Private Whac-A-Womp-Rat

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Makko Vyres

For the first time in a month, Gatz was well-rested.

That was unintentional.

At some point after eight o'clock in the evening the previous night, he had finally collapsed from exhaustion on his bed in the middle of his studies. He'd woken up a little after eight the next morning with a medical encyclopedia of general surgery still on his face. A full twelve hours, just gone. And it was frustrating too: he'd been trying to study for an upcoming exam that he was sure to only barely pass at this rate.

If not for Master Serys-Organa and Cora tutoring him, he'd probably have walked away from the Order already. As it was, he was still struggling—less than he had been, but still struggling all the same. It was like his mind just didn't process information properly when it came off the pages of a book. Anything that was hands-on made sense, and usually made sense immediately. But the second he had to do bookwork... then he was utterly screwed.

He supposed that was why he felt so relieved that this morning wouldn't involve studying or written tests. Because for the next hour or so, he was slated to spar with Makko—the one thing in all his studies and training that he was actually ahead of the curve on, instead of behind. That... didn't actually make him feel any better of course. He wanted to be the kind of Jedi who helped with healing hands, not the kind who slashed and hacked his way to heroism.

Of course, Gatz never got what he wanted. So, naturally, he was a student interested in the art of healing, only to lack all natural talent in that field. And he was a student naturally talented in the art of lightsaber combat, only to be disinterested in the topic.

Gatz sat cross-legged in the dojo, meditating on that very dilemma. Meditation did not come easy to him, but coming off of a night of full rest, it almost felt effortless for once. He wasn't really getting anywhere on discerning his issues on that particular topic... but it was a way to pass the time until Makko arrived.

 

[Makko Vyres]

​

"Hey, watcha doing on the floor?" Makko asked from the doorway.

He grinned because he didn't expect an answer. Makko was occasionally working with padawans from the order. Only in an unofficial capacity, although he had some accompany him on relatively safe missions. He suspected he was being tested on his ability to teach more than Gatz was being tested on his saber work.

"Thinking about something, or just meditating?" Makko asked as he set down the case he was carrying. The latches on the small metal case clicked open. Makko lifted the lid to reveal a round training remote.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Makko Vyres

His meditation was interrupted by Makko's arrival, though maybe 'interrupted' was the wrong term. It had, after all, only been a way to pass the time before the Jedi Knight's lesson. And frankly, he was glad for the distraction. Gatz wasn't getting anywhere with his dilemma.

"Thought the training mat looked nice and comfy. Figured I'd just take a nap on it."

Gatz stood up from his sitting position, watching with muted interest as Makko unclasped the case he had brought with him. The instant reveal of a training remote brought understanding. It was a device that Gatz was only too familiar with, after all the time Valery had spent with him, beating him to a pulp with low-power lightsabers and blasters set to stun.

"Thinking on something," Gatz answered Makko's question, "mostly about how I excel in the one discipline I don't particularly care for, and consistently fail in the one discipline I want to make my primary field of study. It's maddening."

But Gatz supposed he ought to be thankful that he was good at something at all. At least his skill with a lightsaber would help keep him from getting severely wounded for the umpteenth time. Maybe.

 

[Makko Vyres]

"Thinking on something," Gatz answered Makko's question, "mostly about how I excel in the one discipline I don't particularly care for, and consistently fail in the one discipline I want to make my primary field of study. It's maddening."

"Whassit you want to focus on?" Makko asked.

"I spent a lot of time trying to lift rocks with my mind. It's just something I'm not very good at," Makko said. "They say you can get good at anything if you try hard enough, but guess I found it easier to use the things I picked up quickly."

As a demonstration of this, Makko brought the remote to life without touching it. The small orb slowly rose to head height.

"You warmed up? Cos I figured you'd want a challenge?"

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Makko Vyres

Gatz wasn't sure how to answer Makko's question, without first giving him a little backstory. He frowned for a moment, at the thought. He had never kept his less-than-legal past a secret, but neither did he go around shouting his sins from the rooftops. And yet... of all Jedi in the Temple, Makko was likely to understand better than anyone what a life of crime was like.

They both had very unorthodox pasts for a Jedi. And... Makko had gone out of his way to look out for him, from the very first day he'd come back to the Order. He had to have known, or had an inkling, of what he'd been before. And still, here he was, taking time out of his schedule to lend a helping hand to scum.

"I've killed a lot of people, Makko." Gatz let out a sigh, "in self-defense, most of the time. But I smuggled spice. Shooting a man in self-defense is still shooting a man over drugs. The reason I came back is because Master Serys-Organa showed me that there was a path for Jedi beyond swinging a lightsaber. A path where I could mend bones and suture wounds with a gentle hand."

Gatz was quiet for a moment, "a path where I could save lives, instead of take them. But, naturally, I flounder in healing and excel in lightsaber combat."

As frustrating as that was, Gatz didn't let himself dwell on it any longer. Today was about refining his skill with a lightsaber, and letting frustration bleed into that would only lead to folly. So, with a long sigh, Gatz ignited the dull yellow blade of his training saber, and dropped into Soresu's ready stance.

"Yeah, man." Gatz nodded with a smile, "give me a challenge. I think I need to let off a little steam."

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko listened in silence. Clearly, Gatz still had a lot to work on. He came down hard on himsel, but he could sympathise.

"I spent a little time being surprised that I had some kind of...ability. Then I spent a lot of time being really frustrated that these kids could pick it up so easily and I struggled. You'll get where you want to be."

Makko looked into the middle distance. A telltale sign that he was either using the Force or his implants to connect with the drone.

"I'm not the best at defensive blade work and something like this helped me. Don't attack the drone just...imagine it's someone in the distance shooting. I won't be a dick, it's not going to go right behind you."

Makko ignited his own blade and took up an offensive stance.

"I'm just going to work through a simple routine. Nothing that would normally tax you, but now the drone might zap you. We'll work up the intensity as we go..."

Makko took a few seconds to centre himself. He closed the distance and threw out a simple strike for the shoulder, the drone following up with a bolt from the other side.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Makko Vyres

"I'll get there eventually. Probably."

He hoped Makko was right, and that eventually, he'd be even a quarter of the healer that Amani Serys was. But it was hard to hold onto hope sometimes. When the only thing he seemed to excel in was whacking things with an oversized glowstick, it made him question if he was cut out to be a Jedi at all. To meet violence with violence was not the Jedi Way, and yet, it seemed to be all he was truly good for.

Maybe he was just being self-depreciative. Master Serys-Organa had chided him for that more than once. He did have a bad habit of that... but it was hard to believe in his own ability when he seemed to be progressing so little.

"Don't attack the drone," Gatz repeated, "got it."

He let his insecurities fade, at least for now. Better to focus on the present, especially when a Jedi Knight was going to be swinging a weapon at him. Plus, despite his woe and frustration with his natural talent for the blade, he was interested in this exercise. He'd done plenty of sparring with Valery Noble and he'd done plenty of training with a helmet and remote. But he'd never done them both at once.

He fell into brace-ready stance, wanting both hands on the hilt for greater control, especially since there was a lightsaber and a blaster in play. Makko came at him with an easy strike, opting to work them both through a warm up first. Gatz batted his lightsaber away, and before the remote had even fired, he flicked his wrist in the direction of it, deflecting its opening shot to dissipate uselessly on the ground. His saber came back up then, ready for Makko's next attack.

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko gave a defefential nod. He believed there was a little natural talent, but the rest came with training. Fighting with a lightsaber was not a natural affinity. It was a strange, almost massless blade. At times they even resisted motion in a way that had little to do with weight. Some other sciency nonsense about fields.

"Good, keep the balance. This is basic ten-step first form," Makko said.

There were a number of patterns that every student leaned. Some they learned alone and some were for two or more to work through. They were almost a dance, but the reality was that they embedded the muscle memory for the main blocks and strikes.

Makko moved through the pattern at a typical rhythm. One that was thrown off by the irregular bolts from the training remote.

"Keep your centre, keep your balance, economy of movement under pressure."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Makko Vyres

The rhythm Makko moved him through would have been downright boring, if not for the remote mixing things up. Gatz knew Shii-Cho as well as a seasoned Knight did, because he had ripped Shii-Cho right out of a seasoned Knight's head. Briana's muscle memory had come with his pilfered knowledge. Through trial and error, and Valery's refinement, that muscle memory had been adapted to his own body, and had become his in totality.

It was a shortcut. It was a jumpstart. It was the only skill Gatz was advanced in, instead of remedial. He wasn't proud of how he'd come by the knowledge, but his control over Form I was nearly complete. What he was really learning here was how to deal with the unpredictable. Makko's strikes were easy, as he kept the both of them going through repetition.

The remote kept his focus, as Gatz had to adjust a block, or strike, or parry in order to fend off the stun bolt and Makko at the same time. And with a lightsaber crashing down on him repeatedly, Gatz was tempted to switch to Soresu—as Shii-Cho had been developed before the Jedi had lightsaber wielding enemies—but he wasn't yet confident enough in his control over Form III to combat a Jedi Knight and a blaster at the same time.

He'd focus on what Makko was trying to teach him today: conserving his energy in the face of multiple attackers, and keeping his guard up even in the face of the unexpected. And then the next time they did this exercise, Gatz would try it with Soresu.