To Scale a Wall

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri quietly sat in the center of the large circular sparring room. Many training blades hung on the wall of all different shapes and sizes from double-bladed, curved hilt, to swords with exceptionally long handles, to short blades. A very large collection.

It would be a fine place to explore Ataru. He had chosen a large room to incorporate the more... flighty techniques, although he was not sure if they would reach that far today.. but Mira did seem exceptionally sharp. He was reading a datapad with interest as he awaited Mira..

He had sent a message to her.. but he was not sure if she would come. Perhaps she would change her mind.. but if she did he would simply try again another time. He felt it would be good for her... The training would increase both their skills, but he felt she needed this. Something to help her open up to anything. It was the right thing to do.

She had built a wall around herself. Did she do it for protection? Or did she not know what lay beyond it? He was not sure why he felt he should be the one to try and reach out.. but perhaps he was a fool.

 

[Black Noise]

Mira slowly walked into the training room where the man named Sindri awaited. She couldn't lie, she did have doubts about training with him. Training usually brings out one's emotions, and she had built up a massive wall inside her head to keep her emotions at bay. The last thing she wanted was for them to manifest inside her again.

But she entered into the training room anyway, and spying Sindri through the force, she took a small, respectful bow and said, almost emotionlessly.
"Lets begin, I am eager to learn something new."
It was a practiced phrase, and she hoped it wouldn't be too obvious that she had said this multiple times to herself beforehand to get it right so she would not expose herself. But she felt that Sindri was not so easily fooled.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri would be lying if he wasnt pleased at her longer sentence. She started the same type of tone as last time, but she continued starting with more then two words.. He felt a minor amount of pride, most likely misplaced, but still he felt it.

He gently pushed the datapad to the side, and paused to examine his fellow knight who was still standing. He wondered which of them felt more anxiety.. He felt that he was on a very thin bridge. If he took a step to far to the left or right he would fall off that she would lock up. It was a unpleasant feeling..

"One thing you need to use Ataru is a good control over the force." He said watching her face for any hints.. although like usual her head was down which made the attempt difficult. "Just control. You need to be able to let the force flow through your body. Let is strengthen you, let it guide you, and upon it, fly." He said moving his arms out and then in to represent the flow. Without letting the force constantly flow through your body most of the aerobatic attacks would be impossible to achieve. With practice channeling the force would be second nature.

"Would you mind showing me how you are on this?" He asked motioning to the spot before him for her to sit down in. He wanted to sense how far she was with channeling, controlling, and funneling the force.

 

[Black Noise]

Mira hesitated, using the force was not her strong point, in fact she was quite terrible at it. Her midichlorian count was actually unnaturally low for someone of her skill with a lightsaber. If she were to defect to the Jedi, they might not even take her because of her inability with the force. But nevertheless, she would at least try her hardest.

She nodded to Sindri and put her hands together, trying to focus the force and let it flow through her body. It came out slowly, like water being forced through a very small hole. It was forced, and she might not even be able to use it during a saber fight. But hopefully she would get a lucky break, or Sindri might help her.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri closed his eyes and tried to see the force as she called it.. He could see that she was not as strong in the force as many others.. but also her technique.. It was not a good one. It felt as if the one who taught her how to channel it had kept her in the dark in order to keep her weak.

Slowly to not spook or alert her, he crawled near her and sat before her wrapping her hands in his. "Do not force it.." He said softly, as he reached out in the force. "Let it flow.. open your heart to the force. Feel the pulse of life." He whispered as he nudged the sides of the hole with his own force trying to slowly increase its size.

"Trust it." He continued to speak "Do not hold back. Let it in. Become one with it if only for a moment." He said. Much of the force was a state of mind. She had little practice in it, but like all things she would get better in time. Hopefully, with his aid she would find it just a little easier to channel.

 

[Black Noise]

It took every inch of Mira's self control not to pull her hand away. A thousand things ran through her head a mile a minute. Her her hands were bandaged, the bandages were probably dirty, her head was down, her hair was probably over his hands.

But she felt, oddly comforted, and pushed the thoughts away, trying to listen, trying to let the force flow. She relaxed a bit, and opened up her mind. Slowly, but surely, it began flowing smoothly. Mira smiled and sighed, relieved that it was finally working. She could finally feel the force easily.

 

[HunterOrdo]

"Very Good!" Sindri said proudly. It was not a cure for her, but it was only a start. With practice, she would get even better at it, all he wanted was to get the force to flow enough for her to use the basics of Ataru which did not quite take much. Slowly he removed his hands from hers to ensure that she could still channel it without his aid.

"When you are comfortable with the Force, We can start with the basic stances and movements." He said softly as to not spook her and cause her to lose concentration. It was a shame her head had been down, he would have liked to see how she was taking the changes.

 

[Black Noise]

Mira slowly stepped back, attempting to let the force flow through her continueosly. She was successful. Smiling, she slowly pulled out her saber-staff and asked without igniting it.
"I'm ready. Let's start!"

She was eager now, and happy, she had never felt the force like this in her life. She wondered how much easier things would be, after all. She had only ever trained with a small amount of force energy, and learned to make due with it. She was having a steady, easy flow now, and things that would've come harder before might come easier now.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri was momentarily shocked.. She was smiling! He would not have believed it if he had not seen it for himself.. Was what he did truly able to create so much light and joy in this scared knight? Even if she took nothing away from this, he felt he had helped her a great deal with this alone.

She quickly jumped to her feet and pulled out her lightsaber.. but this time it was with excitement.. Originally, he had thought they would use practice blades as to not cut each other, but.. seeing her joy, how could he stop her?

He slowly climbed to his own feet, and pulled out one of his lightsabers activating it. "Ok." He said with a smile. "The opening stance of Ataru is so." He gripped the lightsaber with both hands and held it vertically to the left of his body. His knees were bent, so he could leap any time he wished.

"But since you use a saberstaff, this stance wont work for you." He said as he pulled his second lightsaber out and put it handle to handle with his first lightsaber to imitate a saberstaff. "So I would recommend keeping the handle at your hip with the blade pointed down." He said as his body copied his words.

The back of the 'saberstaff' was pointed up behind his back as the front was inches off the floor. He keep the 'handle' at his hip just above his bent knee. "I keep the blade down, so I can easily fly at my opponent without having to move it out of my way. Even mere moments are enough to give your enemy the edge." He explained.

"When attacking, use wide, fast, and powerful swings much like you do with Juyo." He said. He would not try to display such attacks to her, as she was a trained saberstaff user and would find his a cheap imitation. Juyo and the basic Ataru attacks were very similar, so he knew she would pick this part up quickly.

"Allow the force to flow through you. Let it guide you. Strengthen you.. let it push the limits of your body. Never. Ever. Lose the offensive." He cautioned. "Ataru's main defense lies in jumping and evading, but we will quickly be overpowered if we are not on the attack." He deactivated a lightsaber and placed it in its holster before moving in the classical stance with only one. "Come at me." He said. He wanted her to experience pure offensive.. he would strike back at her, but he wanted her to take the edge.

The acrobatics would come after the foundations.

 

[Black Noise]

((Sorry for small post and taking so long, I'll try to be faster in replying))

Mira listened carefully, copying his movements with her saber-staff. When he told her to strike, she nodded and surged forward. Though she was surprised at being able to use the force to increase her movement speed, she did not show it. She quickly leapt up and swung her saber-staff down at his head. Sindri would doubtlessly block her, but hopefully he'd be slightly impressed by her aggressiveness and quick learning.

 

[HunterOrdo]

((its ok.))

She copied his words quickly and flew at him with the intent to strike him down. Her blade swinging down, he used his superior strength to block her blow but even still it rocked his arms. Gravity was a true helper. He made a quick retaliation swing at her hip, but as he did, so he was stepping back and away from her.

"Do not let your opponent get a moments rest." He commanded as moved backwards. "Always attack. Make them feel there is no room to run that you can come from any direction." He explained. Ataru was more then overwhelming the body but also the mind. When a mind became panicked, they made mistakes. When they thought they were cornered, they would grow desperate.

 

[Black Noise]

Mira nodded as she came down and twisted her saber-staff to block Sindri's strike. She immediately followed by twisting her blade and twisting his blade away, bringing her lightsaber screaming towards Sindri's chest. He would doubtlessly move back and out of the way, and when he did Mira would follow again by moving with a downward strike.

 

[HunterOrdo]

She was doing well. Even with both his lightsabers, he would have trouble keeping up with her in a straight up fight. Her juyo mastery paid off well. The other side of her lightsaber was descending on him, but he turned his body to the side letting the lightsaber skim passed him before stepping to the side and away from the blades of death.

He brought his blade back in a downward swing at the back of her legs.

 

[Black Noise]

Mira continued her momentum and flipped her body, spinning and turning at thebsame time. She quickly brought around the lower blade of her staff and barely blocked Sindri's strike at her legs. The second her blade touched Sindri's she brought the other end down aimed for Sindri's chest.

Even as she moved, she noticed her body beginning to tire out. In Juyo, one constantly relies on emotion to fuel their actions and thus rarely runs out of energy. But with Ataru, she was not drawing on an emotion to keep herself refreshed, and despite the force flowing easily through her body, she was quickly tiring.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri barely had time to blink before the other end of her lightsaber was pointed at his chest. He had lost. With two lightsabers, he was able to cover the holes in his defense, but using one lightsaber was not something he was used to. She did well never allowing him time to rest and forcing him into a corner.

One thing he really liked is her acrobatics. He did not think she would use them so quickly, and it caught him off guard. He deactivated his lightsaber and held his hands up playfully "I surrender."

He took a step back to get away from the blade, and took the time to catch his breath. "Nice flip." He paused and decided he should go into that. "Such maneuvers are great for combat. They can add power and speed to our strikes, they can be used to evade an opponent, to attack an opponent, to close in quickly, to keep them close.. to keep them off-guard, but be careful." He warned "There are times when if you jump to close to an opponent, or if your timing is wrong they will strike you down before you have time to retaliate."

 

[Black Noise]

Mira deactivated her lightsaber, panting.
"Thank you, and ok. Heh."
Mira paused, leaning over and brushing her long hair away from her face. She was sweating greatly and smiling, she said.
"Ataru, it is exhausting, much harder than Juyo. We, we should do this again. Sometime."

She faced Sindri and straightened up, smiling and holding out her hand.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Sindri smiled just because she was smiling. It was still so strange to see it, and she looked so tired! Well.. Juyo was hard, but Ataru required a different kind of stamina and it took a lot to build it up.

Sindri gently took her hand in his.. He was not sure what to feel about her current statues. He was happy that was for sure. "I would like that to."

 

[Black Noise]

Mira clipped her saber-staff to her belt. After two fights with this Prospect, she could say that her trust had increased slightly with him. She no longer felt nervous when she spoke to him, a great improvement from before.

As she turned to leave, she turned back to Sindri and just smiled. Then she left, truly happy for the first time in a very long time.