Your Eye's Can Decieve You. (Jacen)

[Rognan Dar]

It was yet another day to give the hungry and eager young man another lesson. Jacen was quite the Jedi in the making. He was a bright student and was not afriad, at times, to ask questions. It was a great joy to see him do so well in his training. Though, he might think that he is not all that good, and in some areas more then others, it was quite the reverse. He was doing fine, and would only get better if he put his heart into it.

Waiting in one of the many training rooms Rognan was at a locker fiddiling with some stuff. He then took out a few things and and closed the door, just to go to a table and continue to look busy; waiting for his young padawan to show up for his next lesson.

[Jacen]

Jacen smiled as he almost skipped into the training room. His hair was in its usual ponytail and his robes for today were jet black and loose fitting. He walked over to Rognan and bowed. "Good day Master."

He looked over to the locker and the things Rog had in his hand. "What's those things?"

[Rognan Dar]

"Good morning to you, too. These things, are what you will be training with today. A kind of...partner."

Rognan held up one of the balls he had. It was a small sphere, easily fitting into the palm of a hand. Along its surface there was a bunch of small doors that were closed. These doors covered the entire surface of the sphere, evenly spaced amoungst themselves.

"Do you have any idea what this is?"

[Jacen]

Jacen looked at it curiously before shaking his head. "No master."

[Rognan Dar]

"Well," Rognan said handing the metalic orb to Jacen. "This is a lightsaber training droid. Its purpose is to flout around the room and shoot out small, unlethal, lasers. Your job is to use your lightsaber to block them."

Rognan then took the droid back and turned it on. It at once lifted off of his hand and moved a small distance away and stopped.

"Here, you'll need this." A lightsaber flew through the air as it was released from Rog's hand.

"I made some...small modifications to that droid. After a while its movements will increase greatly, moving all over the room, and it will start to shoot faster. But thats after you are getting use to it. So, want to try it out?"

[Jacen]

Jacen caught the lightsaber hilt and looked from it to the small droid and smiled. "I'd love it!"

[Rognan Dar]

"Very well. Go ahead and turn on the saber."

The saber that was in Jacen's hand was really Rognans'. Since Jacen did not yet have his own, he was glad to let him borrow it. Plus it was not like there was always a lightsaber just laying around for anyone to pick up.

"It has a scanner in it that, if you are not defending yourself, it will not attack. If you saber is off, it goes into a stand-by mode. So it really works with you and not you having to work with it."

[Jacen]

Jacen looked at the lightsaber in his hand and looked at the small droid. He smiled and nodded as he understood what Rognan was saying. He pushed the activation switch and the lightsaber activated with a familiar snap-hiss.

Instantly the droid lifted into the air and started flitting around him. The young Padawan kept an eye on it, and probably tried to hard as the first bolt it shot hit his arm.

"Ouch!" Jacen explained. He dropped the lightsaber and it deactivated. The droid stopped moving and stayed in one place. He rubbed his arm with his other hand while he held out his hand and used the Force to call the lightsaber to him. He activated it again and stretched out to the Force. He felt the droid through the energy field. He knew moments before the droid was going to shoot and brought his lightsaber up infront of him and smiled as the blast deflected on the lightsaber.

[Rognan Dar]

The first shot is always the hardest. It was not a surprise that it hit Jacen. But he picked himself back up and tried again. This time, he was ready for the shots and started off quite well, after the first mistake.

"Not bad, my young apprentice. You have a quick eye and a sharp mind. But dont be getting to proud of yourself. This is only the beginning."

The whole point of this practice was to test how well Jacen reacted to things; his reflexes. And it looked like he was quick on the draw and was using the Force to help his awareness of what was to happen to help him block each shot. After a while of it moving around - back and forth, up and down - it started to move a little quicker, yet stopped just before it shot. And now it went in all sorts of directions as it spun around to aim one of the many lasers at Jacen.

[Jacen]

The weapon in Jacen's hands turned to a blur as he spun it around to try and catch the droid's shots. He had been doing good at the start, but the faster the droid went, the sloppier he got. Sure he could deflect them with ease as long as the droid remained in front of him. It was when the droid went behind him that that he was having problems. His turns were slow and he only deflected maybe two out of every three. His legs and arms were starting to become numb, but it wasn't until one of the shots from behind hit him in the back that he lurched forward and he dropped the lightsaber again.

"Oww!" He exclaimed as he started rubbing his backside.

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan stepped forward and streched his hand out for Jacen to grab. Once he did, he pulled him back up to his feet.

"Well, not as easy as first thought, huh? And that is because you are limiting yourself. Remember when we were in the Garden and I had you searching for Yarden? You had to find her out through the Force mostly because you were not able to see a thing in the dark. The same idea needs to be used here. Your eye's arer a great asset to you, and get help you in this kind of thing. But if you have to follow it everytime then you could be going in a circle just to find out in the end that it went back to were it was just before. If you lose site then use the Force to detect where it is, and then act accordingly."

Rognan placed the lightsaber back in Jacen's hand.

"Now, lets try again."

[Jacen]

Jacen took the weapon back in his hand and stood there for a moment to collect his thoughts. He pushed the button to activate the weapon and watched as the droid moved around. It went the same way for a long time until the machine started going around. At first he tried following it with his eyes, but after being hit a few times, he opened up to the Force and felt it behind him.

He moved the lightsaber a few microseconds before the droid shot and he caught the bolt and hit it back. It was sloppy, but nothing practice would help.

[Rognan Dar]

"Good, good. Now your getting it. Stretch out your senses. Draw upon the Force. Let it guide your saber."

The droid kept going on and on. Never ceasing, never tiring. Jacen wouldn't be able to do this forever. And the droid was only going to get harder as it went on. Even now it was starting to go into its next phase. This time, its movements hardly ever stopped, except to change directions. Also, it was shooting as it moved, instead of stopping right before shooting. This was going to stretch Jacen. And cause him to be hurt for a few days afterwards.

[Jacen]

Jacen twisted to his left and blocked a bolt as another was fired behind him and he moved to the right to dodge. He swung around on the balls of his heels. He swung the lightsaber like a pole or bat at one shot and allowed the momentum to carry him and he deflected another before a shot from his left hit his shoudler and made him jerk. Then another from his right hit his leg and he dropped to one knee. He barely got his weapon in front of him to block a shot aimed right at his face. He jumped up, his right leg numb and started to hobble around to block more fo teh shots. They were starting to come so fast that a few he could swear were fired at the same time.

Finally a bolt hit his saber hand again and he dropped the weapon. Immeadiately the droid stopped and just hovered in the air. Jacen was breathing hard as he dropped to his knees and wiped a layer of sweat from his forehead.

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan could not help himself but smile. As the droid built up speed, and as Jacen worked hard to keep up, there was a long moment of tension to see who could out last who. Even with Jacen being shot down and tired, it was a huge victory.

"Good going, sprout. Here, take these."

In Rognan's hands were a bottle of water and a towel to wipe his face. Sitting down infront of him he streched his hands out for him to take whenever he wanted.

"I hope that this is not to much for you. You only have to go on as long as you want. But I must say, I was impressed at how you kept trying, kept fighting, kept going on. Even through your pain you were able to go on. This is nothing about how well you did, which was also good because you still were able to deflect some of the shots."

[Jacen]

Jacen smiled weakly as he took the towel first and wiped his face. he then took the water and took a swig from the bottle. He put them both down beside him and just tried concentrating on his breathing. "Thanks...but I still think I could have done better..."

He brought the water back up and took a second swig. For some reason water just tasted so much better when he was tired and shot.

[Rognan Dar]

"We could all do better. And that is good that you think you are able to do better. Thats what allows you to grow and become stronger. In time you will get better.

But tell me: what is it that you think you could have done better? If you think that you were able to, what made it so that you couldn't right now?"

[Jacen]

Jacen started and then stopped. "I...I don't know."

[Rognan Dar]

"No? Then how do you know you could have done better? Without some kind of idea in mind, then there is no way to do better. And if there is no idea, then such a statement could not be true. I know you can do better. I know because you are yet still young in the Force. But like all young, they grow. It just takes a great deal of time."

[Jacen]

Jacen nodded in resolve. "I guess you're right. Nothing but practice could make me better..."

[Rognan Dar]

"Practice will help. But it is not all that matters. It is you that is going to make you stronger, faster, braver, smarter, powerful. Practice may be the means to become these, but with it alone is nothing.

"Now," Rognan said standing up once again and headed to the small table to which Jacen saw him at when he entered. "I want you to try something different. This is going to stretch you more then you might think." He picked up something from the table and turned around to show Jacen. It was mearly a black piece of cloth, folded up nicely. Confusion was no surprise to Rognan. Once again returning to Jacen, he stood the boy up and then rapped it around his head, securing it tightly in the back.

"I want you to try it again, Jacen. This time...without your eye's."

[Jacen]

Jacen stood up and looked around. Of course he couldn't see anything, but he was going to try. He took a few steps back to make sure he was out of Rognan's way. He thumbed the activation button and the blue blade blazed to life. He turned to his left as he stretched out with the Force. He could feel the droid clearly.

It took a shot and he turned to quickly deflect it. It was closed than before at the beginning and he knew that this wouldn't be as easy as he thought at first.

The young Padawan moved and twisted to his left to narrowly avoid a shot from the left. He was only on the second level before he started getting hit. And before he had done this with ease till much higher.

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan watched carefully, seeing how Jacen moved and reacted. It was hard to lose such a great gift as is the gift of site. But the Force could be used as another set of eye's, though not as clear.

"Dont think about what you have to do, Jacen. Let the Force be one with you, having it tell you where the next shot will come from. It will not be easy to know, but use your feelings to stretch out from you, so that you know where everything is like a sonar, bouncing off other objects to give you a vision of what is around you."

[Jacen]

Jacen listened to Rognan with a half ear as he dodged a bolt. He was getting better, but still it would be a long time before he was anywhere near as good as he wanted to be, but he would get better.

He brought the blue blade around and knocked it back at the droid just in time for a bolt to hit his left side. He grunted, but refused to bring his thumb off the activation pad just yet. He brought it up behind him as he felt the droid fire from there. He reached up and deflected the bolt as a second he hadn't felt hit him on the top of his head. This time he did drop the saber and his hands went straight for his head.

"Eoww!!!"

[Rognan Dar]

The lightsaber fell, but it didn't hit the ground. It flouted for a second before coming to Rog's hand.

"That went as well as to be expected. Sorry about your head. It was not told to do that. But it was open for attack, and it was a good spot to attack."

Rognan took the cloth from Jacen's eye's, so that he was not left completely in the dark.

"A droid can be hard to predict. Its brain is not a living one, nor does it think like most sentients. How would you like to try your skills with another living being? This time all you have to do is dodge. But...you will still be blind."

[Jacen]

Jacen rubbed his head and looked at Rog. "Yea...but who would be the living being?"

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan smiled big at the question.

"Well, me, of course. And just for safety..." He looked once again to the table and flouted something to him. "...we wont use a lightsaber. We'll just use a simple stick. How does that sound?"

[Jacen]

"Umm..."

Jacen was unsure about getting hit with a stick, but nodded. "I guess so."

[Rognan Dar]

"Oh, dont worry. I wont swing that hard. Plus it will keep you on your toes to make sure that you dont get hit. And once you get into the flow I'll take it a little further. That alright?"

Rognan finished and tossed the blindfold to Jacen to tie around his own head when he was ready.

[Jacen]

Jacen stood up slowly and put the blindfold back on. Before he was even finished that he reached out with the FOrce and could see Rognan like a blazing light. He took a deep breath before finally standing still.

"Ok...I'm ready."

[Rognan Dar]

"Then away we go."

Rognan stepped forward, holding the stick, which could be called more like a wooden lightsaber, infront of him. He gave Jacen a moment to get a sense of his position before he swung the stick, slowly, at Jacen's left hip.

[Jacen]

Jacen felt his body tingle as the stick came forward at his hip and took an experimental step back and sighed in relief as he felt the stick pass just within centimeters of his thigh.

[Rognan Dar]

"Very good. But you could have just been lucky."

Though he didn't say it, he was going to go harder right away. He boy showed promise so why not see how far he could go.

Taking two steps forward to recover the distance, Rognan then slashed diagonally down-right and spun at the end to come around with another attack, lower this time, coming across the knees.

[Jacen]

Jacen felt the first attack coming and easily side stepped, but didn't feel the next attack until he felt it on his knees. He hopped back on his leg. "Ouch! Ouchouchouch!"

He hopped a few more times before getting under control and limping back to where he thought he had been earlier, trying to show no signs of weakness.

[Rognan Dar]

"Come now. It wasn't all that hard. I could have taken you out while you were doing your dance. You need to stay focused now. If you let your opponent have one chance to get you, he'll take it, and it will be the end of you. Get ready now. Feel the moment..."

Rognan then stepped forward again and brought the stick strait down.

[Jacen]

Jacen tried to calm himself and reached out with the Force. He felt the stick as it came down upon him. He waited and at the last moment, stepped to the side and his hand shot out and closed around the wooden lightsaber. He smiled . "I did it!"

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan was suprised at Jacen's menuver. Not only was he able to dodge the attack with relitive ease, but he then went one step further and basicly countered his attack.

"Yes....yes, you did it. Very impresive, I must say. You are truly able to decifer what the Force tells to you and use it in effective means. I think we will end our lesson for today. You got this down it seems."

[Jacen]

Jacen smiled as he took off the blindfold and beamed as Rognan complimented him. He did look sad when he said the lesson was ending, but he supposed that his Master did know best. The young Padawan bowed deeply. "If we must, but...when will my next lesson be?"

[Rognan Dar]

"Your eagerness is a good thing. But dont let it consume you. When the time is right we will have another lesson. You did well today, and I'm proud of you. Now, go hit the showers and take a rest. I'll be seeing you around for sure."

[Jacen]

"Yes Master," he said as he bowed once more before turning and heading back to his room for a nice hot shower and a quick nap.