Disclaimer: I only own Rae, her crazy, and the obvious OCs.
Time-line: 2 years, 1 month.
Chapter 13: Twilight of Discovery
After a long afternoon of training at the Temple, Rae just wanted to go home and take a hot shower before going to bed. Unfortunately, one of her least favorite Jedi had to get in her way. "Olin," she greeted, utterly tired. "To what do I owe the interruption?" she asked. The young teen scowled at her.
"You've been giving Skywalker special treatment, haven't you? Just like the rest of the Order!" he accused. Rae quirked an eyebrow, amused despite herself.
"Oh-ho? You think the Order is giving little Ani a leg up?" she asked.
"Why else would they have let him join at such an age?!" Ferus roared back, his Song ringing with the strength of his annoyance and jealousy and sincerity. Rae couldn't hold it back anymore; she threw back her head in uproarious derisive laughter.
"You... you actually... !" she gasped out before her head fell forward as she wrapped her arms around her midriff, dark laughter still bubbling up. "Oh, you little fool," she finally said, her black laughter back under her control. Ferus took a step back as her head lifted, venomous amusement burning in her eyes and twisting her features. "Oh, how deep in the Council's dogma you must be, young Olin, to truly believe they have any sort of positive interest in Anakin. Oh there's interest! And there's special treatment..." Rae said, beginning to stalk forward, adding emphasis to her last words with a sneer before chuckling darkly. "But its not the kind of special treatment you'd want, boy," she added, somehow managing to loom over the boy. "Expectations heavy enough to bow a mighty Wroshyr tree, standards high enough to give a lofty mountain peak an inferiority complex... no, you do not desire the special treatment the Order gives to Anakin, Ferus Olin. Do not speak of what you do not, cannot, understand. " Ferus took another step back, then another forward, the undercurrent of determination that was always present in his melody swelling around him.
"Then what about the training you give him?!" he asked. Rae scoffed, standing tall and cold before the teen.
"Training that is available to all who seek it," she said. "Training I have just finished granting to the Padawans, and a few of the older Initiates. If you wish, you may join us tomorrow after the thirteenth bell," she added before attempting to side-step the child. Ferus moved to intercept her and she growled. "Stand aside, child," she said, her voice rumbling in her chest. Indignation and anger and desperation swirled around the ignorant, arrogant, Padawan before her as he drew himself up.
"Why do you defend this?! Why do you let Skywalker get..."
"Silence!" Rae bellowed, her amusement consumed by her anger. The world went dead silent around them, even the harsh breaths Rae could feel herself expelling. The only thing she could hear was the music from her Intuition jangling around her but even that was oddly muted, more understood than heard. Ferus gaped at the woman, his mouth moving soundlessly, as she struggled to reign in her rage. "I do not..." she tried to say, but nothing came out. She blinked and suddenly the sounds of the Temple slammed back into them, causing them to stagger slightly. Rae shook her head and turned her attention back on Ferus. "I do not defend the Council's actions, nor am I bound by their decrees," she said. "They hold no power over me and it is by my desire that I train the Jedi Young. Now, please, stand aside." Ferus stepped away and Rae stalked past him to the hanger. Stunned and unsettled by the power the woman had shown, not to mention the accusations she'd thrown at the Council, Ferus staggered down the corridor in search of Master Yoda. He needed the old Master's wisdom right about then.
/*/
Rae shook as she sat in her speeder. What the fudge had she just done?! Such total silence... she shouldn't have been able to do that! As her shaking subsided, she finally started the craft and navigated her way out of the Temple and back to her building. Speeder once more parked, she strode swiftly to the elevator and retreated to her apartment. Locking the door behind her, she dove for her Ipad. "How to create a pocket of utter silence," she muttered, shaking fingers typing the phrase into her Google search bar. The first page of results were utterly useless to her, so she redefined her question. "Casting Silence." D&D. It was a spell in D&D. "Okay... but how does it do what I experienced?" she muttered, clicking on one of the links. "Okay... Silence. Concentration spell... available to Bards, Clerics, and Rangers... no sound can be created or pass through a 20-foot radius sphere... yeah, that sounds like what happened... but I don't think I fit in any of those classes, not even Ranger. Is there any other way for the spell to be cast?" She looked up the spell on one of her favored DnD sites and huffed, not seeing any class she identified with that could take the second level spell. She huffed, then decided to look into the Monk class, the one class known for its martial arts. From there, she looked at the Monastic traditions. Her eyes landed on the Way of Shadow and her head fell forward to impact with her coffee table with a meaty thud. "Of course. Martial Artist, trained by a guy with Shadow in his job title, Way of Shadow Monk fits all too well," she muttered. Several deep breaths later, she lifted her head and clicked on the Monastic Tradition, just so she wouldn't be blindsided by any other supernatural abilities. "Darkness, darkvision,, pass without trace, silence, and the minor illusion cantrip? At third level? Wow. But... how many ki points do I have?" Deciding to look that up later, she examined her upper level Tradition features. "Shadow Step, Cloak of Shadows, and Opportunist? This is the Roguiest Monk to ever Monk!" she exclaimed before going back to base Monk features. "Okay... one ki point for every level? Is that just Monk level or would other Class levels effect my pool? Well, at least I know I have at least three ki points." A little experimentation with the site's character builder answered her questions and she sighed. "Well... I guess... that means I gained more than Force-style Hyper Intuition when I got dragged into this universe," she said softly. "Now the question is... Is Monk my only class or have I multi-classed?" Unfortunately, she had no way to test this, though she thought perhaps she might have multi-classed into Rogue with her splicing skills. Still, there wasn't a Rogue skill she could really test. The only unique things about Rogues at level one were thieves' tools, sneak attack, and Thieves' Cant. Though... Blon's datapad was basically the Star Wars version of thieves' tools... and she was proficient with it. She shook her head and put those thoughts to bed.
/*/
Obi-Wan was surprised when Rae barreled toward him, grabbed him around the neck, and dragged him to a training hall before locking the door behind them. "I need your help testing a few things," she told him, plopping a dull knife in his hand.
"O...Kay? What am I doing?" Obi-Wan asked, thoroughly bamboozled.
"First, throw that knife at me. Don't worry, it's a training blade. Worst I'll get is a bruise," Rae answered, shaking out her limbs. Obi-Wan shrugged, then threw the knife at her. He watched as her eyes narrowed in on it, her jaw tightened, and then her arm flashed forward and she caught the weapon by the handle. With a faint smirk, she flung the knife back at him. Noting the faint gleam of the blade, Obi-Wan caught it with the Force.
"Why is it glowing?" he asked.
"Glowing?" Rae echoed, bouncing over. "Huh. What do you know. It is glowing. Fascinating," she said.
"Rae," Obi-Wan said, his voice commanding, and the woman winced.
"Forgot you had the General Voice before..." She shook her head and sighed. "Whatever brought me here... it did more than give me Force Intuition," she said. "It... it changed me. Drastically."
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked, dropping the knife. Neither noticed the dent it left in the floor.
"Did you hear about my confrontation with Olin, last time I was here?" Rae asked. Obi-Wan nodded.
"Just about everyone has. It... unsettled the boy. And a few others who were effected," he said. "Rae... what happened?"
"I expended two ki points, subconsciously, to cast a twenty foot radius sphere of silence around me," she answered. "It can last up to ten minutes, as long as I keep my concentration. But I was so shocked, it dropped fairly quickly."
"This... I haven't heard of anyone being able to do something like this before," Obi-Wan said. Rae nodded and retrieved her knife, pausing as she finally noticed the damage it had caused.
"That glow, on the knife?" she said, fingers tracing the dent left behind. "That was my ki, empowering the blade to do twice the damage it would have done to me since I reduced the damage to zero by catching it with one hand," she finished. "When I was brought over... I was made into a D&D style Monk and through training with Blon... I unknowingly chose my Monastic Tradition. The Way of Shadow. Monks of this tradition are often spies and assassins, relying on speed and stealth to get the job done. And that's not all. I may have multi-classed."
"Multi-classed? D&D? Rae, what are you talking about?" Obi-Wan asked. Rae shook her head and stood.
"I'm now a Mary Sue with old school Gamer powers," she said. "Don't worry about it, Obi-Wan. I just... needed to know if my suspicions were correct. They are. Thank you for your help and... please, don't mention this to anyone else? I'm... kind of freaking out right now. This kind of thing... it's unexpected and... terrifying."
"No-one will learn of it through me," Obi-Wan assured her. She smiled wanly at him before sighing and saying,
"I was also hoping to figure out what level I am... Mind dropping me from the ceiling to see if I can reduce the fall damage?"
"Throwing a dull knife at you is something completely different than dropping you, Rae," Obi-Wan said sternly, crossing his arms. She huffed but shrugged, rolling her shoulders.
"Fair enough," she said, then grinned at him. "Nice to see you care, Ritter," she said before unlocking the door. "Spar with me? No weapons," she asked. Obi-Wan groaned, knowing he'd regret this, but eased into his fighting stance.
/*/
He'd been right. "Ow," he moaned at the woman sitting on his chest. Rae laughed and gracefully stood, removing the pressure from his lungs.
"Well, most of my training has been for unarmed combat while yours has focused on saberwork," she said. "If you don't keep pushing and improving yourself, I'll always best you without a weapon." Obi-Wan growled and pulled two training sabers toward them with the Force. Rae rolled her eyes as she caught the one he sent her way. "Fair turn about, I suppose," she said, swinging the slightly shorter than average bokken around a few times, rolling her wrist. After a year of training with Obi-Wan, she'd call herself decent with the short blade. By now, they'd gathered quite an audience of Initiates, Padawans, and Knights as their spars had quickly become grand spectacles; a promising Jedi Knight and a non-Force Sensitive sparring on near equal terms was something fascinating and new after all.
"Do you practice your saberwork without me, Rae?" Obi-Wan queried, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. Rae laughed as she dodged his strike.
"Some, but none of my other sparring partners can measure up to a Jedi," she told him. "They're all either drunk or focus on non-lethal weapons such as stun batons." Obi-Wan chuckled and their spar began in earnest. Rae was forced on the defensive, Obi-Wan putting more of his skill on display, before she gave a little one shoulder shrug and started mixing her unarmed style into her saberwork. The weapon was light enough for her to hold one handed, so when her opponent closed in, she'd punch him. When he made use of his greater reach, she'd lash out with her feet. At one point, she lunged, dropped to the floor, and swung her left leg out in a scything sweep. Obi-Wan just barely made it out of her range, tapping into the Force to aid him. Rae grinned up at him, eyes flashing and teeth bared like a hunting cat. Finally, Obi-Wan disarmed her and laid his training saber next to her collarbone.
"Looks like I win this one," he said, satisfied. Rae laughed and knocked his weapon aside with the back of her forearm before grabbing his wrist and using him as a lever to raise to her feet.
"It's not like you've been training to wield a saber since you were, what, seven?" she said. "In that case, I'd say I'm doing pretty good."
"Learn Obi-Wan's lessons quickly, you do. Impressive, I find it, that progress so easily, you have," Yoda said, making his presence known. Rae rolled her shoulders and turned to face the aged Jedi Grandmaster.
"I've always wanted to learn how to use a sword, Master Yoda," she told him. "Obi-Wan was merely kind enough to teach me when I asked. And honestly, he's been learning my lessons quickly as well, pushing me to even greater heights. After all, is it not in teaching others that we learn the most?" Smiling at them all, Rae picked up her bokken, bowed to Obi-Wan, and replaced it in the rack along the wall before leaving.
/?/
A/N: So... yeah. Told you Blon being a Shadow would be important. I do have a plan for this... after I thought of it and was like, 'that would be so cool! Let's just go full ham with this Mary Sue stuff!'
A/N 2: Since this is uploading on Tuesday Jan. 12th, 2021... sorry it's a bit late and happy new semester! Glad I have several backlogged chapters to work with...