Resist: Que Star Wars Music… (Arthur hits button on Resist's iPod)
Resist (Announcer Voice): After being demoted and getting sent to the Mountain Pass Clan, Arthur must climb his way back to the ranks of Padawan by regaining the Jedi Council's trust. Surprisingly, Arthur finds that the clan is the same that he and Master Kao took on their Gathering trip. We now join him on his way to a class about Soresu…
Resist: I think that was pretty good.
Echo: Dang, you should announce TV commercials with that voice!
Resist (Announcer Voice): Coming soon to own on DVD…. The Journey featuring all of your favorite Echo/Resist OCs. Pretty catchy I say.
Echo: Haha, I agree. Well, folks, thanks for stopping by, we hope you enjoy the journey….no pun intended...Don't forget to leave a review at the end!
Arthur (speaking really really fast): Echo and Resist would like to let you know that they don't own Star Wars or any of its characters, just their OCs that they made up. We hope you all enjoy the following chapter….
Arthur was roaming the halls of the Jedi Temple, his new slightly permanent position. Arthur was reading his datapad about Soresu, so he could study up more when he meets Master Secura for his next class. He wasn't paying attention and bumped into something that felt like clone armour.
"Green! Sorry" replied Arthur, taking the outstretched hand from the clone commander. The now ARC trooper huffed and pulled off his bucket. "Where you headed, kid?" He asked solemnly. He's seen the worst side of this whole ordeal, having witnessed Oni's true reaction to her Padawan being demoted, and he wasn't in a good mood.
"Just walking and studying up on Soresu before class. What's up?" asked Arthur, not sure why Green was at the Jedi Temple. He hadn't seen any of the clones in the Tenth Star Corps since being demoted to Youngling.
"Mas-Oni and I are headed off to Hoth tomorrow morning," Green gave a half smile, though it only emphasized the gloom feeling surrounding them, "She asked me to come over for tonight. She's not taking the situation too well."
"She seemed cool at the lesson she gave us Younglings the other day," replied Arthur, though he knew she was probably hiding her true emotions. She was always good at hiding them, and he learned from her on how to do so, though he wasn't as good as her.
"You obviously didn't see her after the lesson," Green chuckled darkly, "Oni hasn't left her room since."
Arthur frowned at this. He was learning to accept his new post and tried to make the best of it, in hopes of becoming Master Kao's Padawan once again. "Take me to her" he asked, or more like ordered Green, "Please" he added quickly.
Green sighed, "Kid, I don't think she's in the mood for talking. She definitely didn't want to talk about it the last time I was there."
"I don't care. I want to talk to her. If she yells at me then oh well" came his stern reply. He wanted to talk to his former master before she left for Hoth. The marshal responded to this with a shrug. "Alright, Arthur, but if she does, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh...and don't let her know that you know I go there, got it? I'm just going to drop you off." The clone slipped on his bucket and gestured for Arthur to follow him.
(Dorm Hall in the Jedi Temple)
Arthur approached the door that was Oni's room. He went to knock but his hand paused in mid air, afraid to do so. He then finished his hand's motion and quietly knocked on the door. After waiting a little with no answer, he turned to walk away, a frown plastered on his face.
The sound of the door swooshing open split through the air and the Jedi Master stood there with her arms folded. "Arthur? Can I help you?" She asked.
"Can I help you? Is more like it" he asked, folding his arms as well, "You may be difficult to read, but not impossible." Kao raised a brow cautiously, "Excuse me?"
Arthur narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't lie to me master. I can feel your emotions you know?" he then raised one eyebrow at her. "Stop copying me," Oni said, without emotion, though it was firm and intimidating, "If I wish to share my feelings with you, then I would have gone to you to talk about them."
"I copy you cause it irritates you, but if that is all you want to say, then may the force be with you at Hoth." Arthur turned to walk away. He knew if she didn't want to talk to him, then there was no point in trying to get her talk to him about her feelings.
Oni shook her head and reached over to close the door. Taking one last look at Arthur, she hit the button, a disappointed look on her face. Arthur walked back to her door, and without knocking spoke loud enough for his voice to go carry through the door, "I just want you to know that I'm ok and accept this temporary position as a Youngling and that I know you cried after the council meeting" and with that he turned to go to his own room.
Inside her room, Oni was sitting on her bed, contemplating Arthur's words. At his last comment, she frowned. Green had told him. And how would have Arthur known she were there if Green hadn't told him? Kao grew angry at this and looked off with fiery amber eyes. "I hope our ship gets shot down on Hoth," the Jedi Master said with gritted teeth as she grabbed her lightsabers and prepped for her departure in the morning.
(Later that Day)
Arthur had his blade ignited and up in a defensive position. There across the training room was none other than Jedi Master Aayla Secura, who also had her blade out. Arthur had studied Soresu all day except for when he tried to chat with his former master, which really distracted him for the rest of the day, and was now trying to focus on his fight with Master Secura.
"Arthur," the Twi'lek started, taking a step back from the young man and lowering her blade, "What's troubling you? I have never seen a Youngling so unfocused in training."
"My former master, she won't open up about her feelings when she needs to" replied Arthur, dodging a swing from Aayla, who had closed the gap after asking the question. Secura raised a brow, "Needs to?" She sighed and put away her lightsaber, "Arthur, helping someone cope with their feelings is one thing...trying to make them cope with them is another."
"Yes master" replied Arthur bowing to the esteemed Master. Arthur then smirked and quickly ignited his blade and tried to quickly strike Aayla Secura, but she was ready for him and blocked it with ease. He tried not to let his emotions show in his head, but fighting the great Jedi Knight was a good distraction for him.
The other Younglings watched the fight with great excitement and focus, trying to learn all they could from the two Jedi locking their blades together. Aayla looked upon Arthur's moves with admiration. "You've learned a lot, young one," she complimented.
"Not enough to become my master's padawan though" replied Arthur, quickly trying to get behind the Jedi Knight. Secura frowned at this and easily prevented the Youngling from doing so, her blade blocking his way. "You being demoted to Youngling had nothing to do with your skill, Arthur."
Arthur quickly spun and tried to swing at her other side. He kept his feet moving trying to dance around her, hoping to find a kink in her defense. "I know" replied Arthur, anger was easily recognizable in his voice. As he said those words, the force behind his blow with the lightsaber got stronger, showing his anger on the situation.
Amer and Arin looked at each other with concerned looks while Meela and Nab'sike frowned as they analyzed Arthur. Master Secura's eyes narrowed and increased the difficulty of the duel, trying to see where Arthur would go. Arthur, using The Force, pushes on Aayla, causing a gap to form between the two of them, but Arthur wastes no time in closing it and is immediately back in close quarter combat with her. He tries a series of continuous quick attacks with his blade on both sides of her, hoping that she won't be able to keep up with him and get a hit or two in.
But Aayla was baiting him. She knew that the anger was building up inside of him and allowed him to believe he had gained the upper hand before making her move. As soon as he seemed comfortable, Secura lashed out with a sequence of strikes that were strategically performed to corner Arthur and raise panic. Though straying away from Soresu and wandering towards Vaapad, Aayla knew that it would teach him to not let up on his enemies even for a moment, and to save victory for the end.
Arthur quickly started to backpedal and found his back against a wall. Aayla was able to move him across the room and now had him pinned. The Younglings, in order to get a good view of what was happening had to follow the pair across the room as well. Arthur was in a tight spot and to duck a few times to avoid Secura's blade several times. However, the last time he ducked to miss her blade, he was met with a knee to the chin, effectively knocking him to the ground, though he still had his blade up.
Secura did not push further than this. Instead, she backed off a few feet and waited for the Youngling to get up, knowing that she shouldn't force him somewhere too dark. "Your move, Arthur," Aayla said, "Remember what your master taught you."
Arthur got up with blazing speed, not wanting to be out done by Aayla again. They had fought before in training lessons, and Arthur had always lost, but he was beginning to make it a difficult challenge for her to win now. He did several high body strikes to keep her focused away from his true intent. After several swings, he went to sweep her legs out from under her, once he felt the window of opportunity open.
His move was met with little success, as the Jedi Master knew his thinking process by now. Aayla merely stepped aside and lowered her blade to meet Arthur's. She knew that he was frustrated at being demoted to a Youngling and that he was eager to earn his place as Padawan once more. But she also knew that he needed to learn patience. It might take years for the Council to trust him with the title again.
Their blades were locked together and both Jedi Knight and Youngling were pushing back and forth trying to out strengthen the other. Arthur was extremely tired and beat and was trying his hardest to last as long as he could, trying to prove to himself and the Jedi Council that he was ready to become a Padawan again.
Aayla did not want to draw the fight on for too long, as there were other students to teach. She also did not want to bring Arthur's hopes up too much. If he won, he might stay on the mindset that he'll be promoted soon and boost his ego; and if he lost, he would aspire to do better and know that this will not be an easy task. To fulfill this theory of hers, Secura pushed Arthur back and shifted the position of her blade so that she could knock it out of his hand. As the hilt clattered to the ground, the blade disappearing, Aayla deactivated hers and waited for Arthur's reaction.
Arthur stood up and brushed himself off and sighed deeply at another defeat to the Jedi Knight. He had lost count as to how many times he had lost to her, but he really thought that this was the fight he would finally win, but it turned out not to be. He summoned his lightsaber with the force and slowly made his way to the other Younglings.
Secura watched this with a heavy heart. She truly felt for the boy and understood his struggle. The path of a Jedi was never easy and one would face many obstacles that would deter any other being. She continued to watch as Arthur made it over to the other Younglings, who greeted him with smiles and pats on the shoulder. She saw him give a half smile at them, before she decided to continue on with today's lesson.
Nine Months Later…
Arthur, after his class, felt that he needed to get better with his skills with a lightsaber if he was to ever prove he could hold his own. He saw that the gym was open and decided to give the training simulations a shot. He decided to start with the same level that he struggled on aboard the Akul. He set the simulation to Level 9 and prepared to finally defeat the level.
He started off good and made quick work of the surrounding battle droids and super battle droids. He could feel his training kick in as he made his way through the level quicker than he did the last time he attempted it in the past. Once he finished dealing with the last pesky battle droid, the much tougher and smarter commando droids appeared all around him. Arthur braced for the fight and just like last time lost his momentum and took several vollies of fire to the chest and back.
Arthur had lost track of time since he first started the simulation. It was now almost curfew and Arthur still was in the gym trying to get passed the commando droids. He had lost count how many times he would make it to the same spot and get vollies of fire to his back and chest. Even though it wasn't real blaster fire, Arthur was sure he would scar because of how many times he had started over after failing.
Suddenly the program began to shut down and the droids went into charge mode. A whirring noise filled the room as the equipment cooled down. "Ahem," came a feminine voice.
Arthur was in mid swing about to cut down a droid when the simulation went dark. He spun around at the noise to come face to face with a stern look from Aayla Secura. Arthur merely stood there and waited to see what she had to say. This was something he didn't do when Master Kao caught him in the gym, which he regretted now.
"You'll find that when you try to force a shaak to drink water, he won't," Aayla said, "Do you know why this is?" Her only response to her question, was Arthur shaking his head. He was hesitant to speak because of the argument he got into with Master Kao after she walked in on him.
Secura smiled, "You cannot demand your way of things or skip too far ahead. You cannot start on level 9 because you believe mastering it will make you a Padawan. Guide the shaak to the river gently and slowly. Give it the option to drink the water and you will find that it is much easier to get it to drink in the future."
Arthur bowed his head in gratitude, "Thank you master" said Arthur, who wasn't sure of what else to say other than that. He was trying a to bottle up his feelings of the situation, something he learned from his former master.
Aayla acknowledged this without saying anything. "What are your problem areas when it comes to a level 9 course?" she asked. The Twi'lek Master wanted Arthur to identify and accept his flaws, rather than curse them and try to mask them.
Arthur stayed quiet for a little before speaking, "I don't know, I think it more mental than physical. I'm frustrated with current events" he said, not looking her in the eyes. Secura nodded, "And how are these current events mentally deterring you from completing the level?"
"I'm not focused. When I'm alone or when I sleep, I have dreams or I think of this situation I'm in. It's the only thing that goes through my mind" replied Arthur, still not looking. The Jedi Master sighed in thought, giving a slight hum. "Don't you agree that you should separate your mind from your body when in a fight? I'm sure your Master or one of the other Jedi have told you that our bodies are just tools of the Force. In a fight, you must be completely in tune with the Force. There's no room for anything else."
"I can't," replied Arthur, "When I'm with the other Younglings, I don't let it show how much this whole thing is affecting me, but it pulls at me constantly and I'm tired of fighting it" he said, finally making eye contact with the Jedi in front of him. Aayla did not appear affected by his words. "I don't sense a fight coming from you, young one. I sense that you are merely storing your conflict away. It's not pulling at you...it's building up. If you don't face your fears now, you'll explode. "I can't" really sounds like "I don't want to try".
"I do want to try master" reasoned Arthur. He got his lightsaber out and looked ready for Master Secura to start the simulation up again. Secura shrugged, "Alright then. But we're not starting on Level 9. Level 3 looks like a good starting point." The Twi'lek smirked as she started up the program.
(Next Day)
Arthur awoke the next morning and blinked several times before he was able to take in the sight around him. He looked at the surrounding bedrolls and noticed they were empty till his eyes fell on Meela, who was looking at him with a questioning look. She tilted her head, trying to see what he was thinking. Quietly, she sat up and waved him over.
"What?" Arthur asked quizzically, as he sat up from his bedroll and stretched. Meela looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Why'd you show up late last night? You know we have a strict curfew, right?" she asked.
"I was working on some things and lost track of time" is all he said to her, not wanting to go into full detail, though he figured she already knew what he was going through since she was the star of the class and miles ahead of everyone else in the clan.
"Make a note not to do that in the future," she whispered, "Especially in your first few weeks here. They keep tabs on everything, and even the slightest notches on your record can get you held back."
"It's fine. Master Secura was with me. Ok fine" he started, giving in, "I have been bottling up my conflict inside me about this whole situation and tried to relieve my fear, anger, or whatever you want to call it on a training simulation and I struggled at the same part over and over until Master Secura helped me out with it, and she escorted me here, so I wouldn't get in trouble for being up past curfew" Arthur said, retelling last night's events. He felt better for getting mostly everything off his chest and waited for her reply.
Meela's eyes were slightly wide with surprise. She was shocked that he was actually talking about what was troubling him. He normally doesn't do that. "You know you can always ask us to train with you," she started, "We're your clanmates and we're all here to help each other out."
"I might take you up on that" he said with a small smile, "I thought handling this alone would work out better for everyone, but I think two heads might be better than one for this" he finished, slightly stretching some more and rubbing his sore muscles from all the training he packed in last night. Meela smiled before raising a brow. "And the others, too, right? No one gets left behind here. We all go at the same pace."
"Of course" replied Arthur with no hesitation. He went to move his arm to scratch his back, but it cracked and hurt as he moved it, "Ow" is all that came out of him. "You should go to the medical center before training today and get some bacta patches for your muscles. How difficult was the training program you tried?" she asked.
"Difficult enough. Master Secura picked the training programs and made me run them several times using different lightsaber forms. I thought she was tough when she trained us all together, but she is even more tough when it comes to one on one training" he replied back.
Meela was about to laugh before she stopped herself, remembering that their clanmates were still sleeping. "That's Aayla for you," she said, "She's tough, but it's for the best." The Togruta thought for a moment. "Master Kao was hard on you, right? She seems like the kind of teacher that wouldn't give slack for mistakes too often."
"You would be correct on that one," Arthur stated. He then gave a sigh, and pinched his nose with his fingers, "Whether it was something I said or did, it felt like I made mistake after mistake. We didn't really like each other at first I don't think" replied Arthur, trying to think back.
"Why?" Meela asked, tilting her head, "I mean, we could all sense the tension between the two of you, but why? The way I see it, you two have no reason to have been so distant with one another." The young girl glanced around the room to see that everyone was still asleep. "Master Kao and Commander Green work so well together, so I don't see why your master wouldn't get along with you." Meela wore a very curious and confused look as she pondered on the last statement.
Arthur shook his head, "I was Kenobi's Padawan first and during a fight with Grievous, I lost control and aloud the dark side to flow freely within me. The Council believed that Obi-Wan didn't have the time to properly teach me how to control the dark side because he was always being rushed to places, so they pushed me off to Master Kao, who didn't want a Padawan, so there was a lot of friction from day one cause neither of us wanted to be in the others presence, especially me," Arthur confessed, looking down at his bedroll, not making eye contact with Meela, he felt ashamed of his past, and embarrassed as well when he said it out loud.
Meela hummed in thought. "Still...You know your master was a big supporter of peace before the war, right? She was one of the Jedi leading the argument to the Chancellor that we shouldn't create an army. So it wouldn't make sense for her to get along with a soldier over you."
"Shows you how bad I was right?" asked Arthur, with a mix of a joking and serious tone in his voice.
The gray-skinned Youngling held back a smile and looked at him like she was saying "really?". "I guess so," she said. But the look on her face soon disappeared as another question popped into her head. "I think we've already asked you this so pardon the repetition, but what is it like working with clones, you know, now that you've gotten used to the Tenth Star Corps?"
Arthur sighed, missing the friends he made in the Tenth, but he put on a smile and answered her question, "It's mostly all repetition except for your everyday small talk you make with the clones you get close to. Once you get their routine down, it makes your life easier as well".
"What do you mean?" Meela inquired, "I've never really walked around a cruiser before, or seen a battlefield, or talked with many clones. What's this "routine" of theirs? It sounds quite tedious and demanding."
"The routines," Arthur said with air quotes, "are just how they go about preparing for missions and battles and whatnot. It's not really something you have to study, cause they usually just bark orders and tell you what to do anyway" he said, adding a slight chuckle at the end, "Trust me on that one. I speak from experience"
Meela smiled, "Oh you'll face that here, too, trust me. But yeah, I can see what you're saying. The clones who escorted us during the Gathering really didn't talk much or do anything in their spare time. They just sat there quietly and cleaned their weapons until Green had another task for them to complete." The young girl shifted where she sat. "What are they going to do when the war is over? The clones, I mean."
"I'm not really sure. Some will probably try to find a normal life, while maybe some take up bounty hunting or something like that. I know what you mean about the clones and their sense of doing absolutely nothing except cleaning their weapons. I've caught myself multiple times cleaning my lightsaber in my quarters hundreds of times in a day and I mentally scolded myself for letting them rub their cleaning habits on me. Especially when Oni and I didn't get along at the beginning. I would spend hours taking apart, cleaning, putting back together and repeating that process for hours with my lightsaber."
Meela laughed at that. "Please don't give me that habit! About them having a normal life, I don't think they know what that means. They'd probably stay in the GAR until they die with the whole aging thing they have."
"I really don't have a straight answer for you. I'm not sure what they would do either. I've heard stories of clone deserters, who would actually end up living normal lives with a family of their own, so it is possible for them to live one, but I don't see a lot of them doing that, since they were made for war. It is interesting to think about though".
"It's sad thinking about it," Meela added, "They're a lot like us if you think about it. We can't form relationships or operate outside of a strict code or have many possessions."
"You might not, but with how The Council doesn't seem to like me that much, I might get kicked out sooner than you think," Arthur gave a slight chuckle.
"They haven't," Meela stated firmly, though not harshly. "And your master hasn't given up on you, so they won't either."
(0830)
Three weeks on Hoth relaying information from the frontlines to the Jedi Council didn't exactly excite Master Kao. In fact, she was anxious, for this could be the last time she leads her men in battle before her new position confines her back to Coruscant. After that, the 66th Ranger Battalion would be on security detail.
Oni was prepping for the assignment and was about ready to leave the following morning. She had already spoke with Windu on the parameters of her orders and organized the briefing she and Green would have with the Corps. There was one last thing to do now.
It was war and there still was the possibility of not returning. So the only thing Oni could think of was to go say her goodbyes to Arthur before she leaves tomorrow.
Arthur walked the halls of the Temple in the early morning, taking a walk and studying his datapad for his class with Master Secura. He was not paying attention to where he was going in the halls and bumped into someone. After landing on his back, Arthur searched for his datapad, only for it to be held out to him by the person he bumped into.
"Thanks" Arthur said, but realized who was handing him the datapad, "Err, Master Kao, sorry to have bumped into you like that, it is all my fault" he said in an emotionless, monotone voice. Master Secura had started to teach him how to hide his emotions. He was learning fast, but he was still not perfect at it.
Oni noticed his lack of expression immediately and stepped back as though he had thrown a punch at her. Looking slightly up at him, she frowned. "No fault of yours, young one," she said with a puzzled look on her face, "How goes your training? I hope Master Secura has been improving your technique since we last spoke."
"My training with Master Secura goes well. She's helped me to improve my technique and mastery of The Force. Thank you for asking Jedi Master Kao" Arthur said, still hiding his emotions from her. He did notice that his emotions were all trying to fight back and surface all at once; regret, forgiveness, anger, sorrow. They were all fighting back and trying to take control, but he kept them at bay.
"Excellent," Kao said, looking around trying to formulate her words. "I...," she stopped, not able to let her emotions escape either. Oni still felt it was necessary that they not mend their master-apprentice bond any further, however she did want to say goodbye to her former pupil in case her visit to Hoth goes south.
Arthur scratched the back of his head, feeling the awkwardness of the conversation rising, "Well, I have a session to get to with Master Secura, so may the force be with you on your journey" said Arthur, slightly bowing to her.
"And to you, Arthur," Oni gave a half smile and bowed in respect as well. This was perhaps one of the hardest moments in her life. Having been trained by the Grand Master himself, that was saying something. Watching a second Padawan walk away in a bitter situation caused the Master to frown and clench her fists.
(TIME SKIP)
Arthur stood in his defensive position waiting for Master Secura to stop her lecture and start the fight he was picked for against Meela, who stood at the other end. As he waited, his mind floated back to his earlier conversation with Master Kao, and couldn't help but continue to think about past missions that they went on together, till he felt a sharp sting on his side.
"Arthur!" Meela shouted, standing in front of him with her training lightsaber loose at her side. "If I was a Sith, you'd be dead right now! Wake up!" The Togruta took a few paces back and lifted her blade with both of her hands and stood sideways, glancing at Arthur parallel to her shoulder.
"Maybe that's for the best" he mumbled quietly, hoping no one heard him. He then slowly raised his blade up into his defensive position and waited for Meela to make a move.
The younger Jedi learner raised a brow at him before lifting her chin, trying to look intimidating. Flicking her wrist, she grabbed the sword with her right hand and leapt at Arthur, swinging at his left shoulder. Arthur was able to move his blade to block her in the nick of time, but he knew that he should have been able to read her move sooner than he did. Arthur then tried to counter and swing at her, but his momentum carried him past her and she was able to get a strike at his back.
"Ugh!" groaned Arthur, shaking his head in anger and embarrassment.
"And stay awake," Meela teased, though she was still determined to win this fight. Like Arthur, she needed to prove herself and make it to the rank of Padawan. Taking a defensive stance this time, she motioned for Arthur to take a jab at her.
Arthur shook his head, his memories and mind betraying him. He tried to focus on the moment and delivered a series of high quick strikes to Meela.
The Togruta was able to deflect all of them easily, as, due to her biology, she was naturally fast. But Meela was thinking, too. The question on her mind was what in the Force was Arthur dwelling on? His mind wasn't opened, so that brought even more questions to her pen paper.
Arthur was physically present trying his hardest to focus on the Togruta in front of him, but mentally, Arthur was somewhere else, as he took another stink to his side.
Arthur staggered back, "Agh", he groaned, completely frustrated and angered with himself.
Meela wanted to win this fight fair and square. Moving away from Arthur, she lowered her lightsaber. "Master Secura, may I request another sparring partner? I don't feel Arthur has a fair shot at winning this fight if he's not here and I don't want to win just because of that."
Arthur lowered and deactivated his blade and just walked away quietly, not saying a word to anyone. He remained inside the training room, but went to the complete opposite side of the room where he could be alone and deal with his emotions.
Meela felt bad, but she didn't want Arthur to lose another fight because of his thoughts and emotions. She made it her mission to speak with him after class today and see what was up.
(TIME SKIP)
Arthur noticed that class was done and started to make his own way out of the training room. He felt better, having dealt with his emotions from meeting his master earlier in the day. He stopped and looked over his shoulder when he felt someone's hand touch it.
Meela smiled up at him. "Okay, start talking." She crossed her arms and began tapping her foot.
Arthur narrowed his eyes at her, "What's there to tell? You were winning fair and square" he replied, and made to leave, but Meela grabbed his shoulder and held him there. "No, I'm talking about why I was winning," she started, "You weren't all there, Arthur. What's on your mind?"
"A lot" he stated bluntly, "Mostly my conversation with Master Kao earlier today," he admitted as he sat down.
"Oh?" Meela raised a brow, "And how did your conversation go?"
"Extremely awkward. We both want to hide our emotions from each other, so I act all formal and whatnot when she is around, that way I can suppress my emotions when I'm around her" he replied. The Togruta nodded to this but then frowned. "Wait, why are you guys being distant?" she asked, tilting her head.
"I liked being her Padawan and we had a lot of pretty cool missions together, but she reminds me of my past mistakes too" he confided in her. "Oh," Meela said, brows raised, "Well I'm sure that will pass over. Yoda has said before that there's nothing like the bond between a master and apprentice. It's near impossible to break, but takes time to develop. You guys have only known each other for a few months. Even some don't fully develop their bond after a couple years." She smiled at Arthur encouragingly, "Just trust in the Force and her judgement, Arthur. She's probably hurting, too. Being distant isn't going to help either of you."
After a moment of silence, the female Youngling frowned. "When is she leaving?"
Arthur lowered his head, "Now. She just stopped by before she left on her way to Hoth I guess" he answered, slightly depressed. Meela gave a sympathetic, half smile. "At least you both got to say goodbye...sort of. Hoth has been a battlefront for almost a year now, so she may not come back for awhile. I guess it gives you time to prove to the Council that you deserve to be her Padawan by the times she gets back?"
Arthur slightly chuckled at this, "Yeah, I can't even focus now, because I actually wish I got to say goodbye, but I thought hiding my emotions was better. I can barely focus so the Council won't have to think on me that much before they reach a decision."
Meela shook her head. "Bottling up emotions will make things worse. However, you should only take them out in constructive ways, rather than destructive means. I can't read your mind, so I don't exactly know how you can change the negative emotions into positive actions, but maybe that will help?" She paused. "Working out helps a lot of Jedi take out their anger that they may have bottled up. Have you tried that?"
"Everyday" he replied, "I'm always in the training room for hours after class" he admitted to her. "I'm impressed. Does it help, though? If so, maybe you're doing it wrong," the Togruta shrugged.
"It helps release bottled up feelings toward certain things, but it mostly comes out as anger and frustration, not sure if that is good though" he replied, trying to make it easy for her to help him. "As in you are able to release your anger, correct?" she inquired, hopeful.
"Yeah I guess, but I don't want to just release anger all the time" he admitted with a saddened face. Meela nodded, "I agree. Set a schedule. Maybe tomorrow you can go to the gym and take out a little bit of anger, and then the day after that, you can meditate and focus on positive energy."
"Thanks. You up for a rematch later?" he asked, hoping to give her the fight he should have during the actual class session. Meela smirked, "You want to get your butt kicked? Ha, sure, in the gym after class."
"Yeah sounds good to me" replied Arthur, who was feeling better about his chances of actually putting up a fight and regaining his Padawan rank when his master returned.
(Jedi Temple Gymnasium)
Meela stepped onto one of the sparring platforms, bouncing a bit to get a good feel of its pliancy. She glanced up at Arthur and began tightening the wraps around her hands. "You sure about this, Perry?" she asked in a cocky tone.
Arthur bounced slightly and cracked his neck a couple times as well. He then gave a smirk in Meela's direction, "Nope" he said in a cheeky tone, "You?"
"I'm always ready for a fight," the Togruta said, laughing, "It's in my biology, remember?"
"Yeah, but are you ready to lose?" he asked, his smirk getting bigger.
Meela just shook her head at his jab with a smile, "Losers always end up being the ones who talked smack before the fight, you know."
Arthur just laughed at her remark, "Not if they can back it up. Besides you started it. I'm just finishing it" he replied, igniting his blade and turning down the intensity. Meela's eyes narrowed in focus and her blade came to her hands. Activating her blade, she locked into a defensive position, making sure it was in low power mode as well.
Arthur moved like lightening toward Meela and did a couple of quick Force attacks at her feet, trying to knock her off balance, before coming in low for a swing. The Togruta simply leapt over him so that she could strike his back, making sure to at least clash blades with him on the way. She maintained a defensive position, not wanting to put too much effort into the beginning of the battle.
Arthur quickly spun around to face her, ready for action. "You gonna do something or just jump around all day? I can do this all day" he verbally jabbed at her. Meela smiled, "So can I. I'm just saving my energy. Care to take your turn?"
Arthur moved forward slightly, "Um I'm pretty sure I did, cause I'm not in the spot I started in" he smirked at her. "The jumping thing and hitting your lightsaber," Meela motioned towards his position, "Yeah, yeah that was my move...so it's your turn." She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face.
"Whatever you say princess" he said with a wide smirk on his face, before charging forward to face her. He didn't do anything too fancy and just came down with his blade, locking blades with her. "Ugh, nicknames," Meela said, rolling her eyes, "Great." Pushing against his blade, Meela tried to make him budge, but he wouldn't. Raising a brow at his resistance, the Togruta tried to conjure up another plan.
"What's wrong with nicknames?" he asked, while keeping up the pressure he was applying on her. "Too mature for my liking," Meela said sarcastically, gritting her teeth as she pushed back.
"Really?" he asked sarcastically, "The top student of the class spends more time in the books then living a little? Could have fooled me" he said, as he amped up the pressure on the locked blades. Meela finally gave in and ducked to the side, careful to avoid Arthur's blade as she tumbled to the ground.
Arthur quickly turned to face her to keep up the pressure, not letting have a moment to regroup and dictate his movement. He quickly came at her from the right with his blade. She dodged the swipe and hit his blade several times in a random pattern to throw him off. This allowed her to spin around and slice at his exposed arm.
Arthur growled deeply at the sharp sting from Meela's blade, and picked up the fury of his attacks and did multiple short swings to quicken the pace and hopefully catch her napping. Meela had a smile on her face the entire time, using a method from the Vaapad technique form to try and anger her opponent into defeat. She allowed him small victories in locking blades with her and getting close to burning her.
As his blade got closer to her, he tried a daring move and using his strength and momentum, flipped over her and tried to swing at her back, before she could react. Meela grunted from the pain and turned to face him. "Ow, that really does hurt."
"Um...sorry?" replied Arthur shrugging his shoulders, and taking a quick glance to see if the intensity was too high, though he didn't look for long, cause he needed to keep his guard up, which he did.
"I've only ever been hit twice," Meela laughed, "And that was when I first started taking lessons and the power was practically off." The Togruta sighed, "Alright, you beat me."
"Wish I was only hit twice," said Arthur in thought, "Master Kao was always able to hit me in our practice fights, and they were always quick," he said, remembering back to when Oni relentlessly tried to booster his lightsaber skills after she noticed how poorly his form was. Meela chuckled, "See, I told you that you need improvement." Before Arthur could retort, the doors of the gym slid open and the blue Twi'lek Jedi appeared. With a smile, she approached the Younglings.
"The Council has requested your presence" said Master Secura, who then saw the confused faces of both of the Younglings, trying to figure out which one she meant, so she added, "Both of you"
Resist: Ruh-Roh Raggy. Looks bad again.
Echo: Zoinks! You betcha, Scoob! They're in a lotta trouble.
Arthur (sarcastically): Oh great. Here we go again. This hasn't happened to me before.
Meela: Riiiggghhhtttt...not like you got in trouble AND demoted or anything.
Arthur: See, know you got it. That never happens to me.
Resist: Whatever. Echo and I sadly don't own Star Wars and probably never will, but please enjoy this next chapter with our OCs…..