Chapter Two
The fire crackled softly, giving the man in the cloak a cozy feeling. He sat against his makeshift house in utter comfort. Taking a sip of his juice, he sighed contentedly and listened. Silence. He smiled. It was not often that he was able to revel in that sound and he took every opportunity to enjoy it. Peaceful bliss. Unfortunately for him, there would be very little silence for the rest of the night.
Anakin shivered and pulled his robes about him tighter. It was getting colder as the minutes passed. He was raised on Tatooine; he wasn't used to this kind of cold yet. He mentally added "freezing" to his current list of complaints. He sat down on the ground, leaning against the fallen tree. As he did so, he heard a faint squishing sound. Standing up quickly, he tried to see what it was. Realizing that it was too dark to see much of anything, he activated his lightsaber. Holding it close to the spot where he had just sat down, he soon discovered what it was. A small rat like insect (if you could call any insect 'rat like') with large eyes, lay squashed there. Anakin looked back to examine the back of his robe. As he suspected, there was a large glob of the same type of goo that was now oozing from the dead bug. Anakin made a disgusted face followed by a "ugh!" and poked at it slightly with his boot. To his great surprise, it started moving, quickly biting onto his boot and attempting to climb further up his foot. Giving a shout of surprise, Anakin kicked hard and the insect went flying. Deciding that what he really needed was more light; he started gathering some fallen branches in an attempt to start a fire. He had everything nicely set up until he realized that he didn't know how to start a fire. He had never really tried before. So he took out his lightsaber again and lowered it to his firewood, but all he was successful in doing was making a lot of smoke. After fifteen minutes with this, he finally had a small flame. A very small flame, mind you, but a flame nonetheless. It took him a while to get the flame truly burning, but soon enough he had himself a roaring fire. He was quite warm and comfortable until he felt a drop on his nose. And then another on his hand. And then another on his cheek. Anakin knew he had to find a shelter and fast, before he was soaked to the bone. With a final glance back at his lovely fire, he went off to find shelter. He headed northeast towards a mountain type thing, in hopes of some sort of rock shelter. But the heavens opened and he was sopping wet by the time he finally found a small cave like thing. He ignited his lightsaber and he could tell the "cave" was not entirely waterproof as his lightsaber was hissing from the occasional water droplet that hit the blade. He noticed some dead plants and a few tree branches on the floor of the cave and decided to try and make another fire. He was more successful this time, and his fire caught on a lot faster. Content with this new success and the shelter of the cave, he sat back against a rock and sighed. He took a small protein cube from his belt and popped it in his mouth.
"Even Master Obi-Wan would be proud," he said aloud to himself. And with a smile he closed his eyes.
The cloaked man looked about his small campsite with a pleased smile. He was sure he would win this, even though he wished for the young one's success. Then kneeling down by his fire, placing his hands on his thighs, he closed his eyes and breathed slowly. He sat like this for some time before he heard it. His eyes shot open in surprise. He could not be sure if he had heard it in his mind or not, but one thing he was sure of: that cry was from his Padawan.
Anakin Skywalker woke with a start, his senses crying out. He reached out with the Force, almost frantically. Something was not right. He sat up quickly, lightsaber in hand; posed for attack. Listening intently for the sound…his ears met with the sound of heavy breathing. The Force warned him that he was not alone—and that that was not a good thing. He quickly gathered up his things and headed for the entrance of the cave. He had just stepped into a light drizzle when something tugged at his legs. With a terrified cry he went down, connecting a large black puddle. He struggled for a moment, trying to undo whatever it was that had clasped onto his leg. He thought only of the creature he had heard breathing moments before and he let out another cry. He was quite happy that no one had seen him when he found what was really attached to his leg. A vine! A vine had tripped him, causing him to fall into the biggest, blackest puddle of mud he had ever seen. He sighed, relieved. Squeezing the muddy water off his tonic, he gathered up his things and made his way back to his "old camp."
Obi-Wan Kenobi paced about his camp, a worried look on his face. Should he go and find his Padawan and lose, or should he remain here and trust that the boy could handle the danger?
Then again, he thought to himself, he probably wouldn't have cried out if he didn't need help…
His mind struggled to find an alternative, a compromise.
"Aha!" he cried, a small smile finding its way to his lips
When Anakin finally found his old camp, the fire was nothing but muddy ashes. A real shame, to be sure. Resolving that he should find some place with dry ground, he backtracked on the trail that he and his master had traveled earlier that day…or yesterday. Whichever it was now. He remembered a place in the jungle where the trees had made a sort of a bubble over a small clearing. It didn't take him too long to find it, as his master had made the trail easy to follow with all the branches he had broken. Arriving at the clearing, and this time checking to make sure that he wasn't sharing this space with any other life forms, he once again made preparations for a fire. But he had a great deal of trouble igniting his lightsaber. Anakin was sure the mud was the problem. He cleaned it off with a dry part of his robes and hoped for the best. It worked this time. But it was here that Anakin soon learned a lesson about oxygen and smoke. The clearing was so small and enclosed that the fire took a very long time to get to a pleasant size even and by the time it had Anakin was surrounded by smoke. Unfortunately, the mud had ruined his rebreather as well. He sat there, staring grumpily into the fire, poking it with a stick.
"Well isn't this a pleasant evening, Anakin." he mumbled to himself and immediately heard an echo of "Anakin." Finding this slightly amusing he tried something else.
"Hello!" he said a little louder only to be met with nothing. No echo. But he did hear heavy breathing…again. He grumbled loudly. He hadn't sensed anything…and still couldn't, he noted. This frightened him slightly. Perhaps it was a creature that could mask its presence in the Force, he thought with horror. Or perhaps a Sith…
"Anakin!" came the low, muffled cry.
"Who is there?" called, reaching for his lightsaber.
"Anakin…" Anakin pushed the red button on his lightsaber, but he was not met with the sight of his blue blade. There was a slight fizzling sound followed by a spark.
"Uh oh!" he cried, pushing it several more times, only to be met with the same reaction. "What the Sith kind of mud was that?"
"Anakin…can you hear me?"
"Stay away, you Sith!" Anakin cried, pulling a burning log off the fire and holding it in front of him for light. "I'm not afraid of you." The thing called his name again, and Anakin could hear the sound of running. Anakin was doing some quick thinking. No lightsaber, thing that could mask its presence, it knew his name and was coming to get him…solution?
Master! He cried both aloud and to his master through the bond.
"Anakin!" the voice said again, sounding menacing and slightly mechanic. "I'm coming for you…where are you?" For a short moment Anakin thought that perhaps he might be drugged—that the voice might be from inside his head. Perhaps it was that poison leaf… But then "logic" took hold of him again.
Holding the burning log firmly in his hand, and his malfunctioning lightsaber in the other, he got out of the clearing as quickly as he could…but the voice followed.
"Anakin…you must tell me where you are…or else—" Anakin couldn't help but give a shout in fear. The thing was following him! He dodged this way and that, running as quickly as he could, pushing the button on his lightsaber every few seconds in hopes that it wasn't truly broken.
"I don't think we're alone," the voice cried, very slowly now. "Aaaaargh!" the voice roared. Anakin was running as fast as his legs could carry him and yet the thing seemed to be behind him the whole time. He looked behind him to see if he could see the creature, but all that he saw was a small burning tree. That creature had started a fire! Or perhaps the creature was the fire.
"Whee ooo yuh neah ansk ooo c-link?" the thing seemed to be speaking in a language that Anakin had never heard before. A moment later another tree had started on fire and another directly in front of Anakin—right where he was holding the flame.
Master help! Help! I've destroyed the planet and the Sith are coming to get me!
Anakin pulled his water from his utility belt and poured it onto one of the burning trees. It seemed to feed the fire. Trees were catching fire like mad now and Anakin was surrounded on one side. His limited trained was confusing him. Should he try to save the planet or save his own life and escape? Just then he saw something move on the other side of the fire. It was coming towards the fire, running. Then it stopped and he could see it more clearly. A black figure. If that wasn't Sithish, he didn't know what was. And then it disappeared and Anakin wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified.
"Anakin!" something caught him by the shoulder and he whirled around, only to be met by the same black figure. Only he looked more frightening up close. He looked like a giant glob of goo!
"Help!" Anakin cried, hitting the creature with the burning log and fiddling with his lightsaber again. Success! Anakin brought the blue blade down on the creature, holding it at its throat.
"Anakin!" it cried, surprised. Anakin saw the fear in the creature's eyes and decided that he didn't like it at all. Not in those eyes, at least.
"Anakin it's me!" the creature cried. Anakin knew that voice…but no. Perhaps this creature could imitate voices. That's when his lightsaber fizzled again.
"Force!" Anakin called, jumping back from the creature.
"Anakin, what have I told you about taking care of your lightsaber?" the creature said, putting both of his gooy hands on his gooy hips. Just then a burning branch fell behind Anakin and the creature pulled him away.
"Master?" Anakin cried, utterly astonished.
"Of course it's me," the creature—Obi-Wan said exasperatedly. "I've been trying to reach you on your commlink for the past half hour!"
"My commlink…?" Anakin said stupidly. He reached to the side of his utility belt and unclipped his commlink. He had forgotten all about it. It was caked in the same black mud he—and apparently his master—had fallen into.
"Yes, your commlink. But then I fell in the mud and mine started making odd noises. It looks like you had the same problem," Obi-Wan noted, looking at his Padawan's attire. "Now come on! Let's get out of here before we both die."
"So I guess neither one of us won then," Obi-Wan said as he handed his Padawan a mug of hot liquid. Obi-Wan had brought them back to his camp, in hopes that they could get some rest before continuing the mission. The rain had started again and put out what had been the start of a very bad jungle fire. They could still see the smoke rising. Obi-Wan had informed Anakin that the council would have to hear about the fire though, as the senators and Baroonda's other political leaders would not be happy about it.
"Won?" Anakin said, looking puzzled. He sniffed at the drink in his hand and then took a tentative sip, sighing as the warm liquid went down.
"Yes, won," Obi-Wan said, looking at his Padawan strangely. "The traditional "Master/Padawan survival competition."
"Huh?" his Padawan replied, looking thoroughly confused. "Was I supposed to know that was what this was?"
"It's traditional to have the competition on Baroonda. And, well I left enough clues," Obi-Wan said, sitting down next to his Padawan. "Pretending to be lost, mysteriously disappearing into thin air where there was obviously no danger."
"But Master!" Anakin cried, "There's never "obviously no danger." Something could always happen."
"True," his master agreed. "Which is why I've never understood the traditional clues. But I did think for sure that I would win…I almost won against Qui-Gon. If only that bug hadn't eaten my fire…"
"So all of this was about you winning?" the Padawan cried indignantly. "I've been poisoned, I'm covered in guts, goo, and mud, I'm freezing, my lightsaber, rebreather, and commlink are broken, and I've started a forest fire all because of a stupid game?"
"You're right," Obi-Wan said, smiling. "I think I've won." Obi-Wan couldn't help but laugh as his Padawan began ranting again.
"Well," Anakin said, as he lay down under Obi-Wan's makeshift shelter, "At least we don't really have to go find that old man."
"Oh no, the mission was no joke," Obi-Wan said with a slight grimace, resting against the shelter, closing his eyes. "We still have to go find the 'old man.'"
"But you do know where he lives, right?" Anakin asked curiously. There was a slight pause before his master answered.
"Of course," Anakin was not satisfied.
"Master," he said, sitting up now. "We aren't really lost, are we?" Obi-Wan looked slightly offended.
"No," he answered, though he looked slightly worried.
"Oh, Maaaster!"
THE END
Well, I hope you enjoyed it! I know I enjoyed writing it. I've just been bitten by a little plot bunny so look out for another Obi-Wan Anakin fic. Mwuahahaha. Fun stuff. Please review! Much thanks!