Not as clumsy or random as a blaster...

[Kian Karr]

Kian circled the groups, walking among them as they practiced. Seeing that his apprentice, [member="Lokthra Dawning"] and her partner hadn't begun, Kian waved over a training droid who went through the motions with her.

"Form 1," Kian said, "may seem simple, but it is the backbone of every other Form....none can be mastered until at least a rudimentary understanding of the first form is established." Kian said and a wicked grin formed beneath his mask.

"It is also the backbone of blaster deflection." Kian said and with a wave of his hand a number of training probes floated into the air, each one going off toward a different Jedi.

"Now, these are designed to adjust according to their opponents skill level." Kian informed the class. "You need to rely on the force....allow it to flow through you and to trust your instincts on where the probe droid will strike."

"While they are only training bolts....they pack a sting." Kian said knowing all too well the sting of the small circular droids.

"Once we've gotten comfortable with this, we can run down the other Forms." Kian said not wanting the class to get too worn out before they had time to learn, at the very least, the basics of each style.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Korynn Sol-Syna"] | [member="Inas Reut"] | [member="Ikki Ike"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Kolbacca"]​

 

[Iona Immarya]

She was late, but of course she was late, she was Iona. Iona scrambled down the hall and took a corner a little too fast, sliding a few feet across the newly waxed floor as her arms flapped furiously at her side trying to regain her balance. Her torso swayed dangerously a few times before, unbelievably, she managed to recover her balance. She took a moment to catch her breath and, with a quick flick of her head, sent her damp ponytail back over her shoulder, she wished she could say it was damp from a recent shower, but no, it was sweat from having hoofed it from the other side of the compound. Balance restored, and dignity... well, dignity somewhat in tact, she once again started off towards where the training was being held. It wasn't her fault she was late. Truly. She had been so deep into thought listening to one of the masters lessons of Love vs Compassion that she had slipped into a deep slumber meditation, how was she supposed to know she would be trapped sleeping in meditation for that long? She had nearly leapt out of her skin when she realized what time it was upon her awakening. ​

​

As she neared her destination, Iona slowed to a trot, her ponytail bouncing with each step she took, didn't want them to realize just how frazzled she was, after all. Iona turned the corner just in time for a training droids bolt to zip past her face, striking the wall next to her bringing out a surprised yelp from the young padawan. Whatever setting this little probe was on, it should be labeled as vicious as it hounded after her, raising itself from another shot, but Iona's saber jumped to her hand and she ignited her green blade just in time to deflect the bolt harmlessly away... Granted, the deflected bolt came a little too close to another Padawan across the room, but it didn't hit them! Her shock gone, Iona fell into the common form of, well, form I, the only form she knew. ​

​

She winded her stance and lifted the blade to cover her torse, adopting her Shii-Cho stance and began deflecting the bolts even as the probe started to speed up, as far as she was concerned, she had flawlessly slipped into the training class with none the wiser... Yes, as long as she didn't look at the other Jedi, especially Master Kian Karr, himself, who was finishing talking about going through the other forms, then as far as she knew or cared to know, she had been successful!​

​

[member="Kian Karr"]​

 

[Kolbacca]

Standing up he extended his hand out and drew his lightsaber to his hand only igniting one side of the saber we were practicing Form 1 Shii - Cho it did not consist of two blades he stood up and raised his arm allowing the blade to cover his body tucking his arms away to decrease chance of disarment he lunged with his lightsaber in front of him blocking blaster fire from the training droid he was aggresive in his moments as Shii Cho was a heated form and used lethal force in this form as he blocked the fire sprinting at the droid he spun hitting the droid which would have cut the droid in half but was on the low settings and just made a grinding noise realising his grip as the lightsaber went back to his side he watched the rest of the teams execute their movements.

[member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Iona Immarya"] | [member="Inas Reut"] | [member="Lokthra Dawning"] | [member="Belizarius Krusi"] |

 

[Ikki Ike]

She stood there for a time, watching them and listening. She had heard most of these explanations about the forms and studied them before she was heading of. THey had been going forward with the training so she would work on it all. 'INteresting' She said it to herself instead of outloud as more were speaking. THe other padawans who were appearing getting a chance to practice and some of the jedi knights under the master but she remained quiet standing back in her little area with the pitcher until she sat it down. Seeing some fo the drones that were working and slid her gloves from the small slips of pockets on her outfit. She flicked the diamond tips while the tiny spools of slice wire were within them and she moved the hard to see wire with the force to handle the drones that were coming at her without moving.

 

[Avin Starfire]

Avin eyed the other man as they exchanged conversation while locked in a high block, whilst only minor nothings of mid-spar banter it was enough for Avin to give some advice from his own experience as a more combat oriented member of the order, his talents had always been split between investigatorial and marshal. It was for this reason he held back against the fellow Knight, although not as much as he was expecting to.

The sentinel had adapted his striking pattern to include a faint strike towards his lower left thigh causing Avin to rotate his own weapon in hand from its horizontal position down to the swing of high velocity coming towards his lower thigh on an interception course for another hard block. Yet as the weapons were to collide [member="Belizarius Krusi"] spun his body and weapon around throwing the attack from one side to another catching Avin's stance in an awkward position. Luckily for Avin, the other Jedi had decided to rotate his whole body giving some time for an adjustment to stance and allow for a riposte attempt to be made. He threw his whole body backward as to clear the weight of mid-blade and allow for the tip to come at his right side only bringing up his own weapon to push the blade's tip over his head and clear of the danger areas left open.

Avin continued on his trajectory moving out of range to reorganize his stance from the attack.

"A good faint, catching me off guard was a clever move. Just be careful when turning your back on an opponent, here it gave me enough to re-direct your attack but had I been using a more offensive mindset then your undefended rear would have been an easy killing blow."

Avin raised his weapon into the ready position once more before moving closer towards his counterpart.

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The old broad had nodded off.

Again.

Her knitting in her lap, Kory reclined back against the rocker, the warm breeze lulling her to sleep. How long had she been like that? One minute? Five?

The sounds of lightsabers and blasters woke her.

Disoriented, for a moment, the woman was quite uncertain where she was. The mind traveled down a long path of memory. A highway dotted with exits off the main road. Scenic overlooks with photographs accumulated from eighty years of conflicts. Moments where she imagined herself as she'd been fifty years ago. Or seventy. A lightsaber in one hand, a medkit in the other. And hell close behind.

Then the moment was gone. Her eyes focused on where she was, young Jedi taking to practicing with their lightsabers in the courtyard as she knitted. It was a sight that made her wonder, when had she gotten so old?

Setting her knitting aside for a moment, the old woman gingerly pushed herself up out of the chair. Her shuffling step carried her forward, as the matriarch ventured out for a closer look at this group and how they practiced.

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius internally sighed, ok this guy was obviously a better duelist then him. He had to strongly repress the urge to try and throw dirt into his face or something to try and even the playing field. The way he was trained as a sentinel was to use his lightsaber as a last resort, this in the end was never going to be his strength but looking passed a bit of a hurt ego he had to remember that Starfire in the end was a fellow Jedi and simply trying to help. Isn't that why he came today?

"Maybe I can learn more by following your example, try and attack me. That way I can better study your movements"

[member="Avin Starfire"]

 

[Diysuperguy33]

Lokthra turned her attention away from her partner and started to practise with the droids. Form 1 felt as if it was nothing to her. She had read all the books, watched many many recordings, seen it in actions more times than she was willing to admit; yet when she tried to do it, she had issues. She wasn't flawless and superb as she once thought. She tried again, approaching the droid; getting her stance ready, training lightsaber raised, as the training droid begun shooting a fiery red bolt towards her; she succeded in deflecting a few... but something was missing.

"Kian, may I play have some help?"

[member="Kian Karr"]

 

[Ikki Ike]

[member="Korynn Sol-Syna"]

Ikki looked turnign her head when she heard the others and she moved quickly. Allowing the force energies to move with herself before she stood near the older jedi master and bowed speaking softly. "Do you require assistance master jedi." Ikki was standign there though and she had her gloves on , her eyes looking towards the jedi master but she allowed the force to be around her and she had those senses of being a maid. To really let herself know where she might be needed as opposed to just looking and trying to observe. She knew the others were working with their sabers and let her eyes flock back and forth. She might need to get the elder jedi some water.

 

[Avin Starfire]

Avin nodded at the man's proposal and thought to himself for a moment before replying. His strikes would not be placed to hit but insted to test the coverage of the other man's defense.

"As you wish, but I will not hold back."

Avin's lie was to encourage a boost of morale within his opponent after all lightsaber combat was as much about mental state and belief in one's own capabilities as it was in physical technique.

His strike forward was a traditional use of the weapon. Avin's blade was to come forward at first yet pulling back into a square strike from the center of his own mass pushing his physical weight into the blade and aiming for the defensive arcs of form one. This strike careened itself down towards the left shoulder of [member="Belizarius Krusi"] with enough speed to throw his opponent into a more active stance but not enough to catch him off guard.

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian continued to pace among the group, watching the uniqueness of each Jedi's use of Form I. Every practitioner brought into a fighting style their own personality quirks and styles. No two Jedi would ever appear to be the same in combat, no matter how much they adhered to a particular style.

"Very good." Kian said, watching the two Knights duel intensifying. Hearing his name, Kian turned to his own apprentice, [member="Lokthra Dawning"]. She appeared to be doing quite well but there was something clearly bothering her.

"You're doing well Lokthra." Kian said stepping over. "Remember to allow the force to flow through you....to concentrate on the Living Force and to keep yourself in the present." Kian said. "Allow your intuitions to guide your movements in deflecting the blaster fire....those intuitions are often the Living Force at work." Kian said placing an encouraging hand on his padawan's shoulder.

Kian gave the students several more minutes of practice before stepping to the front of the group again and addressing them as a whole once more.

Kian ignited his lightsaber and brought the blade up before him, the blade perpendicular to the ground and facing directing up into the air in front of his face. With a flourish, Kian dropped the blade down into a one-handed low guard, the traditional opening stance of the second form of lightsaber combat.

"Makashi," Kian said glancing around the group, "Is the second Form of lightsaber combat, known as the way of the Ysalamari."

"Makashi was developed for one purpose and one purpose only," Kian said and waved a training droid forward. "Lightsaber to lightsaber combat." The training droid activated the training saber and attacked Kian. Kian was not a Makashi practitioner. In fact, Kian would consider Makashi to be one of the combat styles he was weakest in, alongside Ataru. However, the training droid was not set on an advanced setting and as it came forward, Kian sidestepped the attack, cutting his blade across in a flick of his wrist, pushing the blade aside. Kian continued his motion, gliding toward the flank of the droid, which turned to attack again.

"While Form I focuses on sweeping attacks meant to disarm, Form II focuses on footwork and precision." Kian said as the droid came forward with a series of slashes. Kian continued to flick his wrist, moving his blade in small cuts and slashes that redirected the attacks, then darted to the side cutting down as he went and scoring a hit on the droids thigh.

"A Form II master will almost appear to be dancing," Kian said deactivating his blade and the droid did likewise, stepping back. "floating around the fight and positioning themselves for precise cuts and jabs."

"Why don't we try implement it?" Kian suggested to the group. "Focus on back and forward and side to side footwork. You do not want to overpower you're opponent, you want to anticipate them and out maneuver them. Makashi can be practiced wish two hands, but typically is fought with a single handed grip." Kian suggested and stepped back to give the group room once more.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Korynn Sol-Syna"] | [member="Inas Reut"] | [member="Ikki Ike"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Kolbacca"] | [member="Iona Immarya"]​

 

[Iona Immarya]

Iona watched Master [member="Kian Karr"] go through his movements, it was so much more fluid and sharp then Shii-Cho, the only form she truly knew. The idea it was like dancing did her no good as she had no idea how to dance as she was about as elegant as a drunken Bantha. She turned to her own training droid, took a deep breath, and lowered her saber off to her side and felt incredibly exposed. How was she supposed to be ready to deflect blaster bolts coming? She probably wasn't. This form was, as Master Karr said, meant to fight other lightsaber users.

While she was trying to get her posture right, the sparring droid kicked into action, lounging at her, her instincts warred between avoiding and, like Shii-Cho, pushing it aside, but Iona went with the former, she took a step directly back, the yellow training blade of the droid passed an inch away from her face and she could feel the heat. Iona moved to the left and flicked her saber up towards the hip of droid, but the droid knew it coming, it spun away from the blow and they resumed their stances as woman and machine circled one another.

Just as quickly the fighting stop did it resume, Iona took a more aggressive approach, taking two steps, lowered her body and flicked her wrist at the droid, her green saber flashed towards its thigh, but it stepped to the left, away from the blow and swung it down towards her, moving once again on instinct, Iona rolled to the right, the droid's blade passing just over her head as she shot back to her feet, her green saber returned back to her side.

The two locked blades once again, their sabers flashing as they went through the steps, then something happened. The worlded seemed to slow down, and Iona could see, with perfect clarity, the next two moves the droid would make, how it would make it, and more importantly, she saw a moment, a single moment when the droid would leave itself vulnerable. The droid stepped forward and brought its blade down in a diagonal slash, right to left, just as she pictured. Iona stepped to the side and brought her saber up, not blocking, but letting it slide down her saber. Locked so close together, the droid pushed against her, but she didn't fight it, she stepped back and let the droid tumble, to defend itself, it turned on its heel and swung at her, and that was it, the moment. Iona stepped within its reach and thrust the green saber at its shoulder, the one swinging its blade. Her saber glided across its shoulder and bumped against its throat. Had it been a real fight, her saber would have burnt through its throat right through to the other end, but as her saber was set to its lowest, all it did was add sizzle.

"I did it!" Iona said surprised and elated at.. whatever that just was. She had precognition before, her instincts that told her what to do, but never had she seen what was going to happen with such clarity, know how to move and when to strike at the tiny opening that she never would have seen normally. So lost in her thoughts she failed to notice the droid recovered and, moreover, it had started the next bout, it struck her hard in the ribs, delivering a painful shock that ran through her body and earned a loud yelp from the young padawan, "Stupid clunker!" she gasped as she fell back a few steps then and into her combat stance.

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius moved to block the blow, he only managed to do with with it being a centermeter off his shoulder... he had to be faster than that, in a serious fight this would leave him in an extremely open position. Slowly the Jedi was slowly getting frustrated with this, Jedi Guardians were suppose to have more talent than himself that was their entire reason for existence. He was trained that getting caught in some prolonged fight was a sigh that he had done something wrong.

After blocking this blow he heard [member="Kian Karr"] start talking about form II... probably the form he was least competent in since it went very much against what he was taught. It was for single opponents usually and offered little in blaster deflection which when a Jedi was on the field made it pretty useless. It was a form that was more handy for when you could more easily choose your fights which is why it was a favorite if enemies like Sith who were practically Jedi killers. A Sentinel travelling the outer rim taking down bandits and the occasional Dark Jedi just didn't have an awful lot of need for such a fighting style.

True with the amount of darksiders today you could say it's become more useful, but rarely would you be fighting one at a time and you're still far more likely to come across a blaster. Not to mention other forms is properly utilized can easily defend against it

[member="Avin Starfire"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Outift

After a couple bad turns with Cassius (his fault, she would say if asked), Jyoti found herself late for the start of the training session being conducted by Karr. Fortunately, she made it just in time to catch Karr's introduction of Makashi.

She had arrived at the perfect time, for one of her favorite lightsaber forms. Favoring precision over brute strength to quickly dispacth foes, the style's emphasis on focused strikes and good positioning suited her well.

Silently, she hovered just outside the circle of Jedi gathered, observing their progress while she waited for an opening to speak with Karr.

It was almost a surreal experience for the Echani, seeing the Republic Order reborn. As a Padawan, she had been one of the last Jedi of the Galactic Republic operating during the time of its final collapse. She never thought she would see the day its return, but here it was.

Who knew what the future may hold for the fledgling order, but they were off to a good start.

Spoiler

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] [member="Iona Immarya"] [member="Kian Karr"] [member="Avin Starfire"] [member="Ikki Ike"] [member="Lokthra Dawning"] [member="Korynn Sol-Syna"] [member="Kolbacca"] [member="Cassius Droma"] (Apologies if I missed anyone with my tags.)

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius Droma was in his Jedi robes, which had been an increasingly uncommon occurrence as of late. Typically, he wore whatever was comfortable, utilitarian, and required for the mission or environment: light tunics in the desert, big coats in the freezing tundra. Since his master, Jyoti, was wearing her whole get-up, however, he figured he’d wear his too. Luckily he kept a set on the Stardust Melody, his personal ship that they’d used to get here.

He even walked like a Jedi for the moment – hands behind his back, a bit of a wander to his gait, but still focused forward. This was a part of the galaxy not likely to see much in terms of Imperials or dark siders. In fact, it was a part of the galaxy he knew very well. His home planet of Rinn was very close by – part of him wanted to maybe see if they could visit afterwards. For the time being, though, he was in no rush, no hurry to get anywhere.

They were late, which was totally not Cassius’s fault at all, but it seemed they weren’t too late – they’d only just started talking about Form II, otherwise known as Makashi. It was a form that he was fond of, not that he adhered strictly to forms much, anyways. He’d studied Makashi and Shien, and found that he was more attuned to defensive, accurate counter-strikes, blending the two styles into his own.

Cassius couldn’t help but feel his master’s joy at coming here. He knew that she had a history with the Republic – seeing it flourish again must have been good for her.

For now he stayed behind her, just off to her left, hands behind his back, observing the other Padawan.

[member="Jyoti Nooran"] | [member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Iona Immarya"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Ikki Ike"] | [member="Lokthra Dawning"] | [member="Korynn Sol-Syna"] | [member="Kolbacca"]

 

[Avin Starfire]

Avin allowed his weapon to break away from the well placed block, the sentinel had started to make less errors and relax his body type however still did not look completely natural with the fighting stance. Even as Avin backed away he could hear Master Kian Karr talking on their next position of combat and in turn the features of the second lightsaber style. Makashi was not one of Avin's strong points, his training always being on that of strong defense and heavy offense as opposed to agility and precision. His master had practiced an alternative form of the seventh saber style however Avin had adopted his own strain of Djem So during his years policing the outer rim territories and later as a guardian to the planet of imahalayan.

After shifting back far enough away from his opponent the Jedi Guardian shifted his stance and twisted the saberstaff in half to produce two hilts. Avin placed the bronze hilt back onto his belt and maintained the other blade of dark blue in the direction of Belizarius. His footwork shifted into a traditional stance of what he could remember of Makashi. His read flat to the ground and front foot placed forward towards his dueling partner. His weapon now sat on one hand as the other tucked away behind his back.

He lowered his weapon and eyed his opponent before shifting his footwork swiftly forward into a stab towards the midsection of Jedi Krusi.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"]

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius felt unnatural in this position, his arm was pointed downwards at a angle and his grip on his lightsaber was far looser than what he was used to. How on earth did Jedi fight light this? The Sentinel felt like he was simply going to drop his own lightsaber little lone have the enemy disarm him.

The only relief was that the guardian seemed unsure of himself also. He tried to give himself a looser stance which again was something he wasn't used to. Closest he got to legwork was when he occasionally fought using Ataru and was kicking somebody in the face. Starfire seemed to be tucking his lightsaber behind his back which confirmed that he probably wasn't overly fond of this style.

Belizarius jumped to the his left when the stab came his way, he quickly swung his lightsaber up from his right side to try and push the blade away so he could go on the attack but he had actually stepped too far when dodging and his blade only managed to brush against [member="Avin Starfire"]'s blade barely making it move.

He was used to static defense, keeping his blade close and efficiency. This form was just so unnatural to how he would fight and it's why he spent so little time when he was young training in it. At least with Ataru it was meant to quicken fights and it allowed him to simply punch somebody if that's what it took to bring them down.

He quickly tried to recover from his previous blunder though and as his blade rose above Avin's blade, he quickly changed directly and tried to get a light hit my swinging it upwards towards his right shoulder.

 

[Kian Karr]

Each of the groups were working hard to practice the lightsaber form. The reality was few used Makashi these days. Kian only knew of one Jedi Master of the Republic who had used it in his time there. [member="Kana Truden"] was an expert in the form and had employed it successful in many campaigns, but most Jedi practiced one of the more modern forms of lightsaber combat.

"Form II is a relatively rare form these days," Kian said as he walked among the students and instructors. "Though it is still implemented by some." As Kian said this his eyes fell on [member="Jyoti Nooran"] and [member="Cassius Droma"] and he bowed in greeting to them both.

"Welcome," Kian said smiling warmly beneath his antiox mask. "I am glad you could both make it."

"Some Jedi have used Makashi as a supplemental form," Kian said turning back to the students. "For example, Shaak Ti was regarded as one of the greatest duelist of her day. Her fighting style incorporated Ataru, the fourth form of lightsaber combat, and Makashi."

"Take a few more moments to practice and we will move on to the third form of lightsaber combat." Kian said. He was planning on going briefly through each of the forms and then allowing the students to engage in more intensive combat.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Korynn Sol-Syna"] | [member="Inas Reut"] | [member="Ikki Ike"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Kolbacca"] | [member="Iona Immarya"] | [member="Jyoti Nooran"] | [member="Cassius Droma"]​

 

[Kolbacca]

The Wookie stood to the side for this exercise he was a very big creature he had an issue with generating a lot of velocity and acceleration quickly he also lacked the patience and precise strikes that Form 2 used with his strength and great farsight he preferred Form 5 having mastered both Shiien and Djem So he also had intermediat knowledge of Form 3 Soresu and Form 6 Niman using Niman as a outlet to use Form 3 with force moves most the time he used this when trying to talk his way out of a situation using force powers to push back the oppenent while also using Soresu to block any attacks made by the enemy while he used his words to get out of the situation but if all else failed he would use his mastery in Djem So to tear his enemies apart using fatal force but he only used this style of combat while fighting Sith or other force users that wish to harm innocent people if he faced blaster wielding oppenents he would use his mastery in Shiien to redirect the blaster fire back at the user his force abilities are also very good in its own right he has some issues in some moves but he made up for it in other ways but this was a lightsaber class his force abilites were for another time.

[member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Iona Immarya"] | [member="Belizarius Krusi"] |

 

[Diysuperguy33]

Lokthra, eagerly listening to her master, took in his advice and tried once again, form I. She readied her stance and begun to deflect the droids fire. Managing to only deflect around half of them, although still, for the most unimpressed with her work, she allowed herself a slight smile for her success thus far. Noticing that the rest of the group moving on to the second form, Lokthra decided she had enough success to move on, making notes of what she needed to further this success.

After hearing Master Karr inform the crowd of Makashi, and it's technique based purely on lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, Lokthra walked back to her training droid. It ignited it's sabre, as did she. Lokthra started with a one-handed low guard, peacefully and elegantly exchanging blows, her lightsaber flowing with ease, as colourful emissions burst forth between the clashes of the blows. Full of vain towards her newly found skills in the second form, she decided to try some basic force powers at the same time. Trying to force the droids blade away from hers as she lunged forward, blow after blow. Lokthra let out a cheeky smile, feeling truly proud once again of her competency as a Jedi.

[member="Kolbacca"] | [member="Avin Starfire"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Iona Immarya"] | [member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Jyoti Nooran"] | [member="Cassius Droma"]