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Stand By

Damian deflected Kanan's blows with one hand, the other held behind his back, as the Inquisitor had fought. The Inquisitor had been right. Kanan almost exclusively used Form Three. Which made him predictable and easy to counter. Not because Form Three was flawed, but because it was limited. However, currently, Kanan wasn't even fighting to the best of his abilities with Form Three. He was too worried about Ezra. For the last couple weeks, Ezra had been under cover in an Imperial Academy in order to steal a decoder. It wasn't expected to be a short mission, but Kanan was growing more and more worried by the day. Finally, Kanan made a sloppy swipe and Damian sighed, focusing and deflecting the blade with his hand, as he had done when he and Ahsoka had had Fluffy help them fight two of the Sith Stalkers. Kanan staggered backward, mouth hanging open as he stared at Damian's unmarked hand.

"What...how..."

"It's a highly advanced use of energy dispersion," Damian said. "You're nowhere near strong enough to pull it off, even if you were fighting at a hundred percent."

Kanan stared at the ground. "We've been on standby for weeks."

"I know," Damian said. "Believe me, I'm well aware that Ezra is taking a long time. But it's the Imperial Academy. He can't just walk in on day one and take a decoder. He has to work his way up the ranks of cadets until he's trusted enough to get close to one."

Kanan sighed. "I suppose."

"Now, back to your training," Damian said. "You trained extensively in Form Three under Depa Billaba, but because of that, it's all you use. Starting now, you're not allowed to use any Form Three."

Kanan's eyes widened.

"You're going to attack me using the other forms, as many as you can except Form Seven," Damian said. "Understood?"

Kanan nodded. Damian motioned for him to begin and Kanan charged. It was...a little disappointing. Kanan was so used to fighting defensively, that he wasn't good at attacking at all, and aside from that, he also slipped back into Form Three several times, Damian punishing him each time by hitting him with his Lightsaber Blade, having both of their weapons set to training mode currently. Slowly, Kanan began to focus more and more on his training, focusing his mind and beginning to get the hang of the other forms. Not that he was particularly good with them. By the time he really got into the swing of the training, he was already covered in burns and welts from Damian's lightsaber. Finally, Kanan began to take it a step further, beginning to use the Force to try and throw Damian off, either by moving Damian's lightsaber arm further than Damain had intended, or by shifting his weight when he wasn't expecting it. Damian adjusted for the difference easily, thanks to having so much experience fighting, but he was impressed with Kanan's creativity.

Finally, he deflected Kanan's lightsaber, wrapping him on the wrist to make him drop it before holding his own blade to Kanan's throat. "Not bad. You adjusted well, eventually. You need a lot more practice, especially if you ever intend to face that Inquisitor and live without help, but you did well." He switched their lightsabers back to their normal, deadly function, and handed Kanan his. "We're done fore today. Our training is going to be like this until you're able to hold your own well enough for me to accept."

Kanan nodded and sighed. "How'd you get so strong with the Force?"

"Meditation," Damian said. "A lot of it. The more I meditated, the stronger I got, thanks to my family's naturally powerful affinity for the Force."

"Does being that strong make it hard to not go to the Dark Side?" Kanan asked.

"Sometimes," Damian admitted. "But my family keeps me straight."

Kanan nodded. "I'm going to check in with Hera."

"And I'm going to meditate," Damian said. "Let me know if anything goes wrong."

Kanan nodded and walked away, Damian heading to the cargo bay and beginning to meditate, breaking apart his lightsaber and floating the pieces around himself as he levitated.

Damian spun around Kanan, swiping his feet out from under him with his Lightsaber. Kanan flipped back to his feet, once again going on the offensive. As Damian fended him off, he payed close attention to Kanan's alignment. He was getting frustrated, but he was holding to the Light Side. Finally, Damian deflected the lightsaber, holding the blade to Kanan's throat before shutting it off.

"Good," Damian said. "You're improving. I'm heading over to join Sabine and the others. The Inquisitor's here, so I'm going to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

Kanan nodded and Damian left the ship, using the Force to run faster than he normally could, speeding across the grassland between the ship and the Academy. Finally, he arrived at the Academy just as a walker exploded. He made his way to where Sabine was hiding, drawing his blaster just in time to jump off of the building they were hidden on with her. She kicked one of the troopers and shot the other, Damian shooting the one she had dropped, then shooting a tank off to the side that was shooting at the walker Ezra and his friends were using to escape. Before he could stop the tank, the walker's legs exploded and it crashed to the ground. Then, Damian hit the tank's fuel tank, the tank exploding into a massive fireball. He turned to the walker as Ezra and Sabine helped Ezra's two friends out of it.

"Give me the blaster," one of them said.

"Why?" Ezra asked, handing it to him.

"Because I'm staying," the boy said. "This is my one chance to find out what happened to my sister. I have to take it."

"Good luck kid," Damian said as Zeb sped over to them in a large brown speeder, all of them climbing in. "Don't trust the Inquisitor."

The kid nodded and as they sped off, he opened fire at them, intentionally missing. Finally, they slowed to a stop at the rendezvous, just as Hera landed the Ghost, opening the ramp. Damian walked into the ship as Kanan walked over to Ezra. He walked to his room, resting a hand on his mask. He missed Ahsoka.

"Feeling homesick?" Hera asked.

"Very," Damian nodded.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Hera said.

"Ask away," Damian invited, turning to her.

"Is there a chance this Inquisitor brings the Sith Stalker in to deal with you?" Hera asked.

Damian was silent for a long while. "A chance, yes. But not much of one. The Sith Stalkers answer only to the Emperor, and this particular one doesn't answer to anyone, because he was a former Jedi, turned into a Sith Stalker by means of torture and being held hostage on the Sith home world. If the Inquisitor meets him in person to ask for help, there's a chance the Inquisitor will die. however, there's also a chance he'll show up, either to try and end things or to test my progress. Either way, if he shows up, and you'll know if he does, we're all fleeing as fast as we can."

"Do you think he's stronger than Vader?" Hera asked.

"I think he'd give Vader a run for his money," Damian said.

Hera nodded. "You'd better be careful who you use your lightsaber around, then. The last thing we need is for this Sith Stalker to come live on Lothal."

Damian nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

Hera nodded and left, Sado sitting on his bed and pulling out his communicator, calling Ahsoka.

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