Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrighted characters herein. Batman is property of DC Comics and Yoda is property of Lucasfilm. This fanfiction was created solely for entertainment purposes. No part of this fanfiction may be reproduced without permission.

Any and all comments may be sent to Randelm@hotmail.com

(Jan 03 '04)

Knights Rain

Batman opened his eyes. He was lying face up in a place he had never been before. The air smelled of decay and was full of moisture. Above him was a grey sky obscured by the mossy branches of thick limbed trees. For several minutes he lay still and listened for any sound that might tell him an enemy was nearby. Finally, he concluded that he was alone in this swamp. Carefully, he levered himself to a kneeling position.

Manipulating some hidden buttons on his belt, Batman changed the eye lenses of his cowl to scan for infrared. Again he scanned the area, but found nothing big enough to be anything but the local wildlife. He returned the lenses to normal and stood up. His body ached and he began to perform basic stretching exercises to limber up.

That's consequence of sleeping in uniform, he told himself. Though of course it wasn't exactly as though he'd had any choice. The memories were hazy though. Something had happened. Batman frowned.

A dream, he'd been having a dream. The one with Jason. Over and over again he saw the boy who would be Robin brutally beaten, his muscles torn and his bones broken. Jason's blood splattered across the pavement as he cried out in pain. Cried out for help, for Batman. But every time, Batman was too late to save his partner. Dick and Barbara and Alfred blamed him and turned away from him. As they should. In the dream he would take to walking down the empty streets of Gotham. Every body in the streets was one that Batman could not save. He knew all their names. They were burned into his mind. Jason's at the top.

The Dark Knight shook his cowled head, banishing the memories of a memory that would only lead to a dark depression. Jason knew the risks and was headstrong. Barbara had known the risks as well. After her injury, she told him over and over that her confinement to a wheelchair had not been his fault. She railed at him that she was not his fault and neither was Jason. No one had said that to him before, had confronted him with the fact that he couldn't save everybody. Intellectually he knew she was right.

But that didn't stop the dreams.

Batman shook his head again and clenched his teeth. There were more important matters at hand. Like finding out where he was and why. He looked around again, but there was nothing to suggest any sort of a path. Keeping his mind focused on his surroundings, Batman started off into the swamp.

Three hours later, it began to get dark and the temperature dropped though not significantly. Batman stopped to rest, sitting on a fallen tree. His stomach growled. Wherever he was, there did not appear to be any civilization. Whoever had sent him here had probably hoped he would die in this wilderness. It was highly unlikely that his appearance here had just been a random accident after all. If only he could remember what had happened just before… But only the dream of Jason surfaced in his mind.

Batman stood and tried to think though the haze of emotional pain. There had to be a way to get back. If he could just control his thoughts for a moment he could figure this out. He clenched his jaw and balled his fists.

Suddenly, there was a sound. The faint rasp of cloth moving across cloth.

Batman reacted instinctively. He spun around and flung two sharpened batrangs searching for his target as he drew two more.

A small creature with green wrinkled skin stood hiding behind arms it had thrown up in self-defense. The black weapons had struck the wood of the tree behind it.

It was a sapient of some sort for it wore a crude robe of some brown cloth. It was short, no more than three tall. It had two arms and two legs tipped with three digits. It had long pointed ears and the little hair on its head was white and whispy. In its right hand it clutched a gnarled walking stick. Slowly it lowered it arms and looked at him. Batman saw in those eyes not fear as sight of him so often inspired but something else he could not describe putting him even more on edge.

"Away put your weapon," the small person told him, "I mean you no harm."

It was a strange sentence. Not only that the creature spoke a strange form of English, but that he assumed he could harm Batman. Again he looked into those eyes and got the feeling that indeed this little green person probably could harm him. There was a power there and a confidence in the way it held itself.

Batman eased the custom weapons into their sheathes but remained in a defensive stance. "Who are you? Where am I?" he demanded in his more authoritative voice.

The little person laughed, an amusing sound in and of itself. "Lost your way?"

"I'm not in the mood to play games little one," Batman growled. "I want answers."

The green man nodded sagely. "Answers. We all want answers." Before Batman could reply though, the other continued. "Rain it will. Come, hungry you are. Yes?" The little person than began to limp off into the swamp leaving Batman to follow or remain alone.

He hesitated only a moment. In situations like this, it was best to never turn your back on a prospective ally.

As soon as Batman ducked into the humble little earthen house the moisture in the air outside began to condense into rain.

"You see," his host gestured at one of the open-air windows.

Batman nodded once in acknowledgment and sat on a padded bench leaning his back against the wall, his head next to the window. The dwelling, as it was created for the dimensions of a three foot tall being, was only tall enough for him to crawl around in. It was furnished in carved benches and rude wooden tables and cots. His host began puttering around in an adjacent room, content it seemed, to ignore Batman for the time.

Batman closed his eyes and allowed the cooling effect of the rain wash over him. A few droplets splashed what little of his skin was exposed every once in a while. It was completely dark outside now. He opened his eyes again as the little creature shuffled back into the room carrying two wooden bowls.

"Eat," it said as it handed one of the bowls to him.

Batman took the bowl and sniffed at its contents. It smelled of spiced stew with some kind of vegetable. It was unlikely that the creature was trying to poison him. Batman took the wooden spoon and began to eat.

"Good, yes?"

Batman swallowed. "Yes, quite." He burned to question his host, but as he had noted before, there was a power about this creature. A test of patients, of control. He ate the stew and then was given a second and third helping.

"Big you are, very hungry, yes?"

Batman thanked him and ate. He was quite hungry in any case and at this point it couldn't hurt to wait a little while longer.

Finally, after the little creature had cleaned the bowls in rainwater, he sat before Batman, legs crossed and walking stick at his side. He was silent for a minute before speaking. "A question, you have."

"Many," replied Batman.

"Answer, I will. If I can."

"Who are you?"

"I am Yoda."

It was a simple answer, not anywhere near as informative as Batman had wanted, but there was no use in pushing the creature.

"Where are we?"

"We are in my home, in a swamp on the isolated planet Degobah."

Batman considered the answer carefully. Another planet. And the way it speaks it knows of others. I could be in an entirely different galaxy… Wonderful.

"Do you know how I got here?"

"No."

"Do you know how I can get back?"

"No."

Batman sighed. "I see." He fell silent and stared past Yoda into the kitchen.

"A question, may I ask?"

Batman nodded.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Batman."

The creature chuckled. "Interesting name. Give yourself this name, did you?"

Batman smiled faintly. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it suited me better."

Yoda sighed. "Much suffering, I sense in you."

Batman nodded. "Yes."

The rain continued to fall outside. Batman removed one of his gauntlets and put his hand palm up out the window. He closed his eyes and listened to the falling water pound the roof of the small house. He allowed the cool rain wash away some of his tension, as it washed away the heat of the day. On an alien world with an alien creature, and only the powers knew what going on in his city, Batman could not truly relax. On the inside the part of him that was ever vigilant paced restlessly.

"Balance you do, between the Dark Side and the Light," said Yoda softly.

Batman closed his eyes and pulled his hand back inside. "What do you know of it?" He hadn't meant the question to sound angry or disbelieving, he'd meant it only as a question.

"A Jedi always is wary of the Dark Side."

"A... Jedi," Batman tested the unfamiliar word.

"A peacekeeper, scholar, diplomat, warrior." Yoda sighed sadly. "Killed when the Empire rose to power."

Batman opened his eyes again. He studied the small green skinned man. He seemed so small and vulnerable and yet there was about him a great power, a calmness. This was a man who had seen many things, some of them horrifying and some of them joyful. This man was a warrior and yet he was so much more.

"The sorrow of loss, I know, Batman," Yoda told him. "As do you. Consume me however, it does not."

Batman held his expression neutral. "My sorrow does not consume me."

"A near thing it is. Your anger, great it is."

"My anger is a tool. It drives me to stop the criminal scum of my city. To save lives so that no one else has to suffer as I have."

"Tenuous, the grip upon your anger is. Worry for you I do."

Batman did not respond. Instead he stared at the wall and listened to the falling rain. Yoda sat facing Batman, his large green eyes piercing the facade of the Batman. For several minutes the only sound was that of the rain.

"My parents were killed when I was seven years old. I watched as they were mercilessly gunned down for the money in their pockets. By men who had made the decision to hurt others for a living. I had that gun pointed at me and I thought I would die. There are times I wish I had.

"I began to train myself, to hone my body and my mind so that one day, I would become this." Batman gestured towards himself and his black armored suit. "One of my students was killed and another crippled and raped. I have made these kind of villains my enemies and I will do whatever I takes to put them behind bars. I will not allow innocents to suffer at the hands of such evil. My anger drives me in this task. I control it, it does not control me."

"Certain, you are." It wasn't a question.

Yoda stood up. "Sleep now. In the morning, send you home we will try."

Batman wanted to argue. Suddenly Yoda seemed to have some sort of idea of how to send him back and if there was a way, he wanted to do it a soon as possible. But Batman knew men like Yoda. They were immutable and had reasons for their actions. The Dark Knight considered himself an accomplished warrior, detective and hero, though he didn't like to use that word often. And yet he found himself trusting the judgement of this... Jedi.

The rain had stopped.

Batman went outside and stood up, stretching his back. With the care of a dedicated warrior, he removed the more cumbersome parts of his armor and laid them neatly just inside the entrance of Yoda's home. Then he stretched himself out on the dry floor and calmed his mind until he fell to sleep. That night, there were no nightmares.