Leverage, position, advantage…

[Darth Timoris]

Melori and the Sith Lord continued to circle each other. She was surprised he wasn’t attacking. Part of her wanted him to – she was weary and was running out of energy to press attacks of her own. She’d been running since she’d been up and about – but six years in a coma had atrophied her muscles and she wasn’t quite back to full strength.

And then he did something most unexpected. So unexpected it almost caught her completely flat-footed. She saw him grab the hilt in both hands, which appeared to be his first mistake and then he launched himself in the air – clearly intending to land behind her and attacking from that vantage point. Her first thought was that this was a master-stroke that she’d overlooked but her instincts told her it was a mistake and she reacted accordingly. Whilst his body was taking its time in moving over her, it was relatively simple for her to dip her shoulder, switch the blade to her off-hand and as he was on his downward trajectory perform a simple shiak at his unguarded chest. He’d performed a complicated and slow manoeuvre whilst unprotected, she’d simply aimed and extended an arm at precisely the correct moment.

As her blade came back from the jab, she used her footwork to step back, so by the time he’d landed, she’d be out of range of his now reduced reach, due to two hands being on the hilt.

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Darth Veles]

Avreet had to admit, the woman had exploited his mistake to great effect. Which was a good thing, as such was the purpose of the move, to make her see the obviously foolish move and force her to react to it accordingly. She did, hitting him in the unprotected back before he even landed, tearing through his Sith apparel and grazing his sensitive skin harshly. After his feet finally touched the ground, the Mon Cal flinched, feeling the burning sensation in the place he could not see, but no sound of discomfort left his mouth. Pain was his ally, and he used it to empower himself with the Dark Side as his connection to it grew stronger. Swiftly turning around, the blade held by his hand pointed towards the floor, Avreet stood motionless, calmly watching the Acolyte.

“That was an excellent move, Acolyte Rae,” Veles praised the blonde’s quick thinking, “Now you see how terrible jumping in lightsaber duel is. It leaves you almost completely defenceless while you’re mid-air, allowing your opponent to use a Force-based attack against you, just as well as a lightsaber. Please, unless you’re retreating, try to avoid jumping and performing unnecessary acrobatics. Which reminds me, practitioners of the fourth form are fairly easy to defeat once they’re in the air. Once they take off… do not let them land on their terms.” The amphibious Sith Lord commented, stroking the long whiskers under his chin, thinking of what to show her next, then a mysterious smile appeared.

“Speaking of lightsaber forms, it is said the fifth form of lightsaber combat is effective against Makashi. That may be true, unless…,” the smile vanished as Avreet continued his blank stare at the Acolyte, “Unless your opponent uses reversed grip. That leaves their body completely unprotected. Combine that mistake with Makashi’s superior reach and you get a dead practitioner of Form V, slain by a Makashi user.” Ah, good old reversed grip. Good for showing off, worse at actually being practical in any way.

“Attack,” Darth Veles ordered, raising his blade to aim at the woman’s body while confidently marching towards her in long strides that carried him closer.

[member="Melori Raaf"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

There was a moment of elation followed by a full couple of seconds of fear. Melori was delighted she’d managed to hit the Sith Lord but as he landed and she saw his blade pointed towards the floor, his form motionless, she wondered what his calm exterior was planning by way of a punishment.

So she was genuinely surprised to hear his praise - and it felt good. It felt as though she’d earned it. And she immediately took in his advice about exponents of the fourth Form and those that use acrobatics in general.

She also noted his warning about the fifth Form and wondered what options she might have if she faced such an opponent. Although there was a crumb of comfort in the reverse grip’s weakness - something she may be able to exploit.

And then the spar was back on again and he was striding towards her. Her first reaction was to move backwards, to maintain the distance between them - to delay an attack until it could be on her terms. She kept her arm bent, to mask her true reach and slowed her retreat, gauging when he’d be almost in range. At that very moment she simultaneously used Force Pull on the Mon Cal’s body whilst she thrust out with her blade by simply extending her arm and jabbing at the Sith Lord’s saber wrist.

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Darth Veles]

A silent chase followed, a hunt the Sith Lord was inevitably going to win as his elegant strides forward closed the distance faster than the Acolyte’s paces back as she tried to do the opposite, gain space between them. The situation looked fairly ordinarily, a typical duel between two Makashi users with one on the offence and the other waiting for the right moment to strike, an ordinary tactic employed by the practitioners of the most elegant of all forms. Knowing of the strike coming to him sooner or later, most likely a swift lunge forward, something of the sorts, Darth Veles remained ready to address the attack accordingly. Although his footwork did not reveal much, the Mon Cal Sith Lord was prepared to swiftly dodge or take a step back. Years of experience and training allowed him to pull it off, if needed.

The Force pull that threatened to topple him forward worked fairly well as a distraction; Acolyte Raaf learned quickly and did not hesitate to use knowledge to her advantage. This attack in particular would have undoubtedly worked on the majority of Acolytes, though it faced some difficulty serving its purpose when used on a Sith Lord who quickly regained his footing and balance, preventing a disaster. As his amber eyes bore into the woman’s skull, locking their gazes, the Mon Cal twirled the blade around in his wrist, moving his hand back to make Melori’s blade meet the crimson plasma of his own. The tip of her weapon was mere millimetres away from touching the amphibian’s curved hilt, yet he had managed to save his webbed hand.

“Try to use telekinesis specifically on legs,” the Sith Lord offered another advice, “If you focus on pulling only one leg of your opponent, you have a higher chance of catching them off guard. Your Force push or pull will also be slightly stronger if focused on one point.”

As a demonstration, his empty hand made a barely noticeable motion as if grabbing something and yanking it backwards; the telekinetic grasp around Melori’s left leg suddenly pulled the young woman’s limp forward, enough to devastate her footwork and send her balance to the Void. No additional attack followed; Avreet swiftly took a step back, withdrawing his blade, and watched how the Acolyte dealt with the situation.

[member="Melori Raaf"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori was finding the hardest aspect of the duel to be patience. All she had read of Darth Maul had indicated it was one of his failings initially and as much as she didn’t want to admit to faults, she wasn’t stupid. And against a more experienced opponent, she was finding her desire to end it swiftly a real challenge.

As the Sith Lord advanced on her, his superior footwork and longer stride were in his favour, but she’d committed to the attack. Her Force Pull had some success but insufficient to get past his saber as he was able to stop her attack with millimetres to spare.

His advice was sage and she nodded her understanding. Next time she’d focus the Pull on his saber hand only, or just the standing leg. As she thought, she was aware his lesson was not simply verbal.

Her weakened leg suddenly moved forward without any input from her own mind and she stumbled awkwardly – aware that the Sith Lord could have followed up the attack with relative ease. Of course, to simply acknowledge the fact might appear weak and she did not want to be vulnerable for any longer than she had to, so as she regained her footing, she Force Pushed his saber hand, to limit the possibility of him striking her before she was able to regain her balance and composure.

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Darth Veles]

The amphibious Sith surprisingly did nothing to prevent the Acolyte from recovering after the unfortunate stumble brought upon her by his telekinetic tug. Standing still, the Mon Cal spied on Melori as she stood firmly again, but not before sending a Force push of her own, one that felt almost as if something had wrapped around his left arm and violently yanked it back, impairing the Sith Lord’s posture for a second before his blade was trained at the Acolyte’s torso again. As both of them recovered, Veles started to circle around the woman again, his steps patient and purposeful, the lightsaber always pointing in the woman’s direction like a spear.

Darth Veles appeared to be doing the exact same move as before, his empty hand made a simple gesture in the air that indicated him manipulating the Acolyte’s body with telekinesis in some way again. And yet, Melori felt nothing, no effect of being pushed, pulled, held still, thrown, nudged. Nothing. As she soon discovered though, it wasn’t her body being manipulated by the Sith Lord’s telekinesis, rather than one of the training lightsabers behind the young woman’s back, up until now silently resting on a desk along with many of its brothers that served the same purpose. The hilt flying towards the Acolyte’s back did not even ignite; the hissing sound would have undoubtedly revealed the trick, although the movement of the Sith Assassin’s right hand certainly gave a clue.

[member="Melori Raaf"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Slowly and surely Melori felt the Form was becoming more natural. This early in her training, and with so few other Abilities to work on, she vowed to spend hours each day sparring, practicing and even working through velocities. Her running would build up her stamina but she resolved to work on her balance, posture, flexibility and footwork. As un-Sith as it sounded she had one sure-fire answer. As a youngster she loved to dance and was fortunately graced with the physique to match. And one form of dance was guaranteed to build up her strength as well as the other aspects – ballet. Tomorrow she would purchase some new slippers and start to get into shape – until she could name a martial art under her belt, she would rely on her natural grace to progress her duelling.

As they circled, she saw his hand move again and braced herself for the Push or Pull that would no doubt follow – or rather she relaxed as she decided to flow with the attack rather than try to fight it – given his superior power with the Force. But nothing happened and she wondered if this was another feint, designed to distract her. But from what?

At that point a small niggle activated in her mind, like some sort of warning. But as she was a raw Acolyte, she could not truly discern the meaning of it – until a thump in her back revealed the cause of both the Mon Cal’s hand movement and that warning that the Force was no doubt sharing. He’d used her own trick back at her and she’d fallen for it. But the mistake wasn’t fatal and she could learn from it – and that was the whole point of the lesson after all.

She nodded an acknowledgement of the move, but showed no outward sign of the pain that would no doubt deliver a significant bruise. So she continued to circle, she had tried to use the few Abilities she had and instead was keen to see what the Sith Lord would use against her, to provoke ideas in her own duelling going forward – giving her techniques to practice and perfect.

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Darth Veles]

It was impossible for the Mon Cal’s amber orbs to see the hilt impacting the young woman’s back, but the unmistakable sound of a metal object hitting cloth and flesh signalled Avreet’s attack’s been successful, showing Melori she had to watch her back and be constantly aware of her surroundings. Had this not been a turned off lightsaber, the young blonde would have found herself impaled from behind, a solid meter of superheated plasma cutting through her body, bone, flesh, intestines, with ease. Deaths would have been instant or painfully slow; largely depending if the Sith Assassin managed to hit her heart or not. Of course, those who knew Avreet well also had an idea of the Sith Lord’s… ethical tendencies, meaning the Acolyte would have died swiftly and without feeling unnecessary pain. The fact he had inflicted the woman so much pain in the training clearly showed the amphibian had no intention of actually killing the Acolyte.

The Sith Lord’s eyes narrowed as he tried to think of what more he could teach the student who started to walk around him. A mischievous thought of further training crossed his mind and the Mon Cal remained standing, letting Melori get into his right side. The woman must have sensed something was amiss, but what? With his expression revealing nothing, the Mon Cal swivelled his head in the woman’s direction, waiting until she was close enough. Not facing him directly, slightly to his right, both combatants holding their weapons in their left hands. When the situation actually threatened Avreet with the possibility of Melori getting into his back, the Mon Cal launched himself forward, slipping past the woman’s extended hand holding the blade and grabbing her left wrist with his cybernetic hand. A friendly smile with a hint of an apology sent towards the blonde followed just a second before Veles kicked out with his right leg, going in for a sweeping move aimed towards the woman’s feet, intending to take the youngest of the Raafs down.

[member="Melori Raaf"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori was learning – she had the bruises to prove it. So as she circled and the Sith Lord slowed, she knew she was about to find out something new. Her brain searched for a clue – which Force power might he utilise?

And of course the lesson was that there was a lot more to a saber duel than the Force. The moment he grabbed her hand, she instinctively reached for the wrist of his saber hand to keep it at bay. Yes he was stronger than her, but the instinct was too strong to ignore – and in a real fight might give her a few seconds to recover. But no sooner had she done this than she felt her feet being swept from under her. She couldn’t escape his grip and so she did the only thing that came to mind.

She called on the Force and literally threw herself at the Mon Cal, aiming to head butt him. If successful, he might let go of her wrist and she could scrabble to safety. If not? Well she’d given it her best shot.

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Darth Veles]

The Acolyte did something entirely unexpected. Not as much as the act of grabbing his own hand holding the blade – that was essentially a good move that only mirrored his own – but rather the thing Melori did immediately after she no longer found the reassuring firmness of the floor under her feet. Then came the sudden move, the flick of colours as the blonde’s face neared his own and…! Their heads collided, the large domed Mon Calamari head against the smaller woman’s forehead. It did hurt, but did little to nothing to the Mon Cal; the cybernetic enhancements he had chosen for himself combined with the think Mon Calamari skull resulted in Melori hurting herself more than bringing any actual harm to her opponent.

The Sith Lord did not let go of his grasp, though he lifted the woman up after her little stunt, helping the fair-haired lady on her feet than once again supported the body.

“Are you alright, Acolyte Rae?” Veles asked with warm signs of concern audible in his voice, seeing the brutal blow as something that could easily rob her of her consciousness or reward her efforts with concussion. Lesson learned. Don't try to headbutt a Mon Cal.

[member="Melori Raaf"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori was pleased that she had done something that in her eyes was unexpected. What was less pleasing was the double-vision. She was also aware of a noise, the Sith Lord was speaking to her. She nodded and immediately regretted the decision – her head hurt in a way that said she needed to take it easy for a while.

She felt as if she was floating on air, but quickly realised that the Sith Lord was holding her up. “I’m…OK. Just a little light-headed. It seemed a good idea at the time. I should research the anatomy of various species before I try that move again. I suppose it would be wise against a Vahla, eh?”

But it was a simple lesson learned. Don't ever, ever try to head butt a Mon Cal!

[member="Darth Veles"] | [member="Darth Arcanix"]