[Duel] Practice Time

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Ruber was still trying to figure out how the black lioness had managed to beat him. Beat him bloody, in fact, his nose was still quite tender and the claw marks upon it had not yet healed. He had to admit, even if only to himself, that perhaps there was something to her rank of Brigadier.

It obviously had to be that she was almost magically better than him, and not the fact that his skills could use more work. The red and yellow lion was certain he could beat all comers if he only had the chance!

His head whipped around as he heard another voice, a male one, announce that he was looking for an opponent. Perfect! Ruber headed over to the stranger.

"I'd be happy to duel you," he informed the other lion. The black-maned red lion was...big. Bigger than Ruber, for sure. He definitely had the look of someone born to these lands. The younger lion felt a niggling of doubt about his ability to win this fight.  

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Ruber dodged back quickly as he realized that the other lion was diving right into the battle. But he did get a light scratch one one forepaw from those outstretched claw. Nothing too serious, but still annoying. It was a graze, truly, no blood drawn yet. The younger lion bared his fangs and circled cautiously, careful to keep his footing and his balance on the shifting sand beneath his feet. He didn't want to humiliate himself again by attacking too soon.  

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An involuntary roar of pain escaped Ruber's mouth as the old lion connected solidly with his left forepaw. That drew blood, he could tell easily enough. And the paw itself felt bruised from the impact. The younger lion flexed his injured limb, attesting to the fact that nothing was broken.

Yet.

Breathing more heavily thanks to the pain, Ruber continued circling. If he let his temper get the better of him, he'd end up on the ground again, he was certain. Better let things...cool off a bit. That way he wouldn't attack out of rage and so would do better...right?  

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Maroon eyes narrowed as Ruber realized that the other lion was matching his paces exactly. So...they were playing a waiting game now? Well, the red lion was through with waiting! If his opponent was waiting for him to make a move, let him try to anticipate this one!

The younger lion threw himself at his opponent, claws unsheathed and aiming for the bright red flank before him. He would make the older lion bleed, that was for sure. Then they'd see what happened next!  

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The younger lion bared his fangs in satisfaction as he reveled in that moment when his claws had sliced through flesh. That was what had been missing from his last duel, that moment when a blow connected exactly as he'd envisioned it. So either that black lioness had been unusually good at reading when he was about to strike, or he'd just had an off day against her.

He was feeling really good now. So good that Ruber decided to try clawing his opponent in the face. Unfortunately, said head was not where he'd expected it to be, and the younger lion overbalanced, barely catching himself on his outstretched paw before he fell.  

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Ruber snarled as he felt the bigger lion's blow land solidly on the left side of his neck. That was...clever, and cruel, to deliberately aim for the area where he'd taken a blow earlier. He waved the injured paw in the air, trying in vain to strike his opponent even as he tried to squirm out of the other's grip.

The younger lion was simply unable to bring himself to focus enough to figure out a solid way to get out of the other male's grasp. It wasn't that he was in too much pain, he just didn't have the experience or understanding of combat to find a solution for his problem.  

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"You hit me better," the red lion responded, clearly less than pleased with this outcome. In fact, losing was becoming a rather frequent and unwelcome occurance in his life. Twice in a row this was. Obviously his skill was more lacking than he had believed.

In which case...he should probably practice more.

"You win, I lose," Ruber went on, turning and leaving. He had some serious thinking to do about what these last two duels had in common.