Yavin 4 - Jedi Academy

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi chuckles as the cube comes to rest in his hand ceasing this absent-minded levitation of it.

"No, actually while it is a training device, it is a test in and of itself, a puzzle if you will. No Jedi has ever solved it, but I have a suspicion you may."

Come, if you are well rested, let us assess your training; I foresee no need to drag your potential inclusion into our ranks out with ceremony and debate. Have you been taught or studied any on what you might face as trials and tests in coming to us?"

The Jedi as he enters the room, waves his hand over the sensors that control the illumination in the room, and as the lights come up, a maze of sorts full of obstacles presents itself to them both.

[Tookie Binks]

As the two walk towards the training room, Tookie elaborates on his knowledge of the trials which is limited at best but he manages to get the gist of it all. "Mesa know of de five trials; de trial of skill, de trial of courage, de trial of spirit, de trial of flesh, and de trial of insighten. Day have all been usened for a longo time by de Jedi to be findins out if a being be ready to be a Jedi. Mesa no be knowin much more dan dat."

When the doors to the room open, Tookie is taken back by the sight of the maze of obsticles that sits before him, the Gungan gets a grin on his face when he figures out what is next. "Ooooh, fun times a comin next."

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi nods,
"Indeed, your are correct Tookie. Today you will begin your trials and take your first steps upon the path to knighthood. This will be both the trials of Skill and Insight." The Jedi tosses the cube to Tookie. "The trial of Skill will be you successfully competing this course with your body and mind intact. The trial of Insight will be to unlock the secrets of the puzzle and reveal and share its knowledge. Do you understand what is expected of you Tookie, and are your ready to start on this path?"

[Tookie Binks]

"Mesa understandins, mesa ready." Tookie says with the puzzle box in hand, the Gungan is quick to say he understands but something within him tells him there will be a lot more to this trial than simple skill and insight. Tookie wonders if Master Tosh would be proud to see him beginning the trials and tribulations before him now, his path to becoming a true Jedi opening up and becoming reality. Tookie takes the next few moments to open himself to the Force, he feels it begin to flow through him like a river, he concentrates and lets all other thoughts drain from his mind and focuses solely on the task at hand. He knows he will need the guidance of the Force if he is to complete this test, he vows to the memory of Master Tosh that he will pass, his future as a Jedi now rests upon this moment.

[Unknown Jedi]

The path to start off the course is quite clear, it is a simple obstacle course, some of the pitfalls and surprises to test the student are obvious, and some solutions to tasks require skill and accuracy in sense, precognition, lightsaber combat, TK, force leap, and speed. Others are sneakier, where there is little warning in floors giving way, trap armatures to knock a student off their feet, and other more diabolical challenges.

The Jedi waits silently, as Tookie prepares himself; he himself opens himself to the force to fully be able to assess this Gungan's strengths, weaknesses, and feelings as he proceeds.

You may begin when your ready.

[Tookie Binks]

Tookie looks at the path that starts off the course and immediately sees the initial obstacles before him; a ramp, a couple of pillars of varying height and remotes buzzing all around the room. Feeling that he is as ready as he can be to tackle the course, Tookie removes his cloak, places the puzzle box in his satchel bag and heads into the maze. Tookie begins striding up the ramp with ease but comes to a sliding stop at the top of it when he spots that the ramp drops off into a pit filled with stun emmiters, observation more than the Force warned him of the danger, he then uses his natural Gungan agility, aided by the Force, to leap to the first in a series of pillars. Getting to the top of the first, Tookie realizes he can't fall off here due to the fact that the stun emmiters blanket the floor below, the Gungan leaps from pillar to pillar until he reaches the ramp on the opposite side.

"Oh, daten fun..." Tookie begins to say before a bolt shot from one of the remotes whizzes past the Gungan's head. Tookie ignites his lightsaber, the green blade coming to life with the unmistakable snap-hiss of the weapon, as the remote is joined by two other remotes that begin firing at the Gungan. Tookie begins to deflect the bolts back at the remotes. He stays on the move to avoid being hit but one bolt hits him in the side, sending a sudden and stinging pain into his body, the pain tells him he really doesn't want to get hit by too many of these bolts.

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi watches the Gungan carefully without criticism or encouragement. The Gungan has a keen sense of dexterity and balance, he notes the way the Gungan moves. It is quite deceptive if one merely accepts the erratic swaying movements of Tookies race as bumbling movements, but there is a hidden fluidity to it, and in this situation it shows. As Tookie encounters the first remotes, the Jedi notes his attention is diverted by a moment of enjoyment of the moment. It is not an unusual, for after the movement through the first part of the course if completed successfully, most students pause here in a moment of rest, exhilaration, or triumph. The Jedi is impressed how the Gungan makes it only the briefest pause, and meets the challenge of the remotes quickly.

The Jedi is glad for the fact of his hood, for he realizes he is smiling; but to be proper he cannot offer any word. And from here on out the test only becomes more challenging.

[Tookie Binks]

Tookie soon finds out how easy the first part of the course was; while still being pursued by the trio of remotes firing painful stun bolts at him, the Gungan is warned of danger from the Force that something deadly is incoming. Instinctively Tookie jumps into the air with a forward flip just as a large metal saw blade rises up out the maze floor, he manages to avoid the the blade and land on the other side only to continue engaging the remotes. Their rate of fire increases and Tookie knows he cant let them keep on pursuing him. When the Force warns him again of the impending doom from another saw blade; Tookie jumps into the air, twists his body around 180 degrees, and throws his saber in a swinging arc to take out the three remotes. The small spherical devices explode as blade comes into contact with them before the weapon returns to its owner's hand, Tookie sticks the landing and continues to run down the initial path of the maze. As Tookie reaches the end of the initial hallway he sees that the path diverges into two separate directions, the Gungan listens to the Force and follows where it guides him, he takes the path to his right.

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi watches the progress of Tookie through the maze, he feels the Gungan listening to the force, to takes its measure and heed its guidance. By his choice of path, he has diverted from a set of similar encounters and moved into the next section successfully. The Jedi will have to search the remaining records to discover the history of this Tosh, for he was either a remarkable teacher, or Tookie was a truly remarkable student; likely a combination of both.

So far, the Gungan has showed no signs of anger or disruptive emotion. He seems concerned enough to be alert, but not to the point that it borders on fear. This next section will further test that, the holo-generating proxy droids portraying a variety of opponents including a former known member of the death watch, and a Dark-sider.

[Tookie Binks]

As Tookie continues along the path he has chosen, the Gungan come to a halt when the Force hints of an unseen danger, something is waiting for him. This section of the maze has many areas that are more than adequate to hide a nasty surprise and that is indeed what they are hiding. Tookie halts his initial breakneck speed approach to the course at this point, taking on a more alert approach, his steps, while not sluggish paced, are made at regular speed. The Gungan tries to focus on what the danger he senses is but before he can another blaster bolt comes flying at him; Tookie raises his lightsaber to be in line with his shoulders just above but in front of his head, his movement sends the bolt flying up towards the hight ceiling of the maze room. That is when whatever shot the bolt begins to taunt the Gungan from a hidden location withing the maze passage.

"I am quite surprised, a Gungan?" the overly arrogant voice calls out to Tookie before commenting further. "I guess the Jedi have drastically lowered their standards."

The comment doesn't phase Tookie much, he has heard far worse from some, all the Gungan does is laugh slightly, a slight show that while the Gungan is confident he can be slightly cocky. "Whosa are yousa to be judgin dat, somebodies dat hides is more a coward dan a warrior."

Proxy droids are interesting creations to say the least; their holgraphic projectors allow them to take on any form they're programmed with and the programmed personalities of the beings they can imitate can be uncanny. This is a double-edged sword in a sense, even though Tookie doesn't know its a proxy droid he is facing, the Gungan has 'pissed off' the droid he just spoke to. The sound of jets firing raises Tookie's attention upward but this is a mistake on the Gungan's part, Tookie is hit hard and sent tumbling backwards and separating him from his lightsaber. When Tookie finally clears the cobwebs from the hit and recovers from the blow he looks up to see a man clad in the armor of the Mandalorians, the shiny black armor and red flowing cape make him look intimidating, even more so when Tookie spots his lightsaber in the Mandalorian's hand, Tookie slowly gets to his feet and brushes himself off before addressing the warrior.

"Yousa Mandalorian no, whosa are yousa?

The Mandalorian laughs at the Gungan with arroagance and malice in his voice. "I am Tor Vizsla and I am going to skin your Gungan hide and make a raincoat out of you."

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi is pleased at how the Gungan reacts, and is chuckling to himself when he first taunts the proxy droid. His laughter is short lived however when he realizes and then hears it is the program of Tor Vizsla... a program that they thought they had scrubbed from all the droids, it being deemed by the council as much too dangerous to be used except under the most controlled settings by masters to study.

He pulls the datapad from his belt to deactivate and end the test, but soon discovers it is futile, there is something sinister about that program that causes no end of trouble with the system, yet another reason it was pulled.

The Jedi calls up to Tookie, the concern in his voice fairly clear, "Tookie! Get out of there, that droid is too dangerous! It will try to really kill you!

[Tookie Binks]

Tookie has a toothy grin on his face when the PROXY droid disguised as the Death Watch founder says he's going to turn the Gungan into a raincoat, he knows that the best the droid will be able to do is beat the snot out of him, the droid's programming is designed not to be fatal. When the Jedi initiating the test tells him that this program is far too dangerous, the toothy grin is replaced with a more serious and worried look, Tookie realizes he is in far more trouble than originally intended. Tookie does what anyone might think is the right course of action.

"Um... end pogam?" Tookie says trying to verbally shut the PROXY droid in front of him down.

"End program? Really?" the droid laughs with a sinister edge and glares at Tookie with the holographic scared visage of Tor Vizsla. It activates Tookie's lightsaber and grins evilly. "Sorry to disappoint you but I don't go away that easily, Gungan. Afraid much?"

Tookie is now aware he is in a fight for his life and fear is now present, but not overbearing, in his mind. Tookie takes a deep breath, him being from a warrior culture he knows what is going to come next, and adopts a stance with his head erect, neither hanging down, nor looking up, nor twisted. His forehead and the space between his eyes are not wrinkled, something that indicates fear. He does not roll his eyes nor allow them to blink, but slightly narrows them. With his features composed, he keeps the line of his nose straight with a feeling of slightly flaring in his nostrils. He holds the line of the rear of his neck straight: instiling vigor into his hairline and in the same way from his shoulders down throughout his entire body. Tookie has entered a stance taught to him by his instructors at the Ni Ten Ichi school of strategy, a place all Gungans go to learn how to be a warrior, with the same vigor that courses through his body Tookie tells the droid what fear is to a Gungan. "Mesa must not fear, fear is de mind-killer. Fear is de little-death dat bings total crunchin. Mesa will face mesa fear. Mesa will permits it to passen over mesa and true mesa. And when mesa fear is gone mesa will turnins and face fear's path, and only mesa will remain."

"Bold words; I look forward to ramming them down your throat." The visage of Tor Vizsla replies before lunging at Tookie and slashing at the Gungan with his own lightsaber. Tookie springs himself backwards and begins a series of four backflips, moving backwards end over end with his hands providing him additional momentum for his movements. When his feet land on the last backflip, Tookie springs himself up and over the advancing PROXY droid. The maneuver works but Tookie doesn't jump behind the visage of Tor Vizsla far enough, the PROXY droid turns and slices at the back of Tookie's head with the lightsaber and cuts off the lower part of the Gungan's right ear. The pain is far worse than the shot Tookie received from the remotes, the pain is enough to clear his vision. Focusing on the Force, Tookie drops low and delivers a powerful kick to the droid's abdomen with a close range Force push for good measure. The droid goes flying into the maze wall as he is hit by the Force push so close, separating Tookie's lightsaber from it's hand.

Tookie calls the lightsaber to his hand and he takes up an defensive posture with both hands on his saber hilt and his feet spaced about a meter apart with his knees slightly bent. He watches the droid gather himself and grimace in anger as it looks at the Gungan. "Mesa gonna tells yousa one mas time; end pogam!"

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi seeing what is going on in the monitors and sensing it through his attentions to Tookie in the force, turns and hunts for the proper switches to disable the droid. In a second he flips it, and expects to see the image fade and the droid crumple, but it instead it executes a very lethal looking slash at Tookie.

[Tookie Binks]

Tookie keeps his sights locked on the droid that is under the guise of Tor Vizsla, he keeps his mind focused on his calm rather than on the fear that is present in his mind, he stands poised ready to strike if need be. Remembering his training as a youth, Tookie remembers that in any strategy his spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal; both in fighting and in everyday life. If Tookie could be described as anything at this point it would be 'determined though calm'. Tookie meets the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, his spirit settled yet unbiased. Even though his spirit is calm he does not let his body relax, and when his body is relaxed he does not let his spirit slacken. The Gungan can tell by the droid's movement that it has no intent on shutting down, the gaze of the PROXY droid as Tor Vizsla is just as determined not to back down.

"I will kill you before I 'end pogam'!" the droid says mocking Tookie's Gungan accent. Tookie's nostrils flair as he stands there in a defensive stance, he knows that there is no running, Tookie realizes that this droid, while being a droid, is too dangerous 'alive'. Bringing the saber up behind his head, so Tookie makes sure the blade is horizontal with the tip pointing slightly upwards. The handle is in line with the Gungan's shoulder at about the height of his ear, Tookie is ready for the droid's next move.

"Yousa musta wantin de crunchin huh? Suitcha yousa self, dumb droid." Tookie says as he brings the saber up behind his head, making sure the blade is horizontal with the tip pointing slightly upwards. The handle is in line with the Gungan's shoulder at about the height of his ear, gripping the long sword with a rather floating feeling in his thumb and forefinger, with the middle finger neither tight nor slack, and with the last two fingers tight. Tookie is ready for the droid's next move. The droid is obviously irked at the Gungan's reaction to a threat against his life.

"You think you can win, don't you Gungan? I am Tor Vizsla, Jedi fear my name alone."

"Maybe if yousa was de real bombad Mando Vizsla, mesa mighten be frighty-fish but yousa not Tor Vizsla." Tookie replies, a response that gets the PROXY droid's hydrolic fluid blood boiling. The droid fires the rockets on its jetpack and comes flying at Tookie intent on killing the Gungan. The Force has a funny way of altering one's perception, Tookie is so in tune with the Force that the droid's movements seem to slow down to the speed of a Felucian slug from Tookie's point of view, this works to the Gungan's advantage. With a steady heart and mind Tookie waits for the opportune moment to side step the incoming droid with a burst of speed and brings the blade of his lightsaber down on the droid's neck with a single, swift chopping motion. Tookie times the strike just right and separates the droid's head from the rest of its body.

As the droid powers down and its holo-emitters shut off to reveal the droids true image, Tookie walk over to the droid's head and looks at it for a moment. The Gungan shakes his head and realizes that if that had been the real Tor Vizsla he'd probably have been dead long before now, a thought not comforting to Tookie, he feels the throbbing of his sliced ear and is thankful that is all he lost in this part of the exercise. Looking down the path of the maze, Tookie powers down his lightsaber but keeps it in hand, the Gungan knows that even though a deadly droid wasn't part of the original test he can't use it as a reason to quit... Tookie promised Master Tosh that no matter what he'd never quit. Tookie begins to once again run down the path, jumping over obstacles and avoiding the various traps that lay in wait for him, seeking to complete the test that he has started.

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi watches the fight and is highly impressed by what he sees in the young Gungan. As Tookie concludes his engagement with the insane proxy droid, the Jedi is about to call out for him to come out, that the test was concluded, but when the Gungan carried on, pressing forward despite his injury he could sense through the connection he had to monitor Tookie through the trial, that it was highly important that Tookie continue.

The Jedi bites his tongue to stay the words in his throat and remain silent, and with a flip of a series of switches reactivates the rest of the course for the Gungan to complete it.

[Tookie Binks]

Tookie keeps up his pace as he turns left and heads down the path the Force intends for him, before too long Tookie comes to a long hallway that is filled with automated smasher machines coming from out of the walls. Tookie realizes quickly that this had to be more about timing than anything, how to react fast enough to avoid being crunched, the Gungan takes a moment to watch the smashers and count their intervals between smashes. Tookie takes a breath before pressing forward, taking the first two smashers with quick timing, but he is caught up slightly with one of the smashers that seems to go fast than the others. Tookie realizes he must tap into the Force to give him a quick burst of speed at the right time to get past this smasher, he times it right and makes it through the first series of smashers only to be met with a similar set of smashers. Tookie handles them the same way and makes it through to the other side, he continues on the path he feels is the right one and encounters a set of six remotes firing stun bolts at him. Having never shut off his lightsaber, Tookie engages the remotes firing at him by deflecting the bolts back at the remotes.

[Unknown Jedi]

As Tookie picks off the last of the remotes, a hatch beneath his very feet irises open, to drop him into a loop that will send him through a twisting maze ultimately make him repeat the section of the course with the smashers. The Jedi watches with interest to see if he reacts in time to keep him on the true path of the course and the next challenge.

[Tookie Binks]

As the trap door beneath him, Tookie leaps up and forward as he makes it to safety of solid floor. Tookie lands and looks behind him as the door rise and reset, he gives a sigh and shakes his head at the trap door. "Oh, datin coulda been naugsty."

Tookie begins walking along his path when the very next floor panel falls away to another trap door, the Gungan doesn't jump out of the way in time but clutches at the edge of the pit with his free lone free hand. Putting his lightsaber back on his belt and getting a two handed grip on the ledge; Tookie dangles there for a moment until the door opposite of the one he is hanging goes to close, the Gungan's body weight is keeping the door he is on from resetting. Tookie takes a breath and asks the Force to aid him as he acrobatically pulls himself up slightly, spins his body and grabs the ledge of the closed door. The click of the weight sensor being tripped tells Tookie he must react fast, which he does, as the door starts to fall Tookie lifts himself up shoots out of the pit and lands back in the maze. Tookie realizes he wasn't concentrating on what the Force was warning him about, something he will not let happen again, he continues on in hopes of not making the same mistake again.

Tookie runs off down the hall and makes a turn to arrive at a four-way intersection, two lead off to the sides while a third leads forward and the last leads up a ramp, the Gungan takes the ramp upward to get a view from high ground. As soon as his head peeks up from above the edge of the maze wall, Tookie spots the center of the maze not too far off from where he needs to go, the Gungan gets swarmed by another threat, seeker remotes. These remotes are much different from the spherical ones Tookie had faced earlier, they must patrol above here to discourage cheating, and they have spotted the Gungan outside the allowed area. Tookie slides down the ramp and takes the path to the left, remembering what he saw from above, it should be the quickest way to the center. Tookie is soon to learn for the second time today that things aren't always what they seem.

Without warning the walls shifted and a new path was laid before Tookie, the path that he had seen from up high was now blocked, Just as he takes the turn down the next hall, the walls shift again altering the course again. Tookie keeps his connection to the Force as strong as he can keep it and allows himself to feel the Force's guidence. After the walls shift again, Tookie realizes that he is getting farther away from his goal, the Gungan remembers what Master Tosh told him on the day they ran into a situation that called for them to make haste.

"Sometimes you don't have enough time to be lead astray."

Tookie uses the Force to leap to the top of the wall and uses it tp cut a path right to the the center of the maze. As when he peeked over the wall before, the remotes on patrol return to chase him down back into the maze below. The Gungan moves quickly and gracefully as he bounds from the tops of the walls while dodging and deflecting blaster bolts from the remotes coming after him. Tookie moves fast to get to the center of the maze, he destroys a few of the remotes but the others are pressing him to jump back down into the maze; he is only a few more leaps away when the wall beneath him shifts and changes, dropping him back down into the maze.

[Unknown Jedi]

The Jedi remembered his own trials long ago, they were not here, but they were no less confusing and strenuous. It was an interesting approach the Gungan used to be sure, and looked like it was almost fully successful. He would have to ad some sort of detractor in the future to that arrangement. From what he had seen so far, the Gungan's instincts were quite well honed, and it would likely only be a matter of moments until he completed.

The Jedi was impressed, he would have to tell the Gungan that when they were on the way to the infirmary to see to Tookie's ear, with the further thought. "Caitlin will never let me hear the end of this..."

[Tookie Binks]

As soon as Tookie's fit hit the ground of the maze floor again, he should have sensed that it wasn't going to be as easy as cutting through to the center of the maze, the Gungan gets his bearings and continues to sense the proper path through the force. Luckily for Tookie he did manage to see the path of the walls and how they lead to the center of the maze but if Tookie has learned one thing this day its nothing is as it seems. Tookie turns down the hall and feels that something is approaching fast, he picks up his pace and takes one more turn to see the center of the maze about a hundred meters ahead. The Gungan runs with purpose renewed, his goal is straight ahead of him and he will see this test through to the end, but just as he is within twenty meters of reaching his destination the walls start to shift again.

Tookie uses Force speed to run past the wall as it closes over the path to make sure he doesn't get sidetracked with a different path again, and to outrun whatever is coming up on him, but that is when the maze walls come alive with all sorts of nasties. Flame-projectors start spitting fire as the runs down the hall and if that weren't bad enough stun bolts begin to fill the hallway. Tookie presses on, headstrong and full of intent to finish his test, he deflects the bolts as they come at him and leaps over flames as they shoot out from the walls. If Tookie were hesitant he might find himself stunned and burnt to a crisp but the Gungan proves his resilience and pushes his way forward. Just when he thinks that the maze will never end and that all this was just a joke, Tookie emerges into the center of the maze to find a pedestal sitting in the center of the room in which he now stands. Tookie approaches the pedestal and sees a square shape on resting on the top of it, it appears that is where the cube that the Jedi handed him goes.


Pulling the cube from his bag, Tookie inspects the puzzle box and its strange markings, the Gungan wonders what the words in the strange language mean. Just as Tookie is about to place the cube on the pedestal, a mechanical sounding voice from nowhere advises the Gungan that its not in his interests to do that. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Gungan."

Tookie looks around and sees nothing, with his hand holding the cube just above the pedestal, the young Jedi hopeful addresses the voice. "Why isa dat?"

"Because, that would bring about your slow death at my hands." the voice replies before its owner jumps down from the ceiling into the center of the room with Tookie.

"Oh greatens, anudder cwazy droid." Tookie says as he studies the being before him, he knows that this must be another PROXY droid sent to distract him. "Yousa gonna tries and make mesa into a rainscoat too?"

"Only if you make me, Gungan." the Sith Stalker informs Tookie. "Now hand over the puzzle box and I wont be forced to kill you."

"Whatin so maxi specialies about dissen coob?" Tookie asks the monstrous looking Sith.

"The inscription on it can unlock the secrets of the Force, if you place it on the pedestal, the secrets will be locked and you will lose your opportunity to become greater than any Jedi living or dead." the Sith tells Tookie before presenting the Gungan with a tempting offer. "If you give it to me, I will unlock its secrets with you. We could both become powerful and make things the way we want them to be. No one could stop us.

Tookie looks long at the cube and its inscriptions, he knows that the droid has no chance of unlocking any secrets and becoming powerful, he's a droid for frak's sake, but Tookie cant help but wonder if there is truth to what the crazy droid claims. That is when Tookie finally gets it, the lesson that has been so prevalent throughout this test... "Nuttin is whatin it seems, droid!"

Tookie places the cube on the pedestal to the objection of the droid, as it makes contact with the pedestal the PROXY droid leaps and ignites its lightsaber to attack Tookie, the Gungan placing the cube in its proper resting place however causes the droid to power down and fall to the floor with a thud. Looking down at the droid, and then around the room, Tookie wonders if he has passed the test the Jedi started him on... only the Jedi could tell him that for sure.