Torment, chicken soup for the Sith soul [CLOSED]

[The Gloaming]

Gienn was patiently blocking as Philli'p moved quickly. All three strikes were easy to defend from. Too easy, in fact. Before Gienn realized it, his apprentices blade slashed at his thigh.

At the moment of impact, everything slowed, and Gienn twisted and writhed through the air, narrowly dragging his leg away before the attack would have been legitimate. With a mid air cartwheel, Gienn landed opposite his apprentices attack, and gave a short rap on the back with his low powered blade.

"Excellent form. Don't be discouraged. If there's anything I'm meant for, it's avoiding and evading. You've done well so far, but swordplay can never rely solely on offense. Blocking is similar to attacking when using Juyo. Simply allow your blade to step between you and that which aims to kill you."

Gienn stepped back and took an offensive position. He lunged forward with his left foot and twisted around his right side, bring his blade through a horizontal slash from the left in a full spin. As his blade reached Philli'ps left side, Gienn used the Force to shift his feet and momentum. Now his right foot led, and all of his strength was careening through his blade from the right for a follow up slash.

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p prepared himself, mimicing his Master's form of defence with a two-handed grip of his lightsaber out before his center. Phili'p could not do much to deflect his Master's building momentum, and only hold out his blade to catch the first strike.

The horizontal slash knocked Phili'p's blade aside, but as he had the blade out before him - there was no danger. Gienn's blade continued through as Phili'p's blade angled down. When Gienn's second and more powerful slash came, Phili'p had twisted the blade down with an outstretched arm to his right and caught the blade off to the side. But the power of the Master's strike was moving, even though only a fraction of what he was capable of. That, combined with a strange sence of empowerment, Phili'p had the most random urge to attempt at his Master again. Having successfully blocked the second slash, Phili'p brought up the hilt in hand to cross over his body and led a rising slash that would pass through the Master's flesh before him. Phili'p had indeed caught their blades off to the side before, and felt a desire to take advantage. He would lift this inverted slash through a diagonal, to swirl the blade around again for a falling strike into the Master's neck to cleave into his chest.

 

[The Gloaming]

Gienn felt his apprentices blade sizzle as it scraped his chest. He'd only barely avoided it, which meant his apprentice understood the form. The second strike came quicker, and as Gienn sensed the power growing in his student, his own reflexes were reinforced.

Gienn blocked by holding his blade horizontally above his head. Upon impact, he pushed the blade away and punched Philli'p in the chest. "A lightsaber's no good if you can't get within striking distance. Use your abilities, all of them."

Gienn leaped back, and deactivated his lightsaber. He then leaped upward, and stuck to the ceiling like a spider. He crawled about, holding himself up with the Force.

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p coughed out in response to the hard punch to his open chest, nearly spitting out the blood that skipped his body's interval; the impact to his heart was incredible, calling for a strength in enduring pain.

Phili'p staggered back to one knee, watching as the Master leap back. Then, with a darting motion, the Master shot up to the ceiling, and Phili'p stare in disbelief. He pulled himself up, in awe of the creepy show of ability; then lifted his saber out before him. He would test this power of his Master's, more and more finding the curiosity of such displays leaving his doubt behind.

First, Phili'p reached out his left hand to the floor beside him. He gripped at the stone, unsure if he could even accomplish this feat in a feeling of necessity. His fingers crept into the cracks, ghostly extensions of his physical found home with a clutching hand flowing from his anger; held down in his center, like a fueling engine within a working machine. The stone crackle and break, snapping from its place; until he pluck it from the ground, smaller in size than his own palm. He squint his already slitted eyes with a tilt upwards for aim, then RELEASE that left arm with a hurling motion towards the spider-like creature that was his Master. The rock would no doubt be easily avoided, but Phili'p wished to see just how the Master moved and reacted.

 

[The Gloaming]

Gienn simply stayed still as the stone ascended. Upon impact, it crumbled into pebbles. He hung from the ceiling with his hands, and began swinging his legs underneath. Cracks formed in the granite overhead, creating a meter wide circle.

Gienn dropped, carrying an orb of granite with him, generating momentum as he flipped downward. He finally released it from his grasp and watched it approach his apprentice. It would be easy to dodge...for a Force user.

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p spun away, almost with a vanishing and reappearing image as his lightsaber cut at the granite edge that crash and replace his previous position. The floor cracked on impact, showing only a slight flex of a crater underneath the breaking mound of granite.

After the unnecessary swipe Phili'p made at the falling projectile, he followed up with reaction; no longer thinking, but feeling.

He sliced up his lightsaber, from underneath the rock, through the perimeter of it; following through with a kick into that freeing piece. His Darkness was flowing, and his abilities were more and more enhanced with each reaction. The enhanced kick bashed forth a torso-sized piece of the granite as it shot straight at the Master, at half the speed it had fallen down; but it was a great improvement for Phili'p.

Gritting his teeth outright, he further reached out that left hand to catch the bolder before it entered Gienn's reach; then he blasted it forth with a burst of energy. It would not have the speed behind it that it originally had, but the bolder would be blocking Gienn's view of Phili'p and would not seem obvious to halt then resume its course. If Gienn were expecting it to hit him, he may think it an easy task to break to pieces as the smaller stone had just earlier. And it was that effect that Phili'p learned from, only able to expect what he had experienced. As the little stone had been allowed to break on impact, he expected the Master to use his superior ability in a similar yet greater fashio. Phili'p was clearly learning in leaps and bounds, though was only scratching the surface.

 

[The Gloaming]

Gienn shot his arm forward, disintegrating the stone with a solid punch. He noted Philli'ps adherence to the Dark Side, and for a moment, felt almost happy. It was a twisted happiness, that he was creating a killer.

Gienn stomped on the ground, braking tile underneath him. The floor cracked outward into a hundred fist-sized chunks, and began to spin upward. Gienn was making a torrent. When the force of the torrent was great enough, but not too great, Gienn expanded it, creating a whirlwind of stone around his apprentice. Rocks were striking him from random angles.

 

[DeathToll]

Hit by the first few stones, he had no immediate defense; but as quickly as one of his skill could react, Phili'p dove to the side and rolled behind a larger piece of the original bolder from the ceiling.

Phili'p used his physical strength to push up a concealing slab of stone, propped up by his shoulder. The smaller stones being hurled from the whirlwind, and the whirlwind itself, broke upon the flat side of the slab and did not harm Phili'p.

He could not hide forever, and the whirlwind had not yet been dealt with; so he peaked out to aim, then blasted the slab out towards the whirlwind. Using his shoulder as the main origin of pushing might, his saber arm thrashed out with the act and then again caught the slab after entering the whirlwind. It was not an attack on the Master, as matching power for power was not possible here. Instead, Phili'p was trying to beat one method with another. He held that slab in mid-air for only a moment at the center of the whirling force in order to disrupt the flowing pattern, taking more hits from random stones and marking his forehead with a particular cut that was followed by a small line of blood, then slammed the slab down into the center of its base. With this momentary pause in its current, seperating the winds with a pounding force beneath it, Phili'p unleashed a youthful stream of lightning from his fingers through the opened center of the whirlwind and at Gienn; Phili'p's lightsaber still activated and in one hand.

 

[The Gloaming]

Gienn leapt over the arc of lightning and down near his apprentice. "Now we fight for real."

Gienn drew his lightsaber and swung from right to left, and back again before spinning in the direction of his second attack. The spin built up momentum for a third strike, to batter at Philli'ps defenses. Then Gienn stepped back and gave a light Force push, just enough to stagger his apprentice.

 

[DeathToll]

If Phili'p had not already had his lightsaber ignited and in front of him, he'd probably have missed the opportunity to have blocked Gienn's first attack.

He blocked tightly to the side, vertically and in one right hand. He blocked tightly to the other side, vertically and switching both hands onto the hilt with an emphasis on the left. Then, he switched his grip upon the hilt to a reversed right handed grip, let go with his left hand, ducked under the Master's third attack with an upward slicing through Gienn's torso, and Phili'p finished through the momentum of that sequence with a spin of his own to his left and behind Gienn.

Though Phili'p may force Gienn to refocus his aim for that last force push, whether or not Phili'p's slash cut through the Master's flesh, there was no doubt that Gienn would have been able to adjust and find Phili'p's location for that push.

Phili'p lept over onto a stretching left leg, further out of the way and in hopes of dodging any attack (unaware that it was the force push he'd be dodging) with his learning form of 'Juyo', and stepped forward with another attack; still holding his saber in that right-handed reversed grip, he led a diagonal slash from his upper left to lower right that would hopefully strike through the Master's back or right side. And followed it all to conclusion with a tight uppercut with his saber hand, that would act as leading momentum for a slash of his red saber up towards the Master's throat in catching any forward movement.

 

[The Gloaming]

Philli'ps blade sizzled as it sliced through the fabric of Gienns shirt. When Philli'p ducked behind him, Gienn spun around and jumped back out of the way of his attacks. Gienn bashed Philli'ps blade away and delivered the Force push his apprentice likely anticipated.

Then, Gienn went invisible, and deactivated his lightsaber. He held the handle down near the bottom as if it were a steel Shoto. He leap upward without a sound, and crashed down on Philli'p, cracking his lightsaber handle on the acolyte's shoulder before jumping back again.

"If you can not see me, sense me." Gienns voice rang throughout the small arena, so he could not be located by sound.

 

[DeathToll]

For the first time in his life, Phili'p had felt a stirring of pride in his show of strength and prowess. Though, he had anticipated the force of the Push too soon.

After his blade was knocked away, he only managed to dodge the majority of the Force Push; his shoulder rocked back as his entire frame stagger. As his torso tilt away, his legs fumbling back beneath him to compensate, the master reappeeared with a bash of his hilt into Phili'p's shoulder. Phili'p took the hit as he crumble to the ground. The Master had again vanished.

Phili'p looked around for the origin of those echoing words, his tightened fist about his lightsaber pressed up against his chest on the side feeling pain from the direct hit from the Master's hilt. He could not see the body. All he could do was hear the words.

He fumbled about, again trying to regain his footing as he stand in a backwards movement. He stretched out the saber in hand to guard him. he could not see. He struggled with this. He could feel a great many things, but to pinpoint what was not there; or rather what was not seen. He tried thinking of it as listening through a wall, picturing what he could not see in his mind's eye. He struggled...

 

[The Gloaming]

This was going to hurt Philli'p, and he would learn from it.

Gienn sped forward silently, using the Force to augment his movements. Had he been visible, he would have been a blur. His fist collided with Philli'ps gut, likely knocking the wind out of him. He stepped back again and made himself visible just long enough to speak.

"Your eyes, your ears, and your thought process, all can deceive you. Allow the Force to guide you, to show you what is otherwise not there. Feel, don't see."

In a moment, Gienn was invisible again, backing slowly away. "Strike me!"

 

[DeathToll]

"PHEEEEWWW..."

Phili'p was entirely unprepared for that hit, and he buckled to his knees. The Master had come out of nowhere, then standing before him shortly for but a moment's word. Then, he vanish.

Phili'p began to loose his control, but settled in that boiling anger. Instead of letting it overwhelm him, he drew from it. In the moment, he didn't think to hate where the power came from. He only wanted to complete the requirments of this step towards his freedom. Though, one thing was for sure. He'd begin to employ a strengthened core whenever he could remember to, even when all signs indicate that he is alone.

Phili'p closed his eyes. He needed to forget how to see. He lifted the humming red beam of his lightsaber up near his face. He needed to drown out all possibilities of hearing.

He lifted one leg up from the kneel, placing that foot before him; the other leg still knelt back. He placed his other hand upon the hilt, now both holding it still and before his face. He listened to the constant buzzing of warm light that was his lightsaber, the room seeming to fill up his senses like an expanding blue-print. It was hazy, but he could begin to see ...or rather feel the shapes of objects there in. He looked around, without turning his head. He explored his senses. And oddity was found. It wasn't much, and probably seemed as such due to his lack of initial skill, but it was there.

Phili'p felt, and acted on the impulse. He quicly angled himself off to his side and rolled forward, striking out with his lightsaber as he come up from the roll. He'd follow up with a downward strike, after fully standing and backing away from the first attack.

 

[The Gloaming]

Gienn used his phrik-alloy handle to swat Philli'ps lunge away, and almost didn't block the second strike. The blade bumped against his shoulder, sizzling fabric and skin. "Excellent!"

Gienn struck back across his apprentices side with the handle, and held it in a guard position awaiting attack. He knew what was coming, and he knew Philli'ps strength. At the last moment, Gienn dropped his guard.

Yes, pain is necessary for me as well. He needs to know how it feels to bite the hand that feeds him, and he needs to be content with it.

((try not to make it lethal please, Philli'ps still got a lot to learn before he kills Gi... I mean...try not to make it lethal please!))

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p's strike was swatted away. Then, he made contact. It was light, but he had hit him. The Master's hilt surprised Phili'p, not even seeing where it had come from as it struck into his side. Phili'p winced, already mid swing for his next attack. Phili'p's altered attack, as well as weakened state -having overexerted himself in only beginning stages of training- he stumbled back with the wide swing. Unable to think on what he'd done, the tip of his saber sliced through the Master's clothing from lower right rib to upper left pectoral; searing a surface wound into skin, as Phili'p stumble back from that wide 'batter's swing'.

After his entire body had turned away with the momentum of the swing, Phili'p realized what he'd just done and what that might mean. Regret shot up through his senses, wishing he'd waited for a more opportune time to strike, wishing he'd been stronger and not so worn physically in his training, and hoping he'd not face too much punishment for nearly killing his Master. Then, he realized he might just as well be punished for not executing his attack better than he had. He even wished he had shown more restraint, unsure if he could take more killing by his own hands. He did not appologize. He was dumbfounded he'd even been able to make contact with his strike. Phili'p stood there in total silence, in anticipation of how the Master would react.

((lol... oh we've a ways to go yet. i won't be rushin to that. i'd like to see where things play out. not to mention we're only gettin started on his training, as you said. ;)))

 

[The Gloaming]

The strike hurt, and Gienn made an effort to keep the pain from his facial expression. He was all granite. He used the Force to push Philli'p back a few steps, and sent a small shock to his weapon hand, enough to disarm the acolyte.

"You droppe your guard due to hesitation. That will likely be your downfall. Do not regret hurting me. This is why we train. You have to accept not only your own pain, but that which you will bring to others. You can not kill me, not yet. You lack the physical and mental discipline. Continue to work on your form. I need to find a new shirt."

Gienn kept his voice level as he spoke, and turned to leave the arena. Philli'p would not attack him any further, he was still too weak. He is learning though. I just might make a Sith of him yet.

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p stumbled back from the push, and flung his lightsaber from his hand with the shock. His heels caught against some pieces of rock and he fell back onto the floor, hands catching the ground behind him.

Sitting there, he could only listen to the Master's concluding words to the strict lesson. His self inflicted left hand wound had reopened and was bleeding out. The mark upon his forehead was also leaking. He had several cuts and bruises, none worth any attention; and Phili'p would pay them no attention, just as he never payed attention to his cloths and image.

He just sit there, completely worn, and reflect on the fight...