I am so sorry for how long it took to write this chapter. I spent a lot of time arguing with myself about how to go about this chapter, as well as writing and rewriting parts of it. Needless to say I have more or less, figured out exactly how this will all play out, so the future chapters should come out much faster. Enjoy :D As always let me know if there is anything that I can improve on, and anything you may want to see added, I will do what I can.

Time at the Temple

Training began slow, I was confined mostly to a small room with just Master Yoda and I meditating and watching old holocrons. Yoda focused heavily on the history of the galaxy, lessons about past wars, old Jedi and Sith Lords. The message was clear, he wanted to tell me where the fall began, and how to avoid it. Yoda was training me for the current war, it was hasty, but not lacking in substance. We would meditate for hours in a quiet room, in a what seemed like a deserted portion of the temple. There we would practice attacking each others minds, I would attempt to invade his and he would assault mine. I was always the loser, I could never seem to keep him out of my mind, always invading the same area, it seemed as if he was trying to learn where I came from, what had caused me to lose my memory of everything beyond that day landing on the strange planet, now a festering battle grounds strewn far and wide with corpses of troopers and Jedi alike. He seemed to believe that if I didn't remember that it was probably blocked off in a section of my mind, something that was protecting me from my own memory, he was almost correct. Every time he attacked though, the Force would block him, stopping him from going too deep, from learning too much. It was obvious enough that this frustrated him greatly, he made no notion to hide it. The times that he wasn't training me to protect my mind from assault, I was watching holocrons, entranced by the way the old Jedi fought with their lightsabers, I would watch for hours, sacrificing sleep, just to delve a little deeper into the mysterious cube.

When it finally came time for lightsaber training, I was put with a group of other students, mostly young-lings, learning the Shii-Cho and how to use the force to guide your weapon and block blaster fire. This I found to be very simple and was quickly advanced beyond to the sparring portion of lightsaber training. At first I was limited to just the first three forms in my sparring matches, I found myself quickly adapting to the second form, which I had learned from the holocrons, I began to notice gave me an advantage over everyone who fought with the first form, Shii-Cho. Still I advanced into more difficult sparring matches, where all forms were allowed. This is where I started to incorporate the sixth form, that I saw in the great holocron, a Jedi named Exar Kun used this form, and he was very powerful. I used this to over power my sparring mates, each time I would continue until the attendant called for a stop in combat, and each time it got harder and harder to stop. I was becoming strong, I could feel it, I liked it. For six months this continued, I would spend the mornings with Master Yoda in meditation, or studies, I would then move over to sparring which would last for the rest of the day. At dark, alone in my room, I would study the holocrons I had, going deeper and deeper each time, learning everything I could.

One night I sat back, with the holocron that my master left for me in my lap and I thought of home. It felt so long ago, years maybe, then I though back to my time at school. I guess maybe I was just studying the wrong thing back then, I could never seem to concentrate and would always put off my work for the last moment, even forget about it entirely. Indulging in whatever I could to keep my mind away, but here, this just calls out to me, I want this, I can feel the change. I will become strong, stronger than any other Jedi.

''You will become incredibly powerful, and I will continue to guide you along your path, but your training is not over. Go back to the archives, to the great holocron, and learn of the last form, it is the most powerful form, and will be needed to continue your training.'

'For six months you have been silent and now you speak, and all you have to say is to learn a new form? Why would I need a new form, Exar Kun never used the form, he never needed to. Why should I?' Suddenly I felt my body grow numb and my mind grow dark.

'It is I that will instruct you, and not the other way around. I know Exar Kun, and I was there for his rise and fall. YOU are not Exar Kun, you will become something more, now do as I command!' As fast as the voice appeared, it was gone, with its disappearance I could feel my body returning to me. Scared stiff, I lay there in a pool of sweat the rest of the night.

The first thing that came to mind that morning was Yoda's teachings of blocking out the enemy, not letting them get inside your head. Would it even be possible to block out the force itself? 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.' Sitting in our usual meditation room, I began to recall the voice's command to go to the archive and look for the seventh form in the great holocron. 'How am I supposed to get in there anyway. I would need the permission from a master.' "... I guess I will worry about it later."

"Not slacking off in your studies I hope?" A voice came from the door, one that startled me. I turned to see the Jedi Knight Anikan Skywalker standing in the door. "Master Yoda had to take off, something he needed to do for the war. I was told to bring this to you." He said handing me a familiar pass. "He wants you to keep up with your studies I guess. Give that to the librarian, she will let you in." With a simple wave he was off and I was left bewildered. 'Had the force known that Master Yoda would leave, and send me to the archive again? Or had the Force manipulated everything to achieve it's own ends. Why was the force using me? Why was I special?' Not wanting to anger the powerful voice which made its home in my head, I hurried to the Jedi Archives and met the Chief Librarian, Jocasta Nu.

"Back again to my archives are we? What do you need for your studies? How about the Standards of Diplomacy? Or maybe..." She stopped as I handed her the pass to the vault, she looked at me, then around and back at me. "No attendant again? Maybe I should get the holocron for you, do you know which one you need?"

Hesitating for a response I remembered the first time in the vault, "You know Master Yoda, he probably wants me to find the one that calls out to me. You know, let the force guide me and all." I gave a nervous laugh at the end which didn't seem to quell and doubt from her. Still she allowed me access, a pass from the Jedi Grand Master is not something to be taken lightly. The honest truth is, I had no idea how I was going to find what Yoda wanted, there was no explanation from Yoda nor Anakin. Was this some sort of test? If it was, who was watching me.

Inside the vault, walls lined with glowing, humming objects that all called out to me. I stood there confused at what to do next, nothing, besides the Great Holocron in the center, seemed to be calling out to me. I closed me eyes, and focused on the room as a whole, waiting for something, a sign and change in pitch, but nothing. However, there was one thing I noticed, eyes, watching me and waiting for me to make a move, though I could not tell who is was. Whomever they were, they hid their presence well. I stood there for sometime before I noticed a small orb on one of the higher shelves. Picking the Holocron up I began to hear Yoda's voice in my head.

"Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy. Jedi use their powers to defend and protect, never to attack others. Jedi respect all life, in any form. Jedi serve others, rather than rule over them, for the good of the galaxy. Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training." There was a pause, and his voice began again. "Commit this to memory, you must. Self-discipline have you must. Conquer your arrogance, defeatism must not rule you, careful of your own curiosity you must be, stay your blade, arrogance rule it must not. Always remember, honesty to all those around you, promises you must keep, and honor your master, the Jedi Council, the Jedi Order, and Life, most of all. You should defend the weak, aid those who you can, and serve the Republic well. Tenants to live by, these are. We as Jedi, responsible for all life in the Republic. Defend everyone you can, but dwell on death, you must not. Always remember, there is not death, there is the Force." With that, if felt the Holocron close and myself return to the vault.

I stood there quietly taking in all that he had said, it had been a sign to me that Yoda believed me ready for the final stages of my padawan training, and I turned to leave, in front of me the Great Holocron sat, it's aura it temptation drawing me in, and the force pushing me closer. The allure of the the holocron driving my curiosity, inside my head I was fighting with the words that Yoda had left for me, however they were slowly becoming more and more faint. I could hear the voice inside my head telling me that what was inside this holocron, I needed it. It was telling me that there was power, knowledge to be learned that could not be learned in a hundred life times. Yoda's voice now gone, I had nothing holding me back, I reached out my hand to touch the holocron, already seeing past images from months ago flashing in my head, faces of Jedi and Sith now dead, masters of lightsaber combat, people using the force in ways you could not even imagine. Struggling with myself to remain conscious, the images growing more vivid and more aggressive, I saw a group of men surrounding a man, barring guns and swords they lashed out at him, the man ignited is laser sword, and began to ferociously attack the man, twisting his body around slashing left and right widly as if he was a beast. He put everything he had into his attacks bringing a man down with each strike. The only one standing was him, surrounded by bodies some missing arms, heads other split clean at the waist. This man was powerful, this is what the Force had told me about, this was a Master of 'Juyo'. I said in my head, that is a a true master. I continued to dive deeper, though the scene of the Juyo Master stuck with me the most and as I began to feel my strength leave me I felt a tug from behind, pulling me back into the realm of awareness.

"I see, we should put this under lock and key." It was the angry Master Windu, to find me again in this state, 'I am screwed,' was my only thought.

"I am sorry master, it appears I could not resist the allure of the knowledge stored in here." I said, head lowered and starring at his boots.

"I see... Did you find anything of particular interest in there?" He asked, the look on his face saying that it better be a good answer.

"Lightsaber... ah lightsaber form, the Juyo.. It was very powerful." The room was quiet after that, the master while staring at me, was deep in thought. 'This is the man that can teach me Juyo, he is the strongest of the Jedi.' For a moment I stumbled, looking for the right words, the I just blurted it out. " Master, please teach me Juyo!" His face contorted, there was a pressure growing in the room, 'maybe I had made a mistake', I thought. 'This is bad, he could have me removed from the order, then I have no idea where I will go, I don't even know where I am. HEY FORCE! Do something about this, you wanted me to learn it right, he is the best chance of learning it.' It was the quietness that worried me, nothing from the Widu and nothing from the Force, did it feel as if it didn't need to interfere, but what happens if I am kicked from the order, then what?

"No, I will not teach you Juyo." My hopes were all crushed right then and there, I was about to give up when he continued with, "I will give you insight into Vaapad, few student ever ask to be thought this, because of the demand it requires. Every time you use this form, you will brush against the dark side of the force. You must never give in completely to your emotions, and must remain true to our code, which you seem to have trouble with your curiosity." I was shocked, he was going to teach me something after all, 'but what was Vaapad, and why not Juyo? Why did he make it sound so dangerous? What was this dark side, I had seen it before in the holocron, but I still didn't know what it was.' "Tomorrow in the sparring room, we will see if you have the capacity for the form."

'It had manipulated everything! The reason it sent me here again was to actually get caught, and have him teach me. It knows everything, why does it need me, when it can manipulate everything?' The feeling I had fill me as I left the vault was fear. Even though Master Yoda had warned me about fear being a path to the dark side, I could do nothing but be fearful of this powerful presence that continued to haunt me. 'Was there a way to block this, to cut it out, to let me live my own life?'

Arriving early the next morning at the sparring room, I was surprised to see Master Winu and Master Drallig warming up. Hoping to go unnoticed and watch as two master-level duelists practice was of course only a dream too good to be true, the moment I took a seat the watch, the battle master roughly said "What do you think you are doing? This morning is about you! Get in here and face your master!" Without waiting for a pause, Master Windu blocked Master Drallig's last slash and turned his attention to me, jumping at me from across the room, the hit came fast and hard, knocking the wind out of me.

As I lay on the floor, coughing and struggling to regain my composure, the two masters stood there, waiting only a short amount of time before ordering me to my feet, which magically my body listened. Raising my own training blade, it struck a stance similar to what I had seen in the image. Holding the blade above my head, twisting my body with my other hand to act as a counter balance. As I was getting my footing, Windu struck, he was fast, unbelievably fast, and he used that speed in his attack making land hard on my own blade, which at this point required two hands to defend with. This would continue for the next few hours, until Drallig called for a stop in training. This cycle would repeat for the next few days, it wasn't until the end of that week that I noticed in a training session that I could see Windu's attacks, Windu would no long send me flying across the room, I could even see chances to attack him. One day, after a few weeks of this special training, I was able to push Windu back with one of my attacks. We had been going back and forth for an hour, he would attack and attack, faster and faster, every hit heavy than the next, I was able to doge a strike and land a blow of my own at his waist hard enough for him to step back. Dralling clapped and gave the signal for stop in combat. Windu actually smiled, and gave me a bow, signifying that I had won this round, "I hope to see more improvement from you, now the real matches will begin. Return to your dorm for now, rest, you have the rest of the day off. Report here in the morning." Master Windu quickly turned on his heel and Drallig followed behind.

Alone in my dorm I began to think back on all the matched we had had until now, "the real matches are going to start now? What does that mean, what have these been so far?" As I sat with my thoughts there was a tapping at the door, it opened to reveal no other than my favorite Togruta. "Ahsoka! How are you?" The sight of my only friend here could quickly erase all my pain and doubts.

She quickly moved across the room and sat across from me on the bed, she rest her head on her knees, wrapped her arms around them and sighed. 'Yep, Anikan said something stupid again.' I could only laugh in these situations, she would get so frustrated with him over some silly things sometimes. "So, my good friend, what did your master do this time?" I just smiled at her, supressing my laughter, which only made her lower her head further till just her eyes poked up above her knee caps. This was a typical evening before I had begun my training and if she wasn't away on a mission from the council, we normally sneak some food in a just talk, she would tell me of all the different planets that she would travel to on her missions, and I would tell her what earth was like. To find out, New York wasn't much different that Coruscant, only Coruscant was bigger, had different kind of aliens in it, want the buildings blocked out all light from the lower districts, however the hierarchy was much the same. The rich lived in the upper levels in high scale apartments and the poor, who weren't homeless, lived in shanty hovels void of natural light and in conditions that weren't what you would call livable. Many restored to doing dark deeds just to get bye, and many more just died, nameless and forgotten. From above, the planet was wonderful, but the underworld was somewhere you didn't want to visit and if you absolutely had to go, you didn't want to be there long.

"Sometimes master can just be so frustrating. 'Not this time Snips, you stay and take sometime to catch up on your meditation. Next time I promise'" She finished imitating her master, after taking a breath. "My meditation!? There is a war going on out there, we all need to be on the front lines, trying to defeat the Separatists bring peace to the galaxy. Right Corran?" She looked at me with sad eyes, searching for a shred of sympathy.

"Of course, we should all be out there, me included, once I finish my training of course." I had learned earlier that it was not really wise to argue with her, she was headstrong and didn't take no for an answer without a half hour explanation why she was wrong. "So where did he go this time?"

"Him and Master Kenobi are going back to Mandalore, something about trying to clear up suspicion of them joining the Separatists. I am stuck here waiting for him to get back. You learn so much more out there in the field than you do in here, meditating..." She looked really depressed.

"Maybe he wants to you think about what you learned in the field so you can commit yourself to it. It is hard to remember everything all at once, you have to take time to reflect on it. At least that is my guess... usually our masters have a plan in things they do." She gave me a painful look, this was Anakin we were talking about, he wasn't know to have a plan, more of a go along with the flow type of person. "Hey, you are doing fine, maybe it is time you deserved a little rest. Yoda wouldn't have put you with him if there wasn't a purpose behind it." She just gave a weak smile.

"Thanks.." She gave me a hug and left. I watched her leave, and felt heavy, 'I couldn't do anything to help her, it is just something she will have to get through. I need to get some rest, who knows what the masters have in-store for me next.' I turned the lights out and went to bed, partially dreading the day to come.

That night I had another vision, this one, a dense jungle, wet and hot, I was walking through, floating over the ground, in the distance I could see something but could not make out it's shape, further and further I ventured into the forest, and whatever was in the distance seemed to move further and further away. I began running and did so for what felt like quite and extended period of time, I came before I giant crystal, clear, bright and shinning in the suns rays. The crystal kept me attraction to where I didn't notice group of tribal gather and grab at me, pulling and tugging me to the mud, stomping on me, and finally dragging me back into the trees. I awoke violently, sweating, I had apparently been screaming because Ahsoka had shown up, dressed only in her sleeping gown. "What is wrong, what did you see?" She wore a terrified look on her face, something that frightened me even more.

I looked up to the my alien friend, "I am sorry, it is nothing, just a bad dream." I said this trying to pass it off as nothing, but she just leapt at me and held me, I could feel tears coming down my face, and could feel a wetness growing on my chest where her head was. 'Had I just seen my own death? Where was that?'