Ossus Training

[PadawnPrawn]

Fletcher matched the slash at his shoulder and the attack at his side with precision. He had always been talented with a lightsaber, but knowing that only fed his ego. He was usually okay once he got into the fight and was aware of his surroundings. The praise the Master was giving would slowly turn the Padawan's frustration and anger into arrogance, now he knew that he could do it and was actually keeping up with a master. "Can't you do any better than that?" he taunted in between breaths.

The Padawan was often warned about his sarcastic and snide remarks, but none of the warnings had ever meant anything. He force jumped over the master in an attempt to land behind him and attack his left side.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Jedi Master would suddenly move back and extend a hand. The young lad would find himself still in the air even when he would try and land for his attack. He was floating, having been caught in the air before he could attack, before he would find himself flying at a high velocity and would crash into the wall without even a bit of warning. Not hard, of course. The Jedi Master would not dare use his telekinetic powers to harm the lad, only surprise him, maybe slightly knock the wind out of him.

It was just before that sudden attack that the Jedi Master had realized he had made a critical error. He was being too soft on the boy. He was only teaching with words and encouragement, and his encouragement, his praise, which had served him well in the past with Padawans, wasn't helping this lad. No, while he wasn't a lost cause like Meta had been, he was like that failed Padawan wherein he was arrogant, and purely soft teachings like Joshua normally did wouldn't cut it. It would only lead to the Padawan's downfall.

Of course, he felt remorse. Guilty for having to do that. He had ensured he didn't really harm him, but the speed that Fletcher flew would hopefully play its part in teaching him humility. Finally, the Jedi Master would speak.

"Don't do that again" He spoke flatly, with a firmness in his voice. "Yes, your prowess with a lightsaber is improving. But if you get arrogant, you will simply find yourself on the losing end before long. Taunting your opponent as arrogantly as you did will lead to you getting killed before long" He said. Of course, Josh was at one point guilty of the same thing... But only once, and that was with slavers that he knew had no chance against the Jedi Master, who deserved the taunting and the wisecracks. He hated slavers. He hated them, despised them with all of his being. They were the one type of people that he never gave mercy. They never deserved it. People such as them... They could never be redeemed. Never be turned away from the life of a slaver. But he had been looked down on for it. And he knew it was wrong. He hadn't done it again.

"Come at me again" He spoke, more calmly this time as he got back into his Makashi stance. "This time, do what you did before, but without trying to taunt me. Do not mistake my praise toward you, and my methods of teaching you for weakness. You still have much to learn, Padawan. If you do that again, I'll throw you harder this time" He would warn. The final nail in the coffin, hopefully, for the boy's arrogance. He really didn't want to do that again. But he had to be more firm and strict. For Fletcher's sake.

He made a mental note to write a report to Fletcher's Master to please focus on dealing with the arrogance he could exhibit. That was a flaw that needed to be dealt with before it got him killed.

[member="Fletcher Lorcan"]

 

[PadawnPrawn]

Fletcher gasped at the sensation of being caught in the air. He deactivated his lightsaber so he wouldn't injure himself when he inevitably landed, and though it was only on a low power, it wasn't exactly pleasant to be touched by as it could still cause burns. Once he was thrown at the wall, he put his hands out to protect his head from hitting it. Clearly he was wrong to have thought so highly of himself, especially against a Jedi Master, of course it was foolish, but he wasn't willing to admit it.

The Padawan quickly gathered himself and got onto his hands and knees, needless to say, it had shocked him. He got to his feet and approached the master again, knowing something would be said. He didn't look particularly angry or embarrassed, but he had begun to contain his emotions more as the spar went on. He was learning, only slowly...

Fletcher kept a straight face, though he was ashamed, he didn't mean the things he did, and he didn't do them intentionally, or well... most of the time. He just thought that if you were good at something, you had a right to be proud. Proud. Well that's what he called it. "I wont lose, I know what I'm doing." he said, not realising that it was in fact an arrogant thing to say. He sighed and folded his arms, typical. "Buuuuut this is only a practice." he said, clearly looking for any excuse to justify his actions. Clearly it would take a while to completely solve the arrogance, although now he was aware of it. "Sorry." he muttered half-heartedly.

Reactivating his lightsaber, Fletcher imitated the master's stance and nodded in agreement, doing his best to bite his tongue and hold back the taunting that came so naturally to him. The Master had threatened to throw him at the wall again, but harder. He knew he would have to keep the arrogance outside of the spar, it wouldn't be worth it during the fight. The Padawan wasn't used to being taught as firmly as he was now, and although it was helping, he wasn't enjoying it as much as he thought he would.

Fletcher spun the lightsaber and advanced on the master once more, he was becoming more and more engrossed as the spar went on, he wanted to do well, wanted to impress a master. So far that wasn't going so well and it didn't look like it was going any further. He wanted to prove that he was capable of fighting well and becoming a Knight, but he had yet to learn that there was a lot more to fighting than meets the eye, and it wasn't just the way you behaved in battle that determined how fit you were for a title. There was nothing to prove, but the padawan had spent all of his life as a Jedi trying to prove himself to others and maybe to himself. It was because his siblings were Sith and he wanted to show that he wasn't like them and never would be.

Swinging the lightsaber at Josh's side, he used it as a distraction whilst he could work on tactics. He attacked profusely, each attack a distraction for the next one which would aim to hit the opponent. He soon got back into the fight and stayed silent this time, making no remarks, saying nothing. He swung at the shoulder, then arm, then side, leaving himself open to attacks unintentionally, another thing that he needed to focus on. There was no point being able to attack if you couldn't defend yourself. He may have been good with a lightsaber, but his judgement was somewhat questionable.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Harming the child, or even knocking the wind out of him, hurt Josh. He was someone who harbored a desire to be a family man, after all. He found himself canoodling children at times, though he was good with them. But this was a Padawan, a teenager, who if Josh wasn't strict with, his arrogance would lead him to something far worse then a couple of boo boos. Josh would be responsible for the young lad's death if he didn't teach him right, in his eyes. He couldn't let that happen. Still, he didn't show his remorse, his guilt, or anything of the sort. If he had to remain stoic and firm, then so be it.

It was for the best.

When he spoke, again showing that arrogance and pride, the Jedi Master just furrowed his eyebrows at him, stared at him for a moment. He didn't raise his hand, he didn't attack. But the look he gave Fletcher told him that was his warning. Josh was happy, once Fletcher began fighting again, to see that he was using his head. Sure, he was leaving himself open quite a bit, but he was still trying to think of tactics. Of course, he needed a little more variety. Josh would demonstrate how easy this was to counter by spinning his lightsaber around in front of him quickly, parrying everything that he threw, whether it was a real blow or a fake blow. That was a lesson in itself, making yourself less predictable, but also one to say he needed to cover more ground in his movements.

"I want to see you hitting me in the front, side and back, Fletcher" Josh would speak calmly as he would stop his motion to block the shoulder, arm and side blows, putting more effort into these ones then the spinning motion to deal with Fletcher's strategy change. Josh would then counterattack, aggressively attacking without even doing fakes or distractions. The first five blows were aimed at his lightsaber, pushing him to defend himself to keep from being pushed back. Afterword, he started to attack certain body parts, one slash toward the side, before spinning and moving another slash at the shoulder. Quick on his feet, the Jedi Master would sidestep to Fletcher's left side and go for a stab toward his armpits, before whether he hit or not, would hop sidestep to try and get behind Fletcher to slash at the back of his shoulder.

He was showing Fletcher exactly what he said he wanted to do with the tactics. A demonstration, perhaps?

[member="Fletcher Lorcan"]

 

[PadawnPrawn]

Fletcher noticed the lack of remorse from the Master and frowned, did he not feel any guilt? He questioned Josh's intentions for a moment before rightfully returning his attention back to the training. His voice grew quieter once Josh gave him a look which was no doubt a warning. He had realised his error and knew not to say anything more.

The Padawan understood what he was being told through the demonstration as clearly as if it were spoken to him. He was good at taking risks, it was just the planning and reasoning behind his actions that was unjustifiable, though he was intelligent enough for it... most of the time.

Fletcher nodded in acknowledgement, he was quite effective at attacking quickly since he wasn't very tall or heavy. He kept an eye on the other Jedi, trying to estimate his next move, one of the things he wasn't so good at.

He blocked the opposing lightsaber for the first five hits, staying firmly where he was before moving to defend himself from the other oncoming attacks. He met the lightsaber at his side then watched Josh for a clarification of where he was going to move to next, even though there was only a few seconds notice. He defended the next two blows, seemingly improving...

Then the Master moved quickly, presumably trying to catch him off guard, but Fletcher met the blade again, only just. Then he felt a sudden burning sensation in the back of his shoulder, having not turned around quickly enough to catch the opposing lightsaber. He flinched in shock, having not expected to get hit and quickly whipped around to face the Master.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Of course he felt guilt. But he also knew that Fletcher wasn't going to allow him to be as compassionate as he would like to be. He had to be firm, or the child would never learn. This was one of the reasons the Jedi Master had refused to take anymore Padawans - He had trouble dealing with the arrogant ones, ones he couldn't be as compassionate with during training. He wanted to be, but his style of praise and reward didn't always work. This had been proven, here, with Fletcher. But - hopefully in time, he would be able to should he train him again. When Fletcher learned where he stood as a Jedi, and what it took to be a Jedi. Arrogance... Pride... They weren't your traditional Jedi traits, and they could lead to your fall sooner then anything. And the Jedi Master knew that.

He needed a solid balance. He was still looking for that balance. But hopefully, sooner or later he would find it.

For now, he'd given Fletcher his demonstration. He was showing him what he wanted HIM to be able to do, and try. To be able to quickly strike at other body parts, anticipate your opponents moves, dart and strike with both power and precision, try to take the opponent by surprise.

"Good.... Good...." He whispered as Fletcher did a good job of anticipating and blocking his blows, but was too slow on the last one. The Master would back up once it struck to give him time to recover, nodding his head as a silent motion to relax himself for a moment after the blow. It would be no use getting himself worked up.

[member="Fletcher Lorcan"]