Fast as Light [ask]

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance hacked at the training droid with as much grace as a Gammoreon attempting ballet. The moment the thought crossed his mind he had to pause and laugh, because he remembered seeing a cartoon about that very thing when he was younger. It was silly slap-stick comedy that he absolutely loved as a child and still did. However, he had stopped for another reason, it was simply that the way he was swinging his lightsaber was all wrong. It frustrated him to no end that while he knew how to pound someone’s face into the ground with his fists, he knew absolutely nothing about combat with a lightsaber. Now that he was a fully fledged Sith Acolyte, he knew that he needed to train with the weapon that the Sith were known for, the weapon that had helped them take over the galaxy, besides the force that is. It was just that lightsabers required a bit more finesse than he currently had.

He deactivated his lightsaber and went over to the workbench where he had his data-pad opened to the Makashi style that he was trying to teach himself. He had watched vids on his data-pad of the ancient users of the form that made the style rather famous, such as Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress. He had watched their movements and saw how much pride and skill they had in their chosen form. It was astounding to him how quickly their blades moved as they struck down their foes and how precise their strikes were. Vance sighed and paused the vid and took his stance once more, trying to get it right. One thing he knew that he was good at was hard work. He knew that if he wanted something bad enough he could get it, and he wanted to learn Makashi.

 

[Vexillar]

Viole stood outside of the room that the young Acolyte was in. He smiled to himself as he watched the boy go over his saber forms. He didn't need to see what the boy was looking at to know what form he was attempting to learn. The shoddy form, the sluggish and broad strokes that his muscles strained to make narrow and swift, it was the tell tale signs of someone trying to force their body into a form that couldn't be forced. Makashi was not a form one could force upon their body, they had to relax, they had to let it come to them, otherwise they'd end up dead in a ditch. The Crusader couldn't just let this attrocity against his favored style go unattended. He looked down at Eezeo, who also stared at the wall, and motioned for the droid to follow.

He walked into the room and held open his hand. The Datapad came flying to him, and he looked it over with pursed lips. "Your feet are too wide, shoulders too tense, legs cannot be locked, and your blade is being held about...five degrees off of where it should be. You'll find that standing in the sideways stance is actually a lot more comfortable for a lot of things as opposed to the open chested. It is more comfortable for the body and will allow for better freedom of movement. Eezeo. The droid beeped and whirred, releasing several of it's tentacles at his master. The Sith began stepping around each tentacle, utilizing the favored step-in technique several times, tapping the tentacles when he could causing them to retreat. He moved in a circular pattern around the JK unit, and while the tentacles never tangled, due to the droid's programming, it was clear that Viole was in control of the situation here. In seconds they were all withdrawn back into the droid. He looked at the Acolyte and tossed him the datapad. "What is the most important thing for any Makashi practitioner?" He walked over to the Acolyte and took a seat next to the training dummy. His legs were crossed and a friendly smile was planted on his face. He had a soft spot for any Acolyte who wanted to learn his favorite style.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Whacking at things, whether it be a training droid or a person’s face had always been the best sort of stress reliever for Vance. As such it was when he was as he was hitting the droid that he felt most at peace with himself, it was a sort of meditation for him that he couldn’t get if he closed his eyes as the vast majority did. He beat the droid with such single minded determination that he didn’t notice the other until he walked into the room. As he gave his instructions, a momentary flare of annoyance welled up inside of Vance as the Miraluka took his data-pad from its desk, however, it died almost as quickly as it came. He decided to listen to the Miraluka as he dodged in and out of the tentacles his droid shot at him. It was clear to Vance that he knew what he was talking about just from his short demonstration.

“Speed and accuracy,” Vance answered without hesitation as the question was asked, catching the data-pad as it was tossed back to him. Of all the things he had read about Makashi, that was what seemed to prevail for him.

“So,” he said getting into the stance that the Miraluka described, “Something like this no-eyes?”

 

[Vexillar]

The answer was irritating, the insult to his race...not so much. He wasn't five, it would take more than the standard name calling of the galaxy to get under Viole's skin. The thing that caused the Crusader to take a sigh was his answer. It was the standard answer for people looking too far into it. Makashi wasn't a style for concrete thinkers, it required an abstract mind as it was an abstract style. It was an art form, it wasn't about killing your target, it was about besting them. It isn't enough to simply stab them, that's what styles like Ataru with it's silly jumping and Form VII with it's vulgar use of muscles are for. No no. Makashi was for the graceful, the fluid, the free thinkers. People who could quickly assess a situation and come up with a viable counter attack on the fly. A Makashi Master was nearly unbeatable in saber combat, and while Viole himself had things left to learn about the style, he was still a force to be feared in saber combat because of his focus on Makashi and only Makashi. If this Acolyte wanted to learn, he'd have to cut the crap and really open himself.

"Yes. Speed and accuracy. Congratulations. You are now studying Ataru." He waved a hand dismissively and Eezeo gave a Binary chuckle. "Makashi's secondary emphasis is on the aforementioned. The primary focus is on footwork. If you cannot stand on your own two feet, you're dead. If you cannot quickly move around your enemy, adjusting your stance in the blink of an eye, you're dead. Swordsmanship has been studied since the dawn of time. The only constant, the one true focus, must always be footwork. A Makashi Master's lethality comes not from the speed of his attacks, but the fact that by the time he is ready to attack you have fallen far too deep into his trap. A Makashi user must act through reaction, he must dominate the conflict through mastery of physical illusions. Come. Strike." He motioned to the Acolyte to attack him. He stood without a saber in hand, simply with his legs shoulder width apart, his saber arm (right) facing the Acolyte, and his knees slightly bent, ready to advance or retreat.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

The sarcasm in the Miralukas voice was not lost on Vance, though he tried to kill the chuckle rising in him. So that’s what he was doing wrong as Vance listened to his explanation of what the form was. It actually sounded a lot like his father’s shock-boxing tactics. The reason he had beaten boxers throughout the sector wasn’t because of his strength and brute force, but rather that when he struck it was already too late for the opponent to react. Vance smiled, he was begging to like Makashi more and more.

“Before I do, do you have a name no-eyes?” he asked as he took his stance with his left foot forward and activating his orange saber. Another thing he had been taught as a fighter was to be as flexible as you could be. For Vance that meant being able to switch between the typical orthodox style that the Miraluka was using, and the south-paw style that could disrupt many fighters not used to a fighter using his left hand as his primary weapon. He gave the salute typical of Makashi users and the X-shaped flourish that followed after. Vance’s stance mirrored his opponents with the slight difference of him with his left arm facing him. Vance used his legs as a spring and lunged at the unarmed Miraluka, hoping to make contact on his right hip.

 

[Vexillar]

Viole thought about giving him a name, but he figured that if he deserved it, it would come up. Until then, he would remain silent and simply see what this Acolyte could do. His stance was...better. Not perfect, but better than before. The Miraluka took note of the fact that he was left handed. He knew a left handed fighter once. He didn't see much of him these days. Hell, he didn't even know if the Barabel was still alive! He didn't really care though. They were from different ponds, and Viole would like to keep it that way. Viole easily pushed back in a fencer's retreat, stopped himself, and slid over to the right. He stood still again and watched the Acolyte carefully. His movements were too slow. His footwork could use some work two, but it wasn't bad. He clearly had fighting experience, so that was a plus. Whatever fighting he was used to, however, it was clear it was pretty different from Makashi. "Slow. Remember be fast. Strike true. Stop thinking. Thinking gives away your movements, your motions. Your hips will betray your thoughts. Use less of your muscle. Makashi isn't about strength. It is about being fluid, relaxed. Lethal strikes are for late in the fight when you have worn your enemy down, crippling blows are best for middle of the fight, focus on light strikes early on. Again." He motioned for the Acolyte to strike him once more. "And answer this. What are the marks of contact for Makashi?"

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Apparently he wasn’t going to give out his name just yet, it didn’t bother Vance much however so he would keep calling him no-eyes. Since Vance was about as inexperienced as one could get with Makashi, he used his eyes to observe No-Eyes’ smooth foot-work. It really did show how much of a gap in experience between he and Vance there was. Vance knew he needed to keep his mind calm and blank, but as someone who was usually in constant motion, this was a hard task for him to accomplish. So he tried one of the earliest techniques for keeping a cool head that he had ever learned and simply breathed. He inhaled a deep breath through his nose and exhaled out through his mouth all the unwanted thoughts and stress that was starting to cloud his judgment. It worked, if only slightly.

“Shiak,” Vance said thrusting his saber arm with as little use of power as he could muster, though he fully expected the much more experienced No-Eyes to dodge it just as easily as his first strike, “Sun Djem,” he added as he twisted his wrist to attempt disarming No-Eyes in as literal a manner as could be said.

 

[Vexillar]

Better.

The Miraluka sidestepped to the left as the blade was thrust out at him. He gave a small arch of the brow at the dismemberment that the Acolyte attempted as well. As the blade came up, Viole pushed off the ground to slide backwards once more. He placed his hands behind his back. "Sit down. We're going to do a mental exercise." Viole stepped forward until he stood next to the man. "Close your eyes. Imagine, if you will, you are locked in combat with a force stronger than you. Be they Jedi, or Sith, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that they are besting you in strength. They are quicker than you. They are flexible and dodge all of your strikes. What could you possibly do to defend yourself? What could you possible do to defeat the enemy? How could you defeat the enemy?" Makashi was unique form in that it was partly a mental fight and partly physical. IT wasn't like some other styles that was simply focused on bashing down an enemy until they weren't moving, or just in remaining style to defend your position. Makashi involved careful though, but poor practitioners always went overboard on the thinking. Scheming for the sake of scheming was a death waiting to happen.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

It wasn’t surprising to him that No-Eyes had dodged each of his attacks so easily, but it was also frustrating to the young sith. Vance sighed and deactivated his saber, these kinds of mental exercises were usually lost on him. Vance was a man of action, a man who did better while doing something rather than just thinking about it. However, the Miraluka was clearly much stronger than he and he knew that should he feel like it, Vance would be dead in a second. So when No-Eyes asked him to imagine a warrior that out matched him in every way and how to defeat him, he imagined No-Eyes and a shadow of him appeared in his mind as Vance fought desperately to gain any sort of hold on him. It sure wasn’t an easy thing to do but slowly the beginnings of an idea formed in his mind and he decided to voice them to see what No-Eyes thought.

“Well,” he started slowly as the image in his mind gained ground on him, “if that were the case, I’d use my surroundings to my advantage. It would depend on where we were, but say if in an open plains like back home, I would let my opponent think that he had won, then at the moment of his victory over me, I’d strike with something like a low to high combo, or use whatever tactic seemed right at the time.”

In truth however, he wasn't quite sure if that would work. For one thing he would never find himself in a battle where it was clear that he was outmatched in every single way, but his grasp of tactics were of what he had seen his father use in his shock-boxing matches. He would study his opponents so thoroughly that he could use their own movements against them and set up a trap so cunningly that by the time they realized what was happening it was already too late.

 

[Vexillar]

"Hm...that's a valid response, Acolyte. Remove the surroundings though. Makashi isn't a style that uses one's surroundings, and so to you they should not exist for the purpose of using them to win...merely as a tool to avoid being hit. You're on the right path, however, trickery. Fooling the enemy into believing they won. This is Makashi. A gentle style. You are a spider. You are setting up your web of lies and deceit for the fly to fall into. Imagine it. See yourself moving in unpredictable ways. Feints, retreats, advances, step-ins, utilize all of these and catch your enemy off guard. Your environment should be your last resort..." He touched his cheek lightly where his lightsaber scar remained. A small parting gift of his late master. The Miraluka pushed these feelings down. "Now speak. When you find yourself outnumbered, what is the best way to handle the situation? Makashi is a one on one style. It's not designed for you versus multiple enemies. How can you work around this? How can you overcome this flaw?" Admittedly this was still a flaw Viole was working on himself. He wasn't quite solid with his own tactics in fighting multiple people yet, but it was coming together nicely. Nicely enough that he knew the path to take to get the victory over two foes at once. A Makashi Master who could fight two enemies at the same time was a force of destruction. It was a fearsome thing. Beauty and lethality wrapped in one cozy swift wrist flick.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

“Well,” Vance said as he thought about the question, “in some of the holos I’ve seen, some of the old masters like Asajj Ventress used dual sabers that could also combine into a saber-staff to help fend off multiple foes, others I’ve seen use their skills in the force and superior footwork to out maneuver multiple enemies. Myself, I never go into battle without my WESTARs,” The truth of the matter was Vance had actually put a lot of thought into that question. He knew the limitations of Makashi, however, despite them, he still wanted to pursue the form even perhaps incorporate some outside techniques into it to make it truly his own style. He had done his research and had done it well. However, knowing theory was one thing, being able to put it into practice was something else.

 

[Vexillar]

Not what he was getting at, but that was, admittedly, his own fault. Viole nodded at the answers, however, and smiled. "Good. Your build gives you away, too. That is also something to keep in mind. People will expect you to use force, brawn over brain. Your walk, your stance, your air...they reek of someone who has had experience in beating someone down. This is good. Use this. Learn to easily switch from whatever you're used to." The questioning continued for about an hour. Viole asked him about a myriad of situations, questions involving tactics, things involving the nature of Makashi. How could you beat an enemy unarmed using the principles of Makashi? How could you survive when a single saber is all you have, and depleted Force reserves, against a wild beast who's immune to your saber? So on and so on. There was a point to all of this though, and when exactly an hour had passed, it became clear.

"Rise." He said softly while activating his saber. "Makashi is a style unlike any other you will study. It is mostly a mental thing. It isn't so much about your body, as much as it is about your mind. Your ability to absorb information, process it, and use it in the blink of an eye. Makashi is a game. It's game where you must not just see one motion ahead of your enemy, but three, and then five for each of those three, ten for each of those five, so on and so on. You must always be prepared, but be wary. Do not over prepare. You'll run into a situation where your enemy uses unpredictable tactics, where they follow no rule, give no hints, and that's when you'll find out if Makashi is your style...If you can properly fight against an enemy who's movements cannot be predicted, then you have begun to grasp what it truly means to use Makashi. Now. Strike." He took his opening stance, his purple saber humming gently, as the Miraluka stood ready for the Acolyte's attack. It was his hope that the lesson wasn't lost on the boy. So often Viole had seen people fail to understand the core of Makashi, the truth behind it, and simply wish to violate it, pervert it, turn it into something of barbarianism. No...he was silently praying to Ashla and Bogan that this student wouldn't be like the others...

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance fidgeted all the while he was being drilled through the intricacies of Makashi. Much more the just the strengths and weaknesses, but the tactics behinds it all, scenarios in which there were no ways to run and so forth. At first Vance had thought he knew combat pretty well, being what he was recruited into the sith for, but now he knew how ignorant he still was. As time went by, he started getting irritated with No-Eyes. He was a man of action, he needed to be moving not sitting down and being asked increasingly redundant questions. Finally after what seemed forever to Vance, No-Eyes stood and activated his lightsaber. Now for the real test.

Vance stood as No-Eyes did and when it became clear that they were going to have a duel once more, he activated his own saber, the orange blade hissing into life. This time however, instead of using his left, he switched up and used his right hand for his saber arm. The endless drilling was good for one thing however, it had cleared his mind of all unnecessary thoughts, leaving him free to think on nothing else other than combat. He had thought about his first attempts at Makashi and how easily No-Eyes had dodged everything, so of course this wasn’t going to be easy.

The real question for Vance though was how to beat an enemy who could see through the force. Being quick on your feet and fast with a saber wasn’t going to win here. He thought back to the beginning of their conversation and had thought of luring him into a false victory, but immediately discounted it. He had already spoken the idea and if No-Eyes was as good as Vance thought, a simple trick like that wouldn’t work in any case. What was it he had said? Makashi was about reacting without thought or something? He simply had to move. So without thought, without force, he simply moved. Perhaps it was because he was thinking of how they had begun their meeting that he struck out in the same manner as before, but this time it felt the right thing to do. Vance still had one ace up his sleeve however, he still hadn’t shown the fact he could extend his saber with a simple press of a button. As his Shiak struck and he transitioned into the Sun Djem, he pressed down on the button that would extend his saber three inches longer than it normally was.

 

[Vexillar]

Viole wasn't so much reading Vance's mind as much as he was just skirting around the edges, picking up stray thoughts. For a moment it seemed like he was going to have trouble overcoming himself. That was a problem with Makashi. The difficulty in mastering oneself, forcing oneself to calm down, to act and not react. Then the thoughts slowed, they slowed until there was nothing but the faintest motions of impulses. Good. Viole wouldn't dig further to learn what these impulses were, but he could feel the. He knew they were there, and that was enough to show that Vance was at least capable of Makashi, capable of understanding it.

As the Acolyte dashed forward, Viole readied himself, the stab came first, and Viole took a half step back while raising his blade to meet Vance's in a half circle, forcing the blade to move up and to his right. Vance flicked a switch, however, and wasted no time taking advantage of it. His blade came down into the Makashi Sun Djem. Viole slid off the to left, disengaging from the sbaer conflict in order to avoid losing his fingers. He nodded a bit and eyed the longer blade. "Good. A staple in most blades, or it was, but made popular by the Makashi Masters of old. More evidence that Makashi is a style about traps, pitfalls, and outsmarting the enemy. Again." Viole flicked his blade at the male and waited for his strike. The moment Vance would move, however, Viole would grab one of the trainin dummies and hurl it at the Acolyte without leaving his stance.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

It all seemed so easy for Vance. Once he had his mind cleared the simple act of moving had been drilled into him so thoroughly that he could just act and react. When No–Eyes made his strike, Vance moved to block. However, the moment he did, No-Eyes hurled a nearby training droid at him. With all theirntalk about tricks and traps, he had half expected something like this. Vance though, wasn't quite as skilled in using the force yet. However he did manage to use a rather weak force push to slow it down before it made contact. It didn't knock him down, but it still hurt. The pain clouded his thoughts as he struck out wildly in a wide arc at No-Eyes shoulder.

 

[Vexillar]

Viole raised his blade hand up and locked the sabers in a physical struggle for superiority. "Use the pain. Don't become unfocused, allow any suffering, any hurt, to only fuel your mind, aid in your thought processes. Use it as a motivator to drive you to overcome that which has hurt you." He rolled his wrist and disengaged the sabers before jumping back and resuming his stance. "Why are you here? Why are you on Korriban?" He motioned with a flick of his saber to keep up his assault. Viole was pleased with the progress Vance had made here. He was doing very well, and had taken to Makashi quite naturally. The Miraluka had found that people often migrated to a style their bodies fit more easily into. Vance's body had made the right call in going to Makashi, this kid was born to be a lightsaber duelist.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

"Do I need a reason to be anywhere?" he asked in response as he raised his saber to block. While the pain in his shoulder still throbbed, it was a pain he was use to. The longer they dueled, the more Vance learned. He thought about it though, why was he here? He figured since No-Eyes did teach him quite a bit, he should give a more thoughtful answer. He disengaged from their recent saber lock and fell back into his ready stance before answering a bit more truthfully.

"Well," he sighed, "as for Korriban, it's just where the higher-ups put me," he lunged out with a shiak once more. It was a stab he fully expected No-Eyes to dodge or block and once he did, he continued, "As for why I'm here, I guess it's because of my force sensitivity." He could've given an answer like he wanted to be the strongest, or some other nonsense answer, but truthfully he just wanted to fight and this was the best place to learn.

 

[Vexillar]

Viole continued to duck, dodge, and deflect the Acolyte's blows. Striking back here and there, but not really putting anything into it, more just showing him how to make different strikes, different ways to move, etc etc. He was impressed with how quickly the Acolyte's body adjusted to the foreign style. Moving from his seemingly brute force ways to be more flexible, be more reactionary. He pursed his lips slightly at the answer he was given and decided to ask it in a different way. "But why are you here?" He raised and threw another training dummy at the Acolyte. "You could leave. You could go anywhere and learn of the Force for yourself. You could find Jedi, or some other cult, and learn from them. Why are you here? On Korriban? With the Sith?" He charged in behind the dummy and made to slice at Vance's left side. The strike was a bit faster than the ones he had been throwing around so far, so he was wondering if it would come as a surprise to the Acolyte. He asked him these questions to force him to think while defending and attacking. If he wished to use Makashi, he would need a body that would move and flow naturally, but also a mind that was always active, always predicting, always ready and waiting for the next strike. He couldn't settle for concrete thinking. He needed to be more flexible, more abstract.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

He knew his reply wasn't satisfactory to No-Eyes, he didn't much like it himself. He thought about it some more as he continued to learn the movements of Makashi. He thought on No-Eyes words as he dodged another droid, his body automatically speeding up to match the increased speed. It was at times like this he was glad for his training. His father had taught his body to react without thought. The sith had taught him to feel the force. He knew that if it wasn't for the later, he wouldn't have been able to have kept up with No-Eyes this far. He also knew that No-Eyes was holding back. He twirled his saber in a half circle to block the strike at his left. Waisting no time in transition, he bent his elbow and stepped in, hoping to smash him in the face.

Whether the strike hit or not his answer was thus, "I could've joined another cult, but it was the sith who found me and recruited me. I wanted to test my abilities, the sith gave me that opportunity."

 

[Vexillar]

Viole stood his ground and decided to roll with this hit to see where Vance was going. As the elbow got closer he slightly leaned his body back, allowing the elbow to connect with his cheek but most of the damage glanced off. He staggered backwards again for a moment and tuned his ears to the answer. It was fair, it was honest. It could be better though. There was no sense in pushing this, however, as there would just be circles upon circles of answers. There was only so many times one could ask the same question when he knew that at the end of the day the answer would be the same. So why bother? Instead, it would be better to just allow actions to speak better, to show what needed to be shown. So after Viole had staggered backwards he raised his hand.

"You have performed exceptionally well, Vance. You have taken to this form much quicker than he would have given you credit for, and for that you should be commended. He has some...assignments coming up. You are welcome to join him, though you must understand something, Vance. He doesn't take people on missions often. He has a very, very, different way of handling things than most other people. If you do wish to aid in this assignment, then you must abide by his rules. Come with him, however, and you'll find yourself properly rewarded. Care to join him?"