I'd like to begin this judgment with a simple but heartfelt thank you: dueling has always been very near and dear to my heart, and garnering enough interest in the art to actually host a sixteen-person tournament on TSC is a landmark occasion, which without the both of you would simply be impossible.

Anyway, enough sap. On to the judgment!

This duel was an incredibly entertaining read from start to finish. The antics of a homicidal pest vs. a fresh-faced newbie with a need to prove herself kept me coming back for more. However, there were certain instances where Addison's sentence structure made it difficult to picture exactly what she was doing. One of the key combat tenets for judging criteria is clarity, and there were multiple times I had to read your posts several times- and even reference earlier posts- in order to piece together your move.

-If I had one piece of advice for you, it would be to give your posts an extra read-through before you submit them. Ask yourself if you're painting as crystal clear a picture as you can. Are there unnecessary sentences cluttered throughout your actions? Is there enough detail that anyone could determine at a glance what you're doing? Do you use landmarks in the scenario as reference points to more accurately describe your location? If you exercise due diligence with these I promise you'll see a huge improvement in the finished product.

The next topics I want to discuss are actually the first things that jumped out at me during my initial reading of the fight, and since the two are inextricably intertwined in this instance I'll cover them both now: two key combat tenets that I saw virtually ignored in Addison's posts were Time and Realism.

-The most glaring example is your defense against the explosion caused by your blaster bolt to the hoversled. It appears- and I use that phrasing intentionally, because your exact actions are difficult to discern from your post- that you used an Untrained/Novice level Force Armor or Barrier variant to shield yourself from the blast. I was actually prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt with this one if you had been overwhelmed and taken severe damage, but used it to avoid dying. However, to instinctively create a barrier strong enough to hold under subsequent explosions would be impossible.

-Another example of breaking with realism is when you claim to perform a dodge roll that carries you twenty-five feet. Such a feat of acrobatics is wholly impossible for Humans and Near-Humans without using the Force.

-Your timing in not only dodging the hoversled but outrunning it once Malapert seizes control through Telekinesis to pursue you is completely out of sync with how events would've actually taken place. While 25 mph is pretty slow for a vehicle, it's much faster than the average human is capable of moving, and Malapert goes out of his way to specify that once he uses the force to move the sled, it exceeds that speed.

Another subject I want to touch on is Metagaming. Addison, in one of your posts you state you expect the hoversled to explode, but offer no explanation as to how you came to that conclusion.

-It's important to remember that your character does not know what you, the author, knows unless you can reasonably glean that information from your surroundings. If you can make a rational deduction that leads you the same conclusion, fine, but what I saw here was a clear cut case of metagaming, and a violation of the rules.

Despite all this, the main reason we reached the ruling we did is because Malapert exhibited complete and total control of this match from start to finish. Every single one of his posts dictated absolutely the path the duel would take, leaving his opponent scrambling to react and unable to mount any defense of her own. Even when the move to close range was made, it was at his discretion. Not once
for the entire duration of the match was his opponent able to put him in any danger whatsoever.

For these reasons we the judges find Malapert Piffle to be the victor.

Thank you both for your participation in the Battle Arena. Malapert, congratulations. Addison, better luck next time. If you apply the advice I gave you and pay attention to timing and spacial reasoning in your next round, I guarantee you'll see a huge jump in skill level. As always practice makes perfect, so keep your focus on mastering the fundamentals and you'll grow into a duelist to be reckoned with.