Puppies Can Fly

[Lira Dajenn]

Luckily the force of the water struck Nemene hard enough to push her back several inches. This allowed her to unwittingly dodge the lightsaber...but only barely. The very tip of the burning hot plasma sliced into her abdomen, carving into her and leaving behind a thick cauterized wound that seemed to bubble with the heated intensity. She stumbled back further, gripping the hilt of her sword and letting out a soft gasp.

The pain once again did not touch her, but the odd feeling of her flesh sizzling away did. She frowned slightly, catching herself before she fell back completely.

Then she darted forward, she used her sword this time not in attack, but in hopes of catching the lightsaber between the blade and the cross guard, Slicing upward towards the hilt of the lightsaber and following up with a quick kick to the womans knee to hopefully bring her down.
@[member="Tamara"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Naturally Tamara brought her blade up and defended the slash. However, through luck or design it wasn’t caught and slid away. That gave her a little bit of attention to spare the foot shooting in at her. She was only able to raise her leg a little, but it meant the powerful kick impacted her shin rather than knee.
It hurt, and she’d have a peach of a bruise if she survived, but she could still walk, mostly.

Stepping back again she faced the Sith. Distractions had worked well before, so Tamara called on the Force again, this time gripping at Nemene’s lower leg and ankle and jerking it hard forward. If it worked, the Sith would fall flat on her back and be prey to the lightsabre swinging in in a harsh diagonal slash at her as she fell….
@[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

When she felt the pull on her leg Nemene fell back into it. She wasn't off put this time, she had been prepared for some trick of the force. The woman before her had used it one too many times, and this time Nemene had seen it coming. As she fell a smirk crossed her face and her hands flickered.

With only a slight twerk of her her wrist Nemene shot the dagger like sword out of her hand, sending it flying towards the womans foot, hopefully impaling it and pinning her in place.

At the same time she sailed backwards into a flip, falling over the lightsaber bladeand onto her hands. Then she stumbled back onto her hands, landing on her feet in a crouch.

As soon as she hit the floor however Nemene shot forward with her trademark speed. She aimed a tight jabbing fist towards the womans throat and sternum, hopefully knocking her out and bringing her down onto the floor.
@[member="Tamara"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Nemene Talith"]
The knife sailing at her foot was bad. No time to react, what with her blade slashing. However, it was slashing in the right direction to slightly contact the blade enough to deflect it so that rather than stabbing through her foot it slashed across the outside of her leg. Blood spilled from the nasty cut as the razor sharp blade sliced through it.
The pain was agonising, so when the Sith came at her, she was off balance and the punch to the solar plexus nearly floored her. Tamara gasped for air, stumbling backwards.

She was not done yet though. Rising, she attacked how now unarmed opponent with the lightsabre, hobbling forward, and executing three heavy diagonal slashes at the Sith.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

This time Nemene didn't need to move back, she saw the attack coming. There was only so much one could do after taking a grueling hit like Tamara had taken, and again there was only so much one could do with a blade like she was holding. Nemene's lightsaber was large, the hilt being long enough to hold more than three hands and the two blades being even longer. Even with only one blade ignited it was rather unwieldy unless someone knew how to properly handle it.

From the way Tamara did it was obvious she had only used a one handed lightsaber before, and one with a standard hilt, at least it was obvious to Nemene's eyes. She was not overly gifted in the force, but Moridin had ensured she was a divine when it came to bladecraft.

Gracefully she moved to the side of Tamara, moving like flowing water. Even as she moved however one of the slashes followed her, hot plasma slicing into her ribs right below her raised arm. Again she felt it, not pain, but the physical sensation of the lightsaber slicing into her skin and searing away flesh and muscle, her eyes popped open at the strangeness of the feeling, but she didn't stop moving.

She slid to the side of Tamara, stopping when she was halfway around her. Then wither her right hand she called her sword back to her hand and with her left aimed a solid fist towards the womans face.
@[member="Tamara"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Nemene Talith"]
Living or dead, this Sith had almost exceptional powers of resilience. Tamara knew that her lightsabre had struck home. She felt the resistance, she smelt the burning flesh. Yet there she was, and her fist....

Tamara stumbled back as the woman regained control of her sword. Blood flowed profusely from Tamara's nose and she was nearing the end of her tether. It had been a long time since she had fought a battle like this. Deception and misdirection were her usual weapons, but here she had fought someone who was not only more skilled as a fighter than her, but also someone who apparently felt no pain.
They squared off again...Tamara began to look for a way out.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene stood opposite the woman, a sneer on her face. Her chin was held high and her eyes were clouded with rage. She was sick of this, she was sick of this village, she was sick of this planet, and most of all she was sick of thus schutta before her. Her sneer twisted into a scowl, and as rage built up inside of her so did the force.

Her free left hand began to spark and sizzle, force lightning seemed to jump between the spaces of her fingers, then it cracked and burned, turning into something else, something darker. Red flaring auras rippled across her finger tips, spreading slowly down to her knuckles. Her nails seemed to grow into claws, the aura covering all four fingers on her hand. Rage boiled through her, and then she lashed out.

Nemene whirled her hand forward, throwing four thin lines of rending force destruction towards the woman.

Then she charged forward. She moved with untold grace, bounding to Tamara in one leap and stabbing towards the womans abdomen, hoping to impale either her, or whatever pieces of her were left.
@[member="Tamara"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Nemene Talith"]
Oh sh-

She got her shield up in time to stop herself being turned to a crispy smear, but the result was probably even worse.
Force Destruction was this writer’s personal favourite from the old Jedi Knight games. Throwing an explosive fireball was so much more impressive than lightning, yet it was rarely used. Tamara herself had ever encountered it, and didn’t know of the most…dangerous aspects. This was not just a strike, it was a bomb, and when it hit the shield it didn’t just dissipate with suns and roses. It exploded.

Tamara, and everything within a good 5 metres, found itself thrown backwards, Nemene’s lightsabre dropping from her hand. The astonished woman was sent flying into one of the hovels, smashing through wooden walls before slamming against a wooden pillar with a crunch.
Pain filled her, but she was fortunately far away from Nemene’s sabre. As the abused hovel tottered and started to collapse with Tamara still inside she blacked out.
The day had not exactly gone as planned…and it might even be her last. The only good thing was that Nemene would have a difficult time finding her, especially considering the Sith had taken injuries of her own which needed treatment. Cold comfort when she could feel her arm had come out of her shoulder….

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene was thrown back by the aftermath of the force destruction. In truth she had not expected the explosive backlash from the ability. The tiny strands of energy should have slashed through the woman, but instead the shield had caused them to crumple together and once again form into a wave instead of slashes, this caused the explosion. The concussive shock wave struck her, throwing her back before she could get too close to the explosion. She landed with a heavy thud on the wooden planks, her sword smashing blade down into the wood.

She let out a grunt as the feeling of dislodged ribs poked her skin. It only furthered itself as she slowly rose from her laying down position.

The scowl on her face was quickly replaced with an expression of neutrality as she looked about. The village was in tatters, fire raged everywhere, buildings had collapsed, and pieces of people were strewn about. Slowly the Queen of Rattatak pushed herself to her feet, the ragged silks on her body only barely covering her now. She frowned as she looked down at them.

A ragged breath escaped her lips as she surveyed the collapsed building, fire slowly spreading to it.

Another sneer came upon her face and the woman twirled on her heel, with an afterthought she grabbed her blade from the imbedded wood, calling her lightsaber to her hand as she walked past it.

Steam slowly rose from her body as she left the village, broken and tattered skin slowly returning to perfection as her innate skill in healing kicked in. For each second that it ran its course she could feel herself getting weaker, more tired, near death. She had to be perfect however, she could not be scarred.

As she left Nemene let out heavy ragged sighs, she would not be fighting again for some time.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

(Evil person not tagging me.)

The rubble moved slowly, and the villagers seeing this, came to investigate. Inside the found a severely injured Tamara. Though the village had been reduced to ruins the majority of the people had survived. Whilst Tamara had lost the battle, she had succeeded in her main goal of protecting the village. Shame about the puppy though.

Tamara was a sight for sore eyes. Broken bones, burns and cuts, swelling and bruises. It was something of a wonder that she'd survived, but she was alive, and eventually she would return. It was clear that her experiences here showed she no longer had the necessary strength to fight a combatant. She needed to rediscover her inner power and become what she could be. She would rise from the ashes of this defeat stronger than before...probably.

FIN