"Look out!" I reflexively ducked as Cody swung his broken blaster over my head and smashing it into the feline's head. It yowled and limped away, spinning with confusion. I raised my lightsaber and slashed off another's muzzle. It let out a cry and fell to the ground, limp. Pain filled me at the sight of it, and I resisted the urge to gag.
I turned and saw Cody hacking at the alien and I quickly turned around to not look at it. I tried not to realize that this is what Cody does to every alien that is attacking him. Of course, if his blaster hadn't gone out, he probably wouldn't have to do that.
"Let's review," Cody said, wiping the blood from his hands. He looked at me expectantly and I recited what we had gone over on the way to the east side.
How did we get here? My friend wanted to show her master that she didn't need a chaperone, and that she could handle herself out in the field. Then she escaped right under Cody and mine noses. So, here we are, out to look for her.
And when we find her, I'm going to send her straight to Mace for a punishment.
"How much farther?" I asked, trying not to gag at the sight of Cody's bloody hands smearing blood on his helmet. He fitted it on and thought for a moment.
"If she took the back entrance," he said thoughtfully. "She would have had to take this route. But this route is a bit longer than the other one so, a few more minutes?" He suggested and I tried to cover my moan.
"Well," I grimaced at the sound of my cracking voice. "We'd better get moving."
Kal, my friend turned out to be watching.
Cody and I snuck up behind her and I followed her gaze. In the clearing was the ship that Cody had prepared for Mace and my master, Luthor. In fact, they were coming out now. There was a village and although Mace and Luthor couldn't see it, battle droids were hiding behind the village huts.
The locals had come out and were discreetly trying to warn them and although Mace couldn't look more disinterested, Luthor was noting their movements carefully. Mace was speaking to the locals in the native language, which was just a bunch of warbles and grunts to us.
"So," Cody started and Kal nearly shrieked. As it is, she jumped and stared at Cody with wild eyes, then she turned and saw me. I grinned and waved and she silently moaned.
"How did I know you were going to come?" She spat. I shrugged but in truth we both knew. Cody was gesturing for us to leave.
"Wait, what?" Kal asked, aghast. "Clearly my master hasn't noticed the battle droids! Maybe we can jump the droids, escape, and act like we were at camp the whole time!" Cody's expression was painful and I knew he was fighting his clone instincts, which were take orders, obey them, and carry them out. His orders were to keep us safe. However, the human part of him wanted to do exactly what Kal said.
Kal seemed to notice this and took advantage of it. "Well, if you're going to protect me, you'll have to follow me," and with that, she promptly fell to the ground. She crouched for a second and then began to sneak her way over to the droids. Cody mouthed a silent groan and followed her.
"Are we really doing this?" I whisper/shouted. Cody didn't answer. I moaned and let my feet part from the safe ledge. I crouched down, fingertips brushing the ground. Still crouched, I moved my way over to Cody and Kal. Cody was struggling to get his blaster fixed and Kal seemed to be debating on going for a straight-up attack or a sneak attack.
She looked at me and thank God she did. I quickly signaled for us to sneak and she didn't move for a second, then she nodded and sheathed her lightsaber. I breathed a sigh of relief and scanned the area. The battle droids haven't noticed us yet, but as we neared the village a couple see us and we quickly disable them.
There were still the locals, trying, but failing miserably to warn Mace and Luther. Or maybe they weren't failing...
Suddenly everything clicked into place.
And that's also when everything went haywire.
One of the battle droids saw us and began to shoot. Cody took out his pistol and shot him down. Unfortunately, that attracted unwanted attention. Kal and I ignited our lightsabers and fought our way to Luthor and Mace. They too, had their lightsabers out and were fighting the battle droids.
Kal whipped and spun, while I defended myself, playing mostly defense. Cody had our masters backs and was shooting at the droids. Mace and Luthor were herding the locals into their homes.
But then, the droids gained a little, sending me and Kal to where our masters were. They were backed up against the wall, but the droids kept pushing.
"We're loosing ground!" I shouted.
"You think!" Kal cried, weaving to avoid a shot.
"Enough with the sarcasm!" Mace yelled.
I opened my mouth to reply but a whirlwind of noise stopped me. Above, a Republic ship was descending, clones visibly seen from the inside. The droids were forced back as it landed. A Torguta held out a hand to my friend and Kal took it. A man with blond hair had jumped out and was helping Mace and Luthor. I watched Cody get on, helped by the man.
Another man, held his hand out to me. He had wild blonde-brownish hair and dark Jedi robes. The other man was wearing regular tan robes and the Torguta was wearing her native style-clothes. But if you ask me, it took a bit of Republic tint to it.
We flew away, most of the droids dead. I turned back to see Kal hanging on tight, hands shaking just a bit.
"Don't like flying?" The blond-haired man asked and she shook her head, looking a little queasy. The man who had helped me into the ship laughed.
"Obi-Wan never liked flying either," he said and the other man nodded, agreeing. I looked over at Luthor who was sitting in one of the compartments, next to a clone.
"How-how much longer t-till w-we land?" Kal choked, and before I could warn her not to, she looked over the side. Gasping back a yelp, Kal squeezed her eyes shut, clinging so hard to the rail that her knuckles turned white.
"A few more minutes," Mace said, he was standing next to Kal. Kal lifted an eyelid, before squeezing it shut and nodding. Mace turned to Ob-Wan and the other man.
"Thank you," he said, and they nodded.
"No problem," the man in dark robes responded. He shrugged. "There's nothing wrong in out sector anyway, " he faked a yawn. "We were getting bored," the Tortuga gave a shot of laughter.
"In other words, Sky-guy was bored out of his mind," she said. The man frowned and shook his head.
"You said you were bored too," he protested. The Torguta opened her mouth to shoot back.
"Seriously," Obi-Wan interrupted, shaking his head. "You two bicker like children," he smiled and winked at me. I smiled back. The ship shook and Kal let out a half-yelp, half-sob.
Mace looked over the side frowning.
"Our camps been destroyed," he muttered and Cody lurched upward.
"What?" He cried. "Destroyed!? How!"
"I don't know, my best guess is battle droids but the shots seem sloppier than usual," Mace admitted.
I looked down and quickly looked back. I don't mind being in space but just hovering above the tree-tops, brought a dizzy reality on me. We went to Obi-Wan, Sky-guy, and the Torguta's sector. We jumped off and Sky-guy and the Torguta turned to me.
"Names Anakin by the way," the man said. He turned and jogged after Mace, Luthor, and Obi-Wan. Kal was suddenly standing next to me. I grinned and bumped her playfully. She smiled at me weakly.
"My name is Ahsoka," the Torguta stuck her hand out and I took it. "Ahsoka Tano,"
"I'm Kai and this is my friend Kal," I replied and she smiled. I don't know why but it gave me a warm feeling. And I knew without a doubt, we were going to be great friends.
