Chapter 52 - Peas in a Pod, Part 4

(Summary:"We started off transmitting illegal broadcasts. Then General Skywalker sent Kanan to us, to protect Ezra. Now we're living on a rebel base, letting both our boys train with the Force, and helping out with missions against the Empire." Ephraim kissed his wife. "Mira, dear, how did our lives completely turn around in just four years?" "Haven't the foggiest, love.")

Takes place a few months after Quintet Part 4

"Kanan," Ezra whispered, eyes wide, "What do we do?"

"Keep your shields at full strength, and stay close." Tightening his grip on Phirim, Kanan took hold of Ezra's shoulder with his other hand and carefully startled to shuffle forward through the darkness.

They'd been scouting various locations for a secondary rebel base since the main one was getting crowded, and found a moon with breathable atmosphere and plenty of wide canyons. Unfortunately, thinking the place was safe enough for the boys to join him on a walkabout, Kanan hadn't paid nearly enough attention to the Force. On the opposite side of a canyon from the Ghost when a Tie fighter ambushed them, he'd gone with his gut instinct and taken Ezra and Phirim down into a cave system, hoping to at least hide from the Imperial even if they couldn't get back to the ship.

The Tie pilot didn't stay in the air, though. He'd landed his craft, taken out a crimson lightsaber, and followed them into the earth.

Now, after causing a minor cave-in to cut the Darksider off from them, Kanan hoped to lead the boys in a safe direction - something easier said than done when none of them could see a blasted thing.

Phirim suddenly shifted where he was tucked against Kanan's hip, nearly causing the grown Jedi to drop him. "There's monsters down here," the four year old whispered. "Nice ones."

"No such thing as nice monsters." His big brother muttered back. Kanan was inclined to agree with him.

Cautiously, he extended a tendril of effort through the Force, following Phirim's to whatever had attracted the little boy's attention. Sure enough, there were a pair of massive presences asleep in the cavern next to them, of a nature that Kanan couldn't quite define.

"Okay, we're going to avoid going in that direction." He told the younglings.

"But it's th' fastest way back t' th' Ghost!"

Frowning at Phirim's insistence, Kanan took a risk and opened himself more fully to the Force - and unfortunately found that the four year old was correct.

Equally dire was the knowledge that the Darksider pursuing them was approaching a lot faster than Kanan cared for. Deciding to try the hopefully less dangerous path, he sought out a tunnel entrance, and took his charges into the neighboring cavern.

In addition to being massive, the pair of monsters were intertwined with one another and covered the entire floor. Kanan fervently prayed that their outer armor was enough to prevent either one feeling the Jedi walking across, and consequently waking up.

The Darksider behind them had no such qualms.

Kanan's only warning was the sound of a lightsaber igniting, before he looped his left arm around Ezra's waist and dove to one side with both boys. The crimson blade struck down against the large scale they'd just been standing on, followed by the Darksider's irritated growl.

Those two things were enough to wake the monsters up.

Ezra yelped and Phirim whimpered as the 'ground' they were on began to move, while Kanan focused solely on keeping his balance. Despite being illuminated by his lightsaber's glow, the Darksider's face was hidden by a black mask, keeping them from seeing his exact expression. His panic, though, was all too evident in the Force as a single green eye, nearly as wide as Kanan was tall, opened beside him. Kanan's breath caught in his throat and his grip on the boys tightened as a second eye blinked open right behind where he was standing, this one tinted blue rather than being pure green. As the pair of monsters shifted and turned, separating from one another in order to stare down at their intruders, he finally realized what they were.

"But- but that's not possible," he breathed, staring up at the form looming above him in the darkness. "The one on Malastare was supposed to be the last-!"

The Darksider had evidently recognized them as well, and tried to flee back the way he'd come, only for a massive foot to slam down atop him. In the same instant, the crimson lightsaber was crushed, plunging the cavern back into pure darkness except for the green and turquoise eyes.

"See?" Phirim said. "Nice monsters. They don't like th' bad guys neither."

Kanan gulped. 'Nice' was not a term he'd apply to a Zillo Beast, not in a hundred years.

"Cool," Ezra grinned, reaching out a hand to pat the scales closest to them. The monster with the turquoise eyes shifted to peer at them more closely, causing Kanan to try and shrink away.

"Okay," he mumbled aloud. "Master Windu told me the story about the last one of these things. We're going to get out of their nest as quickly as possible, and hopefully they won't chase us to the surface."

"They won't chase us!" Phirim announced, completely sure of himself. "They don't like th' bad Force stuff, and we don't have any of it!"

Surprisingly, it seemed that he was right. As Kanan made his way across the cavern, refusing to put down either boy, all the Zillo Beasts did was watch. Once he and his charges were safely into a tunnel on the far side, the Jedi chalked it up to the fact he hadn't attacked either one with a lightsaber, unlike the Darksider who'd been chasing them.

Emerging back onto the moon's surface less than three hundred yards from the Ghost, Kanan finally set his charges back on their feet, letting them run ahead to tell Hera and Zeb all about their adventure. He, in the meantime, simply sat down where he was, trying to recover from the adrenaline rush and subsequent crash.

Hera eventually came out to find him, concerned over the descriptions of the 'nice monsters' and whether or not there was still an Imperial to worry about.

"We're fine for now," Kanan informed her wearily. "But if anyone decides to make a base out here, we need to let them know going underground is a very dangerous idea."

A/N: Secret monster cloning project whose results were hidden away by a renegade scientist and forgotten by the Empire, anyone? I have no apologies for this chapter. It also won't be the last time I feature this pair of Zillo Beasts in my AUs, either - I was so mad about them never getting an encore in The Clone Wars that this is my writer's vengeance! Until next time,

-Tri