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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2373960" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 237: Last RetreatIt wasn’t as if Jyren had planned things to end up the way they did. In fact, he’d had a rather clever plan in his opinion. Nine hadn’t been watching him. She was grinning and intently watching Kyren’s attack on Shadow. Jyren was off to the side enough that he was in a blind spot of sorts. So it was a logical conclusion to reach that it was the perfect time to attack. He knew that he couldn’t fight Nine alone. He knew she would tear him to pieces in a second. But he also knew that he could take her down if given the upper hand.    No, it wasn’t Jedi-like or in any way honorable to attack and strike her down before she even had a chance to see what had happened. No, it wasn’t something Jyren would normally think even consider attempting. But this was different. Nine was not like anything he’d ever been up against. If given the same advantage, she’d take it without hesitation...which was why Jyren had been watching her so closely. He had been waiting for her to dive in and strike at Shadow from behind.    Something in him, though, made his feet start to move. Not that his brain rejected the idea when it caught up and his lightsaber was grabbed. Jyren had been only two steps away from running Nine through from the side when there was a sudden, extremely sharp pain that shot up through his left leg. In his rush to take down Nine, he was not able to control the sudden shock that flowed through the link, and immediately lost his footing. The next thing Jyren knew, he was face first in the dirt, and the familiar weight of the lightsaber was no longer in his right hand.    He looked up.    He looked up and wished he hadn’t. It only confirmed just how stupid a mistake he’d made. Nine hadn’t even see him until he’d made that involuntary yelp of surprise at hitting he ground. But now he had her full, undivided attention...and a grin to go with it.    Truthfully, it wasn’t a grin. Jyren just couldn’t think of a better word for it. The expression was close to what he’d seen on Shadow. Teeth showing and something that would have been a smile had the eyes not been so...glaringly dangerous. It was obvious that Nine was enjoying the moment, but there was also a deadly intent right on the surface that made the word grin horrible inaccurate. Off to his left, Jyren could vaguely hear he sounds of Shadow and Kyren moving, but that no longer was even a blip on his scanners.    The large foot resting in the dirt just centimeters from his face was blocking out pretty much everything else. In a short second, he felt a tight, altogether unfriendly grip wrap itself around his body. He was given a violent squeeze that could have easily broken most of his bones if pressed for a half second longer before being moved.    Struggling against the Force grip around him was near useless, as he couldn’t even move his next from side to side. As his body was lifted up off the ground to near eye level with Nine(near because he was now taller, but it was as close as she could make it and keep him off the ground...besides, she was intimidating enough even being shorter than him), the only thing hat really moved were his eyes. A lot of good that did him.    “I wondered how long it would take you to try something foolish,” Nine commented, idly looking down over him and then back into his eyes...well, no, more through them, but it was close enough as he was concerned. Jyren did want to put in that necessary sarcastic response. Not only did it fit with his usual personality, but anyone in his situation was essentially required to make such a quip. Laws of the Force and all that...according to all hose holodramas, at least, but who was really counting anyway?    But he couldn’t respond. The grip was as tight around his throat as it was around his entire body, and while he could still manage to breathe, Jyren wasn’t about to push his luck any farther than he already had in one day. Obviously, it had run out hours earlier. At least he’d made good use of it while it had been around.    Nine had actually paused to give him a chance to respond, and even though he didn’t, her expression remained the same. Still in that calm, cold, and very Shadow-like voice, she spoke, “I could still kill you right now and the clone there would live just long enough for my pet to get his satisfaction out of it.”    Jyren didn’t like the sound of that for obvious reasons. The fact that he felt the grip on him through the Force starting to tighten didn’t exactly help the situation either. So Jyren did the only thing he actually could that might have proved slightly useful.    [A little help!]    He wasn’t able to turn his head to see if Shadow looked his direction, but he did feel her attention shift. And, proving that she did get a good look at things while the grip began to crush his body, he got a quick response. [I’m a bit busy!]    The grip was most definitely tightening, and nothing Jyren could do would break it. Managing a harsh cough, the first sound out of him which actually hurt more than the one that had caused the cough, Jyren pushed his sarcasm as best he could in Shadow’s direction, hoping the poor attempt would show the severity of the situation. [If you’d like to continue being busy, I suggest helping!]    It was poor. It wasn’t even really sarcasm. It was all his currently-being-crushed brain could come up with in a short amount of words. And if that didn’t work, the link sure had to be letting Shadow know just how much trouble he’d gotten himself into this time. In fact, it may well have been the worst he’d ever managed...because of this, Shadow made a note to beat some sense into him afterwards, even if they didn’t live.    Jyren was too busy choking, fighting the pain of crushing bones and a loss of the ability to feel anything that didn’t hurt to push on the need for assistance anymore. Though a tiny part of his mind managed to be amazed that he hadn’t blacked out just yet...the same part was also wondering why Nine was being so dramatic and taking her time instead of just crushing him that instant. He didn’t actually realize that she wasn’t taking his time and his thought processes had just sped up to deal with the problem in as quick a manner as was possible.    But then, suddenly in front of his reddened vision, Jyren saw a blur of movement. A vaguely greenish blur shot straight from his left and impacted the black-striped form he knew was still most likely Nine. In that instant, the violent grip on his body relinquished, and he dropped back down to the ground, hitting it face first for the second time in a matter of minutes.    When he felt an arm on him, Jyren attempted to lash out but his body was still hurting too much to do anything but tap Shadow somewhat roughly in the side. His vision clearing up, Jyren looked up to Shadow, who’s face was a mix of anger, concern, more anger, and something bordering on downright rage. With a quick glance the other way, he saw the body of Kyren over Nine’s about ten meters away.    “That was a serious push,” Jyren grunted out as Shadow roughly yanked him up to his feet.    “You’re lucky it wasn’t you I sent flying,” she growled under her breath, turning to face the two other Alraxians as both clawed their way to their feet. Obviously, Shadow was planning on continuing this fight...but now Nine looked like she was going to be getting involved.    Jyren was not exactly pleased with this new situation. [We need to get out of here.]    [Not without Kyren.] Shadow responded sternly, obviously also picking up on the fact that ‘here’ meant the Capital world and not just this current location in the forest.    [We have to.]    Jyren didn’t add anything else. Shadow knew the reasons. She knew that the two of them couldn’t handle both Kyren and Nine, even together. She knew it would get the both of them killed...but she didn’t care. It was Kyren. She was not going to leave him behind like...like his.    [We don’t have a choice.] Jyren’s words interrupted her line of thought like a knife.    Shadow didn’t actually respond in any form of words. Instead, she glanced to Kyren before running the other direction. Before following her, Jyren reached out and pulled his lightsaber hilt back to him. Charging through the forest after Shadow, he couldn’t help worrying about the sudden absolute silence that was now flowing from her through the link.    [Its not over, Shady.]    [This is the last time we run.]</blockquote>

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