Yavin IV, Jedi Praxeum
A cloud of bliss filled the room as Tyron slept comfortably in his bed. Due to the fatigue caused by his first training session, Eldin fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillows. The peace of his sleep was disrupted however when dark images swarmed his mind. He began to fidget quite intensely, causing his bed to tremble and his blanket to move into a muddled-up position.
The things he saw in his mind were strange, going so fast that he couldn't see them clearly. There were only fragments of mysterious sights but they indicated fear and tragedy. The more the images came together, the more restless Tyron became. Suddenly the flashes stopped and only one thing could be seen: a shadowy figure, concealed by both blackness and obscurity.
A voice polluted Eldin's thoughts; it was deep and unrecognisable "I know you Tyron Eldin. You are important. Your power is what keeps you on the edge of both light and dark. If you join me you will rise, if you oppose me you will fall." After these words, panic surged through Tyron as though it was knocking down the walls of bravery inside him.
Overwhelmed by distress, Eldin jumped up breathing heavily. After a few moments of panting Tyron got out of his bed and tried make himself feel much calmer. As if on cue his door opened and in came Jaden "Okay, up you get, training tim…are you okay?" he inquired.
Trying his best to look well Eldin quickly replied "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well."
Korr narrowed his eyes and spoke "No, it's more than that, I can sense it. What's wrong?" His tone became rather firm at the end of his question.
Reluctantly Tyron answered "I had a dream. A horrible dream. It was difficult to see but all I could feel was fear. At the end of the dream someone was there. They talked to me."
Jaden had a look of concern on his face "What did they say?"
Staying silent for a moment Eldin responded "They said that they knew me and that I was important. They said that it was my power that's keeping me on the edge of the light and dark. Then they just threatened that I had to join them or I'd die."
Almost clueless about what he should say to comfort his Apprentice, Korr thought for a minute then said "Don't worry about it Tyron, it was just a dream. Maybe the bad sleep was just caused by stress. It isn't easy to get used to this kind of life."
Tyron thought about it then quietly mumbled "It seemed so real."
Jaden put his hand on the boy's shoulder "Don't worry." He repeated "It's okay. Now get ready, you have challenging day ahead of you." Walking over to the door the Jedi Knight turned and stated "Meet me at the Training Grounds." He then walked away.
Once he changed his clothes into the usual attire worn by students, Eldin grabbed his training lightsaber and headed for the Training Grounds. Remembering where the Grounds were located, Tyron got there in short time. He saw his Master waiting for him however he was very surprised as stood next to him was what appeared to be a rather tall, bulky droid. Smiling at his Apprentice's confusion Korr spoke "I will explain this soon. Right now I have to tell you what the concept of this lesson is. Despite the shortness of yesterday's lesson you seemed to have learned Form I quite well. You were impressive and I believe you're ready to learn something that takes more skill to be good at. As I told you in our last session, Shii-Cho is used mainly for defence against blasters but Form II, which is called Makashi, is the first form to be based on lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, something that is necessary for you to become adept at. Now for the training it is too dangerous for me to spar with you, you're not ready yet, and so that is why I have brought this." Jaden pointed at the droid "This is an ASP-19 Battle Droid. It is used to practice your duelling abilities. As soon as I set the difficultly of the droid it will become active, a short saber blade will come from its arm, and then you will fight it. Victory will be you destroying it. Are you keeping up with me?"
"Yes." Tyron said
"Okay, now the training must begin." After this, the following events of the lesson mirrored the previous session. Korr demonstrated the opening stance and some useful moves of Makashi then observed Eldin as he tried to do the same. Though they were a few faults in his performance due to the complexity of Form II methods, Tyron quickly corrected himself, with a little bit of guidance from his Master.
Once he decided that Eldin was ready, Jaden walked over to the droid and switched it to its lowest level, often called the "Padawan Level", and declared "Okay, I'm going to get out of your way. Be prepared and use what you have learned to triumph." As soon as he finished he leapt up to the balcony above.
Noticing the deadly looking blade come out of the droid's arm, Tyron raised his lightsaber and got ready; immediately the droid ran forward and attacked. Despite the droid's apparent clunky state, it moved much faster than expected. Eldin jumped back and then stabbed but his lightsaber was intercepted by his enemy. Raising his weapon again, Tyron waited for a moment and then sent a strike towards the droid who blocked the shot but was knocked slightly backwards from the force of the hit. Trying to exploit his opponent's clumsy position Eldin slashed and successfully cut the droid's wrist off, essentially disarming it. The droid ran forward but failed to gain any dominance when Tyron simply held his lightsaber out which stuck through its body. Satisfied, Eldin deactivated his saber and looked to his Master, who jumped down "Well done my Apprentice. Remarkable for a beginner. You do have much to learn about this Form but you are starting well. Come on, we'll practice more. We're going to focus on Makashi for the next few sessions, it isn't a simple Form."
True to his word, Korr taught Tyron a lot of things about Makashi over the next few weeks; different techniques based on both defensive and offensive tactics. Despite his attainment in the last lesson, Eldin did take quite a while to get used to the elegance of Makashi which involved perfectly balanced footwork, flexible movement and great accuracy in every jab, cut and parry.
He had more clashes with numerous ASP-19 Battle Droids, each of which was set on a harder level than the last. Tyron found the duels to be very demanding but certainly useful to exercise with the lightsaber. After much time of tiresome training, Eldin started to become moderately skilled in Form II which gained him praise from his Master.
The extremity of these lessons drained Tyron and made him very fond of serene slumber which thankfully did not get interrupted by any more bad dreams. He didn't have much time to rest though as Jaden woke him up early in the morning and insisted that training for at least eight hours straight was vital; Eldin sincerely hoped this was true.
Even though he was learning lots of things about lightsaber combat, one thing that bothered Tyron was that his Master had not yet began teaching him ways to influence and control the Force which was, in his opinion, the most important lesson to learn. Despite his worries, Eldin kept it to himself and let Korr do what he thought was best; he was the teacher after all.
