Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues

Shadow teleported back to the construction site with Tails in tow and found Eggman taking a nap. He kicked Eggman awake with a growl. He flailed about for second before sitting up to glare at Shadow.

"I thought you wanted to stop Sidious already."

"That doesn't mean I don't require sleep!"

"We only have a limited amount of time before everyone comes back. So you are not going to stop working on it until it's done!"

"Are you out of your mind? You expect me to build this whole thing myself within just a couple of days?"

"No." Shadow threw Tails at Eggman. "I brought you an assistant."

"Why is it that no matter what side I'm on, I'm forced to build things?"

"Because that's the only thing you're good for." Shadow spat. "Now back to work!"


Rouge scoped out the harvesting operation from above. The roots they needed grew in a deep canyon. The locals had been pressganged into service as workers to haul crates of Riska Root to a storage facility guarded by Mandalorians. There were six of them. Rouge returned to the others to deliver the information.

"Slaves. Of course, they're using slaves." Petro sighed. "Okay, slight change in plans. This is also going to be a rescue mission. The distraction team will head into the canyon and start freeing the slaves. That should draw away most of the Mandalorians guarding the Riska Root."

"What do we do after we free them? It's not like we can fit all of them onto the ship." Lando pointed out. "They'll just be recaptured as soon as we leave."

Petro tried to think of a solution. "The Mandalorians have their own ships here. We'll just steal some of them."

"Okay, but there's still only two ways off this planet." Bo-Katan added. "Through the blockade or through the asteroid field. And we don't have enough good pilots."

"We can… we can…" Petro was stuck. "We can't." There was nothing they could do to save these people, aside from stopping the larger threat. Petro sighed again, more exhausted than before. "Stick to the original plan. Go make some noise."

The distraction team moved out, leaving just Rouge, Petro, and Luke. Petro was staring off into the distance.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked.

Petro blinked as he snapped back to attention. "Yes, I'm fine. It's just… it just seems like everywhere we turn there's another problem we can't solve. The Jedi are supposed to be the protectors of the galaxy and we just… can't do it. Every day I can feel more and more people losing faith in us. And I'm starting to think they might be right."

"But there is something we can do. We're doing it right now!" Luke protested.

"Yes, I know we are. I just hope it's enough."

The sound of explosions echoed in the distance.

"Well, that's our cue." Rouge said, trying to inject some cheer into the air. "You two ready?"

At the warehouse, there were three Mandalorians left, two at the front door and one on the roof. Rouge divebombed the one on roof and quickly incapacitated him. Luke and Petro ambushed the two at the door. Petro Force Choked one and Luke Force Pushed the other against the door.

They entered the warehouse and were caught in a ray shield.

Petro cursed. "Of course, there would be a ray shield. Of course, there would!"

"So, what do we do now?" Rouge wondered.

"Hope the distraction team can save us before reinforcements arrive."

Team distraction had gone after the Mandalorian ships and were destroying and disabling as many as they could. Rex was taking out some of the guards when he got a call from Petro.

"Rex, we've been caught in a ray shield. Send help."

"Lando! L3!" Rex barked. "The others need help!"

The two named broke away from the battle and made for the warehouse. As they left, more Mandalorian ships descended from the sky.

Lando and L3 made it to the warehouse. L3 plugged into a computer terminal to hack the ray shield. Four Mandalorians flew into warehouse on jetpacks and starting shooting. Lando dove to the side and shot back.

"L3 hurry up!"

"I'm working as fast as I can."

Lando blasted at the Mandalorians while using the ray shield as cover. Two more Mandalorians came in and joined the fight.

"L3!"

"I… almost…!"

A blaster shot went through her head. Her body collapsed to the ground as Lando screamed.

"L3!"

Lando charged out from behind the ray shield, blasting wildly at the Mandalorians. But once out in the open, he took hit after hit, until he crumpled to the floor as well.

"No!" Rouge howled, tears streaking down her face.

The armored warriors turned to their prisoners in the ray shield. Petro closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to focus his mind.

"Rouge. Luke. When they drop this ray shield, I want you both to run."

"But what about the Riska Root?" Rouge asked.

"We're not getting any. This whole trip has been a bust. I just want you two to get out of here alive."

"And what are you going to do?" Luke asked.

"The only thing I still can do."

One of the Mandalorians walked over to the terminal while the others stood with blasters ready. Once he entered the code to deactivate the shield, Petro let out a powerful Force Wave that knocked all the Mandalorians off their feet.

"Go!"

Luke and Rouge bolted, leaving Petro to battle the Mandalorians alone. The soliders quickly stood back up and started shooting at him. Petro used his lighting fast reflexes to deflect the blasts. He counterattacked with Force Lightning, frying two of them. One of the remaining Mandalorians fired a cable that wrapped around his arm, followed shortly by a second on his other arm. Petro struggled against their pull and used the Force to pull his captors towards each other and caused them to collide in midair.

The final two used flamethrowers to drive Petro back. He created a barrier around himself that the flames couldn't penetrate. The smarter of the two switched from fire to a concussion rocket. It exploded at Petro's feet and threw him onto his back.

Petro tried to refocus his disoriented senses. His vision cleared just in time to see the Mandalorian's boot flying at his face.