Star Wars Fanfiction- Down But Not Dead

Part 1

"Anakin! I need you over here! Cody, his men, and I are retreating! If you don't get here soon, we will lose this!" Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi general in the infamous Clone Wars, yelled into the communication device on his wrist, reflecting a couple red flickers of light while doing so.

"We're on our way," the voice of his former padawan echoed from Obi-Wan's wrist.

"Cody!" he called into the mess.

"What is it, sir?"

The jedi backed up to his comrade, "Anakin and the 501st are on their way. We have to hold them off a little longer. Split your troops into four groups. Have one behind me, and put any clones that know how to use a shield at the front of the other three groups. This should at least give us a little cover."

Yes, sir!" Cody responded. Just as he did, a droid's fire came hissing towards the commander. Obi-Wan caught it with his lightsaber, the blaster bolt dissipating on contact. "Thanks, General!" Cody's voice sounded relieved. General Kenobi winked at him playfully.

The clone commander ordered instructions through his helmet. While he was busy with that, Obi-Wan checked on Anakin again. "How's it going?"

"We're approaching your position."

"Good," Obi-Wan responded a little harsher than he should have, but Anakin knew Obi-Wan was in a tough situation. The clones around General Kenobi began to take the shape of the four groups. Because of the concentration of fire increasing, Obi-Wan had to work harder to keep himself and everyone around him alive.

"Sir, incoming!" A clone's voice warned from the comm. The jedi gazed up only to see a swarm of Separatist bombers fly over-head. There was no cover to hide on in the barren planet.

"Oh, not good," he muttered. He wanted to contact Anakin, but he now needed two hands on his lightsaber to deflect the oncoming fire. The ships dropped a dozen bombs onto his unprotected troops. "Shoot the bombs!" Kenobi commanded. Blue streaks of light began to pelt after the plummeting projectiles, while red continued to attack him and the clones. A stray bomb avoided the blaster bolts, and it was getting too close.

Obi-Wan reached towards the bomb, fingers outstretched. A second later, his fingers snapped closed, and the bomb exploded, showering dust and ashes over the clones.

"Ugh!" he grunted. "Blast!" One of the droids took the opportunity and shot him in the shoulder while he was distracted. But the bolt didn't hurt as much as some of the other ones he had encountered.

They wouldn't be able to hold their position with both the bombs and the droids. "Fall back!" The general ordered. His voice hinted at the pain building up inside. Ignoring this, he began to retreat with the clones.

A lithe figure stalked the man's form from nonexistent shadows, like assassin droids, creating their own shadows to hide in.

The GAR stopped, and that was when Anakin finally caught up with his master's clones. As the jedi knight came closer, Obi-Wan smirked jokingly, "Took you long enough."

"You don't look to good," Anakin replied, not returning the humor.

Obi-Wan glanced down at the blood seeping from his wound. "I'm okay. The droids should catch up any moment now."

Right on cue, the clones behind the jedi began to fire, and Anakin yelled a warning. Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber and engaged the dark jedi that threw herself at him. A moment later, he would have lost his head. "Ventress, this is a surprise."

She responded by shoving him backwards with a little help from the Force. Obi-Wan landed harshly, and the weight from his fall gathered at his shoulder. It screamed at him like the wind howling on a moonless night, forcing a gasp to tear its way out of his throat.

Anakin covered for him. The jedi master watched his friend's blade clash with Ventress's in a flurry of sparks. Biting his lip, Obi-Wan leaned against a dusty rock. The familiar hum of a lightsaber played on the chaos of the moment, and a flash of blue light joined in the fight. He landed next to Anakin almost gracefully, but the pain from in wound was getting worse.

"Glad you could join us, Master," Anakin teased playfully.

"You try fighting her with a hole in your shoulder," General Kenobi argued, emphasizing the word 'her' with a jabbing lightsaber.

Asajj caught their lightsabers on hers, and sparks dripped from the connection. Abruptly, one of the red sabers pulled away and began to swing towards Anakin's legs. Obi-Wan immediately broke his hold on the lock to par the Sith's lightsaber. His former padawan, now alone, was shoved backwards by Ventress. Until he recovered, Obi-Wan was on his own to fend her off.

"Anakin!" he called, unable to look to see if the man was okay or keep the worry from his voice. "Anakin?" he repeated after a few seconds of humming lightsabers.

"M'okay," came a distant answer. The jedi master began to circle Ventress who had clearly become annoyed with waiting. He was surprised that she had at all. Asajj twirled her lightsaber almost as if it were a twitch.

In a blur of motion, she feigned left and swung at Kenobi's right hip. He caught the lightsaber with his own, but not before hers grazed his tunic. A wave of fresh pain dulled his senses, and he tried desperately to focus.

A fiery red light flew into his line of sight. With a swift upward stroke, Obi-Wan knocked the Sith's lightsaber off course. But it came back too fast, and he struggled to fight off his doom.

"Give up, General. You can't even fend me off with your precious 'padawan' and that wound," Asajj sneered.

"Hey, at least I have someone who'll care if I die." Obi-Wan could tell he hit a nerve. This fueled the fury churning in her eyes.

Great, Kenobi.

She attacked him with renewed energy. This time, he could hold her off. A red burn sliced into his arm and severed the muscle. The jedi cried out in pain, clutching at the frayed arm. His shoulder flared up as he tried and failed to move it. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn't defend himself.

But Ventress liked to play with her prey.

General Kenobi felt his back crack against the sheer wall with a resounding smack. The air that was trapped in his lungs tore itself out, leaving him winded. Beneath him, his legs kicked weakly as he was dragged off of the ground. From his view, Obi-Wan could see Anakin attempting to shove a rock off that kept him pinned. Once the jedi saw his master's face, he gathered a new-found strength and rolled the boulder off of his legs.

Obi-Wan fought for consciousness as waves of pain rolled over him. But he was losing the fight and his air supply.

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Anakin's eyes squinted with a fierce and hidden love that emerged from deep in his heart. No one hurts my master and gets away with it.

Asajj Ventress was distracted with Obi-Wan, so Anakin needed to get her attention away from his injured master. "Hey, Baldie! Don't you know that it is not nice to attack an old man?"

He jumped into action after watching the other jedi drop limply to the ground and moan. The haze of a blue lightsaber mixed with red. He caught Ventress in the leg, and she responded, "Well here is an actual challenge!"

"You have to Obi-Wan some slack. I mean, how often do you have to fight a manic while supporting a hole in your shoulder?" Anakin retaliated.

Swirling lightsabers collided. With his determination to win, he drove Ventress back and away from his master. Anakin knocked Ventress to the ground with a flying round-house kick. A wicked sneer spread across her face as she picked herself up off the ground. The clones were beginning to come towards the duel because they had defeated the droids. Ventress realized that she was outnumbered and called "We will continue this later!" over her shoulder as she scrambled away.

"Master?"