Chapter 9 – Showdown on Felucia, Part I
Hello there.
And so we're at chapter 9! I can tell you for certain that this is when things finally start falling into place after a certain… incident. I'm not going to say anything more about what it is – you can read the chapter and see for yourself!
tyuo: greetings! It's always a pleasure to hear from you! And as for the confrontation – I hope it lives up to your expectations! – because I'm still pretty much a beginner when it comes to writing fight scenes :')
Jaya: hello new reader – it's a pleasure to have you here! As for how tall Nova Regis is, he's 5'5". I hope that's not too short for you xD
Well, I'm not going to hold you up any longer, so on with the chapter – enjoy!
General Grievous was unamused when a large chunk of the deployed Super Battle droids were wiped out by well-aimed Republic rocket.
He was even less amused when all three tanks were blown up and disabled after having been out for a few measly minutes. He glowered at the clone forces on the ground and the ones swinging between the trees from where he stood on the ramp. He begrudgingly admitted, however, that it was an ingenious tactic.
Now where was this Jedi?
Grievous got his answer sooner than expected when the twisted, burning wrecks that were the tanks lurched aside sharply. The smoke parted for him to see the figure of the Jedi as he stood in the space he'd created. The Knight was shorter than Grievous expected, and held a green-bladed lightsaber in his right hand. From what else grievous could see, he also wore a gold-tinted armguard over his right forearm and his robes were stained by smoke and dust.
"Ah, the Jedi," Grievous sneered, a smile twisting his scarred face.
On either side of him, his Magnaguards' staffs came to life, purple arcs of electricity crackling at both ends. The Magnaguards moved further aside, fanning out on either side of Grievous as he reached under his cloak and unclipped two lightsabers.
"General Grievous himself," the Jedi observed, his voice steely. "This is truly an honour – to fight the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies is not something I expected to do." He took up a stance, "Especially not today."
Grievous chuckled evilly at the Jedi's words, igniting the blades of both his lightsabers. This Jedi was certainly no Kenobi, Grievous mused to himself. But even so, he was curious to see how well this Knight would fare when up against Grievous himself. As his eyes fell on the two lightsabers Grievous held ready, his face hardened.
"Those lightsabers are not yours," his voice was as frigid as outer space. "I'm going to have to ask you to hand them over to me."
"Come and get them," Grievous said, drawing himself up to his full height, his cloak falling to the ground, "Jedi scum."
Regis' eyes narrowed, but he made the first move. He thrust out his left hand and yanked it back towards himself forcefully. Grievous saw two of his Magnaguards dragged forwards towards the Jedi before being flung bodily into the burning wrecks of the tanks behind him. The cyborg general eyed the Knight with distaste. The Jedi then leapt into the air, aiming for Grievous' head, who deflected the blow by crossing his two lightsabers.
But in that split-second, Grievous found his mind flashing back to earlier the same day, when he had tussled briefly with Ronderu. She had pulled a similar move, hadn't she? Grievous snapped out of his reverie, angry that he could be distracted by something so trivial in the midst of a one-on-one fight with a Jedi. He only just managed to slip out of the way as the Jedi pushed off their crossed blades, landing behind him and slashing at Grievous' middle with his saber, attempting to cut him in half. As Grievous took a few steps away, his two remaining Magnaguards advanced on the Jedi Regis.
Once again, he settled into a stance. This one was low, and he held his blade close to himself, his eyes on the approaching Magnaguards. The droid to his left lunged in for an attack, aiming for his feet, but Regis swung his lightsaber, parrying the blow and getting in some attacks of his own. The last droid took that as its cue to join the fight and it did. But the Jedi was ready for it, dragging the tip of his lightsaber against the ground as he dodged an attack from the first, a sharp flick of his wrist spraying red-hot dirt against its optical sensors. It reeled backwards, its sight momentarily compromised, and Regis Force-pushed the first one at Grievous.
The heavy droid collided with the General but didn't knock him over. Irritably, Grievous snarled, about to toss aside the useless scrap-heap of a droid when an emerald blade stabbed through it, only just stopping short of his faceplate. Grievous couldn't help his eyes widening in shock. He flung away the droid as Regis moved back, his lightsaber held at an angle in both his hands. Both fighters eyed one another. To one side, the last Magnaguard had regained its sight and stood ready, electrostaffs in hand. Grievous reached behind himself again, removing the other two lightsabers he always carried with him.
His arms split; first at his elbow joints and then at his wrists. He activated both lightsabers, holding them in his four arms. The Jedi appeared to be studying him from a distance of a few meters. Surreptitiously, the Magnaguard took a step nearer to the Jedi, and Grievous began to spin the two lightsabers he held in his higher pair of arms. The blades hummed as they were spun through the air and Regis adjusted the weight resting on his back foot. Behind him, Grievous' Magnaguard had advanced to within striking distance of the Jedi. Grievous kept his eyes on the Jedi's, commanding his attention and thereby distracting him from the more immediate threat posed by the electrostaffs-wielding droid behind him. Grievous smirked under his faceplate.
This battle was his and his alone; no treacherous, silver-tongued Jedi would best him.
Especially not one that was obviously such a novice as this.
The Magnaguard thrust its electrostaffs forwards, aiming the strike at the Jedi's back. But somehow, the small Knight twisted out of the way in what should have been in an impossible move and succeeded in cutting off both of the droid's feet. As it collapsed to the ground, Regis cut off its head.
He glared at Grievous accusingly.
"Will you not fight me, General?" He asked with a frown.
"Are you so eager to die?" Grievous sneered in response. "If that is the case, then I can help you with that, Jedi."
"We shall see," declared Regis levelly.
The two of them lunged forwards, Grievous spinning two lightsabers, the other two held like the points of a stabbing pincer. Regis held his own saber at an angle, his right forearm open to Grievous, the armguard glinting in the light. Grievous slashed at him with all four lightsabers and Regis blocked them with his emerald-green blade, his teeth bared as he fought to stop Grievous pushing the blades downwards and killing him. Again, he spun away, disengaging before their blades could lock.
Grievous made the first move, advancing on Regis, a blue and green lightsaber spinning in front of him. The blurs of energy made it difficult for Regis to anticipate the General's next move. He did, however, have something the cyborg did not and that was his connection to the Force. Regis exhaled, calming himself even as Grievous neared him and let his senses expand, telling him of the rapidly approaching attack that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The lightsaber slashed towards him and Regis barely dodged it by dropping into a crouch, still feeling the heat of the blade as it passed over his head.
From his position on the ground, Regis re-ignited his lightsaber and sliced at Grievous' feet, but the cyborg was too quick, and dodged the sweeping blade. The Jedi leapt back to his own feet and both combatants circled slowly before darting in and trading blows at close range. The lightsaber blades crackled as they dragged along one another. As they fought, Regis hooked the destroyed Magnaguard's electrostaff on his foot and kicked it at the General. Grievous batted it aside, momentarily distracted, and Regis extended his left arm, his fingers curling slightly as he hoisted up Grievous with the Force and threw him in an arc so he collided violently with a corner of the landing craft before rebounding onto the ramp.
Regis lifted his hand again, raising a few boulders into the air. Grievous – still winded slightly from the blow – got to his feet, his head racked with pain from where it had struck the edge of the landing craft's open doors. Nevertheless, he dropped down to the ground as a boulder was flung at him, passing over his head and smashing into the ramp behind him. Grievous scuttled aside on all his limbs as a second boulder crashed down where he had been barely a second ago. He flipped back to his feet, narrowly missing the third and final rock.
Now that he was out of projectiles, Regis ignited his lightsaber and darted forwards at Grievous to engage in close combat once more.
Shaking away a slowly descending fogginess in his mind, Grievous fought to concentrate. He was barley aware of himself activating his lightsabers and engaging the Jedi head-on for a second time. Reflexively, he countered and parried blows from Regis, all while strange images that were half-memory and half-dream flitted by in his mind. He struggled to focus on his opponent and not these strange, lucid thoughts. Grievous finally roared in frustration, throwing Regis back with a powerful blow.
The young Jedi sprawled backwards but flipped back to his feet in an instant, seemingly unharmed, his face a mask of calm. Grievous, meanwhile, was the complete opposite of him – his mind was suddenly raging like a storm over the Jenuwaa Sea.
The Jenuwaa Sea…?
His mind tweaked.
He had sailed across it once, long ago. But… why?
There had been… something – no, not something – someone. Someone important; someone close… treasured. Someone… lost.
General Grievous lurched to a side like a drunken pirate, his head spinning. All of a sudden, he felt as if he was missing something important; a part of him, if that made any sense. And then came the deep, rending grief for… for something he didn't remember. The feeling was crippling, and Grievous stared ahead unseeingly, looking for something that just wasn't there.
Who was it that he could almost remember?
And why did he feel so… empty when he almost did?
He had so many questions, yet no answers… Or… did he…?
Grievous blinked a few times, shaking his head and trying to clear it of these creeping doubts and uncertainties. All the while, Regis had observed his opponent with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Why was the General acting this way? He seemed… out of balance with his surroundings, and maybe even with himself. Regis didn't make a move, but watched as the cyborg staggered, unsteady on his own two feet. A hand went to his head and his eyes darted around in confusion, as if he didn't even know where he was or what was going happening.
Slowly, Regis raised his lightsaber in his right hand to point it at Grievous.
"Your move, General," he called out.
The cyborg heard him, his head turning towards the Jedi, his eyes troubled. The General ignited the four lightsabers at once and held them ready. But even as Regis darted in and they began to fight once more, he could tell that the General was distracted; his defence wasn't up to par and his offensive moves seemed half-hearted, as if he was simply acting out of reflex.
Regis managed to slip in a strike past Grievous' poor guard and scored a slice down his chest plates, cutting off the cyborg's lower left arm in the process. Grievous noticed, the loss apparently snapping him back to reality as he let out a hiss of annoyance. He drew back, seemingly contemplating his next move, his eyes livid all the while.
But then Grievous leapt, covering the distance between himself and Regis in one massive bound, and they began to fight in earnest.
The blows from Grievous came quick and heavy, smashing against Regis' lightsaber whenever he blocked them. Some of the attacks he was able to dodge – even if they did come a little close to connecting with him – and managed to launch some attacks of his own. Grievous then kicked out at Regis with his left foot, his clawed toes catching the Jedi squarely in the torso and sending him tumbling back a few meters. Regis got back to his feet – a little winded and a little bruised, but otherwise fine. And then he realised he had dropped his lightsaber and it now lay between himself and Grievous.
The General noticed it, too.
Two sets of eyes regarded the lightsaber before the combatants' gazes met. Each tried to gauge the other's next move. Regis knew he needed his lightsaber back and fast; he didn't want to be unarmed when Grievous ran him down. Grievous meanwhile, knew that Regis would most likely use the Force in this instance. If he was going to end this fight, then he would have to stop the Jedi from getting his lightsaber. But there was nothing he could do to stop a Jedi from using the Force.
Surreptitiously, the cyborg reached behind himself again, the fingers of his remaining left hand closing around a blaster that was attached to the back of his hip. In the blink of an eye, Grievous had withdrawn the blaster and pointed it at the Jedi, his index finger squeezing the trigger to fire off three bolts of energy in quick succession at Regis. The Jedi, however, saw them coming, his eyes widening in alarm. He threw himself forwards in a roll to dodge them – not to a side like he normally would have – aiming to retrieve his lightsaber in the process. Grievous, too, lunged at him, a lightsaber already in hand as he tried to cut off Regis' right arm as it reached for the fallen saber.
The bright green blade cut down towards Regis' forearm –
– and bounced off the dull gold armguard.
Well, that's it for now! Thanks for reading!
Sorry to end on such a cliffhanger like this, but I had to split what was originally going to just the one chapter into two parts. But then I realized that the two pars combined would've been too long – as it is, this chapter alone is exactly 2301 words long even without the author's notes. I know I said I'd make the chapters longer, but right now anything exceeding 2200 words is pushing it.
... And cue the realisation that the previous two chapters were way over 2200 words.
Not to worry, though, as the story progresses, the chapters will get longer!
In other news, the story draft is nearing the end and I'm happy that I now know how this story will end for everyone – but it's too early to say anything right now.
Also, I'm going to need yet another book to write in ':D
Oh yeah, and I've finally gotten down to reading the first book in the Thrawn trilogy and wow, was it something! Who knows, maybe someday I'll get down to writing a story with everyone's favourite Chiss!
So until next time, everyone, stay safe!