Alice, Meet Katarn. Welcome to the Dark Side...

[Keinushi]

"I usually just charge the limb like I'm going to send a force blast through it, only I don't send the blast." Katarn explained. "It fills the body with the invisible energy of the force and augments the limb allowing me to amplify its strength."

 

[Zach]

Alice tried thinking of it as if she were about to send a wave of Force from her hand. She focused her energy and built up the Force in her legs. She concentrated on just moving faster, but still able to control the movements. She let go of the held in Force energy and burst across the room, stopping an inch before she hit the wall, just as she had tried to. She darted back and forth, randomly changing directions just to get a feel for needing faster reflexes and changing her course at such a high velocity.

 

[Keinushi]

"Try mixing in jumping with your running." Katarn instructed. "The variations between jumping and running need to be learned."

 

[Zach]

Alice focused on her legs again and let loose the energy just as she started to run. She darted to the opposite wall of the room and jumped half-way there, leaping toward the surface. She flew higher than she thought she would and thrusted out her legs against the wall, trying to brace herself against the impact. When she hit it, she pushed out and flew back over to Katarn, still going faster than she thought she would. She blinked and gasped in surprise and landed skillfully, darting back to where she started and flipping into the air, higher than she normally could have jumped. When she landed and straightened herself, she was beaming, glad that she could speed herself up and control her acrobatics at the same time.

 

[Keinushi]

"Good," Katarn smiled. "But how are your reactions?"

Katarn rushed foreward, using the force to speed her body up, she attacked Alice with her bare hands. She aimed a blow at her stomach with her left hand, her left breast with Katarn's right hand, Alice's left leg with her left hand, and finally a leg sweep with her right leg as she passed the acolyte, the sweep coming from behind.

((choose how many you dodge or block, they are light strikes and won't even bruise.))

 

[Zach]

Alice reacted quickly, using the Force to increase the speed her body would react and immediately lowered her left hand to block the strike at her stomach. She didn't see that Katarn was attacking with both hands and was struck in the chest, only enough to move her body a little back, but she immediately raised her knee to block Katarn's left hand at her leg. She saw that Katarn was still moving forward to get behind Alice after she attacked, so she jumped into the air and leaped forward, jumping over her teacher's leg sweep. She landed facing Katarn and got ready to dodge any other attacks. She was slightly embarrassed that the one hit that had gotten through was Katarn touching her breast, and it slightly enthused her, but she pushed it from her mind.

 

[Keinushi]

"Good." Katarn smiled, drawing her datapad from her belt again and hitting several keys. "You got most of them. Remember, as a girl your chest is a critical area, pay double attention to guarding it as any damage sustained there will hurt three times as much as anywhere else."

 

[Zach]

Alice smiled sheepishly and blushed a little. She nodded, knowing that Katarn was right about needing to guard it more. She wondered what she was typing on the datapad, but didn't ask, trying to focus on keeping her body fast from the Force Speed. She began darted back and forth, practicing the precision required to be able to maneuver at that speed, throwing in jumps and flips to mix it up. "What next?" she asked.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn watched the acolyte run around the room out of the corner of her eye. Her profile was coming along nicely. She kept a detailed profile on every acolytes of hers strengths and weaknesses. She was very easily excited and trusting, but had definitely developed a strong hate towards Kel. Not surprising since his sole role in her training process was to test how an acolyte responded to an unsurmountable enemy. The anger she had developed was good and would help power her in the field. She would need to get a handle on it however if she ever wished to infiltrate a jedi facility. She was basically ready to have her first mission and if successful graduate, though Katarn would be sad to see the young girl go, she reminded her a lot of her self at that age.

"You are ready for the trials." Katarn anounced. "Unless you have another technique you wish to learn I'll grab an assignment for you from my manager and we'll see how you do."

 

[Zach]

Alice smiled when Katarn said that she thought she was ready. She hesitated a moment and thought about lightsaber combat. She didn't fare too well against Kel, she definitely needed to improve. "I'd like to learn the Ataru form before we move on, if there's time. My lightsaber skills aren't quite what I'd like them to be," she said, still thinking about how Kel had bested her.

 

[Keinushi]

"Of course." Katarn smiled. "Ataru is mostly a acrobatics based style. It requires you to remain active and relies mostly upon jumping and dodging to avoid attacks. Have you read up on the different attacks within the style?"

 

[Zach]

Alice nodded. "I know that it's both an aggressive technique as well as a defensive style of lightsaber combat. It focuses on using the Force to increase the speed and acrobatic skill of the body, but also allows you to strike with fast and heavy blows at the same time. Most of what I've read or seen focuses on attacks while moving. Either running and attacking or striking in the air after jumping or flipping over the opponent," she answered, remembering the text from the book she'd read. She recalled watching other students and masters using it in the training rooms, but hadn't watched for long.

 

[Keinushi]

"Do you want to practice with a sparring session?" Katarn asked. "I don't really practice ataru myself, so all I can do is help you practice the technique."

 

[Zach]

Alice nodded. "Sure, a sparring session would be good. I tried incorporating the Force with lightsaber combat when I fought Kel, but I didn't have much practice. Now that's I've learned Force Speed and to use it while jumping, it might be easier," she said, putting her hand out to the side and drawing her lightsaber to it with the Force.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn drew her whip from her side and instantly discarded it. She then drew her blade, holding it in her left hand, she charged the acolyte, blade lit. Her arm was fully extended, the point aim at the padawan. When she was a meter away she released a wave of force across the floor, the wave would destabilize the padawans footing while she aimed the tip of her blade for Alice's right shoulder, her left leg coming up for a simultaneous kick to Alice's right leg at the knee with enough strength to break the ligament.

Total time. 1.2 seconds.

 

[Zach]

Alice sensed Katarn rush at her and felt the blast her feet. She took advantage of the unstable footing and instantly fell into a split (Forward and backward, not side to side), Katarn's lightsaber flying well above her head. She knew she would slice downward, so she raised her own blade toward Katarn's torso as a strike, but would block if she attacked. She raised her left arm up to block the kick with her forearm, using the Force to create a partial Force Barrier to dampen the blow.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn met the acolyte's blade with her own. Raising her right hand, she loused a large amount of lightning aimed at the young girls chest. The acolyte would need to break her guard with the blade if she wanted to stop the lightning that way, meaning she could only use the force to stop the energy.

 

[Zach]

Alice braced herself and opened her left fist, still in contact with Katarn's leg. She focused as much Force energy as she could and burst lightning from the tips of her fingers right at her master's chest. If she was going to take the lightning, she might as well lay some on her as well. Her lightsaber still locked with Katarn's and her arm still against Katarn's leg, she had little maneuverability, especially with the split. The lightning might meet head on and block each other, but she didn't know how the ability worked yet. She shifted her front leg to it was bent at the knee, pointed the side and hooked it around Katarn's ankle, yanking her foot out from under her at the same time.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn released a large amount of energy directed at the ground, launching her into the air, where she used the force to propel herself behind the apprentice. As she landed she spun and prepared a physical shield to stop any incoming attacks.

 

[Zach]

Alice squinted when the lightning canceled out, the bright light distracting her. She only realized that Katarn had used the Force to propel herself into the air by the time she was was landing behind her. She rolled to the right onto her back and let out a burst of Force energy to push against Katarn's shield, causing her to slide backward across the floor. She rolled back and stopped sliding on her feet.