Shadow of the Jedi

Chapter 2: Past friends and enemies

Nico sighed as he twisted his wrist, blocking another swing from Ahsoka's blade.

"You're too stiff. You have to let your body flow like water," Nico lectured to his Togruta opponent, who growled in response. Nico smirked and knocked her lightsaber away before launching a series of swings, thrusts, and jabs. Ahsoka's lightsaber flew out of her hand in seconds, leaving her defenceless as Nico lifted his blade to her throat.

"You don't like to take advice, do you?" The Ghost King asked, deactivating his black as night lightsaber. Ahsoka called her hilt back to her hand and attached it to her belt before responding.

"Only when it doesn't make any sense," she snapped.

Nico shook his head and said "Watch this."

Nico turned, imagining an opponent standing there. He activated his lightsaber, the blade flying parallel to his spine. Ahsoka's jaw then proceeded to drop as Nico proceeded to annihilate his non-existent enemy. He was doing all kinds of complex dodges, swings, and blocks. It actually looked like he was duelling an invisible opponent.

After five minutes of his demonstration, Nico ended with a stab and turned back to Ahsoka, not a bead of sweat on his head. "Catch my meaning now?" he asked, grinning.

Ahsoka snapped out of her astounded state and managed to say "Okay. You'll have to teach me that."

Nico deactivated his lightsaber and responded with "I'd like to, but I don't think we have enough time."

As if on cue, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi entered the training room. The looks on their faces implied that they were about to be immensely entertained.

Line break

Nico and Ahsoka walked down the hallways, Skywalker and Kenobi leading the way. Nico winced as he scratched his shoulder. The temporary robes the Jedi had given him itched like hell. It was maddening. And to add insult to injury the robes were white. I mean seriously the Jedi must have noticed that my favourite colour was black. What, with the black suit, lightsaber, Force Lightning, and freaking fire that spouts out of my hands, Nico thought to himself. Ahsoka had noticed how uncomfortable Nico was, and it amused her to no end. But she decided it was best to not bring that up at the moment.

"Okay, so what can you tell me about this simulation thing?" Nico asked the two older Jedi.

"Well, it is able to go into your mind and find your most, strongest opponent and make it a reality. No one has ever used it before because it is said that it doesn't hold back," Skywalker told him.

Nico smirked "So all I have to do is take on people who I have already beaten?" Nico asked.

"Don't think that it will be that easy." Kenobi said, "Remember you have memory loss, so it might bring up opponents that you don't even remember fighting."

"Interesting…" Nico muttered, his voice trailing off. He tried remembering all of his most strongest opponents before the amnesia, unfortunately all he could remember was the evil version of himself, that guy could possibly be the most strongest of all the beings in this galaxy that he has faced. And he definitely doesn't want to fight Reaper again.

The group walked until they found Master Windu in a corridor, a somewhat bored look on his face. When the four approached him, he straightened up. He looked at Nico, and then back at the other three. "Master Kenobi, take Skywalker and Tano to the ring. Wait there until we arrive," he ordered. Obi-Wan bowed and motioned for the others to follow.

"See you later," Ahsoka said to Nico before turning and walking away.

Line break

Half an hour later, the Jedi High Council, some random Knights and Padawans, and a large group of younglings ranging from the ages of ten to thirteen were gathered around the new Jedi Trials stadium. The Stadium was built as a very large circle. There was space all around for someone to stand and watch. In the middle was an arena where your most strongest opponent will be downloaded from your memory and into the Jedi data banks so you can go one on one with said person. There was no flight of stairs down into the arena. The Jedi had to jump in and out.

Ahsoka was surprised by the turnout. There were the twelve members of the Jedi High Council, including Kenobi, Yoda and Windu (who just walked in). The masters and knights Ahsoka could understand, but what she didn't understand was the amount of Padawans and Younglings that were here. She expected them to be running away screaming, not trying to admire Nico's skill.

"Quite a turnout," Skywalker noted. Ahsoka could only nod. She looked around and walked over to her old friend, Plo Koon. Who was looking after a group of younglings.

"Ah, good to see you, Ahsoka," Koon said warmly. Ahsoka smiled and returned the greeting.

"So what happens now, exactly?" She asked the Jedi Master.

"Your friend Nico is about to have the fight of his life," Koon said simply.

One of the Younglings, a Tholothian girl, said naively "I don't think that's what she meant Master."

Plo Koon looked down on the girl and said, "No it wasn't Katooni," He then moved his attention back to Ahsoka, "Every Jedi has to take the Trial of Skill, showing his prowess in battle. We already know Nico is incredibly powerful, but we still need to test him. Which is why we chose a truly challenging test," Koon explained.

Before Ahsoka could ask anything another youngling, this one being a human boy, interrupted, "What happens if he loses?"

Plo Koon looked down at the young boy, "The Trial of Skill isn't about winning, Petro. It's more about…survival," Koon stated, then he looked back to Ahsoka. "If he can prove himself, he will pass this test and move on to the next one."

Ahsoka blinked and looked back at the arena, wondering what tricks Nico had up his sleeve. As Reaper, he had taken on five Jedi at the same time and come out on top. Ahsoka was a little miffed at anything that could be tough enough to take on Nico.

No sooner had Ahsoka thought those words, the door to the Arena opened, and a figure leaped over the crowd and landed perfectly in the middle of the arena.

Nico Di Angelo bore a cocky grin on his face as he stood, brushing off his new clothing. These clothes were the same black robes that Nico wore in his dream, much to his surprise.

Master Windu stood up from where he was sitting and shouted. "Begin!"

Almost immediately a sort of dome like shield was put around Nico, and enough space for him to fight his enemy. It was an invisible sort of shield so Nico could see and hear the people outside of it but he couldn't get out, and vice versa.

A robotic female voice came from all around the room, "Scanning mind of opponent: Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades and Ghost King. Processing three strongest opponents…" everyone waited for at least four tense seconds "…process complete. first opponent, ready."

And with that being said, a figure materialised in front of Nico. He was a fifteen year old male that much was obvious, he wore a purple shirt with the letters SPQR written in galactic basic. He had electric blue eyes, tidy, military cropped blonde hair, and a small scar on the corner of his lip. He has a muscular and tanned build with a tattoo on his right arm that has the picture of some kind of flying creature with SPQR and twelve lines over it. There was something off about him though, he had a great aura of power and for some reason, the room started to smell like ozone. The teenager had a strange gold sword in his right hand getting into a fighting stance. He looked at Nico through narrowed eyes.

"I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Champion of Juno, and Hero of Olympus." He said in a loud proud voice. Nico's eyes widened as he dug into his pocket to get that weird pen/sword thing, when he got it out he uncapped it revealing 3ft of a wicked sharp black blade. Nico could hear the gasps from the Jedi around him but he was more focused on the dangerous opponent that was in front of him, My lightsaber would probably cut right through his sword, Nico thought to himself, I fight with honour so I'll give this guy a fair fight.

The two just stood there eyeing each other, then Jason ran forward moving his sword so quickly that the Jedi outside of the ring could barely see it. However, Nico could. He caught Jason's sword with the edge of his black as night one. Jason pushed with all his might, but Nico seemed to get stronger as the son of Jupiter strained against the power he exhibited.

Nico smiled at the teenager. Jason was taller and appeared to be stronger, but Nico knew that looks could be deceiving, having learned that the hard way. The two fought for several more minutes, but Nico always managed to block the Champion of Juno's strikes.

Jason huffed in frustration again as his sword strike was blocked. The simulation of Jason knew the only way he could win was to knock the black sword out of Nico's hand. He kept pushing on Nico's sword, but at the last moment he slipped off the sword. Nico stumbled forward, shocked at the sudden movement of the son of Jupiter. Jason took the opportunity and hit the pressure point in Nico's hand. The black sword fell from his hand and skidded across the room.

Nico's eye widened, Oh, cra-. He was cut off from that thought as Jason Sparta kicked Nico across the room, as quick as a flash Nico was on his feet glaring at Jason but his eyes widened further as he saw the Lightning curling around Jason's fingers. On instinct Nico did the same having black Force Lightning curl around his as well, and then in unison they both fired at each other and the Lightning met in a battle for dominance, luckily Nico seemed to be winning, As Jason looked like he was tiring. after ten seconds of this Jason finally gave into exhaustion and stopped, only to have Nico's black Force Lightning hit him square in the chest.

Jason was thrown back into a wall, cracking it slightly, and fell to the ground before he could even get up he felt a blade go through his chest, Jason opened his eyes to see Nico standing over him with his sword through Jason's chest. Jason gave a single nod before his form flickered and the simulation was gone.

Nico looked around to see all of the Jedi looking at him in awe to which he rolled his eyes at. I beat some guy with a sword, big deal. I've also taken on nearly half of the Jedi High Council. He continued looking until he saw Ahsoka, who was looking at him with a small smile. Nico grinned and winked at her, when he did so she looked down with a small blush on her cheeks. Nico smirked before walking back to the middle of the arena.

Meanwhile, with Ahsoka, Stop blushing you idiot, all he did was smile a heart-warming smile at you, nothing more and nothing less, Ahsoka thought to herself as she tried to fight away the heat on her face. She distracted herself by listening to the younglings.

"That was so awesome, he was like, bam and pow, and when he took out that pen thing I was like 'that's stupid,' but as soon as it turned into a sword I was like 'WTF' (What the Force, not the…um…other, one.) he is so cool, and that Jason guy he was so awesome, did you see the tattoo on his arm…" The Youngling known as Petro kept on rambling to his friends, who were still looking at Nico in awe.

"It was an impressive fight," Master Plo noted, "but remember, he still has two more challenges left to do, so let us watch," Ahsoka turned back to the arena just in time to see the next simulation.

Nico looked at the simulation with a wary expression. This was a seventeen or eighteen year old male, but for some reason, it felt like he was much older. He had sandy blonde hair, a bright cocky smile, and an outdoorsy look. Definitely not the kind of person that I would hang around, Nico thought to himself. Nico looked around and noticed that half of the young female Jedi had smiles on their faces and a blush slowly forming on their cheeks, while looking at the simulation including, much to his chagrin, Ahsoka. Well, I wonder what this guy looks like from the inside, Nico thought to himself.

When the simulation laid eyes on Nico, the bright smile dissolved from his face and was replaced with a look of complete and utter hatred, "I PHOEBUS APOLLO, SLAYER OF THE MIGHTY PYTHON, AND GOD OF THE SUN! I SHALL HAVE VENGEANCE!" Apollo bellowed, making the room shake slightly. All of a sudden a gold bow materialised out of thin air into Apollo's grasp, the bow was nocked and aimed at Nico's head, and in that moment, Nico had, quite shamefully, only one thought going on in his head

God of the Sun?...Well I'm screwed.

And that is the second chapter al done and dusted, I hope you like what I'm doing with the Trials, and I hope my description of Jason and Apollo was good enough. I know that the fight between Nico and Jason wasn't my best work but please bear with me, I've caught a virus recently, (not on my laptop, I mean like, I feel like I am going to explode sort of thing.) So this isn't my best writing. I'll try and get to the battle of Ryloth as soon as possible.

Now to answer some questions...

Clefspear chapter 1 . Nov 15

Awesome! you should have him fighting people from earth, like gods, titans, and demigods (PERCY!) Oh well you've done great so far, so do what you want and I'm sure it'll turn out great even if he only fights jedi, and sith.

Well, that is exactly what I have done, so there you go.

X chapter 1 . Nov 15

WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN PROBABLY WONT FINISH!? YOU BETTER NOT BE THINKING ABOUT CANCELING THIS STORY BECAUSE I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT!

Yes I think I scared plenty of people with this, now let me tell you okay, I said I might, emphasis on might, cancel it. I never said Iwould. Cause Here's reality okay, I have got GCSE's, mock exams, school is nearly finished and we are in a crisis with money, so to put it simply I may not have time to put much effort into my stories. I'm a realist not an optimist.

Lightningscar chapter 1 . 19h ago

An excellent start. Trust Sidious to try twisting things to his whim... I would expect nothing less. And Nico's trials ought to be interesting.
Looking forward to more.
Yours sincerely,
Lightningscar.
PS: My energy and focus level is down due to illness, thus the crappy review.

Yes well, I'm not sure on what you think of Nico's Trials so far, cause I think I'm doing a pretty rubbish job. And don't worry about the review cause this is a crappy chapter.

Now if you have any questions just ask me in the reviewers box or PM me, and I'll try my best to answer them. Please review.