In the Jungle...

[Bubák]

The seconds that followed seemed to be infinite and Alaki could not help but gulp when the lightsaber of her opponent did not extinguish, its characteristic hum getting closer. Too late she realized her bow was somewhat reminiscent of the position used to behead people, kneeling with the head on the ground, yet the Chiss could not stand up or do anything as the Sith Knight's boot kept her head down. At least it was not crushing her head by applying too much pressure against the skull, which would have been a very slow and painful way to die. This move merely displayed the woman's superiority and dominance over her defeated opponent, something many Sith liked to do in some way, most often by taking the lightsaber of their defeated oponent. Alaki made a mental note to get her lightsaber back, she needed it to become a true Sith, but right now her mind truly focused on the more pressing matter, even though she felt relief when the blonde woman spoke about sparing her life.

"I am Alaki, a Dark Jedi Padawan," the teenager answered, purposedly not calling herself a Sith Acolyte as she had no right to use that title, "I have defected the Jedi Order during the battle of Coruscant and joined the One Sith. My knowledge of the Sith is limited though, so I sought more knowledge by travelling to this planet to familiarize myself with the Dark Side and the pure-blooded Sith species to understand the new, right path better. I want to get stronger. Follow the path of the Sith and become one myself!" She spoke quickly, unsure if the one minute limit was meant seriously or not, her voice occasionally trembling in fear of the nearest future, as her Jedi past has been revealed to the woman.

Alaki did not know the blonde's opinion of the Dark Jedi serving among the true Sith. While the majority of the Sith did not care, the instructors and an occasional Sith purist here and there certainly did their best to constantly show she was worth less than other students, those who have never tasted the sterile Light of the Jedi Order. In a way, she understood them; the Jedi have done do the same with a Sith Acolyte joining their Order. Whether this woman belonged to the more welcoming group of the latter would very much determine her fate now, or so the fallen Padawan believed while she tried not to shake. Being almost hysterically afraid of death did not help as she waited for the older woman to decide her fate.

[member="Paega Anginous"]

 

[Paige Argous]

[member="Alaki"]

Paega calmly listened to the Chiss apprentice introduce herself. From what she heard, Alaki was a former Jedi padawan, who defected to join the Sith. After a moment or two of silence, the blonde knight retracted her foot from Alaki's face. "Get up." she ordered, crossing her arms and observing the Chiss girl. At that point the blonde deactivated her lightsaber, clipping the hilt to her belt. For now, Paega would hold onto Alaki's lightsaber as well. Alaki would need to earn it back.

"You must realize that a defector like you will need to train extra hard to prove yourself capable of becoming a Sith." she began. Paega herself did not entirely align herself with the One Sith, due to her past experience as a loyal member of the Sith Empire. Back then she had been so eager to prove herself, just like Alaki. Now, noting what had become of the Sith Empire, Paega was rather reluctant to put her full loyalty into another Sith faction. Still, the blonde was determined to train the Chiss, and give the girl the option of what she wanted to truly become. "Your real training will begin from today." Paega said.

"My name is Paega Anginous, a Sith Knight. I have seen great potential in you, and I will train you to be able to better utilize your abilities. I will be holding onto your lightsaber until you have earned it back." she informed the apprentice. "Your first lesson will be hand to hand combat."

"Now... defend yourself." With that, Paega attacked. She did not expect the apprentice to be able to adequately defend herself. Rather, she anticipated that the apprentice would get beat up. The apprentice must be exhausted after the recent brawl, after all. But getting beaten up would be part of the training process that Alaki would have to go through. The blonde knight launched a swift kick right at Alaki's face, followed by a set of quick punches aimed at the Chiss' stomach.

Experiencing pain was likely one of the most effective ways in which any apprentice could learn to get closer to the Dark Side.

 

[Bubák]

Once the pressure on her head disappeared, the young Chiss looked up at the blonde woman, unsure if she truly meant what she said. The teen's heart felt an incredible amount of relief though and she gladly followed the order to get up, her eyes following the lightsabers in the woman's possession, watching them turn off and noting that her old Jedi lightsaber remained on the woman's belt. She had to get that back! When the Sith Knight pointed out a defector had to train harder to prove herself, Alaki silently nodded, knowing the truth in these words, having been told the very same thing by the instructors back at the Sith academy. Unlike Sith Acolytes, the fallen Padawan had to learn the Sith way of life, therefore she had to work harder to purge the Jedi ideology out of her mind and replace it with the correct one.

Despite doing her best to avoid eye contact with the Sith Knight to avoid provoking the woman and possibly making it appear as if she wished to challenge her, Alaki glanced at the woman's face for a second when the older Sith spoke of training. The teenager had definitely not expected this. At first she though she was going to die, now she was about to receive training, become stronger? Alaki would have been more eager to grasp this opportunity if not for her body in dire need of rest and energy. Tired after the fight against the Knight, wasting much of her stamina on using the Force to enhance her body with greater speed, the blue skinned girl still could not pass this chance, she had to push past her limits and earn the power the Sith offered.

After the introduction and some explanation why the woman wished to train her, just as an information about the girl's lightsaber that would remain in Paega's possession for now, Alaki prepared herself for the training, quickly remembering her days with the Jedi. Their way of unarmed fighting focused on non-lethal methods of eliminating the threat, and Alaki definitely intended to use some of that knowledge to defend herself against the Sith Knight. Naturally, this would only delay the inevitable, but better than being defeated immediately.

With the strength that remained in her body, the teen swiftly made one step back and raised her hands in defence to block the kick, with more or less success. While stopping it from hitting her head, the impact still pushed her back and for a second she thought it had shattered her arms. The result was not that drastic, but it still hurt her and severely affected her ability to defend herself from the fast punches coming towards her stomach. More cries and gasps left her mouth when the hit connected with both her arms and torso, spreading the pain through more of her body.

The Jedi way of defending herself would not have allowed her to last much longer, definitely not another set of attacks. The Chiss therefore decided to fight back, attacking the weakest spot she could think of; the Sith Knight's legs. Alaki wished to take away the woman's balance, break her footwork and thus end the volley of attacks to give herself some breathing room. The teenager raised her hands further up to protect her head as she crouched, one hand moving down to touch the ground and support her stability while the Chiss' right leg kicked out in a sweeping motion, seeking to knock the Knigth's legs from under her and either make her fall, or force her to defend herself in some way.

[member="Paega Anginous"]

 

[Paige Argous]

[member="Alaki"]

The blonde Sith merely smirked as she heard the Chiss let out painful cries as her attacks landed on her. "Pain..." she spoke as her punch landed right on the girl's stomach. "It will only make you more powerful. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, apprentice." she commented, merely summing up the lessons that Sith apprentices were taught all the time.

It surprised Paega that Alaki had strength or will remaining to fight back, and it was admirable. With one sweeping motion, the Sith Knight felt her legs fail beneath her because of the apprentice's counter-attack, successful in preventing her from landing any more blows against the girl. It would be a mistake for Alaki, however, to think she had stopped any more attacks.

The blonde woman controlled her fall somewhat, and instead of outright falling down onto the ground, rolled forward quickly as she collapsed. Rolling on the ground somewhat absorbed the impact she otherwise might have felt because of Alaki's sweeping kick.

Paega saw an opportunity for another attack, however. After one quick forward roll, she remained for a split second in a crouched stance, before whirling around and reaching out to grab Alaki's outsretched leg. If successful in grabbing the tired apprentice's leg, Paega would waste no time to throw the girl away using her grip on her leg. The knight aimed to send the Chiss apprentice flying sideways into a nearby tree liked a ragged doll. Training was most effective when apprentice learned from participating in practice combat after all.

 

[Bubák]

The attack had successfully sent the blonde Sith down, yet before the young Chiss had any chance of following with another strike meant to ensure the Knight was not going to get up, the older woman rolled on the grassy ground, a very unexpected move, and ruined Alaki's plan. Before she had time to adjust her strategy and come up with another move, starting with retracting her leg, the teenager saw and felt the Knight's hands taking hold of her ankle and calf, a grip as firm as the one Alaki had felt around her neck earlier. This posed a serious danger to the Chiss, greatly restraining her and giving the blonde an advantage. Many thoughts raced through the fallen Padawan's mind, trying to think of a way of escaping [member="Paega Anginous"]' hold. Yet, before having any chance of presenting a counter move, the Chiss found herself flying, much to her surprise.

"Aah!" yelped the teenager in surprise after being subjected to the woman's great strength, tossed away like a piece of meat. It all happened so fast the blue skinned teen did not have time to react adequately and crashed into the tree, fully taking the hit without her hands doing anything to protect her. "Ugh!" the Chiss moaned when her body impacted the solid wood and felt something inside torso shift, along with plenty of pain. Not the pain she could draw power from; this was a crippling pain, one that had the ability to end fights.

The fall down only worsened the pain, making it unbearable. Screaming when a fresh wave of agony washed over her entire being, Alaki moved her hands and carefully touched her left side, feeling the broken rib or two shift underneath her fingers. It by no means hurt like Force lightning - that was the worst pain Alaki's had the displeasure to experience - but the pain of the Dark Side ravaging her body was not constant like this. One attempt at standing up only confirmed the blue skinned girl's suspicions as the pain paralyzed her body the moment she tried to get up. The glowing red eyes showed tears as the teenager looked at the blonde Knight. The fallen Padawan's life now lied in the Sith Knight's hands, as Alaki seriously doubted she would be able to get herself out of the jungle in this state.

 

[Paige Argous]

[member="Alaki"]

The blonde knight merely observed the Chiss girl writhe in agony, after she successfully sent the apprentice flying to hit a tree. Something made Paega wonder if she had broken any bones. The girl's scream of pain confirmed her suspicion. Paega walked forward , and bent down to observe Alaki's condition. Placing her hand on the girl's side, the woman could feel that something was off, and that it was possible for her to have broken one of Alaki's ribs. She let out a frustrated sigh, gently placing her hand where she felt the fracture.

Paega felt more or less guilty that she had injured Alaki in such way. But getting constantly hit by the apprentice with a rock had irritated her severly. But that didn't matter now, the knight wanted to see to it that the Chiss girl healed from her injury. "Ouch..." she commented, her voice now considerably softer. "Hold on for a second." With that, Paega took out a bacta patch from out of her robe, then gently applied it onto the apprentice's fractured spot to ease the pain for the time being.

"Look, I'm sorry if I've been rough to you today." Paega began awkwardly, noticing that there were tears in the girl's eyes, possibly from the pain. "We are going to camp out here in the jungle for a few days while you heal, and maybe I'll teach you a thing or two that doesn't involve combat." With that, the blonde sat herself down next to where Alaki was lying down, then reached slowly forward to brush off the apprentice's tears. "You okay with that?" she inquired gently.

Possibly Alaki would find Paega's sudden change of attitude to be rather abrupt. But Paega had realized, as she gazed at the Chiss apprentice before her, that Alaki was not her usual Sith apprentice. The girl reminded her a lot of herself back when she was young, and that made Paega want Alaki to be successful.

 

[Bubák]

Watching the blonde approach, Alaki's fearful gaze revealed the girl's thoughts of all things that might follow this not so successful hand-to-hand training. After failing this much, she certainly deserved to be punished by Sith standards, and the Chiss only hoped it would be quick and not too painful. Perhaps she was not meant to be a Sith after all, stay in the group of students who never became true Sith simply because they died during the training. The failures, the weaklings unworthy of wielding the power of the Dark Side!

Hissing in both frustration and pain, the fallen Padawan tried to find the strength to continue fighting, only to finally come to a realization it was over. Whereas the situation might have looked bad before several times, her body functioned properly and that allowed her will and determination to fuel the Chiss' veins with adrenaline. Not anymore. The broken rib turned the student into an immobile bag of meat for animals to eat. A terrible, terrible way to die.

When the Sith Knight's hand touched the girl's side, the teenager winced, her red eyes continuing to observe the older woman. Fear was replaced with disbelief as Alaki's opponent took out one of the modern bacta patches from underneath her apparel and applied it onto the Chiss' blue skinned body, directly at the source of pain. The cool bacta immediately brought a bit of relief, even before the chemical substance started taking away the pain and greatly supporting the body's regenerative abilities.

Completely shocked, the Chiss did not know what to think. Wasn't this an act of mercy? Why would a true Sith ever do that? Healing one's opponent reminded the teenager of Jedi Healers, and it disgusted her to think a Sith acted as a Jedi. On the other hand, the Sith Knight had just saved her life and the Chiss realized it all too well... Perhaps this was not mercy, but pure pragmatism. Maybe this [member="Paega Anginous"] saw leaving a potential Sith apprentice to die in this miserable place as a waste of a trained Force user? While this explanation satisfied the Chiss, the Knight's words and actions once again brought confusion to her mind. Namely the apologizing and wiping away the girl's tears, these things shattered Alaki's theory.

"Y... Yes..., Yes, of, of course!" the girl struggled to get those words out, so confused she did not even know what to say at first. Her left hand went towards the injury and gently touched the bacta patch. Small remnants of the pain remained still, so small Alaki almost believed she might make it out of the jungle on her own. Of course, she fully realized moving would be much more painful than lying on the ground, therefore she chose to forego all plans where she realied on herself.

Breathing heavily, the Chiss briefly shut her eyes closed, using this opportunity as an excellent way of learning how to embrace the pain and draw power from it, as a Sith should do. With no previous training though, the girl could not focus properly. The Jedi way of meditating, closing herself away from all emotions and feelings left her with no pain to draw power from. When she attempted to concentrate on the pain radiating from the wounded side, she found it too distracting to draw energy from the Dark Side. The glowing red orbs opened again, glancing at the white bacta patch contrasting with the blue skin around.

"Why?" the blue skinned girl asked softly, raising her gaze from the patch and finding the woman's eyes, "How does this fit in the way of the Sith? Showing no mercy makes the Dark Side stronger, no? It makes true Sith like you stronger." The tone of her voice soon turned from confused to apologetic. "Please, do not think I am not grateful! I am! I just don't understand..."