Author's Note: Chapter 21 has more training from Kirito. Lots of Empire Strikes Back vibes here.

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.

Chapter Twenty One - The Force Within

"Concentrate."

Akihiko Kayaba was still serving as Kirito's coach of the Force on the isolated system of Dagobah. The musty bogs of the swamp planet were still hot and dreary, but all was still and quiet in the jungle as the prodigy Kirito took this time to work some meditation into his routine.

"Collect the entire scene in your mind, do not focus in on one object until you've gathered the feeling of all that is around you."

"All around me..." Kirito mused inside his own head as his eyes remained shut for meditation. Wisps of wind and small energy would swell through the campsite as Kirito channeled what he could, but nothing too powerful overcame the group as he still kept his energy low, and his focus intact.

"It's so easy...it's too easy! This planet is brimming with energy. It's like a hack or something!"

"Dagobah is strong with the Force in the Star Wars Universe." Kayaba admitted. "I do believe Mathis added it as an Easter egg planet for only those players worthy of what it has to offer."

He watched Kirito channel all the energy he could, and was also surprised that the boy's young droid friend remained silent and vigilant during the session. The master crossed his arms, then raised an eyebrow for his next command. "Once you've gathered the Force around you, learn to single out a specific target. Channel all the energy between you and that object, then rework the living Force that surrounds it to favor you, and draw the item in."

Kirito's arms were out now, bent at a rough forty-five-degree angle toward the ground. His palms were flat face down, and energy swelled beneath his feet as he tried to gather the space around him through his internal vision, not his natural sight.

"An item...my lightsabers." He pinpointed the first purple lightsaber at his fallen belt beside a stump to the side of the camp. It had been there for several days now, untouched. He felt no need to use it until he learned a few tricks with the Force System, and now it was time to call his weapon to his side.

Kirito raised his right hand, and lowered his left. He had two lightsaber handles, but felt it would be best to focus on only one this time around. His arm was out to his side, and pointing at the belt with the hilt sticking out of the shallow mud. His arm wavered for seconds, swelling both from the energy, and his exhaustion.

His hand shook more rapidly, and his arm swayed violently as rage built up in his head, and finally he threw his arm down, shouted in anger, and slowly sat down beside his droid, Yui.

"I-I can't...I can't do it. I try focusing on the Force, and the object, but I just can't do it...I need a cheat code or something."

"Don't try, just do." Kayaba smirked with an amused expression. "You always envision an outcome of failure. Just ignore all routes except the one where you grab the lightsaber."

"That's easy coming from a ghost." Kirito leaned back on his elbows. "If you're so smart, why don't you try doing it."

"I could, but that would prove nothing." Kayaba nodded. "It'd be no different for me to do it, after all...for like the wise Master Yoda, my ally is the Force. This game created such a fine system for it to thrive in. Its energy surrounds us and binds us to its operating system. This game operates unlike any other title in the Seed. Simple binary language of coding and scripture? No, no this is a far greater energy..."

A breeze whirled in around Kayaba as his outstretched hands came up to collect its brilliance. "You must feel the Force around you! Between you, me, the tree, the planets, other players, everywhere...Even between your hand and your lightsaber."

"It's just too...silly for me to gather." Kirito sighed. "I figured out the magic and flying systems over time in ALfheim, but I'm a melee guy. This is just too mystic for me to comprehend."

Kayaba scratched his chin, then grinned. "Fine. Then why don't you simply treat it as just a bunch of coding and digital language then?"

"Huh?" Kirito sat up, and looked over to his mentor with a puzzled expression.

Kayaba shrugged. "Your mind operates like mine. We see the digital landscape far differently than other people do. If you can't feel the energy of the Force System as some mystic power, then treat it as a GM would treat changing the code for their game files."

Kayaba turned to walk away from the camp, and never leaned back to look at Kirito. "It's like you said, just pretend you have a cheat sheet...er, or a cheat code."

"A cheat code..." Kirito let Kayaba wonder off, and let that thought sink in his mind. Yui started to light up, and fizzle with excitement.

"Go on, Daddy! Kayaba is right. You can master this game if you just treat it like a game. Not like the real Star Wars universe."

"I'll tr...I'll do just that then. Thanks."

Kirito stood again, and slowly walked out to the middle of the opening. He turned to face his fallen belt, with both lightsabers still exposed for him to see. He closed bis eyes, and once again channeled the energy around him to gather control of his setting. He took many deep breaths, and envisioned the swamp not as a scene from a video game or a movie, but as a unit with several individual parts made up like a giant numerical map.

"Concentrate...concentrate." Kirito let his images sit it, and allowed more wind and energy to swell between his legs and up his body. He felt a gust lift his bangs, but did not move an inch as the cracks of the game's facade were starting to break in his favor.

He slowly lifted his right hand, and focused on the in-game item that was his right lightsaber hilt. Rain slowly passed through the canopy above, but even the heavy droplets did not faze him out of focus. He kept his mental sights solely on the hilt, and even made it wiggle around once or twice even at its far distance.

Kayaba watched the tiny Yui light up with more energy as her father made the weapon jiggle around the belt, and decided to stay and see what would happen. A smile crossed over his face, but this amusement was far different than anything he ever experienced in his own world of Aincrad.

The master gamemaker spoke with a soft whisper. "Kazuto Kirigaya: Master of the Force."

Kirito never opened his eyes, but suddenly felt a surge of power draw the lightsaber from his belt on the ground, and brought it to his open right hand. He grasped the metal hilt with his fingers, and powered it on with a whip to the side, finally holding it over his still shrouded eyes. The brilliant amethyst color lit up against his face and the rain, and after lowering it to his side, he raised his left hand, and brought the other saber to his presence as well.

He gave the two sabers a couple test swings, then threw the right one like a boomerang at a nearby tree. The strong blade cut through the trunk of the tree like it was made of fine silk. The lightsaber then swung around, and returned to its owner's hand, ready for a second strike to take place.

Finally, with Yui cheering, and Kayaba nodding with approval, Kirito opened his eyes, and delivered a long-awaited smile of confidence.

"Alright. Now let's see what else I can do with the Force."

"AGh!"

Klein's head shot up with a throb of pain. His body was tilted at a fourty-five-degree angle, and his limbs were strapped to a table of sorts as his eyes wondered around a dark room.

"What the hell is going on...that lousy bitch...did Argo betray us?"

"No. She's an Imperial Operative."

Klein heard doors open into his chamber, and was quickly greeted by an ornately decorated, and rather youthful looking Sith Lord lined with crimson and white on her armor. A small cloak skirt hung from the back of her waist, but the top of her outfit decorated her as a powerful war veteran.

Asuna looked at Klein with narrowed eyes. "She was only playing the part as a Republic Smuggler. A very valuable asset to my team."

"Agh, okay then..." Klein's eye's raised as he looked to see the attractive young lady presiding over his interrogation. "If I get to be your prisoner right now, I think I can handle this..."

Asuna shot out a small bolt of lightning to hit him in the chest, which caused Klein to stutter in breaths, and cough twice before coming back to the room.

"Urgh...eh, point taken. Where's my friend, Silica?! What'd you creeps do with her!?"

"She'll be next, if I don't get what I want from you." Asuna admitted. "Argro said you have a direct connection with the player I'm looking for."

"Kirito..." Klein muttered to himself, then raised an eyebrow. "Listen, Lady, I have no idea where the greyed-out kid is right now. He's on a special mission for the Master. I was just coming here to get parts for my ship."

"Exactly." Asuna took over. "Parts for your ship that you need after running around on missions...with Kirito."

She drew closer to his body, and leaned over to look him in the eye. "You apparently know enough about Kirito to say he's on a special mission. A player that has the attention of Peter Mathis...and he picks you as his best friend."

"Picked me?" Klein was starting to grow uncomfortable. "Listen, he said we know each other in the real world. We all play other games together. Me, him, Silica...even you."

"I'm not listening to your filth." Asuna snapped. "He's not my husband."

"Hehe...I never said anything like that?" Klein awkwardly admitted. "He's super crazy about finding you too, though. Maybe just wait it out, and while you're at it let us go too!"

"He's looking for me?" Asuna leaned back a minute, and felt a small vein protrude from her forehead. "If he only knew what I had in store for him..."

The Lady of the Sith leaned in again, and held an open hand over Klein's exposed face. She channeled all her anger and rage into her mind, the split her focus to gather what she could from her captured pet. Klein was forced to lean into her hand through some sort of gravitational pull, and felt his head throb again in pain as he tried keeping his mouth shut.

"You went back to Coruscant with him...you sat at a debriefing meeting with Amun-Din, but left in the middle of it...you purchased a new ship for Kirito...and..."

She was starting to crack the code, but just as Klein opened one of his eyes in agony, Asuna's eyes lit up with shock and awe. A series of wild flashbacks hit her mind all at once. Battles with Klein, and Kirito in a giant floating castle. She and a group of other players fighting virtual beasts in the open squares of Tokyo. There was a girl with white hair singing over a balcony as they all fought. Next she saw a giant white tree looming over a great green field of fairies...and a small house, alone on a lake. She and the others were celebrating a gathering of some sorts there, but she...she and Kirito...

"AGH!" Asuna swung her hand away from Klein, and ripped several medical devices from the wall in the process. She turned from the prisoner, and powered on an automated interrogation droid to torture him some more.

"I'll leave you alone. I have what I need."

"Hey wait, AGH, don't just leave...AGH!"

Asuna passed out of the interrogation room, and walked down a dimly lit corridor with Argo and Sinon meeting her from behind. "Kirito's on the Dagobah System. He's probably gone there to train his abilities."

"Oye, that's fine and all, but I want my reward!" Argo chimed off as they made it to the open hanger.

Asuna never turned around. "Oh trust me, I plan to make you the personal informant to the Emperor after this. All you have to do is retrieve Kirito for me on Dagobah, and..."

"Hold on!" Sinon slammed her foot down. "You sent Lisbeth on that retrieval mission. She's still out serving you as we speak. Make sure you give her just as big of a reward for all this."

Asuna still kept walking. "At one time, Lisbeth served her use, now she let Argo claim her prize. It's not my fault she couldn't find what I asked for in time."

Sinon yelled at her superior. "That's not fair at all! If you send Lisbeth to get that kid, she'll do it in half the time. You owe her that much at least!"

"Owe her? For wasting my time on Coruscant?" Asuna stopped, and turned to look Sinon in the eye as her left hand settled on her lightsaber hilt. "Or perhaps you truly do think she's being treated unfairly?"

"Ehrr..." Sinon tensed up, and remembered that she and Lisbeth took far too long, and took too many resources on their mission in Coruscant for Asuna to be proud of either of them. She could feel the fire coming off her Sith Lord supervisor's presence. "Well, that's not what I..."

"Good!" Asuna turned once again for the final time. "It would be unfortunate for Lisbeth to face a punishment for your insubordination, Admiral."

Sinon stopped dead in her tracks as Asuna, Argo, and several guards mounted the Mother's Rosario for take-off, and she let the steam in her veins subside as she pulled out her comms link. "So, the kid's on Dagobah...I wonder how far Lisbeth is from that dreary rock."

Back on Dagobah, Kirito was meditating at the campsite, with his legs crossed as he sat in the center of the clearing. His hands were flat on his knees, and the air around him was circling with rocks and branches.

Kayaba studied the channel of energy, and provided his own enlightenment. "The Force System allows players to wield insurmountable power over the dimension of space in this galaxy, but it also unlocks a unique ability for especially gifted players...the command of visions."

"Visions?" Kirito silently whispered back.

"In a way." Kayaba nodded. "You cannot control these visions, but you can use ones from the present to locate what others are doing at the same time you are. It allows you to essentially watch any player you want as if they were streaming their content for others to view. In battle, this can even be used one step further to predict your user's movements and abilities."

"Sounds valuable." Kirito continued to channel more and more energy as he listed to Kayaba calmly. He also tried tapping into this visual weapon mentioned by his teacher.

The Heathcliff avatar carried on. "Yes, but this can be a very quick path to the Dark Side of the Force System. Lusac is one person who has mastered these abilities, as has his apprentice. She sent spies throughout the galaxy to find you, and bring you to the Emperor."

"Asuna...she's...looking for me?" Kirito quietly asked. "I can...I can see her...angry."

"Absolutely." Kayaba replied. "You're her key to ending this war."

"And she's my key to getting out of this game." Kirito sent a vortex of air flying through the treetops, and stood from his spot as he looked over to his master. "I need to find her. I'm leaving for Korriban."

"Korriban?" Kayaba said with a nervous hesitation. "That's the home of Sith players. The Vice-Commander will surely be there."

"Exactly." Kirito retrieved his belt, and finished off the rest of his uniform as he went to set Yui up for the flight. "If I find her on my own, I may be able to crack her mind control and snap her back to reality."

"Kazuto!" The voice of Suguha Kirigaya returned to the camp, and she sounded very nervous to hear him leave. "Don't go in too early! Asuna's setting up traps for you. She's still controlled by Lusac!"

"She's not evil, Sugu." Kirito turned to look at the sky. "You know that, and I know that. She's our friend. I'm getting her out of this game, and ending all of this."

"Don't give in yet!" Suguha pleaded. "Don't stop your training too early!"

"Listen to your family, Kirito." Kayaba pleaded as well. "You've only begun to fully understand the Force System in its entirety. Don't leave before it's too late."

"I've got what I need already." Kirito smiled, and raise his hands. He violently pulled the half of his fighter ship that was submerged in mud out from the water, and in an impressively swift movement, set the spacecraft down carefully on the cleared open ground.

"I have just enough control over this system to beat Lusac, and Amun-din, and Peter Mathis too. I'm going to save my friends."

"You tried that, in Aincrad, against me." Kayaba was referring to their escape from SAO, and his ability to defeat Heathcliff and save the other players from their trapped virtual state on Floor 75. "Learn from your mistakes. Think back to Aincrad, and even the vision you suffered in the cave."

"I've suffered a lot of things." Kirito set Yui into her spot, and boarded his ship. "But I've learned a lot too. Aincrad, ALfheim, Gun Gale, The Augma, The Force System. I've overcome too many obstacles to let this one stop me. I'm saving my friends, and ending this nonsense once and for all."

"Kazuto..."

Kirito stopped prepping his ship, and turned to see a blurry blue image of his cousin, Suguha Kirigaya standing next to Kayaba. She had something shining of her cheeks, which almost looked like tears.

"Don't lose yourself...you're the only one in the group who came in without losing your mind...don't give in to hate."

Kirito gave his dear cousin a smile, and a final salute before taking off. "I won't. I promise, Sugu."

The door shut on the outside, and the engines to his Liberator-Class starfighter powered on, and sent Kirito to the stars on his next, and possibly final voyage.

Suguha's ghost was fading out of the game, but her hand still reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek. "Why is he always so reckless...he's the only hope they have to beat this game."

"No." Kayaba admitted with a small smile on his face, and started to fade with Kirito's younger cousin. "He'll have his friends...that will be enough."

As Kirito shot through the stars of Dagobah's outer sky, Yui decided to finally voice her own opinion on the matter. "Daddy, I sense a large fleet of Empire starships flying towards Korriban...please don't do anything to hurt Mommy."

"I won't, Yui." Kirito switched on the engines to power his own hyperspeed, and looked to his tiny mini map one last time. "I'm going to use her to help get us out of this game."

Flying right behind Kirito's fighter, was a Mantis-class stalker ship, and this crafty airship barely managed to pin a remote tracker unit to the back of Kirito's hull before watching it shoot off into the endless void of stars.

"Thanks for the tip, Sinon." Lisbeth switched on her own hyper drive, and set her course for Korriban. "Okay, Kirito...I have you now."

Uh-oh, Lisbeth managed to find Kirito. Let's hope she's not as useless as Boba Fett! Yea...you heard me.

The Force Ghost Suguha is very interesting. Just to be clear, the ghost of Suguha is her human, real black haired version. She also has no memory loss, but she's 100% trapped in the game and cannot do anything to help the others.

Do all people using a Holocron device turn into Force Ghosts when they die? We'll have to find out next time! or later...

Until Then!