Well, here's the next chapter, please enjoy yourself! Thank you all for reading!

Chapter 6

Zephyrann was a planet covered with tropical rain forests. After the ship finally jumped out of hyperspace, it went through the atmosphere that surrounded the planet.

"I sensed a disturbance in the Force." Obi-Wan remarked as he looked down at the tropical rain forests below from the cockpit.

"I sensed it, too." Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes, "Seems the mission won't be easy."

"Don't worry, Master Qui-Gon," Virgille said confidently, "Like the ancients said: 'Things could always get worse.'" She shut her mouth abruptly when she noticed she hadn't improved the anxious air in the cockpit a bit after Obi-Wan nudged her with his elbow.

Qui-Gon sighed, "We'd better not stir the locals, there might be traps around."

Obi-Wan and Virgille nodded in unison.

Twenty minutes later, the ship landed on a cleared ground in the forest and the three walked down the ramp quietly.

"Are we supposed to whisper?" Virgille whispered to Obi-Wan.

"I guess so." He whispered back, "But you'd better be quiet since you can't control your volume very well."

Virgille glared at him, obviously offended, "How rude!" She whispered.

Obi-Wan snorted quietly, "I'm only telling the truth." Then he walked up to his Master, who had been silent since they left the ship.

"Master?" He whispered hesitantly, "Why don't we just leave Virgule on the ship?"

"Because we're not sure if the ship is safe for her." Qui-Gon answered in the same low voice.

"Oh…right. Then…do you have any memory here, Master?" Obi-Wan looked up at Qui-Gon with concern.

"That's for sure. They only wiped part of my memory of that mission, and they left the rest to myself because they needed me to regard the mission as a completed one, so I could report the false investigation result to the Council." Qui-Gon sighed, "So I suppose I could lead the way, if they haven't moved their fortress."

"Then we'll follow your lead, Master." Obi-Wan smiled encouragingly and they both looked back to check if Virgille was still with them. Virgille seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the unfamiliar environment, so Qui-Gon took her little hand to send her reassurance, and held it to also make sure that she wouldn't get lost during their journey.

Then he motioned Obi-Wan to move closer so he could keep an eye on his Padawan as well.

On another end of the forest, a Zephyrene put down his electrobinoculars and spread his wings to fly into a magnificent fortress on the ground.

He knelt before a throne and hissed, "Your Majesty, he has returned to Zephyrann."

"Good. Make sure he won't be able to approach here." The Ruler said in a deep yet powerful voice. "And also take care of his little friends."

The Zephyrene nodded slowly before his Ruler.

"Are we there yet?" Virgille asked Qui-Gon carefully.

"No, not yet." Qui-Gon looked around warily, "I'm afraid we'll have company soon."

"You mean they have noticed us?" Obi-Wan asked nervously, stepping closer to his Master.

"Probably." Qui-Gon used his free hand to take Obi-Wan's and pulled him even closer than before, "We'd better be careful."

All of a sudden, ten Zephyrenes with blasters emerged from behind the trees around them, all blasters aiming at the three Jedi. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Virgille stood back to back, with their lightsabers humming in hands.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Obi-Wan whispered to himself.

"Obi-Wan," Virgille glared at him with her grandma-look, "If you cannot improve the situation, it's best for you to shut up – ALL of us have a very, VERY bad feeling about this."

"Oh, suppose you're not being a noisy, dumb little moron!" Obi-Wan roared back.

"I have always heard that Jedi are optimists," A Zephyrene hissed coldly as he approached them with steady strides until he was standing in front of them, but he left a few meters between himself and the Jedi. "But not that optimistic – you seem to even have time for quarrels."

Obi-Wan and Virgille fell silent and stood back closer to Qui-Gon whose eyes were now narrowed with contemplation. Obi-Wan felt a small ripple in the Force, and he noticed his Master was directing the dirt from the ground surreptitiously into his right hand which was holding the lightsaber hilt with the other hand, without being noticed by the enemies.

The Zephyrene narrowed his glassy eyes, "If I were you, I would put down my weapons and surrender – for there is no need for you to use them anymore, since no matter how valiantly you fight, you will not escape the fate of dea –"

Qui-Gon abruptly threw the dirt collected in his right hand straightly into the Zephyrene's convex, glassy eyes with Force-enhanced power. The Zephyrene screamed with a high-pitched screech and dropped his weapon to put his hands over his wounded eyes. Just before the other stunned Zephyrenes came back to awareness and could fire at them, Qui-Gon slashed his lightsaber towards them immediately. With two other sharp screams, two other Zephyrenes died instantly.

Obi-Wan and Virgille deflected the laser bolts aiming at them from the remaining seven soldiers. Qui-Gon joined them and directed a bolt right back to its shooter, and the soldier screamed piercingly and fell to the ground.

"This is intolerable!" Virgille yelled frightenedly with a tone often used by grandma.

"Shut up and fight, Virgule!" Obi-Wan shouted.

"Virgille!"

"Whatever!"

"How rude!"

After four more Zephyrenes died under their own laser bolts, Qui-Gon Force-pushed the last two enemies onto the ground. As they were trying to jump back to their feet, Obi-Wan leaped before them and beheaded both of them with a swing of his lightsaber.

Panting fiercely, Obi-Wan walked back to his Master and Virgille who were as exhausted as he was.

"Well fought, Padawan." Qui-Gon put a hand on his shoulder, still breathing heavily. "And you too, little one." Then he rubbed Virgille's sweaty hair lightly.

The Zephyrene whose eyes were injured finally came back to his vision painfully and found that all his soldiers were dead. He glared at the three Jedi severely and inhaled deeply of air. Then he opened his mouth and gave a penetrating roar into the sky.

Hearing the furious roar, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Virgille turned to look at the Zephyrene, who had already spread out his wings and left in a flash.

"What was he doing?" Obi-Wan gazed at the small figure that was flying further.

Qui-Gon's eyes widened with horror as memory rushed back to him, "He'd just sent a signal to his fortress!"

"What?" Obi-Wan gasped, understanding his Master's concern.

A loud noise reached their ears, and they all looked at the direction the noise came from. It sounded like thousands of pairs of wings were flapping and it was approaching quickly.

Virgille was trembling with increasing fear of the terrifying noise and she snuggled up to Obi-Wan's leg out of instinct. Obi-Wan laid a hand on her head in comfort though he was no less frightened as she was, then he decided to hold the frightened youngling up to carry her in one of his arms out of instinct.

"Master, what shall we do now?" Obi-Wan asked with a trace of fluster in his voice while he looked at his silent Master whose eyes were shut with his thought deep in muse.

Qui-Gon suddenly looked up and grabbed Obi-Wan's free hand abruptly, starting to run as he answered, "Run!"

Obi-Wan continued to carry Virgille in his arm with his other hand gripped tightly in his Master's as he was led by Qui-Gon to run away from the gathering Zephyrenes. Obviously, Qui-Gon was leading them in a certain direction, which Obi-Wan hoped was towards a refuge.

"Duck!" Virgille suddenly yelled into his ears, and he immediately ducked his head, narrowly evading a laser bolt. He glanced back and saw a Zephyrene flying after them with a blaster in his hands.

Qui-Gon noticed him as well and he suddenly let go of his Padawan's hand to turn back to the follower and cut off his head rapidly. As the Zephyrene's dead body landed on the ground, he said tiredly, "We can't afford any company now."

Obi-Wan and Virgille was surprised by Qui-Gon's swiftness before Qui-Gon took the younger man's hand again and led them back to their way.

"Master?" Obi-Wan asked as they rushed, "Where are we going?"

"To a place I finally remembered from the remnant memory." Qui-Gon said with weariness, "I hope it's still safe and I didn't remember it wrong."

Sensing his Master's depression of his amended memory of this place, Obi-Wan tightened his grip on his Master's hand said soothingly, "Don't worry, Master. Your memory must be right."

Qui-Gon smiled back at him slightly and returned his focus to the surroundings.

Ten minutes later, they reached an aged old tree which bore no difference from the others. Qui-Gon reached out his sense and quickly flipped over a stone slate hidden perfectly in the grass grew around the old tree and a hole revealed.

"Good heavens!" Virgille grandma-gasped.

"Get in there!" Qui-Gon commanded and Obi-Wan obeyed instantly with Virgille still in his arm. He jumped into the hole and landed on a damp ground. Then he stepped away and watched as Qui-Gon did the same.

As soon as his feet touched the damp ground below, Qui-Gon used the Force to move the slate above to cover the hole completely as it did before.

For a moment, none of them spoke as the only sound in the dark and silence was their panting.

"Well…that was close." Virgille commented as Obi-Wan put her down to the ground for he was too exhausted to still hold her up.

"And what should you say to me, young lady?" Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow, rubbing his sore arm.

"Thank you, Obi-Wan." She said with a solemn face, "And what should YOU say also?"

"What?" Obi-Wan crouched down to sit on the damp ground, "You're expecting me to thank you?"

"Of course." She said in a matter-of-fact tone, "If it wasn't because of me, your head would have exploded like a bomb back there."

Obi-Wan snorted, "If it wasn't because of you, I would have had some spare sense to detect the bolt earlier."

"Yeah, right, like THAT could have happened." Virgille grandma-sneered while she sat down on the ground as well.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and decided that he was too tired to argue with the dumb youngling.

Qui-Gon sighed with a smile: there seemed to never be a moment that the two young ones could ever stop quarreling, even though they were all worn out by now. Gathering his thoughts, he turned to them and said coaxingly: "I'm afraid we can't rest at the moment, because here is too close to the hole that leads to the ground. We'd better go further into the tunnel." He gestured towards the dim tunnel behind him.

Obi-Wan nodded quietly and tried to stand up with the help of the wall while Virgille just jumped up back to her feet quickly. It was easier for Virgille to get back to her feet since almost all of their way here, she was just staying in Obi-Wan's arm.

Qui-Gon offered his hand with an understanding smile, and Obi-Wan took it hesitantly while he was inwardly glad that the place was dark enough to hide the redness on his face.

To be continued...

So...what do you think of it? Interesting? Boring? Or even...stupid? Anything will do!