Survivor: A Star Wars Story

Chapter XI

Eight months later...

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

It was a quiet day in the Jedi Temple. Speeders drifted about lazily outside under the gentle sun, making the air stuffy and thick. Coruscant seemed to be in a gentle daze, the usual city noise seemingly muffled as young Togruta joined her master in the halls of the Temple.

"Falling asleep there Snips?" Anakin Skywalker joked as she stifled a yawn.

Ahsoka smirked slightly. "I got no sleep on the cruiser back from Eriadu. Too wired from the fight."

Anakin knew what she meant. Eriadu had certainly been what you could describe as a chaotic battle, with plenty of explosions a hair too close for comfort, enemy shield generators cropping up at the worst moments and a battalion of tanks to take care of. They ran out of droid poppers within the thirteenth hour, and had their forces cut in half, only for Anakin to come up with the idea of capturing a tank, and using his childhood knowledge of technology to reprogram it and send it back on a remote self destruct. As soon as it had reached the Separatist's base, the whole thing had gone up in a ball of smoke. But a fight like that often left you so on edge that you couldn't fall asleep, even with the help of tablets.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To check up on Obi-Wan. I think Reina's giving his stamina a run for its money.  Eight months and she's learning how to cope with his style." Anakin replied, stopping outside the dojo doors. Already, they could hear shouts coming from inside it.

"Weren't they supposed to finish almost an hour ago?" Ahsoka grinned wryly.

Anakin smirked back. "Yup. But with the way that Reina's been at it recently, I can't say I'm surprised." he said as he pushed the doors open.

The dojo may have initially been planned as an additional Great Hall, with arching ceilings and intricate stonework running along the walls like many of the grand rooms of the Temple, but it had soon been changed to fit the needs of the times. Ten raised fighting rings lined the hall, set roughly three feet from the floor, all large with different types of flooring depending on the training. Some were highly sprung to resemble planets with less gravity whilst others were made of solid concrete to teach Jedi how to deal with hard surfaces to avoid impact injuries.

Weighted sandbags were set against the left wall for fitness as well as bins filled with strap on weights for muscle training. Crash mats were stacked to the side for Ataru learners mainly and simple gymnastic training. At the end of the hall was another set of doors that led to the simulation rooms. Coruscant's finest gyms for the famous and wealthy couldn't have held a credit to the sheer resources that were available here. Normally the dojo would be filled, but today, there were just two people fighting on a normally sprung mat, about halfway down the hall.

Reina Tautaski and Obi-Wan Kenobi were at it again.

When either of the two Jedi looked at Reina, it was hard to think of what a state she was in when they'd found her. After her shock reinstatement to the Order (which had taken everyone by surprise), she'd been told that she'd have to train rigorously to even have a shot at Padawanhood, something she seemed to have taken as a personal challenge.  Being put on a strict weight-gaining diet by the Temple's healers after they got the dismal examination results back, the girl and Obi-Wan had dived into a intense schedule of strength conditioning, studying and meditation.  The days were gruelling and long, and if Kenobi's stories were anything to go by, then there had been growing pains in the beginning.  But she turned up, despite her complaints and fought like hell every day.  It had paid off too.  Compared to the living skeleton she had once been, Reina had once again transformed.