Part 30: Duel Of The Fates (Part Three)
At the very last moment, when it looked as if Helga would be destroyed, Arnold sprung into action. Risking his life, he jumped from the upper bridge some thirty feet...
Darth Curly felt a familiar disturbance in the Force the moment that he raised his lightsaber. He had just enough time to realize it and look up to see the bottoms of a pair of boots as Arnold's feet connected with his face. The impact knocked Darth Curly from the bridge to another one about another thirty feet below them near the spot where Arnold's previous lightsaber lay. He landed on his back hard, the wind knocked momentarily out of him.
Helga heard the strange sounds, felt disoriented that she did not yet feel the heat of the lightsaber that would cut her in two, and then felt his presence, almost as if...
Arnold landed on his feet. He deactivated Master Stinky's green lightsaber and turned to kneel down in front of Helga.
"Helga? Are you ok?" He asked her worried.
Helga's eyes opened wide hearing his voice. She looked at him and blinked, unable to believe that he was there before her.
"A-Arnold?" She whispered, feeling her eyes go moist. "Is that you?" She reached out to grab his shoulders, then paused uncertain.
Arnold smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a ghost."
Neither of them could have said which one reached for the other first, but a moment later, they were hugging each other tightly, both of them rested their heads on the other's shoulder, arms around each other.
"Oh Arnold!" Helga began to cry. "I...I thought I'd lost you, football-head."
Arnold, remembering his dark vision from before, answered, "For a while there, I thought the same thing." His own eyes began to go moist.
Below them, Darth Curly was getting to his feet. He looked up and saw Arnold Skywalker hugging Helga and frowned. However, instead of planning to attack, he choose instead to run away across the bridge and towards the shuttle bays...but not before a small visit to the command area.
Arnold looked down in time to see Darth Curly run through the doorway below. He looked over at Helga. "Can you stand?"
Helga tried but let out a sharp cry of pain before collapsing back to the floor of the bridge they were on. "I don't think so," she muttered, in a voice full of pain.
Arnold stood up and leaned over, ready to pick her up when he felt a very cold feeling cross over him.
The Dark Side of the Force.
He looked up in time to see Emperor Olga, in her black Sith Lord robes looking at Arnold and Helga with the utmost comtempt, a sneer on her face.
"Helga, look out!" Arnold shouted and tried to stand up, but before he could so much as touch the handle of Stinky's lightsaber, the Emperor fired lightning bolts from her fingertips. Arnold felt as if he were on fire.
"Arnold! No!" Helga shouted, managing somehow to move in between Olga and Arnold, causing the Force bolts to hit her as well and defelcting a few from Arnold. She screamed in pain.
Arnold grabbed her by the arms, trying to pull her out of the way. "Helga! No! Get away!"
"No! I won't Arnold, I won't leave you!" Helga cried as she put her arms around him and held on tightly.
After what seemed like hours rather than a few moments, Emperor Olga stopped and glared at both of them. Arnold and Helga were in each other's arms shaking badly from the violent attack, parts of their clothes were even slightly smoldering.
"Pathetic," The Sith Emperor taunted them. "Only now, at the end do you truly understand." She looked at Helga, and a very nasty smile crossed her face. "This is where your feelings of love have taken you, my dear baby sister. Tell me, before you die I must know, was he worth it?"
Helga turned her head and glared hard at Olga through teary eyes, "Yes, I would do anything for him!" She looked at Arnold and said, "I love you, football-head."
Arnold looked at her and knew that this was it for them. They were both going to die here and now and Helga knew it too. This once, their careers and their rules held no more worries for them, so she was speaking from her heart.
So would Arnold.
"I love you too, Helga," Arnold said, managing a small smile at her. Watching her smile back slightly, Arnold realized that it would be ok to die in her arms. Apparently she did too as she hugged him yet again.
Emperor Olga looked flatly at them and said, "So be it." She raised her hands for the final blow, this time ready to use the same full power she'd used to finish Patty The Hutt. "Now, you two will die, together!"
Arnold and Helga closed their eyes and held one another tightly waiting for the final blast, tears in their eyes...
All of a sudden, Emperor Olga felt a pair of strong arms grab her from behind and squeeze her tightly. She screamed in anger, surprise and fear all at once.
"Now! Do it!" Big Bob shouted to someone.
Arnold and Helga opened their eyes and looked over to see Big Bob grabbing his cloned daughter, pinning her arms to her sides, while Master Phoebe quickly place the Force restraining collar around her neck tightly and latching it.
Olga screamed, "Let me down! I command you!"
Big Bob shook his head, "No Olga, its over!"
Phoebe walked over and looked at Arnold and Helga, "Are you too alright?"
Arnold stood up and nodded, actually feeling that the good side of the Force was making the pain from the attack by the dark powers disappear. "We'll be ok, thanks to both of you." He smiled. "Its good to see you, Master Phoebe."
Phoebe nodded, "It pleases me to see you too, young padawan." She looked down at Helga and smiled. "Both of you."
Helga smiled, trying to get to her feet and leaning on Arnold for support. She winced slightly. "Same here."
Arnold looked over at Olga, who was struggling in Big Bob's firm grip, a snarl on her face. Then he looked down at the lightsaber in his hand and he knew he had one more task to perform. He turned to Phoebe, "Look after Helga, Master Phoebe. I'm going after Darth Curly."
Helga looked over, "What?! Arnold wait..."
"I have to Helga, for Stinky," he told her. Phoebe closed her eyes and nodded.
Helga looked at him and saw the determination in his eyes. She sighed, "Just promise me you'll come back alive, head-boy?"
Arnold smiled and leaned forward and kissed her cheek gently. "You bet." Looking at Phoebe and Big Bob he told them, "Find Gerald and get her off of this ship." Then he jumped off the bridge to the next one below. He saw his lightsaber and used the Force to bring it to his hand. he ran down to the nearby corridor.
Watching him run off, Helga whispered "Be careful, my Arnold."
Phoebe smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Have faith in him, Helga. Return he will to you."
Helga looked at her and smiled.
"ALL OF YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! I SWEAR IT!" Olga yelled venemously at them.
"Aw shut up, Olga!" Big Bob said annoyed.
On the bridge, Viceroy Rhonda watched on the monitors as the Republics soldiers were descimating her battle droids and droid dekas. They's sent far too many of them off before the Republic arrived. There were not enough droids to keep them out for much longer.
"I am not going to jail! I refuse to wear stripes!" Rhonda yelled, banging her hand on the controls near one monitor.
"Viceroy, we will be overrun in a matter of moments!" Commander Nadine said. "We need to get to the shuttle bay and escape."
"Not just yet!"
The two girls turned to see Darth Curly stalk in, his face twisted in fury.
"My lord, where is the Emperor?" Viceroy Rhonda asked.
"I am in charge now, Viceroy!" He said, then turned and activated his lightsaber. "Unless you have an objection?"
Both of them shook their heads quickly.
Darth Curly smiled satsified and deactivated his blade. "Very good, now then, I want you to set the auto destruct sequence. Set it for ten minutes, enough time to get away."
He looked at the monitors and giggled. "Thats right, fight your way in fools," he muttered to himself. "By the time you get here, you will go up with this ship and most of the planet!" He laughed at the thought of all that carnage.
Rhonda smiled a little seeing the plan. A core overload from the ship would take out roughly about ten miles of the planet and destroy all of the soldiers outside. The loss of that many would be a crippling blow to the Republic, and with the battle droids they'd already sent off, there would be more than enough to begin the conquest of the Galaxy.
She bowed to Darth Curly, "Brilliant plan, Lord Curly."
He smiled and looked at her, "Of course it is, I thought of it! Now then Viceroy, proceed and prepare my shuttle for departure."
Rhonda turned to Commander Nadine and nodded. Nadine bowed and activated the appropriate controls. She deactivated the warning system so that no mention of the impending explosion would alert their enemies.
The screen near the main controls showed a ten minute countdown that began a second later.
Darth Curly smiled and then used the Force to destroy the deactivation controls so nobody could stop the countdown.
Revenge will be mine! He thought to himself with a small evil smile. Enjoy yourself Skywalker, these last moments are you last!
Phoebe was running down the hallway, pulling along an unwilling former Chancellor Olga, who now had a gag cause Big Bob and Helga were tired of her mouth. Big Bob held his true daughter in his arms carrying her as they turned the corner and ran into a hallway full of destroyed droids and Gerald Windu, who was using a lasso cord to tie up a dazed Harold Fett.
He looked up an relief broke out across his face at the sight of Phoebe, who smiled as well feeling the relief flowing from him through the Force. The two Jedi Masters hugged each other tightly.
"Thank the Force youre ok!" Gerald said, then looked over to see Helga being carried by Big Bob. "Wait? Where's Arnold?"
"He went after Darth Curly," Helga told him. She looked at him. "Please go help him, Master Windu!"
Gerald nodded and looked at Phoebe, "Get this one also and get off this ship."
"Be careful Gerald," Phoebe said to him, looking at him with worried eyes. Gerald smiled, nodded again and took off without another word.
In the large shuttle bay, Viceroy Rhonda and Commander Nadine made their way to the Sith Lord's shuttle and began to activate the contols. Darth Curly was halfway there just behind them, when he stopped. A dark smile crossed his face. He turned just in time to see Arnold Skywalker enter the shuttle bay.
Arnold stood there, a look of determination on his face. "Darth Curly! It's over! Surrender!"
Darth Curly smiled more, "My my, I didn't know you had such a sense of humor, young padawan."
The short boy activated his lightsaber, it flashed a green blade of light.
"Ah I see, Master Kenobi's lightsaber," Darth Curly said. "You are here to avenge him too I take it?"
Arnold looked at him and said, "Unlike you, I am giving you a choice Master Stinky didn't get. You can surrender now, or be destroyed? What's it going to be?"
Darth Curly's smile faded a little, "I would have thought that you'd learned your lesson from last time, padawan."
Arnold smiled slightly and said to the Sith Lord, "I am a slow learner I suppose."
The Dark Lord of the Sith held out his lightsaber and activated both sides of it. "Then allow me to teach you this last lesson once and for all."
The two of them stood only about six feet apart. Both of them were thinking of the here and now. Arnold holding out his former Master's lightsaber, its green blade at the ready. Darth Curly smiled an amused smile, both ends of his red lightsaber glowing the color of blood. Both of them realized that this would be it. That before it was done, only one of them would be standing.
With a yell, Darth Curly attacked, whirling his duel-sided weapon...
To Be Continued...
Only two more chapters to go! The suspense is something isnt it? Stay Tuned! D.R.
At the very last moment, when it looked as if Helga would be destroyed, Arnold sprung into action. Risking his life, he jumped from the upper bridge some thirty feet...
Darth Curly felt a familiar disturbance in the Force the moment that he raised his lightsaber. He had just enough time to realize it and look up to see the bottoms of a pair of boots as Arnold's feet connected with his face. The impact knocked Darth Curly from the bridge to another one about another thirty feet below them near the spot where Arnold's previous lightsaber lay. He landed on his back hard, the wind knocked momentarily out of him.
Helga heard the strange sounds, felt disoriented that she did not yet feel the heat of the lightsaber that would cut her in two, and then felt his presence, almost as if...
Arnold landed on his feet. He deactivated Master Stinky's green lightsaber and turned to kneel down in front of Helga.
"Helga? Are you ok?" He asked her worried.
Helga's eyes opened wide hearing his voice. She looked at him and blinked, unable to believe that he was there before her.
"A-Arnold?" She whispered, feeling her eyes go moist. "Is that you?" She reached out to grab his shoulders, then paused uncertain.
Arnold smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a ghost."
Neither of them could have said which one reached for the other first, but a moment later, they were hugging each other tightly, both of them rested their heads on the other's shoulder, arms around each other.
"Oh Arnold!" Helga began to cry. "I...I thought I'd lost you, football-head."
Arnold, remembering his dark vision from before, answered, "For a while there, I thought the same thing." His own eyes began to go moist.
Below them, Darth Curly was getting to his feet. He looked up and saw Arnold Skywalker hugging Helga and frowned. However, instead of planning to attack, he choose instead to run away across the bridge and towards the shuttle bays...but not before a small visit to the command area.
Arnold looked down in time to see Darth Curly run through the doorway below. He looked over at Helga. "Can you stand?"
Helga tried but let out a sharp cry of pain before collapsing back to the floor of the bridge they were on. "I don't think so," she muttered, in a voice full of pain.
Arnold stood up and leaned over, ready to pick her up when he felt a very cold feeling cross over him.
The Dark Side of the Force.
He looked up in time to see Emperor Olga, in her black Sith Lord robes looking at Arnold and Helga with the utmost comtempt, a sneer on her face.
"Helga, look out!" Arnold shouted and tried to stand up, but before he could so much as touch the handle of Stinky's lightsaber, the Emperor fired lightning bolts from her fingertips. Arnold felt as if he were on fire.
"Arnold! No!" Helga shouted, managing somehow to move in between Olga and Arnold, causing the Force bolts to hit her as well and defelcting a few from Arnold. She screamed in pain.
Arnold grabbed her by the arms, trying to pull her out of the way. "Helga! No! Get away!"
"No! I won't Arnold, I won't leave you!" Helga cried as she put her arms around him and held on tightly.
After what seemed like hours rather than a few moments, Emperor Olga stopped and glared at both of them. Arnold and Helga were in each other's arms shaking badly from the violent attack, parts of their clothes were even slightly smoldering.
"Pathetic," The Sith Emperor taunted them. "Only now, at the end do you truly understand." She looked at Helga, and a very nasty smile crossed her face. "This is where your feelings of love have taken you, my dear baby sister. Tell me, before you die I must know, was he worth it?"
Helga turned her head and glared hard at Olga through teary eyes, "Yes, I would do anything for him!" She looked at Arnold and said, "I love you, football-head."
Arnold looked at her and knew that this was it for them. They were both going to die here and now and Helga knew it too. This once, their careers and their rules held no more worries for them, so she was speaking from her heart.
So would Arnold.
"I love you too, Helga," Arnold said, managing a small smile at her. Watching her smile back slightly, Arnold realized that it would be ok to die in her arms. Apparently she did too as she hugged him yet again.
Emperor Olga looked flatly at them and said, "So be it." She raised her hands for the final blow, this time ready to use the same full power she'd used to finish Patty The Hutt. "Now, you two will die, together!"
Arnold and Helga closed their eyes and held one another tightly waiting for the final blast, tears in their eyes...
All of a sudden, Emperor Olga felt a pair of strong arms grab her from behind and squeeze her tightly. She screamed in anger, surprise and fear all at once.
"Now! Do it!" Big Bob shouted to someone.
Arnold and Helga opened their eyes and looked over to see Big Bob grabbing his cloned daughter, pinning her arms to her sides, while Master Phoebe quickly place the Force restraining collar around her neck tightly and latching it.
Olga screamed, "Let me down! I command you!"
Big Bob shook his head, "No Olga, its over!"
Phoebe walked over and looked at Arnold and Helga, "Are you too alright?"
Arnold stood up and nodded, actually feeling that the good side of the Force was making the pain from the attack by the dark powers disappear. "We'll be ok, thanks to both of you." He smiled. "Its good to see you, Master Phoebe."
Phoebe nodded, "It pleases me to see you too, young padawan." She looked down at Helga and smiled. "Both of you."
Helga smiled, trying to get to her feet and leaning on Arnold for support. She winced slightly. "Same here."
Arnold looked over at Olga, who was struggling in Big Bob's firm grip, a snarl on her face. Then he looked down at the lightsaber in his hand and he knew he had one more task to perform. He turned to Phoebe, "Look after Helga, Master Phoebe. I'm going after Darth Curly."
Helga looked over, "What?! Arnold wait..."
"I have to Helga, for Stinky," he told her. Phoebe closed her eyes and nodded.
Helga looked at him and saw the determination in his eyes. She sighed, "Just promise me you'll come back alive, head-boy?"
Arnold smiled and leaned forward and kissed her cheek gently. "You bet." Looking at Phoebe and Big Bob he told them, "Find Gerald and get her off of this ship." Then he jumped off the bridge to the next one below. He saw his lightsaber and used the Force to bring it to his hand. he ran down to the nearby corridor.
Watching him run off, Helga whispered "Be careful, my Arnold."
Phoebe smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Have faith in him, Helga. Return he will to you."
Helga looked at her and smiled.
"ALL OF YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! I SWEAR IT!" Olga yelled venemously at them.
"Aw shut up, Olga!" Big Bob said annoyed.
On the bridge, Viceroy Rhonda watched on the monitors as the Republics soldiers were descimating her battle droids and droid dekas. They's sent far too many of them off before the Republic arrived. There were not enough droids to keep them out for much longer.
"I am not going to jail! I refuse to wear stripes!" Rhonda yelled, banging her hand on the controls near one monitor.
"Viceroy, we will be overrun in a matter of moments!" Commander Nadine said. "We need to get to the shuttle bay and escape."
"Not just yet!"
The two girls turned to see Darth Curly stalk in, his face twisted in fury.
"My lord, where is the Emperor?" Viceroy Rhonda asked.
"I am in charge now, Viceroy!" He said, then turned and activated his lightsaber. "Unless you have an objection?"
Both of them shook their heads quickly.
Darth Curly smiled satsified and deactivated his blade. "Very good, now then, I want you to set the auto destruct sequence. Set it for ten minutes, enough time to get away."
He looked at the monitors and giggled. "Thats right, fight your way in fools," he muttered to himself. "By the time you get here, you will go up with this ship and most of the planet!" He laughed at the thought of all that carnage.
Rhonda smiled a little seeing the plan. A core overload from the ship would take out roughly about ten miles of the planet and destroy all of the soldiers outside. The loss of that many would be a crippling blow to the Republic, and with the battle droids they'd already sent off, there would be more than enough to begin the conquest of the Galaxy.
She bowed to Darth Curly, "Brilliant plan, Lord Curly."
He smiled and looked at her, "Of course it is, I thought of it! Now then Viceroy, proceed and prepare my shuttle for departure."
Rhonda turned to Commander Nadine and nodded. Nadine bowed and activated the appropriate controls. She deactivated the warning system so that no mention of the impending explosion would alert their enemies.
The screen near the main controls showed a ten minute countdown that began a second later.
Darth Curly smiled and then used the Force to destroy the deactivation controls so nobody could stop the countdown.
Revenge will be mine! He thought to himself with a small evil smile. Enjoy yourself Skywalker, these last moments are you last!
Phoebe was running down the hallway, pulling along an unwilling former Chancellor Olga, who now had a gag cause Big Bob and Helga were tired of her mouth. Big Bob held his true daughter in his arms carrying her as they turned the corner and ran into a hallway full of destroyed droids and Gerald Windu, who was using a lasso cord to tie up a dazed Harold Fett.
He looked up an relief broke out across his face at the sight of Phoebe, who smiled as well feeling the relief flowing from him through the Force. The two Jedi Masters hugged each other tightly.
"Thank the Force youre ok!" Gerald said, then looked over to see Helga being carried by Big Bob. "Wait? Where's Arnold?"
"He went after Darth Curly," Helga told him. She looked at him. "Please go help him, Master Windu!"
Gerald nodded and looked at Phoebe, "Get this one also and get off this ship."
"Be careful Gerald," Phoebe said to him, looking at him with worried eyes. Gerald smiled, nodded again and took off without another word.
In the large shuttle bay, Viceroy Rhonda and Commander Nadine made their way to the Sith Lord's shuttle and began to activate the contols. Darth Curly was halfway there just behind them, when he stopped. A dark smile crossed his face. He turned just in time to see Arnold Skywalker enter the shuttle bay.
Arnold stood there, a look of determination on his face. "Darth Curly! It's over! Surrender!"
Darth Curly smiled more, "My my, I didn't know you had such a sense of humor, young padawan."
The short boy activated his lightsaber, it flashed a green blade of light.
"Ah I see, Master Kenobi's lightsaber," Darth Curly said. "You are here to avenge him too I take it?"
Arnold looked at him and said, "Unlike you, I am giving you a choice Master Stinky didn't get. You can surrender now, or be destroyed? What's it going to be?"
Darth Curly's smile faded a little, "I would have thought that you'd learned your lesson from last time, padawan."
Arnold smiled slightly and said to the Sith Lord, "I am a slow learner I suppose."
The Dark Lord of the Sith held out his lightsaber and activated both sides of it. "Then allow me to teach you this last lesson once and for all."
The two of them stood only about six feet apart. Both of them were thinking of the here and now. Arnold holding out his former Master's lightsaber, its green blade at the ready. Darth Curly smiled an amused smile, both ends of his red lightsaber glowing the color of blood. Both of them realized that this would be it. That before it was done, only one of them would be standing.
With a yell, Darth Curly attacked, whirling his duel-sided weapon...
To Be Continued...
Only two more chapters to go! The suspense is something isnt it? Stay Tuned! D.R.