The Beginning

[Alak'azam]

Alak'azam was confused as to why his classes instructor had chosen Tatooine of all places to hide. He had seen the message from grand master Wyck to go to brighthome. Perhaps this was just a stop on the way to be certain they were not followed.

They were out in a canyon, where they had made camp for several days. Eventually their instructor came and spoke to the group.

"Today is a special day young ones, for today some of you will become apprentices."

Alak was excoted to hear the news, and still hoped that it would be the Jedi who saved him that came to pick him.

@Nastalle

 

[Tynian]

The shuttle landed in the outskirts of Mos Espa. The Jedi Knight Tynian had been sent there by his father to pick an apprentice. The old crusader had decided it was time for Tynian to teach someone else in the ways of the force.

Tatooine wasn’t the most typical place one would find an apprentice, but because a group of young ones were in hiding there, Tynian thought it was as good a place than any.

As he exited the shuttle, Tynian looked at the row of tents set up near a moisture conductor... It must be where the Jedi was housing the group. As he began walking towards the tents, an older Jedi came to meet him.
“Well met Knight Tynian. We’ve been expecting you. Knight Kane made us aware of your coming. We have a few lads for you to choose from.”
Tynian gave a friendly smile. “I feel like I’m picking out cattle. But I shall let the force guide me.”

The Jedi led him into the largest tent where the rest of the group was eating breakfast. As they entered, all eyes went to Tynian. The Jedi announced that he was there to pick someone to be an apprentice, and to go about the day as normal as can be.

Tynian surveyed the group and his eyes fell on a young Twi’lek sitting at one of the back tables. The kid looked somewhat familiar.
Despite the stares from the other students, Tynian made his way around the tables and sat down on the opposite side across from the Twi’lek.
“Greetings young one. I think I should know you... what’s your name?”

@One For Sorrow

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak was shocked, the force had ACTUALLY brought his savior to their little refugee camp. And what's more, he came straight to Alak's table and spoke to him.

"Kiyirsa! By the force it is you! Er. Apologies master. M-my name is Alak'azam. You. You saved me from that saseehk banoo who wanted to take me to the Sith."

Alak stopped himself from vomiting more words, not wanting to scare off his potential new master. He then flushed a little as he realized he didn't know if this man even spoke Ryl.

"I am sorry sir, I am not usually so....excitable. It's just, you saved me from a fate far worse than death. That...that demon. He wanted to make me imto a horrible thing."

Alak shuddered a little at the thought, and figured he should perhaps shut up and let the man speak.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian smiled. He let the Twi’lek ramble on a bit before speaking. It allowed him to gage the fire within the young lad’s heart. “You remind me of myself at your age. I talked a lot too. Lesson number one. Never stop asking questions.” Tynian laughed as he remembered his father’s face as questions poured out of his own mouth.
The Jedi stood up. “Follow me please. I’d like to see what you’re made of.”

Without waiting, he exited the tent and headed toward his shuttle. The Jedi went inside and took five small metallic discs from a container. These were the same discs that he was trained with when he was Kane’s apprentice.
As the boy cane he explained what he was expecting as he set the discs down onto the ground. He set them side by side and then stood up.
“I want to assess how attuned to the force you are. If you can, please stack the discs. One by one. Starting from left to right.”

@One For Sorrow

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak had been learning how to use the force since the day Tynian had brought him to Tython, and now here he was being asked to show the very man responsible for his whole new life how far he had come. He had to admit, his studies had been more lightsaber oriented than with the force.

"I shall do my best sir."

Alak sat down crosslegged and grounded himself, closing his eyes and letting himself feel the threads of the force like he had been taught.

He reached his hand forward, trying his best to keep from shaking -more from nerves than from strain- and grasped the leftmost disc. He slowly and shakily made the disc float up and placed it near the middle, then repeated himself with each disc -placing them on top of eachother- until he had created a stack. He had succeeded in his task in that they were on top of eachother, but it was uneven amd did not look much like it would stand under much pressure without tumbling.

"I am sorry sir, I have not practiced very much since Tython fell."

Alak hung his head slightly, ashamed of his sad little stack. In his mind he had let Tynian down by not having gotten better than this by now.

@Nastalle

 

[Tynian]

Tynian smiled. He knew exactly how the young Twi’lek felt. He too was in that place before... “I know what you are feeling young Alak, but you can’t let disappointment or frustration rule your thoughts. You did rather well, I’d say. You do need to work on concentration a bit more... which will come with time and practice.”

The Jedi then went back into the shuttle and came out with two sparring blades.
“You may keep the discs with you, keep practicing with them. But for now put them away and let’s see how you do with a weapon.”

He handed the sparring blade over to Alak, making sure the settings were on the lightest affect, which meant of one got hit, it’d be felt much like a bug bite.
Tynian stepped back and raised his weapon... “Attack me. Let’s see what you’ve learned already.”

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak stood and accepted the training blade, taking a few swings away from Tynian to warm up.

"Yes sir, I will do my best."

He bounced on his toes for a second, coming up with a plan of attack. He was admittedly not expecting to do well, he had only ever practiced against droids.

He rushed in, lunging straight at the middle of tynians chest and hoping that the speed and suddenness of his attack would maybe startle his perspective master enough that he landed the hit.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian held the training blade loosely as he watched his potential apprentice gage the weight and balance of his own weapon.
The Jedi watched Alak bounce a bit on his toes, which indicated to his experienced eyes, that the young Twi’lek did have some athletic ability, and the way he held the blade, let Tynian know that Alak had some lightsaber training already.

As Alak’s “surprise” attack came, Tynian sidestepped the thrust pretty easily and used a one handed vertical block (with the tip of his weapon pointing down to the ground), and pushed the Twi’lek’s blade to the left.

The momentum the Alak used made him go right past the Jedi’s left side and Tynian quickly tapped the back of his leg with the tip of his own weapon.

“You committed yourself to fully on the initial attack.” Tynian instructed. “Be more deliberate and calculating than just rushing in all at once. A Jedi tried to plan out every move... even before the battle begins. That way we are not caught unaware.”

Tynian waited til Alak faced him again. “Now try again. But this time don’t over extend and keep your movements smaller.”

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak almost went down on his face, but managed to stay on his feet. He turned and listened to Tynian as the far more experienced man gave him some pointers.

"Yes sir, I will improve."

Alak was admittedly embarassed at thinking a move he had used on a droid would carry over to fighting a Jedi, but he didn't let it distract him. He ran in again, still hoping to use speed to his advantage, and made a tight swing at Tynian's left shin, following that up by spinning to his right and bringing his blade around to strike at Tynian's right arm.

 

[Tynian]

A feint. The boy used a feint.
Tynian was liking the Twi’lek more and more...
Upon deciding if the boy was fully committed in combat, ( a trait rare in one so young... usually they would hold back in fear that they would somehow hurt the one they were sparring with), the Jedi knowingly allowed himself to be “duped”.

Tynian wanted to see just how Alak would respond when the hit landed.
He went to block the first strike and let Alak hit his right arm.
Because of his armor, Tynian didn’t feel a thing, but just watched the boy’s reaction...

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak's eyes widened in shock when he actually hit the far more experienced Jedi, he had expected to be countered and had actually not had a plan for what came next.

So he improvised.

After the hit landed on Tynian's arm the young Twi'lek twirled out and around, spinning to his right and moving to his left as he ducked to bring his blade around towards Tynian's right calf. This move was completely improvised, and he again did not expect it to hit but he was committed now.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian was pleasantly surprised that the young Twi’lek kept up the attack.
It showed spunk.
The Jedi watched as Alak spun and aimed his blade at his calf, so he cooly blocked the swing and countered with a quick rap to the back of Alak’s right leg followed up by a jab/ feint which would be directed at Alak’s right arm, but would switch at the last second taking the tip of his blade and poking the young Twi’lek in the ribs.

Let’s see how he handles getting hit...

 

[Alak'azam]

Alak didn't even know what happened, what he did know is that suddenly his calf hurt and his ribs were sore.

"I...but...how?"

The boy grinned as he rubbed his sore ribs with his free hand, completely blown away.

Alak decided it would be best to try defending himself now, so he took up a stiff defensive stance and waited for his potential master to make a move.

@Axym

Sorry for the delay.