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[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Today, as Ben entered, the Sensoriums shifted into the bowl-shaped chamber of the Coruscant Temple's sparring arena. The vault was scattered with balance beams, swings of all makes, repulsor-levitated balls. On Coruscant, the arena's control chamber could simulate most environmental hazards in the galaxy, from shifting gravity to extreme temperatures. Here, Ben was fairly certain the ship could handle it.

"Start at class two," he called. "Gradual increase to class four."

And now for his opponent...

A door opened at the opposite end of the arena, and out stepped a YVH droid, its heavy footsteps ringing across the room. Built at the height of the Yuuzhan Vong war to take on Yuuzhan Vong warriors in hand-to-hand combat. Their glowing red photoreceptors and grey-black laminanium armor were supposed to be reminiscent of the Vong in full voduun crab armor, but to Ben, who had grown up with a modified YVH droid babysitting him across the galaxy, they looked more like gaunt humanoids.

Well, gaunt humanoids with serious firepower.

"Begin."

The room and the droid moved at the same time; the repulsor-lifted wobble balls began swirling around the chamber in random patterns, while Ben's opponent opened fire with its right arm's blaster cannon. He ignited his lightsaber and intercepted the bolts -- but found himself staggering backward. Stang. He'd forgotten how much energy it required to take a YVH droid's assault head on. He shifted his blade to catch the bolts at an angle, sending blasterfire spraying into the room's various obstacles. The droid's assault was still pushing him backwards; continuing to fight defensively would have him backed up against a wall in minutes.

Ben grabbed one of the wobble balls with the Force, sending it at his opponent's extended arm, altering the trajectory of its blasterfire for the few seconds he needed to start an attack.

Comments

[blood-on-torfan.livejournal.com]

Boom! The shot was loud enough to make anyone in the arena's ears to ring, the dozens of explosive pellets throwing the droid back several meters in a fiery heap.

It took a moment for scene to sink in before Shepard even realized it was her that fired her gun. Steam and smoke still coiled up from her shotgun, her eyes still focused on the synthetic while making quick glances at the boy. She would have to thank Wrex for convincing her to put High explosive rounds in her shotgun, though the recoil alone made its use only good while in her suit. Her face was a soft scowl as she sidestepped her way over to the boy.

"What the hell were you even thinking, kid!? Who even left you in here!?" She snapped. Really, it was only a miracle that the commander decided to take some time to exercise, otherwise this mere child would be stuck with more areas to breathe from.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Ben felt the flash of new emotions in the Force, but didn't take his eyes off the droid to deal with the arrival. He leapt forward, but only two steps later --

He dropped to the floor instinctively, letting the shock of the barrage of small explosions brush over him. That was not one of the level four hazards... but then again, neither was the brusque female voice that accompanied followed the din.

Ben ignored the words. The YVH droid's self-repairing laminanium could take a coral skipper head-on; small arms fire would slow it but not put it down. He sprang to his feet and dashed toward the droid, but that was when the sparring arena decided to add another environmental hazard. The simulated gravity doubled, and Ben's movements were heavier, slower. The droid had no such problems. It rose and started to lift its blaster cannon again, but in the extra gravity, Ben wasn't sure he could deflect oncoming bolts the same way he had before. He had to end this practice fast. He hurled his lightsaber at the YVH droid's stocky chest, aiming for one of the holes in the healing laminanium. It punctured the metal beneath the gray-black armor, but YVH droids were designed to take that sort of beating easily, and its dark hand reached to yank the offending weapon out of its circuits. Ben threw up a hand and twisted, pulling the lightsaber across the droid's chest in a sweeping circle. A second later, its photoreceptors dimmed, and the droid fell to its knees.

He flicked his wrist and the lightsaber disengaged, flying across the room and back to Ben's hand. "I left me in here."

[blood-on-torfan.livejournal.com]

She tried to grab the kid before the stupid brat could make his suicidal charge, but Shepard grunted in surprise when the gravity doubled. It didn't last long however; her combat-suit's computer quickly activated its exoskeleton and on-board gravity systems to compensate for the added gravity. It didn't necessarily eliminate the way, but eased up enough to make it feel less like a Krogan was hanging off her.

She didn't even comment at seeing the kid work, only quirking an eyebrow in slight disbelief. The commander had been around plenty of people with psychic abilities to have it all lose its mysticism on her. Hell, after hearing that a young teenage Kaiden could kick a Turian through a wall, it didn't bother her at all what this kid in front of her could be capable of.

Whatever her thoughts, a scowl quickly returned back into her face as she marched over to Ben. Her shotgun compacted and she quickly placed it on the magnetized holsters at the back of her hip before quickly drawing her pistol and putting two shots through the droid's eye. It maybe overkill but after the hundreds of synthetic life-forms Shepard has faced, experience told her knocking out the datacore was the only way to be sure.

"And in what sense of mind makes you think that fighting that-" She motioned at the down droid with her pistol. "-is a good idea?"

Shepard was smart enough to know that kids on this ship probably were capable fighters or else they wouldn't be here, but Christ, the kid couldn't be no older than 15, nearly half of Shepard's age. He wasn't even old enough to drink.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

The real question was And who are you to run in here and ruin the simulation?, but Ben bit down on that particular reply. "It's not like the ship has any spare Ohm to practice with," he said evenly. "And I know where this model's off-switch is."

[blood-on-torfan.livejournal.com]

Shepard's scowled still remained planted on her face. "No matter what Stacy thinks, kids shouldn't be part of any war. How old are you?"

She didn't care if it displeased the reaper-ship, There was no way a Shepard was going to allow any of the kids see the darker parts of war. War was something that brought out the worst in people and did a number of other things that children shouldn't need to handle yet.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke had been on the observation deck, meditating, when he'd felt the fluctuations in the Force. It hadn't been anything alarming, but he'd been curious enough that he'd gone looking for the source. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his feet and his senses had led him to the Sensoriums. Training was often conducted here, after all.

The scene that greeted him here was familiar to him; it wasn't the jungles of Yavin IV or the forested planet of Ossus, but the arena in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where Luke had made his home with his family for several years. He took a deep breath as memories echoed in his mind at the sight of this place--how else can I test what Jacen has been teaching him?--but stayed on the periphery of the arena, content to watch Ben rather than participate himself.

In two years, it looked as though Ben had progressed even more. He was, as Luke had told Kyle Katarn over food, becoming a fine young man. And a fine Jedi. Whatever Ben did within the Order or outside of it, Luke knew that he'd be more than ready to handle it. Oh, Mara, you'd be proud if you were here to see him now.

Luke made himself as small as possible in the Force without disappearing into it, remaining unobtrusive, but when a deflected blaster bolt came his way he had to touch on the Force to get out of the way fast enough. He didn't deflect it--just stepped fluidly to one side, and continued watching.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

It was only after Ben turned back to face the irritable woman with the explosives that Ben noticed there was another person in the chamber. He felt a quick twinge of embarrassment that he hadn’t noticed -- but, then again, he was dealing with the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. He couldn’t beat himself up too hard over this particular slip.

“You make a pretty lousy cheering section,” Ben said wryly, wiping perspiration from his forehead with the sleeve of his plantsuit. “How long were you there, anyway?”

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

"Not too long. And I didn't want to distract you, just watch." Luke stepped away from the wall a bit, smiling. "You've gotten better."

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Ben groaned. "It would be pretty humiliating to have gotten worse than the last time you saw me in here." He remembered clearly facing off against his father two years ago -- not that it had been much of a match. Still, with a few years distance from the first time he'd walked in here with his father, Ben found that he was most embarrassed by the fact that he'd gone right back to Jacen afterward...

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

Arha watched for awhile and nodded--he was good and used his environment well. A new strategy was needed, an offense, and she could see him calculating as he threw the Thinking Machine's fire off. This was good for training and she itched to join the fight. For the moment, she held her ground, tilted her chin slightly, and let her curiosity and intent be known through the Force--though not enough to distract him.

She would respect his training, though, and not enter the fray until he let her. He was Jed-Eye, after all, and if he had created this place, he was capable of defending himself. She would not assume otherwise--he was his father's son and he would have been trained well.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Ben didn't divert his attention from the droid to Arha until he had his lightsaber back in hand. Taking on a YVH droid's firepower was one thing, but taking on a YVH droid's firepower while trying to strike up a conversation was something completely different. "Having fun?" he asked lightly, turning away from the droid.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Not yet," she said, her smile flaring. "I was watching." Obviously. "You handle yourself well, as is to be expected. I would have expected nothing less. Shall I join you in this or should I simply watch...or leave, if you wish." Her fingers rested against her own lightsaber, though she kept her eyes on the Thinking Machine warily even as she peered at Ben.

It would attack once more, no doubt. That was its function, after all.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, I guess. But you don't need to worry about that guy," he noted, following her gaze. "Yuuzhan Vong Hunters are tough, but that one's down and out. I could call in some more, if you want."

[starlightace]

Nanoha had been on her way to the Sensoriums for her daily training, but had found it occupied. ...she recognized the boy, actually. They'd met during the last podpop - this was Luke's son, wasn't it? Ben, right?

At any rate, she wasn't going to interfere in the boy's training; if he thought he could handle it, she wasn't going to argue with that. So Nanoha simply shifted into her Barrier Jacket, hovering unobtrusively off to the side, watching how he moved.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't expecting a crowd," Ben said, after the YVH droid went down.

[starlightace]

"It just sort of happens," Nanoha said with a friendly smile. "You don't mind, right?"

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

"As long as no one ends up with a hole in the leg."

[craaazyisland]

Steve always felt bad spying on other people in the sensorium, but at least he had a (somewhat) vested interest in this guy. Luke's son, who he always spoke so kindly about.

As he watched Ben taking out the... robot thing, his mind was occupied with two thoughts. The first-- Man, this kid could kick my ass easily. The second-- I'm not seriously jealous of this kid because his dad's alive, am I? Christ, I just get stupider and stupider.

He did not expect to be noticed.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Jedi senses, Ben noted in a moment of narrative serendipity, were usually pretty useful for noticing people, even if they sometimes failed to pick up on Jedi Masters lurking in corners. As he clipped his lightsaber to his hip and the chamber upped the hazard levels with steady rainfall, he gave the boy his father had introduced him to a half wave.

[craaazyisland]

Oh. Whoops. Jedi thing. Damn.

Steve was leaning on the wall just inside the door. He lifted up his hand and gave a little half wave of his own. "Uh... hi. Ben, right?"

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

Glancing back at the rest of the people gathered in the chamber and trusting that most of them could avoid being hit by stray wobble balls even in the steady rain, Ben jogged over to the other boy. "Right." He flashed a quick smile. "Do you need the Sensoriums?"

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

Obi-Wan had gotten very good over the years at sitting in the background of things and not being noticed. It wasn't quite the same as Luke's habit of making himself nigh-nonexistent in the Force, but the effect was similar enough to call it that. He watched Ben's fighting style with interest, but made not even a cursory movement to intervene when things began to get desperate.

Of course, eventually, he would be noticed, and when it happened, Obi-Wan gave the boy a slight little nod, as if to say, 'go on, then.'

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

It took Ben a bit aback to see the Jedi Master watching when he finished with the YVH droid. "Bored yet?" he asked.

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

"Not at all," Obi-Wan replied mildly, brows lifted in a disarming way that somehow made him seem more doddering old man than the sharp-eyed Master Jedi he was, "I was just admiring your technique."

A subtle insult, that, the emphasis on 'technique.' He was only teasing, but then wasn't trash talk a Jedi art, trained every bit as much as dueling skills? A civilized warrior often wins battles with a clever word before ever igniting his blade.

[sithhavecooties.livejournal.com]

"Uh-huh," said Ben, rolling his eyes. "If you want me to say 'Like you could do better', I'm not falling for it."