Omega12 I appreciate you trying to contribute by sending links in my reviews, but If you want to do that, send them to my PM inbox, I use the reviews to gauge how well my story is being received. I don't mind PM's so long as they don't flood my inbox, so please put them there.

Also, I love Battlefront 2 (not the new one, but the old one that I still play on my computer), in the beginning of the training you get an image of a trooper seated in a chair undergoing simulated battle situations. So that's a thing.

All credit to respective owners.

-Y.A.R.N.

By the time Cal leaves the enclave, the sun is beginning to rise and he cool dampness of the night and morning dew has seeped into his clothing, causing him to shiver. He didn't regret meeting Revan in the slightest though, he needed someone to say it could be done and that as long as he was careful he could resist completely submerging into the darkness as long as he remained strong. Cal had known it would be harder than anything he had done before, but Cal wasn't afraid to put in the time and effort. If he could fight and battle his way through several Imperial installations filled with stormtroopers, purge troopers, inquisitors, and survive an encounter with Darth Vader himself, he could learn to master himself as well as the two shades of The Force to find balance. Cal clambered back onto his speeder and began guiding himself back to The Mantis, heart lighter and mind clear after his meeting. He parked his speeder by the ship and slowly walked back to his cot after stripping of his damp clothing and putting on something dryer.

He needed some rest, he had a lot of work ahead of him.

Starkiller hands reached out and sparks shot feebly out from his hand, not the barrage of lighting like he wanted. He scowled and his anger at himself skyrocketed, what was he doing wrong? Did he not have enough rage? Enough hate? What was he missing?

"Pain." Vader's voice rumbled from behind him, "You lack pain, my apprentice."

Starkiller whirled, only for Vader's saber to gouge a gash in his ribs, causing Starkiller to cry out in agony and back away. A force push knocked Starkiller off his feet and and another push sent him sliding into the wall, forming painful bruises all along his back. Vader stalked forwards with his lightsaber ignited and sizzling against the floor, his breathing ponderous, heavy, and as steady as ever as he loomed over the stunned apprentice. Vader raised his hand, lightsaber in his grip and red blade humming; read to cleave Starkiller in two if he didn't stop it. Starkiller reacted in a panic, no thought as to what to do next but stop that blade and reached out with his hands, summoning as much power as he could. Vader was sent skidding back as Starkiller pushed with The Force, bits of metal shearing off the floor and flying at the Sith Lord from the wave. Vader himself adjusted his footing to keep himself steady and raised a hand to erected a barrier to block the shrapnel from barraging him.

Starkiller blinked at Vader who lowered his hand and deactivated his weapon with no urgency, the shards of metal and debris hovering in the air falling with a sound akin to falling rain except more metallic, "Impressive, apprentice. Remember that desperation. Savor that anger and desire to live. Your hate and rage is what will serve you best. Bend the Force to your will and never allow your hate to ebb. Only then will you be able to truly stand with me and destroy the Emperor. Falter, and you will die."

Starkiller got to his knees, kneeling to Vader, "Of course, Master. When the time comes, I will be ready to serve you and defeat the Emperor."

Vader said nothing at this and turned, pausing only to show acknowledgment before stalking away, the darkness of the room swallowing him as he left the room. Starkiller hissed at the burn in his side as he went over to Proxy who saw to his injuries with proficient tools. He was to test his master truly once he was ready, anything less was not allowed. Assassin droid he may be, Proxy knew that he was only allowed to fight his master at near peak efficiency, anything less would only be pointless and make his primary function irrelevant.

Which could not happen.

Cal had woken up late — no surprise there — to see Merrin and Cere both mediating; Merrin eyes were closed and she was forming spheres of green flames to weave through the air around her while Cere was stacking stones around her. Cal meandered closer and sat down before closing his eyes and centering himself in the force, thinking about how best to move forward. He wasn't exactly sure with where he was on the whole force-sensitivity scale, he wasn't some Anakin Skywalker or Yoda (and probably wouldn't be unless he spent years just focusing on The Force and ignoring everything else) but he knew that he had only just begun to scratch the surface of his potential. With the path open before him, he now just had to walk without letting old doubt and other people opinions holding him back.

The Grey Jedi Creed is a wonderful starting point but it's not like there is an order of Grey Jedi he can join; if there were, no doubt that Vader probably annihilated them. With that being said, Revan himself said that you don't NEED a teacher when it comes to The Force, you just need to figure it out through trial and error. Cal knew that there were techniques in The Force that he knew nothing about and he was still far weaker than he needed to be, which is why just figuring it out made it hard. He needed to know everything he could and hoped the two ancient Jedi he had been learning would not abandon him.

Then again, they had WANTED him to talk to Revan.

"Well?" Kota inquired, as he watched several of the clone troopers seated in the simulators aboard the ship, "How are these troopers doing?"

One of his technicians checked his datapad and nodded to himself, "These clones have matured well, we've checked all the systems and then made sure their bio-scans came back clean before they were decanted. They were probably going to be indoctrinated during the simulated training, but our techs combed the systems and took out any hidden programs that may have affected them. All these troops that they really need now it time in the simulators and these clones should be ready for deployment."

Kota frowned heavily, "Those simulations are a poor substitute for actual battle..."

The technician gave Kota a look, "We are not exactly flush with options General. We can't afford to send them into battle if they have no experience. Simulations are better than nothing, and I know the clones are a point of conflict considering that they annihilated the Jedi, but these aren't fitted with inhibitor chips. Plus they aren't thinking this is a straight up war, this is a rebel cell striking out whenever they can, this won't be like The Clone Wars."

Kota sighed, closing his eyes an allowing the briefest flicker of pain to hit him since he was one of the last Jedi left, "I never liked using clones, but this isn't about what I prefer anymore, we can't afford to keep sending operatives to recruit people to our militia. It took months of scouting before we found out about the rogue cloners, and tricking them to send a ship with most of their resources, but we do what we must to fight."

Xavier and Cal danced around each other as they traded blows, lightsaber's crashing against each other in loud snaps and crackles. Cal spun under Xavier's strike to lash out with an upward swing that forced Xavier to let go of his lightsaber with one hand and backpedal out fo range. Cal didn't let Xavier catch his footing and stretched out a hand firing a wave of force that knocked Xavier flat on his back and he was immediately locked in place, the force locking his limbs to his body. Xavier struggled against his bonds a frustrated scowl on his face, his body twitching in Cal's grip.

When Xavier arrived at the Mantis and Mercenary Star, he asked Cal to spar at him without holding back. Cal had initially protested, but Xavier felt like he wasn't catching up to where he wanted to be in terms of skill. His time on Felucia had been a bit of a wake-up call as to how badly his skills needed to be polished. He had been able to regain his former instincts as a soldier for the Republic, but his time spent as a Jedi — as a force-wielder itself — was too short. He needed to be pushed hard to contend with other force users and while he had the capability to be good, good wasn't enough. He knew that if anything, X-1 had been constantly improving his skills and Xavier couldn't afford to take it slow because when — not if — he saw his brother again, he intended to win.

He suddenly stopped and took a deep breath, calming himself and focusing before using the force to let out a wave of the force in all directions that snapped his arms and legs free. Cal brushed the dust from Xavier's repulse away with The Force and restarted his assault, Xavier barely rolling away to his feet before once again being pushed back by Cal's offensive. Merrin and Cere were both taken aback by Cal's sudden aggression and focus, whereas before he would've pulled back and waited for Xavier to regain his footing, Cal constantly forced his advantage. To be fair, it did for Xavier to think on the fly and improve his skills unless he wanted to lose.

"Cal!" Cere commanded, "Enough!"

Cal stopped immediately and pulled back, deactivating his lightsaber and letting Xavier catch his breath, "What?"

"What's wrong with you?" Cere demanded, "He needs time to recover!"

Xavier panted but shook his head, "It's fine... I asked him to push hard."

Cal rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I was just trying to help."

Cere rolled her eyes, "Pushing is one thing, pushing yourself to the point you're too tired to continue is another. You need to pace yourself Xavier, you collapsing from exhaustion is only going to stunt your growth."

Xavier grunted and conceded, Cere was right, he was just being impatient. He just felt like he wasn't catching up to the others as fast as he wanted to. It was just... he had wasted so much time trying to forget about the past. Now he had a chance to fix things and he still felt like he was still lagging behind everyone no matter what.

"Come with me to the Temple." Cal said firmly.

"What?" Xavier was a bit thrown.

"You've conquered your guilt over Falon." Cal said, "The same way I had to come to terms with the death of my master. All you really need is guidance, and whoever you meet, they will help guide you to be the best you can be. You don't need to try to come to use for everything, Revan told me that teachers help, but in truth The Force can be developed by anyone as long as they are willing to try to learn."

Xavier seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before nodding.

Cal opened his eyes and was surprised to find Revan and the two masters waiting for him to arrive. Cal bowed formally and the masters inclined their heads and Revan waved a hand. Cal blinked when Revan raised what seemed — for all intents and purposes — a wooden training saber that wasn't some sort of modified lightsaber hilt.

"Cool stick, right?" Revan said with a grin.

"Um..." Cal began completely thrown, "Yes?"

Revan chuckled, "Okay, attack me."

"What?"

"Come on!" Revan urged, "Try to hit me with your lightsaber!"

Cal hesitated and slowly drew his lightsaber, igniting the blade and saluting in traditional dueling etiquette before taking his stance. Revan nodded and raised his wooden blade and did the same and waited patiently. Cal shook of his doubts, if Revan was truly baiting him with a wooden stick, it was best to attack without holding back. Cal charged and leapt with both blades separated to form a modified Jar'Kai falling avalanche strike. Revan brought up the training saber and caught the blow with one hand, lightsaber blades spitting sparks but making no headway through the wood. Cal mouth dropped open with shock when suddenly a foot slammed into his gut and sent him tumbling back.

He grunted and placed a hand over where he was struck before looking up at Revan who grinned at him. Cal probed the wood in his hand with The Force, but it wasn't some sort of special tree's branch or cultivated using The Force. However Revan himself seemed to be pouring the force into the wood, filling it in a manner not dissimilar to how Cal would use shatterpoint. Cal got back up and reconnected his blade hilts back together, eyeing Revan carefully as he noted the wood didn't even have a scorch mark from his lightsaber.

"As I said," Revan said teasingly, "Cool stick, right?"

"How?"

"Patience, you must have young knight." Vandar said, amusement coloring his presence, "For your next lesson, this is."

Cal blinked and took a deep breath, raising his lightsaber and settling himself in his stance, this time fully ready.

Cal nursed his bumps and bruises and glared balefully at the innocuous wooden stick that Revan had been using to beat him up. He wasn't sure why Revan didn't use a lightsaber when he clearly could, but it was humiliating to lose so badly to someone swinging around a stick that blocked your saber with no damage. Still if nothing else, it was crazy to see that Revan was using the force to make a weapon out of something so mundane. Cal would have loved to learn how to do that back on Dathomir so he wasn't only limited to using The Force and what katas of physical combat he hazily recalled from his days in the Jedi Temple before apprenticing under Jaro Tapal. It would have made his life so, so, so much easier if he could have weapons that durable from literally anything.

"How did that stop my lightsaber?" Cal asked as he closed his eyes and focused on using the force to heal (Vandar and Zhar were adamant he only practice that when training with them; Cere had much more practice with it but he had been catching up fast with the masters' tutelage).

"Bit of a lost skill, the Jedi never really considered it useful since they idiotically decided to say that your lightsaber is your life." Revan scoffed, making a face at that notion as he twirled the training saber, "It's called Force Weapon or Force Imbue, basically allowing you to channel the force into any weapon — be it a wooden stick or a metal blade — to increase it's damage and durability to the point that it can even block lightsabers. All Je'daii force-wielders created the concept in the Era before the creation of the lightsaber and soon the Jedi refined it to the point that it didn't need anything other than a weapon in hand. There are ways that take this concept and apply to lightsabers, but those can come later."

"You can teach me?"

Revan smile turned mischievous, "Oh I'd LOVE to."

With that, Cal had the pleasure of realizing how strict a taskmaster Revan was when training him.

Vandar and Zhar had been polishing up his lightsaber style, refining his style with an emphasis Niman and then training him on Soresu and Shien to hone his defense, allowing for Cal to ease into it. With Revan, Cal was going to be trained in the force, and Revan loved the idea of kicking people into the water to make them swim. Of course Revan didn't hesitate to point out his flaws and help guide him through it, but Revan refused to let Cal stop until it was up to Revan's insanely high standards. Cal would've ended up hating the man forever if he didn't see the results first hand. His attempts at imbuing a practice saber with the force ended up with them exploding or breaking in one or two strokes of Revan's lightsaber, not nearly what Cal wanted. Revan kept him at it, telling him that pushing too much was the concept behind Shatterpoint, not imbuing. It didn't require a massive pulse to fill his weapon too fast but steady output that would hold it together and reinforce it, keeping from getting damaged. Revan wanted Cal to make it an immediate second nature to do that when he had no lightsaber to defend himself with, to never be caught off guard with a lightsaber being brought against him.

Cal picked up another practice saber and closed his eyes.

"This is going to take some time..." Cal grumbled inwardly, focusing on letting The Force fill the weapon, "I never had to be so refined in my control."

"It's not easy." Revan replied, voice sharp, "Don't expect this to be as easy as snapping your fingers. True mastery of The Force isn't power or talent, but willing to keep growing even when you have nothing left to learn. To refine and cut down on the energy required to get the same result. The Force is infinite in its power and it takes — very literally — forever to understand with no limit to the learning."

"Even with you?" Cal inquired, raising his training saber.

"Are you kidding?" Revan replied, igniting his blue saber, "I am still as much of a novice as I was when I was a still a little brat when I was at the Temple. Being a padawan, a Jedi Knight, or a Jedi Master isn't what defines whether you are strong or not. It's not where you are, it's how far you are from where you started. I've walked the galaxy, and seeing the endless road only leave me excited to see what comes next."

They swung and their weapons connected in a burst of light and sparks.

Cal met the gaze of his mentor over their locked weapons, "I am fine with that, I want to be more than I was before every day."

Xavier opened his eyes and he was once again in the hangar, but rather than being strewn with the bodies of militia and stormtroopers, it was clean and gave a clear view to the lush green hills outside. Xavier looked around and got up from his knees to look around, an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He didn't have good memories of this place but it looked more like it had before X-1 and Xavier were at odds with each other.

"Hello, young one." An achingly familiar voice said gently.

Xavier whirled to see Falon Grey standing behind him, soft smile on his face and arms folded within traditional Jedi robes. Xavier mouth dropped open and he abruptly didn't know what to do in front of the man he was cloned from. Was he mad? Disappointed? Did he regret saving Xavier with how the clone just turned his back on everything? Did he know about Xavier's fear that pushed him to attack the Mantis' crew?

He had been the first one to start the attack, trying to kill Merrin because he was terrified that The Empire would return.

"You've suffered greatly since I died." Falon said gently.

Xavier couldn't help the sheer pain, "I'm sorry—"

"Don't apologize." Falon cut him off, "My mistake was hoping to convince X-1 that we didn't need to kill each other. My mistake was giving his weapon back to him and possibly even letting him live. I did not make a mistake in saving your life. You needing time to come to terms with leaving behind your whole life up until then is nothing that is wrong. You've decided that you were done waiting and started moving forward again. I am proud of you Xavier, don't doubt that."

Xavier let out a long and shaky exhale, a painful weight he carried for years finally lessening at last, "I just... I couldn't stop him. I wished I could go back and stop him but I can't. Before, I followed orders thinking that it was best for the galaxy. Now... I saw the truth. I saw that killing dozens for doing nothing but offering kindness, and I decided I won't let The Empire do something like this if I can stop it."

Falon gazed at him, eyes searching, "So you want to fight?"

Xavier paused and set his jaw, "Yes."

Falon nodded and smiled softly, "Then let's start your training."

Xavier smiled.