Was it Mara's poison that made Levi to susceptible to his attack? Or instead was the former-sergeant simply feeling the effects of yet another challenge on his already malnourished and tired body? Levi had expressed that he was not in fighting form, only a few weeks prior when he had returned to the Throat; was this honor, or stupidity that Gaucho was now seeing? Gaucho, who had never - and arguably couldn't even conceive of - backing down from a fight, knew that injuries and flabby muscles or not, he would have done the same as Levi.

No - he mentally corrected himself. There is a difference between fighting until every ounce of strength is gone - to rising to a hopeless challenge and proving yourself to be the better - and deserting your home for a lost cause. Leaving the Throat without warning to search for Aryel was just stupid. Returning, coincidentally just as an Invasion was about to unfurl, was suspect. But sustaining an almost broken wing, and then rushing into a challenge so soon after? No - that is not the same as honor at all.

Although Levi's body did not dance away from the impending collision as Gaucho might have thought, causing both his shoulder and collared-spikes to serrate Levi's flesh, it was an emotionless attack. And while Gaucho was a merciless creature, driven by instinct and order, he took no pleasure in the sounds of pain that issued from Levi. He was not an enemy - merely a misguided comrade who thought he had something to prove. Whether or not he thought he could beat Gaucho, was irrelevant. Had had done what he thought necessary, and for that, Gaucho held no ill-will towards the grulla. Yet the bay would not relinquish until the challenge was complete. He would not do Levi the dishonor of going easy.

He had asked for it, and Gaucho had answered.

Now let it be finished.

Vaguely as Gaucho's larger form moved past Levi, he could hear the sound of teeth snapping in between the falling rain. Mara hissed as the silver's nose reached towards Gaucho, but remained where she was, as Gaucho's long strides outdistanced Levi's attack.

As he turned to face Levi, his comment receiving no retort, Gaucho paused to see if a futile bite was all Levi had left in him. However as the clumpy sands began to stir, granules forcing themselves together regardless of the downpour, Gaucho grinned. Guess not. As the sand took a cylindrical form, Gaucho wasted little time: Rather than letting them gain momentum, as he assumed they would shortly be coming towards them, his large body moved through the curtain of rain to where the forms were rising; prancing and leaping in the sands like a foal after a butterfly. Grunting, and drifting slightly to the left, as his right hindleg was still sore, Gaucho swung his antlered brow from left to right, aiming to take out the cones as they hurtled towards him. Although it was difficult to focus on the shapes in the rain, Gaucho allowed Mara to aid in directing his mind as to where the shapes were. Would they feel like hard stone when he hit them? Would they shattered into the granules of which they were composed? Gaucho had no way of knowing, nor did it factor into his decision. He felt his brain seem to rattle as he collided with what he assumed was one of Levi's sand-cones to the left, and then another to the right as his head swung the opposite direction. His momentum had slowed considerably as he hit the first one, and he nearly stopped once he hit the second.

Raising his head once Mara had determined that the third cone had fallen harmless at his side, Gaucho snorted as he tried to overcome the feeling of dizzyness that his prancing and swaying had caused. As he had drifted to the left during this charade, he vaguely believed he spied Levi to his right - although his dizzyness and the wall of rain seemed to smear Levi's form across his vision.

"For THROAT" Gaucho bellowed as he lunged forward. He kicked off with his hindlegs, ignoring the whine of pain from his right, and fully extended his wings. Like some dark harbinger of death, Gaucho truly looked like a madman. Lightning flashed, illuminating his primitively painted body as it launched towards Levi - even the bone piercing his nose look hostile as it danced with every snap of Gaucho's teeth. His goal was to pummel Levi's right shoulder with his hooves, or to simply collide with his body once again, should the rain have skewed his vision that badly, and try to bite the right side of the grulla's neck.]


[WC: 797
Attack:4/4

@[Levi]