Upping the Anté (J'ktal)

[James Prent]

../send.to/..//..personal.comm.2138591..//..jktal.a..//..transmitting..//..
J'ktal,

I know you are a busy man, although perhaps not as busy as you'd like, lately. I was wondering if you could meet me in combat room 915 to give me some pointers on bladed combat. There isn't anyone better than you that I am aware of, and learning from a lesser teacher would not help me in the way I need.

I was recently beaten in combat by a greater opponent, and, had I been alone, I would have surely died and failed my mission. I do not want this to happen again. If you can help me, please reply to comm #2543987.

James Prent
..//..ending.transmission..//..

She'd felt a little audacious as she sent the message to the Death Shadow, but as she waited for a reply her confidence waned. James might have been a Jedi Knight, but her abilities had been severely tested on Duros, not to mention that her self-assurance had been shattered.

After a sabbatical on Yavin IV, she was ready to dive into training her padawan Iaura, and get some more training herself. Learning more about the lightsaber, and other bladed weapons seemed to be a driving force behind her, and to learn from someone other than the best would have been terrible. Her opponent was skilled, vastly skilled, in the Force and in all kinds of combat.

After lunch, James sat down in her room and checked her messages.

[J'ktal Anajii]

Were he still on Nehantish, had had recieved such a page, J'ktal would have simply deleted it and forgot it ever came. But on Coruscant, he was bored.

Since his return from Yavin, he had neglected to inform his superiors that he was back in a civilized and urban area, and had recieved no jobs from the N.I.S.C., which was wearing him thin. The gray mongoose, even on vacation, often found a way to go on a hunt, or take down a target or do... something related to his profession. There was little worse than a Death-Shadow with nothing to do.

Moments after the page was recieved, he replied with a brief, "I will be there. Do not be late."

The gray mongoose did not dissapoint, arriving precicsely at the time James had reserved. Dressed in his black and crimson, sleevless, bodysuit-like training uniform, he cut an imposing figure, and he carried a long, cylindrical case under his left arm. "You said in your message you were interested in learning the blade. How serious are you?" his cold voice cut the air like a knife, ripping straight to the point with no formality or friendly greeting. As he waited for an asnwer, he set his large case down on a table, and then rolled out his shoulders, his tail flicking subconsiously behind him.

[James Prent]

James stood loosely near the center of the room as the Nehantite enteres the room. She remained there, keeping an almost wary eye on the male mongoose as he laid out a long case on the table. "I am very serious about learning as much as I can."

She was wearing leggings and tunic, belted with a thin obi. There were thin, supple shoes on her feet, and she felt very small. She inhaled quietly as J'ktal twitched his tail.

[J'ktal Anajii]

The case clasps snapped open as J'ktal pressed his thumbpad against a sensor, and he deftly opened the case, letting it fold out on the table. Inside lay several long items wrapped and tied with silk. With masterful presicion, the mongoose untied their knots and unsheathed the top third of each item, revealing four katanas, two hickory wood bokken, and two straight bamboo staves. His silver lightsaber rested strapped against the side of the case.

"Pick your poison, Miss Prent," J'ktal invited her to choose what form of blade they would use.

[James Prent]

James took a few steps forward, running her fingers almost reverently against the hilt of a katana. The knight picked it up, and held it as she would a lightsaber, testing the weight. It was much heavier than she was used to, and she carefully replaced it on the table. With such sharp blades, she wasn't sure that the Death Shadow would be able to not hurt her.

She breathed in and out through her nose as she hefted one of the wooden katanas. She sort of remembered these being referred to as bokken, but wasn't sure whether that was correct or not. J'ktal smelled of something pleasant, as though he was freshly showered. She looked up at his intent pink eyes, and indicated the bokken in her hand. "I think these'll do me fine, for now."

[J'ktal Anajii]

J'ktal watched with special care as James selected a bokken. He had not expected her to choose a katana, but had he not offered, it would show him to think that she was not ready for them, and that he looked down on her in such a way. Pulling the second bokken from its sleeve, the gray mongoose has no need to test its weight in his paw, or adjust his grip. He simply paced to the center of the room and held his bokken slack at his side, looking more bored than ready.

"Come at me," he commanded, his voice as flat and cold as ever. "Attack me, James, show me what I have to work with, here."

[James Prent]

He was a few paces away, and behind her, but James wasted no time in bringing to fight to him. She turned on the ball of her left foot, bokken held point down in a slightly modified offensive position. J'ktal stood still, arms at his sides, waiting.

Now facing him, she sprinted the few feet to his position, bringing her weapon slightly up to attempt to strike him diagonally across his waist. The girl used one hand on the hilt, and the other against it, steadying her strike. She anticipated some sort of retaliation from him, and so was tensing to repel the counter he would surely hit her bokken with.

[J'ktal Anajii]

The only change to J'ktal's posture while James charge him was a small smile that turned up the corners of his muzzle.

James' strike slammed into his torso, hitting him full strength. The mongoose dropped his right foot back to maintain balance, but was otherwise seemingly unphased. Looking down at his abdomen, then to James, who had passed him in the strike. "Moderate blow, could use some work," he said flatly. "You need to spend more time in the gym. But, now that we have established that I can take a hit, come at me again, the fun begins now."

[James Prent]

James raised an eyebrow at his statement that she should work out more, but had to concede that he was right. She ran five miles every morning, and had the long, lean muscles of a runner, but she was lacking in brute strength. She spun the bokken in her hands, getting it back into the position she wanted, as she turned to face him once more.

They were much closer together this time, and so no running start was required. James wondered fleetingly if she could take a hit, and decided she didn't want to find out. Bokken were not like lightsabers, a hit wouldn't slice her in half, but getting used to the wooden blade bouncing off her was not going to prepare her for a real fight. The wooden weapon held point up and out, the knight stepped forward as she weilded it two-handed, putting her weight behind a strike at the mongoose's left shoulder.

[J'ktal Anajii]

J'ktal was a blur of motion as he whipped his bokken around to deflect James' strike, and then stepped in and behind her while pivoting on the ball of his footpaw to deliver a flat blow aimed ar the side of her rib cage.

James had some decent skill, but he could alreay tell she needed some work. At least she wasn't as bad as some of the Death-Shadow intitates he had been put in charge of training the last time he was on Nehantish. Though at least there he didn't get in trouble for putting some of them in the infirmary after the first lesson. Something he did with surprising liberality.

[James Prent]

He'd blocked her strike, but James didn't figure the right angle in time to twist and block his blow on her side. Her bokken did just barely catch the tip of his, softening the blow a tiny bit. She finished her twist, facing him, and smacking the opposing bokken away from her side.

As he brought his weapon back in she blocked another lightning quick strike, and put her hand in the center of her bokken, angling the handle in for a crack on J'ktal's collarbone.

[J'ktal Anajii]

James' blade angled off his own like a lever on a fulcrum, aiming toward his neck. But, as with any simple machine, when the variables were changed, the outcome was deeply affected.

J'ktal yanked his sword sideways parallel with hers, destroying her angle of attack, and let his left paw slide up his blade to catch hers halfway and grip it, yanking it out toward his left while he drive the flat of his pommel into her stomach.

"Too close. This is a long weapon, don't try to get short range out of it," he cautioned his sparring partner as he stepped back, pulling his bokken away so she could regain her breath.

[James Prent]

James blinked hard, mouth gaping as she drew air back into her lungs. Her bokken was in her hand again, although the point touched the ground in front of her as she nodded and rasped, "Understood..."

Her lungs reinflated, and she steadied her stance once more. Both hands on the pommel of her bokken, James drew it point up. It was almost the same weight as a lightsaber, and so her arms were still fresh and ready to go. The knight pressed the attack once more, focusing more on trying to score a hit on the Death Shadow than on the futility of her task.

She feinted right, and then followed through on the same angle, hoping he'd anticipate her to go left and try to hit his right side.

[J'ktal Anajii]

The resounding *clack* of wooden swords echoed throughout the training room as J'ktal allowed James to chase him in circles. He fell for none of her tricks, but was playing pure defense. His movements were quick and calculated, each in a pattern of stored movesments and techniques. Finally, when James began to figure it out, J'ktal rushed her, driving her blade to the side with both paws on his own, then releasing his right paw as he shoved in, placing his spread-fingered paw on the base of her stomach and pushing ahrd, lifting James from the ground, then slamming her onto the floor, his wooden blade at her throat.

"Never, ever think that the blade in your opponent's hand is their only weapon," he hissed, his eyes a very cold shade of pink.

[James Prent]

Out of breath for the second time in five minutes, James waited a moment before putting one finger on the wooden edge and lightly pushing up. J'ktal backed off a bit and she drew herself up in a crouch. "Well, then, if that's th' way it's gonna be."

She refused to let the icy gleam in his eyes disconcert her as she brushed herself off, and then she attacked once more. This time she grabbed the Death Shadow with the Force, yanking him forward into the path of her bokken.

[J'ktal Anajii]

His bare footpaws slid across the smooth floor momentarily, and his bokken wheeled around to try and knock James's out of the way until he realized what was happening.

A ripple appeared in the air before him, and J'ktal came to a halt, still a few paces from his opponent. The ripple flew towards James with terriffic speed, but disicntegrated just as rapidly, ending up as only a faint breeze upon the knight's face. J'ktal remained still, staring James directly in the eye.

[James Prent]

James blinked as the air lightly touched her face, and frowned. "That's a different technique than I've seen before." She placed one foot in front of the other, and bent the knee, thrusting one end of her bokken upwards at him. She was not close enough to hit him, but instead only showed her willingness to continue the spar.

"What did you do?"

[J'ktal Anajii]

His left paw lifted to straighten one of the twin locks of headfur at the front of his face which had been mussed by the wind. When he was satisfied he looked good again, he replied, "You believed I should come toward you. I believed that would be dangerous for me, so I dedided not to go. My desire to stay unhit was greater than your desire to hit me. I won." With a simple shrug, he lunged back into the fight with a swift strike that smacked hard against the end of James's bokken.

[James Prent]

The bokken vibrated from the strike, and James quickly moved forward, the two beings switching sides of the room as the wooden staves clacked from her defense. The Knight grunted as he narrowly missed her midsection, and took a step backwards.

"So you just believed it and -" she used her height to try and get inside his reach to score a hit on his chest with her bokken, "and you negated my pull on you?"

[J'ktal Anajii]

"Exactly," J'ktal replied while angling away from her attack, though he felt the air move around the tip of her blade, she had come so close.

"You Jedi believe so much that the Force does exactly what you want it to, that you forget that others might not desire the same results," he elaborated.

[James Prent]

She continued to work her way forward, causing the mongoose to step backward as she pressed the attack. The sound of their bokken striking was the only sound for a few moments.

James blocked a strike from his bokken, and then angled up and inwards, attempting to get a hit in underneath his arm. "An interesting phil-" blocked expertly by J'ktal, she spun away and slashed at the other side of his body, "-osophy. Maybe -"

He blocked again, and she gritted her teeth as the vibrations in the wood made her hands feel a bit numb. "Maybe we can take some time t' look at that tech-" she stepped back and then lunged inward, taking the risk of leaving her flank exposed while perhaps gaining that illusive first hit on the mongoose, "-nique from another angle!"

[J'ktal Anajii]

The Death-Shadow's blade grazed her side, but not before James's blade-tip caught him in the ribs. Each of them paused, holding their positions to see who was the winner.

"You scored a lethal hit," he finally announced, drawing back and smoothing his sleeveless shirt. "My hit would have given you a flesh wound--which, while, possibly lethal from blood loss, would not have killed you as fast as yours would have killed me. Good show, you are learning."

Folsing his bokken under his arm, J'ktal asked, "What did you mean when you said we ought to take a look at my technique from a different angle? While I am free to share a great deal of things I have learned in my training, there is some knowledge that is strictly limited to the Death-Shadow Corps."

[James Prent]

James carefully imitated his pose, tucking her bokken under her arm as well. "I don't want you to tell me Death Shadow secrets, I just think that you're..." she paused, looking for the right words.

"You're using the Force instinctively. If I could get another look at what you're doin', maybe I can figure it out myself." She fingered the 'hilt' of the bokken, and added, "But not if you're not willing. It's just that I've never seen the Force used like that, and I'd like to study it a bit."

[J'ktal Anajii]

A dramatic break from character, J'ktal laughed and shook his head, looking amost boyish, somethign he seldom did even in his youth. "Your stance," he pointed out. "You do not have to do that. This is jsut a random 'non-sparring' stance, nothing important. Be comfortable between spars, not stiff."

As if to illustrate, he swung his bokken around loosely and held it by its center laxly at his side, and shifted his weight to one leg, throwing his hips akilt. His face sombered once more, but still remained somewhat pleasant, the mongoose looked toward a rack on the wall containing weightlifting equipment. "There, that rack, the barbells on the bottom. You try using the Force to bring them to you. I will see if they think they ought to stay where they are. I prefer not to experiment with odd powers using my own body if I do not have to."

[James Prent]

She flushed pink as he laughed, but managed a chuckle at herself as he switched to a much more relaxed pose. Turning her attention to the barbells, she chewed on her lower lip a bit as she contemplated the bottom ones.

The ones on the bottom were the heaviest, she knew that much, but put that out of her mind as she concentrated on them. They rattled a bit in their rack, but she refined the technique and began lifting them up.

[J'ktal Anajii]

J'ktal didn't even look at the barbells. He hadn't picked them because they were heavy, simply because they were an easy-to-see item that was resting ont he floor.

He could hear the stacked plates clanking as it lifted slowly, but he felt the reverberating clang as it crashed back to the floor, inanimate once more. And it would not move. It could not move. Inanimate objects do not move of their own accord, he was quite certain of it, and he asserted his belief upon the weights, and they believed he was right.

"Are you beginning to understand?" he asked, looking at James while rubbign the handle end of his bokken idly.

[James Prent]

She felt the pressure of the Force, pushing the barbells back down, but as she looked at J'ktal he didn't seem to be doing anything. Slightly frustrated when the barbells crashed to the ground, she tried to tug them back up, only to fail for no apparent reason.

"I think... I think I'm beginnin' to see." She looked at him, really looked at him, and nodded. "Yeah, I think I am."

Her chrono beeped, and she looked down at it. "Oh, I have to get goin'. Thank you so much for your time... Sorry to just run out like this." James held her bokken with both hands, looking for where to put it.

[J'ktal Anajii]

J'ktal's left eyebrow sunk a millimeter, as it always did when he was annoyed, but other than that he displayed any emotion at all, merely holding out his paw to take the bokken from James.

"Go then, we can continue this sometime later," he said, "Appointments are important to keep."

Nodding goodbye, J'ktal watched James exit, then slid his paws down to grip each bokken by the handle, and set into series of kata he had half-created as a method to relieve stress, and perfect intricate form. The physical can always overcome the mental, should the mind let the body take over.

[James Prent]

James could tell he was ticked off, and she meekly handed him back the bokken before gathering up her things and nearly running from the room. She did want to continue their talk, but she was going to be late for a chat with Master D'an about diplomacy and negotiations.

He'd just have to live with her smell - she didn't have time to shower.