And now, here is the re-edited version of chapter two of The Lizard War! It's slowly getting better, so there will be a lot less fluff in this.
The Verocian woman standing in front of him had pale blue skin with darker blue freckles. Her jet black hair was pulled into a braid reaching the middle of her back, and she had deep purple eyes with dark blue spots in them that were now glaring at Anakin.
"Oh," Anakin deadpanned, "it's you. What a surprise."
"Here, I was going to try and put our past behind us. But apparently it seems you still act like the same jerk you were back on Verocia during the Lizard War!" Kiki snapped.
"Well, Kiki you don't have to be here right now," Anakin shot back.
Ahsoka gave Rex a questioning look. "So this is what usually happens when they're together?"
Rex nodded silently, his helmet barely moving. "Every single time." The slightest hint of annoyance was heard in his voice.
"Oh, hey Blondie," Kiki said to Rex, smirking. She'd obviously sensed what he was thinking. Rex groaned internally and Ahsoka raised an eye marking. It was one of those rare passing moments where Kiki would take out her aggressions on Rex.
"Well, what a nice reunion," Obi-wan said. "Kiki, why don't you introduce us to your Padawan?" Kiki stopped glaring at Anakin and turned to the girl next to her, whom everyone just noticed.
"This is my Padawan Danda Merin," Kiki said, placing a light hand on her shoulder.
The human girl stepped forward and bowed to Anakin and Obi-wan. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Masters," Danda said politely, smiling.
Anakin looked at Kiki. "Why can't you be as polite as your Padawan?" he asked.
She ignored his last remark and motioned toward Ahsoka. "What about her? I'm assuming she's Obi-wan's Padawan."
"Actually, she's my Padawan. I'd like you to meet Ahsoka Tano," Anakin put a proud hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. Kiki was amazed, to say the least.
"She's actually survived under your teaching?" Kiki asked. Anakin just groaned and was about to say something snarky but Kiki interrupted him. "Well congratulations Ahsoka, you stayed alive through the first three days of Anakin's schooling and unorthodox ways."
"Oh, I have unorthodox ways?" Anakin retorted. Ahsoka and Danda both cringed, embarrassed for themselves and each other by their Masters' behavior.
"Now is not the time for this," Obi-wan said. "I have important business to attend to with the Council; I trust you will be able to situate yourselves." He gave Anakin and Kiki a look before heading toward the bridge.
Anakin was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Ahsoka and I are going to go locate our quarters and unpack." He started leading her away, but Kiki stepped in front of them.
"Nope, we already have where everybody is staying," she said.
"Who says you choose where we stay?"
Kiki glared at him. "I do," she . "My ship: my rules."
Anakin stared. "Since when was this ship yours?" Last he remembered, Kiki's own Venator was in the shipyard getting repairs after a particularly vicious battle.
"Ever since Master Raris got injured in a battle and went into bacta. She let me have this temporarily while mine was getting repairs done. " Kiki pointed in the direction of the barracks. "I assume you know were guest quarters are, unless you need me to hold your hand while you try to find your way." Anakin opened his mouth to retort, but Kiki cut him off again. "The Padawans will be bunking together because of…issues."
"It's okay with me, Master," Danda said, shrugging slightly.
"Great!" Kiki said. "Bliz, you can give Rex a 'tour' of the ship'."
Bliz was Kiki's volatile second in command and she trusted him with almost anything. He and Rex had a camaraderie that changed depending on Bliz's mood for the day. "Rex! It's been a while," Bliz said in greeting, patting the Captain's shoulder.
"It has, Bliz," Rex said. He was glad today was one of Bliz's good days, or else he would have been greeted with a grunt and a cold shoulder. Maybe a glare, too.
Bliz turned a corner and Rex followed. There was really no need to, all the ship's layouts were the same. As they walked down the hallway, the two command clones heard a crash and a shout from one of the rooms ahead.
Bliz grumbled something under his breath, annoyance radiating clear on his face.
"What's going on in there?" Rex asked. He already had a clue.
"That's what I'm afraid to find out." They stopped in front of a door where Rex guessed the ruckus had come from.
"Before you go in, I just want you to know that it's most likely Crusade Squad that's in there," Bliz sighed. Bliz pressed a button on the side of the double doors to reveal complete mayhem. One of the bunk beds in the corner had been knocked over and a clone was standing behind it, trying to stay out of reach of another one. Rex realized that they were fighting over a yellow book the first one had. Two other clones were trying to break up the fight. The last one had his back to them, and even though he was fiddling with his gun at a table, he was the first to notice the commander and captain. He stood up at attention to acknowledge the higher ranking officers.
"Sir!" he said. The other clones noticed Rex and Bliz and echoed what the first had said.
"At ease, soldiers," Bliz said. Everyone relaxed but didn't move from their positions.
"What happened in here?" Rex demanded. The first clone to speak up had a shark fin haircut with bright red at the tip and red horizontal stripes at the back of his head. "Edger was reading—" Before he could finish his sentence, a pillow hit him square in the face.
Edger had a completely shaved head, a scar along his jaw line, and a scowl on his face. "Whatever Ratchet tells you is a lie, sir," Edger said.
"H-He was reading a dirty book!" Ratchet rushed to finish his sentence. "I th-think he stole it."
"No I wasn't!" Edger yelled.
"Lie," the clone at the table said. He turned back around to focus on the datapad he held in his hand, having finished cleaning his blaster.
"Shut up Cord!" Edger snapped, true to nature. He wasn't soft-spoken.
"A-Actually, I have the book right here, sir," Ratchet said.
"Give it back!" Edger stepped around the bed and lunged for Ratchet. Right before he got tackled, Ratchet threw the book to Cord—the cold team medic—who threw it to another clone named Jax—who embarrassed easily—who tossed it to Bliz.
"Well let's see what's so bad about this book of yours, Edger."
"Who said it was my book?"
Bliz ignored him and flipped to the dog-eared page as Rex read over his shoulder. After reading half a paragraph, Bliz shut the book with slightly disturbed look on his face. Rex had the same expression and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I never thought you would be a pervert, Edger," Bliz finally said. "Where did you even get this?"
"I swear I'm not a perv! Jax is the pervert!" Edger practically exploded. "I just found it lying around in here!"
"I am not a pervert!" Jax yelled back, his face exploding into multiple shades of crimson.
"Maybe it was left over from the last Jedi's squad," Cord suggested. He couldn't even care less about the current situation.
Rex sighed and Bliz shrugged his shoulders. They were both tired and didn't want to delve any further into the problem and waste precious energy. Rex moved towards the turned over bunk bed.
"In the meantime, I'll be keeping this," Bliz said, putting the book under one arm. He had a plan to burn it and tell the owner it was lost.
"Help me get this up," Rex picked up one end of the bunk bed and Ratchet, Jax and Bliz helped him correct it.
"Well, I'll be in the mess; that's where I saw the Commanders headed," Bliz stated after a moment. "You wanna come with?"
Rex nodded and followed Bliz.
"But," Bliz stalled at the door, whipping a stern gaze at Crusade Squad. "I don't want any trouble from any of you. Got it?"
A few mumbled "yessirs" were heard. Bliz nodded and strode down the hall.
When they entered the mess hall, they saw that Anakin, Ahsoka, Kiki and Danda were already there. So far, it didn't look like the two Jedi had gotten into a fight yet, although the clones knew better than to hope that one wouldn't start. They were glaring at each other across the table.
"Hey, Rex!" Ahsoka called. "Why don't you come and join us?"
"You too, Bliz," Danda said. "Have a seat." Rex moved in next to Ahsoka as Bliz moved in next to Danda.
"So, what are we eating?" Bliz asked, already knowing.
"Compacted foodboard that's supposed to be healthy," Danda grumbled. "Something's broken back there again."
"General, are you ok?" Bliz looked in concern to Kiki. She had her head in her hands, an exhausted expression lining her eyes. It took her a moment to notice and even her answer was labored.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine," she answered unconvincingly.
"Master, you don't look so good. Are you sure your fine?" Danda took Kiki's arm.
"I feel a little sick, that's all," Kiki admitted. She waved her hand flippantly, shaking her head. "It's nothing to worry yourselves about."
"General, I think it would be best if you visited the medbay," Bliz suggested. Kiki sighed and got up while gripping her stomach.
The problem was, this had been happening a lot in the past few weeks; Kiki would get sick and then pass it off as some menial problem or other.
"Okay fine, if you say so—but my food had better still be here."
"Sir, let me take you," Rex said as he stood up to walk with Kiki to the door. Bliz would have offered had Rex not already been helping Kiki up.
"General Skywalker, you're needed in the bridge." A clone's voice came over Anakin's wrist comm.
Anakin held his commlink up to his mouth, turning slightly away from the table. "Can it wait?" he asked.
"No sir. You're presence was personally requested by the Jedi Council. It's about your next mission."
Anakin huffed. He didn't notice his finger was still on the button. "Okay, tell them I'll be there soon."
"Yes sir!"
Anakin turned toward those who were still at the table. "Well, I'll definitely be back, I haven't eaten lunch yet. Let's hope I'm not in trouble." Anakin exited the mess hall.
The only ones left at the table were Ahsoka, Danda, and Bliz. After a moment of looking at each other, Danda voiced her worries. "What if she's sick? How are we going to complete the mission on Verocia? She's the only Jedi available that can speak the language. Not even protocol droids' translations are that accurate."
Ahsoka patted Danda's shoulder, trying to comfort her new friend. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. Besides we have my master."
Danda looked at Ahsoka. "My master doesn't think Master Skywalker is reliable," she said.
"Well, Master Skywalker thinks your master isn't very responsible," Ahsoka challenged. After a moment, both the Padawans sighed.
"She could have food poisoning," Bliz said, his mouth slightly full. They looked at their trays then pushed them away.
"I guess I might as well leave too," Bliz got up from his seat and dumped his food in the bin.
"Wait, where are you going?" Danda asked, a little upset that everyone was leaving.
"I've got to make sure we're fully kitted for our mission—heard this one was important." Bliz, at that point in time, had no clue where they were going. It was strange, because normally they would have known what planet—or at least what system—they were going to. As long as it isn't covered in snow, I'm happy.
Ahsoka stared at the white ceiling. "This stinks," she said. Danda nodded her agreement, her short brown hair swaying.
"There's nothing to do!" Ahsoka complained.
"I think I'll go visit the clones," Danda said, "You know, help keep the Crusade Squad in line." Danda smirked. She was starting to show more of her true personality.
The Crusade Squad wasn't necessarily bad. In fact, they had an immaculate record for mission completions and efficiency. It was how they acted in the barracks and when they got into disagreements that made them so notorious. There squad couldn't have been made up of clones with more different personalities. It was also some of their personal goals that made them so different.
The two girls stood up and left the mess hall.
Anakin stood before part of the Jedi Council. "You wanted to see me, Masters?"
Cliff hanger! Sorry if the story still seems chopped up and speedy, I'm still trying to get this fixed up to run as smoothly as possible.
Warning: Some of the future chapters get very gory very quickly. There is torture concentrated into a lot of them, and there is swearing in said torture scenes. If you don't like that kind of stuff, I suggest you turn around.
