Unity

[Josh Dragovalor]

It seemed he had a new Padawan.

The Jedi Master sat, cross-legged in the training room, wearing his Jedi Master's robes in full bloom this time, instead of wearing something else as he had for the mission so as not to appear out of place in the Outer Rim. He felt serene, at calm, and at ease. He had called his newest Padawan, Dusaro, into the room in order to engage in a round of lightsaber training. He needed to keep up his daily training, or he would never be able to handle himself out in the field.

A lightsaber was not like a normal vibroblade. They were weightless, and their blades could easily slice off objects - even limbs were severed quite easily with a simple strike. And without the Force, and without the proper training... It was very easy to cut off your own limbs due to the speed of which the blade could move. That was the secret behind it being weightless... Speed, precision, calm and focus... A Jedi was trained for this. And that made a lightsaber a Jedi's perfect weapon.

And this, he waited... Dusaro would need that patience he talked about to master this weapon, after all... It would be a very arduous trip.


OOC: I've decided to timeskip us to quite some time after the thread before. So to detail the amount of time, add up the day the thread started, since it only took them like a day to take down the camp, with the days that have gone by before that thread ended and this thread started. It gives Dusaro some time to have ICly settled in and have begun his training, to give us a base to go on.

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

Dusaro would come as he was called in by his Master Joshua. Life had been intresting over the two hundred or so days he had been in the company of Jedi. Ignoring many things that he had to change big and small, his clothing habits was one of the more obvious ones. Typically he wore looser fitting, thick clothes that focused on ease movement and weapon concealment. While robes also allowed both of those things, the feeling of wearing them was much diffrent from what he was used too. Though by now Dusaro had gotten used too it, at first it had been a rather intresting endeavor. One thing he still wore was the long leather arm glove over his mostly prosthetic right arm, though that was nothing major.

So it wasn't too much a suprise when Dusaro enter'd the room in a timely fasion in the Padawan's robes. Though he was always a person who was punctual with time even before now, so him being on time and quick was no suprise. As he enterd the room and stepped inside he did a slight wave with his right had to Joshua and spoke in a slightly low, but normal tone of voice. "Yo, i am here Master." His casual and typically blunt way of speaking had remained even untill now. With his casual, blunt way of speaking also came a good deal of simple honesty, so perhaps that part was better to keep rather then discard. At first for a while he would often not remember the 'Master' title, though by now he only made that slip up on rare occasions.

Dusaro had been for a while very intrested in lightsaber training. Though he had not voiced it, he was extremly curious how it would handle. From his Echani mother, he had been trained in a very wide variety of weapons, and was competent with a wide variety of melee weapons. But he had never even held a lightsaber hilt before in his life, so he was naturally very curious now of all times, when he was a Jedi Padawan.

In the mean time after he had just enterd and spoke, Dusaro observed and examined the room in detail, getting a feeling for it and what all was inside. Another habit he still had from when he was a mercenary, and one he planned to keep.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

(That came out as 224 days after i did the math, so it has been a reasonable amount of ICLY time. And the time skip does help aye, i will detail a few more things that he has grown used too/changed life style wise if or when they become relevant)

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Emotion, yet peace.​

Ignorance, yet knowledge.​

Passion, yet serenity.​

Chaos, yet harmony.​

Death, yet the Force."​

​

These were the words that he spoke as Dusaro would enter the room. "Before we begin... I want you to recite that again, as you have been taught. I want it to remain in your memory, always. It is not just a code, but part of our very way of life. It dictates us, and yet it is part of where we draw from our strength. If we find ourselves straying too far from it... Then we are lost. Granted... The one I tend to recite, I'll admit, is different from the one that might be recited to most. You would be best to learn both. But today, we'll recite mine. The one I prefer to recite is less dated, and acknowledges that Jedi are not as restrained as they once were, but still need to be wary of things that can lead to the dark side..."

He took a breath as he opened his eyes to look at him. "Once again, repeat after me."

"Emotion, yet peace.​

Ignorance, yet knowledge.​

Passion, yet serenity.​

Chaos, yet harmony.​

Death, yet the Force."​

​

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

He kept quiet when Joshua started to speak, listening to the code he had heard quite a few times by now and knew reasonably well. Dusaro had adapted well to the code, as it wasn't exactly having him do anything he wasn't already doing to a greater or lesser extent. To adhere to it didn't require any massive lifestyle changes from Dusaro, but rather a large amount of small ones. Though that could be considerd a large change in and of itself, there wasn't anything so far that had struck completly oppisite to everything he had done up untill he joined the Jedi, ignoring his career as a Merc.

Dusaro nodded after silently and intently listend to his words, mentally taking them to note as he spoke about the code, and that he needed to strongly keep it in his thoughts and actions. He had a few, minor thoughts and things to say about what Joshua said, though nothing negative, rather just comments from a slightly diffrent veiwpoint. Not that he voiced them right now, keeping silent and focused and saving them for a later time if the time came. He took a short breath before repeating after Joshua.

​

"Emotion, yet peace.​

Ignorance, yet knowledge.​

Passion, yet serenity.​

Chaos, yet harmony.​

Death, yet the force."​

After he was finished he kept silent, a raised eyebrow showing his curiosity as to what exactly they were going to be doing. Given the fact that the had just gone over the code, he assumed it was something combat related most likely, that or something force related. Or, perhaps both.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Whether small or large, the code was still an adaptation. One harder to do for adults. As a child, plucked from obscurity and from family, it had been easy for him to learn as it was imprinted on him upon a very young age. As a young man... It came second nature to him because of that. He would watch and listen as Dusaro would repeat the Code after him, and once he had, he would nod, seeming satisfied with that answer.

"Good. Now, I know you've had time to at least be shown the ropes with a training lightsaber, but you've not yet had a chance to test it in combat. To me, I find that your training will progress better with a sparring partner to practice with on the regular. I want you to continue practicing with the training lightsaber. While it does not have 100% the same properties as a real one, and is permanently turned to low power... It does give you a good handle on how a real one handles" He spoke as he would hold out a hand toward the training saber rack. While Dusaro wouldn't have handled a real lightsaber yet due to not being ready for one, he'd likely have practiced with training sabers quite a bit by now. You were taught with those early, after all. A training saber would fly from the rack and into his hand, and he would toss it to Dusaro.

"So your sparring partner today will be... Me. Activate your lightsaber and come at me."

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

It was hard to adapt to because it was mostly small things, in Dusaro's case. Things you grow up your whole life doing, only to have to change them after being throughly set in them. Made for a difficult time indeed. There were still things he needed to work on, but that would likely be the case for quite a good time into the future.

Dusaro had indeed been training with a training saber as soon as he was given access to do so. He seemed to adapt well to the idea of the weapon, though he also made a point to spend a lot of time practicing with it as much as he could. He caught the tossed training lightsaber, giving it a quick flip to find its center of balance before grasping it there in his left hand. He was excited, a lot, to finally be sparring with the training saber. Though he only let that excitment show a bit after Joshua finished his explination on how the training saber funcitoned and the mild diffrences between it and the real thing. He was not paticularly suprised to hear that his sparring opponent would be Joshua, having figured that is how it would be. Though Dusaro also got the feeling he was going to be visiting the floor mat quite a while for the foreseeable future. Not that something like that would stop him of course.

"Alright then." Dusaro said, letting out a short breath and activating the blade. When it came to fighting and sparring, his posture and body language only slightly changed. Rather it was just the vibe he gave off that changed. Rather then relaxed, he felt springy and ready to move, rather then lazy, he felt sharp and observant. It wasn't anything paticularly special or unique, just something that would be seen.

Since he was given the go-ahead to make a move, Dusaro did so. Starting out a step out of attacking range, he stepped forward and made a slash aimed at Joshua's right side. It was a simple and quick move, with a normal amount of force behind it. Though his step in timing was slightly off, his attack was a bit faster then how quickly he was stepping forward. The kind of unseen mistake one would expect a beginner with lightsabers to make.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ky4A-t0NRE​

That familiar half-smirk would cross his lips as Josh would get into stance, his own lightsaber flying into his hands as he activated the blue blade. Dusaro knew full well Josh had a second one hidden, of course, but he wouldn't need it here. While Dusaro had seen Josh fight back at the slave camp, he'd never had to deal with fighting Josh himself. This would be a challenge indeed for Dusaro, even if Josh went easy. A Jedi Master was nothing to sneeze at, after all. But he would learn. They would be training together like this quite often, after all. Josh was eager to see the results of Dusaro's training, and to instruct him further.

Josh didn't move much when Dusaro struck. He simply moved his lightsaber in a diagonal motion to block it. He watched and waited for Dusaro to make the next move. He was testing him, seeing how offense before he struck first. For now... He waited.

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

Dusaro did indeed know he had a second blade, and figured that for training purposes he wasn't going to use a second. Training was training after all, so the fact that Josh would be going easy on him did not paticularly annoy him. Dusaro knew indeed his master was nothing to sneeze at, but to him, training was training for a reason. It was to fail and fail and fail again, so that when the real battles came, there would be no failure. So he would do just that. Try the unthinkable, the odd, the bad ideas, the new, and fall over and over, in order to not fall later.

Thoughts such as these were in Dusaro's mind as he continued forward. His face had been more or less neutral for a moment, before a that slight grin made it's way across his lips as the sabers clashed with a satisfying 'Kksssshhh!'. He dragged the screeching lightsaber across Joshua's, pushing against his block with a reasonable amount of force with his left hand, before Dusaro started to move his body forward and to the right. Unlocking blades with a quick movement, he tried to make use of the weightless nature of the lightsaber. He snapped his left arm around to make a quick, flick like slash at Joshua's left side, the idea being to move himself to the oppisite side of Joshua's blade and attack that side.

The move, while the idea did not have any major issues, had problems with execution from Dusaro's end. He was still very much used to blades with weight and momentum, so the attack lacked grace, but more importantly finess. The arc of the attack was wide, and the angle was not well picked. Dusaro's natural econemy of movement from the training he already had could only help with those issues so much. On the upside however, he did not come close to hitting himself, and his footwork was solid.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

And knowledge was power. The knowledge he had one but wouldn't use it for now would allow Dusaro to prepare in case, but likely keep himself reserved for a different challenge from the possibility of his opponent changing fighting styles in the middle of the fight. Or at least, when it came to the duel-wielding saber style. He still had plenty more, after all... Luckily for him, this was training. But Josh was training him to fight, not to dance and do ballet. He wouldn't make this easy for Dusaro, not one bit. This was where he was - indeed - to bring his trial and error. He, he could get up and try again. On the battlefield... One try, and if he failed he wouldn't be getting up again.

Lightsabers clashed. The "kssssssh!" came, less powerful then a real duel, but certainly a marvel to look at from a distance. Dusaro was trying to find an opening, he noted. Good. Josh would remain calm, his face serene, focused as he would wait for Dusaro to move. He moved to flick at Josh's left side, and moved. A good strategy, showed his experience with melee weapons. But a lightsaber was not a normal melee weapon. When he would strike, Josh's lightsaber was waiting. The "Ksssssshhhh" sounded again, and Josh would look at Dusaro, gauging his facial expressions. "Calm. Patience" He whispered. This was part of what he had meant back in their talk. Patience, lots of patience. Josh had anticipated and telegraphed his attack. With patience. With focus. With calm.

Now it was his turn.

He would strike quickly, spinning to confuse, striking to the left shoulder to stun. No movement was wasted, every movement held a purpose. The moment it struck saber or shoulder, he would move again, toward the right elbow, this time to diver the saber that way before returning with a harder fury to the left shoulder to try the stun again - followed by a series of strikes around the body with a sudden increase in speed to see how his student handled under increasingly mounting pressure.

The test was on.

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

The clashing of blades, though maybe not as strong as a pair of real ones, was still quite the marvel to Dusaro. The simple fact that he was sparring with a Jedi Master, holding such a training blade on his own, made it a stunning marvel for Dusaro himself. While he did not let this distract him, the feeling of accomplishment and awe were never the less still there. 'Calm and paitence huh?' He repeated in his head after Joshua whisperd. The idea of calm and paitence in combat was the exact opposite of his training up untill now.

'You attack and keep attacking. You block to place a well timed attack. Even if it means you take a hit, you keep attacking while minimizing damage to yourself as much as you can.'

Such was the way he had been trained to fight. On a battlefield, rarely was the luxury of time given to deal with an opponent before another three would make themselves apparent. Facing more then one at a time was quite possible as well, which gave even less leeway in the time department. Of course, Dusaro did not try and comply with such a broad generalization all the time. If he had, he would be dead a long time ago. But that was how his mentality on combat was. Fast, rough and bold, nearly to the point of brazen. While this was not necessarily need to be removed, it did perhaps need to be tempered. Though that would likely happen simply with further training in general.

The movement was to Dusaro's senses a beautiful, flawless looking move. The sight stunned him for the moment, indeed confused before his instincts screamed out at him. His left arm moved quickly to the side, catching part of the training blade but still getting his left shoulder nicked. Dusaro knew better then to think that would be the last attack so prepared himself for the next coming attack as Joshua moved again, this time making a timely block while keeping his legs in the same postion. As the third attack came in, this time at his left shoulder again, he took a step back to move the rest of his body in postion to take the heavier blow, and to get around his blade to block it faster. Though the postion the move put him in was not a good one to return with attack.

Dusaro seemed to take the pressure of the increasing momentum of his attacks well, a little 'fire' in his eyes coming in as he was forced on the defensive. He did not like being on the defensive. He couldn't make a winning move from this position and in fact, like this he doubted he could survive much longer. Dusaro was rather certain that as he was now, he wasn't going to find an opening in his masters defence, not one that wasn't unguarded on purpose. He was going to have to try and force this one to work out his way. Such were the thoughts in his mind as he attempted to make his move, 'his calculated gamble' of the spar.

Dusaro had just received a blow that nearly was a full on direct hit on his left side from Joshua's training blade, that side of his body trembling for a moment after the stun from the saber kicked in. The next attack would likely break his guard and put him in a very bad postion. Most people would try and back up before that. Get distance. Something like that. Dusaro's came to a diffrent awnser, having gripped his training lightsaber in both hands at some point during their sparr to deal with his masters blows. When the next attack came, he moved in with his own saber in an attempt to clash with his masters, locking their blades between them. If he succeeded, he would use the lock to move his body forward, pressing all of his weight forward and then shift his body to the left side, while deflecting Joshua's lightsaber away from himself to attempt a shoulder bash against Joshua. The move was not an aggressive one, not an attempt to maim or injure, but rather an attempt to force an opening so he could make an attack. It was beyond risky, but it was the only thing he could conceive of in the heat of the moment that might work. So Dusaro would take the risk with the same usual confidence and grin, even if the move ended with him on the floor gazing at the ceiling.

All in all, it seemed when the going got tough that Dusaro went for the risky strategies, putting everything on the line. Though with what Joshua would have seen so far of his personality, it might not be too much of a suprise.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

One mistake.

One mistake was all that it took, and usually it came when one took risks. Risks could be good, but other times they were bad.

This time, his risk had been a mistake.

The two had fought to a stalemate up until Dusaro had made a single mistake, and that was trying to ram him with his shoulder. Josh would do something that one might not expect a Jedi to do, and that was match power for power, brute strengh for brute strength. It was called to attention that Josh was a large man. Not Jar Jar McNuggets size, but a muscular sort who clearly had done his set of weight training as well as keeping himself in peak physical condition - as a Jedi should. He'd fought with melee weapons other then lightsabers as well, and had developed his physical strength quite well. With that, he would be at least on par with Dusaro. Stalemate again. But the thing about Josh was... He mixed strength and intellect. He was a strategist. And that strategy was executed with one simple movement.

His lightsaber was pointed immediately at Dusaro's throat the moment that they had collided and closed their distance. Josh had been waiting for just the right moment to strike, and he had done so.

"Dead."

A cheeky grin crossed his lips before he would pull back and deactivate his lightsaber, motioning for Dusaro to do the same before folding his arms and looking him over.

"What did you do wrong, Padawan?"

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

Dusaro didn't expect failure. Or rather, he didn't expect this paticular manner of failure. Sure, he was prepared for Joshua to, maybe, do a bit of a sidestep and push him then. He could expect that. Then he would have been off balance, and facing the wrong direction. That is how he had thought his plan would go wrong. Dusaro found that, not only was he wrong, but he was wrong about how he would be wrong. Well then. He knew they were of a roughly similar stature, Joshua likely weighing around ten, fifteen pounds more then himself. So the idea of Joshua pushing back did not suprise him when his mind instantly started replaying the scenario even as the saber was brought to his throat. Rather, even as Joshua pushed him back, his instincts went 'naturally this happend you bantha herder'.

By the time Joshua started to get his cheeky lil' grin, Dusaro had gotten the idea of what he had done wrong. He heaved an annoyed sigh before turning off his own lightsaber after Joshua, his face visibly twitching at the question of 'what he had done wrong'. It was obvious now. Then again, hindsight was perfect. Regardless, he let go of that annoyance with a large exhale, taking a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking.

"I didn't think you would try to push me back. The idea didn't even cross my mind. It was obvious now in hindsight, of course you would. But that calm look of yours made me think you wouldn't plan to brute strength me right back. Guess you could say i underestimated you, or something like that?" Dusaro said, unsure if that was the right word or not. "Regardless of thatm thanks for the first lesson." He said, making a quick bow. Bowing and thanking the opponent in sparring regardless of the outcome was something that he had been taught to do a long time ago, when he was a kid. So he didn't think much about the bow and the thanks, though to others it might be a bit more unusual.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"You're half right" He would respond, pacing the room a little. "You underestimated your opponent and you made a judgement call based on what was on the surface. But you also took a risk" He would add, before looking over at Dusaro. "Now, I'm not saying to never take risks. But a Jedi learns to think quickly, and act quickly, while also thinking rationally. You took a risk with the shoulder attack, without considering in full what I might do in response. It was that easy to get in close enough, that with just a split second more of attack and I could have put my lightsaber right through your throat and BOOM, you're dead. Unlike me, a Sith Lord won't hesitate to put that lightsaber through your throat, and then some, to make sure that you're deader then dead" The Jedi Master would explain.

"The lessons to take from today? One, never underestimate an opponent, that will be the first thing that kills you. The next thing? Consider all possibilities and prepare for them if at all possible. And lesson three? ALWAYS consider every single option, possibility and outcome, quickly, and yet rationally, before you take a risk. One bad risk, one bad decision... Well, you might not get a second chance. We lose Jedi by the day due to bad judgement calls, especially Padawans. Now, I know that this isn't easy to do, but as you'll find out, it comes with hard work, as well as experience. Do, or do not. There is no try. You work hard, you train hard, you make your brain as important of a tool as your blade. It'll save your life."

He would nod in turn as he thanked him for the lesson, though shook his head after a pause. "We're not finished yet. Just one more thing. Well, two, actually" He spoke before walking over to the training room's console and logging in, starting to fiddle with some settings. Soon enough, a large cube would fall from the ceiling and hit the floor. Josh would crack his neck before holding out a hand and watching as the cube would fly across the room due to a Force Push. Josh would then relax and allow himself to telekinetically move the gamecube back to it's original position.

"We will use this cube to test how much you've been practicing your powers. I want to see a Force Push. On the cube" He would instruct. He knew that Dusaro had only been at this for awhile. 7 Months, 1 Week, and 3 Days to be exact. Day 224. But these were basics that he hoped that Dusaro had at least found a grip on by now.

"Proceed."

[member="Dusaro"]

 

[Dusaro Dresari]

Dusaro didn't have much to say in response to Joshua. He wasn't wrong, it had been an improperly thought out risk. And in the same way that Joshua didn't seem to be one to use brute strength, every Sith wouldn't just use brute strength. Simple oversights like this were a large reason as to why people trained. To hone one's mind and instincts. 'Seems i have a ways to go' Dusaro thought to himself with a grin. He undestood now better where he was as far as his own personal skills went. Even if that had been all he had gained from this, it would have been well worth it. To move forward, you have to know where you are, and now he could feel that long distance he would have to travel. It was an exceptional distance. But it was worth it, it was the path he chose, and now Dusaro could feel it.

It didn't suprise Dusaro that a large number of Padawans were claimed by such bad judgments. Rather then a gap of skill, many deaths in the field from his experince were because of a lack of experince or bad luck. Though he didn't know much on how to do it, Dusaro decided to start working on thinking in a more broad minded and deeper manner. That was why he was here though. To learn how to do it. So for the moment he didn't stress it, not yet at least, and focused on what Joshua started to say next.

A test with using the force to push the block was it? He was a bit impressed with how Joshua easily pushed, and then pulled the block back across the room. The sight of the push brought back some painful memories, Dusaro's face hardening for a moment before focusing on the block as it was pulled back. "Just give it a good push huh? I can do that." He said with a confident nod. He didn't know how well his abilities with the force stood up to other peoples, but he had managed to control the basics of telekenisis.

After moving to stand in front of the cube, he raised his left hand and pulled it back, starting to focus and slowly draw on the force. After a moment of calming himself, he pushed his left hand and pushed it forward untill it streched all the way out. The pushycube moved back, though it jitterd and shifted as it did, suggesting that Dusaro's power and push were not exactly stable. As for how far it would move, if a Padawan with average skills in the force managed to move it six inches, Dusaro managed just a bit short of three inches.

So while Dusaro had indeed been practicing and could control it, he was not stable or strong in that control yet, as one would expect.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Relax. Be patient. Remember that nothing is too big" He would remind him as he would watch Dusaro give the cube a go. He didn't know what memories they awakened in Dusaro, but they didn't matter now. Now, he was tasked with doing it here and now, as himself in his current mindset, in his current state, with Josh as his instructor and his mediator. That was all that mattered right now. The here, and the now. He knew he could control the basics, at least, and that was good enough for this lesson.

He had struggles and hardships when it came to stability, but it was all part of the training. The Jedi Master would fold his arms and watch this display. Good, good. He had been his Padawan for a little while now, so it was good to see that he was improving. The block would be pushed forward, without him laying a hand on it, even if unstable. When it would finally do so, he would nod in approval. "Good, good. You're improving" The Jedi Master would praise, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder, okaying him to finish up for now. He had planned for an additional lesson, but felt Dusaro would be better tested on this later. Give him a little more time to improve his technique.

"We're finished, for the time being" He would remark as Josh would walk over to the terminal and start to input the combination again, watching as the cube would disappear. He would then look over at Dusaro as he walked over. "You have to keep practicing, keep improving. But simple practice won't get you where you need to be. Simple practice won't make you a Jedi Knight" He would admit, as he paced the room a moment, as though in thought. "Work on your telekinesis. Your bladework is better then I'd expected, but your use of the Force needs to be improved. Remember, the Force is your ally... Your friend. Treat it as such, and you will live with a long and prosperous relationship together."

He took a breath. "There are others, like you, in my tutelage. Who would benefit from sparring with people of different fighting styles, just as you would. You need to learn how to fight an opponent no matter what their style is. You have to be prepared for varying styles in combat, varying types of people with different behaviors, habits and movements. You can never let yourself be caught off-guard" He would advise as he would then wave a hand.

"You're dismissed for today. I will call you when the next lesson is ready. You will be sparring another Padawan under my tutelage. Be ready" He spoke as he would head out.

(End. I'll set up the next lesson between you and [member="Douglas Starwind"] soon. It'd be nice to coordinate all this via Skype if you have it, but I already sent you a PM on that)

[member="Dusaro"]