Blue strikes meet a yellow blade before one pushes the other away, gaining precious space in the duel.
Not moving from my position, leaning up against a pillar in the mezzanine, I continue watching Luke and the Jedi Knight Darach duel before casting an eye towards he scoreboard.
2-1 in Luke's favor.
The battle continues before Darach finally is able to extricate himself from Luke's continued assaults on his defenses.
His style is different. I can see elements of Form V, Shien much like his Father, Master Skywalker does. But that's not all.
Darach lashes out with a slash that Luke ducks underneath before retaking the advantage in the fight.
He thinks. He's quite fast. And it's not all Form V. There's elements of Form IV, Ataru as well as some wider, harder to block strikes added in.
I think he'd be vulnerable to counterstrikes and ripostes. But he's a handful.
The crowd below me in the stands as well as the lower level, which is packed to the brim gasps as Darach seems to connect with Luke's calf before—
The sound effect signaling that the final blow has been struck sounds out just before the third green light goes up on Luke's side, signaling his victory.
"YOUR WINNER! LUKE! S—"
The Jedi all around me roar in approval as humbly, Luke walks over to Darach to congratulate him, presumably, on a duel well fought.
It was rather close.
A decent portion of the crowd below me begins shifting out of their seats, and I move off of my spot on the pillar and start towards the ramp.
Beat the crowd.
I've got one more fight today, in a couple of hours against a renowned Jedi Master from England named Davies.
After this duel, I'll be in the clear for a few days. The competition will become every other day and in about a week, it will move onto the knockout stage.
7,000 has been whittled down to about 1500. We'll continue slimming the number until we don't need the elimination bracket any more.
It's been a productive tournament, and an entertaining one. The young Knights and some Battlemasters haven't fared very well, where there are some Padawans that have shown themselves to be quite capable.
Luke and myself being the brightest examples.
Gambling is usually frowned upon by the Order and the Council, but it's inevitable around the tournament. I know that I was expected to be knocked out early, especially given the draw I was given.
I want to say that I was a 10,000-1 bet to advance to the knockout stages.
The ramp I am descending down gracefully turns downward as I lead the masses down to the main level of the Temple.
I might go try and see if there is a spire available to meditate at before my duel.
Jedi Knight Roger Davies is supposedly quite skilled with a lightsaber. I shouldn't underestimate him.
"Ahh, there you are." I hear the familiar call of Master Dooku as I arrived at one of the main corridors of the temple.
"Masters." I bow my head as Master Dooku is joined by Master Jinn.
"Young one." Master Jinn bows his head respectfully.
Dooku smirks almost imperceptibly before beginning to walk. "Off to find a quiet place to center your mind?"
"I was thinking one of the Spires." I confirm. "Do you know if anybody is up there?"
"There's a training course with the younglings in one of them. But the others could be unoccupied." Master Jinn informs me.
"Thank you, Master. I'll go check momentarily." I nod in thanks.
Master Dooku continues leading us down the corridor as all around us, the volume level continues to increase. "What do you believe will become of your upcoming encounter?"
"You know what I believe Master." I say without being able to hold back a laugh. That laugh garners a scornful look from Master Jinn.
"Your presumption that it is you that will come out on top blinds you to the possibilities. Young Davies is quite skilled, perhaps in ways that you yourself do not know of." Master Jinn tells me.
Master Dooku tastefully adds "Your hubris is showing, my young Apprentice."
"It's confidence Master, not hubris." I defend myself.
"You are incorrect, young Bridger." Master Jinn corrects me. "It is arrogance. The same arrogance installed by your father. It is an insidious force. I would be very wary of it."
"Do you believe that it is arrogance given my accomplishments in the past few days?" I dare to ask him.
I don't think it's arrogance.
"A belief such as your own, deserved or not could be viewed as a manifestation of the dark side." Master Jinn addresses me.
It is not!
"I disagree, Master."
Master Dooku gets between us, figuratively speaking. "The belief in one self is hardly a sin. However, too much belief could indeed lead you to the dark side."
"I advise that you take a good look at your own abilities, young Bridger." Master Jinn says to me as we arrive at the lifts. "Misplaced, or properly viewed, your abilities are far from complete. And you are not a fully recognized Jedi yet. Meditate on this, and clear your mind. Clarity will come to you if you allow it."
Hell, only Knights and Masters are really.
"Yes Masters." I accept their guidance, then bow respectfully before I walk into the lifts and press the button to rise up to the spires.
Confidence.
Confidence is not a sin, and it is not evil.
Confidence is easy though.
The Dark Side of the Force is easy. By its very nature, it is temptation given form.
Nothing easy is ever worth it.
Confidence prevents another avenue for the Dark Side to rise up in a Jedi, but opens up another door.
"It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated."
Thanks Dumbledore.
I will always have to fight against the evil inside me, the evil that was planted and groomed and stoked for years until I rebelled against it.
Vader believes that I'll always struggle and fail to succeed in my goal to defeat him.
But I held him back for months, most of that time I was unbothered by his machinations.
The Council believes because of my friends, because of the friendships I've forged.
Sabine especially.
…
Sabine.
…
I've been nothing but patient and bided my time. But if she's really going to drag this out, I don't see why I can't be at least a little frustrated with her.
After everything I've done for her?
I pick a fight for her, when drunk her doesn't even want me to take the fight. I open my doors to her, literally, and try to be as good a friend as I can to her.
I don't harass her about that party, accept her apology then don't ask any further questions. I didn't tell her about the name she drunkenly mumbled. I've been good and kept my mouth shut.
Keeping my suspicions to myself.
But if she's REALLY going to just pretend like I don't exist for the entire break and not even give me the decency of telling me where I messed up?
I'm going to scream.
I wish it didn't bother me so much. I wish she hadn't somehow acquired all this power over me.
Nobody should have power over me. I'm a free man, for the first time in my entire life.
With Dad at least I didn't really know how tight a hold he had on me.
Now I'm allowing myself to be led around on a chain by Sabine like a love-sick puppy or something.
And I don't even like her like that.
If I even did, that'd be even worse! Because now I'd be out on a limb, heart in my hands while she leaves me freezing out in the cold.
Makes me wonder if Sabine's secretly an absolute heartbreaker.
All this time she's spinning tales. Telling me the behind the scenes stories of her teammates. Which I ALSO haven't said a damned thing about!
Instagram DM's and burner accounts with guys on other athletic teams behind their boyfriend's backs. Going and have a tumble in the sheets with somebody else, all the while the poor guy is unaware.
That's hardly the worst of it. The way she's said her teammates talk about some of the people they're dating, or used to date is ruthless. Totally callous.
Yeah, I get it that broken hearts lead to bitter feelings.
Doesn't mean Sabine's immune from doing that to whoever this guy is.
After all, Cayle and everyone has said without saying that Sabine's a problem.
Master Tano cast it onto the Mandalorians. But the Council investigated her, Cayle's said that the guy isn't a threat.
Leaving Sabine.
Which leads to the question: What'd she do to him that sent her out here to LA in order to get away from him?
Only for her to come all this way just to meet me and get reminded of it all over again.
If her goal was to mess up what was working perfectly fine, she's done that. Yeah, I messed up first with the stupid gift.
Fine, I won't give her any more gifts.
I spend too much damn money on it anyway. Because she has too much influence on me.
I'm Ezra. Former Lord of the Sith.
I control people. They don't control me. Period.
End of story.
Five months, closer to four months of actual time spent together and she's already got me spending hundreds of dollars on—
The sound of the keypad chiming pulls me out of my thoughts, followed by the door swishing open.
Cayle.
"Hey."
"My phone hasn't gone off yet." I reply without opening my eyes.
I set a timer.
"There's been a change of plans."
Huh?
I open my eyes, only to have to blink a couple of times in order to get used to the dimmed light of the room I'm in. "What change of plans?"
"Apparently Davies is sick. He can't fight." Cayle responds, leaning against the doorway.
"Okay. So I move on?"
All that meditating…just to get me worked up about Sabine.
Can't believe she's even infiltrating my meditation time.
"Not quite." He shakes his head. "The Council is working on an alternate opponent for you to fight."
Hold up.
"So I don't get to advance. Even though my opponent can't fight." I repeat myself.
Cayle nods once. "Yup."
"That's ridiculous." I spit out. "Who is it?"
"Don't know. But the last couple of duels ended way early. So you're up."
Already?!
"Fine." I grumble, then move to get to my feet while pulling my phone into my hand and extend it to Cayle. "I'll need that back."
"So that means I can't text Sabine." He smirks as I move to clip my lightsaber to my belt.
"Doesn't matter. She won't reply anyway."
Cayle seems to freeze as I pass by him in the doorway. "That's bitter."
"Cayle." I warn him.
I don't want to get into this.
I need to focus.
"You can hold two thoughts in your head." Cayle chides me as we both slide into the lift. "It's bothering you."
"It shouldn't." I counter. "I gave her too much control over me."
"You didn't give her control. You invested in a friend, and she's doing a poor job returning that right now."
That is overly optimistic and dangerously naïve.
"The world operates on power and leverage. She has the power and is using her leverage." I inform him as we begin to descend.
"You're letting Sith teachings base your judgement on this. If it's bothering you so much, text her." He replies.
"No."
"Why 'No.'?" Cayle says, making a dour face in an imitation of me.
Thanks for that.
"She has to reply to me. Ball is in her court. I've texted her multiple times."
"Two times isn't really multiple."
I whip to face him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours!" He replies. "It just so happens that you need a kick in the ass to get you going in the right direction. Her Dad likes you!"
"Yeah, and look where that's gotten me." I pop off just as the door opens.
Conversation's over. He won't discuss this in the middle of the Temple.
Purposefully, I take the lead down towards the designated arena, where the crowd seems to be milling about.
The crowd seemingly realizes that it's me and parts while also starting to buzz before I reach the stairs and start taking them two at a time.
I'll dispatch whoever is put in front of me, go home and play with Jacen and Mira.
Distract myself.
"Good luck. You got this." Cayle calls after me when we reach the edge of the Council's box.
I turn back long enough to smile in his direction before I walk down to the railing and perch myself on the edge.
Breathe Ezra.
…
Just breathe.
The PA coming to life barely registers as I shift on the railing, trying to release all of my tension out into the Force.
It's not going to do me any good in here.
The announcer continues on, transitioning into my introduction and allowing me to stride out to my side of the arena.
No more vicious, bloodthirsty boos. Polite applause and a smattering of support.
Which is fine.
The PA switches his tone slightly while moving into the introduction for my opponent. I don't visually react, instead opting to close my eyes and continuing to release my tension.
I hate that she's even with me, here.
She has no right to be.
"—Master! Count Dooku!"
Wait, what?
He must be the referee.
Makes sense, after he and Master Jinn's comment's—
"This match will be refereed by Master Vrokk Lamar, of the people's Republic of China and will be… a duel!"
I stop my pacing immediately and glance over my shoulder, only to spot Master Dooku across from me in his typical black body suit with a cape, all held together with the silver clasp on either side.
I'm going to need all of my concentration for this one.
They're definitely trying to send me to the loser's bracket.
"Are we ready?!" The PA calls out, followed by a roar from the crowd.
I nod in Master Lamar's direction as I turn to fully take in Master Dooku across from me.
He was supposed to enter into the equation in a week or two, once it becomes single elimination and therefore worthy of a Master's time.
"Three!"
Master Dooku pulls his lightsaber off his belt and into his hand using the Force, causing me to do the same a moment late.
"Two!"
Dooku activates his lightsaber into the textbook Makashi salute, which I return before we both hold it.
Call it.
"One!"
Go.
Both Dooku and I time up the PA's call at the same time and rush forward before Master Dooku pulls up short and—
WHOA…
Is he in control of the arena?
The ground underneath us quakes as slowly, a table with chairs all around us comes into focus with Dooku at the head of the table waiting placidly.
Doesn't matter.
Form V. Power.
It's Makashi's weakness.
Hopping onto the table, I advance on Master Dooku and arrive to slice down at him, only for him to bat my attack away and take a step to the left.
In response I release the breath I'm holding, raise both of my arms over my head, then unload a barrage of strikes to either side of Dooku which he deflects and blocks, all with one hand behind his back before I drop a heavy chop directly in front of him.
Dooku meets the challenge easily, then pushes me off him using only his blade and his leverage.
Okay…Can't let up.
I close the gap on him and alter my angle of attack to my right, his left only for it to get blocked as well before Dooku raises two fingers and sends me sliding back about ten feet.
Sloppy Ezra!
Should have seen that coming!
Time to switch it up. I'll go back to Form V later.
I hesitate long enough to tuck my off hand behind my back then advance towards Dooku blade first before initiating an exchange with a tap.
Dooku turns my tap into a slice with the turn of his wrist, I turn my own wrist counter-clockwise to meet him before he resets. Quickly, sensing an advantage I take a strong step forward and swipe out at him only for it to find air.
Damn!
Something comes whistling out of nowhere before I drop down and see a chair fly over my body towards Dooku, who casually discards the chair off to the side and slices down at me as I'm still in a compromised position.
As quickly as I can, I roll away and grab a chair of my own then whip it at him to give myself space. The chair rockets from my right towards Dooku, who takes strong jump before going airborne and—
PUSH!
I snap off a push towards Master Dooku, only for him to wave it aside as he elegantly lands like a feather and reactivates his lightsaber.
—
Slice, block, spin, cut leads to me spinning around and swiping at his ankles. Only for Dooku to turn it away and transition into a cut that I see coming and pivot out of harm's way. The exchange resets and both of us rotate our blades before advancing on the other.
My slice meets his before I dig my heels in and move to push him off his spot, back towards a wall with a doorway in it—
"Ahh!" I hiss suddenly as in a flash, Dooku's altered his angle of attack and cuts me just above my knee.
The crowd suddenly makes itself heard, loudly gasping and reacting before I glance down at my leg.
It's not too bad…just a knick. Just a scratch.
I have to keep going.
He's on his game today.
"Twice the pride. Leads to double the fall."
EXCUSE ME?!
I answer by eliminating the stinging in my leg and drop a flurry of strikes on either side of Dooku, intending to turn him around and disorient him.
Two, three—NOW!
This time when I pivot on my heels and move to drop an anvil of a chop to his defenses, Dooku meets me with a perfectly timed push just underneath my arm which sends me skidding backwards on my heels before I halt myself.
DAMMIT!
He's got an answer to everything!
I'm being beaten right now.
…
Breathe.
Exhale.
I release a breath and feel sweat trickling down my forehead, prompting me to tuck my hair slightly back so that it's out of my eyes before I lock in on Master Dooku.
He's winning. I cannot allow that to happen.
So I won't.
I've been beaten by Masters in the past, in sparring sessions. But not in a competitive setting like this.
I refuse to let him win.
I won't allow it.
Dooku seems to be content eying me before I impulsively leap into the air and slice down at him just as I hand. The blow is blocked, but knocks him off his spot before I assault his defenses with heavy handed, two handed chops on alternating sides which Dooku has to keep escalating the speed of which to keep up with.
Finally I catch him slightly off balance and shove his blade off mine, causing him to take a step back and reset.
(Cayle POV)
Master Dooku seems to analyze the situation for a moment before chasing down Ezra, who gives ground while meeting Dooku's single handed strikes with dual handed blocks while spinning when he has to match Dooku's change in placement.
He's losing though.
Suddenly, a buzzing below me causes me to jump right out of my skin.
Somebody's calling Ezra's phone.
I dig into the pocket of my robes as Ezra and Master Dooku's blades meet again, with Dooku's having the advantage—
Sabine Wren
Cell
Accept Decline
…
Oh no.
As quickly as I can, I leap out of my seat and slide past Ahsoka then take the steps three at a time as Ezra's phone keeps ringing, ringing, ring—
"I'm not Ezra." I blurt out as I tap the green button.
Silence immediately followed by— "Why are you answering his phone?"
"He's in the middle of something right now." I answer as I reach the corridor and step off to the side, getting multiple strange looks.
Nobody's going to be pleased about this.
"In the middle of what? He can't come to the phone?"
"No, he can't." I reply as Ezra attempts to switch to Form III, Soresu only for Dooku to begin causing the signature parries of Soresu to miss completely.
That's not going to work. Bad matchup.
His blade can't keep up with Dooku's precision.
Dooku's one of the greatest swordsmen the Order has ever produced.
"What's he doing?" Sabine demands, sounding like she's becoming irritated.
"That's classified. I'm sorry."
"CLASSI—" She cuts her screech short. "Jedi business then. Can you at least tell me that?"
"I can't."
She huffs out in anger as Ezra abandons Form III wisely and moves down the line to Form IV, Ataru.
Physically taxing, but maybe.
Maybe.
"My Dad said that Ezra was involved in the Jedi's traditional dueling tournament, at least on the margins, Is that what he's doing?"
OH!
The crowd below me gasps as Ezra leaps over Dooku, only for Master Dooku to pivot and send Ezra flying about ten feet into the air before crashing down heavily and gracelessly.
Get up.
"I'm taking that as a yes. What's happening? Is he winning?"
"Not exactly." I answer as Ezra gingerly gets to his feet, flexing multiple fingers gently.
He must have landed on his hand wrong.
"He's losing?"
"Losing is a nasty way of putting it. He's getting worked." I clarify as Dooku begins pacing around, giving Ezra time to recover.
That's going to just piss him off more.
"That's not better! That's worse you moron!"
I turn and make a face at Ezra's phone, then ask. "It's about time you called him. What do you want from him?"
"Excuse me?" She asks.
"I'll have you know I'm his best friend Miss Wren." I bite at her as Ezra takes a few steps forward to reengage Dooku. "And he mentioned the airplane. It's really bugging him. You should have at least texted back saying you didn't want to talk."
"That's none of your fucking business." She snaps at me.
"I don't care if it's not my business. It just so happens that he's a bit of an idiot and being too cautious for once in his life. I've been telling him to pepper your phone until you answer."
"Well I'm glad he didn't do that." She sarcastically replies as Ezra has resorted back to Form II, with one hand tucked behind his back.
Dooku's slowed down. Deliberately.
Ezra is attempting to breach Dooku's defenses, to no avail with Master Dooku fending him off with grace and twirls of his wrists.
"And for the record, I'm his best friend."
"Oh, is that so?" I stall as Ezra and Dooku seem to be picking up the pace.
C'mon.
C'MON! Find a way Ezra!
"Yeah, I—" She starts before my attention is grabbed by Ezra moving right into Dooku's airspace, deliberately locking him up before Dooku seems to adjust, followed by Ezra pushing him away bodily with his blade.
Alright.
"—taken care of me, given me—"
Ezra doesn't hesitate in closing the gap once again, chopping down at Dooku's defenses. Master Dooku flashes his blade up to block it, which Ezra answers by—
"Whoa!" I yelp as Ezra whiffs completely in his attempt to grab Dooku after jabbing at his shoulder to get him to move where he wanted Dooku to move.
"What happened?!" Sabine demands. "You're not even—"
Ezra is left staring at his hand in disbelief as Dooku pivots right behind him and—
The crowd erupts as soon as it's clear Ezra is falling down, defeated by a lightning fast slash to the back by Dooku.
"What?! What happened?!" I get in my ear as my mind is still processing it.
...
"He lost." I mumble out.
I can't believe it. He never loses.
"HE WHAT?!"
He's fought Kanan and Ahsoka and numerous other Masters to a draw at worst, beaten them a few other times.
Granted he's only trained with Dooku, never having fought him but…
He never loses. When's the last time he lost?
I know that we never beat him. He felled a Jedi Master when he was 12.
The public address announcer declares Master Dooku the winner as he's ten or so feet away from Ezra as he rolls onto his side and begins getting to his feet.
He's got to go down to the dungeons, where they'll be thrilled that he lost.
He won't want to talk to anybody for the rest of the day.
Anybody.
"Hey." I get back on track as Dooku starts making his way over to Ezra as he struggles to his feet. "Uhm, I know him. He's not going to want to talk for the rest of the day. Why'd you call again? We'll work something out."