Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues
L3 flipped the Falcon around and dove after the Ghost. Lando fired away, pounding at its shields. The Ghost spun away, then tried to come around. On board the Falcon, Rouge found the other gun turret and joined Lando in trying to shoot the other ship. On the Ghost, Sonic did the same thing, but with much less success.
"Where did you learn to shoot?" Greedo criticized.
"I didn't!"
"Han, where did you find this guy again?"
The two ships ended up flying parallel with little space between.
"This for what you did at Black Spire!" Han yelled and jerked the steering mechanism.
The Ghost slammed against the Falcon, damaging both ships. The Ghost, being more heavily armored, came out with less damage than the Falcon.
Lando responded by spraying mines from the Falcon. The mines went off with bright flashes, disabling the Ghost. L3 took this opportunity to jump to hyperspace.
"No, no, come on!" Han cried and slammed his fists against the controls.
"What's the plan now, genius?" Greedo asked.
"First, we restore power. Then, we think of a plan." Han answered.
"Well this guy you brought along can't shoot. Is he at least good at fixing ships?"
"Um, no." Sonic answered.
"What exactly are you useful for again?"
"I'm the fastest thing alive!"
"Super." Greedo deadpanned.
Sonic fell asleep while Han and Greedo fixed the ship, which did not improve Sonic's image in Greedo's eyes. When Sonic woke up again, they were somewhere else entirely.
This planet was much prettier than the one Sonic started on. The Ghost touched down on a strip of land that bordered a lake and a forest. A castle stood on the lakeshore nearby.
"Nice. But what are we doing here?" Sonic asked.
"We're gonna try to get some info on where to find Lando." Han replied.
They walked over to the castle and went inside. Sonic was sorely tempted to go for a run through the forest but decided not to risk getting lost while on such an important mission. Han went straight to the counter.
"Ah, Han! I see you haven't managed to get yourself killed yet."
An alien that looked much like a small grandmother smiled at Han from behind the counter.
"Maz! How ya been?"
"Now if I know you, you're either here to get drunk or you want something from me."
Han cut to the chase. "I'm looking for Lando, do you have any idea where I might find him?"
"Are you two fighting again?"
"He stole something from me, and I need it back." Han explained.
Maz glanced at Sonic. "Who's your new friend there?"
Sonic extended a hand to her. "Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog. Pleased to meet ya!"
Maz adjusted the googles she was wearing and peered closely at Sonic. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone like you around here before. Where are you from?"
"Oh, an entirely different plane of existence." Sonic said flippantly.
"Hmmm, interesting."
"Do you know where we can find Lando or not?" Greedo interrupted.
"Last I heard from him, he was working on some kind of deal on Bespin."
"Well, it's something. Let's go." Han started leading them back towards the exit.
As Sonic reached the doors, he was suddenly tackled by a fast-moving metal object. Sonic looked up into the face of…
"Metal!? What are you doing here? Also, why are you a different color?"
"I am not Metal!" The hedgehog-shaped robot snapped. "I am Spike!"
Sonic blinked, then snorted with laughter. "Really? That's your name?"
Spike gripped Sonic's throat and started squeezing. Sonic kicked the robot off of him and followed up with a spindash. Han whipped out his blaster and shot at Spike. The blasts had no effect and the robot ignored him in favor of attacking Sonic.
"Whoa! Whoa!" A new voice shouted. "Spike, what have I told you about strangling random strangers?"
Spike made a harsh sighing noise. "It's bad for business." He let go of Sonic and sulkily walked over to an alien dressed like a pirate.
Sonic stared disbelievingly. "Metal, you take orders from this guy now? What happened to Eggman?"
"I do not know what you are talking about. And my name is Spike!"
The alien cleared his throat. "I apologize for my companion. He tends to… lash out at things. Especially things that are colored blue for some reason."
"Where did you get this robot?" Sonic asked.
"From the Black Spire Outpost."
"And he has no memory of who built him or why he hates the color blue?" Sonic questioned.
"Not since I wiped his memory." The alien grinned jovially.
"Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, so I'm just gonna go." Sonic turned to leave, and hurriedly jumped to the side to avoid the laser Spike fired from his chest.
"Spike! What did we just discuss?"
"I don't know why, but something about him fills me with the desire to kill."
"Can't imagine why." Sonic muttered and dashed out the door.
"You know, there is something familiar about him." The pirate stroked his chin with a metal hand. "But I just can't put my finger on it."
Han and Greedo caught up with Sonic outside the Ghost.
"Did you know that guy?" Han asked.
"Ehh… sorta?" Sonic shrugged. "But as long as he doesn't remember me, he shouldn't be a problem."
Greedo glared at Han. "You sure you still wanna keep this guy around?"
"The only payment this guy asked for was for help finding the Jedi. Trust me, he's gonna be worth keeping around."
"That's what you said when you tried to adopt a pet Wampa."
"Well this time it's different! Now let's go already."
Rex sat at his desk in the Coruscant Police HQ, wallowing in boredom. He didn't get to see much action anymore. Now, it was mostly paperwork. He thought back to his days in the Clone Wars and all the insane missions he went on. From scaling a completely vertical cliff, to being poisoned by a deadly virus, to fighting zombie bugs.
Granted, all of these events almost killed him, but somehow, he found dying in an explosion preferable to dying of old age at his desk. But it seemed that was his destiny.
That is, until he got a strange call.
"Sir, we have a situation on level 5000! There a droid with military grade hardware rampaging through the streets! Blasters aren't working!"
"Use droid poppers!" Rex ordered.
"Those aren't working either!"
"Try to lure it towards an unpopulated area."
"We're trying but it seems focused on moving towards the upper levels."
"Hang on, I'm coming!" Rex leapt from his desk and raced for his speeder. A selfish part of him was excited at getting back into the action.
Rex arrived at level 5017. Following the sounds of explosions and blaster fire, he found the droid they were talking about.
It was a big, heavily armored droid painted red and black. As he watched, it fired missiles from its arms and blew up a police barricade. Rex studied it, looking for any kind of weakness he could exploit. The only one he could see was its eyes.
Rex pulled out his blaster, aimed carefully, and fired. The droid jerked as its eye exploded. Its remaining eye focused on Rex. Its arms changed to machine guns and sent a hail of bullets at Rex. He dived behind a pile of metal boxes for cover.
The droid simply continued moving forward. It soon came upon a large speeder. It paused, considered the vehicle, then climbed aboard and drove it away. The droid was heading upwards faster now.
Rex ran back to his own speeder and took off in pursuit. He followed the droid all the way to the top level. Rex's eyes widened when he saw where it was going.
He snatched up his comm. "Come in, Cody! Come in! There's an incredibly dangerous droid headed directly for home!"
"Thanks for the heads up. I'll get everyone organized."
Cody put down the comm and went to round up some fighters. It had been twenty years since any of them had seen any real action, and they were all far older now thanks to their accelerated aging. But they were still the best soldiers in the galaxy. They all lined up at the entrance, blasters ready.
The droid came flying in at full speed.
"Open fire!"
Their blasters did nothing to slow the oncoming droid. The clones were forced to scatter before it crashed into them. The droid rose from the wreckage of the destroyed speeder.
"Where are the Jedi?"
