Two Apprentices, and Two Prizes, Victory and Defeat (Jareth, Jardo)

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo let his weapon drop, staring as the sky darkened. He wasn't sure what Jareth was trying, but he wasn't a fan of this storm. Jardo had other ideas though. He knew his master was smart, thus force pulling wouldn't be an option, but what about using the force to take the coin from Jareth?

All Jardo had to do was wait, wait for Jareth to do whatever he was doing. Hopefully, he wouldn't take long.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

A standoff, clever and interesting, you could almost feel a sense of Sith Pride at how both had chosen to approach the task, sizing each other up first, and taking into account their Master the equation, which was smart. It left him having to make the first move.

He could have levitated it higher, waited them out, or he could demand for them to try. Of course Raien Keth being Raien Keth demanded, building up what was to come next. The coin began to spin between them, and extend closer toward both, so much so one might get it with a force pull.

“You must take this in the force, your hands will not help you here.”

Raien tossed the coin up high, letting it drop downward, high enough that hands were not going to decide where the force took this, today was after all about training their force skills, not martial combat. If one tried to merely reach and grab it in their hands, they’d find their Master pulling it away, otherwise he left it under their control, for now.

“Adapt. Grow. Gain strength. Use the force not merely your physical bodies, for there are many ways to conquer and gain victory.”

Spoiler

By all means hold it in your hands but use the force to rp the tug of war/outcome.

[member="Jardo Snow"] | [member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*With the force, Dust began tugging at the coin with the force. His other plan was less important now, the storm above brewed still, but it now served as a nice back-up plan. The storm cloud covered a very small radius; however, it didn't need to be massive for what Dust had in mind. He had been slowly ionizing the air in a path to the coin and then again around Jardo during the stand-off. The electricity throughout the clouds had a perfect path to strike if only Jardo touched the coin; however, the area around Dust did not have the conductive air current so him moving the coin toward himself and touching it would not cause the lightning to strike him. It was the perfect scenario, there was no way that Jardo could detect the Ionized air to know that touching the coin would be a trap for him but not for Dust. If Jardo acted too suddenly and got the coin, lightning would strike him, if he tried to take the coin from Jareth he would have one hell of a fight on his hand, and standing in the wrong area meant the conductive ionized air would make Jardo a perfect lightning rod. This was now a battlefield, and Dust had the home field advantage in knowing what zones of the area were safe from random lightning strikes. The power of Byss was truly boosting Dust to a higher performance level, making abilities that were otherwise only apprentice strength into Knight strength abilities that allowed him to use nature to his full advantage with alter environment.*

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo smiled, using the force to slowly shake the cliff. Only very slightly, hopefully just enough to force Dust to lose concentration. He wasn't done though. The shake had forced a slight bit of rock to crack above Dust, and using the force he slowly shook that rock more, forcing it to fall.

He didn't expect the rock to work, so Jardo brought in plan two. He called upon the force even more, trying to penetrate the head of Jareth, try and force Dust to have a mental breakdown, as to force the coin to drop. He smiled at his plan. Granted, it wasn't the best, but it would do for what he needed.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Neither had gone for the coin. An interesting approach of traps and counter attacks, showing the differing but clever styles of both apprentices, he had some confidence they would prove formidable in their own way. Even if both were attempting a lot of force use at once, and a Jedi might tell them to be mindful of overextending themselves. Their Master was no Jedi, he would encourage it, extend their reach as far as they could, to the strongest and most devastating techniques they could conceive, even if it proved too much for them. He would see their potential at any cost.

Raien oddly did nothing directly, instead the pressure in the air began to deepen, following his deepening focus on both, a focus which naturally extended to the environment around them. Strength of will brought a force crush made real in the air around them, pressure building, preferring to use the force as opposed to alter air to achieve the same. For his grasp of the elements was perilously close to fading entirely, seeing them as inferior to the living force in all respects. What this meant was physical ovement was marginally harder, concentrating them on their force use, marginally harder because he was no master at this technique yet either.

He too was biding his time… For much as they were concentrating on each other, perhaps their Master had something else planned. Always a test.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Spoiler

Jareth actually wouldn't be using a terribly large amount of force energy. One of the biggest advantages of alter environment is that it uses the force energy from the environment to affect change, and with Byss being hyper charged with the force Jareth would be using more energy holding the coin in the air than he would be in creating the storm and other such things. Just thought I would bring that up since Jareth's reliance on alter environment and specialization therein makes Byss a true force multiplier for his abilities meaning he can affect change wide enough to make a Sith Knight look bad. Honestly I am kinda toning down what I believe Dust should be capable of with alter environment on Byss.

*The rock fell just as Jardo had planned, and surprisingly it managed to make contact with Dust because he was focusing on controlling the coin and altering the storm above him to further create an advantage for himself on this battlefield because of this Jardo was also able to begin penetrating his mind; however, he would find Dust's mind to be difficult to traverse as it's defense was the labyrinth within. Perhaps if he were more experienced in penetrating minds his attack would've had the desired result but as it stands, the attack combined with the rock distraction was enough to loosen Dust's grip on the coin significantly meaning this would be a good opportunity for Jardo to make a grab for the coin with the force or otherwise while Dust regained his focus. Jardo would need to act quickly, soon the environmental alteration would be enough to give Dust an almost insurmountable advantage and the longer Jardo waited the greater the advantage Dust would have.*

What this meant was physical ovement was marginally harder, concentrating them on their force use, marginally harder because he was no master at this technique yet either.

*Dust began to experience pressure as he was regaining focus. An interesting development which honestly worked to his advantage for now.*

Spoiler

The whole restricting physical movement is more of a handicap to Jardo than Dust so to be fair I would add somekind of additional handicap to Dust in order to even things out a bit since Dust is a bit stronger in the force and Jardo's major advantage is his physical advantage over Dust.

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Reaching out with the force wasn't actually hard with Byss being like major force point one or whatever you feel like calling it. As soon as the rock connected with Jareth, Jardo reached out, using the force to slowly pull the coin towards him. Jareth was quickly regaining his feet though and Jardo knew it.

He let the coin drop, forcing all of his power towards pushing Jareth away, hopefully across the cliff face anyway. He smiled as he did, watching, praying for dust to fall back.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Raien did not balance scales, or make the fight fair. The harder the battle was for both of them the better, because the further they must go, the bigger the battle the more there was to gain. All he did was make it more difficult for both of them. That was a Sith’s power, challenge and conquering it through victory and defeat, for both were prizes to stand atop and grow stronger, or more hungry.

Force Combustion on Hard Ground.
The hard mountain ground began to resonate, a mild form of force resonate, alter earth some might call it, to him it was pure force energy vibrating outward explosively on hard rock. Two hands outstreched, one to each apprentice, Raien focused on the combustion of the stone ground, so that it might crack and splinter below them both, the effect might well be to unsteady both of their footing, and if left unchecked to send stone bursting outward. Counters existed, it just depended whether anyone thought, knew or intuitively guessed how to use them.

Combustion continued where it wasn't countered, shattering the hard natural material into fine powder. This would only add to Jardo’s technique against Jareth’s footing, however the now airborn powdered stone might well obscure the coin from view, for a few brief moments, but then this was a force relic, strong with the force. Raien was again training them to see the force, or to sense it without needing their eyes, to rely more on the force above all else, because it was theirs to command.

Movement slowed, and eyes obscured, all they really had to rely on was the force. Round Two.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust felt the disturbance in the air as a force push was sent toward him, all of this as the ground vibrated: clearly a result of his masters force combustion. His first move was to dodge to the side of the force wave, second he used the force to try and settle the vibration of the ground beneath him. His empathy and abilities in alter environment allowed him to keep track of Jardo, and of the coin which seemed to be projecting emotions of hate. He had avoided the push, hopefully his attempts to stop the earth shattering beneath him would also succeed, and he had managed to keep track of both his targets even within the dust. This seemed like a strong moment for him in this fight, time would only tell what Jardo would do now.*

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

The man with the plan had a plan. Okay, no he wasn't the man with a plan and no he didn't have a plan. He did what he always did and just chose to wing it. Closing his eyes he called upon the force, sensing the coin somewhere in the mad dust pile. He stopped focusing on the coin for a moment, feeling the floor below him.

They couldn't of just gone out for Bantha Wings could they, no. They had to go to Byss to go and learn about the force, though in Jardo's eyes he knew enough to get by. His natural ability towards Ataru basically made him a master in it anyway, and his ability in force jump and force barrier made sure he couldn't be hit very well during a fight. All he really wanted to learn was the offensive force lightning, that would be nice.

Anyway, back to the floor. It was time to call upon the force and learn a new move. Force powers seemed to come naturally to him on Byss, and this time he called upon a move he'd read about. Alter Environment. He slowly called upon said power, attempting to force the cliff under him to calm.

The dust was still falling hard though, and Jardo... or Darth Draykon... Okay, it was a work in progress, but damn he liked that name. Darth Draykon had a ring to it, you know. Okay, okay, he needed to focus. Calling upon the force, he forced a force pull from his body, attempting to pull the coin towards him. Learning even more force powers, nice.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Dust:

Jareth either knew or instinctively realised that concentrating on the ground could slow the combustion, in Raien's experience few realised to try and counter it directly, but he had showing his ability to adapt. The acolyte slowed but didn’t stop the knight’s technique under his footing, breaking stone loose, but it was significantly slowed as Raien had split his focus between both men.

Jardo:

Used a different technique, Alter Environment: Earth, which was a clever if still untrained adaptation on what was being done to him, to simply steady the earth. Again sometimes Master’s themselves didn’t realise there was a counter to force combustion but here both had found a counter in their own way. Again though Jardo could go further in this, he could shape the loose earth around his feet for instance, or manipulate the resonance into giving him a surer footing. As it was he put himself against the Knight's technique too, which almost neutralised it because Raien was focusing on both men, almost but not quite.

Both:

Raien seemed satisfied, as close you’d get to a pat on the back from the Betrayer. The force combustion finished, leaving loose ground. As the tug of war on the coin continued, he’d now test their balance, releasing the force crush suddenly. Behind their ankle joints a sharp force pull would come, like someone was sweeping their front leg from the rear, he was showing both here, when you knew your martial arts, or techniques, you didn’t need your body to execute them.

Could they maintain their concentration on their target or would it falter? “Focus. Find your center of gravity and balance in the melee,” Their Master repeated, because in the greatest storms that focus not only saved your life like some Jedi would preach, it allowed you to shape that storm to your liking, cutting it aside and walking through it to your advantage.

[member="Jardo Snow"] | [member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust had managed to weaken the effect under his feet; however, immediately after he felt pressure on his legs. He had a sure stance, a token to his vast martial arts experience prior to training in the force, which allowed him to stay standing when combined with the movement impairing pressure in the air. This allowed him to stay steady and find the coin as it began toward Jardo; he used his telekinesis, which was well trained, to stop the advance before picking up all of the tiny rocks kicked up in the air and launching them at Jardo with great speed and force. The technique was inaccurate but covered a wide area while packing a punch. Painful, but non-lethal at this level of use: this was an untrained and rudimentary manifestation of Ballistakinesis (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ballistakinesis)*

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo instantly felt what his master was doing, and he quickly formulated a basic plan in his head. Allowing himself to fall, he pulled himself back in a roll, landing in some decent footholds. Granted, he'd lost the coin now, and he would of lost it anyway because he saw what Dust was doing.

Lauching the roots was a good idea, and Jardo sigh when he saw them. Falling to his stomach he watched as one of the roots flew over his head. From on the ground, he stared towards the coin, calling upon everything he had, giving everything he had into getting that coin towards him.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

While both men tried to manipulate the coin, or the surrounding landscapes, Raien until now been focused on both of them. With the impairing pressure suddenly released it left both more physically free to reach for the coin, or just fall over if they didn’t prepare for the sudden change in pressure. Showing that sometimes just by stopping or reversing something it could cause issues. For the coin it meant it suddenly became a fraction lighter and began to spin, aided somewhat by Surtr, the air had also settled so their vision was fully clear.

The Massassi began to ascend the mountain top to watch, in a ring of red Sithspawn muscle and force weapons, roaring or growling their own chorus of displeasure or encouragement. None were acting hostile, they were by their nature hostile but not toward either man.

The smallest of the Massassi Sithspawn was aiming some sort of spear ahead, pointing at the coin, Raien nodded and outshot the Shoni Spear, a durable Kaleesh hunting weapon with a net attached to the back of it. The Sithspawn obviously wasn’t going to hit a coin with a speartip, but if the deadlock didn’t move it either way, it was going to be netted and just make things harder. An interesting deadlock but sometimes pulling something wasn't the only way to achieve a result.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He couldn't just leave the coin, could Keth. Jardo sigh, crawling to his feet. He watched the spear, breaking into a run towards the coin. He used his momentum and the pressure to carry himself forward, attempting to outrun the net. During his run, he was also calling upon the force to pull the coin in his direction, all he needed now was to break Jareth's concentration.

He called upon the force, attempting to pull both Jareth and the coin towards him. It was the only plan he had, and a small part of him thought it'd work. If he was strong enough to move Dust with the force then Darth Draykon, sorry Jardo, would be strong enough to get that coin.

[member="Raien Keth"]
[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust felt the pull of Jardo, mitigating it with his strength of stance yet still getting pulled forward a two steps. Dust did not however lose concentration, feeling the pull coming he released the coin from his own grip knowing that Jardo would've expected him to fight for it and as such overcommitted to the pull. Dust instead used the force to redirect the spears trajectory so that it would hit Jardo directly above his armpit between his shoulder and pectoral muscles knowing that the combination of letting the coin go and putting the spear at a dangerous trajectory would likely cause Jardo to miss catching it, and if Jardo wasn't careful in his next actions it could result in serious injury or a net partially immobilizing him.*

[member="Jardo Snow"] [member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Howls and roars from the Massassi watching as the struggle continued. Both would fight tooth and nail to the end it seemed, and that perhaps was enough, it was enough to demonstrate the will to win at any cost that both had, that neither would accept defeat. The rotation of the coin would pick up pace until it became a blur, now pushing pulling it would be more difficult as it could fly off at any angle. Their Master had changed the game one last time.

“There is more here than what’s in your own body or manipulated outside, to draw in,” what did he mean? Though Dust had taken steps toward this, it was still external to him, he could go further and draw the elements or energy in. Both men would develop in their own way, taking their natural talents to whatever peaks they were capable of, whatever potential they could reach. He could merely pull doors open for them to see if they could use it, or it helped.

All Raien’s effort was focused on spinning the coin, deepening his stance and pressing to the ground, to draw upon the certainty of this place, Byss's long history, the darkside’s embrace flowing into his muscles and up his extended hand. A long history of such conflicts of his own, as they faced here, all pooled together inside the sith relic.

A building pressure was coming from the coin, pooling force energies being sent into it, the air became thicker, pressure exerted, you could hear a build sound welling up around it. This was their final round, though hanging onto it might be tricky unless they had a plan because a shockwave was coming.

The Final Round.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​