They stood there staring at each other. A minute passed before Coda turned towards Beatrix. "Make sure to record this. I want to be able to review it later." Seeing her nod he turned his head to Yoda again.
The tension continued to climb as they just stared at each other. Suddenly they nodded at each other and sat down in a lotus position in front of each other. The tension diffusing and throwing everyone off as they just started meditating.
93 tilted his head and asked in a low voice. "What exactly are they doing?"
Qui-Gon answered it quietly. "They are trying to get into the best possible state they can manage. They have both been quite active today I believe."
Kenobi spoke up next. "Master Yoda seems to be taking this quite seriously. He just reprimanded Coda for asking for the duel, but doesn't it feel like he's looking forward to it as well?"
"You forget my former padawan, Yoda may be a Jedi as well, but he has also been a warrior for far longer than we usually think about." Qui-Gon explained sagely.
"Who do you think will win Master Qui-Gon?" Anakin asked curiously.
"I cannot say. But they both seem to be taking this fairly seriously. Observing this will be fruitful, pay close attention." Qui-Gon answered.
More and more people joined the growing circle of troopers, when fifteen minutes had passed the crowd had gotten quite large. The tension had started building again, even more noticeably for the force-sensitive among them. Both of them had started to give of pressure as time passed, what the regular people felt as tension felt like a massive weight for the Jedi present.
Just as it started becoming uncomfortable it started folding in on itself, being compacted into the two beings manipulating it. As soon as the pressure hard receded completely they both opened their eyes at the same time. Yoda's eyes could be seen flashing with a light blue from time to time as Coda's gave off sparks of silver and deep orange.
They both stood up as Yoda spoke. "Older then you look I feel you are, but older still I am. Go easy on you, I will not." He stated with a cheeky smile.
"I'm well aware of that. Going easy on me would just make me angry you little gremlin." Coda said loudly as a mad smile appeared on his face.
Smiling back at him Yoda spoke again. "Teach you to respect your elders I will." As his green saber lit up with a hum.
"Elder or not, warriors earn their respect." His legs bent as both of his sabers flared to life. Apathy lit up with a soundless hum as his left side got colored in a silver glow. His right side flickering with a violent orange as his deep orange blade sounded like it was scorching the air.
One moment they were standing there face to face. The next, the ground under Coda threw up dust around it as he disappeared and he came at Yoda from his right side. Quickly bringing his blade to parry the frontal strike he saw the orange saber come flying at him from the right side. Quickly spinning he struck the blade first, flinging it up as he bent down and tried to sweep at Coda's legs.
Coda, of course, saw this coming as he lept of the ground and brought both blades to bear for an overhead swing. Yoda threw himself into a side roll before he righted himself to his feet again and shot towards Coda. As he was about to strike at him a force wave shot from Coda, pushing Yoda away as he slid on the ground. Barely a second later Coda came flying at him and they started trading blows again.
The crowd could barely make out their movements as flashes of colors kept flaring into life as the lightsabers hit each other. This continued for a minute before Coda ate a force push and got flung away, spinning in the air Coda landed on his feet as he left paths in the ground as he slid away. Still sporting the mad smile he started laughing. "Awesome! AGAIN!"
This time the ground didn't just throw up dust and sand as he disappeared, the ground ruptured as his previous location became a crater. With wide mad swings, he kept battering Yoda with heavy strikes from is orange saber. Apathy was more insidious, silently waiting for chances to break Yoda's defenses.
Blocking the heavy attacks from Coda, he admitted he felt pressured. He wasn't doing anything fancy but the tactic he was employing was effective. As soon as his attention dropped even a little the silver-colored blade came thrusting at him at each lapse in concentration.
Seeing a chance, Coda threw a force blast at him that forced him to block it. Following it up with a thrust from apathy, it was blocked but he expected that. The overhead blow was the main attraction, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. Yoda deflected the thrust masterfully, and before Coda's next attack came down Yoda jumped up and delivered a knee kick to Coda's chest.
At the speed they were moving this might as well have been a cannon shell as Coda was flung away, he shot out for over ten meters before impacting the ground. After the initial impact, he spun himself to land on his knees as he came to a stop.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
While Coda was standing up again Yoda spoke. "Using everything you are not. Holding back, a bad idea I feel hmm?"
Chuckling as he dusted himself off, he simply nodded. "I guess it was optimistic of me to assume I could handle you in just my basic state."
His mad smile receded as his eyes slowly met Yoda's. "It seems I must bring out my next level." He said as his deep voice became entirely neutral.
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"He looks like he's on the defensive, but Yoda still seems to be in control of the match." Qui-Gon commented as they watched them spar.
"Coda is relentless though. He doesn't give you much time to think with how many blows he keeps throwing at him." Kenobi said next.
Anakin had been paying close attention to the fight and had seen that Coda truly wasn't employing any Jedi forms he knew of. Just like a relentless beast he attacked, he felt the weight coming from the orange blade's blows all the way to where they were standing. He had an odd feeling that he wasn't really trying though, he was almost sure Coda was just probing him.
"Doesn't it feel like he's just testing the waters though Master?" He asked.
Everyone turned to look at him as Kenobi asked him. "What do you mean Anakin?"
Seeing everyone looking at him he nodded slightly as he started explaining. "He hasn't attacked in the same way twice the entire duel." He pointed at the two still trading blows.
They all turned to look at the duel again and noticed it quickly now that they were looking for it. Every time he started attacking Yoda gain, it was a new approach, a different timed swing or a different attack pattern altogether.
Just as Qui-Gon was about to comment again they saw Coda being ejected away from Yoda. As he stood up they heard them speak.
"It seems I must bring out my next level." As Coda said this they all thought to themselves. Next level?
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Yoda's brows furrowed a bit as he noticed that Coda was focusing the force on his silver saber. Silver-colored lightning started to come off the hilt as it climbed up Coda's arm and along the blade.
It was like some kind of force lock had been removed from the blade. The force in the area started feeling like white noise as static built up around Coda. Shortly after this started he noticed a silver-colored film of force start to appear under his feet and on his elbows. Looking at his face it was completely devoid of any emotion, his eyes now a glowing silver.
"Let us get on with it, I cannot be bothered to stay this way for too long." His voice now sounded older, much older as he spoke in a tired manner.
Coda's other saber became subdued and calm as silver lightning started extending down its length as well. Before Yoda could understand what was happening Coda came flying at him from the front. Bringing up his saber to be ready to parry the strike, Coda betrayed his expectations as he simply jumped up. Jumping? Why? Yoda didn't understand, not until what happened next.
At the crest of the jump, he was about to get ready to welcome his attack when Coda shot forward, kicking off the air itself. A silver flared force bubble popping from his feet as he arrived above and behind him as another pop sounded and he came shooting downwards, landing right behind him. Barely managing to turn around to bring his saber up for defense Coda's two lightsabers impacted his.
The next second the sound of thunder could be heard as Yoda could be seen flying through the air, almost reaching the encircling troops watching. This shocked the crowd as they scrambled to open up more space, the diameter of the circle doubling soon.
Yoda stood in shock as he looked upon Coda's visage. His arms numb from the shock that followed the hit. Giving a small smile, he removed his brown robe as it had been shredded already. "More like it, this is."
Nodding at Yoda he bent down again and jumped towards him almost parallel to the ground, Yoda wasn't having this again as he threw out a force push to stall him. Coda responded with two pops coming off his right arm and leg, causing him to shoot a meter to the right as another two pops from his left side righted him and kept him moving forward.
Touching the ground he started gliding on it, the films under his feet making him able to skate on top of the earth. Sliding around Yoda he started spinning as strikes followed with quiet determination. Every parry followed with the sound of thunder as Yoda started losing his footing. The hits delivering so much kinetic energy that staying in one place was factually impossible.
Yoda soon regained his rhythm as they started trading blows again, looking from the outside it was as two swordsmen simply gave up on gravity as they both spun around the air. Hundreds of hits within a few minutes could be seen as the flares of color and sounds of thunder raged between the two.
Suddenly they both shot off in two different directions as they tumbled on the ground a bit before managing to stop. Both getting up the simply looked at each other before Coda spoke up. "We shall stop here. Let us call it a draw."
Yoda nodded as he turned off his saber. "Agree, I do. Enjoy the match I did. In the force, strong you are ."
Coda's eyes turned towards apathy as the silver glow slowly left his eyes and the lightning discharges receded. He started panting hard as he returned to normal. "I really need to get some damn rest, pushing myself can't be healthy. Force or not." He said chuckling.
Yoda sat down on the ground with a small smile. "Have any water you do?"
Still panting Coda walked up to him as he clipped his sabers to his belt. Sitting down as well he looked over to Beatrix. "Beatrix, I second the good master's idea. Could you fetch us something to drink?"
She just nodded as she sent the order down the line.
Coda turned his eyes back to Yoda. Staring at each other for a little while they both just started laughing.
The surreal sight of the two of them sitting in the middle of all the damage they'd done to the surroundings brought a smile on most of the people watching.