-----------------------------------------------
The four behemoth animals marched steadily toward the four giant stakes. Anakin immediately began to twist his chains around the giant neck of his animal, and he leapt onto its back. Obi-Wan was maneuvering in a way that eventually caught the giant pincers of his beast on the stake and broke the chain.
Padme was not faring so well. Though she managed a few good smacks with her chain, the animal still managed to cut a large gash in her back. Sarah was holding her scaly monster off with a Force shield while she tried to manipulate the lock on the chains binding her hands.
To Dooku, standing watching the scene unfurl below him, he was impressed. The Jedi were doing better than he had hoped, and he thought that perhaps, they just might find their ways out of this mess. But this thought was unfortunately cut short by the buzzing of a transmission. He took out the holoprojector and held it in his hand. The image of Lord Sidious appeared in blue.
"I sense that it is not going well Lord Tyranus," said the sinister figure.
"My Lord, it appears that these Jedi are more skilled than we originally anticipated."
"I don't care how skilled they are, I want all of them dead but Skywalker, and I do not care what you have to do to make it happen."
Dooku tried to hold in his contempt for Sidious, "Yes, My Lord." He cut the transmission and stared down at the cloud of dust that had arisen from all of the action on the arena floor. He sighed and motioned to his droid commander, "I want droidekas down there immediately," Dooku said, "these Jedi are not to escape."
Nute Gunray then approached Dooku. "Count," the Neimoidian said, "this is not going the way I expected! I want the Senator dead and I want her head as my trophy!"
Dooku turned his dark eyes onto the Neimoidian. "She will be dead soon enough."
"She should have been dead ten years ago!" Gunray exclaimed, turning and walking away.
Dooku stared at Skywalker, who had just loaded the other two Jedi and the Senator onto the back of his reek. "Indeed," he muttered to himself, "she should have died. And if it weren't for Skywalker, than perhaps she would have." Dooku was beginning to see why Sidious was so interested in the young Jedi. He had raw power, and in his years with Sidious, Dooku had found that if there was one thing that the Sith Master valued above all, it was pure and unadulterated power.
Dooku took a deep breath as he peered down at the arena floor, where the three Jedi, the Senator, and the reek were now surrounded by droidekas. It was then that he heard the dull hum of a lightsaber next to his ear. Dooku slowly turned and saw Mace Windu, purple lightsaber ignited, right next to his face.
"Master Windu," Dooku said, just as hundreds of lightsabers all around the arena were ignited. Dooku smirked as his eyes swept the sight, "How very foolish of you."
"This is it for you, Dooku," said Mace seriously.
"You should not have brought the Jedi into this," Dooku said.
Mace moved to attack, but Dooku sent him flying with a tremendous Force push. Mace fell, slowing himself down with the Force. Above, Dooku gave the order for the battle droids to enter the arena.
Thousands of the battle droids flooded the stadium, and the storm of blaster bolts began to shower down upon the Jedi. The Geonosians fled, and the Jedi leapt to the arena floor. One Jedi threw spare lightsabers to Anakin, Sarah, and Obi-Wan, and tossed a blaster to Padme.
Every once in awhile, the dull thud of a Jedi's body would hit the ground and lay still. Sarah and Anakin were dutifully protecting Padme, deflecting all stray blaster bolts. Obi-Wan and Mace Windu were fighting seamlessly, a powerful team, but as time wore on, and more Jedi fell, it was apparent that they would be overwhelmed. There were now only thirty or so Jedi left on the arena floor, and they were outnumbered. The droids suddenly ceased fire, and the Jedi stood hesitantly.
Anakin, Sarah, and Obi-Wan stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched Dooku stand above them. The old Count smiled down at the Jedi as he said, "You have fought most bravely. I must commend you-" he was going to continue when he saw the giant ships descend and bring shadows to the arena as they blocked the boiling sun overhead.
Master Yoda was the first Jedi that they saw, and as he landed, he directed hundreds of clones out to the arena floor. As the rain of blaster bolts began again, the remaining Jedi were herded onto the open ships. The clones easily began to shoot down the droids, and the Jedi took off and safely escaped.
Dooku stood stiffly, watching this all unfold. The clones...he had forgotten about the clones...of course, he had hoped...but certainly not expected. He allowed himself a small nod before stepping onto his speeder bike and taking off across Geonosis.
On the ship that Anakin, Sarah, and Obi-Wan were on, they spotted Dooku fly off across the dusty land. The gave the command for the ship to follow him. Another Jedi had directed Padme onto a ship leading away from the planet.
On the planet's floor, the greatest battle was taking place. Explosions rocked the ground as gargantuan machines burst forth and began shooting wildly. Jedi charged, lightsabers held high as they led hoards of clones straight into the battle. The ship that Anakin, Sarah, and Obi-Wan were on continued to pursue Dooku. Anakin and Sarah stood close, scanning the horizon, while Obi-Wan pretended to do the same.
He was really observing his Padawans. He could not shake the anomalous feeling that surrounded Anakin and Sarah. It felt like such a familiar feeling to him, and it prickled uncomfortably at the back of his neck. He tried to turn his attention back to the battle at hand. They continued to speed towards a large cliff, and they saw Dooku's black speeder enter.
They immediately jumped out of the ship and, igniting their lightsabers and running quickly into the opening in the cliff. Dooku had been standing with his back to them, but when he heard their footsteps, he did not turn around right away. "I should have know that you three would be foolish enough to follow," he said quietly.
The Jedi stood ready, in their familiar stances. Dooku slowly turned and took a deep breath. "I truly hope that your skills with a lightsaber are not rusty," he said as he pulled out his curved hilt and a crimson blade shot forth.
Without further words, he engaged the three in battle. It was a flurry of color as the blades danced and swung at each other. Dooku knew how foolish it was to try to fight three powerful Jedi at once, and so, as he had been taught, he dispatched the most powerful Jedi first. Two well-placed gashes on Obi-Wan's arm and leg had the Jedi Knight on the ground, lightsaber flying out of his hand.
Dooku flipped back to regain his breath. He looked Obi-Wan in the eyes and sneered, "Now really, Master Kenobi. I would have expected so much more out of you." He turned to face the two Padawans. He shot a powerful burst of Force lighting at Anakin, and he was slammed into the rock wall, where he collapsed.
As much as Sarah wanted to run to Anakin, she knew that she must try and hold Dooku off. They fought for a short while, and she quickly realized that her lightsaber skills were no match to Dooku's. He had obviously been perfecting them for decades, and his style of Form Two was meant for blade-to-blade combat, using little energy.
She flipped over his head, and as she landed, she sent a strong kick at his chest. He stumbled backwards and fell. As he did, a disc flew out of his cloak and skidded across the floor. His eyes widened when he realized that he had lost it. With the Force, he tried to summon it back to his hand, but he met remarkable resistance. He looked up to see that Sarah was trying to do the same.
The pull in the Force from her was staggering, and he could feel the disc slipping steadily out of his grasp. With every ounce of power he could muster, he reached out, but it seemed to be too much for the little disc. Without warning, it exploded in midair to a shower of sparks and molten metal.
Dooku's eyes were full of fear and anger. He faced Sarah and then turned to Obi-Wan and Anakin. Will another last tremendous pull of the Force, he sent a shower of rocks down at the two Jedi. Sarah had to leap to shield Anakin and Obi-Wan from the stone downpour, and was in turn distracted. She felt somewhere in the distance, Dooku run to his ship and take off, but it was taking all of her concentration to throw the flooding rocks off their course.
Dooku hung his hands in his head after he entered space. He set his course to Coruscant, though he dreaded what awaited him when he returned. Not only had he failed to capture Skywalker, but Sidious would not be pleased when he found out that his plans for the armored space station had been destroyed.
-----------------------------------------------
A/N: Well, I'm back from that horrendous realm of final exams and I am still alive (although once I get my grades I don't know if I'll still be). Sorry about how long it took to update, but things should be getting back to normal now. So, a little twist I suppose in this chapter... Thank you for being patient, and thanks for reading...more to come soon!