Chapter 2 - Training

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars, even if we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: I'll probably be releasing this for the foreseeable future, because I'm very unmotivated for The Rogue Jedi since it hardly has any attention... Oh well. Lol.

~ Amina Gila

A cool afternoon breeze blows through the trees as I sit on a rock watching Luke train with Yoda. It's been a day since I arrived here, and I'm finally beginning to come to terms with everything I heard yesterday. I'd spent a long time thinking about why this happened. I've never heard of time travel actually happening before, so the only conclusion I could reach is that it has to do with what was happening right before I appeared. I was on the verge of refusing to rejoin the Order, but obviously, the Force didn't like what was going to happen if I did. It sent me here to prevent this future from occurring – that is, if I can even go back. That's not something I'll be pondering right now.

But could I really prevent all this simply by staying in the Order? I shake my head in confusion. That seems more than a little unlikely. I'll have to do more than just stay. I'll have to do everything I can to take apart Sidious's plans before they can culminate, but I won't be able to do it alone. I don't even know what to do.

For as long as I'm here, however long that's going to be, I'll do what I can to aid in the fight against the Empire. I'll stay with Luke to help and protect him however I can. While I'm here, I can also find out as much as possible about the rise of the Empire so that once I get back home, I'll know what to do to prevent this.

Luke is currently doing a handstand, with Yoda balancing on his feet. Luke focuses on a rock and it slowly levitates off the ground before coming to rest on another one nearby.

When I watch, I can't help but think about the lifetime ago when Yoda was training me. It all feels so foreign to me now. I don't know what to do. I want to stay in the Order with Anakin, I really do, but how can I? I understand it now, that the Jedi had become corrupted. I can't help but think back to what Barriss was saying. She was right, in a way. It doesn't justify her actions by any means, but she was right that the Jedi are corrupted, and the Republic will fall.

It's difficult to ignore the surge of bitterness and betrayal rising inside of me as I continue to watch Yoda. I always used to have great respect for him, and to an extent, I still do even now, but… He's one of the most perceptive Jedi who is strongly attuned to the Force. Why could he not sense that I was telling the truth when I spoke to the Council in the chamber of judgement, or at the very least, realize that there was more going than met the eye? Or did he realize that but was too concerned with the opinion of the Senate? Did any of them even bother to look at the evidence before just abandoning me? They must not have. If they had, there's no way they could have done what they did.

Suddenly, Artoo rolls over, beeping frantically, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I wonder. Distracted, Luke loses his balance and falls onto the ground.

"Concentrate!" Yoda scolds as he hastily leaps clear to avoid being squashed.

I try my best not to burst out laughing right then and there but fail spectacularly. It's certainly the most amusing sight I've seen since I came to the future. Maybe in a long time. It's hard to say which is funnier: the expression of near alarm on the Grand Jedi Master's face as he jumps out of the way with only seconds to spare, or the resemblance of Anakin landing on his head. Yoda hits me with his stick as I desperately attempt to stifle more laughter.

Artoo rolls further towards us as Luke stands up. From what he's saying, it sounds like something might have happened to the fighter Luke landed here in. Still trying to suppress my laughter, I stand up and walk over to the water's edge, along with a worried Luke. Sure enough, the X-wing he came here in has sunk into the water.

"Oh, no. We'll never get it out now," he groans. I can almost concur with the statement. Almost. It's definitely bigger than anything I've lifted before, but there's no reason we couldn't do it together. Besides, I've been in endless impossible situations before, courtesy of Anakin.

"So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?" demands Yoda.

"Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally different!" Luke protests. How long has he been trained, even?

"No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned," Yoda instructs. I take a few steps back, giving him room. Luke is the one who needs to do this. Not me.

"Alright, I'll give it a try," Luke replies in a tone implying that he very much doubts he'll succeed.

"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."

Luke closes his eyes and holds a hand in the direction of the fighter. Slowly and shakily, the X-wing begins to rise out of the water. But before it's fully out, it stops rising, and then sinks back under the water again. "I can't. It's too big," pants Luke, walking back over to Yoda and sitting down next to him.

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm?" demands Yoda.

Luke shakes his head in response.

"And well you should not. For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow," Yoda begins lecturing. As he speaks, I turn towards the fighter. I don't lift things with the Force frequently, but I certainly know how to. I close my eyes and hold out my hands towards the X-wing. Focusing, I gradually pull ship out of the swamp. Considering Luke seems scarcely trained, I'm not surprised I can manage this even though he can't. I carry the fighter safely away from the swamp before carefully setting it down.

Breaking my focus, I turn to see Luke standing up.

"I don't… I don't believe it," he exclaims finally, gaping at me in complete shock.

"That is why you fail," replies Yoda. Luke just shakes his head in response, seeming confused.

"Lightsaber instruction, Ahsoka shall give you," Yoda decides, "Now, you should begin." He wants me to help train Anakin's son? That's… I'm hardly even sure how to react to that. Considering the circumstances… it's the best repayment I can do for everything Anakin has done for me. Except there's only one problem.

"But I don't even have my lightsabers anymore," I protest. Hopefully Luke won't ask why not. There's no way I want to get into the details of how I lost them at the warehouse and didn't have time to make new ones before time-travelling.

"Use mine you shall," Yoda replies, unphased, withdrawing his lightsaber and holding it out. I didn't even realize he had it, but I'm not surprised. Even though he is in exile, there's no way to know what could happen, and he might need it. Hesitantly, I take the weapon, hardly able to believe I've just been given the lightsaber of the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. It's a little small for me, I must admit. After all, it was made for a being that's less than half my size. It will definitely take some getting used to, though I'm confident I can manage.

I hope that at some point soon, I'll be able to make a new one for myself so it will be a little less clumsy. Well, if I'm here long enough anyway. Who knows when I'll appear back in my own time, after all? It could be a long time.

Luke draws his lightsaber, and my eyes immediately widen at the sight of it. It looks just like Anakin's. No. It is Anakin's. But how in the world did he get it? And what happened to Anakin? I want to know so badly, but I'm not going to ask. Next, he'd be asking how I know it's Anakin's, and that would be too complicated to explain. Better just not bring it up. I have so many questions, I don't want to keep it a secret that I'm from the past, but I want to gain his trust before getting into all those details.

I ignite the lightsaber, the green blade hissing to life. Luke immediately ignites his blue lightsaber. I'll give this my best shot. I'm sure he knows how to use a lightsaber well enough to handle it, and besides we happen to have a special audience. In a second, I lunge at towards Luke. He quickly, and a little clumsily, blocks the blow.

I make a few more experimental strikes, trying to gauge the form that he uses. It doesn't take me long to realize that Luke does not, in fact, use any particular form. When Yoda said I needed to give Luke lightsaber instruction, I didn't realize that he meant starting from the basics. Well, if it's necessary, then I'll do it. Anything to keep Anakin's son safe. It's what my master would have wanted.

Even so, I continue the duel slowly, giving Luke time to react and strike back. His power nearly rivals his father's, but it's not nearly as controlled. He's picking up my moves surprisingly fast, and I can only raise an eyemarking in approval when he tries the same move that I made only a minute earlier. Our green and blue blades clash repeatedly before I increase my efforts, striking more furiously and working around his defenses to disarm him.

Less than a minute later, I twist my lightsaber in a move which Anakin taught me, pulling his hilt from his hands. I watch as it makes a spectacular aerial journey into the trees.

I take a few steps back, still holding the ignited lightsaber. Is that really all he can do? He doesn't even seem to know the first form which younglings are taught. At least hardly. "Obi-Wan, I thought you trained him…?" I can't see him, but I know he's got to be around here somewhere.

"For a few hours," replies the Force Ghost flatly.

"Oh." That explains it.

I sigh extinguishing the blade. "How did I do?" Luke asks tentatively.

"For someone who hasn't been trained from childhood, extremely good," I reply, "But if you want to defeat an opponent, you'll have to practice a lot more. Get your lightsaber, and I can walk you through the beginning katas."

Luke blinks. "What's a kata?"

I gape at him. "Obi-Wan did you really teach him nothing?"

"Hey! I only had a few hours," Obi-Wan protests, voice echoing through the trees, though his ghost still doesn't materialize.

Rolling my eyes, I look back at Luke. "It's a lightsaber form," I explain patiently. "We don't have much time here probably, but I can still teach you the basics for combat against other lightsaber wielders."

"Okay!" Luke grins at me, delight radiating into the Force. He turns towards where his lightsaber vanished, and I blink at him in confusion as he walks away.

"Master Yoda, did you not teach Luke how to call his lightsaber back through the Force?"

The Jedi Master glares at me, though there's no heat behind it. "Taught him the basics I did," he states flatly. "Take him time to use the Force more frequently it will."

Okay… Well then. Luke returns, lightsaber in hand. I ignite my – Yoda's – blade and hold it before me in the beginning form. "Watch carefully," I instruct. "I want you to copy my moves. It'll take time," I add, giving him an encouraging smile, as I slip into the flow of the movements, forcing myself to move slowly so Luke can keep up with what I'm doing. This is going to take a while.