Sandra stares at her hand as she finishes splashing her face, staring into the cracked mirror of her apartment. Her mind travels back to when her master had picked her up when she was defeated. She had never been really great at lightsaber training, but she was pretty quick. She never knew how to utilize her speed and her inner force control, but he had mercy on her it seems. A lesson and technique she never took for granted…
————
Sandra, the 13 year old lithe teen sits with her legs crossed and staring at the dueling students. She folds her arms in annoyance as she just lost three times in a row in advances practice. Her twilek master walks over and pats her head. She winces at this child like treatment.
Master…
“Hello, pouty face. Lost again?”
“Three times in an hour…”
“Goodness. You sure are having bad week, haha!”
“Why do you tease me so…?”
“Because you are easy to do so. So, dueling. What forms are you using, Sandra?”
“Form 1 and 3, but I keep getting pressured to 3, because of the pressure.”
“You are taking a lot of defense. Even with form 1, you are not utilizing it in a way that will allow you opportunities of offensive maneuver. Go on, try again. I will watch”
Sandra sighs and gets up. She goes over and gets a turn in dueling. After about 15 minutes she gets an opponent. The fellow is younger, but quite confident. The pressure emitted from this young stud has Sandra with some nervousness, but she stands firm and readies. The student looks on her stance and assume his form 2 stance in response.
The two begin and their clash is rather quick. It is clear that Sandra is faster, but his skill is far better. Her Master watches and studies them with intrigue. It is only a few minutes later that Sandra ends up flat on her butt. Her Master chuckles
“Come here, Sandra.”
Sandra limps over and looks up at the tall Master.
“Know what you need? You need an edge. You have the speed and flow, but he is just better at dueling. You spend too much time on defense, so you need something of an offensive. I want to show you something. Come to the fountains with me…”
The pair make their way to a quiet spot and he draws his staff saber.
“I learned a technique from my own master a long time ago. It relies on extreme speed and precision. It is one designed from a form that my master had full confidence in. He was a master of the final form, Juyo. You will eventually learn this form in its entirety, but for now…I think I can show you this confidently. You are a hardy lady in your mindset.”
He comes over and knocks on her head. She grumbles as she watches
“My Master called this, the Dash and Slash.”
The master crouches low and the blade lays just behind him. Suddenly he disappears from her sight and is across the room, a small target is laying in half on the ground
“What? What did you do? Did you even move? What…?”
“You missed it? Hahaha!”
“D-Do not tease me…!”
“Very well. I used the force, low positioning, and extreme speed to lay in a decisive strike with accuracy. You cannot move as fast as I can without being able to apply the force intensely with your first step and managing a rapid attack on your target without missing also, but I will show it to you. But…you only use a single hilt saber. This was designed for a staff. Perhaps we will need to modify the arte a bit.”
He proceeds to set her up for the move and she nods confidently. She tries her first time and she stumbles over from the misstep from the first quick move. She gets up again and with some hours of instruction she gets the general technique without any other applied force or such.
“Very good. You have the maneuver down. But you need to be quick and use the force to propel you properly. Then you need to complete the other parts of the step and slash. It is a complicated technique, but I feel like you have the mind for it. The stance is useless by itself and only serves to propel you in the least wind resistance and straightest line for your core.”
“I understand, Master. I will…keep practicing for as long as I can.”
“Remember, I taught this to you not to be able to win now, but in the future when you are in a situation where the first strike may be the only one you can make. A lot of my teaching has been based on survival and being cunning, because if you live…you can help others, understand?”
“…Yes. I will do my best to survive and help as many as I can. I will be the person you envision me as, Master.”
“No, Sandra…only be yourself and who YOU desire to be. Embrace yourself and propel yourself forward. Also, we need a name for the single blade variant of Dash and Slash, haha!”
“You…ugh…fine. Uh…hmm…ah…what about Dash and Gash?”
“Brilliant! That will do just nicely!”
“It was just my first thought though…?”
“Because it came from your heart.”
she blushes some and looks away
“…Yes sir.”
He goes over to pat her head and she puffs her cheeks. He walks away and she stands there looking at the target that had been designed to resist most saber strikes, but was clearly in half. Sandra looks to her hands and feet, pondering its use. Eventually, she return to her room for the evening and makes a holovid of her thoughts as instructed before.
Sandra wakes up in tears and in a cold sweat. She screams out in agony as her heart aches and is up most of the night, occasionally ravaging her apartment room…