Feng vs Ellisanthia [Saber Clash

[Flame of Rebellion]

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To the northern quarantine of the biodome, an urban jungle. The two, Feng Huang and Ellissanthia are left in an alley, flanked on both sides by tall, brick walls with fire escapes and windows on both sides.

"Round One! Fight!"

The robotic voice sounds off, leaving the two with the sound of simulated urban living, and each other.

 

[Feng Huang]

Feng breathed deep she was nervous, anxious, excited, giddy. This was going to be fun. A true to test of her skills, with just enough stakes to make it interesting. Feng wasn't sure which form she was going to go with her Makashi and Shien were her strongest, her Ataru and Niman adequate, Soresu was her weakest, Djem So she didn't quite of the strength for but it informed her Shien. Shi Cho was elementary, but Feng had never heard of anyone winning a lightsaber duel with Shii Cho. Feng didn't know any Vaapad. Truthfully it scared her, she had enough trouble in the heat of combat resisting the lure of the dark side without engaging in a form that specifically cultivated it. Though a part of her wondered if she wouldn't be suited to it, not just in inclinationbut in discipline, finding a way to get a hold of the darkness inside of her.

Part of why Feng was so looking forward to this particular test of skills, is that it would, she hoped, allow her to test herself in earnest without the dangers and pressures of true combat. Plus, it was just… fun. This was sport, no lives on the line, just good-natured competition. Testing oneself against a worthy opponent, without the sorrow that came with loss of life.

Sure, things might get heated in sport, but rarely did it cause a life lost, of untold suffering of civilian casualties as one tried to restraint herself from smiting those responsible with extreme prejudice.

Feng took a breath as she remembered the cultists on Corellia. Now was not the time. She had to set her mind to the task at hand. While Feng knew it wasn't healthy to keep things buried, without acknowledging of them, at the same time she couldn't give into her emotions, least of all on the battlefield. She couldn't be living her life in constant fear of what she was becoming. That was no way to live your life.

Life was about joy, happiness, growth, progression. Today's tourney could be an important opportunity for personal growth. It was better than combat, it was life, the opposite of what combat's purpose was.

Feng approached her opponent. Pantoran, jedi robes, head scarf. Her stance was good, well balanced, walked as if someone who could take up a ready or flow stance at a moments notice.

"Hi! I'm Feng!" Feng called out brightly a big goofy yet fierce smile on her face, a glint in her eye. As she took up a ready Makashi stance. The most useful form she had for one on one combat.

Ellissanthia

 

[Ellissanthia]

Location: Northern Quadrant, Biodome - Forgiveness
Tag: Feng Huang

This was certainly one of the more audacious assignments that she had ever volunteered for. She had been nervous at first. And yet, now that the preparation stage was finished, Ellissanthia—now known as a Pantoran Jedi called Venlana Solay—could hardly restrain her excitement for it. After so much time and effort spent perfecting her disguise, here she was, at the Saber Clash tournament, standing face to face against her first opponent.

And her objective was to win it all.

Naturally, that was much easier imagined than achieved. Even so, no great feat or any task worth doing was ever easy, and this would certainly be no exception. Fortunately, the nature of the tournament format made it easy to divide the monumental task into a series of manageable challenges.

In that, the first challenge before her was to defeat the Jedi Feng Huang.

The woman stood several inches taller than her, with a slender, athletic build and long violet hair done up in a plaited ponytail. Seeing her poised and confident Makashi stance, Venlana immediately recognized her opponent duelist that was intimately familiar with the weight and song of a lightsaber.

All the while, Venlana set her own lightsaber to training mode and ignited it, at which point a fuchsia-hued blade came alight with a sharp hiss-snap. She had no intention of killing her opponent and to make sure of that, she flicked the safety on her lightsaber to hard-disable the lethal setting. Then, she stepped forward, a slight, graceful smile touching her lips as Feng introduced herself.

“Hello,” Venlana began in a melodious tone, as she gave her lightsaber a few preparatory flourishes. “I am Venlana Solay.” She continued, her gaze meeting Feng’s with respectful intensity.

“May the best of us win and...” Venlana smiled, before settling into the fluid, acrobatic readiness of an Ataru stance. “May the Force be with us both!”

Spoiler: Disguise Information

• Ellissanthia is disguised as a Pantoran Jedi Venlana Solay, to enter the Saber Clash tournament.
• She has gold Pantoran facial tattoos. She has on a black headdress that covers her ears from all angles.
• Her hair is cut short and dyed red via Instadye. It has no accessories aside from hairclips to keep her headdress in place. She has been administered an eye color injection to change her eye color to green.
• She is under the effect of a False Light Side Aura spell.

Spoiler: Loadout

• Jedi Attire
• Standard Blade Rubat Crystal Lightsaber - Pink Blade
• Seer Stones

 

[Feng Huang]

Location: Northern Quadrant, Biodome - Forgiveness
Tag: Ellissanthia

Feng nodded and smiled fiercely.

"The Force be with you as well."

Ataru stance. That was tricky. Ataru was powerful, fast, fierce where Makashi was precise, rapid, disarming. A skilled Ataru attacker could overwhelm a defence bouncing around from a dozen different directions. Feng had two options with Makashi v Ataru, end it quickly or out last. Both had merits, but in the words of a wise young lady in chip holo commercial 'Why not both?'. If the first failed she could always fall back on the second

She double checked that her lightsaber was set to training mode. Then she breathed deep met Venlana's eyes and nodded once sharply. There was a tense few moments as each waited for the other to make the first move. Feng knew it was a Jedi tactic, it was as much a philosophy as a tactic. It gave an opponent time to change their mind. The heat of the moment to pass. There was also the fact that making the first attack was against the Jedi code.

Feng didn't really think that applied to tourneys but then old habits, trained habits died hard. Feng felt herself getting impatient and soothed herself by tensing and relaxing her muscles, doing some mental exercises. Impatient was going to make her lose. This tournament was against skilled opponents not just cultists or stormtroopers. She had to be patient.

She waited for a few more moments. Then she launched into a thrust, a series of thrusts. It was to Feng's mind the greatest advantage of Makashi. The other forms had sweeping strokes, but Makashi had thrusts. Thrusts were notoriously difficult to properly defend against.

Feng had heard tell of a tale on swordsmanship so far back the opponents were using actual swords. Nobles from either side of their planet finally met, and even though one small island nation had a martial tradition going back centuries of discipline, training and honour, they found their sweeping moves of little use against the tight form of rapier fighting. The same fighting Makashi was developed from.

So Feng thrust, her feet following up the thrusts with form. She didn't expect it to work right away, but the pressure was on, so long as Feng kept up the pressure, kept backing her opponent up as she couldn't use Ataru, which required an open space to flow. Feng had the advantage. She had no intention of letting it go.

 

[Ellissanthia]

Location: Northern Quadrant, Biodome - Forgiveness
Tag: Feng Huang

Waiting within the context of combat was not something that Ellissanthia was used to. She was an offensive warrior, striking hard, striking fast, and striking from a distance, so as to lock down and destroy her target. Unfortunately, that mindset in this contest would not serve. Instead, she had decided to exploit her natural hyper-athleticism and cardiovascular endurance to facilitate Form IV. However, rather than adopting the typical ferocity of the Ataru Striker, Venlana decided that she would practice its movement as a means of meditation.

In motion, she would weave the opening through which she would strike.

Thus, when Feng struck out in a series of thrusts, Venlana flowed backward in a balletic jump-pirouette, landing lightly on the balls of her feet a few meters behind her original position. With the fresh space between them, she planted her foot and pounced forward with preternatural acceleration, as if she intended to perform a running leap directly over her opponent to strike from the air.

The truth of her maneuver was revealed at the last possible moment.

Venlana kicked her legs out, leveraging her built-up momentum to initiate a swift slide directly between (or around) Feng’s legs. Once she was behind her, she kipped around with sinuous grace, rotating to face the Jedi’s back as she rose. Then, in the same continuous motion, she leveled a precise thrust of her own aimed between Feng’s shoulder blades!

Spoiler: Disguise Information

• Ellissanthia is disguised as a Pantoran Jedi Venlana Solay, to enter the Saber Clash tournament.
• She has gold Pantoran facial tattoos. She has on a black headdress that covers her ears from all angles.
• Her hair is cut short and dyed red via Instadye. It has no accessories aside from hairclips to keep her headdress in place.. She has been administered an eye color injection to change her eye color to green.
• She is under the effect of a False Light Side Aura spell.

Spoiler: Loadout

• Jedi Attire
• Standard Blade Rubat Crystal Lightsaber - Pink Blade
• Seer Stones