Robert Meta
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Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 177
🕑 Added 2024-11-01 15:49:57 +0000 UTCEventually, after following Yoda for a good thirty minutes, we arrived at his home. I took a moment to look at it as everyone moved closer, staring at the small, overgrown structure. For a moment, I was back home, watching Empire Strikes Back for the first time, and my father and my brother were there with me. It sent a wave of nostalgia crashing over me, my emotions so intense that both Luke and Yoda turned to look at me.
"Sorry, I was just reminded of something from home," I assured them, taking a deep breath and following after everyone.
Since Yoda's home was clearly too small for all of us, and this was a world known for being incredibly wet, we required some sort of shelter. Luckily, I had known that going in, so the backpacks that the BX droids carried with them contained everything we would need. It was broken into parts, but we quickly assembled them into what was essentially one of those popup canopy tents. Under that, we set up a normal tent, some chairs, and a table, as well as a thin shield system similar to the mag barriers around a ship's hangar. It let out a subtle hum, but it would protect us from a lot of the weather.
It was also obscenely expensive. The only reason we had one was because it was stolen or came to us through one of our pirate raids.
The tent and protection were set up quickly, all under the watchful eye of Yoda. He was rather quiet, up until Luke returned with a few piles of damp wood. Ordinarily, this would be next to impossible to light on fire without a lot of help, but I happened to have the perfect tool for that. I set up a sturdy base of branches before standing up and casting Flames.
The bright spray of fire poured over the ranches and small logs, first slowly drying them out. Then, once they were dry enough, the exteriors burst into flame. I quickly ended the spell, standing back with a satisfied nod, before turning to Yoda. He was sitting in the same spot as before, his cane now lying by his side, fallen from his hands, while his jaw was hanging open.
I had expected a reaction the first time I used magic, but I couldn't help but snort at his stunned expression. My laugh pulled him out of his stunned look, the old man looking at me closely.
"A presence in the Force, You lack, and yet you manage that," He said, his eyes wide, looking from the fire, then to me, back and forth. "Not a single ripple in the Force, did I feel. How have you managed this, hmmm?"
"Simple, I didn't use the Force," I responded with a shrug. "It's magic."
"Magic?" he asked, frowning slightly, carefully and slowly bending down to pick up his cane. "Magic, you say it is? Not the Force?"
"Would you like to see more?" I asked, the small gremlin nodding.
Knowing he would be a tough nut to crack, I put on the usual "It's Magic, but also it's not the Force!" show, starting with basic elemental displays, moving onto more middle-of-the-road spells, before finishing off by conjuring a few different combat forms, then transmuting one material to the another, allowing Yoda to see the process. When I was finally done, I couldn't help but take a bow.
"Done this before, you have?" He asked, a critical eye focused on me.
"Basically, any time we meet a new group or expand our forces," I explained with a shrug. "It's a bit different when explaining it to someone who is familiar with the Force, but yeah, I do it a lot."
"A fascinating display, you have performed," Yoda admitted, with a nod, reaching out to point at me. "Not a single moment of Force usage, could I sense. A mystery your ability is, frighteningly similar to Sith alchemy and magiks, it seems. But evil, your ability is not. Time to consider this, I must have. Meditate on your abilities, I will."
"Take all the time you'd like," I said with a smile. "For now, how about we sit somewhere comfortable and talk about other things?"
Yoda nodded, and we made our way to our camp. There we sat around the collapsable table, the BXs doing a tight patrol of the area now that everything was set up. Before I sat down, I stripped out of my armor and undersuit, leaving just my protective uniform. Between the BXs, my abilities, and knowing we were at Yoda's camp, I felt reasonably safe relaxing a bit more, especially with my uniform. Miru, surprisingly enough, kept her armor on, saving me the trouble of trying to convince her to.
"I want as many layers as possible between me and this place," she admitted with a shiver. "This is the exact opposite of what I would consider comfortable."
I chuckled and patted her shoulder, joining Luke and Yoda at our table. Luke looked a little nervous despite Yoda being just about the least threatening person I could imagine. As we sat there, Yoda seemed perfectly happy to wait for us to talk, a tactic I'm usually excited to turn back around on the user, but considering Yoda had spent the last twenty years here with nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs, I'm sure he would win.
"I supposed the best place to start off with is a short rundown of the last twenty years," I suggested. "Unless you're somehow receiving galactic news here?"
"Know of the Rebellion, I do," He responded simply. "Know of the horrors of the Empire, I do as well. Interested greatly in Luke's training, I am."
"Ahsoka was reluctant to teach him at first," I explained, Luke nodding in agreement, the annoyance and frustration of that time leaking slightly into his face. "She was stuck in a guilt loop about his father and what happened to him, and she didn't think she was worthy of teaching him anything."
"His father…" Yoda said, trailing off. "You told him tales of Anakin Skywalker?"
"Of course I did," I said, shaking my head. "Luke deserved to know how Anakin fought in the Clone Wars."
"Of course, Yes. A great hero, he was. Died at the hands of Darth Vader-"
Luke let out a disappointed sigh, shaking his head and crossing his arms.
"So you were going to lie to me too?" He asked, a frown on his face. "You were going to train me to kill Vader, my own father, and never tell me who he actually was, weren't you? Why is everyone but Deacon so eager to keep his real fate from me? Even Ahsoka admitted she only told me because Deacon explained that it was not fair to keep from me."
For a long time, Yoda was silent. His presence almost seemed to shift as Luke reprimanded him.
"... Hoped to better prepare you, we did," Yoda explained, shrinking back slightly, leaning on his cane as he stood on his chair. "Old you are, for Jedi training. Wish to send you spiraling through space, hunting for your father, we did not."
"And? If that's what I wanted to do, what right do you have to stop me?" He asked with an aggravated frown. "Because I'm his son, then I must be a slave to my destiny, to my dad's prophecy? Deacon told me how well that went for you guys, locking him into his fate as the Chosen One. Forgive me if I'm not eager to let fate lead me around like a sunstone bantha."
Despite having every right to be angry, Luke managed to keep a relatively cool head, though his patience was definitely tested. Miru reached over and put her hand on his back, the young Force-sensitive looking over at her with a smile before focusing back on Yoda as he began to talk, his frustration leaking away.
"Happy to burden your father with prophecy, we were not. Tried to shield him from it, we did," He explained, shaking his head. "Many believed the prophecy to be true. Unavoidable, we thought it was. Arrogant we were. The idea of lying to you, we did not enjoy. Fate of the galaxy, in your hands, it is. Scared, we were."
His admission was a bit surprising, though considering how long he had to self-reflect on the end of the Jedi order and the Republic, I suppose I shouldn't have been. I considered saying that it took a special kind of bastard to send a son to unknowingly kill his father, but this was Luke's ballgame, I wasn't about to interfere unless something truly horrendous was happening. After a long moment, Luke let out another long breath, this one seeming to calm himself.
"I'm not happy about this. It's going to take some time for you to regain my trust," He admitted, shaking his head. "But Deacon's explanation of how the Clone Wars ended… I could never understand the pain you've felt. I'm willing to give you a chance."
Yoda bowed his head slightly, accepting the allowance for what it was, an opportunity to make up for past sins. After a moment of silence, Yoda spoke again, asking about what sort of training Luke had undergone. Luke explained that I was the one to help him truly connect to the Force, at least on command. He explained some of the swordplay I taught him, the kinetic meditation, and then what Ahsoka had taught him, the basic saber stances and lessons on deflecting lasers. Ahsoka's lessons had all been practical and small, my girlfriend teaching Luke what he needed to know and not going much past that.
"And I'm currently learning from a Holocron, since I can bring it with me while I work with the Rebellion," Luke explained.
"Holocron? How have you found one of those?" Yoda asked, his voice colored with surprise. "Lost at the temple, they were."
"There was a Hutt by the name of Grakkus," I responded. "He collected Jedi artifacts and… other things, including a dozen or so Holocrons. As a favor to Ahsoka, one of my teams infiltrated his palace and stole quite a few of his artifacts back, though not as much as I would have liked."
"The Jedi order knew of Grakkus," Yoda admitted, a frown marring his features. "His collection, disturbing it was, frequently challenged our archaeologists, he did."
"Pretty sure it only got worse once the Order was destroyed," I assured him with a wince. "He was convinced I was a Jedi as well. His grand plan was to put Ahsoka and I in stasis to complete his collection."
Yoda seemed to struggle to understand that, which was fair because I could hardly believe it when Grakkus first told us, either. When he recovered, he seemed a bit less sure of himself.
"Don't forget, the raid on Grakkus happened after you went looking for Professor Huyang," Miru pointed out. "Should probably tell him that as well."
"Why search for Professor Huyang?" Yoda asked, looking between all three of us. "A friend, he was. A good mentor, understood lightsabers and younglings, he did. Search for him, why did you?"
"Deacon asked if I wanted to build my own lightsaber instead of just using one of my fathers," Luke explained. "And between myself, Felia, and Ezra, we all needed Kyber Crystals. Luckily, Deacon knew where we could get some."
"It's a secret I happily passed," I assured him with a nod, mentally laughing to myself as I could see the old hermit starting to get overwhelmed. He'd barely talked to anyone in the last twenty years, and now we were overloading him. "Ahsoka knows the location, as do a few others."
"So anyway, since we were building our lightsabers, Ahsoka wanted to take a crack at finding Professor Huyang since not only is he an amazing teacher, but he also witnessed a huge swath of Jedi history," Luke explained. "Having him around would connect us back to the old order, maybe help us avoid some of the problems they stumbled into."
"A droid among the universe, yet find him you did," Yoda stated. "How?"
"My magic allows me to locate objects, locations, people, or items I'm familiar with. A description and an image are all I need these days," I explained. "Ahsoka had an inkling of where he was already because of a story he used to tell, the Jedi and the Princess?"
"Familiar, I am."
"Good. Well, it's real, and we were able to locate the planet they take refuge in," I explained. "On the surface was a remarkably intact ruin of a large Jedi temple or settlement. There, we found Huyang and the surviving members of the Crucible. They fought off their clone escort and escaped to the planet. Knight Amescoll and his wards survived. We found him, eight Padawans, and five partially trained younglings."
For a moment, Yoda stood there in silence, his eyes closing. Luke opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, I waved him down. Together, we watched as tears began to roll down Yoda's face. After a minute of politely waiting for him to recover, he opened his eyes, a small smile on his face.
"Doing well, are they?"
"About as well as you could hope," I answered with a gentle smile. "They had some problems with a species of large ocean dwellers, who managed to wreck the Crucible pretty bad and force them to stay in a cliffside hangar, but they adapted. They are still on the planet, just in a different location. The Skyforged is settling a city of sorts on the surface, for the families of our people and any other Jedi being hunted. The world, which we call Nirn, isn't on any map as far as we can tell, so it makes the perfect place to hide our loved ones and children."
"The planet, what is it like?" Yoda asked curiously.
"It's honestly beautiful," Luke added with a smile. "So green, with oceans and plant life. And it's alive in the Force, similar to how this planet is, only... so much different, so much brighter."
"And the city we are building, called Vercopa'Yaim-"
"Mando'a, that is," Yoda said, cutting me off. "Why?"
"We encountered a group of Mandalorians during our raid on Grakkus," I explained. "I invited them to join us, the Skyforged, and start over, moving on from their past to start something new. To honor them and solidify Amescoll's intent to accept them, they decided to name the city in Mando'a. It means a dream of home."
Yoda seemed to struggle with the idea that Mandolorians would live alongside Jedi, but he nodded after a moment, which I took as looking for me to continue.
"Yaim is being built on a massive plateau surrounded by a large, deep jungle," I described with a smile. "It's protected by its height, and it's even got a natural spring on the second platform, filling two larger ponds with crisp, cold, fresh water. You should see it. Knight Amescoll would love to have you."
"Unfortunately, I cannot," Yoda said, shaking his head. "Leave this planet, I cannot. Find me, Darth Sidious would."
"I actually have some questions about that," I admitted, leaning forward. "None of the Jedi or Force sensitives we know have had to take cover in a deep dark pool of Dark side energy. I know you are powerful, but is there some sort of reason? Luke has more potential power than you, correct?"
"He does," Yoda agreed with a nod. "Much like his father, he is, before his fall. The Dark side well, hides not my strength. Pulling on the force, constantly I am. Rarely live past eight hundred, my species does. Ever to exist, oldest I am. Dying, I am. Only thing keeping me alive, the Force is."
That revelation stunned all of us, including myself. As far as I knew, I had never heard of that theory. I knew he was going to die soon, but that he was already dying, and that the Force was keeping him alive...
"Staving off death, that's a pretty powerful aspect of the Force," I pointed out solemnly, Yoda nodding in agreement. "Without the Dark side well, you would look like a beacon to those who could sense it."
"To leave this planet, let go of the Force, I would have to," Yoda explained. "Kill me, that would. Alive, I must remain. So leave, I cannot."
Comments
Monkeywrench
Vader would be a challenge to beat, but with Deacons area magic available to him, I think that he would be running back to palpy crying
Monkeywrench
I was expecting Deacon to ask permission of Yoda to give him a magical heal. That way Yoda would be able to feel how it felt.
Ray
nah plot armor would protect has to be anakin
SwiftFate
Soo..trap for old palpy using Yoda as bait?
Cole Deucalion
Yeah that was a nice touch. Guy messed up, but he really did care.
Sammy the Shark
Those tears man. As much yoda does wrong, his care for the Younglings is definitely not something he’s ever done wrong
Sammy the Shark
Luek SkyRunner, the true hero of the series
Drumic
A wild 'Luek' has appeared
Freya
Tyftc
Noob
Tftc
Duke of Coffee
Welp wonder if Yoda will die in that planet like in canon. I do winder if Yoda holocron can be made for him.
James Thomas
Yeah, biologically speaking, age is less a disease and more of a condition. Deterioration. The human body is relatively robust with built in defenses and corrective systems, as it were (junk DNA absorbs a lot of mutations and there are mechanisms that repair incorrect DNA transcription to a point as an example). That said, stuff gets through or overwhelms the systems which just make it slightly easier to happen again as things run down. Yoda is deep into his twilight years, and two decades of drawing on the Force while drowning in a Dark Side Nexus has likely made things worse. Fuel is good enough to run the engine, but the muck and residue fouls it up.
Urbane_Bomber
Great chapter. I felt the reaction of Yoda crying those tears of relief of hearing that more jedi were alive and well. Great job of having that hope break through his exterior.
andrew rousseau
Maybe, thought it was supposed to be some kind of sickness that was slowly killing him, might be wrong tho, right jus checked his old age had weakened him and illness finished him off
Dawn Whitbeck
I don't think that would do it, my understanding is that it's just old age killing him
Fortunis
Interesting. I wonder if an enchanted item or three could help Yoda? It'd be funny as fuck if he used healing on him and it some how accidentally reversed his age because of his unusual race 😆 🤣. Ngl it'd be fucking amazing if Yoda of all people joined the community on Nirn as both a force teacher and a community leader. Problem is im not sure how much Jedi baggage he'd bring along. Aside from the obvious that is.
andrew rousseau
Let him have some peace and rest as a teacher for younglings and padawans
andrew rousseau
Kinda wanna see Deac use Cure Disease or one of the other spells to heal yoda
