You Must Be Strong As A Tyrannosaurus

[J3C0]

Mierin slashed her lightsaber across her apprentices stomach, the red plasma slicing into his thick flesh with only one flick of her wrist. The attack was quickly followed by a swift kick empowered with the force, the strength of which pushed Mantorok across the room in one swift move.

“You're still weak.” Mierin said as she flourished the lightsaber blade and allowed it to come to a rest behind her back, turned about in her hand.

This had been the theme of their training sessions. The massive lizard would attack all out, and Mierin would use his own powerful momentum against them and subsequently beat him back with her own delicious strength in the force. It was a method of causing pain of coaxing the valuable drugs out of his own brain, but it was also a way to test his mettle, and so far he had proven to be less than desirable.

The parasite within his brain had made him strong, it had forced him to become more powerful in the force, yet it had not given him skill. Raw strength and ability were fine and dandy, but if you could not handle yourself, then what good were you?

“You Squander the gift the Dark Lord has given you.” Mierin said taking a step forward and raising her off hand. “You hardly deserve to live.”

Great crackling blue energy spiked away from the tips of her fingers, moving and dashing forward in leaps and bounds towards the great lizard.

 

[Mantorok]

His pride was wounded.

The first time he was instructed to attack the red woman he had almost laughed, was she suicidal? He surely would have crushed her in a physical sense, the Force be damned. Mantorok was bigger, fiercer, better. That was just nature.

Well, it turns out that nature was wrong.

Darth Mierin had embarrassed the Chistori, completely and utterly, every single day of training, every time he charged her she seemed to already have the perfect counter prepared. The Sith wasn't beating him, she was actively humiliating him and there was nothing he could do. Well, there was nothing Mantorok could do.

“NO!”

Crouched across the room his hand moved to the new wound across his abdomen, another scar to add to the collection. Evidently Mierin was the master of scars as each time a brutal training session ended he had usually acquired a couple more. He had to do something, but what?

Avoid the lightning? No, that was too much to ask.

He roared, as the forks of blue struck his bent form without mercy. Would she really kill him? What about being chosen? The touch of the Dark Lord? Pain. Burning torment that made him feel as if he was actually on fire. It extinguished hope and suffocated.

“I AA-AM STRO-NG,” he snarled, head thrashing from side-to-side as he managed to move up from crouching to standing.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin didn't reply to the lizard yet, she had other plans for him.

She moved across the room in a flash, dashing towards the man and reaching him only seconds after he managed to push himself off the floor. She swept forward, one leg catching his own and sweeping them out from underneath him. The Sith Pureblood pulled him to the ground, using his own muscular form to topple him to the ground before quickly slicing her lightsaber across his arm.

She cut a gash another gash into his hard scaley skin, cauterizing the wound instantly. There was no such thing as a training saber with Mierin, only pain.

“Weak.” She said her lightsaber pointing towards his throat as her foot planted itself on his chest.”You freed yourself from leather bindings and pathetic rats. Yet next to be, next to even the other apprentices here, you are weak, you are nothing. You have no embraced yourself.”

Her scowl ran deep. “And now you will die.”

Her lightsaber pressed forward.

 

[Mantorok]

She was too fast.

No sooner had he returned to his feet was she upon him once more, and just like that in a flash he was back down on the ground once more, another cruel bite received from the red blade. Another scar. Quickly losing count here. The Chistori gnashed his teeth and snarled in response but it offered no relief nor did it repel the Sith Lord.

Darth Mierin taunted further, about how weak he was. Perhaps it was meant to motivate, to help him tap into that truest of rage that could grant powers untold. Great creature of pride so humbled and humiliated, surely there had to be a nice build up of fury to use.

Or maybe she was going to kill him.

There was an objection there, a quiet one, understated and it wasn't from Mantorok. No, something else. Something aware of the dangers and trying to combat. Tendrils shifted, penetrating and meshing deeper with the brain. It was an act of desperation, the lightsaber neared.

“Noo.oo. I.wo.nt le.t y.ou,” he hissed, voice disjointed as if the Chistori was trying to speak for the first time. It was off, it wasn't the same roar as per usual, it was something else.

The saurian raised both hands in what seemed to be an automatic reaction, almost robotic in nature. The Force flowed. Through a swirling torrent of natural stimulants, midi-chlorians and a self-preservation instinct the Force was summoned, a wild push being blasted from his claws.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin went flying, though only a few feet. There was only so much that raw strength could do against a Sith Lord. Yet the attack had the intended effect, Mierin lost grip on her lightsaber and as she was sent whirling back the weapon flew into the corner of the room. She scowled, though the expression quickly went away as she realized what she had coaxed out of existence.

The parasite had been coaxed to further control.

Was Mantorok aware of it? Did he realize what had happened? What was happening now? There had to be a way to find out. Mierin summoned the force to her, tendrils of invisible power wrapped themselves around the Lizard, gripping and binding him in the air followed by a quick hard push against the opposite bulkhead.

“You.” Mierin said confidently as she approached the pinned creature.

“You can hear me?” She wasn't quite sure just what level of sentience the parasite had, if any at all. There was still the possibility it was working on base instinct rather than intellectual pushing.

 

[Mantorok]

Mantorok was lost, the uncouth further intrusion by the parasite had been on schedule. The worm's progress through the brain was not supposed to be swift, never mind as instantaneous as this bout had been. It left the Chistori scrambled completely and utterly, trapped somewhere between static unconsciousness and full-on coma. Hopefully not further towards the latter.

The saurian's eyes were blinking at a worrying pace. This wasn't right, the breach had been too sudden, you had to be delicate when you were invading and meshing with the brain, it's a sensitive organ.

“Y.es.”

It didn't sound right. When the worm spoke through him the signals seemed to get lost in translation, making the pronunciations of syllables wrong, the emphasis upon the wrong letters. The worm had never spoken before.

“Ne.ed m.ore con.tro.l. T.im.e.”

The worm needed to recede somewhat, lest permanent damage to the host was caused. This wasn't the subtle means that it usually operated through.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin smiled slightly.

So she had managed to coax it out of its hiding spot within his mind, forced its hand so to say. This pleased her. Of course it wanted to retreat immediately, wanted to fall back into the protective custody of its own mind. She frowned slightly, perhaps she had coaxed it out too swiftly. Mantoroks mind might not be able to handle the Parasite progressing so rapidly.

The Pureblood was no doctor of course, but she was more than capable of guessing what a parasite in ones mind might actually be doing.

“I will keep him alive.” For now.

The parasite was growing, it was sentient, and eventually it would be able to make its way thoroughly throughout the Chistori's mind. She had learned that much, and so she just needed time in order for her to once again speak with it.

So time it would have.

 

[Mantorok]

That was all it needed to hear.

There was no further excitement, no big reveals, no tales of the worm to be told just yet. No, the tendrils receded, ridding the Chistori's brain of the pressure that was being placed upon it. Of course if given time and left to grow and feed then the parasite could have had Mantorok twerking with no negative repercussions.

He blinked back into consciousness, slowly at first but then he was back. In the driver's seat once more, oblivious to what had just occurred.

Confusion reigned upon his reptilian features, he was on the floor, how did he end up against the wall? There was a buzzing behind his eyes that didn't feel healthy. That wasn't right. Was she karking with his head too?

“DO NOT KILL ME,” the beast roared, recalling the last thing Mierin had said to him, “I CAN BE STRONGER.”

 

[J3C0]

Mierin once again smiled, then called the lightsaber to her palm. The weapon made a slapping noise as it struck her, though instead of igniting it and driving it through the Chistori's heart, she instead clipped it back onto her belt. The belt seemed to move slightly, and a silent hiss erupted from Mierins spine as the Hydra Staff in place there twitched from the tickle of the lightsaber.

The force loosed itself from around Mantorok, and Mierin let her arm drop back to her side.

Her smile remained in place. The parasite had been coaxed out, and now she knew what she needed to do. Normally she would have killed Mantorok, slaughtered him and left him for the ravens. Yet the parasite presented a unique opportunity, with it Mantorok would be more than a brute, more than a simpleton slaughterer. With the parasite she could make him something...better.

“You will live.” Mierin said calmly.

The Sith Pureblood walked over to the crumpled dinosaur, her eyes shifting over his form.

“You turn to rage in an instant.” Mierin said. “You do not think when you attack. You lash out like an errant brute.”

An effective tactic, if you knew how to do it. Mantorok however did not utilize all that he had. Where he could use the force to strike, he instead lashed out with his claws. Where he could have snapped someones neck, he instead bit at them like a savage. He could have been so much more.

 

[Mantorok]

Hey look at that, you're not going to die today. Congratulations!

Dropping to the ground he looked up at the Sith, there was a hint of gratitude in those savage eyes, well, alongside the standard dose of rage of course. Fear was still absent however, the last trace of fear felt had been a part of those incomprehensible visions back at the lab. However Mantorok had pushed that to the back of his head, not like the brutes to think about these mysterious things.

It wasn't that the Chistori was stupid, more like he was primitive, stuck in his ways. The method of claw and tooth had worked so far for him. So why change?

Cautiously he stood once more, this time a lot more weary of her viper-fast movement, just because she wasn't holding the lightsaber didn't mean she was suddenly a kitten. If he had brows they might have been furrowed in that moment.

“THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

 

[J3C0]

“Control.” Mierin said the word as though it were the very core of her, as though it was the only thing in the entire galaxy that she knew. In a way, it was. Control was the basis of how Mierin fought. She used the power of the Darkside, she called upon her rage, upon her fear and desires. She called upon the same negative emotions that Mantorok used. Yet she did not lash out like him, she did not swipe and fight like a wild animal. She controlled herself.

“You must control yourself.” She continued on her tone impassive but softer than before. “Your rage, your anger, your hatred. Reign it in.”

Her empty hand raised itself, and again that smokey red aura began to form around her palm. It shifted and changed, danced about in a twin helix as she manipulated the own energies of her force signature. She tried to show him control, tried to show him how she used the invisible power of the force to bend her own strength to her will. “You must not unleash it at a moments notice.”

“You must wait, think before you act.” Rage gave one strength, but one had to know when to unleash the beast.

 

[Mantorok]

Control.

It had never been commonplace in his life.

He was a thug, a mercanary, muscle and you know what muscles are good for? Clobberin', smashing, plain straight-up destruction. Untamed, uncut, Chistori gone wild...hey wait a moment, no. That wasn't an image I needed, although I'm glad to have shared it with you.

Observing her hand he tried to understand the concept of control. He was a brute, he was brunt. Higher concepts like this had a hard time getting in. Spirituality, mysticality, the Force. However just because Mierin would let him live today didn't mean the same tomorrow if he didn't learn that way she wanted him to.

He furled and unfurled his clawed fists over and over again. Could he control his rage? It was such a core part of his species. To be Chistori was impatient fury.

“HOW?” Mantorok asked, huffing through his snout, “THERE IS A BEAST INSIDE. IT HUNGERS FOR BLOODSHED. ALWAYS."

 

[J3C0]

“You try.” Mierin said suddenly as the power around her spiked.

A massive burst of lightning struck out from her upturned palm, huge spiking bolts of blue and purple lightning that jumped and arched towards Mantorok with swift leaps and bounds. They struck him almost instantly, intending to begin another spike of his rage.

“You try.” She said again.

Another burst of lightning struck out towards Mantorok, striking him and causing him to begin to smolder and smoke. Mierins strength never waivered, the power of the Darkside rushing out from her as the sparking lay in the palm of her hand and jumped out at him.

“You try until you get it right.” As she spoke there was another spark.

She provoked the beast.

 

[Mantorok]

You can call me the conductor because lightning loves me, baby.

The sudden onslaught of Force lightning caused a thunderous roar to erupt from the Chistori's maw. The gauntlet of pain. Mierin's embrace. Oh, actually I quite like that one, remind me to use that more often.

Instinct ignited a fire in his belly that called for him to reach out and rend her face from her head. It hurt so much. Mantorok had been shot before, he'd been stabbed but nothing could compare to the pain and despair that came in the form of those blue sparks.

He had to stop her.

She struck again, teeth gnashing in between the pained sounds of a wounded beast. He had to find control! He had to learn! But she had to stop, he had to stop her. He couldn't keep it in! She was hurting him!

“STOP IT!”

Mantorok staggered forth, as if he was drunk on a combination of rage and pain. Claws unleashed and under the duress of lightning he was lumbering, not at all his usual agile self. It was unwise. It was stupid. It was exactly what he wasn't supposed to do, but the reptile went forth almost blindly swinging those beastly claws for Meirin's face.

 

[J3C0]

It was doubtful that the Chistori would ever get to touch Mierin, if only because of his own inability to listen.

The lightning flashing across her palm stopped, and suddenly she turned her hand upward and outward towards the dinosaur. She pushed out with the force, tossing him back before he could even come close to her. He had not listened!

He still disobeyed.

Her hand turned again, and lightning surged from her palm in droves. This time it was not meant to kill or even wound, it was simply meant to hurt. Pain would wrack every nerve, every muscle, every single fiber of his being. She would hurt him worse than anyone had before.

“Control it!” She commanded him.

 

[Mantorok]

The Force push sent him slamming into the bulkhead once more and then the onslaught of lightning resumed once more.

Seemingly blood no longer coursed through his veins, there was only torment. What was she expecting? That crippling agony would sedate him? That he would just stand and take it without lashing out in a rage induced stupor? That sounded practically impossible, he couldn't possibly manage! The blood lust boiled, scalding his insides and needing the relief of violence to soothe.

He no longer responded with words.

It was all gnashing teeth, thrashing head, flailing claws. Mantorok scarcely resembled a sentient being in that moment, more like an animal than a man.

Could you blame him?

Kicking off the wall he lunged at her once more, this time with his jaw unhinging, teeth bared, hoping to rip out the Sith's throat, hopefully in a spectacularly bloody fashin.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin didn't let the lizard touch her, instead she moved like a flash of light. She sidestepped him, dodging his lunge with three quick steps followed by another shifting of the palm of her hand. This time the force didn't pull up as a push, but instead an invisible blade formed in the air just above Mantorok, a spear that pierced his flesh in an instant and pinned him to the ground this his upper arm.

“Control!” She shouted the word, raising her off hand.

The spear disappeared and lightning coursed from her palm once more, pain incarnate the Sith Pureblood would torture her apprentice until he learned to control himself, until he could take the rage and funnel it.

Until he could use it for his gain.

 

[Mantorok]

Another miss.

This time he was brought down by something he couldn't even see, a sharp pain in his arm that seemingly forced him onto the floor. He looked to see what the culprit was but found that there was nothing. There were some fairly wicked magic tricks up her sleeve. On the floor his body smouldered, craving for just an ounce of relief, but there was none to be found.

The lightning began again. He became pain. Mantorok couldn't bear it, but he couldn't control it either. His rage burned harder, the saurian wanted her to be plunged into the same world of suffering that he was experiencing and he wanted to do the plunging with his own two claws.

He shifted onto all fours, trying to get up once more, to strike again but...this time something changed.

It wasn't his own control however, but rather the helpful aid of a certain friend. Beta-receptor blockers, smothering anxiety flat, trying hard to soothe the near uncontrollable fury. Then he heard it. A whisper. Or was it a crackle of lightning?

Controllll...

Slowly through the torrents of lightning he stood, this time not moving to try and uselessly maul the Sith. His teeth were bared, fists clenched, grunting, rumbling under the strain of agony, but he did not attack. He restrained, he controlled, albeit with a little help, unknown to him.

 

[J3C0]

Her hand closed into a fist. This time he had not struck out wildly to stop the pain, he had not lashed out at her. He had suffered through the hurt and humiliation, and strangely she felt a bit of pride flow through her.

Perhaps he was beginning to learn.

“How do you feel right now?” Mierin asked quietly, though loudly enough for him to hear. Emotions were the basis of power for the Sith. This was a simple fact, anger, hate, fear, passion, that was how the Sith drew strength from the Darkside. It was how they grew more powerful. Everyone needed to learn how to harness this strength, and while Mantorok knew how, he did not do it properly.

He had to be taught.

It was the only way that he would become worthwhile, the only way he would survive long enough to allow the parasite to use him, and perhaps the only way that he would survive.

 

[Mantorok]

How did he feel?!

Hold on, let me just whip out the psychiatrist couch so our large reptilian friend can tell you all about his mother. Okay, so she didn't mean it like that but I saw my chance and I took it. Don't judge me. How about you take a seat and tell me all about your father.

Mantorok was honest, perhaps a little too honest.

Between pained breaths that shot out of his nostrils like gust there was no amount of hesitation as he fully admitted without a single once of fear:

“I FEEL LIKE TEARING YOU IN HALF.”

Clearly the Chistori was still caught in a rage, only being tethered to the realms of control by the exterior force that was perched atop his brain. Too right he was still in fury too! She had caused him a great deal of pain and to add to that a large dose of humiliation. Of course, while Mantorok felt like tearing her in half he knew that realistically he could not manage such a feat, at least not yet.