Just...slide. (Jodi Breclusa Training)

[TheIronLotus]

Jodi barely had time to appreciate the praise her Master gave before realizing that she had been tricked into attacking herself.

She couldn’t have expected her lightning to be reflected back, and for the first time at the Bogan temple, she let loose a cry of pain. She tore herself from Ramnous and fell to her knees, mouth wide, but forcing herself to not allow any more sound to escape. She hadn’t been able to prepare this time, and therefore she had received the full force of her attack. In a way, it made her proud she could inflict so much pain, but at the moment the sting was all she could focus on. Eventually, it began to subside. Breathing heavily, she ran the Force over her skin like a wet rag, trying to soothe the pain. It helped somewhat.

She slowly realized that she didn’t need to gather Force all over her body for the attack – that had been Ramnous exerting a different power. It would be useful to know in the future so she could use the electric attack more quickly.

Jodi got up finally, shaking a little. But her eyes were strong as always, boring into his own. “What in the hell was that?”

 

[Dread]

More pain, more to feed off. He would enjoy her cries as she fell to her knees. Perhaps one day he would teach his student to feed off such things as he did, to improve ones darkness by the peoples reactions around her. So many dark figures of the past used such things - and for his brothers who ignored such things he saw as fools. That would say how much he thought of his student so far. "An advanced manipulation in the force, for those who are...more defensive."

He twisted his body and in it's shifting mass his boots would slide around on its pivot. When he faced the open door of his room he began to walk out.. "Let us go outside for once, hmm? The training room has limits and right now we shall give ourselves less of those." He had told her that they would fight again today - and they would. It was not planned to last too long, because she was still in the learning process for the skills he expected her to use in battle, but it would force her to use them under further pressure.

 

[TheIronLotus]

“Let’s,” she said, using the Force to open the door as he had before. She knew the way outside, having gone outside frequently. The cold, icy surface was something she enjoyed – the freezing temperatures, the endless white.

As she opened the door to the outside, a gust of wind washed over her. She didn’t shiver. The cold was something she had become used to over the years.

“And what’s in store for today, Master?”

((Sorry for the brevity, not much to say.))

 

[Dread]

The outside would make Ramnous' skin crawl at first, the chill of the wind crept across his body as if someone ran their cold fingers under his clothing. As much time as he spent inside, he didn't always quite enjoy the outside. However, he had always spent time exploring for objects of interest so the disturbance of being outside only lasted a moments time before it faded back to his more dominate content persona.

"You will attack me again. With, whatever you like, your one lightsaber or two." It was a hint at what she should use, but he was almost certain she wouldn't pick up on what exactly. It was her style and she would need to develop it somewhat without his help. It was important his student didn't always depend on him to tell her exactly how things worked. To much dependence lead to weakness, and he knew this all too well as it was a weakness of his own, in a strange way.

With his right hand reaching out, his left hand went back in the air behind him, as did his left foot. Seemly at the same time his hilt flew in one great movement to his palms and fingers grip. The silver lightsaber ignited the moment his fingers graced it. He was ready for her first move - whether it be attack or ask a question on the nature of their fight.

 

[TheIronLotus]

Instead of leaping like she usually did, Jodi had swung her palm towards her Master at the sign of his first movement. In the split second that followed, she envisioned a wave of Force energy washing over him, slowing the very fibers of his body. Over the years, she’d come to perfect a few Force abilities, one of her favorites being Force Slow. It was so simple, but so effective – and usually so few expected it.

Before she had finished the movement of her palm, she sprinted towards her master, the red lightsaber flying towards her right hand as she brought it in a sweeping motion at the Master’s legs. At the same time, her purple lightsaber flew towards her favored left hand and she angled it in front of her chest defensively, in case her Master wasn’t affected enough by the Force power to not attack her.

 

[Dread]

As she had taken two move, so had he. Within the time she had made herself ready and started to wrap the force around his body, he would center himself. Feeling the slow encase his body he absorbed it into himself in its entirety. The force would aid him greatly against other force users, but would it always hold? Not necessarily, but he would exploit his greatest aspects when he had the chance. As the child sweeped at his feet, he answered in kind, dipping his saber down from it's slanted upper position with a sideways flick of his wrist to toss the womens strike to the side. Waiting for her rebellion to his passive rebuttal.

 

[TheIronLotus]

Jodi used the momentum gained from her Master’s defensive deflection to go into a roll, keeping her other lightsaber upright in case of an offensive by her Master. As she came upright, she began to focus her Force Speed, feeling energy enter her limbs. Her lightsabers were held on either side of her in a semi-feint, attempting to give the illusion of weakness in the center. If her Master went for it, she’d sidestep the blow and aim at his exposed back.

 

[Dread]

In answer to her distance between them now, he simply began to gather the force around his body. Saving it for later, he did not move, more he decided to speak. "What's the matter, First, does your single not allow you to think fast enough to preform your lightsaber form? Come on..." She was acting oddly for her style, he expected a constant attack pattern, roll, attack again, although perhaps slower at first then faster through time. Awaiting her answer to his mock he would taunt her further if needed, a more aggressive lure if need be.

 

[TheIronLotus]

She did not fall for his lure, but simply smiled at him, using the Force to gather her speed further. “Oh, Master, if you’ve taught me anything, it’s that I should not leave myself open to attack with this form. Is there something wrong with a little adaptation?” She walked closer to him, swinging her hips deceptively. “That is, unless your form doesn’t allow for attack.”

As soon as she started the first syllable, she lunged forwards, powered by her Force Speed. Both lightsabers out and ignited, she started to swing each while alternating each slash, keeping one saber back to block, accelerated by the Force Speed she’d been focusing for so long previously.

 

[Dread]

A jedi or dark jedi did not need to be speedy in order for their eyes to catch the speed albeit the gap between them she filled fast well he moved not one inch. Between each close and alternating slash, he would meet them with accordance and no aggression as he would have no time for aggressive moves due to her speed. In a motion that would shift between each blade, a tilted left forwards push - which was expected to be the first blade to come forward as her dominate hand. Then swiftly opening his elbow joint to move it to the right and knock the right blade to the side. Once knocked back, his elbow joint would close as he moved his blade back in a under swing to the left to knock away the left again. Between the swings he stepped backwards a few times, bringing her along for the ride.

 

[Dread]

((OCC: I'm trying to PM you but the forum is being extra sassy today and WONT let me. Re-read my post because I had to edit it. I pressed enter by mistake when I hadn't finished my post. I type my posts from the middle or the end, then I go back to the start...then I edit.))

 

[TheIronLotus]

Jodi’s teeth were bared as she realized just how futile the strikes had been. After several seconds of doing little more than driving her Master back a few feet, she started varying the strikes. An offbeat one to the legs, resume slashing, offbeat to the head, then a stab, resume. All the while she was putting more power behind each blow, as though her arm was being propelled by the Force into her Master’s parries.

((Yeah, it's being snarky for me too, no worries. ;D))

 

[Dread]

It was one thing to make random slashes but because she decided to make a pattern in the middle, when she would choose to make a random ones created a sign ahead of time. Her body would move irregular in the slightest manner when it would become a offbeat move. Keeping his eyes on her body language he let his blade dip down deep to the length of his body, stressing his arm to the fullest extension to stop the first stab at his legs, then he would catch her beat in the middle, and flick his wrist up to divert the head slash. In her stab he simply twisted his wrist in a circular motion to catch the blade under and tap it up. In the end, he jumped back without the use of the force, simply with the use of his forms legs position, it give him a point of pressure in his front foot to push back and have his back leg to help in the leap. Once there was distance between the two he locked eyes with a cold blue gaze, he would not exert any force powers yet - only gather and wait in taunting.

 

[TheIronLotus]

Jodi wasn’t even exerted after the short amount of sparring, but she was incredibly frustrated. Although she’d succeeded in not allowing him to strike at her offensively, he’d also not used any of his Force powers for anything but defense. She had the feeling that she wouldn’t be successful against him if he were actually trying to kill her. But she was determined. As he leapt backwards, she sent a small Force Pull at his ankle, attempting to use his momentum to trip him slightly. After that, she surged forwards again, swinging one blade downwards but keeping the other back in case he evaded her attack.

 

[Dread]

The power he had gathered earlier would harden around his leg and reflect the force grab before dissipating from around his body - sending it back her way to her own feet in a great rush. His feet stood solid in his position and awaited her reaction. At this time he let his right hand move back as well to his hilt, curling fingers on it in the thrill of emotion. Giving him extra control over it's movements and a added amount of power as well as reach. If she should fall from the tug at her leg, he would then answer by stabbing down - and stopping just above her left hand, to only burn her to force one saber from her grasps.

 

[TheIronLotus]

She saw how he didn’t even budge at the Force attack and attempted to make a large Force Push in front of her, unsure of where the attack would come. She remembered how he reflected the lightning back, and hoped to nullify his deflection with her own wave of Force power. It did somewhat, but she was still thrown off balance, tumbling forwards. She saw the Master stabbing downwards at her, and the way she’d fallen made his saber angled towards her shoulder. She rolled instinctively, using the Force to shove her on her way and speed the movement, but she felt a slight sting as the saber grazed her shoulder blade. It didn’t hurt much, as she was used to much more, but she was sure there might be a burn there for a while from the heat. She continued rolling in the snow, eventually using the Force to launch herself upwards and away from the Master to reevaluate the situation.

As she landed, she glanced over at her back. The fabric was seared off, still smoking somewhat – another inch, and she’d have 3rd degree burns and some cauterized flesh. “I believe that I need a new tunic, Master.”

 

[Dread]

"That should be enough today. I do hope you enjoyed Soresu quite throughly." Clearly, he prodded her for a snappy reaction. However, she had not done badly. After the pause between words, he spoke again in a lower questioning voice that seemed more seriously posed, "First, do you have any questions before I let you go rest?" Because of the time she had come to him, now the day had started to turn much darker. The outside became much more bitter and windy. The One enjoyed the battle less as each minute ticked by. As he did not expand as much energy as she did, his body would warm less naturally to the movement of hers. This was one disadvantage to his form unless he could compensate for it through other means.

 

[TheIronLotus]

“I do have a few questions,” she said seriously, pacing to keep her warm body that way. It had started to get chillier, and though she enjoyed the cold, she wanted to keep the adrenaline as high as she could for as long as she could. “Firstly, I find your form difficult to combat, even though I tried to vary my combat much more today. What would you suggest? It just seems incredible, especially with your mastery over the Force…and I’m not flattering you,” she emphasized, with a slightly joking tone. “I just want to know how I can utilize my skills to defeat such a defensively minded person. I’m not used to being bested in combat very often, even by my old Master, but you seem to do so with little effort, even. Secondly, and I’m sure you’ll abstain from answering this – I won’t blame you, of course – but what is that aura you surround yourself with to deflect my attacks? It’s the most useful thing I’ve seen you use so far.”

 

[Dread]

"You're having issues because I will simply wait and wait till the moment is right whereas you will keep attacking mindlessly, aimlessly, trying force something out of me that may or may not happen. Calculate your moves more throughly, be more specific to your aims...think of the future...be more conscious of your body and its fluidity. If you where a greater force user I would say to fight me force-with-force...That is all I can say. And right now, you are the lowly part of this order, so expect less of yourself." The last comment might of been to insult her but it held some truth. As he began to think of the last move she had asked about, his blue eyes shifted the lower part of his sockets, to look downwards in thought. "When you're more trained perhaps I will teach you - prove yourself more competent."

 

[TheIronLotus]

Jodi felt heated once again. My previous Master wasn’t near so unappreciative of my talents, she thought. But then again…maybe this was exactly what she needed. To be humbled, to have someone condescend her.

“I understand, my Master,” she said. “I will be more focused with my movements. I will be better.” She paused. “I promise.”

With that, she went to the door to the inside, and opened it, about to go in – before she decided to hold it open for her Master. It wasn’t for courtesy, so much as it was an outside gesture of respect – something she felt she needed to show more of.

I’ve been basing all these things, all of my opinions off of how my former master had treated me, but I should have been focusing on how my new Master actually is. I’ve been arrogant, too self confident…I must focus on my training entirely, not on impressing him, or defeating him, or what I used to be revered as. I must start anew…