Chapter 3
Darkness Level
"This, 'Rule of Two'? I have never heard of that. I am keeping to the ways of training multiple apprentices to join our ranks, my lord. However, he will always be my finest learner... he masters and is consumed by the dark side easily. It is child's play to train apprentices..."
-Darth Blazde to Palpatine.
They couldn't believe their eyes on what just became of their fates. They were just on a patrol, saying how boring Coruscant is, and now they are fleeing from a Separatist assault. Jax began to thought what was happening up in space during this assault.
"General, what do we do now?" The 41st clones turned to Allia. The LAAT would of been pitched black if it weren't for a red light that was on on either side of the LAAT. Allia said nothing. He was concentrating on thinking about what to do next. Even Captain Camo was silent, and he usually can't help but of made a joke by now about something.
The LAAT with Dunkel, Blackout, Sky, Kicker, and Captain Bullseye was not nearly as quiet as Commander Jax's LAAT. Some of the clones were in an argument about the takeover, pinning blame on each other.
"SILENCE!" Dunkel shouted. All of the clones stopped and looked at him, "I have had enough of all of your mouths! It was no ones fault and it never will be one mans fault. What's done is done, do I make myself clear?!"
Each and every single one of the clones stood at attention and replied "SIR YES SIR!"
"Now... Captain," Dunkel turned to Bullseye, "You said the Chancellor had a message for me?"
The Captain nodded. He pulled out his hologram and went in one of the back rooms of the LAAT where no one was.
The hologram activated, and Chancellor Palpatine looked at Dunkel, who was now at attention.
"Commander, report on what had happened? We lost communications with that base," The Chancellor frowned while speaking that.
"Sir, the Separatists gave us an assault on their base. I think the droids they sent out were smarter than usual. They seemed to use clone tactics," Dunkel reported. The Chancellor continued frowning at the news.
"Well, Dunkel, at least Captain Bullseye and the evacuation party came when it did," Palpatine continued.
"Aye, sir. We'd be either captives or dead if it wasn't for them," Dunkel turned slightly to the Captain when he spoke that. They both nodded at each other.
"Sir! Commander Dunkel, Jax, and Captain Gamma are going to be reporting to the Republic base near the Senate building until they regather the numbers and strength to reclaim their old base. For now, the CIS has a staging grounds to attack this base, so we can't afford to loose it. Same with 'Moon' Outpost, sir," Bullseye explained to him. The Chancellor nodded as he listened to the Captain.
"I'll keep that in mind. Commander, Captain, tell the pilot to make a stop at the Senate building first to drop you two and the Senate Commandos off, good luck. Good day, Chancellor."
The Chancellor signed off of the hologram. Commander Dunkel and Captain Bullseye returned to passenger area, where it remained quiet for the rest of their trip.
Zerd tied the Senator up to a chair on board his ship. He couldn't risk him going anywhere else. He then walked over to the cockpit of the ship, where he saw Akira get up and walk over to him.
"Nice work. Now all we need to do is get our pay and get off his planet," Zerd told her. Akira nodded as she walked back into the cockpit.
The Senator sat quietly when Zerd came in. He refused to say a word to Zerd, and he couldn't either with his mouth tied up to some wire. Zerd looked down at the Senator, and the senator looked back up with a glare. The bounty hunter grinned at the Senator as he went to go check up on his astromech droid, who watched Zerd the whole time.
A robed figure walked into a chamber. His master personally requested him there. He was guided by another figure, who wore a cape around his neck and was armored. He was instructed to say nothing while the two robed men talked.
"My lord, I have arrived," he bowed to another robed figure who walked up to him.
"Blazde, rise!" his master stated. Blazde stood up before his master. "How was the assault?" he questioned.
"It went better than ever, my lord. The new droids made their troopers flee. My sources say they headed to the nearest Republic base. I can easily send my squad of Pyro Droids to finish them off," Blazde easily responded. He showed no mercy towards his master in matters of speech.
"Good... Good... Blazde, I'd like for you to go through a little... 'Obstacle course,'" the robed man grinned when he said Obstacle course.
"I have never failed it, and I never will, my lord," Blazde stated. Wisely, yet confidently. His dark and cruel voice could not overrule how his personality sounded.
"Good... Step over there," the robed man pointed to a wall. That is how it looked at first, anyways. Then the walls were shortened and revealed a secret circular teleporter. Blazde experienced it many times before, but he thinks it isn't going to send him to the same destination it always does. He stepped to it, looked at the robed man and this armored companion for the last time until he returns, and everything flashed away before his eyes.
It seemed like he was in a human hyperspace. Blue lights kept spraying by and ahead was what looked like a blue black hole. Eventually, however, he stopped. Everything around him was either lava or rocks.
"This must be Mustafar," Blazde began to talk to himself, "but why would he send me here?" Suddenly, he heard some rocks falling down. Unnatural, as only someone else could of made those rocks full manually. Unless...
Blazde pulled out his double-bladed lightsaber, which had red beams come out of it. He slashed it behind him, and another single red lightsaber slashed back, revealing a dark figure. His new opponent wore black armor and had a black hood cover his head, making it nearly impossible to see his face. Blazde could still see the gleaming red eyes behind the whole and the eerie smile that watched him. This could of been only one person.
"So, Blazde. You finally want to come back to your master? You gonna crawl over here? I have lava awaiting you!" the robed figure shouted at him, who now was 3 yards away from Blazde.
"Zankokuna Akuma, my old master. I will never crawl back to you. For now I am the master," Blazde shot back. Zankokuna's grin faded slightly, replaced with anger.
Blazde charged at him, aiming for his torso. Zankokuna force leaped back on to another island 10 yards away. He pointed his open hand at Blazde and begun electrocuting him. Blazde resisted it, but his cloak fell off revealing his true uniform. He wore black armor painted with red on it. A red hood came out from his armor on to his head, with also had a black mask and spiky eye-patch on it, showing only one of Blazde's eyes on his face. Bellow his armor it continued, but a black robe poked out it to look like a kama.
"Impressive, Blazde. Has your 'boss' sharpened up your skills? You used to be as strong as a fly!" Zankokuna electrocuted Blazde again after the taunt, but this time Blazde reflected it right back at him.
"Old man, I am far greater than you can ever imagine. And it was all because I am no longer your apprentice!" he leaped over to his old master and they began slashing. Blazde used an excellent combo of Form IV Ataru and Form VII Juyo. Zankokuna was getting tired fast, for having to survive on Mustafar for years. Blazde finally saw an opening and spin kicked Zankokuna multiple times then upper cutted him hard into the sky. When he finally landed, Zankokuna and Blazde continued fighting. They fell into an abandoned outpost and continued there.
Blazde struck unexpectedly at Zankokuna's shoulders, wounding Zankokuna. He began cutting at Blazde at random, when he hit the wrong part of the lightsaber. The handle his lightsaber should of cut in half instead wasn't even dented. In return, Zankokuna's lightsaber shorted out.
"Cortosis... clever," Zankokuna growled.
Blazde finished the job on Zankokuna's arms and chopped them off. Defenseless, Zankokuna fall to the floor in pain. Only then did Blazde chop off Zankokuna's legs. Blood began to pour out from his waist and arms, and Zankokuna cried in pain. Blazde disabled his lightsaber and put it on his back. He walked out of the outpost and found the teleport that took him to Mustafar in the first place, and warped back.
When Blazde returned to the robed man, he was most pleased. "So, he has been taken care of? Left to suffer on Mustafar?" he asked.
Blazde soundly replied, "Yes, my lord. He isn't dead yet. He soon will be, but he can think about life for now."
The other figure grinned, "Good." Suddenly, the teleporter was used again and this time two figures similar to Blazde's companion walked out with the body of Zankokuna. They placed him on a desk and faced the dark lord. "Get him fixed up," the figure stated. The guards nodded and took him took him away.
"You said you wanted him to suffer, my lord. Why are you going to attempt to fix him now?" Blazde confusedly asked. The robed figure turned his head back to Blazde.
"You say you are the master now, Blazde?" the robed figure quoted, "Well, every master needs an apprentice. Your old master is your new apprentice now." The robed figure grinned under his hood, "I suggest you go say hello to him soon."