Another day, another exercise

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

The dimly lit training hall on Jedha was nearly empty at this hour. Not many Jedi enjoyed practice this early in the morning, and Sakadi was definitely not one of them. But her parents had always encouraged to wake up early and practice all days long. That rythm was still engraved into her very soul, which meant that she could be found here. Sakadi had been the first to enter the training halls today. The first slivers of the sunrays which would eventually pass through the large window had appeared, but that was not something Sakadi had time to focus on right now.

The familliar buzzing of the five seeker droids surrounding her from all angles, that's what she had been focusing on since she first stepped into the training hall this morning. The luxury of training so early was that nobody was using the equipment, which meant that she could take whatever she wanted for now. The seeker droids were set to what she perceived as maximum difficulty, to create a training environment which for sure would push her to her limits. And hopefully beyond.

For a moment it was dead silent. From experience, she knew that the next wave of blaster fire was going to rain down upon her. The seeker droids' blaster bolts may be non-lethal, but it wasn't exactly nice to get hit by them either. So that was her plan. Plain simple. Do not get hit. Sakadi took a near-perfect Soresu stance, before hell rained down upon her. The first few shots she sensed, her lightsaber moving in a fast, well performed sequence to deflect the first three bolts. One aimed at her kneecap, another at her shoulder at the final one at her hip, not necessarily in that order.

With barely any time to breathe, the next volley was launched, this time from the two Seeker droids that had crept up behind her. She knew that they were there, but she had no time to respond before they opened fire. In a last ditch effort to avoid losing to the seeker droids, Sakadi attempted to outmanoeuvre them with a quick sidestep to her left, followed by a rapid turn to face all the droids at once. That was a mistake. Even with the metal slid covering her eyes she could've sworn that the droids were deviously grinning at her as all five opened fire at once. Her defenses were overwhelmed before she even had time to proces where the droids were aiming at. All five shots hit her, the burning pain jolting through her body as she stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet and finally falling backwards on the thick training mat.

Adding insult to injury, the seeker droids turned themselves off with a loud beep. It basically stated that she, once again, failed to meet her own expectations.

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@Larry Kenobi

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[Vash Tembra]

When he came into the training hall, he was greeted with a loud thud, which made him worry for a moment that something was wrong. Very few people came at this hour to train, but Vash liked the peace and quiet of the mornings. It was a nice contrast to the rest of the day, where he'd be discussing the Force, as well as matters of the Rebellion, with others.
There was nothing to worry about, as it turned out. It was just another Padawan, same as him. He knew her from passing, her name was Sakadi. Most everyone kept their distance from her, though: she had an aristocratic air, and was a mute, to boot.
The Echani decided not to hold that against her, however, and greeted her in a cheery tone
"Hello, there!", he said, almost ignoring the fact she was laying on the mat. He closed the gap between them, and offered her a hand, sending a Force signal of where his arm was extended to help her locate his body. "Nice day for training, wasn't expecting you to be such an early bird".
He was smiling brightly when he said that, and his tone and Force signature were both relaxed and cheery. Last thing Vash wanted was for her to feel embarassed, so he treated the situation as it was normal- as it indeed was: falling over in training was common.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

She was still reminiscing about her failed attempt to outmaneoever the five remote seeker droids, when she heard the voice of a man getting closer to her. Oh great. She thought. Someone even saw how I failed in spectacular fashion.... The voice sounded familliar, but she couldn't place who exactly it was. Was it one of the masters? No, not likely. It must be another padawan. That only made it harder, as she never had taken the initiative to approach any other padawan yet. And how could she? It was not like she could just walk up to someone and say "Hey, how's it going?". Therefore, she had very friends in the order. Well no one, actually. Not that she bothered though, her entire childhood had taken place in isolation. Even if she had thousands of friends, she wouldn't know what to do with them.

Sakadi raised the metal slid which covered her eyes, as she placed her elbows on the mat to sit more straight up. She was somewhat surprised to see who the voice belonged to. A muscular man with white hair and silver hairs. An Echani. She believed his name to be Vash Tembra, although she hadn't paid enough attention to be overly convince that it was truly his name. What is he doing here? Vash Tembra had reached out with both his hand and the force, offering to help her up. She narrowed her eyes for a moment as she looked the man up and down. He didn't seem to have any ill attentions, so she gracefully accepted his outstretched hand, as he helped her up.

Vash made a remark about her early morning training. Sakadi gave a slight smile and shrugged. Didn't expect you here either and yet here you are. As she often did, she kept the slightly provocative reply to herself. Sometimes it was better to not try and telepathically communicate with someone. This was one of those cases. Besides, she wasn't here to start a conversation. She came here to train; she had to master defensive lightsaber techniques, and her techniques were far from perfect.

Hoping to throw him off, she started to make some rapid hand gestures. She wasn't an expert when it came to sign language, but she had enough experience for it to be comprehensible for other practitioners. Usually, when someone approached her, sign language or very basic gestures formed her go-to approach of communication. But Sakadi had quickly learned that it only scared people away from her, as they had a hard time understanding what she meant. Vash Tembra might be a great guy, but she had no time for him right now. While her gestures were something friendly along the lines of "Are you also here to train?", she tried to make it as vague as possible. While she waited for a response, she called her lightsaber back to her with a quick telekinetic pull. She had the dropped the metal hilt during her fall, but she didn't feel like picking it up, as the hits from the seeker droids still ached on her torso.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Vash couldn't help but smile a bit more when he saw her eye him up and down suspiciously after he offered his hand. This is a suspicious one.. quite the challenge, he thought happily. The Echani liked to try and make people feel at ease, and the fact that she wouldn't make it easy made him more intrigued.

When she began using her hand signals in an almost erratic way, he tilted his head slightly, analyzing her with his gaze to try and figure what she meant. He wasn't sure if she was being confusing on purpose or not, but he decided it didn't matter. If I can understand aliens somewhat, I can understand her.

So he relaxed his body, and kept paying close attention to her signs, while opening himself to the Force, feeling the waves of energy that she was sending out while communicating to help get a clearer picture of her hand gestures. He could also have probed her mind lightly, but that felt incredibly invasive, not to mention downright rude.

And there was no need to probe any further, as it turned out: her hands were moving quickly, and her general posture and Force signature was almost aggressive, but she was asking something along the lines of what he was doing here, that much he knew.

"Oh, I like to train early in the morning," he smiled "I was away on a mission, so I guess that's why we haven't seen each other more here at this time." He analyzed the lightsaber in her hand for a few moments, then asked "So, do you want to spar? Or maybe use teamwork to outlast the droids?", he asked, gesturing to the seeker droids nearby.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi blinked once. Now twice. Was he for real? Her force signature was close to hostile, her gestures were as vague as possible, and yet this man still persisted on having a conversation. Fine. She thought. She was certain that he could feel the ripples her presence made in the force, as she could feel his. Telepathic contact it is then. Sakadi moved her right hand's index finger to her temple, tapping it once, before pointing at his. That should be enough to clarify that she'd prefer telepathy as conversation method. For now.

However, she wasn't just going to give him easy acces to her mind. Ever since Sakadi joined the Order, she had been proud of her telepathic abilities. Her mind was like a fortress, nothing could get in and nothing could get out, without her knowledge or approval. Especially during telepathic conversation did she raise new walls between her memories, thoughts and telepathic messages. She wasn't planning on accidentily opening her mind to show just what she thought of the world around her. No, she met strangers outside of her walls. Preferably in their minds, when it came down to it.

To back her suggestion to telepathically communicate, Sakadi would send a small message. Not directly to him, for she saw invading one's mind as bad manners, but more in the form of a wave he could open up to. The message was simple, carrying only one word with the voice of a young woman. Hello.

Expecting Vash to receive that message, Sakadi would send the second message. Unlike her greeting, this message was meant directly for Vash. If he opened up to the first message, the second should be far more easy to receive. It created more of an open channel than a direct mind invasion, which was often required to communicate with non-Force sensitives.

I don't know. I rarely practice with others, what would you suggest? she maintained eye contact while she fortified their link. Once things got physical, be it sparring or teamwork against the remote droids, she would not have the time to re-establish their link. By the way, feel free to talk out loud if that makes it easier. she added. You've got a voice, so don't be afraid to use it. Her last remark made her smile a little. It wasn't meant to discourage him from using telepathy, but she always found it funny to hear someone talk out loud, knowing that no voice was going to reply. The confusion of bystanders was often the best part, although there were none here today.

 

[Vash Tembra]

He got what she meant right away when Sakadi made the gesture for telepathic communication, and prepared himself accordingly. Vash had no big, dark secrets or anything of the sort, but it'd be more than a little weird if he started sending out random, unrequested trivia about his life by accident.

Thankfully, he was a pretty decent telepath, and put a strong wall between what he wanted to show and what he didn't, though he still kept his mind quite open and receptive as he received the first message, then the second, nodding lightly as they communicated. In a way, speaking through the mind was a lot simpler than trying to find the right words. He especially liked bonding with animals this way.
"Depends on what you want," he said out loud, smiling a bit "We should probably address our weaknesses. Mine happens to be a lack of mobility, for example, so I can get overwhelmed. What would you say is yours?"

He kept a relaxed posture as he spoke, mostly because he didn't want Sakadi to feel uncomfortable speaking about her shortcomings.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

My shortcomings...

She rubbed her chin with her right hand, as she stared at the ground. She had complete confidence in being able to outspeed her opponents. Neither was her agility a problem. She wasn't a contortionist, but she was more flexible than your average Sephi. Strength and stamina, those two attributes weren't exactly her strongest suit.

I suppose I lack the strength and stamina to keep up with my opponent.

She would keep her reply short, no need to give a complicated answer to this question. So what might the best training option be? For now, sparring seemed like the best option. Test each others' strengths and weaknesses. Besides, the thrill of having a living opponent got to her.

I suggest we spar for now, try some teamwork later.

 

[Vash Tembra]

In response to her suggestion, Vash simply smiled and levitated to his hand a training blade, taking a few step backwards as he did so. He held the weapon above the head, angled back and down at an approximately forty-five degree angle, and waited for her. The Echani wondered if Sakadi would recognize Djem-So's opening stance. He suspected she did, and would probably try to overwhelm him with a flurry of attacks. Especially likely if she knows Ataru, he thought, being careful not to let her sense his thoughts on this. Last thing he needed was a telepath working out his strategy before the fight even started,

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi gritted her teeth. This was going to be an unpleasant fight. She activated her own training saber, blue in color and held it loosely to her side. She recognized the Djem So stance, the exact form which usually played the architect of her demise. She wasn't going to overpower him in a straight up battle of strength. No, that was surely not going to cut it. Sakadi hesistantly placed her left feet forward. She slowly brought the lightsaber up in a 45-degree angle, in front of her. She made sure to hold the blade at hip height, simulating a Shii-cho opening stance. An experienced combatant knew that a fast offense often would be required to deal with Djem So. So of course, this was a trap. She made sure to show her opponent that her Form of choice was going to be Shii-cho. Whether he fell for it or not, didn't matter. What mattered, is that it would hopefully infuse Vash with doubt. After all, the number one rule of combat was to keep your opponent guessing on your next move.

Sakadi was going to let Vash close the distance between them. A sudden switch of Form was something she had practiced many times before. Therefore, she was quite confident that she could surprise Vash. She hoped that that would be enough to overwhelm him, but the Jedi padawan knew better than that. This wasn't an opponent she could deal with in three strikes or less. And yet, that was the goal she had set for herself.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Vash looked her over for a moment, analyzing her stance. The choice of Shii-Cho was an interesting one for sure, but he wasn't stupid enough to underestimate his opponent, especially since he knew virtually nothing about her.

The silver haired man kept his pose as he advanced forward, not yet attacking, but merely closing the gap between them, circling Sakadi as he analyzed her further.

Then he made his strike.

Instead of bringing his yellow blade to bear full on upon her, he gestured with his hand, and a nearby datapad directly to Sakadi's right flew towards her right leg, while he deftly moved towards her left flank, and waited to see what she'd do.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi watched how Vash analyzed her stance. It worked to some degree, as the Echani had started to close the distance between them. She kept her gaze fixed on Vash, as he started circling around her. She maintained her position, turning with him as he circled around her. Under no circumstance would she allow him to get behind her.

Then it came. The first attack. Sakadi felt the force building inside her opponent for a brief moment. It mildly surprised her, as she suspected that the first strike was going to be a physical one, not a Force attack. Her ears twitched the moment she heard it coming. She couldn't tell what the object was yet, but she could tell it was small and fast enough to act as projectile, coming in her direction. A quick glance to her right confirmed her theory, as she saw the datapad flying towards her. The moment she turned her head, the man slipped past her, now standing at her left flank.

Rule two. She thought. Use your opponent's attacks against them.

By moving to her left flank, Vash had placed himself in the direct trajectory of the datapad. That information was all she needed to form her own offense.

The Sephi grinned and bursted into motion. She rapidly took a step back, spinning clockwise while doing so. She used the momentum of her spin to launch an horizontal slashing attack at Vash, aimed at his chest. If her calculation was right, Sakadi's strike would make contact at the exact moment the datapad would hit him. Would he decide to stop the datapad with the force, her strike would surely hit. If he decided to stop her strike, the datapad would likely hit hit him.

Mobility was your weakness right? She used the temporary link she had fortified to send him the message. She woud make sure to force the Echani to be mobile in their sparring session. After all, the best way to overcome your weaknesses is by facing them.

 

[Vash Tembra]

It was only too late that he realized he'd taken a longer step than anticipated, and had now poised himself to be hit by his own projectile. Vash gritted his teeth. What an amateur move.

The Echani only had a split second to make a decision, as he noticed, with some measure of glee, that at least part of his plan had worked. He wanted Sakadi to take the offensive, so he could counter her move, something intrinscic to his chosen form, and that had worked. Of course, now he had a small datapad going at great speed towards his right leg, while a training blade would be hitting his chest in roughly the same time. He couldn't reliably counter both moves at once.

So he made an upward slash with his yellow blade, not to counter the datapad, but to meet his weapon with hers. Blue clashed against yellow as a loud thud was heard. The datapad had found its mark, and hit him right in the leg. He chuckled briefly, pretending there was no pain, and felt really thankful his training in physical endurance allowed him to almost not lose any of his poise as his leg was hit.

"Yeah, nice job exploring that," he said as he looked her in the eye, but this time, the communication was telephatic, both to make it faster than normal words and to not strain his body, as he kept pulling his blade upwards, using the Force to bolster his strength "but I'm pretty good at taking a hit"

The plan here was simple: use a great amount of strength to pull her saber up, putting Sakadi off balance, and bring his own weapon high above his head... then immidiately crash it down on his smaller opponent. She'd either match his physical power and prevent him from raising his weapon too much, or he'd hit her.

He grinned a bit. Of course, if she did match him, it'd strain her a great deal... or at least he hoped it would. It was entirely possible his smaller opponent had a few tricks up her sleeve.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Now hang on a minute. Did he just completely neglect the datapad flying towards him? Her move had been quick and precise. And yet, she found her saber being pushed upwards, in a lock she could not possibly keep up with. He even chuckled while he got hit. With a simple move, he had taken control of their brief clash. If she decided to try and keep up with his upward motion, she'd definitely be subjected to a large amount of falling leaf strikes. That would be enough to end their sparring match, so that wasn't going to cut it. What she needed, was distance.

Not much was needed for her to form a plan. She still had a lot of space left behind her, but simply stepping back right now would throw her off-balance; another death flag. That didn't align with her third rule. Don't die.

She allowed Vash to bring both their sabers up to just above shoulder-height before she executed her own plan. The strong upward strike forced her to step back, but that was exactly what she was aiming for.

Then you certainly won't mind if I do this. She replied. Boasting that he could take a hit, she would try to exploit that for sure.

Sakadi used the upward force of the strike to lift herself up a bit, before kicking him as hard as she could just below the gut with her left leg. Had he been a Sith, she would have aimed for his crotch. The momentum designed to bring her out of balance, combined with her kick, was enough to launch the Sephi backwards. Her landing was elegant, but it still needed some work before she could reliably use it in uneven terrain. Her launch had created a distance of two meters, or so she guessed.

Well? Was that still within acceptable "good at taking hits" levels?

A smile started to form on her face. Seemed like having a training partner was more enjoyable than she thought it would be.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Vash let out an Oof as Sakadi did something completely unexpected, using her leg to propel herself backwards... and of course she had to use his body as leverage. She might be small, but her kicks hurt nonetheless, he thought, watching her land gracefully a good distance away from him.

That was a problem. He could ignore the pain on his leg, but that didn't mean the hit hadn't damaged him. While just trying to rush her was a possibility, Vash might screw up... and Sakadi would probaly notice him limping slightly if he ran at full speed, and he didn't want her to notice he had been affected by the hit: projecting a proper image was important in a duel.

When her taunt came, Vash couldn't help but grin a bit: for all her initial coldness, Sakadi seemed to be enjoying the excercise. It was as the people of species always said: you only truly know someone when you fight them.

"Oh, yeah, little one, you'll have to do better than that to take me down... nice move, though!", Vash replied in a cheery tone. He was projecting an image of cool confidence, partially because he still wanted to give a proper- hopefully somewhat intimidating-impression, but mostly because he was really enjoying himself.

The Echani made a decision, and began to walk towards her, aiming the tip of his yellow blade directly into the Sephi's stomach. Once he got close enough, Vash made a lunge towards the area he had already been aiming at, holding the saber with one hand. He was sure not to overextent himself as he made the move, moving his arm just enough for the blade to be able to make contact.

That was the distraction, though.

His other hand was moving downwards, though he was also careful not to move it enough to be in Sakadi's reach. He wouldn't need much energy anyway: all he was doing was sending a small push towards her legs, aiming not at overwhelming her defenses, but rather at subverting her balance.

He figured that, since his attack on her gut was so obvious, she'd take the necessary steps to counter it easily... but if he also added something a bit more... unorthodox, he'd catch her off-guard. Lots of people expected Djem-So practicioners to be brutes, and Vash intended to prey on that perception, should Sakadi have this kind of view.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Little one? She would make him regret ever having said that. She could tell that, like her, Vash was enjoying this round of sparring. She had kept her saber loosely at her side, waiting for him to strike first. His two handed cuts would easily break through her defense, so keeping up a guard had little use. At this point, evading seemed like a better option. That was, until he attacked.

She forced herself to stay calm, as she looked for signs of what Vash's next move was going to be. It didn't take her long before she found one. A small movement of his right shoulder, but not his left. A one handed strike? She quickly glanced at his footwork. What the hell was this? Makashi? With a puzzled look on her face, Sakadi sidestepped to the right, bringing her saber up to clash with his, pushing it just a bit further away from her. As she brought her saber up to meet his, she turned 90 degrees to the left, placing her left feet just a bit more back. She now perfectly mimicked a Jedi Ready stance, keeping her own lightsaber between his saber and her body. He now faced her right shoulder, which was optimal for her to launch a counter attack.

This attack would have certainly followed, were it not for the force push that followed soon after his lunge. She honestly expected another one of those damn overpowering strikes, capable of easily batting her saber away. Instead, she found her forward leg (right leg) under a pressure which forced it to bend. Vash was more cunning than she expected him to be. Twice had he aimed to throw her off balance now; this time it would certainly work. So she decided to just roll with it. Literally. She would need her left hand for support, thus she took her saber in her right hand, as she made a shoulder roll. Because she rolled over her right shoulder, she had a small window to aim, with her still ignited lightsaber, for his right leg's popliteal space. Should she succeed, their sparring match would certainly be concluded. If she failed, she trusted that her lightsaber would give her enough cover to get back up and create some distance again.

What was that move? Niman? Where did the Djem So go? she asked. The mental voice had a mocking tone, not meant as an insult, but in hopes of finally erasing the cool confidence of her opponent.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Vash had to give it to her. The Sephi knew how to use momentum like nobody's bussiness. She had, just seconds ago, used the force of his upward lightsaber swing to turn her disavantage into an elegant backflip, and now, she had just turned his push into a pretty creative way to roll... her reactions were on point.

Thankfully, he had been very careful with his probing thrust, keeping his weapon, and his off hand, close to his body when he attackedto keep his overall balance. Truth was, the silver haired man had been hoping Sakadi would stay her ground and try to counter him without moving around, but she was smarter than that. Oh, well, just have to improvise, he thought, as he mustered his strength to leap over her strike.

Now, leaping around wasn't his forté, but he could do it when it was required- Vash was still a Jedi, after all. Not that it was pleasant: when he raised his legs just above the blue training blade, he had to heavily rely on the Force to propel him upwards, and when he landed on the training mat, he did so in a far from gracious manner. Now his right leg, that had recently been introduced to a very fast datapad, exploded in pain due to the impact of his landing, and he knew there wasn't time to dally. If Vash was going to have a shot at this, he'd have to keep up the pressure.

That was when he heard her mocking. It made him smile a bit, but also, admittedly, increased his desire to throw caution out the window and press forward. "Oh, I'll show you some Djem So," he mentally replied in a smug, but friendly tone, while rushing towards her. He felt himself limping a bit, the strain of running obviously affecting his wounded leg, but he couldn't give her time to recover properly from her roll.

As he ran to close the gap between them, he noticed a funny thing: they were still talking through the Force! Of course, there was nothing crazy about two Jedi being proficient at telepathy, but the fact that they could mantain a link while fighting surprised him. For about a fraction of a second, before he focused solely on his opponent once more. She'll probably win this, but I sure won't make it easy for her.

Sakadi had just finished rolling when Vash closed the gap, holding his blade high above his head in an approximate forty degree angle. He took full advantage of the fact he'd gathered momentum to take a step forward with his left leg, the good one, while bringing his blade to crash down in a left diagonal slash across her stomach.

"Dodge this," was the telepathic message he sent her, while grinning a bit. He fully expected her to do something sneaky, that'd probably win her the fight this time. He'd used quite a bit of energy first to leap above her strike, then to run to her as quickly as he could, and finally now, when he made as strong a slash as he could. But it didn't matter. Vash still felt like he'd learned something, and he'd put up a good fight. Hopefully. If Sakadi beat him now, she'd have earned her victory.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Crap.. She had barely recovered from her roll and now she stood upright, she noticed the sudden rush of Vash. His shadow was now looming over her while she stumbled backwards; with an overhead slash about to crash down on her. Her eyes widened as she saw what kind of trap she just lured herself in. It still felt as a victory for her though, as she finally managed to get him moving. Not only that, she had made him jump. And now she wasn't planning on losing either. There was no way she'd evade this one. His first attack, an upward slash, she could handle. The force push? Sure. Those attacks allowed her to make use of her opponent's momentum. This one? Not so much. That's why she hated Djem So. Overhead slashes could put her down in an instant, as there was no way she'd be able to block or parry them.

For a moment, she considered a full, head on, mental attack. The Sephi telepath was polite and often refrained from attacking people mentally. But that didn't mean she wasn't capable of doing so. But sadly, that route seemed blocked as well. She had been training all morning long and especially these last few acrobatic moves had cost her more energy than she'd like to admit. No somersaults. No rotations. No chance of parrying or evading. He truly had her checkmate now. Just as she started to consider surrendering and letting Vash walk away with the victory, an idea came to her. An all or nothing plan, one she absolutely detested, but would surely work.

In a split second, she made the decision. The fiery blue of her saber extinguished, as her slender hand moved over the small button. With the hilt of her saber in her right hand, she reached out connecting with the living force around her as fast as she could. She had to make haste, in just about a second, Vash would move his saber down and end the fight.

With all the might she could muster, she made a small gesture with her left hand. She pulled. She had aimed the pull specifically at his upper torso. Vash had gained a lot of momentum thanks to his short dash. Momentum forward, now solely resting on his left leg as support. Pulling hard at his torso with the Force would hopefully force him to fall forward. Where she stood. She would have no time to dodge, but that was alright. His saber was still around head height, meaning that it couldn't do much harm from that position. Had she been a moment later, attempting this move would have been plain suicide. Besides, dodging the falling Echani wasn't part of her plan. He had caught her off-guard with his dash, whether she'd dodge left or right, she'd fall anyway. But if she allowed this to turn into a ground wrestling match, she would stand no chance against the larger and more muscular Echani. No, she allowed herself to fall backwards, grabbing the tunic of the likely stumbling Vash as she fell. He would have to deal with the momentum of his own dash, her pull, and now her weight all at once.

The last part of her final move relied on him. Or more importantly, what she expected him to do. Vash didn't seem like the type to just drop on her without concern. No, she believed that he was going to try and prevent smashing the Sephi under his weight. If he didn't, then she had made quite the gross miscalculation. in her fall, she made sure to keep her right arm, which held the lightsaber, as far outstretched as possible. Now with Vash straight above, she pressed the hilt against his flank. She said nothing for the moment, as she panted and contemplated over her victory.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Damn gentleman manners, was all Vash could think when Sakadi pulled him towards her. It was a really creative move, he had to concede, using all the power he had generated to use that against him. Of course, it this was a real fight, he could crash down on her and keep fighting... but that seemed so... uncivilized for just a training excercise.

So he used what leverage he could with his left foot, as well as a bit of Force manipulation, to move him slightly to his opponent's right, just enough to be out of her way. As he did so, Vash felt Sakadi's hilt on his flank, and knew she had won. At least she was nice enough to not ignite it, he thought.

He looked her over and grinned, speaking with his mouth "Alright, you got me fair and square," the Echani said, panting a bit "And it was a pleasure to know the real you... you're way more creative than I had suspected"

Vash was still grinning when he added that. The fight, the struggle, always made his blood run faster, and in those moments he really felt alive... but the best part of any engagement, he found, was analyzing and understanding your opponent. The way they moved, how determined they were, all spoke to their true hearts and minds. There's no time to stand on ceremony when your butt's on the line.

And he felt he had learned quite a bit about Sakadi, much more than if they had just sat down and talked (which was something that seemed to make her uncomfortable). In a lot of ways, she was tactical, more than him, he was forced to admit. Her relatively small size forced the Sephi to rely on her opponent's momentum to make up the difference, turning their advantage against them, and that was something she had developed quite neatly.

Vash also noticed that calling her little seemed to have gotten to her, which made sense. Teasing people on their perceived weaknesses tended to have that effect. The overall impression Sakadi gave was of a very tactical, but somewhat... childish person, for lack of a better word. Her attempts to push him away when he'd first entered the training room, and subsequent more playful behaviour during training were what had given that feeling. But it was too early to tell with certainty.

What he did know for sure, though, was that she was skilled, and pretty funny, in her own way. She'd make a fine ally, and hopefully an even better friend, if I can get to her.

"So... breakfast?", he asked, in a casual tone after a few moments had passed and his breathing had gone back to normal.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Reflection was a mandatory part of training, she learned that back in the day, when she was forced to focus all her attention on training her singing. Her display of Ataru had matched his Djem So, but she still wasn't happy with how close the odds were. True, after their little sparring match, she had now come to respect Vash as an equal. But still. Had she been a little more focused, on point and most importantly, skilled, the balance could have been pushed further in her favor. While she preferred to stay out of Galactic Alliance matters, she had no doubt that, one day, her skill with a lightsaber would make the difference between a life or death scenario.

She had learned quite a bit about her opponent as wel. Vash Tembra... He was more patient than her; but his calm and cool attitude hid an underlying aggresive approach to life. He had boldly approached her, challenged her to a duel and if she wasn't mistaken, he just offered to go get breakfast. There were more layers to this man than she had thought. Sakadi had initially mistaken him for just another brute, but he proved to be much more capable than that. He intigrated the Force in his combat style and was definitely not afraid to switch up his tactics. On top of that, he could match her taunting and mocking with his own. It made her feel less sorry for kicking him.

She raised her thumb in the air, indicating that it was indeed time to go get some breakfast.

 

[Vash Tembra]

Vash smiled, and slowly sat up. He only noticed now how sore his body had gotten due to the strain of their little match. Thankfully, I can just use the Force to heal, he thought. Maybe it was wrong for a Jedi to feel pride over their skills, but he couldn't help it. It felt decidedly good to have command over the Force.

He got up, and offered Sakadi his hand to help her off the floor. The Echani briefly considered also offering his arm when they began making their way to the dining area, but that seemed a bit excessive. They barely knew one another, after all.

"Don't think I ever asked you where you're from," he commented, with his arm outstretched "I'm from Corellia, by the way. Well, sort of, but close enough"