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The Man in the Cloak
I don’t know how long I sat there on my knees, simply caught up in my emotions from all that had just happened. I looked down, clenching and unclenching my metal hands, finding myself oddly thankful I couldn’t see any of their faces with the helmets covering them.
The feeling in my hands was dulled. Looking over at the fallen Jedi’s body. The look of shock on her face when her head was sent flying forever was forever etched into it till it decayed away in time.
I don’t even know what to say or do…
On one hand, yes, they tried to kill me. But I am not ignorant of my appearance and what that would associate me with. But me willingly surrendering to them, and them shooting at me despite that, gave me an excuse in the form of self-defense.
That and the fact that a battle droid in their eyes tried to surrender should have been enough to warrant some curiosity.
So I would like to think that oddity alone would get them to hear me out. Yet it didn’t because of what I am now. All because of my appearance, I suffered such misfortune. It made me angry. Angry at myself, them, and the whole situation. I could only shake my head at the events unfolding before my eyes.
Someone could argue I shouldn’t have shot back. Maybe. The issue at the time was that they just tried to kill me, and a part of me had registered that if I looked like the rest of these machines, then once they massacred the rest, they would kill me.
I am surrounded by two canyon walls that there was no way I had any hope of climbing, and if by some miracle I managed to do so, they would spot and shoot me down. So it had become kill or be killed. As much as I loved the clones and the Jedi, I chose myself.
As much as I wanted to stay here moping about what happened, what could have been, or how this could have gone so much worse for me than what it did, I needed to leave. Getting up off my knees, my thoughts couldn’t leave the images behind.
Like the possibility the Jedi could have beaten me and either killed me or taken me alive to be dissected -- or would that be dismantled?
My point is that she believed I was a new creation made by Count Dooku. One that she intended to kill because of that false belief. The instant she even uttered the words of telling the Republic, she guaranteed her death and the deaths of all those clones and her padawan with those words.
I cannot and will not let Palpatine know of my existence. Me even knowing what is to come even if most of my memories are spotty at best of all the events that unfolded in both that hack Dave Filoni's The Clone Wars and the great Gendy Tartakovsky’s show Clone Wars from the early 2000s.
But the knowledge of the grand plan in the form of Order 66 and what I was now capable of would put me at the top of his list of people that needed to be killed. As he did with Maul and Savage Opress, he would view me as a threat from my knowledge, but if whatever this thing is that was granting me these powers from doing random tasks gave me more stuff, then he would prioritize me.
Especially if some of them were just broken.
I was granted the knowledge and skills to be a master swordsman from accidentally killing the Jedi’s padawan.
I can use shadow balls from Pokémon, and from what they managed against those two walkers, they were pretty powerful. So he is either going to kill me, which is bad. Or he will keep me alive to figure out what is granting these things to me to take for himself or whatever he could gain, and that's even worse than just killing me.
Speaking of that power, I see two tickets that I had gained.
Survive insurmountable odds that by all rights you should have died! One gold ticket. Use now? Y/N
Live to tell the tale of beating a Jedi Knight! One Diamond ticket. Use now? Y/N
Giving my consent, in my head the tickets are used up.
261. Harem King (3.3 Rarity, 0.84% odds)
-Rare Trait-
You are a harem king to be, women are more attracted to you, and society as a whole does not see a problem with you having a harem. In addition, women do not mind you dating other girls either, they might still have their own problems, but the concept of a harem isn't one of them.
616. Training Booster (4.8 Rarity, 0.18% odds)
-Elite Ability-
While this ability is active, all forms of training are twice as effective.
“...” I just sat there looking long and hard at the first one. It made me want to cry, just like with the first thing given to me. At least the first one could be used for something in the future, which was nice.
But not what I needed nor wanted currently. This one was absolutely useless! Oh boy, I get to be a harem king, so I can get laid before the old evil Sith Lord comes to kill me. Well, at least I lost my virginity!
Wait… I can’t because I have no reproductive organs!
My head fell into my hands. Cradling it before thinking about the silver lining. The second thing I had gained at least made up for that loss simply by virtue of it giving me a boost to any training. With what I am going to end up facing in this war-torn galaxy, I am going to need it.
Drawn out of my thoughts by a beeping that came from further back behind the mound of droid bodies. Curious, I stumbled down the pile, almost falling twice, but managed to stay upright, tracking the beeping that got louder. Then I spotted it.
A small device that looked like a UFO where it lay in the severed and blackened arm of a battle droid like all the rest. After some inspection, the button to activate it was found. It turned on with a light blue hologram, making me flinch back, almost dropping the communicator.
The face of one of those tactical droids with its flatter head that had binocular eyes stared at me with its arms held behind its back.
“3358 report-- You are not 3358. Where is 3358?” It demanded.
“Uh-- He is dead… Sir,” I tacked on at the end, almost forgetting to act the part of a droid with this thing staring me down.
“Is the Republic force holding the canyon dealt with?”
Glancing back at the top of the mound where the Jedi knight's body was before looking back at the droid commander gave me an impatient look. Rather impressive since it’s not like it has the facial features to convey such expressions.
“Yes. They are all dead, but it came at the cost of all the other droids.”
“An acceptable cost since you all were never meant to break through the bottleneck they had set up for us. A distraction and nothing more, but with my plans having changed, my victory here will grant me victory over the capital city.” It said this like it was the one who had somehow managed against all odds to win and pull victory from the jaws of defeat.
Any retort I had at being with the rest of these droids in a suicidal march against an enemy force we had no chance to defeat normally nearly came flying out of me.
“What is your designation?” It asked me after it stopped tooting its own horn about how great it was.
Fidgeting and thinking fast before giving what I could think of on short notice, “It’s T0-B1, sir.”
“T0-B1,” I tried not to wince or cringe at the variation of my name, but it was all I could think of on short notice. “You are acting strange. What caused that dent on your head?”
“Oh, I got hit in the head with a Jedi lightsaber.” Playing up the part of a battle droid and trying to act dumb to not give anything away wasn’t too hard.
It stayed silent as it looked at me for a long, uncomfortable moment before nodding.
“Hold the position at Glune Canyon, several battalions will meet you there to march on the capital, Jirussafas City.” It doesn’t even give me a chance to speak before the communicator turns off and the image of the droid disappears.
“Of course, sir, why don’t I go and fight the entirety of the Republic army while I am at it and have me sweep the ground with a broom shoved up my shiny metal ass?” My voice was laced with sarcasm. Shaking my head at the absurd order, looking around.
So stupid to expect a single battle droid to hold this entire canyon. I probably could, depending on what was sent to fight me, but that was beside the point.
Looking over at the Jedi I had cut down along with the burned remains of her padawan. I realized that it would be for the best to cover up what happened to her.
Simple battle droids like the B1’s may be stupid, but I’d rather not find out if they are stupid enough not to question how a droid like them, as far as they knew, managed to kill a Jedi with a lightsaber.
Rummaging around the numerous bodies of the droids trying to find her head in a hurry, not wanting to be found doing this while keeping a blaster on hand should any of the clones or another Jedi show up.
After what felt like an agonizing eternity, when in reality it must have been several minutes, her head and hand were found. Tossing the head near the edge of the canyon wall, where it rolled and bounced to its destination, while dragging her body with the hand stuffed into a pocket on her robes down from the pile of droids.
“Ugh! You know, at first glance you looked a lot lighter-- argh! How the hell did you flip around so much?! You look skinny, but you sure packed on some weight.” I grumbled at the dead body. Despite her petite size, her body was proving far more difficult to move than I had expected.
Who knows how much time passed by the time I finally managed to get her body near the canyon wall in a small corner of it that would normally go overlooked unless you went out of your way.
It’s why I chose it as her grave. The upper portion of the wall acted as an overhang with her body, hand, and head set in the small alcove where rocks were placed around her body, slowly walling her inside.
Whatever dark thoughts had been in my head, some of them had been put at ease with me at least giving her a burial even if it wasn’t a proper grave.
She had tried to kill me but believed she was doing the right thing. Maybe she didn’t deserve a burial from me, but this wasn’t exactly out of kindness but necessity. Glancing down and seeing the lightsaber she had used against me hanging by my side after getting a strap from one of the clone troopers to hang from my lower back.
I tried fiddling with the Padawan's lightsaber, but it no longer functioned, and after a particularly long and drawn-out hiss from the thing, it was warning enough to leave it where it lay. I didn’t exactly want to find out what a lightsaber malfunction would look like.
Dusting myself off from the dirt caked onto me, as the sound of engines made me look up, holding my blaster at the ready, only to see a line of tanks roll up into the canyon with several massive troop transports. One of the tanks near the front comes closer to me with a droid in yellow paint popping its head out of the hatch on top of it.
“T0-B1?” It asked, and at my nod, it continued, “We are attacking the capital city through this canyon. Fall in line with the others.” It ordered me, and as I held back my sarcastic response, I did not like the fact that I had to march to a city. I could try to run now, but who knows if they would shoot me in the back.
Several droids in marching formation came near me, with me taking my place amongst them. At first, I didn’t exactly match their movements that they were all synced up with, but eventually I started getting it down.
“Are you malfunctioning or something?” A droid said to me as it marched along.
“Why do you ask?” My retort was short, getting defensive at the perceived accusation.
“Your movements are a little off.”
“My movements are just fine. It's kind of hard to do this after what I just dealt with.”
“Oh, you're the one who survived all of that? Say no more I understand. Haven't been against a Jedi myself, but what you went through would explain the damage.” It nodded its head as several other droids gave a roger roger agreeing to what it said… I think.
The droid tanks lead ahead of us with more troop transports behind us looming. They don’t even bother moving around the flaming walkers, they just slam into them. The walkers were knocked over and out of the way, sending sparks and flames licking at the tanks.
The droid army marched on as we passed the walkers and the fort used by the clones and Jedi. One last glance at the charred form of the padawan with me offering a silent prayer to the kid. We made quick progress down the canyon that became narrower and narrower.
It got bad enough that the leading tank and the rest of the armored support were forced into single file when the canyon had gotten too narrow. The troop transports, if the loud screeching sound of rock against metal was any indication, were barely able to fit down the canyon.
The feeling of not wanting to be here grew stronger by the passing of each second, but running wasn’t an option currently. With no means to get off this world nor knowledge of how to fly a ship if I managed to steal one.
Another reason I can’t leave just yet is my power. I get things for accomplishing something. I think.
Point being, if I stay, I get more chances at rewards that could help me do something to stop the war and what Palpatine plans to do. I can’t exactly rebel when surrounded by battle droids that would gun me down, nor do I feel confident when they have heavily armored troop transports and tanks that all have big guns on them.
Not only that, but I don’t exactly feel comfortable going to the Republic beyond simply fearing Palpatine but also the corruption of the Republic, much like the CIS, since both use slave armies. It’s one of many reasons I felt remorse at having to kill those clones, and I still haven’t gone through the full process of unbagging those emotions.
But both sides have too many people in positions of power besides the obvious ones like Count Dooku or Darth Sidious for me to do anything without getting executed.
At least as things stand. So right now I need to bide my time and figure out a way to either escape and get myself a better body or, if things don’t work out with that, stick with the Separatists and try to undermine their control over the droid army. There are options, but they are all long-term, and unless brute force is used, which comes with far greater dangers from the major powers that exist here.
So subtle it is as things stand.
Might as well put my knowledge of programming to use since I have it. But that will take a while since my knowledge, while being far better than what I knew of it beyond what Hollywood showed in movies, is currently not enough for me to hijack control of the army of droids that could overrun the Republic.
Not that I felt comfortable doing that since killing those people that I had was enough to get me feeling all kinds of emotions, none of them good.
Whatever treasonous thoughts I had -- was it actually treason if my body was a droid but I personally was never loyal to the CIS? They need to be put aside, and instead focus on the here and now.
It helped that the sight before me was enough to draw me out of my thoughts. Exiting through the canyon, the tanks and transports arranged themselves into lines, with the tanks taking the high ground.
But what had my undivided attention was a massive city with several alien buildings with curved structures that looked beautiful.
Taking notice of no defensive perimeter of the entrance to the city from the canyon we just moved through. It seemed they didn’t expect us to come from this way.
Can’t blame them since that group of clones and Jedi handled the number of droids that they did. But even then, as narrow as that canyon was, I would have set explosives or something to seal it. Just in case they failed as they did. But whatever their reasons were, they didn’t matter now.
The Republic forces in the distance have more of those walkers, and massive ones at that. These made the walkers from earlier look like ants. There were at least six of them.
Each had ten or twelve legs-- hard to tell due to how far they were from us. Massive cannons extended up at an angle with the end tapering off with what looked like a satellite dish shaped in a square. Three in the front fired green means of energy as the cannons pushed back from the force.
The energy lances rained down on several droid transports, not just disabling them but outright destroying them. The area was bathed in energy and fire, with massive craters and burning wreckage left where the salvos hit.
The entire area was a flat plain with the city nestled on nearly all sides by canyon walls, with the open fields just turned into target practice for the Republic forces. The droid forces were getting more decimated than in the previous battle I had been a part of.
“Droids march to the city. Tanks open fire on their artillery.” A droid spoke over the silence before the tanks raised the barrels of their cannons and opened fire. Some shots went wide, but most managed to hit the artillery walkers in the distance as explosions rocked the artillery.
Marching onwards with the rest of the droids, taking in the beauty while ignoring how devastated the city was. Several transports moved closer to the city ahead of us. A few clones tried to shoot us but were overwhelmed by the hundreds of droids. Despite taking down several dozen droids, they were gunned down in the tide of metal that washed over the streets.
An explosion could be felt through the ground, followed by a dazzling display of fire that could be seen several blocks from us. Several shots from above had me look up to see several clone troopers looking down at us, who ducked back behind the cover of the tops of the buildings, coming out to take quick pot shots at us.
Getting out of formation, as none of the droids even noticed me, too busy shooting what was in front of or above them.
Getting behind a street-level advertisement about some drink in a Rhodian kid's hands before taking aim and waiting for one of the clones to pop out. After a few tense seconds, ignoring the shooting around me, one of them popped out. My blaster snapped to them, followed by a quick pull of the trigger. The clone fell from the building screaming before it ended with a sickening crunch on the street.
Not even bothering to focus on the man I just killed, I had to play along with this madness for now as another clone showed his head, but unlike his brother, he got shot in the shoulder this time, stumbling back, hopefully still alive. Foolish of me to want someone who wants to kill me to survive, but I don’t hold that against them.
Several of the clones were gunned down by me, some I assumed were still alive, but after a few minutes, they retreated using zip lines, moving further into the city.
Force several clone troopers to retreat from your tactical might. One bronze ticket. Use? Y/N
Yes.
862. Bountiful Harvest (1.7 Rarity, 0.25% odds)
-Common Ability-
You are able to create ripe and tasty fruits and vegetables by expending your own energy.
“...” My head slumps down.
What am I going to use this for?!
Wanting to bang my head against the nearby bench and wrap my hands around the throat of whatever higher power thought it was funny to keep giving such useless abilities, I forced myself to calm down and simply fall back in line with the other droids.
Not one of them said a thing to me as we marched on. No comment about me using cover or how accurate I was. Goes to show how stupid these things were. There were numerous streets with clones trying their best to hold back the tide of the droid army, but it was for naught, as they were simply overwhelmed with the vast numbers at our disposal.
I could only watch in horror as several of them got gunned down. Some even tried to save their brothers by dragging them to safety, but they were only gunned down themselves, with the fallen clones that were being saved holding their hands up crying out in pain when several blaster shots silenced them for good before they could even beg for mercy.
The droid army just marched on with no fear beyond the few cries from some of the droids getting blasted down.
I could only bide my time before I saw a green lightsaber cutting through the hordes of droids with a familiar voice heard over the active war zones’ explosions and blaster fire. What were the odds she was here?
…
Ahsoka was enjoying herself. Emphasis on was. Now she was getting worried. Her master, Anakin, said they would be fine and mop up the droid forces coming to claim the capital city for the Separatists.
They were doing well, despite her having a bad feeling about it all with how easy it was going. The six new self-propelled heavy artillery units they had managed to be granted by the GAR had kept the droid's forces at bay. Despite this being the artillery’s first active battle, they were proving to be effective.
They had a surprising range, and the results of the artillery against the droid forces when they fired at them spoke for themselves. Ahsoka was beginning to think her bad feeling was wrong this time, and then reality showed her why that line of thinking was wrong.
One moment she was relaxing as well as she could since they were in a battle, and she never could fully relax and meditate like the Jedi Masters could during something like this. So, she instead kept an eye on things, ready to fight or help however she could. Which was nothing. The troopers had it all in hand.
Which made it worse when there was nothing for her to do except let them do what they were doing since they knew how to operate the artillery better than she did.
The only thing she had an issue with was her master arguing against having the artillery or maybe some AT-TEs with some troopers closer to the canyon behind the city. It was the only other way into the city, but Anakin waved her off.
She would sigh and shake her head, but she was a little busy. Dashing forward, the force empowering her, she cut down numerous droids.
Running forward and sliding under seven of the tinnies, her lightsaber extended out as it cut their legs from under them. They cried and fell to the ground before she moved into a front flip on top of one.
“Hey, don’t shoot-- ah!” It cried out when she jumped when the others shot it down.
She would normally make a game of it, trying to take down as many droids as she could, but with the artillery taken out by the tanks flanking them, she took the situation seriously.
The enemy had come from the same position she had suggested, having more than Jedi Knight Eve Gormah and her fellow padawan Orin with a dozen clones and two AT-TEs to hold the point.
Anakin had just waved it off, saying anything they sent that way would be a distraction; they would just try to use their superior numbers to overwhelm them and come across the plains. Anything the Separatists threw at the canyon would be for nothing since it would bottleneck them too much to leverage their numbers.
It’s why Eve was not against having so few men with her and only two armored walkers. Ahsoka had not worried after she gave the all clear that the wave of droids was taken care of just as Anakin had said.
All a distraction.
But now she was thinking that may not have been the case. Leaping from droid to droid, lopping heads and arms off, she navigated the packed streets trying to keep the attention off the troopers who pushed the horde of droids back.
But just when she managed to help push the army of clankers back, she saw even more coming for them just around the street.
Lightsaber held at the ready, deflecting a few blaster bolts back.
“Alright boys, looks like they brought more friends. We--” Ahsoka cut herself off when a hooded figure in a dark cloak stood off to the side of the droids near a building. The folds of the cloak made her feel a chill down her spine.
The force all but screamed at her when a black orb formed in the hands of the figure before it flew off behind her with surprising speed. Backing away from the explosion made her glance back to see that the clones were knocked away from the blast but alive. What made her hesitate was that a massive hole had been carved out of the building near them.
That would have taken at least two or three shots from the back cannon on an AT-TE, she noted, seeing that the one who did this needed to be dealt with.
Narrowing her eyes, she made a brash decision, but she wouldn’t let them get away.
“Pull back and slow them down as best you can. I am going after the one who did that.” She didn’t even hear what they said when she ran after the figure.
She fueled herself with the Force, running to engage the figure who scurried into the building's open doorway, evading the blaster fire from the droids and cutting a few down.
Once inside the building, she noted how dark it was, but not enough for her to not see the edge of their cloak around a corner up the stairs. With a Force-enhanced leap, she landed on the next story, lightsaber out, illuminating the area.
The surroundings were bathed in a green light, but there was no sign of them. She looked around, using the force trained on any movement. The hallways were a maze of corridors, with her getting annoyed finding herself lost with no idea where to go from here.
That was until she heard quiet steps in the distance. Despite a part of her thinking this was a bad idea and that she needed to leave, her heritage from her species wasn’t about to give up the hunt.
Making a calculated move, she deactivated her lightsaber, plunging everything into darkness once more, but she navigated it with her hand firmly on the wall. She quietly moved along, getting closer to the sound of steps on the floor.
Just as she thought she was upon them when they sounded like they were around a corner from her, her communicator beeped, making her grimace.
Moving around the corner to not let them get away, only to see no one…
Ahsoka let out a sigh before answering the call.
“Ahsoka, where are you?” Anakin asked her with blaster fire in the background.
“I was chasing down a Force user. They are in a building near where I helped hold a position. They did… something, and it tore a hole through a building.” She said, glancing around, trying to stay quiet, but that may as well be impossible now.
“That’s not good.” Her master said with a frown, “Alright, give me your position, and I will come help you. We need to leave soon. The city is getting swarmed with droids, and we have taken far too many losses to hold it.”
“That bad?” Ahsoka asked, not having expected this to turn so quickly in the Separatists’ favor.
“Yeah, I know, I should have had more men stationed at the canyon. Now where are--”
Just as Ahsoka was going to answer him, she felt a disturbance through the Force. She whirled around and saw the cloaked figure at the end of the hallway. They took out a lightsaber and ignited it, turning the hallway into a foreboding green with the shadows growing longer.
But the thing about that lightsaber was that she recognized it.
A frown and a narrowing of her eyes before she ignited her own lightsaber.
“Master, they have Jedi Knight Eve's lightsaber--”
Before she could say anything else, another orb with black tendrils of electricity dancing around it formed in their other hand. It moved far faster than the previous one as she ducked down just in time but realized she didn’t need to as it was never going to hit her. Flying off down the hallway before a wave of debris and dust rushed to meet her.
Whether it was on purpose or not, she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to give them another chance. The communicator dropped to the ground, blade held in her signature reverse grip, and she rushed at the advancing figure calmly walking towards her.
As soon as the communicator hit the ground, her master worried for her, asking what was happening just when they were in her reach. So she lashed out, aiming a slash for their chest. But to her surprise, they lazily brought the blade up and knocked hers off course.
A look of focus and concentration took form on her face. Jumping towards a nearby wall before leaping off of it in an attempt to be more unpredictable, she tried to cut their arm off, but they merely backed a few steps away, evading her strike.
Jumping from wall to wall, each strike was either evaded before she even reached them, like they predicted where she would be, or blocked the few strikes she had made, deflecting the force of them and redirecting it elsewhere.
Landing into a roll behind them, blocking the exit of the hallway that would lead back the way they had entered the building. At least she thought it did…
“You’re not getting away.” She said to them in a warning tone despite the wariness she had of facing them.
They hadn’t gone on the offensive yet, but they had dodged or blocked each of her strikes with such ease that she was no longer confident in handling them.
The lightsaber was brought closer to the other sleeve of their robe that covered their hands enough to block her from fully seeing what they were doing. Yet she was tense trying to get a better view of what they were up to before, with a familiar snap, the blades’ hum had subtly changed.
She thought for a moment about what they just did and why it was so familiar-- they just remained where they stood, not making any sudden movements. Then it dawned on her, expression going from wary and confused to one of outrage.
“You think you can beat me by just using the stun setting?!”
She was insulted. This was worse than how Grievous or that bald harpy looked down on her.
Their hood bobbed up and down in agreement, making her get annoyed and frustrated. With teeth gritted together, her grip on her lightsaber tightened. She’ll show them how big a mistake that was.
She rushed forward with a horizontal strike that would take their arm. Sidestepped, and despite bringing her blade up to block the counter, they struck at an angle that she couldn’t properly block. Her chest was smacked by the blade, followed by that familiar and incredibly annoying sting, which made her wince.
Indignant at being treated like a youngling in the temple, she resolved to make sure she returned the favor. Despite the pain in her chest, she was more annoyed than anything else, and she pushed herself to go faster.
“Your arrogance will be your downfall. Who are you?”
The figure made no noise beyond the hum of their lightsaber meeting hers blow for blow as the blades crackled with each exchange, yet despite everything she tried to do, they simply shrugged it off or already anticipated it.
Leg sweep. Leaped over. Overhead swing using her speed and agility. Side-stepped. Feint with a strike looking like it was going to thrust through their chest, instead swiping out for their legs at the hip. Stopped dead in its tracks after their blade zapped her wrist.
Swearing, she pulled it back as she winced. Her body hurt all over, almost overpowering her embarrassment at being so easily handled. That and her growing frustration.
“Ow!” She yelped as she was caught up in her thoughts and failed to notice their blade snaking past her defenses and hitting the side of her thigh.
Two more blows managed to hit her elbow after she completely missed a strike as it carved a deep glowing gouge into the wall, and another at the back of her head sent her stumbling forward before diving into a roll to escape any follow-up attack.
Good thing she did. They were about to hit her again. The figure calmly walked a couple of meters from her but stopped and simply waited while she breathed heavily.
This was worse and more embarrassing than when Anakin put her through all of that training with the clones.
Even when sparring with Anakin, she could at least manage to hold her own, even if it was for a small and brief time, yet with this person, she couldn’t even get close to landing a blow, and any that did get close were casually blocked or avoided.
It infuriated her. Taking this brief reprieve, she got her breath back under control. Adjusting the grip on her lightsaber so it doesn’t upset her sore wrist and forearm.
Looking up at the black hood they wore, not even seeing what lay within. It was all wrapped around them like bandages, to the point she could see no defining features on them.
“For someone who serves Dooku, you're pretty good. But that doesn’t mean you're getting away.” She said to the figure before they froze up, turning rigid across their body.
Ahsoka didn’t know why. If they were even slightly familiar with Anakin, then they would know he would come to her aid-- not rescue, since she had them right where she wanted them and she wasn’t helpless.
She didn’t even outright say to them that Anakin was coming. So why freeze up like that?
Then after all of this, they finally spoke.
“Oh, but I beg to differ. It was fun having our little spar. Until next time.” Their voice was smooth with a deep baritone that made her pay far more attention than she would have with most other people.
They turned to leave with their lightsaber extinguished.
“Where do you think you're going?!” She doesn’t so much as ask but demands.
“Away from here. It was fun, little one, while it lasted. Hopefully, next time we spar, you will be much better than you are now. Whoever is teaching you needs to train you better; there is too much wasteful movement, and your strikes are sloppy.” They said as their tone turned lighter. He sounded like he was smiling when saying it.
She didn’t find it funny herself. “You're not leaving. You attacked me and Republic forces, and you're with the Separatists!”
She swiftly fell into a stance, her lightsaber held at the ready, with the man merely turning his head but making no move to pull back out Jedi Knight Eve's lightsaber.
“But on the contrary, I saved you and your men. And you came after me with a lethal weapon, I merely took it upon myself to teach you how to better use it.” He said with a mirthful tone that made her narrow her eyes at him before charging.
The hum of her blade filled the hall as he still did not attempt to draw Jedi Knight Eve's lightsaber. A swift strike that most sentients would only see an afterimage with how fast she moved.
He merely bent backwards, evading a horizontal cut. Her frustration grew every second as she made her thoughts known about the weapon he had.
“You killed Jedi Knight Eve and her forces, didn’t you?” She accused him. Her tone turned ice cold. A simmering heat was building up while she stared at the man who had to be the one responsible for the loss of this city and planet.
She continued trying to hit him, yet she couldn’t land a single strike. Each strike cut into the floor or walls, her frustration reaching a boiling point. They didn’t even bother drawing Eve's lightsaber the entire time.
He simply moved around her almost like a dance. His cloak billowed out, and he even used it after she tried to take out a leg in a flurry of strikes.
Part of the cloak around his arm fluttered out at her, making her back up, blade held at the ready, before she scowled, seeing they were never going to attack her.
“No. I was not the one who killed her padawan, that was an accident. The Jedi Knight herself I had killed, but only in self-defense. And me attacking you and those men was never an attack. I was saving you all.”
Ahsoka was taken aback by such a ridiculous statement before she stopped and thought it over. But she stopped herself from thinking about it any further, thinking it nothing more than a trick.
But the doubt in the back of her mind was growing as they exited the hallway. They quickly made their way along the railing that led to the lower floor, with sections of it missing.
“You're lying, you attacked us, and you have her lightsaber. You killed her!” She countered.
She got more worked up, not just at her inability to even do anything to them but also at the doubt and rising belief in what he said.
She and her men didn’t know he was there when he did what he did with the force, he had time to aim at them and take them out before they were aware.
He is easily handling her with and without a lightsaber -- Ahsoka would grudgingly admit that much -- and if he is that skilled with a lightsaber, then he must be just as capable with the Force.
When he did form that dark orb both times, she only felt it when it was formed and sent her way. But unlike other times when she had felt someone use the Force, she couldn’t sense him when he did it. She was feeling the darkness being condensed to form those balls, but not him.
If he was that good, then why didn’t he go for the kill then?
A realization that she brushed aside going for yet another swing at him, she overextended with no balance from being so exhausted, and her mental state and the pain across her body made it incredibly difficult to focus enough to use the Force.
Her lightsaber felt too heavy in her hands, like a case of munitions the clones would move around in the Venator. Losing her balance, and to make things even worse, her foot got caught on some rubble.
“Whoa!” She yelped, flailing out her arms and moving in circles trying to balance herself before her upper body weight was too much.
Leaning too far for her to regain her balance, she fell off the edge but not before grabbing onto a piece of metal that was once a part of the guardrail to keep people from falling.
Her lightsaber fell from her hands as it tumbled, clanging against the walls before finally hitting the bottom of the building, echoing up to both of them.
“Ahsoka!” Her master's voice yelled up to her. A glance down confirmed Anakin was here. Despite seeing Anakin, she felt nervous at how far below he was and what would happen if she lost her grip.
If she fell from this height even with the force, she wasn’t coming away unscathed. With how mentally unbalanced she is right now, surviving is the farthest thing she could hope for.
Movement from the side made her glance over to see the cloaked figure. Dread clutched at her heart when the metal rail groaned in protest at the extra weight added onto it. Her eyes go wide when it bends near the edge.
Looking up at the black hooded figure, he almost blended in with the darkness of the building. She resigned herself to what would happen next.
Anakin can’t get to her fast enough, and she is at their mercy with no weapon while hanging for her life.
But instead of just watching or trying to make her fall, they simply extend their arm out to her.
“Take my hand if you trust me and want to live.” He said gently. None of the laughter or mocking bite in his voice.
She looked up at where their face should be, but only darkness was there, and then back down at their hand. She hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation, the guardrail groaned far louder than it had before.
It quickly turned from groaning to the sound of metal tearing. She reached her hand out only for it to fall short, her eyes widened in horror, the metal gave way, and she began to fall. But to her shock a hand grabbed hers.
Looking up, she saw he had reached down and grabbed her arm. Her fear had melted away as he slowly began to pull her up. To her surprise, he seemed to struggle trying to pull her up.
“What are they feeding you?!” He exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed, taking offense. “You need a diet or something. Someone as tiny as you shouldn’t weigh that much.”
“E-excuse you?! I do not weigh that much!” She shot back indignantly. Giving him her other hand, with one final heave, he pulled her over the edge.
Falling to the floor, breathing in lungfuls of air after nearly dying. A part of Ahsoka felt shame at being afraid of dying when, as a Jedi, she should be willing to accept becoming one with the Force.
She paused in her thoughts when a cloaked hand was held down to her. Looking up at the figure, she grabbed it after a moment's thought. She was pulled up to her feet, looking unsure of what to do now, awkwardly staring up at the man.
Until he simply turned around with her wanting to follow. Her feelings were more complicated now than they had ever been with anyone she had known. That was saying something after she had been accepted as Anakin's apprentice.
He wasn’t as bad as he initially seemed.
“Where are you going?” She asked him.
He paused before his hooded head looked back at her. “Away from here. You should go meet up with your master and evacuate while you still can.”
“I need a name so I can at least thank you.” She said, utterly baffled by this guy. Yet she felt an unfamiliar yet pleasant feeling in her chest when she watched him.
“Just call me Tobi.” He said nonchalantly.
“Tobi? Strange name.” "Ahsoka said aloud, realizing what she had done.
Instead of taking offense, the now named Tobi gave a deep, throaty chuckle. “So I have been told, but it is my name nonetheless. What is yours?”
“I’m Ahsoka Tano.” She said with a small smile fighting off a wince when she felt the adrenaline wear off and the pain from their previous clash making itself known.
“Well, Ahsoka, until next time. You'd best go with your master, the clock is still ticking away after all.” He walked away with Ahsoka unsure if she should follow him but decided that his advice wasn’t such a bad idea.
Limping her way back to where she believed she had come from, feeling her master's worry and concern for her. Seeing a blue glow in the distance rushing closer, she waved her arm in the air.
“Master! I’m right here.”
“Ahsoka!” He exclaimed in relief. “Are you alright? Where is the one who did this?” He said, sounding all business, ready to go fight Tobi.
It spoke of how highly she thought of Tobi as a duelist when he so casually bested her that she didn’t know if Anakin could take him or not. She knew her master was easily the better between the two of them, but even she wasn’t sure Anakin would be the victor of that duel.
“He left after saving me.” She said being honest with him.
“He saved you?” Anakin asked with disbelief in his tone, plain as day.
“Yes, he did in fact save me. When you were below me, I was hanging for my life when he could have killed me at any time.” Ahsoka snarked back at him.
“Snips, the guy almost killed you and your men. From the looks of it, he also attacked and hurt you, so I am going to let him know what I think about that.” Anakin said in that tone he took on when someone crossed one of his lines.
He stalked forward, ready to fight Tobi, but Ahsoka remained behind, remembering Tobi’s words echoing in her head. “Master, we need to leave.”
“Ahsoka, I know, but we can’t let someone as dangerous as that go when he could still be around--”
“Starrrrs!” A roar made both of them pause. Ahsoka could have sworn it made her bones rattle. That, and for a brief moment she thought she heard a little girl screaming.
Then a rumble rocked the building, followed by the sound of a wall being broken. A moment later when Anakin turned back to her, his face became more serious when he knew a situation had grown far beyond what the original intel had suggested it would be.
Just as he was about to say something, the sound of a crash far down below made them fall silent. “Ahsoka, follow me.”
Anakin didn’t give her the chance to respond quickly, turning and going further into the building when Ahsoka knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn’t leave Anakin on his own.
She made her body move faster despite its protests. Anakin's lightsaber helped illuminate their surroundings as they moved through the maze of halls before finding themselves staring at a massive hole in the wall.
Likely the same one they heard earlier. Both glanced down below, seeing a several-story drop that any normal sentient or even most Jedi couldn’t hope to survive. Instead, they see an abandoned speeder and plenty of droids that were crushed by parts of the wall and whatever had done all this damage but not what had done this.
“We need an extraction. I will send you our coordinates.” Anakin spoke into his comlink.
It wasn’t long until an LAAT gunship flew near the hole in the wall. Despite numerous blaster shots coming from below, the shuttle remained stable with the side door opening up.
The two of them quickly got inside, and it wasn’t long after that that they were in the Venator, leaving the system behind in a full retreat with the Separatists gaining reinforcements with them taking control of the capital city.
“You took a risk, Anakin, trying to pursue the one responsible for your padawan’s state.” Anakin's former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, said while rubbing the bottom of his jaw like he always did when faced with something he was in deep thought over.
Ahsoka watched the proceedings on the bridge of the ship with numerous clones going about their business with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and several other Jedi on the holocall that was being briefed on what happened.
Chaos Gacha:
261. Harem King (3.3 Rarity, 0.84% odds)
-Rare Trait-
You are a harem king to be, women are more attracted to you and society as a whole does not see a problem with you having a harem. In addition, women do not mind you dating other girls either, they might still have their own problems but the concept of a harem isn't one of them.
616. Training Booster (4.8 Rarity, 0.18% odds)
-Elite Ability-
While this ability is active, all forms of training are twice as effective, and if Training Booster is placed in an ability slot, for every empty ability slot its effectiveness is doubled. 1 empty slot = 2x, 2 empty slots = 4x, 3 empty slot = 8x etc.
862. Bountiful Harvest (1.7 Rarity, 0.25% odds)
-Common Ability-
You are able to create ripe and tasty fruits and vegetables by expending your own energy.
38. Voice (3.1 Rarity, 0.34% odds)
-Rare Trait-
You have a very powerful and versatile voice, you can make it loud, quiet, smooth, rugged, feminine, masculine, etc. Boosts the power of voice-based abilities.
