Resurgence of the Crystal
Chapter Eleven: Alliance
AN: Enjoy Chapter 11!
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What the hell is this old man talking about? Is he a part of Death Watch?
Rafe recalled all of the Death Watch they fought back on Concordia. They all wore the same blue armor with a signet of a shriek-hawk on their left shoulder plate. The Mandalorian in front of them was wearing red armor with no visible signet.
And that sword of his… I've never heard of anyone who has used such a weapon. He glanced at his lightsaber. My lightsaber should be able to cut through his sword, right? He felt his hand lowering toward his lightsaber.
The Mandalorian suddenly swung his sword in a backhanded slash, ripping Rafe's cloak. "Don't move, brat. You're coming with me." He then pointed his sword at Yuki. "If you try to escape, this little girl will die."
Rafe glared at the Mandalorian. "What do you want with me?"
The Mandalorian shrugged his shoulders. "Why should that matter?"
"Do you honestly believe I'm just going to submit to your threats and go along willingly?!" Rafe barked. "You're even stupider than you look."
The Mandalorian chuckled. "You're a feisty one, aren't ya? Well, how about this, then? I'll let your two little girlfriends go unharmed if you come with me."
Rafe deepened his glare. He wasn't really angry about the pitiful threats the Mandalorian was making. He was angry about how he somehow kept getting found and captured. Even though he was a Jedi now, his life felt no better—if not worse—than he felt while living in the Underworld.
"Well, I tried being polite, but my patience is wearing thin…" the Mandalorian sighed. Without warning, he lifted his blade over his left shoulder and slashed down at Rafe, who activated his lightsaber and blocked the strike.
However, the Mandalorian's sword didn't shatter upon impact. It was perfectly intact. Although, the spot of impact was starting to burn up a little.
Rafe pushed the Mandalorian's sword away from him with his lightsaber, jumping back in the process. What kind of sword is that? My lightsaber didn't even make a dent. He looked at the blood stains on the tip of the Mandalorian's sword. This is bad. That sword of his can cause more damage than our lightsabers. He glanced behind him to see Yuki and Ahsoka staring up at the Mandalorian with determined looks in their eyes, but Rafe could sense the fear in them. We need to get out of here. Now! "We need to attack him together," he whispered to them.
"Are you sure?" Yuki whispered back.
"We're not going to get out of here if we don't fight. Just try to escape. Forget about getting information out of him."
They both nodded, reaching for their lightsabers.
Rafe just glared up at the Mandalorian. He knew he couldn't take him on in a fight, and he also had to protect Yuki and Ahsoka, so his only option was to escape. But he didn't know if they could even manage that. He had a feeling the Mandalorian didn't come alone, which meant there would be blaster bolts waiting for them if they even managed to get outside.
He sighed, tired of trying to find other ways out of a fight he knew was inevitable. "Attack now!"
Without warning, the three Jedi charged at the Mandalorian. Rafe charged forward, thrusting his lightsaber at the Mandalorian's neck, while Yuki and Ahsoka charged to both of the Mandalorian's sides, swinging their blades at the back of his legs in backhanded cuts.
The Mandalorian smirked. "What fun! I never would've imagined three teenage brats would have the guts to attack me." Still smirking, he flipped backward, all the while swinging his sword in one fluid stroke to deflect their attacks simultaneously.
Rafe glared at the Mandalorian. That's just great. He's even closer to our only way of escaping. He then narrowed his eyes, coming up with a plan. But we can use that to our advantage. "Just keep attacking," he told Yuki and Ahsoka. "We need to get him away from the entrance."
They both nodded and charged for the Mandalorian alongside Rafe.
The Mandalorian grabbed a chair and threw it at them. They effortlessly flipped over it, but while it was still flying in midair, Ahsoka used the Force to throw it back at the Mandalorian, who leaned to the side, avoiding the chair that crashed into the wall, which shattered into several wooden pieces.
"So that's what the Force is, huh?" the Mandalorian pondered. "Not bad, kids… Not bad…"
Rafe grabbed his knife and threw it at the Mandalorian's knee, who effortlessly deflected it with his sword, sending it back to Rafe, who jumped in the air and caught it, then swooped down toward the Mandalorian with his lightsaber, purple blade aimed at his head.
The Mandalorian's eyes suddenly darted to his right side, where Yuki swung her lightsaber in a sidecut, but the Mandalorian effortlessly deflected it, pushing Yuki back from the force of his strike. He then swept Rafe's feet out from under him, while also deflecting the reverse-gripped sidecut Ahsoka delivered, pushing them all away from him.
Rafe got to his feet, glancing between Yuki and Ahsoka. "You guys, we can't beat him in close combat. He has us far outmatched. We need to use the Force to get him away from the door. Understand?"
They both looked at him and nodded, then all three of them outstretched their hands, calling out to the Force.
"Huh?" the Mandalorian asked as he was suddenly lifted into the air. Before he could say anything else, he was thrown to the other side of the bar.
"Run!" Rafe ordered.
And the three of them bolted out of the bar, leaving the Mandalorian alone with his slaughtered victims.
Just as Rafe speculated, a barrage of blaster shots was waiting for them right when they got outside. They were being fired in all different directions from above, but since it was so dark down in the Underworld, it was a little difficult to see where the shooters were.
All Rafe could do was deflect as many blaster shots as possible while trying to find cover, but that seemed nearly impossible with how many shooters there were up on the roofs.
"There's too many of them!" Ahsoka shouted, deflecting two blaster bolts from behind her. "We're never going to get out of here!"
"If only I had a blaster," Rafe said, gritting his teeth in irritation. "We'll be shot down if we try to get in close."
"Isn't that how we defeated the Death Watch on Concordia?" Yuki asked.
"Yes, but they were just amateurs. These guys came here with a plan. They're not just low-level mercenaries. They know what they're doing." Rafe moved his head to the side, avoiding a blaster bolt that flew past him. "All we can do now is run and wait for more help to come."
"But this doesn't concern the Jedi," Ahsoka said. "Who's going to help us?"
"Arakan will." He looked at Yuki. "I need you to use the Force and tell Arakan what the situation is."
Yuki nodded. "Okay."
Suddenly, a thermal detonating grenade landed between them.
"Run!" Ahsoka cried.
But Rafe already picked it up and threw it up at the center of where the shooters were. A group of three mercenaries got caught in the explosion, which also set the building on which they were hiding on fire.
"Now we run," he said, then dashed off into the rain-filled streets, followed by Yuki and Ahsoka. Despite taking out three of the mercenaries, he knew the rest of them were already following them.
"You bastards!"
"Get back here!"
"Master Arakan, can you hear me?"
Arakan stopped walking as he heard Yuki's voice in his head. Wait, where was Yuki? He gritted his teeth in irritation as he just came to the realization that both his apprentices were missing. "Yuki, where are you?"
"We're down in the Underworld," Yuki said.
Arakan widened his eyes as he felt his anger increase. "What?! Why the hell are you down there?!"
"I'll explain everything later, but right now we're in trouble. We're being chased down by a group of mercenaries. Will you please help us get out of here?"
Arakan's clenched fists were shaking at his sides. He knew it was the brat's idea to go back down to the Underworld. It was his fault they got themselves into the situation they were in now. Why can't you ever think, brat?
He shook his head, realizing that he was just wasting time. I need to stay calm. Rafe knows that place better than anyone. He recalled how Rafe helped them all get out of the Underworld when they first met. They'll be fine. He knows how to stay alive. Still… who's after him this time?
Pushing the thought aside, he ran out of the Temple.
"Yuki, where the hell is Arakan?" Rafe demanded, turning yet another corner. He didn't know where exactly they were going, but it wasn't like it mattered. All that mattered was getting away from the mercenaries, which was proving more and more difficult since they were much faster than them.
"I'm sure he's on his way down here right now," Yuki said.
Rafe narrowed his eyes. "That didn't sound very convincing. You're absolutely sure he's coming?"
Yuki nodded assuringly. "I'm sure. He wouldn't just abandon us."
"Tell him to hurry his ass up. We can't run away from these guys forever." Rafe looked back to see the mercenaries were still hot on their tail, jumping and flipping off of rooftops, occasionally shooting at them, but Rafe could feel the Force flowing through him, making him run faster than he'd ever thought possible.
"So, do you actually have a plan for us to get out of here, Rafe?" Ahsoka asked.
"Usually I would just decide to take them out, but we still don't know why they're after me," Rafe said, still keeping his eyes on the mercenaries. "I'd like to get that information out of them first before we join the fight."
"But we can't get information out of them if we don't fight."
"I know that." Still, it's really that Mandalorian who's after me… These mercenaries are just hired guns to get the job done. He remembered when he tortured a member of Death Watch for information, but it turned out he didn't actually know anything. So he doubted these hired guns knew anything. They were only here to capture him. "You're right, Ahsoka," Rafe said, lowering his head to look at her. "We can't escape if we don't fight."
"So what do you suggest we do?" Ahsoka asked.
Rafe looked ahead at a pillar in the center of the street. "Double back at the pillar, then we'll make our way up to the roofs and engage them. When they see us coming, they'll halt their momentum so they can focus their fire on us, which should give us a fighting chance."
Yuki and Ahsoka nodded, then followed Rafe toward the pillar. When they reached it, Yuki and Ahsoka ran around it and scaled up the buildings beside them while Rafe ran up the pillar, then kicked himself off when he couldn't keep his momentum, launching himself back toward the mercenaries, who indeed did stop chasing after them, focusing all of their fire at them.
Landing on the roof of a building, Rafe charged toward the mercenaries, keeping his body as low as possible to avoid getting shot. But the mercenaries seemed to read what he was doing and focused their fire toward the ground, causing Rafe to jump in the air, but he realized too late that he just exposed himself even further. Son of a kriffing nerf herder! He activated his lightsaber and redirected the blaster bolts back toward the mercenaries, who just kept running, then he rolled back onto the ground.
He stood straight and lunged for a mercenary right in front of him, knocking the blaster out of the mercenaries hand with the pommel of his lightsaber, then thrust his boot into the mercenaries gut, kicking himself off of him and launching himself in the air to catch the blaster, then began shooting at the mercenaries below him, and actually managed to hit one of them in the shoulder.
"That hurt, you little shit!" the mercenary screamed, picking his blaster up and firing at Rafe.
Rafe deflected as many shots as he could, then flipped over them and onto another rooftop after he landed, narrowing his eyes. This would be so much easier if I could only get those blasters away from them. His thoughts were interrupted when more blaster bolts hit near him. Dank Farrik!
Instead of charging toward them, Rafe jumped off the roof and through the window of the building across from him. Damn it all to hell. I never would've imagined they would be this good. Yuki, Ahsoka… you both better stay alive…
All Yuki could do was stand still and deflect every blaster bolt that was fired at her. She deflected another series of shots after flipping over the mercenaries, then used the Force to pull them in the air with her. When she landed, she kicked a mercenary into another one, launching them both off of the roof. She caught one of the blasters that one of them dropped and pointed it at the other mercenaries, her hand shaking.
Why am I shaking? It's not like I'm going to kill them. I just need to get them away from us so that we can escape. So what am I waiting for? Just pull the damn trigger, Yuki!
Before she could muster up the courage to pull the trigger, she was shot in the shoulder. She groaned as she knelt on the ground. She threw the blaster at one of the mercenaries, distracting them for a moment, which gave her enough time to recover and charge at the two remaining mercenaries, whom she kicked away simultaneously by jumping between them and splitting her legs outward, thrusting her boots into their faces. She landed gracefully in a kneeling position, exhaling a shaky breath.
"Yuki, behind you!"
Yuki spun around after Ahsoka's sudden shout rang through her ears. She saw another mercenary standing behind her with their blaster aimed at her, his finger already pulling back on the trigger. How did I not sense him?! I need to do something fast!
But before she could do anything, Ahsoka tackled her off of the roof and through the window of the building across from them. They rolled under a wooden table, gasping for air, then whirled their heads in fear when they heard a dark voice.
"What the hell are you two doing here?"
Rafe continued to look down on Yuki and Ahsoka. They both looked alright, although the scorch mark on Yuki's robes where her left shoulder was indicated that she was shot. "Can you still fight, softy?" he asked Yuki.
Yuki glanced at her injured shoulder, wincing when she tried to raise it. "I can manage. How are you doing? You're not hurt, are you?"
Rafe shook his head. "What about you, head tails?" he asked Ahsoka.
"I'm fine," the Togruta said. "But the mercenaries are still after us."
"I'm aware of that."
"So, are we safe for now?" Yuki asked. "They haven't come back for us yet."
"They're still after us. They're more than likely waiting to ambush us again. There's no choice but to go back out there and finish those bastards off."
"Wait, Rafe," Ahsoka said, grabbing his attention. "Can't we just navigate our way down this building and escape that way?"
"No," Rafe said. "I'm sure they have a reasonable perimeter guarded within the vicinity of the area. They must be watching over us from multiple buildings, meaning anywhere we try to run we'll just be met with a blaster shot." He glared at the floor, irritated that he couldn't think of a way to escape. Even with weeks of Jedi training, he couldn't figure a way out of a situation he'd been in multiple times. But then again, he knew these weren't just any ordinary mercenaries. They were all individually skilled, far better than the Death Watch. "Arakan, where the hell are you?"
Arakan was standing in the bar, which was filled with shattered glass, wood, and dead bodies. "How the hell did this happen?"
A chair suddenly moved, alerting Arakan. He walked in the direction he heard the noise, but nobody was there. A dagger was suddenly held in front of his neck.
"Twitch, and I open your throat." It was a young girl who made the threat, but Arakan could sense it was Ember. He recognized the dagger she used.
"If you kill me, you'll be making a huge mistake," Arakan said carefully.
Ember pulled the knife closer so that the cold blade was now touching Arakan's skin. "Just shut your mouth and tell me where he went."
"Where who went?"
"The fucker who caused this carnage," Ember spat. "Where did he go?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out…" Arakan dared a glance back toward Ember, who was glaring burning daggers as sharp as the one she had to his throat at him.
"Ember, maybe he can help us again," Ekram suggested. He looked up at Arakan. "You're trying to find someone down here, right?"
Arakan felt a sense of pride wash over him. Despite being a weakling, Ekram could negotiate and use his head to strategize very effectively. He didn't trust him completely, though, so he still wanted to be cautious. "And what if I am?"
"We'll help you find who it is you're looking for if you help us find that Mandalorian."
Arakan just held his gaze, then conceded. "All right… I'll help you." Because you brats are going to lead me to my apprentices, then I'll stop that murderer myself.
"Come on out, you little shits!"
Rafe, Yuki, and Ahsoka were taking cover in the back of the room, remaining hidden behind a table so that they wouldn't get hit by the blaster bolts that were currently being fired at them.
"We can't stay in here forever!" Ahsoka said.
"If you wanna run outta here and get shot to death, be my guest," Rafe said irritably. "What the hell is Arakan doing? He should be here by now."
"We just need to keep waiting," Yuki advised. "It's all we can do."
Rafe clenched his fists until his pale knuckles whitened. He desperately wanted to fight his way out, but he knew they didn't stand a chance. But he couldn't just sit still and do nothing. There must be something he could do…
But he couldn't think of anything to get them out of the situation they were now stuck in. Then again, he'd never really been stuck in situations like this when he lived down in the Underworld. All he had to do then was run away and escape. But now he had friends to look over as well as himself, and these were probably the most skilled mercenaries he's ever faced.
The blaster bolts suddenly stopped firing at them.
Rafe slowly got to his feet and walked to the shattered window. "Rafe, it's not safe," he heard Yuki say, but he ignored her. It was pointless to just sit still when they weren't in danger for the time being.
There were four mercenaries standing on the roofs of the buildings across from the one he was currently in, shooting their blasters down at the ground.
"What do you see, Rafe?" Ahsoka asked.
Rafe barely peaked his head out of the window to see what the mercenaries were shooting at, but before he could get a clear look, a blaster bolt hit the edge of the window. Rafe immediately turned around, staying covered by the wall he had his back up against. "I can't get a clear look anywhere without getting my head blown off!" he called back to Ahsoka. "But it looks like others have pursued the mercenaries." Or they're really after us and just want to take out the mercenaries so they won't have to deal with them later… He didn't like the sound of that. The mercenaries were bad enough. If they had to face another group of foes, they would surely die…
But Rafe wasn't ready to die today. He still had a life to make for himself. And he now had people he cared about.
"Should we go check it out?" Yuki asked.
"Yeah, we might have a fighting chance since they won't expect us this time," Ahsoka added.
Rafe glanced back out the window with narrowed eyes. He didn't know who the mercenaries were shooting at, but he knew whoever came out alive in that shootout would be the ones to come for them. "Both of you stay close to me," he told the two female Jedi. "We're fighting our way out of this."
Ahsoka grinned confidently. "Then let's go!"
"Don't be stupid, head tails," Rafe halted her. "We need to be smart about how we approach them. If we just charge back out there, they'll shoot us down." He spotted a wooden chair to his right and grabbed it, throwing it out of the window.
All of the mercenaries immediately directed their fire at the chair, which was blown to bits.
"Huh? A chair?"
While the mercenaries were distracted, the three Jedi jumped out of the window.
Rafe threw his knife at one of the mercenaries, hitting him in the eye.
"There they are!" another mercenary called out, pointing to the three Jedi. "Fire!"
Ahsoka and Yuki activated their lightsabers and deflected the blaster bolts that flew toward them.
Rafe, however, used the Force to pull the injured mercenary toward him. He caught him while landing on a rooftop and used him as a shield to protect him from the blaster bolts that flew toward him from behind. He tossed the mercenary to the side and lunged for the one standing in front of him, blasters ready to shoot him down.
He activated his lightsaber and swung it in a backhanded slash, slicing the mercenaries hands off. He ran past the screaming mercenary and jumped down to the ground, where he ran into Arakan, Ekram, and Ember. "It's about damn time you showed up," he told Arakan, glaring in annoyance.
"As you can see, we were protecting you," Arakan said.
"By standing down here? Brilliant idea."
"Where is he?" Ember suddenly demanded, stepping closer to Rafe.
Rafe scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Who are you talking about?"
"The Mandalorian who's after you," Ekram clarified. "Do you know where he went?"
Rafe shook his head. "We managed to escape from that savage, then were chased down by his goons. I bet the coward's hiding somewhere nearby."
Ember let out a feral growl before climbing up the building to her right.
"Ember, wait!" Ekram called out.
"Just leave her. No point getting yourself killed too."
Ekram looked at Rafe, but before he could say anything, a blaster bolt shot in between him and Rafe. Rafe tackled Ekram away before they could get hit.
"Arakan, get Ekram out of here," he said. "It's me they're after, so they won't go after any of you."
Arakan deflected another blaster bolt, then glanced back at Rafe. "Good grief, kid, you never learn, do you?"
Rafe tilted his head in confusion. He assumed Arakan would agree with him.
"They're still going to chase after us to make sure there's no one who can rescue you if they manage to capture you," Arakan explained. "Our only option is to fight them off right here. I assume you already came to that conclusion…"
Rafe nodded. "We'll take them on separately. Yuki and Ahsoka are together." He looked back to Ekram. "Ekram, you're with me. Just try not to get shot, will ya?"
Ekram whimpered nervously, then nodded. "A-All right…"
Rafe handed Ekram his knife. "Use that to defend yourself."
Ekram outstretched a shaky hand and took it. "I'm not going to have to…"
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. Now, let's go!"
"I'll keep all of you covered," Arakan reassured them, then took off toward the rooftops.
"Come on!" Rafe said, then took off with Ekram.
They managed to make it up one of the rooftops, where Rafe deflected a blaster bolt, knocking the blaster out of the mercenary's hands in the process.
"Ekram, stay low!" he called below him, then kicked his leg out in an upward, clockwise motion, kicking the mercenary off of the roof. He then reached his hand out, which Ekram took, and pulled him onto the roof. "Now…" He looked at the other two mercenaries in front of him.
"Rafe, we're outmatched," Ekram said. "We need to retreat. If we don't, we'll be killed."
Rafe smirked back at Ekram. "I'm not ready to die just yet, Ekram." He glared at the mercenaries in front of him. "I'm not going to allow these bastards to kill me!" He then charged at the mercenaries, swinging his lightsaber at one of their blasters. Before his blade could make contact, he deactivated it, knocking the blaster out of the mercenaries hand.
"What the hell?"
Rafe used the Force to guide the blaster toward Ekram. "Ekram, use that!" He then knelt on the roof, jabbing the pommel of his lightsaber into the mercenaries knee. The mercenary grunted in pain, but couldn't do anything after since Rafe kicked him off the roof.
"Rafe, behind you!" Ekram called out.
Rafe turned around to see the other mercenary with his blaster pointed at him. "Shit!" He was about to activate his lightsaber, but a blaster bolt flew through the mercenaries thigh.
The mercenary knelt to his knees, cringing in pain. Rafe used the Force to push him off of the roof, then looked back to see Ekram holding a blaster in his outstretched hand.
"Not bad, blondie," Rafe said.
"Not bad, indeed."
Rafe turned around, wide eyes locking onto the Mandalorian, who was already slashing his raised sword at Ekram, who was in a shaking panic. "Shit! Ekram!" He ran to tackle Ekram out of the way.
"Cutler!" Ember screamed, suddenly appearing behind the Mandalorian. She thrust her dagger at him, but he just ducked, thrusting the pommel of his sword under her dagger, then threw her behind him.
"You're getting in the way," Cutler said. He then looked down at Rafe and Ekram.
Rafe activated his lightsaber and jumped toward Cutler, thrusting his lightsaber at him. Cutler just ducked and swung his sword in a backhanded slash, the flat part of the blade hitting Rafe's ribs, sending him flying off of the roof.
"Rafe!" Ekram jumped to catch him, but right after he dove off the roof, Cutler grabbed him, then activated his jetpack and flew down to catch Rafe, then flew off.
"Get back here, you bastard!" Ember called out. She jumped after them, but they were already too high up in the air. She landed on the ground, rolling into a somersault to cushion her landing.
Rafe looked down to see Arakan, Yuki, and Ahsoka running after them, but more blaster shots from the retreating mercenaries held them back.
"No, we can't let them get away!" Yuki cried out, fighting to get past Arakan who was holding her back with one arm.
"Let them go for now. We're running on fumes," Arakan said. He looked up at Rafe. "Rafe, you need to survive!"
Survive. That one word gave Rafe all the strength he needed, and it's what he intended on doing.
"Rafe!"
Yuki's cries were the last thing Rafe heard before he was once again out of the Underworld.
To be continued
AN: I hope the chase and fight scenes throughout this chapter were realistic. I didn't want to make anyone too overpowered. I figured Yuki would be able to handle the mercenaries because she's been training as a Jedi for most of her life, but her biggest weakness is her inability to act and her innocence, resulting in her getting shot. Rafe, while being the complete opposite, doesn't have enough experience to hold his own against mercenaries as skilled as the ones in this chapter. They are a big threat throughout this story, more so than the Death Watch, which is why he struggled so much despite being in similar situations. And even Ekram was able to show that he could be useful in a fight.
I hope the development I showed with Rafe was realistic as well. I don't want it to seem like he hates everyone and suddenly cares about others.
And the Mandalorian's name is Cutler. As to how Ember knew, keep reading to find out.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying this new arc so far. The next chapter will be the final chapter of this arc.
See ya!