"And you are sure that you are okay?" Inasa asked Obi Wan for what felt like the tenth time. As if sensing he had spoken up one too many times the young man said, "I am sorry to keep asking-"

"Don't be," Obi Wan assured him as they walked back towards the monitor room where the rest of the class and teachers were. Bakugo had stormed ahead, reminding Obi Wan very much of Anakin back when he'd been just entering his teen years and decided that rather than sulk he would just rush past him, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as he could. "It speaks well to you and your future as a hero that you wonder about my health. But I am fine." He smiled even as he reached up and rubbed his throat, old memories of his master's master dancing through his mind. "Believe me… I have had worse."

"You have?"

"I'm not saying I want to experience that again… it is a rather odd feeling, having the air literally be ripped from your lungs, but I am recovering very quickly and there are no lingering side effects."

They entered into the monitor room and at once Inasa was attacked by excited classmates that wanted to know everything, even though they had all watched it themselves. Off in a corner Bakugo was slumped, ignoring his own group of friends as they tried to engage him in conversation.

"Are you alright, Obi Wan?" Nedzu asked. But the smile he wore made clear he was less concerned and more amused.

"So long as no one makes any jokes about being left breathless I will be fine."

"Well… they discovered the extra wrinkle." He leaned in. "Young Midoriya and Young Bakugo were the first to discover it."

"I should have known. Midoriya is brilliant at noticing things and Bakugo hides how intelligent he is with his attitude. If I didn't see how often he screamed and snarled I would almost think it an act."

"Yes… if he could learn how to better control himself he could use his reputation quite well." He glanced over at the teen in question. "I do think he won't be happy with these results, even though he passed."

"He wants to always be the one on top. The leader and the master." Obi Wan shook his head. "It is something that is common in all youth, Hero or Jedi."

"You speak from experience."

"I do, though in my case it came from feeling that if I wasn't the best I would be abandoned."

"And you think the same is not true of young Bakugo?" Nedzu asked. When Obi Wan shot him a look the principal smiled in a way that reminded Obi Wan greatly of Yoda when he was teasing out some knowledge that, after it was given, would make one groan as it seemed so obvious yet had been missed.

"We grew up differently," Obi Wan said. "I always felt that I was the weakest. There were students that were stronger, faster, smarter. Those with a greater connection to the Force." It came from his very DNA… Mandalorians, for reasons even the Jedi didn't understand, rarely produced Force Sensitives. And while Stewjoni was an offshoot that had mingled with other races the same was true of his kind.

"And yet some would argue that one who is capable in all things is better than one who can only do a single thing with great skill," Nedzu said.

"I don't need bucking up," Obi Wan told him. "I have long grown out of those feelings."

Nedzu's look made it clear he didn't buy that at all.

"Anakin has found much relief through therapy," he stated.

"I… Principal Nedzu…"

"I am merely stating information."

"And you want me to infer that I should go to therapy?"

"Oh no. I expect you to see that I am telling you firmly that I expect you to go to therapy, my friend." Obi Wan blinked at that and his inner thoughts must have shown because Nedzu stated, "I am not your Master Yoda. I do not play games with those I care for when it comes to important things. There is enjoyment to be had in moving the pieces on the chess board, to be sure… but it is also tiresome and bothersome and a waste of effort." His smile grew sharper. "I LOATHE waste."

"…quite," Obi Wan said, knowing that now he was going to have to look into getting a therapist. Lovely.

"Ah, it seems I am the next one out there. This will be interesting. Oh, and I have Ochaco and Todoroki. That will be an interesting group! I wonder how they will adapt as the rest of your plan is revealed." He began to walk off, waving his hand over his shoulder. "Consider what I've said, Obi Wan!"

"…quite," Obi Wan muttered to himself.

~MC~MC~MC~

Mace leaned back in his chair, the sounds of meat sizzling on a hot grill and knives clicking against tables filling his ears. He glanced over at Dex who was prepping what he would need for the evening rush, several droids working to assist.

It was later than he normally would have had lunch but this meant that it was less chaotic at the diner and thus Dex could seat them at the chef's table without worries of his bellows about what orders needed to be done overpowering the conversation. But it also meant that it was JUST busy enough to mask their own conversation.

And Yoda had made clear that it needed to be masked.

"Mace, my friend," Plo Koon said, "I know what you are thinking."

"You do?"

"Your first reaction is, "I knew I was right about Skywalker"."

That made Mace snort, the joke cutting through his shock and surprise. "Hmmm… I think half of the Jedi would have the same reaction." He looked at one photo Dex had given him, of Anakin Skywalker and Senator Amidala napping on a couch. The Senator was lying on top of him, mouth open and drooling. Anakin was utterly boneless, looking like a stunned Grib Fish.

It was adorable.

And yes, Mace Windu could use the world adorable.

He had sensed that something was going on with Yoda for a bit of time now. The sorrow that he had been unable to release into the Force thanks to the deaths of his grandpadawan and great grandpadawan had become no different than his gimmer stick or his robes: a part of him.

'It is interesting… how loyalty and love can change,' he thought to himself.

When Obi Wan had been a youngling Yoda had clearly had his eye on him but in the end during those years his focus had been on Qui Gon and Yan (that was how Mace handled that a man he known well and respected had become their enemy… there was Yan and there was Dooku). It wasn't even a secret anymore that Yoda back then favored Qui Gon, delighting in his unique mind and trust in the Force. He would do anything for him and the Council, out of respect, had allowed him. And with Yan he had been working to repair their relationship… but had also thought that he could repair it by helping Qui Gon. Bringing his Jedi Family back together.

And thus Obi Wan had become a tool.

It had only been near the very end of Obi Wan's apprenticeship that Yoda had realized his mistakes. The medics had been screaming about how often Obi Wan was injured just trying to win Qui Gon's love (even after he had it… Qui Gon had more than once come to Mace and wondered in the shadows of the night how he could get Obi Wan to stop nearly killing himself to claim the love of a man that already saw him as his son). Knights who worked with them spoke of how low Obi Wan's opinion of himself was. And the Council saw how the Senior Padawan that should have been coming into his own and discovering himself… remained in the background.

But it had been Qui Gon's reckless and foolish mistake of tossing Obi Wan away with hardly a thought to train Anakin that had finally made it clear to Yoda just how badly he had failed Obi Wan.

(Qui Gon had realized it too, if Mace's conversation… not a screaming match despite what others would claim… with him meant anything)

Yoda had wanted to fix things… but then Obi Wan had declared that he would train Anakin and Yoda, grieved by Qui Gon's death and unable to take the time he deserved to process through his emotions, had been far more stern than he should have been. By his own admission. Obi Wan had become defensive and built walls around himself and Anakin, seeing Yoda's attempts to come and help him as him seeking a reason to remove the boy.

'What would life have been like had Yoda been able to assist Obi Wan… two masters for a Padawan, much as we did with Ahsoka?'

Yoda had done all he could and while Obi Wan would occasionally come to him for help in the end things had been broken between them. The Council Seat was his first true move to rebuild their relationship and Yoda had spoken of how, after the war, he would finally be able to make things right again…

…and then Obi Wan had died.

And the sorrow that had come from all those lost moments, all those mistakes…

Jedi didn't always turn to the Dark Side when they fell into despair. That was a myth. Some just were… reduced. Mace had seen it happen. Great and powerful Jedi seeming to shrink in on themselves, become tiny and small, like a flower that had once been in bloom shriveling up. That was what Mace had feared for Yoda.

But then, seemingly in the span of a day, the sorrow had disappeared.

Even the Non-Force Sensitives had noticed it and remarked that 'Master Yoda seems to be in better spirits!' But for Mace it was like closing your eyes in the middle of the night only to open them to find the sun shining down on your face and all the world bathed in light. It… it just didn't happen like that! Not that quickly!

He had tried to be respectful and not demand a thousand answers but, finally, Yoda had sensed his own confusion and told him that he and Plo Koon would tell him, and only him, what they had learned.

And thus Mace found himself sitting in the kitchen of Dex's Diner, at the chef's table, staring at photos of a VERY alive Obi Wan Kenobi, as well as the rest of his group that had 'died' with him.

'It is all teeth-meltingly sweet,' he thought to himself as he looked at the photos. Skywalker and the Senator always seeming to be together, refusing to break contact. One of the clones, Rex, standing with a slightly plump woman and a young boy, all three grinning after what was clearly a long workout that left them sweaty. Ahsoka Tano posing with the same boy, as well as a round-faced girl, a tall serious looking lad, an odd looking alien with an avian head, and a rather curvy dark-haired young woman. They were all dressed in some kind of uniform and were standing next to a banner that said UA. Obi Wan with a dark-haired woman and a little girl eating ice cream, caught in the middle of laughing about something.

"…and I assume," he said slowly, "the fact that you are showing me this and not preparing to send out every ship we have to get them that you don't know where they actually are?"

"Know, we do," Yoda said. "Earth, the planet is." When Mace shot him a look and Yoda continued on. "Rescue them, we can not."

Plo Koon spoke up. "We do not know how they ended up there but the planet Earth is not in this galaxy. It isn't even in any neighboring galaxy."

Mace raised an eyebrow at that. "They are THAT far away?"

"If a youngling I was and began the journey, not even a 10th of the way there would I be when as old as I am now." Yoda nodded his head. "Generous, that is. FAR Obi Wan is."

Mace sighed at that, rubbing his chin. "So… no rescue mission then." He glanced back at the photos. "How then did you get these?"

"We got them thanks to Dex," Plo Koon stated. "And it is how he got them that is the other, and perhaps more pertinent reason, why we can never risk acknowledging that Obi Wan, Skywalker, or the others are alive.

"On this world the populus have developed a genetic mutant that can present itself in a multitude of different ways. According to the information Dex has been able to provide the scientists there call these mutants 'Quirks'. These Quirks can present in all manner of ways. For many it is very minor changes to their physical forms. Longer fingers or toes, better eyesight and the like. For others the Quirks are for more extreme…" Plo Koon tapped the photo of Ahsoka. "She is the only alien in that picture. The avian looking figure is a human… his Quirk has mutated his head to resemble that of a bird."

"So these quirks… they alter appearances?" Mace asked, knowing there had to be more.

"There is more," Plo Koon stated and he began to point at the pictures. "Ochaco can remove ones gravity with a touch. Ida can run at speeds that beat most landcruisers. Yaoyorozu can pull out the fat deposits from her body and convert them into any structure she wishes. Tokoyami as a second self, a sentient being known as 'Dark Shadow' that fights with him against his enemies."

Mace's eyes slowly widened as he considered the ramifications of what they were telling him.

"Can you imagine it?" Plo Koon whispered. "The Separatists finding out there are people out there that could rip our star destroyers apart with just a wave of their hand? Manipulate the minds of others far better than a Jedi with the Force could? Produce magma from their fingers or with a puff of air from their mouth freeze a planet?"

He could. And it was horrifying.

"The Republic… not as guiltless as them either," Yoda said with a sad shake of his head.

Mace slowly nodded. 'If the Senate found out about this world they would demand at once they be brought into the Republic… for their own safety, they would claim, but in reality they would want to use them to fight… to study them to see if they could replicate these quirks… to breed them into a new fighting force that would make the Clones a thing of the past.'

He felt, for a brief moment, the Force shudder at the thought.

"Then they must remain a secret," Mace said. "Obi Wan and Skywalker are dead. And must remain dead."

"That is what we have agreed upon."

"Then why tell me?" he pressed. "You know as well as I do that a secret is best kept when less people know it."

While he had been friendly with Obi Wan he wasn't going to be mourning his loss like Yoda would. And he had no connection to Tano, which explained why Plo Koon had been informed. As for Skywalker… well, the loss of the Chosen One had actually, as horrible as it sounded, been a relief. Not the loss of Skywalker himself; despite what many, even Skywalker himself, would say, Mace didn't hate the boy. He hadn't wanted him trained as a Jedi but rather had been pushing that he be moved to one of the Corps. Had Qui Gon not been killed he had been planning, when they returned to the Temple, to meet with Skywalker and suggest a tour of the different Corps, especially the ExplorCorps. That had felt like the perfect fit for the boy: he could travel the galaxy, see new worlds, still have a connection with Qui Gon, and even be able to earn enough money to free his mother. No one would frown on any attachments and his age and life experiences would have been a massive aid, rather than the hindrance they had been during his training under Obi Wan.

No… Mace had been pleased that the rubbish of the 'Chosen One' had been finally put to rest. He had never been a fan of the idea that there was some pre-ordained Savoir of the Jedi that would "Bring Balance To The Force". Yoda and him in particular had argued against it rather heatedly. Mace knew better than any other Jedi that the Dark Side had its places. And thus who was to say that "Balance" meant "The Light Side Wins"? It very easily could have meant "Dark and Light in Balance". Anakin could have been destined to convince more Jedi to explore the Dark Side and while perhaps that would have led to better things… Mace had his doubts.

'One of the few things I agreed with Obi Wan with, when it came to the boy's training, was ignoring that Chosen One poodoo,' Mace thought.

The Clone Wars and Anakin's rise in fame had caused many Jedi to begin believing that he was the Chosen One and his time was now. That defeating Dooku would be the answer to their whispered prayers to the Force and thus they should just leave everything to him. They had become lazy, wanting Anakin to do everything for them. Or they had tried to be like him… and gotten killed for it.

But the Chosen One being killed in an explosion had shaken them from those thoughts and led, after a period of deep mourning, to the Jedi to come back to themselves. They had begun to think for themselves again, to return to how they would normally handle things, and stop chasing the shadow of the "Chosen One"

"A development, we have learned of," Yoda said, breaking him from his thoughts. "Arrived on Earth, another from our galaxy has." He slid a photo over to Mace and he stared at it.

And started in shock.

The image was of the young brown haired girl that Obi Wan had been holding in several of the photos, only now by herself. And rather than being held it was her doing the holding… in this case… a familiar green youngling.

"Grogu," Mace whispered, looking up at Yoda.

The arrival of another of Master Yoda and Master Yaddle's species had left the Council in shock. Grogu had been trained outside of the normal youngling groups due to his slow aging and had been a closely guarded secret. He shuddered to think how Dooku would have reacted to knowing there was another similar to Yoda in the Jedi Order. Mace himself was hoping that within another 20 or so years he would be able to begin assisting in the child's training, though he knew it likely that Grogu would still be too young by the time-

He paused.

Too young.

"So you see it," Plo Koon said.

"Grogu is too old in this photo," Mace stated. "He needs to be taken everywhere. Him standing like that…"

"According to the letter Obi Wan left us," Plo Koon said, "the child was able to leap from his current caregiver's arms, race along the floor, leap onto a table, and then consume much meat."

"And… you are sure that this is Grogu?" Mace asked even though he knew that was a foolish question. There were so few of Yoda's species… it would be more unlikely that they encountered one that resembled the youngling than to encounter him… even though Mace knew for a fact that Grogu had to still be in the temple. If he disappeared he would have gotten a thousand emergency comms.

"Sure, we are," Yoda stated. "Grogu, it is. A most interesting theory, Obi Wan has."

Plo Koon nodded. "The caretaker for Grogu, a Mandalorian named Din Djarin, has made several interesting references… including meeting an older Ahsoka."

"Older?" Mace asked.

"Forties, the Mandalorian placed her. Believed her to be another of her species, he did." Yoda shook his head. "Another theory, Obi Wan has."

"Time travel," Mace whispered. "Is that possible?"

"Do what we can, impossible it should be!" Yoda declared with a smug smile. "Travel time, why not possible?"

Mace felt a headache coming on. "So this Mandalorian and Grogu… they most likely are from… 30 years in the future?"

"Yes," Plo Koon stated. "And what they have told Obi Wan is concerning."

"How so?"

"Djarin has mentioned Stormtroopers, soldiers that wear armor similar to our Clone Troopers. He also stated, when asked by Obi Wan, that the galaxy had just faced a Rebellion, with the 'New Republic' overthrowing the Empire."

"Empire…" Mace whispered, his mind going to one and only one thing. The Ancient Empire all Jedi knew too well. "The Sith Empire?"

Yoda's ears drooped at that. "Return, the Sith have. And if from the future, Din Djarin is, grave his message is."

"Dooku," Mace whispered.

Plo Koon nodded. "Djarin knew very little of the Jedi and stated that Ahsoka refused to call herself one. Most likely due to needing to hide her powers."

"Then the Separatists win," Mace said. "Dooku defeats us and creates a Sith Empire. And he doesn't just stop with the systems that left the Republic but he takes over the Republic, becoming the new Emperor. And with the Clones…"

Yoda suddenly slapped his hand against the table. "Defeated, we are not! A message, this is. Good news, it is! A warning, what to avoid."

Mace slowly nodded at that. "Yes… yes, you are right, Master Yoda. With us knowing about the Separatists we can prepare for them. The Clones… that is a blow but we can put greater protections around Kamino."

"Perhaps begin looking into ways to truly earn their respect and loyalty," Plo Koon said. "If they turned on us…"

"Yes," Mace said softly. It had troubled him greatly that the Jedi had basically had a slave race fighting their battles. "Yes… we won't give into despair." He looked to Yoda. "Was there anything else Obi Wan learned?"

Yoda though shook his head. "Little he learned, I am afraid. Hidden, Djarin lived. Attacked gravely, Mandalore was."

"We must begin to reach out to the Neutral Systems… not to form alliances but to warn them that they are in danger."

"But we risk putting them in danger doing that," Mace said. "And would they believe us?"

It was a troubling puzzle they found themselves in… but one that they would need to solve. The fate of the Republic… the Jedi… would depend on it.

~MC~MC~MC~

Uraraka looked over at Shoto as they finally arrived at their destination. They had each gone over their costumes (though it was hard to tell with Shoto as his just resembled his normal gym uniform) to make sure everything was in place. Uraraka especially because her's now had her modified gloves, designed to protect her fingers, as well as her reinforced boots that would allow her to kick at her opponents with more damage; as Mirko had stated since her hands were the key to her quirk she needed to protect them until she was ready to use them and that meant learning how to kick high and hard.

"Alright… so how do you want to do this?" Uraraka said.

"We both need to go after Principal Nedzu," Shoto stated.

"What?" Uraraka said in surprise. "But we know that Mr. Kenobi has another villain set up."

"We don't know that," Shoto told her. "We know that he had another villain set up when Bakugo took the test."

"Right…" Uraraka said, drawing out the word. "Sooooo…"

"Mr. Kenobi has shown himself to be clever. He knew that someone would eventually discover what he had hidden. And he did it to teach us to be mindful of the situations we enter into, as they might be more complex than we expect. However, that doesn't mean that every situation we enter into will have a villain."

Uraraka stared at him before her eyes went wide. "You mean that he wants one of us wasting time searching for a villain that isn't there?!"

"We have been assigned our mission," the young man said. "We are to take down the villain who is being portrayed by our principal. If we see someone else we will need to assess the situation but it would be unwise to assume that there must be another villain there."

She had to admit… she saw the logic to that. She truly did. 'Mr. Kenobi wants us to think as heroes… he doesn't want us to blindly act. So first he steps up a secret villain, knowing that eventually someone is going to spot them. But once we do he removes them… or worse.'

And suddenly she felt something churning in her gut. A terrible fear.

"Shoto… what if there is someone there… Izuku and Bakugo thought originally it was going to be a civilian we had to rescue."

"…that would add an extra layer to this. We go in, expecting to battle a villain, only to attack an innocent."

"So… how do we do this?" she asked softly.

Shoto frowned.

He didn't say a word.

"Yeah," she admitted as the entered into the testing area, "I have no idea either."

The two stood still… and then the buzzer sounded, alerting them that the test had begun.