After everything that happened with Tukson, Jacen was finally ready to see if he could make his way to Patch to meet with Yang and learn how to unlock his aura.
"She must be as busy as I am," he said.
Considering that it was likely that he and Yang would be attending Beacon in two months, he supposed she was hard at work preparing herself.
He chuckled, "At least I hope that's what she's doing."
Skipper beeped something with the notes of a question, "What about her sister?"
Jacen thought about it for a moment; Ruby was two years behind Yang at Signal, so she wouldn't likely be attending Beacon.
Though, his talk with Ozpin regarding unique recommendations came to mind.
There was something about Ruby that held great significance, but Jacen couldn't discern what it would lead to, and the Force wasn't providing answers.
He pulled out his scroll and typed in a search for Patch.
The screen shifted to a map of Vale, then highlighted the area identified as Patch with a brief description of it as a nice place to raise a family.
Inwardly, he wondered what his life might have been like if the Jedi hadn't raised him.
Who would he recognize as parents or even a home?
Daro had always been the one he'd accepted as his father.
Skipper released a series of tones that snapped Jacen out of his thoughts, "Did you find it?"
Jacen looked down at Skipper before showing the highlighted area and speaking in a snarky tone, "See for yourself, Tinny," adding just enough of Dusky's accent, making Skipper lower his head and shake it in the droid equivalent to being disappointed.
The memory of Dusky made him look over his shoulder instinctively.
She had made it clear what would happen if he let slip the nature of Tukson's underground network.
Inwardly, he also wondered just when she drew the line which made her realize the current mindset of the White Fang was steeped in blood and violence rather than what it initially stood for, or rather, what it should have been.
She had strong mental walls built up around that part of her mind.
Shaking his head, he looked down at the scroll, which indicated how far he was from Patch.
From where he was, Jacen saw Patch highlighted as a small island just off the mainland with information on travel ranging from airships to a ferry station that made regular travel to and from Patch.
The Ferry station was closer to reach than the Airship terminal, so he decided that should be the best course of action.
He turned his gaze on Skipper and gave a wry smile, "Feel like going on a cruise Skipper?"
Skipper let out a tone that left little doubt about how he detested the idea.
Jacen chuckled to himself, once during a mission, he and Skipper, with Jacen in disguise and Skipper with a different color scheme, had gotten aboard an outgoing boat that was taking cargo to a Separatist base a few miles down the river when Skipper, demonstrating his rather dangerous curiously leaned too far over the side and fell into the water.
With the help of the boatmen, Skipper got pulled out of the water.
Since then, Skipper detested the idea of going on a boat.
"How about this time, you don't lean over the side too much?" Jacen said in a rather snarky manner, which made Skipper issue a tone close to a huff as a droid could sound.
"Come on, this is important," he said, hoping Skipper would eventually resolve his reluctance.
Sure enough, Skipper eventually gave a conceding tone.
With a playful pat on the head, Jacen led the way to the ferry station, but as he did so, he had a sudden feeling of apprehension mixed with uncertainty.
He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that it wouldn't be overly cramped as he recalled a majority of the maglev trains on Coruscant were often stuffed with passengers.
However, that wasn't even the biggest issue.
The biggest issue was getting Skipper aboard and in a spot where he wouldn't fall overboard.
He noticed Skipper's photoreceptor enhancing on him as if concerned.
Rather than answer, he patted Skipper on the head and grinned mischievously.
"Oh, what kind of Jedi would I be if I couldn't find a way to suggest that my droid accompany me?" The tone in Jacen's voice seemed to imply what he was going to do, which made Skipper issue a series of tones that passed for disbelief.
Jacen put a finger to his lips, "Leave the talking to me," he said.
As Jacen approached the ferry terminal, he kept his eyes open for the next available ferry and went toward it, only for the captain to hold up a hand.
"I don't care what that thing is," the old man practically shouted.
"I ain't having that on my ferry."
Skipper seemed stunned by the older man's bluntness and was about to deploy his electric prod when Jacen stopped him.
Jacen then looked the old man in the eye, and as he waved his hand, breathing a suggestion through the Force, "It's alright," Jacen said, his voice seeming to echo as though speaking from the far end of a cave.
"He's with me," he said, finishing the first suggestion which the old man eventually repeated back.
"It's alright," he repeated.
"He's with you."
Locking eyes with the man, he made sure his next suggestion was not only the one the man would be less confrontational over, but one that would still ensure he and Skipper made it to Patch together.
"He can go in the cargo area so he isn't in the way," he said, and the man seemed to agree when he repeated the statement.
"He can go in the cargo area so he isn't in the way," he said, motioning for assistance to get a compliant but noticeably unhappy Skipper into the cargo area of the ferry.
Just before Skipper disappeared, the droid extended two flexible manipulator arms and made it abundantly clear that he'd make Jacen pay for adding him as cargo.
Jacen shrugged and breathed a silent thank you to the Force.
Mind tricks tended to work best when the suggestion was something the intended target wanted; while it was possible to plant even an unarguably suggestion, it didn't tend to have a long-term effect.
Not to mention, if one chose to, they could dominate the person's mind, but that method was brutal and would cause mental damage to the target.
Inwardly, he hoped there weren't cases of people in Remnant having the immunity to mind tricks that the Hutts, Toydarians, and Yinchorri possessed.
With Skipper safely in the cargo hold, Jacen paid the fee for a round-trip ticket and made his way aboard.
To his relief, it wasn't as crowded as he'd expected, with a few passengers, both human and Faunus, sparsely seated.
Sitting down, he looked out the port side window after the ferrymen completed their checks and the boat left the terminal.
Feeling slightly tired, he decided to lean back and close his eyes.
He was alone and scared, his once noble robes now in tattered rags.
It seemed like everywhere he went, he had to look over his shoulder.
He had ended up on Pantora less than a week after Order 66 was issued.
Fear and tragedy seemed to swell within him, he'd just left his master behind to face the clones himself, and he had left without even being able to give Daro a proper Jedi funeral.
He tried to hold onto a small hope that he'd had after managing to sneak aboard a freighter bound for Pantora.
His master's recall beacon was emitting a code stating that all Jedi were to return to the temple now that the war was over.
Maybe if he made it to Coruscant, he could meet with the other masters to explain what happened.
As he rounded a street, he heard the unmistakable sound of a parade around the next corner with the sounds of a growing crowd assembling.
Covering his face with ash and drawing his hood over his head, he followed the sound, which led him into a large city square.
Looking around, he noticed even files of clone troopers wearing the colors of the Coruscant Guard, who served as the personal clone troopers for Chancellor Palpatine.
He made sure to dive into the Force to make himself less conspicuous, which was proving difficult from his rising anxiety.
Then at once, the crowd was silent, and a magnified holo-image of a hooded man appeared.
Even beneath the hood, Jacen froze as he recognized the features of Chancellor Palpatine, but how his face had changed from the last time he'd seen the Chancellor.
"The Jedi rebellion has been foiled," Palpatine said, making the blood in Jacen's veins turn to ice.
It was that same unmistakable voice that had issued the order which turned Commander Shades and their troops against them, resulting in Daro's death.
"The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated."
Palpatine's voice was rising to a pitch of grandeur but immediately sounded mournful with his following words.
"The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed," then, just as suddenly, his voice rose to one of absolute confidence and strength.
"But, I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger."
The sound of vast applause filled the air as he noticed the Pantorans all giving praise.
What was wrong with them, he thought.
Couldn't they see what was happening?
He turned his gaze on the features of Palpatine as he delivered what Jacen felt would shake the very foundations of the Galaxy and lay bare the horror that Jacen felt.
"In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire for a safe and secure society."
The sound of applause in the square was deafening, but Jacen didn't hear it.
It was over in a single instant; the Republic, which he and the Jedi had fought to defend, was no more; in its place was the Empire, which had branded any surviving Jedi as enemies of the state.
"How dare they," Jacen said to himself, as a red vale began to arise along with his anger at these people, no, these sheep.
Gripping his lightsaber, which he hid inside his robes, a black thought seized him.
What did he have to lose now?
"Jacen!" The unmistakable voice of his master rang in his head and seemed to snap him out of his red haze.
At that instant, he noticed that not everyone was applauding.
Some looked as anxious as he felt; one, in particular, was standing at a podium at the far side of the square after Palpatine's image faded.
A female Pantoran, donning clothing that identified her as a senator, stood off to the side of a collection of individuals that made up the leadership of the moon.
Senator Riyo Chuchi, if Jacen recalled, had worked alongside Obi-wan and Anakin during their mission on Orto Plutonia, which the moon of Pantora orbited.
Perhaps she was still trying to grasp what this situation would bring to her people.
Discreetly, Jacen managed to leave the square without being noticed and slipped into an abandoned warehouse and huddled into a corner sobbing.
He nearly gave into his anger which would have sealed his fate.
Even if he had escaped, the deed he would have done would lead him straight into the open maw of the Dark Side.
For that instant, the voice of his master had managed to keep him from stumbling into that dreadful abyss.
Had his master genuinely spoken to him even though he wasn't there?
Regardless, he was grateful that, in his way, his master was still with him.
He took out his master's recall beacon, which had changed its frequency from return home to run and hide.
It gave another signal indicating a message was being sent.
When Jacen activated it, the small holo-image of Obi-wan Kenobi appeared in his hand.
For a moment, Jacen was relieved to know that Obi-wan had survived, but on closer inspection, Jacen noticed something he never thought possible.
Obi-wan looked stricken as though he had seen the aftereffects on Coruscant, and the weight of it was upon him.
"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," the message began in Obi-wan's gentle yet grave voice.
"I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place."
Tears fell from Jacen's eyes as the memory of Palpatine's declaration rang in his mind.
"This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: trust in the Force. Do not return to the Temple," Obi-wan said.
"That time has passed, and our future is uncertain."
Jacen had his lightsaber in his hand as though he were about to make a difficult choice.
"Avoid Coruscant. Avoid detection. Be secret... but be strong," something in Obi-wan's voice in the last part made Jacen raise his head.
"We will each be challenged: our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere and, in time, I believe a new hope will emerge."
Suddenly, it felt as though the fog that threatened to close in around him had been lifted, and a glimpse of daylight could be seen even though it was incredibly distant.
"May the Force be with you always," Obi-wan bowed slightly, and his image faded.
Taking a deep breath, he stood to his feet with his eyes closed, whispering to the Force, not knowing if Obi-wan, Yoda, or his own master would be able to hear his response.
"May it be with you as well, master," he said, lowering his head in the Jedi bow of respect.
When he raised himself to his full height, he determinedly opened his eyes.
"Master Daro," Jacen began.
"I don't know if you can hear me from wherever you are, but know that I won't give into despair."
His hand, which held his lightsaber, rested upon his chest where his heart was.
"I swear I will live up to your expectations and use all that you've taught me to bring about change."
Jacen awoke, realizing that he must have slept through the entire trip because the seats were beginning to empty.
"Are you okay, mister?" A young voice beside him asked.
Jacen looked down to see a young canine, Faunus with his head tilted and ears downward.
Absently, Jacen rubbed his eyes and noticed moisture there, he must have been crying just a while ago, and this kid was concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine, kid," he said, wiping away the remaining tears.
The sound of a female voice caught the child's attention, and he left Jacen's seat then turned back, showing Jacen a kind smile and a wave as he followed the female Faunus, which Jacen sensed was the boy's mother outside.
Unbidden, Jacen recalled the three Faunus children in Tukson's safe room whom Dusky had an evident soft spot for.
With a heavy sigh, he stood up and stretched before leaving.
As he headed onto the dock, a very unhappy Skipper resonated behind him, with Skipper deliberately bumping into Jacen to toss him off the pier.
"Hey," he said, turning to the droid and giving him a scathing look.
"When I wanna go for a swim, I'll ask you next time."
Skipper was mixing a series of noises that expressed his situation of being thrown into a cargo hold with some luggage and an assortment of vehicles.
"Thought you'd find it to be first class," he started laughing but jumped when Skipper deployed his electric prod and zapped Jacen in the leg.
"Why, you little sleemo," he said, with a tone that was filled with noticeable anger as he glared at said sleemo, who backed away from Jacen's withering gaze.
"Maybe I'll open up your main drive and see if we can't find out where you picked up that mean bug."
Skipper retracted his third tread and shook his head while his computer manipulator arms on the panels on each side of his head deployed and began hitting himself like a human knocks their fists against their head after they did something stupid.
"Take it easy, Skipper," he said, sounding reassuring.
This seemed to snap Skipper out of his self-inflicted atonement then Jacen turned to look at the scenery.
Patch had a peaceful presence that Jacen found almost tranquil.
"Can see how one would like to raise a family here," he said thoughtfully.
Gesturing for Skipper, he made his way off the docks and into the makings of a small town with houses made of timber from the local trees scattered about.
Inwardly, he wondered which one Yang and Ruby called home.
"I don't suppose you asked for her address," Skipper intoned with a clear teasing note.
Jacen gave a light smack on Skipper's head, "Keep quiet," he said as he closed his eyes.
Reaching through the Force, he began searching for the same presence that he felt with Ruby and Yang.
Soon enough, he felt the presence and location of both.
When he opened his eyes, they were aimed at the far side of the town with a house just on the edge of a wooded area.
A stray thought suddenly came to mind as he looked at Skipper, "You might wanna brace yourself for when you meet Ruby, Skipper," he said, getting a questioning tone from the droid.
"Let's just say as much as Ruby gushed over my blaster; she'll have a field day with you."
Skipper seemed to take that to mind as he followed Jacen.
Yang was in the game alright; nearly twenty minutes since she and Ruby began training.
"Can we have a time-out?" Ruby said, trying to catch her breath.
"At least let me get Crescent Rose."
Yang showed Ruby her bare wrists, which typically sported her Ember Celica gauntlets.
"Come on, Ruby," she said admonishingly.
"You won't always be able to rely on your weapon, so you must know how to fight without it."
She saw Ruby get back up and waited for her to be ready.
She could understand Ruby's attachment to her weapon, but she would need to know how to defend herself without it.
Especially since it wouldn't be long before Yang left for Beacon, leaving Ruby to continue her studies in Signal.
Ruby got back up on her feet before Yang went at her, her fists and kicks getting dodged or blocked by Ruby, who used her semblance to dash behind Yang, who she didn't think could react fast enough. Still, as soon as she came close, Yang aimed her fingers like a gun, making Ruby stop mid-dash and jump backward, breathing heavily.
Yang turned her head with a humorous smile and a wink, "Made you jump, Ruby."
Ruby rubbed her head in frustration, "Really, Yang?!"
Yang gave a victorious fist pump then looked at a small corgi watching them.
"That's another one for me, Zwei," she said, giving Zwei a thumbs up.
Zwei tilted his head slightly and barked.
Off to the side, she saw Ruby pouting, "Maybe I'm just not built for unarmed fighting."
Yang frowned a bit but placed a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"You'll get the hang of it one day, Ruby," she said, her voice filled with encouragement.
"You're already good with a weapon, but you must make yourself well-rounded."
She gave Ruby a reassuring hug.
The sound of Zwei barking made Yang turn her head.
"What's wrong, Zwei?" She asked.
Zwei had stood up and made his way forward like he had noticed something or someone coming.
Ruby looked to see who or what it was, and then she made out the approach of two figures still barely visible over the horizon.
"Who is that?" Ruby asked, squinting her eyes.
Yang looked in the same direction, where she could see the figures a bit better.
It didn't register at first, but as the figures approached, her eyes widened in surprise, and she let out a slight grin.
"Well, looks like we got a visitor, Ruby," she said as she approached the two, then paused.
No doubt, it was definitely that Jacen Horne guy that saved her back in Junior's nightclub, but the thing next to him wasn't familiar.
From Yang's perspective, it looked like a trash can on three motorized wheels, but the way it moved gave her the impression of it being some robot.
Her eyes fell to Zwei, who was still guarded, "Zwei, no, this guy isn't gonna hurt us."
She saw Jacen give Zwei a nervous wave before looking at Yang, "Well, guess I finally looked you up," he said with a slight chuckle.
The robot came to a dead stop as it looked at her with its eye, did the thing even have an eye, she was puzzled.
"So, what's the story with that robot?" She asked curiously.
Zwei came close to it, and it issued something that sounded like a squeal which made Zwei go back behind Yang's legs.
"He wasn't going to bite you," Jacen said, looking at the robot before returning to Yang.
"This is my astromech droid R5-7K, though just call him Skipper."
She laughed, "Well, ahoy there, Skipper," she said, giving a salute that the robot seemed to find humorous.
Even Jacen laughed, "I see your puns haven't lost their charm," he said.
Yang turned to see that Ruby had taken a very keen interest in this droid thing Jacen had brought.
"Why didn't you tell me you had something this cool!?" Ruby looked from Jacen to Skipper, pouting and brightening up when she looked at Skipper.
"So what exactly do ya do?" Ruby asked Skipper, which, as a response, he extended a grappler from one of its components and reached it out to Ruby.
"I think he wants to shake your hand, Ruby," Yang said, her arms folded across her chest.
Nervously, Ruby extended a hand that wrapped around Skipper's grappling claw, and it gave an up-and-down motion.
"That is so cool!" She said with evident excitement.
Yang gave a small chuckle before turning her attention to Jacen, who seemed to have a new air about him.
Something seemed different from when she'd last seen him; he looked like he'd been through something harrowing, as she could see from his clothes which looked more rugged than she'd seen them last.
Speaking of clothes, she noticed the holster where he kept that weapon he had, what was it called, a blaster, was gone.
Now he was wearing something made of metal with a cylindrical design with a hand grip attached to his belt.
"Where'd your blaster thing go?" She asked.
She noticed Jacen got nervous and rubbed the back of his head as she did during their first meeting, "Oh, a Beowolf stepped on it."
Yang raised an eyebrow at that statement.
When they'd first met, he didn't even know what a Grimm was, and now he knew one of them by name.
Moreover, Jacen might have been joking, but if that was true, a pang of guilt began to form in her gut.
"Did you have a place to go?" She asked, recalling what he'd said to her before they'd parted.
With a sigh, Jacen seemed to come to a hard decision.
"I didn't have anywhere to go," he admitted with a note of shame.
"I had a lot on my mind to think about, and I nearly got eaten by a pack of beowolves," he said, then reluctantly added, "With an Alpha at its head."
Yang's eyes widened further, "You nearly died fighting beowolves?" She asked in disbelief.
"You should consider yourself lucky that you made it out of that mess, as green as you were."
She winced, she realized she must sound like a scolding parent to a trouble-prone child, but she was surprised when Jacen agreed with her.
"You're right," he said.
"Until recently, I didn't even know what a Grimm was."
Suddenly, Yang seemed curious, "So how exactly did you survive?" She asked, indicating the odd weapon on his belt, if that's what it was.
As if obliging her, he unhooked the weapon and held it out.
"This is how I survived," he said without hesitation.
Perplexed, Yang visually inspected the device.
To her, it didn't look like any weapon she'd ever seen, and she remembered Ruby wanting to see it for herself.
"How did that save you?" She asked.
Suddenly, Jacen held the device and hit a switch that sprouted a meter-long bar of energy which had the appearance of a blade with a faint violet glow imitating from it.
Ruby's eyes lit up with surprise, "So that's what you were hiding in your jacket?" She asked.
Jacen nodded, "Just as Crescent Rose is an important extension of you, Ruby," he began.
"This is more than a weapon; it has a history, a tradition that goes back many generations."
Yang had never seen that kind of weapon before.
She noticed the blade made a series of noises as Jacen flourished it.
Not too good for a stealth weapon, she thought, as the second it was activated, there would be immediate notice.
"Does it have a name?" Ruby asked, looking at the weapon in a respectful way she didn't think Ruby had.
Then again, she remembered what their uncle Qrow said regarding the scythe as one of the oldest weapon forms, even though it was initially a gardening tool.
"It doesn't have a traditional name like your weapon, Ruby," Jacen said, giving the weapon another flourish before deactivating it and letting Ruby look closer.
"Though it goes by many different names, the name of this weapon is," Jacen seemed to pause, and Yang suddenly had that distinct but unmistakable feeling that often came whenever trouble occurred.
She noticed Jacen's little droid emitting a sound full of worry and concern.
With sudden realization, she understood what was happening, and she prepared herself to fight, only to stop when she realized she didn't have her gauntlets.
She grimaced and was also filled with a kind of sickening feeling.
There was no mistake about what this was; a Grimm had just shown up at the worst time when neither she nor Ruby had their weapons.
She heard Jacen's weapon being activated and saw him neatly bring the weapon into a ready stance.
The sound of broken trees drew her attention to the woods, and she gave an inward curse when she saw what it was.
"An Ursa," she said, though she heard Jacen say it along with her.
Yang knew this Ursa had to be relatively young, judging from its lack of bone-like armor and the fact that it had lumbered into a populated area.
"That's a waste of a potential bear rug," she heard Jacen say as his attention was on the Grimm.
She had to get back to the house to get hers and Ruby's weapons, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave Jacen to fight the Ursa himself.
She clenched her fist as the seeming hopelessness fed her frustration, fueling her semblance, especially when she suddenly saw Jacen getting torn to pieces and Ruby being likewise torn up.
I'll send that thing to hell if it hurts my sister, she thought, and perhaps Jacen must have read her thought because he looked directly at her and, curiously, he nodded toward the house.
"I'll keep that thing off, Ruby, while you get your weapons," he told her.
With a quick nod, Yang quickly dashed toward the house only to have the Ursa close that distance and knock her backward.
It seemed to purposely get between her and the house as if it knew to keep her away.
She gingerly picked herself up and glared at the Ursa.
Feeling her anger flare up as her semblance was amped by that blow just now, she was ready to tear this Grimm apart with or without her weapons, but if it didn't manage to kill the Grimm with one blow and she was too exhausted from the exertion, yet this Grimm was standing in her way.
The sound of Jacen's weapon made her turn her head to see it flying through the air like a saucer and strike the Ursa in the shoulder, which made it howl in pain.
Great, she thought, now Jacen had wounded it, and he was without his weapon too.
Could this day get any grimmer? She gave an inward laugh at her pun but stopped when she heard the sound of the weapon, still spinning through the air, coming around to strike the Ursa across its back before she saw Jacen with his hand stretched outward as the weapon returned to his hand.
"Over here, you ugly kriffing schutta spawn," she heard Jacen yell.
The Ursa, now thoroughly mad, turned its attention to Jacen, and the thing began to charge at him.
Yang might have made her way to the house, but she also wanted to see how the battle would play out.
Despite Jacen initially being green as grass when they first met, he seemed to be a capable fighter in how he moved.
She also saw that he could hold his ground, though with some difficulty.
Off to the side, she saw Ruby get on her feet, "Ruby try to get to the house and get our weapons," she shouted.
She saw Ruby nod her head only for the Ursa to take a vicious lunge at her, with only Ruby's semblance getting her out of the way just as Jacen cleaved the monster's arm off.
"You alright, Ruby?" Jacen asked.
Yang rubbed her eyes. Did Jacen just become a blur, then perform a deft jump to an incredible height, perform a mid-air flip, and land perfectly in time to bring the blade of his weapon down to cut through the Ursa's arm?
She watched in awe as Jacen began to bring the fight to the Ursa, which had lost any form of coordination and was flailing wildly.
It brought its claws downward with Jacen blocking, no, redirecting the attack so it never reached him.
As he did so, his weapon cut off the other arm, and when the Ursa attempted to lunge with its mouth open, trying to bite Jacen, he quickly moved to the side and with a downward sweep of the blade, he cut the Ursa's head clean off.
Yang was shocked, first the whole deal with the incredible shot which took Melanie Malachite, the second sister, down with that beam and now this.
Who or what was he?
She approached them as Jacen deactivated his weapon and clipped it to his belt, noticing that he was breathing heavily from exhaustion.
Ruby looked even more amazed than Yang did.
For a moment, Ruby didn't speak, but she inhaled for what Yang knew was going to be Ruby's biggest nerd moment.
"That…was…AMAZING!" She said, her face filled with excitement.
"That thing was all, rawr I'm gonna bite your head off," Ruby was doing an awkward impersonation of the now-dead Ursa.
"Then you were like, heya, not today!"
Yang noticed Jacen laughing at Ruby's enthusiasm.
"Well, I guess he just couldn't bear with me," Jacen said, making Yang laugh.
"I thought I was the one with the puns," she said after finishing her laugh.
Where did he learn to do that? She wondered.
Jacen was breathing heavily after his fight with the Ursa.
He was grateful that, at least this time, he didn't nearly get mauled during this encounter.
One thing Jacen wasn't counting on during his fight was the resiliency of the Ursa's claws.
They seemed to be resistant to his lightsaber despite his initial thoughts regarding the alpha beowolf he fought.
Other Grimm must have bones or bone-like armor that were probably more lightsaber resistant than the kind on others.
More likely, the longer an elder Grimm lived, the more evolved its offensive and defensive capabilities became.
Throughout that time, he had relied on his specialized Ataru form to attack, then switched to Soresu to redirect the Ursa's claws.
He remembered Daro strongly discouraging Jacen from using Ataru if he crossed blades with Count Dooku, partly due to his familiarity with the form's flaws. He so encouraged Jacen to master a form that was unique to him, which not even Dooku could recognize.
However, Ataru was often Jacen's preferred style, and he'd worked hard to adapt it to a new form.
As he put his lightsaber back onto his belt, he grinned at Ruby's enthusiastic outlook on what he had just done.
"That…was…AMAZING!" She said, her face filled with excitement.
"That thing was all, rawr I'm gonna bite your head off," Ruby was doing an awkward impersonation of the now-dead Ursa.
"Then you were like, heya, not today!"
Jacen couldn't help but laugh himself.
"Well, I guess he just couldn't bear with me," he said, adding a bit of Yang's puns into his words.
Inwardly he grimaced; I can't believe I just went that direction, he thought to himself.
To his surprise, Yang laughed at his pun.
"I thought I was the one with the puns," she said after finishing her laugh.
Jacen shrugged but immediately seemed concerned.
He'd just openly used his lightsaber in front of these two, and now he felt sure he had brought them into danger.
"You okay?" Ruby asked in genuine concern.
"I suppose I have a lot more on my mind since, well, I'll also be going to Beacon," he said and saw Yang's eyes widen with surprise.
"No way!" She exclaimed.
"They accepted you even though you've never attended one of the junior academies?"
Jacen nodded, "Apparently, they also accept through recommendation, and I guess something I did caught the headmaster's eye well."
Yang was about to reply with a slightly teasing comment, something about how nearly getting killed by beowolves got him a one-way ticket to Beacon. Still, she ultimately decided against it, especially after seeing him in action.
"Where'd you learn all that anyway?" She asked.
She saw Jacen taking a perhaps over-exaggerated sigh when he replied.
"Honestly, Yang, you'd find it hard to believe," he said.
"It's not about what I believe; it's about what I just saw," she said, stepping closer to him with a renewed interest.
"Let's start from the top," she raised her hand to tick off points on her fingers.
"First, you made an incredibly accurate shot on a small target just in time to get the drop on Melanie Malachite," she raised a second finger.
"Secondly, you moved fast enough to match Ruby while using her semblance possibly," she continued, "Lept right into the air at an incredible height, did a mid-air flip, managing to land in time to take off that Ursa's arm."
Her hand had four of her fingers up before she added the fifth reason, "Finally, you fought that Grimm as though you could anticipate its movements before they happen, all while using fighting styles I've never seen in anyone who uses a classic sword."
She stopped to give Jacen time to explain her mentioned points.
There wasn't much point in holding it off, Jacen thought inwardly.
She'd already named the times he demonstrated his capacity as a skilled warrior.
His mind returned to when he'd explained what he was to Tukson.
Though he knew the potential risks, he wanted to be at least able to trust others with his secret.
He didn't think they needed the whole story yet, as not only would they be unable to understand, they'd probably think he was crazy.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "I'm part of a secretive group of warriors known as Jedi," he said.
"There are no written accounts of my clan, so no one in Remnant would know about them."
Yang and Ruby both seemed curious.
"Were they similar to Huntsmen and huntresses?" Ruby asked curiously.
Jacen nodded, "In a sense, there are many things the Jedi shared with the huntsmen and huntresses," he said.
"For one thing, they have a connection with their primary weapon, the lightsaber in this case."
He gave the aforementioned lightsaber a flourishing twirl in his hand.
"As to other connections, they believed in a mystical energy known as the Force."
Jacen sensed a hint of frustration in Ruby as she struggled to absorb the information.
"So the Force is like your semblance?" Yang inquired, to which Jacen cordially nodded.
"It lets me and, subsequently, my fellow Jedi perform various capabilities," he said.
However, Jacen's vigor quickly vanished as he dwelled on the old pain he carried.
Yang seemed to notice instantly as she asked, "Are there others like you?"
"There used to be," he said, adding just enough emphasis on the word "use" as possible.
"They were all but wiped out, and I barely escaped with my own life."
Jacen could feel the sting of tears forming in his eyes; this part, at least, he wanted both Yang and Ruby to hear.
"My father, Daro Kilaeon sacrificed himself so that I could get away; I wasn't even able to give him a proper funeral in the Jedi tradition."
It was perhaps the most genuine thing he'd said regarding how Daro had been.
He stopped when he noticed Yang and Ruby had gathered around him in a sympathetic hug.
"I'm sorry if we unknowingly opened any painful memories," Yang said, as she was adopting a comforting smile. Still, underneath, Jacen could sense Yang had a painful memory that occupied her often.
He began wiping tears from his eyes.
"It's alright," he said, trying not to shed any more tears.
"I've been carrying that burden for some time now, and it felt good to talk about it finally."
Yang, as was her accustomed personality, tossed her arms around Jacen and Ruby's shoulders.
"So you came all this way, Jacen; why don't we show ya around Patch for a bit," She said, leading them to the house.
"I planned on being here for a while," Jacen said.
"I wanted to get some hands-on training from you about something I've been struggling with."
Yang raised an eyebrow, "Really, so what can Professor Yang Xiao Long teach our intrepid Jedi warrior?" She asked.
Jacen seemed embarrassed when he spoke, "I need help to awaken my aura."
Yang looked at him briefly, "You mean the Jedi never taught you about aura?"
He shook his head, "They followed a specific principle and were very rigid to a fault," he said without joy or apparent resentment.
"My father had a different view, but fate had to be overly cruel."
A sour expression seemed to cross Yang's face, "That's unfortunate," she said but immediately perked up.
"Don't you worry, I'll help ya get your aura going smoothly."
With a reassuring pat on the back, Jacen was led into the house.
END