A Test of Skill

[Vollen Shai]

The great Jedi academy on Tython had been returned to its former glory, a meeting place for knights and masters to work and train, meditate on the mysteries of the force. And the fields before the temple now blossomed with students and teachers, beginning to settle into a new era of learning.

But even masters still had much to learn from eachother. This was how Vollen Shai came to stand at the far end of a dueling ground, facing off against Master Fennex. The last time he had stood here with his blade drawn was to retake this planet, fight of the abominations that had seized it from the Jedi. Here was the proof of their victory. The sun beating down from above through a cloudless sky, the air was warm, and the tension palpable.

Both Jedi had faced their fair share of threats across the years, but never had they faced eachother, not until today. While both would have their sabers set to training mode, Vollen doubted either had an interest in going easy here. There was no use doing so anyhow, if it came to a time where either would have to draw their blades in defense there would be no easy mode then.

"Master Fennex" Vollen gave a nod and a smile to the Amaran "I suppose there's no point in waiting?" he tilted his head as he spoke, he was being a little cheeky, if he was honest. But even as he ignited his lightsaber to signal the beginning of the spar, he had the sneaking suspicion his confidence would go unwarranted.


@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Fennex twitched his ears and snout alike as he rotated his shoulders, loosening up. He was really starting to feel too old for all this, and he was at a loss to know how Wyck did it. His joints hurt, old wounds flared up all the time it seemed, and he'd even found a few grey furs here and there. But then again, the Master figured as long as he could still beat up on Jedi half his age and twice his size (or at least hold his own) then things weren't too bad yet. And so he'd let Master Shai talk him into a duel.

Fennex waddled forward, sabers lit, paws slapping against the cobblestone courtyard. Shai could probably use this duel. Fennex had seen first hand now how many of the younger Jedi were getting flashier and flashier in combat, and the battle for Tython had been a prime example. As a dedicated duelist, Fen had to wonder how well the Strike Team would have fared against a horde of Sith rather than abominations... he suspected it would not be well, if their recent losses all over the Galaxy were any indication. He'd been working on a few ideas to fix the issue, but... Well, he thought, we'll see how this goes first.

"No, no, let's get it done..." Fen shook his head in reply, taking up his familiar stance, one saber in front of him held horizontal, the other over his head with the tip of the blade pointing towards Vollen from about ten meters away, "Lanky, furless, and long winded Jedi first."

@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

Vollen smirked at Master Fennex's comment. It was a fair cop all the same. Vollen knew he had a tendency to go on, to speak without thinking. It was something he had been working to try and fix, to speak more efficiently, effectively. Though he undoubtedly had a long way to go. Guilt from much still sat on his mind, and so he was trying to combat it. He had his failings, many of them he was sure, but he could address, learn and grow, as every Jedi should. His tongue, his blade work, and his diplomacy, all were areas he had stumbled through at times. Here, now, as late as it was in his career as a Jedi, was a chance to grow. Indeed, he had taken up a diplomatic posting with a Republic delegation to work on just that. Force willing he still had many more years to perfect it. But for now this was a start. Master Zeerda was an accomlished duelist, and either way toady he was bound to learn.

It was with that then, he rose not to the master's words, and begun.

Holding his blade before him defensively he immediatly let up fingers on either hand, ready to use the force. On the ground below the Amaran master he quickly and powerfully chilled the ground, turning it to ice via cryokinesis beneath the Masters feet and to two meters around the master on every side, making the ground slippery. At the same time he shot a force wave at Fennex's legs, looking to knock him down. And with the ice underneath him it would be difficult for Fennex to get any purchase to avoid it. Even if he did, the ground below would still be uneasy terrain to walk on until he left the ice.


@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Fennex saw Vollen's fingers move and immediately felt the ground cooling under his bare paws even as his legs began being pushed from under him. Taking advantage of his low center of gravity, the Amaran executed a quick front flip, rolling with the leg sweep, and then, as soon as his paws touched the ground again, sprinted forward with a Force fueled burst of speed. His nails dug into the quickly icing cobblestones, find just enough purchase to clear off the patch of ground before the sub-zero temperatures could do any serious damage to the pads of his feet. Closing rapidly, his front horizontal saber came up defensively over his head, staying between himself and Vollens blade while his top blade came down and around in a right to left swipe at Vollens shins. If Fennex made it inside Vollens reach he would have to stay mobile, taking advantage of his small size. As soon as the two were in melee range he would draw the Force to himself, ready to launch one of his favorite surprises.

"I'm bare-pawed you dirty fighting dingus!" Fen called out as the distance between the two closed- his fur kept him insulted enough, but his feet could be awfully sensitive, and nobody made shoes for little clawed fox paws.

At least this would be a good fight, Fen thought. Master Shai already seemed quicker and more creative than most Jedi this day and age.

@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

"Just, order some shoes?" he replied. Surely a decent tailor could do something for Fennex's feet.

Seeing Fennex leap free of his initial sweep made Vollen quickly recalculate, keeping his eyes trained on the small, barefoot Master. Master Zeerda was a clever fighter to be sure, he'd learn either way. As the Amaran rushed toward him in a force enhanced dash, ready to attack. Vollen drew the force ready to him as much as he could in the gap as Fennex closed, ready to throw up a barrier in a moment if need be. But for now he let him come closer, watching his opponents hands as he moved one up to guard above, while the other moved low.

Steppng forward, Vollen twisted his wrist of his armed hand down to catch Fennex's blade before it hit his shins and pushed back past to his left to open the Amaran's body to attack, flciking his balde back toward Fennex's body, now on the inside of his blade.

With his free hand he quickly shot out and snatched the hand of Fennex that guarded his head. While Fennex was quick, Vollen's comparative height and physical strength had its own benefits here. Grabbing Fennexs arm he'd simply push down and smack Fennex on the head with his own lightsaber. He'd charge his arm with force energy and push down harder and faster than he could have done normally. There would be little time for Fennex to react to it now, and that hand would be locked down by his own to do anything with the force, while the other was on the outside of Vollen's saber swipe, he'd have two attacks to block against that were both coming in quick and close.


@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Vollens move was a bold and creative one, but very dangerous. Feeling Vollens hand shooting down at him, Fennex quickly shifted his defensive saber hand a handful of inches to the left just before Vollen would be able to grab him, and flicked the dual phase activator at the same time. At the speed he was moving Master Shai would have to scramble not to grab a bare lightsaber blade, and since the blade was still positioned between them the sudden extra length kept it in the path of Vollens saber strike- Fens silvery white blade would intercept Vollens nearly mid way down the mans saber. The economy of action would allow him to block both attacks with one move.

The block and riposte had managed to interrupt Fennex's momentum at least, but it left both men in awkward positions- Vollen would have to bend down to try to grab Fennex like that, and the close block didn't leave Fen a lot of maneuvering room himself. Fennex ducked and twisted his body counterclockwise into a sort of low half-side flip, maintaining the saber lock with his left hand blade while his right saber would come back in and roll around Vollens saber (staying on the outside of it) with Fennex's movement- Fen's dual blades would come parallel to each other as the twist turned his back to Vollen, keeping them both between the two Jedi and allowing him to make his next attack. Fennex swished his tail behind him, unleashing a wave of Force energy nearly point blank at Vollens shins, looking to sweep the mans feet out from under him just as Vollen had tried against him at the outset.

Uninterrupted Fennex would land facing Vollen again on the bigger mans right side just inside his guard, sabers still between them, right side held high and the left lower across his chest. He expected to break the saber lock at some point during his twist, but his small size and dual sabers would leave little room or target for reprisal strikes while Shai dealt with the Force Sweep. Fennex's small stature and his efforts to keep low and close (practically inside Vollens guard) would make any strikes against him highly awkward. If Shai managed to avoid smacking his grabbing hand on Fen's blade and tried some sort of Force power with it instead, he would have very little time for it to take effect before he was hit with Fen's sweep, and a push against Fennex would only serve to speed his maneuver at this point. There was a chance too that the sweep could Force Vollens to fall on top of Fen and his sabers- it had happened before- in which case Fen was prepared to adjust his landing and blades both to defend against and take advantage of the situation.

@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

Force, Fennex moved fast. Vollen was going to have trouble keeping up at this rate. But his mind would work overtime to compensate now. With a flash he would hold back his hand from the Amaran's extending lightsaber, snatching it back and round right, ready to try something new.

As Fennex whirled round before him, holding his blade back from his initial attempted strike, Vollen deactivated his blade momentarily to break the hold, free his blade and hand.

Feeling the blast of force sweep into his legs, it wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, but he took the hit, letting his legs drop as they were pushed from under him. He would be brought down to Fennex's level yes, Master Zeerda was clever. But he had ideas of his own. At the same time he accepted the fall, seeing Fennex turn back to face him, he shot a quick and blinding force flash from his free right hand at Fennex. It wouldn't do any permanent damage, but any attempt to keep attacking would be extremely difficult, being blinded by the light.

Vollen equally took the sweep in his stride, and would drop down on but turn his body onto his left shoulder let his body fall to the left of Fennex, landing on his side alongside the Master's legs as part of the sweep. With his lightsaber freed a moment ago from Fennex's hold, he would activate it again straight into the blinded Amaran's legs. If Fennex wasn't able to do anything to block the light, then there would be no time for him to block the blade attack, as it would shoot out from the lightsaber in an instant at Fennex's unprotected legs.

@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Without a defense, Fennex caught the Force Flash full in the face as Vollen fell, blinding him and making him crinkle his whiskers defensively. He couldn't really say he'd prepared anything for it, since he never had mastered the art of fighting with his eyes closed. Blinded now, Fennex did the only thing he knew how to- keep moving. As soon as his hind paws touched the ground he was off again, this time moving into Vollens back arc as the man fell on his side. He almost escaped unscathed, but Vollens rapidly extending blade caught him in the right heel as he made his escape, the training blade stunning his lower leg.

The blow didn't stop Fennex's leap or subsequent attack however. His blades spun with him, making two quick strikes at Vollens legs as he lay on the ground (since he was too blind to aim better), then another at his shins with the left blade as he landed, keepings his right side saber carefully and defensively placed between himself and Shai's weapon. If Vollen tried something with his free hand Fen would adjust his plans, but otherwise his left foot would hit the ground first near Vollens feet, allowing him to brace for the numbed right foot to hit the ground, where it collapsed under him, sending him to one knee. His eyes blinked out the lingering stars as he prepared to move again, prepared for whatever Vollen had planned next. Both blades were once again poised to defend and strike against the bigger Jedi Master.

@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

Being on the ground wasn't the best position to be fighting from. This Vollen learnt awfully quickly as he managed a graze at Fennex's foot as the Amaran moved to swing in response. He had traded freedom of movement for a quick strike and that would cost him now.

Seeing the little Masters blades come down as the man continued his spin, Vollen used his free hand to shoot a blast of force directed both between Master Zeerda's legs and the ground. Hopefully he would be able to use the push on Fennex legs to keep him down further after the quick stun he'd managed before, throwing off his current blade attacks, while using the momentum and force of the push to increase his speed for his next maneuvre.

Quickly deactivating his lightsaber again, Vollen would roll to his left (onto his back, and across), his speed and distance increased by the backwards momentum of his force push to keep him free of Fennex's trio of blade strikes, the Amaran having aimed for areas close by in his blindness that would quickly be out of range as he moved.

Assuming he completed this maneuvre, he would kick up his foot and slide up onto his knee after a single rotation, facing his opponent, bringing his blade across his body ready to defend. Unless Fennex had blocked his force push to his legs, Vollen would now have the upper hand and higher ground, and be out of range for any quick jabs at him like he had done to Fennex.

@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Vollen was trying to escape quickly, and managed to get his legs out of the way of Fen's rapid flurry of defensive counterattacks. He didn't leave himself much time to maneuver further though- when his dual-targeted Force blast glanced Fennex' legs and the floor at the same time, Fen was already positioned close to the ground. His short hight and low center of gravity helped him once again in this situation, since all of his maneuvers kept him low to the ground so far. His paws touched the floor just as Vollen was rolling from his back onto his left side, exposing himself to the Amaran Master. Fennex lunged from all fours, pushing off with his good leg as soon as he had a grip on the polished cobblestones of the training ground surface, his right hand saber extending to its maximum length with the flick of a thumb, more than enough close the short distance between them and strike Vollen in the chest as he completed his roll and began to rise to his feet. His left saber was held horizontally above his right, prepared to fend off a counterstrike.

Even if the strike didn't connect due to a last second block- which seemed unlikely since he was striking while Vollens saber was still deactivated and he had a good foot or so of excess saber length at full extension- he would be well poised for a follow up riposte and block, once again inside his opponents guard. Vollen would have a hard time fighting from his back or knees at this range. He'd taken the fall to get in a surprise strike at Fennex, but the hasty hit to one foot wouldn't have saved him from this, even in a real fight. The little Master had taken a wound to get in a killing blow.

@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

He knew he'd made a mistake as soon as Fennex made his swings at his legs. And while he'd managed to avoid his roll would be his failing. As his body looped round to face the Amaran again, he saw Fennex's saber extend in an instant toward his chest. While with a flick he moved to turn his blade back on he'd be too late to save himself completely.

Flicking his wrist up slightly to push the blade away from what in a real fight would have pierced his chest, its length was more than a normal saber and still dragged up his shoulder, stunning it in a moment. In a real fight that would have been a dire wound, here now it simply tingled and shook in a strange sensation. He needed to buy time for him to move into a better position, though now his blade arm was going to sleep from the training strike, and in reality would have certainly been useless from the cut.

With his free hand he would cast on the little Master Dull Senses, to make the man drowsy for a moment to allow Vollen to get back on his feet. With the short distance between them it would take effect quickly, hopefully distracting Fennex enough for a few moments to let him slide under the blade and back onto his feet in a squat, facing his opponent.

It was a desperate move, and one he wasn't sure would work. But, it was desperate, and there was no use treating this any differently to a real fight. For Fennex to diminish his force attack, at least his attention would be split, and would have to dedicate some focus to ward it off.

@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Fennex smelled (figurative) blood, and now the little Master wasn't going to let up. Being tiny meant you had to learn to take advantage of anything and everything you could in a fight, and Vollen had left him an opening he intended to capitalize on. Fennex kept scrabbling forward after his lunge, never letting up the pressure on Vollens blade, forcing him into another saber lock and making him work to drive Fen's strike up and off of his shoulder. Vollen would have a hard time gaining any distance to work with or getting back to his feet as intended, hopefully keeping him off balance and at least partially on the ground, while moving his saber or otherwise breaking the lock would result in Fen's blade crashing into his left arm again or into his ribs.

Just as the combatants sabers locked, Fen brought his left saber down and around for a horizontal left-to-right slash at Vollens exposed head and torso as the man moved his arm to manipulate the Force- the angle allowing him to keep a blade between them still even as he attacked. Fennex could almost immediately feel himself becoming drowsy as Vollens dulling took hold, and responded by letting the Force flow into him, driving his tiny heart into overdrive to counteract Vollen's attack. The Amaran's heart rate and energy levels were already through the roof compared to Jedi Vollen's size, and self-control was the field Fennex had most specialized in for decades to make up for his physical shortcomings- both things that would work to his advantage here.

Master Shai, on the other hand, was fighting an uphill battle. While the dulling of his senses would make fighting very difficult for Fennex while he tried to actively resist (if Vollen sustained the effort on his end) it wouldn't help the man against the dual attacks already in progress. Furthermore, with both hands now occupied with different tasks there was little Shai could do about the saber hurtling through the air toward that would make contact with his head and slash down his body in the next few milliseconds.


@Nightfall096

 

[Vollen Shai]

Fennex was pressing in on him and while the Fox had made it hard for him to get up, and both of his hands were busy, it didn't mean he was totally gone. While Fennex's short height helped him, Vollen's relative height would be useful now.

Vollen held his left hand in the lock with Fennex, keeping the masters blade at bay, spying his opponents other attack he dropped his force attack, and went to snap his open hand onto Fennex's hand before it connected, twisting it his hand over his own body and pushing the blade back toward Fennex's.

But he could not, with his poor position and Fennex's force enhanced speed he was too quick. Perhaps if he'd remembered to channel it into himself he might have beaten it, caught it in time to avoid a hit. At least if it happened in a true fight he'd know, be able to avoid death in one more way.

Today though, today he'd lose this duel to the little Master, the Amarans lightsaber smacking into his head, sending the training blades stun jolt into his face. Vollen felt... woozy, unclear. Better than dead but, he had just enough time to utter,

"I learnt alot, Master Zeerda"

Before his head fell back on the stone, knocked out cold.


@Loco

 

[Fennex Zeerda]

Fennex didnt let his guard down immediately, and his momentum kept him moving forward as he felt his strike land. All of the sudden his opponent wasn't moving. His much larger and heavier opponent. Fennex barreled into Master Shai at full tilt, narrowly avoiding the mess of clashing lightsaber blades before he managed to shut his off. He toppled and rolled over Vollen as the man fell limply onto his back, then tumbled to a stop a little over a meter away, snout first into the ground. Shaking his head and twitching his whiskers to clear his vision, Fen slowly peeled himself off the ground. He didnt sense any further attacks coming from behind him.

"Senators succulents!" He chuckled, panting heavily as he flopped over onto his back to look up at the sky and catch his breath, "I haven't had a match like that in lightyears."

Fen rotated his foot and wriggled his clawed toes, trying to work feeling back into his paw. When he didn't hear a response he pushed himself up on his elbows to check on the human master. "Master Shai... uh, Master Shai? Vollen?"

The Jedi Master didnt seem to be moving. He looked awfully peaceful, in fact, sprawled out on his back. Fennex twitched his whiskers and drooped his ears as he looked around the (thankfully) empty courtyard.

"Oops."

/Thread @Nightfall096