Padawans Taiden Keth v Xieza Blade

[Coci Heavenshield]

As the combatants enter the arena, a silence falls over the audience of Jedi gathered to watch the tournament. They are guided to the raised platform in the center of the room, and each will turn toward the end of the room and bow their respects to Grand Master Thurion Heavenshield. ​

​

They are reminded of the virtues of a fair fight, of honour, valour and respect. ​

​

When this is completed, the sound of a gong echoes through the Dojo, a sign for the combatants to salute each other and take stance. ​

​

[member="Taiden Keth"] v [member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Taiden Keth]

For the purposes of the duel, Taiden had borrowed an Echani Vibrosword which was resistant to lightsaber strikes from the Silver Jedi armory, its edges blunted for training use, its fast spinning teeth would still cause painful bruising or perhaps a cut if it was misused. Thankfully Taiden had a gentle, careful control that made such a thing unlikely. He was dressed in full white attire as ever, tunic, trousers and polished silver boots, silver hair hung free and long down his face.

Gleaming silver sword on his back, kneeling in meditation the padawan was breathing of the force to find serenity, with his back to the door. He had fought and dueled just a few times, though training since birth. In reality the times he had fought or been part of a major battle, it had not gone well, and those defeats were still hanging around him, though the clouds of their guilt were lifting through the council of others.

Each duel was a ceremonial event for an Echani, it was a big deal and he would put a lot of himself into this, a keen young warrior if ever there was one. He didn’t express or show this in his body language, much more prone to a reserved expression like many of his kind. Each small movement or motion spoke volumes to his people, so they took care to give little away but what they meant to communicate.

Standing firm, he walked to the center of the training mat, bowing deeply to the grandmaster and to his opponent, his back leg becoming braced and ready, with his stance deep and well founded.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Xieza Blade]

Xieza had been waiting for the bell to ring, the one that would indicate that it is time for his match. He sat back and yawned. He had been napping in the small locker room. It would have seemed like a decently long wait if he hadn't taken a nap. He was just about to fall asleep again when he heard the loud ring. It was time for him to get up, get ready, and enter the dojo.

He stood up and stretched. He, then, grabbed a vibrosword that was set next to him. He heard his opponent was going to be using one, so he thought to use one as well. He walked towards the entrance of the dojo and pushed open the doors. His black clothing clearly showed out in the bright room, which was fine. It took a little for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, he saw his opponent opposite of him, the Grandmaster in his seat, and the crowd of Jedi in the stands. He didn't expect this many spectators for the tournament, but it only excited him.

Xieza saw his opponent was wearing full white. This was going to look like a Yin-Yang battle. A full body white outfit on [member="Taiden Keth"] and a full body black outfit on Xieza. The two of them probably made for quite the sight in the dojo with their Yin-Yang apparel. Xieza knew that this was going to be fun.

Xieza turned to the Grandmaster, [member="Thurion Heavenshield"], and bowed. He, then, turned to his opponent and bowed. After this was done, Xieza unsheathed his vibrosword and put himself into stance. With the sound of a loud gong, the match was on.

 

[Taiden Keth]

Taiden was a carefully considering Xieza's approach, strong Echani reserve his hallmark, nothing was given away in his body language, so attuned to focus on the details of what was ahead. Echani learned of their opponents communicated through the duel, when all else was put aside, and who they were came on show, slowly but surely reading them. Their opponents might do the same if they were cunning...

Feinting a forward thrust, his blade dipped to try and get his opponent to commit, Taiden danced, graceful of foot. White hair and tunic sweeping like the winds of Wodenstam, it carried him around swiftly spinning, another forward feint and still not a strike to Xieza’s right side. When would he attack? The silver lock of his eyes gave little to no tell, only if you read his body language or the small angling of his sword would you ever know.

Angling the flat his blade, it moved forward to receive the strike of the other, this was a counter attack given as an attack, the swordsman’s body leveraged behind it to push forward and away. Another feint but more, committing himself expecting a block, to intercept it mid swing and push against it.

No doubt about it, Taiden Keth was a swordsman. This would be fun.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Xieza Blade]

Multiple feint attacks flew towards Xieza and then back. Xieza kept placing his blade in the areas where the feints would have gone if they weren't feints. This was starting to annoy Xieza. His opponent knew how to feint quite well. This meant that things were going to get interesting.

Xieza had spent his early life training in the arts of being a knight. His father had been a King, but Xieza had not known that. He was trained by men that his father called friends when he was young. He knew that there was something else to it, but didn't want to ask. These men who were training him were actually powerful knights in his father's kingdom.

Xieza saw a chance as Taiden's blade drew near again. He crouched down low and sent his sword upwards to counter Taiden's blade. But, Xieza's strike flew towards the hilt of his opponent's blade. This was in hopes of disarming his opponent.

[member="Taiden Keth"]​

 

[Taiden Keth]

Flat of the sword out, he wasn’t expecting an attack to his guard, at least the flat of his sword was ready to block, not the rotating edge which could have sent his opponent's blade anywhere. Unlike a saber Taien’s weapon was more sizeable it wasn’t even a thin rapier or foil, it was a vibrosword, so trying to simply swing the blade’s edge into his opponent’s was a novice way of countering, and would have blunted it in no time.

Pushing his stance back, he rolled his sword downward, its flat side came down instead, to tap his opponent’s weapon aside just in time. A clever lower posture by the other it made him harder to hit.

Most would expect a counter then, but it still hadn't come, Taiden simply side stepped the opposite way of the blade, patient, very patient, guard held downwards ahead of him, from high to low down the front of his body. As if encouraging the other to make a mistake or over-commit.

A bow of the head given for the clever way his opponent had started the fight, eyes open, Taiden was always moving.

Watchful, reading and communicating through the start of the melee, as all his race did. Black and white, yin and yang, the two dragons of opposition and balance. It foreshadowed what might eventually come with his ancestor [member="Raien Keth"], and that thought uncomfortably formed in his mind, but he let it pass.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Xieza Blade]

Xieza's blade had bounced off of contact with Taiden's blade. The strength of the contact between the two swords caused his blade to crash into the floor, though he still held the hilt. After recovering from this, he jumped back. This was a fight that called for him to be patient. If he weren't, the fight would end quickly in his opposition's favor. His opponent seemed to be thinking the same.

Xieza slowly moved around towards his opponent's right flank, trying to not cause too much attention of what he was wanting to do. After getting close to his opponent's right flank he feinted to the left and then back to the right, before finally thrusting the blade towards the center. He sent a good amount of strength with this thrust, though he still had time to jump back and feint again if needed.

[member="Taiden Keth"]

 

[Taiden Keth]

Watching carefully, Taiden might be said was over cautious, all his battles and failures in his early life might have taken out the decisive moment to act when it should be there. Over cautious wasn’t a bad trait for a Jedi most of the time, but it didn’t help here! The feints had the Echani padawan moving too much in the wrong direction, awkwardly having to reverse the direction of his blade. There exposed the weapon’s weakness, it wasn’t a foil that was light and easy to alter direction, it took some real strength to shift it so finely mid swing.

Hesitation, he knew he was being over cautious, but it had taken someone to show him that before he could see it in their body language, and his own, The way they moved, and the way he should move.

When ended up happening was the Echani was caught between the thrust and his own weapon, held vertical, pressed sideways on and pushing back against it, score one point to Xieza for style. Taiden twirled around again further to the side, and aimed a roundhouse kick high for Xiexa’s head, graceful and nimble, his sword coming diagonally down to Xieza’s left side as he landed. Echani martial arts finding their place in his form.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Xieza Blade]

His opponent was able to block and counter his attack. The counter was unexpected. A kick was flying towards his head and a sword towards his left leg. Xieza knew that it would be difficult to get out of this unharmed. He decided that blocking the sword was the priority and slung his blade down to block it. The two blades made contact, which made a loud sound. The block was a success.

Xieza looked up to see a kick coming towards his head. He flung up his right arm to at least try and weaken the kick. The kick slammed into his arm, causing a slight pain, and went further and hit his head. Since the kick was weakened, it didn't do much damage to his head. It barely did anything actually, just slightly hurt his face.

After all that was done, Xieza jumped back. The kick that made contact with his right arm was going to leave quite the bruise, but he could handle it. Xieza was expecting his opponent to rush in and make another move, so he pulled his sword up to his chest and prepared himself in stance.

[member="Taiden Keth"]

 

[Taiden Keth]

There wasn’t a moment’s pause in rhythm, just an Echani calm careful focus. To his count they’d both just scored a decent point. Taiden took a careful step forward, to see if his opponent would move back, if he didn’t the Echani would move back a step, maintaining a set distance, because he had a specific fighting style in mind. Moving a side pace then back, ready to strike… A conflicting mix of being overeager but cautious too when it came to the strike. There was no visible twitch from Taiden’s body, Echani were controlled. There was however the slight novice tell from how Taiden angled his blade, again sideways to match Xieza’s before it came.

Apart from the flat angle, there was no telegraphing motion, just one movement from leg and weapon both. Taiden swung the flat of his blade against Xieza’s, hoping to be met together, as soon as his opponent moved his blade or released the pressure to react, he’d thrust his weapon forward a short distance, trying to catch him off guard with the point of his sword to Xieza’s chest. That was the plan… trying to set him up.

Distance was maintained, seeking to only hit with the point, sure not to overswing, he was calm and controlled so not to injure beyond a bruise. At this distance, even just leaving the point of the weapon out was bothersome to an opponent, because it meant they had to deal with it before they reached you.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​

 

[Xieza Blade]

Xieza moved back as his opponent's blade made contact with his. He held the blade against his opponent's until he was sure he would be able to jump back. After he released his blade from the contact, he jumped back and angled his blade towards his opponent. He walked in a circular motion, slowly, around the side of his opponent. He decided that it was time to make a move.

Xieza slid low on the ground towards his opponent's legs and swung his blade upwards in hopes of getting a lucky hit, which was improbable. The sword strike was actually just something to distract his opponent and bring his attention towards it. The real purpose of this strike was to knock his opponent off his feet. Steadily and at good speed, Xieza slid towards his opponent.

[member="Taiden Keth"]

 

[Taiden Keth]

Though Taiden had setup the attack, his lunge missed his opponent's careful backstep, Taiden was still overcautious or careful depending on your perspective, and he did not follow or pursue Xieza, instead staying at his preferred distance, maintaining it as Xieza moved back, so the Echani's weapon was out ahead threatening his opponent to be dealt with first.

Which it was.

The weapon came down to parry and slide along Xieza’s, using a slight twist of his legs to get a good angle, and moving forward to thrust again as before. His battle sense picked up what Xieza was doing before it happened, but knowing and stopping something was two different things.

Trying to adjust he found his weight forward when it needed to be back, he got one leg out of the way in time, but the other was taken from him, sending him twisting midair, Head first… having to dip his hand down as he was landing to try and get any form of control back. Taiden was upside down, graceful even in mid fall, perhaps a sense of [member="Matsu Ike"]’s force glide teachings coming into play here but only slightly, the rest was Echani hand to hand training.

Taiden couldn’t really make an attack at this position? Could he.... you could see his feet beginning to rotate even upside down, to swing around for a handstand kick. Xieza clearly had room to strike here, but if he over did it, he may well get a helicopter rotated kick to the jaw, as Taiden tried to spin his feet around to stand.

[member="Xieza Blade"]​