Ahsoka Tano - Undeserving

11

One week later

Ahsoka rolled out her shoulders, eyeing the training droid with a small scowl. She activated her main saber and got into position, ready to attack once it made a move. It immediately sped for her in jagged, harsh movements, emitting a barrage of blasterfire. The padawan moved quickly, keeping up with the droid easily at first while her master watched from the side. The first droid was eliminated within a few minutes, falling deactivated to the ground while Ahsoka caught her breath and shook off any fatigue. Her week in the Halls of Healing had done her much more harm than good when it came to retaining muscle; she felt weak and shaky compared to before. But that was why she was here today; that and because her master felt the need to immediately push her back into combat. The healers had been adamant that Ahsoka stay longer, that she was not even remotely fully healed from such a traumatic wound, however Master Krell was even more adamant that if Ahsoka didn't learn how to fight with an injury then she would die easily in battle. So here she was.

Once the droid fell her master gave no sign of approval other than a gruff nod. "You have retained more skill than I had expected." He declared, taking Ahsoka by surprise. That was likely the closest she had ever gotten to a compliment. "But that was only the third hardest difficulty out of six. Let's see how you feel at four."

"Yes, Master." Ahsoka replied, preparing herself. The condescending tone of voice from her master implied that he wanted her to fail this time, but she wasn't so keen on doing so. Instead she activated both sabers this time, eyeing the training droid closely as it hovered near her and adjusted its settings to a harder difficulty.

Ahsoka was still as a statue, the only parts of her body moving being her eyes as the droid darted strategically around her. She closed her eyes and delved into the Force, feeling the energy of the droid as it moved. It was a much different sensation than a living being; when Ahsoka sensed an organic lifeform the energy was coming from it. With droids, the energy was coming from their weapon as it charged and fired at her. In some ways sensing droids was easier, because it was more difficult to separate the energy of an organic body from the weapon it was holding.

The droid fired and Ahsoka blocked, and the duel began. This difficulty was much more erratic and unpredictable than the last, leaving Ahsoka on her toes for the entire battle. She found herself out of breath much more quickly than before, taking deeper and shorter-lived breaths as she twirled and swiped and dodged. After a few minutes of this cycle, Ahsoka found herself beginning to see black spots in her vision. A brief moment of panic because of this gave the droid an opening on her back, and she was promptly hit square in the shoulder with a stinging zap.

"Ack!" Ahsoka twirled around but the droid was already in front of where she was facing previously, zapping her in the back yet again. Her growing frustration, breathlessness, and lightheadedness all combined to create a quick defeat, and soon Ahsoka was knocked onto the ground with the force of the blasts berating her.

"Get up." Came Krell's stern command, refusing to deactivate the droid. Ahsoka struggled back to her feet, all the while blocking as many blasts as she could but still being hit by multiple. Yet she fought on, determination and pure force of will keeping her upright as her body struggled to keep up with what she was doing. The droid continued on tirelessly, and Ahsoka lasted another ten minutes before the lightheadedness became too much and she collapsed on the floor gasping for air.

Krell yet again refused to deactivate the droid. "Fight through your pain, padawan. Only under strong adversity will you flourish."

Ahsoka tried to stand but couldn't, collapsing back down. The world was spinning and she was gasping desperately for air, her heart pounding so quickly she thought it was going to explode out of her chest. "Master, I... I can't." She barely made out the words. Fortunately a few moments after, the training droid's timer expired and it deactivated on its own, giving Ahsoka a slight reprieve.