Checking In (invite)

[Natise]

The elevator doors opened, and Amor stepped out. He had not been down to this sub level for quite some time, and it was good to see that everything was running smoothly, and the facilities were being used regularly. Just about a week or two ago, Amor had throw his apprentice, Vale, into the real world. Including training with his fellow prospects and knights. Do to several meeting that he had had to attend, Amor had not been able to keep in touch with Vale that often. Now that he was back though, he was eager to see how the boy was coping, and delve into training more regularly.

Amor waited in the training room for Vale to come, he had sent him a message requesting his presence that morning.

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

Vale smiles to himself as he finishes showering, looking at his reflection in the mirror. Even in just the last few weeks, A lot had changed in the boy. His thin, wiry frame was steadily building compact muscle, replacing the malnourished thin limbs he had before. His skin was also becoming more pale, an indication of just how much time he had spent reading Kerne's book. As Vale throws on his outfit with his vest over it, the boy reaches out and grabs the small, yellowed book and stuffs it gently into one of the vests pockets. The last thing he grabs is his small Holdout blaster, stuffing it in his boot under his pant leg. It wasnt that he expected to need it, but old habits died hard.

Rushing out of the room and towards where Amor's message indicated he come, Vale smirks at the air in front of him smugly. Since his Teacher's sudden dissappearence to handle "Knight Business" and meetings, Vale had made a couple new friends. The Imposing Kerne, who had given him a lesson in hand to hand techniques as well as loaned him a book, and the only slightly older than him Rorick. As Vale reaches the room, he waves his hand and hits the wall panel, letting the door slide open. Upon seeing Amor, his face lights up even more than it had been. He rushes in and fights the urge to hug the man, knowing this would probably be a bad idea.

"Amor! Long time no Speak!"

 

[Natise]

Amor looks up, and is pleasantly surprised at what he sees. The boy has grown in so many ways. His confidence alone had nearly doubled, and he even seemed happier. Amor stood from the ground and nodded at Vale.

" It is good to see you Vale, I've heard that you been keeping busy. I'm glad to see that you have made use of my absence. Are you ready to start some more vigorous training? "

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

Vale gives a big, cheesy grin coupled with an equally cheesy thumbs up at his teacher. "You bet! Ive been kind of waiting for this, I mean I can only do my physical training so many times a day and all that reading isnt good for me. So! What are we learning and or doing today, Amor?" The human boy grins wide and crosses his arms across his chest, staring up at the being and smirking to himself. Whatever it was, it was sure to be entertaining. Or dreadful. Either way, it would be better than being alone.

 

[Natise]

Amor had gone over this conversation many times in his head. There were many different ways that Vale could react to the first technique he would be learning. Amor would just have to go for it.

" Your first power that you learn from me, is going to be lightning. "

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

The boy blinks a few times in surprise, but then just nods in excitement. "Lightning. Sounds very very cool in a retro cliche villain kind of way. Although shocking things could be useful.... Well then? Lets get started! Theres no time to lose!" Vale claps his hands together dramatically, smirking a little in his confidence that he could complete any task set before him.

 

[Natise]

Amor smiled, nothing could phas this boy. A very useful trait indeed. Amor could not wait until Vale was finished with his training, he would be a match for even the sith lords.

" You feel anger towards the scum who killed your friend, don't you? You must use this anger, but you also must focus this anger. Sith use anger without focus, we are better than that. Take the anger and focus it into a single beam of power. If done correctly, the force energy will convert into lighting by itself."

Amor slid back a few feet and stretched out his arm, pointing two fingers towards a training dummy on the other side of the room. A bolt of lightning arced from his fingers to the dummy, putting a hole all the way through its center.

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

Vale's jaw drops as he watches the bolt of lightening arc from his Teacher's hand across the room to the Dummy. Alright, so that was officially WAY cooler than he had ever imagined it could be. On the flip side of that, he couldn't help but to feel some primal fear of the electricity itself. Even animals feared the awesome power of natural lightning, so how different was this force generated lightening? "You know, I really underestimated how cool that would look when you used it. Remind me not to do that again, alright?"

Closing his eyes, Vale feels around him for the force's ever present comfort, like a blanket surrounding and wrapping him. It took him a while to even notice it, as he had only recently learned to even feel it. Taking a deep breath, Vale lets the force into his body, its prescience clearing everything else away as he struggles to hold onto it. Opening his eyes, he raises an arm and points it at the Dummy. But now what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to make himself angry enough to tap into such a raw destructive power.

Amor told him to think about the men who killed his friend on Nar Shadaa. Of course, Dessin was more than a friend. The male may as well have been a father to him. And not only that.... it wasnt that he didnt feel anger towards them, he just didnt have enough of that anger to channel it into anything. As he tried to become angry over that, he only felt his anger slip away under justifications. They did what they were told to do, so it wasnt their fault it was the crime lords. And since he had moved to his new home on Cyrillia, he had tried everything to move on from this. He had made new friends.

His new friends. Thinking of those he had met on this new world and in this strange complex filled him with something other than anger. It filled him with something else entirely. Hope. Hope and great Joy suffuse him. These were most certainly NOT the anger he needed to channel this ability. But what else did he have? All he had were his new found friends in the Knights. No, they were more then friends. These new and motley individuals were his family of sorts. Vale starts to open his mouth to tell Amor that he just couldnt do it. He couldnt Get angry. Slowly, his arm drops to his side in defeat.

"Hey, Amo-"

Suddenly, something occurs to Vale that shifts his emotions away from the happy, fulfilled emotions that had been present only a second before. The sith. The sith wanted to end his new Friends. Kerne, Rorick.... All of them. The Sith had already tried once to wipe out the Knights, and if they ever found out where the Knights were located.... He had no doubt they would do it again. What gave them the right. Who were they to try and take Vale's new family from him. His emotions start to turn to raw fury, and Vale forces himself to focus on that.

Working himself up into a frenzy and focusing on the thought of the sith Trying to take his friends away from him, Vale turns his gaze back to the Dummy. Now he just needed a target, although this was the hard part. Vale had never actually met a Sith before. He wasnt even quite sure what qualified as a sith. Raising his hand towards the Dummy, Vale meets his second stumbling block. He had to find a way to channel his anger at the target. He wasnt mad at the Target, he was mad at the sith.

Turning his gaze back to Amor, he sighs a little in Exasperation. "Err.... I have something Im angry about.... But Im not sure how to focus it.... Any pointers? Unless you want to tick me off or something." Vale lowers his hand, his brows furrowed as he continues to focus on his anger.

 

[Natise]

" Channeling the energy is the focus I was referring to. You must build up your anger, as you already have, and then gain control over it. Use the anger and passion to drive your force energy to a single point in your body, your hands for now. Once the energy builds up enough, let it go. The lighting that will be released will be unpredictable, and you will not have control of it once you release it. With time and practice though, you will be able to constantly allow lightning to flow, and you will be able to bend it to your will. "

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

Vale sighs and clenches his fists, cracking his knuckles as he returns his focus to the dummy in front of him. Raising one hand, the boy focuses on his anger and uses it to tap into the force all around him. From within him, Power begins to surge, moving like the tide of the ocean. Slowly it builds, moving in and out and venturing further into his extremities each time. Now comes the next test, to direct the power of the force into his arm. Taking a breath in but not letting it out, Vale grits his teeth together and focuses on his hand.

However, trying to force the growing power into his hand was getting him nowhere. No matter how much he thought about the Energy, he couldnt make it move with thought alone. Growling a little in exasperation, Vale moves his arm. The small movement causes the energy in him to shift slightly, and that gives him an idea. Slowly, he closes his eyes and forces his shoulder to relax. Maybe the answer wasnt thought, but was instead something profoundly different. Will. When he moved an arm or a leg, he didnt think about it first, it was a natural process. His Will.

Lining his arm up with the target dummy, the boy opens his eyes and starts to focus. Rather than trying to force the energy into his arm with thought, he Simply wills it to be so. No different from if he were moving a muscle for the very first time, the energy resists. However, it slowly relents and begins to flood lazily into the tips of his fingers. As the Energy builds, Vale looks at the Dummy with Renewed purpose. Crooking his fingers slightly, He tenses his hand in a physical effort to help him restrain the building power in the hand. Channeling his anger and fury, Vale stares straight at the Target.

The tips of his fingers flash blue, and suddenly a blue white bolt of raw power arcs out from the tip of one of his fingers. The Bolt exists for one second, striking the metal floor and running along it in a line about five feet from the target, before dissipating out of existence. All that is left as evidence of he bolt of lightening is a dark mark on the floor and some ambient heat in the air. Well, that and the state of Vale's hand. The Moment the Lightning had left his fingertip, a jarring pain had shot up his arm. It only existed for a moment, but it was enough to make him retract his hand.

No visible harm can be seen, however the finger he used to channel the lightning was pale and his hand itself was smoking slightly. A smell like burnt hair wafts through the room, causing Vale to wrinkle his nose and grumble a little. "Alright.... Ouch? That hurt. Not a lot. But still... Ouch."

 

[Natise]

Amor smiled as soon as the lightning left Vale's hand. It was a risk that Amor had taken diving straight into more powerful dark side powers, but he knew that Vale would be ready for it, and he was right. Of course, the power was far from mastery, but once a beginner scratched the surface of a power, it didn't take long for them to begin understanding how to further develop it.

Vale's sudden comment made Amor's grin turn into a full smile, and then a chuckle.

" That was brilliant Vale! You have come so far since I found you snooping around that cantina, and to think we are just getting started! Oh, don't worry, you will get use to the pain soon enough. Now then, I have a gift for you. "

Amor rose his left hand, and from the corner of the room, a long wooden box flew towards him. He caught it and handed it to Vale. Once opened, it would reveal a beautifully crafted vibro sword. The blade forged from beseker metal, and the hilt crafted from a Krayt dragon bone and pearl.

" You won't get far using the force alone, every knight needs to know how to wield a blade."

 

[Sterling Malory Archer]

Vale takes the box curiously and looks down at it, cocking his head to one side and wondering what was inside. He didnt have to wonder for much longer as he slowly opens the top to reveal the gleaming Gunmetal Grey blade and bone hilt of a Vibrosword. His face cracks into just about the biggest grin anyone had ever seen and the boy reaches into the box delicately. His fingers wrap around the hilt of the vibrosword and he removes it from the confines of its box. Kneeling a little, he places the box on the ground and backs up away from Amor.

Holding the blade down and at an angle from his body, Vale activates the Vibrosword internal mechanism, causing it to release the low pitched humming whine that made vibroswords easily recognizable. He stares down at the blade for a moment, his face a mix of emotions. Joy, Gratitude, and something profoundly deeper. Vale looks up at his Teacher and then back down at the blade, for once without a snappy phrase to spit out. Finally, He deactivates the Vibroblade's mechanism and sets it back in its box gently, picking the box up and tucking it under one arm for the time being. He then does something completely unlike his usual self. The boy bows.

As he comes back up, Vale looks at his Teacher. "Thank you, Amor. You have no idea how much this means to me. As long as I hold this blade, and even longer if I survive it, I will do everything I can to become the Knight you expect of me. More, even. "