The Student and The Master

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo didn't plan on going easy. He swung his lightsaber sideways, jumping across as to not lose his blade. He then turned, bringing his lightsaber down in an arch, yet he wasn't done. As soon as Raien dodged, Jardo brought his blade forward in a lunge. His master blocked it with ease, but he'd set Jardo up.

Jardo stood back, bringing his blade up in Krayt's claw. He charged at his master, and for a few moments he let the force take control. All he could see was the clashing of blue and red, the sounds of lightsabers clashing. He felt himself enter the cave, he felt himself forcing Raien back.

He wasn't holding off. The two blades were crossing with speeds I doubt anyone who wasn't a force user wouldn't even be able to run. He heard as Raien pushed Jardo away, and he heard as his blade scratched through the wall. He pushed back, however, bringing his blade back into Krayt's claw. He heard the sound of the two blades clash, and Raien came out on top.

Man, this was a long fight.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Raien was slowly beginning to tire, denied his force enhancement, his moves still contained the same exertion of raw power, which was a weakness of the form unless you have a steady stream of energy to replace what you gave, you tired. You would not see this in his body, merely a slowing of the technique by gradual amounts.

Depth of focus increased, pressure rising and cracking with it, some rock nearby crumbled away. He demonstrated next what a common technique to do to his opponents was. The Betrayer pulled the front foot of Jardo forward in the force, and slammed a heavy attack in toward Jardo at the same time, literally battering the weapon toward his apprentice like a ram, if he’d of wanted to go clean through the other’s guard he might well have been able to, given the opposing directions of the beam and the man he fought, but instead he moved to side step at the last possible second, and nodded. Force pushing toward Jardo to hopefully knock him back further.

“Cease”

He held his weapon out, and deactivated it.

“You have the basics my apprentice. The form requires all your energy exerted, hold nothing back in reserve, end your opponent and overwhelm them. When they try to turn your pressure, allow them no respite.” The words cut like a thousand knives, as they had through his life, the certainty of the Sith calling him.

"There is something I must speak to you of." Perhaps it was time for Jardo to see the full breadth of his ambition, and the finality of it. Beside them two black droids walked into view, part man, part machine and part insect, their faceless forms looked humanoid with an exoskeleton of armor around them. "The future."

[member="Jardo Snow"]​

Spoiler

Sorry about the slow reply here. Great thread, pm me with any ideas for another, or I will put something together.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo stopped, watching Raien slowly. He wanted to learn force lightning, and hey, Keth was here. "My master. While we have a moment, may you teach me the way of the lightning?" he asked his master slowly, black tunic blowing in the wind. Turning off his lightsaber he crouched, kneeling to his master.

He was always polite to those he liked, he also murdered those he hated. Saying that, Nyx was still on his hit list. Smirking under his hood, he looked up to Keth, waiting to see what his masters reply would be. After his last fight with Vitani, he wanted to know lightning. He had defensive powers, but nothing offensive.

Lightning would change that.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Raien nodded, force lightening was a useful skill, one of the most useful a Sith could Master. “Force lightening requires a strong connection to the darkside to maintain, despite what a pitiful jedi might tell you, they will never Master it because they cannot draw on the emotion necessary to fuel its real potential.” Which is what was required, a channelling of emotion, any fool could spark lightening out of his fingertips with enough practice, but to rip through armor and through men and women, that required something else entirely.

“Picture who you hate most in this world, and everything about them you loath, everything about them you wish to see this galaxy rid of, forever.”

His Master extended his armored arm, rebuilt as it was through alchemy it was natural not artificial but still not entirely the same as a regular arm, and part of the reason for the discoloration of his own lightening. Every time he used lightening he'd feel pain through the limbs, in truth this extended to merely walking or breathing these days, that pain giving him focus and adding to the technique that came forward next.

“Pool the energy through the limb, feel the pressure at the end, let the lightening come on its own as an extension of your emotion and target those droids. Draw on the darkside to ground yourself as your pull energy through your body..”

Pressure in the palm of Raien’s own hands increased, building, and building until it was ready to burst, for he had so many reasons to hate, so many targets and betrayals to draw from, it made his own ruby red lightening crash against the far wall all the more potently, taking chunks of stone with it, causing the far wall to shake somewhat as it bounced around.

"Focus on a single purple arc at first." For there were many ways to use lightening than just throwing it, and if he was learning from Raien Keth, who had been hit by more lightening than a wet jawa strapped to a lightening rod, then he might as well learn them all.

[member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Picture who you hate the most. Actually, he couldn't just focus on one, [member="Nyx"], his parents, the Jedi. Man he could keep going. He growled, letting the energy build up in his palms. Forcing the lightning to exit his fingertips, he aimed it towards the wall, arching it slightly.

The purple lightning lit the dull cave, but it didn't quite reach the wall. Granted he got some distance in it, but he couldn't get it to hit the wall. Sighing, he stopped. He stared at the wall again, building up all of his anger yet again. This time the purple arch slammed against the wall, shattering the rock and the crystal built into it.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

His Master was satisfied, highly satisfied, Jardo was understanding, he was seeing to link emotion and reason to the technique, “the more reasons and purpose you have Jardo the stronger your techniques will become,” because he’d be fighting all the harder to achieve something.

The air crackled with the discharge of the darkside, darkside breeding more darkside in this place, as it built up. This was how Byss was made, and how it grew stronger as the years past. It was the energy left behind when the men and women here passed away, that was the want of the darkside, and the nexuses left behind, though few were wise enough to see it.

“Keep it focused, focus on all the injustice that was done to you, let it breed more reasons and determination, and puncture through that metal casing in a pinpoint blast” Raien's gloved hand pointed toward a metal cylinder that the droids had previously emerged from, pinpoint focused techniques to breach many armor’s that didn’t build in electrical resistance. This was one of many techniques his Master was about to show him, though he was only an acolyte, so his techniques wouldn't be devastating, drawing from Byss's natural entrenchment in darker energies made such things more readily possible.

[member="Jardo Snow"]​

Spoiler

Sorry can't believe I missed this, thought it was your post *facepalm*

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo nodded, his fingertips died red from the use of the lightning. It didn't hurt, just left a permanent reminder of what he was messing with. Darth Draykon smiled, staring dead at the metal casing. Okay, he knew he wasn't allowed a Darth title yet, but he could alwyas class himself as Draykon.

Calling upon the energy Byss supplied, he pointed his hands towards the casing, calling upon pinpoint, watching as the metal turned red as the lightning punctured right through it. Smiling, Jardo looked towards his fingertips. They were becoming redder every time he used this lightning, and as he said before, it was the reminder of what he was messing with.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Another simple application aside from pressured focus of emotion, was a wide arc. Rather than running around trying to hit your target as most Sith did, you could simply “extend now your arc to strike the length of the wall,” Raien instructed, it would not be as potent as puncturing armor, but then to simply catch someone in a lightening net of sorts it was the first step.

“If your opponent is too fast, you merely extend the width of your arc,” said the Betrayer demonstrating, it had been a rare but useful insight from those Dark Jedi he had killed. It did not take fine control, if anything it was easier to do as you were focusing on a wider area with less accuracy, and less damage potential.

His own red lightening pooled up through his arm, causing pain and finally a loud pressured pop sent it arcing across the far wall, barely having to turn to cover much of it, though far less stone came away this time. “This is the first step to less used, but more versatile techniques.” Unfortunately for the galaxy at large, Raien Keth had been hit by most of them at one time or another, and he knew them intimately.

Looking at his apprentice’s hand's going red, he nodded, “use it, use the pain and the discomfort to amplify your technique.”

[member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo eyed the wall, nodding lightly to Raien. He forced the force through his hand, allowing the pain to cause a wider area with the arc. It took a few tries, but eventually Jardo managed to cover the length of the wall with his lightning. He looked down at his hands. His fingertips were becoming quite red now.

He attempted the technique again, this time focusing on a small crack in the cliff face next to them. He knew it'd be a hard target to hit, and he used all of his rage, anger, hatred and pain to force a small spark of lightning into the crack. He watched as a small amount of cliff face fell.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Kinetite

“Your final technique for now,” Raien stated in his usual gritty voice, giving his apprentice already plenty to practice. Though there were others, they were increasingly advanced from here on out and would require more fine focus and deeper connection to the force to learn. This final one at least would give Jardo something to aim for in the future.

“Extend your arm, and crush your will into being in your palm.” This required a stronger darkside connection than Jardo possibly yet had, he was gaining it slowly but surely in their time together, and would need to continue down this path to learn all the force had to offer. "Focus on a sphere around your palm, push the force energy into your palm as lightening and hold it, crush it, demand it, do not let it escape."

Raien did the same, though it was difficult no doubt about it, the lightening threatened to escape, threatened to burst free, all the hate and malice from his past betrayals, the wars, the sacrifices were crushed into the technique, trying to achieve an energization of the telekinetic projectile, and eventually he did, a small globe in his palm which acted as a hand sized lightening projectile to be thrown.

The betrayer favored these techniques a lot over alter abilities, he was more naturally in tune with the darkside of the force than he ever would be with nature itself again, so much of himself twisted or remade of the darkside, more now with his transformation into a Sithspawn.

[member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo watched Raien, nodding. Everything he felt, he forced forward. The hatred towards Nyx, the hatred towards the Hutts, the hatred towards his parents, the hatred towards the Jedi. He felt the ball build up, he didn't even need to see it. He felt it growing, threatening to break the grip he had on it. Anyone in the area would feel the darkness, they'd feel the hate, all the energy in the area.

He was willing to let it, let it hit Raien. Prove why he should be the knight, not Keth. But then, he wouldn't be here without Keth would he. He wouldn't exist here without him. The ball currently in his hand wouldn't be here without him. Jareth, Jardo owed him as well. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

So he threw the ball at a cliff face.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

“You are learning to focus it, to harness it and the power it brings. Steps to your ascendency.” Surtr’s gritted voice stated, “now comes the question of how will you use it, and what will you conquer.” Raien both stated and asked directly, turning to face Jardo, heavy metal boots clawing to grip against the dark stone, claiming more of it under the Sith boot.

“Either choose a test worth your new abilities, or I have will have one for you” Surtr stated, and it might seem odd he was letting Jardo pick his target, but that was part of the test too, if he picked something unworthy or lacking a challenge he may of failed before he had begun. Victory and defeat was often decided before you even fired the first shot, and it took a Sith to change or beat the impossible outcome. At least that was Raien’s long held view of the galaxy, and a glimpse of what was awaiting Jardo next.

Turning from his apprentice, Surtr returned toward the proving grounds to await his answer, leaving without a further word. Always a test....

[member="Jardo Snow"]

Spoiler

Great thread, left that open if you wanted to do a mission with them or a follow up.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo didn't spend long deciding. It was either Nyx or his parents, and his parents would be easier to kill to be honest. Yet, Nyx had screwed him out of credits, and Jardo was again deciding. Eventually, his parents were the answer. He told Keth that he was aiming at his parents living in the underworld of Courscant. His mother was a Jedi, but Jardo had become strong, stronger than her.

Jardo had been attacked by his parents. Not physically, but mentally. The fact they never loved him, the fact they never really cared that he was sneaking down into the underworld, the fact they didn't care when he ran away to be a bounty hunter, the fact they probably didn't care that he was a Sith. It burned, it burned an emotional hole in his heart, like some kind of emotional rollercoaster, something he wouldn't go on till this was over.

Then, he'd ride that coaster, knowing he'd just killed his parents.

[member="Raien Keth"]