Age of Rebellion

The Climb

0.5 ABY~

SAGE WAS PRACTICALLY DONE with the training that Jekwe was putting her through. She knew it was needed, she was becoming more hardened by the day. BB-8 was helping keep her lighthearted personality at bay but the fact that she was just pushed off the cliff near her ship, at night, in the dark and into the salt water.

Jekwe had made a joke about pushing her before he actually pushed her so Sage knew it wasn't mean to kill her, but she thought it almost did. It took her a moment to swim back up to the top of the water, she had only swum once in her life and treading water wasn't her strong suit. 

She looked around—felt around—for the rocky cliff. Once her hands touched it she felt around, her hands getting small cuts from the sharp rock. The worst part wasn't how cold she was, though her body was freezing to the point of being number. The worst part was the sea salt that was seeping into her cuts and wounds from being beat by the Temple after the past couple of weeks.

It stung, bad, and Sage was beginning to thank her body for going numb from the cold. She grabbed onto the rock above the one she was holding onto and pulled her body weight up. Not only was Jekwe's training hardening her but it was physically building her as well. 

It wasn't until daytime that she finally made it to the top. She rolled over onto her back on the soft grass next to the ship. BB-8 rolled out down the ramp of the ship and stopped near her, making a few beep and whirs. 

"Yes, I'm fine, BB-8, thank you," Sage said as the sun started to dry her off the longer she laid in it.

Jekwe only visited her when she was bandaging herself up, which happened to be most of her arms. He stood on the ramp of her ship, "It's time to—"

"Yeah, go to the temple, I got it," Sage finished his sentence, standing up and grabbing the staff by the door, walking passed Jekwe.

Jekwe's eyebrows furrowed in, walking after her and up the steps to the temple. "We can do this tomorrow, your anger, it's out of control," Jekwe said from behind her.

Sage clenched her teeth, yeah, she was angry, he just shoved her off the cliff. She turned towards him and took a deep breath, "Anger is emotion, and I know emotion is not used in the Jedi order but that's not how I work!" Sage yelled, Jekwe was unfazed by it. "My mother was stronger than you'll ever be because she was able to use her emotion to keep her on the light side, not force her into the Dark Side." Sage stepped closer, "I am here to connect with the Force, not to abandon my humanity."

Jekwe suddenly looked taken back by her words but nodded nonetheless. They walked into the temple and Sage threw the staff back and forth between her hands, getting ready. She took a deep breath, calming herself and letting her anger flow through her. Eventually, the Force took over and she twisted her body, the crack of bamboo causing Sage to smile, she had finally blocked one.

Her body twisted again, the staff coming up and blocking another. This went on for an hour before Sage suddenly realized that the attacks were getting faster and faster. Eventually, Sage physically couldn't keep up and a staff eventually hit straight across her face—she could instantly feel the blood drip down her face— and then another one to her shin, then her shoulder and then her back, Sage was on the ground now.

"Again!" Jekwe shouted causing Sage to roll on her back and jump back on her feet, spinning her staff and then blocking the next attack.

The next week, Sage did the same thing but without a staff, which made it much harder to do. She wasn't good on hand to hand combat. She sensed a fist coming towards her so she dodged it, letting it go past her head and grabbed it's wrist, bending over and pulling the body over, letting it crash to the ground.

Then she ducked underneath the first coming straight towards her head and let out her fist towards the man's stomach as hard as possible. It ended up hurting her more than it her the man. A punch was thrown towards her face, knocking her towards the ground.

Everything stopped as Sage began to get up again, "You need to use the Force if you aren't stronger than your opponent." Jekwe moved around her and then backed up, the other figures coming towards her.

Sage took a deep breath, waiting to sense the next attack coming towards her. A fist flew towards her and she grabbed the wrist, turning her back towards the man before delivering an elbow to his face. She heard a bone break, most likely his nose. 

She then grabbed the back of the neck of the other man, dragging his head and bringing her knee up towards it before letting her fist go back and then towards the man's chest, using the Force to shove his body away from her, she heard him crash into the wall behind him and then to the floor.

She went on to take out the other guys as well. She only stopped when she heard them all rolling around on the ground groaning. That's when the black of the room started fading out, torches around the room being lit up. Sage was thankful to see the stone walls of the room for the first time. Jekwe was standing to the wall opposite of the entrance to the room. The men on the ground had started to get up, they were wearing ancient robes like Jekwe but looked about fifteen years younger.

In the corners of the room, Sage could see four pedestals, each one with a large kyber crystal on it. Sage smiled at that, it reminded her of the Order. It reminded her of her parents, Obi-wan and Jade Kenobi.