How not to fight. [OPEN]

[Siah]

[[OOC: This is a solo training thread for Siah Toan on the use of unarmed combat (Form Zero) and basic Shii-Cho (Lightsaber Form One). Please feel free to join.]]

Siah watched and listened carefully to the holographic image before him. He’d been over Knight Teynara Alyssa Jeralyr’s holocron five times in the archives before now. He’d studied the basic stances of Form Zero in the Archives as well and now listened for one last time to the Knight’s instructions on how better suited to passivity unarmed combat was.

The Knight's figure projected above a small table and flickered with her final words, ”As such, all Jedi should strive to develop their unarmed combat abilities through their training - even if you never have cause to use those techniques directly in the field, most of them will provide benefits to you that have far more applications than merely for combat, and that should always be encouraged.” A brief pause and the image faded into the holocron beneath it. Siah stared at the silent cube a moment longer before turning around and facing the spacious training room. Against the far wall were four bipedal training droids. Siah took his heavy cloak off and laid it on the table next to the holocron.

The Ithorian was neither fast, nor dextrous, nor flexible. He took a deep breath and steadied himself for a brief round of Form Zero.
“Activate Droid One.” Siah said aloud, to no one in particular. A humanoid droid came activated and its eyes glowed a light blue as it approached the center of the training room. The mats on the floor were thin and would only go so far as to prevent broken bones, but a hard landing would certainly hurt.

Siah spread his legs to little more than shoulder width apart, he bent his knees and raised himself onto his large toes. Before the combat began he already doubted himself. The droid did a quick sweep of the room, realized that it was fighting a single new padawan and loaded the corresponding program. As soon as it was done, the droid moved towards Siah - its left fist poised to strike. Siah preformed a block and the blow was easily deflected.
The droid returned to the center of the room and again approached the Ithorian, this time no fists were clenched and it swung at Siah with its right fist. Siah barely deflected the blow in time.
This happened a couple of times, each time the droid would attack only once and the young Ithorian would have to deflect the blow. Eventually the droid began attacking with kicks and Siah had a hard time keeping up with this new additional threat. He attained a few bruises but pretty much kept the blows from getting through his defenses.

Siah had yet to move from the spot next to the table. This would soon change as the droid did not approach him for the next attack, but instead beckoned for him to approach with its finger. Siah hesitated, weighing up the pros and cons…

 

[Siah]

Siah stepped forward cautiously. He had managed thus far to block the majority of the ASP-19’s attacks, his forearms were bruised and his legs were tired. he knew that the droid could not grow tired, nor could it feel any pain. The Ithorian considered pausing the training to momentarily heal the bruises but thought the better of it. He focussed his mind and took a deep breath in, recalling the many hours of self defense training he’d received back home.

With measured steps and slow determination Siah approached the droid. As he did so the holocron crackled to life. Siah paused, not daring to take his eyes off of the droid for fear of attack.
The small figure spoke out, “Padawan, why do you approach the danger? Turn from conflict and find an alternate path to resolution.” Siah shook his head, he had no other means of defeating the droid. He was now unsure of how to proceed, so he sat down on the floor and merely looked at the droid. The droid stopped beckoning and also sat down, its programming also unsure of how to proceed. The hologram silently faded away again. Siah stared blankly at the droid thinking of how to defeat an opponent without physically fighting it. He’d read about the force and some of its applications, but knew nothing about how to manifest actions like Force Push or Telekinesis.

The Ithorian waited a few minutes before getting to his feet. The droid copied his actions and Siah spoke, ”Deactivate droid.” He said the phrase almost too loudly. The droid stopped moving, the lights in its eyes faded and its upper torso drooped. Siah smiled, surely this was not wha-
The holocron crackled to life again, ”Well done. You have mastered Form Zero in the truest sense. Now onto the second tier.”

Siah could hardly believe that he’d passed this first trial, but he had come here to learn combat training and he hoped the second tier of Form Zero was just that.
“Activate Droid One, Form Zero second tier.” The Ithorian commanded as the holocron fell silent again. The droid’s eyes glowed a feint blue and it adopted a combat stance. Suddenly, with great speed the droid ran towards Siah who couldn’t remember his training about the second tier of Form Zero. The droid went hurtling into the Ithorian, Siah’s slow reaction time resulted in him and the droid landing sprawled out on the ground. The droid took moments to right itself and prepared for a second attack. Siah groaned with the wind knocked out of him. He knew that the moment he got up he’d be hammered by the ASP’s metal frame again.

The Ithorian stayed on the ground and crawled slowly towards the weapon rack. He’d never held a lightsaber before, but knew the basics of swordsmanship. As he got nearer the weapons rack the droid made a loud whizzing sound and leapt towards the crawling padawan. Siah rolled sideways and just avoided a knee to the back. The droid attempted a punch to the Ithorian's torso but Siah, on his back, diverted the blow and knocked the droid off balance. With his Ithorian strength, Siah kicked out at the droid and sent it flying back into the center of the training room.
The youngster twisted his body and grabbed for the first bladed weapon he saw. At that instant the droid was already back on its feet and moving towards the Ithorian. Siah held the blade before him in one hand, menacingly. The droid stopped advancing, cocked its head to one side and raised its arms. Siah smiled, prevent a conflict by a superior show of force. The Ithorian chuckled to himself and almost forgot he was holding a weapon.

He was about to speak when he felt a sharp pain in his gut, obviously he’d taken quite a knock from the impact with the droid.
“Well done padawan, now take up a training lightsaber and begin the last of your lessons. Form Zero, tier three.” Siah got a fright as the holocron uttered its instructions. Siah rubbed his stomach and replaced the bladed weapon on the rack. He looked at the assorted lightsabers there and read the descriptions of each on as he decided on which he’d prefer to train with.

After a few minutes of internal debate he’d decided on a green bladed training lightsaber. As Siah took up the weapon, the droid moved casually to the weapon rack and took up a red bladed training lightsaber. Siah jumped back as the droid ignited its lightsaber. The young Ithorian was awfully skittish around weapons and combat, but knew it was something he was required to master. Slowly he moved to the center of the room and ignited his lightsaber...

 

[Siah]

Instead of attacking, as Siah expected the droid to do, the droid began preforming slow deliberate katas. Siah watched as the droid adopted basic stances. Right foot back at a 90 degree angle to the front left foot, lightsaber raised to shoulder height. The droid moved back and forth about the training mats in measured and deliberate stances. After a few minutes, the droid merely repeated the same steps over again. This time Siah followed suit, copying the droid. Soon the slow Ithorian realised that the droid would stop and pause if he fell behind in trying to get the prefect stance.

Siah's arms and legs were slightly bruised from the sparring earlier, now he could feel his muscles burning after only a few minutes of these lightsaber katas. Half an hour later, Siah was lunging, parrying and altering footwork at the same steady speed of the droid. He smiled to himself and forgot all the aches and pains he'd experienced. Still far from being proficient with the lightsaber, there was no chance of him now injuring himself with it.

As time flowed on, Siah got slower and slower as his muscles tired. He kept trying to keep up, but fell behind the droid's unending movements time and time again. At one point, without realising it, Siah closed his eyes and performed the katas for a few steps without his sight. He was about to end the training when he noticed that the droid had stopped moving. It had been about an hour and the Ithorian could hardly feel his legs. It was then that the droid moved in.

Siah backed away and held his lightsaber up, the droid lifted its lightsaber and struck out at its opponent. Siah deflected the blow with the first stance on the Shii Cho katas. He then fell into a rhythm where he would adopt a stance and use it to block a blow from the droid. Only two minutes later, Siah's blocks began to fail him and he got stunned by the droid's lightsaber blows.

After the third attack made it through his defenses, the droid paused and switched itself off. Siah's shoulders hunched forward and his lightsaber fell from his hand. As the lightsaber disengaged, the padawan sank to his knees. He decided he would just sit here for a while. As his eyes closed again, Siah heard the feint crackle of the holocron.

"Padawan, you have succeeded in learning to use the basics of Form One in lightsaber combat, but you have not perfected Form Zero. As you've grown tired, you are to take a reprieve and continue your lessons tomorrow. Have someone see to your injuries and rest in meditation in preparation for tomorrow's training." The diminutive figure of the knight flickered a moment and then disappeared.

Eventually Siah got to his feet and staggered to his quarters.

 

[Siah]

The following morning Siah was bathed in warm sunlight as he made his way to the training room. His muscles ached slightly, but he'd use Force Heal to refresh them as best he could. He wore his non-restrictive Ithorian robes and walked with a slight amount of confidence in himself. He had done some reading on comparisons of lightsaber styles and considered himself ready for today's lessons.

The ancient door swung aside as Siah approached. The training droid was back against the wall and the holocron was standing silent on the table. His green training lightsaber was back in the weapon rack and Siah did not hesitate to retrieve it. Once he had the lightsaber in hand he walked to the holocron.
"Activate continued training Form Zero and Form One." The Ithorian waited patiently a few moments while the small projection flickered to life. Before him, Siah saw the familiar figure of Knight Teynara Alyssa Jeralyr. He smiled at her, forgetting that she was only a hologram. Just before he was to extend a cordial good morning, the figure spoke.

"Padawan, today you will complete your training in Form Zero with the basics of Form One. Activate the droid when you're ready and continue on at a steady pace." The holocron flickered and died.

"Activate training droid One, Form Zero tier four." As the words left Siah, the droid was pacing across the room to the weapon rack. The droid selected a blue bladed training lightsaber and took up its position in the center of the room. Siah watched the droid as it went over the basic blocks, parries and counters. Siah followed the droid's example and copied it kata after kata. Time progressed steadily onwards and Siah felt like he could carry on indefinitely. Eventually the droid stopped and raised its lightsaber at Siah. Without hesitating, the Ithorian adopted a defensive stance as that what today's training had involved until now. He put his weight on his back right foot and stepped slowly forward with his left foot.

The droid gave a small jump and then hurtled towards Siah. Recalling how he'd been injured the day before, Siah sidestepped the charge and brought his lightsaber up into a guarded position. The droid stopped itself and spun around. Without a missing a beat it charged again, this time stopping to deliver a high strike to Siah. Siah easily blocked the attack and slowly backed away from the droid. Again the droid attacked and this time Siah used a parry to deflect the attack. A few attempts later and the ithorian was parrying or blocking all the droid's attacks.

Siah waited patiently for an opening in the droid's defences. A few moves later the droid over corrected to one of Siah's parries and Siah counter-attacked. His green training lightsaber arched through the air and collided with the back of the droid's head. The droid made a buzzing sound and shut down.

The holocron again crackled to life and a familiar voice spoke, "You have shown great skill in the fourth tier of your training. It is imperative that you remember that defence come before offence as you now learn the full capabilities of Shii Cho." As the holocron fell silent the droid reactivated...