Ahsoka, Daughter of the Light (Book 3): Survivor

Chapter 15: Training With the Younglings

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka had rounded up a group of six Younglings for her first training session. She decided it was best if she tried perhaps one of the most famous Jedi tests, the one where you have to block lasers from a spherical droid while your eyes are covered. She had brought a crate filled with the droid and helmets. The helmets had blast shields that could be put down, blocking the viewer's vision.

Of the six younglings, she knew three of them. They were Katooni, Zatt, and Pedro, all three of which she had once taken to Ilum on a pilgrimage.

Ahsoka was nervous. She was always the one that was teached, not the teacher. But she was ready, either way.

"Now," she said, "we're going to test your skills with a lightsaber. Your opponent will likely be wielding a blaster, unless you encounter a Sith Lord."

She opened the crate, and pulled out the helmets. 

"Here," she said, "Take these."

She handed out helmets to each of the younglings.

"Put the blast shields down," she said.

"But I won't be able to see anything," Katooni said.

"Please," said Pedro, "this one's a classic. It's easy!"

"Don't be so overconfident," Ahsoka said. "Your ignorance can blind you."

"Or the blast shield," one of the younglings mumbled, who was a Sullustian male.

The younglings put on their helmets, and put down the blast shields.

"Sometimes your eyes can deceive you," Ahsoka said. "It's important not to trust everything you see. You just have to stretch out with your feelings, and feel what's around you."

The younglings put down the blast shields.

Ahsoka reached into the crate, and pulled out six droids. She turned them on, and they started to hover.

Pssht, pssht, pssht, pssht

The droids made quite a lot of noise as they moved into position. The Younglings ignited their lightsabers. The droid nearest to the Sullustian fired first. He tried to move his saber into position and block it, but he was a bit too slow. The shot hit the Sullustian. The droid shot again, but this time, he managed to block the blow.

Zatt deflected all of the blasts without error, and so did another one of the younglings, who was a yellow Twi'lek female.

Another one of the younglings, a Transdoshan male, failed to block three consecutive blasts.

"Todaasha," Ahsoka said, using the Transdoshan's name to address him. "You need to let go of your physical surroundings."

"How do I do that," complained Todaasha.

"Trust in your feelings," Ahsoka said, "close your eyes, take a deep breath, and focus."

Todaasha followed the instructions, and when the droid fired two consecutive times at him, he hit them both flawlessly.

Ahsoka then turned her gaze to Katooni and Pedro. Pedro seemed to have it down, somewhat. He was doing quite well, but every now and then, a shot got through to him.

"Let go of your overconfidence, Pedro," Ahsoka instructed. "You have too be calm."

"Well," he replied, "I can try."

Katooni was doing about as well as Pedro, except she let a shot past more often than he did.

"And Katooni," Ahsoka said, "Let go of your self-doubt. Don't let it weigh you down."

"I don't know," Katooni replied, "maybe I'm just not good enough..."

"No," Ahsoka said, "do not doubt yourself, and do not seek more power. You have everything you need within you. Be calm, and reach out with your feelings. Take a deep breath. Focus. You can do this, Katooni."

She gave Ahsoka a little nof anf followed her instructions, and when the droid fired out a volley of four shots, she blocked them all with ease. One of the blaster bolts was deflected towards the Twi'lek youngling, but she deflected it too.

"Hey," said the Twi'lek, "I'm not a battle droid."

"Sorry," Katooni said.

"Hey," Ahsoka said, "you're doing good, Katooni."

They kept training for a few minutes afterwatds

By the time the training session was complete, all six of the younglings performed without error.