Idle Hands (Isaac v. Keira)

[Keira Priest]

Theme

Why do I keep doing this? The answer to the question was a simple one, and it was as easy as it being a simple distraction from everything. Fighting was one thing Keira knew she was skilled at, regardless of how the odds were stacked against her. If she'd been counting correctly, this was the fourth sparring match of hers in the Fight Club, and the second barehanded round. Unlike her previous battle with her Gen'Dai mentor, this would be the closest to an even match she would likely ever get, aside from those she'd had on the battlefield.

This time her Force sensitivity wouldn't be an issue, as a point had been made beforehand to restrict her use of the energy field beyond what intuition it naturally granted her without her conscious manipulation. That wasn't a problem for her, as the subtle hints allotted plenty of time for her to counter or avoid the incoming attack altogether. Sure, she wouldn't be able to employ a number of the tricks in her retinue, but it wasn't a major loss.

Pondering this she stood on one side of the arena, wearing nothing more than a loose pair of shorts and a tank top, her cybernetic left arm on full display. Perhaps it was a variable her opponent hadn't considered, or perhaps it didn't concern him all that much, but it would grant her extra strength in that arm nonetheless. That was the only real advantage she had over him, when one removed her Force abilities from the equation.

Briefly she scanned the crowd, turning her attention back to the task at hand shortly after, awaiting the arrival of her most recent combatant. C'mon...

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac strolled into the arena, although it was more like a big basement with poor lighting. A few practicing trainees had stopped momentarily to watch this upcoming sparring session. Barefoot and wearing a pair of basic dark sweatpants and a t-shirt, Isaac stopped at the edge of the ring and began stretching.

He knew little about his opponent. She was a Jedi or somesuch. Force users weren't to be trusted, in Isaac's opinion. He eyed her cybernetic arm. It seemed a bit of an unfair advantage, but the fact that Isaac was at least three inches taller than her cancelled out any physical leverage. He was also unaware of any particular training she may have had. Over the past year, Isaac had been hard at work in the gym practicing his martial arts. His reflexes were faster, his movement quicker, and his striking had been improved with lessons in shockboxing from Lysle Rigger.

After a few twists and turns, Isaac had limbered up. He took off his shirt and threw it to the side, revealing a long and lean frame, but with wide shoulders and definition from both training and work. Stepping into the ring, he grinned and began bouncing. Agility was a fighter's friend-- standing and swinging was a chump's strategy.

"C'mon now, don't be shy" he joked as he moved in, waiting for Keira to make the first move.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

A smile quirked on her lips, though Keira didn't quite make any moves yet, still evaluating his potential skills and any advantages and disadvantages the two had on each other. Her left arm would be an obvious trump card, but she didn't intend on exploiting it this time around. The two of them still may have been less than fair fighters, but if he didn't stoop all that low, neither would she. A mutual agreement that had every possibility of being broken within the first few seconds.

Speed and acrobatics, those would be the two key components of this fight. From just one look at things they were likely matched in speed, but flips and twists were things that could be utilized even without aid of the Force. It was the way she had first learned, and going back to the basics once in awhile wasn't always a bad thing. Besides, she wasn't about to give him an easy target just because she wasn't able to throw things around telekinetically.

"And they say chivalry is dead." Though she often utilized an aggressive fighting style, it wasn't uncommon of her to wait for her opponent to make the first move. It allowed her time to think and determine which tactics would be the most successful, and which were best avoid. That wouldn't be a technique afforded her. This was one time she was truly wary of all her adversary was capable of.

Moving forward, she feinted with a right hook and turned the unused momentum into a kick with her left foot. From there the pace would only increase.

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac, still moving, bobbed in and out of range of his opponent until she made the first move. Bouncing back as his opponent lunged forward, he read the feign. Most fights started out that way. A kick soon came speeding his way. Isaac was out of the reach of Keira's fists, but not of her legs.

There are two kinds of kicks. The first is a leg or body kick, used to frustrate and weaken an opponent. These can come at all times, though they are most effective when an opponent is tired and slow. They do not win fights, and a simple "check" can stop them. The second is a head kick. These come in a variety of fun delivery methods, be they spinning, backheels, scissor kicks, and a whole slew of others. These could win fights, but you had to catch your opponent off guard.

Keira's kick certainly wasn't catching Isaac off guard; it came wheeling in around his upper chest. Isaac raised his right arm and, clenching the muscles in his abdomen, snared Keira's left leg. The room echoed with the slap of skin meeting skin and the deep thud of the impact reverberating through his body. He would be sore for days, but he had Keira's leg tight to his body. With a grin, Isaac playfully raised his eyebrows in jest. Planting his left foot forward, he swung his foot forward low and hard at the leg Keira was balancing on, hoping to knock her on her ass.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

Her first instinct was to stop her fall with the Force and rebound in much of the same manner, but she caught herself at the last minute, recalling the restrictions that had been placed on the fight. Very well, things would have to be done the hard way. That invariably meant taking the fall, but she managed to slow the pace enough that it would result in nothing more than the usual bruises. She would be sore for days on end, sure, but the pain would come later. Right now there was only a quiet appreciation for his capabilities with knowledge that this was only the beginning.

There was a reason that, when given a choice, Keira would ultimately prefer to head into things at least armed with the Force, if not her lightsaber. Her bare-handed combat skills weren't horrible by any means, but they definitely weren't up to where they could be. That was just as much for want of her personal training as anything. It was obvious that Isaac didn't share those same limitations, but that only served to bolster her persistence. Knowing when to give up had never been her strong suit.

Slowly she pushed herself to her feet, the slightest of grimaces flashing across her face, gone as quickly as it had come. If that was what he was capable of just starting out, well...this would make for quite the match, indeed. Her gaze strayed again to the few that had been present before and had elected to stick around and watch the match, but soon enough she regarded Isaac once more, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

This was going to be fun.

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac laughed as Keira hit the ground with a thud. "You rely on the force too much, I think."

When Keira pulled herself up from the ground, Isaac advanced. He made sure to stay at the edge of the perimeter of his reach. As he approached, he quickly changed his stance from left-in-front orthodox to southpaw. He then unleashed a trio of rapid punches, two straights with his right and a third hook from his left. None of them were intended to be hay-makers, but rather to keep Keira off balance. Every punch to the face, no matter how hard, would quickly wear down an opponent.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

That was likely true, and she wouldn't bother denying it. But there were a number of reasons Keira had survived thus far in the criminal underworld, and it wasn't just her ability to manipulate an energy field or her relative skill at swinging a lightsaber around that allowed it. Her talent lay in other areas as well. Less exploited ones, to be sure, but it was only a matter of time before she was given cause to use them again, and this was one of those.

Not replying to his comment right away she instead focused on dodging his punches, favoring that over blocking them for the moment. She may not have been able to use the Force outright, but the subliminal hints it relayed her were just enough to allow her less than a second's reprieve between strikes, but it was enough. Overexerting herself so early wouldn't do any good, after all. Not given the fact she was fighting someone just as experienced as her, if not more so.

This time she took a different approach, noting that unbalancing herself for even a moment would leave her too open and vulnerable to be a worthwhile strategy to employ. That left any high kicks out of the equation, perhaps excluding those with some degree of acrobatics involved, provided they allowed her to escape his reach quickly enough. Moving faster now, she first struck twice and fast at his midsection, next with a hook from her right, and finally a sweep kick aimed at his legs.

"The Force isn't the only reason I've made it this far."

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac was impressed by Keira's artful dodging as his strikes failed to hit their mark, his fists only hitting wisps of hair as if they were teasing that her face was here just a split second ago. These punches would've bloodied the nose of your ordinary schmuck, but this was a Jedi.

Immediately, Keira returned with a flurry of fists, striking out at Isaac's midsection. He pulled his body back and the punches missed. Slightly off balance, he caught a venomous right hook in his peripheral vision and yanked his head out of the way, the fist audibly cutting through the air. He began to smile sheepishly as he took a step back-- she was getting serious. He failed, however, to see the low kick-- not that he'd have had any time to react to it, since he was already well off balance. It clipped the heel of his lead foot and sent it in the air. Isaac stumbled backwards, comically trying to gain his footing. He took a tumble and rolled backwards to a knee. Damn, he joked to himself. "Note to self, don't underestimate girls with self-esteem issues." he teased as he picked himself up.

He sprang back into form, and closed the ground on his opponent. He bobbed his head to avoid any "feelers" or jabs, and swayed left to right to keep his opponent off balance. He then unleashed a lightning quick left cross aimed at the left side of her face. Figuring she might dodge this, he melded the cross into an immediate spinning backfist with his right, utilizing the momentum from his first punch and hoping to catch Keira off guard.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

Quietly impressed by both his speed and the way he managed to string each movement into the other, Keira avoided the first hit, as expected. But the second was an entirely different matter. While she managed to redirect the very worst of it, his fist still connected painfully with her jaw, the sharp crack resounding about the arena. Despite being very stunned she managed to turn her momentum backwards into a roll, ending in a crouch, one hand stretching up to gently probe her jaw, a grimace flashing briefly across her face. Not bad.

Taking a breath she stood, managing a smile despite the circumstances and the pain still coursing through her jaw. It wasn't often she ever had cause to test her skill in bare-handed combat in something of a live-action scenario, and it seemed he wasn't about to hold back. All the better, because she didn't intend to go easy either. There were tactics she wouldn't be able to employ, but many others to pick and choose from.

"That would imply that I give a damn what you think."

Once again her approach was relatively slow, though she made up for it in the speed of her punches, purposefully causing each of them to miss ever so slightly, hopefully just enough to keep him on his toes. After a few seconds of this she swung again from her right, this strike directly on course, towards his jaw, hoping to return the favor. She may have been outmatched in experience, but speed was always her advantage.

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

The back of Isaac's hand slapped Keira across the face, the sound reverberating throughout the room. Something like an elbow flush across the temple would be nearly enough to knock out a Wookie, but Isaac wasn't trying to kill anybody today. He just wanted a warm body to train with. He rarely had a square go with anybody of particular skill-- and they certainly weren't ever Jedis.

C'mon, I really want you to give it to me he barked, laughing at Keira's red hand-print on her cheek. She began slowly towards Isaac again, and then picked up the pace until she started swinging wildly again. Isaac kept his head back, dodging the jabs like any self-respecting pugilist would. His eyes caught Keira untether a speedy right hook, and he threw his left arm up to block it. Deflecting the blow, he jumped back in pain, holding his arm out as if to call "time out".

Ack! Sunnova-- you hit me in the ear! Why the ear... cripes, that hurts.

Isaac turned around, shaking his head, jogged back towards Keira. As he approached with his hands down, he leapt forward and threw a fast left straight right at Keira's chin. As he landed, he swung his hips and delivered a kick screaming towards Keira's ribs.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Lurcano Car'dann]

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

This was a man Keira could say she respected, despite the fact that they'd only had scant dealings with each other before, well. Before that very moment, when they'd both entered the ring and committed to this match. It wasn't the best way to make acquaintance, but it was certainly one of those that would speed up the process of their getting to know the other. The art of battle such as this was hardly lost on her, and she could appreciate it just as much as the next person, if not more, given the combative life she led. This was just another part of that.

Here she was presented with a choice, neither of them exactly pleasant. At this point she could either take the punch aimed for her chin and redirect the kick, or do quite the opposite in some semblance of order. Or, well, she could more or less avoid both, but that would require creative maneuvering that she didn't have the time to implement just then. Instead she deigned to more or less suffer both hits, though at less of a severe cost to her. Ducking back to avoid the first strike, his knuckles still clipping the side of her face, she was left with the kick to contend with.

Dodging it was the smartest decision and something anyone in her position would have chosen to do. But with the distance between them being so close, she wasn't left with much of a choice other than to redirect the overall strength of it in order to reduce the ultimate damage done. And she did just that, shifting the general momentum upwards and away, though it still knocked her sideways, a blow she felt now and would pay dearly for later. But it didn't seem as if it had broken bone. Perhaps fractured something, but no more.

Briefly she took a moment to center herself, jumping into a snap kick meant for his upper abdomen, the movement not leaving her off her feet for more than a few seconds. Despite her having conceded to not utilizing flying kicks for the remainder of the match, she figured that it wouldn't do well to give up the one advantage she knew she had. Assuming she landed successfully she would once more take up a balanced stance, hands raised in front of her in loose fists.

"You should be careful what you wish for."

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac buzzed with adrenaline, his two previous blows leaving his opponent a tad shaken. Your average person would've been sent reeling, especially after a kick like the one Keira just received. But, of course, Isaac was dealing with a trained Jedi knight. Isaac never really trusted force users, and while he was unsure of the extent of Keira's powers, he was always wary of their cheating ways. But it seemed his opponent had at least maintained her end of the pre-match promise to withhold the use of the force.

As his opponent regained her composure, Isaac settled in to his relaxed defensive posture. She moved slowly towards him, like a tiger stalking prey. And then, with exceptional quickness, exploded into a leaping kick. Isaac could do little but stare in wonder as the sole of a foot burried itself into his abdomen. Stumbling back, he clutched his stomach and winced in pain.

"Not.. bad" he wheezed. He slowly picked himself up, though he stayed bent at the waist, milking the injury. Then, with his head low, he ran and threw himself at Keira. His chin tucked to protect himself from any major damage, he grabbed Keira at the collar with both hands. His height, weight, and reach advantage would be of utmost effect in such a close range. Sticking his right foot behind her left, Isaac spun his body and began a hard body toss in an attempt to plant Keira square on her back.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

There was little to do that would allow her to avoid such an attack other than shift with the momentum, letting herself move as naturally as possible when it came to being knocked off her feet. Despite all of these precautions the landing wasn't gentle by any means, and served to stun her for a few long minutes, not to mention that it thoroughly winded her as well. That's going to feel great. A grimace flashed briefly across her face, but she didn't waste any time in rolling and shooting out a sweep kick mean to unbalance him in turn.

Regardless of whether the attack landed she continued that roll to regain her footing, pain thrumming through her back as she straightened. Maybe that would inhibit her a bit more than she'd imagined, but she wouldn't let him see that. It was something he'd have to work a bit more for. "Not bad yourself." This was the type of banter she didn't mind exchanging, the friendly sort that was almost conversational. It wasn't quite as down and dirty as what she was used to when it came to trash talking, but she couldn't say she minded it.

This time she didn't return with a more offensive attack, waiting to see how he would react to that one first. Her next move depended entirely on whether he would stay down or immediately counter with something else intended to put them on an equal playing field once more. In contrast to her previous bouts that resembled nothing more than your average, everyday street fight, this one was more equally balanced on both sides, something that made things easier to contend with but also made gaining an ultimate upper hand difficult.

Average she wasn't, as her reflexes demonstrated. Then again, neither was he, or he wouldn't be in the arena with her right then.

[member="Isaac Ideus"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac threw Keira down to the floor, her body smacking off the ground with a thud. As she attempted to roll away, Isaac planted his foot firmly, aiming to kick his downed opponent in the ribs again. A clever leg swipe caught Isaac unawares, and the resulting momentary loss of balance allowed Keira to scramble to her feet. She certainly had the never-say-die attitude of a Corellian-- a characteristic Isaac would certainly recognize.

Isaac caught his breath, cracked his knuckles, and held his fists up. It was time to put his shockboxing training to good use. Body kicks and hip tosses drained energy, but punches to the head won fights. Not even a Jedi can tolerate their brain bouncing off the inside of their skull. Isaac crept forward in guarded posture until Keira was just in reach. He then lunged forward and unleashed a quick flurry of punches, the first two aimed at his opponent's already tender ribs and the second two aimed at her temples. Isaac planned that the combination of gut wrenching body shots and his opponent's tendency to duck high punches would leave Keira's head teed up for a fight-finishing uppercut.

[member="Keira Ticon"]