Disclaimer:

I do not own any rights to Star Wars. This is merely fan fiction by a fan and not someone even remotely involved in any Marvel or Lucas Film property. That being said I do hope you enjoy it.

Anakin wasn't surprised by the huge amount of guards patrolling the landing dock. Nor was he surprised when a group of armed soldiers welcomed Padme when they landed, all loops were different but this was one of the few things that happened 99% of the time.

"Padme Amidala, a pleasure!" A man in a long gown greeted them. He wasn't the senator of Corellia but from the way he dressed, he certainly seemed to have some sort of high-ranking government position. Not so much because of his clothes but rather because Anakin had developed an almost superhuman ability to pick out those involved in politics from the crowd. Like a bird that knew which frogs were poisonous, he had an instinctual ability to spot the most toxic and rotten people in the galaxy. Government officials.

"I wish I could say the same yet I land after days of travel to the welcoming sight of blasters and soldiers."

"Nothing but a formality." The man waved off as if having several armed guards was a natural greeting. "Preparing Contemplanys Hermi has been rather busy, but I assure you Padme we will have your ship restocked, refuelled and ready to ship you out tomorrow to Coruscant straight away. We have booked out at a wonderful 20-star hotel, with absolutely stunning beachside views. There is a minor beach nudity problem, but we're working on that."

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, a very very small group of elderly are trying to make the beach a nudist beach. We would just use law enforcement usually but one push and their bones would snap. We're thinking of ways to get rid of them but in my opinion, all we have to do is wait a week and they'll keel over dead by age."

"No not that. Ew, by the way. But what are you talking about? I was scheduled to leave in a weeks time, not tomorrow."

"Oh yes, we have booked you for a week but with Contemplanys Hermi officially commenting tomorrow we can't house any Senators from other planets. I understand that this is inconvenient but Contemplanys Hermi is Contemplanys Hermi." The man shrugged as if what he was talking about was just as simple as 2 + 2 = 4.

"Contempary Hermey?"

"Contemplanys Hermi." Anakin corrected. "It means 'I'm a little bitch'."

"It actually means meditative solitude. Whose this wonderful little character, Padme?"

"This is Vader," Padme massaged the bridge of her nose. "He's someone our crew picked up from my trip to the outer rim."

"That clearly explains his mannerisms."

"Suck my dick." Anakin flipped him off.

"We are getting off-topic," Padme scowled. "What is this Hermi thing?"

"Contemplanys Hermi, it's Coreilla's constitutional right to close borders and adopt a state of neutrality whilst still remaining a member of the Republic. It's a rather elegant solution is it not."

"It's fucking pathetic!"

"Padme!" Garm Bel Iblis cried.

"Nah she's right. You guys are a bunch of cowards."

"Who even are you? Guards can we get rid of this miscreant, this is a private conversation between Senator Amidala and me."

"Vader stays." Padme bared her teeth at the two guards who looked at each other unsure what to do neither of which was in a good enough mood to risk getting bitten by a feral Senator.

"Damn right bitch." Anakin and Padme gave each other a quick no-look high-five.

"Don't call me a bitch in meetings though." Padme leaned over to whisper to Anakin who shrugged.

"A fair point, one I will choose to ignore."

"Can we please just get back to the topic at hand?" Garm sighed.

Garm was a human who was just beginning to enter his later stages of life. His hair was more white than its original colour, his face had begun to wrinkle just from the look on his face Anakin could tell that every year spent in office caused his soul to die a little more. Anakin almost pitied the man looking at the stacks upon stacks of paper that covered his desk, almost all of them with a big red DENIED stamped over it.

"Of course, back to the topic of why you are being a coward."

"It's not cowardice!" Garm cried convincing no one in the room. "Chancellor Palpatine is pushing the Military Creation Act and more and more planets are convinced it's a good idea. People are scared Padme, xenophobia has always been a Republic problem. We are the majority of the human population in the galaxy, yet we see more and more of these powerful alien empires leave the Republic in favour of people who don't look like us. I fear we might have another Pius Dea on our hands."

Pius Dea. Anakin had never experienced the first one being long before his birth but he had experienced one or two recreations in the loops when xenophobia got especially bad. It was a holy crusade in the name of the human deity 'the goddess' that caused the deaths of millions of aliens. 30 wars, mass death of alien life. Once Anakin had tried building his own empire whilst still allied to the Republic, unfortunately, he needed room to build his power so he had to build away from the core using alien races. Palpatine didn't like this but Anakin's allegiance prevented him from attacking so Palpatine reenacted Pius Dea in a loop that got really bloody. Caused a galactic-wide race war as it was no longer Republic against enemies it was human vs enemies. Even the Jedi fought against each other destroying themselves.

"And your solution is to sit back and watch it happen?!"

"My solution is to not let the people who have entrusted their lives to me die in a war that should have never been fought. Corellia is the core's primary ship production source, whose navy do you think is going to bomb villages and transport murderers from alien planet to planet? Cause it won't be mine. If I can't stop the war then I can't at least not be a part of it."

"Not part of it?" Padme's face scrunched up in disgust. "I hate to tell you this but your neutrality makes you a part of this. You are the main defence against the MCA! Many Senators follow you because of the power Corellia holds in the core. You stepping back is letting this Act pass, letting people like me trying to fight against it alone."

"I understand your frustration Pad-"

"Senator Amidala." Padme glared, a silent 'fuck you, we aren't friends'.

"Senator Amidala." Garm corrected whincing as the words escaped his lips. "I understand your frustration, how this could feel like betrayal. But the people of Corelllia come first and I will not apologize for protecting my people."

"You shutting your borders will kill your economy. You'll throw your population into poverty."

"It will be a difficult time but not something we can't survive."

"It's pointless Padme, you can't convince a coward to be brave." Anakin sneered earning him a glare from the Corellian Senator.

"B-but." Padme looked desperately between the two of them scrambling for any words that could help her. She would never find the words as a knock at the door interrupted them.

"Jericho now really isn't a good time." A young rather man who Padme and Anakin had met at reception opened the door slightly, enough to reveal his face.

"Um, I know. I tried to convey that bu-"

Before the assistant could finish his sentence a person burst through the door pushing past the assistant as if he didn't exist.

"Garm! The docks were supposed to be closed by yesterday! So imagine my surprise when I walk in and realise that the docks are still open. Master Oogway is furious, we can't be behind schedule on this. The whole point of this is to catch the Republic by surprise. Show them the error of their ways through shock and awe. Yet, by the time we finally close the docks half of the Galaxy will know what we are up to."

"Jedi knight Shifu. A pleasure as always." Despite Garm's warm greeting the way he forced the words through his teeth said otherwise.

The green robes, the arrogant posturing, the sneer. Anakin hated the Jedi for their bais, yet even he could admit that they were still the best option. They were flawed but unlike the Sith or Hutts they weren't actively trying to make the Galaxy worse. They were something Anakin had accepted as something he could live with. They were fine.

These people were not. They were hopeless even by Anakin's standards. The useless of the useless, completely pointless, whatever was the opposite of the cream of the crop.

"Corellian," Anakin growled under his breath so softly that only Padme heard it.

She gave him a sideward glance, which Anakin rolled his eyes at. No, he wasn't racist. He didn't hate Corellians, he just hated Corellian Jedi. As did most of the Order. They were unbearable even by Jedi standards.

"Who are these two?" Shifu asked finally acknowledging the presence of the two people he interrupted.

"This is Senator Amidala of Naboo and Vader her… "

"Bodyguard/boy toy." Padme and Anakin said respectively which earned him an elbow jab to the ribs.

Shifu's eyes flared with anger. For one not at him though, instead, the Jedi's ill will was directed at Padme.

"A senator… why? Just why would you think that would be a good idea when we are trying to shut the planet down?"

"Amidala is a friend, she too opposes MCA. She is not our enemy."

"Anyone not from Corella is the enemy. These, things," the Jedi gestured to Padme and Anakin. "They are invasive pests who will do nothing but damage all we have built. They bring crime, disease and their idiocy to our homes."

"Shifu. That is enough, they are guests."

"They have overstayed their welcome."

"They are still standing right here." Padme huffed finally being sick of being a spectator to her own insults.

"And that's the problem. You shouldn't be here." The Jedi glared, venom dripping off his tongue.

"B-b-but… you're a Jedi, you stand for the people of the Republic. Do you even know what your government is doing?!"

"Of course I know. I was the first to bring it up to the temple." Shifu proudly puffed out his chest. "And I serve Corellia, the Republic is a sickening corrupt order that does nothing but lower the standard of what it means to be sentient."

"How could you?!"

"How could I? Very easily, I only had to sign like one document. Honestly, I'm as shocked as you about how smooth this process has been thus far."

Anakin rolled his eyes at the antics of Padme and the Jedi as what could only be described as a gladiatorial screaming match ensued until eventually the Jedi finally acknowledged Anakin's presence.

To a regular person who has never seen a Jedi wouldn't be able to recognise a lightsaber. With all the different shapes and sizes most civilians only could tell it was a lightsaber when there was a plasma blade coming out of it, otherwise, most people just thought it was some sort of stylist pipe or technology from another planet they didn't know.

Unfortunately, Shifu was not one of these people who couldn't recognise it, Anakin would have felt a little bit of pride at surprising a Jedi though deep down he knew this would be more trouble than it was worth.

"That's a lightsaber," Shifu said pushing Padme to the side. The look on Padme's face promised death but he was too busy focusing on Anakin to notice.

"How observant of you." Sneered Anakin.

"We heard from the Coruscant order that there was a missing Padawan." Anakin rolled his eyes, of course, a Corelian Jedi wouldn't call the Coruscant order the central order or the main order.

"So? Plenty of Padawans change their mind, I'm hardly the first."

"Yes, but this specific Padawan was important enough for Grandmaster Yoda himself to deliver the message. Human, approaching his twenties, you're missing the braid but you look almost identical to your profile. Did you even try to disguise yourself?"

Anakin bit the inside of his cheek, stupid green toad making a bigger deal of things than they were. So what if he was rumoured to be the chosen one, so was Mace Windu! Why couldn't that purple lightsaber arse be helpful for just once? Besides his plan was to hide in the outer rim shooting himself up with chemicals. He didn't need a disguise for that.

"I have no clue what you mean?" Anakin nonchalantly waved the Jedi off though he certainly didn't seem too impressed.

"Sure," The Jedi said unconvincingly. "Still, Master Oogway would like to see you, just to be on the safe side."

"I'm good right here."

"Okay, so this just isn't my office I guess," Garm whined earning him two hate-filled glares and one of mild confusement from Anakin. Had he been here the whole time?

"We can take this to the temple. Senator Garm has lots of trade deals to cancel and nosy Senators to ship out anyway." Shifu smirked.

"FINE! Vader let's go to this stupid temple. Maybe there is a Jedi who can see how stupid this whole thing is because they don't have their head up their arse!"

"I don't wanna go."

"Vader!"

"Coming," Anakin grumbled following Padme as she, rather intentionally, knocked past Shifu who clearly underestimated the strength of a politically enraged woman as he stood his ground and much to Anakin's amusement lost that battle. Though as Anakin walked past he did catch a small whisper of the Jedi.

"Vader?" Shifu scratched his chin in thought, "Did I read the name wrong?"

The temple was impressive. All Jedi temples were, they were symbols of peace and prosperity. They promised the people that they were safe because in this building, there were warriors who were unmatched both in moral and physical combat. You would think due to the strict and asceticist nature of the Jedi the builds would be modest, yet the large statues and the stained glass artwork said anything but. You can't exactly say how modest you are unless you build huge buildings telling everyone how modest you are Anakin supposed.

"Woah," Padme exclaimed. She always was a bit of an archelogy nerd.

"Impressed?" Shifu smirked in false ignorance. He probably had a whole speech prepared for any guest walking into the temple.

"You have murals of the creation of Corellia?" Padme noted walking down the halls as several elaborate artworks depicted the recreation of Coreilla and its affiliation with the Republic Jedi.

"Yes, we Corellian Jedi are very connected with our Planet. Many Jedi temples like to separate themselves from the culture of their people, yet how can you help the people if you don't understand them? The Corellian people and Jedi are very close and that is something to be celebrated and not shunned like other temples."

"I don't see any of the Jedi's history." Anakin sneered.

"There is enough of that at Coruscant. It would get dreadfully boring if he just copied and pasted every temple in the galaxy."

"I don't know, you seemed to have managed to emulate the elitist and pretentious atmosphere of the Coruscant temple. Even added a little foreigner prejudice, very nice." Anakin noted as they walked dragging his hand against the wall and statues earning many angry looks from the Jedi.

Padme and Anakin stood out in the sea of green-robed Jedi. What was more concerning to Anakin though was the fact that the longer that Padme and Anakin walked through the temple the more dense the Jedi were becoming. They were talking to each other, spreading rumours about the two outsiders which was drawing more attention than Anakin would have liked.

Eventually the group of three came to a stop, though not at the Council room as Anakin suspected. Instead, the room was filled with sparing mats and all sorts of practice droids. Shit, he could see where this was going.

"Master Oogway is unfortunately busy. There are riots protesting Contemplanys Hermi which requires his attention, don't worry though I have been informed he won't be long."

"Wonderful." Anakin rolled his eyes.

The small group of younglings in the middle of class all turned looking at Anakin and Padme with eyes that seemed too big to their head. This actually might be the first time they've seen clothes that weren't green, even the eldest couldn't have been older than 8. They've probably spent their whole lives in the temple.

"Shifu, it's been quite some time. Not only that but you've brought guests." An elderly Jedi lamented. Anakin couldn't help but wonder how old he was, Dooku reached 83 by the end of the Clone Wars and while most non-force sensitive humans at that age was having bladder control issues, he was killing armies and battling Jedi half as old twice as good.

This old man though was struggling to walk and relied on his lightsabre remade into a walking sick in order to move.

"Master Kai," Shifu bowed. "This is Vader from the Coruscant temple."'

"He doesn't look like much of a Jedi." The old man poked at Anakin with his cane giving a disapproving hum at Anakin's clothes.

"That's cause I'm not."

"Grey-Jedi? Truly the Curoscant temple has failed you as it has many others, though we at Corellia will openly welcome you." Both Shifu and Anakin cringed at the thought, neither wanting that.

"I didn't think you were too fond of outsiders," Padme growled tired of being ignored. Her lack of force ability made her… well, unimportant. A non-force sensitive in a Jedi temple was the kid everyone wanted to leave the party.

"And who might you be?"

"Senator Amidala."

"A senator that's… a shame. You are here to try convince us that we shouldn't close our borders? Very well, you may wait here for Master Oogway to return but much like the others before you, you'll find the answer you seek to be rather lacklustre."

"We'll see."

"As for you Vader, perhaps you have some wisdom from your time in the temple you'd like to share." Kai stepped aside to reveal the many eager eyes of the younglings all eager to hear from the mysterious stranger.

They would have to wait though as Anakin mused over what wisdom he could share. Over his thousands of years spent in the loops he certainly had plenty. He could tell them that war crimes only counted if victims survived, or maybe that marinating steak in lemon juice and tenderising even the toughest of steaks. He could even tell them about how awful the Jedi were, something Shifu also realized judging by the concerned look on his face. The Jedi knight looked tempted to leap across the room and cover the ears of the poor younglings about to hear anti-Jedi propaganda.

Not that Anakin would of course. Anything he said negatively about the Jedi could be used tell the younglings how awful the other temples were. That non-Corellian Jedi was the worst. But, if he said something positive then it would just make the Jedi order look better. Was it intentional on Kai's part?

"Train and study hard and you'll go far." Anakin said causing the younglings too all roll their eyes and try to hide their groaned. They had probably been told that a hundred times by a hundred different people. As far as advice went that was basically flavourless, everyone knew that if you put effort in you get rewarded.

"Well said," Kai agreed patting Anakin on the back. "But we should be getting back to class. Come now let's not disturb Mr Vader anymore."

The kids whined and pouted, their hungry for the world outside of the temple left unsatisfied. All the kids went back to focusing on their class… all but one who looked at Anakin's lightsaber with curiosity.

"Can you show me some moves?" The little boy asked Vader.

Before he could tell the kid to go back to class the other kids quickly turned their heads, the sound of an unmade promise of something interesting. With the speed that Anakin wished he had the swarm of children assaulted him. Tiny hands pulling at his clothes and eyes looking up at him with childlike innocence.

"Please!"

"Pretty please!"

"Can you? Can you?!"

"Yes please Master Vader," Anakin winced at that comment, so many loops but so few did he ever become a master.

"Oh I don't know about that?" He looked to the side begging for someone to help but Shifu was jealous of the attention being given to Vader and Padme was hiding her laughs behind her hand.

Traitor.

"Well, I suppose 'Master'," Shifu scoffed at the word. "-Vader could duel against me. We could show the younglings a proper spar."

All the kids looked up at him with such desire that it made it really hard for him to say no, however, he would. This just wasn't worth the effort, he could live with disappointing some kids. He's lived with worse.

"As much as I'd like to see Vader's pride get shattered, we need to meet with Master Oogway right away." Padme rejected for him, a small mercy.

"Quite you. This is Jedi matters, just sit and watch and do whatever Senators do. I assume collect taxes and take bribes."

Padme looked ready to tear his head off at being spoken to in such a way but unfortunately, she wouldn't get a chance.

"Bring it." Anakin sneered.

It had taken Vader nearly 10 minutes to get changed into Jedi robes. Despite being told there were bathrooms down the hall Vader was insistent he had no clue where he was and just told everyone to wait outside the room, which surprised Padme. She didn't think he was a shy guy. Still, those robes didn't look that confusing, why had it taken him so long to get changed?

Padme sat a little out of place in the audience, the rumour of Shifu fighting some ex-Jedi had spread throughout the temple during the wait. Yet, all the Jedi hated her due to her not being from Corellia, however, she didn't really want to stand with the kids. Perhaps she should have just bit the bullet and suffered the embarrassment of being sat at the kids' table as now she stood alone making it even more awkward.

Unlike her Vader looked like extremely comfortable in his green robes. When she entered the room she expected the robes given to him to be in a burning heap with profanity written on the walls as he danced around naked. Instead, he looked rather disinterested suppressing a yawn that threatened to break out.

"You certainly took your time getting changed." Shifu sneered at Vader who shrugged in response.

"The rules of the spar is standard-" Kai started, he seemed to take up the position of the umpire of this whole endeavour.

"I don't know standard rules," Vader said raising a hand.

"Lightsabers on practice mode, no attacking the head, nothing that will cause permanent or excessive damage. Don't attack an opponent while they are down and treat your opponent with respect."

"Yeah I can't do that last part." Vader sneered earning him a finger up from Shifu. Shifu despite Vader's teasing looked positively thrilled, Padme had no illusion that Vader would lose. She didn't know much about Jedi culture but Padawan seemed worse then a knight. This was just a publicity stunt for the kids, to show how much better their order then whatever temple Vader came from. Or rather maybe it was to show them they should stay in the temple, either way this wasn't just for a friendly spar.

Vader hadn't even reached the rank of knight by the time he left, she didn't even know when he had left. This was unfair, it was probably why Vader looked so relax. He knew he was going to lose so why worry about it?

"As long as you follow the no serious harm rule then I suppose I can live with it." Kai glared, or rather tried too. The Jedi was so old his skin sagged over his eyes. "Three strikes to win, limbs are worth one and body shots are worth two."

"I'm going to enjoy this." Shifu smirked as he bowed, more so out of requirement rather than respect.

"That makes one of us I suppose." Vader sighed bowing in response.

The two got into what Padme assumed was battle stances. Shifu's looked more… square? She didn't really know anything about combat and Jedi combat was even more of a mystery to her. Clearly, it must have meant something as Vader looked over at Shifu's stance before changing his own.

"The kid's smart. Soresu is probably the most popular stance, among the Jedi. No weaknesses and a flawless defence, no offensive ability either but Jedi can out last any individual. Fatigue will defeat their opponent. Since there is no weakness there is no secret way to beat it. But, form II isn't a bad idea. Conserves energy and if any form was to break through Shifu's defence it would makashi. Though he looks frustrated, he's making lots of adjustments to his stance. Like he knows what he should look like but his body doesn't. He's probably studied lots of holocrones yet never actually used them. That's probably the good thing about so little training, the lack of training means he doesn't have a set form yet."

Padme gave a sideward glance besides her, trying not to look too eager for attention. This was the first Jedi, besides those two when she was younger, who had treated Padme with something that wasn't disgust or hatred.

"You'll have to excuse me. I don't know much about what's going on right now."

"No offence but you do seem rather out of place." He agreed and although he was right Padme still gave an annoyed grumble. He could have at least pretended she was just being modest. "Tell me about the boy? Is he skilled with a blade?"

He had defended her against the Starweirds… though she hadn't seen him and he did look close to death afterwards. Everyone else here seemed to think this was going to be an easy win if the way they laughed at Vader when they thought she wasn't watching.

"Honestly, I don't think so. I've never seen him properly use it before."

"I don't see this going well for the boy. Shifu has only recently been made a knight but he was the top duelist of his year-"

"I said I didn't think he was skilled with a blade, not that he would lose." Padme growled, she didn't know why she was getting so worked at someone saying Vader would lose even though she also thought it deep down. Maybe it was the fact he was kind of her bodyguard kind of not. She couldn't have people insulting her employees.

"My apologies, I meant no insult. I didn't realise you two were quite so close, and if it's any consolation I agree with you.

"We aren't close," she sighed. "And really?"

"Corellia and Courscant have never been on good terms. They say we show bias and I will admit we do but Corellia is the perfect planet. It's people are law abiding and good hearted. It regularly scores extrmely highly on quality of life in Republic surveys and I've grown to appreciate the culture. Bias yes, but I can't imagine a better planet or people then this." Padme was about to ask what relevance this had but the Jedi opened his mouth again before she could.

"That's why it was so strange for Grand Master Yoda to ask of us himself, to look out for a certain seventeen year old human. Honestly I suspected that he stole a holocrone of some sort for such importance. Yet, here stands before me a seventeen year old ex-padawan about to duel a knight with not even a bit of fear or concern despite having every reason too."

"It's just a spar." Padme murmured confused and a little bit creeped out, it was just a practice fight after all.

"Lightsabres on practice mode still hurt, kyber is powerful and you can only damper it so much, like quickly moving your hand through a candle. We don't allow any face attacks cause they still can burn the retina and prolonged contact can cause permanent scarring. It's natural to treat these spars quite serious."

Well that was worrying. Would Vader be okay? He looked unbothered but then again he looked unbothered even when he was last time he was injured. Stupid Vader making her worry.

"YOU GOT THIS VADER! KICK HIS ARSE!" Padme yelled cupping her hands to the side of her mouth in order to increase volume as much as surprise of the Jedi who all turned to look at her as she screamed out her lungs.

Even Vader gave a concerned look at her and she put fo nowhere cheered for him. Yet even though he rolled his eyes and readjusted himself back to his stance, she noticed the small smile on his lips.

Kai gave a disapproving look at Padme after her sudden outburst but turned back to Shifu and Vader. With a wave of the old man's hands the battle began and surprisingly is was Vader who attacked. If what the Jedi next to her said was true then it made sense Shifu wouldn't make the first attack with a defensive stance.

The first strikes were easily deflected by Shifu as Vader probed the older Jedi. Arms, legs, torso, left or right. No attack was the same as Vader twirled and danced around Shifu never saying close enough for the counters Shifu tried to land. After a few more attempts Vader retreated back after an unsuccessful flurry of blows.

"Already? That was quick."

"He's already tired?" Padme asked, you would think for someone who had so much sex he would last a bit longer.

"No, he's already found Shifu's slower on his lower left side."

"He also is good," another Jedi scowled, as if complementing Vader was some sort of sin. More and more Jedi were starting to surround her.

No, not her. But rather the Jedi she was standing next too. They wanted to be with him and she was just along by proxy.

"His knowledge of form III is quite impressive, his spacing and movement is the textbook example of what to do against it." The other Jedi continued

"He does have one nasty habit though." A different Jedi spoke up. "He has too much knowledge not enough practical training."

"Yes, you've noticed it too?"

"Noticed what?" Padme glared.

"He thinks he's better than he is, his body can't keep up with his thoughts."

Again Vader launched himself at Shifu but now that the Jedi around her pointed it out she did notice that Vader kept favouring Shifu's weakest defence point. Almost playing with him as he fainted and forced Shifu to over-extend to defend himself.

Vader in an acrobatic display leapt forward knocking Shifu's lightsaber to the side, not hard enough to sent it flying away but with enough finesse to leave his abdomen exposed. Yet when Vader landed preparing to peirces Shifu his legs didn't catch up with him and his legs buckled under a poor landing. Gravity held Vader bringing him to a knee and while he tried to jump away Shifu brought his lightsaber back up and hit Vader's arm as he rolled back.

"One to Shifu." Kai called out announcing the points and the crowd of Jedi cheered.

Padme bit the inside of her lip watching Vader stand up with a scowl. Though he didn't scowl at Shifu like she thought he would rather at himself hitting his slow leg with the hilt of his sabre as if to say 'wake up'.

"Come on Vader." She whispered to herself.

Vader got into his stance again but now he adopted a stance reminiscent to how she saw Dooku hold himself. She could see his chest rise and fall as he took deep breaths in before with one puff of air out he moved again. If the last one was too advanced then this one was just unfair as he twirled with each collision of lightsabres Vader twirled a little faster using the glancing blows of the lightsabre to speed himself up. There was no weight behind his blows but with such speed Shifu struggled to keep up and couldn't land a good block that would halt Vader's momentum.

Faster and faster Vader stuck until- "one point to Vader."

His blue saber had got a shallow blow to Shifu's lower leg thigh that was so quick if Padme wasn't staring so intensely she would have missed.

Yet despite Kai's call out the two didn't stop as the two blue lightsabres became less of a blade and more of waves clashing over and over again so fast that Padme couldn't keep up.

So this was why the Jedi were kept in such high regard. Seeing it first hand she understood now why Grakkus was so willing to put up with Vader's attitude. Having a Jedi at your command was like being able to point to one person and having them die on the spot. What are you suppose to do when a person with a sword that can cut through anything leaps at you with the speed of a blaster bolt?

Faster and faster they went until Vader's lightsaber was knocked to the side by Shifu and the knight was able to cut through Vader's arm earning him one more point.

"He's trying to be too fancy to make up for the physical difference. His body just isn't ready for those sorts of manoeuvres."

"He's doing well though, Shifu is quite good. For a Padawan to face a knight speaks volume of his potential."

"You give the boy too much credit. He only scored a glancing blow against Shifu, his strike was a shallow cut while Shifu would have left him without limbs." A rather bitter lady scowled

"You say that like you'd beat Shifu." Another teased.

"No, I wouldn't, but neither will he at this rate."

Vader got up his annoyance present on his face more at himself than at his opponent. Once again the two looked at each other most likely running through hundreds of possible engagements with the speed only their mind could create. With two points behind it certainly wasn't impossible for Vader to lose but with Shifu's strong defense the concept of a body shot was much more unlikely than Vader making another mistake and losing his last point.

"I'll congratulate you Vader. You did better than I thought you would, but don't fret. Better people than you have lost to me."

"You really do love the sound of your own voice don't you?"

"Scathing, that's probably the most you've done to hurt me." Shifu laughed. What a pretentious arse, still Padme couldn't help but notice Vader's small smile. He was enjoying himself? Of course Vader was a masochist, why was she surpised?

"Maybe, although Shifu, I'll win." Vader's smile turned into a smirk as the many circular practice droids around the room came to life.

The whole room was shocked as dozens of droids flew around the room all launching themselves at Shifu. They flew around him like a hurricane.

"Protocol 'I'll win'. Max difficulty active." The droids recited as one.

"Wait what?! Stop!" They didn't as he first bolt was fired from one of the droid. "Override, 1234! Stop!"

Despite Shifu's orders, the several droids didn't stop instead showering him in low-heat energy bolts. He did his best to defend himself as these droids like wasps flew around him at speeds that would even challenge a Jedi. Everyone couldn't understand why this was even happening… everyone but Padme and Vader.

Whenever something goes wrong Padme knew Vader was somehow responsible and the second this 'random' event occured her eyes fell on Vader who looked positively jovial. Her bodyguard moved the second the bolts started to fire.

The droids looked to favour Shifu as Vader effortlessly flew past the droids untargeted who whilst Shifu was busy trying his best to deflect the many many attacks started to attack himself. Shifu to his credit not wanting to lose the duel ignored the droids and instead focused on defending against Vader's assault. Yet by the wince by Shifu when a bolt finally made it past his defence told Padme that these training bolts weren't exactly painless.

Shifu tried his best but being attacked by Vader and several training droids in wasn't long before Shifu's defence faltered. While he did his best to ignore the pain Shifu was forced to start defending against the training droids again finding the constant stinging unbearable. This was his mistake as he brought his sabre up to defend himself Vader went low and to Shifu's left bringing his lightsabre up diagonally cutting across Shifu's body from hip to shoulder.

"And I do believe thats three points to me. You lost."

At the words 'you lost' the droids fell out the air. Lifeless as if

"Y-y-you cheated!" Shifu cried.

"Twasn't against the rules."

"Don't you Twas me you arsehole. That's why you spent so long getting changed, you… messed with the droids. You planned this!"

"Obviously," Vader scoffed. "A win is a win though."

He cheated, everyone in this room knew it. But still no one looked bothered by it, some even giggling at Shifu's misfortune.

Before Shifu could scream his head off at the Jedi that had first approached Padme had walked out of the audience and approached Shifu and Vader.

"Come now Shifu, underhanded… prehaps," the Jedi gave a glance over to Vader who smirked proudly. No doubt Vader thought the word underhanded was a compliment. "But it wasn't explicitly against the rules and this does teach the younglings a good lesson."

"Oh yeah, and what's that Master Oogway? That cheaters prosper."

"That not everyone is going to play fair, I can't imagine a better lesson for our younglins. That sometimes you don't have to be stronger to win a fight."

Shifu looked like he wanted to argue but he surprisingly kept his mouth shut against the Jedi. Instead with pleasant shock, she saw Shifu give a respectful bow to Vader who returned in kind. One with a big smirk and the other grinding his teeth so hard Padme thought he might need to see a dentist.

One quick flick of Vader's eyes and they instantly met Padme's own who was already staring at him. He gave her a big toothy grin and she rolled her eyes at his antics unable to hide her own small smile. That stupid idiot was lucky that the Jedi… what did Shifu say his name was? Oogway? If he hadn't come then Padme could see the very real possibility of them being chased out the temple with pitchforks and fire.

Wait… Master Oogway?

Padme quickly looked back looking for the Jedi but had lost him in a sea of green as more Jedi went over to offer their condolences to Shifu or more likely to tease him about losing.

"Damnit." The Jedi was already gone.

"I can't believe we are getting kicked off this stupid planet." She huffed, after the complete goose chase of being sent to the Senator office then to the Jedi temple

"You saw me win. Or as you would say 'kick arse'," Vader teased mocking the way she screamed it at him. "So not all bad."

"Truthfully I'm surprised you didn't just lose the duel straight away deliberately," Padme

"Why would I?"

"I don't know, you trying to do something just doesn't seem very much like you."

"He insulted you, told you to be quiet to your face when you were being reasonable. I of course had to teach him a lesson." Vader smirked.

"Wait?! That's the reason you accepted?"

"Yeah? Obviously, are you being an idiot intentionally?" Vader looked at her with genuine confusion

Padme looked over at Vader in bewilderment as he walked back up onto the ship. Was he just being kind? No, that was Vader. Vader was blunt, abrasive and the only time he was very coy was when he was lying. He truly did think that defending her was no big deal. Something completely natural. Padme didn't think she had real friends who would get in a fight for her no less a complete stranger.

Is he deep down a good person? No that's impossible, Vader didn't protect or remotely care about the other passengers on Grakkus' ship. Which only really means Vader plays favourites, yet the worst part is she, doesn't even think he knows he does.

A/N I tried looking for Correlian Jedi, I was able to find Gram but unable to find Correlian Jedi. You might notice their names come from Kung Fu Panda… I don't know why I did that. I was trying to think of the Lead Corellian Jedi's name and When I was thinking Master (insert name) I just thought Master Oogway. Then of course, if I have Oowgay I have to have Shifu.

Omg this was supposed to be a one-off chapter that had some goals

bring up the MCA

That was it!

I was worried this chapter was going to be too short yet one thing led to another and now this is the longest chapter I've written smh, almost 7000 words. The previous longest chapter was ~6000 for chapter 2.