Private Kaiabunga

[Arlo Renard]

In an abandoned warehouse in the underworld of Coruscant, a group of thugs stood around a battered metal chair. Tied to the seat with electrified wire, Kai looked to be in quite the bind.

The slaver gang had gotten the jump on him while he was scaling the fenced-in perimeter of the warehouse. Shooting to stun with even an ordinary civilian-grade blaster was apparently enough to not only take him out, but caused him to revert back to his natural form, a rather grotesque humanoid with spindly limbs and iridescent skin. His vulnerability to electricity was so pervasive, the fact that Kai hadn’t done more to prevent its exploitation only served to show how much he had left to learn.

“Okay, freak,” the leader of the group of thugs addressed their captive. “First, I’m gonna ask nicely. What were you doing on our property?”

<I was just looking around,> Kai insisted. The electric wire wasn’t painful so much as it was disorienting, paralyzing his nervous system and leaving him unable to change form. <Also, I don’t think it’s your property.>

“You sure?” the leader retorted. “It sure seemed like you were looking for something, Jedi.”

He held up Kai’s lightsaber, confiscated shortly after he had been caught. Kai stared at it, reaching toward it with the Force, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Don’t even try your magic,” the leader snarled. “It won’t work as long as you’re being jolted.” He tossed the saber hilt up in the air, catching it in his hand. “This will probably fetch a good price. And you’ll fetch an even better one, shifter. I heard the Mawites have a special treatment for your kind...”

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

Yenna expected that the mission would be tricky. What she didn’t expect was that the mission would start off with complications right off the bat. She was tasked with ratting out a group of slavers that were causing trouble in Underworld, with the help of a young boy that seemed to be a new padawan if she understood correctly. A rather interesting introduction, she had to admit.

But now he seemed to have landed in a heap of trouble. That was the easy bit for her to understand. What really confused her was the figure tied to the chair. She knew about shapeshifters, but this was a species she had never seen before. She would have to ask him once they were done with the mission. Right now, she was observing, figuring out a way to get him out of there. She was well hidden on a support beam high above the thugs.

She could fight them, it would likely not take much. However if one shot went off, or one shout escaped, the others in the warehouse would likely know. And she wasn’t big enough to just drop down on them like her master would. No, she had to get them away from him.

She looked around them. An old warehouse like this would certainly have something she could use. Sure enough, an old, squeaky back door was not too far from them. With a flick of her wrist the door creaked open then closed again with a heavy clunk.

The guards spun around on high alert. Majority of them went off to inspect while the one stayed with the prisoner. She decided to try her luck. With an outstretched hand she closed her eyes. ”Your partners, you need to go help.” she whispered. There was a second of tension as she waited to see if it worked. Luckily it did, and he went off to go scan the area.

Yenna dropped from the support and gracefully landed in front of Kai with the aid of the Force. She placed a finger over her lips to keep him quiet then got to work on releasing his bonds. Once he was free, she gestured for him to follow and carefully led the way to some nearby crates. She hoped that they were supply crates and not cages filled with captives.

Once they were out of sight, she continued on towards a secluded corner. ”Not good, this is.” she muttered to him, not sure on where to move next. The warehouse was big and filled with slavers. This was their base of operations. Getting out or back in wasn’t going to be easy...

”Of the rancor pit, right now, we are in the middle of.” she commented.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

A door opening and closing elsewhere in the warehouse drew the thugs’ attention away from Kai. One was left behind to watch him, but then they left as well, apparently intent on investigating the noise.

Then Yenna dropped down from the ceiling, startling Kai. She raised a finger to her lips and cut through the electrified wire binding him. He was relieved to see her, but they weren’t out of this yet.

Taking cover behind some old crates, Kai tried to change form, but his flesh just wriggled and writhed, still too numb to hold a specific shape. It looked rather disgusting, but he couldn’t help it.

<They probably have captives,> he told her, gesturing toward the back end of the warehouse. <We should try to free them before we go.>

As to how they would free the slaves, he had a few ideas, but they all involved killing the slavers. The Jedi taught that the taking of sacred life was wrong, even if the people deserved it. Instead, they were supposed to send all these criminals to jail and hope that the legal system took care of them, or something along those lines. Besides, Kai was not at full capacity at the moment.

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

Despite her knowing that it was rude to stare, she did just that as he tried to shift into a different form. Only when he looked back to her, did she turn her gaze away. She really needed to work on her manners. Kai went on to suggest freeing prisoners and Yenna gave an enthusiastic nod. "Of course. And your lightsaber also, we'll get back too." she confirmed. These were one of the times she wished she cold be as cold as her master sometimes was. They were surrounded by slavers, murderers and Force knows what kind of other people. This was Underworld, where the worst of society roamed and did as they pleased. "Alright, let's-"

"Yo, what the kriff!" a voice called out behind them. Yenna spun around to see a guard that sprung up from his seat in a dark corner. His rifle came up but with a flick of her hand, Yenna sent him flying into a nearby pillar. Her heart sank as she heard shouting from the rest of the complex. Without a word she unclipped one of her lightsabers and held it up to him. It was likely too small for him to use effectively, but she figured it was better than nothing. "The prisoners, get to! Cover you, I will." she ordered as she hopped onto the crates and ignited her cyan lightsaber. A couple bolts were easily blocked by her before she launched a crate towards the group of shooters. But it didn't take a genius to know that the odds were stacked against them.

Her attention was a bit divided. On one end, she needed to keep an eye out for attackers. On the other end, she needed to make sure Kai was fine. As the bolts became more numerous, she launched through the air and kept moving. With rather nervous elegance she ran along the railing of a catwalk, deflecting bolts and using whatever objects she could to knock the attackers back. From this angle she could keep an eye on Kai, even if only for a moment. He seemed to be in the clear, but a group looked like they spotted him. The same group that had him tied to the chair. Her first instinct was to pull out a commlink and warn him, but she doubted that he had one on him.

Her thoughts were disrupted when a stray bolt grazed past her side and knocked her off. She plummeted to the ground and landed with a heavy grunt. Thank the Force for a messy warehouse with a lot of cover. She decided to pull another page out of her master's book. <"Kai... towards you, attackers are moving. Be careful. Get to you, I will try to."> she projected her voice to him telepathically. A pistol barrel appeared over the barrel she was hiding behind and she quickly sliced it off before she wrapped the Force around its owner and sent her into another one. She pushed herself up to her feet with a hiss and gave her lightsaber a light twirl.

She raised her hands and let loose a powerful blast, knocking back attackers and various objects towards them.

She needed to get to Kai. Using the moment of calm, she set off in a flurry of jumps and dashes to get to the boy.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai had nearly forgotten about his lightsaber. Technically it wasn’t his—he had stolen it from a locker room at the Jedi Temple some time ago, and managed to get away with keeping it. Now that Yenna had drawn attention to its absence, he realized they had even more to do here before they could escape.

<Okay!> He scurried off in the direction of the holding cells, aware of Yenna following him and providing protection from the blaster fire of the slavers. He received her warning message just as he ran into one of the thugs.

The slaver raised his weapon, but before he could squeeze off a shot, Kai’s claws slashed through him. The move was panic-driven, the cut jagged rather than clean, but the man was gutted. Blood sprayed everywhere, slicking the warehouse floor and splattering Kai before he leaped, pantherlike, behind cover.

<There are a lot of them!>

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

The distance between them was closing as Yenna sprinted with everything she had. The pain in her side was noticeable but luckily not serious. She could take care of it once the mission was over. Though it was Kai that pulled her back to reality. It was a swift, surprised movement. It looked more like an accident than anything else. Regardless, a man was dead and he ducked behind cover before she heard his voice again. <”I’m here!”> she projected as she leapt through the air and landed on a thug’s shoulders. His friend fired a stun bolt but she jumped out of the way just in time, instead letting the bolt hit the thug beneath her. Another nearby object was hurled at the shooter as she landed on the ground.

A slight glimmer caught her eye on the body beside her. It was his lightsaber. She quickly grabbed it and hopped over to land beside him. ”Here.” she whispered as she dropped the hilt by his feet.

Immediately she hopped back over their cover and summoned her second lightsaber from Kai back to her free hand. As the second blade ignited, she looked up at their attackers with harsh determination. The space around her became a cyan blur as she blocked and parried bolts around or back to their shooters. ”Work on the cages, get to!” she called to him as another wave was let loose on some nearby slavers.

Behind them were several cages stuffed with people of all shapes and sizes. They shouted and called for help whilst trying to stay out of the line of fire. The ones nearest to Kai pointed at the locks keeping the cages shut. They were anxious to get out, some even wanting to fight back against their captors. Others were calling to each other to go for the nearest exit. ”Come on, freakazoid! Get the cage open already!” the slave nearest to Kai called out.

Once the cages were opened, however, things descended into chaos. Dozens of people scattered all over. A bunch of them charged right at the slavers while the rest went for a nearby door. An exhausted Yenna dropped back behind cover and extinguished her lightsabers. ”Out of here, we can get.” she muttered as she pulled herself back to her feet.

Behind them, the slavers were overrun. Enraged captives were having their revenge and they weren’t going quick about it. They did things in typical Underworld style.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai reached for his lightsaber. Clawlike fingers closed around the hilt, finding the metal cylinder awkward to hold in his current state. Yenna had already sprung back into the action, urging him to open the cages.

Amid the chaos of battle, Yenna’s first wave of Force energy had managed to go unnoticed by Kai, who was too far away to really be affected by it. The second wave, however, was close enough to make his flesh ripple. A flash of terror shot through him at the vibrations created by her blasts of energy. Ironically, it was fear of the master’s power that finally spurred him on toward the cages.

The captives screamed and shrieked at him from behind the barriers. So many voices combined to make an incomprehensible wall of noise which assailed him. Kai fumbled and hesitated, overloaded by it all. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do or how to get it all to stop. The moniker “freakazoid” lobbed at him by one of the captives fell on deafened ears.

Between the screaming in front of him, the fighting around him, and Yenna’s continued insistence, it was too much for him. Feeling for the activation switch on his lightsaber, a nearly weeping Kai simply cut through the machinery powering the cages.

The barriers sputtered and died, unleashing a deluge of captives. Kai was temporarily lost in the flood of people fleeing the warehouse, but he somehow got out of the building despite the crush of bodies at every exit. He didn’t stop moving until he sensed Yenna approaching, at which point he simply plopped down on the ground and curled up into a ball.

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

With the rush of freed prisoners, they got their escape. Kai wasted no time to get out and Yenna followed closely behind. She was hurt and exhausted, but survival was a good motivator to get out of harm's way. She hopped along shoulders and heads until she reached the exit as well. Her height made it difficult to look for Kai. She got lucky when she saw his odd form through a split in the crowd and made her way towards him.

In the secluded area, the cheers and shouting died down as people scattered to escape the warehouse. Yenna's golden eyes watched Kai closely as he curled up in a ball on the ground. She had many questions about his origins. A certain Darkness was felt from him but she didn't care about that. Not immediately. After being face to face with arguably the most dangerous Sith in existence, being bothered by "lesser" Dark-sided beings was rather difficult. She glanced around them to make sure they were safe as she approached him slowly. One hand held onto her injured side as she walked towards him. When she finally reached him, a tiny hand stretched out and tenderly rested on his leg as she looked up at him.

"Kai?" she spoke softly, gently. "Alright, are you? Hurt, I hope you're not." she continued as she gently brushed his leg. He looked like a mess. Covered in blood, clearly in distress, she felt bad for him. He was definitely still a kid, that was clear. She walked around him and came to a halt by his side, her hand coming to rest on his forearm as she gave a gentle smile. "Safe, we are now. Out of here, let us get. Not far, our ship is." she suggested as she gave his arm a very gentle squeeze. It was likely barely noticeable, given the difference in size between them. "Bothering you, what is? Talk about it, do you want to?" she asked him calmly as she looked into his eyes.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

The noise was starting to quiet down as the survivors scattered. Kai slowly raised his head, finding Yenna standing over him.

<Did… did we do it?> he asked.

She asked him if he was alright. He started to uncurl, slit pupils looking around warily. <I’m not hurt. I just don’t like vibrations.>

He looked down at his own body, then started to change shape, morphing back into his human form. The blood on his hands sloughed off as claws shrank into fingers, red dripping onto the pavement, until a boy sat where the monster had been, dressed in a Padawan’s clean clothes. He stood up, ready to go back to the ship, at least.

<Sorry.>

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

His question wasn't exactly what she expected, but it made her smile grow nonetheless. She gave a soft nod as she caressed his arm. "Freed, the slaves are. And... need for an investigation, I doubt we have." she commented as she nodded back to the warehouse. There was no way the slavers would get out of that storm alive. He answered her question and that merely formed more questions about what he was.

He looked down at himself and his flesh started to move. Yenna let go of him and took a step back as he turned into the young boy she was introduced to. The blood fell off him and soon a clean young boy stood up in front of her. He apologized and she shook her head. "To apologize for, you have nothing. Absolutely nothing wrong, you did." she reassured him as she jumped up onto his shoulders. "To the ship, let us go." she muttered with a ruffle of his hair.

The walk to the ship was pleasant by Underworld standards. She knew the neighbourhood they were in quite well. Many memories emerged as she looked around. Her old place wasn't too far from their location. There was a faint temptation to see what happened to it, but she let it go. There were memories in that tiny apartment that she didn't want to relive. She bit her lip and turned her gaze straight ahead as they walked, trying to hold back the pang of sadness that was growing. When they finally reached the ship, she quickly set off to find a medpack and patch herself up.

The ship rose and set off towards the skies while Yenna bandaged up her side and got comfortable. "For first introductions, this wasn't too bad." she quipped with a smirk as she hopped onto a couch in the relaxation area and leaned back. She tapped the seat beside her with a smile as she ushered him over. "Please, join me." she invited him.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai didn’t really relax until they reached the ship, a tension that could be felt in the tightness of his shoulders. Yenna rode along on his back. The little green alien seemed content, though he sensed she had many questions for him once they were safe within the confines of the vessel.

He did, however, notice all the blood from her injuries. <Can I help?> Provided she did not refuse his aid, he would reach up and lay his hand on the worst of the wounds, his palm secreting a substance similar to bacta. Its healing properties were far milder than actual bacta, but it would begin the mending process and act as an antiseptic to keep the wound clean.

Once the ship was in the air and Yenna had properly tended to her injuries, she beckoned to him to sit beside her. Kai approached the couch shyly and sat, leaning forward in his seat rather than backwards as Yenna was. He didn’t know what to say, so he simply waited to see if Yenna would speak.

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

Yenna looked up to him when he offered to help her with her wounds. It wasn't exactly what she expected, but she welcomed the help gladly. "Thank you." she muttered gently as she bandaged herself up. On the couch, Kai still seemed rather nervous and tightly wound. To be fair, Yenna was a little wound up as well, given everything that was going on and the myriad of questions she had for Kai.

"Relax, you can! Safe, we are, now." she spoke up with a bright grin as she gave him a tap on his arm. "Wound tight, I can tell you are." she continued. "If any questions, you have, feel free to ask." she offered him as she turned slightly on the couch to face him. "Also, some questions as well, I have. You don't mind, I hope?" she asked him carefully as her smile started to waver.

"About yourself, please tell me. Know better, I would like to." she asked gently as she faced him fully with undivided attention. She was too nervous to ask specific questions, so getting him to tell her about himself seemed like a smarter option... if he opened up to her. So far it was a trick to get him to talk.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai was aware that the mission with Yenna had been set up in order to pair him off with a potential master. That meant the pressure was on to impress her. (Or at the very least, not ruin his chances.) He liked Yenna so far, and she seemed quite capable despite her small size. But after what happened at the warehouse, he hadn’t quite recovered his dignity enough to relax in her presence.

Yenna wanted to know more about him. Kai answered perhaps too quickly, reciting an obviously prepared answer.

<I used to be a slave. I was rescued by a Jedi named Dagon Kaze.>

The half-true, half-fabricated backstory was designed to hide his true origins. Slavery as a backstory was vague enough to not require too many details to make it seem more plausible—he was supposed to have been sold at a young age and didn’t remember his family, homeworld, or much of anything before Dagon found him and brought him to the Jedi Temple.

<And I’m a shapeshifter… like you saw back at the warehouse,> he added. <I’m a Doppelganger. I can imitate how other people look.>

As a demonstration, he shrank and shriveled and turned green, becoming a perfect copy of Yenna down to the clothes she was currently wearing.

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

Yenna blinked in surprise at his very immediate and very smooth answer. He must have gotten this question a lot to answer so quickly... or it was rehearsed. Either way, it gave her a bit of an idea of who she was dealing with. He went on to explain to her what he was an even gave her an example that brought a grin to her little face. "Awesome, that is!" she practically shouted as she studied him a bit... before pulling him into a tight hug. "Some pranks on my master, we should pull." she quipped as she let go of him and studied her mirror image a bit more. "... Some on me as well, you can pull." she came to realize as a nervous chuckle escaped her.

"Jealous now, I am." she teased as she sat back down with a warm smile. "Very well, back at the warehouse, you did too." she complimented him. "Hungry, are you? A snack, I can make for us?" she offered as she got up and hopped over to the kitchen counter. With careful use of the Force she opened cupboards and got ingredients together to make some sandwiches for her and Kai. "Be honest, I will. In your position, I was. Not too long ago. To my master, I was assigned without warning. My first padawan, you are." she admitted to him as she put their lunch together. Soon she had two sandwiches fixed up for him and on a plate.

Using the Force, she placed the plate on the table in front of him before she got to work on her own sandwich. She was left with her thoughts now, and she realized how hard it was for her master. She and Kai didn't know each other at all. Perhaps it would get easier when they started with lessons, but right now she was unsure on how to proceed. She didn't want to ask anything too personal... but she wanted to help him relax around her.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Yenna’s shouting startled Kai, and he ducked down a little in his seat. As she quieted down to a more normal volume, he straightened and morphed back into his preferred form.

Despite this, a small smile curled Kai’s lips as she mentioned pranks. He had developed a reputation at the Temple for all kinds of mischief, mainly by using his abilities to impersonate others. Especially Dagon. His smile nearly broke into a grin as he recalled all the times he had slipped lovesick girls “Dag’s number” only for it to lead to a Hutt’s dance school, or a used speeder salesman, or Coruscant Sewer Management…

<Yeah, I guess it is pretty awesome,> he agreed. <I just wish I could turn into animals too, not just beings that walk on two legs. Or four, if I use my arms. Or six, if I grow an extra two…>

He perked up at the mention of food. Yenna was already scurrying around, making sandwiches. Kai could theoretically eat anything, but he did have some preferences.

<Can I have extra cheese? Do you have hot sauce?>

The resulting sandwich was quite the potent combination of ingredients, but quite suited to Kai’s uniquely tolerant palate.

<You’re my first master too.> After a moment’s pause, he added, <But I’m new to everything.>

Yenna​

 

[Yenna]

Yenna's eyes grew wider as he mentioned some examples of what he could turn into. She had a hard time of figuring out how all of this was possible. Where did the rest of his mass go? She knew some beings could morph into vastly different sizes... but the biology of it always piqued her interest. "More limbs, you can grow?" she asked carefully.

As they ate their lunch, he mentioned that she was his first master. This didn't help her nervousness at all. She was going to have to ask Cas for some pointers on this. Especially with a being as unique as Kai. The more she thought about it, the more she came to realize exactly why Cas always doubted himself and his teachings to her. There were a lot of times when he wanted to pass her on to more "competent" masters, but she stuck with him. She was naïve of the stress he must have gone through with her... now she was understanding it perfectly.

"Kai..." she started, facing him as she placed a hand on his arm. "My best, I will give. Questions, if you have, ask them. Uncomfortable, if you are, or if you have doubts, please tell me. A good master, every student deserves. A good master for you, I want to be." she pledged.

She returned to her meal and once it was done, she looked up to him with a smirk. "Something fun, you want to do? Mind, I doubt the Order will, if we stop along the way. For anything, are you in the mood?" she asked him casually as she took the last bite of her sandwich.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Yup.> Raising his arms, Kai grew a second pair underneath them, the new limbs emerging from his sides through gaps that formed in the fabric. He waved to her with all four arms. It was nice to meet someone who wasn’t put off or horrified by his abilities.

Yenna made a simple but powerful vow, pledging to be the best master she could be. Kai looked at her with wide eyes, the extra set of arms slowly retracting and absorbing back into his body as he listened. He was moved by her words, but he wasn’t sure how to articulate how he felt at that moment. Nothing he could do or say seemed sufficient.

So he opened his mind to hers, and poured out his gratitude, appreciation, and hope that she would fulfill her promise.

"Something fun, you want to do? Mind, I doubt the Order will, if we stop along the way. For anything, are you in the mood?"

Kai nodded his head enthusiastically. <I’m up for anything. But I don’t really know where the most fun places are… I haven’t really traveled much.> That was an understatement; he’d only ever set foot on three planets in his lifetime.

Yenna​