Ahsoka Tano; Mightiest Force Wielder (Book 1: The Rise)

Three Months Alone on Coruscant

Mike was in hospital and Ahsoka was gone, she just left. He could not say much, when she talked to him, because it all hurt, his whole body was in pain. She left and nothing he could do about it. He did not understand the craziness, which had run her. He did not even understand, how she mustered the strength to do it? Leaving Ahsoka would have been impossible for him, or rather it would have broken his heart, but it did not matter that she was the one who left, his heart was broken anyways. Maybe Jedi and as such the Padawans, being denied any attachments, had little issues as such. She left him the healing crystal, that's all that remained from her. Ah ja, and the light sabers and he still had the drones, not being sure at that point, what he should do with them? At least the healing process went well, the doctor was satisfied. After a week, he was released. Mike did not feel so well yet, but the doctor reassured him that he was ready to explore the world again. He could not obliterate the feeling, that a new pile of credit chips would have changed the doctor's opinion about his state of health in an instant. Outside of the doctor's premises, he realized, that he was completely stranded. He had no credits, no flat, no job, no food, no scooter, no woman. No woman actually was an understatement, no Ahsoka would have been more accurate, a woman was replaceable, but there was only one Ahsoka. Aimlessly, he trudged along surrendering to the lover's grief until he could not suppress the growling in his stomach anymore and the body relentlessly demanded to get nourished. First he thought about going to his former boss asking for a job. However he felt a strong opposition to that plan, but he had no better idea. He could maybe turn the light sabers into money, but those were inquisitor's light sabers, it was dangerous, he could get jailed or even killed. For now, though he did not even have credits for public transport or a small bite. Maybe a sandwich or just an apple? A quick thought hit him: he could go deeper into the underworld and hunt rats with the light sabers. As quickly as it came, he discarded the idea, classifying it as a last resort – he had not sank that low yet. Or maybe he had to steal food? With his aching body, he was not very good at running away, so that was not a good plan either. Soon Mike ended up standing at a corner opening his hand, begging. Many passed by him, but when they saw him, they just sped up, no handout. After midnight, he was so bloody hungry and thirsty, that he walked further down into the underworld eventually making his way into a dark sewer. He did not see anything and he turned a light saber on. The humming sound of it and the lit blade in the darkness, were intimidating but fascinating at the same time. He swirled the saber around a bit, got a bit more courageous until it slipped from his hand, spun in flight and almost streaked him. Ahsoka was right, he had to be careful with them, he was neither force wielder nor sword fighter. While he was fishing in the mud for the light saber an idea ran through his head, he could just crutch down, aim away from him and turn the saber on when he heard something pass by. He did so and maybe 20 – 30 times something rushed by until he eventually hit whatever it was. He clearly heard it when the beam burnt it, then a scream, then silence. After some illumination of the surroundings with the saber he found a rat the size of a cat deadly wounded. He cut its head off, ending its pain, and walked out of the sewer with his prey. He did not know, if he should be happy or disgusted about his trophy, not sure how to prepare it as well. A fire was needed, salt and herbs would go well with it, but he did not wanted to ask for too much. Without a knife though he would not be able to remove the fur and intestines. The light saber as a replacement for a knife would just turn it all into charcoal. Pushing back in direction to the garage of his boss, he passed by two run down characters, possibly indigenous to the underworld, in front of a fire pit. When they saw him, they greedily gazed at the rat. Scanning the two and their surroundings he addressed them: "I trade the kill for the big water bottle and the loaf of bread." Quickly the exchange was made and Mike considered becoming a vegetarian. The water bottle was used and the water had not the best taste, the bread was two days old and hard and Mike knew why the two closed the deal so quickly. Still he did not regret the trade. Eventually he settled in a dark corner not far away from the garage, devouring the meager meal. Some hours ago, he decently consumed his breakfast with cutlery and porcelain in a bed and now guzzled like a beast in a dark hideout and he wondered, how long it would take until he had completely forgotten that he was human. He could not let it get that far. In the morning, still with no better plan, he was walking along the walkway to the garage, when he saw himself in jail. The feeling not to go to the garage was getting stronger and stronger as he approached. He was only about 50m away, then he stopped and turned around, submitting to his strong opposing feeling. Looking the other way now, he saw a sign saying "homeless and hungry" with some directions to the place. He had seen the sign before, but never really paid attention to it and as he did not have anything better to do, he walked there. A fresh bread and hot tea would be nice now and he was sure, it would be served on a plate with cutlery. It would all be plastic, but so what? Arriving in that place there was chaos. About a 100 people, all run down characters, seditiously squawking. Joining the din from the back, he soon realized that the women running the place had an issue because their main cooking stove, had quit its service, it did not work anymore. Fixing things was Mike's best skill, thus he squeezed himself to the front, getting into a number of unbeneficial insults and arguments on his way. Arriving at the front desk he needed to get the attention of one of the women. They were reluctant to listen just to another unsettled mind and he had to grab one by her arm, then quickly telling her that he is a mechanic and he would try to repair the stove, if they wanted. Off course, they wanted! Hell they wanted! They only had very basic tools, but Mike managed to do some ghetto repair, which enabled them to cook and save the day. After that repair job he had to wait for 2 long hours to get his meal. During those 2 hours, he often was at a point where he considered to leave, but a feeling inside of him requested patience. When the black hole in his stomach started to consume his intestines, he finally received his plate. Plastic off course, plastic which had seen its better times long ago and would still see worse. He did not care about the plastic, it actually was a big improvement in comparison to last night, he cared about what was on it and that was better than expected. Mike was amongst the last ones receiving his food and then soon thereafter the place was deserted, leaving him being the only guest. Once the women had finished cleaning the kitchen area, one came over to him: "Honey, what happened to you?" With his bandages she probably had compassion with him.