Prime Example

[Ru the Boatswain]

Every few days there is a small gathering of padawans. Many of them are regulars, returning after relishing in the thrill of combat. Vortigen stands with lightsaber in hand before the few gathered in the room. Every gathering begins with the same speech.

"Jedi, young and old carry a blade. The tool of a Jedi. With it you can stand before an army and be at even odds. Before the Sith you will not be undone. Before me you will have my esteem."

With that he ignites his lightsaber and points to one lone padawan.

"Your name?" It sounds like a order, the Master is a hard man. Being of Lorrd he knows body language, he picks up even the most subtle of movements, every muscle is under his keen eye. Many know this of Lorrdians, but many more do not. Vortigen is a formidable teacher.

 

[DeathToll]

His chin jerked up, lower lip pursed, and chest raised; his fists clenched only as hard as his insides tightened.

"Kemp Aeschylos!"

Barking out his name like an army dog, Kemp was more determined than most. Also, unlike most, Kemp was short and puny. The nineteen-year old looked more like fourteen or fifteen. Wearing all black, a leather-like jacket and boots, except for a gray toned blue tank top underneath. Standing at about five feet four inches, Kemp was a brown haired human with a chip on his shoulder. Looking much like his older half-brother Tristian-Amborse Dario Baptiste, who was a much more accomplished Padawan compared to he, Kemp sought to prove himself the best of all the Jedi!

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

His face tightened a bit and he bellowed back at the padawan.

"Prepare yourself then."

Procedure now was to strip off any cloaks and unnecessary clothing one was wearing. Vortigen was already in simple pants and a shirt of a Jedi Master. He stepped one foot to the padawan and the others stepped away or were guided back by others. The fight would consist of Vortigen's attacks and the padawan's defenses. Vortigen would of course be forced to contain himself and resist using more advanced attacks until the padawan was more skilled.

He would allow the boy to remove his jacket before he would attack. The first strike was rather slow, a kind of strike that asked if his opponent was ready. The polite response was an equally simply attack that Vortigen intended to parry.

 

[DeathToll]

Kemp stripped off his leather jacket, pulling at the open flaps and rolling his shoulders back to release the collar from its tight grip. He tossed it aside almost as a detraction to his right hand's attempt at his training saber hilt at his side. He did this to intimidate, though Kemp failed to see the man before him as very intimidated by Kemp's short and nonthreatening demeanor. Snatching the hilt, it snap-hissed a blue beam out to the side and he brought it over before him with a guiding left palm to his clenching right fist.

And quickly the duel began, though to Kemp's surprise it was not as quick as he would have thought. Clashing a simple block side and attacking out of continuance, Kemp had attacked with a simple swipe that came off of the block naturally; though the respected Jedi Master Vortigen easily did as he pleased with Kemp's response. It would take some serious guile to beat Vortigen with Kemp's skill, and Kemp always saw others as enemies in competition; though he didn't feel any hate for others, he was awfully competitive. It would be a wonder if he managed to contain himself here today..

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

The next attack was faster and stronger, but not by much. It was still a test for the boy, Vortigen was teaching here so he couldn't afford to be too harsh. A side swipe flowing from the wrist which was deflected was followed by a flourish to block the following attack.

Then with new fervor he began his next series of attacks. The first was directed at the padawans blade, he placed considerable strength into the attack in order to force an opening. He spun in a full circle and came around with great momentum at his enemy to follow up. Vortigen would not be caught unaware though; if the padawan were able to evade or counter quickly the Master Jedi would be capable of meeting the strike without breaking his own tempo.

 

[DeathToll]

Allowing his blade to be swept aside, only as far as Vortigen's blade pushed (to be sure), Kemp seemed to have the same idea as the Master. Almost in unison and in crisscrossing movements nearly identical, Kemp spun with the momentum like a fun-house mirror image to Vortigen's to clash blades on the other side as they passed each other and created a similar amount of space between them just as they started. Probably the only reason Kemp was able to keep up with Vortigen with this maneuver, was that Kemp was initially trying to spin faster than the Master; but was obviously not as fast as he hoped, thus spinning just as fast as Vortigen instead.

Kemp heaved a breath, facing the Master on the other side. He was ready.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Their blades clashed and Vortigen was pleased. The padawan had completed a maneuver beyond that of a novice. It was the beginnings of development, time to amp it up a little.

He held his blade against the padawans for a moment, only needing one hand on the blade to match the strength of his opponent. He then gave the blade a little push followed by a large step back. Now it would be Kemp's turn.

 

[DeathToll]

Kemp did not realize how guided he was by Vortigen's movements, and when the Master forced Kemp's blade back - it was like walking, the only thing that followed one step was another.

Kemp had to lean back with the shove, and as Vortigen took a large step back, Kemp launched forward. His right hand on the blade, Kemp looped a two part attack that began low, swooped up to loop back down, and would end low. The first strike, before the loop, contorted his wrist in with an arm bent at a right angle so that the blue beam pointed down. He would lift the upwards slash horizontally through torso and loop around for a hammering downward slice.

Kemp executed this one, two-part, attack as fast as he could; though his speed was nothing compared to Vortigen's. And though it was a matter of impressing the Jedi Master rather than even coming close to besting him, Kemp had it in his head to win!

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Vortigen allowed his combatant to execute his attack with as little interference as possible. The parries could not be called graceful, powerful like the armor of a battleship. The attacks would strike the strongest of arms, Vortigen would stop holding back.

"Graceful flourishes will do little against a Sith fueled by anger. He will strike herd and fast, you will be forced on the defensive. You cannot allow him to gather enough strength and confidence to overwhelm you. Match their strength and their fervor. Now give me a real fight."

As he roared this he struck at his enemy, great speed and strength behind the blow. It was well calculated so as not to harm the boy, but it would put him on his toes. Before he had finished his speech there had been ten strikes thrown out, none of them had any appearance of greatness that a padawan could not put out. These were more though, they carried behind them a weight that was bone crushing.

"Your fuel will be his righteousness, honor, and the force. Any Jedi needs this, the Sith cannot overcome."

 

[DeathToll]

Kemp was caught by surprise, though not restricted to his mistakes as the Master rightfully berated him.

Kemp had no choice but to avoid the first strike of ten, reengaging himself in the punishing battle. His enemy, or rather the Master was forcefully pushing Kemp back with little resistance; so Kemp dropped.

Purposefully interrupting the Master's speech where a pause was already placed, Kemp used his size/speed/relativity to Vortigen to his advantage by dropping under the Master's forward moving weight and cutting up through Vortigen's ankles; spinning around through the sweep to face his enemy once past him, and raising his blade to let finish the rest of the speech.

Kemp was ballsy; disrespectful at times, but ballsy. He was being challenged, and Kemp always met a challenge.

No doubt Master Vortigen was not fazed by Kemp's move. But just the same, Kemp ran in with his saber out front for a quick and powerful blow for his ability.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Vortigen was in no stance to be acrobatic, so he was forced to break from what would usually have been a crushing series of strikes and spinning his blade to deflect the low strike. As the blade met his own he kicked out at Kemp's torso, luckily Voritgen wasn't wearing combat boots.

 

[DeathToll]

Their blades caught. And before Kemp had a chance to rotate out of the strike, Vortigen's foot shot out at Kemp's abs. Reacting quickly, mostly due to their blades meeting prematurely, he managed to avoid the kick with a sloppy twist of his body into a sliding roll. Kemp had instead twisted his body inwards and left rather than the planned right. Vortigen's foot grazed Kemp's side as he slid along his shins and away; rolling onto his back and to his feet a ways away.

Just as Kemp regained his footing in a deep bend of a crouch with his left hand stabilizing the ground before him, him and Vortigen had almost directly crossed paths - giving Kemp a quick beat of time to realize what just happened.