Learning a new punch [ask]

[Cap'n Hobbes]

The room Vance paced around in was just like any of the many training rooms the Korriban Academy held. It was one of the reasons he preferred Korriban over Ziost or Corruscant. Ziost was too cold for his place and Corruscant, well the broken planet wasn’t somewhere he’d like to be. Vance had a new idea he’d wanted to try out ever since his lesson with Rookwrr. The Wookiee had taught him a good lesson on how to use the force in combat and as the lesson started to sink in Vance had ideas abound to try out, unsure if any would work. Vance had a good grasp of the basic force powers such as push and pull as well as enhancing powers such as speed. What he needed was some way he could use his style in conjunction with what he already knew about the force.

Vance had toyed around with the idea of pulling his opponent closer as he punched or stabbed with a lightsaber, however, that didn’t quite seem to fit him. Another idea that he enjoyed much more however was the opposite, throwing out a concentrated push as his fist made contact with his opponent. Stopping his pacing, Vance went towards the nearest punching bag to try out his ideas.

 

[Manio]

Tel entered the room, his black, dust-covered robes flowing behind him. He wasn't all that familiar with anyone else on Korriban, and generally kept to himself so he decided to ignore the other figure sparring away on their lonesome. He strode over to a nearby dummy and attempted a smile beneath his Antitox Mask.

Even though he'd been wearing the mask for years at this point, he still couldn't get used to not being able to breathe his own air without the aid of the mask. It annoyed him. He needed the training, he needed to get back to his home-planet and kill the people responsible for the death of his family.

He felt the anger well up inside of him, and screaming as loud as possible he threw a punch straight into the lifeless face of the training dummy.

 

[Stormthroe]

It had only been several days since Xeshan had first arrived at the Sith Academy on Korriban, and been introduced to the general curriculum as an Acolyte. While classes were offered, and he could always seek Master Nalessh's wisdom, generally the Acolytes and other students at the Academy were left to learn on their own, and expected to improve through their own efforts. While it was a common system, the Sith teachings forced it to become a competitive one, ruthless, and already Xeshan had learned to avoid the more senior Acolytes who struck out at the younger students fairly often to test their skills.

Xeshan had managed to generally avoid attention thus far; he had done as Master Nalessh instructed and spent the better part of an evening memorizing the Sith Code and basics of Sith philosophy, and the rest of the time preparing himself for the more rigorous training that had yet to begin. While the knowledge he had gleaned was certainly useful to him, Xeshan knew that eventually he would need to begin combat training; the Sith, after all, were warriors and even Master Nalessh, who seemed more a historian than anything, carried weapons with which Xeshan was sure he could wield with skill.

And so, dressed in his Zeltron-made clothing that left his torso mostly exposed save for his arms, Xeshan was walking to the nearest training room with an intent to begin learning some form of combat, even if just by observation. Xeshan had never been much for fighting; sure, he'd gotten in his share of fights in the bars and nightclubs of Zeltros, but he'd never dedicated himself to learning anything. He had always been fairly quick on his feet, and usually he was faster than his opponents meerly due to the fact he was the less intoxicated. However, even if he could not learn much, he figured that at least exercising would be a good start.

As he reached the training hall, Xeshan observed several other students moving about the hall; some were at the rear, training with lightsabers, while others grappled on an open arena to the cheering of surrounding Acolytes. Several training mats were empty, no occupants training on them at the moment, and against the walls other students exercised. Xeshan strode in, stopping by the door to remove his shoulder-vest, sleeves, and split-cloak, folding them neatly and setting them down in line with the possessions of other students who had come to train. Without the decorative fittings that kept his pauldrons and split-cloak in place, the rough ridges along his chest were visible, and Xeshan's toned form rippled as he stretched in preparation for a bit of exercise. He moved towards the collection of training dummies, arms crossed across his chest as his yellow eyes glanced at a few of the Acolytes who had noticed him enter and were watching him curiously, obviously gauging the newcomer.

Xeshan ignored them, and made to make his way to one of the open bags. A brown-haired human was pacing ahead, seemingly in thought. Xeshan ignored him as he reached the empty training bag, and shook out his wrists before throwing some light blows, just in natural movements that seemed to work for him. It was a simple form of street fighting, nothing more complicated then what a brawler might use, but Xeshan threw a few blows a bit harder and began to develop a rhythm to his blows.

"Peace is a lie," thought Xeshan as he tossed a few harder blows. He was staying light on his toes, feet shoulder width apart in a basic warriors stance. He remembered the stance that he'd seen in a fight back on Zeltros, the shoulder turned slightly towards the target. It seemed a natural position to sit in.

Thwack, thwack! Xeshan threw a quick jab, followed by a straight.

"There is only passion." Xeshan slid to the side in a quick sidestep, tossing a light hook into the bag. He was pretending it was one of the drunken fools he'd fought in a nightclub about a year back. Some human who had insulted him in front of a female client. Xeshan smiled; that had been a fun night.

Xeshan continued lightly boxing the bag, increasing his intensity as he continued to recite the Sith Code in his mind.

"Through passion, I gain strength." Thwack! Thwack! "Through strength I gain power." Thwack . . . thwack, thud! Two jabs followed by a straight. "Through power, I gain victory." Thwack, thwack - GRAHHH!

Xeshan couldn't help but jump at the sudden sound of screaming, his braid flaring out behind him as his head whipped to find the source of the nearby sound as he lost focus. Not far from he and the human, a Kel Dor dressed in dusty black robes was standing with his fist planted firmly into the artificial face of one of the humanoid dummies nearby. Xeshan raised to stand straight, his chest raising and falling as he panted lightly from the effort of his short-lived workout. Xeshan smirked slightly as he folded his arms over his bare chest, turning and leaning his weight on one foot as he analyzed the Kel Dor with obvious scrutiny. Xeshan could feel the rage radiating from the masked Acolyte; it was a rage he detected in many of the more aggressive Acolytes, and was certainly a trait he'd have to ask Master Nalessh about.

Xeshan turned his gaze to look at the human, searching for the other Acolyte's gaze with his own. Once he'd gained it, Xeshan smirked, shrugging slightly before turning his head back to face the Kel Dor who had interrupted his training to see what he did next.

 

[Manio]

Tel felt someone gazing at him, without wanting to lash out at this character, he allowed himself to calm down with a few, deep breaths. He turned to the figure and attempted a smile under his antitox mask. The sides of his mouth rubbing uncomfortably against the mask.

"My apologies. I guess some memories haven't been so kind to me today." He turned to face the dummy again and noticed he had accidentally cracked the face of the object. Hopefully, the higher-ups at the Academy wouldn't be too angry with him. He couldn't afford to make any poor impressions here.

He ran his fingers over the crack, and chuckled to himself. It would seem he would need to learn to control his anger. These memories would probably only prove troublesome for himself later on, and he couldn't risk that.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance had been absentmindedly punching the bag, paying no mind to who else was around him. He got like that sometimes, his vision seeming to narrow and not really caring about anything else except what was directly in front of him. However as he was practicing his punch, a loud scream of anger pierced his practices. In honesty it shouldn’t have bothered him, those kinds of screams were all too common in the academy, especially in the training rooms. What got his attention though was the fact that the scream seemed a little distorted, as though someone was talking through a re-breather. He stopped and turned to see a Kel Dor bash a fist into a dummy. *Too bad he wasn’t using the force,* he thought to himself, for if he had been using force rage he would’ve sent the training dummy flying.

He looked around noticing the new comer for the first time. It was a red skinned man with rather fabulous hair and strange cheek tendrils that he had only seen once before, when he met with Sin’ryk Naleesh, the Sith pureblood. However something about him seemed different from Sin’ryk, he couldn’t quite put his tongue on it but he seemed less sith looking than him. He shrugged and went back to hitting the bag, at least that’s what he would’ve done had the Kel Dor not spoke.

“An apology?” Vance asked as Kel Dor apologized for his actions, “I don’t hear that around here very often,” he looked him over once more in more detail, noting how he held himself, he found that the Kel Dor was rather well built, a good strong upper body with decent legs, however, he also noted that it seemed he was more of the mind to read a book first than work out. How he knew this, Vance wasn’t quite sure, but he had been around all sorts of people and had taken a special interest in learning how their bodies moved so he could best counter them and tear them apart.

“You know, I often find punching someone’s face in to be a much better stress relief than an inanimate object, care to join me for a spar?” truth be told, he was rather eager to test his new theories out on a living thing to see how they’d react and how much damage he could do when augmenting a simple push or pull into a punch.

 

[Stormthroe]

Xeshan raised an eyebrow at the Kel Dor's apology, again feeling the same surprise he'd felt when Master Nalessh had introduced himself with courtesy and poise. Perhaps the Sith were not the Great Evil that the rumors made them out to be, the obviously the Kel Dor held significant fury in his veins to have cracked a training dummy.

Before Xeshan could respond, the human who had been working the bag adjacent to him approached the Kel Dor, speaking as he did so. As he walked past, Xeshan saw three distinct scars in parallel running along the young man's face, giving him a somewhat sinister appearance. As he watched his fellow Acolytes, Xeshan heard the human invite the Kel Dor to spar on the training floor.

Xeshan cut in before the Kel Dor could respond, speaking in a cool, precise tone. His voice was slow, accented slightly, lending itself to a somewhat regal but courteous sound; a well-developed voice of persuasion.

"Make new memories," interrupted Xeshan with a sly smile before turning to the human as he gracefully walked over to the two other Acolytes, "I couldn't help but overhear an offer to train. I am Acolyte Xeshan, apprenticed to Master Nalessh." Xeshan bowed slightly, his golden eyes focused on the other two students as he introduced himself. As he stood, he continued, "Would it trouble you if I took part as well? I have no partner as of yet to train with. Besides . . ." Xeshan paused, his eyes darting to the Kel Dor with a wry grin as he folded his arms across his chest, "Another opponent may provide a much more satisfying outlet."

 

[Manio]

Tel scratched at the mask on his face and peered at these two Acolytes, his red eyes darting back and forth between the two. He let out a sigh and cracked his neck and hung his robe over the training dummy he had damaged, and spun to face his two fellow Acolytes.

"I'm here to learn abilities so I can kill the people responsible for my family's murder. I can't let that memory go away. It is my source of anger."

Beneath his robes he wore a black tunic, black pants, brown leather boots, and a black sash wrapped around his waist. He got into a fighting stance, raising both of his fists up and turning to the side. The Smugglers taught him how to fight in 1 on 1 combat using your fists, but they didn't train him for taking on two opponents at the same time. I guess he'd have to adapt on the fly, which was something he was pretty skilled at.

"So, who's first?"

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

“Sure that sounds fine,” Vance said as Xeshan introduced himself as an apprentice of Sin’ryk no less, “call me Vance, I’m not apprenticed to anyone but myself,” Vance introduced himself, he knew that was his pride speaking, however he had always felt that if he wanted to grow amongst the sith, he should do so by his own merits, not by those of another no matter how powerful they may be, then added, “though I have hunted cannibalistic spirits on Ziost with your master, Xeshan.”

Vance scratched the middle scar on his cheek absent mindedly as Tel explained his source of anger. Foolish really, giving a potential enemy knowledge that could be used against him. However, his mind was thinking about how to deal with multiple opponents now. He had always loved combat and had been in and won a few duels himself, but he had never face more than one by himself. The thing going for him however, was that this seemed to be a free for all rather than two ganging up on one. As they moved into one of the sparing rings, he noted the lack of form Tel showed in his stance and resisted the urge to burst out laughing. Tel did however say he was here to learn, and learn he would. At least as much as one acolyte could teach another.

Vance had always been of the mind that there were two types of passion one could unleash upon their foes. Hot passion, such as the screaming nonsense that Tel had demonstrated as he punched the dummy, was very destructive in short bursts but it tended to cloud the mind and cause more harm to oneself. Cold passion however, was the exact opposite, cold passion could be contained and controlled to focus the mind. Vance had never felt the need to explode as Tel did before and refused to let himself do so. This was what he specialized in. This coldness was what gave him strength and focus.

“If it is learning you seek then come, anger does not define the Sith, remember the code: Through passion I gain strength. This is what separates us from the Jedi, they hide their passion while we embrace it,” he knew that this was rather common knowledge amongst every Sith in the galaxy but Vance felt the need to explain to Tel, who seemed to feel the need to only feel anger. Anger was self destructive, Vance knew only too well, however the passion that drives a person is what strength was, “Anger does not define the Sith, it is our passion for what we do. We hold nothing back and that is what many mistake for anger. I am no master but this is one thing I have gleamed through observing how the masters hold themselves. Now come at me and do not hold back, or you will be killed.”

Vance had gotten into his own stance. It was loose and comfortable with equal weight on both legs to allow for quick movement in either direction he chose. His right arm was slightly more extended than his left and he held his hand in a claw like form, ready to either deflect a punch or send one of his own in a split second decision.

 

[Stormthroe]

"Perhaps you can share the story," smirked Xeshan to Vance as he watched the other two Acolytes prepare for combat. He listened to their words carefully, taking them in. The Zeltron blood in him could feel the rage emanating fro the Kel Dor, who still had yet to name himself, and just as well could feel the directed passion of the human, Vance.

As each took stance, Xeshan looked with a bit of inner worry. While the human had spoken wise words, the final threat reverberated in the back of his mind, and his face tendrils curled nervously, though his face remained a calm smirk. "You speak wisely, human," Xeshan turned his gaze to the Kel Dor, "And as for you, we each have our source of power."

Xeshan took his own stance, then, but unlike his fellow Acolytes, it was not one of combat. No, Xeshan adopted what he knew; he was dextrous, quick on his feet, and he could dance, he knew how to predict the movements of his partner and react accordingly, and because of his other skills he knew which parts of the body could cause the best kinds of pain. He cast his arms to one side, one held across his face in case he needed to block, stretching low to the ground. He could hold his own in a normal encounter, knew how to throw a decent punch. Here, the goal was not to be hit. Xeshan knew that in a barfight, never get surrounded; always keep one opponent between you and the others if there was more than one.

Gracefully, Xeshan crouched low and prepared himself, keeping his arms to the side as he devised a strategy in silence. He grinned again, speaking with a cool tone. Vance was right; cold, collected, controlled passion was power. Though many Sith, like the Kel Dor, found power through rage, hate, vengeance, sadness. There were other forms of passion . . . such as the joy of a dance with a skilled duo of partners.

"Shall we begin?"

 

[Manio]

Tel took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He allowed himself to relax. He let his rage subside, and continued to calm himself. Doing his best to enter a meditative, and thoughtless state. Velkion, The leader of the Smuggler group that had found him had taught him how to get into such a relaxed state that he'd make no sound when moving around, and would aid in his stealth abilities. This was something Tel was exceptionally good at thanks to his upbringing with the Smugglers.

He could remain undetected by anyone if he so desired, and he could be quick. He had successfully squashed his rage, and continued to keep his eyes closed, and breathing in deep. He listened intently as to what the other two Acolytes were doing, he may not of been the strongest person in the room, but his intelligence, and knowledge played a huge part in how he fought.

"Whenever you kids are ready."

His eyes remained closed.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance was getting rather irritated with these two, he had already issued the challenge yet they would not come. He kept in mind the lessons on combat he had been taught and practiced and emptied his mind, though leaving the cold anger he felt towards the two letting it fill him and feed his strength. He kept himself focused by letting his anger fill him but not explode outwards. In this state he was more in tune with the force and could focus on even the slightest movement easier the he would normally. To him it felt as though time had slowed down and in his perception he let himself move, using the force to aid his speed.

Vance would not hold back, after all he had not been taught how. His first strike was a lightning fast one-two jab at Tel's face with his right fist followed up with a left hook into his liver. While he was focused on the Kel Dor, Vance kept his eyes open for any indication that Xeshan would strike at him or if he would gang up on the Kel Dor.

 

[Manio]

Keeping his eyes closed, and allowing himself to focus Tel leaned back to avoid the punches thrown at his face, but reeled back with the punch that slammed into his liver.

His eyes snapped open and adjusted his clothes. He cracked his neck and began to laugh, which made an odd-echo sound through his antitox mask.

"You are much too arrogant. That will be your downfall someday." Tel allowed himself to relax once more, and threw a kick straight at Vance's groin area. Something told Tel that this human character wouldn't fight honorably, and this seemed the only way to do so.

Something about this human had annoyed Tel from the get go. His arrogance, and over-all cocky demeanor made him wish he had a lightsaber to cut him down with, but he'd entertain the human for now. This was a simple "training" exercise after-all, and if this human wanted to beat on fellow Acolytes to prove his worth, then there was something seated inside this human that he was trying to hide, and compensate for.

 

[Stormthroe]

Xeshan watched as the human engaged the Kel Dor, the only indication that he'd moved was the fact that he now stood directly in front of the other Acolyte. He was fast, much faster than Xeshan had believed looking at his body, and the Force tingled in his mind.

Xeshan smiled, slipping in behind the human with a graceful low sweep to his left leg even as he watched the engaged Kel Dor swing his leg up to catch the man's groin, Spinning up out of the attack with his arms up in guard.

There was anger from the two other Acolytes, each had their emotions in check for now but were not against harming him. As Xeshan rose out of the sweep, the half-Sith hybrid watched for the human's reaction, unconcerned with the Kel Dor for now due to the body between them.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance chuckled at Tel's comment. Absurd really, calling him arrogant even though it was true. If the comment was meant as a disguise for the kick he threw after however, then he could accept it. He was glad that he kept an open eye as he engaged Tel when Xeshan made his move. He expected a gang up and as Xeshan moved Vance was already out of reach of both of them thanks to his force speed, back into the triangle that they started in. Vance was glad for two things as this duel progressed, the first being his ability to manipulate the force, and second his footwork. Had he not had either, he knew for a fact that he would be on the floor singing soprano right now. However he sorely wished for his lightsaber right now. As the thought crossed his mind, he wondered at it. He had never before wished for his lightsaber before. He pushed the thought out of his mind though, right now he had bigger worries.

"Not bad for a couple of snails," Vance taunted with a smirk on his scared face, for now he would let Tel believe all he had was his arrogance, "let's try that again."

Vance rushed Tel again, this time with his left arm out. One of his talents as a boxer was that he was a switch hitter. His father had stressed balance in his techniques and the sith who had taken him in after kept with that ideal. Vanc swung low this time with a double hook at the same spot he had landed his first blow, then with the momentum of his second hook, he spun clockwise and aimed his right elbow at Tel's temple. Once again he had called upon the force to aid in his movements. He hoped to drop Tel with his elbow so he could focus on Xeshan. If he was indeed Sin'ryks apprentice, the real threat was he. He had seen Sin'ryk in action and knew first hand how strong he was, he wouldn't underestimate his apprentice.

 

[Stormthroe]

In the blink of an eye, the human had moved from his position, restoring their training circle in a second. Xeshan kept his face stoically focused, but inwardly, he was astonished how fast the other Acolyte had moved. This duel could quickly become painful.

Xeshan again readied himself, this time taking a basic combat stance with his feet shoulder width apart, his left hand leading while he kept his right tucked close to his chin. Calmly, he waited, watching as the human once again lunged for the Kel Dor at a near impossible speed. Xeshan swallowed hard despite himself; for some reason the human was focusing on the third opponent rather than himself, more than likely so that he could do as he wished to his form without fear of repercussion or intervention. It was best not to let that happen.

As the human focused his attention on the Kel Dor, Xeshan circled around behind him, and as Vance attacked, Xeshan stepped into combat range again. The man's back was to him at first, but in the time it took him to swing, the man had turned into an elbow to the Kel Dor who stood opposite Xeshan's position. Xeshan's slower blow caused him to hook that elbow; locking him close to his opponent.

Inwardly, Xeshan cursed to himself; this was not a position he wanted to be in. However, attempting to make the best of it, Xeshan stepped in, placing his foot behind Vance's rear leg and attempting to lift him onto his hip as he tried to put him into an improvised hip throw.

 

[Manio]

Tel leapt back, narrowly avoiding more blows from his human opponent. He just laughed to himself, creating an odd reverberating sound beneath his antitox mask. He was glad that the Sith opponent wasn't attacking him either, his combat training with the Smugglers only taught him how to deal with one opponent, all the stealth he had used for his smuggling career seemed to helping him from getting pummeled in this fight. Plus, his ability with Force Sense helped him avoid the blow to his temple, but only just.

"You rely too heavily on the Force my friend."

Tel then reached for his robe and slipped it back on. He then turned to face the two remaining Acolytes.

"I'd love to stay and spar with you, but I'd rather fight someone who has some honor in how they fight."

He nodded at the Sith, and turned to face the training dummy he was focused on earlier, and continued to throw jabs at it, causing more cracks to run all over the face of the object. Truly, he couldn't risk this Human dealing too much damage to him. He was curious as to why someone with more advanced Force skills would be going after a new member of the Academy. It just reeked of dishonor to him. Tel would have to inquire about this Human with some higher-ups at the Academy.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Vance was caught off guard by Xeshan's advance and was thrown to the ground as a result. He lay there for a moment as Tel ridiculed him. He couldn't help it, he laughed at his words. He laughed until his sides hurt, then as his mirth subsided, he slowly got to his feet.

"Oh that's rich coming from the one who aimed below the belt," Vance said as Tel went back to pounding on the dummy, really appropriate he thought to himself. Apparently it took a dummy to beat on a dummy. The fight hadn't even lasted half a minute, but Vance already felt the adrenaline ebbing away from him. What had started as a promising fight ended up turning into a whining fest, he couldn't stand it.

"If you ever need a sparing partner you know where to find me," Vance said aiming his words at Xeshan, then completely ignoring Tel he grabbed his stuff and left the room