Part 5
Obi-wan hit the rear wall of the training room, and fell limply to the floor. His ribs were on fire, and he was more than a little dizzy as a result of his head connecting with the wall. He reached out to the force, willing his body to forget the pain long enough for him to stand up again. As he picked himself up off the floor, he heard the sound of Trevin's laughter.
"Surely you can do better than that, young padawan. Trevin said, placing a sarcastic emphasis on the last word.
Obi-wan knew that Trevin wanted to make him angry enough to lose touch with the force. He couldn't let that happen. He closed his eyes concentrating; feeling the living force as it flowed around him. He knew he was no match for Trevin in open combat, he needed to find a way to get the upper hand. The platforms! The training room had a series of multi-level platforms along the side wall, for practicing aerial maneuvers. It had been his favorite exercise as a student. Opening his eyes, he ran for the lowest platform and vaulted up onto its polished surface.
"Ah, I see you want to make this interesting. Very well." With that Trevin backflipped onto the lower platform, but Obi-wan was already two levels higher.
Obi-wan went on, jumping to higher platforms, with Trevin following. When he reached the top, he quickly backflipped over Trevin's head, swinging his lightsaber down through the man's body. But Trevin had already anticipated the move, and he easily blocked the blow, and spun, sending his foot flying into Obi-wan.
~*~
Qui-gon and Tahl were almost halfway to Yoda's room when Qui-gon remembered Obi-wan. It was nearing the dinner hour, and the boy had been alone in his room all day. "I'd like to stop in and check on Obi-wan before we see Yoda."
Tahl merely nodded her consent, and they turned in the direction of the student wing. Once they were outside Obi-wan's room she told Qui-gon that she would wait outside to give him some privacy with the boy.
Entering, Qui-gon noticed that Obi-wan was neither in the room, nor the adjacent refresher. For an instant, he almost let his anger get the better of him. The boy had gone too far this time. How could he have disobeyed again knowing what it had cost him the last time? Just as he was about to storm back into the hallway, he saw the message on the communicator. A message from Yoda? That couldn't be right. Stepping back into the hall, he pulled out his comlink and contacted Yoda, describing the message to the Jedi master.
"Send it, I did not. A trap, this is." Yoda affirmed.
"Or, perhaps just a false alibi left by an irresponsible boy." Qui-gon retorted unable to keep the hurt out of his voice.
"No, Qui-gon. Obi-wan's doing, this is not. Reach out with your feelings, you must, and help him, you will." With that the old Jedi master cut off the communication.
Having heard the whole exchange, Tahl added "He's right, Qui-gon. Someone obviously wanted to lure Obi-wan to the training room."
"Why don't you go give our report to Yoda, while I check the training room. If someone left this message for Obi-wan he could be in trouble."
~*~
Obi-wan's upper body caught the edge of one of the platforms, and he slid backwards until he was barely hanging on by his hands. The boy closed his eyes trying to breathe. He realized that there was no way he could win this fight. He was beginning to doubt he would even survive it. Using what little remained of his strength he reached out with the force, trying to reopen his mental link with Qui-gon. He couldn't hold on any longer. He felt himself falling and screamed in his mind, "Help me, Master!"
~*~
Qui-gon headed for the training room on the other side of the student housing.
He had just started to cut through the central garden when he felt Obi-wan's
scream through what was left of their link. Qui-gon nearly stumbled as he felt
the panic and anguish coming from his former padawan. It had been weeks now
since he had felt anything at all from Obi-wan, and to feel so much all of a
sudden was almost too much to bare. He broke into a run.
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