Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars in any way. I only own my OCs and the plot for this chapter.
Chapter 4- Hope
Shibaan
Hyena Clan was in front of us and our allies behind us. I had morphed into my wolf form along with Kyrea and Edeme. I knew that my hind leg wasn't going to do me any favors, my pelt made up for that though. My pelt was black, darker than the night sky with no hint of grey or dark blue, just pure black.
"You guys ready for this?" I growled to Kyrea and Edeme.
"Ha, I was just about to ask you the same thing." Kyrea growled back.
"Let's do this!" Edeme yipped.
All three of us rushed the hyenas closest to us. They weren't ready for our attack, but their comrades were and blocked our slashing fangs. Pretty soon it was one of us against three Hyena members. I stole a glance behind me; the Republic people who Kyrea had brought with her were doing pretty well, especially the girl who Kyrea had called "Ahsoka". You could tell that she was good just by her stance. Her legs were an equal space apart parallel to her shoulders; this showed that she had experience and a lot of practice. Her stance was almost exactly like the man beside her. I assumed from the resemblance that the man was her mentor. Both of them skillfully cutting at the mass of hyenas that were around them.
I turned back to face my three opponents. I knew I had to find the quickest ways to kill them, every minute I wasted more hyenas would pass me and go to my friends and the Republic people. After about five long second of circling, one of the hyenas got cocky and rushed me. I could hear hisses of disappointment and anger from the other hyenas as I crushed the cocky hyena's throat with my jaws. Sour blood filled my mouth. I dropped the lifeless body and growled, showing my now bloody teeth. The other two hyenas didn't get angry and rush, instead they started to circle me, again. Each going a different direction, one to my left and the other to my right. I looked at the one to my right first; he was an older hyena, probably about in his late thirties or early forties in his human form, he also had a lot of scars on his face and ears. This could mean he was either experienced or he was just lucky to live (about a thousand times... So the lucky hypothesis was kind of bust) I looked to the hyena on my left. His jaws were slavering. He didn't have many scars nor was he very old, maybe about in his early twenties. His stance was horrible and sloppy. He was holding his head too high, leaving much of his throat exposed. A mistake only an unseasoned fighter would make.
His eyes weren't very focused on me either. He was looking at my throat and only my throat, he didn't look like he had a plan other than "go for the throat". I decided that he was going to be the first to go, it would give me more time to... "dance" with the older more experienced one. I lunged for the unguarded throat. My target moved, he may not have a lot of experience but, he was fast. I missed his throat, my fangs making a sharp *click* next to his ear.
He recovered and ran at me, however, he didn't notice that his companion was standing behind me. I side-stepped and the younger male slammed into his older companion. While they were in a daze, I ran behind the young male and bit down on the top of his neck and I shook my head. I only stopped shaking when I heard the satisfying snap of his neck. Still holding the body, I looked at the older male... he wasn't intimidated. I have to admit that I was a bit happy that he wasn't backing down. I dropped the body and we circled each other, eyeing weak points. Growling at each other, our eyes were stone cold. We lunged at each other. With our jaws locked together, we wrestled each other trying to pin one another to the floor for an easier kill. He was smaller than me but he was strong. Our feet made small ditches in the ground from trying to push one another. I ended up flipped him over but the fight still wasn't over. (Even though animals are on their backs doesn't mean that they can't defend themselves.) He had his hind legs kicking out, scratching my face, and holding me at bay while he tried to roll on his side and get up. I instinctively bit one of his hind legs.
CRUNCH!
He howled in pain. This was cut short however as I slashed his throat; he tried to growl and slash back at me but he only succeeded in gurgling. While the pain distracted him I had slit his wind-pipe and blood was quickly going down the tube. He was drowning in his own blood. I looked away from my dying opponent. I saw Edeme and that she could use a hand, or a paw rather. Since I no longer had a threat I raced, as fast as my injured leg would let me, to help Edeme, who was facing four hyenas.
Edeme
I had killed three hyenas before this pack of four came and challenged me. I could do well against individual opponents but a group? I couldn't do as well. I had managed to break one of hyena's legs. The other ones still circled me, staring, waiting for me to make a move. All of a sudden, at a silent signal, they all rushed me at once. They jumped on top of me, making me crumple to the floor, since I couldn't support their weight. They started tearing at my hide. All I could do was try to fend off the slashing fangs. After about ten painful minuets or seconds...I couldn't tell. I heard a loud snarl of anger and many howls of pain. The number of fangs slashing at me went from four to none in a matter of seconds. I looked up and saw Shibaan tearing at the four hyenas and giving them Hell. She was merciless, tearing at their ears, eyes, noses, and faces in general. One of them retreated, half of his face laid open. The others that were fighting were bleeding from their face or chest. Fur and huge chunks of flesh being torn from them. Shibaan wasn't fighting anymore. She was taking revenge... For capturing her clan mates, imprisoning her, and attacking her friends.
More and more hyenas came to fight her, as more and more were retreating, often missing eyes, ears, or even limbs. I looked behind me at Kyrea. She was fighting three hyenas and winning. Fur was flying everywhere and her bright white fur was getting drenched with red hyena blood. I felt a bit useless but I quickly shook off the thought, I couldn't think about myself in a time like this, I looked to the soldiers that Kyrea was with. They were doing well. The men with the funny looking glowing swords were killing hyenas left and right.
How are there hyenas still coming? There were only twenty of them.
I couldn't think about this for long because I saw a hyena coming up behind a man in white and blue armor. He was too busy shooting at the enemy in front of him to look behind. I got up and ran toward the hyena. When I was about five feet away when I gave a snarl, then pounced on the unsuspecting hyena. I crashed into his side, sending him sprawling, and started tearing at his stomach. His surprise made him slow and he was on the floor, weakening quickly. I stopped tearing at his stomach and gripped his throat in my jaws. His wind-pipe and jugular vein gave way, killing him. I looked back at the man in blue armor. I noticed that he had a sort of helmet on, it had a T shape for the eyes, and it looked pretty cool. He gave a quick nod before again firing into the mass of hyenas. I noticed that because of their sheer numbers they had managed to push us close together in a sort of ring. Once they had us here they changed back into their human forms.
This isn't good. I thought before morphing back into human form too. Kyrea and Shibaan had done the same. We all drew our weapons and got ready for the real fight.
Obi-wan Kenobi
The things that attacked us, which were called Hyenas according to Snow, were relentless. There seemed to be no end to their numbers. Cody was blasting away into the hoard of snarling beasts. Snow and her friends had changed back into their human forms. We had been pushed into a circle backs to backs, gleaming pairs of eyes all around us. Anakin, Ahsoka, and I were surprised that for a military based race these Hyenas were reckless.
"Well, time for Plan B."
I gave a shrill whistle and out of the forest came our reinforcements. Clones on speeders came out of the forest firing into the mass surrounding us. The hyenas around us, turned and many of them gave the last growl they would ever give. That was when they took out weapons that had very strange abilities. Normally, laser rounds would go right through or damage metal, but the laser bolts reflected off their blades! It was as if they were our own light-sabers! The speeders came back around in another attempt to break up the mass. It was like watching a jousting match; some hyenas went down while others jumped onto some of the oncoming speeders and killed the clones driving them.
"Come on!" Edeme yelled to Snow. They ran toward the speeders, through a gap that I had not seen, and jumped onto the backs of two different speeders, much to the driving clone's surprise. The drivers of those two speeders were safe; hyena members would try to jump on the bikes, but were quickly dealt with, with either a stab to the chest or a slice to the throat.
I was starting to realize how much military training these people had. Snow, Shadow, and Edeme were killing these people with practiced ease and swiftness. This also, I admit, made me a bit startled.
If the separatists droids did not even know near a half what Dragolian solders knew then what chance would the repub-...? I didn't even want to think about it.
The other hyena members, that were not trying to destroy the speeders, were going after us and our ground troops. The tempo of hacks and slashes I was forced to deal with, doubled. Ahsoka, Anakin, and I were again backed into a small circle back to back. We hacked and slashed at the many bodies but it seemed that when you killed one of them three more took his or her place.
"This isn't going well!" I shouted. As I said this, however, the hyenas' suddenly turned around, and shot off, running away from the fight.
"Looks like you spoke too soon master." Anakin said, playing a slight smirk.
Cody and Rex jogged up. "Not many men were killed; it seems that the Hyenas just up and ran when they saw the reinforcements." Cody reported.
"That is good news, but I am wondering why these warriors just up and ran. Go see if the men saw anything unusual before they stepped in." Cody nodded and turned to carry out the order. At this point one of Snow's friends walked up to us.
"I am afraid we haven't been properly introduced," she said lightly smiling, "I am Shadow."
"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"I am Anakin Skywalker."
"I'm Ahsoka."
Shadow's head bowed a little in silent greeting.
"So do you know why the Hyena's retreated?"
"Yes, didn't you hear it? It was a battle horn in the distance."
"Battle horns? I didn't hear anything." Ahsoka said looking to Anakin.
"I think they were using a special horn. You see our race, due to our other form, can see, hear, and smell things that normal people wouldn't." Said a voice behind us. I turned to see a twelve-year-old girl. She smiled, "Hi, my name is Red"
"Very pleased to meet you." I replied. Anakin and Ahsoka each gave a nod in greeting. Snow gave a whistle, Shadow and Red looked over. She put two fingers up, opened and shut them twice, then nodded. Red nodded and looked back at us.
"I have to go back to my clan. They are probably wondering about Hyena Clan. It was nice meeting you guys." She smiled, turned to Shadow, and touched two fingers to the middle of her forehead then held them out to Shadow. Shadow returned the gesture to Red.
"'Ì'awn zong." (Stay safe) She said.
I didn't understand this language, but I had an idea that it meant good-bye. Red just smiled, nodded, and headed over to Snow who said something making Red smile even bigger. Snow patted Red on the shoulder and watched as Red went into her form and ran to where ever she had been called.
"What did you say to her?" Ahsoka questioned looking at Shadow.
"Oh, I just told her to stay safe. Snow, Red, and I go way back. We could pass as sisters if we wanted."
"Interesting." I said "What is the language that you spoke, I hadn't heard of it on any of the planets that I have been."
"It's Na'vi."
"Interesting, well I-" I looked down at her leg that she was somewhat favoring. "I think you should have that looked at."
"Oh right, almost forgot, which way to the medic?"
"We have medics here just not with the right equipment to treat that kind of wound. We should get back to camp and see what we can do."
"Alright then, oh wait I need my gear. They took it from me. It's probably still around here somewhere."
"General Skywalker!"
Anakin Skywalker
I turned as my name was called. It was Rex with two men behind him carrying a medium-sized chest.
"What is it Rex?"
"I don't know sir; we haven't been able to crack the code on it." The troopers put the box down and I crouched to look at it. It was a number pad.
"You can't crack it?" I asked
"No sir, the pad might be linked to an explosive on the inside."
"Mind if I try?" I turned to see Snow coming forward.
"Sure I don't see why not. Snow, this is Rex, my first in command."
Snow smiled and nodded "Nice to meet you. Now then let me see what I can do about this code."
She tapped on the box then gave it a small kick. Whatever was inside of it moved and clanged together. Then she gave a laugh.
"Wow, the hyenas were really stupid this time."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this number pad isn't really the key to open this. It is just a distraction." As if to demonstrate she crouched down next to me and punched through the number pad. She pulled out a fistful of false wiring and flipped something up in the middle of the plugs and remaining wires.
"You should be able to lift the lid now." She said standing back up. I stared at her for a second and then lifted the lid. Inside was a bunch of weapons. Swords, daggers, a tomahawk, and some that even I didn't know.
"Shadow, seems we found your gear!" Snow exclaimed.
"Hell yes!" Shadow said, walking up to the chest. She pulled out a pair of daggers and put them in sheaths on the small of her back. She pulled out some small daggers as well and slipped them into hidden pouches on her person. After a third set of daggers she pulled out the tomahawk and strapped that on her left thigh.
"Oh, hello there." She said pulling out a blade. "Seems that I wasn't the first to be robbed by hyena clan." She unsheathed the blade a bit and seemed satisfied with its' clean condition. After taking a closer look at it I saw that the blade had a hand and a half hilt with a three-foot blade. Shadow laid it on the floor and began again to rummage around in the chest. "Ooooo, wow." She said as she pulled out a bow. "She rubbed her hand along the string and frame. "They don't make 'em like this anymore." She was right, the bow was made out of wood, not sure what kind, but wood. She looked inside the chest again and found a quiver with a good twenty arrows in it. Taking out one of the arrows, she notched it into the bow and drew back the string, pointing away from us. "It's a good bow, best one I've ever strung." She commented looking back to Snow. Snow just nodded and took a look inside it as well and pulled out two more bows.
"They must have belonged to another clan. These are not the kind of bows you can steal and not think twice about the owner coming after you." She said a hint of sadness in her voice and rubbing a faint red splotch. Shadow nodded her eyes downcast while she put the bows across her back. After rummaging around some more Shadow pulled out a small backpack and took a peek inside. She gave a small nod, closed the pack, and slung it carefully over her shoulder. Picking up the sword, she strapped it to her hip.
"The rest we can leave. Other clans might be here looking for this stuff. No doubt some are here now." Shadow said standing up, quivers in hand. Rex nodded and left the chest open and walked toward the speeders.
"We don't have enough speeders for everyone." Ahsoka said.
"No problem, I can ride Snow." Shadow replied.
My master raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'ride Snow'?"
"Watch." Shadow said turning around to Snow.
Snow took off her hood; her blue eyes glinted a bit mischievously. She closed her eyes and squeezed them together. After about two seconds she opened her eyes and to everyone's surprise they were no longer human looking. Instead, they were the eyes of a wolf.
"You might want to take a few steps back" she said. We all took ten paces back. Snow took an extra five paces and gave a running start. After five paces, she jumped forward and morphed. This form, however, was bigger than her normal wolf, her shoulder was at my shoulder and she was as long as a speeder from nose to tail.
"Why do you have to jump when you go into a bigger form?" Ahsoka asked hesitantly. To our great surprise Snow was the one who answered.
"I jump because it is easier to go from my minor form to my greater form. The energy that allows us to change flows evenly and if I was to change while not in motion it would most likely make you nauseous."
Snow, in her greater wolf form, was talking. Her voice was still the same; it just had growls added to it.
Ahsoka stared in awe as Snow crouched down and Shadow jumped and pulled herself onto Snow's back. Shadow must have seen the look on my padawan's face. "You know there is room for one more." She said smiling, patting a spot beside her. Ahsoka looked over at means I couldn't help but nod. Her face lit up in childish happiness and force jumped next to Shadow.
Well it's good to know my padawan is already getting along with them.
Ahsoka leaned over and whispered something in Shadow's ear. Shadow nodded, leaned forward, and started whispering in one of Snow's ears. Snow gave a wolfish grin and stamped her feet a bit.
"Race you back to camp master!" Ahsoka yelled as Snow took off with surprising speed.
"Do you think we can catch up to them?" Obi-wan said looking over at me.
"Sure we can master we just need to go faster than them." I said jumping on an undamaged speeder and my master getting onto a speeder beside mine.
"I was afraid you would say that."
Ahsoka
"Do you think we can get to the camp before my master?" I yelled.
"Yeah, why not?" Shadow yelled back.
"Well, we are going against machines that only need fuel. Won't Snow get tired?"
Snow gave what sounded like a laugh. "You doubt me Ahsoka? I am offended." she said in mock anger.
"No I'm just curious."
"Well, to answer your question, yes I will get tired. That, however, won't be for a while!" Snow said running even faster.
As I was riding Snow I couldn't help but feel a bit ridiculous. I was riding a wolf who was actually a girl about my age. That feeling though was replaced by pure enjoyment. For once I could finally hang out with female company. Riding on Snow, next to Shadow was awesome and exhilarating. I didn't need the force to feel the energy going through Snow's muscles as she ran and I didn't need the force to get this sense of freedom and enjoyment.
We are totally going to win this race.
Kyrea and Shibaan (Snow and Shadow)
I hope Edeme made it to her clan alright.
Wow, sorry it took me soooooo long to upload this. I was busy with school, tests and what-not. I am going to be trying to update these faster. Oh you also may have noticed that I used the Language from Avatar. Yeah I was too lazy to make up my own language so I thought that Na'vi would suit this. NO I do not own the Na'vi language. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to R&R! :)
