Clash of the Zodiacs(3)

Knight Joust

....
Cut!

We've basically reached half the book.

Break the fourth wall and enter author's note you can skip if you want to.
(All the titles in this book have refrences to animals.This one does too.
Joust implies horseback duels.Knights ride horses.Knight is what we call the horse in chess since Sag is all about strategy.Just wanted to make those refrences clear.

In addition to that let me also say that some of the other chapters may be supershort.For one b/c one chapter is only suppose to contain less than 5-min of fighting.This was a clash(showdown) not a battle.The point is to get opponent to leave the ring.Only one attacks from each side are enough to determine that.
As shown in later cases.)

Back to story.

.....

"How was my infinite IQ move!" Leo bragged to Sag as Virgo healed his wounds(Mostly self-inflicted from digging into the ground with his claws.)

"Slopey." Sag said."If you had lured him into the edge you could have avoided being blown out of the ring too.Your lucky you were able to hold on." She pointed out.

Leo frowned.Way to ruin the party mood.Most of the Zodiacs(except Scorpio-sleeping,Aquarus-cold,Cancer-
cranky, Sag- analytical) were hyped to be on a winning streak.They were now two point's ahead of the other team.So why did Sag have to ruin his mood.

"Still you did a splendid job."  Sag said and his mood went straight back into party mode."I'll go get us a 3 point lead."
She said.

"Confident as always I see." Leo said."I suppose you already have a plan."

To his surprise she answered.
"No." As she headed to face her opponent.
....

Back at the Sign's stands Ox was throwing a fit."Is everybody on this team useless!The only one who got a win so far is the Nadir.The weakest Zodiac.What is wrong with you people.
I was saving our stronger signs for last but perhaps it's time to deploy them." He shouted.Dog dropped his ears in shame while Snake snickered.The Zodiacs were proving themselves to be powerful opponents.

Then someone Ox hadn't expected came forward.

An old man in a knight armour carrying  lance.
"Sir,please allow me to enter the next match and break their winning streak.
I will turn the tide of battle for our sake." He declared.

Ox face palmed.Old man Horse wasn't one of the stronger signs he was talking about.In fact in some ways he was weaker than Rooster.

The thing was Horse had no power of his own what's so ever.While the other signs had animal power inside them his abilty was in conjuration.His ability allowed him to summon a special horse.But that was it.Besides that he was just an old knight.Still Ox was running out of ideas.
"Sure.Go and do that." He told him exasperated.

Old man horse bowed down to him and marched off to the arena.In addition to turning the tides he had requested this match b/c he had seen the Zodiacs have sent their Centaur sign.
"Greetings foe.You also have horse powers right?I propose we have a joust." He used his powers to summon a magnificent white horse."This will be my steed." He declared.

Sag pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and agreed.She had no plan for this match.Or rather she didn't need one yet.She activated her stargazer abilities to see into the near future and see what the old man had planned.It seemed he was being truthful.His future attack was a dash on his horse carrying his javelin.A plan formulated in Sag's mind based on the data she collected just now.This match was gonna end in the first minute.

She transformed her lower half into a horse and drew her bow.They stood staring at eachother for a second.Enter the close-up scene.Then as one they charged at eachother.

A fast series of events took place.

Sag charged at the old man shooting her exploding arrows.He defended with his shield as he charged javelin first.
Sag's plan however was blocking his vision by thr explosive's smoke.

At last second before they clashed she  transformed back and jumped on his shield avoiding his lance.In a wonderful fete of acrobatics she jumped into the air and flipped to behind him drawing her bow mid-air.
Hitting him in his blindspot withan exploding arrow will surely knock him off stage.And at this position the oldman can't reach her with his javelin.

At least that was the plan.But when she saw the future earlier she was only able to see it until this point.She had figured it was enoughb/c the old man couldn't do a thing now but she leftout an important factor.

The horse!

To her he was just an animal doing as commanded but to the old man he was his companion and partner.It didn't simply obey him but acted on it's own to defend him.That's why of it's own will it bucked forcefully.

Sag may have been in the old man's blindspot but she was smack right in the horses kill zone.His kick sent her into the sky over the arena.

She wasn't gonna loose just yet tho.Quickly she drew a chain(rope) arrow and shot it at the arena's edge.
The hook latched and the chain tightened.She was about to use a spring effect to launch herself back but the old man wasn't having it.He threw his javelin at her.

From that distance it should have been impossible but he had trained hard with that javelin for long.

The javelin came at Sag and she calculated it's trajectory to block with her bow.Suddenly and unexpectedly it lost momentum and dropped.

Sag was confused.Did she miscalculate.
Then she realized it was a trick throw.
The old man wasn't aiming for her.He was going for the chain.The javelin cut it and she dropped into the sea.

The victorious old man rode his horse to the edge and called out."When you swim back can you bring back my javelin?It's my favorite one."