Ugh. What is that hideous thing?
I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII
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Oh I am slain!
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Chapter Eighteen
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Chapter Eighteen
Ahsoka Tano had thought training with her lightsabers to be fun when she was a young initiate. She enjoyed the 'woosh' sound of the blade, and the slicing with ease of the holographic targets, and she really, really liked deflecting the stinging bolts from the training droids. Yet it all changed when her master upped the number of lightsabers to two, and ensured that she could not use her hands to wield them.
"Concentrate," her Master said after the hundredth time she had let both blades fall down before even going through the most basic of forms. "You need to empty your mind and concentrate on what you are doing."
"Pardon me, master, if I do not possess your natural predisposition in the Force," Ahsoka drawled out. "Maybe if I had my hands-"
"The hand gesture is a weakness, padawan," her Master replied. "To use the Force, no gestures are required. Count Dooku needs but his three fingers of his main hand to throw you away from him," he added, showing his hand's index, middle and ring finger. "Three fingers and bam, you're thrown off-balance. Recover it or you die with the next strike."
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and sat down, legs crossed. The lightsaber slowly began to float up in the air, and its partner soon joined the first. She lit them both, and then carefully began to imagine the basic movements of the Shii-Cho form. It wasn't hard imagining them. It was hard turning imagination into practice. One of the lightsaber twitched and jerked, spinning loosely out of control as Ahsoka tried to correct a mistake in the second one.
"Why can't I start with one?" Ahsoka asked, frustration clearly biting her from within. Her Master merely looked at her with a dreadful sigh, and shook his head.
"You learned how to fight with one lightsaber. I will not allow you to think they are the same things. You will learn from scratch, and in so doing, avoid the fallacies that would befall you through the easy way."
"The fallacies?" Ahsoka growled. "I can't even go through one proper motion of the most basic of training!"
"Ah, I see," her Master acquiesced. "And how is that a problem, precisely?"
"How is that-how is it not?" Ahsoka retorted.
Her Master took a few steps away from her, then spun swiftly as a blade of plasma ignited and stopped an inch away from Ahsoka's eye. The Togruta gasped in fear, her mind haywire, and one of the training lightsabers swiftly made a broad swing in front of her to parry the attack. Her Master's blade didn't move from its short distance from Ahsoka's eye, even as the padawan took a step back.
"The most basic of forms," her Master acquiesced as he waved a hand and recovered the training lightsaber he had thrown at her, "Is that of the stab."
Ahsoka's right eyebrow twitched. "Master-"
"See, the second most basic form," her Master continued, "Is that of the swing," he was amused by this. She knew he was amused by this, and she had no choice but to suffer through it. "And the third, and most final move, is that of the crush."
Ahsoka groaned as she looked up at the ceiling of the training room. "I am pretty sure there are more moves than those, Master."
"Maybe," her master acknowledged, "But in my style, there are only those three."
He opened his arms as three training lightsaber lit up, and began to float around him. "First comes the circling," he said calmly, "Then the spinning," the lightsabers began to spin around him, both horizontally, and vertically with the blade, "Then comes the attacking. Stab," quick as lightning, a lightsaber pierced forward, "Swing," another spun in mid-air as it departed from her master's side, "And finally, Crush." With that said, all three lightsaber swung at the same time.
"Basic moves, nothing more to it. Terrifyingly effective too, because somehow, people expect their enemy to actually wield the lightsaber. Don't try this with Dooku though. You're not fast enough."
"Then maybe I should train with a style that can make me fast enough," Ahsoka replied. "He was Master Yoda's padawan too, wasn't he? Haven't you at least been taught the same basics?"
"No," her Master replied. "I preferred not to," he shook his head. "A lightsaber is a tool that must be treated with respect. Lit only when you must take a life, never before. The Force allows you to protect yourself from many threats, and that is why I swore I would never lit a lightsaber for anything less than the taking of a life."
He awkwardly looked at her. "Lifting with the force a block of concrete and using it as an impromptu hammer notwithstanding, of course."
Ahsoka gasped as she tiredly tried, and failed, to lift the lightsabers once more. "I'm too tired, Master. I can't keep this up."
Her Master looked at her for a moment, and then nodded. "Very well," he turned to look at the door, "You can come in at any time," he added, "The training rooms are free for everyone to use."
Knight Thel-Tanis awkwardly stumbled through the door, but swiftly resettled her balance. "What a coincidence!" she exclaimed with a bubbly grin. "I thought I heard the sound of a Padawan whimpering, and I find my favorite Padawan being trained by her master!"
Master Shade's eyebrows both rose. "Since when is she your favorite padawan?"
"Since the day she warned me of the intruder in the library," Knight Darra said. "I was thinking," she added, "Since she's clearly not suited for your combat style, what if I trained her?"
Master Shade opened his mouth to refuse, Ahsoka could feel he was going to refuse the offer, but then he stopped and gave her a single side-way glance. She wouldn't mind learning under Knight Darra how to use a lightsaber effectively -and maybe she'd even be able to face off Dooku if she trained hard enough. Her Master smiled warmly, and nodded once. "Fine," he said. "She's all yours for training."
In the blink of an eye, Ahsoka had broken out of her fake-sling, and stood up with a bubbling grin. "Yes!" she burst out.
Knight Darra looked at her other sling, and remarked, "Aren't you going to remove the other one too?"
"She has a broken arm," her Master said before she could, "Something about not clearing the area fast enough when a droid factory came down on her."
Knight Darra winced at the thought, but still smiled. "Well, that's perfect then! I'll teach you how to use your other hand!"
Somehow, Knight Darra's enthusiasm was not contagious enough to affect her Master, but Ahsoka didn't pay attention to it, grinning as she was from the thought of getting some real training in. Her Master sighed and shrugged slightly, "I'll be meditating in my chambers then," he said. "Keep her in one piece, Knight Thel-Tanis."
With that warning out of the way, Master Shade walked out in quiet contemplation. Knight Darra looked at his retreating back once more, and sighed too, shaking her head with a slightly sad expression. The expression melted away quickly however, and if Ahsoka hadn't been looking up at the knight, she would have probably missed it completely.
Knight Darra smiled broadly, "Very well then, let's get you a short training lightsaber for your left hand. We'll start with some light training, and go from there."
Ahsoka nodded, and dutifully obeyed. As the training began, she couldn't help but think back about her Master's words. Many of the lightsaber forms were, in the end, nothing more than fancy swings and stabs, but there was art and grace to them. Surely, those counted for something too. She wondered if the Dark Side of him she had faced on Felucia through the Force Trance was actually how her master fought with lightsabers. If he outright held more than one at the same time, and-
"You're distracted, Padawan," Knight Darra said suddenly. "What's on your mind?"
"I apologize, knight Thel-Tanis," Ahsoka replied ashamed, "I was just...thinking about Master Shade," she added.
"Oh?" Knight Darra said, before making a small smile. Ahsoka's eyes widened as she realized even before the knight could speak it out loud that there was going to be a misunderstanding about this. She realized, and her face turned white as a sheet as the knight said with the most duty-filled tone possible, "You are at that age, padawan, but you must understand that a simple crush on your master is-"
"Not in that way!" Ahsoka blurted out, her face utterly turned from white to red in a second. "I meant his fighting style!" she continued at Knight Darra's surprised expression. "What is it like? Have you ever seen it?"
Knight Darra blinked, and her mouth formed a simple circle as the words sunk in. She nodded the next moment, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Yes, once," the Knight admitted in a hushed tone. "It was on Korriban."
Knight Darra shuddered. "Korriban's the burial place of many Sith Lords," she said. "The Dark Energies there...they permeate the very rocks. Your Master, he was the one least affected, probably the reason we kept our cool more often than not. We still bickered, and he still hit all of us, but at the very least, his presence gave us piece of mind."
Ahsoka nodded. "What about his fighting style?"
"I'm getting to it, padawan," Knight Darra said with a slight reproachful tone, making Ahsoka wince at the rebuke. "When we faced Granta Omega, he wasn't alone. He was with a deranged scientist known as Jenna Zan Arbor. Your Master, he can predict the future, or at least, a good probability of it," Knight Darra hesitated, "We...the Jedi Code says that the many are more worthy than the few. So, to kill one in order to save many is perfectly viable. Your Master-he sometimes makes the hard call for everyone else."
"Sometimes?" Ahsoka asked.
"He goes for the kill, nothing less will suffice," Knight Darra whispered. "Depending on-well, depending on the vision he has, his kill is particularly brutal. He does it with a calm heart, like...like a child dissecting an insect," she added with a light shudder. "That's the most terrifying thing. Listen well, Padawan. If-If you hear him say 'Now is the time you die', look away. Look away and don't open your eyes until it's over with."
Knight Darra took a deep breath to center herself. "It's been years, but I can still hear them scream. And want to know the worst thing?" her eyes half-closed, "He was perfectly justified." She shook her head, "The things some people do, or will do. The scientist, she was unarmed, but she would have escaped from prison, and killed an entire colony of living, breathing people with a deadly toxin. Her death spared them. I can't fault the code with that logic."
"A Jedi should not put himself above...others," Ahsoka replied, and Knight Darra smiled bitterly. "We shouldn't be the ones to judge others."
"Maybe not," Knight Darra replies, "But when I said the same thing, when Master Obi-Wan told him that, when Ferus told him that, he replied with the same sentence. 'Tell that to glass-eyed corpse of the child suffocated in his crib. Tell it to the pregnant mother clutching her stomach in her last throes of life. Tell that to the thousand corpses gasping for air that I have seen. Tell it to them, and then tell me their reply.' We couldn't fault him afterwards."
Ahsoka looked down at the ground, "I thought seeing the future could help make things better."
"It does," Darra grinned, "Just...not for the one doing the viewing."
She proceeded then to pat her head, making Ahsoka wince. "Montrals!" Ahsoka blurted out, dodging the patting, "I use them for echolocation! What is it with patting them?!"
"Oh," Darra's eyes widened. "Night used to pat our heads whenever we looked downcast. It became sort of a habit for him to pat on Anakin's head before he went full Tsundere."
Ahsoka's eyes widened. "He-Wait. He did what?"
Darra nodded. "He was our age, but when he gave you a head pat, you quieted down and you took it. I swear Anakin couldn't stop glowering whenever someone got ahead of him in the head pat count."
Ahsoka spluttered. That...that was insane!
And so many things suddenly made sense to her. Like, so many things that she felt as if she was just a split-second away from discovering the truth of existence. Her Master spread insanity wherever he went and with whoever he talked. He was like, an insanity nexus hidden behind a facade of perfect responsibility. She was on to him.
"If I remember correctly, you would do pretty much the same," a male voice -not that of her master- said offhandedly, as a male Jedi with brown hair, but golden streaks, entered the training room. "You always were too passionate in your youth."
Ahsoka looked at the new arrival with a puzzled expression, and the man nodded to the Padawan, especially at her unspoken question. "I am Knight Ferus Olin, young one."
"You're not that old to use 'young one', Ferus." Darra pointed out with a cheeky grin.
"She is younger than me, Knight Thel-Tanis," Olin stressed out, holding his smile tight. "So she is a young one."
Knight Darra coughed with a hand in front of her face, looking sideways with a twinkle in her eye. Ahsoka just looked, waiting for the other pin to drop. It was only after a few minutes of awkward silence went by that she realized she hadn't yet presented herself.
"Ops," Ahsoka blurted out, "I'm Ahsoka Tano," she said. "Padawan learner of Master Shade."
Ferus nodded. "I heard he had taken on an apprentice." He looked at her with a critical gaze, as if finding faults in her. "How did you convince him?"
Ahsoka shook her head, "There wasn't any convincing. Master Yoda told me he had showed interest, and I accepted after talking with him." Before knowing he was as mad as the Mad Hatter, of course. Then again, if she had known how mad he was, she probably would have accepted all the same because he had been the first to recognize her worth, if he had specifically wanted her as his padawan.
"Interesting," Ferus acquiesced. "After the events of Geonosis, I would have thought he'd steer clear of everyone. He must have seen something," the Jedi Knight said, "concerning your future."
Ahsoka blinked. She had...she had never thought about that. Maybe that explained why her Master had wanted her. He had seen the future -or at least, a probable one- and had decided that training her would prevent some form of catastrophe. What if-What if in the future, she turned out to be a Sith Master who killed countless millions, and thus him training her was the only way to prevent it? Or what if he failed in that, and then they were forced to battle each other on a plain of magma and fire while that damn orchestra music sang out and then he'd say something like 'Ahsoka, I trusted you!' and she then tried to jump, but he had the high ground, and so it ended up with her being cut in half and then burned by the magma of the planet?
That...that was quite the terrific imagery that shot through Ahsoka's head, making her tremble ever-so slightly because, whenever such a thing happened, it was due to her Bond with her master. So, if it was actually due to the bond with her Master...then maybe Knight Olin wasn't wrong. She gasped at the sudden insight, and rushed away.
She needed to get confirmation from her master -he wouldn't lie to her, would he?
Ahsoka rushed through the Jedi Temple, coming to a halt not in front of the meditation chambers -where her master had told her he'd be- but in front of a classroom of young initiates -where she felt her master to be. She recomposed herself long enough to appear 'not in a hurry' and 'not like someone who has to ask if she becomes a genocidal Sith in the future' and then stepped inside.
Her Master was humming contently, a book in his hand, as the rest of the young hopeful Jedi sat in front of him. "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?"
Her master would have kept on reading, but her intrusion made him stop and turn off the Datapad in his hand. The young learners looked up at her, and she fidgeted for just a bit.
"Yes, padawan?" her Master asked, an eyebrow raised. "Is something the matter?"
"Well," Ahsoka said, "I had a question."
"Is it urgent in the sense of 'I need an answer or someone will die soon', or is it urgent in the sense 'I might feel uneasy unless it's answered quickly'?"
"T-The latter one, master," Ahsoka acquiesced.
"Sit, let me finish the chapter, and then I'll answer you," Master Shade said, gesturing for her to take a sit on one of the empty pillows. She did it with a hint of nostalgia -she used to fall inside the pillows when she was smaller- and now she realized she barely fit in one of those. Her Master continued the story, of this Frodo, and Sam, and Pippin going on an adventure. It was kind of boring, truth be told, but every now and then her ears twitched as she realized the young students were keenly listening on to it. She wondered what lesson her Master was doing -he hadn't told her he was a teacher at the temple, all things considered. Heck, she would have expected him to be a teacher in the art of the Force, not a...was it literature? Was he teaching them how to read in Basic? But they didn't have datapads with a copy of the story in hand, and her Master was simply narrating the story.
It felt like story-time.
It made her sleepy. When Mister Fluffles purred in her lap, and she bent down to scratch the back of his head, she blinked only once, and then shrugged it off. She felt at peace. Maybe, she felt at peace because her Master felt at peace, or maybe it was because the story-telling reminded her of her mother's stories before bed. The soft voice, the small warm smiles...her mother smiled so warmly...
She refused to believe she had fallen asleep hearing her master tell a story. She refused to believe it, yet when she woke up, she was on her Master's back and they were walking -well, he was walking and carrying her- through a thankfully deserted hallway of the Jedi Temple.
"Tell me I didn't fall asleep," Ahsoka groaned as she began to fidget trying to get off her Master's back, and her Master dutifully complied helping her descend.
"You did not fall asleep," her Master replied. "You fell into a deeply meditative state known as 'The Snore', from which you woke up only now."
Ahsoka shot him a glare. Her Master returned a grin.
She shot him a harder glare. Her Master simply grinned even fiercer.
"You're strange," Ahsoka said in the end, and her Master simply shrugged it off. "You're a very strange Master, you know that?"
"So I've been told," her Master replied. "So, what was the question?"
'Do I become an homicidal Sith Master in the future?' was at the forefront of her mind, but before she could even speak it out, her Master neared his right hand to her forehead and 'flicked' it.
"That is the most stupid question ever. You wouldn't cut it as a Sith Janitor, let alone a Sith Master," he chuckled and just like that, her worries disappeared. "That's why I picked you," her Master added softly. "Even in the worst of things I saw, you were still doing the right thing, no matter the cost."
"So...you saw me in the future?" Ahsoka asked.
"Unfortunately, it's just a probability, padawan. Your future's yours to write. Hopefully, you'll write a great one." He winked. "I'll just coauthor you for a bit."
Ahsoka nodded.
"By the way," her Master remarked. "There will be a bit of a lull for a few weeks. Feel free to train with Knight Thel-Tanis, or just head off on missions with other Jedi Masters, I told the High Council you'd be on your own for a while, since I'll be busy-"
"Heading somewhere dangerous again?" Ahsoka hazarded with a raised eyebrow.
"All places are dangerous, do you know the amount of people that die in kitchens?" her Master quipped back with an amused expression. "Still, it will do you good to learn how other masters do things. Whatever happens though," he looked her straight in the eye. "If you end up facing Grievous, Count Dooku, Asaji or any Sith Master...run, call for backup, but do not face them alone."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Yes master, I'll tell them not to try to kill me because my master said so."
"You'd be surprised," her Master replied. "They wouldn't kill you." He sighed. "They'd capture you to get back at me, and then, of course, I'd come right up to save you and there would be this epic fight as I topple mountains and tear apart buildings, and you'd go, 'Stupid master, it was clearly a trap' and I'd say something like 'Silly Padawan, a true Master is trap-immune'."
Ahsoka groaned, and brought her left hand to massage her forehead, before it slowly slid to pinch the bridge of her nose.
Mister Fluffles meowed in the back of her head. At least her cat-like madness-induced hallucination wasn't making troubles.
For the moment.
Ahsoka Tano had thought training with her lightsabers to be fun when she was a young initiate. She enjoyed the 'woosh' sound of the blade, and the slicing with ease of the holographic targets, and she really, really liked deflecting the stinging bolts from the training droids. Yet it all changed when her master upped the number of lightsabers to two, and ensured that she could not use her hands to wield them.
"Concentrate," her Master said after the hundredth time she had let both blades fall down before even going through the most basic of forms. "You need to empty your mind and concentrate on what you are doing."
"Pardon me, master, if I do not possess your natural predisposition in the Force," Ahsoka drawled out. "Maybe if I had my hands-"
"The hand gesture is a weakness, padawan," her Master replied. "To use the Force, no gestures are required. Count Dooku needs but his three fingers of his main hand to throw you away from him," he added, showing his hand's index, middle and ring finger. "Three fingers and bam, you're thrown off-balance. Recover it or you die with the next strike."
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and sat down, legs crossed. The lightsaber slowly began to float up in the air, and its partner soon joined the first. She lit them both, and then carefully began to imagine the basic movements of the Shii-Cho form. It wasn't hard imagining them. It was hard turning imagination into practice. One of the lightsaber twitched and jerked, spinning loosely out of control as Ahsoka tried to correct a mistake in the second one.
"Why can't I start with one?" Ahsoka asked, frustration clearly biting her from within. Her Master merely looked at her with a dreadful sigh, and shook his head.
"You learned how to fight with one lightsaber. I will not allow you to think they are the same things. You will learn from scratch, and in so doing, avoid the fallacies that would befall you through the easy way."
"The fallacies?" Ahsoka growled. "I can't even go through one proper motion of the most basic of training!"
"Ah, I see," her Master acquiesced. "And how is that a problem, precisely?"
"How is that-how is it not?" Ahsoka retorted.
Her Master took a few steps away from her, then spun swiftly as a blade of plasma ignited and stopped an inch away from Ahsoka's eye. The Togruta gasped in fear, her mind haywire, and one of the training lightsabers swiftly made a broad swing in front of her to parry the attack. Her Master's blade didn't move from its short distance from Ahsoka's eye, even as the padawan took a step back.
"The most basic of forms," her Master acquiesced as he waved a hand and recovered the training lightsaber he had thrown at her, "Is that of the stab."
Ahsoka's right eyebrow twitched. "Master-"
"See, the second most basic form," her Master continued, "Is that of the swing," he was amused by this. She knew he was amused by this, and she had no choice but to suffer through it. "And the third, and most final move, is that of the crush."
Ahsoka groaned as she looked up at the ceiling of the training room. "I am pretty sure there are more moves than those, Master."
"Maybe," her master acknowledged, "But in my style, there are only those three."
He opened his arms as three training lightsaber lit up, and began to float around him. "First comes the circling," he said calmly, "Then the spinning," the lightsabers began to spin around him, both horizontally, and vertically with the blade, "Then comes the attacking. Stab," quick as lightning, a lightsaber pierced forward, "Swing," another spun in mid-air as it departed from her master's side, "And finally, Crush." With that said, all three lightsaber swung at the same time.
"Basic moves, nothing more to it. Terrifyingly effective too, because somehow, people expect their enemy to actually wield the lightsaber. Don't try this with Dooku though. You're not fast enough."
"Then maybe I should train with a style that can make me fast enough," Ahsoka replied. "He was Master Yoda's padawan too, wasn't he? Haven't you at least been taught the same basics?"
"No," her Master replied. "I preferred not to," he shook his head. "A lightsaber is a tool that must be treated with respect. Lit only when you must take a life, never before. The Force allows you to protect yourself from many threats, and that is why I swore I would never lit a lightsaber for anything less than the taking of a life."
He awkwardly looked at her. "Lifting with the force a block of concrete and using it as an impromptu hammer notwithstanding, of course."
Ahsoka gasped as she tiredly tried, and failed, to lift the lightsabers once more. "I'm too tired, Master. I can't keep this up."
Her Master looked at her for a moment, and then nodded. "Very well," he turned to look at the door, "You can come in at any time," he added, "The training rooms are free for everyone to use."
Knight Thel-Tanis awkwardly stumbled through the door, but swiftly resettled her balance. "What a coincidence!" she exclaimed with a bubbly grin. "I thought I heard the sound of a Padawan whimpering, and I find my favorite Padawan being trained by her master!"
Master Shade's eyebrows both rose. "Since when is she your favorite padawan?"
"Since the day she warned me of the intruder in the library," Knight Darra said. "I was thinking," she added, "Since she's clearly not suited for your combat style, what if I trained her?"
Master Shade opened his mouth to refuse, Ahsoka could feel he was going to refuse the offer, but then he stopped and gave her a single side-way glance. She wouldn't mind learning under Knight Darra how to use a lightsaber effectively -and maybe she'd even be able to face off Dooku if she trained hard enough. Her Master smiled warmly, and nodded once. "Fine," he said. "She's all yours for training."
In the blink of an eye, Ahsoka had broken out of her fake-sling, and stood up with a bubbling grin. "Yes!" she burst out.
Knight Darra looked at her other sling, and remarked, "Aren't you going to remove the other one too?"
"She has a broken arm," her Master said before she could, "Something about not clearing the area fast enough when a droid factory came down on her."
Knight Darra winced at the thought, but still smiled. "Well, that's perfect then! I'll teach you how to use your other hand!"
Somehow, Knight Darra's enthusiasm was not contagious enough to affect her Master, but Ahsoka didn't pay attention to it, grinning as she was from the thought of getting some real training in. Her Master sighed and shrugged slightly, "I'll be meditating in my chambers then," he said. "Keep her in one piece, Knight Thel-Tanis."
With that warning out of the way, Master Shade walked out in quiet contemplation. Knight Darra looked at his retreating back once more, and sighed too, shaking her head with a slightly sad expression. The expression melted away quickly however, and if Ahsoka hadn't been looking up at the knight, she would have probably missed it completely.
Knight Darra smiled broadly, "Very well then, let's get you a short training lightsaber for your left hand. We'll start with some light training, and go from there."
Ahsoka nodded, and dutifully obeyed. As the training began, she couldn't help but think back about her Master's words. Many of the lightsaber forms were, in the end, nothing more than fancy swings and stabs, but there was art and grace to them. Surely, those counted for something too. She wondered if the Dark Side of him she had faced on Felucia through the Force Trance was actually how her master fought with lightsabers. If he outright held more than one at the same time, and-
"You're distracted, Padawan," Knight Darra said suddenly. "What's on your mind?"
"I apologize, knight Thel-Tanis," Ahsoka replied ashamed, "I was just...thinking about Master Shade," she added.
"Oh?" Knight Darra said, before making a small smile. Ahsoka's eyes widened as she realized even before the knight could speak it out loud that there was going to be a misunderstanding about this. She realized, and her face turned white as a sheet as the knight said with the most duty-filled tone possible, "You are at that age, padawan, but you must understand that a simple crush on your master is-"
"Not in that way!" Ahsoka blurted out, her face utterly turned from white to red in a second. "I meant his fighting style!" she continued at Knight Darra's surprised expression. "What is it like? Have you ever seen it?"
Knight Darra blinked, and her mouth formed a simple circle as the words sunk in. She nodded the next moment, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Yes, once," the Knight admitted in a hushed tone. "It was on Korriban."
Knight Darra shuddered. "Korriban's the burial place of many Sith Lords," she said. "The Dark Energies there...they permeate the very rocks. Your Master, he was the one least affected, probably the reason we kept our cool more often than not. We still bickered, and he still hit all of us, but at the very least, his presence gave us piece of mind."
Ahsoka nodded. "What about his fighting style?"
"I'm getting to it, padawan," Knight Darra said with a slight reproachful tone, making Ahsoka wince at the rebuke. "When we faced Granta Omega, he wasn't alone. He was with a deranged scientist known as Jenna Zan Arbor. Your Master, he can predict the future, or at least, a good probability of it," Knight Darra hesitated, "We...the Jedi Code says that the many are more worthy than the few. So, to kill one in order to save many is perfectly viable. Your Master-he sometimes makes the hard call for everyone else."
"Sometimes?" Ahsoka asked.
"He goes for the kill, nothing less will suffice," Knight Darra whispered. "Depending on-well, depending on the vision he has, his kill is particularly brutal. He does it with a calm heart, like...like a child dissecting an insect," she added with a light shudder. "That's the most terrifying thing. Listen well, Padawan. If-If you hear him say 'Now is the time you die', look away. Look away and don't open your eyes until it's over with."
Knight Darra took a deep breath to center herself. "It's been years, but I can still hear them scream. And want to know the worst thing?" her eyes half-closed, "He was perfectly justified." She shook her head, "The things some people do, or will do. The scientist, she was unarmed, but she would have escaped from prison, and killed an entire colony of living, breathing people with a deadly toxin. Her death spared them. I can't fault the code with that logic."
"A Jedi should not put himself above...others," Ahsoka replied, and Knight Darra smiled bitterly. "We shouldn't be the ones to judge others."
"Maybe not," Knight Darra replies, "But when I said the same thing, when Master Obi-Wan told him that, when Ferus told him that, he replied with the same sentence. 'Tell that to glass-eyed corpse of the child suffocated in his crib. Tell it to the pregnant mother clutching her stomach in her last throes of life. Tell that to the thousand corpses gasping for air that I have seen. Tell it to them, and then tell me their reply.' We couldn't fault him afterwards."
Ahsoka looked down at the ground, "I thought seeing the future could help make things better."
"It does," Darra grinned, "Just...not for the one doing the viewing."
She proceeded then to pat her head, making Ahsoka wince. "Montrals!" Ahsoka blurted out, dodging the patting, "I use them for echolocation! What is it with patting them?!"
"Oh," Darra's eyes widened. "Night used to pat our heads whenever we looked downcast. It became sort of a habit for him to pat on Anakin's head before he went full Tsundere."
Ahsoka's eyes widened. "He-Wait. He did what?"
Darra nodded. "He was our age, but when he gave you a head pat, you quieted down and you took it. I swear Anakin couldn't stop glowering whenever someone got ahead of him in the head pat count."
Ahsoka spluttered. That...that was insane!
And so many things suddenly made sense to her. Like, so many things that she felt as if she was just a split-second away from discovering the truth of existence. Her Master spread insanity wherever he went and with whoever he talked. He was like, an insanity nexus hidden behind a facade of perfect responsibility. She was on to him.
"If I remember correctly, you would do pretty much the same," a male voice -not that of her master- said offhandedly, as a male Jedi with brown hair, but golden streaks, entered the training room. "You always were too passionate in your youth."
Ahsoka looked at the new arrival with a puzzled expression, and the man nodded to the Padawan, especially at her unspoken question. "I am Knight Ferus Olin, young one."
"You're not that old to use 'young one', Ferus." Darra pointed out with a cheeky grin.
"She is younger than me, Knight Thel-Tanis," Olin stressed out, holding his smile tight. "So she is a young one."
Knight Darra coughed with a hand in front of her face, looking sideways with a twinkle in her eye. Ahsoka just looked, waiting for the other pin to drop. It was only after a few minutes of awkward silence went by that she realized she hadn't yet presented herself.
"Ops," Ahsoka blurted out, "I'm Ahsoka Tano," she said. "Padawan learner of Master Shade."
Ferus nodded. "I heard he had taken on an apprentice." He looked at her with a critical gaze, as if finding faults in her. "How did you convince him?"
Ahsoka shook her head, "There wasn't any convincing. Master Yoda told me he had showed interest, and I accepted after talking with him." Before knowing he was as mad as the Mad Hatter, of course. Then again, if she had known how mad he was, she probably would have accepted all the same because he had been the first to recognize her worth, if he had specifically wanted her as his padawan.
"Interesting," Ferus acquiesced. "After the events of Geonosis, I would have thought he'd steer clear of everyone. He must have seen something," the Jedi Knight said, "concerning your future."
Ahsoka blinked. She had...she had never thought about that. Maybe that explained why her Master had wanted her. He had seen the future -or at least, a probable one- and had decided that training her would prevent some form of catastrophe. What if-What if in the future, she turned out to be a Sith Master who killed countless millions, and thus him training her was the only way to prevent it? Or what if he failed in that, and then they were forced to battle each other on a plain of magma and fire while that damn orchestra music sang out and then he'd say something like 'Ahsoka, I trusted you!' and she then tried to jump, but he had the high ground, and so it ended up with her being cut in half and then burned by the magma of the planet?
That...that was quite the terrific imagery that shot through Ahsoka's head, making her tremble ever-so slightly because, whenever such a thing happened, it was due to her Bond with her master. So, if it was actually due to the bond with her Master...then maybe Knight Olin wasn't wrong. She gasped at the sudden insight, and rushed away.
She needed to get confirmation from her master -he wouldn't lie to her, would he?
Ahsoka rushed through the Jedi Temple, coming to a halt not in front of the meditation chambers -where her master had told her he'd be- but in front of a classroom of young initiates -where she felt her master to be. She recomposed herself long enough to appear 'not in a hurry' and 'not like someone who has to ask if she becomes a genocidal Sith in the future' and then stepped inside.
Her Master was humming contently, a book in his hand, as the rest of the young hopeful Jedi sat in front of him. "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?"
Her master would have kept on reading, but her intrusion made him stop and turn off the Datapad in his hand. The young learners looked up at her, and she fidgeted for just a bit.
"Yes, padawan?" her Master asked, an eyebrow raised. "Is something the matter?"
"Well," Ahsoka said, "I had a question."
"Is it urgent in the sense of 'I need an answer or someone will die soon', or is it urgent in the sense 'I might feel uneasy unless it's answered quickly'?"
"T-The latter one, master," Ahsoka acquiesced.
"Sit, let me finish the chapter, and then I'll answer you," Master Shade said, gesturing for her to take a sit on one of the empty pillows. She did it with a hint of nostalgia -she used to fall inside the pillows when she was smaller- and now she realized she barely fit in one of those. Her Master continued the story, of this Frodo, and Sam, and Pippin going on an adventure. It was kind of boring, truth be told, but every now and then her ears twitched as she realized the young students were keenly listening on to it. She wondered what lesson her Master was doing -he hadn't told her he was a teacher at the temple, all things considered. Heck, she would have expected him to be a teacher in the art of the Force, not a...was it literature? Was he teaching them how to read in Basic? But they didn't have datapads with a copy of the story in hand, and her Master was simply narrating the story.
It felt like story-time.
It made her sleepy. When Mister Fluffles purred in her lap, and she bent down to scratch the back of his head, she blinked only once, and then shrugged it off. She felt at peace. Maybe, she felt at peace because her Master felt at peace, or maybe it was because the story-telling reminded her of her mother's stories before bed. The soft voice, the small warm smiles...her mother smiled so warmly...
She refused to believe she had fallen asleep hearing her master tell a story. She refused to believe it, yet when she woke up, she was on her Master's back and they were walking -well, he was walking and carrying her- through a thankfully deserted hallway of the Jedi Temple.
"Tell me I didn't fall asleep," Ahsoka groaned as she began to fidget trying to get off her Master's back, and her Master dutifully complied helping her descend.
"You did not fall asleep," her Master replied. "You fell into a deeply meditative state known as 'The Snore', from which you woke up only now."
Ahsoka shot him a glare. Her Master returned a grin.
She shot him a harder glare. Her Master simply grinned even fiercer.
"You're strange," Ahsoka said in the end, and her Master simply shrugged it off. "You're a very strange Master, you know that?"
"So I've been told," her Master replied. "So, what was the question?"
'Do I become an homicidal Sith Master in the future?' was at the forefront of her mind, but before she could even speak it out, her Master neared his right hand to her forehead and 'flicked' it.
"That is the most stupid question ever. You wouldn't cut it as a Sith Janitor, let alone a Sith Master," he chuckled and just like that, her worries disappeared. "That's why I picked you," her Master added softly. "Even in the worst of things I saw, you were still doing the right thing, no matter the cost."
"So...you saw me in the future?" Ahsoka asked.
"Unfortunately, it's just a probability, padawan. Your future's yours to write. Hopefully, you'll write a great one." He winked. "I'll just coauthor you for a bit."
Ahsoka nodded.
"By the way," her Master remarked. "There will be a bit of a lull for a few weeks. Feel free to train with Knight Thel-Tanis, or just head off on missions with other Jedi Masters, I told the High Council you'd be on your own for a while, since I'll be busy-"
"Heading somewhere dangerous again?" Ahsoka hazarded with a raised eyebrow.
"All places are dangerous, do you know the amount of people that die in kitchens?" her Master quipped back with an amused expression. "Still, it will do you good to learn how other masters do things. Whatever happens though," he looked her straight in the eye. "If you end up facing Grievous, Count Dooku, Asaji or any Sith Master...run, call for backup, but do not face them alone."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Yes master, I'll tell them not to try to kill me because my master said so."
"You'd be surprised," her Master replied. "They wouldn't kill you." He sighed. "They'd capture you to get back at me, and then, of course, I'd come right up to save you and there would be this epic fight as I topple mountains and tear apart buildings, and you'd go, 'Stupid master, it was clearly a trap' and I'd say something like 'Silly Padawan, a true Master is trap-immune'."
Ahsoka groaned, and brought her left hand to massage her forehead, before it slowly slid to pinch the bridge of her nose.
Mister Fluffles meowed in the back of her head. At least her cat-like madness-induced hallucination wasn't making troubles.
For the moment.
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
C'mon Ahsoka, it's a great song!
...Merry? Are you there? Merry? Merry?
Ye gods, the meta is too strong.
Last edited:
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
...I think she might be right.
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Dude. Have you read the stuff Shade writes?
I am gleefully anticipating the wham. Because it's coming. Maybe not now. Maybe not even this month. But somewhen, somehow, it will all come crashing down in a cacophony of angst and feels, and we will praise him for it.
Haha, I know; I'm just hoping against all hope he'll actually, you know, not grimderp this one, haha....Yeah, it's a freakin slim possibility, but I can always hope.
Scrumptious Egoi
I Lurks
I'm pretty sure I remember hearing about someone wielding seven light-sabers
asdx
Superior Sword Fairy
- Location
- Texas.
Killer Bee?
- Location
- US
Darth Traya could do three at a time. And they all had the same number of hit points as she did, so it was best to just go after her since when she died it'd go to cut screen and you wouldn't have to fight any more.
Chapter Nineteen
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Nineteen
Ahsoka Tano was having the time of her life. She was training in swordsmanship with a Jedi Knight, she was hanging around the Jedi Temple's Masters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon, and yet, even as she did all those missions, she began to wonder just what instead her master was doing. The High Council hadn't assigned him on any important missions, since she had checked that out personally. Turns out giving a hand to an old lady librarian can really help when you're simply acting out of concern for your Master's well-being. And even then, there was no knowledge on where he had gone off to.
The Bond was still working, but her Master had cut off his own thoughts from it. It was there, but-
"Meow," Mister Fluffles meowed from the mirror, and Ahsoka sighed as she looked at her reflection in it.
"What are you anyway?" Ahsoka asked, not even expecting an answer to come. The answer, in fact, didn't come. The mangy orange striped kitten didn't reply, as much as playfully start to rub itself against the mirror's surface. "If you work anything like the Cheshire Cat," she murmured, but then shook her head. No, the Cheshire Cat was clearly a part of her master, just as she felt Mister Fluffles a part of her. Whenever she reached out with the Force, the cat purred back contently, like a sort of oasis of peace and quiet. It was her thoughts drifted off during meditation in her room, that the cat finally seeped through the mirror glass and reached her.
Ahsoka blinked as she gingerly scratched the back of her cat. She stood up, and the mirror's surface wobbled as if made of water. "Uhm," Ahsoka mumbled. "Let's see if I understand how this works correctly. Hey, Mister Fluffles," Ahsoka said, "Think you can show me where my master is?"
Her adorable orange striped kitten meowed, and then jumped off her arms and towards the mirror. He passed through with ease, as if the surface was made of water, and turned to look at her with a 'you coming?' gaze.
Ahsoka carefully brought a hand forward, and when she touched the glass, it rippled as if made of water. "Here goes nothing," she whispered to herself, before plunging through in one swift motion. Beyond the mirror, her room was the same, if symmetrically opposite. Mister Fluffles meowed at her, and moved towards the door. He scratched against it, and Ahsoka opened the door with a wary look. Mister Fluffles wasn't the Cheshire Cat, hopefully, and again, she had been the one to ask.
"Duchess, I frankly do not see the point. They seek war, we are at war, give them war," her Master's voice reached Ahsoka's ears through the cobblestone path made of sparkling gold that laid neatly in front of her, surrounded by darkness. "You do not need to mobilize the entire planet. Those who want to fight should be allowed to fight."
"Master Shade, should a peacekeeper say such things?" a female voice replied, a brief spark of light shining in the darkness of the cobblestone path. Ahsoka began to slowly walk through it, staying behind Mister Fluffles who resolutely marched on.
"There is strife on your planet, Duchess. Before delving in the bigger strife of the galaxy, let us fix the one in front of our eyes. I did manage to convince the Death Watch to talk, didn't I?"
A brief pulse of light, an image flickering by of a Mandalorian soldier clad in armor. The Mandalore. Mand'Alor. Sole Ruler. The pulses of knowledge flew through Ahsoka's mind as her Master spoke. The Preserver. Canderous Ordo.
"And that is a great accomplishment, but I will not go against my people's new ways." Irritation. Stupidity is truly a sin. Why can't she understand? Ship them off planet, strike them in the back if the need arises. No, too Dark. Cannot tell.
"And you do not need to," her Master replied. "When a brother and a sister fight for the best room, the parents are torn. The solution is, however, simple. You ensure they both get the room most suited to their needs. The Death Watch wants to fight to preserve its culture of war, and who are you to claim they cannot do that? Just as you would fight to preserve your culture of peace, they would fight for their of war. Allow them. Just because some people of a planet seek war, doesn't mean all of them will."
"Neutrality is key to keeping my people safe, Master Shade," the Duchess replied.
"Then I'm afraid you are utterly disillusioned on what the Separatist mean for war, Duchess," her Master replied. "The Death Watch were already talking with the Separatist when I managed to talk with them. This is your last chance. It is either this, or war between your people. Surely, a concession can be made at this point?"
There was silence for a while. Ahsoka held her breath and stood very still -especially because Mister Fluffles had put a paw on her foot and made a gesture with its tiny cute paw to 'hush it'.
There was another flash of light, and a room took form in front of her. She was standing inside a large hall, with columns of white and a throne on which a woman stood clad in what looked like formal wear. Her Master was in front of the Duchess, his arms crossed inside his sleeves. Ahsoka held her breath. Hidden behind a few of the columns were people wearing Mandalorian armor -assassins if negotiations fail. The thought struck Ahsoka. Her Master knew they were there -that was why she could see them. There were bright spots of light further away, and with a flash of insight, or maybe just the knowledge flowing through the Bond, Ahsoka knew that those were the lifeforms of the planet. Her Master could sense them from that far away.
"You seem keen on making us allies of the Republic, Master Shade," the Duchess replied. "Should you not instead protect our desire for peace?"
"Duchess, let me be plain," her Master replied. Annoyed. He was outright annoyed. "The Death Watch demands are utterly simple. Recognition, understanding of their culture, and pardon for the crimes committed until now. In exchange, they will swear loyalty to you as their Mand'Alor until the war is over, after which they will be free to challenge your title. The Republic will guarantee your independence should you wish to still keep your neutrality, but is this how the Mandalorian have become? That they need someone else's arm because theirs has become too weak to hold their own shield?" Master Shade raised an eyebrow, Ahsoka could feel the motions on his face. "Because, Duchess, if that is the case, then know that every man that dies to defend your home because you refused to fight is a soul on your conscience. And don't think you can hold the moral high ground for long, if that happens. Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war." Here her Master shook her head. "But I can feel you're too headstrong to change your mind."
The Duchess pursed her lips for a moment, and closed her eyes in thought. She clutched the sides of her throne, and finally rose.
"Your jabs will not work with me, Master Shade. Why should Mandalorians fight and die in a war the Republic started? Why should I risk the peaceful future of my people based on your words alone? No, I will not allow my people to die."
Disappointment. It would be so easy to kill her and have her replaced with a puppet. Shut it you, the assassins could do the job. It wouldn't make the deal stand. She needs to concede. Mind Trick? No, she's too headstrong for it.
Ahsoka swallowed her nervousness as she heard her Master's thoughts. She gasped and recoiled, and with that, her Master's ears twitched. Suddenly, the room began to crumble as the Cheshire Cat broke through her Master's shadow, standing with its bright grin and glowing eyes.
"Look what we have here," the Cat actually talked to her, flicking its tail. "If it isn't the wayward Alice. Come to spy with your little eyes, young Alice? You shouldn't be here. Tut-tut, curiosity killed the cat and the little lost girl."
Ahsoka clenched her hands into fists. "You're not going to kill me or Mister Fluffles."
The Cheshire Cat shook his head, and grinned even brighter than before. "Maybe I won't," the room disappeared, and only the cobblestone remained. "But you are done peeking for today, young lady."
"He won't do it, will he?" Ahsoka asked, eyes half-narrow.
"He won't do what, pray tell?" the Cheshire Cat asked, amusement in his tone.
"Let the assassins kill the Duchess."
"And if he did?" the Cheshire Cat said. "War for the Mandalorians is inevitable. The side they are fighting for however, that is up to debate." The Cat's eyes narrowed fiercely. "Why, you think you know better than your Master?"
"The life of one for the lives of many," Ahsoka whispered, "Is that what this is about?"
The Cheshire Cat hummed, and nodded next. "The Duchess will die, make no mistake. Whether we intervene now or not is meaningless. The Death Watch will side with the Separatist, and they will fight the Republic. Yet, by intervening now, the outcome can still be changed." The Cheshire Cat's head turned by one hundred and eighty degrees, and blinked. "Does this change your view on your Master's actions? Does this," the Cat's face swapped sides, as if mirrored, "make you see things in a new light?"
Ahsoka ground her teeth and took a step forward. "Let me talk with him. There's got to be another way!" the tabby orange striped cat meowed in agreement, putting a paw forward and lifting the other paw in a 'I'll punch you' gesture.
"So precious," the Cheshire Cat smiled with his wicked grin. "You think you can change your Master's mind. Well then, how about we play a game of Cat and Mouse?" the Cheshire Cat's claws suddenly struck out from its paws. "If you win, I might just let you talk to your master. If you lose, well," here the Cat giggled, "Poor little Mister Fluffles might just die."
Ahsoka snorted and rolled her eyes, grabbing both of her lightsaber and lighting them up. The short one was green, and the longest one was blue. "Bring it on, cat. What can you do, scratch me to death?"
The Cheshire Cat grinned, showing its pointy, jagged teeth. Its back rose as it hissed just like a cat would, and with a feral snarl roared as it grew in size tenfold, and then ten more times. It wasn't a tiger. It was the size of an Akul, all things considered, and when two more arms erupted with wicked claws from the Cheshire Cat's sides, Ahsoka paled.
It really was an Akul, if purple-striped. "Now Alice," the Cheshire Cat spoke plainly, with a very normal, tranquil voice. Now young Skywalker... "You will die," the Cheshire Cat said after a small pause. An image of an old man with loose skin and black robes with a dark armored man near him entered her mind, and she balked. There was just...darkness coming from every pore of the old man's skin, and the darkly armored man next to him looked positively ferocious. The words 'Young Skywalker'...did it mean Anakin? Was Anakin Skywalker fated to die by the hand of these two figures? Four lightsabers sprung to life in the Cheshire Cat's paws, and he begun to twist them as if his wrists didn't matter.
Ahsoka's right hand came up to deflect a blow, and she winced under the strength. The second and third lightsaber swiped at her feet, and she executed a back flip jump just in time to avoid losing her legs. The Cheshire Cat's presence vanished the next moment, as the lightsabers deactivated to allow his natural invisibility to take over.
"Trakata, the style of tricks," the Cheshire Cat hissed out, while Mister Fluffles meowed loudly, his ears twitching. "Deactivate, reactivate, strike."
Ahsoka's montrals tensed, and she swiftly ducked under the mighty swing of four lightsabers coming diagonally down on her. "So is this what you've been taught? How to duck and dodge?" the Cheshire Cat asked with a cheeky grin. "Have you wasted your time, Alice?"
She spun in mid-air and sliced at one of the Cat's arms, which fell down like a lump of rotten flesh sizzling from the heat of the blade. The Cheshire Cat didn't even scream, but disappeared once more in the darkness.
"Well! Not so cheeky now, are we?" Ahsoka retorted. "Well, what's going on? Cat got your tongue?" she said in a teasing tone. "Aw, is the poor little kitty too hurt to speak? Are you licking your wounds?"
There was a loud rumbling, and Ahsoka lost her footing for just a split second. In that second, a flash of lightsaber ignited and struck at her left side, sending her to fly off in the darkness and hit her back against an invisible wall.
"Taunt me more," the Cheshire Cat said with a fierce grin. "Each taunt is one more proof of your fear."
Ahsoka bit her tongue from replying. She could see the Cat's grin, although the rest of his body remained hidden. Mister Fluffles meowed, and the Cheshire Cat's grin turned towards him.
"Hush you, I am busy teaching little Alice a lesson."
A lesson.
Ahsoka snapped her eyes from the Cheshire Cat to Mister Fluffles. Mister Fluffles had, unwittingly, or maybe actually willingly, told her the truth. The Cat's eyes were closed because they shone in the darkness, just like his mouth. He was invisible as long as he didn't talk and see, so he had to be using his ears to catch sight of her. The more she spoke, the more easy it was for the cat to find her. The buzzing of her lightsabers also caught his ears, if slower than her words. She turned them off, and in so doing, slowed her breathing down too.
"So the little Alice can learn," the Cheshire Cat spoke, flashing a grin that Ahsoka could see. "That is good. That is very good. Maybe little Alice won't be stuck in Wonderland forever."
Ahsoka didn't reply, but slowly began to creep forward. "You must think me a terrible host," the Cheshire Cat spoke again, "the big bad wolf to you, little red riding hood. Or maybe I'm the wicked witch of the East? Uh, I might be the terrible Lion Scar, are you Simba? Hey Simba," Ahsoka drew near enough that with her next strike, she could have beheaded the Cheshire Cat. It was in the split second that she lit her lightsaber that a furred paw grabbed her by the face and claws sunk in her montrals, making her senses go haywire as she was lifted up in the air, dropping her lightsabers. "Long live the king."
With a ferocious roar, the Cheshire Cat brought her close to his face and smiled at her, showing his fierce teeth, now as large as Ahsoka's face.
"To be a Jedi," the Cheshire Cat hissed, "Is to conquer arrogance, overconfidence, defeatism, stubbornness, recklessness, aggression, external loyalties, materialism...and curiosity. Use the Force to satisfy the Will of the Force - not your own curiosity." The Cheshire Cat smiled broadly and dropped her off gently in front of him. The lights turned back on, and Ahsoka found herself back in her room with Mister Fluffles clutched to her chest and the Cheshire Cat standing lazily on her drawer, moving his tail back and forth.
"Do not see a lightsaber duel as a choice between winning and losing. Every duel can have many, many outcomes. When you concentrate solely on winning—in lightsaber duels as in everything else—you sully your victory. Winning becomes worse than losing. It is better to lose well than to win badly. And it is always better to end a duel peacefully than to win or lose."
The Cheshire Cat nodded to himself as he quoted Repka De, an old Jedi Master -and as someone who had learned that lesson as an initiate, Ahsoka winced back. Of course her master wouldn't make her fight a duel to the death. She had thought defeating the Cheshire Cat had been part of it, but in fact, she could have just as simply renounced her purpose and go back. But she hadn't. She had wanted to talk with her master, and she had been curious enough that she had challenged the enemy expecting victory where there hadn't been a guarantee.
"I'm sorry," Ahsoka whispered. "Please don't kill Mister Fluffles."
The Cheshire Cat rolled his eyes, and tapped with his tail the glass of her room.
Her Master appeared through it, looking none worse for the wear and apparently already in his starship, judging by his surroundings. "What is it, padawan?" her Master asked, looking at her straight through the mirror as if he could see her -and probably he could. "Don't think I didn't realize you've been watching. Conquering curiosity is part of the Jedi Code."
Ahsoka bit her lower lip. "Did...did you do it in the end?"
"Do...what, precisely?" her Master asked back, an eyebrow raised.
"Let the assassins kill the Duchess," Ahsoka said, eyeing her Master angrily, as if it was his fault she had to say it out loud. Well, it actually was his fault.
"I was tempted to," her Master sighed. "Then I realized there was this little rascal watching, and I thought 'remember why you took her under your wing' and so I didn't. On the plus side, once the assassins were taken care of, the Duchess suddenly changed her mind about my suggestion. Peace has been brokered, and I ensured the Death Watch's loyalty to the Republic's side. I was just about to contact Master Yoda about this, so...anything else?"
Ahsoka hesitated. "Me trying to talk to you was meaningless, then?"
"It wasn't," her Master replied. "But sometimes, one doesn't need words to get a message across, Ahsoka. Think of it as training your recklessness. Taunting the enemy is something the Sith do to bolster their courage when facing a Jedi. Master Yoda...he doesn't speak when he fights. And he beat the taunting out of me," here her Master chuckled nervously. "Seriously, try asking him for a training battle. He'll put the fear of small green things in you," her master shuddered, "Never looked at a goblin the same way after that."
"Your cat's horrible by the way," Ahsoka pointed out. "He hurt me."
"And you chopped his arm off," her Master pointed out plainly. "Ahsoka, you were in the back of my head. Don't think I don't know what went on back there. We'll also have to talk later about what you actually saw. Some of that stuff...you aren't supposed to tell anyone."
"Uhm," Ahsoka hesitated. "What if-let's say hypothetically-I saw something that is supposed to happen and you don't come back in time?"
"You are not to meddle with it," her Master said firmly. "I'm serious, Ahsoka. Do not meddle with probability. Do not meddle with the Force-vision. There are...ways to deal with visions, but I haven't taught you anything about it, so you cannot, no, absolutely must no, consider them. No matter what you saw, no matter how dire the situation was, do not intervene in it."
"Yes, master," Ahsoka said grumpily, scratching the back of Mister Fluffles head. The Cheshire Cat winked at her with a cheeky expression on his face, and then jumped through the mirror, disappearing from sight. Her Master soon disappeared too, and Ahsoka's eyes opened up to her room -with Mister Fluffles beyond the glass.
Exhaling, Ahsoka stood up and crankily stretched her legs. She's take a shower, she'd eat some food, and then she'd start following Knight Skywalker around a bit. Just to be sure everything was going to be fine. Last she had heard, after an accident with Mace Windu's starship, he was back for a quick report before heading off to Florrum.
She'd 'gently' ask him if he needed a second pair of eyes. How difficult would it be to hitch a ride? Maybe if he blackmailed him with the knowledge of the head pat count, he'd even do it without a fuss.
And as she thought of that, Mister Fluffles began to slowly smile.
Ahsoka Tano was having the time of her life. She was training in swordsmanship with a Jedi Knight, she was hanging around the Jedi Temple's Masters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon, and yet, even as she did all those missions, she began to wonder just what instead her master was doing. The High Council hadn't assigned him on any important missions, since she had checked that out personally. Turns out giving a hand to an old lady librarian can really help when you're simply acting out of concern for your Master's well-being. And even then, there was no knowledge on where he had gone off to.
The Bond was still working, but her Master had cut off his own thoughts from it. It was there, but-
"Meow," Mister Fluffles meowed from the mirror, and Ahsoka sighed as she looked at her reflection in it.
"What are you anyway?" Ahsoka asked, not even expecting an answer to come. The answer, in fact, didn't come. The mangy orange striped kitten didn't reply, as much as playfully start to rub itself against the mirror's surface. "If you work anything like the Cheshire Cat," she murmured, but then shook her head. No, the Cheshire Cat was clearly a part of her master, just as she felt Mister Fluffles a part of her. Whenever she reached out with the Force, the cat purred back contently, like a sort of oasis of peace and quiet. It was her thoughts drifted off during meditation in her room, that the cat finally seeped through the mirror glass and reached her.
Ahsoka blinked as she gingerly scratched the back of her cat. She stood up, and the mirror's surface wobbled as if made of water. "Uhm," Ahsoka mumbled. "Let's see if I understand how this works correctly. Hey, Mister Fluffles," Ahsoka said, "Think you can show me where my master is?"
Her adorable orange striped kitten meowed, and then jumped off her arms and towards the mirror. He passed through with ease, as if the surface was made of water, and turned to look at her with a 'you coming?' gaze.
Ahsoka carefully brought a hand forward, and when she touched the glass, it rippled as if made of water. "Here goes nothing," she whispered to herself, before plunging through in one swift motion. Beyond the mirror, her room was the same, if symmetrically opposite. Mister Fluffles meowed at her, and moved towards the door. He scratched against it, and Ahsoka opened the door with a wary look. Mister Fluffles wasn't the Cheshire Cat, hopefully, and again, she had been the one to ask.
"Duchess, I frankly do not see the point. They seek war, we are at war, give them war," her Master's voice reached Ahsoka's ears through the cobblestone path made of sparkling gold that laid neatly in front of her, surrounded by darkness. "You do not need to mobilize the entire planet. Those who want to fight should be allowed to fight."
"Master Shade, should a peacekeeper say such things?" a female voice replied, a brief spark of light shining in the darkness of the cobblestone path. Ahsoka began to slowly walk through it, staying behind Mister Fluffles who resolutely marched on.
"There is strife on your planet, Duchess. Before delving in the bigger strife of the galaxy, let us fix the one in front of our eyes. I did manage to convince the Death Watch to talk, didn't I?"
A brief pulse of light, an image flickering by of a Mandalorian soldier clad in armor. The Mandalore. Mand'Alor. Sole Ruler. The pulses of knowledge flew through Ahsoka's mind as her Master spoke. The Preserver. Canderous Ordo.
"And that is a great accomplishment, but I will not go against my people's new ways." Irritation. Stupidity is truly a sin. Why can't she understand? Ship them off planet, strike them in the back if the need arises. No, too Dark. Cannot tell.
"And you do not need to," her Master replied. "When a brother and a sister fight for the best room, the parents are torn. The solution is, however, simple. You ensure they both get the room most suited to their needs. The Death Watch wants to fight to preserve its culture of war, and who are you to claim they cannot do that? Just as you would fight to preserve your culture of peace, they would fight for their of war. Allow them. Just because some people of a planet seek war, doesn't mean all of them will."
"Neutrality is key to keeping my people safe, Master Shade," the Duchess replied.
"Then I'm afraid you are utterly disillusioned on what the Separatist mean for war, Duchess," her Master replied. "The Death Watch were already talking with the Separatist when I managed to talk with them. This is your last chance. It is either this, or war between your people. Surely, a concession can be made at this point?"
There was silence for a while. Ahsoka held her breath and stood very still -especially because Mister Fluffles had put a paw on her foot and made a gesture with its tiny cute paw to 'hush it'.
There was another flash of light, and a room took form in front of her. She was standing inside a large hall, with columns of white and a throne on which a woman stood clad in what looked like formal wear. Her Master was in front of the Duchess, his arms crossed inside his sleeves. Ahsoka held her breath. Hidden behind a few of the columns were people wearing Mandalorian armor -assassins if negotiations fail. The thought struck Ahsoka. Her Master knew they were there -that was why she could see them. There were bright spots of light further away, and with a flash of insight, or maybe just the knowledge flowing through the Bond, Ahsoka knew that those were the lifeforms of the planet. Her Master could sense them from that far away.
"You seem keen on making us allies of the Republic, Master Shade," the Duchess replied. "Should you not instead protect our desire for peace?"
"Duchess, let me be plain," her Master replied. Annoyed. He was outright annoyed. "The Death Watch demands are utterly simple. Recognition, understanding of their culture, and pardon for the crimes committed until now. In exchange, they will swear loyalty to you as their Mand'Alor until the war is over, after which they will be free to challenge your title. The Republic will guarantee your independence should you wish to still keep your neutrality, but is this how the Mandalorian have become? That they need someone else's arm because theirs has become too weak to hold their own shield?" Master Shade raised an eyebrow, Ahsoka could feel the motions on his face. "Because, Duchess, if that is the case, then know that every man that dies to defend your home because you refused to fight is a soul on your conscience. And don't think you can hold the moral high ground for long, if that happens. Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war." Here her Master shook her head. "But I can feel you're too headstrong to change your mind."
The Duchess pursed her lips for a moment, and closed her eyes in thought. She clutched the sides of her throne, and finally rose.
"Your jabs will not work with me, Master Shade. Why should Mandalorians fight and die in a war the Republic started? Why should I risk the peaceful future of my people based on your words alone? No, I will not allow my people to die."
Disappointment. It would be so easy to kill her and have her replaced with a puppet. Shut it you, the assassins could do the job. It wouldn't make the deal stand. She needs to concede. Mind Trick? No, she's too headstrong for it.
Ahsoka swallowed her nervousness as she heard her Master's thoughts. She gasped and recoiled, and with that, her Master's ears twitched. Suddenly, the room began to crumble as the Cheshire Cat broke through her Master's shadow, standing with its bright grin and glowing eyes.
"Look what we have here," the Cat actually talked to her, flicking its tail. "If it isn't the wayward Alice. Come to spy with your little eyes, young Alice? You shouldn't be here. Tut-tut, curiosity killed the cat and the little lost girl."
Ahsoka clenched her hands into fists. "You're not going to kill me or Mister Fluffles."
The Cheshire Cat shook his head, and grinned even brighter than before. "Maybe I won't," the room disappeared, and only the cobblestone remained. "But you are done peeking for today, young lady."
"He won't do it, will he?" Ahsoka asked, eyes half-narrow.
"He won't do what, pray tell?" the Cheshire Cat asked, amusement in his tone.
"Let the assassins kill the Duchess."
"And if he did?" the Cheshire Cat said. "War for the Mandalorians is inevitable. The side they are fighting for however, that is up to debate." The Cat's eyes narrowed fiercely. "Why, you think you know better than your Master?"
"The life of one for the lives of many," Ahsoka whispered, "Is that what this is about?"
The Cheshire Cat hummed, and nodded next. "The Duchess will die, make no mistake. Whether we intervene now or not is meaningless. The Death Watch will side with the Separatist, and they will fight the Republic. Yet, by intervening now, the outcome can still be changed." The Cheshire Cat's head turned by one hundred and eighty degrees, and blinked. "Does this change your view on your Master's actions? Does this," the Cat's face swapped sides, as if mirrored, "make you see things in a new light?"
Ahsoka ground her teeth and took a step forward. "Let me talk with him. There's got to be another way!" the tabby orange striped cat meowed in agreement, putting a paw forward and lifting the other paw in a 'I'll punch you' gesture.
"So precious," the Cheshire Cat smiled with his wicked grin. "You think you can change your Master's mind. Well then, how about we play a game of Cat and Mouse?" the Cheshire Cat's claws suddenly struck out from its paws. "If you win, I might just let you talk to your master. If you lose, well," here the Cat giggled, "Poor little Mister Fluffles might just die."
Ahsoka snorted and rolled her eyes, grabbing both of her lightsaber and lighting them up. The short one was green, and the longest one was blue. "Bring it on, cat. What can you do, scratch me to death?"
The Cheshire Cat grinned, showing its pointy, jagged teeth. Its back rose as it hissed just like a cat would, and with a feral snarl roared as it grew in size tenfold, and then ten more times. It wasn't a tiger. It was the size of an Akul, all things considered, and when two more arms erupted with wicked claws from the Cheshire Cat's sides, Ahsoka paled.
It really was an Akul, if purple-striped. "Now Alice," the Cheshire Cat spoke plainly, with a very normal, tranquil voice. Now young Skywalker... "You will die," the Cheshire Cat said after a small pause. An image of an old man with loose skin and black robes with a dark armored man near him entered her mind, and she balked. There was just...darkness coming from every pore of the old man's skin, and the darkly armored man next to him looked positively ferocious. The words 'Young Skywalker'...did it mean Anakin? Was Anakin Skywalker fated to die by the hand of these two figures? Four lightsabers sprung to life in the Cheshire Cat's paws, and he begun to twist them as if his wrists didn't matter.
Ahsoka's right hand came up to deflect a blow, and she winced under the strength. The second and third lightsaber swiped at her feet, and she executed a back flip jump just in time to avoid losing her legs. The Cheshire Cat's presence vanished the next moment, as the lightsabers deactivated to allow his natural invisibility to take over.
"Trakata, the style of tricks," the Cheshire Cat hissed out, while Mister Fluffles meowed loudly, his ears twitching. "Deactivate, reactivate, strike."
Ahsoka's montrals tensed, and she swiftly ducked under the mighty swing of four lightsabers coming diagonally down on her. "So is this what you've been taught? How to duck and dodge?" the Cheshire Cat asked with a cheeky grin. "Have you wasted your time, Alice?"
She spun in mid-air and sliced at one of the Cat's arms, which fell down like a lump of rotten flesh sizzling from the heat of the blade. The Cheshire Cat didn't even scream, but disappeared once more in the darkness.
"Well! Not so cheeky now, are we?" Ahsoka retorted. "Well, what's going on? Cat got your tongue?" she said in a teasing tone. "Aw, is the poor little kitty too hurt to speak? Are you licking your wounds?"
There was a loud rumbling, and Ahsoka lost her footing for just a split second. In that second, a flash of lightsaber ignited and struck at her left side, sending her to fly off in the darkness and hit her back against an invisible wall.
"Taunt me more," the Cheshire Cat said with a fierce grin. "Each taunt is one more proof of your fear."
Ahsoka bit her tongue from replying. She could see the Cat's grin, although the rest of his body remained hidden. Mister Fluffles meowed, and the Cheshire Cat's grin turned towards him.
"Hush you, I am busy teaching little Alice a lesson."
A lesson.
Ahsoka snapped her eyes from the Cheshire Cat to Mister Fluffles. Mister Fluffles had, unwittingly, or maybe actually willingly, told her the truth. The Cat's eyes were closed because they shone in the darkness, just like his mouth. He was invisible as long as he didn't talk and see, so he had to be using his ears to catch sight of her. The more she spoke, the more easy it was for the cat to find her. The buzzing of her lightsabers also caught his ears, if slower than her words. She turned them off, and in so doing, slowed her breathing down too.
"So the little Alice can learn," the Cheshire Cat spoke, flashing a grin that Ahsoka could see. "That is good. That is very good. Maybe little Alice won't be stuck in Wonderland forever."
Ahsoka didn't reply, but slowly began to creep forward. "You must think me a terrible host," the Cheshire Cat spoke again, "the big bad wolf to you, little red riding hood. Or maybe I'm the wicked witch of the East? Uh, I might be the terrible Lion Scar, are you Simba? Hey Simba," Ahsoka drew near enough that with her next strike, she could have beheaded the Cheshire Cat. It was in the split second that she lit her lightsaber that a furred paw grabbed her by the face and claws sunk in her montrals, making her senses go haywire as she was lifted up in the air, dropping her lightsabers. "Long live the king."
With a ferocious roar, the Cheshire Cat brought her close to his face and smiled at her, showing his fierce teeth, now as large as Ahsoka's face.
"To be a Jedi," the Cheshire Cat hissed, "Is to conquer arrogance, overconfidence, defeatism, stubbornness, recklessness, aggression, external loyalties, materialism...and curiosity. Use the Force to satisfy the Will of the Force - not your own curiosity." The Cheshire Cat smiled broadly and dropped her off gently in front of him. The lights turned back on, and Ahsoka found herself back in her room with Mister Fluffles clutched to her chest and the Cheshire Cat standing lazily on her drawer, moving his tail back and forth.
"Do not see a lightsaber duel as a choice between winning and losing. Every duel can have many, many outcomes. When you concentrate solely on winning—in lightsaber duels as in everything else—you sully your victory. Winning becomes worse than losing. It is better to lose well than to win badly. And it is always better to end a duel peacefully than to win or lose."
The Cheshire Cat nodded to himself as he quoted Repka De, an old Jedi Master -and as someone who had learned that lesson as an initiate, Ahsoka winced back. Of course her master wouldn't make her fight a duel to the death. She had thought defeating the Cheshire Cat had been part of it, but in fact, she could have just as simply renounced her purpose and go back. But she hadn't. She had wanted to talk with her master, and she had been curious enough that she had challenged the enemy expecting victory where there hadn't been a guarantee.
"I'm sorry," Ahsoka whispered. "Please don't kill Mister Fluffles."
The Cheshire Cat rolled his eyes, and tapped with his tail the glass of her room.
Her Master appeared through it, looking none worse for the wear and apparently already in his starship, judging by his surroundings. "What is it, padawan?" her Master asked, looking at her straight through the mirror as if he could see her -and probably he could. "Don't think I didn't realize you've been watching. Conquering curiosity is part of the Jedi Code."
Ahsoka bit her lower lip. "Did...did you do it in the end?"
"Do...what, precisely?" her Master asked back, an eyebrow raised.
"Let the assassins kill the Duchess," Ahsoka said, eyeing her Master angrily, as if it was his fault she had to say it out loud. Well, it actually was his fault.
"I was tempted to," her Master sighed. "Then I realized there was this little rascal watching, and I thought 'remember why you took her under your wing' and so I didn't. On the plus side, once the assassins were taken care of, the Duchess suddenly changed her mind about my suggestion. Peace has been brokered, and I ensured the Death Watch's loyalty to the Republic's side. I was just about to contact Master Yoda about this, so...anything else?"
Ahsoka hesitated. "Me trying to talk to you was meaningless, then?"
"It wasn't," her Master replied. "But sometimes, one doesn't need words to get a message across, Ahsoka. Think of it as training your recklessness. Taunting the enemy is something the Sith do to bolster their courage when facing a Jedi. Master Yoda...he doesn't speak when he fights. And he beat the taunting out of me," here her Master chuckled nervously. "Seriously, try asking him for a training battle. He'll put the fear of small green things in you," her master shuddered, "Never looked at a goblin the same way after that."
"Your cat's horrible by the way," Ahsoka pointed out. "He hurt me."
"And you chopped his arm off," her Master pointed out plainly. "Ahsoka, you were in the back of my head. Don't think I don't know what went on back there. We'll also have to talk later about what you actually saw. Some of that stuff...you aren't supposed to tell anyone."
"Uhm," Ahsoka hesitated. "What if-let's say hypothetically-I saw something that is supposed to happen and you don't come back in time?"
"You are not to meddle with it," her Master said firmly. "I'm serious, Ahsoka. Do not meddle with probability. Do not meddle with the Force-vision. There are...ways to deal with visions, but I haven't taught you anything about it, so you cannot, no, absolutely must no, consider them. No matter what you saw, no matter how dire the situation was, do not intervene in it."
"Yes, master," Ahsoka said grumpily, scratching the back of Mister Fluffles head. The Cheshire Cat winked at her with a cheeky expression on his face, and then jumped through the mirror, disappearing from sight. Her Master soon disappeared too, and Ahsoka's eyes opened up to her room -with Mister Fluffles beyond the glass.
Exhaling, Ahsoka stood up and crankily stretched her legs. She's take a shower, she'd eat some food, and then she'd start following Knight Skywalker around a bit. Just to be sure everything was going to be fine. Last she had heard, after an accident with Mace Windu's starship, he was back for a quick report before heading off to Florrum.
She'd 'gently' ask him if he needed a second pair of eyes. How difficult would it be to hitch a ride? Maybe if he blackmailed him with the knowledge of the head pat count, he'd even do it without a fuss.
And as she thought of that, Mister Fluffles began to slowly smile.
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"You are forbidden, teenage girl, from doing what you think is right."
Is this foreshadowing? This is foreshadowing, right? :lol
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Five minutes later...
"Did I just tell a Disney Princess-sort of- girl not to do something as her Father-Figure?"
A moment of silence.
"I'M A MORON. DIVERT COURSE CAPTAIN!"
"Aye-aye sir!"
Well, there are seven forms of lightsaber combat. You sure you aren't thinking of that?
Fluffles is turning into Ahsoka's own Cheshire Cat?
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- Location
- US
"I thought you said you didn't let the assassins kill Duchess Satine!"
"And I stopped them, but then I remembered that she deserved to die on principle and killed her myself."
"... how could you?"
"It's very simple my young padawan, she was a horrible person and the Mandalorian culture deserved to be preserved. Why do these idiot new wave politicians think that being head strong is a virtue? All it means is that they are too stupid to think about their problems from all angles or consider other solutions. Like that senator Amidala, she's practically at Jarjar idiocy levels ."
"... um... right ...Did you just use Junior Representative Binks' name as an adjective for stupidity?"
"And I stopped them, but then I remembered that she deserved to die on principle and killed her myself."
"... how could you?"
"It's very simple my young padawan, she was a horrible person and the Mandalorian culture deserved to be preserved. Why do these idiot new wave politicians think that being head strong is a virtue? All it means is that they are too stupid to think about their problems from all angles or consider other solutions. Like that senator Amidala, she's practically at Jarjar idiocy levels ."
"... um... right ...Did you just use Junior Representative Binks' name as an adjective for stupidity?"
- Location
- Australia
It's like Shade's genre savvy has entirely died. He invites Murphy with every breath he takes. This is painful. How can he be so dumb still??
And Ashoka gets her own cheshire cat...
Uxion
The Slightly Less Depressed
- Location
- Personal Hell
Shade punches in new coordinates but his movements begin to slow. He turns his head and looks at the slowly forming Chesire Cat.
"Did... Did I just say what I thought I just said?"
The Cat smile widens.
"Yes. Yes you did."
"Uh oh."
Smash cut to Coruscant.
The Senate building is ruins.
The Jedi Temple is on fire as emergency vehicles fight the blaze.
"What did you do!?"
"I was just trying to help!"
Meanwhile Obi-wan and Anakin are standing off to the side.
"Suddenly I am very glad you are my Padawan Anakin."
"Why's that Master?"
"Well, for one, we had it pegged that you were the one to burn down the Jedi Temple first."
"What?"
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
You people assume he's being genre blind.
I say that he intentionally tricked her into spending time with Anakin to serve as an anchor for the idiot without becoming his padawan. After all, if she's approaching him as an equal instead of a student, it suddenly becomes a much different relationship that's likely to be healthier, isn't it?
I say that he intentionally tricked her into spending time with Anakin to serve as an anchor for the idiot without becoming his padawan. After all, if she's approaching him as an equal instead of a student, it suddenly becomes a much different relationship that's likely to be healthier, isn't it?
Vanargand
So tired.....
C'mon Ahsoka, it's a great song!
...Merry? Are you there? Merry? Merry?
Ye gods, the meta is too strong.
Shade is totally the type that would figure how to make -Force Music- and play it on loop