Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 1 2 -- Staying Still

—ZWOOM-ZWM-KSH—Terigo had made a surprise lunging swing and Luke had barely parried it. Then she drives her blade tip forward and he parries it to the side without hardly moving. She tries to pierce him again, and again he hits it to the side while keeping his stance solid.

So she aims lower using her whole body to make several attempts for his knees. She darts to the right, then left, then a fake swing to dart right and thrust forward, then a shout, a fake, then darting behind him and all around with fake movements, shouts, and deep lunges. All of it was aiming for his knees.

But Luke holds his ground.

"You're trying to break my concentration," he states. "It won't work..." He senses an eye-roll of disappointment, but... Did she feel disappointed in herself, or me? Probably me, as usual.

Terigo makes a large hop back and whips her blade to point down at her side. She stands strong, loose, ready for an attack, and says, "You're failing, kid," and glares at him with a half smirk.

Luke returns the glare at half strength, "This is an obvious one. Insult test again." He smirks at how the insults caused no spark in his essence, just a faint heat of annoyance. But he senses her disappointment again.

"Come on, Jedi," Terigo says, saying 'Jedi' with the utmost mockery, and eggs him on with impatient gestures.

So Luke advances. Focused, efficient, and direct; he swings at her with a sturdy stance, expecting to be parried. But she evades backwards each time. He advances further and she evades even further, creating a distance that would require him to lunge and sprint.

"I thought you wanted to spar," he says. And he feels her disappointment again. "What then?" And now she's disappointed enough to truly eye-roll. Luke thinks, Fine, I'll find out myself. So he decides to connect his essence to her.

He advances again, and focuses on keeping his essence connected to figure this out. After a few swings, he decides, "You're trying to get me worked up."

He feels less disappointment in her this time. Feels like I'm half right.

Terigo yells towards the base's command center a mile away: "HEY HAN! This IDIOT thinks he can win every battle by staying STILL!" She had looked at him on the words 'staying still,' and he felt a hot spark in her with it. Her smile was one of those secretly mad ones again.

Fine, call me an idiot. Push me. I refuse to let words anger me. I will overcome the Dark Side... But, 'staying still'...? "You want me to move," Luke states. He makes a few advances on her as he tries to feel her response. "You're trying to get me worked up with insults and adrenaline by preventing me from staying still. I know all too well how the heat of battle causes the Dark Side to grow, which is why I developed my own technique of staying as still and efficient in battle as possible."

Terigo doesn't seem to hear him and continues to move back, but Luke feels her response. I'm only half right again. Something about 'staying still' was wrong. And it made her mad. Why?

So Luke pushes his essence further into her to find the answer.

After a few more lunging swings, after focusing on reading rather than attacking, he picks up more complex emotions. "It's a game. A puzzle," he says. She smiles, and he does too. He adds, "It would be, wouldn't it. It would... train thinking, to solve problems, while in heated battle—"

"With a pleased smirk, she tries to impale the front of his forehead. He thinks, Attacking my head? No, my mind, he realizes, "And of course, it would train reading the opponents mind while in heated battle." She meant it when she said it would train many things.