Sparring with a Sith Apprentice(open to one challenger)

[Zeke]

Zeke sat silently in an abandoned warehouse atop a stack of old, dusty crates. He had been told that he should seek a Sith Apprentice and challenge him or her to a friendly duel...Like any duel with a Sith would be "friendly"...He had put a message out on the holonet, stating the time and place for the duel. Now, to see if there would be any takers...

[Dark Lady Zena]

Zena navigated around the warehouse till she felt the putrid presence of the Lightsider. Her lips curled into a sadistic smirk as she unclipped her double bladed light saber, 'Rancor's Claw.' The newly promoted Sith warrior peered up at the Jedi Padawan as she grasped the elongated hilt in her right hand.

"You seek a Sith Apprentice in a spar of honor. Well I could use some practice. I shall refrain from severing your head from your overburdened shoulders," she added sarcastically with a wink.

"I am Zena...Once a mercenary with the Red Moons on Tatooine...Apprentice to Sith Master Jedah Lynch. How about a spar with no Force usage? A raw duel of melee combat between two warriors. I have honor...There will be no killing today."

She gestured him down with a wave.

"You intend to clash with blades on those blasted crates?"

[Zeke]

Zeke returned her smirk with his usual happy smile.

"Two blades and no Force? Gosh, you must be terrible at lightsaber duels!"

His voice carried no mocking tone; no malice. He was simply telling it like he saw it. Zeke powered up his saber.

"Actually, these crates are really cool. Check it out."

He leaped down from the stack, his saber high over his head in an overhead cut.

[Dark Lady Zena]

Zena activated her dual saber well before his downward plunge; the twin cores of lava red exited their nesting confines with a buzzing hum. Elevating Rancor's Claw above her head, she stepped aside to her left missing his falling frame, as she shifted the right blade horizontally up over head to snare his single lance, sidekicking him in the chest with her right foot as he met the ground, pivoting her blade downward so she pushed his own blade towards his prone upper torso as gravity slid it down the core. Her arctic blue eyes boiled with rage at his previous remark.

"Underestimating your enemy will lead you to an early grave, Jedi. I employ a dual saber because I am a Sith warrior. It takes honed skills to master this weapon. As for the Force remark, since I am a higher rank, I am more advanced in the use of the Force than you, so was merely making it more a fair fight...But if you so wish it, I can utilize its ominous power against a mere padawan, hence affording you even less an advantage in this spar. Your arrogant tongue will lead you into a real battle someday before your status as a Jedi invokes one. Take heed my warning, and you may survive to Knighthood."

[Zeke]

"Jeez, you coulda just said so. I meant no disrespect."

Zeke rubbed his chest where she kicked him.

"That smarts." He charged, keeping his body low, and at the last moment scuttled around her and delivered his own kick.

"Are all you Sith this arrogant?"

[Dark Lady Zena]

She sensed his movement as she followed his trail 'via the Force,' anticipating the kick from behind as she back flipped over him, following with a half twist, careful of the dual beams upon landing. His foot managed to graze her thigh during the evasion.

"You have much to learn of the Sith young Jedi," she hissed while rotating left, the barbed core of her right lance steered towards his right flank on an upward sweep from behind him.

[Zeke]

Zeke didn't turn around and parried her blade.

"Yeah, I know. But you still didn't answer my question."

Now he spun and brought his lighsaber around in a high strike.

[Dark Lady Zena]

As her right blade was parried out, Zena swung her left blade upwards following the momentum, as she intercepted his blade in an array of luminous sparks, driving his saber far off to her right while she pivoted clockwise 180 degrees, executing a blind backwards thrust, the barbed right core directed to his unprotected lower right rib area.

"Are we hear to fight or debate?!" she sneered, her anger elevating into a volcanic rain.

[Zeke]

Zeke did a split, pancaking to the ground. Her saber hummed through the air where he had been. He brought his legs back together and stood.

"To fight. But I still wanna know, and I won't stop bothering you until you answer me! And while I'm asking you Sith questions, why are you always so angry? Do you just need some good lovin' or what?"

Zeke, being eternally happy, couldn't quite conceive of eternal anger. He didn't attack. She was pretty angry anyways, so he probably wouldn't get the chance anytime soon. It was time to work on his defense.

[Dark Lady Zena]

Zena spun off to her right facing Zeke on an angle following his evasive maneuver. Her eyes fixated on the young Jedi Padawan.

"So inquisitive you are, young one. Perhaps your questions should be addressed to your Master, rather than an enemy. I will tell you this; we feed on the anger and hatred a battle summons, it fuels our power. Dive into the abysmal depths of the Darkside, let it envelope your senses while you feed off its electrifying voltage. I guarantee you the intoxication will be an exhilarating experience."

Zena moved near him as Zeke stood his ground. Her hand slid down his face as she held his throat, but did tighten her grasp.

"You are demanding Jedi, a trait of a Sith. Follow me to your true destiny of the Darkside of the Force."

Releasing Zeke's throat, stepping back a few paces in front of him, Zena swung her right lance towards his left thigh with a simple horizontal slice. She would turn this one, or kill him in the process.

[Zeke]

Zeke jumped the saber.

"I just figure that if you want to learn about something, go directly to the source. Besides, any Jedi I ask will have some sort of bias, and so any information I learn from them will also be biased."

He raised an eyebrow at her as he considered her explanation of the Sith's power.

"Anger and hatred of battle, huh? So...what, you got beat up alot on the playground as a kid?"

Zeke's wit was working especially well today. He had a knack for making fun of his own problems, and for making the problems of others humorous as well. It was one of the many things that kept him happy, and helped him make others happy. This one just didn't wanna laugh.

[Dark Lady Zena]

"You are trying my patience Jedi...I advise you to not push me further."

Zena took a deep breath as she deactivated her dual saber, the lava lances seemingly ingested by both sides of the hilt, as she casually reclipped it to her belt.

Unsheathing her 12 inch Mandalorion iron dagger, she launched it at his chest, at the same time waving a free hand summoning two ample sized crates careening towards both his sides simultaneously with Force born velocity.

[Zeke]

"Hey, you said no Force! Some honor."

Zeke leaned to the side, avoiding the dagger, then cut down the crates she had flung at him.

"Nice try."

[Dark Lady Zena]

"Your incessant folly condones no honor in this battle."

Beckoning her dagger, the hilt greeted her palm as she sheathed it into its scabbard.

"I could exterminate you as you stand. That would denote dishonor, since I agreed to no killing. Howsoever, I am not a blasted training Droid. Fight me or the combat shall get serious; which would be an unhealthy consequence for you...Jedi," she added with a glacial air.

[Zeke]

"Ooh, we're serious now! Not that I haven't been serious...okay, so maybe I've been goofing off alot. Big deal. Now we get down to it before you swallow your morals-if you have any, that is-and kill me."

Zeke lunged with a series of lightsaber spins to draw her attention to it. A sweeping kick took her feet from under her and, with a force-boosted reaction, caught her and shut down his saber.

"Haha! Serious combat!"

He studied the angry, I-cant-believe-his-impudence look on her face.

"Fine, be like that."

He boosted his strength and bodily threw her into a stack of crates.

[Dark Lady Zena]

Contorting in the air, sizing up her tajectory with a practiced eye, Zena landed into the crates without injuring herself, maneuvering in her cradled position which followed with a roll to the side.

"That, is more like it!" she roared at him, ensuing with a broad sinister grin.

"There is much anger in you Jedi, I can feel it churning inside your confounded soul. Join me, follow me to the Darkside of the Force, free yourself of the constricting binds of the Jedi code. The power will lift your soul to astronomical levels."

Getting to her feet, Zena brandished her dual saber once again, igniting the incandescent lava cores casting an eerie red glow on the Sith warrior, illuminating her ominous facade and arctic blue eyes narrowing on her target with merciless intent.

"Now..we shall dance," she declared, eyes widened with the adrenaline of the battle fueling her veins.

Charging her victim, Zena feigned a right over head arc, her right blade descending down towards his left trapezius muscle. While Zeke elevated his saber to counter the blow, she spun right, 90 degrees (1/4 a turn), carrying her left blade in an upwards swing, as it ascended towards his right upper ribs; a lethal stike if not checked in time.

[Zeke]

Zeke caught the fake-out, being a master of such things himself, and parried.

"Where'd you get the anger from? I was joking. I do get a last joke before things get too serious, right?"

The last time he had parried, she had brought her other blade up to strike. Now was no different, and he sidestepped and swung at her open back.

[Dark Lady Zena]

The Sith warrior merely side stepped right, affording more distance between them as she batted his blade effortlessly away with the left blade of her dual saber, the beam transported behind and past her left side, with his blade parried out far to his right. Stepping towards Zeke with her right leg leading, she spun left to face him on an angle, as she lunged at the Jedi with the right core of her saber directed at his midsection in a speedy riposte. With his saber parried far off to his right, he could not employ it in time for a capable defense. Zena was prepared to follow his actions, as the Dark Force guided the barbed lance hungering to pierce his flesh.

[Zeke]

Zeke leaned and twisted, dodging by mere millimeters and swinging wildly up at her. His saber grazed her back, not hurting her, but singing her hair a bit. Using his upward momentum, he stood and planted the back of his other fist into her with Force-boosted strength. He watched her go flying face-first into some crates and smiled.

"I'll mop the floor with you next!"

[Dark Lady Zena]

With a slight wave of her hand, the crates were moved aside by an invisible force. After a roll to cushion the landing Zena rose to her feet, her face contorted into a demonic sneer. The Jedi would learn what it truly would be like to face a Sith Warrior of the Empire. Charging him, she flipped up over the unsuspecting Padawan and twisted as she landed behind him. Pivoting to her left, she side kicked him with Force induced fortitude into the lower back region, which sent him sprawling face down onto the floor. As he was down, she braced her left knee on his back, with her right foot out to her side. The right blade of her saber thrummed by his face casting a crimson hue on the young Jedi's features.

"That was unwise," she declared coldly.

With a mere snap the blade seared his right shoulder, burning flesh sizzling in response. Zena fought the urge to amputate his arm, as her honor dictated she refrain from dismembering him.

[Zeke]

Zeke felt the burning sensation in his shoulder.

"Apparently you feel you should kill me, or at least maim me. I was right...you Sith have no honor."

He fought to keep the pain from his voice. With a push that was all physical strength he threw her off his back, and cut himself some more in the process. He shut down his saber.

"I don't fight spoiled children. We'll declare the match a draw."

Zeke walked slowly out of the warehouse, removing his trenchcoat as he did so. The fight had ruined it; he wouldnt be wearing it anymore...but that was the least of his worries. He'd fought too hard to keep up, and felt physically drained from all his efforts. HOW he'd done it, he'd never know.

"If my luck was stored on a cred card, I'd owe myself luck. Next time, it'll be a different story..."

[Dark Lady Zena]

"You have insulted my honor for the last time, Jedi! If I ever see you again, the battle shall commence as a duel. I guarantee..you won't be so lucky!" Zena bellowed to Zeke.

"You fight a Sith, and yet you expect the temptation to run you through was not with me all the time?"

Zena laughed as she deactivated 'Rancor's Claw,' securing the hilt to her belt.

"Learn you will of us soon enough, Jedi Padawan. By then, your corpse will be a reminder of the power you had carelessly encountered."

Spinning on a heel with a militaristic bearing, Zena exited the area and headed for her ship, 'The Intrepid,' setting course for the Sith Empire.