Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1891709" data-attributes="member: 10079">((Little later on the update, but I think its worth it.))Chapter 82: All That is Wrong With MeShe wasn’t trying to hide anymore. No more of the toying around. Perhaps it had been enjoyable at first, but obviously she was beyond that. Jen and Voort were attempting to hide in a small divide between two buildings. They’d run through alleyways to reach a section near the center of the city before Dark’s swooping strikes stopped. The second that he could no longer hear the rushes of air over them, Voort quickly pulled Jen into the tight divide between a small storage facility and what was probably a house of sorts. Dark had stopped playing and was now hunting.    For a moment, he looked over to Jen. She taken a scratch along her back, but it was only superficial. At least, she insisted that it was. Voort wasn’t so sure, but knew that this wasn’t the time to worry about that, especially since it wasn’t slowing her down at all. Reaching out with the Force, Voort noticed many fluctuations. Dark was near. Above them? Possibly. But something else...also close. Pain. Pain and fear. It radiated off towards where the center of the city was. Focus on the moment. Do not let the mind wander when you are being hunted.    He focused. And found her. Grabbing Jen’s arm, he dragged her out and into the street. Running as fast as they could, it was obvious that Jen could feel Dark was hunting them, too. A flash. Reacting without a thought, Voort threw Jen to the ground and dropped right next to her. A rush of air flew over them, along with a curse and the sound of sand grating against a hard surface. Getting to his feet as quickly as he’d gone down, Voort got the lightsaber off of his belt and thumbed the activation switch. He hadn’t even looked up to see what was going on in front of him yet. When he finally looked up(only a second later, though it seemed like and eternity), Voort’s eyes were looking past the orange glow of his lightsaber at the finally substantial form of Dark. She was still facing the other direction, a long string of claw marks along the sand where it looked like she’d slowed herself down. Two red-grey eyes glared at him over her shoulder and just between shoulder and one large wing. Neither of them moved. Both waited for the other to show the slightest hint of weakness...fear. But it would not happen. And Jen took advantage in this focus to fire a blaster shot at Dark.    Snapping back into reality, Dark jumped back to avoid the blaster shot. This worked, though she got a singed wing in the process. But it left her attention switched to Jen, giving Voort an easy opening as he ran in, thumbing the second end of the lightsaber on and swinging it in a long horizontal arc. Dark caught sight of the orange blur, jumping up into the air to avoid the slash, planting a kick to Voort’s face in the process. If she had not, the other end of the saber would likely have lopped her leg off. However, Voort stumbled back from the blow and allowed an opening for Dark to land. This did not slow him for more than a half second, and he immediately swung the back end of the lightsaber in an upwards strike at the winged Alraxian. She spun to the side, out of the way and nearly into his strike with the other end of the blade. But somehow, she ducked(including her wings) under just as it reached head height, and then rolled back to her original position when he attempted to bring the weapon back down on her.     As he readied himself for another swift strike, Dark swept his feet out from under him. Voort fell hard onto his back, and expected that Dark would be on him a second later. She wasn’t. His eyes had closed from the force of the landing, but when he opened him it was just in time to see two blaster shots fire at Dark. The sound actually came a half second later, but that didn’t matter. What did was that Dark had again ignored that she was dealing with two opponents, and nearly got herself shot again. The Alraxian jumped back again, and growled a curse in a language neither of the humans understood. Jen didn’t care. She fired the blaster again. In fact, she didn’t stop firing until Dark took to the sky and flew off.    Finally letting go of the trigger and allowed the weapon to cool, Jen tried to slow her heavy breathing. Voort sat up after deactivating both ends of his lightsaber and looked to her, “Too easy to fight.”    “Half an assassin against a scientist and an Imperial,” Jen commented idly, a grin tugging at the edge of her face, “We’ve got her outnumbered by half a person.”    Getting to his feet, Voort smiled and idly put an arm around Jen’s waist, “Two whole over her. You count as at least one and a half,” when she gave him a curious look, he laughed and explained, “Brains count for more than brawn.”    “No wonder I always beat you,” Jen said, kissing him lightly, “So two medals now?”    After he hooked the lightsaber back onto his belt, Voort shrugged, “Don’t have much of a choice. Come on, we’re not done yet.”    The two of them then followed the streets towards where they’d originally heard the slugthrower shots. Now, though, it was eerily silent(except for the two opposite sides of the city which were still wracked in fighting, of course).* * * *    The Narani had been surprised enough to find anyone within the city. They’d been on their way to assist with the assault on the south side, which was progressing the worst. A Topsider leading a group of false-Narani was easily slaughtering them. But running into three enemies within the city had surprised them even more. The fact that two of these were strange alien creatures just added to the surprise. They had reacted like any sensible Narani in the situation. They shot at the three. But they received their greatest surprise when confronting the single attacker that had been holding them back.    They had watched him crawl across to some cover, and took advantage of an apparent injury that none of them had seemingly caused. Moving over to make quick work of this alien, the leader of the group had stood right across from the alien, who was sitting down and holding a blade of light, and aimed his slugthrower. The aiming took a second, as the alien was not moving and provided a simple target, and the Narani fired his slugthrower. This is the point where the surprise came, and one where many would either affirm belief in a greater being or denounce one altogether for the situation. In this case, Akan was on the former side, with the Narani on the latter.    This was because Akan’s mind had reacted despite the pain in his body. The weapon had fired, a bright flash of short flames from the barrel followed by the metal bullet shooting out towards him. His conscious mind had simply watched this, giving in to what he had accepted as his fate. His unconscious, however, was not going to take this kind of crap. As he had not closed his eyes like many people would, Akan had a first hand view of the bullet slowing to a crawl and then stopping all together in mid air not ten centimeters from his heart. Well, his first heart. First heart being the one placed where it was in humans. His mind soon caught up with the situation, and Akan realized that he could feel the bullet. Holding it. Holding it with an invisible hand. With the Force.    It was one of those instances where one had to believe in those children’s stories where everything suddenly worked at just the right moment. If you didn’t believe in those, then what was the explanation for surviving? The will of the Force? Why should it care for a single individual in a small part of the galaxy? But it did. In fact, it cared so much that the horrible pain in his leg had gone. Not faded. Just gone. Suddenly. Akan’s mind was in no shape to grasp any more dramatically amazing moments, and instead he reacted like the good soldier he was.    He cheated. Well, it was only cheating to the Narani who had the half second to watch him jump to his feet before their lives were ended. To Akan, this was not cheating, but taking advantage of the situation. He slowed his breathing and suddenly picked up on a sound behind him. Ears swivelled first, but this was quickly followed by his head and then entire body, ready to pounce. Buried Alraxian instincts were taking hold and he’d likely have simply attacked the source of the sounds if Light was not one of the two. Seeing the other Alraxian, and one so strongly connected to him, the instincts held him in one place. Though the human was seen as a threat, the pause had given Akan enough time to get a grip with instincts and feelings that had never been his before.    He let out a long sigh of relief at seeing Light was alright, and noticed that she looked more like...more like Shadow. It was in the expression. And the feeling radiating off of her. Landau looked slightly worried because of Akan’s first reaction, but calmed at seeing the other Alraxian was alright. As Akan lowered his weapon, even Light smiled though it was Landau that spoke up, “She...said you needed help.”    “I think she already took care of that,” Akan responded sounding like he wasn’t really paying all that much attention to the situation. Taking a couple of steps forward, Akan kept his attention on Light, “You used the link...didn’t you?”    Light’s smile did not fade, and she nodded, “To a point. You were...we were in need of help quickly. I simply encouraged it.”    Nodding, Akan deactivated his lightsaber and allowed his body to relax, “What happened?”    “She was sh--“ Landau was cut off suddenly when Light threw him to the ground. She dove the other way, and Akan found himself also reacting to the sudden warning in the Force. But his reaction was not to move. Instead, he planted his feet firmly and activated his lightsaber again as he brought it through a horizontal swing through where the Force guided him. The source of the warning ducked low under the strike and kicked out at Akan’s midsection. Akan somehow found himself bringing his left arm down in an arc, forcing the leg to the side enough for him to jump back.    Landing and planting his feet again, Akan brought his lightsaber up in the normal defensive position in front of him. His Dark slowly stood up, ignoring both Light and Landau for the moment and simply staring at Akan. The two of them simply looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Watching. Reading. Knowing. Akan learned much more from this than his Dark did. The moment was broken when Light suddenly raised her blaster to fire at Akan’s Dark. She got her arm halfway up before his Dark extended a arm towards her and a wall slammed into her. Light flew back to the ground, sliding across the sand and trying to catch her breath. Akan somehow ignored this shadowed pain, keeping his focus on his Dark.    “We settle this now,” his Dark said, reaching off to the side with his free hand. A wooden pole ripped that held an awning up in front of a nearby building ripped out of the ground and flew to the Dark’s hand. Catching the meter and a half, small support pole, Akan’s Dark made a flashy show of spinning it that disgusted Akan. Showing off. Overconfidence. First advantage.    Without another moment, his Dark jumped forward, swinging the pole vertically as if it could cut through Akan like a lightsaber. The fact that it was glowing slightly and radiating through the Force made this more likely than in most cases. Reacting quickly, Akan jumped to the side. The pole hit the sand, as did his Dark, landing in a crouched yet still very dangerous position. In one quick motion, the Dark was on his feet and diving towards Akan again. He swung the weapon across for Akan’s neck. Ducking low, Akan had only a half second(with the aid of the Force) to then roll to the side and dodge a vertical strike that followed. The roll brought him to his feet with enough time to see a second horizontal strike fluidly following, and Akan used the Force to assist in his jump back. Landing easily a few meters away, Akan decided to play with his Dark.    Just as his Dark renewed a fierce series of attacks by diving in again, Akan deactivated his lightsaber and simply held the hilt as he dodged. Everywhere that his Dark attacked, Akan had been only milliseconds earlier. If not for his knowledge of both himself and the Force, Akan would not have been able to survive. It was energizing to be able to react so quickly, and his Dark was not enjoy this. After a particularly wild thrust that Akan had spun out of the way of, his Dark was amazed that the wide opening in his defense was not taken advantage of. Why had Akan not at least punched him?! He was being toyed with!    Anger flared through the Dark’s eyes as his attacks grew more swift, violent, and nearly more accurate. The tattered cloak that Akan wore was soon becoming the target for all of the strikes, piecing shedding off of it as if a blade was cutting it. Either it was mimicking a blade somehow, or his Dark was truly striking with momentous force. Perhaps both. Three more strikes, perfectly implemented and easily should have taken Akan down. But no. He turned left to avoid the first, feeling the rush of air and energy across his face and simply letting it energize him more, ducked low to dodge the second strike for his neck, then jumped back to avoid the last and most anger driven of the strikes. Akan had landed on one foot by the time his Dark was diving in with an attack. Akan jumped back again, and his Dark followed with another swift strike from his own movement. To Landau, it looked like Akan was dancing around and showing off. One foot to the next, landing just within reach to draw his Dark in for another failed strike.    Again. Again. Again. Again and again Akan and his Dark seemed to glide across the sand itself as one led the other in circles around the street. Walls of buildings gained strong dents and even the ground itself was gaining new uneven sections. Swing after swing, every single time, Akan’s Dark failed to hit. Each time he met with air, or something that wasn’t his target, watching as Akan slid back and beckoned him on. A growl grew in the Dark’s throat as he drew the Force into him more and more. Strengthening him and driving his body on and on just to catch up with himself. He caught up by such a minuscule amount of time that it was not measurable, yet it was enough to have Akan using more effort. Diving in again, his Dark swung harder than ever, trying with all his might just to take his own head off. Akan ducked low again, losing a few hairs, then pulled back just as the Force-empowered weapon shattered the corner of a building. Akan didn’t even get one foot down before his Dark was jumping at him again. The weapon flew in a strong downward arc with the Dark’s arms, and Akan felt it rush past him as he moved to the side of his opponent. Two more times, he managed near misses.    And then he surprised his Dark. Without even thinking about it, Akan planted his feet after pulling to the side and brought up his arms. His Dark was moving so fast and reacting to the pattern so much that he’d not heard the snap-hiss of the lightsaber blade. His makeshift weapon collided with the lightsaber and held there, in one piece only because of the Force itself. The Dark’s momentum had been froze by the sudden and violent impact. Akan grinned at seeing the surprised look on his Dark’s face, and again took advantage of the situation. Pushing his opponent back, Akan swung his lightsaber low, more as a threat than an actual attack. His Dark jumped over the strike, sending his own at Akan’s midsection. Akan didn’t catch the weapon with his blade, but instead used the force of his own momentum to bat the weapon to the side, spinning around completely for another strike that his Dark barely managed to stop. The two of them exchanged an impossible fast series of blows, all of them being caught just seconds before serious damage would have been done. Akan’s Dark realized he was being pushed back. Nearly stuck against a wall, he did his best to find a way out.    He found it. Quickly deflecting a strike from Akan’s lightsaber, his Dark held the two weapons together and forced them up over their heads, holding them there as if they were struggling for control. Knowing he could handle his own strength, Akan’s Dark let go of his weapon with one hand. His free hand gathered strength from the Force, and Akan had only a moment’s notice before a hard wall of nothing threw him back a good ten meters. But he didn’t fall on his back or face. Reacting with the primal Alraxian instincts that had nearly grasped him earlier, Akan slid across the sand on his feet, one clawed hand gripping the ground and slowing him. Watching the sand below him come to a stop, Akan looked up to his Dark and grinned.    That stopped his Dark’s imminent attack. Instead of moving, the Dark stood there looking surprised. That was enough time for Akan to say just loud enough for his Dark to hear, “My turn.”    The comment was enough to provoke Akan’s Dark. Akan knew this since he knew that would easily insight his own rage. Blindly, his Dark dove forward and cried a curse, swinging his makeshift weapon down at where Akan was. Or rather, had been. The weapon struck the ground hard, cutting into the rock below the sand enough to lodge it in for a short second. That short second was all that Akan had needed. Before his Dark had any chance to figure out where he’d gone, there was a blue-green blade resting just a centimeter from his neck. Akan was behind him. Somehow, he’d used the blind rage to sneak behind the Dark and now he had brought a sudden stop to the fight. His Dark froze, breathing carefully though still holding the weapon that was stuck in the ground. Quietly, Akan said into his Dark’s ear, “You know you can’t beat yourself when you’re filled with rage. Fight with your emotions and you lose. You should know that as well as I do. No more of this. We should be one again.”    Just as Akan had started to let his mind flow through the steps that Light had told him to do for merging, his Dark had a moment to take advantage of. An elbow slammed into Akan’s stomach, forcing him back. His Dark ducked at the same time, allowing the lightsaber blade to pass over his head harmlessly. Snapping the pole out of the ground and allowing the Force to flow through it again, his Dark turned around just in time to meet Akan’s strike. And then they were back at it. Swing after swing, each being met by the other. But each time, Akan’s Dark was being moved back. Being pushed harder. And getting angrier all the while. Akan’s words were torturing him as much as his failure to land a single blow. Trying a repeat tactic of what had worked before, the Dark forced Akan’s blade up above them. Akan’s Dark got his hand out and just as he was letting the Force lose, Akan also took a hand off his own weapon. The arm batted his Dark’s away, and the Force strike sent the crates that Akan had once hid behind smashing into the building behind them. Weapons still in the air and held together, Akan brought his hand back across and slugged his Dark hard across the face. The Dark stumbled back, a shocked look on his face that he’d failed again. Again!! He growled another curse, dropped the weapon, and got into the sky. Akan had not pursued him, and simply watched his Dark fly for the third time. But this time...this time Akan had faced himself and won.    Adrenaline slowly began to subside and the more primitive instincts within him also began to fade away. As he deactivated his lightsaber, Akan looked off to where Landau and Light were. Light looked dazed(and felt it), but she would be okay. Landau had a amazed look on his face. The speed of the fight had made it nearly impossible to follow, and now looking at this Alraxian...boy standing there in the midst of an impossible ruined street, Landau didn’t know what to think. Slowly, Akan started over towards the two of them. When he got close, he knelt down next to Light and smiled, “I’ve faced everything that is wrong with me, and won. You will have to do that before you can accept your own Dark.”    Giving him a worried look, Light simply managed a nod without a word. She was sitting up and it looked like the hit she’d taken wasn’t going to slow her down this time. Landau took a deep breath and said carefully, “We should assist in the fight for the city.”    Akan nodded and once again differed the lead to Landau. The man did not run, feeling too drained at this point. Instead, he led them quickly through the empty streets towards the southern section of the city where Trker-Hon was leading his attack. But Landau found himself wondering why they didn’t just send in Akan. No matter how messed up he seemed at times, he was as good a fighter as Voort. Those two could have cleaned the town of any Narani easily. Dangerous strength. And despite everything he knew about Voort, Landau worried about that strength in Akan’s hands more. Sometimes, there was such a thing as too young. Especially for power.</blockquote>

Verification