Parcia wrote:"Why me?"
Kyle gave a slight chuckle, "That's the kind of question in which looking for an answer would drive you more mad than the question itself. The truth is, I don't know, something just told me. Same thing with everyone else I've shepherded to this little Academy. Call it a sixth sense, call it the force, but I have a tendency to pick up on people destined for things." a pause, "Well, it's starting to get late, and we have an early morning tomorrow. You should probably head back and get some shut eye."
> Yavin 4
> 19 ABY
> 0/0 Introductions
The sound of a resounding gong had roused everyone at four thirty in the morning. More than three hours before everyone was usually woken up, shortly thereafter, the respective masters of the collected apprentices came by, telling the apprentices to bring whatever tools and weapons they thought they would need, and then lead them all out into the yard.
It was here that surprisingly, no one else was present, not the other masters, nor the other apprentices to those Jedi, not even Master Luke. The only individuals other than the apprentices were Bo, Kyle, Xin and, oddly enough, Ben, now sporting a rather grisly looking purple-brown, fist shaped mark on his jaw. Any of the apprentices notably could tell that Ben was a tad bit upset, even despite his stony faced demeanor. However one didn't have to be any degree of familiar with humanoid facial expressions or body language to know that, despite being an Epicanthix, and next to impossible to properly read with the force, whatever Ziam had done to wrong Xin, she hadn't taken it well, given the unbridled glare she was giving the man.
Either ignoring -or in a less likely situation, unaware of- the anger directed towards the Mandalorian, the Zabrak Jedi spoke, "If I haven't said so to you this morning. Good morning. Today will be your first earnest trial as a Jedi."
the former mercenary continued, "You will be monitored, and evaluated individually. However at it's core, this is a group exercise. You may face perceived danger, but all factors within our control have been limited to keep things as safe as possible. This is a five part exercise testing your abilities both physical and mental. Remember, this is but the first trial, you cannot fail, so do not be disheartened if you seem to fall behind. We're simply using this as a starting point to gauge where to begin your tutoring."
Once again, Ganthor had the floor, "As a lesson on self discipline. A Jedi must first and foremost acknowledge when circumstances allow success to be impossible, whether by overwhelming odds, or by a great disparity in skill. A Jedi must know when to accept defeat in the present and to go forth to succeed in the future." the Zabrak clicked a button on a detonator had had now brought from behind his back. Behind him, a collection of flares fired into the sky, lighting up the still dark Yavin 4 morning. They were illuminating a stretch of almost exactly a kilometer of jungle and marsh, in the distance, the rising structure of a few gold stone pillars rising above the canopy.
Then Ganthor dropped somewhat of a bombshell announcement, "Xin, Magnus and Ben will now pursue you through a tract of ground that myself and Master Katarn have been preparing for the past three days with traps, pitfalls, and droid patrols. These patrols are of a composition of droids known only to us, but rest assured, their weapons have been locked to a non lethal setting, they will however, still hurt, excruciatingly. The amount of traps in this tract of jungle and marsh is enough to give the 501st Legion in their prime cause for concern. More so for you folks."
The Zabrak continued, "There is an arena like structure nearly three kilometers to the east, you are to go there and enter it, at which point we will give you further instructions. Xin, Magnus and Ben will cease their pursuit." In that moment, Ben sat down and seemed to sit down and meditate, while Xin... Xin seemed to simply vanish. There were no footprints, no shadow, no indication that the woman who was standing there seconds ago even existed. Magnus was never present to begin with, but that simply added to the level of preparation gone towards this trial.
Kyle then looked at a timepiece he wore on his wrist, "You had best get going, they're only going to wait about two minutes."
Ganthor stepped to the side, as did Kyle, allowing their students a straight shot through to the jungle, and their distant objective. Kyle gave some final sage advice, "Watch your step, be prepared to fight, and watch those wrist rockets."
