Title: "Lost Girl, Jedi Found"
Author: Joshua
Disclaimer: "Lost Girl" and all associated creatures/characters are owned by Prodigy Pictures and Shaw Media, though it was created by Michelle Lovretta. LucasFilms and George Lucas created all concepts associated with "Star Wars", including Jedi, Lightsabers, etc. Joss Whedon and Mutant/Enemy Productions created and own "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated characters/places/etc that are mentioned in this story. This story is part of Dark_Scribbler's "Terran Jedi" universe, and is posted with his permission.
Summary: The Terran Jedi Order is growing stronger and more diverse daily. New Force Users and Potential Jedi are being found more and more. This is the story of one such potential.
Story:
She was running. In heels. In the sewers. Practically blind, it was so dark. And worst of all, she was being chased by something that growled real loud, had big teeth, claws, and the worst breath she'd ever smelled before, Aswang breath included in that by the way.
"Where's Bo when I need her?" Kenzi asked the universe, making sure to keep it a whisper. Just in case.
"Probably banging Doctor Hotpants, or sniffing around Wolfboy again, although who knows, Tam-Tam could be back in town and getting her succu-freak on, but what am I saying," she muttered to herself, keeping up the commentary solely to stave off her fear for as long as possible. "Bo is the very definition of sexual hottness. If she weren't my bestie, and, y'know, me not being totally into guys, I'd be doing her too. But seriously, I'm going to have a talk with that young lady about her priorities. Letting me run off into the sewers with a monster underfae tracking me. Totally dropped the ball there, girlfriend, am I right? Although, probably my fault for getting sprayed by that damned flower and doing the noble thing and drawing it off so Bo could get away."
She stopped and rested for a moment, pulling out her phone, hoping for a signal, but seeing none, decided to use the light to try and get a bead on her surroundings.
"What am I talking about?" she asked herself. "It's not Bo's priorities that need a shift here. Just because I tricked the whole Fae community into believing I'm some kind of latent Fae that smells human most of the time, doesn't mean I should go lone wolf. That's Bo and Dyson's deal. I'm the…"
A loud and unmistakable roar echoed throughout the underground tunnels, but Kenzi knew the source to be behind her.
"I'm the human," she whimpered and decided to stop her commentary for now, focusing instead on keeping moving.
TJ:LG
Bo was worried sick.
And she had no reservations about sharing that fact with her companions.
"Where is she?!" Bo cried out, racing ahead. "I need to find her, guys. KENZI!"
"Bo," Dyson called out, holding her back. "Enough Bo! We'll find her, but we have to be smart about this. Kenzi is resourceful. She'll be OK. At the least, she can hold out until we find her. And we will find her. I promise you that."
"Then let's stop talking about it and actually find her, all right Dyson?" she snapped, a little short with him. Of course, she instantly realized how she sounded, and apologized right away. "I'm sorry. I'm just… worried. Terrified, actually. Dyson, we have to find her!"
"I want to find Kenz as much as you do Bo," Tamsin promised. "But snapping at and reminding us of the facts every ten seconds won't do Kenzi, or us, any good. Let the wolf concentrate. What is it that is after her anyway? And why?"
"Trick seemed to think it was some kind of leshy, a half-man, half-plant type fae known for leading travellers astray and abducting children," the succubus repeated. "What this one wants is anyone's guess, but I am not about to let it take Kenzi!"
"A leshy? Shit!" Tamsin exclaimed with a curse. "They're also shapeshifters. That's just great. So what's the word, Dyson?"
"I've got Kenzi's scent, so she's definitely down here," he confirmed after a good long sniff. "But there's… something else. It's masking her scent, making it hard to pinpoint her. Probably the leshy, but I've encountered those before, and it isn't the same. All I can say is we're going in the right direction, but…" He shrugged.
Grumbling in spite of herself, Bo hurried on ahead, forcing her companions to chase after her before they lost her as well. Things were tense for a few minutes, until they finally got to a section of the underground that was more than just maintenance tunnels and sewers. By general appearances, it looked to be some kind of drainage pool or flood valve area, just dried out. At least that's what the Fae trio figured it for, as it was a large flat area with a raised platform circling it. Quite frankly, it reminded the older Fae of some kind of coliseum.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Dyson said out loud, the scent masking Kenzi's nearly overpowering in this place.
"Now isn't the time to be quoting Star Wars, D," Tamsin teased her partner.
Growls and glowing eyes came from the shadowy darkness all around them. Bo judged there to be nearly two dozen judging by the sets she could see.
"On the other hand…" Tamsin gulped. "What are the odds, huh?"
"Never tell me the odds," Bo quoted as they all three pulled out their weapons.
Underfae. A lot of Underfae, and none of them exactly friendly.
As near as they could tell, from the green, wrinkly skin and roots growing all over them, these were the Underfae versions of Leshy, which just made Bo that much more concerned for her human friend. Especially when a mostly-human looking one separated from the mob and stepped forward to the edge of the 'ring'. He wasn't exactly handsome, but it was clear that he wasn't an Underfae either.
"Lose something, Succubus?" he taunted, before momentarily shifting into a likeness of Kenzi and then reverting.
"If you laid a hand on her…" Bo left the threat hanging, gripping her weapons tight.
"Why would I bother with a measly human?" the leshy said. "When I can use her to lure out the unaligned succubus and friends? I hand you over to the Una Mens and they don't bother me or mine. A plan that is sheer elegance in its simplicity, don't you think? Get them."
After that, there wasn't much time for talking. The half-plant monsters were quick and tough, but between the Wolf-Shifter, Valkyrie, and Succubus, they weren't all that strong nor skilled. They did, however, have the numbers advantage, and as good as the trio of Fae heroes were, eventually they would fall and everybody there knew it.
That didn't stop them from fighting though.
Dyson roared in challenge, shifting his face and hands, while also increasing the power of his muscles, without actually growing fur or changing his bone structure. He swiped at the incoming Leshy-underfae, knocking a handful back and away before being swarmed with three at the same time. Even then, it took another two flanking him before he lost any ground. The ancient wolf-shifter was more experienced than these mindless beasts, and-pardon the pun-shifted the balance in the next few moves by bringing the lot of them down to the ground and tearing into them with wild abandon.
Tamsin might have brought out her wings and taken advantage from the air, but they were underground and it wouldn't be much of an advantage at all. Instead, she shifted her own face and started Casting Doubt on every single one of these things that she could. Maybe a sixth of them turned and started attacking one another or the rest, which was actually more than a little disturbing. Something about these things kept her ability from working on them. Luckily, though technically a 'young' valkyrie, she'd lived many lives before and remembered them all. Besides, a valkyrie was a lot more than just her 'ability'. If she couldn't fight, she had no right being on a battlefield collecting souls in the first place.
Pulling out a pair of knives, she laid into the plant monstrosities that weren't already tearing each other apart. Ducking under a wild swipe, she lashed out with a sweeping kick, angling it up into a high blow that knocked the leshy's head back. She then easily transitioned into a flipping jump kick, before sliding around to slash open a throat while embedding the other into the chest of the next few behind it. After retrieving her blades, she went back to finish off the first one, and finished up by unleashing another blast of Doubt' on the crowd, unfortunately only getting maybe a handful more than she'd already affected.
Bo, ironically, was having the worst time of it, despite arguments that she was the most powerful Fae in attendance. She'd pulled out her sword early, but lost it almost as fast as half a dozen leshy swarmed her from every direction, one even jumping down from above on top of her! She pulled out her back-up dagger and the baton she kept in her jacket and tried to make short work of the smelly things wrestling on top of her, but that ended with just a bunch of dead weight that she then had to expend energy in getting out from under, while still defending herself from the rest that were still, literally, kicking!
Worse still, it seemed that the majority of the enemies were targeting her over Tamsin and Dyson! It seemed like every underfae she took down, three more popped up to take its place, with the queue behind them lengthening every second.
After she got out from under the pile of leshy, she lashed out with her long legs to give herself some breathing room, before trying to establish some control over the battleground, even if it meant separating from her allies. She managed to get her back to the wall with no overhang and no branching tunnels on it, narrowing her field of battle just to what was in front of her. Unfortunately, this put her on the opposite side of the room from Tamsin and Dyson, who were getting swamped with their own swamp-things!
"Dyson!" she cried out in warning, seeing him get blindsided by two of the things.
Whether due to her warning or not, he dove forward out of the way, slashing apart the bellies of the few in front of him at the same time, then called out with his own warning, "BO!"
She, unfortunately, didn't dodge in time, and her shoulder got slashed open by a thorny whip or something. She lashed out instinctively and buried her blade in the thing's skull, taking it out of the fight, but losing her weapon at the same time.
"Bo!" Tamsin then cried out in fear and panic, spurring the succubus to move rather than look about for the danger.
She narrowly managed to get out of the way of another tackling dogpile, while still keeping her back to the wall. Taking the moment to breathe and get her bearings, Bo realized just how bad they were screwed. They needed help. They needed to get out of here! Too bad that was not looking at all possible!
Then again, Tamsin and Dyson were both closer to the exit, closer than she was anyway, and the creepy plant-guy-in-charge had seemed more interested in her than them, so… maybe? Maybe if she stayed behind they could get away. Maybe they could even come back with some reinforcements or whatever, but in either case they'd both be OK. And that mattered more to Bo than her own measly little life. Especially as they could resume the search for, and rescue Kenzi!
Attacking with everything she had, and then some, Bo fought to give herself some more breathing room, tearing through the Leshy Underfae like weeds before a lawnmower, and the moment she had more than a second or two between enemies, she shouted out to both her friends, "Dyson! Tamsin! Both of you, get out of here! Find Kenzi! Save her! I'll stay here and keep this lot busy!"
"Bo!" Dyson cried out in anguish, "I can't! You'll be killed! I won't leave you!"
"No!" Tamsin yelled at the same time. "Same here! I'm not leaving you behind, Bo!"
"If you don't go, who'll find Kenzi?!" she shouted over the battle, fighting just as hard as ever to keep them off her while they 'talked'. "She's what matters right now! Come back for me when you've got her! Maybe bring some help?" She said that last bit as more of a conversational suggestion, but both Fae could hear it with their enhanced senses.
"You go," Dyson growled at Tamsin. "I'm not leaving her!"
"I couldn't find Kenzi in a empty paper bag," the blond valkyrie confessed. "You're the only one that could find her in all this mess down here! Besides, I'm better in a fight that you are! Faster you find Kenz, faster you can come back with help!"
Dyson's growls increased in volume and frustration as he fought between his feelings and logic. Right as he was about to be swayed towards one decision over the other, however, the balance of things shifted in a rather remarkable direction.
All of the dark creatures attacking the three Fae suddenly flew back from them as though swatted away like flies. On the platform surrounding the arena, opposite the leader, a cloaked figure appeared. It was dark, so no one could see who exactly the figure was, only that they bore a full, body-obscuring dark brown, almost black cloak with the hood pulled down, hiding their face. Not even Bo-who made it a point of studying bodies in… intimate detail-could tell if the person was male or female.
"Who the hell are you?" the lead leshy snarled at the hooded figure.
In reply, the mysterious figure held out their right hand. An instant later, a small handle-like object snapped into said hand, having flown out under its own power from beneath the cloak. In the next instant following that, there was a very familiar SNAP-HISS sound and they all stared as the mysterious figure wielded a fuchsia-violet lightsaber!
"No… no, the-the Jedi are only in Sunnydale!" the leshy cried out in shock.
Dyson and Tamsin instantly spun their sharp gazes back towards the lead-badguy at his words. Bo was too busy fighting her way back over to them to pay attention, but the two of them were old enough, and experienced enough, to know exactly what kind of place Sunnydale was. And exactly why no self-respecting Fae would ever be caught within a hundred leagues of that infernal place.
The cloaked figure gave it no more attention that Bo herself did, instead flipping down into the gladiatorial pit with no more effort than a normal person might skip down a flight of stairs. The, apparent, Jedi then proceeded to lay waste to the Underfae surrounding them.
It was a violent form of techniques, always offensive, only retreating in order to attack another and the same for any defense moves, turning them into counter-attacks in the same motion. The fuchsia-violet light lashed out again and again, cutting the Underfae Leshy to pieces, leaving nothing but smouldering chunks of wood that smelled remarkably fresh, in spite of their condition. Unfortunately, a commonality between most plants and the Fae known as Leshy… they regenerate. The Fae considerably quicker. So while the cauterizing of the lightsaber might have slowed it down, the Underfae Leshy only had to stay alive and out of the fight for a few minutes, and then their lost limbs would be restored, good as new. Unless they were decapitated, or their hearts pierced.
The Jedi caught onto this before the pile of logs at their feet got too deep, and soon nearly every strike was a chest-piercing or decapitating one.
Meanwhile, the Fae warriors continued to handle their side of the assault, most of it just consisted of making sure the Underfae didn't get too far, and sometimes tossing them onto the meat grinder that was the Jedi with lightsaber. Bo, however, made it a point of going after the leader of this little soiree. Nobody tries to hunt and kill her friends and gets away with it!
The moment he saw the succubus gunning for him, tearing her way through his decimated minions like balsa wood, he turned and ran. Before he could actually get out of sight however, the Jedi held out one arm (or hand, couldn't tell since it was covered by the hooded cloak) and it was like a rubber leash reaching its limit, snapping the Fae down towards them. Bo easily caught him after that.
"Call them off," Bo ordered, holding her blade to his throat, "or else. And trust me, you don't want 'else'!"
"I...I-I c-can't…" he whimpered. "R-Really!" he screamed when she started to draw blood. "They-they're in a frenzy. They won't stop until…"
"Until they have their meal, gotcha," Bo smirked and adjusted her grip on him. "Sucks to be you."
"WAIT! Your-your friend! I can lead you to the human!" he screamed, bargaining for his life.
"No," Bo whispered to him, right in his ear. "You can't."
She then shoved him into the heaviest group of frenzied leshy, leaving shallow cuts on his arms and face, before leaping with all of her strength to get up on the balcony overlooking the pit. Calling for her friends, she held out her hand for them, "DYSON! TAMSIN!"
With a savage roar, Dyson came surging up out of and across the dry pit and caught the succubus's outstretched arm, allowing her to easily heave him up. Tamsin just sprouted her wings and flew up to them with no issue at all. The Jedi, however, continued fighting.
"What about him, or whoever that is?" Tamsin questioned. "He really helped us out, should we…"
Before the offer could even be extended, the cloaked figure did… something that set all the Fae's teeth on edge and all the leshy that had been around were flung back as though from an explosion. Simultaneously, the Jedi 'sheathed' their lightsaber (with sound-effects identical to those from all the movies) and faster than any of the Fae could follow, disappeared down a side tunnel that some of the leshy had been coming from.
"..." Tamsin closed her open mouth and concluded, "... I guess not. Who do you guys think that was, anyway?"
"Doesn't matter right now," Dyson interrupted, pointing, "Because we do not want to still be around when they've finished with him."
"Plus, we still have to find Kenzi," Bo remarked, probably louder than strictly necessary.
"How about," Tamsin countered, "we make sure that when we do find her, we're not leading a pack of cannibalistic UnderFae right to her at the same time?"
"Fair point," the tall brunette said as she lead the way out.
TJ:LG
Half an hour of wandering/running through the maze of service tunnels and sewers that ran beneath the city, the Fae trio finally saw payment for all their hard work, in the form of finally locating the one they sought, as well as the light of day, filtered down through an open manhole cover.
"KENZI!" Bo screamed, rushing forward to embrace her best friend, her link back to humanity, her Heart.
"Bo!" the fashionable goth cried out in return, hugging it out with her bestie just as hard. "D-man! Tam-Tam!"
Finally the pair released each other, and the human glared up at all of the much taller Fae. "Well it's about time you found me! I've been wandering around down here for ages! Finally found this thing here, but wouldn't you know it," she threw up her arms in frustration, "Silly ol' human isn't strong enough. They make it look so easy on the TV."
"Doesn't matter," Bo insisted. "We're here now, and we are getting you home. Dyson?"
"On it," the loyal wolf-shifter replied, already climbing up to open the way out.
"I might normally ask how you managed to get away," Tamsin said as they waited. "But we actually ran into the creep that had set the Underfae on you. Whole thing was a trap to get at Bo. You are lucky, cause I'm not sure what would've happened if he'd actually caught you."
"I'm so sorry I got you involved in this, Kenz," Bo apologized.
"Unh-uh, none of that, Bo," Kenzi admonished her BFFF (Best Fae Friend Forever). "I'm the one that went off all half-cocked, trying to draw them off of you, thinking I could get away easy. Turns out I zagged when I should have zigged. Taught me my lesson though. Just because I've fooled most of the Fae community into thinking that I'm some kind of latent unaligned fae like you, doesn't mean that I can kick ass like you."
"No, you just kick ass in your own Kenzi-like way," Bo teased.
"It's clear!" Dyson called down. "We're on the North side of Uptown, it looks like."
"You first," Bo insisted, giving Kenzi a boost.
"And you next," Tamsin counter-insisted, keeping her eyes on the lookout for any approaching dangers.
"Fine," the (currently) brunette thief rolled her eyes. "Just don't be looking up my skirt. I know how you can get after a big fight, and," her expression shifted from playful to serious, "you all look like you've been through the ringer. Don't suppose you're hoping Dyson and Tamsin are up for some threeway action, are you? Cause, if so, I'm spending the night at Hale's, I'm just sayin'!"
"Move it," Bo laughed, urging them to get moving.
Fortunately, as much as their lives could reflect the genre, they were not currently stuck in a horror movie, so they all made it to the surface without any last second attacks, or monsters springing out at them and dragging one or more of them away. A quick cab ride later, they were back at the Clubhouse.
"I'm so glad you're safe," Bo said for what felt like the hundredth time.
Kenzi's eyes glazed over for half a second, before narrowing sharply toward their kitchen. "Yeah, me too, Bo. Eh, Bo? We've got company," she only said this after rounding the corner to their main room.
Bo came up behind her roommate, weapons ready at the draw, until she saw who was actually there, and she stumbled slightly upon seeing the diminutive, yet sharply-dressed Fae standing there in their kitchen. A Fae that was known the world over as the Blood King.
"Trick?" Bo called out to her grandfather, putting away her weapons. "What are you doing here? Not that it isn't good to see you, but, uh…"
"We usually come to you, rather than you come to us," Kenzi helped her bestie pull her foot out of her mouth. "And while there might be one on the books for later on, we don't have a party planned, so, uh, yeah." They all stood awkwardly, staring at one another for a bit before Kenzi tried again. "Also, Bo and I have had a really crazy day, let me tell you. And we really want to like take a bath, unwind, maybe rest up, get some sleep. All of which requires, you know," she clacked her tongue while making the 'get-outta-here' gesture, "that you not be here, so…"
"I'm glad you're safe, Kenzi," were the first words out of the older fae's mouth. Before they could offer any other words, he continued, "And no, neither Dyson, Hale, nor Tamsin said anything to me. Not that they should have." He gave Bo his 'disappointed grandfather' look.
"In my defense, it kind of all happened very quickly, so not a lot of time between running to get help and racing to get to Kenzi before whatever had been chasing her did," Bo protested.
"Something tells me," and now Trick's gaze turned on the young human in question, "that Kenzi would be more than capable of handling herself if it came down to it. We've missed you at the bar, these past few weeks. You and your…" his gaze intensified, "...parlor tricks. The crowd always did love your telekinesis routine. Certainly got the Una Mens to back off from your participating in the Fae world, for a while at least. Tell me, Kenzi, you never did get around to explaining how you managed to pull that off. After our memories were restored, that is."
"Didn't I?" said Kenzi. "Odd."
"Look, Trick," Bo said, annoyed, "is there something that you need? Cause, right now, Kenz and I really need to get some rest. Maybe we can talk tomorrow…"
"How was your trip to Sunnydale?" he asked.
"... night…?" Bo trailed off helplessly. "That is the second time today I've heard mention of this Sunny-Vale place. What is it? Some kind of vacation spot for Underfae or something?"
"Sunnydale, California," Trick corrected her. "It is the location of the Primary Hellmouth. A mystical convergence that, as the name might well imply, grants access to some of the… far less pleasant dimensions out there. It is also the well-known location of the Jedi. And yes, Bo, I do know how that sounds. Having gone to the premieres of all the films in the series."
"Y'know, sometimes, just sometimes," Kenzi teased, "I forget just how old you are, Trickmeister. And then you go and say something like that."
"What makes you think that Kenzi, or I, have ever been to this Sunnydale place?" Bo asked, still trying to deflect his attention away from her friend.
"Um, Bobo?" Kenzi tried to draw her attention, embarrassed.
"What?" Bo looked back and forth between two of the people she trusted most in this world. "What is it? Come on, what?"
"Should I tell her, or you?" Trick put the ball squarely in Kenzi's court.
"I kind of…" the Russian-American goth twiddled her fingers, "...gottheticketsandmoneytogettherefromTricksohealreadyknowsIwenttoSunnydale! I'm sorryIdidnttellyoubutwevebeensobusysincewebothgotbackthattherejusthasntbeenthetimeandImsososososSOsorry! Forgive me?"
"Huh," Bo nodded her head after the Kenzi-babble explosion.
Turning fully around to face Trick directly, she crossed her arms and asked him point-blank, "So. You know that Kenzi and I visited there last week because you gave her the tickets. Fine. What are you doing here, Trick? Since you seem to know everything already."
"I suspect a great many things," Trick answered in his enigmatic way, "And I know a great many more. So, while I've suspected that Kenzi was a Jedi for quite some time, I did not know it for a fact. Until today. I'm here," he settled himself into one of their lounge seat chairs in their 'living room', such as it was, "to get the whole story. I would like to think that I have more than proven my trustworthiness to you both after all this time. And I know that I have proven how I can be an asset to you when you need me. Imagine how much more of an asset I can be if I have all the information? Besides," he chuckled softly outloud, "I have no doubt that it will be one hell of a story."
Bo and Kenzi both exchanged a long look between the two of them, silently communicating that only the best of friends are capable of. And maybe there might have been some tele/empathic Jedi mojo going on, Trick couldn't be sure on that front. All he knew was that after about half a minute of just staring at one another, making all manner of expressions that he could not see the entirety of, they both walked over to the living room and sat down on either side of the couch across from him.
"Before we do this," Kenzi spoke, her tone as serious as Trick had ever heard it. "What we are about to share with you, Fitzpatrick McCorrigan, is not just our story. Not merely our secrets. These are secrets of people that are vital to the future protection of this world."
"I understand," Trick nodded solemnly.
"No," Kenzi shook her head from side to side. "You don't. But you will. As catastrophic, as… evil as the Garuda was, as bad as humans experimenting on Fae, as twisted as the Una Mens turned out to be… if the wrong people found out even one of the secrets we're about to share with you." She left it hanging, instead letting her actions say the rest as she pulled out a slim, hand-crafted hilt of metal, crystal and leather; her Lightsaber.
She ignited it, with the familiar SNAP-HISS...VRRMMM. The violet blade bathed them all with its light.
"Let's just say that I feel," she said as she held the energy blade before him so he could feel the power, "very protective towards these people. And if anything were to happen to them because of what we've shared, there would be consequences."
"I understand," he nodded solemnly. "If it is required of me, I will use my blood and make a Blood Oath. Given what you two already know about the power of my blood, and the consequences of using it, you know that such an oath cannot be broken."
Bo and Kenzi exchanged another silent conversation of looks, before Trick's granddaughter said, "I think we can hold off on that for now. And let you judge for yourself if you want to take that step after you've heard our story."
"I can accept that, and thank you for your trust," Trick said, eyeballing Kenzi's lightsaber. "Interesting… design, Kenzi. Did you pick the color yourself?"
"According to the movie stuff," Kenzi explained, "the only reason Mace Windu's lightsaber was purple was because Sammie Jackson wanted to be able to spot himself in the crowd of Jedi during the big fight sequence. According to 'Jedi Lore', Mace Windu received a specially made Kyber crystal in recognition of his mastery of Vaapad, the Sixth Form of Lightsaber combat. Mine is… mine was because of..."
She deactivated the weapon and set it on the table between them. She fought to control her breathing, entering a mild trance as she regained control of her emotions.
"It's OK, Kenzi," Bo said supportively. "Take your time."
Kenzi nodded, centered once more. "When I first was trained… first learned I could use the Force. I was very close to the Dark Side. It is still a constant struggle for me to remain in balance. It is a quite a long story, Trick. And if we start it, we're not stopping until it is finished. You sure you got the time for this?"
"My calendar is wide open," he spread his hands, an open smile on his face.
Kenzi and Bo exchanged one last look, nodded to each other, and then settled in for a long night, despite it still being early afternoon.
"It all started shortly after you guys finally rescued me from that cuckoo crazy kitsune, Inari, and we found out about Bo's Dawning…" and they began the tale of how they met a wandering Jedi Knight.
END (To Be Continued…?)