I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
Scrumptious Egoi
I Lurks
Definitely Paladin, hell, I bet they all played paladin at first. At the same time.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
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I hope Shade gets some healing. Repressing emotion always goes bad.
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
Could be worthy of an Omake. The scene where they all had to pick a class.
I know someone who shares Shade's pain...besides my own DM, that is; Commander Badass.
You are coming to a wrong thread if you are hoping to read a story without angst. I mean, have you seen his stuff? Those shits are depressing, hell, I think I developed some kind of reader's sadism and masochism with how he hurts the characters with angst and hurts the readers with feelz.
Chapter Fourteen
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fourteen
Ahsoka fidgeted when it came time for dinner. She had begun reading the book she had 'taken in loan' from her Master's meditation chamber, but she hadn't thought it through. What if her master asked her about it? Or what if he asked about the damage to his room? Well, maybe he wouldn't meditate in it so shortly after her? She'd have to gather her courage and go back to try to clean the place up. As she stepped into the cafeteria, she realized her master wasn't present. A sigh of relief escaped her lips -she really didn't know how she could face him after learning those things from Knight Darra. It was after she sat down and was halfway through her meal that a robed figure settled in front of her.
She glanced up, and then spluttered.
"Master?"
"Don't ask," her Master replied, an eye-patch covering his right eye. "I'll be a pirate for a few days, apparently. On the plus side, no Duro Bounty-Hunter is going to escape with a Jedi holocron for as long as I draw breath."
He sighed. "Master Yoda reprimanded me for my recklessness, but what can I say? If it worked, it worked."
Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "What did?"
"Flying," her Master replied with a shrug. "It's hard to keep concentrating, but it worked. Or maybe I was just falling very, very slowly and horizontally. Could pretty much be that too," her Master turned thoughtful, tapping his chin. "But on to our next order of business," he exhaled. "The Republic is preparing a second strike on Geonosis, following the discovery of new combat droids foundries on the planet."
Ahsoka looked up from her meal to meet her master's half-defeated gaze. "You'll be assigned to Master Kenobi for the duration of the assault," her master reclined with his back against the chair, "I have not been allowed to participate."
"What, why?" Ahsoka blurted out, and her master simply lifted an eyebrow. Ahsoka fidgeted, and her master kept the eyebrow up until she finally sighed and hung her head in shame. "You know I know."
"Of course I know that you know," her master replied with a chuckle. "Give me credit. I would be more surprised if you didn't know by this point."
"Master," Ahsoka said, fidgeting with a few scraps of the Slob still left in her plate, "I-I want you to know I didn't mean to-"
"Break my meditation chamber?" her Master retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Or maybe fix it, depending on how you look at it. You did a great job, and see, that is in part why I'm not worried about you going along with Master Kenobi. He'll be able to teach you a lot, and-"
And Ahsoka's eyes widened as she suddenly slammed a hand on the table. "Right!" she blurted out, "My lightsaber, master!"
Her Master blinked. Ahsoka looked at him with both eyes narrow. "I think, padawan," her master said very, very calmly, "That a few more days, if not weeks, without a lightsaber would do you good. Unfortunately, I will not send my padawan on such a dangerous mission without her lightsaber, especially when she has yet to master the intricacies of Form Zero-" Ahsoka had been halfway through the table with her hands ready to strangle her master's neck, but they receded when she realized her master had unclasped from somewhere in his sleeve a lightsaber -her lightsaber- and had begun to push it back towards her side of the table by letting it slide on the metallic surface.
"Remember, padawan," her Master said calmly as she gripped the lightsaber back. "Whenever you ignite it, do it with cause, not with mindless abandon."
Ahsoka nodded, and clipped her lightsaber back to her belt.
Her Master then stood up and began to walk away, "Keep the book," he added, "I was going to give it to you eventually, so it's better this way. You'll have something to read on your way to Geonosis."
Ahsoka finished eating with blindingly fast speed, before hurriedly dropping the plate near the counter and rushing after her master. "I-"
"Spare the words," her Master replied with a calm tone. "I know what you want to say. I understand. I'll talk with Master Yoda. He'll find you another Master."
Ahsoka's eyes dropped to meet the floor, but the Togruta then clenched her teeth and looked firmly back up at her master. "No," she replied hotly, shaking her head.
Master Shade blinked. "No?" he remarked, as if caught off-guard. He looked at her with a surprised expression. "You're scared of me, Padawan. I can feel it from here," he added. "You're afraid of what might happen to you, and I understand it, that's why I told Master Yoda that-"
"No," Ahsoka replied with firmness in her tone. "You're only capable of doing stuff like this because you can't forgive yourself. I'm reckless, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. Your Dark Side wants me to help you, because you can't help yourself. And every time I think about the Bond we share, or the risks I incur if you ever feel hatred while I'm fighting or similar, then yes, it scares me. But I'm a Jedi. I must conquer my fears and move on. You aren't going to help me conquer them if you keep me away from the battle."
"Trained Jedi Knight and Masters fell to my Dark Side, padawan," her Master retorted calmly. "What makes you think you'll be any different?"
Ahsoka shrugged. "Maybe I'm not. But...you didn't know you could do that before, and now you know. So...you won't do it on purpose. And maybe you'll help me. You don't have to keep everyone away just because you're afraid. I understand your bond-ability is dangerous, but I don't think it's that bad. You're just letting fear cloud your judgment."
Her Master brought both eyebrows up, and inclined his head to the side. "Where's my padawan? What have you done to her and who the hell are you?"
Ahsoka bristled and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And what is that supposed to mean, master!?"
Her Master chuckled, and gave her a small pat of the head. This time, though, it simply was with the tip of his fingers on her forehead, far-away from her montrals. "Even old dogs can learn new tricks," he remarked. "Next time, do tell when I'm giving your Bat-Senses a shake. It's been decades since I last read of montrals and passive echolocation."
Ahsoka hummed, as if thinking it through, and then nodded. "You aren't going to swap me out, are you?"
Her Master exhaled and shook his head. "Amusingly, Master Yoda predicted I'd try to throw you away from the line of fire, and predicted you'd be capable of holding the line. So he remitted that possibility in your hands. You do understand what this means, of course?"
Ahsoka smiled bleakly. "That...I'm a padawan with a lot of potential?" she already knew what her Master was going to say in reply.
"Training Of Hell," her Master brightly smiled back at her, and she shuddered. "Oh, if we're going to have So. Much. Fun. When you get back from Geonosis, Padawan~" her master hummed, and she began to feel woozy. Maybe the assault on the planet could be prolonged of a few months? Or maybe years? Yeah, she'd totally be favorable to fight on the planet a few years.
"You promise?" Ahsoka asked. Her master faltered at the question, but she pressed on. "That we'll train?" she added. And have fun, but 'having fun' was a secondary thing.
Her master nodded once, and she knew he meant it.
"By the way, master," Ahsoka said as she began to walk by his side. "What are you going to do instead?"
"Oh, I'll be heading to Mustafar," her master replied. "There's a place there that needs my attention. Well, more than one, actually," he added. "Try to stay alive and avoid getting trapped in a tank, Padawan. Especially in a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed droid factory," he looked at her with that amused grin of his, and Ahsoka bristled.
"I will take your words in consideration," Ahsoka said flatly.
Her master simply nodded, and snapped his fingers. A small flick hit her forehead, making Ahsoka groan. "There," her master said, "That will make you remember it."
She nervously smiled. How could she forget something like that?
Stepping aboard the carrier, she was surprised to discover she wouldn't be going only with Master Kenobi. Master Luminara Unduli and Padawan Barriss Offee were also involved, as well as Knight Skywalker and...Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Ahsoka looked up at the male Cerean and blinked. Well, this was going to be a cinch, never mind her master's worries.
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi was on the High Council, and there was admittedly little that could shake him. Sure, she was assigned to Master Kenobi, but-
"So, is Master Shade being punished for his latest stunt on Felucia?" Knight Skywalker asked.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ahsoka shot back.
"Master Yoda did warn him of what would happen if he fell to the Dark Side again," Anakin said bluntly. "The reason he's not been sent with us to Geonosis is because he's been punished, isn't it right?"
"He has been sent on an important mission, Knight Skywalker," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said. "While his actions on Felucia greatly distressed Master Yoda, they are not the reason of his absence on this delicate mission."
"He's been sent to screw up another ecosystem then?" Anakin remarked.
"Master Shade deserves your respect, Knight Skywalker," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said briskly. "He has sacrificed much for the Jedi Order, and at great cost."
"Pardon Anakin, Master Mundi," Master Kenobi said. "He's...what was the term Master Shade used?"
Anakin bristled, blinked, then scuttled away. "No."
"Tsundere!" Master Kenobi snapped his fingers with a smile. "I think the term Master Shade used was 'Tsundere'. He is actually worried about his well-being, but hides it behind a facade of snark."
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi brought a hand to his chin, and scratched it as he lost himself in thought over it. Anakin groaned and 'thunked' his head against the nearby wall of the carrier.
Ahsoka nervously laughed at that and watched as Master Unduli scuttled away together with her Padawan to the far side of the carrier. She really wished she could join them, but apparently, she didn't have that luck.
"Right," Ahsoka said. "My master warned me of something before departure," she added, earning the attention of everyone. "He said something about paying attention not to get trapped inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed Droid factory."
"Well, it's official," Master Kenobi said. "You're going to end up inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed Droid factory."
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi nodded too, and gingerly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We should take his warning seriously, yet at the same time, it does foretell we will succeed in our mission."
Ahsoka blinked. "Mission? Aren't we simply reconquering Geonosis, Master?"
"Yes, that is the plan," Master Kenobi said. "The reason we are vying for the planet's control lies, however, in a recently discovered Droid Factory that Senator Amidala discovered the plans of at great risk for her safety. If it were allowed to reach full operational values, it would turn the war even bloodier. That is why we'll strike it with the might of the five-hundred and first legion," -Vader's Fist. Tutorial mission of Battlefront Two.
The carrier soon docked into the Resolute, and as they descended into its hangars, they were met by the admiral of the fleet, Admiral Wullf Yularen. "The fleet is assembled and ready for departure, High General Kenobi," the man nodded stiffly. Ahsoka looked around with a tinge of curiosity, but frankly, once you've seen a starship, you've seen them all.
"We also received an urgent communication concerning Dorin," the Admiral said as he guided the Jedi to the meeting hall. "General Grievous has arrived in the sector with a complement of the Separatist forces, but he is being thrown off by the Alpha Fleet."
"That's great," Kenobi said. "Then we can proceed with our attack on Geonosis?"
"Yes sir," the admiral said. "Although...here," a datapad passed hands, and as Kenobi scanned it, a small smile settled on his lips. "Well, I can hardly fault the man. He really likes to meddle, but I'd rather have him at my back then not."
"Sneaky man he is," Obi-Wan noted, "But I don't know. It is highly unorthodox."
The Datapad passed into the hands of Ki-Adi-Mundi, who read through it, humming thoughtfully. It then passed into the hands of Jedi Master Unduli, who nodded. Knight Skywalker took it next, and narrowed his eyes before grumbling. Ahsoka ended up grasping it at the same time as Padawan Barriss, and so the two read it together.
Heavy Anti-Air, suggest relocating invasion points here and here to form beach-head. Move them here, careful of spires still left intact. I'd suggest these spots. Oh, and beware the brain-worms the Geonosian queen underground likes to use. You'll have to manually extract them from the host body and slice them to prevent infection.
There was more gibberish and military suggestions along the way, and Ahsoka frowned just a little bit as she reached the end of the document. "Pardon me, master," Ahsoka said. "But...didn't you say Senator Amidala procured the information?"
"This arrived just a few minutes ago," Admiral Wullf remarked. "Typical of the man, of course."
"Well, we'll have to revise the plan then," Master Kenobi said. "I do so dislike a boring job."
"Do you truly think this is the moment for such humor, Master Kenobi?" Master Unduli spoke crisply, a thin grimace on her face. "War is not a place to have crude jokes." -Sarcasm helps to deal with life. Master Yoda beat that out of me with a stick. It didn't hurt, but damn if it wasn't annoying.
Ahsoka winced in sympathy at the phantom memory. She then proceeded to grow quiet and stick to a wall of the room, waiting for the incessant discussion to be over. She'd keep an eye out for tanks and rubble, and then she'd be fine. Her Master was the one heading over to a planet compromised of Lava after all -for what reason, she could hardly fathom. Yet Mustafar felt important to her senses.
Valley of the Jedi. Separatist last capital. Lord Vader's birth. Anakin Skywalker's death.
Again.
That 'Vader' name.
The thoughts jumbled through her head and made her frown, but she gave a quick glance over to where Knight Skywalker was. He would die on Mustafar? Had her master predicted it? And if he had, was he going to stop it from happening? In the end, her Master really did care for Skywalker, didn't he?
She felt a sneeze echo in the Force, soon followed by a lightly muttered curse.
"My name is Ahsoka," she said after a few hours of touring the ship looking for her compartments -which she'd share with her fellow Padawan as a way to foster their getting to know each other for the mission at hand- "I'm apprenticed under Master Shade."
"I am Barriss," the Mirialan replied as calmly as she could, "And while I hold no preconceptions on you, I think you chose a very poor master."
All right.
Ahsoka's smile faltered, but still, she had to ask just to be sure she had heard correctly.
"You have a problem with my master?"
"You know what he did on Geonosis, do you not?" Barriss replied. "There are holocrons detailing the events. If all you seek in him is his power, then you fail as Jedi before even-"
"I haven't watched a holocron, but I read the reports," Ahsoka replied scathingly, "But I will not allow you to insult my master with your ignorance! He didn't willfully-"
Barriss was quick, and from her sleeve threw a small disc straight at Ahsoka's chest. The Togruta caught it, and looked at it with surprise. It was a small holocron disk, and seemed to have etched on it a date and a name 'Geonosis'. She looked back up to watch Barriss head for the door.
"Watch the video," the Padawan said. "I made a copy to always remember how a Jedi should never act. It's a disgrace for the order that he's still even allowed to be called one."
Ahsoka would have rebutted, but by the time she caught the words she wanted to say in her throat, the Padawan had left. Ahsoka slammed her back against the metallic wall of the small room, and then looked at the holocron in her hand. She threw it against her pillow, and watched as it bounced back, rolled on the floor, and then activated by itself.
The view was shaky, probably coming from the camera of a Clone trooper's helmet.
It showed a walking sandstorm with flashes of white, orange and red head for the bulk of the droid army, crushing through them as lightning bolts emerged to turn to glass the sands of Geonosis and any enemy foolish enough to lay between him and his objective. Only, the sandstorm didn't have an objective. It simply moved to the biggest threat, and didn't stop until it had pulverized it. Nearby, other Jedi rushed ahead frothing from their mouths, striking down droids even as they were riddled with bolt fire.
The sandstorm didn't abate even in the face of rocket-fire, or large droid vehicles. Heck, Ahsoka watched as the clone recording the video whispered a shocked exclamation of fear at the sight of one of the Geonosian's spires being crushed by an invisible force, before another soon followed. The sky had meanwhile turned black, and as thunder kept falling on the Droid army, a general scream of route echoed through the Clone trooper's helmet.
It was at that moment, that a blur of green shot through the last few frames of the video, straight into the sandstorm. There were more than a few flashes of light, and then the sandstorm receded, disappeared, and left in its wake her Master hanging limp to Yoda's shoulder.
A comic scene, if not for the gravity of what had happened just beforehand.
Ahsoka turned the holocron disc off with a wave of the hand, and then draped the sheets of her bed around her like a robe of sorts, clutching her knees together.
That was in the past.
Her Master had changed from then.
Can people really change in just a year, Alice?
"Shut up," Ahsoka whispered back to the Cheshire Cat. The striped cat didn't press the argument, and simply walked away beneath Barriss' bed. His glowing eyes looked at her with vivid amusement until she finally fell asleep, letting the darkness and the tiredness take their toll on her body.
Ahsoka fidgeted when it came time for dinner. She had begun reading the book she had 'taken in loan' from her Master's meditation chamber, but she hadn't thought it through. What if her master asked her about it? Or what if he asked about the damage to his room? Well, maybe he wouldn't meditate in it so shortly after her? She'd have to gather her courage and go back to try to clean the place up. As she stepped into the cafeteria, she realized her master wasn't present. A sigh of relief escaped her lips -she really didn't know how she could face him after learning those things from Knight Darra. It was after she sat down and was halfway through her meal that a robed figure settled in front of her.
She glanced up, and then spluttered.
"Master?"
"Don't ask," her Master replied, an eye-patch covering his right eye. "I'll be a pirate for a few days, apparently. On the plus side, no Duro Bounty-Hunter is going to escape with a Jedi holocron for as long as I draw breath."
He sighed. "Master Yoda reprimanded me for my recklessness, but what can I say? If it worked, it worked."
Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "What did?"
"Flying," her Master replied with a shrug. "It's hard to keep concentrating, but it worked. Or maybe I was just falling very, very slowly and horizontally. Could pretty much be that too," her Master turned thoughtful, tapping his chin. "But on to our next order of business," he exhaled. "The Republic is preparing a second strike on Geonosis, following the discovery of new combat droids foundries on the planet."
Ahsoka looked up from her meal to meet her master's half-defeated gaze. "You'll be assigned to Master Kenobi for the duration of the assault," her master reclined with his back against the chair, "I have not been allowed to participate."
"What, why?" Ahsoka blurted out, and her master simply lifted an eyebrow. Ahsoka fidgeted, and her master kept the eyebrow up until she finally sighed and hung her head in shame. "You know I know."
"Of course I know that you know," her master replied with a chuckle. "Give me credit. I would be more surprised if you didn't know by this point."
"Master," Ahsoka said, fidgeting with a few scraps of the Slob still left in her plate, "I-I want you to know I didn't mean to-"
"Break my meditation chamber?" her Master retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Or maybe fix it, depending on how you look at it. You did a great job, and see, that is in part why I'm not worried about you going along with Master Kenobi. He'll be able to teach you a lot, and-"
And Ahsoka's eyes widened as she suddenly slammed a hand on the table. "Right!" she blurted out, "My lightsaber, master!"
Her Master blinked. Ahsoka looked at him with both eyes narrow. "I think, padawan," her master said very, very calmly, "That a few more days, if not weeks, without a lightsaber would do you good. Unfortunately, I will not send my padawan on such a dangerous mission without her lightsaber, especially when she has yet to master the intricacies of Form Zero-" Ahsoka had been halfway through the table with her hands ready to strangle her master's neck, but they receded when she realized her master had unclasped from somewhere in his sleeve a lightsaber -her lightsaber- and had begun to push it back towards her side of the table by letting it slide on the metallic surface.
"Remember, padawan," her Master said calmly as she gripped the lightsaber back. "Whenever you ignite it, do it with cause, not with mindless abandon."
Ahsoka nodded, and clipped her lightsaber back to her belt.
Her Master then stood up and began to walk away, "Keep the book," he added, "I was going to give it to you eventually, so it's better this way. You'll have something to read on your way to Geonosis."
Ahsoka finished eating with blindingly fast speed, before hurriedly dropping the plate near the counter and rushing after her master. "I-"
"Spare the words," her Master replied with a calm tone. "I know what you want to say. I understand. I'll talk with Master Yoda. He'll find you another Master."
Ahsoka's eyes dropped to meet the floor, but the Togruta then clenched her teeth and looked firmly back up at her master. "No," she replied hotly, shaking her head.
Master Shade blinked. "No?" he remarked, as if caught off-guard. He looked at her with a surprised expression. "You're scared of me, Padawan. I can feel it from here," he added. "You're afraid of what might happen to you, and I understand it, that's why I told Master Yoda that-"
"No," Ahsoka replied with firmness in her tone. "You're only capable of doing stuff like this because you can't forgive yourself. I'm reckless, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. Your Dark Side wants me to help you, because you can't help yourself. And every time I think about the Bond we share, or the risks I incur if you ever feel hatred while I'm fighting or similar, then yes, it scares me. But I'm a Jedi. I must conquer my fears and move on. You aren't going to help me conquer them if you keep me away from the battle."
"Trained Jedi Knight and Masters fell to my Dark Side, padawan," her Master retorted calmly. "What makes you think you'll be any different?"
Ahsoka shrugged. "Maybe I'm not. But...you didn't know you could do that before, and now you know. So...you won't do it on purpose. And maybe you'll help me. You don't have to keep everyone away just because you're afraid. I understand your bond-ability is dangerous, but I don't think it's that bad. You're just letting fear cloud your judgment."
Her Master brought both eyebrows up, and inclined his head to the side. "Where's my padawan? What have you done to her and who the hell are you?"
Ahsoka bristled and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And what is that supposed to mean, master!?"
Her Master chuckled, and gave her a small pat of the head. This time, though, it simply was with the tip of his fingers on her forehead, far-away from her montrals. "Even old dogs can learn new tricks," he remarked. "Next time, do tell when I'm giving your Bat-Senses a shake. It's been decades since I last read of montrals and passive echolocation."
Ahsoka hummed, as if thinking it through, and then nodded. "You aren't going to swap me out, are you?"
Her Master exhaled and shook his head. "Amusingly, Master Yoda predicted I'd try to throw you away from the line of fire, and predicted you'd be capable of holding the line. So he remitted that possibility in your hands. You do understand what this means, of course?"
Ahsoka smiled bleakly. "That...I'm a padawan with a lot of potential?" she already knew what her Master was going to say in reply.
"Training Of Hell," her Master brightly smiled back at her, and she shuddered. "Oh, if we're going to have So. Much. Fun. When you get back from Geonosis, Padawan~" her master hummed, and she began to feel woozy. Maybe the assault on the planet could be prolonged of a few months? Or maybe years? Yeah, she'd totally be favorable to fight on the planet a few years.
"You promise?" Ahsoka asked. Her master faltered at the question, but she pressed on. "That we'll train?" she added. And have fun, but 'having fun' was a secondary thing.
Her master nodded once, and she knew he meant it.
"By the way, master," Ahsoka said as she began to walk by his side. "What are you going to do instead?"
"Oh, I'll be heading to Mustafar," her master replied. "There's a place there that needs my attention. Well, more than one, actually," he added. "Try to stay alive and avoid getting trapped in a tank, Padawan. Especially in a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed droid factory," he looked at her with that amused grin of his, and Ahsoka bristled.
"I will take your words in consideration," Ahsoka said flatly.
Her master simply nodded, and snapped his fingers. A small flick hit her forehead, making Ahsoka groan. "There," her master said, "That will make you remember it."
She nervously smiled. How could she forget something like that?
Stepping aboard the carrier, she was surprised to discover she wouldn't be going only with Master Kenobi. Master Luminara Unduli and Padawan Barriss Offee were also involved, as well as Knight Skywalker and...Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Ahsoka looked up at the male Cerean and blinked. Well, this was going to be a cinch, never mind her master's worries.
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi was on the High Council, and there was admittedly little that could shake him. Sure, she was assigned to Master Kenobi, but-
"So, is Master Shade being punished for his latest stunt on Felucia?" Knight Skywalker asked.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ahsoka shot back.
"Master Yoda did warn him of what would happen if he fell to the Dark Side again," Anakin said bluntly. "The reason he's not been sent with us to Geonosis is because he's been punished, isn't it right?"
"He has been sent on an important mission, Knight Skywalker," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said. "While his actions on Felucia greatly distressed Master Yoda, they are not the reason of his absence on this delicate mission."
"He's been sent to screw up another ecosystem then?" Anakin remarked.
"Master Shade deserves your respect, Knight Skywalker," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said briskly. "He has sacrificed much for the Jedi Order, and at great cost."
"Pardon Anakin, Master Mundi," Master Kenobi said. "He's...what was the term Master Shade used?"
Anakin bristled, blinked, then scuttled away. "No."
"Tsundere!" Master Kenobi snapped his fingers with a smile. "I think the term Master Shade used was 'Tsundere'. He is actually worried about his well-being, but hides it behind a facade of snark."
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi brought a hand to his chin, and scratched it as he lost himself in thought over it. Anakin groaned and 'thunked' his head against the nearby wall of the carrier.
Ahsoka nervously laughed at that and watched as Master Unduli scuttled away together with her Padawan to the far side of the carrier. She really wished she could join them, but apparently, she didn't have that luck.
"Right," Ahsoka said. "My master warned me of something before departure," she added, earning the attention of everyone. "He said something about paying attention not to get trapped inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed Droid factory."
"Well, it's official," Master Kenobi said. "You're going to end up inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed Droid factory."
Master Ki-Adi-Mundi nodded too, and gingerly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We should take his warning seriously, yet at the same time, it does foretell we will succeed in our mission."
Ahsoka blinked. "Mission? Aren't we simply reconquering Geonosis, Master?"
"Yes, that is the plan," Master Kenobi said. "The reason we are vying for the planet's control lies, however, in a recently discovered Droid Factory that Senator Amidala discovered the plans of at great risk for her safety. If it were allowed to reach full operational values, it would turn the war even bloodier. That is why we'll strike it with the might of the five-hundred and first legion," -Vader's Fist. Tutorial mission of Battlefront Two.
The carrier soon docked into the Resolute, and as they descended into its hangars, they were met by the admiral of the fleet, Admiral Wullf Yularen. "The fleet is assembled and ready for departure, High General Kenobi," the man nodded stiffly. Ahsoka looked around with a tinge of curiosity, but frankly, once you've seen a starship, you've seen them all.
"We also received an urgent communication concerning Dorin," the Admiral said as he guided the Jedi to the meeting hall. "General Grievous has arrived in the sector with a complement of the Separatist forces, but he is being thrown off by the Alpha Fleet."
"That's great," Kenobi said. "Then we can proceed with our attack on Geonosis?"
"Yes sir," the admiral said. "Although...here," a datapad passed hands, and as Kenobi scanned it, a small smile settled on his lips. "Well, I can hardly fault the man. He really likes to meddle, but I'd rather have him at my back then not."
"Sneaky man he is," Obi-Wan noted, "But I don't know. It is highly unorthodox."
The Datapad passed into the hands of Ki-Adi-Mundi, who read through it, humming thoughtfully. It then passed into the hands of Jedi Master Unduli, who nodded. Knight Skywalker took it next, and narrowed his eyes before grumbling. Ahsoka ended up grasping it at the same time as Padawan Barriss, and so the two read it together.
Heavy Anti-Air, suggest relocating invasion points here and here to form beach-head. Move them here, careful of spires still left intact. I'd suggest these spots. Oh, and beware the brain-worms the Geonosian queen underground likes to use. You'll have to manually extract them from the host body and slice them to prevent infection.
There was more gibberish and military suggestions along the way, and Ahsoka frowned just a little bit as she reached the end of the document. "Pardon me, master," Ahsoka said. "But...didn't you say Senator Amidala procured the information?"
"This arrived just a few minutes ago," Admiral Wullf remarked. "Typical of the man, of course."
"Well, we'll have to revise the plan then," Master Kenobi said. "I do so dislike a boring job."
"Do you truly think this is the moment for such humor, Master Kenobi?" Master Unduli spoke crisply, a thin grimace on her face. "War is not a place to have crude jokes." -Sarcasm helps to deal with life. Master Yoda beat that out of me with a stick. It didn't hurt, but damn if it wasn't annoying.
Ahsoka winced in sympathy at the phantom memory. She then proceeded to grow quiet and stick to a wall of the room, waiting for the incessant discussion to be over. She'd keep an eye out for tanks and rubble, and then she'd be fine. Her Master was the one heading over to a planet compromised of Lava after all -for what reason, she could hardly fathom. Yet Mustafar felt important to her senses.
Valley of the Jedi. Separatist last capital. Lord Vader's birth. Anakin Skywalker's death.
Again.
That 'Vader' name.
The thoughts jumbled through her head and made her frown, but she gave a quick glance over to where Knight Skywalker was. He would die on Mustafar? Had her master predicted it? And if he had, was he going to stop it from happening? In the end, her Master really did care for Skywalker, didn't he?
She felt a sneeze echo in the Force, soon followed by a lightly muttered curse.
"My name is Ahsoka," she said after a few hours of touring the ship looking for her compartments -which she'd share with her fellow Padawan as a way to foster their getting to know each other for the mission at hand- "I'm apprenticed under Master Shade."
"I am Barriss," the Mirialan replied as calmly as she could, "And while I hold no preconceptions on you, I think you chose a very poor master."
All right.
Ahsoka's smile faltered, but still, she had to ask just to be sure she had heard correctly.
"You have a problem with my master?"
"You know what he did on Geonosis, do you not?" Barriss replied. "There are holocrons detailing the events. If all you seek in him is his power, then you fail as Jedi before even-"
"I haven't watched a holocron, but I read the reports," Ahsoka replied scathingly, "But I will not allow you to insult my master with your ignorance! He didn't willfully-"
Barriss was quick, and from her sleeve threw a small disc straight at Ahsoka's chest. The Togruta caught it, and looked at it with surprise. It was a small holocron disk, and seemed to have etched on it a date and a name 'Geonosis'. She looked back up to watch Barriss head for the door.
"Watch the video," the Padawan said. "I made a copy to always remember how a Jedi should never act. It's a disgrace for the order that he's still even allowed to be called one."
Ahsoka would have rebutted, but by the time she caught the words she wanted to say in her throat, the Padawan had left. Ahsoka slammed her back against the metallic wall of the small room, and then looked at the holocron in her hand. She threw it against her pillow, and watched as it bounced back, rolled on the floor, and then activated by itself.
The view was shaky, probably coming from the camera of a Clone trooper's helmet.
It showed a walking sandstorm with flashes of white, orange and red head for the bulk of the droid army, crushing through them as lightning bolts emerged to turn to glass the sands of Geonosis and any enemy foolish enough to lay between him and his objective. Only, the sandstorm didn't have an objective. It simply moved to the biggest threat, and didn't stop until it had pulverized it. Nearby, other Jedi rushed ahead frothing from their mouths, striking down droids even as they were riddled with bolt fire.
The sandstorm didn't abate even in the face of rocket-fire, or large droid vehicles. Heck, Ahsoka watched as the clone recording the video whispered a shocked exclamation of fear at the sight of one of the Geonosian's spires being crushed by an invisible force, before another soon followed. The sky had meanwhile turned black, and as thunder kept falling on the Droid army, a general scream of route echoed through the Clone trooper's helmet.
It was at that moment, that a blur of green shot through the last few frames of the video, straight into the sandstorm. There were more than a few flashes of light, and then the sandstorm receded, disappeared, and left in its wake her Master hanging limp to Yoda's shoulder.
A comic scene, if not for the gravity of what had happened just beforehand.
Ahsoka turned the holocron disc off with a wave of the hand, and then draped the sheets of her bed around her like a robe of sorts, clutching her knees together.
That was in the past.
Her Master had changed from then.
Can people really change in just a year, Alice?
"Shut up," Ahsoka whispered back to the Cheshire Cat. The striped cat didn't press the argument, and simply walked away beneath Barriss' bed. His glowing eyes looked at her with vivid amusement until she finally fell asleep, letting the darkness and the tiredness take their toll on her body.
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
I imagine what happened is less a point on his character and more a point on his nature as a nexus. His dark side isn't his it's all of there. The feel his pain and he feels their and theres and it magnifies and refracts in the purity of the force and in the death and pain on the battlefield.
Less something he did to them than an experience that wsa mutually terrbile.
Less something he did to them than an experience that wsa mutually terrbile.
- Location
- Southport
Thats a significant change then I think? the two padawans not hitting it off certainly makes for an interesting change.
If Shade went darkside bonkers because of all the Jedi who died at that time then I wonder how he would react if one of the Jedi he still has links to does an Obi-wan?
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I don't see how much greyer he could have gone right now.
He's using the dark side to enhance and restore the light, You can't go more grey than that.
The Clone Wars cartoon really was not good for her character.
- Location
- Australia
Yea. I know. Yet I keep coming back for more. What is this sorcery?!
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Hmm, I understand nothing of computers so I'm going to make a computer metaphor!
He's like the local Darkside, memory dump, right?
Not only does he deal with his won shit, but he acts as a sort of central access node ever everyone connected to him. When enough Jedi he was connected to fell around him, he fell and took the rest of the network down with him.
He's like the local Darkside, memory dump, right?
Not only does he deal with his won shit, but he acts as a sort of central access node ever everyone connected to him. When enough Jedi he was connected to fell around him, he fell and took the rest of the network down with him.
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I was referring to some stuff I read from wookiepedia about how some of the grey philosophies seem to be just plane unaffected by the normal extremes of using the dark or light side.
Chapter Fifteen
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifteen
Geonosis was a desert just waiting to happen. The red rocky spires that dotted its landscape were, to date, the most vivid representation of 'desert' that Ahsoka had ever seen, barring her master's meditation chambers. She hadn't spoken with Barriss at all since that day with the holocron disc, and she didn't even have the intention to. Her Master's presence had grown weak through the Bond, probably because of his distance, and she couldn't help but feel alone. As she watched the holograph in front of her, depicting the situation around the droid factory, a tiny nagging voice of doubt made itself known, worming its way through her head to her lips.
"Can't we just circle around it?" Ahsoka asked. You didn't need a genius to understand that outright rushing a flimsy bridge straight ahead of the main doors of the factory was suicidal. Apparently, Skywalker hadn't been taught Strategy One-Oh-One, and was keen on proving his point. Master Unduli wasn't impressed, but neither was she against it.
Master Kenobi and Ki-Adi-Mundi had gone over to reinforce other sides of the planetary assault, leaving thus them four as the Jedi commanders of the assault on the factory. Well, not really them four. She was a Padawan, and so was Barriss. It was mostly Knight Skywalker and Master Unduli who called the shots.
Skywalker's idea was nuts, and Unduli's idea wasn't better.
"The factory is surrounded by impervious mountains," Master Unduli remarked. "And the anti-air is too heavy for the gunships to circle around."
Ahsoka bit down a 'my master would simply topple the mountain over the factory', because that wasn't going to help. She simply looked back at the holocron and sighed as she slung the explosive pack on her back. They'd go with Master Unduli's plan.
"You do realize my Master warned us of this, right?" Ahsoka remarked.
"That is why we'll use markers to know where you are," Unduli replied, handing over such a nifty tool to her and Barriss, while putting on one herself as well as Skywalker. "That way, if you will end up trapped inside a tank, we will be able to come to your rescue."
If the signal was strong enough, of course, but Ahsoka didn't voice that doubt out loud.
As they began to descend along the ridge to reach the base of the gulch, and from there make their way into the catacombs of the droid factory, Ahsoka trailed behind Barriss in silence. The Mirialan padawan hadn't tried to stir the argument about Ahsoka's master again, and so the Togruta had been content to let it go. Meanwhile, up above she could hear the sound of the droid army marching out to face off the clone one. Seriously, 'stick to cover' was one of the most basic things they could learn, and yet Knight Skywalker had insisted on a march-like parade to get the Droid army out. And the droids had fallen for such a dumb challenge.
Still, as Barriss cut through the wall of rock with her lightsaber, Ahsoka looked ahead at the darkness of the Geonosian's catacombs. With her echolocation, she was going to be right at home, light or not.
"I," Barriss said suddenly, making Ahsoka stop her thoughts, "Wanted to apologize."
Ahsoka turned to look at the Mirialan, a perplexed expression clearly visible on her face, because her fellow padawan added for clarification, "About my words against your master. I shouldn't have let emotions control me like that."
Ahsoka sighed, and shook her head gently. "That's all right. I watched the video. I understand," Ahsoka said. "If I didn't know my master well, I'd be afraid too."
"Fear?" Barriss whispered, and her eyes gleamed slightly. "Ah, I see then. I was afraid. I guess I still have a long way to go to complete my training."
"Don't we all?" Ahsoka replied. Barriss stepped inside first, and Ahsoka followed her. Quietly, they made their way through the silent, dark catacombs as the stale air filled Ahsoka's nostrils.
Alice...
Ahsoka froze. No. Not now. She couldn't fall into Wonderland now. The light shifted and disappeared, leaving only the darkness of the catacombs and the pale color of dust everywhere else. Her feet crunched on the gravel. There were bones, thousands of bones, all crunching beneath her feet. The temperature grew hot around her, as if beneath the white pearly color of marrows and skulls laid a thick mat of lava, eager to burst and swallow her whole. Barriss took a turn right, but the Cheshire Cat instead grinned at her from the left. 'Come here, Alice' it seemed to say with its tail and smile. 'Come here.'
Ahsoka hesitated. She was no Alice. She had a mission to follow through.
Your master will die if you don't follow me, Alice. Do you want him to die?
She turned left. She turned left without hesitation, and as she did, a soft, then ever-growing, symphony began to take form. It was an orchestra with drums, trumpets, and more. The bones shifted and give way to a pool of burning lava, to reveal her Master standing at the edge of a precipice, a hand grasping at a molten rock as he hissed in pain form the burning skin. In front of him, a group of dark robed figures stretched with glowing red lightsabers.
"You aren't supposed to be here yet!" her Master yelled at the robed figures. "You aren't even supposed to exist!"
"Master!" Ahsoka yelled through the lava. "Hold on! I'll-" you'll do what? Contact help? The sound of the orchestra's violins grew in a crescendo as one of the dark robed figures neared, lightsaber drawn. Her Master looked up, and sighed as he let go, falling into the lava. Ahsoka's heart stopped beating for a brief moment as she watched her master fall. Time seemed to stop, and then her master's body struck the lava river, and fell through it.
Ahsoka clenched her right hand and screamed as the bones around her rattled and broke, the lightning emerging from her fingertips singing at everything around her. When her breathing calmed down, evened out, and when she finally looked at her surroundings, she stood in a plain of bones and dust in deep, large chambers.
Hundreds of corpses hung in the air, floating by as dark, pulsing energies twisted and twirled, casting shadows of darkness everywhere they went, like ravening mad and hungry beasts seeking to devour flesh.
"And what have we here?" a lanky, bony person spoke from a throne of bones. "My, if it isn't the apprentice," the figure that spoke wasn't on the throne, as much as the throne itself, made out of bone and with a lit skull at its center, talking to her through the air. "So, you have finally fallen deep into the madness?"
"W-Where am I?" Ahsoka asked.
"Just a few steps away from losing yourself, apprentice. Your Master, wise as he was, decided to try to use a galaxy wide Battle Meditation with the Valley of the Jedi's Nexus. A daring thought, quite useful if it had succeeded. A pity it did not," the skull remarked. "Of course, the Valley of the Jedi is not on Mustafar, but on Ruusan. There, over a hundred souls remain trapped. This little detour your Master took was out of concern," the skull added. "A concern that shakes the very foundation of his actions. Here I stand, of course, as the final guardian to his madness."
"What are you?" Ahsoka asked in a whisper, dreading the answers.
Blood began to seep through the walls.
"Blood for the blood god," the skull snarled, the blood gushing out of every skulls' empty eye socket like a geyser of thick syrup, twisting and pulling at the throne as it began to lift it up. "Skulls for the skull throne!" the voice grew louder as the throne cracked apart, widening the frame of blood and bone as it rose, and rose, and rose even higher. Wings of blood and bone sprouted from its back. "BURN!" the ground shook, and hot scorching flames erupted around Ahsoka. "MAIM!" swords of chipped bone spun in the air, and rushed forward. Ahsoka deftly dodged backwards, igniting her lightsaber as she struck them down. Batting away floating skulls and shards of bone, she watched the behemoth monstrosity lift itself higher still. "KILL!"
A large cleaver-like weapon with sharp teeth roared into existence, like a chainsaw, only wielded like a sword. Another sprouted from the ground, and both ignited. "FOR KHORNE!"
Ahsoka's eyes widened significantly as the terrifying monstrosity rushed at her. She jumped to the side, her feet digging in the bones of the wall nearby. The chainsword of fire and bones crushed the ground where she had stood before, widening a large gap in the ground and filling it with bubbling lava. Clutching on to a skull with her left hand and wielding her lightsaber with her right, she sliced a few more floating skulls coming her way, and then screamed as the skull she had been holding on to bit her hard enough to draw blood. She punched the skull's teeth off, and rolled to the side as more skulls on the wall began to bite at her. She couldn't stop, but the behemoth had meanwhile turned to stare at her.
The Dark Force's energies empowered the monster, floating in the air around it.
Feels like a boss battle. If this is a raid, you're missing thirty-nine members. You soloing?
The Cheshire cat was grinning at her as one of the 'skulls' in the wall, and she narrowed her eyes at it before slamming her lightsaber through his head down to the hilt. The cat quickly disappeared, but damn if it didn't feel good to do it. As the chainsword slammed slightly below her and roared to life, the skulls split open as the monstrous abomination began to push the chainsword upwards, against her. She didn't have the time to stop, but her breathing was already coming less. It was then that her eyes caught the sight of a golden skull impaled on a spike of wrought iron and blood right at the top of the abomination's head.
This...
This was like the pillar training, only with monstrous deaths all around.
Well.
Well this didn't change things.
The floor is lava was one of the few games the initiates played when bored, much to their teachers' disdain. And in this case, the floor was lava, and flesh-eating skulls, and -the chainsword was coming closer so it was better to fucking concentrate on the job at hand!
Ahsoka's feet dug in the skulls and then she pushed herself to run upwards, the Force empowering her legs. Her eyes concentrated on the wall, but her montrals picked the movements of the beast behind her. Suddenly, the behemoth's other hand shot forth with the second chainsword -how could she forget about it!?- but she jumped then, avoiding the deadly bones and flames by an inch. The heat was unbearable, and her eyes watered as she twisted her body in midair. The monster moved its head back, and yet Ahsoka clutched her lightsaber and threw it. The blade spun in the air sizzling, and yet, an instant before it could strike the golden skull, the bastard moved it across its head.
"THAT'S UNFAIR!" Ahsoka burst out as she began to fall, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. With both hands in front of her, she pulled at her lightsaber, which swiftly went on a return path.
The monster roared at her, but suddenly stopped and, if possible, the eye-sockets of its large skull-like face widened in disbelief as the golden skull fell, neatly sliced in half by Ahsoka's lightsaber.
The Padawan grinned, even as the lava drew neared to her. Quickly, the pavement's cracks closed themselves just in the nick of time, preventing Ahsoka from dying a fiery death, and instead making her suffer a very bad case of back injury.
The abomination of the Force crumbled in front of her eyes, dispersing to reveal a young looking, and trembling, child. The kid was terribly familiar to her, but what cinched it was his eyes.
"M-Master?" Ahsoka asked, drawing near.
"Fear is weak," the child replied shakily, "So...so we change fear into anger," the child said, looking up at her. "And anger makes us strong. Hatred gives us purpose. When...when we are afraid, we run. When we cannot run any longer, we lash out. When we lash out with purpose...we truly become strong," the child looked up at her. "Isn't that right?"
Ahsoka hesitated, and then shook her head. "No." She knelt in front of the scared child. "It's when we accept our fears, and let go of them, that we truly become strong."
The child took a deep breath, and exhaled once. "Leave it...to a Disney character to say that sort of sappy stuff." He grinned, and flicked her forehead, as his frame grew back to its adult form. "I am starting to dislike the Force shenanigans," he acquiesced, his arms hidden by his sleeves. "Truly, maybe I should have thought it better."
"Master?" Ahsoka asked, as around them the walls began to crumble and disperse, letting the rays of the sun shine in.
"I chose my Padawan well," he added. "Maybe, I chose her perfectly. Worry not, Padawan. I was simply overpowered by the Force in the Valley of the Jedi, but it won't happen again."
Ahsoka hesitated. "I saw you fall into the lava, master."
"Energy immunity, padawan," her Master replied dutifully. "I can bat away lightsabers with my hands, you think mere 'lava' is hotter than plasma?"
She looked up at him in surprise, and her Master merely returned a grin. "I am Fire Immune padawan! Damage Reduction Rating of Fifty slash epic! I am OP, someone should nerf me," humming to himself, he made a little spin and flicked her forehead once again.
Ahsoka laughed nervously. "Now, Padawan," her master said seriously. "I need you to promise me something." His hands grabbed the sides of her face, and lifted her head to meet his gaze.
Ahsoka half-froze, like a skittish rabbit. She looked up and awkwardly nodded. Really, what part of 'not touching the montrals' was hard to understand? And the side of her face had montrals. It wasn't that difficult!
"Don't blame yourself," her master said. "You had no control over this."
Ahsoka frowned. No control? No control over what?
The sun disappeared. Her master disappeared. She was back in the catacombs, her lightsaber was in her hand, but Barriss Offee was nowhere to be seen. The rumbling sound of an explosion rocked through the complex, and Ahsoka had barely the time to run away, ignoring her surroundings and the plethora of Geonosian's soldier corpses that skittered the hallways she had trudged upon in her Force trance, before it all came crashing down on her.
The rubble coming down blasted her the last few meters off, before she emerged from the tunnel, blinded by the sun as she began a free-fall of a few meters, rolling against the rock surface as she came to a halt against a rock. Ahsoka hissed. She could swear she had heard her ribs crack from the strength of the blow, even as a thick cloud of dust soon proceeded to cover her. More rocks tumbled down near her, but none hit her fallen body. In the end, when the dust settled, she gagged for air and pushed her body above the rock, her vision clouded and blood dribbling down her frame. She couldn't move her right arm either.
But she was alive, wasn't she?
And her Master was alive.
...
And Barriss had completed the mission alone.
She probably had left her behind. Really. How could she? She should have at least thought it through before doing something like that! She could have died if she had stayed in there a bit longer! Had the Mirialan Padawan no shame? She'd get a word out of her mind the moment she found her! Oh if she would!
When a clone gunship found her, and a few clones placed her gingerly on a stretcher, Ahsoka was already on her last forces. She could barely keep her eyes open, let alone speak. Knight Skywalker neared her out of concern -she hoped, and her hopes were soon dashed- and didn't even ask her how she felt -like crap, of course.
"Where is Barriss?" he asked her, and she answered with what had been on her mind until then.
"She left...me behind," Ahsoka croaked out. "I...don't know."
Knight Skywalker nodded firmly once, and then left her alone. She fell asleep soon after, because with the sun hitting her face, it was just a question of imagination to think back at the river bank, at the grassy hill, and at the picnic tablecloth laid with a closed basket and a bright sun overhead.
It was a peaceful dream.
And she had avoided getting stuck inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed droid factory.
On her book, that counted as a victory.
You've picked up a bit of an attitude, still curious and willing to learn, I hope.
Ahsoka's eyes widened. "There must be more than one way to skin a cat."
The Cat looked at her from atop the basket, laid on the tablecloth, and his grin never faded. The rest of his body, of course, did, but not his grin, oh no, his grin remained right there in the middle of the air, and as Ahsoka grumbled, the grin turned even fiercer.
You don't know how fine you looked when you dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate your condition is not permanent. You're lucky, too. Red eyes suit so few.
"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked, but the cat's grin disappeared. It disappeared, and it did not come back. Too tired to think about it, or maybe finally waking up, Ahsoka let it go. It wasn't important anyway. The cat was mad. Just like she, probably, was.
But everyone was a little bit mad, so...it was fine that way?
Geonosis was a desert just waiting to happen. The red rocky spires that dotted its landscape were, to date, the most vivid representation of 'desert' that Ahsoka had ever seen, barring her master's meditation chambers. She hadn't spoken with Barriss at all since that day with the holocron disc, and she didn't even have the intention to. Her Master's presence had grown weak through the Bond, probably because of his distance, and she couldn't help but feel alone. As she watched the holograph in front of her, depicting the situation around the droid factory, a tiny nagging voice of doubt made itself known, worming its way through her head to her lips.
"Can't we just circle around it?" Ahsoka asked. You didn't need a genius to understand that outright rushing a flimsy bridge straight ahead of the main doors of the factory was suicidal. Apparently, Skywalker hadn't been taught Strategy One-Oh-One, and was keen on proving his point. Master Unduli wasn't impressed, but neither was she against it.
Master Kenobi and Ki-Adi-Mundi had gone over to reinforce other sides of the planetary assault, leaving thus them four as the Jedi commanders of the assault on the factory. Well, not really them four. She was a Padawan, and so was Barriss. It was mostly Knight Skywalker and Master Unduli who called the shots.
Skywalker's idea was nuts, and Unduli's idea wasn't better.
"The factory is surrounded by impervious mountains," Master Unduli remarked. "And the anti-air is too heavy for the gunships to circle around."
Ahsoka bit down a 'my master would simply topple the mountain over the factory', because that wasn't going to help. She simply looked back at the holocron and sighed as she slung the explosive pack on her back. They'd go with Master Unduli's plan.
"You do realize my Master warned us of this, right?" Ahsoka remarked.
"That is why we'll use markers to know where you are," Unduli replied, handing over such a nifty tool to her and Barriss, while putting on one herself as well as Skywalker. "That way, if you will end up trapped inside a tank, we will be able to come to your rescue."
If the signal was strong enough, of course, but Ahsoka didn't voice that doubt out loud.
As they began to descend along the ridge to reach the base of the gulch, and from there make their way into the catacombs of the droid factory, Ahsoka trailed behind Barriss in silence. The Mirialan padawan hadn't tried to stir the argument about Ahsoka's master again, and so the Togruta had been content to let it go. Meanwhile, up above she could hear the sound of the droid army marching out to face off the clone one. Seriously, 'stick to cover' was one of the most basic things they could learn, and yet Knight Skywalker had insisted on a march-like parade to get the Droid army out. And the droids had fallen for such a dumb challenge.
Still, as Barriss cut through the wall of rock with her lightsaber, Ahsoka looked ahead at the darkness of the Geonosian's catacombs. With her echolocation, she was going to be right at home, light or not.
"I," Barriss said suddenly, making Ahsoka stop her thoughts, "Wanted to apologize."
Ahsoka turned to look at the Mirialan, a perplexed expression clearly visible on her face, because her fellow padawan added for clarification, "About my words against your master. I shouldn't have let emotions control me like that."
Ahsoka sighed, and shook her head gently. "That's all right. I watched the video. I understand," Ahsoka said. "If I didn't know my master well, I'd be afraid too."
"Fear?" Barriss whispered, and her eyes gleamed slightly. "Ah, I see then. I was afraid. I guess I still have a long way to go to complete my training."
"Don't we all?" Ahsoka replied. Barriss stepped inside first, and Ahsoka followed her. Quietly, they made their way through the silent, dark catacombs as the stale air filled Ahsoka's nostrils.
Alice...
Ahsoka froze. No. Not now. She couldn't fall into Wonderland now. The light shifted and disappeared, leaving only the darkness of the catacombs and the pale color of dust everywhere else. Her feet crunched on the gravel. There were bones, thousands of bones, all crunching beneath her feet. The temperature grew hot around her, as if beneath the white pearly color of marrows and skulls laid a thick mat of lava, eager to burst and swallow her whole. Barriss took a turn right, but the Cheshire Cat instead grinned at her from the left. 'Come here, Alice' it seemed to say with its tail and smile. 'Come here.'
Ahsoka hesitated. She was no Alice. She had a mission to follow through.
Your master will die if you don't follow me, Alice. Do you want him to die?
She turned left. She turned left without hesitation, and as she did, a soft, then ever-growing, symphony began to take form. It was an orchestra with drums, trumpets, and more. The bones shifted and give way to a pool of burning lava, to reveal her Master standing at the edge of a precipice, a hand grasping at a molten rock as he hissed in pain form the burning skin. In front of him, a group of dark robed figures stretched with glowing red lightsabers.
"You aren't supposed to be here yet!" her Master yelled at the robed figures. "You aren't even supposed to exist!"
"Master!" Ahsoka yelled through the lava. "Hold on! I'll-" you'll do what? Contact help? The sound of the orchestra's violins grew in a crescendo as one of the dark robed figures neared, lightsaber drawn. Her Master looked up, and sighed as he let go, falling into the lava. Ahsoka's heart stopped beating for a brief moment as she watched her master fall. Time seemed to stop, and then her master's body struck the lava river, and fell through it.
Ahsoka clenched her right hand and screamed as the bones around her rattled and broke, the lightning emerging from her fingertips singing at everything around her. When her breathing calmed down, evened out, and when she finally looked at her surroundings, she stood in a plain of bones and dust in deep, large chambers.
Hundreds of corpses hung in the air, floating by as dark, pulsing energies twisted and twirled, casting shadows of darkness everywhere they went, like ravening mad and hungry beasts seeking to devour flesh.
"And what have we here?" a lanky, bony person spoke from a throne of bones. "My, if it isn't the apprentice," the figure that spoke wasn't on the throne, as much as the throne itself, made out of bone and with a lit skull at its center, talking to her through the air. "So, you have finally fallen deep into the madness?"
"W-Where am I?" Ahsoka asked.
"Just a few steps away from losing yourself, apprentice. Your Master, wise as he was, decided to try to use a galaxy wide Battle Meditation with the Valley of the Jedi's Nexus. A daring thought, quite useful if it had succeeded. A pity it did not," the skull remarked. "Of course, the Valley of the Jedi is not on Mustafar, but on Ruusan. There, over a hundred souls remain trapped. This little detour your Master took was out of concern," the skull added. "A concern that shakes the very foundation of his actions. Here I stand, of course, as the final guardian to his madness."
"What are you?" Ahsoka asked in a whisper, dreading the answers.
Blood began to seep through the walls.
"Blood for the blood god," the skull snarled, the blood gushing out of every skulls' empty eye socket like a geyser of thick syrup, twisting and pulling at the throne as it began to lift it up. "Skulls for the skull throne!" the voice grew louder as the throne cracked apart, widening the frame of blood and bone as it rose, and rose, and rose even higher. Wings of blood and bone sprouted from its back. "BURN!" the ground shook, and hot scorching flames erupted around Ahsoka. "MAIM!" swords of chipped bone spun in the air, and rushed forward. Ahsoka deftly dodged backwards, igniting her lightsaber as she struck them down. Batting away floating skulls and shards of bone, she watched the behemoth monstrosity lift itself higher still. "KILL!"
A large cleaver-like weapon with sharp teeth roared into existence, like a chainsaw, only wielded like a sword. Another sprouted from the ground, and both ignited. "FOR KHORNE!"
Ahsoka's eyes widened significantly as the terrifying monstrosity rushed at her. She jumped to the side, her feet digging in the bones of the wall nearby. The chainsword of fire and bones crushed the ground where she had stood before, widening a large gap in the ground and filling it with bubbling lava. Clutching on to a skull with her left hand and wielding her lightsaber with her right, she sliced a few more floating skulls coming her way, and then screamed as the skull she had been holding on to bit her hard enough to draw blood. She punched the skull's teeth off, and rolled to the side as more skulls on the wall began to bite at her. She couldn't stop, but the behemoth had meanwhile turned to stare at her.
The Dark Force's energies empowered the monster, floating in the air around it.
Feels like a boss battle. If this is a raid, you're missing thirty-nine members. You soloing?
The Cheshire cat was grinning at her as one of the 'skulls' in the wall, and she narrowed her eyes at it before slamming her lightsaber through his head down to the hilt. The cat quickly disappeared, but damn if it didn't feel good to do it. As the chainsword slammed slightly below her and roared to life, the skulls split open as the monstrous abomination began to push the chainsword upwards, against her. She didn't have the time to stop, but her breathing was already coming less. It was then that her eyes caught the sight of a golden skull impaled on a spike of wrought iron and blood right at the top of the abomination's head.
This...
This was like the pillar training, only with monstrous deaths all around.
Well.
Well this didn't change things.
The floor is lava was one of the few games the initiates played when bored, much to their teachers' disdain. And in this case, the floor was lava, and flesh-eating skulls, and -the chainsword was coming closer so it was better to fucking concentrate on the job at hand!
Ahsoka's feet dug in the skulls and then she pushed herself to run upwards, the Force empowering her legs. Her eyes concentrated on the wall, but her montrals picked the movements of the beast behind her. Suddenly, the behemoth's other hand shot forth with the second chainsword -how could she forget about it!?- but she jumped then, avoiding the deadly bones and flames by an inch. The heat was unbearable, and her eyes watered as she twisted her body in midair. The monster moved its head back, and yet Ahsoka clutched her lightsaber and threw it. The blade spun in the air sizzling, and yet, an instant before it could strike the golden skull, the bastard moved it across its head.
"THAT'S UNFAIR!" Ahsoka burst out as she began to fall, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. With both hands in front of her, she pulled at her lightsaber, which swiftly went on a return path.
The monster roared at her, but suddenly stopped and, if possible, the eye-sockets of its large skull-like face widened in disbelief as the golden skull fell, neatly sliced in half by Ahsoka's lightsaber.
The Padawan grinned, even as the lava drew neared to her. Quickly, the pavement's cracks closed themselves just in the nick of time, preventing Ahsoka from dying a fiery death, and instead making her suffer a very bad case of back injury.
The abomination of the Force crumbled in front of her eyes, dispersing to reveal a young looking, and trembling, child. The kid was terribly familiar to her, but what cinched it was his eyes.
"M-Master?" Ahsoka asked, drawing near.
"Fear is weak," the child replied shakily, "So...so we change fear into anger," the child said, looking up at her. "And anger makes us strong. Hatred gives us purpose. When...when we are afraid, we run. When we cannot run any longer, we lash out. When we lash out with purpose...we truly become strong," the child looked up at her. "Isn't that right?"
Ahsoka hesitated, and then shook her head. "No." She knelt in front of the scared child. "It's when we accept our fears, and let go of them, that we truly become strong."
The child took a deep breath, and exhaled once. "Leave it...to a Disney character to say that sort of sappy stuff." He grinned, and flicked her forehead, as his frame grew back to its adult form. "I am starting to dislike the Force shenanigans," he acquiesced, his arms hidden by his sleeves. "Truly, maybe I should have thought it better."
"Master?" Ahsoka asked, as around them the walls began to crumble and disperse, letting the rays of the sun shine in.
"I chose my Padawan well," he added. "Maybe, I chose her perfectly. Worry not, Padawan. I was simply overpowered by the Force in the Valley of the Jedi, but it won't happen again."
Ahsoka hesitated. "I saw you fall into the lava, master."
"Energy immunity, padawan," her Master replied dutifully. "I can bat away lightsabers with my hands, you think mere 'lava' is hotter than plasma?"
She looked up at him in surprise, and her Master merely returned a grin. "I am Fire Immune padawan! Damage Reduction Rating of Fifty slash epic! I am OP, someone should nerf me," humming to himself, he made a little spin and flicked her forehead once again.
Ahsoka laughed nervously. "Now, Padawan," her master said seriously. "I need you to promise me something." His hands grabbed the sides of her face, and lifted her head to meet his gaze.
Ahsoka half-froze, like a skittish rabbit. She looked up and awkwardly nodded. Really, what part of 'not touching the montrals' was hard to understand? And the side of her face had montrals. It wasn't that difficult!
"Don't blame yourself," her master said. "You had no control over this."
Ahsoka frowned. No control? No control over what?
The sun disappeared. Her master disappeared. She was back in the catacombs, her lightsaber was in her hand, but Barriss Offee was nowhere to be seen. The rumbling sound of an explosion rocked through the complex, and Ahsoka had barely the time to run away, ignoring her surroundings and the plethora of Geonosian's soldier corpses that skittered the hallways she had trudged upon in her Force trance, before it all came crashing down on her.
The rubble coming down blasted her the last few meters off, before she emerged from the tunnel, blinded by the sun as she began a free-fall of a few meters, rolling against the rock surface as she came to a halt against a rock. Ahsoka hissed. She could swear she had heard her ribs crack from the strength of the blow, even as a thick cloud of dust soon proceeded to cover her. More rocks tumbled down near her, but none hit her fallen body. In the end, when the dust settled, she gagged for air and pushed her body above the rock, her vision clouded and blood dribbling down her frame. She couldn't move her right arm either.
But she was alive, wasn't she?
And her Master was alive.
...
And Barriss had completed the mission alone.
She probably had left her behind. Really. How could she? She should have at least thought it through before doing something like that! She could have died if she had stayed in there a bit longer! Had the Mirialan Padawan no shame? She'd get a word out of her mind the moment she found her! Oh if she would!
When a clone gunship found her, and a few clones placed her gingerly on a stretcher, Ahsoka was already on her last forces. She could barely keep her eyes open, let alone speak. Knight Skywalker neared her out of concern -she hoped, and her hopes were soon dashed- and didn't even ask her how she felt -like crap, of course.
"Where is Barriss?" he asked her, and she answered with what had been on her mind until then.
"She left...me behind," Ahsoka croaked out. "I...don't know."
Knight Skywalker nodded firmly once, and then left her alone. She fell asleep soon after, because with the sun hitting her face, it was just a question of imagination to think back at the river bank, at the grassy hill, and at the picnic tablecloth laid with a closed basket and a bright sun overhead.
It was a peaceful dream.
And she had avoided getting stuck inside a tank beneath the rubble of a destroyed droid factory.
On her book, that counted as a victory.
You've picked up a bit of an attitude, still curious and willing to learn, I hope.
Ahsoka's eyes widened. "There must be more than one way to skin a cat."
The Cat looked at her from atop the basket, laid on the tablecloth, and his grin never faded. The rest of his body, of course, did, but not his grin, oh no, his grin remained right there in the middle of the air, and as Ahsoka grumbled, the grin turned even fiercer.
You don't know how fine you looked when you dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate your condition is not permanent. You're lucky, too. Red eyes suit so few.
"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked, but the cat's grin disappeared. It disappeared, and it did not come back. Too tired to think about it, or maybe finally waking up, Ahsoka let it go. It wasn't important anyway. The cat was mad. Just like she, probably, was.
But everyone was a little bit mad, so...it was fine that way?
I can just picture, at the end of this journey, Ahsoka and Shade looking up above Coruscant, deep into space, not at the battle going on, nor the fighters on a mission to rescue Palpatine, but at the big Yellow letters scrolling above the cosmos:
... and both of them are drinking coffee.
EPISODE III
REVENGE OF THE SITH
War! The Republic is crumbling
under attacks by the ruthless
Sith Lord, Count Dooku.
There are heroes on both...
REVENGE OF THE SITH
War! The Republic is crumbling
under attacks by the ruthless
Sith Lord, Count Dooku.
There are heroes on both...
... and both of them are drinking coffee.
Fabula Amanti
I want a Grimoire, but I got books.
- Location
- Singapore
So Ahsoka went Darkside for a little while. Hopefully Bariss wasn't in the line of fire.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Huh, is she defusing his timebomb? That's good. Otherwise Shade would have ended up the Vader.
- Location
- Australia
You'd think he'd know better than to make requests like these by now...
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
I'm just liking how he keeps spreading memes and pop-culture stuff in the young padawan's head. Jedi!Shade is funny