Bast Castle

[Kai'Aati]

The Cerean's mind worked it's magic before her feet had even touched the ground. As the soles of her shoes contacted with the training room's floor and the apprentice quickly regained her balance she Force jumped over the spinning saberstaff, leaping straight in front of the Sith Master. Darth Maleine brought her blade down as she was falling in front of Darth Aristo, aiming her saber vertically down onto Aristo's zone one. She hoped the force and momentum from her fall would be too much for her master to take. Furthermore, she knew the saberstaff would be on its way back to its controller quite soon so Darth Maleine sidestepped out of the way when she got the chance.

[Darth Xaos]

Maline's attack was quick and cunning, but her master's Force Speed was still superior. Aristo dodged left out of the downward slash's way. An open palm summoned the Marauder's saberstaff to him but, as the apprentice turned, he extinguished the blades.

"Excellent, it seems you remember Shii-Cho in full," Darth Aristo observed, "You now have my leave to rest. Tomorrow you will learn a more advanced form of lightsaber combat."

[Kai'Aati]

Maleine retracted the blade of her saber, nodded at her master, and thanked him briefly before retreating back to her chambers.

Tired from the long day she quickly cleaned herself up with a shower then crawled into her bed, placing her new lightsaber beside her bed on the nightstand. It did not take her long to fall asleep as she was completely used to the the Bast now and its oddities.

[Darth Xaos]

So used to the cycles of Bast had Darth Maleine become that she awoke mere moments before her call to training arrived. The way to the room could be walked almost mechanically now.

"Your time here is coming to an end," Darth Aristo abruptly began, "But I still have a few lessons to teach you first. You've a good grasp on Shii-Cho's basics but you'll need more than that to truly use a lightsaber in battle. I will round out your knowledge with instruction in the fifth ligthsaber form. Form one is most useful against multiple enemies in melee but form five will serve you far better when facing foes with ranged weapons and in lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. This Form has two slightly different variants. Shien is the more defensive variant, used to deflect blaster bolts and heavy swings from a close-quarters foe. Djem So emphasizes form five's aggressiveness and is better for lightsaber dueling. As you become familiar with the form you'll be able to switch between the two variants effortlessly. The opening stance for Shien is hips at an angle, dominant foot in the back, hilt held above the head with blade pointed backward, down and somewhat towards the dominant side at a forty-five degree angle. Djem So is much the same but with the blade pointing directly back instead of to your dominant side. We shall begin this lesson with Shien before covering Djem So. Be sure to go for wide, vigorous swings."

With no more warning than that, Aristo summoned a blaster rifle to his hands and fired three bolts at Maleine. One headed for her head, another to her chest and a third to her right shoulder.

[Kai'Aati]

Anticipating Aristo's lack of warning Maleine had her hand rested on the hilt of her lightsaber and was able to react to the attack much more swiftly than if she hadn't been ready. The Sith first activated her Force speed, followed by the igniting of her blade, which she brought up in Shein position, and to complete the stance she took a step back with her left foot.

Darth Maleine's Cerean brain was working hard on the timing of when she should turn her saber to effectively block and reflect all the bolts. At this point she wasn't too concerned with aiming them directly back at her Master as she had never had the chance to practice reflecting blaster bolts. However, knowing Darth Aristo she was positive he would be a bit impressed if she was able to achieve such a feat, but for the first volley of shots she attempted to just reflect them off in his general direction. In quick movements she turned her blade clockwise in an attempt to reflect each blaster bolt.

[Darth Xaos]

Maleine's lack of interest in angle of deflection made the task relatively simple. Giving her blade a good, firm sweep, she gathered up the bolts and sent them flying away. No sooner had she done so, however, when Aristo fired an burst of six shots at the apprentice's shoulders.

[Kai'Aati]

Angling her blade horizontal at shoulder height, Darth Maleine attempted to return at least half of the bolts back at her Master. With her intense concentrating the Cerean blocked everything else out, her eyes focused entirely Darth Aristo's blaster and the speeding bolts exiting the barrel heading straight for her.

[Darth Xaos]

With a burst of Force Speed, Aristo avoided the refracted bolts ricochet and opened fire on Maleine's now-undefended shins.

[Kai'Aati]

Darth Maleine made a desperate wide sweeping swing to reflect each blast, only this time, one of her was released from the blade to make the angle easier. She was sure she could've hopped over the bolts of gas but she wanted to stick to the lesson of the training also she liked to impress Aristo.

[Darth Xaos]

Noticing that Maleine was holding the hilt with only one hand, Aristo fired a single shot at the shoulder connected to the apprentice's free hand. Her current grip meant she could not move the blade quickly enough to deflect the bolt. The shot hit and, though it was dampened by her armor, pain surged through Maleine's system.

"Never use a one-handed grip with form five unless you have a second weapon," Aristo chided before firing a spiral of bolts at Maleine's center of mass.