The Final Exam (Jhar'vokh)

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Jhar'vokh"]

JUNCTION

War left scars -- a banal truism. Rach carried a few of his own, but they paled in comparison to the scars of Junction. From the mountainside, he looked down on the marks of turbolasers, lightning, spammed grenades and all the other tools of Mandalorians and Sith.

The Red Coterie, by and large, sneered on the whole thing. At least, that was Rach's understanding of the nascent brotherhood. His tattoo still itched. As it turned cold from the strange alchemical ink reacting to the presence of another such tattoo, he rose from his seat on the mountainside and removed his helmet. A figure ascended the mountain -- small, almost childlike; hunched and wiry. A Noghri, the legendary race of assassins.

Jhar'vokh had acquired a legend of his own. The assassin-turned-terrorist was paying, and paying well, for Rach's training, but Jhar'vokh had apparently acquired all manner of strange and potent skills without formal rank or consistent training.

Rach could do something about that.

 

[Fatty]

@[member="Rach Kol-Rekali"]

Jhar breathed in the air that had been the last for many upon this world in recent times. It was Alpha, and Omega of the most recent Mandalorian and Sith Conflict. It had sparked the war, and then doused its flame. In both accounts, so many had perished. Mandalorians, citizens, and most importantly, Sith. Though he had not been part of the dead order once known as the Disciples of Vader for quite some time, some of its values had still stuck with the aspiring God. One such value was the death of organized practice of the Force. Perhaps that may have been the cause of why he had never been trained, as there was no need for a Master in the life of a God, and to learn in such a way would defy his own value's.

Whatever the cause had been, today would be the day it would end. He hobbled his way up the mountain in his most recent fad of attire, using his Cane as a support for hiking, and his head hidden beneath the shawl of his cloak. For the hike up, he had applied his respirator, as even though he pretty much didn't need it at this point, he still used it for more strenuous activity. The wind blew in, flapping the cape beneath the shield that protected his severed arm, and soon his newly branded tattoo began to itch in a strange way, cold as it reacted to the presence of another like it. Apparently had a new pet he had named, 'Master'.

Finally, he reached the entrance to a small cave structure where a particular Mandalorian waited for his arrival. He had such a pet in the past, in fact, several. Many had offered him skills in return of his service, but all for one reason or another, rejected the poor reptilian fellow. One such instance, was his training under the Imperial Remnant with a 'Master' of the Imperial Knights. Quite a laughable thing really, the way how he had made such a high ranking man of his order react to his extremity's. For awhile, Jhar doubted that there was anyone who could train him, but himself. Desperation in the midst of battle seemed to be paying off for him thus far, but every once in a while Jhar decided to attempt formal training again to see how well he could play with their minds. He didn't expect for this Master to be any different from any of the others, and with that expectation he doubted once again that he could ever be trained, or as he put it, tied to a leash.

"Greetings, brother. The view is nice." He spoke to him.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Jhar'vokh"]

Rach stood on a wide, flat-topped boulder, an outcropping that looked down the steep mountainside. As Jhar'vokh came to stand beside him, the Dark Master adjusted his helmet.

"They say you're strong, Jhar'vokh," said Rach. "Strong for a man who's essentially untrained. Let me show you, if you will, just how much farther there is for you to go. You've survived this long; I want to see how much farther you can survive."

There was a chance, of course, that the Noghri before him was a mere illusion; Jhar'vokh had a certain reputation. A whirlwind of black tendrils whipped out from the Dark Master in all directions, attempting to ensnare the Noghri and throw him off the ledge, down the mountainside.

 

[Fatty]

@[member="Rach Kol-Rekali"]

Jhar would admit, that he did not expect Rach's first move at all. It was an impressive move as well, probably to make him awe at the master in his ability of control. Quickly, Jhar smashed his cane into the ground as he jumped away from his Masters attack, ejecting his saber into the air, followed with the distinctive snap that sounded once it was attached to his Dueling Glove.

He gave it a bit of a flare, as he spun it upon his palm in activation. The two yellow blades of his Double-sided Shoto suddenly came to a stop, as he grabbed hold of the hilt for combat, while landing upon the ground farther down the mountain. He didn't have much telekinesis training, or much in enhancing his own ability's, but he was always good at deception.

As he sprinted up the incline towards his Master with his respirator working like crazy to match his current breathing pace, he engaged a Doppelganger simultaneously as he cloaked himself. Quickly he veered wide to the side as his illusion ran straight towards his Master furiously. He slowed his pace slightly to keep his concentration, but he would have to reach his Master soon enough or he wouldn't be able to keep up the Doppelganger or his cloak. He ran around in the attempt to strike from behind.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Rach's eyes narrowed. No Force cloak was perfect, and he'd seen the best -- Fallanassi White Current Immersion, the kind of thing his father could do. Rach himself could not; his skills went in other directions. But he had seen enough variants of stealth techniques to know the signs. Against anyone but a Noghri, he could probably have detected his enemy's real location thanks to the rocky mountainside, perhaps due to loose scree.

On this, he was operating on instinct.

"Lesson number one," he said to empty air, deliberately turning away from the doppelganger. "When using stealth, don't activate your lightsabre until the last instant. Because almost all stealth techniques impose on the mind, rather than bending light, they don't work so well on, say, a Master. Turn your sabre off while on approach. I can't quite see it, but you can't quite hide it from someone like me."

A storm of lightning sprayed out from him in a wide arc.

 

[Fatty]

"Lesson number one. When using stealth, don't activate your lightsabre until the last instant. Because almost all stealth techniques impose on the mind, rather than bending light, they don't work so well on, say, a Master. Turn your sabre off while on approach. I can't quite see it, but you can't quite hide it from someone like me."

He heard his Master say, he had already dissipated his Doppleganger as his Master utterly ignored it. There was no point in keeping something going that obviously failed at its objective. He was getting closer to his Master in his slow pace, watching as he spoke to seemingly empty air, turning about with searching eyes. Attempting to call his bluff, Jhar kept his saber active as he came nearer to his Master. Suddenly however, with wide eyes, Jhar observed a storm of lightning spray before the Master, searching for Jhar. Unable to escape its discharge in time without breaking stealth, Jhar fumbled and was caught in the storm, forced to both break stealth and to absorb the brunt of the assault with his saber. The reptile gritted his teeth at the Master.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The lightning stopped.

"My father was a great illusionist," said Rach. "Not top-flight, but good enough. Fallanassi-trained, and they're the best illusionists in the galaxy. He gave me a pointer or two. When you're sending an illusory double, make sure to add the finishing touches. Grass bending underfoot. Rocks disturbed. Try it again, but more than just the doppelganger."

 

[Fatty]

Jhar growled at the human in irritation. Who was he to tell him what was best to do? As he said, he had survived this far on his own without formal teaching; he would continue to do so. With a strange reptilian hiss, Jhar angrily glared at this supposed 'Master'. To his recall, no other of who had offered him training had yet to offer him any sort of pointer in the way of actual teaching. None before this Mandalorian had ever noted that his ability in stealth was amiss. It gave him something to think about as he planned his next move. He lurched forward in a sprint, with his blade spinning just behind him. Suddenly, almost immediately as he began, the Master would see double, as Jhar generated a Doppelganger. It was easier now to generate the illusion as he was no longer worried about cloaking, no longer having the need to slow down. Even as he hated to listen, the aspiring God actually chose to attempt at improving the illusion of the Doppelganger.

To further instill confusion as to which was true, he swerved in a 'Z', that intertwined he and the doppelgangers path. Having minimal skill in terms of telekinesis, Jhar would admit that simply bending blades of grass and disturbing rocks was indeed the challenge for him; more so than the telepathic illusion swerving in his path. Jhar charged forward as he sent the illusion in a jump above the Masters head, it served two purposes. The first was to give Jhar a break in his telekinetic control, and provide the distraction that a reptile was falling on his head with a rod of plasma. The second was to conserve Jhar's energy as he planned to skewer the Master straight on.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Playing a shell game with me..."

Rach backstepped with Force-enhanced speed, letting Jhar's momentum carry him on, even as the doppelganger's 'momentum' brought it down. The two intersected somewhat, and he squinted at the moment of contact, even as he continued to keep out of range of Jhar's attacks.

"Lesson number two. The instant your illusion runs into something physical, or gets something physical run into it, the game's up. Oh, if I use the Force to chuck a pebble at your doppelganger -- assuming you notice said pebble in time -- you can make it react to that pebble with sight and sound. But the pebble will still come out the other side of the illusion. Catching it with telekinesis while it's inside the illusion, that's theoretically doable, but your control over your illusion would almost certainly waver."