Chapter Two
Their blades crossed with a crack and Jason quickly turned around again, using the momentum of the movement and his well-toned muscles to send a crushing blow at his opponent, who despite her small feminine frame was able to match his strength and defend herself from the blow.
There was a moist splintering sound as his tree-limb broke against his opponent and exploded across the forest floor and splashed as they fell into the nearby stream. He growled in frustration, chunking the broken stick into the distance. His opponent rolled her eyes, throwing her own 'weapon' on the ground. "I don't see why you're getting mad. I told you that it was going to break. For crying out loud Jason, it was a water-logged rotten pine," Emma said, crossing her arms in frustration at the boy's immaturity.
Jason didn't say anything but focused on calming himself down. He'd picked the stick because it obviously was larger and weighed more, and he was convinced that was all he needed. He'd been beaten by Emma countless times, and beaten her in turn but every time he always got pissed. They had been best friends since elementary school, where they had met at a martial arts class. Both of them had a passion for competition, and as one of them discovered some new sport they would share it with the other. In fact they shared everything they did, playing the same video games, and watching the same movies and T.V. shows. They had shared in the same fads in elementary school, traded beanie babies and pokemon cards, gone to watch the Star Wars movies together and had even pretended to be Jedi at one point, coming in these woods with their plastic lightsabers and dueled each other.
They had joined a fencing class a long time ago, because they had enjoyed their little play-duels so much. As they entered high school they had joined the same teams, Emma becoming the first female wrestler at their school. Jason was her only real peer, as the other boys shied away or tried to treat her like a 'girl.'
But Jason had never seen her as below him. In fact he considered no one but her his equal. Growing up he had never given her any different treatment because of her sex, almost completely ignoring it until puberty began where he suddenly began to notice her exquisite curves and rapidly swelling feminine assets.
"Stop being such a bad sport," She said with an irritated sigh, knowing that he'd ignore her like he had all the other hundred times.
It just made him angrier she could so calmly shrug off a defeat and told him to not take things so seriously. She never seemed to take anything too seriously, from their little fights to the occasional advance he would make. She shrugged off each without a care, ignoring them as if they had never happened, as if they were entirely insignificant.
"Come on," She said, giving him a rather hard shove on the shoulder as she ran past him, leaping in a single bound over the small river.
He chased after her, leaping over the river himself though as his foot made contact with the soft ground it gave and nearly sent him falling into the stream. He managed to avoid the embarrassment of getting soaked and took off after her. He had to catch up or she would get to the tree first and he'd have to catch up.
They had found a fantastic magnolia tree sitting in the middle of the forest surrounded by pines that was fantastic for climbing. They had even built a makeshift tree house near the top, a place for them to rest after their inevitable race to reach the highest branch first.
Emma had stopped though, standing just at the end of the path they had beaten during their regular races to the tree. There was an unusual amount of light around her considering the dense foliage, and as he got closer he could see that several trees had been either broken in half or had toppled over. "Jason," She said, moving her neck as if she wanted to look back at him, but couldn't.
As he walked up to her side he could see it, with their tree broken in half over it like a sprung mouse trap. "What do you think it is?" Jason said as he glanced over at Emma, whose eyes were still locked on it. "Do you think its something from the air-base? Some kind of secret project?"
"I don't know," Emma said, although she didn't think this was just some kind of new aircraft design. "They would have been here by now it if was, they would have this place crawling with military officials- Oh my god." She said, her eyes widening. "They're probably still inside!" She bounded forward, and even now Jason couldn't help but notice how she looked like a doe as she sprinted.
"Wait Emma," He said reaching out his hand. But she was already struggling to pull off the cockpit hood.
"Jason, help me."
He quickly jumped up on top of the unknown craft, noting the black marks that seemed to signal some kind of smoke damage that covered the hull. He began to help her with taking the hood off. It quickly popped off with their combined strength and smoke drifted out of the hold. They were surprised to hear coughing, and Jason reached in to grab the figure of a man, pulling him out as Emma went in to pull out the boy who was coughing.
As Jason lay the man down near the craft he got a good look at him. The man was burned badly, and he felt his stomach lurch as he was about to throw up. He reached his fingers out to a small patch of skin that wasn't seared, and felt for a pulse. There was none. "Oh my god," Jason whispered, surprised at the shaking in his voice. Come on, snap out of it, be a man.
He glanced over the man's body, noticing that he was wearing some kind of robe. Something reflected the sunlight. "Emma?" he said, reaching out to take the metal cylinder, pressing his thumb on the small switch. The lightsaber buzzed to life, confirming his suspicions. "Oh my god."
"The Sith," he heard a raspy voice say turning to look at the younger Jedi who was grabbing Emma's sleeve. "Listen," he said in earnest, and Emma locked eyes with him in sympathy, completely unfazed by his face, caked in blood or his struggling breaths.
"Its ok," she said soothing, running her fingers through his hair lovingly despite the blood. "Rest."
The young Jedi frowned, and she slowly put his head down as his hand slid down her arm. His breathing increased for a moment, becoming frantic, before it finally weakened again, and stopped.
"Emma," he said, wincing as his voice was shaking again. "This can't be real, this… This can't be real!"
"Well I'm pretty sure it's not a dream," She said, moving her hand down to his belt and taking the lightsaber there.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking his lightsaber."
"Emma, he's dead."
"Exactly, he doesn't need it," she ignited the blade, making a note of its length and green color before turning it off and putting it in her pocket. "Didn't you hear him," She said when she noticed his critical gaze. "There's a Sith. We need to protect ourselves." She ran over to the fighter and began to search it for something of use.
"But Emma, this is impossible. This is all stuff from a movie, it can't be real." He didn't know what to say, this was all too much to absorb and he was still convinced this was some kind of trick or a dream. In shock, he silently followed her example, slipping the blue lightsaber into his pocket. He stared around perplexed before his eyes glanced up to the sky, which was suddenly seemed changed.