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Bold-Padawan/Master bond

Italics-Flashbacks

* 1 Year from the events of the last chapter*

Yoda let a smile form on his face as he watched his 14 year old Padawan go through his morning exercises, the talent he had with a lightsaber was phenomenal and it showed in his smooth moves as he went through the various drills that belonged to form II, already his skill with a lightsaber was matching that of some Knights, which for his age was quite the achievement. His talent with the Force well not as impressive as his skills with the lightsaber were coming along nicely for his age, he had difficulty performing some Force moves that most found simple, but he excelled in others that usually required years of practice. The Jedi Mind Trick for example was extremely hard for his Padawan to do, well most Padawans could get a fairly good grasp of it by the age of 14 as it only required the user to impose his will on the others, Obi-Wan it seemed found the technique distasteful as it robbed a person of their free will, and preferred to use diplomacy to persuade people to his way of thinking.

The Force Push on the other hand, which most people found easy, he had taken to astoundingly mastering it's use and moving onto the less known Force Wave, which was usually only taught to Knights, but with the complete mastery he had shown towards Force Push Yoda had felt it would be a nice challenge for him. His lack of talent in Force Powers he had found usually related to the Mind and affecting the behavior of others, even in a positive manner like Force Valor, he had theorized that it related to the lack of mental communication with Qui-Gon, and even to this day Obi-Wan preferred to address him verbally instead of mentally. On the other hand his skill in Force Powers that were more physical he excelled at, such examples being his mastery of Force Push, Force Deflection, Force Stun, it's more advanced version Force Stasis, and Force cloak. Along with these he had considerable skill for his age in Force Speed, Force Jump, Force Wave, Force Blinding, Force Throw, Force Telekinesis, and the final stage of Force Stun the Force Stasis Field.

Overall he was above the standards for Knighthood in some areas, but completely lacking in others such as experience in the field, interaction with various other species, and his self confidence was quite low for all his achievements, being abandon by Qui-Gon in his search for Xanatos had severely hurt him and though they had worked through that over the last year he still did not think of himself any different then his fellow Padawan's even though many of the Master's in the Temple played close attention to his progress. Yoda frowned as he remembered what had brought him here this early into the morning, it seemed that Qui-Gon had finally given up on his search for Xanatos and was returning to the Temple, under the belief that Obi-Wan was waiting for him to continue his training, as he had for some reason failed to notice when the training bond between the two of them had been severed. With a shake of his head he watched Obi-Wan finish up his morning exercises which usually ended with Obi-Wan practicing all of the Force Powers he had mastered and was attempting to master, watching three quick bursts of Force Wave each a little more powerful then the last he called out to his Padawan.

Letting the Force settle into his body he turned his attention towards his Master who he had sensed arrive about half way through his morning exercises, noting the frown on his Master's face he greeted him and waited for him to speak. Moments after his greeting his Master spoke "Morning to you young Padawan, impressive your last Force Wave was. Something to tell you I do, return your former Master is, unaware he is that you are no long his learner he is, deal with this the Council will but warn you I feel was necessary." With a deep breath Obi-Wan felt panic rising in him, he had worked hard to deal with the rejection of Qui-Gon and he felt seeing the man again would just cause him to stumble back from his progress, quickly calming himself he turned to his Yoda and thanked him for the warning.

Yoda spoke again " A year it has been since you came under my care, ready for solo missions think you are?"

With an excited gleam in his eye Obi-Wan replied " I am comfortable Master, but I would be thankful if i could have someone accompany me on my first attempt to act as an adviser so I could get used to doing missions." He grinned as he finished speaking, while all the extra training time available because he was always in the Temple had put his skills a fair bit above his fellow Padawans, he lacked experience in the Field with his only real missions being the few that he did with Master Jinn, so all he really had to guide him on missions were those and the stories he heard from his friends Garenm, Reft, and Vos as Bant had undergone healer training when Knight Tahl was blinded on Melida/Daan.

"Acceptable that is, another former Padawan of mine named Dooku shall accompany you. Wished he had to make your acquaintance, learn from him you can, most skilled user of form II in the order at this time he his. Send him to you I will when mission suitable for you we find, to the Council Chambers I must go prepare for Qui-Gon's arrival I must, keep Qui-Gon from you I will if possible no need for you to be involved there is." Stated Master Yoda as he walked out of the room.

With one last good-bye to his Master he parted ways and headed towards the Jedi-Archives in order to look up new information, it had become his home in the past year when he was not practicing his lightsaber or Force skills. The amount of information available was immense and various journals of past Jedi had helped him when it came to his mastery of certain Force Powers, without them he would not have been able to achieve half of what he had in the last year. Nodding his head in greeting to Jocasta Nu he headed towards the lift which lead to the upper levels of the Archives and were most of the journals of past Jedi were kept, picking up a journal that had belonged to Belth Allusis he began to read. Belth was a human Jedi Master from the Great Galactic War about 3600 years ago, it had been in here that he found most of the tips he needed in mastering the physical powers of the Force, as Belth had been required to practice them often in the conflict against the Sith, he had just yesterday saw an interesting entry which was explaining how Belth had managed to use an adaption of Force Speed which was focused on his fighting arm and increasing his reaction time allowing him to suddenly surprise opponents with a rapid increase in attack speed. Reading the information provided in the journal, he sank into the Force to attempt it, when he felt he had succeeded he tried to move his hand rapidly, only to feel an immense pain as his arm whipped forward and backwards jerking his right shoulder blade causing his arm to pop out of it's socket. Biting his lip he used the Force to dull the pain and then pushed it back in place, with a look at the clock he realized he had a class soon and stood up to leave, promising himself to work on the technique later; with a good-bye to Jocasta Nu he left the archives heading towards the Hanger Bay.

Qui-Gon strode down the ramp of the transport he had been using, heading towards the Council Chambers to report, and then he would go find Obi-Wan and give him some attention so the boy didn't feel to poorly of himself. He sighed as he remembered the result of his year long search, he had headed to Bandomeer first, revisiting the Off-World Headquarters there, finding nothing he had visited various other planets that hosted Off-World were he would then search for clues towards Xanatos's location, eventually finding out that he was headed to Tatooine for some reason he followed but arrived to late to catch him, t his had happened on various other worlds until he managed to learn that Xanatos was handing over control to a board who would manage the company and report to him yearly. He had found out through liberal use of the Jedi Mind Trick that Xanatos was returning to his home planet Telos IV, quickly making his way there he had found that Xanatos was taking up the post of Senator for the planet, therefore putting Xanatos out of Qui-Gon's reach as attacking a senator would bring negative attention to the Jedi Order and would possibly get him arrested as Senator's had diplomatic immunity unless their was clear evidence of wrong doing. While Xanatos was a dark Jedi there were no galactic laws that he had broken that had been proved, and turning from the Jedi Order was not reason enough for an attack upon him. He then had began his journey back to Coruscant, but not before receiving a Holo-Tape form Xanatos that informed him his presence had been noted the entire time, it was infuriating that he was being taunted like that but there was nothing he could do. Turning his attention back to the present he waited to be called before the Council, receiving a nod from the Knight at the temple door he entered.

Finishing his report of the last year he awaited the Council's response, noting the expressions on some of his friends before he could figure out the look he was brought to attention by Mace speaking." Acceptable, but you must know that Xanatos is off limits now, he has came before this Council to assure us that he would not seek vengeance against the Jedi anymore regarding the events of his last mission on Telos IV."

With a stunned look on his face Qui-Gon opened his mouth to furiously deny Xanatos's words but was silenced as Master Plo Koon spoke " The subject is closed, while he is not a paragon of virtue that would be expected as a Jedi, he is no longer one and we can not hold him to our standards, genuinely remorseful he is for his attack on the Temple and accept this the Council does."

Keeping his temper in check Qui-Gon nodded his acceptance even though he resolved to keep a close eye on Xanatos and asked if he could be dismissed in order to check in on his Padawan learner, he was slightly surprised to hear Yoda begin to speak. "Warn you I did that much would change on your return, removed from your care Padawan Kenobi has been, under new masters care he is."

With an exclaim of surprise he launched his question " Why was he removed from my care!?"

He was not expecting to hear the furious reply from Mace " Why!? You ignored him in favor of Tahl and then went off gallivanting after your Ex-Padawan leaving your current one to deal with the emotional turmoil of crippling a fellow Padawan without so much a good-bye, further more you claimed he could not control his emotions but did nothing on your part to fix this! He was your responsibility and yet you had nothing to do with him since his return from Bandomeer with you, it was unacceptable to leave him in a situation like that. Good Padawans have been lost to dark paths from cases like this."

Standing stiffly Qui-Gon replied in a voice that was bland of every emotion, showing he was clamping down on his feelings hard " He almost left me on Bandomeer, I would not risk that happening! His level of potential is low I had more important things to do then watching over a glorified youngling!"

"hmmph" Yoda exclaimed, " Almost this, almost that, think not of what could haves but of haves, leave you he did not baseless those accusations are. Low potential you say, foolish you are, great potential he has seen it I have. Closed this discussion is, Kenobi is no longer your concern, to Naalol you will go, Civil War threatens to break out, attempt to contain it you must,leave immediately you will."

With one last look at the Council Members he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, he snorted as he left, he did not know why he was getting so upset over someone that was at best average, he knew he could be put to better use, Obi-Wan would never amount to much anyways it was a waste of his time to train him. Ego assured he entered the ship that would take him to his destination putting Obi-Wan Kenobi out of his mind for quite sometime.

Obi-Wan flowed across the training room as he practiced some of the moves for form II, when suddenly a warning in the force caused him to spin around blocking a strike form a lightsaber that would have hit his shoulder, looking at the wielder he was surprised to see dark brown hair that was starting to whiten and brown eyes that sat upon the face of a man who personified noble. He jumped back as the man brought his saber up into a Makashi salute, returning it he decided it would be best to test the waters and began a series of thrusts and small swipes with the end of his lightsaber, seeing how easily his opponent blocked them all he moved backwards preparing himself for defensive maneuvers. When the attack came it was quick, precise and from weird angles, blocking the first few he winced as one got through his guard, lightly singing his upper arm, realizing his opponents lightsaber was set on a training level he attempted to launch a counter-attack taking a step to the side he made three swipes at neck and waist height before attempting to catch the other lightsaber in a saber-lock so he could slide it off and hopeful hit him, when it failed he stepped backwards as he began to block and parry his opponents attacks which kept getting faster. He took a deep breath as he prepared to push his opponent forwards, planting his foot forward he began attacking as fast as he could while maintaining his precision and control over his blade, barely noticing the swipe coming from his side in time he was unprepared for the force at which it met his blade knocking him back and allowing his opponent to easily land his lightsaber at his neck. For the first time he noticed the peculiar handle, it was not straight like most handles but instead curved, it was then that his opponent spoke for the first time "You have some impressive skills in form II for your age, though you should rely less on blocking and more on parrying, apart from that the only other thing you should attempt to do is always move your body in tandem with your lightsaber, it allows for fluid transition between attacking and defending." his voice was smooth as he spoke, "My name is Dooku, and Master Yoda has told me that you require someone to supervise your first mission so that you may learn the proper procedure."

Getting up from the floor he blushed under Dooku's stare as he realized just who he had been sparring with and began to speak " Yes thank you for the advice and undertaking this for Master Yoda, Master Dooku. If I may ask a question?"

"It is no problem I am on coruscant for a short while before heading back out to the Outer-Rim, this shall give me something to do before I am sent back out as I was getting quite bored, and yes you may ask your question Padawan Kenobi." Dooku replied.

"Your lightsaber handle, I have never seen another like it, is their a particular reason it is like that?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Why yes, it is a style of lightsaber that was originally made for form II users in the earlier times of the Jedi, it fell out of favor when form II did as the Sith became extinct reducing the amount of time Jedi fought other lightsaber wielders drastically. It adds a variable to the way your attacks come in sometimes confusing your opponent as they are not used to the way it is wielded and the grip you hold it in allows for greater control over the blade making it suited for form II." Came his reply " Now I have been sent to give you your first mission, follow me to the Archives, when we are there I will explain it and then you will need to get all the current information that is available, during the mission I will only be in an advisory position unless you get yourself into trouble you cannot get out of, so when planning out your tactics do not include me into them."

"Yes Master Dooku" Obi-Wan replied as they left the training hall and headed towards the Archives.