Legacies

[Pinda Solthar]

She noticed him advancing towards her more slowly this time, in the beginning it seemed as if he had intentions of dominating the duel; true thoughts of a form V user, but now he had reverted. Perhaps he was waiting it out, waiting for Shmi to press the attack so that he could in turn counter and then press his. However, it was her intention this time to press the attack. It was time the oace was picked up and she really wanted to see her apprentice shine; this was his area after all.

She had initially wanted to refrain from using Form Seven, as she simply felt Des wouldn't be ready, but she reconsidered when she saw him fairing well so far. Perhaps he would be able to deal with it, seeing as she wouldn't go all out anyway; perhaps he would be able to handle the ferocity.

She slowly began to maneuver her body into a stance. Bending down slowly and raising her blade hand in a one handed grip. It rose to a level above her head and was held there, pointing slightly to the side. With that she allowed the force to flow steadily through her. Looking at her student she launched herself towards him with the power of the Force enhancing her movements. When she closed in her attacks would move at a great speed than what would be assumed. She jumped into the air, only a few feet from the ground, and she performed a twist. As she came out of it she cam down with her blade in a diagonal arc, and once her blade met his, and her feet met the ground she disconnected her blade from his. She didn't intend to keep their blades locked, it was suppose to be a ferocious and quick attack to open her sequence. Stepping forward with her back foot she followed through with her front and twisted her body with her blade hand coming behind her back. She followed this through with a behind the back parry.

However she didn't want to throw too much his way, and she wondered how he would fair.

[member="Des Kovak"]

 

[Des Kovak]

[member="Shmi Labooda"]

As he stepped forward, Des stopped in his tracks when he noticed a definite change in the way his Master came over. It wasn't only her stance or posture, she suddenly seemed more ferocious, readier than ever. The Padawan might have called it her 'aura' if he had believed in such things, but for now the Force was still a strange and unbelievable thing to him. It was enough to give Des pause in his confidence, and he wavered, suddenly rooted in place as Master Labooda switched her styles to come at him aggressively.

It wasn't that the change of pace took Des by surprise. The Jedi Master's change in approach had been enough to hint at Des the likeliness of an impending attack. It was that the young, impetuous Padawan was simply not ready for it. He had difficulty following the acrobatic movements of his Master, and even though he managed to meet her first strike with his borrowed lightsaber, his footing, stance and grip were not ready for the jarring impact of the strike. Even as he stumbled, Des had to desperately bring his lightsaber around for a second block, even more wrong footed. Normally, Des would have battered any incoming attack aside like a club, often sending his would-be attackers flailing backward, but this time it was him that was flailing as Shmi Labooda's attack completely overpowered him.

As the Jedi seemed to slightly slow down in her relentless charge, Des took the opportunity to recover as best he could and launch a clumsy, off balanced counter swing that was easily deflected by her parry. Still, the brief lull in the tide of the Master's charge bought Des the precious seconds he needed, and he should be able to meet her next attack better, or at least less disastrously.

 

[Pinda Solthar]

There was a brief pause in their combat, given each a participant a moment to breath. In reality, Labooda didn't want to take a breather. In secret she lived for this type of hype. However, given that this wasn't full out combat she had control of her urges. Though much to her surprise her padawan faired well, better than she expected. She slowly raised an eyebrow, and then she moved the hum of her lightsaber. She moved forward with speed, and with a tight grip around her lightsaber she began a series of attacks.

With every step she launched a diagonal attack. When her right foot came forward, her diagonal attack came from the right and down to his left and it would be vice versa when her left food came forward. She had no hope of releasing control to her apprentice, she was trying to overwhelm him.

[member="Des Kovak"]

 

[Des Kovak]

[member="Shmi Labooda"]

By now, Des was breathing heavily, struggling with the continued exertion of single combat. He no longer had the energy to speak, needing every ounce of his strength just to stay upright and concentrated on his would-be attacker. He was grateful for his Master's pause, making good use of it to recover some of his spent stamina.

But when she came at him again, it was quickly clear that whatever he had recovered was not nearly enough. He managed to meet her first strike well enough, but for her second, he was already too slow and sluggish, the previous attacks having drained his speed, reaction and strength. Forced to throw himself sideways in order to avoid the swing, he found himself entirely off balanced and fell to his side, hitting the ground hard. He no longer had the energy to stop his fall or scramble back up.

"Stop!" he wheezed between strained breath. "Stop. I... I give." It was hard for the prideful Padawan to admit defeat, harder perhaps than anything he'd ever done, but the hopelessness of the situation glared right into his face like the summer sun. He couldn't stare into it anymore. Breathing heavily, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling as the lightsaber in his hand extinguished its blade with a hiss.

 

[Pinda Solthar]

OOC: Sorry, Job had me working crazy hours for a couple of weeks.

She witnessed her apprentic fall to the ground before her, and she halted her assault. She walked over and watched him wheeze, straining for air. As much as she wanted to console him, she couldn't. It was these types of moments where she needed to push, this was the exhaustion she spoke about before their sparring session. She stared at him for a second, with a sterness in her eyes that blazed just as hot as her passion.

She spoke, short and powerful, "Get Up..." she said directly to him.

He had to tap into the aforce for energy. She was trying to instill in him the way of the Matukai so that he could use that to realize his hidden Force potential. She took a beat before her next phrase.

"Get...up...call on the Force for energy, now is the time padawan." she said turning her head slightly to th side but maintaing her gaze.

[member="Des Kovak"]

 

[Des Kovak]

[member="Shmi Labooda"]

Des had never had a gentle upbringing. He'd always learned to advance himself through adversity. This, he understood. This, he had expected. He didn't expect compassion, or consolation, or any kind of help. He'd never gotten any before, so why should now be any different? He stared up at the Jedi standing over him, defiance in his eyes. I'll show you, he resolved in thought. I'll show all of you.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed back against the ground beneath him. He tried to force his legs and arms into movement, straining every fiber of his being to move. Move, he told himself. Move, you sack of poodoo. Move! With a grunt of effort, he managed to scramble up. There was a wellspring of energy from somewhere, somewhere hidden deep in his own being. It didn't quite revitalize him, and he wouldn't exactly be jumping around anytime soon, but at least he was standing again. His gait was swaying, his stance staggering, and his breath still came in ragged gasps, but he stared at his Master with that defiant glint in his eyes, the one that said 'you are not better than me', a message so many Jedi seemed to miss.

He turned and stooped to reach for his borrowed lightsaber, but to his surprise the weapon twitched where it lay to the approach of his hand. Des stopped stopping, straightening himself up again, and looked to his hand, then the lightsaber, then his hand again. No onject had ever moved voluntarily to his approach before, and he had only just felt some new kind of energy that had helped him stand... No harm in trying, the Korun Padawan decided, and held out his hand expectantly, trying to will the weapon into movement. To Des' further surprise, the lightsaber did not only move, it practically leapt up off the ground, cartwheeling in the air to settle in his palm the way he would have held it if he'd picked it up. Astonished, he turned to Master Labooda again, and he found his footing had grown more stable now as well, with his mounting confidence. He was still out of breath, but he felt good, ready for anything, and he grinned his certainty at the Jedi who had driven him that far, without words.

 

[Pinda Solthar]

She grinned, she was proud in this moment. She felt joy, not necessarily for her, but for her apprentice. It was a Masters pleasure to see their student make a breakthrough, and this kid....this one was going to be one of the greats; she was honored. However the battle wasn't over, and she didn't want to display her excitement for him so openly for so long as she didn't want either of them to get comfortable. She slowly brought up her saber hand, she held out the hilt of her weapon so that the blade was pointing directly at her student.

Her eyes spouted flames, and she could sense the passion in her student as well. In her mind she spoke, "Thank you Des, for allowing me to hold the title of your Master. I see so much for you."

She slowly raised her weapon, and it came up towards the top of her head. She gripped it with both hands, and she stepped off her back foot and lashed out with a vertical attack that came from above and flung downward with force. She kept at it, step after step she attacked from a different angle, trying to keep him off balance. After her initial attack, she spun around and brought her emerald blade around in a horizontal attack towards his abdomen.

She really wanted him to push her back, to finally use the Force as apart of his sequences.

[member="Des Kovak"]

 

[Des Kovak]

[member="Shmi Labooda"]

Even now, Master Labooda seemed to be intent on keeping the duel going. She really wanted to oush him over some kind of edge, it seemed. Relentlessly. When she spoke to him in that strange, otherwordly way that still made him flinch, Des only shook his head. Why should she thank him, he thought, if she'd been the only one even willing to recognize him? The Korun Padawan was certain she was far too generous, as he knew full well he was not picking up many of the classes very well. He'd never received any praise but from her, and encouragement was few and far between.

His negative thoughts were soon interrupted by the quick sequence of attacks launched by his Master, and Des had to rush to parry the first set of attacks, giving ground and stepping back with each strike. After his 'recovery', for lack of a better term, Des found that his movements were faster again, and more crisp. It wasn't quite the overpowering strength he had displayed at the very start of the duel, but it wasn't the pathetic, exhausted failing it had been at the end either. He had to strain his muscles to move, but he managed well enough.

When Shmi Labooda's follow through had him cornered, with no time to intercept the attack in time, Des swung his lightsaber around desperately. From the apex of its swing, unbidden by the Padawan, a small pressure wave erupted through the Force, in the vague direction of Master Labooda and her arm with her own lightsaber. It wasn't very large and would certainly not enough to push her back, but perhaps it was enough to make her stumble a little, unbalance her, or perhaps knock aside her lightsaber to buy Des enough time.

 

[Pinda Solthar]

She examined that his body was picking up, he didn't seem exhausted. His spirits were up and his focus sharper. She hid her smirk underneath a face that appeared to others as if she was focused on one thing only, her swordplay. She came around with her follow through and her apprentice was seemingly on the same page as he noticed her attack before hand. She assumed he would intercept if he was quick enough, but he gave her what she was hoping for.

His manipulation of the Force was quick, successful, and enough. His timing was on oar with her speed and it was was placed. As she came around she felt the resistance of the area around her blade hand. The small wave was enough to force her to stumble and cause her hilt to fall from her grasp. She caught herself with her right foot and stood back up straight. The only thing she could do was watch her weapon roll across the floor and come to a stop, and then she looked back up to her padawan.

She raised her left eyebrow, and she displayed her smirk. She looked on towards her apprentice...she had been out manuvered.

[member="Des Kovak"]

 

[Des Kovak]

[member="Shmi Labooda"]

Confidently stepping forward, Des raised his lightsaber to point it at his Master in an unspoken 'threat', and stopped there. Seeing her reaction, he broke into a cautious grin as well, and deactivated his lightsaber. He didn't know how much longer he could have held out, but it didn't matter. He had used the Force, in however small a way, it had been successful, and he knew it. In his bones, a sort of understanding of how it worked had settled, as though the first time was the hardest, and after that is was simply a matter of repetition. Des suspected this wasn't entirely true, but certainly some kind of threshold had been crossed.

"Thank you, Master," he said, clearly pleased with the day's developments. It was, perhaps, the first time he'd thanked someone genuinely since he'd come to this Temple, this Academy, or whatever the Jedi instructors called this place that Des had considered forsaken for such a long while. Forsaken no more, and a failure no more, Des hoped sincerely.

 

[Pinda Solthar]

OOC: Apologies for my absence, LOA is over but my posting will be focused more on the weekends due to school starting back up.

She reached over and patted her apprentice in the shoulder. She pushed him enough for the day, and a goal had been attained, she was proud and he deserved rest, and time to reflect upon everything before they continued their training. "Go Padawan, todays training session is over. Be ready our next session will be for you to apply all you have learned up to this point on the field." she said smiling, and walking off ahead.



[member="Des Kovak"]