A Second Meeting

[Apex]

The wind gently rocked the trees in the humid jungle, causing the green grass around the ancient temple to sway back and forth. Zergo eyes opened as he sensed a familiar presence approach. His eyes, looking through the viewport of his mask, focused on the entranceway to the pyramid, where bright rays of sunlight burst through the fog of the jungle's humidity. Placing his hands on his thighs, he came out of his meditative position and rose to his feet. Standing in the center if the pyramid, he dusted off his black robes and armor, and patiently waited for Yuon to enter. Zergo would dictate the environment. He expected his master was watching from somewhere. Regardless, he was focused on the task ahead.

 

[Gex]

Yuon entered casually, his black tainted armour flickered with the sunlight that burnt through the essence of the trees, the fog of heat rising up, as he stepped into the gloomy shade of the temple. He looked around, he sensed another present, one more powerful.. a master maybe, it could be possible. Yuon couldn't help but feel he was being, pushed here.

Yuon wanted his turn again, he had lost his previous bout with Zergo, and through the force had found him here, he wanted to return in kind. He had spent his time analysing the fight, the fight playing over and over in his mind, what did he do wrong, how could he have done beter. It was obvious to Yuon he was ignorant, he had underestimated his opponent and overestimated himself, and for this he was a fool.

But now, now it was different, no more games, no more messing around with foolish notions of allowing the essence to drive him, now he would use his skills, the force itself to help him.

He unclipped his training lightsaber from his belt, igniting it, the bright red glow illuminating the entire hall of the pyramid, the light of the entrance drawing dim with fog. His yellows eyes gazed solely on Zergo. This time no words where shared from Yuon, words where a waste in this situation, he would dictate the floor, use his knowledge of both the force and lightsaber combat. He knew this time it would be harder, no doubt Zergo was being taught by someone more powerful, Yuon sensed it, and he would have to fight harder if he expected to beat him.

Yuon circled to the right, planning his strategy carefully, his gaze not leaving Zergo, would he allow the Anzati to attack, or would he. He lacked much in the way utter strength but made up for with incredible speed and agility, he would utilise this, he darted forward, using the force to propel his speed, as he got closer to Zergo, he slashed up, diagonal, aiming to strike the Anzati from the waist up to his left shoulder.

 

[Apex]

A smile, hidden by Zergo's mask, played across his face as Yuon attacked him with his training lightsaber. Avoiding the diagonal slash, Zergo took control of his Anzat reflexes and quickly stepped to the right, and then forward, as he gripped his new red lightsaber and ignited its brilliant crimson blade. The color perfectly defined the Sith - red symbolized power, the Sith's rightful place at the top of the galaxy. It also served as a symbol that the weak had no place among the ranks of the Sith. Zero would be testing his old friend yet again, but this time at the direction of Geist Weiss.

Now behind Yuon, towards his left side, Zergo hoped to use his opponent's momentum and open stance against him, as such an attack as Yuon executed would. He quickly extended his lightsaber a quick and deadly arc, then brought it around laterally to try and make contact with the back left side of Yuon's abdomen. Zergo would limit this to a lightsaber battle for the time being.

 

[Gex]

Yuon antipated such a response, he had studied his foe much since thier first battle and now it was working as he expected, as the arc came about Yuon altered his stance almost immediatly, stopping off his right foot spinning in the other direction, his training saber coming up slamming the top of Zergo's, with the momentum of the spin, he would have easily knocked it up, in which Yuon would following through with a strong force push to send his opponent into the wall.

 

[Apex]

Zergo saw what Yuon was trying to do. It wouldn't work - especially with the diminished power of Yuon's training lightsaber in comparison to Zergo's actual lightsaber. He held Yuon's lightsaber in place as the two battled in a lock of blades, and then felt the force rush from Yuon as he sent a burst of energy towards Zergo. Zergo then used his new perspective of the force as the saw the rush of particles barreling towards him. The picked them apart, absorbing some, and diverting others. The young Anzat's eyes locked onto Yuon as he reacted to his attack - nothing happened. Zergo was still standing there.

Then, to break the lock, Zergo pushed Yuon back as they both fell away from each other, creating a buffer between the two acolytes. Zergo swung around his lightsaber in a defense stance, raising it upwards then pointing it down over his head. Not waiting for his opponent to make a move, Zergo picked a five by five block of stone off the pyramid floor and threw it at Yuon at a high velocity.

 

[Gex]

Yuon let his perception slow down, encapsulating himself with the very feel of the room, he had realised quickly the lightsaber his opponent was using was real, oh how he tired of everyone using real lightsabers, where were they even getting these from. He saw the large block as it hurled towards him, a distraction, possibly, but he didn't have time to focus he shot out towards Zergo, leaping at the exact right time, propelling of the block itself as he lept out towards Zergo, using the force to shield himself, as taught by the holocron teachers at the archives.

It was common practice to encapsulate ones self within the force, called a force shield, it helped prevent in the heat of battle, one other from applying any force moves that could turn off a lightsaber, yank it from hand or any other defining factors, Yuon had studied this for some time, learnt from Sogar about how to use the force to better prevent any large attacks, he had perfected his own method, as he came to a point near Zergo, he let his saber drop down and instead of landing near or on Zergo, behind him and attempted to duck and strike the back of Zergo's legs, in order to try and paralyze his lower portion.

 

[Apex]

Zergo jumped into the air as he felt Yuon's practice saber whip through the air behind him, trying to strike at the back of Zergo's legs. As the saber went past him and cleared the ground below him, Zergo twisted on his feet, his lightsaber hissing as it roared through the air in tandem. Zergo sensed that Yuon put himself in a weak position - he was crouching down low on the floor right infront of Zergo, and due to the momentum of Yuon's previous attack, he would have extreme difficulty thwarting off a lightsaber attack. Zergo brought his blade down upon the crouched body of Yuon, simultaneously putting a wall of energy behind the acolyte's body so he could not move backward to escape the attack - or if he did he would be in for a grand surprise. While the attack would most likely have some sort of effect on Yuon, Zergo braced himself for a counter attack to be cautious.

 

[Dmitri]

A doppelganger created by Geist Weiss watched the match from a balcony inside the pyramid, hidden from view in the darkness. Yuon and Zergo fought bravely, countering each other. They danced well as if having previous experience against each other.

"So they've fought before," muttered the doppelganger.

Geist grinned. Yuon might be an interesting Sith to collect and train. That is, if Zergo didn't kill Yuon in the duel first.

 

[Gex]

Yuon had expected this weakened position, but he was much faster, he knew with the force behind him he could have easily propelled his position, he knew that Zergo assumed himself in a strong position and it was amusing to see him believe himself so strong, so valid. Yuon noticed the hissing of the blade as it came down towards, the presence of the wall behind him. He smiled, very good, Zergo.. but unfortunatly you underestimated how much I know, he shoot up to twisting to the right slightly the lightsaber of Zergo just catching the shin, burning, sending his twisting motion slightly off, he flesh smoking with a cauterised ting, Yuon embraced the pain, as he came level with Zergo, placing his hand out close to him, he knew the Anzati was in no real posotion to counter with his lightsaber now, he was still following through with the intial attack and with that Yuon let out a short, burst of electric spark, not powerful, but enough to get the attention of his foe that he had become alot stronger than there previous engagement.

 

[Apex]

Zergo exhibited some control over his lightsaber combat which he previously did not. Yuon expected him to go right through to the tile with this lightsaber attack. But, as soon as Yuon's shin hit the blade and the rest of the acolyte's body cleared the pathway of the blade, he brought his blade to a halt, twisted around to face Yuon and immediately slid backwards, creating some space between the two. As the slid backwards, a brief spark of electricity came from Yuon.

Instantly, Zergo began to concentrate on the energy flowing towards him, and was able to quantify the amount of power behind it compared to that of which his master subjected him to earlier in his training. It was not much at all. Perhaps a warning of sorts that Yuon learned a new ability since their last meeting? Knowing it wouldn't do much, and not letting Yuon know what he could simply absorb or dissipate the incoming energy, he let the spark hit him. It was a brief shock, more powerful that static on a carpet, but not meant to do harm - simply to warn.

Looking from the view port of his mask, he could tell that Yuon was injured. His movement would be impaired from the hit he took on his shin. With an adequate distance between them, Zergo grabbed hold of the five by five block which he used before (and due to movement of the duel, the block was now below him. Quickly, he raised it about seven feet into the air then threw it down towards Yuon at an angle. It looked like a repeat of a previous attack. But then, feet before where Yuon was standing, he grabbed hold of each particle which made up the block and vibrated them rapidly. The block seemed to shatter apart into many different pieces of debris, directed right towards Yuon and the radius around him.

 

[Gex]

With a busted leg, Yuon knew he faired little chance against dodging the attack, it would be stupid, he would render himself in a weaker position, and thus be even more damaged in the process, he could not allow this to ensue further, he thrust out with the force, using the darkside to find every little one of the shards he could, some made it through, striking him in the chest, and arms, he did his best to ignore these, for now. He sent a good few shards back at Zergo, flailing at highspeed, towards his target...

 

[Apex]

Both acolytes increased in power and prowess since their last encounter. Zergo was impressed with his old friend. In their last duel when Yuon took a major hit, he was not able to continue. Even now, however, Yuon was still making a stand of some sort. He was determined. However, it was time to begin bringing the duel to a close. First, though, Zergo had to deal with his opponents counterattack. Some of the projectiles Zergo grabbed hold of with the force and stopped. But, they were at so high a speed that not all could possibly be avoided. The young Anzat crouched down close to the floor and rolled to the right, avoiding the the majority of the debris which was throne back at him, but a sharp sting became apparent on his left shoulder. Even through his armor and robes, the impact from the rock would leave a sizeable bruise. But it was nothing of note; nothing paralyzing. The adrenaline rushing in his blood began to suppress it, and in combination with the force, it seemed nonexistent for the time being.

Zergo brought himself back up to his feet, and turned his attention to his opponent. He expected Yuon to remember Zergo's body language-telekinesis trickery from before. And he hoped that it would keep the young human guessing. Zergo purposely released some emotion into the air of the pyramid - that of telekinesis trickery, similar to that which he gave out on Korriban. Yet, would he do the same move as before? Would it be traditional? Impossible to tell. He pushed his left arm forward and put a brief wall of energy behind Yuon. Then, it disappeared - an illusion perhaps? And the true, traditional attack came - a wall of energy infront of Yuon, raging at him, as Zergo tried to throw him into the pyramid wall.

 

[Gex]

Yuon had learnt much, it was often on Nal Hutta that he suffered the indencency of his master, but it was this that made him strong, he learnt to never be fooled, and also learnt above all, to learn, this is what pushed him farther. He felt the force, the very essence of it behind him, he stepped forward, pready to propel of this force barrier itself, using it against his opponent, but just before he left the force push him, he felt a sting, not from the rock shards that stuck out of his legs and torso, but rather, the essnece that it was gone, nothing there to propell him, in that moment, Yuon realised what was happening, he was repeating himself, but why.

It was in all fairness that Yuon almost fell for it, if not for double checking his grip on the wall itself, he would have succumbed to it's volley, but then the rage of the real attack, Yuon had to think fast, in the force he was not stronger than Zergo, but he was faster, and had a few tricks himself, force crush, how would he utilise this, he had to get away from the wall itself. With his injuries he had limited movement, he placed the force into his own fist, striking at the ground hard beneath him, from his studies he learnt these temples often had lower levels, he punched through the ground again, falling through through it, and landing with a thump on the ground, the force wall flew overheard, and if he was lucky, his opponent was to focused on that attack to notice Yuon's dissappearance for now, Yuon moved his position, masking himself with the force, waiting for the right time to return his attack.

 

[Apex]

Yuon avoided the attack by punching through to the floor below. Zergo grinned behind his mask as he sensed Yuon's hope that Zergo wouldn't notice his disappearance. But Yuon focused too much on thinking about the force, and not the normal senses - Zergo saw what he did, and where he went. Zergo grabbed hold of the force around him, and gradually began to compress it - limiting his force presence, and playing upon one of Yuon's weaknesses. He knew that Yuon was more adept in lightsaber combat than the force. Yet, he seemed to mold his perception of the world and others by assuming others had his perception of the force. This was not the case - especially not with Zergo.

Zergo deactivated his lightsaber, though keeping it in hand, and cautiously jumped down into the hole. He was like a stealth plane - his black robes, masking him from sight, and the force not emitting from him. He took a view of the room where we could view the only two exits from the dark chamber - the whole in the ceiling, and the stairs leading up to wait they came from. In Zergo's dark spot, he could see any exit. To try and get a reaction out of Yuon, he grabbed hold of part of the debri from the destroyed block from before on the floor above, and dropped it through the hole. Making a horribly loud noise which sounded like a person dropping down into the chamber.

 

[Gex]

OOC: Edited

Yuon crouched himself, dealing with his wounds, he bought himself a little bit of time, but, what was that, he heard a noise in the distance, as if someone had dropped down, healing time was over, he reached out with the force, nothing, wait.. a whisper, a slither of it. He grinned, Zergo was good, but he was not marauder, he was leaking with force, Yuon could feel it, unfornatly, he couldn't pinpoint it, it could be down here, it could be up there, for all he knew it could be on Naboo. He gazed up at the ceiling above and down the hall, he had to locate it. He moved with a careful stance, keeping a solid grip on his saber, searching the darkended lower levels.

He knew that Zergo wouldn't be likely to intiaite a full on saber attack, not when he had the force so readily to attack, and not have the need to front on Yuon, so that gave some comfort, at least, he hoped. He moved closer, noticing the stone on the ground, trickery was a bitch, and Yuon hated it, but he knew that is all his opponent was made up of, tricks... Yuon was the same in light, but he considered his tricks more of a way to gain the advantage. He ignited his saber, feeling out with the force, trying to locate his fellow Acolyte, the sluther of force still present, and then a pinpoint, perfect, but what would be the move, how would he react, he needed time to think of this, and then he noticed the loose fitting walls, no wonder he could punch right through the ruins where fragile, he shot a force ball right out at the ceiling above Zergo, the brinks and debris falling down towards him.

 

[Apex]

OOC: Zergo is on the bottom floor with you. He is not on the floor above.

 

[Gex]

OOC: Ah, this is what staying up till 5am does to you.

 

[Apex]

Yuon found him, and Zergo felt Yuon's focus shift to the ceiling above him. He then called upon the force and enhanced his speed - his perception then slowed down. He charged at Yuon as the ceiling behind him crashed to the floor, dusting erupting up from the floor as the blocks crashed onto the chamber's floor. Zergo was doing what Yuon least expected - a head on saber attack. The distance between them was closed in an instant due to Zergo's force prowess with speed - and he kept it up through his attack and after so he could react at a fast rate to counter anything Yuon would throw at him. He brought his saber up then diagonally down to the right to create a diversion, then laterally left to cut across Yuon at his waist. With enhanced speed, his saber skills were dramatically improved. Still, he was ready to counter an attack, just in case Yuon had a last ditch effort - although he knew the human's energy was running low.

 

[Gex]

Yuon's perception was strong, he knew he could not tangle much longer, especially in saber combat, this duel had to end quick, he lept up, through the hole above him where he stood moments, and back up to the surfacr, avoiding the attack completely, before hailing force balls continously at the ground breaking it up, and crippling it, he knew with the speed and momentum of Zergos attack, he couldn't react in time to the debris and the numerous force hits against the floor, crumbling it, Yuon was running out of gusto, he didn't have much left in him to fight with, he landing just away from the destruction he caused, catching a glimpse of Giest before turning to face the dust filled debris hole he cause, and await from Zergo's next move, in any at all.

 

[Apex]

Yuon believed Zergo's momentum to be his undoing. However, it actually worked in his favor. Because Yuon was standing right under the hole in the ceiling, Zergo's momentum carried him right to where Yuon was previously standing, and the young Anzat jumped right through the hole and into the chamber above as more rubble littered the room below due to Yuon's attack. Zergo's momentum allowed him to get out of the room below without even countering the attack - why waste energy on protecting himself from the debris when he could simply get out of harms way?

He made sure to clear the area round the hole when he came out, just to make sure he wouldn't foolishly put himself in harms way. Flipping through the humid air, the landed behind Yuon, extended his left hand, and shot out a wicked array of lightning right towards his opponent's back. He wondered how Yuon would counter it - the energy of the training lightsaber was certainly not enough to absorb it all.