Jedi Dueling Tournament! Xextos V Varless

[Coren Starchaser]

It was the day, Jedi were coming in from all across the galaxy for the dueling tournament. While a good number signed up, many more were showing up for the networking and rest-and-relaxation that such a tournament would provide for such an event. Setting up a number of arenas around the Temples on (Praxeum World), the Jedi Praxeum was hosting Jedi from all walks to duel for eternal glory.

Or bragging rights and whatever the Jedi Artisans could cook up in their labs. Coren Starchaser, one of the figureheads of the galaxy’s Jedi, was, almost obviously, at the center of the tournament’s idea, but would only be stepping in as an alternate. He had pieced together groups into brackets based on Jedi rank and not necessarily skill levels.

What he had were several rings set up for Masters, Knights, and Padawans to go toe-to-toe. Rules were simple, compete for the time allowed, and anyone who gets knocked down is out. Step to the side, and let the contest continue as others advanced. There would be a benefit for all who participated by the end, but those who rose to the top would earn a few items.

What was happening before the tournaments, was ensuring that armors were removed, any imbued items were removed, and general sparring outfits were granted. From bodysuits, to robes, to other workout gear. Rows of training melee weapons were set up. If someone had a preferred melee weapon? They’d find the mundane, training variant here. Jedi Sentinels from Starchaser’s influence were approaching of the outdoor combat zones. Each were set up to provide enough room to spar, but no real environmental challenge.

[OOC: This thread is is for the Master match # with Master [member="Manu Xextos"] versus Master [member="Rhane Varless"]]

 

[Manu Xextos]

Jedi.

Been a few decades since I’ve been comfortable with the term, a few centuries since I looked at myself and saw a Jedi Master wearing white robes. When the call for Duelists for a grand tournament came, I turned around and went surfing.

That sort of thing… it wasn’t for me. Not anymore, not in centuries.

But then [member="Kaine Australis"] joined, and like an old soldier limping home, I knew the Force was telling me it was time. Time to reintegrate. Time to open Sabarene and myself to the outside Galaxy.

It was time to forgive the Jedi, and how better could an Echani forgive than on the edge of a training sabre, displaying for his fellow Master exactly what he had to offer?

Simple white robes dressed my seven foot Echani frame, hiding lithe cords of an acrobat’s muscle. I’m not a tank. Congrats to [member="Rhane Varless"], he wouldn’t have to fight a bruiser.

I stood in the middle of the combat zone, stretching out and curling my wrist as I held the training saber. Nothing fancy. No mace, or polearm or force whip or modern mcguffin.

Nothing but the delight of a sword, and the ability to wield it.

Hopefully this gives Kaine some confidence, and maybe I’ll rediscover old friends.

 

[Rhane Varless]

Rhane threw off his dark robe revealing simple bleached leather garments. He wore form fitting shorts and two sets of bracers of the same material, leaving the rest of his body exposed, but limber and flexible. Due to years of training, his chest, arms and legs all appeared to be made out of durasteel cords covered in Besalisk skin. He skimmed across both of his double bladed sabers, confirming their location at his hips. Rhane had decided to keep with his regular style of weapons for this duel, not mixing things up on such short notice, normalcy was in fact best in these types of situations.

He noticed his opponent in the ring and gave a subtle nod before stretching out both sets of arms and his back. Loud popping noises emanated from his joints as he limbered up. He studied his opponent as he did so, noting his height and choice of a single blade. The man was abnormally tall, but also lanky. Rhane hoped this lack of weight would allow his strikes to deal more damage. He finished stretching his arms and back, sat down and stretched out his knees. Once he felt he had sufficiently stretched out, he stood back up and activated both of his double bladed training sabers. A glow the same color as his garments emanated from them. He swung them around several times, preforming various strikes and sweeps before adding in same acrobatic moves to compliment the attacks. He was a Master in the form of Niman, specifically the Jar'Kai variation but chose to practic using Ataru moves in order to confuse his opponent. After a few more practice moves, he deactivated his sabers and placed them at his hips.

Rhane moved to the center of the ring, bowed to [member="Manu Xextos"], and activated both of his lightsabers.

 

[Manu Xextos]

My opponent arrived, dressed simply with bleached leather and... two double sided sabers. I look down to the one training saber in my hand, back to the massive Master and his dual blades.

This [member="Rhane Varless"] must be a humdinger of a duelist to functionally use four blades in syncopation without cutting himself to ribbons. That alone influences what I do next.

Hold out my hand and grab another of the training sabers provided. Yeah. It’s twin blade time. Could I go against four blades with one? Yes I could. Rhane can only limit himself to certain ranges of motion without cutting himself, limbs doubled in comparison to me have to work in a special kind of synch. Strong enough pushes could cause the fellow Master to slice into his own back with the training sabers’ sting, lest he give and give ground. His attacks are potentially powerful, but limited by the movement of his own blades. But what’s the fun of going to a tournament and narrowing my own play time?

I feel the weightlessness of the blades, igniting both and reminding myself that in Jar’kai, as with life, my blades are one.

They are two halves of the same weapon, defence and attack linked in my body position. My hands.

I bow and flourish, as a Makashi Master.

Rhane brings out a quadruple blades Ataru. Good to have another Ataru aficionado around. I strafe forward, indicating the beginning stance of Soresu, the defensive form, with my blades.

Proper salutes given, I charge in a double step forward, blades defensive, and attempt to push both of Rhane’s blades out away from his core.

 

[Rhane Varless]

''Surprising'' Rhane thought to himself as he saw [member="Manu Xextos"] grasp ahold of the second lightsaber, ''he appears to be making a last second change. Let's hope it works out for him.'' As the battle began, Rhane switched into his more comfortable Jar'Kari stance. He was hardly in this stance for just a moment when his opponent lunged at him, attempting to break his guard. Rhane threw himself backwards, away from the blades and landed on the back foot. He studied his opponent for a split second before making his next move. Rhane entered back into attack range before launching a fury of attacks at his opponent to hopefully overwhelm him. He batted around the outside of his guard, twisting and turning, attempting to find weakpoints at odd angles. He then suddenly deactivated the back ends of both blades and launched into twin strike directed at his opponents left guard, a power move meant to break guard. Rhane threw both sabers down with all the force he could at his opponent and hoped for the best.

 

[Manu Xextos]

[member="Rhane Varless"] gives ground, rather than break his Jar’kai stance. I keep one saber on offence, the other on defence. My blades act as one, guard and profiteer in the same series of breaths.

This duelist aims to break my guard, find my weak point, and it does me well to continue in Soresu Jar’Kai. Ultimate defence and glancing blows. Feet remain at a comfortable diagonal, twin blades swarming in slight shifts to the wrist I strafe-step forward and to Rhane’s right, refusing to give back and allow him space to use his powerful set of strikes. Circling, pushing back to break his root. Angling my blades to slough him off, not tangle with his strength.

I don’t need to fight him long to realize he’s mighty, and I’ll need to be sly. The crash of his dual attack on my left guard is met with an initial bite, the clash-crackle of three blades coming together. I angle my left blade to let Rhane’s momentum and the force applied slide his blades down and further to the left.

And swing my right blade horizontally into his open side above the belt.

 

[Rhane Varless]

''He is a great defensive swordsman, waiting and searching for the perfect opportunity to strike.'' Rhane thought to himself. ''Pretty soon he'll-'' Rhane saw the blade come swinging to his open flank and cut off his own thoughts. He quickly repositioned himself, angled his wrists up and reactivated the other sides of his blades. Manu's blade came crashing into the other side of Rhane's double bladed sabers. His wrists were severely hurting from the attack, he might have broken one. He couldn't keep the tension in the up for much longer.

''You are an excellent defensive swordsman'' Rhane said to his opponent, obviously in pain, his wrists seeming to explode at any moment.

''You wait and search for the perfect moment to strike. Pretty soon I'll be able-'' He cut himself off as he quickly pulled one of the sabers back from the clash and turned it over into single blade mode. He swept low at his opponents feet attempting a quick strike or, if not, forcing him to go over Rhane or fall back. Only time would tell.

[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Manu Xextos]

ooc: Sorry dude! Was busy over the weekend, etc with house guest & work.

Rhane keeps up the pressure, twisting and igniting his blades in an attempt to staunch my defence. His ignition and deactivation work is fantastic, using his four blades with impunity. I put weight behind my strikes, and hear the crackle of wrists weakened by the strike.

Time to press on.

“Remind me to heal you later, dude.” I grit my teeth and take the compliment, disengaging the side-strike with my left blade, to snap my wrist up and strike a quick volley to the other side of [member="Rhane Varless"]’ head. I keep the other lightsaber at his side, hoping to keep him tangled up.

But! Hopes and plans are for kids and birthday parties, and instead, he strikes for my feet. I either have to give ground or put myself up for a severe disadvantage by blocking it. Neither of those sound pleasant. So what’s an Echani bladesman supposed to do?

I surge upward, jumping and twisting in the air like the acrobat I am, and give up the one tell I was hoping to save till later in the duel. Landing behind Rhane, my blades take the Jar’kai rendition of an Ataru expert, the right diagonal across my body, and the left blade overhead, crashing down in a vertical slice.

"To gank me in the leg? Almost got me! Hah! You sunk my defence, you clever man!" If he’s quick as I think he is, Rhane’ll see me coming and I’m fully aware of how much his counter is going to suck.

 

[Rhane Varless]

OOC: No problem! IRL > IC. I know I've been late several times...

[member="Manu Xextos"]


''Greetings.'' Rhane said as approached one of the librarians in Silver's Rest. Rhane was perusing the selection of books, looking for several dozen to take out with him while on patrol with the Seventh Fleet. He had found many, among them: A Basic Guide to Makashi by Yeeto Vyvlarin, Controlling and Interfering with Foreign Minds by Donda Estayan, A History of the Naval Battles of the Clone Wars by Wullf Yularen and a last, more curious book. Rhane flipped through the pages from back to front, landing on the title page. He observed the title ''What Happened on Mustafar, and other events while in exile.'' the book's author was simply signed with three letters ''O.W.K.'', however most of the inhabitants of Silver's Rest and anyone half-literate in the entire galaxy knew who that meant. Rhane shifted the books across the counter to the Rodian Librarian checking out his books.

''Peace through The Force by Anzen Qudon, one of my favorites.'' the Rodian said in her native tongue, with a kazoo like chuckle. She scanned the books and handed them to Rhane with a slip of paper.

''Due date is in 14 cycles.'' she said.

''I'm not so sure about that...'' Rhane laughed a hearty laugh and so did the Rodian, although it was a more kazoo like one. He trotted away, each of his four arms grasping onto a pile of books.

-A Few Hours Later-​

''What are you reading?'' Nitso leaned on the doorway to Rhane's quarters, the light from the hall illuminating her from behind in the mostly dark room. Rhane switched off the lamp he was using to read, stood up and turned on the main lights in the room. He handed Nisto the book and she examined it as he talked.

''A copy of a book by the Ancient Jedi, Obi Wan Kenobi. He was the Master over Darth Vader. The book starts with their duel on Mustafar where Vader becomes horribly mutilated and disfigured. The rest of the books talks about his self imposed exile on Tattoine and his observance of Vader's son, Luke Skywalker.''

''Yeah, I know. Read all about it in history class, like a decade ago.'' Nitso laughed and so did Rhane. She handed the book back to Rhane and walked towards the door. She stopped suddenly and turned around.

''How exactly did Obi Wan defeat him? I never learned that...'' she asked.

''Vader attempted a front flip over Obi Wan, so he cut off his legs in mid air...''

​

-3 MONTHS LATER-​

Manu's sabers crashed against Rhane's. Rhane quickly attempted a saber sweep against his opponent's legs to no avail. His opponent jumped up, apparently very acrobatic.

Time seemed to come to a halt.


In his mind's eye his was transported to Mustafar, he saw Darth Vader jumping off towards Obi-Wan, aggressively pursuing his former master. His mind's eye shifted back to the duel, but things were different. He was watching the duel from a third person's perspective, observing himself and his opponent. He saw himself, having just attempted the leg sweep and he saw his opponent in mid-air, jumping over him, time still frozen. Rhane's conscious shifted back to Mustafar.

Rhane saw Obi Wan track his opponent through the air, timing his strike perfectly until his former Padawan was above above him. He sliced at Darth Vader, simultaneously taking off both of his legs. Rhane shifted back into his own body, time resuming, prepared for his next move. He whipped around and sliced up at his opponent in mid air, attempting the same move that had been so successful with Obi Wan almost 800 years ago...

 

[Manu Xextos]

A daring move, and a gigantic risk, vaulting over the man’s head. The urge to get behind him, and strike the back was irresistible.

The battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker was a question of position. Obi-Wan had the high ground. Anakin had a massive leap. [member="Rhane Varless"] and I are on equal footing, an equal plane. Such knowledge was not lost on us, when I was a Padawan in the Jedi Temple eight centuries before. The battle was close enough in everyone’s memories to be taught, written about, academically studied. Ultimately, Darth Vader was never an expert at Ataru, but the more forceful forms like Djem So.

It makes little difference as the training saber burns my left leg. My other leg is saved by my lightsabers, still activated and held between us as a guard. My right saber connects with Rhane’s, as I finish the jump and land behind the other Master. My leg burns, taking less of my weight as my left saber rocks down to attempt a diagonal strike to Rhane’s back. Or whatever’s facing me most. My other saber holds a defensive position, the pattern of an Ataru Jar’kai Master: One defence, one offence.

Two blades as one.

 

[Rhane Varless]

The strike seared Manu's leg, connecting but not doing nearly enough damage. Rhane knew that his opponent would quickly retaliate and thus brought his other saber around to guard. But suddenly, disaster struck. Manu's strike came down sooner and harder than Rhane had expected, crushing his left upper wrist. It was broken. The saber was flung from his hand, far out of the arena. Rhane began to call the saber back to himself but remembered the rule against force powers. He held his broken wrist close to his body with his lower right hand. He gave a subtle nod to his opponent, indicating that he was capable of continuing.

Spinning his saber around from side to side with his two remaining upper hands, Rhane charged back at his opponent with a plan. He would attempt a power thrust followed by several quick strikes around his opponent complimented by acrobatic moving and positioning. Finally he would end with a jab, this time three of them is quick succession. He just hoped [member="Manu Xextos"] would stay still long enough for his plan to work.