Ok, chapter three, here we go! I'm literally writing this on my phone while on a road trip with my dad and little brother, so don't be surprised if it's short or has misspellings.

I do not own Star Wars, only the plot and OCs, plus the creatures I had to make up for Phatrong.

"Allowing people to contribute in your life is a leap of faith.

And that comes gradually with self actualization and overcoming fears of uncertainty."

― Deepak Chandra

Embo left his ship on autopilot, going to the back to get some food and check on his new traveling buddy.

Sugi was glued to the window, watching the galaxy zoom by, as the ship traveled through hyperspace.

"Sugi," he said, getting her attention, "I have a… word book for you."

Sugi stared at him for a few minutes, and he felt a little frustrated at how long it took her to mentally translate everything he said. Finally, she smiled.

"You're wanting me to study your language so we can actually talk, aren't you?" She asked, and the Kyuzo nodded. "Well, I'm probably going to need help with the pronunciations… could you teach me?"

"Yes." He answered, glad that she at least was seriously interested in this. Even though it might take a while for her to be able to understand the entire language.

Well, at least he wouldn't be bored.

The Kyuzo sat at the small table with Sugi, trusting the autopilot to get the two of them to his rendezvous with a friend in one piece. The Zabrak had a holopad in front of her, and was trying her hardest to understand the unfamiliar words.

"So… what is the co… couk…" she said, struggling to pronounce one of the words. Embo decided to help her.

"Koocoorrada," he said, looking at the word over her shoulder, "it's a semi-aquatic predator from my planet."

"Oh," she said, nodding. The two of them had been at this for several days now, and Sugi understood much more of what the Kyuzo was saying. "So, they're dangerous?"

"Very," Embo said, nodding. "Just one of them can take out ten or more warriors before being killed themselves. I'm one of the few to take one out by myself, and even then it was a very young one."

Sugi nodded, refraining from asking more about the creature to avoid him having to use words she didn't know yet. Then, Embo stood up.

"I need to get back to the controls; we're almost there."

"Almost where?"

"Coruscant. We're meeting up with a friend of mine there," he said, and her eyes shone with excitement. He went back to the cockpit, just as their ship left hyperspace. Taking the controls, Embo flew the ship to the city-planet, while putting a call through to his friend. Soon, a blue hologram of a Duros man in his early twenties came up, and Embo smiled behind his mask.

:Embo! Good to see you, pal!: the Duros said, grinning. Embo nodded to him.

"It's good to hear your voice, Cad," he said, then continued, "Sorry I was late; I had to stay on Iridonia for a few days until I was strong enough to travel, and then I had a tag-along."

:You brought someone with you?: Cad asked, surprised. Embo nodded.

"She's from the tribe I was helping. She has a lot of potential, and is even taking the time to learn Kyuzoni. Her name is Sugi; she asked me to take her with me, and I just couldn't refuse for some reason." The Duros looked thoughtful, considering.

:I have room in my apartment for her to join us when you get here… I'll meet you at the usual place to give you a ride.: he said, then smiled at his friend. :I'm glad you're going to be ok, pal, but take it easy for a few days, ok? Give yourself time to heal.:

"I intend to, my friend," Embo said tiredly. He knew that he should definitely stay off his feet as much as possible, especially with his still-healing leg. It was in a splint, which the medics on Iridonia had put on him, but it wasn't as good as a cast would be. "I plan to go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible; I have a broken leg and a large knife wound. The medics stitched up the knife wound, but it feels like the stitches are trying to come out sometimes, and my leg needs more than this splint."

:I'll call them, let them know that you're coming.: Cad said, looking worried. :I'm going to sign off now, see you two soon.:

"Thanks, Cad," Embo said, relieved. The hologram fizzled out of existence, and he went on to driving his ship to his usual spot to land on the planet...

Sugi helped Embo limp out of the Guillotine, his right arm over her shoulders , just as a Duros man wearing a wide-brimmed leather hat drove up in a speeder. The Kyuzo's broken leg had gotten worse after he had accidentally bumped it against a box in his ship, to the point where he couldn't even stand on it! His normally-stoic facial features were twisted in pain, and he was gritting his teeth so hard that he was surprised they hadn't cracked from the strain. To top it off, when he had fallen over the box, some of the stitches in his chest and side had been stretched to the point of tearing out of his skin, causing the wound to start bleeding again!

His traveling companion had done her best to stop the bleeding, using bandages and gauze to re-wrap his torso, trying to wrap them tightly enough to make the flow stop, but still allow him to breathe.

"Embo!" Cad called out, vaulting from his speeder and running to get to the two of them, worry showing clearly in his face. Embo looked at him, pain in his gold eyes, trying to reign in the agony he was feeling. The Duros came up on the Kyuzo's left side, slinging that arm over his shoulders, and taking some of Embo's weight off of the Zabrak. "Hang on, pal… we'll get you to the hospital." Then, he looked at Sugi. "You, help me get him into the speeder!"

"Ok," she said, as the two of them half-carried the wounded Kyuzo to the four-person speeder. They got Embo laid down in the backseat, and Sugi sat in the front passenger seat, reaching back to hold the Kyuzo's hand, while Cad drove the speeder as fast as possible to the hospital without going over the speed limit. At the same time, he was contacting the hospital staff.

"Listen, my friend just got here, and it looks like his condition got worse!" The Duros said loudly, and the doctor on the holocomm looked concerned.

:Would you be able to explain what happened to him, so we know what we're dealing with?: he asked, and Cad looked at Sugi.

"I can," she said, "I was there. Originally, his injuries are from a battle on my planet, between my tribe and another that was trying to take our lands. The leader of my tribe hired Embo to help drive the other tribe away, but he was injured during the battle. The other tribe saw him as enough of a threat that they separated him from the rest of us, and during that fight, his right leg was broken with bone sticking out, and he sustained a deep knife wound that goes from his right shoulder to his lower left side."

:And now?:

"Well, the medics had treated his wounds, but they aren't as skilled as many I've heard about. They set his leg and splinted it, as well as stitched the wounds, but not very well. Just after we landed here, he was tired, so he didn't see a box on the floor, and hit his bad leg on it," Sugi explained, glancing back at Embo, who had his fingers wrapped around her hand in a slightly painful grip. "The impact… I think it might have been enough to shift the break at least a little, because he can't stand on it anymore, and he fell. That made about one fourth of the stitches in his torso rip out, and he's bleeding again. I… I wrapped it as best I could…"

:You did well, miss. A few others on the medical staff were listening; they're getting ready to treat him now.: Then, Cad spoke again.

"We're almost at the hospital; is anyone there to take him in?"

:Yes,: the doctor said, nodding. :A few doctors and nurses went out to wait for you with a gurney and first aid supplies.:

"Thanks, Doc," Cad said, ending the call

Then, he landed the speeder in front of the hospital, and the group of two doctors and three nurses hurried over, a hovering gurney with them, as Sugi and the Duros gently checked on Embo.

"A Kyuzo!" One of the nurses said in surprise, staring at the wounded man. They knew what she was thinking. His species made this more complicated, since he was prone to breathing problems if they didn't have something giving him humid air to breathe. And if, for some reason, he lashed out at them, even in his weakened state, one punch could break bones. And not his own.

However, the doctors weren't phased. They started calling orders, one of them sending a message back for the others to take necessary actions to compensate for the patient's physiology. Embo still hadn't let go of Sugi's hand, his eyes squeezed shut, and breathing sharply in pain. The bandages were so soaked in some places that blood was slowly staining his shirt, and a small spot of blood had appeared about halfway down from his right knee, the discoloration in his brown leggings looking almost black.

"I hope he has another set of clothes," one nurse commented, as she was forced to cut off the Kyuzo's shirt to look at his injuries. "Because I don't think we're going to be able to save the shirt or leggings. The skirt will be fine, though."

"Yeah, he's got extras at the apartment," Cad said, recognizing the lady's attempt at lightening the situation. When the nurse finally got Embo's shirt off, however, the faint humor was gone.

The Kyuzo's torso was wrapped all the way from his right shoulder to a few inches above his hips, a huge blotch of dark crimson blood soaking the fabric and gauze, and that blotch was spreading at an alarming rate.

"This is bad…" the nurse said softly, then turned to the doctors, "Doctor! He's going to need a blood transfusion!"

"I'll put in the order to synthesize blood," the doctor said, "Just send the old bandages to the technicians so they have a sample to base it from!"

Soon, the soaked bandages and gauze were rushed away by one of the three nurses, and fresh bandages wrapped around Embo's torso to at least lessen his blood loss. He was rushed into the hospital on the gurney, and Cad and Sugi were left alone by the speeder.

"Come on," the Duros said to the Zabrak, going back to the speeder. Sugi was staring at the doors of the hospital.

"Will he be ok?" She asked, and Cad sighed.

"I don't know, but there's nothing we can do. The apartment isn't far from here, and if anything happens, the hospital has my number. I end up in there pretty often, and the doctor I called knows Embo is my best friend." He then shook his head. "Now get in; if you're going to be hanging around and learning Embo's language, the apartment is the best place."

Reluctantly, Sugi returned to the speeder, buckling in next to Cad. Soon, they were on their way...

Ok… Well, you guys know me and plot twists… I don't know what to do without some kind of drama involved… I just didn't want this storyline to end after only a few chapters, and since I'm writing this all directly out of my head, and not from pre-written chapters I had thought up in a notebook, it's a bit more challenging to get a lot of chapters out. BTW, I'm still typing up "Didn't go as Planned," but since I already have it in a notebook, it can wait. Also, I decided to split that story into two different stories, since I had somehow changed the plot halfway through, so be prepared!

R&R!