Beyond - Legends From The Heart (Ben Skywalker Training Challenge)

Chapter 1: Way Too Bold

Ben Skywalker stood in a long, single file line in an abandoned maintenance tunnel leading to the Yoft district garbage pit. With an impatient sigh, he hoisted his flimsy and tightly folded race wings by their leather harness and propped the broad rudder on the strap of his flight sandal. Then he leaned the wings against the wall of the tunnel and, tongue between his lips, applied the small glowing blade of pocket welder, like a tiny lightsaber, to a crack in the left lateral brace. Repairs finished, he waggled the rotator experimentally. Smooth, though old.

Just a week before, he bought the wings from a former champion with a broken back. Ben had worked his wonders in record time, so he could fly now in the very competition where the champion had ended his career.

Ben enjoyed the wrenching twist and bone-popping jerk of race wings in flight. He savored the speed and the extreme difficulty as some savor the beauty of the night sky, difficult to see on Coruscant, with its eternal planet-spanning city-glow. He craved the competiton and even felt a thrill at the nervous stink of the contestants, riffraff and all.

But above all else, he loved winning.

The garbage pit race was illegal, of course. The authorities on Coruscant tried to maintain the image of a respectable metropolitan planet, capital of the Galactic Alliance, center of law and civilization for tens of thousans of steller systems. The truth was far otherwise, if one knew where to look.

Though he loved the Jedi training, stuffing himself into such tight philosophical garments was not easy. Ben had suspected from the very beginning that on a world where a thousand species and races met to palaver, there would be places of great fun.

The tunnel master in charge was Bothan. "First flight is away," he said as he walked in quick, graceful movements down the narrow, smooth-walled tunnel. The Bothan spoke in BAsic, except when angry, and then he just cursed everyone in his tongue. "Wings! Up!" he ordered.

Ben hefted his wings over one shoulder with a professionally timed series of grunts, one-two-three, slipped his arms through the straps, and cinched the harness he ahd cut down to fit the frame of a sixteen-year-old human teenager.

The Bothan examined each of the contestants with his critical eyes. When he came to Ben, he slipped a thin- dry ribbon of tissue between Ben's warrior-like ribs and the straps and tugged with a strength that nearly pulled the teenager over.

"Who are you?" the tunnel master coughed.

"Ben Skywalker," the teenager answered. He never lied, and he never worried about being punished.

"You're way too bold," the tunnel master observed. "What will your mother and father say when I bring the body of a dead boy back?"

"They'll raise another," Ben answered, hoping to sound tough and capable, but not really caring what opinion the tunnel master held so long as he let him race.

"A sense of humor also?" asked the tunnel master. "I like that! Alright, kid. What will you be bidding on yourself?"

Ben thought for a while about what he should bid, remembering all too well what happened last time he was here. Last time, he felt confident and cocky and bid too much, ending with him giving his money to the winner, as well as the other losers, and also receiving twice the money he had bid, making him pretty much rich.

Ben grinned.

"One hundred thousand," answered Ben. The Bothan stopped writing on his clipboard and looked up at Ben, nearly horrified that the Jedi Apprentice was making such a big bid.

"Are you sure? One hundred thousand credits?" asked the tunnel master. Ben nodded. "You are way too bold. One hundred thousand it is. Good luck, kid."

The tunnel master continued down the line, as Ben made one last inspection of his race wings.

Ben was a good sized boy for his age, on par with most of the Jedi Knights, and even some of the Masters. He was tall, no doubt getting the height from his grandfather, who was said to have been over six f

 

Wow. Wow wow wow. This is...this is fantastic! The mirroring of Rogue Planet, excellently done--the reader gets the context and the parallelism, but the writing is still original, it's still yours. And you write so well! Man, I am in awe.
There's more right? Please, tell me there's more! It says on the top that was chapter 1, so I'm assuming there's gonna be more. I would be honored if you would PM me when you update.

 

Chapter 2: From The Heart

The planet of Ossus was a beautiful one: trees everywhere and wildlife in every corner, ready to fight any Jedi Apprentice that thinks he can take the beast. The lush planet teemed with life everywhere.

The Jedi Praxeum idea came from Kam Solusar after the grueling war with the Yuuzhan Vong, after the destruction of the Yavin IV Praxeum. Luke Skywalker agreed, and had the Jedi Praxeum rebuilt here, acting somewhat as a base.

There were two places where Jedi could gather: The Jedi Praxeum on Ossus, and the Jedi Temple on Corsucant. Younglings and young apprentices, as well as older ones, trained here, sometimes under their Master. Most students were at the Praxeum, which was headed by Kam Solusar whenever Luke was away on Corsucant, while the Temple of Corsucant served as a base for more of the older Jedi Apprentices and Knights.

After the infamous race that every Jedi and his apprentice heard, the one concerning the even more infamous Ben Skywalker and Jacen Solo, the Master and apprentice went to Ossus to "escape" Coruscant for a while.

Well, it was Jacen's idea.

"Escape" was hardly the word Ben would use. This must've been his punishment for his failure in discipline on Coruscant. Jacen most likely wanted to "escape" here just so Ben can't be racing anymore for the time being.

This was cruel punishment, indeed.

Ben and Jacen were somewhat different from the rest of the Masters and apprentices. They coresponded with each other the moment Ben's training started, a bond that normally doesn't develop until later on in the training process.

They were the perfect team. The team to go to whenever there is something major. If a mission pops up from half way across Alliance borders, calling for urgent help, the first pair the Jedi go to are Skywalker and Solo. Jacen's calm, well-tempered attitude was the perfect foil to Ben's rapid boldness, bravery, and courage that made him pure Skywalker. Where Jacen would rather negotiation, Ben would rather fight and act. Where Jacen is calm, Ben is fueled by emotions. Where Jacen would rather concentrate on a goal, even if it meant leaving someone behind, Ben would try to save as many people as he could, straying from the ultimate goal that they needed to fulfill.

And, where Jacen is, Ben is also.

So, now, here is Jedi Apprentice Ben Skywalker running through the woods of the thick forests, dodging branches and anything else that can make him stagger from his goal, lightsaber ignited emitting his blue blade, and all. Just running, trying to reach his goal.

His goal was quite simple: run through the forest and back, and duel two other apprentices. Can't be that hard, right? Especially not for Ben Skywalker. Ben could do everything. His cousin, Jaina, was named Blade of the Jedi.

Ben was named Blade of the Force. That means of everything. If he was this Blade of the Force, he needed to live up to this name.

And, the only way he could do this, for right now, anyway, is to reach his goal and accomplish it.

Ben ran through the forest, dodging one tree that he was surly about to hit, and pressed on, his breathing hard, focused on reaching the end and bursting out of the lush green forest to combat his fellow apprentices and friends, Jancion and Korin.

A tree branch cut his cheek, leaving a cut along his right cheek, blood trinkling down from the wound. But, Ben disregarded this. It didn't matter. He pressed on anyway.

It didn't matter if Ben couldn't do anything. No matter how impossible something is, Ben still finds a way to do it. It mattered very little to Ben how impossible something seems to be. He's going to do it anyway.

Because he's Ben Skywalker, and he doesn't believe in "impossible".

For Ben, the impossible only becomes extremely difficult.

"Ben Skywalker is on par with the Jedi Knights, even several Masters, and he's just sixteen!" some of them say.

Now, it was about time Ben proved this to be true.

Ben

 

Sorry. Was updating, then the page switched me to a different page for some odd reason, so what I was typing is now gone...Shame...I'll update tomorrow (Monday). I don't feel like retyping it...

That really makes me mad!

 

ARG! I don't have time tonight but I'll read part 2 tomorrow.

 

That would make me FURIOUS. I'd be doing all kinds of screaming and yelling. Man, that really sucks.

This is great! I liked the whole Jacen teaching Ben how to fight with a lightsaber.

 

(Warning! I, Skywalker spoilers below! This is the sequel to I, Skywalker, so yeah...although it's not done...)
Chapter 3: Skywalker and Solo

Ben Skywalker sat upright on his bed in his room on Ossus, tinkering with his lightsaber hilt, trying to replace one of his power crystals with a new one that he found earlier.

Ben was always good with mechanics. He can fix just about anything, as well as build just about anything. His bloodline has always been good somewhat with mechanics. Ben clearly got that gene. Ben got nearly all of his family genes, including anger.

Anger...

Ben hasn't exactly touched the anger, or the darkside, for that matter, ever since a month ago when Ben and Jacen were sent to Hapes to investigate and assassination attempt on Queen Mother Tenel Ka. Back then, though, Ben was also going through his normal teenage changes, reaching a higher level of understanding about life and the Force, as well as his own self. While catching his girlfriend, who was indeed, the assassin.

But, Melyssa was not the one behind the attacks. She was just doing her job, for her parents were threatened if she did not do the task. She told him she had to kill him, and she attempted to, up to the point where Ben had stopped her and turned her back into the nice, kind girl he had grown to love. Then, with Melyssa's help, Ben rooted out the person behind the attacks, and now he is in custody. And, Ben and Melyssa's relationship had begun.

Of course, it wasn't long before they had to bid their farewells to each other. Melyssa had given him his first real kiss, and Ben walked away, eager to vist her when he had the free time. They talked on the Holo from time to time, making sure the other is alright and such. Ben's father even joked about Melyssa, saying "it ran in the Skywalker genes", with the fact that Ben fell in love with the girl who tried to kill him. Ben's mother, of course, laughed at the joke Luke had told shortly after he had said it.

Another thing that Ben got out of that mission was also information. On what happened to him when he was nine years old. He remembered everything, all of the sudden. Everything from finding out about Allana's true father, to Jacen putting him to sleep. Ben had come to terms with this, however, deciding he understood.

Of course, this did not weaken Ben's relationship with his Master. If anything, it strengthened their trust for each other.

An interesting pair, they were. The interesting part about it was that it was so right. They were perfect. The team. Both of the names Ben Skywalker and Jacen Solo were famous before they became Master and apprentice. They became more famous afterwards, seeing as how they also worked together, saving others and stopping evil in its tracks. The Galactic Alliance has been in peace for a long while because of their efforts. There was a mini-war, however, several months before the Hapes Crisis, as the attempt on Tenel Ka's life incident was called. The mini-war was between Luke Skywalker's Jedi, and another small army of Dark Jedi, who were wishing to kill Luke so they could declare themselves Sith. They put up a good fight, too, but, at the end of the mini-war, Ben and Jacen stopped it. In the middle of the landing pad on Taspir, back-to-back, Ben and Jacen fought off one hundred Dark Jedi. For their bravery, Jacen was damn well near being appointed a Jedi Master, while Ben was awarded his Jedi Knight robes, although he didn't gain the title.

They= two have become heroes among the Jedi. A pair that people could look up two. A pair that younglings that are training to become Jedi want to grow up to be. Ben could sometimes notice younglings playing pretend during their freetime. They would decide to pretend to be Ben and Jacen, going on some impossible mission and barely escaping with their lives. "So, which one are you?" one youngling would ask the other. "Skywalker or Solo?"

The subject of Skywalker and Solo also caused a lot of childish fights among the younglings and young teenage

 

Nice update. (okay, I think you get the point now...)