Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.12.2

Due to the tightened security ever since the decimation of Corellia, senators were asking for Jedi bodyguards more often. Chancellor Kanai made sure that the most active advocators were specially protected because they were bigger targets than senators of the minor systems. After about a week or so, at least four Jedi Masters were off on assignment on any given day, not to mention a lot of the Knights were as well. The Temple began sounding a bit quieter as time went on.

Since Jinx still didn't have a new master assigned to him, he had been bouncing around and training with Knights and Masters who weren't busy. Caleb and O-Mer tried to join him whenever they could, but their masters were on the Council and were kept quite busy themselves. On one particular day, neither of them were at the Temple, but Anakin was. Master Windu asked Anakin to work with him on his saber strokes for an hour or so, which was how they wound up spontaneously training together.

It wasn't so bad, honestly. Both Jinx and O-Mer were behind on their lightsaber training since they had been missing until they were sixteen. They had only had about two years of saber instruction, and while they had made a lot of progress they still were behind. Anakin was one of the better duelers in the Order, from having been roped into a lot of saber fights on missions, so Jinx's exposure to his training was definitely a good thing.

Without having any idea of how Adi Gallia had trained him, Anakin just started with the basics. It was clear he had been studying them hard, but the movements looked unnatural and awkward. Jinx didn't have the advantage of years of muscle memory to work off of, like Anakin was used to utilizing, so he was a bit stuck on how to help him.

After ten minutes of struggling with the standard sequences, Anakin called for a stop. "Have you ever tried fighting blindfolded?" he asked, and the Twi-lek's face blanked for a second.

"...no, was I supposed to?"

Anakin shook his head, a little amused but trying to be patient. "Not really. Here, tie this around your head. Let's just spar for a moment. No lightsabers, no weapons." If he couldn't train Jinx with his lightsaber, he'd train him without it. Start where Jinx was comfortable, and trick him into being comfortable where he wasn't.

The first minute was a little rocky. Jinx didn't have a problem seeing Anakin with the Force, but he kept trying to use the movements he had been taught. "Forget your form for now," Anakin instructed, pacing around him. "Just fight me with whatever looks like it might work."

Slowly, the change came. His movements became wild and unorthodox, definitely not according to the book, but the most important thing was that it looked natural. Anakin was familiar with unorthodox, so he started picking it apart. After a while, he started to recognize some patterns.

His natural technique was like a whip: Jinx would wait from a fair distance, then move in and make one or two calculated moves before retreating again. They would be good moves, unique but good, but he never capitalized on them. He was like a sniper, waiting until he knew he could hit something.

So Anakin didn't let him. When Jinx would strike, Anakin would fend it off, but he would follow his retreat away, forcing him to move. If he took too long to make another move or get out of the way, he would pay for it by risking getting hit. "You're making good decisions, too slow," Anakin told him, rather bluntly but effectively. "Shorten your thinking process, and act before I do. I'm not going to let you watch like a predator anymore."

Jinx started getting cut off as he was thinking. He'd be looking for some kind of weak spot, a place to aim for, but Anakin would start jumping at him before he could think the attack all the way through. None of his strikes were as neat or foolproof as he preferred, and he kept feeling rushed. After a few rounds, Anakin called for a break, and Jinx slipped the blindfold off.