Meeting the Dragon (Josh/Kat)

[Kat Decoria]

"Where were these trained fighters when my home burned? Where were they when the CIS and the Mandalorians fought and brought more destruction to Eshan? My people died, my family died. I need to be out there to protect MY people! What happens when the Mandalorians return? Because they always return, look at Umbara and the people who died there. If not the Mandalorians, what happens when the Sith Empire turn their gaze to Eshan? Will you fight for them? I need to be there, but not just there. Other planets are suffering the same way that Eshan had, and we sit here and act as though we protect them. People are still dying, innocent people and no one here cares about them. No one is looking to prevent it by taking the fight to our enemy!" Kat inhaled deeply, she felt frustrated with the Jedi that they didn't stop the Mandalorians, that the Order was just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs waiting to be attacked. "We aren't protecting anyone by sitting around here. I can learn to fight on the field, practical experience that you seem to be unwilling to teach!"

"The Sith are already winning." Kat stated coldly. "By the time you deem me ready, there could be nothing of my people but burnt corpses."

Shaking her head, "anger is an emotion, pain is one, frustration is one. You say one thing but then contradict yourself in the sentence. How can I use my emotions when you want to restrict them. How can I remain calm when these emotions are natural?" Kat growled as she used her frustration to blast the boxes with the Force. "I can make sure they never overwhelm me, that's easy but they will always be there. Sure that you feel anger, frustration and pain. Everyone does. But not everyone lets it rule them like the Sith want." Inhaling deeply, she pulled the boxes back in a calmer manner.

Looking at him, "what now?"

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Without that training, they wouldn't have made a difference on Eshan" He pointed out quickly. "All there would be, is more casualties. More blood. More death. What happened on Eshan was horrible, and I wish that there was more that could have been done. All I can ask you to do is steady yourself... And prepare to be the person who makes sure this doesn't happen somewhere else. But I want you to understand that without the proper training, Kat... You will never be that person. That is why I wish to teach you. It may take time, but... It is better to train to fight for something than to end up doing nothing. You're better a trained warrior later than a corpse tomorrow.

And when you are trained to the point that you can survive out there without hurting yourself and others... Then the practical training begins on the field. That is where you gain your experience. On the field, as you wish it. When I am confident that you can go out there and do the job right... I will send you out. And it will come sooner than you think."

He ignored the part about them sitting around, as Kat appeared to be unaware of their recent skirmishes with the Sith and the Mandalorians. Or just ignored them. Josh still wanted to punch Yasha in her ugly teeth for her troops detonating a civilian space station in Silver Space. And he hoped he would get the chance eventually. Josh was a warrior, that was who he was. And when the fight begins... He would be there. But he understood as well that if they were to take the offensive... They should do so when they are ready. When they can win.

"There is a difference between using your emotions... And using them right. Using the right ones, at the right time, at the right rate, with the right moderation" He continued calmly, addressing each of her remarks without growing frustrated as she had seemed to be steadily doing.

When the question came of "what now" he smiled sadly. "There is nothing I can teach you if you are unwilling to learn. You doubt me. You act as though I know nothing and have nothing to offer to you. You treat how I approach battle and approach training as incompetent."

He motioned to her blade.

"So draw it. Come at me, and prove yourself right."

There was a lesson he intended to teach here, of course. But he also hoped to keep an open mind. Perhaps there were things he could learn from her ways... But he had decided to teach with a practical exercise instead of continued debate. She needed to, in his eyes, see what he meant through actions instead of just words.

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

Kat sniffed hard as she realised that Josh would not submit his point. It was annoying that she had to put up with someone so stubborn as a teacher, not admitting to herself that she was a stubborn student a point that could have made her annoying to him. Kat did know of the recent skirmishes with Mandalorians and the Sith, she had been sent to ensure that Star was still on their side and to assist in ensuring that Zeltrons felt safe during the attack on Umbara. However, it was not good enough, their people were suffering, their people were the ones dying. Fighting them when they invade your space is not being proactive in Kat's mind. She believed that the Mandalorians would only respect them when they started fighting back, taking the fight to them and beating them.

However, she remained quiet on this as she realised that Josh was unlikely to feel the same way. He seemed more of a pacifist than she was, Kat was ready for war, the Mandalorians were pushing them towards it and Kat was ready to push back now. Seemed that Josh was still adamant that she should use only the emotions he deemed were right, the ones that he believed helped and didn't hinder a person. It seemed wrong in her mind, Kat needed to be able to express all the feelings that she had when fighting otherwise what was the point in showing any emotion at all. When he suggested that they fight, Kat raised an eyebrow and picked up her Force Staff, twirling it in her hands.

"Fine." Kat spun her staff then sliced at Josh's stomach. Her movements were sharp and calculated. Her eyes scanned over Josh as she watched his reaction to her attack. A second one came to his head.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh watched calmly as she would approach with her Force Staff. His lightsaber subtly, slowly floated from his belt to his hand but he did not yet activate it. Deciding to put her theory to the test, he would wait while she came forward. His expression did not change, there was no shift in his emotions. But for her, she was swirling with them. Which meant with what little Echani training he did have... Well, she would have to find out. But as she swung at him, he would shift slightly with a hop onto one foot that narrowly avoided it. When she looked to him, he made a few popping noises with his mouth but did not react otherwise.

As Kat swung at his head, Josh would hop to the side this time, landing on his other foot this time before bringing his second down with a light shimmy slide across the floor that brought him behind her. Despite how ridiculous the movements might seem to some, someone perceptive might notice he wasted no movement. He'd kept his focus, watched her movements both with his eyes and through his senses, and waited until the right moment to gain the advantage.

As he lowered his toes to stop his slide, he leaned in to whisper into her ear from behind, his arms behind his back.

"Beep."

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

He was playing with her. She was taking this duel seriously and he was openly mocking her. Making stupid noises and not even drawing a weapon. When he stood right behind her, she stamped on his foot, her robotic leg would crush most of the bones in his foot if it connected. She then decided that if he was going to mock her, she would go harder, strike him with everything she had. No point going easy on someone being annoying and unpleasant. Kat used the micro repulsors on her legs to have her jump higher, bouncing off the wall, she twirling her staff to strike at Josh.

From there, she would flip and spin, using her legs to move her faster than a normal person could. Kicks would fly at Josh, to his ribs, legs and head. Each one offering a devastating blow if connected. Her staff was moving at a normal speed, for an Echani as she tried using a variety of differing strikes and positions, focusing her staff on his arms and upper body. Her body moved with frustration, anger of being mocked and deep-seated pain that only experienced Echani would perceive.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh meanwhile, had begun humming to himself.

Kat was fast. Her emotions surged through her like a beacon, and her movements were swift and aggressive. Even without Echani training, her emotions were clear as day with the ferocity of which she swung compared to before, as her feelings and emotions began to quickly boil up. Even quicker than he had anticipated, to be honest. In this state, she truly was a fierce foe. But to describe her state as like a beacon certainly wasn't far off the mark... For while she struck with very fast, very lethal attacks...

Josh knew where she was at all times.

And how could he not? She projected herself so brazenly that she couldn't hide if she wanted to. He knew her position no matter where she went or how she moved. He knew she was going to attack before she even made the attack. How? There was no magic involved. There was no mind reading powers involved. He didn't somehow take over her mind and induce her anger, and then have full control of her to where he could dodge as he pleased.

No, he did have control. But not in a literal sense. All he did was keep calm. All he did was observe. The adrenaline surged through his body as he used the smallest amounts of movement possible, wasting no energy, wasting no movement. That adrenaline, the warrior in him, cried out to strike back. To go on the offensive and put her down. But he knew that it was not yet time. Instead, he continued to move, hopping from one foot to the next, waiting there, stood still when she used her robotic legs to leap to the wall and strike at him with some momentum behind her. He didn't appear bothered by the sheer ferocity or the absolute speed of her attacks. He didn't appear phased. He kept his own impulses in check and when she did come to him, he would spin his heel and face to the side before jumping backwards and out of the way. Even as her offense continued, he would continue to hop and skip just narrowly away, watching her closely while also using his senses to monitor their surroundings, in case she tried any tricks.

When he felt he had done enough to infuriate her though, he waited for the next attack to come... Anticipation coiled within him but he didn't show it. The right time would come.

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

It was her point to show Josh how Echani fought, displaying their emotions and allowing themselves to be read by a person if they could. Most fighters would see the anger or feel her emotions but they were there to help her keep the pace of her attacks. She could note the restraint and hesitation in Josh. Part of him wanted to fight back but he was holding it back, caging himself. She shook her head, "see, you hesitate. You hide how you feel and I bet there is shame because you were the one who lost control." Kat wasn't certain that she could see that but she felt confident it was there, it would explain a lot about Josh's approach to fighting and the Jedi way. "How can I trust you when you refuse to open up? To show your emotions like a person and not act in this old Jedi manner of holding everything in and only letting out some emotions. Known droids demonstrate more emotions than you, it isn't natural." Kat berated Josh.

She wasn't aiming to hit a nerve, just show him that his way of fighting, it didn't sit well with Kat. She couldn't feel comfortable around someone who denied themselves, hid their feelings and yet called themselves Echani. Kat breathed, her anger and frustration at Josh was still there, she also realised there was pity. He didn't how freeing it could be to release emotions, to talk with your body and not have to use words. He saw her as a beacon because she was full of emotions but he was like a void, it made it clear where his body was and the actions he would take because it was cold and calculated. There was thinking of a warrior, skill of one too but not the heart of a warrior. Twirling her staff around, she struck at his stomach in a hard jab then last minute revealed it to be a feint as she sent a kick to his kneecap.

"If this is you showing emotions, I pity your partner. Because you don't know how to open yourself, stop thinking that my emotions are evil and cause me to fall to the Dark Side. I am releasing them here, in a safe space so that they don't build up, so that I don't have a deep well of anger that could then turn me against my friends. I am opening myself to you, but you hear nothing but words." Kat snarled angrily as she spun her staff to strike at his arms.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He heard her words, but he did not respond to them. At least not yet. He only smiled, for they did not phase him. How many times had Sith tried to shake him? Tried to make him waiver, make him show a weakness or falter at a time that was convenient to him? Perhaps she was not attempting to do so as they were, but her words did not reach him the same way those of the Sith did not. But he did hear them. He did register them. And he would address them in time. He watched her movements, and while he did move a bit when she feinted, it wasn't enough for him to be caught off guard when the ruse was revealed and he was able to gingerly hop back once more when the attack commenced. He was tempted to open up, to strike with all he had... To show her what he could do. Her words prodded at his pride, but with his training there was a lesson he knew... And one that he hoped to teach her in this spar.

But as she spun her staff to strike, she wouldn't be able to complete the motion. Watching her carefully, keeping calm and focused... He picked his spot and reached his arm out, grasping her wrist - holding on with all of his might in a tight grip. That smile had disappeared instantly, the moment he did. And as it did, his lightsaber - turned to low power, would suddenly be activated in his left hand and slice at her chest at the exact moment that Josh yanked her back with every inch of strength he had.

And that was when it began.

Giving into that desire to fight, he unleashed a whirlwind of blows in quick succession, aiming for front, shoulder, waist, arms, anything that he could hit with blinding speed. Tapping into his passion for battle, tapping into that unwavering determination to keep going no matter what, his lightsaber danced and danced with no wasted movement, but his emotions were there, his emotions were flourishing. But he had done it with such a timing that it may very well be difficult to recover from the initial surprise attack.

He did not speak, at least not verbally. But in her head, she would be able to hear him through the Force.

"There is a time and place for everything."

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

His silence spoke more than words could, there was something that he was hiding. It might not be a time he slipped but there was something about why he wouldn't act like the warriors she knew did. His evasive tactic was effective, Kat knew it could be, her brothers often never used a weapon when she duelled them until it was right. However, that only meant she was prepared for when he switched. If she was a beacon, he was a sun due to the rapid chance in him. His stance shifted, his muscles in his arms clenched, she could see the surprise attack coming. A smirk played on her lips as this was what she wanted to see, to understand the man that was going to be her teacher.

She swung her body out of the way of the Lightsaber and then slipped his tight grip. Now it was her turn to be on the defensive, blocking the attacks best she could, some scraped her body as she tried to parry them. However, Josh had years of experience in combat over Kat, no matter how much she could rely on her Echani training, it wasn't perfected as Josh's training. From the fight, she saw the darkness, the hunger for battle, the need to win, the enjoyment of it all. In this short exchange, she felt like she had gotten to know who he was more than the whole time they talked. It was freeing to actually talk with someone in this manner. Kat watched as she shook her head as he spoke to her through the Force. It seemed he didn't understand.

"I could see that first strike. Your body betrayed you, going from calm to emotional, I could be blind and still see that strike coming. Where there was a void in emotions, in communication, now your body talks. You might win this match but it isn't because you hide your emotions from me, it is because now you are talking. So stop using words and speak like an Echani." Kat growled the last sentence and thrust herself back into the fight, getting in close and spinning her staff, attacking his limbs. Focused on his dominant arm, to put that out of work would make it harder for him to fight. Her body was an ocean, she was talking with her body much more clearly now that he was. There was anger, but no longer anger at him, there was pain and loss but deep down there was a deep feeling of guilt. Kat wasn't trying to show it but she couldn't find it either now, there was guilt because she failed her family and they died because she failed. From that guilt, came the anger at herself, resentment of who she was and the pain of knowing she will never see her brothers again.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The tactic hadn't worked, he had given himself away she had said. It was interesting, he'd killed many Sith with this technique. Allowing their greatest strength to become their greatest weakness and taking advantage of that weakness, to allow them to believe he was the stereotype of the old Jedi, and to find out too late what he really was after they had already been taken off guard and likely wouldn't last much longer. But she was Echani... Perhaps things needed to be a little different. Her training allowed her to see something like that, where with others they would likely not notice until it was too late... It was something he took note of. This sort of thing would not work with an Echani... He would need to develop new strategies to combat them if it came to it.

He had learned a long time ago to be careful about revealing yourself, to give too much of yourself to something, especially something you couldn't entirely trust. He'd been betrayed far too much to so easily let his guard down, or show himself to people. And while it might not be the Echani way, it was the way he had learned to be. But he knew he would need to re-calibrate his strategies. For now though, he kept himself calm and focused hard on the fight. While he could feel much of her emotions, he kept himself one-track minded on what was important. And that was, as if it were another battle, to survive and be with his family tomorrow, and fight another day.

He figured out quickly she was swapping to limb targeting, and he subtly changed his tactics to fit. As she swung at him, he used both hands to block the staff with his lightsaber. But when his hands came apart, the left was holding the blade now while the right focused on grabbing at a body part. An arm, a leg, something to grab and then swing the saber at her side or shoulder should he get her off-guard.

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

Things were definitely getting interesting in the fight. At least, they were before Josh became more closed off and reserved. However, before he could do that completely, he showed her that he had been hurt in the past. That he was once like her but now he shut himself away. Kat sighed, it would be difficult to ever get him to open up again. But maybe one day, he would reveal himself. Kat grabbed her pike firmly in her grasp as she stared him down. Trying to determine who he was, but all he gave her was survival. Survival for his family. Kat shook her head, it wasn't good enough, if he wanted to show Kat that he was an Echani at heart, he would have to fight like she did. One day at least.

Josh blocked her attacks well, going on the offensive, he blocked her strike and attempted to grab a limb. She was tempted to see how he would cope if she allowed him to try grabbing her robotic leg which would more likely lead to breaking his wrist or crippling him in some other manner. However, she decided that this was a duel on Echani ways, not a duel she was seeking to win. He grabbed her wrist as she built a small amount of power in her fist and launched it into his chest. Adding a bit of Force Powers to her combat to see if that would stumble him. Kat also tried to wriggle her wrist out of his grip.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh was no Echani, he knew this. He had never been brought up in the Echani ways, or had even known of his heritage until a few years ago. His attempts to be educated in the Echani ways, or trained in the Echani arts either led to half-hearted attempts, or the most paltry of lessons from someone that merely had an agenda of their own and had no desire to actually help him. His attempt to go to Eshan to learn more? Had been thwarted by the Mandalorians deciding to raze it to the ground. He was no Echani at heart, he was trained in the Jedi arts and followed them the way he had been raised to. Even if he had learned on his own when the Order he had been raised by rejected him, that emotions were fine to have... Even fine to use. So long as they could be controlled. That was what he did know. It would be difficult to convince him that emotions could and should be wielded without control. To him, he had been taught that was the way of the Sith. The very people who pulled the puppet strings of the monsters that had razed her ancestral home – and his.

But she had brought Force Powers into the equation, and thus the game had begun. While her attack did succeed in breaking his grip, one thing that did break was her sight on him. The Jedi Master had disappeared completely, using the White Current. From both sight and from sense. Not two seconds passed though, before a flying roundhouse of a foot would aim at the back of her head in the air – with little opportunity given for her to even realize he was gone.

[member="Kat Decoria"]

 

[Kat Decoria]

Kat had never been out of control during the duel in terms of her emotions, she wasn't lashing out or letting her emotions overtake her, however she was more willing to embrace them than a strict Jedi would. She was comfortable in how she felt and how she would act. While Josh seemed to show that he didn't feel Echani in her mind, that was simply not true, if he had Echani blood then he was Echani. He just needed to work on being better with emotions and working with her on learning what it means to fight like an Echani. When she freed herself with the Force, she could sense that Josh felt invigorated as if he was waiting for her to slip into using the Force which was unfortunate especially since he was much more skilled in his Force abilities.

When he completely disappeared from sight and Force presence, Kat cursed loudly with quite a few words she would not dare use in front of her mother. But there was no way that Kat could tell where Josh was and it felt deeply unfair that he used the Force in such an advanced way, especially since she was only just beginning in her training. When she could finally tell where Josh was, he was coming out of the White Current and the kick hit her hard in the head. The force of the kick knocked her right out. Kat fell straight to the floor unconscious from the kick.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

She had opened the floodgates, he had simply evened the odds when she had chosen to act outside of their bounds to gain an advantage. Of course, he hadn’t meant to knock her cold, that wasn’t part of the plan. When he had re-appeared and regained his footing, he was a little surprised to find her on the ground.

Muttering a mild curse for his carelessness in not holding back, he let out a sigh. Well, it seemed this was the end of the session after all.

------​

Kat would later wake in her quarters, with a note planted to her desk.

“Once you are awake, schedule a time and report to the training room for an overview of our first session. Your ways may be unknown to me, but I will certainly do my best to learn them if they will benefit your training” – Master Dragonsflame

[member="Kat Decoria"]