A Tear in Space 3: Unraveled
Disclaimer: Animorphs belongs to Scholastic, and Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.
Lory had never been happier to see her Master than she had at that moment.
"Lory!" she heard him exclaim, as she rushed to greet him. "We felt your presence leave from the Force. We were certain you were dead."
"I should have been," she answered him. "But for a strange phenomenon that took me to a strange world."
Rachel was already awake, and they were beginning to ask questions. Turning to them, she quickly explained what had happened.
"The explosion of the Blade ships engines must have caused another Sario Rip. For some reason we came to my home universe." For a moment, she again lost her Jedi trained calm.
That still worried her. Ever since she had seen the tales that were so similar to the world she had been brought up in, she had been on the verge of an emotional outburst. First, she had threatened her friends when they had tried to cover up the movies existence, and later, she had been unstable when they had attacked the yeerk's research center. She didn't want to think very hard about what it could mean.
"Whoa," she could hear Marco muttered to Jake. "We get to see the real thing, don't we?" His voice contained a mixture of excitement and nervousness. She couldn't blame him. They had been fighting a group of evil aliens for a long time, and they were seasoned warriors. She was proud to have known them.
It was so good to be home!
She began thinking of all the things she could show her friends then came to a screeching halt.
The Sith may still exist. They would kill Qui-Gon, if she let them. She could change things here. The only thing she had to do, she thought bitterly, was convince the Council that she knew that there was a possibility, (not a certainty, but a possibility!), of the Sith still being around. Not only that, they had yet to do the crimes that they committed in those same movies. She had no solid proof!
She groaned to herself, and repeated her vow. No matter what it took, she wouldn't let the Sith win. She would guard Qui-Gon with her life, when the time came, she would kill Palpatine, she would keep Anakin Skywalker from ever being born, she would-
She found her Master staring at her with a concerned expression.
"Is something amiss, apprentice?" he asked in his soothing Camaasi voice.
She took a steadying breath. "No, Master. I was thinking about the problems we would have getting my friends home," she lied quickly. By all tradition, a Padawan was forbidden to lie to her Master, but there was no way that she could tell him what was going though her mind at that moment. Besides, it wasn't all a lie, she consoled herself. I am worried about getting them home. We can't keep making big explosions and hope that it sends them to the right place.
I was wondering about that myself, remarked Ax, after Lory had introduced the Animorphs to her Master. There are many problems with the method of which we have arrived, and the way Lory returned. It would be difficult to repeat them, without killing us.
"We will deal with that later," said Lory's Master. "I think it would be prudent to convene a meeting of the Council. They would be very interested in what you have told us. They may also be able to provide guidance in our search for an answer. Would you mind showing your friends to a chamber, my apprentice?" he asked Lory kindly.
"Not at all, Master, once you tell me where we are."
He laughed. "Ever the pert one, aren't you? We are in the Temple, Padawan."
The confusion in Lory's expression went away. "Thank you, Master. Come on, let's go!" she called, and nearly ran down the hall.
The Animorphs looked at each other, then they followed.
Darth Nocturne again went over the ancient document containing one of the oldest Sith prophecies. It claimed that the first Dark Lord to transfer his soul would be the one to bring back the glory of their order. He intended to be the first.
Behind him, he felt the presence of his pupil.
"What have learned, my apprentice?" he asked the man behind him, without bothering to turn around.
"Our spy drones from the Jedi Temple have reported something interesting. Apparently, the young Padawan that had been thought dead has turned up alive, healthy, and is claiming to have visited another universe," Sidious told Nocturne in his cold, rasping voice.
Darth Nocturne turned to get a good look at his student's face, to see if he was lying or not. The Force almost seemed to hum at the mention of this news. He wondered what it could mean.
Sidious' face was as pale as it had ever been, half hidden in the black hood of his robe. His pale yellow eyes gave him a reptilian appearance, and his even paler blond hair was in a cut shorter than that of a Padawan. He was powerfully built, and very tall. His presence was as cool as many Jedi, but the hate burned as strongly as Nocturne's own.
Nocturne was looking forward to the day when he would displace Sidious' personality, and replace it with his own.
"Have you confirmed this report?"
"Yes, my Master. But if you should so wish, I will go and do so myself."
"Yes," Nocturne told him. "Go upstairs, and see what is going on."
The two Sith laughed. Who would think to look for them in the Jedi's own Temple?
"This place is huge," Marco remarked, trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably.
"It is," Lory told him, as they went to the Council waiting rooms. She had elected to take the semi-long way, so to show them around a bit. The Council would take its time getting to them, so they weren't in any way rushed.
"In the movies," Jake said. "It seemed a heck of a lot smaller."
Lory winced at the reminder. She didn't want to think about that.
"Duh, Jake," Rachel told him. "That was only a movie. This is the real thing."
They were walking through one of the many atriums that lined the outer walls of the Temple. Plants from many worlds grew up and down the walls, floor, and dangled from the ceiling. A miniature waterfall completed the image of serenity that permeated the entire building. The whole effect stunned the Animorphs.
May I try some of the grasses? Ax requested. They look delicious.
"I can't see any reason not to," Lory told him. "There are many species of grazers that eat here."
Thank you. He stepped carefully on the lush mat of grass to the side of the walkway.
This is very tasty grass, Ax commented, looking rather embarrassed about the way everyone stared at him.
"I'm glad you like it," Lory said, and beamed in delight.
She felt like an initiate again. It was fun showing off the wonders of her world to the Animorphs.
Lory began walking down the hall again, when she sensed a disturbance in the Force. It was then that she realized-
She didn't have time to realize much of anything, because a Force wave shoved her into the waterfall.
Jake saw Lory hit the water, and barked, "Tobias!"
I don't see anybody! he yelled back. Wait! Over there!
Jake had begun to morph tiger, and Rachel and the rest followed suit.
Then they heard the laughing.
A boy about their age came out from a large marble-like pillar.
"You nerf-herder! Hutt slime, drool machine! Wait until I-" they heard from behind them, in the pool.
Lory had nearly hit the bottom of the falls, and had kicked her way up again. She came up sputtering and very annoyed.
"I swear Qui-Gon, if you pull another prank like that again, I'll dunk you in bantha poo-doo!"
"You have no sense of humor, Lory," said the unknown boy. Jake got a closer look at him. He looked a great deal like the way he would expect a young Liam Neeson to appear. He was looking at the young Qui-Gon Jinn.
Qui-Gon walked over to Lory to help her out of the water. He must not have noticed the look of sheer mischief on her face. He gave her his hand, and she pulled him in, then crawled out herself.
"You!"
The both looked at each other, and dissolved into helpless laughter.
After helping her old friend out of the water, Lory gave introductions.
"I hope you'll forgive my saying so," Rachel asked, "but I thought that Jedi, even apprentices, were supposed to be more reserved than that."
Qui-Gon looked a little shame faced at that.
"Um, usually, we are, but I was so relieved at seeing my friend alive, that, well…" he trailed off.
"That dunk her in water, you did?" came a kindly, wise voice from an adjoining corridor.
"Master Yoda," both the Padawans said in unison, and bowed deeply.
Rachel and Cassie exchanged looks, and the also tried to bow. Jake and Marco hurriedly followed, with Ax and Tobias just looking confused.
"We are sorry, Master," Lory said. "I wanted to show my friends some of the Temple before going to the Council Chambers, and since I thought I would have time-" she gestured, trying to convey that she didn't know the time, that she didn't mean to be late, and that it wouldn't happen again.
Yoda chuckled. "Late, not, you are, young Padawan. I simply leave early to meet guests of ours."
He looked at the Animorphs with a critical eye. "Not strong as a Jedi is," he said finally. "Not in using the Force, but strong in other ways. Fighting for the Light, they are, and will do well, I think." He nodded in approval. "The Force is with them."
"Now, apprentice, come you will and explain how you survived being in a vacuum, and alive even when your own master believed you dead."
"Yes, my Master," Lory replied, trying to look dignified, even with water dripping down her nose.
She walked to the door of the corridor that Master Yoda had come from, and Jake and the others began to follow.
"Speak to you alone, first," Master Yoda told them. "Apprentice Qui-Gon, take these young people, you will, to the Council waiting room. Stop, not, to fall into anymore waterfalls, I think you should, yes?"
Embarrassed, Qui-Gon bowed again, and motioned for the Animorphs to follow him. He went in a different direction than Lory. Shrugging, they went with him.
"Strange," Yoda said to himself, looking around. He had felt something cold brush him in the Force. It had been tenuous at most, but still…
"Old, you are getting," he commented, and turned back down the hall. It had to have been nothing.
Darth Sidious went down his own path. He was dressed as a Padawan. He snorted to himself. He had to tell his real Master what he had seen, but his 'Master' would be looking for him soon.
As Lory approached the Chamber of the Jedi Council, she could feel nervousness drip off her like the water dripping from her robe. She shouldn't be feeling like that, she told herself sternly. A Jedi is in control of her emotions at all times. She sighed as she thought this. She could control them, but that didn't keep her from feeling them.
The Council was held in the tallest tower of the Temple. It was a circular room, walled in with transparisteel. It gave a glorious view of Coruscant no matter the time or weather. The Council was seated around the room, in chairs that were specifically built for whatever species sat in them. Those they interviewed would always speak to the senior members, but they would be inspected by all of the Council.
Rather like an insect under glass, she found herself thinking, wondering what they would find when they interviewed her. Then she berated herself for such thoughts. They were warriors for the Light. They wouldn't bite her.
Still, she couldn't hold back the shudder that went through her as she entered the ornate doors of the Chamber.
"So, Apprentice Lory, you claim to have been to another universe, and returned from there?" began Master Mace Windu.
"Yes, I do, sir," she whispered. I am not afraid, she repeated to herself. I am not afraid.
Then the awful thought occurred to her. What is this isn't my universe?
Panic hit her.
"I sense great fear in you," he said, looking surprised.
"I, sir, I just thought that maybe this wasn't my universe, and maybe I landed in one that was only similar, and that-"
A soft chuckle greeted her. "There are, believe it or not, ways to tell," said a voice from behind her.
Yadala, one of Master Yoda's species, told her of a type of subatomic particle that picked up a type of vibration that matched a particular universe. They had used a scanner on her when she had entered the room, and her frequency matched that of this continuum. The youths she brought with her did not.
Lory held in a sigh of relief. That was one worry solved.
"Shall we continue?" Windu asked. "However, young Padawan, your lack of calm would indicate that your recent adventures have left a bad impression on you."
Lory tightened her control as much as she could, and the questioning went on from there.
"How long have you known Lory?" asked Cassie when they entered the Spartan waiting room.
"All my life," answered Qui-Gon. "We are the same age, and were born on the same planet. Lory's parents were killed in a natural disaster, and my parents found her. They took her in, and our midi-chlorian count was taken at the same time. So we went to the Temple together."
"How old were you?" Jake wondered. "I heard that you were taken from your families very early."
"We aren't 'taken', if you mean like 'kidnapped'. Our families are told that we have the potential to be Jedi, and then, if they give their consent, we are allowed to go to train at the Temple. The first locating does take place in the first six months, or sometimes at as old as a year, but we aren't completely cut off from our home worlds. We are given tutoring there for many months when we are discovered, then we go to the Temple. We get to see and communicate with relatives frequently. If any alienation happens, it is when an initiate realizes that they have so little in common with those they care about. A person who has trained in the Temple for so long is naturally going to gravitate to others that have been trained in the Force. You can't describe being able to see without having ever been able to see yourself."
Interesting way to put it, Tobias commented.
"Sounds like I hear a little snobbery," sniffed Rachel.
"I don't mean it like that," Qui-Gon said hastily. "I meant that, well, if you haven't done something, you can't have someone tell you about it. The best way to know is to experience it."
"Yeah," Marco cracked. "Sounds to me like you think a little too highly of yourselves."
"No, " Jake said cheerfully, feeling like a ribbing would do the apprentice some good. "Lory wasn't like that, at least after we got to know her. She tried to tell us about the Force, remember? Do you think that it might just be Qui-Gon?"
Sounds that way to me, interjected Ax. I believe that you have told me how often it sounds like Andalites have the greatest arrogance in the universe. Maybe in ours, but I think that these people here have the most in this one.
"Hey!" exclaimed Qui-Gon. Then he understood that they were teasing him, and started to laugh. They all joined him.
They had begun to trade inter-universal jokes, like how many droids does it take to replace a glowpanel, what did the one armed droid say to the Wookie, and why did the chicken cross the road, when another Padawan entered the room.
"Hello, Qui-Gon," he said.
"Oh, hi, Palpatine," Qui-Gon answered. Palpatine was a few years younger than he was, but enormously talented. He had been chosen to be a Padawan at the age of eleven. That made him one of the youngest ever.
Despite his reputation, Qui-Gon could never warm to him. Face it, he mentally rebuked himself. You just don't like the guy.
Palpatine looked at them self-importantly. "The Council is ready to speak to the children now," he said to Qui-Gon, not even acknowledging the Animorph's presence.
He gestured for them to follow. Gritting their teeth at the insult, they followed him.
Qui-Gon sat in the room, not knowing what to think. With a sigh, he left.
Sidious had reported to his Master what he had learned about the children that had arrived with the Apprentice. What he had learned had intrigued Nocturne.
When Sidious had seen them begin to assume animal shapes, he had been fascinated. There were various species out there that had natural abilities along those lines, but he had never heard that it could be done technologically.
He assumed that was what it had to be. They clearly had at least three different species in that group, counting the humans. Yet, they had begun to change their form in the same manner. There was no other explanation. It had to be technology.
He had dutifully told Lord Nocturne this, straining to keep his hatred for his Master in check. It was difficult, especially when he knew what his Master had planned.
He had been the one to steal the holocron, and he had heard the myths associated with it. He had also gotten a good idea of what his Master was planning on using him for. When he had stolen, then replaced, the old prophecy scroll, he finally figured it out. His Master was going to steal his body.
He seethed with the rage that he could barely contain when Nocturne told him of what he had in mind for the children. He could barely concentrate on that when the thought of why Nocturne had mainly kept his training to the fighting aspects of the Force. He was only aware of Nocturne dismissing him, after telling him what he wanted.
"Yes, my Master," he almost spat, and left.
Tobias felt edgy as he flew along behind Palpatine. He knew what this guy was, or may not be, he reminded himself. There was every reason to believe that he would not turn to the Dark Side here, he repeated. After all, Lory wasn't in the movies, right?
Yep, a traitorous voice reminded him, but Lory could have been killed a long time before anything from the movie happened. She could have been on another mission, or she could have been wiped out by the Emperor's later purges. There is as much reason to think he could be a Sith as there is not to.
Ax, I have a bad feeling about this, he told his shorm.
To prove that statement correct, the world suddenly turned black.
Qui-Gon could feel the disturbance in the Force caused by someone in shock, and pain. He ran back the way he came, only to get caught in the same shock web that caught the Animorphs.
All over the Temple, the feeling of not rightness reverberated. Lory was struck with knowing… "They're in trouble!" she shouted.
She nearly ran from the room, when Master Yoda's voice halted her.
"Padawan, we have not dismissed you yet," his voice cracked with the sharpness of a slaver's whip.
Turning stiffly, Lory answered, "Don't you feel it? My friends, something's happened to them, I know it!"
"Strange," Mace Windu said softly, "that we, senior Jedi all, do not."
"Don't you feel anything?" Lory almost shrieked.
Yoda closed his eyes. "I feel a sense of wrongness, yes. Something is wrong in the Force. I sense…darkness…."
The rest of the Council looked at him in surprise, then they all followed him in reaching out. Lory joined them. Collectively, their minds reached out, and they could sense the distress of the Animorphs as they were taken, Qui-Gon's worry, and his own subsequent capture.
Ding-ding-ding-ding- chanted an alarm.
One of the other Council members tripped a com unit.
"What is it?"
"There has been a security breach, sir," said one of the security droids.
"Where?" asked Master Windu.
"According to Padawan Palpatine, someone has taken our guests, and Padawan Qui-Gon. He was the only one not taken."
"Palpatine?" Lory whispered. No one heard her, or was even paying attention.
"Get a group of Jedi and security 'bots together to search the Temple, Sergeant," Windu ordered. He looked over at Lory, saying," We'll get your friends back-" only to find that she was gone.
No one had felt her go. They all looked at each other in shock.
Lory charged down the halls of the Jedi Temple, with only one goal in her mind.
Palpatine.
She knew him for what he was, the Sith scum. She would make him tell her what he had done with her friends, what he had done with Qui-Gon!
Palpatine!
She was running now, with all the speed only someone Force trained could get. She would make him pay for what he had done to the Animorphs, for what he would do to the galaxy!
She had abandoned using the Force to run, now, and her lungs were sobbing for air. That didn't matter. She would stop him; ring the information from his mind. He would pay for hurting her brother!
Lory began thinking of all they had done as initiates, all the pranks, the games, going back to their home world on holidays. True, they weren't related by blood, but he was all the family she had ever had. They had promised to look out for each other, and she would keep that vow, no matter…
Her thoughts trailed off. No matter what? She asked herself.
No time for that. She had to get to Palpatine. Now.
There was his room.
Lory turned to his door, and asked to enter, politely.
She could here him fumble for the lock mechanism.
Hate burned inside her.
"Lory?" he asked, sounding surprised. That was all he had time for, before she grabbed him by the tunic collar, and threw him into his room. She shut the door behind her.
Palpatine tried to throw her back with the Force, but she smothered it before he began. He tried to get his lightsaber, but she had already snatched it up. He looked into her pinched, white face, and cold eyes, and wondered if she was insane.
"Now, Sithspawn," she growled at him. "You will tell me what I want to hear, or I will hurt you."
Palpatine sent all that he had left into an inarticulate cry for help.
Whatever had blocked the earlier attack from being detected, obviously wasn't working now. Lory's Master, now working with one of the search crews, sensed the battle going on between the two apprentices' wills. He also could tell that she was winning.
The others with him could sense the conflict as well. They all rushed to the nearest lift, and went down to the apprentices' wing. When they got there, what they saw shocked them.
Lory was standing over Palpatine, beating him. Not bothering to use the Force on him, she was pummeling him with her hands and feet, leaving bleeding marks all over him. She was screeching incoherently.
"Lory, stop!" her Master begged. It broke his heart, feeling the Dark Side pulse through her like that.
He grabbed her from behind. She didn't really notice. She just kept on screaming. Now he could understand what she was yelling.
"I know all about you! You fragging nerf-herding Sith loving Dark Jedi! I know what you will become! I know! Tell me what you did with them, Sith! Sith! I'll kill you! I won't let you do that to the galaxy! You hear me? I won't!"
A medical droid accompanied them, and gave her a sedative. She immediately began to fall asleep. She was so far gone that she couldn't even think enough to cleanse it from her system.
"You. I will stop…" she finally passed out.
"Are you all right?" he asked the boy.
Looking at his hurts, the apprentice said ," What do you think?" He sounded like his pride was hurt more than his body.
Ignoring the apprentice on the bed, he gently lifted his own Padawan, and took her to the medical bay.
Once she was gone, one of the other Jedi asked Palpatine," What did she want? What was she yelling at you when we got here?"
"She, she was asking me questions," he stated, still in shock. He touched some of his bruises and winced. "She thought that I was a dark Jedi, and that I was responsible for her friends kidnapping. Like the only reason I was left was because I had something to do with it."
"Well, lad, I hope you weren't, because if you were, I think she would have killed you."
Palpatine looked at the senior Jedi. "I think she was anyway."
Lory woke up to find herself inside a cell in the medical wing. It was usually used to confine those patients that were a danger to themselves, and others, or were extremely contagious. She wondered which she was. Maybe she was both.
She could feel the mad rage that had burned earlier, still striving to take over again. A part of her still wanted blood.
"Once you start down the Dark path…" she quoted softly to herself. She gave a short, ironic laugh. She had almost killed a fellow apprentice, and she had used the Dark Side to do it. No, she hadn't crushed his throat, or twisted his mind, but that strength that she had suddenly had to smother all of his counter attacks hadn't been a normal thing. A shudder passed through her. She could feel the lingering effects, clinging to her like fouled water. She fancied she could smell it.
She struggled to clear her head. Sitting down on the padded bench, she sat down to meditate. She had to work to push back the fear of expulsion; fear for her friends, knowing that if she was going to save them, there may be nothing left for her afterwards. Taking a deep breath, she listened for her heartbeat.
Finding it, she let the Force flow into her. She didn't reach, didn't grab, just drifted in it, and let the taste of the Animorphs presence come to her.
Almost- no, wait, maybe, she tugged, and- Lost it.
She tried again.
Remember how they felt, she thought. Ax's alienness, Rachel's strength, Cassie's wisdom, Marco's humor, Jake's will, and Tobias' spirit. Find them, let them find you-
With a flash, she knew where they were. They were still in the Temple.
She could feel Qui-Gon with them. He was safe!
Lory brushed against his mind, trying to send a message that she knew where he was, that she would help him, and that it would be soon.
It was when she was doing this, she felt the cold, tainted sliminess that she had so recently dabbled in. Only in this one, it wasn't just clinging to him, it flowed through him, making him a nexus of Darkness. There were two of them, she could tell, and they knew she was there-
She came back to herself with a snap. She had to wretch. Going over to the 'fresher unit in the cell, she began to heave her guts out.
"Not looking so good yourself, are you?" said a snotty voice behind her.
Grabbing a towel, she turned her head as she wiped her mouth, and saw Palpatine. "What do you want?" she said weakly. "Going to try for some payback?"
"NO," he said vehemently. He looked at her with an expression of disgust. "I was responsible for getting those children to the Council, and I failed in that task. I'm here to get you out."
"You're what?" Lory's mouth fell open. She couldn't have heard that right.
"I said I was going to get you out of here. What, is your hearing leaving you like your sanity?" he said sarcastically.
"Why?" she wanted to know.
Palpatine sighed, and ran his hands through his short brown hair. "Because I don't like being called Sith, by anybody. Even you. We may not like each other, but we both know that they are in danger, and we have to save them, and there isn't much time. The thing is, we also know that you will have to leave the order when we get them back."
Lory nodded slowly.
"I know what you got to be thinking, but, yes, I have heard the Masters talking, and you will be expelled anyway. So, you have nothing to loose."
"Okay, then, get me out," Lory said, and knew she had sealed her own fate.
"I will go also," said a gentle voice from behind them.
"Master!" Lory said in a strangled gasp, and bowed quickly, with Palpatine following her.
Lory was dreading this. Having her kind, wise teacher and friend tell her that she was no longer his Padawan, and having to leave. Was he here a little early? What the?
He had said he would go, too?
She gaped at him.
He smiled. "I said that I will go with you. Is that so surprising, my Padawan?" His expression turned deathly serious. "Do you have any idea where they might be?"
Shaking her head, she told him, "I mediated, and I think they are still in the Temple. Master, they were taken by Sith!"
"This is not a joking matter, child," he said sternly.
"I'm not joking! I know that we want to believe they are gone, but they aren't. I know that they are still here, you just wouldn't believe me. So, can we just go?"
Her Master sighed, and let her out. "We will test your sanity after we have saved your friends. Lead on."
Marco woke up to find himself in some sort of chains. They were attached to cuffs around his wrists and ankles, and were made of some type of metal that he was not familiar with.
"Man, I have got to stop going to all those late night parties," he mumbled, trying to remember what happened. When he did, he wished he hadn't.
He looked around, trying to find out where he was.
The room they were in was huge, and very dark, He couldn't see the ceiling. The walls that he could see were bare metal, with a chrome finish to them. He was on the ground floor, and there were several catwalks above him, with many more stairs that led to the room.
He was tacked up to a wall by the chains that held him. So were the others. Qui-Gon was next to him, and the only other that showed signs of waking.
"Qui-Gon, man, are you awake?" he asked, and was answered with a loud groan. After that, though, the apprentice Jedi came to with surprising swiftness.
"Yes, I think I am," he said, then looked around. " but I hope I'm not."
"Any idea where we are?"
Qui-Gon shook his head. "I've never been here. How are the others?"
"Still out of it. Can you do any Jedi things to get us out of here?"
Qui-Gon composed himself. "I can try."
"Nuh-uh, man," Marco said quickly. "Do or do not, there is no try, remember?"
"How did you know that saying?" Marco opened his mouth, when Qui-Gon said," Never mind, I don't want to know."
Qui-Gon's face took on a look of intense concentration. He became so still that Marco wondered if he was still breathing. This went on long enough that Marco wondered if he should try to pinch him, when he came out of his trance.
"I think Lory knows where we are, but other than her, no one else could hear me."
"This isn't good."
"No, it's not," both the boys heard, and they whipped their heads around to see where it was coming from.
An old man, followed by a younger one, both dressed in black and carrying lightsabers, walked stately into the room from one of the many stairs. Menace rolled off them in waves.
It was then that Jake and the other Animorphs decided to join the land of the conscious. Not that they liked being awake any better when they realized what was going on.
"Are those guys what I think they are?" Rachel whispered.
"I hope you are not thinking what I am thinking," Qui-Gon whispered back, "because if you are, then the whole galaxy is about to have a big problem."
"I am Lord Nocturne," said the older of the two. "This is my apprentice, Darth Sidious. I have brought you here to tell me how it was that you were able to change your forms. Tell me how, and you will die quickly. If I have to force the knowledge from you, I will make your deaths slow, lingering, and your screams will forever haunt the nightmares of those who come after you. The choice is yours."
Marco raised his hand. "Is this a multiple choice question?"
Lory was running as fast as the Force could make her. Her danger sense was tingling.
She had mentioned that to Marco once, and he had made a joke about some sort of spider-man, but that was beside the point.
Her Master had given her back the lightsaber that he had taken when she was unconscious. She and he were running for all they were worth. Palpatine had decided to stay behind.
She was glad for the lightsaber, because she ran smack into a blank synthstone wall.
Rubbing her nose, she examined the wall to see if there were any breaks, cracks, anything to indicate a door. Finding none, but her intuition demanding that her friends were behind it, she ignited her blade. Sliding it into the harder than natural stone material, she used the Force to pull the cut out back smoothly, and let down easily on the floor behind her.
Her Master looked at her in wonder.
"Your strength has increased immeasurably," he told her, his eyes shining. "And you used only the light. Amazing, I think when someone you care about is in trouble, or when you absolutely have to, your strength increases. Simply amazing."
Lory wasn't paying any attention. There was a stair well behind the door, and all her energy focused on finding her friends.
She sprinted down, just in time to hear Marco crack, "multiple choice question?"
"Answer's D: none of the above!" she shouted, and charged the two Sith.
She could hear Marco's typical, "Are you insane?" echo from behind her. Only there was no time for that now. Now was time for staying alive.
Cassie took advantage of the situation to begin morphing her wolf. When her shackles became to big for her wolf joints, she ran out, and started harrying their jailers. The others started following her lead.
A jolt of Force generated lightening struck Cassie full in the chest when she tried to bite Nocturne, but Rachel soon took her place. Lory was in a full fledged lightsaber duel with Sidious. No one dared get close.
"You!" sounded the shocked voice of Lory's Master. Sidious looked up, in time for Lory to kick him in the face.
"Your Windu's apprentice!"
Sidious snarled something in a language that none of them knew.
The fight continued.
The Animorphs concentrated on Nocturne, who had yet to go for his lightsaber. He was using the tactic of Sith lightening well enough that he didn't really need it.
Then Qui-Gon and Lory's Master joined in the fray. Both of them had lightsabers blazing, and Nocturne had no choice but to draw his own.
Camaasi are an extremely strong species. They managed to hem Nocturne in quickly.
Sidious and Lory fight looked like it should have been Sidious' victory, hands down, but she was holding her own. This was a shocking development for Sidious. He had believed that he could go up against Masters, and win. How was this apprentice surviving?
She was backing away, but she had held her own. The one thing that Lory had, that Sidious didn't, was experience. She was the veteran of space battles, smuggler shootouts, and hand to hand fighting that he wasn't. So she stayed alive for a little longer.
Nocturne was cornered, and was casting about, looking for a way out. He really didn't have one, except… Using his own telekinetic talent, he launched himself onto one of the catwalks above him. The Master did the same, jumping up to battle on. The Animorphs except Tobias were land bound.
Qui-Gon joined Lory, and they began to get the upper hand against Sidious. He was slowing, and he had lost much of his confidence in himself. Then he, two, decided to make a leap to the catwalks.
Lory added strength to her legs, and grabbed the edge of the walkway with both hands. Qui-Gon tried to follow, but couldn't make the jump.
What do we do now, O glorious leader? Marco asked.
I don't- Jake said, then got an idea. Tobias, can you go for one of the Sith's eyes?
Maybe, Tobias said doubtfully. The battle had resumed between Lory and Sidious, and was going far more fiercely than he wanted to try to get in to.
However, the one with Nocturne…?
Tobias struggled for altitude in the still air, dived, and-
Strike!
He raked his talons across the Dark Lord's face, either getting his eyes, or blinding him with blood. Whatever it was, it gave Lory's Master enough time to behead him.
Whooosh!
The explosion from the Sith's body shook the room. The Force released was so much that-
Cassie shook her head, wondering where she was. Last she knew, she had been in wolf morph. Now, she was in her barn. So was everyone else.
"Did we just win?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know," Jake answered, sounding hoarse. "I don't think we ever will."
"I hope that Lory won," Cassie whispered, and all the others nodded.
We will have to believe that she did. Ax said.
"Why?" Marco smart-mouthed.
What else can we do?
Lory saw when her Master took out Nocturne. Then the explosion rocked the room.
Sidious felt the death of his Master, and rejoiced. He would rebuild the Sith, and take over the galaxy! It would all be his! He exulted, briefly distracted.
That was all that Lory needed. In that second, she lashed out with a snap kick to his left knee and crushed his kneecap.
"NOO!" he howled.
With one smooth motion, she sent her yellow blade into his heart, and incinerated it.
Sidious wanted to laugh. While his Master may not have had time to transfer his soul, he would, and-
He exploded.
Lory, Qui-Gon, and her Master were knocked off their feet.
Palpatine jerked when he felt the death of both Dark Lords, but then, so did everyone in the Temple.
Qui-Gon coughed. He had his wind beat out of him.
"Lory?" he called. He heard her groan softly. He crawled over to her.
"She's in shock," he heard someone say. That was the last thing he heard, before he passed out.
He spent a little time with Lory in the recovery room when she woke up.
"Are you sure you want to leave the order?" he asked again. Even though after she had been exonerated by ferreting out the Dark Jedi, as the Council were calling them, and would be allowed to keep her Padawan status, she had decided to quit.
"Yes, I do, idiot," she told him. That was another thing about her was strange. She treated him differently.
"WHY?" he asked again.
She sighed in exaggerated patience. "I don't want to be a Jedi now."
"Why not? It's all you ever wanted!"
"Not anymore," she whispered, her eyes opaque.
"Listen, if you don't want to understand, you can leave. I don't care, nerf-herder."
Feeling hurt, and wondering what had gotten into his friend, Qui-Gon left.
Behind him, he could hear her laughing at him.
Later that night, Lory listened carefully, and prepared to leave.
Looking into a mirror, she said softly to herself, "No, Jedi, I don't want to join your pitiful order. I will rebuild my own."
In the mirror, she saw her eyes turn yellow, and the reborn Darth Sidious laughed softly.
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