AN. I just posted my new story, To Be Determined. It's going to be long, so I haven't decided on the title yet. I will be going to more normal updates, but I've been writing for so long I have a lot I want to share, so bear with me. Also, please check out my first story, Dark Lord of the Sith!

So, for some reason I'm on, like, an Umbara kick or something. I just wrote TBD on Umbara, I have a more serious one coming up, and this one is a funny Umbara- because Umbara and funny definitely go together.

Enjoy!

Anakin and Rex walked up to the Jedi. He was a towering Besalisk male, and he radiated unfriendliness. Anakin swallowed hard and put a smile on his face.

"General Krell, it's good to meet you." Krell looked down. Anakin was by no means a small man- he was taller than the clones- but he was dwarfed by Krell.

"Skywalker. You have been requested to lead the space battle." He spoke sharply and commanded attention. Anakin crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry, General Krell. My place is here, with my men." Krell scowled.

"Skywalker, you were chosen by the Chancellor to lead the battle. I am here to take command of your clones." Anakin scowled back. He hated it when people saw his boys, his vode, as slaves, tools for the Republic.

"I-" he started, but Rex cut him off.

"It'll be alright, General. We'll be waiting when you get back." He smiled reassuringly, but he was extremely worried. Krell had the highest casualty rates in the GAR, and was infamous for not caring about clones at all. Krell glowered.

"Skywalker, it is time for you to leave. I will take the planet in your absence." Anakin sighed, looking worriedly at Rex, before brightening slightly.

"Oh, General Krell, if you'll be leading them for this battle, you should get to know my second-in-command, Rex. Captain Rex is one of the best warriors you'll ever meet, and he is a good friend. He's also the person that keeps me sane while Obi-Wan is gone, makes sure my plans go properly, and keeps us all alive. He is the most loyal man you'll ever meet." Krell looked unimpressed. Anakin's gaze darkened.

"If anything happens to him, and, oddly enough, it's a Jedi's fault, well, I might have what Obi-Wan calls 'an un-Jedi like episode." He grinned menacingly, then added cheerfully, "Well, you're in good hands, General Krell. I'll see you all soon!" Krell began sweating, and looked slightly nervous, but blustered,

"Are you threatening me, Skywalker?" Anakin shrugged.

"Depends. Are you threatened?" As he talked, noise began growing in the background. Music swelled around Anakin, an ominous- yet strangely comforting to the clones- tune. Krell looked around.

"Why do I hear boss music? Skywalker, what is this?" Anakin shrugged.

"It happens sometimes." By now, Fives was on the ground laughing, and Rex was grinning widely. Krell looked around as the music increased.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DAH DUN DUN DAH DUN DAH DAH DAH DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN.

Anakin warned him, "If anything happens to him or anyone in the 501st, I will personally hunt you down, bring my padawan back from Coruscant so SHE can also hunt you down, as she has a very strong attachment to the boys," Fives yelled in the back,

"She makes us cookies!" Anakin nodded and continued.

"And we'll bring Master Plo with us too, to make sure no one knows of your death. Deal?" Krell nervously nodded.

"Understood, Skywalker. Clone, your number?" Anakin growled slightly and raised an eyebrow. Krell sighed.

"Your name, clone." Anakin nodded, satisfied, and tossed a salute to them all.

"Be good, General Krell! Have fun, boys!" He jumped into the rising gunship, and it blasted off. Krell sighed again, and turned to the 501st.

"Captain, introduce me to the troops." he forced out. Rex nodded.

"General Skywalker already told you my name is Rex. The one who kept heckling is Fives. He's our ARC Trooper, so you'll likely work with him. The one standing in front is Dogma. He's one of our newest, and he is very rule-following. You'll probably like him. The one next to him is Tup, and he gets along with everyone, so you won't have any trouble with him. The Republic symbol belongs to Jesse, who is up for ARC status. And the vibrating one is Hardcase. Oh, and Kix is our medic; he's back in one of the tents, setting it up." Krell nodded.

"We are taking Umbara, understood?" The clones saluted.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Krell walked forward.

"Move out." Rex motioned to the troopers, and they fell into formation.

Two days later, Anakin landed his starfighter to find his troops milling around the camp. Krell was nowhere to be found, but he wasn't very concerned. He walked up to Rex.

"Rex, good to see you. Did Krell give you any trouble?" Rex smiled. Anakin had known about Krell's casualty rates, which was why he had threatened Krell.

"No, sir. Did you see the Seppie Control Ship blow up?" Anakin nodded.

"I was wondering about that. It looked like three Umbaran fighters. It was you, wasn't it?" Rex grinned.

"We convinced General Krell to let us practice with some stolen ships, and then Hardcase, Jesse, and Fives went in. Hardcase was the one who blew it up, actually." Anakin grinned.

"I'm not sure I've ever been so proud of you boys. Where's Hardcase?" Rex's grin faded slightly.

"He's in the Med Tent. His fighter got hit while he was covering their escape. He'll be fine. He's just bored, really." Anakin nodded.

"I know the feeling." he muttered, then brightened. "Do you think he would want some company? I do have a story about blowing up a Trade Federation Droid Control Ship when I was nine." Rex smiled.

"I think he would love that. Actually, I want to hear this story too. Come on." Rex led him to a tent in the back of the camp, where Hardcase lay on a cot, complaining to Kix. Kix was barely listening, only paying attention enough to make sure he wouldn't try to run off. Kix got to his feet when Anakin walked in, and raised an eyebrow.

"General? You came of your own free will? What happened?" Anakin rolled his eyes.

"Rex told me what happened. I just wanted to congratulate Hardcase." He took a seat next to Hardcase, and Rex leaned against a huge pile of heavy crates. Hardcase grinned.

"The explosion was ginormous! It was so beautiful." Kix rolled his eyes, and Anakin laughed.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control Ship?" Hardcase shook his head.

"No! When was that? It must've been a while ago." Anakin nodded.

"Yeah. Happened when I was nine." Kix stared at him.

"You blew up a Trade Federation Droid Control Ship at nine years old." Anakin smiled.

"Yep. During the Battle of Naboo." Kix shook his head.

"Any other crazy things to add?" Anakin thought for a minute.

"Uh, it was an accident." This time Rex and Hardcase stared at him too.

"You blew a Trade Federation Droid Control Ship up... on accident!?" Hardcase practically yelled. Anakin nodded sheepishly. Fives and Jesse came in.

"Why's Hardcase yelling this time? Oh, hi General! Glad you're back." Fives said. Jesse raised an eyebrow at Hardcase.

"What did he do?" Kix sighed.

"Nothing much, he just told us that he blew a Trade Federation Droid Control Ship up at nine years old. On accident." Fives whistled.

"That's pretty impressive, sir." Jesse grinned.

"How did that happen?"

"Well, it was my first time flying a starfighter, so I wasn't exactly- what?" Everyone was staring at him, mouth open. Obi-Wan chose that moment to walk in. He paused, and looked around.

"Anakin, what did you do?" He sighed. Anakin looked offended.

"Why do you automatically assume it was my fault?" Kix muttered,

"I mean, it generally is." Anakin sighed.

"I was just telling them some stories- wait, why are you here?" Obi-Wan smiled.

"I wanted to congratulate you three on your victory. And I was looking for you. I figured you would be here, for one reason or another. Did Krell give you any trouble?" They all smiled slightly at that. Trust Obi-Wan to be on top of things like always. Rex shook his head.

"No, sir. General Skywalker kept him in line." Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.

"Anakin, what did you do?" Anakin shrugged.

"I threatened to kill him if he hurt them. He stopped fighting after the music started, though." Obi-Wan sighed, then paused.

"Wait, what music?" Anakin looked strangely at him.

"You know, the boss music. It plays whenever I'm serious about something, I think. I haven't really figured out how to control it. Come to think of it, how come I've never heard yours?" Obi-Wan looked up and sighed loudly.

"Anakin, do you mean music randomly starts playing sometimes?" Anakin nodded.

"Yeah. It's happened for as long as I can remember. It's pretty dramatic. Generally happens when I'm emotional. It goes sorta like DUN DUN DUN DUN DAH DUN DUN." As he tried to explain his music, it helpfully swirled around him, and he grinned.

"See?"

DUN DUN DUN DUN DAH DUN DUN DAH DUN DAH DAH DAH DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN.

Obi-Wan looked around, and rolled his eyes.

"Anakin, how are you doing that?" Anakin shrugged.

"No idea, but I like it!" He began dancing around to the music, and Jesse and Fives joined him. Obi-Wan and Kix face-palmed at the same time, and Rex just shook his head and laughed. Obi-Wan smiled.

"So what was this about the Battle of Naboo?" They all stopped dancing so Anakin could finish his story. Before he could start, Hardcase blurted out,

"He was the one who blew the ship up!" Obi-Wan looked at Anakin.

"You what?" He finally asked. Anakin smiled.

"Don't you remember the big explosion of the ship? It turned off all the battle droids. That was me." Obi-Wan repeated,

"That was you." He stopped for a minute before exclaiming,

"Anakin, you were nine! You blew that up when you were nine?" Kix shook his head.

"Just wait. It gets worse." Jesse interjected,

"He means it gets better!" Obi-Wan looked at Rex.

"I'm almost afraid to ask." he said. Rex just laughed.

"I think that's generally how you feel when you talk to General Skywalker." Obi-Wan inclined his head, and Anakin rolled his eyes.

"Is not." Obi-Wan shook his head and turned to Hardcase.

"Well, Hardcase, what happened that made it worse?" Hardcase grinned.

"It was an accident." Obi-Wan just stared.

"You-you what?!" he finally asked. Anakin nodded sheepishly.

"Well, it was my first time flying a starfighter, so I wasn't used to the controls or anything. I actually didn't mean to take off. But I did, and, uh, yeah. It was much better than Podracing." he added. Obi-Wan shook his head in disbelief.

"If you can do that on accident, your first time flying a starfighter, at nine years old, I think I'm terrified to see what you can do on purpose now." Anakin grinned.

"Demonstration?" Obi-Wan violently shook his head.

"NO." Anakin sighed.

"You're no fun." Obi-Wan looked curiously at Anakin for a moment.

"How come I never knew?" Anakin looked down.

"Well, you were a little occupied at the moment." Obi-Wan realized that even at nine years old, Anakin had known he needed space to mourn. He smiled.

"It certainly took you long enough to tell me." he teased. "I can't believe you kept that to yourself for so long." Anakin laughed.

"I may or may not have told every youngling that I met about it." Jesse tried to stifle a laugh, and Anakin nodded.

"Yeah. Wait, where did Krell go?" Fives shrugged.

"He just stayed alone in his tent, far away from us. I think he thought that if he didn't look at us, he would be fine." Jesse grinned.

"It was pretty funny to watch, though. He would start to yell or threaten us, then he would remember you and stop." Anakin smiled proudly, and Obi-Wan silently shook his head.

"What, no lecture on threatening to kill Jedi Masters?" Obi-Wan sighed.

"It would make me quite the hypocrite, so, no." Everyone looked at him, and he smirked.

"What, you didn't think I would let Krell have my troops without a warning, did you?"

AN. And so since they practiced before hand, they all knew enough so that Hardcase didn't die. Also, I know it was Anakin's first time flying a starfighter, and that he was nine, but I'm not entirely clear on if it was an accident or not. For this story, at least, it was an accident, because I wanted to write everyone's reaction to the news. Please review, and if you have any ideas for this, or any story, please let me know. I would love to hear from you!

May the Force be with you.

JediKnight501st