Chapter 10

Thal

Today Thal had listened to his partner and decided not to go out looking for Favrem. It had been four weeks, and he had not found her, even with Vlad assisting in the search. The fact was that the two of them couldn't cover all the ground necessary and remain covert at the same time. In two more days he would raze the city into the ground. Thal was now in a wide training area that Vlad had told him he used to train in his 'ghost powers'. The ghosts on this planet were VERY different; they were creatures that evolved inside a pocket dimension called the 'Ghost Zone', although some humans did become ghosts as well after death. Vlad had told him that he gained his powers when a romantic rival of his had blasted him in the face on purpose during an experiment to reach this 'Ghost Zone', horribly disfiguring him as his body assimilated with the strange radiation of the 'Ghost Zone'. Eventually he recovered and had gained his powers.

The intriguing thing was that Vlad was not the only 'half-ghost' on the planet. Another also lived, here in Amity Park; a youth calling himself Danny Phantom who viewed himself as some kind of 'hero'. Thal grunted in disgust as he lit his lightsaber pike and went through his forms. He slashed and hacked and blocked at the invisible air, letting his frustration build inside of him as he imagined his fingers on Favrem's throat. He swung harder and faster, letting the Dark Side flow through him. "Peace is a lie, there is only Passion! Through Passion I gain Strength! Through Strength I gain Power! Through Power I gain Victory! Through Victory my chains are Broken! The Dark Side shall set me Free!" Thal roared out the last word as he unleashed a massive shockwave in the Force in all directions, tossing equipment everywhere and destroying the training room.

"What the Devil are you doing!?" Vlad yelled when he walked into the now ruined training room. "Training," Thal replied calmly. "Do you have to be so destructive?" Vlad wearily asked him. "Destruction serves a purpose, you can only build a new house by destroying the old after all," Thal told him. "True. That's part of the reason that I came to talk to you. What is your plan with dealing with the nuclear weapons of the Earth? America will be easy to conquer, the government would never endanger its own citizens so recklessly, but other countries won't be so…compassionate," Vlad said. Thal nodded as they walked out the Training room. He then took out a holographic display and turned it on, showing the planet Earth. While he had been looking for Favrem, the Decimation had been cloaked in orbit, scouting out the planet and slicing the primitive electronic databases of its governments. Thal explained this information to Vlad then said, "The Decimation has discovered the whereabouts of the nuclear weapons and where they can be launched from. The Decimation will launch an orbital bombardment from space while our starfighters attack the capitals of the nations that can serve any real threat to us. After this we will allow them to launch a counterattack, here on Amity Park, and crush them for all to see. Afterwards we will then announce that you, with the backing of the Galactic Empire, are now the new ruler. You may have to destroy a few buildings yourself to get the point across."

"Oh well, as they say on Earth, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. And I can think of a few eggs I can't wait to crack," Vlad said with a smile. "Now for my other business; SKULKER!" Thal watched as what looked like a large droid with glowing green hair and eyes walked floated down from the ceiling. "What good is this droid going to do," Thal contemptuously said. "Who are you calling a 'droid' pencil neck?" the creature angrily said. The mechanical creature then raised its arms and large lasers sprung out of its wrists. "GENTLEMEN! STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Vlad yelled, and went Ghost. Thal and Skulker lowered their weapons. "As I was saying," Vlad continued, "This is Skulker, the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone. He has served me well a number of times, and I believe that he can find your Jedi, if you give him a picture of it I am sure he can find it and bring it to us."

"Very well," Thal said then switched the holographic display to show an image of Jof Favrem. "This is Jof Favrem. Find her, and bring her to me, and I'll see that you are rewarded handsomely." Skulker took the holographic display and smiled, "You will have her in 24 hours," then flew off. Bounty hunters, no matter where you go, they're all the same; same weapons, same arrogance, same sounds as they die, Thal thought as he and Vlad went to Vlad's living room to finalize their plans for conquest.

Jazz

Jazz was now doing a hand-stand, using the Force to keep herself up while at the same time telekinetically making a tower of stones while Danny, Sam, and Tucker watched. "Yes, that's it, let the Force flow into your body and focus at the same time on the stones," Master Favrem encouraged her. Master Favrem promised that if she did well with this exercise then she would start learning the basics of lightsaber combat. Jazz moved a fourth stone onto the three she already had on the tower of stones that only stood with her control of the Force. "Now, take one hand off the ground, and stand on one hand, and move two more stones onto the tower, and this lesson will be complete," Master Favrem told her. Sweat was pooling off of Jazz as she lifted her left hand off the ground.

"Concentrate," Master Favrem told her. Jazz closed her eyes and repeated the Jedi Code to help her concentrate as Master Favrem taught her. There is no emotion, there is Peace. There is no ignorance, there is Knowledge. There is no passion, there is Serenity. There is no death, there is the Force. A fifth stone shakily rose up and floated to the tower. One more, Jazz thought as she closed her eyes and felt through the Force as the last stone shakily rose up and slowly went onto the now quaking tower of stones. "Hold it Jazz," she heard Danny whisper. Jazz fought with all her might to keep the stones stable, and finally felt them become still. "That's it Jazz, well done," Master Favrem told her. Jazz let the rocks fall into a pile then put her left hand down and slowly lowered her feet until she was standing again.

Sam handed Jazz a water bottle and asked, "Man Jazz, you're a lot tougher than I thought you were." "Trust me, I wouldn't be able to do it without the Force," Jazz wearily told her as she took a towel Sam gave her and wiped the sweat off. "You did very well for one who has only had a month of training," Jof praised her, "Now give me a minute and I will get some equipment to help with your next step of training." Jof went up to her room, leaving Jazz, Sam, Danny, and Tucker in the lobby. "So, you really think you can be some Space Wizard?" Tucker asked Jazz. "After all this, yeah, I think so Tucker. I can do so much now, look!" Jazz excitedly said as she made the rocks fly up and spin around in a figure eight pattern. She then raised her arms and the rocks flew around her waist and she then leaped up ten feet into the air and did a front flip over Sam and Tucker. "Awesome!" Sam said in amazement.

Jazz then made another tower of rocks before letting them drop. Master Favrem then walked in holding two slightly charred looking wooden poles about four feet in length. "Catch," she said, and Jazz reached out with her hand and caught the pole. "Hold it at one end, like you would a sword," Master Favrem said. Jazz did as she was ordered. "In the Republic, you would be taught the basics of lightsaber combat with Master Yoda using a training lightsaber and a special training droid. The droid would have been roughly spherical with a number of holes that shot lasers at you. The droid would float around shooting these lasers that would numb your limbs unless you blocked them with your training lightsaber. Unfortunately I was unable to save even one of either, so I must train you using these poles I carved from some abandoned lumber I found, they're about the length of a lightsaber and their weight will strengthen your muscles to prepare you to wield a real lightsaber," Master Favrem explained.

She then got into a fighting stance with her legs about shoulder width apart and her right leg out front and her pole held at waist height with the point pointing at where someone's head would be. Jazz copied the stance and Master Favrem told her, "There are six zones which are targets for a lightsaber. Zone 1: the head, Zone 2: the right arm and side, Zone 3: the left arm and side, Zone 4: the back and midsection, Zone 5: the right leg and Zone 6: the left leg. All attacks will target one of these zones and all guards will protect one or more of these zones. This is exemplified by the Form 1 of lightsaber combat; Shii-cho, observe." Master Favrem stabbed forward then spun her pole around and attacked high and to the left then spun again and attacked high and from the right. She then held her pole at waist height and made a vertical cut to the left then a vertical cut to the right then made a rising cut from the left and finally a rising cut from the right.

Master Favrem then made another stab at waist height then swung her lightsaber first left then right at the same height before making a rising cut from the left then a rising cut from the right before spinning her pole around and cutting down from the right then spinning her pole behind her head again to cut from the left before stabbing forward one last time. "Now, you try the same," she told Jazz. Jazz took a deep breath and did her best to copy the movements. "Try again, you moved forward too much, left yourself open," Master Favrem told her. Jazz took her criticism to heart and did the form again. "Yes, but keep your elbows bent more when you stab or you might lose your arms," Jazz's Master told her. "Alright, third time's the charm," Jazz said, and did the form yet again. "Very good Jazz, you have Form 1 handled, but there are more difficult Forms to master," Master Favrem told her.

"How many are there?" Tucker asked. "In all there are seven Forms: Form 1: Shii-Cho, Form 2: Makashi, Form 3: Soresu, Form 4: Ataru, Form 5: Shien and its more offensive variant Djem So, Form 6: Niman, and finally Form 7: Juyo. All of these forms have their own advantages and disadvantages, only a fool with a death wish sticks to just one. A Jedi must combine aspects of all the first 5 forms to survive," Master Favrem explained. "Now, I want you to perform Shii-Cho again, and repeat it until I tell you otherwise," she told Jazz, and Jazz got into position to start again.