A Duel Between Colleagues

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Outside the Exile Temple, Prakith, 1500 Standard Hours
​

Halmo'de had known the Twi'lek exile for a number of months now. They'd shared little more than passing conversation, but, at least for Halmo'de, he didn't truly know her. To remedy this, today was a rather slow day around the temple, they had a small host of conscripted slaves now to do the light work around the temple, and there were no posted assignments for the two apprentices. With that, he invited her to have a friendly duel outside the mouth of the cave.

There was a light nip in the air, as winter drew closer, though the true culprit was the dark side permeating from the cave itself. This did not bother Hal in the slightest, as it reminded him of early autumn on Eshan, before his exile from his home. He revelled in the thought of one day returning to conquer the very home that he was thrown from. That was a thought for another day.

Today was all about getting to know his comrade. Outside of the mouth of the cave, they stood, Halmo'de wore his typical black Gi, across, with roughly 4 meters between himself and his associate.

"My people, the Echani believe that sparring with a comrade will tell you more about them than a great and detailed conversation. I was exiled from Eshan years ago, but I do believe this to be true. They also required both fighters to strip their clothing down to their undergarments, but we certainly don't need to do that. We can save that for the second date," he quipped with a wink. "My only question now, for you is, hands or sabers? The challenge-ee always chooses the weapons, or lack thereof. We can have a slave fetch us some vibroblades as well."

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Narri fiddled with her new robe anxiously, growling slightly as the sash become undone for the fifth time. Seriously, the soft light fabric felt amazing, and it was her preferred training garb. Didn't look half bad either, the black colors complementing her skin tone perfectly. But she'd never actually learned how to tie it up, not properly, she had half a mind to go burn down the store who'd let her rob them without including instructions. She looped the thing back around her waist, once again trying her best approximation of a bow, only for the thing to fall apart when she took her first step. Scowling, she finally just made a big knot and went out to met Halmo'de, leaving most of her usual stuff behind save her vibroblade and stun baton.

The duel invitation had honestly been surprising, and Narri had maybe surprised herself when she'd accepted. She usually wasn't a huge fan of fighting, especially not orderly play fights. But still, she DID need to know her comrade better, and, as her old master had belted at her till death, practice practice practice. So here she was, standing a few meters away from the hybrid and doing her best to appear happy and welcoming. It was slightly chilly, but in a good way, the cool air wafting her robe about and lightly tickling her lekku.

She chuckled lightly at the man's quip, briefly looking around as she considered her response. She did need some hand to hand practice, but would that really be practicing? Just how many times would she actually find herself facing someone in pure hand to hand battle, or with just blades? Narri analyzed the other exile for a moment, looking him over for a critical moment, before suddenly drawing her vibrosword in a sudden rush of motion, activating it with a deadly whirr. Waiting a moment for a reaction, Narri would then turn it off again, smirking slightly before speaking.

"How about......we just go all out with both? You set your saber to low and I'll leave my blade off. Then we do our best to smash the other into unconsciousness. It'll be more like a real fight that way. Don't worry." Narri returned his early wink with one of her own, "I'll stop before the KO if you cry uncle."

@Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de's muscles tensed up, though his facial expression never flinched when she quickly drew her sword. With a chuckle, Halmo'de uncrossed his arms and snapped his fingers hailing a slave carrying a vibrosword, sporting a broad, heavy blade, and small oval handguard.

"My sabers don't actually have a low setting. I'll match your blade with one of my own. Conditions are sound... And don't go easy on me. Play at least a little hard to get." he said, with a sheepish grin.

Hal plunged the blade into the ground and covered his right fist with his left hand; an Echani symbol of honor between combatants. With a quick bow, he plucked his sword from the ground and gave it a flourish, to knock the dirt off the tip, and with that, he stepped forward, with a one handed grip on the weapon with his right hand, and led with his left foot, holding the sword horizontally across his chest. Stepping forward to meet her, rather than charging as he would an opponent.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Narri smirked and shrugged at the other exile, waiting patiently as the slave came running with the vibrosword. She took the chance for a few...early preparations as she waited, slipping her left hand behind her back and reaching for the force. Carefully, she began gathering up the power within her, feeling the tendrils of power begin to writhe about in her palm, pulsing wildly for freedom. This was just the PERFECT chance to try something new, and while civilians were fun test subjects, she needed to see how it worked in an actual fight.

Lowering her own blade with her right hand, she waited till Halmo'de had bowed and stepped forward, and then simply flashed him a wide smile as she suddenly brought her left hand out from behind her back. Pointing her open palm at her opponent, she let out a breath, and opened the metaphysical cage in her hand. The power burst from her hand, and with a thought from Narri, it ignited, manifesting as a bright streak of flicker orange and red.

Wow, it looked simply amazing to watch the flames twist and twirl in midair, to feel the onrush of energy pouring forth into fire. Yup, she LIKED this technique, now just to see if it could set Halmo'de aflame. ​

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

He knew the moment her hand went behind her back, she had something planned, though he would feign ignorance for a moment and bow. Then the gout of flame came toward him. Hal let out an audible laugh. Not to taunt the woman, but a gesture of approval, as she fired a gout of flame at him, as the slave began to walk away. Using his own pyrokinetic prowess, he took hold of the existing flame, and rerouting it onto the slave, who let out a blood curdling scream as his clothes caught flame. Laughing again, heartily, at the mans misfortune, as he writhed on the floor, he twisted the flames caught on the clothing into his grasp, and returned them to their original sender.

"Now, those burns make more sense. You're a pyro, too," he said, with a grin, before lifting off his lead leg, leaping to close the distance, slicing inward, at a 45° angle from right to left, aiming at her shoulder with intent to cut inward toward her heart.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Well....that wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it certainly wasn't a bad result. If anything it was useful to see how easily another force user could redirect the flames, very useful information for the future. Judging from his words, Halmo'de had some prior experience with pyrokinesis, so his ease of redirection could be attributed to that, all the same, maybe it was a technique better saved for the non-sensitive.

That was a thought project for later however, Narri had to deal with her own attack coming back at her. Dodge? Block? No, this was a practice duel, and if she'd wanted to try out her fire abilities, why stop now? Dropping her weapon, Narri brought up both hands, and with a powerful clap, brought them together within the oncoming spray of fire, letting her desire and emotion reach out into the flames. They responded admirably, suddenly curling about into a small ball between her hands, as if suddenly reacting to a black hole or strong gravitational force.

Unfortunately, she had no time to admire or analyze her efforts, as she suddenly became aware of Halmo'de closing the distance at a leap. In a flash, his blade was streaking for her left shoulder, and Narri became very aware she'd dropped her sword. No time to step back, no time pick up the dropped weapon, she went with the only option available to her, throwing herself down to the ground in a not so controlled crouch. Her knees impacted with the ground, and the blade whistled narrowly overhead, Narri's head was lowered pretty far, to avoid having it cracked like a spuz ball of course, but she had a good view of Halmo'de's legs. They gave a pretty good estimate of where the rest of him was. The moment she felt the blade whisk by, the red Twi'lek suddenly thrust both hands upward towards the other exile's upper body, once again unleashing the wild tendrils of the force, attempting to blast him away with sheer force. Of course, with her suddenly letting out such a wild burst of power, she couldn't very well keep hold of the little fireball, which found itself going along for the ride on the edge of the strong force push.

Next she would attempt to grab her weapon and retrieve her footing, wincing a little at the sudden onset of fatigue from two strong force uses in a row.

@Gian Greydragon ​

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de grunted as the telekinetic blast connected with his chest, with the added singing effect of the dissipated bolt of flame that she'd created, but then decided on a different course of action. The two were close enough together that Hal caught the burn of of the dying fireball before it dissipated into nothing more than embers.

He flew back about 3 meters, landing with a flip on to his feet. His gi now sported a burning hole over his rippled abdomen, to which he just discarded by expertly thrusting his blade backwards and under his gi, cutting through the fabric to remove it quickly. With that, he threw the girls up in front of him, both halves flailing in the air, as he channeled the pain of the burning sensation on his abdomen, and the anger he felt for the destruction of his favorite gi top into a fireball of his own, allowing it to build up in his left hand. In his right, he still gripped his vibrosword, ready for a counter attack, should Narri decide to close distance.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Narri regained her feet and weapon with a slim smile, clambering upright as she observed the effects of her attack. It wasn't much, but she did get the gratification of ruining his clothing along with providing herself the brief recovery required. Strangely enough, Narri had a strange vision of the other exile throwing about a full grown woman, although it passed after a simple puzzled blink, leaving only a simple GI in her place.

What the kriff?

Narri shook her head, clearing the aberrant hallucination from her mind, instead focusing her attention on the reality in front of her. And that reality, was that Halmo'de was now apparently charging a fire attack of his own. Hmph, well it was time to put a stop to that, she was well aware of the drastic benefits extra focus gave to fire based attacks. Covering the three meters with a quick dashing movement, she attacked with a quick horizontal backslash with her right arm, aiming to bring her sword slicing across Halmo'de's forearms from his left to right. Hopefully, by striking the side by which he charged his attack, she'd help disrupt his concentration or at least force some funny gymnastics. Also, she kept her left hand tucked close to her body, mentally prepared to try and shield herself with it if he chose to loose his flames then.
@Gian Greydragon ​

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de released the ball of flame accumulating in his left hand as a wide burst of flame spread across the width of his midsection. The ball of flame blossomed outward, widening and expanding, covering the majority of his torso. Hal would make a small leap back, should she grit her teeth through the blast, clearing him of her attempted backslash. Even charged, the flame itself was nowhere near full power. At worst, the Twilek would receive more burns to her already extensive collection.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

There it was, right on time, the ball of flame arcing out towards her torso as she closed the distance. Well that was exactly what she prepared for, and immediately her left arm uncoiled and lashed out like a whip, attempting to bat the flames away whilst loosing a very weak pulse with the force. She was half successful, the little wave and movement brushing away most of the flames, but a few tongues of heat still lapped at her left arm and side, drawing a hiss at the minor burns they left.

Narri pushed through regardless, happy she'd avoided the worst and carried through with her attack, only to miss as her foe suddenly leaped back. Luckily her arms swinging motion ended with her right hand still being raised at chest level and slightly extended, and it was a simple matter to just step forward again, jabbing the sword at Halmo'de's chest in a quick efficient poking motion, hoping to hit him as he landed.

@Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de's grin widened with every stroke of the sword, and every use of the Force. As haughty and egotistical as he was, he enjoyed finding an equal. As his fireball was mostly defeated, she was still afflicted by the fireball. His previous jump back paid off, as she, in true pyromancer fashion was not the least bit daunted by the burns, and carried on through with a backslash attack, followed up with a thrust at his midsection.

Halmo'de parried the blade to the left, in an attempt to force to overextend her reach, and countered with a heavy spinning back kick to the gut. A lesser human being would be floored by the counter attack, but an Exile with enough physical training would only get the wind knocked out of them.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

With a clink, her jab was knocked aside to her right. Thankfully, it wasn't enough so as to unbalance her as it had been but a light poke rather than some full force thrust, but really didn't help her in regards to Halmo'de's reply. She could see the kick coming, the other's exiles body twisting and foot coming about, but it was really all she could do just to brace and prepare.

The kick smashed right into her gut, and, in accordance with the laws of biology, Narri couldn't help but let out a whuff of air. However, thanks in part to seeing it coming, she was able to grit her teeth against the sudden breath loss, and use her free left hand to grab at the man's ankle before it could withdraw from her torso. And then, quick as a wisk, she brought about her right hand to attempt and slam the hilt of her weapon into the man's calf muscle as hard as she could. She didn't bother trying to bring the blade about, choosing instead to save time by simply smashing with the hardest end most speedily available.

Hopefully, the slightly disadvantageous positioning such a kick required would help prevent any block attempts, and her speed of response and preparation assist her in seizing the leg.

@Gian Greydragon ​

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de's kick met it's mark, although Narri had been able to grab his leg. That was the one thing Hal hated about kicks, the chance that that leg will be seized and used against you. However, his years of training in the Echani Martial art had given numerous ways to counter this.

Moving quickly, Hal redirected his spin to the opposite direction, and turned while using his captured leg as a fulcrum point, in conjunction with Force Manipulation to lift his rear leg up and behind her head, in an improvised scissor kick as quickly as possible. In all likelihood, his other leg would be pommeled, but she would receive a surprise kick to the back of the head hard enough to force her to let go of his trapped leg. If all went accordingly, he'd be able to wriggle free, and continue the fight.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Her hilt connected with the trapped leg with a dull thud, Narri herself almost wincing as she felt the impact jar her arm. It wasn't broken or anything that serious, but with such a heavy strike to a prominent muscle, Narri would doubt even her own ability to move on it.

Of course, she didn't get long to celebrate, or even attempt another strike, because the other exile hadn't exactly been idle. Another dull thud, and Narri found that she had a sudden spontaneous headache, forcing her to drop the leg as she stumbled in shock. Ugh, talk about flexibility, something that really shouldn't be surprising to her, and yet was. Really, she hadn't been expecting another kick, and of the scissor variety no less.

Oh well, at least Halmo'de wouldn't be able to find his feet easily, what with his new injury and her unceremonious dropping of his fulcrum point. She took the chance to stumble/backpedal backwards, shaking her head to clear the pain and muddle. Carefully, still backing up slightly, she started to reach for the force again, the blow to the head lessening her efforts as she tried to twist the threads of power to her will.

@Gian Greydragon ​

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de spun twice in the air before landing on the ground, his arms extended downward to catch his fall. Despite the muscles in his leg screaming at him for allowing the Twilek to strike them the way she had, he would not Relent, using the pain and anger he felt to drive him forward. As his palms touched the ground, he dipped forward into a rolling kick, disguised as a forward combat roll, using his heel like an axehead, and his long leg as the shaft, he hoped to land a strike square on the woman's nose, but given the hastened nature of the strike, when considering the proximity of the two combatants, the stealthiness of the strike, and the skill of it's perpetrator, it was likely to make some kind of contact. He would roll to his feet, with his vibrosword blade at the ready.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Ow
She was beginning to think Halmo'de was a fan of kick attacks, what with him going for the third one in the row, and from an awkward position no less. Maybe that's why her reaction time was off, barely managing to flick her head aside and stumble back as the other exile rolled on the ground right into an axe kid. The heel connected fairly solidly with her shoulder, drawing another hiss of pain from the red Twi'lek and forcing her to take another few steps back. Well, that was gonna be another bruise in the morning, and it had also disrupted her efforts to gather up her power.

Fine, at this point it was probably better to stop any more kicks, and she didn't need the any metal rending powers for it. Regaining her footing proper, Narri continued backing up while Halmo're regained his feet. Extending her free hand Narri focused her will on the leg she'd just got smashed, trying to dig imaginary fingers into the man's abused calf muscle. And then, with a closing of her fist, she squeezed, hard. Wouldn't do much really, just inflict near debilitating levels of pain.
​

@Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de carried through the roll, with little resistance, the kick landed solidly on her shoulder. From there, he rolled up to his feet and surged forward, roughly one meter, as the Twilek backed up to attempt another Force attack. Halmo'de used the length of his arm and vibroblade, to thrust at Narri's outstretched hand, and following through with a downward diagonal chop at the same shoulder hed just kicked. If the strike went unaddressed, he would stop short, only allowing the blade to leave a flesh wound. Hal grinned as he knew he had her on her back foot.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Narri yanked her hand back to the safety of her side with wide eyes, narrowly avoiding a few severed fingers. She hissed upon feeling the force slip away yet again, the repeated effort to build energy and suddenly loose it becoming quite tiring. And of course that wasn't the end of it, the other exile's blade rising up and chopping down at her left shoulder.

Well, it was time to get her own kicks in. Taking her own blade in two hands, she met the strike halfway, already going into a spin as she knocked the blade off course. Continuing with the motion, she went right into her own version of a spin kick, trying to hit while Halmo'de was still recovering from his own strike. Of course, she aimed for the gut, trying to reciprocate the bruising she was already feeling. Not that it wasn't tempting to aim at the groin area instead, if only it didn't hold such a danger of missing,

@Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de scoffed lightly as she attempted to give him a taste of his own medicine. After successfully blocking his strike, she attempted a spinning kick of her own, to which he simply responded to by lifting his knee to his stomach level just impact, causing her to strike hard bone, before he countered with a heavy pommel strike with the handle of his vibrosword. Should he land the strike, he would feign a killing blow, stopping short of her neck, marking the end of the bout.

@Narsi

 

[Narri Emrour]

Her kick connected with a solid clunk rather than a thwack and characteristic hiss of lost air. And the reason for this was that she had actually slammed her foot into the other exile's knee, which did about bantha dung in the grand scheme of things. Sure she maybe knocked him off balance a bit, perhaps even adding an extra bruise for later, but that was all, and Halmo'de was quick to counter attack.

The hard impact DID help Narri regain her feet quicker, what with her foot practically bouncing off. Unfortunately, she was just a tad short on time, and turned to a pommel zooming in at her head. Her reflexes, as honed as they were, simply weren't up to the task, and own efforts at a block only managed to knock it off course. The heavy metal winged her jaw, sending a spike of pain and numbness through her entire face, and Narri stumbled backwards accordingly. Surprisingly, when she managed to open her eyes again, she saw that Halmo'de had stopped there, pausing after delivering the blow. So they were done then.

Good, she felt like crap, and Halmo'de looked like crap. Plus, they'd each landed some solid hits, and while Narri was fairly confident as to her eventual victory, it was perhaps better this way. Still, it was good to know that she wasn't outclassed in any way, she never had been one to due a lot of training, and it was even better to know she had someone to count on in a fight. Narri flexed her jaw in a few yawn like maneuvers, taking a deep breath before grinning at the other exile. Smirking, the red Twi'lek spoke, "I hope that told you something about me, I know I learned a few things."


@Gian Greydragon