Chapter 6: Justin

School had ended one week ago, so during that time, all of the temple's 27 Jedi-in-training were cramming in late-night training sessions after the regular afternoon and morning sessions. Maria - in her usual perfectionist way – had practiced every single night with Ana. Maria seemed fine, but Ana began to develop a habit of sleeping in late. Ace and I tried to cover for her one night, but that was our first and last time.

Last night was the one night training was banned. Instead, everyone was ordered to practice sleeping well for once, and then show up at the crack of dawn this morning in uniform and with a backpack containing a change of clothes, a sleeping bag, food, and water. I had no problems with that, except for the be-here-at-the-crack-of-dawn part.

As far as uniforms went, this one wasn't so bad. Boys wore a short-sleeved collared shirt with knee-length pants, and girls wore a magical short-sleeved, knee-length dress that transformed into pants and a shirt if they had bent over too far or something. Both were completely white.

I looked around the room from my seat in a corner next to one of my old friends, Bryce. Everyone looked half-asleep on their feet, and Bryce was even sleeping in his chair. I shook my head. The thing about recruiting teenagers was that we tended to stay up late and get up late, so we were never ready in the morning. Maria was the only one fully awake, talking quietly with Ana, enchantment lifted so she looked elfish again. Ana had agreed to do that as long as Maria's ears were well concealed under her hair. Thankfully, everyone was too busy being tired to notice anything.

My attention turned to the only other talkers in the room, a small group of guys who'd known each other for years before they'd gotten involved with the Jedi. Through a fake cough, I muttered an eavesdropping charm I'd coaxed out of Ana and listened.

"Hey, do you guys seriously think we're up to this? My older brother said training's only a week, but it's the most rigorous training we'll ever go through." The guy who was speaking was Sam, and he'd already had three older siblings become full Jedi knights.

A tall boy, Vince, answered. "Dude, they've been training us like crazy for a year. How much harder could it get?"

"I dunno, Vince. His brother's really amazing, and they said he slacked off during his basic training, but came back from knighthood training a warrior. His normal friends couldn't figure out what happened to him." The guy speaking was small, but he had a lot of potential, and was one of the more talented ones in the recruited group.

Vince just yawned. "Seriously, if they really wanted to train us hard, wouldn't they do it when they knew we would be fully awake?"

"If you were going to be fully awake in every battle, don't you think we wouldn't worry about it?"

All of them started, and I could barely keep myself in check.

"Master Ana!" Vince gasped.

Ana smiled. "Now Vince, have you ever considered that the enemy will never attack at a convenient time for you? It's always the worst time, right after another battle, during school, or even –" she leaned down "- midnight." She turned away from a very shocked Vince to address the rest of the recruits.

"Today is the beginning of your career as Jedi knights. Knighthood training is not to be taken lightly, for if you fail, you fail completely. Your memory will be wiped, and you will return to a normal human life – that is, if you survive the failure."

She looked around, gaze lingering on a few of the laziest. I shot a glance at Ace and Maria. The first girl determined, the other, afraid of the consequences of a short training period.

"I will call out the names in each group. When you hear your name, please don't make any noise and get together, because this needs to go pretty quick. Group 1!" Ana rattled off three names from memory, arms crossed across her chest. "Group 2! Ace, Justin, and Maria!"

I heard some others sigh in relief, glad that they weren't responsible for a small girl with only two weeks of training. I just smiled as I walked over to the two girls.

Ana finished reciting all the names, and there were now nine groups of three Jedi-in-training each. "This is your training group. They will become your best friends, your back-up force, your training partners, and your allies. Knighthood training is not just training for you, but also bonding time. At the end of the training, we will judge your performances, and the strongest group will receive recognition." Looking down at her feet, Ana continued. "I have my guess as to who will turn out best, and I'm usually right. However, I will be happy to be proved wrong."

She looked around the room. "Are there any last questions before we explain the training?"

Vince raised his hand. "Do you mind telling us who you're betting on?"

Ana smiled. "No, I can't. It might disappoint one of the other teams, and we need all the groups to be at their best."

She held his pleading gaze with a fierce look, as if to say "Come and get me, we'll see who gets beaten!" Finally, he looked away. No one else dared to raise a hand.

"All right, then. No more questions, so let's explain the training, shall we, Master Morrel?"

Our Force master, Master Morrel stepped forward. "Of course, Master Ana."

"As you all know, there are many different worlds outside our own that have not really been discovered by the rest of the human race. For your first day of training, each group will be sent to a different world."

Murmurs raced through the assembly. I was sure some of them would have been screaming if it were any later in the day.

A girl near me piped up. "Is this really safe? My parents wouldn't understand if I died on an outing with my friends."

Master Morrel laughed. "Training is not safe. Going between worlds? Yes, you should be perfectly fine."

Ana spoke again. "Your quest today is to go to the world and learn what you can to help you protect the world from the Sith in the future."

Everyone became silent. I shook my head. Someone needed to speak up, so I guess it's my turn. "We'll do our best, Master Ana."

Heads turned toward me, but I focused instead on Ana's face. "You can count on us."

"Okay. Everyone, line up against the wall there in group order, Group 1 on the left, Group 9 on the right. Form a triangle with your group, and one master will come assist you."

We followed orders, and Master Rob, the one who ran the massage center for knights only, came over to us.

I waved one last goodbye to Bryce in Group 7 with two other guys I hadn't really gotten to know, but Bryce had become friends with them already.

Vince caught my eye. He winked, exuding confidence. He'd been chosen to go with one guy from his group of friends, and another girl known for her quick thinking.

I didn't really like that guy, but I smothered the feeling and just smiled back.

Master Rob handed us a simple metal triangle with a handle on each tip. "Each of you grab on. I wish you good luck."

Ana began to chant, and the other masters joined in. A bright white light filled the room and threw me around like a pebble in a hurricane.

The light faded to normal sunlight, and I was laying down on… sand? I heard a startled gasp from a guy and waves crashing on a nearby beach. Then I passed out.

Oh, please guess what world they went to! I don't care if you tell me or not, but just please guess! It's one of the books/movies I said I liked on my profile and it's also mentioned in the first chapter of this story and the summary.