A Learning Experience

[Jacen Darxtryder]

[From "Initiation" thread. www.knightsandlords.proboards56.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=temple&thread=10&page=1]

Jacen slowly lowered the small republic transport onto the makeshift earthen landing pad right next to Leddre'in Majernik's drab gray fighter. Coming to a stop, the cruiser landed softly. Reaching over to the cup holder Jacen grabbed a small bottle that had the words "raw energy" scribbled on it. Getting up from the pilot's seat he drained the bottle. Turning around, he saw Ayin curled up into a ball, snoozing. Jacen couldn't resist this kind of opportunity. Jacen put his hand into the air and tossed his bottle. It spiraled through the air, hitting Ayin right in the shoulder before dropping to the floor with a hollow clunk.

Ayin stirred upon contact; he put a hand to his mouth, emitted a massive yawn, and opened his eyes.

"Thanks for the rude awakening, that really wasn't necessary." Ayin sat up and looked down at the bottle. He offered no effort to throw it away. After a few moments of sitting statue-like, Ayin realized he could regrettably not fall back asleep. At that point, he stood, stretched, and walked for the landing platform.

"It was that or ignite my saber in your ear" Jacen sarcastically said in response as he joined Ayin at the exit and walked out down the exit ramp, the hissing of the door ringing in his ears for a couple of moments. He turned and awaited orders from Ayin at that point.

[Ayin Tsade]

Ayin walked down the ramp with no real sense of haste; he kept his arms folded behind his head to at least pretend he was resting it on a pillow. However, Ayin's ideal situation differed greatly from reality. Sudden waves of jungle heat proliferated in the air; it clung to his clothes, stung his eyes, weighed Ayin's lungs with his every breath. Ayin coughed instinctively.

The air wasn't the only oppression to Ayin's senses; though they had landed in a clearing on the forest floor, the light proved insufficient to see farther than thirty feet. Even worse, there were insects the size of genotonic canisters buzzing past his ears.

"Ugh, what a wretched planet," Ayin said, face contorted with disgust. "Whose idea was it to stage the hunt here, anyways?"

"Yours, master."

Ayin paused, realizing this was true. A tsking sound emitted from between his clenched teeth. Ayin didn't know what was more annoying - his apprentice's apparent respect, or the sarcasm he deservedly walked right into. But he immediately replaced his droll expression with a smile.

"Right then. Well, it is one of the better planets for playing hide-and-seek. Let's have some fun, shall we?" Ayin extended an arm and pointed with his index finger towards the endless darkness that was the forest shade. "If you're ready to start 'seeking' Master Majernik, lead the way. This is your test, after all."

Jacen nodded. "I'm ready. Make sure you keep up, master." He crouched into a ready running position. Just when Jacen launched forward with his back foot, he felt a sharp slap on his shoulder; Ayin's hand viced down on Jacen and pulled him back.

"Woah, easy on the enthusiasm," Ayin said. "You intend to rush into the Kashyyyk jungle headlong?" Jacen looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Ayin pocketed his hands as he posed another question. "Did you prepare fully for our little game? It's dangerous around here, and easy to lose your way. Entering the jungle without a plan is like a scarcely more-intelligent form of suicide."

"Master, we didn't bring any supplies. We're supposed to forage for our own food on a hunt. There's nothing to prepare with."

Ayin chuckled. "Ah, astute observation. We aren't carrying anything, as you say. But that's hardly what I meant. Think for a moment."

Ayin paused for a moment of silence, then continued. "One of the goals of a hunt is to seek the target in a time-efficient manner. In this massive jungle, it's easy to go in circles, or head in the wrong direction. On top of that, we have no real idea where my old master is. So, what to do?" Ayin brought a hand from his jacket pocket and pointed to his eyes.

"Use the Force. If you have the ability to use Force Sight, you can feel for the best path through all the trees. This is equally true on the battlefield - the Force will guide you to safest or most direct path through the chaos.

"And another thing. We're on the bottom level. The Wookies sanctioned off this area with force fields to keep creatures from this small grove, but the rest of the forest floor is sheer hell. We're skilled fighters, so we could cut through it all right, but that would waste lots of time and energy. If you want to reach your objective quickly, I suggest we seek a higher level, up in the trees." Ayin pocketed his hand again, then gestured towards the forest with a bob of his head.

"Well, don't keep me waiting forever, youngling," he quipped.

[Jacen Darxtryder]

Closing his eyes Jacen briskly walked over to the edge of the force fields. He could feel the force flowing around him slowing everything down. "This way, Master" Jacen said, pulling free the grappling gun on his tool belt and shooting it so that it wrapped itself around a branch high up in the trees. as he ascended up through the forcefield he held his lightsaber hilts which were now in a double-sided style in his free hand.

Following Jacen, Ayin could see a hollowed out tree trunk that even in the light would look like a cave in the side of a mountain, due to how big the tree's trunk was. "I have a good feeling about that tree trunk that we're headed for" Ayin said, holding his saber hilt in his hand as well.

Master and apprentice headed in a straight line through the pitch black darkness, using the force as their sight, alerting them to every living thing around them. "That tree wreaks of the dark side." Jacen said, dropping down to the forest floor and walking slowly and cautiously towards the gaping hole in the bottom of the huge tree.

"I think the smell is dead Banthas, Tarentateks and Wookies. It certainly smells like a rotting mixture of all of them." Ayin remarked, tapping Jacen on the back warning him to put on his masks. "There's only one creature on Kashyyyk that can kill Wookies and Tarentateks..." Ayin said, snapping a twig that he had somehow unaccounted for.

"Giant Kashyyyk Vipers" Jacen said, as two huge snakes whose heads were twice the size of either of them slithered violently out of their dwelling towards Jacen and Ayin. "I'll take the one on the right, Master." Jacen said, igniting his lightsaber and twirling it a couple of times, standing in a defensive stance. The teal and crimson both shown bright in the darkness of the forest floor. The snakes made their way around Jacen and Ayin, circling around them and closing in. Jacen estimated that they each had to be around 300 feet long. "Ahhhh, I love adjustable Lightsaber Blades." Jacen said, lengthening both of his blades by about a foot each. "I thought this scenario might come up here on the planet. their only weak points are right behind their head and on top of their head. But they will stop in mid-strike if you block their fangs with your lightsaber." he continued, as he centered his mind and body for battle.

[Ayin Tsade]

Ayin was in the process of clearing out his left ear with his pinky finger when Jacen ignited his sabers. He flicked the wax off his finger, then tilted his head back and forth; his neck made two sharp crunching sounds. He looked over at Jacen, whose face was only partially visible from glow of the teal and crimson crackling lights.

"Eh? Sorry, I wasn't listening," Ayin said. "Something about snakes? Don't they usually hang out in cardboard boxes?"

Dual hissing sounds cut Ayin short; he looked to his left. There, he found the massive serpents slithering slowly towards him, fangs gleaming with poison and tongues flicking at the air. These beasts were one of the most ferocious creatures Ayin had ever encountered before, but he did not ignite his lightsaber to defend himself. Rather, he kept his left hand in his jacket pocket, while spinning his lightsaber handle frivolously in his right.

Ayin was smiling; these snakes were no match for him. He didn't even feel threatened as they slinked closer to him, widening their jaws, readying to strike and engulf him whole. Ayin did not bother to fight them because he didn't feel motivated; Jacen seemed eager enough for a fight, he could handle them.

"Really. We could just run by them, you know," Ayin pointed out. He covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a lazy yawn. "But, this is your training exercise. Fight them if you want. I'll be here to give you emotional support." Ayin then walked over a few feet to a fallen tree, one that had been snapped near the bottom by the serpents, most likely. Ayin hoisted himself onto the log, the circumference of which was nearly as big as Ayin was tall, and sat down on it. He dangled his legs off the side while leaning back to relax, planting his hands on the logs for support.

"Take as long as you need to fight these things. But if this takes too long, I'm gonna fall asleep," Ayin said. He was smiling. It would be entertaining to see how the kid handled himself against larger, physically stronger opponents in a two-on-one situation.

[Jacen Darxtryder]

Jacen crouched down low and sprung up so fast, he was only a blur. He narrowly dodged the deadly acid the larger of the snakes had spat at him. Just as he gained his footing the other snake was striking right at him. At the very last moment, he vaulted up on top of the snake's head. Before he could think, the snake had thrown him straight up into the air.

Recovering in mid-air, he saw two glowing eyes coming right at him in the dark. He was going head first straight for it. Just as the first snake was about to crush him to shreds, he held his lightsaber up over his head. Rather than a small morsel, the serpent's nose all the way to it's eyes were split down the middle by lightsaber.

Having no footing, Jacen plummeted down towards the ground. As he fell out of the snake's mouth, his lightsaber cut off one of the reptile's fangs. Crashing hard into a bush, he almost lost his lightsaber.

Enfuriated at it's mate's demise, the second snake smacked Jacen far off into a tree. Slithering completely around him and closing in, it intended to slowly crush Jacen to death.

Jacen blacked out for only a second, but a second was all that the snake had needed to knock him into a tree and knock his lightsaber from his grasp. With his lightsaber out of reach he was beginning to get a little frantic. Closing his eyes, he calmed himself, not even paying attention to the fact that the snake's wall-like body was closing in on him. Springing up as fast as he could, he almost cleared the serpents grasp, but found his legs stuck at the last moment. As the snake began to squeeze, he looked around for his lightsaber. It must be under this thing he thought, noting that the snake had probably crawled on top of his lightsaber. Then off in the darkness a glint caught his eye. It was the silver fang that had been cut off the dead snake. Focusing his entire energy on the fang, he used the force to propel it like a missile right into the snake.

The Snake hissed and uncoiled just enough to let it's prey loose as it felt a sharp fang pierce deep within it's body. In an effort to end everything then and there, it spat out it's deadly acid at Jacen once more.

This time, Jacen expected it. Calling on the force, Jacen slowed the acidic venom down to a stop, before hurtling it back at his foe, burning deep into it's flesh. Using the force, he pulled the snake's head right in front of him. Then he used stun and pulled back his right arm and unloaded like a wound up spring being let go. A cross between a crackling and snapping sound could be heard as his fist penetrated through the creature's cranial cavity and into it's brain.

Shrieking out in pain, the huge reptile tasted death and thudded into the ground.

[Ayin Tsade]

Ayin, still reclining on the tree log, smirked as he watched young Jacen's battle with the massive serpents. He was impressed with how efficiently he cleaved through the first snake, and even more so at how he had regained his composure and achieved victory over the second in a moment of crisis. Ayin knew that the signs of his struggle meant that Jacen would grow from this experience; where as some Jedi, but mostly Sith, would argue that true strength was achieved only when one ceased to struggle, Ayin was a firm believer that one could never be beyond struggling. Once you stopped pushing yourself to the edge, you ceased to grow, and learning to think clearly in a moment of panic was far more important than being "more powerful," for in a fight with an equal, a clear mind was a Jedi's greatest ally; without it, the Force was rendered inaccessible, and thus useless.

Returning his lightsaber to his side, Ayin slid off the log and walked towards Jacen, stepping over oversized snake tails and maneuvering around the corpses. Jacen was still stuck between the coiled body of the snake he had just killed, his breathing heavy and slow. Ayin smiled as he carried himself on top of the serpent's corpse with the Force.

"That was some fight. Impressive moves," he said, adding, "Need a hand?" Ayin extended his hand to persuade the carcass to loosen up on Jacen's legs, then stopped short; a sharp hissing sound filled the wretched jungle air. Ayin turned towards the sound: A third snake towered over him, head lurching forward, mouth open. How it had slithered up so quietly and in such short time Ayin could not begin to guess, but from its posture, he knew he had to block Jacen from its venom, and fast - his apprentice was still recovering his breath from his recent tangle.

In a moment, Ayin bounded in front of Jacen and stood between him and the serpent. Thick, globular sprays of acid sprayed towards him now. With his hands still in his pockets, his gaze never faltering, Ayin called out to the Force to protect him. In an instant, a viridian aura enclosed around him. The venom made direct contact with Ayin's body and drained down to the tips of his boots, never burning him. Then the acid ate into the serpent corpse Ayin stood upon, creating a crater in the creature's flesh.

"You all right, kid?" Ayin asked, his back to his padawan. The Force protection Ayin had amassed for himself dissipated. Without awaiting a reply, Ayin put his energies into speed, leaping off of the dead snake and rushing towards the live one, which flicked its tongue at the Jedi, as if annoyed at him for defeating its acid. As Ayin drew near, the serpent sprayed another volley of acid, but it melted through the uniform leafy tree top floor instead of flesh.

With furious speed, Ayin ran up to the snake; in no time, he stood on top of the snake's back. He removed a hand from his jacket pocket and summoned his lightsaber handle to his grip with a flick of the Force in his fingers. Ayin's weapon crackled to life as a vibrant burst of cerulean lightning, extending from near Ayin's hip in a straight line down into the creature's scaly flesh.

Ayin moved towards its head, lightsaber carving into its skin, leaving a trail of a deep blood-colored burn mark the entire way. Since the snake kept its head highly elevated, so as to spew poison down on its intended preys, Ayin circled around the creature's body as he ran upwards in a graceful spiral. When he reached the base of the head, Ayin's figure became a blur, to the point that he became indistinguishable; the Jedi encircled the neck, saber slicing through the scales like a butter knife carving through the side of a donut. When he had done his work, Ayin leapt off of the beast, executing several twists and flips in the air, before landing on his feet, unharmed. He turned around to watch the result of his efforts.

The snake had ended up like a pastry split between friends - the head separated from the body, sliding off and falling twenty meters, breaking through the leafy ground. Royally-stained liquids and chunks of flesh spewed out of the opening; the body quivered from shock, then went limp, crashing down like the head. The creature was entirely still.

Ayin retracted his shimmering blade and returned the handle to his side. Hand in pocket again, he walked back towards his apprentice, who by this time had gotten himself free from the corpse's vice on his legs. Jacen stood next to the carcass, the grin on the left side of his face revealing his evident amusement.

"That was some show, master."

Ayin shrugged. "Eh, it was fun for fighting a snake on deathsticks. Sith are more entertaining even when the challenge is about the same." He began walking in the direction they had been traveling in prior to the encounter.

"Come on, we wasted enough time playing with these things. Next time, I'm leaving you behind," Ayin said. "I am more interested in seeing you beat the robes off of my old master in a lightsaber duel."

"Oh, I won't disappoint you," Jacen assured him. "I was the best of my age prior to becoming a padawan, and I've improved since then. Master Majernik will be in for quite a surprise."

The young Jedi extended his left arm towards the slain creature that had trapped him before. The corpse slowly rose into the air, then hovered over to the side. Jacen's connected lightsaber handles gleamed at him from within a small crater underneath where the snake had previously been. Jacen called to his weapon with the Force, and it obeyed his bidding, rattling in the leaves for a moment before shooting straight to his hand. In one swift motion, Jacen reattached the weapon to his belt and let the snake drop, causing the footing beneath them to quake.

Ayin smiled internally. "I'm sure you will. Come on, let's pick up the pace." With that, the two Jedi sprinted off deeper into the forest.

[Thanks to Jason who was willing to change his post to accomodate me. Props, buddy.]

[Jacen Darxtryder]

The forest floor was reaching it's brightest point of the day as Jacen returned to camp. A huge centipede which had once been almost six feet in length, draped over his shoulders, cut in half. Master and Apprentice had agreed the night before that the best place to set up camp for the night was in the hollowed out tree that the vipers had been living in. Tossing the arthropod down onto the ground, he held his hand in front of it and summoned forth a burst of flames.

In no time, flames were licking all around the fireplace, which was sanctioned off by a circle of eight large stones placed in a circle. Retrieving the overgrown centipede from the ground, Jacen pulled out his lightsaber and sheered off it's legs. Row by row they fell off like penguins jumping off the edge of an iceberg. He tied them to a string that he had erected which was hanging over the fire, held up by two sticks.

Suddenly he remembered that Ayin was still asleep. Trying to deactivate his lightsaber as quiet as possible, he pulled off the remaining legs of the creature carefully by hand. Once he had finished the legs, he moved on to the creature's thorax. A quick force punch made quick work of the creature's exoskeleton. It also made a fairly loud "crunch" sound. Quickly turning his head over to Ayin's sleeping spot, he frowned and cursed at himself internally. "Good morning master, breakfast will be ready soon, did you sleep well?" He asked, laying the open carcass of the centipede over his lap and turning his body around to give his attention to Ayin.

[Ayin Tsade]

"Urrggg." Ayin groaned as he awoke to the sound of a much-too cheerful apprentice and the crackling of flame. He turned on his side and cushioned his head with his arms in a vain attempt to make the noise and irritating slivers of light go away. Tsade brushed his hand over his face to cover his closed eyelids from the brightness that felt like it was burning into his corneas through his eyelids. But still, he could not block out both the light and the sound of filleting bug innards. Unable to slip comfortably back into sleep, Ayin blew a puff of air from his lips, then lurched into a sitting position.

"Did you have to wake me? Yesterday was the exception. I am not a morning person," Ayin told his padawan; if he felt awake enough, Ayin would have shot him a look implying that this was a fact the young Jedi would be wise to learn, and quickly. He rubbed the tear gunk out of his eyes and let loose a yawn.

This looked like it was going to be such a glorious day, one Ayin wished he could sleep through instead.

A horrendous stench wafted through the air from the spit Jacen had set above the fire; Ayin clamped a hand on his own throat to keep himself from vomiting outright.

"The hell are you cooking insects for?!" Ayin pointed to the roasting centipede. "I am not eating that. If that's what you're making for breakfast every day, I'll just fast for a week until this hunt thing is through. Ugh... what a chef you make."

Ayin held his breath while he stood up and stumbled his way out of the repulsive aroma's range. When he felt he could breath properly again, he reached into his jacket and retrieved a can of genotonic. He offered a toast with it to the tops of the trees, then popped the lid and arched his head back. It left a refreshing tang in his mouth as he washed it down. He gasped with satisfaction when he pulled it away from his lips.

"Ahhh... that's more like it." Ayin looked at his padawan to find that he was staring at him incredulously.

"What happened to not bringing supplies?" Jacen asked.

"Since yo mamma drew the unwanted attention of a hutt," Ayin replied. "You can't possibly expect me to go dry for a week, do you? Here's an idea - why don't you make yourself useful and find something that's actually edible."

[Jacen Darxtryder]

"Sure thing, I'll see if I can go find something less adventurous, there's a small waterfall not to far from here." Jacen replied, throwing the remainder of the centipede on the ground.

Getting up, he took his Lightsaber into hand. With the flick of his wrist, he unscrewed the connector and held a hilt in each hand. "Watch the fire for me, Master" he said, as he walked out from the hollow of the tree out onto a branch. Running all the way out to the edge, he jumped forward into a handspring, vaulting himself right to the end of the branch he back flipped off, twist flipped 180 degrees and descended down to the ground. Using the force, he pulled his body to an almost complete stop. He landed like a feather, floating through the air before landing gently.

Closing his eyes, he drew the force around him, wrapping it around him like a blanket, he could feel it binding him and holding him together. Silencing and blocking out every noise around him, he focused on the breathing of an animal off in the distance.

Drawing the force around him even closer, he levitated about a foot and a half off the ground. Flying forward, he closed in on a lone bantha, feeding at the water fall. His thumbs loosely covered the blue activator buttons. The bantha quickly came into visibility, it went from ant size to pea size, until Jacen stood behind it about twenty-five feet away. Then, like a speeder boosting from zero to sixty, he closed in, faster than a Fer-De-Lance strikes a mouse it has stalked for two weeks. The boom of his lightsabers activating caught the animal's attention.

With his left hand he threw his lightsaber, hitting it in it's upper mid-side right behind it's front leg. Then he came up with his right hand and slashed upward, cutting deep into it's neck. Using the force to retrieve his saber, he stood on top of the dying creature's neck and stabbed both of his sabers through it's eyes, crossing them over like an 'X'.

[Ayin Tsade]

Ayin laid back down while his foolhardy apprentice tromped off to slay yet another unsuspecting creature. Seriously, the concept of environmental protection meant nothing to the kid. But Ayin never cared for the species that inhabited the forests of Kashyyyk, and since he was getting fed with no effort included on his part, Ayin didn't intend to complain too much about it. That is, until the reak of Jacen's latest catch hammered him in the face. Ayin immediately choked, even lost control of his body, involuntarily falling off of his tree log and landing in a kneeling sick position on the ground. It took every last ounce of willpower he had to not wretch outright.

"Mustn't... puke... alcohol..." he wheezed to himself. Ayin buried his face in his jacket, then turned to glare at Jacen with teary eyes.

"Teh HELL you have to catch something as putrid as a banthaa!" he yelled, voice muffled by the jacket. Ayin pointed with his free hand. "Hurry and cook that thing before that centipede looks appetizing!"

[Jacen Darxtryder]

"Don't worry master, the only good part of a Bantha is it's ribs, that's all I planned on cooking." Jacen replied, burying his lightsaber deep just below the Bantha's ribcage and cutting it out. Pausing for a moment, he remembered something he had left in his utility belt.

"Sorry about the stench master, here, you can use this" he continued, tossing a gas mask to Ayin, and gritting his teeth as he cut out the guts, lungs, heart and stomachs out of the bantha, leaving the hollow and meaty ribcage left.

Using the force he pushed the rest of the body aside. Pulling rocks from the waterfall around in a circle, he held ribcage up with the force with one hand, and with the other he shot forth a strong blast of force fire. "This should cook fairly quickly.. do you want barbecue sauce on your ribs or no?" Jacen asked, evenly turning the ribcage so as to cover everything evenly.

[Ayin Tsade]

Ayin snatched the gas mask out of the air and immediately covered his face with it. Then he realized that he was using yet another thing Jedi weren't supposed to bring with them on hunts.

"Where did you get this thing, anyways?" Asked Ayin in a vacuous, breathy voice. "What happened to bringing no supplies, eh? That same question you asked me earlier.

"Oh, yes. Sauce it up. We Mindarians love our seasonings," he added.

[Jacen Darxtryder]

"Didn't Master Vera ever give you the teaching about always having an emergency pouch on your utility belt? You know a place to keep things you'd always need in dire situations?" Jacen inquired, stopping the force fire as he used the force to evenly rub in some seasoning into the meat.

"I've got some holovids of some of Kari's best fights in the Lightsaber Tournaments, spices and seasonings, a few spare lightsaber parts and a few other odds and ends." He continued, flames flickering and leaping from his hand like water shooting out from a fire hose, spraying all around the ribs, and engulfing them, forming an oddly shaped flaming hoop almost.

[Ayin Tsade]

"Bah, preparation is overrated," Ayin said, waving a hand back and forth in front of his face, as if to blow away the metaphorical smell of such an idea. "I loathe carrying lots of crap on me. I make do in every situation with what I have. Besides, all that junk is going to weigh you down sometime, you know."

He watched as Jacen burned away the stench and cooked the bantha meat into something that actually looked... well, edible.

"Hurry up, will ya?" Ayin said. "I want to take off this stupid constricting mask."

[Jacen Darxtryder]

"Actually, I've carried all this stuff in my emergency pouch for so long, I'm used to the extra pound it weighs me down." Jacen replied pulling out a small bottle of barbecue sauce and glazing it all over his masterpiece.

"This... will definitely be enough to cover our entire journey" he continued, rolling the ribs around one more time before cutting them into small slices with his lightsaber.

"There we go, eat up, master, we'll have enough space in the small empty packs we brought to save the leftovers in."