Hey everyone Happy New Year! So first update of the New Year is for Huntress Chronicles, after the last update was back in June... jeez. Sorry about that.

Right, so since then, a new Star Wars anthology series came out called Tales of the Jedi, and the first season focused on Ahsoka and Count Dooku. I've only seen the 5th and 6th episodes so far, and clips of the other episodes. But the 5th episode 'Practice Makes Perfect' inspired me to write this chapter. So...

SPOILERS AHEAD!

This is due to me making future plot points that I have yet to get to (subject to change), and if you don't want to be spoiled, then only read up to the part where I mentioned Cutup's death.

Other than that, I hope you all enjoy!

Practice Makes Perfect

Beta Squad was called to the hanger bay, General Skywalker had commed them, and asked to meet him there, in regards to Commander Tano. It had been a couple of days since Beta Squad was made Commander Tano's personal squad, after recovering from the Blue Shadow Virus, having a day to unwind on Coruscant, they were all ready to start training with Commander Tano.

"So, what do you think Commander Tano or General Skywalker have in store for us, Sergeant?" Fives asked Zeer.

Zeer shrugged, and said," He didn't say, but I'm pretty sure he wants to see how we all fight, and mesh with Commander Tano. We should've done this sooner, if it wasn't for most of us being bedridden, and or forcibly told to not do anything or risk of bodily harm."

Zeer said at that as he glanced at Coric, while the Medic glared at him, the others were snickering.

Coric rolled his eyes under his helmet, and said," I'm a Medic, so I know more about personal health than everyone. So that means I outrank everyone when it comes to their health."

Cutup snorted, and said," You hear that sir, Coric is vying for you position."

The others laughed again, while Zeer let out a sigh. While Coric was thinking of ways to get Cutup in the Med Bay, and make him see what happens when someone tests a Medic's patience.

"As I was saying, due to us not doing anything while recovering, we got a chance to bond and talk with Commander Tano. Some of the ice breaking is thanks to Huntress."

Huntress beamed under her helmet.

"So we have a basic understanding of one another. But now, we need to know how we all fight, and make sure we can predict and fight as one unit." Zeer explained.

Everyone else agreed with the Sergeants assessment, while they were all recovering from the Blue Shadow Virus incident, they all had time to talk and bond with each other. It was also thanks to Tessa and Ahsoka already being acquainted with each and are already friends, that the others and Ahsoka were able to get used to each and become friends with her.

The latter was something Ahsoka told them, which surprised them, but the Padawan said that with how they'll be working together, and the bonding, it was bound to happen.

And also she ended up pouting at them, and they weren't prepared how to deal with that. So they agreed right away.

The Commander had a laugh at their expense at how quickly they caved.

Once they made it to one of the hangers, they stood at attention when they met with Ahsoka, General Skywalker and Captain Rex. Around them, other clones were working, but they could tell they were also trying to see what was going on.

Anakin nodded at them, and said," At ease. So, I have a little training exercise for Commander Tano and you all."

"What's the exercise, General?" Zeer asked.

"Well I had this training exercise set for Ahsoka some time ago. I needed her to train against living opponents, not just against droids. So I had Rex and some Troopers fire at her with stun shots. And if she got hit, then she would repeat, until her time got better. And now that she has you all for a squad. I believe the exercise will benefit unit cohesiveness."Anakin explained.

Tessa and the others looked at each other; Tessa could see the point in General Skywalker's reasoning. Sure they were trained to fight droids, but they also had training against living targets when they were training on Kamino. This was done by training against their Bounty Hunter Instructors, or a couple of Mandalorian Bounty Hunters that the Kaminoans had hired after Jango died, or against other clones. Or droids that had a certain amount of free thinking that allowed them to fight in different styles.

Not only that, but they had heard about the exercise from other clones, mainly from Jesse, who was the first one to knock Commander Tano out.

"So, what do you guys say? Do you think you can knock me out?" Ahsoka asked, giving them a challenging look.

And it also showed that she was okay with it, and had faith in them.

Zeer looked at the others, and they nodded.

"Well then Commander. We'll just have to find out." Zeer said.

Anakin smirked, and said," Set blasters to stun, get into a circle. Fire when I give the command."

As the squad walked into position, Nax nudged Tessa.

"Bet ya I can hit her first." He challenged.

Tessa smirked under her helmet, and said," We'll see."

Once they were all in position, had their blasters to stun, they aimed their weapons at Ahsoka. Ahsoka took a defensive stance, and turned on her Lightsaber.

Anakin inspected them for a moment, and said," Begin."

Zeer fired first, and Ahsoka blocked it. Attie, Fives and Echo fired next, and she blocked them. Cutup, Coric and Del fired at her, and she blocked them. Both Nax and Tessa fired their weapons at the same time. Ahsoka blocked them, but then got hit and fell to the ground unconscious from the stun shot.

The group looked at the trooper in question… from his stance, Cutup looked surprised.

Cutup chuckled, and said," Looks like I win the bet."

Coric went over to the unconscious Padawan, and checked her.

"How long does she stay unconscious for sir?" He asked Anakin.

"For her first time she was unconscious for an hour. She's gotten it down to about 30 minutes." He explained.

So they ended up waiting, while Coric stood next to her, just in case he was needed. Around 30 minutes, Ahsoka stirred, and was helped up by Coric and Cutup.

"Who got me first?" Ahsoka asked.

"I did, sir. Hope your pride wasn't bruised." Cutup joked.

Ahsoka would've felt frustrated that she was taken out so easily, even though she had gone through this exercise before. She did a little, but she was facing different opponents, opponents who were also going to work closely with her from now on. So that gave her the incentive to work harder.

Ahsoka giggled at what Cutup said." You didn't, but don't think you'll get the drop on me again."

"Alright, let's do this again." Anakin said.

They all got into position.

"Begin."

Tessa fired the first shot.

Some time passed, and as the war went on, Beta Squad and Ahsoka continued to do the exercise. With each go, Ahsoka continued to get better, and also each member got their chance to knock her unconscious.

The time now was in the same hanger, but some things were different. It was the time after Geonosis and Cutup's death, and both Zeer and Nax had already gone back to Kamino to start their ARC training. Jesse, Hardcase and Kix were now doing the exercise along with Beta, due to needing more troopers to make the exercise the same level of difficulty.

Ahsoka groaned as she woke up, and saw Tessa standing over her, with her hand out. it had become a running joke that whoever had knocked out or hit Commander Tano first, was the one to stand by her, and help her up as she woke up. Hence why Tessa was the one to help her up after she woke up.

And they also had a tally bracket on the number of times they hit her. Or how long Ahsoka lasted, and if she made any progress.

"Rise and shine Soka. And congrats, 3 minutes until any of us hit you, it's a new record."

Ahsoka nodded as she got up.

"How long was I out?"

"About 20 minutes Commander. Sooner or later you'll be able to tank them to the point of you not going unconscious." Kix thought aloud.

Hardcase chuckled, and said," Now that would be pretty sweet."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes in amusement, and said," Okay everyone, let's do this again."

Ahsoka got up, and the clones all got into position.

Jesse fired the first shot.

More time passed, and Ahsoka was now waking up again. She looked up to see Echo, who was now sporting ARC Trooper armor. She got up, and looked at everyone and her surroundings. She was in the hanger bay of the Resolute, and everyone now sported Phase 2 armor, and Ahsoka had changed her outfit, and she also looked older.

Besides Echo, Tessa, Fives, Del, Coric and Attie had ARC Trooper Armor on as well. Zeer and Nax had their ARC Trooper on as well. The only exceptions were Jesse, Hardcase and Kix, who were sporting regular custom Phase 2 armor. The latter three had also been selected to be a part of Ahsoka's private squad some time ago.

As Echo helped her up, Rex approached them.

"Not bad. It took us five minutes to knock you out that time." Rex praised.

"I can do better." Ahsoka replied, determined.

Ahsoka got back to position and activated her regular saber and her Shoto saber. Once Rex and the others got into position, Rex looked at Anakin, who was standing nearby, and he nodded.

Rex nodded and started the exercise again.

Ahsoka blocked each shot, and once some time had passed, she then got hit again, but this time, Rex was the one to knock her out.

More time soon passed, and the sounds of alarms were blaring. Not only that, the hallways were sparking, in a state of destruction and the area around it was shaking. Ahsoka walked with grim determination, with Rex, Tessa, Zeer, Nax, Attie, Coric, Del and Jessie walked behind her. The latter now sported ARC Trooper armor as well.

Fives and Hardcase were dead, Kix was missing and Echo was out on missions with Clone Force 99. They hadn't heard anything from the latter, due to the chaos of the situation they were all in, but they all hoped he was okay.

It was now after the Battle of Mandalore, as well as the beginning onslaught of Order 66. Ahsoka and the others were walking to the hanger bay, ready to face their chip controlled brothers.

They all stopped when they were in front of the doors that led to the hanger bay.

"Right, who else thinks we should've stayed on Kamino, instead of going through this?" Tessa weakly joked, and the others chuckled, but it was strained.

All the clones placed their helmets on, and made sure to check that their blasters were set to stun.

Rex looked at Ahsoka and said," Let's hope all that training paid off."

Ahsoka looked at her group, the ones she got to know, trained and fought together. Even though they lost a couple members of their squad and little family, they never faltered or gave up. They just kept on going.

"It's been an honor everyone. Let's hope we get out of this situation alive like all the others." Ahsoka said.

Everyone nodded, feeling the same. Tessa placed unlocked cuffs on Ahsoka, to make it more believable. Once they were on, they all held their weapons up, and walked into the hanger. And they were met with a large group of clones, who were sporting 501st colors or 332nd colors.

'This is the ultimate test. Time to put the training to the test.' Ahsoka thought.