Anakin and John Doe continued to go back and forth as the chaos around them continued.
Sadly it did not seem like John Doe was willing to go at it in a willing battle, but it matters not because Anakin has taken his opponent down before so he should be able to do so again. It just might be a bit harder because last time John Doe was weaker.
Not only that but Anakin had the advantage because he was hidden.
This time he has no such luxury, but if he had to retreat he would willingly go. There is no reason to risk his life in a battle to the death with a clearly twisted individual, no doubt just a puppet for Palpatine to execute his plans.
John Doe was quite reckless in his attack. "You did this to me!" He was starting to blame Anakin for what had happened to him.
Technically he is true considering that he could have just offed him but that wouldn't have served his plans.
Raving stark mad, John Doe continued his relentless aggressive assault on Anakin but was unable to really do anything much, but he was slowly burning up himself.
Anakin could feel this as well, John Doe was dying from the inside out and it wasn't because of the poison. It was because of whatever Sidious had done to him to give him such a boost in power.
Drove and droves of mutated aberrant freaks of nature continued to pour into the area as the crowd was slowly being evacuated along with other Jedi ensuring their safety while Anakin was trapped within.
'At least they are trying.' Anakin thought to himself doing two things simultaneously. One keeping an eye on his surroundings, what the others are doing, their progress in eliminating the ghouls and on himself currently facing off what would seem to be the boss.
"Are you even paying attention to me!" A rather vicious strike landed on Anakin's lightsaber but he parried the blow.
His constant defensive and rather nonchalant attitude seemed to be pissing off the beast even more. This fueled the dark side within John Doe even more which accelerated his deterioration but strengthened his physical capabilities making it harder and harder to be defensive about the situation.
But, John was not the only one being empowered, so too was Anakin because of the use of Form VII. Relying on ones own emotions to fuel their power but also on those you are against, veritably turning themselves against themselves.
Well, an amalgamation of the person they are fighting and the emotions that fueled them back into their chaos.
"Continue to attack me, and it will be your undoing." Anakin said to his opponent as they continued to exchange blows with Anakin winning all of them.
"No! I must avenge myself and absolve myself of my sins!" John continued in his mutated ghoulish voice.
"So be it." Anakin had decided to not speak anymore, he had already given the other person a chance but it would seem he was unable to see the great Mount Tai. 'Wait, I just turned into a young master right there.'
Not that Anakin wasn't, because technically he is.
They continued to go at it for what would seem like hours on hours but really were only had been going on was exchanged within a minute or so. This is what happens in very stressful situations, adrenaline kicks in to increase chances of survival.
But there was something about John that didn't scream survival.
In fact his entire twisted self cried out for help whilst at the same time repulsed the very thing that was trying to help him. Anakin wasn't so kind to do so but was willing to try and subdue him, and that is why he was taking a while.
He never intended to kill the man but if he is forced to he very well may will execute the man.
"Die!" His screeching was becoming louder, loud enough to overturn any other noise within their immediate proximity. This had an impact on Anakin, as even though he is protected his Nanosuit wasn't built with the idea he would be attacked with sound.
Specifically Force enhanced sounds, and it could only do so much.
Now temporarily slightly deafened, Anakin had to rely on his other senses. His eyes were quite the tool when it came to this considering all the other abilities he can switch between but his eyes are also limited.
The Human eye can do alot, especially when it came to men because of evolutionary differences, human males kinetic vision was much greater. Of course nature was unbiased when it came to gender and gave women their due diligence as well.
They got to see more colors, or had an easier time differentiating such things.
"Die! Die! Die!" John continued to try and disorient Anakin but now that he had caught on to this tactic he applied countermeasures and decided enough was enough.
What Anakin happened to forget in this moment however was that everyone was still being broadcasted, some if not most would call this an oversight but Sidious had done this on purpose.
Sowing the seeds of doubt.
Anakin going in for the metaphorical kill does not kill John but decides to chop off his arms and legs, not too unlike what the original Anakin would have gone through.
Screaming and moaning in pain, one could hear it in his voice. "I curse you, Anakin Skywalker!" The dark side of the Force was congregating on the man but Anakin decides that would be too dangerous to just leave the man alone.
"You are cursed! To hell you shall go! The devil shall be your name!" He gives his final hurrah as he breaths his last breath but there was still chaos going on around him and Anakin did not have any time to ponder on John's declaration.
"I NAME YOU THE DEVIL!" John Doe had a small surprise up his sleeve that transmitted a thought explosion through the Force to everyone nearby. Meaning only himself.
The dark side of the Force however had tried to act upon John's words and tried to attach onto Anakin burrowing its way into his mind. 'Damnit, why I got to deal with this now.'
Just like that, Anakin's lights were knocked out. He had gone unconscious.
[]
Aayla was concerned, she could feel it. The malicious and very corrupting presence of the dark side and it was currently felt from where she felt Anakin was.
Infinitely worried she began her mad dash trying to cut her way through those of whom were in her way.
She saw it, or saw something as Anakin had put an end to the monstrosities life, a parasite of some kind was launched towards Anakin and latched onto him.
"Aayla!" Barriss, the brave youngling she was had come right from behind Aayla, she had grown to become more adept then any her age or even around her age all thanks to training with Anakin.
Surprisingly enough Ahsoka also seemed to hold her own against the beasts but she obviously didn't have the training the other two older girls had and struggled a bit more. If anything people should be surprised about how she managed to get the slip on the Jedi mentors trying to gather the younglings away from the area.
Especially those who were very young like Ahsoka. "Wait for me!" Ahsoka said.
In times of crisis it would seem the teamwork of the three was quite advanced and under immense pressure, Aayla was showing great leadership skills in this situation.
The group had finally managed to make their way towards Anakin who was now lying on the ground unconscious but was covered in his Nanosuit as a defensive measure. Usually it wouldn't activate when he went unconscious like this, but preventative measures were put in place, just in case.
"Is he ok?" Aayla was not one for medical anything and had to rely on Barriss' expertise.
Barriss was doing some basic diagnosis through the Force. "He is fine. He is just unconscious and from I can tell some sort of parasite has latched onto him."
"Ani will stay asleep for now?" Despite not knowing the situation really at hand, it would seem that Ahsoka had some level of intelligence above her pairs.
"Yes, Anakin will need to get some rest to recover." Aayla said to them while thinking internally. 'I need to get the Masters involved, they might know something about this parasite.'
[]
Within the medical bay of the Jedi temple.
'Damn what a dream or was it nightmare?' Anakin awoke to find himself in a familiar environment and with his enhanced mental capabilities was easily able to know exactly where he was. Even if he didn't have this he could always rely on the Force, despite how unreliable it could be sometimes.
'You will not break my will.' Anakin thought with conviction and decided to speak it aloud. "You will not break my will." The Force responded in a way that said it was both sorry and taunting him.
Trying to lure him towards the dark path he was shown when attacked by the parasite.
Deciding that he was done being here because he has had enough of being within environments like this within his past life. Don't get him wrong, he enjoys the benefits of science and medicine but that doesn't mean he had to like it.
'It would seem I could not escape ending up in a situation like this again.' Anakin thought to himself as he started to move towards the exit before he was stopped.
Exclaiming two men enter alongside another woman. "Why, would you look at that. The prodigal student awakens." The speaker here was Mace.
The people he was with was Qui-Gon and the Jedi consular Doctor Rig Nema. "Yes, it would seem so..." Anakin says as his Nanosuit was dematerializing and was gone before anyone would see it, not that it had mattered anymore.
Anakin was easily able to piece together what had happened and the consequences of such an event. His Nanosuit was now exposed to everyone. 'At least no one knows what its abilities are.'
"Where did you think you were going?" Doctor Rig asked with a reprimanding tone.
"Nowhere in particular, I just wanted to go back towards my room." Anakin replied.
"I think not, I would like to run a few more diagnostics on you to make sure you are ok." Doctor Rig replied in a tone that left no room for argument.
"Ok..." Anakin replies not really sure where her overprotectiveness came from.
"Anakin, we have much too discuss, but first I think I should congratulate you." Qui-Gon said to Anakin as he was forced to take a seat for the Doctor.
"I am assuming this means, I am unofficially a Jedi Knight now?" Anakin asked.
"Correct." Mace replied.
"I am to be officiated then?" Anakin asks another question.
"That is also the correct assumption." Mace answers before continuing. "Before that, we would like to ask you of your experiences. Specifically that event that lead upto your unconsciousness and the effects it had on you."
Anakin then went on ahead to explain many things about various subjects, including what had happened to him but with extreme caution on what he should reveal. For now he had come to the conclusion, as did the other Jedi High Council had decided that he had a clean bill of health.
As far as the Force was concerned, but Doctor Rig was insistent on him staying because she was absolutely infatuated with whatever technology he had created.
A parasite, created with the sole and intent purpose to try and infiltrate and corrupt another person into the lull of the dark side. Thankfully it was Anakin that had been infected, in fact he was the intended target but no one else knew that.
Not even Anakin himself because it did set off like a bomb and would have effected anyone else if they were close enough when John Doe died.
Anakin after a few days had decided to go to the training room that had by now become his own, officially as it would seem the Council felt a bit guilty and decided that he could have full ownership over this room in particular.
It wasn't like they didn't have plenty of other areas to train their Jedi in or anyone else could go too and in fact the room Anakin had basically made a secondary home base on Coruscant didn't even have the best facilities.
Practically everything there had been upgraded by Anakin himself.
So of course they saw no problem in handing it over, not like they were ever especially attached to it anyway. Of course just because he 'owns' the room now, doesn't mean he would keep it forever or anything like that.
If he left it would go back to the Jedi.
"Hello everyone." Anakin came in trying to lift whatever the mood he had felt from within the room.
Everyone's eyes lit up, Aayla, Ahsoka, Barriss and even Shaak was here for him. At least that was what Anakin had narcissistically thought to himself.
Aayla was the first to embrace him, followed by Ahsoka then also followed by the embarrassed and somewhat hesitant Barriss but after seeing her rival attach herself on Anakin she also pounced. At this point Anakin was thinking to himself. 'How did I get myself into this trouble.'
Master Shaak Ti just had to make a smart comment to cover for her relief at seeing he was fine. "Well, it would seem that all that saber practice really has these girls attached to you." She obviously meant more than that.
Anakin was still surprised none of the girls had caught on by now, he could forgive Ahsoka's innocence but for Barriss and Aayla, how could they not know?
Unless they were feigning ignorance that is.
"I am alright." Anakin said trying to soothe their current emotional states before continuing. "I think that everyone should just relax, I was completely fine."
"What I think everyone should worry about now is nothing." Anakin then continued. "It would look like everyone has some free time because some classes were cancelled for a few days and that those here at the temple also got a stay of leave for a bit."
"I am sure that we could put our time to better use then just sulking over my apparent injuries. Which were none by the way." Anakin continued to reassure them given they were silent and still were holding onto to him tightly.
'I am slightly concerned however that not even Master Ti is even stopping this kind of behavior. Isn't this like, against the Jedi code or something?' Anakin thought to himself.
'Whatever not my problem.'