[TRAINING] The Way of the Ysalamir

[Adamus Straife]

Makashi was the second of seven forms, and by far the most apt form for dueling a single opponent. Swift, elegant and artful bladework that focused on flourishes, feints and parries to deliver victory by your hand with little energy expenditure. Those were the core ideals of the Contention Form. Avara stood before his brother Lucas, his lightsaber held in his hand, the curved chrome hilt shining in the red hue of their training arena on Dromund Kaas. It was a small sanctuary they resided in, deep in the bowels of a place they named the Dreadfort, created by Sith long gone from the galaxy. It felt as if their spirits lingered within the metalwork of the walls, and the very power of the dark side resonated here. Deep within the jungles of Dromund Kaas, however, they would attract minimal attention; everything was drawn to the dark side on this rock.

"Your sword arm has to be straight," he drilled his brother vigorously. "Your skill comes from your wrists in this form, not your arms or your shoulders. Wrists." The Sith Lord demonstrated a perfected Makashi flourish, a simple cross-shaped diagonal slash in the shape of an 'X' through the air. He finished with a Makashi flourish, lining the lightsaber blade against his face vertically. With one foot forward and the other planted firmly in the ground, he appeared elegant, smooth and precise. "Copy what I have just done. This is your opening stance, used to greet your opponent, deliver them a challenge. A sign that combat has begun. Do you understand?"

@[member="Lucas Straife"]

 

[Lucas Straife]

The moisture in the jungles of Dromund Kass clung to Lucas' skin, a comfortable feeling he thought. He was at home in an enviroment such as this, absorbing the darksided energy which fuelled him in the training to come. A good choice by his brother. One which will make Lucas' stronger in the arts of warfare. The Dreadfort walls were looming around them, giving them the privacy which they cherished. They hadn't trained like this in a very long time, due to Lucas being sent to the sith academy on Korriban where he studied from scrolls and masters. He stood still in the middle of the battle circle, waiting for the lesson to begin.

He ignored his brother's vigorous approach. Lucas already knew the art of Makashi, just not very well. He knew the basics and the introduction to the course. Just he hadn't actually fought a worthy opponent with it. The sith neophytes at the academy were weak, easily defeated. That's why Lucas had shown much more promise compared to the others and was touted to do great things. His aspiration was power and with his brother's help, he'd get it. They both wanted the same thing. That power didn't have a limit. He would get there. Caligo pulled the short blade out from his sheath, holding the light weapon in his hand. He did a few stretches and swings with the blade, getting ready for the lesson. Finally at his brother's command, he straightened his arm. He was used to wrist action, all those times on the holocomputer looking at attractive females. He was just a teenager after all.

His brother finally stepped things up a little. Doing a movement before sliding into the opening stance. He repeated the cross-shaped diagonal slash in the form of an "X" which his brother had done moments before. It wasn't as precise and mastered, yet there was still somewhat a graceful, swish movement to the blade. Lucas' fighting style always had been gracious, even bar fights. It was very unusual. Perhaps as a young child, his mother teaching him how to dance had something to do with it. Those times where his mother forced Lucas and Adamus to dance with each other, making the younger be the female. It may sound foolish, yet dancing has an effect on fighting, it can even improve it. Your footwork, your quick movement, strides, various other things not caring to mention. He chuckled to himself, looking to his brother. "Do you remember those dance sessions mother made us always do? I still think she should of made you the female." He slided his body into the stance, one foot forward, the other positioned firmly into the damp soil. "Let the fun begin."

@[member="Darth Avara"]

 

[Adamus Straife]

"Footwork and bladework balanced," he drilled his brother as he paced towards him. He delivered two elegant slashes, one a feint to his right arm, the other a deliberate shiim strike to his left arm; he didn't want to maim his brother seriously, Lucas was the only person in the galaxy Avara would hesitate to kill should it come down to it. Nonetheless, he knew pain was a good teacher, and he intended to use pain as an assistant of sorts. "You are good, brother, but not nearly as good as you think you are." He smiled, and whether or not the minute slash to his left arm struck, Darth Avara spun and attacked the back of his lower leg with a precise slash at the tip of his blade. Precision, accuracy, economy. All of these were factors that Darth Avara took into account with his Makashi dueling. He was masterful, not nearly as much as he was with Form V, but masterful enough to defeat threatening opponents without resorting to his primary fighting style. Besides, the transition from elegant, smooth and dancing bladework to powerful, deadly and fast flurries and barrages was quite something to witness, and something else entirely to perform. He coveted it so much that he only spared it for the greatest of enemies. He hoped his brother would see it one day. "Do not remind me of mother's antics with us as children," he rasped, trying to force himself not to snicker. "I do recall you being the better dancer, perhaps you should be the girl?"

@[member="Lucas Straife"]

 

[Lucas Straife]

The training begun with Adamus on the front foot. Lucas moved his blade to the right, falling for his simple feint. By the time he realized it was too late and his brother's lightsaber singed through his clothing, skin and flesh on his left shoulder. A somewhat animal-like roar resonated from somewhere deep inside him, his eyes flaring up angrily feeling the soaring pain in his left arm. He drew on the force around him, using it to fuel his next flurry of attacks in retaliation to being harmed. While Adamus spun around him to strike at the back of his lower leg, Lucas went off script, swinging his arm back using the pummel of his sword to smash into the front of his brother's nose. Whether or not he found a target, he spun around using the force to keep aware of his senses, heightening them. After the pummel attempt, he sent a flurry of angled strikes. He took a leaf out of his brother's book and used a graceful feint to his left thigh, although from this spot slashed the blade diagonally across his chest. Unlike his brother, he didn't care if he maimed him or not. This was training and it should be realistic. Listening to his brothers words during the fight, he'd keep wary of his feet positioning, only being caught out a few times due to the surprising speed the duel was going at. The sith at the academy didn't fight with this much skill and pace. Lucas could already see the difference in skill. Yet he didn't reply back, he's always focused when in the mode, finding talking to be a distraction. After his elegant strikes on his brother, he slid back into a stance, preparing for the next lesson.

@[member="Darth Avara"]

 

[Adamus Straife]

Adamus laughed when the blade tore through his brother's shoulder. Pain was rife within his body, and Lucas reeled back and released a terrible, yet mighty roar of anguish. The Sith Lord fed from his pain, and used it to fuel himself, but he saw his brother do the same, and soon Lucas was upon him in a flurry of attacks that picked up speed and momentum with every clash. His anger fueled him, and Adamus grinned beneath the mask. "Use your anger! Let it guide your hand, brother!" He bellowed as they exchanged blows; the speed was impressive, and their dueling would appear as a blur to lesser foes. But things changed when Lucas suddenly changed his style, and struck Avara in the mask with the pommel of his hilt. The blow didn't damage him, but the kinetic force was enough to send him back a few paces.

Lucas continued his flurry, but Avara kept up with every stroke; he spotted the feint and parried it to his right side, and watched as his brother swiftly moved to strike him diagonally across the chest. Avara smiled and leaned back ever so slightly, allowing the lightsaber blade to grace his clothing and singe it dangerously close to his skin. He could feel the heat emanating from the hot plasma of the blade. When the blade swept past, Avara unleashed his potential in Makashi and swiftly riposted the blade ajar to put Lucas off balance. He answered with a simple shiim across his hand. Not his sword hand, he would need that for the lesson, but the opposite; it was punishment for losing grace in favour of anger. "Channel that rage, brother," he adjusted his mask from the blunt hit of his brother's pommel. "The first technique you will learn is the Makashi riposte. When I strike you, angle your blade away and try to put me off balance. Open me up for counterattack. That is true Makashi bladework." And so he gave his brother the opportunity, and met him with a flurry of vertical and horizontal slashes to the torso.

@[member="Lucas Straife"]

 

[Lucas Straife]

Caligo sensed his own suffering being used as fuel to assist in his brother's fighting. This further enraged him, being used as a toy. While his speed increased in his flurries, he was so proud and momentarily lapsed in concentration due to it. He hit his brother straight on the face. He thought that'd be a rare occurrence since it's brother's quality, yet it happened. The lapse however was costly. Getting comfortable and even further excited by slashing his chest, the unusual angle of Adamus' blade felt uncomfortable against his own, unbalancing his whole footing. He tumbled a little meaning the blade fell to his side trying to regain the balance he had lost. A big mistake proved costly when the openness left his hand prone to the slash of his brother's blade. He fell to one knee, looking up to his brother with a glare in his eyes. He listened to his brother's words about the riposte. The only thing which kept him from fighting was knowing this was only training. Plus, it was his brother. Despite Caligo's obsessive behavior and ego and not wanting to lose, he cared for his brother. The only person he cared for since his mother. The next stage of the lesson began.

Lucas was fairly tactical when it came to duels as he bested many sith neophytes at the academy. However, he was up against a stronger opponent in his brother. A sith knight, a person who had passed trials to be able to fight for a cause such as the sith empire. He was a foot soldier. He was trained and Lucas didn't expect him to be easy. But Lucas was only a few years behind Adamus' development. So he thought it'd be clever to do the riposte straight away, as most would expect in training to get comfortable first by doing a few parries with their opponent. In the first elegant movement of his brother, Lucas tilted his blade at an angle where his brother would fall off balance. Throughout this motion, he would absorb the force around him before unleashing with his injured hand at his brother a powerful force push, hoping the makashi riposte left him open.

@[member="Darth Avara"]

 

[Adamus Straife]

And he felt the riposte well. It was quick, clean, precise and rather impressive; though he expected as much from someone who shared his blood. The angle of the blade was positioned enough that Darth Avara could do nothing but stumble awkwardly as their blades clashed together. Sparks danced between their blades as they slid apart, and Lucas thrust his hand forward to deliver a Force push to Avara's chest. He was sent reeling back, and tumbled backwards into a roll. He caught his hand onto the ground, and looked toward his brother. "Impressive," he said. It was only half a lie to keep Lucas appeased. The entire purpose of the exercise was for him to learn the ways of Makashi. Avara had to lower his mastery of the form to a mediocre degree so that his brother could keep up. He did not mind, but as Lucas progressed, he would balance his skills to outdo him until he was a master like him.

"You learn quickly, much like me," he lifted himself back to his full height, flourishing his lightsaber again. "The next step. Contentious opportunity. You must look deep at your opponent's form, watch them, see how they move their feet, and find a flaw in their form. Exploit it with a feint, a riposte, anything you desire to throw them off balance. And then you strike them down." He poised his blade, positioning his body into the opening form of Makashi. His made sure to make his stance slightly flawed as he approached Lucas, giving him the opportunity to observe and exploit Avara's form. A true master of Makashi would appear perfect, as any master of the seven forms would, and only a master of the same form could spot the flaws, as minute as they were. Lucas was still learning, and Avara had to go easy.

@[member="Lucas Straife"]

 

[Lucas Straife]

His fighting style was similar to his personality. It was playful yet it was brutal, keeping it graceful yet powerful. Each move very precise and when it finds it target, it generally hurts excruciatingly. The riposte working placed a huge grin on Lucas' face yet he still had work to do. Watching his brother fly backwards due to the force push gave him time recuperate his senses and his strength. He could tell his brother was holding back which annoyed Lucas', but perhaps that was because he underestimated him. Or perhaps it was easier to learn, either way Lucas would continue to try and best his brother. He listened to his Adamus' words for the next lesson in Makashi, taking in all the information like a drug. He would learn this form and best his brother in it one day. Not to the death, just to show who's more powerful. He knew he'd never be as powerful in Djem So, his brother's primary form. Yet Makashi was something Lucas could attempt to beat him in.

While Avara approached him, Caligo quickly analysed his form, his eyes scanning over him. When their blades went to meet, he parried his brother's blade off his own. Caligo slid into a defensive form, continuing to parry their lightsabers together until he could find a weakness. He noticed the unusual weight on his right leg, not balancing his whole body. The blades continued to clash while Lucas' decided what to do. He sidestepped to the side, and while swinging his blade down to his brother's right leg, he disignited his saber in the form of trakata, getting past his defenses. He had hoped to maim when his brother's leg when reigniting, so his whole balance would collapse and hopefully topple him to the floor. He swung his lightsaber back around, in an overhead swinging motion towards his brother's head. Yet before it met it's target, he paused, stopping it above his head. He didn't want to injure his brother this badly. He tried to control his urges to strike down any further.

@[member="Darth Avara"]

 

[Adamus Straife]

Avara felt the use of the technique he taught him as they crossed blades. Once more allowing his brother to feel what it was like on the successful end, he let his balance slip again. The unusual weight upon his leg, purposely left open for Lucas to discover, would leave him right open for maiming. Darth Avara made it so, and Lucas exploited such a weakness almost flawlessly; it was as if his younger brother was made for Makashi. Before a serious wound could be inflicted, Avara leaned backward, allowing the blade to graze his robe, and the skin of his thigh. He released a small grunt, and watched as his brother went to swing down toward upon his head.

Darth Avara's own blade swung through the air to clash with it, but he saw his brother had stopped swinging when the blades clashed. Hesitation, perhaps. The Sith Lord capitalised, and balanced his footwork perfectly, hoping that his brother would catch on with his intent. To learn Makashi, his brother would need to feel the flow of the duel; to find his place within it. These rigorous exercises meant that they had to continuously barrage one another with clean, precise and economic strikes. Darth Avara released his flurry first, building from the parry that defended his head from Lucas' prematurely halted attack.

He wondered how long his brother would last before exhaustion caught him.

@[member="Lucas Straife"]