EPISODE II
Chapter 11: Deranged

One day has passed since the mission to Guaymar and the death of Stythanyx. Eager to eliminate the last of the Archfiends as soon as possible, Zolph Vaelor and Hiriss Moraana once again met up with their usual peers in the Jedi academy's operations room.

"Zolph, Hiriss? What are you doing in here?" Luke Skywalker asked them. "We haven't called you up yet."

"We know." Zolph responded. "We've decided that we are going to Krishar today."

"Already? But you just defeated an Archfiend yesterday, and the Alliance isn't finished preparing to launch the campaign on that planet yet."

"We know." Hiriss answered Luke similarly. "But given that Stythanyx was summoned long before we even landed on Guaymar and triggered a global zombie apocalypse, what's not to say the Valkoran have already summoned the next one while we were preoccupied with the simultaneous strikes over the last three months and the planet's suffering similar problems that, if left unchecked, could spread off-world?"

"Besides, Krishar's the last planet on that list. Through process of elimination, doesn't that automatically make that planet highest priority?" Zolph asked Luke.

Grein, who was also in the room, consulted Luke. "They have a point, Skywalker, and we discussed this on the way back."

"And no need to worry, I'm not taking this mission to distract myself from my mental issues again. That I took the rest of the day off after the last mission should make it clear enough."

"Very well, then." Luke responded to all three of them. "I'll let General Choi know you've gone ahead, but please know that you won't be getting any aid until they arrive, and that could be a few more days."

"That's nothing out of the ordinary for us." Hiriss responded. "Besides, sending Jedi out as advance scouts is a good safety precaution for the troops."

Grein then spoke to Zolph and Hiriss. "I'll go to Krishar first in the Manta to do some scouting while you two follow in…. what's the name of your fighter, Zolph?"

"You know, I haven't bothered to come up with a cool name for it yet." Zolph answered.

"I'm sorry, but 'Advanced prototype X-Wing' is not a valid name for a personalized ship. When we're finished with this mission, you are going to name your ship, and no excuses you can come up with will get you out of it."

Zolph then sarcastically responded. "Yes, mom."

"Nah ah ah! None of the sass. I may be your distant ancestor, but you are still an adult and you are not going to treat me like an old woman."

"At least it's nice to know I can still just call you Grein. Few could account for meeting their own ancestor long after they would have died, and last I remember, Maesterus doesn't like being called 'Gramps'." Zolph switched the subject back. "But getting back to the matter at hand, we've got one more Archfiend to kill."

"See you two on the planet's surface."


A few hours later, Zolph, Hiriss and R9-C4 entered the Krishar system and were greeted by a mostly green planet blockaded by several Valkoran warships.

Zolph contacted Grein via comlink as they waited in orbit away from the fleet. "Let me guess: Another arboreal world?"

"Actually, it's mostly water with several jungle islands. I'll give you my coordinates and we'll start searching the islands for our extragalactic abomination. Careful on the way down, though. There are many anti-aircraft boats patrolling the seas."

"Well, our job can never be easy, otherwise we would just search by air."

Hiriss commented. "But first we need to find a way through the blockade, and we don't have the Alliance fleet to distract them."

Seefor then offered a suggestion. "R9-C4 + Zolph + Hiriss = Terminate Hostilities?"

"Too risky." Zolph answered. "We're heavily outnumbered and this is obviously an Alliance ship. Besides we won't need to do that, because I've found our hole."

Going through the gap in the blockade, their fighter then entered Krishar's atmosphere without trouble.


After entering Krishar's green sky and avoiding missiles fired by Valkoran missile defense boats and turbolaser fire from Judicator-class space frigates docked in the water, Zolph and his crew landed on the island from which Grein's coordinates originated, right next to the Blazing Manta in a jungle clearing so the ships wouldn't be easy targets.

After disembarking from the fighter, Zolph, Hiriss and Seefor met up with Grein right outside.

"So, what's there to report, Grei?" Zolph asked her.

"For starters, the Archfiend Xixixix has indeed summoned. I can sense them."

"Shicksicksi… wait, what kind of name is that? And how is it spelled?"

"Rough translations of the tomes I found spell their name as X-I-X-I-X-I-X. And seeing as I've only read the name and never heard it spoken by Valkor, I really don't have any idea how it's pronounced."

Hiriss then asked Grein. "Any idea what's-their-name is capable of?"

"They can drive those around them to madness if exposed to them for too long."

"Well, it's a good thing we've decided to come first so our troops don't go insane."

Zolph then commented. "But I can't say the same for the Valkoran forces… or us."

Seefor commented as well. "Madness aura + R9-C4 = No effect on R9-C4."

"That's because you're a droid, and you're already insane."

Grein then continued her report. "I've also found another ship in the jungle, but neither Valkoran nor Alliance. In fact, we've seen this ship before."

"Well, enough with the suspense. Tell us." Zolph demanded.

"Better yet, why don't I show you?"


Minutes later, the Jedi trio and Seefor arrived at the ship Grein described, which was landed on its backside, similar to the vessel of the bounty hunter, Boba Fett, but of a different model with red decals and s-foil wings: the Vriknash.

"Yeah, this ship does look familiar. Is this Slave I?" Zolph asked.

He then heard a disappointed voice come out of nowhere. "Buddy, I am insulted that you'd mistake me for that show-off."

Zolph then turned around to see a familiar green scaly-skinned bounty hunter with very little armoring and a face-concealing helmet sitting on a tree branch in a reclined position.

"Got out of a sarlacc? Puh-lease! I kriffing killed one! And do I look like a guy who demonizes Jedi and thinks pacifists should be impossible in a mostly-warrior society?" The mercenary then hopped down from the tree. "But enough of my ranting. Do you remember me?"

"Uh…who are you again? I'm drawing a blank."

The bounty hunter shouted in annoyance. "WHAT?! You don't remember me?! Hello?! Gahmah Raan?! Weird guy who hunted you about a year-and-a-half ago?!"

"Oh yeah, and has it really been that long? Keeping up with the flow of time, I don't think it's been that long."

"I don't know, weeks have been feeling like months recently. I think the god of time has been slacking off."

"But enough talk. Why are you here, Raan? Did the Valks hire you as muscle again?" Zolph ignited his lightsaber in defense.

Gahmah then pulled out both of his blaster pistols in defense. "Stand down, Zolphy. I'm not working for the Valks… this time."

"Then who hired you? The Hutts?"

Gahmah impulsively fired a blaster shot at Zolph, who quickly deflected it. "Hey! I don't work for crime syndicates!"

"Then why'd you try to shoot me?"

Grein answered. "He's clearly got a hair-trigger temper."

Gahmah fired a few more shots at Zolph while he charged at him. "If another guy brings up that stereotype…"

Zolph then reacted by using the Force to hurl Gahmah against a tree. "Enough fooling around! Who sent you here?!"

"Sent me? I live here!"

Surprised by Gahmah's answer, Zolph deactivated his lightsaber. "Wait, this is your homeworld? Where are the rest of your species?"

"The Krishari live in settlements, and I'm actually the first of my kind to travel into space after another bounty hunter left this beauty of a ship when I killed him over some misunderstanding. Better yet, why don't I introduce you to my settlement and my mate? Oh, and before I forget, no hard feelings about our last encounter."

"Can you please take off your helmet? I want a general idea of what your species looks like."

"Oh, why not?" Gahmah removed his helmet, revealing an almost human-like face but with reptilian eyes and teeth, long dark green tendril hair and what looked like scars on his face. "Here you go." Zolph then proceeded to punch Gahmah in the face with his mechanical arm. "AUGH! YOU BROKE MY NOSE! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"I accept your apology, but I can't let you not suffer some retribution for weakening me enough on Kratzar to lose my right arm. And stop being a baby; your nose can grow back."

"Oh, right." Gahmah readjusted his nose back into place to let it regenerate. "Good as new."

"But where'd the scars come from? Oh wait, let me guess: they're fake."

"Can you blame me? Scars look cool on mercenaries." Gahmah then put his helmet back on. "Anyway, why don't you, your technicolor girlfriends and the R9 follow me?"

"Actually, the Chiss is my distant grandmother."

"Nerfshavit. She's too hot to be your grandmother."

Grein confirmed what Zolph was saying. "He's actually telling the truth."

"You're not kidding?" Gahmah asked Zolph. "Ew! Now I have some images that I don't need."

"You have my sympathy. I had the same reaction when I learned that she was my ancestor and she worked in a certain type of club, and that just happened yesterday."

"As I was saying, why don't you make yourselves at home for awhile?"

"We'd love to, Gahmah, but we're busy hunting for a powerful creature, and in case you hadn't noticed, the Valkoran are here."

"Actually, that's why I'm out here in this jungle in the first place. I'm curious about what the Valks are doing on my planet."

Hiriss then explained to the Krishari mercenary. "They recently summoned this creature we're looking for."

"I didn't hear any of the leadership talking about summoning some creatures since they landed, but they did speak of trying to kill one."

"Well, that sounds like our Archfiend, and at least it's nice to know these aren't the fanatical types we're dealing with." Zolph said. "But are you saying they didn't summon them?"

"You got that right. They seem interested in our local shrine and some have attempted to kill what my people consider one of our local deities – the mad god… in vain. Most of them got eaten afterwards. I should explain more about this at home."


Later, Gahmah had escorted the Jedi and Seefor to the Zhikpil settlement, where several other Krishari – who were apparently primitive compared to the rest of the galaxy and Gahmah - made residence. Seeing the newcomers, the Krishari – while not exactly primitive but haven't gotten to their space age yet - were more intrigued than most non-space-faring-species would be at aliens.

"Smooth Krishari." One of them muttered.

Gahmah explained in whispers. "The rest of my people are about as weird as I am, and most of them have only seen a human once before." He then addressed the Krishari. "Everyone, I've brought guests from among the stars." He then fired one of his blasters up into the air to give a warning shot. "And they are not to be burned at the stake or eaten! Are we clear?"

Another Krishari – apparently female and with light gray scales – rushed up to Gahmah and gave him a hug as if he'd been away for a long time.

"I'm going to be busy for a while, Nazeen, but I'll be with you longer once I help our guests."

Zolph asked Gahmah. "You know this girl?"

Gahmah then berated him. "Of course I know her, you dunce! She's my mate!"

"Hey, no need to snap again. I was just curious."

"Then you should have rephrased that as 'Who is she?'."

Nazeen then greeted the Jedi. "Oh! Hello, offworlders."

Gahmah then escorted the Jedi over to his homestead. "Come to my place. We have much to discuss."


After preparing some tea made from local xik leaves, Gahmah started chatting up his guests again.

"Relax and enjoy the tea."

Zolph was then ready to question Gahmah. "Thank you. I'd like to stay and chat, but this situation is…"

Gahmah, without muttering a single word, flipped out one of his wrist blades and pointed it at Zolph.

Zolph, Hiriss and Grein then nervously sat down at the lounge room table while Seefor waited at the door and giggled, seeing that she and the deranged Krishari mercenary had something in common.

"Go ahead, and take a sip."

Zolph looked at the murky green and brown tea. "You sure it isn't poisonous to us non-Krishari?"

"Nope! Never tested it on other species before, but you'll get to be my first test subjects."

"That's not very reassuring." Zolph then watched Grein take a sip and got an answer from her.

"It's safely consumable."

"I'm surprised you were willing to drink it considering the risks."

"If it were poisonous, I would've liquefied myself and filtered it out."

"Okay, so we know it's safe for Chiss, but what about humans and Mirialans?"

"Most near-human species have roughly the same internal anatomy."

Zolph then took a sip. It was very bitter at first, but after sitting in his mouth for a while, it got better.

"So how's the tea suit ya." Gahmah asked him.

"Well, all I can say is at least I'm not drinking gizka poison."

"Anyway, what were you here for again?"

Zolph answered. "Now we're making progress. One of your gods."

"Okay. And why does it concern you?"

"I'd hate to soil on your people's culture, Gahmah, but we may have to kill one of your gods."

"And which god is that?"

"According to our sources, their name is…uh… Xix..ix..ix..." Zolph stuttered as he was still getting the grasp on saying the name.

"Yup, that's the mad god… and suspiciously, the only one of our gods our people have physically met."

"That thing isn't a god. They are a Forceless Archfiend from another galaxy."

"Forceless? Aren't those the creatures I heard about you people killing so often recently?"

"That's them."

Grein then questioned Gahmah. "Out of curiosity, Gahmah, how long has this 'mad god' been around?"

"According to our historical texts, they've been around for about 25,000 years."

Zolph questioned him next. "And do your historical texts make mention of some alien invaders that enslaved your people at the time?"

"Yup."

Grein came to a conclusion. "Then that means Xixixix was summoned by the Rakata long before the Valkoran Empire was established. And this thing has been waiting on this planet for thousands of years."

Hiriss then asked. "This worries me. If what's-their-name has been here for that long, how come it hasn't negatively affected the planet so greatly?"

Gahmah answered. "I don't know. All they do is just sit there shouting the syllables of their name over and over again and eat people, including cultists."

Grein continued explaining. "This may explain yours and your people's…. eccentricities, Gahmah. They've driven your entire race slightly mad over the time they've resided on Krishar. Those who are exposed to them at close proximity for too long are driven even more insane, and if their behavior is anything to go by, Xixixix has driven themself insane too."

"But that doesn't explain why I feel like my life is scripted and why the time flow feels inconsistent for me."

Zolph commented. "So we're not just dealing with a mad Archfiend. We're dealing with a mad idiot Archfiend." He then addressed Gahmah. "And until now, we thought you were just a spice addict. So, are you going to help us out?"

"Of course I am. As weird as we are, most of us fear Xixixix despite the fanatics we have, and I'd like to help erase that fear. Besides, I've always wanted to kill that ugly thing just to say I killed a god."

"Let's do it then, but let's not tell the rest of your people about it until afterward. I don't want to start a witch hunt."


As Gahmah escorted his guests through the jungle, he warned them about another threat aside from the Valkoran.

"By the way, careful around the trees."

"Why is that?" Hiriss asked.

"Some of them can shoot Force lightning and there's no telling which ones can do that."

"You're kidding, right?" Zolph asked.

"Remember, it's a big universe." Grein reminded him.

Suddenly one of the trees fired a bolt of purple electricity from one of its branches towards Zolph, who quickly dodged in response. "Whoa! How has your species survived with these things around?"

"Hello! The Force flows from life! You Jedi have said it yourselves." Gahmah reminded him. "And last I checked, trees are lifeforms too."

"But I thought Force powers were dependent on willpower, and lightning's usually powered by anger. Do the trees hate us or something?"

"No, the trees are as non-sentient as those on other worlds. We dissected one and we didn't find a brain or electricity-producing organs. These trees are just more Force-sensitive than most and shoot lightning at random. When they become problematic, we usually harvest them for lumber."

"Getting back to our mission, how close are we to Lord Unpronounceable's temple?"

"We're so close in fact that I can actually sense them more clearly."

This brought to Zolph's attention something he remembered from their duel on Kratzar. "That reminds me. Are you Force-sensitive?"

"Yup. Never seen a Force-sensitive bounty hunter before?"

"Then why didn't you- ?"

"I wanted to explore the galaxy for myself and open my people up to it, not join a religious order. Aside from being a warrior among them, that's why I also became a bounty hunter."

"And you said you don't like working for criminal organizations?"

"Their bounties are more along the lines of leg-breaking. I prefer to hunt actual criminals and evil-doers. I don't give a shavit about the shady businessmen."

"Then why were you working for the Valkoran at the time?"

"Maesterus actually hired me for some of his own missions before the war, unsanctioned by Valkor. For missions Maesty wanted as little bloodshed as possible, I was his go-to guy, and I still am. Much more subtle compared to the loonies who hired Gestroma to muscle through everything, and that freak makes me look sane by comparison."

"No kidding. Hiriss, Seefor and I killed him just three months ago and learned that he was an Imperial lab mutant planning to kill about half the galactic population."

"Well, thanks for eliminating one of my rivals. So what species was he?"

"We don't know, and even he didn't remember what species he was? All we know is that he had three eyes taking up his entire face and a stomach-mouth."

"Aw. I wish I had a stomach-mouth. On the other hand, I'd have to wonder where the digested food goes."


Sometime later after avoiding more lightning trees, the team had arrived at the Temple of Xixixix, which was guarded by a perimeter of Valkoran forces, which included Shadow Troopers, heavy gunners, and Rancor-class assault tanks.

"We're heeere!" Gahmah informed his guests.

"Do you have to tell us like that?" Zolph asked him with a tone of annoyance. "That would get the Valks' attention."

"Oh come on! They didn't hear that!" Gahmah told him, just before a squad of troopers led by Lieutenant Will Helms pointed their guns at them. "I have got to learn to shut up."

As the Jedi team readied their weapons, Gahmah noticed that Seefor was missing.

"Hey! Where'd the three-legged kettle go?!" Gahmah asked Zolph, before hearing some sounds of destruction and agonized screaming elsewhere around the perimeter and witnessing some of the tanks exploding, which alerted the other Valkoran forces too.

"There's your answer." Zolph replied.

Seefor then approached the trooper squad after emerging from behind the burning wreckage of a tank.

"Keep your distance, men! That droid is a monster!" Helms warned his men, speaking from his experience on Dagobah.

"What the hell are you worried about, Lieutenant?" One of the other troopers ignorantly asked him. "It's an astromech droid."

Seefor then popped her flame projector out of her dome and scorched the trooper to death. After killing that trooper, she slowly rolled towards the squad, dodging each of their shots as they tried to retreat.

"I'm not even going to ask." Gahmah told Zolph as he watched the droid in horror.

Hiriss commented on the chaos. "On another note, Seefor at least got rid of most of the defense force minus those two guards at the temple entrance."

Gahmah then offered a solution. "I'll take care of them. Besides, I think I owe you people one after blowing our cover."

"It's all in the past, and your hamminess didn't do any major damage to us." Zolph told him. "But go ahead and do your thing."

"Alright, then!" Gahmah drew out both of his blasters and pre-charged them. "One big distraction coming right up!"

Gahmah took a detour through the trees to get the drop on the two troopers from their flank, distracting them while the Jedi tried to sneak into the temple.

"Okay, you two. The human or the Rodian? Who shot first?" Gahmah asked the troopers.

The troopers, not hesitant to fire on anyone who tries to enter the temple, pointed their rifles at him. "Both." They said in unison. Surprisingly, the two troopers were indeed a human and a Rodian underneath their face-concealing helmets.

"Wrong!" Gahmah shouted cheerfully as he quickly drew both of his blasters and fired the pre-charged shots at their heads, causing their helmets to explode and leaving a line of smoke coming from each of their necks. "I did!"

The Jedi, however, were around long enough and barely into the temple entrance to witness the troopers' heads exploding.

"Dammit, Gahmah! Can you not make people's heads explode?!" Zolph chastised him.

"For some reason, they only explode when they're wearing closed helmets and they never splatter their brains and skull fragments all over the place. Just have to worry about the shrapnel." Gahmah answered him.

"That's not what I…"

Gahmah interrupted Zolph. "Anyway, we're clear to go inside now, so let's get down to the god-slaying."

Zolph sighed in annoyance at Gahmah's twisted sense of humor as the team entered the temple. Seefor also rejoined them, covered in blood stains.

"Why does she get to be covered in blood?" Gahmah asked.

Zolph answered back rhetorically. "And why is an astromech droid capable of ripping a man's spinal cord out through their armor and then letting the man still be alive afterward?"


A few minutes later, the gang had progressed through Xixixix's temple with little resistance, making it into an open barely-lit chamber with a few stone columns. However, they didn't get very far when they came across a humanoid covered from head to toe in a bulky suit of archaic black armor, armed with a lightsaber-pike and a phrik shield.

"You shouldn't be here, Jedi." The man addressed them. "There is a creature that can drive most beings mad from ther presence alone."

"Then why haven't they driven you mad?" Zolph asked him.

"I intend to destroy them before they should do so."

"That's funny, because we came here to do the same thing."

"You must be Zolph Vaelor, the one our Emperor has been constantly trying to eliminate."

"You'd be right. And who are you supposed to be?"

The armored man then turned around and introduced himself. "I am Armogeist."

"Wait. You're Masochus's apprentice?" Zolph asked him.

"Correct."

"I am so sorry you got paired up with him back in Sith school and that you're a victim of the 'guilt by association' principle."

"There's no need to apologize. You had nothing to do with my predicament." Armogeist then glanced at Grein. "I assume she told you about me?"

"Yeah, and why didn't Maesterus, Arcidus, Juganak or Machinus tell me about this earlier?" Zolph asked him.

Grein then answered Zolph's question. "That's because I requested they pretend not to know me. The only time before yesterday that this rule was broken was when Belluzub was about to kill you. I gave Maesterus a telepathic wake-up call and the rest you should already know."

"I'm surprised they still remember that request after four-thousand years."

"A Jedi's mind is an incredible thing. And so is the mind of a computer in Machinus's case. I'm surprised you'd underestimate their memory capacity."

Armogeist continued on. "Anyway, I cannot let you pass knowing the threat Xixixix poses. And the longer we dawdle, the more likely their madness will corrupt us."

"Then let's waste no time arguing and team up to kill them." Hiriss suggested.

"That would be an excellent solution, Mirialan, but I cannot risk the death of Vaelor." Armogeist ignited his lightsaber pike and pointed it towards them. "But if I must fight to stop you, then I…"

Gahmah then interrupted him and fired a blaster shot at his head, causing his head to fly off and the rest of his body to fall limp.

"Gahmah!" Zolph scolded him.

"There! I didn't make his head explode this time! Why are you still mad at me?!" Gahmah asked.

"Well, you can't just go around killing every antagonistic person we meet!"

"He was threatening us, so it pays to shoot first while he's gloating. Besides, those two Valkoran troopers would've tried to kill you if they were secretly Valkor's fanatics."

"Ahem. I'm not quite dead yet." Armogeist's voice said.

The team then looked back at Armogeist's body and noticed it still standing up, but looking where his head was, there was nothing inside the armor except for a blue ethereal mist that only Force-sensitives could see. Armogeist then used the Force to reach out for his knocked-away helmet and reattached it to his person.

"I am no longer of flesh and blood like you are."

"A possessed suit of armor." Gahmah commented. "I think I've heard of that somewhere before…"

"Well, that explains your codename." Zolph responded. "So you're like Machinus without the circuitry."

Gahmah tried to shoot him again with multiple shots, but Armogeist blocked the shots with his shield this time – as the lightsaber pike isn't an ideal weapon for deflecting blaster bolts.

"As I was saying before that maniac shot my head off, I will see to it that Xixixix doesn't do any permanent damage to you." Armogeist then lunged his pike into Gahmah's stomach.

"Son of a…!" Gahmah cursed before Armogeist sliced him in half horizontally at the waist. Armogeist then used the Force to hurl both halves of him towards a wall.

As Seefor backed out of the fight – knowing her previous experience with fighting Force users -, Hiriss tried to attack him next for his left just as he finished dealing with Gahmah, but he instinctively parried her blow with his shield before throwing her against a wall too.

Grein then stabbed a hole in Armogeist's back, liquefied herself and crawled into the hole, spreading herself through his limbs and freezing over in an attempt to immobilize him and buy Zolph time to get to Xixixix. However, Armogeist proved too strong to keep frozen and broke the ice inside him before using the Force to hurl the ice shards and unfrozen parts of her out of his body. Grein then reformed herself from the scattered ice shards.

"Nice try, Grein, but even after four-thousand years, I still remember you have that ability."

Zolph charged at Armogeist while firing his blaster left-handed, which was quite difficult for him since he wasn't naturally left-handed even after losing his right arm. While Armogeist was busy blocking the shots, Zolph leaped over his shield and then powered up his prosthetic arm to put a dent in the former Sith apprentice's body, but it did very little to him. Armogeist then responded by slashing his pike backwards towards Zolph, forcing him to dodge.

Armogeist then attempted to charge at Zolph, but paused and panicked for what was no immediately obvious reason.

"M-m-master! Why are you here?!" Armogeist backed away as if he was having a severe hallucination. "Leave me alone! You've already robbed me of my body and a dignified death! What more could you possibly wish to take from me?!"

"What is going on?" Zolph asked.

Grein answered him. "Xixixix's power is getting to him. If we don't hurry, the same thing will happen to us."

Seefor rejoined after watching from the sidelines, Hiriss after regaining consciousness and Gahmah after regenerating his lower half.

"And don't worry, I didn't forget my pants this time." Gahmah reassured them. "Unfortunately, I lost the rest of my first batch of seeds with that half and right now, I haven't regenerated that part yet."

"I'm not quite sure I want you doing what that part's for." Zolph nervously commented.

"Well, it's too late to suggest that, because Nazeen is pregnant as we speak."

"Elaborate on Krishari biology. Reptile or mammal?"

"Both. We're repto-mammals. We look reptilian on the outside and have reptilian abilities, but we reproduce and give birth like mammals. And we're warm-blooded."

Grein then interrupted their somewhat-interesting conversation. "Less talking, more walking."

The team then progressed through the temple while Armogeist continued screaming at his hallucinations.


After moving through a few booby-trapped rooms, Zolph questioned Grein.

"So what're Armogeist's issues?"

"Masochus was his Sith master and you already know how insane he is. Sometime after they were exiled from their Empire, Masochus flayed Armogeist alive and then destroyed what was left of his body when there was no further way to 'play' with him. However, Masochus knew that he couldn't continue torturing Armogeist for his amusement if he was dead, so he denied him death."

"Is there anything I can learn about that guy that doesn't make me want to kill him? Then again, it's hard to think of a proper karmic punishment for, well… a sadomasochist. But what's stopped Armogeist from committing suicide up to this point?"

"He wasn't always bound to the armor. Before that, his life-force was bound to an immobile wooden figurine. Thankfully, that happened just before he and Masochus came to the Valkoran Empire, and it wasn't until he met us that Armogeist got refuge from Masochus's abuse and a more mobile body, but the emotional scars are apparently still there."

"And why didn't you just simply let him become one with the Force?"

"Sadly, like I said, this was at the point our 'friendship' with Valkor went downhill. He still had some use for Armogeist, so we tried to make the best out of a bad situation and give him something close enough to living."

"Again, it doesn't help that Masochus is still alive, and they're two totally different flavors of Sith. One who's mynock-shavit insane even by their standards and one who doesn't really have the ideals and mindset to be a Sith. If he'd been born in the Republic, Armogeist wouldn't have had as lousy a lot in life."

Suddenly, a sing-songy voice echoed in the room. "Zooolph!"

"Which one of you called me?" Zolph asked the rest of the team. "Because I'm standing where you won't need to call out to get my attention."

"None of us did. And I didn't hear anyone call your name." Hiriss answered him.

"If that's the case, then…" Zolph came to a shocking realization. "Oh no, she's back! And it's not the Dark Side bringing her out this time!"

A green-eyed, red-haired human female dressed in Jedi attire – as if she was actually trying harder to appeal to him after her hideous appearances in the previous encounters - dropped from the ceiling in front of the group's path – or rather Zolph's since he was the only one who could see her.

"How could you leave me for three-and-a-half months?" She responded before looking towards Hiriss. "And you decided to substitute me with my cousin? That is just gross."

"This isn't what it looks like, Dynn. I'd never replace you. Besides, you told me to move on and find other companionship."

"Well, I'm alive now, so your attention belongs to me."

The rest of the team – minus Gahmah and Seefor - however, knew Zolph was having another hallucination after so long, this time a result of Xixixix's influence.

"Zolph, you know she isn't real." Grein pointed out. "If we kill the Archfiend and you ignore her, we can end these hallucinations."

Dynn then attempted to interrupt Grein, but ended up actually overlapping with what she was saying. "Shut up, blue girl!"

"You know as well as I do that only I can hear you." Zolph told her.

Gahmah interrupted. "Hey, don't leave me out of this!"

Zolph yelled at him. "Shut up, Gahmah!"

Dynn continued on. "By the way, Zolphy, my cousin and your living fossil ancestor are having their own problems, right now."

Zolph then looked behind him to see Grein and Hiriss freaking out and having their own hallucinations.

"Emilin, please! I would never willingly abandon you! I didn't willingly abandon Seferin either! And why would I be cheating death if it wasn't for you?!" cried Grein.

"I didn't know what had happened to you, Dynn! I didn't know you were dead for six months! And I didn't know Gestroma kidnapped and experimented on you! I'm sorry I wasn't there for all of you when I could've been!" cried Hiriss.

"Oh look, she cares about me!" Dynn commented with a bit of a condescending tone.

"I may have never actually seen them interact, but I highly doubt the real you would be this condescending towards her cousin."

"Well, since they're busy…" Dynn then ripped off her tunic, revealing the horrifically mutated body she had at the time of the genuine Dynn's death and during the other hallucinations, complete with the grafted Forceless arm, tail-like left arm, breasts that had been turned into eyes and oval-shaped mouth on her stomach with hooked teeth protruding from it. The transformation then completed when the Forceless skin grew over her mouth and her eyes turned into the usual crystal ball eyes. "It's just you and me now…" She said to him in a distorted voice.

Zolph didn't ignite his lightsaber like last time, but he was still a little unnerved. "Yeah, just me and an apparition of my dead girlfriend with a more disturbing twist on… typical male interests."

Gahmah then interrupted. "Woman! You put your clothes back on right now!" Zolph continued ignoring him, thinking he was having his own hallucinations.

"Oh come on. You always imagined what I look like underneath, and now you're seeing it." The false Dynn continued.

"Maybe once or twice, but that never mattered the most. But you don't have what made her in the first place." Zolph told her.

"Fine. Let's get back to our previous discussion. You know? The one we had on Dxun?" Dynn inched towards Zolph in a seductive-but-mostly-creepy manner. "Your body just consumes Forceless like batteries, but that doesn't mean you to have to be alone." She then pushed him down to the ground and leaned over him like she did on Dagobah. "If you just join us when the Collective brings order, Valkor won't have to eliminate you and we can start over again."

"You know what I think?" Zolph asked her rhetorically. "I'd rather be kissed by a Karkarodon mouth to mouth!"

R9-C4, who was not suffering any hallucinations not only due to being artificial intelligence but also from not having any personal issues to begin with, sounded a high-pitched horn that would normally annoy the hell out of Zolph to get everyone's attention.

"Thank you, psycho drum." Gahmah commended the droid before turning his attention to Zolph. "And you have a lot of guts to say that, because I actually did kiss with a Karkaradon serial killer on Ord Mantell I was hunting at one point. He bit my face off when I flirted with him, but since I thought he was kissing me, I bit his tongue off in return while I was in his mouth. And like most non-regenerators, he clearly didn't know what Krishari kissing rituals entailed."

Zolph asked with a tone of puzzlement. "Gahmah, are you…?"

"Then again, I was drunk when that incident happened, and thankfully, my brain cells can regenerate too…well, most of them." He then commented towards something that only he could see – possibly one of his hallucinations. "Back off, you creepy old man!"

"What are you hallucinating about?"

"Oh, my father, who happened to be the head priest of the cult of Xixixix when I was a child. He was constantly trying to 'enlighten' me by exposing me to that ugly thing up close and personal. Eventually he was eaten." Gahmah then directly spoke to everyone in the room. "But right now, I'm too distracted by every one of your hallucinations to even be bothered."

"Wait, you can see them?!"

"Yeah, and I was watching the whole time. Don't know why, though. May be related to my other quirks? Looking at your hallucinations, you Jedi really need psychiatrists."

"Ahem!" The false Dynn tried to regain Zolph's attention by forcefully turning his face towards her. "Ignore the loony lizard and focus on me!"

Zolph then punched her in the face and Force pushed her into the ceiling, causing her to disintegrate. "How about you shut up?!"

Meanwhile, Grein and Hiriss had gotten over their hallucinations and personal doubts, however much more gracefully than Zolph.

"How did you two do it?"

Grein answered first. "I learned not to worry too much about how Emilin views my defection."

Then Hiriss. "And to accept the events of the past and learn from them to make a better future."

"And I haven't properly resolved my own issues yet." Zolph then spoke to Gahmah. "And thanks for the distraction. Sometimes it takes a lunatic to cure another lunatic."

"No problem at all." Gahmah then drew a blaster and flipped out a wrist blade in preparation for the coming battle. "Now, let's not wait for the end of the mad god's reign."


Progressing just a little further into the temple, the group began hearing some deranged laughter and repeated chattering of "Xixixixixixixixixixixix!"

"Sounds like we're getting close to our Archfiend." Zolph commented.

"Sounds like?" Gahmah asked in a deadpan tone. "You might want to look."

He then pointed towards a grotesque creature that resembled a bloated plant with six elongated arms, several relatively tiny foot-flaps at its base, a face on its belly and a mouth on top that looked similar to the head of a flower except with teeth on the 'petals'.

"Meet the gibbering idiot god themself."

"And the creature that makes Hutts look attractive." Zolph commented. "So what's our attack plan?"

Gahmah pulled out his other blaster and started firing at the Archfiend. "Eat laser, you fake flower!" As the creature was hit over and over again, an airborne portal materialized beside them and Xixixix stuck one of their arms into it. Another portal then materialized beside Gahmah and Xixixix's hand came out of it to grab Gahmah by the ankle and yanked him into it – with Gahmah losing his helmet in the process - and to Xixixix themself.

"Oh gods!" Gahmah yelled.

Xixixix then positioned Gahmah over their mouth, opened it up like a blooming flower and lowered Gahmah into it as he – and Zolph from a distance - continued shooting in vain.

"Not the teeth, not the teeth, NOT THE TEETH!" Gahmah yelled just before he was eaten.

Xixixix then giggled again before chattering. "Xixixixixixixixixixixix!"

"Oh, will you please SHUT UP!" Zolph yelled at the creature.

The creature then started chattering something else over again. "Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph Zolph!"

"Yes, ugly, my name is Zolph. I wasn't born yesterday."

"Don't bother trying to argue with them." Grein told him. "I don't think they understand what you're saying… or what they are saying. If they were sentient once, they are now nothing more than a feral animal."

"And that may explain why - aside from affecting the native species and those in proximity- they haven't directly antagonized Krishar for the 25,000 years they've been here. They were only stationed here prematurely because they're too stupid to plan in advance, and they're not really so much an Archfiend as a mindless Forceless bio-weapon."

The Jedi and Seefor then heard Gahmah's muffled yelling coming from inside Xixixix's stomach. "If you monks are done with the theoretical exposition, will you please hurry up and kill them already?! It's dark in here and I think I'm being digested right now!"

The Jedi then activated their lightsabers in preparation. "We're getting right to it!" Zolph told Gahmah. "Just try to stay alive in there!"

"Easy for you to say. You don't how painful being digested alive is when you can regenerate!"

Xixixix then opened up multiple portals to stick their arms through and try to grab at the Jedi, but in vain. Xixixix then started to mutter Zolph's name over and over again.

"Why are they saying my name? And how do they know my name if they're supposed to be stupid?" Zolph asked.

"I've been thinking the same thing." Hiriss answered him.

"COWARD! DESERTER! RUNAWAY! CHEATER! MUTT! MURDERER! FORCELESS! VALKOR! ARCHFIEND! JEDI! EMILIN! DYNN! MOM! DAD! MASOCHUS! SEFERIN! MAESTERUS!" Xixixix muttered among other random words.

"They don't." Grein answered them both as she was observing. "They're just making gibberish based on the thoughts of the people they're passively reading, and they don't even have a concept of language either."

One of Xixixix's arms successfully grabbed Grein, but she immediately liquefied herself, causing Xixixix to break their focus and accidentally cut their own arm off by having the portal close on it.

Xixixix screamed in pain before making more gibberish. "HURT! PAIN! PORTAL! ARM! HURT!" They then tried to grab at the others, but they simply performed actions to trick them into cutting their other arms off too. However, it wasn't a total loss for the Archfiend, as they quickly regenerated their arms. "REGENERATE!" They yelled.

"Well, it looks like we're back where we started." Zolph commented.

Xixixix launched what looked like large seeds out of their mouth and onto the ground. The seeds then exploded as they released some Black Matter, much like Harphscor did on Kashyyyk. The Black Matter then formed into a mob of the vaguely humanoid creatures Grein has come to classify as Forceless Newborns.

"For an almighty idiot, this thing sure knows how to be a pain in the ass!"

The Newborns charged at the Jedi and Seefor and attempted to hack them apart with their claws, but they were all cut down within moments and the Jedi prepared for whatever unpredictable trick Xixixix had next.

However, they heard Gahmah yell from inside the creature's belly once more. "Ah, there it is! How could it take me this long to find it?! If you Jedi can still hear me, you might want to put up a Force barrier or something!"

Xixixix's belly then started to bloat up. "DET! EXPLODE! DIE!" Xixixix yelled just before a fiery blast blew them into many pieces across the room.

"I've lost track." Zolph said. "How many Archfiends have we killed by feeding them explosives?"

"And I'm sorry for perpetuating the trend." Gahmah said as he emerged from Xixixix's blown-out base, with his skin, armor and clothing having teeth and burn marks and being partially dissolved by the stomach acid. Gahmah then used the Force to pull his helmet over to his hand and put it over his scarred face. "Now you know why I wear this thing most of the time. I get my face damaged a lot more than you'd think."

"You know, Gahmah, why didn't you just use the Force to burst out of what's-their-name's stomach? It could have saved us a lot of time and trouble."

"And take the fun out of the fight? Hell no! Besides, I'm not that skilled with the Force." Gahmah then pointed at Zolph accusingly. "And I'm not the only Force user who has forgotten about their powers once or twice."

"Fun?! We were fighting against an Archfiend that literally had the power to drive people mad!"

Grein further commented. "Speaking of which, we shouldn't be having any hallucinations from this point forward, Armogeist should be free and the Valkoran forces should be pulling out now. And future generations of Krishari should be saner since Xixixix is no longer stunting their mental growth."

"Provided the parents don't try to preserve their Archfiend-induced insanity."


A few hours later, after returning to Zhikpil settlement, informing his people of Xixixix's demise, regenerating his damaged body tissue and replacing his damaged armor and clothing, Gahmah followed the Jedi back to their ships out in the jungle.

"So these are your ships?" Gahmah asked as he was observing. "I already know about the Blazing Manta, but I've never gotten to see it up close before." He then looked to Zolph's modified X-Wing. "However, I've never even seen this one before."

"That's because I got it after the Menbar Mun case." Zolph answered him.

"So, what did you name her?"

"Cripes, not you too!"

"You've had this ship for a long time now, and you still haven't named it?!"

"It's just that I've been very busy…"

"Well, you, sir, are going to give it a name. Right. Now. If you don't, I will follow you even beyond the Outer Rim until you do. And consider this my payment for helping you people today."

"Payment?"

"I'm a mercenary, remember? However, what I ask for my reward varies, and since you people didn't come expecting my help, I'm not charging you in credits this time. So, consider this a mercy, Zolph."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind paying in credits at this…."

Gahmah then pointed one of his blasters at Zolph's head. "Name the damn ship."

"Fine, but I can't think of anything on the spot."

Gahmah then lowered his blaster. "If you want any suggestions, make sure the name has some meaning. For example, my ship, the Vriknash is derived from the Krishari word for 'journey', because I wanted to see what was beyond the stars."

Grein commented as well. "In the case of the Blazing Manta, it's fast like most Corellian YT-series freighters and one of the first creatures I saw after fleeing the Chiss Ascendancy was a miniature neebray manta."

Hiriss then joined in the commenting as well. "I'm sorry, I'm not all that into ship stuff. That was kind of Dynn's thing."

This sparked an idea in Zolph. "Manthis."

"Excuse me?" Hiriss asked Zolph.

"It's still a painful memory, but just forcing myself to forget won't make it any better. Instead, I acknowledge what happened as truth and try to remember the good things we had. This ship will be her legacy. I christen this ship the Manthis."

"Hmmm… good choice." Gahmah commended Zolph. "Well, you've paid your debt. See you whenever we bump into each other again!" He then retreated from the landing site and headed toward Zhikpil.

"Congratulations, Zolph." Grein told him. "You've killed two mynocks in one stone. Not only have you given your ship a name like I told you too, you've also made a significant amount of progress in coming to terms with your inner demons."

"I've made good progress, but I don't think I'm quite done with the hallucinations yet." Zolph responded. "On another note, we've finally killed every Archfiend on that list."

"So, what are we going to do next?" Hiriss asked.

"Well, the only other Archfiend we know of is…" He looked to Grein. "What was their name?"

"Facadma."

"Facadma, and they're Valkor's top dog. If we kill them, we not only free Grein's sister, but we deal the next crippling blow to the Collective since Belluzub. However, unless something happens within the Valkoran Empire, it doesn't look like this war's going to end anytime soon." Zolph then directly looked to Hiriss. "By the way, thanks for the name suggestion."

"But I didn't even suggest the name." Hiriss responded.