We're almost to the end, but before we get there, I present to you chapter 10 of Eyes Open! Hope y'all enjoy!
Like the other tunnels, namely the vent systems, that Kira had been in, this one was dark. However, it was also hot and humid in this cavern, while the vents had been cool and breezy. The ground felt squishy beneath her feet.
"Come on," Allara whispered from up ahead. "It won't be long until they discover we're missing."
Knowing Allara was correct, the younglings shuffled as quickly as possible down the tunnel after their Ugnaught guide. It was slow going. People hit their heads on the low ceiling, tripped over each other, or lost their way in the dim light. Kira found herself sticking close to the walls of the cave.
After only a few minutes, a new noise joined the younglings' whispers. The clanking of battle droids behind them stopped many of the younglings in their tracks. Suki began to cry in fear.
"Shh," Allara shushed them all. I'll stay behind and see if there's something I can do."
All but two of the younglings took Allara up on her offer, running deeper into the cave after the Ugnaught. The two that stayed were never going to leave their friend alone, even if their lives depended on doing so.
"Did you have a plan?" Cadena asked Allara.
Allara was staring up at the rocky ceiling. "Working on it," she replied.
Kira followed Allara's gaze. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked, an idea forming in her head.
"I think so."
The beeping of a comlink echoed throughout the tunnels. "Kill them all," Grievous's voice rang out. Kira's blood ran cold at the horrific thought.
"Well, if you two have a plan, it'd be great if you would fill me in," Cadena sarcastically commented. "I'd love to avoid dying today."
"And you shall," Allara replied. She whispered the plan in Cadena's ear while Kira stood watch. She could hear the droids' footsteps coming closer and closer.
Cadena nodded at Allara's whispers. "Well, then we'd better get started," she murmured, stepping away from Allara.
Kira looked over. "Ready?"
At Allara's nod, all three closed their eyes and concentrated. They did their best to ignore the sound of danger as they lifted their arms to the rocky ceiling. "Come on," Kira heard Allara say through the fog. That made Kira work even harder.
Finally, there came a great rumble overhead. Kira smiled a little at the sound, which meant their plan was working, but didn't lose her concentration. She faintly heard a droid say, "What's that noise?" and another answer, "I don't hear anything," before the ceiling came tumbling down on the droids in front of them. The dust penetrated her nostrils and made her cough, but right then, even that couldn't stop her happiness.
Cadena was the second to open her eyes. "We did it!" she yelled excitedly, throwing her arms around Allara.
Allara grinned at their work. "Yes, we did," she agreed happily, almost glowing with pride. "Now let's go catch up with the others."
With that, the three girls ran off down the tunnels after their friends.
"So what's the plan of escape?" Kandra asked a few hours later. All the Padawans were comfortably seated in a circle with food and drink placed in front of them by the hospitable Ugnaughts. They were in the midst of a large underground city placed precariously above a pit of flowing magma. Many walkways connected the city to the surrounding caverns, and the geothermal plant fueling the city above ground was also placed there, nestled among the rocks and rivers of liquid fire.
At Kandra's question, all eyes turned to Allara, who calmly sipped her water. "I'm working it out," she said slowly. "We can't exactly use a comlink to call for help, and there's no transport shuttle we can use to escape."
"So in other words, we'll have to wait it out," said Alex, obviously not liking this idea.
"Yes." At this, the boys groaned.
"It's not like we have another option!" Cadena snapped, throwing a rock at Garen, the closest boy. The rock hit him in the forehead.
"And there's no point in fighting it out," Kira put in. "We don't have a choice."
"Exactly. But what do we do about Grievous? He will surely be looking for us," Caleb said.
"And he'll kill us if he finds us," Sky finished.
Some took the time to glare at Sky after taking in the enormity of that statement. The older girls put arms around the younger ones, hoping to comfort them.
"He'll kill the Ugnaughts hiding us, too," Kandra said slowly. "We've got to keep them safe as well."
"Has anyone considered the reason the Ugnaughts might be helping us?" Cody suddenly asked.
All the younglings turned to look at Cody. Kira personally thought that was an interesting question. Why were the Ugnaughts helping them?
Slowly, the younglings shook their heads. Even Jake Shaun had nothing to say.
"Because," Cody said as he finished off his water, "they think we are full-fledged Jedi that can help save them."
Kandra nodded. "It makes sense."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "If I was on a planet being taken over by some psycho cyborg that just killed some of my friends and family, then I'd want some help taking him down, too."
"But what can we do?" Suki piped up. "We're not Jedi yet. We're just younglings!"
"The Force doesn't recognize size," Allara said thoughtfully, her eyes flitting from Kira to Sky, the second youngest of the group, and back again. Then she smiled. "You know, the Ugnaughts are smaller than even us, which makes us seem like heroes."
The younglings chewed on that for a moment. "I like the sound of being a hero," Alex said dreamily.
A loud crash from the entrance of the city caught the younglings' attention. None were entirely surprised to see Grievous and his droids on the march, but the attack was still unexpected.
"What do we do?" Jake Comrand asked Allara. All eyes turned to the girl they'd all accepted as ringleader.
Allara's grim, determined face made them all stand a little straighter. "We fight," she replied. "and defend the Ugnaughts, who saved our lives."
"Sounds like a plan," Kira said, a steely look on her face as well.
Allara immediately began to run to the entrance, Kira and Cadena close behind, while the others ran off in the opposite direction to warn the Ugnaughts. Once they arrived at the walkway, Allara raised her arms and used the Force to throw some large rocks at the droids, taking a few of them out. Kira and Cadena caught on and did the same. Unfortunately, all of their attempts to take out Grievous with the rocks failed.
As Grievous and his droids moved closer and closer, Kira began to feel faint. Grievous's lightsabers were ignited and ready, and Kira was certain that this was the end. She gritted her teeth and kept throwing rocks, determined to go down fighting.
It turned out that she wouldn't need to go down at all. A large blur flew between Cadena and Allara, accompanied by a squeal and the whir of machinery. With Grievous distracted by the Ugnaughts' machine, Kira called out, "Run!" and took off down a dirt path leading into another cavern. Cadena and Allara followed her lead and ran as fast as they could after her.
The three younglings soon found themselves reunited with the rest of the group at the core of the geothermal plant. "What now?" Kandra implored Allara as they attempted to catch a breath.
"We need to hide," Allara wheezed, "and make a plan."
Jake Shaun started to protest, but at Allara's command, they all took off running, only to find their escape route cut off by more battle droids. They then turned around, only to find Grievous and his remaining droids behind them. Cadena squeezed Kira's hand, and Kira squeezed back as hard as she could.
Allara stepped in front of the group of younglings. "You know, you're stooping below yourself to kill us," she taunted him.
Kira choked on air, knowing Allara's neck would be first in line for Grievous's lightsaber if she kept this up.
"Are you begging for your life?" Grievous asked Allara, obviously amused.
Allara simply scoffed. "A life with you as our ruler?" she snorted, earning a snarl. "No. I'm simply asking for a chance."
To Kira's surprise, Grievous threw Allara a lightsaber. As the two began to duel, the younglings moved backwards, hoping to use the opportunity to escape. Kira stubbornly stayed put, even with Cadena's persistent tugging on her arm. Her eyes stayed glued to the swirl of neon lights, watching as Grievous neatly swung his saber and knocked Allara's from her hand, as Allara fell to the ground and Grievous aimed his saber, as her legs began to propel her forward and Cadena cried out, as one more lightsaber ignited and blocked Grievous's blade before it hit Allara.
Kira was still running as she grabbed Allara's hands and pulled her up, dragging her away from the battle. Cadena had used the Force to pick up the dropped lightsaber, and she tossed it to Kira as she and Allara approached. Kira in turn passed the lightsaber to Allara, who smirked. "Well, we gotta get past the droids somehow," she said.
Kira looked over her shoulder at the battle just in time to see an older Togruta finish speaking to a Coway man before racing to catch up with them. "Codi Ty," he said to the girls, introducing himself. "I'm here to take you to your ride."
"Then lead the way, Codi," Kira said happily, stepping aside.
The group of four made it to the others, who cheered after learning Codi's intentions. They quickly made their way to the walkway, Codi pulling out his lightsaber when he saw the waiting droids. "Follow me," he said, preparing the younglings to run.
"I'll do better than just following you," Allara said, bringing forth Grievous's saber and stepping to the front of the group. Codi grinned at her before they plunged down the walkway.
Codi and Allara made quick work of the droids, and soon the rest of the younglings were safe on the other side. Codi then ran ahead of them all down the caverns, leading them to a ladder and hatch. Kandra, as the first of the group to arrive, made her way up the ladder and opened the hatch for the rest of the Padawans. "Come on, come on!" she called to hurry the group along.
The next to make her way up was Alex, then Sky, then Cadena. When it was Kira's turn, she noticed tears in Codi's eyes and the desperate way one hand gripped the railing of the ladder. "Codi?" she asked, worried. "What's wrong?"
Codi shook his head. "He's gone," he mumbled flatly.
"Who's gone?"
"My master. The Force tells me Grievous must have killed him."
Kira knew how she'd felt when her mother died and imagined that losing one's Master must feel very similar. After all, she knew how she'd feel if Obi-Wan were to die. She touched Codi's elbow. "I'm sorry," she offered.
Allara spoke up. "What good will his sacrifice do us if we don't keep going?" she asked, not unkindly.
Codi removed his head from his hand. "You're right," he said, though color failed to return to his face. "Keep moving."
Within minutes, the Padawans and Codi had all climbed the ladder. Codi led them to the facility's hangar, where a huge miner's ship surrounded by droids waited for them. Allara and Codi retrieved their lightsabers and began to cut down the droids as the others made a dash for the ramp of the ship. When success was theirs, the two fighters also ran aboard the ship.
In moments, the ship flew away from the facility. It was of course Jake Shaun who noticed first that the facility was exploding behind them. The younglings cheered loudly when they realized that whatever gas leak had detonated the plant must have taken the rest of the droids – and Grievous – along with it.
Whatever are we gonna do with Jake Shaun and his love of explosions? *shakes head*
Please review if you liked it, hated it, or wanted to light it up and watch it burn. Thanks for reading!