Exhibition spar 6

[Pierce Tondry]

(ooc) Combatants, please read this thread (http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29512) in Avalon before posting.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"You're ready for this, Loki Ahmrah. I am ready for this." Loki told himself firmly, his right fist was closed tight and the tell-tale white knuckles of fear were saying otherwise. In his chest, his heart pounded thunderously like it were trying to break through his ribcage and escape, not wanting to be a part of this nerve-wracking experience either. From around the corner the boy peaked, he was nearest to his end of the sparing platform but had gone unseen by any in attendance thus far. It was worse than waiting in the wings for your big scene at a school play when the lights were bright and a hundred pairs of eyes for a hundred scrutinising parents were all fixed upon you. "Blasters and namana juice! How did you go through this everyday, Sej?"

Of course, his furry friend was nowhere to be seen and the fact of the matter was that the young padawan could be up against the Rho'istaan Champion in just a couple of minutes. A shudder of worry shot through his little body and using the adrenaline to get over the first hurdle of the day, Loki stepped out and into the spotlight. The sun burned high and bright in a cloudless, blue sky and beneath which stood his stage. He hesitantly ascended the stairs to the sparring platform gripping the lightsaber swinging at his side in a desperate attempt at comfort. In this case the lightsaber was his safety blanket, which of course he hadn't been allowed to take on stage back at school, but then again he hadn't needed it due to being buried under half his own weight in the form of a wookiee costume.

"Butterflies. Great!" He sighed at the naucious feeling stirring the pit of his stomach as he knealt on the padded surface at his feet and rested the lightsaber ceremoniously out in front of him. Loki was dressed in his usual padawan attire sans heavy, brown robing. Unlike the majority of young padawans, he found the formal and traditional Jedi clothing comfortable, lightweight and breathable which was what he would need in his upcoming confrontation with his mystery opponent. The babbling of the crowd was drowned out and became a muffled ambience, as usual this feeling was coupled with the rush of the Force pouring inside him and swirling all around and it felt like sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool in many respects; peaceful and serene. The padawan continued to meditate whilst awaiting the arrival of his nameless, faceless opponent.

[Pierce Tondry]

The black of Pierce's blindfold nearly matched the black of his combat attire, which was a tight-fitting short-sleeve tee shirt and loose slacks girded at the waist with a black tie-belt.

Given that the day was nice, it meant Pierce would start to heat up faster than his opponent. But he could take it.

There was nothing but purpose in his step as he walked up the stairs to the stage. He caught sight of his opponent-

-and found himself grinning from ear to ear. "Well, well, well," he chuckled. "I guess we get to see if you've learned anything since I saved your hide."

[Loki Ahmrah]

There was a thunderous, deafening roar which broke Loki's concentration and the last thing he remembered seeing was a dark, tumultuous sky of turbulant, thick cloud and piercing this awful canvass was a giant, green mountain of smouldering, trembling rock and from deep within came a stomach-turning, blood-curdling cry which sounded like it came from the very depths of Hell. "Blasphemy!" There was a blinding flash of light, then all went still and black until with a start the young padawan opened his eyes to welcome the daylight once more. Then at the sight of his opponent, it all made sense.

"You?" He squeaked in suprise, his wide eyes remained locked on the new arrival as he clambered awkwardly to his feet. It turned out that Loki's opponent was none other than the man who had saved him the day the very foundations of the Bar and Grill were shook from a monstrous attack from a monstrous Sith Lord. Keeping his now narrowed eyes on Pierce, gauging his demeanour and appearance, the blindfold being a source of much curiosity, the padawan gave him a bow. "You're a Jedi now?"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce snapped his heels together and bowed at the waist. "I was a Padawan when I saved you. Now, I'm just a better Padawan."

A grin spread across his face. The young boy was clearly anxious. "A lot better than you, anyway," Pierce said, hoping to bring out some of the young boy's muster before they engaged.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"There is no better or worse; we serve the same cause, sir." The boy addressed Pierce in a way he deemed correct despite them both being padawan learners, his opponent-to-be looked like a "Sir" to Loki. Then he threw aside his rather serious demeanour for a moment, simultaneously shedding a great deal of doubt which up until now had been weighing him down today. He grinned. "But we'll see."

Stepping forward, the young padawan tried his best to ignore the masses gathered around and the best way to do this was focus on the Force. It was always their for him, like a best friend who could flow right through him and everything else in the Universe, handy thing actually but it's presence was comforting and gave him confidence. For the time being, Loki was casual in his approach to this peculiar situation, his eyes were narrow under the sun's bright light. "So what will it be? I'm not sure if you have a weapon of choice, I by default brought a lightsaber, not my own mind you, I'm yet to build one for myself. It's either that or these."

His hands were raised and he wiggled his fingers light-heartedly.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce chuckled. Loki was young, and seemingly a bit uncertain of himself, but the elements that could make him into a courageous man were there.

The direct approach seemed like it would work the best. With a clean pull, Pierce took his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it. "Boyo, draw that weapon of yours and let's get down to business," he grinned.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Righto! Speaking of business, would you prefer to be buried or cremated after this?" He laughed cheekily, then took the lightsaber he'd borrowed from the quartermaster back at the acadamy from where it hung idly on his utility belt. It was somewhat heavier than the training weapons he was used to using but he'd had some time to go through his velocities with it and become accustomed to the extra weight.

Loki's thumb shifted over the red activator and a blue blade leapt out from the broad emitter, it's humming was harmonious with Tondry's weapon and after moving it about for a second, the padawan gathered himself and adopted a ready stance reminscent of his master's Form II stance with a splash of Sejah's Slow-Fang influence. He sighed, his pulse slowed to the beating harmonics of the Force and once he felt right, Loki hopped toward pierce simultaneously bringing his weapon away from his upper torso and lunged forward.

The seering tip of Loki's lightsaber shot out straight for his opponents lower right abdomen making sure he didn't put too much momentum behind his attack so that he could recoil quickly from it.

[Pierce Tondry]

Inside his mind, the world flashed from colored to black and white. A ghostly representation of Loki appeared to attack him, the blade of his lightsaber burning with faint red tones.

Pierce took a quick step to the side, putting himself just to the right of Loki's stab. With a light downward whip, he struck with his own lightsaber, attacking Loki's blade in an effort to put the young boy off-balance.

[Loki Ahmrah]

The moment the pressure of Pierce's blade was felt upon Loki's own, the boy padawan took the innitiative of rather than trying to fight his opponent's superior strength he would go with the flow; this was the case for Loki in most of his confrontations anyway. The padawan stepped in as his weapon was pushed down and he pivoted on his right foot so that his left side was facing his opponent. As he had moved in, his free left hand had pushed against Pierce's saber hand thus keeping his opponent's weapon at bay.

There was a grunt as Loki had completely turned around Tondry so that they were quite literally back-to-back and finished the manouver by bringing his right elbow up into Tondry's lower-spine. Unsuprisingly, this attack, upon impact, pushed Loki further than it did the blind padawan and thus he followed through with his blow. He pivoted once again on his right foot using the momentum of the recoil from the elbow attack and completely extended his arm and lashed out at Pierce's back as he recovered, lightsaber and all.

[Pierce Tondry]

In the ghostly otherworld that was Pierce's combat sense, the Jedi Padawan could see Loki's attack in spite of facing entirely the wrong way.

Calmly, Pierce took advantage of the small momentum Loki's elbow had given him to pivot on one foot and go into a low sweep kick, angling his lightsaber so it would not intersect Loki's blade, thus allowing Pierce's entire body to pass beneath his opponent's weapon unsinged.

[Loki Ahmrah]

His attack in full-swing, quite literally too, Loki was left defenseless against Pierce's counter-strike and due to the way in which he was standing, sideways to his opponent, his legs were completely taken from under him by Tondry's sweep. He fell to the floor, face creased from cringing in anticipation and dampened the crash by tilting his weight onto his right shoulder then rolled off after impact. At least this way he had gained some distance between himself and his fellow padawan.

"Wow. You've got keen, snappy senses." The boy remarked with a wince as he rotated his right arm a little, keeping the burning saber away from his torso. His shoulder was sore from the fall but would only be bruised. Loki grinned mischievously. "Let's see how well you keep up, gramps."

With a hop the padawan was back into action, making use of his speed and agility as best he could whilst engaging Pierce in what he described as Jedi chess; when opponents played with each other, striking and parrying, attacking and defending, back and forth for as long as was neccessary to familiarise themselves with each others style. Loki had a technique forged from different influences; his Master's training, Sejah's exprerienced instruction and memories from past confrontations with fellow padawan learners at the acadamy. Loki's style was very flamboyant due to his overflowing energy reservoirs, his speed, size and agility, with a hint of grace taken right from the teachings of the Rho'istaan which made his technique smooth and fluid and there was a smidgen of sharp, technical accuracy in his saber movements. Anbira was a Form II sabermaster, thus he taught Loki the importance of intelligent yet brief manouvers which would disarm or incapacitate an opponent in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, Loki's own style left very little room for this kind of teaching, but it helped him in developing subtle yet powerful attacks and parrys.

There were flashes of light each time the two weapons clashed and each time the lightsabers hissed and crackled angrily against each other. Although neither padawan had penetrated the other's defenses yet, the boy was still very much intimidated by this kind of confrontation, perpetually shadowed by his opponents larger frame. Loki decided he wanted to bring this Jedi chess to an end and did so by making use of an old trick he'd done for as long as he could remember being a padawan. After attempting a swing at Pierce's knee and having it blocked, Loki quickly brought his saber around for a rather clumsy overhead swing which was again intercepted, from underneath, by Tondry's lightsaber. This time however, Loki didn't retract his saber blade but instead pressed down against his opponents lightsaber knowing that he couldn't overpower Tondry no matter how hard he tried. Already his feet were off the floor and Loki was up in the air, simultaneously keeping Pierce's lightsaber at bay and using it for leverage to literally leapfrog over the blind Jedi's head.

There was a sommersault and a kick into Pierce's shoulder from behind so as to propel himself out of range before landing. Once he did so, Loki heaved a sigh of relief to be out of the vigorous saber engagement then turned to face his oppoent.

OOC: Sorry if the post is over-blown, just wanted to describe Loki's lightsaber technique and style and what his inspirations are.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce involuntarily staggered a few steps, but caught his balance. It was a good move and Pierce smiled grudgingly.

Though the boy might not have realized it, Loki was actually doing most of the attacking. Pierce had chosen to play a much more defensive manner, concentrating on what progress he'd made with Form III and what martial arts he already knew rather than trying to end things quickly.

However, Loki's quick thinking and spunk left Pierce wanting to take the combat up a notch.

The big man turned and headed over to his nimble opponent with a steady and methodical pace. Loki struck at him from the side, but instead of making a straight two-handed block Pierce angled his blade and caught Loki's weapon with one hand while simultaneously delivering a palm-open strike to his opponent's shoulder with the other.

[Loki Ahmrah]

As Loki had attacked Pierce with his lightsaber, he had been suddenly overcome by a feeling of instability in his feet and felt like he was falling, it was only in the space of a second that this premonition had allowed him to realise what his opponent had planned to do. But it was too late to avoid, he had been hit solidly and the best he could do to compensate was push from the floor with what little preparation he'd been able to do and spring up into the air. The small padawan used the force of Pierces blow to push him backward, he turned completely about his centre of gravity and just like the cat, landed on his feet.

"Argh!" There was a click in his shoulder as his feet touched the floor, Pierces open-palm blow had caused more damage than the boy had innitially believed. He needed some distance and immediatly his awareness of the pain took a back seat as he focused on taking advantage of the latest scenario in the spar. His lightsaber arced from the inside-outwards to push his opponents weapon away from his body, this succeeded minimally, in fact Tondrys weapon hardly moved, it merely had an obstruction.

"Hup!" And again, the boy was up in the air, planting his left foot on Pierce's nearest thigh he used it for propulsion so that he could soar up to a height sufficient to land a roundhouse kick to his opponents chin. From this, the padawan hoped to allow the momentum of his roundhouse to turn himself away from Tondry and land into a roll with the intent of gaining some distance from a strategy re-evaluation. But it all depended on the success of his impending mid-air assault...

[Pierce Tondry]

"Kyai!"

With the lightsaber still in one hand, Pierce brought his free hand up to catch Loki's roundhouse with an upper forearm block that stopped it cold. Instinctively, the blocking forearm snaked around Loki's leg and whipped it up, then down, releasing the captured limb on the downward motion.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Failure!

The padawan could do little but crash to the floor sans grace. His free hand lashed out and smacked for the floor below prior to impact to take the momentum from his fall. He rolled to one side, away from Pierce's already nearing lightsaber and then brought up his own to intercept the attack still on the floor. The firey blades clashed several times during which time Loki strugged up onto one knee and parried a blow, rolled away from another attack and stood in time to block another swing from his opponent's lightsaber. Pierce's blows were coming down upon him heavy and fast, his stamina unwavering and despite his blindness, his alertness was uncanny. Loki was beginning to wonder what could be done to topple this Goliath.

Now thankfully gaining some distance between he and his opponent, Loki calmed himself, the prickly heat under his arms and at the back of his neck cooled and he relaxed once again attuning himself to the Force. This time he stood still and poised, his lightsaber in both hands held out in front from where it's hilt was, near Loki's right hip and the bright blue tip of the blade angling up in Pierce's direction.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Not bad, kiddo," Pierce told him. "You've got some real talent, but try and stun your opponent before you deliver a roundhouse. It's a time-consuming move and you need that extra split second."

Pierce wove and twirled his lightsaber in the air before setting himself. "And if I were you, I'd try and use my height to my advantage," he added, once again stalking forward.

[Jax Ivanrue Tondry]

Jax peeked over the top of the seat in front of him, watching his father with wide, interested eyes. He wanted desperately to go out to him, but James wouldn't let him. The litlte boy looked back at the girl who was taking care of him, and frowned, struggling against her grip on his leg. James merely smiled and as there was nothing he could do to get away, Jax decided to watch as best he could from the stands.

He wanted to be just like his Dad!

[Loki Ahmrah]

In the time Loki had acquired before Tondry was upon him once more, the padawan had fine-tuned the Force, channelling it through his body. It was his ally. A tool at his disposal.

The boy, like a rock, stood still except for hairs on his arms standing endwise at the tingling sensation moving outwards to his fingertips and toes. He was readying himself like a little ball of electricty but did no more.

[Pierce Tondry]

Upon reaching close range with his opponent, Pierce stopped with his lightsaber held in front of him as a gesture of respect.

Then he slashed at Loki's weapon with a simple, yet powerful, strike. His intent was to disarm the boy and force an end to the contest, but Pierce's combat sense was telling him that Loki just might have some tricks up his sleeve yet.

[Loki Ahmrah]

His blade lowered and Pierce's blow missed it's target, Loki was no longer to be seen. He had crouched and dived past his oppenet's blindside, from where his lightsaber swing had begun.

Loki figured that Tondry would already be turning around with another attack or preparing another parry. Needless to say he turned and Loki pounched the moment the space between Pierce's legs was big enough for him to clear. In transit he lashed out with both feet, hoping to take Pierce's legs from under him.

[Pierce Tondry]

Loki succeeded, but his success had unexpected consequences. As Pierce lost balance and fell, he crashed into the body of his younger combatant, taking them both down to the stage floor, back-to-back. As Pierce rolled off Loki, he thrust outward with his lightsaber, trying to catch the boy before he could get away.

And even if he missed, Pierce's weapon was still between himself and his opponent. It was win-win.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Dazed, Loki barely managed to bring his saber blade down upon Pierce's, driving it into the ground with a sizzling, smoking hiss. Using the locked weapons for support, Loki pushed down hard upon his opponents blade and launched himself over the blind padawans fallen form. He had made sure he was out of reach from Pierce's weapon while he got to his feet.

"What form do you study?" He asked, wheezing for air after having it squeezed out of his lungs by Pierce falling on him.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Form III," Pierce said. He was still on one knee, his lightsaber out in front of him. "It's not for everyone, but I find it useful."

He got all the way up and smiled down at Loki. "You seem to favor saber-to-saber duels. Keeps me on my guard."

Looking down at the lightsaber in his hand, Pierce's grin widened. "You up for more?"

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki grinned. "Always."

He hopped forward and swung at Pierce's knee, naturally he moved to parry the attack but he feigned the swing and pivoted on his foot and brought his lightsaber around and using the momentum of his spin, slashed at his opponent's presently ungaurded right side.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce backflipped over his opponent's blade, landed in a firm footplant, and whipped his lightsaber at Loki's throat.

[Loki Ahmrah]

The padawan's back arched and his throat moved away from the searing blade tip, he had leaned too far but deliberately. He fell backwards and his feet flew into the air, they wrapped around Pierce's wrist and using his saber-free hand for support on the floor, Loki swivelled his hips and voilently wrenched his opponents weapon-wielding wrist. In the event that Pierce was forced to release his weapon, Loki's lightsaber was ready to bat it away.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce did indeed let go of his lightsaber- to take a firm grip on Loki's leg.

It was almost a repeat of earlier- Pierce lifted Loki up into the air, then flung him away, trying to force his opponent to let go of his wrist. If all went well, Pierce would simply retrieve his weapon, but if not, there was a chance he might fall on it.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki yelped as Pierce's falling lightsaber blade stroked his knee but despite the white hot pain, the padawan had focused on the discarded weapon rather than falling gracefully. He hit the ground with a thud but with a slap, his opponent's now deactivated lightsaber landed in his empty hand.

On one knee, half-way to his feet the padawan extended his weapon so that it's blue-white tip was pointed menacingly at Pierce. He kept a firm grip on both weapons and winced at the burning in his knee.

"You have been disarmed, Mister Tondry." He gasped through heavy breaths.

[Pierce Tondry]

The smile that appeared on Pierce's face could not be described as anything other than cocky.

"Do you think that makes me less dangerous? Or more dangerous?"

[Loki Ahmrah]

The boy didn't even flinch, the question was one which didn't need an answer and didn't ask for one. Pierce was trying to distract him but upon seeing him use these tactics, Loki's nerve only steeled further. There was a click as the padawan thumbed the safety catch on Tondry's weapon and not breaking eye contact, hooked it onto his utility belt, he slowly brought his hand up again not before passing it over a pouch on his belt. He clenched his left fist tight and kept his lightsaber pointed straight at his opponent.

"Let's find out."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce brought his hands up and turned them into fists, then began to bounce on his feet, back and forth, side-to-side, never remaining in one place. His movements took him slightly backward from where Loki stood, then he stepped and dropped. His arm pushed him into a slide that put him beneath Loki's blade and, and Pierce scissor kicked at the young boy's legs.

[Loki Ahmrah]

As he fell, Loki twisted at his hips and his lightsaber blade crossed the front of his body in a tight arc, it's blue light illuminated Tondry's chest where it was about to cut cleanly across.

[Pierce Tondry]

Snaking one of his arms in past the lightsaber blade, Pierce caught hold of his opponent's wrist and forcibly held it aloft so that Loki landed atop Pierce, back to belly. With his free hand, Pierce wrapped his arm around Loki's neck and began to noogie the side of the boy's head, getting hair in his eyes.

"Say uncle."

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Argh! Gerroff!" Loki howled, his face scrunched in frustration as he tried to wriggle free of Pierce's move. His legs and feet thrashed about wildly in a futile escape attempt. Realising he had but one option left, Loki closed his eyes and averted his gaze as best he could then opening his free hand, he threw the agedan crystal into the air where it exploded into a dazzling blast of light, except this time Loki noticed something different, he could feel heat coming from the crystal. It was only warm though and his intention was to distract his opponent. "Ow! Ow! I'm gonna kill you, you piece of-- A-ha!"

With Pierce's lightsaber now retrieved from his utility belt and in his left hand, Loki slammed the hilt straight into Tondry's kidney beneath him.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Hurk!"

Reflexively letting go of Loki's neck to shade his eyes had proven a mistake- Loki had used his inattention to give Pierce a solid jab in the abdomen with his own lightsaber.

And boy, did it hurt!

To make matters worse, his Force senses were seeing sunspots, too. Whatever trick Loki had pulled had some basis in the Force that was just a little less blinding than the actual light.

But Pierce had blindfought before. He closed down his Force senses and shut his eyes, preparing to do just that.

Loki's nimble form was just starting to get to his feet. With a wrench, Pierce hauled downward on the arm he was still holding, sending Loki tumbling face-first into the floor. In an instant, Pierce was straddling Loki's back, mashing his fellow Padawan's face into the mat with another ferocious noogie while his other arm pressed the hand holding the activated lightsaber down as well.

"Say it!" Pierce grinned.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"No! Nrgh!" Loki tired to move but it was useless, there was no way of shifting the weight of a fully grown man of his back. He'd seen Jedi in similar predicaments simply use the Force to lift or push their opponts off them but there's that saying: If wishes were horses, poor men would ride. Loki was nowhere near that advanced. He howled in frustration. "I hate you! Gerroff me! Argh!"

Nothing would make Pierce shift and he contuined drilling Loki's head with his fist and through all his thick hair too. It felt like his head was on fire. Futile flicks of the wrist saw his lightsaber turn slightly towards his opponent then fall back to the floor. Loki could feel his face flushing red with mixed feelings of anger and embarrassment. It was too much to bear and now he had to resort to this:

"Uncle! Uncle! Now gerroff!"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce stopped noogieing Loki and stood up, allowing Loki to get to his feet. "I think we have our answer," he grinned.

Then he extended his hand. "You fought pretty well," Pierce complimented. "I think you've got a lot of promise and will go far as a Jedi."

[Loki Ahmrah]

Pink at the cheeks, Loki panted angrily, he felt he had been humiliated before all in attendance. For a moment, he stared straight at Pierce's grinning face, unfliching and wishing the spar hadn't ended yet. Then Loki remembered a little fact that he was training to become a Jedi and calmed himself. He took Tondry's hand and shook it.

"Well fought, Pierce." He smiled, seeing for the first time the funny side of his defeat. "Next time, it will be you who will be saying 'Uncle'."