Chapter II
The Decisions of Master Yoda

"Interesting..." said Yoda, upon the conclusion of Harry's trials through his sixteen, nearly seventeen years of age. 'Endured much, he has. Yet his heart, purely it beats... Most astounding...' he pondered.

Master Yoda, while he had patiently listened to the child's retelling of the conflict with the Dursleys, the Dark Lord Voldemort, and of 'Magic', made no movement, and held himself in a calm and serene manner. He made no exclamations of sympathy nor of amazement, although in his mind, thousands of scenarios were playing out. The most interesting being that he believed every word the child spoke, for he could not sense any deceit nor the truth being fudged.

Yoda was capable of sensing most Dark motives and could see through a man easily, and Harry Potter was to be believed. He inwardly laughed when he heard of Albus Dumbledore, and his ears folded to the side in sadness when he heard of his countless brethren and friends being lost. He noticed the hint of anguish when he spoke of Hermione Granger, 'He has loved,' he mused, 'Getting more difficult, it is, to get him easily into the Jedi Order...'

He was thinking miles ahead. This child was not to be passed up and in the presence of something so pure, he was able to see more clearly through the Dark Side that had begun clouding the Force since the Sith presence that showed itself five years prior.

Harry, on the other hand, sat in the offered chair slowly eating a sandwich with some sort of meat that was exquisite and drinking a substance called caffa, which tasted oddly like a mix of coffee and soda. Strangely enough, it tasted fine when paired with the delicious sandwich. He was mulling over the possibilities of being sent into a different world, 'Is this even the same time frame... am I in the past, the future?' The Boy-Who-Was-Puzzled thought he had been sent in the future - the food seemed similar yet more refined, and based upon the 'alien' sitting in front of him, and the speeders jetting through the skyline outside the window of the Mess Hall, his mind frame was analyzing the clues in a respectful manner.

Yet, he did not call it the future for some reason. He was drawn out of his thoughts of being able to finally lead a life of solitude and ways to go about it, when Master Yoda spoke.

"Resting Quarters, I will give you," said the odd little creature, that upon closer inspection by the sixteen year old, looked hardly like the house-elves of his prior world. While Yoda was indeed short, he was stocky and his legs were much shorter as opposed to the long and bony ones of house-elves. The Master's nose wasn't long and narrow but more acceptable with the rest of his body. He had graying hair upon his head, and rather large ears that looked to be five or six inches in length when spread wide and not to the side (another thing being the creature's ability to move them - he could hardly keep a straight face when Yoda had put them to the side after his retelling of Hermione Granger's passing).

"You are much too kind," Harry said sincerely, bowing slightly, "I will take you up on the offer for tonight, as I have no idea what monetary system is used if any, nor do I know how to tell a hotel from a commerce building," he concluded with a smile.

'Ho-tell?' wondered Master Yoda, "Information, I will tell you," he began, while moving out of the mess hall after Harry finished his sandwich, "But first, consult a few friends, I must. Your arrival, most serious it is. In your room I will be, in precisely two hours."

"I thank you again," the boy said, following the creature behind him, not passing him, as he felt it would be rude, despite how slowly Yoda was going. They traveled down several corridors until they came upon a hall with several steel doors on each side. Yoda walked to the fourth one on the right and reached his hand up to the small datapad near the door and pressed several of the digits upon it.

The door slid open, and the two walked in to find a highly respectable living area. There was a large area Harry assumed to be the kitchen, which held a large machine in the middle of it near the front of the room. In the back there was a bed with velvet blue covers and pillows. Three chintz blue chairs were positioned around a small glass table a few meters from the kitchen area, and a door leading into what was likely the bathroom was on the far left side of the room. There was a single window above the bed that displayed the bustling metropolis of Coruscant, that caught Harry's attention as he moved in and smiled in thanks at the Jedi Master. A small chronometer, a time measuring device, sat on the windowsill that read 1900 - equivalent to 7:00PM.

"Synthesizer, this is," said the Master Jedi, pointing to the large mechanical device in the middle of the kitchen area, "Create food, it will, although, lemon drops, it will not," he said, "Hm hm hm, follow me," the Jedi Master hobbled to the room on the far left side of the room, "Refresher, this is" he said poking the boy in the chest, humorously, "Stink, you do. Wash in here, you may."

Harry smiled at Yoda - he had taken to liking the strange creature in such short time, and wondered precisely what Yoda did and so he inquired, "Err... Master Yoda... what exactly is it, that you do?"

The green Master Jedi's ears stretched, and he smiled, "Train young Jedi apprentices, I do. Here," said Yoda, reaching into his robe pocket, and pulling out a small device, "Information on Jedi, this is. Meet with many more Masters, I must."

Harry took the device, and bid farewell to the small creature who hobbled out of the door - he hesitated on asking what had happened to the poor fellow. 'Probably got ran over by someone who wasn't looking close enough,' he thought, sincerely. He looked at the device in his hand which held a small screen where text could stream across.

The boy laid the data-disc on the table and headed for the 'refresher', which he soon found out was quite different from a shower or bath in the positioning of the nozzles and water-jets.

He looked at a clothing rack to see several plain garments. There was a pure white sleeved tunic that hung on one of the racks that was made of silk noil that reached all the way to the knees. Several tabard, -short, heavy capes - also constructed of pure white silk noil, were draped over the rack and a pair of pants that were made of silk broadcloth. Several sashes, and plain brown robes similar in construct to his emerald ones except folded and closed in different areas were on various pegs.

Harry felt drawn to them, but felt he needed to wash first, so he stripped out of his clothing, placed the Sword of Gryffindor near the rack and entered the shower. The buttons on the nozzles were confusing, so he took a shot and pressed one only to be sprayed heavily with cold water that made him jump several feet in the air, screaming. After several more failed attempts, the now hyperventilating teenager finally found the right buttons and was soon being massaged by the soothing warm mineralized water of the refresher. He found it strangely calming, and concentrated on finding an inner peace as Albus had told him to do often. He sunk into a deep meditative state as the water worked the kinks and knots of of his battle-stressed back and felt The Force, although he and those on Earth called it magic, flow through him as it always had when he did this. He reached out for a moment, sensing many other people strong in it, and oddly enough, he saw Master Yoda and a person his age, who looked to be angered at the moment.

He scrubbed his body after leaving the trance ten minutes later, feeling much calmer, something he had trouble doing after dueling (especially Voldemort) and using excessive amounts of magic. Harry stepped out of the shower and without considering what he was doing, flicked his wrist, and a fuzzy towel made of something similar to cotton shot into his hand. He did not stop to ponder it, but instead dried his hair, rubbing the scalp with the soft cloth, and soon following with the rest of the body.

The teenager moved to the clothes rack and pulled a drawer built into it to find undergarments made of rugged material that he slipped on to find they were not uncomfortable in the slightest. Harry yanked the pure white tunic from the rack and slipped into it, following it with the brown leather-like sash and the simple brown robes that were reminiscent of wizarding ones. Finally, he picked up his trusty sword and placed it on one of the clasps of the sash, and made his way out of the refresher.

Picking up the device once more, Harry flicked the little button in the right corner and began reading about the Jedi Order, and was soon surprised.

The Jedi Knights served as justice-bringers to the Galactic Republic, the government that has currently been in power for 20,000 years. They serve as mediators between conflicting groups, guardians, and, when only necessary, soldiers who bring down those who harm the innocent.

What peaked his interest the most was the discussion of 'The Force', which was soon sounded oddly like magic. They specialized in using the Force, and trained from a young age to become Jedi Knights. Their good deeds spread throughout the Republic's history, and Harry soon found himself interested in how well the Jedi were at using the Force.

"The Force," said Harry, in a voice not too different from Yoda's. He chuckled, "I like that... sounds so much more serious than magic..." He finished the data tablet which held little more information than the Jedi Knights being comparable to Aurors except much more skilled and actually being competent in bring justice to the worlds under the Republic.

The chronometer read 1925, upon inspection once more, and feeling well fed, and well rested after the meditative state, decided to venture out of the room since he had not been told to stay put - not that it had stopped him the seven hundred and fifty two other times he felt he needed to explore. Harry wanted to see what the Jedi did, and hoped to run in to Yoda along the way but decided to be back at 2100 since the Master had been so kind and wished not to be inhospitable.

Harry quickly retraced his steps with his sharp memory and found himself near the mess hall again but ventured forward until he came upon where he had felt many of the people strong in the Force coming from. The large steel door had a sign to the left of it that simply read 'Training Room.' Harry pressed a button under the sign that opened it, and stepped in to see many, many people, both young an old.

The sixteen year old was soon fascinated by how they moved, and what they moved with. As he edged closer to two people who were dueling, he noticed the beamed swords they held within their hands. As he turned around and looked at all the people dueling he soon saw that most held blue colored ones although there were a fair amount of green ones. Fewer were those of yellow, orange, red, and violet hue but they were there.

Harry moved towards a weapons rack he had spotted and saw several metallic cylinders that were identical to the ones the practitioners were wielding but had slightly intricate differences such as grip width, and how many screws were used. He ran a hand over one and an odd tingling sensation ran through his fingers that delighted him.

"Oi!" shouted someone from behind him, "Hey you! You going to come over and practice sometime soon or fondle those things!" Harry turned around to see a blonde girl of around his age. The boy smiled, grasped one of the hilts that he felt drawn to and checked it out while walking towards the girl.

After figuring out which way was up, he held it in his right hand. "Make sure you have your lightsaber on training levels," the girl said, igniting her own to reveal an orange hued one. 'Lightsaber,' mused the boy, 'Interesting name' He found the control setting, and found it was indeed at a low training level which amazed him. 'A weapon with settings. Very cool.'

Upon pressing the button, a cracking hiss reverberated through the room, and a ruby red beam soon protruded out of the end facing up, crackling in the air as it sizzled the molecules. Harry was fascinated once more, now by the power he felt flowing through him and the lightsaber. While he felt it strong, he didn't feel quite at home with it, he felt like he did when using his second wand in dueling Voldemort earlier in the day - it wasn't the same as the one using Fawkes feather.

He moved it slowly through the air, while the girl rolled her eyes in impatience. "Ready, yet?" she said, finally after a minute or so, which brought Harry out of his fixation with getting used to it.

"I suppose," he said, not wanting to be rude and delaying the Jedi female. She bowed, and Harry bowed as well.

She spread her feet shoulder length apart, and held the lightsaber straight up. Harry followed as well in the same stance, and the girl jumped forward and began a flurry of rapid strokes with her orange lightsaber. Harry fought in earnest, but soon found an orange blade at his neck after missing one.

He backed off, and bowed, and wished to try again, so he waved it and pointed it toward the girl. He studied her movement as she struck her stance again, and he initiated this time, moving forward and on the offensive. The Jedi female met each blow with her lightsaber, and twirled bringing the saber low on the ground and upward knocking the lightsaber out of his hand.

It rolled to the floor, while Harry followed its route with his eyes. The girl snickered, and Harry smiled. He walked over and picked it up, which made the girl laugh again. He raised an eyebrow.

"Why not just summon it?," she inquired. He wanted to say he didn't have a wand, but remembered how he had summoned the towel, and his eyes widened as he looked down at his hands. He didn't answer the question, but instead moved again into a fighting stance, but now finding an inner peace.

He concentrated solely on the girl in front of him, the other fighters, the training room, and the world surrounding it and them fading out of focus as the energies swirling between the two came into precise view in front of him. Harry had never done this before, but felt drawn to concentrating on it, using what Occlumency skills he had retained from Severus Snape's grueling lessons to block out everything that wasn't needed for this duel.

Harry felt the emotion escaping the girl his age in front of him, as well as the experience and mastery of many things within the Jedi Order. He replayed her moves within his mind, each stroke, and each pivot, and twirl. He closed his eyes, and opened them, reaching out into the Force again, and bowed. He put his weight on his right, leg leaning upon it. He then raised the crimson lightsaber he wielded above his head and moved it fluently down until it was pointing to her and was stationed above his right shoulder.

Harry jumped forward with precision, and unleashed a furry of attack moves Albus Dumbledore had taught him, his mind focused solely on the duel between the two. The female Jedi's eyes widened as she could barely keep up with the fast pace at which the boy she had thought herself better than was fighting at. Harry switched techniques on her, suddenly, using long, sweeping blows that made her hands shake from the impact against her own, and switched again using a medium of fast and strong blows.

He pivoted left, and caught her orange lightsaber with the one he wielded, spun and brought the lightsaber the other way towards her neck. She fell for the trick and do to their closeness, he simply reached to his sash with his left hand, unhooked the Sword of Gryffindor, dropped to the ground at the last second and used the side of the blade to sweep her off her feet and onto her butt. He quickly hopped up and pointed the lightsaber and sword at her neck.

He backed away from the girl, turned off his lightsaber and bowed. He placed the sword back upon his hip, and the girl nodded her head in sign of respect.

"Excellent tactic - should have paid closer attention to what you had with you," she said with a smile. Harry offered a hand up, and she accepted. They fought several more times, and Harry progressed with each one, and was soon being challenged by several of the people in the training room.

Elsewhere in the Jedi Temple, in the High Council section, twelve men met, discussing the happenings that occurred earlier that evening.

"Unacceptable," said a tall human man sitting in one of the twelve chairs, "We were hard pressed to allow Padawan Skywalker into the program at the age of ten! How can we allow someone who is sixteen in?"

"Simple, it is," said Master Yoda, "Whereas, young Anakin, know not, he did of his immense power, young Potter does - been trained in rudimentary forms of the Force, he has. Allow him, we cannot, to walk freely from our group with such powers."

"So he is a danger?" inquired a darker colored man sitting to the left of Master Yoda, named Mace Windu.

"Calm, he is," said the leader-elect, Yoda, "Light Side, he does follow, from what he has told me. Sensed no deceit, I did, when discussed his past, he did."

"It is most interesting that a young boy be flung through a portal, Yoda," said Mace, "I am inclined to agree with you that this is indeed the workings of the Force, but which side of it?" he said, with a hint of exasperation. "The Chosen One is already chosen, but you speak now of someone as strong as he, and I can feel it - it makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense," said a younger of the Masters upon the council, "He is the Anti-One, the opposite, the imbalance, if you will, I believe." Yoda frowned, "He has had a much more difficult life, yes, from what you've told us, but he was born of parents, and his will won't be as easily followed by the Force as it is with Anakin. Someone so old, and full of many bad experiences cannot be trained - he would be more lethal than he is now. He could be easily angered if he saw another of his 'loved ones' fall."

"Have him, you would then, in the hands of a Sith Lord?" inquired Master Yoda.

"I find myself agreeing with Yoda upon this," said Mace, "His Midichlorian count is off the charts, as it was with Anakin. So he has loved - he had different guidance. Are we going to throw someone with such potential out in a time when things are unclear? When the Dark Side is once again taking control of the Force?"

"Taking control of the Force," urged another Master, an alien with a long head, "There is only two Sith possible - one killed by Knight Kenobi, how can they be taking control of the Force? I think it is an exaggeration to go so far as to say we need to harbor every Force-sensitive disregarding the rules that have been painstakingly forged over countless millenia to prevent the Dark Side from corrupting -"

"Forget you have, of Dark Lord Revan," interrupted Yoda, "Twenty-Five, he was taken in at..."

"Yes, after having been trained from six," continued the alien.

"Mind wiped, he was," interrupted Yoda again, "Tenets - guidelines, they merely are."

"So you would have someone who cannot master his love nor anguish over the deceased trained in the ways of the Force?"

"Anguish, hard to master it is - he has done it," responded Yoda. The others listened intently, rehashing the last hour meeting over the boy after being debriefed, "Sticks true to the light, he does."

"It is odd, that you were so against training Anakin Skywalker but are now willing to train someone who has faced many more trials of hatred and suffering, and is much more capable of causing havoc -"

"Hmph!" harrumphed the Master Jedi, hopping out of his seat and clonking the young Jedi Master upon his head, "Complacent, you have all become! Feel the Force, you can no longer. Would have seen, had you did, that Anakin Skywalker was not to be easily taken! The Force, underestimate not!"

"Complacency, Master Yoda," said another, rather curtly, "Complacency is not the avenue the Jedi venture through. You give no credit to our hard work at sticking true to the tenets and -"

"Tenets matter not!," spoke Yoda, having enough of the High Council's ignorance, "Our code, battered and baffled it is! Knowledge there is? Ignorance there is not? Such a code, this is! Humble, we no longer are! Out of touch, with Force, we are."

"The Jedi of the older days fought with passion, yet control," spoke Mace Windu, "I have yet to see such control within Anakin Skywalker and from what I have felt through the Force, this child, Harry Potter, seems to command a respectful amount of control for how much he has endured. We have become complacent without war, which, while is always a great thing to accomplish, can leave us susceptible to easily being over thrown. It matters not how many Sith Masters there are for they feed heavily off the hatred and anger the Dark Side require... Jedi strike a balance with the Force that can easily be over taken..." he concluded.

More discussions broke out by the self-proclaimed wise High Council members and Yoda and Mace Windu over how to interpret the Force, the Jedi Way, and how to go about dealing with Harry Potter until Yoda finally smacked his stick on the table bringing silence to the room.

"Trained, Harry Potter will be," spoke Master Yoda, "Training, I will give him." Several of the High Council Members' eyes widened at this. Yoda had quit taking on apprentices after Dooku left the Jedi Order - he had been an apprentice Yoda had a hard teaching the tenets to. "Resign, I do, of High Council Leader to devote myself to training. Closed, this meeting is," he finished, slightly disgruntled.

He had not wanted to play that card, but he had no choice. No one could stop him - he had been with the order far too long and had gained far too much respect and while he believed everyone should be able to give their opinion and he would gladly fight so people may have the liberty to speak it, he felt the Force urging him to make certain Harry Potter continued on the path of the Light as he had for the first sixteen years of his life.

He had hoped he could get a strong Jedi Knight or Master to train him, unlike the slightly bumbling Obi-Wan Kenobi who was training Anakin Skywalker, but there was no use hobbling over it. He smiled as Mace Windu joined him as they exited the High Council room before anyone else spoke again.

"So," said the man, smiling slightly, "Taking on a Padawan again... ah, I don't think I have what it takes to do that after sitting idly in the High Council seat for a hundred years."

"Hm hm hm," laughed Yoda, "Believe, Mace, and possible, anything is. Remember, that, you must."

"Ever wise, Yoda... ever wise..." said Mace Windu as he followed Yoda towards the training room.