Chapter 42 - Escape!
Alex was a brave youngling. Growing up in the Bergruutfa clan, he had to be the brave one. Whenever nightmares woke the others up, or when the older Initiates told stories about Sith Plots to take over the galaxy, he had to be the one who wasn't afraid to walk into that dark room or look under the bed for Sarlaccs. So, when he was preparing to go into Ilum for the gathering, he could guess what challenges the others would face, but he had no idea what his own would be.
It all started with a tunnel, and a decision to separate from the others. Alex felt it was fitting that he and Anakin's crystals lay in opposite tunnels there, at the end. He supposed that their challenges may end up being quite similar. Both boys had to pull back and learn to help the others in less direct ways, by showing their support and many times allowing them to help themselves. As his Clan-mates were growing, soon they wouldn't need him anymore. Soon they would all be taking their trials and soon after that, they'd find a Master and become Padawans. They'd continue to be friends for sure, but… Things would be different.
Alex reached the end of his tunnel and there was a small room. In the middle of this room was a shiny crystal. He smiled to himself before he reached for it.
"Get back in line, Initiate!" The voice boomed out at him. It was deep and it reminded him of the Masters when he and his clanmates would get in trouble.
"M-Master?" Alex's hand dropped to his side, and he felt a need to explain himself, though there clearly was nothing he could say.
"I said get back in line, or I'll show you what it means to fall!" A figure in a long robe floated past him.
Alex's breath caught in his throat. He was unused to Jedi Masters making threats for anything other than the standard discipline procedures, and usually with a calm voice. He turned his head to more closely see the Master who was yelling at him. Then he blinked several times. It appeared to be a Toydarian flying on short wings. Alex couldn't remember ever seeing any Toydarians in the Temple. 'Aren't they resistant to the Force.'
This brought Alex back to the reality of the situation. "You are under the Ilum temple, and over there is your crystal," he said to himself. He reached out a hand.
"Oh no you don't, you little welp." The Master was angry now. He flew in front of Alex and growled at him.
"M-mmm-master," Alex's voice wobbled with fear. He pulled his arm back as if to avoid it getting bitten.
"Pathetic Youngling," the Toydarian Master yelled. "Get back, or you'll never see your friends again!"
Alex shook, as he tried to calm his beating heart. 'You are one with the Force, and the Force is with you.' He tried the old meditation mantra. It was working, but just barely. Alex knew this illusion would spark more fear if he went for that crystal. He turned to watch as the Toydarian Master flew back to the tunnel behind him, his expression clearly waiting to be followed. And then Alex saw it. On the floor, by the door of the tunnel, there were several stones holding up rocks to make the tunnel doorway. It was sentient-made, this tunnel he was in. But that also meant it could come down.
Alex reached out his hand and used the Force to give a push to the bottom stone. It slid out of place and the cave floor shook as the tunnel behind him collapsed.
Alex didn't know if that would keep the illusion back for long, so he dove and quickly picked up the crystal. His crystal. It felt warm in his hand and very much at home there. Then he turned around and was startled by the reality he hadn't yet thought of. "Now, how do I get out?" He went over to the caved-in tunnel. Though there were other tunnels, he didn't know if any of them would lead out, or only deeper into the caves.
Lifting his hand, he moved a few of the stones, then he looked up, and his eyes opened wide in shock. The other stones behind the ones he'd cleared were knocked loose, and they were falling towards him…
Mace Windu had paced enough. The Ice wall was almost closed, and no one was out yet. "I know what you're going to tell me, but we're not losing the chosen one on my watch."
Yoda's Holocron duplicate merely nodded. "Do what is right, you will. Trust you, I do, Padawan mine."
Mace pulled out his lightsaber and ran to the back of the Temple. With a gruff "Ug," he slashed his violet blade at a smaller section of an Iced over cave door. Several minutes later, he had a small opening carved, large enough to climb through. He reached out with the Force and could feel two spikes of anxiety nearby. "Good, at least some of them are near the emergency exit tunnel," he told himself.
Mace took a few steps towards where he had to go, and then the floor shook. He grabbed onto a wall to keep from falling, then he took off again. This time he was sensing more fear, and some pain being thrown out in the Force. He got to a place where one of the tunnels the Jedi had built Millenia ago as emergency passages through the depths of the caves had fallen in. He almost missed the boy, who groaned on the ground next to the caved-in tunnel.
"Initiate Ducriant, Alex," Mace rushed to his side.
"Aaah," The boy tried to move, but his arm shot to his leg with great pain. A large piece of stone had fallen on it.
"Don't move." Mace ordered. He used the Force to lift the stone, then evaluated the boy's leg. "It is broken. We have a medic droid on the ship, but you'll have to get there first. Where are the others?"
"That way?" Alex pointed at the wall of stones in front of them.
Mace growled, and the fact that a youngling was nearby was the only thing that kept him from raining down a string of curses. "Come. Can you hop on one leg?" He helped Alex stand, then provided his own body as a crutch. They were going back to the outer temple.
'This doesn't mean anything.' Mace thought to himself. 'The main door isn't completely sealed yet. They could've come out while I was down here.'
When they got up to the main part of the Temple, Mace looked around desperately.
"Emerged from their trials, the others have not." Yoda said sadly. Mace knelt by the door, as he came to grips with the fact he wouldn't be able to get in to rescue them. The opening had nearly closed and an adult of his size wouldn't be able to fit under it. It was almost too small for a youngling. Then they felt the ground shake again…
Anakin bit back the pain of regret. He'd already lost a friend down here, he wouldn't be losing any more. "Up here. Everyone. Lets go," he urged them on whenever they looked like they were stopping. They reached the entrance with the Ice door almost completely shut. "It's okay guys. Focus, and we'll move it as one."
His friends seemed to have their doubts. Freya looked scared, and Ramu had a tear on his face, but they all lifted a hand and did as Anakin said.
Anakin lifted his hand and added his pressure to the pot the others were building. Soon he was matching their expenditure and yet, it wasn't enough. He lifted his eyes, and the wall wasn't even cracking. He could feel the other's exhaustion in the Force. They were giving it all they could. But it was not yet all Anakin could give.
Using the Force was natural to Anakin. Much of what he was learning wasn't about pushing himself to do more, but learning control to keep from breaking everything in the Temple. Anakin remembered a time he was trying to do the dishes to help Obi-Wan and Siri, but accidentally broke the whole set of dishes. That was one of those times when more power does not equal better. This, Anakin reasoned, was not one of those times.
He pushed harder at the wall, and the ground around them started to shake. Soon the Ice wall fell to his demands and when it cleared, they saw a stunned look on Master Windu's face. Mace looked like his chin forgot where his mouth was, and he was breathing short, rapid bursts, like he was crying or laughing, or a little bit of both.
"You made it!" A familiar voice clapped his hands. Anakin looked and saw Alex sitting against a wall of the temple. His foot was swollen, but he had a big smile on his face.
"Alex! You're alive!" Anakin rushed up to him with the others who also saw him too.
Mace regained his ability to hold his emotions in check while the Younglings were all greeting each other.
"Yeah, sorry about that tunnel," said Alex to the others. I made a rash decision there, but I got this out of it." He held out his crystal for the others to ooh and aah over.
Mace didn't want to make a fuss and ruin the Youngling's victory, but in his head he grumbled, 'Now I'll have to comm the Council and get them to postpone other gatherings until we can get a team in to restore the emergency tunnels. And we might need to dig out a whole new system if the ground's shifted like I suspect. That last time we did that was over a thousand years ago.'
"Master Windu, sir." A young one tugged on his robe. Mace looked down and saw Ramu. "I- what happens if we fail the gathering."
"What do you mean?" Mace cocked his head. He could feel it in all the Younglings, that faint buzz from a new bond being formed with their crystals. "Did you not get your crystal?"
Ramu wiped his cheek. "Nnn-not really. All I got was this, but it broke." He reached into a pocket and pulled out three small pieces of crystal with broken, jagged edges.
"Don't underestimate Kyber. These crystals, they chose you, did they not?"
Ramu nodded solemnly.
"Then they are meant for you. I've seen knights with odder matches. Meditate with them and build them into the form the Force suggests. And trust the Force to give you exactly what you need for a weapon." Mace tried to reassure. He had no idea what type of saber the boy would build, or even if he would build more than a letter opener. Was this the Force's way of suggesting the Youngling for a desk job?
Ramu put his crystals away and wiped the remaining tears off his face. He had a resolved expression when he looked back at Mace.
"Okay, we are going to need to hike back to the ship. Alex, can you walk? There is a stretcher here, if you can't. The others will help me carry you back."
"Thanks, Master Windu, but I…" Alex tried to stand up and take a step, only to yelp when he put down his bad leg. He stopped breathing and held his breath with the pain.
"Acknowledge your weakness, young one. It is the braver thing to do." Mace pulled out the emergency kit and laid out a cloth stretcher.
"He's right, buddy." Anakin held a firm grip on Alex's shoulders while Kent used his eyes to guide them to the stretcher.
"Okay, one, two, three and up." Mace ordered when the others took up positions around the stretcher. They lifted him with ease. "Now, the same thing goes for all of you. If you are feeling weak or starting to stumble, let me know. There's no shame in needing to take a break." He paused to see them nod. "Okay, this way." Mace led them out onto the Ilum plains. "Goodbye Master." He waved a hand and the Duplicate of Yoda lifted his cane in salutation. Then the grandmaster vanished back into his Holocron.
"Bring him in here." Mace led the Younglings right to the Medical room onboard the ship. He waved to activate the medical droid that was in the room.
It rose and began a basic scan of its patient. "Patient has a Greenstick Fracture of the Fibula and significant muscle damage. It is recommended to splint the leg and soak in bacta."
"Okay. Proceed with treatment." Mace ordered the droid. Then he turned to Alex. "While your leg is soaking, you can start to meditate with your crystal. When the droid releases you, you can join the others in the workshop."
"Thanks, Master Windu," said Alex.
"Okay, the rest of you, come this way." Mace led them to the workshop on the ship. It was time for his favorite part of every gathering. The part when he passed the younglings on to the Professor's supervision, and went to take a nap.
Anakin stood, squished in between Kent and Freya, with a look of awe on his face as the droid professor became active.
"Everyone, I want you to meet the Architect and Lightsaber Designer, Professor Huyang."
"These are them, my, they look younger every expedition." Huyang walked out of his cubicle with his hands behind his back.
Mace chuckled. The ancient droid said the same thing every time. "Yes, professor. They've all passed the Gathering and have their crystals. Now, they need to learn what to do with them.
"You're a Mark Four," Anakin said.
"What, who said that?" The droid looked down and studied Anakin.
"You are. Do you still have the T-One-Eighty-Three Balance stabilizer, or were you upgraded to a Nine point One?" Anakin eyed Huyang back with a calculating look.
"Why? My systems are original." Huyang sounded stunned.
"If you want me to take a look, I've got a repair kit in my bag," Anakin offered.
Mace rolled his eyes. Trust Obi-Wan to pack the young man's mechanical kit on a trip to make a lightsaber.
"And I have a probability module I could give you too," Anakin suggested.
Suddenly Mace's eyes went wide. He'd just realized the temptation for Anakin to upgrade the oldest droid in the order, and his head started to throb…
Hello again,
I wanted to add some angst with Alex, but then I couldn't let a youngling die, could I? That's where we got our emergency tunnels. There is no such thing mentioned in the lore, as far as I know, but I hope it's believable the way I wrote it. I imagine Mace had to go to a different part of the Temple and hack his way through another, smaller, Ice doorway with his lightsaber to get in there.
And now we have Anakin meeting Huyang, (voiced by David Tennant from Dr. Who) and Mace realizing why, maybe, this isn't such a good idea after all… Lol!
It is my own interpretation that the kyber crystals' true colors won't be revealed until the Initiates bond fully with them in the process of making their crystals. So we will see later on what color and what design everyone will be. I cannot guarantee that all of it will be Canon compliant. Especially Ramu's saber. But stay tuned and I hope you'll like it anyway.