Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Side: I'm still undecided about that.
Guest: Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough where Jaina is. I have something special in mind for her.
Chapter 39- Praetorian Duel
The duel between the Praetorian Guards with Rey and Kylo Ren begins in a frenzy. The Praetorian Guards wield four different types of weapons, mostly melee weapons, but two wield short whip-like weapons.
Rey plants her feet and grips her saber firmly in both hands. As several of the Guards move to attack her, Rey begins moving. Her saber flashes brilliantly blue as she spins it in front of her to block every blow aimed at her, shuffling her feet as she goes to make sure she has a continual good balance, blocking every blow aimed at her. However, she hardly moves from her position, her saber flashing all around her and deflecting every blow while keeping the Guards at length. The fact she is wielding a double bladed saber grants her greater protection as she has a greater range of protection. On top of that, she is using a double-bladed variant of Soresu fighting style. The Guards quickly begin to become frustrated as they can hardly even get close to Rey.
Kylo, on the other hand, adopts a much different strategy. Wielding only a single bladed lightsaber, not wanting to stay too close to Rey as she swings her saber all around her, and not a very defensive minded combatant, he immediately charges into the midst of the Guards charging at him. Kylo blocks the first blow at him and shoves the Guard backwards using his saber before spinning around blocking two more blows aimed at him. One of the Guards wielding an electro-bisento charges at him and swings his weapon at Kylo's legs, hoping to cut off one of his legs in the confusion. However, Kylo leaps up and spins, coming down and pinning the weapon with his foot before driving his saber through the Guard's chest. He immediately yanks his saber out and whips back around to face the other three Praetorian Guards facing him.
Rey now begins moving slightly to try and get a better position to begin attacking back instead of just protecting herself. The Guards press their attack more fiercely against Rey, forcing her to start backpedaling a bit.
Deciding to get a little more room to breathe, Rey summons the Force and leaps backward while backflipping, moving almost 15 feet from her current position. This move results in her and Kylo pretty much swapping positions on the platform.
As she lands, she sees that her move worked, and of her four opponents, just two are moving towards her, the other two hanging back slightly. One of them slashes at Rey as the other prepares his whip. Rey easily deflects the blow from the vibro-axe and forces it down before deflecting the first lash from the whip with her saber's second blade. The first one then strikes at her again, but Rey deflects the blow easily with one blade of her saber before bringing the other one down and cutting across the side of the Guard's leg. The Guard stumbles away, trying to get a moment to recover from the shock of the wound, but cannot get far enough from Rey swings her saber around and cuts across the side of his neck, killing him.
The other Guard, wielding the whip, does not hesitate to press his attack, showing no concern for his fallen fellow. The Guard lashes the whip at Rey, but Rey sidesteps the blow and tries to strike at his head. The Guard ducks under the blow and lashes his weapon at Rey's legs, but she backflips to avoid the strike. Rey then slashes one end of her saber at the Guard's neck, but the Guard is able to deflect the blow with a powerful lash of his whip. Rey tries to bring the other end of her saber up, but the Guard lashes his whip at it, wrapping the end of the whip around the blade of the saber. Then, Rey starts to get a little worried as the Guard starts wrapping his arms up in the whip to pull Rey and her saber closer and closer to himself bit by bit. Finally, as he pulls her closer enough to him, the Guard reaches out and grabs Rey by the neck. He tightens his grip, trying to choke the life out of Rey.
However, Rey draws on her training to calm herself, and then she acts. She shifts her feet slightly and shifts her grip on her saber before she whips it in a wide circle, bringing the free blade of her saber up and cutting off the Guard's end just beyond the wrist. She then swings the blade towards the Guard and cuts him in half at the chest.
As the Guard falls, Rey sees one of the two Guards she had left behind approaching her. The Guard separates his weapon into two and swirls them around as he charges at her. Rey firms her face and readies herself to fight him as the throne room rocks slightly from the space battle she now knows the Supremacy is engaged in.
Meanwhile, Kylo is still fighting against his three opponents. Kylo pushes one away with a strong front kick, but quickly has to bring his saber up to protect him from the other two as they both drive their weapons at him. He manages to catch them in an X-shape against his saber, one of the crossguard blades doing most of the protecting. However, Kylo had to bring the saber down to waist level to protect himself, and he doesn't have the best defensive position. The two Guards press their advantage and push Kylo backwards, back towards a small hole in the platform that has an electric field in it that Kylo knows will shred his body if he falls in it. Kylo is forced back several feet towards it, but manages to plant his feet and stop them from pushing him back any further.
The third Guard facing Kylo, wielding his whip, charges towards Kylo, ready to deliver a killing blow as his two fellows hold Kylo in place. However, Kylo summons all his strength and rage and thrusts his saber both up and forward. His strength is enough to force both Guards to stumble back a bit and forcing their weapons aside. Kylo then spins slightly to avoid the third Guard's blow with his whip and then drives his saber right through the Guard's chest. After taking a second to catch his breath, he grabs the Guard's body by the head before pulling his saber out of his chest and using his grip on the head to throw the body into the hole he had been pushed towards. The Guard's body is shredded by the electrical field.
Kylo raises his saber, pointing it towards his two enemies as they slowly circle him, weapons at the ready. Kylo is almost motionless, waiting for one of them to make the first move. As he does, he glances across the platform, and sees Rey duelling her two remaining opponents. As he watches, the one wielding two short blades manages to cut her arm slightly. Rey lets out a cry of pain, but she then backflips up and backwards, then throws her saber like a boomerang. The one wielding the two shorter blades manages to deflect it, but the other Guard is a little slower, and his head is quickly removed by the flying saber. Rey then calls the saber back into her hand with the Force and prepares to face her final opponent.
Right then, the two Guards surrounding Kylo make their move. One leaps forward and drives his vibroblade towards Kylo's chest. Kylo easily blocks the blow, then reaches out with one hand and summons one of the two short blades from one of the fallen Guards into his hands, which he immediately uses to block a strike from the second Guard. The Guard tries to drive his weapon down to trap Kylo's arm behind its shaft, but Kylo swings his hand around and cuts across the side of his leg with his stolen weapon. He then quickly rises back to his feet and cuts across the Guard's side with his saber. The Guard falls to one knee, and Kylo drives his saber downwards through the Guard's throat.
However, the final Guard facing Kylo wastes no time in attacking him. He first strikes with his weapon's blade towards the stolen blade Kylo is holding. The strike is fierce enough that the force of the blow and the vibration from it forces Kylo to drop the weapon. The Guard then brings his foot up and kicks Kylo in the wrist, forcing him to drop his lightsaber.
The Guard moves to finish off Kylo, striking at his head with the blade of his weapon. Kylo stumbles back to avoid having his head cut off. But the Guard quickly shifts tactics. Trying another strike at Kylo's head, he misses when Kylo ducks. But this is just what he wanted, and fast as a viper, he manages to bring the shaft of his Kylo's head and bring it to his neck. The Guard yanks his weapon back towards him, trying to choke Kylo using the shaft of his weapon. Kylo grabs the shaft with both hands, trying to wrestle it away from his neck.
As Kylo struggles against his final opponent, Rey is also still duelling her final opponent. The Guard is good, but not quite good enough. The Guard makes a move to try and trap Rey's arm with his own to stop her from adequately using her saber. However, drawing a little bit on her Irish dancing lessons in Dublin, Rey leaps gracefully backwards and then brings her saber down on the Guard's head, cleaving it in two. As she lands, she whips around and spots Kylo trapped by the last living Guard. Spotting a fallen vibro-blade, Rey reaches out with the Force and grabs the blade before sending it flying through the Guard's face. His body goes limp, and Kylo finally frees himself as the Guard's body falls limp.
Kylo and Rey stand silent as they look at each other in silence for long moments, surrounded by the bodies of the fallen Praetorian Guards and Snoke himself. Rey is the one who finally breaks the silence as she says, "Jacen, you took the first step. You know that all this is wrong. Please, Jacen, come back to the light. Your mother wants you back."
Kylo is quiet for a moment, staring back at her before he says, "No. The darkness has risen, and it will not be contained. It's time to let what is old die, and the future to rise in its place. Rey, you know your destiny. Join me, and we will bring a new order to the galaxy. I don't want to kill you, and I will let nothing stand in my way. Don't let yourself die for nothing."
Rey feels a sense of despair as she realizes that Jacen Solo truly has accepted the dark side. Then, she drives that feeling from her. "No. I will never let myself follow the path you have chosen," she says, and she grips her lightsaber, ready to fight him if necessary.
Kylo is motionless, then raises his hand, and Rey is suddenly thrown across the platform and against the red drapes against the viewport. Rey growls as she tries to withstand Kylo's sudden attack.
Kylo stalks forward slowly, drawing his lightsaber and readying himself to strike Rey down for good. Then, he hears a new voice call out from the side, "That's far enough, cousin!" This is followed a second later by the sound of a lightsaber igniting.
Kylo stops in his tracks and turns in the direction of the lift. And sure enough, there is Ben, walking across the path from the lift, his lightsaber in his hand, it's purple blade shining brightly.
Kylo turns all his focus to Ben, relinquishing his hold on Rey, who falls to the platform below. Or rather, the edge of it. Rey puts her saber away as she falls and grabs hold of the edge of the platform, clambering back onto it.
"You should not have come, Ben," Kylo says.
"If you think I was about to just let you escape, you've got another thing coming, Jacen. And I wasn't about to let Rey go into this alone," Ben says. He reaches the platform, spinning his saber once in hand and says, "This is your last chance, Jacen."
"No, cousin. It is yours. Join me, or face your death," Kylo says, readying himself to face Ben. He pauses, then says, "Or, perhaps, Rey will meet hers first." He can see in the words uttered by both Ben and Rey since the start of thai that there is a bond between the two. Perhaps Ben can be thrown off balance?
But Kylo's words touch a bit too deep, and awaken a fire within Ben. Ben firms his face and, without a word, charges at Kylo. Kylo raises his saber, and two sabers clash with a fierce crackle.
Ben quickly presses his attack, stomping on Kylo's foot and forcing him to take a step back. Ben immediately slashes at Kylo's leg, quickly following up with two slashes aimed at Kylo's shoulders. Kylo blocks the blows, but quickly finds himself being pushed back as Ben presses his attack.
Ben shifts into a Vaapad stance and unleashes a flurry of strikes on Kylo, who is forced onto the defensive. Kylo manages to match Ben's speed, but finds himself being slowly pushed back from the ferocity of Ben's strikes. Ben pushes him past the bodies of the fallen Praetorian Guards before managing to force his saber aside and kicking him to the ground.
Ben stands over his cousin. "It's over, Jacen. Give up now, or I will do what I must," Ben says, gripping his saber tightly.
Kylo leaps back up onto his feet, holding his saber at his side. "You will never defeat me, cousin," he says fiercely.
Rey now steps forward, standing at Ben's side, her saber in hand and at the ready. Ben looks at her gratefully before returning his attention to his cousin. The two young Jedi ready themselves to continue the fight, and kill him if necessary.
Kylo grips his saber tightly, twisting it slightly and shifting his position as he readies himself to attack Rey and Ben. Rey shifts into a defensive stance, holding her saber in front of her, its two blue blades shining brightly. Ben shifts into another stance, holding his saber up next to his head, ready to unleash his strength against his cousin. Kylo, undeterred, readies himself, and opens his mouth to let out his war cry as he steps forward, and…
All three are thrown off their feet as it seems as if every molecule of air around them explodes.
And, I'll end the chapter there. Hahaha!
Sorry for that cliffhanger, but I have to put one in every once in a while. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out what happened.
If the fight with the Praetorian Guards seemed a bit too easy, remember that this Rey has been training for months under Luke and Kelly, and Kylo has had even more training.
Alright. Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!