Anger Management (Darth Arcanix)

[Minna]

Valtryx stared out of the window at Coruscant's cityscape. It had been a very long time since she had been on this planet, but she still remember what it was like when the Republic had control of it. To be honest, she preferred it under Sith control. Through their rule it felt like no one was pretending they were safe, and they were seeing the world for what it truly was. The Yodaling turned her head slightly towards a small screen to her right. Through it, she saw her master was nearly at the top of the tower. Making a full turn, she examined the large, open room she had ensured was empty for her master's arrival. There was training to be done, and disturbances would definitely not help. Being a Sith had it's advantages on Coruscant, mainly being that one didn't have to slum around in the lower parts of the city. Instead, they were near the very top.

Valtryx walked across the centre of the room, then knelt before the elevator doors. "Welcome, my Master." She would say once the doors opened.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli smiled as she rode the lift up to the where her newest apprentice was waiting for her arrival. [member="Darth Valtryx"] was certainly an interesting addition to the One Sith ranks, if a bit . . . consumed by rage and anger. Rage and anger were good, Taeli would be the first to admit she had a bit of a temper herself if certain things got under her skin, but they needed to be controlled, to be a source of power one could draw upon without letting their emotions control them.

As the door opened and her apprentice greeted her, it still amused Taeli think she had risen this far so fast.

"I trust you are making yourself comfortable within the Sith ranks, Valtryx?" she asked, moving towards her apprentice. She had chosen a simple green dress that would allow her fluid of mobility incase she needed it, her unique lightsaber hung from a simple gold belt.

"So, I believe our first lesson will involve getting that delightful concoction of rage, anger, and hate inside you to be more under your control. I had noticed you allow your emotions to rule you, when it must be the other way around. We must use these emotions as power, but not allow them to rule us or mistakes will be made that end in death."

 

[Minna]

Valtryx rose with a nod, acknowledging her master. "Yes, control them I must..." She replied, her gaze dropping to the floor slightly as she remembered the last time they controlled her. "Manage to kill Krest I will, if my emotions, I control." It was clear she desperately wanted to kill her old Zabrak friend, along with the others she once knew. But she also knew she couldn't do that, since most of them were Masters and she was not trained well enough, yet. The hatred was already building up inside of her once again, but it was nothing she couldn't handle right now. Uncontrollable rage only happened when she was faced with a physical opponent, something she could release her anger upon. She returned her attention to Arcanix quickly. "Ready to learn, I am."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Good," Taeli said with a smile before she dashed forward, her lightsaber igniting and began to attack her apprentice. The attacks weren't designed to hurt or do anything except to give her apprentice a physical opponent to fight and tap into the rage. Even as she attacked, Taeli started giving her lecture.

"We Dark Siders, as you know, draw our power from the emotions we feel. Passion, rage, fear, pain, and so on and so forth. The problem with this, an the Jedi and our enemies have exploited this many times in the past, is we lose ourselves to those emotions. We allow them to control our actions, our thoughts, and in turn we become predictable and easy to fool."

A further clashing of her blade upon [member="Darth Valtryx"]'s continued as she went on.

"The Order of the Sith Lords, the one founded by Darth Bane during the end of the New Sith Wars, addressed this problem and they nearly succeeded in wiping the Jedi out completely. It became clear to Bane, Zannah, Cognus, and other Lords and Ladies of their Order that controlling their inner emotions was key. It gave them access to great and vast amounts of power, but allowed them to keep their thoughts clear. To be more patient and cunning. Take myself for example. I will be the first to admit I have a temper, but only if certain conditions are met. Otherwise, I keep my passions bottled up inside and ready to be pulled into my service at a moments notice."

"It keeps my head clear during a fight or when I need the dark side, but allows me access to a vast amount of power," she said. "Today, we will be doing the same to your rage and hatred."

 

[Minna]

Valtryx ignited her saber in time to block the attacks. Throughout the lecture she managed to hold off from being hit while listening, but already she could feel her emotions rising. How she wanted to burst onto the offensive now and never stop... But she kept them at bay for now, continuing to listen and stay on the defensive. For a moment she wondered; what were the 'certain conditions' that made Arcanix tick? However, her attention quickly returned to the lesson, managing to continue clashing blades throughout the speech. She knew she wouldn't last much longer without wanting to attack, and so the Yodaling used the force to jump backwards in a backflip, landing a few metres away from her opponent. There she caught her breath slightly, but mainly she tried to keep her emotions contained within her, simply looking at her master. "How... do I do that?" She asked, preparing herself for another attack if it were to come.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"Willpower is key, Valtryx, willpower," Taeli said, allowing her apprentice to catch her breath. "You have to bind the rage and hate within you to your willpower, dominate them as you would any other thing that stand within a true Sith's way. It is very much like the technique Control Rage, using the sheer force of your will to control and manipulate your emotions to your purposes. Allow me to show what writhes within me."

Allowing her Force presence to grow, she allowed her apprentice to sense the writhing mass of hatred and anger within her. Hatred and anger towards those that tried to violate her in the past, anger at the careless waste of resources of the Sith by certain Sith, hatred of the Jedi and their hypocrisy towards knowledge, hatred of the Mandalorians for what they had done to Dromund Kaas and destroying all the knowledge and artifacts that were there. After a moment to allow her apprentice to see the writhing mass of dark emotions, Taeli brought her willpower down upon them and withdrew them deep inside her, to be used for power.

"The Jedi teach to have no attachments, to let go of all emotions. That is folly, controlling them and harnessing them are the way to go for true power and knowledge."

Lightning crackled around her fingers for a moment before she unleashed a powerful stream at Valtryx.

"My emotions give me this power, and yet I'm still very clear-headed," she yelled over the roar of the lightning lancing from her fingers.

 

[Minna]

Valtryx saw the hatred and anger within her Master, rather stunned at the amount she had under her control. It was almost as if that moment she understood that she had been wrong all this time. Unleashing rage did not give power, it wasted it. The crackle of lightning brought her back to her thoughts suddenly. Within a few seconds she channeled all of her hatred and anger into herself, bending it to her will and refusing to let it take any form of control. With the feelings in balance, she felt empowered already and raised her hand towards the incoming lightning. The bolt hit her initially, but only for a split second until it was repelled by another force. From the deepest rage within her came the fuel for a bright red barrier that blocked the lightning just infront of her hand. The crackling sound was so close, yet she was safe from it now. As a Jedi she had not been able to hold this barrier for more than a few seconds, but now she felt as if she could hold it forever. Raw emotion seeped into the barrier like fuel to a fire, yet it seemed she had unlimited supply of it. She was in control of herself, which allowed her to calculate her decisions. With a look of determination on her face, Valtryx mustered all the power she could to push her barrier against the lightning, and then send a literal Force Push towards her Master, hoping to break the channel of electricity. Whether she succeeded or not, she dropped her barrier and heaved a large sigh. She had never felt so much power before in her life...

She could definitely get used to being a Sith...

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"Very good, very good indeed," Taeli said, the Force Push indeed disrupted her Lightning by sending her into the air, but she righter herself in the Force landed gracefully. "You figured out how its done, but it takes more than that to maintain such control in a life or death scenario, a battle, or over an extended period of time."

She was actually quite proud already of the Yodaling, she was able to quickly pick up on the control. But it was time to test so see how long she could maintain that control.

"And now, my apprentice, we must test how long you can maintain that control and not slip into being controlled yourself," Taeli said, the second blade of her lightsaber igniting. Across her saber hand, lightning crackled and began to engulf the lightsaber blades themselves in a lightning charge. "Defend yourself!"

With that, she rushed forward in blue of speed, calling upon her rage to fuel her speed and the lightning that surrounded her blades as she launched a furious barrage of attacks on her apprentice, designed to test and push her to her limits.

 

[Minna]

Valtryx had little time to recover from the overflow of power, as her master came at her once again. Luckily, being a small target allowed Valtryx to make her defense a mixture of dodges and blocks. If Arcanix came at her with one blade she would jump over it, then block the next blade that would no doubt follow the first. She continued with this technique for some time, getting into a swift rhythm that kept her from being hit. However the rhythm would no doubt become predictable, and the rage inside Valtryx began to build up to a point where she was scared it would overflow and she would lose control.

Wait. She was scared.

The Yodaling switched to the offensive almost instantly out of nowhere, sending a quick force push to distract her opponent for not even a few seconds. In this time, she'd leap over Arcanix and deliver a flurry of strikes from above, before landing on the other side. Her usual move then would be charge in again with more strikes, but Valtryx was in control now, not her emotions. Focusing on the hatred that she now commanded, her spare hand lifted a table from the edge of the room then threw it towards her Master. The rage was growing with each second, but now that she had taken a small break from close combat she felt like she could control it, for now...

After the table had been thrown, the Yodaling switched to the defensive again, preparing herself for any further attacks, whilst trying to keep her emotions under control.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

She was keeping herself in control for the most part, Taeli could tell, but she was bleeding some fear into the air. But apparently, that truly didn't matter as her apprentice switched from the defensive mode she had been in for an offensive pass. A Force Push got her slightly off-balance enough to allow her apprentice to flip over her head and launch some attacks at the same time.

Taeli twirled her blades above her head for a moment to block and spun away low to dodge a follow-through, like she had attempted on Alderaan. Instead of that though, a table came flying her way. Well, that was much better as that showed Valtryx was still in control and thinking, instead of being consumed by rage and lashing out haphazardly.

As the table flew towards her, she twisted the handle of her saber and the spinning mode activated and carved right through the table.

"Very good," she said, the spinning saber being held out in front to form a spinning disk of energy. "You're using that brain of yours and fueling your powers with the dark side emotions that are within you."

Using the Force, she shattered the remains of the table into several long and sharp stakes and sent them flying at Valtryx while she began to turn more of her attention to the individual molecules within the air. A chill started to descend upon the room as she slowed them down, the water particles started to freeze and form shards of ice around her.

"What shall you try next, apprentice?" she asked.

 

[Minna]

Valtryx remained focused, slicing at the wooden stakes to prevent them causing harm to her with the aid of the force. Once they were no longer a threat, she noticed the temperature dropping, and then the ice shards that had begun forming. Initially she felt helpless, with no training in using any form of heat or fire in the force she had to find another way to counteract the ice. That's when an idea sprung to mind. With her spare hand outstretched once again she unleash a torrent of lightning at her Master. It was nowhere near as bright or accurate as her master's early one, but it was enough to hopefully warrant a distraction from the altering of particles. However, it was then she realised the lightning would be caught by the spinning sabers, and do little good for her. So with some more thought, she developed her plan. The Yodaling threw her lightsaber in a giant arc to the right, using the force to guide it around her opponents blades and towards the hopefully unprotected area of her body.

The way Valtryx saw it, Arcanix could either block the lightning or block the lightsaber. But her mind was slightly clouded, as the rage of combat began to creep it's way around her. Maybe there was a way her Master could prevent being hit that she didn't see in her blindness?

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

She could feel her apprentice slipping in her control slightly as she threw her saber and unleashed lightning at her. It was an excellent tactic regardless, to try and split your enemy's focus on two attacks and thinking it guaranteed one hit. Sadly, Taeli had begun researching other applications for Force Lightning long ago, and one she had discovered most useful when she taught her first apprentice, Darth Raven, was a lightning barrier.

Sending the ice shards at Valtryx, she spun to intercept the saber coming towards her rear, and as she spun she unleashed a vast amount of lightning from her hands to form a crackling barrier of electricity around her that would absorb the lightning. Deflecting the thrown saber, she reached with the Force and pulled it to her hand and turned back to her apprentice.

"Excellent strategic thinking," she said with a smile, tossing the saber back to her apprentice and deactivating hers for now. "I can sense your control was slipping though. Why do you think that is?"

If she could completely control herself during combat, she would be a terror on the battlefield and against their enemies. Her use of better tactics was evidence of that, and she hoped she would be cunning enough to figure out that Taeli wanted her to attack her while her saber was deactivated.

 

[Minna]

Valtryx made a giant leap to the side, avoiding the ice shards and planting her feet against the wall from which she pushed herself back to her original position again. As Arcanix managed to counter her tactic unharmed, she felt a slight pang of disappointment, but then also the sense of opportunity when her Master deactivated her saber. Using the force to retrieve her own saber back into her hand, she kept it off for the moment, slowly approaching her master as if just to talk. "Leak, my emotions do. Learn to contain them no matter what, I must. Maybe, find ways to take breaks during battle without leaving myself open." She answered the question, but her main focus was containing all of her emotions and to look visibly calm, as if the fighting was over for good. "Not give my opponent an opportunity to strike!" The final word she said with vigor, as she would leap up and activate her crimson red blade once again. On her way down towards Arcanix, she would aim for a single, diagonal slice which if it were to make full contact with the body, would slice from shoulder to opposite hip.
Inside it felt as if the flame had suddenly ignited once again. It was obvious she had better control over her rage now.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"The problem with taking breaks in a battle is you give your opponent time to refresh as well," Taeli pointed out, nodding her head and taking her eyes off her apprentice for a moment. "Control and harnessing your emotions has to be a constant thing, something you do as easy as breathing, it cannot be something you let go lightly.

Hearing Valtryx's comment about not letting her opponent have an opportunity to strike, she opened her eyes to see a crimson blade coming towards her, along with its flying Yodaling wielder. She was learning, oh good.

"Impressive," Taeli said, sidestepping the slash and activating her lower saber blade to catch it so she was holding her blade in a reverse grip. "Most impressive, Valtryx, you recognize that cunning is needed. Control and intelligence go hand in hand, and those are what you must use during battle, on top of that vast well of darkness within you that gives you such speed, such ferocity, such power."

With that, Taeli brought her fist towards Valtryx, lightning crackling around it that if it connected, it would certainly hurt a lot.

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

 

[Minna]

Valtryx saw the punch coming, but was quite unsure what to do except attempt a dodge. By twisting herself around and pulling her lightsaber away from Arcanix's, she lost her balance slightly and stumbled aside. Safe from the punch as she was, it was definitely no perfect maneuver. However, she did not give up, instead continuing with a flurry of lightsaber strikes from both directions as fast as she could. The Yodaling wanted to show her Master what she could do. The darkness inside fueled her once again, yet it's flame was starting to dim. She was unsure how much longer she could last. To try and prevent forcing too much rage upon herself, she leaped backwards after her strikes had been delivered. Of course, only if she wasn't prevented from doing so...

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

She could feel her apprentice wavering a bit, the fires within dimming a bit as she was growing tired, she assumed. Time to end this lesson then. As Valtryx jumped back, Taeli unleashed a powerful Force Grip to grapple the Yodaling and hold her in place.

Deactivating her lightsaber, she smiled and said, "I believe that is enough for today Valtryx." She released the Force Grip and clipped her lightsaber to her belt. "You've already proven to me you can do this with enough practice, and once we get that stamina and the control up, you'll be an absolute terror upon the battlefield and carrying out missions to increase our strength, both within the Sith and for the Sith. I know using too much hate right now will have you lose control, so I want you to practice control while you settle in here. You can have quarters near mine at the Sith palace, or at the temple it is up to you. Do you have any questions about the control methods?"

 

[Minna]

Valtryx was bracing herself for another attack, but instead she was merely pacified while the lesson ended. Holstering her own blade, she gave a small nod of respect. "Thank you for your faith in me, Master. Practice, I shall." She said, straightening her robes which had been rather roughed up in the fight. Her mind began to drift on to thinking about her new life, like where she would choose to have her quarters. Most likely the Sith Palace, near Arcanix, she thought. "As for questions, I have none. Is there anything else you require of me in the mean time, Master?" The Yodaling asked, now sounding calm and settled unlike during her rage.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"No, you're free to go about your business," Taeli said with a smile. "If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I'm not a harsh master that takes pleasure in causing my students pain needlessly. I'm more here to guide you down darker paths of power, and occasionally send you out on mission to increase my powerbase or so we have access to more knowledge."

She was interested in some of the skills that Valtryx demonstrated, and in time, she would teach and learn many things in sessions with the Yodaling. She was proving to be a very promising student.

 

[Minna]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"I see, and for that, grateful, I am. Farewell, Master." Valtryx smiled back, then turned her attention to the room. She didn't exactly want to leave it a mess, and so she outstretched her arms and began putting objects back in their place with the force. It wasn't the quickest of tasks, but one worth doing. She might have need for this room again in the future.