The Dark Road Continues (Joshua Drake's Training)

[Keinushi]

"Your cocky and weak." Kel stood up. His voice boomed throughout the room. His very presence seemed to double the gravity and it didn't help that he was using the force to weigh Joshua down. "You can't even stop a simple door from hitting you and yet you think yourself worthy to learn to be a Dark Master! I have never heard such rot! Go and become a teacher you sniveling piece of batha fodder!"

Kel sent a second wave of force. This one strong enough to slam the acolyte into the wall of the corridor.

((yeah, he doesn't take students. This has been a fun aside designed to increase roll play in the forums. You may now return to Katarn.))

 

[JMocks]

After hitting the wall for a second time, Josh was pissed. He almost had the nerve to walk back in Kel's office but he stopped half way through. "You're not even worth my time," Josh said with a grin as he walked back to the turbolift. He was starting to lose his patientice though. Doing all this walking around. He returned to Katarn.

"I'm back. But I'm pretty sure you knew this was coming. So why even bother sending me up there anyways? You waisted my time. And your time. Now quit bullshitting me here," Josh said with anger in his voice.

 

[Keinushi]

"It was easier to show you what that kind of power does to the user than to simply explain it." Katarn smiled, a paternal note to her voice. "And be honest, would you have believed me if I had simply told you that that much power did more harm then good? When channeling the kind of power Kel calls upon, your intelligence will eventually dull. Kel is pure anger now. Striking out at anyone near him regardless of the consequences. Now, do you still wish to be a Dark Master?"

 

[JMocks]

"Kel let his power consume him. I'm sure there's away to channel the force without draining one's intelligence. For example, draining someone else's so he can use the force. Like a leeching process. I'm pretty sure it can be done. That's how I'd use it. But to answer your question, yes. I still want to be a Dark Master," Josh said with reassurance in his voice.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn shook her head. "It's not where the power comes from, its the amount of it that's used. No one can use that much power without repercussions. But it makes no difference in the short run as the training is the same."

 

[JMocks]

"Then lets get started shall we," Josh said awaiting for the training to finally begin.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn stood up from her desk, pocketing her datapad she indicated the acolyte should follow. When she reached the hall she indicated the slave to follow as well. She lead the two of them outside and to a gravel patch on the left side of the temple. There she picked up a small rock and turned to Joshua.

"First we must awaken your powers." Katarn began. "The easiest way to learn the force is of course through pain. So this slave is going to through rocks at you until you can stop one using the force."

She ended her sentence by throwing the small piece of gravel at Joshua.

 

[JMocks]

The first rock hit Josh in the face. This instantly angered him. The rocks kept coming. The more rocks that kept hitting Josh, the more he was getting angry. He concentrated on the rocks. He focused everything he had at the rocks. Around the 30th rock or so, Josh was able to find the little force with inside him, and stop the rock traveling towards his face.

When Josh saw he stopped the rock finally, he could only grin. The rock then dropped once Josh broke the concentration. He then looked at Katarn for the next lesson.

 

[Keinushi]

"Congratulations, you stopped a pebble." Katarn smiled. "Slave, begin throwing two at a time. Speed up your throwing every time he can stop all your rocks."

She turned back to Joshua. "Be glad I use pebbles, Kel uses rocks the size of your fist."

 

[JMocks]

It was raining pebbles on Josh. He was starting to get flustered again. Every time he would try an concentrate, it would get interrupted by two more pebbles. Josh lost all thought. He made himself one with the force. He closed his eyes. He ignored the pain by the pebbles constantly hitting him. After a few moments, the pebbles had stopped. Josh opened his eyes, and the two pebbles he stopped fell to the ground.

The slaved then started going a little faster. Josh went back into his "zone". Once again blocking out the pain, concentrating solely on the pebbles. Josh managed to stop them again. So the slave increased her speed once again. At this rate, Josh was beating a dead horse. No matter how many he stopped, it would just get faster. He would have to cut the source off at the root. That meant holding all the pebbles still. Not allowing the slave to pick them up.

Josh wasn't sure if he could do such a feat. But it was worth the try. Josh opened his hands and pointed them to the ground, palm down. He then began to concentrate on the pebbles as a whole, instead of individuals.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn sent a wave of force energy at the acolyte to interrupt him. "This is to help train your control over small objects, no cheating."

 

[JMocks]

Once the energy hit Josh he looked at Katarn. "I'm curious is to how this is cheating? I am controlling the small objects," Josh said with a glare. The slave kept throwing the pebbles as she was instructed, and Josh kept stopping them as he was instructed. Josh was confident enough that he had finally gotten the jest of it.

 

[Keinushi]

"The force you use for stopping a large body and a small body are different." Katarn explained. She waved her hand, and suddenly the slaves hands groaped at air. "A large body is easy to control."

Suddenly the pebbles began to rise one by one until there were a thousand in the air. They danced around her, spinning and circling in turbines. It was a work of beauty and a show of power.

"Controlling individual pieces requires twice as much powers, but is twice as effective."

The various pebbles fell to the ground and suddenly the slave was able to grab pebbles again.

Katarn began to walk away. "I want you to spend the rest of today doing this, meet me in my office tomorrow."

 

[JMocks]

"I have to spend all day stopping pebbles? Great," Josh said with an attitude. Once Katarn left and entered the temple, Josh looked at the slave, and received two pebbles to the face. He had enough of that. The slave would throw, Josh would stop them. It was a boring process, but Josh knew it was needed. After hours had elapsed, Josh was starting to get tired.

He figured he would try what Katarn did, and try and pick up the thousand pebbles. Josh didn't know whether or not he could do this. But he figured it was worth a shot. When the slave threw two pebbles, Josh stopped them. He didn't let them go however. He stood there, starring at the pebbles, concentrating. The pebbles beneath him began to rattle.

Josh used everything he had in him to left the pebbles up. The slave gasped, and Josh looked. The pebbles Katarn had just lifted, were in the air again. "Haha," Josh chuckled. Then the pebbles fell down. Josh returned to the shuttle he arrived in and went to sleep. He was impressed with what he accomplished the first day. And he was already looking towards tomorrow and whatever the training brought with it.

Upon day break, Josh was up and ready. He felt good physically and mentally. The loading ramp hissed open and Josh emerged ready for the day ahead of him. He made the mile walk back to the temple and made his way back to Katarn's office. "Good morning, Katarn," Josh said with a sly smile.

 

[Keinushi]

"My slave tells me you lifted a large amount of pebbles into the air yesterday." Katarn smiled, her usual cheery voice in place. "That is quite a feat as it would take most acolytes a week to get to that level." She paused. "Then again, how long did you hold them for?"

 

[JMocks]

"Ugh," Josh stuttered. "Maybe two to three seconds? It wasn't long," Josh said ashamed.

 

[Keinushi]

"Alright." Katarn nodded. "That makes more sense. I want you to spend the next week practicing on holding those pebbles as long as you can. Return when you can hold them for 8 hours straight. My slave will show you where the cafeteria is so you don't starve."

 

[JMocks]

"Greatttttt," Josh said with enthusiasm. Before he went out side to begin training, he stopped by the cafeteria to suit up. He was already starving from yesterday, and needed all the energy he could muster. Once he was full, Josh made the trip back outside the temple and to the patch of pebbles. The slave stood off to the side.

Josh stood at one end of the pebbles and began. "Here goes nothing," he said as he began to concentrate. On his first attempt, Josh lifted a couple hundred pebbles. He tried again. This time, lifting around six hundred pebbles. "Come on! Come on," Josh said to himself and he concentrated. On his fifth attempt, Josh managed to get all the pebbles in the air. He then lost himself. The only thing he concentrated on was the pebbles, himself, and anything that obstructed that.

Josh then released the bond. He looked at the slave. "How long was that? Must of been like two hours huh," Josh said with confidence.

"No," the salve said. "To my knowledge, it was only five minutes," she said.

"What? Five minutes. Seriously? It felt like I was in there forever," Josh said in disbelief.

"It has that effect...," the slave said as she trailed off.

Josh then regrouped himself. This time, Josh was able to lift all the pebbles on the first attempt. He had got the lifting part down. It was the holding part he needed to concentrate on. Once the pebbles were hovering in the air, Josh thought of his mother. He used the good memories of his mother to try and channel more of the force. In doing so, time went by. He remembered her from the day he was born, up until the night she was killed. And that was when Josh broke the chain, causing the pebbles to drop. "How long," he asked the slave.

"Two hours," she quickly responded.

"Jesus. It felt like days in there," Josh said as he regrouped himself again. The pebbles went up again with no problem. Once again, Josh recalled on memories of his mother. But on the night of her death, he didn't break the chain. He kept going. The hatred he had for his dad boiled in him. He then felt a wave of new power inside him. The pebbles rose higher, but Josh didn't know.

When the chain broke, Josh fell to the ground. The slave didn't move. He rested there. Once he got up, he asked the slave the same question, "How long?"

"Five hours," she said.

"Three hours short," he chuckled. Josh didn't know if he could continue or not. He felt drained mentally. Physically he was alright. He returned back to the cafeteria to eat. He was surprised how hungry he was. He had aten seven hours ago, and acted like he hadn't ate in a year. Josh was use to having no food for days at a time. This was a new feeling for him. Once he was full again, he returned to the pebbles.

"This is it. This is will be my last attempt," Josh said as he sat down. He concentrated. The pebbles instantly lifted in the air, like it was second nature to Josh. He drew on the memories that caused him the most suffering and pain. He used this to make him stronger. The memory of his mom dying, the memory of killing his dad, almost being killed by his "step-dad", killing his "step-dad" and family, and most recently, almost getting killed by Kel. He used all this to build his power. The pebbles began to rise higher and higher.

The slave looking on, knew Josh was getting the hang of it. He was at seven hours. Josh kept the thoughts coming. Josh had got to his boiling point. His eyes shot open, the pebbles bursted everywhere. The slave didn't move. She didn't even flinch. Josh stood up and surveyed the empty area where the pebbles once laid. Josh then looked at the slave. He didn't have to say anything. She already knew.

"Twelve hours," she said.

"Its about time," Josh said as he walked off, walking back inside the temple to Katarn's office to inform her on the news.

 

[Keinushi]

Katarn sat behind her chair, she had just entered maybe 5 minutes before this. "I am so tired of this paperwork." She muttered to herself.

 

[JMocks]

Josh entered the office and saw Katarn at her desk. "I finished the task," Josh said. "It wasn't easy, but I completed it," he said as he took a seat.