Honing Skills - Kack / Lion

[Dasquian Belargic]

A message had been sent out to Kack Mebuff and Lion El Johnson, two Padawans, that they were two report to one of the small training rooms in the academy immeadiately, by request of there Master. Within the small chamber, the Jedi Knight Dasquian Belargic awaited their arrival.

[Kack Mebuff]

As Kack rose in the morning he noticed there was a message on his commlink.

Kack, come to the training center. - Master Dasquian

He immediately bathed and dressed himself for the day. On the way out the door Kack grabbed his lightsaber.

As he walked through the halls of the Jedi Academy Kack's long brown robe fluttered behind his sturdy frame.

The door to the small training room slid open with a hiss and Kack strode through the door.

In the room was Master Dasquian. Kack walked to his Master and bowed.

"Good morning, Master. It is good to see you."

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion woke up to the noise of his beautiful computer, Delphi, telling him to wake the hell up or he'd be late...

"...for what?"

"A Jedi Knight Dasquian Belargic has asked you to report to one of the academy's training rooms..."

Lion groaned, dragged his feet out of bed, and was halfway through his shower when he realised what he was supposed to be doing...

"Ah, Sh**!!!" he yelled, as he dried his hair and threw on his regular baggy clothing, throwing his cloak onto his back as he ran out the door, grabbing his saber and his hoverboard as he went...he had maybe 6 minutes before he was late...

...hopping onto his hoverboard, Lion began racing through throngs of people...he flew into the acdemy, up four flights of stairs, and into one of the rooms...

...well, he shoulda flown into the room, except the door didn't open fast enough...with a thud that could be heard inside, Lion crashed into the door and landed, sprawled across the floor...several people passing by gave Lion weird looks, but all he wanted to do was lie there until the pain went away...

...then, the door slid open...Lion flipped onto his back and walked in, massaging his head as he bowed...

"Err, hi, Kack...Good morning, Master Dasquian..." he uttered...

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack looked over and chuckled.

"Good to see you Lion," Kack said as he bowed.

"You alright friend?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian bowed to Kack as he arrived, smiling pleasantly. Almost immeadiately his eyes turned to the door as he felt Lion approach, then heard a crash outside - and was greeted with the image of Lion lying on the floor. He laughed quietly and watched as the Padawan rose to his feet and greeted the other two present.

"Good morning both of you, as you both know I have called you here for a bit of training. You are both progressing very well as students of the light, and I have some simple tests for you both to complete this morning."

He stepped backwards and motioned further into the room.

"Arm yourselves. Your first task is to battle."

Kneeling by the wall, Dasquian lifted two small harnesses. They looked fairly plan, aside from the fact that pieces of cloth hung from beneath the arms, on the chest and on the back.

"Strap these on. During the fight, you must remove the tabs of material from your opponents torso whilst still fending them off."

He nodded.

"You may begin."

[OOC: In response to Lion's question, yes you may use sabers.]

[Lion El' Jonson]

"I'm fine, dude..." Lion said as he listened to his task...

Should be fun he thought, as he pulled on one of the harnesses, then adjusted it to fit looser around him...

"Alright, Kack...ready?" he asked, cracking his knuckles and flexing his long fingers....

(ooc: Are we supposed to be using sabers?)

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack strapped the harness on and made sure it was tight. Don't want to be falling out of that.

"Ready ..."

He drew his saber, ready to do battle with the fellow padawan. Kack immediately took a defensive position.

Kack waited patiently for Lion to do the same.

[Lion El' Jonson]

He smiled before reaching into his cloak, and then throwing that aside. Lion thumbed the activation switch on the saber's yellow handle, watching as the bright blue blade lept from the hilt, extending almost two meters out. He twiddled a small switch, adjusting the power supply to a 20th of its normal output, so that he wouldn't accidentally lop Kack's head off if he overswung...Master Dasquian was forgiving, but he doubted that forgiving would cover something like that...

"Alright, dude, ready to do this?" he asked, spacing his feet out in a sword-fighting position that he had learned a long time ago, when he was a mercenary...not that he'd had much use for swords and knives, but they had their uses...

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack extended the purple blade of his lightsaber, ready to duke it out.

Suddenly Kack leapt through the air towards Lion. Sabers clashed in a flurry of concentrated energy. Lion was an experienced fighter, but so was Kack.

As the saber flew around the room Kack saw and opening and booted Lion in the stomach and snatched the piece of cloth off his back when he doubled over.

Kack immediately somersaulted backwards into a defensive position awaiting Lion's attack.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion, from his doubled over position, had a bit of time to think. Using what Master Dasquian had taught him about force jumping, he launched himself forward on his left foot, chopping straight across at Kack's midsection with his long saber...

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack's robes were shredded by Lion's move and a cut became visible across Kack's torso. He cringed at the pain but forced it out of his mind and continued to duel with the other padawan.

Kack flipped towards Lion saber still extended and tried to land a jump kick. However, the other padawan blocked the attack. Kack immediately backed off then charged Lion. Using the Force to add some additional speed to his attack Kack and Lion came to a gridlock of sabers.

Kack leaned into Lion. The other Jedi did the same and was on the recieving end of a head-butt from Kack, knocking Lion backwards.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Ahh!" Lion yelled, as he tried to catch his breath while he flailed backwards...that had been a nice move...but he had an idea.

As Lion slid backwards, he used his momentum to backflip onto a wall, pushing off of it with both legs...

...he slashed downward towards Kack's elbow, taking a piece of cloth off as he hit the ground and rolled back onto his feet, back in a defensive position, still cringing a bit from the Headbutt...

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack's sleeve fell off his robe and there was a small cut on his elbow.

"Damn."

He moved swiftly towards Lion and performed a spin attack which was easily blocked by the other padawan. Lion slashed at Kack again and ripped the rest of his robes. Kack flipped backwards and stood for a moment and ripped the rest of the shirt off his chest, it only got in the way now.

Kack bum rushed Lion and tackled the Jedi. As the two soared through the air Kack grabbed one of the pieces of cloth from the front of Lion's shirt.

The two rolled and Lion grabbed the piece off of Kack's front as well. As they rolled they slammed into the wall and fell in opposite directions.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Terrific..." Lion thought, flipping up from the floor that he had ended up on, somehow...only two pieces of cloth left on each of them, now...

He shrugged a bit, then brought his saber back on...he had been smart enough to turn it off as he fell, otherwise he might've ended up with a hole in his chest...

"Ready, dude?" Lion asked, looking at Kack, who was clinging to a wall a little bit away from him...

[Kack Mebuff]

Hitting the wall had knocked the wind out of Kack. He gasped for breath, trying to get back to his feet.

As Kack stumbled to his feet he felt Lion coming towards him, trying to catch Kack off guard. Kack wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but he was no fool. Just as Lion got close enough Kack side-stepped the Jedi and let him slam into the durasteel wall with a hard thud.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Oof!" Lion said, as the wind was knocked out of him...Kack was only a meter away...

"Third time I've hit a wall today..." Lion thought, planning what to do...if he could try to force jump, he might be able to flip off the wall and kick Kack...maybe grab a piece of cloth...

"Here goes nothing...." Lion thought, as he began gaining whatever force energy he had into his legs...

"Got it..." was all Lion thought, as he jumped...

[Kack Mebuff]

"Blast!"

Lion had grabbed the third piece of cloth off of Kack. He was now down to only one.

Kack had to think fast if he was going to beat Lion. Kack sumersaulted away to the other side of the room. He stared directly at Lion and let himself slip into the Force. It consumed him down to his very core.

From across the room Kack reached out and with the Force pulled a piece of cloth from Lion and into his own hand.

Both were now down to one.

Kack rushed Lion and leapt through the air, he pounced on his friend and the two Jedi wrestled around. Each snatched and grabbed for the other's fourth piece of cloth.

When the two finally emerged from the rumble both held up their hands high in the air. Both of them holding each other's piece of cloth. It was a draw.

The two padawans looked at each other in amazement.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion started to laugh, even though one side of his face was bleeding, and his arms were scratched.

"Well...can't say it wasn't an interesting duel...." Lion said, as he reached out his unbloodied hand to shake Kack's.

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack too burst into laughter, his bruised body shaking heartily. At least he had found an equal.

Kack shook hands with Lion and turned to Master Dasquian.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion too turned to Master Dasquian, and then bowed, even though his bruised body was screaming in protest...

[Dasquian Belargic]

"Very well fought, both of you,"

Dasquian's face was alight with a proud smile. Slipping one hand into his robes, he removed a few packs of bacta and tossed them to the two Padawans.

"Use these. I still have something planned for this session once you've healed up."

He folded his arms over his chest and watched the two.

"I hope you remember the exercise in the future. There are certain points on your body which are vulnerable and you must guard them well, or else you risk serious injury. I'm impressed with your performance today, however, though, I have to say."

[Kack Mebuff]

"Thank you Master," Kack and Lion said in unison.

Both bowed in respect and began to heal their wounds with the bacta Dasquian had given them.

Kack looked up at his Master.

"What do you have planned next, Master?"

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion smiled. The pain was pretty bad, but he'd had to stand worse.

"Thanks, master, but I think I'm gonna try to stand the pain..."

As Lion bent over to retrieve the harness from the floor, a spike of pain jabbed through his ribs...

"Erm, maybe just in case..." Lion said, as he picked up two bacta packs and placed them in his cloak.

"So, master...I'm interested in seeing what you have planned for us..." Lion said, a hint of curiosity in his voice as he limped over to a wall.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“I have some more techniques for you both to learn, which are utilized through the Force.”

He folded both arms over his chest and watched the two.

“Imagine in battle you are facing an opponent who is very skilled in the Force, and is able to throw you or push you with the Force. It is very difficult for you to resist such an attack, though I have one way which can shorten the distance and reduced the damage significantly.”

Turning, he walked to the back of the training room and opened out the slatted double doors onto the academy grounds. Taking a few paces backwards, he then began to sprint. Pushing one foot down hard, propelling himself into a jump. A short distance away there was a large tree, though instead of repelling off of it, or crashing into it, the Knight pushed both feet down in mid air and hit the soles against some unseen surface. It was tangible, though not visible, for a split second and allowed the Jedi to flip down to his feet, unharmed.

Looking to Kack and Lion, he smiled.

“I suggest you try it over a short distance first, in the training room, then when you are more confident, move out here.”

[Lion El' Jonson]

The pain Lion was feeling was beginning to lessen, and he watched with interest as his master demonstrated a technique quite similiar to what Lion had been trying to do for a while, though he hadn't been able to completely stop himself.

Backing up about 3 feet from the wall, Lion jumped at it, trying to seat himself into the force enough to generate the unseen friction...

...and, failing, he ran into the wall, the pain returning to his body in full force...

"Lez' try that again..." he said to himself, and he backed away from the wall and went to the middle of the room, near Kack. Using a small running start this time, Lion jumped again, this time with the force, and he propelled himself much higher than normal, a good 4 feet...he gently prodded the force this time, instead of foring it, and felt a small barrier gather beneath his feet...

...it didn't completely stop him, but it did slow him enough that he wouldn't break both of his legs on landing.

With a bone-jarring "Crash!", Lion landed on the ground, sending jolts of pain up his legs. Still, he had done it...kind of...

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack watched Lion crash to the ground and decided he would try to do it himself.

Kack stepped back to get a running start. He leapt through the air. Kack concentrated on the Force but couldn't connect quick enough and slammed into the wall.

Pain shot through his body as he hit the floor.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Having fun, brotha'?" Lion asked, as he leaned over to help Kack up...

...he was having some success with the stopping...that is to say, he wasn't breaking bones when he landed...

[Kack Mebuff]

As Kack staggered to his feet with the help of Lion he uttered.

"Damn, that durasteel wall hurt like hell."

He shook his head and prepared to try again.

Lion looked at Kack a little surprised, "You sure you wanna try again so soon?"

Kack just looked at his friend and smirked.

This time using the Force Kack pretended the wall was there even before he began his run. He ran jumped and bounded off of the invisible wall.

This time though he landed on his side, not on his feet as anticipated. Kack slid across the floor towards Dasquian and Lion who stood there chuckling.

Kack hoisted himself back up to his feet and cursed under his breath.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Ya know, I'm not even sure we're making too much of a pillow..."

Lion walked up towards a wall, trying to generate a strong barrier with the force, so he could test his theory. The injuries from the saber fight were still present, still tugging at his muscles as he moved, but he had to get this right.

Finally, sensing that the barrier had been put up, Lion drew his fist back and put his considerable strength behind the punch. Lion felt a little resistance from the force, but it was quickly shattered by his powerful fist. Lion felt his knuckles bounce off of the durasteel...hard...but he shrugged it off as he cracked them back into place...

If he couldn't even stop a punch, how was he supposed to stop his whole body?

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack pondered for a moment, then he had an idea.

He stood there, letting the Force flow through his body, engulfing his entire being. He imagined the wall.

Suddenly he dashed towards the non-existent wall and bounded off it into a flip and landed gracefully on his feet.

The Force was strong with him.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Well done Kack.”

Though one apprentice seemed to have mastered it, Lion looked as though he was having trouble.

“Lion, try and think of it like this… when you send out a Force push, you allow it to travel forward until its power fades. With this, what you are doing is releasing a push, but then countering it with a pull, in essence, so that the two waves meet. The collision causes a momentary burst of stronger energy.”

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Ahh...I see...."

Lion knew that his force abilities were formidable...even though he was a bit slow on the uptake, once he had something down, he really had something down...

Lion relaxed, and gently released a wall of energy through his body. Sensing the force rolling through the air, he quickly pulled the weak force energy back with a literal tidal wave of power...too much.

He felt the wave of pull energy overwhelm the push, and the power slammed into him, lifting him 5 feet off the ground and flinging him into a wall...

"Er...master...Is there anyway to ground yourself against your own abilities? I injure myself often enough..." he added, trying to pick himself off of the floor.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“I’m afraid there is not, Lion. This in itself is supposed to be a technique to lessen the effects of blows, however I do not know of a technique to completely block out your own hits. It’s all a matter of trial and improval.”

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack watched patiently, silently meditating, hoping that Lion would accomplish this task. For he wanted his friend to be a successful Jedi, just as Kack hoped to be.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Right, then...." Lion said, releasing a much more powerful wave of energy, and stopping it as it rebounded with equal force.

He was jarred to the ground like he had run headfirst into a brick wall, but at least he wasn't thrown backwards this time...

Now he had to work on finesse....

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Try to lessen the amount of energy you apply into the secondary wave. Send out a strong one, then a more soft pulse to create the final surface of the barrier. Perhaps that way it will not have such an adverse affect upon you.”

Turning to Kack, Dasquian smiled somewhat.

“Kack, as you have completed this task, is there anything else you would like to practice today?”

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack turned to face his Master.

"Whatever you feel will better me or my abilities, Master Dasquian. I will do whatever you request of me."

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion did it one last time, sending out the pulse before letting go with a far weaker wave of energy. He felt it drive into the force wall as he jumped and felt the first wave envelop him like a blanket.

He floated to the ground, surprised that he had achieved his task.

"Well, then...." Lion said, pleased.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Ah, congratulations Lion,” he said with a nod, moving his attention away from Kack for a moment.

“I have planned an outing for the three us for the future, and to prepare for it I believe we need to practice the healing of others. Does this sound like a technique you would like to focus upon and further or do you have any other suggestions… Kack? Lion?”

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack smiled.

"Sounds good to me, I need work on my healing powers."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“All right, to begin with we will try something simple…”

Dasquian motioned to a tub of flowers at the door of the room which backed out into the academy. Within the pot some had withered, and were close to dying.

“Though these are not human, they too can be healed. They will be best to practice upon… focus your mind as you have done before and channel what energy you can into them. This task is simply shifting very small objects, in essence, as you knit together dead cells and once again allow them to live.”

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Alright, master." Lion said from behind Kack, interested. He had always wondered about healing powers.

He reached out with the force, straining to control it. He brushed one of the flowers with the force, and then decided to concentrate on that one. Relaxing, he saw in his mind's eye a collection of cells within the plant. Slowly, he tugged one towards another one, almost having to convince it to move...and another...and another...

Finally, after 3 minutes, Lion's eyes snapped open and he noticed that the flower he had been concentrating on was suddenly back in full bloom. That hadn't been as hard as he had thought.

"Hey, Master," he said. "Can you use healing powers on your own body?"

[Kack Mebuff]

Kack smiled at Lion's progress.

Dasquian and Lion looked at Kack. It was his turn.

Kack looked down at one of the withered plants. He bent down and touched one of the plants. At first it writhed at Kack's touch, but then something happened. As Kack closed his eyes and concentrated on connecting fully with the Force the small flower bloomed to life once again. It's radiant colors seemed to burst from the small flower.