Chapter Title: Ugly

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (12), Dashen (17)

Chapter Summary: On their way home, the boys get sidetracked by a creature defending it's turf.


"Dash, it doesn't have any eyes. Can it see us?"

I stared blankly at my brother. That sounded like a question that even I would be stupid enough to ask.

"Ah, uh, er." How about that for a response? I tried again. "If it has no eyes, how would it be able to see?"

Tanner shrugged at me, eyebrows and all. "You said you and Kossi ran into one of these things when you were kids. I figured you know."

Had me there. "We did. Don't ever remember telling you that story, but I guess I did. You and your sponge-brain, never forgetting anything."

"You told me last week."

"Oh, I did? Last week, huh? Okay. Well, we did run into one. Kossi tried to make friends with it. That didn't go over well. It spit at him. And it spit in the right direction too. So, maybe it can see without eyes? Or sense things. Oh, oh, maybe it's got your magic."

"Hmm." Tanner thought. "There are Force sensitive animals and those that can use the Force too."

"Yeah, remember that swamp rat that levitated itself into the dumpster?"

Uh huh. I said to mysel. That had been weird.

"Swamp rats are not Force creatures, dummy. And it didn't levitate itself. The shop owner shot it with a blaster, it went airborne and flew backwards into the dumpster."

"Eh, I like my version of the story better. Levitating rats make for good storytelling."

"Big brother, you're an idiot."

"Maybe so, but doesn't change the fact that it has no eyes!"

"I wonder what it is. It's kinda cute."

I shook my head in disbelief. Only Tanner would see cute in twenty some pounds of ugly. "That thing is not cute. It's not cute now, it wasn't cute when Kossi and I ran across it."

And it wasn't. It was four-legged with a long snout, patches of body hair missing, pointed ears, snaggled teeth and bumpy warts all over it's weirdly puke-green body. Where exactly was the cuteness in all of that? Only in the eyes of my brother. Like Kossi, the kid could see the beauty in the most challenging of places. Had to love him even if he was absolutely dead wrong in this instance.

"Whatever you want to see, Mouse, you go right ahead and see it. In the meantime, I think Ugly there is waiting for us to move. Probably lining up to spit on us. Oh, and by the way, the spit is some type of venom. Kossi got some nasty burns from it."

"Now you tell me. Thanks, Dash. Maybe we should back away slowly then."

"Not so cute when it can burn your skin off, hey Tanner?"

"It's still a little cute, Dash. Just because it's dangerous doesn't mean it can't be cute."

I reached over and grabbed Tanner's Jedi braid. "Step way from the poisonous blind ugly thing. We're already late. We miss our rendezvous with Kebrey and he'll leave without us. Then we're walking home. And that's about an eight hour ordeal. Grab a holo-pic of it, you can look it up when we get home."

There was a good idea.

"Hey, good idea, Dash!"

See? A complete idiot? Me thinks not.

Tanner pulled his holo-com from his belt and recorded a quick shot from a safe enough distance. In response, the creature grunted, got irritated (I guessed) and crouched toward us. Yup, time to move our butts.

"Move away, Tanner. Slowly, but quickly."

"Dash, m'not sure slowly but quickly is humanly possible. I do think it sees me, in it's own weird way."

"Weird, huh? So, it's not cute anymore?"

"I didn't say that. It can be weird and cute."

"Kinda like you, hey, Mouse? You're weird and cute."

I got another look as we took two extended steps backward. I wondered if this thing could run. And if so, could it follow us as it did? Force magic or whatever, clearly there was some way it was able to keep track of threats or prey or whatever it was wanting to keep track of.

Our backward motion became faster and the more we moved, the more agitated the creature became. We moved, it moved. And each at the exact same speed.

"We should run?" I asked finally.

"It's got four legs, it's probably faster than us." Tanner's idiotic response. Yup, we weren't related by blood, but we were definitely brothers all the same.

"It's about a two minute sprint to our rendezvous point. Can you keep up with me?" I had long legs. Tanner was short for his age. "Or maybe you can slow him down with your magic."

"It's not speed control, Dash. And if it's a Force user, I'm sure it can deflect any suggestion I have with my limited abilities."

I nodded for several long seconds. Thinking. No other decision here really.

"So, we run?" I asked.

"We run." Tanner agreed.

And we ran. And ran and ran and ran. Ugly was fast, but at full speed,

he was also clumsy. Tanner yelled to me that most likely it had a difficult time utilizing the Force while maintaining chase at the same time. Something about lack of focus when used for both coordination of the body and the mind. No idea really what all that meant except that it was helpful for those human among us to escape whatever wrath Ugly was trying to delve out.

In the meantime, our two minute run seemed to go on for fifteen. I forgot how horribly lungs can burn when all out in a full sprint for any period of time. As good a shape as I was in, several minutes flat out, stretched me to my limits.

Thankfully, Kebrey's ship was soon in sight and I figured him for watching for us with his marco-binoculars, probably laughing his butt off in the process. A blaster bolt came flying from his direction, landing inches from Ugly and startling him in his tracks. The creature stopped dead. Well, he wasn't dead, just stopped cold. I guess cold was the better term. Tanner would've pouted for three days if Kebrey had killed the thing simply for defending it's turf. It was a hideous creature, but deserving of death? Eh, I didn't think so.

Our sprint slowed as we saw the thing fall back. We reached the ship, yup, Kebrey was laughing so hard, he was holding his stomach. A belly-acher? Was that what those were called? Whatever. I'd give him a disapproving look once I had breath back in my lungs. That might take a few, as Tanner pushed me into the ship. Kebrey's distinctive laugh following us inside and kept on going until he disappeared behind the door of the cockpit.

I tossed myself onto the floor, chest heaving heavy up and down. Tanner was at the window watching Ugly from a distance.

"He looks okay. Frustrated maybe. No worse for the wear. He definitely didn't appreciate Kebrey's close range shot."

"I did." Came my words from the floor. "Never let it be said that Colton's people don't have the best aim on the planet. Ugly will be fine. At least he didn't spit on you."

"Dash, don't call him Ugly." Tanner left the window to sit down on the floor next to where I was sprawled out. His breath came easier then mine. Stupid Jedi and their stupid magic breaths. "It's not his fault he looks like that."

"Tanner, I honestly could care less about that thing anymore. I'm glad Kebrey let it live, that's all I've got. I've got a job later tonight. After this lung-burning adventure, if that job it involves actual running for my life, I might be in trouble. If I rest here for our trip home, I'm good."

His left hand, my brother set on my chest and worked to send me some of his calming waves. It helped until my breath returned to a regular rhythm. My inhales and exhales slowed, and within several long minutes I felt normal again. And just like that, we were home. The way Kebrey flew, the trip was a quick one.

I stumbled into the house and fell onto my bed to sleep until work time. Tanner meanwhile was off to study his new ugly friend from the holo-pic he'd grabbed. Discover what it was, what it's habits were, what's it's life was like. All the everything that few cared anything about - myself included.

Such was our life. I worked seemingly non stop these days and my brother was busy being fascinated by hideously ugly creatures.

Eh, go figure.


END