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Let Chaos Reign Chapter 16: Edge of the Abyss
Anakin swatted at her, and she backed away. It wasn’t fast, nor was she concerned when his lightsaber got close to hitting her. Anakin’s thoughts raced, he knew he crushed her with that debris. So how is she here and unscathed? Is this why she had no fear of the lightsaber?
He didn’t fail to notice that what was supposed to be her arm in that revealing cloak was elongated, like a spear with his blood dripping off of the end of it, before it shifted and changed like water in a container before it changed back to a normal looking human hand.
He idly looked her outfit over, as it reminded him of the women in some of the cantinas at night on Tatooine and how they would have such revealing clothes. It brought back bad memories he’d rather forget, just another reason for him to not like this girl.
He turned in time to block an attempt at attacking him when the now named Pitou tried a sneak attack. She smiled devilishly at Anakin before he sensed it and turned his hand in time to use a Force Push that sent the woman wielding a lightsaber back with what was the first time she showed any surprise. It wasn’t fear, he felt none of that from her, just the desire to inflict pain onto others, something he had become accustomed to back when he was a Padawan under Obi-Wan.
Instead, to his surprise, her entire body fell apart, breaking down into a blue gelatinous liquid mass that splattered across the surroundings, leaving her cloak fluttering to the ground and lightsaber bouncing and rolling across the duracrete. Anakin turned in time to give Pitou a horizontal slash that would have bisected her had she not adjusted her posture mid-air to be straighter, akin to a javelin.
His eyes widened with Pitou’s predatory smile that showed plenty of teeth as she slammed her legs into his chest and then, with a flex of Ren, condensed it into her legs and sent him flying back like a cannonball. He flipped end over end before reorienting himself in midair and slid across the ground several dozen meters away. He was hunched over huffing and coughing before Pitou was upon him.
She enjoyed the fight, but she was a predator that was let off its leash, and she would enjoy what she could of it. She did as ordered and didn’t cripple, maim, and especially didn’t kill him.
But she would be lying if she said she didn’t relish in the pain she inflicted on him. A clawed hand stabbed into his inner thigh, making his eyes go wide before a yell of pain escaped him. One that was silenced with a wet, bloody gurgle as her other hand shot up and slammed his open jaw closed.
“Now no need for that just yet. We haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.” Pitou said playfully before she backflipped away, avoiding the lightsaber that would have taken her head off. She tilted her head as her ears twitched. “Wow. If you had been a little faster, you would have taken my head off.”
Pitou rapped her knuckles against her temple for added emphasis. Anakin breathed heavily, his expression darkening as the pain he was in was immense. Pitou hit a part of the human body that has a lot of nerves.
Something she knew and had no issue inflicting one of the more painful things a human can experience on him. How could she not, when Anakin had no issues burning and trying to sever her arm?
It’s only fair.
Despite the pain Anakin was in, he didn’t ignore it like some Jedi. He also didn’t push through it, instead, he used it to fuel what he was about to do next. Something he didn’t like doing, knowing what it meant, but there was no other choice. Hands clenched so hard, durasteel would have bent and broken with ease. Pitou paused, her En seeing exactly what was happening.
Even if she didn’t know enough about the Force, she had an understanding that depending on the emotional state an individual was in, it would do all kinds of crazy things. It could empower them, giving them speed and strength on par with a Chimera Ant like herself, and that’s what she has seen with her own two eyes both fighting that one Jedi and researching them.
The Force swarmed around Anakin, to Pitou, it looked like the empty space had become a raging whirlpool, the duracrete cratered, and debris and rocks began to float, caught in its pull. Anakin’s clenched fist rose before he thrust it out just when the woman he had turned into a blue stain on the duracrete returned for a sneak attack, her arm poised to spear him through the back again froze in midair.
Her eyes widened before Anakin thrust both arms out. Pitou leaped far back, avoiding the worst of the attack, but was still buffeted by powerful winds, knocking her away from where she intended to land. The other women didn’t fare so well. Her frowning face turned into an angry snarl before her body rippled, and the outfit ripped and tore before her body was repulsed yet again, and this time the entirety of it was turned into far smaller droplets that splattered everything several blocks down.
“Wow! You’re impressive… much better than the Jedi I dealt with before.” Pitou said with excitement instead of fear or intimidation like Anakin had come to expect. When most sentients witnessed what he just did, they tended to become unnerved and afraid, but what he could sense from this woman was a thrill, some annoyance, but no fear. Not even a little bit.
Anakin knew he couldn’t take these two on in a prolonged fight. He would tire himself out too quickly if he did, and with the two working in tandem, it made it far more difficult than had it just been a one-on-one fight. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and the clones needed his help. The first two he prioritized over the clones.
He hated to do that but Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were easily equal to a hundred of them… and secretly Anakin was attached and cared more for them than he did the men under his command. Not that he didn’t value the clones' lives, it was a tough decision but it was one he had made up his mind on some time ago.
He turned to go and help Obi-Wan and Ahsoka hearing the building rumble and shake from what had to be their attacker. He was until he swayed unsteadily and turned in time, slashing his blade forcing Pitou back again who smiled like she had cornered a mouse she was going to play with.
It rankled Anakin, who almost fell down after that sloppy strike. His vision started to blur, his hands were unsteady, and his lightsaber felt unwieldy in his hands. Pitou walked along circling him as he took careful steps towards the building.
His breathing was getting heavier, his skin breaking out in a sweat. “Took it long enough to kick in.” That woman, or whatever she is, said it off to his side.
She looked ecstatic at the state Anakin was in as he realized she must have poisoned him when she stabbed him. His eyes narrowed, he looked between the two who stayed on either side of him. Solution looked pleased, the type when someone has just been given the opportunity to exact retribution for a wrong.
Her revealing outfit was torn and shredded, revealing plenty of her voluptuous body under it with what little remained keeping what little dignity she had left. The thought made Anakin snort at the idea of her having any kind of dignity or self respect when she dressed like those women who sold their bodies on Tatooine willingly when some of them had husbands.
Anakin was getting worse he noted when his steps became more unsteady and slower like his body was fighting him to even move a couple of steps, delayed, and slow to react.
“Don’t worry, it’s non-lethal. We were given strict orders to not kill you. Now allow me to repay you for destroying the gift given to me by our master.” Solution said tossing the lightsaber towards Pitou who caught it deftly and with a flourish ignited it as she fell into a stance that looked far better than what an amateur or someone new to using lightsabers should be capable of.
Solutions form changed, and her legs and arms elongated before any form of a human appearance was gone, becoming fluid and blue in color, where the only thing left was her torso that rose above Anakin, who grit his teeth.
What was left of the clone troopers were still fighting and popping those bubbles but they were also firing at something else. Anakin felt it through the Force and even with his body burdened with whatever poison she put in him, he used the Force to not rid himself of it since that was something beyond him, and he would learn the method after this, his body moved faster again and blocked several blaster bolts.
He glanced slowly and his eyes widened seeing four clone troopers of the 501st walking up to him with their blasters aimed at him. “What are you doing boys? The enemy is these two.” He nodded his head towards Solution and Pitou. The latter had a smile like what a parent would have when their child just didn’t understand something that went over there head.
They fired again with Solution rushing to attack from the other side. A flick of the wrist and the bolts were sent back at the clones as Anakin’s eyes widened when he saw the clones shrug off the blaster fire and continued to shoot. Solution's semi liquid form came at him like a tidal wave on one side with her arms and several other tentacle appendages forming from her lower half formed into spear tips and blades.
The clone on the other side fired at him, moving closer with Pitou standing atop a fallen speeder across from them, tail swinging back and forth as she waited for her moment.
With both hands raised up, he pushed back against the clones' and Solutions' massive towering form, sending all of them scattering, with the building's support pillars behind him cracked and breaking apart, and the building beginning to rumble and parts of it breaking off. Solutions' towering form was pushed back like floodwater breaking and rejected by a floodgate, scattering once again, and the clones' bodies were sent tumbling back like ragdolls slamming against the street or nearby buildings.
“Oh no.” Anakin said, looking up at the building that had cracks beginning to form along it. He didn’t even have a chance to try and go inside to help the others before Pitou, with a warning blaring through the Force, had him bring his lightsaber up as it clashed with a wide arcing swing with surprising power behind it.
Nothing Anakin hadn’t faced before, and if anything, compared to his first fight against Ventress on Yavin IV, Pitou wasn’t that strong. Her appearance was deceptive, but he had fought far stronger. Her blade crackled as it clashed with his before he pushed her back and countered, swinging powerful overhead blows, hammering away at Pitou’s defense, whom she was doing better than he had expected.
Enough so Anakin was beginning to believe she was well trained. Her footwork, while flawed in some areas, was far better than even some of the other Jedi he had seen. Her blade work was also good, her form appearing to be at least in part Form IV Ataru as she used her mobility and speed, trying to overwhelm him with complex leaps and acrobatic movements before striking at odd angles, trying to find an opening.
Then she would have more powerful strikes when fully on the ground that utilized his Form V Djem So, but then she would have conservative movements as she made the most of each angle of attack. Anakin began to realize she was using Form II Makashi in conjunction with Ataru and his Djem So.
His eyes narrowed, immediately going to Dooku. “You're an agent of Dooku, aren’t you?” He growled.
Pitou merely smiled, her blade clashing against his own, but she looked like she was having the time of her life. It was like she didn’t realize or even care this was a life-or-death battle, it was all a game to her. Pitou moved around him, making it difficult for Anakin when he was still dealing with the poison working its way through his body, slowing it and his reactions far too much. The Force was helping him compensate, but he was reaching a limit, he needed to end this.
Then another warning and he only had enough in him to lean out of the way of a blaster shot that would have hit his shoulder. The clones he had pushed back that should have been dead were up again and coming towards him. He felt through the Force and felt something inside of each of them.
It was alien and something so different from anything he had ever felt through the Force. Yet it also was similar to whatever that power was coming from Pitou.
Pitou parried a blow from Anakin, redirecting his strike almost like Dooku would before her blade, held in both hands with a feeling physically slamming into him. Anakin grit his teeth and met the blow, but unlike the other strikes, it had power in it beyond anything Anakin had ever felt or seen.
The blade slammed into his with barely any resistance, as if Anakin’s Force-enhanced strength was nothing but dust before a mountain. Her blade pushed him back, his lightsaber almost forced into his chest as his feet dug trenches and his back slammed into the stairs of the building Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were fighting for their lives in.
Anakin winced feeling both arms letting him know their thoughts of handling a strike like that. Pitou wasn’t giving him any time to recover as she leaped and flipped through the air and off of nearby debris.
“We currently have an alliance with Dooku. I serve someone far greater.” She said with a proud smile. Before she was on the defensive, only striking when she had an opening, but now with a lightsaber in hand, the fight became far more even.
That was Anakin being generous to himself. He was getting bodied, each swing of hers sent him skidding back, and his own attacks were parried and countered if not outright pushed back when she met him head on. All Anakin could think with how sluggish his thoughts were becoming was where was all this power and strength coming from?
Her attacks prior would have easily defeated him, and if they weren’t ordered to kill him… It made Anakin angry.
Her blade met his in a clash, shoving him up the stairs when she performed a powerful strike that she somehow copied from Anakin, one of his personal favorites, an overhead strike that used enough power to break through others’ defenses. If it weren't for his mechanical limb, he would have been disarmed of his lightsaber.
“Ugh!” He landed with a grunt, quickly fending off Pitou's relentless assault while crawling along the ground. Every blow felt like Anakin was going to get crushed into the duracrete. Every strike and flash and crackle of their sabers, she had that bloodthirsty smile.
Lesser men would have been petrified of what Anakin was witnessing and being put through. He noticed behind her the form of her comrade, Solution, was behind, watching with a smile stretched far too wide, taking satisfaction in Anakin's suffering. His anger and frustration grew alongside his frustration at the situation he was in.
This was worse than his battle on Yavin IV with Ventress. Solution, finally having had enough watching the show, joined Pitou. Even if her arms and weaponized appendages couldn’t withstand his lightsaber, she more than made up for it with her absurdly durable body. Whatever she was, Anakin had never heard or seen anything like her before. The closest he could think of was that bounty hunter Obi-Wan had fought against… Durge, he thinks, was his name.
He sluggishly ducked under a pair of slimy tentacles with bladed edges that managed to snip off a few strands of his hair before he sliced off the tentacles with his lightsaber and was about to use the Force to disperse her body with another push. Instead, his blade snapped up, crackling against Pitou’s, followed by him slamming through the wall and breaking through it, coughing and slowly getting up.
He looked through the newly made hole with the silhouettes of Pitou and Solution already staring at him. He had to think of a way out of this. He couldn’t take them both simultaneously. Pitou with that lightsaber was now a genuine threat, but while capable, she is still far from perfect with it.
If he wasn’t currently dealing with a poison making everything difficult to do, he would have been capable of taking her in a fight. Solution, even without the poison, changed things. She wasn’t affected by his lightsaber, her body just reformed from any damage done to her and as far as he could tell his lightsaber wasn’t even destroying the parts of her body that he hit with it.
The only thing that had any effect and was temporary at best was blunt force. Incredible blunt force at that. The massive slab of duracrete that he first used against her, then the constant Force Pushes. All of it was capable of temporarily taking her out of the fight as she was forced to reconstruct her body.
Anakin got up as the two slowly walked across him, both nothing but smiles as Anakin felt that anger and resentment in him. It brought up so many bad memories. Memories of people looking down on him as a slave, then as a Youngling and Padawan with the Jedi. If they think they are going to defeat him like this, then they will have to fight and give it their all, and it won’t break him.
Standing unsteadily, the Force helped as best it could, but he was dizzy and unsteady. Solution and Pitou rushed him side by side. Their blades illuminated the destroyed insides that had holes along the walls and ceiling as he heard some distant thumps further above, and the blaster fire in the distance as his and Obi-Wan's men fought for their lives just as they were now.
Anakin was feeling the pressure of it all, not just the fight of his life he found himself in. His growing concern for Obi-Wan, Snips, all the men under his and Obi-Wan’s command, his thoughts even turned to Padme… Anakin found the pressure becoming too much, the two working in tandem.
A lightsaber blow that knocked him off his feet to then have a tentacle grab and slam him back down. Dragged across the floor and thrown into a wall that cracked with his back telling him he would be paying for it and many other injuries after this. If there was an ‘after’ for him.
A series of bladed tendrils tried to spear him that would definitely push the limits on their supposed order about not killing him as a wide sweep of his lightsaber had them severed, even with the poison all but making him fall to the floor in a heap, he leaned more and more on the Force. It was the only thing keeping him in this fight.
Blue slime splattered the walls but Anakin was caught unaware too late to heed the Force's warning. The slime he had severed quickly clambered to him, wrapping and restraining his arm and keeping his body pinned to the wall as a series of slimy bands formed across his torso piercing into the wall keeping him there.
A hand that looked like it had never seen a day of hard work balled into a fist before it slammed into his gut driving air from his lungs. Another punched him across the cheek, he tasted the iron of blood in his mouth. A series of punches, stabs, and slaps with enough power most people would have died.
Anakin huffed and let out the inferno inside of him, his vision blurry, yet his anger and growing darkness around him had never been stronger. He didn’t give in, knowing what the temptations of the dark side would do to him if he gave in. Little bits here and there he could handle so long as he retreated back from it once he had defeated whatever lay before him. His battle on Yavin IV proved that.
With Obi-Wan close by as he could feel his and Ahsoka's presence, felt the pull from that cold yet hot inferno that made him feel all the weight of every misdeed he had done in his life. That feeling of oil and other filth clinging to him, yet it felt good when he had let it in before.
He coughed and spat on the floor before giving Solution his best unimpressed look. “All of this…” He huffed trying to catch his breath, and the pain made it hard for him to talk combined with poison making him feel as if he was drunk. “Because I ruined your outfit? Ha!” He threw his head back and laughed.
It wasn’t even fake. How pathetic do you have to be to want to harm someone to the point you had almost killed them because they ruined your clothes? Solution just had a nerve struck as her body stilled, any and all slight movements that all sentients had, for none could halt all bodily movements, no matter how hard they tried to.
Yet she had. Her expression of sadistic pleasure on her face froze, before it shifted into a visage of wrath and anger. Her arm pulled back before it blurred forward moving faster than sound before the sound of metal screeching made Anakin wince.
A hand had gripped the blue appendage shaped into a blade as Pitou stood across from Solution, her smile had turned into a frown, her tail snapping back and forth in agitation. Solution looked less than pleased at the interruption as sparks formed where Pitou gripped the blade poised over Anakin’s heart with enough strength that Solution couldn’t stab him unless she shifted and elongated her arm, not through her own strength unless she truly exerted herself. That’s if she even could.
“We are not to kill him.” Pitou said with finality. Pitou’s aura slammed into Solution and Anakin as collateral. Slime assassin and the Chosen One were both unfazed by the display of killing intent. Solution courtesy of once serving the most powerful beings in all of existence in her perspective while she would acknowledge the malevolent aura as impressive it paled in comparison to the greatness of the Supreme Beings and the one Supreme above them all that she now served.
“Do not forget our orders and who we serve.” Her grip lightened enough for Solution to pull her arm back as the two stared one another down before Solution relented. Not because of any perceived fear of Neferpitou, but because she knew she was right. She had let her emotions and the treasured gift bestowed upon her by their shared master get tarnished and destroyed by Anakin get the better of her.
“Fine.” She said with a huff as Anakin chuckled, seeing his opportunity had arrived.
While the two were handling one another even if Anakin was thankful they weren’t going lethal, that didn’t change that he had been concentrating and channeling the Force before Pitou’s head snapped towards him.
She braced her arms and the lightsaber while Solution was confused for a moment before her expression twisted into one of anger and horror before Anakin let all of what he had built up inside of him out. It was like a speeder that had accumulated too much gunk in its systems and you turned it on and to cleanse it.
Every bit of pressure he felt from this battle, the sadness and sorrow of the clones who lost their lives here, the danger Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were in and he was busy dealing with these two, and the pain and powerlessness he was subjected to. The slime restraints were turned into tiny pin prick beads with the wall, floor below him, and ceiling above him were cracked, torn, then blown away.
Like a bomb had gone off, Solution realizing too late what he was doing tried to attack him with several spear like protrusions from her body only for them to coil back when they met the growing wall of force and like with her restraints they were torn to shreds.
Like a rag wiping away a stain on transparisteel her body and what was left of her outfit was ripped and torn apart splattering whatever her body was made out of into the surrounding room before that was broken apart like clay pottery dashed against the floor.
Even Pitou, despite shrugging off the worst of the damage, was buffeted by large pieces of debris that rained all around them with Anakin directing them towards her. She was shoved all around by his raw but uncontrolled dispersal of power yet she remained as agile as ever, leaping and smashing or cutting through the debris.
But she willingly backed off when the sound of gunships drew his attention. Then a rumble before a series of crashes above grew closer until something smashed through the hole he had made above. Dust and debris flooded the room with Pitou and Solution after a series of small taps from silken strings had her command Solution it was time to go as they grabbed the massive silver armor that was smeared with dust and debris making it look like it came out of a garbage dump that was frozen in place mid attack.
Anakin coughed using the Force and scattering the dust filling the room seeing he was the only one left as he let out a sigh of relief, almost slumping down but a voice from above made him pause. “Seems you made quite the mess, Anakin.”
His tired eyes looked up as he saw his old master staring down at him with a tired smile, one that he returned. Ahsoka was across from him looking at him in concern. He waved a hand up smiling before he winced feeling his body protest the simple act of raising his arm.
A light appeared above the two up top as he sees the blackened form of an LAAT gunship lowering down. The cavalry has arrived Anakin thought to himself thankful for the back up. Now to somehow convince Obi-Wan he was fit to keep going on this mission and didn’t need to rest.
…
Just after the armored figure slammed into Obi-Wan, who was doing his absolute best to not get crushed or sliced to ribbons. The figure was an unrelenting force of non stop aggression, every strike or attack if it wouldn’t outright kill Obi-Wan it would have inflicted great pain. He grit his teeth redirecting a slash from one long blade to then block the other which he had to take head on with so little time that it made his feet slide across the floor but he maintained his stance and footwork knowing full well if he lost that he had lost this fight.
His usage of the defensive form was proving yet again why he chose this form to try and master. It allowed him to conserve energy when he needed it, every move efficient and minimal with no wasted energy, as the towering figure whose black cloak with red clouds woven into it quite professionally if Obi-Wan was to hazard a guess had gotten to the point they no longer bothered trying to block any counters he did.
Soresu was entirely defensive, relying on counters but only when the opponent was open to receive them while attacking. It fit Obi-Wan’s approach to life and how a Jedi should be, and it conveniently lined up with what he needed should he face Dooku again.
Anakin had gone towards form V but Obi-Wan wasn’t Anakin. He had never been naturally gifted or powerful when it came to the Force. Even his swordsmanship when it came to a lightsaber was lack luster when he was still a youngling. If it hadn’t been for Qui-Gon taking him on as his final apprentice he would have been sent to the AgriCorp or one of the other three Corps.
Obi-Wan had always lacked to those around him, but he more than made up for it with hard work and dedication. If only Anakin would learn such dedication to his own training because he always slacked off on it when he believed it was enough and when he found someone who it didn’t work against and proved it wasn’t enough he went back to training. The cycle would simply repeat itself.
Dodging a sloppy strike that lacked the finesse from before that now was just someone swinging a giant metal sword. A sword that he assumed was made from the same odd metal that body had and could withstand lightsaber strikes.
Every single counter Obi-Wan had done was taken without a hint of damage to show for it. Sidestepping a foot slamming down where he had before before weaving and parrying the sword strikes he smirked up at the figure. “I don’t think I know you. I would remember someone of your appearance and stature.”
The armored figure froze, before he felt the dark side surge that made the edges of his lips go down from the smile he had and his eyes widened. Then it hit him, the figure's armored hand with a sword held out lifted in the air as Obi-Wan gasped his throat and lungs deprived of air.
The figures chuckle crackled to life. “Oh you’ll remember me. Or maybe not.” They said with sadistic glee the other sword poised to spear Obi-Wan who grit his teeth and called upon the Force, and he broke the stranglehold he had over him.
The sword snapped out and Obi-Wan twisted mid air, evading it by a hairs breadth as it sparked briefly against his armor along his side slicing clean through it he noted as he crouched quickly heading for the stairs. “Come back here! You dare run from me?!”
“Run? Of course not.” Obi-Wan said with a shrug and ducked under a swing that would have taken his head that carved into the wall like it wasn’t even there. “It’s a tactical retreat and using my environment to my advantage.”
The figure renewed their pursuit, as Obi-Wan did his best to avoid their strikes and constantly probed the armor for any weak points. He hoped it had something, because he was getting nowhere in this fight. He was talking trying to distract them not just from focusing too much on killing him, but buying himself time to figure out how he was going to beat him.
As much as he wanted to know who was inside of that suit, he had bigger problems. For starters, he knew the clones were not doing so well out in the streets. They needed to assist them otherwise this could prove disastrous for the Republic. But for now he kept the one so intent of turning him into minced meat from going back after Anakin or Ahsoka. He didn’t think either of them could take this opponent.
“To think,” He leapt up the stairs, before using a quick Force Pull and causing a section of the ceiling above to fall on the figure who simply shrugged it off as it slammed into the machine's chest tearing at the tatters that was left of its cloak. “You had such skill in the beginning, that you instead opted to swing your weapons around like someone who barely knows what they are doing. But I suppose the idea of being invincible in that suit would make anyone that sloppy.”
Obi-Wan felt it again, the dark side growing again from the suit before it raised a hand and Obi-Wan leapt up the last steps dodging the Force Push that shattered and broke through the wall and kept going until it was outside. Whoever was in that suit was skilled and powerful.
Obi-Wan racked his mind on who they were and how they knew him… He could only think of two people and he knew Xanatos and the Sith he killed back on Naboo were long since dead. Something to ponder when he wasn’t locked in a life or death battle.
The stairs collapsed, raining debris further down the building as he hoped Anakin was having a better time than he was. Obi-Wan now not in as big of ra ush since he lost sight of the one obsessively hunting him he contacted Admiral Yularan and the rest of their forces held in reserve.
“This is Obi-Wan Kenobi, we need extraction, now.” He spoke calmly, a calm he certainly didn’t feel with the situation as he had found a hole in the wall and even though the mist was still thick enough not to see the bodies of the clones through it, he could still see their blaster fire and he noted how the number of blasters coming from the sources didn’t match the number of clones they brought with them.
“General Kenobi, what is happening down there?” Yularan's concerned voice greeted him. “We have heard reports of… bubbles.” He said it like he couldn’t believe what he had heard.
“I can confirm that the bubbles are not a joke. We and our men need an immediate evacuation out of the city, I was engaged against an unknown assailant and Anakin is most certainly fighting his own battle.”
“There’s more than that, and all of them sound absurd but if you're confirming one of them then it is serious. Reinforcements are already on their way, hang on.” Yularan was about to say something else but he didn’t get the chance when Obi-Wan had to drop the comlink when a sword speared through the roof he had been standing on a moment ago.
He sighed before the gleaming armor exploded from the roof standing before him, both swords held in its hands, as Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. The suit rushed towards him, but unlike before the figure wasn’t as berserk as before. The first strike proved that.
Instead of just swinging the weapons with wild abandon having complete faith in whatever that metal is would protect them they instead transitioned into an acrobatic form when he parried it about to move to another joint to see if he could find a weakness. They moved with speed and agility that gave Obi-Wan pause not believing that it was capable of such acrobatic movements as it spun with both blades making his eyes narrow.
He blocked as fast as he could as they spiraled past him yet he recieved no reprieve. They leaped and moved across the rooftop keeping pace and at times even pushing Obi-Wan in ways he hadn’t beyond what a few in the galaxy could do. The form and style of combat made Obi-Wan question who was in that suit.
It reminded him… of the one who killed Qui-Gon. But he was dead. He cut him in half and there was no coming back from that. If Obi-Wan had to hazard a guess while he felt the wind blow across his face, they were trained by the same person responsible for all the chaos that was unfolding across the galaxy.
Drawn from his thoughts when he winced a hiss escaping him, feeling the first strike break past his defense and harm him, a shallow slash across his leg. The fast moving figure with glimpses of that silver glow appearing beneath the grime covering it made Obi-Wan reassess how big of a threat they were.
On and on it went, Obi-Wan now beginning to slowly lose the fight now going in favor of his adversary. A few cuts, losing his balance but remaining standing against fast and powerful blows far more controlled than they had been before, then a knee to his gut that had him fold over it barely capable of raising his blade as it blocked the blows that rained down on him in his moment of weakness.
The swords smashed and battered away at his meager defense as he scrambled to get up, breathing heavily, drenched in sweat. “What’s the matter? You thought so lowly of me before this, did you think me a mere mindless beast? And don’t think this is the end for you,” His whispered with excitement, one sword clashing with his lightsaber and pushing it just enough out of the way so his other sword waited right above his throat.
“Oh no. Far from the end. I am going to take my time with you Kenobi after what you took from me I am going to utterly destroy you.” Whoever they are, they said this with such rapturous conviction that he didn’t doubt for a second they fully meant it.
Before they could do anything Obi-Wan saw between the armored figures' legs that Ahsoka was here. Before he could warn her to run away, this enemy was well beyond her, she raised both hands and concentrating she managed to push and make the armored titan slide away before Ahsoka leapt in front of Obi-Wan trying to act as a shield for him.
She didn’t hesitate when she ignited one of her lightsabers. “Let’s see how well you can handle two.” Ahsoka said with narrowed eyes.
The armored figure didn’t even hesitate moving so fast that Ahsoka almost didn’t react in time blocking the blow that sent her sliding back.
“Whoa!” She looked on in shock, mouth agape, and eyes wide when her lightsabers hissed as they were almost knocked out of her hands.
Ahsoka was as reckless as Anakin was at her age, and she, like her master, had taken after him in other areas like adapting rather quickly to a situation that didn’t go quite like what she had expected it to. The armored figure growled before they moved towards Obi-Wan with Ahsoka quickly moving to intercept the metal giant before it raised a blade that they absently swung in her direction, before she leapt back avoiding the strike far better than before now knowing what to expect of them.
She landed near Obi-Wan who had by this point gotten back up with the two working in tandem to keep the other alive. While nowhere as skilled or as experienced as Obi-Wan, Ahsoka had grown in her short time as Anakin’s apprentice and her skill with a lightsaber was improving every day. Dare he say, even more after she had encountered Tobi. She had taken to learning her preferred forms with a zeal not many have seen before.
It helped that she was forced into life or death situations most Jedi wouldn’t be in as often as she was. Those tended to help them grow rather quickly. Unfortunately for the two, Ahsoka being here helped as much as it hindered Obi-Wan. She acted as a fine distraction using Ataru while adding Jar’Kai into it giving her far better defensive options if only she would use them instead of leaning more towards offense.
The issue was her inexperience that was making things worse as the enemy didn’t hesitate to aim attacks for the girl when they realized she wasn’t as good as he was, and they knew he would protect her. A casual swing that would have cleaved her in two had Obi-Wan not stuck his leg out, tripping her back to lean out of it just in time.
A quick pull of her shoulder when she flipped through the air about to take both swords in an overhead attack that rattled the entire rooftop. The strike sent the two of them tumbling back with the roof shaking and cracking from the force as the two now worried it was about to fall but it held strong.
Before either of them could get up the armor was already there with a not so gentle kick from its leg sent Ahsoka almost over the edge of the building before an unseen force that wasn’t Obi-Wan whose hand was halfway too late to grab her with the Force.
Whatever it was it held her in the air for a moment before it released her close enough to the roofs edge to grab it as she watched in horror when Obi-Wan’s adversary was ready for the finishing blow after knocking Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from his hand as the cylinder clanged along the roof.
“Revenge at long last.” They said savoring the moment, the tip of the blade held by mere millimeters from Kenobi’s chest.
Just when they all thought it was the end when the blade was about to thrust into his chest, the armor froze. For a brief moment Obi-Wan wondered if he had gone insane, or if he was hallucinating.
Anything that would explain why after several seconds had gone by with the armor creaking but no movement from it. Obi-Wan wasted no time getting up and reclaiming his lightsaber while warily eyeing the machine that remained firmly in place.
“No! He’s right there, I must have this! Let me kill him!” Obi-Wan heard the voice come from the machine as he circled around it warily with Ahsoka by his side.
The two turned towards one another before the sound of LAAT gunships flooded the two with relief when they could see them in the distance. They both turned when they heard the sound of something faint. Lightsabers at the ready but nothing happened. The man in the armored suit was ranting and raving like a lunatic but other than that nothing.
The two shared a look before their eyes widened when the roof was sliced clean in a perfect circle under their assailant as he fell and began to crack through the various floors of the building.
The two could see minor movement in the air that almost looked like… strings? It wasn’t after that they went to look to see if they were down there only to see an explosion from below send dust up and through the hole. The power behind the blast had them wondering if they should jump from the building but it remained stable to their surprise.
For a moment it seemed like it would collapse but it suddenly stopped like something was helping reinforce and support it. Anakin was down below them looking far worse for wear with a gunship hovering above them to get them out of here.
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka shared a look relieved that this was over even if it was only temporary. The battle for this planet had just begun. They had to be ready for what came next, for they already had a black eye from a sucker punch none of them had expected.
