nose to his chin, Gaucho lunged forward and up, as if jumping over some invisible obstacle. As his body neared Note’s he tried to strike out at him with his rack of antlers, aiming at his neck , while at the same time he thrashed towards Note with his right foreleg, aiming for the stallion’s left shoulder as the momentum of his body hopefully carried him straight into Note. Behind Note, the spirit-bear roared, simply daring him to back up. With a smokey not-quite-solid paw- he lashed out towards the stallion’s hocks. As Gaucho’s hooves fell back to the ground he aimed a bite on the left side of Note’s neck, keeping himself close to the smaller stallion. Instinctivley, he knew that if he were to pull this lightning shit again and they were touching, it would be bad news for both of them. That, and at close range Gaucho’s size would likely be able to endure the dusty stallion’s attacks. As the soft dawn light began to illuminate the fields, Gaucho tucked his chin, lowering his antlers to just above the height of Note’s head defensively.

[Attack 2/2
Gaucho is really annoyed that he barely managed to hit Note. Facing the stallion (with Note a little to his right), he is zapped by the lightning, hitting his withers. Feeling the searing pain before Note's magic also causes it to numb away, Gaucho causes a large bear to appear on the other side of Note. His magic more causes fear, but it might also numb Note for 15 seconds if he touches the bear. Leaping towards Note, he tries to strike him in the neck with his antlers, hit his left shoulder with his right hoof, and bite the left side of his neck. As he comes down, he stays close to the stallion lowering his horns defensively.

Attack: Antlers, right front hoof kick, bite, spirit-bear.
Defense: Lowers his head and stays close.]