[NABOO] Learning the arts of defense and Jedi Phylosophy

[Maze Tru]

Maze walked around the city for hours. Everything he saw brought him an immense wonder. Despite his short stop in Nar Shaddaa, nothing he'd seen in his life had match Naboo's beauty and size. It awed him. Dantooine, even with it, vast and beautiful grass lands, paled in comparison to one of Naboo's city.

Without realizing it, he made his way all the way to the edge of the city. While walking down a side street, Maze noticed a path between to building. The sun light full the path, and as his looked, it giving him a warm, inviting feeling. He hesitated for a second, but the words of the old man float forward in his mind.

"Your feels are connected to the force, and the force to you. Follow where the force leads you. And you won't be steered wrong.", he once said, and Maze started down the path. A little ways down the path, a short wall appeared. Upon reaching the wall, a view like nothing Maze had seen spilled out in front of him.

"A Forest.", he said to himself. Luscious green tree top spanned for kilometer after kilometer, and in the distance a mountain. It snow cap top touched the clouds in the sky like fingers dipping into a river. Maze turned his a head and saw the top of a flight of stone steps leading down to the forest. His feet start moving before he consciously made the decision. He took the steps three or four at a time. His boots barely making contact with the stone. The hood of his jacket bounced on his back when it did. A real forrest, he had only seen pictures in a old dust book his father use to have. It was long gone now, but not forgotten. When he reached bottom he continued a his run toward the edge of the forest. He stop short of the first tree, it's truck was massive. He stuck out a hand and touched the bark, it felt thick and rough to his palm. But oddly different, it was nothing like he expected. He walked to another tree, touched it, and then another. He realized, after a time, that he could feel the trees life force through his hand. Subtle to the touch, but there. Nothing like touching stone or metal. The pulse of life was around him and Maze started tapping into it. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate like the old man had taught him. Little by little he awareness grew. He felt the tree a soft beat filled his consciousness from his surround. Soon he notice something, something moving with a faster beat, farther into the forest. Something was out there, he tried to make sense of it by he was to far away.

Maze open his eye, and licked his lips. His mind has been spilt on what to do. His curiosity demand to go find out what exactly that was. His caution told him, he might regret it. In the end curiosity won out.

"N-nothing ventured, n-nothing g-gained", he said to himself. The old man use to say to him when ever he has a task or a challenge for him. The last time was before he set off to Naboo. The time before that, Maze almost lost two fingers to a gor hound.

Half an hour later he spotted a clearing in the forest and the source of his curiosity. A gunship had land in the clearing with several people around with what looked like...

"Lightsabers", he said as he crouched to the ground. He pulled out his own lightsaber from a pocket on the inside of his jacket. Naboo was suppose to be a safe planet for the Jedi. But after what happen on Nar Shadaa, he wanted to be prepared, just in case. He looked around him no one was in sight so he carefully moved towards the clearing. When he was fifty meters away he let out a sigh of relief. From what he could tell they were Jedi. A couple around his age, And one at lest twelve centimeters taller the him. His posture relaxed and he put away his lightsaber. They looked like they were training, as the big one, who he assumed was the master, watched on. He closed the distance another thirty meters and stopped. They looked to be of what looked like soresu training. Only they had some sort of droid shooting at him instead of the rock he got pummeled with. To enter now might break their concentration so he stood behind a tree, and watch in silence. It looked to be coming to an end soon anyways.

 

[Sirocco]

As the remotes stopped, Raleigh nodded in approval as they had proven to have an ability to focus and surpass their limits to step into a greater world. Having seen their application of Soresu as they defended against the progressive fire of the remotes, he saw and noted their applications to be surprisingly focused for their first hours although they did retain the sloppiness of beginners. Raleigh knew that with honing their skill in their ability and then learning to apply it as a support for their chosen discipline that their skill would only increase. Their experience in lightsaber combat showed in their ability to understand and apply what was lectured to them but that did not excuse for them to abandon practice in their skill. with practice, they would learn to tighten their ability and even apply it into their blade work with relative ease.

Jade proved to be the more skilled in her application but it was understandable that she felt at home with the skill thanks to her life long force sense and skill in Niman. Her second nature skill, no doubt on par with most knights, allowed her an edge in applying the core roots of Soresu as her inner power was already strong and honed to the point of almost seeming like she was born to at least learn Soresu as a support form for her specialization. Her skill in Niman also gave her a familiarization with Soresu as Niman adopted core tenants of form III into the blade work as well as other forms to a basic level. With strong roots in Niman's understanding of Soresu and her second nature senses made Jade a true prodigy of the form and even if she did not devote to master Soresu, she would have a powerful and near unbreakable hold of the basics.

Jax's application of Soresu had improved very well which hopefully showed a sign of relinquishing is pure offensive mentality Ataru specialists normally became enslaved to. Ataru was a an aggressive form with too many weaknesses for it to be considered a viable form to use by itself and in many manuscripts of the jedi, it had been stated that Ataru was in a way incomplete to a point of view. Although application with any other defensive form was viable like form I,V and VI, Ataru's initial and most well known completing form was Soresu just as Jedi Master Obi-Wan saw more then a thousand years before. In a point of view, Ataru was the sword to the shield that was Soresu and both forms complemented perfectly as Raleigh would surely explain after this.

Shard's growth in Soresu was unexpected but admirable as his application with Soresu, with a hilt never meant for blaster deflection due to the weird angles it placed the blade in, showed his mastery with the blade. Having obviously listened and even gone beyond application to sheer innovation, he thought himself the basics of mastering the curved hilt's weaknesses. His application of the form showed his familiarity to the hilt and his open mind to accepting new techniques and even working around his weaknesses just as count dooku and even darth vaded did but in different senses. Ashard sure showed promise as a duelist if he kept and open and innovating mind.

Before he could continue, he was unwittingly interrupted by the feeling in the force as he sensed Maze watch them from afar causing him to pause for a second. Sensing his nature, Raleigh simply continued as he gave him the choice to approach or stay away as he pleased wile putting all his attention on his class. Ready to lecture, Raleigh was mainly focusing on Jax as he wanted to stimulate acceptance and innovation with the padawan just as Obi-Wan did.

"Very good padawans! You have demonstrated leaps and bounds in your improvement of the form. Seeking to master this form or to simply apply its basics into your preferred blade work, know to train and meditate often as this is the most inner most and spiritual of the lightsaber forms. As you hone your skill in the lightsaber, know to not rely on form or the other but to apply all forms into one just as Master Obi-Wan did in his time. He was a master of Soresu that applied it to its greatest degree wile applying his mastery of Ataru when ever Soresu offered an opening. As you study lightsaeber combat, I ask you to do as Obi-Wan did and let your skill become second nature to the point of switching between forms by will and application. I understand you are an adept Ataru duelist Jax? know that Ataru holds crippling weaknesses in its wild and none existent defense in favor for an overwhelming offence. Wile it is true that sometimes the best defense is an overwhelming offence, you will find that your application will simply not be enough making you helpless against some one you simply cant overwhelm. With Soresu, you will not only have a viable form to conserve your energy but you will also have a response for when your offence is simply not enough or when Ataru's dynamics simply tire you out. Obi-Wan knew this and learned to know when to defend and outlast an opponent and when to overwhelm when he saw a gap in the attack of the opposition. Shard, you will be able to strengthen your defense and Makashii's weaknesses with Soresu. Aim to master Soresu or hold it as another skill to apply to your tool box, I see all options as viable and true so you cant possibly go wrong."

Before thinking it to be time for them to learn to use Soresu in lightsaber combat, Maze finally chose to approach respectful. Turning around to meet Maze, Raleigh flashed him a welcoming smile "good day padawan, I believe I never met you before. come join us!"

 

[Undine]

Listening to Raleigh as he spoke of their development in the form, Jade couldn't help but to consider her own applications of lightsaber combat while Raleigh continued to speak of ancient Jedi Masters and the form Ataru. Her blending of a defensive bladework and Force abilities made for a more Force-centric and less discipled version of Soresu's core philosophy. Her inborn ability in Force Sight only furthered her defensive abilities by ironically eliminating any and all blind spots, not to mention her utilization of Teräs Käsi as her primary method of attack. Her unique blending of these combative forms while highly atypical was almost ingenious if used properly. Even at such a level of ability as her own in the various skills she had managed to blend them in such a way that made her capable of taking on much more skilled opponents with only moderate difficulty. She was small, lean, and held an air of meditative wisdom beyond her age, but underneath she had slowly forged herself into a proper dualist, so far with minimal guidance from proper instructors. With such guidance one could only imagine where her development of this skillset would go in the future.

When Raleigh called out to someone in the distance Jade automatically became defensive as a chill went down her spine. Whoever this newcomer was, he was beyond the 15 meter field of vision that her Force Sight gave her and had been spying on them. In the tiny universe that was her awareness this potential threat was in the black void of the unknown that was everything else in the galaxy. Reassurance fell upon Jade's tightened back muscles as she heard Raleigh call him a padawan. Her grip on her training saber loosened as the older padawan breached the barrier of her Force Sight. Instantly she knew everything about him form an exterior point of few. Regardless of the complete lack of a personal connection to this padawan, Jade made sure to add his Force signature to the growing number of people she considered her family. Afterward she awaited Raleigh's further instruction.​