29 Chapter 29
The day after the twins got back, they had to have a duel with Jial who wanted to test how much they had improved over the past 6 months. The first to go up was Hash.
The young Shistavanen readied her yellow lightsaber in the opening stance of Soresu. Soresu was a form created for defense. It was originally created to deal with blasters but had evolved to also be used in lightsaber combat. This form lacked to offensive techniques of other forms but beat almost all of them when it came to defense and counterattacks.
Hash held the blade back in a one-handed grip, angled forwards with the blade arm held parallel, the other hand held up in a challenge. Both of her feet were wide, with one facing backward if she needed to retreat while the other was facing forward in order to launch a counterattack.
"So you've started using Soresu?" Jial raised an eyebrow. "Let's see how well you have learned it."
Jial let the Force flow through him before appearing on Hash's left while slashing with his purple blade. The force behind the strike knocked her away and nearly hit the blade out of her hand.
"You need to be steady. If your body is not stable, then your form will fail," Jial educated her on the form while launching several more strikes. Each blow looked gentle to the onlookers but only Jial and Hash knew how heavy each strike was.
Hash kept being pushed around until the lightsaber was finally knocked out of her hands. She was looking down when she saw the purple blade appear before her throat. Hash looked up to her master's bright smile.
"Good job, Hash," Jial complimented while turning off his lightsaber. He then petted the young teen on her furry, head gently. "You've improved a lot."
Next up was Nott.
Nott lowered her posture while igniting both of her lightsabers with her hands facing backward. Her knees were bent deeply with her feet facing forward, already showing signs of the aggressive manner of combat that Nott was planning to employ.
Nott was using Jar'Kai, a variation of Niman where the user wielded two blades and was much more aggressive. Most individuals practiced this as a backup form of combat, rarely using it regularly. This was due to the difficult nature of training to use two swords in conjunction with each other perfectly.
Without waiting for Jial to signal that he was ready, Nott kicked off from the ground and toward Jial's position. The teen swung both blades from the left and right when she neared him but as soon as her blades were in range, both were repelled and knocked out of her hands. A foot to her chest knocked her to the ground and the breath out of Nott, ending the battle even faster than the one with Hash.
Jial used the Force to pull both of Nott's lightsabers into one hand while he extended the other to help her up. Nott took it and stood while pouting.
"Don't pout, Nott," Jial spoke to her gently
"But I lost so much faster than my sister!" Nott did not mind losing but she hated that she had lost so quickly
"That is the difference in your fighting styles. Yours is about aggression and keeping the momentum. The moment battle someone stronger while fighting the same way you usually do, that is when your style collapses and you lose," Jial explained patiently. "Your sister's style is the opposite and focuses on enduring. Her style is meant to hold back and exhaust her enemies until she has a chance to strike them down.
Do not confuse differences in styles with differences in skill. Your speed and posture would surpass most Padawans, with only those that are on the verge of being Knights being able to resist you."
"Yes, Master," Nott understood his words but her heart still felt heavy. Even if she knew the reason why she lost so much faster, she still couldn't accept it.
Jial could see the reluctance in her eyes but he didn't comment any further.
'She needs to learn her own path, Jial. If you baby her, she will not reach her full potential,' he had to hold himself back from comforting her. Jial knew it would be too much if he were to keep coddling the twins and not let them face setbacks on their own.
With the morning spar out of the way, Jial began another lesson in the Force with them. He wanted to teach them some of the more advanced techniques since they had gotten the hang of the more basic ones thanks to their time on Vespaara.
"These next 3 techniques are more advanced than the ones you had used before. We will be going over Force Pull, Force Push, and Force Grip. Each of these is an advanced application of telekinesis.
Force Pull and Force Push can be thought of as two sides of the same coin. The best way to use either is to think of yourself and whatever you are targeting as magnets. Force Pull is when both sides are different and therefore attracted to one another while Force Push is when both sides are the same polarity and too close.
Although that is not the perfect way to describe it, it is the best way to form your basic understanding of it. The more you use it and practice with it, the better your understanding will be.
Force Grip is more similar to direct telekinesis but with a twist. While Telekinesis can be thought of as a spherical bubble that forms around an object and carries it within it, Force Grip would be condensing that bubble to match the exact size of the object and solidifying the liquid into a solid so that it is able to be moved around.
Each of these techniques needs to be mastered to use far more powerful techniques such as Force Crush for Force Repulse."
Jial then gave them an example of each technique using practice dummies. He used Force Pull to pull one right in front of him before using Force Push to send it flying. With the dummy lying on the floor, Jial used Force Grip to lift it back up and reorient it so that it was standing tall. Then when he had the dummy standing, he used Force Crush to make it seem like the dummy had imploded, sending wooden bits everywhere.
"You guys can stay down here and practice but come up when you need a break. Training is important but so is the right amount of rest," Jial warned them before walking up the stairs. He wanted to continue teaching them himself but he felt the arrival of other Force-users.
When he reached the top of the stairs, HK-47 appeared before him.
"Astonishment: You came at just the right came. A Republic ship is requesting permission to land," the droid said monotonously
"Let them in. The Jedi have arrived and won't like it if we shoot them down," Jial waved his hand while heading up to his room to get his mask. He already knew that there were going to be a heated conversation with them so he wanted to be ready
