33 A.B.Y
Remnant
"Remember to continue your studies while you are on vacation Jaune. I want you to continue on into the beginning of the Clone Wars to the Rise of the Galactic Empire and before you ask, yes, I will quiz you on it when you get back." Luke told his apprentice as he packed his own things for his annual summer departure.
The Jedi master was departing to Minstral this time, having received a lead on a rare material needed for his hyperdrive. Which would be a new experience for Luke as while he had spent extensive time in the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas, he had yet to travel to Minstral or the other kingdom that name he couldn't quite remember.
"Yeah yeah I hear you, master. Oh hey, you're going to Minstral, right? Bring me back some of those sweet cinnamon buns there famous for." Jaune said in a flippant tone.
Luke turned around and raised an eyebrow at his apprentice, who was currently laying in a hammock lazily flipping through a magazine.
Which upon closer inspection, the magazine had the words Faunus Girls Gone Wild: Jungle Edition.
"Teenagers," Luke muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. What happened to that goofy blonde kid that he started training all those years ago?
Now his apprentice was a blonde goofy teenager. Teenager being a euphemism for cocky jackass.
Some things were just universal. No matter the planet and no matter the culture, after all, weren't all 16-year-olds cocky jackasses?
An idea came to Luke though as he was muttering though. Focusing on the Jaune's magazine he used the Force to heat up and excite the air molecules around it.
Jaune who currently reading an *ahem* article in said magazine yelped as paper burst into flames and disintegrated.
The young man looked around widely before his eyes narrowed at Luke.
"Hey! I was reading that." He said.
Luke snorted, "I'm sure you were. But really? Faunus Girls Gone Wild: Jungle Edition? Besides just being a corny title, isn't that vaguely racist to Faunus?"
"What? Pssh no." Jaune said with a wave of his hand before pausing, "Maybe? Don't know."
"How do you not know? Didn't you say your real mother is a Lion Faunus?" Luke asked.
"So what? I'm only half Faunus and look completely human. Not like I go out of my way to find out what is and isn't offensive." Jaune said with an eye roll.
Eyeing his now burnt magazine Jaune sent a raised eyebrow at his master, "So how the hell did you do that?"
"That," Luke said, indicating the ashes, "was pyrokinesis. An advanced and neutral form of Force application."
Jaunes eyes widened at that, "Really? Pyrokinesis? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier!? That's awesome!"
Luke rolled his eyes. Did this kid never listen to him?
"What part of Advanced did you not understand?" Luke asked.
"Well, I say I'm a pretty advanced student. So why not show me now?" Jaune said excitedly.
"Fine." Luke sighed, "I guess we have enough time for one more lesson before I depart so listen up. This is an IMMENSELY dangerous technique. So much so that even Darth Sidious was wary of using it. As eventually, one can even control explosions if you advance far enough. It is also the counterpart to the dark ability of cryokinesis."
"Uh huh," Jaune said as he hung on Luke's every word.
The old Jedi master had noticed his padawan's newfound attention as he listened to everything he said.
'Of course. As soon as I mention an ability that has something to do with explosions and lighting stuff on fire he starts paying attention. Figures.' Luke thought as he continued to explain, "More advanced degrees like I already mentioned, not only allow for control over explosions but also the ability to turn even the smallest of flames into a raging inferno, even being able to produce your own flame instead of having to rely on an already existing flame or fuel."
"So how does it work exactly? Do you just will it to happen like the Force push?" Jaune questioned.
"Not quite. This ability requires absolute concentration as you need to excite air molecules for it to work. You are working very literally on the molecular level." Luke said, "One slip up and you could either have the flame sputter out or turn into a full-fledged inferno."
"It also doesn't work in a vacuum such a space as it obviously needs some type of matter to excite in order to achieve ignition," Luke added.
With his little explanation done Luke held up his hand and pulled a candle from his house to his hand with the Force.
"I want you to practice lighting this on fire and then extinguishing it. You'll need precision and control first before we start adding power to it."
3 weeks later
Luke Skywalker has seen and done many strange things throughout his life. From an old man, he met who was essentially a space wizard, a seven-foot-tall cyborg who claimed to be his father, kissing a girl who apparently was his twin…let's just forget about that one, having his hand chopped off, and even getting electrocuted by a psychotic emperor.
But this had to take the cake for the old Jedi.
One minute Luke had been traveling through the forests to reach Minstral. Then out of nowhere, one of this planets avian creatures swooped down and turned into a tall, black-haired man with a ridiculously huge sword (no, not type of sword you perverts).
Currently said the man was pointing said huge sword at his throat.
"May I help you, sir? Or do you just point that thing at all the old distinguished men who walk through these wood?" Luke asked in a jovial tone.
Afterall, humor tended to defuse rather tense situations. Or so people said it did, in Luke's case his humor tends to piss people off more often than not. Though the people that confronted him where usually psychopathic killers. Maybe it would work this time.
"Not here for jokes. We need to have a little chat." The man with the big sword said.
Luke sighed... one day.
"And what type of chat would that be? Because I'm guessing it's not about the weather." Luke said.
"Well, you guessed right." The man said as he lowered his sword and resheathed it, "It's about the fate of this world and everybody on it, and my boss wants to talk to you about it."
Luke's eyebrows raised in intrigue, "Oh, how's that?"
"Well for starters it's not a conversation we can have out here." The man said as he reached into his pocket and threw something to Luke.
Luke raised his hand and caught the object before studying the object. It seemed to a small, black card with a type of chip on the end.
"Alright, I'll bite. What's this for." Luke asked.
"That is a clearance card, one that you will need if you decide to hear my boss out." The mystery man said as he turned around to leave, "If you do, once you make it to Minstral go to the 15th bullhead hanger near the shipyards and show it to the pilot. They'll take you where you need to go. See you around, Skywalker."
With that, the man disappeared with a black flash and a flapping sound. Only a single black feather remained as it gently landed on the ground.
Luke stood still as he tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened.
'Let's see. A bird swooped down and turned into a man, said man pointed a sword at my throat and told me that the world was in danger, gave me a card, then turned back into a bird and flew off. And oh! He somehow knows my name! Joy. Luke thought as he rubbed his head, 'Welp, guess I might as well see what this is all about.'
With his mind made up and his sanity still relatively intact, Luke once again began his journey to Mistral.
2 days later
"We've arrived at the destination, sir. Please exit the aircraft, your escort will be with you shortly." The pilot told Luke as the bullheaded landed.
Luke stood up and exited the vehicle, taking in the scenery that greeted him. It seems he was in a school of some sort. Noticing students walking around in types of combat gear but still carrying books and school supplies he realized where he was.
"This must be one of those combat academies where they train huntsman at. Judging by the climate, I must be in Vale. Hmmm, I believe Jaune has mentioned this academy in particular. Beacon I believe?" Luke monologued to himself as he looked around.
"You'd be correct my friend, this academy's name is indeed Beacon." A man dressed in a green and black suit said as he walked up to Luke.
"And who are you?" Luke asked.
The man smiled as he leaned on his cane, "My name is Ozpin, and I am the headmaster of this academy." Ozpin said as he introduced himself, "I'm also the one who sent out huntsmen to contact you."
Luke nodded as he listened to the man's words, "Yes, the man that could turn into a bird. Interesting fellow. Now I believe you wanted to talk to about the fate of this world?"
"Indeed. Now, if you would follow me to my office we can discuss things." Ozpin said as he began walking towards the school.
Luke followed the headmaster while he quietly observed his surroundings, preparing to fight his way out if necessary. Never know if this could turn into a trap.
'I must say that this is quite the impressive school all things considered. Seems the people of this planet a spared no expense when it came to training their up and coming protectors.' Luke thought as he continued walking beside Ozpin throughout the school, going up multiple flights of stairs, and finally up an elevator that leads directly to his office.
The office was quite an odd thing really. It was a mostly bare room with the pillars and some gears turning behind glass. The only furniture in the room being a crescent-like desk and a couple of chairs.
Though the circular window right behind the chair did give Luke a slight flashback to the style of the emperor's throne room.
"Have a seat Mr. Skywalker." Ozpin offered as he sat behind his desk.
Luke took the offer and sat down across from the headmaster, "So what's this about Ozpin. Why is the world in danger? And more importantly… how the hell do you know my name?"
Ozpin crossed his hands as he seemed to consider Luke's questions.
"Tell me Skywalker, why should I trust you?" Ozpin answered Luke's question with a question.
Luke rolled his eyes at this. He could tell it was going to be one of those I called you hear and obviously spied on you beforehand, but I'll be the one interrogating until you prove yourself type meetings.
'Kriff this.' Luke thought, 'I have a literal dozen other better things I could be doing right now. Not wasting my time on this.'
"Why should you trust me? Listen Ozpin, I don't care if you trust me. I'm only here because bird brain told me the world was possibly in danger. So we have three options here. Option one: you don't tell me and I get up and leave and we never see each other again. Option two: You obviously been spying on me and mean me harm, especially since I can sense bird brain hiding behind one of those pillars." Luke said as he jerked a thumb towards one of the pillars to his right.
A grunt came from behind said pillar as the said man came out from behind it and leaned on the side of it instead.
"And if we do mean you harm?" Ozpin asked.
Luke gave a small chuckle, "Than I bring this entire school down on top of you while I walk away without a speck on my cloak. Depending on how curious I am, perhaps I rip the info out of your head before I do so."
Of course Luke was bluffing a bit on that last part. While mind tricks where often okay for a Jedi as they were gentle persuasions, the act of ripping memories or information out of someone's mind was usually considered a dark aligned power.
Luke would never forcefully rip someone's mind apart just to get information out of them. But it was a useful power to know, just in case one might ever need to go to such extremes.
Ozpin eyes hardened a bit as he considered what Luke had said, "And option three?"
"You stop wasting my time and tell me what's going on. Since you've been spying me, you know somewhat of what I'm capable of and that I'm not here to harm anyone. Besides you wouldn't have called me here if you didn't already have some trust in me." Luke finished.
Ozpin was silent for a while as brown stared straight into Luke's blue eyes, seeming to be searching for something. The headmaster was in deep thought about whether he should trust the man in front of him.
On one hand trusting a complete stranger could really come back to bite Ozpin and the rest of Remnant in the ass, but then again the powers he had seen the man showcase from their surveillance on him were quite extraordinary and with Salem starting to make her moves, they may not have the luxury of completely vetting everyone.
'Oh well.' Ozpin thought, 'As James would say: No risks, no rewards.'
With an outward sigh the headmaster said, "As you wish Mr. Skywalker, I will indulge you in why you're here. But I would still like an explanation about you. After all, it's not every day you see a man crash from the sky in a strange ship."
The Jedi wasn't surprised at the last statement. He would've been more surprised if someone hadn't noticed his fiery entry to this planet.
Luke nodded at this, "Sounds good to me."
Ozpin stood up from his chair and walked to the circular window that stood behind his desk, which had a beautiful view of the distant city of Vale.
"Well then tell me. What your favorite fairy tale?"
1 hour later
"So let me get this straight. You thought it was a good idea to give out huge chunks of your power to four different girls and made them essentially forces of nature, then proceeded to make sure the power is transferred to the only girls, and those girls have to be the last one's the maidens think off?" Luke said in an absolutely astounded voiced.
"He's got you there Oz." Qrow said as he continued to lean on the pillar.
"Yes… perhaps it maybe wasn't the best plan of action." Ozpin admitted in a bit of a sheepish tone.
"And this monster, Salem. She's hellbent on killing off humanity?" Luke asked.
"Extremely so, even know she is moving her pawns. Grimm, Human collaborators, Faunas, anyone who can be swayed by the temptation of power. I fear that as her influence grows, we may not be able to stop her." Ozpin answered before looking at straight at Luke, "So you've heard what evil this world faces. Now the question is, will you help us?"
Luke sighed at the decision. On one hand he had as the saying on Remnant goes, bigger fish to fry, namely waring the Republic of the Empire's apparent resurgence and finding the new dark champion who might just be his nephew. But on the other…
The last Jedi looked past Ozpin to the city beyond the academy. He could sense them, the millions of innocent people that inhabited the shining skyscrapers, the bustling industrial and commercial districts, and even the dirt poor slums. All those who just wanted to live peacefully, hoping that the city's walls would hold, that their Hunters would never fail them.
And if this Salem won, they would all die.
"What do you need me to help with?" Was Luke's answer.
Ozpin smiled, that was the answer he had wanted to hear.
"We can discuss that later. But for now, I believe you agreed to share your story with us." Ozpin said.
Luke nodded and began his own tale.
"Well, it all started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."
Remnant
Vale Beaches
"C'mon Jaune, stop being a spoilsport and get in the water! We promise we won't make fun of your noodle arms!" One of his many sisters called out from the edge of the water to him as they swam and played volleyball in the water.
Our 16-year-old protagonist tried to ignore them and read his scroll while sitting on one of the chairs near the resort. Said scroll was loaded with history of the galaxy that he had gotten from R2.
Though Jaune was miffed by the noodle arms comment. Not his fault that he had to wear baggy clothing and add a bit of Force illusion to make him appear skinny when he was actually quite muscled. Maybe if they would have just let him train to be a huntsman than he wouldn't have had to hide the fact that he actually was training, even if it wasn't technically huntsman training.
Constant lightsaber training and practicing with Force enhancement on his muscles did wonders for them after all.
But he had made a promise to Luke when he was younger. That he would do his best to get along with his family if he could come along with Luke when he eventually left Remnant. The best way he had found was just to stop all talk of being a hunter, which meant hide all signs of him training with Luke. Go figure.
"JAUNE!" His sister Noir called.
He ignored them and continued reading.
"Because of the vast expanse of time between the Clone Wars and events such as The Great Hyperspace War, The Galactic War, The Great Galactic War, The Cold War, and ect., the previously grizzled and powerful Republic had been left weak and inexperienced for the new war ahead. It was only because of Jedi Generals such as Anakin Skywalker (See: The Hero With No Fear), Obi-Wan Kenobi (See: The Negotiator), and the Republics valiant clone army and navy that the Republic stood any chance against the small but powerful C…"
"JAUNE!" His sisters called again.
"WHAT?!" He snapped as he had once again had to stop reading.
"If you're not going to get in the water than would you go please find Jade. She went somewhere down the beach, said she wanted to explore the great sand dunes." His oldest sister, Violet Arc, called to him.
Jade was one of the newer addition to the Arc family. At 10 years old she was the youngest, being outranked by Amber who was13, and Tera at 15.
"Fine." He said.
Jaune might as well get a little walk in while he's at it, maybe even stay back and get some saber practice when he sent Jade back to the resort.
Collapsing his scroll he stood up and patted his light windbreaker to make sure his lightsaber was still tucked underneath. Wearing baggy clothes did have its advantages, such as being able to smuggle lightsaber underneath.
With his mental checklist completed Jaune set off from the resort to search for his little sister. Well, one of his little sisters anyway. His father and moms had decided it was a good idea to give him MORE siblings.
The Arc household now numbered at 10 children, not including Jaune's father, real mother, and two other wifes that his father had somehow gotten to marry him. It was quite the large family.
Seriously, how his father had managed to marry three women and both be happy and still sane was far beyond Jaune.
'Where is this kid?' Jaune thought as he continued to comb the inland dunes for Jade. He'd been searching for hours and there was still no sign of her, 'I swear if she's playing hide and seek I'm going to- SON OF A BANTHA."
The young Jedi's thought was suddenly cut off as he swore in galactic standard, having almost walked straight into a giant sinkhole that must've easily been 50 feet in diameter.
Jaune stared at the giant hole with curiosity, "How the hell did I almost miss this thing? Better not tell Luke about this, he'd make me go back to the fundamentals and walk through the forest blindfolded again. Heh, good times."
Jaune was about to walk around the damn thing when he noticed something.
"Is it… shimmering?" He muttered as he took a closer look at the hole.
Indeed the giant sinkhole seemed to be emitting a field of some sort that made the air and landscape shift and bends around the sinkhole. Almost like it was trying to hide.
Now Jaune was curious, immensely curious. He had never heard of any tech that could provide active camouflage. That sounded like tech that the rest of the galaxy had according to what he had read from his reading on the galactic history and heard from stories Luke had told him.
"Definity weird, but not my problem right now. I'll find Jade first than contact Luke on what to do if he still has his scroll on him." Jaune muttered to himself.
"Help!" A familiar sounding voice came from the sinkhole.
Jaune's eyes widened at the familiar voice that came from the sinkhole.
"Jade!" He called back into the sinkhole, only to get no response.
Completely throwing out his previous plan now that he knew his sister was down there, Jaune took a few steps back before launching himself forward and jumping down the hole.
As he went through the top he seemed to penetrate the field that surrounded it as he plunged down into the depths. A few feet going by as the sand turned into a shaft of burnt and twisted metal.
'Now that's just weird. Why is there metal down here?' Jaune thought as his free fall starting coming to an end, just being able to make out a floor below him, 'Better start slowing myself down before I splatter all over the floor.'
Just as Jaune began to call upon the Force to break his fall, he came to a complete stop in midair about thirty feet above the floor.
Completely confused at what was happening Jaune looked around and noticed multiple prongs sticking out of the walls around where he had stopped. They all seemed to be emitting a beam that was holding him in place.
Then as if given an order the beams started slowly setting him down until they shut off and dropped him on the floor.
"This is getting weirder and weirder," Jaune muttered as he looked around the room he had been dropped in. It was small and circular with only a metal door as the only feature to it. Looking up he saw a glint of light where the entrance he had jumped through was.
"Well, only one way to go."
Walking up to the door Jaune looked it over and noticed a blank screen built into the wall next to the doorway. He reached out and taped it with his finger hoping that it would possibly power up to touch.
To his relief it did power up as lines of code ran across the screen indicating the system was processing something...in galactic standard.
Jaunes eyes widened as he blinked and looked at the lines of code again instantly recognizing the standard alphabet and symbols most of the known galaxy used as a standard for communication.
The screen finished loading as Jaune was lost in his thoughts and a single option loaded on the screen in basic, which translated to:
Open Blast Door
Immediately tapping the option Jaune was met with frustration as the screen beeped and told him he was denied access. Hitting the reset option on the side he tried tapping the open option again, only to be denied for the second time.
"I am not dealing with faulty tech right now. Brute force it is!" Jaune said as he grabbed his lightsaber from under his jacket and ignited it.
A familiar hum filled the small chamber as the sapphire saber was stabbed into the sides of the door and began cutting it.
The entire room was filled with hissing and sparks as Jaune slowly cut his way around the door until he cut back to the point where he had started.
Giving a small push with the Force, the cut section fell over with a thud. Giving Jaune a look at the other side of the door as he turned off his saber.
It appears that on the other side door was some sort of hangar. Old ship's ranging from what looked like fighters and transports where skewed all over the place either clumped up from being thrown around or degrading into disrepair for the ones that were tied down. Strangely it seemed like the lighting systems were still online, even if they were flickering and immensely dim.
'This place must be damn near ancient, but these fighters look way more advanced than anything we have on Remnant. Guess Luke wasn't the first person from the rest of the galaxy to crash here than.' Jaune thought as he walked through the door and looked around, ' Now the question is, who crashed here?'
It seems though that Jaunes question was relatively easy to answer though as he noticed some writing on the wall of the hanger. Walking up to it he squinted at it in the flickering light trying to translate it.
As Jaune was doing this though, he didn't notice the sound of small footsteps creeping directly behind him.
But the young Jedi was to busy trying to translate the faded the text in his mind.
'S.E Harrbanner? No, wait. S.E Harbinger! That makes more sense. But was does S.E stand for? It sounds familiar.'
"Jaune!" A high pitched voice squealed.
Hearing his name Jaune whipped around and put his hand on his saber, only to come face to face with his little sister.
The light beach clothes she had been wearing were smeared with dust and the lion ears on top of her head where pressed flat against her skull as they shivered.
"Jade." Jaune sighed in relief as he picked up and hugged her, "I've been looking all over for you. How'd you end up down here?"
"I-I was exploring the dunes when a giant hole just popped up! And then I stopped in mid-air an-a-and than…" The girl stuttered as she burrowed herself deeper into her brother's hug.
"Slow down." Jaune said as he patted her head and a thought occurred to him, "Jade, how'd you get in this hanger?"
The blast door that he had to cut through had been completely sealed and the panel to open it was in basic and glitched, and last time he checked his sister had neither a lightsaber or an understanding in basic.
There was also the fact that the ship's power seemed to be running. And from what he read about galactic ship's, they run on a fuel supply, no way that this ship had been running all this time. With how deep it buried it must've been here for centuries.
"That may have been my doing…" A malevolent voice said from across the hanger.
Jaunes senses were flooded with darkness the instant he heard the voice. Looking up from his sister he saw a black-robed figure just standing there.
"I must thank you. Without having sensed your power I may have never woken up from my cryosleep." The robbed figure said as it began walking forward, "And my, my, what power I sense from you."
The figure stopped a good sixty feet away. Which was just enough for Jaune to make out what it was, and it definitely wasn't a human.
It seems that Jaune was about to have his first encounter with non-human denizens of the rest of the galaxy. This one seemed to have scaly skin with some type of mandibles sticking out of its jawline, it also seemed to be wearing... a bone mask over most of its face?
"Pity that I sense it is heavily attuned to the light."
Jaune at this point was starting to get a bad feeling about this. This situation was blaring all the warning signals.
Dark presence? Check. Black Robes? Check. Sulfuric eyes? Super check.
The figure pulled out a metallic cylinder from its sleeve and clicked a button near the top.
*Hiss*
And a red lightsaber. Check that off.
"And now you die… Jedi."
It was at that moment that Jaune remembered what the S.E stood for. Courtesy of his history lessons.
"Sith Empire. Great, just kriffin great."