Chapter 13
An hour from the events at Hypori.
"We will be landing on Xion in ten minutes, Lord Fenrir." Fenrir was lying on his bed, resting his head on his right hand, with his left around the Yuffie's sleeping naked body. Said woman was using his chest as a pillow the covers of the bed hiding her assets. Fenrir just took a deep breath as he recalled the last few hours. From the battle of Hypori to his affair with Yuffie. Cloud calls last night an affair because he knows he still has feelings for Shaak-TI, but gave into his lust for Yuffie. He certainly didn't mind at the time, but now wonders what it would be like if it were Shaak-Ti instead. Back in the Academy they had some romantic moments even though she originally had feelings for Zack. Funny how at the beginning he was trying to help Zack notice the girl's feelings, but it didn't take long for them to develop feelings for each other. Often getting into trouble, studying, or even training together. Shaak-Ti turned from that one girl in his lessons with Yoda, to his best friend and crush. Cloud remembers spending more time with Shaak-Ti than with his Brother or first friend Obi-wan.
Cloud sat up moving Yuffie gently to the side, while the younger Gaian tried to keep his warmth close to her. Eventually she just stuck to hugging his pillow while Cloud made his way to the restroom to clean up before landing. 'I wonder what would have happened if I never went after Dooku. Would I be a Jedi Knight now, would I have unlocked master Kriea's Holocron? Would Shaak-TI and I be a couple?' Cloud thought this over as he felt the warm water soaking his head and running down his back. His normally gravity defying hair becoming tame the length going down towards his shoulders.
Cloud stepped out of the shower to start drying himself as he looked into the mirror, his face not showing any emotions but if someone close enough they can tell there was sorrow and regret in his eyes. Cloud cracked his neck before deciding to get dressed, and by the time he had his mask on he sensed Yuffie waking up.
"Get dressed we will be landing soon, and if you mention this to anyone, I'll kill you." Cloud's voice was cold and harsh; he looked especially intimidating under his cloak and mask. It was at that moment that Yuffie realized that last night was the most dangerous she had. But for some reason all this did was turn her on.
'Maybe I can sneak in another round tonight.' She thought to herself watching the man, who makes her shiver in more ways than one leave the room. She quickly got into the Fenrir's personal restroom to shower, and quickly got dressed. Before she left she looked in the mirror one last time checking to see if her hair was ok, before she noticed a small red mark on her neck. "Who knew that Fenrir was a biter?" She said to herself before leaving the private quarters of her Lord.
Darth Fenrir was in the cockpit with Vincent, the Mercenary reading a report that they received from Barret. "Our resources are increasing exponentially thanks to many successful raids on the republic and the confederate caravans. Barret made a temporary trade free trade agreement with Jabba the Hutt." Fenrir motioned the mercenary to continue. "The civilian population is getting Stir crazy since we haven't allowed them to leave the planet. Navar Kalem, suggest allowing a transport ship that ferries them to Tatooine, so if they want to travel the records show a starship leaving and returning to Tatooine protecting Xion's location. Avalanche just received 200 green troops, while our troops received a whole battalion of droids from Dooku, stating to use them as 'you see fit.' And Barret says that he has completed the basic training you left for him, and his custom prosthetic arm has finally came in so he already replaced the spare back in storage."
"Is that all?" Fenrir asked his General. Fenrir only has two Generals. Vincent who is in charge of spec ops missions for avalanche even having a small handpicked team under his command, even having his own personal ship, modeled after the Strife. And the other is Barret who is in charge of the main Avalanche forces.
"Assaj Ventress will be arriving some time after we arrive; she has come out of her own accord." Vincent said.
"Ahh yes, Ventress." Cloud said Arms crossing. Cloud mentally smirked when he thought about his second apprentice. The woman is sloppy but her potential in saber skills is without a doubt incredible. She has taken to the little Dooku showed her easily and she was starting to learn the basics of Kuro-Shikon. But he potential in the force was not so great. He can tell she will rely mostly on her saber skills, and will only use the force when convenient. He will have to fix that. Thinking about his second apprentice brought up his first, Barret. The man had no talent with saber skills, but his ability to adapt and learn is astonishing. The man's brute strength and stamina is frightening and while he struggles with force techniques, the few he learned are incredibly powerful, but he is quick to anger, and the dark side is already corrupting him, only the man's discipline, and loyalty has kept the tank of a man from trying to kill Fenrir in spars. Cloud has a lot to work on with him, but overall he is proud of his students, and he would defend them with his life. 'Only I can kill my students, anyone who tries, will die by my hand.'
Xion, Fenrir's palace, training chamber.
Barret sat in the middle of the room meditating on the fight he had with the Jedi master Echuu Shen-Jon, the death of his wife, and the pure hate and anger he had for the Jedi. Barret's normally dark brown skin was a shade lighter, and veins started to become more visible. Barret submerged himself into the dark side, letting the cold darkness embrace his being. If someone unprepared entered the room they would simply shiver in fear. The atmosphere turning into a sinister like a demon in the shadows. Luckily the person who walked into the room knows of that demon, and has tamed it before.
Cloud entered his training chamber to watch his first apprentice meditate, noticing how the man now had a cloak over his Pirate outfit, hood down and the sleeves hiding his arms. Cloud suddenly remembered his first training experience in the dark side. Meditating on the betrayal of his master and friends, he almost lost himself in anger. Cloud was brought out of his memories when he heard his student speak.
"I have grown in power in your absence, Master." The large man stood up turning to face his master. Cloud can tell that the dark side's power was corrupting the man; the man's eyes seem to have darkened as his pupils have gained a tint of yellow. The large man shrugged off his cloak revealing the light saber at his hip and his new cybernetic arm clearly made of Gaian gold, signifying the man's war hero status back in the last Great Gaian war. The man gripped his light saber with his normal arm and ignited the blade. "I shall give you a taste of my power." The man said with a smirk.
Cloud, no, Fenrir was amused, taking off his mask to show his face. The blonde was smirking in return as his eyes flashed yellow. "Do not forget your place apprentice, while the dark side makes you strong, you are only its slave, while I have become its master." Cloud gripped his red Light saber igniting the blade to face his student. "All I will need is the one blade." With that said, Fenrir readied himself for action only to roll out of the way of Barret's swing. But as soon as he regained his balanced the younger Gaian pivoted on his feet, bringing his blade up to parry away the next attempt from his apprentice. Fenrir kept this pattern against Barret, simply avoiding and redirecting the attacks he couldn't dodge.
"Your anger may have helped you against Echuu Shen-Jon but you caught him by surprise." Barret charged at Fenrir, only for the master to lean back avoiding the deadly beam of the light saber, only to place a palm on his student's stomach and shock the man into submission. The Titan of a man fell to his knees the weapon in his hand falling to the ground as he tried to not pass out from the pain. "Your attacks are strong and powerful, but they are slow and predictable. You may have mastered the basics but without proper skill you will be defeated, and killed." Fenrir said when he stopped shocking his student, the smoke visibly hovering over Barret.
Fenrir's eyes widened as he was forced to jump back when Barret shouted raising his new prosthetic arm. His eyes widening as he watched the arm transform into a Gatling blaster, with a huge barrel in the middle. Fenrir simply reacted raising his light saber, deflecting the many blaster shots that came from the arm using the smallest quickest movements to deflect each shot before the man's arm started to glow stopping the normal blaster fire to release a larger mass of energy. Fenrir watched in awe as the shot came at him and immediately moving out of its way and watched when the projectile hit the wall causing the wall to break. Fenrir looked back at his apprentice watching the man stand back up noticing how the arm converted back to its normal form, with a few panels on the form arm opening up to release steam that was building up in the arm. Fenrir also notice how the arm was now stiff as a statue.
"I thought it would be better to show you what my arm could do. It is made out of a Gaian gold alloy, not as strong as the real thing but a lot cheaper, and adaptable. Allowing adding in some modifications." Barret has seemed too calmed down now, the yellow tint has left his eyes as he returned to his normal personality.
"Why not get Gaian gold, why use an alloy? Money isn't an issue here."
"Well Pure Gaian Gold is too sturdy for modifications, not as flexible as an alloy. But the trade off is you can't hold on to a light saber, only able to with stand a glancing blow." Barret knew how Gaian gold can withstand a light saber because he has seen Vincent and Fenrir spar before where the Mercenary managed to win by catching his master off guard. It was a humbling moment for Fenrir and caused everyone else to fear Vincent.
"I see. Either way we will begin your training as soon as my other apprentice arrives." Barret let a frown appear on his face, he knew his master had another apprentice but he never met the Assaj Ventress. He especially didn't like how his master spent more time on her than on him. Barret knew that the woman was his master's favorite. While it wasn't like he wants the man's attention, it was more like he was insulting. 'Am I not good enough for your teachings?' Barret constantly thought to himself.
"But since she is not coming any time soon, allow me to instruct you on proper swords man ship." Cloud said taking off his cloak letting his apprentice know he was serious, and the small smile the blond had unnerved Barret. Amazingly Barret was so used to the mask that he forgot how much younger his master truly is. Obviously 20 galactic years younger, since Cloud looked about twenty while Barret looked to be in his early thirties.
The instruction under Fenrir was, more difficult than Kriea's, but less frustrating. While Fenrir was could and didn't know how to hold back, Barret found it was easier to learn because instead of having that old lady in the Holocron taunt him, Fenrir gave pointers and advice. "Keep your blade up, not that high, Arms closer your sides are open to attack. Why didn't you go for my neck it was open, calm yourself your frustration is blinding you." Cloud kept giving advice and Barret noticed how many mistakes he made, and quickly corrected them. This kept going until the doors opened up to reveal a Dathomirian female, with no hair and pale white skin.
Ventress walked in and looked around the room noticing the two taller men in the room, she looked at the older one and could feel his raw power, but when she looked at the younger one it seemed he had none. "Where is my master?" She said as the two looked at her the blond had no emotion on his face while the dark haired one raised a brow. "I wasn't aware that he had two other students."
Barret was about to speak up when Cloud released his presence, the power she felt coming from the blonde made her tremble, as her eyes widened in realization. "I only have one other student." The man's voice was the confirmation she needed this was her master. Quickly kneeling before him she apologized, "Please forgive me master I didn't recognize you. I just…."
"Never saw my face?" Her master said in an amused tone, looking up she finally took in her master's face, she took in his bright blonde hair, and how spiky it was down to his astonishing blue eyes. The man looked extremely young, younger than her possibly. She relaxed a bit taking in his almost innocent look. "But don't be fooled….. I am the same man who could have killed you." His voice went cold, as his eyes hardened that ice cold glare, for a moment she saw the mask that gave her nightmares, before she once again saw his face.
Barret watched the woman's actions with amusement; she was nervous and squirmed under his master's glare. Although he won't say out loud, but the younger Gaian did terrified him. Barret was just amused to how submissive she was. Almost like a little Nexu cub.
"Rise Ventress, it is time to introduce to you your fellow disciple." Ventress stood up and gazed at the taller man; while his size and presence was unnerving she returned the glare she received from him. "This is Barret, my first Apprentice. Now that your both here we can begin on your training. Ventress for you we will work on your force abilities, and Barret I will continue to improve your saber skills."
The two immediately gave up their glaring contest and gave their master their undivided attention. "Ventress what I have for you is this." Fenrir raised his arm using the force to recall three crates each one bigger than the other. Ventress looked at the crates with confusion. "While your saber skills are nothing to mine, you are still leaps and bounds better than Barret." Assaj felt proud as she gave a quick smirk to her new rival. Barret just glared in return. "And while you know how to use the force, the power behind it is severely lacking, that is why I'm going to have you lift up each crate with the force only." Ventress looked back at the crates the smallest one looked to be 4x4 feet. While the largest was 6x6 feet.
Cloud motioned Ventress to move the smallest box, the Former Jedi scoffed as she did so, her eyes slightly widening realizing how heavy the box was. She took a while to raise the box higher than she was, the box having most of her attention. She thought they were light by how easily her master brought them to her. "Good, now hold this one." He said raising the second largest crate that was 5x5 feet and placing it right on top of the one she was holding. Once he let go Ventress eyes widened at how much heavier things got, forcing her to use both arms.
"Already two arms, how weak." Barret laughed.
"I remember you had to use two hands in the beginning as well Apprentice." Cloud said, "Although your reason was because you couldn't focus on keeping it still. Your raw power in the force can only be matched with another Gaian, or a Master." Barret frowned a bit, while Ventress would have smirked if Cloud didn't place the largest box on top now, causing her to put all of her effort in keeping all the crates in the air.
"Why are they so heavy?" She questioned.
"Their not, combined they weigh about 300 pounds, less than Barret over here. What makes them so difficult to lift is that this room is magnetic, so you're not only fighting the pull of gravity, your fighting the magnetic pull the room has on those iron crates." Ventress was starting to sweat, when Cloud motioned her to put them down. Releasing her hold on the crates they all came down hitting the ground making the whole room tremble. "Now what you will be doing while I teach Barret how not to cut himself." Barret let out a growl while Ventress hid her amusement. "You will raise all of the crates off the ground one by one then hold it for two minutes before replacing them on the ground one by one gently. You will repeat this process until I tell you to stop. Oh and Kreia will be throwing a few balls at you, you will stop them from hitting you while keeping the crates suspended. Once you 'Catch' the ball you with throw it back with the force."
"Who's Kreia?" Ventress asked as a Holocron came to life on a table not so far from her, there stood a cloaked elderly woman. "Your master's teacher." The woman said as the droid she usually controls steps out of a hidden panel from the wall with a box full of rubber balls the size of a baseball. The droid also carried what looked to be a gun while the droid started placing a rubber all down the barrel of the gun.
Ventress had a look of dread on her face, while Barret actually pitied her, he hated that exercise. "If the balls hit you or I feel vibrations when the crates touch the ground, you will be….. Conditioned." Cloud said with an evil smile making Ventress wish he wore a mask. "Kreia if you would please start the exercise, I need to focus on Barret over here." Sure enough Ventress found herself lifting the crates again with the force and while she was trying to hold them in place, the droid shot a rubber ball at her it was going at least 60mph and Ventress wasn't ready getting hit in the gut causing her to drop the crates.
"Already getting hit and dropping crates. You will need heavy conditioning indeed." Kreia toughened causing Ventress to look over her shoulder to her master who was across the room, easily dodging and parrying Barret's attempts to maim him. He even managed to avoid the larger mans attempts while glaring at her for dropping the crates. Nervous she returned back to her exercise, trying to stop the rubber balls and ignoring her masters glare all while keeping the crates suspended. Meanwhile Barret was starting to get minor cuts and burns from where Cloud made him pay for being open. Indeed conditioning will be needed for both of them. (I wanted to end it here but it is too short for a Darth Fenrir chapter.)
Jedi temple Coruscant
All the surviving Jedi from the battle of Hypori have been released from the medical ward, except for Master K'kruhk, and while the master's were reporting to the council what exactly happened. Anakin and Aayla were making their way to the training rooms, looking to practice a bit together. The two already finished up their report while the masters ponder on how to prepare against the Droid General, and the acolyte Fenrir.
The two friends couldn't find an empty training room so instead of practicing they watched some of the younglings train with each other from the second floor. Anakin chuckled when he saw an orange female Togruta made a human male overstep his lunge, making the foolish boy fall on his face when she tripped him. "It seems she could be the best in her class." Anakin stated.
Aayla looked at the young girl and notice how she continued to defeat her opponent. While both were amateurish the girl was actually a lot better. "I won't be surprised if she becomes a Pad-wan soon."
"She holds promise, but luckily I won't be taking a Pad-wan for a long time, they would slow me down."
Aayla just shook her head at her friend, "You would be a great teacher, if you smartened up." Anakin had an annoyed look on his face.
"What are you talking about I'm extremely smart. I can pilot any ship, and repair any droid, plus I've manage to best many in combat, including you."
"You're also really cocky."
"Nope, just confident in myself and allies."
Aayla rolled her eyes, enjoying her friendly banter, until her mind started to wonder back to Cloud, before he left. She remembered the many times she watched the Gaian train against many Jedi knights, mostly her master Shaak-Ti and Obi-wan.
Anakin noticed that his friend started to get lost in thought, "Credit for your thoughts?" He asked, pulling out a single credit. (Don't know if they have a currency lower than one credit so Mehh.)
"Just reminiscing of the old times. Before the war back when I would constantly watch the older Jedi as a youngling duel in these training rooms." Anakin waited for her to continue. "I remember my favorite matches involved Obi-wan and Cloud. They both used to come down to these halls a lot and every time Obi-wan bested Cloud but he almost lost every time."
"I remember Obi-wan saying how amazed he was of Cloud's determination; he says I have the same trait." Aayla waited for Anakin to continue. "He told me when they started their friendly spars; Cloud was trying to copy Zack's Fighting style. So Obi-wan had an easier time beating the younger brother since he was as skilled as Zack. Obi-wan said that Cloud became real close to defeating him when he started making his own style."
"Kuro-Shikon."
Anakin nodded his head, "He said at first the style pretty much felt like the same strong heavy strikes, but slow strikes. But then Cloud realized Jar'Kai is for fast movements. So Obi-wan found it really difficult to go up against Cloud after, since Cloud found a way to strike fast and every time he swung his blades the power behind each swing was building up. Obi-wan said there were times his arms became numb after the battle they had."
"My master learned a little Kuro-Shikon from Cloud and she said that it requires a lot of practice because it wastes away your stamina. She described it as, a tidal wave you have no choice but to ride and hope it ends so you can counter."
"The scary thing now is that he is our enemy." Cloud said looking at his 'gift' from cloud his cybernetic arm making a fist. "And now he perfected his fighting style and even learned some force techniques that only the Sith can teach. Who knew you could use the force to shout away your opponents." The two then started talking about other Jedi they saw fight in these halls, admiring how Obi-wan seemed to have the best defense, and how Shaak-Ti was the quickest, or how Zack was a combination, of Cloud's power, Obi-wan's defense, and Shaak-Ti's speed. But soon those happy memories turned bitter, as they recalled how Cloud managed to defeat Zack and hold his own against Shaak-Ti and Obi-wan at the same time.
"Do you think the dark side might be stronger?" Aayla asked silently, shocking Anakin.
Caught off guard Anakin quickly tried to laugh that off, "Of course not, it's just they had a lot more time to practice in their years of hiding, we are just spread too thin dealing with rebellions and diplomacy." Anakin said, having some doubt in his own words, but it has seemed to cheer Aayla up.
"Your right, let's go see if any of the other rooms are free to train in." Aayla said with a smile, while Anakin mirrored her actions, hiding the doubt that the Light might be stronger than the Dark. 'Cloud, how did you become so powerful?"
Xion, Fenrir's palace, training chambers
Ventress charged at her master desperately trying to impress him with her saber skills, but he hasn't said a word in the past few minutes, only blocking and parrying. But she smirked at herself; she could see him starting to sweat, the few times she forced him to use his second Light saber to defend and the few times he had to correct her form. But she couldn't keep this up long, she was tired, mentally and physically, she had multiple bruises from where the rubber balls pelted her. Although she was proud of her self since she forced her master to use both his weapons, while Barret couldn't. Ventress risked a glance at her rival, and noticed how easily he lifted the crates, and frowned, she noticed how he either didn't try or couldn't reach out in time to use the force to stop the rubber balls. She also noticed how each time the balls hit; he didn't flinch at the pain.
Cloud notice how his apprentice took her eyes of him and decided to make her pay, in quick movements he disarmed Assaj, and placed his heavy durasteal boot into her face. The woman fell onto her back, covering her newly busted lip, blood spilling out her mouth.
"Don't ever take your eyes off an opponent, who can easily kill you. The Jedi do their best to try and capture, instead of kill, but being captured is being dead to me. If you get captured, then you are dead to me understood." Cloud said in a cold angry tone that made Ventress flinch. "Now pick up you sabers, we aren't done."
Ventress quickly recovered her weapons and ignored the pain on her face, as she now found herself on the defensive. "Don't try to block every attack, redirect them with a quick flick of the wrist. If you block all the time your arms will get tired from absorbing the blows." Ventress did as told and was amazed at the relief in her arms now that she started redirecting attacks. She didn't know why for she reacted only, as she flipped behind her master and swung her blade at his back only for her weapon to be blocked by a silver glow.
Fenrir held his left saber in a reverse grip, managing to save himself. He looked over his shoulder to see Ventress the wicked crooked smirk he sent her way causing a quick flash of fear in her eyes. "Good counter, you would have gotten many people with a move like that. Even Barret, but if you went against a master you can't allow yourself to be shocked when they block, or even counter your counter." Before Ventress realized what happened she found herself starring at the ceiling. Fenrir managed to sweep her feet by squatting down and spinning fast enough that when his right calve hit the back of Assaj's knee she found herself on the could unforgiving metal floor.
Ventress tried to sit up when she registered the crimson tip of her master's weapon at her throat. Looking up she saw that his smirk left while his eyes actually had the smallest hint of pride. Fenrir switched off his Light sabers and choose to finish their training. Barret managed to make his way over, drenched in sweat and a few purple spots on his arms, and one on his jaw.
"You both are making some improvements but sadly, you both seemed to fail some of the exercises. So now you must be conditioned." Barret had a look of fear, which made Ventress fearful. She didn't know what was about to happen until she and Barret where floating in mid air getting the life choked out of them. Fenrir had his arms raised as his eyes changed from blue to a sulfuric Yellow. Ventress couldn't take it as she tried to beg, "Master f-for-forgive…" She was cut off as both of the students were thrown into the wall behind them before electricity coming from their masters fingers entered their body. Ventress was the first to pass out while Barret took a little longer.
When both students passed out Fenrir called in his HK droids to carry them away. "Reaper, take my students to Ragnarok, it seems you and your brothers have some conditioning to do." Fenrir spoke into the com link in his robotic arm. Receiving a yes master from the droid Fenrir went to meditate as the droids walked in and carry the unconscious apprentices away.
Kriea's hologram came to life, looking at her student with pride, Cloud strife was definitely becoming her favorite student. "Now listen closely apprentice it is time for me to teach you one of my favorite force techniques. Be wary with this technique you can cause insanity."
Fenrir didn't open his eyes or moved a muscle, instead he spoke and it seemed as if the voice came from every direction. "As you wish, my Master."
