Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that the school year has started back up again for me, which means that updates won't be as often as before.


Ahsoka POV...

"That, sounds, AWESOME!"

I flinched slightly at Tuffnut's loud yelling, exasperated at the same time. Everyone else gathered except for Ruffnut were also a little irritated at the twins for obvious reasons. Hiccup and the rest of the teens, as well as Stoick, Gobber and Gothi were all gathered with me and Mara so that we could give them some pointers on how to combat Force sensitives. I had just finished explaining Calder to them, and the twins were excited at the prospect, why, I have no idea.

"Does this mean I get Force powers too! Throwing yaks would be so much easier!" Ruffnut exclaimed.

"You're the ones messing with our yaks?!" Stoick exclaimed, and the twins flinched, suddenly not so joyful as Stoick leveled them with an angry glare.

Mara sighed. "Mom, to be totally honest, do you really expect them to be able to learn this stuff?" she asked doubtfully.

"I'd have better hopes for a wild boar learning this than those two," Gobber adds in.

We all looked at the twins with blank staresto see them wrestling with each other, in an argument about giving away the whole yak throwing thing to Stoick. I rubbed my head. "To be honest, not too much, but it doesn't mean we can't try," I said.

"Come on guys, cut it out! This is important!" Hiccup told them in exasperation.

"No, what's important is making Ruffnut pay for giving us away!" Tuffnut says with a frown.

Ruffnut growls at him. "Oh, and whose idea was it again?!" she challenged.

"If you two don't pipe it down this instant, there'll be even worse consequences for you!" Stoick yells, which is enough to shut them up, although they still give each other and occasional glance of irritation.

"Thank you Stoick," I tell him. "Now that I have everyone's attention, mostly," I muttered at the end. "We can start by helping you to understand what to expect from Calder, and how to counter it."

Fishlegs raises an arm. "Um, what exactly would make him the most dangerous?" he asks.

"Assaults on your mind," I told him simply. He and a few others widen their eyes slightly while Snotlout groans.

"What does that even mean?" Snotlout asks.

Mara moves to speak, but closes her mouth again with a frown. "There's, no real easy way to describe it," she says slowly.

I think for a moment before coming up with an idea. "Well Snotlout, it's where someone who can use the Force, performs an attack on your mind, not physically. You know how the three of us can influence the dragons to a certain extent? It works in that manner."

Most of them understand what I mean, like Hiccup and Fishlegs, as well as Gothi, however not everyone else fully understands it, so I continued, pulling out my lightsaber. "Anyone have a shield?" I ask.

"Got one here," Gobber says, tossing one to me. I catch it easily and then hand it out to Mara, who takes it, understanding the idea.

"Hold it out in front of you," I tell her, and she does so. "Think of the shield as your brain. Everything you think, every emotion or feeling you've ever had, is this shield."

"Wait, those shields are our brains? How did you get them?" Ruffnut asks.

Hiccup groans, and I roll my eyes while Mara sighs. "It's called an analogy you guys," Hiccup replies in exasperation.

"Oh right," Tuffnut agrees, before frowning. "What's, an anal-"

"Continuing," I interrupt loudly, and then activate my lightsaber. "When a Force user performs a mental assault on someone, they are attacking their mind," I tell them, and then press the tip of the saber against the shield, digging a small cut into it. "If you have enough willpower, or a strong enough mind, you can repel their attack. But if you don't, and the attacker overcomes you.." I say, and then stab the saber through the shield, creating a wide hole.

"...You could die," Hiccup realizes.

"In extreme cases," Mara admits, dropping the shield while I activate my lightsaber.

"So Calder has the capability of killing us without ever touching us?" Astrid asks in alarm.

"Fortunately for you, Calder isn't capable of such a feat," I reassure them, and several of them sigh in relief.

"How can you be sure?" Stoick asks.

"Calder isn't that strong in his use in the Force, since I managed to overcome him easily after the initial shock wore off," Mara said. "I think he could probably only influence you at the most," she theorizes.

"With no one around to teach him, all of his abilities are self taught. So his power won't be strong enough to do more than what Mara said if he concentrates hard enough, or if he even knows he can do that," I told them. "While we will teach you how to defend yourself from a mental assault, there are other things you have to be wary of."

"What other things can a Force user do? Besides lifting things and mind attack?" Gobber asked.

"Besides mental attack and using the Force to manipulate objects, he can also increase his stamina with it," I tell them.

"Stamina?" Astrid asks.

"Yeah, how fast you are, your endurance, stuff like that," Mara tells them. "He could contend with me in a fist fight and a lightsaber duel."

"Woah, really?" Snotlout asks in surprise, the others all muttering in disbelief, knowing how skilled Mara was compared to them. Astrid widened her eyes slightly, knowing already this guy would be a challenge in a fight even for her from what I could sense.

Hiccup then frowned. "Wait, you said he fought you in a lightsaber fight?" he asks in confusion.

"Yeah. I beat him easily, but he wasn't half bad," she admitted.

"But... I thought your lightsabers could cut through anything," he says, and Mara widened her eyes slightly in understanding. I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I want that sword..." I hear Tuffnut whisper.

"You never said his sword could block a lightsaber," I stated.

She shrugged. "Well I don't know, but the metal apparently can."

I frowned thoughtfully. "Have to wonder what it is then. It is rare, but there are certain metals out there that are strong enough to repel a lightsaber for a short time."

"Well, guess that's the job for me to figure out!" Gobber exclaims cheerfully. Hiccup coughs into his hand and Gobber looks at him sheepishly. "And Hiccup of course."

Gothi then steps forwards, and writes into the dirt with her staff. Fishlegs moves over to translate for her. "She says... What is the best way to learn mental defense?" he translates.

Mara and I share a glance before I reply. "Well, that's where we'll start, and is the most important," I tell her.

"Can we use the twins as our test dummies?" Mara asks hopefully. I stare at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Test dummies? You mean like Ruffnut?" Tuffnut asks, and she bangs him on the helmet.

"I wouldn't mind," Astrid comments casually. There were mutters of agreement before Stoick spoke. "Let's consider this their... punishment for the yak problem we've had," he says, a rare mischievous side I've never heard from him before coming out.

I let out a disapproving sigh. "Alright, but only, the Jedi mind trick. We're not here to teach them through painful methods," I warned her.

"Painful?" Fishlegs says quietly in alarm.

Mara however grins happily. "Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to do!" she says cheerfully. I roll my eyes but keep a close watch on her as she approaches the twins.

"Uh, mind trick?" Hiccup questions.

"A way to influence others to do what you want. It only works on the weak mind," I explained.

"Well you can't get a brain weaker than the twins, that's for sure," Astrid comments, crossing her arms in interest.

"I volunteer Ruffnut for this!" Tuffnut says loudly, shoving her forwards.

"No, Tuffnut goes first!" she yells back, dragging him forwards.

"No no! You- wait what are we volunteering for?" Tuffnut asks in confusion, noticing Mara approaching. "Oh hey Mara, got anything dangerous?" he asks hopefully.

She steps in front of him, and with a small smile, concentrates on the Force before waving her hand in front of his face. "You will take off your helmet and throw it far away," she tells him.

Tuffnut straightens up slightly and repeats what she said in a monotone voice. "I will take off my helmet and throw it far away," he says. He then proceeds to do exactly that, and the others all watch in a mixture of amazement and wariness. He then shakes his head, looking around in confusion.

"What?" he asks dumbly.

"That is... really?" Snotlout asks in bewilderment.

"Hahaha! You're such a moron Tuff!" Ruffnut exclaims with laughter. "She made you throw your helmet away!"

"Huh?" he asks in confusion, feeling his head. "Wait, what? Where's my helmet?!" he exclaims in a panic. "Ruffnut, what'd you do?" he demands.

"Yeah. The mind trick," I deadpan.

"I suppose that could be, useful," Gobber comments.

"In certain situations," I agreed.

Mara grins in amusement, walking back to stand by my side while Tuffnut continues to panic about his missing helmet, while Ruffnut laughs at him. "So it only works on people who are stupid?" Fishlegs questions, sounding relieved.

"Nope." Mara states, and he looks at us in alarm

"N-no?" he stammers.

"Weak minded doesn't necessarily mean you aren't smart. It also depends on your mental strength and your willpower. You have to resist it hard in order for it to have no affect, and even then it's tough in certain situations." I inform them.

"That makes sense," Hiccup comments with a nod.

"So which of us does the mind trick not work on? I'm sure it's me of course," Snotlout says boastfully.

Mara narrows her eyes at him before shrugging. "Well since you asked... The ones who are most likely to be affect are the twins of course, then you Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Gobber."

"What?!" Snotlout exclaims in disbelief.

"Me?! Why me?" Fishlegs says in alarm.

"Am I really weak minded?" Gobber questions, and Stoick shrugs. Gothi shakes her head at his statement with a small smile.

"Here's why," I tell them. "Twins, its obvious. Snotlout, you're too prideful, not with enough real willpower. Gobber, you're a tough Viking, but in terms of mental strength, you have serious work because of your giddy personality."

Gobber frowns but then shrugs in agreement. "Yeah, makes sense," he admits.

"Fishlegs," I say, getting his attention. "You are very intelligent, but the problem is your willpower. You're too nervous and timid around most things, and that makes it much more easy for someone to influence you with the Force. You have to overcome your fear and nervousness in order to increase your mental strength," I tell him.

"What makes us different from them?" Hiccup questions.

"For your group, here's why you have a good chance of resisting a mind trick," I explain. "Gothi, you are wise in experienced, so your understanding of things and your mentality is strong enough," I tell her, and she smiles, a hint of Viking pride shining through as she looks at Gobber, who rolls his eyes. "Stoick, you are the chief of Berk, and have been through many battles. As such, you often have to make tough decisions and have the willpower to handle the challenges and stress with being a leader," I said, and he nodded proudly.

"Astrid, in my opinion you are a brilliant fighter," Mara comments, and said Viking grins proudly. "And have the mindset of a warrior. You don't back down against a challenge."

"You bet I don't," she declares.

"And Hiccup, you probably have the best chance of resisting a mind trick or an attempt to influence you." Mara says, and he raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Me? Are you sure?" he asks doubtfully.

"Of course you do!" Mara exclaims, and in the background Snotlout grumbles quietly to himself. "Just because you're a fishbone physically," she says, and his expression falls to that of sarcasm. "...has nothing to do with this. You've spent most of your life being made fun of and brushed off to the point it hurt, but even so you still persisted, even when everything seemed hopeless after the Kill Ring," she says.

Stoick glances down in guilt at the mention of everything Hiccup went through, and a few of the others also have a hidden sense of guilt within them.

"If you can persist through that, then a mind trick would be nothing," Mara says with a smile, and he smiles back, feeling a little sheepish.

"Thanks," he says gratefully, although slightly embarrassed.

"Boring!" Ruffnut suddenly yells, interrupting the moment, and everyone sighs in exasperation. "When can we start using the Force? I wanna throw things!"

"Cause destruction like never before!" Tuffnut adds.

"That's not how the Force works!" Mara exclaims irritably.

"Muttonheads," Snotlout muttered.

They glance at each other in confusion, suddenly depressed. "So, we aren't learning how to use the Force?" Tuffnut asks.

"Oh for the love of Thor- are you even listening?!" Stoick demands angrily.

"They don't listen to anything," Hiccup says.

"He's right, they don't listen for squat." Gobber chimes in.

"All right all right, enough of that," I say firmly. "We're getting started, so we'll started with practicing mental defense."

"How are we going to practice that?" Fishlegs questions.

"We gonna do that 'picture' lesson?" Mara asks me quietly.

"Yes, you know what to do," I tell her back, then moving towards the others. "Alright. I want everyone to imagine something in your mind, like a house, an island, dragon, whatever. But don't say what it is you're thinking of."

"What is it?!" Tuffnut exclaims. "Wait wait wait, don't tell me! Uhh, is it a yak? Yak dragon?!" he questions loudly.

"Will you shut yer mouths already!" Gobber yells.

However I was already walking over to the twins, slightly irritated. There was only so much annoyance I could put up with, and they obviously weren't going to learn what we're teaching them. I just don't see it happening.

So much for Jedi patience.

Striding up to both of them, I raise my arms and place my fingers on the foreheads, quickly closing my eyes and focusing on the Force. With a simple command, I have them fall asleep, their eyes immediately closing and they fall to the ground, unconscious. Everyone looked on in surprise for a few moments.

"Well that is certainly useful," Gobber remarks.

"At least they're quiet now," Astrid says in agreement.

I sighed in exasperation, returning to my original position. "Even a Jedi can only have so much patience," I commented. "Do you all have an image thought of? Are you thinking firmly about it?" I ask them.

"Yeah," Hiccup replies, and the rest of them nod.

"What's this for?" Fishlegs asks.

"Mara and I are going to try and read your mind to figure out what it is you're thinking of. You have to prevent us from seeing that image," I told them.

"How are we supposed to know when you're doing that?" Snotlout demands.

"You'll feel it," Mara assured him.

"Who wants to volunteer to go first?" I ask.

Most of them are hesitant, but Hiccup eventually steps forwards, along with Stoick. "I'll go first," he says.

"So will I," Stoick adds.

"Alright, cool," Mara says, moving to stand in front of Hiccup, while I move towards Stoick.

"How do we keep you from seeing it?" Stoick questions with confusion.

"The best way in my opinion is to think of it as a strength contest." Mara offers. "Imagine my mom's mind as a large boulder, and you're trying to keep it from rolling further down the hill. Only, this is a contest between your mind and mom's."

Stoick frowns thoughtfully before nodding in agreement. "Sounds simple enough," he says.

"Well I can't exactly push boulders," Hiccup mutters.

"You'll think of something," Mara says confidently, and we both steel ourselves.

"Are you two ready?" I ask, and they both nod back. "Good. We're starting now."

At the same time, Mara and I both raise our hands towards their heads and close our eyes, focusing on the Force. I sense for Stoick, and after easily finding him, begin pushing into his mind, although gently. I can feel him stiffen slightly in surprise before he starts resisting, although shakily at first. He's most likely trying to get used to the feeling, but so far he's doing alright. Of course I'm going easy on him, since my full power would dominate him in a few moments, and that would be dangerous and shocking for him. I press harder on his mind, and feel him start to push back. The image he's thinking of begins coming into view, so I continue applying the same amount of pressure. He then shoves back hard with a lot of strength, forcing me away from the image.

I pull out of his mind then, and once I exit he gasps, slightly exhausted and catches his breath. I cross my arms and watch him, mildly impressed at how well he did on his first try.

"You were imagine the villager here on Berk," I told him, and he sighed in frustration.

"So I failed then," he says with a frown.

I shake my head. "Quite the opposite actually, you put up a very good fight for someone who's never experienced that before," I told him. "The strength behind your final push is something that regular people usually take days, maybe weeks to accomplish."

"That was a strange feeling," he said with a frown. "How's Hiccup doing?"

I frowned thoughtfully and we turned to look at Hiccup and Mara. He was staring straight at her, grimacing every so often while Mara stood there calmly with her eyes closed, hand outstretched. I could sense he was putting up quite a decent fight, although Mara still outclassed him, even without using her full strength. It's to be expected considering none of them are Force sensitive. Eventually, she lowered her hand and opened her eyes while he gasped, stumbling back slightly. Stoick luckily caught him with a hand, helping him stand upright.

"Easy son," he says.

Hiccup catches his breath for a few moments before wiping his head, a small amount of sweat having formed. "Oh gods... that felt so strange," he said.

"How did he do?" I asked Mara.

"Really well actually, almost fought me off," she replied.

"Almost?" Hiccup said glumly.

"Come on, don't take it personally Hiccup, I've been training with this stuff since I was three," she said with a small grin.

"Is that right?" he replies sarcastically.

"Well, she isn't wrong," Astrid comments.

"Your image was the cove Hiccup," Mara said.

He sighed, but managed a small grin. "You missed Toothless in it," he admitted proudly.

"That's good! That means you managed to fight me off before I could see all of it!" Mara exclaimed with a grin.

"Not too many people can do that, nice work," I complimented.

Stoick slapped him proudly on the back, and he stumbled slightly.

"Although I wasn't going to hard," Mara added, and I rolled my eyes.

"Way to bring down my self confidence," Hiccup deadpanned.

"You always have to have the last word don't you Mara?" I asked her, and she shrugged. "All right, who's next?"


Jarik POV...

Oryx.

The name continuously rang in my head as I sat on the meditation ledge outside of the Temple, staring at the sky with a troubled gaze. The monster that I've been seeing in my visions turns out to possibly be one of the most powerful and evil being in the Universe, maybe even on par to the Ones. And he was now coming for us, our galaxy. Why else would I be receiving visions of him, if not to prepare for his inevitable arrival? The questions is, why is he coming for us?

Revan told me that the Yuuzhan Vong, or as they call themselves, the Hive, are essentially made for the purpose of darkness. They thrive off of death and destruction, and they seemingly enjoy it at a horrifying level, yet at the same time despise anything that is technology. How could such a race of beings even be born in the first place? If creatures like the Hive exist, what other dangerous things or powerful individuals could be out there, watching us with sinister intent? It was a terrifying line of thought.

How the kriff does Darth Sidious even know about Oryx and the Hive? clearly he's searching for something, which is probably them since Thrawn is on the case. Absolutely ridiculous.

And what was it Revan said they sought to destroy? A mechanical god? Force, what other kind of kriffing ridiculous stuff could exist out there? I didn't want to think about it.

Is it possible that the mechanical god had something to do with the Cybertronians? From what Satele wrote, they have their own sort of god who created life for them named Primus, but no one has ever seen. Maybe that's who Oryx is searching for... yet at the same time something tells me that isn't it...

A convor chirping nearby gets my attention, and I look up to see Morai flapping her wings, coming to a landing on a nearby ledge and watching me.

"Do you know who Oryx might be searching for?" I ask her.

She cocks her head to the side for a moment before closing her eyes. I sense a presence roll up to me and let myself open to her. All I get is a brief flash of an image, showing a gleaming white sphere, floating through space. Her presence pulls away and I give her a confused look.

"What was that?" I ask her. Unfortunately, she begins to fly away.

"Wait, stop!" I stand up and reach out to her, but she merely continues to flap her wings, eventually disappearing into the distance. I watch her go and let out a sigh, sitting back down on the rock, staring back out at the sky again.

Then there's also the matter of Elita One underneath the island within the caves... the kyber around her felt stranger than what I was used to. Kyber was supposed to be a form of energon, just changed over time right? Maybe that's what it was in the cave with her; energon. The lifeblood and fuel of the Cybertronian race. Revan told me that she wouldn't wake up yet, but if not, when would she? She's already been in stasis for six thousand years. Can Cybertronians really live that long of a lifespan?

So many questions, so few answers.

My comlink suddenly beeped, startling me for a moment. I quickly fished it out and, upon seeing it was from Ahsoka, I accepted it. Her hologram soon appeared, and she looked up at me.

"Hi Soka," I greeted. "How's life on Berk?"

"Doing fine," she replied. "They were actually in the middle of being invaded by another tribe known as the Outcasts when we arrived, but we eventually helped fight them off. It's been busy over here."

"Everyone alright?" I ask in concern.

"Everyone's just fine, but during the conflict Mara and I actually encountered an Outcast who could use the Force," she said and I widened my eyes slightly in surprise.

"What? Really?" I ask in bewilderment.

"Yeah. He's not too skilled with it, obviously being self taught. He did manage to put up a fight with Mara surprisingly, however he had taken her by surprise so she won easily," she said. "Me and Mara just finished giving several of them a lesson on how to combat Force sensitives."

I nodded my head. "Okay. That's a good idea considering we won't be here all the time," I said.

"No we won't," she agreed. "Speaking of which, how have things been on your end? Did you find an answer to your visions?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I did."

"You don't seem very positive about this," she noticed.

I was silent for a few moments before glancing back at her. "Well, here's what I have to say: There's a Cybertronian under the island, probably the most powerful and dangerous being in existence is coming to annihilate us, and Palpatine is insane," I said quickly.

She blinked for a few moments, taking in what I said before staring at me incredulously. "Wait, what? Let me get this straight. Underneath the island, there is a Cybertronian just trapped there. Then you said that some powerful creature is coming to kill us, and what exactly is Palpatine insane for? Aside from the obvious," she says.

"Alright," I say, going to break it down. "Far into the crystal caves beneath the island, a Cybertronian named Elita One was trapped here and put into stasis when transporting the kyber from Ilum to Ahch-To. She was one of the ones who met the Prime Jedi."

She nods, taking it in with more understanding. "Alright, I get that... Force. A Cybertronian living under out feet this entire time?"

"Apparently," I replied.

"Ok... next part?" she asks.

"Palpatine is a completely and utterly insane," I deadpanned.

"I said the other part," she deadpanned.

I shook my head. "No, that's why he's insane. When I was in the caves, Revan's spirit contacted me."

"He did?" she asks in surprise.

"Yeah. I told him about the visions I've been having. Turns out, he knows exactly who I was talking about, even fought them before," I told her.

"Who?" she questions.

"Beyond our galaxy, some race that thrives on darkness and death called the Hive are coming for our galaxy. Their leader is the one in my visions, and his name is called Oryx, the Taken King," I informed her. "Ahsoka... the things he is capable of... it is horrifying just to hear."

She narrows her eyes in obvious concern. "What is it Jarik? I can sense fear coming off of you. You're rarely afraid," she says worriedly.

"Oryx... compared to him, even the Sith Emperor Valkorian would be afraid." She widened her eyes in surprise at this, and I continued. "Oryx might as well be the face of evil. He wields darkness on a scale of unimaginable size, and can even take a persons soul, changing them into his personal, mindless, chaotic servants."

"...what?" she whispers in shock.

"I've been having these visions of him because he is coming Ahsoka. Not just for us, but the whole galaxy. Everyone we know, and everything we know of will be wiped out if he wins!" I tell her, the fear I saw on Revan felt within me.

She's silent for several moments, taking it all in.

"Palpatine knows about Oryx and the Hive, or at least to some extent. It's why he's had expeditions leading out beyond known space. I thought he was searching for Snoke, but if he's looking for Oryx... then we're all doomed," I said grimly.

"Do you know how long we have until Oryx arrives?" she asks quietly.

I shook my head. "No. For all we know it could be right now, months, years, maybe even decades."

She ran a hand over her montrals, obviously worried and slightly afraid about the whole thing. "Force... as if we didn't have enough problems."

I managed a half heartedly chuckle at that. "As if," I agreed.

"If this... Taken King does invade us, let's hope it doesn't happen for a long time," she says. "We're in no way prepared for an invasion on a galactic scale, not for years. The Galactic Empire has to be ended soon if we're to prepare for this properly."

"Let's hope so," I said grimly in agreement. "We'll have to return to them soon."

She nods back in reply. "We'll be back at the Temple tomorrow. I don't know how easy it'll be to keep Mara and Zenna separate," she points out.

"See you then," I replied, and the transmission ended. I put the communicator down and looked back up at the horizon, watching as the twin suns began their descent in the sky.

I can only hope this Rebellion can eventually defeat the Empire. Because when Oryx comes, and we aren't ready...

I don't even want to think of what will happen.