Second Passing Down Of The Dragon School Signature Technique [Dragon School - Training]

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Final Dragon​

Asaraa had reached a point in her training where Josh felt that she could be trusted to learn a skill that Josh had learned a long time ago, as a Padawan. It had been his signature skill for his entire Jedi tenure, and now... He felt it right to pass it down to his student. He'd decided indeed, it was time to make it a tradition and use it to teach the future of the Jedi to further hone their abilities. The Padawan would be called to meet on Kashyyyk, in order to meet Josh aboard his own ship - The Final Dragon. While the training rooms in the Rest were now ready, compared to the last time he had taught this technique, he felt that teaching something so dear to him should be done in more special conditions. So he had decided to keep this as a tradition. Thus, Asaraa would be called to the training room aboard The Final Dragon.

And it was there that he waited, sitting cross-legged as per usual...

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

It wasn't that Josh's ship was unusual ground for the Padawan, she'd travelled on it several times when they had crossed the galaxy on the missions the Order had assigned them to. The girl had spent weeks on the ship, crisscrossing the galaxy from one hot zone to another, but in all that time she'd just started to appreciate how Josh had made the ship a home for himself, a shelter against the rest of the galaxy. She knew he still lived there while on the planet, but she'd never been called on board the ship without a mission before. She took a moment to appreciate the ship, relaxing in the heat of the sunlight reflecting off the duracrete of the landing pad before she let her hand fall on the door. She could sense Josh just beyond the door, the Jedi Master's presence a beacon in the force his aura a light that seemed to envelop the entire landing field. A smirk touched her lips as she reaching out through the force as she knocked, letting her presence flare as she reaching out to tap him on the shoulder at the same time.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

There was a bit of finality in the fact he'd brought her here. It hammered home that this was going to be one of Asaraa's final training sessions with him during their time together as Master and Padawan. As for the ship itself, indeed it was home. It had all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a ship but the communication room had been turned into an entertainment and recreation room, being able to multi-purpose the communicator for work and for watching Holomovies and other things. There was an area for food not far from there, as well, and Josh had organized everything neatly to where he'd have a hub for both work and pleasure. It looked more like a large living room than something one would use for work but... Who cares, right? He lived on this ship with his son fairly often.

Down the hall from the room was the training room, that had been upgraded with simulation and ambiance tech both to train himself and his Padawans. When Asaraa would enter, Josh would wait until the moment she tapped his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he would slowly make his way to his feet as he moved to face her.

"Good to see you, Asaraa" He spoke. He looked her over a moment. She'd come so far in so little time. Not that he was surprised, he was just... Happy to see it.

"Pyrokinesis is one of the first specialty schools I learned when I was a student. It's something I've learn to master, and thus I've begun to pass it down to my students" He would explain. "It involves much of manipulating your own emotions as well as manipulating the very natures of heat."

With that brief explanation out of the way, then...

"Shall we begin?" He would inquire.

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Pyrokinesis, you heard about it, of course, every Padawan at some point had reached out to try their hand at it, No-one ever needed to know, all you needed was to reach out to any lit flame to feel the path of energy flowing through it. There was a difference though, between the energy trapped in a blaster bolt and the energy of a lit flame, a wildness to the fire that made it almost seem alive. There were still others who denounced the power as of the dark side.

Still, in their brief time together, Asaraa had managed to learn a few facts, one of which was she could trust Josh. Maybe not with the last slice of cake, or not to try to out tease her, that he was always going to do, but she could trust him not to lead her down a dark path, or do his utmost to stop her if she started sliding that way. So if he told her that it was safe, that it was something to learn, well she certainly wasn’t going to turn it down. Even so, a small part of the girl wished that she had worn her combat outfit, her attempt at controlling a flame when she was a youngling had gone spectacularly badly. She didn’t think there was any chance Josh would let a flame get out of control, the damage to his new ship would bring the the engineers after him in a rage, but there was a certainy comfort in the protections offerd. Still, the girl swallowed and bobbed her head up and down, “Sure, lets. Um,m where do we begin?”

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh had been taught the dark sided variant, a long time ago. But through sheer trial and error, he'd managed to find his own way to using it for the light. Focusing on the right emotions and feelings, tapping into the right things... Positives instead of negatives. Good feelings over the bad... Swapping hate and rage for joy, love and determination. Passion could be used for light... But what was passion? Passion was such a varied thing... Passion once was said to lead to the dark side, but was it wrong to have passion if for the right things? Josh had passion, passion for his work, passion for being a father, passion for the things he did... They were positive emotions and ones he knew that he could channel to spark the flames.

Of course, however one channeled the Force, it was a matter of projecting heat using it.

"My first question is, how do you channel the Force?" Josh would inquire toward Asaraa. "How do you bring it to life? What fuels it for you? Whatever it may be, I'd like to know... And know just how much you think you can bring it out. You will be using the Force to project heat, but it requires a great deal of effort, concentration, willpower... And energy. Especially when you are just learning as you are now. You'll learn to conserve later, but for now, expect to need to be able to bring out all that you are. Can you do that?"

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

“I think so?” Asaraa’s brow furrowed in thought for a moment as she bit her lip, trying to figure out how to approach this. “The force is like an ocean I guess…not that’s not right, it connects us all but it’s more like a clay linkage, that’s it like the stuff Jason uses to make figures that gets stuck to everything. It’s this soft malleable connection that I can draw up into tendrils that I can use to reach up and wrap around things, to manipulate them.” As she spoke the girl’s hands waved around her head as she tried to explain herself as she drew lightly on the force reaching out for her lightsaber, levitating it up into the air. “The finer the control I need, the finger the tendrils become, until they’re affecting things at the molecular level, each tendril manipulating the molecules, I just…I don’t know how much energy I can bring. I’ve never been pushed, pushed myself before.” The lightsaber span around her head, turning on it’s axis before snapping back to her belt. “I mean, I like jumping off the top of the temple and levitating myself down and that doesn’t cause me any problems so I think I can bring out more than that.”

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh listened carefully as Asaraa would explain how the Force felt and moved for her. He smiled lightly at the reference to his son, but didn't say anything from there and just let her talk. Her means were... Interesting, but everyone felt it differently and harnessed it differently. One thing she did note was that she hadn't had the opportunity to harness it in full, or to really get a chance to strain it. Josh knew she'd never progress if she didn't take this step... Suppose it was time to break that barrier and ensure that before he Knighted her, she was ready to shine on her own.

"Well, suppose it's time to try, isn't it?" He spoke with a small smile. "Let's bring it out. Push it out. Focus it as hard as you can and let it out, try and project heat. Envision heat. Can you do that?"

He would hold a hand out then, focusing what made the Force tick for him... Bringing out his strong feelings for the Order, for his family, they fueled him, they fueled his power. And focused it into heat as a fireball would begin to erupt in his hands.

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Push it out? Well, that didn't sound dangerous at all. The girl took a deep breath, letting her eyes close as she raised one hand, palm held up into the air as she sucked in a deep breath breathing it out as she imagined all those tendrils of energy gathering there. The tendrils swirling around in her palm, curling tighter and tighter into a little ball, gathering more and more energy from the air around her, heating up like a heating pad. She could feel the warmth rushing over the flesh of her palm. It wasn't the heat of a fire, not yet, just a warmth. She'd done this much before, pulling in the energy, but how to turn that into a flame was the trick. Heat and fuel right? Without opening her eyes, the girl started pulling the ball of energy tighter and tighter, pushing more and more of her energy into it as the temperature warming her hand got hotter and hotter.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh watched carefully as Asaraa would try and follow his instruction. He was curious as to her capabilities, but with the time they had spent together prior to this, Josh had full confidence in Asaraa's abilities. The truth of the matter was that this was a late-game lesson. One that he would give to Padawans that were nearing their Knighthood. The fact that he felt Asaraa was ready was the primary reason that he had brought her here. But he watched carefully nonetheless, prepared to try and guide her if need be. He watched as she would generate warmth in the form of an orb in her hand. Good, good, she was getting it. He nodded his head in approval, encouraging her to go further as she followed suit - he could feel the temperature rising on it. Good.

"Keep it up. Don't be afraid of it. Embrace the feeling of heat and bring it out" Josh would encourage calmly, yet almost sounding a little excited at the progress she was making. "Heat is an everyday part of our lives. Don't shy from it. Embrace it. If it's projected by you, it will not burn you."

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

"Easier said than done," Asaraa glanced over at Josh, blue eyes staring at him in frustration, "I mean, it's the natural instinct, stay away from the heat. It starts to get hot and then I can't help myself but flinch away." It was the truth, the air around her hands would start to heat up but then she'd shy away from it, breaking her concentration and forcing her to start all over from the beginning. Before this, the only time she'd ever heated things up, transferring the heat into another object, an object that could absorb all the heat, could hold it so that it didn't bounce back to her. The air though, it lacked that absorption, the heat from it was right there for her to feel.

"So...you're sure that it won't hurt me?" This was the hard part, fighting against instincts against that inbuilt behaviour, now though the girl closed her eyes, gathering the energy again, her entire body trembling as this time she tried, not to flinch, to embrace the heat that washed over the bare skin of her palms.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Yes, I'm sure" Josh would promise, giving Asaraa a warm smile. "I've been doing this since I was a Padawan, around the stage you're at now. If I could pull it off back then... I know for sure that you certainly can" Josh would encourage her, showing that at the least, he had absolute faith in her in this instance. He could understand the hesitation. Heat was heat. Natural instincts, survival instincts, made one shy away from it. But once you didn't fear it anymore... You would realize soon after that fire you conjured didn't hurt you any. That made it all the easier.

"Just relax. Form the energy again" He instructed as he could sense her forming the energy once more. "Do not fear the flames. They are your friend. Imagine them more as... A comforting presence, than a harmful one. These flames are on your side."

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Fighting against a natural instinct was hard, certainly not the sort of thing you could just breeze past in one attempt. Asaraa could still feel her hand shaking as the heat from the flame wash over her flesh as the orange light flickered between her fingers. It took all of her self control to not flinch away, despite how much she trusted Josh she just couldn't help herself. She managed to stop herself from flinching away entirely though, feeding more energy into the flame as it flickered and grew in her palm, leaving Asaraa staring at it unsteadily. "Ok...now what?" So, maybe she still wanted to get the fire out of her hand as soon as possible.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Now Asaraa was starting to get it. Good. As she managed to feed enough energy into the flames to use, Josh would hold out his own hands and summon a fireball of his own. "Shape it, keep yourself relaxed, continued to embrace it... Don't fear it. Treat it as you would the Force, as a friend... A friend will not hurt you. At least not intentionally. But you gotta trust it" He would recommend as he would challenge her to shape it into the proper fireball form.

"Once you are confident enough to shape it into the form desired... Then you will be able to use it as an ally to protect the peace. Form it fully and shape it the way you need... Then..."

He would toss the fireball and it would explode as it hit the wall. And immediately, Josh would form it up again, without hesitation. He looked to her, challenging her to mimic it.

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

The pink=haired girl stared at the fire floating between her hands, drawing both hands up to bring the flame to her face, so close she could feel the burning warmth of the fire licking out at her face, just settled there, warming her as she swallowed nervously and bit her lip. Exhaling slowly the Jedi wrapped the fire in skeins of the force moulding it in the same way she'd manipulate a ball of water or snow. It took the teen a few moments to wrap the ball in sufficient threads of hte force to keep it together as she flicked her hand, throwing it at the wall...only it was maybe too well bound, the flames spluttering out without exploding leaving a small scorch mare much to Asaraa's annoyance. "I've got this, I've got it." She closed her eyes, sucking in another deep breath as her attention fell to her hands the glow of flame sparking to life between her hands as she flicked her wrist again, less heavy in her use of hte force as the flames washed over hte wall leaving a small crater next to Josh's.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

She was starting to get it, something that got him to smile in turn. "Relax. If you relax, it won't burn you. You'll barely even feel the heat of it" Josh promised in turn. "It's when it is no longer part of you, a rogue fire so to speak, that it is a danger to you. But when it is in your control, in your possession... It is your ally". He watched her mold it, shape it, and seem to begin to get the picture. Good, he thought. It had taken some work, but she was getting it now. And then she would throw...

It sputtered out on contact, but it was a good try. She was getting it at least, practice makes perfect. He watched as she would bring the flames to her once more, before launching it at the wall. A small smirk formed at the former of his mouth as the fireball exploded on contact this time - and on target too!

"Good!" Josh would praise, clapping his hands. "You've definitely got the hang of it now. From here... Practice makes perfect. I want you to keep practicing that, and figuring out more ways to shape and use that fire. Remember, that fire is your friend. As you embrace it... The more you can find you will be able to do with it."

Josh knew what this meant, of course. This was the final course he was to teach her...

"So now you're ready" He spoke up, giving a bright smile as he turned to face her, finality in his expression. He knew this moment had been coming for some time... And that moment was here. "Asaraa Vaashe... There is little more that I can teach you."

He let that sink in, before he would tell her the truth.

"You begin your Jedi Trials next week. Bring your best. But most importantly... Walk tall, walk strong, and walk knowing that I am proud of you for the Jedi you have become.”

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

For a moment the young Jedi was sure she'd misheard something, that she'd misunderstood, the world seeming to slow to slow motion as teh beat of her heart in her ears seemed to take on an almost epic beat, like drums beating away. The loud pounding didn't seem to abate in the slightest as the girl stared at Josh, her mouth dropping open. It was almost enough to give the butterflies that had seemed to explode in her stomach a way to escape. Almost. although they seemed contest to simply swarm in her stomach, almost ready to carry her away.

Asaraa wasn't sure if she was excited, if she was worried or pleased, that he was willing to put her up for the trials, well that was a sign of his confidence in her right...either that or he wanted to humiliated her so badly that she stayed a Padawan forever...which meant she was doing a good job and he didn't wanna let her go...right? The girl sighed, fingers coming up to rub her temples. "You're sure," The voice was soft, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the moment, send it crashing down to reality.

Reality...screw it. She must have used the force, there was no other explanation for it really. One moment Asaraa was where she had always been standing and the next she had collided with Josh, arms wrapping around i as she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Yet she hadn't misunderstood at all. To be honest, Asaraa had been just about ready by the time he took her in. Josh's role with Asaraa had been to help her refine her game, teach her a few things and help her understood what it meant to be a Jedi Knight. Everything they had done together had been to get her ready for the upcoming Jedi Trials that Josh knew he would be subjecting Asaraa to eventually... And beyond that, to where she would be undergoing missions as a Jedi Knight and perhaps one day as a Jedi Master. He did wish he’d had more time with her, there was no doubt about that. He felt like they were developing a connection and he felt as though he could still teach her further. But there was no reason to hold her back when she was ready. And it wasn’t like he couldn’t continue to teach her. If she wanted it, he would always be available to teach her if she needed it. That would never change.

“I’m sure” He repeated in response. “You were ready before I took you. All I did was ensure you were ready ready” He spoke up, laughing lightly. She was doubting herself, he knew that. But she had no need to. She could do this, he knew she would.

To his surprise, she had attacked him with a hug. After a moment to recollect himself, he nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around her in turn, pulling her close. “You got this” He promised softly. “I know you got this. You just need to believe in yourself as much as I believe in you.”

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"]