Sibling Rivalry: Diego Ticon vs. Keira Ticon

[Keira Priest]

It had been a while, three or more years to be exact, since Keira had fought in a controlled scenario similar to the Fight Club, or The Royal Dragon Club, as it was known among the others in the Red Ravens. The last time she had sparred with anyone had been with another Padawan at the Jedi Temple, with training lightsabers nonetheless, but that felt like lifetimes ago. And besides, today she would be facing her older brother, [member="Diego Ticon"]. The fight would be anything but normal by any means.
With her having trained as a Jedi and his being trained, it would be a relatively even match. No restrictions had been made clear between the either of them before things were decided on, so the rogue had come with her lightsaber at her waist, though she'd shed her robe earlier, not wanting to become encumbered by the fabric. That left her in the sleeveless outfit she wore underneath, along with the gloves always on her hands.
Taking a moment to center herself she exhaled slowly and drew on the Force, knowing the energy field would give the both of them an edge over the other, thereby making this fight something to remember, for both parties.
Now all that was left to do was wait for the man of the hour to make his entrance, and the games would begin.

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Diego Ticon, former Lower City Renegades swoop gang biker, now Jedi padawan, stalked out onto the main floor of the Royal Dragon Club like a predatory animal, nodding to his little sister in the ring, with a pensive stare.

He hopped around on the balls of his feet, psyching himself up for what passed in the Ticon family for fun. A knock-down-drag-out-down-and-dirty fight. He knew he was the underdog in this fight, having only recently discovered his Force powers, but what Diego lacked in, training he made up for in sheer dogged determination.

Armed with only a spooling shock whip and his wits he stared down his sister menancingly, then ratched his grin up a couple of notches.

"Alright, little sister." He growled, crouching down a bit lower in anticipation. "Ready to play?"

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

"That depends." Flashing a crooked smile of her own Keira watched her older brother carefully as he entered the ring, always watchful of any sprung first moves, not putting anything past her kin. If it had been her arriving last she would have attacked without warning, in his place. But maybe it was his idea of making this a relatively fair fight. So be it. That didn't mean either of them would play fair. "How ready are you, big brother?"
With a subtle shift of her left hand the lightsaber at her waist settled into her grip, igniting the orange blade, the only sound the quiet, steady hum of the weapon as she deliberated. The most obvious approach was never the correct option, especially among a family so used to fights as the Ticons. Besides, even with his limited amount of training she figured the Jedi had imparted enough knowledge to him that gave him at least a basic knowledge of lightsaber combat. That was one of few reasons she was grateful for ever having affiliated with the Order.
Spinning the blade once with a flick of her wrist she decided on a simple approach for the time being. This was only a warm up, to test the waters and determine just who it was she was facing in the ring. She darted towards him, sidestepping just before she would have made combat and turning on her heel, bringing her blade up in a sweep towards his legs.
The blade had been dialed down to a lower power setting, otherwise this fight would have been much more costly than just a few odd burns, cuts and bruises.

[member="Diego Ticon"]

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Diego grinned at his sister as she prowled towards him. A veteran of dirty bar fights on Taris, Diego could see Keira's move coming from a mile away. The fake out trick was an oldie, but goodie. But not good enough. With cat-like reflexes, he danced to the right, just barely dodging the saber's blade.

Diego then immediately launched into an counter-attack of his own and with a quick snap of his wrist, expertly cracked the shock whip at her lightsaber in an attempt to disarm her. The weapon unfurreled and launched towards her saber hilt.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

It was refreshing to Keira, fighting someone who wasn't hesitant in the least when it came to using unorthodox tactics. Sometimes she had to remind herself that this most definitely wasn't the Temple, and that she wasn't fighting some next to untrained Padawan. Okay, the last part might have been true, but he wasn't the average. Nor was she, however. It ran in the family, or so things seemed.
Instead of preventing a disarming she let the saber be pulled out of her hands, sending a Force Push towards him with her right hand, stretching out with her left to call the saber back into her hand with aid of the Force, the blade springing into existence once more.
Thus far he hadn't utilized any of his skills in the Force, but she intended to have him do so, if only for practice. She could have attacked in the same vein she did previously, but instead she threw the blade with a flick of her wrist, controlling its arc towards her brother with the Force.
It wasn't a common tactic she deemed to use most times, but she wanted to see just how skilled her older brother was.

[member="Diego Ticon"]

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Diego scoffed at his sister's flashy Force move. More so because he couldn't do anything nearly that cool yet with his Force powers. Then she did something even more unexpected. She threw the blade right at him.

As the weapon came sailing towards him, the plasma blade humming, he quickly reached into himself and called up the burgeoning Force energy he had recently discovered. He put his hand out in front of him and with all of his concentration, held the lightsaber back. It levitated in the air as his arm trembled to keep it aloft. Then he lost his focus and it went clattering to the ground.

Launching himself off the floor he then dove for it, hoping he could get it before his sister.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

Instead of snatching the weapon away with the Force as she easily could have with a simple shift of the hand Keira let her brother take it up, dancing to the side on the balls of her feet and watching him with an amused smile on her lips. From what little he'd spoken of his Jedi training they hadn't allowed him a lightsaber quite yet, so it would be interesting to see what he did with this one, more so because it wasn't a simple training blade of the likes that they allotted Padawans at the Temple. She would know, she'd been there once.
"Not bad, but now we'll see just what they've been teaching you. Before you try anything, remember, it is figuratively weightless, save for the hilt. In other words, if you swing it too hard you'll just hurt yourself more than you would me." For the moment she stayed put, just out of reach of the saber, knowing the range of her own blade. It had been a part of her for the better part of her entire life, and she knew the weapon inside and out. Now it was time to see if her older brother would someday be capable of the same kind of expertise.

[member="Diego Ticon"]

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Diego racheted his smile up a couple of notches as he stared her down with the saber in hand. He gripped it well, holding the hilt like he would hold a katana. But that was where it ended. It would be foolish to use the saber at this point in his traning. It could get them both killed. He flicked off the switch, dropped the saber to the floor and kicked it backwards, sending it flying to the far wall behind him. Diego didn't want to fight with lightsabers. He wanted to fight dirty.

Then as quick as a tiger, he launched himself straight at Keira, going in for a double leg takedown.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

In any other situation Keira would have called the weapon into her hand and ended the fight as quickly as it had begun, but as it were this was meant to be a sparring match. And she hadn't fought unarmed for quite some time, so it was bound to be beneficial practice. Especially considering what exactly the background was her brother came from. Unfortunately, although the Jedi did offer some training in hand-to-hand combat, it wasn't all that extensive. So any of her knowledge had mostly been gained as she learned from her mistakes.
Now that she knew he wasn't going to hold anything back she deemed not to either, flipping backwards to avoid the initial takedown but meeting him towards the middle nonetheless, knowing perfectly well that she was outmatched in both strength and height.
But what she didn't have in that department she made up for in speed and agility. There was also the Force, but she didn't want to have an unfair advantage with her previous training. And it just took the fun away from things.
As they both struggled for leverage in the grapple she centered herself once more, having to pour all of her concentration just into not getting overwhelmed as it were.

[member="Diego Ticon"]

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Street fighting was Diego's specialty and although he had no formal training, he managed to make his rough combination of wrestling and brawling a force to be reckoned with. He continued to try and overpower Keira with his brute force, every muscle taut as he tried to force her to her knees.

"Is this the best you can do little sis?" he taunted. "No wonder they kicked you out of the Jedi Academy." He knew that last remark was a low blow, but trash talk was intended to make his sister lose focus.

She wasn't going down that easy, so he thought he'd up the ante. Diego gripped the handle of his shock whip. With a flick of his wrist, he cracked it towards her. If successful, the maneuver would allow the whip to coil around her waist, sending through her body enough volts of pure electricity to knock her silly.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

"They didn't kick me out." As he went for his shock whip she stretched her hand out towards where her lightsaber lay, the weapon flying into her palm and igniting in the knick of time, catching the brunt of weapon, though it still shocked her enough to cause her to lose her grip on the blade momentarily, catching herself just before it dropped. "I left because they couldn't handle me." The last statement was punctuated by a grin as she kept her saber igniting and in hand, knowing he most likely done with his own attacks.
Her strength in the struggle was diminished with one hand gripping her lightsaber, so Keira drew on the Force to augment her strength so she would be on equal footing with him, at least until someone else made the next move. "And I'd rather have left than be stuck as a Padawan. What is it they're teaching you kids these days?" If he could taunt, then so could she.
Once more she gathered Force energy in her palm, releasing it in one concentrated burst towards him. If the attack was successful he would be thrown off balance, giving her ample time to steady herself and prepare a counterattack.

[member="Diego Ticon"]

 

[Dessh Ekwesh]

Letting loose a string of Huttese curses, Diego flew backwards and landed on his tailbone with an "oof." For a moment he thought maybe he'd cracked something, but he managed to struggle to his feet with no injuries except for a bruised ego. Panting, he stared down his sister with a grin. "Not bad, sis. Not bad at all," he admitted. For Diego the Force was uncontrollable and unpredictable at best.

"But not good enough." he laughed and cracked his electro-whip just to punctuate his barb.

Then the young thug centered himself and reached into the core of his being, drawing up the Force within him. He reached out his arm and with his fingers slowly curling, he tried to pull Kiera across the floor towards him.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

Taking the moment of recompense as Diego recovered himself to do much the same, she attempted to get her breathing under control, panting softly all the same. This would be the fight she had been anticipating and more, it seemed. And there was nothing the young Ticon liked better than that particular idea. It had been years since she'd had a real match such as this, with someone else who was less than hesitant to use any underhanded tactics.

Her only response to his jibe was a crooked grin, the tip of the humming saber in her hand straying towards him, an unspoken challenge. "I do try, you know. Someone has to show you how it's done, after all." Her own taunts were just that, though a degree of cockiness was in her blood. "And it might as well be me."

But one thing that caught her off guard was the pull of the Force she felt on her body moments before she was tugged across the room by the ethereal tendrils. Perhaps she'd underestimated her older brother, but whatever he had in mind, she'd be ready.

[member="Diego Ticon"]