Chapter 49 - The Tournament
"How did he do that?" Eeth asked. His mouth dropped in shock as he and the other Jedi left their hiding places in the room of the trial.
"I was focused on blocking the boy's bonds, I didn't sense what he was doing," said Yarael. Behind him Saesee shrugged in agreement.
"Whatever he did, he neutralized its darkness," Plo stated.
"Possible it is not." Yaddle objected, then hesitantly stepped forward to take a closer look.
"Anakin is the chosen one. What's possible for us doesn't apply with him," Mace said.
Yoda nodded in agreement with his peer. Of course, an ancient sith carving was nothing like seeing the man himself come back to the light.
"What do we do now?" Mace went on.
"How do we even score this?" Eeth changed the subject.
Yoda furrowed a brow. It would be simple for most Initiates. The time it took them to resist the darkness, and how close they got to the artifact before that were simple numbers plugged into the formula, but this…
"He cleansed the stone, I say we give him a perfect score," Plo said.
"But we don't know that's what he did. Not yet. It might not even last. I say we assign a team of archivists to monitor the stone to see if the darkness comes back in time." Saesee proposed. "He stumbled in the beginning, we can count that as Time A. And for distance, the artifact to the door. He stepped closer to it later, but he wasn't under its thrall then. It'll still be a record score, but a more realistic number."
Mace rolled his eyes. "I meant. What do we do about the other Initiates? We can't exactly use the same Trial, now our Sith Artifact is…Light."
"We probably have something similar in the dark vault of the archives." Yarael volunteered. "It is where this one came from, after all."
"Yes, I heard rumors of a bowl that promises to show you your heart's desire," Saesee shared. "And a hammer that promises the strength to destroy your enemies when cracked against their skulls."
"Good. Okay, Masters Poof and Tiin, go down to the archives and find us an alternative." Mace paused for a moment and added, "Nothing too crude, we don't want the younglings to be permanently harmed by the exposure." The two men nodded and left. "Master Koth and Yaddle will go to the council chambers and summon a group of archivists who will be assigned to study this artifact," he ordered. "I doubt it will go dark again, but observing it is a good idea."
"It came from a recent expedition, we will tell them," Yoda added. "No need to explain Anakin's unusual trial, there is."
Mace nodded.
"I can go tell the younglings a story, to keep them entertained while they wait," Plo suggested.
With nearly everyone out of the room, Yoda took a step closer to the artifact, once upon a time pulled from a Sith Temple before it was destroyed.
"Did anything like this happen the first time the boy took his Trials?" Mace asked. "In the other timeline?"
"Sure, I am not. Present for his trials, I was not. Lower average, he scored. Pause for a long time before the artifact, he did."
"Oh. Well, he would've been having regular visits with a Sith Lord at that time too. No knowing what damage the Sith was able to do in that time." Mace filled in the gaps with what Yoda had told him.
"No knowing," Yoda agreed. And again, he regretted his earlier stupidity. Knowing how the boy performed today, his earlier scores should've been a warning sign.
Anakin waited with the other Initiates for the longest time, until they finally called another one in to do, he assumed, the same thing he had done. After that they seemed to be on a roll and the next was called on right away, then the next. Anakin continued to Meditate with the others who came back from the room. He noticed they seemed slightly shaken from whatever the experience was, but the meditating seemed to help, so he did that with them. 'Perhaps they failed to fix the carving?' he wondered. 'If they did, hopefully they will do well enough on the other parts of the trial to make up for it.'
When the last Initiate was finished, Master Billaba came back to the room and called them all. "Stand up and make a line. We are going to a larger room for part three of your Trials."
Once everyone was in a line, Master Billaba turned and led them out into the hallway and to a nearby dojo. As they entered, they realized the room was quite crowded, as many Padawanless Jedi were gathered to see them. Anakin also noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd. Several council members were present. Besides Master Windu and Billlaba, Master Koon was in the crowd, as was Yaddle, and Yoda seemed to have a seat of honor up front.
He felt a light tug in support from Obi-Wan, then he looked up and saw his master, along with Qui-Gon and Siri, sitting in the balcony upstairs. Anakin smiled and waved to them.
Mace was ready for this. It was his favorite part of the Trials, especially this time, because no more shielding the Initiates was required. He stood up and prepared to speak to the room. "Welcome everyone. This is the third and final part of the Initiate Trials, the Trial of Competence. Each Initiate will be paired up and asked to duel. During these duels, the Initiates will be scored on their form, thus winning the duel is not what is important for these Trials. Still, after this, the winners will be allowed to duel, and the winners of those duels and such, until we have a single champion. Unless an opponent is disarmed or pinned, the first to get nine touches wins a round. And of course, all lightsabers will be in Light Practice mode."
As Mace was announcing this, Depa was assigning each initiate a random competitor. When Mace stepped away, a pair of initiates stepped up and bowed to each other, a beginning of their bout.
As the duels began, Depa and the Padawan observers took notes. The scorers were given a lot of freedom in how they assigned the points, but generally using successful attacks was a point. Missing an opening, or failing to protect yourself from a strike amounted to a point lost. In the end, an average of the three observers would be taken as the initiates final score.
Mace held his breath as the Initiate in the current duel used a reckless kick to get the upper hand. She succeeded, but the move could have cost her the duel just as fast.
Now, a situation like this could be scored in very different ways, and it was up to the scorer to decide which way to go. On the one hand, knowing how to take risks can be useful in the field, and she did make that kick… Though it was a risky move and could be scored against her. If Mace knew her, Depa would probably be critical for such a move. She's always hated when Padawans took, what she thought were, unnecessary risks out in the field. She'd become very critical of their Masters, calling them out during a post mission meeting. He's often told her that her perspective will change when she gets a Padawan of her own. Though, he's a little scared of that happening and her proving to be ten times better a Master than him. If Mace were scoring this duel, he'd be a little more generous, because he remembered being that young and feeling unstoppable. Though, a quick glance at the other scorers, shows he need not interfere. Padawans do tend to score these things more generously than the Masters.
"Halt," Mace called when another swipe caused her competitor to drop his saber. "Victory goes to Initiate Freya for this round." The Initiates bowed to each other once more, then walked off the field, and another two competitors approached.
Obi-Wan sat with rigid anticipation as Anakin stepped into the ring. "Uh oh," he said when he saw who his opponent turned out to be. The Terasin named Ra'Velt was a reptilian species.
"What's the big deal? At least he's not up against a Wookiee or an Aloxian." Siri said.
"Yes, but Anakin's not familiar with the species at all." Obi-Wan remembered his own learning curves usually transpired by losing matches and getting his butt handed to him in very humiliating ways.
The boys approached each other and bowed. Ra'Velt's skin had shifted to a dark purple now, and it was still shifting.
'A Terasin's skin is color changing. Watch for it to turn Red. It means an attack is nigh.' Obi-Wan tried to communicate over their bond. Sure, most initiates didn't have the extra help, but then most initiates grew up in the Creche to get to know all their fellow Initiate's species. Obi-Wan didn't feel it was cheating.
Anakin bowed, then struck at Ra-Velt's side immediately, scoring a touch. Then Ra'Velt's skin became brighter red. The boy's nostrils flared with anger. His Kampo, or the skin forming a collar around his neck, flared out. Ra'Velt struck out with a number of rapid strikes that were almost too much for Anakin to hold back.
"Ow!" Anakin hissed as Ra'Velt scored a touch to his sleeve. He shook it off.
'You struck before he'd fully prepared, that made him mad. But now you are even, hopefully it will satiate him. Now, you don't want to make him mad again. Terasins don't have very good control when they are mad.' Obi-Wan lectured over their bond.
He could feel the eye-roll from across the stadium. 'How do I win then, if I'm not supposed to get him mad?'
Obi-Wan didn't know how to respond, but knew this was the sort of lesson Anakin would have to figure out on his own. He sent back a silent shrug. Anakin rolled his eyes again. 'Boy, his teenage years are going to be fun.' Obi-Wan sighed to himself.
Ra'Velt circled around Anakin again, looking for an opening to strike. Anakin blocked as many of the quick strikes as he could, but three more of them made contact. Each time Anakin shook it off and went back, but his frustration was making his footwork sloppy.
'Calm down. The Adrenaline isn't helping your system.' Obi-Wan tried to help him.
'It isn't helping me, but it is helping someone.' Anakin thought back.
Obi-Wan squinted in confusion, then something changed on the floor. Anakin seemed to concentrate, and his hands went out on either side of him and pushed down. Ra'Velt's skin faded from red to purple, then from purple to green. His movements became slower, and Anakin was able to block all of his strikes. Eventually an opening appeared and Anakin swiped at his blade holding hand. Ra'Velt dropped the saber and Obi-Wan rose up from his seat cheering loudly.
Obi-Wan cocked his head after a few minutes. 'Why has Mace not called it. Anakin clearly won.'
Down on the floor below, Mace stood listening to an argument between Depa and the other two Padawan Judges.
"Initiate Skywalker committed a Foul, I declare!" Padawan Xavier's voice boomed loudly. "It says it right here: 'Any use of the Force to alter an opponent's emotional stability during a duel is misconduct.'"
"Oh, that was meant to counter using negative emotions to stir up an opponent. He was using peace to avoid a fight. It's entirely a different thing." Depa argued.
"But it's still against the rules." Padawan Xavier folded his arms stubbornly.
Mace knew Depa was right. The rule was in there to avoid unskilled Initiates using techniques that were dangerous even for those more experienced. Sometimes just summoning a negative emotion to throw at your competitor could make an initiate fall. Not to mention the danger that would cause their opponent, if they were not shielded against such. But this was not that at all. Initiate Ra'Velt was losing control of his emotions, and Anakin's trick merely helped him restore balance again. Unfortunately, Mace's opinion didn't matter here. Depa and the Padawans were Judges. Mace was merely their voice to the crowd.
"Skill in combat isn't always about striking your opponent down. Avoiding a fight is just as great a skill." Depa huffed, then turned to her other fellow Judge. "Padawan Wilta, your vote decides."
Wilta sighed and she looked at her notes to avoid the Master's eye. "Well, um… His actions were good at getting him through the duel, but… It wasn't like there was much his opponent could do to avoid it. Initiates at this age aren't taught to shield against this type of move yet. It is technically misconduct, as Xavier says."
Depa looked pissed, and Mace was sure the whole council would be revisiting the issue of Initiate Dueling Regulations in the near future. But there wasn't much else he could do. Two against one.
Mace nodded to Depa to communicate his agreement with her. Then he climbed back up to announce to their crowd. "While it wasn't a unanimous decision, our Judges have declared the win to be a Foul. Ra'Velt wins by a technicality."
Mace glanced quickly to see the look of abject horror on Anakin's face, and he had to look away. He looked up to Yoda's seat in the arena and noticed the Grandmaster shaking his head in disappointment. A few among the crowd grumbled in protest. His attention was pulled back when Anakin dropped the towel he was using to wipe sweat off his brow, and ran out of the arena.
Hello Everyone,
Alright, I know a lot of you will squeal at the ruling here. I made Anakin's match end in a foul because I wanted to avoid the Perfect Padawan Dynamic, where Anakin wins the tournament and gets a perfect score on his Trial, because that would just be too boring.
I hope you understand now why I switched these last two parts of the Trial. This part was supposed to test Competency. In Legends it was sometimes staged lightsaber combat with a hood. But then the Legends Wiki did say it changed a lot over time. And the Canon Wiki page on the Trials, though it wasn't as specific, did mention the Initiate Tournament. I decided to cover two birds with one stone here. And of course what the Jedi scorekeepers are paying attention to is different from the future Masters in the audience.
Anakin's Opponent here is a Terasin, a species I found on Wookieepedia. I hope I was somewhat accurate with their biology, but I hope you can forgive me if I was wrong. They are a reptilian species who, supposedly like a chameleon, can change color and can become red with Anger or Adrenaline. Thus when Anakin calmed him he went back to green skin, and he wasn't able to fight as strongly, because his brain was missing the right chemicals.
In the next chapter Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and a few of the others will be going out to look for Anakin. They'll have a nice talk when they find him, and I might tell you how Anakin scored when the results are posted. Then later Obi-Wan and Anakin will have to do the braiding thingy, which I've implied here is a ceremony- in part. But I have no idea what is canon, so I'll have to do some reading of the wiki's before I write my own ideas. By then we'll also find out who else will be taking a Padawan in this group. I'm trying to put some very subtle hints in as I write. But don't look too closely, they are very subtle.
