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20 chapter ahead. --
Ahsoka had been watching my fiddling with the gyros curiously for twenty minutes. At first she just squinted, then she stared, and by the end, she was circling me in circles. But that moment came, and she couldn't take it anymore:
- "Rae-ayn,... what are you doing?
- I'm training," I answered and looked up at her and explained: - "I'm training in Force Forging.
- Ahhhh... - the girl stretched out and was silent for five minutes. - Ree-ayn. I want to train, too.
- God...-... I shouldn't have done it in the room after all, I managed to do twelve, and sometimes fifteen parts during the day. But greed is such greed.
- Can you even see the essence of the subject? - I asked skeptically.
- Of course," she answered indignantly, but then she corrected herself, "small objects.
A year's difference. I do have a bit of a swagger about me. But I don't want to risk fifty credits. Which meant I had to give her something else.
Except I couldn't find anything like that when I looked around. I don't know about full Jedi rooms, but they're pretty desolate for a youngling. I had a durastal cube somewhere, though, honestly borrowed from my mentor.
I was sitting on a Turkish-style bed, so I reached into my bedside table and checked the time on my datapad. Hmm, it's almost time for Drallig's class.
CLICK.
Holy shit. I flinched before I turned around. And what did you think I saw? Ahsoka Tano, with one of the gyroscopes in her hand, which was on the edge of the bed in front of her, was standing with a disappointed face, twisting the gyroscope in her palm.
- What's the big deal? - she asked disappointedly. - You've been working out the kinks, haven't you? And I thought so," she protruded as she tossed the object back.
Either I'm a sucker or she's a genius. And if her abilities are average for the Order, that makes me sad. After picking up the gyroscope Ahsoka had worked on from the bed, I took the time to scan it and, of course, found no deviations from what I was doing. Otherwise, it would have been easier.
- Impressive," I said slowly. - You beat me there. - To which the togruita smiled smugly. - Here," I tossed her another piece, "repeat it.
One, two, three... seven, eight... ten... Click.
Holy shit. Ten seconds. When I've been doing this for five minutes. Man, that's a shame.
- I'm telling you, it's easy," she handed me the part.
Hmm, this one's fine, too. Okay, it's too late today, but tomorrow we need to stop by Ahsoka's and go through her peers. And don't forget to check with Lairi on this point. What if I can do the same in a year?
- Ahsoka, - I turned to her, - I now have to run to the fencing lesson, can you help me with the remaining balls?
- Of course, - she answered. - But why? How will you practice then?
Damn, I don't want to tell her about the money, I don't know how the little girl would react to that. What if she wants it too? And if they don't pay attention to my dealings with Dzik, I'm sure they won't, then I might get a kick out of corrupting the younglings.
- I've got plenty more of those parts. I don't just use them for training.
- What else do you use them for? - She's persistent.
- Mmm... for my work with Zik.
- Ah... I see. - I doubt that, except you won't admit it.
- Okay, I gotta go," I glanced at the time again. I got out of bed and headed for the exit. - When you're done, put everything in the box, okay? Be careful, though, because they're expensive.
Gyroscopes are expensive, but even at the average price of a hundred credos, these stand out. I, in principle, trusted the girl, but I couldn't say nothing.
My birthday was coming up, which meant that it would soon be a year since I'd been studying at Drallig's. So, what have I accomplished? I don't know. The evil mentor is silent on the matter. I still beat eight-year-olds with ease and took a little longer with nine-year-olds. But now, even though it's hard, I can still beat ten-year-olds. Not exactly at the expense of technique... No, I can't do without it, but if I start sparring with a ten year old youngling from another group, I'll probably fail simply because I didn't know him as a student of Drallig's. The only thing he told me about my accomplishments was that Shih-Cho's style and I were incompatible. And not even because of any technical nuances, but just because I dislike him a lot. So now I go to his lessons with the hope that now, today, they will finally start teaching me another form. But, as you have already understood, I always fail.
This time, instead of learning something new, and I haven't even been learning anything new from Shi-Cho lately, Drallig told me to repeat the Three Pillars Defense Bundle. The name is a bit ridiculous if you know that each "pillar" is an opponent, but the bond is quite effective. By the way, the trio of Chabit, Talir, and Bisau has not been a threat to me for a long time. And if you replace Talir with someone else, it's even harder.
By the way, I'm quite aware that I'm stronger than my peers, and not only in fencing, but also in power techniques. Pure Power moves. I'd been able to learn Push almost as soon as I found its description in the Archives, and not only the kids in the neighborhood, but Ahsoka and Joss, a year older than me, were still fumbling with it. And here's the thing about... Well, let's call it mental techniques, though that's not quite right, I'm not that proficient, but I'm inferior to most of even my peers. For example, the Sense of Life. Man, you should have known how mad I was at the time, when all the kids in our group had already mastered this skill, and I was just getting close to it! My "vision", gave me a huge edge, but it was worth it just to close my eyes... And Orientation? The technique to tune in to the poles of the planet. I still can't master that stupid skill! Oh, well, at least I'm a better fighter than everyone else. Oh, and I'm the fastest at absorbing energy, too.
I once wondered why I had such a talent for swordsmanship. I had no such thing in my previous life. But when I tried to remember if I really didn't, I realized that I didn't know. In that life I was the head of the warehousing service... well, never mind now, a big company, and I was only interested in racing and cars. So I wasn't involved in fencing in any way. Maybe I had a talent for it, maybe I would have liked it, but somehow... I had other things to do.
The next school day was marked by a Yoda lesson. And not because Goblin taught it, but because of what we did in it. No, it was marked by another one of my bungles and a rather dangerous situation for a certain Rein Dakari. Anyway, in Yoda's class, we were hustling. I don't know what else to call it. We stood across from each other and, using everything we knew, tried to topple our opponent. Accordingly, there were some restrictions, such as movement. That is, we could only take one step in different directions from where we started... uh... sparring.
After the restrictions were announced, I foolishly, or maybe not, approached Yoda.
- Master Yoda. - The joke with his name, I decided not to abuse it. But I remembered the permission. - Can I ask you a question?
- Yes, youngling," he turned to me and leaned back against his cane, feigning infirmity.
- I mean all we can do.
- Do you need clarification, young man? - Clever old man.
- Clarification," I hesitated, wondering if I should have approached him at all. - Does that statement apply to me, too?
- Hmm, hmm," he chewed his lips. - You have skills that others can't have, as I understand it?
- Well, sort of... Yeah, I'm cool, all right.
- Heh, heh, heh," he laughed good-naturedly. - Maybe you want to play this game with me.
- You've got some nerve, Goblin. I mean... I'm sorry, Master. But wouldn't that be too much? I don't stand a chance against an ordinary Jedi.
- Winning isn't the point of the bet, and you're not even a match," he nodded at the frantic children.
Yeah, well, fifteen times two doesn't cut it.
- Well, if that's the case... - I said uncertainly.
I was thinking that, no matter how I looked at it, sparring with Yoda wouldn't make any sense whatsoever. I wouldn't even be able to evaluate myself. If I were a normal Jedi in his place, I'd go back and forth, and even then... And what can I get out of sparring with a mind with almost nine hundred years of experience?
We stepped a little to the side and stood facing each other, arms outstretched in the direction of our opponent. The distance between us was about half a meter, so you could say we were standing right next to each other.
- Heh, Master," I grinned, leaning forward because of Yoda's height, "and you're in a better position. - And I froze for a moment and sighed: - Though, yes, where was I? I beg your pardon, Grand Master.
And the next second he was attacking.
Reaching for the little master's body I thought was too... too long, so I tried to grab his arms and yank. Alas. Goblin managed to intercept my arms and convert my jerk into some sort of wave, causing me to nearly bring myself to the ground. And if it hadn't been for Drallig's lessons, I would have fallen, but, thank goodness, there were lessons in swordsmanship. With a slight shift in my right leg, I broke the "wave," and even managed to jerk my right arm to the side, still trying to drop Yoda. Of course it didn't work, but now there was some balance between us. In fact, we were back to where we started, only our arms were not outstretched toward our opponent, but interlocked.
Well, I yank his arms back and to the side, to which he steps forward, and the moment the pressure peaks and I have nowhere to pull him, he jerks his right arm, so slyly that my left leg goes under. To which I immediately form a Power Punch and launch it into his legs. Or more precisely, his left leg. At the same time I pull Goblin's right arm even harder, almost falling down. Actually, I should have hit his fulcrum, which meant his right leg, but he would have covered it for sure. The trouble was, he must have covered his whole body, because my kick didn't hurt him, it just didn't work. I was in the middle of a fight, and I was in the middle of a fight, and I was in the middle of a fight. I know that you can disperse Power Rejects, but this was the first time I'd ever seen it.
In general, if you look at it from the outside, a Force push is a rather primitive technique. Collect the Force in front of you, or "fog," condense it, set the velocity of the collected clump of Force, and launch it at your opponent. Except that Palatt, Jiro, Rama, and Sam, whom I decided to teach this technique, stumbled in the compaction. As did Ahsoka, for that matter. Even I, who learned the trick quickly enough, didn't know how to regulate the speed of movement in the condensed Force. More precisely, I couldn't speed it up. But the main problem here and now was that I couldn't create the Push fast enough for the move to come as a surprise to Yoda. Although... it's a grand master... In any case, even standing opposite me a normal experienced Jedi, even then I was creating the technique too slowly.
I could have used telekinesis as the fastest technique I could make, but Yoda is no match for an ordinary Jedi and would be able to detect my manipulation of the Force in any case. What am I supposed to do? I can't even show him my potential in any way. Brrrr, I'm talking out of my ass. If a Council member can see the potential as well as the possibilities, I don't want to lose just like that.
It is worth noting that all these thoughts flew over in the blink of an eye, but not much time had passed. While I was thinking about the situation, Yoda and I had enough time to push each other, and I almost lost twice. I was in the middle of an argument with Yoda, and I had a chance to get a little bit more than two times before I lost. Well, or stalling, literally inviting me to show what I can do. Well, let's dance.
So it's a given that I can't take him physically, and I don't think I'll be able to do Power Tricks... I don't think so either, but I can still jerk him around. What's the problem? That he senses my manipulations beforehand and has ten times to prepare himself. Conclusion? I have to find a way to hide my exposure to the Force. How do I do that? The first thing that comes to mind is Zabuza's fog from Naruto. Ideally, of course, I should train stealth, but right now I can only hammer his sensitivity. Lots and lots of manipulation so he won't know exactly what I'm going to do. How do you achieve that? Relatively easy.
As I continued my ceilidh with Yoda, I began compacting the air in front of me. Slowly. At the same time, I began to twist the "fog" slightly over his right ear. And over the left. I was compacting little clots of the Force here and there. Somewhere speeding up the Force, somewhere slowing it down. All around the little goblin. The greater and more varied the manipulation, the greater the strain on his sensitivity. He could also wonder where and how I'd strike. The more varied the manipulation, the more stress on his senses, the more he can guess where I'm hitting him. Many different points of Force tension clustered in a short distance around the grand master. Some manipulations I gave up as soon as I started, some I kept relatively long, and some I created at the beginning and continued to maintain. Consequently, instead of disappearing stress points, I created new ones. Sometimes even in place of previous ones. Heh-heh-heh-heh, try to smell something now, green man.
And just as I was about to launch a real attack, Yoda finally struck.
It was two Power Pushes. The first, judging by the force, should have knocked me back about three meters, and already that confused me. Because even though I can do it, I didn't show any defense skills, which meant that Yoda punch was a cheater's punch. A youngling my age couldn't have deflected it. In fact, I didn't. When I saw the cloud formed in front of him, very quickly and, in my opinion, already compacted, I did the only thing I could at that moment. I absorbed it. Yes, yes, yes, young Dakari can do that, too. If you only knew how much it cost me and how many times I got screwed by my older colleagues from the Drallig group, and how much pleasure Ahsoka and Joss took in telekinesis... The only thing I can think of is that I have a talent for this skill, no, I definitely have, but it's not something I've been able to master in a hurry. I had to work hard. In fact, I did not stop training.
I swallowed Yoda's first blow, but the next one, which could throw me off at... God knows how far. But the fact remains that Goblin hit me, if not with all his might, then somewhere around that. And only thanks to my energy absorption skills and the fact that the second blow was struck almost immediately after the first, so I did not leave the state of absorption and managed to absorb part of the Push, only because of this I flew only six meters.
The concentration was completely out of whack, as was my orientation. I could only estimate the distance my body had flown because Yoda hadn't moved out of his seat while I was recovering. I stood on all fours, shook my head, and then glared at the little freak. Who else was he after that? Even I, with my not-so-flattering attitude toward kids, never let that happen. Even in that sparring session with Ahsoka and Joss, I kept myself in line. But this... What the hell was he thinking? He might not have killed me, but if it had been a normal youngling my age, there would have been broken bones. Plus Drallig's training, which was tough enough for kids. At least he taught me how to fall and land fast and for life. If it wasn't for that, I might have broken another bone. Anyway, guys, what the fuck?
I can't say that I was furious when I looked at the dwarf, but I could feel the anger, somewhere deep inside, quite clearly. I got to my feet and breathed deeply, trying to calm down, and looked into the eyes of this... fucking grand master. He sighed sadly and staggered toward me. Lairi had time to come to her senses and, in some places, even with a smack, brought the children back to the learning spirit. They'd all been staring at me before.