Group Training - All Masterless Apprentices

[Je'gan Olra'en]

With the glut of apprentices, and with the new rank that Je'gan was so pleased with, and especially with his devotion to the Order, it only made sense that he should try to pick up a little of the slack left by the defection of Salem Ave. To this end, Je'gan had dispatched a single message last night to every masterless apprentice he knew of, informing them of a group training session to be held this morning. The sun had barely risen, but if they couldn't even get their priorities straight, to Je'gan's mind they didn't deserve to be Sith. He was prepared to be as lenient or as strict as necessary...but wo be unto whoever was late without good reason.

[Damon the Shade]

Damon was the first to show, he had the mindset to be first there. He was out to prove himself once more worthy of walking these walls. To failed masters that had left him wondering of his fate. This message that was sent out was his chance.

He saw Je'gan a man he had meet upon his return home. Je'gan most have recently gotten his title because when he had talk with him last he was still but an apprentice like Damon. They had nice chat about the order and their reasons for being here. So Damon was glad it was him who had sent out the message.

"Hello again Je'gan, or should I call you sith knight Je'gan. Congrats on the new title no doubt you will live up to it."

Damon appeared in a good mood as he smiled through his fresh Bandages. He was ready for some more long over do training and he knew Je'gan could condition him and the other master less.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan stood to greet Damon, dusting off his hands as he did so.

"Good morning to you too, Damon - and I hope to.

"To the best of my knowledge, there are five or six apprentices here who don't have masters, and I summoned'em all...let's begin with some mental warmups while we wait, shall we?"

He took a cross-legged posture on the ground, the impervious fabric of his long cloak stopping the dew but doing nothing to abate the morning's chill. He ignored this, focusing instead on Damon.

"Now, what we'll be doing today is something that has to be taught early to Sith, before they gain the trademark mindset. I'm not sure where you are, honestly; if you can do it, you can do it, and if you can't we'll work on the normal Forcewielder skills.

"Surrender." The word came out guttural and forceful, immersed in Compulsion. "Let your mind go free, let your shields dissipate."

[Jorshal]

Jorshal had intended on showing up early, but the comforts of sleep persuaded him to do otherwise. He wasn't too late though. Hopefully the training had not started yet, but as he drew closer to the meeting place the looks of things suggested it had.

He approached Damon, who appeared to be concentrating, from behind and as if he couldn't help it Jorshal tugged on one of the bandages. "Ha-ha." He said to further irritate Damon.

"So what's going on here?" He said and turned to Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He cast a stinging telekinetic blow to Jorshal's hand - the one that had pulled Damon's bandage - and a Force-grip to the back of the boy's collar, pulling him away from the bandaged Sith.

"What's going on is that we are learning how to lower shields. Sit down, Jorshal, and concentrate on passivity, letting your mind float free."

[Jorshal]

A sharp pain stung his hand and he jerked it away from Damon and shook it. "Ow..." He grumbled and sneered at Je'gan; assuming it was him who had caused the pain.

He sat down and leaned back on his hands. This excercise of 'passivity' was incredibly boring, Jroshal wished to himself it would be over soon and they'd move on to something like combat. He shut his eyes and felt an overall stupid feeling. He continued to try and let his mind wander, but honestly, he couldn't tell if he was doing it right or not.

[Damon the Shade]

Damon already knew the technique from earlier in his training he closed his eyes and his mind slowly let go. He noticed through the force what Jorshal was doing but he let it go staying focused on the task at hand. He really didn't care about some kids curiosity anyway.

Some day Damon would show the kid the face of a real monster that lay between the bandages. Now was not the time for it he focused on his surroundings and his mind was cleared. He could feel Je'gan and Jorshal and the rest of the living components around him. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"I have let my shields go."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan probed Damon with the Force, verifying that his shields were, in fact, down. Jorshal's, however, were intact, and the overall indifference emanating from the boy was enough to tell the Sith Knight where his attention was - or wasn't, as the case might be.

"Good, Damon. Very good. Now bring them back up, but make them stronger. Put in more focus and more willpower.

"Jorshal...surrender. Let your mind relax and open up to what's around you. Damon can do it; try to sense what he's doing."

[Prometheus]

The Air blew through the trees peacefully as Prometheus Sat meditating. His Training incomplete because of His masters departure from the Sith. Left with what he had been taught Prometheus meditated and opened himself to the Dark energies inside which raged and swarmed for revenge and death. Letting them swell and then channeling them into the force, he had learned to control these emotions over the past months alone in the Wilderness of Corellia.

This day drew him closer to the Palace and the Training Grounds then he normally ventured. He could sense something in the distance but his abilities were still uncontrolled and he could not make out who they were.

He had been alone too long and Now after almost 2 years of living as a hermit in the woodland Prometheus knew he needed help to continue molding his mind and body. Help with the process of becoming a more efficient killing machine then he already was.

Walking through a gate which he once entered many months ago he walked into the training Grounds to see three souls drawing upon force energy. He could feel them. One was strong and seemed to radiate in the force. He knew this must be there trainer. HE too needed training and guidance. He hoped this Knight could help him. If not Prometheus was destine to progress on his one in seclusion as he had for so long.

Prometheus neared the group and reached out into the force. he knew the three would since him. and he wished not to sneak up on them. He walked to the One he had sensed the strongest and dropped to one knee.

"Dark Knight of the Sith my I join your training. I have gone too long without guidance. I wish to learn"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Well, he's already a member or he wouldn't be here.

"Of course you may," he said genially. "You may find, though, that what I'm teaching today isn't something that works for you. Observe Jorshal here." Je'gan gestured to the boy. "He doesn't seem to think that mentalics are important. How to affect people's minds, you know." He spoke in such a way that the boy could hear the aside as well. "From simple defensive exercises we'd be progressing to offence, then to influence like the classic Mind Trick, and if you boys keep up your course of studies, within a few years you'd progress to mind control and mind altering. Poor Jorshal doesn't seem to understand how important mentalics truly are."

[Jorshal]

"I don't care if Damon can do it. Damon is a wimp!" He said softly to himself. He threw his back against a stump, stretched out and relaxed. Okay, He thought to himself. Let's do this stupid trick. He shut his eyes, dispite the feeling of stupidity he got, and focused on letting the supposed shields down.

He opened up to the Force, something he barely had a grip on. Shields... What could they possibly look like or even feel like? His search was interrupted as he heard Je'gan talking to someone Jorshal hadn't met before. Je'gan mentioned his name and this drew Jorshal completely out of his concentration.

"Poor Jroshal doesn;t seem to understand how important mentalics truely are." He said.

"Kiss mine, Je'gan!" Jorshal said and stood up. He approached the Knight with his fists clenched. "Mentalics are for losers who can't fight and want to feel special." he said with a sneer on his face.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan turned towards Jorshal, face impassive.

"Before I started mentalics, Apprentice, I was a sector-level martial arts competitor and fencer. I am perfectly proficient with any bladed weapon, a lightsaber, or my bare hands and feet. I know thirty-two different ways to kill you with one finger.

"And I chose mentalics. Does that tell you anything?"

[Jorshal]

"Tells me you're lying." Jorshal protested. He did take into consideration that Je'gan was telling the truth, but he wasn't going to back down. "Prove it." He dared.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Before the second word concluded, Je'gan was a blur, smashing Jorshal in the solar plexus with a perfect Shenbit Stonecrusher in a literal eyeblink. The apprentice flew fifteen feet to the tune of snapping noises, which emanated from his ribs.

"Not one finger...but I hope you've learned your lesson."

[Jorshal]

The sky seemed to swirl making the clouds and the sun blend together while fading to and from black. An incredible pain was exploding throughout his chest as if Je'gan had continued to pound him over and over. It was becoming harder to breathe with every passing second, or at least seemed that way.

He dared not to climb to his feet immediatly, he didn't want to enhance the pain anymore. Slowly he rolled over, gripping his chest area. He finally pushed himself up and stood on his two feet.

He was at loss of words, the only thing he could think about was his anger towards Je'gan for his embarressment. He couldn't declare Je'gan his enemy, they were both members of the Sith Order. Then maybe I shouldn't have taunted my fellow Sith. he thought.

"Fine then, I'll do mentalics. For now." He said angrily. He hated admitting he was wrong, but he wasn't about to limp off to the medical room like a hurt dog. Even if he swore one of his ribs was broken.

"So what's next, Master? He said mockingly.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Now you've got some useful anger, so we'll just skip shielding until you're good and ready, and work on attacking somebody's mind."

Je'gan presented his own shields, constructs which gave the impression of complexity while revealing little of their actual makeup.

"How do you think you would go about doing this?"

[Jorshal]

"Stab you between the eyes..." He said just loud enough for Je'gan to hear. Before he could respond Jorshal continued. "I don't know. The Force I guess..."

He thought for a moment. If there is a shield and you want to get through it, how do you go about doing this? Run a lightsaber through it and puncture it. That was the obvious answer. But that was how things worked in the material world.

"Can I puncture it with my mind?" he asked.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Yes, in a way, but it takes a bit of concentration...which is why you save it for distance assaults. If you're close in, it probably would be a better move to stab me with a vibroblade, and that's why I keep my combat skills at peak.

"Now, at range mentalics are of course far superior. It's perfectly possible to puncture my shields with your own mind, but it's a simplistic way to do things. It requires that you have strength of will greater than your target - which, in this case, I can guarantee you don't.

"It's much more efficient to create constructs, like, say, a mental image of a lightsaber, to attack someone's shields with. You have to bridge your minds first, though, and when you attack you have to infuse the construct with the Force, with will, and with motivation, otherwise it won't work at all."

Je'gan backed off several steps to put a safe distance between the two.

"Give it a try."

[Jorshal]

Jorshal was a little confused by what Je'gan had said, he was only 12 years old. Maybe Je'gan was trying to expose his ignorance and make a fool of him in front of all the other apprentices. Jorshal swore to himself that he wouldn't allow this to happen twice in one day. He didn't ask questions and concentrated.

As far as he understood he needed to bridge his mind with Je'gan's. Concentrate. He told himself silently. Reaching out to someone's mind was something he only done once or twice with Salem Ave. He drew on his experience and reached out with his mind to find Je'gan's shields standing strong.

Ok... minds bridged, now I have to... the construct, that's right. he thought and walked himself through.

Jorshal tried to think of a construct to use for the shields and his puncturing tool. He though of a spacecraft, shields were round on those... round like a balloon. He imagined Je'gan's shields as a balloon and his mind a pin.

Though he wouldn't show it on the oputside, but he was getting excited. All he had to do was bring his pin to the balloon, pop it and he would have destroyed Je'gan's shields. He pondered what his move after that would be. He'd imagine a nother balloon for Je'gan's mind and Jorshal would make his own mind a dozen needles. He was going to defeat another Sith knight at his own game.

Now was tiem for the action, he wondered if Je'gan suspected Jorshal of having the edge on him. He brought his imaginary pin closer to the balloon and then he rushed the pin at the balloon expecting a big popping noise. Upon contact with the balloon the needle shattered into pieces and the balloon stood there unphased.

"This is stupid." Jorshal said and rubbed his head, he was starting to get a headache. "I tried to break your defenses..."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Well done, Jorshal. You've got the right idea. Think about my shields; they're made of willpower and focus. You're not going to beat them with will, so strike against focus. You can do that by increasing the complexity of the attack, or the number of simultaneous strikes."

[Jorshal]

Jorshal fell back into the Force an reimagined a more accurate representation of Je'gan's defenses. A durasteel sphere appeared to him and he still had his lone needle. Ok... let's increase the complexity. he thought to himself and the needle turned to a vibroblade. However, a single vibroblade wasn't good enough, another, followed by two more and then another two more appeared. It was time to get a little creative, Jorshal imagined the area around the sphere to get hotter and hotter in an effort to melt the sphere as well. Unfortunately, Je'gan's defenses were not melting away as hoped for, but maybe they were weaken just a little more. Jorshal counted to three and sent the vibroblades rushing in simultaniously; an attack from all sides.

Jorshal opened one eye to see how Je'gan was reacting in the physical world.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good, good, good!" the Sith Knight enthused. "Very well done indeed! Agaginst an unshielded individual, that would have caused a great deal of pain. It would have probably dented most people's shields. Try again, Jorshal."

[Jorshal]

Motivated by Je'gan's enthusiasm Jorshal pressed the assult on the knight's shields. As he continued he tried to think of a new way to attack the construct of a metal sphere. Rust. Soon the muggy air around the sphere began to blow. Although slow at first, it soon built up to a gale force wind. Warm acid rain poured on the sphere and little rust spots began forming.

He paused and marvelled at his attack upon Je'gan's shields, the vibroblades, the intense heat, the acid rain... he was impressing himself. Unfortunatly such a strong attack would take its toll on such a young boy. In the physical world he lowered down to one knee and placed his hands on the ground. His head ached like it never had before.

"How was that?" he managed to get out.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Complex, imaginative, overall very good." Good for a first try, but as a rule, Je'gan felt it more productive to let the apprentices see how far they had to go themselves, without a single word or impression from him.

"Now hold on...I'm going to fight back now."

An imaginary blade formed, slashing at Jorshal's attacks. The wind began to dissipate, the vibroblades shattered, and the rust spots cleared up. Je'gan watched intently, curious to see how Jorshal would take the complete obliviation of his efforts.

[Jorshal]

Jorshal was already weakened when Je'gan struck back, but he knew his attack upon Je'gan's shields would have failed if he was at full strength. He watched through the Force as everything he had worked to create disappeared.

In the physical world his jaw dropped open. He was at a lost of words. He knew Je'gan specialized in mentalics and would probably win the overall battle, but so much work Jorshal had put into it... gone.

"Why'd you do that!?!" He shouted at Je'gan. His outrage was completely irrational, but he couldn't help it. "I put so much effort into that! And you... you make it disappear like that?" He said and snapped his fingers. He stood up and kicked a chunk of dirt at the knight which barely touched his shoes.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Calm down. Making things like that takes a great deal of work, but with time and practice it'll get easier.

"I know you're tired, but give it another try anyways."

[Jorshal]

"Now!?!" Jorshal said, "Are you kidding me? I feel like my head is splitting open..." He said and then realized some of the pain had trickled away. His anger through the Darkside was masking the pain. He awaited Je'gan's response.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan smiled softly as he sensed the half-lie.

"You're not in as much pain as you might think. A large part of it is your mind stretching, learning to do new things.

"Now...attack me."

[Jorshal]

"Fine then." He said softly and began to concentrate; this time it was a little easier. Jorshal used the construct of candle to represent Je'gan's sheilds, which were clearly there and standing strong, impressing themselves on Jorshal.

Ok, a candle. This should be easy.

Jorshal brought the blades back intot he picture and set them up, ready to hack the candle to pieces. Then there was the candle's biggest enemy, fire. He ran through a battle plan quickly in his mind. First the blades, and he unleashed them in a side swiping motion. And then the heat, which presented itself with flames from all sides.

See how he holds up against that.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan sensed the image he was being given and, purely to make things interesting, adjusted his defences to match. The surface of the 'candle' seemed to flow, extruding a pair of needle-like pseudopods that hardened and blocked the vibroblades. The surface, by contrast, liquefied and became not unlike water, defending Je'gan from the flames before he became seriously burnt.

[Jorshal]

Liquids take the form of their container. Jorshal thought and created thin tube beneath the now liquid column. Then he applied gravity to the situation and caused the liquid to drop, some of the water into the tube, some outside. The idea was to seperate the liquid and weaken Je'gan's sheilds by spreading them out.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The 'water' in the tube changed form yet again, expanding and shattering the container. Meanwhile, more water formed about the top of the candle, and the wax it lost grew back.

[Jorshal]

Ridiculous. Jorshal thought as he watched what was happening. He couldn't stop somethng that continued to grow back. He had no choice but to change the constructs.

The whole scene changed to a calm meadow, blue sky and little furred creature chewing on a seed. How do you like you shields now?Jorshal said to himself and laughed inside. This time for sure he had the upperhand. Now for his attack. He too chose a furred creature for his agressing mind, but his much larger and loved to eat meat. His construct crept quietly through the tall grasses eyeing its prey. Then it leapt above the grass and came crashing down upon the little rodent. Je'gan couldn't win now.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Again, Je'gan suited his self-image to the picture Jorshal maintained. He became the little furry animal in the meadow; totally harmless. As the predator - Jorshal - pounced, 'Je'gan' sprouted claws and dug a tunnel straight down.

The impact above, of 'Jorshal' hitting the ground face-first, was most satisfying.

[Jorshal]

The large animal snorted and shot blood which speckled the ground. It clenched it's teeth and growled from the belly. Jorshal thought of what to do next. He couldn't dig and try to follow the little thing, it would surely out do him. The predator clawed away at the dirt anyway, just to let Je'gan know he hadn't given up.

A snake. He thought and smiled back in the physical realm.

The giant predator seemed to disappear into nothing and all that remained was a long, fat snake with fangs tipped with deadly venom. It slithered intot he whole chasing after the little hairy creature ready to swallow it whole.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A dangerous move.

It took Je'gan all of five seconds to realize that the snake was more or less unbeatable in this position. However, he knew he possessed the willpower for something like what he was thinking of, so...

As the snake swallowed him, he turned into a rock.

[Jorshal]

Jorshal was stunned, he didn't expect that at all. What destroys rock? he asked himself. He was going to have to change scenes again, this wasn't good.

Lava destroys rock. he though and from the ground a volcano broke through and rose to the sky in a matter of seconds. This was the first time he had tried anything so big, his head was beginning to hurt again. The snake began to tumble over the edge, with Je'gan's rock inside. The now dead snake banged against the sides until it was a few feet from boiling lava, soon to be engulfed in it.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The Sith Knight winced at the sensation of being rattled down a mountainside - even with the protective casing of the snake's body. That was being shredded with lack of concentration as Jorshal devoted more and more to the volcano. In short, the experience was getting worse.

And yet he was enjoying this; the first true imagination-duel he'd taken part in since Oolana Taine.

The rock began to roll.

Uphill.

And it was getting bigger.

And bigger.

And bigger still, until it neatly plugged the volcano. He was suffering some damage from lava, but the effects of a magma backwash should be even nastier...

[Jorshal]

"Aww..." Jorshal said out loud. He was stuck now, he didn't think he could do anything about the rock blocking the volcano outlet and he wasn't sure if he had the energy to change settings again. What do I do? What do I do? He screamed in his head. Then the problem seemed to solve itself when finally the side of the volcano burst, spilling lava and releasing plumes of smoke. The pressure that had been keeping Je'gan there was gone now and the rock fell back into the lava, covering it completely.

"Ha ha." Jorshal mocked.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

In quick succession, the rock turned to ice, then water, then steam, blasting up out of the volcano's caldera and into the air. Only moments later, the air began to stir, and the droplets to coalesce. A wisp of fog formed, then a cloud, then a massive thunderhead which began to pelt the volcano with rain and lightning.

[Jorshal]

The lava began to solidfy and fill the volcano. Soon it was no longer a volcano, but rather a mountain. Lightning continued to strike the mountain in its weakest spot, the peak. Boulders tumbled from the peak to the base as lightning and rain continously wore the top away. Then the mountain began to grow and grow until its snowcapped peak soared high above the clouds, leaving the stong base to resist the lightning and rain.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The thunderhead condensed faster and faster, far exceeding the normal rate for such a procedure. Water fell in sheets on the scarred mountainside. Half by Sense and half by imagination, Je'gan sought out fissures in the rock. Wherever he found, there the water permeated and froze, expanding. The rocks of the mountain began to break apart from the inside.

[Jorshal]

Aww crap. Jorshal thought as he tried to think of a new solution. Before he could the mountain crumbled to the ground loudly and as it did it created a large gust of air that swept across the ground around it. Again, the solution presented itself. Jorshal was the wind which gathered and began to swirl, tugging at the storm clouds. Soon a tornado appeared and touched down with the ground, but this wasn't enough. The tornado began to grow and grow until chunks of rock from the mountain were being pulled from the earth and thrown in all directions. Slowly, Jorshal changed the nature of the tornado so that the storm clouds were bing pulled down and into the ground, smashing into the ground and seperating. It wasn't a permenant solution, but it would work to weaken Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The clouds having been depleted by the forced rainstorm, there was little of his power tied up in them, and he was content to let them dissipate. The ice chunks, however, that were scattered far and wide, rose up and coagulated into a chunk of ice that imprisoned the tornado.

[Jorshal]

The imprisoning ice had managed to slow the tornado and render it useless. Jorshal did his best to think fast as he let the former tornado rise to the sky and form storm clouds of his own. Soont he storm began to grow as rain poured down followed by lightning. Springing out of seemingly no where, trees had covered the terrain and in the middle the idle ice column stood. A quick, strong lightning burst broke from the clouds and struck the ice, breaking it into pieces which were now scattered all over the forest. More lightning bursts erupted from the clouds lighting the trees on fire in multiple places.

Now it was time for stage two of his new plan. Jorshal let the storm clouds disappear to reveal a white hot sun to encourage the fire. The ice was melting fast and the water that remained was evaporating into the air.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The ice shattered and evaporated in the sun, rising above Jorshal's disappearing storm. It flew higher and higher, growing and coalescing in the blink of an eye and transmuting from water to stone.

And a new moon, reaching the top of its arc, turned and began to accelerate towards the planet below, far faster than mere gravity could accout for. Having a mass greater than that of most asteroids, and a comparable velocity, there was a decent chance it would splinter the planet to its core, and perhaps do more.

[Jorshal]

As the moon crashed into the planet's surface Jorshal started to panic. The planet was his template and within a few moments it was all going to be gone. Actually, it would break up into fragments, but if it were to disappear all together... Jorshal allowed the moon to destroy the planet and after a moment of rest, portrayed by the pieces of both the moon and the planet, Jorshal allowed the pieces of his planet to seemingly disappear.

The pieces were actually being compressed due to the pull of the strongest force of gravity know to the galaxy, a black hole.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A voice echoed across the miniature infinity the two Sith had constructed.

Not as good a move as one might think. Can you maintain something that intense, Jorshal?

Now he had a number of options, most of which were theoretical and half-remembered - your fault, Jeeg, for upping the scale on this. All your fault - but 'reality' didn't matter. The only thing was will.

The fragments of both planet and moon coalesced as they fell, forming a shell around the black hole. Resisting the tug of gravity was painfully difficult, but he did it, and with the merest fraction of leftover will he created a single beam of light that travelled through the now-mirrored sperical shell at an oblique angle. It bounced off the interior wildly, somehow avoiding the black hole in the centre. To be blunt, Je'gan didn't recall anything of the theory behind this; all he knew was that it would work.

Within seconds, the shell and the black hole each surrendered themselves to an utterly massive explosion that shredded the sun and blasted debris of every kind for millions of kilometres in every direction. That did severe damage to his own shielding, but hopefully it would do an equal amount to Jorshal's...and he was willing to bet that Jorshal had less to lose. His sheer inexperience at mentalics virtually guaranteed it.

[Jorshal]

Back in the real world Jorshal fell to the ground. His mind was so worn from the battle of the minds and his was so surprised that Je'gan had beat him. He thought that he had it with the black hole, that was his ace. His eyes fluttered open as they stared at the grass blades. He let out a breath of air which he felt he might have been holding the entire time.

Right there could have been it. He could have beaten a Knight in something and shown that he had everything it took to be a Sith. He just couldn't believe he had come so close... He slammed his fist on the ground and got up pointing a finger at Je'gan.

"You cheated!" He declared though he knew it to be false, but he couldn't admit weakness on his part.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He started back in surprise.

"Hadn't you realized by now that everything we do is cheating? But never mind that, Jorshal, never mind." The Sith Knight smiled. "I'm a specialist in mentalics, Jorshal, and you were trying to beat me on your first try. That you failed is irrelevant. The fact that you endured so long and did such damage to me speaks volumes. I liked the volcano, by the way."

[Jorshal]

He stopped trying to continue the accusation. The fact that Je'gan had complimented him made everything seem better again. "Yeah, the volcano was pretty good thinking, huh?" He said but didn't expect an answer. He considered giving a compliment to Je'gan, but decided not to. He was the so called specialist, he knew what was good or not.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Mm-hmm." Mentally, he'd already moved on, examining the possibilities offered by this session. A glance told him that the other apprentices were doing well, and that he could continue to focus on Jorshal.

"Let's try learning a real mind-attack; it's called Force Confusion. You up for it?"

[Jorshal]

"Up for it..." He muttered with a snear like look on his face. "Yeah I'm up for it. What's it do?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Imagine trying to fight with colours, shapes, sounds, smells and sensations exploding across your mind. You wouldn't be able to see, hear, or concentrate. Imagine how vulnerable you'd be."

To highlight his point, he gave Jorshal a quarter-second burst of Confusion. The Apprentice's shredded shields offered little resistance.

"So. Still interested?"

[Jorshal]

Various noises flooded his ears, all of them annoying followed by bursts of color before his eyes and some horrid stench so nasty he couldn;t identify it. His eyes and his nose wrinkled as he covered his ears until it stopped only a few seconds later.

"Yeah.." He said and nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I want to be able to do that." This seemed like it would be more relevant in a battle. Just about anyone without shields was going to be vulnerable to this. And if they did have shields, Jorshal was going to be able to deal with that effectively as well.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Right, then.

"First, I want you to reach out with your mind to sense mine. Don't project any sort of image onto it like you did in our duel, just sense it for what it is. I'm going to lower my shields for this, by the way, but don't get any ideas." He smiled, velvet over steel.

"Focus on each sensation, image, smell and noise you want to push into my mind. Set them up like they're about to launch at where my shields were, and then begin to bind them all together. The main thing you need to use for that is a sense of how confusing the whole thing can be. Then launch them.

"Don't worry if it doesn't work all at once; I didn't succeed on my first try. This is a fairly advanced technique."