Chapter 10: Keira's First Duel
The black-cloaked figure with two red light sabers drawn softly and sinisterly spoke to Keira as she approached it; "Come, young Jedi. Your fall will bring me one step closer to my redemption!" Then, the acolyte dropped her cloak. She was tall, emaciated, and had pale white skin with no hair whatsoever. From the shoulders down to her forearms, she was wrapped in linen cloth, and from the waist down she was wearing a black blouse with intricate silver patterns. She had devil-like sapphire eyes that gleamed like a cat towards Keira's stern countenance.
"You must be one of Darth Vader's assasins!" Keira sneered at her enemy.
"I serve on no one's side, only my own." The Dark Jedi hissed. "I am not even aware of this, 'Darth Vader,' of whom you speak of. The Sith betrayed me in my moment of need…twice! Now, because of them, my rage has been fueled just enough to give me the motivation to overthrow the Empire they created! However…I always enjoy killing weak Jedi."
An angered Keira retorted, "I'll show you weak!" as she pointed her blade at her opponent.
The Dark Jedi chuckled evilly and replied, "You Jedi are so naive, so gallant, yet so pointless. Can't you see? Your order has been obstructed and overrun! You're cause: hardly worth anything anymore. So give up, retract your blade, and walk away with your life spared."
"I don't take orders from a hairless, wretched witch!" Keira yelled at her with vehement anger.
The Dark Jedi grew furious at her opponent. Her eyes were peeled, but they gleamed with rage. She softly snarled to her, "Then you shall meet your fate under my blade, Jedi!"
As Tess swallowed her throat in fear as she was perched on Keira's shoulder, The Dark Jedi struck her two red light sabers towards Keira's one purple one. She released, and then continued to swing at Keira's saber violently before Keira jumped over her. Based on the timid expression on her face and her arms shaking with fear as she held her weapon with a tight grip, Keira was overwhelmed by the sheer power, skill, and flexibility her opponent had. The assassin charged after her, swinging her swords left and right in all directions, driving her back further and further into the grand corridor. Keira blocked all of her strikes, but was eventually kicked in the chest by her adversary and she flew all the way into Jedi library.
Interestingly enough, the entrance to the Jedi Temple actually led into the third floor, instead of the first. What was even more interesting was that the Imperial troopers were opening fire at the Dark Jedi that she faced instead of her. As Keira got up, she would also become bombarded with blasts from the storm troopers. Although she blocked the shots with her light saber, she was driven back until she was standing back to back with the opponent that faced her, with a horde of Imperial troopers surrounding them at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, outside of the Temple, Jak in his light eco form was flying around and trying to chase down the notorious bounty hunter, Cad Bane. They flew around the central tower of the Temple trying to shoot each other down. Bane unleashed his pistols and opened fire towards Jak. Jak was able to block them with his light saber, so Bane turned to fly upwards towards the top of the tower. Bane used his flamethrower in an effort to burn Jak's wings off, plummeting him down a long fall ending with a hard impact on the stone edifice's roof. However, Jak was able to dodge these bursts of flame, and proceeded to dismantle Bane's jet shoes with a burst of light eco. The bounty hunter then stood clinging to the top of the tower where Jak met him with his light saber drawn.
At this point, Jak had Cad Bane right where he wanted him. Bane was struggling to gain footing on the steep tip of the tower while Jak was able to manage. Just as Jak was about to strike the bounty hunter down, Bane drew one of his pistols quickly and shot Jak in the wrist that was holding his weapon. This caused Jak to drop his sword, and Bane chased it down as it fell by using a grapple cable to latch on to the ledge and to swing downward to catch it before it fell and broke. As Bane drew Jak's light saber as he stood on top of the rooftop, Jak stared him down with the eyes of a hawk.
"He's got your laser sword, Jak!" Daxter frantically exclaimed, "What are we going to do now!?" Without any further word, Jak jumped from the top of the tower and swooped down towards the direction of Cad Bane. This caused Daxter to grow even more anxious. He yelled as they flew, "Wait, you're gonna fly down there? With no weapons in hand!? Oh great! Not only is this guy gonna be rich, he's gonna have sliced ottsel as his main course tonight!"
"We'll see who has the upper hand this time, Jedi." Cad Bane sneered quietly to himself. As Bane lifted the sword to strike Jak down, Jak was able to use his right hand to clench Bane's wrist, thus neutralizing him with light eco. Bane screamed of agonizing pain as the eco was disrupting his blood flow. Jak then landed on his own two feet and reached Bane over the ledge of the rooftop. The pain that Cad Bane suffered was so excruciating that it caused him to drop Jak's light saber. Jak then retrieved it with his left hand as it retracted.
"Now," Jak started, "are you gonna leave us alone?"
"JUST KILL ME! PLEASE!" Bane shrieked of agony as his breathing apparatus was malfunctioning, "DO YOUR WORST, I BEG OF YOU! YOU'VE BEATEN ME FAIR AND SQUARE! I DON'T WANT THIS LIFE ANYMORE!"
"There must be a better answer than this!" Jak demanded, "I didn't come here to kill you, specifically. I just came here to search for my true destiny. Honestly, I had no idea who you were until you attacked us! Just leave us alone, and I'll spare you."
"I already am at peace as the shadows of death consume me," Bane's voice weakened as he began to expire. He spoke softly to Jak for the final time, "You win, Jedi." Jak then dropped Bane as he fell onto the hard concrete in front of the entrance of the Jedi Temple. Ratchet was racing his way back upwards as Bane's body landed in front of him. Jak saw Ratchet and swooped down from the rooftop to meet him on top of the steps. As he landed, he changed back into his normal form.
Daxter then proceeded to chide at his sidekick, "Next time you use your eco powers when you use the Force and your laser sword and all that crap; DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! I'm pretty sure I lost at least half of my fur you scared me so much!"
"All right! You got him!" Ratchet exclaimed excitedly as he looked at Cad Bane's disfigured corpse.
"Yeah, I did," Jak softly affirmed, but then switched the subject around, "Where's Keira?"
"She's in there, but I think she's in trouble!" Ratchet told him.
"Well what the hell are we standing around here for!? Come on!" Jak commanded urgently. Just like that, they rushed through the corridor of the Jedi Temple to find and aid Keira, who was still surrounded by an army of storm troopers that were aiming their weapons at her. Interestingly enough, the adversary that she crossed blades with is also held at gunpoint with her.
"You are both enemies of the Empire for trespassing in a restricted area and causing obstruction within the Empire's property," a storm trooper stated. Then he commanded, "Surrender and die!"
They both retracted their swords and closed their eyes. The Imperial troopers drew closer to them, ready to apprehend them. Then all of the sudden, Keira and the acolyte unleashed a massive ring of Force energy that ejected all of the storm troopers hundreds of feet around them, knocking them out. They still stood back to back, hiding feelings of ire for a few moments.
"Thanks for saving my skin." The Dark Jedi hissed at Keira. All of the sudden, Keira drew out her weapon and pivoted toward her right to strike at her opponent, but the acolyte drew her left sword in just enough time for it to make contact with Keira's strike. The two swords held together for a few seconds.
"I wasn't planning on it!" She sneered as she held her sword against her opponent's. In response, the acolyte kicked Keira in the stomach, causing her to lurch forward. Then she proceeded to kick Keira in the back of the knees, knocking her face down on the ground. She then dragged Keira by the hair and tossed her over the ledge, sending her down on a long, painful fall to the first floor of the Temple, where the Jedi Archives were located. Soon, another army of storm troopers aimed their blasters at the helpless Jedi Knight.
"Let's leave our sharp shooting 'friends' out of this," She declared to the troopers using a Jedi mind trick, "and finish this fight ourselves. Whoever is the last one standing will deal with them." The storm troopers stood down their weapons, and looked up towards the Dark Jedi.
Keira got herself up and wiped the blood away from the side of her lip. Then she ignited her light saber and defiantly replied to her, "I'll take my chances either way. Let's finish this, baldy!" The Dark Jedi growled, and leapt from the third floor all the way down to the first floor to face Keira, igniting both of her swords. The duel resumed. The acolyte spun and twisted around as she flung her light sabers towards Keira. Not only was Keira blocking some strikes, but she was also able to use flips, somersaults, and cartwheels all over the place to avoid the strikes heading towards her. The acolyte chased her down with a few acrobatic moves of her own, using the walls and the shelves of the Jedi Archives to her leverage.
While those two continued their duel with each other, Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, and Clank all rushed into the third floor of the temple, where they witnessed the aftermath of the storm trooper massacre that Keira and her adversary ignited. They noticed the unresponsive bodies of the fallen Imperial troopers, but Keira was nowhere in sight.
"Where is she?" Jak asked Ratchet, who responded to him by pointing down towards the first floor. All they could see were two faint read beams striking at a faint purple one. Jak knew Keira was in trouble and spoke with urgency, "We have to help her! She's in trouble!"
"We!?" Ratchet replied to him, "What do you mean, 'We'!? You're the one that's married to her!"
"Good point," Jak assured himself as Daxter hit him in the back of the head.
"Clank and I will take care of these Imperial crud-buckets," Ratchet started to him, "While you two help out Keira and Tess with that…whatever that bald thing is."
"Sounds like a plan!" Jak affirmed, "I'll see you both down there."
While Ratchet and Clank flew off the ledge and started to throw bombs at the Imperial Troopers that shot at them from below, Jak jumped down onto the first floor approximately ten feet away from his wife's duel with the female Dark Acolyte. Keira and her opponent heard Jak ignite his light saber, and they both interrupted their duel to look at him.
"Jak," Keira began to speak towards her husband with an agitated tone, "What are you doing here? You should be helping Ratchet. I got this covered." Just like that, Keira was hit with a short shock of Force lightning that came from her fellow duelist, as she was forced approximately thirty feet in the air by the shock and made a hard impact onto the ground. "Cheap shot…"She spoke to herself in a raspy voice as she struggled to get up. She looked at her enemy facing her husband.
"My oh my," The Dark Jedi started in a harsh, yet sarcastic tone, "Another Jedi to the rescue. He swooped in the nick of time to save his companion, because both of them are driven by the bonds of love!" She continued with a sinisterly glee laughter and then finished darkly, "How utterly pathetic."
Just after she said this, she unleashed a longer shock of Force lightning towards Jak, but this time she was not able to bring Jak down. Instead, Jak captured the lightning with his right hand and was able to convert it into a round, head-sized orb of light eco. Daxter, Tess, and Keria looked on with amazement as they saw Jak stop Force lightning with his bare hands. Jak then blasted that source of light eco towards the Dark Acolyte, ejecting her from the ground and sending her flying into the bookshelves of the Jedi Archives, which then fell on top of her.
After Keira marveled at Jak using the abilities he most recently discovered, she became angry with her husband again. "Jak!" She began to yell at him, "I had her right where I wanted her until you came along!"
"Well obviously you didn't," Jak replied with a smart remark, "She was driving you back and then she hit you with Force lightning. If I didn't swoop in you would've probably been dead."
Keira became infuriated with Jak with that instant remark. She looked up towards the third floor where Ratchet and Clank were, and then looked to the side as the Dark Acolyte broke out of the wrecked debris and drew her light sabers again. She turned to Jak and told him, "Look, Ratchet is nearly helpless fighting off those Imperial Troopers! He needs more assistance than I do. Trust me, I can handle myself fine. So go help him, now!"
Jak quickly replied, "But, Keira-"
"NOW!" She yelled back at him with demand.
"ALRIGHT! Sheesh…"an annoyed Jak affirmed as he ran off towards the struggling Ratchet. As he was running, he turned to Daxter and told him, "…the one time I try to help my wife in her most desperate time of need, and I get yelled at for doing so."
"That's why I don't want to get married," Daxter replied to him.
With Daxter clinging and swinging around his shoulder, Jak used his light saber to maneuver the oncoming charge from a group of storm troopers. After he struck all of them down with his weapon, he leapt from the first to the third floor to aid Ratchet and Clank, blocking blasts into more storm troopers in the process. He rushed to aid his friends who were struggling to get past a blockade of Imperial troopers.
"I thought you wanted to help Keira!" Ratchet said to him as he was firing his two plasma pistols at the blockade.
"I did!" Jak replied as he deflected blasts from storm troopers with is sword, "But then she kinda got mad at me when I tried to. Not sure why, but she told me to come help you!"
"Well, it's her funeral," Ratchet continued to him, "We got Imperial troopers crawling all over the place! They're blocking out the entrance to the elevator for the center tower!"
"Of course they are," Jak affirmed, "But we'll have to keep pushing forward. We can take 'em! Come on!"
Soon, Clank would transform into a new defense system with blasters that Keira designed for him, and Daxter would transform into his dark form. Led by Ratchet with his arsenal of weapons and Jak with his sword guided by the Force, the four of them knocked all of the storm troopers on their backs and made their work towards the elevator to the center tower of the Jedi Temple.
While they managed to push forward, Keira struggled in her duel and was only going backwards. The Dark Jedi that she was fighting was striking towards her with more vigor, and Keira could not come up with a decisive counterattack. Her opponent swung, spun, jumped, swept, and struck towards her, causing Tess to fall off her shoulder. Every time Keira crossed her blade with one of her opponent's light sabers, she struck at her with the other one, causing her to duck, dive, roll, scurry, and hide throughout several areas of the floor.
Keira's female ottsel companion could only sit and watch hopelessly. As she watched her friend struggle to fend off the Dark Jedi, her optimism for Keira winning this fight grew dim. That fatalistic thought was quickly replaced with suspicion, as she heard someone leaping across the Jedi Library. She then saw a dark shadow along the walls, and quickly ran off to follow it.
Keira and the enemy that stood in front of her struck at each other's blades until Keira was able to knock her opponent off her footing and on her back. The Dark Jedi crossed her blades to block and hold Keira's powerful chop, and the two gritted their teeth and squinted their eyes with fierce strength driven from rage. The Acolyte eventually pushed Keira off of her, ejecting her into several feet in air and knocking her on her back approximately fifty yards from her original position. As she made a hard impact with the ground, she dropped her light saber. The Dark Jedi leapt towards the defenseless Keira and twirled her red blades until she pointed them down towards Keira. Then all of the sudden, the process of her dispatching her fallen opponent was interrupted by an orange figure that leapt out of the air and knocked her down.
Keira then sat up, disoriented, and perplexed at what she saw in her blurred vision. She saw her enemy knocked down by someone with a very peculiar figure; She had orange skin and was wearing white pants with maroon-colored boots, short skirt, and top. She also had leather forearm guards and drew a green light saber in reversed grip. She looked a couple years younger than Keira, though not that far off from her. What made Keira even more curious was the blue and white headdress she wore and the small, intricate white patterns on her orange face. She had big, bright blue eyes that stared her opponent down with anger. She was human-like, but different.