It always happens. You make a name for yourself, and the punks all come knockin'.

[Sejah Haversh]

"Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five," Sejah grunted as he counted his push-ups. Once he reached fifty, the brown-furred mongoose got up from the floor and rolled out his shoulders. He had spent much of his time after regaining the full use of his body in the gym working out, and his legs were nearly back to normal.

From his push-ups, Sejah decided to go visit the weight machines, though he found them either occupied, or out of service. So, opting for some more aerobic activity, he headed to the practice floor and picked up a wooden sword. In seconds he lost hismelf if a practice routine, his movements mostly subconsious by that point in his life.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

He watched from the observation deck, fidgeting with two practice sabers in his hands. He had been waiting all day for someone he thought would be worth his time to spar and was starting to get bored. That's when Sejah entered; Ka' el had heard of the mongoose's proficiency in swordsmanship, but he had never seen it for himself.

Guess I gotta play with the cards dealt... he groaned as he watched the man go through his practice katas. Putting a hand on the guard railing he had been leaning on he flipped over it and dropped towards the Combat Room's floor. As he approached Ka' el used a Force push to slow his decent and landed gracefully on the ground.

From his knelling position Ka' el slid a metallic hilt across the ground; "Care to have a go at it?"

[Sejah Haversh]

Like a hackey sack, Sejah kicked the lightsaber up, then performed a sideways back kick to toss it back to its owner. "Not with that one," he replied, then finished through his routine.

Coming to a stop, Sejah turned and looked at Ka' el, then relaxed and smiled. "Just a second here, kid," the mongoose said as he returned the wooden sword to a rack, then returned, digging a paw into one of his cargo pockets. When it came back out, it was holding a battered old lightsaber of cheap design. It was by most Jedi standards a piece of junk and unnacceptable, but he had grown used to it, and wasn't about to switch weapons before a spar.

His stance relaxed and easygoing, Sejah smiled and held out a paw, "Sejah Haversh, who are you? I've seen you around, but I still don't know everybody. And, what are the stakes? Or are you just trying to take on the old dog?"

[Ka' el Darcverse]

"Name's Ka' el Darcverse. Apprentice to Master Figrin D'an and just looking for someone outside of the Knights, who might give me a match for once." Ka' el replied casually. Looking down at the saber that landed at his feet, Ka' el pointed his palm towards it and called the weapon into his hand. He attached it to the back of his belt and then activated his own training saber.

"Don't like the order's loaners?" Ka' el smirked.

"I don't either, but I don't like to spar with other padawan's with live blades. Don't really want to be held responsible for amputating a limb."

Ka' el didn't blink as he spoke the last line, there was no hint of humor in his voice. Ka' el performed a quick kata attuning himself with the weight and flow of the weapon he was wielding, then pulled himself into a Form III defensive position.

"Any rules?"

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah would have made a crack about Ka' el's cocky attitude, but he decided not to, choosign to take the humble ground for the time being.

"I just prefer what I know," he shrugged as he checked the swirch on his own saber. It was an interesting piece of work, because it could be switched between practice and real combat blade settings. "Excuse me for a moment," he said, making his younger opponent wait longer as he went to a bench and picked up a pair of logn leather gauntlet-like gloves and pulled them on. It took him a minute or two to get them to proper fitting, but the wear and sweat stains on them spoke volumes as to their functionality and usage.

When he returned to the main floor, the mongoose rolled his neck out and shook his footpaws to relax. "Okay, um, rules. No head-shots, no crotch shots, no bringing the walls down and if you touch my tail, I'll beat you into next week. Cool?"

[Ka' el Darcverse]

"Sounds fine," Ka' el replied. He took a few shuffle steps, maintain his Form III postion as he moved towards Sejah.

Test his form while using Form III and then go to a complimenting style when I have him figured out... Ka' el thought as he inched closer. He then began to move towards Sejah's right side, staying just out of saber range. It seemed like an intricate dance to the observer but both men knew there was a distinct purpose.

[Sejah Haversh]

He's trying to read me. Watching my movement, and how I follow him. He's trying to figure me out. Gar, what a rookie. Sejah thought as he watched Ka' el. For the youth's first circle, Sejah kept his lightsaber deactivated, and brought it to life as he assumed a soft stance, looking more casual than defensive.

Ka' el was out of range, and Sejah knew it. Any attempt at agression from his current distance would be purely show, unless his foot led him first. And it did.

Ka' el stepped in with a calculated mid-level swing. The force behind it was strong, and it was parallel with the floor. Reactign quickly, Sejah cross-stepped his left foot behind himself and threw his own blade out, catching Ka's from beneath and sweeping it up as he launched himself in, butting his opponent with his shoulder and knocking him back a pace. "Careful now, don't think too much," he offered constructive criticism.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

Ka' el smiled.

Had he simply spun his saber infront of him Sejah would have felt the numbing sensation that comes when one is struct by a saber in practice mode. This however wasn't a real fight and Ka' el wanted to test his skills.

His saber came back down into place and circled again. Suddenly the saber tilted down at a 30 degree angle from Ka' el's hip and shot forward at Sejah's torso. As expected the Mongoose parried the jab with a circular swipe at Ka' el's blade. Ka' el rolled with his saber putting his back to Sejah's left shoulder and driving his elbow into his ribs.

"Just looking for the inevitable opening."

[Sejah Haversh]

The impact hurt, but Sejah was prepared. As Ka struk him, the mongoose snaked his left arm out and reached up, siezing the boy's collar and yakning him backwards as he tried to maneuver away. The telltale sting of the training blade could be felt in the middle of his back before Sejah roughly shoved him away.

"You're showing promise," Sejah admitted, rubbing his side. "But your defense while close needs work. You should have kicked low and caught the back of my knee; it would have dropped me and you could have taken a clean neck shot. Instead I chalked up a kill point. Learning anything?"

[Ka' el Darcverse]

"Only that I'm taking you far too lightly," Ka' el replied.

"I was just trading blow for blow."

Ka' el kipped back to his feet. He had felt the burn of a practice saber many times since he first picked one up all those years ago. It didn't even numb him anymore.

Ka' el immediately went back to his origional Form III position and started the same dance all over again.

"Guess the first one's free."

[Sejah Haversh]

Change-up, agressive.

Sejah wasted no time in leaping in, smashing Ka' el's saber around with rapid, unpatterned strokes. His opponent countered with several intermediate and expert quality attacks of his own, but sejah held his ground, and pushed Ka back, threatening low kicks as well.

The mongoose's pink eyes followed Ka' el's movements, taking careful mental notes. His sneakers squeaked on the floor as he shuffled his stance rapidly. After the speed play came the test of distance. How far out could he extend Ka's defenses... Not far enough. Resuming his tighter blade maneuvers, Sejah tried to see if he could work his way through his opponent's frontal guard. It was doubtful, but he was just going to see. That, and he didn't want to give away much about his own style quite yet.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

The attacks on Ka' el's frontal defense were nothing short of a simple inconvience. Ka' el however was noticing Sejah's change-up, aggression didn't fit the mongoose. A diagonal slash came down at Ka' el's left shoulder. The young padawan deflected the attack head on, his saber pointed down perpindicular to Sejah's own weapon.

"This isn't your style," Ka' el said and with a twist of his wrist his saber slashed towards Sejah's midsection, knowing it would be near impossible to block and Sejah's attack would be broken or Ka' el would score his own kill point.

[Sejah Haversh]

It took a fast change from his attack to block the incoming swing, but Sejah barely pulled it off. Two impromptu blocks followed before Sejah could smash Ka' el's saber aside far enough to take a sidestep.

"You don't know what my style is," he replied flatly, whipping his saber around and tossing it into his left paw where he deflected another shot. "You've never faced anyone like me before, and you can't hide it."

Ducking a high swing, Sejah passed his saber back to his usual paw, shot in his left arm to block the return swing by holding it in the way of Ka's arm, then running what would be another impaling strike through his midsection.

Stepping back, Sejah deactivated his saber and stood at ease. "Stop being so textbook, will you? You've only ever fought lightsaber weilders, and it's painfully obvious. Do you even have any experience with moves that aren't found in manuals or tought to you by the Masters here?" he asked, almost irritated. He wanted to know just what Ka' el was doing.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

Form III wasn't even Ka' el's form, he hated using it, thought it was boring and dull all that blocking and conservative attacks. It cost him twice already, but it gave him a hint of what Sejah was capable of and now it was time to show Sejah what he was capable of;

"So you want to see something not found in manuals?"

Ka' el reactivated his saber and changed his stance completely.

"You got it."

His right foot was planted forward, saber held pointed straight out at Sejah, it was southpaw and Ka' el was a righty, but he didn't want to give away too much. But he would score the next point. A quick step forward and Ka' el's saber shot toward's Sejah's midsection, Sejah once again spun his saber in an attempt to block and obvious look of disgust on his face for Ka' el's seemingly uninspired fighting style, but right as his blade was to meet with Ka' el's, the younger padawan disengaged his saber allowing the mongooses to pass by unfettered.

--snap-hiss--

"Touche"

Sejah felt the burn of Ka' el's blade touching his own midsection.

[Sejah Haversh]

"Nice touch," Sejah nodded, not visibly upset. "Though I believe you'll actual find that one on page one hundred forty-seven of the Form VI manual. I pulled it against Marcus Q'Dunn when I first got here."

Ka' el was skilled, there was no doubt about it. He even reminded sejah a little of himself. It would be difficult to formulate a strategy against him, but Sejah knew that he could do it. It would just take some more feeling around to figure out how.

Lifting his blade, he held it perpindicular to the floor in one paw, and leaned forward in an ancient stance. "Now it seems we both know where the other stands, whatsay we forget all this playing around and get down to brass tacks? Blade on blade, first to five kills wins, and loser buys the drinks."

[Ka' el Darcverse]

Ka' el grinned and then spun his saber round in his hand.

"Sounds fine," He replied.

Ka' el turned and retook a Form III stance, then rolled his neck. Again he took a southpaw stance and began moving in a slow shuffle to his left.