To become a Jedi-teer, one had to take his or her training very seriously. And no one took it more seriously than Anakin. Although, he could be a bit of a showoff. And not surprisingly, women were often attracted to Anakin, him being the strongest, most confident, and very good-looking.

Carmine was as handsome as his brother, but not quite as confident. Since his childhood, Carmine was found to be afraid of a lot of things. The dark, spiders, bats, heights, snakes, clowns, and needles.

Ahsoka, the youngest of the trio, was determined to prove that women were excellent fighters, and anything the male musketeers could do, females could do too. Her adoptive mother, Musketeer Shaak Ti, Plo Koon's wife, always told her she didn't need to be stronger than the men to be a great musketeer, just smarter.

Anakin whacked a training dummy with a wooden stick used for lightsaber training because today, he was doing some physical training with his brother and surrogate sister Ahsoka.

"Hee-yah! Take that, Sith Lord!" exclaimed Anakin.

Ahsoka, like her brother, was training with wooden sabers, but she liked to use two.

"It's a training dummy, Skyguy. Not a pinata." Ahsoka teased.

Skyguy was a nickname Ahsoka gave Anakin after an incident during a class a few years ago. Part of being a Jedi-teer was horseback riding, and before Qui-Gon died, he got each of his sons their own steeds. Anakin's was a beautiful pegasus named Sapphire Beauty, while Carmine's was a lovely gold and silver alicorn named Harmony. And recently, Ahsoka was blessed with a beautiful alicorn steed of her own named Fiesta.

On the first day he'd gotten Sapphire, Anakin flew on her through the sky with ease as though he were meant to fly hence the nickname Skyguy. And because Ahsoka tended to make a lot of sassy remarks, namely teasing Anakin, her nickname was...

"Very funny, Snips." said Anakin, whacking the dummy again. "You're just jealous 'cause I'm gonna take down a Sith Lord singlehandedly someday."

"You're gonna need a lot more than a good weapon, Anakin." said Carmine.

Carmine took a different approach to fighting, however. For some reason, he found himself pretty drawn to ballet. And in most of his training sessions, he practiced dancing.

"They need guys who are brave and light on their feet. Like me."

Suddenly, a spider hung in front of Carmine's face.

"AHH!"

Carmine jumped back and fell down. Anakin just laughed and said, "And they need guys who aren't scaredy-cats."

"I'm not a scaredy-cat! That spider could've been poisonous. Or a nano-droid in disguise." Carmine tried to defend, backing away from the tiny arachnid. He shuddered as he saw it crawl onto the floor, and he grabbed one of the textbooks and threw it on the floor.

"Carmine, what have we said about throwing the books?" said a Coruscanti-accented voice.

The three Padawans looked to see the twins' teacher Obi-Wan Kenobi standing in the doorway.

"Musketeer Kenobi!" Carmine saluted. "There's a good explanation for that."

"He means he freaked about a spider." Ahsoka said.

"Carmine, that's the third time this week." Obi-Wan groaned, picking up the book, grunting in disgust when he found a dead spider on the other side.

"We're just practicing our skills to be great musketeers, Master." Anakin said. "So, is there a reason you came to see us?"

"I came to tell all of you that there will be a training expedition for all Padawans tomorrow morning." Obi-Wan said. "As we all know, Princess Padme's coronation is less than one month away. We need as many guards and Jedi-teers on guard as we can get. This is your chance to put your skills to the test."

That got the three young ones excited. They'd experienced many tests before and trained their butts off every single day since they were initiated into the Jedi Order. But somehow, they never got past Padawan status. None of them. Especially after losing Qui-Gon.

It had been just another day. All was quiet and Qui-Gon had time to spend with his boys, teaching them the ways of the Force and helping them improve their skills as future musketeers. He would always tell them that being a musketeer was more than being big, brave, or even physically strong.

"The most important skill each of you will learn as you build your individual skills is teamwork." He would always say. "Your worst enemies are stronger than any one of you. But they are not stronger than all of you together."

But then, the Jedi got alerted that what they believed to be a Sith Lord was attacking in another village. Sith were the worst enemy of the Jedi as well as the entire galaxy. To put it simply, Sith were the dark musketeers of the Force. They dressed in the same fashion as the Jedi, only their uniforms tended to be all black, sometimes with red, and the feathers on their hats were red as well.

Qui-Gon was one of the first on the scene, along with Obi-Wan Kenobi as the others rescued the surviving villagers. But then the Sith knocked Obi-Wan unconscious, leaving Qui-Gon to fight on his own. He fought his hardest, but the Sith was too fast for the older man, and he was impaled to death. Obi-Wan was too late to save his friend, but Qui-Gon lived to give his last words to Obi-Wan.

"Obi-Wan... take care of the twins. Train them." Qui-Gon said, weakly removing his hat and giving it to Obi-Wan. "Give my hat to Anakin. Tell him and Carmine... I love them."

And Qui-Gon closed his eyes for the last time.

The twins were devastated when Obi-Wan came to them with the news. Neither of them could stop crying at his funeral either. Anakin hugged his father's hat all night while Carmine kept his lightsaber. Since that day, both of them held on to whichever item their father left them. However, Carmine would not be allowed to officially use his father's lightsaber until after he passed all his tests and trials. Anakin, however, never took off his father's hat.

The twins and Ahsoka all proved themselves intelligent, athletically skilled, as well as high-spirited in their own ways. But, they each had something that prevented them from becoming musketeers.

The three of them, they had made a pact. They were going to become musketeers together; they were the terrific trio of the entire Order. Everyone in the Order knew those three were inseparable since the day their adoptions were finalized. Thick as thieves, the three of them were. They took classes together, practiced together, and played together all the time as children. And as they grew, they practiced working together and vowed that someday they would become the greatest trio of Jedi-teers ever. But part of that vow was if one of them didn't get to be a musketeer, none of them did.

It came at the cost of them remaining Padawans for longer than any of them might have anticipated, but the three friends were also family, and family meant 'no one gets left behind.'

"You mean we'll become real musketeers if we pass?" Ahsoka said.

"You'll need to do more than pass the tests." Obi-Wan said. "You need to prove you understand what it takes to be a true musketeer. Then, and only then will you ride from Padawan to Musketeer."

Anakin, Ahsoka, and Carmine trained for five hours straight that night, determined to have razor sharp skills for the expedition. They'd tried to become musketeers together for years, but at least one of them did not pass the trials. The first time, Carmine didn't pass. Second time, Ahsoka didn't pass. Third time, neither Carmine nor Ahsoka passed. And the fourth time, Anakin didn't pass.

Padawans were not allowed to go on missions without accompaniment by a Musketeer, and that would mean those who became Musketeers might never get to fight together.

Because the trio was loyal to one another, they vowed they would not accept the rank of Musketeer unless all three of them passed.

The next morning, it would be their big chance.

Here it was, the day the three friends had waited their whole lives for. The Jedi-Teer Trials. Every three months, a grand expedition was placed at a grand stadium outside the palace grounds to test a selection of Padawan learners on everything they learned from their masters, and determine whether they level up to Musketeer, or continue to train another year. The test was different each time, so Padawans can never know for sure what they were in for.

The entire Jedi Council, as well as Captain Palpatine, were all in attendance of this great expedition.

There were fifteen Padawans in all, but the likelihood that all of them would pass was close to none, as the largest number of Musketeers knighted at once on record was seven. And three of the lucky or unlucky contestants were Ahsoka, Carmine, and Anakin.

"This is it, guys. This is our chance to become real musketeers." Anakin told his friends.

"You really think we'll pass?" Carmine said.

"I know we will."

Grand Musketeer Yoda stepped up to greet the Padawans, who all saluted to the wise old musketeer. Musketeer Yoda was very short and old, but any smart fighter knew not to let his size or age fool them. Yoda was as powerful as though he were a teenage fighter freshly graduated from school. And, he was one of the wisest individuals the Jedi Order had ever known.

Yoda banged his cane twice to get everyone's attention. "Greetings, Young Padawans. Gathered here, you are, to be tested. Determine we shall if today ready are you to move on from Padawan status to becoming Musketeers."

"For this challenge," said Musketeer Mace Windu. "You will be tested on your skills with your lightsabers, connection to the Force, and your resourcefulness."

Captain Palpatine stepped up then.

"Your challenge today will be Labyrinth Escape. In this quest, you must pass through various challenges in order to find and reach the end of the labyrinth, which you will have one hour to complete." Palpatine explained. "The rules are simple: make it to the end of the maze before time runs out. If you succeed, you shall become official musketeers. Those of you gifted in your skills... don't allow your talents to go to waste in this challenge."

"To begin, each of you, select and stand on a circle, you will." Yoda said.

In random spots on the ground, there sat fifteen circles in green, blue, and red. Five of each color.

Grand Musketeer Yoda motioned for Musketeer Windu to activate the labyrinth.

Mace pressed a button, and a short distance from the Padawans appeared walls of stone, and all the Padawans were separated.

"While you are in this maze, you will each face challenges individually, though some of you may come to work together." Mace explained. "The color of the circle you stood on determined the challenges you will face. So those of you who stood on red circles... May the Force be with you especially."

Carmine quickly looked down and saw his circle was red. He gulped as he had no idea what he was in for.

Anakin stood on a blue circle, which he also wasn't sure what to expect from. But, he worried about his twin.

Ahsoka... she got a green circle to match with her lightsaber. She was going to make her surrogate brothers and her father proud today.

The three friends had no idea what each of them was in for, but they were equally determined to make it through and become official Jedi-teers.