Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 6 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! It's been a while since I sat down to write for this story, but I'm pumped to be back at it!

Creativity: Plus, we're on reading week right now, so that's a window for us to really go to town!

Author: Indeed! I've had plenty of time to ruminate on what chapter 6 is going to look like, and I've come to the conclusion that, like everything I write, regardless of how much planning goes into it, I'm going to once again fly/write by the seat of my pants!

Creativity: That is what we tend to do, isn't it…

Author: Hey, it's worked out well so far.

So, first order of business; let's answer the chapter five reviews:

FallenAssassin9: Yeah, I can see how the chapter could be taken as more 'filler', but I don't think that detracts from it all that much. Besides, some of this stuff will be important later.

And that's all the reviews! So, when we last left our youngling clan… ahem…

ALL IS NOT WELL IN THE JEDI TEMPLE…

WHILE YOUNGLINGS ARVOS MORO, ALVYA GERAN AND TALA MAIR PREPARE
FOR THEIR PADAWAN TRIALS, THEY ALSO FACE A STRAIN ON THEIR FRIENDSHIP
WITH FELLOW JEDI HOPEFUL, GARO JAUK. AFTER CONFRONTING GARO ABOUT
HIS RECENT BEHAVIOUR, GARO TOLD THEM THAT THEY WOULD LEARN THE TRUTH
ONCE THEY HAD COMPLETED THEIR PADAWAN TRIALS.

WITH THAT DAY FAST APPROACHING, THE PATHS OF THESE FOUR YOUNGLINGS WILL BE CHANGED,
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER…

Creativity: Not totally sure about the title crawl. But it's not half bad I guess…

Author: Either way, we need to get a move on! Discord password: xtydzBf

And with that out of the way, we can move on to the main event! Ahem…

Allow us to proudly present chapter 6 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!

Arvos took a deep breath as he waited kneeling in a dark room. His head was bowed as he meditated to calm himself and steel his nerves for the examination. He'd already presented himself before the council to test his knowledge and understanding of the Force and the Jedi Order, including but not limited to history, philosophy, rules and expectations, so on and so forth. He had no idea what their assessment of him was, but that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was that he was moving on to the next component of the Trials.

These next trials would test his strength and discipline within the Force, as well as his martial skills. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect. They had numerous methods of testing you so that you wouldn't have an advantage if you failed the Trials and went for another pass, or if you attempted to get the information out of someone else who had also undergone the Trials. However, despite his nervousness, Arvos could feel he was ready. He'd practiced meditation while levitating seven objects (light objects, but it was more quantity over quality), he'd become quite proficient with all three forms of lightsaber combat at his disposal, and if he could maintain discipline through the torment that had been the process of making his crystals, he could make it through a simple trial just fine.

Arvos' eyes cracked open as the doors slowly opened. He rose to his feet, wincing a bit as the bright light streamed through the widening doorway. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose before he strode determinedly through to face his next challenge.

As he stepped into the circular chamber, he looked around to see his examiners watching him carefully. When he reached the center of the room, he stood still and bowed before his eyes began to flit about, taking his surroundings in. There were two Temple Guards flanking the observers entrance, and Arvos had a feeling there were two more to either side of him and two behind. One of his examiners stepped forward and stared down at him. It was an orange-skinned twi-lek male. Arvos straightened up even more, wanting to make sure he was making a good impression.

"Young one. You stand before us as a youngling, hoping to leave here as a padawan. Maybe you see this as an end, or even just one step closer to becoming a Jedi. Regardless, this next step is never quite what we believe it to be." The twi-lek stated. Arvos didn't shift at all. He simply waited patiently.

"Now then, let us begin your trials." The Jedi declared before he pressed a button on the railing in front of him. A small swarm of spherical training droids flew out of small gaps in the walls and began to buzz about the chamber. Arvos wordlessly drew one of his lightsabers and ignited it in a salute before he sank into a standard combat stance, lightsaber held in both hands near his right cheek.

"Your goal is simple. Disable the droids without being struck. Begin." The examiner explained before waving his hand. The droids immediately began flitting about in an erratic manner, occasionally, launching a bolt of energy towards Arvos, who alternatively dodged or deflected the bolts. Arvos eyes scanned, trying to pick a target. They didn't specifically say how he was supposed to disable the droids, but he didn't believe they wanted him to just cut them down with his lightsaber. That would be too easy, among other reasons to not cut down the droids. No, this was a test of endurance and finesse.

Arvos pivoted and bent out of the way of a blast before he flourished his blade in front of him to reflect a bolt from one of the droids into another, causing it to short out.

"One down…"

However, the moment the remote had been taken out, the rest switched up their pattern. They were firing a few more ticks often and from more difficult angles. They were pushing him to alter his style.

Well, he was happy to oblige. In a flash, Arvos had drawn his second lightsaber and both blades were whirling through the air with a high-pitched whine as the void-like blades batted the small energy bolts away. Three more remotes were downed as he continued to spin the blades with incredible speed and grace, his eyes constantly scanning the probes, but not allowing himself to fixate on one. He'd learned from previous training, as well as spars involving three or more people that the moment you narrowed your vision was the moment you lost.

More than that, he could see a pattern to their movement. It was hard to pick out in their chaotic movements and their crossing paths, but it was nonetheless there. Then it changed again.

Suddenly, a constant barrage of energy bolts was raining down on him! Arvos eyes widened as he immediately began to whirl his blades with increase urgency. He wasn't aiming for accuracy now, just trying to keep the bolts away. Then he noticed the pattern again. He needed to end this quickly. If they upped the difficulty again, he might not be able to keep up.

Suddenly, he saw it. The single moment he needed. The remotes were about to line up perfectly. He dodged one bolt and then timed his saber swings to connect with more incoming bolts, redirecting them all perfectly to the exact places the remotes were just about to occupy. The remaining remotes all shorted and Arvos sighed with relief. However, he didn't lower his guard just yet. Instead, he waited until the examiners called for the trial to end, which they did so swiftly with a wave of a hand. Arvos deactivated his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt before he stood up straight and waited for further instructions.

"This trial has concluded. Youngling Moro, return to the preparation chamber and await further instructions." The examiner instructed. Arvos bowed and strode back to the chamber. Once the door had closed, a lump appeared in Arvos' throat. Had he done something wrong? Were they going to say that he'd failed the trial right then and there?

"Calm down. Don't worry about what might be. Focus on the now." Arvos muttered to himself, reciting a paraphrased lecture from Master Yoda. Arvos closed his eyes and once again assumed his meditation position before he took a deep breath. Worrying about the examiners' decision wouldn't do him any good now. The best he could do was prepare himself for the next trial, whatever it may be.

Arvos wasn't sure how long he'd been meditating for when he finally heard the distinct hiss of the doors parting and allowing light to squeeze through into the widening gap. Arvos rose to his feet and took a deep breath before he stepped out of the chamber once again. The examiners hadn't moved so much as an inch since Arvos had returned to the preparation chamber. However, something was different. Arvos couldn't tell what it was, at least not with his eyes, but he knew it was there. Somehow…

"Youngling Moro, prepare yourself."

Arvos snapped to attention before he saw something approaching him. It was a training helmet. Arvos took it and dawned it, not at all bothered by the darkness that overcame his vision. He'd experienced this before many times in many different exercises in his time training to become a Jedi. As he waited for further instructions, he felt motion in the Force, followed by the sudden absence of the familiar weight of his lightsabers at his belt. This was followed by the familiar crackling noise of a training droid's blade coming online. Arvos immediate instinct was to go for his sabers but was quickly reminded that he didn't have that option at the moment. The crackle of the training blade intensified as the blade was reared back and Arvos could hear the distinctive sound of metal limbs striking the ground with each step. Arvos bent to the side to avoid the first strike and quickly backpedalled away before he found his back up against a wall that hadn't been there a few moments ago. The examiners must have done something to change the layout of the room.

However, Arvos couldn't dwell on that now. He rolled to the side to avoid a common combination that the droid employed, that being a thrust, followed by a cut in whatever direction you had dodged in. He quickly recovered before he stepped backwards, out of the way of a downward cut. He wasn't sure what the purpose of this test was. It couldn't be as simple as a challenge to survive as long as he could. While the droid certainly was going to pose a challenge, the challenge lay not in avoiding getting struck by the training saber. That was too obvious. No, he was supposed to disable the droid somehow. But how was he meant to accomplish that task? There was perhaps the manual kill switch in the neck, but Arvos was not confident that he could get to it without being struck. He'd need a plan, which was difficult to make when he was currently trying to avoid being hit with an electrified bar of durasteel. While he'd suffer no permanent injury, it would certainly sting something fierce if he was struck.

Arvos took a deep breath and re-entered himself as he heard the droid approaching him again. It was holding the weapon in front of itself, likely in a common Makashi form. However, it was going slower, approaching more cautiously. Then Arvos heard the blade waving, generating a distinct crackling sound… that was coming from behind him!

Arvos leapt into the air before performing a backflip and heard a clanging noise of droid legs rushing towards where he'd just been standing, as well as the crackling of a second training blade. As he landed, he could sense the droids, plural, that were now stalking towards him, blades poised to strike. Arvos frowned before he performed a pair of back springs to avoid the droids slashes and leapt into the air before he braced his feet on what felt like a pillar of some sorts and jumping forward. This gave him much more room to breathe as he maneuvered his way through the arena, the droids constantly following him and keeping him on his toes.

However, this dance was beginning to tire him out. He needed a moment to recover, though he doubted the droids would give him much opportunity for one. And there was nowhere he could hide from them… But what if there was somewhere they couldn't reach?

He'd been using the many pillars that had risen while he'd been unawares to avoid the droids, but his senses told him that they were probably high up enough that he could get out of range of the training droids' weapons. How long it would stay that way, Arvos couldn't guess. However, it would be more than enough for him to collect himself and form a plan.

Arvos could detect the droids to his left, but they were breaking off to attack him in a pincer maneuver. One droid, programmed with the Makashi form, was circling to attack him from behind. The other, programmed for Ataru, was circling to attack him from the front. Likely the Ataru droid would attack first. However, of the two, Arvos had a feeling that the Makashi droid would be very quick to capitalize on whatever move he made to avoid the Ataru droid. Well, almost all of them. Say what you will about these droids, but they weren't exactly designed or programmed for more vertical fights. It wasn't an advantage that younglings got to employ very often. In fact, Arvos had never had the opportunity to do so himself. However, it was an obvious one in retrospect.

As the droids closed in for the kill, Arvos suddenly leapt clean over the Ataru droid and kicked off one of the pillars, ascending even higher before landing on one foot atop one of the pillars. He took a deep breath and centered himself. Despite the effort of maintaining balance atop the pillar, Arvos was able to catch his breath with relative ease. Now, he could begin to plan.

Arvos frowned underneath the training helmet as he tried to figure out how to get through this trial. He could sense his lightsabers at the boarders of the arena. For the briefest moment, he considered calling them to his hands, but he stopped himself. That was too easy. The examiners had taken his lightsabers for a reason, just as they'd left them in the open to tempt him. He needed to solve the riddle of this trial without his lightsabers.

So, how did he do that? It was a certainty that he had to disable those droids somehow. He was without a weapon and he couldn't just take the droids' training blades. They were attached to the droids after all. That left hitting the activation switches or finding some way to short them out…

And just like that, Arvos could feel a plan coming together. He had two options at hand, and both of them involved getting uncomfortably close to the training droids without any means of defending himself, but he felt confident he could pull this off.

"The Force is with me…" Arvos murmured to himself under his breath, the words echoing louder behind the helmet. With that, he turned his attention to the droids below him. Based on his senses, they were currently stalking around him in circles below. Arvos took a deep breath as he focused. He could hear the distinct clang of the droids' footsteps. He needed to time this just right…

Just as the Ataru droid's left foot was about to come down, Arvos reached out with the Force and gave it a little nudge inward. The droid's balance was disrupted quite spectacularly as it tumbled sideways into the Makashi droid, sending both of them tumbling to the floor! Took this opportunity to leap to the ground and rush forward, letting the Force guide his hand as his hand darted towards the neck of the Makashi droid. He felt his fingers strike the kill switch, shutting the droid down. However, he couldn't stay put for long. The Ataru droid was already recovering and Arvos wasn't confident he could deactivate this one before it was ready to attack him again. Instead, he backpedalled and waited patiently for the droid to approach him. The droid flourished its blade a few times before it lunged forward with a thrust. Arvos could hear the crackle of the electrical charge around the blade, smell the ionized air as he bent out of the way to avoid the strike, feel the air shift as the blade passed his head. Arvos went into a backbend as the droid swiped the blade to the side and rolled to avoid a downward chop before he sprang up and let his body relax. He could already sense the droid's next move, and with it, Arvos had already won.

The droid lunged forward with another stab, but Arvos didn't just bend out of the way this time. Instead, he reached up with one hand and grabbed the droid's wrist, keeping it moving and sticking a foot out to trip it before his free hand darted forward and struck the kill switch in the droid's neck. The droid immediately began to shut down and collapsed in a heap onto the ground.

Arvos waited for a moment, unsure if the trial was over. For all he knew, this was only part one of the test and more droids could be thrown his way.

"That is enough, youngling Moro. Remove your helmet."

Arvos relaxed as he removed the training helmet, which promptly levitated out of his hands and back to the hands of the twi-lek examiner, who set it aside as he stared at Arvos. Arvos looked back, doing his best not to break eye contact, as that would be disrespectful. However, he could see in his peripheral vision that the pillars he'd used during the trial had vanished, likely moving under the floor.

"You have done well, youngling. Retrieve your lightsabers and proceed through the doorway. Soon, you will face your final trial." The examiners stated. Arvos nodded and reached his hands out to either side, summoning his lightsabers back to his hands and clipping them to his belt. Shortly afterwards, another door in front of Arvos opened. After stepping through, the door closed behind him and Arvos was left in silent darkness. After navigating to the center of the room, Arvos took a seat and began to meditate. He wasn't sure what this next trial was going to be, but whatever it was, he believed it would be the last step. Or was it the first? Or was it just one mundane step among many?

Arvos shook his head. This wasn't the time to consider these things. In this moment, he was to prepare himself to face this last trial, whatever it may be. He had his suspicions, but it was better to ignore them for now, as he had no clue if he was right or not. Better to not let his suspicions color how he went into this trial. It could make the difference between whether or not he passed or failed.

Arvos' musings were broken when he heard the doors begin to open again, light spilling through the gap. He rose to his feet and marched out the doors and into another chamber. This one was larger; structured more like the sparring halls. Across from him, another door was open, and someone had stepped through. Arvos immediately recognized this presence in the Force and he came to a stop near the center of the room. Across from him, Alvya Geran came to a stop as the two stared at each other. Strangely enough, neither of them seemed too surprised by the fact that the other was there with them.

"Younglings. Faced the previous trials, you have. Now, face one more, you shall; a duel against a fellow Jedi hopeful. Through this duel, judged, you shall be, on whether the Jedi path, you are ready to continue on." A familiar voice called out from one of the balconies, causing Arvos' back to stiffen. It was Grand Master Yoda. Arvos shook his head. It didn't matter who was observing now. In this moment, there was only himself, Alvya and the ground they stood on. Arvos bowed to Alvya as he retrieved his lightsabers from his belt and linked them together. Alvya bowed as well as she tugged her own weapon from her belt. A translucent green blade flashed into existence from Alvya's weapon while a single translucent black blade burst from Arvos' weapon. The two held their weapons up in salute before they dropped into ready positions. Alvya slipped into a standard Soresu form, with the blade held back and pointed at Arvos with her off hand extended out, palm facing her opponent. Arvos took up a general stance of having his weapon held in both hands, blade angled towards Alvya and held in front of him, ready to snap to offense or defence.

"Begin!" Master Yoda called out from his balcony. However, neither of them suddenly snapped into motion. Instead, they both started to slowly circle each other. Their eyes didn't break from each other as they continued to prowl around each other until finally, there was a distinct twitch that heralded the first blows.

Arvos lunged forward with a diagonal slash that Alvya blocked before she retreated as Arvos quickly pursued, delivering a fierce series of slashes and jabs that Alvya blocked without too much difficulty. She'd devoted plenty of study and practice to the Soresu form of lightsaber combat, and Arvos knew that he wouldn't break through her defences this quickly. Instead, he forced her into a saber lock and baited her into going on the offensive. It worked, and Alvya quickly transitioned into a series of her own strikes, employing Ataru tactics as she tried to find a way through Arvos' own defenses. However, she also knew that she'd risen to his bait and that he was undoubtedly planning something. After engaging in another saber lock, Arvos shoved her back and flourished his single blade before he raised it above him in a Djem So attack stance. Alvya recovered and returned to her Soresu stance as the two circled each other again.

This time it was Arvos who initiated the clash, lunging forward with three whirling uppercut strikes before he transitioned into a thrust, followed by a pair of diagonal slashes. Just as before, Alvya blocked each strike with practice grace before Arvos suddenly saw a sudden shift and realized that he was about to walk into a trap. Immediately pausing, he suddenly found himself on the defensive as Alvya suddenly launched a blitz of a counterattack, weaving a deadly web of plasma around Arvos, only staved off by his own weapon. Arvos frowned. She was pushing hard for the win here, and he wasn't going to hand it to her just like that. They'd only just begun.

After a few more blocks, Arvos began to raise his weapon above his head, all but inviting Alvya to make a strike. However, as she went for the finishing blow, Arvos ignited the second blade of his saberstaff, catching Alvya's blade before it could reach him. He then shoved her back and immediately broke into a whirling series of slashes, spinning and twisting to create a whirlwind of magnetized plasma around himself. His sudden shift in tactics had caught Alvya off-guard, but Arvos didn't believe the battle to be won yet. He'd employed similar tactics before, though he hadn't done a style change like this before. What's more, he still had one more switch left if the duel dragged on long enough.

However, Arvos knew now that while he could press a distinct offensive advantage, he wouldn't possess that advantage for very long. Saberstaffs were intimidating due to their rarity, as well as the psychological advantage of the two blades. However, they had their own share of weaknesses as well, which Alvya was now more than familiar with due to their sparring sessions. While Arvos could transition from one strike to another much more swiftly, and handle group duels much better, he was still confronted with the problem of not being able to put the same amount of weight behind a strike. Plus, he had a more limited range of motion for the blades. It was part and parcel of the saberstaff.

Arvos advanced, quickly going from one strike to another, spinning and flourishing the blade as he continued to press his brief advantage, not giving Alvya a moment to adjust to this change in the flow of the duel. With her Soresu training, a drawn out duel would favor her. However, he could tell that she was struggling to keep up with this sudden change. If he could break through her guard before she regained a foothold, the duel could end in his favor.

His flurry of strikes continued, pushing Alvya back more and more until they were engaged in a saber lock once more. However, Alvya clearly didn't intend to stay in the lock very long and twisted her blade before sliding underneath Arvos' own blade and rose to her feet behind him, spinning and going for a horizontal slash at Arvos' exposed back. Arvos thought fast and bent forward, flourishing the blade around to hold it parallel to his spine. He could feel the impact of Alvya's emerald blade glancing off his own void-like one and hear the distinct snap of two lightsabers coming into contact with one another. He spun around and found himself on the defensive as Alvya suddenly struck out with a series of swift and merciless slashes that had Arvos surprised. This aggressive fighting was one seen out of form five, not form four as Alvya tended to practice. Caught off guard, Arvos was steadily pushed back and realized he needed to do something to regain control of the fight, otherwise he'd be on the losing side of the duel. Fortunately, he had one last trick in the bag, but he didn't want to use it just yet. Alvya would be expecting it, as it was how he had turned the tables on her before. So, he kept up as long as he could, blocking strike after strike with his saberstaff before he saw an opportunity and knocked Alvya's blade aside before he lashed out with a kick that sent Alvya sprawling!

She was quick to recover though, and with a snap-hiss of her lightsaber, she was ready for battle once more. Arvos idly twirled his own weapon before taking up a new stance. The hand holding the saberstaff was held out from his body, while the other hand was extended out behind him. Alvya raised her blade in a salute once more before she settled into an Ataru stance. The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments before they both leapt forward at once, blades whirling as they broke into a rapid exchange of strikes, blocks, rapidly trading advantage and disadvantage back and forth until They both broke off the engagement, with Arvos going into a back spring, followed by a spinning backflip. When he finally landed, he was no longer holding a saberstaff, but two lightsabers. He immediately rushed forward before Alvya could recover and launched into a fast and brutal series of cuts and thrusts that Alvya simply couldn't keep up with. This time, the duel was over. After a quick series of motions, Arvos delivered a swift blow to Alvya's wrist, causing her to drop her lightsaber in pain and surprised before she realized that she had another lightsaber blade leveled at her chest.

"Concluded, the duel is!"

Arvos immediately deactivated his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt as he offered a hand to Alvya, who took it graciously.

"Good duel. Quick thinking with the style change mid-flip." Alvya complimented to Arvos, who allowed a brief grin to pass over his face.

"Hey, you really had me on my toes for a good stretch there. If I hadn't gotten that kick in, that could've been it for me. When did everyone start practicing Djem So without me knowing about it?" He complimented back as they returned to where they had began their duel and turned to face Master Yoda.

"Hmm… Fought well, both of you did. Demonstrate your skill with a lightsaber, you did. However, more than that, did I see… Control, yes, control I saw in you. Restraint and flexibility of mind, yes, see those too, I did…" Master Yoda stated as he gazed at them.

"Hmm… Yes… Jedi, you may yet be…" Yoda stated with a certain finality. Arvos and Alvya's eyes widened as they looked at each other, then Master Yoda, then back to each other and back to Master Yoda.

"Leave us, younglings. Much to discuss, we have." Yoda instructed. A door to the arena opened, which Arvos and Alvya were very quick to depart through. Once they stepped through, a pair of Temple Guards were waiting to escort them back to the sprawling corridors of the Jedi Temple. The walk back was quiet, as they didn't want to accidently break into wordless noises of giddy glee in front of the Temple Guards. That wouldn't be a very good look. However, once they were away from the masked Jedi, they immediately started rushing about, trying to find Tala to share the news. She'd gone for her trials before them, so she should have been finished by now.

"I mean, we don't have masters yet, but Master Yoda basically said we're at least ready to become Padawans." Alvya whispered with barely contained excitement as they tried to locate Tala.

"I wonder who we're going to be assigned to… It's almost unreal…" Arvos added in his own hushed tone as they kept scanning for their Zabrak friend. However, it turned out they were spotted first, having apparently been searching in the wrong direction. Both of them jumped a bit when they felt a hand grab onto their shoulders and they whirled around to see Tala standing behind them, looking out of breath and clearly distressed.

"Have you seen Garo?!" Tala asked desperately. Arvos and Alvya shook their heads and were about to ask what was going on, only for Tala to grab their hands and dragged them along with her before breaking into a run through the Temple. Eventually they reached the dorms and Tala slammed her hand against the operation panel for one particular door. It was Garo's. However, when the door slid open, you could have been forgiven for believing that no one had lived in this room for a while. It was picked clean of all evidence that Garo had ever occupied it. None of his meager belongings, no datapads that Garo typically had laying about in his room for studying purposes, nothing. The bed was made with military precision and with completely fresh sheets. However, there was one thing that served as evidence that someone had been here recently. There was a handheld holoprojector sitting on the bed. It was one of the many that you could find in the Jedi Temple, rigged to fry itself if taken outside it. Arvos slowly walked over to the bed and picked up the projector. Having noticed what Arvos had found, Tala and Alvya slowly walked over and stared at it. Arvos didn't want to turn on the projector, but he knew he had to. This was the only clue as to where Garo was. With a squeeze, the projector flickered to life, revealing the monochrome blue projection of their friend.

"Hello Arvos, Tala, Alvya… I… I'm sorry. I know that this is a terrible way to tell you this, but… sigh… I can't follow you on this path. I thought I could keep going, persevere through it but… I can't. So… I've decided to leave the Order."

And that's where we're ending it! Man, this went on WAY longer than I thought it would! I like it though!

Creativity: How many people do you think saw that ending coming?

Author: Eh… Half and half? I honestly couldn't say.

So yeah, we're having Garo formally withdrawing from the Jedi Order. It's gonna be fun to write out how this is gonna impact the rest of the cast. Also, we've got at least two of our younglings ready to continue on the path of the Jedi, though who knows if they will remain this way.

There's not much else to say here. I'd say that around chapter 10 is when I'll be able to go into more detail, so remember to pester me around then!

Well, that's about it from me! Thanks for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!