Crossover Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Angel ❯ Chapter 31 ( Chapter 31 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kaeli 
Anime/Manga: Crossover Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Classic / Adventure / Action / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 12.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Crossover Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Classic / Adventure / Action / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 12.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
Dark Angel
Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Star Wars characters. I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the story all of this is in. That is all.
Author's Note: Happy New Years!
Chapter 31
The sounds of battle had not yet died down, the desert planet waiting and watching for the fate of two worlds to come at an end. These same battles seemed to go on forever, without an end and without a beginning. These battles would end eventually in a single universe, in a single time line, but would continue on in another time frame. Where they would continue to fight and who they would be fighting against had yet to been seen and would remain hidden in the stream of time for all eternity. That was the way battles and time went, colliding together in a infinite loop between good, evil, and a way of life.
And, still, there was a hope that this loop would be broken, even if that twinge of desperation had disappeared and the hope never came into realization. The only thing Amidala, Queen of Naboo and Keeper of Innocence, could do and hope was that her time to fight would draw near. She had removed herself from the fight between Jedi and Sith not long before the duel between the dark side and the light side had started. That was the only way to keep out of their way while they fought in a locked battle between two ideals; her chance to get out of the clutches of Siddious had come and she took it without hesitation.
From her vantage point behind a mud and sand hut, she could hear the blades of the Jedi and Sith clash together. They hadn't gotten far from the center of the landing port, maybe a half of a mile, give or take a few feet. That was still a half of a mile too far away for her to be comfortable at, even with ideas of how to sneak past the three without getting hurt again. Her shoulder still throbbed with pain but not as much as it had before. She raised a hand to her shoulder, muttering to herself how she would get back at whoever shot her as she placed her back against the sand-encrusted wall and turned her head around the edge of the hut. The fight had started without her losing any more blood then she already had; the blood that she had lost had stained her clothing and she would have to throw them out. Blood stains were hard to get out of the garments she wore; besides, they were old handmaiden clothing that she had been meaning to get rid of for several months now.
She could barely make out the figures that were dance to the tune of lightsaber blades, the hissing and sparks from the three beams echoing off of the sand below their boots. The Sith moved effortless between the two Jedi, who swirled and clashed together in unison and without hesitation; even with the heat of the two suns and the dry air of the desert, nether one seemed to look as though they cared they were fighting in a harsh climate. She had remembered hearing once that Jedi trained in worse climates then that of Tatooine, when they had to learn how to deal with different planets and the ways of those same planets. But that had only been a rumor and she was not about to ask any Jedi if it were true.
Amidala felt a twinge of remorse for not been able to go into the fight with them, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Considering she knew just enough about this Sith and even more about the dealings with his Nemodian counterparts, she would either have to wait this fight out or find a way to help out in some way. She didn't like to sit idle for to long when there was something that she could be doing to help, even if it was a small role that she could play. She had gotten in the spirit of defending the peace when the Trade Federation blockade had come down and she wasn't about to start sitting out on anything yet. It wasn't in her just to watch from the side and hope that everything would end in a way she wanted to go. No, she wasn't like that and she wasn't going to start.
She was about to start slithering around the wall when a hand reached out and clamped down upon her mouth. Eyes going wide, her scream became muffled in the palm of her attacker. Her first instinct was to twist and turn to get out of this prediction, her nails going into the mud and sand wall of the hut. She wasn't struggling out of fear of being attacked again so suddenly -- it was just a reflex that she had to keep herself from being captured again. Too many times she had been the pawn of someone and she wasn't about to let that happen again.
As her eyes turn towards her attack, her body stops moving and her shoulders sag, eyes going slack and head tilting to the side. The hand moved from her mouth as the Queen got herself together and frowned, crossing her arms loosely across her chest and held her tongue for just a moment. This wasn't out of humiliation to keep this quiet, but to keep a rising anger from boiling over and spilling onto the desert. Then again, she deserved this and anything else that came her way. After all, it had been herwho had run away in a chase of broken ideas.
"And where have you been?" Amidala demanded as soon as she content that she wouldn't let out any more anger then she would. The man standing before her reacted first by laughing, no matter how foolish it was to laugh at a queen in this kind of situation. Still, he looked more then relived that he had found her once again and was alive and well as she should be. His clothing was sand-worn, from the heat and the wind that whipped the sand from the ground. There were lines of worry that creased his face, a hint that he had not only looked as though he had been to hell and back again but probably had been in a literal sense.
"Looking for you, what else?" Panaka said as he puts his hand down by his side. He smiled at her, hardly looking at ease of being so close to battle and yet so far away from the a peaceful nature. His dark face doesn't reflect the smile that he has, as though he is forcing himself to smile at the queen's expense. "I nearly went to the Sand People to see if they had gotten to you. They have a habit of kidnapping people out in the desert, you know."
"I haven't been caught by the Sand People. I was captured by something else, though." Amidala waved a hand to silence him before he could ask her what she meant, although he had a good sense of knowing what had happened the last time they had seen each other. "Did you get in touch with anyone on Naboo? Does anyone know that I was missing?"
"No. That would have been my last resort, sending a transmission back to Naboo." The captain held a grimace on his face for a spilt second before he relaxed; from that expression, she figured he would have had some explaining to do if he had sent word he had lost the Queen of Naboo. And he would have had more then a few demotions in rank when he came back to the planet with or without the queen in tow. "What little resources would have been sent to find you, if I couldn't or any Jedi."
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She gave him a hard look and, in exchange, Panaka gave her a I'm sure you arelook in response. "How did you know that I was here?"
That question was answered as soon as a young child came into view from around the other side of the mud hut, a knowing smile upon his lips. He looked like he had done something grande or found something worthwhile, a smug look that would have given him more then a verbal lashing from the Council. Just knowing that Anakin hadn't gone off somewhere on Tatooine was enough for her, although she wondered why he was there with them instead of fending off the Sith with the Jedi masters handling it by themselves.
"Because I found something more useful then 'being in the way of something I am too young to deal with'", Anakin said before Amidala even opened her mouth. She stared at him, amazed at what the boy had just said. It was startling what Jedi could do and say even before anything happened or had been said. But she was more surprised at what he had said rather then when he had said it.
"Obi-Wan told you that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Anakin shook his head on that.
"No, but that's what he implies," The Padawan mumbled, a bitter sound to his voice as he stepped forwards and took the queen by the hand. "Come on. I'll show you, although I'm sure you already know what it is."
"Wait," Amidala sputtered out as Anakin pulled her in the direction away from the fighting Jedi. "We can't leave yet. There is the matter of...."
She didn't get to finish her sentence, Panaka coughing for her attention. She turned her head towards him as he patted the blaster pistol holstered at his side. "I had been aiming for himbut hit you instead. Very sorry about that, Your Highness."
"Nice shot," She said dryly, wiggling her hand free from Anakin and walking in step next to Panaka. "Anakin, what did you find?"
Anakin didn't answer her question, taking the option instead to ignore her and continue on. He hurries ahead of them as they followed as closely as possible they could to a Padawan. Although he was still quite young, he had grown in the way of the Force and had become stronger then the last time they had seen the boy. There were the physical changes, such as growing taller and looking less as the young boy they had seen three years ago, then there was the emotional changes. Amidala had seen that in him when he had been in the throne room of the Theed palace; he didn't seem too interested in what his master had been saying, rather focused on something else entirely. The tone in which he had used only moments before was startling; he had sounded impatient, something she had expected out of Obi-Wan rather then him.
They trailed behind him, past shops and a few creatures that were brave enough to come out of their hiding spots. These creatures had shrugged off any battles that were taking place, knowing that if they hadn't been killed yet by something else on Tattooist, then they were going to survive whatever forces had come to their current home planet. Neither these creatures nor the three that went past them paid any heed to each other, as Anakin took a turn to the left and headed almost in the same direction they had just come from. To them, it was as though they were going in a circle, retracing their steps and heading towards something that they did not want to be near.
In fact, they had gone in a circle; not a complete one but as close to it as they could. Panaka and Amidala glanced at each other when Anakin raised a hand to stop them, as he moved towards the sound of what sounded like flies buzzing together. He then motioned them to follow him, moving towards the right and deeper into the space port. Amidala was the first to realize that the Padawan was going into the main landing house for this township, where she had been not long before. She was about to say something to him before Anakin stopped again, his head poking inside then beckoning them to follow once again.
Amidala sighed, both her and Panaka following him inside to where Anakin stood, his back to a large ship that sat before them and the ramp leading up into it already down. Both of them looked up at it, feeling dwarfed by something so large but important enough to be used for more the one purpose. Panaka looked surprised at this ship, walking forwards and placing a hand upon the hull and running the tips of his fingers over it. The queen wasn't the least bit troubled by it, instead frowning at it. Anakin stood looking smug, as though he had been the one to have built the ship himself and fly it across the entire run of the galaxy.
"We don't have time for this," Amidala said crossly. "If you haven't noticed, we are in a tight spot right now and..."
"No, listen," Anakin started, annoyance in his voice and the smug look disappearing off of his face. "I have a plan to use this to our advantage. I doubt the Sith will miss it, for a while at least."
"How exactly will this fit into the grand plan of things?" Panaka asked, gesturing up at the ship in question. Anakin didn't say anything, instead turned around and calmly walked into the ship. Panaka and Amidala gave each other a sideways glance, both knowing that despite the training to ignore the underlying questions to their own words, they had hit a nerve with the young boy. Still, it was a risky chance to climb aboard the Sith's ship, with him so close by even though he was tied up with two Jedi at the moment.
"What can we loose?" Amidala asked, giving a slightly shrug and following Anakin's path inside the ship. Panaka took in a deep breath and exhaled, closely following behind the queen. He knew he was going to regret some part of this later in his life.
¤ ==== ¤
Life had always thrown them something odd their way countless times since the early days of their youth. They were used to it in a sense that this was normal for them to encounter creatures that were outside the realm of their own world, if that realm had always been small and confined. Others would see this as just plain weird, despite living among creatures of various shapes, sizes, and origins. But they knew little of the world that lived inside their own world, a world in which the odd existed and time itself had been disturbed more then once.
Had they not known each other or the events that had always seemed strange to outsiders, Krillin and Yamcha would have found it even more strange to be flying towards the feelings of battle. The hairs on the back of their necks stood up, their eyes scouring the ground beneath them as soon as their sixth sense started to go crazy with warning. It had only taken them a few minutes to fly from where Cold's body was torn in half to where Yamcha had left Tien, a horrible sinking feeling swirling in the pits of their stomachs. They had a bad feeling as to what might have happened, if Tien had let Ginyu get too close to him to do his own method of bringing down foes.
They circled the area where Yamcha had said he had left Tien to fend for himself before Krillin stopped flying. Going around half way before doubling back, Yamcha glanced down at the ground on a oversized street between junk shops where Krillin was pointing. His eyes scan the ground for a moment before he spotted a body laying face-down on the ground, motionless and quiet. They didn't need to say anything to each other to know that they wished silently to Kami that it wasn't Tien laying there but Ginyu himself. The only way for them to find out was to check, even if it was a trap set by the enemy himself.
It was Krillin who took the first surge of courage he had since fighting Cold and flew downwards slowly at first then gained speed as he neared the ground. Yamcha was not too far behind him, keeping a good distance between himself and Krillin should the body arise and decide it was high time to fight them. They landed onto the sand without much word to each other, inching forward with every intention of jumping back into the air without hesitation should the need arise. Krillin wasn't in a position to fight much longer and Yamcha could only do so much in close combat..
Their tension was quickly eased when they saw the familiar body of Ginyu in it's final resting spot, his armor cracked and beyond any decent repair. His head was in a pool of blood from which there didn't seem to be any openings near the head itself for the blood to come out of; if there was, it had long since dried up, was too small to see, or the blood had been there before his head hit the ground. His legs were at an odd angle to look properly straight, a sign that he had fallen first on his legs to break his fall from a good distance above the shifting sand. If either one of them could see under his skin, they would have seen the leg bones had actually twisted on themselves and broke under the strain of hitting such a hard surface at a distance away. Ginyu's arms were at his sides and in a position that looked like he had tried to push himself up from the ground but failed due to pain or was so close to death that he couldn't muster up the strength to get himself off of the ground properly.
That's not a good sign, was the first thought on Krillin's mind when he saw the way Ginyu's body lay. He had known Tien for a number of years but this was the first time he had really seen something this horrible come from his friend. Had this been someone that Vegeta had fought, he would have expected something like this to have happened but not from Tien. Not from a person that did not seem to been able to do something like this. Then again, he had witnessed many of Tien's own battles and quite possibly this was the result of pent-up rage that had been forming for any length of time.
Just as they let out a sigh of relief, the feeling that something was out there hit them like a ton of bricks. Through the sounds of the sand and wind, they heard the faint footsteps hitting upon hard sand coming from behind them. They turned around to see the form of Tien limping towards them, a small smile on his lips and a satisfied look on his face. He looked exhausted when he stopped a few feet away from his friends, like he had been to hell and back several times and had lived to tell the tale. There were no physical problems other then the lack of strength, since it seemed like he hadn't let Ginyu come close enough to do any damage to his body. Then again, if Ginyu had gotten within range, he wouldn't have wanted to harm the body he was about to possess.
"I told you I could handle Ginyu by myself," Tien said with a half hearted smile. Both Yamcha and Krillin eyed him warily, their faces showing their mistrust of that statement and their bodies reflected the defensive nature that they had.
"How do we know if you are the real Tien or not?" Yamcha asked, being the first to actually voice his concern. Krillin just remained quiet and watched Tien raise an eyebrow and cross his arms over his chest as best as he could. There was something about him that seemed different, the way that he held himself, but then again he had seen what Tien's own attacks could do to him. He saw the way he held himself on the ground, the facial expression he had, and had listened to the sound of his voice. Tien'svoice. When Ginyu had taken over Bulma's body, it had been clear that it had been Ginyu then. Even with the few words that Tien had spoken, he could tell Tien was still Tien. Ginyu hadn't managed to do anything to him other then wear their friend out, despite Yamcha's suspicions.
"It's him," Krillin said without hesitation. Yamcha turned towards Krillin, looking more then just surprised.
"How can you tell?" He asked, keeping one eye focused on Tien. Tien looked offended that he was being questioned on the basis if the was the real person they hoped he was, yet knew that anyone that had even the slightest hint of what Ginyu had been capable of would be just as suspicious as he was.
"He's acting like Tien would be after he had done fighting," Krillin started to explain. "I can tell by the way he walked towards us and the way he is standing out. Only Tien would do that."
"How do you know if Ginyu didn't pry that out of him when he switched?" Yamcha pressed. "Besides, I don't hear Tien complaining that he's the real one."
"Because even if he did," Krillin said hastily, "it would take a lot of convincing and time to get it right."
Yamcha frowned, looking between one then the other, before turning back towards Tien fully. He was looking more tired then before, as though he had not slept in days and was ready to collapse onto the sand beneath him. What other attacks he had done to Ginyu's body that had made it look like it had been hit by a stampede of animals, he didn't know but that was not what he was going find out. Krillin's judgement was usually solid when it came to trusting people he knew the most and, if he was right on this, that judgement was better then anyone else's that either one of them knew.
"Just to make sure, how many androids did we face and how long ago was it?" Yamcha asked. It wasn't a trick question and and Tien could easily answer that question, if he hadn't been forced to switch bodies.
"Six, if you include Gero himself, and it was three years ago." Tien then nodded towards Krillin. "And he married one of them."
"I told you so." Krillin said with an embarrassed laugh. Yamcha scratched his head, at last satisfied that this man standing in front of him had survived to tell the tale for another day.
"I guess so." He glanced behind them at Ginyu's mangled body. "How many did it take for him to finally stay down and what the hell did you do to him?"
"Two of them, one more then I wanted to use but not like what I had to use for Cell. But even thathadn't done much," He said faintly, following his friend's gaze. "That had stopped him for the most part, but what happened to him after he went down is just a good of a guess as mine."
Krillin gave Tien a puzzled look as though he didn't understand what had happened. Yamcha had popped out of no where moments before Cold had been killed and Krillin assumed it hadn't taken him long to reach where he had been. There was no indication as to what Tien had done to Ginyu, since there were no scorch marks nor holes to his attacks. If Tien had defeated Ginyu at another point, then there were still several brave souls out there that knew good from bad and had helped them defeat and kill one of them. If the people of Tatooine knew the difference, that is.
"There isn't much I can tell you. I didn't do that to him, that's for sure," Tien added, pointing towards the left. "Last time I had seen him, he was a half of a mile away. He doesn't look like he was moved but rather fell in this spot after I got him. I went looking for him since I didn't see him where he had gone down for what I thought was the last time then I found the two of you standing here. I figured the two of you found him before I did."
"That's strange, but plausible," Yamcha said, his voice shaking with doubt. Not that he didn't believe what Tien was saying, it was just odd that they had some unnamed allies in the war against the Sith and his cohorts. "Then again, it may be just that he managed to get himself away while Tien was regrouping."
Tien didn't respond to Yamcha, instead he looked down at the ground and muttered something to himself. The rising anger he felt wasn't worth him lashing out at a friend of his; instead,he resorted to holding it back for the time being and saving it for when he actually needed to unleash it on someone more deserving then Yamcha. His friend somehow knew, and felt, that anger coming from him and didn't add to the already stinging accusations that he had said and did a few mumblings of his own. When Tien raised his three eyes up, they meet Yamcha's gaze and blinked at him. Then he smiled, accepting the quiet apology that his eyes said louder then any words that could have been spoken.
The three friends looked at each other, their own battles fought and own quite easily. There was still much more to do then to stand around, but there were two forces that they would rather not face: Frieza and Garlic, Jr. Vegeta could very well handle Frieza on his own terms and had put his point across quite well enough for them to leave him to his own battle. It would take them a while to Goku, since they couldn't pin-point exactly where he was and didn't want to waste their energy looking for him. They had a feeling they would only be in the way and had little clue as to how they would defeat a creature that could not die by their own hands.
They only nodded to each other in a silent agreement, that their only way of helping was to find the Jedi and the Queen, to see if they could be any help to them. That was their best bet and only way of keeping themselves out of more danger then they would be if they were to interfere with any other battles.
¤ ==== ¤
It was a familiar sound to them, the clashing of blades and the breathing of the fight, an experience that changed with each turn of the lightsabre. Sand kicked up wildly as they moved effortlessly through the motions, parrying, dodging, weaving their way across the ground as though they were performers. This was their final show, one that no audience had come to see yet had been prepared for since the last meeting between Jedi and Sith. This was the way they wanted it to be without any eyes trained on them and less ways of hurting innocent lives.
There were three sides to this fight, three that fought for their own reasons and theirs alone. It was a simple matter of watching their every move, staring at the faces and seeing the whirlwind of emotions upon their features, and looking into the minds of those that fought with every fiber in their body. It was, however, complicated at the same time, a wonderment in which amazed those who were no so in tune with the Force. The grace in which they fought, the ability to move with skill, and the way of battle had been given to them through training, hard work, and the sacrifices that they made. Still, to those with less observant eyes, what made them fight so?
They fought like there this was their last battle of their lives, their lightsabres clashing together in a wave of sand and dirt. They knew what they were fighting for and would not hesitate to find one weakness in the defense of the other one. It was hard to keep up with their offense and defense, something that would take several minutes to do if there was a break within the fighting. Instead, there was not a moment where they could rest their weary bodies for even a moment to reflect on what they were doing and why they couldn't penetrate the defense of those that they were fighting. They were nearing it's end and soon would collapse under the strain of their fight.
Siddious knew he would be the first to go down if he didn't find a way to keep the two Jedi at bay long enough for him to either run a safe distance away and escape or kill them both at the same time. He kicked enough sand up with his boots and a slight movement with the Force, forcing that sand up into Obi-Wan's face. The Jedi managed to block the initial cluster of sand that came up to his head but it wasn't enough to keep all of the tiny pieces of sand from reaching his eyes. He gasped out at the stinging sensation, as Siddious rushed past him and swirled his lightsabre in a half circle. He wasn't going to fight Obi-Wan, but rather take a charge towards Ki-Adi who had rushed to Obi-Wan's aid.
Sith and Jedi clashed together in a stream of parries and thrusts, the two lightsabres moving together in a exchange of power. It appeared that Siddious was being pushed back by the much younger Ki-Adi, who smiled briefly at his opponents deterioration of strength. That burst of ego was the first small sign of weakness that Siddious had been looking for, as he pumped the essence of the Force into his arms and legs, giving him a momentary burst of energy to push Ki-Adi back. The Jedi didn't loose that smile of his, still keeping his face neutral despite the surprise he was feeling. That angered Siddious even more then it did at the sight of the two Jedi not faltering in strength, as he let out a low growl.
Oni-Wan rubbed the last of the sand out of his eyes, shaking his head as he lowered his arm down to his side. His eyes were red and bloodshot, looking as though he had not slept in several days. It took him several minutes to focus his eyesight on the two fighting, a frown creasing his face. He could see both Jedi and Sith using the Force to make the sand do their bidding, not only as a shield against the other but as an offense to tear down that shield. If he had not been a Jedi or had not seen a fight such as this, he would have thought it was a sight to been seen and would have stared in awe at such a fight. As such, he wasn't as he calmly joined the battle once again.
Siddious sense the presence of the second Jedi returning to the battle, breaking the battle between him and Ki-Adi off at the last possible moment. It wasn't Ki-Adi he was more worried about but Obi-Wan; he knew what this Jedi could do to him and how easily it was for him to fight one-on-one with someone of greater strength and ability. He was beginning to lose the strength he once had at the start of the battle and was more annoyed then tired. He was ready to end this fight and that was the only thing that he could sympathize with the Jedi. Other then the fleeting pause of pity he held towards them, he was more then willing to kill them both.
Obi-Wan felt the burning desire to avenge the master he had lost, someone who he regarded as more then a master and mentor. As he blocked the shaft of light that was Siddious's lightsabre, he stared into the shadow of th face he could not see. How desperately he wanted to drive his own lightsabre into this thing's heart; that would give him a great satisfaction of doing a great justice towards a cruelty that did not deserve to live. If he did just so, the past he had held on to would be forgotten at last.
"I can feel the anger flowing through you," Siddious whispered to him before he turned his body halfway around and raised his lightsabre up to block Ki-Adi's advance. The two locked horns together, a laugh escaping Siddious's lips.
"What anger?" Obi-Wan asked innocently enough. Truth be told, he wasallowing himself to be angered by the bitter memories of his past, but not to a point like he had been with Maul. Not yet, at least.
Siddious spun back around as he withdrew his lightsabre, trusting out his free hand, palm side out. The Force swirled silently in his open palm, just enough to push Ki-Adi back five feet and lower his offense so he wouldn't be an immediate threat to the Sith. At the same time, Siddious brought his lightsabre back up to his own defense, just in time to counter Obi-Wan's charging rush as he brought down his own lightsabre to meet the Sith's. It was a clash between the two sides, as Siddious let out another cold-hearted laugh.
"What anger, indeed." He had to smile with that laugh of his, even with his cloak half hiding his face. "The Jedi say that anger is a way to the Dark Side, the start of a path away from their own ideals. I say it is your own blind arrogance that is a cause to lose your own path."
"Spoken like a Sith," Ki-Adi muttered, regaining his footing upon the sand. Siddious didn't bother to turn his head around to acknowledge the other Jedi. Instead, he stared Obi-Wan down intently. Obi-Wan felt his body freeze up, his eyes looking directly into the void where there should have been an upper face. Why couldn't he move his body? Why wouldn't his lightsabre budge?
Obi-Wan blinked his eyes, the only reflex he seemed to have control over as he felt his arms dropping to his sides and his body backing up unwillingly. His lightsabre dropped out of his hand, his knees buckling from underneath his body. He felt no pain, no sheer force of anything that was causing him to lose total control of his body. Was he dying from some wound that he couldn't feel? Or was there some other reason for him not being able to control this body of his? Whatever the reason for the lack of control, he found himself meeting the sand beneath him and his eyes blinked for the last time.
Then everything went dark.
To Be Continued
Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Star Wars characters. I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the story all of this is in. That is all.
Author's Note: Happy New Years!
Chapter 31
The sounds of battle had not yet died down, the desert planet waiting and watching for the fate of two worlds to come at an end. These same battles seemed to go on forever, without an end and without a beginning. These battles would end eventually in a single universe, in a single time line, but would continue on in another time frame. Where they would continue to fight and who they would be fighting against had yet to been seen and would remain hidden in the stream of time for all eternity. That was the way battles and time went, colliding together in a infinite loop between good, evil, and a way of life.
And, still, there was a hope that this loop would be broken, even if that twinge of desperation had disappeared and the hope never came into realization. The only thing Amidala, Queen of Naboo and Keeper of Innocence, could do and hope was that her time to fight would draw near. She had removed herself from the fight between Jedi and Sith not long before the duel between the dark side and the light side had started. That was the only way to keep out of their way while they fought in a locked battle between two ideals; her chance to get out of the clutches of Siddious had come and she took it without hesitation.
From her vantage point behind a mud and sand hut, she could hear the blades of the Jedi and Sith clash together. They hadn't gotten far from the center of the landing port, maybe a half of a mile, give or take a few feet. That was still a half of a mile too far away for her to be comfortable at, even with ideas of how to sneak past the three without getting hurt again. Her shoulder still throbbed with pain but not as much as it had before. She raised a hand to her shoulder, muttering to herself how she would get back at whoever shot her as she placed her back against the sand-encrusted wall and turned her head around the edge of the hut. The fight had started without her losing any more blood then she already had; the blood that she had lost had stained her clothing and she would have to throw them out. Blood stains were hard to get out of the garments she wore; besides, they were old handmaiden clothing that she had been meaning to get rid of for several months now.
She could barely make out the figures that were dance to the tune of lightsaber blades, the hissing and sparks from the three beams echoing off of the sand below their boots. The Sith moved effortless between the two Jedi, who swirled and clashed together in unison and without hesitation; even with the heat of the two suns and the dry air of the desert, nether one seemed to look as though they cared they were fighting in a harsh climate. She had remembered hearing once that Jedi trained in worse climates then that of Tatooine, when they had to learn how to deal with different planets and the ways of those same planets. But that had only been a rumor and she was not about to ask any Jedi if it were true.
Amidala felt a twinge of remorse for not been able to go into the fight with them, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Considering she knew just enough about this Sith and even more about the dealings with his Nemodian counterparts, she would either have to wait this fight out or find a way to help out in some way. She didn't like to sit idle for to long when there was something that she could be doing to help, even if it was a small role that she could play. She had gotten in the spirit of defending the peace when the Trade Federation blockade had come down and she wasn't about to start sitting out on anything yet. It wasn't in her just to watch from the side and hope that everything would end in a way she wanted to go. No, she wasn't like that and she wasn't going to start.
She was about to start slithering around the wall when a hand reached out and clamped down upon her mouth. Eyes going wide, her scream became muffled in the palm of her attacker. Her first instinct was to twist and turn to get out of this prediction, her nails going into the mud and sand wall of the hut. She wasn't struggling out of fear of being attacked again so suddenly -- it was just a reflex that she had to keep herself from being captured again. Too many times she had been the pawn of someone and she wasn't about to let that happen again.
As her eyes turn towards her attack, her body stops moving and her shoulders sag, eyes going slack and head tilting to the side. The hand moved from her mouth as the Queen got herself together and frowned, crossing her arms loosely across her chest and held her tongue for just a moment. This wasn't out of humiliation to keep this quiet, but to keep a rising anger from boiling over and spilling onto the desert. Then again, she deserved this and anything else that came her way. After all, it had been herwho had run away in a chase of broken ideas.
"And where have you been?" Amidala demanded as soon as she content that she wouldn't let out any more anger then she would. The man standing before her reacted first by laughing, no matter how foolish it was to laugh at a queen in this kind of situation. Still, he looked more then relived that he had found her once again and was alive and well as she should be. His clothing was sand-worn, from the heat and the wind that whipped the sand from the ground. There were lines of worry that creased his face, a hint that he had not only looked as though he had been to hell and back again but probably had been in a literal sense.
"Looking for you, what else?" Panaka said as he puts his hand down by his side. He smiled at her, hardly looking at ease of being so close to battle and yet so far away from the a peaceful nature. His dark face doesn't reflect the smile that he has, as though he is forcing himself to smile at the queen's expense. "I nearly went to the Sand People to see if they had gotten to you. They have a habit of kidnapping people out in the desert, you know."
"I haven't been caught by the Sand People. I was captured by something else, though." Amidala waved a hand to silence him before he could ask her what she meant, although he had a good sense of knowing what had happened the last time they had seen each other. "Did you get in touch with anyone on Naboo? Does anyone know that I was missing?"
"No. That would have been my last resort, sending a transmission back to Naboo." The captain held a grimace on his face for a spilt second before he relaxed; from that expression, she figured he would have had some explaining to do if he had sent word he had lost the Queen of Naboo. And he would have had more then a few demotions in rank when he came back to the planet with or without the queen in tow. "What little resources would have been sent to find you, if I couldn't or any Jedi."
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She gave him a hard look and, in exchange, Panaka gave her a I'm sure you arelook in response. "How did you know that I was here?"
That question was answered as soon as a young child came into view from around the other side of the mud hut, a knowing smile upon his lips. He looked like he had done something grande or found something worthwhile, a smug look that would have given him more then a verbal lashing from the Council. Just knowing that Anakin hadn't gone off somewhere on Tatooine was enough for her, although she wondered why he was there with them instead of fending off the Sith with the Jedi masters handling it by themselves.
"Because I found something more useful then 'being in the way of something I am too young to deal with'", Anakin said before Amidala even opened her mouth. She stared at him, amazed at what the boy had just said. It was startling what Jedi could do and say even before anything happened or had been said. But she was more surprised at what he had said rather then when he had said it.
"Obi-Wan told you that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Anakin shook his head on that.
"No, but that's what he implies," The Padawan mumbled, a bitter sound to his voice as he stepped forwards and took the queen by the hand. "Come on. I'll show you, although I'm sure you already know what it is."
"Wait," Amidala sputtered out as Anakin pulled her in the direction away from the fighting Jedi. "We can't leave yet. There is the matter of...."
She didn't get to finish her sentence, Panaka coughing for her attention. She turned her head towards him as he patted the blaster pistol holstered at his side. "I had been aiming for himbut hit you instead. Very sorry about that, Your Highness."
"Nice shot," She said dryly, wiggling her hand free from Anakin and walking in step next to Panaka. "Anakin, what did you find?"
Anakin didn't answer her question, taking the option instead to ignore her and continue on. He hurries ahead of them as they followed as closely as possible they could to a Padawan. Although he was still quite young, he had grown in the way of the Force and had become stronger then the last time they had seen the boy. There were the physical changes, such as growing taller and looking less as the young boy they had seen three years ago, then there was the emotional changes. Amidala had seen that in him when he had been in the throne room of the Theed palace; he didn't seem too interested in what his master had been saying, rather focused on something else entirely. The tone in which he had used only moments before was startling; he had sounded impatient, something she had expected out of Obi-Wan rather then him.
They trailed behind him, past shops and a few creatures that were brave enough to come out of their hiding spots. These creatures had shrugged off any battles that were taking place, knowing that if they hadn't been killed yet by something else on Tattooist, then they were going to survive whatever forces had come to their current home planet. Neither these creatures nor the three that went past them paid any heed to each other, as Anakin took a turn to the left and headed almost in the same direction they had just come from. To them, it was as though they were going in a circle, retracing their steps and heading towards something that they did not want to be near.
In fact, they had gone in a circle; not a complete one but as close to it as they could. Panaka and Amidala glanced at each other when Anakin raised a hand to stop them, as he moved towards the sound of what sounded like flies buzzing together. He then motioned them to follow him, moving towards the right and deeper into the space port. Amidala was the first to realize that the Padawan was going into the main landing house for this township, where she had been not long before. She was about to say something to him before Anakin stopped again, his head poking inside then beckoning them to follow once again.
Amidala sighed, both her and Panaka following him inside to where Anakin stood, his back to a large ship that sat before them and the ramp leading up into it already down. Both of them looked up at it, feeling dwarfed by something so large but important enough to be used for more the one purpose. Panaka looked surprised at this ship, walking forwards and placing a hand upon the hull and running the tips of his fingers over it. The queen wasn't the least bit troubled by it, instead frowning at it. Anakin stood looking smug, as though he had been the one to have built the ship himself and fly it across the entire run of the galaxy.
"We don't have time for this," Amidala said crossly. "If you haven't noticed, we are in a tight spot right now and..."
"No, listen," Anakin started, annoyance in his voice and the smug look disappearing off of his face. "I have a plan to use this to our advantage. I doubt the Sith will miss it, for a while at least."
"How exactly will this fit into the grand plan of things?" Panaka asked, gesturing up at the ship in question. Anakin didn't say anything, instead turned around and calmly walked into the ship. Panaka and Amidala gave each other a sideways glance, both knowing that despite the training to ignore the underlying questions to their own words, they had hit a nerve with the young boy. Still, it was a risky chance to climb aboard the Sith's ship, with him so close by even though he was tied up with two Jedi at the moment.
"What can we loose?" Amidala asked, giving a slightly shrug and following Anakin's path inside the ship. Panaka took in a deep breath and exhaled, closely following behind the queen. He knew he was going to regret some part of this later in his life.
¤ ==== ¤
Life had always thrown them something odd their way countless times since the early days of their youth. They were used to it in a sense that this was normal for them to encounter creatures that were outside the realm of their own world, if that realm had always been small and confined. Others would see this as just plain weird, despite living among creatures of various shapes, sizes, and origins. But they knew little of the world that lived inside their own world, a world in which the odd existed and time itself had been disturbed more then once.
Had they not known each other or the events that had always seemed strange to outsiders, Krillin and Yamcha would have found it even more strange to be flying towards the feelings of battle. The hairs on the back of their necks stood up, their eyes scouring the ground beneath them as soon as their sixth sense started to go crazy with warning. It had only taken them a few minutes to fly from where Cold's body was torn in half to where Yamcha had left Tien, a horrible sinking feeling swirling in the pits of their stomachs. They had a bad feeling as to what might have happened, if Tien had let Ginyu get too close to him to do his own method of bringing down foes.
They circled the area where Yamcha had said he had left Tien to fend for himself before Krillin stopped flying. Going around half way before doubling back, Yamcha glanced down at the ground on a oversized street between junk shops where Krillin was pointing. His eyes scan the ground for a moment before he spotted a body laying face-down on the ground, motionless and quiet. They didn't need to say anything to each other to know that they wished silently to Kami that it wasn't Tien laying there but Ginyu himself. The only way for them to find out was to check, even if it was a trap set by the enemy himself.
It was Krillin who took the first surge of courage he had since fighting Cold and flew downwards slowly at first then gained speed as he neared the ground. Yamcha was not too far behind him, keeping a good distance between himself and Krillin should the body arise and decide it was high time to fight them. They landed onto the sand without much word to each other, inching forward with every intention of jumping back into the air without hesitation should the need arise. Krillin wasn't in a position to fight much longer and Yamcha could only do so much in close combat..
Their tension was quickly eased when they saw the familiar body of Ginyu in it's final resting spot, his armor cracked and beyond any decent repair. His head was in a pool of blood from which there didn't seem to be any openings near the head itself for the blood to come out of; if there was, it had long since dried up, was too small to see, or the blood had been there before his head hit the ground. His legs were at an odd angle to look properly straight, a sign that he had fallen first on his legs to break his fall from a good distance above the shifting sand. If either one of them could see under his skin, they would have seen the leg bones had actually twisted on themselves and broke under the strain of hitting such a hard surface at a distance away. Ginyu's arms were at his sides and in a position that looked like he had tried to push himself up from the ground but failed due to pain or was so close to death that he couldn't muster up the strength to get himself off of the ground properly.
That's not a good sign, was the first thought on Krillin's mind when he saw the way Ginyu's body lay. He had known Tien for a number of years but this was the first time he had really seen something this horrible come from his friend. Had this been someone that Vegeta had fought, he would have expected something like this to have happened but not from Tien. Not from a person that did not seem to been able to do something like this. Then again, he had witnessed many of Tien's own battles and quite possibly this was the result of pent-up rage that had been forming for any length of time.
Just as they let out a sigh of relief, the feeling that something was out there hit them like a ton of bricks. Through the sounds of the sand and wind, they heard the faint footsteps hitting upon hard sand coming from behind them. They turned around to see the form of Tien limping towards them, a small smile on his lips and a satisfied look on his face. He looked exhausted when he stopped a few feet away from his friends, like he had been to hell and back several times and had lived to tell the tale. There were no physical problems other then the lack of strength, since it seemed like he hadn't let Ginyu come close enough to do any damage to his body. Then again, if Ginyu had gotten within range, he wouldn't have wanted to harm the body he was about to possess.
"I told you I could handle Ginyu by myself," Tien said with a half hearted smile. Both Yamcha and Krillin eyed him warily, their faces showing their mistrust of that statement and their bodies reflected the defensive nature that they had.
"How do we know if you are the real Tien or not?" Yamcha asked, being the first to actually voice his concern. Krillin just remained quiet and watched Tien raise an eyebrow and cross his arms over his chest as best as he could. There was something about him that seemed different, the way that he held himself, but then again he had seen what Tien's own attacks could do to him. He saw the way he held himself on the ground, the facial expression he had, and had listened to the sound of his voice. Tien'svoice. When Ginyu had taken over Bulma's body, it had been clear that it had been Ginyu then. Even with the few words that Tien had spoken, he could tell Tien was still Tien. Ginyu hadn't managed to do anything to him other then wear their friend out, despite Yamcha's suspicions.
"It's him," Krillin said without hesitation. Yamcha turned towards Krillin, looking more then just surprised.
"How can you tell?" He asked, keeping one eye focused on Tien. Tien looked offended that he was being questioned on the basis if the was the real person they hoped he was, yet knew that anyone that had even the slightest hint of what Ginyu had been capable of would be just as suspicious as he was.
"He's acting like Tien would be after he had done fighting," Krillin started to explain. "I can tell by the way he walked towards us and the way he is standing out. Only Tien would do that."
"How do you know if Ginyu didn't pry that out of him when he switched?" Yamcha pressed. "Besides, I don't hear Tien complaining that he's the real one."
"Because even if he did," Krillin said hastily, "it would take a lot of convincing and time to get it right."
Yamcha frowned, looking between one then the other, before turning back towards Tien fully. He was looking more tired then before, as though he had not slept in days and was ready to collapse onto the sand beneath him. What other attacks he had done to Ginyu's body that had made it look like it had been hit by a stampede of animals, he didn't know but that was not what he was going find out. Krillin's judgement was usually solid when it came to trusting people he knew the most and, if he was right on this, that judgement was better then anyone else's that either one of them knew.
"Just to make sure, how many androids did we face and how long ago was it?" Yamcha asked. It wasn't a trick question and and Tien could easily answer that question, if he hadn't been forced to switch bodies.
"Six, if you include Gero himself, and it was three years ago." Tien then nodded towards Krillin. "And he married one of them."
"I told you so." Krillin said with an embarrassed laugh. Yamcha scratched his head, at last satisfied that this man standing in front of him had survived to tell the tale for another day.
"I guess so." He glanced behind them at Ginyu's mangled body. "How many did it take for him to finally stay down and what the hell did you do to him?"
"Two of them, one more then I wanted to use but not like what I had to use for Cell. But even thathadn't done much," He said faintly, following his friend's gaze. "That had stopped him for the most part, but what happened to him after he went down is just a good of a guess as mine."
Krillin gave Tien a puzzled look as though he didn't understand what had happened. Yamcha had popped out of no where moments before Cold had been killed and Krillin assumed it hadn't taken him long to reach where he had been. There was no indication as to what Tien had done to Ginyu, since there were no scorch marks nor holes to his attacks. If Tien had defeated Ginyu at another point, then there were still several brave souls out there that knew good from bad and had helped them defeat and kill one of them. If the people of Tatooine knew the difference, that is.
"There isn't much I can tell you. I didn't do that to him, that's for sure," Tien added, pointing towards the left. "Last time I had seen him, he was a half of a mile away. He doesn't look like he was moved but rather fell in this spot after I got him. I went looking for him since I didn't see him where he had gone down for what I thought was the last time then I found the two of you standing here. I figured the two of you found him before I did."
"That's strange, but plausible," Yamcha said, his voice shaking with doubt. Not that he didn't believe what Tien was saying, it was just odd that they had some unnamed allies in the war against the Sith and his cohorts. "Then again, it may be just that he managed to get himself away while Tien was regrouping."
Tien didn't respond to Yamcha, instead he looked down at the ground and muttered something to himself. The rising anger he felt wasn't worth him lashing out at a friend of his; instead,he resorted to holding it back for the time being and saving it for when he actually needed to unleash it on someone more deserving then Yamcha. His friend somehow knew, and felt, that anger coming from him and didn't add to the already stinging accusations that he had said and did a few mumblings of his own. When Tien raised his three eyes up, they meet Yamcha's gaze and blinked at him. Then he smiled, accepting the quiet apology that his eyes said louder then any words that could have been spoken.
The three friends looked at each other, their own battles fought and own quite easily. There was still much more to do then to stand around, but there were two forces that they would rather not face: Frieza and Garlic, Jr. Vegeta could very well handle Frieza on his own terms and had put his point across quite well enough for them to leave him to his own battle. It would take them a while to Goku, since they couldn't pin-point exactly where he was and didn't want to waste their energy looking for him. They had a feeling they would only be in the way and had little clue as to how they would defeat a creature that could not die by their own hands.
They only nodded to each other in a silent agreement, that their only way of helping was to find the Jedi and the Queen, to see if they could be any help to them. That was their best bet and only way of keeping themselves out of more danger then they would be if they were to interfere with any other battles.
¤ ==== ¤
It was a familiar sound to them, the clashing of blades and the breathing of the fight, an experience that changed with each turn of the lightsabre. Sand kicked up wildly as they moved effortlessly through the motions, parrying, dodging, weaving their way across the ground as though they were performers. This was their final show, one that no audience had come to see yet had been prepared for since the last meeting between Jedi and Sith. This was the way they wanted it to be without any eyes trained on them and less ways of hurting innocent lives.
There were three sides to this fight, three that fought for their own reasons and theirs alone. It was a simple matter of watching their every move, staring at the faces and seeing the whirlwind of emotions upon their features, and looking into the minds of those that fought with every fiber in their body. It was, however, complicated at the same time, a wonderment in which amazed those who were no so in tune with the Force. The grace in which they fought, the ability to move with skill, and the way of battle had been given to them through training, hard work, and the sacrifices that they made. Still, to those with less observant eyes, what made them fight so?
They fought like there this was their last battle of their lives, their lightsabres clashing together in a wave of sand and dirt. They knew what they were fighting for and would not hesitate to find one weakness in the defense of the other one. It was hard to keep up with their offense and defense, something that would take several minutes to do if there was a break within the fighting. Instead, there was not a moment where they could rest their weary bodies for even a moment to reflect on what they were doing and why they couldn't penetrate the defense of those that they were fighting. They were nearing it's end and soon would collapse under the strain of their fight.
Siddious knew he would be the first to go down if he didn't find a way to keep the two Jedi at bay long enough for him to either run a safe distance away and escape or kill them both at the same time. He kicked enough sand up with his boots and a slight movement with the Force, forcing that sand up into Obi-Wan's face. The Jedi managed to block the initial cluster of sand that came up to his head but it wasn't enough to keep all of the tiny pieces of sand from reaching his eyes. He gasped out at the stinging sensation, as Siddious rushed past him and swirled his lightsabre in a half circle. He wasn't going to fight Obi-Wan, but rather take a charge towards Ki-Adi who had rushed to Obi-Wan's aid.
Sith and Jedi clashed together in a stream of parries and thrusts, the two lightsabres moving together in a exchange of power. It appeared that Siddious was being pushed back by the much younger Ki-Adi, who smiled briefly at his opponents deterioration of strength. That burst of ego was the first small sign of weakness that Siddious had been looking for, as he pumped the essence of the Force into his arms and legs, giving him a momentary burst of energy to push Ki-Adi back. The Jedi didn't loose that smile of his, still keeping his face neutral despite the surprise he was feeling. That angered Siddious even more then it did at the sight of the two Jedi not faltering in strength, as he let out a low growl.
Oni-Wan rubbed the last of the sand out of his eyes, shaking his head as he lowered his arm down to his side. His eyes were red and bloodshot, looking as though he had not slept in several days. It took him several minutes to focus his eyesight on the two fighting, a frown creasing his face. He could see both Jedi and Sith using the Force to make the sand do their bidding, not only as a shield against the other but as an offense to tear down that shield. If he had not been a Jedi or had not seen a fight such as this, he would have thought it was a sight to been seen and would have stared in awe at such a fight. As such, he wasn't as he calmly joined the battle once again.
Siddious sense the presence of the second Jedi returning to the battle, breaking the battle between him and Ki-Adi off at the last possible moment. It wasn't Ki-Adi he was more worried about but Obi-Wan; he knew what this Jedi could do to him and how easily it was for him to fight one-on-one with someone of greater strength and ability. He was beginning to lose the strength he once had at the start of the battle and was more annoyed then tired. He was ready to end this fight and that was the only thing that he could sympathize with the Jedi. Other then the fleeting pause of pity he held towards them, he was more then willing to kill them both.
Obi-Wan felt the burning desire to avenge the master he had lost, someone who he regarded as more then a master and mentor. As he blocked the shaft of light that was Siddious's lightsabre, he stared into the shadow of th face he could not see. How desperately he wanted to drive his own lightsabre into this thing's heart; that would give him a great satisfaction of doing a great justice towards a cruelty that did not deserve to live. If he did just so, the past he had held on to would be forgotten at last.
"I can feel the anger flowing through you," Siddious whispered to him before he turned his body halfway around and raised his lightsabre up to block Ki-Adi's advance. The two locked horns together, a laugh escaping Siddious's lips.
"What anger?" Obi-Wan asked innocently enough. Truth be told, he wasallowing himself to be angered by the bitter memories of his past, but not to a point like he had been with Maul. Not yet, at least.
Siddious spun back around as he withdrew his lightsabre, trusting out his free hand, palm side out. The Force swirled silently in his open palm, just enough to push Ki-Adi back five feet and lower his offense so he wouldn't be an immediate threat to the Sith. At the same time, Siddious brought his lightsabre back up to his own defense, just in time to counter Obi-Wan's charging rush as he brought down his own lightsabre to meet the Sith's. It was a clash between the two sides, as Siddious let out another cold-hearted laugh.
"What anger, indeed." He had to smile with that laugh of his, even with his cloak half hiding his face. "The Jedi say that anger is a way to the Dark Side, the start of a path away from their own ideals. I say it is your own blind arrogance that is a cause to lose your own path."
"Spoken like a Sith," Ki-Adi muttered, regaining his footing upon the sand. Siddious didn't bother to turn his head around to acknowledge the other Jedi. Instead, he stared Obi-Wan down intently. Obi-Wan felt his body freeze up, his eyes looking directly into the void where there should have been an upper face. Why couldn't he move his body? Why wouldn't his lightsabre budge?
Obi-Wan blinked his eyes, the only reflex he seemed to have control over as he felt his arms dropping to his sides and his body backing up unwillingly. His lightsabre dropped out of his hand, his knees buckling from underneath his body. He felt no pain, no sheer force of anything that was causing him to lose total control of his body. Was he dying from some wound that he couldn't feel? Or was there some other reason for him not being able to control this body of his? Whatever the reason for the lack of control, he found himself meeting the sand beneath him and his eyes blinked for the last time.
Then everything went dark.
To Be Continued