Going Backwards

Raven sat in the meditative position on a boulder in the hall of many fountains, in front of him was a pond and materials of his, soon to be, new lightsaber. He had been sitting in the room undisturbed for two days trying to build it and it was starting to become slightly frustrating.
"There is no emotion, there is peace," Raven whispered as he calmed the frustration back down. Then he raised his hand and used the Force to move the materials around in the air with it as his guide. Raven suddenly felt something smooth and long land in his outstretched hand and opened his eyes to find the new hilt resting on his palm. The Padawan stood up feeling elated, activated the elegant weapon and then proceeded to twist his wrist to maneuver it around in a figure of eight.
"Perfect," Raven said amazed at the object in his hand as the doors behind him opened. He turned around as Daly walked into the room.
"How is it?" the other Padawan asked amusedly.
"Ready."
"You want to give it a shot in a real situation?" Daly asked casually.
"Are you ready to get beat?" Raven inquired sarcastically.
Daly laughed, "What? You beat me?" waving it off and then he walked out of the room with his best friend close on his heels. It did not take long for them to reach the training halls and the two teenagers entered one to find it mostly empty.

Meanwhile, Anakin and Ashlyn entered one of the training halls that held terrain inside for more advanced levels of sparring. The Padawan had noticed her Master's regular change to one of these rooms, this time it was reminiscent of rocky terrain.
"Again with the terrain, Master?" Ashlyn asked in exasperation.
"It's important to learn how to fight in different terrains Ash and use the terrain to your advantage when fighting, besides you need to be challenged and flat flooring isn't challenging you enough anymore," Anakin stated firmly, "Now get ready," he directed as he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and Ashlyn followed suite. She activated her lightsabers and the waiting game began for the sparring to begin which made the Padawan uneasy as time continued to pass. Anakin was usually the one to start the sparring but this time he continued to silently pace back and forth in front of her. Ashlyn moved into a more defensive position uncertain as to what type of lesson her Master was trying to teach her this time.
"Some enemies may try to wait you out, Ash," Anakin said suddenly as he then threw his lightsaber at her. Ashlyn backflipped up onto one of the rocks attached to the wall and waited in a low crouch.
"Then I'll just wait them out," Ashlyn said stubbornly.
"You know that will not always work on a battlefield, Ash," Anakin stated matter-of-factly as he jumped up onto the rock and his Padawan blocked his lightsaber strike with both of her lightsaber blades. Anakin pushed up with his lightsaber causing Ashlyn to summersault over his head and land back on the floor below. However, as he jumped down to meet her Ashlyn jumped to a higher rock and climbed up to the next ledge.
"I see that you are getting better at rock climbing," Anakin stated, impressed by his Padawan working on an area that she needed to improve upon a few weeks previously.
"Yeah, I asked Master Yoda for some pointers," Ashlyn explained, "He showed me how to use the Force to grip the surface that I am trying to climb," she added.
Anakin jumped up to meet her again with a leg strike which Ashlyn dodged by jumping over his lightsaber blade.
"It's funny though, he said that you knew how to do that too and was curious as to why you had not taught me about the skill yourself," Ashlyn mentioned casually as she maneuvered her lightsaber in an overhead strike which she missed because her Master ducked his head in time and then grabbed her right wrist in his left hand, holding it firmly in place.
"You were supposed to meditate on the problem and come up with the solution yourself," Anakin reminded her, "Plus I won't be around forever to give you the answers to your questions and neither will Master Yoda."
Ashlyn struggled for a few moments trying to free her wrist whilst trying to keep his lightsaber blade away from her with her lightsaber which was in her left hand.
"Do I need to remind you about what I taught you in our last unarmed combat sparring Ash?" Anakin inquired in a serious tone as he prompted her memory.
The Padawan proceeded to twist her wrist in the opposite direction which resulted in her twisting Anakin's wrist too far until it could not be twisted anymore without getting injured. Then she pulled sharply, dropping her lightsaber in the process which meant she had to quickly revert back to only using one lightsaber until she could get her other one back in her hand.
"You haven't been practising single-blade duelling enough," Anakin pointed out as Ashlyn became sloppier with every second that went by, "Don't overthink it, this should be more natural to you."
"Well, how often have I lost one lightsaber in a battle so far?" Ashlyn asked irritably, as she went to jump off the ledge to get to her other lightsaber, but Anakin somersaulted over her head and the Padawan found herself with her back up against the wall with her lightsaber the only thing stopping her Master's lightsaber from injuring her.
"Regardless, you should still be more than capable to fight with only one lightsaber and be ready for anything on the battlefield," Anakin stated clearly.
Ashlyn did a windmill kick, causing her Master's lightsaber to be knocked out of his hands and fall to the floor below where it landed next to her lightsaber.
"Guess I'm not the only one who needs practice," Ashlyn said as she backflipped off the wall behind her and landed on the floor below.
"Don't get overconfident my young Padawan," Anakin reminded her which caused a memory to flash before the Padawan's eyes and it suddenly felt like Ventress was in front of her once again on Naboo, "I thought you already learnt that lesson."
Ashlyn pushed her Master's lightsaber further away with the Force and waited in a defensive ready stance for him to approach. Anakin called his lightsaber to his hand and jumped down off the ledge before he attached the hilt to his belt causing confusion to spread across Ashlyn's face.
"What?" Ashlyn asked in confusion.
"You need to work on your single-bladed combat before our next sparring session," Anakin stated in finality as he walked past her towards the doors.
Ashlyn groaned, "I'm not as bad as you're saying I am."
Anakin turned back to face her sharply, "No Ash, your technique in single-bladed has become sloppy. I suggest you spend more time training than relaxing with your friends, I am sure they would agree with me," he ordered.
Ashlyn growled in annoyance, "Nothing I do makes you happy," as she stalked past her Master.
"Tiger," Anakin said softer than before, catching his Padawan's attention as she turned and looked at him, "I am glad to see you have improved in your rock climbing."
Ashlyn's face softened slightly as he approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "I am proud of you and the progress you have made since you became my Padawan Learner, but the time is quickly approaching where you will be out there in the Galaxy on your own. I just want to make sure you are fully prepared and able to hold yourself in a fight regardless of whether you have two, one or even no lightsabers in your hands," Anakin explained.
Ashlyn sighed, "Thank you, Master," she said as she bowed in farewell and left the training hall, feeling better than she had been a few moments before. Except now she felt slightly guilty for letting her skill at single-bladed combat get as sloppy as it has. The Padawan made a mental note to talk to Master Cin Drallig and Raven for some advice on the topic. Ashlyn searched the Temple for Raven's Force signature and found it to be very close by and entered one of the normal training halls to him sparring with Daly. She decided to wait patiently for them to finish as the two teen boys looked extremely engrossed in the task at hand. Eventually Raven managed to summersault over Daly's head and aimed the tip of his lightsaber blade between his best friend's shoulder blades.
"Okay you win," Daly surrendered as they both deactivated their lightsabers and approached Ashlyn upon spotting her.
"What's wrong, Ash?" Raven inquired, sensing something was off about his friend's emotions at the moment.
"Nothing much, just got berated for allowing my single-bladed combat skill to get sloppy," Ashlyn explained, "I actually wanted to ask for some advice," she added.
"Well since my run-in with the exploding fuel tank I have been getting my skill back to par with a combat remote," Raven suggested, "Also I have been doing more strength training which includes sit-ups, push-ups and weight training."
"Raven, I don't know anybody who has been able to do your training regimen and stick to it," Daly stated sarcastically.
The three friends laughed at the inside joke before delving into a conversation on how to help Ashlyn with her problem.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this one. I'll admit I don't do many scenes where Ashlyn is doing a training session with her Master. I completely forgot about the argument they have in this chapter.

Ashlyn Dubreas.