The Toughest Run

[Zeke]

Zeke stretched out in front of the Living Quarters door. He'd spent alot of time in the jungles lately, and had found the most wicked obstacle course. It was the most perfect test of his natural level of skills, as well as his Force boosting. Now he awaited others to join him in his endeavor.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah had never had the occasion to really meet Zeke before, and when he saw the padawan apparently stretching out in front of the living quarters, the brown mongoose decided that it was better late than never to introduce himself. And perhaps join Zeke on whatever activity he was goign to do. Sejah had slacked off in his excercises, so he knew he needed to do something.

Clad in simple trousers and a long shirt with his belt wrapped around it, Sejah padded over to Zeke and paused to adjust his sandal strap before giving a slight wave hello. "Hi, Zeke, right? I'm Sejah, don't think we've really met before. What's up?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked out his window and noticed Zeke preparing for something. Sejah joined him and Wei was instantly curious. Wei opened his window and jumped down to where they were.

"What a trip!" He said, after landing lightly on his feet. "What are we going to do?"

[Zeke]

Zeke finished his stretches and rolled his neck to loosen it.

"Yep, I'm Zeke. And you're Sejah, right?"

Wei landed nearby.

"I found a sort of natural obstacle course out in the jungle. To run it will require some Force skill. Think you're up for it?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Bring it on." Wei always appreciated a chance to practice his skills.

[Sejah Haversh]

Force Skill? Sejah wasn't sure he could handle that, havign had little training so far. But, he didn't want to look afraid, so he decided he would do his best and try anyhow.

With a smile only a beast with a muzzle could pull off, the mongoose replied, "Yeah, I'm Sejah. Hi, Wei, how's it going. I'll give this course a shot, too, thogubh I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with you guys."

[Zeke]

"I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep in touch with the Force and you'll be okay. Let's go. It starts off easy, but it'll get much harder!"

Zeke started at a light jog, making his way out to the lake at a leisurely pace. A set of waterboards were laid across the far end. As the waterboards were stepped on, they sank, and if the runner didn't stay ahead, he'd fall in. Zeke zipped across the waterboards with relative ease, then turned back to the others who were waiting on the opposite shore..

"Here's your warm-up! After this, it gets tougher!"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled. "Sure thing, Zeke!" Wei remembered the last time he had chased someone across a body of water. It had been with his Master, Navaria.

Wei laughed and took off, channeling all of the Force he could into increasing his speed. Wei didn;t use the boards, but instead ran across the water, like he had done before. He stopped on dry alnd and turned to Zeke. "What next?"

[Sejah Haversh]

Takign a deep breath, Sejah bucked up his courage and sprinted out across the boards after Wei had so flagrantly displayed his superiority in not needing them.

The mongoose focused only on what was ahead, never lookign down as his footpaws found unsteady footing on the waterboards. Had it not been for years of balance training in his fencing school, Sejah probably would ahve found himself int eh deep water, but miraculously he made it across, thoguh nearly ditching into the water on the last board.

Grateful that he made it that far, Sejah breathed a bit hard to quell his excitement in having traversed the boards as he said, "That was fun, what next?"

[Zeke]

"Green monkeys."

The confused look on their faces begged explanation.

"There's these green monkey-lookin' things that throw stuff at you when you enter their territory. Almost as fast as blasterbolts."

Zeke took off running, putting a little Force into his actions as he weaved through the trees. He came across a moss covered log, the border of the creatures' territory, then bounded over it. He ducked as a fruit came whizzing by, then turned to the side as another flew toward his chest. He maintained his forward motion, but going was slow. He spun to dodge two more projectiles and check on his friends.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei followed Zeke, tuning in on the Force. Wei's foot slipped, and he sensed a fruit coming at him. Wei's hand snapped up and caught it. Free food. Wei blessed his lucky stars and kept on running.

[Sejah Haversh]

Once more Sejah took up the rear, and had to follow two good acts. Checking the straps on his sandals, the mongoose took a moment to limber up before launching into his fastest run.

If there was a saving grace to that run, it was natural speed and reflexes. Mongooses usually weren't all that strong, but they were fast, and very agile. His footpaws beat across the terrain in a blur of motion, sometimes weaving mad crossteps to avoid an obstacle, and at one point he launched himself off a fallen log to clear a pile of brush and bracken. The monkey-like things seemed to take little interest in him, probably having thrown most of their ammunition at Wei and Zeke, but some fruit still dod come flyign his way.

It was all he could do to avoid the occasional amubshes, and one came as close as to brush trough some of the loose fur on his tail as he went by. He could see Wei in the distance ahead, and realize that he himself was going slower than they were. Tappign a reserve, the Nehantite's eyes shifted form their normal pink to red as he exerted himself to go faster.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked at his hand. It stung from where he had caught the fruit.

"Like firing laserbolts indeed."

Wei bit into the fruit. Delicious.

[Zeke]

"They throw some half eaten stuff, so be careful." With Sejah and Wei caught up, Zeke picked back up, moving toward the edge of the monkeys' territory: a cliff wall. A felled, limbless tree stuck up over the edge. Zeke jumped onto and ran, almost a straight vertical drop, down the trunk, then jumped to where a tree was now being supported horizontally by other foliage and ruins. It still had some of its limbs, and Zeke jumped and dodged around them as best he could.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei let Sejah go before him. He didn;t want to choke on his snack. Wei munched on the fruit, taking his time until Sejah passed. That woul dprobably a matter fo seconds, but all the same...

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah came to a screeching halt as he saw the clif fall away in front of him. Pausing at the edge, he looked down to see of there was any way he could just jump, but it was too high for that, beign at least forty feet.

Had Wei not been there witign for him to go first, the mongoose probably would have taken the tiem to come up with a better plan, but, under pressure to not look less skilled in his training, Sejah became stupid. Taking a deep breath, he approached the fallen tree and climbed onto it, then let go with his paws to start his descent.

His sandals slid quickly down the barkless trunk, and when he reached the halway point, Sehjal tucked up and pushed off as hard as he could, launchign himself into the branches of a fir tree. With his eyes shut as not to get any thign in them, the mongoose grappled witht eh mess of boughs before finally getting a hold on one, and jerking his arm int eh process. Openign his eyes, he looked back to see the hole through the branches he had made, and then looked down to the gorund below. It was only seven feet away, so he let go of his branch and dropped to it. It was certainly going to be the least graceful of the three descents, but, at least he had made it alive, and without breakign anything. Though his left arm ached...

[Zeke]

Zeke jumped down to the forest floor through a hole in the tree, landing next to Sejah. The two kept up their pace; Wei was capable of catching up.

"You alright there?"

[Sejah Haversh]

Holdign his shoulder as he rolled his arm out, the Nehantite then cricked his neck and looked to Zeke. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just botched the landing was all."

Truthfully, it was his pride that was hurt more than his arm, but he didn't want to admit that. Stepping out from under the tree, Sejah looked up the cliff to see how Wei would descend it. However he would do it would surpass Sejah's attempt, though he really hadn't done all that bad on his own.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled. Zeke was the only one who hadn;t improvised and gotten hurt. Zeke was good. Wei slid down the tree trunk and decided to weave throught the branches as Zeke had. Then, following Sejah's example, Wei jumped before the tree ended and landed on a branch. Wei jumped from branch to branch until he caught up with Sejah and Zeke.

"Some run, Zeke! This IS a test of Force skill." Wei jumped down and ran alongside his friends.

[Zeke]

"It gets better. Coming up is a place where a storm blew some trees over. Makes a loop. It'll take some monstrous speed, so start boosting now."

Zeke suited actions to words and put some Force into his running. Up ahead he could see the broad trunks that began the loop.

[Sejah Haversh]

Boost? Sejah thought to himself, I never learned how to do that. Garfife, why did I have to do this run...

Shaking his head, the mongoose rolled out his shoulder and as Zeke launched into his run, Sejahstarted after him. It was only moments before Wei and Zeke were ahead of him, running faster than he ever could, but he didn't give up, he was too stubborn.

the two others had allready dissappeared from sight as Sejah came into view of the looping tree. There was no possible way he could make the loop on current speed, so his mind jumped into overdrive as he approached. The loop was like that of an arcade racing game, just a loop that continued on straight. A determined smile spread across his face as he concentrated and put everything he had into his run.

He was nearly to the start of the loop's ascension, but instead of followign it, he jumped to his right, and landed ahead on the closure of the loop on the other end. Sometimes a keen mind could make up for a lack in skills. Having bypassed the loop, the mongoose continued on, hoping to find the others soon.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled, and concentrated the Force into his running. HIs martial arts training helped his concentration tremendously. Wei overtook Sejah and ran the loop with ease. Sejah jumped over and landed next to Wei.

"Nice trick. I wonder what's coming up next?

[Zeke]

Zeke flew through the loop.

"Got reflexes? The next part is tricky."

The loop ended in a steep ramp, the remains of a temple. Zeke flew off the end, past some hanging vines and jumped off the edge, barely making a pillar some twenty feet away. There was a path marked with stones on the ground, and pillars stood at intervals on either side. Zeke now jumped from one pillar to the next. He could jump to the ground and run, but it was a good 30 foot drop to the stone path.

[Sejah Haversh]

Again, Sejah had to improvise. There was no way he'd make it across the gap, and he knew it. Still, he ran up to the edge of the rap where he leapt out and snagged one of the vines in his paws. Swinging out on it, then back, the mongoose loosened his grasp and controlled a slide down the vine until he finally let go and dropped gracefully to the floor.

From there it was a simple challenge of running along the worn stone floor blocks to the other end of the temple where the pillars ended.

With a smile, the Nehantite reached the end of the pillars before Zeke did, and he rested against the last one, glad to have been the first that time.

[Zeke]

Zeke jumped, flipping twice before landing in a crouch near Sejah.

"Nice one. Sure beat the pants offa me. Now if Wei will catch up, we continue into the temple..."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled and decided to try jumping the space this time. Wei crouched low and jumped with all him might, just barely missing the other side. Wei grabed on to the ledge and pulled himself up.

"Well, how was that?"

[Zeke]

Zeke turned and ran into the temple. the main chamber was obstacleless, but the hall beyond was circular, and twisted and turned at odd times and angles. Zeke rounded a corner only to find a pile of debris in his way. through Force speed he ran up on the wall and dodged.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii was resting within the ruins, before going out again on his wanderings. Noticeing the padawans, he waved.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei saw Oishii and waved. Coming upon the debris, Wei hit it with a Force boosted punch, clearing the way. Wei was intent on exercising all of him, not just his legs.

[Yasashii Mikan]

Yasashii and his brother had been out, one of their many dueling exercises, and had stopped in the temple corridor to rest. The padawans blew by fast as blasterbolts, rounding a corner ahead.

"Whooo, doggie, look at 'em go."

[Sejah Haversh]

Then came Sejah, running as fast as a normal atheltic man could. Instead of dodging the debris, he vaulted over what he could, and climbed what he couldn't when there was no other way around.

He was fast looking like a beginner untrained int eh Force, but, he would not give up, no matter how much his pride already stung. Leaping off a tall pile of stone, he landed squat in front of Oishii, gave him a quick nod, and then pushed off to sprint ahead again. Zeke and Wei were no longer in sight, and he knew they would ahve to wait for him again.

[Zeke]

Zeke burned off his excess speed by running along the walls and ceiling. Sejah was behind again...he slowed to his normal pace and waited for Sejah to catch up. He was no knight, and he wasn't Sejah's master, but he could try and help as best he could.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei noticed Zeke slow down and jumped over him so as not to run into him. "What's up? Where is Sejah?"

[Gibbon Meffoon]

-edit- Oops, heh, logged in as the wrong character...

[Sejah Haversh]

It took a while, but Sejah finally caught up with his running partners, beginning to show signs of weariness. But he still ran all the way up to them, and tried to look as if he was unphased. "So, what's next on the list of obstacles?" he asked, clappign his paws together and holding them there.

[Zeke]

"Next? Well, this ends at the top of the temple. Then from there I set up a line back to a cliff overlooking the lake. We take the line back, drop in the water, swim to shore and leg it back to GJO."

Zeke paused, then spoke again.

"Sejah, did you learn Force boost yet?"

[Sejah Haversh]

His breathing a bit harder than normal, Sejah replied, "No, haven't learned hardly anything yet. But I can handle it, trust me. I've gone through harder runs before." With a quick smile, the mongoose decided to gien the others a bit of a surprise. He took off first.

The beating of his sandals off the stone floor echoed through the temple walls, and he vaulted a fallen pillar with ease. Master Rej had tought him well in his younger days, and had always stressed strength and dexterity. It was paying off, but he was also glad that Rej had tought him mental discipline. As he reached the end of the Temple run, he spotted the line that Zeke had strung. There were no convenient ropes or reel runners, so, once more, Sejah improvised.

An iron bar left over from when the temple was orginally constructed stuck out form a block of stine where it haf been used as an anchor pipe. Gripping one end of it, the mongoose strained as hard as he could until he bent a decent angle into it. Then, with anothe moderate amoung of work, he yanked it free from its shoddy masonry. Hooking the bent bar over the rope line, he grabbed each side of it with his paws, and then took the step that sent him over the edge. Like a shot he sped down the line, thankfully slowing near the end as the rope dipped under his weight.

When eh was close enough to the water, he let go of one side of his bar and dropped down into it footpaws first; still holdign the bar on one paw so it would not fall and hit him later. The splashdown was less than graceful, but he didn't panic. Clawing his way to the surface after releasing his hold on the bar, he drew in a gaping breath of air and then began a steady stroke toward shore. Behind him he heard another splash, but didn't bother to turn around and see who it was. He was just focused on getting to shore.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei whistled. "Who saw that one coming?" Wei smiled and decided to guess Zeke's next move. Wei kicked off the wall and slid down the line on his feet, taking care to keep his balance as he went faster and faster. At last he reached the water and leaned over backwards, falling in the pool with a dive. Wei came up and started after Sejah.

[Zeke]

Wei had his move down, but not quite. He skidded down it, balancing, until it reached the cliff, then ran down the side, Force-boosting to keep up with gravity. He shot across the lake water and made shore after Sejah, but before Wei.

"Beat me at my own game, ya did. Way to go Sejah," Zeke said, shaking his hand.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei pulled himself out of the water after Sejah. "Yeah. Imagine of you knew how to Force boost. You'd be unbeatable!"

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah was dead tired, the swim had taken most of his remainign energy form him. Still, he climbed out of teh lake and shook off as much as he could before leanign his paws against his knees to catch his breath.

Zeke and Wei were being nice to him, but, they would ahve beaten him through the race had they not slowed to wait for him each time. Still, they were trying to be friendly, and Sej knew that. "Thanks," he said between pants, "But we've still got the run back to the Complex, remember. I doubt I'll be able to beat you in," he panted once more, "that last part."

[Zeke]

"But really the point isn't who finishes first. It's the fact that we finish at all."

He started back to the LQ, feeling guilty for having brought Sejah along on this run.

[Sejah Haversh]

Looking up to Zeke, Sejah stopd up straight and began to follow at a walking pace, "I guess, but, it still is fun to finish first."

Then, tappign whatever energy he had left, the mongoose set himself up into a run, and dashed past the other padawan, grunting with each step as he strived to still take the first place, even though he knew it really didn't matter.

[Zeke]

Zeke resisted the urge to boost himself, running at his natural speed back to the LQ. Maybe he'd buy Sejah a drink or something for going on the run. Oh well, he'd worry about it once the run was over.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei was catching his breath before he started off after them. "I hate wet shoes," he said before running off after them.