The kids piled into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as it pulled away from Coruscant. "It's so pretty," cooed Mimi. "All those lights."
Han made a noncommittal grunt. "I suppose it's all right." He checked his instruments. "We're coming up on our hyperspace point. You better strap in."
The children left the cockpit and moved to the lounge area, strapping themselves in. After a while the Falcon smoothed its flight and the children started to move around again.
"I wonder what this Yavin will be like?" mused Sora out loud.
"No plants that I'll be allergic to, I hope," commented Joe.
Izzy flipped on his laptop and ran a cable to the datapad that Leia had given them. He engaged the translation program and skimmed thought the information. "The academy is on one of the moons of the gas giant, Yavin. Its climate is similar to Earth's tropical rainforest." He scrolled down a bit. "Rains in the early morning, humid the rest of the time."
Mimi rubbed her arms. "Please don't tell me we have to keep wearing these ugly, baggy…."
"We do," interrupted Tai. "Everyone there wears these things, so don't fuss Mimi."
Matt sighed. "I don't mind these things so much, but there is something disturbing about Tai in orange." He gestured at Tai's head. "Especially since he's still wearing that blue head band with his goggles."
Tai stuck his tongue out at Matt. "Just cause you got a colour that suits you."
"Hey, at least you didn't get lemon yellow," consoled Sora.
T.K. nodded. "Yeah, I feel like a custard tart."
The landing ramp of the Falcon dropped, letting in the damp air of Yavin. The children and their now all rookie level digimon carefully looked out. Behind then Han laughed. "It's just a jungle kids. It can't hurt you."
Joe raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised." The children picked up their meagre belongings and moved towards the group waiting at the base of the temple.
At the base of the temple three figures waited. One wore robes that were a vibrant shade of green like Mimi's, the other two wore black. Tai studied them carefully. Out of the two figures in black one wore his hood up, despite the fact that it must have been uncomfortable in the heat. The other two despite both being blonde were both very different. The one in black had short hair and loomed above his fellows. The one in green was shorter and sported a beard and platinum blonde hair.
As the children approached they as one allowed Tai to the front, Agumon glued to his side as always. The hooded figure stepped forwards and spoke.
"You were sent by my sister? But you are children."
Tai's eyes narrowed. "We have faced more than most adults. Don't tell us that we're just children."
"I meant no disrespect." He figure lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal another blonde. Sora could see deep lines carved into his face by worry and doubt. "I am Luke Skywalker. This is my academy." He gestured at the other two men. "These men will help you to catch up to the rest of the class as well as the lessons I will give."
"Not more school," complained Mimi.
Luke smiled. "You will find that we lead very unstructured lives here." He gestured at the temple behind him. "In the meantime you may choose any of the chambers in the temple as your own room. Keiran will help you. After you have settled he will begin your training as my sister suggested that time was of the essence."
Tai nodded and motioned for the others to pick up their bags. Together the children and their digimon trailed into the temple.
"There are three levels set up with quarters," explained Keiran. "You may choose any room set up with cots as long as they are empty. When you feel ready come to the meal hall on the third floor of the temple for the mid-day meal. You can bring your pets with you."
They watched him leave.
"Who's he calling pets?" asked Gabumon. "I'm not a pet am I Matt?"
"Not…really." Matt turned in a circle on his heel. "So where do we want to sleep? Cause I vote we stick together until Myotismon makes his move."
T.K. looked up at his big brother. "You really think he'll try to hurt us here Matt?"
Matt nodded. "Why would he not? It's not as if we're well defended here." He stuck his head into a room. "Hey guys! This room is pretty big. It's only got three beds though."
Joe stuck his head out of another room. "Well this one and the next one has two. I vote we use all three."
"Seconded," agreed Izzy. "This way we can all stay close together and the room is large enough for us all to stay in and talk in private if we need to."
"I have another idea," said Tai. "Let's keep the digimon secret."
Sora looked puzzled. "But Tai, we can hardly pretend that they're stuffed animals."
"Pets." Everyone turned to Matt. "What? All I'm saying is lets just say that they're pets. Not intelligent. Everyone back on Earth has one, like a cat or a dog. They won't know the difference."
Izzy nodded. "I concur. All the information they have about our world comes from us. They have no way of telling that it is false if we all say the same thing."
"Right," said Tai. He turned to the Digimon. "Can you guys manage not to talk in front of these Jedi?"
"Sure," agreed Patamon. "It'll be like playing a game no one else is." He and T.K. laughed.
In the end Joe and Izzy took the room with two beds, while Tai, Matt and T.K. took the other. Sora and Mimi stayed in the middle room, although both were annoyed that the boys thought that they needed protecting. They dumped their bags and moved to the main hall where Keiran was waiting.
"So, you found somewhere to stay at last." He showed them to the long table running along the back where food was waiting. They all grabbed a plate and piled food onto it. Keiran raised an eyebrow. "You do realise you don't have to eat everything, don't you?"
"Oh sure," replied T.K. "It's just that we're all real hungry." He sat down at the table next to his brother. Patamon landed gracefully on the table in front of him.
"I'm sorry Mr. Keiran, it's just that for the past three months or so we've been foraging for food to feed ourselves. It makes a change not to go hungry for once." Joe pushed his glasses further up his nose. "And it will be nice to sleep in beds for a while too."
Keiran looked slightly shocked. "Something tells me that you kids have been through more than you've been telling us."
Tai shrugged. "Maybe one day we'll tell you the whole story."
"Oh I hope so," came a voice from behind them. Tai turned in his seat to see a tall willowy woman with silvery hair. "I'm chronicling the history of the Jedi," she explained. "May I join you?" She slid in besides Mimi. "I'm Tionne." The rest of the group introduced themselves. "It's nice to meet you, " she replied. "I do like your pets. I'm surprised that you were allowed to bring them."
"Extenuating circumstances," muttered Izzy, blushing furiously.
Tai leaned in close to whisper to Izzy. "Some one's got a cru-ush."
"I do not!" retorted Izzy a little too loudly. Matt and Tai sniggered.
Sora rolled her eyes. "Ignore them," she told Tionne. "They still act like they have a mental age of five at times."
After they finished eating Keiran led them outside to where Luke was waiting. The Jedi Master got them so sit in a rough circle on the grass with their digimon watching a short distance away.
"The Force is all around us," began Luke. "It's energy field binds all living and non-living things together. We jedi can feel this energy field. We can get it to obey our commands, we can turn to it for guidance." He gestured with his hand and a pebble in front of him rose into the air. "We can use it to change the world around us, for good, or for evil." The pebble dropped. He smiled at them. "But for now you can do little. Or at least you should. My sister however tells me differently."
"Yes sir," replied Tai. Several of the children looked surprised at Tai being so respectful.
"In fact she says that you, I believe, saved her life. From a Demi-dart."
Tai blushed. "I didn't even know I had moved."
Luke patted him on the shoulder. "The Force is more about feeling and moving on instinct than thinking." He glanced over at Keiran. "Some of my older students should try to remember that as well." He scanned the circle, looking at each child in turn. He pointed at Izzy. "And I believe you have something in common with Keiran."
Izzy shrugged his shoulders. "I do not believe in this Force that you profess is responsible for all this." He waved his hand around to include everything in the general vicinity.
"So how did you send a flood of what my sister described as purple electricity at this creature that had tried to harm her?" Luke watched as the cells in Izzy's brain ticked over.
Finally the boy answered "I did no such thing. It is impossible." Something sounding suspiciously like a cough came from Tentomon.
Luke smiled. "I know that it is not easy to accept, but it is true. It may be that our universe works differently to your own. In which case you should just accept it."
Izzy lifted his chin. "I'll consider your argument."
Luke spread his hands. "That is all I can ask." He continued to look around the circle. "As for the rest of you, you should bear in mind that what they achieved is only minor. You will catch up quickly, but is this not a race. Haste leads to the dark side of the force." He got up. "Now I turn you over to Keiran's care for the next few hours. He will teach you some important skills in the area of self-defence. A Jedi must be able to protect themselves as well as those around them."
Luke left and the children turned to face their new instructor.
"Stand up," said Keiran. They complied. "Today I'll be showing you some of the basics of defence in unarmed combat." He looked at the group. "I think it would be best to pair you off with someone of a similar height to start with. Sora and Mini…"
"Mimi," she corrected.
"Sorry, Mimi," Keiran corrected himself. "Tai and Matt, Izzy and T.K. and Joe you're with me." He waited until they'd spread out in their pairs. "Now, the first thing that you should know is blocking blows…"
After two hours of work Keiran dismissed them to the showers. He waited a few moments until Luke returned.
"How were they?" the jedi master asked.
Keiran shrugged. "Variable. Tai and Matt seemed a little enthusiastic about beating each other up, but Tai seems to be a real fast learner. With the girls Sora seems more accessible, but neither she nor Mimi likes the idea of fighting. Mimi actually refused point blank at one point to swing at Sora."
Luke rubbed his chin with his hand. "Interesting." He noticed Keiran looking at him oddly. "We have no need to explain to them about the need for violence as a last resort if they already consider that by themselves. So what about the others. What about T.K.? Surely he must enjoy all this roughhousing."
"Actually, no. Unlike his brother T.K. believes in a non-violent approach to life." Keiran shrugged slightly. "I asked them about it, but all I got from them was "What else did you expect from Hope?" They seem to talk in riddles sometimes. And I'm sure those pets of theirs keep watching me." He tried to bring his thoughts back on track. "So, T.K. doesn't like to fight, but has still made reasonable progress. Izzy was another who made progress, but he kept asking questions about why we were doing this, I couldn't get him to shut up. On the plus side, he did know how to use his size to his advantage. I think he may've been in fights before."
"His size?" asked Luke. "He looks perfectly normal for an eight year old."
"He's ten, going on eleven."
"Ah. That would explain the 'short for his age' comment."
Keiran nodded. "That surprised me too. Finally Joe didn't co-operate at all. Kept saying about how his parents didn't want him fighting. I'll keep trying to persuade him, but a word from a Jedi Master might help."
Luke nodded thoughtfully. "I'll see what I can do. Right now I should go and find them so that they can begin trying to catch up with the rest of the class. Thank you for your help Keiran."
"Any time Master."
Luke found the children clustered in one of the rooms that they had taken. They each sat with their pet in their laps, talking.
"I don't like it," Tai was saying.
"Don't like what?" asked Luke, coming through the door.
Tai looked at the rest of his group. "I don't like how you are priming us to fight a war for you."
Luke shook his head. "That's not what we are trying to achieve here. We are trying to breathe life into an order that was extinguished by a very evil man. That requires that we prepare you to function by yourself, without back-up." Luke watched as Tai took a silent poll from Sora, Matt and Izzy. They are the leaders, he thought to himself. Where they go, the rest will follow.
Tai smile up at him from his seat on the floor. "You want to breathe life into this order? Then let's start. I was getting bored anyway, sitting here with these guys."
Matt took a friendly swipe at Tai. "Hey, maybe some of us are bored with you shooting your mouth off."
Luke noticed Sora sigh and roll her eyes. This is obviously normal behaviour for them. Out loud he said, "Well shall go? I find that the best place to meditate is out in the open."
"Oh god. Piximon has a cousin in outer space!" bemoaned Joe. The rest of the group giggled.
Luke shook his head. They were so child like. Hard to believe that the fate of three worlds now rested on their shoulders. He led them back outside and again got them to sit in the shade of the old temple.
"The Force connects all life together," he began. "We jedi train so that we can feel the Force around us and in time, we learn to control it so that it will do our bidding."
"Yub yub," muttered Matt. They all giggled again.
If I could cope with Wes for three years, I can cope with seven children…Maybe. "Let's start, shall we?" The group grew quiet again. "The Force is all around us… Only when we are quiet can we feel its presence." He glared at Tai and Matt. They sat quietly. "Good. Now we meditate."
Luke watched as the children gradually settled into comfortable positions, their eyes closing and their bodies relaxing. In contrast their digimon seemed to become even tenser. Luke could sense their worry, and understand it. The children that they had been charged to protect were practically defenceless, sitting around with their eyes closed and their concentration turned inwards. Luke shut his own eyes and waited.
Ahh, my student has returned. Exar Kun sounded pleased by Luke's return. He created a simulacrum of the roof of the temple in Luke's mind where mental representations of them stood.
"Master." Luke bowed low. "These children are indeed powerful."
The shadow that was Exar Kun gave the suggestion of a frown. "That I told you before they arrived. What I need to know is can they be turned? Can Hope turn to darkness? Can Sincerity lie? Friendship desert? Courage fail?" With each question the shade became more intense.
Luke shook his head. "I don't understand. Yes some of them could be turned to the darkside, but it would be far easier to kill them now."
"We cannot. They are needed to serve me." The shade of Exar Kun wavered. "Someone comes." He started to fade away. "It is Love. Remove her."
Luke felt a tentative touch against his mind. He slowly pushed it away, as if redirecting a flow of water. As it passed on he got a fleeting impression of the colour red. Sora, he thought to himself, remembering that his new students all wore their own colours. Once she had removed herself from the vicinity Exar Kun returned.
"Such power," he considered out loud, "but with no control. That is what we must teach them. They must serve us."
Luke nodded his agreement. "With them, the Jedi Order would never need to fear again."
"Quite," acknowledged Exar Kun, although his tone said more of a 'whatever'. "But one of your order is unfaithful."
Luke shook his head in disbelief. "They all follow me. They think I am a God among men."
"Not Gantoris. He will leave."
"No."
"He has found a new teacher out among the stars. That is why he fought you, he is clearing the way for his new master." The shadow faded. "I will deal with him so that you may keep faith with your students. As long as you have their allegiance, they will not be harmed."
Luke came out of his trance to find the children watching him giggling. "What?" He turned around to find all the digimon in poses of meditation, obviously mocking their partners. Forget it. Wes was never this bad. Out loud he said, "It's getting dark. I suggest we start again in the morning." He got up and moved away before they could start giggling again.
After the evening meal the Digidestined again gathered in the largest of their three rooms. All of them had brought the blankets from their beds with them in an effort to keep the chill away. They sat, some on beds, some on the floor, waiting for Tai to speak.
Finally he did. "This is wrong. Something or someone here at this temple is wrong."
Sora raised her head. "It's Master Skywalker. I'm sure of it."
"Why?" asked Izzy. "He has done nothing untoward, why should we consider him a suspect?"
"He kept me out." Sora received several confused looks. "From his mind. But he was subtle about getting rid of me. I almost didn't catch it."
"You think he was hiding something?" asked Matt. "Why? Just because he didn't want you having a good rummage through his head?"
Tai lent against the wall of the room. "He could've been hiding something, he could just've wanted some privacy. There is just no way to tell."
"Well Keiran isn't who he says he is," observed Izzy. Tai made a motion suggesting that the redhead elaborate. "When he was teaching us it would sometimes take a repeat of his name to get his attention. Reacting to your name when spoken out loud is a reflex action. He was slow on too many occasions to assume that he was merely distracted. My conclusion is that his name is not really Keiran Halcyon."
"Something is going on at this temple," agreed Joe. "Something that we are not supposed to know about. I vote that it stays that way."
"Oh come on Joe," moaned Tai. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"I never had one." Joe crossed his arms. "It really isn't any of our business. What ever is going on here has nothing to do with us stopping Myotismon and this Exar Kun guy that Doyle mentioned."
Tai yawned. "Well I'm beat. Let's just agree to keep or eyes and ears open, okay?" Several nods came from around the room. "Okay then. Now some of us would like to get some sleep with out his six friends looming over him." Everyone took the hint and moved back to their rooms.
Izzy sat down on his bed and straight away switched on his laptop.
Joe moaned. "You're not going to be up all night typing are you?"
Izzy smiled and shook his head. "Not for long. I just want to try something first." He pulled out a commlink that had been given to him while on Coruscant. "Let's see how good their security is…" He connected his laptop to it and began to test the firewalls on some remote computers.
Joe's eyes drooped until Izzy woke him again by calling out "Prodigious!"
"What?" asked Joe, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and putting his glasses back on. He moved to stand behind Izzy so he could see the computer screen. "What is all this?"
"The mainframe on Coruscant." Izzy's eyes were shining with excitement. "We can try to find who Keiran really is using this."
"Oh joy." Joe rubbed his eyes. "Can we at least wait until morning? It's late."
"Sorry Joe, I guess I lost track of time."
"It's okay." Joe stopped and sniffed the air. "Barbecue? At this time of night?"
Izzy frowned. "I can't think of any reason why someone would be barbecuing after dark at a jedi temple." He slid out of bed and put a cloak on over his robe. "Let's get someone who can track on this."
Tai was less than enthusiastic about being woken up, but agreed that he and Agumon would join the hunt for the mysterious barbecue.
They were all shocked at what was at the end of the trail.
A corpse charred almost to the point where it could not be recognised as such.
They all stood motionless for a moment until Joe ran off in the direction of the refresher, a hand clamped over his mouth. Tai stood watching with grim fascination.
Agumon spoke quietly. "Is that what would happen to you if I ever attacked you?"
Tai gulped. "Probably." He looked at the charred corpse. "I've got to get some air. Excuse me." He hurried away, for fear that he too would throw up.
Izzy slowly walked around the body. All the extremities intact, still resembles a humanoid in basic shape… This poor soul was burned from the inside out. He examined the room. A deep cut in the wall, some signs of a struggle, but not enough to guess at what had happened. Hearing voices he slipped outside the room and peered around the corner. Luke along with two jedi he had not been introduced to. Izzy slipped away into the shadows, intending to rejoin the investigation when more people showed up so as not to appear overly interested. This is interesting. What happened to him? Could I be in danger of the same fate with my skills with energy? He vowed to follow through his own investigation.
Author's Notes: -
YAY! Done! This chapter goes out especially to Raven who asked for Keiran to be included. I had already planned on it, but its nice to know that someone else likes him. Thank you to everyone who keeps reviewing me chapter after chapter… I really appreciate it. It lets me know that someone is reading this damn thing. (Special mention must go to Leah who actually nagged me by e-mail for when the next chapter would be)
I will still take requests and I'm still looking for someone who would like to do some fan art for me, cause I can't draw very well.
