Here's another confusing chapter! The chapter after this one will explain some things though. Have fun!
It was 6 months later. Ahsoka's life was back on track, but only because she had trained herself to forget everything she had lost.
But, at this moment, she was in a slight panic. It was a Council meeting, and she was trying to hold back her frenzy of horror as the Council discussed their next move.
Anakin had been kidnapped. They did not know by whom. He was being held on one place that Ahsoka had never visited.
Umbara.
Umbara had been retaken by the Separatists, and the Republic's efforts of taking the planet a second time were at a standstill. Anakin was once again leading the 501st Legion when his position had been overrun and he had been knocked unconscious, according to the collective accounts of nearby clone troopers.
"Rescue Master Skywalker, we must. But to challenge the Umbaran defenses, foolish it would be."
Master Plo Koon spoke up. "I agree. A full frontal assault against the bunker would be suicidal."
There was silence for a few moments. Mace Windu had an idea. "What if… there was an infiltrator? Someone close to Master Skywalker, who could sense his presence and predict his movements, if he can move."
Ahsoka shifted her feet. This was ridiculous.
Master Kenobi proposed, "I concur. Padawan Tano should go."
Ahsoka's eyes widened and she looked up.
"Chosen Padawan Tano, have you? From what idea, was this made?" Master Yoda inquired.
"She is closer to Anakin than most. She is one of the handful of Jedi that could effectively locate and extract Master Skywalker."
Through a verbal vote, the Council consented. Ahsoka almost ran to her transport. She was not going to lose another person close to her. The ship started up, and she soon cleared the atmosphere. As she activated the hyperdrive, questions peppered her mind.
What did the kidnapper want with Skyguy? Was there secrets that Master Skywalker knew? Why now? And would I be able to rescue him in time?
Umbara was the shadow planet, streaked with red lines from fluorescent vegetation. She touched down and got out of her ship. She walked a few paces, then stopped and closed her eyes. She could feel he was not far. She heard, through the force, a faint scream. Then a blinding pain shot through her. It was Master Skywalker's pain.
He was close. But for many clicks around, there was nothing but large, glowing plants. She trodded up and down many paths, but nothing seemed to appear out of place. She closed her eyes again. The pain was more intense and the screams were louder.
"Hold it right there!" A mechanical voice commanded behind her. She vaulted backward, lightsaber activated. The battle droid was in two clean pieces before he could blast her. There was only one problem. He didn't seem to have come from anywhere.
She managed the follow his tracks for some distance, but they stopped at one point. She heard a low whirring sound when she stepped on a small rock. A hatch yawned beneath her feet, and she fell in. After several seconds of sliding down the pitch-black hole, she rolled onto a dimly lit hallway.
The only greeting she got was a squad of super battle droids. Shortly after they opened fire, alarms blared.
"Intruder Alert on Entry Level 7-5." The speakers blared. She was much, much more agile than the super battle droids, and they ended up in pieces in the blink of an eye. But they had bought just enough time for the Droideka reinforcements to appear. They deployed and their blasters blared with deadly red bolts.
Both her lightsabers were activated and she managed to parry some of the blasts. She stepped behind a wall to think for a moment.
The hallways was quite wide. She had been practicing Attack Form XI. It was basically a shockwave from the lightsaber. She inhaled sharply as the blaster fire pinged around her, and jumped back into the main hallway. She ran a few feet, then leapt straight into the air, doing several front flips while airborne. She came down and plunged her lightsaber blades into the ground, and an invisible Force-wave emitted from her. The Droidekas were thrown backward, and she wasted no time in destroying them. But more squads were on their way, and she stopped several times to dispatch droid patrols.
At one point, 13 squads were on her heels, emptying their magazines. She had long since stopped searching for her master. She was just trying to stay alive in the endless labyrinth. She passed many hatches and doors, but they had all been locked.
The monotonous hallways became a haze, each foot identical to the last. She felt another pang of pain. She had felt that before. Barriss falling. Lux's suicidal attack. Clones blasted. Jedi falling. Hate welled up in her. She was not going to let her master die. She turned and did something no jedi did. Force lightening shot from her fingertips. It jumped from droid to droid, and they dropped in moments. In a few seconds, she was drained of energy from the lightening's power. She seemed to slump over… when a deafening scream emanated from down the hall.
That re-energized her, and she raced down, until she came to a bolted door.
With all power given through the Force, she summoned her energy and thrusted her hands to the door. It blew inwards with a tremendous BOOM!
The room was massive, and mostly covered in shadows. Her master panted at the opposite end of the room, suspended in Jedi manacles.
The room was a blur. She was disoriented, and utterly exhausted.
She managed to trot down part of the room.
But, in the center of the whole area, a figure dropped from the ceiling.
He had landed on one knee, face bent to the ground, one hand touching the floor. He stood up. He was huge. His height wasn't as appalling as his muscles. They bulged from a tightly-secured shell of black Zillo Beast armor. He was hooded and cloaked. When his face lifted towards her, there was nothing there. No face, no mask. Just a void.
But what power that went before him was what drew Ahsoka to a halt. He seemed… pure. He was more clean (In mind and spirit) than Master Yoda, but… at the same time, he was more sinister than the Well of the Dark Side. He was a balance between the two, but his purpose was simply… chaos. That was all that she felt. His destiny was to disrupt, to kill.
He was an imposing figure.
And a dangerous one.
Two rods of plasteel were unclipped. They looked like lightsabers, but their design had no equal. He activated them. They were white. Pure white; unblemished white. Ahsoka felt in him a presence she hadn't felt since the time of…
Reborn.
"Reborn?" She asked cautiously. He didn't answer. What had happened to him? What was he? She tried to sense his thoughts, but an immovable Force-barrier shielded his brain. He was just… awful.
How had he grown so much? Was it really him? What was he doing here?
Involuntarily, she lunged at him. He was planted to the spot, and deflected even the most unique attacks with practiced ease. It seemed like child's play to him, and Ahsoka knew why he was doing that.
It was a tactic used by Dooku. To seem ill-concerned with his opponent to make the adversary feel inferior. It gave an instant mental inferiority emotion. An advantage that Ahsoka could not afford.
He attacked in a blur of white. She couldn't even see the blades, much less parry them. But he didn't kill her, which would have been easy. He kicked his right foot into her stomach, and she flew backwards. She slid along the floor, totally stunned. He walked up to her, and pinned her to the ground.
He raised his free hand to drive the blade through her heart. But something touched deep within him. Something… Ahsoka felt he hadn't ever experienced before.
It was compassion. He stumbled backwards, in somewhat of a shock. "No…" He spoke. His mind was swimming, that was plain to see. He regathered his senses and motioned towards her master. Ahsoka didn't care why he did that, but she ran to Anakin. The manacles deactivated.
He opened his eyes. "Ahsoka…" He breathed, then passed out of consciousness. As if from the shadows themselves, the being appeared before them. He pointed towards the door.
In a voice of shadows, he said, "Through that door is your ship. Get out... and never return. If you do... I will kill you." She nodded and used the Force to pick up Skywalker. In a flash, she was at the door across the hall, once again dodging blaster bolts. The door was unlocked, and she ran to the ship. The Being wasn't lying. There it was.
She wasted no time in climbing in and securing herself and her master. The Being was defending them from the droids as they blaster off.
"This isn't the end... it is only the beginning." The Being spoke through the Force.
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