Private Call of the Wild(er)

[Jonyna Si]

​

"So you do understand!" Jonyna slammed her foot down, looking at Vulpesen dead on. "So what is this then?! You invite me to your home, show me dinner, and the whole time you criticize me. Was this just you coming to strip me down?! Because I'm not one of your soldiers. I'm not some punk recruit who thinks they know better. I'm a Knight who's fought inquisitors, helped take down star destroyers, and stabbed moffs through the chest. You wanna teach me a lesson? Fight me. Beat it into me." Her words were defiant as always, but firm in their assertion. She meant it. If this former king wanted to assert his authority, it wouldn't happen with dinner invitations and family greetings. It would happen with blood and iron.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's brow raised as did those of everyone else at the table. Garren and Vulpesen's children had the good courtesy to give approving smiles. Harlow simply leaned back in his chair and gave a loud barking laugh. "She's got spirit! Reminds me of a suicidal young buck I knew back in the day!" He looked over at Vulpesen with a wild smile and lifted up. "Pack it up! We have a duel!" His hands clapped loudly as he walked towards the double doors.

Vulpesen rose from his chair, a small smile playing on his lips. "Welcome to Veradune. It seems as though you've finally gotten into the spirit of thigns. Inside or outside? What gear? Lightsabers? Armored? Force powers?" By his right of the challenged, Vulpesen could easily have made those decisions himself. But he had the experience. Jonyna was a fighter, he could tell. But in her he saw himself. But the self he saw was half a decade younger. His claws flexed and he stretched his muscles with every step. A dozen responses danced behind his lips. All jedi were soldiers. He was a master who'd fought emperors and had fought through the belly of destroyers. But she was certainly right in finding one place where they could agree. Words meant nothing when one argued over experience. What mattered was a display of that experience.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"Normal loadouts." She stood, flashing her two swords. "Outside. Your choice."

 

[Vulpesen]

Loadout: Lightsaber, Varos Cloak, Kits yelp bracers, 25 daggers, 3 rhak skuri gas grenades, 3 EMP grenades, 3 totems of the familiar (Kreehawk, Kathhound, Acklay), Shadowfox Amulet

He nodded and continued on, opening the doors tot he outside and turning to a soldier who stood by the entrance. "Get me my minor loadout and remove the frags." His hand reached into his cloak and picked out the fennec pistol which he then handed to the solider. "And hold onto this for me." The courtyard was large enough to serve as a battleground and in the center of it was an open field surrounded by a ring of stones. A dueling circle.

Vulpesen took his place near the center of the circle and held out his hand as the soldier quickly ran over with a set of belts and accoutrements, each of which he set down into his cloak to be fastened into place. "We'll be using the force at will. My father and children are able enough healers so just avoid anything immediately fatal. I'm rather attached to my head and I assume you are as well." Vulpesen's face held an approving smile, though his eyes were hard as durasteel as they scanned over Jonyna. In the circle, no matter how much she might have earned his respect, she was no longer a welcome guest. She was an opponent to be beaten. Of course, the expression would disappear as he waited for Jonyna, hidden behind the phrik mask that had protected him through decades of warfare.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna took a basic stance, her hands hidden in her coat away from Vulpesen , clearly holding onto one of her katanas. She wouldn't be the first to strike. Not against an opponent like this. She knew what was to come. He was a master, and she was a knight. She couldn't make mistakes here, not when her honor was at stake.

Her plan was as fluid as it always was. Strike first and you keep yourself on the disadvantage. But play your cards too soon, and you lose your deck's advantage. He'd already seen Lucy on Cathar. Her saber wouldn't do her any favors here, but her katanas still held an air of secrecy to them. She'd start with those, unless the battle changed. She could see the knives on his person, as well as the grenades. Grenades would be tricky, but she could fling them away with wind. Keep her distance then whittle down his offensive capabilities. Or she could close the distance and risk taking a hit. No. Too much risk. She needed to know where his strengths lied. His strategy.

 

[Vulpesen]

"The estate will be our battleground. We fight until one yeilds or can fight no longer." With his final rule stated, Vulpesen spent the first few moments pacing, his eyes locked on Jonyna and his hands twitching weaponless at the edge of his cloak. There was a puzzlement behind his mask. She wasn't attacking him. Her observed rashness and personal challenge was completely at odds with her current patience. Of course, her reasoning for the sudden caution was sound, and he was happy to see that she wasn't completely without forethought. He was out of her league and they both knew it. The question he had to answer, was simply a matter of how much.

Finally, Vulpesen's right hand darted forward and his cloak flickered at the edges. A series of sharp cracks sounded through the air as a quartet of black blurs lanced out from behind his waist. A set of daggers hurtled towards Jonyna, breaking the sound barrier as they attempted to pierce her lower abdomen. As far as he could tell, Jonyna was the sort that would prefer a close encounter, and thus, he found it in his interest to stick with his specialty of ranged combat. It was a simple but dangerous attack to test her initial abilities.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The millisecond she could notice movement, Jonyna was ready to react. Daggers. She adjusted her stance, just enough so that the daggers would go right into her coat, exactly what it was designed for. The daggers stabbed right into it, with nowhere near enough momentum to piece through the hefty city-wood that lined the quilts.

She needed to react. He was fast. But now it was time to find out how fast.

As soon as the daggers impacted, she spun around, quickdrawing Liz and launching out the Roar of Cathar, a sonic blast that she at least hoped would stun the Force Master. If she could stun him, she could get in close. Hopefully he wasn't faster than sound...

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's eyes widened as he saw the sword pointed in his direction. What it could do, he wasn't sure. What he did know, was that it was about to do something. His hand, previously pointed to designate a target flattened and raised to produce a barrier with the force. He saw the ground shift and ripple as the shockwave came towards him. It crashed into his barrier and he grunted, skipping back as it pushed through the hastily erected shield and into his body. He could feel his organs quake under the weakened sonic wave and a sense of nausea came over him. It was unpleasant to be sure, but he'd certainly felt worse. "C'mon," he growled as he retook his stance, flexing his claws as he prepared for her next move.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

As soon as he put up the barrier, Jonyna launched forward, her feet erupting with flame to follow the shockwave. If she could keep the pressure on, he wouldn't have the chance to follow up. She'd go for a lunging slash, trying to use her rocket powered strike to break the barrier before he could retake his stance. She couldn't rely on her sabers, but if she could get close enough...

 

[Vulpesen]

His eyes widened behind the mask, and his hand turned once more. The force was his ally and he employed it how to quicken his reflexes and bring his saber staff into his hand. Still, he didn't ignite it. Rather, he simply used the phrik tube to deflect the blade that was lancing its war towards his chest, putting it offline as his body turned to give him some extra room. Quite handily, the movement also placed his arm at the perfect angle for a counter attack. Jonyna was already rocketing forward, and he figured that would work to his advantage as he threw his elbow back towards her nose. If she learned nothing else, she might now learn why he wore a battle mask.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The moment her blade began to be deflected, Jonyna put a plan into motion.

It wasn't a great plan. But it was a plan.

She used all her strength, any she could muster, to throw her legs in front of her. She'd halt her momentum in the process, but hey, now the rocket thrust was pointed right at Vulpesen's chest. Suddenly, she let herself surge with energy from the Force, the thrust increasing to attempt to throw Vulpes away from her, and try and burn through his armor.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen let out a growl of pain as the fire rushed over his side, testing the efficiency of his runes which glowed brighter as they absorbed the heat for him. The Varos cloak was rated against lightsabers but still, he could feel his side break out with sweat as he continued to spin away from Jonyna, allowing the Cathar to start rocketing away before he regained his composure. However, she wouldn't have long before he swiped his hand through the air, once more calling on his considerable control of the force.

Jonyna, who was hurling through the air with the help of her directional rockets would find herself met with a cyclone wind. The swirling gale was meant to destabilize her flight, which governed by the direction her feet were pointed, would find itself dispruted if he succeeded in whirling her feet about in wildly different directions than her intended straight course. The simple truth was, crash landings were never pleasant, especially when the person that caused them elected to flick out his left hand to send another trio of daggers cracking through the sound barrier to punish any aerial inelegance.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Crash? Yeah, that was gonna happen. She landed with a thud, growling as she rolled onto her back to absorb the daggers in her coat. She needed a new strategy. He was just as adept at the elements as she was. But maybe she could use that.

Take a book from her padawan? Sure.

She slammed her fist into the ground under her coat, the ground opening up under Vulpes as she got back to her feet. At the very least, it might by her the time she needed to formulate a plan of attack.

 

[Vulpesen]

Battlefields change, it was an unfortunate truth that caused Vulpesen to inwardly curse Jonyna. not for his own sake of course, but for his landscaper if he failed to correct her actions once their duel was completed. For his own part, he simple swished his tail, causing a disk of search to eject itself from the wall beneath his feet. Now, the Valde simply had a position of cover from which to attack. This time he didn't focus on multi tasking or keeping back something ready to move. He had cover. He had the stable position. And most importantly, he had the opportunity.

Refusing to give Jonyna a chance to rise and recover, he extended his fingers to launch a golden torrent of lighting in her directions. This was the power for which he had left the jedi, the proof of their hypocrisy. They had denied him the chance to learn the ways of electric judgement and for that, he had never returned, instead he simply watched as the stih tore them apart. And now, he showed the fervor with which he had made up for that time lost by unwilling ignorance by placing Jonyna in the middle of an electric hurricane.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The sound of crackling filled the air, and Jonyna knew she had to react fast. She flug around, lifting Liz up as the lightning redirected to the blade, the blade now sparking with energy as Jonyna swung it around, trying in combat something she'd only ever practiced in training.

The Shocking Roar. A sonic boom with lightning damage. Thunder and Lightning, Very Very Frightening.

She needed to keep up the attack. She needed an opening. He had to have a weakness. A shatterpoint.

...he had mentioned he had grenades on him. She could reach out and try and activate a few. Didn't matter which ones, she just needed to throw him off.

 

[Vulpesen]

The shockwave of sonic and electrical energy would have been a frightening scene, and Vulpesen found he was glad he wasn't facing it on a battlefield, if not for his own sake, then that of his men. However, the answer had already been provided by Jonyna's last attempt to foil him. Sumply ducking into hole, Vulpesen let the surge pass harmlessly over his head while he thought of his next task. Once again, Jonyna provided the answer.

Sense that something was wrong was the intense buzz that ran over his body, causing him to grunt as his body thrummed with energy. Compared to a sith's lightning, it was nothing. Far more concerning was the distinctive hiiisss as his rhak skuri grenades went off, rapidly filling his hole with their psychedelic gas and barely affording him the time to turn on his rebreather. "Not the first time I've cut that one close," he muttered to himself, even as his hands moved to enact his counter.

First, the area around his hole would be concealed by a thick purple fog, visibly impenetrable as Jonyna had activated both of the grenades. Then, that fog would spread and spread before finding a directed purpose in seeking out Jonyna like a massive wave. Should jonyna by some miracle find a way to see past it and towards where she had left Vulpesen, she would find only flat ground... Vulpesen had sealed the entrance of his fox hole, turned on his thermals, and sat down in a meditative position. His mind now kept to two tasks, confounding efforts to find or effect his position through the force, and ensuring that the cloud of hallucinogenic toxins continued to barrel towards his feline foe.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The approaching cloud was easy enough to deal with. With Vulpes now on the defensive, Jonyna didn't have to worry about anything breaking her focus at current. A gale of wind rushed from behind her, pushing the gas away.

But now she needed to keep up the attack. She could try and chase him down, attempt to tunnel down just as Ko had showed her in training. But she wasn't going to find him that way. She needed to flood him out.

So that's exactly what she did. She couldn't sense where he was, but she knew where he had been. The hole she had made herself. Feeling the earth below her from there, he could only have gone a handful of directions. So she used her senses to feel throughout the earth around her, searching for something. Natural Gas. On a forest planet like this? It'd be all over the place. Just a small flame and...boom.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen growled as he felt her push at the cloud. Still, an old adage ran through his head, something Zarro had taught him, and he in turn had taught one of the few apprentices that had deigned to learn from him. The soldier who moves, his valor he proves. He who stands still... While Jonyna's methods might have been unknown to him, being blown up was certainly a way of enacting 'is a target to kill.'

Letting go of the cloud for the moment, Vulpesen started downwards and to the side, focusing his efforts now on keeping himself hidden through the force. In the dining room, he had preached the necessity of subtlety and restraint. Now it was time to show the value of such virtues. While he did manage it, it was admittedly difficult to maintain his concentration as a rumbling explosion rocked the small tunnel behind him, collapsing much of what he'd dug. "The hell are you doing?" he whispered to the darkness. Then, he dug some more until he was twenty yards from his starting place. Then it was back to meditating on keeping himself hidden and the air above where the purple cloud would begin to reform.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The cloud was a problem she'd have to keep her concentration on. It couldn't last forever, so she started to spin the cloud upward. She needed to find this fragging guy. She couldn't keep creating craters in the front lawn. She knew where the tunnel had started, she could see it bright as day now as she looked at the crater of where it had been. Therefore, she could tell where it was going. A small flame wouldn't do much, but she had time on her hands. Time to focus, time to channel energy...

One hand reached into her coat, gripping Lucy to channel energy through her crystal. Her mother's crystal, her grandmother's crystal, a crystal that had been passed down from generation of Si to the next since the days of the High Republic.

What started as a small light at the other end of Vulpes' tunnel erupted into a torrent of flame that rushed down the hole and filled the tunnel completely.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen heard the rushing flames as they crashed against dirt and stone, his ears flicking to the odd noise. Suddenly, he was grateful that her explosion had collapsed the tunnel behind him, thus leaving him safe from such dangers as the smoking earth where he had once been. Deciding it would be best to defend himself against any more probing attacks, Vulpesen called on the earth to harden and compact, turning the dirt and stone into a hard shell where he could concentrate in peace.

His next ally was an element that few remember. Water, fire, earth and air were common to all, with electricity being something that the jedi and sith might know a bit more. But the Way of the Trees was an art that the wilders thought deserving of its own specialty. Thus, employing what he'd been taught in the past decades, Vulpesen called the grass to his bidding. One after another, patches of the grass would grow and twist together before lashing at Jonyna like a mob of bullwhips, each one attacking from a different angle but with the same ferocity to rip flesh from bone. It was time, the Valde thought, to go on the offensive.


Jonyna Si