The Menagerie [Padawan Training]

[Kixi Rajki]

As Kixi and George were running side by side with Sverige a coupe of metres behind them, Kixi felt a ripple in the Force. "Could this be", she thought to herself. She kept running and wondered if the other two she was racing had felt it too. And then suddenly she had a vision of an armed droid jumping into their paths. The timing of her vision and the real thing happening would only be seconds apart in reality. Kixi instinctively jumped into the air and flipped into the air to the surprise of the other two padawans, just as the droid really did jump out. As Kixi landed on her feet, she managed to flip her backpack around which she had been carrying by Force levitation anyway, making that move seemingless and easy. Using the Force she removed the stones from the backpack and kept them levitating in the air. Then with a lightening fast Force push she hurled all the stones towards the droid who was pointing his weapon at both Geoege and Sverige and destroyed it. She spoke quickly to the 2 padawans, "Where in the name of the Force did that come from", as she finished off her words, clearly out of breath, three more droids suddenly appeared. One from behind and two more flanked on either side. The idea had been to surround them, but Kixi had already destroyed the first of the four droids.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="George O Rourke"], [member="Sverige Karm"]

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"]| [member="Sverige Karm"]

Seeing as George had initially set down the challenge against Master Coci it seemed like the other Padawans were interested in this challenge as well. Seeing that George's leisurely run had turned into quite the race. Both of the other Padawans were right behind him. One even challenging for the lead. It was quite the race, George was feeling the weight of the rocks in his pack, he was carrying the most of all of them, but was also a fair size bigger, and quite stronger. But this didn't give him any advantages. The others were nipping on his heels as he looked behind him.

As he attempted to push a little harder and make a little ground he could feel something. He wasn't too sure what it was, he couldn't feel anyone around him other than the Padawans and Master Coci. It was odd for George to have such a feeling, but he continued on. Maintaining his small lead from the others as his focused changed slightly from running to observing.

With only the rocks on his back he was travelling quite light, the droids had already carried the rest of his gear to the camp, including his lightsabers. But it wasn't all bad, less things swaying at his hips to worry about. As he turned into a slight bend encased by trees to both his left and right side it was a nice view. The trees were green and the and the sun through the trees created a nice scene. But all of that was interrupted as he stumbled upon blaster fire. Red blaster bolts flew by a million miles a second. Narrowly missing George's head and torso. "Ambush!" He yelled immediately diving for cover in the trees around. Slinging his backpack to the ground as he peered around the tree he had used for cover.

 

[Kixi Rajki]

As the other droids were revealing themselves in the picture, they had already began to fire their blasters. No time to really think. "Do or do not, there is no try", the famous words of Master Yoda momentarily flashed in her head. George one of the other padawans had already dove for cover under the nearby trees and had narrowly avoided blaster bolts hitting his body.

Kixi was off balance, from her previous stunt and then not expecting the other droids to show up. A better trained Jedi would've sensed the other droids well in advance, but for a padawan, the task was somewhat more difficult as she had just learned. The two flanking her were about to fire. Being completely wrong footed all that she could do was drop to the ground. The two bolts from either droid narrowly missed her head and for that matter the droids themselves. She momentarily mused to herself, "How lovely would it have been had they taken themselves out". But this was no time to amuse herself, the danger was still there with both droids, plus the third ready to fire at her again.

Kixi who was now sitting on the ground raised both hands in the air. Using the Force she pulled the two droids flanking her towards each other so they would smash into each other. It worked and both were destroyed in the proceeding collision. The last droid fired but Kixi was able to roll around to once again avoid getting shot. This time she had ran out of tricks. She Force leaped and dove for the trees. All in a nick of time as a flurry of laser bolts from that last droid followed narrowly missing her again. She lay behind the trees grasping for air clearly out of breath.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="George O Rourke"], [member="Sverige Karm"]

 

[Sverige Karm]

Sverige saw it all happen so fast the with three droids coming towards him and his fellow students and the sudden surge in the force from the Padawan Kixi as she dealt with the two druids quite skilfully smashing the two droids together and seeing plumes of smoke and fire arise from where the droids once stood.

At the last moment another droid appeared and this felt like a good time to stretch his mussels in the force with a sudden surge of power coming from himself Sverige grabbed the droid with force and slammed the last droid into a tree causing the droid to blow up on impact. After the situation was over Sverige began to continue running knowing that the race was far from over

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"] | [member="Coci Heavenshield"]

As George took up residence behind the tree the other Padawans came into the fray. They had done quite well for themselves, avoiding blaster fire and destroying three of the six ambushing droids. However there were still three in front of George firing at mainly him behind the tree. No lightsabers and no gear. How could he not of expected this. Master Coci is a tricky one, but for sure she knows how to get the best out of her students.

As George looked around as the other Padawans finished up with the other droids George looked around the tree, looking at the remaining droids as they continued to fire in the direction of him. He looked around to see what he could use, trees and foliage. Not exactly hard hitting or easy things to move. Then he realized, what did he have on his back? A bag of rocks. Some quite big and could do some nice damage. With the bag only a few paces away from him and with the momentum of throwing the bag the zip had loosened and the rocks had began falling out. George summoning the force lifted the rocks and began firing them back at the droids. To begin with one at a time, his accuracy wasn't great, but it was close and getting closer. He decided it would be better to fire more rocks at the same time. He used the force to pick up four rocks and pushed them at the droids, they weren't big rocks, but big enough to make a dent and disable the droids for a moment. Long enough for George to move in a better place.

With a fortunate strike he had hit all of the droids in various places, some the head, others their blaster. They took their time to sight up on George, but by that time he was gone, moved further into the forest where the trees provided great cover for him to get in close to them. As he moved quickly and rather quietly through the forest returning to flank the droids he could see they were still firing into his old position. It was great. He got within striking distance and used the force to enhance his dive. Spear tackling the line of droids disarming them in the process. They had no weapons and nothing left. George swiftly twisted the heads of the droids leaving their disabled bodies left along the walkway. As he turned back to where the other Padawans were prior to his movement he could see that they had vanished. Gone. They must have made a break for it when they had a chance. Not a bad idea. Seeing the race was still on. George was sure they had a fair good head start and he decided it was time for him to catch up. So he was off again running to try and catch up with the rest of the Padawans.

 

[Kixi Rajki]

As Kixi peeped out from her hiding spot, she heard another bang. This time the other padawan, Sverige had destroyed the last droid. She casually got up from her hiding spot only to realise that Sverige had then bolted off. "Race!" The word popped in her mind. She quickly found her backpack among all the droid rubble. It was ripped and now useless. "Oh well", she thought to herself. "Gives me an excuse not carry anything, be lighter and catchup to him". And with that she bolted off after Sverige, eager to catch up and beat him to their destination.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="Sverige Karm"], [member="George O Rourke"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Kixi Rajki"] [member="George O Rourke"] [member="Sverige Karm"]​

​

The speeder bike pulled to a stopped behind the small group. Coci had first heard the sound of the blaster fire before she had the destruction. But before her was the Padawans all well and had passed the test. She grinned as she passed the pieces of droid scattered on the track. The Padawans are ahead but not that far and so Coci pushed the bike forward and caught up with them.

"Before you race off, you have left your rubbish behind", she said stopping their progress. "It would not do to leave the track messy now would it?", she indicated for them all to go back and collect the bits of droid. "You can all carry the droid parts to the camp site".

Coci turned the bike and checked to see if the younger ones were alright, they seemed to be and so Coci proceeded to the camp site to await their arrival. There would be no further 'ambushes' or tests until they arrive.

 

[Kixi Rajki]

"Well I guess that is that as far as the race is concerned", Kixi thought to herself as Master Coci had asked the three padawans to stop. "Better that way", she said to herself as she slowly regained her breath. It didn't really bother her anyway. Racing the others to the site had actually felt a bit childish to her. Although she wasn't going to dare mention that to the other padawans. She was in fact satisfied with herself for today. The way she was able to anticipate that droid ambush and re-act and most important of all, defeat them. Well at least three of them anyway, the other two padawans, Sverige and George also did well she noted, as they registered droid kills of their own.

Kixi slowly jogged back to the site were the broken droids lay. She slowly gathered all the bits and pieces of the droids she had destroyed. Using the Force she slowly lifted the pile up in the air and started walking to the site where Coci awaited her and the others. Walking would take longer than running of course, but now that the training had very much been done for the day, she didn't really care if she ended up being the last one back. While she walked she also made a mental note to perhaps get to know the other two padawans she was racing with earlier. The three had successfully taken out the droids. Had they worked together, they could've done it far more efficiently. With more challenges ahead, teamwork was going to be key she noted to herself.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="Sverige Karm"], [member="George O Rourke"]

 

[Sverige Karm]

After hearing that the race was over and that cleaning up the little destruction that he had caused had put a little bit of a damper on Sveriges spirit of competition since he was hoping to win, but he did realize that leaving a mess wherever you go is not a good trait to have so he obediently went back to where he force shoved the droid into the tree and used the force to pick up the bits and walk back to where the race was supposed to end.

Upon arriving at the supposed finish line Sverige began to contemplate the events that had happened, and the many possibilities could have taken place during the exercise and still could not believe that he had not taken thought for the situation that did happen which let him know that he truly was a beginner in the force and the ways of the jedi and still he felt that he could have done better. "Well what an event full day hopefully there will be time for more training", was all Sverige could think of in some way so he could make up for what he thought was a failure of a morning.

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"] | [member="Coci Heavenshield"]

As the Padawans continued to raced toward the camp Master Coci quickly showed up on her speeder motioning to stop. As all the Padawans stopped she thought she would remind the Padawans on the mess they left behind. George sighed as he lowered his head. "Yes Master Coci, we'll clean up the mess." As he turned around beginning to walk back to the ambush site. He headed back to where his backpack was, thinking that he would be able to carry a lot in the bag. He used the force to lift and bring all the little droid pieces to him as he attempted to stuff as much into the bag as possible. The rest he would have to carry back. Probably using the force again.

As he walked his way back to the camp he carried the heap of ripped and broken droid parts behind him using the force. Its all fun and games till you have to clean up. He thought to himself as he continued to walk back to camp. The race was off and Coci was the winner, he issued the challenge to her and then got whipped right in the ass by her. She was an interesting one that Master Coci. A mother at heart but still quirky and fun.

As George reached camp he offloaded the droid debris into the corner of the camp he was the last one to return. He had taken his sweet time one the way back and it he totally forgot how late it was getting. The night sky was rolling in and he was just getting to camp. He wondered what Master Coci had in mind, more training? Or call it for the night and resume bright and early in the morning. He would find out soon, probably straight after asking her would be a great idea. "All the droid debris is over in the corner. Is there somewhere else you would like it? Also anything else planned for tonight?" As he walked over to the Master as she waited.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="George O Rourke"] [member="Sverige Karm"] [member="Kixi Rajki"]​

​

She sat by the fire, and soon they arrived to the camp site. Good, they had all done well and used their abilities to and minds to solve a problem and also increase their awareness through the force, she hoped it had taught them to be mindful of this in the future. Always be vigilant. "You have one last thing to do before training for the day ends. You each have to erect your tents .. without the use of the force".

Coci stood up, and turned to regard them in all in turn. "You did well back there Padawans".

The droids had been busy setting up the rest of the camp, had erected a tent for supplies and food and had began to cook their dinner. Coci moved over to the bundles laid out on the ground, "These are your tents, choose one and begin". Likewise Coci picked out a tent and moved to a patch she liked the look of and began her constructing her shelter for the night.

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"]

As George made his way over to Master Coci next to the other Padawans she told them of their next mission. Erect their own tent for the night. Not the tent. Ahh so frustrating those things are. George thought to himself as he kept it to himself. "Yes Master." He replied picking up one of the bundles and walking to a free space within the camp. George was good with the force, and lightsabers and all, but camping, the tents just never wanted to work for George, something that frustrated him greatly.

As he unravelled the tent he could see all the components that would eventually make up the tent, as he looked at them they just looked like random pieces of fabric and metal. How in the world does this come together. He though to himself as he picked up the first piece bar trying to fit it to another one. They were not elaborate tents, not by any stretch, which one would think make it easier to make. But no, George sticking the bars in to the other bars in all different ways. By the end of it the bars looked more like an elaborate puzzle than a tent. But he was over it, if he could get inside and sleep through the night that was good enough for him. As he placed the fabric over the top it seemed a lot lower than he expected, allowing enough room for him to lie down in there and not much else. Oh well. He though to himself as he slid in making sure there was enough room in there to sleep before sliding his way back out and dusting himself off ready for dinner.

 

[Kixi Rajki]

"Assemble a tent without using the Force!", Kixi cursed to herself. She cringed at the idea. She was generally hopeless at hands on stuff without the aid of the Force. "Oh well, I'm going to have to do as instructed I guess. No point cheating either and using the Force as Master Coci will know and in the end I'm just going to cheat myself", she softly murmured to herself.

She grabbed a bundle and carried it over to where she would assemble her tent. It felt heavy to carry stuff without the Force. Not only was she helpless without the Force, she wasn't physically all that strong. She stared at the parts before her on the ground. She put a few pieces together. It was an effort to do so. She knew where each part went, her problem was physically putting it together without the aid of the Force. She turned and saw George struggling too. Although he seemed to simply not know how to actually assemble the tent. She saw him just whip something up that was good enough for him and then go inside it to sleep.

She was going to instruct him how to put it together so he could then do the same for her. However it was too late for that now. Kixi just carried on slowly putting her tent together. In the end she did it. It had required too much effort for her minus the Force as she wandered how all those non Force sensitive beings out there managed to do things. She shrugged at the thought and then entered her tent and fell asleep almost very much straight away. She was extremely tied from the day's activities, and having to put the tent she finally slept in without the Force, only tired her further.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="George O Rourke"], [member="Sverige Karm"]

 

[Sverige Karm]

Oh bother was all Sverige could think of when he looked at the tent he was supposed to take and construction for his shelter that night, especially without being able to use the force, so he set about his task with out much luck and did the best he could and then decided to quit.

Well with no place to sleep and nothing else he could do to possibly get the situation to a place he liked he decided to meditate on the days events and to find the center of his being in the force this isn't cheating technically he thought to himself he wasn't using the force to erect his tent but he was using it to meditate and that was something Sverige knew he needed to practice. The Jedi Temple Sverige came from taught meditation in the force and combat where the things that fought the darkness in the galaxy and that every one should follow this path and so Sveriges parents did his father following the path of a guardian and his mother a Jedi sentinel spy that tried to infiltrate the sith order and this left Sverige alone as a child to be raised by the many teachers there and meditation was one of the main things he was taught even though he didn't see so much use in it.

"Well I'll sit here and do this until morning there's nothing else I can do and I'm not about to cheat on this challenge," Sverige said to him self as everyone else went about constructing there tent and so began his long night of no sleep and plenty of meditation practice hopefully he wouldn't be too tired in the morning for the next days practice.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="George O Rourke"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"] | [member="Sverige Karm"]​

​

She watched with amusement as her Padawans attempted to put up their tent only to turn around to watch her's fall to the ground once more. Well, she is not here to train, they are, so with a few waves of her hand the tent erected itself to perfection. Coci put her hands on her hips and looked on in satisfaction at the result. Once she decided the night would be spent in comfort, she turned to her Padawans and their tents. Well they tried and she smiled. It is a good lesson to never take the force for granted, to remember that not everyone has the ability and those are the people they must respect. And to respect the fact they do hold the power that can be salvation or destruction.

"I do believe dinner is ready", she said to them, wondering where Kixi had got too. Maybe she is too tired to eat or needed to meditate. Either way all would be respected for their choices. But the cooking food smelled good and maybe that might lure her out. "Come on lets eat .. you all have earned your meal".

"Tomorrow, we will train with sabers, but tonight after dinner I will take you all for a walk in the nearby forest". She indicated to the forest with her full plate of food. "You did not carry those rocks for nothing".

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"]

As he laid watching the other Padawans and Master Coci herself he too noticed the difficulty the other Padawans had with their tents. Not only me... He thought to himself as he glanced over at Master Coci. She too was experiencing some difficulties. Right up until she with the aid of the force propped it up and boom there she goes. A beautifully made tent. But he had to respect that she was the Master, and he was not. As she finished up she called all the Padawans over for dinner. It smelt good and after the day they had, George wasn't too fussed what he was eating, as long as it filled him.

As he sat eating the meal provided Master Coci had more ideas for after dinner. More activities? I can't wait to sleep. He though as he continued munching through his food listening as she spoke. Then Master Coci mentioned the rocks. Not the damn rocks again. He sighed as the mention of the rocks crashed down on him. "Rocks in the forest master?" He paused. "I am a little confused." He paused from eating with a puzzled look on his face. The walk through the forest sounded interesting, but the rocks... Not so much. Anyhow he trusted Master Coci and believed she wouldn't just be doing this for own entertainment, we Padawans would also get something good from it.

 

[Kixi Rajki]

Kixi had only dozed off for a few minutes when something had woken her up. It was the smell of food. Glorious food she thought to herself. She forgot just how hungry she had been after the long day's work. Normally she wouldn't have woken up, but she had only just dozed off and was in a light state of sleep, and given her body was craving for some nutrition, she naturally had woken up.

She gradually sat, as she slowly rubbed her eyes. Quickly she got out of her tent and called out to Master Coci and the others who had also been calling out her. "I'm over here", Kixi spoke out yawning as she reached to where Coci was standing with the others ready to serve dinner. She only realised now just how hungry she was. She would at least enjoy her hard earned meal and later on go for a walk in the forest with her Master and the other padawans. Kixi loved walking so she was now looking forward to the rest of the night under the clear bright skies and then going to sleep ready for the next day of what would surely be more intense training.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"], [member="Sverige Karm"], [member="George O Rourke"]

 

[Sverige Karm]

Hearing that dinner was about to be served drew Sverige out of his meditative state and reminded him that even he needed to eat even though he felt more refreshed coming up from his trance than he realized he quickly got over to where the food was being served and waited to be served truly though he was not relishing the long night ahead, even though he did like to walk and that brought him to ask the question of how is teacher "Master what exactly was the exercise with the rocks for." He asked as he waited in line for his turn to be served

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"] | [member="George O Rourke"]​

​

She grinned as she chewed her food, listening to their questions about the rocks. "Tonight we will go and find a nice quiet place and meditate", she started, for her she would have groaned in disappointed at this news but there is more, "The reasons for it, naturally, is to clear your mind's so we can all being the basic training of the Art of Small".

Coci placed her plate to the side and drank some water. "That is why the rocks, you are going to turn them into some else". She looked at each on in turn. "Now finish your meals and clean up and we will go, don't forget your rocks".

She left them for a moment, to talk among themselves, a nice way for them to get to know each other before they move out. Entering her tent to find a change of clothes, Coci dressed for the night's cool atmosphere. In the trees the song birds sounded they last tune for the night before settling in as the darkness of the night descended. For a moment, she stayed thinking of her family .. missing them but she will be home soon.

 

[George O Rourke]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Sverige Karm"] | [member="Kixi Rajki"]

As George continued to eat with all the Padawans and Master Coci present it was time to find out why they had dragged these rocks all the way here. As Coci explained she mentioned the art of small. Something George had heard of, but not something he knew much about. But with hearing of that his opinion of the rocks changed quickly, no longer did he feel the rocks as a burden, but now a sign of strength. "Art of Small master." He started as he swallowed the mouthful of food he had in his mouth. "Did not expect to be learning that whilst out here." He finished as he took the last mouthful of food from the plate before watching Master Coci leave the group to get ready for their departure.

"Have any of you come in contact with the Art of Small before? I've only ever heard of it, never seen it in action let alone try it myself." He asked the group. He felt uneasy, not sure if he would be able to loops his brain around the difficult technique they are about to train in. Would he be able to Master it? Probably not today. Will he be able to use it after today? One would damn hope so. But with Master Coci leading the charge, George felt a little better. She was one person that had helped him through some tough times and was someone he trusted with his life.