[CLASS] Basics of a Hawk-bat

[Symbiot Spider]

Bakura, 9:00am Local Time

He had spent a lot of time on Bakura lately doing classes and the planet was slowly growing on Dartel. He had one more class to teach, and compared to the others, this one was fairly simple; the Ataru form of lightsaber combat. Again, Dartel was in the training hangar (Link) that had become his home on the planet. Dartel stood in the very basic Ataru stance in front of the friendly droids that have become good training dummies. With his lightsaber turned down to the training setting, Dartel knew that he wouldn’t destroy the droids like the form would actually be used for when in real combat; it was for the best as he didn’t want to constantly rebuild the droids during the class.

“Authorize: Lethal level force, deactivate when systems read a fatal strike only.”

The eyes of the droids blinked to life with a menacing red glow as they lurched forwards in a sinister sprint. The leading droid leapt through the air, flipped and fell with a two-handed overhead strike. Dartel spun cleanly out of the way before striking out and piercing through the droid, which crumpled under the momentum from the landing.

The second was in front of Dartel before he could get out of the way to avoid it completely. Its arm lashed out like a feral cat, Dartel flicked his lightsaber through the striking limb; the limb going limp to resemble a now missing limb. It was easy for Dartel to read the next attack and slashed his saber up through both the droid’s torso and the elbow joint of its other arm; disabling it.

Dartel wheeled to see the last droid attempting a sweep. Without thinking, Dartel leaped up over the droid while flipping. While in mid-flip, Dartel passed the blade through the center of the droids head. Dartel landed and as a force of habit, spun one last time and passed the lightsaber through the droids neck, dismembering the would be enemy. Dartel finished his spin and was now facing the lobby area of the training hangar; his lightsaber now extinguished and already finding its way to his belt.

He hadn’t noticed when his students arrived, but they were all there. He bowed to them with a signature warm smile and poured forward his force presence so his students could relax as always.

“Alright, so what are the three basic needs of a great Ataru user?”

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande played her own little game while she watched Dartel go to town on the poor droids. It was called 'Bounce.' She dropped her lightsaber (retracted, of course. The alternative led to dismemberment) and kicked it with her foot, again and again, until she inevitably got overzealous and added too much Force and sent it sailing across the room. Sometimes she'd try and catch it with the Force after that but, in all honesty, she could only make that particular move work half the time. Okay, a third of the time.

Fine. A fourth. Her control really sucked, okay?

"Three basic needs," she said after Dartel wrapped up his little intro. "Lesse . . . well one; jump around. A lot. Be aggressive, don't let them get the upper hand." Awande scratched her chin with the hilt of her lightsaber. "Although those could really all be rolled into one rule . . . something about proactiveness. So I'll just stick with the classic 'be aware of your surroundings.'" She blinked. "And keep track of where your blade's at when you're bouncing around the room."

 

[Jakalar]

Amynn was the first to arrive again. As before, she moved to the lefthand side of the door - though this time she remained standing - and watched Dartel spar. He made quick work of them, giving Amynn very little time to study his movements. She was somewhat familiar with the Form, as Dætheus had been quite proficient in it, though her focus had been in Soresu. But her level exposure was more than enough to recognize that learning from Dartel would be rewarding. Her gaze turned to the girl to her right, standing just to the right of the doorway, as she played around with her blade, entirely absorbed in her little game. Amynn cast a look of disbelief, mixed with a tinge of annoyance, though it quickly passed and became relatively passive. She shouldn't make judgements, at least not until she saw the girl use the saber as it was designed to be used. Her gaze returned to Dartel as he leapt towards the final droid. Within moments, it was sprawled on the floor and Dartel was bowing before his students. Amynn twitched, somewhat uncomfortably when Dartel enveloped her with the Force; she doubted she would ever grow accustomed to it. Without delaying the training at hand, the Jedi Knight spoke softly and warmly. “Alright, so what are the three basic needs of a great Ataru user?” The padawan that had been bouncing her lightsaber spoke immediately, throwing out several responses - seemingly without much consideration. What had initially been largely disappointment morphed almost entirely into annoyance. Maybe it was wrong to rush to judgements, but she did tend to be right. She waited before the girl was finished before speaking up. "Agility, stability, and confidence." She spoke simply and matter-of-factly, though narrowing the entire form down to three distinct elements seemed a little hasty and more mildly impractial. She could have listed others - strength, endurance, awareness - but the Dartel asked for three and these were, in her experience, the most vital.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Having gotten accustomed to Dartel's teaching style, Khelsea once more made her way to the training room where the Jedi Knight taught almost all of his classes on Bakura. Her chrono had said 8:40am, but Khelsea knew that there was always something to watch and learn if she arrived before class, and she made an effort to get there early. Arriving ten minutes before class, Khelsea greeted Amynn who had arrived ahead of her and watched the entire display Dartel put on. It was just as incredible as the other things she had seen him do. Khelsea was pleased to see that she was somewhat familiar with her classmates, and greeted them before Dartel started the class.

Hearing the other two girls respond to Dartel, Khelsea tried to combine her response with what the other padawans had offered as answers. "Speed, strength, and agility?" Additionally, Khelsea had asked around before class started because she had attended several of the knight's other classes and knew he liked to start things off with a question. Ataru was going to be an interesting class, because Khelsea wasn't as strong as most people. Being a slim teenage girl in a 5'4 tall body, it was clear that she wasn't as strong as a Wookie, or even just a larger human male. What she didn't have in strength, Khelsea hoped to make up for with speed and agility. Her main form was Soresu, but over time it was clear that she needed to learn something else to allow her to take the offensive when the situation called for it. This class would give her the opportunity to set a good foundation for the next lightsaber form she would learn and practice.

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Dartel had expected a less than serious response from Awande and gave a slight sigh in response while waiting for the others. Once they had, Dartel smiled warmly and nodded slightly; it was more to himself than to the class, but he doubted it would look that way.

“These are all good things to keep in mind, but as a fighter in general. What makes Ataru separate from the other lightsaber forms is spinning, speed and jumping; these are the assets I was thinking about. It is a form that is designed to quickly deal with one opponent, and only once you truly master this form should you try it against more than one opponent.”

He glanced around the room and his students, and then his eyes rested on the droids before slipping back to his students.

“The way that I look at the Ataru form is that it lacks a defensive stance, but that isn’t true. You can defend within this form, but I find that if you are evasive enough you can continue your attacks while evading your opponent’s attacks.”

He walked over to each of the droids while speaking, tapping several spots that ended up igniting a bright blue hue under the metallic shell. They were targets, clearly. He glanced back over his work and saw that they were all lit up in the same sections: right shin, left wrist, right shoulder, small of the back and top of the head.

“You will be learning how to do this. It is a lot harder than it sounds. Be aware of what is coming at you and where you need to strike. The droids are designed to strike and leave one of these spots open while doing so. You may be forced to attack only one spot but you may also have some options, be ever vigilante padawans. They will not be holding back.

Authorize: Combat Level Advanced, Non-Lethal.

Also, you will not be using your lightsabers for this, you need to touch them with your hands, so remember your range as well. This will keep you tight to the droids and make you comfortable fighting at this close of a range.”

Dartel backed away from the droids before offering a simply devilish grin. He knew that the students would be ready for this even if he was throwing them into the thick of it.

“Begin!”

The droids lashed out with lightning speed and the students would only have a second or two to make their first reactions.

 

[Jakalar]

Amynn spun clockwise to her left as the droid in front of her lunged. As she straightened out of her spin, which she took 405 degrees, instead of 360, her droid was still mid-strike, aiming for where she has been moments before. But, through the spin, Amynn had placed it just inches from her chest. Her left arm, which had been above her head as she spun, lowered quickly, lightly touching the glowing shoulder as it passed her by. The droid regained its footing, after its failed attempt at attack, and turned again to face Amynn. She waited for it to recover and was quite prepared for the uppercut that followed. She leapt towards the oncoming droid, twisting slightly in the air to avoid its left arm that it swung towards her torso and deftly tapping the small of its back with her right arm. She landed lightly in a kneel, finishing the last bit of her spin on the floor. But before the droid could regain its footing, Amynn leapt forward again. So far, this had been simply an extension of the bastardized version of Soresu she had developed with Dætheus - though she was surprised at the similarities. She didn't know Dætheus had incorporated so much of the form in training. But Ataru was about attack, not defense. So, she did not wait for the droid to make the first move again. This time, as it turned she was three quarters of the way towards it. She leapt above its head before it had time to raise its arms, and - amid a horizontal spin - ran the middle and index fingers of her left hand along the droid's head, from its brow to the back of its scalp. She landed in a roll and, perceiving its approach, thrust herself backwards along the ground instead of rising to her feet. It passed over her, it's right foot nearly colliding with her right shoulder, and she gripped its left ankle as it too moved by. The droid crashed to the ground, failing to break its fall entirely, and Amynn used this momentum to bring her to her feet. She stepped forward touching its left ankle and it's back again before it moved to get up. By that time, she was stepping past its head, which she slammed again into the ground. She took several steps back as the droid climbed to its feet again. Amynn's faced twitched with pleasure, noticing that the metal above its right eye was dented slightly. She continues sparring for several minutes in similar fashion. But the droid made contact with her twice. The first was a solid blow to her stomach. It had anticipated her move for its left wrist and lured her forward while prepping a counter. It winded her and was quickly followed with a left hook to her face. She narrowly avoided this by dropping down to her knees and diving between its legs. The second time was a clip to her right shoulder, which she accepted in exchange for the strike to its head which was accelerated by its force. After quite a while, Dartel called for a halt and the droids took their standard standing positions. Amynn rubbed her shoulder for a moment before settling into attention as well.

 

[Just Falcon]

The droid struck. Awande hopped away. Seemed to be pretty coordinated; it's gaggle of limbs didn't tumble and collapse under it's own weight. It swung again and she deflected with a kick, sending the droid's fist off to the side. For a second, the right shoulder flashed a welcoming blue.

Awande wasn't fast enough to take advantage of the opening. By the time she had the sense to strike the light went dull and a metal fist took its place, barely missing her nose. Awande fell back, catching her tumble with her palms and using them to prop up her weight. She managed to fire off one solid dropkick to the droid's right shin; both knocking it back and letting her get to her feet. She followed up with a blow to the bot's shoulder and head; both of which, unfortunately, missed by a mile. They had an unforeseen upside though-- the droid stumbled, defense throwing off it's game, and Awande doubled up with a vicious elbow to the droid's brow. She was starting to see the point of Ataru--endless offense was a defense, in and of itself. Maybe that had been Dartel's point.

He should have added something about funny bones and hitting droids, though. She might have gotten a point off it's exposed noggin, but there was, in Awande's estimation, a forty two percent chance it dislocated her shoulder in the process.

One arm out of comission for the time being, Awande had to compensate. She spent the remainder of the bout hugging tight to the droid's flank, doing her best to keep away from it's bludgeoning metal limbs and get in a hit or two of her own. Hard going, at first. But when she zoned out, faded into the Force, let her instincts take over--

--Dartel called a halt. Right when she was getting in the swing of things. Because hey, that's just her luck. Awande finally had a chance to check out her arm at least, swinging it around once or twice and windmilling past the swiftness. Not dislocated, just sore. Wonder if there was a Force technique for making joints super bendy and malleable.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Reactivating the droid with a grin, Dartel sent Khelsea's droid right at her without any further warning. She had kept his lesson in mind and was ready to be quick and decisive with her movements so that she would strike swiftly and avoid any attacks coming her way. In a sense, Ataru's motto was 'a best defense is a strong offense'.

Khelsea sidestepped as the droid struck forward, dodging and launching into a spinning kick. She missed the shoulder and hit the chest area instead, scoring a solid hit but in the wrong area. The droid threw an elbow towards where Khelsea had been have a second ago, but she had already ducked and lashed out with a kick simultaneously, hitting the glowing right shin. "One down."

Still in a crouch, Khelsea launched off her hands, creating momentary separation between herself and the droid. The droid followed her and lashed out with its two arms, and Khelsea moved deftly to her right and the droid's left, tapping it's left wrist before using the Force to flip herself over the droid and striking and connecting with the small of its back. Khelsea almost overcommited to her aggressive attack and went for the right shoulder as well, but she was glad she left it alone for the time being or a large metal foot would have struck her in the midsection.

The droid continued attacking, and its programming eventually allowed her to touch the droid's open right shoulder. As Dartel called for the halt, Khelsea learned that she had to be decisive and commit to her attacks, but also to be more controlled in her actions because yes she was moving fast and avoiding attacks, but she was also hitting the droid in non-marked areas about twenty percent of the time. Speed needed to be combined with accuracy in order to truly be effective.

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Dartel watched and could tell that some of the students may have heard something differently than what he intended. This didn’t take away from what they were doing, but Dartel could tell that they were going about it without as much fluidity as they could be; so he halted the droids.

“Good, good. There is one thing that may change your view on this. I am not saying to strictly avoid and attack, but do those two things at the same time. This again, is my personal style of Ataru which utilizes some Phantom Fist which some of you have taken. Principles are the same, less energy is more energy. If I can evade into an attack, then I am using less energy than if I were to evade and then attack.”

He attempted to show this while speaking the clearest he could by showing a backwards evade before lunging in with an invisible lightsaber. He then followed by performing an evasion from the same side and apparent angle, but ducked around it and slashed his arm under at the same time. He stood upright once more and focused on the students again.

“If this is done correctly, then you may not even need to step and simply roll around your hips to evade and strike at the same time.”

Dartel walked over to the center droid and took a stance all Ataru users would recognize.

“For the next part, I want this technique to be drilled. It is an important one as it allows you to do just this, and it is my personal favourite technique.

Authorize: Air Strike One”

He called out and the droid performed a basic slash across Dartel’s stomach, but before it could connect, he had leapt into the air and over the droid’s head, jabbing the droid in the head with his closed fist. He landed facing the droid in the same Ataru stance before relaxing and walking back around it.

“Reset.

This technique can be varied in several ways. It could be a jab like I just did, it could be a slash through the vertical center with a lightsaber, by my favourite is a stab when landing. For some reason it tends to be unexpected, most believe that you would have attacked already if you intended to. Practice this ten times, do different variations. Run through each in your mind and figure out which you like to do. Think about why this is an important technique.”

When the students were finished, Dartel turned to Awande, giving her a second chance to rethink her communication skills. He knew this padawan was capable of much more than the carefree attitude she expressed.

“Why is this technique important and which variation felt more natural to you?”

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea considered what Dartel had said. She thought she was doing it right and attacking and dodging at the same time, but if Dartel brought it up then it clearly needed to be worked on. Besides, what he said made sense and it would create much more fluid movements which is what Ataru was all about. According to Dartel, the secret to Ataru was all in the hips. Of course that was an oversimplified way to put it, but it would help Khelsea remember what she had learned about Ataru from the class in the future.

Dartel's new drill was an aerial attack, which was exciting. She watched as the Zabrak moved swiftly, avoiding the droid's attack and launched into a counterattacking maneuver all in the same motion. So that was what he meant by evading and attacking at the same time. Seeing theory in practice made it a lot easier to learn, and it definitely would help her when she wanted to devise her own maneuvers in the future.

Khelsea practiced ten times as instructed, using the Force to enhance her reflexes and allowing the Force to guide her instincts. She copied Dartel's move the first three attempts, and after successfully completing it all three times, she tried something new. Khelsea attempted to stab on her landing, but the first time she allowed herself to land fully before stabbing, making the movement slow and mundane. The second time, she stabbed just as she touched down, which felt more fluid and aggressive than the first attempt, which was honestly just not well done. In her next five attempts she tried something new every time, using her leg to kick out, her knee to impact the droid's head, and swinging from different angles to get as much variety as possible. She would see what felt comfortable to her and work on it later on her own time.

Finished with the drill, Khelsea answered Dartel's question to Awande in her head, in case he turned to her next. "This technique is important because you can't always dodge to the sides, and not only does jumping help in evading attacks, but being airborne opens new angles for attacking as well. Kind of what you told us when you explained your personal style of Ataru." Khelsea tried not to look too eager about answering the question, but her answer was prepared and she was ready.

 

[Jakalar]

Dartel's comments struck home. Rather than simply adding an aggressive element to her already-existing defensive form, she needed to change the nature of the movements themselves, while maintaining their fluidity and cohesion. She contemplated how exactly to do this, realising that it was not a simple endeavour to fundamentally rethink her primary fighting style, certainly without sacrificing the progress or development she had made over the last decade of her training. But Dartel let her off the hook for a while, introducing a particular technique to the training session. It was a simple overhead jump but instead of one used primarily to evade, it incorporated several offensive elements to be employed at various points and in various ways throughout the movement. As the droid leapt forward, Amynn did as well, soaring over its head and landing, facing the droid's back, with a swinging motion that - if she were holding her blade - would have sliced the droid in two at the waistline. She performed this move several times, altering the attack - both its timing and it's placement - each time. Primarily, she focused on movements which she would utilise with a blade, but also occasionally employed physical blows - punches or kicks - to the droid. In one case, she leapt overhead in a sort of spin and caught the droid in a headlock with her legs. It went crashing to the ground and, if it had been a living being, it's neck very well may have snapped. After Dartel called for them to stop, he shifted his attention to Awande. While the tone of his voice indicated a calmness, the nature of the question indicated an underlying sense of annoyance or displeasure with the younger padawan. To Amynn's amusement, it was Khelsea who jumped to respond. She had difficulty holding back a grin.

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Dartel watched as each student took their droids and learned the new techniques. It would be important for them as Ataru users to learn these techniques, but also for them to pass the class. Dartel could never find himself to dissuade a padawan by failing them, but always knew how to present a problem for them to learn it themselves. With a slight smirk he commanded the droids to stop and for the attention of his students.

“Great work, you have all been doing increasingly well. Remember these basics and you will quickly rise in the ranks of an Ataru user as well as a duelist.”

He waved a hand and the droids backed up to the center of the great hall. Up until now they had been taking only a section of the room so that each student had their room, but that would change quickly enough.

“Your test is about to begin. You will fight all three droids at once, each droid will have a random series of targets and you will need to disable them by hitting all of these spots on all of the droids and you will be unable to use your lightsabers. You may rest until you are ready, but if you wait longer than three hours I will be forced to fail you before you even take the test.”

He watched each student to gauge their reaction. As he did this he paced himself over behind the students and back over the threshold of the lobby. He could see each of the students and the droids lined up in a neat little line, but soon it will be chaos on the training hall.

“Those not participating should wait back here with me. When you are ready you may walk to the center of the hall and activate the droids. Please take this matter seriously as you can be injured severely in this test. If you need you can meditate beforehand freshen up with some water over there.”

He waved a hand over towards a small spout hanging from the wall. He let his mind leak through the force and waited to see who went first.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

A test! That was exciting. Khelsea hadn't anticipated Dartel to be testing them already, but judging from the time frame he had given the three of them to complete the test Khelsea guessed that it wouldn't be as simple as it sounded. She looked around, and seeing that nobody else had responded yet, Khelsea jumped at the opportunity to go first. "I'll go for it!" There were several reasons why she decided to go ahead without taking a break or waiting. Firstly, as she had experienced from athletic competitions, taking a break would just increase the feeling of fatigue. She was still high on adrenaline, and Khelsea figured she might as well make use of her energy instead of letting it sap away as she sat on the sidelines. Secondly, the first person to perform or compete sets a tone, and it was easier to attempt to do the test at her own pace than to follow someone else's pace, especially if they were much better than she was. Khelsea honestly had no idea how the others were doing, since she was completely focused on herself during training. It was a new form and a new concept, and made sure she had the basics down to the smallest detail.

Khelsea did as Dartel instructed, and walked to the center of the hall. Activating the droids, she prepared herself for the upcoming test.

Upon being activated, the droids immediately sprung forward. Khelsea decided the best thing to do was to target a specific droid - whichever she managed to strike first. If she could deactivate a droid and make it a two against one fight as soon as she could, it would be much easier for her to get out of it. The droids moved forward in a staggered formation, and Khelsea spun away from the first one, threw a hard jab at the back of the droid while ducking to avoid the second droid's swing. Khelsea leaped upwards, over the second droid and kicked the third droid in the back of the head. "So far so good". However, that was where the easy part ended. The droids were learning, and soon they developed a way to cover each other so that the droid Khelsea focused on was always protected by the other two, and it only exposed itself to attack when Khelsea was already on the defensive. It was already harder than it looked.

Fifteen minutes had passed, and Khelsea's plan had crumbled within the first few minutes. Since she couldn't focus on one specific droid, she spent her effort defending and getting hits in on whichever droid was vulnerable, whenever she could. However, since Khelsea had no idea where the random series of targets were, all she could do was count any significant hits she made. So far, she had about 12 hits spread out over the three droids, and hadn't taken a hit yet. However, it seemed like she would soon, considering the amount of close calls she had. Another five minutes passed, and now Khelsea had taken an aggressive jab to her side followed by a kick to her right shin, and it was starting to hurt when she pivoted or jumped, which was annoying because Ataru was completely speed and movement based. She grimaced and pushed through the pain, allowing the Force to guide her actions. By the half hour mark, Khelsea was starting to regret not taking a break first. However, she knew that it wouldn't have done much more for her, and since she was mentally strong and used to competition, Khelsea pushed the pain and exhaustion away and focused on her movements. They were getting sluggish, and by forty minutes she had taken multiple hits. Her body was bruised, but she was sure the droids were almost deactivated. Judging from the way the droids protected each other and shared the damage taken, they must all be ready to drop dead soon. There must be a spot that she hadn't been able to successfully attack yet...

Just after the forty-five minute mark, Khelsea finally knocked down a droid. Her spinning kick to its midsection caused it to collapse and deactivate itself, and soon after Khelsea used the fallen droid to deactivate another of the trio. She was able to outmatch the droid in the final showdown, and at fifty-four minutes and 12 seconds Khelsea had finally deactivated the three droids. She walked over to grab her water, and after chugging the entire bottle, she plopped onto the floor and propped herself up with the wall, feeling drained from exhaustion. She would wait till the other padawans finished their tests before going to get treatment for her wounds. She was sure that if she took her shirt off, her body would be spotted with big dark bruise marks.

 

[Jakalar]

Dartel spoke and Amynn nodded in acknowledgement before returning to her place beside the doorway. She lowered herself to the floor as Khelsea jumped to take her test. An amused grin flashed across her face for a moment; the girl had no idea what she was in for. On the rare occasion that another Jedi was present, Dætheus made sure to drill Amynn on multi-fronted combat. A few years ago, she may have been just as eager, but now - after so much had happened - she understood the value of a calm and focused attitude. Adrenaline alone could get you killed. Reviewing the movements she had just practiced in her mind, she watched Khelsea struggle through her test as the droids learned her tactics and adjusted theirs accordingly. It was a complex test, but Khelsea did fairly well, despite her clearly growing fatigue. Dartel's words had suggested to Amynn that the target locations would light up again, similarly to in the first drill. But they did not and Khelsea was hammering away in the dark. The tactical capabilities of the droid's surprised her too. Clearly Dartel thought highly of their skills. Khelsea fought for nearly an hour - a duration that would tax even the most trained warriors - before finally incapacitating her final droid and collapsing against the wall, exhausted. Amynn placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile and brushed her presence in the force in a sort of comforting, congratulatory sign. But the kind smile melted away as she rose to her feet, replaced with a hard-set blankness. She moved to the centre of the room. By the time she reached it, all three droid's has returned to their starting positions, equidistant from one another in a triangle formation around the place where Amynn now stood. She inhaled, taking in a long, deep breath before speaking. "Initiate test." Nothing moved. Minutes passed and Amynn did not move a muscle. The droid's stood still as well, though two of them made movements akin to a person shifting his or her shoulders or stretching his or her back. These movements were the only sign that the test had even begun. Suddenly, the droid behind her and to the left leapt at her. She spun on her left foot, deflecting the droid's blow with her right forearm before redirecting it slightly and sending it careening towards the droid that had been behind her to the right. She used this footing to leap towards the droid that stood before her. But even as she stopped her lunge short and twisted to flank the droid before her, she saw that the droid she attempted to incapacitate momentarily with her counter to the first droid's offence had sidestepped the metal body and sprung into the fray. Instead of striking the droid now just to her left, who had made it partway through a turn and had raised its left arm in attack, Amynn grasped its side and pulled herself forward, jumping to meet the one making its way towards her. The droid's seemed to anticipate Amynn to focus on one at a time, as Khelsea had done, but that is why she had chosen another tactic. She collided with the second droid, catching it's right arm in the crook of her own and dealing it a sharp blow to the sternum with her left elbow. Their collision stopped all forward momentum on both their parts. Her strike had caused it to take a step back with its left leg, but she used its lack of balance to her advantage; pushing off the ground, she drove herself upwards into the droid's chest, sending both of them backwards and to the floor. She twisted her right arm as she spun to her feet and he droid slid across the ground. With a light snap, the arm went limp - were it a living creature, the arm would have broken. She followed this with a blow to the left temple with the base of the palm of her left hand. Now standing above the droid's head, Amynn saw both other droid's rapidly approaching from in front of her, about 30 or 40 degrees from one another, relative to her. She leapt for the one on the right, knowing that the droid at her feet was not deactivated, but that it would be unable to grasp for her ankles with its disabled arm. She feigned left, but spun to the right of the droid before leaping at the third one after it passed her by. She spun and kicked at the back of its legs, quickly bringing it to its knees. It slid a few feet across the floor and raised its at arms to defend its head as she hailed it with a barrage of blows. Right shoulder; left side, the right side of its neck. To her surprise, with this final blow, the droid fell lifeless and the lights in its eyes shut off. She spun on her heel to see the droid that was standing helping the other to its feet. Amynn was oblivious to the amount of time that had passed, but her session had only begun about eight minutes prior. Up to this point, she had managed to keep her combatants separated, but for much of the next five or six minutes, she fought in close quarters with the two droids, evading or lightly deflecting blows and dealing out her own just as frequently. She finally managed to take out the droid who's arm she had already broken, dealing the final blows as she leapt overhead, striking its forehead and then driving her fist into the back of its spine as she landed. It collapsed and the last droid quickly adopted on a combat stance that was quite familiar to her. It is likely that the droid had perceived Amynn's training in Soresu in some of her movements and was attempting to unsettle or throw her off in adopting the form she was most comfortable with and pitting it against that which she was attempting to utilise now. But it's gamble didn't pay off. She knew Soresu so well that its movements were humorously predictable to her. So much so that, within about thirty seconds, Amynn had landed seven blows to various parts of its body and - since it was defending - incurred none of her own. It reverted to a form she was entirely unfamiliar with, taking her by surprise. It nailed her in the side, forcing her to a knee and drawing out grunt of pain. But as it stepped in for a second blow, Amynn deflected the arm, grabbing it and pulling the droid forward as the rose into its side with her elbow. Moments after she had been on her knees, their positions were entirely reversed and she slammed the side of her fist into right side of its neck and it collapsed, lifeless. In all, the test had taken her about 20 minutes to complete. Amynn resumed a neutral stance and - with a slight limp out of the freshness of pain in her side - returned to the sidelines without speaking. Her breathing was slightly laboured, though still lighter than Khelsea's, who only just seemed to be recovering from her bout.

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande went last. She liked last. It meant a lack of irritating surprises, and let her scope out the increasingly murder-happy droids. She was actually a fan of doing this whole test lightsaber-less--hated that thing, to be honest. Always afraid she'd poke her eyes out whenever she lit up the blade.

She stepped into the ring as Amynn took her rest. A little flutter of nervous energy sent Awande's fingers all a-twitch; she covered it up with a knuckle crack. The random, jittery stress-thoughts that creep up when you're trying to avoid what's in front of you were already cluttering up her head. Where'd that funny dripping stain on the wall come from? Who spent their weekend programming multiple, multiple, multiple fighting styles into a trio of droids? And who'd have to clean it all up afterwards?

The blood in Awande's ears made her activation command a tiny little murmur at the back of her mind. Nerves. Annoying. There was a flicker that ran through the droid's eyes, but that was all the warning she got. They weren't about to let her make the first move. One lashed high, the other went low, and the third hopped back a step, waiting to see how she'd respond. And probably keeping a super fun prize in store, just for that moment.

Awande didn't have the other girls self-defense training. Any sort of formal training, really. Her whopping two street fights had taught her one thing though, and that was to keep moving. Rooted feet meant squashed meat, according to the loosely-translated Trandoshan adage she half-remembered. That fit in with Ataru, at least. Awande leapt right, out of the two droid's reach and into that of the third. It swung for her chest and she barely stumbled out of its reach. A flash of light on it's elbow caught her eye as her knees hit the ground and she acted on instinct. Somehow, miraculously, her fumbling half-kick made contact. One target down, a lot to go. Her lack of control took its toll, though. Her toe was already starting to throb.

The first droid went down easy. Too easy. Seven successful hits in a row, and only then did she realize they were all on the same droid. That unsettling little realization came right as the newly deactivated droids two friends closed on her flank, once more opting to strike high and low at the same time. Awande didn't have the footing to dodge, and her flailing arms were nowhere near primo blocking position. Two choices. Stand still and get hit . . . or jump really, really high. Hopefully high enough. She tensed her legs, half physically, half through the Force, and went with option B.

For a second she soared. Up, high, over the droid's head in one perfect, arcing motion. Then a metal hand grabbed her calf. Compared to what came next, that was positively pleasant. Awande's face hit the mat and pain splattered from her nose to her skull. Her eyes watered, a pounding clang ripped at her ears, and the cloying taste of blood ran down her nose and hit her tongue.

One of the two droids still had hold of her arm. Its friend grabbed her foot and they heaved together after a two-count. Whatever they had planned, it probably wouldn't be pleasant. Awande blinked. Awande swore. Long, vulgar, and guttural. Probably not the Jedi thing to do, but deep breathing wasn't really possible with a nose clogged full of blood. Curse words did the job for now; her mind was just clear enough to latch onto the wellspring of the Force within her. Suspended in midair she twisted and spun, slamming an invisible fist of Force-fueled irritation into the droid's shoulders. Collectively and completeley off-balance the three of them crumbled into a heap and Awande, being at least a little prepared, got up first. She got three hits into her attackers before they shambled back to their feet. They shifted and reoriented; keeping whatever targets remained well out of her reach.

The droids strafed around her. A kick or two, here or there, herded Awande towards the center of the room. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't noticed what they were doing. Maybe she could twist it to her advantage, though. One charged. A half or quarter of full ton of metal, she'd never been good at guessing that, charged straight for her. Awande counted the click-clack of metal claws to let her mind slow down, holding her ground. A second from collision, she felt the twinge. A little suggestion at the back of her mind; her cue from the Force that, 'Hey. Now was the time to move.'

This time, her leap wasn't capped with a grabby robo-claw. Guided by the Force Awande's leap landed off to the side, and the supremely satisfying sound of metal on metal hit her ears as one droid smacked its brother in the chest. But. Of course. That wouldn't count as a blow, and the light kept on blinking. Awande sighed, biting off another string of curse words. She surged forward in the confusion and finished the job, knocking another droid out of the competition.

Then, she made the mistake of celebrating. One exuberant and almost fully exhausted sigh; just enough time for the last droid to raise it's fist and swing for her skull. Her connection to the Force sent up another tiny little twinge; just enough of a warning for Awande to raise her right forearm and intercept a metallic sledgehammer. Also kept her arm from snapping in half, double thankful for that. Awande let the pain flow out and through her, and she grabbed the droid by the joint. Two lights remained. She spun, and elbowed one. The droid staggered. It grabbed her other arm, and it's leg raised up to strike.

Awande wasn't in the mood to let it. She hopped up, little more than an inch. But just enough to slam her head back, sending the top of her skull straight into the droid's face and its one, remaining light. The thing stumbled, blinked, and crumbled. Awande managed to only do the first two. She took a seat on the side of the training area, breathing raggedly and poking at her swelling bruises.

The watch on her comm had been broken for a couple months now. But if she had to guess how long it took; well . . . anywhere in that half-hour to five month window.

 

[Symbiot Spider]

((O.O.C – Sorry for the late posting as well as the short post. You don’t need to reply after this, but you are more than welcome to. ))

Dartel watched in silence as all three students took their turns and demonstrated their understandings of Ataru given the class; he could tell that they were listening and learning even the finer lessons. At times, he listened through the force and allowed it to show him if the students were becoming fluid in their motions, and even the force was impressed with them.

It took some time but all three of them were finished, and Dartel smiled warmly for the first time since the test began. He nodded to each of them in turn and folded his arms in front of his chest.

“You all did great, as expected. You listened and paid attention to what the lesson was. You will be great Jedi in the near future; I can feel it in the force. For now, take a well deserved rest, you all pass this class. You are dismissed, and again, very well done. All of you.”

It was a short speech, but Dartel didn’t know what else he could say. He could tell they understood the methods now and to only remind them would rob them of their achievements today. Sometimes less was more in the way of teaching. Dartel smiled and headed for his ship, leaving the class behind.