Before we get into the chapter, I just want to say thank you to God for blessing me with the words to get this chapter written. And I want to thank everyone who reviews these chapters, as your reviews are the lifeblood of the stories I write. Big shoutout to those who have stuck by me throughout the whole story so far, and reviewing each and every chapter!
DJ Rodriguez, bearfan23, legoryan4579, and every guest reviewer who has left a review for this story! Thank you all for your continued support!
Now, for the pairing. It is a harem story, and so far the only girls I've definitely decided on are Ahsoka Tano, and Aayla Secura. If you guys have any suggestions, feel free to tell me. Now, without further ado, here we go!
*Calvin & Hobbes and Star Wars: The Clone Wars don't belong to me, and they never will! ...Wishing that I DID own them certainly doesn't help me sleep at night.*
Trial of Spirit - Calvin's Inner Darkness!
"He ditched me! I can't believe he just up and ditched me!" Calvin ranted at Hobbes' disappearance. "The next time I see that walking flea condo, it's not gonna be pretty!"
Calvin was definitely steaming mad at the fact that Hobbes seemingly up and ditched him in the middle of their trial. Still, he knows that Hobbes is right. They both need to take their individual trials alone if they're going to find their Lightsaber crystals and build their sabers. It won't be easy by any means, but it has to be done.
Sighing in irritation, Calvin knelt down in order to continue meditating after resolving to sawk Hobbes in the nose for ditching him later. Closing his eyes, the spiky haired blonde boy took a few calming breaths as he began to enter the same meditative trance that he always entered during his martial arts training. It was easy for him to enter this state, as he was used to meditating in order to keep himself calm during his lessons. He usually let out his pent up aggressions during his training in boxing and fencing. Something that happened quite often due to his life at home.
Anyway, as Calvin continued to calm his mind and his spirit, he began to feel the living Force swirling around him. It felt warm and inviting, yet strong and willing to discipline him if need be. Like a strict yet loving mother hugging her child. Something that Calvin knows his own mother never really was.
...Not since he was six, at least.
"Calvin…!" called a distorted voice.
The blonde opened his eyes and glanced around as he searched for the source of the voice in question. He saw nothing but crystals, crystals, crystals, a shadowy apparition, and more crystals. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Wait, a shadowy apparition?!
Calvin bolted to his feet and immediately got into a boxing stance with his hands held in a fisticuffs pose, balled up into fists.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" demanded Calvin.
The apparition merely chuckled at the question, which he found absolutely ridiculous. He walked out of the shadows and Calvin couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was HIMSELF! Or at least, a darker mirror version of himself. This version of Calvin seemed to have much malice in his heart and was paler than Calvin. Almost pasty white in terms of skin color, and the colors of his hair were inverted to be black with a yellow stripe instead of the other way around. His eyes were completely red, the color of blood, and he was wearing a black and burgundy variant of Qui-Gon's clothes. Strapped to his hip was a Japanese Katana blade.
This dark Calvin narrowed his eyes as he seemed to send the real Calvin a mocking glare that said 'I am superior to you! Bow before my might!'. And you know what? He was right that he has great power.
"What kind of trickery is this?! Who are you?!" gasped Calvin.
"Don't be such a fool! I'm you!" replied the dark Calvin.
"If you are me, then who am I?" Calvin asked, confused by the earlier statement.
Dark Calvin groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead at that question. Now he knows what Hobbes had to go through every single day when he was six. Such a lack of brain power.
"You're so stupid! You are you also." Dark Calvin stated.
"Enough! You're clearly my mirror image, but your voice is tainted with evil and blatant disrespect! Who are you, and how have you come to be me?" Calvin demanded to know.
A demand that this darker Calvin seemed all too eager to answer.
"Oh, truth is I don't really have a name. But since we're on the subject, I think I'll go with Mad Calvin. As for who I am… I am the son of the Dark Side of the Force! It has looked deep within your soul and created me from your own burning hatred! I am your inner darkness, and I exist for one purpose! To destroy you!"
Mad Calvin leapt up into the air, sword drawn and raised over his head. He screamed in anger and power as he gravity aided in adding power to his sword strike. What he hadn't counted on was Calvin drawing a sword from out of a nearby rock and blocking his strike. The sword Calvin was using was still in pristine condition, as if time had not even touched the blade.
But Mad Calvin was relentless in his onslaught. He started out with strong downward slashes in an attempt to cut his good half in two right down the middle. But each time, the original Calvin dodged the attacks. Soon enough, Mad Calvin added more speed and power into his slashes, forcing Calvin to put more effort into dodging. Until finally, Mad Calvin managed to land a cut on the original's arm, drawing blood and making him cry out in pain.
Calvin jumped back and gritted his teeth as he glared at Mad Calvin, who simply smirked in response. He charged again and slashed Calvin across the back, drawing more blood and pissing the fourteen year old off even more.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Mad Calvin mocked.
"Not as much as THIS is going to hurt YOU!" Calvin replied.
He charged with his own sword raised, releasing a war cry of his own as he was ready to possibly murder his evil self. But is that really the answer here? As Calvin charged, he released a flurry of sword strikes that were fast and intricate. Far more so than those that Mad Calvin used. But even though his attacks were less basic than those of Mad Calvin, the dark Calvin clone was able to block every sword strike.
Until, finally, he ducked and Calvin managed to land a clean cut on his hair. Somehow, this caused his hair to flare out in a fashion that screamed insanity. The swordsmen roared loudly and began to fight more intensely.
Their blades collided many more times, leaving far more openings for either boy to get slashed or stabbed. Mad Calvin even bisected a tree after Calvin leapt to the side to dodge, showing just how powerful both warriors are. And as the fight wears on, we can see that Mad Calvin is even stronger than the original.
Both began to fight faster and harder than before, until they both passed each other in a leaping slash. As they landed on the ground, it seemed as though neither of them had gotten hit at first. Until Calvin glared at Mad Calvin and his hair flared out as well.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Both screamed at the top of their lungs as they began to fight with far more bloodlust than before. They rushed at each other and began trading blows once again, sparks flying as their blades clashed. Unlike before, however, the sparks were now landing in the few patches of wilting grass and on the many dead trees and other flammable substances, setting everything ablaze in a roaring inferno.
Calvin and Mad Calvin seemed ignorant to the fire their attacks were causing. A larger dead tree fell from out of the ground, uprooted by the sheer power of the two swordsmen fighting within this realm of the Living Force. And as the fight continued to go on, Calvin and Mad Calvin began using it as a sort of bridge or walkway as they pressed on their attacks.
Calvin got in his fair share of shallow cuts on his darker self, but they weren't deep enough to draw blood. However, Mad Calvin was landing more and more slashes and lacerations on Calvin. And the damage from these was greater, as more and more blood was spilled from the boy. Because these slashes were far deeper than Calvin's own. And this could mean only one thing.
Mad Calvin was steadily growing stronger as the battle wore on!
Soon enough, Calvin and Mad Calvin were standing apart from each other, glaring and being pressed on by the adrenaline rush of battle. Calvin's shirt and pants were littered with rips and tears from the slashes he endured and he was covered in blood. But Mad Calvin looked like he's taken the least amount of damage from the fight thus far.
The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity to everyone else, but was in reality only ten seconds.
Until finally… they charged!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
They rushed at each other once again, yelling out war cries and bringing their swords down in downward slashes. The screen turned black as the blades made sounds and flashes of slashing and clashing… until a bright light illuminated everything. Calvin and Mad Calvin's blades clashed for what might have been the epic climax of this fight.
The power from the two attacks caused a great shockwave that tore apart the burning trees, uprooted grass and cracked the already damaged stone and steel walls surrounding them. Any and all surviving life forms were forced to brace themselves to prevent being blown away by the sheer might of the two warriors. Calvin and Mad Calvin were now locked in a blade clash and struggling to get the upper hand over each other.
But it looks like Mad Calvin is slowly gaining ground, as proven by the sound of metal straining against metal with their blades locked as they are. Calvin opened his eyes and caught sight of his own reflection in the reflective surface of his sword's blade…
And grew saddened.
'What am I doing?' Calvin mentally asked himself.
The scene suddenly shifts to show a single tree being engulfed in a burning inferno. The tree within the flame represented Calvin, while the fire itself represented Mad Calvin, and how the sheer anger that Calvin was feeling was only adding onto the power that Mad Calvin already possesses. The camera zoomed in to show the burning spots of the tree that seemed barren of both inner wood and tree bark.
The inside grooves of the tree burned with the ever shifting reds, oranges, and yellows of the flames that threatened to consume the plant. However, the metaphor soon changed as a soothing music began to play while the burning tree was replaced by a calm waterfall pouring down into a reservoir of fresh water. The calming life giver that is the water itself was surrounded by plants and animals of all kind as it represented what a Jedi was truly supposed to do.
Protect all life in the galaxy. No matter how small.
Calvin closed his eyes as he seemed to understand this metaphor. He doesn't need to give in to his anger in order to be strong. Especially if he is to truly learn how to utilize Dark Side techniques. He must let his anger wash over him and flow away.
'Like a river over stone…' Calvin thought to himself.
With a final push, he managed to break the blade lock with Mad Calvin and sent him back a ways. But the dark clone of Calvin seemed to notice that something was different. His goody two-shoes counterpart was no longer brimming with the anger that gave him strength.
"Huh? What the?"
Calvin kept his eyes closed as he placed his sword back into its scabbard and began to let go of his anger. His messed up hair fell from its once flared state, allowing Calvin to return it to its previously spiky state. He put his hands together like he was praying and the fires and damage to the environment just disappeared.
Was it all just an illusion?
"What the heck is going on?" Mad Calvin demanded.
"You have lost. The battle is over." Calvin said simply.
"What?!"
"You are my inner demon. You have been born from the hatred within me. But now, that hatred is no more. Thus… you do not exist." Calvin said.
But this didn't sit well with Mad Calvin. Not at all.
"FOOLISH BOY! I am real! Now, feel the reality of my cold, hard steel!" yelled Mad Calvin.
He then unleashed a battle cry that was both deafening and animalistic while Calvin merely stood calm and composed. The scene alternated between the two at least four times before it looked like Mad Calvin had closed the distance between the two.
But just as it seemed like the dark clone of Calvin had this fight all wrapped up, something began to happen to Mad Calvin. He was now behind Calvin as the lad stood still, only now he was semi-transparent. Mad Calvin screamed in agony and outrage as he could feel himself being destroyed or imprisoned deep within Calvin's subconscious. And with a flex of his muscles, Calvin reduced Mad Calvin to nothing more than dark vapor as he was imprisoned, hopefully, for good.
He stood straight again as the sound of chirping birds and squirrels gathering food could now be heard. Calvin looked towards the tainted darkness that hid within the gentle darkness, and scowled at evil entities that lay hidden within it. He knows what they are thinking, and is in no mood to put up with any of it. He will not become Sith like those entities want him to be, because he will bring forth balance that shall be forever maintained.
"I know you're watching." Calvin said. "These tricks of yours are beginning to annoy me."
And with that, Calvin began walking down the path in order to find out where Hobbes had gone. He could sense power and saw a glowing blue light, causing him to look down in surprise. The crystal he had gotten from his grandpa was glowing! He had his Lightsaber Crystal all along! Calvin smiled as a single tear ran down his face. Looks like his granddad is looking out for him, even in death. This made Calvin feel even better about his defeating his darker self, for he not only passed a trial of his own...
He has conquered his inner demon.
*To Be Continued…*
Well, that chapter's finished. I hope you guys liked it, because there's more to come. But that will have to wait. Next comes my own preparation for focusing on another story of mine that I'm going to focus on for the month of August. An Arc Jinchuriki. If you haven't checked that story out yet, then please do so. I think you guys might like it. It's a good fic. But now, here are some questions I'd like you to answer to the best of your abilities. Ahem!
1.) Who should Calvin have as a master when he becomes a Padawan?
2.) Should Calvin have an X-Wing Starfighter, or a standard Eta-2 Actis class Interceptor for his personal ship?
3.) Who else would you like Calvin to be paired with in this story? (No Yaoi pairings, and Padme is strictly off limits.)
4.) Should Calvin join Ahsoka on her first mission to Christophsis?
Again, thank you all so much for reading! May the Force be with you, and have a great day!
