There was a rattling pounding on our door at an ungodly hour. "You have ten minutes to me us behind the Academy," Rosh's voice boomed. Groaning we started to get up and someone hit the lights, blinding us all. Rolling over and shaking my head, I looked up and froze.
Across the room from me, in all her naked glory, was Atris. She was stretched and then started rooting around her locker for the days clothes. I knew I ought to look away, but I was in shock. She was really cute with her firm, athletic body.
"Atris, what are you doing?!" Satori exploded from her bunk. "Put some clothes on!"
"That's what I'm doing," Atris flatly replied as she continued looking through her locker.
"Cover up while you're doing it," Satori slipped off her bunk. Atris shrugged, but slipped her bed sheet around her. Part of me was relieved and part was disappointed.
"And Revan," Satori slapped me back to reality, "look away."
"Yes ma'am," I sheepishly averted my eyes, rubbing the back of my head.
Ten minutes later, we were all clothed and outside.
"Congratulations on getting here on time," Rosh glowered at us, arms crossed. We all glared at Sergeant Satori. "Now run ten laps around the Academy."
"That's it?" I smirked.
"Twenty," Rosh corrected. Now it was my turn to get the glares.
I shrugged and took off at a dead run, leaving the others in my dust. Somewhere in the distance I heard Jaden muttering something about how I couldn't keep up the pace. I just smiled and kept running. Forty minutes later, I skidded to stop in front of my masters, a little winded, but none the worse for wear.
"Impressive," Rosh admitted.
"I've been running away for most of my life, so I've gotten pretty fast," I shrugged.
It was another twenty minutes before Reeko and Salty pushy and shoving each other trying to come in first. They stopped and stared short when they saw me.
"How did you get done so fast?" Satori demanded as she staggered up behind them. "And where's Atris?"
"Here," she gasped as she nearly crawled up behind them.
"Not run much?" I raised an eyebrow.
"No."
"Okay, back to business," Jaden cut in. "Today you begin Force training."
She led us over to the weirdest looking set up I had ever seen. There were five flat board-like things with a target on the far end. On our end were a stack of five disks.
"What is this?" I queried.
"We call it Jedi—," Rosh answered before giving me a weird look. "What's with the sword?"
"Life lesson 26," Satori supplied, giving me a glare.
"Huh?" Jaden questioned.
"Don't ask," Satori grumbled.
"Anyway," Rosh shook his head, "this is what we call Jedi Shuffleboard."
"Jedi Shuffleboard?" Satori looked quizzical.
"The goal is to get the disks into the target. The closer you get, the more points you get," he pointed to the target at the far end. There were five rings around a center bullseye labeled 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and the bullseye was 100.
"(So how does this help us with the Force?)" Reeko asked.
"You have to use the Force to move the disks," Jaden responded and with a wave of her hand placed the disk in the center of the bullseye.
"That's it?" Satori was incredulous.
"It's harder than you think," Jaden smirked. "Revan, you're rested; why don't you give it a try?"
I couldn't tell if they were testing me or taunting me, but I decided not to back down. With completely fake confidence, I walked up to the nearest shuffleboard and stared at the disks. Like a moron, I stuck out my hand like I had seen other Jedi do and scrunched my forehead in concentration. Nothing happened. Clearly I had no idea what I was doing.
"I don't know how," I admitted.
"There is no try, only do or do not," Rosh told me firmly.
"This isn't a question of trying," I shot back. "I know I can do it. It's a question of how. I don't know how to do it."
Everyone stared at me in shock, which only made me feel like more of an idiot.
"Can't you hear the Force?" Jaden asked, looking dreadfully confused.
"I hear a lot of things," I retorted.
"Ah," Jaden looked at me sympathetically. "Rosh?"
"Right," the other Jedi nodded. "If you will come with me, we will begin," he motioned for the others to take their places.
"What do you hear?" Jaden asked.
I must have looked confused, because she clarified. "Close your eyes and concentrate on what you hear," she ordered.
"Okay," I said and closed my eyes, listening.
"What do you hear," Jaden asked again.
"I," I started, cocking my head. "I hear birds, some animals in the woods, the students, there's another group of students practicing around the corner, some insects, and…what's that?"
There was this weird buzzing sound all around me, like an electric conduit gone haywire. It was both faint and loud at the same time.
"That is the Force," Jaden told me. "Remember, it is an energy field. To most it is unnoticed background noise, but we can hear it. What you hear is the Force connection between every living thing. Now try to reach out and touch it."
I must have looked confused again because Jaden laughed softly. "You can hear it all around you, yes?" I nodded. "Then think of it like being in water. Feel the current and let it flow through you."
I took a deep breath and reached out with my hand, trying to touch the noise. The hair on my arms and neck began to stand up as I felt the energy surging through me. It wasn't a new feeling, exactly. It was more like becoming aware of the energy that had been flowing through me my whole life.
"Good," Jaden whispered. "Now push the disk."
Opening my eyes, I focused on the disk, feeling the energy coursing through me. Extending my palm, I felt the Force blast through me, shooting the first disk into a tree, embedding it. I looked back at Jaden and gave a sheepish smile.
"We'll work on control," she returned my smile. "But you've got the idea."
For the next twenty minutes, after retrieving my disk from the tree, I tried again more gently. My results were better, but still pretty scattered. One disk moved only about a foot; another flew off the board; and my third shot went long. Still, I managed get my last two shots inside the "10" circle.
"(Nice, but you've got a long way to catch up to her)," Reeko pointed a thumb over at Atris.
My jaw dropped. Atris had stacked all five of her disks on top of each other in the center of the bullseye. I wasn't the only one impressed as the others were staring in awe at our Arkanian classmate. Even Rosh and Jaden looked impressed.
"How? Where?" I gasped.
"I had a lot of time on my hands," Atris flatly replied. "So what's next?"
"Wait, what was the point of this?" Satori asked. She had scored 50 points.
"Excellent question," Jaden replied. "This is to get you familiar with your core Force powers."
"Core Force powers?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Telekinesis, telepathy, speed, and jumping," Atris answered for the masters. "Most Force powers are built off those."
"Where do you get all this?" I demanded.
"Very good answer," Jaden nodded. "And that's very correct. The point of this exercise was to get you used to using telekinesis and get a feel for accessing the Force in general."
"(So why are we moving this little disks? Shouldn't we be practicing with something much heavier?)" Reeko asked.
"Weight isn't important," Rosh answered. "The Force is what does the heavy work anyway. Now it is true that the stronger you are in the Force, the easier it is to lift heavy objects. However you are the one who controls where the object goes. Therefore the hard part is maintaining precision and control. Clearly it is something that some of you need work on," he directed his gaze at me.
"Lesson learned," I growled. "Can we move on now?"
"As you wish," Jaden looked amused. "Come with me."
They led us to a trench filled with water. Evenly spaced steps ran through the middle of the water with a high wall at the end. There was an entrance but no exit.
"And what's this?" I questioned, arms crossed.
"This is to give you practice on using speed," Rosh explained. "The only way through is on the steps."
"That's it?"
Rosh raised a warning eyebrow at me. "Not quite," he continued. "Each step is pressure sensitive to fire the blasters in the wall an eighth of a second after you step on it."
"WHAT?" all of shouted at once, even Atris. It was the most emotion I had ever seen out of her.
"To be frank, that's insane," I glared at my teachers. I was thinking that now would be a good time to bail.
"Don't panic," Rosh snapped. "They won't kill you. Though, they will give you a good chance to practice Force heal. And congratulations Revan, your first."
"I was first last time," I complained.
"Let's keep a good thing going," Rosh replied. "Now move."
Grumbling about how ridiculous unfair life was, I got at the beginning of the trench and stared down it.
"Alright," Jaden called. "Ready, set, go!"
Tapping into the Force, I shot forward. It was a fantastic feeling to feel the Force flowing through me as I flew into the trench faster than I had ever gone before. Around me, reality began to blur as I raced forward.
All happy feelings left me as soon as I touched the first stone. Immediately the precognition thing hit and I felt the blasters before they hit. Thankfully the blaster barely singed my calves thanks to my Force-hauling. Now the Force was boosted by one of the biggest adrenaline highs of my life.
Another bolt branded my leg so I poured more of the Force into me, willing myself to go faster. Around me time seemed to slow and the stone around me blurred. The bolts burned thankfully behind me as I raced for the exit. Unfortunately it was only when I reached the far wall that I realized there was a problem.
There was no exit.
"How do I get out of here?" I screamed.
"Jump," Rosh called back with a smile.
"Are you insane? That's twenty feet high!" I yelled back, ducking a few more red bolts.
"How long can you dodge?" Satori sneered.
"Not helping," I shot back as bolt singed my shoulder.
"Wasn't trying to," came the reply.
"Use the Force," Jaden suggested. "If it makes you go faster, it can make you go higher."
"That's twenty feet!"
"Height doesn't mean much to the Force," Jaden instructed.
"This is insane," I growled, gritting my teeth. Channeling the Force, I sprang upwards as high as I could.
Insane would be the best way to describe it. I wonder if this is what flying feels like. I soared toward the sky, far away from the painful blaster fire, easily clearing the wall by ten feet. Relaxing, I landed lightly on my feet.
"Easy," I smirked at my instructors.
"(That's not what it sounded like to me)," Reeko cackled.
"Shut up," I retorted. "Let's see you try."
Reeko flashed me a Rodian grin and took off for the trench while I tended to my wounds.
"This would be a good time to learn healing techniques," Jaden came up to me.
"Yeah, it would," I snorted, wincing as my legs and shoulder burned.
"Sit cross-legged, like this," she demonstrated. "Now close your eyes and reach out to the Force." I did as instructed, feeling the electric energy pulsating around me.
"Good," she continued. "Now focus on the areas that need healing. Let the Force wash through them."
Admittedly this sound a bit abstract and too poetic to be effective, but I did as I was told. Immediately I felt the pain ease, though my skin began to itch as the tissue began to rapidly regenerate. Within a few moments, I was as good as new.
"Excellent," Jaden beamed, clearly pleased with her teaching ability. "The more practice you get, the easier it will be to heal. Soon enough you'll get to the point that you can heal on the run. Of course for more serious injuries, you'll need to go into a healing trance, but this technique should get you through minor burns and wounds."
"Good to know," I stood and flexed. "But let's hope I don't get too much practice."
Jaden chuckled in response before being cut off by a Rodian-style shriek and splash as Reeko went down.
"I suppose I should go fish him out," I sighed and walked back to the trench.
