Old Ben vs Count Dooku

Years had passed since Ben had done anything like this. Nearly twenty years had passed since he had last been on board any sort of ship, and now he was on a massive space station, tasked with the most important mission of his entire life. He must succeed, young Luke must succeed.

He rounded the corner past the blast doors, and was absolutely stunned to see an old foe standing before him.

"Master Kenobi, the years haven't been very kind to you, have they?"

"Far kinder than to you, Count."

Count Dooku smiled. "I'm afraid that I can't let you pass. There's been a shift in the balance of the Force, and I intend to preserve the tilt to the dark side."

"The dark side will never win, Count. Now, step aside, or I will destroy you."

Now, Count Dooku laughed. "You have deteriorated, Obi-Wan. I can sense as much. You are a shadow of your former self."

"My name is Ben."

Ben struck at Dooku, aiming to catch the Count off guard. His simple, deliberate Shi-Cho strikes were not flashy, but they were strong. Inside, Ben reflected that his old friend Kit Fisto would be proud.

Dooku easily blocked all of Kenobi's strikes with a one handed grip, his footwork absolutely immaculate. Ben struck hard at Dooku, but instead of parrying the strike, Dooku twisted the angle of his blade, taking the advantage and forcing Ben's saber down to the floor, sending spark's flying.

Dooku locked eyes with Ben for a moment, and then delivered a swift kick to his face that sent the old hermit stumbling backward, though he maintained his footing. Ben grimaced. He took a kick like that from Anakin once, and it was far stronger, and he didn't even falter. The harsh envirnoment of Tatooine had slowed him considerably.

Now Dooku pressed the attack, thrusting with his lightsaber, Ben parrying every blow. Three thrusts to the midsection, all blocked. Dooku spun, and brought his lightsaber down in a diagonal strike to Ben's left shoulder, but Ben wasn't there. He had stepped back, dodging the strike altogether. Ben straightened his arm out and delivered a powerful Force push to Dooku, sending Dooku flying back against a bulkhead, his head connecting solidly.

Blood poured from a wound on his head, running down Dooku's face like a river. "You deceived me, Master Kenobi. You are not as weak as you appear."

"Never underestimate a junkyard dog, Count. Though he may be old and tired, it is he who wants to live most of all."

Ben pulled his Force reserves and launched himself at Dooku, employing Ataru strikes and twirls against the injured Count. It came at a price, however. Now he understood why Qui-Gon fell, and why Dooku managed to be a top tier duelist after all these years. Ataru was exhausting.

Dooku would only be pressed for so long, as his Form II was perfect against Ataru. Ben only needed a moment, though. Just enough to catch Dooku off guard.

Ben could feel Dooku's arrogance rise, as a foul stench in the Force. Dooku knew he could defeat Kenobi as long as he used Ataru, and he would take full advantage of that. The elderly Count attempted to slip past Ben's guard, but Ben felt the moment in the Force, and changed to his Soresu, which he had perfected over the years.

He deflected Dooku's blade into the durasteel floor, more sparks showering outward, and then twirled around, slicing as he went.

Dooku gasped as the blue blade of Old Ben sliced across his chest, causing immense pain, but not quite deep enough to mortally wound him. Dooku's eyes burned bright yellow, the dark side coursing through him. He raised his left hand and sent a stream of Force lightning at Old Ben, whom intercepted on his blade. Dooku growled, and pushed harder, the lightning burning brighter, and completely enveloping Ben's blade. Still, Ben pushed forward, walking closer to Dooku, until the air between them was pure electricity.

Ben only needed to hold out just a little bit longer. Dooku had lost a lot of blood, and was growing weaker by the second.

Finally, the lightning subsided, and the two stood, panting from exhaustion. Dooku knew he had to end the fight quickly or he would pass out from blood loss. Ben knew that he had to end the fight quickly, because his broken body was absolutely exhausted from this fight.

Dooku lunged at Ben, thrusting again at his abdomen, expecting Kenobi to once again parry the strike, but Ben sidestepped, spinning around and slicing off Dooku's arm at the elbow with his back swing, and then followed through with a strike that took out Dooku's right leg at the knee.

Dooku collapsed on his back, and saw only a burst of light, and then blackness, as Old Ben buried his blade through the Count's forehead.

Old Ben looked down at the body of the count, saddened. Today would be a day of death for both the light and the dark.

@darthbane77@azronger@thesithmaster@yousufkhan1212@emperor339@emperordmb@kbroskywalker@amethystgravity

Dooku would stomp Old Ben. He has nothing on the Count's level, and is canonically inferior to his RotS self.

On the Vine, a lot of people are posting quotes and feats showing that Old Ben is canonically superior to his ROTS self.

@richard96 which battle would you have rather seen?

Would you prefer another target or a military target? Name the system. Jk.

I never said he was superior, but that people post quite a bit of info about him being superior. This is a fan-fic battle in which Old Ben wins. If you'd prefer another battle, or a different outcome, please feel free to select an option on one of my Story Time Battle Voting threads.

Kenobi.

Really good, I liked it, I disagree with the verdict and think that the fight would be longer, regardless of who would win. But still, another very good fan-fic.

Ben dies, lol.

Dooku should have won, but the battle itself was nicely done.

@bigsambino87: I've never heard of any such quotes or feats.

Here, Ben Kenobi is canonically a better duelist:

This has been explained here in depth(here's the full video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIZsJsck7A). the shortness of the duel was

A. for storytelling purposes it was supposed to be symbolic of their respective growth as characters

B. Because maul and Kenobi and Mul had fought each other multiple times

C. Given the more realistic kind of fighting they styled this after, the shorter fight was chosen partially because the duo improved as duelists and in reali life very good fighters have short fights:

Feloni: "The actual duel is very short, how did you come to the conclusion it had to come this way?...(feloni) If you talk to a lot of people who sword fight, they'll tell you people who are very good don't have long fights. So that scene, its a homage to the 7th samurai. I think on one level people would be excited to see another prolonged lightsaber fight. But I just never really saw the confrontation that way because to do that is to say the characters don't have growth "

Even if you want to interpret growth to not refer to their skill as duelists(even though the context is clearly about their ability as combatants), duelists" them being "very good" swordsman as a reason for the shorter fight compared to their longer "prolonged" fights in tcw clearly indicates growth. As this is referring to them as of their fight with each other this would factor maul's emotional state(even though logically, it would make him more powerful vs kenobi not less combatively speaking given how darksiders operate) and his physical degradement(which could have been canceled out with force augmentation).

To demonstrate what I mean:

"The actual duel is very short, how did you come to the conclusion it had to come this way?...(feloni) If you talk to a lot of people who sword fight, they'll tell you people who are very good don't have long fights. So that scene, its a homage to the 7th samurai. I think on one level people would be excited to see another prolonged lightsaber fight."

In addition to making clear what "growth" refers to, this alone indicates that they grew as duelists back from when they had "prolonged lightsaber duels". So there's no getting around this, Kenobi and Maul are better fighters than their tcw counterparts.

And He's additionally been deepening his connection to the force for 15 years indicating power growth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIZsJsck7A

This is Kenobi in his prime

BTW

@bigsambino87

Kenobi killing a defenseless man? nah

@kbroskywalker I prefer to think that at this point, Ben is a different person than Obi-Wan. He remembers the last time that he fought a stronger opponent, defeated him, but did not finish him off. That person became Darth Vader, and was responsible for the near extinction of the Jedi order. Here, Old Ben knew that Dooku could come back, just like Anakin did, and he couldn't risk that.

That kinda goes against the whole quintessential jedi thing and kenobi moving past his demons

I like it, it's a really good piece fanfic. Congrats.