Well, here is chapter 3! Just as I promised. Just an interesting little note, the three padawans represent me and two of my best friends. We all like Star Wars, so when I wrote this for English class I decided to purposely put us three in the story, just in deifferent forms, of course! Okay, read on!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars. It belongs to the brilliant George Lucas. May he live long and prosper.
The three padawans snuck along the corridors the way that they had come. When they came to the railing, though, they looked down and saw the droids engaged in battle against clone troopers that were breaking their way into the fortress. The entire room was filled with the sound of laserfire, human screams of pain, and droids being turned into scrap metal.
"Let's get out of here before we're seen." Tanashi whispered. "Now that they've infiltrated the factory, we'll have to be extremely careful."
"I agree." Yara whispered back. Jennassa said nothing, but followed Yara and Tanashi along the wall and back into the maze of corridors.
When they reached the entrance, Yara slowly poked her head outside and looked around cautiously before proceeding. The ground was still littered with the droids they had fought earlier, and she could see no one else. One by one, the padawans snuck along the side of the fortress. Then they crept into the jungle. They walked through the underbrush for a while and then stopped. They crouched under a large bush. Tanashi sat down and reached for her medical supplies on her belt and began dressing the wound on her lekku. They were silent for a moment.
"Now what do we do?" Tanashi asked, breaking the silenceas she wrapped guaze around the injury.
"We need to get back to our ship. Then we can fly it off the planet." Jennassa replied.
"Well, that's a fine idea and all, but the ship is now in enemy territory. I'm sure the clones have taken over the rest of the droid factory."
"We'll sneak around them." Yara spoke up. She picked up a twig off the ground and drew a crude map of the surrounding area as she spoke. "Continue into the forest, we shall. When gone far enough we have, a wide circle we will walk around the fortress so that avoid many troopers we will. Continue on the path we will until reached the hanger we have." Yara looked up at her companions. "Worry about sneaking off planet we can when arrive at the hanger, we do. For now, focus we must on getting there."
"Let's do it." Tanashi said. "I don't have any better ideas."
The group continued onto the forest away from the factory. The padawans were nervous. As they walked, their eyes darted back and forth. It was night, and the planet's twin moons served as the only light. Even so, it was still dark because of the rain clouds in the sky and the tall trees above blocked out the light of the moons. All sorts of strange animal sounds and inhuman shrieks could be heard ringing throughout the night, and they could hear animals and other creatures rustling through the bushes beside them. They stopped after about an hour. Tanashi sat down.
"My legs are sore," she groaned and began massaging her muscles. Her stomach growled. "And I'm hungry."
"I think that far away enough we are from the factory." Yara sat on the ground. "So for a minute let's rest and eat."
Tanashi reached for her food rations on her belt, only to discover that they weren't there. "Oh, great. My food rations are gone. Either I left them on the ship, or I lost them sometime between the battle and now."
"Here. Have some of mine." Yara handed some food to Tanashi and Jennassa did the same.
"This isn't going to be enough food to keep us going." Jennassa said. Yara looked around at the trees and bushes around them. She spied a berry bush not too far away and ran towards it.
"Here is some sort of berries. I don't know what kind, but think they are poisonous, I do not." She pulled of a handful and popped one into her mouth. "So assume, I will, that alive I will still be after eating these." She handed some of the unidentifiable viands to her companions, and the three ate in silence. Jennassa munched on the berries, a expression on her face. She swallowed. "Well, we're still alive, so I guess they aren't poisonous after all."
"That's good." Tanashi said. "You know, I would just hate it if after all of the battles we've survived so far on this planet that we would die from a couple of berries."
The girls giggled, forgetting their problems for a few moments. Fifteen minutes later, they were on their way again, but this time walking in a circle around the fortress.
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They had been walking for another hour when Yara suddenly stopped. Her ears twitched, picking up the sounds around her.
"What is it?" Jennassa asked.
"I don't know…," Yara whispered. She listened for another minute.
"I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this." Jennassa muttered.
"Wait, now I hear something…," Tanashi turned her head around, trying to determine the source of the sound. Yara then turned her head to look behind them. She listened again, and heard footsteps. They were heavy footsteps, and sounded as if they were getting closer…
"We're being followed!" she gasped. She turned around. "Run! Now!" The three padawans tore through the forest, trying to escape but could hear that the footsteps were getting louder.
"I don't understand!" Tanashi gasped as she ran. "How could the clones have found us?"
"Not clones!" Yara gasped back. "Predators!" At that moment, two lizard-like creatures leapt over their heads and spun around to face them. The giant lizards were quadropeds, with thick necks holding up a large head. A row of sharp spikes adorned their backs all the way from their skulls to the tips of their tails. The light of the moon revealed the color of their scales to be green, in order to blend in to their environment. As if they weren't frightening enough, the monsters were huge: appoximately ten feet tall and seventeen feet long from nose to tail.
The padawans skidded to a stop and pulled out their lightsabers, yellow, green and blue. Tanashi turned around to see another creature close in behind them, and then one on their right and left. The five monsters opened their great jaws lined with rows of sharp white teeth and roared. Then they charged.
Yara watched as two of the monsters ran at her. Just as one was about to scoop her up in its jaws, she twisted aside at the last second and swung her lightsaber at its side, creating a smoking gash. The monster roared in fury and slapped her with its tail. She flew into a tree and lost her grip on her weapon. The lightsaber tumbled from her hand and deactivated. She gasped, horrified, and then turned her face just in time to see the monsters charging her again. She leapt twenty feet up in the air. The monsters slammed into the tree as she did a perfect back flip and landed on the back of one, holding onto one of the larger spikes for dear life. The monster roared furiously and bucked, attempting to throw her off. When the second monster noticed her on its companion's back, it leapt up on the monster to try and grab her. Yara jumped off. The monster bit into his companion's back. Immediately, the two creatures began fighting with each other. Yara took the opportunity to search for her lightsaber.
A monster swung its head at Tanashi, who spun around and sliced its bottom jaw off. The creature roared in pain and fury. She then took her lightsaber and stabbed it in the throat. It roared again. Tanashi Force-pushed it into a fourth monster that was running to grab her. The fourth monster stumbled as the third slammed into it, but it managed to swing its tail around at her. The tail struck her in the stomach and she fell backwards, hitting her head on a rock. The pain was excruciating, and she felt dizzy as she struggled to get up. The monsters closed in on her again. Too dizzy to fight, she Force-pushed the creatures away from her and collapsed against a tree.
When the fifth monster charged at Jennassa, the girl leapt into the air and over the creature. Without stopping, she spun and sliced off one of its legs. Roaring in pain, the monster whipped its head around with its jaws wide open to bite her. Jennassa rolled away, and the monster bit into the ground. Jennassa then turned as quick as a flash, stabbed the creature through the head, and then cut up through its brain. She jumped back a few feet as the creature roared in pain. Suddenly, the one of the creatures that had been fighting Tanashi slammed into the monster. Jennassa gasped as the creatures fell on top of her. She tried to back up, but tripped over a root. The monster she had stabbed fell on her, not only pinning her to the ground but pinning her arms beneath it as well. Jennassa gasped in pain. The huge creature was crushing her. She could barely breath, and she felt as if her ribs were about to break.
Yara watched as Tanashi Force-pushed the monsters into each other. Hmmm, she thought. Not a bad idea. With that thought in mind, and still having no clue where her lightsaber was, Yara summoned the Force and with a flick of her wrist sent Tanashi's monsters flying into her own, which had still been fighting. The monsters roared in frustration and anger. Before they could charge her, she used the Force again to send them flying into a gigantic tree. They struck the tree so hard that it cracked and began to fall forward. It fell on top of one monster, knocking it unconscious. The other three monsters stood, and seeing their fallen companions, decided that the Jedi were no longer worth the fight. They turned and fled back into the jungle.
Yara collapsed to the ground in relief. She was sweating heavily and out of breath. Slowly, she got to her feet. It was then that she saw her lightsaber, only five feet from where she had been standing. After she retrieved her weapon, she ran towards Tanashi, who was still out cold. She shook her friend by the shoulders. "Tanashi! Wake up!"
Tanashi groaned and opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and then reached up to her head with her hand. "Ohhhh, my head…," she groaned.
"Just lie still." Yara commanded as she propped the Twi'lek girl against a tree. "Where's Jennassa?"
"I'm over here." Jennassa weakly replied. "Get…get it off…me…"
"Hang on." Yara replied. She stretched out her hand. The monster floated up off the ground a few feet. Jennassa pulled herself out from underneath the creature, and Yara let it drop to the ground. Jennassa sucked in a lungful of air and coughed violently. She slowly got to her feet, grimacing from the pain in her legs.
"Nothing's broken, but it almost feels like something is." she murmured. Slowly, she followed Yara to where Tanashi was sitting. Tanashi rubbed her head.
"Well, I'm not very dizzy anymore, but my head is still killing me." she said. Jennassa pulled out her lightsaber and tried to activate it. Instead of emitting the yellow lightsaber blade, however, it simply produced a shower of yellow sparks.
"Oh, great, the monster crushed my lightsaber. It's useless." She sighed and placed it on her belt.
Tanashi moaned again. "Well," she said, "I suppose our situation can't get anyworse, can it?" At that moment, the skies poured down rain in torrents. Within seconds, the padawans were soaked. Jennassa and Yara looked towards the skies and then slowly turned their heads towards Tanashi. The Twi'Lek girl chuckled slightly. "Uh, I guess not, then?"
Jennassa sighed and shook her head. "I hope that we don't run into any clones, because if we do—,"
"Shhh! Listen!" Yara suddenly snapped. Then they heard a sound that made their blood run cold: the sound of laserfire and footsteps coming their way.
Well, how's that for a little cliffhanger? Did you notice the little "I have a very bad feeling about this." quote? I couldn't resist. It just wouldn't be Star Wars if that famous little line wasn't in here. Anyways, that's the end of chapter three, so be looking for the fourth and final chapter to be up soon! Please don't forget to review!
