A New Player in the Force

"It's not fair! Why can you learn it but not us?" Jaeman complained for about the hundredth time since I'd told Dragon Clan about the orders of the Council of First Knowledge, and it had been less than a day.

"The Council stated it was dangerous," Darihd stated clearly, and loudly enough for others not at their table to hear. "We must respect the Council's decision." He glanced at me and winked since he'd come to see me late last night to check the exact wording of the Council's order. Serra had asked me quietly about it just before breakfast, where we were sitting now; me having joined Dragon Clan unofficially. Even Sia-Lan was being nice, though that may be more because I had not only set the fastest time at the obstacle course yesterday; I'd also set a new Temple record at a minute and five seconds, and I thought about thirty seconds of that was me being cautious at the beginning and taking time to examine the chasm before I teleported.

"Still, saying we can't even attempt to learn it ourselves until we are a Jedi Knight? That's not fair!" Jaeman countered, referring to the mandate the High Council had established this morning. I'd woken to find a notice on my Jedi datapad stating that self-research into phasing and teleporting using the Force was banned to all under the rank of Jedi Knight as the powers were dangerous if improperly used.

I guessed that my other powers helped negate the inherent risks, so I understood the Council's mandate, yet the loophole about me teaching it to anyone who was a Padawan or above still existed, which was why Darihd and Serra were not as bothered by the mandate as the others. And maybe why Sia-Lan was being neutral to me.

"Let it go, Jae," the girl in question said quietly but firmly. "Just take pleasure in the fact we destroyed the other Clans."

"That's only because of Cam," Serra mentioned, giving me a small smile when she spoke my name. "Is that why you like him now?"

"I don't like him, unlike some!" Sai-Lan sent back, making Serra's head drop back to her bowl before she turned to look at me. "I just admit that I may have been, overzealous, in my initial opinion of Shan."

'Someone else figured out that I can teach Padawans and is playing nice to maybe get that chance.' "Well thank you for the apology," I said with a smirk before turning back to Darihd. "What's this about beating the other clans?"

"You didn't know about that?" I shook my head and the Togruta boy tapped a few buttons on his datapad before sliding it over to me.

I looked at it and saw the final timing for the obstacle course. My time was at the top, nearly four minutes ahead of someone called Dlurs Virtiell from Katarn Clan, though I couldn't put a face to the name even after months of on-and-off classes with Katarn Clan. Indeed, outside of Dragon Clan, I couldn't place any of the names on the list of the four clans I'd spent time with over the last month.

What caught my eye, however, was that next to my name, it stated Dragon as my clan.

I looked down the top twenty and was impressed to see Aayla, Serra, Sia-Lan and Funt were all listed. Further examination showed that the top twenty was composed of only a half-dozen clans, all but one of which I had spent time training with at various times over the last half-year. Darihd swiped his finger across a part of the screen and the table was replaced by one that showed the average time for each clan, with Dragon a full thirty seconds clear of anyone else.

"Why am I placed with Dragon?" I asked as I handed the pad back to Darihd.

He shrugged, making his head-tails bounce upon his shoulders. "No idea, but I'm not complaining. Last year we were fifth out of ten clans, and the older members were taken as Padawans since then. Honestly, I was expecting us to struggle a bit his year, but Serra and Aayla did great. Your time just pushed us over the top."

"He shouldn't be allowed to compete. He's not an Initiate." I turned to see a boy, at least a few years older than me, approach me with others following behind. His eyes burrowed into mine as he spoke. "He's used his supposed status to worm his way into the Temple."

"The High Council confirmed his story, Jon. He's one of us." I had to fight off the shock at hearing Sia-Lan defend me, but it seemed she was trying to play nice now; whether that was because she hoped to learn to phase/teleport once we were Padawans, or she just liked that Dragon was top of the time standings, I couldn't say. Nor was I complaining as she continued. "If you and your clanmates had done a better job of accepting him, maybe he'd be with Katarn instead of Dragon."

Jon glared at Sia-Lan, though the girl just ignored him as she returned to her meal, then shifted to me. "You will not be so lucky today." He stated slowly. "Katarn has won the push-feather the last three years running, and I do not expect you to be able to stop us."

"Good for you," I said calmly, turning away slowly. Frankly, the childish drama of competing clans was beneath my care. I simply wanted to do well enough to succeed at the related quest and find a way to get out of the Temple.

I heard him growl a touch at me for ignoring him, but him being angry just meant I'd have more of a chance of beating him if we faced off.

"Is there a problem?" I looked up and saw an older man standing on the other side of the table from me, looking at where Jon was standing the last time that I bothered to look at him.

"No Master. I was just informing Initiate Shan that things will not be so easy in the following trials." Jon replied with a tone-neutral voice, and I bit my tongue to not retort.

"Ah, so this is the child of Revan, how interesting." The man's eyes were of a darker shade of green than my own, while his hair was black with large streaks of grey making me think he was at least in his forties, though I had no idea if the Force slowed ageing, so it was but a guess. His expression was calm, yet I felt as though he was examining me carefully as we held each other's gaze. "I know only one other Jedi with the ability to both phase through objects and teleport, though her teleport has a purple tint, while from what I saw of your obstacle course run, it can be noted that yours has a grey, almost silver tint."

All of that was news to me. I'd yet to hear of anyone who could Phase or Teleport, and now I discovered there was one woman who could also do both, and that my teleport had a different colour than hers, and I hadn't even known it had a colour to it.

"If you say so, sir," I replied, which drew a wry smile from the Jedi.

"Ah, I have forgotten my manners. I am Master Tholme and the young man speaking to your clanmate is my current Padawan, Quinlan Vos." I turned and saw that Aayla was talking animatedly with the same man with the yellow facial marking from yesterday. Clearly, the two knew each other from somewhere.

"Cameron Shan sir," I replied, extending my hand, and shaking his. The small smile on Tholme's face grew at my reply.

"I see Master Drallig was being truthful about how you address your superiors." He raised his hand as I opened my mouth to explain. "He already told me your logic and I understand, even if others within the Order may not."

"Master Tholme, how much longer until Quinlan can attempt his Trials?" Aayla blurted out as she stepped closer.

"I imagine no more than three to four years Aayla," Tholme said as he turned to her, releasing my hand as he did so, with a small smile on his face. "Do not worry yourself. Once he completes his Knight Trials, he will take you as a Padawan. Everyone in the Order knows this to be true. Even if some are uncomfortable with the bond you two already share."

Aayla nodded, though I noted her smile slipped a fraction at the time needed until Vos' Knight Trials. "Yes, Master."

"Quinlan Vos," the Padawan in question said as he shook my hand. "I would love to learn how you did what you did yesterday."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the bluntness of the statement. After dealing with more subtle comments from Padawans, Knights and a few Masters yesterday until I'd retreated to my room to train privately for today, it was nice to get someone being forthright in their reason for saying hello.

"You and most of the Order." He smirked at that. "Perhaps once the week is over, we can talk. Aayla trusts you, and while she's not a friend yet, she's certainly been nicer to me than others, so I'll trust her judgement on you." 'Plus, the only time you appeared in the Clone Wars you were fun.' I explained to him when his brow rose at me saying we could talk. Sia-Lan rolled her eyes at my comment about Aayla being 'nicer to me than others' but said nothing.

"I would like that. How do you expect to do today?"

I shrugged. "Survive. I've been at this for six months; everyone else for years. Honestly, I only expect to maybe win one duel today." OK, I was aiming for at least three, but no need to seem arrogant or over-confident.

"Hmm, then may I offer some advice?" Tholme said as he rubbed his chin and I nodded. "While this trial is all about your ability to use the Force to move objects, in this case, your opponent, simply pushing and pulling is not all that you can do with this ability."

"Thank you, sir." I nodded slowly as I thanked him. I'd already considered that based on the description of the Force Power but it was nice to have a subtle confirmation of that fact. While using the Force to choke someone was out, no matter how much fun it might be to do so, there were other body parts I could grip with the Force.

Once I'd retreated to my room yesterday afternoon, I'd spent close to twelve hours almost non-stop training my TK. That had gotten me a further three levels in the power, but I doubted the improvement would matter much. I'd then spent the last few hours this morning before breakfast going over combat scenarios, and what Tholme had just said meant many I had considered iffy to be allowed to do were possible, and his comment gave me an out if I got into trouble for doing something unexpected.

"I see you already understand my words." He said as our hands parted, a smile dancing on his face. "Just be careful not to go too far. These Trials are nothing but friendly competition."

I lowered my head, making myself bow a touch even though I was still sitting. "I understand." Indeed, unlike every other Initiate, I had fought and survived real battles – though ones without the Force or energy weapons – and understood that when in battle, the most important rule was survival, while in training it did not matter if you lost, only that you learnt from it.

"Come Quinlan. We have time before the Push-Feather Tournament begins and I wish to discuss your opinion of the events of our last mission."

"Yes, Master," Quinlan said, though before he left, he took a final look at Aayla and smiled at her.

... …

A couple of hours later I was stepping into the sparring circle for my first match of the push-feather tournament. Like Aayla, Serra, Sia-Lan, Funt and the other top twenty of the obstacle course, I'd received a bye in the first round for this tournament.

While I was happy about that in some regards, it just made me winning three duels that little bit harder to accomplish. Still, I had my ideas and Master Tholme's words had given me a few more to consider.

"Initiates are you prepared?" Master Bondara from the side of the circle and I brought my focus back to the Rodian across from me. Judging from his height – which may be a mistake, but I had no other guide to work with – he was around my age. Well, my body's age as technically I was nearly four thousand cycles old.

We both nodded, and I noticed his hand twitch a fraction.

"Begin when the gong sounds," Bondara stated and I went over the rules quickly in my head.

You can win one of three ways; taking an opponent off all his feet, knocking them from the circle or rendering them unconscious. The last one I'd only learnt when I'd seen Jon from Katarn Clan smack Jaeman with a blast to the back of the head that knocked out the younger boy before he hit the floor.

The rest of Dragon Clan were furious as Jon hadn't needed to be so aggressive and I'd seen Master Drallig speaking to him after the spar while healers tended to Jaeman.

My thoughts were brought back to the present as the gong sounded and I flicked three fingers on my left hand, sending three small TK blasts at my opponent's shoulder. While this was three attacks, it was judged as one by my Player Powers/Interface as after I reached Adept:1 I could lift multiple objects or initiate several smaller TK pushes simultaneously; the number of which was determined by my current level.

My opponent lifted his whole hand quickly and blocked all three attacks, and I noted his antennae twitch as I side-stepped his retaliation attack.

I sent another set of small pushes at him, this time aimed at his arm and chest while I clenched my right fist; using the Force to grip his shoe.

He blocked four of my smaller attacks but the fifth clipped his arm, making it fail backwards. He snarled, and I grimaced at the smell I detected coming from him. He threw out his hand at me and I instinctively rolled to the side, keeping my fist clenched.

As I finished the roll, I saw him prepping for another attack and pulled my fist backwards, taking his foot out from under him. As he hopped in confusion, I pushed my fist out and threw a full-strength TK push at him.

I watched in shock as he was lifted clean off the floor and sent flying backwards, out of the circle. The energy net that surrounded the circle flared to life, catching him easily and preventing the Rodian from smashing into the wall.

"Winner, Shan," Bondara said as I took a breath and got control of my shock.

Standing, I walked over to the Rodian and extended my hand. "Sorry, about that. I didn't think the push was that powerful."

The Rodian's eyes focused on me as his antennae leaned forward. I left my hand out until he sighed and took it; allowing me to help him stand.

"It is fine." He said slowly as he allowed me to pull him to his feet. "I was unprepared for the push when my leg failed me. I knew you had a hold of it, but I had not expected the yank you gave it as you finished your roll. That was my mistake."

I smiled even as I wished there was a way to block off the smell coming from him. It wasn't that bad, but it was still off-putting. "If I hadn’t done that, then you'd have gotten me with your next attack," I replied.

It was true. Once the match was finished, I noticed that my roll had taken me to the edge of the circle, meaning another roll or a small push would've taken me out of bounds.

The Rodian gave me a slight nod of acceptance and I left the circle, only to be accosted by my new clanmates.

"You won!" Serra said with a smile as they gathered around me.

"Don't sound so surprised." I retorted with a smile of my own.

"She's not. She's just happy you won as now she doesn't have to clean our dorm for the next few weeks." Sia-Lan grunted out and I chuckled at learning they had taken bets on my match.

"Isn't gambling for money against the Jedi Code?" I asked, though from what I understood for six months of boring-ass lectures on the Code and the role of the Jedi, I knew it wasn't. More of a grey area as the Force could help if used correctly for certain forms of gambling.

Serra looked down even as Darihd chuckled. "Technically, yes. But we keep our bets to cleaning duties. It's a way to make our spars more interesting. Thanks for the ideas by the way."

I shrugged. It was no big deal to me about the bets, though I didn't want to have to clean the boy's dorm.

"Who's up next?" I asked, changing the subject before anyone asked any specifics about how I'd won. Sure, they could all probably do better than me, but I need two more wins to complete this stage of the Trials quest, so I wasn't willing to reveal anything until it was over. 'Huh, have I become that person now? Only interested in finishing a quest?' I wondered as the clan turned to Darihd.

"Me. I'm against a member of Heliost Clan. He's good, finished second last year, easily beating me in the process and he's pushing the limit for getting selected as a Padawan." His head-tails – I really needed to learn the correct name for them, but I'd been far too busy to research it and I felt asking might come across as ignorant – rippled as he spoke, and I turned to see an older Human boy, just shy of being a teenager at a guess, enter the circle.

I leaned closer and whispered to him. "Go for his groin. It's dirty but it's not dark and winning equals survival."

When I leaned back, I saw his eyes widen until he smiled, exposing a row of sharp-looking teeth. "Sweet." He muttered as he stepped into the circle and I moved outside the range of the safety nets.

"What did you say to him?" Sia-Lan asked, and I noticed she was glancing between me and Darihd.

"Just gave him a pointer my grandfather told me years ago after I go into a fight at school," I replied as I watched a Jedi Master with dark brown, almost leathery-looking skin moved into the circle to begin the spar.

My mind, however, was already on my next fight.

… …

As I stepped into the sparring circle for the third time that day, I found myself facing a boy who had stood behind Jon of Katarn Clan that morning when he'd mouthed off. From what Sia-Lan had told me just before I entered the circle, the boy question was a few years older than me and was regarded as one of the favourites for this event, having lifted one of the Muntuur Stones, which from the way she spoke was impressive. Though I had no idea what she was talking about.

As I looked over at him, he smirked back, and I realised he expected to curb-stomp me.

'Fine then. Gloves off.' I thought as I readied my attack. Whatever these Stones were, lifting them must be hard, so he could probably bring a lot of force – no pun intended – to bear. Meaning I'd have to fight a little dirty and push the rules if I wanted to win.

"Initiates are you prepared?" Master Drallig asked, earning nods from myself and my opponent. "Then be ready."

It was a minor difference from what Master Bondara had said in my previous two bouts, but the meaning was the same.

As the gong sounded, I raised my hand and pushed as hard as I could with TK. The other boy stepped back a fraction, his brow rising in shock at my attack, but I didn't let up. As he continued to block my full-force TK push, my other hand sent a Force Blast – technically not illegal in push-feather, but not something that the various Councils would approve of – at the floor where he was standing.

To both of our amazement, the floor visibly cracked at the strike, but I hadn't let up my TK push, and he slipped, losing his Focus. That allowed me to send him flying from the circle with enough speed that I was concerned I'd killed him until the energy net kicked in and slowed his momentum.

"Winner, Shan," Drallig said and I instantly rushed over to my opponent.

"Is he ok?" I asked the Jedi who were tending to him as others approached.

"He will be fine in time." The female Jedi who was running something over him said calmly. "The net did its job and limited his velocity safely and the Force will accelerate the healing of his bones."

I gulped at how easy it had been to break someone with a full-powered TK push and said a silent prayer to the inventors of the energy net. Without it, I would be up on charges of murder and this whole new life would be over before it had begun.

"What the frag was that?" I turned to face the voice and saw Jon from that morning approaching, his eyes narrowed dangerously and focused on me even as his hands clenched into fists. "You tried to kill him."

"I tried to win," I replied quietly, wishing I could put on Player’s Mind but knowing that saying that now would be a problem. "I was told he could lift some stones and it sounded impressive so I…"

"So, you tried to kill him!" Jon stepped closer still and cocked his arm backwards.

"Enough!" The healer ordered, turning her gaze to Jon. "Control your emotions now." The words were said without aggression, but the tone was clear in the threat that if he didn't, Jon would be in just as much trouble as I was.

Jon said nothing, but he continued to glare at me as more people came over.

"How is Initiate Kirkhey?" Asked a voice that made me cringe. I turned and saw the same older Jedi master who'd met me with Yoda and Giiett when I'd first arrived on Coruscant and who seemed to despise me being allowed to even stay in the Temple. How he felt about my participation in these Trials I could only guess, but I seriously doubted he approved.

"He will recover Master Belfarr; however, he will not be taking any further part in the Trials." The healer replied and I was both glad he would live and fearful of the next words from the Council Master's mouth.

"Then Initiate Shan is also disbarred from further activities this week." Belfarr almost growled out and I didn't look up at him even as I felt my anger growing at his decision.

"That is not your decision to make Master Belfarr," I heard Master Windu say calmly and turned to see him approaching with High Council members Plo Koon and Yaddle. "The Council of First Knowledge control the training of Initiates and Younglings, not the High Council and thus the final decision to allow the Initiate to continue is theirs to make." He paused and turned his attention to me. "Initiate Shan, for now, you are removed from the push-feather tournament. Your next match, if the Council of First Knowledge permits you to continue, will take place after breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," I replied, not really caring if I was still in the tournament or not. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked the healer.

She gave me a soft smile and placed a hand on my shoulder. "While I thank you for the offer, I believe I, and the other healers, can handle this."

I nodded in acceptance and stood. Ignoring the sneer Jon was sending my way – and the look of disgust I caught on Belfarr's face – I walked away, heading for my room.

"Hey Cameron, wait up!" I slowed at the familiar sound of Darihd's voice, but I didn't stop walking. "Seriously wait. We need to talk."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and I spun to face him, Jaeman and another boy from the Clan whose name slipped my mind for the moment.

"Fuck off!" I pushed his hand away. "Don't follow me," I stated as I marched away.

I needed time. Time to clear my head at almost having killed a child.

Yeah, I might be trapped in the boy of one, but my mind was that of a ten-year military veteran who'd seen far too many dead children. Dealing with the idea that I almost killed one myself was too much and after storming through the temple I entered my assigned dorm and smashed my hand hard into the wall.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." I said, marking each word with another punch of the wall, then followed it up with a flurry of punches against the wall. Suddenly I felt weak and stumbled back to my bed even as my emotions came under control.

WARNING!

HP under 25%

Player’s Mind auto-engaged.

...

I frowned at the message. "List stats," I whispered and noted that my HP was now down to 22, which was less than twenty-five per cent of the total I had. "Seriously? That was only a few dozen punches, so how did it do that much damage?" Though I noted that my Physical Damage Resistance had gone up a level. "Wait, you mean that punching a wall can help me level up my PDR? And I can use the Force to heal myself afterwards. That is… exploitable. And I could do that with Energy DR with a lightsaber or blaster at low settings..." I shook my head as I realised that I had a way of making myself partly immune to any damage by intentionally hurting myself. While it seemed wrong, I could see myself doing so. I doubted that even at the maximum level, wither would allow me to shrug off any punch, or even hold a lightsaber without taking damage, but it was a worthwhile goal to pursue.

Quest Alert!

You Can't Hurt Me. [User Defined]

Time to be (almost) unhurtable.

Rating: B

Objective:

Raise each of your Damage Resistances to Professional 1 by the time you are 17.

Bonus: ?

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

350XP [x6]

Penalties:

Unless you can raise 3 of your Damage Resistances to the required level, then all of the Damage Resistances will become frozen at their levels when the quest expires for ten years.

Accept: ?

Yes/No

...

NOTE:

The penalty for failure is increased as the timeframe for completing the quest is long.

Quests with shorter timeframes carry lower risks for the same reward.

...

I pondered the quest mentally for about a minute before accepting it.

Raising my Physical and Energy DRs would be easy enough but those were currently the only two DR skills I had. I had considered what the others might be and came up with chemical, biological, and electrical as possible DRs. It should be easy to test the theories later and discover what the other one was.

As I used Force Heal to restore my HP, I pondered what else might be exploitable in such a way and my mind turned back to the main Trails quest. I had met two of the three main objectives, leaving just the lightsaber duels, and there I felt lacking. However, I had almost two days to train for them, more if I was out of the push-feather tournament, during which I could focus solely on lightsaber skills.

Though there were only two Forms available to me, I already knew that Form II was the way to go. It was designed to counter a lightsaber-wielding opponent and I knew that Form I relied on speed, something I seemed to be seriously lacking, so perhaps there was a way to get my Form II up quickly as a quest?

Quest Alert!

Trainee Duellist [User Defined]

Time to put your money, or XP, where your mouth is.

Rating: C

Objective:

Get Form II to level Adept:1 by your first lightsaber duel.

Bonus: ?

Bonus: ?

Reward:

1000XP

Penalty:

-250XP

Accept?

Yes/No

...

I smirked as the quest appeared and I realised that I could exploit this massively to climb levels by dedicating myself to a task or two at a time, so I accepted the quest.

I figured that thanks to Serenity and only needing to sleep once or twice a month at most, which I had done the night before the Trials began, I could spend all of tonight and tomorrow night training nothing but Makashi. That should hopefully get me through the main objective and to one of the bonuses, which I postulated could only be to reach even higher levels in Makashi.

I was considering other quests to create once the Trials were over when the doorbell chimed.

"Player Mind off," I whispered before raising my voice. "Enter."

The door opened to reveal Darihd and Dragon Clan; even the younger members who weren't taking part in the Trials.

"At least you're being more civil now," Darihd said with a smirk as he led his Clan into my room; making it very crowded.

"How come he gets his own room?" A girl who I had seen around but never spoken to, her name escaped me for a moment, asked as her grey eyes took in my room.

"Because he's not a proper Initiate." Replied Sia-Lan with a sigh. "And an arrogant laserbrain." A few other clan members stared at the girl, but she kept her eyes locked on me. "You think you're the first to seriously injure someone during these Trials? Well, you're not. So, get over yourself."

I chuckled at her bluntness. "Well thank you for that pep-talk Sia, it's already working."

"Dumb Kriff." She muttered as she turned away.

"While Sia-Lan lacks subtlety," Darihd began, proving he had already mastered the Jedi ability for understatement, "she does have a point. There are usually one or two nasty injuries every year the Initiate Trials take place. There's even more in the Padawan tournaments, but those aren't as severe." He shrugged at that comment. "I guess that’s because they've gotten more training than we do."

I nodded a touch and stood from my bed. "While I am happy you all came to see me, I'm fine now." I paused and glanced at the small window as I considered how to explain away my calmness after less than thirty minutes. "Honestly, I don't think it was that I hurt him, more that I had flashbacks to killing the Sith apprentice to escape my former home." That should cut off a lot of questions.

"What was it like? Fighting the Sith I mean?" the young girl – Jyl, that was her name – probed. "Was it scary? How did you defeat him?"

I chuckled at the girl, even as Sia-Lan and Serra both gave her glares to be quiet. Though the way they, and the rest of the clan, tried to look at me without looking told me they all wanted to know. I had been avoiding that for a while now.

"Scary. Very, very scary. My grandfather was already dead, as were a Jedi Master and his Padawan. I'd already killed three of the people with the Sith, but the apprentice chased me into the ship.

"I, uh, distracted her while she choked me and got her to turn away long enough for me to pull the Jedi Master's lightsaber from my pocket and stab her with it twice when she turned back to face me." I sighed and looked up at the roof. "I was very, very lucky."

"Understatement," Sia-Lan muttered.

"Changing topic," I said, making clear I didn't want to talk further about that. "What are these Stones of Mantar?"

"Muntuur. Muntuur stones." Serra corrected with a small smirk. "I swear, you did that on purpose."

I smiled back at her, but neither confirmed nor denied her accusation.

She shook her head. "Come on. The room is good for meditating and I think you could do with that."

The other elder members of the Clan agreed and I walked with them to the room in question, whistling at seeing the seven large stones that said in a semi-circle around the far wall of the room.

"Most Jedi can only lift two or three of these things, though they say Master Yoda has managed to get six up and moving at once," Jaeman explained. As I looked at each of the stones in turn. At a guess, each was over a ton in weight. "Though it's rumoured that a Jedi Master named Snee once lifted all seven and went for a walk through the Temple district."

"Saven, that's the boy you beat earlier, is the only current Initiate to lift even one of these things," Trudie added. "You think you can lift one?"

Quest Alert!

Stones of Muntuur

Be the first Jedi since Ferleen Snee to lift all seven Muntuur Stones

Rating: S**

Objective:

Lift all 7 Muntuur Stones simultaneously before the Start of the Clone Wars.

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

6000XP

Penalties

% based on the overall weight lifted at once when the quest ends. [50 tonnes]

Telekinesis is permanently locked at the quest end level.

Accept:

Yes/No

...

I looked at each stone slowly as I pondered the quest. The reward was massive; the second highest I'd gotten, but the idea my TK would be limited so badly if I failed had me pausing for a moment. Still, TK was already at the Professional tier, and with my current lift limits, I could manage about fifteen per cent of that total weight with TK maxed out; that was if the lift weight limit didn't increase as it had done when I'd reached Adept:1 and Professional:1.

"Yes. Yes, I think I can give it a try." I answered both the quest and Trudie's question and extended my hand, focusing on what looked like the smallest of the Stones.

I grunted as I felt the weight I was trying to lift and increased the effort, trying to work out the weight of the Stone until, as I was using what my interface said was a TK force of just over a ton, the stone began to rise slowly. I ignored the gasps coming from those around me as I lifted the stone to the roof before lowering it down even slower than I'd lifted it.

"That was awesome!" someone said, and I turned to see a group of younglings had just entered the room with Master Yoda.

"Impressive, that was. More useful than raw power, however control can be." Yoda said with his ears twitching upwards.

"Yes sir," I replied with a smirk creeping onto my face as I realised that because I'd shown myself to be that powerful with TK, my next opponent – if I had one – would expect me to attack similarly, thus going small or using blasts might be beneficial.

I turned to the members of Dragon Clan. "Hey, how about a few quick spars?"

"Why not," Darihd answered with a shrug. "Save for you, me, Jaeman and Sia-Lan, no one else is still in the push-feather."

"Eh, why not. Beating you never gets old." Serra added with a grin that made me promise to one day beat her in a spar.

Quest Alert!

Wipe that Grin off Her Face [User Defined]

One day you have to beat Serra Keto in a lightsaber duel.

Rating: C

Objective:

Defeat Serra in a spar before either of you becomes a Jedi Knight.

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

600XP

Penalties:

Lightsaber skills become locked for 5 years at quest end levels.

Accept?

Yes/No

...

"Yes, laugh it up but one day I will trounce you," I replied waving my hand madly around my head. "Victory shall be mine!" I added with a mad grin, making the members of Dragon Clan chuckle, and drawing a few giggles from the Younglings as we left the room.

"You're such a laserbrain," Sia-Lan muttered as she shook her head, though I thought I saw the hint of a smile trying to creep onto her face.

… …

About an hour later I stepped out of the sparring circle, a frown marring my face as I looked over at my opponent.

Once again, I had lost to Trudie, a girl nearly two years younger than me and it was starting to get on my nerves.

How could I be so good at using the Force but suck so much at learning to wield a lightsaber?

"How did you do that? I mean, there was no way you could've seen the second saber, yet you ducked instinctively and then rolled away from my attack without ever seeing it coming." I asked her as we moved over to where the rest of the Clan was gathered, Sia-Lan and Jaeman stepping into the circle in our place.

"The Force told me," Trudie replied in a way that must have felt logical to her but sounded like a pile of horseshit to me.

"What Trudie means is that we learn to trust the Force when it gives us warnings. It's one of the first things…" Darihd's voice trailed off for a moment before he slapped his forehead. "Right. You were never a Youngling.

"Well, one of the first things they teach Younglings to do when given a lightsaber is to allow the Force to help guide you to a target. It feels like you know what is going to happen before it happens."

I looked at the older boy in a combination of shock and annoyance. The shock came from the fact that I hadn't realised that there was more to lightsaber combat than just blade skill and made a mental note to review my Force powers and see if one fit the role of pre-cognitive abilities. And annoyance at the fact none of the Masters had seemingly realised that I might have missed some basic Force training by not sitting in on a Youngling class or two.

"Yeah, that makes sense," I said slowly, already taking a step away from the group. "Um, I think I need to go and think about this a bit," I said before I jogged, then ran across the Temple and up several flights of stairs – annoying more than a handful of older Jedi – until I reached my room.

"List Force Powers," I stated as the doors closed and browsed the shortlist until two jumped out at me. I tapped each in turn and read their descriptions.

Precognition

Novice:5

A combat-based power that helps to predict and anticipate attacks.

[Due to your status as the Player, these are displayed as white notices above your combat log]

Cost:

50FP + 5FP/sec

Auto-engage in Combat: Yes/No

...

Bullet Time

Novice:16

Grants the ability to effectively slow down the world around you, allowing you more time to deal with a situation.

Cost:

237FP + 15FP/Sec

Auto-engage in Combat: Yes/No

...

As I read each, I felt a giant urge to scream at the wall at realising that my level in Form I might not be the issue with my losses in the last six months of spars as both were set to not auto-engage in combat. They also would've come in handy today during the Push-Feather duels.

"Player’s Mind," I managed to growl out and instantly felt the anger/annoyance/fury die away.

I checked each of the twenty-six powers I currently had and found that six others – TK, Breath Control, Detection, Speed, Sight and Enhance – all had options to auto-engage in combat. I set Precognition and Bullet Time to auto-engage in combat, figuring that just those two would give me a major boost, even if their levels were very low.

"Fine, then I train up at least Bullet Time and Precognition while training Makashi until the lightsaber duels. If I get back into the push-feather tourney, I'm fine as I've made the main objective there, so anything else is a bonus."

A glance at the chronometer told me it was about thirty minutes to dinner time, which meant, if I could get back here and practice without interruptions, I had about twelve hours tonight to train. I'd have the same tomorrow night and at least six hours during the day, taking out time for meals and keeping Dragon Clan out of my hair.

I laughed once as I realised that while I'd almost killed someone today, without doing so I might not have realised how to exploit my powers for quick and easy quests, or why I was possibly struggling so badly at duelling.

Though even if I improved enough to make the free-for-all, I wouldn't train any further after that. I didn't want to fuel any hype that I was the Chosen One and run the risk that the High Council assigned me a Master who stayed at the Temple all the time.

... …

… …

Snapping out of my stance when my morning alarm sounded, I placed Haqu's lightsaber back in my inventory and jumped into a quick sonic shower.

I'd managed to get ten hours of near-continuous training in Makashi done during the night, stopping only for a few minutes each hour to speed up my FP regeneration. I'd done it this way as I felt that stopping every three or four minutes when my FP reached 0 to then meditate was less effective.

While this limited Precognition and Bullet Time to only a level of increase each, I'd added twelve levels to Makashi, leaving me only a few short of reaching the base objective in the Trainee Duellist quest, and a handful in Lightsaber [1-handed] which increased my critical chance and damage; though what this was never revealed to me as the help menus had said such values were hidden to avoid a number overload, though I would still get notifications when I scored a critical hit.

Still, I was feeling a lot better this morning compared to yesterday and left my quarters with a small smile on my face, though this quickly fell as I wondered about the boy from yesterday and decided to visit the infirmary before reaching the mess hall.

"Hello young one, how can I help you?" I turned as I entered the infirmary and found myself face to face – snout? – with a fur-covered alien.

"Um, yeah. I was wondering about an Initiate brought in here yesterday. His name is…"

"Saven Kirkhey." The alien finished for me with a smile that exposed some very impressive canines. "I am aware who you are Initiate Shan. You will find Initiate Kirkhey in room Besh-Seven."

"I, um, I'm not sure he'd want to see me. I was more just wondering if he was doing ok."

The Jedi healer tilted his head to the left for a few seconds before answering. "Yes, he is healing well. He spent the night in a Bacta tank, but scans show his bones are knitting together properly. You have nothing to worry about Initiate, he will recover and re-join his Clan by the beginning of next week at the latest."

"That's good to know." I turned to leave but paused and turned back to the healer. "Um, when he wakes can you tell him I stopped by and that I'm sorry for what happened? I was just told he was really powerful at using the Force telekinetically and figured I'd only win by going all out."

The healer nodded and gave me another toothy smile. "I will, but the point of the Trials is to prove yourself and, as you said, go all out. That you destroyed the obstacle course and won three fights in push-feather so comfortably is a clear indication that you are not holding back." He paused and leaned closer. "Indeed, many in the Temple are wondering if you are special." He leaned back and chuckled, though he sounded more like a wolf than a man. "Though don't get a big head. Any Padawan would easily beat you, never-mind a Knight or Master."

"Yes sir," I said and stepped out of the Infirmary. 'Great, just freaking great. The better I do in these Trials the more it seems the Jedi are coming to think I'm the Chosen One.' I chuckled for a moment at a stray thought. 'Ha, bet they'll all be confused when Anakin turns up and has a higher midi-chlorian count than even Yoda. Though if they name me the Chosen One, what the hell what they do with Anakin?' I laughed quietly to myself as I walked to the mess hall, wondering all the way if there was a way that I could use this to lessen the pressure on Anakin – and stop him getting a big head – so that when Palpatine made his move, Anakin stayed with the Jedi. Or at least, stood against the Sith.

Quest Alert!

Changing Fate [Anakin]

Can you prevent the rise of Darth Vader?

Rating: S***

Objective:

Find a way to prevent Anakin Skywalker from falling to the Sith.

Bonus: ?

Bonus: ?

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

15000XP

Penalties:

Anakin turns to the Dark Side earlier than canon.

The death of ALL Jedi who don’t submit to the Sith and their Empire.

Accept?

Yes/No

...

That stopped me dead in my tracks. Stopping Anakin falling would have a massive effect on the fate of the Jedi, and I was going to have to deal with him once he appeared, but getting it in a quest, and one with the highest XP reward yet, was not something I'd expected, in hindsight, I supposed I should have.

I pondered the bonuses, wondering if they were linked to his mother and Padme, but I had no way to be sure.

The penalties were just as severe as the reward was tempting. If I understood it correctly, then failing this quest would mean even Yoda and Obi-Wan wouldn't make it out of the Clone Wars – unless they became Sith. So dead.

"Yes," I whispered, thinking that if I didn't stop the 'Rise of Vader' I was probably dead in a few decades anyway, so why not get paid – in XP – for doing so?

"Cameron! Where have you been?" Jaeman asked as I rounded a corner near the mess hall. "We've been looking for you all morning." The other boy looked a little out of breath and his eyes were wider than normal.

"Um, why?" I asked as I tried to figure out if I'd done something else to draw attention to myself.

"The Council, the one in charge in the Trials, they've reinstated you into the push-feather," he said rapidly, his brown eyes blinking as he spoke.

"Ok," I replied slowly, not getting why he seemed so flustered.

"And your match is in five minutes." He added, and my own eyes shot open.

"Right," I said slowly as I turned and the pair of us ran to the sparring circles where the push-feather dual where being held. 'Bloody assholes. Couldn't they have sent me a message or something?' I wondered as we weaved around small groups of Jedi or Younglings until we reached the hall.

"You found him!" Serra shouted out as we slid to a stop and passed through the large doorway.

"Yeah… Outside… Mess." Jaeman explained between breaths.

"Here, I grabbed you something to eat," Funt said as he handed me a bottle of water and some fruit.

"Thanks." I quickly devoured the offered food and drink and turned with Dragon Clan as Masters Drallig and Bondara approached.

"Initiate Shan, it is good of you to join us," Drallig said with a smirk. "We were wondering if you had slept in when no one responded to the summons."

I mentally cursed as I realised that they had messaged me, and a tap at my waist told me I'd forgotten – again – to take my comm device with me.

"Sorry. I left my comms in my room, again, and went to the Infirmary to check on Saven." I explained, which seemed to please both Jedi Masters.

"Hmm, very well. We suggest you hurry. Your bout is due to begin any minute and Master Dooku is not one to keep waiting."

I gulped at realising Dooku was officiating my bout today and nodded. "Yes sir." A quick jog later, and a slightly terrifying glare from the future Sith Lord, I found myself in the duelling circle once more.

"Prepare yourselves," Dooku said slowly, calmly, yet still sounding utterly imposing.

At the sound of the gong, my combat log stated Player’s Mind, Precognition and Bullet Time had all activated even as I sent four rapid-fire Force blasts at my opponent even as Precognition warned me of a push inbound to my left leg.

As I stepped over his attack, he ducked the first blast and stepped away from the second but the third caught his left shin and the fourth the right shoulder.

Not giving him time to adjust, I sent two more blasts at him, the first striking his left arm while the second caught him in the gut and sent him tumbling backwards.

"Winner Shan," Dooku stated and I noted his brow had risen a touch as he looked at me.

I stepped across the circle and helped up my fellow Initiate.

"What the Kriff was that?" he asked once he was upright.

"Not telling now, but ask me again once the Trials are over," I replied with a smirk. He seemed a little taken aback by my initial non-disclosure but relaxed when I finished speaking. Not that I wanted to explain what I did, but it was better to appear friendly after curb-stomping someone, unless I wanted to make an enemy of them.

"I will do so. Well fought."

"Indeed," Dooku said from behind me, making me almost jump. "It has been some time since I've seen an Initiate so young understand the basics of a Force Blast. Impressive, but you lack the finesse to guide your blasts and pushes in anything but a straight line."

I felt my eyes widen at that. "Yes sir. I've only been at this for a few months but give me a few more and I think I'll have gotten the hang of it."

He rubbed his beard slowly. "Maybe but be careful of overconfidence young one. Others may believe you fulfil a special role in the Order, but do not let it make you sloppy."

I thought about his words for a moment before replying. "Yes sir. However, if they place belief in me, that is their flaw, not mine. I can only control my actions, for now."

Dooku's eyes narrowed and he looked directly into mine. "Wise words, especially for one so young. I will be watching your performances in the rest of these Trials carefully."

He left no room for a reply as he walked over to where Drallig and Bondara were standing, leaving me to think on his words. Clearly what I had said, and how I had said it, had affected him, now I just had to impress him more so that he wanted to take an interest in my future education, even if I wasn't assigned to him as a Padawan. It would allow me an in to try and prevent his fall to the Dark Side.

"What was that about?" Funt asked as I left the circle and approached Dragon Clan. "Dooku only ever seems to criticize Initiates, when he doesn't glare you into feeling no bigger than a dung beetle."

"Yeah, what did you two talk about?" Sia-Lan asked with a slight creasing of her brow.

"Nothing major, he just warned me not to become arrogant because of what others think of me." I paused as I considered asking them about the prophecy. "Now that I think about it, Master Dooku seemed to be hinting at something Master Giiett and a few others have also spoken obtrusively about. Some kind of prophecy or legend I think."

The way the various members of Dragon Clan looked away from me – save Sia-Lan, whose eyes narrowed as her brow creased more – told me they knew something about it.

"What?" I said slowly.

"Well, when we were younglings, Master Yoda taught us a class on the Force and prophecies. In it, he only mentions one prophecy and talks about it in a way that makes it seem that every Jedi can and, at the same time, can't be the target of that prophecy." Darihd slowly explained as the rest of the Clan glanced between the two of us.

"This prophecy talks of a Chosen One. Someone sent by the Force with the potential to be the greatest of all Jedi and bring Balance to the Force by defeating the Sith once-and-for-all and bringing peace and prosperity to the galaxy."

'Well Fuck,' I thought as I considered his words, and how the ending reminded me of Anakin's words when he fought Obi-Wan. "So, what does that have to do with me?"

"Seriously?" Sia-Lan blurted out and she threw her arms up. "You appear here, in a ship not manufactured in over three-thousand years, a dead Sith in tow, and claim to be the great-grandchild of a man who was both Jedi and Sith, but neither. How could some of these morons not think that you're the Chosen One?"

I stared at her for a while, more surprised that she was the one to put into words what I'd already suspected than because of what she'd said, before turning back to Darihd.

"Is that, is that why you dared Serra to talk to me?"

"Um, kind of…" Darihd replied, looking away from me. "When you appeared here – with your seemingly impossible story that the High Council said was true – and seemed to pick up Force training so quickly, we were curious, so we dared Serra to talk to you."

"Not why I accepted though," Serra added with a small smile that I quickly mirrored as I remembered our initial talk about famous families and being cut off from them.

"I still don't like you." Sia-Lan tacked on with a very slight smirk. "Though I can tolerate you as long as you keep doing well in the Trials."

At least I now knew why her attitude towards me had lessened so much. "Thanks for the honesty," I replied, mock-saluting her, and earning a growl and a roll of her eyes in response.

"So, you're not angry about why we started hanging around you?" Aayla asked, her head-tails rippling and her fingers playing with each other as she spoke.

"Back then I might have been but now, no, not really," I answered, making the blue-skinned alien girl smile a touch. "But I'd like to see this prophecy for myself," I said to Darihd since he was the Minder of Dragon Clan and thus, nominally in charge, even if I had asserted control on more than a few occasions over the last few months.

"That's going to be difficult. All prophecies are kept in the Archives, but the exact details of them are restricted to Knights or higher." He replied.

"Ah, never-mind then." Though I figured that if I could get my computing skills to a high enough level could hack my way into restricted files, and probably a lot more as well.

Quest Alert!

Just Don't Get Caught [User Defined]

If you want to read secure files, you'll need to be better with computers.

Rating: C

Objectives:

Get all 3 Computing skills [Slicing/Programming/Electronics] to Master:1 before your 17th cycle.

Bonus: ?

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

1000XP

Penalties:

Computing Skills are locked for 5 years at their levels at the end of the quest.

Accept?

Yes/No

...

"Do want to head to the Archives?" Jaeman asked as I took my mind away from them at the new quest that appeared.

"Right now, not so much. But after I'm out of the push-feather, yes, I think I'll head down and see what I can find." Accepting the quest as I answered his question. "But for now, I need to think about this; privately."

"You sure?" Aayla asked, her head-tails seeming to drop a touch.

"Yeah. Finding out that people here think I'm some kind of saviour is a lot to take in." I replied and stepped away from the group, only to pause as a hand was placed on my arm.

"We're here if you want to talk," Serra said, earning her a nod of thanks before I left the hall and returned to my quarters. Though I was going to practice Makashi, not dwell on a prophecy that I knew did not apply to me.

… …

I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked up at the roof of a room, blinking to clear the spots in my vision.

"Wha?"

"Easy there. You took a nasty hit," I heard a female voice say and the next moment there was a face looking down at me, which I recognized as that of the healer who'd treated Saven Kirkley the day before. "Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

I frowned and thought back. "I was in a push-feather duel; the semi-final I think, but I was struggling. The girl across from me was good. Like really good. I felt something hit my leg, then lights and then nothing."

"Well, your memory's fine." She said with a smile as she ran a small cylindrical tube over my forehead. "I'm sorry to say you lost. She took one of your pushes and guided it around behind you; taking your knees out before she hit you with a final push.

"That's why you're here actually. You hit the ground hard and we had to be sure there was no damage. Thankfully the scans say you are fine, save for a mild headache. How do you feel? Any blurred vision or inability to focus?" I shook my head and she smiled before slowly helping me sit up. "What about now? Does anything feel wrong?"

"Nope. I feel fine." I replied, wanting to get some privacy so I could call up my stats and see if it said anything about injuries. I might've said I was fine, but something felt a little off. "Can I return to my friends?"

Her smile grew a touch at my words. "You could, but like most of the Temple, they are sound asleep." She pointed at the wall to my right and I glance up there to see the clock said it was just past twenty-three-hundred.

"How long was I out?" I asked, worried I'd missed the lightsaber duel and failed the 'Trainee Duellist' quest.

"Only a few hours, but I'd prefer you rest up here tonight."

"Can't I go back to my room? I promise I won't leave." I slouched down a bit. "I don't like infirmaries," I said quietly, hoping to play on a common fear to get out of here and back to my quarters so I could practice and check my stats.

"Hmm, I suppose so. But I will have someone escort you to make sure you go straight to bed."

"Yes ma'am," I replied as I already began to plan how long I'd have to wait for my escort to leave before I could pull out one of the lightsabers in my inventory and practice enough to at least meet the base condition of the relevant quest.

"Good. Wait here a moment while I find a trainee to escort you."

"List Stats." Came from my mouth quietly the moment she left the room and the doors closed behind her.

I frowned when I saw that every numerical value was down a touch and scrolled down until I came to the end of the list.

Injuries:

Mild Concussion [16:34:51] HEAL?

This results in a 10% decrease in all stats and their derived values.

[Can be healed for 500FP]

…

I noted that the number beside the injury was decreasing, meaning that if I just left it, I would be weakened until midday tomorrow. Curious about the way the word Heal was emphasized, I pressed at where it was floating and watched as a new pop-up appeared.

Mild Concussion

Can be healed with Force Heal.

Cost: 500FP

Heal?

Yes/No

…

"Yes," I said instantly and watched as the injury disappeared and my stats and derived values all returned to their proper levels. "Well, that's exploitable. And not just for me." I muttered as I slid off the bed I was on and waved away my stats. 'I imagine that restoring lost limbs is not possible, but pretty much any other injury is curable with enough Force Points. Hmm, does that mean I can save Qui-Gon even after he's stabbed by Maul?'

Quest Alert!

Changing Fate [Qui-Gon Jinn]

Can you delay the death of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn?

Rating: B

Objective:

Prevent Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul

Bonus: ?

Rewards:

2000XP

Penalties:

Qui-Gon still dies.

Massive loss of Reputation with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi [-500]

Accept?

Yes/No

…

"Well, that's easy. Yes." I mumbled. Saving Qui-Gon would help with Anakin. Plus, I was a fan of Liam Neeson.

Though now I found myself wondering why the Temple scanners had only detected a mild headache when I actually had a concussion. Was something about my unique powers interfering with the scanner?

I didn't have time to ponder that as the doors opened and the healer returned with a green-skinned girl who looked to be in her mid-teens.

"This is Wisha Dari. She will escort you back to your room and make sure you rest." The Healer was speaking to both of us and I nodded in understanding, even if I planned to get this girl to leave ASAP.

As we left the Infirmary I looked up at the teen. "Forgive me, but I've never seen you before. What race are you?"

Wisha looked down at me with her orange eyes. "I am a Mirialan and you would not see many of my kind in the Order. While my race may produce many Force Sensitives, we have an understanding with the High Council that only a Mirialan may train another in the ways of the Jedi. My master is Luminara Unduli; the only Mirialan Jedi Master currently."

"OK. I'm still getting used to meeting new races." I replied honestly. "Before arriving here, I lived with my grandfather on a farm. All our neighbours were Human." I wasn't sure if that was true, but it was a solid cover story that I'd used a few times already and seemed to have been bought by the Jedi.

"Mirialans are what is classed as near-Human. We are biologically compatible with our major difference being we have far higher flexibility than your average Human." Wisha explained without me asking or wanting, her to do so.

"OK." I had no follow-up to that. Well, not any that an eight-year-old Jedi Initiate should have.

We walked in silence from then on until we arrived at my assigned quarters.

"I will remain here until I am certain you are sleeping," Wisha stated in what I assumed she thought was a commanding voice but failed to have any effect on me.

"Ok. Night." I slipped into my room, and after washing, slid under the covers.

Since I couldn't train Makashi until Wisha left, but I had no intention of sleeping, I activated Precognition and waited quietly until it drained my FP.

Once that happened, I meditated until my FP was full and then sent a pulse with Force Detection which, while adding lots of Force-user pulses to my mini-map, showed that no one was directly outside my door.

As I slid out of bed, I pulled Haqu's lightsaber from my inventory and got to work on training for the last part of the trials.

… …

"Cameron! Where were you? We went to the Infirmary this morning, but the healer-on-duty said you weren't there." Jaeman asked as he saw me approach the table where Dragon Clan gathered. The rest of the Clan turned at his shouting out my name.

"My quarters. The healer last night said I was free to go and rest in my room." I replied as I sat down between him and Aayla.

OK, so I'd not slept and trained Makashi up to Adept:1, meeting the basic objective of Trainee Duellist. The levels in Makashi and Lightsaber [1-handed] had lifted my total skill levels to over six thousand, granting me another stat point, and after spending one each on STR, AGI and VIT, I had one leftover as a spare.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Aayla asked as she placed her hand on my forearm.

I turned and smiled at her, though I noted Serra's brow had dropped as she looked at Aayla and me. "Yeah, I'm fine. Though sleeping through today's events might not have been a bad thing." I chuckled at my bad joke. While I was still not overly hopeful of making the free-for-all, I did hope I'd win at least my first duel. Though my plans involved not actively showing my improvement in Makashi unless I absolutely had to. The rules on the duels stated the ways to win and what was banned, but none of the Force Powers I had learned/developed since arriving in this universe were on that list, meaning I had more than a few ideas about winning that weren't lightsaber-focused.

"Hey, at least it'll be over quick." Suggested Sia-Lan with a smirk.

"And we finished third as a Clan in push-feather thanks to you and Sia-Lan," Darihd added as his head-tails bounced around. "Getting both of you to the semis was great."

"Well now it's up to the rest of you," I said as I picked up a pear-looking fruit called Shuura. "I think I've more than earned my keep."

"Our best bets are the girls and Darihd," Jaeman commented and I had to agree. Darihd was excellent at Form I, and fast too. Sia-Lan, Aayla and Serra were all very comfortable with Ataru, though Serra's training in Jar’Kai was useless in these duels as it was a single-bladed lightsaber per duellist.

Jaeman was competent with Soresu, but he didn't have the stamina or discipline to last for long while Funt was aiming more to be a healer than a swordsman and spent most of his time using Niman; which I'd come to regard as something of a fall-back for those who weren't comfortable with fighting or wished to pursue other avenues of being a Jedi.

"Hey, everyone's doing fine. From what I can tell, you guys are the youngest Clan to be taking part." I countered, hoping to raise his spirits as Jaeman. Truthfully, he'd been near the bottom of both the obstacle course and push-feather and I was concerned this would somehow affect his chances of being taken as a Padawan.

I'd asked them about how Padawans were selected before the Trials had begun and I'd learnt that only about half of the Initiates were taken by a Jedi; the rest were assigned to one of four corps.

Nominally, this was to keep them with the Order but to me, it hinted at both tossing them aside when they were found to be lacking while keeping them under the control of the Order. I could be wrong about their motives, but that was how my military mind saw things; and even without knowing that war was coming, it seemed stupid for the Jedi to limit their numbers so massively.

"We are. We had a few older members, but they were all taken as Padawans in the past cycle." Darihd added, slapping Jaeman on the shoulder. "Besides, not all of us are walking, talking, Force-sent gifts." He smirked at me and I had to bite off the need to retort. I really shouldn't haven't have asked about the prophecy.

"Stop it, Dar," Serra said with a small frown.

I gave Serra a small smile of thanks, making her cheeks redden, which had Trudie, Jyl and a few of the even younger girls in the Clan giggle.

"What's the schedule?" I asked, moving the conversation away from Serra's embarrassment, though I'd probably be just as embarrassed as well if I was a normal eight-year-old instead of a near thirty-year-old in a child's body. Honestly, it was little things like this that still made me uneasy around my fellow Initiates but I felt that making friends with them now would be useful later if I couldn't slow or prevent the Clone Wars and the rise of the Sith. Though plans to stop Sidious and others were on the back-burner until after the Trials.

"Oh, right." Darihd pulled out a datapad and slid it down the table to me. "Every duel in the first round is set, as are the following rounds. I'm up first in about an hour."

I looked down the list and saw my match was the thirty-second match in the opening round and I was against a boy from Heliost Clan. That meant I had just over three hours before my duel; provided the duels all ran on time with ten minutes assigned to each duel.

"You actually have a chance against him," Aayla stated as she leaned closer and looked at the pad. "He's only a month above the cut-off and frankly is far too reckless."

"Says the girl who jumps around like she's on fire," I said back, which was true as Aayla loved using the Force to jump and rush around the duelling ring.

She bumped against me with a full-face grin, exposing her teeth. "Not my fault you're too slow to keep up."

I laughed at her confidence, and ignored the new frown on Serra's face, as I dug into breakfast.

… …

"Duels are won one of four ways," Master Drallig explained slowly to my opponent and me as we stepped into the sparing circle.

"First, and most common, is scoring three marked strikes against your opponent. Second is driving them from the circle; even a single foot outside of the markers is an automatic loss. Third is by having your opponent trapped with what would be regarded as a fatal blow; these are blows to the head or heart.

"And finally, by rendering your opponent unconscious."

We moved to our assigned positions at opposite sides of the circle while Drallig stood at the centre of the circle, glancing from one of us to the other.

"Do you both understand these rules?" He asked sternly, locking eyes on my opponent first then me. We nodded, and he walked out of the circle. "Begin on the chime."

The moment the chime sounded my opponent ignited his saber and moved into a basic fighting stance. Having had my ass handed to me regularly by Aayla, Serra, and Sia-Lan, I was easily able to identify it as one of the three basic starting points of Ataru.

I merely held my weapon at my side as both Precognition and Bullet Time engaged automatically and I waited for a notice from Precognition about his attack even as my free hand closed slowly.

Seeing I hadn't even ignited my lightsaber, my opponent smirked and stepped forward, but I stayed still.

MOVE LEFT!

…

I raised an eyebrow at the rather blunt warning even as my opponent leapt across the ring using the Force.

I stepped to the left, ignited my lightsaber and shifted my body into the most basic starting stance for Makashi even as he began his descent.

He twisted in mid-air to bring his blade down upon me, and I raised my own to parry the attack away from my body as late as I felt safe doing so.

My parry worked and as our blades clashed, I yanked my clenched fist backwards.

I couldn't help but smirk at the shock on his face as his feet were pulled out from under his just as they struck the ground and he was pulled out of the circle by the Force.

"Winner, Shan," Drallig stated and I lazily extinguished my lightsaber and walked from the ring, handing the training saber to one of the Padawans who are helping the Jedi Masters manage this event. Spotting a few familiar faces, I walked over to a corner of the room.

"You won."

"Don't sound so surprised," I replied to Aayla's comment as I approached where she was sitting with Serra and Jaeman was gathered. "Just because I've never beaten you doesn't mean I can't be others."

She smirked a fraction. "That's true. And Drak was reckless, as normal."

"Why Makashi?" Serra asked as I sat down between the two girls. "We've never seen you use it before. Actually, very few Jedi spend much time training in that Form."

"Then they're all idiots," I said with a smirk as I accepted a bottle of water from Jaeman. "What is Makashi designed for?"

"Fighting against other… Oh." Jaeman had begun to answer before realising what I was saying. "Huh, I never thought about doing more training in that Form."

"None of us did save Cam," Serra added, giving me a gentle shoulder barge. "Good thinking."

"Yeah. But why didn't you use it when sparring with us?"

I turned and smiled at Aayla. "And give away what may be my only hope of even scoring a mark against you, Sia or Serra?" I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm new here, not stupid." All of them chuckled. "So why are you three here?"

"I'm after the next match. Aayla's right after me and Serra's two after that." Jaeman answered. "The others are off practising in the other halls or meditating."

"Serra here made sure we came early for your match," Aayla added, giving her clanmate a wink – which I could easily see as I was sitting between them. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was more excited about your match than her own."

I chuckled and glanced at the girl in question from the corner of my eye to see her face taking on a now-familiar red tint. "Well, I guess it's only fair I do the same," I said, earning smiles from the trio.

As we sat in silence, I opened up a small tab that appeared above my combat log.

Quest Completed!

Trainee Duellist [User Defined]

Time to put your money, or XP, where your mouth is.

Rating: C

Objective:

Get Makashi to level Adept:1 by your first lightsaber duel.

Bonus: Reach Adept:25 [N]

Bonus: Reach Adept:50 [N]

Reward:

1000XP

…

'Seriously? Adept:25 and 50? To get those I'd have had to throw the rest of the push-feather duels and spend two straight days in my quarters. I wonder if the other new quests have the same kind of "bonuses" to achieve.'

With a flick of my fingers, I waved away the pop-up info box and sat back, figuring I could relax for the next thirty min or so before getting an early lunch. I doubted I'd have much time to practice my lightsaber skills but could let my FP run out just sitting by having Precognition or Bullet Time on.

Turing Precognition on, I sat back as Jaeman stood and walked towards the ring, the match between his and mine ending almost as quickly as mine.

… …

… …