Slice Spiralflame versus Haytham Kaze (Kenobi Padawan Tournament)

[Kian Karr]

KENOBI CLASS PRAXEUM SHIP
TRAINING ROOM

[member="Slice Spiralflame"] vs. [member="Haytham Kaze"]
Judge: [member="Veino Garn"]

This was the highest training room on the Praxeum ship. It was a large circular training room, set down into the floor. Along the front and back were a series of seats raised up on platforms for other Jedi to watch the dueling occur. There were a number of younger Jedi present, waiting eagerly for the match to begin. ​

​

A small circular droid hovered down to the center of the training circle. It twirled around for a moment and then a small port opened and a blue light shown out of it. Within a few moments, the blue light took on the form of Jedi Master Kian Karr. He glanced around the room looking first to those waiting to see the match begin and then began to speak. ​

"My fellow Jedi." Kian began, clasping his hands behind his back and pacing back and forth as he spoke. "Today we kick off the Kenobi Padawan Tournament. Today's match is between Padawans Slice Spiralflame and Haytham Kaze and is being overseen by Jedi Master Veino Garn."​

​

"Before I turn the floor over to Master Garn, allow me to remind everyone that this tournament is about broadening relationships among your fellow padawans and about striving to hone your abilities with a blade. Don't lose site of the importance of having fun. ​

​

"The nature of a tournament such as this means that there will be a winner and a loser. But remember, that in both victory and loss, there are important lessons to be learned!"​

​

"Good luck, and have fun!" Kian said bowing to them all before the image faded away and the droid returned from whence it came. ​

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino stood in the center of the circle, arms folded across his chest, listening to Kian's speech, and raising an eyebrow in surprise. Jedi master Garn? That was new. He hadn't realized he'd been promoted by the Jedi order. But so be it. He'd wait for the contestants to arrive and give his short and quick introductory speech before withdrawing to give them room.

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

[member="Veino Garn"]
[member="Haytham Kaze"]

I found my self walking in to catch the second half of Master Karr's speech. My training sabre had been clipped to my belt. I walked to to centre where the judge was. "Master" I said, giving a small nod towards him. I waited for my opponent, Kaze I think it was.
"When Kaze gets here we can begin?" I asked.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

For important things Haytham was late, sometimes. This just so happened to be one of those occasions. Only because after the ceremony that had announced the opponents for the Tournament had been completed, the young Padawan hadn't brought his training lightsabre with him.

That was definitely going to be a problem, he supposed. But on his way to his room he realized that they would probably have training lightsabres there already. He remembered raising an eyebrow in thought, and then he shrugged and entered his chambers. He preferred his own lightsabre, after all, it was his and he was used to it. Although he didn't have an actual connection to it since it wasn't a real lightsabre, he was more accustomed to this one.

Walking into the arena, Haytham heard Kian's speech from the outer hallway, and when he finally got inside the hologram disappeared and he stopped in what he was supposing his designated spot.

He tilted ever so slightly to [member="Veino Garn"], and bowed over to [member="Slice Spiralflame"].

Haytham, was definitely prepared for this duel.

[member="Slice Spiralflame"]

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Haytham Kaze"] [member="Slice Spiralflame"]

Veino gave a nod of welcome as Haytham walked in. He remembered the young man from their earlier meeting and short training session. He was a Djem So bladesman, if Veino remembered correctly. He wasn't sure about Slice. But it was time to begin and he stepped outside the dueling circle.

"This is a duel, yes, but one to test your skills and build your camaraderie," Veino began, "A lightsaber has been said to be a Jedi's life. It is the ultimate personal weapon in history, full of symbolism and contradictions. It kills but is meant to only defend and does not have the reach of a blaster. You must be attacked first to truly be in range."

He had some issue with that thought, but that was a difference between Jedi and Jensaarai.

"It can stop fights by simply being shown, and if necessary, finish ones already started. But you have to know how to use it for that to work. That is what we're here to practice today."

Veino took a few more steps out of the circle.

"So, whenever you are ready, begin. And may the Force be with you."

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

Slice smiled briefly, he unclipped his sabre and walked a few metres away from his opponent. Slice turned to Kaze and activated his lightsaber.

"You can make the first move" he said before slipping into a Makashi stance.

((OOC: Sorry I've been lacking muse))

[member="Veino Garn"]
[member="Haytham Kaze"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham glanced around the arena.

There were many Younglings, Padawans, even Knights and Masters there. It was probably not a sight to behold if truth be told, but when you were in the middle of the room, and all eyes were literally on you, or at least, you and your opponent... Well, it'd be normal to be a little nervous right? Shrugging his shoulders back, the Outer Rim bred Jedi Padawan dropped his hand to his lightsabre hilt, unclipping it from his belt, and spun it in his palm before halting it's movement.

At that moment, Haytham realized he wasn't nervous. In fact, he was confident in his ability with a lightsabre. Brushing two fingers ever so slightly on the ignition button, Haytham bowed to [member="Slice Spiralflame"] when the blue beam extended, took in a breath, and then he was rushing straight towards the other Padawan, lightsabre slashing across the front of Spiralflame. A quick initiator.

There was no reason to talk now.

[member="Veino Garn"]

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]
[member="Veino Garn"]

The padawan was fast, very fast. Yet I wasn't going to go down easy. It stepped forward, raised my own blue blade to defend, I managed to defend. I stepped off to my right, my left arm outstretched, I attempted to grab my opponents sword arm. My makashi training I would keep hidden until later.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham watched with eyes that were very aware. He moved with the intent to win, not to take it easy on his fellow Padawan. In Haytham's mind, they were opponents at that point, and because of that, he had to win. The thought of winning the lightsabre was out of his mind entirely. There was just this duel, and him employing everything he knew about lightsabre combat, and winning it.

The Padawan had slashed with his left, [member="Slice Spiralflame"] reached out with his left hand after defending with his own lightsabre. From there, Haytham exploited his mistake.

He himself, was a Makashi duelist, but primarily a Djem So one, and Djem So employed heavy yet quick counter-attacks, and Makashi was all about finesse, and the duel being smooth.

He didn't hesitate in any of those movements, his left hand bent downwards with a flick of the wrist, cracking across the grasping arm of the other Padawan, and bending his own arm with it to make the actual maneuver possible. Whether it hit his exposed hand, or it didn't, the setting of the lightsabre was toned down enough so that it would only cause a bruise or minor burns, Haytham didn't think of injuries at that moment. Moving as if he had previously planned out the entire duel, he spun backwards from Spiralflame, and threw out his right hand with a force push.

Only to halt him in any advances he would make, or to weaken whatever defenses he was going to employ to prevent another attack.

He exhaled the air from his mouth... Tone it down. He thought to himself, and he waited.

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

The Blade pasted through Slice's arm but it din't serve, still it hurt like hell. Slice stumbled back a little bit and held his already bruising arm. The force push sent him onto his back. He smiled "Good shot" he said. Slice got back up and reignited his blade and ran towards Kaze, however he turned off to Kaze's right with his right foot, he quickly moved from his exposed position at stepped behind the other padawan with his left, if it all went to plan Slice would be facing Kaze's back. Slice then slashed upwards from his right, the swing would finish near his left shoulder. He leaped back a metre to avoid getting hit.


[member="Haytham Kaze"]
[member="Veino Garn"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham inclined his head momentarily to [member="Slice Spiralflame"] when he had complimented his abilities. He smiled for a single moment before watching for the moves his opponent was going to try and pull off.

Once Spiralflame started to move forwards towards him, Haytham readied his guard, but he didn't expect much from the other Padawan in terms of combat efficiency. The Padawan had already settled into what has become his 'arrogant mode.' So early into the duel wasn't characteristic of Haytham, but he did it nonetheless, and with an apathetic gaze he moved forwards to slash at the hip area.

Although he hadn't expected Spiralflame to turn off to his side, and when it happened, his mind froze and he stopped short in his movements before bringing his lightsabre behind him, expecting the slash that would've split his body in half if it were a real lightsabre fight, and if he didn't block it.

Diving forwards after the block, Haytham spun on the ball of his feet, and he felt a pain around the small of his back.

In his mind he blocked the lightsabre, but in reality he had only deflected it from completing it's true path. Rolling his shoulders backwards, Haytham beckoned his opponent forwards. It seemed that it was going to pay off to play this duel safer...

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]
[member="Veino Garn"]

Slice was getting worn out, he took short, deep breaths. Unable to keep up his pace he lowered his blade. He kept the conversation going, "You've shown you have a great defence, now, show me your offence!" he said. Trying to goat Kaze into attacking. Slice's mind was still at work, the cogs of the clock work smoothly ticking.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham blinked stunned for but a moment.

Was his opponent really going to waste time like this? He raised an eyebrow as if to say 'are you serious?' Before he took note of his heavy breathing. Whether it was a ploy or not, Haytham didn't care. Whether it was a bait or not, it didn't matter. There weren't any fatal punishments if he made a mistake here, just the regret and disappointment of not winning.

At first it'd probably be hard for him to accept a loss, but in the end, he wasn't going to die right?

There was a moment of silence, and then he lunged forwards, like he had done in the very beginning of the fight. This time however, the Force enhanced his speed to the point where it seemed things around him were moving slower. He was barely in the state of a force speed, but he what little power he could muster coming over him, and with an overhead strike, his azure lightsabre beam came crashing down over [member="Slice Spiralflame"].

Haytham was ready to end the duel in that single move, if his opponent did what he hoped they would.

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

Slice smiled at his opponent at the question. This was the end game, Slice had one final move, however Slice couldn't move fast enough, he ducked and raised his sabre quickly, the angel was just right to impale kaze's torso, he took a small step forward and stretched out his hands. He felt a burning pain has Kaze's sabre hit his back. He looked up to see if he hit his mark.

[member="Haytham Kaze"]
[member="Veino Garn"]

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Cold eyes watched [member="Slice Spiralflame"]'s movements, and he twisted his torso as much as he could, only to feel the faint burning sensation that came from being in contact with a non-lethal lightsabre blade. When his lightsabre connected with the back of his opponent instead of just immediately crushing his hastily made defense, Haytham, the boy born of Dromund Kaas, brought his arm downwards as he passed the other Padawan with his own forward momentum (and twisting his body previously) to slash across the back of the legs of his opponent after his right foot cemented itself after hitting the ground.

It wasn't the cleanest movements due to the bruise that Haytham knew was going to be forming any moment just below his left armpit, plus with the sudden contact, he lost the concentration that he had been mustering to utilize the Force speed, but thankfully enough, he had held on to it long enough to just complete his last counter-attack.

He could only hope that he ended the duel there because Spiralflame hadn't been moving that fast to begin with, and the both of them with injuries would probably impair them in their final moments of the duel.

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Slice was getting exhausted, yet he persisted, a blade slash rocketed towards his legs. He jumped, changed directions and leaped towards Kaze. Slice couldn't deny, there was only a slight chance of winning, Kaze was an expert duelist. Slashing his saber twice, once from his waist to his shoulder, and another in reverse he thought 'this is it!'. This was his last shot at winning.

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino stood watching them, face impassive, except for his eyes darting between the two, following the movements of their blades. Haytham had two strikes to Slice's one. At this point, he would announce Haytham as the winner after the conclusion of the next counter-attack and send them both to get some bacta.

And perhaps some lessons on the conservation of energy and combat control. While yes, they'd learn to live longer over time, it was better to learn that before they suddenly found themselves in a fight against a Sith Lord and end up dead or kidnapped.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Once his right foot had hit the ground, he threw his weight onto the right side of his body, and went to the side in a somersault to avoid the immediate gap closer that Spiralflame had performed to get closer to him. Haytham wasn't the type to let himself be confused, but that was the one time that [member="Slice Spiralflame"] had actually confused him throughout the whole duel. That, he could admit without any second thoughts. They were both tired, but the other Padawan had the appearance of being more tired, one that wasn't as conscious of both of their body states.

Haytham was.

His eyes analyzed the movements of Slice, a slash to his waist, Haytham hopped backwards and leaned ever so slightly backwards so that he kept enough room in between them from the slash that started at the lower half of his body, but then he lunged to the side of his opponent, hooking his leg just behind him and if he could, shove him towards the floor onto his back.

[member="Veino Garn"] [member="Slice Spiralflame"]

 

[Slice Spiralflame]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]
[member="Veino Garn"]

Okay, his attack didn't work, and he got tripped. Lying flat on his back, he wasn't done, he was only going to stop when the judge called it. Slice drew his saber, which had fallen from his grasp. He then rolled onto his knees, the gap between them was minimal, perfect for an attack.

Slice stabbed wildly three times, shoulder, other shoulder and center torso. He then withdrew his saber and fell back onto the floor, checking if his marks landed their hits.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

If persistent wasn't a word, Haytham would have no idea what to call [member="Slice Spiralflame"].

He simply kept coming, and it was clear that at that point, Haytham was irritated. There was a time to keep pressing your advantage, and then there was a time to know when you had lost. Something that he himself had to learn, but when did it become easier to criticize yourself, rather than others?

Haytham's right hand lurched outwards from his body, the force push emanated from his hand with the intent to shove Slice away from him, just as his lightsabre came upwards to stab at him the first time. His hand had moved before the first stab had even been completed. Continuing the fight in Haytham's mind would be like beating a dog that was already down. If the fight continued, Haytham would make sure to expend enough energy to just let Spiralflame exhaust himself even further.

[member="Veino Garn"]