Apprenticeship (Cont., Closed)

[Sir Aaron]

The trip home had been a rather slow and boring trip, though, Crumb had seemed to have succumbed to the demands of sleep the whole way home so it was peaceful. The two young men had quite interesting stories to tell, and they began to get to know each other, it was a lot better than what Vince had expected, though he still didn't like the kid that much, he tried to kill him.

Now, the ship had just landed on the planet of Naboo, Vince stood up, by the time he had reached the ramp, it had already been lowered, and the door open, where Crumb had fleed the containment of the ship and ran into Vince's home. Vince didn't wait to see if the boy was exiting the ship, the problem was, he didn't really care.

He began to massage his temples gently, trying to help ease the stress. The lucious, green grass of the Lake County waved it's slow, rythmic dance to the motion of the wind. He let the cool, warm breeze hit his face, and with a sigh of relief he stepped off into the two-floor, welcoming cottage. It was the perfect home, all he lacked was a wife and children running around in the grass.

He stepped inside and removed his robe and hung them up next to the door and kicked his boots off and placed them below them. He looked around, half-expecting Crumb to jump out of some dark corner and start doing only what he could imagine.

"Come in, though, touch nothing, because nothing is yours, if you want to touch anything, you will ask me first. Crumb? God where has he gone..." As Vine turned the corner, there sat Crumb on a chair in the living room.

With a weak smile, at least the creature wasn't going to do anything, as he turned around, he tripped on a piece of rope, which was tied to a chair and a table. Vince learned all of this in a moment of a second which he fell to the ground, and Crumb came running up and jumped on the table looking down at Vince, which Crumb was laughing his head off.

"No showing out for our guest" Vince said standing up and looking over at Crumb with a half-angry glare, though half of him tried not to laugh.

Vince stumbled into the kitchen and looked out the window, at the county before him, and the lake that was just a few strides away from the house. He loved the sight, it was what he awoke to every morning and what he would say good night to. He turned and left the kitchen though, he had more important things to take care off, and took a seat in one of the chairs.

"So, what to do with you, don't you have a master? He's probably looking for you anyway, and heaven knows when I try to take you back to the blasted Jedi Council, the earful I will recieve from them. 'Oh, decide to rejoin us have you? No? My, that's horrible news, horrible indeed, blah, blah, blah.'" he mocked what he half-expected from the Jedi Council members, "So, Falo, assuming that is your name..." Vince trailed off, unsure of what he was talking about.

[A®heim]

Falo stepped of the TL-1800 onto the planet Naboo. It was his first time ever visiting this planet, and he liked it. The long, rolling plains, the sparkling lakes, all seemed to contribute to one emotion: peace. The man, who he learned was named Vince, at least that's what he said, had already proceeded towards his dwelling. His irritating companion who he learned to be named Crumb had skipped ahead and Falo assumed he was already within Vince's home. Falo inhaled the clear air deeply, then turned to figure out what was to be done with his ship.

It, rather comically, clung at an obscure angle to the side of the larger freighter. With the gravity of a planetary body now excerting it's force on these two conjoined bodies, it was unsure just how much longer the docking magnet could hang in there.

The electro-magnetic port was powered by a powerful battery that used the kinetic energy of space travel, along with galactic particles, to stay charged.

"But we're not IN spa-" Falo started to say as his beloved craft dropped rather abruptly from its perch and landing with a resonating crash on the patch of packed dirt Vince had called the "landing platform."

As if in response to this breach in peace, a second crash emanated from the cottage followed by a string of muttered curses and hyterical laughter.

"Crumb's at it again..." muttered Falo as he proceeded check the damage on his ship.

The damage seemed minimal and only one problem really remained. But he would deal with it AFTER he could reduce possible baggage casualties that would be doubtlessly suffered of solving it. Luckily the cargo hold could still be opened and accessed fairly easily.

Falo emptied the cargo hold of his belongs. Among which contained his small JR-4 swoop bike, which could be slightly disassembled to fit into a rack on the side of the hold, as well as many general supplied and "NutriPlaster" as he liked to call the "food" he was rationed with for his travels.

His stuff in a pile near the hut, he proceeded to contemplate his biggest challenge.

"How am I going to flip this thing over?"

Deciding to worry about this feat later, he proceeded after Vince into the cottage.

When he walked in, the first thing he noticed was the large tangle of rope and furniture cluttering the floor, most likely the cause of the ruckus he had heard from outside. Vince's home was cozy and had an air of peace and calm that surpassed even the surrounding landscape. He was asked what he was to do with me and how to deal with the council. Falo felt that these questions was directed more at himself, but answered all the same.

"I don't have a master. Nor will I ever, at least not officially. I turned 13 many months ago. I've been removed from the order.....as have you it seems."

[Sir Aaron]

Vince looked at the boy from his seat and gestured for him to join him. Looking at the ground, he began to search his mind on where they should start. He felt a tinge of sympathy for the boy, thirteen already and no master? Of course his master ended up adopting him, well, just becoming his guardian until he was old enough to live alone at least.

Looking up, Vince eyed the boy, up and down, a thought popped into his head, but he shook the thought away as quickly as it came. He glanced over at Crumb, who had seemed to have felt the seriousness that had come over Vince, and when he looked at Crumb, Crumb nodded, as if he could read his thoughts. Vince looked back over at the young boy, and the gears in his head had began to turn in a total different direction he originally expected.

"Let me make one thing clear to you sir, I was not kicked out of the Jedi Council, I left them, I refuse to be under their thumb, only there for a servant, more like a slave. I am my own free being and I disagreed with their beliefs, though, it costed me the love of my life... I had a vision of her dead, and so I decided I would run away and protect her, but I failed, and I had to rejoin the Jedi Council, she killed her self out of grief and misery. The Jedi Council has caused me so much, pain" Vince said, in disgust.

He then looked at Crumb again, who again nodded, making his point clear, he knew what Vince was thinking and knew that what Vince was thinking was the right thing to do. So Crumb, jumped from his seat onto the back of Vince's and sat there, right next to Vince's head and leaned down to whisper.

"I like the kid-" Crumb was cut off by Vince.

"You haven't even gotten to talk to him really, all you did was steal his lightsaber, try to kill him with a defective blaster, and then sleep" Vince said sarcastically.

"I stole the lightsaber for a reason, okay? I'm no fool, he had no master with him, and the Council, the sick beasts they are, the poor child has no where to go" Crumb whispered.

"But I can't train him, I'm better at fighting with the lightsaber than I am with the Force. He's strong with the Force, I would be usele-" this time Vince was cut off by Crumb.

"No, you are going to train this boy, I don't care what you say, if you say no, I'm going to tell him you said you would."

The two argued in hushed whispers for several minutes before Crumb jumped off of the chair and moved back to his seat and just glared at Vince. Vince sat there, several moments, fuming and contemplating, in a deep train of thought. He looked over at Falo again, and then, Vince pulled his lightsaber off of his belt and stood up and walked over to Falo.

"Young Falo, I'm sorry about our, shall we say, less than commendable meeting. And I would like to be your Jedi Master, or well, your Master, if you wouldn't mind, if I would have known that the Jedi Council is doing that, I wouldn't ever force you to go back into their sharp, cruel talons to be grabbed a hold of and carried far away from sanity and freedom, physically and moraly" Vince kneeled before the young man, so they could be near eye leve, though, kneeling, Vince was a bit shorter than the boy, but still close enoguh.

[A®heim]

Things had certainly sped along rapidly. In a venture to discover more about himself, Falo has found himself paired up with a paranoid rogue and his pet lunatic. What was he saying? This company may be strange, but wasn't Falo? Now to be asked to be his apprentice....

There was no doubt about his answer. Knowledge beyond belief awaited him. Knowledge the instructers at the academy deemed him "unready to learn." Yes, he would accept the offer.

Falo smiled and knelt down himself to put himself lower to his master once more. Crumb lept from his perch and stood up tall, now taller than Falo, giving him a very convincing look of contempt until he cracked with laughter.

"Less than commendable is an understatement....master. I apologize for my rash actions and my limited engineering skills are at your disposal. I would be honored to repair and possibly even improve your craft. I will do my best to learn from you and assist you in any way that I can. Thank you for your kindness and for not killing me when I foolishly boarded your vessel.

Though you must admit, that plan worked."

[Sir Aaron]

Vince grinned at his new apprentice's comment, after he apologized about threatening his life, and then trying to coerce Vince into admitting that his plan did work. Though, despite the fact that that was the truth, he was one that often let his pride run to his head, even when it came to just joking matters. Though, against his own decision he followed his gut.

"Yessir, I do believe it was a rather genious plan, though, a stupid one, but it worked" Vince said with a smile, he ruffled the young boy's hair before holding his hand out and helping him to his feet, "By the way, you have Crumb here to thank for everything that's happened. He claims he stole your lightsaber for a reason and I wasn't considering taking you in to be an apprentice, before he mentioned, I assume you won't let me down?"

Vince turned after he asked the question and grabbed Crumb up and threw him above his head, Crumb fell back and grabbed onto the back of Vince's robe and clung tightly, in one fluid, swift motion as they have done so many times. Vince headed for the front door with a sigh and looked over his shoulder at the boy, it was going to be difficult training him, because the boy, with training and molding would be far better of a force user than Vince is.

Vince lowered Crumb to the ground who ran into their ship, Vince figured he would try to do what he could with repairs, Vince taught him all he knew about ships, which wasn't much but for now, Vince wanted to see what the boy could do. Preparing the stance, he stood in the same position he did before the boy boarded his ship, the stance done by Makashi fighters.

The style is known for it's elegance, grace, and beauty of lightsaber-versus-lightsaber fighting, though, the skill requires exact precision. So waiting for his young Padawan, he had his plan already laid out before him. He was going to occasionally make an attack, but his main goal was to just defend himself as his opponent foolishly wears himself out. Though, this was more of a test, just to see how much the young boy knew.

[A®heim]

Falo heart pounded in his chest. He wanted to test his abilities?

"I'm afraid you'll find my abilites somewhat lacking by your standards. Maybe I ought to help crumb fix your sh-" Falo was cut off as Vince slahed forward suddenly with his lightsaber.

Igniting his saber just in time to parry the blow, Falo stumbled backwards.

"This won't do," he thought to himself, "If it were any other opponant I'd be dead right now. I have to keep my guard up."

Falo positioned himself into the basic Shii-cho position. tightening his grip on his saber he gathered his wits and his balance. He wasn't going to let that happen again.

It happened again.

And again.

Fourth time.

It was ridiculous. No matter how Falo moved to parry, Vince's saber seemed to fluently meld beneath and knock him back. It was all at once terrifying and beautiful to watch his lashes. Obviously not even a mastery of Shii-cho was going to stop his attacks. Falo tried another tactic. He positioned himself in the Makashi position just as he had seen Vince do.

"How about a taste of your own medicine?" Falo mumbled.

"Thwack!" The attack came from a different direction this time effortlessly knocking Falo's saber from his grip. This just wasn't fair! Crumb's wild laughter was heard from the direction of the ship. Apparently he had stopped his "work" for some entertainment. Vince stood before him trying his hardest to stifle a giggle, and doing a very bad job at it.

"GAH!" Falo shouted as he ran at his distracted master, saber brandished ahead of him trying to get any strike in.

Apparently the "carelessness" of his master was merely a feint. That, or he recovered from it in less than a nanosecond. Whatever the case, he was no longer in front of Falo. Twisting off on his foot, Falo lept to the side.

He spotted his grinning master just to his right saber raised in what was hopefully a mock finishing position. Falo never stopped, intead continuing his rotation til they were face to face once more. Falo thrusted out his open palm.

The saber flew from Vince's hand with a muffled thud. The fact that the ligt saber had only flown about 7 feet away told Falo that if his master had been even slightly prepared for this manuever it never would have worked.

"Surrender?" Falo gloated vindictively.

Before he knew what was happening, Vince had struck his wrist with force enough to cause him to drop his saber. Vince had it in his hand before it even touched the ground. Falo tried to stop his master but found his feet taken out from under him by a sweeping kick.

Vince stood over Falo, his own saber pointed at his neck.

"No fair."

[Sir Aaron]

Vince helped his Apprentice up and wiped some of the dirt on off of his shoulders and gently pat his back. Then, the realization that the boy would need clothes hit Vince. He looked down, he had over-done a bit, though, the boy apparently wanted to keep going, so he did. But finally, he had to admit, the boy had some talent, there was denying that, and the Jedi Council was foolish to consider the possibility of tossing aside a strong ally.

"Tomorrow we go in town to buy you some clothes and other necessities, don't let me forget Crumb!" he shouted towards the ship.

"You got it boss!" he shouted back, clearly uninterested and focused on his work.

Vince turned back to the young man and led him into the house, where he reached into his robe pocket and withdrew a small metal key. He slid the key into an ancient, maple box and turned the lock. There were several clicks inside before the box finally opened up. The interior was reinforced with metal, the outside wood made it look more like an antique and less conspicious.

The contents to the box though weren't in view of the young Padawan, mainly because Vince only opened it enough to slide his hand in and out in one swift motion and let the lid lock back into place and hid the key back inside his robe. in his hands was a crystal, which he had attached to a necklace, and apparently worn in earlier years.

"I won this on Nar Shadda, gambling, it's an Upari crystal, a pretty strong crystal, it will serve you well my young friend, if you ever plan on working on your lightsaber" Vince handed the boy and began to walk through the house, showing the young man each of the rooms, "And also, don't call me Master or any of the likes, just Vince will be fine. As my old Jedi Master said, this isn't the relationship of a slave and his owner, it's a pupil and his teacher. Also, as you've seen, Crumb is a trickster, always be alert. AND! Now that I've gotten to evaluate your fighting style a bit, I'm going to let you rest and myself rest and get ready for the long journey ahead of us. Trust me, it will be long, so enjoy these few days, as I said, tomorrow we will buy you some clothing and stuff, and you may roam my humble abode, which is yours as well, so treat it like it is. Though, my room is off limits unless permission is granted."

[A®heim]

Life as an apprentice wasn't too difficult. In fact, between the vigorous training sessions and orduous studying, it was fairly entertaining. The were going into town in a few days for supplies and Falo was anticipating this opportunity yo learn more about this planet.

Falo laid back in his bed and contemplated a project that had been nagging him for a while. He fingered the Upari crystal neckless Vince had given him. It was beautiful, especially when held up to the light; prizmic colors refracting from its faceted surface.

He took his datapad from his pocket and did a data search for light saber construction. As he was going over the procedure, a small note caught his eye.

"Dragon pearl?" he thought.

It turned out that crystals weren't the only things that could be used for focusing the beam from a lightsaber. Special stones, shards of glass, physical remains, even micro-machines could be used as a means of focusing.

Falo's eyes glinted as he imagined the possibilities of experimentation, which he practically lived on. He began planning his design. Curved handle as master Wince says they are best suited for the Makashi style, Upari crystal for strength, and all the other gizmos he would use his old saber's pieces. The light green crystal in his old light saber appeared in almost perfect condition, so he would use it for his new weapon.

"After a bit of tweaking that is..." Falo quivered with anticipation.

This endeavor would be difficult. For starters, he needed to dismantle his most trusted companion, one that has stayed at his side for many years. Then there would be the crafting of the crystal and casing. a process that could very easily go wrong.

"This should fun." he chortled to himself.

He appoached Vince's door. Training had been continuing over the past few days as normal. Although most of these sessions usually ended with Falo knocked repeatedly to dirt, the successful parrys were steadily increasing. Falo had begun basic intruction in the elegant art of Makashi style saber combat and was learning slowly.

Almost all of Vince's lessons were in light saber combat. Falo, however, had been practicing HIS art after hours in his room. His most recent achievement was to organize the dusty bookcase in his room from a meditation position on his bed. Tomarrow he would try to "borrow" a blaster to try to aim and fire through telekinesis. No doubt this would come in handy one day.

"Hey mast- Vince, I'm going to take my leave for a little while. Just a bit of expirimenting.
Yes?OK?Good!" Falo said hastily through the wooden door of Vince's room.

Falo rushed outside and readied his speeder. Pulling out his datapad, he opened up a map of the surrounding country side. He found what he was looking for almost immediately.

"Naboo clam beds, 80 miles." Falo muttered as he lept aboard the JR-4 and revved the engine.

This WAS going to be fun!

[Sir Aaron]

Vince had spent the last few days with his newly adopted young Padawan, training him as hard as he could, which may be too much, but he didn't care. He was lying in his room, resting a bit and thinking, thinking of the past, the good days. He couldn't deny that ever since he and Robert had parted he hadn't been as happy as he used to be, and he felt a strange emptiness in him.

But then, suddenly his apprentice came knocking on his door and a moment later busting in his room. Vince sat up and looked at the boy confused, not wanting to know what he wanted. Though, he sat quitely, just waiting for the explanation of the rude intrusion. Then he said he was leaving for a bit and ran off before a word could leave his mouth.

Vince climbed out of the bed and stretched a moment before sliding on his robes. A moment later, he was standing outside of the house to see that his apprentice had taken a speeder and was heading off. Vince rolled his eyes and walked over to his speeder. Sometimes it seems like this boy is more trouble than he's worth... Vince said mentally before he climbed onto his speeder.

The vehicle took off pretty quickly, but the Jedi Master held on tightly. Vince leaned forward a bit, squinting his eyes, trying to get a better view of whether or not he was looking at Falo or a bush or tree. After a few minutes of looking around, he was able to find his Padawan and put the speeder in full speed, in an attempt to catch up. He could tell already, this was going to be a really long day, though most of them were, when you had to deal with someone young and wild, kind of like what he used to be; and Vince could only imagine what he was like when he was young.

[A®heim]

Falo let out a sigh of joy as he shot over the landscape. His hair whipped about him and his ears flapped in the wind. Even at a breakneck speed the countryside was beautiful. Crystal clear lakes and bright green plains rolled endlessly towards the horizon.

His scanner gave off a short ping. Falo glanced behind his craft and noticed a small speck slowly gaining. Falo grinned and began to fiddle with some switches.

“Sorry Vince, but I’d like to keep this a surprise for now. Luckily for me the JR-4 was originally marketed as an air speeder.”

Falo flipped a switch and pulled back a small lever on the steering console. His swoop blasted into the air at a ridiculous rate.

The ground shrank away rapidly and Falo soon regained his course among the low clouds, the shrinking speck of his master quickly becoming lost among the landscape.

Though intent on doing his task alone, Falo didn’t wish Vince to be too worried about him. He pulled out his datapad and sent him a message: “Gone for light saber construction experiment.
Will be at the crystal lagoon clam beds. Do not worry, I should be perfectly fine.”

After pressing the send button Falo put the accelerator to the floor and shot ahead towards his destination. It was very different piloting his swoop at high altitudes than just a few decimeters from the surface. The motion doesn’t feel as rapid, almost as if you aren’t even moving.

The speeder began its descent towards a large lagoon shrouded by a small outlet from a larger sea. This was the crystal lagoon and it was the closest Naboo clam bed to Vince’s home.

The swoop touched down gently on its three landing legs. Falo unbuckled the safety harness and leapt deftly from the cockpit. Opening up the storage compartment, he removed a breath mask, his survival knife, and a small object wrapped in a tattered handkerchief.

Falo secured the breath mask to his face (which was difficult because of his long snout) and attached his knife to his belt. He kicked off his shoes and removed his shirt and poised himself on a ledge hanging over the lagoon.

“Let the experiment begin!” he cried as he dived into the waters.

The water was cool and refreshing. Opening his eyes he discovered why it was called the crystal lagoon: The visibility was nearly perfect allowing Falo to see all the way down to the bottom without even eye covering. Ahead of him stretched a rocky shelf on which clung hundreds of giant Naboo clams.

Falo approached one of the larger specimens taking care to avoid the long tendrils dangling from the edge of the shell. These sensitive feelers would cause the clam to shut tightly with even the slightest agitation.

He reached into his pocket and drew out the cloth bundle. He unraveled it and removed the small green light saber crystal from its folds and slowly reached towards the opening of the clam. Gingerly, he maneuvered the crystal into the depths of the pale maw dropping it just as carefully onto the light pink pearl bed inside. He steadily removed his hand from this orifice and let out his held breath. It was done.

As Falo turned to return to the surface, a small pink blur darted from a crevice in the rock and dug a sharp set of fangs into his arm. Falo yelled in pain as the vicious nyork clung tenaciously to his flesh. He drew his knife and swung to disembowel this foul predator but succeeded only in nearly cutting himself open as the creature swam agilely from harm.

In this turmoil he kicked one of the drifting tendrils rather roughly. Falo had only a moment before he realized his fatal error.
A dull thud and a cry resonated through the waters as the giant clam shut itself tightly on Falo’s leg.

He struggled frantically before he realized he was hopelessly stuck and there was still a more pressing matter at hand. The nyork had now moved to his trapped leg and began to gnaw on it voraciously.

“I WILL NOT BE EATEN ALIVE BY SOME CARNIVOROUS SCALLOP!!!” Falo screamed in anger.

He thrust out his palm and sent the beast hurtling into the rock shelf, breaking in half with a sickening crack. He then turned towards his captor, rage seething through him.

“No, I mustn’t lose myself in my anger. Heavens knows what a discharge underwater would do to the creatures in this lagoon, including me.” He counseled himself.

Falo took a deep breath from his breath mask’s oxygen tank and began to contemplate what was to be done. He felt too drained to attempt another kinetic blast on the clam, not that it would probably even affect it anyways. He would have to do this physically.

He drew his knife once more and tried to pry it open. Even with all his strength the hinge wouldn’t give. He struck it with the blade several times in frustration – not a mark was made. He forced it into the mouth once more and stepped down hard on the handle. The blade broke clean off the handle leaving Falo with all his hope drained.

His only chance now was to be rescued. He drew his datapad from his pocket and opened up all emergency transmission frequencies.

“Thank goodness this thing’s waterproof, but the signal will be significantly weakened by the many meters of water between me and the surface.” Falo muttered through the breath mask, “These tanks are made to hold 2 hours maximum of oxygen. Considering I’ve been here for about half an hour already, that gives me only 90 minutes to be found. Ya right.”

[Sir Aaron]

Vince had caught up with his young apprentice, which was foolish of him to even try to catch up with him in the first place, he should have just trailed him from a distance. But upon insistence that he would be okay, Falo ran off, his speeder was really an air speeder and took off into the air and sped off, leaving Vince sitting there, alone, on his speeder. So he began the journey home. He thought of Falo, Falo reminded him of himself as a child, Robert always knew best but still Vince thought he knew best and would get himself into some kind of trouble.

Finally, the beautiful lake house came into sight and Vince slowed the speeder to a stop. His house was humble, it wasn't very gaudy, there wasn't much too it from the outside really. A few houses to look at the beauty that surrounded his home, and that was all it was, four walls, a roof, and a few windows. Simplistic, cheap, simple, and could withstand harsh conditions. It was all though an Ex-Jedi needed to live, by himself, well, not any more, but enough for him, his apprentice, and a Kowakian Monkey-Lizard.

He stepped into the home and there sat Crumb, looking at him with a mischievious grin on his face, so Vince quickly looked around the room before moving, no signs fo anything set up or looked out of place. He walked over to the creature and looked down at him and smiled. Crumb just lifted an eyebrow, confused by the gesture, wondering if it was he about to be pranked, and they just stood there a moment.

"So, what have you done now?" Vince asked, looking down at Crumb, who was trying to contain his laughter.

"Well, I-" Crumb was cut off by a flashing light, and Vince grabbed up the data pad sitting on the coffee table which began to flashing.

He pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen. It seemed that it was picking up an emergency signal and Vince looked at the screen. His grip on the datapad tightened until his knuckles turned white, his eyes grew wide. He dropped the data pad, grabbed his robe, and threw himself out the door. He jumped on the speeder, and just as he hit the thrusters, he felt Crumb jump on his back.

He sped off in the direction of the clam bed. He didn't even notice that Crumb had climbed onto the back of the speeder. Though, he figured that if Crumb new the seriousness of the situation he would have came. He glanced over his shoulder to see the little creature, and he grimaced. Looking back, he threw the speeder to the left to barely avoid a thicket of trees and bushes and pressed the speeder on to its maximum speed.

He finally reached his destination and brought it to a sudden halt, slinging Vince and Crumb off, rolling on the ground. Vince jumped up and ran to the edge of the lake and dove in to the laker and swam, holding his breath and swimming as fast as he could, Crumb staying on the shore with a blaster pistol watching the speeders, and just hoping his friend wouldn't fail him now.

Vince finally found the clam that had clamped on to Falo and closed his eyes. He focused all of his power in the clam and did all he could to free his young apprentice from. By the time he was able to barely get the mouth of the clam open and yank his young Padawan's foot out, he had to scramble up to the surface of the water, his lungs were beginning to scream for air.

He gasped, still a few yards from the surface, water filled his lungs. He began to move even more sporadically. He finally reached the surface and pulled himself out, though, as he stood up, he fell backwards, unconcious. He couldn't breathe because of the water that he had collected in his lungs.

[A®heim]

"Oh dear what a mess." sighed Falo from his trapped position. The gauge on his breath mask read that he had about 8 minutes of air remaining in the tank. He had transmitted the signal and now had only to wait for his salvation.

Above him, the surface of the lagoon taunted him with its dainty twinkles and shimmers. It was hypnotic. Falo began to feel faint, entranced by the wavering light above. Or was it just the lack of Oxygen? Falo checked the gauge once more. Yep, definately the lack of oxygen.

He faced the clam with a look of irritation his face. He tried wiggling his leg out once more with no more success than any of his previous attempts. He yelled and kicked at it but it was all to no avail. Falo collapsed against the rockface, too tired to move. Darkness began to creep into the corners of his vision. The gauge drifted into his vision: 0. A blurry shape materialized in the water before him. Falo felt himself grasped by the arm before the darkness engulfed him and dragged him to oblivion.

Falo awoke to the bright sun and the loud cry of a peko peko. The fine sand was warm beneath his skin. He was alive, unless this was heaven....which it may just be....Falo sat up and took in his surroundings. Master Vince lay nearby, Crumb asleep on his chest. He looked pale.

Falo approached Vince's still form. Crumb opened one eye lazily then lept up to start jabbering at Falo. Falo was beggining to understand this language more and more since his time in apprenticeship. From what he could figure out Crumb was berating him on his foolishness and telling him never to do that again. Though Crumb sounded serious (ya right) this facade was quickly lost by an outbreak of hysterical laughter. Kowakian monkey lizards, sometimes you love 'em, sometimes you loath 'em.

Falo bent down to Vince.

"I suppose that's another one I owe you Vince. I just can't seem to stay outta trouble can I?" Falo murmered to the still figure of his master. "You're not dead are you?"

[Sir Aaron]

Crumb looked up at the statement, well, question, that Falo had asked his master. He wanted to slap the young boy, did he look okay? So Crumb sat there a moment, thinking. Finally, deciding that he had to help Vince out somehow he began clubbing at Vince's chest with his fists. Seeing that was doing nothing he dove onto the older man's chest, immediately, water spouted from his mouth like a fountain, and he choked a few more spurts of water before finally breathing.

Vince sat up, wiping wet hair that clung to his face and looking around, his vision was blurry, though coming to at a fairly decent rate. He wiped his eyes gently as he finally was able to see his surroundings and there before him was his Padawan and old friend. It took him a moment to remember all that happened, it was like a really weird dream, on the verge of being a nightmare. Though, there was enough evidence to prove that that really weird dream, or nightmare, was real.

He began to laugh, clutching his chest because of his aching lungs, yet he still couldn't contain the laughter. After a few moments, he wiped the tears from his face, which could have easily passed for beads of water, but the pain from the lungs still hurt slightly. He patted Crumb on the back before barely being able to stumble to his feet, then stumbling around a few minutes as if he was drunk. Finally, he gained his composure and looked around, how odd.

"Thank you you two, Crumb for saving my life, as you've done so many times, and to Falo, who tried to have me kill myself trying to save him, again" Vince chuckled softly, "I'm just joking, don't worry my young Padawan, I do hope you did get what you were trying to get?"

Every inch of Vince hoped his Padawan had succeeded in what he was looking for, not because he didn't want to have to go swimming, or in this case drowning, again, but because it would mean his Padawan was beginning to become a bit self-sufficient, or at least he was beginning to gain strength to fend for himself, though, at the same time he had a long way to go. But one thing he hoped Falo knew, he would do anything for him, even many years after they went their ways, if he needed him, he would be there. The two had formed a close relationship and for the most part were inseperable, they were like brothers. Just their ages were spaced out, really far!

[A®heim]

Yep, he's alive. Falo helped his master to his feet. He cringed in anticipation of the admonishment he was probably about to recieve. When Vince only took a deep breath and laugh Falo could only imagine he had been damaged by lack of oxygen.

Vince stumbled around a bit before finally seeming to compose himself. He then asked Falo if he had found whatever it was he was looking for. Falo chuckled.

"I wasn't looking for anything Vince, in fact I was putting something away. An experiment if you will. You see-" Falo hesitated a moment, "Ah what the heck I'll tell ya, you've earned the right to know. You see I was planning the design for the construction of my lightsaber when I came across an interesting file. It seems that more than just crystals can be used to focus the saber's energy. I saw an example of a krayt dragon pearl and became inspired. If my color crystal could focus the beam and a pearl could focus the beam, what if I had both. Then came the dilema, I can't fit three objects (including your upari crystal) into one casing so I improvised. Maybe if a crystal were mistaken as a growing pearl, a clam would continue to build its nacar on it. Inside the very clam you saved me from, is my green color crystal."

[Sir Aaron]

Vince stood still, quitely listening, intently, to his young Apprentice's plans on how he was going to work on his lightsaber and make some changes to it. He was quite amazed that the boy had sat down and though so much of it up, and had to commend him, so he smiled and nodded in approval. There was no point in trying to stop the boy from doing what he wanted, because he, much like Vince, was bull-headed.

So Vince wrapped an arm around Falo's shoulder and squeezed tightly. He walked over to the speeder that Crumb had already mounted and impatiently would keep glancing over his shoulder at the two. Vince slung one leg over and flipped the speeder on. Crumb kept reaching for the handles to take off, but Vince would slap them away.

"See you when you come back, but be careful with that foot, would you like for me to give you a ride back to the house? Crumb can bring your speeder, or we can get it later and just hide it, I don't want you hurting yourself or worse" Vince said with a soft smile.

But, not paying attention, the speeder flew out from under Vince as his small, twisted friend shot off into the dense forest, with a shrill laugh. Vince looked over at Falo and rolled his eyes. Vince walked over to Falo and offered him a hand to help him get to the speeder. This was going to be a long day.

"I guess we are riding, but let's keep you from putting too much pressure on that foot, I know it might seem fine, but still, there's the possibility of damaging it even more and I'd hate to have anything like that happen to you. So come my young one."

[A®heim]

Falo allowed himself to be half carried to his speeder and sat down behind master Vince. He chuckled softly as he watched Vince rub his hands together and stare at the control array intently.

"The black switch on the left turns it on." Falo said to his befuddled mentor.

The swoop buzzed to life and hovered steadily a few feet from the ground.

"Now the large pedal on the right is to accelerate, but be careful, it's very sensit- Aaaaa!" Falo was cut-off as Vince pressed the pedal down hard and the speeder shot forward suddenly, "That works too, just don't do that with the altitude lever on the steering console unless you want to pass out from rapid air pressure change."

The JR-4 eased to a stop in front of Vince's home. The hi-jacked speeder laid, upturned and dented, against the side of the building. Falo shook his head and stumbled after Vince into his abode.

The next few days were spent in reletive relaxation as Falo's foot healed up. Thankfully it was only sprained and bruised and wasn't broken. Falo took this time to study the history of Naboo as well as the rest of the galaxy. When his eyes burned from reading holograms, he often ammused himself by attempting to compensate for his injury using telekinesis.

Falo and Crumb had invented a game to pass the time with quite by accident one day. Crumb had been up to his normal antics and had swapped his lightsaber with a rotting fish. Irritated by this, Falo had flung it at him hard with the Force only to have Crumb thwack it back at him with a large book. These volleys didn't to go on until one or both participants passed out from exhaustion.

Two weeks later, Falo's foot was worthy enough to have wait put on it and walk around freely. It wasn't long before Vince approached him once more for more saber combat training. Falo wasn't sure why, but he felt more confident now. Perhaps it's true what they say about near death experiences changing you life.

[Sir Aaron]

Vince had spent the time of Falo's healing foot in meditation, practicing his skills. He wanted to be the best he could for his young Padawan, though it was a difficult task. Falo was progressing rather quickly for someone of his age, yet he still had much to learn. Vince kept himself locked in his room most of the time, he let Crumb take care of the house, which was a task he rarely trusted the Kowakian to do.

Often though, when Vince would leave his room, it would seem that Crumb and Falo were fighting each other, well, not so much fighting but playing iwth each other. A horrendous stench drifted through the house, which was the remnants of a rotting, dead fish. And the two were playing a game with it, where Crumb was slapping it with a book and Falo would use the force to send it flying back at Crumb.

Though, finally, after a few weeks of rest and enjoying one's company, Vince decided it was time for more training, that his Padawan had learned more than enough. They practiced their lightsaber training, in the second form, which was Vince's best, though, he still felt that he was incompetent because he couldn't teach his apprentice well in the ways of the Force.

Until one day, Vince decided it was time they do some more than just lightsaber training, he was teaching his apprentice enough about easy dueling, because Vince had to go easy on him, he didn't want to hurt him. It was time they went in to the field and helped someone out there, who he was sure needed protection or a job done, which they could offer their expertise.

"Falo, me and you need to go past just this dueling and sparring we've been doing, I want to take you on a real mission, offer our services to someone, it will also be a small source of income, possibly, help go towards the ships or something" Vince said, sitting down on his apprentice's bed.

[A®heim]

It had been a normal few weeks of sparring, physical excersize , and rotting fish. Although it was lucrative, Falo began to feel the monotony grind on him. Vince arrived in the nick of time with an unusual proposition. Falo noticed the many packed bags and the general air of one who was in a hurry to depart.

"Where are we off to Vince?" he said in his normal reserved voice, though the enthusiasm manged to leak through this calm demeanor.

[Sir Aaron]

"Well, my young Padawan, we are off to Coruscant, where I am going to rejoin the Jedi Council" Vince withdrew the crumpled note from his pocket and just held it up before returning it to his pocket, "My old master snuck into my house and lay this on my bed, while I was working on the ship, Crumb barely missed him. That sheet of paper has my answer, and now that I found that answer and found out that I was foolish to follow my dreams by abandoning them. Follow me if you will, or you may turn on me as I have my master and the ways of the Jedi" Vince said, stepping on to the ship, Crumb stood, looking from the ship to Falo, and back.

[A®heim]

Falo's blood froze at the word padawan. What a word to him. First one of legend, then one of desire, then of salvation, and finally one of dread. He had no love for the Jedi order, but then neither did they for him. After a moment Falo looked back to his master. "I will not turn on you Vince. You are the only family I have left and the purpose of my life. I will accompany you, but I cannot promise I will be welcomed warmly. There is much I have not told you of my past.... nevermind, perhaps another day. Let us prepare the ships."

The emotions burned within the young Jedi. They would be returning to a place he dreaded beyond any other. He had been so desperate to be among the order, and yet strangely, the thought filled him with a great foreboding. Almost without thinking, he tried to enter the cockpit of his fighter onlly to find it was still upturned.

Falo couldn't help but laugh. It had been several months since the craft had been dumped askew and yet they still had never gotten around to righting it. It was time he put his personal training to the test. He concentrated on bringing all his focus onto a single point on his ship. The ARC-130 shivered slightly. Falo closed his eyes and lifted his hand. The hull creaked but the ship didn't rise.

His hand was lowered and the ship ceased its shaking. This wasn't working, his mind couldn't grasp the concept enough to lift such an object...but perhaps if he tried an alternative method of thinking of it. Falo's mind drifted to the great Vacuum of space. How air was sucked straight from its source into the void. Perhaps...just maybe...it could be pulled. The more he pictured it, the easier it was to comprehend. It was there in his mind, he believed he could do it.

Falo thrust out his palm again only this time just to the left of the upturned ship. He willed the air to separate, pushing it aside to create a great vacuum in its place. Almost instantaneously, copious ammounts of sand and small pieces of debris flew into the space, creating a murky orb approximately 4 feet in diameter. The ship began to shutter again and list to the side, but it was far from flipping. Falo willed the air to be pushed further, the orb increased severl inches then began to shrink.

Falo's breath became heavy and his vision blurred. It was too much to sustain, he was losing control. But maybe If he tapped that extra reserve...no! It was too dangerous, he had to release it. The Bothan clenched his teeth and released his force of the air. Immediately he was blasted off his feet by the shock wave that emanated from the collapsed sphere. As Falo sputtered and rose back to his feet, he noticed that the ship had been knocked almost straight sideways and was wavering dangerously from side to side. The tiniest breath could decide the direction in which it fell and Falo would project just that if he hadn't been so tired.

The ship began to tilt back towards its original position and Falo almost lost hope when a gust of wind whipped by and the ship immediately crashed down upon its belly, righted at last. Falo sighed and brushed the large amount of dirt of of him. Now he was ready to go at last.