Unleashing the Fury

[Crystal]

[member="Cameron Centurion"]

Crystal had a fair idea of what he was thinking, but appreciated the restraint he was showing at the present moment. It would be fine though, she could take care of the situation if it became necessary to do so.

"It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Not that I haven't always been doing whatever I felt like doing, but in the name of fun, it's excellent. I'm even making training fun, for me anyway." Yes, it amused her to toy with her apprentices just a little bit. But more importantly, it was important for her to have useful people at her disposal. Were her apprentices useful? Potentially, but not overly so.

The Sith Princess smiled. "It's a side of me that I haven't indulged in a long time. It's nice to let loose."

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Continuing the practice with the chair Ashra’syle’nuruodo waited for acknowledgement of the feat, a great many of the other followers of Moross were indeed watching rather intently as she fumbled with the powers of the gods. It didn’t bother her, the majority of them would never hope to wield such powers and if they wanted a glimpse of what these powers looked like in their infancy they were welcome to watch.

She was working on keeping the chair aloft when it suddenly rocketed towards her apparently at the will of [member="Crystal"]. The Chiss woman had just enough time to react throwing her arms in front of herself she caught the chair on her forearms. Pain flared through her arms as the chair fell away to the ground, this drew even more attention to Asylen. Rage filled her as she wanted to retaliate but she knew that is not what Ithari would want of her. Instead she opted to rise from where she had been seated on her heels, she picked up the chair as she narrowed her eyes on Crystal and the man she was sitting with.

Setting the chair back at a table Asylen flexed her arms slowly trying to force the pain away by keeping the muscles moving. It felt as if the entire room was watching her now, she had to be careful there were certain expectations of her and if she didn’t want to disrespect her God she needed to represent him well. She left the mess hall to return to her quarters without any further scene, to anyone on the outside looking in it would appear as if she had fumbled in her practice nearly injuring herself but she knew the truth and would keep that information filed away for later.

[member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Cameron's response was swift and largely without emotion. "Good." Once the Chiss woman had departed the mess hall, Cameron leaned back slightly in his chair. "She does have a point though. In her untrained state she is indeed quite useless. I can only hope you will show her the same vigor as you have your other students."

Expressly speaking Cameron couldn't actually care less. However, the strength of Moross did reflect him and what he desired, so he was quick to place precedence on the organization's interests. Especially...if it aided his own.

[member="Crystal"]

 

[Crystal]

"Oh I will. But she doesn't dictate my schedule, and that was the point of the exercise. She could have simply waited for me to finish our conversation, but she did not. I enjoy teaching, if you recall." The Sith Princess had taught all of the pair's descendants as children.

She relaxed, only slightly. "Children require less instructions than adult students. Probably because they haven't lost their imaginations yet. However, it is fun to toy with them." Crystal grinned.
Cameron arched a curious brow. "Do they?" It wasn't something he'd actually considered...mostly because he had not trained a child in...some time. The last was his daughter, matter of fact. She'd required an abundance of instructions.

"After about four, when they fully comprehend what you're saying."

Cameron laughed briefly. "Yeah? Go figure. Training children...I don't have the patience with limited exception." So limited of an exception that it scarcely existed.

Crystal nodded. "I know." She recalled all too well. Plus, he travelled often, so the majority would have fallen to her anyway. So, she didn't really know what else to say. She wondered if he had anything in mind when he invited her to sit with him that he hadn't already mentioned.

Cameron hadn't really had much of anything overly important to discuss. In truth, he simply felt extending the invitation was polite since he'd made eye contact with Crystal. Fortunately, his food was brought to him mere moments later. For now, he left it in place. "You are to be commended, by the way, for your part in recent initiatives. I assure you it's been noticed at the highest levels."

Crystal nodded. "Don't wait on my account." She gestured to his food. "Eat."

"I'm not waiting on your account. I elected to convey the message as more of a priority. Have you considered taking on more of a leadership role within the Crusade full time?"

"I could do that. But I hadn't considered how to."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I've been busy since I got here. Delegating would be much simpler."

Cameron arched a curious brow but simply shrugged. Picking up his sandwich, he took a bite before setting it back on the plate .

Crystal chuckled. "What do you think?"

Cameron smiled thinly as he offered a shallow nod. "I'm rarely disappointed by the food here. At any rate, you should give the thought of actual leadership more serious thought. Delegation is not the only facet of being a leader."

"Of course not, but it would be useful."

Cameron nodded his assent. As he prepared to take another bite, he paused. "I will speak with the Aesirs. In the meantime..." Slowly, Cameron's eyes tracked to the exit. Eagerness like that displayed by the Chiss was...rare and useful if cultivated properly.

Crystal chuckled. "Yes yes. We'll talk later. Pop in later if you'd like to see how she's doing."

Cameron gave a casual, noncommittal nod of the head before returning his attention to his meal.

Crystal got up from the table and headed toward the Chiss' quarters. She knocked on the door.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Returning to her cabin Asylen finally released her rage expressing it in a huge show of unchecked and unpracticed telekinetic power sending nearly everything in her room flying to the floor. This release helped sooth the pain in her forearms and though it made a big mess it made her feel a great deal better. She shook all over as she started to settle down and realize the mess she had created, how little control her emotions allowed over these powers. Taking a deep breath she lowered herself to her knees and started trying to meditate as [member="Crystal"] had instructed her on board the Aurora during the mission to Q-27. She took slow deep breaths as she started to draw on the force to put everything back as it had been, piece by piece she focused and used her telekinetic powers. This served to relax her as well as practice of the skills she was being taught today, she didn’t care for the way Crystal had approached the lesson but it was still a lesson learned.

Hearing the knock at the door she looked at it reaching out with her hand she gestured, the door latch released and opened for the other woman slowly. Ashra’syle’nuruodo remained seated on her heels looking at Crystal. “Is there something I can do for you or are you here to beat me with more chairs?”

 

[Crystal]

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

Crystal stepped inside when the door opened. And she waited for the door to close before responding to her question. "You were hit with the chair for drawing attention to yourself by yelling. You interrupted a conversation with one of the more recognizable faces among the Crusaders, and are lucky to still be alive. I realize that you are eager to learn, but demanding attention will not get you the attention that you seek. Now, if you had simply asked to speak with me privately you would have received different instruction."

She shifted her body to half face the Chiss, and half face the door. She'd be leaving when she finished speaking. "Now, listen. Telekinesis is a very black and white concept. There is no grey area. You can lift everything. Once you've truly understood that size is irrelevant, you will have a much easier time of using the skill. It is one of the skills that needs your complete focus and a clear mind. Short cuts will not accomplish your tasks. Now, if you'd like, you can practice further, or you can get up and we can outside and do something else. It is your choice."

Either way, Crystal opened the door without gesturing and stepped out of the quarters. She was going outside to a field outside of the Temple grounds.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Ashra’syle’nuruodo shook her head quietly as [member="Crystal"] chastised her for her behaviour. “Where I come from if there is training to be completed the officer in charge is expected to conduct it in a timely manner and if it isn’t arranged then it becomes the responsibility of the trainee to seek out training. And we do no waste time with pleasantries.”

Watching the other woman get up from her seat Ashra’syle’nuruodo got up as well, she had a grasp of this concept she could practise on her own time. She followed behind the other woman quietly, out to the field outside the temple grounds.

 

[Crystal]

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

Crystal didn't respond to the Chiss' scrutiny of her methods. Her methods were her own. Aside from the fact that she'd been offering guidance previously, and hadn't been ignoring the blue woman. She had other students and comrades and missions to take care of as well. It wasn't an oversight by any means. Training involved a great deal of practice, which she always ensured that her students had sufficient time to do on their own. Asylen would be grateful for the time in the future when Crystal demanded more of her.

They'd be starting with the very basics. "Now that you've grasped the first of the basics, we can work on the basic enhancements. You can use the Force to run faster, for longer, and jump higher, aim truer, and so on. That's what we're going to be practicing today. I warn you not to draw too heavily on the Force or you will pass out."

She waited for acknowledgment before beginning. And she started jogging around the complex of the temple.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Stepping out into the field Asylen looked around quietly as Crystal spoke, enhancements sounded useful if she were fighting with a blade of some sort or even hand to hand. She couldn't wait to show her skills there, the sith woman had no idea what she was capable of even without the force to bolster her skills.

"Sounds good." Ashra'syle'nuruodo responded simply as she waited for the other woman to start whatever she was going to show her. She watched the other woman start jogging and shrugged, following suit keeping pace easily.

[member="Crystal"]

 

[Crystal]

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

Crystal kept the pace for a minute before breaking out into a full run. She had no doubt that the Chiss woman could keep up with her, but for how long? After several minutes of running, she pushed the normal limits of most beings and used the Force to fuel her and pull away from Asylen. Now they would see how instinctive the ability was to the Chiss. Not everything would come as naturally as breathing, but that's what training was for.

After another mile, she came upon an alley way. There was a fence in the middle of it. Crystal leaped as she ran, and pushed off the top of it and launched herself to a fire escape a fair distance away from the fence. She turned, standing on the platform to watch her apprentice.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

As Crystal broke into a full run Asylen raised an eyebrow if the sith woman wanted a race she would give her one. The Chiss woman broke into a full sprint easily overtaking [member="Crystal"] and gaining a few paces ahead of her without much effort until the practised use of the force enhanced her skills sending her forward at an inhuman speed leaving her student in the dust.

Undeterred the Chiss woman tried to figure a way to replicate the skill, she pressed her muscles to their limit which increased her speed a little more but nowhere near the speeds the other woman was demonstrating. She tried a few things to drive herself faster and indeed she was capable of pushing herself a little past her limits but she was draining her energy quickly and certainly not drawing on the force.

She followed as fast as she could manage using the force to keep track of her master that much she could do. Exhaustion was already setting in her muscles were screaming but Asylen kept pushing, into the alleyway towards the fence. As she charged towards it she plotted her ascent, she could tackle it head on and climb over it but that was obviously not the intent she could see Crystal on the fire escape above it.

Closing to the distance she finally had to do something about it Asylen tried to push enough energy into her muscles to perform the jump and surprisingly found some success. She kicked off the one wall to the other using both ways to reach the top of the fence, not as smooth as the Sith woman but still impressive. She landed on top of the fence kicked off it as hard as she could using what little control she had over this aspect of the force to boost her. She grabbed the edge of the rail of the fire escape, she just hung there for a moment before pulling herself up onto the platform beside Crystal. She lay there trying to recover her breath envious of the ease at which the other woman demonstrated her skills.

 

[Crystal]

Crystal waited. And waited a lot longer than she thought that she would. It seemed that she had finally found a challenge for the Chiss woman. The Chiss had not used the Force to enhance her speed, and now that she was approaching the fence, Crystal prepared herself for the very real possibility that Asylen was going to crash into the fence, or fall off it and break some bones in her body. The Sith Princess would normally let that happen, however, the Chiss woman was no good to her laid up with broken limbs. So, if she fell, Crystal would catch her.

Still, the Chiss was able to complete the task. And so, she avoided injury for the moment. But it wasn't over yet. "Get up. We're not done yet."

And she leaped off the fire escape and landed on top of a dumpster before jumping again to the ground and taking off running down the alley. And then she ran down the street to the left, effectively circling back toward the Temple. The wall around the temple was Crystal's next destination. On top of the wall, she waited for the Chiss to approach before running along the narrow wall top.

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Groaning as she rose from the deck of the fire escape to watch [member="Crystal"] take off again Ashra'syle'nuruodo stretched for a minute before launching herself off the fire escape down the alley after the Sith woman. She landed hard but rolled forward to absorb the impact so she could land without injury. She rose from the roll and started running again her muscles ached from the effort she had already expended, the humanoid body was not designed for this kind of sustained speed and though she was in fantastic shape for a Chiss her training up until this point was wholly inadequate for this kind of effort. She stumbled as she ran as fast as her muscles allowed, no longer able to achieve her maximum speed as her muscles started to cramp and protest her movement.

Just as she felt she might collapse and desperation to continue set in a realization came over her as if she knew exactly what she had to do all along. Asylen found energy that had not been there before as with the assistance of the force she purged the buildup of lactic acid was purged from the affected cells she found speed she didn't know she had as well her muscles moving more freely then they had ever before as she accelerated after her master following her path back towards the temple and the wall that surrounded it.

As she approached the wall the Chiss woman prepared herself for the jump using a similar trick to launch herself higher into the air then she had ever been able to achieve before, though it was completely uncontrolled and she ended up overshooting the wall landing on the inside of the compound. She landed hard, grunting as she twisted her ankle probably fortunate she hadn't broken it. Asylen limped a few steps before scrambling up the wall to follow along the top of it after her master. She was clearly still hurt but didn't let it stop her, she could tend to the injury after training was complete for today.

 

[Crystal]

Crystal turned as she felt an enormous amount of pain coming from her Chiss apprentice. She winced when she saw that Asylen had overshot her jump and landed hard. Still, she was resilient. But dumb. Crystal stopped when she reached the end of the wall and waited for Asylen.

When she reached Crystal, the Sith Princess spoke. "You should have stopped when you injured yourself." She realized however, that when one was running for their lives, one didn't have the luxury of stopping for an injury.

Crystal jumped down from the wall, and grabbed a hold of Asylen with the Force, levitating her to the ground. "Go to the healers before you do more permanent damage. We can continue tomorrow if you're cleared by the healer."

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Raising an eyebrow at the concern [member="Crystal"] expressed over her injury she shrugged it off, it wasn’t that bad, certainly it would need to be iced and rested to recover but she had saved herself from breaking it. “It is not that bad, I could continue but if you insist I will have the medics look at it.”

The Chiss woman limped back to the temple slowly looking for medical attention, she would find it and then spend the night resting and meditating if she was left undisturbed but she didn’t anticipate that would be the case. She had been through enough training of various types to know that your trainer often introduced challenges when you are in your weakest state to push your limits.

 

[Crystal]

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

Crystal waited until after breaking her fast to knock on Asylen's door. It was not early by any means. She carried a bag over her shoulder, which contained tools and equipment for their next training session.

She waited for Asylen to answer the door. "I am pleased to see that you followed my advice. As promised, we can resume training now if you wish. I will be outside the Temple's walls if you need a little more time."

And then she left, to go and set up for the training session. Reaching the clearing, she set down the bag and arranged it's contents. Training sabers and remotes, and of course, a blindfold.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Getting changed into something comfortable and wrapping her ankle as the medics had instructed her the night before Ashra’syle’nuruodo followed the Sith Sorceress out into the field using her presence in the force to find the other woman. She looked at the array of training sabers laid out in front of her, as well as the remotes and the blindfold she looked puzzled for a moment though quickly figured the intent of the exercise though she waited for [member="Crystal"] to explain. She was going to be good at this of that she had little doubt.

"What will we be doing today." The Chiss woman inquired dutifully, though she knew somewhat what she could expect she figured perhaps the Sith would have an elaborate description of the task she had to get off her chest.

 

[Crystal]

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]

Crystal turned to face Asylen and tossed her a lightsaber. "Today you're going to test your senses and learn to use a weapon that only those sensitive to the Force can wield. It is a training lightsaber, so you won't lose any limbs, but it does burn if your skin touches the blade."

The Sith Princess called the blindfold to her hand with the Force, and continued to talk. "These remotes will simulate blaster fire, and those too can hurt. Your objective is to deflect the shots with the lightsaber."

With the Blindfold in hand, she stepped close to Asylen, and put it over her eyes. "Ignore your senses, listen to the Force."

Smirking, she stepped away. "The remotes will start in two minutes. Acquaint yourself with the lightsaber and adjust for it's lack of weight."

Exactly 120 seconds later, the first remote fired.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Catching the lightsaber in her right hand she quickly evaluated its weight, getting a quick sense of how it felt in her hand rolling it down to her fingers and back to the palm of her hand to better understand every inch of it. Asylen gripped it lightly as she activated the blade and swung it around slowly and carefully. She had some skill with knives but had never wielded anything even remotely close to this weapon. It was a puzzling weapon with all the weight of the weapon being in the hilt but she was quick to become acquainted with it. As [member="Crystal"] warned her of the danger of the training saber she deactivated the blade, no doubt she would end up burning herself with the weapon soon enough.

As the blindfold went on the Chiss woman drew on the force, activating the blade again she demonstrated almost unnatural skill as she swung it around in practised motions as if she had used the weapon for years. This was clearly her gift from the force, her natural affinity obviously lying in lightsaber combat and related skills. She waited for the first remote to fire seeking it out with the force as she had been taught, tracking its motion. As the seconds passed anticipation grew the first remote fired repositioned fired again, repositioned again and fired a third shot.

Sensing the danger of the shot Ashra’syle’nuruodo sidestepped the first shot easily, it was as if she had been doing this for years. The second shot triggered and she swung the saber directly into its path deflecting the shot away into the ground a few meters away. She sensed the other shot coming and swung the blade down catching the shot and reflecting it towards the remote deactivating it.

“I thought you were going to give me a challenge.” Asylen taunted her master a little.

 

[Crystal]

Crystal smirked. Asylen was a natural. And she was over confident and smug. The Sith Princess could certainly give her a challenge. With barely a gesture, she sped up the shots fired by the remote to every seven seconds. And she activated two others also at seven second intervals, but now they would all fire at different moments.

A challenge she says... After another three rounds, she activated three more remotes, at five second intervals, staggered.

[member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"]