Duel A Fool Errant

[Alyssa Shinobu]

She hadn’t really expected the vines to do that much against someone like Sars but it was still annoying that he got rid of them so easily...no matter, if he wanted to go on the offensive then she already had him in position anyway. Alyssa found herself wrapped in the familiar sensation of a force pull as she found herself being torn across the platform toward her opponent as he zoomed overhead coming in for a rear assault.

She already knew what not to do in a situation like this and that was to push against the Force propelling her. By rolling with it she was able to touch her hands to the ground and push off again this time landing her feet on the ground which let her leap once more until finally, she came to a stop having upset her velocity.

Alyssa stayed light on her feet all throughout Sarad’s attack each parry and blow he struck against her cheapened by a quick dash in any direction urging him to move forward in order to continue his attack. Eventually, she stopped moving and allowed him to catch up where his attacks became brutal and filled with what she could only assume was some strange form of frustration.

She couldn’t really explain how Sars felt, let alone how he thinks but anyone who has ever used that attack has had to put some form of emotion into it. Period.

“The only reason we’re even having this fight is that you talk too little.” Another strike battered against her blade and Alyssa was beginning to feel the heat and not just from her enemy’s exceptional fiery lightsaber.

Her eyes burned with resolve, determination to win this battle even against someone clearly superior to her. Finally just as she was about to break off an opportunity presented itself in the form of a hand moving across her throat as though Sars thought his finger sharp enough to slit it.

Her left hand dropped from her hilt and wrapped around the man’s index finger in an iron-clad grasp. A blue aura ran like water around her arm the mark of bodily enhancement. Should she use it? Should she really disrespect all the values she’s supposed to be fighting for? No. It’s not the same.

“A knife isn’t evil. A murderer is.” She didn’t want to say that aloud but it slipped out and now she can’t change it only change what she does after. Starting from the shoulder her sleeve was torn to shreds in a massive current of energy that was running down her arm. Can a knife truly be evil if it's used to cook a meal? A tool can never be evil. Only it’s master.

Now her hand was coated in blue energy the manifestation of Alyssa’s emotions and the ability most associated with the darkness in which it is practiced.

“I won’t let you go. FRY!”

Sars Sarad

 

[Sars Sarad]

Less slit her throat and more cause it to constrict on contact. Sars wasn't actually trying to kill her. Of course he never got quite that far. When he was swiping his left hand across in its attack she'd reached out to capture him by the index finger.

Alyssa may have put herself at a disadvantage though.

She'd reached for Sars index finger with her left hand, the same hand he'd been trying to swipe across her throat. It put her in a position where she was reaching across her own body to maintain contact. In a sense it made her vulnerable.

They were in reasonably close quarters but Sars, noting the current of energy as it ripped up her arm would react to the opening as it was offered to him. Jerking his left arm backwards Alyssa would either see the index finger she had holding onto tightly slip from her hold or she'd need to extend her arm with it to maintain contact. Regardless Sarad's lightsaber flashed.

The Lightsaber disengaged from Alyssa's, flourishing between them in a fanning motion. In short it would snap down across her extended left arm on its way back out to Sarad's right. He'd aimed to make contact around the mid forearm so that if she pulled her arm back her hand was still a viable option. No matter where the lightsaber struck the intent was the same, sever the limb.

In the same breadth Sarad was sprawling backwards, further from Alyssa only to halt several feet away from her and out of reach.

"This over, Alyssa. We've waxed rhetoric long enough and I won't be frying today."

...in the end he felt little about Alyssa Shinobu either way but he respected that she had fought and fought well too. She was not his enemy though, not really. If nothing more leaving her with less of a limb might encourage her to learn more and fight harder against others...

 

[Alyssa Shinobu]

​

Intense arcs of energy shot out from Alyssa’s arm scoring the ground beneath the two and sending sparks flying in every direction possible. She’s never actually tried to use this ability on another person before, hell she’s never really had to. The only witnesses to her training were a few scattered trees lining the forests of Naboo.

Guess that didn’t mean much huh…

She fought so hard, thought so far ahead, and yet...she was found inadequate once again. Why? Why does this always happen? It doesn’t matter who it is, it doesn’t matter what they’re doing...everyone’s always got a leg up on her...everyone…

...everyone…

She didn’t understand what everyone else was doing, what she wasn’t doing. Kyrel, Aloysha, Val, Garrick, Lark, and even that brooding son of a bantha Karki had something in common, something that pushed them over the edge. The same thing that kept her atop the cliff without the guts to dive into the depths of power and of understanding.

What was it? What was stopping her from jumping into the murky waters? What was stopping her from getting the power she sought? What was stopping her from keeping the better part of her arm as Sars dismembered it with a cleanly cut laceration that split her arm as though it were inside a turbine.

For the briefest moment, it was the most intense pain she’s ever felt in her life, the burning, searing pain was horrifying; she never knew something could hurt so badly! There was a small white fire where the blade had connected with her arm, most likely due to Old Sin’s unstable nature but that too quickly subsided.

Tann lost its light and fell to the ground beside its agonized master, the girl that once held it was now painted in a visage of pain and fury. The stub where her arm once was had cateurized and prevented the bulging in her arm from bleeding her dry.

“Aaauuugh….uuuruuuuaaagghhh….!!” I can sense the darkness rising from within you child. You wish to kill me don’t you, you may think of me as Sith but you have no idea what you are dealing with. I offer you two choices, child. Stay here and die or give in to your anger. Give in to your hatred and I will give you the chance to use the power to harness it.

“Unnnn...hnnnng…” A panic attack kept you from breathing... your gasping is your own fault. Get your own house in order before you try and 'help' others.

“Tch…” Ever heard of Master Vanagor? He has a saying. 'Redemption is never out of reach, you just have to reach for it.' You're a kid. You are wrong. Not because you're a kid, but because you're wrong. Being a Jedi is not like working at CFM (Coruscant Fried Mynock), or NerfBurger King. I need to find my own redemption, yes. but you are wrong as to why. The Order knows full well I'm gone. I told them. They're not the ones that feel I'm a failure. I do, but until I come to terms with what happened, I'm not going back. No matter how many aggressive Padawans think otherwise.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. It’s always been me holding me back.” Alyssa clenched her jaw so tightly she managed to chip a tooth while she wobbled onto her feet, pain rolling off her like an open stove.

Quite a bit of wrath in this one, Is it simply the poorly controlled temperament children tend to show when they're shrugged off and ignored? Or is there something more malignant lurking within her? I'd wager a bit of both. But still, it would be a shame for such a power to never be truly realized. Perhaps not here, not now. The seed of the Dark Side has been planted within her. Now it's time for a bit of water.

“The only person who cares what I do. Is me.” Alyssa allowed her arm to fall from her severed one so that it may pick up her saber still giving off whispers of power and victory even while the blade was silent.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’ve been holding back. I just don’t know.” Unlike many of her other statements, this one was void of emotion and void of commitment. The fiery determination in her eyes had lost its tinder and if one peered hard enough Alyssa almost seemed...sad.

“Let’s go at our maximum. I want to see just how long I can stay underwater before I drown.” Another flat delivery backed up by a gaze that felt dead inside, empty, meaningless. “I apologize for holding back.” Her gaze was locked on Sars but it seemed like Alyssa was talking to more than just him.

The girl started walking forward, her blue blade burning brightly again as she kept it angled in front of her in a defensive posture. There was a robotic quality in the way she moved, like programming more than will, more machine than woman. Determination, anger, pain, grief, joy, adrenaline, all of them had been sapped out of her and replaced with nothing…

“I still think I can beat you. Even with one arm.” She scowled at Sarad. “If you’re gonna kill me, then do it and stop wasting time. Maybe if you up and killed me already I wouldn’t have this new perspective.”

Sars Sarad

 

[Sars Sarad]

There was a moment of disbelief that Alyssa may have recognized as it made itself apparent across the features of Sarad. Watching as she not only righted herself and retrieved her lightsaber but also began to move forward made Sarad anxious. He was still confident he could defeat her, especially now that she only had one arm but there was something that struck him as off.

Maybe it was the robotic way she seemed to move. No, not that.

Something had changed in the atmosphere around them. Sarad could feel it. The Force was different now, he felt the dark side and how it manipulated the energies between them. The way Sarad read it he must have thought this was how Alyssa Shinobu was still standing and how she had swallowed the pain of her injury and replaced it with determination. An admirable feat to some extent.

As she came forward Sarad would raise his lightsaber, placing it defensively while shifting his feet so that he could naturally transition into a defensive stance.

It appeared as though he was prepared to meet her in another exchange of blows but instead, not waiting for her to reach him he'd have rushed her. The Lightsaber he held working into a series of stiff, angled movements that made it seem as though he was preparing to attack but then Sarad was gone. Leaping into the air with the assistance of the force Sarad would have jumped high overhead, out of reach of Alyssa of her weapon until he came back down to land somewhere behind her.

They'd have switched places. Alyssa would be further out on the platform now whereas Sarad would be closer to the entrance of the dilapidated facility that lay further beyond. Looking at her, his lightsaber raised and the ambient glow created by the blade playing back across his features alongside the residual heat Sarad would have deactivated his weapon...

"Enough."

...he'd have said, his tone indifferent though his features seemed to soften a bit...

"If you wish to continue this then see to your arm and find me on another world when you are ready. Until then, train hard Alyssa Shinobu."

...stepping backwards then Sarad would have moved into the facility, disappearing from sight down one of the abandoned corridors. As for his Ship, he could find another. Ossun was a vast world and home to many Smuggling Operations as well as other interesting vocations, that it was also a Force Nexus was just another benefit.​