Inu-Aku Training I: A Beast of Burden

[Salem Ave]

A message had been sent to the quarters of the Apprentice Inu-Aku a short while ago, some ten minutes infact. It stated that a Master had chosen to take him on as a student, and guide him in the ways of the darkside. Under the guidance of his own Master, Jeseth Cloak, Salem had sent this message. As a newly promoted Knight, he was surprisingly eager to begin his duties and start training up others. Much potential was to be found in the newcomers who devoted themselves to the Order, for they would some day become the great Masters who held the keys to the universe.

So, at the foot of the Palace steps, under the midnight moon, the vampyre Knight sat.

Waiting.

[Inu]

The Jackel stepped out of the Palace and looked at Salem sitting on the steps.

"And what of this message?" he demanded, holding the note in his clenched fist. "I am to receive training? From who? When?"

[Salem Ave]

“Frrrom me,” he replied without so much as turning to look up at the feral apprentice.

“Now.”

Rigid in motion he stood up as if propelled, snapping to his feet as his dark cloak whipped around with an audible crack as it clung to the back of his legs. He motioned to the Sith.

“From what I underrrstand, you have not had any training ssso far… is this correct?”

[Inu]

"True."

He came down the steps and stood next to Salem.

"What first?"

[Salem Ave]

“Explain to me what you have alrrready learnt, and who hasss taught you it.”

[Inu]

My former master has taught me nothing of the Force. I have learned nothing. Begin with whatever you wish."

[Salem Ave]

“Then you know nothing of the darrrkside?”

Salem remained indifferent, “And what of otherrr skills? Combat and sssuch?”

[Inu]

"He didn't teach me combat. I have learned from others, and taught myself some."

[Salem Ave]

“Then we begin with the mossst sss-imple of things,”

Salem turned away from Inu and began to walk. His mind stretched outwards, he searched for lesser signs of life, and was granted his request as a small mammal scurried out of the undergrowth of a nearby bush into his path. It froze in its tracks and looked up at the towering figure above it – only to be snacked into the air by a cloven hand.

“This!” he said as he turned in his heel, squeezing the rodent within his grasp.

“… The forrrce is in it. It isss in you and me, and everything … living. Through the Force, our emotions can be felt, some more than others. Especially pain.”

Two of the three prongs – his fingers - on his hand drove in against the lightly furred flesh of the creature, drawing blood. It let out a high-pitched squeak and bit into Salem’s skin.

“. Look how it trrries to repel me, driven by its newly sss-pawned hatrrred for me. The dark side isss simply a channelling of these emotions.”

Squirming, the rat slithered out of his hand and darted for the cover of the bush.

“Find the rat with your mind, using its pain asss a guide… then finish it… without touching it.”

[Inu]

The Jackel looked to the bush where it had gone. He could smell it and hear it well enough, but that wasn't the point. The point...was to use the Force. But how did he even begin? He didn't feel anything at all from the little animal in the bush. He hesitated, a question on his lips, but he stopped himself. He looked to the bush, trying to figure out how to sense the rat within it using the Force. And as he tried and continually failed, he became angry. He clenched a fist, fury rising, and then...

"I can feel it...but how do you expect me to kill it without touching it?"

[Salem Ave]

“It is made of nothing but flesh and bones. As organisms we are ill-equipped to fend off many things with other flimsy outer skin and brittle bones. Use the anger you have inside of you, for I know you have it, to project it. Mentally visssualize the rrrat, and its innards, and sss-top it’s filthy beating heart.”

[Inu]

He looked once more to the rat, summoning the quiet rage that always burned in his heart, and it ceased to move. Whether he'd done it himself or by pure accident, he wasn't sure.

[Salem Ave]

Salem shook his head. By the looks of things, he truly was completely inept in the dark side.

“Sss-omething like a burst of energy, such as that, is easssily accomplished. Try and, now, lift the dead shell, the corrrpse, with your mind. You will require a much more focused and concentrated flow of energy, instead of the quick surge used to stop its heart.”

[Inu]

Inu-Aku looked from his master to the dead rat, and tried to center his focus on it. He sneered as he tried to lift it, even just an inch. No success. So it went for a time, Inu trying unsuccessfully, and Salem watching studiously. Finally, Inu lost patience.

"Accursed RAT!"

It's body burst as he swore at it, and he looked to Salem.

"What am I doing wrong?"

[Salem Ave]

The corpse spewed out its guts onto the floor, and instantly a few other rats appeared for no where and began picking at their fallen friends body for the meat upon it.

“.. Think of a painful memorrry from the passst, and how much angerrr it causssed you. Allow yourrr anger to reach its pique, feeling almost flow through you, and then direct all that hatred and pain at the little bassstard.”

[Inu]

Memories? Oh, he had such memories...Memories of the pain and torment caused by the two years of genetic alteration forced upon him...the subsequent year of equally tormenting tests for "success"...

"Lift, you stupid rodents..."

The carcass rose to eye level, bearing the full focus of his anger still. The other rodents floated a few inches before all them fell to the floor.

[Salem Ave]

Without warning, Salem raised a hand and threw a hard Force push against the rats – which caught Inu on the flank – causing them to shudder, as they threatened to fall from the Jackel’s grasp. The Knight watched eagerly, to see if he would still be able to maintain his newly found control.

[Inu]

The rats shifted suddenly, and Inu's focus shifted to the cause of it: Salem. The rats fell, but his master floated off the ground a few inches.

[Salem Ave]

Salem looked down as his boots rose a good inch or so from the ground. Inside, he smiled. The sudden shift in concentration had only helped to amplify Inu’s strength. It seemed that with a few good hard jabs, his true potential was revealed – though it was somewhat disconcerting that he needed a high level of rage to perform such tasks.

Motioning with one hand towards his apprentice, the vampyre caused himself to drop with a soft thud to the ground.

“Good. Now… jussst as the rrr-ats muscles can be infused with this dark energy, so can we fill ourselves with it. Try, instead of focusing yourrr anger on the rodents, aiming it at yourself. Your arrrm, for example, or legs. Throw a punch at the ground, try to jump high… both these feats are heightened by the darkside.”

[Inu]

Inu grinned. Here was something he was familiar with. Nearby was an old tree, with a large, thick trunk. He pulled back and struck it, a small crater created in its trunk.

"For once, and easy task."

[Salem Ave]

Wood shattered from the surface, and one of the small splinters darted to Salem’s hand. He drew his fist backwards, then hurled it at Force propelled speed straight past Inu. As the apprentice turned to watch, he saw it was headed for a verge, which sloped down almost at ninety degrees (this was to the left of the Palace steps).

“Rrrretrieve it.”

The purpose behind this he hoped would dawn upon Inu instantly. If not, the jackel would have a long hike back up the bank after having to jump down to get the shard of wood.

[Inu]

Inu walked to the edge and looked down. He possessed the natural strength and agility to easily retrieve it, but that was not what a lesson in the Force called for. His eyes narrowed; the splinter was lost from sight. Impossible, this task! How to find something so small as a splinter...and floating before him in the air was the shard of wood, called to him by his own angry thoughts of it.

[Salem Ave]

Calling a pebble into his hand, he shook his head. Hurling it off to the side away from Inu, he this time spoke into Inu’s mind:

“Use the force to run and catch it.”

[Inu]

Inu took off at a dead sprint, his anger bleeding away into his running and boosting his speed. The Jackel caught the pebble with ease and walked back toward his master, tossing it lightly in his hand.

[Salem Ave]

Carrying in swiftly, he took another rock and this time launched it into the air, high above any structures that were present.

“Jump.”

[Inu]

Inu crouched low, then leapt straight up in the air, clearing the tops of the trees, just a few handspans short of the stone. As the stone fell he was able to catch it, and landed before his master with it in hand.

[Salem Ave]

“Imprrressive.”

Salem nodded, “Now I want you to knock down the trrree…”

[Inu]

"Knock one down?"

Inu turned, seeking a suitable tree. He moved past the one he'd hit earlier, to a tree just as thick. The Jackel cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck, eyeballing the tree, summoning up a memory to fuel his rage. He found one and put up his dukes. 200. 22o. He wouldn't have that.

"HRAH!"

The was a loud snap of wood, but the tree didn't move. Small cracks and fractures formed, then the tree collapsed into jagged pieces.

[Salem Ave]

Raising one hand, the shards of wood Inu was wreathed in became airborne, and turned inwards on the Sith apprentice, shooting one by one at him at swift speed.

[Inu]

The Jackel doddged well enough, but was unable to avoid some of the shards. At the onslaught's end he stood tall and confident, waiting for his master's next move.

[Salem Ave]

Salem simply stood still for a good minute, before raising one hand, and beckoning Inu forward. His other hand, at first unseen, was gripping the saber hilt on his belt, and raising it upwards to be ignited.

[Inu]

Inu stepped forward.

"Now what?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

[OOC: Continued here (http://meras.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5603)... and uh, ignore the account]