[CLOSED] - A Practice Run

[SoloWing]

[[Non-Canon]]

How it had come to this, Nuala wasn't fully sure. But somewhere in all of her recent adventures everything had come undone. Someone or some thing had gotten the drop on her and conked her from behind. When she'd come back to the land of the living, Nuala had found herself a Sith prisoner.

And as if that wasn't bad enough. The Sith had decided that she wasn't even worth enough to be worried about. They'd decided that she'd make a fine training dummy. One of the other Sith was going to be given the privilege of dueling with her in about... five seconds.

Suddenly, she felt her hands come free as the force shackles were released. The blindfold was removed from her head, prompting Nuala to wince upon being faced with the blinding lights of the area. Slowly her eyes cleared. She was in a wide arena with a dirt floor, stone walls, and what were obviously several powerful masters standing around to make sure that she didn't get out of hand.

Wonderful.

One of them pitched a lightsaber at her. Nuala caught the thing out of the air and gave it a practice twirl. The weight was off, it definitely wasn't hers, but it was close enough. Her eyes turned across the arena to the person that she assumed was her opponent.

Great. Nuala hit the switch and her lightsaber snapped to life. It glowed a sickly red color that made her stomach sink. Sith construction. She never trusted it.

"Alright, Sith-boy." Nuala set her gaze on her opponent. "It looks like I don't get a say in the matter. Let's dance."

 

[Darth Akoru]

A muffled knock from the training room door, followed by a voice from outside the door. "Akoru! Get out here, we have an interesting opponent for you!" Akoru follows with a sigh, pulling his cloak from off the floor as he leaves the room.

Wraps himself around the cloak, pulling his hood up as he makes his way to the arena entrance."Hey Akoru you might need this" an guard by the door tosses a lightsaber to him, catching it without losing concentration as he enters the arena.

Noticeably realizes she is not a sith as her awkward movements with the sabre and with the obvious prisoner uniform. He pulls down his hood, taking a closer look at her.

"Alright, Sith-boy, It looks like I don't get a say in the matter. Let's dance."

A smirk comes across his face as he flips the switch to his lightsaber, whirling it around to get used to the feeling. He looks across the arena to his opponent and asks her. "Why are you here? I know you are not one of us."

 

[SoloWing]

Man. For being a Sith, this guy wasn't too bright. Nuala eyeballed the ceiling for a moment and then dropped her gaze back towards her opponent. Akoru or something.

"Does it really matter? I'm here because I'm a prisoner and they're telling me that unless I duke it out with you, they're going to kill me on the spot." She explained. "As wonderful as that sounds, I prefer an uncertain death to one that I know I've got coming."

A lopsided grin spread across her face as a thought struck her. Nuala couldn't help but smirk as she continued: "Of course, if I get to take a few Sith down with me, then the galaxy's just going to be a bit better off for it. You got any objections to that?"

She brought her lightsaber up into a classic guard position and waited. Somehow, she doubted that this guy was going to offer to let her get away or offer to spring her from her imprisonment. The other guys might have had something to say about it if he did. No, there was only one way out of here. Battle.

Nor was she as eager to shed blood as she pretended. Nuala never liked killing although she knew the necessity of fighting. Her bravado was just smack talk. If she kept up pretenses, then the other guy might loose his edge. Doubtful. But she'd take any advantage right now.

 

[Darth Akoru]

Hmm. Very eager to rush your death are we? He puts on a fake smile to please the masters in the crowd, hiding his true feelings about fighting women is against his morals.

An idea strikes as he counter acts her threats, walking slowly towards her with his lightsaber at his hip.

"Your words impress me girl, very confident of yourself, its a shame you have to die." Akoru's hand begins to tremble a little, shaking the lightsaber slightly as his eye begin to glare towards her, never has he killed a women. He certainly was not going to now.

He knew something had to be done or the masters would punish him if he were not to obey. His eyes wander across the crowd, then back at the girl as he begins to rush toward her.

 

[SoloWing]

[[I'm just sayin', but most people on the forum write in the past tense. It's just standard prose and might make it a bit easier to write posts.]]

"Yeah, I think it's a shame that I have to die, too." Nuala retorted.

There was only one way to meet a head-on charge, and that was head-on. Nuala broke into a sprint, charging towards the Sith man as fast as she could. Upon reaching a short distance from the man, Nuala went into a low leap. Her right arm snapped forward, forming a sharp thrust at the Sith man's chest.

It was an old training move that she'd first picked up from Vei. With a thrust like this, her opponent only had two options: block or dodge. Nuala had enough experience to know how to counter either of his two counters.

 

[Darth Akoru]

Akoru was set off balance by this unsuspected leap, out of desperation, snapped his arm to the side as he flings his lightsaber against hers pushing it to the left knowing he would still take some of the damage but not an direct shot to the chest.

Blood trickled down from the cut at his side. He knew he could not let her get momentum going, immediatley after the block, he twisted around, with the momentum, slashing towards her arm, and if successful, would follow up with a sideways cleave against the hilt of the lightsaber in hope of disarming her.

 

[SoloWing]

Nuala's saber juked to the side, breaking away from the initial block and sliding to the opposite side to block his spinning strike. This guy must not have had much combat experience if he was already panicked, because he was obviously desperate.

The problem was that in that desperation, he was hitting like a landspeeder. A grunt escaped Nuala's lips as his strike connected with her saber. She struggled hard to avoid being pushed back. But he had too much size and leverage on her. The Sith man knocked her backwards, sending her off balance.

For one crucial second, Nuala was very vulnerable as she tried to get her footing re-established. What happened next was beyond her reach of influence.

 

[Darth Akoru]

In that split second of vulnerability, as he stumbled backwards from her block, he knew now was the time to strike. Nuala tried to re-establish her footing as he blasted her with a force push attempting to have pushed her down completely.

If was successful, would have used his strength as an advantage, swiftly slammed her lightsaber down onto the floor, immediately after kicked it out of her hand by the hilt, before she could have reacted.

 

[SoloWing]

Being off-balance, there was no real defense against the force push. But there was a reaction. Nuala used the momentum to propel her up and over into a reverse somersault. All that training with Cath had just come in useful, but it still left her with a pair of bruises.

She came up on her feet just as her opponent was going for a disarming move. Nuala shifted her arm, avoiding it entirely, and sprang forward, aiming to bury her lightsaber in the man's chest.

 

[Darth Akoru]

As Akoru went for the disarming move and missed completely. This left him open. As the opponent sprang forward toward him. From the momentum of the swing, used it to duck under the lightsaber, knowing he will not dodge it fully, but its better than dying. The lightsaber strikes through his robe across his collar bone and shoulder. Now struggling from two bleeding wounds makes him much slower.

Akoru dropped his lightsaber to his other hand as he ducked, turned around whipping his lightsaber back as his opponent had her back turned from the charge as he attempted to swipe the back of her knee.

 

[SoloWing]

There was only one way to avoid having her legs taken off at the knee. Nuala threw her legs out forward and tried hard not to cry out as the lightsaber ripped through the skin on the back of her legs. She landed in a hard sit and winced.

It now became clear that the deck had been stacked against her from the beginning. Most lightsaber wounds cauterized the wounds, or flash fried the skin and blood to prevent them from bleeding out. But hers was leaving blood in its wake while his was doing full damage. Her lightsaber was far from at full strength.

She rolled to the side, keeping her lightsaber extended in order to force the Sith to back off or get sliced open. Nuala came up awkwardly on her knees and tried to get to her feet. But she wasn't fooled. Without being able to move, this duel was as good as over. All she had to do now was drag it out. She fired a force push at the Sith and hoped for the best.

 

[Darth Akoru]

Bleeding out from the gushing wound from the shoulder and the slice he suffered earlier, his vision begins to fade as he drags an leg towards his opponent. From the loss of so much blood, his strength begins to deteriorate make the lightsaber not effective at this point. Knowing this, the lightsaber is useless.

Akoru flips the switch off the lightsaber as the beam retreats back into the hilt, dropping it onto the floor raised his right hand, sparks erupting from palm of his hand pointed at his opponent.

He looked down upon his opponent with her light saber pointed right at him, he knows he cant get close, but he knows the end is near. "Why..why do you try prisoner..you fight for no cau-" He is cut off as she hit him with the force push.

Akoru flew back from the impact, landed onto his back, cracked a rib in the process. Sparks from his right hand begin to deteriorate. He could not find enough strength to get back up, but only to speak.

 

[SoloWing]

"You don't really seem to get it." Nuala went ahead and answered the question as she struggled to her feet. "I am fighting for a cause. My survival. I have no choice. Either I fight or I get cut down where I stand. That's the way it works for Sith prisoners."

Her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. From the looks of things, she'd come through it the victor, for all of the good that it would do her.

 

[Darth Akoru]

A grin crossed his face, laughing a little until it got caught off by the coughing, barley lifted his hand, attempted to not make it obvious. "No..you don't get it..why..for the republic?" As he called back his lightsaber, flipping the switch to activate it immediately as it hit his hand, flung the lightsaber at his opponent in the boomerang style with all the strength he had left.

That was his only hope and did not have very much more options left as to protect himself. He felt that he would not be returning from this fight.

 

[SoloWing]

Why for the Alliance indeed? Nuala mused on that question as she knocked the boomeranging blade aside. The duel was over as far as she was concerned. The Jedi didn't kill their prisoners, and while she was the prisoner here, it was the principle that mattered.

"... Because I can." She finally said. "Because... I believe in making a difference. I believe in reaching out to help others and watching the back of your friends. The Jedi do that. The Sith don't."

 

[Darth Akoru]

"So be it..what will you do with me?" With his blurred vision he looks around the arena, looking at all the disappointed face in the audience as his head reclined back down onto the floor. "If you don't kill me, the masters will, don't you Jedi have honor?"

 

[SoloWing]

This question was easier, at least: "Honor, yes. But the Jedi don't kill their prisoners. Even if they did, I'm more than a Jedi. I'm Nuala. And Nuala doesn't kill if she can avoid it. Maybe one of the others will kill you. Maybe they won't. But that is not for me to decide."

To highlight her point. She deactivated her lightsaber and tossed it aside. The cylinder skidded across the floor and clanked against the far wall. She wouldn't be using it from here on out.

Still... she had to try... "It's not too late for you, y'know. You can still turn back to the light." It was something else that Nuala would do.

 

[Darth Akoru]

As he took in what she said, he nodded his head. He raised his hand up as he can not pull himself up. "Thank you Nuala, I guess you're right, but how do I explain myself now?"

 

[SoloWing]

Nuala frowned. That didn't make a whole lot of sense on the surface.

"What do you mean? To the Jedi? Simply tell them the truth. They'll accept you." Nuala's face clouded. The other Sith Masters were getting ready to intervene. They obviously didn't like this talk-- it went against their very order.

"Well, it was nice knowing you." Not really. But it seemed the thing to say as two of the Sith grabbed her arms and prepared to unceremoniously haul her away.

 

[Darth Akoru]

Akoru attempted pull himself up, as he reached onto his knees he yelled at the sith taking her away. "Wait you fools, this is no-" He is cut off as a red lightsaber is shoved through his back, then collapsed onto the floor.