Other Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Jedi of Chaos ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: DarkSoar 
After the crash, Ranma and Rosh find out that there is more to be feared than being injured .....
Anime/Manga: Other Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.24.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 917 | Status: Work In Progress
After the crash, Ranma and Rosh find out that there is more to be feared than being injured .....
Anime/Manga: Other Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.24.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 917 | Status: Work In Progress
Usual disclaimer: I am just borrowing some characters and concepts.
A Star Wars-Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy/Ranma 1/2 Crossover
The Jedi of Chaos
Chapter 1
The heat of Zindarr's red sun bore down mercilessly on Ranma Korr's body.
Following Sensei Galdern's instructions, the young man was currently balancing on his hands, feet high in the air, on a twenty-foot high boulder. And also thanks to his teacher's firm insistence, he was doing it while wearing an old, rough-spun homemade black pants and a light brown short-sleeved tunic. Galdern had said that he himself had used similar clothing during his own training as a Padawan decades ago.
The pants and tunic constantly itched against Ranma's skin, providing a constant source of irritation. Sensei Galdern had told him that once he finished this minor footnote of his training, Ranma would be able to focus on other more important matters while ignoring these minor physical sensations.
It had sounded good to the young student, in the beginning at least. Now, half an hour later, he was regretting it. The urge to throw off the damn clothes and scratch all over his body was growing almost beyond his control.
Not only that, but the sun-baked rock was really starting to hurt even his palms, although hardened and callused from years of intense physical training.
What was worse, his sensei had instructed him to move around on the boulder, and that turned out to be a mixed blessing. Ranma was glad for the chance to relieve his suffering palms, even if temporarily. However, at the same time, the moving of his shoulders caused the tunic to shift about uncomfortably around his neck and chest, increasing the temptation to itch.
Finally, Ranma couldn't take it any more. With a grunt, he bent his arms, lowering himself to the point where his nose almost touched the boulder and then flexed his muscles. After a moment of preparation, he pushed off against the surface, propelling himself a good four feet in the air. A single acrobatic flip was all it took to right himself in midair and land noiselessly in a perfectly balanced defensive stance.
Thus back on his feet, Ranma took the opportunity to start blowing frantically on his nearly toasted palms.
From below, an amused voice remarked, "Giving up so quickly, my young Padawan? The day is still young, you know."
"Hey, you're fortunate that you don't have to deal with this damn heat," Ranma replied, shooting his sensei an irritated glance.
"One of the advantages of being a spectral presence in the Force," Galdern said, a wry grin twisting the corners of his mouth. "By the way, do not think to distract me from ordering you to complete the exercise. You still have a full hour left to go, my young Padawan. So get to---."
/**************/
The loud sparking of damaged circuits abruptly woke Ranma up, evaporating the dream memory of his training on Zindarr.
Instantly alert, Ranma looked around him, and upon seeing the damaged and battered interior of the shuttlecraft, he remembered everything that had happened.
The first thing he did was to instinctively check the status of his mental shields that kept his Force energies contained. A moment later, he was satisfied; they were still in place and hadn't been disturbed in the least. Otherwise, the amount of damage and number of casualties, if there were any, would've been greatly increased.
He owed Sensei Galdern for helping him create those shields in order to regain some semblance of control over his chaotic Force potential. Hopefully, this Skywalker person would be able to complete the job and he would be able to continue on with tracking down his bastard stepfather.
Ranma took stock of his condition. Due to being strapped in, he'd received minor injuries only; a bump at the back of his head, a small gash on his forehead, a cut lip, and several bruises on his body.
As he unstrapped himself from his seat, the first thing he noticed was that everyone else was either fastened securely in their seats or crumpled in uncomfortable looking positions against the wall or on the floor. Although more than half of them seemed to have acquired serious injuries and broken limbs, it seemed to him that no one had died during the crash landing.
For a normal person, it would've sent him or her into a stunned state while they struggled with shock. For the young Korr, though, he had dealt with much worse, so accepted the situation for what it was.
The interior of the shuttlecraft looked to have fared much worse than its passengers. Torn and ripped wires hung limply from the ceiling, a few sparking from their exposed ends. Several metal plates and duraplastic covers had been ripped from the bolts holding them in place and were scattered everywhere. Some were even deeply embedded in the cushioned areas of the seats that were, luckily enough, unoccupied.
Shit happens. Deal with it, learn from it, and then move on with life. That had been his motto ever since ..... the incident.
At least he wasn't, as Sensei Galdern had put it, one with the Force yet. That was thanks to his instincts, which he'd always trusted, even if the signals they sent were initially confusing. That was the reason why he was still alive and relatively uninjured. On more than several occasions in the past, they hadn't failed to save him from certain death and had done so again today.
An instant after the red-head had shouted her warning, his gut had told him, warned him in no uncertain terms that he would be making the last mistake of his life if he were to ignore her words.
So, against all reason and logic, he had followed his gut, and once more, he had benefited from the experience.
Another thing to be grateful for, Ranma supposed.
Enough of that, he chided himself. He still had to check on his fellow passengers, and after that, try to contact the Jedi Temple for help.
Standing up, he went to the nearest person, who incidentally was his neighbor, that loudmouthed guy.
What was his name again?
Ranma shrugged. He didn't know about the other boy, but personally, before the crash, he didn't feel inclined to exchange social pleasantries. In fact, he didn't feel anything, period. It was a result of the type of training sensei Galdern had given him, that "Soul of Ice" technique.
Whenever it was "activated", like now, all of his emotions were closed off, leaving him as cold as a glacier.
Stepping closer, Ranma gave him a once over. Somehow, his nameless neighbor had also managed to strap himself into his seat, which was impressive enough, given the fact that there had only been a second's worth of warning.
He had to give him credit, if only for that.
Reaching out with his right hand, Ranma tried to shake him awake.
When that failed to rouse him, he unhesitantly reared back and let fly an openhanded slap that echoed within the small confines of the shuttlecraft.
Rosh Penin woke up right away and couldn't help but notice that right in front of him was the indisputable cause of why he'd happened to come to in such an abrupt and painful manner.
"Hey wake up. Nap time's over." Ranma allowed himself the slightest of smirks.
"What the hell!?" cursed Rosh. The stinging in his cheek spurring him on, the former Academy recruit impulsively lunged forward, his hands eagerly reaching for Ranma's neck.
Ranma was completely caught off guard; fortunately for him, Rosh was still strapped in and thus was prevented from committing attempted homicide.
/****************/
Only the fact that there were more important things to deal first kept things nonviolent between the two young men.
Barely.
That didn't stop Rosh from angrily glaring at Ranma, nor did it stop him from throwing several universally understood forms of obscene gestures.
After Rosh had managed to calm down, the two of them had grudgingly introduced themselves to each other and then went about to the task at hand, namely checking their fellow passengers.
Rosh's condition was similar to Ranma's. Other than a few bumps and bruises, he was okay. It turned out that besides the two of them, only a third person, the female Zabrak, had escaped virtually unscathed. The rest were seriously injured and five of them, including the pilot, were in critical condition. They were in very real danger of dying if no proper medical care was given A.S.A.P.
Such was present, in a limited fashion. The female Zabrak turned out to be Nurse Aserna Kowpath'k, formerly of the Zabra Institute of Medicine.
The Zabrak quickly took charge of the wounded, armed with the shuttle's emergency medical pack at her disposal. She ordered Ranma and Rosh to carefully relocate, under her discretion, those who could be moved into one area. Those in critical condition remained where they were, albeit with a bit of minor repositioning. Aserna decided to work on them first.
With limited supplies, she did her best and had expertly patched up what she could, miraculously stabilizing those who needed to be. However, she told the two boys that if her patients were to fully live out their lives, medical treatment much better than what she had to offer at the moment was needed ASAP.
While the good nurse was busy doing her job, Ranma and Rosh both found out that she had the incredible ability to talk incessantly about any subject. The former surmised that it was probably a technique, however odd, to keep her focus or to distract her from the gore factor of her work, he had no idea. Neither did he care. His subconsciousness tagged her voice as "high pitched and sharp with a heavy unknown accent" and filed it away for future reference.
After less than half a minute of hearing her chatter, Ranma easily tuned her out as he went about attempting to raise the Jedi Academy via the subspace radio.
Unfortunately for Rosh Penin, his mental discipline wasn't as developed.
And what made it worse, Rosh had the questionable honor of being chosen to help Aserna as her aide in her ministrations. That meant he had to stick by her side and follow her instructions.
It also meant that he would be forced to endure the full brunt of her chatter.
If Ranma had been capable of feeling anything at that moment, he would've pitied him.
/****************/
Despite only knowing her for a short period of time, Rosh believed that Nurse Kowpath'k was a good-hearted person, a generous, kind soul that offered her help to those who needed it.
But how in the Force could he known that the she would turn out to be such a damned tireless chatterbox! Only after a few minutes of listening to her, Rosh felt the beginnings of a migraine from just trying to find some connection between Aserna's random topic changes.
"Rosh huney, Ah tell yah that Ah've never seen a more han'some, distingish'd, an' chah'min man than that Tarkin fellow. Oooh that man was sooo fine-lookin' that Ah daresay that ev'ry time Ah saw him on th' holovid Ah turned red as a tomayto!"
However, it was apparent that her quirks took some .... make that a LOT of time getting used to. Rosh tried, he really did, but for all his efforts, his patience was losing the struggle.
Not only that, but his eardrums were rapidly growing sore. When would that blasted woman just give it a moment's rest!?
"Well, Ah b'lieve that we've hit ah'selves a lucky streak; we all managed ta live thru' th' crash lan'ning. That remin's me, do th' two of ya got a clue as ta what in blazes hit us back there? I dunno 'bout you boys, it shore felt like sum' gud fer nuthin' lowdown rat waylaid us!"
Damn it, why couldn't she have chosen that jerk Korr to be her assistant! A cold-hearted person like that deserved the worst!
"Mah momma and poppa wuz downright th' most randiest couple ya could evah meet. Ah've got ten siblin's, mahself included, five boys an' six gurls! Since both Momma and Poppa were th' only kids in their 'spective fam'lies, it's my guess that they agreed ta have many kids ta make up fer that."
If Rosh knew just how effective the Soul of Ice was against Kowpath'k's drivel, despite his feelings toward Ranma, he would've instantly and shamelessly prostrated himself before the pony-tailed man and beg to be taught it.
"Ah remember th' day when Ah b'lieve mah connection ta th' Force first man'fested itself. Boy, Ah sure made Tommy Syrelyn soil his pants when he found himself bein' pushed 'round by a ghost! Bwah hah hah hah!"
Since Rosh had no such training, he suffered in silence, all the while sending hateful glares at a nonchalant and indifferent Ranma, who was in the cockpit.
As Kowpath'k droned on, the former military recruit envied the other passengers. In his opinion, they had it lucky. Being unconscious, the nurse's prattle had no effect on them.
Rosh found himself wanting to trade places with one of them.
Then in the middle of his misery, something occurred to him. Just how, he wondered, did her patients manage to put up with her back on Zabra?
He eventually guessed that it was maybe an immunity built from an extended length of exposure. For the sake of his ears and nerves, Rosh hoped that one day, he too, would be able to effect a similar reaction, seeing as which he would be seeing a whole lot of her in the near future.
"Y'know, Ah couldn't b'lieve that li'l ol' me was so lucky tah be ad-mitted into this here Acad'my. Ah mean, Ah've susp'cted fer a long time that Ah've had a talunt for th' Force; Ah've always seemed tah know what ailed mah patients wit' a simple touch and a bit o' concentrayshun. Unlike mah other fellaw nurses, Ah've almost never needed those danged maydical diyagnoostic contraptions assigned tah me. No-sirreee! All Ah ever needed was mah instinct and list'nin' ta th' Force."
To Rosh's relief, a welcome moment of silence presented itself as Aserna paused to inject a booster syringe into one of the Twilek female's arm. He sent up a quick prayer of thanks for this respite, and hoped that it would be quite long. His ears gratefully soaked up the serenity of absolute quiet and his tense nerves took the opportunity to relax.
However, his luck soon proved otherwise.
"Now huney, lemme tell ya 'bout th' first time Ah kissed a man. Hooo boy, Ah still get sh'vers frum thinkin' 'bout it. He wuz no Tarkin, Ah admit, but he shore made me see stars!"
Rosh felt an almost uncontrollable urge to start moaning in despair.
/*******************/
In the cockpit, from what Ranma could ascertain from the checking he'd done so far, main power was down, leaving only backup running at thirty-five percent. It was much better than he'd expected after the extensive damage sustained by the shuttle.
At the moment, he was simutaneously ignoring Rosh's predicament and tinkering with the shuttle's communication console, trying to get a signal in order to raise the Jedi Temple on a general frequency.
Although he absolutely loathed his step-father, Ranma did acknowledge that the training he recieved from his various instructors, courtesy of Genma's proclaimed 'old acquaintances', had been extremely thorough and comprehensive. Along with the martial arts, mobile target shooting, combat piloting and the rest, there'd been a good amount of technical training involved, part of which was basic electronics troubleshooting and repair.
As he worked, Ranma went over the events that had happened just before the crash...
<The pilot announced that they were just about to enter Yavin's atmosphere. He was about to continue and say something else when he was interrupted by a yell from the back of the shuttlecraft. As small as the shuttlecraft was, the volume of the cry was sufficient to get everyone's undivided attention.
"EVERYBODY, HOLD ON!! WE'RE GOING TO BE ATTACKED!!">
If he remembered correctly, it was the redheaded young woman, currently unconscious with a broken left arm, who had screamed that warning, moments before it had actually happened.
It also didn't surprise Ranma, or mystify him either; having flashes or visions of the future was just one of the many different ways of how the Force might express itself within an individual. Sensei Galdern had taught him much of the pre-Empire Jedi Order and of the Force.
But that was just a minor footnote; the most important thing was that something had happened to cause the engine to explode like that.
Ranma's eyes narrowed in thought while his mouth curled into a frown. He considered what facts he knew. A New Republic shuttlecraft, unarmed and practically defenseless, minding its own business and carrying only passengers, attacked within New Republic space.
The Soul of Ice technique worked by locking away a person's emotions. With Ranma, it enabled him to think more clearly, more logically. In this case, it aided the young Korr in trying to find out what had been responsible for the attack by creating a list of possible causes for an engine explosion, and then let elimination do its work.
Whatever had caused it sure wasn't a coolant leak, although such a thing would lead to the engine heating up and eventually exploding. Nor was it the extremely remote possibility of a collision with meteor debris; the shuttle's sensors would've alerted the pilot way ahead of time.
No, just like what the redhead had warned them about, it had been an attack. No question about it.
There was a possibility of the source being a fighter craft or a pirate ship, but Ranma didn't give that theory much credit; the shuttlecraft's radar would have detected them instantly.
Thus the only thing that seemed to fit picture was either some sort of highly focused energy beam, maybe a type of a ground laser cannon emplacement, or from a RGT (Remote Guided Torpedo). It was the most plausible answer he could come up at the moment.
Unfortunately, as he would find out much later, both guesses were wrong.
/*******************/
"The shuttle's communication equipment is damaged beyond my ability to repair it," Ranma began. He then held up a small, square box with an attenna attached in the middle. "We will have to use this emergency beacon locator to get the attention of the Jedi Temple, if we hope for any sort of rescue."
Ranma's announcement from up in the cockpit saved Rosh's sanity, though it hadn't been his intention to do so. It sufficiently distracted Nurse Kowpath'k enough that she shut her trap to listen, thereby earning a loud groan of relief from Rosh and the four other passengers who had regained consciousness. In Rosh's opinion, this was fortunate, because his tolerance was already way too close at the edges of its limits.
He paused, thinking over things, and walked past the two of them and their patients, disappearing in the shadows at the rear of the shuttlecraft.
"Mr. Korr? What are you doing?" Aserna asked, though no answer followed.
It was dark, but the scant illumination enamating from several still active circuit lights helped Ranma navigate his way through the mess of fallen metal plates and dangling wires. He arrived at his destination, the storage section, and using his foot, he counted off, left to right, the number of compartment pods. When he reached the seventh one, he crouched and shoved off the junk that had fallen on top of it in the crash.
When that was done, he opened it with the security code he had entered when he first boarded the shuttle.
Back at where Rosh and Aserna were, the Zabrak nurse was asking Rosh if he was Ranma's friend. Of course, Rosh's answer was simple and clear.
"What? That, that cold-hearted son of a motherless Hutt MY friend? Hah! I'd rather space myself or fly right into the heart of a supernova than be friends with that damned prick," Rosh muttered, his voice rising. "Look Aserna, that guy is probably one of the rudest, most antagonistic person I'd ever had the displeasure of meeting!"
Aserna threw him a confused look, then shrugged her shoulders, clearly confused at what Rosh's meaning.
"Nevermind," Rosh said, smirking wryly. "Hang around him for only a few minutes than you'll know what I'm talking about."
"Oh okay, if you say so," she allowed dubiously. They fell silent, (a fact that Rosh mentally gave much thanks for) awaiting Korr to finish whatever he was doing.
Her response was interrupted at Ranma's return; everyone awake stared at the young human, noting a few changes in his dress apparel.
The boots were the same but he had taken off his leather jacket, and his gray tunic had been replaced with a light green shirt and he now wore dark brown pants. A heavily modified military model blaster was holstered on his right hip while his lightsaber lay against his other, clipped to his belt. He also had strapped on a black traveling pack.
"Hey boy, what's with the change of clothes? Goin' huntin'?" one of the passengers cracked in amusement, his head heavily bandaged.
Ranma ignored him and asked if anyone else had blasters, or any kind of weapon.
The pilot, who was barely conscious, said, "Yeah, I got one. It's beneath the seat in the cockpit."
Ranma went and retrieved it, then asked, "Does anyone know how to handle a blaster?"
Rosh nodded his head; the Rodian lifted his hand and the pilot croaked an affirmative. Narrowing his eyes, Ranma seemed to come to a decision and gestured in the Rodian's direction.
"You."
"The name's Dah'kk," said the skinny,light-blue Rodian, his high-pitched voice sounding through an electronic translator that somehow made it through the crash in one piece.
Ranma fixed him with a cool, firm gaze. "With the exception of me, Kowpath'k and Penin, you're the least wounded, with only a dislocated shoulder that's already been treated. Was it your dominant arm?"
Dah'kk shook his head.
"Good, the blaster's yours," Ranma declared, moving closer to him and handing the pilot's blaster over, along with a spare power pack. "It's your responsibility to defend Aserna and the others with your life from the native wildlife, should they start sniffing around here and prove to be a threat."
Not giving Dah'kk a chance to refuse, Ranma's gaze switched over to Rosh, who instantly glared back at him and said testily,"What's your problem? Who died and made you boss?"
Ranma regarded him with an expressionless gaze. "You are coming with me."
Rosh's lips curled down in a challenging sneer. "Go kiss a Hutt's nipple."
/*******************/
With an angry snarl on his lips, Rosh impatiently waited for the other man to climb back down the hundred odd foot tree.
"Damned stuck-up freakish son of a....." muttered the youth under his breath, having continually
cursing Ranma with all sorts of wonderfully descriptive sobriquets during their trek through Yavin's forest.
It had been nearly twenty minutes since they left the shuttle, and by Rosh's estimation, they'd walked at least half a mile. Rosh had been coerced into obeying Korr's command after experiencing, courtesy of Ranma, the 'Glare of Death', as he later nicknamed it. This, of course, had made Rosh feel completely humiliated, which in turn led to him being pissed off to no end. Also, the fact that Korr was obviously indifferent of Rosh's opinion of him and simply ordered him around like some sort of servant just increased his anger.
Despite his fear of Korr, Rosh was near his breaking point. So far, he hadn't responded physically to his nemesis's blunt, cold-shouldered attitude because he had a definite feeling that Korr was definitely someone NOT to be messed around with.
Heck, even just being on the recieving end of the 'Glare of Death' was enough to greatly intimidate him, and he harbored notions of wringing the jerk's neck. Seeds of revenge were buries And the humiliation of having to back down made him angry, thus planting seeds of vengeful thoughts.
And even worse, the bastard had kept both blaster and lightsaber for himself, and had given Rosh only the beacon to hold. Well, he'd have to do something about that!
As soon as Korr was down from the tree, he was immediately barraged by a swarm of questions, courtesy of Rosh.
"What the hell were you doing up there? Where do you get off by hogging all the damn weapons? And will you look at me when I'm talking to you!?"
Korr glanced calmly at him, then bent down and picked up his pack. As he wrapped the pack securely around his back, he said, "There's a nearby Massassi temple, a few miles to the southeast. It will be a good place to send up the distress signal with the beacon."
"Well, why couldn't you have sent it while you were up there? Or haven't you noticed how tall these trees are?"
"It still doesn't work."
"Why not?" Rosh bit off.
"All of these trees aren't exactly the same height, meaning some are a little bit taller. I did try, and yes, there was signal, but it was unstable, erratic. All the vegetation and wood must be interfering with the ability of the beacon to maintain the transmission."
Rosh shrugged, not the least bit mollified. "Okay then, how about you giving me that blaster. I DO need something to protect myself, you know."
"No."
"No?" Rosh repeated, then said with more force, "What do you mean NO?"
Ranma's steel gaze skewered him as the ponytailed man regarded him icily. "No, I won't allow you to have it."
By now, Rosh was struggling trying to keep his rage in check. "And, why...the...hell..not?" he grinded out, clenching his fists tightly.
This time, it was Ranma who shrugged as he answered, "I don't know you and I don't trust you. I don't usually make it a habit of allowing armed people I don't trust at my back. Considering your attitude towards me, you'll probably be tempted to shoot me when I'm not looking."
Rosh absorbed that, processed it, and then decided that there was a hidden insult within Korr's words. Completely forgetting that he was easily intimidated by him, Rosh's eyes narrowed as he asked, "Are you saying that I'm not a threat at all, unarmed, and at your back?"
Korr took all of one second to think up an appropriate response. "Exactly." And then, "Let's go. We're wasting time here." With that, he turned away and started walking again.
His face screwing up in growing anger, Rosh made an extremely rash decision right there and then, one that he would very quickly come to regret. His body trembled, his fists rose up, and he growled like some rabid beast.
"What the hell is your damned problem, ya prick? What, you have a proton torpedo up your ass or something? Gimme that blaster, NOW!"
No response had been forthcoming; not even the slightest pause in Ranma's footsteps as he continued as if Rosh hadn't spoken at all.
That was final straw. Simply put, Rosh snapped.
"DIE KORR!" Not very imaginative, but that was what he was thinking of at the moment.
He broke out into a run, charging directly at Ranma's back and threw himself into the air, intending to knock down his opponent and gladly beat him into submission.
Well, that was the plan anyway.
He wasn't exactly sure what happened, but in mid-leap, Ranma just seemed to ..... disappear, leaving Rosh to crash facefirst onto the ground. Before he even think to get up, his left arm was twisted behind his back and he felt Korr's knee in the middle of his spine.
"Hey, hey, what the---!? Let me go, ya jerk! Let me go or I'll kick your ass!"
This time, there was a response from Ranma. Unfortunately for Rosh, it involved his arm being pushed higher up. This wouldn't had been a problem if it weren't for the sudden pain and obvious threat of a broken arm.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay okay man, chill man, chill! Take it easy, c'mon, take it easy! Ouch, damnit!"
"Listen to me, Penin, I'm just going to say this once. Shut up."
Ranma's tone was completely emotionless, and all business. For Rosh, he was certain that the 'Glare of Death' mask was in place. Remembering Ranma's cold, killer-like eyes, his fear suddenly came flooding back, stealing his rage, and left him feeling cold all over.
Though he didn't like it, Rosh forced himself to be silent, difficult as it was.
"We have a job to do; I don't have to remind you that Aserna and everyone else is counting on us to get help from the Temple. Also, if it hasn't crossed your mind, we ARE in a crisis. Don't you remember how we landed on Yavin? It was no sudden engine malfunction, no abrupt coolant leak, not any kind of electronical failure. It was just like that red-headed woman said, we WERE ATTACKED. Shot down. Now, that signifies people behind the act, maybe pirates, maybe enemies of Skywalker, or paid assassins, I have no idea. But I do know that there is a very high probability that they are still out there and will want to finish what they started, or at the very least, check on their work."
"Now, here's what's going to happen. I am going to release you, and you are going to get up slowly, and we are going to continue on our journey. But, I swear, if you ever, EVER, try to attack me, physically or verbally otherwise, I will NOT hesitate to shoot you where you stand. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ME?"
Finding that he had no other choice, Rosh had to say the inevitable.
"Yeah, yeah I do."
"Good." With that, Ranma let go of his arm and stood up, retreating a few steps back.
Muttering under his breath, Rosh slowly pushed himself to his knees, wincing at the lingering pain in his left arm. Sullenly, he rose to his feet, quickly throwing a glare Ranma's way, who ignored it.
'Heh, I'll catch him off guard when he DOESN't have any weapons, the idiot!' Rosh thought in anticipation.
Right at that moment, ahead of them, several bushes rustled and a dark shape walked out, heading straight for them.
Rosh blinked in surprise; the shadows were too dark to see anything clearly but the vague form wasn't humanoid. It was probably some dumb, hungry, carnivorous beast attracted by the sound of their (extremely) short-lived struggle.
Wait a second. Rewind. Hungry...carnivorous....beast?
As the beast advanced, patches of light revealed it to be some sort of reptile, around the size of a big dog. Its mouth opened, revealing an impressive array of razor sharp teeth, and a loud hiss filled the sudden silence.
The young Penin's face turned pale and his throat suddenly dried up as he suddenly realized two important things.
One, he was completely unarmed, and Two, he was closer to the predator than Korr.
Before he could start panicking, before he could even THINK, the sound of a blaster being fired echoed from behind him and he saw a single laser bolt flash past him and, somehow, incredibly, strike the reptile directly in the middle of its head. The hiss immediately died out and it slumped gracelessly to the forest floor.
Rosh almost gave himself a whiplash as his head whipped quickly around to look at his tormentor. Ranma gazed back at him coolly, the blaster already holstered, and began walking forward as if nothing had happened. The ponytailed man casually stepped over the corpse and waved for his stupefied companion to follow.
Rosh gaped as he noted the seemingly inhuman pinpoint accuracy of the shot; over a good distance of twenty feet! A renewed chill ran up his spine as the young Penin finally realized the truth........
All this time, he'd been playing with fire.
End Chapter 1
Began March 08 2006
Finished May 26, 2006
Author's Notes:
Well, with the speed of a crippled turtle, Chapter 1 is finally done. Apologies for the long wait, but RL kinda interfered.
C&C will be greatly appreciated...thanks! Oh yeah, and if you have a suggestion for the title of this chapter, by all means, send it my way.
A Star Wars-Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy/Ranma 1/2 Crossover
The Jedi of Chaos
Chapter 1
The heat of Zindarr's red sun bore down mercilessly on Ranma Korr's body.
Following Sensei Galdern's instructions, the young man was currently balancing on his hands, feet high in the air, on a twenty-foot high boulder. And also thanks to his teacher's firm insistence, he was doing it while wearing an old, rough-spun homemade black pants and a light brown short-sleeved tunic. Galdern had said that he himself had used similar clothing during his own training as a Padawan decades ago.
The pants and tunic constantly itched against Ranma's skin, providing a constant source of irritation. Sensei Galdern had told him that once he finished this minor footnote of his training, Ranma would be able to focus on other more important matters while ignoring these minor physical sensations.
It had sounded good to the young student, in the beginning at least. Now, half an hour later, he was regretting it. The urge to throw off the damn clothes and scratch all over his body was growing almost beyond his control.
Not only that, but the sun-baked rock was really starting to hurt even his palms, although hardened and callused from years of intense physical training.
What was worse, his sensei had instructed him to move around on the boulder, and that turned out to be a mixed blessing. Ranma was glad for the chance to relieve his suffering palms, even if temporarily. However, at the same time, the moving of his shoulders caused the tunic to shift about uncomfortably around his neck and chest, increasing the temptation to itch.
Finally, Ranma couldn't take it any more. With a grunt, he bent his arms, lowering himself to the point where his nose almost touched the boulder and then flexed his muscles. After a moment of preparation, he pushed off against the surface, propelling himself a good four feet in the air. A single acrobatic flip was all it took to right himself in midair and land noiselessly in a perfectly balanced defensive stance.
Thus back on his feet, Ranma took the opportunity to start blowing frantically on his nearly toasted palms.
From below, an amused voice remarked, "Giving up so quickly, my young Padawan? The day is still young, you know."
"Hey, you're fortunate that you don't have to deal with this damn heat," Ranma replied, shooting his sensei an irritated glance.
"One of the advantages of being a spectral presence in the Force," Galdern said, a wry grin twisting the corners of his mouth. "By the way, do not think to distract me from ordering you to complete the exercise. You still have a full hour left to go, my young Padawan. So get to---."
/**************/
The loud sparking of damaged circuits abruptly woke Ranma up, evaporating the dream memory of his training on Zindarr.
Instantly alert, Ranma looked around him, and upon seeing the damaged and battered interior of the shuttlecraft, he remembered everything that had happened.
The first thing he did was to instinctively check the status of his mental shields that kept his Force energies contained. A moment later, he was satisfied; they were still in place and hadn't been disturbed in the least. Otherwise, the amount of damage and number of casualties, if there were any, would've been greatly increased.
He owed Sensei Galdern for helping him create those shields in order to regain some semblance of control over his chaotic Force potential. Hopefully, this Skywalker person would be able to complete the job and he would be able to continue on with tracking down his bastard stepfather.
Ranma took stock of his condition. Due to being strapped in, he'd received minor injuries only; a bump at the back of his head, a small gash on his forehead, a cut lip, and several bruises on his body.
As he unstrapped himself from his seat, the first thing he noticed was that everyone else was either fastened securely in their seats or crumpled in uncomfortable looking positions against the wall or on the floor. Although more than half of them seemed to have acquired serious injuries and broken limbs, it seemed to him that no one had died during the crash landing.
For a normal person, it would've sent him or her into a stunned state while they struggled with shock. For the young Korr, though, he had dealt with much worse, so accepted the situation for what it was.
The interior of the shuttlecraft looked to have fared much worse than its passengers. Torn and ripped wires hung limply from the ceiling, a few sparking from their exposed ends. Several metal plates and duraplastic covers had been ripped from the bolts holding them in place and were scattered everywhere. Some were even deeply embedded in the cushioned areas of the seats that were, luckily enough, unoccupied.
Shit happens. Deal with it, learn from it, and then move on with life. That had been his motto ever since ..... the incident.
At least he wasn't, as Sensei Galdern had put it, one with the Force yet. That was thanks to his instincts, which he'd always trusted, even if the signals they sent were initially confusing. That was the reason why he was still alive and relatively uninjured. On more than several occasions in the past, they hadn't failed to save him from certain death and had done so again today.
An instant after the red-head had shouted her warning, his gut had told him, warned him in no uncertain terms that he would be making the last mistake of his life if he were to ignore her words.
So, against all reason and logic, he had followed his gut, and once more, he had benefited from the experience.
Another thing to be grateful for, Ranma supposed.
Enough of that, he chided himself. He still had to check on his fellow passengers, and after that, try to contact the Jedi Temple for help.
Standing up, he went to the nearest person, who incidentally was his neighbor, that loudmouthed guy.
What was his name again?
Ranma shrugged. He didn't know about the other boy, but personally, before the crash, he didn't feel inclined to exchange social pleasantries. In fact, he didn't feel anything, period. It was a result of the type of training sensei Galdern had given him, that "Soul of Ice" technique.
Whenever it was "activated", like now, all of his emotions were closed off, leaving him as cold as a glacier.
Stepping closer, Ranma gave him a once over. Somehow, his nameless neighbor had also managed to strap himself into his seat, which was impressive enough, given the fact that there had only been a second's worth of warning.
He had to give him credit, if only for that.
Reaching out with his right hand, Ranma tried to shake him awake.
When that failed to rouse him, he unhesitantly reared back and let fly an openhanded slap that echoed within the small confines of the shuttlecraft.
Rosh Penin woke up right away and couldn't help but notice that right in front of him was the indisputable cause of why he'd happened to come to in such an abrupt and painful manner.
"Hey wake up. Nap time's over." Ranma allowed himself the slightest of smirks.
"What the hell!?" cursed Rosh. The stinging in his cheek spurring him on, the former Academy recruit impulsively lunged forward, his hands eagerly reaching for Ranma's neck.
Ranma was completely caught off guard; fortunately for him, Rosh was still strapped in and thus was prevented from committing attempted homicide.
/****************/
Only the fact that there were more important things to deal first kept things nonviolent between the two young men.
Barely.
That didn't stop Rosh from angrily glaring at Ranma, nor did it stop him from throwing several universally understood forms of obscene gestures.
After Rosh had managed to calm down, the two of them had grudgingly introduced themselves to each other and then went about to the task at hand, namely checking their fellow passengers.
Rosh's condition was similar to Ranma's. Other than a few bumps and bruises, he was okay. It turned out that besides the two of them, only a third person, the female Zabrak, had escaped virtually unscathed. The rest were seriously injured and five of them, including the pilot, were in critical condition. They were in very real danger of dying if no proper medical care was given A.S.A.P.
Such was present, in a limited fashion. The female Zabrak turned out to be Nurse Aserna Kowpath'k, formerly of the Zabra Institute of Medicine.
The Zabrak quickly took charge of the wounded, armed with the shuttle's emergency medical pack at her disposal. She ordered Ranma and Rosh to carefully relocate, under her discretion, those who could be moved into one area. Those in critical condition remained where they were, albeit with a bit of minor repositioning. Aserna decided to work on them first.
With limited supplies, she did her best and had expertly patched up what she could, miraculously stabilizing those who needed to be. However, she told the two boys that if her patients were to fully live out their lives, medical treatment much better than what she had to offer at the moment was needed ASAP.
While the good nurse was busy doing her job, Ranma and Rosh both found out that she had the incredible ability to talk incessantly about any subject. The former surmised that it was probably a technique, however odd, to keep her focus or to distract her from the gore factor of her work, he had no idea. Neither did he care. His subconsciousness tagged her voice as "high pitched and sharp with a heavy unknown accent" and filed it away for future reference.
After less than half a minute of hearing her chatter, Ranma easily tuned her out as he went about attempting to raise the Jedi Academy via the subspace radio.
Unfortunately for Rosh Penin, his mental discipline wasn't as developed.
And what made it worse, Rosh had the questionable honor of being chosen to help Aserna as her aide in her ministrations. That meant he had to stick by her side and follow her instructions.
It also meant that he would be forced to endure the full brunt of her chatter.
If Ranma had been capable of feeling anything at that moment, he would've pitied him.
/****************/
Despite only knowing her for a short period of time, Rosh believed that Nurse Kowpath'k was a good-hearted person, a generous, kind soul that offered her help to those who needed it.
But how in the Force could he known that the she would turn out to be such a damned tireless chatterbox! Only after a few minutes of listening to her, Rosh felt the beginnings of a migraine from just trying to find some connection between Aserna's random topic changes.
"Rosh huney, Ah tell yah that Ah've never seen a more han'some, distingish'd, an' chah'min man than that Tarkin fellow. Oooh that man was sooo fine-lookin' that Ah daresay that ev'ry time Ah saw him on th' holovid Ah turned red as a tomayto!"
However, it was apparent that her quirks took some .... make that a LOT of time getting used to. Rosh tried, he really did, but for all his efforts, his patience was losing the struggle.
Not only that, but his eardrums were rapidly growing sore. When would that blasted woman just give it a moment's rest!?
"Well, Ah b'lieve that we've hit ah'selves a lucky streak; we all managed ta live thru' th' crash lan'ning. That remin's me, do th' two of ya got a clue as ta what in blazes hit us back there? I dunno 'bout you boys, it shore felt like sum' gud fer nuthin' lowdown rat waylaid us!"
Damn it, why couldn't she have chosen that jerk Korr to be her assistant! A cold-hearted person like that deserved the worst!
"Mah momma and poppa wuz downright th' most randiest couple ya could evah meet. Ah've got ten siblin's, mahself included, five boys an' six gurls! Since both Momma and Poppa were th' only kids in their 'spective fam'lies, it's my guess that they agreed ta have many kids ta make up fer that."
If Rosh knew just how effective the Soul of Ice was against Kowpath'k's drivel, despite his feelings toward Ranma, he would've instantly and shamelessly prostrated himself before the pony-tailed man and beg to be taught it.
"Ah remember th' day when Ah b'lieve mah connection ta th' Force first man'fested itself. Boy, Ah sure made Tommy Syrelyn soil his pants when he found himself bein' pushed 'round by a ghost! Bwah hah hah hah!"
Since Rosh had no such training, he suffered in silence, all the while sending hateful glares at a nonchalant and indifferent Ranma, who was in the cockpit.
As Kowpath'k droned on, the former military recruit envied the other passengers. In his opinion, they had it lucky. Being unconscious, the nurse's prattle had no effect on them.
Rosh found himself wanting to trade places with one of them.
Then in the middle of his misery, something occurred to him. Just how, he wondered, did her patients manage to put up with her back on Zabra?
He eventually guessed that it was maybe an immunity built from an extended length of exposure. For the sake of his ears and nerves, Rosh hoped that one day, he too, would be able to effect a similar reaction, seeing as which he would be seeing a whole lot of her in the near future.
"Y'know, Ah couldn't b'lieve that li'l ol' me was so lucky tah be ad-mitted into this here Acad'my. Ah mean, Ah've susp'cted fer a long time that Ah've had a talunt for th' Force; Ah've always seemed tah know what ailed mah patients wit' a simple touch and a bit o' concentrayshun. Unlike mah other fellaw nurses, Ah've almost never needed those danged maydical diyagnoostic contraptions assigned tah me. No-sirreee! All Ah ever needed was mah instinct and list'nin' ta th' Force."
To Rosh's relief, a welcome moment of silence presented itself as Aserna paused to inject a booster syringe into one of the Twilek female's arm. He sent up a quick prayer of thanks for this respite, and hoped that it would be quite long. His ears gratefully soaked up the serenity of absolute quiet and his tense nerves took the opportunity to relax.
However, his luck soon proved otherwise.
"Now huney, lemme tell ya 'bout th' first time Ah kissed a man. Hooo boy, Ah still get sh'vers frum thinkin' 'bout it. He wuz no Tarkin, Ah admit, but he shore made me see stars!"
Rosh felt an almost uncontrollable urge to start moaning in despair.
/*******************/
In the cockpit, from what Ranma could ascertain from the checking he'd done so far, main power was down, leaving only backup running at thirty-five percent. It was much better than he'd expected after the extensive damage sustained by the shuttle.
At the moment, he was simutaneously ignoring Rosh's predicament and tinkering with the shuttle's communication console, trying to get a signal in order to raise the Jedi Temple on a general frequency.
Although he absolutely loathed his step-father, Ranma did acknowledge that the training he recieved from his various instructors, courtesy of Genma's proclaimed 'old acquaintances', had been extremely thorough and comprehensive. Along with the martial arts, mobile target shooting, combat piloting and the rest, there'd been a good amount of technical training involved, part of which was basic electronics troubleshooting and repair.
As he worked, Ranma went over the events that had happened just before the crash...
<The pilot announced that they were just about to enter Yavin's atmosphere. He was about to continue and say something else when he was interrupted by a yell from the back of the shuttlecraft. As small as the shuttlecraft was, the volume of the cry was sufficient to get everyone's undivided attention.
"EVERYBODY, HOLD ON!! WE'RE GOING TO BE ATTACKED!!">
If he remembered correctly, it was the redheaded young woman, currently unconscious with a broken left arm, who had screamed that warning, moments before it had actually happened.
It also didn't surprise Ranma, or mystify him either; having flashes or visions of the future was just one of the many different ways of how the Force might express itself within an individual. Sensei Galdern had taught him much of the pre-Empire Jedi Order and of the Force.
But that was just a minor footnote; the most important thing was that something had happened to cause the engine to explode like that.
Ranma's eyes narrowed in thought while his mouth curled into a frown. He considered what facts he knew. A New Republic shuttlecraft, unarmed and practically defenseless, minding its own business and carrying only passengers, attacked within New Republic space.
The Soul of Ice technique worked by locking away a person's emotions. With Ranma, it enabled him to think more clearly, more logically. In this case, it aided the young Korr in trying to find out what had been responsible for the attack by creating a list of possible causes for an engine explosion, and then let elimination do its work.
Whatever had caused it sure wasn't a coolant leak, although such a thing would lead to the engine heating up and eventually exploding. Nor was it the extremely remote possibility of a collision with meteor debris; the shuttle's sensors would've alerted the pilot way ahead of time.
No, just like what the redhead had warned them about, it had been an attack. No question about it.
There was a possibility of the source being a fighter craft or a pirate ship, but Ranma didn't give that theory much credit; the shuttlecraft's radar would have detected them instantly.
Thus the only thing that seemed to fit picture was either some sort of highly focused energy beam, maybe a type of a ground laser cannon emplacement, or from a RGT (Remote Guided Torpedo). It was the most plausible answer he could come up at the moment.
Unfortunately, as he would find out much later, both guesses were wrong.
/*******************/
"The shuttle's communication equipment is damaged beyond my ability to repair it," Ranma began. He then held up a small, square box with an attenna attached in the middle. "We will have to use this emergency beacon locator to get the attention of the Jedi Temple, if we hope for any sort of rescue."
Ranma's announcement from up in the cockpit saved Rosh's sanity, though it hadn't been his intention to do so. It sufficiently distracted Nurse Kowpath'k enough that she shut her trap to listen, thereby earning a loud groan of relief from Rosh and the four other passengers who had regained consciousness. In Rosh's opinion, this was fortunate, because his tolerance was already way too close at the edges of its limits.
He paused, thinking over things, and walked past the two of them and their patients, disappearing in the shadows at the rear of the shuttlecraft.
"Mr. Korr? What are you doing?" Aserna asked, though no answer followed.
It was dark, but the scant illumination enamating from several still active circuit lights helped Ranma navigate his way through the mess of fallen metal plates and dangling wires. He arrived at his destination, the storage section, and using his foot, he counted off, left to right, the number of compartment pods. When he reached the seventh one, he crouched and shoved off the junk that had fallen on top of it in the crash.
When that was done, he opened it with the security code he had entered when he first boarded the shuttle.
Back at where Rosh and Aserna were, the Zabrak nurse was asking Rosh if he was Ranma's friend. Of course, Rosh's answer was simple and clear.
"What? That, that cold-hearted son of a motherless Hutt MY friend? Hah! I'd rather space myself or fly right into the heart of a supernova than be friends with that damned prick," Rosh muttered, his voice rising. "Look Aserna, that guy is probably one of the rudest, most antagonistic person I'd ever had the displeasure of meeting!"
Aserna threw him a confused look, then shrugged her shoulders, clearly confused at what Rosh's meaning.
"Nevermind," Rosh said, smirking wryly. "Hang around him for only a few minutes than you'll know what I'm talking about."
"Oh okay, if you say so," she allowed dubiously. They fell silent, (a fact that Rosh mentally gave much thanks for) awaiting Korr to finish whatever he was doing.
Her response was interrupted at Ranma's return; everyone awake stared at the young human, noting a few changes in his dress apparel.
The boots were the same but he had taken off his leather jacket, and his gray tunic had been replaced with a light green shirt and he now wore dark brown pants. A heavily modified military model blaster was holstered on his right hip while his lightsaber lay against his other, clipped to his belt. He also had strapped on a black traveling pack.
"Hey boy, what's with the change of clothes? Goin' huntin'?" one of the passengers cracked in amusement, his head heavily bandaged.
Ranma ignored him and asked if anyone else had blasters, or any kind of weapon.
The pilot, who was barely conscious, said, "Yeah, I got one. It's beneath the seat in the cockpit."
Ranma went and retrieved it, then asked, "Does anyone know how to handle a blaster?"
Rosh nodded his head; the Rodian lifted his hand and the pilot croaked an affirmative. Narrowing his eyes, Ranma seemed to come to a decision and gestured in the Rodian's direction.
"You."
"The name's Dah'kk," said the skinny,light-blue Rodian, his high-pitched voice sounding through an electronic translator that somehow made it through the crash in one piece.
Ranma fixed him with a cool, firm gaze. "With the exception of me, Kowpath'k and Penin, you're the least wounded, with only a dislocated shoulder that's already been treated. Was it your dominant arm?"
Dah'kk shook his head.
"Good, the blaster's yours," Ranma declared, moving closer to him and handing the pilot's blaster over, along with a spare power pack. "It's your responsibility to defend Aserna and the others with your life from the native wildlife, should they start sniffing around here and prove to be a threat."
Not giving Dah'kk a chance to refuse, Ranma's gaze switched over to Rosh, who instantly glared back at him and said testily,"What's your problem? Who died and made you boss?"
Ranma regarded him with an expressionless gaze. "You are coming with me."
Rosh's lips curled down in a challenging sneer. "Go kiss a Hutt's nipple."
/*******************/
With an angry snarl on his lips, Rosh impatiently waited for the other man to climb back down the hundred odd foot tree.
"Damned stuck-up freakish son of a....." muttered the youth under his breath, having continually
cursing Ranma with all sorts of wonderfully descriptive sobriquets during their trek through Yavin's forest.
It had been nearly twenty minutes since they left the shuttle, and by Rosh's estimation, they'd walked at least half a mile. Rosh had been coerced into obeying Korr's command after experiencing, courtesy of Ranma, the 'Glare of Death', as he later nicknamed it. This, of course, had made Rosh feel completely humiliated, which in turn led to him being pissed off to no end. Also, the fact that Korr was obviously indifferent of Rosh's opinion of him and simply ordered him around like some sort of servant just increased his anger.
Despite his fear of Korr, Rosh was near his breaking point. So far, he hadn't responded physically to his nemesis's blunt, cold-shouldered attitude because he had a definite feeling that Korr was definitely someone NOT to be messed around with.
Heck, even just being on the recieving end of the 'Glare of Death' was enough to greatly intimidate him, and he harbored notions of wringing the jerk's neck. Seeds of revenge were buries And the humiliation of having to back down made him angry, thus planting seeds of vengeful thoughts.
And even worse, the bastard had kept both blaster and lightsaber for himself, and had given Rosh only the beacon to hold. Well, he'd have to do something about that!
As soon as Korr was down from the tree, he was immediately barraged by a swarm of questions, courtesy of Rosh.
"What the hell were you doing up there? Where do you get off by hogging all the damn weapons? And will you look at me when I'm talking to you!?"
Korr glanced calmly at him, then bent down and picked up his pack. As he wrapped the pack securely around his back, he said, "There's a nearby Massassi temple, a few miles to the southeast. It will be a good place to send up the distress signal with the beacon."
"Well, why couldn't you have sent it while you were up there? Or haven't you noticed how tall these trees are?"
"It still doesn't work."
"Why not?" Rosh bit off.
"All of these trees aren't exactly the same height, meaning some are a little bit taller. I did try, and yes, there was signal, but it was unstable, erratic. All the vegetation and wood must be interfering with the ability of the beacon to maintain the transmission."
Rosh shrugged, not the least bit mollified. "Okay then, how about you giving me that blaster. I DO need something to protect myself, you know."
"No."
"No?" Rosh repeated, then said with more force, "What do you mean NO?"
Ranma's steel gaze skewered him as the ponytailed man regarded him icily. "No, I won't allow you to have it."
By now, Rosh was struggling trying to keep his rage in check. "And, why...the...hell..not?" he grinded out, clenching his fists tightly.
This time, it was Ranma who shrugged as he answered, "I don't know you and I don't trust you. I don't usually make it a habit of allowing armed people I don't trust at my back. Considering your attitude towards me, you'll probably be tempted to shoot me when I'm not looking."
Rosh absorbed that, processed it, and then decided that there was a hidden insult within Korr's words. Completely forgetting that he was easily intimidated by him, Rosh's eyes narrowed as he asked, "Are you saying that I'm not a threat at all, unarmed, and at your back?"
Korr took all of one second to think up an appropriate response. "Exactly." And then, "Let's go. We're wasting time here." With that, he turned away and started walking again.
His face screwing up in growing anger, Rosh made an extremely rash decision right there and then, one that he would very quickly come to regret. His body trembled, his fists rose up, and he growled like some rabid beast.
"What the hell is your damned problem, ya prick? What, you have a proton torpedo up your ass or something? Gimme that blaster, NOW!"
No response had been forthcoming; not even the slightest pause in Ranma's footsteps as he continued as if Rosh hadn't spoken at all.
That was final straw. Simply put, Rosh snapped.
"DIE KORR!" Not very imaginative, but that was what he was thinking of at the moment.
He broke out into a run, charging directly at Ranma's back and threw himself into the air, intending to knock down his opponent and gladly beat him into submission.
Well, that was the plan anyway.
He wasn't exactly sure what happened, but in mid-leap, Ranma just seemed to ..... disappear, leaving Rosh to crash facefirst onto the ground. Before he even think to get up, his left arm was twisted behind his back and he felt Korr's knee in the middle of his spine.
"Hey, hey, what the---!? Let me go, ya jerk! Let me go or I'll kick your ass!"
This time, there was a response from Ranma. Unfortunately for Rosh, it involved his arm being pushed higher up. This wouldn't had been a problem if it weren't for the sudden pain and obvious threat of a broken arm.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay okay man, chill man, chill! Take it easy, c'mon, take it easy! Ouch, damnit!"
"Listen to me, Penin, I'm just going to say this once. Shut up."
Ranma's tone was completely emotionless, and all business. For Rosh, he was certain that the 'Glare of Death' mask was in place. Remembering Ranma's cold, killer-like eyes, his fear suddenly came flooding back, stealing his rage, and left him feeling cold all over.
Though he didn't like it, Rosh forced himself to be silent, difficult as it was.
"We have a job to do; I don't have to remind you that Aserna and everyone else is counting on us to get help from the Temple. Also, if it hasn't crossed your mind, we ARE in a crisis. Don't you remember how we landed on Yavin? It was no sudden engine malfunction, no abrupt coolant leak, not any kind of electronical failure. It was just like that red-headed woman said, we WERE ATTACKED. Shot down. Now, that signifies people behind the act, maybe pirates, maybe enemies of Skywalker, or paid assassins, I have no idea. But I do know that there is a very high probability that they are still out there and will want to finish what they started, or at the very least, check on their work."
"Now, here's what's going to happen. I am going to release you, and you are going to get up slowly, and we are going to continue on our journey. But, I swear, if you ever, EVER, try to attack me, physically or verbally otherwise, I will NOT hesitate to shoot you where you stand. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ME?"
Finding that he had no other choice, Rosh had to say the inevitable.
"Yeah, yeah I do."
"Good." With that, Ranma let go of his arm and stood up, retreating a few steps back.
Muttering under his breath, Rosh slowly pushed himself to his knees, wincing at the lingering pain in his left arm. Sullenly, he rose to his feet, quickly throwing a glare Ranma's way, who ignored it.
'Heh, I'll catch him off guard when he DOESN't have any weapons, the idiot!' Rosh thought in anticipation.
Right at that moment, ahead of them, several bushes rustled and a dark shape walked out, heading straight for them.
Rosh blinked in surprise; the shadows were too dark to see anything clearly but the vague form wasn't humanoid. It was probably some dumb, hungry, carnivorous beast attracted by the sound of their (extremely) short-lived struggle.
Wait a second. Rewind. Hungry...carnivorous....beast?
As the beast advanced, patches of light revealed it to be some sort of reptile, around the size of a big dog. Its mouth opened, revealing an impressive array of razor sharp teeth, and a loud hiss filled the sudden silence.
The young Penin's face turned pale and his throat suddenly dried up as he suddenly realized two important things.
One, he was completely unarmed, and Two, he was closer to the predator than Korr.
Before he could start panicking, before he could even THINK, the sound of a blaster being fired echoed from behind him and he saw a single laser bolt flash past him and, somehow, incredibly, strike the reptile directly in the middle of its head. The hiss immediately died out and it slumped gracelessly to the forest floor.
Rosh almost gave himself a whiplash as his head whipped quickly around to look at his tormentor. Ranma gazed back at him coolly, the blaster already holstered, and began walking forward as if nothing had happened. The ponytailed man casually stepped over the corpse and waved for his stupefied companion to follow.
Rosh gaped as he noted the seemingly inhuman pinpoint accuracy of the shot; over a good distance of twenty feet! A renewed chill ran up his spine as the young Penin finally realized the truth........
All this time, he'd been playing with fire.
End Chapter 1
Began March 08 2006
Finished May 26, 2006
Author's Notes:
Well, with the speed of a crippled turtle, Chapter 1 is finally done. Apologies for the long wait, but RL kinda interfered.
C&C will be greatly appreciated...thanks! Oh yeah, and if you have a suggestion for the title of this chapter, by all means, send it my way.