They Don't Call us "Jumpers" for Nothing! [Solo]

[Kerri Aislinn]

[Solo.]



Kerri wasn't the kind to just approach teachers and ask to learn something. As far as she was concerned, it's completely fine to do things herself. Yes, that included training too. What was she learning though? A lightsaber style.

Kerri's room was a bit dark, lamp shades allowed only shadows of light and cut up images of speeders to come through. She laid back against her seat, seated at a desk. Her face was relaxed, even lazy, but she was a lot more active, and was just about to prove so when she learned it...

Her orange eyes scanned through the data files, "Now, where was it..."

The blue and black screen almost seemed to reflect off her eyes. The light was faintly on, it desperately needed a new bulb, but Kerri was only here off and on anyways... heck, there was still a pile of take out boxes on her nightstand. Yes, Kerri was able to keep this place. Joining the Obsidian Order had it's perks! As of now, the pile of outgrown clothes had actually been put someplace, her closet, as she needed the space to train.

Her eyes lit up when a certain word popped up on her screen, "There it it!" She put her feet down and pulled up closer, examining the text thoroughly.

Today, she was learning form four of the traditional lightsaber forms. Ataru.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Kerri was now in the opening ataru stance, tight but ready. It was the way of the hawk bat. It required speed, strength, and Kerri's best: agility. The terrelian checked over herself constantly, struggling to her her posture right. As soon as she was able, she went through some basic swings, maintaining her movement and posture. She then jumped up - lightly of course - and threw in a stab. As she landed lightly on her feet, she smirked. She was quickly getting this!

She deactivated her Obsidian lightsaber, the blueish-purple blade slipped away, and walked back to the hologram to see if she missed anything. She smiled again. She was going to practice several more times, focusing more on bending her knees and using looser control on her posture. After that, she would move away from stances and into dexterity and flow. It was an acrobatic form after all, and the very reason she was learning this.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

~~~​

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It had been several hours Kerri had run through the motions of ataru. She had practiced her stance most of all, as she noticed it was hard to keep proper form while putting her whole body into it. It was hard not to get sloppy, but she was improving. Her greatest strength was her agility itself, using it to full advantage as she used her blade with the skill she learned in her studies of the variants of form five. She learned various specific moves such as the hawk bat swoop and saber swarm. Her ability to aggressively use djem sho came to advantage when it came to her aggressive strikes. After a while though, the sweating terrelian decided that she should head to the citadel, into a training room, to further her skills with the aggression form.​

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And so, turning off her light (there was barely a difference to be seen though,) she headed off to the citadel.​

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She leaped from building to building, enjoying the wind as it rustled her cloak. Why take the bus when you could walk there? Her movement kept her in rhythm as her two lightsabers bounced against her at home, hot pink belt. Eventually though, she had to stop and rest; having just finished brutally training herself left her more tired than usual. She let herself drop into an ally, her black cloak completely covering even her eyes when she settled. At first, all seemed serene. Next to the smell of those dirty trash cans all seemed well, Kerri was able to sense though that she was not alone... ​

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Kerri's hands silently slipped onto her lightsabers when a grungy voice slithered from the shadows, "Well, well, what do we have here? A lone girl in the ally way?"

Kerri turned to see two togruta, a twi-lik, a bothan, and another unidentified species all coming up to her. Kerri observed the five bandits and their weapons. Several had blasters, but she noticed others had a surprising fighting utensil - electrostaffs.

The togruta, who was pointing a common blaster at her, sneered, "What fun we can have with you..."

The other men chuckled, Kerri did not want to know what they were thinking about. She remained still though, apparently motionless in the face of danger. She watched them ready their weapons and aim. Kerri finally lifted one of her hands, "Please, people, you are getting on my nerves."

They exchanged confused glances.

"I don't want to be kidnapped today, so why don't you just scurry along?" With that, tossing her arm, she turned to leave. She could sense them angering as she stepped towards the light of the streets. They were still aiming, ready to teach this stranger girl a lesson. Kerri smirked though, they had the who was teaching who part confused. At the right timing, using the force to predict their timings, just as a blaster bolt would have taken them down, Kerri drew her Obsidian lightsaber in the Shien form and deflected the bullet.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

The bolt landed on the twi'lik's shoulder, causing him to fall over. Kerri's Obsidian lightsaber glowed as she spoke, "I'm a member of the Techno Union's force unit, the Obsidian Order. As a member of that order, I'm going to take you jerks in."

The unidentified man, orange in color, pulled out a rifle, "Not on my watch, lady!"

It had happened all before, both in stories and in reality. The one with the special skills and weapons outclassed all, and that was what Aislinn did. Shien was particularly made for blaster deflection, so she took comfort in it as she made light motions with a reversed grip, re-directing the bolt and knocking his weapon right out of his hand. Just then, the bothan with the electrostaff came charging at her, Kerri switched to the other version of form five. Swinging heavily, but with skill, the terrelian was able to knock the man back. She then lifted a muscled leg and kicked him into a trash can... ew...

The mystery alien came charging at her with a vibroknife, but Kerri jumped onto the wall and in between him and the rest of them men. her eyes darted from side to side. She was doing fine defending against them, but she was pretty sure, at this state, she would be unable to knock them all out long enough to wait for the authorities. Just then, the idea of using ataru crossed her mind. it did seem to click well, unarmed combat was a common thing used in it, and she could also find more openings to use her force powers. She just learned the basics of it today though, was she really ready?

She shrugged, Guess I get to train before I get to train...

The apprentice switched to a forwards grip, pulling herself into the stance she had recently learned, If I fail, I guess I get kidnapped after all... not that I'm suddenly in the mood.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

The terrelian heard the man she had just dodged coming from behind again. Kerri jumped over, backflipping behind him. Immediately after the landing, she hit his throat with a flat hand. As he fell to her feet, the young terrelian entered the stance again, facing the two togruta.

One of them tossed his rifle aside, pulling his electrostaff out. The other already had one ready. Kerri bit her lip, trying her best to keep her form.

Both togruta both ran at her at once, aiming towards taking the Obsidian down. Kerri jumped up, avoiding one stab, but as she landed she was hit by another.

Kerri fell to her knees, electricity screaming through her body. She had one moment's respite a foot collided with her stomach. She fell onto the floor, blood shooting out.

One of the two chuckled, saying something to wish her bye bye before she woke up at an illegal slave store. It was not like Kerri to go this way though, and she would use desperate measures to do it.

One hand of her's reached up, she clenched her hand. One of the togruta grasped for his neck. Kerri was not afraid to use the dark, as she utilised the notorious force choke.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

The togruta being choked was indeed being choked. He floated just above the ground, grasping at his throat for precious air.

The other was in shock, watching in terror. Seconds later, he was attempting to get away. Kerri caught it. She telekinetically threw the choking one into him. As they both fell, unconscious, Kerri took a moment's respite.

Well, my ataru sucks...

Kerri stood up, brushing her black shirt and pink shorts off. "All in a day's work for the Knights Obsidian, I guess."

Kerri was able to, luckily, catch an officer nearby. Before they regained consciousness they were all loaded up. Exhausted but somewhat lively, Kerri collected the lightsaber she dropped during the fight and finished her trip to the citadel - by bus.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Kerri was now entering the Obsidian Citadel, feeling close to exhausted. She slinked onto a bench like liquid for a moment; wondering how much more tired she would be with ten kilograms of armor on her. After a moment’s respite, she got up and entered a training room.

The Techno Union wasn’t called “Techno” for nothing. The way the room was set up, holograms of different opponents were projected for a trainee to destroy with lightsaber, blaster, or fist after enough “hit points” were taken out. After the hologram was hit enough, it would shatter like glass, signifying victory for the player. Kerri, however, asked to be put up against multiple opponents. Kerri activated her personal lightsaber this time, hoping to eventually work with the double blades once she was good enough with a single one.

And so, the images of emotionless armored figures appeared within the training arena. Kerri took the ataru stance again, watching her footing, and “hoped” to it…

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Kerri threw herself onto a bench again, popping open a canister of water. Kerri gulped almost half of it down instantly, water trickling down her pale neck. ”Precious H2O…" she muttered after pulling it away from her lips. She had ordered the room be put to a certain temperature due to her cold blooded handicap. Her warden cloak helped her temperature remain warmer, but she hadn’t been wearing it in the training round. Kerri had been improving, but only after training three hours.

She had left her apartment at six, got to the citadel at eight, trained an additional four hours… It was twelve o’clock in the morning, and the take out she ordered was cold. Kerri wanted to stay and train, but she was too exhausted to go back in… heck, she was too exhausted to go home.


So, she fell asleep on the bench.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Kerri awoke with a start. Even with her cloak covering her as a blanket, the bench was stiff and cold. Kerri shook her head and pulled out her wrist-holopad. Five in the morning.

Kerri forced herself to get up, trudging to the mess hall to get her daily coffee. It was two creams, six sugars, caffeinated. That was what it took to only make her look alive in the morning…

After having coffee and oatmeal, mush as she called it, Kerri returned to the training room. The athletic ataru would be able to get her blood going, but it wouldn’t warm her up. So, with the room temperature turned up unusually high, Kerri returned to ataru training.

Her stance was good now, her footing was improving. The easiest part, since the start of all this, had been the usage of the lightsaber itself. Athletics came naturally in her, being a terrelian and all. She was soon summersaulting and leaping around the holograms of armor, using sweeping saber to dismantle the imaginary opponents quickly. How long had she been in there, sweating so much her tattoos looked like rivers, that another apprentice entered. Kerri checked the time as he complained about the ninety degree room. It was ten o'clock.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Five hours! Kerri wiped her forehead as she turned the temperature down again. She exited the room, ”Maybe more practice at home will be good, then I’ll slow down.

Nothing else happened on the way home, on the bus. Kerri came home to see her take out on the table, the money she left out as payment taken aside some extra change. Kerri took the change, put it back in her safe, then ate her cold rice and meat, with a side of sliced and steamed maruloom fruit. After the meal, she took her lightsaber and opened up - this time with double blades. Here we go…

She made it her best shot.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

It had been another week of training before Kerri knew she had ataru down. She was nowhere near master, but she handled it was the natural flow she had with shien now. Able to use it combat now, even if it costed the accidental slicings of any painting on her own wall and a missing bed nob; Kerri was able to use it with all phases of her main lightsaber. As she chowed down on warm takeout within the Obsidian Citadel’s mess hall, hood over the head once again, she contemplated what else she could learn. A certain skill crossed over her mind, one that made her smile.

Saber throw!

That was the most she looked alive that day, nothing else said.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

~ Done. ~​