CHAPTER VII – THE DUEL

The four warriors stood on the Force Plane. A vast desert landscape spread out around them. 3 moons shone bright above and waves of pebbles and sand crashed around them. Patches of lighting struck as rainclouds moved across the sky.

Both Masters spoke together into their students' minds "you must work together to overcome us. We will be showing you our true power. This is not a sparring match. May the Force be with us all. BEGIN!"

It took Kei and Mina a few seconds to shake off the surprise about having to face two masters in battle, but their shakiness was extremely short lived as they were not the same students they were when they had dueled each other for the first time. They leapt into action in unison attacking the masters head on and then splitting in opposite directions at the last second, igniting their lightsabers as they quickly changed directions again and attacked their masters from the side.

The Masters barely moved. Rey swiftly positioning herself in front of Ahsoka, letting out a shockwave in every direction as she powered up in the Force. A split second later Ahsoka raised both hands above her head, one in front of the other and let out a bright flash of white light that temporarily blinded both students. Rey's shockwave had knocked them both off balance and they nearly slid across the sandy ground.

Kei quickly put his hand to the ground and flipped himself back onto his feet as he tumbled. He had no idea which way was up or down and had to concentrate deeply to regain his footing. Mina used the momentum of her fall to send Force shockwaves in various directions as she rolled back towards the Masters. Kei reached out and used the Force to push almost all of Mina's shockwaves straight towards the masters. Rey ignited her lightsaber in a flash, its golden blade blocking the shockwaves with a loud crack. Ahsoka pushed the remnants of the shockwaves back at the two students so fast that they barely had time to protect themselves with their sabers and their shoulders and legs now began to show bloodstains from where they were pelted by the blast.

The Masters still had not moved from their original position and Rey had already put her lightsaber back on her belt. Both students knew this was a taunt. They regrouped and stood back to back in a defensive battle pose, their sight slowly coming back from Ahsoka's flash. Kei spoke to Mina telepathically, "If we get too close, we'll be blinded again. There's no way to get past that defensive move without separating them."

They closed their eyes and focused their power. They swung into action and just as they sped off in opposite directions toward the Masters, a giant bolt of lightning struck the ground between them. All four of them used the Force to brace and keep themselves from being blown away. After the bolt hit, the sand on the ground began giving way, revealing a porous maze of caves and tunnels. The suction was so strong that they all had to use the Force to brace themselves again.

Mina and Kei used this opportunity to augment their speed and sent their lightsabers spinning at the Masters. They easily avoided them without having to activate their own sabers, but it caused them to jump down into separate tunnels. The students followed, still augmenting their speed. They knew that using the mind trick to appear even faster wouldn't have a very potent effect on their masters, but it could still cause them to lose their focus, if even for a second.

The system of natural tunnels and caves suddenly burst with brilliant violence as all four warriors zoomed through tight spaces and exchanged lightsaber blows. Thick sections of stone were cut through and sent tumbling wildly around them. Sharp pieces of rock exploded and flew in different directions, Force pushed at opponents. Sometimes the stone in the tunnels would crack from the mere force of the blows being exchanged.

Eventually, the tunnels opened up over a long valley of rock spires. Kei immediately took on Rey sending one of his sabers spinning to come up behind her on its way back to his hand. As it drew closer to her back, he burst forward to deliver a strike from the front as well. Rey put her saber up and over her back to block the spinning attack while force pushing Kei so hard in the stomach that he had to stop.

Rey used the Force to keep Kei's saber spinning after she blocked, and sent it flying in his direction. The results would have been devastating had he not used the Force to call the saber back into his hand. He used momentum to do a quick jump off a nearby spire and kicked Rey in the chest. She took it head on and bounced him back. She augmented her speed and used an elbow strike to knock him down onto the ground. He spit blood up from the blow before rolling and flipping backwards to his feet. If he had not moved fast enough, he would have been impaled by the top of the rock spire. He noticed Mina battling Ahsoka in the distance and knew if they had any chance of surviving the duel they would need to continue keeping the Masters separated.

Kei kicked off the ground and jumped from rock to rock back up to the opening to the system of tunnels they had fallen out of. He looked over to where Mina was drawing Ahsoka away and suddenly, a group of rain clouds passed over them, water pouring down on the vast plane of spires. The rocks became slick and he had to use more energy to move. His lungs burned from the effort. Lightning struck violently in various places, charring stone and obliterating several spires.

Mina moved faster and faster, trying to remaining as calm as possible the entire time. Ahsoka was so fast that mina had to keep pushing both her speed and her mind trick to its limit. Ahsoka parried and dodged with minimal effort, constantly changing angles and directions so that Mina would lose her sense of direction. Mina spun her double-bladed saber wildly to block Ahsoka's strikes, having to make sure she didn't accidentally smash her head on the top of one of the stone spires they were battling over.

Mina decided to rely on a frustrating technique, launching force shockwaves after every strike of her blades. The timing caught Ahsoka off guard several times and Mina thought she had the upper hand until she realized how tired she was getting from executing this technique. She had to move back in several bounds to catch her breath. As she bounced back once more, she saw Kei going back up into the tunnels and drawing Rey away. It was smart to keep the Masters separated, but she would be having much more luck if she and Kei could work together. It was quite a dilemma.

Kei darted up the tunnel he had jumped into. He began to grow fatigued and stopped climbing to crouch on a rock jutting out of the side of the tunnel. Rey wasn't following him the way he had come up. He reached out and tried to sense her presence in the Force. The thin rock wall behind him smoldered as Rey quickly cut an opening through it with her lightsaber. He turned to block it, but his saber went through hers. It was just an illusion! He dropped quickly back out of the tunnel onto the plane of spires and saw the real Rey standing in the distance, her eyes closed and hand in the air. She opened her eyes to look at him. Lightning struck the section of caves he had been in and sent rubble crashing down above him.

He made a dash towards where Ahsoka and Mina were battling, making sure to avoid Rey. Lighting crashed around them, the smell of charred stone filling the night air. Mina saw Kei dashing towards her and struck Ahsoka once more only to find Rey joining her in blocking her strikes, throwing off her timing and almost causing her to fall off one of the spires.

She leapt back just as Kei reached her and they stood together. Ahsoka and Rey charged forward with immense speed, Mina and Kei were trying to catch their breath. They jumped back onto a taller spire just as lighting scorched the spot they had stood on moments earlier. The four of them traded blows once more. Mina tried to focus on attacking Ahsoka again. This time, coming in close and absorbing some of her energy to strengthen her attacks. Doing this in rapid sequence almost made her pass out, so she switched to attacking Rey.

Now, it was two versus Rey and just as Ahsoka joined, they both descended on her with their fiercest strikes. Every time one of the Masters would join, they would team up against the other. The technique was working. Kei and Mina were triumphing, fighting as one. Just as they seemed to be gaining momentum, lightning struck the massive rock formation that contained all the tunnels, causing a massive section of it to dislodge and come crashing onto the plane of spires. They scattered in groups of two.

As the students regained their footing and caught their breath, Mina spoke to Kei. "Use the technique where you call on your ancestor's song. I'll take some of it in me and we can go back in and overwhelm them." The thought to use that technique had crossed his mind many times during the battle, but he had a different view on using its power now that he had become more familiar with what made up the true notes of the song. That technique wasn't meant to be used this way. To do so was actually a perversion of its true purpose. However, he had not thought of transferring the technique's energy through someone else to give them a boost of power. It just might save them.

He agreed to try it. They sped towards the Masters who were waiting at the top of massive pile of rubble that now protruded from the plane of spires. The students switched things up by attacking one by one before switching back to striking together. Kei used one of their openings to jump backwards and charge up his attack. The green aura surrounded him and he felt clear. Mina jumped back from the battle to stand by his side. Kei closed his eyes and focused his power. The song did not come. Was it impossible now that he knew its true purpose? He dared not reach out for Hara's power now.

The moment was wasted, so Mina reached back and touched Kei's arm, taking in as much of his energy as she could, her eyes never leaving the masters and their slow descent on them. Kei immediately regretted letting this happen. Mina felt the energy burn through her, it matched the exact feeling she had in her vision when standing near the green flames. Kei's thoughts went into her mind: Hara, the alternate dimension, the green flames. Just like her vision. He had seen it too, so clearly and yet he still chose to keep it from her, lying every day that he knew nothing of it. Her anger grew greater and greater and she left Kei's side to attack the Masters on her own.

Mina reminded herself of what giving into anger completely would do her: it would destroy her, so she slowed down to match the speed of the masters as they calmly approached her. Just as she dodged another lighting strike, Kei was by her side again. She didn't look over at him, but instead sped forward to leave him behind. They both realized too late that they had been divided by their own foolish conflict and doubt and it had worked against them.

Ahsoka raised her hand where she stood and the moonlight seemed to completely disappear. As Rey continued to walk towards them, Kei saw more and more figures appearing behind her and all over the plane of spires. Mina stepped back swiftly to stand with Kei. As they raised their lightsabers in unison, a figure emerged from out of the blurry crowd of others. His form became more defined and less ghostly as he joined Rey's side. He was tall and had dark shoulder-length hair. The ghost reached out his hand in a powerful gesture and both he and Rey stood side by side, mirrored, her golden blade illuminating his mysterious form. An overwhelming power took over, momentarily paralyzing Kei and Mina.

Lightning struck behind the two students and Kei turned to see Ahsoka looming over them on a nearby spire, a white aura surrounding her and her twin white blades like comforting beacons of death. The two students stood back to back, their green aura dissipating. They braced for battle in the pouring rain like true warriors as the two Masters and the ghost descended upon them in an unavoidable devastating attack, destroying them both.