Our JFC is “He who faces himself, finds himself” (so I already don’t feel good about the Bechdel test). Our RA tells us that WAR is ongoing and spreading across the galaxy, and the number of Jedi is declining, so new Jedi, youglings, are being kidna… found and trained with their new “family”. The younglings must pass many tests, including the eponymous “gathering”.
We cut to Ahsoka telling some padawans that they must now build their own lightsaber. She takes them to Ilum to find their kyber crystals. There, they are greeted by Yoda, who opens a wall of ice by moving a large crystal to reflect the sunlight to melt it.
The six padawans must find their crystals before the door refreezes or they’ll be trapped for 19 days. They go in different directions, as called to them by the force. Each padawan seems to face their own personal fears… heights, water, being alone, spiders, etc.
One by one they collect their crystals. Petro sees Katooni has been trapped and leaves her behind… before having a change of heart and going back for her to set her free. In saving her, he finds his crystal and rejoins the rest of the padawans with Yoda and Ahsoka. Collectively, the padawans learned courage, hope, patience, trust, confidence, and selflessness.
Having passed The Gathering, the younglings journey in the Crucible back toward Coruscant, and are introduced to Huyang, a robot professor who has taught Jedi how to build lightsabers for over 1000 years, and who also does a great Garrick Ollivander impression.
While the kids are still trying to figure out the wibbly-wobbly, time-wimey lightsaber assembly process, the Crucible is attacked by Hondo Ohnaka, who wants to steal the kyber crystals to sell on the black market. The pirates disable and board the ship. Huyang hides the crystals on his person, but Petro keeps his just in case. From hiding, Ahsoka lays out the plan - Ganodi and Zatt will secure the cockpit with R2; the other younglings will hide in the hold with Huyang, and Ahsoka will reroute power to the engines, allowing the ship to break free, and coincidentally venting the atmosphere, along with the pirates. Two out three ain't bad, right?
Zatt, Ganodi, and Ahsoka meet their objectives, but the pirates manage to smoke the larger youngling group out of hiding before they reach the hold. Petro uses his poorly constructed lightsaber as a bomb to disable the pirates and buy some time for the kids to decide that valor is the better part of valor, so they must stand and fight - by trapping a room with training remotes. When that manages to stop two out of approximately 20 pirates, they are in trouble - but Ahsoka arrives to save the day! Battle rages, and the kids regroup in the cockpit. Ahsoka orders them to start the engines and escape the pirates, but the underlined part of their plan that says "Breach hull, all die" goes into effect. The pirates are sucked out of the Crucible and mostly back into their ship, but Ahsoka accidentally joins them. Hondo says that he will have to turn her into profit instead as we reach THE END.
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