He's Not Our Enemy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit goes to George Lucas and Lucasarts.

Summary: After vanishing from the Jedi temple ten years ago, Anakin Skywalker is found. The Jedi imprison him until he decides to tell them what happened to him. After getting lost after fleeing from some of her abusive class mates, Ahsoka stumbles into Anakin's room and discovers a side to the force she never knew.

Camping Trip, Ahsoka Tano

I'll be honest. The last thing I expected was to enjoy flying a star dragon that goes at hyperspace speeds if you ask it to or it gets angry or frightened. It took a good six hours before I relaxed even a little bit and another three hours after that before I said we could go faster. That made it after nine so I only had half an hour to enjoy myself before Ben said I had to go to bed. I don't know about you but I found this totally unfair since Anakin was staying up to fly his star dragon around the solar system and was probably going to end up visiting some planets in the neighbouring systems. But I'd like to see the person who can get around Ben's steely decisions.

So, as I woke up today the last thing I expected to see was a note on my bedside table with writing in bright gold letters saying, 'Camping trip today! I packed, we leave after breakfast.' It was obviously from Anakin since Ben didn't know enough about Primus to take me camping and I wondered why Anakin had suddenly decided to take me on a camping trip. I got out of bed and dressed in jeans and a long sleeved red top with trainers and walked downstairs. Judging from the sounds of Anakin shouting curses and advice I guessed that he was watching the HoloNet again.

I walked into the living room and saw Anakin sat on the couch, a bag at his feet, staring at the HoloScreen and watching a pod racing game. It looked like the person he wanted to win wasn't doing so well this time around. Ben was sat in the kitchen reading a book about force knows what and didn't seem at all bothered by some of the words that Anakin was shouting at his screen. I went to sit beside him on the couch and made sure to put enough distance between us so that if he had one of his rages I would be far enough away to not be affected. One of the pod racers crashed and Anakin threw a hissy fit.

"What? You son of a gundark! You're supposed to bank left! Left! No your other left! Oh for kriffs sake!" Anakin stood up, stomped over to the HoloProjector and it sparked and turned itself off. He took one long, deep breath and turned around to look at me. There wasn't a trace of anger in his eyes. "Okay, lets go."

"Where are we going?" I asked, ignoring his little tantrum.

"The Balurian forest. Its the largest forest on the planet if you don't count all of the rainforests on the equator. Trust me, you'll love it. There are plains and waterfalls and mountains and everything." Anakin explained.

I nodded. "That sounds okay."

Anakin picked up the bag, which looked too small to carry enough for both of us in it, and led the way out the door. I said goodbye to Ben, who said goodbye to me and reminded me to eat breakfast once we arrived in the forest, and followed Anakin outside. We weren't going to use nether travel this time because me being sick when we were out in the wilderness was not the best idea in the world so instead we were going there with Anakin's star dragon Teal and we could also do a fly around the general area first so I could see what it was like. I got to sit in the saddle again whilst Anakin just sat on the star dragons back without anything to support him other than the force.

It took five minutes at a speed that I was comfortable with to reach the Balurian forest and we flew around it for thirty minutes just so that I could look at everything. There were waterfalls coming out of every available space on the mountains and beside them were pathways carved into the rock. Grass covered just about every space on the ground and where there wasn't grass there were lakes and rivers and springs. Anakin pointed out that all of the water in the forest was fresh water apart from the massive ocean that surrounded it from three directions. That was all salt water. There were also lots of animals in the forest too.

Anakin said that all of the animals were harmless but if you angered or frightened some of them then you should probably run for it or risk being stampeded. I made him point out all of the animals that might stampede me for my own safety. There were animals that climbed trees, animals that could breathe underwater and on land, animals that could fly at super fast speeds and even animals that changed colour so they would blend in with the environment. This was one of the safest places on Primus to go camping in because there weren't any poisonous creatures or carnivores there. Basically, it was like a natural wildlife reserve that protected animals against their predators. I found that to be a little strange since there weren't any predators to protect against for at least a hundred miles in any direction.

"Okay," Anakin said as the star dragon landed and we got off in a small clearing surrounded by thick forests in every direction. "I say we go left. What do you think, Snips?"

I looked around. There really wasn't any difference that I could see between the forest to my right and the forest to my left. "You're the one who planned the trip." I reminded him. "You decide."

"Left it is then." Anakin decided, shouldering the bag that he'd brought.

We walked through the largest forest I'd ever been in and jumped over fallen trees, bits of rock, streams and springs and even a funny looking animal with two heads that shot sparks from its mouth. The animals didn't seem all that safe to me after I got an electric shock that made my lekku stand on end. Eventually, we came to a valley that was full of waterfalls, multi-coloured flying insects and a lava fall hot enough to singe my clothes from a distance. All in all, it was your typical force wielder camping location. Beautiful and fun yet insanely dangerous and best left for the more skilled immortal being. I am sorry to say that the most skilled immortal being in the galaxy is Anakin.

Anakin threw the bag down on a small piece of flat land that was floating in the water and a tent appeared in its place. I was fairly certain that seeing a bag transform into a tent wouldn't be the only strange thing I was going to see on this trip. Well, stranger than I'd already seen. That lavafall was still giving me the creeps. Without a word, Anakin hoped over the water that surrounded the tent and ducked inside and out of sight. I took a cautious glance at the still water in the river just in case it turned out to be invested with laser eyed fish that only needed to think about their next meal to kill me and jumped across it to the tent. When I ducked inside I knew that I had way more stuff to learn than I'd first guessed.

You can probably guess that it wasn't a silk walled, dirt covered, translucent mess on the inside like it is with most tents when they are first set up. No, it was about a hundred times better. The floor was the same kind of super soft carpet that it was in Anakin's house and the ceiling was actually a ceiling with lights on it and everything. The walls were still like the walls of a tent only they were covered in gadgets and gizmos that looked like they were super hi-tech and covered the entire wall. If I had to guess anything I would have said that this was where Anakin came to get away from it all and build his droids. It seemed like a good guess considering how many droid parts there were strewn across one side of the tent.

"Okay Snips," Anakin said as he threw the same bag that had just turned into the tent onto the airbed. "I guess you know that there was a reason for such a short notice camping trip."

I tore my eyes away from the bag that shouldn't have been inside the very thing it had just turned into to look at him. "I figured there was something you had in mind," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "But its kind of hard to tell with you."

Anakin inclined his head in an understanding manner. "True, true," He agreed. "Okay, the reason I brought you out here. You've probably been told a thousand times by just about every Jedi who has passed their trials that there are certain tests you need to pass in order to achieve mastery of the force."

I nodded slowly. "Every day since I was brought to the temple."

"Well, the same goes for force wielders too. Don't worry they're not any harder than those you would have gone through during the training they gave you at the temple. They're just way more unique and help you to unlock the powers that set force wielders apart from the rest of existence." Anakin explained. "Oh, and they also consist of you going into an alternate reality that your guardian, parent or mentor has created so that the force can give you a challenge."

"Alternate reality?"

"Like in a dream," Anakin said. "Only you will know exactly what you are doing, the force will set the difficulty of the challenges, I won't be able to help you aside from making sure you can't die and it will last for at least a week with you waking up after every challenge you complete so that I can heal you and so on. Unless you get healed in the alternate reality of course."

"This sounds dangerous," I said uneasily. "What will I have to do?"

"Well to enter the world you just have to lye down on the bed and it will feel like you are just going to sleep. I've designed the reality so that it will mimic the battlefield of the clone wars in your galaxy. You know, with all of the soldiers and stuff. I can only design the layout, though. So I chose desert plains, forest terrains, jungles and a few icey places for the force to choose from. But remember, Ahsoka, the force is in control of these challenges and it can add and take away anything that it wants. You could make a friend in this new world and then something will happen that will make your friend die."

I frowned. "Did that happen to you when you did it?"

"Me? Yes." Anakin looked sad. "One of the worst moments of my life so far. But I completed all of the challenges and now I can visit the friends that are still alive in that reality whenever I want. I've brought one of them into reality a few times but nothing permanent."

"You mean you can tell them that you're not from the alternate place?"

"Only if you complete every challenge, Snips. Plus you will always be facing challenges when you go into this place. It will be all about staying alive and facing the foes that you need to face. Also, you will be working on all of your weaknesses. That means no lightsaber."

"No lightsaber? Then how am I supposed to fight?"

"I don't know. I'm not the force." Anakin said. "But I am the next best thing. And these guys will be force sensitive just like you and that is how you will learn everything you need to know to make it in the force wielder world. Let alone in your new school with those kids who are being kicked out next week."

I made a face. Anakin obviously didn't like the fact that I'd been attacked on a walk around the school simply because I'd been seen with him.

"Okay, Ahsoka. Go and lye down." He instructed. "Your bed is just over there." He pointed to the comfy looking bed opposite his own with the striped brown covers and two fluffy pillows.

It didn't seem so bad when you looked at it from an outside point of view. You get to lye on a comfortable bed with a dream that feels like its real and make friends who teach you how to fight like a force wielder and go through all of the challenges with you. I did as he said and made sure that I was as comfortable as possible, which also made me as nervous as possible, and Anakin sat on the edge of the mattress beside my legs.

"Snips," He said calmly. "Remember that in order to pass the challenges you have to get into the role the force will give you. No matter what it is." He waved his hand and I could feel my world starting to go black. "I'll be waiting for you, Snips. Believe me when I say that."

My world turned to darkness.

I was dazed when I came too. Like the kind of dazed you are when you take a massive hit to the head and you don't even get to sleep it off afterwards. I did an automatic check of my body parts in my head. Arms, check. Legs, check. Head, check. Hands, yes. Feet, yes. There was something heavy on my right leg though and it was starting to hurt. I'm not human and I don't have ears but I'm fairly sure that the ringing I'm hearing is because of a fall I took or some other bad thing. I could hear a muffled voice getting closer and closer. As the ringing died down I realised that it was someone shouting.

"Tano! Tano! Oh, kriff. Tano!" It was a mans voice, I knew, and when I was able to see again I saw that it was a soldier dressed for battle with a blaster in his hands and body armour on his torso. "Dude, theres a drone on your leg. Give me a sec and I'll move it."

Drone? I'd heard of those before. In the clone war they were using remote controlled drones to attack the separatists when the clone troopers needed covering fire. I looked around and saw that I wasn't in any of the places Anakin had described. I was in a swamp like area with a long river running through dense forests and sandy banks. You can pretty much tell that I was lying on one of those sandy banks with a ten ton silver coloured drones weight on my leg. The army guy carrying an assault rifle in one hand and trying to lift the drone off my leg with the other had almost black hair, brown eyes and an almost non existent beard. He also had the kind of muscles that you saw on the mercenaries in the underworld of Coruscant.

"Hold on, Tano." The man said. "I've got you. Let me just -" Something cracked and creaked on the drone and the next thing you knew he'd shoved it clean off my leg and into the shallow ends of the river. "Yes!" He shouted in triumph. "Hows your leg?"

I blinked at him before testing out my leg. It didn't feel like there had just been a mechanical drone crushing it. "Good," I said, trying not to sound awkward. "Uh, sorry, but who are -"

"We gotta go," He continued whilst scanning the forests in the distance with his blaster pointed in a threatening fashion. "Every droid in this sector will have heard the commotion and be on their way here. We've got to get moving. Now."

"Droid?" I asked as he pulled me to my feet with one arm and handed me an identical version of his blaster and a hand blaster which I automatically shoved into my pocket. "You mean like battle droids?"

"Let's get moving," He said and turned to make his way through the dense forest area. "Follow me!"

I decided it was best not to argue and followed him. As we went I watched how he held his blaster and how he would listen for any signs of enemy movement. One time we had to duck under a low hanging log just to ensure that there was nothing around other than a four legged animal with large horns on its head. I made sure to hold the blaster he'd given me in the exact way he held his since it was obviously the correct way and noticed that I was wearing body armour and camouflage trousers with boots. Under normal circumstances I would have freaked out over discovering that I was wearing this but ever since I'd met a force wielder in the Jedi temple things hadn't exactly been 'normal' for me.

"Twilight," A scratchy voice said that made me jump. "Come in, Twilight."

The man lifted his wrist to his mouth and I saw a comm. link on it just like the Jedi knights and masters did when they were off in battles and such. "Twilight here," The man said. "Me and Tano were just hit by a JTS Drone but we're both okay. We need a location on Terra, over."

"We have located your missing squadmate in a warehouse just off the north shore of the river." The person on the other end of the comm. link said. "But be careful. The Jedi-turned-sith have troops crawling all over the place."

If I was drinking something I would have choked on it. Jedi-turned-sith? We were fighting against former Jedi who had turned to the dark side? This alternate reality was starting to look really bad to me. Whatever challenge I was supposed to face with these people was certainly going to be the hardest I'd ever faced. Going up against Jedi was hard enough for me but Jedi-turned-sith who would more than likely have enough skill to chop my head off in two seconds? There was no way. No way at all. The man, Twilight I assumed was his codename, ducked down into a bush and gestured for me to do the same. When I got down he went prone and aimed his blaster at something.

"Enemy patrol at twelve o'clock." He warned. "On your go, Tano. Take the two on the right and make it snappy."

I crawled forwards in a prone position and froze at the patrol that I saw. They weren't droids. They were Jedi that I knew and younglings that I had trained with before only older and way more sinister. Their faces were hollow and their eyes were amber. There were four of them in a patrol with Aak dogs alongside them. Red lightsabers were ignited and hung loosely at their sides with sparks of lightning occasionally appearing in their free hands. They appeared to be talking about someone that they had tortured just last night and for some unknown reason it made me angry. The person they had been torturing was known as Terra. The missing member of my squad. This whole alternate reality thing had even implanted feelings in my head.

Aiming down my sights, I waited until the two closest to me had lined up and shot once. The blaster bolt when clean through both of their heads and they dropped dead to the floor, startling the rest of their patrol. Beside me Twilight took out the other two and rushed to his feet before the Aak dogs could charge us and rip our flesh off.

"Woah, boys!" He said holding up his heads in a calming gesture at the two creatures who were currently snarling at him. "Hey, its okay. We're your handlers now."

I thought that was the stupidest thing a person could say to two very angry Aak dogs who had just watched their owners die but then I saw their eyes go cloudy for a moment and they stopped growling at us. I blinked a few times.

"What?" I had to ask in surprise and disbelief.

"Animal friendship, Tano." Twilight said. "Did you forget the name for the technique of controlling animals already?"

"Uh..." I paused for a moment. "No, sir."

"Well, why don't you try it then?" He asked and even I could see where this was going. "Try on the other Aak dog."

"Other...?" I trailed off when I saw that only one of the Aak dogs had stopped growling. "Oh, that one."

Sighing, I closed my eyes and stretched out my senses through the force to try and connect with the Aak dog. At first I thought it would be easy. I'm a force wielder now and I'm also immortal and way more powerful than any Jedi or sith. How could I not do this? I was certain that this was going to be a piece of cake but immediately found out that I was wrong when I felt the impenetrable wall around the Aak dogs mind. Inwardly I was cursing as I tried to find a weak point without pushing through and outwardly I was wincing from the strain my mind was taking whilst trying to influence a strong willed creature.

I really wished Anakin was there to help me. I mean, he'd done these challenges before and probably knew how to get into the head of a strong willed person but he was unavailable so I had to do it myself. Taking a deep breath, I summoned every bit of force strength I had and pushed at the impenetrable wall around the Aak dogs mind. It shook a little but nothing happened. Gritting my teeth, I took a deeper breath and started to repeatedly slam everything I had into the wall. It shook and shook and shook but didn't start to crumble until the sixth or seventh time I slammed into it. The Aak dog make a whimpering noise that let me know it wasn't comfortable but before I could even register that in my mind I had slammed through the wall and ordered the Aak dog to submit.

Thats when a blinding whiteness overtook my world and I couldn't think, feel or see anything for a few moments before the whiteness faded and I could see Anakin hovering over me with a concerned expression on his face.

"Ahsoka..." He said with worry etched in every one of his features. "What happened?"

I blinked. "I passed the challenge, didn't I?" I asked in confusion.

"Snips, although I am glad that you passed that," Anakin looked seriously concerned now. "You tapped into the power of the dark side."