Rites of Passage Pt. 2: A Short Story

[Romi Jade]

KINTAN​

WITH: [member="Aten Ramses"]​

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(A year ago)​

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/LO2uPU53qds[/youtube]

Her year was up...

She looked down, and then up in quick succession before she took the step. A quick jab of her head followed, removing a few strands of hair from her eyes. When her other foot completed the task...it was as if she'd stepped into another world on its own.

"I'm ready..." her thought ran along her lips before she cold completely for them forward.

She really had no choice; she could die today.

"No room for your tricks Jeedai!" Not that it would sway the battle in any way in the eyes of Mattac. He was the heir to the Morgukai, and his thirst to finally rid himself of this burden was slowly creeping through the walls that kept him from attack her now. But, he was an honorable man if anything...

She'd fought his son...and was able to get the best of him in the tailwind of their skirmish; she had all of her previous knowledge at her disposal then and was only able to go toe-to-toe.

Now she was facing both of their Master, and she was only able to her bare-hands in this fight.

She lurched forward, those same strands scurrying back to their original location as she fell into the cesspool of deafening silence and the last gust to sprint through the canyon.

The two stood and stared at each other for a long while, neither blinking.

It took him only a couple of seconds before the larger warrior leapt for her; it was faster than she could count. Romi dug her back heel into the ground after she stepped back, a quick enough reaction allowed her to barely side step while she felt the air crawling after her skin. Her left hand cut into his fists trajectory, her knuckles pressing into his elbow and before knocking it further off course.

She couldn't turn back now.

--------------- Earlier

She trailed the familiar paths of the ship looking for Aten when she finally stumbled upon him. She casually strode into the room before falling back against one of various durasteel walls. She brought him along for a reason.

His training had been going well through her eyes, she hoped he was getting what he needed from her and more. But...she noticed his propensity for unarmed combat, and not that he was just interested in it but that he had promise.

She been helping him hone it but she knew if he was going to reach his full potential then he had to endure the trails as well. It was an internal struggle she dealt with constantly, when she'd gone through it herself she had nothing to lose. But now....

He was her student...and this was almost like knocking on deaths door. She wanted him to be ready...but how could she measure that?

"I want you know that i'm proud of the progress you've made. I know it hasn't been easy, but you've stuck to what you know and have grown tremendously since I met you. That's something that deserves praise Aten." She mused.

"I didn't tell you why we came all this way...i'm not sure how to." she looked away during her beat. "Today you're gonna take your first few steps down a path that is completely yours. I want you to trust your lessons...no matter what happens."

 

[Warchief Waddles]

Standing outside the ring surrounded by dozens of the scaled Nikto stood Aten. Never before had he’d seen so many gathered in one place, not only that but the large variety of colors. He’d only seen orange colored ones but here there were green, grey, even blue. It was interesting and perhaps the Morellian would be more excited if his heart wasn’t hammering in his chest feeling as though it would explode outwards. At first, when he and Romi had landed on the planet his master had come to him, her words mysterious. More like they were the words of one marching to their death, Aten didn’t want to believe it but here they were on a planet in the midst of a horde of trained assassins. Not just trained assassins but perhaps the finest martial artists to have ever lived… The Morgukai.

Aten had studied the arts of Teras Kasi, a martial art developed by those unable to touch the force to place them on par with those they fought. Now here was yet another group that did the same yet their training was far from what Aten had experienced. Here death wasn’t a possibility, it was a certainty and his master was stepping into the ring. This wasn’t like a fight pit on an uncivilized world or in the underworld of larger planets, no those who stood in the circle surrounding the ring were silent, arms crossed eyes set on the arena. The floor of it stained red and brown from blood. Wincing Aten wanted to jump into the ring calling off the fight but he couldn’t it would disgrace Romi and possibly lead to both their deaths.

Jace nor Quvox were here to aid them in combat nor did Aten think they’d help too much in the face of so many trained to deal with individuals that utilized the force. “Be careful Romi.” Aten whispered his hands grasping at his shirt, wringing the shirt. The silence was deafening, a cold overtaking Aten the fight began. Eyes widening at the sheer speed of the Nikto, Aten gasped his master having reacted blocking the blow.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

KINTAN​

WITH: [member="Aten Ramses"]​

A Year Ago​

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/LO2uPU53qds[/youtube]

Whap!

A gentle fist, as she whipped her arms up and around to smack away the force of impact created after Mattac unleashed his volley of blow. She followed that through with a series of her own parries, and grapples that would buy her time to mount a sufficient defense in hopes of gaining enough ground to break even with him. In the few seconds she had, she could feel the burn in her wrist. His next velocity broke the wind in strength, and a subtle bend of her lower back allowed for her to lurch consistently out of his range.

Vaulting from her position she stepped within his guard after finding an opening, with finesse and acrobatics, she interlocked her arms around him, propelling herself upward and over him. Leveraging his balance and weight against him she flipped and slammed into the ground. Feeling the vibration of his fall under her boots, she cut through the dust in an effort to track her prey.

Knowing where he was, but not visually capturing his target, she felt a sharp pain in left leg as it gave from under her. Falling to one knee in an outburst of pain, she through her arms out to stonewall his plated knee with her forearms; he was that fast. Giving from the burst of kinetic force she fell back, and soon his shadow lurked over her form. With all of his ferocity she crept down on her, lacing his hands around her throat. She tucked her knees into her chest, cutting off his advance any further. Her initial reaction was to wrap her hands around his and she did so. But when she found the strength...

When she found the strength she kicked her legs out and knocked him off balance, throwing his weight more to her left, she snatched his right arm and interlocked it between her legs as she turned her body horizontally across the ground. Pulling back, she sought to break it; and she did; easily.

 

[Warchief Waddles]

There were mumbles of surprise, approval, and even bitterness as the nikto that surrounded Aten watched the fight none looking to the Padawan that felt as though he’d have a heart attack. Leaning forward Aten watched as Romi and Mattac’s battle now truly began. With each parry, every grapple the battle grew more intense, the silence somehow growing more till there were no sounds besides the breathing and thumping sounds of those within the area continuing their fight. Then in one swift flip and grapple Romi had the edge, she’d slammed the nikto into the ground with enough force that dust was kicked up. The thump audible, the sound nerve-wracking. Even a few of the nikto flinched upon hearing it.

All that could be seen were the silhouettes of the two as their bout continued the dust clouding everyone’s vision. Aten knew the presence of his master in the force though, he could nearly feel it happen as she was knocked back. The nikto moving over her, grasping at her throat. Stepping forward an arm came forward crossing Aten’s chest. Looking down at the blue scaled arm then up to the nikto that blocked his path the Morgukai member shook their head. “This is not your time little one, wait your turn.”

Stopping Aten’s teeth gritting he looked down to the arena seeing the battle had taken a turn for the better his master having locked the nikto in a hold the vomit-inducing crack of bone echoing up to those in the ground a murmur of excitement going through the crowd. “Go… Go…”

[member="Romi Jade"]