The Jedi Order, which had lasted for over a thousand years…gone in a second. Excerpt from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith by Matt Stover
Chapter 2: Xemnas1992A large ball of steel crashed into the ocean of this charred world. Unfortunately, this ball was the ship that contained TL and Sylar. Immediately, the ship began to leak as the pressure increased.
"What happened?" Sylar asked.
"I think…we just landed in the ocean." TL replied.
"HOW did we land in the ocean?" Sylar asked, a vein throbbing in his temple, but he still managed to keep his voice level.
"Because that's where we were falling towards." TL answered. Upon a lack of laughter, TL said, "Hey, this place doesn't have any windows. I think you can cut me some slack!"
"Soul, if it weren't for the fact that the ship's filling up with water or the fact that a possible future depends on your survival, I would be strangling you right about now." Sylar said as he noted the already knee-high water.
"Should I use the Emergency Water Evacuation Button?" TL asked.
"This ship has a button for EVERYTHING." Sylar stated, "A Massage Button, an Instant Satellite TV Button, even a Chess-Just-In-Case-of-Boredom Button."
"But at this point, I don't think we can complain." TL said, slamming a button. Both the hedgehog and serial killer found themselves being surrounded by a plastic tube, "Uh…I'd like to warn you now that I have NO IDEA how this goes."
"Oh, that's helpful, you ba…"
Thankfully, Sylar's sentence was cut short by the fact that the two shipmates were shot through the ship and into the ocean with tremendous force. When they breached the water's surface, TL began whooping while Sylar remained silent. They eventually reached the end of the troposphere and nearly entered the next form of atmosphere when they began their descent…back into the water of the ocean.
"WOO-HOO!" TL whooped, "WHAT A BLAST!"
"Let's just focus on getting back to land." Sylar stated, trying to bring his somewhat lively partner back to Earth…or wherever the heck they were.
"Oh, right. Sorry." TL apologized. The two then began to swim back to shore.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
The tiger man began running through the wasteland that had once been his home. He stared in disbelief. How could they have done this to his planet? His home? He couldn't see any form of life.
He tripped over a large stone and fell on his stomach. He bared his teeth as tears began going through his fur. They were gone. All of them gone. People who he had admired, had detested, had played, bickered with, played with, fought with, his parents, and his friends were all gone. His entire species, which lasted for who-knows-how long was gone in…he didn't know. Maybe even a few days.
He then sat up and looked to the heavens as if asking God Himself why this happened. He then noticed something streaking across the sky. Could they be friends? Enemies? He wouldn't know until he found out.
He immediately stood back up and did what he'd been doing for the last few days—running.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
TL and Sylar finally arrived at a beach. TL's immediate response when they reached the shore was to begin spitting out the salt-water that had collected in his mouth. Sylar looked indifferent to the fact that both his clothes and hair were soaked with salt water.
"Okay…" TL said as he spat further, "Where in the…blazes are we?"
"Did you read the map?" Sylar asked.
"No." TL answered.
"Did I read the map?"
"No."
"Can YOU tell where we are?"
"No."
"Can I tell where we are?"
"No."
"So, there's no point in asking me, is there?"
"Not really."
TL looked over the planet and felt his jaw fall open and his eyes widen. The entire landscape looked as if someone had burned it…which probably wasn't too far from the truth.
"Good Lord…" TL said as he looked over, as if trying to find SOME form of life.
"I can't see any signs of life…" Sylar said.
The two heard the cocking of a gun and turned around. They found a bipedal, Siberian tiger wearing only a pair of jeans and pointing a blaster at them.
"Who're you?" he asked in a deep voice.
"Sylar." Sylar simply said.
"And I'm TLSoulDude." TL introduced, raising his hand despite the circumstances.
The tiger's eyes widened as he lowered his blaster, slightly.
"TL?" he asked.
TL gasped as his eyes widened before saying, "I don't believe it…Xem!"
Xem bolted over and tackled the hedgehog the two were soon rolling on the mud.
"What the heck?!" Sylar asked, looking ready to intervene before he realized that the two were…laughing.
"HOW LONG'S IT BEEN, BUDDY?!" TL asked.
"TOO LONG!" the tiger smiled before asking, "How're D-Dude and Loony?"
"They're doin' GREAT." TL replied with a grin.
"Did I miss something?" Sylar asked.
The hedgehog and tiger stood up. TL held out his left hand to the tiger and said, "Sylar, let me introduce you to my old friend, Xemnas1992…or Xem for short." TL then held out his right hand to Sylar before saying, "Xem, this is Sylar. I've been travelling with him for about a week now."
"Hiya!" Xem said, holding out his hand. Sylar didn't take it.
"He takes a bit of getting used to." TL stated.
"Well, Xem," Sylar said, "What's the name of this planet.
"Roswell." Replied Xem, "Some of the wisest beings this side o' Andromeda."
"And we missed Fictor by about THIS much…" TL said, holding his index finger and thumb about an inch apart, "Just be thankful that Roswellians and Fictorians are on relatively good terms."
TL then looked over the burned landscape and asked, "How'd THIS happen?"
Xem looked down and said, "None of us saw it coming. We were just going around one day, acting like we've always done. I was down at the beach, surfing with some of my other friends. Then…I didn't know what happened next. We were just being attacked by these weird, dark-skinned guys. They were KILLING everyone that so much as crossed their way. I tried fighting, but they just kept coming, so I did the only thing I could and ran then…I think someone hit me with a taser, because everything went black at that point. Next thing I knew, I was tied to a table and these guys started doing these weird experiments on me. I only managed to get out of that hellhole a few days ago."
"So…all the Roswellians are dead?" Sylar asked.
"I haven't seen any between here and the fortress I got out of." Xem replied.
TL clenched his fist and bared his teeth. The Darksides. They must've come here after they attacked Fictor for no reason, too. Roswellians hadn't done the Darksides ANY harm. Their planet just had the misfortune of being right in front of Fictor. A red haze clouded his vision as he felt something in his chest. A sharp intake of breath immediately cleared the haze and the original TL began to return.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, buddy." TL said, walking over to Xem and putting a hand on the tiger's back…because he was too short to reach the shoulder of the Roswellian's shoulder.
However, their mourning was short-lived considering they heard someone shout…
"I FOUND THE ROSWELLIAN!"
Darkside soldiers then began to swarm around the trio.
"Hey, isn't that the Sylar guy Master Darkstar recruited a while ago?" one of the warriors ask.
"Too bad. I handed in my resignation." Sylar said, thrusting out his hands. A group of the Darksides went flying through the air.
"I've been itching for a scrap for a while now…" TL grinned as he thrust out his right hand. Red electricity flew from his fingertips as he swung his bluish green aura arm around, slamming a group of Darksides.
"Didn't have THAT before…" Xem said.
"Now, I do." TL replied with a grin.
Xem let out a roar as he jumped into the Darksides and shouted, "FOR MY PEOPLE!"
He landed on one Darkside before he jumped up and pulled out the blaster he swiped to blast two more. He then brought his foot smashing down on another Darkside before extending a set of claws on his hand. He brought them across a Darkside's face before retracting them and hurling another away with a feral roar.
"Wow…Xem kicks tail…" TL said before bringing up a set of sand to bury a Darkside with. He then thrust out his right hand, "NEURAL DISRUPTION!"
A wave of crimson energy flew over and struck a Darkside, full on.
"BACK OFF!" Sylar shouted, activating his hyper-voice. The shockwave sent a group of Darksides flying before he thrust out his hand, sending blue electricity at another. One of the Darksides pulled out a sword and ran the serial killer through. Sylar let out a groan as he pulled the sword further into him. The Darkside looked…horrified.
"You're ALIVE?!" it asked, scared.
"I know." Sylar said before slashing the Darkside's neck open via telekinesis, "It's unfair."
Sylar pulled the sword out of his gut and dropped it as his stab wound healed over. The two just…stared. Sylar looked confused and simply asked…
"What?"
"Uh…nothing." TL replied. He wheeled over to the remaining Darksides and began to rub his hands together with extreme speed. Purple sparks began to fly across his hands as he thrust them out, shouting, "STATIC PULSE!"
A burst of purple energy blasted from TL's hands. The remaining Darksides were sent into the ocean by the tremendous blast.
"I never saw you use THAT." Sylar said, "Why didn't you use that against Drago? You would've at LEAST had a chance of killing him without dying."
"Because the Static Pulse wastes too much of my energy." TL replied, "It uses at least a third of my IR energy, whereas my other abilities, together, use about a seventh of my energy during a normally-paced fight…granted I don't take my gloves off."
Letting his adrenaline out with a sharp exhale.
"Haven't had a brawl like that in YEARS…" Xem said. He then looked somber as he looked over the burned landscape, "But…everything's gone. My home, my friends, my family…"
"You could always come with us." TL offered, "Sylar and I were travelling the universe before we crash-landed here."
Xem seemed to think before saying, "I've got nothing here, so…" Xem grinned before saying, "You've got yourself a teammate!"
"One problem." Sylar stated, "Our ship's at the bottom of the ocean."
"No worries." Xem replied, "There's a junkyard filled with Gummi parts in it!"
"Looks like we're pretty much set." TL grinned.
"…Did he just say 'junkyard'?" Sylar simply asked.