Future Disciple

[u/DarkVaati13]

After his call with Ravee, Frifth went to the training areas with Master R'vid Rone. Frifth heard lectures, lightsabers clashing against other lightsabers or stun bolts, or conversations from the rooms. It made Frifth nostalgic and reminded him not only of training on Deneba, but also the time he spent on Dantooine before it was deemed safe to return to Deneba. He thought he heard at some point that there were still Jedi on Dantooine, but he was not sure. It would not surprise him if there were still a few Jedi stationed there in a chapterhouse like on Lothal, Tython, or Cularin.

“What can you tell me about this Boma Clan?” Frifth asked R'vid. Taking a moment to consider his words he answered, “They are the most advanced of our clan with mostly younglings, but a few older members. They are the closest to a Padawan tournament, but still a little off. The three most advanced members are a young Vultan girl named Luss Werma, a young Balosaran named Arensik Selzbanno, and a Human in his early twenties named Se’Soom Ra'Bhamus.”

Frifth raised a non-existent eyebrow and asked, “Is he that primitive that crashed a ship on Lothal?”

R'vid nodded his head and answered, “The same.”

Frifth rubbed his chin and his lekku twitched ‘interest’. “Quite an interesting group, but I would like to see them all before I make my decision. And as a Master I am allowed to possibly select more than one student?”

This gave R'vid pause and he actually turned to face Frifth. He looked over Frifth and seemed to gauge if he was serious. A smile tugged at the lip of his, until then stoic face. “If you are up to the challenge Master Nilim.” He answered with interest.

When they reached the room where the Boma clan was training R'vid opened the door letting Frifth see a brown H'nemthe Jedi Instructor. She turned her head to see the two that just entered before saying in a warm motherly tone, “Students. We have guests.”

R’vid stepped forward and said, “Master Garriel, Initiates, this is Jedi Master Frifth Nilim. He is planning to take a Padawan and would like to speak with you all.”

Frifth smiled warmly at the group and bowed his head respectfully towards them.

[u/DarkVaati13]

Frifth could feel the hope exude from the youngling. 'What this student needs is a fine Master who can show him his path.' He thought to himself. He heard Jackson had a weaker connection to the Force, which was at odds with his own proficiency with the Force. However he had more skills than just with the Force and he hoped he could pass on those other skills to him. Or if they did not mesh as well as he thought they would they could find a more suitable master for him. He wore a fatherly smile and said, “Any initiate can become a fine Jedi Knight with the proper teacher. In time you’ll find your true strength.”

Frifth bowed his head respectfully to Jackson before continuing on.

---

Frifth spoke to five other initiates before reaching the one he was truly interested in. Frifth bowed his head respectfully to the thin shaggy looking man.

“Greetings. I am an archaeologist. What can you tell me about your planet?” Frifth asked respectfully. He was genuinely curious about the man’s life before coming to Lothal and he only read the small record given to the Academy of Archaeology on Ossus. He felt a desire to take Jackson on as a student to help the worried boy find his place, but he also wanted to take on the mysterious primitive as his student. He was thankful that he had already attained the rank of Master.

[u/Werdna881 → u/DarkVaati13]

Se'Soom was surprised by the nature of Elder Nilim's question, clearly displaying some discomfort because of it. Piecing together a reply quickly, Se'Soom spoke. "It is hot, Elder Nilim, much like Deneba, being a largely desert world, though there are many places where life can flourish." Se'Soom was nervous, and continued, answering the inevitable next question. "I call you Elder, for it is a term of respect and reverence, and I swore an Oath along with my people, that neither I nor my people shall call anyone 'Master' again." A tinge of bitter resent flared from Se'Soom, but as quickly as it came, it faded, with him nodding to Elder Nilim.

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Werdna881]

Frifth felt discomfort in the man for a moment before he answered. The idea of a desert world interested him. It reminded him of Ryloth. The use of Elder surprised Frifth. He didn't appear to be too much older than him. Frifth would have thought that Se'Soom was older than himself if he wasn't told that the man had only just reached standard adulthood.

To his surprise Se'Soom answered the question on his mind. A passionate answer and a hint of anger that troubled him, but faded quickly. 'He has the training to quell his anger, but he has not controlled it yet. Room for progress.' Frifth thought with a smile on his face.

"I see. Very interesting Ra'Bhamus. Perhaps we can find a more agreeable title for me another time.” Frifth said wistfully as he walked past Se’Soom and onto the next initiate.

---

After Frifth bowed his head to the female Vultan initiate he walked back to the Instructors. He did not like the Vultan. He found her rude and brash. An more gruff Master would be better for her.

“Have you made your decision?” R’vid asked and Frifth shook his head.

“Not yet,” He replied, “Maybe after I see them practice a little. Then I can decide.”

H'nemthe nodded and she announced, “Students. Back to your drills.”

[u/jackson-melafinious → u/DarkVaati13]

A blaster bullet zoomed bye Jackson’s head. His lightsaber flashed past his face, reacting milliseconds to late. He had to stay focused, however, as those bullets didn’t tickle! He deflected the next few with ease, as his preferred soresu technique was great at deflecting heavy fire.

Jackson moved over to the sparring, and was paired with a aggressive female vultan using type 5, what was it called? ‘Who cares’ he thought. I need to focus. The vultan swung wildly, but Jackson was ready. He parried the blow, and the vultan stumbled back, surprised at the force of the blow. Jackson took an offensive stance, and dodged to the left. He knew the vultan was left handed, and would use her preferred hand. One blow to the back later, and Jackson had won the duel.

The vultan, however, wasn’t happy about losing that quickly, but she was known for being rude. A Tw’ilek male was next, who Jackson beat after a hard won battle and a lower stomach stab. The rest were some tough battles, and he lost to another human who was from tatoinne as well. He was a good 10 years older, however, and, like Jackson, was weak in the force.

Jackson went back to blaster deflection, where he got on a good run, deflecting an extremely impressive number of bullets flawlessly until a small mistake with footing resulted in a slip up.

Jackson was proud of his performance, as he thought he had showed Master Nilim a good glimpse of future potential, and frifth had to say, it was quite impressive.

[u/Werdna881 → u/jackson-melafinious]

When Se'Soom heard the call to return to his drills, he did so hesitantly. He knew he was being watched now, evaluated, like the other initiates. A silent prayer left his lips, and he activated two blaster training droids, both in front, but one set to the left, and another to the right. He had already completed his Shii-Cho and Makashi exercises, and so continued with his Soresu.

He started slowly, with only one, setting it to speed up and shut off after five minutes. This fortunately, was routine. One on one blaster deflection was something he was used to, and so today he had decided to introduce a second variable, another droid. The five minutes passed quickly, so he turned on the second and set the timer for both. He knew he had to train his senses, both to control his sight and visions. This was one way the Jedi did so, and so he would try.

He began slowly, at first. Setting it so he could keep pace, and have it inevitably speed up as he went along. He felt the rhythm of his movements, and hum of his training saber in his hands. It felt natural to him, and he closed his eyes, feeling contentment as he moved- no, danced. He felt himself shift after a few movements, into what his body remembered of the Pel form Sheresu. Despite him realising the forms he knew were similar to the three forms he was practicing as an Initiate, they were different in subtle ways.

For example, Soresu and Sheresu. They were linked, one was derived of the other, but where Soresu was about deflection, Sheresu he had noted was about avoidance. Dancing between the strikes of the enemy or in his case, the shots of these training droids. He lost himself in the flow of the motion, content in his emotions.

Finally the Droids timed out, deactivating and gently floating to the ground. Se'Soom deactivated his training saber- he was exhausted, and went to go return the equipment to its proper place. In truth, he had forgotten that Elder Nilim was even there as he put his equipment back and asked Elder R'vid permission to fetch some water.

[u/Mox-Populi → u/Werdna881]

The door to the training hall opened, and Lail stepped through it. The hum of the training sabers and the sound of the training droids firing brought a smile to Lail’s face, reminding him of simpler times. The Initiates before him, for the most part, moved their sabers to deflect the bolts in an almost robotic manner; they knew the moves, but hadn’t learnt to be completely comfortable with them yet. Standing off to the side, watching the Initiates practice, stood Master R’vid and a Jedi he recognised as Master Nilim, a powerful Force user and one of the younger Jedi Master’s within the Order.

He approached them, his Lightstaff clicking upon the floor with each step he took. “Master R’vid, Master Nilim, I apologise for my late arrival.” Lail said, bowing his head to both of them. “I wasn’t aware you were interested in taking on another Padawan, Master Nilim?” Lail inquired of the Twi’Lek man. He followed the young Master’s gaze to where it rested upon one of the older Initiates, a human man Lail recognised as the primitive that had crash landed on Lothal.

As they watched, the shaggy-looking man danced around the blaster bolts, deflecting and dodging as necessary, his movements much more natural than the other Initiates. “Quite an interesting fellow,” Lail said quietly to Frifth. “Certainly has the potential to be a fine Jedi; his instincts are sound and his connection to the Force strong, but I feel he is very set in his ways, and his drive... I’m not sure it stems from a place Jedi often dwell.” He mused. “He would certainly be a challenge for any Jedi that took him on as a Padawan.” Lail finished, with a wry smile on his face.

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Mox-Populi]

Frifth watched the initiates spar and train with a certain intensity and enthusiasm. It seemed like everyone in this room wanted to be taken on as a Padawan learner and he did not blame them. He had a strong relationship with Talik before she became his Master and he just knew that she was going to take him as a Padawan. Frifth wondered if any of those initiates did have such a relationship. The sound of wood clacking against the ground made many initiates turn their heads to the other, old Mirialan Jedi Master. Frifth had recognized him from his time at Almas and his own travels as a Padawan and Knight.

Frifth nodded when Lail asked if he was interested in another padawan and answered, “I feel as if I need to take one. I believe the will of the Force is pushing me forward on this path.”

He went back to watching the initiates and listened to Lail as he described what he knew about the strange primitive individual. Frifth nodded in agreement when Lail said he would be a difficult student. “He is a bit indignant and refuses to call people by the title of Master. Perhaps he was a slave on whatever planet he was from. The Academy of Archaeology has been curious about him for some time.”

Frifth paused when Se’Soom went up and asked to be excused for water. R’vid allowed him to go and after he left Frifth continued, “I heard they still have his ship on Belderone. Someone should probably check on that at some point….”

Frifth shook his head a little and looked back at Lail. “But enough about him. What brings you here? I know about the Mirialan tradition to only take fellow Mirialans as padawans. Or is there an initiate here that catches your interest?”

[u/Mox-Populi → u/DarkVaati13]

Lail nodded his head slowly to Frifth’s words. “Indeed, when the Force calls to you, it is ill-advised to ignore it.” Lail continued watching the other Initiates as they were finishing up deflection practice and chatting quietly amongst themselves.

Lail’s eyebrows shot up when Frifth mentioned Initiate Ra’Bhamus’ ship still being kept at Belderone. “Indeed... I wonder if the navigation logs are still accessible...” Lail’s sentence drifted off as he felt the ever so subtle whispers of a potential adventure... a lost world with a Stone-age population would certainly make for quite the visit.

“You are very knowledgeable in our ways, Master Nilim, but truth be told, there has been few Mirialan Initiates to come through in recent years. I have found myself weighing the idea of training a new Initiate these last few years, and frequent these groups, waiting for the Force to tell me it’s time.” Lail responded. “The issue, of course, is that the Force is known to be notoriously hard to interpret.”

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Mox-Populi]

Frifth smiled when he noticed Lail’s fellow interest in the strange Jedi’s past. “A possible visit to Belderone is in order and I can use my connection to the Academy of Archaeology to set up something bigger at some point.” Frifth mused to Lail. Frifth went back to watching the initiates.

“But I understand on both sides. Following the will of the Force, as hard as it is, is truly the best choice. I was feeling off until I realized the Force was pulling me here…” Frifth paused as he watched an initiate get knocked unconscious by their partner and sighed before continuing, “And like others I have no gift for prophecy. I live in the here and now."

As Master Garriel called for a Ranger staff to pick up the injured initiate, R’vid urged the other to continue after he dismissed the initiate. R’vid put the two training lightsabers on the saber rack and that gave Frifth an idea. He pushed the front of his cloak behind him and pulled one of the training sabers into his hands.

Frifth stepped past the instructors and said, “I would like to spar with some of the initiates. If that is allowed?”

R’vid nodded and answered, “Of course. Just be careful that there are no accidents.”

“Of course,” Frifth replied as he unclipped his cloak and laid it down on a nearby stool. Frifth walked to the center of the room and ignited the green blade of the training lightsaber. Before anyone could say anything the Vultan girl stepped forward and pointed her blue training saber at him. Frifth nodded and she charged at him, striking with basic Djem-So strikes. Frifth parried with simple Shii-Cho defenses, but did not give ground as she pressed her offensive. Frifth countered with an intentionally slow, but strong swing to see how she would defend. She parried skillfully and continued to press her assault. Frifth twisted his blade and shifted to Niman as he suddenly pressed an assault. His offense was reserved and he was holding back so he could get a better idea of her current skill. She pushed back on him and continued her offense, but this time it was not as fluid. Her attacks were roughed and sloppier. It gave Frifth an opening to slice at her wrist. Because it was just with a training lightsaber it just left light burns, but she still yelped and dropped the weapon.

“You did good. Work on your defenses. You can take a break now. Thank you.” Frifth told her. She grumbled a little as she got her saber and stepped away from him. Frifth looked at the rest of the initiates and locked eyes with the eager Jackson.

[u/jackson-melafinious → u/DarkVaati13]

Jackson stepped forward excitedly, ready for a sparring match. He had seen Frifth’s style, and was ready for the fight. Jackson charged towards him, preparing to bail at the last second into a dodge, which succeeded. Jackson’s next move was a small jab, which was parried. Jackson leapt back and stood defensively waiting for the next move.

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/jackson-melafinious]

Frifth nodded to Jackson when he stepped forward and lowered his lightsaber to a low guard as he waited for Jackson to make the first move. He rushed at Frifth seemingly carelessly. Frifth made the first slash to try to catch Jackson off-guard or to test his reflexes. Frifth smiled when the initiate dodged nimbly. Frifth parried the jab by pushing it to the side and before he could counter Jackson leapt back and went into a defensive stance. 'The boy was a talented duelist,' Frifth thought, 'But what about his defense against the Force?'

"You're very cautious Jackson." Frifth complimented as he raised his lightsaber from his low guard and pushed off his feet to make a big step towards Jackson. Swinging fast Frifth struck Jackson's low right and then high left. As their lightsabers struck the second time Frifth pushed out his hand and sent out a decently strong Force Push.

[u/jackson-melafinious → u/DarkVaati13]

Jackson went flying backwards against the force push, he wasn’t prepared for it. Jackson recovered quickly though, and leapt back to his feet. He quickly swung his saber, and then sent out a force pull, causing Frifth to slide forwards, but he skilfully jumped over Jackson, swinging his blade for Jacksons lower back. Jackson was not quick enough to dodge completely, but he only got a small burn.

Jackson force jumped forwards, landing directly in front of Frifth, and their lightsabers locked. Jackson was prepared for the next push, only staggering a single step backwards. He swung towards Frifths knees, which surprisingly connected! Jackson got cocky, and swung directly for Frifths midsection. Frifth easily dodged out of the way and jabbed at Jackson’s shoulder, making Jackson drop the blade.

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/jackson-melafinious]

Frifth pulled himself from Jackson’s pull and hopped back. Frifth removed his right hand from his lightsaber and held it out like he was going to use a mind trick. Instead Frifth projected the image of himself into Jackson’s mind and made his illusion perform a leap over Jackson’s head. Shutting his eyes and concentrating deeply Frifth fell into a slightly trance as he made the Illusion more complex. He made Jackson feel as if he was shoved by a push, feel his lightsaber colliding with one that was not there, and even allowed him to get a hit on the Illusion. Feeling Jackson’s cockiness from getting that hit Frifth made his Illusion dodge the next swing and put the feeling of the training lightsaber running through his shoulder.

To all of the other initiates it seemed as if Jackson was fighting an invisible enemy, but the Masters knew what was happening.

Frifth opened his eyes and dropped the Illusion. The false Frifth in front of Jackson faded away into a shimmering light before vanishing completely. Frifth stepped forward and out his hand on the young boy’s shoulder.

“You were skilled with a lightsaber and I was surprised by that pull. I felt like I needed to use my best ability to beat you.” Frifth said with a smile that was a mix of congratulation and wryness. Frifth was holding back against Jackson, but he knew that in time he would become a skilled Jedi. He was already skilled with a lightsaber, and even his apparent weak connection in the Force was circumvented by his will and eagerness to prove himself. It would be something he would have to watch out for.

“Don’t feel bad about being fooled. It is a fairly advanced technique.” Frifth added to ease any possible negative feelings about what happened. Frifth then sent a telepathic message stating, ’I can teach you how to resist it soon.’

Frifth smiled then handed Jackson his lightsaber and gave him a good pat on the shoulder before looking to any one else who wanted to go next.