Alf's Training: Combat

[Lilaena De'Ville]

In the central courtyard of the Iziz City Palace, Lilaena De'Ville, advisor to the King, was waiting. She made it a point always to be very early to her training sessions with her apprentices, and they always arrived to find her waiting.

It served to keep them a bit off balance as they wondered whether they were late, or simply she had been early.

Alf entered the courtyard precisely on time, and she acknowledged his presence with a small bow. "Today you will be working on your combat skills. These 'lightsabers,'" she indicated the obviously fake pair she held in her hands, firm blade extending from foam core handle, "will teach you how to handle a real blade."

She tossed him the shorter one, watching to see if he caught it by the 'blade' or the handle. "Your's has been altered to fit your height. You will always be at a disadvantage because your enemies will likely always be taller than you. Do badly in training, and you will not survive your first encounter with a Jedi."

De'Ville held her dummy saber in a defensive position, point down and slanted slightly across her body. "Attack me."

[Alf]

Alf reached out to catch the fake weapon, and luckily it was the handle pointed to him when he grabbed it, otherwise, he probably would have grabbed the 'blade'. He then looked from it to De'ville for a few moments, akwardly holding it in his hands.

Attack? How am I supposed to do that? I've never even held one of these, he thoguht to himself as he hled it out in front of him, the blade pointed upwards at an angle in front of him. Well...I guess I could try some of the things that I saw the others doing.

He walked forward slowly, and then as he got closer, he spun around on his feet clumsily, his blade only coming up to her hips.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The saber 'blade' was made of a light wood, reinforced with a hardening spray that made it very hard to break. De'Ville blocked her apprentice's slow charge, and tapped him on the shoulder with hers. He moved to block much to slowly to intercept. "One of the most renowned Jedi Masters, Luke Skywalker, had little to no formal lightsaber training."

The Dark Jedi Master thrust her dummy saber at her apprentice, attacking a bit slower to see how fast his response would be.

[Alf]

Alf twisted his own weapon downwards, parrying the thrust, but he noticed to late that he had overextended himself. He fell forwards, rolling into a small ball. He came back up with his back towards the Dark Jedi Master.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena kicked him solidly in the back, sending the alien tumbling forward. "Use the Force to anticipate my moves, apprentice."

She followed up the kick with a double-handed stab to the ground, intending to 'impale' Alf to the floor.

[Alf]

Alf rolled to his side, the "blade missing him by mere inches. It was more luck than anything, but better to have an opponent think otherwise.

"Like that?" The little fuzzbal asked, moving forward, rearing up to go for a high slash.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She parried the slash, forcing his dummy saber aside. "Like that, yes." De'Ville attacked low, attempting to get inside his reach and score a hit on his side.

He was so short it was almost an advantage to him, because taller opponents weren't prepared to battle something so low to the ground.

[Alf]

He ducked,making his body even a smaller target and his master's "blade" went over his back. He was starting to think along side De'ville's train of thought. He had noticed that she was moving n ways she wasn't used to because of having to strike down at him instead of parallel or higher.

On the other hand, it was trying for him to get inside of her defenses because all she had to do was slash down and he would be trying to avoid a head shot.

His huge furry feet moved from side to side as he bounced left taking a swing at her knees.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She jumped up and over his swing, and Alf continued in a circle, his momentum carrying him a bit off balance as his saber hit nothing. De'Ville slashed her saber at his shoulders, a swing that would decapitate him if she held a proper saber.

[Alf]

Alf felt the little blade hit him and he got angry. What am I doing wrong? He yelled at himself. He batted De'Ville's blade to the side and stepped forward, this time faster than before as his body began to slowly draw on the darkside of the Force to enhance his ablities. He drew his blade in an upwards slash, starting from her left knee to her right hip.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her apprentice was growing more and more furious as she continued to score hits on him. His reflexes began to quicken, but she refused to humor him, blocking his latest attack.

The Dark Jedi master danced backwards, forcing him to come on the offensive as she limited herself to defending.

[Alf]

The Alien took a step forward, swing with steady slashes and thrusts. He had began to notice his Master's change in style, from offensive to defensive. He hoped that it was because of him, but he knew better than to hope for something like that. She was merely testing him, but he would not fail again as he increased his efforts, opening himself up to the darkside of the Force more continiously.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

His attacks came smoother, and she added a bit of flavor, blocking an attack, and then somersaulting over his head to slash at his backside.

[Alf]

He cursed himself as De'Ville blow landed. He had fallen into a routine and become comfortable and predictable. He twisted around on his huge feet, coming face to face as his master landed. He swung his lightsaber outwards in an upwards thrust to her stomach.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He turned around, and the backlash of her blow caught and deflected the thrust to her stomach. De'Ville stutter-stepped backwards, forcing him to follow, and possibly open himself up to another hit as he became desperate and swung at her.

Or perhaps he'd stay tight, and in control. Her eyes were cool as she watched her apprentice.

[Alf]

Normally he would have dove right at her to see if he could, but he was growing smarter. He himself took a few steps backwards to distance them. Perhaps he could buy some time to think of a plan or a way to get past her defenses.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville smiled tightly at him, and beckoned him towards her. "Come on, Alf. Attack me!" She leaned forward and slashed her dummy saber at him.

[Alf]

She was tempting him and he went for it, but not a direct frontal assault. He used his sprinting speed to run around her, hoping to confuse her as he changed directions constantly until he stepped in on her left side and swung, his blade parallel to the ground. That brought it jusst above her knee.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

As he ran around her, she turned easily to keep him in sight. He was fast, but as the center of his circle it was not a problem to keep the alien in sight. His direction changing became slightly chaotic, and the Force twinged in her mind, warning her of the attack by her left leg.

De'Ville brought her saber down and blocked the swing, the composite blades thunking together solidly.

[Alf]

Alf shuddered as the two blades met, but didn't stop his now relentless attack. He turned on his heel and took a step to the right before turning again, mirroring the attack on her right side this time.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

With little effort, she blocked his mirror attack, and then thrust out her hand, sending him stumbling backwards with a little push in the Force. "If you battle another Force user, you will need to learn to incorporate all of your training into combat."

De'Ville stepped up, closing the distance between them, and switched from defensive to offensive. She thrust her composite saber at him, and then as he blocked she yanked him forward with the Force, causing him to smack into the end of her saber. "If you are fully tuned into the Force, it can and will warn you when attacks like that are going to happen. Previously we have compartmentalized your training: Force use, combat... but today we are going to roll them together."

His master stepped back, and motioned to him. "Attack me again."

[Alf]

Alf stepped forward and swung again, this time lower at her feet. He could see only a few defenses for this attack, and prepared for any of them.

First she could jump over the weapon's blade and then he would try and Force push. Second if she blocked the attack he would try pulling the other side of her off balance. Third she could just sep over the attack and the would pull her leg out from under her.

All three were viable responses, but he kept his sense open for anything he didn't expect.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville saw the attack coming, and jumped up into the air, preparing to somersault over Alf's head and land behind him.

[Alf]

As soon as she was in the air, Alf decided to change his plan of attak instantly. He pulled her towards him, and at the same time, brought the practice saber up at an angel that was aimed at De'ville's belly.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She felt the tug of an invisible force pulling her downwards in mid-twist. De'Ville smacked her saber out and to the side, driving his point away from her body as she crashed into her apprentice.

[Alf]

When she crashed into him, he allowed himself to move with the roll and continued until he was rolling on his back and her over him. Then he tried to grab ahold of her and throw her past him. He opened himself up to the Force allowing his anger and fears to be fed upon. With it's strength he was sure that he would be able to accomplish his goal.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Alf used the Force and threw her off of him, and she rolled up to her feet. "Good, very good." She brushed off her clothes a bit, and recalled the dummy saber to her hand with the Force. De'Ville pointed the tip towards him. "You are short - your reach is not nearly as long as those you will face in combat. You will need to learn to overcome that, and increase your range."

She stutter-stepped forward, slamming her saber down towards him, and not giving him time to make sure he had his own saber in his hand.

[Alf]

He dodged to the left and rolled on the ground. When he came up, he scanned the area for his weapon, and found it in the worst place possible. Right under Deville. He didn't have time to think about a logical solution, but decided to use his newly found Force abilities to get it to him. He could call things to him and push them away, but could he do both at once? Now was the time to find out.

He put his hands in front of him and drew the Force into him. He didn't have much time. The lightsaber hilt wiggled slightly, but the Dark Jedi Master didn't seem to be moving at all. He set his face with a grim stare and tried again using his feelings to fuel his strength. The hilt slide forward before flying to him, but he couldn't tell if Deville was affected by this action.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville was tossed off balance by her apprentice's push, but she regained her feet quickly enough. Alf held his lightsaber in his hand, and she nodded silent approval. She again moved towards him, anticipating his dodge this time, and agressively attacking him.

[Alf]

Instead of dodging however, he decided to throw caution to the wind. Trying new things seemed to be working so far, so why not keep it going.

He took a step forward to meet his oncoming Master, and pushed his lightsaber forward and upwards at an angle. He was using his shortness to his advantage to get under her to confuse her and keep the fight close so that it might seem arkward to taller beings. He brought his saber over to his right to block a blow and then pushed it back and swung at De'Ville's left shin.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It was interesting, sparring with someone so much smaller than she, and he was trying to use it to his advantage by attempting to get under her defenses. De'Ville was far to experienced with the blade to allow him to score a hit, and she didn't believe in coddling her apprentices by pretending they were better than they were.

With a quick twist, she blocked the blade by her shin, and then punched out with her left hand. The heel of her palm caught Alf in the forehead, knocking him off his feet.

[Alf]

The Melmac rolled on the ground as he hit the floor. He jumped up and moved forward almost recklessly, but he still kept his gaurd up. He wasn't about to give up that quickly. He moved forward and slashed upwards to De'Ville'sinner right thigh.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He thought that he was about to hit her, but the blade was caught by the Force, and held tightly an inch away from contact. De'Ville smiled tightly. "That is enough practice for today."

She released the dummy saber from her grip, and Alf let it fall to his side. "Perhaps next time we will venture into the wilds. On purpose, this time."

[Alf]

Alf rubbed his arm unconsiously as she spoke about the wilds. Last time had been an accident, one he wasn't about to make again anytime soon. He made a few new scars in there, but he was determined not to have anymore.

He deactivated his dummy weapon and bowed to his master. "As you wish..."