Tears of the Prophets

[Micah tol Powl]

Mygeeto.

It was a world locked in an ice age. On the cusp of Primeval space. And the far side of the galaxy from the Silver Sanctum Coalition. Making this world the last place that anyone would have suspected that they would have found a Jedi Youngling from the Silver Temple on Voss.

It was also past his bedtime.

...in for a penny, in for a pound.

The small Nautolan had borrowed a pilot droid and one of the small patrol craft used by the Silver Jedi's security forces. And by 'borrowed' he meant stole. Or, used without explicit permission if you prefer.

One thing he'd learned from Master [member="Nefertari Sovint"] was that it was sometimes better to ask forgiveness than permission. Of course, Zak really wasn't sure just what that meant, or when it was better to do the latter rather than the former, so he'd simply adopted a general policy of going with 'ask forgiveness' as a default.

Hey, they could only spank you once, right?

Through the holonet chats used by the Jedi, of various and sundry orders, conclaves, dens, factions, politics, and/or allegiances, the industrious student of [member="Matsu Ike"] and [member="Draco Vereen"] had found a fellow padawan who was working on construction of his first lightsaber.

Zak knew just what a feat that could be. He'd spent months putting together the curved-hilt weapon which now adorned his side.

...but for the fact that it was covered up by the smothering coat that he wore.

As an aquatic, Zak was all about watery planets. He just happened to like his water in its liquid state rather than ice. Mygeeto would probably be awesome for a polar bear plunge though. Which, might double as good Tapas practice...

But, he digressed.

They were not here for polar bear plunges nor for Tapas practice. They were here to find the perfect focusing crystal. And some of the best crystals were said to come from the formations on Mygeeto, whose sparkling stones were whispered through the ages as having been produced by the tears of a prophet who had long ago looked at a galaxy full of stars and seen only darkness.

And so, having already made snow angels and spelled his name in the yellow snow that he hoped no one noticed, the youngling waited for his lightsaber hopeful to join him.

One thing he hadn't gotten from their holonet chats was just how old this 'Darius' kid was.

Maybe they were close in age, so Zak would have somebody he could play Forceball with! He could only hope...

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Darius might have been a slightly older than the little Jedi was expecting. It wasn't his fault that his master had gone off to fight in the war and let his training stall -- not to bad mouth Master Sedaire. It was just a little difficult to progress down the Jedi path when you were stuck on Endor twiddling your thumbs for five years. That coupled with the fact that Darius was not the most skilled member of the order shook things up a little.

The trip from Coruscant had been a long one. The flight itself was not particularly bad -- getting off the planet was. He'd dealt with two Sith acolytes, both of which were very female, very pretty, and had tried to drag him into their murder cult. No soul could ever understand how terribly difficult it was for Darius to say no, but he had oaths, and morals; something the better part of the galaxy lacked.

As soon as he left the planet, he put himself in contact with whatever Jedi he could. Mister Zak most of all. He needed a weapon to defend himself; something to prove that he had made some headway down the path. Master Sedaire had not thought him ready for a lightsaber, which was fine. Fortunately Master Sedaire was not here right now.

The jumper shuttle settled down on Mygeeto's surface a few meters away from the shuttle Zak had borrowed. Darius liked water too, though it was a wee bit uncomfortable given Mygeeto's current state.

"Better than Mustafar," he reminded himself. He locked down the ship, cooled off the engines, and threw on a heavy coat. The parts required to build the rest of his lightsaber were held in a small pack that he slung over his back, and his shattergun found was nestled in a holster at his waist. He wasn't going in completely defenseless.

The gangplank hissed as it came down. Darius stepped out.

"Zak?"

Little smaller than I expected.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The sound of a shuttle heralded the approach of his erstwhile pupil.

...or the Primeval.

...or the Sith.

...or the Empire. Or Empires. Was there more than one?

Come to think of it, there was a whole lot of really bad stuff out in this part of space. Which maybe made this one of Zak's not-so-awesome ideas. Not that such would be anything new. Zak had a LOT of not-so-awesome ideas.

The trip out here hadn't been bad though. They'd stopped at the fly-thru window of a Biscuit Baron in the Lahara Sector, and Zak had gotten a real FizzyGlug.

The Jedi never let him have real FizzyGlug. Something about it making him behave badly. And what the Hutt was that supposed to be about? He behaved badly without the FizzyGlug! What was soda going to do to change anything?

But, here and now, what spilled out of the transport was neither Stormtrooper, nor Sith, nor Warlord.

It was, however, a very confused looking human brah who looked old enough to order a beer. And not, like, a root beer but that nasty, foul-water that adult brahs seemed to really, really like (even though it was really, really terrible).

"Darius?"

Little taller than I expected.

Oh, Sith, was he supposed to call him 'Master Darius'? Younglings pretty much were expected to call anything that moved 'master' in deference for them being older. Knights were 'master'. Masters were 'master'. Hell, servant droids were addressed as 'master' except when the adults weren't looking. Of course, when the adults weren't looking, the younglings had any number of names for people, places, or things.

Darius and Zak were both padawans though, which made the whole social hierarchy, protocol thing confusing. Of course, Zak was a little young to be a padawan. And Darius was... well, old from Zak's point of view.

So much for Forceball. The only time the Padawan Menace had been more disappointed than he was now was when he'd found out that [member="Uri Aureleos"] was a Jedi Healer.

Or when he'd lost that bet on Farkled Wookiee... that had been pretty disappointing too.

C'est la... something something Dark Side... Force. Whatever.

"Welcome to Mygeeto!" the youngling chirped brightly, faking the funk as he bounced spritely, arms outstretched to indicate the ice and cystals and more ice around them.

Enough with the tourism, time to get down to brass tacks.

"What do ya got for the core?" the Nautolan inquired. Screw snow angels. Do you want to build a lightsaber!

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

At least the little guy was friendly. Darius cracked a warm smile at the welcome. You didn't get the kind of enthusiasm back on Sullust. A whole lot of grim dark and broody teenagers? Yes. Optimistic, happy folks? Not so much. It was a nice change of pace, though Darius did take note of the yellow snow. He wasn't going to ask.

"This little gem," he dug about in his pockets for a moment and produced a blue crystal. It was going to be green, but then the powers that be decided not to upset the Nautolan. Funny how fate worked, eh?

"I actually found this here too -- different part of Mygeeto, but the same planet anyway." He tossed the crystal up in the air and caught it with his other hand. Finding the thing had taken some work, and a little bit of blood. Not too much, but enough to remind Darius of the dangers that came with worlds like this. Zak was young, but that did not mean he couldn't defend himself. The kid had built his own lightsaber already; he was more of a Jedi than Darius was.

If anything, he should be the one calling the Nautolan master.

"Thanks for coming with me by the way. I'm not sure I would have been too happy coming on my own," he grinned and drew his cowl over his face. That wasn't meant as flattery; it was entirely true. He craved the company of other people. Returning to the wider galaxy after years of isolation would do that to you.

"Figure we should head for one of the caves?"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The small Nautolan lit up as soon as the gem had caught the light.

"Blue!" the child chirped happily. It was his favorite color, never mind that his own lightsaber was white. He could have added a cheap kathracite crystal in just to color the blade, but that would have required a longer focusing chamber. Which might have interfered with the interaction between the diadem power core and the discharge energy cell that gave the shoto he carried the additional power he needed to make up for the lack of strength behind his swing. So, he kept it a single krayt dragon shard, resulting in the silvery-white blade.

As long as it wasn't green, chit was all good.

Pulling a small datapad from out of his coat pocket, the child called up the data on Mygeeto that he'd downloaded from the on-line Jedi Archives. Why did people even bother with the physical archives or the Consular branch of the Jedi Order anymore? For some things in life, there was Jedipedia. And JediSource. And JediQuote...

The databanks accessible to the Jedi Academy students through the on-line archives practically did his homework for him. Which, left him more time for the important things in life. Like Forceball. And lightsaber practice.

And Force Heal practice. But they didn't talk about Force Heal practice, because Zak didn't want to get confused with being a Jedi Healer. He was just a future Jedi Guardian who...

...well, who liked to help people rather than hurt them. Which probably made him the worst Jedi Guardian of all time. He really liked lightsabers though! Just, in their non-lethal mode.

"Adegan crystal..." Zak noted aloud. Darius had said that he'd found the core here on Mygeeto, and the notes on the crystal geometry appeared to confirm to the crystals from Rhen Var or Ilum. Probably mephite. "Most... most of the crystals here are artesian, which could probably be, like, used in a dueling lens..." the boy remarked, cycling through the most recent surveys and the noted location of crystalline deposits based on spectral imaging from orbit.

Looking up for a moment, the child noted, "That's what I have in my lightsaber, but I have a different core."

Crossing his arms, the small lightsaber artisan put his head down and thought through the goal some more. "We should figure out what kind of crystal we need first," the boy reasoned aloud. There was no sense heading off toward a artesian deposit, if what they needed was pontite or relacite instead. And that would really depend on what qualities Darius wanted or needed in his weapon.

"What's your style?" the boy inquired, turning his head back up toward the older padawan. Sizing the human up for a moment, the child guessed, "Ataru? Shien?"

Once he understood how Darius fought, then the boy could start assembling options for what crystal combinations might give the man the qualities he wanted in a lightsaber.

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

The older of the two did not want to admit he knew less about lightsaber crystals than the other. It was a quiet blow to his confidence seeing a youngling better at his job than he was. Still, there was the possibility that Zak was simply extremely talented, whereas Darius struggled with even the most basic concepts with this kind of thing.

"Djem-so actually," he grinned, "I'm not very good at the fancy maneuvers yet. I like strong and simple." That much was true. He'd given Ataru a try, found he was not particularly skilled with the art, and begun to practice the various forms of Djem-so. It wasn't easy, but the movements were easier to master, and more importantly, it felt right. He'd leave figuring out what was needed to capitalize on that to Zak. He seemed to have more general experience in this field than Darius.

He half-closed his eyes and tried to think on the subject. Master Sedaire had taught him the basics of how lightsabers worked. Sure, he didn't exactly know all the crystal types or what he might need, but he could put the weapon together just fine. He'd acquired the materials to build a longer hilt, and done his best to learn about the complications that would come with such.

"You know more than I do Zak. You lead the way. I'll do all the heavy lifting." Meaning he would deal with whatever threats made themselves known. Mygeeto was only safe near the cities. It was an entirely different story out here in the wastes.

Still, if all went well, they might not run into a thing.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

"Oh!" the child chirped.

Between the tone and how his fourteen stubby head-tails perked up at the mention of Djem So, it was probably a given that the boy was familiar with that particular school of the lightsaber combat. But Djem So was more of an influence than Zak's particular style. He made use of it, but like Shii-cho, it was mostly something he wove into his own personal style of Makashi than a discipline he followed.

Djem So as a focus. Djem So as a focus...

Strong and simple would definitely be it. He'd probably want a discharge energy cell, like Zak used, for the same reason. Djem So was all about power. Overwhelming power. But, whereas Zak's style looked to take advantage of an opponent's own weaknesses, a straight-out Djem So user would probably just want the strongest lightsaber blade possible.

The boy's head-tails perked up a second time, then drooped as a slow, sly smile slipped across his face while devious dreams of devilish destruction crept across his imagination as the hypothetical mechanical drafting started to come together in his imagination.

Hutt lightsabers. They were gonna make a BOOMSTICK.

"We're gonna need another Adegan crystal," Zak opined aloud, holding up a gloved finger like a little professor. "And not just ANY Adegan crystal. We need pontite."

Panning for pontite was a little bit like trying to find a nano-speck of aurodium in a haystack. But, what the hell. Dream big, people.

Especially when it came to lightsabers.

Pulling out his datapad, Zak called up the geological survey data. "Let's see... our best chance is... is, like, gonna be finding pontite in a relacite cluster," the boy remarked aloud, twisting and turning his datapad several times as he tried to orient where north was on this map. And then figure out where they were in relation to north.

"So... this way!" the boy declared, putting one foot forward in an exaggerated gesture. "FORWARD!" the boy cried happily, as he started to march off in the direction he'd chosen.

"...wait."

Pause. 180 spin. "That way," the youngling amended, before thrusting a celebratory hand into the air. "FORWARD!"

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Pontite? Okay.

Darius was going to pretend he understood that. He was the brute, not the thinker. Not to imply he was not intelligent -- the technicalities of lightsabers just baffled him every time they came up. It was probably just his own ineptitude that brought that about. Oh well.

"Let's try not to get lost out in the snow, eh?" he chuckled as he began to walk in the direction Zak had pointed out. Freezing to death on Mygeeto's frozen surface was not the demise Darius had envisioned for himself.

He reached for his datapad as they walked and eyed it on. He did not have the sensors that Zak did; his datapad was good for keeping journal entries and connecting to the holonet. Anything else was a bit much for the aging device. Of course Zak didn't need to know that. The little Nautolan could just assume Darius was being of some help.

As they walked, he opened himself to the force once more. It was becoming less difficult with every session, but Darius was little more than an adept. While other Padawans were throwing speeders with their minds, Darius was still struggling with the concept alone. To put it shortly, he was a bit slow.

Yet something called to him. It was on the edge of his mind; a cadaver in the shadows. There was a danger here, and yet it was where they needed to be. The crystal was up ahead, he was sure of it.

"So what's the deal with Pontite? You're the expert here."

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

If Zak was the resident expert, they were in a drukload of trouble.

"Pontite is... like," the youngling began, pausing to sniffle and wipe his nose on his sleeve as they walked. You weren't supposed to breathe on watery planets. You were supposed to swim. All this cold was starting to mess with his sinuses. "It's an Adegan crystal, but suuupppppeeeerrrrr rare."

Holding up his datapad, the small Nautolan paused as he looked at the map, then out into the snow, and then back to his map. Folding his datapad away, the boy pressed forward. His hands free, the child gestured as he turned to look up at the taller padawan beside him. "Now, Adegan crystals are usually the core of lightsabers," the boy remarked, which he probably could have skipped being that Darius had an Adegan crystal in his pocket already. So what it was, what it did, what it was used for was probably something the man already knew. "Except when they're not. Synth-Crystals, Krayt Dragon shards..."

Why were they talking about other cores?

They weren't. Get to the point. "...but, when used as a focusing lens... BOOM!" the youngling chirped, using both hands for the obligatory explode-y gesture the conversation demanded at that point. He'd considered using an Adegan lens in his own lightsaber, but that a little more power going into the blade than Zak was comfortable with. He was going for refinement. Thinner blade, more control, not power. "Even a training saber would cut through durasteel, and those are usually kathracite," the boy noted, with the eyeroll able to be heard in his voice as he uttered the name of the material most commonly used in Academy training weapons.

"Pontite, though, steps up the game EVEN MORE!" the boy declared, obviously excited about the topic. Spinning around, he walked backwards as he explained, "It has... it has, like, some kind of emotion... thing... it does in a lightsaber, but only when used as a focusing lens." It was redundant but after a pause to catch his breath, the boy added, "Pontite cored lightsabers don't react the same."

Spinning back around, the boy swayed from side to side as he walked along. The dark silhouette of some kind of cavern was starting to appear through the haze of snow and fog. "It basically keeps you all calm an' mellow an' stuff," the boy continued, head bobbing as he strolled, skipped, and moved with the typical excess of energy of a active child. "Which, I thought would be PERFECT for a Djem So brah, because you kinda throw yourself out on the edge when you're going all out..."

Stopping suddenly, the youngling dropped into the familiar aggressive stance of Djem So's opening form. Both hands clasped over head, as though ready to bring down the headman's axe. "Form Five Style!" the boy cried happily. "Oh yeah!"

As he finished speaking, the two arrived at the lip of some tunnel bored through the crust of the crystalline planet. It was the burrow of a Mygeetan whiteworm.

The question was, was it the bygone marker of a long-dead beast? Or the home to a nest of crystal boring leviathans whose teeth could eat through solid rock?

"There's a bunch of relacite down there, according to the last geological scan," the boy noted aloud, staring down into the abyss. "If we're gonna find quality Adegan crystals, they're probably down there."

Would normal people see a black hole and fear danger? Yes.

Did Zak? Of course not. He was a Jedi Guardian!

Well, a Jedi Guardian wannabe anyway... and what did that mean? ADVENTURE TIME!

Was Zak an imbecile? More than likely.

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

This was a lovely break from the all-too-serious warriors of the alliance. Darius had managed to keep his cool until Zak did his rendition of Djem-so. He laughed hard; hard enough to make his lungs hurt and his throat feel a little dry. He liked Zak. He was a bright kid, a whole lot smarter than most, and seemed to have a good heart. Not to mention the antics. Darius could not recall his childhood -- there were reasons for that -- and had missed out on quite a bit. It was nice to goof off now and then.

"I figure you've got it down better than most masters Zak," he chuckled, "Just uh, try not to cut me?" He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued on. He did not know much about the various crystals Jedi used in their lightsabers. Primarily because he had not ever had access to any kind of substantial archive. Zak seemed to be a walking one.

If the little Nautolan said they needed to find pontite, then they were going to find pontite.

"What's a brah?"

Wut.

The tunnel set him into a more serious mindset. Darius didn't know much about the whiteworms other than that they were dangerous. Could he responsibly take a child into something like this? Well, it was probably better than leaving him out here on his own. At least this way he could keep an eye on Zak, for whatever it was worth.

Brandishing his shattergun, Darius stepped down into the cavern.

"Ready to go spelunking?" He snickered and pumped the shattergun.

Time to explore.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The Nautolan's head rolled from side to side, a goofy grin plastered across his face as he giggled at the 'master' remark.

"Oh no, the masters, they..." the boy began, his speech starting and halting as he started to talk before he'd actually thought about what he wanted to say. As a result of which, the boy seemed to talk in one long, run-on sentence. "There's this one master, on Voss, she... her name is [member="Matsu Ike"], an' she's, like, FREAKY smart when it comes to this stuff."

Pausing to think for a moment, the youngling looked over at the older padawan and opined, "She could prolly build a super weapon with chewing gum an' some nano-wire."

That was likely why the Jedi Academy on Voss had a strict 'no chewing gum' policy on campus, because of what people like Matsu Ike could do with it. Turn it into some kind of SPACE C-4 with a mega-ton yield magnified by the Force.

...because, you know, that was a lot more plausible than the rule being there because padawans, like Zak, put their used chewing gum under chairs, desks, on the floor, and many other creatively determined locations that were inappropriate for used chewing gum.

"An'... an' there's this, like, Mando brah..."

The question about the meaning of Zak's Nautoli catchphrase caught the boy by surprise, derailing his train of thought as he tried to come up with a definition. "Brah," he repeated, as if this was a spelling bee. Which, it was good that it wasn't, because Zak wouldn't have had any idea how brah was spelled. It wasn't something you wrote. It just... was. "You know, like... brah."

Seriously, what was the question? What is the meaning of life? What is the definition of 'is'? "Like... dude, guy, fellah, mate, offsider..."

Did that make any sense? Because that question hadn't made any sense. "Anyway, his name is [member="Draco Vereen"]," the boy recalled, continuing from the tangent he'd left off from. "He... like, has this MASSIVE hammer of like pure cortosis or phrik or something. It's seriously, like, 3 meters."

Zak's own fantasy celebrity death match would be a fight between Master Vereen and Grandmaster [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]. That chit would be unreal. "An'... an' he... I asked him to help me with something to protect my lightsaber from rust an' stuff," the youngling said, recalling the meeting with the Dark Jedi. "Brah had the solution, an' then came at me with this agrinium stuff, because it would protect from, like, EMPs and stuff..."

Throwing both arms up into the air, the child blurted out, "I'm just thinkin' bout the shell and brah's mind was like, three steps into the final design." Bringing his hands to either side of his head, the boy made another explode-y gesture. "Mind. Blown."

Which wasn't all that hard to do, given how little Zak typically used his.

As the boy started to lower one leg down into the gaping chasm of OMGWTFDEATH, the next question from the older padawan caused him to pause again. Cocking his head to one side, the child's expression went from happiness, to confusion, to disgust. What he was thinking could be evidenced by his question in reply.

"What's pee lurking?"

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Sounded like Darius needed to get around more. He was woefully inept when it came to the art of making alliances, and it seemed most Jedi had them in spades. Perhaps he would go to Silver space one of these days and track down these particular masters. Surely it couldn't hurt to have a few more folks to help him get underway with his training one again.

He was starting to like Zak, not the he'd ever disliked him. The kid had some spunk, to put it lightly. Darius had never come across any padawans so young, though he had heard that it was the norm in ages past. These days most folks joined the order as young adults, some even later into their lives. The Republic's warriors had stopped taking in children some time ago, and the NJO was too war-bound to train younglings.

He'd always considered Julius taking him in as a child was a special case. Clearly he had been very wrong in that assumption.

"A cortosis hammer?" He asked in disbelief, "Sounds more like something out of a holovid to me. You sure you weren't imagining things?" A hint of amusement laced his words. He was sure Zak had seen something. The idea of a man lugging around a warhammer that stood taller than him and was made of some of the galaxy's most exotic metals just seemed a little far fetched.

Didn't mean the little guy was wrong though.

"It's...spelunking. Like, looking for ore, crystals, and stuff. Mining," Darius shrugged. "It's kind of an old term."

Something moved within the walls.

It was a subtle motion; a quiet rumbling noise one could just barely hear. It was enough to make Darius pick up the pace and march further into the ravine, shattergun in hand.

"So, uh...how far are these crystals?"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

"Brah's seriously got the Hammer of Doom."

If there was any other way of describing the war-maul that the Mandalorians had dubbed Taak'Shukur, then it wasn't coming to Zak's mind. And, Darius was right, it was definitely something out of a Korun the Barbarian holovid. But so was a lot of Mandalorian culture. "He's a Mando an' a Jedi," the youngling remarked, recalling his encounter with Master Draco. Who, as he recalled, wasn't very keen on being called 'master'. And that wasn't the only thing odd about him, but Zak hadn't had a close enough brush with the Dark Side to have caught what it was specifically. "But there was somethin' weird 'bout him too..."

As the older padawan asked about the distance to the crystals, the small Nautolan slid down the sheer face of the tunnel that had literally been chewed through the planet's crust, dropping a few meters down to where it leveled off again. "The cluster should be right around..."

As the boy was speaking, a section of the wall behind him moved.

Not like the cave was collapsing or the tunnel was unstable, but moved. As in, as though it were alive.

The child's head-tails drooped as he looked back over his shoulder as a shadow fell over the pair. Undulating like a rocky serpent, the Mygeetan whiteworm filled the cavern ahead as it coiled and reared back it's head. Like a crystalline cobra ready to strike.

And growing out of one side of it's neck was a patch of crystals, including an amethyst looking gem.

Shrugging off his coat, the youngling bounced up on the balls of his feet. This was going to be just like Tatooine. All over again. "...well, the good news is, I think I found it," the child noted, removing the curved hilt from his belt.

The tunnel came alive with silvery, white light as the lightsaber ignited in the child's hand. "The bad news is, it found us!"

As the earthworm from hell opened it's planet devoring maw, the small Nautolan seemed to think twice about the power setting on his weapon. The white light disappeared for a moment, as the boy cupped in the hilt in both hands to adjust the settings. When Riptide had powered back up, the krayt dragon shard resonated with a different energy, one which radiated palpably in the air around the two of them.

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Have shattergun will shoot.

One moment Zak was going on about a Mandalorian Jedi Master, then a monstrous worm thing was bearing down on them. What in Corellia's Nine Hells did he mean when he said Mandalorian Master? So far as Darius knew, those thing didn't exist. Then again, the padawan wasn't the most experienced guy in the galaxy - a lot of things that sounded fake were very real.

Such as the monstrous worm.

"Good find," Darius wasted no time in powering up the shattergun, "If I get eaten I'm going to haunt you forever!" He shouted to be heard over the sound of rock giving way to the monster's girth. The creature reminded Darius of the Gorax back home given its size. The difference being that this monster was not sentient - it could not be reasoned with or tricked.

The whole cavern was lit up in bright blue light as the shattergun did its job. The powerful weapon practically roared every time it fired. Super heated plasma spread out in an arc toward the worm, and seared through flesh like paper on impact. Darius managed to fire three times before the worm retaliated.

It was focused on him, given that he was the source of the sudden pain in its side. Its enormous mouth outstretched to swallow him whole. Biting back a curse, Darius stumbled back a few paces, avoiding the mouth, but not the creature itself. He was effectively tackled by the enormous monster. The bow alone knocked the air out of his lungs. It crystalline skin cut through his tunic and bit deep into his side.

He managed to fall into relative safety a few feet away. Blood was pouring from the gash in his midriff, but he paid it no mind. He had the monster's attention, and Zak had the lightsaber.

It really would have been much easier to run.

"I don't think we can kill it. Try and cut the crystals off -- or distract it! Something!"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The youngling had jumped when the shattergun was fired.

Luckily, the squeal of a nine year old boy was obscured by the reverberating echo of the weapon's recoil. Particularly as it was fired two more times in succession.

As the whiteworm lunged at them, the Nautolan's head-tails whipped around with the motion of his head. His attention ripped away from the small cannon in Darius' hands, the spry youngling leapt away as the coils of the beast came sliding at them like a landslide.

Don't try to kill it.

Probably a good plan, being that this thing ate the planet. Zak doubted they could kill it. Maybe with a turbolaser or something.

"I'm on it!" the child chirped, landing on a small ledge.

No worries, brah. Just like the Art of Motion obstacle course back home.

Summoning the Force, the youngling jumped several meters into the air. The white blade seared away a layer of crystalline flesh, lashing out in a criss-cross pattern as the boy slashed at the outcropping he'd spied.

He overshot the mark, sailing back the amethyst crystal as he somersaulted onto the creature's back. Unleashing the Force in a burst of speed, the youngling moved in a green blur back toward where the crystal jutted out from the seamless thorax.

Except the floor was moving beneath his feet. One moment, the boy was racing uphill, the next he was on a decline. "Whoa!" the child cried, as his fleet slipped out from under him as he went tumbling from off the whiteworm's back. [member="Nefertari Sovint"]'s training kicked in at the last moment, the boy flipping around in the air so that he made the landing in a three-point crouch that knocked the wind out of him, but otherwise no worse for the wear.

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Please go away monster thing.

This was not going as well as Darius had hoped. He caught a glimpse of Zak sailing over the monster, and with it came a glimmer of hope. A glimmer that was dashed shortly thereafter as the padawan was flung from the creature's back. The bulbous thing turned its attentions back to Darius.

Unlike Zak, Darius' training did not incorporate much of enchancment via the force. No, Darius was forced to run like any poor old human. Thankfully he had long leg and a whole lot of stamina. The adrenaline thundering through his veins with each beat of his heart certainly didn't hurt either. He turned all the way about and booked it toward one of the break away caverns. It was smaller than the one they were currently in - he was hoping to cut the beast off.

Unfortunately, the rock held for all of ten seconds. Darius could not see the creature in the darkness, but he could certainly hear it gaining up on him. Then he felt its hot breath on his back, and made a decision.

Darius pitched a hard roll to the side. The monster just barely missed him, and its momentum carried it forward. Its head smashed into one of the walls, and while the stone cracked, it did not shatter. The beast was momentarily stunned.

Darius held out a hand and closed his eyes. He reached out with the force, immersing himself within its depths. It was a rare event for it to ever answer his call, but this time it was easy. The crystal shifted about on the monster's side. Then it twisted, wriggled, and bent upward. Another moment passed, and it popped.

The sliver of rock flew into Darius' palm just as the worm regained control of itself. It turned toward the two padawans.

"Run!"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Micah tol Powl]

Running sounded like the best idea he'd heard all day.

Not including when he'd thought of having chocolate covered bacon, over waffles, sprinkled with cocoa crisp cereal. That remained the best idea of the last 9 years... in spite of what the Jedi Academy instructors had to say about it. They'd given him an apple and shooed him away. An apple! Seriously, what the feth was that?

As the Nautolan youngling fell into step beside his companion, the aquatic's large, onyx eyes swept up along the edges of the tunnel they were in.

Dust was trickling down, as seams became apparent through the myriad of cracks which formed an intricate spiderweb of lines through the stone. "The cave is collapsing..." the boy realized aloud. Which, was another good reason to run. As if they needed one. Any moment now the whole thing could come down on them and...

...and the monster.

"Hey! We can use this," the young deviant remarked, falling back a step as he lunged at the side wall with a broad sweep of his blade. The white energy cut deeply into the cracks, sending a slab of stone collapsing as an audible creak resonated.

"Keep going!" the boy called, as he fell behind. "I'll catch up in a minute!"

Lunging at the other side of the tunnel, the boy plunged the lightsaber deep into one of the crevices. Twisting the white-hot sword, the Nautolan struggled to break the crack open as the stone around it began to shimmer with the radiated heat. The ceiling overhead split, a loud crack denoting the cracking of the rock. As the worm appeared behind him, slithering toward them, the Nautolan pulled the lightsaber from out of the side wall and lashed out at the broken stone overhead.

As he did, he summoned another burst of speed through the Force, propelling himself out from underneath the rock as it came pouring down in an avalanche.

A cloud of dust exploded outward, shooting out of the tunnel, as the small, green, Nautolan leapt out in a flurry of small pebbles.

[member="Darius"]​

 

[Cedric Grayson]

The cave was beginning to collapse, and Darius' feet could not seem to carry him to safety fast enough. He could feel the work hot on his heels; its jaws outstretched to swallow him whole. Another moment and...

Zak had said something and fell behind. Darius was already out of the tunnel when the Nautolan put his plan into action.

Turning on his heel, Darius prepared to offer his companion assistance - assistance that was clearly unneeded. The little Padawan popped out of the cavern without issue, though he might have been a little dustier than before.

"We're alive," Darius mumbled, "Amazing!"

[member="Zak Dymo"]