NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4022216" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 559: EscapeIt took roughly eight minutes, but Tobias somehow managed to find his way back to the ruined temple he’d not-so-intelligently left. The trek back wasn’t nearly as hard as he’d expected, as Tobias quickly realized he had mostly been running in straight lines, only turning to avoid trees. It also helped that there was still a dead Yuuzhan Vong near the one point where Tobias did change direction. Never in his life did he think a corpse would make a landmark...    Eyes scanning the area from the cover of tree, Tobias waited another few moments to make sure he hadn’t been followed and that there weren’t any Vong near the shelter. When he was sure, he slipped back down to the ground again and made a quick, slightly dangerous due to the rain, dash for the ‘cave’ and was soon once again within its dark, damp, recesses.    And there was no sign of Master Ral.    In a way, that was good. It meant that Tobias couldn’t be yelled at for doing something extremely stupid. But, more importantly, it was very bad. Tobias had not heard a thing from the Knight, which likely meant the ride off of Yavin IV was very close. Gods, where was Master Ral?!    Okay. Stop. Calm down. This was the worst possible time to be panicky and irrational. Tobias couldn’t afford to let his worry and other emotions cloud his reason and judgement. He was supposed to be a Jedi, dammit! Jedi were calm in the most dangerous of situations. They were calm, and that calm allowed them to both make the right decisions at the right moments, and to keep the necessary focus so as to effectively use the Force when the time called for it. Ever since he’d run off from this hole in the ground, Tobias had done none of that.    It was time to stop being a child, and start being the Jedi he was supposed to be.    After a series of deep, calming breaths, Tobias closed his eyes. Standing there in the middle of the small cave beneath the ruins of an ancient Massassi Temple, hands at his sides and, against all that Marix had taught him, his back to the entrance, Tobias began to reach out for the Force, just feeling it and finding it around him. Both of those were easy to do on Yavin IV, a planet so rich with life it glowed brighter than a star in the Force. The difficult part, the one that Tobias knew he could do if he remained calm and focused, was to look through the brightness, to differentiate the individual sparks of life all across the moon: animals, planets, Peace Brigadiers, what few Jedi remained, and...    “Tobias!”    He saw Master Ral in the Force just a heartbeat before Tobias heard the voice behind him. Eyes snapping open, Tobias spun around to see his Omwati Jedi Master quickly moving into the shelter, his white, feathery hair matted to his head by the rain. Before Tobias could say anything, however, Master Ral continued speaking in a voice filled with more urgency that was normal from the calm Jedi Master, “We must leave here immediately.”    “Vong after you?”  Tobias asked the question as Master Ral began to turn to lead the way out.    “More than would be intelligent to fight against,” but then, realized that Tobias hadn’t moved, Master Ral stopped just a few steps away and turned around, “What is it?”    Tobias could have just told him that they had a way off the planet. He could have only relayed that one piece of vital information and been in the clear. But no, that wasn’t what a Jedi was supposed to do.    “I went looking for you, Master,” like a good Jedi, Tobias told the truth, “I ran into some Vong and managed to lose them. But listen, before you yell at me because I know I deserve it. There’s a ship on the way, it’ll be here in just a few minutes. If we can find some clearing in the trees large enough for a small sized freighter we can get off this planet.”    There was no anger through the Force or on Master Ral’s face. In fact, he didn’t even miss a beat with this new information and simply replied immediately, “There should be an area just to the south of here. Are you sure we can trust the pilot of this ship?”    The interesting thing to Tobias was that, as the question was asked, Master Ral was leaving the shelter again. This time, however, Tobias followed, “The pilot is one of the Knights sworn to protect myself and my family. If we cannot trust him, then there is no one left in the galaxy we can trust.”    When Tobias caught up to his Master, they both took on a very swift pace. After dashing around a rather large tree, Master Ral’s head tilted just slightly to glance to Tobias. He didn’t say anything, but the question didn’t need to be spoken. How had he gotten in contact with a species that, as far as Master Ral had been told, were no where near Yavin IV. Truthfully, Tobias didn’t really know, either, so it was good the question wasn’t asked. In fact, he also a bit relieved Master Ral hadn’t commented on the fact that Tobias was still in his Alraxian body.    Distantly through the sounds of their running and rain, something could be heard in the sky above. Looking up did no good, as the jungle was too thick. But looking up wasn’t necessary for Tobias.    [We have your position. Moving to an area just south of your location.]    [We are both on our way now.] Tobias replied, then realized he might need to add. [We’re being followed by Vong, though.]    [As are we. Horus believes we can only set down for a matter of moments to get you on board before those fighters are on us.]    [We’ll be quick.] Tobias tried to sound sure, but then spoke up to Master Ral, “He’s almost down and will be to the clearing any moment now, Master. But uh...there are Coralskippers on them.”    The Jedi Master was intelligent enough to save certain questions for later. Namely, how Tobias was getting this information. But Master Ral understood that some things were best saved for later, when there weren’t Vong after them and...    They reached the clearly in the jungle, which actually looked like an area that a ship had gone down in decades earlier. Trees were down, metal scraps here and there, but nothing had regrown from the looks of it. Above, and circling down quickly, a tan-coloured, odd-shaped object could be seen. But that wasn’t what had their attention. What was truly important for the moment was that there were a dozen Yuuzhan Vong standing in the clearing, aphistaves at the ready and snarl-like grins on their scarred and tattooed faces.    They had been waiting.</blockquote>

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