Playing Catch-Up [Training]

[Josh Dragovalor]

With her injury some time ago slowing the training of Padawan [member="Anora Vahn"] to a crawl for some time, she had recovered from her wounds and was ready to resume her training. With a bit of field experience on her belt now, Josh wanted to resume Anora's training in full right away. As training her with another student did not seem to produce results, he had taken to doing more one on one sessions with Anora, wanting to help her progress in a way that helped her best he could. He needed to find a way for her to learn in a way that was best for her...

On Voss, their regularly scheduled lesson would begin as Vahn would enter the training room. Rising to his feet, the Jedi Master would turn to face her and nod his head.

"Welcome, Anora. Let's do a recap, shall we?" He would remark as he would pace round the room, before hitting a switch that brought dummies down to the floor. "Force Push the first dummy, Force Pull the next, and manipulate the third with telekinesis until I say stop. Let's make sure you've got the basics, before we move on."

 

[Anora Vahn]

Having the opportunity to get extra hours in training was greatly appreciated. Anora wasn’t entirely sure if other students would be as appreciative to have the extra working hours, but she sure was. While she wasn’t in terrible shape, she knew she wasn’t at her best either, and that needed to change. She was determined, and she would do whatever it took to get back to and beyond where she had been in her training before her injury. If that meant logging extra hours of training? Bring it on.

When she entered the room and was greeted, she nodded her head in return and stopped to listen. She watched as the dummies were brought to the floor and her brow creased just slightly. She studied the dummies for a long moment, and then moved just enough so that she could situate herself. Force pushing and pulling the first two dummies was easy enough. There was minimal struggle with pulling the second, but it was overcame almost as soon as it happened.

Manipulating the third dummy however took a great deal of effort. She had struggled to even get it off of the ground, and had needed to stop, take the time to close her eyes and clear her mind before she attempted again. It was slow, but she managed to get the dummy off the ground and hold it there, and did as such while waiting to be told otherwise.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

If she wanted the extra working hours to catch up, he had no problem with it. It did show her dedication that she didn't mind this. Now to see if she could manage to catch up... Josh had by now told her that to catch up, he was going to have to be a little more strict, and do his best to try and speed her progress. She had been the one who had wanted to catch up, though...

He watched as Anora would get to work on the dummies. She struggled, for a good while, but managed to hold up the third dummy off the ground after the other two had been dispatched.

"Alright" He would remark, indicating for her to let it go. "Now, this time I'm going to have the dummies re-programmed" He would add as he walked to the control panel. Before long, the dummies began moving in a circle around Anora...

"Repeat the drill again. This time, with moving targets. We need to get you comfortable again. This needs to become natural to you."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora breathed out in a sigh when she was instructed to put the dummy down, and despite there not being any tiredness in her limbs, she flexed her fingers anyhow. She listened and then watched when the dummies were reprogramed, and her eyes narrowed just a little bit when the things started moving around. Occasionally her head would turn, just enough to keep track of the dummies running circles around her, but once given instruction again?

She puffed out a breath and shook her right hand briefly before repeating the process.

Once again pushing the first dummy came easily for Anora. She shoved it away, breaking the admittedly annoying circle at least a little bit. And then pulling the second was easier this time around. She had stepped slightly to the side and pulled it past herself to once again break the circle down. The third dummy she watched pass in front of her a time or two more, and when it came back around to be in front of her, she reached out and stalled it in place. There was still a brief struggle, but nothing like it had been the first go round. It was only getting it off the ground that took her a moment, but keeping it suspended in air was far easier for her this time.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh watched as Anora performed admirably, her improvement showing as she seemed to get it quite well this time. The first dummy had been knocked over, just as before despite it now moving, she had dodged when she had pulled the second to her from within the line, and the the third was now high in the air. Good, good. She was getting it this go around, but she still needed more work.

"Good, good. Let's see you work with something a bit more... Active."

He would hit a button on the control panel, without ordering Anora to put it down. A drone would emerge from a panel in the ceiling, and would begin firing at Anora with a pullet gun.

"See if you can defeat it using only your Force abilities."

Being a Jedi was all about overcoming little surprises like this. Josh did not tell her to release the dummy... She should be ready to know when to on her own for this lesson.

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Wait, whoa. She was to do what now? Anora's brow knit and she turned her head so that she could look at the drone that had emerged. The dummy she still had in the air dipped a bit, but she seemed to realize the fact and corrected it's height, and then turned so that she could put the thing between herself and the drone while she worked to figure this thing out.

It wasn't an overly long or complicated process of thought thankfully. With the one dummy still lifted to keep her shielded, she turned her head towards the pair she had tossed around earlier on. Her free hand extended and she heft the first of the pair up with much more ease than she had before, and then she promptly tossed it so that it collide with the drone. She did this again with the second dummy, lifting it and tossing it with the same amount of ease, and when she heard it hit she peeked around her 'dummy shield' just enough to see - and yes, she was a little surprised at herself for how easily she had managed to do this.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Yup. He meant she had to take the droid down while using only her Force abilities. If she lost her lightsaber in battle or could only go by ranged uses, then she had to use what she knew. And this course WAS primarily about force power use today, right?

He watched as she would use her resourcefulness to her advantage, using the crumpled dummies as battering rams using telekinesis in order to take it down, while using one of the dummies as a shield as well. Soon enough, the droid would hit the ground, and Josh nodded his head in turn.

"Bravo" He would respond calmly as he would use the control panel to call the dummies and droid back to their positions in their own compartments. "Now... Let's see..."

Hitting a few buttons, several platforms would appear, going upward, higher each one was than the other. The last one was almost at the ceiling.

"Let's test your capabilities with Force Jump. Get to the top as fast as you can, and... Go!"

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Once the dummies and such were called back and more or less put away, Anora sighed slowly through her nose and corrected her posture. She did watch intently however until all of the practice targets were really gone, and then her gaze shifted back to her Master.

When he returned to the panel and began to sift through the commands, there was a brief wave of unease that washed through her. But when he selected what he did? She couldn't help the very slight smile that lifted one corner of her mouth. She may not be the most fantastic student when it came to manipulating targets with the Force? But using it to move herself she wasn't half bad at.

So when the platforms were raised and she was told to go, she didn't hesitate. She took off and leaped from one platform to the next. Not perfectly of course, and there was a noticeable stall in her movement here and there. But she got to the top without falling off, and that was an achievement in her book - though she did her best not to get too proud of herself over it.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would watch Anora's reactions, her facial expressions, all of it, watched the Jedi Padawan to see how she reacted to every little thing. Keeping calm and patient was the name of the game here, of course. He watched as Anora would move without a single bit of hesitation once the platforms came up. He watched as she leaped from one platform to the next. One platform, two platforms, and three... One after another and she kept it going over and over with no difficulty in using Force Jump. There was a stall, here and there, but those were small details. Of course she wouldn't be perfect at this stage, but she was good at it where she was at.

Finally, a show of what she could do after several years of work.

"Good, good" He would remark as he waited for her to come down before messing with the control panels again... This time, the platforms re-arranged, this time several of them spinning about and moving. Others moved up and down. This time, the set of platforms was much larger and more varied... It would take more time, and more resourcefulness, to pull off.

He didn't have to tell her what to do next.

"Begin."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora had come down when prompted to do so, and shifted to see her progress from the ground level. She didn't get to look long - not that she minded of course - before the order was being shifted and things were moved about. The platforms moved this time, and rather than jump right back into the fray of it, Anora took a moment to study the patterns. She watched to see if they were consistent, or if they would change, or both for that matter. She watched what moved where, and how high for that matter. Once she got at least a brief look at what she was getting into, she moved.

Again there was no hesitation. Physicality was most definitely her stronger attribute, which seemed to include using the Force for physical abilities. There were longer stalls this time, not so much so that she would get lost or misplaced, but proof that she wasn't just jumping blindly either. She made sure she knew where she was jumping before she did so, and once again she made it to her goal without falling off.

Yes, it took longer this time round, but she was still pleased that there was something she could do decently well.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Good, good" Josh would praise as Anora would clear the second training course, nodding his head in approval. "Alright, let's move to the next, shall we? Let's mix your Force Jump training with your combat training" He would remark as he would fish out a training saber and toss it up to Anora, expecting her to catch it with the Force and draw the blade quickly.

With that, he would begin hitting controls again, and soon enough a training droid, humanoid in shape, would appear. It had a vibroblade on a makeshift belt as well as a blaster, and seemed pretty capable of using them. Once the droid was dropped on the contraption that Anora had been climbing, Josh would motion toward it.

"Defeat the droid, without falling off the structure. If you fall off, you will start again with a droid that is fresh.

Begin."

(Consider this training in writing Anora in combat with NPCs. You're free to control the droid as you wish, and write out the battle as you please)

 

[Anora Vahn]

It was a challenge. Everything up to this point had of course been a challenge, but this? This was intense, and Anora had to take a step back and assess for a moment. She watched the way the pillars moved, studied the pattern of their rise and shifts. And then she watched the target at the top, a target she was supposed to take out all while maintaining balance to boot. She played it all out in her head, over and over for a moment, envisioning the strategy and the ultimate outcome. Everything ended in her falling at some point.

Until there was a shift in the movement of the pillars. It was subtle, but it gave her the opening she had needed, and she took it. With the same physical prowess she ascended the pillars, and this particular order exposed her to the droid for the moment. She was struck once, and it knocked her off balance, though it only made her teeter to the edge of the pillar she had been on. When she did not fall, she moved again, this time pairing her strategic ascending to the shots of the droid. It took more effort, it slowed her down, but she managed.

And then she was out of the droid’s view. This particular path had brought her to the top behind the droid, and with a shout she force pushed the droid off the edge so that it would fall to the floor below. Anora then made her way to the same edge to look down, not close enough to teeter, but close enough to see below.


[member=Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Anora had been improving quickly once she had hit her stride, that was clear. She had been shaking off the rust, and seemed to be getting back into things quicker than anticipated. Good, that was good. He watched as she would avoid the droid's attacks, almost faltering for a bit but soon enough getting up and managing to send the droid off the edge using a Force Push. Good, he thought. She was learning. But as she looked over the edge, he shook his head... There was one lesson she had failed.

The droid, who had been hanging from just below the edge just out of her view, would suddenly kick itself back up onto the platform and attempt to attack Anora from behind. One thing that Anora would need to learn was that she should never let her guard down, even if the battle appears to be over.

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

The sneak attack had most definitely caught Anora off guard. Enough so that she teetered right at the edge of the platform and had even toppled over. Luckily she was able to twist and grab hold of the platform to keep from falling. At first she attempted to pull herself up, but after more than one unsuccessful attempt, she managed to focus and use her arms to propel herself up. It wasn't perfect by any means, but she brought herself up over the droid and landed on the other side of it, and very nearly tipped off the other side before she managed to catch her balance.

She then whipped around and this time brought her left hand up, and the droid with it. She held it, suspended in the air until she was satisfied with the height. From there, her eyes narrowed and she once again Force pushed the thing. This time, with it suspended in the air, she made sure it went off over the edge where it couldn't grab the ledge to bring itself back up and attack her again.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Anora nearly fell over and off the structure due to her being caught off guard. That was a mistake but she was able to quickly recover. She lost points for the mistake but the recovery earned her some back, he supposed... But there was no room for mistakes in real combat. There was not always a chance to recover, and a mistake could cost you your life. This time she made sure the thing was finished off and done for this go around. Josh watched the thing hit the ground and crumble.

Shrugging his shoulders, he then walked to the control panel and hit the buttons as the droid was re-assembled and put away, and the structure would begin to lower to help Anora get back to the ground before it began to fade away.

"Good, good. Just be sure never to let your guard down... As you never know" Josh would remark. "Remember that one mistake can cost you your life. And letting your guard down is the easiest way to get a blaster bolt or a lightsaber in your gut. And there usually isn't any recovering from one of those."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

When the structure began to descend, Anora stepped away from the edge of it, but she kept her eyes open. Despite the droid being put away, she was paranoid now, but at least she was on her guard! Regardless, once she was able, she hopped down from the structure and and crossed the distance between the two of them.

Hearing him speak up about getting shot or gutted made her press a hand to her belly, but she nodded her head to show she got it. "I understand, Master." she assured him. "I'll make sure to keep my eyes open and keep myself aware of my surroundings."


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smiled then, and gingerly nodded his head. "Good" He remarked. "I think you'll be ready for another mission soon. Just wanted to get out some of the kinks before sending you out again" He would admit. He'd kept her prior injury in mind and made sure that she was ready before she would be sent out in harm's way again. "With that, I think we can call it a day. Unless you had anything in particular you wanted to work on?" Josh would inquire.

It was good to be honest about what she needed to improve on, and if she had an inkling on what she wanted to do, it'd help.

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

The news that she would be ready to be sent out on missions again caused Anora to loft her brows. Hearing such a thing surprised her a little, but her cheeks also flushed slightly, pleased that she had managed to make enough progress that she was being considered for field work again.

"Thank you, Master." she let out, though when asked if she had any questions, she shook her head after a minute of considering if she had anything to ask or not. "No," she answered, shaking her head again. And then she paused, her brow creased, and her head tipped just slightly to one side. "Well actually, is there anything else I need to be doing outside of training?" She knew about routines and such, but she was speaking more along the lines of extra work to help make sure she was ready to be sent back out on missions again.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Yes" He spoke softly, and then would smile lightly. "Live. That is what you should be doing when not training or being on missions, Anora. I know many other Jedi do not think the same, but... You are a human being, you are a person... A person with needs and wants and feelings and emotions, desire to eat and drink and have fun, see the world, explore... Sate those curiosities and human wishes so long as you do not cross to the path of the dark side.

The dark side is that of greed, and anger, and greed often comes from curiosity.

Live... And live well. But live carefully. Live carefully using all that I have taught you, and you will be able to enjoy life to the fullest without fear of losing it. Just remember, that you are a person first... A Jedi second. Be a Jedi not because it has overtaken who you are... But because you desire to help people. Never forget who you are.

The second you stop being a person, when you only survive and are not living... You will cease to be able to reach your own potential, both as person, and Jedi. So learn to balance both. Be a Jedi... But also be happy. And don't let anyone tell you different."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Again this response surprised her, though at least this time is made her smile. She ducked her head and nodded to make sure he knew that she heard him, loud and clear, before she responded with a simple, "Yes, Master DragonsFlame." That was logic she couldn't argue with, though that would mean she needed to make some friends, not just acquaintances.

But her head lifted and she clasped her hands behind her back, "That was my only question." she informed him.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]