Ask Duel On The Beach

[Jade Hart]

Zeltros.

Beaches. A hot sun. Waves crashing. Shells amid the surf.
Jade ran through the sand – passing umbrella’d honeymooners – smiling big and bright. It wasn’t every day she made a new friend.

At last she had found it. In front of her was a dwarf palm tree, maybe twice her size, with frond-leaves ringing the top. She put her hand on its trunk, sensing its pulse with the force. There had been twists and turns, but the plan was now coming along nicely. The soil here would make an excellent grow site for the next Wroshyr tree– after the seedling tasted blood.

Jade looked to her right– wet sand slanting into the ocean, children dancing around a bucket-built sandcastle. To her left– away from shore, sand dunes and discarded beach towels. She kicked some sand at the kids and shooed them away. None would interfere.

It was high tide, so the surf washed up to her boots. She took a few steps back, crunching on a conch shell. The wind blew around her xl t-shirt, two sizes too big, half covering her knee-length shorts. That old greasy scarf clung to her neck.

A single lightsaber hung on her belt. A training lightsaber. Her finger twitched.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

Leh’Min’Ayd was beginning to have second thoughts about this spar. The ocean looked fantastic, music was playing from some umbrella, kids were running around, someone threw a football and she loved sand.

On the other hand, she also loved to spar and so there she was: one Togruta Padawan in the flesh, and also in the white tanktop and tan capris. Her feet were bare, the better for her toes to squish the sand with.

That’s when she saw her, that Human, whose presence in the Force could now be felt once again. But what will you do with it? Leh’Min narrowed her gaze as she approached the tree dwarf in the big baggy shirt that billowed in the wind.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Jade Hart,” Lem called across the desert. The hilt of her saber filled the grip of her right hand, set the setting to stun, ignited a purple blade. “We meet again at last.”


@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade turned to face Leh'– dwarf tree in-between.

"Indeed, Lemonade. It seems trouble follows us. I'd suggest a partnership of some kind but first I need to verify something."

Jade's right hand grabbed her lightsaber, while her left hand tried force pull Leh’Min’Ayd towards her, foot by stuttering foot into the tree trunk. Like lifting weights. If Leh' put up resistance, too heavy a weight, then Jade would immediately stop pulling, and the momentum would leave this young, brash girl tumbling face first into the sand.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

“Nope, you’re s’posed to say: ‘The circle is now complete. When I left you I—”

Leh’Min’s rambling led to her being caught completely off guard as her most appropriate opponent cast Force Yoink. She decided to put up resistance when suddenly none was needed.

The Togruta tumbled face first into one of those bucket-built sandcastles and hoped the owner had insurance.

“YEP!” Lem wheezed, spewing out sand, hopefully being afforded the dignity of dusting herself off but would keep her cards close to her Hart. “Pretty sure I just coughed up the princess.” Crap. Where's my saber?

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

She laughed and scratched her neck.

"I'm gonna bury you."

With a few hand swipes she sent the rest of the packed-sand palaces piling onto Leh’Min’. This coincided with the tide washing up and over her body. Moving sand around wasn't a big deal– a prelude to moving mountains. Moving hearts and minds would be her bigger challenge. She had to admit though– this felt liberating. The force had at last returned to her.

"I never told you why I was expelled from the Order."

Her blue saber ignited.

"I killed a bunch of Wookiees."
@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

“Again!?” Lem exclaimed at being buried again. “But I already got my head outta the sand!”

With little effort, Lem was back on her feet, hands free, toes dipped in squishy-squashy as she pushed away anything trying to squish or squash her.

“So I heard, scarf grease!” The way Jade scratched meant she maybe didn’t wash. “Something about gluing them to the sides of your ship with sarlaac toothpaste?" Stories had a way of changing themselves as they passed between tongues.

But Lem wanted to know. “Why’d you do it?” Her hands were ready to push back any moment.

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade grew silent. She stood her ground. Her lightsaber hissed.

"I don't have to answer to you. Why don't you force it out of me, Lame." Jade giggled, throwing up a hand to cover her mouth.

The wind swirled beach sand around them, forcing her to blink repeatedly to clear her eyes. A cloud crossed the sun.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

“Now listen here, Killer of Kashyyyk, you and I are gonna sip some cappuccino and have a nice long ch—”

The wind interrupted Lem as her opponent readied another sandcastle hurricane. “Oh, okay, so you want a smack instead.” Lem grinned. “Then let’s PLAY!”

She didn’t wait for a cloud to cross the sun as she jutted her left arm forward and launched the Force from it, hoping to send Jade flying backward into what was more ‘sand Hutt’ than sandcastle.

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade switched off her lightsaber as she was blown back into a Hutt sand sculpture, plowing into its gut. Knocking the breath out of her. Breathe. In through your nose. Out through your mouth.

Spitting till her mouth was dry. She got up and looked at her landing site. The sand-Hutt was propped up on one elbow, gazing in horror at its bowling ball wound as if to ask 'What have you done to me?'

She retrieved her lightsaber, pointing it at Lem shakily. "Shut up. Just shut up. SHUT UP!"

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

Lem smiled as Jade got a taste of her own medicine. “Huh? What’s that? Sand in your ears? Up your butt? Yeah, my experience sucked too.”

It just clicked in Lame’s noggin that maybe her opponent was being sincere now. Lem therefore decided against filling Jade’s ears with Hutt-sand. For now.

“Look, girl,” she held out her arms, neither hand holding hilt, nor was there a Force Yoink. “What’s your damage?” Her voice was sincere. “Whatever it is, you can’t go back and change it. You can only go forward.”

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

"Damn right." Jade charged forward at Lem. Whizzing past the palm tree, trotting just shy of a sprint. She closed the 10 meter distance between them in a matter of seconds. Right before reaching Lem, activating her lightsaber in her right hand (Zzzzzwwww!!!)- striking in a diagonal slash towards the foolish girl's right shoulder.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

With no sword of her own in plain view, Lem let her opponent to charge. Just as Jade’s attack came, Lem did multiple things relatively concurrently.

Left hand Force Pulls Jade’s right hand away to Lem’s left.
Right hand Force Pulls Jade’s hilt to Lem’s right.
Right foot backsteps in the same direction to make sure Lem evades Jade’s blade.

If her trick worked then Jade’s saber would be flying into Lem’s right hand, the blade horizontal from the ground, and Jade might just be running into it before it fills Lem’s grip.

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade stopped in her tracks a couple meters before reaching Lem when she felt the force touching her– her boots imprinting in the sand. Yet her hands were pulled off-course– her lightsaber flying away and to Lem. However, by running that distance she had spotted Lem's lost saber– hilt half-hidden by a collapsed sand tower to her left. With a quick force pull she yanked the saber out of the ground, sailing to her left hand and igniting it, right after Lem had acquired her saber.

The two girls faced off each with the other's lightsaber.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

Blue blade clashed against a purple blade that, today, was not in the hands of its true wielder.
"I like blue!" Lem admitted as blades danced wtih each -crack!-ksh!- "But blue looks better on YOU!"

Hilt in right hand, Lem squared up against Jade and swung her blade diagonally from Jade's left shoulder to right hip.
Force in left hand, well, Lem let that one sit for now.

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade swung her blade up two-handed to meet Lem's stolen blade with a popping crackle. A two-handed grip would likely allow her to overpower Lem, and as their blades clashed, Jade would take two steps forward until she could stare right into Lem's eyes. She could spit on the girl if she wanted, but then why ruin a beautiful friendship? Instead, with one final shove Jade would force Lem's lightsaber back into her own chest.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

Bladelocks had their uses, including giving Lem time to plan.

As Jade took two steps forward, Lem deactivated her lightsaber and took two steps forward toward Jade's right.

Jade's saber would swing toward her left without interruption.

Lem's saber would reignite behind Jade's saber and swing into her chest.

Unfortunately, Lem was no expert at trakata so the gyroscopic effect was strong and might mean the blade ends up smacking Jade in the face instead.

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade hadn't expected this move, but she wasn't relying on rational planning, just pure instinct now.

Lem's trakata move was effective at evading Jade's swing, but a bit off target. Jade had reflexively jumped back and away to Jade's left, but the tip of Lem's lightsaber, a training saber, hit Jade's neck. Her scarf hissed and burnt to black and the girl yelped in agony. Jade knelt and put a hand up to stop Lem. No one could touch it. No one could hurt it. No one.

@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

Lem heard the yelp, saw the scarf melt, and whatever and whoever was left did not look like your everyday Jade.

Lem did what anyone should do when someone is in pain and puts their hand up for you to stop hurting them: she stopped.

"All right!" The blade went no further but it did not go away. For all Lem knew this was yet another trick of Jade's. "I'll stop if you stop!"

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

It burned. The very tip of the training saber had just grazed the skin near her collar bone. Yet her whole neck seethed. She gasped. Her mind was a pot boiling over with tears… A swoop racer exploding... The coldness of hyperspace… The firestorm at Kashyyyk… Choosing to save Wookiees or the Jedi Code... Ostracized, expelled, stripped of the force… Like a hot star, gasses pressed, clamped tight, exploding.

Jade screamed at Lem. Lem would be hit with raw pain, anger, emotion; hopefully dazed and confused. The scream, infused with the force, split asunder the nearby Hutt sand statue.
@Die Shize

 

[Leh'Min'Ayd]

As Lem expected, Jade sucked.

Lem was hit with pain and anger so, instead of being dazed and confused, she was hurt and angry.
It was just a moment but maybe that would be enough as Lem screamed back to stun Jade with Force Bellow.

It would also send swirling sandstorms to finally fill Jade’s mouth and shut her up.

After the yelling match, Lem would be dazed, confused and winded—but maybe Jade would be too.

Fortunately this part of the beach had been cleared out by Jade shooing beachers away so no harm no foul.

@Taygood