Not Just the Physical, but the Spiritual

[Mother Askani]

Her movements were good, and she was showing exceptional promise, Sochi hadn't strained herself using the force to imbue her weapon. She was well within her connection as she utilized the Force Form Affinity. This allowed her endurance when using force techniques. This was coupled with the fact that she didn't need to exert too much energy using this skill. Once they disengaged from combat for a while, Sochi stood looking upon her Padawan. Then she charged once more, running and performed another sequence of attacks. The first, a jab at her right thigh, followed by the second, which was a diagonal slash coming from her lower right side of her body, then there was the third which was a spin, and crouched attack aimed at her lower left leg. All were fluid in motion but had considerable momentum behind them.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Changing to her right hand, the Twi'lek twirled her lightsaber in her wrist and hit the tip of Sochi's lightsaber that went for a jab, changing its direction to completely change its trajectory, resulting in it going more to the Twi'lek's right and missing the Padawan's thigh. The Togruta Jedi Knight changed the attack into a diagonal slash in a fluid motion, leaving the Padawan no other option that to jog back and to the left, raising her blade to slow down Sochi's attack. This particular stunt was done by swinging her blade up, hitting the Togruta's blue lightsaber blade from beneath and dragging it upwards prematurely, before the Jedi Knight moved her hands to the right. As she withdrew her lightsaber from the saber lock, Ane'irna effortlessly dodged the spin by taking two steps back as her Master rotated around. Pointing her lightsaber at her Master, the Twi'lek prepared herself to swing the lightsaber into any direction, depending from where the next attack would came. It has proven to be at her left leg, meaning Ane'irna put all her weight on her right leg and took a step back with her left, immediately retracting her right leg as well as soon as her left foot touched the ground. A brief glance around revealed the two were getting closer to the forest, since the Padawan was constantly on the defensive and dodged most attack by jogging back. Looking back at the Togruta, she braced herself for the next volley of strikes to come.

@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi nodded in approval. This last sequence would prove to be the end of this session. Sochi jumped into the air and performed a flip, coming down with her momentum behind her vertical slash directed towards the Padawan. After she sped up her movements naturally, and performed a series of jabs indicating her second maneuver. Then her third, and last attack would be a fluid transition to her blade slashing upwards in a volley of attacks. Ane'irna was doing well before, Sochi had faith that the change of pace wouldn't affect her too much to where she couldn't focus and defend herself. It was good that they were heading towards the forest, that was going to be the site of the last and final session of today's regime. Sochi felt she was more than ready. "Focus! Don't let the change of pace throw you off." She said sternly.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Ane’irna chose to dodge the aerial slash by sidestepping to the left, rotating her body so she would face her Master as the Togruta landed in the grass in front of her. Had this been a real fight, the Twi’lek would have closed the distance between them and stabbed her opponent into her arm before she stood up and prepared to defend herself. This was not even a training spar though, so the young Padawan wouldn’t make a move to attack her Master. The incoming jabs were avoided by jogging backwards, meaning that each time her Master attempted to stab her, the Padawan had already gotten out of reach. The final volley of attacks has been dealt with when Ane’irna blocked the Jedi Knight’s attack in a manner that slid the slashes in different directions, occasionally stopping both blades and locking them together, then the Twi’lek propelled herself back, withdrawing her lightsaber from the lock. Not once the girl stumbled or faltered, her mind fully focused on the task at hand. While all of the attacks became much faster, the girl had gotten used to it since her Master started with relatively slow moves in the beginning of this training, thus allowing the girl to adapt as her attack gained speed and strength.

@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi nodded in response to the girls defense. She turned her lightsaber off, and held it at her waist for the time being. She wouldn't be needing it any longer. "Padawan, your doing great, you have made me proud. Keep showing an exceptional promise and you'll make a great Jedi someday. Now this next test is similar, you will only evade and defend. I will launched force attacks at you. This will take place within the forest you ran through earlier." She said pointing in the direction behind Ane'irna. "I know your tired, but remember to push yourself, lets make this one count. Now, I'll give you a head start." She said in her same position as when she began to speak. She nodded at the girl to signal her chance to run if she saw fit. The forest could work with her or against her, and if she figured that out earlier she will have an easier time in Shili and Felucia. Sochi gave her more than enough time to get herself ready and take off.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Ane'irna gasped when she heard of the test to come. With no Force energy left, she'd have to use the environment as much as possible to avoid being hit by whatever Master Ru would throw at her. Not wasting the precious time granted to her, the green skinned girl turned around and sprinted towards the forest, breathing heavily. Whether she would succeed at this task or not remained to be seen, but she already knew this lesson will make her stronger, regardless of the result of the final test. With that in mind, the Padawan ran between the first trees marking the edge of the forest. The Twi'lek ran from one tree to another, always trying to have one in her back to avoid taking a full hit of Force push. She felt the Force to slowly start filling her body with its energy, but it just was not enough to deflect any sort of telekinetic attack or enhance her speed, so the girl decided to save it for later. Beads of sweat poured on her face, her legs hurt, yet she did not allow herself to stop. A Jedi should overcome discomfort and exhaustion, all of it. Wiping the sweat into the right sleeve, the Twi'lek kept running until she reached the small stream. Taking a small moment to have a rest, she crouched and captured a small ammount of clear water in her palms, washing her face and letting the cool water soothe her skin. Immediately after this action, she stood up, continuing her run, this time towards the swampy area of the forest.


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

After watching her Padawan take off into the foliage of the forest, Sochi began to lightly jog. Striding ear way towards the forest, she jumped into the air and took to the trees. She in a way reverted back to her Togrutan ways. She landed on a branch, in a crouched position. The skies took on darker colors, because day was changing to night. She slowly stood up, and began to speak out loud, she was trying to reach her Padawan. "One thing I want you to take from this specific session is that you have to learn to adapt to your surrounding or make your surroundings adapt to you." She said sternly. Hopefully Ane'irna took from it; hopefully she heard it. Sochi jumped from the branch and onto another. She expanded her senses so that she could locate the young girl. Opening her eyes, she dashed in the direction she felt her apprentices force signature. From a distance she saw her heading for the swamp area, Sochi generated a force sphere in her left hand, the compressed air formed, and she launched it into the direction of her Padawan.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Her Master had taken the way of tree branches. Ane'irna would have done the same if she could muster enough Force to perform Force jump, but no such luck. She had to rely on her ability to quickly hide behind the trees to escape Master Ru's attacks, such as the one that came at her back. The girl used Force push in an attempt to slow it down a bit, further draining the little bit of energy she had left, and immediately hid behind the closest tree, feeling as the sphere hit the trunk as it shook. Starting to sprint again, Ane'irna began to think how to cross the swamp as she could not use Force jump to quickly get over it. While she could easily cut down a tree and telekinetically make it fall across the marsh, the Twi'lek did not want to destroy a part of this forest to complete the exercise. There had to be some other way, but the teenager could not think of any at the moment. The best thing to do would most likely be to wait for her Force reserves to replenish a bit, hiding among the trees to be covered. Deciding to do just that, the girl extended her senses and felt Master Ru's presence, and knowing her direction, the Padawan hid behind a tree so Master Ru's attack would not hit her.

@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Immediately after sending her force sphere she jumped to another branch. She decided to move forward and try to attack at another angle. She lost sight if the girl, surely she was hiding behind one of these many trees. Sochi squinted her eyes, and she placed her hand against the trunk of the tree she stood upon. She turned her head all the way from the left to her right leering into the lush forested area. Sensing her presence, although faint, she propelled herself towards a branch far from her current position. After her landing she quickly turned around and face the directions of the girl. She ignited her lightsaber and cut multiple branches down, and launched them towards the young girl. They could be easily evaded, Sochi would never purposely harm her Padawan, especially not when she's in a state of exhaustion almost. After sending that attack, she jumped down onto the ground, and began to jog after the girl. Surely no enemy would stop their pursuit of their prey.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

The Twi'lek saw he Master jumping from one branch to another, high above her head. This prompted the Padawan to quickly move to the opposite side of the trunk, only to hear the branches hitting the place where she stood a second ago, some of them bouncing off the trunk, others hitting the ground. The young Padawan knew she had to act and move fast if she wanted to escape. Since Master Ru started to cut off branches, the Padawan might not be able to get into the trees if she lingered too long. Urged to mass the Force in her legs as soon as possible, the girl focused on drawing the nearby Force energy into her body, pushing herself to the limit. Slightly crouching, she looked up and found the most suitable branch to land on before finally jumping, the Force helping her to fly high above the ground into the tree crowns. Gently landing one one of the massive branches, the girl immediately gazed around in hopes of finding more close branches she could jump on. The Force reserves in her body were only again depleted, preventing her from choosing distant trees. Looking to her right, she saw several suitable trees she could jump on from one to another, and she did so, getting above the swamp. Master Ru was now somewhere down on the ground, though Ane'irna did not doubt she would get back up into the tree crowns again.


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

(Sorry about the late response, had a lot of school work to catch up on)

Sochi, as she jogged towards the girl, saw her suddenly take to the trees above. Sochi was deeply proud to see her pushing herself. She came to a halt as she lost the young girls form within the trees. Stopping, she turning slowly in a circle to spot the girl. She had to be within the area, then she saw her from the corner of her eye jumping from branch to branch making her way above the swamp. She widened her eyes, as she was impressed. Sochi decided she wouldn't play tree tag, she jetted off in that direction. Maneuvering her body, making use of her flexibility to make her way around obstacles, and branches. Speeding up her movements naturally she came just a couple of meters away from the girl, jumping from trunk to trunk to make her way through the muck, that was the swamp.

Finally landing, and finding that she was close enough to her Padawan, she came to a halt, and manipulated the vines from the trees to extend, and reach out for her Padawan. This would sacrifice the distance she had just managed to close in, but she wanted to see how the girl would fair.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Finding a suitable and close enough branch to jump on without using Force jump became a real puzzle. The thought of slipping and falling did not worry the girl though, the swamp below would soften the landing. Still, as she had to look for branches, the Togruta Jedi Knight had gotten much closer since she could use the Force to jump wherever she wanted. This urged Ane'irna to work faster, taking greater risk and jumping on branches further from her. Running over the length of one particularly thick branch, the Padawan sprinted right to the end until she jumped into the distance, landing on another branch and quickly regaining her balance. The wood was a bit slippery, but the agile Padawan ultimately managed not to fall into the muck that covered the ground. Exhaling in relief, the Twi'lek briefly looked around in search for Master Ru. Not seeing the Togruta Jedi, Ane'irna carefully paced over the branch to jump to the closest bough in her vicinity.

Her exshausted senses did not pick the extending vines getting closer, so it wasn't until one of them literally crawled in front of her eyes that she realized what happened. Well, at first she thought it was a snake, so she unclipped her lightsaber, her blue eyes studying the moving green vine and noticing it extended from the trees. Glancing behind her, the Twi'lek eyed more of those moving vines. Cutting them was the first thing that came to her mind, but then she realized she could use them to effectively get across the swamp and continue her run on the ground from there. Since the vines were getting closer to her, almost if they wanted to grab her, she'd use gravity and momentum in hopes of not allowing the vines to stop her and get a hold of her. The Padawan grabbed a pair of thick vines and leaped off the tree, swinging several meters before letting go of one vine and grabbing another that came closer to her. Master Ru surely did not expect this!


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi allowed a smile to form over her face. It was a well thought out strategy. Sochi followed the girl while she swung from branch to branch. Sochi followed on foot, she came to the swamp itself; the land quickly turned to mush, and she took to the trees once more. This would be the last attack she would throw at her padawan, landing on the branch nearest her she landed in a crouched position. She looked on to see Ane'irna several meters away from her. It made Sochi feel comfortable that the young girl wasnt giving in to her exhaustion. She was pushing herself. Sochi began to quickly move with force aided acrobatics to close the distance.

Once she felt like she was close enough to launch her attack, she cut a thin branch from a tree and gripped it in her free hand. She imbued the simple branch with the force and used her telekinesis to send the makeshift weapon after her. Once it caught up to her, it would assume the role of a blade and attack her. This would drain her own reserves, now that she was ending the duration of her Force Form.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

There was no way of avoiding this attack while hanging on a vine. Ane'irna thought about swinging back and forth, but that'd ultimately fail. The vine used as a whip by Master Ru rapidly closed its distance from her, so Ane'irna was forced to let go with her right hand and reach for the lightsaber hanging on her belt. The yellow plasma blade rose just in time to catch the vine protected by the Force, hissing as its energy touched the Force shield. The vine winded around the blade and Ane'irna grasped the hilt tighter to avoid having it yanked out of her hand, which resulted in her losing all momentum and she suddenly stopped, helplessly hanging there like a fly waiting for the spider. So much for swinging from one vine to another! Since the vine she originally wanted to jump on stopped moving as well, free from Master Ru's influence as the Togruta now focused on the whip-like vine, Ane'irna did not have many options. Just two, to be exact; climp up or climb down.

Since she could not go up because she held the vine with one hand while her other hand was occupied by the lightsaber, she chose to go down. Loosening her grip on the vine she held, the girl slid towards the marsh. Luckily, the deepest part lied behind her, though it was still deeper than the one she landed in on her way to the opposite side. She gritted her teeth as her toes touched the muck and buried in it, then the Padawan let go of the vine completely and fell. The Padawan silently cursed as the mud swallowed her legs up to her knees, thus ruining her beige trousers. The mud made a loud squelching sound with every Twi'lek's step as her bare feet sank into the black muck. The mud closed the holes the girl made with her legs at first, but eventually left her footprints stay as it became thicker, indicating she was getting closer to the solid ground. When she finally pulled her legs out of it and stood on a solid ground, she breathed heavily, but slowly continued towards her destination, the end of the forest. Although it weighted her down, she ignored the thick layer of mud covering her initially green feet, wanting nothing more than to finally reach the edge of the forest and complete her task. Despite all of this, she had to admit this training gave her much more than she had expected.


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi was coming up, trying to close in the distance. She kept a moderate pace, her strides long and then she came to see her Padawan maneuvering herself through the thick mud. She holstered her lightsaber and watched the girl push herself to the other side. She had done fantastic this entire training session. Surely Sochi felt the need to take her into seclusion now. They would board Ru's personal Jedi training cruiser, the crucible. On board they would continue in one on one training until they both arrived on Shili. She smiled watching, the a he approached the muddy earth herself. Sochi hadn't want to step within it, but she did nevertheless, pushing through slowly, trying to reach her Padawan. She wanted to actually participate in the training on her students, not just sit around and bark orders. That was the proper way, in her mind.

She pulled her legs, one after the other. Using her muscular strength rather than the force, she maneuvered herself through the heavy, thick, mud, when she looked down she could see the foot prints of her pupil, some which she used as stepping stones to aid her. She was just acouple of steps away from the ledge, she saw her Padawan standing there; obviously tired. She deserved the well needed rest to come after this. Sochi climbed out of the mud and on to the dry, solid ground, she inhaled, and released, a while she simultaneously placed her hand on the girls shoulder.

"You've done extremely well today Ane'irna. Your growing into your abilities very well, I must say. I will teach you one last thing today, and afterwards you are free to rest. Soon I will take you into seclusion for further training. Keep that in mind, now lets begin." She said softly, and sternly.

"This next technique is called center of being, its a meditation technique that can be used with passive and defensive forms. This form of meditation can help you defend yourself from some of the most cunning and twisted of attacks. This will aid in the defnesive process." She said moving some feet away. She turned and stood facing the girl, then she brought her lightsaber hilt up to her chest, and waited for her Pdawan to respond.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

Ane’irna could not help but giggle upon seeing Master Ru going through the swamp instead of taking the route in the trees. It looked rather humorous, the Togruta Jedi Knight choosing the dirty way of getting to her Padawan while she could have easily jumped from one branch to another, or even possibly used Force jump to get over the entire swamp without touching it. The Padawan continued panting and watched her Master pull out of the mud. One had to admit the Jedi Knight had dealt with the swamp much better than her Padawan, as the Togruta woman still had plenty of energy in her, not to mention she most likely knew of an effective and energy saving way of going through that sort of terrain. Not like it was any less dirty, though, as the Togruta’s legs were covered by the sticky mud as well.

The girl felt as if Master Ru’s praise gave her more energy so she could perform the last task. The vision of the upcoming rest gave her strength too, so she calmed her breath and with one final exhale focused her attention solely on Master Ru. The Twi’lek Padawan also could not help but notice Sochi’s words about taking her to seclusion. What did that mean? More training, most likely, and if true, then it was most certainly a good thing. Simply nodding, the teenager listened to the introduction to another meditation technique. It apparently had something to do with lightsabers, so when Master Ru finished, Ane’irna unclipped her curved hilt from the belt and took a few steps back to have more free space around herself, leaving several black footprints on the ground.

Copying her Master’s move, Ane’irna brought the lightsaber up to her chest, not igniting the weapon’s yellow blade yet. She could see where this training was going, making her realize her eyes truly deceived her; once she allowed the Force guide her, no distractions disturbing the meditation-like state, she would truly be capable of defending herself much better. Unless, of course, her opponents used some sort of a stealth technique, masking their presence and moves in the Force. In that situation, using her eyes was the only option. “I am ready, Master,” said Ane’irna and prepared herself. The Force finally started to return to her body after a while of not using it and allowing her body to rest.


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

"Ignite your lightsaber, and bring the hilt up, just below the chin. Focus." She said while performing the actions herself. Sochi gave her Padawan ample enough time to get everything right, and center herself. This technique would prove useful in situations where one had to rely on defense. It allowed those to use the force to perceive the truth regarding an opponents attack. It called for greater focus. Sochi opened her eyes, and watched the girl. She circled around her slowly, watching her form, and to see if she was really focusing. Then when she did a complete 360 around her she stood in front of her once more. Then with speed, she ignited her weapon and performed a vertical strike at the girl. If she was performing the technique right, then she would be able to block this attack with succession.

@[member="Ane'irna"]

 

[Bubák]

After responding with a slight nod, Ane'irna followed the Togruta's instructions. The yellow blade of her lightsaber hummed to life and she raised her hands closer to her chin, bringing it just under it and holding it horizontally. The yellow light illuminated her green skin and the Twi'lek's blue eyes had to adjust to the sudden burst of bright light. After being able to see Master Ru, the Padawan duplicated her Master's stance, closed her eyes and focused on the Force, letting it guide her hands. The Light Side was strong here, and the Force started returning to her body, where the teenager told it to take over her arms. Solely concentrated on the task, she did not even know the Togruta Jedi Knight circled around her. She did not know of the attack, but the Force guided her hands to flick to the left and meet the incoming blade coming up from above. This pushed Sochi's blade to Ane'irna's left side, letting it slide next to her shoulder and keeping the blades locked in there for as long as necessary. It seemed the meditation truly worked as intended, one just had to open to the Force and listen with an ignited lightsaber in their hands.


@[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi felt her blade being pushed to the side as it was parried. She nodded her head slowly, and retracted her blade, holstering it on her hip. Her Padawan was an excellent student, and her focus was truly admirable. It was now that Sochi felt she was ready to be taken, taken into seclusion just as Ru had planned. They would be away for quite some time, as her new lessons would take her far from the temple itself. Sochi placed her hand on the shoulder of the young girl,

"Your training for today is now complete, you have done exceptionally well. You are ready for the next level of training, but for now you must rest, the next training session will take you far away from the confines of the temple. I want you to take the time to mentally prepare yourself. You won't be around to see many if your friends." She said speaking softly as usual. She smiled at the girl, and began to walk back towards the temple on Tython. She stopped for a brief moment,

"When you are ready, meet me back on Coruscant, I will already have everything situated and prepared to go." She said before slowly, walking off once more.

@[member="Ane'irna"]