Sander Blanco's POV:

In an instant, my relaxed and restless state dissipated and is replaced with a feeling of adrenaline and excitement.

If what Qui-Gon said is true, our final trial to becoming Jedi has finally come. Even Yang looks rather pleased about the wait being over. "But where will we go? We can't go back to Beacon Academy." She said, bringing up a very good point.

"Fear not, my padawans. I know of a place that will do for your final trial: The Tomb for the brave woman known as Summer Rose." Qui-Gon responded in his usual monotone.

I wince a little, since I know about Yang and Ruby's…mother issues. Yang has a disturbed look on her face, but wisely remained silent. "Good. I want you to grab your weapons and kyber crystals, then head to the cliff-side in half an hour." Without another word, he left.

"Well, let's get this going." I said with an upbeat tone. Yang smiles at my enthusiasm and we go back inside. I grab Star Blaster and my white kyber crystal while Yang grabs Ember Celica and her twin yellow crystals. But before we can run out the door, Ruby and Taiyang spot us.

"Where are you 2 troublemakers up to?" Mr. Xiao Long asked, looking at us as we are about to walk out of the door for who knows how long.

"Just for a quick walk. Besides, we're training to be Hunters, right? It's always good to have your weapons on hand." I said, honestly. I really is a good habit to have, especially these days.

Taiyang nodded absently, looking a little concerned. "But we won't be gone long." Yang added quickly.

"Ok, ok. I can't keep track of you forever, so go off. But do come back tonight. You need your rest." He added.

"Dad!" Yang protested loudly, while a smile broke out over her face.

"Don't worry. Have fun." He said, then went back to laying on the couch, watching an action movie. I would stick around to watch since I love that genre of movies, but I have something to do.

Using the Force, we run through the forested grounds until we make it to the edge of a cliff, overlooking another forest. Right before us sat a stone slab with a rose symbol on it, and the name 'Summer Rose' written on it. I have to admit, this is a nice spot to have a memorial. Yang began tearing up a little at the sight of the grave.

"I know that this place still makes you feel sad, but don't dwell on it too much. This is the perfect spot to complete your final trials: The Trials of Isolation and Teamwork. You must make your way through a treacherous maze. When you both reach the center, you must work together to defeat the spirit of my old master back when I was a Padawan. May the Force truly be with you in this perilous journey." Qui-Gon explained.

My eyes widen in shock. Why mazes? I was never good with solving them. Damn things take too much time to solve. But suddenly, I feel my conscience slip from my body and I fall to the ground. But before I fall all the way to the ground, the space around me changed completely.

I am in space, but before I can establish what the trial is or where the maze is, I feel gravity kicking in around me, pulling me backward. I turn around and notice an unusual sight. I am obviously being pulled towards what looks like a giant gold ring floating in the middle of empty space. Quickly, I use the Force and create a small bubble shield around myself. Just in time, as the air around my Force shield burst into bright flames. Within seconds of being forces to hold my shield up, the flames dissipate and I crash onto a stone pedestal suspended over a black pit. Before me is a stone pathway that leads to what has to be 40 feet tall stone walls. Suddenly, another ball of flames crashes onto the stone pedestal on my right, before the flames dissipate and reveal Yang, looking a little tired.

"Man, I didn't expect that to happen." She said, patting out any leftover flames from her mane of blonde hair. Before I can say something witty about her hair, a loud crunching sound rang out.

"Did you hear that?" I ask, warily. Then I realize where the sound came from, and I look down at my feet. To my shock, the pedestal I'm standing on is crumbling apart!

"Jump!" I shout, then jump onto a stone pathway just as my pedestal completely collapsed and it fell into the abyss below. Yang also landed next to me right after her pedestal collapsed as well. "Start running, and don't stop until we reach the center." I tell her, then take off at a fast rate, but slow enough so I can conserve energy, down the stone path. When we reach the entrance to the maze, I notice we have 2 ways to go: left or right.

The Force screamed at me, telling me to go to the left. I do so, while Yang runs to the right. But after we enter the maze, another horrifying twist happens. The walls slam together behind me and remain together. So to not get crushed, I need to keep running, the Force enhancing my legs.

I sink into the Force's embrace, and it screams to me, telling me where to turn and avoid dead ends. I run until I hit what has to be a 10x10 corridor. Inside are giant Grimm. They growl at me, then lunge forward. But I just pull out my dark gold blade strapped to my back and slash them, making them get out of my way as I race down the ever-closing maze. I keep on taking turns. Left, left, right, left. The directions are absolutely confusing and would have made my head spin. But then I come to another, full of clone soldiers. They begin firing at me with blue lazers, but I use the Force to push them aside and run past. I can hear them scream a little before being crushed to death behind me. The only thing I can do is to run, run, run. Down endless turns and the occasional downward or upward staircase.

Then I come to another corridor, and meet an enemy I hoped to never see again. Twenty soldiers in jet black armor with gas mask-type masks under round helmets that reach down to the neck and curve up. The armor completely covers their bodies, and I notice the swords at their sides and blaster rifles in hand. "Jedi! Form up!" One soldier, with a red plume running vertically on his helmet, shouted. Then they got disks out and activated them, producing bright green energy shields that look like curved walls. Once they got in that formation, they lowered their shields so certain soldier in the formation can fire at me with accuracy just as good as the clones, but the shots are not nearly as random.

Seeing a way around them, I dodge the blasts, then jump into the air and run over their shields that protect them from an aerial assault. Just as I run past them, the walls close behind me. I turn right and come to a new branch off. But to my amazement, Yang is running towards me.

Together, we turn left and finally come to the maze's center. Once we enter the flat, grassy field, the walls close behind us. In the center of the field is a concrete block, with a rusty metal grid on the top.

"I'm so sick and tired of running." Yang said bluntly, placing her hands on her exposed hips and breathing a little heavily.

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more." I respond, also breathing heavily.

"Good job, running the gauntlet." Qui-Gon said, then added, "Now comes the final part of the Trials: Teamwork. You must defeat the spirit of the my old master, the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus. Only then will you become Jedi. May the Force be with you both."

"Wait, what?" I demand incredulously. Unfortunately, his presence had already left us to our troubles.

The concrete box in the center hissed, catching my attention. The steel grate opened outward, and an elevator of sorts rises up, with a man standing stoically.

I'd know that build, the white hair and brown robes. It is indeed Count Dooku. Yang just stares up at the man, surprise on her face. "So you're the Padawans my former apprentice told me about. I shall see whether you are any good to restarting the Jedi." He said, a stern look on his face, then activated his curved red lightsaber. In response, me and Yang activate our weapons. Raising an eyebrow at our weapons, Dooku spun in midair, slashing at us.

I hold my blade out, and to my amazement, it actually blocks Dooku's lightsaber. While the 2 of us fight it out with strength, Yang fired at Dooku's back. Dooku recoiled a little from the attack to the back, giving me a chance to slash at him. Dooku went flying back a little, then jumped at me, swinging back and forth, spinning in the air, and even throwing a Force technique to attack me. Of course, I used the Force and my instincts to repel the attacks. Of course, Yang's brawling style is obviously not what he's used to since he's actually begun to wear down a little.

"Impressive. You manage to make yourself my equal in combat and not get cocky when you're winning. Anakin Skywalker cannot say the same thing for himself. You both are really impressive, but now's when the true fight begins." Dooku said, then lunged at Yang. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any swords so she has to jump out of his sword's path to not get slashed in half. I charge at Dooku just as he is about to slash Yang in half after he pulls her closer due to the Force. I push a button on the side and it transforms into my trusty shotgun.

I fire it at Dooku while holding my white crystal, which fueled the shotgun blast. Giant holes in his robes and a nice wound on his back appeared. Yang is no longer being pulled forward, but uses the momentum to give him an uppercut. Dooku went sailing into the air, then crashed to the ground on his back. "Enough!" Dooku said, once I put my bronze-colored shotgun against his throat. "I must say, you have progressed much in your training. Finish me. I am at your mercy."

I am torn between firing at his head, to get revenge on all the Jedi and people who died by his hand, or to let him go. In the end, I pick the latter. I lower my gun and change it back into my sword. "No. I won't kill you. This is one of those moments where I should spare a life, even yours." I said.

"I also won't fight you anymore. You can't fight back." Yang said, lowering his fists.

Dooku smiled, then dissolved into smoke, and the world around us turned black.

When I open my eyes again, we are back in the real world, right next to Summer Rose's grave. "My, my. That was the most interesting Jedi Trial I've seen in a while." Qui-Gon commented.

"Thank you, so now what? Do we get lightsabers like I've heard the Jedi had?" Yang asked, a little anxiety in her voice.

"Oh, yes. Now is the time to make your lightsabers. However, since resources are scarce, I've decided that you should use the Force to take apart your weapons and remodel the pieces so they can be the first of a new generation of lightsabers."

I nearly gag when I hear that. How can I do that? After getting over the surprise of the statement, I concentrate on the Force and ask it to guide me in this. Suddenly, my sword and Yang's gauntlets flew into the air and disassembled before our very eyes. Concentrating on the Force, it reworked some of the pieces that compose our weapons, turning them into pieces that can maintain the original shape and do more, then the process is finished. I pull out my white kyber crystal and put it in the center of the floating field of metal parts. Yang followed suite, putting her crystals in the field of metal that was once Ember Celica.

Once that happened, the pieces reassembled themselves and reforms into Star Blaster in sword mode. I grab it and swing it around a little to test it. To my amazement, it feels exactly the same as it did before. Only this time, a white button is in the center instead of the blue button used for changing weapons and I also notice a 2nd symbol on the twist-able bottom of my blade. There's a shotgun symbol on the front side, but the opposite side is a symbol for a lightsaber. Curious, I twist the bottom so the sword is on the side and the lightsaber is facing up, not the sword symbol, and press the white button.

It then begins creaking mechanically, shrinking into itself, the blade tips forming the grips of my new lightsaber and changing into the 2 feet long, dark gold-colored hilt, along with the same circular bottom my sword has. I notice the white button in the center of the hilt and press it. A long white lightsaber beam, perhaps 5 feet long, comes out, humming with power. In 1 swift motion, the lightsaber made with the Force's help slices at me, cutting off that tacky braid of sandy blonde hair. It falls to the ground and lays there, limp.

I look over at Yang, and to my interest, she's now holding twin yellow lightsaber hilts that are slightly curved, with pointed metal plates as it goes up so it still looks a little like Ember Celica and that they are shooting out yellow beams about 3 feet long.

"These will be your lightsabers, symbols as the first of a new generation of Jedi that will start on this planet. But don't think you're done just yet. To become Grandmaster and Grandmistress of the New Jedi, you must save Remnant from the wrath of Darth Pyro, better known as Cindy Peverell. May the Force be with you on the path ahead."

With that, Qui-Gon left us alone to witness the upgrade our weapons got and what will come.


AN: Yay! The final trial is done.

Yes, I showed you the soldiers that the Sith Empire once used. Find out more about them in this story's prequel, 'The Heart of Death.'

I don't know why, but Darth Pyro feels appropriate for Cinder Fall.

I will see you next time when Schnee's decision to take Sander in is revealed.

Have a great day!