Chapter 159: A Necessary Bond

Choose your enemies wisely, as they may be your only hope.

Recap: Pursued by pirates! While on a rite of passage, six Jedi younglings, Twilight Sparkle and Ahsoka Tano, are ambushed. Protecting the young Jedi, Ahsoka was captured by the nefarious Hondo Ohnaka and taken to the planet Florrum. Marshaling their courage and training, the younglings led by the Jedi princess infiltrated the pirate stronghold and rescued Ahsoka. Now we find our heroes in a race to their starship, with the pirates closing in.

Our heroes were still traveling among the landscape. After rescuing Ahsoka from Hondo's gang, they hijacked a speeder and were looking to return to their ship. However, the few pirates who went after them managed to find the Jedi as they were hot on their tails. The pirates were shooting at the Jedi as Twilight on top deflecting their shots with her lightsaber to keep the engines from being shot out.

"I know. I see them. They're gaining on us!" Petro stated as Gungi peeked and gave a Wookie noise.

"Everyone inside, now!" stated Twilight to Petro and Katooni, as she wanted the younglings to stay safe. The pair crawled to the hatch just as the ship rocked from a blast, with Twilight holding on to avoid falling off.

"Uh, I think they're still upset that we tricked them," said Katooni as they dropped inside.

"They'll get over it once we're off their planet," stated the boy.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Ahsoka as she was in the driver's seat.

"Right. Ganodi, we need a quick evac. Come in, please. Ganodi." said Petro as he was trying to contact her but was getting no response.

"Maybe the pirates are jamming the signal," stated Zatt.

"Where could she be? Ganodi. Huyang. Come in." said Petro as he continued to contact their friend.

The cruiser they arrived on was shown as the cockpit was empty. Soon the door to it opened.

"Attaching your head took a lot longer than I thought it would," said Gadoni as she and the other droids walked in.

"This is appreciated, youngling. Mobility is paramount, especially in an emergency," stated Huyang as he was almost complete, apart from his missing arms.

"Ganodi, where are you?" said Petro through the ship's com as the Rodain approached the panel.

"I'm here. I was in the back fixing Huyang," stated the youngling.

"Great. That's great. But we're all gonna need repairs if you don't have the engines running. Where are you?" stated Petro.

"Ganodi, it's Ahsoka."

"Padawan Tano! We've rescued you," said the youngling, happy to see she was safe.

"Almost. But we need you to get us home. Are you ready?" stated Ahsoka.

"Just tell me what I need to do. Okay, fire up the engines and head to these coordinates," said the Padawan as she sent the coordinates to the cruiser.

"We'll be right there," said Ganodi as she had the droids fire up the engines.

The cruiser began to lift into the air as it took off to where the others were.

"There they are!" stated Ganodi as she saw the others being chased as they were overhead. "R2, hold her steady and lower the boarding ramp."

The blue astromech plugged in and was in command of the ship. He also lowered the boarding ramp as they were above the pirate's speeder.

"Looks like our ride is here," stated Petro.

"Everyone get topside and stay down!" instructed Ahsoka to the younglings as they began to move.

"But who's going to pilot the tank?" asked the boy, knowing they had to have a steady drive to allow them enough time to get onboard.

"Katooni, grab that mask," stated Ahsoka as she looked about and saw the thing. She instructed the youngling to hand it to her as she placed it and adjusted it to hold the steering wheel. "Uh, that'll have to do."

Ahsoka leaped out from inside and landed next to Twilight as she began deflecting the shots from the pirates shooting at them. One of the younglings then jumped to grab Gadoni's hand as, at that moment, a shot from the pirate hit the engine, and it rocked the transport. It also caused the mask to come off the steering wheel as it made the speeder turn.

"The steering must have come loose," stated Ahsoka.

Petro then leaped back inside the cockpit and grabbed the wheel. The youngling stabilized the speeder so that the cruiser was over them again while Ahsoka and Twilight continued to deflect the shots.

"We got him!" stated Katooni.

Gungi leaped and grabbed hold of Byph's legs, which were still pulled up by Gandoni.

"Hang on!" responded the younglings as she tried to pull both of her friends onto the ramp.

"Oh, no," said Petro as the scanners showed what was ahead as a huge drop approached. "No, no, no!" The youngling did a hard right as they broke off from the cruiser as the Wookie was hanging off as R2 had to turn the ship around for another pass.

"They're coming back!" stated Katooni as Ahsoka and Twilight kept blocking the shots from the pirates as a few more shots to their engines caused their speeder to jump.

The pirates then aimed their cannon as they took out the middle engine. It caused the entire cruiser to go haywire as electricity flowed. The teens noticed this as they saw the ship was about to explode.

"R2, TS-01, get out of there now!" stated Twilight to the droids as her voice echoed from the ship's PA system.

The droids wasted no time as Twilight's small droid hopped on R2's dome head and held on. The ship was now starting to blow apart piece by piece.

"Everyone, let go! Jump down now!" shouted Ahsoka to the younglings, grabbing each other's legs in a chain.

They did as the Padawan instructed, and the droids crashed into Gadoni and Huyang as they fell on the speeder. The cruiser was out of control and crashed down; it grazed the speeder but was enough to send it flipping over and tumbling into the sand as everyone all tumbled.

It created a veil of sand that blinded one's vision. Soon it died down as it showed Ahsoka and Twilight lying next to each other facefirst. The Jedi Knight reached to a knee and clutched her shoulder as her lightsaber was in her other hand. Ahsoka began to stir and saw her friend before turning forward as a few meters away were her lightsabers. She was looking to grab them when the feet of one of the pirates were shown.

"Nice try, little Jedi. But it looks like you're coming with us," said the pirate as Ahsoka and Twilight held a look, knowing they couldn't risk putting the younglings in danger, especially when they were all unconscious around them.

The Jedi and the younglings were handcuffed as they were on the pirate's speeder. They were returning to Hondo's base when they stopped just over a hill as one of the pirates noticed something and stopped them. He then looked through some binoculars, surprised by what he saw.

"What the... Droids?" said the pirate as he saw through the binocular that some droids shot some pirates coming to check them out. "It's an invasion."

Inside the base, Hondo and his crew were enjoying themselves. Unaware of what was about to come knocking on his doorstep.

"Boss! Boss!" shouted a pirate as he came running in, "We're all in trouble! Gah!"

The pirate was shot and fell as entering were some commando droids. A few pirates stood up and aimed their guns, only to be taken out by the droids. They then stepped aside as General Grievous was marching toward the space pirate.

"Hondo."

"General Grievous, I presume? What a surprise. Have a seat. What, may I ask, is the honor?"

"You can dispense with the pleasantries, pirate. This planet is now under Separatist control," stated Grievous as he got on the table and in Hondo's face while grabbing his jacket.

"Uh-huh. And what do you suppose that means?" asked Hondo, keeping his cool.

"It means you have a new master, pirate scum!" exclaimed Grievous as he threw Hondo over his head and landed on the ground.

Hondo slowly got up as Grievous tossed a communicator onto the floor before the pirate as it came on and showed the hologram of Dooku.

"Hondo Ohnaka, we meet again. As I recall, the last time we met face-to-face, I was your prisoner. Along with my apprentice." stated the Sith Lord.

"Uh..."

"And you attempted to barter us off to the highest bidder," said Dooku.

"But can you blame me? I mean, two Sith Lords What a handsome price you two would..."

"Silence!" shouted Dooku, as he didn't want to hear the space pirate. "You are going to pay the price for your treachery."

"Well, I'm a reasonable man. Name the price. I'm sure we can reach..." said Hondo as he turned to get a drink.

"There will be payment, but no deals... only demands. Your entire arsenal will be melted down. Everything you own is now property of the Separatist Alliance." declared Dooku.

"Now you go too far! Unacceptable! This is an outrage." exclaimed Hondo at the outrageous demand of the Sith Lord. "This... Hold on. We can make a deal. This is not good business!"

The pirate was being led away by commando droids as he expressed how much he hated this. Meanwhile, the pirates holding the Jedi continued to look about the base as they saw how much the droids had taken over in minutes.

"This isn't good. Those scrappin' droids are looting the place. They're dismantling our ships." said the pirate.

"The fact that Grievous is here with his entire fleet means that Master Kenobi must have been overrun," stated Twilight as she concluded that was why Obi-wan hadn't come to save them yet. "This entire system is now in Separatist-controlled space."

"What should we do? There's nowhere to run," said Katooni.

"You're not running anywhere, skug. You're still my prisoner. Maybe I can trade you to the Separatists in exchange for my freedom." said the pirate to the Jedi.

"Not likely. Grievous didn't come here to make deals. He already controls the planet and the system. If you hand us over to him, he'll kill us and then you." stated Ahsoka, as she knew how the cyborg did business. "We have a common enemy in Grievous. Together, we can get out of this."

"Ahsoka, what are you doing?" whispered Twilight, surprised by what her friend suggested.

"Just trust me," responded the girl before addressing their captors. "You must have some other ships somewhere. You are pirates."

"Hondo's got a private fleet, but only he knows where the ships are," responded the pirate.

"Then we'll have to rescue him," stated the Padawan.

"Great," groaned Twilight as she shook her head, knowing they would have to help a pirate who's screwed them over plenty of times.

"We know Grievous. And we know droids. With our help, you stand a better chance." Ahsoka gestured to herself and Twilight.

"You got yourself a deal, Jedi," said the pirate as he approached Ahsoka from behind and shot her binds. He did the same for Twilight as the princess rubbed her wrist.

"I hope you know what you're doing," stated the Jedi Knight to the Padawan as she felt this plan could go south quickly.

"I am. Now we just need a way in."

"Well, you're in luck. I have a plan," stated Twilight.

The base of Hondo's was shown as many droids marched about. The speeder that the pirates and Jedi were on was shown traveling through as in the seats were R2 and Twilight's droid. The plan by the Jedi princess was to have the two distract the guards for a moment to allow the rest of the group to sneak in undetected.

"Halt," said the B1 droid in charge as R2 gave a response. "You captured this tank? Not bad for an astromech."

"What about me?" asked Twilight's droid as she sat on R2's dome head.

"What's your ID number?" asked the droid.

Just as Twilight's droid was about to respond, R2 remarked as he insulted the droid in charge.

"Hey, do not get smart with me. I outrank you. You just watch yourself." threatened the droid to R2's behavior. "I could have you melted down with the rest of this junk."

Twilight's droid banged her fist against R2's head to shut up, as they didn't want that to happen. The blue astromech got the message as he shut immediately and quivered in fear.

"That's right. Now take it over to Hangar 12. And no detours. We'll be watching you." stated the droid.

"Affirmative," said TS-01 as she banged R2's head again to move the speeder.

The droids began moving along as the Jedi and the pirates sneaked in the background. Once inside, they began to look for Hondo. Several droids stood guard outside a cell, as suspended inside was Hondo; the pirate was helpless as he tried to break free to no avail. The sound of blaster shots was heard as the door whooshed opened. At the foot of the door were the droids cut to pieces as a pair of green and a single purple lightsaber were shown.

"Jedi. And here I thought you made your escape, no?" said Hondo as he saw Ahsoka and Twilight.

"No," responded Ahsoka.

"Unfortunately, there were complications," stated Twilight. "Now, we have to put our differences aside and be friends, or else we're all gonna die here."

"Ah, very diplomatic. Ha! I knew you did not come back to rescue Hondo; how do you say it? Out of the goodness of your hearts." stated the pirate. "No, no, no, no. You need something from me. A ship, to be specific. Ah, yes. A ship, a ship. Ah, but where would we find one of those? My new friend General Grievous has destroyed my ships."

"We know you have one, a whole pirate fleet," stated Petro.

"And one of my old friends, apparently, has been talking too much," said Hondo as he looked at his men with the Jedi, knowing they snitched on him and would pay with consequences. "Ah, what does it matter? We'll never reach the vault anyway. Grievous' army is way too big."

"Don't give up. We can fight," responded Petro.

"If I may, sir. I have instructed younglings for over 1,000 generations, and these are among the best I have ever seen. And Ms. Sparkle is undoubtedly one of the top Jedi Knights in the entire galaxy from where she started." stated Huyang as he praised the kids and the princess.

"Well, then, show me. Show me your swords, tiny Jedi. Show Hondo you are ready to fight." stated Hondo as he wanted to see if the kids were ready to battle. The younglings all pulled out their lightsabers as the mix of blue and green was shown.

"Ah. And you, child. Where is your saber?" asked the pirate as he saw that Katooni was the only one who didn't activate hers.

"It's not finished. I never finished it. I've done everything right, but it won't work, " stated the girl, who couldn't get her lightsaber to turn on.

"You must trust that the components that form your lightsaber are meant to be together. There is no other way. It is the Force that binds them." said Huyang to the younglings.

"Yes, I was just going to say that. Finish it now. Finish, finish! This is worth the price of a ship. To see the construction of a Jedi lightsaber, this... this is priceless. Finish it, and together, we can defeat Grievous, " stated Hondo, who always wanted to see how a Jedi built their lightsaber.

Katooni took a deep breath as she sat down and concentrated. The parts began to hover before her as she focused her mind and used the Force to guide her. The components began to move and assemble.

"Oh. Amazing. That is truly amazing." said Hondo as he was impressed by what he saw.

Katooni then pulled out her crystal, slotted it into the emitter, and the other components snapped into place. There was the saber as she grabbed it by the hilt and turned it on; this time, it came on and projected a blue blade.

"Well, cut me down, little Jedi. It's time to leave," stated Hondo as Katooni sliced the base of the emitter and freed the pirate.

The other younglings cheered for their friend finally getting her lightsaber to work as Ahsoka and Twilight approached Hondo.

"So why the big show? You didn't really have a choice. You know we have to work together." asked Twilight.

"Because, Jedi, you know what we are about to attempt is very dangerous. And I may be a pirate, but I do not like taking children into battle," said Hondo, as he still had morals, especially putting kids in the line of fire. Something that Twilight could relate to.

"That didn't seem to bother you when you attacked us," stated Ahsoka as she saw Hondo heading for the door.

"Well, today is a new day, and lucky for you, today, I like children. Now, let's free the rest of my men," stated Hondo as he and the Jedi all rushed out to execute the next part of their plan.

Grievous was currently in another section of the base as he watched some droids burn things down. He was then receiving a transmission and pulled out his communicator.

"This is OOM-87, General. The prison area is under attack. There are several miniature Jedi here." said the droid as he appeared before the cyborg.

"What? You aren't making any sense. What Jedi?" said Grievous.

"The little ones, half the size of normal Jedi. They're freeing the prisoners and... my knees!" shouted the droid as he spoke when one of the younglings came in and chopped his knees off to make him crouch. Petro then came into view and chopped his head off as Grievous saw the glance of the younglings and growled.

"Prepare to open fire. We will bring the building down on their heads," stated Grievous to the tactical droid as he turned.

The droids in their tanks received orders as they began to fire at the prison building. It rumbled as Ahsoka and Twilight came charging out with Hondo's men at that moment. The droids fired as the Jedi began to flip and slice at the droids while moving ahead. Hondo and his men were holding their own as the younglings were at the back and taking out any stranglers, while the droids had a hard time shooting them since they were short.

Hondo and his men made their way to some speeders as they got on and prepped them. The space pirate felt more weight on his speeder as he turned to see that Katooni was seated behind him.

"I got your back," said the youngling.

"Great. I feel so safe," responded Hondo sarcastically, as he didn't fully believe in Katooni and took off.

Everyone else got on the tank speeder that the droids drove in as they fired at the line of droids blocking their path. They soon began to follow Hondo and his crew as they headed to where his secret stash of ships was. They passed by Grievous as they nearly scratched his face with their thrusters. The cyborg merely laughed at his enemies' attempt.

"They run. Quickly. After them." stated Grievous to his troops as he got on a speeder and began to pursue the Jedi and space pirates.

Grievous and some of his forces chased the pirates and Jedi through a narrow canyon. The droids fired at their foes as they took out some pirates and their speeders. Soon the pirates made a quick left turn as the Jedi were too focused on Grievous, about to close in as they missed the turn.

"They went the wrong way," stated Katooni to Hondo as she looked back to see her friends had gone straight instead of turning left at the bend.

"Don't worry," said Hondo as he pulled out a remote and pushed the button.

The pirates soon emerged from the canyon as they headed toward a wall. Hondo's button triggered the wall; it began to move as it revealed a hidden doorway. The blast doors then pulled apart as the pirates rode on in and came to a stop. The secret hangar contained multiple ships that Hondo kept as a private collection.

"What about the others? We can't just leave them," stated Katooni as she and Hondo got off and began to walk toward a ship that the rest of his men were getting on.

"You are welcome to come, small one. You may join our merry band of pirates," said Hondo to the youngling as he began to walk up the ramp, looking to get away and save his own skin.

"I won't just run away. Ahsoka and Twilight trusted you. We all trusted you." said the girl.

Her response got Hondo to stop at the top of the ramp just before he entered. The pirate sighed as he knew what the Jedi was doing. Meanwhile, the others attempted to shake Grievous off their tail as Ahsoka and Twilight stood up and exchanged quick swipes with Grievous before the cyborg jumped off his speeder and onto theirs.

Twilight put the younglings down and told them to not move as she and Ahsoka attempted to hold back the cyborg. Their blades clashed as the cyborg stood over the girls. Huyang popped his head out to see the Jedi struggling to push back Grievous before dipping back down.

"R2, do something," said the droid to the blue astromech as he gave a response. "I don't know. We have to shake Grievous off. Get aggressive. Ah!"

The blue astromech took the words too literally as he plugged himself. He then began to take evasive maneuvers as he made the ship turn from left to right. Soon the blue astromech made their ship go up the side of the canyon as they were upside and crashed into a top part of the canyon as they shot upward. They crashed to a halt as everybody was flung forward when they crashed.

Everybody lay on the ground as they slowly began to stir. While the moves were a bit too much, it did work as Grievous was flung off. Huyang popped out before being shoved out of the way as R2 rocketed himself from the rubble, with Twilight's droid holding onto one of its legs and dangling in the air as they landed.

"Too aggressive. Far too aggressive," stated Huyang.

"I concur," stated TS-01 as she landed facefirst into the sand before standing up, changing her left hand to a small vacuum, and beginning to suck in the sand off herself and R2. R2 merely gave a response.

"Yes, well, it was an effective strategy, but not what I would recommend," stated Huyang to the blue astromech.

The younglings were getting up as they checked on themselves. Soon they noticed something in the distance coming toward them was something. Grievous crawled on the ground like a spider as he approached them and stood to face the kids. They all turned on their lightsabers to defend themselves as Ahsoka and Twilight saw this and immediately got up and put their arms out to keep the younglings behind them. The teens knew they wouldn't stand a chance against a murderer like Grievous.

"So many lightsabers to add to my collection," cackled Grievous as he turned on his lightsaber and prepared to slaughter some more Jedi to his record.

The younglings looked to fight as Ahsoka and Twilight were trying to figure out how to fight Grievous without putting the kids in danger. Soon a rumbling was heard behind them; coming over the cliff was a ship, as it caught the attention of everyone. It rotated as the door opened and the ramp extended.

"Hurry! Come on!" shouted Katooni.

"Run. All of you run!" instructed Twilight to the younglings as they did what their superior told them to do.

Grievous kept on walking as the girls turned on their lightsabers. The cyborg stood, popped out all four of his arms, and turned on four lightsabers to combat the girls. He approached them as he spun the two top lightsabers, as the girls did a backflip to avoid the attack. They then clashed and attacked as Grievous deflected their shots.

The Jedi tried their best to fight the cyborg, as Grievous blocked their attacks simultaneously. He then pushed them back and went for a quick lunge. Ahsoka and Twilight quickly countered as they put their arms out and thrust Grievous back to avoid him landing his attack. Grievous dug all his lightsaber into the ground to avoid being flung back. He then leaped as the pair did another backflip to avoid him. Ahsoka leaped over Grievous' swipe as Twilight ducked under, and the two landed their attacks in unison that was blocked by the cyborg.

They spun in midair as Grievous blocked another set of attacks from them. Twilight made side attacks as Grievous blocked them with a single lightsaber before elbowing the princess back and turning his head in time to avoid a chop by Ahsoka. She attacked with her smaller lightsaber as Grievous blocked it with his bottom two and held it to where he had the upper strength. The Padawan sensed that and quickly tried an overhead attack; the cyborg blocked that and overpowered Ahsoka; he used one of his feet to grab her face and fling her over him onto the ground.

Grievous cackled as he began to spin his lightsabers on the ground as he approached Ahsoka. The Padawan saw this and quickly rolled back with Grievous' lightsabers right behind her as she stood up to a knee and quickly blocked an attack. Ahsoka pushed back the cyborg, flipped forward, and landed on Grievous' shoulder before pushing off, allowing Twilight to come in with a surprise attack and sweep the cyborg off his feet.

The Padawan landed as Twilight was next to her. The pair panted as they were exhausted from fighting Grievous as the cyborg stood up to look at the Jedi.

"Ahsoka! Come on! Twilight, come on!" shouted the younglings to the older Jedi from the ramp.

The two began to turn and run as Grievous chased after them. The pair approached the cliff's edge as they jumped and landed on the ramp; the younglings and Jedi ran inside as they closed the door and the ramp behind them.

"You will never defeat Grievous. Never!" shouted the cyborg as he watched his enemies.

"I wouldn't be so sure," smiled Hondo as he was in the cockpit.

The ship aimed its gun at the cyborg and began to fire at him as Grievous was being pushed back. He soon fell to the ground as he curled into a ball to protect himself from the constant gunfire.

"Did we get him?" asked Katooni as they entered the cockpit.

"I can't tell," stated Petro.

Soon their ship began to rock. Separatist droid tanks appeared and began to fire at the ship our heroes were on.

"Show is over, kiddies. Let's get out of here," stated Hondo as he began to turn the ship around and quickly got out of there.

Grievous stood up and saw his enemies escape as he cackled.

In space, a Republic fleet was shown. Onboard a cruiser was the ship that Hondo, his men, and the Jedi escaped on as they were docked. While Huyang and the girls talked with the younglings about the adventure they had, Hondo was currently talking with Obi-wan, trying to get some compensation for all he had done for the Jedi.

"And let me see. Oh, the cost of the fuel. I had to use a lot of fuel. The general wear and tear on my men and equipment. A couple of them died, I think." said Hondo before letting out a stressful sigh. "Believe me, Kenobi. Staging a rescue is not an inexpensive proposition."

"So you mean to tell me you were staging a rescue, not attempting to hijack a Jedi starship?" asked Obi-wan with a cocky tone.

"You're welcome! Oh, the thanklessness! What an accusation. I am gone! I will send you my bill!" stated Hondo as he began to leave.

The Jedi Master looked at Cody, who looked confused under his helmet, with Obi-wan shaking his head at the pirate's antics. Hondo and his men were prepping to board their ship when Katooni looked and saw the pirate. Hondo stopped at the top of the ramp and turned to look at the youngling as he smiled, which caused the girl to also smile, knowing he decided to help save the others from Grievous.

"Ahsoka. It's good to see you're all safe," said Obi-wan as he approached the group.

"Yes, Master," responded the Padawan.

"Twilight, excellent work on keeping the younglings safe."

"Thank you, Master Kenobi," said Twilight as she did a small bow to the Jedi Master.

"We had quite an eventful mission," stated Ahsoka.

"The most eventful since the time Master Yoda went to find his lightsaber crystal," stated Huyang.

"What?"

"Oh!"

"Tell us!"

"What happened then?"

The younglings were all suddenly interested in hearing this story about the great Grand Jedi Master as this was something that not even Yoda told many people about.

"I'm afraid that story will have to wait. For now, be proud. You have survived an ordeal few your age could." stated Obi-wan as he addressed the younglings. "Welcome home, young Jedi."

Obi-wan pulled out his lightsaber, turned it on, and put it in front of him. The younglings began to do the same as they had their lightsaber out to touch the tips of the others. Ahsoka and Twilight did the same as there was now a circle of lightsabers, touching each other as the Jedi Master, Jedi Knight, and Padawan formally welcomed the latest batch of younglings into the Jedi Order.

Author's Note: The youngling arc has now reached its conclusion. And our heroes have not only escaped with the help of their captors, despite the conflicting sides. Also seeing the induction of some brand new Jedi into the order. One of the defining moments was the creation of the lightsaber being put together and how it was enough to convince Hondo to join the Jedi. It's a uniqueexperience and things that are just rare, which is what he values the most. Most people in the galaxy never see a Jedi, as hinted by Twilight's home world, let alone get to watch a lightsaber be constructed in front of them. All of this is a super rare sight in the universe of Star Wars. And the small detail of them mentioning Yoda's adventure and his kyber crystal which makes you think of what that might be. As always, leave a review expressing your thoughts and comments.