Before - Legends Rising Shadows: Training the Soul (Temp title, prequel Gray, Here we go!)

up.

 

"Get to those details soon enough, we will," Master Yoda interjected. "As it seems, still more introductions we have to make."

The odd assortment of Jedi exchanged a few nervous looks with each other.

Nekia shot a look at Redrawn... yes, he was a bit of an unorthodox choice. But, then again, that was exactly what she had expected. These were to be grey Jedi; there was nothing orthodox about a single one of them.

Actually, compared to the first Order, this was a rather tame group, thank the Force. With this group, there might be order without having to enforce every silly little rule, there might be secrecy without the secret-agent-attitude... every moment, it became clearer that the Jedi of that time were better suited to having this secret order than they had been when she was first recruited. It was, perhaps, a disturbing sign of the times, but it offered some hope... the Jedi had these, at least.

Nekia spoke up. "Hi, I'm Nekia Eyaf, and I guess I'll be your other instructor... I, uh, actually am a Grey Jedi by training. It's kind of a long story. If you ever need a laugh..." She herself laughed nervously, having never been in a teaching position before. No one responded. She tried a different approach. "I can't promise that I won't pull you out of bed at two in the morning to do some stupid team-building exercize, but I will promise that if it goes well, we'll order from Pizza the Hutt during mission debriefings."

That got a cheer from her students.

 

Cole wasn't sure if this meant that everyone was supposed to start introducing herself but she decided to anyway whether or not she was meant to or not.

"Hi, I'm Collete Veranza...., Padawan to Jedi Master Yacapol. How's it goin'?" She smiled and waved slightly at everyone else.

She silently hoped none of them knew who she, or her father, was. But, that was probably unlikely.

She could at least hope, though. She hated those stares people gave to her all the time.

Some stares were of pity, and others of suspicion and disdain. She didn't like either.

Cole didn't need anyone's pity, and she certainly didn't need anyone questioning her motives all the time. It wasn't like she was planning to go on any killing sprees. And if she did go on any, it would be because everyone was always watching her every move and not giving her any credit for anything.

 

Seeing that there was sense of order or decorum in the introductions, and that no one seemed to want to introduce themselves, Renan decided to take charge and give the crowd something to look at.

Padawan, lets say we put on a show.

Renan felt his padawan's smile through their bond. Through the cieling, Master?

That sounds good to me...

Renan pushed his way through the crowd to the center of the room, fingering a datacard in his left hand. Just the right amount of energy would be needed if he wanted it to go right... but it would not be too hard. He had pulled more precise charges before.

Taking a stand in the center, he began to charge the data card, placing it on the ground and pulling back as it exploded. The explosion was not even enough to dent the floor it occured upon- but it was strong enough to cause a nasty burn.

The entire crowd backed away from the explosion in fear. However, they had not seen everything yet. Suddenly, Lerak dropped through the ceiling, landing beside his master.

Stepping forward, Renan announced, "I am Master Renan Corte, and this is my padawan Lerak Ketan. Even though we have control over our powers, there is always room for more of an understanding and control over them. I hope to meet many of you as the order grows."

Before the shock had worn off, both Jedi filed back to their seats. While Jedi continued to shy away from Renan, Lerak's partner did not move, not intimidated by Lerak's ability.

 

up.

 

Chrace was certainly surprised. Howc did they do that ? He couldn't imagine that was possible.

Stop ! You are in the Jedi Temple ! Everything is possible HERE ! he remembered.

Well, THAT was at least a reason ...

 

Sorry for not being here in quite a while.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Atrus watched the scene with a dispassionate gaze, for few things suprised her after seeing her sister shift from one being to the next.

She stood, Jason just at her side as she gave a half bow.

"This seems to be a lively group. I am Atrus Aidan, my family has been a supportive of the gray since the Sith Wars, though I am the first actual gray sider in four generations, and that is only because of an old dept my family never payed," her eyes darkened at her words, and she moved to sit down when Yoda locked eyes with her.

She knew what he asked, but she couldn't do it, and told him so through her gaze. But he was presistant, and knowing she wouldn't get away with it, stood up again.

"My 'gift', my curse," she sighed, and drew up her hand, hoping to make a small flame.

The corners of the room burst into flame, spreading quickly along the walls as power unused surged through her. She tried to dampen it, and the flames, only to find them going higher.

Jason, seeing her dilemma, swiftly went into action, raising his own hand and making a slight gesture. Clouds formed from the air, and quickly brought rain down upon the fires, and a few of the students as well. The fires went out, and the clouds disappered swiftly after.

Grinning sheepishly to the people he had soaked, Jason shrugged, "I'm just Jason Starfire, former slave and all that."

 

Renan smiled as he watched Jason put out the fires Atrus had created. It seems we may have started something of a trend, padawan.

 

Cole jumped up in suprise as the room was surrounded in flames.

"Sith!" she swore, and she was just about to display her own power, and transport the hell out of the room, when the man next to Atrus put out the flames.

And now she was soaked, and not so happy either.

She probably shouldn't say what she was about to, but she was extremely pissed and let that get the better of her, it was something that her master constantly scolded her about, but she never seemed to listen.

"What did you do that for!?! Maybe you should learn to control you powers before you try and display them in enclosed rooms with a bunch of people and almost get them killed!" She yelled at Atrus.

 

Atrus glared back at Cole, her eyes burning as bright as the flames she just formed moments before, /I would have, if I had the choice. If my mind hadn't been torn from me and my powers used against my will. Perhaps I could have learned sooner to control them! Or perhaps I would have been blessed enough to never have discovered them at all! But when one lives in the course of torture and death, and dreams of the people one has killed, it is hard to control such a curse!/ she thundered, mentally sending it towards Cole, before Jason placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

Turning her glare towards Yoda, she then sat down, and tried to control the unleashed emotions and memories.

 

Cole frowned.

/Well...that was all the more reason not to use them.../ She thought to herself sure that her mental shields were up and Atrus would not catch it.

Cole may be confrontational, but she wasn't stupid, and didn't want to internally combust anytime soon.

"Well, seems I'm making friends already..." She replied sarcastically.

 

Up.

 

Arden Praise stood up. "Hi. My name's Ardinel... you can call me Arden..." His sentences were few and with long pauses in between. It seemed that the boy was a good speaker but the big introductions had caught him totally offguard.

"Well, I can completely sympathize with you, Atrus," he said, and he snapped his fingers. The spots that Jason had drenched, still soaking with water, suddenly began blazing again anyway.

He watched for a couple of seconds as the other padawans began scrambling away from the fire. The one who called herself Cole vanished entirely, appearing outside the door.

He waved his hand, and suddenly, the room chilled, and every fire went out with a final lick of flame and tiny wisp of smoke.

"Sorry," he said, "for being so distracting."

He had only meant to start a fire in the palm of his hand. No wonder he had been sent to learn control.

He sat back down.

 

Cole swore as the flames were reignited by Arden and they began to come closer to her and as a self-defense mechanism her power kicked in and she teleported away from the flames and reappeared outside the door.

She then began to walk in and have a few 'words' with Arden about why in the sith he did such a thing, but something was off.

Cole's arm felt warmer, to warm.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!"

Her robes were on fire! She ripped of the cloak and threw it on the ground and stomped on it to kill the flames.

She looked back up to the group with a sneer.

"What is your guys's problem? Can't we just avoid incinerating each other? We haven't even gone on any missions yet!"

She grabbed her singed robe off the floor, leaving it off, so she only had on her tunic, and sat down away from where the fire had been.

 

Arden's head sunk into his hands; Atrus looked away.

Nekia rolled her eyes. "Why do Grey siders always end up pyromaniacs?" she asked under her breath.

 

Up.

 

UPwards and FORWARD!

 

After the first meeting, Yoda dissolved the Young Shadows program, seeing that the participants were simply incompatible. Most of them went on to lead live as somewhat normal Jedi.

Master Redrawn took his own padawan and trained him in the Gray Arts.

Mistress Eyaf took a small portion of the students from the Young Shadows program and trained them in the Gray Arts as a side program under the radar... since the entire program had been hushed from the beginning, Yoda did not raise any objections to such a study group.

Atrus and Jason, two participants in this study group, later went on to form an actual group of Gray Jedi, who would, on several occasions, face Dark Jedi, participants in the Order who had fallen away as a side effect of the Age of Darkness before Balance was restored.

As for my other characters...

Ardinel Praise went on to a career in negotiations as a Jedi Knight, though he lost his Master in the Battle of Geonosis, and went bitterly into the Clone Wars. After a period of leave on which he reunited briefly with Fallon Anasazi, he went bitterly into the Clone Wars as a General, and was accounted missing.

Fallon Anasazi became a master swordsman and took a Padawan shortly before the Clone Wars. Teaching his apprentice to appreciate some of the finer parts of the Code, he spent hours in the Gardens and the Archive, and eventually became an accomplished artist. Both Master and Padawan were accounted among the dead after the first wave of the Purges came to the Temple.

Eyaf herself died of natural causes in her sleep two years after the Battle of Naboo. The group formed by Atrus and Jason, however, included Nekia's granddaughter, Carolyn.

Okay, that's where it stands now. Does anyone want to prove me wrong?? Or should Owe-me-One add her own ending?

So sad to see it end so soon...

 

It ended just as quickly as every other thread I have been at, maybe I'm cursed.



*******************************************

Cole turns to the dark side and vows revenge on all those who didn't post!!!

AHAHAHAHAAAHAHAA!!!

*******************************************
Just kidding.. I just wish people would follow through on stuff they commit to be a part of....

Oh well.. I'll live...

 

In German, there is a saying : "Besser ein Ende mit Schrecken, als ein Schrecken ohne Ende", meaning more or less : "Better an end with fright instead of a fright without an end.

In the end, I'm quite glad that someone had ended it.

I had written an end , too, maybe, but I didn't see a way to properly describe all the characters, they were partly too difficult to me.

Apart from that it was a great practise !

So, now anyone has the right to take his / her own characters and include what they had learned / experienced in their own stories.

 

Well, my characters went on to bigger and better things... Arden will come into play in my Shadows of Conflict, and we learn a little something about Fallon's death in the stories I wrote for the Winter Holiday Fanfic contest.