Call to Aid - Jedi Apprentice - Chapter 7
—
Sounds of clashing wood rang throughout the dim training room. Two figures crossed blades, only for the smaller figure to be thrown back. Away from the two, a scrawny boy held up his hands and shouted, "Blizzard!" only for a small sliver of ice to appear and shoot towards the larger figure. The person crushed the ice with his blade before rushing towards the boy. Desperately, the boy tried to raise his training saber only for the blade to be knocked out of his grip. Despite no longer having a weapon, the boy defiantly pushed his hands out in front of him. The figure before him shook for a second before proceeding to toss the boy across the room, leaving the boy to stare at the figure, fear and defiance radiating in his eyes.
Acker was not having a great time. With much of his time now occupied with trying to help clue the two soldiers into what is going on, learning about what is going on, and the barely functioning magic classes on top of his normal schedule of doing random stuff with the little troll, he now gets ambushed by challengers. Apparently, the tale of him fighting against Master Windu on equal terms for part of the fight has riled up quite a few hot-blooded people into trying to "prove their strength" against him. In order to avoid them, Acker has filled up his schedule even more, by dragging Ban and her little protege into impromptu training sessions whenever he sees someone wanting to fight, which ironically just causes him to have to fight more.
Looking out at the battered Ban and disarmed Bruck, he could scarcely believe that he had trouble with her when she first woke up.
"Get up you two, we're not done yet."
Upon his words, Ban and Bruck both groaned, with Ban returning to a fighting stance and Bruck picking up his saber.
"Why don't you torture the oaf and his friends with this too?" Bruck complained.
"I already do during the magic classes."
"I was part of that!"
"Yeah, but I need to escape from the challengers, and I only know how to get into contact with Ban. Since you're with Ban, you're out of luck. Besides," Acker eyed the two's sorry states, "the two of you need the practice. Also the two over there," he pointed towards the corner, where both Caelcoli and Racaria lay strewn on the ground, " need opponents closer to their level."
"But why wooden swords?" interrupted Ban.
"Because you might need the familiarity with things heavier than a lightsaber in the future. Also," Acker pauses to throw a quick pixie circle toward the soldiers, "I can more reliably wack you four with them."
With the other two beginning to get to their legs, Acker rushed forwards, intent on taking one of them out again, only to be interrupted by the echoing sound of a certain troll's glimmer stick coming from the doorway.
"Master Yoda," began Acker, "what's on the schedule now?"
Yoda motioned towards Bruck. "Arrived, Master Qui-Gon has. Waiting inside a dueling room, he is."
Upon hearing his words Bruck made to run off, before being stopped by Acker.
"Drink this first." Bruck quickly grabbed the bottle out of Acker's hands and downed it in seconds, before continuing to run off, his wounds fading away.
"You didn't tell him which one." Acker smirked at the retreating figure of Bruck in the hall.
"Find the correct room, he will." Yoda said. "Now, tell Obi-Wan, I shall." With those words, Yoda sauntered off towards the Room of a Thousand Fountains to look for Obi-Wan.
Acker turned towards Ban, "you know what that's about?"
Ban nodded, "when a Jedi Knight or Master comes to the temple looking for a new Padawan, initiates run around and try various ways to get their attention. I guess Bruck and Obi-Wan are going to duel for it."
"Ah." Acker stood there for a second. "Let's go see what'll happen." He turned back toward the two soldiers. "You two coming?"
Caelcoli shook his head. "I'm going to the cafeteria, you?" All former traces of animosity disappeared over the past few days between the two soldiers. Now the two are basically in the same spot as Acker, Ban, and HK
"Nah," Racaria replied, "I'll go watch Bruck get his ass handed to him."
Acker shrugged, "ok then, guess I'll grab HK and meet up with you two at the duel."
The group then split into three separate directions, one to food, one to the duel, and one to pick up a droid probably getting harassed by a young initiate.
—
By the time Acker found HK, without Siri, and made it to the room, the duel had started. The view from the upper floors provided an excellent view of the duel below. The two contestants struggled back and forth, neither one truly getting an edge on the other. Cheers rang out from the crowd, with them being evenly split.
"Kick his ass!" Garen cried out somewhere in the seats.
Acker observes the two combatants. While at first Obi-Wan seemed as though he was the better duelist, the short week with Bruck has forced the silver-haired boy to try and step up his game. While by no means being an expert, his stamina appears to have improved.
The sweat poured down from both contestants' bodies. The flashy moves of Bruck's were unable to pierce Obi-Wan's more conservative moveset, but likewise Obi-Wan couldn't wear out the aggressive fighter. Suddenly, a slight misstep caused Obi-Wan to trip. Attempting to seize this opportunity, Bruck lunged forward, intent on finishing off his rival. Before his blow can reach Obi-Wan though, his blade is pushed to just miss him.
Acker could see the save from Obi-Wan's outstretched hand. If not for the last minute push, it would have been all over. As it was, now the shoe was on the other foot, with Bruck off balance and Obi-Wan coming around to finish him.
Bruck does his best to recover but it's not enough, as the training saber smacks into his hand, causing Bruck to drop his. An attempt to regain his saber only resulted in a final strike to Bruck's chest.
"Enough!" Yoda announced.
All around the room the initiates began shooting and cheering. Attempting to back away from the noise, Acker looked for someone else who was nearby. As he looked he saw Yoda with a tall man wearing Jedi robes.
That must be the Qui-Gon everyone's talking about.
Before Acker can walk over to speak to him, the Jedi walked downstairs, leaving Yoda looking exasperated.
"What's up?" Acker walked up to Yoda, seeing him shake his head at the disappearing Jedi.
"He does this every year." Yoda replied. "Always comes because we ask, never seriously considering another initiate."
Yoda harrumphed and began walking down the stairs, with Acker following along. "Many duels we had before this one this day alone. Rejected all of them, he has."
"I see," Acker says, noting the room starting to empty. "But why is it such a deal if he doesn't pick anyone? It should be his choice, right?"
Yoda sighed. "His choice, yes. But refuses because of guilt, not lack of want! Stubbornness to move forward is what this is. While he is stuck wallowing in his guilt, he passes by life, and the dreams of these initiates fades. Simply by refusing to do anything, he crushes the dreams of many of the younger generations."
The sheer act of doing nothing causes harm. Upon hearing this, a dull, thudding ache began to spread throughout Acker's head. He didn't register Yoda call out behind him, nor the concerned voices of Obi-Wan's friends, as he staggered back to his room.
—
Ban had hoped to speak with Master Jinn after the fight, but even as she started walking towards the Jedi Master, she couldn't help but feel the rage and embarrassment that radiated from a dressing room. Hesitating for only a moment, she quickly changed directions and walked towards the source. As she drew near, she could hear the faint sounds of crying, and what sounds like something smacking into metal. Ban walked closer to the room and paused at the door. "Hello?"
Hearing the voice the sounds stopped, with only the faintest of sounds emitting from the crying. The presence came closer to the door, before the door opened just a crack.
"What do you want?" Bruck's head stuck out behind the door, failing to maintain a straight face, with puffy red eyes staring at Ban.
Ban felt like asking Bruck what he was doing in there, but nothing would leave her mouth. After a minute, Ban gathered her thoughts together.
"Mind if I come inside?"
Staring at her for another moment, Bruck nodded and opened the door, allowing her to walk inside before closing it behind her.
When inside, Ban turned around to face Bruck. His small frame hid his hands behind his back, but a trace of red on the door handle told her all she needed to know.
"Let's go to the healers." Ban reached out to Bruck. In response, he narrowed his eyes and tried even harder to hide his hands.
"I don't need to see them."
They stood there in silence for a moment before Ban sighed and sat down on a chair.
"Why do you not go to the healers, Bruck?"
"They don't need to heal me."
"Please show me your hands." At Ban's request, Bruck opened his mouth, but stopped as he looked at her face. Slowly, Bruck brought his hands out in front of him for her to see.
His knuckles were red and purple, with small open wounds allowing for blood to ooze out into the air. A quick look around allowed Ban to see where the injuries would have come from, a locker had bits of paint chipped off, along with bits of blood adorning it.
Turning back towards Bruck, Ban rose and walked over to the door.
"Come on Bruck, let's go." Ban opened the door and turned back towards him. He looked at her, then at the door. Without a word, he left the room with her, leaving behind the oppressive atmosphere.
A/N
First posted/finished 3/16/2020
Karl definitely has some issues he needs to work out, and he should find a healthier way to do so rather than beat on others in sparring. Karl can spar the four of them at once due to several reasons. He already was better than Yadira before at using a single blade; she's not used to using swords (of any variety). Bruck is a scrub. The two soldiers are more skilled at using blasters than they are with swords. Main character with a secret past? What a cliche, am I right?
In the books Obi-Wan was better than Bruck to the point where he could beat Bruck in a flashy display that both impressed Qui-Gon and worried him about his tendencies. Here, Bruck is a better fighter with more endurance, but still loses to Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon still refuses to teach Obi-Wan because of his past with Xanatos and etc. Qui-Gon still talks to Obi-Wan and crushes his dreams, he still talks to Yoda and realizes that they'll be on the same ship.
Not much to do with HK.
Yadira and Bruck. Oh boy. The main reason why this got put off for so long. I still am not sure how I want to portray their relationship, or even how to portray Bruck by himself. In the books he is shown to be selfish, immature, and have a superiority complex. Looking up what it says online, a superiority complex often hides feelings of inadequacy, which is why I think it describes Bruck. In the book he considers himself a rival and superior to Obi-Wan, but is constantly humiliated and bested by him. He boasts about how skilled he is to Siri who states that his bluff is obvious. He surrounds himself with followers, followers who seem to not be around anymore by the time that Obi-Wan is back from Melida/Dann, which indicates that they left him by either leaving the temple, getting their own masters, or even just leaving his group. All of these would feed into his feeling of inadequacy, which made it even easier for Xanatos to slip in and manipulate him. I thought that I should help show this by having him show his frustration after losing the exhibition match to Obi-Wan. What made me stuck was how to portray that exactly. I wasn't sure if Bruck would be the type of person who would physically harm himself when faced with frustration and inadequacy, but at the same time there is no real evidence against it. Yadira needs to help him recover, as in the books nobody was really able to help steer Bruck in the right direction. Yoda had sessions with him and supposedly got his personality under control, but even with that, when Qui-Gon rejected him I think his emotional state plummeted further. I want to have Yadira help him move to a healthier state of being, and I hope to be able to write that well. We'll see how it goes next time.
Current Level of Armband
LV: 4
Max SP: 2
SP Available: 0
Training
Weapons
Star Wars
Old Republic
Jedi Civil War (LV2)
The Chosen's Tale
The Master's Start (LV2 Max)
Next Up on Jedi Apprentice:
A lovely trip to Bandomeer. What's that you say? Pirates? Surely you must be mistaken.
9/8/2019 Started
12/19/2019 Just saw Rise of Skywalker. I actually enjoyed it, despite the problems I have with the movie. Might write more because of this.
2/13/2020 Felt like writing
3/16/2020 and finished