Get Together 2 (the other 2)

By Elora

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi stood before the Council in the Jedi Temple, getting ready to report on a completed mission. Suddenly, a bright flash of light and a loud bang! made them cover their eyes. When they looked again, three girls were sprawled on the floor of the Council Room.

Annoyed mutterings were coming from the tangled mass, along with several yelled ones.

"Get your foot out of my mouth, Alia!" One girl yelled, before straightening up.

"Maya, watch where you're sticking that thing!" The second one yelled at the third.

"Hey, you and Elora landed on me." The third complained. "Now where are we?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Elora grumbled.

"You're in charge of the traveling, that's why." Alia retorted.

Elora sighed, then pointed at the air and zapped up a laptop.

"Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Alia said, rolling her eyes. Elora shot her a death glare before going back to the laptop. Her fingers flew over the keys as complicated figures and numerical equations ran past the screen.

"Great." Elora said. "We over-passed Chamber of Secrets by at least 103.463 dimensional quadrants, not to mention crossing three badly-performed tesseracts and going back 7.12 nonlinear time periods."

Alia blinked. "What?"

"We missed." Elora translated impatiently.

Maya was the first to notice the stares coming from the humanoids and non-humanoids around them. "Um, guys…?"

Elora and Alia looked up. Elora's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Alia just grinned.

"There were not supposed to be people in our designated landing area!" Elora screamed at her friends. "Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to fix this?"

"Good. We can stay here longer." Alia said happily.

Elora finally noticed the grin. "You did this on purpose!"

"No, I didn't." Alia protested; but her eyes shifted, and she fidgeted.

"Why you little-" A large spear appeared in Elora's hand. Alia took one look at it and fled. Elora ran after her, waving it around and screaming "I'm gonna kill you!"

The only one left in the room was Maya. She turned to the stunned Masters and shrugged.

"Elora threatens to kill Alia twice a day. You'll get used to it."

The Masters didn't stop staring.

"Uh…okay, then." Maya walked out of the room, a bit hastily.

Mace Windu looked at Yoda. "What just happened?"

"No idea, I have."

"Well, someone go find out who they are!"

Maya stood by a wall in one of the Temple's corridors. She was glancing at her watch and counting down. "Three…two…one…"

Alia and Elora came tearing around the corner at the second Maya's hand shot out and snatched. Right on target, she hooked her fingers in the back of Elora's shirt.

The tall girl easily held the shorter one off the ground and away from herself. Elora still waved the spear around, trying to get at Alia. "Death! Death to the evil one!" She screamed.

Alia slumped against the wall, breathing hard. "I thought we left gym class back in our dimension."

"Well, if you hadn't changed our destination…" Maya chided.

Alia shrugged and grinned. "So? I felt like it."

"Was it worth the price?" Maya asked dryly. They both looked at the struggling Elora.

"Pain! Fear! Terror! Death! I shall purge you of evil! Purge! Purge, you filthy maggot of infestation!" Elora shrieked at them both. She wiggled the spear wildly in Alia's direction.

"Um, that point I'm still debating." Alia replied, giving Elora a considering look.

"This is the person we're trusting delicate dimension travel procedures to?" Maya asked Alia wonderingly.

"Well she does have a good head for the details…"

Elora suddenly stuck the spear forward, stopping it with the point just in front of Alia's nose. The other girl froze.

"I shall personally rip off all 108 and 67/100's freckles off your arms, and the 17 and 23/50's on your face." Elora snarled.

"Okay, now that was just scary." Maya muttered. She snatched the spear from Elora's grasp, tossed it in the air and made a strange twirling motion with her hands. The spear disappeared before it hit the floor.

"Now what are we going to do with her?" Alia asked.

Maya hesitated, than dropped the girl she was holding. Elora hit the floor face-first with a smack, then stood up and brushed herself off.

"Hello, there." Elora said with a cheerful smile. She looked around. "Oh, how lovely. Let's explore, shall we?" She skipped off, humming.

Alia looked at Maya, shrugged, and followed. Maya shook her head, than brought up the rear, muttering "No more crazy friends, no more crazy friends, no more crazy friends…"

They ended up near the dining hall. Peeking through the doors, they watched people eat.

"Yum. Food." Alia said.

Elora reached for her laptop. "I can make you some pancakes."

Alia shuddered. "No thanks. I've tried the kind of food you make with that thing. Your last concoction tasted like cardboard dipped in tar."

Elora scowled and dropped her hand.

"Let's go mingle." Alia suggested.

Maya raised her eyebrow. "'Mingle'? You actually use that word?"

"Oh shut up and come on." Alia started to walk into the doors, but Elora grabbed her arm.

"Hold it."

"What?" Alia asked.

"We're not going in there like this." Elora gestured to their clothes, which would have seemed very strange in the Jedi Temple. "We need a costume change."

"Oh, yeah. Here, give me that thing." Alia took the laptop and typed something into it. There was a small flash around Elora, and then she reappeared- dressed in a Teletubby costume. Alia and Maya snickered.

"Ha ha, very funny." Elora grumbled.

Alia typed in something else, flash, and Elora was dressed as a Jedi padawan.

"Better." Elora stated, as she fingered the braid behind her ear.

Maya inspected her. "No, wait, it still won't work. Most of the padawans know each other, and the Masters, too. They'll know that none of us are padawans, and that no Master has us for padawans."

Alia and Elora stared at her. "When did this Trekkie" Elora asked Alia, pointing at Maya, "learn so much about Jedi?"

Maya shrugged. "Hey, I can't block your voices out all the time when you talk about Star Wars."

"Which means that something was actually penetrating through your thick skull." Alia retorted. "I was beginning to think it was hopeless."

"We should declare this a national holiday." Elora mused. "'The day Maya finally revealed her first scrap of hard-won knowledge about the holy Star Wars universe.'"

"Are you finished?" Maya asked, glaring at them both. "Now, if you'll stop crowing about my despised, unwanted, miniscule bit of knowledge about Star Wars, and hear my idea, I think we should dress up as a Master and Padawan. It'll be less suspicious that way."

"Yeah, but there are three of us." Alia reminded her.

"And the only person near tall enough to pass for an adult Master is you, Maya." Elora chipped in. "And even then you aren't nearly tall or old enough."

"Exactly." Maya said. "But I can pass as a padawan. And as both of you are quite short…"

"Why am I not liking the look on your face?" Elora wondered out loud.

"I knew there was a reason." Elora muttered to herself as she wobbled dangerously.

"Shhh." Maya hissed. "All right, walk forward. I'm right behind you."

"Yeah, which means I'll land on you if I fall." Elora retorted.

Maya shushed her again. Alia stumbled a bit, grunting. She had a firm hold on Elora's legs. The person in question to whom the legs belonged to was sitting precariously on Alia's shoulders. The entire wobbling tower was dressed and hidden in a long brown Master's cloak, with the hood pulled up over Elora's head so her young age was disguised. Maya walked behind them to the right in the padawan's style they had briefly instructed her in, with no balancing problems. She was dressed in a padawan outfit, her hair changed by the laptop into a temporary shoulder-length cut, with a padawan braid behind her ear.

As they walked into the Dining Hall, they attracted a few odd glances, but not as many as they had feared.

Elora wobbled again and cursed softly. Alia choked as Elora's knees tightened briefly to steady herself. Her companion's weight bore down on her shoulders.

"Elora, my friend, whatever you are eating, stop." Alia gasped out.

"Shut up." Elora snapped back.

"Shut up both of you." Maya intervened. They were getting quite a few more stares now.

"It's not my fault." Elora whispered back furiously. "It's her."

"Yeah, sure." Alia replied sarcastically. "Anytime you want to switch places is fine with me. How'd you get on the top anyway?"

"Just go left."

Alia turned accordingly, but turned a bit too far. She bumped a table's edge and stumbled back. Elora went back and forth like a ship in a high wind, waving her arms frantically.

Maya grabbed Elora's hand and held her steady. "This way, Master." She said sweetly.

Confused diners watched the brown-cloaked Master walk unsteadily to the food line. One small initiate saw a dark-hazel eye peer out from a gap in the middle of the robes before pulling back. The boy's jaw dropped open, forgetting the dinner he had been chewing a moment before.

"Wait, what way is it?" Alia asked Maya frantically.

"Go left- no, wait, my left- look out!"

Alia had instead turned to her right, and had bumped into the bar for the food line. Elora's leg slammed against the metal pole.

"Ouch!"

Alia tottered the other way, and banged into the serving counter. Elora pitched forward, her fists slamming down on two trays of food lying on the counter. She managed to keep her seat on Alia's shoulders. She heaved herself backward to get upright again. The trays stuck to her hands until she became vertical again and threw her hands up to retain her balance. The trays went flying and hit two Masters at point-blank range, splattering them with food.

Elora overbalanced and fell backward, slamming into Maya. Maya yelped and toppled over, Elora landing on her chest. Alia let out a muffled sound as the robe closed around her face and pulled her down.

Elora quickly glanced around at the shocked crowd in the Dining Hall and yelled, "Plan B!"

Maya blinked. "We had a Plan B?"

Elora stopped, thought for a second, and then slapped her forehead. "Oops. Knew I forgot something."

Alia, still wrapped up in the robe, kicked her feet and shrieked something that sounded vaguely threatening through the muffling cloth.

"Um…oh! I know!" Maya beamed, nodding brightly to Elora.

It was Elora's turn to blink. "What?"

Maya leapt up from the floor, grabbed a tray of food from the hands of a startled padawan, and ran from the room with her prize held out in front of her. "Hooray for Plan B!"

Elora considered this for a moment. "…'Kay."

She jumped up, briefly forgetting her feet were still tangled in the top of the robe, and hit the floor again with a loud smack. Undeterred, she kicked the robe off her feet, accidentally kicking Alia's head in the process (who left out a roar of fury from under the robe), and got up. She grabbed two trays of food from a nearby table then, after getting a good look at the contents, threw them behind her (hitting another Knight in the process), and grabbed two others. She held them in one hand, snatched up the free end of the robe with her other, and followed Maya, dragging the contents of the Jedi robe (still screaming death threats) behind her.

"Yum. Food." Maya said happily as she munched on a piece of carrot.

"Mmmm." Elora agreed, eating something…blue.

"You are both gonna die." Alia snarled as she bit into her food.

Elora shrugged. "Look, we said we were sorry."

"I nearly suffocated! Why was I on the bottom, again!" Alia screamed at her friends, her spork snapping in her hand. She frowned at it. "They don't make these like they used to."

"Here." Elora passed her another one. "I brought extras."

"Hmm." Alia grumbled, taking it but nowhere near placated. "At least you remembered to bring me food."

"'Course I did." Elora said, starting on something that looked scaly now. "Be glad it was me, too, and not Maya."

Maya snickered. "Hey, I actually took human food. I don't even want to know what you two are eating."

Elora looked at her and smiled. "Food. For humans."

Maya stared. "Huh?"

"We're in an alternate universe. They don't have familiar food here. I made sure to grab trays that belonged to two human initiates. I noticed you took a Rodian padawan's tray. And-" she pointed at Maya's spork with her own. "Those aren't carrots."

Maya turned to inspect what she was eating, choked, and started to gag.

Elora nibbled on her scaly thing, humming happily.

Alia smiled, turning to her own tray. "Hey, I feel better now." She folded her legs, cheerfully chewing. She glanced around. "Why are we hiding in here, anyway?"

Elora looked up, gazing around the Jedi High Council Room. "Dunno. They're gone, aren't they?"

"What if they get here before we leave?"

"Then I guess Yoda will want his chair back."

Alia grinned evilly, snuggling into the circle-like chair. "No. Mine."

Maya recovered from her coughing fit, thumping her chest. "Okay, I'm done." She said, pushing her tray away.

Elora typed something into her laptop and the tray disappeared.

"What happened to your wand? Why are you using a laptop?" Maya asked. "You don't need it, and you hate anything technical."

Elora looked up. "But…it's shiny!"

"Her mom got it for her for college." Alia explained. "Once she realized she has high-speed wireless internet for her fan fiction, she hasn't let it go."

Maya nodded wisely. "That would overcome her natural aversion."

"So what kind is it?" Alia asked.

Elora stared at her blankly. "…A shiny kind."

Maya sighed. "Her natural aversion. Not her natural indifference."

Alia looked at Elora's fingers. "She's not even typing, you know. She's chicken-pecking."

Elora glared at her. "Well, I'm doing it very, very fast."

"Ooookay." Maya rolled her eyes. She looked around. "Now what?"

"Let's go to the Room of a Thousand Fountains!" Elora cried, leaping up.

"And then to the Lake!" Alia said, jumping up excitedly.

Maya cut in. "Why don't we go to the Chamber of Secrets like we originally planned?"

"And then to the training rooms!" Elora said, not hearing her.

"And then to the roof!"

"And then to the Archives!"

Maya sighed and pulled out a Star Trek Magazine, flipping through it.

"And then to Qui-Gon's room!"

"And then to Obi-Wan's room!"

"And then we'll kidnap Obi-Wan!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"And then to-"

Beep Beep Beep.

Elora started, and looked at the screen of the laptop. "Oh…I have to go."

"What!" Alia cried, waving her arms. "We've barely done anything yet!"

"It's Thursday. My mom comes home at five, remember? I told you I can only stay late on Tuesday."

"But- but- but-"Alia spluttered.

"I'm already late for ballet class." Maya pointed out, checking her watch.

Alia looked at both of them, and then glanced out at the sunset-shaded buildings of Coruscant. Her lip trembled.

Elora patted her arm. "How about Sunday? We can come back Sunday."

"I have church in the morning." Maya protested. "Why not Saturday?"

"I'm volunteering at the library."

"Friday?"

"Working."

"Well, I guess next Tuesday will do."

"How's that? Tuesday? We can stay late and kidnap Obi-Wan then." Elora soothed Alia.

Alia sighed, and nodded grudgingly.

"Okay, let's go home!" Elora said brightly. She typed (ahem, chicken-pecked) a destination in the laptop; there was a bright flash of light, and the three girls disappeared.

A few seconds of silence…

"Alia, put Yoda's chair back."

"…"

"Now."

"Oh, all right!

…and all was still.