Perhaps bitting Alice's hand was a mistake, Orlen thought as he soared through the air. In his defense, when he regained consciousness all he saw was a giant glowing hand hovering in front of him. Between that and his disorientation from what he assumed was being sealed, he understandably lashed out and bit the hand.
Orlen had always enjoyed flying. However, that enjoyment also came from the fact he was in complete control of whatever ship he was flying. His flight through the air was anything but controlled.
It was hard to tell since he was tumbling through the sky, but he must have flown for miles already.
By the Force, how strong was that woman?
Judging by his trajectory, he would crash into that small lake ahead of him. A small part of him wondered if Alice purposefully aimed there or if it was just dumb luck.
Orlen did his best to curl up in a small ball. He had trouble since he was not used to having four legs and a foot-long body. Seeing the water rushing towards him, Orlen closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact.
The small fox impacted the water and skipped along its surface until it collided with the rocky shore.
Orlen took a moment to lie on the rocks before trying to get to his feet. Placing his four legs under him, he tried to stand up and instinctively lifted his front paws off the ground to stand up on his hind legs, only to fall backward onto his back.
After several more attempts, he stood up and examined his body. Alice had predicted correctly; Angel Halo had sealed him into a fox.
A tide of questions started to flood into his mind. How long would he be trapped like this? How could that strange sword casually break the conservation of matter? If he returned to his normal form, would he be naked or would he have his clothes and equipment on him?
Now that he fell down this rabbit hole of questions, he wondered how Alice or Luka had been able to heal him earlier. Was it some unknown Force technique or something else? He heard that the Night Sisters of Dathomir used the Force in a strange way, calling it Magick. Maybe this was something similar.
Orlen forced himself to ignore these questions as he was starting to panic. He needed to figure out a way to get himself unsealed. Alice said someone would have to give him energy. What did that even mean? He doubted humans would be able to do it, which meant he would have to find help from a monster since they seemed to have strange abilities.
Based on his experiences with monsters so far, if one of them helped unseal him, he probably wouldn't be in a position to resist an attack if they had ulterior motives. He would be kriffed, both literally and figuratively.
He recalled that Alice also said something about gathering energy himself, maybe meditation would work?
Deciding it was in his best interest to try, Orlen sat back down and fell over when he tried to sit cross-legged out of habit. Hopefully, this will work because he did not want to have to get used to moving around in this form.
After a few moments, Orlen was sitting on his hind legs closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to do this anyway and had been putting it off. His mind began to quiet as he focused on his breathing, allowing each inhalation and exhalation to ground Orlen in the present moment.
Once again, he opened himself up to the Force and let it flow through him. This time he slowed himself down. Between being washed away by the river and getting thrown miles in the air by Alice, he was reasonably sure he was far from the inquisitor and the townsfolk, assuming they decided to keep chasing after him.
Remembering what happened with the rock last time he did this, doubt and fear wormed its way into his mind. What if he failed again? Using the Force was his only chance at fighting back against the inquisitor and if he failed, he would be helpless.
Helpless like at the temple.
No, I can not think like that. Otherwise, I will always be that helpless and scared boy.
With renewed determination, Orlen focused on the sensation of the earth beneath him, the life that thrummed through the trees, the gentle caress of the breeze on his skin.
Slowly, he felt it—a soft, gentle current brushing against his consciousness. He cautiously opened himself to the flow of energy. That soft gentle current started to grow in strength, becoming a stream, then a river until it grew into a torrent, crashing into him like a water exploding from a broken dam.
He let himself sink into that torrent of energy as it filled his body, allowing it to envelop him in a warm embrace.
For the first time in years, he felt himself at peace. Having a fully restored connection to the Force was like being reunited with an old friend. It felt like he could see clearly after years of being blind.
Opening his eyes again, Orlen saw that it was already starting to get dark. He was still in a seated position, but now he was also hovering about a foot above the ground as Jedi sometimes did when they were in a deep meditation.
It was then that Orlen realized that he was in his normal body again. In his excitement, he let his concentration slip and fell the short distance back to the ground.
Ignoring the ache from his arse hitting the rocks, Orlen quickly examined himself and let out a sigh of relief. He was back to normal, and it looked like his clothes and equipment were still with him.
It seems that gathering Force energy around me was enough to unseal me. That must have been what Alice was talking about.
His hand quickly reached down to his belt, where he felt his old kyber crystal. It was still there, safely hidden between the two layers of leather. That crystal had always been a source of comfort for Orlen.
Glancing down, he saw the short sword he borrowed from Luka on the ground. He must have still been holding it when he got sealed and ended up taking it with him. Picking it up, he took a moment to examine it better. While primitive, it was finely made, and with the power cell in his blaster almost out of energy and having lost his vibro-knife this sword would have to do.
Of course, any real Jedi worth their spice would tell him that he did not need a physical weapon as the Force was a Jedi's true weapon. It would take him a while to be able to skillfully use the Force in combat again so it would be a good idea to have a backup. Though he did not have a scabbard for it, so it was going to be a pain to carry it around until he found something suitable to hold it.
Deciding it was probably a good idea to see what he was capable of, Orlen started testing various Force techniques he was taught years ago at the Jedi Temple.
Gathering Force energy in his legs, Orlen launched himself into the air, easily triple the height he could do before. He tried various other acrobatic skills and felt they were coming back to him fast. Good, Ataru was the lightsaber form he was best at using and it heavily relied on the Force empowering his movement.
Having just finished a series of backflips, Orlen looked at a fallen tree. Thrusting his hand out, he launched a wave of Force energy and was disappointed with the results. Rather than sending the fallen tree flying, the Force Push only shook the tree, throwing loose pieces of bark and a few unlucky insects off it. If he was to use it on a human-sized opponent, it would merely stagger them.
Trying out other Force techniques led to further disappointment. Using Force Pull on a branch was barely enough to have it land at his feet, let alone ripping a blaster from someone's hands.
After an hour of continued practice, Orlen felt himself coming under the effects of Force fatigue and could feel his mind growing sluggish and his muscles aching. Deciding it was a good idea to stop before his symptoms got worse, Orlen began letting go of the Force. Just before he did though, he sensed something at the edge of his senses.
It was heading towards him and at high speed. Shortly after, he heard a girl letting out a long scream.
Without thinking, Orlen moved like a Huttball goalkeeper to catch the girl. As he caught her, the force of the impact sent them both crashing into the ground. Orlen did his best to absorb the brunt of the impact.
Orlen let out a pained groan as he lay on the ground, he was becoming famiarlized with being in pain on the ground these last few days. "Are you okay?" He asked.
The girl he caught lay there momentarily before realizing she was wrapped in Orlen's arms. With a burst of strength, she broke from his grasp and did a backflip to get further away from him, allowing them both to get a good look at each other.
She was maybe five feet tall and wore a pink sleeveless robe with athletic shorts. More importantly, though, poking from her silver hair at the top of her head were two fox ears like Orlen's and she had two tails sticking out from behind her back.
Was this perhaps, another Kitsune? That is what Alice said his species was.
Orlen mentally prepared himself for a fight, he had seen how aggressive other monsters were when it came to males, what would this one do when confronted with a male of her own species?
He would rather not fight though, the girl looked like she was only in her mid-teens and Orlen had a sneaking suspicion that she was the girl that helped him the other night.
Meanwhile, the girl started circling him, examining him from all angles with an excited and curious gleam in her eyes. Once done, she smiled up at him. "You want to be my mate?" She asked eagerly.
"Absolutely not," Orlen said without hesitation, immediately turning her down. She looked almost ten years younger than him, far too young.
Her face immediately fell. "Wha-why not?" she said with a look of disappointment in her eyes.
"Because you're too young," Orlen explained. "And you don't even know me. And I don't plan on staying here very long." He still had to find his way off this planet and get back to the rebellion, it would be best to avoid any emotional entanglements.
"Not staying here very long? Where are you going?" The girl asked. "You should come with me to Yamatai Village instead. It's probably a much better place than wherever you're probably going. You should trust your Sempai on this."
Orlen had a feeling he was going to be stuck with this girl for a while. They were Force knows how far away from any sort of civilization and it would be irresponsible of him to leave a teenager alone in the wilderness.
"How about we go back to my camp and continue this talk there? It's getting late and chilly out." Orlen said as he motioned his head to the side towards where his belongings were. "I'll get a fire going."
"That's… probably a good idea." The girl agreed and followed him to the lakeshore.
As Orlen was getting the fire going, he looked over at the girl. "So, what's your name? I'm Orlen." He said, introducing himself.
"Oh no, I forgot to give proper introductions! You are supposed to greet a lesser-tailed kitsune in a certain way when you meet them for the first time." The girl realized as she brought her hands up to the sides of her head. "Lady Tamamo would be so disappointed in me for being so rude." The kitsune turned to face him directly and bent forward in a bow. "Greetings, tis a pleasure to meet you young fox. I am the two-tailed kitsune named Kitsu, but you can call me Sempai."
Young fox? Orlen thought to himself. He was probably almost ten years older than the recently introduced Kitsu. At least based on his own growth.
Also, lesser-tailed? Did the number of tails determine the hierarchy for their species? Orlen remembered seeing four tails on his mother's corpse. How many tails did kitsunes grow? How did they grow more?
Orlen instead chose to ask a different question. "So, I've been meaning to ask. How did you get here Kitsu?"
"Oh, I ran into Lady Alice and told her I was looking for you. She then threw me here."
"She threw you too huh? That woman certainly has good aim" Could she sense him this far away or was she just lucky? Orlen mentally noted that Alice was probably not someone he would want to antagonize. "And what was your plan after you found me?"
"I was going to mate with you and then take you back to Yamatai Village and have lots of cute kids and make all the other Kitsunes jealous." The girl smugly said.
"So, what was your plan going to be if I didn't want to go with you?" Orlen said, pointing out one of the many flaws he saw in her plan.
"I… didn't think that far ahead," Kitsu muttered in a resigned tone as she poked her index fingers together.
Orlen was about to scold her for her short-sightedness before remembering that he was not much better as Orlen recalled when he and his fellow younglings joined a circus in an attempt to infiltrate a pirate base to rescue Ahsoka. Those were good times, they almost pulled it off too before the ship crashed and they all got captured.
"My turn to ask you a question!" Kitsu said eagerly, interrupting Orlen from his musing. "Where did you grow up? Is there a hidden town of male monsters somewhere in the wilderness?"
Orlen decided not to reveal too much at once about where he came from, he might end up overwhelming the poor girl with information. Better to tell her a little bit at a time. "I grew up in a temple far from here. As far as I know, there was no one else like me there." "Does the name Coruscant mean anything to you?"
Kitsu's face scrunched up in thought. "Coruscant? No, it doesn't. Is that a town or city near where you grew up?"
Orlen chuckled to himself. "You could certainly call it a city, though probably not the way you picture it." He certainly would like to see the look on her face if she found out the city covered an entire planet. People from primitive worlds tended to go blank when they first saw the planet as they had no way to comprehend the scale of an Ecumenopolis.
The conversation died down when his stomach growled. He had been working pretty hard today and was only now realizing how hungry he was.
Kitsu's ears also perked up at the sound. "You're hungry too? Don't worry, your Sempai will handle this." She produced a dagger similar to the one Orlen saw the other night, confirming his earlier suspicions. "I'll quickly go hunt something for us. Just you wait, you will fall in love with my cooking."
Before Orlen could say anything, Kitsu excitedly darted into the woods. He could faintly hear her voice trailing off. "Lady Tamamo always said the way to a man's heart is through food or his penis."
"Wait, don't run off into the woods like that!" Orlen yelled, knowing it was too late. That girl certainly moved fast, Orlen thought as he facepalmed.
As he built the fire to be ready in case Kitsu was successful at hunting something, Orlen used the Force to keep track of the girl. She was close to the edge of his senses and could only sense a bit of her emotions. Right now, she was feeling excited and eager. Which made sense, she was obviously trying to show off to him.
After ten minutes, he could sense she was growing frustrated. She was probably having trouble. A few minutes later, he suddenly felt confusion, quickly changing to panic, then terror.
"Blast it", Orlen said as he jumped to his feet and grabbed Luka's sword before running into the woods toward where he sensed Kitsu. Using Force Sight, he had no issues navigating the woods in the darkness with everything taking on a greenish tint.
As he got closer, he could hear Kitsu's voice echoing in the forest.
"Wah, not again! This can't be happening." Orlen could hear the fear and panic in her voice. "Come on, come on! Ah, noooo. Someone, please help!"
Orlen followed her voice and soon found her. If it was not for the sight of Kitsu dangling in the air, tangled up in silky threads, Orlen might have also got caught in the web. The threads were thin and nearly impossible to see. Without the Force augmenting his sight, it would have been impossible to see.
"Orlen, please help me!" Kitsu yelled as she squirmed, tangling herself up even more. "I promise I won't bite your hand!"
What did biting hands have to do with this?
"Shh, quiet Kitsu. Try to stop struggling, whatever made this probably isn't far away and might hear you." Orlen whispered to her. "I'll cut you down."
Orlen tested the strength of the silk threads with his sword. While he was able to cut through it, it took far more force than expected and if he was not careful, his sword would get hopelessly tangled up in the web as well.
For the next few minutes, he methodically cut his way through the web to release Kitsu. The poor girl trembling and on the verge of tears.
He suddenly grew alert as he sensed a hostile presence creeping up on him. The Force screamed at him to dodge. Trusting his instincts, Orlen leaped to avoid the incoming blob of webbing hurtling toward him. Unfortunately for Kitsu, the sticky mass struck her square in the face, tangling her up even further.
Orlen spun around and was confronted with a massive arachnid emerging from the woods. Its body was as large as a horse, with thick, bristling hairs covering its dark, mottled exoskeleton. Powerful, chitinous legs, each as long as a human, extended from the creature's body, moving with an eerie, fluid precision Its coloration was varying shades of green, much like everything around it due to his continued use of Force Sight. Orlen could see the glistening webbing still trailing from the creature's spinnerets, a grim reminder of the danger he had narrowly avoided.
This was a predator that would not have looked out of place throughout the galaxy if not for the woman's torso extending from the main body.
"Fufufu, looks like I caught myself two midnight snacks. It has been a while since I've had fox." The spider monster said.
The monster charged towards him, hoping to tackle him. Orlen somersaulted over the spider and swung his sword, leaving a small scratch on her back before landing behind her.
As the monster tried to turn around and face him again, Orlen lashed out and scored several hits on her legs causing the spider to stumble over.
Orlen noted that having the Force help guide his movements had improved his already considerable sword skills to an entirely new level.
The spider quickly got back on her feet again, giving Orlen no chance to take advantage of the situation, and she soon got back on her feet and glared at him. "You're going to regret that. Once I get you all wrapped up, I'm going to take my time raping you before finally drinking your organs."
She then charged at him, to which Orlen dodged with a leap to the side. As he did though, the spider smirked and threw another blob of sticky web at him. The blob impacted his sword hand and knocked it into the tree trunk behind him. The sticky web bonded to the tree, locking his hand in place. Orlen attempted to pull his hand free with no success.
The spider took the opportunity to leap toward Orlen whose eyes widened as he raised his free hand and released a Force Push. The wave of telekinetic energy hit the spider and halted her momentum, causing her to tumble and fall to the ground.
Orlen then followed up by using the Force to lift rocks from the forest floor and began pelting the spider.
"Ow! Who's doing that?" The spider demanded as she looked around, trying to find who was throwing the rocks at her. While she was distracted, Orlen launched a particularly large rock at her which caught her on the lower jaw. He winced at the audible crack as the spider's jaw was broken.
"Ah, puh... puhlease shtop. I'll leave thesh foxes 'lone... jusht shtop wif the rocks!" The spider said with difficulty as she started to flee.
Not long after the forest fell silent again except for Kitsu's whimpering and Orlen's heavy breathing.
After a few minutes of struggling, Orlen was finally able to get his hand free of the web. He let out a hiss as doing so ripped most of the hair from the back of his hand.
Now free, Orlen went over to Kitsu and resumed cutting her free. "It's alright Kitsu, she's gone now. I'll get you free in a moment." He reassured the girl.
Once free, Kitsu immediately hugged Orlen and buried her face in his chest. Orlen gave her a comforting pat on the head and let her calm down a bit.
"Let's get back to camp, Kitsu." He said.
The girl looked up at him and nodded but was slow to release the hug. Eventually, the two turned and started walking back to the lake shore. As they walked through the woods, Orlen felt his mind growing foggy. He had pushed himself too hard using the Force and knew he was starting to feel the symptoms of Force exhaustion. He was dreading the crippling soreness and blistering headache to come.