At the Acadamy

[Asimda]

[timeline- +/- 30 years after 'A new Hope' The republic is back at order and trust is regained with the jedi order, the siths are currently hidden but therefore not disappeared]



I has been a long week for Monbokta, and with relief she was looking forward to return back to the jedi acadamy and see some of her friends again. With haste she runs across to steps the enter the great building where the other apprentices are studying the force. Alana, a young friend of Monbokta, has quickly heard of her arrival and went to see her as soon as she could. Alana has always looked up to monbokta as her own big sister (allthough she is of a different race).
"How was it? Where have you been? Any new terrifying adventures to tell? Did you meet someone exciting? Was it dangerous? Who ....." Alana couldn't keep her curiousity silent, as always.
Monbokta quickly told Alana all about it but then someone else cought the her sight, Raien.
"I'll talk to you later, allright kiddo?" Monbokta says while rubbing Alana's head, she knows she doesn't like that but does it anyway.
"Raien!" She shouts in the hope he would see her.
She runs to him untill he catches her in his eyesight.
"Hi!" She says enthouiastic.
"How has things been here?"

[Harmigula]

His blue lightsaber clashed against the red, evil eyes looked into his. This was a fight to the death. Stepping back, he twirled his double bladed lightsaber to ward off any attacks. His face lit up blue as the familiar hum of his lightsaber grew louder the faster he spun it. Stepping forward suddenly he attacked with a flurry of blows the sith could do nothing but back peddle and try to stay alive. The sith's single blade was a blur as he tried to counter double attacks from Raien's two blades. Backed up to a wall the sith knew his time was up, with no where to maneuver away he was done for. Countering a quick strike from one blade, the sith made a mistake, his guard was too high now. Seeing his opportunity Raien swung his other blade in a deadly arc knowing this would be the killing blow.

"Raien!" The sith dissapears, reality comes crashing through his fantasy. He finds his killing blow now only slices through air. Turning to see who interupted his training a smile forces itself upon his mouth. She'd been gone a week and he'd missed her. She was a good friend and an attractive one at that. Relationships being against the rules though he never persued her, or anyone for that matter. Sometimes life as a padawan wasn't easy. Realising he was sweating from his training he wiped his sleeve across his face. Often while training he would slip into fantasy worlds, fighting off hundreds of sith in a great jedi battle. He of course would be leading the jedi's to battle, cutting down dozens of sith as he waded through their ranks. His master had told him to be mindful of his feelings... Battle wasn't a glorious thing, it was only used as a last resort.

Sheathing his lightsabers with a quick swishing sound he tried to remove the grin from his face.

"Hi Monbokta, how was your trip? Probably better than things here." He said with a slight grimace. Life at the academy wasn't that eventful. Everyday was the same, get up, eat, learn about how to control your emotions (a hard lesson for Raien), and training. Training was the only part of the day he looked forward to, that and spending time with some of his friends.

"Nothing much happened here, one of the students was injured training... nothing serious but enough that we all got a lecture on controlling yourself during sparing. Aside from that it's been life as usual... dull!" he said with a grin.

"You took off in a rush for your trip last week. Was it important?"

[Asimda]

"Anything is important if you look at it in a certain way I guess, my master thought it was a 'fun' and educational training to have me send of to the freezing planet hoth. You seem so...." Monbokta couldn't resist but giggling, she awyas found Raien the dirstracted kind of guy, but she never knew if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Have I disturbed you?" a small and gentle small appears on her face, and even tho she tried to hide it, her eyes were glinstering.
for some strage reason she has found this Raien quite facinating. Why she could not tell, but she knew there was something different about him. He was different then the others, different than her.
Realising the feeling that she apperantly is showing she quickly makes a cough and becomes emotionless, waiting for Raien to answer weather she did or did not dirturb him.

[Harmigula]

He looked back at her as she studied him. He often felt she was studying him, looking for something. He was never sure what she seemed to be looking for but it didn't matter. He couldn't help but smile back.

"No you're not disturbing me, I'm done battling the evil sith for one day. Besides I could probably use a shower." he said still smiling.

Again he felt an odd tingling sensation, he tensed and looked around. It felt like what he sensed when something dangerous was around. Scanning the academy he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Trying to reason with himself that he was just tired or on edge he tried to supress the feeling.

"You know, all day I've felt like I'm being watched, but everytime I look around everything seems to be just normal." Relaxing a little he smiled at Monbokta. "Maybe I'm just wishing something interesting would happen around here." Pausing for a momment he felt his stomach complaining that it was empty. "You know I haven't eaten anything all day, want to grab a quick bite?"

[Asimda]

Monbokta tries to pay more attention to her feeling when Raien metions about someone watching, but senses nothing.
"Yeah sure, I haven't eaten much today also." she replies.
While walking towards the cafeteria there is a silence between them but Monbokta starts a conversation by telling Raien; "You know there has been times that I have sensed a strange presence myself also around the academy. But I'm sure it's nothing important if our masters doesn't warn us about it. Unless..."
She stops her sentences and but then continious again with a laugh "Unless they don't want us to know of course, heh.."
Monbokta felt strange now, not realising what she actually said. she trusts Raien enough to know that what he senses is not just inside his head, and she must admit that she has sensed a strange presence herself inside the walls of the academy. The feeling of a watchfull eye lurking. She didn't think of it as a bad thing tho, maybe just something or someone keeping an eye out for the academy, making sure everything is safe.
When they almost reach the cafeteria she tells herself to make sure she talks about this with her master Ruben.

[Harmigula]

Walking next to Monbokta Raien tried to dismiss the idea something was wrong. He knew it wasn't but too many people seemed to be paying special attention to them as they walked by. Maybe it was because Monbokta had just got back from a trip and they wanted to greet her, or maybe they were looking at Raien... mad that he injured a fellow student while sparring.

It hadn't been Raien's fault his opponent had got themselves hurt. He had practically jumped on Raien's lightsaber. It was all he could do to swing the lightsaber away from the other student. Some of these so called "Padawan's" weren't fit to use a stick let alone a saber... He was running out of sparring partners though, all the other padawan's weren't at his level and he wasn't sure about asking to spar against a jedi knight. That might be seen as him being to cocky.

Making it to the cafeteria he smiled at the familiar line cooks and ordered his normal meal. Grabbing a table in the corner away from the others he hoped to talk to Monbokta in private.

[Asimda]

Just when they got seated and Raien opens his mouth to start a conversation, Monbokta jumps up and waves towards someone.
"I will be right back." She says to Raien without looking at him and quickly running towards the person she was waving to.
"Master Ruben!" She then says while reaching her master.
"Ah, Monbokta, what is it that you want to ask?" Ruben says while turning his face away from the other person he was having a conversation with.
"You disturb me during a conversation, so I asume that it is important."
Monbokta smiles gently and repeats the words she learned from her master. "Anything is important in a certain way."
Ruben laughs a bit but then looks directly at Monbokta, waiting for her question.
"Well actually, I was hoping if we could have a conversation of our own, of course when you have time master."
"No one has time" Says Ruben, mostly to tease Monbokta a bit. "But meet me in the library after you have your meal done."
"Thank you master." Mobkota Bows her head in a sort of grace and then turns her feet to return to Raien.
"I'm sorry about that. It wasn't ment rude or anything." she says carefully and takes the first bite of her meal.
With a friendly smile, Monbokta tries to figure out what's going on in Raien thoughts, but she says nothing untill he starts the conversation

[Harmigula]

Eating in an awkward silence for a few minutes, Raien says nothing. Dwelling on his thougts he noticed Monbokta was waiting for him to say something. Clearing his throat he looks her in the eyes.
"You ever feel like something is missing in your life? That maybe the academy isn't all it's cracked up to be? I mean, being a padawan is neat and all but... I can't help but feel they're holding us back sometimes."

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he continues.
"I could get in trouble from my master just saying this stuff, but I almost wish I the sith were still around... I'm bored out of my mind. Everyday is the same thing over and over. If the sith were around there would be some excitement, some action... but since Master Skywalker has taken care of the empire, well things are just boring... What do you think?" he asked her. Waiting for her response he started to worry about what she thought, maybe she thought he was a bad padawan now for having these feelings.

[Asimda]

"I honestly think that we have enough troubles without worrying about the sith. But I know what you mean? IF something comes up, it's for our masters to take care of, and I do feel like sometimes like there isn't enough to encourage us for our training. But I'm afraid that a day will come that you will regret the words that you just said, I guess we must look at it on the bright side and be happy that we haven't got those sith around anymore."
The mood of the two padawans darkened and Monbokta feels like a shadow was now hanging over them. But this was a strange feeling she could sense something.
"Do you sense it too?" She quickly says towards Raien, for this was the feeling that she has had before, the one that she talked about with Raien.
Monbokta's eyes widened, this was very strange, right at this conversation, she didn't just sense an appereance of an unknown, but also as if the cold hand of death was reaching for their hearts, for their souls.. She looks around to see if anyone else has noticed it, but the cafeteria was only filled with the two of them. With widened eyes she looks at Raien to see how he responds to it.

[Harmigula]

His body suddenly turned rigid as he sensed it. It was as if someone or something was watching him.

Nodding when she asked him he concentrated on locating where it was comming from. It wasn't too far off it seemed... but he wasn't sure. Gripping his lightsaber he looked at Monbokta. "Well I've had enough, I say we go and try to find what it is!" he said, trying to take the tension out of his voice. Looking to her he hoped she would come with him.

[Asimda]

"Wait. where should we look? Shouldn't we get our masters first?": After Monbokta says these words she looks down confused. She knows she could handlme this, but perhaps it was nothing and if her master would find out he would get upset for not going to him first.
She didn't want to seem weak or soft infront of Raien so she quickly says, "Never mind, I feel it comming from that way." And she points towards the door of the cafeteria.

[Harmigula]

Nodding he followed her out. Monbokta seemed to be able to sense where it was comming from better than he could. He wondered why that was but pushed it from his thoughts, he had to concentrate on finding what this was. Charging out of the cafeteria he spotted a figure moving away in the distance. He couldn't tell if it was a male of female but it didn't matter. For some reason he knew it was what they were looking for. Making sure Monbokta was following him, he drew his lightsaber and charged after the shadowy figure. He was fast, but no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't seem to gain any ground on this person. Even with his jedi speed, the mysterious figure seemed to effortlessly keep the same distance between them. Something wasn't right... he got the sense he was being led somewhere. Trying to shake off the feeling he kept running, hearing Monbokta close behind.

[Asimda]

"Monbokta!!": Asana yelled loudle and Monbokta quickly stopped and turned around.
"What is it? Are you hurt?" Monbokta quickly asks while running towards Asana and leaving Raien behind.
"Nono, there's nothing wrong, it's just..."
"What?!": Monbokta says upset "I have important things to do now!"
"But but..": Asana replies shocked by Monbokta's reaction.
Monbokta just sighs in disappointment and runs back to where Raien was running.
While Asana sees her friend leaving she says softly: "I really think you should see this..."
She then walks back to a dark room down the hallway where a shadowy figure apperantly awaits her.
"I'm sorry miss, but I couldn't get her to come. Why was her friend chasing you?"
The dark figure layed a hand upon the child's mouth whispering "Shhh!"

In the meanwhile, Monbokta catched up with Raien, "Where did it go?"

[Harmigula]

Gone, it was gone... but how? He couldn't sense it anymore, it had somehow eluded him. Puzzled he paused for a momment, looking about. He prided himself on his speed and his hunting ability and yet this person seemed to elude him effortlessly. Maybe his master was testing him... he was always testing him when he least expected it. His resolve hardening he started to seach. Seeing Monbokta catch up he was dissapointed to hear she didn't know where it went.

"I don't know where it went, I was chasing it and suddenly it dissapeared. I can't sense it anymore ether... can you? he asked, looking hopefully at her.

[Asimda]

Monbokta looks down and concentrates, and then looks back to Raien.
"I don't sense a thing, how strange...Are you sure you didn't see where it went? What or who was it anyway?! I must admit tho....it felt kind of familiar, like the thing I told you of before, a strange and unknown appereance, but only this time it was.....more cold." She then looks back to see if Raien understands her but suddenly her eyes widened "Asana!!"
She quickly ran away and got to the room where she saw Asana last.
"Asana!": She screams, but there was no-one in sight.
She then quickly turned her back to Raien. "Did you see her? What if that thing found her!! She's only a small girl!" Monbokta paniced a little but then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then looks back at Raien "Will you help me find her? I'm kind of worried."

[Harmigula]

Raien had no idea what she was talking about. He didn't see this "Asana" person she was referring to, though he wasn't paying much attention to anything but the fleeing figure. He went back through his thoughts and remembered a younger padawan that they had passed. She had been nothing but a blur as he flew past her chasing the mysterious figure. Pausing he tried to remember what she looked like... Now he remembered, it was the younger girl that seemed to hover around Monbokta.

"I will help you find her, can you sense her nearby?"

[Asimda]

"No, I can't, I have absolutly no idea where she is. But I don't think she can be far.": she pauses for a second but then looks back at Raien. "Perhaps she thought I was mad at her. Maybe she found a place to come at ease, perhaps she went meditating?" She softly tries to reach out for Raien's hand but quickly pulled it back. And she starts walking towards to meditation room untill she finally heared a noise from nearby.
She stops and opens the door of which apperantly is a dark room. There was no light but she now could sense someone in this room. Someone familiar....Asana!
Because she couldn't see anything, Monbokta quickly found Asana by following the force. "Are you allright?" she asks when reaching her.
Asana didn't answered Monbokta but she knew it was her, so Monbokta picked her up and went outside to where there was light. While carrying the child, she could feel how much she was shivering.
"Asana are you allright?" She asks worried when she reaches the door.
The door was closed and wouldn't open.
"How strange..." Monbokta says to herself.
She put Asana down and kneeled in front of her. "Her everything is gonna be allright." She couldn't understand why she was scared that much, perhaps because of the dark, but before she could find out, the door had to open.
"Raien?!" She yelled hoping that he would hear her, but she didn't want to waste much time in the state her young friend was in now, so she drew her lightsaber and started to cut the door open. But while she drew her lightsaber, a sudden light shines., but not the one she would have expected.
A red lightsaber appeared in the dark.
"What the...?!" Monbokta could understand, what the heck was this and how come she didn't sense it?
It was coming closer to ehr from the other side of the room, and Monbokta quickly tries to cut the door open in haste. But it was too late, a force push smacked her through the door so that she, and Asana, flew through the wall.
Monbokta did have enough time to protect Asana by forming a shield around her with her arms. But when Monbokta hit the wall Asana quickly ran away. It was a hard hit and Monbokta had to take her time to get up again. When she did, she quickly grasped her lightsaber but first looked where Asana was. She could still see her run away so she yelled "Warn the masters!!"
She could also see that Raien was nearby but she didn't know how long he had been there. But her glance quickly turned back to the dark room. She could sense the appereance of someone right before she got pushed and now she also sensed the same thing, the same one again, only it is very weak to sense it.

[Harmigula]

Looking away for an instant he turned and found Monbokta gone. Concentrating he reached out, trying to sense her familiar presence... Something was wrong, he couldn't sense her, a foggy shroud seemed to cloud his senses like a thick fog. Giving up using the force to find her he started to search the immediate area. He became worried when he couldn't find her.
"Monbokta!" he shouted, panic starting to set in. Forcing himself to calm down like his master had taught him, he slowed his breathing and kept searching. Walking close to the meditation room he heard the familiar hum of a light saber activate. It seemed to come from the meditation room itself. Running to the door he was just in time to see Asana running away leaving Monbokta on the ground, gripping her lightsaber. He couldn't tell if she was hurt or not but didn't have time to check... he sensed another presense nearby, it was hard to detect but it was close. Running over to her he stood over her, guarding her while she got up. Activating both sides of his lightsaber he looked around trying to figure out where whom ever did this to her was.
"What the hell is going on?!" he shouted.

[Asimda]

Monbokta slowly walked back towards the door.
"Should we warn our masters fi.." She was asking Raien but suddenly something strange happens again.
She could see some dressed in black and a red lightsaber walk out but then both Monbokta and Raien were pushed away again by the powerfull force of this person.
Monbokta quickly got up again and ran after the this person. The hood of the cloak fell off and long red hair was revealed. Monbokta could see it was a woman now but she quickly got out of her reach.
She then looked back at Raien.
"It's no use to follow her, I'm going to warn the masters!"

[Harmigula]

Not expecting such a powerful force push he fell backwards and scrambled to get up. This dark Jedi was strong but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Scrambling to his feet he quickly checked on Monbokta, seeing she was ok he ran after the dark jedi not quite making out what Monbokta yelled. Running as fast as he could he bore down on the sith. Rounding a corner where the sith had just gone around, he saw nothing. "How does he keep losing me?!" he swore under his breath. Reaching out with the force he could sense they were still near but he couldn't figure out where. "Why don't you come out and face me sith?" he yelled.

[Asimda]

"Master!!!" Monbokta yells in the library while she runs towards her master ruben.
"Monbokta what is it, people would appreciate it if you would be quiet here."
"But master!" Monbokta quickly replies to him with her eyes still wide open from what happened before. "The is someone!!"
"Shhh, come here." Ruben grabs her by the arm and goes somewhere in a corner sp that they cannot disturb too many people.
"There is someone, I felt her before but know I saw her!! Raien has seen her too."
"Who are you talking about?" Ruben asks surprised.
"Someone, I don't know her, but she attacked us!! Right here, in the academy? She even hurt Asana!" Monbokta says while raising her voice.
"What? When?" Ruben masters himself into staying calm but looks confused at Monbokta
"Just before, I got here as soon as i could."
"But Monbokta..." Ruben says and then looks to his left pointing somewhere to the middle of the room. "Asana seems just fine."
Monbokta couldn't believe her eyes, it was Asana, her eyes weren't fooling her, but she just couldn't understand and runs towards her.
"Asana." She says gently and kneels down to look at her face. "Are you allright?"
Asana looks at Monbokta funny and says "Of course I am allright, why?"

Monbokta didn't answer her but stands up and says to her master.
"I swear I saw her getting hurt."
Ruben just simply shaked her head and says "You think you saw her get hurt."
"But..." Monbokta is just confused and turns her back to walk back out of the library.
"Would it just have been a prick or a test?" Monbokta thinks to herself while returning back to Raien