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THE SET-UP: Aboard the space station that serves as the headquarters of the Shepherds, the Psycho Brigade has confronted the leader of the mercenary group, Amlann, and very much intend to kill him for the trouble he has caused them. However, after being tossed across the room, Rianna finds herself distracted with the embittered Del...

HOW THIS WORKS: I'd be surprised if Rianna needed a reminder.

ANALYSIS: Del has a balanced fighting style and makes good use of his defensive shield, but Rianna is the better fighter despite her lean towards agile methods.

Dark Side initiative, as is tradition.

Score:

Rianna- 0, Del- 0.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

Notes:

The events in this duel can affect the other duel against Amlann, and vice versa. Keep that in mind.

Galder will be joining in the fourth turn.

Rianna starts out the duel by making a simple yet controlled swing with her lightsaber, towards the side of Del that is not protected by his shield.

"I will leave everyone on this space station dead..." she hisses at him as she presses her attack.

Del takes up an aggressive response. When your lightsaber comes in, he lashes out with a surprisingly strong blow that counters the force of your blade and halts your attack. He follows up by solidly slamming his new mechanical fist into your stomach before pulling it back into a defensive posture.

"My teacher offers you a chance at new life," Del says. "Why can you not accept that?"

Score:

Rianna- 0, Del- 1.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Further capitalizing upon your failed opener, Del attempts to wedge his shield past your guard to open up your center, preparing to drive his lightsaber into your chest.

Rianna quickly takes a step backwards to recover from the punch, before snapping her sabers back up.

"Perhaps because your teacher is completely delusional," Rianna retorts. "I've lived that life already and it does not agree with me."

As he tries to get his shield past her guard, she turns to the side while bring up her lightsaber to block both shield and saber.

"And why not drop the shield and fight properly...? Or are you not skilled enough?" she adds during her sidestep.

"I'm skilled enough to defeat you!" he shouts.

This round depends purely on skill as the combatants take agile approaches to their attacks, with Del's feinted thrust becoming a whirling slash and Rianna sidestepping the attack. She sees it coming and angles her lightsaber to intercept his before it cuts through her legs. This initiates a lock but Rianna manages to twist out of it and put Del on the defensive.

Score:

Rianna- 1, Del- 1.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

"And my teacher is a visionary! The Jedi see the Dark Side as damning, but it can be turned away from!"

"Oh? Then get rid of the shield and duel the way you're meant to duel - just lightsabers, nothing else!" Rianna replies, smirking. As soon as she twists out of his attack, she quickly twirls around to his back, aiming her sabers to try to cut across his side and back.

"And as I said, he is delusional. I spent 21 years training in and following the Light Side, and realizing just how bad a fit it was for me. Even could I go back, I wouldn't..."

"Then yours is a lost cause!" Del shouts, visibly irked. When you try to cut across his flank, he turns to meet it with a precise parry, lightly pushing your attack out of position, then shoving you back with his shield so that he can turn to face Galder as he joins the duel.

At this point, the duelling score is reset by subtracting a point from each side.

Score:

Rianna/Galder- 0, Del- 1.

Del to attack, Galder to defend.

Del attempts to perform a blow from the side against Galder, who has reattached his cybernetic arm and retrieved his red lightsaber from within it. He keeps his shield against Rianna, who can perform a supporting move.

Rianna glares, though manages to keep herself from stumbling as he shoves her back with his shield.

"As is yours. Why not give in to the anger you're feeling? I know it's there..." she taunts as Galder moves in. While Del is distracted with attacking Galder, Rianna will duck low to quickly roll around to his undefended side, trying to keep him off-balance.

Del is forced to make sure that Rianna does not have an opening while trying to strike Galder. The strain causes his attacks to lose power and Galder solidly blocks it without trouble, then smashes him across the face with a backhand before fighting back.

Score:

Rianna/Galder- 1, Del- 1.

Galder to attack, Del to defend.

Galder is staying in character and going for a dramatic overhead power blow, bringing the red blade up behind him and preparing to crash it down on Del's head.

Rianna, staying on Del's unshielded side, brings one of her sabers up to try and catch his while keeping her other in front of her to block against any attempts at an attack from him.

"Oh, and don't think we'll be granting you a swift death," Rianna comments, continuing to use taunts to try and throw him off. "I haven't forgotten Skythros, and you are going to pay for what you did to me there..."

Del hardly has time to respond as Galder brings his lightsaber down in a series of crushing blows that smash at first into Del's lightsaber, then into his shield as he waves his lightsaber in your direction to keep you at bay. Del gives ground to escape Galder's attacks, then dives after his other opponent.

Score:

Rianna/Galder- 2, Del- 1.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Del comes at Rianna with a series of low strikes at her sides, intending to take her legs while keeping his shield angled towards Galder as he struggles to keep off the power blows.

Rianna gracefully hops over the lowest of the blows, stepping deftly to the side and using her sabers to keep the rest from reaching her.

The Shepherd's lightsaber sparks against the floor as his attack goes its lowest and you nimbly leap over it. When he tries to go for it again, Galder throws his entire weight into his lightsaber and slams it into Del's shield, causing him to sprawl across the floor briefly before messily recovering.

At which point, Del seems to realize that this is not a fight he can win. He is opting to flee by leaping up onto the balcony above.

"Let him go," Galder says, holding his lightsaber in front of you. "We need to take care of Amlann. The small fry can wait. After we take care of the big guy, we can kill everyone on this station, as I fully intend to do."

Rianna is about to leap after Del when Galder moves his saber in her way; instead she swings her own up to try and force him away from her.

"This entire mess is your fault, do not tell me what to do, Galder," she hisses, furiously. "And if he gets away, you will pay for it."

"Alright, keep after him yourself, then," Galder says, lifting his lightsaber and moving to join Xavier and Dak in their duel.

Is Rianna pursuing?

Well, she also rather wants to kill Amlann - she's not too pleased about being flung across the room and stuff. She'll join that duel and then go hunt down Del after (and when she can actually use the Force properly again).

Oh, that effect was temporary, and Rianna can fully use the Force to the best of her ability.

And so this is over for the time being...

This duel resumes with Rianna charging up the stairs in a vicious rage towards a Del Tekoa who is feeling anguished and vengeful.

Del uses the Force to call Amlann's lightsaber to him, pointing both blades towards Rianna while Shepherds pour past them both to engage the other three Dark Jedi.

Dark Side initiative.

Score:

Rianna- 0, Del- 0.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

Rianna runs at Del, using her orange saber to hold off his weapons while sweeping her purple saber towards his side.

"Come on now, may as well give up," she taunts him as she attacks.

"I will give up when I no longer breath!" Del shouts.

Rianna's slash to his side is intercepted when Del launches a powerful slash towards it. The blades clash and Del's counterattack proves to be stronger, knocking the slash away. He follows up by slamming his second lightsaber into Rianna's defensive blade. With surprising strength and the higher ground on the stairs, he manages to push her back, which causes her to stumble and roll a short way down the stairs.

Score:

Rianna- 0, Del- 1.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Del keeps coming, yelling and leaping after Rianna just as she recovers, angling both lightsabers downwards in a backhand grip to skewer her against the stairs.

Rianna, recovering from her stumble down the stairs, ducks under Del and behind Del as he leaps over her, slicing her sabers at his back.

Diving back up the stairs, Rianna narrowly misses Del, who lands heavily on the stairs and drives his lightsabers through the steps in a burst of sparks. He quickly withdraws them, intercepts Rianna's riposte with his shield, then proceeds to try pushing her back up the stairs. However, he has trouble recovering from the initial counter and is himself pushed back, out onto the floor.

Score:

Rianna- 1, Del- 1.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

"I will kill you!" Del seethes. You can sense he can barely contain his anger.

"Oh, and I thought you believed you were above this? What with all of your talk of the Light being better?" Rianna says smoothly, continuing to taunt him. Using her height advantage over him at the moment, she swings her lightsabers down with all of her strength, trying to break through his guard.

Del only growls as he raises one blade in a backhand grip to block, then alternates to the other. He repeats his a few times as you hammer down on him with your attack, then he shifts his grip and swipes at your feet, the sabers skittering along the steps. In order to not have your feet removed, you must backstep up the stairs as he keeps up a whirling striking at your feet.

Score:

Rianna- 1, Del- 2.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

As he progresses and pushes you back, he launches a series of jabs towards your legs.

Rianna goes up a few steps to avoid him, angling her lightsaber to catch his blades and cause them to slide off to the side.

Because Rianna moves back further and deflects his attacks, Del's feint is unsuccessful. He was trying to lure you into concentrating on defending your footing so that he could launch a thrust up into your stomach. However, with your backpedaling, his lightsabers do not have enough reach and the attack falls short. This leaves him open for your counter, and you drive him back down the stairs once more.

Score:

Rianna- 2, Del- 2.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

Smirking at Del, Rianna suddenly jumps up and towards him, planting her boot firmly on his head and using it to push herself over him in a flip, landing behind him. As soon as she lands, she twirls around to slice her sabers at his back.

The springboard kick goes as planned; Del grunts as his face is suddenly filled with leather boot, causing him to stumble as you flip over him. However, instead of trying to meet your blows evenly, he spins haphazardly about and catches everything on that frustrating shield of his. Once he has regained his focus, he performs an old duelling maneuver that actually manages to knock one of your lightsabers from your hand, sweeping it out first with one blade then smacking it with the other.

Score:

Rianna- 2, Del- 3.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Not giving you a chance to recover your discarded weapon, Del begins laying into Rianna with as much might as he can muster, though keeping his shield in the event that you slip past.

Rianna deftly steps towards Del's unshielded side, angling her saber so that his blows slide off harmlessly, while using the Force to call her other saber back to her.

Moving off to the side to flank your opponent has the effect of causing him to put too much effort into his blows, and he has to make up for the anticipation of solid blade contact in his footing. It gives you ample time to recover your second lightsaber, while taking advantage of Del's clumsy footing to trip him so that he rolls down the stairs as you did earlier. He sprawls out on the floor at the bottom but quickly recovers.

This is a close fight indeed...

Score:

Rianna- 3, Del- 3.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

Rianna will immediately follow after him, bringing her sabers down on him in a powerful blow.

The result is a saber lock, as both combatants take the strong-arm tactic this round. Whilst Del is the stronger of the two, Rianna is the more skilled; she knows how to handle herself in this situation. The four blades flicker and grind for a moment as both duellists try to push the other away to win the lock. Neither is successful, until Del decides to cheat, once again, with that shield of his. He suddenly breaks out of the lock and throws his weight into the shield against Rianna's blades, then spins around and nearly cuts her in two! Cheeky bastard.

Score:

Rianna- 3, Del- 4. Match point.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Del keeps at it with the spinning blows, bringing one lightsaber around for a sweeping blow then rotating to the next, following through again and again to not let the pressure off.

Rianna will use both blades to smoothly parry his blows, while taking a step back up the stairs.

The blades connect with even timing, flashing briefly each time the attack is parried as Rianna takes the high ground again. As her parrying takes little energy, Del wears himself out on the attack. An uneventful round...

Score:

Rianna- 4, Del- 4.

Rianna to attack, Del to defend.

Rianna will launch an attack of several fast slashes and jabs, aimed to wear him down trying to block them, before whirling around and slicing at him, aiming to remove the shield (or maybe his arm with it).

The pair of you keep spinning around and whirling, alternating between lightsabers as he tries to block and you try to strike, moving back and forth on the stairway. Rianna's tactic of tiring Del's defense works eventually, and she manages to move past his guard and make a precise incision on his cybernetic arm that damages the shield unit, shutting it off permanently.

Score:

Rianna- 5, Del- 4. Match point.

Del to attack, Rianna to defend.

Not content to keep battering at your obviously strong defenses, Del leaps to one side and kicks off of the railing on the edge of the stairs, launching himself at your side with lightsabers ready to swipe through you...

Rianna will simply wait, holding her sabers up in a defensive position, before stepping to the side and parrying his sabers away from her.

Del comes racing towards Rianna with a mighty yell... but she times her response well and sidesteps the attack before bringing her lightsabers crashing down on his body in midair, cutting him in three across the chest and at the waist.

Score:

Rianna- 6, Del- 4. Match to Rianna.

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