One strange adventure. Chapter 7 – New home.
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…Rika was following her new teacher for some time now, through the elaborate maze of corridors. The Jedi Temple was a giant structure, it took some time to reach anything. Some people say that it was built that way so that young scholars would learn of patience. Renamon followed her tamer silently also.
"Master Ti?" Rika called from behind.
"Yes, Rika, what's the matter?" her teacher replied.
"What did magister Yoda mean by the words "Too many children are fighting this war already…"?" Rika asked. Shaak Ti only sighed heavily on that one. Rika noticed that Jedi she knew were quite reluctant to speak about the war.
"I believe he was speaking about … the clones…" she said calmly. Shaak Ti was known for a better control over any emotions.
"Clones? What about them? They look like full – grown men to me." Rika said and noticed a strange smirk on her teacher's face.
"Full – grown men… Right on the dot, Rika, although I believe you don't realize it yet. You see, these soldiers, these clones were created only for the purpose of war, and were trained and drilled from their childhood to fight and to kill. To make that army in time their creators have tempered with their genes to speed up their growth. In other words, they look like full – grown men, but they are only 10 – 12 years old. Just like you." Shaak Ti said quietly. Though it was not noticeable, the subject of the speech was not pleasant for her.
"To create people only with a purpose in their lives to die on the battlefield… That is … horrible." Rika said even quieter. She was shocked enough by this fact, she never suspected those soldiers, who rescued her, and those who served on the ship, to be 10 – 12 years old.
"Yes, it was horrible indeed. This matter was quite a point of discussion in our Jedi Temple. Many Jedi were against the use of that army in our war against the separatists. But not only because it was considered inhumane… There were … other reasons." Shaak Ti said dimly. Renamon listened to their discussion carefully. She was also pretty shocked by the fact, but she kept her thoughts to herself and didn't want to interrupt.
"And what reasons were those?" Rika asked.
"In this war, Jedi are often commanders or generals, like Bardan Jusik, for example. And all trained Jedi are able to see the world not only through their eyes, but also through the Force. And, unfortunately, through the Force we see all these soldiers as who they really are - children, many children with similar faces. To lead them to battle and to witness their deaths … I believe it was just too much. That is why almost a half of the Jedi refused to participate in this war. If the Jedi order wouldn't have had an obligation to protect the Republic, I'm sure none of us wouldn't have ever participated. Jedi are teachers, helpers, healers, and not soldiers, spies and assassins."
"Were you against that decision?" Renamon finally asked from behind.
"I was for the use of the army. Unfortunately, the strength of the Order was not enough to keep the separatists from attacking. There are only 10000 Jedi knights in our order, while the separatists have at their disposal quadrillions of battle droids. We didn't stand a chance. Plus, the separatist are leaded by the Sith. Darth Tiranus and general Grievous are leading their armies. But magister Yoda feels that there is someone else…"
"General Grievous? Who is he? I know about Tiranus, but I've never heard of that one." Rika inquired. She thought that it would be for the best to know the events that took place in this galaxy.
"He is a twisted cyborg, once he was a Kaleesh warlord, but after having an accident aboard his shuttle, most of his body was replaced with metal. Now he is an apprentice of Darth Tiranus, and now he is … a monster, a horrible, vicious and cunning villain, with a burning hatred for all the Jedi…" Shaak Ti replied and took a breath.
"Why does he hate you?" Renamon asked patiently.
"Because he believes that we caused the accident on his shuttle, yet we didn't do it. I fought him once… In a battle at Hypori, our forces were decimated. This was one of the first defeats our army received from droid forces. We were surrounded. There were only five of us left: I, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura, K'Kruhk and Tarr Seirr. But instead of sending an army against us, he came to fight us alone. Grievous is not a force – sensitive, but his robotic body gave him strength, speed and precision which were unmatched. With his four hands he was able to fight all 5 of us at a time…" Shaak Ti said and took another big breath, it was quite hard for her to remember that horrible battle.
"General Grievous butchered K'Kruhk, after that he grabbed Tarr Seirr with his clawed foot and crushed the young Cerean's head against the ground. As Aayla charged, Grievous grabbed her with his other foot and tossed her aside, along with Seirr's corpse… When it was only me and Ki-Adi left, he smashed me against the wall, but it was only because I managed to block his lightsaber with the Force, otherwise I would have been cut in two. I was knocked out unconscious and heavily wounded. The rest I know from Ki-Adi. He said that Grievous was going to finish him off as well, but we were rescued by a team of ARC troopers. They managed to push him away, but lost three fine men to his lightsabers." she finally finished.
"This is … very sad. Sorry I've asked." Rika tried to apologize, but received only a warm smile from her teacher.
"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is. These words magister Yoda said to me when I met him in the hospital. This is one part of the Jedi Code I dislike so very much." Shaak Ti replied as they were approaching one of the doors.
"Well, here we are, this is where you will stay." she said as the door opened with a slight hiss. That was another thing Rika and Renamon had to get used to – all doors around opened without any effort of their own, automatically.
The room on the inside was not something they have expected. They have expected a narrow, small room, like the one they have received back on the "Revengeful". They were pleasantly surprised that the room turned out to be a quite spacious, clean and comfy, with a view on the city, with two beds, a closet, table, 3 chairs, a computer of some sort and even a droid of their own. Shaak Ti noticed her two companions staring on all that with amazement, and asked:
"Why do you look so surprised?"
"Well, some of these things are new to us, the civilization we came from is not nearly as advanced." Renamon replied swiftly, and Rika nodded in agreement with her words. Then they have noticed that on one of the chairs there was a pile of clothes, similar to which Shaak Ti had on herself. "This must be the uniform…" Rika thought in a second.
"All Jedi students wear this. You will do so as well, this will be your new clothes." master Ti confirmed that thought.
"Thank goodness it is not one of those girly dresses." Rika mumbled to herself. She hated girly dresses, her mother was always trying to force her to wear one, yet she rejected.
"I agree. I fail to see any reason why we should wear those bulky dresses. They may look pretty to some, but they are totally useless." her teacher agreed. While they discussed, Renamon was staring at the droid, who reeled to her, and apparently, was stalking her too with its electronic visors.
"Bereeeeet! Deet! Deet!" the droid made a strange high – pitched sound.
"Err, hello." Renamon tried to communicate, yet all this was pretty strange to her, and he stared at the droid with an amazed glare.
"It asks if you need something. This is T5 – R7, an old astromech droid, which was heavily modified and reprogrammed to perform functions as a guide and a protocol droid. If you will need to get somewhere, it has a map and will guide you anywhere you require. Also, if you require something, you should ask it from the droid, and it will deliver the message." Shaak Ti explained.
"Dwooo." the droid "said".
"What does that mean?" Renamon inquired.
"It means that the droid agrees." master Ti replied.
"Err, excuse me, master Ti, can I ask something?" Rika inquired this time, attracting Shaak Ti's attention to her.
"Yes, you may ask."
"Before I got here, between running away with a bunch of commandos from the droid fire and staying in a narrow room aboard the spaceship, I didn't have any time to … well … wash myself properly. Is there somewhere in this place a shower room? I desperately need one…" Rika said shyly. Her teacher only smiled, again, and said:
"Of course, it would be no trouble at all. T5, show Rika to the showers."
"Thank you, teacher." Rika replied and left with the droid, grabbing her new robes with her.
Shaak Ti stayed in the room, waiting for Rika to return, and Renamon stayed in the room also, she didn't intend to mess with her tamer's privacy.
"So, now that we're alone, I would like to have a word with you, Renamon." Shaak Ti suddenly said. These words forced Renamon out of her thoughts and made her direct attention on the togruta.
"What do you want to speak with me about?" Renamon replied calmly.
"Actually, about you. I have never seen a creature like you. To what species you are related to?" Shaak Ti asked. It took Renamon a few seconds to understand the question.
"I don't know if we could be called "species" in a true meaning of that word, but we are called digimon." she replied.
"Why don't you know if you could be called species?" Ti inquired.
"It is because of our nature. I will try to explain. At first we were just programs, created to fight within a computer world, like video – games for children. But, due to some circumstances which are unknown to me, we somehow gained "flesh and blood", so to speak, in other words – materialized in the real world. This is as much as I can tell you, I remember everything only from the moment when I appeared before Rika." Renamon said. She considered that no harm would be done if such information would be revealed.
"This is very unusual and … interesting. I guess that there are a lot of surprises in the universe, because this is the first time I ever hear of such … creatures. Renamon, could you tell me about your relations with Rika?" Shaak Ti asked this time. It took some more time for Renamon to consider what to answer. On one hand this person was Rika's teacher, so Renamon should have trusted her, but on the other hand she was a force – user, and Renamon distrusted force – users.
"What would you need this information for?" Renamon asked and narrowed her eyes. Master Ti's face expression haven't changed not one bit.
"I just want to find out more about your friend. Now that I am her teacher, I find it my responsibility to know more about a student." Shaak Ti replied unwaveringly.
"Why wouldn't you ask her when she gets here?" Renamon asked.
"I would, perhaps, but I want to know two sides of a story. However, if you feel reluctant to reveal this to me, I do not insist."
"If this means that much to you, I suppose I can tell. I fail to see if this info will bring any harm anyway… When I first met Rika, she was a … strange girl, if now she reacts adequately to any word or request, back then if anyone asked her something, or about something, she replied "why should you care?" or "leave me alone!" or something like that. Back then she didn't have any friends, and just wanted to be the best digimon tamer on the planet. She saw us, digimon, only as battling data, made only for human's amusement. I, on the other hand, saw humans only as assistants for us to become stronger, and we, digimon, were becoming stronger through fighting with other digimon, absorbing their data." Renamon said and stopped for a second.
"But then, something happened in your lives, right?" Shaak Ti asked.
"Yes, something happened. Despite our distant relations back then, we were a formidable team, Rika is an excellent tamer, probably the strongest one there is, and I am a powerful and perfectly trained digimon. Rika's training has served me well countless times." Renamon continued.
"So … she trained you? How?"
"She has a special device, which has the ability to support me with various powers during battle. Besides basic training, Rika also developed tactics on how to dispatch any foe using this devise and my abilities." Renamon replied.
"This is most amazing. But I will not interrupt you no longer, please, continue." Shaak Ti asked.
"During our time together, I started to notice that my tamer's behavior differs from other children's. I also noticed that her parents, well, mostly her grandmother, worries about that. But I paid no attention to that matter for a time. But, then, we met other children … other tamers. If then I thought that our relations are standard, as they must be between a tamer and a digimon, there I saw something else. Those tamers treated their digimon not as servants, but as friends, equals. And those digimon acted strange, more … human – like, unlike I, who was acting like a battle mechanism, and thought that this is my only purpose in life." Renamon said and stopped to take a breath. Shaak Ti was listening very carefully.
"When we first met those children, and their digimon, Rika tasked me to destroy their digimon, so that I would receive more data, but then … something unpredictable happened. Those children … stood between me and the digimon, protecting them from my attempts. Rika didn't order me to murder them, and called off the attack. This was the first time I saw anyone caring for a digimon to such extremes, even willing to protect them such way… After that we contacted these children a few times, and they tried … to befriend my tamer. Rika resisted very much to their attempts, she, just like I, was self – reliant, not accepting anyone's help, and considering "friendship" just another form of deceit. Perhaps, we just were not able to believe that someone would want to help any of us without asking for something in return… Under their influence, we slowly changed, as they proved their good intentions many times in battle against aggressive digimon that emerged in our city from time to time. It was time when I managed to prove my faith and loyalty to Rika, as well as Rika proved to me that she actually cared for me and my safety. We learned to trust and value each other. After, there was a battle against a very powerful digimon, and the accident brought us here. The rest, I believe, you know from master Jusik." Renamon finally finished her quite long speech.
"Your relationship is quite complex. Rika is lucky she had such good friends, although, it must be a painful blow to her to lose such friends due to this … most unfortunate accident." Shaak Ti said calmly.
"Yes, but I believe that in time Rika will get over it. She is a strong girl." Renamon replied.
"There is one more question I have for you. I, master Jusik and magister Yoda, have felt a strange sort of bond between you and your tamer. It was very strange, we know a thing about bonds, like, for example, a bond between a teacher and an apprentice, which forms in time, but yours … it is like nothing we have ever sensed before." Shaak Ti inquired.
"I believe you talk about a bond between a tamer and a digimon. I don't know exactly how it works, all I can tell is that a tamer can share his, or her, energy with the digimon through strong emotions. I witnessed its effect once, when a digimon of Rika's friend was about to be destroyed, and the emotion his tamer felt then gave the digimon a big boost of power. Such thing I have experienced also. It was when I was going to die from the wounds I have received when I tried to protect my tamer, and Rika gave me energy to live on. Don't ask me to explain, I don't understand the process myself." Renamon replied to the question.
"I have studied Force bonds quite a lot, but I have never heard of a bond of such magnitude. You two certainly hold a lot of surprises." Shaak Ti said.
"Indeed." Renamon replied and smiled a bit.
"Tell me, Renamon, why are you afraid of the Force?" togruta suddenly asked. This question caught Renamon off guard.
"Why would you want to know that?" she inquired.
"Because I want to help you get over it. I constantly feel that you fight this fear even when you speak to me." Ti said patiently, and Renamon for the first time believed someone else except Rika.
"I don't know how to put this… It's just … like some power which cannot be seen, or fought. I experienced this power on my own skin, and I was not able to defend myself or my tamer against it… I think I'll put it this way: I am … afraid … of things I cannot fight against." Renamon finally confessed. Shaak Ti stared at Renamon for a minute with an attentive glare, then, she said thoughtfully:
"Hm, they say you need to fight your fear to get over it, but this is obviously not the case. It is nearly impossible for a not force – sensitive to fight the Force... However, I think I know a way… But it will take some time for me to prepare it…"
"A way? How?" Renamon asked impatiently.
"Oh, it will be a surprise. You will find out about it soon enough." Shaak Ti replied and smiled mischievously, which completely confused Renamon.
It was at this point when Rika entered the room, followed by the little droid. She changed from her usual clothes, which were rather dirty by now, to clean padawan robes, and they suited her quite well.
"There, I'm done." Rika said when she entered the room again.
"Well, now, you two better get used to your room, I have to leave now for an important matter, I will come back later today, and will give you our training schedule." Shaak Ti said and left the room. She had one matter to deal with. She had an idea on how to end Renamon's "force – fear".
Rika remained with her Renamon in the room. She seated on her bed and started to stare at Renamon very attentively. That glare distorted the yellow kitsune a bit, so she asked:
"Rika, is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, Renamon. You need to answer one question, but before that, promise me that you will tell me the truth." Rika said slowly.
"I promise. What do you want to know?" Renamon asked with suspicion. She knew that if Rika asks her about something in such a strange way – it must be really important.
"I remember what magister Yoda said, that you are afraid of me. Tell me, Renamon, is it true?" Rika said and looked right into Renamon's eyes. Such thing confused Renamon a bit.
"I am afraid of … the Force. Not you, the Force. Please, it is hard for me to confess that I'm afraid of something, don't make me do it second time this day…" she finally squeezed out of herself.
"Second time?" Rika questioned.
"Yes… Your teacher asked me pretty much the same question… She said that she knows a way to help me…" Renamon started to answer, but was interrupted, because Rika stood up and approached her.
"Renamon, remember: no matter what are the circumstances, if I will manage to learn to control this "Force", I will never use it against you. That is a promise." Rika said directly with an honest expression on her face.
"No, Rika, that is not the problem, yet, thank you for such a promise. I am … afraid of the Force, because I can't fight it. Master Ti said that she would help me with this matter." Renamon replied hesitantly.
"That is good to hear. I wonder how she will help you though…" Rika replied thoughtfully. She was much relieved that her digimon doesn't consider her a thread, she didn't want to intimidate or harm her friend in any way. "Whatever your reasons are, Renamon, I hope you resolve this problem, I don't want to lose you as a friend because of this Force…" She thought while staring in the window…
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