[ASK] Another Challenge

[Viabuck]

Location: Dueling Ring, Korriban Sith Academy, Korriban

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Throughout his time among the Sith, Jorath had unfortunately found himself with a limited number of actual opponents against which to test himself and the abilities that he had acquired. As much as he appreciated the challenges presented to him by Lillieth and his Master, in order to continue to grow as a Duelist, he'd need a greater variety of opponents to face off against. He would need to evolve his style and that was why when he saw the potential for a new challenger, he didn't hesitate, even for a moment.

"Jade D'ukal.." he would recite to himself as he paced within one of the indoor dueling ring's that the academy provided for students to engage in such sparring bouts and training sessions. Glancing up to the dim light of the room, he exhaled a deep breath, his hand reaching to his side and allowing his fingers to slide into the grip of his lightsaber. Concentrating upon the crystal within it for a moment, a familiar hiss would be emitted from it as the blade flared to life, burning red with a slight orange tinge to it.

Giving the lightsaber a few quick swings through the air, the Acolyte was moving to limber himself up and get his motions to carry a certain level of fluidity to them before actually attempting to clash sabers with a peer. Jorath was admittedly quite excited at this stage, as he often was before battle, even those of a controlled nature, eager to see the capabilities of another Sith and to learn what he could in order to adopt it into his own arsenal.. To grow his power and to become something greater.

Dragging his lightsaber down across the ground, the gigantic teenager would watch the sparks erupt from the contact of stone and energy, a hint of impatience breaking through his calm demeanor. With any luck, his opponent would soon be arriving sooner rather than later.

 

[Wit]

Jade stepped into the duelling arena, her eyes immediately drawn to her giant of an opponent. She had obviously read up on him, being prepared for everything was what had kept her alive as a Shadow Guard and she had no intention of letting go of that habit, but seeing him in person still surprised her. Reading a number never did have quite the same impact as seeing with your own eyes what that number represented. Moving deeper into the arena, she noticed Jorath's hiss of frustration and filed away the information, personality traits like that could come in handy, be it inside or outside the arena. Already having gone thorough some warm up exercises to limber herself up before the fight, she came to a stop a dozen or so feet from the bigger acolyte. "Shall we begin?" Direct confrontation wasn't really her style, striking from the shadows, making use of the element of surprise was what she had always been most comfortable with. But she had been trained by the Guard in various forms of combat, and if she was going to be a Sith then it made sense to know how to use their weapons. Her teachers had said that she learned best when she had someone else to compete with, so what was to say the same wouldn't be true here as well. If it took sessions such as this to sharpen her skills with a lightsaber then that was what she was going to do, regardless of how she felt about them.

 

[Viabuck]

Sizing up his considerably smaller opponent, he would think for a moment that the woman might have some resemblance to Lillieth in regards to her fighting style but ultimately not dwell too much on that thought. There were after all more than two combat styles and perhaps this would be an opportunity for him to witness yet another in a more hands on manner. With the offer to begin being put forth, Jorath's hands brought the lightsaber up, holding it up over his head at a forty five degree angle assuming a ready stance.

"Of course.." he replied, his voice sounding confident yet lacking any real emotion. Unsure of how to really get the battle started again what he could only assume would be a faster opponent, he decided to play it cautiously, taking a few slow sideways steps, keeping his lightsaber at the ready and keeping his eyes trained upon Jade. As he paced for a moment, he suddenly made a move inward, his feet lifting from the gorund as he lunged, swinging downward toward her with a powerful overhead strike which was mostly intended to simply force her to move and engage him.

Immediately following what he would only assume would be a miss or a block given the amount he had telegraphed his attack, his weapon would immediately be brought up into position to take the defensive, determined to see what openings he could exploit. Attempting to chase down or surprise a smaller opponent who knew he was coming was foolhardy.. He'd need patience in this instance.

And he hated that.

 

[Wit]

Jade waited as Jorath began circling her, her eyes alert as she carefully observed his movements. She had drawn neither her lightsaber nor her shoto, though her hands waited ready at her sides. The moment he moved inwards, spotting his leg moving inwards instead of to the side, Jade sprang into motion. Drawing in the Force, using it to enhance her movements, she took a step to the side as well, away from the direction Jorath was approaching from and then dashed ahead parallel to his lunge. As his blade swung down from above his head, she dropped into a roll that would take her past the bigger acolyte's position. Coming up on a knee next to him just as he would have completed his downward strike, she pulled out her vibroblade with her left hand, the one closer to Jorath, and jammed it into the back of his knee. Not an injury that would cause long term damage, but one that would hinder him sufficiently to allow her to finish the fight. But she would not be done with that, as she would then drop her now free hand to the ground and pivot about it to swing her foot in a circle, sweeping them through Jorath's feet in the hopes of brining him crashing him down to the ground. If successful, she would pull her shoto into her hand, ready to ignite and press against the bigger acolyte to force a submission.

 

[Viabuck]

'Typical..' Jorath thought to himself as his bait was taken, the girl rolling out of the range of his attack, the opportunity he had been seeking for a direction confrontation not emerging as he had hoped that it would. Instead he would simply break off the attack, immediately pivoting his body as Jade threatened to move out of his line of sight. As he often did in the midst of confrontation, he would hear his master's words reminding him to keep his opponent in front of him and to keep an eye on them lest he be made an easy prey.. And it was these words that would save him an unpleasant wound, a very sudden jerk being made he as narrowly avoided the vibroblade which he attempted to bring down along the back of his knee.

His training on Kashyyyk having proven quite invaluable in regards to becoming a bit quicker on his feet, enough so to keep an eye on a rolling opponent but not enough to completely out manuever someone who was considerably smaller and lither. In an instant he found himself being swept off of his feet, landing hard on the ground but not acknowledging it with any more than a simple grunt. Rather than allow her to take advantage of the situation, he opted to take advantage, figuring that Jade had not yet accustomed herself to his lightsaber. In spite of the distance she had on him, when she would attempt to move in his direction, his thumb would trace over his lightsaber and as he swung it from his position on his back, the blade suddenly lengthened to a far greater length, threatening to clip her with the blade while hopefully warding her back away while he made his way back up onto his feet.

She had attempted to end the match early on.. He respected that but to him it also exposed a potential weakness that he might be able to exploit. She clearly didn't want to draw the battle out for one reason or another.. Maybe he should just keep things at a more methodical pace and wait for a mistake to be made.

 

[Wit]

Having missed hitting the larger acolyte's knee, Jade had quickly shifted the vibroblade to her other hand and used the free hand to support the leg swing that ultimately brought the Sith down. A smile would creep onto her face at her opponent's display of sufficient competence to avoid her first strike, maybe this would be more beneficial to her than she had thought. With her position near Jorath's torso, she was able to easily spot him swing his blade and being well within the range of the blade she reacted to stop the attack. Pulling her shoto into her free hand, she ignited it vertically to block the blade with the intention of pushing the blade upwards so that even if she didn't stop the swing completely she would atleast make it safely clear her head. The sudden increase in length surprised her, but she had been trained to deal with surprises in the field and simply ignored the increased length that would not affect her at the moment. While her shoto was raised in defence, she had no intention of staying on the defensive. Raising the vibroblade that still rested in her other hand, she stabbed it into the acolyte's shoulder, another attack meant to incapacitate rather then kill. Not only would the attack hamper his ability to use that hand, if successful she would pull out the blade and quickly slip it into his stomach, another painful attack to further incapacitate him.

 

[Viabuck]

As much as it may have come as a surprise, fighting from his back wasn't proving to be the most efficient method for fending off an attack for Jorath. With his attempted swing from his lengthened lightsaber being defended against, he quickly realized that it would only take one hand to fend off the Shoto allowing for him to release it just long enough to open his left hand, concentrating upon the force and in an instant releasing a rather powerful push forward, an invisible burst of energy being projected toward Jade's mid-section with enough strength to carry her back away from him right before the vibroblade would have time to find it's mark in his shoulder. Taking advantage of the opening that this would create, he would shift his weight, rolling back and planting his knuckles and kip upping onto his feet and holding his saber at the ready once again showing a surprising amount of grace for someone his size while being mindful of his own lightsaber's positioning.

Once again bringing his arms up over his head, his palms wrapped around the hilt of his lightsaber, holding it at a forty-five degree angle over his head, he would rush forward rotating his arms over his head and swinging his own lightsaber down in a horizontal slash, putting his raw strength into the blow. If she was going to attempt to use two weapons against him at the same time, he intended to make her pay for it every step of the way. Given his raw power, simply relying on a single hand to block with would prove much trickier than before and with the blades extra length, the range of his strike had also increased enough that dodging might have proven additionally complicated.. All in all, the dual-phase would be doing all that he had wanted it to do in the first place.

Fighting faster opponents always tended to annoy Jorath and yet in this case, he seemed determined to not lose his patience, his face not displaying it's trademark blind rage which had become something of a default expression for him as of late in battle. If nothing else, this was going to serve as inspiration to work on his own agility in the future.

 

[Wit]

When the push came, Jade let herself be pushed back, though she let the vibroblade drop from her hand. Coming to a stop in a crouch a short distance away, just as Jorath was also rising up to his feet, she drew in more of the Force, already starting to feel the cold-blooded clarity that descended upon her in battle. Using the Force and being in combat had pulled it out of her faster than usual, something she had not expected or been prepared for. Still crouching as the larger acolyte raised his blade high to attempt another swing at her, her face betrayed no emotion as she ignited her shoto and locking it in its ignited state, threw it straight at the acolyte's chest. But as the acolyte would react to it, just as he would defend himself against the attack from the front, she would reach out to her fallen vibrobalde, now lying behind the acolyte, and telekinetically send it flying through the air straight at his back, her aim taking into consideration whatever defensive action he would have taken to deal with her shoto and the speeds it would fly through the air at being far greater than any simple stab and possibly well beyond his ability to respond to.

 

[Viabuck]

Holding his blade up over his head at an angle was proving to be a good choice because as he suddenly found himself with the shoto being launched at him, it only required one sudden powerful downward swing, his own blade impacting violently with a great deal of strength behind it in order to prevent it from finding it's mark when suddenly he felt the nagging sensation of the force around him alerting him that all was in fact not well, just as his lightsaber made contact with the attack he had initially moved to defend against.

Loosening his grip just at the moment of impact, he would allow a sudden reflection to push his lightsaber backward over his head, bringing it down behind him with just enough time to slightly alter the course of the vibroblade which had threatened to stab him in his back though not without paying some degree of a penalty for it. By altering it's course, the blade had managed to drag itself along his right side, cutting into his flesh and leaving a rather unpleasant wound, but not one that he was totally unprepared to deal with.

Not looking back to the weapon, he instead focused on the Shoto which he would concentrate on for a moment before ripping backward with his arm, intending to throw it to the other side of the room before starting to advance once again on Jade, a determined expression taking hold upon his face as he began to give himself over slightly, letting his anger fester and concentrating on the seething pain in his side.

The wound which had been bleeding nicely seemed to slow a bit, the flesh drawing together though continuing to seep as if held together by some unnatural stitching, the Acolyte having chosen that moment to practice his efforts with using the force to 'heal' which was actually a pour wording choice in his opinion.. It was more of sustenance and yet this was no time to debate, instead with her options hopefully limited for defense, he went on the offense again, using a burst of force speed to advance quickly on her his own lightsaber being used to sweep across the front of her upper legs, the obvious goal being to limit the speed at which she could move before continuing the blades circular motion, sweeping it back toward her left elbow.

He wasn't cleaving with the intent to remove limbs but mostly to wound as he also was well aware now that he would need to keep his senses reaching out to detect any weapons that might come flying toward his back again. That was a tactic he knew to watch out for and he had no intention of falling for it again.