A squad of Stormtroopers were creeping their way between the buildings. Flashlights had been switched on, allowing them to see better where their blasters were pointing and, hopefully, showing them who to shoot.
However, all they'd found so far was silence, rock, and abandoned buildings and narrow alleyways for soft winds to whistle through.
"This place is giving me the creeps", one Stormtrooper commented, as they swept their lights over another dead-ended pathway.
"Tell me about it", another replied drily. Their sergeant, groaning under his helmet, turned about to reprimand his troops. Only to look up into the yellow eyes of a snarling monster.
The eye contact could have only lasted a second, but it was enough for him to let out a shocked cry of alarm, even as the creature bounded over the heads of the squad, leaping from the window of one of the buildings to land on the ground and promptly galloping off around the corner. The Stormtroopers watched the monster vanish, as quickly and quietly as it'd appeared, heavily breathing as the adrenaline shock ran through them.
"…Did anyone else see a kid on that thing's back?"
"Was it one of the insurgents?"
"I honestly didn't get a good enough look."
"Let's just say it wasn't. I don't want to go searching after that….thing."
And the squad continued their patrolling.
Buildings and ground blasted past in the blink of an eye. Digging his grip into the fur of the creature, Ezra clung on. Every now and again, the creature would slow down to pad around, sniffing the ground and the air and giving him opportunity to look for Kanan again. As they got closer, the other's Force signature began to become stronger, but it also seeped out further, fogging Ezra's view and making it harder to pinpoint Kanan's exact location.
It got to a point where the creature glanced back for a pointer to see Ezra with a hand pressed against his forehead, eyebrows scrunched together in forced concentration. Finally he let out a tired groan, hunching over in his seat.
"It's no use, I can't tell where he is", he snapped. "He could be anywhere around here."
The creature rumbled quietly, her expression soft, before going back to sniffing around the area. Abruptly, her head snapped up, long ears springing up from their resting point along the neck and beginning to twitch and pivot. Listening. Ezra stiffened, leaning forward and tightening his grip.
Lunging forward, she ran again, slaloming between heaps of rubble and diving through a narrow gap between a doorway and a collapsed wall. Kanan was already standing, prepared, his blaster raised and aimed at the creature as she slunk into the thin room.
"Don't shoot!", Ezra shouted, one hand raised defensively as he felt a nervous lump in his stomach at the sight of the blaster. Letting go as the creature pivoted anxiously away from the weapon proved to be a mistake, as the momentum slid him backwards and over the side of the creature, hitting the floor with a thud that set flashing lights behind his eyelids.
"Ezra?!" Lowering the weapon, Kanan hurried to the side of the boy, as the creature made a panicked shuffle sideways to let him pass by. He knelt down next to Ezra, reaching out to gingerly support him as he sat up with a pained groan. A wave of the hand signalled that the youth was alright, just with a bruised head.
"I said to keep an ear out for-", Kanan started to chide Ezra, but was bluntly interrupted as Ezra held up his comm.
"- And they figured that out so they jammed the signal", he stated.
"Hm. So you used the Force to track me down instead? I guess I should be impressed." Concern was beginning to slide away from Kanan's expression, replaced instead by slight amusement as he glanced over his shoulder to regard the creature. She stood patiently, leaning over to examine Ezra herself.
"Honestly though, being able to connect with a beast like this one. It really looks like our lessons are starting to make some impression", Kanan commented.
"I, uh…" Ezra trailed off as Kanan looked back at him, at first confused but then concerned once more; a father waiting for his son's confession.
"I didn't connect with her. I didn't connect at all, she just…turned up, and helped me", Ezra explained, waving a hand in the direction of the creature. Ears flicked up in their direction. She'd realised they were speaking about her, and so she let out a rumbling croon.
Kanan looked one step above surprise and three steps below shock. Helping Ezra back to his feet, he approached the creature. She in turn shied back. One step forward. Two steps back.
"C'mon, I'm not going to hurt you", Kanan grumbled in annoyance. The creature snorted in return, promptly deciding to stand still. Now that she'd decided to cooperate, Kanan reached out a hand, tapping into the Force and using it to reach out to the creature's mind.
What he experienced was the same mental rebound that Ezra had felt. As the creature shook her head and let out a rumbling low noise, he narrowed his eyes at her. Confusion, surprise, curiosity…these all rumbled around in his head as he searched for an answer to his unbidden question.
"She's intelligent", he stated, as Ezra wandered up to his side. "Too intelligent for a beast like herself."
The creature narrowed her eyes, croaking out short whines and flicking her tongue at Kanan.
"She's certainly got an attitude", Ezra said, a smile rising to his lips at the creature's expression. Kanan however wasn't quite so amused.
"She may well be one of the dominant species left over", he mused aloud. "The planet got razed by the Separatists during the Clone Wars, used for establishing bases and collecting supplies, no matter the cost. The resident intelligent species got pretty much wiped out because of lack of communication, and eventually the Separatists collected up everything and left the place for ruin."
"That'd explain all the buildings falling apart", commented Ezra.
"And it'd explain why she's the first person we've met on this rock", added Kanan, pointing to the creature.
"Hey, I know she's intelligent, but I were still going to call her a 'person'?", Ezra asked, wandering over to loop an arm over the creature's shoulders (or at least attempt to). "She can't even – hey!"
As the creature stepped swiftly to the side, sending Ezra off-balance, she huffed angrily at him.
"Let's try not to insult the guy with big teeth in the room", Kanan suggested, clapping a hand on Ezra's shoulder to stop him falling over and nudge him away from the creature slightly. "Now, we need to find Sabine and Zeb. Any ideas?"
"I only got this far from her help", Ezra gestured with a flopping hand to the creature.
"Right. Then we stick to what we know. With comm-systems jammed, we'll need some other way to signal the Ghost. Sabine's our best shot", Kanan explained. "You're gonna find her like you found me." Oh joy. Ezra sighed heavily, rolling his eyes.
"Is this really the time for another lesson?", he whined.
"May as well practise something if you aren't going to be practising another." Kanan's amused tone pushed another groan from Ezra, only this was one of disgust.
Clunk, clunk, clunk. The three in the room snapped to attention at the sound of armoured boots. Darting to the walls, Kanan hushed Ezra and gestured for him to crouch. The creature slunk to the opposite side, her head tilted to peer through a crack that had once been a window. Five seconds, ten. Time ticked precariously as the group of Stormtroopers filed past the building. Fifteen seconds. Slowly the marching faded back into the night.
Kanan had returned to his serious expression once more. The sudden surprise had been a stern reminder that while he was indeed trying to teach Ezra, they couldn't mess about like with lessons on the Ghost.
"Focus, Ezra", he said brusquely. "We might not have much time to find Sabine and Zeb."
"Alright, alright, I'm focusing", Ezra muttered, closing his eyes. From the other side of the room, the creature let out an impatient chitter. Kanan blinked and looked over to her.
"As for you, uh…", he trailed off, uncertain what to tell the creature to do. "…what's your name?"
"Really?", came a dry comment from behind Kanan. His shoulders rose a touch - now was really not the time for snarky remarks from his Padawan.
"Aren't you meant to be finding Sabine?"
Whilst Ezra muttered, "Yup. Can do. Finding Sabine", Kanan returned his attention to the creature. She curled her lips back, a grating noise rising from her throat as she snarled out: "Kgassh".
"Pardon?"
"Kgassh." With a paw, the creature swiped at the surface of a piece of rubble and held up the claws to Kanan. There, caught up in the fur and claws, was a bundle of moss.
"…Your name is Moss?", Kanan asked quietly, to clarify his thoughts. The creature, Moss, nodded.
"I got Sabine!" The excited cry made Kanan hush Ezra harshly, who in turn winced and ducked down. Nervous glances were thrown outside the building. When no Stormtroopers came barraging through the rubble, Ezra hurriedly whispered, "I found Sabine. I think she's with Zeb too."
"Good job there", Kanan commented. "I'm sure Moss here will be happy to help us find them like she did with me, right?"
"I'm sure she will", Ezra said as Moss nudged against Kanan's shoulder, a 'grin' on her muzzle again.
The trio slunk out of the building, Moss leaping through the crack in the building and sniffing around the area, ears perked for any sound that could be Stormtrooper or Walker. Kanan followed, blaster in hand and lightsaber waiting on his belt. Ezra was last, hopping out through the crack to catch a foot on the concrete and flop face-first onto Moss' tail. Once he'd been up-righted, Kanan boosted the boy up onto Moss.
KA-BAM
An explosion ripped through the silence of the city. Moss shied backwards with a surprised shriek as Ezra and Kanan turned about in shock to see a plume of purple-tinged smoke rising from one of the buildings.
"Ezra, was that-?", Kanan began to ask, but all Ezra did was nod dumbly. The explosion had come from the same direction that he'd sensed Sabine and Zeb.