Saber in the Ruins

[Reya Starlyght]

Ruins on Tython
1600 hours
​

On most days, Alaasha wouldn't of chosen such an isolated spot to meet someone, but the Jedi Temple had been unusually busy lately, whether it was Jedi simply stopping to rest before getting back to the war, or masters training their Padawans. That was why Alaasha was on Tython, and was standing in the clearing of some ruins.

She had contacted her Padawan Amaru to meet her at the ruins near the temple last rotation, and was early, like their last meeting to come. Her only instructions to Amaru was to come with his saber switched to traing mode.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru never liked ruins on Tython. Sure, they were full of history and everything, but something about them was deeply disturbing. Perhaps it was the thought, that everything that will be done will one day turn into ruins? Or perhaps it was just sad to see ancient structures in such state... who could have known.

Amaru was careful the entire time since he left the temple. Since his only weapon was switched into non-lethal mode and every planet had it's dangers he was very careful. He was quite relieved once he actually saw the ruins. Even though his lightsaber was seemingly swinging out of his reach he was ready to activate it in a second just in case, that his master would prepare some surprising attacks...

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

As soon as Alaasha saw Amaru approaching from a distance, she moved to behind a pillar near the entrance to the ruins. It would be nearly impossible to see her, and Alaasha had tried to keep her Force presence pretty vague, someone would be able to tell she was at the ruins, but where they wouldn't.

In her right hand was her green saber, set to training mode but not turned on. Alaasha held it in reverse grip. Her blue saber was hanging at her side, as she had no intention of using it to start. As Amaru approached, she got ready to surprise him with an attack. Alaasha hoped he would react fast, but if he didn't, her saber wasn't on lethal for a reason.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru was closing on the ruins. He was expecting to find his master here, but so far he didn't see her, nor feel her. That, strangely, made him calmer, since it meant only 2 things - master wasn't here yet, or she was trying to surprise him. Just to be sure he took the lighsaber and prepared to ignite it in a second. Since he knew, that his Force sense was useless even though he trained it a little he had to use his natural senses... eyes and ears. As he finally arrived he was listening and trying to spot the potential danger...

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Alaasha could tell that Amaru was not quite sure of what was happening, but he was wary. She was going to strike him as soo as he got close enough, and that was just a little bit closer. Closer... closer. Alaasha jumped from behind the pillar towards Amaru. She had been on higher ground then him to begin with, and also used the Force to augment her jump.

When she ignited her lightsaber, she coils tell the minimal difference in the sound and look that made it non-lethal. Alaasha came down onto Amaru with her saber held horizontal to her, predicting that her Padawan would block vertically.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru thought he was prepared for an attack, and he was... barely. He had just enough time to ignite his cyan blade and prepare to defend himself. He glimpsed his master holding the sword in reverse grip, quiet unusual, but not important right now. He hadn't the time to assume the defensive stance, he had to block instinctively. He indeed blocked the attack by holding his blade uprights, but he used the power of the blow to push himself from his master, giving himself enough time to assume classic Soresu defensive stance.

Once he was prepared for another attacked he was watching his master carefully. He wasn't angry, he knew, that surprise was essential part of any combat and he was expecting something like this. Still, he was a little surprised... but he was considered gifted in the art of lightsaber combat, now was the time to prove it.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

As Alaasha thought, Amaru made a hasty vertical block. What came next was something that was typical for a Soresu user, optimum defensives instead of attack again. Alaasha flipped backwards when he pulled back to assume his position, mostly for show but also partly because her previous footing hadn't been the greatest.

Alaasha was about 3 meters away from her Padawan, and considered where she wanted to take the combat next. It was too soon to draw her shoto, and Alaasha was pretty sure Amaru wouldn't attack. Normally, she would of taken the defensive at this point, but seeing as he already had, she charged his right side, saber pointing towards the ground yet still sticking out from her body. It was an aggresive attack, however she felt it nessicary at the current stage of combat.

 

[Amaru]

First few seconds of combat went probably exactly the way the both suspect them to go. Now was the time to think ahead. His master knew very well, that Amaru is specializing purely on defence, trying to tire his opponent, but not right now. Master was charging with other attack, this time on his right side. Instead of parrying the attack with his Soresu he chose to meet the attack directly. His knowledge of Shii-Cho was pretty basic, but still good enough to utilize it in attack. From his opening stance where he hold his blade horizontally he made quick and fairly light swing downwards, but instead of parrying he attacked his master's sword hand, forcing her to parry or loose the hand... well in theory... or in real combat.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Alaasha was quite surprised when Amaru did not block her saber but instead attacked her hand. It was somewhat of silly gesture, as her wrist was exposed on the inside and he was easily in the far reachs of his lightsaber's range. Because of this, Alaasha simply stepped quickly to her left, engaging a saber lock. Normally if she was using her shoto she would of did a spin and attack with it, but she didn't want to over pressure Amaru, yet.

Instead, she applies extra pressure to the lock by placing both hands on her saber. This was something she normally would of avoided, but this fight wasn't about winning, it was about testing the limits. However, she wanted Amaru to know what she was doing.

"Don't worry, I haven't gone insane on you. I just want to see your fighting style first hand."

 

[Amaru]

His attack was just a plain gesture and it was stopped easily, as expected. Instead they engage in a saber lock. Amaru used his longer hilt and grabbed his sword with both hands. Still... Amaru was more agile than strong, he used just enough strength to keep the lock long enough to concentrate. He jumped backwards, enhancing his agility with the Force, making broad strike with his sword in the air just to prevent master from following him instantly.

"I am not worrying master... yet." he said. He was still holding his weapon with both hands, this time he was holding it vertically before him quite steadily. Fights against him were never going to be action-packed since he was so defensive.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

It was pretty soon, but it was quite obvious that Amaru could in fact hold against Alaasha when she used one saber. So, it was time to take out her shoto.

"Alright, I'm going to give you a challenge now. If you don't last long don't worry."

The first thing Alaasha did was flip her green lightsaber around into a normal grip. Then she pulled out her blue saber in a reverse grip, ignited it, and then shifted her feet to be able to charge Amaru at any moment. Her green saber was slightly in front of her to her right, and her blue saber more to the left.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru had to smile a little, he learned that his master was not afraid to pull the big guns quite quickly. Fighting against 2 swords at once was... difficult, to say the least. And he was fighting opponent with superior skill level.

"Thanks for believing me in me, master..." he said with very slight hint of sarcasm. Yeah, she was probably right, she was quicker, stronger and had more experience, but he wasn't going to make it easy.

As he was standing there, waiting for her attack. He was concentrating, since the only thing he could use to sort of match her speed was drawing from his force powers...

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Alaasha grinned at Amaeu's reaction to her statement, although sarcasm may be the lowest form of humor it coils sure lighten up the mood. However, this was only for a moment, as a second later Alaasha calculated her next attack.

There were many more options now that Alaasha was using both of her lightsabers, and she decided to take him by surprise. Charging him again, Alaasha moved her shoto to the center of her body horizontally, planning to engage a lock with that saber and then quickly attack with her main. If he were to dodge, Alaasha would still have a guard up on both sides.

 

[Amaru]

Facing a person with 2 blades face to face was probably not a great idea. Amaru knew, that masters of Soresu could parry attack from 4 different blades at the same time by moving quickly and efficiently. He wasn't master of Soresu... not by a long shot. He had to be smart about this. He was waiting patiently until master was close enough. He quickly side-step to master's left and made few quick steps to meet her during her assault. He slid on the ground under master's reverse gripped shoto while holding his sword horizontally over his head pointing behind him not only blocking potential attack, but also getting the blade into the right position to block attack on his back if needed...

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Alaasha's blue saber collided with Amaru's as he slid under the ground, however she knew from experience that this was not a good position to be in. Regardless, Alaasha didn't say anything about it, but instead moved her left foot to where Amaru's leg was right near her.

"If I wanted to, I could seriously injure your foot right now and therefore disabled you. I'm not going to, but I am going to end this spar. Get up."

Alaasha deactivated her lightsabers and but them back on her side. She stepped back from Amaru, waiting for him to get up and turn off his lightsaber.

 

[Amaru]

"Yeah, that's right... but if you've done that I would have stab you in the stomach... " he said and indicated a little jab with his sword. That seemed like a good exchange. Sure... having injured leg wasn't fun and in combat it could easily be fatal, but still seemed a wee bit better than being stabbed... even though the result could be the same...

He deactivated the cyan blade, but still was holding the hilt. He stood up and used his free hand to brash off some dirt he collected during his slide. This fight ended quite quickly... though with lighsaber where every single hit could be lethal it could as well be expected.
"That could have been better, right?" he asked.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

"But you forgot that I have another saber that could stop that stabbing motion."

Alaasha was smiling as she said this, but it didn't last for long. Alaasha knew what she was going to do next, but she waited until Amaru got up to draw the blaster pistol at opposite to her lightsabers, setting it to stun as he talked.

"Maybe. But it's better to think about the future then to mourn about the past. Even better to stay in the moment."

This was a saying that Alaasha was pretty sure she came up with, although not entirely. It was a nice ideal, but she doubted anyone followed it all the time.

"Now I'm going to test your blocking ability. And maybe teach you a thing or two. This blaster is set to stun, but close your eyes for a second until I tell you to open them."

 

[Amaru]

Amaru said nothing. He was pretty sure, that if master attacked his leg she wouldn't have time or space to parry his stabbing attack, but it wasn't his place to argue with master. Besides there was always the possibility that she actually was fast enough to pull that off. So in the end he just nodded and said nothing. He instead prepared for the next part of training.

"Closing eyes again?" he asked just to be sure. He hated that... closing the eyes all the time. Did everyone expected him to get blind in the future? Close the eyes and concentrate... close the eyes and wait... close the eyes... he didn't like it at all, but he obeyed the command. He trusted his master... but that didn't mean he liked it. He closed the eyes and started to concentrate again. The truth was, that he managed to concentrate much better while his eyes were closed...

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Alaasha smiled as Amaru commented on her instruction. Of course, by then, she was already moving away from him, into the cover of the ruins. This test was all about being able to tell where something was and defending against it, and to do that, Amaru couldn't know where Alaasha started.

"I'm jaunt making you close your eyes that way you don't know where I am. You can open them now."

While saying this, Alaasha used the Force to make sure her voice didn't sound like it was coming from any specific direction. She was out of Amaru's sight, about 20 meters away from him to his left. From her hiding spot, she fired a stun bolt at Amaru, then quickly moved onto another location.

 

[Amaru]

"Yeah, I gathered as much..." he responded, it was after all quite obvious. He was concentrating a lot, he let the Force guide him so he he had some idea where his master was. He ignited his sword and opened his eyes right in time to see blast coming his way. He slashed with his blade, redirecting the shot somewhere to his left.

"You will have to try better than this master..." he said even though he didn't see her. He was ready though, believing that he could block any shot coming his way. After all Soresu was pretty god form for reflecting blaster shots. And he was getting a little too confident. He wasn't stupid, so he knew that master was probably trying to think of something... unexpected