Chapter Fifty Two: Kyber

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((Short Detour from the Mand'alor plot line to handle Maul for a sec!))

"Padawan, I need you to be careful." Master Obi-wan warned as the ship door opened. Jones readied his blaster and nodded.
"Of course Master."

The sense of darkness flooded their senses. Jones brushed off a shudder as they stepped out into the ghost town. Master Kenobi furrowed his eyebrows in discomfort, keeping a tight grip on his lightsaber.

His master knew that he had essentially no choice in bringing him. He was crafty, and would've found a way to come along even if he had said no.

"Kenobi."

His eyes snapped up, meeting scarlet and gold eyes. "Maul."

Jones suddenly whipped around in an attempt to fire. He aimed at a gold Zabrak's chest, but was flung at a wall like a rag doll.

"Padawan!" He shouted, as Jones slowly pulled himself to his feet. They both got a creeping sense of horror, a feeling that he shouldn't have said that, as Maul gained a devilish grin.

"A student, Kenobi? It appears I can kill your padawan as well as your master." He waved a hand, "Savage."

Jones was lifted by the throat by a larger Zabrak, Savage, and began to kick out. His lungs burned at the sudden lack of oxygen.

Shit. Shit shit, what did 53 always say? What did Alpha-53 teach him before he left Kamino?!

"Alright kid." Alpha-53 said, hand loosely around his three year old throat. "When I pick you up, you need to get those little legs around my forearm and push up so you can breathe. If you take too long, I'll let go and we can try again. You can use those little tricks of yours if you need to, okay? I won't tell."

He nodded. He had volunteered to go first, and show his batchers how it was done.

That's right. The memory made it through the haze, and Jones made a plan.

He swung back and forth until he managed to wrap his legs around Savage's forearm, pushing himself up enough to get extra air.

"Focus Master! On— Kh— Maul!" He punctuated his sentence by shooting Savage in the foot, which was met with a hiss of pain, and a growl of, "Foolish little clone."

"Kri—" he coughed, "Kriff you." His gun was knocked from his hands.

Jones tried to pry at Savage's iron grip, stretching his legs out and locking himself in place around Savage's arm. Jones dug his nails in, trying to injure him.

"Alright, you've got air." 53 continued, looking at Jones' other batchmates. "Now, how do you escape?"

Cryptid, who had at the time been called 28, excitedly shouted out, "Kick him in the face?"

"K— Know the advantage of having— having a couple million older brothers?" Jones unhooked a leg and twisted his body to kick Savage in the face with a steel toed boot. Savage dropped Jones to the dirt, allowing the padawan to roll and grab his blaster, shooting Savage in the side. "I know how to get out of any locked position!"

Something resonated in his mind, calling out and crying for help. He scanned around and eventually, his eyes landed on half of a double sided lightsaber. Jones called it to his hand, mind instantly making a connection with the bled crystal.

Yes! Finally-home! Please-help!

The crystal's energy was twisted in pain and darkness. It ate at Jones' energy to keep it at bay, but he could feel it. This was his crystal. He activated the scarlet blade and twirled it for a moment, basking for a moment in the crystal's glee of finally being in the right hands.

He made a bit of a show of swirling the 'saber as he goaded the Zabrak, "C'mon! Not so tough when I've got a lightsaber and," he called his blaster to his hand, "a blaster, huh?"

He was answered as their lightsabers clashed together with sparks.

"Brother," Savage shouted at Maul, "Are you entirely sure this is worth it?!"

"Very!" Maul shouted back, once again trying to fill Jones' master with holes.

"Y'know," he hummed, firing a bolt at Savage, "It's pretty embarrassing that a mighty sith like you got taken out by a padawan—"

"Jones!" His master shouted, "Please, stop talking! This is only making it harder for me, unless you plan to help!"

"Right, shutting up."

He was easily turning the blade to parry Savage's attacks, and eventually managed to get in a hit.

In the form of taking Savage's arm.

Jones took that moment to escape, firing a blaster bolt at Maul's ankle.

Upon seeing what Jones had done to Savage, Maul looked enraged.

He kicked away Master Kenobi and grabbed Jones by the face, lips twisted in a snarl.

"I'll retreat, Padawan. But not before I get some form of revenge."

He brought up his blazing red lightsaber to Jones' dominant arm, the one which currently held his blaster, the right one. Jones gritted his teeth at the searing agony that felt like getting shot, only one hundred percent worse. He let out a small whimper, hitting the ground as Maul launched himself away.

Jones released his grip on the casing that contained his screaming crystal, shakily putting it on his shoulder and letting out his pain in the form of quick breaths.

"Padawan!" Obi-wan shouted, dropping to one knee to look at the damage, "Oh... oh Padawan... I'm so sorry."

"M— Master I— I found... I found..." he took a second to pull the crystal from it's casing, as it buzzed softly.

In-pain, Hurts-bad

"I— I found my crystal, Master. I-I can hear it." He said, feeling lightheaded. He closed his hand around the crystal, not fighting as his master pulled him close and just took a moment to help him block out the pain.

"Good. You did so well Jones. I can help you heal the crystal when we return."

Master Kenobi pried the blaster from the severed limb, grimacing slightly as he placed it in Jones' lap and picked him up.

"We— We got a penchant for loosing arms, huh Master?"

"Well between you and Anakin, yes. It seems my padawans have a penchant for losing arms."

Jones thought about it for a moment, then chuckled a little.

"Heh, 's kinda funny." He mumbled, starting to pass out more from the pain than anything.

"I suppose it is."

•—END OF CHAPTER—•

Guess you could say that Jones paid an arm and a leg for that crystal huh

I'm so sorry

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