I didn't abandon you this time, I promise. I had finals, I got a job, and I photoshopped Ezra and Zeb's head on a space waffle… it's not abandonment, it's priorities!

Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.


Ezra's reaction time could not have been more perfect when he managed to roll under the table as the cloaked student clearly aimed to jab their lightsaber at Ezra's shoulder. His tablemates seemed to close in around the table almost protectively, as if creating a wall. Ezra noticed their legs and heard the protesting of the cloaked figure as he tried to figure out what to do next, but he was clearly running out of time.

Some of the other apprentices started to pull his tablemates away so it was easier for the cloaked student to get to him. When he heard a loud thud on top of the table he knew his thinking time was over. He moved just in time to see a lightsaber go through the table and right next to his head.

Ezra waited for the lightsaber to be pulled away before he rolled out from under the table, quickly turned around, and then tackled the cloaked figure on the table. This seemed to be an unexpected reaction, because the student was knocked off the table and rolled off with ease, but they took Ezra along with them.

Once on the floor, the cloaked one kicked Ezra into the air, and he flew back and hit the table. Since he was now at an 80-degree angle, he used this moment to try and get to his feet, but was immediately punched and pushed into the table by his opponent. Ezra let out a noise of pain unintentionally, and then proceeded to punch the cloaked figure in the face.

When they staggered back, Ezra held his hand out and used the force to pull the lightsaber away from the cloaked figure, and he activated it. He held it in a matter of preparation for battle and the figure laughed, "Oh this'll be great. Barth, let me borrow yours!" the cloaked figure shouted across the cafeteria. At this point, they had an audience, some people standing in a circle around them, some holding the tablemates back, the most were still at there tables, watching. The teachers were intentionally turning a blind-eye to what was going on, that much was noticeable.

Another cloaked figure threw the opponent a lightsaber and they activated it. Jacob struggled in the classmates' grasps and shouted, "Dev, don't do it! Just give back the lightsaber! You've still-" Jacob's mouth was blocked and there was laughter from some of the surrounding classmates at his muffled continuing.

Ezra looked nervously at Jacob, and then looked back over at his opponent, who twirled his lightsaber and responded, "Come on, padawan, show me what you're made of." After a moment of nothing, the figure let out an annoyed grunt before charging at Ezra and attacking. Ezra held up the lightsaber to block it, then parried.

Although he wasn't amazing with a lightsaber, at this point Ezra was way better than he had been before, what with the training and all. However, it was clear in the way the cloaked figure moved and carried themselves that they were the far better fighter, and were far more capable with a lightsaber. However, Ezra had actual field experience, and this left advantages in how he would move around to bring it to his advantage.

There were no fancy flips and kicks in this fight; it was mostly Ezra on a defense and his opponent on the attack. Ezra refused to let his back near him for even a minute, but this tactic was starting to no longer work.

After one extremely strong attack on part of the cloaked student, Ezra was disarmed and weaponless. The opponent approached Ezra holding their lightsaber out to them and responded, "Look at how weak you are, Jedi. When will you learn?"

Ezra moved as if to run off again, but instead two of the classmates grabbed him and kept him from moving. The raven-haired teen struggled as the opponent continued, "If you want to be the stronger one while you are here, you need to give in to the dark side. You can argue all you want about how much stronger you'd be if you were out in the galaxy hiding away and training, but while you're here clinging to your hopeless ideology, you're just going to get weaker. And weaker. Until you become so worthless you might as well just die."

The cloaked figure held up their lightsaber and spoke, "Now, let me teach you the punishment for being disobedient and willingly fighting." a grin could almost be seen on the classmate's face as they slashed down with the lightsaber. Ezra let out a cry in pain as he felt less restraint from the classmates now. Mainly because they didn't have another arm to hold him back with.

The class-four student had sliced Ezra's arm off with the lightsaber.

The other classmate let go of Ezra and most of his kids disbanded letting out a laugh. Meanwhile Ezra was gripping where his arm should be in absolute agony. When his tablemates were let go, the first one to get to Ezra's side was Doomi, who tried to calm him down, "Doomi understand Dev's pain. Doomi suggest taking deep breaths."

Ezra looked at the Rodian, almost pissed off, as Sondwa approached, "He's just trying to help. We all are…"

"I'm not." Jacob chimed in as he sat back down at the table. Sondwa looked at him and shouted, "Are you kidding me? Are you really going to do this right now?"

"If Dev hadn't fought him he couldn't have lost his arm. Besides, this happens, it's part of the process. It's best if he just moves on and forgets about it."

"Are you holding what I said about Kimmel against me, Jacob? That's reasonable advice, what else was I supposed to say? Are you really going to tell a kid with a lost limb to-"

"If you two girls are done fighting." the group looked at Dhara who had apparently left and had run back within that time, "We need to get Dev to the medical bay so we can, oh I don't know, fix his arm?" Jacob and Sondwa looked at each other, then looked away pissed off before Jacob spoke, "Fine. Someone might wanna get the limb though, maybe they can reattach it, keep it mostly organic."

Ezra's face was filled with disgust, almost as if he were going to throw up, as he stood up with the help of Doomi, "Can we not? Please?"


In a highly decorated room of the Academy, the two headmasters and a couple of cloaked students stood in a row. Another cloaked student stood in front of the rest, as if they were the particular once being addressed, which they were.

"So, our newest padawan has already engaged in lightsaber combat then?" Dwyer grinned amused at this development, "And lost his arm too. Well, he may not be the most predictable, but at least he isn't an outlier."

The Umbaran approached the student and questioned, "Are you certain he was as poorly trained as you say?"

"Well, he wasn't poorly trained, just not as trained as he could be. I'm not sure if this shows the lack of training his master may have had. It isn't completely out of theory… anything else, Master Wui?"

The Umbaran smiled as she responded, "I am certain that your strength and determination has been proven. As a result, I will make certain you start off as a brand new Inquisitor first thing tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."

The student bowed to the headmasters and then made their way to leave. The two remaining students stood waiting and Dwyer looked to one, "Hevel. I understand that you were the first one to be introduced to…Dev. As a result, I want you to join him in the next few classes he should have. I believe Knives will be happy to have a class-four student along, especially since she seems to be planning something for Dev." Hevel bowed as Dwyer waved for him to be dismissed.

The last student stood silently until the door was completely closed. Dwyer broke it once more and responded, "I trust the events of today and yesterday will cause more of them to break soon? Especially due to the unfortunate disappearance of Kimmel amongst them." Dwyer folded his hands and chuckled as Wui spoke, "If you wish for your curiosity to be sated, Kimmel is still alive. We are keeping her… asleep… in one of the isolated chambers for a few days. We're just hoping it tears a couple more of them apart losing one of their friends… she was also making it quite difficult for Dev understand the going-ons around here."

A female voice carried from the cloaked figure as they responded, "It is too soon to tell, but I know it is definitely getting to Dev. I hope this is what finally gets to Jacob. This may actually affect more of the others with her healing abilities out of their way. Are you sure you don't want to make it a week or two? You will definitely get someone within the week."

"We better get someone within the week." Dwyer responded in a hostile way, "We need to have this process start going faster. Are you sure you haven't found any more weaknesses from anyone?"

"If you try breaking Dev again tonight, I can definitely find another weakness. I know he asks a lot of questions, and is willing to give answers when emotionally confused enough."

Dwyer and Wui looked towards each other for a moment in silent negotiation before Wui grinned sadistically, "I really want to try torturing the parents this time."