Master Olis Tal couldn't wait to watch the recording of the young Arman Clash. His role as master guardian at the Coruscant temple was to instruct the Jedi of all ages to learn various forms of combat, lightsaber combat in particular was his favorite. The mark 1 fencing droid was not much of a challenge to the average Jedi student but like Sakekki said, he hadn't considered the possibility of fighting one of them by hand. As a twilek, he often found himself superior in his physical aptitudes and was very curious to see what a dedicated human could accomplish.

It shows him tearing it apart

That was how Salekki described it. He was very curious indeed.

Arman Clash stood at the console of the large training room. Confident that the door was locked and that Salekki Gannah was busy in the infirmary, he was anxious to proceed knowing no one would interrupt this very special training session.

This was man against machine.

Flesh and bone against alloys and hydraulics; the ultimate test in physical combat. He was ready. He had trained a whole year to strengthen his body and increase the flow of the force within him to fight on a level only a knight could accomplish.

Trust in force speed

He told himself. Arman Clash mastered the ability to move ultra quickly during combat even without lowering his guard in the force. He had done so for extensive periods of time without completely draining his powers. He was ready to fight. He had foreseen this droid would be no match for him, yet he knew this was the beginning of a completely new struggle; one that would affect him for the rest of his life.

He welcomed it.

"Challenge me droid." He said as he finished disabling the safeties of his programming and stepped into the arena.

He didn't bother bringing his lightsaber. This wasn't that kind of training. Besides, he was well beyond the level of a single mark 1 when it came to lightsaber combat. No, this was a test of the flesh and the force working as one.

The droid activated and hovered into the arena. His saber-facsimile activating from one of his eight nearly identical appendages firmly secured to the bottom of his human sized cylindrical body. This droid had only one saber appendage, but it was designed to look as identical to all the other appendages as possible. Activated or not, Arman could discern his saber-appendage without even looking. Master Salekki, the togruta, trained him to use his hearing and intuition to see his surroundings. As she was capable of echo-location, his greatest challenge as a padawan was to learn how to fight in the dark where he couldn't see. Fighting and learning from his tall togruta master in the underground caves was one of his most cherished memories.

Arman Clash used the force to grip the saber appendage and ripped it off of its welds.

Just this once

Arman told himself. He had to keep his force powers for the fight to come.

Believe in force speed

He repeated to himself. The droid hovered over his fallen appendage like it was nothing as it approached the human male.

Arman had altered its programming to kill without the saber, but this battle wasn't about that. This battle was about testing himself against a stronger opponent made of alloys rather than soft tissues. He needed the threat of the droid crushing or breaking his bones or the threat of it overpowering him with its artificial strength. Only his mortal danger would help him progress to a level a Sith opponent was capable of. Challenging the Sith was all that he could think to do after having visions of a Sith Lord stabbing through his beloved master.

The young Jedi closed the gap between him and the mark 1 droid quickly enough to begin using force speed. His heartrate and flow quickened as his body compensated for the burst of movement. He ducked beneath the first attack. The droid then spun half around and attempted to strike his flesh with its long metal appendages. Arman quickly stood up and caught one of them with both hands the moment it stopped spinning. With a firm grip in a sort of machine armbar move, he jumped up and pushed off the bottom of the droid's cylindrical frame. He came crashing down to the floor of the arena holding another one of the droid's appendages.

The mark 1 was down to six appendages but it felt no pain and came immediately crushing down on Arman Clash. The Jedi rolled away to avoid the frame and made a pass through the gap in its appendages, narrowly avoiding the dangers of the mark 1's remaining appendages.

Arman moved far enough from the advancing droid to rethink his strategy. The mark 1's frame itself was heavy enough to pin him down and his six remaining arms were more than adequate to kill him if he were to be trapped underneath it.

There was a gap in the droid's torso where his two appendages used to be. That's where he would strike. He couldn't risk pulling more legs off this spider the way he had previously done. The mark 1 could think, after all. A repeat in tactics could prove fatal.

Arman dashed straight to the mark 1, slamming into it with his body. The kinetic energy of the impact was just short of shattering his shoulder socket. He held one appendage to keep the droid from spinning his other arms around and punched its torso with enough force to cave in the cover plating. He tried grabbing any wire or weak connections from within the droid body. He pulled away, narrowly avoiding the droid's hind appendages bending in reverse to try and stab him from all around.

Arman could see the cover plating was damaged enough to reach inside and keep working on disabling any system he could get his fingers on. The droid moved its functioning appendages in front of its body, covering the weakness Arman had created in its gap. The mark 1 hovered forward menacingly, learning from its mistakes.

Despite being faster and more agile than the droid, Arman chose to retreat. He needed to keep his power to enhance his strength.

Trust in force speed

Only his body could disable the droid. He and his frail flesh and bones needed the support of the force to withstand the pounding of alloys. Arman allowed the droid to close the distance and rolled underneath it. Instead of grabbing another appendage as the mark 1 would no doubt anticipate, he simply stood up around the torso to where the gap in the severed limbs and damaged parts were.

He extended his arms far and fast into and around the damaged plates, pulling wires and damaging circuits. No effect: the droid was still fully functional and with its appendages free to move, it was able to swing his midsection around presenting its dangerous arms to its opponent, stabbing through the air after the young human Jedi. Arman stepped out of the way but the droid was much nearer than he expected.

I must be slowing down

It was a small amount, hardly noticeable, but he needed to be aware he couldn't keep up force speed indefinitely. The mark 1 bull rushed him and kept its appendages trailed down underneath it to prevent the human from rolling by. Arman had to risk repeating his first maneuver. He intercepted one of its appendages, but only one of his hands caught tightly enough to hold it while the other hand slipped down underneath the mark 1's chassis.

The droid quickly raised all of its remaining appendages, catching Arman's right arm tightly against its frame. Arman was stuck there with one appendage in his left hand, unable to pull free from the chassis.

Arman let go of the appendage and punched very hard into the opening in the frame. Suddenly, the droid came crashing down to the ground, pulling the Jedi's arm down as it fell, dislocating it and breaking it at the elbow. The padawan was freed from the mark 1's grip. He narrowly escaped a barrage of stabbings appendages and retreated to a safe distance. Arman kneeled on the ground and lifted his right arm back into his socket. He summoned the force and mended his bones as much as he could in the short time he had left for the droid to right itself back up.

Arman used the force to dull the pain and finished healing his broken elbow before the droid could reach him.

I can do this

The damage to the droid was starting to affect its ability to hover around. The battle would soon come to a close. Arman force-jumped over the droid to the other side of it, positioning himself at the droid's weak spot. He gripped the appendage tightly with both arms and ripped it off the mark 1; only this time, he jumped laterally away instead of down to the ground.

5 limbs remained. The mark 1 spun around and hovered clumsily towards the human teenager. It charged at the padawan again and lashed out with its arms. It did not spin its torso this time, leaving its broken plates and exposed circuits dangling around like bait.

Arman couldn't resist; he caught an appendage with his left hand and almost reached into the droid with his right hand. He redirected his right arm at the last possible second to intercept the pointy end of an appendage meant to stab him in the face. The Jedi dodged the other 4 appendages and kept the fifth in a tight grip of his left arm. He had to find a way to reach into the exposed circuits, but the effort of the battle had slowed him more significantly this time.

The mark 1 yanked hard on the appendage Arman had gripped with his left hand, momentarily losing his footing and dropping down to one knee. From the lowered position he could barely reach the broken panels and much less see what he was doing. As he tried to reach up, the nearest appendage snapped back up, catching his right arm in much the same way it had done before. Arman's arm was pinned against the bottom of the chassis, his bones breaking. The Jedi let go of the appendage and lifted himself back up.

With its appendage free, the droid spun his torso around, dragging Arman by the arm like a ragdoll. His arm kept snapping, but he took every chance he had to reach into the droid, ripping and tearing anything he could touch with his fingers.

No change. The droid was still functional.

I need to learn more about droids

Arman used the force to dull the pain and heal his right arm even as it was still getting crushed and dragged around.

Stop healing, trust in force speed

Arman failed to free himself from the droid's grip. He ignored his arm for a moment and slammed his left fist into a new armor plate, bending it more and more. It revealed new exposed circuits, he was hoping for a more vital one this time. He allowed a few appendages to strike, but the mark 1 came crashing down deliberately, dislocating the Jedi's arm once again. Arman ignored it and kept close to the frame, attempting to impact it with his fist, drawing on all of his strength and power.

The circuits sparked and the wiring pulled out, taking the repulsor function completely offline. Arman rolled down to the floor, following the droid. The mark 1's heavy frame broke more of his right arm and nearly tore it off. The Jedi was pinned down with the dysfunctional droid, but so were most of its appendages. He gripped the most threatening one with his left hand and yanked it repeatedly. The limb buckled and went limp but did not tear out.

Arman hugged the droid and reached deep into the frame, gripping a large cluster of wire and unplugged whatever circuits he found.

The mark 1 powered down in protest.

Arman clash won the battle, resisting the urge to use all of his power and plucking the mark 1's appendages all at once with the force. He had proved to himself once and for all that he had what it took to become what he had intended to become and stop the Sith.

"Incredible." Olis Tal muttered to himself after rewatching the holorecording of the combat for the fourth time.