Just as quickly as they entered, Aang, Ezra, and Mythus reappeared outside the gateway at the temple wall, fully conscious; but they had no memory of what they saw inside.
They all stood up; and once they locked eyes, Mythus pulled his blaster. Ezra and Aang immediately reacted by igniting their lightsabers. "I suggest you think this through very carefully." Ezra said smugly.
Then an AT-DP rounded to their position; Mythus caught it in his eye, then smirked in response. "You're outgunned."
"But not overpowered." Ezra quipped, then using the Force to push Mythus away, knocking him unconscious on a rock. The AT-DP shot at the two. Ezra blocked the shots while Aang threw his lightsaber at the machine, using the Force to guide it along and cut through its legs, effectively collapsing the vehicle.
"Eh, maybe we're a little overpowered." Aang joked, catching his lightsaber.
"Over there!" A stormtrooper shouted from the distance, pointing towards the Jedi.
"Oh boy! You ready?" Aang asked, poising.
"Yup. Let's go!" Ezra spun his lightsaber around.
A band of stormtroopers rounded the edge of the temple and began their assault, firing at Aang and Ezra with everything they had; Bando followed behind the troopers.
Bando made one miscalculation by underestimating Ezra's rage; revealing himself to the Lothalian so soon after the atrocity he committed to the Lothal people.
With reckless abandon, Ezra ran towards Bando, lightsaber raised to strike down violently. It didn't even register to Ezra that he seemed to cross the field in a flash; like he'd subconsciously used a Force speed power. He'd bulldozed through Bando and was only able to swing his lightsaber too late.
Ezra quickly observed his surroundings. 'What just happened?' He thought to himself. He saw he'd pushed right through the crowd of troopers; but it happened so quickly, he didn't realize he'd done what he did.
"Jedi! Blast him!" An officer spotted Ezra and shouted.
"Aw crud!" Ezra exclaimed, poising and sharpening his senses; he'd temporarily forgotten about Bando as he found himself almost completely surrounded.
Just a split second before the armada could blow Ezra to oblivion, a shot came from beyond the plains and exploded one of the AT-DPs.
"What was that?!" "What's going on?" The commotion rose among the Imperials.
More Imperial vehicles had appeared around the edges outside the dug hole around the temple. Only these were not up to Imperial regulation; they were painted.
"What is this?" A nearby officer asked.
"Deserters." Bando replied. He pointed up towards the deserters' vehicles and shouted, "Show them no mercy!"
Bando's voice snapped Ezra back. "No!" Ezra shouted, immediately turning and charging towards Bando.
Bando leaned back, dodging Ezra's diagonal swing; he maneuvered himself out of the way and activated his blood-red lightsaber to smack away Ezra's next swing-around strike. He stanced himself, both hands gripping the hilt, holding the saber sideways at hip level.
"I've defeated several Inquisitors before; I will defeat you." Ezra said, the rage evident in his voice.
"EZRA NO!" Aang could sense the dark side beginning to broil very quickly in Ezra; he had to intervene before Ezra crossed a line. But he had to deal with his surroundings; the squad of stormtroopers had blasters on him, and Mythus had regained consciousness.
"Drop your weapons, Jedi!" Mythus commanded.
Aang sensed his surroundings and made his calculations. He spun himself around like a tornado, striking the ground with his lightsabers, creating a dust cloud. He used the Force to push the dust cloud towards the stormtroopers, clouding their vision; Mythus took that moment to shoot in Aang's direction. Aang deflected the shots directly back at Mythus's blaster, knocking it out of his hands.
With Mythus temporarily disarmed and the stormtroopers momentarily blinded, Aang unignited his lightsabers and took the opportunity and directly surrounded himself with said stormtroopers. Without the glow of the sabers, he was invisible to the troops.
"Where is he? Where'd he go?" The troopers asked.
In the middle of the group, Aang reignited and spun around, cutting down surrounding troopers. He slid sideways both ways, slicing the Imperial blasters in half; he lifted all four of his arms, Forcing several stormtroopers into the air, then slamming them onto the ground. He lifted them up again just enough to push them into the nearest wall. Aang had made quick work of the squad.
He then turned to face Mythus, who'd picked his blaster back up and was pointing it at Aang; Aang just gave Mythus a particular stare, which Mythus interpreted as something among the lines of 'Think it through' or 'You really want to do that?' Not that it'd matter; Aang had to retreat to help Ezra. Someone else would deal with Mythus.
Up on the edge of the outside of the dug crater, Sabine stood by 0946. Deserters came up and surrounded the area, each holding stolen rocket launchers and pointing down into the pit, taking aim at the loyal Imperials. In sync, Sabine and 0946 shouted, "FIRE!"
Down rained the rockets, explosions smoking up the pit. Following suit, the deserted AT-DPs made their targets and showed no mercy. Aang and Ezra were the only friendlies down there; and everyone knew they were clever enough to avoid the fire, so they didn't feel any need for worry.
"Captain!" Mythus screamed over the deafening explosions, barely dodging the lasers. "We need to call for backup, now!"
The Imperial captain was ducked behind some debris, covering his ears. Mythus grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Captain! Call for backup! The Jedi have destroyed most of our force already!"
The captain was overwhelmed. He could hardly move, or even hear. There was just a ringing and muffled sounds; all he could see was Mythus's frustrated face; all he could feel was constant vibrations from surrounding explosions and his shaken shoulders.
Mythus couldn't believe the cowardice this Imperial "captain" was showing. He just shoved him to the ground and took his comlink, the captain not even reacting, and called the capitol base. "Rebel forces have ambushed us at the Jedi temple site on Lothal! Most of our forces are down; requesting immediate backup!" Then he shut it off and went for cover to strategize.
He looked over at Bando and saw him fending off Ezra and Aang at the same time. It seemed as though the three of them were unaffected by the hellfire raining down. Mythus was intrigued when he noticed that the Jedi themselves didn't even seem to mind that their own friends could very well kill them. The Bridger child especially seemed extremely focused on Bando; Mythus saw a hint of something in Ezra's eyes he didn't think he'd see in a Jedi.
Surrounded by flames, Aang and Ezra were battling it out with Bando; the battle was beginning to overwhelm Ezra, fueling his determination. Aang sensed it, but it was not in a good way; Ezra seemed to be growing more aggressive and angry.
Bando realized Aang was somewhat distracted by something, and took his opportunity. He scooted himself back, jumped and flipped in the air, kicking Aang on the side of his head, in the jaw, and knocking him nearly unconscious.
Not distracting himself too long, Bando redirected his attention back to Ezra, locking blades with him. "You can feel it, can't you? Embrace the pull."
Ezra growled at him, shouted, then pushed Bando away.
Bando didn't reengage, but studied Ezra for a moment. "You've already begun." Bando noted. Ezra didn't respond to his words like a regular Jedi would. He sensed the dark side swirling in Ezra. 'Could this be the key?' Bando thought. 'But how?' He thought before the answer became evident one second later.
He scooted back again, swinging his lightsaber down to strike a fatal blow to Aang. Then he suddenly felt himself being held in place, unable to move. He was slowly turned around, facing Ezra, who was holding one hand out, indicating use of the Force. He approached Bando as Bando was being pulled towards him. They met halfway; Ezra Forced Bando onto his knees, making their eyes meet. With his other hand, Ezra raised his lightsaber slowly. "For Lothal." Ezra said with a low tone, which couldn't be heard over the commencing battle around him; although subconsciously, Ezra didn't say it for Bando to hear.
Bando felt the dark side growing stronger within Ezra. 'Just one more step.' He thought to himself, 'My life is a worthy sacrifice to crumble the rebellion from within.' Under the helmet, he smiled wide and closed his eyes as fate was finally turning in the Empire's favor.
The overwhelming sense of power and urge of the dark side didn't warn Ezra of the incoming blaster bolt. Ezra lost his hold on Bando and stumbled back as he was hit in the arm that was holding his lightsaber.
Bando found Mythus spectating their fight, and now he'd intervened; Mythus was holding his blaster up towards Ezra. He couldn't really be upset at Mythus for not knowing what was about to happen had he not intervened, but a win was a win. Bando used Ezra's move and held Ezra in place; he reignited his lightsaber and mirrored the situation. He raised his lightsaber and said to Ezra, loud enough to hear, "Undisciplined."
'Huh?'
As Bando was about to strike Ezra down, he felt the back of his helmet suddenly compromised.
In a flash, Aang had recovered; he saw Bando about to kill Ezra and used all the speed he could muster to save him. He figured there was a reason Bando always had the helmet on, so he made his move to defeat Bando without killing him. Aang cut through the helmet just deep enough that the blade only barely singed the skin on Bando's head.
The functions within Bando's helmet began malfunctioning one-by-one. He dropped his lightsaber and began clutching at his helmet as breathing became harder to do.
Mythus knew this was no good. If they lost Bando, they'd stand no chance against the rebellion and the band of deserters. He signalled the last of his AT-ATs over and ordered them to fire on Aang and Ezra.
The reaction was swift. Aang tackled Ezra and dragged him off. Something had taken root in Ezra and was beginning to grow dangerously, and he didn't want to give it opportunity to grow any more. Mythus scurried over to Bando and looked over his slowly-going body. 'You're supposed to be more powerful than that.' He thought.
As he grabbed Bando's arm to drag him across the battlefield to escape on a ship, something began eminating from Bando's head. Some sort of mist escaped from the cut that Aang gave him on the back of his head. When Mythus noticed, he froze still. ". . . no!" He exclaimed. When the essence fully evaporated from Bando's head, Mythus dragged Bando on board a ship to escape.
The mist seemed to form a body; almost humanoid in shape, but not quite. It caught the attention of many, suddenly halting the battle. It didn't move, expand, or shrink; it remained in place, rather ominously. Watchers who weren't one with the Force called themselves crazy; they could've sworn they suddenly saw a face in the mist before it dissipated all of a sudden.
When everyone came to their senses, everyone realized that only the Imperials were down in the pit with the temple, and the rebellion had the high ground. Aang stood front and center, staring them down. "Your leadership has fled!" He announced with a stern, authorative voice, "Surrender now! Or die, standing with the Empire that has abandoned you!"
Some stormtroopers looked at each other and considered their options, and others noticed Bando and Mythus were indeed gone. The cowardly captain from earlier had already dropped his weapon; others looked to their captain and followed suit. In a moment, all of them had surrendered. Most of them ended up being glad just to get out from Bando's reach. Everyone was still recovering from what Bando had done to the capitol city citizens, and many were glad for the opportunity to clean their hands of such a massacre.
Aang smiled contently, his first mission with the rebellion became an ultimate success. But there was a seed of darkness that has been planeted, and he feared the fruits would show very soon. He didn't know what to fear more: what evil would come of it, or where (or whom) this evil would come from. Either way, he needed to stay sharp.
Mythus was nearing the capitol city and the Imperial headquarters, but he saw something he indeed did not like at all. The dome was flying. He immediately contacted the base. "This is Mythus Pzallon with Bando Roscoe. Halt the evacuation and let us board."
"My deepest regards. I'm afraid that due to your failure, we've been commanded to abandon this planet and you along with it."
"Whose order?!"
"The Emperor's, sir."
Mythus felt a chill go down his spine. 'A command from that high up?' He thought. 'That could only mean one thing.' He needed to get off Lothal and fast.