Afterglow | The Clone Wars

Two to One

Through the green mist that lurked along the planets muddy surface, Dakota broke through and paused at the edge of the still water. Tiny insects danced atop of the swamp, buzzing around her ears in a skittish frenzy. She swatted them away, clicking her tongue in annoyance at their pestering.

Above in the trees, the sound of a creature cawing in the distance could be heard. Lifeless trees were sprawled across the landscape with peculiar shapes and angles. She took in every sound and every sight, using that to heighten her senses.

Obi-wan stepped through the mist behind her, quickly coming to stand at her side at the water.

"I feel that we're getting close." she told him, looking down at her reflection before jumping over the stream to the other side of the solid ground.

"I'm not saying you're a bad tracker, Dakota, but why wouldn't Ziro just leave the planet? Why not just fly away?" Obi-wan hopped after her, sounding a bit tired of this endless chase. He wiped his hands on his tunic, ridding them of the moisture that gathered on his skin.

Dakota swerved around a tree that was arched backward, with roots sprouting out like an explosion frozen in time. She stepped over the roots, her hands running along the moist bark.

"My senses are telling me that he's still here... but more accurately— my common sense." she raised an eyebrow. Obi-wan went around the other side of the tree. "If Cad Bane broke him out of prison and brought him here, then Ziro would have no access to a ship. He'd be stuck here on the planet... unless he could get his stubby nubs on some transportation."

"And you think he'd find a ship here?"

"This is his home. He's bound to have a relative, or someone, that would lend him a ship." she pulled herself onto a thick tree branch, getting a better few of the swamp that stretched out for miles and miles around her.

Obi-wan remained on the ground, knowing that her tracking skills were better than his, but also finding himself doubting if Ziro is even able to be tracked. They've been at this for an hour.

She says that they're getting closer, but the dead ends seem to prove otherwise.

Dakota leaned against the tree, allowing for her eyes to close for a moment. That's when the branch trembled beneath her feet. Obi-wan could feel it too on the ground. Her eyes opened back up like a shutter just as a monstruos swamp beast erupted from the still water nearby, letting out a thunderous snarl.

"Eww." she recoiled, too high up for the snake-like creature to attack. It locked eyes with her old friend and moved to strike, coming to coil itself around his body.