NationStates Jolt Archive

Most people think that time is a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am and why I say this. Sit down, and I will tell you the wildest tale you have ever heard. And it’s all true. Who am I, you ask? My name is Travis Masaki...and this is my story.

Opening Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiT8JWc4GrU)

Unknown Planet, Outer Rim

It was two months after the Battle of Tenetia and Travis Masaki (http://bonus-kun.deviantart.com/art/Saturn-and-Ness-22100707) was on a mission to recover a stolen diamond from the planet Kyoto. Last we heard of our young hero, he fought his way out of a major crossfire between New Dornalian and Huntarian Empire forces, gaining valuable battle experience for the journeys ahead of him.

He's going to need it.

Travis was joined by his two friends Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka (http://www.anime-source.com/banzai/images/topcharacter/84mitsukuni.jpg) and Shinji Ikari (http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/5436/pics1482og4.jpg) on the mission, and they traveled all over the galaxy, tracking that shiny diamond. Today, though, all three found themselves reconning a strange-looking factory on a populated planet in the Outer Rim, a factory they have seen the diamond go in. It appeared to be the final destination. Unfortunately, it appears that it was heavily defended, with disruptor fences, hordes of stormtroopers and attack droids on patrol around the perimeter. Not to mention the burly ones at the single gate.

"Now how are we going to get in?" Shinji asked grimly. "It looks like a fortress!"

"I suppose we should wait until opportunity knocks." Travis sighed, using his macrobinoculars to see the same thing.

A truck began moving out of the gate and rumbled forward in their general direction.

"I would say opportunity just knocked." Hunny grinned. "I have a plan."

=====

The truck rumbled onwards, oblivious of what was coming. Soon, though, the driver noticed a little boy on the side of the road, who appeared to be lost and crying. Now, this driver was an Imperial minion, but he also had a family at home, so his heartstrings were pulled by the lost, helpless kid. He sighed and pulled over to the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" His partner asked.

"Some kid's on the road. Looks like he's lost."

"Mmm?" The partner looked up to see the lost boy running up to them. "Ahh. Well, I suppose. As long as the kid doesn't make trouble."

Soon enough, the little kid, who looked even smaller and cuter than at first glance, ran up to the driver's side. "Oy! Kid! What are you doing here?"

"Waaaah! I'm lost!" The little blond boy cried enough tears to flood an Olympic-sized pool. "Where's Mommy! Where's Daddy! Waaah! Can you help me please?"

The driver and his copilot looked at each other and sighed. The driver talked. "All right. Do you know where your family lives."

"Umm...uh...I think so..." The little boy began rattling off a long series of directions, all bogus, of course, but seeing as little kids are known to memorize a whole set of instructions, the two guys believed it all. Hook, line and sinker.

They were so intent on memorizing all the directions that they didn't notice two more kids opening up the back side and crawling over the boxes.

"...and then you take a right and you're right there. Can't miss it!" The little boy sniffed.

"All right. We can take you as far as we can." The driver sighed.

"You will? Yaaay!" The kid cheered.

"Heh. Hop on." The driver chuckled, patting the space between them. The little kid obliged with a grin.

"So, what's your name anyway?" The co-driver asked.

"People call me Hunny." The kid grinned.

=====

After a while of driving in the random directions indicated, eventually leading them to a desolate road with no one around for miles, the drivers wondered about the kid, who fell asleep. He looked cute, but they got the distinct feeling that they were being led on a wild goose chase.

"So...um. This is the place, but I don't see any houses." The first driver looked confused.

"Yeah. Let's wake up the kid." The second one said and shook the kid. "Hey, kid. Wake up! Where's your house?"

"Hmm. It's around here." Hunny rubbed his eyes, looked around, and suddenly grinned. He yelled. "NOW, GUYS!"

"What? You brat!" The drivers began yelling, but suddenly, the truck stopped as if held by an invisible force.

Then the first driver got a nasty punch in the face, a punch that made him fall out of the truck. Hunny then delivered two kicks to the second one, also making him fall out. The Imperial minions recovered and pulled out blasters, only to find two more kids attacking them with martial arts skills. "Augh!" "Ugh!"

"Let's go before they recover!" Travis said quickly and jumped into the driver's seat while Shinji rode shotgun. Travis floored it and spun the truck around, nearly tipping over, and then they sped out of here!

"Hahaha! We did it!" Travis laughed, exchanging high-fives with his friends. "Now, let's take this truck back."

=====

The guards up front looked up to see a truck heading their way, the same one they saw leaving the base.

"Hmm. A little early." One of the guards said and stepped out. As the truck rumbled up to the gate, he noticed that the driver seemed a little young, with a red and blue cap pulled low over his eyes and a blue and yellow striped T-shirt. There were two other coworkers in the front that also looked suspiciously young. Apparently, they'll take kids these days.

"Identification, please." The guard demanded gruffly.

"You don't need our identification." The young driver said, discreetly waving his hand about.

"We don't need your identification." The guard replied in the same tone.

"We can drive on in. Everything checks out."

"Eh, drive on in." The guard said, shrugging. "Everything checks out."

The guard waved the gate to open and soon enough, the truck drove inside.

Travis parked the truck in a random corner and then they got out. Stealth was key in this place as the guards were everywhere. The kids ducked around boxes and mechanical equipment, trying to find an entrance into the factory/lab. It took a good while, but they managed to find a ventilation shaft they could use to get in. A quick manipulation of the Force and the grate was pulled out.

"Ok. You're going in first, 'cause you're the smallest." Travis said to Hunny, locking his hands together so that the kid could be hoisted up.

"Okeydoke!" Hunny stepped on Travis' hands and then hoisted himself up into the shaft. Travis followed with a short jump and then Shinji came last.

"Now where do we go?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know. I guess we'll have to keep looking until we find the diamond." Travis shrugged.

It was breezy in the shaft, as all shafts are wont to be, as the kids crawled their way through. They found hallways filled with technicians and droids, labs filled with various equipment that appeared to be stuff made for the Empire. Danger lurked at every corner as there were a few Dark Side Acolytes wandering around, and the kids held their breaths when each one passed, hoping that they weren't sensed. So far, no one seemed to know they were there. Soon enough, they found a wide area that seemed to be of interest to them. It was the largest lab of all, easily able to handle several heavy freighters. The kids didn't have a good angle from where they were, but the Sith seemed to be up to something big, judging by all the techies buzzing around. There was a central pillar with something small and black floating in mid-air in the center.

A heavy blast door opened to the side and a large cart wheeled into the room. On the cart was the sparkling diamond, resting in a forcefield.

"The diamond!" Travis hissed.

"Shhh!" Hunny warned him.

Then something else arrived behind the cart. Or more properly, someone. Two people entered, talking about something, escorted by Magnadroids and Red Guards.

"It is good of you to come, Count Dooku. I trust the Empire is pleased with the preparations?" One of the people asked.

"Of course, of course. Ever since Tenetia fell to the Jedi, we have been searching for ways to turn around our grave misfortunes of late. With this diamond, we can finally have enough power to activate this device...what do you call it, anyway?" The Dark Lord asked.

"It's a Temporal Manipulation Generator." Spoke the other man. "With it, we can command the very forces of time itself. Slow down time or even speed it up. Make our enemies stop cold or age thousands of years in seconds. I believe I sent Lord Itachi the blueprints for his own scientists to look over."

"Yes...yes...but you are our best theoretical physicist, Lord Ikari. There is no one as good as you are at thinking up new toys for our units." The Dark Lord smiled.

'Father..." Shinji suddenly gasped, only to be cut short by Travis clasping his mouth shut.

"You flatter me, Count. I am but a mere scientist." Lord Gendo Ikari smirked, his glasses flashing menacingly. "The diamond not only contains the power necessary to activate it, it also acts as a focusing gem, not unlike a lightsaber's crystal. With it, we can control the power and distance of the manipulations. Perhaps you would like a demonstration?"

"Yes, yes, of course. But...there's just one little problem." The Count mentioned.

"What is it?"

Suddenly, the Count's eyes trailed upwards at the shaft, looking straight at the kids. "Did you realize you have a rodent infestation in your ventilation shaft?"

Gendo's eyes trailed to that same shaft section. "Interesting. I shall have to speak to the maintenance staff about that."

"Uh oh..." Travis moaned. "Let's get out of here!"

Unfortunately, the shaft suddenly gave way, and the whole thing creaked and groaned until it tore apart and dumped the kids onto the floor. "Ow!" "Ugh!" "Owww!"

Immediately, the Dark Lords' minions surrounded the boys, their weapons at the ready. It didn't look good for them!

"Ahh..." Count Dooku chuckled. "It's those brats that have been trailing the diamond."

"Indeed. So, my son has become quite persistent, too. Quite the reunion, don't you think, boy?" Ikari looked at him with a cold smile.

"Father...how could you!" Shinji choked, the despair in his heart driving him to his knees.

"How could I?" Gendo grinned. "How could I not? This is one of my greatest masterpieces! It's a shame that you are too young to appreciate the intricacies of commanding the very forces of nature itself. But be of good cheer, my boy! You have arrived just in time to view the activation of the masterpiece! Begin!"

Travis' little team had no choice but to watch the events unfold, hoping against hope that the experiment would somehow fail.

The diamond was lowered into a specially made slot inside a giant machine with thousands of wires crisscrossing all over it. As soon as it was fully inside, it turned a half revolution before it locked into place. Immediately, the wires began glowing and the whole room began to glow with immense blue light. Travis was only an apprentice, but even he noticed that there was a strange mix of technology and magical sealing connected somehow as he recognized the symbols and lines that began appearing in midair. It looked like the Temporal Manipulation Generator was a giant transmutation circle or sealing jutsu! The energies began swirling around the black sphere in the center as if charging up. He looked around at the computer screens, noticing that the giant device appeared to be targeting...oh no! Konoha!

Travis had to act quickly, but how? He noticed that the Sith Lords have turned away to watch the show. He had only one chance...and that chance rested on the shoulders of a tiny person living in his pocket. Travis gave a look to Hunny and Shinji. Hunny nodded in determination but Shinji looked tortured by the revelation of how far his father has gone down the Dark Side, but he nodded as well. Travis slowly dug his hand into his pocket.

Battle Music Ahoy! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo53WGmdPaI&feature=related)

Then...Hunny and Shinji both used the Force on the guards, shoving all of them away in a powerful wave. Travis then used the lull to grab tiny Cody, who squawked in indignation as he just woke up. "Hey! What's the big idea!"

"We got a machine to destroy! Do what you can to disrupt it!" Travis yelled, tossing the little Korropokkurro at one of the computer stations.

"What?!" Count Dooku roared as the kids began fighting and defeating his minions.

"Damn it! If they don't stop, they'll disrupt the machine!" Lord Ikari growled.

"Father! You'll pay for this!" With a giant leap, Shinji attacked Ikari, who drew his own lightsaber in response. Gendo was surprised at the sudden fury of his normally pacifist son, but recovered and began dueling him in earnest.

A furious Dooku moved to support his ally, but he was stopped by Hunny's yellow blade. "Going somewhere, Dooku?"

Dooku sneered. "And what makes you think you can take me on, you little pest?"

Hunny only smiled. "Because I was trained by Master Yoda himself."

"Yoda? The old troll is long dead!" Dooku sensed the sudden gathering of immense power from Hunny's small frame and attacked, lashing out with a devastating Form II kata at Hunny, but the small boy suddenly leapt and spun to avoid all the attacks. For a terrifying moment as the two dueled all over the platforms, their lightsabers clashing and slashing at material, the Sith Count believed the spirit of his old Master had indeed been bestowed upon the boy.

Meanwhile, Travis turned his cap backwards, ignited his lightsaber and became a whirling, maddening force of nature, taking down every one of those minions that survived the Force Wave his friends used. Fire, wind, and lightning sprayed everywhere, and where they didn't hit minions, they hit panels and computer screens.

Even little Cody got in on the fight when he saw a stormtrooper try to shoot him and threw a broken power wire at him, wrapping it around the stormie and snapping it, tossing him aside before resuming the disruption attempt. "Let's see...this wire isn't needed...this screw...nah. Ahh, screw it! I'm just going to rip out the whole damned thing!"

He ignited a tiny lightsaber of his own and began cutting through everything. Between the duels and the disruption attempts, the machine looked like it was about to break down. Violently.

"No! My masterpiece!" Lord Ikari roared. He Force pushed his son into a wall, knocking him out. "Dooku! The machine will become unstable! We must escape!"

Dooku and Hunny locked blades one last time, yellow against red. They strained against each other, one trying to outdo the other. It was a surprise to Dooku just how much of a powerpack this kid was.

"Fought well, you have, my old Count." Hunny taunted with a grin.

Dooku was not pleased. Not pleased at all. "Your grave will be here, boy!"

He used the Force to summon debris and crush Shinji, forcing Hunny to break contact and fight them off. That gave Count Dooku the space he needed to escape with his ally. The Dark Side of the Force was then used to block all the exits so that the kids can't easily escape.

As they ran for Dooku's shuttle, Ikari glanced at the Sith Lord. "My humblest apologies for my failure, Count."

"Never you mind that. At least the children..." He spat in disgust. "...will perish with the machine. We shall take pleasure in informing Emperor Masaki of his son's untimely demise."

"Indeed." Gendo Ikari agreed angrily. "So falls that whelp I wish never to call son again. So falls the heir of the Masaki bastard."

=====

Back in the temporal research center, Hunny and Travis moved to Shinji who stirred and rubbed his head. "Hey, you all right?"

"Unngh. Yeah..." Shinji was helped up by his friends. "What's happening?"

"We gotta get out of here..." Travis looked at the diamond, which was resonating oddly with all the broken machinery. It had a crack in it that looked like it came from the fighting. "I don't like the looks of that thing."

"Yeah, but we're stuck. Help me with that." Hunny pointed at the blocked exit.

"All right." The three kids and their tiny friend began using their lightsabers and TK on the blocked exit, fighting hard to escape whatever doom that would come soon.

Just as they managed to unblock the exit, the entire room suddenly flashed an ominous red as the energies in the room built up to a critical point...and then...the diamond broke into a thousand shards. The few surviving monitors flashed warning signs and beeps as the energies surged into the black sphere. It was too much for the sphere to handle and suddenly, the young Jedi could feel as well as see the fabric of space-time tear apart the sphere, creating intense gravitational forces that began sucking in everything. Unbeknownst to Travis and his friends, the immense energies have created a space-time rift unlike anything that has ever been seen before!

"Run! Run!" Hunny yelled as everything began flying into the rift.

Travis grabbed little Cody and then the three kids began running against the intense winds, utilizing everything in their power to keep from falling into the rift. Then, the rift suddenly shifted in power, and the sudden gust knocked the three of them on the ground. What's worse, Hunny's small weight meant that he not only thrown to the ground, he was also carried away by the intense hurricane.

"Heeeeeeelp!" The little Jedi screamed.

Shinji grabbed Hunny's arms, but he too was blown away by the wind. "Oh no!"

"I'm coming!" Travis yelled, ran for them then grabbed Shinji's legs. "Gotcha....oh shiiiit!"

He, unfortunately was also carried away and all three kids screamed in terror as they were dragged into the rift. Or almost dragged into said rift, as Travis managed to grab a railing and grab Shinji's hand who grabbed Hunny's hand.

"Whatever you do, don't let go!" Shinji yelled to his friends over the howling gale.

"We won't! We won't!" The other two yelled back.

Young Jedi strength fought valiantly against the full power of the space-time rift. Travis fought for courage. Shinji fought for friendship. Hunny fought for justice (and cake!). But alas, even with all their power, the rift was much too strong, much too hungry. In that fateful second, in that infinitesimal moment of weakness, Travis lost his grip and they all sailed into the space-time rift.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" All three yelled in terror as the rift swallowed them whole, and in that final, wrenching moment of excruciating pain and blinding light, they blacked out.

=====

The rift itself grew large until it consumed the entire factory complex and began to alter and tear at the planet itself, killing all living things on the planet, right down to the bacteria. The horrible destruction was powerful enough to create a vast disturbance in the Force, felt by every Jedi and Sith in the galaxy and then some. Even the two Dark Lords were astonished at the terrible destruction as they watched the planet shift and change and tear at the seams from a safe distance. When it finally ended, a giant scar and several smaller ones can now be seen from space and the atmosphere was so thin that the few survivors of the actual rift swiftly died of asphyxiation. And in the very depths of the Dark Lords' beings, a feeling of dread mirth could be felt.

=====

Daniel Masaki's Stateroom

I was doing paperwork when I suddenly gasped with pain and clutched my heart. The pain was so intense that it drove me to my knees, collapsing from my desk. It was a disturbance in the Force unlike any other...and to my horror, I could sense that Travis was somehow in the middle of the disturbance...and then I sensed him no more. It tore my heart out. "Travis...Travis...NOOOOO!!"

OOC:Taggage and future post to come

Star Wars

Knights of the Old Republic: The Twists of Time

Opening Crawl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFiqzv4B6JM)

Four thousand years before
the rise of the Galactic
Empire, the Republic verges
on collapse. DARTH MALAK,
last surviving apprentice of
the Dark Lord Revan, has
unleashed an invincible
Sith armada upon an
unsuspecting galaxy.

Crushing all resistance,
Malak's war of conquest
has left the Jedi Order
scattered and vulnerable
as countless Knights fall in
battle, and many more
swear allegiance to the new
Sith Master.

In the skies above the Outer
Rim world of Taris, a Jedi
battle fleet engages the
forces of Darth Malak in a
desperate effort to halt the
Sith's galactic domination…

Taris. It was a world used by the Republic and the Jedi Order as a staging point against the marauding Mandalorians. Used and discarded and used again by both sides of the war until it became nothing more than a shiny coating covering a corrupt and dirty surface. Even as a staging point for the Mandalorian fronts and even when Revan had saved it from Mandalorian slavery years ago, it was considered unimportant in the galactic scheme of things. That is, until the forces of Darth Malak invaded the galaxy, subjucating many of the worlds in the Outer Rim.

One of these worlds happened to be Taris. The Sith have attacked the world and in response, the Republic have sent a battle fleet to defend it, led by the famous Endar Spire. Unfortunately for a sharp-tongued lady Jedi, the ship's captain and an unassuming scout named Jaden Loran, as well as the rest of the ship's crew, the Sith ambushed it almost as soon as it exited hyperspace.

Say it with us, folks: It's a trap!

With that in mind, the Sith fleet sent a horde of Sith fighters to attack the ship, and a lucky shot managed to disable it and send it adrift. One pilot was later recorded as saying with a sneer, "Sith happens!"

With all that crashing and tinkling and rumbling, it's a wonder that the aformentioned scout named Jaden managed to sleep right through it. Oh, wait...he just woke up!

"Huh...wha?" Jaden groggly woke up from a nice nap involving a nice girl he met on his last shore leave. "What's going on?"

On cue to answer his question, a young soldier named Trask Ulgo entered his quarters. "Hey, come on! We gotta get out of here!"

A rumbling occurred somewhere inside the ship and then Jaden realized. "We're under attack, right?"

"Yeah! But...uh...you're out of uniform. Get geared up. Captain Onasi's just told everyone to report to the bridge! We have to get to the bridge and protect our commander, Bastila Shan!" Trask exclaimed.

"Right!" Jaden nodded and seconds later, he was geared up and ready to fight. The soldier was a brown-haired, brown-eyed fellow and his well-built body let people know that he worked out quite often. He clicked a magazine into his blaster. "Let's go."

Almost immediately, they were attacked by Sith soldiers and a short firefight ensued. Lasers zipped this way and that and then Jaden hit one on the chest and head and Trask got the other one through the neck. The twosome then moved on.

"So, what's important about Bastila Shan?" Jaden ask Trask, who gasped in horror.

"What, you never heard who she is? She's a Jedi! A powerful one! And the Republic's last, best hope for victory against the Sith!" Trask breathed heavily after that.

Jaden only shook his head and moved on to the next round of fighting. "Fanboy."

Trask's cheeks colored. "I am not a fanboy!"

Jaden only laughed. "Sure, sure..."

Soon, they passed by a Jedi and a Sith fighting. The Jedi won, but a great explosion occurred, killing her instantly.

"Damn. We could have used that Jedi!" Trask grumbled and moved ahead.

As the smoke cleared, Jaden thought he could see a small figure wearing a striped shirt and a red cap lying on the ship floor. It was a kid, looks about thirteen or fourteen. "Hmm? A kid? Where the heck did he come from?"

Jaden checked the kid's pulse. Strong and steady, despite the fact that he appeared to have survived the explosion intact. Well, perhaps it's possible to wake him up. Jaden shook him gently. "Hey, kid. Wake up."

'Ugh...what...what happened?" The kid woke up to see a kind-looking soldier in his face. "Waah! Where am I? Who are you? Where's Shinji and Hunny and Cody?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, kid." Jaden said gently. "Let me see...you're on the Endar Spire, my name is Jaden and I haven't heard of those names. Are they your friends?"

"Yeah...I don't know what happened to them. By the way, my name's Travis." Travis said.

"Hey! Get a move on! We don't have all day!" Trask yelled from down the corridor.

"Coming! Can you get up, kid, er, Travis?" Jaden asked.

"I think so." Travis groaned as Jaden helped him to his feet. Travis steadied himself, then took a step. "Damn...what happened to me?"

"No idea. But we really do have to go. The Sith have just boarded our ship. Escape now, ask later." Jaden mentioned as yet another rumbling occurred. "Do you know how to fight?"

"Oh...the Sith. The Sith? Jeez! Of all the places that I have to find myself..." Travis groaned and palmed his face. He took a breath. "Yeah, I know how to fight."

Travis reached for his lightsaber to prepare for battle ...but suddenly found thin air. "Huh? My lightsaber!" Travis checked himself, patting his body frantically. "Aaah! My lightsaber's gone!"

A Jedi apprentice? Well, looks like things have just gotten better! Except for the fact that he lost his lightsaber. Jaden thought, bemused at that. He remembered the dead Jedi and Sith and checked their lightsabers. Nope, they were destroyed by the explosion. He decided to help the kid and pulled out his vibrosword. "Here, kid. Take my sword. It's not a lightsaber but it's cortosis weave. You'll be fine for now."

"Uh...thanks." Travis grumbled as he took the blade. It felt heavy, not like his jian, but it'll have to do. Besides, that sword was gone too. He checked what he had left and to his disappointment, he was left with just his kunai and shuriken, a couple of explosive marbles and a roll of explosive notes. He looked like he wanted to cry, but that wouldn't do, especially in the middle of battle.

They managed to catch up with Trask, who looked up and down at the kid. "Hey, who's the kid? Looks like a civilian. Is he a stowaway or something?"

"He's a Jedi." Jaden said before the kid could squawk. "Well, an apprentice, but should be better than nothing."

"Right." It's clear that Trask didn't think much of the kid, especially the way he looked scrawny. "They get younger and younger every day...ah, here's the bridge."

Upon entering the bridge, a couple of Sith attacked them, yelling obscenities and flashing their blades. Jaden stood behind and shot at them while Trask and Travis used their swords on them. Luckily for Travis, he still had all the training Naruto-sensei and his father gave him, so the Sith quickly fell to his sword.

Soon, the bridge was empty and Jaden picked up another sword from a fallen Sith to use. Trask shook his head. "Bastila's not on the bridge. She must have gone to the escape pods. They want her alive, but once she's off the ship, there's nothing stopping the Sith from turning us all into space dust!"

Travis thought Trask looked a little overly enthusiastic when he mentioned Bastila. "Did anyone tell you you look like a fanboy?"

Trask's face colored up again. "First Jaden, now you! I'm not a fanboy!"

Jaden chuckled at that. Travis just rolled his eyes. "Riiight."

A little ways onward at another corridor, Travis suddenly stopped before they reached a door. He could sense dark taint flowing from the door. "Wait! I sense a disturbance in the Force!"

On cue, a powerful Dark Jedi opened the door, sneered at the kid and the soldiers, and ignited a double-bladed lightsaber. He calmly approached them, with no doubt as to his intention. Even Travis didn't think he could beat him, as he's been weakened by the battle with Dooku and the subsequent wormhole attack.

"I'll hold him off! You guys get to the escape pods!" Trask yelled.

"Hell no! He's too strong for you!" Or me... Travis shouted, then he pushed Trask aside and to the Dark Jedi's (and his new friends') surprise, Travis focused and blew a ball of fire at him. Then the kid used the Force to close the door and lock it. "That won't hold him for long. Let's go another way!"

As they ran down another corridor, Trask was amazed at the young Jedi's skill. Jaden wasn't as awed, having been around Bastila for a while, but even he didn't think Jedi could do that. Well, you learn new things every day. Then the ship's captain crackled on a monitor. "Hey. I've been tracking you three using the ship's life support system. Listen, the escape pods are up ahead, but there's a whole bunch of Sith soldiers between you and the pods. You'll have to fight your way through."

"I don't think we'll have a problem with that. This kid's a Jedi apprentice." Jaden motioned to Travis, who waved confidently. "We'll be there soon."

"An apprentice, eh? We'll talk later. Get to the pods ASAP!" Captain Onasi ordered and then closed the ship's comms.

With that, all three headed through the ship's corridors, shooting or cutting down many a Sith soldier. They even paused long enough to use the ship's security system and shock some Sith senseless before passing through. Before long, they managed to reach Captain Onasi's area.

"Glad you made it! Bastila already made it off the ship...and uh...who's the kid?" Carth asked.

"Travis. Travis Masaki, Jedi apprentice, sir." Travis saluted smartly. Carth automatically returned it.

"Hmm. Didn't think the ship's manifest had a person like that on board. Well, never mind that. Escape first, talk later." Carth said and opened the last remaining escape pod. With all four of them in the same pod, it was a little cramped, but at least it was better than nothing.

"We made it..." Trask sighed in relief, then looked out just in time to see the ship explode. "And not a moment too soon."

The escape pod soon burned through the planet's atmosphere, screaming down to the surface and then crashed with a resounding boom! What happened to them? Did they survive? Will the Sith, who occupied the planet with an iron fist, catch them and their leader, Bastila Shan? Find out on the next amazing episode of Battlestar Galactica...wait, this is the wrong show...crap! Oh, yeah! It's Knights of the Old Republic: The Twists of Time!

And in another escape pod, a lone, robed figure descended upon Taris alongside Jaden, Travis, and Carth.

"It's just another day in the life of the Ala Rubra," he muttered, chuckling to himself.

The escape pod then disappeared on the horizon of the planet...

Jaden slept fitfully, dreaming about a lady Jedi fighting Sith. 'Who is she? She's beautiful and tough...' Then his dream popped as he woke up. "Uggh..."

Travis dreamed fitfully, dreaming about a girl he knew named Meji. He was dreaming about working up the courage to ask her out when that dream balloon also popped. "Ehh...?"

"Glad to see you two are up." A bemused Carth Onasi said as they woke up at practically the same moment. He gave them some coffee and spoke again, mostly to Jaden. "You must have had a hell of a nightmare, the way you were thrashing around like that. I wondered when you two would ever wake up. By the way, I'm Carth, one of the crew of the Endar Spire. We met at the escape pod, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess." Travis scratched his head. "Travis Masaki."

"Jaden Loran. Nice to meet you. How did we get here?" Jaden nodded.

Carth answered. "Noted. We're in an abandoned apartment on Taris. You two looked pretty bad when we crashed, so Trask and I had to pull you out. Luckily, we weren't too hurt and were able to drag you away from the crash site in the confusion. By the time the Sith came around to look, we were already gone."

"I guess we owe you our lives. Thanks." Jaden nodded.

"The Sith?" Travis asked.

"No problem." Trask said, entering the apartment. "We're all in this together, it looks like."

Carth nodded. "Yeah." Answering Travis' question: "Taris is now under Sith control. They declared martial law and placed Taris under a planetwide quarantine, backed up by their fleet. But I've been in worst situations."

He turned to Jaden: "I remember reading your service records, though. You're quite the Republic soldier. You know several alien languages, which is rare for a recruit, but it should come in handy."

"I'm just an ordinary soldier." Jaden smiled modestly.

"I'm sure." Carth smiled back, hearing that all the time from soldiers like Jaden. He frowned when he noted Travis. "But you...I don't remember you being on the ship's records."

"You and me both." Travis chuckled a bit nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I sort of popped onto the Endar Spire, but I have to tell you, I have no idea how I got there. Must have drunk one too many juma juices and signed up at the last minute. But you'll have no problem trusting me, I think. I am a Jedi, after all."

"I suppose I can live with that." Carth nodded, though he still looked a bit skeptical. Jaden and Trask were more skeptical, but perhaps Travis had a good reason for not telling them the real reason they were on the ship and left it at that. Who knew what the Jedi think? "Well, in any case, there's no way the Republic will be able to get anyone through the Sith blockade. We'll expect no help from them if we're going to rescue Bastila."

"Yeah. It looks like we're on our own at this point." Trask nodded.

Although it looked like he slid past Carth for the moment, Inner Travis was very confused. Republic? As in the Old Republic? I thought it's all ancient history? At least we're all in the same boat with the Sith, but I feel weird here. Very weird.

"So, uh...what's so important about this Bastila chick?" Travis asked.

Trask gasped again, holding out a picture of the Jedi. "That knock on your head must have done more damage than we thought! She's a Jedi, one of the best out there and she's the one who led the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith Master!"

Carth, Travis and Jaden looked at him fawning over the picture of Bastila and shook their heads sadly. "Fanboy." They muttered.

"I am not a fanboy!" Trask yelled, turning red again.

Carth coughed to get their attention. "Well, he's right, though. Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war effort. The Sith must have found out that she was on the Endar Spire and set a trap to capture her, leading us all to crashland here. I believe that she was on one of the escape pods that crashed. For the sake of the Republic, we have to try and find her."

"I see. Though I don't see how one Jedi could be so important to the war effort." Jaden frowned.

"Yeah. It sounds like a big burden to place on anyone." Travis nodded. And I should know, being the heir to the Masaki throne...wait...Revan? Malak? What's going on here? Those are history figures! Did they come back from the dead and attack again while I was out, like Dooku did?

"Well, she's no ordinary Jedi." Carth explained. "She has a rare gift the Jedi call Battle meditation. With that power, she can influence entire armies."

"Oh...wait...I know that power from my lessons." Travis' eyes brightened as he found something familiar to cling to with all the weirdness about 'Revan' and 'Malak' and all that. "It can inspire allies with confidence and make enemies lose their will to fight. Often, that's all it takes to tip the balance in battle."

Well, this kid's definitely a Jedi. Sounds like he knows what's he talking about. Carth nodded. "The kid's right. Although I know there's limits to her ability and that it takes great concentration and focus to maintain her Meditation. The attack on the Endar Spire happened so fast she never got a chance to use it. Like us, I'm sure she barely escaped the ship."

"So what do you propose we do?" Jaden asked.

"Look for her, of course." Trask said. "Bastila's going to need our help. Darth Malak has already killed many of the Jedi in this war. And they wield the Dark Side, too!"

"True, that. Besides, no one would be looking for a couple of common soldiers like us, especially if you keep your powers down." Carth said, the last part directed at Travis. "We can move about without attracting notice, if we're careful."

"All right. Where do you think we should start?" Jaden asked.

"Well, while you were out, I had Trask do some scouting around. What did you find so far?" Carth asked Trask.

"There are reports of several escape pods crashing down into the Undercity. That's probably the best place we should start looking." Trask said.

"It's a dangerous place, though. We don't want to go unprepared." Carth warned them. "It won't do Bastila any good if we're killed."

After a short question and answer session about Malak and the Sith that started to ring some bells in Travis' head, the little group were prepared to move out.

"We'll figure out a way to stop the Sith. For now, the sooner we begin the search for Bastila, the sooner we can find her. Let's go." Jaden said determinedly.

"We can use this place as a base, I think. And scout for supplies while were at it." Travis said.

"Good idea. We just have to remember to keep a low profile. I've heard some grim stories about Dark Jedi interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away memories and destroy your very identity!" Carth warned them. Travis shuddered slightly, as he's definitely suffered some of the worst they can offer. "But I figure if we don't act stupid, we should be okay. After all, they're after Bastila, not us. Now...I will go with Trask and do some more scouting around. Jaden and Travis will stick together as well. I trust that's acceptable for you."

Jaden and Travis nodded. They look like they'll work well together as a team.

"Right, soldiers. Let's move out!" Carth ordered.

((Won't be posting again until the swoop races, so I've got nothin' to give yet.))

ooc: id love to post but those posts is gigantic and i cba reading them all, good work thoe.

Taris was once quite the place to live, with a planetwide metropolis of towering skyscrapers. But no more. The Upper City, where Jaden and company are, is pretty safe, the Sith occupation notwithstanding. It might even be a nice place to settle down if they weren't in such a hurry. But the Lower City, land of the warring swoop bike gangs, wasn't a pretty place to live by any stretch of the imagination. And then there's the Undercity. Ruled by rakghouls and other malcontents, it was nasty enough for Travis to wish that he still carried his lightsaber for protection. Well, he still had the Force.

Almost as soon as they exited the apartment, the Force knocked him on the head with a warning. A Sith raid was approaching!

"Right! Get up against the wall, you alien scum!" A Sith soldier yelled at the frightened aliens. "This is a raid!"

"<You came here yesterday and you found nothing! Why do you insist on bothering us?>" A Duros protested.

The Sith sneered at him, raised his rifle at the frightened Duros and squeezed the trigger. "When I say up against the wall, I mean it, you smart-mouthed fool! Now do it!"

The aliens scrambled to get up against the wall, leaving just the three men and one boy *not* standing up against the wall. And boy, they certainly weren't pleased with what the Sith did!

Very quickly, the Sith soldiers noticed the guys. "Hey, what's this? Humans hiding with aliens? You're Republic spies! Kill them!"

Unfortunately for the Sith, they forgot to count the numbers. It was four against three and before they could get off more than a couple of wide shots, Travis and Jaden have already drilled the first Sith in the chest with their blaster pistols while Carth and Trask put down the other Sith with a bolt each. 3 seconds later, they were all dead.

"<Ah, poor Irok. He shouldn't have talked back to the Sith. But I am glad you were around to deal with them, humans.>" An alien said in Huttese, relieved. "<This isn't the first time the Sith raided us, though. Hopefully, it will be the last.>"

"Wouldn't someone come looking for the patrol?" Jaden asked, concerned about reprisals.

"<Don't worry about the bodies. I'll stow them somewhere where it would look like they were killed elsewhere.>" The alien said. "<Hopefully, they won't come back for a good while. Again, thank you.>"

Soon enough, they headed outside and as ordered by Carth, split up. Travis and Jaden were to check out the cantinas and troll for information while Carth and Trask checked other areas. They'll meet back at the apartment soon enough.

The first thing Travis noticed as they exited the apartments and looked around outside was that there was a hell of a lot of Sith walking around with deadly blasters in their hands. The second thing was that it was quite cloudy, as if the Sith have pulled clouds over their heads. Maybe they did. Well, never mind that.

"You know...there is something off about you." Jaden said to Travis. "You know full well that you didn't simply come onto the ship at the last minute. Even if Carth managed to swallow that, I didn't. So what's up with you?"

Travis grumbled to himself before speaking. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. I have to figure out some things first. There I was, fighting a Sith in a lightsaber duel and barely escaped with my life and the next thing I knew, I was fighting more Sith on the Endar Spire! I'm tired and cranky, I haven't had anything to eat in hours and to top it all, I lost my lightsaber and my friends! So you'll excuse me if I don't feel like baring my soul right now!"

After Travis' rant, Jaden backed off. "All right, all right, kid. We'll talk about this later."

Soon enough, they entered the local cantina. Jaden turned to Travis. "All right. I'm going to get a couple of drinks. You see what you can find around here."

"Why don't you find the stuff and I'll drink?" Travis asked.

"'Cause you're a kid and I'm an adult and you can't drink yet?" Jaden smiled slyly.

"Oh, right...sometimes I forget..." Travis grumbled. "Have fun, then."

Jaden put on a stern face. "But of course. Run along now, little boy!"

Feeling a mental kick in the pants from that statement, Travis wandered around. First, he decided to check out the terminal on the wall. Maybe he can find some information about Revan and Malak. He wondered if Nightshade has decided to make a move with this invasion. "Hmm...propaganda, propaganda...propaganda...All of this is just Sith Propaganda! 'Malak is Great.' 'All Hail Malak.', 'I just wanna be Sith Lord, a Malak biography' bleh...Ooh, here's something!"

"Escape pods found! No survivors! Rumors abound of evil Republic fugitives running around! A reward will be granted for any information leading to the arrest of any Republic fugitives!" Travis read. Then he checked the date. Posted early today...May 21149 ABR (3956 BBY)?! Travis checked the date again. Yep, it wasn't May 25106 ABR* or even 106 ABY**. That wormhole sucked him back nearly 4100 years into the middle of the Jedi Civil War! He wanted to scream 'Noooooooo!' but there were too many customers in the cantina, so he'll settle for a semi-quiet "Gaaah!"

No wonder Revan and Malak and the Old Republic were so familiar! I'm living in the events of my history lessons! Travis thought frantically. What am I going to do?

Travis sighed, ordered a non-alcoholic juma juice and sat down to contemplate his predicament. Maybe the Jedi Council here could help me with my problem. For now, I have a couple of goals: survive the Jedi Civil War and Malak. Find my friends. Somehow look for a way back home or if all else fails, find a way to send a message home.

A man in a red suit noticed the kid groaning over his drink and decided to help. "Hey, kid. Credit for your thoughts?"

Travis looked up. The Force nudged that this guy could be useful. "Yeah. I'm just stuck here in this stupid quarantine."

"Heh. I can see what you mean. I'm stuck on the military base here myself. They don't give us Sith officers much time off." The man chuckled.

Travis looked up from drowning his sorrows in juma juice. "You're from the base? You don't look like a Sith."

The man shrugged. "I'm off-duty, so I don't have my uniform on. My name's Yun Genda, junior officer first class with the occupation force."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Travis Masaki, and I was a...tourist who got stuck here with some friends." Travis smiled sadly, putting on the patented oh-so-innocent-kid look. "My parents must be worried about me, but I can't get off to see them!"

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. Perhaps it won't last too long. You know, I'm actually surprised you're talking to me after I told you I was a Sith. Most people can't stand us. It can be a pretty lonely job."

Travis also couldn't believe that he, a Jedi was talking to a Sith, even a simple soldier. Still, it was just one guy talking to another, but it did remind him of the fact that Darth Atrox chatted it up with his dad. "I suppose I can't hold it against you. You're just doing your job, after all."

"That's true, but people don't appreciate what we've done for them. We could have slapped a curfew on Taris, but we didn't. It's like everyone on this planet is in a permanent bad mood. Don't they know that they have to make the best of things?"

Travis nodded in agreement and could have sworn he sensed Hell freezing over. A Jedi agreeing with a Sith? "Well, my dad always told me that everyone has their ups and downs. It's how you deal with them that counts."

"Your father's a wise man, then. I didn't ask to be stationed here, but I try to make the best of it...like making a new friend. It's pretty easy to get depressed on an assignment like this, but we do what we can to keep our spirits up."

"Must be tough to be stationed on a hostile world." Travis mused. He definitely understood that. He remembered a time when he and Naruto-sensei were sent to a Jedi-occupied world after being liberated from the Empire. He would never forget just how far the brainwashing went, with the cold glares and the hostile looks. Remembering Naruto gave him a pang of sadness about his predicament though. Sensei...

"That's true. It's nice to meet someone who understands what I'm going through. It's good to talk about this stuff. It gets pretty lonely up in the base." Yun Genda, then he checked his chrono. "Well, I gotta get going. I've got a shift at the base. But some of us junior Sith officers are having a party tonight to blow off sme steam. You know, why don't you get those friends of yours and come down to the party? You have a map?"

Travis took out his datapad and tuned to the map section. "Yeah, here it is."

The soldier nodded and pointed to an area on the map. "It's right there. Don't be late. We're starting right after our shifts end. Most of us won't even be going back to the base to lock up our uniforms. I look forward to seeing you there."

The man left Travis blinking at the wealth of information that he just gained. Unlocked uniforms and a party with lots of alcohol? Whoo! Intelligence bonanza time! "Wow...this I gotta show Jaden!"

As he got excited for the first time since he landed here, he nearly bumped into a girl. "Hey! Where did you get those clothes, a trash compactor in the Lower City? And where are those drinks we ordered?"

Travis looked down at his blue and yellow striped T-shirt and khaki long shorts and looked up at his backwards red cap and shrugged. "They're my favorite clothes. And I'm not exactly your waiter."

The spoiled brat didn't seem to listen and opened her mouth to complain. "Why is the help so incompetent? One word from Daddy and I could get you fired!"

Travis rolled his eyes. He's heard things like that before among the aristocratic kids he sometimes hangs out with and it always grated on him. Then he had an idea and smiled. He bowed profusely. "Of course, madam, of course. Let me get you a drink."

"That's more like it! Now be quick about it! Chop chop!" The girl said snobbishly.

Travis raced quickly to get a drink and then came back. "Here's your drink!"

"That's more like it! Really, though, your clothes look so commonfolk and I cannot abide--Ohh!" Instead of simply giving her the drink, Travis grinned and dumped the contents right on her head. Chuckling, he stepped back to admire his handiwork. The girl stood up quickly, frantically trying to brush away the drink from her hair and fine clothes. She glared at a laughing Travis and the chuckling patrons around him. "You little commoner! Daddy's going to have your head for this!"

She rushed out of the room. Travis fired off a parting shot. "That's for making fun of my favorite clothes and that's for being a rude, stuck-up, no-good spoiled brat! And your Daddy's a nerfherder! Bye-bye!"

The girl screamed in rage and stormed out of the cantina to patron's laughter.

"Hehe! I probably shouldn't have done that, but it felt soo good!" Travis grinned and moved away quickly before retribution could occur.

"Now, if I were Jaden, where would I be?" Travis asked himself. Soon enough, though, the TV screens began showing a duel. One of those duelists was none other than Jaden and the other guy was some chump named Deadeye Duncan. "What's he doing there?"

He watched the battle begin. Deadeye shot some blaster bolts, which Jaden barely had to dodge, before he returned a nice, non-lethal, but still painful-looking headshot. It didn't last too long.

"Well, that looks like fun!" Travis grinned. "I'd say we have some time to kill before we have to return to Carth."

With that, he began to look for the dueling area...

* ABR = After the Birth of the Republic.
** ABY = After the Battle of Yavin. (BBY simply means Before said event)

This is the OOC Thread! All comments and questions go here! Unless they are part of the RP, all future posts will be deleted! You have been warned! (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13687140#post13687140)

After a short time of searching for Jaden, Travis finally caught up with him. "Having fun?"

"Yeah." Jaden grinned. "Those guys weren't so hot. You look like you found something interesting."

"Yeah, I just talked to this Sith soldier and he says he and his buddies are having a party in a while after their shift. Not to mention that there's unlocked Sith uniforms we can use." Travis grinned, showing Jaden the datapad of the meeting.

"Well, that's interesting. Looks like you may be useful after all." Jaden grinned. "By the way, are you interested in a duel, too? If you are, talk to that Hutt manager, goes by the name of Ajuur."

"Hmm. Sounds fun. Let's do a few and we'll go back to check on the others." Travis smiled. As he neared the Hutt, one of the duelists stopped him.

"I couldn't help but overhear that you want to duel. You look pretty young, kid, but I can see you've seen your share of fighting. I'm Merl, one of the duelists here." Merl said.

"Travis. What makes you think I've seen my share of fighting?" Travis asked.

"I've been dueling for twenty years. I know a martial artist when I see one, and I can say that you look like someone who knows his way with a fist, despite being a kid. Perhaps you'd like some tips from an old vet?" Merl asked friendly-like.

"Uh...sure."

"Well, let's see...Deadeye Duncan's pretty bad. I'd probably get a good laugh at seeing a kid like you beat him. He can't shoot the broad side of a cruiser and his sword skill's even worse. Gerlon Two-Fingers used to be good, but ever since a blaster accident that took his fingers, he's barely better than Duncan. I'd laugh if you can get him too." Merl chuckled just thinking about it. "Ice? Well, she's as cold as her name, but she's good. If you come in with her, be prepared for a tough fight. Twitch? Insane, but very, very good. I'd be surprised if you can beat him, because I can't. And as for me, well, I'm a staff expert and I doubt a kid like you can take me, despite your likely talent. Come back in ten years and we'll see about that. Oh, yes, and then there's Bendak Starkiller. Amazing guy and the current champ. No one's beaten him, but he's retired. Says he won't duel anyone without a death match."

"Sounds good. Thanks for the tips, sir." Travis nodded.

"Don't call me sir. It makes me feel old, even though I am." Merl chuckled.

Travis moved to Ajuuar the Hutt. Like all Hutts, he looked like someone who's made a lot of money off the duels. At least he didn't smell too bad...for a Hutt. "<Ah, hello, human. My name is Ajuur and I organize all the duels here. We just finished two good fights with the Mysterious Stranger, but another new face could quite possibly liven up these otherwise dreary duels. Maybe you can step in the dueling ring, perhaps? It can be a highly profitable venture, athough you look quite young.>"

Travis looked like he was thinking about it, looked back at Jaden, who gave him a thumbs up, then smiled. "My friends tell me I'm pretty good in a scrape. What's in it for me?"

"<Hur! Hur! Hur! We'll see about that! If you manage to win, you can get the standard contract. 10% of all wagers. And don't worry, no one dies anymore because of energy suppressers placed on the dueling ring. You'll just need to be put out on a stretcher. Hur! Hur!>"

Travis grinned. "I think ten percent is a bit on the low side. Make it fifteen and I'll make it worth your while. And if I lose, you get to keep that extra five."

The Hutt mulled it over, then laughed. "<Hur! Hur! Hur! You have a pretty good opinion of yourself, boy! Very well, fifteen it is. You'll need a new nickname, like Deadeye or Ice. Will you choose or shall I?>"

"I think...the Little Prankster sounds good." Travis grinned. "How about that?"

"<Hur! Hur! Sounds like a good one! it will surely make people bet more! It's a good one. You're a human boy, you're short and you definitely have something of a prankster about you. This could be interesting!>"

"Fifteen percent? We could definitely use the credits." Jaden grinned. "Go for it, kiddo!"

"<Very well. Are you ready for a duel now? I could set you up for Deadeye to start with. Once you're ready, I can tell you the rules.>"

Travis gave him the patented Masaki Smirk. "I'm ready for anything. Set me up!"

"<Yes! You fight and people bet and I make money!>" The Hutt cackled. "<Ahem! There's only one rule: no killing. Otherwise, anything goes. Death matches are illegal now. Since you're new, you start off with Deadeye. Are you ready to go in the ring now?>"

"I'm born ready! Let's do it!" Travis chuckled.

=====

The Announcer, who looked suspiciously like an ancestor of Maes Hughes, began announcing. "Ladies and gentlemen! It looks like today is your lucky day! You have seen the Mysterious Stranger cream Deadeye and Gerlon! Now you will see another new face try his luck! This looks like a good day to duel! You've seen him lose night after night after night! But this time, he's after fresh meat! In this corner, I give you Deadeye Duncan!"

Laughter and boos erupted as he waved about. He didn't seem to notice.

"And in this corner, he's an even newer newcomer than the Mysterious Stranger! He's a kid, he wears a red cap, and he's ready for action! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Little Prankster!"

Some laughter and a few cheers roared out for Travis. He grinned at the attention and waved.

"Begin!" The announcer roared.

"Imma gonna get you, kid!" Duncan fumbled for his blaster and began shooting at Travis, who was only about three meters away. And completely missed every single shot. Travis yawned and pulled out his favorite yo-yo, doing a few tricks to amuse the crowd while the shots bounced off the walls, the floor and everything else but Travis.

Then Travis got bored and attacked with his yo-yo. First, he Walked the Dog, revving the toy back and slamming the yo-yo into Duncan's chest and sending him into the air. He landed with a grunt and then charged with his sword. It was such a wild swing that Travis easily dodged, then counterattacked by tying the guy's feet together with the yo-yo, then a Round the World sent him flying into the wall, knocking him out. GAME!

Much laughter and cheering erupted as Travis won his first battle. He quite thoroughly humiliated Duncan in this battle and his prestige instantly rose.

"Hahaha! I haven't seen a match this good in years! Deadeye Duncan has been outpranked by the Little Prankster! Though funny, you'll have to do better than that to impress us!"

As Travis came out, he was met with laughter from Jaden. "Hahaha! That was good! You're going to give it another go?"

"Yeah! Give me a few minutes to get ready." Travis grinned. He quickly ran to the local sports store and bought none other than a sturdy baseball bat.

Jaden just fell to the ground laughing when Travis showed up again with the bat. "Oh, ho ho ho! You really are a prankster!"

"Hmph! Defeated by a kid with a yo-yo! I hope you're happy!" Duncan yelled.

"Hah! I won't be beaten by a kid with stupid tricks! Come to the arena and I'll show you a real duelist!" Gerlon Two-Fingers snorted.

"We'll see about that! Ajuur?" Travis yelled, laughing.

"<Ho ho ho! Coming right up!>" The Hutt chuckled.

Soon, Travis and Gerlon faced each other. The Announcer announced and then it began. This time, it turns out that Gerlon could actually shoot better than Duncan, forcing Travis to dodge. But even so, he was a quick little prankster and was able to get inside the gun's range to smack Gerlon several times with his bat. Gerlon tried his best to block Travis' blows with a vibrosword, but he found out why one of Travis' baseball bat techniques was called the Homerun Smash and he too smashed into the nearest wall. GAME!

"Damn it! Beaten by a kid with a baseball bat! I'm so humiliated!" Gerlon sobbed.

Travis came back to more cheers and laughter. Jaden grinned. "That was a good one, but I think the next one you'll face is that Ice lady. It's going to be more serious this time."

"Indeed! You may have defeated those chumps with childish tricks, but playtime is over!" Ice told the boy coldly. Travis just stuck his tongue out at her and she replied with a glare that froze him over. Her name was well chosen indeed!

"What about you?" Travis asked Jaden as he thawed. "Weren't you dueling?"

"Eh...I think I'll stay back and watch you see how far you'll go." Jaden folded his arms. "Besides, I'll come back later if there's time."

"Alright." Travis nodded. "Ajuur? I can still go for another shot!"

"<Ho ho ho! A fiesty one, are you? The ring is in your blood now! You want to hear the cheers of the crowd and the laughter of your friend! Well, let me arrange it and off you go!>"

For the third time in a row, Travis found himself dueling another duelist, but this time, Ice was no joke. She was too good with her blaster for Travis to get up close and he actually had to work up a sweat dodging the quick bolts. Not to mention he can't use his bat or his sword to deflect the bolts or else he'd be found out as a Jedi. Then a shot grazed him in the leg. "Oww! Damn!"

"Sorry, kid. Looks like your luck's run out!" Ice said and calmly leveled her blaster at him...then found herself on the defensive as Travis pulled out his own blaster and started blazing away. "What? Brat!"

Travis finally managed to bring her down, but not without getting some injuries himself. Though they were stun bolts, his leg and sides still hurt a lot and he had to limp. "Jeez..."

He came out looking a little worse for wear. Jaden smiled. "Well, looks like you managed to beat Ice."

"Yeah. Barely, though. I think I'll wait a bit before I go after the other two." Travis grumbled, using a medpack to heal the burns.

"Yeah, besides, we have to get this information to Carth. I'd say it's time we checked out the Lower City." Jaden nodded.

"Right."

After they collected their winnings from the Hutt, which was considerable, they met up with Carth and Trask. Carth began. "We have some information. A doctor told us that the Sith have been taking serum for the rakghoul infection in the Undercity. I promised him we'll get it as soon as we could."

"We also have some information on the swoop gang races from a equipment emporium's owner. She says they're called the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars and they've been going at it for a while. Plus, there's this guy named Davik who sounds like he's playing it safe with the Sith invasion. Someone else we could look into." Trask said.

Jaden nodded. "We'll make a note of that. Travis here got some information about a Sith party that we could join and hopefully swipe their armor while they're drunk. For future use, of course. Then we entered a dueling ring and got some credits for our trouble."

Carth looked bemused. "Well, looks like you two have been busy. Good work, guys. Let's see if we can get to the Lower City, then. Let's move out!"

"Right!"

And during the time that Travis was dueling, a single figure in the arena had watched him intently, his hood masking his face as he watched. When Travis and company left, the figure silently exited behind them, keeping a careful distance to keep from being noticed by them...

The gang sauntered casually down the road again and were almost accosted by a bunch of drunken rich snobs. One thing led to another and a bit of a brawl broke out. If you can call the snobs tripping over their own feet with a subtle Force manipulation on Travis' part a brawl...

Anyway, so our heroes approached the entrance to the Lower City, but they were stopped by a Sith guard. "Hey! This area is off-limits to everyone but Sith patrols and those with proper authorization! It's obvious by the way you're dressed that you're not one of the Sith patrols, so move along!"

Like ordinary citzens, they moved along. Out of earshot, though...

"Looks like we'll need some kind of disguise if we're going to get past here." Carth said. "Unless you'd like to try a mind trick."

"Disguise first, trick later." Travis shook his head. "The Force is useful, but I've always been taught that sometimes the simplest solutions are best."

"You must have had an interesting teacher, then. Most Jedi I know would have thought of the Force first and other things second." Carth mentioned.

"Yeah. My master's not what you would call...conventional." Travis smiled. "At least for a Jedi. He's where I got all my pranking skills from."

"A master prankster? I would like to meet him." Jaden chuckled.

For a moment, Travis looked sad. "Yeah, I'm sure you would. I haven't seen him in a good while though." If you only knew just how far away he is...

"Well, didn't you say there was a Sith officer's party?" Trask asked Travis, trying to cheer him up. "Maybe we could find a disguise there."

"Hey, yeah!" Travis checked his datapad for the location of the party. "Come on!"

Soon enough, they entered some apartments to the north and heard loud music. Much to Carth's aged consternation, Trask and Travis found that it was music to their ears as they entered the party doors.

"*hic* Hey! What's up! I'm glad you came and...wow! You weren't kidding when you said you were bringing friends!" The guy from the cantina laughed as Travis entered to enjoy the show. "Come in! Come in! *hic* We have lots of drinks and you simply must try the Tarisian ale! We should have conquered the planet ages ago just for this! It's got quite a kick!"

"Aww, leave the kid alone, Yun. He probably isn't even old enough to drink!" One of the partygoers said to the guy. "Besides, if we drink too much, we'll pass right out on the floor!"

"Aww, don't worry about that! *hic* The kid's gonna be all right, right kid?" The wasted unassuming local Sith officer chuckled and became friendly and affectionate towards Travis.

"Yeah, um...I'll just try another drink." Travis chuckled nervously and backed off.

"Ah well, we're not on duty tomorrow anyway. *hic* Live a little, kid!" Yun chuckled.

As it turns out, the four newcomers to the party didn't drink all that much, but the whole crowd of Sith partygoers soon passed out from too much booze. It was a perfect opportunity to swipe the belongings of the Sith officers, including the uniforms, weapons and cash. They even swiped the ID cards, just in case.

"I almost feel sorry for those Sith." Jaden chuckled as he got in a uniform that fit him. "When they come to, they're going to be stuck in a gundark hole for sure!"

"All in the name of the Republic." Carth chuckled.

Soon, they suited up and headed down to the Lower City entrance. The same Sith trooper was still there. "Another patrol heading down to the Lower City, eh? Good luck. It gets pretty rough down there. There's a big swoop gang war going on down there, you know. Better watch yourself. Those gangs will take a shot at anyone, even us! It's too bad we don't have the manpower to swat them like bugs. By the way, that one looks pretty short for a Sith trooper."

He meant Travis, who began to sweat and pray that he wasn't caught.

"He's new." Jaden stepped in. "We're just showing him the ropes."

"Ah. Well, good luck, kid. You'll need it." The guy chortled.

They entered the doorway and, checking to make sure there's no one around, took off their uniforms and stuffed them into a corner where they could use them again if necessary.

After that, the four guys stumbled onto a Vulkar vs Hidden Bek battle. Well more of an insulting war at first.

"Beks are nothing but bantha shit! The Vulkars are the strongest!"

"We'll teach you who's strongest!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

And then they started fighting, swords flashing and curses flying. Pretty soon, though, the Vulkars won...and then noticed the guys. "More strangers!"

"Oh, oh! Looks like they want to pick a fight with us!" Trask yelled.

"I don't think so!" Travis grinned.

Jaden and Travis took out their melee weapons, Jaden with a sword and Travis with his bat and started whacking them. Meanwhile, Carth and Trask stayed at range and used their blasters on them. Unlike the Beks, the foursome soon dealt with the Vulkar gangmembers and moved on. Soon, they overheard a conversation...

"You're behind in your payments, boys. What did you think when you joined Davik, that because you're in some gang, you don't have to give Davik his cut?"

A gangmember grunted. "I don't see him doing anything for his share! We do all the work. Davik claims he's part of the Exchange, so let's see him prove it!"

Another sneered. "Yes, let's see the big bad crime lord come and get the money from the Black Vulkars!"

"Ah, so you want to play this the hard way, eh?" Davik's man chuckled and then whistled.

A big Mandalorian arrived with an equally big gun. Suddenly, the Black Vulkars didn't look so brave. In fact, they looked like they were about to piss their pants.

"Oh...hey, Canderous. We didn't know you were working for Davik now." The first gangmember chuckled nervously.

"Y-yeah, we were just goofing around here! We don't want no trouble with a Mandalorian! Here's Davik's cut!" The other guy coughed up the cash.

"I knew you boys would see sense. Now get outta here!" The man ordered.

Canderous grunted. "Too bad. I was lookin' to crack some heads."

"Maybe later, Canderous. I better get this over to Davik. I'll call you if anyone else gets any ideas."

Meanwhile, the foursome looked at each other after the exchange. Jaden shrugged and stepped forward to meet Canderous. "Hey."

"Hey. You saw them? They're dumber than a Coruscant granite slug. They think that being in that pathetic little gang of theirs makes them important." Canderous snorted in contempt. "Gadon keeps his Beks in line, but Brejik's been gettin delusions of grandeur. Davik'll slap that punk down like a bitch."

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Not much to sneeze at. So, who are you?" Jaden asked.

Canderous smiled thinly. "Let's just say I'm not someone you'd want to get on the bad side of, and I'm not really one for small talk. I don't have time to stick around here anyway. Davik's got me working on a special assignment. Maybe we'll see each other again."

"Yeah, maybe." Jaden nodded and watched the man go without another word.

"He talked a lot, but didn't say anything." Travis' first impression told Trask.

"I might be inclined to agree, although we now know the names of the two gangs' leaders." Trask replied.

"Point." Travis nodded.

"Keep moving, boys!" Carth verbally poked them.

"Yes, sir!" Trask and Travis chorused.

=====

Later on, they helped a fugitive destroy his own apartment to run from bounty hunters, and then Jaden and Carth got into an argument about trust issues. It seems that Carth was always wary of others, especially sudden newcomers like Jaden or Travis. Jaden retorted that he was assigned to the Endar Spire at the last minute, like Travis was, nothing more, nothing less. Why blame them for his troubles!?

"Guys...why don't we leave the argument for another time? We have business." Trask suggested.

"Yeah! I mean, we can't break down, here and now!" Travis agreed.

"Stay out of this!" The men yelled, making the boys cringe. The men glared daggers at each other, then Jaden sighed.

'Fine, fine. I'm not going to argue with a guy who refuses to trust anyone but himself. We'll save Bastila, then get off planet and then we won't have to see each other again."

"Hey, don't take it too personally! All I'm saying is that there's no guarantees." Carth shot back.

"Personally? I'm beginning to wonder if you'll ever trust anyone ever again." Jaden fired off a big one. Carth and Jaden then began trading insults.

"Here we go again!" Travis sighed.

"Why can't we all be friends?" Trask sighed as well.

They continued arguing all the way through the Lower City Apartments until they heard a guy talking to two other fellows. The guy was a short, stocky fellow in gaudy clothing, but he sported a pair of wicked blasters and nice shades.

"<You seem to be taking a lot of interest in our progress, short man.>" One of the Rodians said in Huttese.

"<Shut up! That's Calo Nord, the famous bounty hunter!>" The other one said.

Calo only smirked. "Well, there's a bounty on your little green head. I'm here to collect."

"<Hah. Over our cold, dead bodies, short man!>" The first one laughed and they began pulling out blasters.

"That could be arranged." Calo grinned, then whipped out his blasters and shot them dead before they could squeeze out shots of their own. Then he calmly headed for the cantina to get a drink.

"Pretty good." Travis whistled.

"Those blasters...they must have been modified." Jaden nodded.

"Really? Cool."

They noticed a woman standing over a door and learned that she was guarding the Hidden Bek base. They also got some friendly advice about staying off the streets because of the Vulkars. After that, they headed for the cantina as well, only to see Calo get accosted again by three chumps. He growled at them. "Go away."

"Hey! You can't talk to us that way! We just wanted to see big bad Calo Nord!" One yelled, although not loud enough to overcome the music.

'Nah. This guy can't be Calo Nord! The guy is said to be tough! This one's nothing but a runt!" Another chortled.

"One." Calo muttered.

"One? You be funny tough guy?" One of the others said.

"You know who we are, Calo? We're members of the Black Vulkars! You don't want to be getting funny with us, tough guy!" The Twi'lek laughed.

"Two." Calo murmured.

"I don't understand. One? Two? What, is he trying to count the number against him?" The Rodian looked confused.

"It's three against one! What do you say to those odds, eh? Speak up!" The Twi'lek demanded.

"Three." Calo muttered, and then he threw a flash grenade, blinding the Cantina, and then blasters rang out. When the light cleared from Travis' eyes, he saw that all three Vulkar members were dead.

He headed for the exit and then noticed the four guys. "Go away."

"Uh...nice work there." Travis grinned.

"One."

"We're not looking for a fight." Jaden said helpfully.

"Two."

"Ok. That'll be enough." Carth pushed the 'kids' inside the cantina. "We see your point and will trouble you no more."

"Smart." Calo grunted and headed off to do whatever he does.

As Calo made his way through the door, the hooded figure that had been following the group made his way through the door, brushing by the man. There eyes would lock for a moment as they passed by one another, but nothing would be said by either as the hooded figure kept out of sight of Travis and company. His eyes strafed the crowd, taking in as much information as he could, eyeing everyone for concealed weaponry. Once he had blended into the shadows, the hooded figure would then disappear from sight.

Our heroes entered the cantina and sat down at the bar, ordering some drinks and listening to the crowded scene. One thing that caught their notice was a little Twi'lek girl being accosted by two Rodian thugs.

"Ah, little Twi'lek come where she's not wanted?" One sneered. "Maybe she leave before she gets hurt!"

The Twi'lek turned towards the Rodians in a huff. "You guys again? I told you to leave me alone! Give me some space, bug-eyes! And your breath smells like bantha poodoo!"

Travis snorted in his drink at that comment. Reminds me of Meji.

"Little girl should shut her mouth, I think, yes?" The other Rodian said menacingly. "Little girl should go run away and go home if she were smart, yes?"

"Who are you calling a little girl, Chuba-face?!" An incensed Twi'lek yelled.

"Little girl needs lesson in manners!" The first Rodian sneered and then moved forward.

But the girl was smiling. "Zaalbar! A little help, here? I need you to rip off the legs of some insects!"

A roar came from the other side of the cantina as a Wookiee roared in response. "<Can it wait, Mission? I'm eating right now!>"

"Oh, you and your big, complaining stomach! Come over here!" The girl named Mission yelled.

"<Oh, fine! But I'm not happy!>" The Wookiee rumbled over to her, still eating the steak like it was a little snack. "<What seems to be the problem here?>"

"You were saying?" Mission grinned to the Rodians, who took a step back as the huge furball growled at them.

"We no have trouble with the Wookiee! Our problem is with little girl here!" The second Rodian's voice wavered.

"You got a problem with me, you got a problem with Big Z. Now get your green buggy asses out of here!"

Sizing up the situation, the Rodians decided that it descretion was the better part of valor. "Little girl got lucky she has Wookiee friend. Maybe she not get lucky next time."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get lost!" Mission made a 'shooing' motion with her hands and 'Big Z' roared in agreement. They cleared out of here rather quickly.

She couldn't help but hear laughter coming from a human boy in a red cap sitting with some older companions. Mission frowned. "Oy! You think that's funny?"

"No...you're just good at making those guys run away with their tail between their legs. My name's Travis Masaki." Travis introduced himself and then his friends. "These are Carth Onasi, Trask Ulgo and Jaden Lokar."

"Nice to meet you, kid. Say, I haven't heard of a Twi'lek that speaks Basic before." Carth mentioned.

"Aww, that's not so strange. Most of us non-humans can speak Basic, we're just more comfortable with our native tongue. Besides, I kinda grew up speaking Basic around here. By the way, the name's Mission Vao, and my buddy here is Zaalbar, or Big Z as I like to call him." Mission smiled. The Wookiee woofed a greeting.

"You showed a lot of guts dealing with those thugs, Mission." Jaden said.

"Yeah, the streets can be kinda rough. You just gotta be tough, but Big Z and I watch out for each other." Mission shrugged. "So, is there anything I can do for you fellas?"

"Actually...now that you mention it, we need information." Carth said.

"Move over, willya!" Mission grinned and shoved Travis aside to get a seat. Travis bumped into Trask and they protested while Big Z went back to get the rest of his din-din. Ignoring them, Mission advertised herself. "Well, you've come to the right person! I've got the scoop on Lower Taris and even Calo Nord himself!"

Carth and Jaden chuckled at Mission's enthusiasm, although Travis and Trask didn't look too amused. Kids.

Jaden asked first. "So how does a Wookiee and a Twi'lek kid get together."

"I'm not a kid! I'm 14!" Mission scowled, making Travis smile a bit at the sentiment, then answered. "Ah, we just kinda fell together. My street smarts and his strength make a good pair, y'know?"

"I see. Well, let's see...you have anything on a couple of escape pods that landed around here?" Carth asked.

"Escape pods?" Mission put a finger on her chin and looked up in thought. "Yeah...there was a ruckus going on about that lately. Rumor has it that a Republic soldier was captured by the Black Vulkars."

The guys shared glances. Jaden asked, "You know anything about this soldier?"

"Not really." Mission shook her head. "All I know is that it's a woman."

A lead! If Mission was a Jedi, she would have sensed all four thoughts speak the same words. Travis spoke up. "Looks like we should pay these Vulkars a visit."

"Yeah." Trask nodded.

"You kidding? Their base is heavily defended and they attack on sight! You'll never make it through." Mission shook her head. Then she seemed to get an idea. "Although...if you have a problem, you should go to the Hidden Beks."

"The Hidden Beks? Didn't we just pass their base?" Trask asked and Carth nodded.

"Might have. They're the other big swoop gang. Real nice, too. I hang out there all the time. Gadon may be blind, but he's still is a pretty good leader. He'll help you out." Mission said.

Jaden sat back, taking in the information. "So these 'Vulkars' and 'Hidden Beks' are the two big swoop gangs around here?"

"Right. The Vulkars have been kicking up trouble ever since Brejik fell out with Gadon and took over the gang. Ever since that, they've been fighting for a good while!" Mission stated.

"Hmph. Just what we need. A gang war on our hands." Carth grumbled.

"Hey, don't knock the Beks. It's totally the Vulkar's fault. And anyway, if you want to help that officer of yours, Gadon's the guy to go to!"

"Hmm...looks like it's a good choice." Jaden said to Carth, who nodded.

"We don't have anything else to go on." Carth agreed. "Thanks, Mission."

"Hey, it's my job. If you need anything else, just holler." Mission got up. "Well, this place is kinda boring. Big Z, let's see if we can find some excitement in the Undercity!"

Zaalbar woofed in reply. "<Coming!>"

And shortly, the twosome headed out the door.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Travis asked. "Let's go!"

=====

They headed back to the base and the guard looked up to see them. "Back again? What do you want now?"

"We'd like to see Gadon, if you please." Jaden said kindly.

"Everyone wants to se Gadon. Unfortunately, free visits are no longer available." The guard snorted. "How do I know you aren't Vulkars or Sith looking for trouble?"

"Mission Vao sent us to you." Jaden continued, trying to be a bit persuasive.

"Mission, eh?" The guard eyed the three Republic soldiers and one Jedi apprentice. The kid and the wimpy guy looked harmless enough, but the two well-built (and if she wasn't on duty, handsome!) men looked like they could take care of themselves in a scrape. "I'll call you in, but you'd better not start trouble."

She called in and then the door opened.

"Thank you." Jaden nodded.

As they entered and approached a blind, dark-skinned man who appeared to be the leader, his personal guard blocked them. "Hey! Who are you! What is your business with Gadon!"

"Calm down Zandra. Nobody's going to try anything here in the middle of this base! It'd be suicide!" Gadon replied sternly.

Zandra sighed. "You're always too trusting, Gadon. The Vulkars want you dead. Anyone we don't know is a potential threat and it's my job to keep you safe!"

"I know, but we can't go about attacking strangers on sight just because we think they may be a threat. That'll make us no better than the Vulkars! Now step aside and let them pass." Gadon said.

"Oh, very well. But I'll be watching you." Zandra told the foursome.

"My apologies, friends. Zandra can be a little over-zealous sometimes, but she's a good person. It's just that between the Vulkars and the Sith, we're a bit on edge these days." Gadon told them, then rubbed his hands. "Now...what can I do for you?"

"Well...do you know anything about the escape pods that crashed down around here?" Jaden asked.

"The escape pods? You know, I've heard the Sith were asking around about them, but I don't think you're Sith." Gadon said.

"They could be spies!" Zandra hissed.

"Calm down! If they were Sith, they'd be coming in with a battalion of troops, not two kids! I'd say these off-worlders have their own agenda." Gadon mused.

"I assure you that we're not working with the Sith." Carth Onasi said. "We just want to know about the Republic officer that may have crashed with the pod."

"You see, Zandra? They're simply looking for their friend!" Gadon nodded, but Zandra just folded her arms in spite. "Yeah, I've heard of the officer. Unfortunately, I believe she has been captured by the Black Vulkars."

"The Vulkars?" Travis and Trask couldn't help but echo.

"Indeed. I have a feeling that you might make trouble for the Vulkars, and that's ok in my book. Anyway, the Vulkars stripped those pods clean hours after arrival. Too bad we couldn't get there first, considering what my spies reported back. A female Republic officer named Bastila. The Vulkars intend to sell her to slavery, something we don't believe in, so they took her prisoner."

"Slavery..." Travis made a determined fist. "We gotta rescue her!"

"Yeah. We can't let her be sold by the enemy!" Trask agreed.

"Hehe. At least they still think she's an ordinary Republic soldier." Carth noted to Jaden, who nodded.

"Could work to our advantage. She might even figure out a way to get through the base." Jaden nodded. "Still, we gotta rescue her."

"Hold your horses, young'uns!" Gadon chuckled. "She's too valuable to leave at the base. Brejik's probably got her squirreled away somewhere safe. You won't be able to get to her before the big swoop race."

"Swoop race?" Jaden asked.

"I'm afraid she's become a pawn in Brejik's plot to take over the Lower City. He's offered her up as the Vulkar's share of the prize at the swoop race. By offering her up as the prize, he's hoping to gain the loyalty of the smaller gangs. With their numbers combined, they could finally destroy us." Gadon sighed.

"Not a good thing. So how do you propose we get to Bastila? We can't fight all of the gangs." Carth pointed out.

"The only hope you've got is to win the big swoop race and 'claim' her." Gadon said.

"Hmm...Which one of us is good enough with swoops?" Carth asked the others. "I'm not too shabby myself, but I'm getting old."

"You're not old, Carth! I'm pretty good." Travis smiled.

"So am I." Jaden replied.

"I'm out. I can't ride a swoop to save my life." Trask grumbled.

"Hmm. I would say Jaden has the better chance. Besides, they'll probably cry foul if a kid wins it. Might even think you're a Jedi or something." Carth explained.

Travis didn't like that, but he nodded anyway. "I suppose."

"All right. I'll do it." Jaden nodded and turned to Gadon. "Can you enter me into the race?"

"Hmm. I might be able to help you. Come back here tomorrow and I should have it all set up." Gadon suggested. He gave a look at Zandra. "You'll be expected."

"Oh, very well." She replied.

"All right. Will do." Jaden said.

As they began leaving, Travis seemed to have something on the tip of his tongue. Gadon noticed. "Something on your mind, son?"

"I don't mean to pry, but what happened to your eyes?" Travis asked, earning groans from the older men.

"How dare you!" Zandra growled, putting a hand on her blaster. "You nosy brat! Didn't your mother teach you manners?!"

Gadon laughed in amusement. "Stand down, Zandra. The boy asks well. I'm not ashamed of my blindness. You see, I lost them in a swoop race ten years ago and these are artificial replacements. I can still see well enough with them, but they're not the same as real eyes. Still, my blindness isn't the worst thing that happened to us. The consequences of the crash led to more than just blindness. It led to war between the Beks and the Vulkars."

"Really? How?" Travis asked.

"Well, when I lost my sight, everyone assumed I'd step down and allow Brejik, then my most trusted subordinate, to take over. Imagine his surprise when I decided to stay on as I could see well enough to lead the gang! Plus, I felt he wasn't ready to take over yet. But he disagreed and fell out with me, eventually joining the Black Vulkar gang and became its leader. Ever since then, we've been fighting."

"Sounds bad." Travis could sympathize. The Jedi have a host of stories like that, when a Padawan felt he was being held back and took the Dark path as a shortcut. It's sad that it had to repeat all over history. "Thanks for the story."

"I suppose I'm glad I had someone to tell the story to. It's a load off my chest. It's hard to accept the truth of this betrayal, even now. But I must lead the gang well."

"Yeah. Good luck. We'll come back tomorrow." Travis nodded.

"Heck, come back anytime. We're not like the Vulkar savages. Strangers are always welcome here. Friends even more so." Gadon proclaimed.

The next morning, Travis woke up in his bed to see that the others were already gone. "Man! I overslept! And everyone's gone!"

Sighing, he decided to head over to the Upper City cantina to eat and see if there was anything to do. Wait...wasn't there a couple of duels left to do? Travis grinned. "Looks like I'm going to get my morning exercise!"

After getting some breakfast, he headed up to the dueling arena, and noticed Trask. He seems to be enjoying a match. "Hey, Trask. Where did Carth and Jaden go?"

"Oh, they were arguing about something and told me to stay out of it. I just came here to cool my heels." Trask sighed.

"Again? They seem to argue alot." Travis sighed.

"I don't know what's up with them..." Trask shrugged. "Say, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Heh. We have time to kill before we need to head down to Gadon, so...I'm going to take on the last two duelists." Travis grinned. "This is gonna be fun!"

"You're crazy!" Trask groaned.

Travis ignored him as he went up to the Hutt. "Hey, I'm up for another duel!"

"<Ho, ho, ho! So you've returned, Little Prankster! You've defeated Ice, so now you will face Merl. Ho ho ho! You're getting famous and I'm getting rich! It's a perfect match!>" Ajuur chortled.

"Less chat, more dueling. Let's go!" Travis grinned.

=====

"Ladies and gentlemen! Have we a treat for you! In this corner, he has been dueling for twenty years and still is capable of whipping the young'uns raw! Put your hands together for Merl!" The announcer roared.

Merl came out wielding a wicked-looking double-vibroblade and waving to his cheering fans.

"But what's this? He looks like he's challenging Grandpa for the first time! Can he topple the old coot or is he going to get a spanking? Give it up for the Little Prankster!"

More cheers came for the young Jedi as he came out the other side.

"BEGIN!"

Travis struck first, bringing his bat out down on the old man's head, but Merl used his blade to block it and swung for Travis' neck. The boy ducked in time, turning it into a roll and brought up his bat again, only to have it connect again.

"Good of you to play, boy. But not good enough." Merl chortled.

"We'll see about that! I'm taking you down, old man!" Travis replied, smiling.

"Hahaha! You've got spunk! Well, have at thee!" The old man suddenly began whirling and slashing, forcing Travis back as he struggled to block the blows. Travis knew that if it wasn't for his Jedi training, he'd be finished already, but still, this guy was tough! Travis broke contact to avoid being put between the old man and the wall and spun aside to gain more space for his back.

It seemed like an eternity that the two duelists fought, but it was really only a couple of minutes before Travis' stamina began to overcome the old man's skill. Merl struggled against the boy, but a single mistake was all it took for the old man to get a hit in the gut, cracking a rib or two in the process and as he staggered back, it gave Travis another opening and then with a knockout blow to the head, it was all over.

Travis was panting and he wiped sweat from his brow, but he pumped his fist in the air, drinking in the cheers and the announcer's roar of victory.

=====

"Hahaha!" Merl laughed and slapped the boy in the back when they came back to the holding area. "That was the best battle I've ever had in my life, sonny! I've lost and yet I feel like a winner! But that made me realize something, you know?"

"What?" Travis asked.

"Twitch was the first one to beat me, as you know. Which is why he's the dueling champ and I'm not. And then you came along, a kid not even old enough to shave! What is it, 13, 14?"

"Almost 14, sir." Travis replied.

"Don't call me sir! It makes me feel old!" Merl laughed again. "Well, older than I already am. So yeah, it's only a matter of time before I get knocked off my pedestal once again. It's time I hung up my dueling sword once and for all and head off to some planet with fine beaches and even finer young ladies!"

Oh, great! Not another old pervert! Travis leered at Merl. But he had to be polite and so smiled. "Sounds good, Merl. I hope you have a great retirement!"

Then the old man leaned close and lowered his voice. "Heh. You're a Jedi, aren't you?"

Shocked at being revealed so easily, Travis could only squeak, "How did you know?"

"Looks like you have Shii-Cho with a bit of Makashi and Soresu thrown in." Travis was so shocked that a little spirit left his body. Merl chuckled at the boy's reaction. "Oh, don't worry, I won't call you out to the Sith. I'm not that foolish. Besides, I've fought several Jedi here in the past and I recognized some of the Forms in your style. Well, good luck on whatever you're doing here and hey, if you can beat me, you can beat Twitch. And...may the Force be with you."

Merl left the boy reeling and chuckled all the way out of the cantina. The kid collapsed in shock, leaving Trask to poke him and shake his head. "Ah...he's dead."

Travis' spirit soon returned to his body. "Geez. That was scary!"

"Are you still up for fighting that Duel Champion?" Trask asked.

"Hell yeah, but I dunno how I'd be able to win. If Merl was tough..."

"Yeah. What about that fire thing you used on the Endar Spire?" Trask asked.

"Oh, you saw that?" Travis looked a bit embarrassed at showing off his Katon technique, especially when he now knew that he was stuck four thousand years before Konoha was founded. Talk about temporal paradoxes!

"You probably saved my life back there with that move." Trask nodded.

"Too conspicious." Travis said immediately, then he checked his inventory and remembered that he still had other alternatives. "But I think I have a plan..."

After he thought up a plan involving his explosive notes, Travis went to Ajuur, who was clearly rolling in credits by now. "Ajuur! I'm ready to challenge the dueling champ!"

"<Oh, ho ho ho! Are you truly ready, Little Prankster? Then let me set it all up!>" Ajuur rumbled with Huttese laughter.

=====

As the crowd cheered on the contestants, the announcer roared, "Ladies and gentlemen! This is the moment you have been waiting for! The Little Prankster, who has defeated all four of the remaining duelists has come out to challenge the Champion himself, Twitch! Who knows how this battle will go!"

Then as the duelists prepared to fight, a band began striking up some awesome music to get in the mood.

Fighting! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bJQD8bmZi0&feature=related)

"BEGIN!" The announcer shouted.

Twitch and Travis began by running and blazing away with their blasters. Right away, Travis saw that this guy was an extremely fast little bugger, almost as fast as he was, and it took all of his natural speed and agility just to keep up with him. Of course, he could use a bit of the Force here, but he didn't want to reveal himself to the Sith just yet and also he wanted the battle to be more or less fair.

On the other side of the coin, as insane as Twitch was, even he knew that he shouldn't underestimate this kid. After all, he's defeated all the other duelists and it looked like he has some kind of plan to deal with him. Well, Twitch wouldn't let a human kid steal his championship! Suddenly, Twitch rushed at Travis, slamming him to the ground and choking him. Then Twitch received a kick and rolled off Travis, who retaliated with a swift series of kicks and punches.

For several minutes, Travis and Twitch traded blows that made the crowd 'ooh' as if they felt the punches and kicks they were throwing at each other. They swiftly moved to their melee weapons and mixed it up some more. Judging by the blows he was getting, with a black eye already forming and several hurt ribs, Travis knew that if he didn't begin executing his plan, he was definitely going to lose. But he had to trick Twitch...

Which was kind hard when he was wielding twin blades against Travis' single bat. At least the bat was fortified against the likes of blades due to it being surprisingly well-treated, but even so, Travis was forced to produce some handstands and flips to get clear of Twitch just long enough to throw a couple of shuriken at the Rodian. The Rodian snickered and deflected the shuriken and then rushed at Travis, who dodged and snickered in return.

"Whatsa so funny?" Twitch asked. Travis would only grin and point at his swords. There was some paper on them that began to burn, most likely transferred from the shuriken. Twitch realized that the strange paper was not going to be healthy and struggled to shake them off, but the paper held fast with adhesive backs.

"Boom!" Travis grinned. And so the paper did explode, covering Twitch with fire and smoke. Travis waited for the smoke to clear, and to his astonishment, Twitch was still standing, although breathing hard and his clothes smoldered.

"Little Prankster prank me well." Twitch chuckled. He moved into an X-stance with his swords. "But this will end it!"

"So be it..." Travis knew what was coming, but he didn't think it would come to him today! It was a Single Stroke Battle situation (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SingleStrokeBattle), where two duelists decide to finish it all in one blow. He nodded in reply and whirled his bat before moving into the classic stance. Feet apart, bat reared back, ready to swing.

The crowd fell silent as the two duelists stared at each other and didn't move for a long moment. A breeze somehow found its way into the arena, ruffling Travis' hair and clothes and Twitch's attennae.

Then, on some hidden signal, the two duelists struck, too fast for the audience to see. Suddenly, they were crouching at the opposite ends of the arena, facing forward. The audience couldn't tell who struck first or what would happen next. They waited with bated breath.

Travis then gasped as blood spurted from several wounds despite the suppressors and he fell to one knee, with only his bat holding him up. Twitch on the other hand, doubled over and collapsed, unable to get up again. The audience gasped...and then an explosion of cheers erupted.

"IT'S OVER! IT'S ACTUALLY OVER!!" The announcer bellowed. "The Little Prankster has won!"

"I did it?" Travis asked in disbelief and blinked. He turned around and saw Twitch unconscious. Travis' shock at succeeding in his first Single Stroke battle turned to elation. He jumped up and down in glee. "I did it! I won! I won! Oww..."

Trask couldn't believe it. Travis actually won the dueling championship! He and a bunch of revellers ran out to congratulate Travis, who began to heal himself with medpacks. Some began singing 'For he's a Jolly Good Fellow'. "I can't believe you won!"

"I can't believe it either!" Travis grinned and held up his V-sign high.

Ajuur even slithered down to give Travis his prize: a hell of a lot of credits. "<Ho ho ho! My boy! I knew you could do it! As promised, here is the fifteen percent cut that you earned!>"

"Thanks." Travis grinned to the Hutt.

As Trask led him out of the dueling arena, a masked figure in red armor appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Several patrons gasped. "That's Bendak Starkiller!" "What's he doing here?"

"In the flesh!" Bendak posed for pictures, gave a few autographs, then looked up and down at the kid. "Well, well, well. I never expected a kid like you to make it all the way through the arena."

"So what's it to you?" Travis asked.

"Heh. You don't know me? I'm Bendak Starkiller, champion of 100 matches, all to the death. I have never lost. I've been watching you kid, and I've decided to come out of retirement for one last challenge. Against you."

"Me?" Travis was incredulous as the crowd murmured.

"Yeah. And this time, we go all the way. No suppressors. No stun blasters or weak vibroblades or baseball bats. The real thing." Bendak challenged. The crowd gasped again.

Travis thought it over for a bit. "And what's the catch?"

"Nothing, really. I'm a Mandalorian. We live and die for the thrill of battle. To the death. Take it or leave it."

"Are you certain?" Travis asked. He might be forced to pull out a power or two this time, but hopefully he would have found Bastila by then.

"I can see in your eyes that you have killed before, kid. It would be an honor to fight you to the end." Bendak nodded.

"I see..." Travis nodded. He gave the Force a little poke and saw nothing but sincerity in Bendak. He decided that it would indeed be an honorable thing to do. "Very well. I will need time to prepare myself, though. Ajuur?"

Ajuur the Hutt nodded. "<I will need to bribe officials and things like that, since it is an illegal death match. Take all the time you need.>"

"All right. I'll be seeing you, then." Bendak chuckled slightly and then left as the crowd murmured excitedly.

"Wow. A real death match. Let's find Carth and Jaden and get down to Gadon." Trask was quite giddy at the idea. "We still have that swoop gang situation to do."

"I know. Let's go." Travis said.

OOC: HK's introduction

IC:

A rather dumb witted Ithorian wobbled about a former Sysetech Facility where a massacre has just resulted. Apparently, 105 officers were executed in a series of assassinations from an unknown assassin. As a result, Systech is being dismantled and it’s property is being sold off at auction to other companies and merchants across the galaxy. He sat down and took a look at the merchandise which was being sold. He spotted several droids and devices which he noted about and noted a odd reddish orange droid (http://www.swg1.net/encyclo/images/hk-47.jpg) amongst the lot. He placed several bids on multiple droids and discovered he still had plenty left over.

"... And finally, we have this HK protocol droid. It has knowledge of over 100 different forms of languages and communications. A relatively simple droid so far as we're aware of. It's master was recently departed to to a sort of electrical surge while he attacked the droid. We are unsure as to the reason why the man committed this act, especially since he was seated to become the next head of Systech. Bids start at a mere 500 republic credits. Do I see 500? 500... 500 credits to the Rodian in the back row. Do I hear 700 Credits... 700 credits... To the charming blue Twilek lady representing Czerka. 1000 credits... 1000 credits... 1000 Credits to the Onderon Senator. Do I hear 2000 Credits? 2000 credits..."

The Ithorian thought to himself for a few moments. It looked like a good droid, but was it really worth 2000 credits... The Ithorian decided to raise his hand for 2000 credits.

"2000 credits to the Ithorian. 2000 Credits, do I hear more? Any more? Going once, going twice... Sold to the Ithorian for two thousand credits."

The Ithorian got up from his seat and ordered his newly bought droids and droid parts back to his ship for transportation to Tatooine, the desert planet famous for it's twin suns. It's just a couple of parsecs away from Geinosis. The Ithorian had set up a new droid shop not too long ago for the purposes of selling droids and droid parts to the local inhabitants of the new colony the Republic was just starting up again relatively recently. He set down his tool kit and began to make the needed repairs to this new "Protocal" Droid. He noted several odd damage markings which he couldn't quite make out. But nevermind that, he got it at a fairly cheap price today so he was relatively pleased with himself.

He found what appeared to be the droid’s activation button, so he continued onward and activated his newly purchased droid. It activated with a bunch of whirs and beeps, then it’s eyes glowed a somewhat haunting yellow color. It picked up it’s torso and turned it’s head around in curriosity. “Self Diagnostic check: Running diagnostics.. Conjecture: Hmm, it would appear I have suffered a massive shock to one of my actuaitors.”

”Then sit back droid and stop moving around. Allow me to work on the damages which I can repair.”

”Acknowledgement: *sigh* Very well Master. You may begin your primitive meatbag repairs.”

“erm.... Meatbag?”

”Statement: You are an organic are you not Ithorian?”

”Of coure!”

“Conclusion: Then you are indeed a meatbag.”

The ithorian sighs. For the troulbe this droid is so far, he’s definitely not worth 2000 credits.

Soon, Trask and Travis were able to extract themselves from the revellers and went out to look for the arguing Republic officers. It didn't take long to find them as they were quite loud and angry-sounding.

"Guys!" Travis yelled. Annoyed at being ignored, he yelled again. "GUYS!"

"What?" They both yelled at him.

"What the heck are you arguing about?" Travis asked.

"Carth here is Mr. I Can't Trust Nobody. How can I work with someone like that!" Jaden grumbled.

"And I told you, I don't like people prying into my business! I told you enough already!" Carth shot back.

"All I wanted to know was the reason for your lack of trust! Is that so hard to understand?" Jaden yelled.

Travis sighed as they began their row again. He decided to stomp on their feet to get their attention. They yelped and held their feet in pain.

"Ow! You brat!" "Gaah! Travis! What was that for?"

"If you keep on arguing like this forever, we'll never be able to find Bastila." Travis lectured them. "Once we're off this Sithspawned rock, you can argue all we want, but not now! I'm not asking you to kiss and make up or something. All I want is to get to Bastila and find a way out of here. Is that so much to ask?"

"Fine." Jaden sighed.

"All right. You have a point." Carth sighed.

"Good! We should be going. Gadon isn't going to wait all day!" Trask rubbed his hands.

=====

Hidden Bek base

"Ah, I'm glad you're back. We've run into a problem." Gadon said as they came in.

"What kind of problem?" Jaden asked.

Gadon sighed. "During the night, some Vulkar gang members broke into our garage and stole our prototype accelerator. They would definitely use it to get an advantage for the swoop race. I need you to help me get it back."

"I see. I presume it would entail breaking into the Vulkar's base." Jaden said. "How do you propose we do that?"

"The Vulkar's front door is heavily guarded. You'll never make it through there. But there's always a back door. I know someone who might be able to get you there...Mission Vao." Gadon said.

"Ah." Jaden smiled. "We met her. Where is she now?"

"I'd say you'll find her in the Undercity. She's explored every inch of the place, so she'll be useful in your search." Gadon said. "To get to the Undercity, you'll have to get to the elevator at the end of the corridor, but it's more tightly defended than the upper city one. You'll need proper security papers to get past the guard."

"Won't our Sith uniforms get us through?" Trask asked.

Gadon chuckled and shook his head. "Might have worked for the guards up there, but down here? No. Hmm...how about you trade those uniforms for the papers? You'll not need them from now on. They might be useful to us in the future."

"Sounds good." Jaden said. "Let's hand 'em over."

The foursome handed over the uniforms and Gadon gave them their papers. "Good. Now, the elevator's down the hall, to your right. Can't miss it. And keep out on the lookout for bad guys, ok?"

"Thanks. We will." Carth nodded.

=====

The Undercity

Soon enough, they encountered the guard at the entrance to the Undercity. "Hey! Step away from the elevator! Unless you have some security papers, you should just go back where you came from!"

"We have our papers here." Jaden said, and they all let him inspect the documents.

"Hmm. Everything seems in order then. Go on though. Can't envy you going down there. Damn Rakghouls and undercity dirt people..." The guard grumbled as they entered the elevator.

They headed further down to the point where it got as dark as midnight as the shadows of the skyscrapers passed over them. When they landed, they were immediately accosted by beggars in rags.

"Hey! You! You're using our elevator! That'll be five credits!" One of the beggars demanded.

"I don't believe this place! Even the beggars are trying to shake us down!" Carth muttered.

"Uh...pardon me?" Jaden asked.

"Five credits or else we'll do something to ya!" His friend yelled.

Travis was annoyed at them and took out his yo-yo to get rid of them, but Jaden stopped him. "Not yet..."

"Aww..."

"What do you need five credits for, anyway?" Jaden asked.

"This is our village! We claw our way through life here and we have to do anything to get credits these days!" The first begger grumbled.

"Let's move on from here." Trask mentioned. "We don't need to deal with these unfortunates."

"Yeah..." Jaden nodded.

"You're not going anywhere!" The first beggar pulled out a dirty-looking knife. "Pay the toll or else!"

"Get ready..." Jaden said to Travis, who nodded in reply.

Travis was about to shoot his yo-yo when a voice shouted at the beggars, who cleared off. "Go on! Get out of here! I'm sorry for the trouble. You're upworlders, aren't you? I'm Shelina. What are you doing down here?"

"Oh, we're just looking for a friend of ours. Mission Vao." Carth said.

"Oh, I see. She's around here somewhere, but I don't know. But again, I'm sorry for the trouble. They'll not trouble you again. We're good people, really."

"I'm sure you are, miss, but your welcome committee don't give us a very good first impression." Carth said unhappily.

"I know. Well, if you need anything, talk to our chief, Gendar, but we really don't have much. I hope you find Mission. She's known even here." Shelina bowed to them and left quickly.

"Sheesh. This place is sad." Travis muttered. He sighed at the dump of a village.

"Yeah...let's keep moving." Jaden sighed.

Soon, they approached a gate, where yelling was occurring.

"Hurry, Hendar! Hurry! They're coming!" A woman screamed. "Open the gate!"

"He's a fool! I won't open the gate! He's dead!" The gatekeeper replied.

"Come on! He'll die if he doesn't come in!"

"Help! They're coming!" The man named Hendar yelled as mutant-looking monsters approached him.

"They're too close! I won't open it!" The gatekeeper yelled.

Seeing all this poverty and the fact that the gatekeeper won't lift a finger to save his friend made Jaden angry. He approached the gatekeeper and demanded, "Open the gate!"

"Sir...you'll risk your life for a stranger?" The gatekeeper was incredulous.

"Yes. My companions and I will deal with the monsters!" Jaden replied. "Now let the man inside!"

"Ok, but I can't keep it open for more than a few seconds! You'll have to hurry!" The 'keeper replied and opened the gate.

Immediately, Carth and Trask opened fire with their blasters, cutting down several, while Jaden and Travis moved in close. Jaden attacked one of the monsters with his blade while Travis used the razor wire feature of his combat yo-yo to capture and slice the other one into chunks of rancid meat. That gave Hendar enough time to get in the gate, as well as the foursome.

The woman, who was clearly the man's wife, embraced him. "Ohh, Hendar! I thought you were dead! Thank you, strangers."

"T'warn't a problem, lass!" Travis grinned in a cowboy accent and flicked his cap, of which made Trask needle him with a noogie in annoyance. "Oww!"

"Nothing we can't handle." Jaden nodded. "So those are rakghouls?"

"Yes, stranger." The gatekeeper nodded fearfully. "They carry an incurable disease that will turn anyone into rakghouls themselves. Even a scratch is enough to turn someone into one of those things. Perhaps we have lived too long down here in selfish fear. We could learn a lesson from your actions. Can I help you?"

"Yes. We're looking for Mission Vao. You know her?" Jaden asked.

"I believe I've seen her head for the sewers southeast of here, but it's full of rakghouls. You'll be wise to go heavily armed." The man said.

"All right, thank you." Jaden nodded. "Let's go, guys."

They headed for the sewers and lo and behold, they bumped into Mission. Or her into them. No one could be sure.

"Please, you gotta help me! No one's gonna help me, not even the Beks! He's my friend! You'll help me, won't you?" Mission rambled.

"Whoa, slow down, Mission!" Jaden said. "What happened?"

"It's Zaalbar! He's in big trouble! They'll sell him into slavery!" Mission rambled.

"Slow down and take a deep breath, Mission." Travis suggested, a bit confused. "Who's going to sell Zaalbar into slavery?"

"We, we were just exploring the Undercity, looking for something interesting to find. You know, the usual." Mission slowed down long enough to get out some words.

Carth nodded. "I guess with a Wookiee around, you'd figure you'd be able to handle the odd rakghoul attack."

"And we know how to avoid 'em too. But we got big problems. Gamorrean slave traders! We didn't even have a chance to run! Zaalbar threw himself at them and told me to run! I...I don't know what to do!" Mission looked like she's about to cry.

"We'll help you find him. Where did they go?" Carth asked.

"I don't know, but they like to hang out in the sewers. I guess the stink must make them feel like home." Mission said.

"All right. But I'd like you to do something for us as well. We need to get into the Vulkar's base." Jaden said.

"Hmm. I know where an entrance could be, but first you gotta help me with Zaalbar!" Mission exclaimed. "It's a deal!"

"Then we have no time to waste." Trask said. "Let's go!"

They set out in search of Zaalbar...and ran into Canderous again. This time, with a squad of men.

"Don't move!" One of the frightened men yelled. "I'll shoot if I have to!"

"Stand down, soldier! I've already lost enough men to those damned rakghouls!" Canderous ordered. He eyed the group. "Hmm. By the looks of it, it looks like you're also trying to salvage something from those escape pods."

Carth and Jaden exchanged looks. "You might say that..."

"Hmph. Forget it. This place is crawling with those rakghouls. I've already lost enough men to those beasts." Canderous growled.

Travis sensed something approach. It felt...feral. "Something's coming...I can feel it!"

"Canderous...they're coming! I just heard something." One of the soldiers exclaimed.

"Get ready!" Canderous ordered, even as he eyed Travis for a moment. "Take 'em down!"

They burst out of the bushes, ravenous for fresh meat. Blasters rang out, killing some of them, but there were quite a lot of them. One man howled horribly as a rakghoul tore him apart. Travis and Jaden fought back-to-back, whipping with the yo-yo or slashing with the blade while Carth, Mission and Trask fought with their blasters. Soon enough, they were all dead.

"Everyone all right?" Canderous asked gruffly.

"Yeah, but we lost Jax." One of the survivors grumbled.

"Leave the corpse." The burly mercenary leader sighed. He turned again to the group. "Like I said, even if you look like you could handle the rakghouls, there's nothing down here. Davik sent me down here to scavenge whatever we could of the escape pods, but as you could see, there's nothing."

"Davik?" Travis asked. "Who's he?"

"What are you, some kind of offworlder, kid?" Canderous asked. Before Travis could answer, he continued. "Everyone knows Davik. He works for the Exchange crime syndicate. Smuggling, gambling, extortion, you name it, Davik controls it here. Recently, though, the gangs have been muscling in on Davik's control, giving my boss trouble. I'm just the troubleshooter. Well, I'd better be going. Come on, boys! Let's move out!"

Once again, Canderous left the group to their devices.

Soon enough, they passed a set of Sith corpses.

"Eww. Looks like they're half-eaten." Travis scrunched his face up in a scowl.

Jaden spotted something in the leader's hand. It looked like a vial. Jaden took it. "Looks full."

"Looks like a vial of serum..." Carth said. Then he remembered. "The doctor in the Upper City wanted a vial of serum so he can make a cure for all people! We should give this to him!"

"Good idea." Jaden pocketed the serum. "Let's move on."

Soon, they entered the sewers and looked for Zaalbar, only to find a troop of pigs snorting around.

"What are we going to do about them?" Travis whispered.

"Do we have any grenades?" Trask whispered.

"Yeah. A couple." Jaden nodded.

"Use them. And then Carth and I will try to snipe them from here. Travis and you will then attack quickly." Trask suggested. "Travis, are you sure you can't use...well...it?"

Mission was confused at that, but Travis knew. He sighed. "I could use it, but if the Sith come knocking, you'll know I used too much."

"Hey! What about me!" Mission asked sharply. "I'm not just a kid! I'm 14!"

"Umm...I'm 13..." Travis smiled. Maybe just this once, he'll defend Mission...

"See! He's 13! Now let me do something!"

"Ok, ok...Uhh...if you find anything interesting, pick 'em up." Trask sighed lamely. "Or go with Travis."

"That's not what I expected!" Mission yelled.

"You're still young, Mission." Carth sighed. "Looks like I'll make an officer out of you yet, Trask. We'll go with the plan."

Trask nodded. "Thank you. Now let's do it."

Jaden began by throwing a couple of grenades at the surprised Gamorreans, showering them with shrapnel as Trask and Carth shot them with their blasters. Meanwhile, Travis and Mission moved in close to the pigs and Travis pushed one back with the Force, making it squeal in fright as it flew into its fellows.

"Hey, you're a Jedi!" Mission exclaimed.

"Don't shout it to the heavens!" Travis replied. "And I'm really only an apprentice."

"But still...wow. A real live Jedi!" Mission giggled when Travis gave her a long-suffering look. "Ok, back to business."

Mission took care of some mines that were placed by the slavers and then continued onwards. Soon after they rampaged through, the fivesome reached a holding pen that had a manual lock on it.

"Hey, this is a manual lock. Don't waste your computer spikes on this thing, it won't work." Mission said to the others.

"Can you deal with it?" Jaden asked.

"Of course! I haven't been picking locks since I was a kid for nothing! Stand back!" Mission cracked her knuckles and then manipulated the lock. It opened, revealing a haggard but alive Wookiee!

"<Mission!>" Zaalbar roared happily, picking her up and hugging her. "<You're a sight for sore eyes!>"

"It's good to see you too Zaalbar! They didn't treat you too badly, did they?" Mission asked, concerned.

"<No. Even if they were slavers, they're still too scared of getting too close to a Wookiee!>" Zaalbar said. Then he noticed the others. "<Who are they?>"

"They're the friends from the cantina who came to help me, remember?" Mission told him.

"<Oh, yes. Now I do. You have saved me from a life of slavery. I must thank you.>" He turned to Jaden, who seemed to be their leader in his eyes. "<You are...?>"

"Jaden Lokar, Zaalbar. Nice to meet you." Jaden nodded.

"<You know the language of my people? That is rare among your species. Impressive.>" Zaalbar rumbled. "<There is only one way I could ever repay you for saving me from a lifetime of slavery. I will swear a lifedebt to you, Jaden Lokar.>"

"A life debt?" Travis whistled. "You're really lucky, Jaden!"

"Interesting." Carth mentioned quietly.

"Wow. That's so cool! A lifedebt from a Wookiee!" Trask gushed.

"Are you sure about this, Big Z?" Mission asked. "You better think about this carefully!"

"<I am sure, Mission. I have a feeling about Jaden. This is important to me. We Wookiees are constantly used for our physical strength as slaves. To see one who is not interested in such depravity is heartwarming to me.>" The Wookie hooted. "<Jaden has saved me from a life of slavery and the only way I can repay that is with a lifedebt.>"

"Wow...Big Z swearing a life debt. Do you know what that means?" Mission asked Jaden.

"Kinda. It's a loyalty vow of some kind, isn't it?" Jaden asked.

"It's more than that. It's the most solemn vow a Wookiee can make. It means he'll stay by your side for the rest of your life. Whereever you go, whatever you do, he will stay by your side."

Jaden wasn't sure about having a big walking carpet by his side all the time, but he nodded in acceptance.

"<Then in the presence of you all: I, Zaalbar, swear my lifedebt to you, Jaden Lokar. Forever after I will be by your side. May my vow always be as strong as the roots of the great Wroshyr trees of Kashyyyk!>"

Jaden was touched. "I'm honored to accept this vow. I hope I will always be faithful to your vow."

"I guess that means you're stuck with me. Whereever Big Z goes, I go as well. I almost lost him once. It won't happen again!" Mission said a bit fiercely.

"I suppose I'm glad to have you on board." Jaden said, bemused. Now it became a group of six! "You still owe us that secret pathway into the Vulkar base."

"Oh yeah. No problem! I know where it is! Come with me!" Mission began running through one of the corridors. "I know a backdoor into that scum den!"

Soon, the little group reached a forcefield that blocked their way. It looked thick with a purple tint to it, and obviously would vaporize them if they tried to pass through without assistance.

"Great. Now how are we getting out?" Travis grumbled.

"Heh. Don't be so down!" Mission grinned, pulling out a datacard. "Taa-daa!! Got it off a Vulkar who had too much to drink! I'll just get rid of the security forcefield like so..."

Mission swiftly removed the forcefield. "Past here, we'll have to pass the rancor, but--"

"A rancor?!" Jaden asked sharply. "How would we deal with that?"

"Hey! I've gotten past it many times before! Don't you worry about a thing!" Mission shot back.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Trask muttered.

Mission just grumbled under her breath, leaving Zaalbar to chortle in amusement. Soon enough, that amusement ended when they neared the rancor's lair and loud snoring could be heard.

"Now what?" Travis whispered to his friends.

"I have an idea." Jaden whispered. "Travis, do you have a Jedi technique that can distract the beast?"

"Yeah. I can create clones." Travis nodded, checked himself and added a half-truth quickly. "My master was a master of doppleganger techniques, but he doesn't like to let other Jedi know about it."

"Cool!" Mission grinned.

"I see." Jaden nodded. "Mission, can you hand me one of those mines?"

"Yeah. What do you have in mind?" Mission asked as she handed over a mine.

"You see that pile of half-eaten food there?" Jaden pointed. The others nodded. "I'll put a mine in there. Travis will then awaken the rancor and get him to eat the food. Hopefully, it'll explode in his belly, killing him."

"Sounds like a plan." Carth agreed. "I approve of it."

"Now, let's get to work..." Jaden said. He quickly headed up to the rancor's half eaten meal, wrinkling at the wonderful smell he discovered. He then quickly ran back as the rancor sniffed the air, half asleep. "Now, Travis!"

"Right!" Travis ran out and concentrated, placing his fingers together in a cross and molding his chakra before he quietly muttered the jutsu. Normally, he would yell, but he was smart enough to know that he's already affected the past enough by being here. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Poof! Five clones of Travis appeared out of poofs of smoke. Surprisingly, his friends weren't that shocked now since they expect an element of unpredictability out of Travis, but it still made Jaden a bit suspicious about the true motives of the boy. Not to mention where he came from in the first place. Someone who shows up out of the blue and uses powers and equipment that are clearly not average Jedi powers and equipment is definitely someone that bears watching.

Naturally oblivious to the suspicions of Jaden (and Carth, who was suspicious of them both), Travis and his clones charged wildly at the rancor, who woke up to see a sextuplet of human youngsters attacking him with baseball bats. Not that it hurt much. It was just annoying to wake up from a nice sleep to find tiny morsels attacking it. At least it was hungry. With a surprisingly quick movement that belied its size, the rancor grabbed one of the screaming youngsters and popped him into its mouth and chomped down.

Strange...it expected blood and guts, but only tasted smoke. It roared in hunger and attacked the youngsters again, but they were quick. Even so, the kill count rose until there was just one youngster left. Salivating in anticipation, the rancor lunged for the boy, only to find him jumping out of the way via a backflip. The rancor soon saw red and lunged again, finally snatching flesh and blood and ate it without a second look. The rancor gulped its meal down without much in the way of chewing. After downing the meal, it looked down and noticed that the boy was still alive, speeding quickly towards a door. Confused, it wondered what it ate. It hoped it didn't get indigest--

*KABOOM!*

Travis dive-rolled into the door just in time as rancor guts splattered all over the cage. "Man, that was closer than I'd like! Let's get going!"

"Eww! Rancor guts!" Trask scrunched his nose in disgust as they passed the cage and headed up to the Vulkar's base.

=====

Vulkar Base

Shortly after the first security droid activated the security alarms and got blasted for its trouble, it became a running firefight between three well-trained soldiers, one Jedi Apprentice, an angry Wookiee and a street-smart Twi'lek girl vs the best the Vulkars had to offer.

Curbstomp doesn't even begin to describe the carnage our heroes inflicted upon the Vulkar base! Body parts, both human and droid, littered the corridors as they slaughtered their way through the base. Not to mention they freed a cute slave girl who told them where the prototype accelerator was hidden.

Hint: It was stashed in the garage.

So, after our heroes fought their way to the garage and took away the prototype accelerator, they had a run-in with a Vulkar boss and his bloodthirsty minions. Needless to say, after insults thrown by Travis angered the fellow, the firefight lasted about ten seconds, allowing them to escape the place and reach the Hidden Beks' base.

Gadon was surprised to see all six of them alive and well and with the accelerator to boot! "Well! Looks like you retrieved it successfully! As promised, we will sponsor you for the race. It's going to take a few hours to install the accelerator, so stick around."

"Thank you, Gadon." Jaden nodded. "It's a pleasure to help you."

"No, thank you. Without your help, we wouldn't be able to challenge the Vulkars on more or less even grounds!" Gadon replied. "Now, prepare yourselves. The race will soon begin!"

It was time. Jaden headed down to the Hidden Bek's pit stop where an Ithorian mechanic prepared the swoop. "Ah, you must be the new rider. I've just finished installing the accelerator. Just be careful. It could get a little tricky."

"Tricky?" Jaden asked.

"Indeed. It is a prototype accelerator, after all. It may still have some kinks to work out, but if you don't push it too hard, it will not explode or anything like that."

"I...see." Jaden was a bit concerned about the stability, but he had to do this for the sake of his Hidden Bek friends. And his other friends, for that matter. "I'm ready to race, then."

"Good! It's starting in a few minutes, so get ready!" The Ithorian croaked.

"Very well." Jaden got into the swoop and put on his helmet. He activated the ignition capacitor and rumbled to the starting line.

Then, 3...2...1...he was off!

=====

Meanwhile, Travis Masaki slipped into the crowd, heading for the cage holding the 'prize'. Even he has recognized the famous Bastila Shan from his history lessons, and was curious to see what she was like for himself.

Looking around for people watching him, he saw that they were currently entranced by the swoop race. Now was the time. "Hey."

"A child? What are you doing here?" Bastila asked, surprised. Travis noticed that she had a neural collar on her neck.

"Getting you out of here." Travis said as he tried to pick the lock. "What else would I be doing? Ow!"

The plasma cage decided to burn his fingers and he sucked on them, trying toget rid of the heat.

"That is a plasma cage, if you didn't know already..." The lady Jedi haughtily replied.

Travis scowled back. "Well, excuse me, Princess! I'm trying to save your ass!"

"Oh, how uncouth!" Bastila shot back, then noticed the boy placing his hand over the lock and beginning to focus. This boy is a Jedi?

Unfortunately, a burly bouncer managed to stop Travis by lifting him by the scruff of his neck. "Hey, what are you doing here, you brat?"

"Um...looking at the prize?" Travis smiled innocently.

Thw bouncer looked at him strangely...and then tossed him out of the arena on his ass. "And stay out!"

The door slammed shut, leaving Travis to pout and fold his arms. "What a grouch!"

Then a lightbulb lit up above his head. "Hehehe! He doesn't know I'm a Jedi. Looks like it's time to pull out the ol' 'sneak in with Henge' plan!"

=====

Jaden didn't realize it, but he was racing so quickly that everyone was astonished at his speed. For some weird reason, he was able to anticipate all the obstacles in his way, including exploding barrels of spaceship fuel. Could he be...? No...he couldn't. He was just an ordinary soldier with Lady Luck by his side. That's all.

Three times he raced and each time, he was able to beat all the set times. Others who tried to overcome it got themselves blown up. When he came back to the pit stop, all the Hidden Beks were cheering and even he was smiling despite the exertion of swoop racing.

"My friend! My friend!" The Ithorian jumped up and down in glee. "You've raced so quickly that no one would ever be able to beat your time again! We've won! How could we ever thank you?"

"Well...we could go and help my friend Bastila." Jaden said. "I believe that she will be pleased to see I've freed her."

"No doubt she will! Let's go!"

Jaden allowed himself to cheer and have many of the Beks and those loyal them pat his back. Suddenly, Brejik of the Black Vulkars stood on a soapbox and yelled to the crowd. "Wait! Wait just a minute! They cheated! They cheated!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Brejik?" Someone yelled.

He pointed straight at Jaden. "They have had a prototype accelerator! That is illegal!"

"That may well be, but they've already won the prize. Our tradition demands that the prize be given to the winner, no matter how they've won." Old Man Gadon replied, coming out of the shadows. "You have forgotten that, Brejik, as you have forgotten my teachings."

"You old fool! I am the wave of the future! Tradition be damned! I will be taking the prize and I dare anyone else to do so! Take her!" Brejik shouted.

As his men tried to take Bastila, the plasma cage suddenly broke apart, sending pieces flying into them. Even the neural collar was thrown aside like a pice of scrap metal. Bastila then picked up a vibroblade, daring anyone to come closer to her.

"H-how? You had a neural collar on you!" Brejik yelled, pointing wildly at her.

"Did you think the Force would be stopped by mere trinkets?" Bastila asked matter-of-factly. "It's time you were dealt with, Brejik."

"Uh, uh..." Suddenly, Brejik saw one of his underlings disappear in a poof of smoke, revealing a young boy raising his baseball bat in a guard position, the end pointing at him. "A spy! Vulkars, to me! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Jaden, Bastila and Travis immediately began fighting off the Vulkars and as Brejik tried to evacuate, he didn't notice a cloaked figure walking up to him...

OOC: Skaugra, your cue!

Brejik wouldn't have had time to even cry out because it happened so quickly. The cloaked figure, who had been hiding amongst the crowd of spectators (who now happened to be fleeing the area due to blaster shots flying all over the place), simply appeared right next to Brejik, just on his peripheral vision. In a movement so quick that even a Jedi could've barely tracked it, the cloaked figure chopped Brejik in the back of the neck just below where the spine meets the skull. The swift hand-blow knocked the Tarisian gang-banger out without any effort whatsoever, and he dropped to the ground in a heap.

The cloaked figure didn't even bother to look down at his handiwork, instead pulling his hood back to reveal none other than Albireo Imma. "Such are the rewards to those who choose to cowardly hide behind their own men rather than fight their own battles."

Soon enough, the Vulkars and their allies were defeated, allowing the Hidden Beks to begin taking control of the old Vulkar hideaways.

"I would ask you to celebrate with us, but I have many things to do in the coming days." Gadon said to Jaden. "As I'm sure you do. But I would like to thank you anyway. If you ever need anything, just call on us."

"I'm sure we will." Jaden said and shook hands with Gadon.

"Perhaps those Vulkars would think twice about taking a Jedi prisoner from now on! And if you think you can claim me as some kind of prize..." Bastila scowled at Jaden sharply as Gadon left.

"Whoa, whoa. We just came here to rescue you!" Jaden replied disarmingly.

Bastila took a second look at the man before her. "Well, I don't believe it! You're one of the Republic soldiers from the Endar Spire! How did you end up racing for the swoop gangs?"

"Well, it's a long story. By the way, I'm Jaden Loran." Jaden introduced himself. "It was the only way to save you."

"Save me? Well, as rescue attempts go, that was a pretty poor example." Bastila huffed. "In case you haven't noticed, I managed to escape all by myself. It may be more accurate to say that I saved you."

Jaden didn't like this stuck-up Jedi at first sight. "You must have gotten your wires crossed, sister, because I was under the impression you were a helpless damsel in distress just waiting for a hero to come along and save her!"

"Well! A male chauvinist Gammorrean! As if I haven't had enough trouble dealing with those nerfherders already!" Bastila shot back.

"Guys! Guys!" Travis tried to mediate, even though he was giggling too hard. They reminded him of Toji, Shinji and Asuka's constant fighting. "We're not out of danger yet! We'd still have to find a way off this planet!"

"Yes...perhaps the boy is right. Let's table this discussion for another time." Bastila retracted her claws. "First of all, are we the only survivors of the Endar Spire?"

"Likewise. And no, there's also Carth and Trask Ulgo." Jaden said.

"The fanboy who was voted most likely to die on his first mission?" Bastila made a face as Travis and Jaden both nodded exasperatedly. "And Carth Onasi is alive? He's one of the Republic's best soldiers! He sent you to save me?"

"And the kid." Jaden nodded.

"Ah. Perhaps I misjudged you two. Carth wouldn't send people if he wasn't confident in your...abilities." Bastila managed to look contrite despite her earlier brashness. "Ah, forgive me for acting rashly, despite my Jedi training."

"Meh, we all have our moments." Travis waved it off as Al approached them. "Hey, this is Al, one of the friends I was trying to find."

"Hello, Jaden Loran." Jaden said.

"Bastila Shan. A pleasure to meet you." Bastila thought the man looked quite handsome...no, such thoughts are forbidden! She also sensed power from this man, but it seemed odd...somehow. "Are you perhaps this boy's Master? I sensed he's a Jedi."

"Well...kinda. We got separated before I arrived on the Endar Spire." Travis said, not willing to reveal too much about their origins. He mentally nudged Al to play along.

"You were on the Endar Spire? I don't recall a Jedi apprentice with dark blue hair on the ship..." Bastila mused.

"Hehe. Last-minute arrival." Travis chuckled nervously. "Almost missed it, too."

"Ah." Bastila didn't believe him for a minute, but now wasn't the time to confront him on that issue. For now, she turned to Jaden. "Take me back to Carth. We need to figure out how to get off this planet."

"All right." Jaden nodded.

OOC: Skaugra, Bastila's lightsaber should be on Brejik's belt.

Al nodded to both Bastilla and Jaden. "Alberio Imma. A pleasure to meet you both. I do believe that you, Miss Shan, are missing something quite important." Al then procured her double-bladed lightsaber, deactivated of course, from one of his over-large sleeves, handing to her with a slight grace added. He then felt Travis nudge him, and he mentally nudged back.

"I am merely this boy's guardian, is all," All continued. "We were last minute additions to the Spire. Unfortunately, it seems that we also managed to lose a number of our party, but I have a feeling they'll turn up eventually. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must attend to the local trash." Al then turned swiftly back towards Brejik. "I shan't be long. I will meet you at the apartment in the upper city."

"Ah. My thanks to you, Mr. Imma." Bastila said and took the lightsaber. "Now we should begin looking for a way off this...rock."

=====

Lightsabers flashed aboard a strange yet familiar bridge. Blue, green, even yellow clashed against red as Bastila struck down her opponent. As she and two other Jedi Knights advanced on the Dark Lord Revan, the Sith maneuvered his red blade into an aggressive forward stance.

"You cannot win, Revan!" Bastila declared and advanced on the Dark Lord.

Then a great explosion occurred on the bridge and everything went black...

Jaden shook his head as they reached the apartment, unnerved by the strange vision that he just received. What the hell is going on?

They talked for a while ("Wow. It's getting crowded in here!" Mission noted.), and then Jaden had a moment alone with Bastila.

"Bastila. I need to talk with you. I-I've been having visions." Jaden said.

So soon? Bastila looked sharply at him and only replied. "Interesting. The Force can sometimes send visions. What are they?"

"They were of a battle with a cloaked figure...and one of the combatants was you." Jaden said. "Does this mean...I'm Force-sensitive?"

"This vision...it reminds me of a memory....of battling Darth Revan. Suffice is to say, he and I dueled and he was killed. Malak then shortly declared himself the Dark Lord and continued where Revan left off." Bastila said. "Perhaps you are Sensitive, but only the Jedi Council can determine for sure that you are ready for training."

"All right, then." There was something off about Bastila's explanation, but Jaden brushed it off for later. "Let's try and work out what to do next..."

Just as Jaden and Bastilla had finished their conversation, Al knocked twice on the door. Before anybody could open the door, he simply tapped on the exterior door pad and came in.

"Good afternoon, everyone," he said, bowing. His hood was back, yet still he continued to wear his thick, baggy robes. He took note of the individuals in the room.

Three men...two seem mundane military, the other has a power within him...a terrifying power, especially for a normal human...hmmm, a Wookie...he seems to have a past...I'll have to delve deeper...of course, our resident Jedi Knight, Bastilla, as well as our resident misfit, Travis...and a young Twilek girl...hmmmm...this is quite the rough party...

"Yo again." Travis said to Al, sitting on a bench.

As everyone began contemplating how to get offplanet, another knock on the door occurred. After a slightly annoyed Carth opened the door, a Rodian entered.

"Canderous Ordo requests the presence of the winner of the Swoop Bike competition." The Rodian explained.

"Canderous...wasn't that the guy we met a while back in the undercity?" Travis mentioned.

"Possibly. What does he want with me?" Jaden asked.

"He didn't say. Just that to meet you down at the cantina." The Rodian said, then headed back out.

"I wonder what he wants..." Trask said.

"Only one way to find out. Bastila, Jaden and I will check it out." Carth said. "Perhaps he knows a way off this planet. The rest of you...just don't cause trouble."

"Who, us?" Travis and Mission said at the same time, looking innocent.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Carth looked bemused at the kids. "Well, we're off."

A few minutes later...

"Man...I'm bored." Travis whined as he laid down on one of the beds.

"Hey, don't you have a tournament or something to finish?" Trask scratched his head.

"A tourney...oh! The death match!" Travis suddenly sprang up. "Yeah! I'm not bored anymore!"

As he rushed out of the door at the speed of sound, the others just shook their heads.

"Wasn't he just bored a moment ago?" Mission asked. "And what did you mean a death match?"

"Oh, Travis' going to tangle with Bendak Starkiller." Trask said, trying to sound casual as he walked out after Travis. "No big."

"Bendak Starkiller?!" Mission yelled. "Wow! C'mon, Zaalbar! We gotta see this!"

"<Coming!>" Zaalbar roared. "<Sheesh. My hair's going to go grey before the year's out with two energetic children running around!>"

Soon enough, Travis, Trask, Mission and Zaalbar headed down to the dueling arena to watch Travis duel the last of the duelers, the dangerous Bendak Starkiller himself!

Al patted the Wookie on the shoulder. "It is okay, my friend. At least you do not actually have to live with young Travis for long durations of time. He can be quite a bit taxing after a month's time."

As the group made their way, a small group of Sith soldiers could be seen clustered about at a certain point on the streets, all of them looking up and across at the nearest building. There, roughly sixteen meters away from the edge of the street, was Brejik hanging from the flag-pole of a building window, and by his underpants at that.

"Oh, dear me. I wonder how he got there?" Al smirked as the group continued on, all the while Brejik was screaming for his life as the Sith soldiers contemplated on how to get him down from there and to arrest him, as a very large sign could be seen plastered on the side of the building that said, "Hello, My name is: Brejik, leader of the Black Vulkars."

<Hurr. It seems more and more people I meet know the Wookiee language.>" Zaalbar commented. "<You should see Mission when she's in one of her 'excitement' moods. They're enough to give headaches for a week, but I love her anyway.>"

Moving on, Travis noticed a cluster of Sith soldiers who were laughing at something...oh, Brejik in the classic underwear flagpole position. "Hehe! Man, I should have thought of that!"

Soon enough, they reached the dueling arena, where a hell of a lot of murmuring were going on. It was quite a sight to see people talking about the blue-haired kid going up against the best duelist in the Telosian Arena. Many bets were placed, mainly on whether the Little Prankster would become a smear on the wall, or whether Bendak Starkiller would finally get his just desserts.

Place your bets, people!

As Travis walked up to Ajuur the Dueling Ring Manager, the Hutt chortled. "<Ah, Little Prankster! I've heard the news! You intend to duel Bendak Starkiller in a death match! That is excellent news! People will pay a fortune to bet on this fight! Not many people want to fight a death match anymore. Seems they're either scared or don't want credits for killing someone. Perhaps that's why it's illegal.>"

Yawning to the Hutt's rambling, Travis folded his arms. "Just get on with it."

"<Of course, of course. As you know, the energy suppressors will be removed for the match, so all weapons will be fatal this time. I've also bribed the officials to look the other way during this match, so there will be no interference. Are you ready to fight now?>"

"I sure am!" Travis grinned.

"<Excellent. Come see me after you've won for your 15% cut...if you're still alive.>" The Hutt chortled, secretly betting on the Mandalorian.

=====

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuumblllle!" The announcer roared. "Tonight, we have a very special treat for you! The Little Prankster verses Bendak Starkiller, and this time there's going to be blood! This is a no-holds-barreled death match and you're juuust in time to see it all!"

"In this corner, is the Little Prankster, current champion of the Dueling Arena!" Travis waved to his cheering crowds.

"In the other corner, the winner of 100 death matches, the terror of the ring: Bendak Starkiller the Mandalorian!" Bendak pumped a steel-gloved fist in the air.

"Without further ado...BEGIN!"

Travis wasted no time in launching himself at Bendak, bat raised to strike. But Bendak merely sneered under his mask and stepped aside, before slamming a foot in the kid's stomach. Travis doubled over and received a right hook in his face. Travis slammed to the ground, groaning in pain.

"I told you before, boy. Don't bring toys into a man's fight. Playtime's over." Bendak sneered, raising his vibroblade to end it.

Travis rolled just as the blade and staggered to his feet. Though in pain, he put up a brave front. "It's not over until the fat lady sings! Besides, that didn't hurt much!"

Bendak roared and lashed out with a brutal blow of his vibroblade that cut deeply into Travis' bat, pressing against the boy's weaker strength. The man attacked again and again, each time battering against Travis' defenses. Dammit! He's too strong!

Knowing that he was surely dead if Bendak wasn't taken down quickly, Travis jumped back to retreat and dodge Bendak's attacks. It helped that he had some skill in acrobats, but it wouldn't be enough...so he threw some marbles at Bendak's feet.

Bendak stepped on them and they blew up, sending searing fire around him. Unfortunately, his suit protected him from the worst of the blast. When the smoke cleared, he was still standing...and FURIOUS!

"Crapcrapcrap! Why did I agree to this again?!" Travis whined as he dodged the Mandalorian's vicious blows by running as quick as he could. The arena, however, had no real place of hiding, so either Travis would keep running until he collapsed or he would fight again.

Despite his skill, Travis was slammed to the ground again and lost his grip on his bat. "No!"

"Hmph. Nothing but a foolish brat who should not be challenging real men. You should have gone home to your mother when you had the chance." Bendak said dispassionately as he kicked Travis to make him roll over and stepped on his chest, making him gag. "Too bad. I expected more sport out of you. It's over."

He raised his vibrosword to decapitate the boy...

Then, it happened. At the instant his vibroblade swung, the bat rose and connected with the blade. Travis grabbed the hilt of the bat and then with a determined look in his eyes, he Force-enhanced his muscles to generate a temporary boost in strength. Strength enough to reply... "I...told you...it's not over...yet!"

The strength repulsed against Bendak's own, and Travis shoved hard enough to make the Mandalorian stumble back, and then he began whaling on him, smacking him with the bat again and again, hard enough to dent the armor. Now, it was the Mandalorian's turn to get his vibroblade knocked out of his hands, and this time, Travis didn't hesitate to unleash his combat yo-yo, wrapping the string around the Mandalorian's neck and pulling it taut. The Mandalorian gasped and began to struggle, clawing at the string. Big mistake, as struggling only ensured his doom when Travis tightened his hold, snapping the Mandalorian's neck.

As the audience gasped and then started cheering, Travis looked down at the now-dead Bendak as he sheathed his yo-yo. "Now it's over."

Travis, a bit unsettled about killing Bendak even though it was a death match, nevertheless put up a smiling face and allowed the crowd to cheer for him and gave his patented V-sign for the cameras. Ajuur, who looked a bit disappointed at losing the bet against Travis, gave him the fifteen percent cut and a second prize: Bendak's blaster. Travis noted that it was heavily modified, almost as powerful as modern ones, and holstered it.

"Wow! That was soo awesome! The way you did that guy in with the yo-yo...Pow!" Mission yelled enthusiastically.

"Jeez, you're a bloodthirsty one! I can't stand hearing necks snap!" Trask shuddered.

"Yeah...um...let's go and find the others." Travis said quickly. "I used the Force. Don't think it's too much, but if there was a Sith watching..."

"Yeah, gotcha." Trask nodded. "Let's go."

Al said nothing as he stood by Zalbaar, looking directly at the young Coredian. His eyes were fixated upon the boy's, and he gave a slow nod as if to show approvement of the death of Bendak. Nobody would ever know that Bendak had died a murderer rather than a warrior except for him, and Al wasn't about to tell anyone the dark truth that he knew about the now-deceased Mandalorian.

Some time later...

When Travis and company returned from their "side quest" they found that Jaden and company have already made contact with Canderous. To make a long story short, Canderous wants outta here and has suggested they raid the nearby Sith Base to get the necessary codes to prevent getting blown up by Malak's merry fleet. Of course, to get into the base, they needed a new addition to the team.

"(Hi everybody! I'm T3-M4! Nice to meet you!)" A little rolling trash can with grey paint twittered.

Mission grinned. "So this is our newest team member."

"Out group just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We'll need a cruiser by the end of the day!" Travis groused, good-naturedly of course. He idly wondered how much he and Al was affecting the timestream by now. He just hoped that nothing weird happened by his presence.

Anyway, after introductions, the little group headed for the Sith Base. After T3 unlocked the door, they headed inside...

OOC: Skaugra, take it from here!

Just before the group went inside, Al would casually nudge Travis. Remember, keep yourself from being too noticed. You've already broken history once today. Let those from this time-period do the work. Only give assistance when absolutely necessary to your own survival and to the survival of the group.

And, with that, Al would make sure to be the first to walk in as he casually flicked his finger at the main desk where a guard was sitting. Before anyone would even notice the guard was there, the guard would disappear quickly from view as his body was surrounded by a small field of increased gravity. The guard, completely caught unaware, would be crushed down to a drawer-sized square and quickly inserted into a drawer at the desk, the drawer being magically sealed shut. All of this would occur within the span of time that Al flicked his wrist.

Thank the gods for magic, huh?

"All clear," he would say, walking towards the desk and pulling out a slug-throwing pistol...

Just before the group went inside, Al would casually nudge Travis. Remember, keep yourself from being too noticed. You've already broken history once today. Let those from this time-period do the work. Only give assistance when absolutely necessary to your own survival and to the survival of the group.
Yeah. I gotcha. Travis replied.

And, with that, Al would make sure to be the first to walk in as he casually flicked his finger at the main desk where a guard was sitting. Before anyone would even notice the guard was there, the guard would disappear quickly from view as his body was surrounded by a small field of increased gravity. The guard, completely caught unaware, would be crushed down to a drawer-sized square and quickly inserted into a drawer at the desk, the drawer being magically sealed shut. All of this would occur within the span of time that Al flicked his wrist.

Thank the gods for magic, huh?

"All clear," he would say, walking towards the desk and pulling out a slug-throwing pistol...
"Huh. Must be on break." Carth commented.

They moved into the Sith base, taking out everyone in their path. Explosions sounded and alarms blared, but it was like sending lemmings off to mindless destruction as the troops tried in vain to stop the unstoppable gang. Eventually, they came to the Sith command center, where a Sith minion awaited.

"I figured you would come barging in after disturbing my meditation." The guy sneered. "Ah...I sense that some of you are strong in the Force. Strange that Force Adepts would be here on a planet so far out...well, never mind. Lord Malak will surely reward me with my own lightsaber after I bring him your heads!"

"I will take care of this fool." Bastila said crispily. "You take care of our job."

With that, she ignited her lightsaber and launched herself at the Sith minion, their blades clashing with sparks. While he was busy, T3-M4 was escorted by the others to the control computer and began sucking up data like a vacuum cleaner. Soon, he was able to find the codes to allow passage through the Sith blockade.

The next thing Travis knew, the minion's head rolled near his feet. "Ew."

"We've got the codes. Let's go back." Carth said.

"Right." Jaden nodded.

Al, in the meantime, had kept rather quiet, hardly bothering to lift a finger during the entire fight. He just sat back and analyzed each person's particular fighting style. Travis, as obvious from his fights in the Arena earlier, preferred melee combat over ranged, using his baseball bat as quite an effective weapon.

Carth was quite the opposite, however, preferring the use of a blaster pistol, and with good reason. He was an excellent mark with them, and he hardly missed a shot. When he did miss a shot, though, it tended to force his targets into cover because they were still in such close proximity to the shot.

Bastilla wasn't much to scoff about. She was a Jedi, plain and simple. Her fighting style was that of what she was taught by her masters, and she was proficient in it. Al barely paid much attention to her in that regard.

Jaden, however, was the oddity. He switched between using a blaster pistol and fighting in close quarters. Al could tell that there was more to him than what met the eye, and he took careful mental notation of every move Jaden performed. He found him to be a truly fascinating subject of observation.

OOC: Apologies, my loyal fans! Now is the time to get off Taris!

IC:
In Orbit of Taris

Cruel, uncaring eyes stared out of the transparisteel windows, like a god overseeing his worshippers. Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith, felt a measure of impatience as he heard no reports except that a Sith Base has gone offline since the last hour. So...Bastila is still on the planet. Perhaps it is time to ensure she never gets off again.

"The search is taking too long." A mechanical voice croaked from his cyborg metal jaw. The jaw that was stolen from Revan. "Admiral Karath, prepare the fleet for full scale orbitial bombardment."

Admiral Saul Karath knew that there were still a large number of Sith on the planet. He never liked Malak. The bastard never had Revan's touch and was brutal and uncouth to boot. Revan would have had the patience to wait forever... "Sir, our men are still on the planet. If we bombard..."

Tendrils of shadowy darkness began to curl around the Admiral's neck as Malak's anger began to flare. "Do you dare presume to defy me, Admiral? If so, I can find another one to carry out my orders."

Fear was present as he fought for air. "N-no, my Lord."

"Good." The shadows retreated.

"It will take several hours to position the fleet." Admiral Karath replied. Perhaps it would be enough...

"Then you better get started." Malak hissed, his voice adding the terrifying mechanical monotone to his implied threat. Then, a commotion occured at the entrance to the bridge. Two of his Sith soldiers was hauling a young boy to him, and forced him to kneel before the Dark Lord. Malak's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What is the meaning of this?"

"A Jedi stowaway, sir. He had these on him." A soldier held out a lightsaber and pouches carrying strange knives.

"Ah...So the Jedi are desperate enough to send children after me now?" Malak chuckled with dark amusement as he grasped the boy by the chin. "I sense anger in you, boy. Perhaps you can be of some use to me. Take him to the dungeons and have him...prepared."

"Yes, milord." The soldiers gleefully replied. The boy was hauled away, terrified out of his wits at what was to come...

Having concluded their rampage of the Sith Base, our heroes once again meet up with Canderous to report on their progress.

"I hear you've been busy." Canderous said. "Did you get the codes?"

"We got them." Jaden nodded.

"Good work! Now, here's the deal." Travis perked up as Canderous layed out his cards. "We can't get offworld unless we work together. I need the codes to get off, and you and your...crew need a ship to get off."

"Do you know of a ship?" Carth asked, skeptical of working with a criminal.

"Of course. Davik Kang has a ship known as the Ebon Hawk, the fastest ship in the galaxy. However, you won't be getting near that ship without me. So how about it?"

Hmm. I think I could get on it... Travis thought, but knew that it would be better to have a more...tricksy plan. "Go for it, Jaden."

"Well, I'm not really sure, but I guess we don't have a choice." Carth said.

"This is too risky." Bastila interjected. "We really should find another way off Taris."

"Well, if you have any other great plans, sister, I'd be glad to hear it." Canderous countered, making Bastila fume.

"I don't think we have a choice. How are we getting in?" Jaden asked.

"Davik's always looking for new recruits, so I'll just have to introduce you to him and once he's doing the background check, we steal the Hawk from him." Canderous explained.

"Pretty easy, then." Travis grinned. "Let's get going!"

=====

Davik's Lair

Our heroes have entered Davik's base and met a balding older man in rich-looking tunics. On his side was a man wearing a funny hat and sporting funny looking goggles. He gave Travis a funny look.

"Ah, Canderous, I see you brought some folks with you. Nice to meet you all." A surprisingly cordial Davik said as he was introduced to our heroes. "It's intruging that you would pick partners now. I would have thought you work alone."

"Catching street rats isn't your usual trade, Canderous." Calo Nord said, sneering slightly at the scowling boy. "Looks to me like you're getting soft."

"Watch it, Nord. What is my business is my business." Canderous growled in reply.

"Now, now. Let's not fight." Davik smiled, getting between the two. "I'm sure Canderous has an explanation for not working solo."

"Well, I'm thinking the Exchange might like some new recruits. You might have heard their exploits already." Canderous replied.

"Hmm...yes, now I recognise them. The rider and the duelist who won the heated contests. Very impressive." Davik nodded, clearly impressed by Jaden and Travis both.

"T'wertn't nothing I couldn't handle." Travis grinned, acting the tough street kid.

"You like swoop racing?" Jaden added, acting nonchalant.

"A casual fan at best, but I, like many Tarisans, like to follow the big opening games." Davik rubbed his hands. "Now let's get down to business. You've got Canderous' recommendation already. All you'll need is a background check and you'll be part of the Exchange. Many would kill for this privilege."

Yeah, I bet. Except that it was Sith that we killed for the 'glory' of being criminals. Travis thought cheerfully.

"An intruging offer, Davik." Jaden nodded, stroking a nonexistent beard. "What's in it for us?"

Davik only smiled. "Perhaps the tour will let you make up your mind? I guarantee you'll be most impressed."

Davik Kang led the group through the Exchange base, pointing out various potentially useful or interesting areas, like the slaves who would give them massages and the rarely seen bathrooms (!). Soon, they reached the hangar bay and got a look at the ship they were looking for. It looked like a stock Dynamic-class freighter, but Travis knew that in the hands of a crime boss like Davik, it would have plenty of illegal modifications that would allow him to conduct his illicit trades.

"This is the Ebon Hawk. It is my pride and joy, made the top ten Fastest Ships in the Outer Rim list, although it isn't very pretty. It has plenty of..." Davik droned on and on for a while about the glory of the Ebon Hawk until he got to the important bit. "Note the security system that I've installed on this ship. I will assure you that the shields would be quite a shocking situation if you try to get past it without the codes, so it's not like you would be stealing it or anything."

He laughed at that, and our heroes gave chuckles to keep him in the dark. "Unfortunately, the Sith blockade's been keeping it grounded, though not for lack of trying to get authorization to get off this planet. But let's continue our tour."

He led our heroes through the rest of the base, then showed them their accomodations. "Slave quarters are down the hall, so feel free to call upon their services at any time. If your background checks check out, you'll be admitted as members of the Exchange, but I advise you that refusal would have...ill consequences."

Geez. Talk about an offer we can't refuse. Travis commented mentally.

"These guest quarters are yours for the next few days, and again, feel free to call upon the slaves at any time. Though I will warn you that anywhere else other than the guest rooms is off-limits and bothering my other guests will not be welcome. My security forces will not tolerate any of that. I will return after the background checks are complete, so make yourself comfortable. Come, Calo, let's leave our guests in peace!" The crime boss' usual round of temptations and threats complete, he hightailed it out of the room.

As soon as he's out of earshot, Canderous spoke to the group. "Well, we're in. Now all that's left is getting past the Hawk's security system. The sooner we get off this planet, the better."

As Al observed Davik, the one thing that he could note about the crime lord was his charisma and his confidence. It also showed through his lascivious decorations within his home. However, this charisma and confidence came with a touch of pompousness, and Al found that to be his least endearing quality. It showed even more as Davik began the tour, talking about his exploits regarding certain decor and rooms, and it got even worse when Davik talked about the security system around the Ebon Hawk. Needless to say, Al was not impressed with the man.

Calo, however, was a very interesting person. He had heard from the rest of the group that the man was renowned for his work as a bounty hunter, and that he was considered a legend within the criminal world as well as the galaxy as a whole. Seeing the man now left Al in a bit of wonder about him, as he only spoke once throughout the entire tour, and that was before the tour even began. For now, though, Al kept Calo as a 'person of interest' in his mind, merely observing how he held and presented himself.

-------------------------

Al stepped forward amongst the group, peeling back his hood for the moment. His face was turned in a devilish grin that made his androgynous form look all the more mischievous.

"Allow me to handle the situation with the security system," he said. "I'm fairly certain that my...expertise will pay off in this regard."

Al stepped forward amongst the group, peeling back his hood for the moment. His face was turned in a devilish grin that made his androgynous form look all the more mischievous.

"Allow me to handle the situation with the security system," he said. "I'm fairly certain that my...expertise will pay off in this regard."
"Master, you're always full of surprises!" Travis grinned, going along with it, even though he had no freaking idea what Al would do.

"Oh?" Canderous looked skeptical. "You think you can hack through the system or something?"

"Won't know unless he tries, and it might be quicker than going through the base to look for some random passcard or other." Jaden suggested.

:Somewhere within the base, a tortured pilot starts crying for some odd reason.:

"You did say the quicker we're off the planet, the better." Carth needled Canderous.

"Hmph. Let's see what you can do, then." Canderous crossed his arms.

Al nodded, flipping his hood back over his head, and then proceeded to exit their quarters. "Thank you. Now, I would suggest waiting here until the alarms sound. I'm going to create a very large distraction for you in the process."

Closing the door behind him, he immediately turned right, facing the door which lead into the guest quarters, and merely walked towards the door and placed his hand on the section with the locking mechanism. He mentally chanted a first spell that created a gravity well within the lock that allowed him to freely manipulate the lock, and he quickly turned it open and walked out of the guest quarters, shutting the door behind him, although not locking it.

The next part was trickier, though. As he walked into the main throne room, Al spotted two guards and, using another mentally chanted spell, used another gravity spell to lift the throne off the ground, and then crushed it into pieces with a clench of his fist before launching the small bits in the direction of both guards at bullet speeds.

((We're going to do this in sections because I need to brush up on how Davik's base was set up. The most I could remember for this post was how the guest rooms related to Davik's throne room.))

Al nodded, flipping his hood back over his head, and then proceeded to exit their quarters. "Thank you. Now, I would suggest waiting here until the alarms sound. I'm going to create a very large distraction for you in the process."

Closing the door behind him, he immediately turned right, facing the door which lead into the guest quarters, and merely walked towards the door and placed his hand on the section with the locking mechanism. He mentally chanted a first spell that created a gravity well within the lock that allowed him to freely manipulate the lock, and he quickly turned it open and walked out of the guest quarters, shutting the door behind him, although not locking it.

The next part was trickier, though. As he walked into the main throne room, Al spotted two guards and, using another mentally chanted spell, used another gravity spell to lift the throne off the ground, and then crushed it into pieces with a clench of his fist before launching the small bits in the direction of both guards at bullet speeds.

((We're going to do this in sections because I need to brush up on how Davik's base was set up. The most I could remember for this post was how the guest rooms related to Davik's throne room.))
OOC: OK. I'll send you a video walkthrough as soon as possible.

IC:
The guards were skewered quite well by the shrapnel, but it was about this time that an alarm sounded when a security camera saw Al do his thing. Once that happened, a crowd of thugs began to descend upon him, blasters firing...

=====

"That's the alarm." Jaden said as everyone heard the blaring sirens. "Alarms, rather."

"All right, let's get those punks!" Travis cheered.

"Are you really a Jedi apprentice?" Bastila asked pointedly. "You certainly don't act like one."

"I too am!" Travis pouted.

"Come on, guys. We don't have time to waste!" Carth grumbled.

"Indeed." Canderous spoke sharply.

And so they headed out of the room, weapons prepped and senses prepared for another round of combat...

What happened next would baffle anyone watching the cameras. For an instant, it seemed as if Al was being blasted to pieces by the blaster-wielding thugs, and then, suddenly, a second Al was amongst them, striking them with inhuman precision and speed using only his hands in flat-palm strikes and chops.

In the mean time, the previous Al would simply stand back up, the wounds he had received healing as he began to glow a faint blue color after having using a healing spell. Once standing up and having used his 'second' as a distraction, he would pass by the ensuing melee that his clone had instigated, passing through the nearest door that he could get to.

Thanks to Al's efforts, the group had fewer thugs to fight than they would if they had to get through the crowd alone. It wasn't long though before our heroes found a crying pilot stuck in an electrical cage.

"H-hey! Help me out! Please!" The tortured pilot cried out.

"There's a panel over there." Canderous pointed and Jaden went over to turn off the cage.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The poor blubbering bastard said. "You don't know how long I've been stuck here!"

Canderous had an idea and leveled his blaster casual-like in the general direction of the pilot. "You know, now that we've let you out, I wonder what you can do for us."

The guy started to panic, knowing that Canderous' big, mean and willing to shoot. "Uh...wait! I have information worth a fortune! I used to be the Ebon Hawk's pilot and I know all the security codes to the ship!"

"Ah. Then you won't mind handing those codes to us and getting out of here?" The Mandalorian asked, while Jaden fondled his light blaster with a fake-creepy grin, Travis pretended to clean a kunai and Carth and Bastila shook their heads at the "manhandling".

"Y-yes!" The pilot gave Jaden the datachip and then hightailed it out of there!

"Hehe! That was good!" Travis grinned.

"Just a little lesson, kid. Sometimes it's a good idea to twist arms when you need it." Canderous gruffly spoke. "Now let's get going."

"Right!"

Our heroes moved on and eventually reached the hangar bay...

And there they would find Al, standing before Davik and Calo. Both of the criminals had their blasters leveled at him, but Al didn't seem too phased by the fact that they were threatening his life.

"I would suggest that you step out of my way, gentlemen," Al said calmly. "Enough blood has been spilled this day by my hands. You two shouldn't have to be on that list of dead attributed to my name."

Davik was seething in rage by the time our heroes reached the standoff at the hangar bay. "You bastards tricked me! Did you really think you could steal my ship and leave me to rot?"

"Why not? That shiny ship sitting there is just what we need to get off this rock." Jaden said.

"Yeah, so nyah!" Travis stuck out his tongue at them.

Suddenly...a rumbling began to occur and warm wind from the open hangar billowed in. Everyone could see spears of red light in the distance falling on the planet.

"The Sith are firing! We must get to the ship!" Carth yelled.

"Don't let them escape!" Davik growled at Calo.

"My pleasure." Calo said...then opened fire with rapid blasts of his blaster...

Al was the first to react to the shots as he charged head-long into them, diving underneath Calo's shots and rolling, the shots peppering the ground behind him as they were too slow to actually connect with him. As he came out of the roll, his first inclination was to draw a concealed knife and bring it in a back-handed upwards slash towards Calo's jaw, his free hand swinging to knock the bounty hunter's blaster away from him.

"Get to the ship!" Al was yelling at the rest of the group. "I'll handle these two! Just go!"

Davik suddenly drew his blaster on Al and started firing as the others raced for the ship, while Calo stumbled back, narrowly missing the blow and then retaliated with a wrist-knife towards Al's ribs.

Canderous and T3 went to a security terminal and took down the ship shields, allowing the others to board quickly. Travis turned around and shouted. "Sensei, get on!"

In the meantime, the bombardment increased in intensity and savagery and the building actually shook at times...

Al broke off his attack on Calo just as the first shot by Davik passed by him, using his foot to hook Calo's leg and bring him down to the ground as he released his knife. Holding it between two fingers, Al threw the knife like a billiards dart straight for Davik's neck just underneath his Adam's Apple. As soon as the knife was released from his hand, Al quickly turned back to Calo, hooking his foot underneath the man's body and tossing him up into the air with it. As soon as Calo's body was at Al's torso, the androgynous man hit him with a double-flat-palm strike to send him sailing, and then sliding, across the hangar before he took off towards the Ebon Hawk.

Calo groaned as he found himself on the floor, seeing that Davik was dead from a knife in the neck. Being so thoroughly defeated by someone who appeared to be quite the unorthodox Jedi (the robes make the man, but where is his lightsaber?) royally pissed him off. He grunted through his pain and opened his explosives pouch when a bit of the hangar came crashing down on him. "Noooo!"

Al jumped into the Ebon Hawk and Canderous prepped the engines. "Here we go!"

"Don't forget Mission and Zaalbar and Trask!" Travis yelled as T3 rolled by in a beeping panic.

"Much as I want to, kid, I won't!" Canderous promised. "Call them, kid!"

"Right." Travis opened his comlink. "Mission! Where are you?"

"*static* I'm here! *cough* I'm on the upper levels, near the apartments. *boom!* Big Z and Trask are with me! Hurry! There's lasers falling everywhere and lots of smoke around!"

"Ok! Hold on, we're coming in a ship! It'll be a light transport type!" Travis turned to Canderous. "They're on the upper levels, near the apartments."

"Right. On it." Canderous flew through the hailstorm of red lasers with practiced skill and headed for the open-air pavillion. He quickly spotted three frantically waving people, one of them a Wookiee. He descended just low enough to lower the ramp and let them on. Once they were onboard, the Mandalorian wasted no time in ascending the sky just as a particularly nasty bolt blew apart the building next to their ship.

"Whoa, that was a close one!" Mission yelled. "Thanks, guys!"

"Don't thank us just yet, child." Bastila replied cooly as she sat in the copilot's seat. "Fighters are incoming."

Indeed, just as the sky turned from black to blue, a wave of Sith fighters advanced on the fighter, firing lasers that shook the ship.

"I'll take the top gun!" Jaden suddenly said and ran up to the turbolaser turret up on the dorsal side of the ship. Jaden looked over the weapons as he sat down in the gunner's seat, finding them simple enough and then began trying to shoot them down. He had some trouble until...

An older woman with greying brown hair tied in braids spoke something to him. "Trust your feelings, child."

Jaden shook his head. What the hell was that?

For some reason, he felt a sense of calm descend upon him and then returned to firing. To his astonishment, every fighter was hit, exploding in brilliant pyrotechnics. "The fighters are gone! Make the jump!"

"So fast?" Bastila replied. Has he once more used the Force?

"I don't know. I just decided to relax and it happened."

He's Force-sensitive? I've been running with another Force-sensitive all this time? Awesome! Travis thought.

"Here we go!" Canderous said loudly as he pulled back the lever and made the jump to hyperspace to the unknowing glares of Darth Malak. The Sith Lord then turned around with an angry growl, ordering his forces to wipe out the planet...

Al quietly sighed in relief as he took a seat in the sleeping quarters, flipping his hood back and untying his hair, shaking his head to let the hair fall. He then leaned back slipping onto the bunk with a flop and yawned.

"Travis!" His voice resounded across the ship. "Time for training, Travis!"

"Aww...Coming!" Travis moaned. Mission and Trask gave him sympathetic looks while Carth just chuckled.

Bastlia's suspicions were confirmed that they probably were Jedi, but definitely not the Jedi she was used to. Perhaps the Council would know who they are...

Travis took his time getting to Al's place while he explored the ship. It really was a pretty nice ship with state of the art legal and illegal equipment...for the current time, that is. Then it finally struck him that he really was far from home, both in time and space.

It made him homesick.

He also missed ramen.

With a sigh, he went to Al and took as seat as well. "So...what do you have for me?"

Al motioned his hand towards the door, closing and sealing it to make sure that no one walked into the sleeping quarters, and then he cast a spell to make it so that no one could hear anything they were saying. He couldn't be too careful, especially with this time period.

"I'm more interested about what you know," Al replied. "I'm not familiar with where we are, and I get the feeling you probably know of what events are supposed to take place."

Al then conjured up...by the gods, it was ramen!

"Ramen!" Travis snatched it, pulled out a pair of chopsticks and chowed down. "Mmm!"

The boy swallowed the noodles before talking. "I'm pretty sure we're 4,000 years in the past, more or less. If I remember my history lessons, this is the time of the Jedi Civil War, a war that was started by Revan and Malak to take over the Republic or something. Funny thing is, I don't really remember how it ends, but I think the Republic managed to somehow beat Malak."

Al nodded, calmly eating his own bowl of ramen.

"Odd that we appeared in this period of time," he commented. "I can already sense that we've changed history by quite a lot, considering what just happened back on Taris."

Al took another slurp of his ramen, and then set his bowl down for the moment. "Is it me, or have you noticed anything strange about Jaden?"

Al nodded, calmly eating his own bowl of ramen.

"Odd that we appeared in this period of time," he commented. "I can already sense that we've changed history by quite a lot, considering what just happened back on Taris."

Al took another slurp of his ramen, and then set his bowl down for the moment. "Is it me, or have you noticed anything strange about Jaden?"
"Hmm. I think so. For one thing, he's really good with a blade. He's rarely gotten a scratch in any of our battles down there. Also, he's had points, including the fighter battle, when I think that he has accessed the Force. Why?" Travis asked.

Al looked at Travis. "Did they ever say what Revan's real name was when you were in history class?"

Travis finished the last of the ramen in record time and frowned at the answer. "No, I don't think so. He was only ever Jedi Knight Revan or Darth Revan."

Al nodded again, laying down onto the bed. "I see."

It was obvious that there were many thoughts crossing through the Magi's mind right now, his face showing the action of a man pondering many possibilities.

"I want you to keep your eye on Jaden," he finally said. "And when I mean eye, I mean your third eye. There is something odd about all of this."

"All right. Is there anything else?" Travis asked.

Al shook his head. "Not at the moment. We'll be doing some official training once we reach Dantooine, though, so keep your mind clear as best you can. I'll be teaching you fundamental magic spells that will help if you lack certain material necessities."

He then rolled over to face the wall. "For now, I think I'll sleep. Come get me when we land."

Excited at the prospect of some training, Travis left the room and let Al sleep the trip away. Though now he felt like that was a good idea and took another little room to take a nap in.

End Chapter 1!

Our heroes have narrowly escaped the destruction of Taris. The plucky Jaden, the pilot Carth Onasi, the Jedi Padawan Bastila, the boy apprentice Travis, the Twi'lek/Wookiee pair Mission and Zaalbar, the stoic Canderous, the droid T3-M4 and even the mysterious Al now enter their next leg of their journey across the galaxy. Soon, they will arrive at Dantooine, stronghold of the Jedi Order...

The Ebon Hawk reverted to realspace over the brilliant blue-green planet and began to descend onto the spaceport that was part of the Jedi Enclave itsself. Awakened by Canderous' rough voice, Travis and Al got a front seat look at one of the jewels of the galaxy, noting the powerful defense cannons that protected the planet from Sith armadas. It wasn't long before they landed at the spaceport and drew straws on who would go and who would stay. It turns out Trask wanted to leave and rejoin the fleet, so he was the first one off. Travis saw him off with a 'good luck' speech. Mission and Zaalbar wanted to hit the cantinas for information, so they went, with Canderous following them, grumbling something about wondering if there were fellow Mandos here. That left Carth, T3, Jaden, Bastila, Travis and Al.

"I suppose you four can go on to the Temple. T3 and I will stay here and take care of the ship." Carth said. "Besides, Jedi matters are Jedi matters. I'd only be in the way."

"I suppose you have a point." Jaden nodded. "Bastila?"

"Yes, of course. We won't be too long." Bastila said to Carth. "It is time to meet the Jedi Council, my friends."

It was not long before the group of Jedi (and one mage) stepped out of the ship and onto the grounds. Bastila led the others to the Council Chambers, where a Twi'lek, a member of Yoda's species, and a couple of humans presided over all the Jedi in the galactic region.

"Greetings, my friends. I see you are the ones who rescued Bastila. I am Master Zhar Lestin. With me are the Master Vandar, Master Vrook Lamar, and of course, our resident chronicler, Master Dorak. We have just been discussing your rather...unique cases and I must say that I find you three intruging." Master Zhar said. "Especially the one called...Jaden?"

"Yes. Though I'm not sure what is it exactly you want from me." Confusion was etched on Jaden's face.

"Ah, the question, hmm?" Zhar chuckled slightly. "Well, Bastila here has sent us the report, saying that you are strong in the Force and indeed, we could sense it. Quite frankly, we would like to train you in the ways of the Force."

Whatever he expected, Jaden was not expecting that. "Me? A Jedi? I, I don't think I'm ready for this..."

"Of course, the Jedi must have the highest commitment, the most serious mind." Master Vrook sternly said. "You do realize, Master Zhar, a Jedi's training must start at a young age. A child is difficult enough to train. An adult?" He shook his head.

"Master Vrook, all due respect, but we have trained adults before and done well. Remember Master Sunrider?" A half-smile was etched on Master Zhar's face. "I'd stake my lightsaber that we'll bring out the potential in this one."

"Though I would admit that this is a special case, many have left the Order due to the Dark Side's influence." Master Dorak interjected. "We must be cautious."

"Those are valid points, Master Dorak." Came the scratchy voice of the Yoda-lookalike. "Malak is powerful and has brought many to his cause. But I believe we must use the old adage that desperate times call for desperate measures."

A polite cough came from Jaden. "I'm willing to give it a try, Masters. I've felt the Force, and I believe it would be beneficial to me to train in the Jedi ways."

"Do or do not, Jaden. There is no try." Travis grinned.

Master Vandar chuckled. "I admit the young one speaks the words of truth. Must you be so pessimistic, Master Vrook?"

"You know full well that I have a right to be, Master Vandar." Vrook sighed. "What if we undertake this one and the Dark Lord should--"

"We should discuss this matter another time, Master Vrook." Master Vandar gave him a stern look. "Bastila, you and your companion Jaden should go. The other two may remain here."

"As you wish, Master Vandar." Bastila bowed and lightly grasped Jaden. He bowed as well, a little more clumsily and the Council chambers was soon alone with the Council and the two involuntary time-travellers.

Master Vandar cleared his voice. "Now...we have heard the report from Padawan Bastila, but there is a missing element here. I do not recall a Jedi named 'Al' or an apprentice named 'Travis Masaki'. Perhaps because of the war, your records are destroyed, but the Archives have not been able to indicate any Jedi with those names. And I must say, the Force seems strange around you two. Therefore, I must come to the conclusion that you two are not from your time."

Master Vrook looked even sterner at the blatant disrespect for the Force and the timelines that they may have done. Master Zhar looked intruged and nodded agreement. Master Dorak was as excited as a Jedi Chronicler could get at trying to understand what may have caused this.

Uh oh...busted! Travis said to Al, his inner voice betraying nervousness. "H-how did you know?"

Master Vandar chuckled at the boy sweating bullets. "While I would like to say we Jedi Masters have our mystical ways, there is a simpler reason. I believe there is a very short, quite hyperactive companion of yours that arrived here with a strange disturbance in the Force a few days ago. He has been asking about you for a while now."

"Hunny?" Travis asked. He couldn't believe it. Hunny survived that black hole thingy?

"If that's what he calls himself." Master Vrook huffed. "He's been raiding all our sweets in the kitchens."

"Sounds like him." Travis nodded. "You're not going to ask us about the future or anything?"

Master Vandar shook his head. "I believe it is only necessary that we respect the timelines. If we try affecting it in the here and now, there is no question that there would be ripples in the future. Already, there may have been changes with your presence, though I would not try to determine what, if anything, they would be. For now, we should discuss what to do with you."

Al had seen something like this coming, so he decided to speak up. "I must say, Masters present, that I, myself, am not a Jedi. I am something quite different, and those of your order would more than likely consider me an abomination of sorts, if not Sith altogether."

He then shot a glance at Travis, the child's baseball bat floating to his now exposed hand. He clasped it by the handle, and then, once again, it floated before him. For a moment, it would stay there, and then, it would break into individual particles. Al would change the object's shape multiple times, from being a baseball bat to being a wooden sword, as well as other objects, and then reformed it back to being a basic bat once more, floating it back to Travis in the same condition he had taken it.

"However, I am one of the belief that evil actions are the result of subjective minds and choices." Al smiled. "Sith are only evil because those who believe they are are of a different mindset than those who believe themselves to be good."

"What the hell are you doing?" Travis hissed at Al, shocked that he'd reveal his powers and self so easily.

The Council members' emotions ranged from shock to wariness at Al's powers and words and more than one reached for their lightsabers (Vrook and Dorak).

"Master Vandar, we should run him out of here!" Vrook hissed. "He just as much admitted that he is Sith!"

"Vrook, please calm yourself. I sense no ill intent here. An...interesting viewpoint." Master Vandar decided to answer carefully to avoid a confrontation that he internally admitted might not go well. Though at least Al was beyond any Sith, even the Sith Alchemy of Exar Kun only 40 years ago. "And not one I come across often."

"I think not. I highly doubt that after that little display, we could do anything to him. Or the Sith for that matter." Master Zhar said, unflappably calm. "Really, Vrook, calm yourself before you blow a gasket."

Dorak calmed himself and released his lightsaber. "I also sense no ill intent. If not Jedi, then what shall we call you? And what of the boy?"

Outvoted by the Council, Vrook reluctantly took their advice.

Al shrugged. "I can not safely say that my telling you what I am will prevent a time line change, so we shall leave what I am a mystery of sorts. I will say, however, that I hold no special place in my heart or mind for those who use their powers to conquer the universe or kill others wantonly."

Al then glanced over to Travis. "As for Travis here, he is a Padawan of the Jedi Order in the future. I am teaching him what he can learn of my own source of power, although it would seem that my source of power tends to have an issue when dealing with the Force."

Travis looked sheepish at the idea as the Council looked over him. Vrook, as usual, wanted to yell something.

Vandar decided that Al truly meant no harm and sensed the truth of his statement. At least he has little love for Sithlike tendancies. "Very well. It does seem that though a few things are different about our order and yours, though the past is the past and the future is the future, the Jedi seem to be everywhere. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Masters!" Travis bowed and walked out of there quickly.

Al merely stayed put. "I wish to discuss certain other...topics regarding our arrival."

If Travis turned around to get Al, the man would merely shoo the boy away. "Go see Hunny, Travis. I shall join you two when I am finished here."

Al merely stayed put. "I wish to discuss certain other...topics regarding our arrival."
Master Vandar sighed. "Very well. What is it that you wish to discuss?"

If Travis turned around to get Al, the man would merely shoo the boy away. "Go see Hunny, Travis. I shall join you two when I am finished here."
Travis began to wander around the Enclave, talking to people, when he spotted a sobbing kitchen chef.

"I can't do it! I just can't do it anymore!" The kitchen chef cried as some Jedi tried to comfort him.

Travis narrowed his eyes. There was only one person he knew that could make a chef cry...he headed for the kitchens and heard singing. "Hunny?"

Anyway, this cake is great.
It's so delicious and moist.
Look at me still talking
when there's eating to do.
When I look out there, it makes me glad I'm not you.
I've chocolates to munch.
There are candies in a bunch.
For the people who are still alive.

The very short Jedi Knight turned around. And gasped childishly. And jumped on Travis crying. "Travis! Travis! It was scary! I was all alone without Takashi and everybody!"

Travis was only bemused at the boy's crying. "There, there, Hunny. You're safe now. Did you find Cody or Shinji?"

"*Hic* Nope. I don't know where they are. I think it's just you and me."

"Oh." Travis sighed. "Guess so. I'm just glad you're ok."

"Me too. Oh, and here's Bun-bun!" Hunny grinned, showing Travis the little rabbit...who meowed like a cat in greeting.

"Since when did he become a cabbit?" Travis asked in confusion.

"Dunno." Hunny shrugged. "But I think he got better."

"Maybe." Travis said. Then he smiled. "You still have cake left? I'm hungry."

"Yep!" Hunny grinned.

The two boys sat down to eat a nice big carrot cake.

As Travis walked off to find Hunny, Al spoke in a low voice to the Masters.

"Considering what has already transpired, I feel it necessary to stipulate our removal from all official records concerning our existence. Time, I feel, has already been altered, to some degree, with our arrival here, especially my own."

As Travis walked off to find Hunny, Al spoke in a low voice to the Masters.

"Considering what has already transpired, I feel it necessary to stipulate our removal from all official records concerning our existence. Time, I feel, has already been altered, to some degree, with our arrival here, especially my own."
Well, that was a fairly reasonable request. The Council members shared looks and nodded. Master Vandar spoke again. "Very well. All records concerning you and your companions' existence shall be removed. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to find a lightsaber for yourself to disguise yourself as a Knight for the time being."

"We will deliberate now." Master Zhar said. "You may avail yourself of the guest rooms for the night or return to your ship if you wish."

The meeting was closed.

With that, Al returned to the ship for now. He left a message for Travis with one of the Padawans in the many foyer of the Temple (the area with the tree in the courtyard).

That evening, after Travis took the message, two simultaneous dreams occurred.

One came to Jaden, involving a cloaked figure with a strange mask and a bald-headed guy stomping their way through an ancient-looking temple. For some odd reason the scene was familiar to him.

"The Dark Side is strong in this place...I can feel it's power. But is it wise to enter? Once we go in, we can never go back, for we'll be banished from the Order. Can the Star Forge's powers be worth the risk?" Baldie spoke to the Cloaked One.

There seemed to be no answer from Cloaked One, except going further. Bald Guy followed with some reservation, but still walked side by side with his companion.

Jaden awoke, sweating.

The other dream came to Travis.

On a world he never knew, there was a race of redskinned people worshiping a giant mountain-porcupine thing. The porcupine thing awakened and then destroyed everything...

Travis awoke in a sweat. "Jeez. What a horrible dream..."

Travis Masaki had fallen asleep after that dream, but he didn't get that much of a good night's sleep, so when he awoke again, he didn't realize everyone was already gone from the ship until he finished his morning business and pulled on his blue and yellow striped shirt. "Waah! I'm late!"

He grabbed his cap and his backpack and ran out of the ship using a burst of speed, causing a bit of a commotion.

"Oy!" Tiny Hunny waved over to him, with Bun-Bun meowing a greeting on his head. "You're late! Bastila and everyone else's already in there!"

"Don't I know it! Why didn't you wake me?" Travis grumbled.

Hunny gave a small grin. "Figured you'd like to sleep in!"

They soon reached the Council chambers, where he spotted the others already talking.

"And so the apprentice finally arrives." Master Vrook sarcastically said.

Travis frowned at Vrook, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at him. "Sorry, Masters. Did I miss anything?"

Master Vandar merely chuckled. "To recap this day's minutes, Jaden has just been accepted into the Order and will train under Master Zhar for the next few weeks."

"Oh? Congrats! You won't regret it." Travis grinned at the older man.

"Thanks. I'll do my best here." Jaden replied. Then he gave the kid a smirk. "I believe you could do with a spot of training as well. I mean, you did lose your lightsaber, after all."

"Ehhh, what? Just because I lost my lightsaber...!" Travis began to wind up for a burst of arguing when Jaden began laughing.

"Hahaha! So easy to wind up..." Jaden chuckled.

Ooh...a prank for you! Just you wait! Travis thought, though revenge wasn't a Jedi trait...

"I believe that's all we have for today. You and Master Zhar should begin training as soon as you can." Master Vander said. He turned to Travis and Hunny. "As for you two...what do you wish to do in the meantime?"

"We'll keep ourselves busy around here." Hunny said, a glint showing in his eyes. "Travis and I are gonna train here."

"Hunny-senpai?" Travis asked. What does he have in mind?

"Find me in the western plains in a couple of hours." Hunny grinned cryptically. "Despite my looks, I'm older than you, Travis-kun. You need some training too."

"Wait...what?" Travis' voice was etched with laughter. "What are you gonna do, teach me how be small and cute?"

Heck no! That's my nindo! No touchy! Hunny grinned wider. "Just you wait. Western plains, two hours from now!"

"All right." Travis chuckled. "I'll be there."

Master Vandar was amused by the exchange. "Then I suppose you have things well in hand. You are welcome to the Archives or to talk to any of the Jedi if you need assistance."

"Thank you, Masters." Jaden nodded and bowed.

"Yeah, thanks." Travis bowed as well.

"Meow!" Bun-Bun agreed.

With that, the new apprentices were dismissed from the Council chambers to begin their training...

Elsewhere, Al had taken to wandering the plains, casually avoiding the more vicious fauna as it romped about and caused general mayhem amongst the farming populace. He found it to be quite curious that a lot of the fauna seemed to be tainted to some degree, and he made it a point to speak with multiple farmers and the odd Mandalorian (whom would generally have his ass kicked prior) about the beasts.

Once he felt he had enough information and had actually acquired a location as to where they seemed to be the most vicious, Al made his way towards the location he had been given, that being a grove of some kind...

Elsewhere, Al had taken to wandering the plains, casually avoiding the more vicious fauna as it romped about and caused general mayhem amongst the farming populace. He found it to be quite curious that a lot of the fauna seemed to be tainted to some degree, and he made it a point to speak with multiple farmers and the odd Mandalorian (whom would generally have his ass kicked prior) about the beasts.

Once he felt he had enough information and had actually acquired a location as to where they seemed to be the most vicious, Al made his way towards the location he had been given, that being a grove of some kind...
There was taint in the air as Al approached. Taint of the Dark Side seeped into the grass, turning it an ugly brown color. The source of the taint was not readily apparent...until a feral yowl sounded from some nearby brush and a blur of red lightsaber launched out at him with bestial grace and speed...

OOC: You may use Juhani at your leisure, Skaugra.

=====

Meanwhile, Travis Masaki fought his way through a mass of kinrath and kath hounds, each and every one of them seemingly intent on making a meal out of him.

"Sheesh! Why is everything on Dantooine trying to kill me? It's like that time when I had to fight everything but the kitchen sink!" Travis complained as he conked out the latest kinrath with his baseball bat.

Suddenly, a kitchen sink launched itself at Travis, sprayed water at him with the force of a fire hose and then ran away giggling to itself.

"Oh, now I get a kitchen sink to fight." Travis groaned, wringing the water out of his soaked cap and raced after the sink to bash it into pieces before moving on.

Fortunately, it was sunny and windy, so by the time he reached Hunny's hideout on top of a small hill, he was nearly dry. When he finally saw Hunny, the little Jedi was sitting in a cross-legged position on a bed of whirling air.

"Hey. Meditating?" Travis asked, sitting next to his friend.

"Mmhmm. You know, we're stuck in the middle of the Jedi Civil War, right?" Hunny replied, opening one eye.

"Yeah. Dunno much about it, though." Travis shrugged. "Just that a Jedi named Revan somehow beat Malak and saved the galaxy."

Hunny had a strange knowing look in his eyes. "Meditate with me. I gotta show you something."

"Oh?" Travis closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. Almost immediately, he felt a taint of the Dark Side to the northeast, and another one slighty to the west of that. "There?"

"That area's not ours to investigate...yet. Reach farther...much farther." Hunny instructed.

"All right." Travis stretched out his senses into the wider galaxy.

Across the Stars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Af1lZXioY&feature=channel_page)

The two teenagers' consciousness began soaring through the stars, two tiny human figures viewing what few would view, even on starships. Blue, red, yellow, even white and black, the stars zipped past them, swirling, eating, birthing and dying. They saw planets of all sizes and colors, including a weird cluster of dead planets that looked scorched. They sped through glowing green, blue and red nebulae, swirled past a cluster of black holes, rolled in and out of asteroid fields, and floated with a squadron of space dragons. The galaxy was full of wonders greater than anything that could ever be seen and even with the aid of Force Meditation, they were only able to see a small percentage of it...

But soon, Hunny pointed towards a distant planet where the two could sense something. Even from thousands of lightyears away, Travis could feel it. It was a feeling of deep wrongness. Like the Dark Side, only much, much worse. They quickly returned to Dantooine and opened their eyes. Both boys were ash-faced at the sensation.

"What the hell?" Travis asked. "What's that?"

"I don't know. But I do know that something very bad is either going to happen or will happen. I don't know if we're meant to stop it, but since we're in the past, might as well try." Hunny said.

"Yeah...but how?"

Hunny returned to his usual grinning self. "I'm gonna teach you the Art of the Wind. I know you've gained the power over multielemental techniques, but you haven't mastered them yet, have you?"

Travis shook his head. "No, I only know the basic elemental ninjutsu. I don't even know where to begin!"

"Well, what did you gain on that trip two years back?" Hunny asked.

"Um, well, the four classical elements, air, water, ground and fire. Then some odder ones like energy/light, darkness, life/death and spacetime."

"Hmm. Yeah, I can see where you would have problems." Hunny nodded. "We'll start with Air, as I practice Art of the Wind. Now the first thing you need to know is that air is both like, and not like telekinesis. It's more specific than that. It's manipulation of the gaseous state of matter to form wind techniques."

"Yeah, I know that much." Travis nodded.

"Mmhmm. But what you don't know is that the Art of the Wind involves Ataru and...circles. Lots of circles." Hunny grinned widely.

"Circles?" Travis asked, confused.

"Yep. Circles."

Al's reaction to the ferocious yowl was to draw his own light saber (one that he had gone through the quick process of making with Master Zharr, much to the Twilek's surprise at it took less than six seconds for Al to make one), the blue blade catching the red blade in an easy back-handed block while simultaneously parried away.

Al twirled as his attacker struck again, their two blades clashing furiously as Al parried the second strike. This time, however, Al was caught unprepared, the strike actually carrying a lot of force behind it and causing him to stumble back. Likewise, his attacker suffered the same fate, but she, too, quickly recovered, like Al, and the two quickly sought after one another.

Sabers clashed and fauna screamed as the battle raged on, neither one of the combatants finding an opening in either of their stances. The fortunate thing for Al's attacker was that Al wasn't exactly versed in the use of swords. He tended to stick with his hands and using incantations. It had only been reflex that had made him draw his own saber. After a few minutes of clashing, both combatants drew back.

"You fight well, Jedi," Al's attacker said, revealing itself to be a she. "You are well trained."

"Begging your pardon, miss, but I am no Jedi." Al smirked at the young woman.

This puzzled her. "Then you are Sith?"

Al chuckled, disengaging his light saber. "Again, you are incorrect."

The woman growled, sounding much like a feral cat. "Do not play games with me. What are you?" She began to circle Al.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Al said, counter-circling the woman.

Her eye twitched as Al seemed to strike a nerve. "You take me as naive?! Fool! I have mastered the power of the Dark Side of the Force! You are no-"

She never saw it coming. As the woman continued to monologue, Al made his own show of power. At a distance of no more than three meters, it would've seemed to her as if Al had merely appeared in front of her. At the same time, she would feel the wind exit her lungs as Al's flat-palmed strike landed square in her solar plexus. She tried to breathe, to even move, but nothing happened, and she could feel herself losing consciousness due to oxygen deprivation.

"Those who brag of power are those who have none," Al whispered quietly into her ear, and then she slumped to her knees, collapsing against his legs. He gently patted her head with one hand, smiling lightly. "Ah, youth..."

Previously:

"Mmhmm. But what you don't know is that the Art of the Wind involves Ataru and...circles. Lots of circles." Hunny grinned widely.

"Circles?" Travis asked, confused.

"Yep. Circles."

And now, the conclusion.

"I'll show you!" Hunny grinned. Then he grew more serious. "Attack me."

"Huh?" Travis asked.

"Attack me!" Hunny ordered. "Or are you a coward?"

"Coward? Your funeral!" Travis pulled out his bat and swung hard...narrowly missing Hunny as he twirled out of the path of the swing. Travis tried again, but Hunny's use of footwork and handwork to produce swirling circles that evoked the twisting fluidity of wind ensured that none of the bat's swings connected.

Then Hunny counterattacked, shoving Travis back with a blast of air to knock him off-balance, then swirled his arms forward and upwards. The wind answered his orders and lifted Travis up with a yelp. Then Hunny reversed the air currents and Travis slammed down on the ground, hard.

"Ow!" Travis yelped, rubbing his backside.

"The Haninozuka style of air manipulation is based on two things: defense and evasion. Each move must evoke the fluidity of wind." Hunny explained as he stood over Travis. "It's why we're masters of Ataru as well. Now it's time to begin your training."

=====

"The Force is an energy field. Life produces it and in turn, it produces life. It surrounds, binds and penetrates us and it holds the galaxy together." Master Zhar lectured to his newest student as they sat on meditation pillows. "Your first lesson is the first lesson every student must learn. To feel the Force. Close your eyes. Reach out with your feelings."

Jaden closed his eyes and 'reached out' as his Master instructed. To his surprise, he found it came to him rather easily. He could feel the Master's heartbeats. He could feel the walls and the floor. He could feel the other Jedi, their presences brightly lit against the background. "Whoa..."

"Have you done it, my apprentice?" Master Zhar asked.

"Yes, Master. It is incredible." Jaden breathed.

Zhar's eyes widened slightly. "Indeed? Then you have taken the first step into a larger world."

To think that I would be surprised yet again. You are a prodigy, my apprentice!

"Let us continue, then..."

Uuuugh...

Pain. Stomach area.

What hit me...HIM!

The woman suddenly woke up, but she was brought back to reality as she found herself bound to a small tree. She tried to wrestle her arms free, panicking and struggling against her bonds. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

How could I have been caught off guard like that?!

That's simple.

She suddenly stopped moving, her head shooting up to look around. That wasn't her voice. No, it had been the voice of the man who had knocked her unconscious. She wasn't able to see his face before, and this made her worry more.

"Where are you, coward?!" Her voice echoed in the grove. Quite astounding, really, considering there wasn't much to echo off of.

"Right here."

The young woman's voice looked towards the direction the voice was coming from, noting that the man was sitting on top of a branch in the tree. She paused for a moment, noticing how strikingly effeminate he was in his features. His hair was long, pulled back into a thin pony tail near the base of his skull, and it drifted down to his knees, stopping just short of his calf. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought this man was really a woman.

And then she noted that he was human, and her face instantly went from amazement to anger. She'd been help captive like this many, many years ago as a young girl, and it angered her that this man had bound her like he had.

"Release me at once!" He words were hissed and spat at the same time as she made her demand.

"As you wish," Al replied, gently waving his hand. The binding suddenly disappeared, and she was quick to jump away from the tree, putting as much distance between herself and her captor as possible before turning around. She reached for her saber...and found that it was gone! She frantically glanced around at the grass, looking for where she may have misplaced it, and then looked up to see them an standing right in front of her, holding her light saber in his hand.

"Looking for this?" Al's voice was coy, a smirk playing across his face. He was practically dangling it in front of her, so she lashed out to snatch it...and grabbed air. Air where Al had been moments before and now seemed to be about ten feet away.

"Ah ah ah," he scolded, wagging a finger at her. "Mind your manners."

This positively infuriated the young woman, and she charged him with another feral yowl in her anger, attempting to strike him with her claw. Instead, she found herself being flipped around through the air, and then landing on her back in the grass, dumbfounded as to how she was there. Above her stood the smiling form of Al, although it wasn't a smile of pride, but more amusement.

"My, the youth of this age aren't much different from when I was a child," he said, and then offered her his hand.

This made her blink, and then frown again as she swatted his hand away, bolting to her feet and putting a little distance between herself and Al before lunging once again. This time, Al merely grabbed her by her arm and held her in place. She tried to pull herself from his grasp, but she noted that his strength was belied by his thin form. After a moment, he shoved her back, releasing his grip from her arm which caused her to fall onto her rear. Again, he held up the light saber before her.

This routine would continue over and over again, and each time the young woman would try to take her weapon back, Al would put her on her butt again, still holding the saber in plain view. By the fifth time, the woman was tearing up, and by the tenth, she was positively bawling her head off. After the twelfth attempt, she stood up, and then collapsed onto her knees, sitting on her feet and crying.

"Give it baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!" The woman was acting like a child now, and Al simply stood there, the smirk still on his face.

"Ask and ye shall receive," he said, holding out the weapon once more.

The young woman looked up with her tear-streaked face, eying him one more time, and then held out hands to him. "Please, give me back my light saber..."

And, much to her astonishment, he did while at the same time helping her stand up. The young woman was shivering from her tears, and she looked down at her feet as she clutched her light saber closely to herself, treasuring it much like a child would a stuffed animal. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"You are welcome, my dear," Al replied, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "Sometimes, one must show humility to ones superior in order to achieve their goals. Without humility, one can not achieve power or greatness."

The young woman nodded, still clutching her weapon and looking down at her feet. She felt so embarrassed over this whole ordeal. She had acted like a child, both when she had attacked him and when she had tried to take her light saber back.

"I wish I had understood this before," she said quietly, glancing up to him slowly.

"Oh?" Al looked at her curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

That's when the young woman began to tell her tale of how she had come to the Jedi Academy, and how she was taken as a Padawan by Master Quatra. She told him of how Master Quatra trained her, and of how she had always desired more. Yet, it always felt to her like her Master was holding her back. She craved to learn more, and it infuriated her that he Master wasn't teaching her more than she already knew, and that, one day, she had lashed out at her Master, gravely injuring her in the process. Feeling that she had surpassed her Master, she spirited away to the grove and began to train herself in the arts of the Dark Side.

"And then this happened," she said, referring to recent events.

"Well," Al said, pondering momentarily. "It seems to me that your Master intended for you to, put bluntly, learn the hard way."

"So...this was a test?" She looked up to Al fully now, her grasp on her light saber loosening and her arms slowly dropping down to her lower chest.

"I believe so," Al replied. "I think that you should return to the temple and tell her that you learned your lesson and that you wish to continue your training."

"But how will the Council accept me again?!" The woman's voice was filled with despair. "Surely they would not forgive me for striking down my own Master?!"

"I am quite certain they would," Al said, patting her gently on the shoulder. "I am certain that your Master had planned this with the Council's consent. All else fails, it will be worth returning and atoning for your mistakes."

The woman nodded. "You're right. Maybe I should go..." She looked up to him once more. "W-what is your name?"

Al smiled. "Alberio Imma, but you can call me Al."

"My name is Juhani," the woman replied. "Th-thank you for helping me learn from my mistakes."

Juhani then bowed and began to make her way across the field back towards the temple. She stopped for a moment, though, and turned back to face Al. "Are you staying at the Temple?"

"Yes," Al replied. "I'm staying on the ship called the Ebon Hawk."

"Then...then I will see you again?" There was a twinge of hope in her voice.

"You may come visit me whenever you wish," Al said, a smile on his face.

Al's answer put a smile on Juhani's face, and she bowed once more. "I will! Thank you!"

And, with that, Juhani began her trek back to the Temple, a new sense of purpose now driving her. Al merely stood there, by the grove, a smile upon his face.

"You're welcome," he said quietly to the air around him...

Montage Time! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLJ5gYQC9ac)

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive!

Zhar: "The path you have chosen, the path of the Jedi is difficult. Intensive training will prepare you mentally and physically for the demands of the Order."

Hunny: "The wind has many uses. It can be as soft as a feather or a raging hurricane. In all your actions, you must act swiftly and with decisiveness. No hesitation, or you will lose the wind's grasp!"

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

"The skill of meditation is perhaps your most important ability. It will teach you to channel the power of the Force. From telepathy to telekinetics, to abilities that heighten your senses and increase your ability to defend the weak and innocent, to meditate is to listen to the will of the Force...and act on it."

"The wind is ever changing, unpredictable to the end. In learning the ways of the wind, you will learn to act the same. Listen to the wind...and you will know how to act."

CHORUS:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger!

"Open your mind to knowledge, for it will aid you to truly understand the ways of the Jedi. Seek wisdom in the teachings of the great Masters of the Order."

"No matter what you do, you should never stop learning new tricks just because I taught you how to use the wind. The wind is only one aspect of the elements. Even though I cannot teach you any other element, you should be able to figure out how they tick and make your own techniques. After all, you are a Masaki and unpredictability is your stock in trade!"

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive!

CHORUS:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger!

"In all my years, I have never seen a student take to the initial training as quickly as you did! You have done in weeks what many cannot achieve in years! Though you are a mere apprentice...your progress is amazing and your potential...unlimited!"

"Gee whiz, you've done all that wind training quicker than I thought! I think it could be a sign or something."

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive!


CHORUS:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger!

The eye of the tiger...*repeats*

-Music ends-

=====

The end of the training, several weeks later.

"Let me be the first to welcome you into the ranks of the Jedi Order, Padawan Jaden. Let us recite the code that will guide you for the rest of your days in the Order." Master Zhar said.

"Of course, Master." The newly minted Padawan nodded.

"There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no chaos; there is harmony.
There is no death; there is the Force."

"Allow these tenents to guide you as you walk the path of the Jedi...and you will achieve great things for the Order and for the galaxy." Zhar said. "Your final task now is to construct your lightsaber and to decide whether you would like to be a Guardian, Sentinel or a Counselor. Traditional colors of each are blue, yellow, or green, but it is really up to you to choose your lightsaber."

"Hmm...I've always liked blue." Jaden said. "And being a Guardian seems to appeal to me."

"Very well." Master Zhar handed Jaden a blue crystal. "Come back when you've completed your lightsaber."

"Yes, Master." Jaden bowed.

=====

Hunny and Travis laid on the grass after a hard day of training.

"You know...you need to make a new lightsaber." Hunny said. "It wouldn't do to go without one for long."

Travis nodded. "Yeah. I have no idea where my original lightsaber is. I need to get a new one."

"There's a crystal cave somewhere to the north. Besides, I need a new one as well." Hunny grinned sheepishly. "Let's go."

"Hehe. So you're not the only one? Yeah, let's make our new lightsabers." Travis nodded.

They got up and started walking towards the crystal caves. They did notice a depletion in the number of kinraths that attacked them and wondered what happened to them.

"Again!"

Blue and purple flashed quickly across each other, energy crackling as light flashed across the chamber. Al and Juhani were blurs of motion as they continued to attack one another, each looking for an opening in the others guard. Round and round, blades clashing and ringing, energy crying out in agonizing tones. Neither Al or Juhani were giving ground, and they seemed to be matched in their abilities. After a few minutes, both combatants stepped back once again, disengaging their sabers. They would ritually bring them to within inches of their face, and then bow, bringing the blade to their sides in signs of respect.

"Well done. While your difference in understanding of yourselves is astronomical, you are both matched in your abilities with your light sabers." The small form of Master Vandar stepped forward, Juhani's Master, Quatra, stepping alongside him.

"Thank you, Master Vandar," they both replied, bowing with respect to the Council member.

"Truly, you have shown great progress," Quatra spoke. "Master Vandar, I believe that there is little else that I can teach Juhani."

"Very well, then," Master Vandar replied to Quatra, and then faced Juhani. "Padawan Juhani, I now place you under the tutelage of Master Alberio Imma. He shall teach you that which you need to know."

"I am greatly honored to take Juhani as my Padawan Learner," Al said, bowing once more. "I shall not let you down, Master Vandar."

"Thank you for this opportunity, Masters," Juhani said to both Quatra and Vandar, bowing as well. "I shall do my best to honor the Jedi Code."

"You have learned well, Juhani," Quatra said. "I see greatness in your future. You shall become one of our finest."

"I agree," Vandar said. He then bowed to them. "You are dismissed."

Both Al and Juhani bowed one last time to both Vandar and Quatra, and then left the chamber, standing side-by-side as they walked along towards the main Temple entrance...

An elegant weapon for a more civilized age...but that civilized age is still bantha poodoo! So Travis thought as he and Hunny blew through a nest of kinraths and shyracks when they entered the Crystal Cave. Literally.

Do you know what happens when a shyrack gets hit with blasts of air within a tight space? Or hit by a Homerun Smash? Yeah. Many were beaten trying to make a meal out of the two boys. Unfortunately, they had a hard lesson to learn today, which is Don't Mess With Powered Up Kids!

Soon, Travis and Hunny were able to reach the central cave and to their awe, saw crystals glowing with many different colors. More colors than they have seen in lightsabers of the future. They dived into the crystals, collecting crystals of all colors, including some red ones found in a unhatched kinrath egg Travis accidently kicked. By the time they were finished, they had enough crystals to fit a dozen lightsabers each. Even so, the crystals looked like they could produce a thousand more lightsabers and still leave a hell of a lot left.

But let's not get greedy.

The boys headed back to the Enclave with their pockets full of crystals and then bought the other parts they needed from the tiny One Stop Temple Shop...wait, Travis took a double take. One Stop Temple Shop? Did the little store franchise always exist even in the past? Jeez...

He shook his head before heading to a workbench and began working on his new lightsaber.

=====

The crystal is the heart of the blade. The heart is the crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. The Force is the blade of the heart. All are intertwined: the crystal, the blade, the Jedi. You are one.

Those ancient words of wisdom echoed within each of the three Jedi students as they constructed their blades.

Travis chose a teal crystal to produce a bluegreen blade.

Hunny selected orange as opposed to the yellow of his first one.

And Jaden chose the classic emerald color for his own.

The moment that each one clasped the final pieces together and then ignited their lightsaber was the moment that they knew that the lightsabers they created was theirs and theirs alone.

The boys were Jedi once more...and the man who was their companion was now truly a Jedi...