Private Rumble In The Temple

[Mi'la Undari]

Location: The Silver Jedi Academy, Commenor, Melee Combat Facilities

Standing in the ring, Mi'la felt a little out of place truth be told. Ever since her injuries, she had been feeling weaker, lesser in many ways. The force hadn't returned to her yet, but it was still fairly early in her recovery period, so she figured exercise would be a nice distraction from that concern. She had always relied on physical exercise to try and keep herself strong and self reliant, but as of late it seemed to not be the case. She flexed her right hand, feeling the microsecond of latency that came from the cybernetic limb. It caused a frown to spread across her face, a small part of her lamenting the loss of the limb. The Twi'lek turned her gaze to the training room, looking at the energy pylons that pulsated at irregular intervals. She wasn't sure what exactly they did, but they looked fairly ominous. She hoped Sigyn would get her soon, but at the same time it was Mi'la's fault for getting her so early.

She had managed to get the hand wraps over both hands, and managed to keep the flesh graft intact for the most part, which in her mind was a rather big victory. She would begin to preform stretches as she waited, feeling the worn muscles in her legs and shoulders stretch, feeling relief for all the pain they had been subjected to during her captivity. Those weeks in the medical bay hadn't done her any good, so even if Sigyn was going to pound her into next week, well, least it'd be a learning experience; least she'd have the woman beat when it came down to academics, that she'd never have taken away from her.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

Sigyn was running towards the Combat Facility. She wasn't late, not yet. But she would be soon. And she did not want to keep the Twi'lek waiting. It was nice that Mi'la had invited Sigyn to do some hand-to-hand training with her, especially given that they had only donw one mission together before. Sigyn was a pretty good combatant, having been trained by her father since she was seven years old on the harsh planet Midwinter, but she had no idea how good Mi'la was. She had heard that at least one species in the galaxy thought they only knew someone after they had fought them. If there was some truth in that, the two girls would probably be friends by the end of the day.

Since it was a hand-to-hand excersice, Sigyn had dressed lightly. And because this new capital of the Jedi Order was still way to hot for her. She was wearing a pair of sweat-pants, and a light singlet. She had also wrapped her hands with the wraps that was normally worn in these excersices, though she had no idea why. A punch is a punch, right? Anyway, she was prepared and excited for this.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," she blurted out without thinking, as she entered through the doors of the facility. Mi'la was already standing inside the arena where they would be fighting, but it was hard to tell if she had been waiting there for long. Sigyn took a big chug of the water-bottle she had brought, before she tossed it aside and jumped inside the area surrounded by energy pylons. "I didn't take you for a big fighter, Mi'la. This'll be fun, you ready?"

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

Midway through her stretches, Mi'la was rather happy to hear the approaching foots steps of what she assumed was Sigyn, which proved to be correct as the woman entered the room. Smiling, Mi'la gave a small wave to the woman, before going into a shoulder stretch; anything to help stave off the pummeling she was about to endure. The Twi'lek had kept herself in decent shape for most her life, but she wasn't exactly a fighter. Saber combat she could manage quite well, and she wasn't half bad with a blaster pistol either. But hand to hand? Well, aside from a few bouts of wrestling in her life, she wasn't really good at it; in fact one might say she was down right awful.

Still, if she had to be humble, she could trust that her fellow padawan would be the right one for the job. "Hey, don't sweat it, but if you wanna make up for it...could you go easy on me?" Mi'la suggested, watching as the woman slammed down a water bottle and threw it aside. She chuckled nervously as Sigyn entered the ring, remarking how much fun it was going to be. For Mi'la, it was a bit of a nerve racking experience now, though she still had an inch on Sigyn in height, she was fairly certain this woman could throw her out of the ring if she wanted to. "Well, you'd be correct, I'm not much of a fighter, so I was hoping you'd give me some tips." She started, taking up a stance that she had seen in a holofilm, she couldn't help but feel it wasn't a good position to fight from. "Yea, I'm ready. Any rules I need to know about?" She inquired, feeling a sense of nervousness starting to stir within her. Her cybernetic Lekku twitched, her hands a tad shaky, though she would keep her pose, waiting for Sigyn to come towards her; though when and if that happened, Mi'la had no clue what to do next.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

So that was part of the reason Mi'la wanted this, to get tips and learn. Well, she had chosen the best teacher she could get. "Sure, I can take it easy," the Valkyri answered. "Wouldn't want to send you to the medical bay, now would I?" A friendly laugh followed, to emphasize that it was a joke. Seeing that the Twi'lek took up a fighting stance, Sigyn did the same. She kept her legs far apart, to keep balance, and held her arms ready in front of her upper body. The stance Mi'la took seemed unfamiliar to Sigyn, but it could just be one they used among her species.

"Rules? Um, a match ends when one can't get up from the floor after three seconds?" Sigyn wasn't very familiar with the usual rules of sparring matches. She hadn't grown up with many rules associated with fighting and training. "When we are out there, on the battleground fighting sith or other evils, there will be no rules, so I think we should go with that mindset."

Without warning, Sigyn threw a punch towards Mi'la, to the side of her head. It was never intended to hit her, just get her on edge, and prepared for the fight. But she quickly retracted her arm, and held it up for any incomming retaliating punches, while simultaniously taking a step towards her opponent. One of the most important things Sigyn had learned from fighting the enemies of the Jedi, was that being unpredictable could get you far. Which is why she did an unusual combo like this.

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

She felt a little relived that Sigyn was fine with going easy on her, which to the completely inexperienced Twi'lek was quite the relief. "Well, I'd hope not. Thought we were getting close to being friends so..." She shrugged, relaxing and looking at the pose that the woman took up, and felt a bit out of her league at the sight. Was that what she was supposed to look like? She wasn't entirely sure. Just in case, Mi'la tried to mimic Sigyn's pose, though she stopped as Sigyn spoke about the rules. "Wait, so anything goes?" She chuckled, knowing why Sigyn meant, but Mi'la had a few devious ideas of her own on how to attack with unorthodox strategies; assuming she could even get close to hitting the woman. "Alright, don't say I warned you." Mi'la replied, sounding like she might not immediately get annihilated in the first two minutes.

As the first punch went out, Mi'la over reacted, jumping back and throwing her arms up as to make a rather poor wall of defense. She soon realized the folly of her ways, as she stopped, and looked to Sigyn with a less than pleased expression. "Oh ha ha. Picking on the newbie I see." Mi'la responded, moving forward, she would throw a rather poorly constructed punch toward Sigyn, overextending herself in the process as she left herself entirely open for a counter attack. Clearly the Twi'lek failed in the basics of hand to hand combat, and it would be up to her fellow padawan to set it right.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

As the retaliation punch came, Sigyn grabbed the Twi'lek's arm, and used the momentum of the punch to easily pull and toss her towards the fence of the sparring ring. This was not one of the tricks Sigyn had learned on Midvinter, rather it was one she had only seen other people do on certain fighting movies. In a real fight, against a foe that's trying to kill you, it would be foolish do use it, and Sigyn knew these movies were fake. Still, she had wanted to try it for some time, just for fun and to see how it was actually done.

As soon as she had thrown her opponent, Sigyn began laughing. Now she understood why the movie fighters fought like this, cause it was fun. Yet, this was a serious training match, so she compossed herself quickly.

"Come on, hit me," she said, as she once again moved towards Mi'la. Sigyn tried to throw out a punch herself, this time intended to hit the Twi'lek. Twi'leks were a species Sigyn had never fought before, nor seen fighting, so she tried to be a bit wary of any special techniques Mi'la might have learned from her species. They didn't usualy seem like big fighters, bit looks were often decieveing.

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

Well, it could have gone way better, but alas it was not to be. Being thrown against the ropes, Mi'la yelped as she had feared being thrown out; though she found herself being kept at bay instead. Taking a moment to calm her beating heart, she shook her head, having gotten so used to her force 'fore sight' to anticipate attacks; that was gone now, she could only rely on herself. Nodding as Sigyn demanded the Twi'lek try and hit her, Mi'la decided to try a new tactic. Sigyn was prepared for the standard fighting styles, but what if Mi'la gave her something more....exotic than that?

She grinned as the thought came to mind, recalling how the Echani mixed their martial art with dancing styles; the Twi'leks didn't have such a luxury as that of course, but did Sigyn know that? Most likely not. Pushing off the ropes, Mi'la brought her hands forward, moving her arms in a circle motion from right to left, as she rocked her hips in synchronized movement. They had many dances, but she only knew a few of them well enough to replicate. "This is a move directly from Ryloth, very few have seen it first hand." She grinned, knowing that Sigyn was going to be thrown for a loop. She took two steps forward, hips swaying, arms repeating the over head circle motion, before she broke the rouse. Mi'la leapt forward. Her two hands slammed downward, seeking to strike Sigyn on the shoulders, though again she was overreaching. It would become quite evident that the Twi'lek didn't know what she was doing, as that was true, Mi'la had no idea what she was doing.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

"What is this" thought Sigyn, as she watched Mi'la start her arm movements. A move from Ryloth, she claimed. From what Sigyn knew, that was the original homeplanet to the Twi'lek, though their species lived all over the galaxy by now. Sigyn had, off course, never been to this planet, and had thus no idea about their culture and fighting style.

Sigyn prepared for an incoming attack from the dance-like move Mi'la was doing. But what came, the sudden change in her movements, caught Sigyn by surprise. She didn't catch where the attack would come from, and on instinct, put her arms in front of herself for protection. Ir proved to be ineffective, and she was hit by the overhead strike at her shoulders. As the strike hit, Sigyn mentally prepared herself to be thrown backwards and to feel the pain. Which is why she was surprised by what really happened.

She felt herslef pushed somewhat downwards, though far from as much as she thought she would have. And the pain wasn't as great either. It left her dumbfounded for a few seconds, before she got her head to ask. "What was that? Some sort of Rylothi feint or something?" Or maybe it was one of those acupuncture based moves, where the pain would come later. No matter. Now, it was time for Sigyn to show a move from her own homeworld. "Well, an eye for an eye, time for me to show how we fight on Midwinter." She let out a warcry, and put her arms out to the sides, trying to look intimidating. Then, she lunged herself towards the Twi'lek, with the aim of throwing her to the ground.

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

To a bit of her surprise, she actually connected on Sigyn, striking the woman in the shoulder. She felt a buzz of happiness, a bit of surprise welling up within her, only to have it quickly deflated as Sigyr launched her counter attack. One moment Mi'la was on the offensive, laying down a strike that she had completely taken a shot in the dark on. As Mi'la attempted to withdraw, finding that Sigyn had attempted to block of the attack, the Twi'lek realized how vulnerable she was in this position. Sigyn pounced before the Twi'lek could, finding a pair of arms seizing her, and throwing her hard onto the ground. Letting out an 'eep', Mi'la tried in vain to resist the forces acting upon her, but it just wasn't working out how she planned.

Mi'la fell, and fell hard, smacking onto the floor, though the padawan attempted to roll with the force of the impact. As Mi'la tumbled forward, she felt her heart nearly eject out of her chest as she felt nothing but empty air behind her Lekku's. She quickly shot up, hands flying up to try and catch herself, only to find that she had tangled her hands into the ropes of the ring, her Lekku's hanging off the edge of the sparring area. Feeling a wave of embarrassment slam over her, Mi'la let out an awkward chuckle, glancing up to Sigyn as the woman was still ready to go on the attack. "Hehe, um, just one second. Bit tied up at the moment." She mumbled, working her hands free, though it took her much longer than she had planned. She tried not to think of how much of a fool she was looking like right now, but if nothing else she was learning.

After freeing herself of her rather embarrassing situation, Mi'la rose up, flexing her shoulders and working out how to ask Sigyn for help. Finally, she realized that being subtle wasn't going to get her anywhere, and decided to just be direct about this. "Okay, so Sig, can you give me any pointers? I feel like I'm embarrassing myself here." Her little dance routine seemed to have worked, which was good to know, might work as a feint for a potential fight in the future.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

When Mi'la got herself tangled up in the ropes of the fighting area, Sigyn couldn't stop herself from laughing. She didn't mean anything by it, and it wasn't really at her fellow padawan she was laughing. It was just such a long time since she had had this much fun. Being a Jedi was great, but it wasn't often that they did things like this. The Valkyri was still a teen, and sometimes just wanted to have fun.

"Alright, alright," she breathed, and whiped away a tear, when she managed to calm herself down again. "Whew, sorry for laughing. This, the whole sparring, is just so much fun. So, pointers, right." Sigyn scratched her chin. She had never been a teacher. As a matter of fact, she was looking for an official teacher herself, at the moment. But she would try her best to give the advice she could. "First of all, you're not embarrasing yourself, I'm just a better fighter." She snickered playfully towards the Twi'lek, indicating that it was a joke. "But for reals, that thing you did, where you hit my shoulders? It could be a pretty good feint, if you follow up with an attack right after. Maybe try to kick out your opponents legs under them, while the try to understand what heppened. Make them fall, right?"

In Sigyn's book, being unpredictable was key. If you coudln't predict yourself, or did strange combinations, there was no way the opponent would know what to do. "Also, when punching someone, keep your other arm up as protection. Or, if you are being thrown, like I did to you, you can use the free arm to grab onto me, to prevent yourself from being thrown." It sounded like solid advice in Sigyn's ears. "So, wanna try again?"

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

Oh, she was laughing now? Well, that..wasn't good. Groaning, Mi'la shrugged, knowing there was little she could do here and now to change that; though the blush that crept over her face indicated just how she felt. "No, it's fine. I'm sure the same would happen if the roles were reversed." She began, knowing well enough that she was a rookie here, and needed to keep an open mind to learn. Sigyn tried to keep things modest, but it was totally the truth. She was a far better fighter than Mi'la. "I figured as much, hence why I lured you here." She retorted, chuckling in good humor. If she didn't feel comfortable with learning from Sigyn, she wouldn't have chosen this woman as her sparing partner. The Twi'lek was surprised to hear her little dance maneuver was actually a good move, and took the additional information that Sigyr added for potential use in later fights. Be unpredictable, try and get the opponent off their feet. Seemed good a strategy as any. "Oh, really? I sorta just...improvised that. I didn't think it would work." She muttered, trying to follow the pose that Sigyn advised, keeping her arms up, and mentally telling herself to implement the movements into her style going forward.

She felt more assured of her chance of success here, as Mi'la's new pose was more centered, both arms raised for a defensive stance, her hips centered as well. The Twi'lek actually looked somewhat passable, compared to how she had presented herself previously. "Got it, free arm, keep arms up, and try to feint to open up the defense. Thank you." The Twi'lek remarked, giving a quick smile to her fellow padawan, before getting into her position. Feeling like she could actually land a hit this time, Mi'la replied to Sigyn's inquiry. "Yes, I'm up for it." With her new posture, Mi'la would advanced towards Sigyn, moving across the ring at a slow and steady pace. If able to reach Sigyn, Mi'la would begin the fight. Mi'la tossed low punch aimed at Sigyn's abdomen with her right hand, bringing her left arm up to parry any attempt to strike. If it was countered, she would throw her weight against Sigyn, attempting to knock the woman to the mat with the shift in weight. She wasn't really sure what they were going for point wise, but Mi'la figured that ending up on top of the opponent counted as a point.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

Now, from Sigyn's point of view, Mi'la seemed more confident. She seemed to hold her pose better, and sure of herself as she advanced towards the Valkyri. Sigyn was glad that her tips and instructions worked. Though, of course, she had only just scratched the surface of the art of fighting. She was no master herself either, having only known and been taught how to fight for a bit over a decade. There were people who had dedicated their whole lives to the art, and still not mastered all the moves and techniques when they died. But Sigyn knew the Valkyri way of fighting quite well, and she had also learned from the Jedi.

When Mi'la attacked with her low punches, Sigyn caught her arm, and instinctly threw a punch of her own towards the Twi'lek's upper body. The result made the young Valkyri smile, as Mi'la's left arm blocked Sigyn's punch. This further proved that her teaching had an effect. Even if these were simple attack-block moves, they could easily save your life in a real fight to the death. "I'm impressed," she said to the Twi'lek. "But there was one thing I forgot to tell you." A mischevious smile formed on the Valkyri's lips. "In every fight, you need a good fundament, and keep your balance." And right after she said that, she slightly crouched down, and swiped one of her legs towards Mi'la's legs, hoping to swipe her of her feet.

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

Feeling a strike connect and being able to block a punch thrown at her, Mi'la was feeling pretty good. Even though she had no force powers, she was still able to keep up with her fellow jedi, and even Sigyn herself seemed impressed. Feeling confident now, Mi'la listened to the words of advice that the younger human spoke, which proved to be her undoing. "Oh, and what is that?" She inquried, hearing that her friend had forgotten to tell her something.

As Sigyn spoke, Mi'la raised an eyebrow, oblivious to what was coming her way. She felt her legs be pulled out from under her, eyes widening in horror as she fell right onto her cybernetic Lekku, rewarding Sigyn with a 'crack', and Mi'la with a few seconds of a black out, as the Twi'lek smacked onto the mat and went still for a few solid seconds.

When she finally came out of the trace, Mi'la chuckled, hand lazily raising up to point to Sigyn, as Mi'la put together what the woman had said. "Oh, I get it now. Sneaky." She remarked, before trying to get back to her feet. Well, if they were going to be pulling something like that then two could play at that game.

Sigyn Vanir

 

[Sigyn Vanir]

Sigyn snickered for a moment, seeing that her trick had worked. That was until she heard a 'crack' sound, when Mi'la hit the floor. When she just laid there, without moving, it got Sigyn worried. It wasn't unusual to wait a few seconds to get up, if nothing else then to catch their breath. But Sigyn had never seen anyone lay completly still like that after being thrown to the ground before. She didn't know much about Twi'leks, so for all she knew there could be some vital organs or something in those tails they had on their heads. Which is the body part Sigyn saw Mi'la land on.

Luckily though, it didn't take long before Mi'la opened her eyes again, and pointed at Sigyn. She felt a bit stupid as she stood there with worry all over her face. "Are you alright?" she asked a bit puzzled. "Were you hurt, or were you just jesting with me?" But there was not really any need for an answer, as Sigyn saw her struggle to get up. "Here, let me help you." she held out a hand to pull the Twi'lek up.

"Wanna take a short break? Rehydrate, and catch our breaths for five minuttes?"

Mi'la Undari

 

[Mi'la Undari]

Oh, she'd taken worse blows to the head. So much worse in fact, nothing was as bad as being smashed in the face by Darth Void on Yavin. Still, Mi'la felt a tad out of it initally, taking the hand that Sigyn offered and righting herself. "Yea, I'm okay. You just knocked me right on my implant." She explained, patting the hunk of metal that was attached to her head. Yea, she was probably going to have the mother of all headaches later, but for right now she felt alright. "If I was trying to jest with you, I'd do something more creative than fall over. Give me some credit." Mi'la chuckled, rubbing her brow as she felt her normal senses return. Looking to her friend, Mi'la gave a short nod, as a break seemed well deserved; not to mention she needed to work out a strategy for handling Sigyn. "I'm up for that, probably need to make a readjustment anyways." The lavender skinned woman remarked, fiddling with her metallic head-tail, making sure it was still secure. If nothing else, this exercise was giving her all sorts of ideas to come back to for the future; adding physical elements to Ataru would certainly make her style stronger, given her force abilities were no longer a factor.

Taking a moment to grab a drink of water, Mi'la would take a seat on one of the many bleachers in the room, her eyes lingering on Sigyn as the recuperated. "I think next time we go in there I'll have a surprise or two for you, so be ready." Mi'la mused, sipping from her bottle as she awaited a retort. "Is there any sort of fighting style you specialize in? I've never thought about adding martial arts to my Ataru style, but fighting you is giving me ideas." Honestly, it was nice knowing that without her powers she was still capable of holding her own; though she wasn't going to be taking on a Sith Lord any time soon.

Sigyn Vanir