Is any of this for real, or not?(Akrabbim)

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei had extended a request to the Jedi Master Akkrabim to teach him Force illusion. Wei was nervous, though. He had never met Akkrabim face-to-face.

"How do I tell if it really is Master Akkrabim or not?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

In a flash of light, Akrabbim appears directly in front of Wei. He is standing less than three feet from him.

Simple. I'll tell you it's me.

He chuckles a bit.

Sorry about that... just couldn't resist the spectacle of a dramatic entrance. But, back to the point of this meeting. You said you wanted to see me... what about?

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Illusions, sir. Darksiders have tricked me more than once, and by the time I knew what they were, it was too late."

Wei remembered the destroyed town, and the fight on Coruscant he had been in with Sieken.

"I want to know how they do it. I too would like to mask my identity, and maybe by learning about these illusions, I will be able to not fall victim to them so much."

[imported_Akrabbim]

He listens carefully to what the man is asking, and begins thinking of how to accomplish his goals.

I can teach you some basic illusions, I'd be willing to bet. Most Jedi have some abilities in it. As for noticing the illusions, there are several defenses. As you grow in creating illusions, they will be harder and harder to be used against you.

However, sometimes simple logic can be employed to determine the truth. Do you have any questions before we begin?

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Well, none that I can think of. Other than what are we going to do first."

[imported_Akrabbim]

Well, let's start off simply. Take a seat in front of me.

Akrabbim sits, folding his legs under him.

Illusion is a mental technique. To do so, you must mentally convince your opponent that he sees what you see. Let me demonstrate.

He concentrates, reaching into Wei's mind. He projects the image of a floating sphere, and moves it around Wei's head for a few moments before dispelling it.

Do you understand what I just did? Try the same on me. I'll open my mind to make it a bit easier.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei sat down, and suddenly a ball floated in the air in front of him before disappearing again.

Now it was Wei's turn. Wei projected an image of a ball into Akrabbim's mind. Wei made the ball float around the Jedi Master's head and almost returned the ball to its original position before he lost it.

"How did I do?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

Not too bad for a first try. You may be going about it slightly wrong. Instead of trying to force me to believe the ball is there, simple be convinced that it is there... it's much less taxing, and makes holding an illusion a little easier. Try once more.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"So I believe the ball is there? Ok."

Wei entered Akrabbim's mind and thought to himself, "A ball is floating around Akrabbim's head."

Wei saw the ball in his mind and watched it float in circles around Akrabbim's head.

"Do you see it?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

Akrabbim nods approvingly.

That was much better. The ball stayed solid the entire time. Remember, all you are projecting onto your opponent is a mental connection. The strength of the illusion comes from how strongly YOU believe it. Thus, your opponent has to disbelieve YOUR mind, instead of just the illusion.

Now, are you ready for the next lesson? This one will involve a defeating illusions by logic.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. He loved learning new things

"Let's begin," he said with a smile.

[imported_Akrabbim]

Alright. Watch carefully.

Akrabbim stands a few feet back from Wei, but still within striking distance. He draws his sword. Concentrating, he creates an illusion for Wei. Two more Akrabbims appear to move away from the center one, making three in total. The one in the middle remains where Akrabbim was originally. The other two are approximately 15 feet away. He speaks in a voice that seems to come from all three images at once.

Now, you see three of me. Because of my strength in illusions, you will not be able to see through the false ones. I will tell you that the real me is in one of these positions. You may also assume that I am skilled enough not to make a mistake in the illusion generation; all are identical. Now, the question is, who do attack?

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei scratched his head. "Well, that is most certainly a good question. Let's see..." Wei scratched the back of his head, making his bonytail sway slightly.

"You started out in the middle, so I suppose I would attack that one."

[imported_Akrabbim]

The voice continues to come from all three places at once.

Your answer is correct, but your reasoning is wrong. You should indeed rush the center. The reason is simple: the center is the only one who can reach you. If you turn to either side, you expose your flank to the center, your back to one of the sides. If you rush the center, you cannot lose. If the real opponent is in the center, you have hit him. If the opponent is on one of the sides, you are out of range of his attack, and you have eliminated one of the illusions, and can then move on to another target. Do you see?

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "Yes, sir. It's crystal clear to me."

Wei shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "But I do have some thoughts....Like, what if the opponent makes illusions of himself and those illusions surround me? How should I handle that?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

Good question, and I'm sure that will happen. If you had the ability to perform a massive Force Push in all directions, or some other wide-angle Force attack, I'd attempt that. Failing that, jump. In order to mask one's presence from the Force, certain trade-offs must be made, such as lack of speed. Therefore, if you just jump high and far away, you can get all of the illusions on one side of you. Then, the fight is changed completely.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "I understand. could we practice that later, maybe?" Wei asked. Wei didn;t know how Akrabbim had planned the lesson, so Wei was not going to ask him to go out of his way if Akrabbim had a lot to do that day.

[imported_Akrabbim]

We can practice that now, if you'd like.

Akrabbim stands before Wei, about two body lengths away. Mirror images walk out from either side of him, splitting off at regular intervals, until Wei is surrounded with eight Akrabbims. They stand at each compass point, and each half-compass point. As before, the voice seems to come from every image.

As I said, in this situation, jumping may be your best bet. If you are surrounded inside a building, where a high jump would not be feasable, I would just pick an opponent and rush them. It's your best bet for getting away. Do whichever you like in this situation, but if you decide to rush, please use something like a shoulder block. We are only training, after all. I'd rather not be impaled today.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled. "My sabers are equipped so that I can set them to a practice setting. I thought of doing that after my first saber spar lesson with my teacher, Navaria. But we will do bare-hands."

Wei jumped into the air and kicked at the Akrabbim that was in front of him. Wei bore down on the Akrabbim like a bomb falling from the sky. If the Akrabbim was a fake, it would disappear and Wei would shoulder tackle the next closest mirage.

[imported_Akrabbim]

As soon as Wei passes through the false Akrabbim, all the rest rush him as one. Each punches as soon as it is in range, but only the one to his immediate left is for real. The real Akrabbim taps him lightly on the stomach with a fist, allowing the rest of the images to fail.

Good first move, but I'm not sure if you should attempt what you just did. Granted, you may get lucky, or if there is some way to detect the true one, by all means attack. But the problem with what you just did is that you didn't know which one was me, and you're in range of at least two other illusions. You'd have to turn your back on one of them to hit the other. If you choose wrong, you've just shown your back to your true opponent.

Not that I'm criticizing, just offering advice. If you're fast enough, you may be able to pull that trick off. My suggestion, though, would be to rush one or jump them entirely, then put some distance between you and the illusions. That way, all of them are on one side of you. Then, I'd throw rocks until I hit one.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "I'll have to practice that."

Wei shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "What's next?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

Hmm... well, I guess all that's left is learning to see through illusions. That just boils down to practice and willpower.

Akrabbim creates an illusion of himself next to the real him.

This is a rather low powered illusion to practice on. As added help, I'm not masking my Force presence. You should be able to sense the real me, but still see the false one.

Based on that information, I want you to simply disbelieve the illusion. You may not be able to make it vanish entirely, but if it becomes hazy or semi-transparent, that should do. Begin.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei felt Akkrabim through the Force, and focused on Akkrabim's Force presence. Akkrabim is the one on the....Wei looked to his left and right.

"Well, the Force signature is real..." Wei thought. One of the Akkrabim's flickered like a Holo-projector show about to go on the fritz.

"There you are!" Wei said, pointing to his left.

[imported_Akrabbim]

He drops the illusion.

Very good. In this example, you were able to use my Force signature to determine the fake. If you can ever find a piece of information to help you, it will be easier to see through false illusions. However, be wary. Some may use this kind of thing against you, offering you a false piece of information to skew your perception. As you practice, it will become easier and easier to break through illusions and block them.

But regardless of how long you train, you're eventually going to meet someone who is just too strong in illusion for you to see through them. In that case, use the tricks I mentioned earlier, and do your best.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. Wei hoped that he could practice and learn a few other tricks from Akrabbim.

"This is nifty! I'll make sure to practice." Wei's heart pounded with the exciting feeling of learning something new, and accomplishing it. He felt like he could do anything.

[imported_Akrabbim]

He smiles at the man's enthusiasm.

I know what you mean. To this day, I still feel joy at creating illusions. They can be quite fun at times.

That should be the basics of what you need to defend against illusions. Do you have any questions, or would you like to practice any of them?

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei grinned. "I want to try to make copies of myself."

[imported_Akrabbim]

He laughs at the man's enthusiasm.

Very well. You can probably do that, but not right off. It's hard to make a perfect replica of yourself. Start with a simple one. See if you can make a replica of yourself, but standing stock still. We'll work on the details.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Ok." Wei did as he had with the ball, believing that there was another one of himself standing next to him and transferring that to Akrabbim.

"So how does it look?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

Akrabbim studies it carefully.

Hmm... a bit hazy in places... it's flickered once or twice, but you're getting there. Keep practicing this for a while longer. Once you have a perfectly solid one, we'll work on making one with natural movement.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "A mirror might help. That way I could study myself and see what I look like."

Wei was not a very vain person, so he spent little time in the mirror.

[imported_Akrabbim]

Well, we don't have a mirror, but I may be able to help.

Akrabbim stares at the man, and creates a perfect image before him.

There. Use that.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Ok."

Wei uses the image he sees and projects that image into Akrabbim's mind. Wei's eyes look carefully over the image, taking in every detail. Wei wanted to make the illusion as close as he could to the real thing.

"How about now?"

[imported_Akrabbim]

He runs a critical eye over the illusion once more.

Good. I can sort of see through it at times, but that may just be my not lowering my defenses enough. That should do, at least in a pinch. Most won't have time to slowly examine an illusion anyway.

Now, for the next step, make it breathe, move slightly... in essence, be lifelike. This will probably be best accomplished by matching its breath and movements to your own.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei imagined that the the illusion was breathing. He listened to his own breathing to help make the illusion mirror him.

Breathe in, breathe out Wei thought as he took a breath and let it out again. Wei held his arm out in front of him, paying close attention to himself as he did so. the illusion mimicks me. We do everything simlutaneously

Wei wondered what the illusion looked like to Akrabbim. Wei believed that the illusion moved at the same time he did, and projected that into Akrabbim's mind.

[imported_Akrabbim]

Akrabbim nods approvingly.

Not bad... not bad at all. I didn't notice any real problems with that illusion at all... no flickers, no blurring. Very good!

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Thank you."

Wei yawned and when he returned to his normal standing position he had forgotten how many images he was making. It was either one or two.

Wei scratched his head and tried to concentrate on the illusion or illusions he was making and tried to remember how many he had in the first place.

"One, or two? Two. No, wait, that can;t be right."

[Mr Dust]

Stick with one for now. If you can master just one duplicate, you'll have a very potent weapon to use against your enemies.

[imported_Akrabbim]

Stick with one for now. If you can master just one duplicate, you'll have a very potent weapon to use against your enemies.


OOC: Don't know what just happened... magically got re-logged in as someone eles... sorry.

[Wei Wu Wei]

OOC: it's all good.

Wei nodded. "Yes, sir. I suppose I got confused because the person I am performing the illusion on would see both me and the fake image."

Wei straightened and gave Akrabbim a courtesy bow. "Thank you for your help. I'm sure the skills I have learned here will help me in the future."