Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. George Lucas, Lucasfilm, LucasArts and others own Star Wars. Michael A Stackpole owns the X-Wing and I, Jedi novels. I do not. Grant/Naylor, and the British Broadcasting Corporation own Red Dwarf. Thanks to Bob Regent for pointing this out…
Title: Sunnydale Jedi: Chapter 1
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: Just for this one, I'm upping it to an R, just in case as there are quite a few bad words. I need to read less Andy McNab. (I don't understand American ratings…)
Pairing: Err… Xander/Buffy. (I'm gonna try, promise!)
Feedback: Please, I beg.
Thanks: All my reviewers. You know who you are. Also, everyone who made suggestions. They will probably appear somewhere along the line…
Continuity: General season 5 (Dawn)
Dedication: To all B/Xer's, I know I'm not very good at writing B/X stuff, besides, so many others already do such a good job. Also, especially to any Brits on ff.net.
Oh, and apologies to Bob Regent, (I hope you're reading this) I have shamelessly nicked a line from Red Dwarf again. (Which episode was it, hmm?)
Crossover: Buffy / Star Wars. Old Republic.
*
Xander strolled casually through the cemetery. Since returning to Sunnydale two weeks ago, he had patrolled every night, as he no longer had to worry overly about dying a horrible death. The Force gave him far more power than any vampire had, but he had to be careful when using it, in case what had happened to Dooku happened to him.
A telephone conversation with Giles proved to be useless, as he adamantly refused to return to the US unless Buffy was back. And as they all knew that Buffy was dead, and there was nothing they could do about it, Giles resolutely stayed in Britain.
Dawn was none too impressed at Xander's insistence to patrol, but after he showed her what the two silver rods he carried could do, she stopped saying that Slayage was a bad idea and kept clamouring for Xander to make her a light-saber of her own, or give her one of his. Xander certainly wasn't going to make her one, and neither of his blades were ever going to leave his side again.
After his sudden and unexpected return, Xander tried to get round the fact that he thought he had been gone for a year, and hardly any time had passed in Sunnydale. It was a paradox even his Jedi enhanced mind could not get around. He still kept up with his Jedi meditations and training, however, and this was how he came to be wandering through a dark and cold graveyard at 2am. His Jedi abilities allowed him to survive on less than an hour of sleep a night, giving plenty of time for him to dwell on his dilemma. When with Yoda and Obi-Wan, he had felt the need to return to Sunnydale and protect Dawn, although he had to admit, for a lot of the time, it was masked by the sheer wonder of where he was. Now he was back in Sunnydale, he felt the need to return to Coruscant.
Unfortunately for Xander, his internal debate had allowed several vampires to sneak up on him. As they were dead, they had little, if any presence in the Force. Only the ripples in the Force of something not alive would register, and vampires did have a slight amount of life in them, due to the inhabitation of the demon in the host.
"Oh, guys, look at the idiot in the fancy robe!" The lead vampire spoke from behind Xander's back, voice full of bravado, his vampirism assuring him of an easy kill. He was going to be disappointed.
"Yeah, don't he look cool!" The vamp that had approached to the left of Xander spoke up. He was wearing bright pink flares, and a neon green top that seemed about three sizes too small.
Xander looked at him. "You can talk, fang-face. You look like a reject from the Village People."
The only response he got was a growl of anger. Vampires don't like insults from food. It seems to give them indigestion.
The leader spoke again. "I think its time to show our friend here that it's a mistake to go out after dark…"
A chorus of 'Yeah!'s' and growls followed the comment, allowing Xander, who had been falling into the Force since the second the lead vampire spoke, to gauge their numbers perfectly.
Damn, there are shit-loads of them! There were nine vampires, all ready, hungry, and out hunting for dinner. I might be a Jedi, but this is too much right now.
As the first charged, Xander spun with the vamp, away from the centre, and while still spinning, whipped out one of his light-sabers and got to work. The blade ignited with a snap hiss and filled the night with a golden glow.
Xander continued his spin, and decapitated three vampires before coming to rest with the blade in a classic guard position, ready for the coming assault.
The angered vampires didn't disappoint. The leader hung back, as leaders often do, and ordered his subordinates forward. One moved off to either side, in an attempt to flank him, while two others stepped forward. The fifth; a black haired woman, held back to the leaders side. The first of the vamps to charge again got a fist squarely in the jaw, which did little more than piss it off more. The fist was closely followed by a light-saber in the gut. Instead of stopping and howling in pain, as expected, or trying to run away, the vamp gripped Xander's hand and held it in place. His light-saber was going nowhere for the time being.
The next thing Xander knew was his neck was being gripped from behind and the leader was approaching, gloating over the seemingly easy victory.
"Such a pity. You had promise to be an interesting meal, and as you managed to take out three of my followers, well…" He smiled viciously. "That deserves extra pain as you die…"
"I don't think so." Said Xander; pulling all the energy he could in. The only change the vampires noticed was the air temperature dropping a few degrees, and wrote that off as imagination rather than a great deal of pain about to come their way.
"Oh? Why is that?" The leader seemed to be genuinely puzzled at Xander's response.
"This." Xander smiled slightly and bent his legs. Putting all the power he could behind it; he launched himself up into the air fifty or sixty feet. As soon as the vampires realised their feet were no longer on the ground, they panicked and let go, nearly fatal considering the distance.
The sick crunch of breaking bone and rupturing or punctured organs met Xander's ears as he continued to float in the air, watching the vampires. They all stared back with wide eyes.
"Shit! A warlock! We should have known from his dress!"
Xander landed, re-igniting his light saber as he did so. "I'm not a warlock. Just someone who knows a few tricks." His smile was wide, toying. While his Jedi instincts were telling him not to enjoy this, the part that was the vampire punch-bag for so many years felt the elation of being able to turn the tables for once.
Starting forward, he activated the second phase of his light-saber; bring it from one metre to three in a fraction of a second. All except the leader and his female companion had been reduced to dust before they could even blink. Xander had used the Force to move faster than the eye could follow.
Xander looked at the pile of dust in disgust, and winced at the pink flares that had not joined their owner in becoming one with the particulate universe. "Figures they stay behind…"
The leader realised he would join his minions in dust-hood if he didn't think of something fast. Fear seems to make all creatures use tactics they wouldn't if they were in normal conditions. But then, vampires are hardly normal.
"So… you hide behind a weapon, but can't fight man to man…" He hoped the jibe would get to Xander.
Xander knew what the vampire wanted him to do, and decided to play, again causing his Jedi mind to rail in concern. It might be fun. He thumbed the blade of his light-saber off, and it disappeared back into his robe, as if it had never been more than a bad dream.
"So you want to play, eh?" Xander smirked and tilted his head to the side, teasing the vampires with a view of his neck.
The two remaining vampires growled.
And charged.
Xander used the Force to enhance his somersault over their heads, landing twenty feet behind them, and spun round, ready to receive again. The female vamp recovered faster than her lover, and returned to hit Xander in the face.
Xander staggered back under the hit, and tripped on a rock. Lying on his back, he watched as the two vampires approached, both wary of what this morsel would do next.
As they hit the five feet mark, Xander used the Force to spin in place, righting himself as he went, to land back on his feet. Pulling his first blade from his robe, he whipped the female in the face with the butt of his light-saber, causing her to be sent flying away from the fight, and into a gravestone.
Leader growled at the harm of his mate, and lunged, only to pull back just as quickly when Xander ignited the light-saber and poked it at him, warning him to keep his distance.
It was at this time, however, that Xander should have remembered that vampires are dead.
The female recovered far faster than any vampire Buffy ever fought, due to Xander not being a Slayer, even if he was a Jedi. The first time Xander thought of the female after her visit to the gravestone, was when a lump of that gravestone collided with his head.
Xander, concentrating more on the leader, was unprepared for the sudden surprise, and dropped like a stone.
Dammit… forgot about her…*
The next thing he knew, the leader was standing over him, a big grin on his features. The female vampire was holding by the back of his neck.
"So… the wise guy finally wakes up…" leader seemed pleased. "Could you tell me how you did that please?"
"Drop dead." Snarled Xander, venom in his voice.
"Already have done…" riposted the vampire.
"Encore…" Xander kept his face straight, but the leader obviously found his little crack less than amusing.
"Very funny, smart guy. You should be fun to feed off of."
Shaking his head violently, Xander contested that idea, "I'm not good to eat. Too much gristle and fat…"
"Don't worry about it," the vampire smiled evilly, and Xander suddenly felt very worried, "I'm only after the sauce anyway."
Xander sighed gently. Centring his mind from the almost overwhelming fear of being in a vamp lair that choked his connection to the Force, he again pulled in as much power as was freely available. When he opened his eyes again, the lead vampire backed away in fear, causing the female to grip tighter.
Xander's eyes glowed with power. Unlike the black eyes of a dark-sider or a black magic practitioner, they had a golden glow, similar to his light saber blades.
An invisible Force fist gripped the lead vampire and plucked him, nearly gently, off the floor. Xander's feet had been on the floor, and he chose that second to go dead weight on the grip, surprising the vamp enough to get her to let go. The second he was free Xander plucked the second vamp in a Force grip. Both vampires imploded as the Force grip tightened and turned them both to dust from the sheer pressure.
Xander collapsed on the ground, in the dust, willing himself to get up and get out of wherever he had been taken.
Struggling to his feet, Xander limped out of the warehouse, one of the standard fare for Sunnydale, and back to Dawn's, sorry, his, house.
*
The first chapter of the Sunnydale Jedi ends there. More will follow, but I wasn't sure how this came out, and wanted to see what people thought of it. Cheers, and I'm sorry I've been out of the loop for such a long time.
