Power, Tempered

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Bested by Baastian's superior feats of finesse, the Selonian massaged her tender hand that had been savaged by his cho mai. Whatever deficiencies he'd suffered in their first bout, Knight Cain had obviously corrected the error, much to both Vissica's delight and chagrin at once. Rolling up to stand in a lithe flourish, the Selonian closed the distance with Baastian, willing her left hand to stop sulking over the right's misfortune as she dropped both paws to her sides.

"I'm pleased you decided to fight me seriously this time."

Unblinking in stare-down, Vissica raised a hand past Baastian, calling her greatsaber back to her waiting grasp. A throaty rumble sounded deeply in her chest.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian met her feral stare with a mask of serenity. Inwardly, he thanked the Jedi Master on Zeltros for a brutal lesson in keeping your weapon close to hand.

"You fought well," he said. "Don't trade your mobility for strength. You're a lot faster than most humanoids your size."

He turned and paced back to his corner, where he threw Vissica another salute. "You've proven you can be a tower of iron. Now show me you can be the oncoming storm."

Baastian assumed a Makashi stance, right shoulder turned to his opponent, his saber fully extended in a one-handed grip and pointed at her heart. The human Knight breathed in deep and drew the Force around him, in him, and through him, gathering it in his muscles and sinews.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

The single grip. The flourish. What was he doing? Vissica's head canted, flews sneering to show her sharp teeth.

"Makashi?"

It might well have been an expletive. If Baastian Cain was trying to make a joke, it was a bad one. He would have plenty of time to laugh at his own punchline...in the infirmary.

The Selonian drew down into a low stance, digitigrade legs coiling as her tail lowered. She splayed her left hand into a three point stance as her right held her unlit greatsaber cocked and ready. Vissica's thick neck bowed back as she regarded her opponent from her low center of gravity.

Pouncing at once, Vissica chewed up distance as she ran low, igniting her greatsaber at the last moment to begin a wide swing left to right. Missing by degrees, the Selonian continued to pivot on the balls of her feet along the weapon's inertia arc, only now she pulled her weapon handle in close to tighten her center of gravity to bring her back around much faster than anticipated for a strike intending to gut him from groin to chin.

[Baastian Cain]

The power behind the incoming attack was immense - with enough strength, even a saber on training mode could break bones, like any blunt weapon. The only defense against such a strike was not to be standing in front of it.

But Baastian took only one measured step in retreat as he rolled his saber blade backwards, dropping it beneath the level of Vissica's whirling greatsaber. And then, with ferocious strength, he snapped his weapon back up, carrying Vissica's weapon with it. The sabers shrieked and spalled as the greatsaber swung high above its target.

Then the human Knight caught the off-balance Selonian with his off-hand and redirected her as well, sending her sprawling dangerously close to the edge of the platform. He circled toward the middle again, and the point of his blade aimed unerringly for her heart.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Eyes wide in surprise at the sudden wellspring of power, Vissica found herself being manhandled by a sudden display of strength. He diverted her with Makashi as if she were a wet-eared pup clumsily reaching for him with Shii Cho. Further pushing the boundaries of reason, Baastian manhandled the taller and heavier Selonian, hurling her aside in passing. Only by the grace of her nimble reflexes did she not pitch off the sparring ring boundary. Yet recovery bought Vissica little time as Baastian had designs on finishing the Selonian Knight in her moment of precarious confusion.

Baring her teeth in a full-throated growl, Vissica reached a paw up sharply to pummel him across the circle. Again her dismay was conjured as Baastian's stride merely broke by two paces back. Snarling, the Selonian closed an empty hand, seizing Baastian's head with an unseen grip. Vissica then drew her closed hand down like a swatting paw in a bid to throw the human to the ground and pin him for the kill like a hunted rabbit.

[Baastian Cain]

A massive pressure wave bore him down like a stone, forcing him to one knee like a condemned man bowing for execution. His face reddened as he strained against her might, blood roaring in his ears, and with a monumental effort he pried his now-leaden saber from the floor and swept it overhead to swat aside the killing stroke, and the vicious backswing that followed.

Desperate to open up space and recover from gravity's attrition, he thrust his open palm at Vissica, and with a crackle like thunder the bow shock sent her skidding backwards on her heels for several meters.

Baastian rose to his feet, breathing heavily. "Improvisation," he said. "I like it. Keep it up!"

He shifted to a two-handed grip, hunched forward with knees bent, a stance designed for short, savage strokes with equal speed and power.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

The Selonian filled the air with a throaty rumble as she regrouped for a new attack. The low growl punctuated only by a flicking pink tongue over her flews, and resumed again in bass-heavy monotone. Stalking along the periphery, Vissica carefully gauged her distance as she dragged her greatsaber along behind her. The long white blade snapped and sparked as it's tapered tip slid along the floor. She stalked Baastian with an animalistic stoop to her flexible spine, nearly doubled to the point of placing a hand on the floor as her tail stood fixed behind to counterbalance her shifting gravity.

When she pounced, it was a low-running sprint, dragging along her blade behind her as it swept an energetic circle over the floor before flicking upwards to Baastian's middle. He countered her there, but with both hands now back on the grip, Vissica turned a shoulder into her blocked swing, sloughing off Baastian's blade before driving the lemon-sized pommel down on his collarbone. She may not have distance for a killing blow here, but Vissica could still attack.

[Baastian Cain]

Pain, hot and irreverent, bloomed from the point of impact; if Baastian hadn't already been strengthening his body with the Force, the pommel strike might have snapped his collarbone in two. As it was, he rocked back the length of her arms, sucked air back into his lungs, and continued to press. The short space between the combatants became a nightmare of hissing, spitting plasma, of blades rebounding and chasing and crossing again so quickly they appeared to form a lattice of shimmering white beams - too fast for thought, it was the domain of instinct now. The students on the other platform watched the display in undisguised awe.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Here, Vissica could only move in short angled chops. The Selonian dropped her greatsaber's handle down low to better negotiate the short reach demanded. Each backstep she took to buy distance was met with Baastian's bull charge against her locked blade to deny it. Infuriating! When she dug her splayed feet in and pushed against him, he too refused to give sufficient ground. Vissica's teeth bared in a chattering growl as she rolled her shoulder into a parry, drawing aside the competing lightsabers but for a moment. Her long muscular neck tilted back, and she headbutted down against Baastian with the broad edge of her cranium.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian's vision filled with a starburst of colored lights, and he stumbled back again as blood began to seep from above his left eye. He raised his saber to catch Vissica's next arcing strike, and, with their weapons locked together hilt-to-hilt, he rammed his own forehead straight into her nose.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Vissica broke lock immediately as she shuffled back with a pained yip. Her black eyes watered profusely, and the Selonian could feel heat on her nose as it began to bleed. Another inexorable sensation built up within her and the Musteloid sneezed, sneezed, and sneezed again, flecking a few strands of crimson-tinted mucus against her flews. The Selonian's pink tongue flurrped up to dispense with the mess, and the warrior moved immediately against Baastian to correct her loss of dignity at once, windmilling a blockbuster cleave down upon the human in a bid to directly challenge his new-found strength and settle all accounts.

[Baastian Cain]

There was nothing subtle behind the attack - it was, like her thrown saber moments earlier, a bid to end the bout one way or another. Baastian melted out of the path of her cleaving saber and, spinning past her, drove the point of his own blade backwards, raking across her spine.

He extinguished his weapon and, turning, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and extended it toward his defeated foe. "Sorry. I guess I had some frustrations to work out, too."

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

The moment Baastian's saber kissed Vissica's back, the Selonian arched her spine in protest as she roared.

"ENOUGH!!!"

In a fury, Vissica deactivated her greatsaber and threw the weapon to the ground in snarling protest, sending it spinning back into the air a short distance from the force of her angry spike. She spun about, breathing heavily through a slowly-easing growl, chest heaving as she greedily took oxygen to recover from the spar. In the end, there was no animosity. He'd beaten her as he did often. Her anger boiled fiercely in the moment, but evaporated with haste. Vissica accepted the graciously-offered handkerchief, cleaning the remaining blood from her muzzle.

"A good fight, Baastian Cain. You avenged your poor early performance."

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian hadn't flinched at the outburst. He'd grown used to Vissica's volatile nature, and could tell which moods would pass, and which would result in gross dismemberment.

Usually.

For his part, he took a few deep breaths and let the Force slowly drain from his body like water from a sieve. The lack left him feeling light-headed, and his muscles would burn for hours after such exertion, but it was good to know the limits of his body. "I'm glad to hear it," he said. "You're a fierce opponent, Vissica. You push me like few others can. I'm happy we're on the same side."

The human Knight returned his lightsaber to its thigh holster and glanced across the gymnasium, where the Arkanian saber master was herding his wide-eyed students back to their velocities. He met the Zabrak girl's eyes and smiled; she blushed and intensified her focus on her partner's blade.

"And you're a role model, too."

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Vissica called her greatsaber back to her waiting grasp, slinging it over her shoulder where it clipped into her armor's composite harness on her back, where only the hefty pommel remained visible.

"Perhaps. Warriors should learn by the example of their betters. Those who don't...die."

Often, Baastian attempted to do what humans called flattery. It was a curious behavior, and skirted the thin line between truth and falsehood. Fortunately he had a careful tongue.

[Baastian Cain]

"Neither of us is dead yet."

Baastian smacked her heartily on the shoulder and started for the stairs.

"I'd like to keep it that way."

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Vissica blinked at the clapped hand on her shoulder. It reminded her of the communal preening her sept sisters performed after battle. A physical sign of comraderie and bonding between warriors. She nodded in unsaid understanding. Baastian's words likewise seemed to serve that purpose, though littered with the human's predilection for war philosophy. The Selonian's whiskers quivered.

"Then we should continue to learn."