A/N: Okay, so I'm not sure if I'm happy with this chapter. It was meant as mainly a chapter to answer some of the characters'a questions, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted! This happens to me a lot. Ugh. Oh well. I guess I can just fix it later if I need to. Just ya know...read it.
Disclaimer: Do I own anything Star Wars? Only in my dreams...
Chapter Two: A New World
"What. The. Hell." Arthur demanded.
"Calm down! I told you I would explain, but you gotta give me a chance!"
"Okay, where are you taking us?"
"Why was that Phonicius guy after us? "
"Who are you?"
"What is this thing?"
Arthur and I asked rapid fire questions so fast, I was half expecting Kenobi to ask us to repeat ourselves. He didn't, so somehow he must have understood us.
"Okay, let's start with who I am." He said. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Silence.
"I'm a Jedi."
Silence.
"Don't they have anything like this on your planet?"
"Wait wait wait. Hold up." I said. "Our planet? You act like you don't know the name of it."
"That's because I don't." Kenobi responded casually.
"What's a Jedi?" Arthur asked.
"A Jedi is somebody trained to guard peace and justice in the universe." Kenobi said simply, as if that should explain everything. "Phonicius-the man who tried to kill you-he is a Sith. The Sith are the opposite of the Jedi. They want to destroy peace and they kill for sport."
"So basically, not good people." I simplified.
Kenobi nodded.
"And what was that-" Arthur made a pushing motion with his hands and knocked over a cup on the other side of the room. He looked down at his hands in amazement before he continued, "-er, sorry. What was that?"
Kenobi chuckled to himself before he answered. "That, Mr. Mulefer, was the force."
I blinked.
"The what?"
"The Force. Been a while since I've explained this, but here we go. Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together."
"The Force." Arthur said skeptically.
"The Force. The Force has two major sides: The light side, and the dark side. You can guess which is good and which is bad."
I scratched my head.
"So how does this whole Light Side/Dark Side thing work?"
"The dark side is considered the domain of the Sith. It is filled with anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, fear, aggression, and unrestrained passion. All these can destroy the best man if not kept under control."
"This sounds like a movie." I muttered. "A really long movie."
Kenobi laughed.
"Followers of the Light Side of the Force are concerned with the ideals of good, benevolence, and healing. Followers of the light side strive to live in harmony with the world around them, acting out of wisdom and logic rather than anger and hasty judgment."
I massaged my temples. This was confusing.
"Okay, that explains a little, but why was Phonicius after us? I've never so much as been outside America, much less the planet."
"Yeah, and he looked like we had insulted him just by existing." Arthur agreed.
Kenobi stroked his beard. "That is a more difficult question. I was told by Master Yoda to simply pick you up, nothing else."
"Who?"
"Master Yoda. He's the eldest Jedi in the council. He can help explain more once we get there."
"Next question," I said, holding up a finger. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Why, Coruscant, of course. The home of the Jedi Council."
x x x
The trip to Coruscant was very long. I asked Kenobi how long it would take to get there, and he said it would take at least a week.
During that time I had a lot of time to explore the ship. Obi-Wan explained that it was a space ship, designed for traveling long distances with multiple people.
It had five small rooms total: The Cockpit, The Lounge, The Engine room, The Med Bay and the sleeping quarters.
The Lounge was pretty cool. It had a booth of sorts, with a table in front of it. There was a checkers board on the table, but instead of using regular pieces, it used little holographic aliens that chopped up the enemy's pieces. I sucked at that game. There was a red leather couch built into the wall that was actually pretty comfy.
The engine room was pretty standard, according to Kenobi. It had a trap door in the Lounge that led down to the bowels of the ship. The engine was a big messy metal piston that made large noises that were really annoying. There were various robot parts lying around, like somebody spent a lot of time down here.
The med bay was kinda boring. It was a bright white room, with a few folded up gurneys in the corner. There was a robot that activated in the corner of you gave it a certain command. There was a cabinet full of medical supplies, and a bathroom in the corner.
The Cockpit was sorta interesting. It had two steering handles, and a whole lot of buttons that I didn't understand because they were written in another language. Kenobi usually spent most of his time there, directing the ship on where to go and muttering under his breath about how this ship was a 'stupid bucket of bolts'.
The sleeping quarters were basic. Three bunk beds, all equally spread out and riveted to the wall so that when the ship lurched they wouldn't slide all around. That still couldn't account for knocking the person sleeping in it from being knocked off, though.
On the fourth day, Kenobi put the ship on autopilot and walked into the lounge, where I was losing a game of holographic chess against Arthur.
"Aw come on!" I said as all my figures flashed GAME OVER in big red letters.
Arthur cracked his knuckles and sat back. "I'm bored. Beating you is too easy."
I was about to protest, but then realized I was getting bored of losing. "Same." I said.
"Well, if you're so bored, why don't you two do something productive." Kenobi said as he pulled something out from the engine room.
Arthur and I walked over to him, curious.
"This," Kenobi said, patting a round metal ball, "is what you can use to pass the time."
He pressed a button and the ball zoomed up to a spot in the air where it stayed, hovering with a slight metallic whir.
Kenobi handed Arthur a helmet that completely covered his face. "Since you're so bored."
Arthur sighed and pulled the helmet over his head.
Kenobi handed him a shiny caramel blade. "Training saber. Can block training shots."
"Wait, training shots? What training-"
But he was cut off by the ball shooting a blast of energy at him. It struck him in the knee, making him jump back.
"Ow!" He yelled. "That hurts!"
I sat down on the couch, because I couldn't stand when I was laughing so hard. Even Kenobi let out a slight chuckle.
"Focus." He said. "Use the force."
Arthur took a deep breath.
When the machine shot the next volley, he was ready. Right before the blast would have hit him in the arm, he blocked it with the saber, bouncing it off in my direction.
I yelped and ducked. There was a Crack! and then I looked behind me to see a black scorch mark where my head had been moments before.
"Sorry!" Arthur said as I glared at him. "Here, you try!" He tossed me the helmet and the saber.
I caught them and pulled the helmet over my head.
Instantly everything changed. I couldn't see, obviously, but I could still hear. I could hear incredibly well, in fact. I could hear the machine get ready for another shot. I could hear the heavy breaths of Arthur as he sat down.
I don't know how to explain it. It was like seeing...but not seeing. As the machine fired the shot, I could tell where it would land. My right shoulder.
I maneuvered the training saber with lightning speed, and I could feel the blast bounce off the blade, right towards Arthur. Judging from the yelp that followed, he hadn't been fast enough to dodge it.
I expected Kenobi to shut off the machine, but he just kept it going. I blocked shot after shot until my arms were sore.
"Try to focus on where the rebound goes," Kenobi advised, "not just deflecting it."
I took a deep breath, trying to focus.
When the next shot came, I focused on deflecting it back at the ball.
As soon as my training saber hit the shot, it bounced off and I knew I had hit my target.
I pulled the helmet off my head, sweating. "Okay. Not bored anymore. Ima go take a nap."
x x x
On the seventh day, I slept in a little too late. Yeah, I know, but I was really tired, okay?
I had stayed up the night before, thinking about what was happening back at home.
I mean, we left in a hurry, after having a lightsaber battle and breaking some guys nose, and fleeing from the police. My parents probably thought I had been kidnapped.
I wondered if Phonicius had killed all the police men and the kids at the school.
When I asked Kenobi about it, he just said, "No, that's not really Phonicius's style. He probably ran from the police officers. I'm sure your friends are fine."
But I wasn't convinced. I was worried about my family. My friends.
Those thoughts kept me up for most of the night, until I eventually fell asleep.
In my dream, it was a dark room. There were blood red curtains drawn over the windows, and a large wooden desk in the middle of the room.
A man sat at the desk, wearing a dark hood that shadowed his face. The only thing that showed from behind his hood was his glowing yellow eyes.
Phonicius kneeled on the desk. Well, not the actual Phonicius. A blue, shrunk down version of him that was just as menacing. I guessed that it was a hologram.
"Master," Phonicius said.
"Have you acquired the children?" The mystery man asked. His voice was hard and cruel, and by the sound of it, he was quite old.
"...No, master. Obi-Wan Kenobi interfered and took the children away from me." Phonicius replied slowly, like he was scared of the man behind the desk.
"Fool!" The old man thundered. Phonicius shrunk back, cowering in fear. I could see now why he was afraid. This man was menacing. "I knew I should have sent Dooku in your place!"
Phonicius said nothing, only stared at the floor.
"No matter. They can just as easily be turned here. Fail me again, Phonicius, and you won't have to worry about any more assignments." The man cackled, a grotesque, creepy sound that made me jolt awake.
My head clanged against the bunk above me, and I groaned.
"Oh...ow." I rubbed my temples. Then I noticed that neither Kenobi or Arthur were in the room with me.
I quickly dressed in my clothes and walked to the cockpit, the dream fading in my mind till it was only a nightmare.
"Ah, Alex, there you are." Kenobi said. I noticed that space was no longer at the window. Instead was a city, from what I could tell. The light was so bright, that after a week of traveling in space, it took my eyes a few moments to adjust.
When I could finally see, I could tell that this place was massive just from one look. There were a dozen different types of people wandering around, and various animals and ships were everywhere.
At the center of all this was a temple that was probably half the height of the Empire State Building. It had a few tall spires at the top. It was huge.
Kenobi laughed when he saw my open mouth.
"Welcome to Coruscant, capital of the Republic." He said.
A/N: eh. I used a couple quotes and some things from Wookiepedia(don't own) because I don't know how to describe any of that stuff. I feel like this chapter should be longer. Anyways. You guys should review. So yeah. *walks away awkwardly*
~Angela~
