Hey guys, it's time for another chapter! We'll be finishing up Bogano this chapter so we'll see how long this chapter becomes. I also have finals this week so it might take me longer than I expecte to finish it as well. Anyway, hope you're liking it so far. Please leave a review or comment and tell me what you think! Also, give the story a follow! Here's the chapter!
Ch. 3: The Vault
(Luna's POV)
"Let's try this again..." Cal said, glancing at me with a look of exhaustion.
"How about you let me go first," I suggested, still worried something would explode on him like last time. He looked slightly embarrassed but let me lead the way. I walked through the now-destroyed opening in the wall and it led back to the first room we entered where BD-1 got damaged. To the right of us was a stone path that spiraled to the roof and to the left of us was a chest.
"A chest?" I thought out loud. A grin instantly plastered itself on Cal's face and he ran to the chest in excitement.
"Nothing like a little treasure to cheer you up! I don't think the Jedi we're trying to find will mind," he said to me. I smiled and walked over to the chest. I wanted to see what's inside it too! BD-1 jumped off Cal's shoulder and hopped inside the chest. Both mine and Cal's eyes widened as he rummaged through the inside of it. After a few seconds, he popped back out with a folded piece of clothing.
"What's that?" I asked as Cal took it and let it unfold in his hands. His face lit up when he saw that it was a poncho.
"A poncho! Okay, this is sweet. I love ponchos!"
He started putting it on and I put my hand on my mouth in laughter.
"A poncho, Cal? Maybe you were telling the truth when you said you didn't know much about fashion."
He slipped the white and blue poncho over his head and viewed himself by looking down. He then looked at me and extended his arms out, as if asking for my critique.
"It is true, but ponchos are really cool! And I look perfect in one, if I do say so myself," he said, pleased with himself at the moment. I dropped my hand from my mouth and tilted my head at him, examining his look up and down. I mean...it did fit him really well. But...I think I won't give him the satisfaction of liking it.
"Well...I can say that out of anyone I've seen wearing a poncho it's looked the least stupid on you."
I turned to go up the path to the roof, leaving him behind.
"Hey! Wait, was that a compliment?" He asked, jogging to catch up with me. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Meh, kind of both a compliment and an insult," I said with a smile. He smiled back at me and nudged BD, who had gotten back onto his shoulder.
"Just you wait, BD. I'm gonna get her to wear one and then she won't want to take it off ever."
Yeah, we'll see how that plan goes. Though, who knows, I might look great in one. We walked up to the roof and saw that there were a few huts surrounded by swampy grass. Nearby the huts were these spider-like insects that looked like a mixture between a spider and a crab. Nonetheless, they were disgusting-looking.
"Eww..." I muttered in disgust. Cal ignited his lightsaber and took a step forward.
"Want me to take them out real quick?"
I ignited my lightsaber and shook my head. I didn't want to be left behind or make him do all the work.
"Nah, I just think they're really gross. I'll help you."
He smiled and we both ran at the creatures. There were only three of them and we got the first two by surprise. I swung my lightsaber and the saber cut the insect clean in half. I looked over to see that Cal had killed his but then dashed backwards when the third insect tried to attack me. It had sharp pincers for a mouth. I bet those things hurt when caught in them. I wasn't going to find out though. I brought my hand up and slowed the creature with the force. All I had to do then was walk over to it and slice it in half with my lightsaber.
"Nice job!" Cal said to me in praise. You know, I'm liking all of these compliments he and the crew back on the Mantis have been giving me. It's really been a boost to my self-esteem. I grinned at the boy and pumped my fist in front of me.
"You too! You ready to keep moving?"
"Yep!"
We searched around the roof for the way forward and found another zipline to a different area of land. We carefully repeated the process of holding onto each other to zip across it and were to the other side of the line in no time. From here, there were two options for us. Ahead was a series of walls that you had to run through that led to the vault, and behind us was another zipline down to a separate area. The only problem with the way forward was...I don't remember how to wall run...
"Umm...I don't remember how to wall run..." I said to Cal shyly, holding my arm. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed.
"That's okay because I don't either...Cutting ourselves off from the force for so long is coming back to bite us, huh."
"Well, it's not like we had a choice. Hopefully it will come back to us," I said in a hopeful tone. That's all we could do right now.
"You're right. You wouldn't happen to know how to wall run would you, BD?" He asked the droid. The droid told Cal no and we kind of chuckled.
"Speaking of, how did you get here anyway? And we'll just have to go down this zipline then," I told them. BD-1 told us that he didn't remember how he got here as we took the zipline down. That was peculiar. Did someone mess with his memory? We reached the new patch of land and it was multiple levels high.
"The Jedi will probably tell us," Cal said before stopping and putting his arm in front of me. I looked at him and then peered at what he was seeing. It was a huge, and I mean huge, lizard. It had three eyes, sharp-looking teeth, and a very long tongue. It was chasing one of those worm enemies we had killed early on.
"That thing's a little too big for my liking," I whispered into Cal's ear. He gulped and bit the inside of his cheek in thought.
"I agree...Let's run past it," he said, looking at the wall of vines that was just past the huge lizard. We would just have to wait until it was out of the way. We stood behind the corner staring at the lizard as it kept attacking the worm. Honestly, it surprised me that the worm survived this long. Eventually, it was going to get eaten sooner or later. The worm dashed out of our line of sight and the lizard jumped at it with a thud. This was our chance! We silently ran past the lizard and climbed the vines before he even noticed we were there. Once we were at the top, we gave each other a high five.
"That's one thing we didn't forget from our Jedi training. How to be as silent as possible," I said happily.
"It's a good thing too. That thing could eat both of us just as an appetizer. Now then, what's over here."
We turned to where we had climbed up and saw a much smaller and enclosed space. The only enemy I could see was another one of those worm things and it was at the very bottom in the shallow water. It's good that we don't have to worry about falling in some never-ending abyss in this area though. That gets old real fast. Down to the right was a way that looked like it went somewhere and I pointed it out to Cal.
"There's a small pathway over there. Want to try that first?"
"Sure," he said. We jumped down to ground level from where we were and I grunted when our feet hit the ground. The trick to jumping from a high place is to use the force to slow yourself down before you hit the ground. I was still a little rusty so I almost fell on my face when jumping.
"You okay?" Cal asked as soon as he heard me. I gave him a thumbs up and shook away the tingling on my legs.
"Yeah, just need to practice using the force is all. Damn it…"
Okay, maybe it hurt more than I thought it did. Now Cal was even more concerned because I was on the brink of limping on the way to the pathway. I waved him off and he stopped me with a healing stim in his hand.
"Here, take this. It'll make you feel better."
I looked at the tiny green crystal for a second before slowly taking it. He motioned how I was supposed to use it.
"Just insert it wherever you're hurting and it might hurt for a second but you'll immediately feel better."
I nodded in understanding and gazed down at my leg. I inhaled and pressed the healing stim to my leg quickly. It was like getting a shot at the clinic but the pain went away after a couple of seconds. I exhaled and dropped the empty stim on the ground. Looking back up, I gave Cal and BD a smile.
"You were right! I don't like the shot feeling though."
"Yeah, me neither. But it's better than a band-aid," he joked while BD beeped gleefully at me. I had to agree with him on that one. Every single band-aid I've ever used has fallen off within an hour of putting it on. It's tragic, really. Anywho, Cal and I moved forward towards the path and it led to a long hallway with a big hole that let the sunlight in. The walls looked like we could wall run on them, but again, we didn't remember how. The three of us walked to the end of the huge hallway and stopped at a dead-end that led to the top of the rock.
"Well, this place is useless," I groaned. Cal sighed but stopped to look at something on the wall.
"Maybe not," he muttered as he touched a part of the wall. It must be another one of those force echoes he was telling me about. Only this time his eyes went wide in shock and it was like he was frozen in place.
"Cal?"
I went to touch his arm and as soon as my fingers made contact I found myself in a familiar place I had not seen in so long. It was the inside of a Venator-class Star Destroyer. My breathing hitched because this brought back too many memories I didn't like to revisit.
"Luna, try again. I know you can do it if you just keep trying."
That voice. I looked in front of me and saw my master, Aayla Secura. She was wearing her usual attire and she had her hands on her hips. Looking down at myself, I was thirteen again. This was one of our training sessions that we had every week! She would teach me a new thing each week and then we would work every day on improving it. Out of nowhere, three rigid walls floated up from the ground and levitated in front of me. They all led to my master, who was at the end.
"Wall run to me! Focus the force within your legs and feet as soon as you touch the wall and then bounce off of it to regain your concentration for the next wall!" She commanded. I gasped as I felt my body move on its own. I wasn't doing any of this! I ran and jumped to the first wall, running on the side of it, before jumping to the second and third wall and doing the same thing. I jumped off the third wall and landed in front of my master who had a huge smile on her face.
"You see? I knew you could do it! Now do it again!" She yelled. I blinked and I was back on Bogano with Cal and BD-1. Cal was staring at me like he had just seen a ghost and I'm pretty sure I was giving him the same look.
"D-Did you..." Cal started but didn't finish.
"Y-Yeah. I saw a flashback of me training with my master!"
"I did too!" He said in surprise. I narrowed my eyes at him and thought about what had just happened.
"You touched the wall and then your eyes widened like you were about to freak out or something...So then I touched your arm, and I got the flashback as soon as my hand touched your arm...And then we saw the same thing but our own separate experiences with our masters?" I asked, trying to piece it all together. He brought his hand to his chin and then snapped his fingers like a light bulb had just turned on in his head.
"I know what happened! That must be a rare Jedi skill you possess! You're able to see people's pasts!"
"But I saw my past, not yours."
He frowned and went back to thinking.
"Uhh...Well, maybe we need to see what happens the next time you get something like that. I definitely think it could be a rare Jedi skill though. You just have to explore it, that's all! So, you had a flashback about your wall run training, right?"
I nodded.
"Yep. It's all flooding back to me now."
I turned to the walls that we walked past and ran at it, jumping just before reaching the edge and running along the wall until I got to the other side of the hallway.
"Phew! Your turn, Cal!" I yelled over to him. He grinned and began running along the walls. He got to where I was in no time and it felt so good to be remembering old tricks from our Jedi days. I forgot how fun it was to wall run!
"Heh, maybe you'll get a flashback on how to fall from high places," Cal said, teasing me about earlier. I pouted at him and lightly punched him in the arm.
"Do not," I warned him as he continued to laugh. I rolled my eyes before hearing what sounded like someone breathing above us. I turned my head up at the giant hole in the ceiling of the room and there was a huge dragon-like lizard staring at us and flaring his nostrils!
"Whoa! How long has he been up there!?" Cal asked, jumping back a little. Even though he was massive, he seemed harmless to me. He was probably just bored up there.
"Not sure, but he's kind of cute," I said with a smile. He resembled a humongous stuffed animal! Cal snorted in disagreement and walked back to the room we came from.
"Whatever you say. Now, we can run through those walls to get to the vault now."
I got one last look of the cute lizard overhead and waved before following behind Cal. We walked to the previous room and saw two ways that we hadn't yet explored. We could go up, which required us to wall run, or we could go down, which only required us to drop down there.
We went up first.
Running up the wall, Cal and I reached the top and found another chest.
"There's also a force echo here too," he told me before touching it. He closed his eyes for a second, hummed, then opened them back up.
"Interesting. Someone familiar with the Jedi Order used this area for meditation."
"Must be the Jedi we're looking for," I said as BD hopped into the chest to get whatever's inside. Cal nodded and BD came out of the chest with another poncho. This time it was pink. Who keeps leaving these stupid ponchos around!? Cal gasped and held the poncho out in front of him. He then looked at me and he got the biggest freaking smile on his face. I shook my head and took a step back from him.
"Nope! No! No! No! I'm not wearing the poncho, Cal!"
"Aw, come on! It's even in pink! Your favorite color!"
"My favorite color is green!" I yelled in defiance like a kid who didn't want to eat their dinner. He sighed and folded the poncho back up.
"We'll get her one day," he told BD, putting the poncho in one of the pockets on his belt. I looked at the two out of the corner of my eye and gave the most exaggerated huff.
"I can...try it on when we get back on the ship. There! Happy now!?"
"Yes," Cal said with a grin and a look of content. Ugh! Why did I just say that!? Oh well, I guess it won't kill me to at least try it on when we get back. And Cal was happy so I can't be too annoyed by it.
"Good," I laughed, "let's drop down to the bottom. I think I'll have better luck this time than what happened earlier."
I jumped down to the ground floor and focused the force into slowing me down just before I hit the ground. I mentally patted myself on the back and Cal jumped down beside me.
"You did great that time!" He said proudly. I gave him a small bow.
"Thank you, thank you."
Now what's down here...I do know there's one of those worm enemies that's roaming around somewhere...Oh, there he is. I ran up to it and killed it with my lightsaber before it even had the chance to attack us. BD-1 hopped off Cal's shoulder once it was dead and scanned the corpse of the worm.
"What's he doing?" I asked in bewilderment.
"Not sure..." Cal answered. Once he was done scanning, BD jumped back onto Cal's shoulder and told us what type of species the worm was.
"A bog rat? Oh, you're able to identify what kind of enemy they are? That's pretty cool!" I told the little droid. He beeped his thanks to me and we continued looking around for anything of interest on the ground level. There was a plant in the corner of the room that caught my eye. I walked over to it and picked it up. It reminded me of the plant container Greez had on the ship.
"Hey, do you think Greez would like it if we planted this in that grass container on the Mantis?"
"Yeah, I don't see why not," Cal said with a shrugged, "And I think he called it a terrarium."
Oh yeah...I knew that! I slipped the plant in my pocket and we kept looking around. We didn't find anything else here so the only choice for us now was to go back to those walls that were in front of the vault. To get there, we managed to find an elevator near the top of the roof that allowed us to get back to that spot. Pretty convenient if you ask me!
"Now that we remember how to wall run, let's find out what Cere wanted us to find," Cal said in determination. We both ran across the walls and were now in the same area as the vault. Finally! That took us at least a couple of hours to look through everything before getting to this point. The time has gone by fast though so that's good! I actually enjoyed hanging out and spending time with Cal and BD-1. Again, I didn't have any real friends on Hosnian Prime so I was savoring every minute of this journey. It's amazing how fast it took me to see Cal as a friend. I guess he's just that cool of a person.
"Race you to the top?" Cal suggested, talking about the hill upward towards the entrance of the vault. I didn't say anything, I just started running as fast as I could up the hill.
"Hey! No head starts!"
"Too late to be making rules!" I yelled back to him. I heard tiny little footsteps beside me, and BD-1 flew past me before I could reach the entrance.
"Hey! No electronic advantages!" I yelled through heavy breaths. Cal caught up to me and chuckled.
"Too late to be making rules!" He repeated what I had said but in a high-pitched voice to match mine. I shook my head but ended up laughing at the two of them.
"Touché. You ready to see what's inside here?"
He nodded and fixed his hair by brushing his hand through it.
"Yeah, let's do it."
Inside the entrance of the tower was a huge rock with an ancient door crafted within it. There was a crack in the door, and I could see a blue hue emitting from it. This wasn't an echo but a sign that we needed to use the force to open it. That's why I could see it. Cal and I both put our hands on the door and concentrated on using the force to open the door. Energy flowed through us to the door and it raised up with a screech, dirt and dust falling from the bottom of it. Inside the door was a dark hole that led to the inner depths of the vault. This is where Cere wanted us to be. We crawled through the hole with some effort, but we were able to get inside.
"This is amazing," Cal murmured quietly when we reached the inside. I couldn't agree more. Inside was a huge room with ancient drawings on the wall. In the middle of the room was a pedestal that had risen from the ground.
"Beep-boop!"
BD-1 slung himself off Cal's shoulders and sprinted towards the pedestal. He then stopped and stared up at the sky. Cal and I exchanged confused looks and knelt beside him in front of the pedestal.
"BD-1?" We both said, our concern growing more and more when he didn't respond to us. I was going to pick him up, but he projected a hologram in front of us that stopped me in my tracks. Did not see that coming...The blue hologram was of a man who wore typical Jedi attire and was maybe in his late 50s or early 60s.
"Well done, whoever you are. You passed the test I left behind to get to this point. You also gained access to the vault and this secretly encrypted recording stored deep within the droid. I am master Eno Cordova. I may not know of you, but I do know your purpose for being here. The fate of the Jedi Order is in your hands. The place you are in...This vault...It is a sacred temple. This temple was built by an ancient civilization called the Zeffo. I discovered this place, and during meditation, I was granted a vision of doom. A vision of the future," he explained to us. I was listening to him carefully, trying to take in as much information as I could.
"...In this vault I have placed a Jedi holocron. This holocron contains the names and locations of several force-sensitives throughout the galaxy, mostly children. Ahead is the inner chamber of the vault but you will have to complete another test to get to it. This is the only way I can make sure whoever gets the holocron is obtaining it through good intentions. The way to do this is to follow the path that I have laid out for you and understand the importance of the quest you are on. Seek out the hidden tombs of the Three Sages. There, you will learn to perceive the mysteries of the force just like how the Zeffo did before us. In the droid showing this message, you will find everything you need in order to succeed on your mission. From here, go to the planet, Zeffo. There you will find peace in the eye of the storm. Good luck, Jedi. And may the force be with you."
The hologram shut off, leaving just the three of us alone in the room again. Cal and I were both so...shooketh...at the moment. Is that a word? I don't care, did you hear what that guy just said!?
"A list of force-sensitives? So, there are others!" I exclaimed. Cal was still too speechless to say anything. He looked down at BD-1, who was back to his normal self again.
"I guess you were the someone we were supposed to meet. You know...I've been alone for a long time...I wasn't living a life meant for a Jedi, or a droid...The thought of making not one but two friends seemed impossible to me a few days ago...But here we are..." Cal said, looking at me and BD with a smile. I smiled back and felt my heart soar hearing him say that. I felt the same way.
"I was thinking the same thing. BD-1, why don't you come visit the rest of our crew on our ship. Would you like that?" I asked the droid, picking him up in my arms. He beeped a sound of approval and leaned into me for a hug. I happily returned it.
"My goodness, you're cute! Okay, give Cal a hug now!"
He jumped from me to Cal and he laughed as he hugged the droid.
"Let's get back to the ship and tell Cere and Greez what we found. My mind's freaking blown."
"Mine too," I said as we climbed back out of the temple. All that information we just learned was so amazing. We weren't the only ones left...Which meant there was a chance! As long as there's a chance, we can do anything we set our minds to!
"Shit..."
I heard Cal curse under his breath, and I snapped out of my daydreaming to ask him why he said that. He pointed ahead and I followed his finger to see another one of those huge lizards in our way. Of course we had to go that way to get back to the ship. We would have to fight it this time. We both ignited our lightsabers and moved towards the lizard slowly. As soon as we got close enough, we hit the lizard with an overhead swing. It screeched out and then swung its entire body our way. I didn't know he would use his tongue as a weapon, and I was hit by it when he swung himself in our direction. I flew a few feet away and rolled on the ground with a groan.
"Luna, you okay!?" Cal yelled. I quickly got up and dusted myself off.
"Yeah, I'm good! Just didn't expect him to hit me with his tongue!"
Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that much. The main damage I got was the mud to my pants. That's gonna turn into a damn stain! Cal slowed the lizard down with the force and hit it several times before rolling away. The lizard swiped at him and then lunged forward to bite him. Again, Cal rolled out of the way just in time.
Here I go again. I ran at the lizard and it slung its tongue at me once more. This time I slowed down the tongue as it exited the monster's mouth. If he wants to use his tongue as a weapon, I'll take it away. I cut off the lizard's tongue with my lightsaber and it fell to the ground, dead. Huh, that worked out nicely. BD scanned the monster and told us it was called an oggdo. I put away my lightsaber and wiped my pants again. I hope Greez has a washer and dryer on the ship.
"You sure you're okay?" Cal asked me, putting his lightsaber away as well. I nodded speedily and smiled.
"Yeah! It just knocked the wind out of me. I'm just glad the tongue wasn't slimy!"
He slowly smiled and dug into his pocket before taking out a small towel. He held the towel out to me and I took it gratefully.
"Thanks."
I wiped and dabbed the mud on my pants and was able to get most of it off. I still need to wash it when I get back on the ship though. We continued our journey back to the ship and came across a few points of interest. One of them was a wall of fossils that might have shown what used to live on this planet. There was no telling how old it was. Past that was an area with a door in the back of it. The walls of the room had similar drawings from the Zeffo that we saw in the vault, only these drawings were red. BD-1 stopped again, and we were shown another hologram of master Eno Cordova.
"My friend, it appears the Zeffo had some interest in Dathomir. Dathomir is a planet that is so...dark. It's interesting to see that the Zeffo, a peaceful civilization, would have any fascination with this place..."
The hologram ended with master Cordova staring at the drawing on the wall. It sort of looked like a tree with rose thorns but I couldn't tell for sure. I found this all so interesting. Cal looked like he was interested as well.
"Have you ever been there?" I asked him. It was possible his master took him there when he was training to be a padawan. My master took me to Felucia all the time.
"Nope. I've only been to a few planets. I'm actually excited about going to these new worlds, to be honest."
"Me too! Dathomir sounds dangerous though," I commented as we went through the door past the Zeffo drawings. The door led back to a specific area that we had already been to so we were much closer to the ship now.
"Yeah, but if we stick together we should be okay. Having BD with us helps too," he said, glancing at the droid on his shoulder. It really does. Those healing stims are amazing! It wasn't long before we were back at the Mantis again. We just had to take another route that required wall running, which we knew how to do now. Cere was standing in front of the ship with a look of expectation on her face.
"Ah, you're back!"
"You knew BD-1 was the someone we were supposed to meet, didn't you?" Cal said to her with a smirk. She waved us inside the ship and we all entered it. The air conditioning was awesome compared to the humid and warm weather of Bogano. Greez was waiting inside and cleaning the common area of the ship.
"BD-1, this is Greez. Hey Greez!" Cal greeted him. BD-1 ran up to Greez to greet him as well but was quickly rejected. Greez's eyes went big when he saw the droid and he shooed him away when BD got on the couch.
"What is that!? Hey! What are you doing!? Get off my sofa! Get off! Shoo! Shoo!"
I giggled to myself watching the whole scene play out. He was making such a big deal out of nothing. This ship was like his baby basically. Cal started to get annoyed as BD ran back to him.
"That is BD-1. He's with us," Cal told him.
"I don't care who he's with! Do you know how hard it is to get oil stains out of potolli-weave fabric!?"
Potolli what now?
"Not really…" Cal muttered, walking to the stairs near the kitchen and sitting down. I sat down next to him and BD hopped on my lap. He's almost like a puppy if you think about it. I petted the antennas on the top of his head and he laid his head down on my knee. Yep, just like a puppy.
"Oh, calm down, Greez. Tell us what you two found out in the vault," Cere said. Her eyes showed a light of hopefulness. I looked to Cal to explain and he nodded before explaining everything master Cordova had told us.
"When we got to the vault, BD-1 showed us a hologram and the hologram showed us another Jedi. The Jedi called himself Eno Cordova. He explained to us that the vault was built by an ancient civilization called the Zeffo. He said he hid something inside it after studying the Zeffo and their history."
Cere perked up at the name of the Jedi and stepped towards us.
"What did he hide inside?"
Cal looked at me and I realized he wanted me to finish explaining.
"Oh! He hid a holocron from the Archives. It contains a list of force-sensitive people. Most of them are children."
At this point, Cere was practically jumping up and down. But you know, in her own way. She didn't show a lot of outward emotion other than determination and mild excitement. In fact, this was the happiest I've seen her since I've joined the group.
"The next generation of Jedi! I knew it was going to be something like this! Cordova, you old fool," she chuckled, shaking her head at the ceiling. It sounded like she knew of him. She saw the look we were giving her and apologized.
"Sorry, I was an apprentice of his! A long time ago."
"Sure was," Greez muttered under his breath. Cere looked daggers at him. He put his hands up in retreat.
"AS I WAS SAYING, I used to train under him when I was a Padawan. He was a loner though and often went on his own little research trips. On one of those trips, he found this place. That little droid and I are probably the only ones that know about Bogano. And now all of you know about it too."
I glanced over at Greez and he looked extremely confused. He had that look a lot I've noticed.
"You lost me for a second there. What is a holo...What was it again?"
"A holocron," I said with a titter.
"It's a device that stores information that only Jedi have access to. I have one here somewhere! Hold on," Cere told us. She quickly walked into her room and you could hear that she was rummaging through her stuff. That left me, BD, Cal, and Greez in the room. I looked at the Latero male and remembered the mud I had gotten on myself.
"Hey, Greez? Do you have a washer and dryer on the ship? Or at least a washer?"
He nodded and looked down at my clothes.
"Yeah, I do. What in the world happened to you, kid? Cal, did you push her into a mud puddle or something?"
Cal's face turned into a scowl and he stood up from the steps of the stairs.
"Of course not!"
"We were attacked by this lizard monster and he knocked me down into the mud," I laughed, standing up from the small staircase as well.
"Oh...Well, there's a washer downstairs across from the engine room. There should also be some detergent down there but if there's not, there's extra in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. I thanked him as Cere came back with a holocron in her hand. Holocrons were usually a small cube or pyramid-shaped box that you had to use the force to open.
"Use the force," Cere said. See? Told ya. Cal took the holocron and focused the force into the cube before it opened and showed a hologram to us. A master I immediately recognized showed up.
"This is master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen."
The holocron closed back up and fell back into Cal's hand. Well, that was depressing. I can only imagine what other Jedi were thinking when they got that message that day. If they were still alive by then...
"With that list of force-sensitives, we can rebuild the Jedi Order again and finally defeat the Empire. It will take time, but I know if we can find them, we can train them properly and expand our numbers. That's why finding you two was so important to me. I can't do this alone," Cere told us. I smiled and Cal looked back down at the holocron.
"Alright, good! Let's go get it!" Greez yelled, starting to make his way to the cockpit. I stopped him before he got there.
"It's not that easy...Cordova hid the holocron in the vault, but he made another test in order to get it. We have to follow the same path that he took when he was studying the Zeffo. The good thing, though, is that BD will act sort of like a map to help us get wherever we need to go."
"Alright, then, lead the way! I'm just the pilot," he replied. Cal placed the holocron Cere gave him on the counter and told him that we had two options, Zeffo and Dathomir. Personally, I'd rather go to Zeffo first. It sounded safer than Dathomir did.
"Well, let's pick a place because I was thinking of making some food," Greez said in response. My emerald eyes lit up at the sound of that. Food!? We literally haven't eaten all day! We had breakfast but that was a few hours ago.
"I like that idea!" I yelled, raising my hand.
"Wait, before we do anything, I have to ask," Cal said as he turned to Cere, "why are you no longer a Jedi?"
I wonder if that's been bugging him all day.
Cere sighed and crossed her arms.
"I had an experience that changed my perspective...So I cut myself off from the force. I still want to rebuild the Jedi Order even though I'm not a Jedi anymore. It's the best chance we have at beating the Empire. What do you believe?" She answered. He thought for a moment before responding.
"I know I can't keep hiding from the Empire, especially after they know I'm a Jedi. I don't really have a choice but to help."
"Cal, as long as you're alive you will always have a choice. You too, Luna," she said, looking at me. I nodded and walked over to them.
"I choose to help you, Cere," I said with a bright smile. I didn't even have to think about it. I haven't felt this way in a long time, so I knew I had to stay. Cal better stay too!
"Me too. We're in," Cal said with a matching smile. Cere looked relieved after we told her that and Greez smirked.
"Dathomir or Zeffo? Your choice, kids."
I looked at Cal and I could tell we were thinking the same thing.
"Zeffo," we both said in unison. Greez gave us a thumbs up and made his way to the cockpit. In no time, we were up in the air and off Bogano. We'll be back eventually. I watched the planet disappear from the window as we zipped into hyperspace. I stared out the window for a few seconds until I felt a poke on my shoulder. I snapped out of my daze and Cal was standing there with a smile.
"You wanted to eat something right? Greez is cooking up his famous steaks," he told me with a chuckle. I turned my head to the kitchen and Greez was firing up the grill.
"Oh, yay! Can't wait to try it! Let me get my clothes in the washer real quick and I'll be right back."
I walked to my room and quickly changed out of my clothes. They were...icky, to say the least. Not only were they covered in mud, but they also had blood, sweat, and tears on them. I'm kidding, but I was pretty sweaty when we were out there. How lady-like of you, Luna...
"Cal probably thinks you're gross..." I sighed to myself in embarrassment. I took off everything and took a shower before changing into some new clothes. The hot water from the shower was awesome but being clean was the best. I was the type of person to usually wear something comfy, so I first changed into a normal white t-shirt. I then put on a matching pair of comfy and sporty shorts that I always slept in. For shoes, I had another pair other than my boots that I could wear. They also had this gel foam that was revolutionary. It cost me a half month's pay to get them, but it was totally worth it. Taking my hand, I brushed it through my hair to straighten out the loose braid I had put it in when I woke up this morning.
I was now completely relaxed.
I tossed my lightsaber on my bed before going back into the kitchen and common room. Cal was heading to his room at the same time and we almost bumped into each other.
"Oh, sorry!" I yelped. I was able to stop myself before I hit him in the chest with my face. He chuckled and then his cheeks suddenly went a crimson red for some reason.
"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked him. He didn't say anything for a moment before shaking his head furiously.
"N-Nothing! Y-You look nice is all!" He laughed, talking about the new clothes I was wearing. I looked down at myself and then back at him with a grin.
"Really? Thanks, Cal! You're too sweet!"
He shrugged his shoulders like every single boy in the universe would.
"Hey, well, you know."
He then glanced at his room and I could tell the gears in his head were moving towards an idea. I just didn't know what idea that was.
"But you know...you would look perfect if you were wearing..."
He went into his room and I stood there with a confused look on my face. He came back out and held up a bright, hot pink poncho. The same poncho we found in one of the chests on Bogano. My heart sank and my blood ran cold.
"...A poncho!" He screamed in excitement. I slowly shook my head and took a step back.
"Over my dead body!"
He took a step forward.
"Luna, you promised BD-1 and I that you would wear it as soon as we got back on the ship!" He yelled. I stopped and cursed under my breath.
"I...did say that, didn't I..."
He nodded, his grin growing. He held out the poncho again and I snatched it with a huff. I glared at the glorified raincoat and slipped it over my head. Cal was on the verge of laughing out loud and stood there with my shoulders drooping.
"Well?"
"Not bad!" He commented. I looked at myself in the mirror and hummed at my reflection. Cal stood next to me with his arms crossed.
"You know...other than the hideous color...it's not that bad."
"So, you'll wear one with me whenever we get to Zeffo and Dathomir?" He asked, his face lighting up.
"Nope!" I said with a smile, taking off the poncho and handing it back to him. I walked over to my dirty clothes and took them down to the engine room where the washer and dryer was. Cal followed behind me.
"It was worth a try..."
"Yeah, but at least I didn't hate it," I told him, trying to cheer him up.
"That's true."
I put the clothes in the washer and turned it on after putting the detergent in the soap slot. I turned back around and could already smell Greez's cooking from upstairs. I was beginning to get hungry.
"That smells good! I'm excited about trying it. Did Greez tell you how long it would take us to get to Zeffo?" I asked Cal as we headed back upstairs.
"I think he said a couple of days," he answered. Hmm...What could we do for a couple of days to kill the time? I wasn't sure, but I was still excited because I was with people that I liked. And they liked me too! I've needed something like this for a long time and now that I have it, I don't ever want it to change.
Zeffo here we come!
And that's the end of the chapter! Another long one! It would've been posted sooner but this week was final's week, so I was busy. That nightmare is over though. The next chapter might just be a fun chapter of them on their way to Zeffo on the Mantis and then maybe the start of Zeffo. We'll see. I hope you guys are liking the story so far! Please review and follow the story! It would make my day awesome! Till the next chapter!