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“Fraggin spiders!” Ferus Olin barked out, as he struggled to deal with the encroaching dwarf spider droids.
“We need to get the kriff out of here!” Anakin Skywalker barked back, as the pair of Jedi Padawans continued their ‘fighting withdrawal’. Anakin moved continuously to deflect the incoming bolts from the dwarf spider droids, the encroaching feeling of the dark side seeming to impede his moments and fighting. A pair of blaster bolts whipped by his head, where it had been just but a moment before, as he continued the fight before shouting to Ferus, “Do we have any idea where Auben went?”
“I thought you were keeping track of her!” Ferus replied back, twirling to catch a bolt sent by one of the spider droids. “What good are you then if you can’t keep track of a single thief?”
“Says the one who is considered the oh so perfect one,” Anakin sniped back in response, as the pair continued to fall back against the droids, “She went in the abandoned monastery. I can feel her in there.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ferus spoke, as the pair oriented their ‘withdrawal’ towards the monastery. By this point, Anakin could see another squadron of spider droids joining the rest, significantly increasing the firepower of the ‘attacking’ droids against them.
‘Wonderful. As if it couldn’t get any worse,’ Anakin thought, using the force to push a spider droid back against a pair of spider droids.
“Kriff!” Anakin heard Ferus bark out, as the sudden sound of falling rocks was heard behind him and everything seemed to tumble into darkness.
Light and shadows everywhere. Men in white armor seemed to be fighting against droids. Jedi seeming to be struck down as they fought with the men in white armor. Darkness, ever encroaching darkness. Things full of life and darkness that seemed to envelop them. Cackles of madness, and a feeling of love? Sudden terror and the gazing wound of loss…
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‘Have to get out of here after distracting those Jedi, then I can get what I came for,’ Auben thought, as she cradled the blaster in her right hand, with the flashlight in the other. ‘Bah. Those Jedi, Blast them to hell! Need to figure out a new way out.’
She shined her flashlight down the hallway, looking for a way to get the items that she needed when she had originally come. The climate all around her was dark and musty, with an overarching presence desiring to tighten its hold on her. Auben shivered slightly at the feeling, but proceeded along the hallway, shining her flashlight down the hallway. Auben held the blaster in hand, shaking in the cold and struggling to feel her hand as it turned to ice. All around her, noises seemed to echo in the abandoned monastery and the cold started to seep in further. Catching her foot against something, she tripped against the floor, both blaster and flashlight bouncing down the hall. Pulling herself off the floor, Auben saw a red light emerge from behind her, and a tight feeling all around her throat.
“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” a sinister voice emerged from behind her.
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“So, any idea where our illustrious Padawans found themselves off to?” Knight Tachi asked with a questioning look.
“Knowing Anakin, probably into a whole heap of trouble,” Obi-Wan replied with a sigh, and continuing in his own thoughts, ‘At least there’s no gundarks.’
Obi-Wan walked ahead, his lightsaber hissing and sizzling as it seemingly ignited the air all around it, shining their way forward. The feeling of the Force was muffled, with the dark side acting as a sort of haze and confusion to Obi-Wan. He grimaced slightly, as the pair of Knights walked down the hallway, looking for where Granta Omega and Jenna Zan Arbor were. The walls were pock-marked, with writing on some of the walls but to much of an extent undecipherable. The blue of Kenobi’s lightsaber, gave an odd glow to the sand that had started to accumulate on the floor, with Kenobi groaning at the knowledge of having to fully clean the robes after the mission was over. Obi-Wan felt his body seem to surge with terror and fear before it suddenly cut out. “Anakin!” he yelped out, grabbing the wall as his body shook from the aftereffects of his padawan’s sudden terror and fear.
“Siri, see if you can contact your padawan,” Obi-Wan continued, as he glanced down the hallway to look for the fastest way to get out.
“Ferus, can you hear me at all? Ferus?” Siri asked into her communicator, with only static coming into response. Obi-Wan could feel the attempt by Knight Tachi to push through the haze covering them to see if she could contact her padawan by the link. “I can feel something along the lines of terror and… anger? It’s odd.”
“The terror for Anakin, seemed more mixed in fear rather than anger…” Obi-Wan trailed off, “Do we have any idea what the best way to get to them is?”
“Down this way!” Siri replied, leading the pair down the hallway in a sprint.
The hallway started to curve and angle itself into a seemingly abandoned hangar. But at a closer look, that was not the case with a single ship parked, and a seeming array of parked super battle droids. “Sithspit!” Knight Tachi barked as she ignited her lightsaber, with Obi-Wan following right behind her.
Both Jedi Knights swung to defend themselves as the B2 Super Battle Droids began to activate themselves and turned their way towards the pair. The B2 Super Battle Droids began to fire upon the pair of Knights, their blue and purple lightsabers hissing through the air to counter the bolts. The platoon-sized formation of Super Battle Droids continued to close on the pair of the Knights, with Jedi Knight Kenobi holding the blue lightsaber moving in front, his blade seeming to counter nearly every bolt from the droids. Knight Tachi leaped into the air, purple lightsaber cutting through the air, and landing at the back of the platoon as she leapt into action. Her lightsaber slashed through the droids like butter, as she sent a force push sending a trio of B2s flying and careening into a wall. As Siri Tachi began to fight at the rear, Obi-Wan Kenobi began to move, striking at the leading Super Battle Droids and leaping above a trio of B2s. The B2s were toppled away by Obi-Wan as both he and Tachi dealt with the struggling Super Battle Droids. After nearly a minute, the last Super Battle Droid was toppled aside by a purple lightsaber, and both Knights pulled their sabers back in.
“So I think I win this time, Obi-Wan,” Siri spoke with a grin, “Count was twenty-one.”
“That is true, Siri, but you should remember who defended you against those super battle droids,” Obi-Wan replied, “Now to figure out where our lovely pair of padawans are, after that… delay.”
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“My aching head,” Anakin groaned as he struggled to sit up. He could feel his head pounding, and whether it was from that rock that hit his head or that… vision, he wasn’t sure about.
“Well, looks like you finally awoke,” Anakin heard to his left. Turning his head, he saw Ferus leaning against the wall, working on his lightsaber.
“Well, not all of us got our heads smacked by a falling rock,” Anakin retorted back, struggling to his feet, “Where in the world are we?”
“Well, courtesy to you getting knocked out, we wound up in… crypt for lack of a better word. I haven’t been able to get into contact with anyone else, since my communicator’s broken and I had no idea where yours was.”
“And why didn’t you y’know, use the bonds?” Anakin spoke while pointing to his head.
“You don’t think I tried that? You seem more like an idiot than you let on Skywalker. The Dark Side’s seemingly clouded too much to help with it,” Ferus spoke, shaking his head. “Might as well help by grabbing your communicator and seeing if you can get in contact with Master Kenobi.”
Anakin grappled through his robe searching for his communicator, before pulling it out, slightly dented on one side. “Master, can you hear me?” Anakin asked through it.
“Padawan!” the voice of Obi-Wan responded in the communicator, “Where have you been, and why didn’t you pick up before?”
“I’ve been stuck in an ancient Sith crypt after being knocked out by a falling rock, Master,” Anakin replied bluntly, with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.
“Of course, padawan,” Anakin could hear Obi-Wan reply, and he imagined him standing opposite from him. Silently shaking his head and being ready to scold him. “I’ll get into contact with Masters Antana and Ry-Gaul to get both you and Padawan Olin out. Then we’ll all rendezvous before proceeding into the Valley of the Dark Lords.”
“Understood, Master,” Anakin replied before he heard the ‘click’ clarifying that the connection had been cut off. He got back to thinking just before over that vision he had had just before being knocked out. It was so odd, and visions had become so seemingly rare from what he remembered hearing. But it was said that most visions were of the dark side, and they were on a planet embodied in the dark side. Right?
The lights and shadows, he didn’t have any idea about, but it seemed a bit like the light side and dark side? Maybe? But then there were the men in white armor and the droids. The men in white armor seemed to be fighting the droids which resembled those he had seen so recently, and also all the way back from Naboo when the Trade Federation was there. Were they hired mercenaries by the Republic, or someone else? And then shooting Jedi… he swore he could have seen Master Mundi being shot at by the men in white armor, but also he had been cutting them down. It was an oddity on that part, as Master Mundi was the only clear person while the rest seemed clouded and jumbled. But then the life and darkness there. Beyond that, it was much more of an oddity, and he wasn’t sure.
‘Should I talk to Obi-Wan on this?’ Anakin was thinking, struggling to cover his bond from Obi-Wan before he could talk to him on it and not let out what he had seen. For now, it was something he had no idea about.
