JesterheadJohnSnow

"Do you have any orders for me to convey to our troops?"

Kortana glanced up from where she was sitting beside their new transport vehicle to see General Breighton, her new second in command,standing over her. They were situated in front of a familiar larger than possible warehouse in some world only Doba, the owner of their spacecraft, knew the name of. Dark clouds blanketed the sky above them, giving the vicinity an ominous appearance. The mentor judged that it was only a matter of time before it rained.

Kortana decided to give the general an answer. "As of right now, please keep an eye on the tributes to make sure they don't do anything out of line. You will then await further instructions."

"Your wish is my command." General Breighton left to do his duty.

How much longer must we wait until we receive our next assignment?

Like the general and everyone else, Kortana was weary of waiting. She knew that the tributes needed time to recuperate and squeeze in some rest and relaxation that would be the luxury they wouldn't experience for a while. The mentor understood that like her, the tributes were weary though they were weary of battle rather than of waiting. After all, they've seen more battles and deaths in a short span of time than most people have seen in a lifetime.

"How many more obstacles do we have to go until they release us from these ridiculous games?" Zack asked with an exasperated sigh.

"That is assuming that they plan on letting us get out alive," Gunnar replied. "At this rate, Valhalla seems more of a reality than escape."

"Guys!" Kortana snapped. "I know we are at the point where we have reached our limits and want nothing more than to go home to our families, but there is no other way to find the light at the end of the tunnel other than moving forward."

" Seriously, what is wrong with you lot?" Heinrich chuckled. "The best thing one can ask for is to die in battle."

"Who asked for your opinion?" Alyssa countered."Wait! No one can take someone in a tacky outfit seriously. What is this? All Hallows' Eve?"

" I don't remember asking for an argument." Kortana sighed and crossed her arms. "I swear you all will be the death of me!"

The profiler felt a tap on her arm. She turned to face Doba. "Yes? You care to make a rebuttal?"

"No,I just want to inform you that there are several figures fast approaching this way."

Kortana's eyes fixed onto the distance to see various shapes speeding their way. It wasn't long until the shapes, who were perched on vehicles, materialized into form. Kortana's eyes grew wide once she recognized them as speeder bikes.

Could it be that we have more tributes I wasn't notified about?

What do we have here?" One of the occupants of the speeder leapt off his bike and approached the throng. "It appears we have found who we are looking for."

----

"Master Kenobi! What are you doing here?"

Upon hearing Sanjira's remark, Tiger glanced up to see familiar and not so familiar figures approach them. He recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi ,who was joined by Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. Accompanying the Jedi were various figures dressed in colorful clothing the clone didn't recognize. It was safe to assume that they were allies of the Republic since they were not being treated like prisoners.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Sanjira! It is wonderful to see you again! It is thanks to you that we have the intel we needed."

That was when Tiger recognized two more individuals who were situated in the background rather than the foreground.

"Rex! Cody!"

The clone trooper hurried over to his brothers for a reunion.

---

"Are you new tributes we didn't hear about or are you here to brief us about our next task?"

Doba glanced over at Kortana as she spoke. Judging by her awed expression, she had never expected to be approached by Jedi.

"New tributes, we aren't. Here to liberate you from your prison, we are."

Doba's lupine eyes trained on Yoda as he stepped forward. Standing on either side of the green alien were two dark-haired humans. The female wore blue clothing while the male had a scar running across his face.

"So you are telling us that you are here to rescue us from these games?" Nica asked as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Precisely!" Anakin stepped forward. Doba remembered seeing him when the Republic constructed a base on her homeworld. "Although we have encountered a few complications in the process."

"Like what exactly?" Nayelli asked, furrowing her brows.

"It seems that Dooku and Ozai were on to us and hampered our efforts by sending their starfighters and dreadnoughts over here as we speak not to mention capturing your families to use as leverage." Obi-wan scratched his beard as he spoke.

"Wait!" Juan piped up. "So you mean that our loved ones are in the enemy's hands?"

"Exactly!" This time it was the bald boy next to Anakin who spoke up.

"So what happens next?" Jahar asked.

"Divide into three groups, we will. Go with either me, Anakin, or Obi-wan, you shall." Yoda smiled.

"With me, Rex, and Aang, will go the ones who are experienced in aviating spacecraft. " Anakin motioned to the bald guy and the clone trooper. "The rest of you can either go with Obi-Wan or Yoda's group."

"Anakin, I don't think they know what the whole objective is." Obi-Wan sighed. The Jedi master turned to address the curious crowd. "Pardon us for not telling you earlier, but we need to move quickly. In order to liberate the captives, we are splitting into 3 teams. "

"As you know, Anakin and I are going to meet the Separatist fleet in battle while Yoda, Katara, and Zuko will buy time for Obi-Wan, Sokka, and Toph's strike team to penetrate King Sargon's base which is located on our world," Aang said.

"It is there that the datapad we seek is located." The blue-clad boy in blue stood that stood beside Obi-Wan spoke up."It will contain the information needed to find your families."

"We have wasted enough time already! Let's divide into factions!"

All eyes turned on the scarred boy on Yoda's right. Others started to murmur in agreement.

"Right, Zuko is. Make haste, we shall." Yoda nodded.

----

General Breighton could only stare in fascination at the motley crew surrounding him at the warehouse. This fascinated him, but not nearly as much as the foreign technology around him, including the behemoth they referred to as their travel vehicle.

"It takes getting used to, I know."

The shamed general glanced to his left to see his old nemesis Thomas. If the rebel could adapt, so could he.

"You all heard them!" Kortana announced. " Let's form the squads! If you want to take part in engaging the enemy in space combat, come join me and Doba with Anakin's group. If you prefer to join Yoda or Obi-Wan's team instead, go to your respective areas."

As soon as everyone dispersed, Breighton, still indecisive, followed his former rival to where the green troll was with the scarred boy and a girl in blue. As soon as each group was settled with sixteen members from the Kortana squad, the troll cleared his throat and turned to the girl.

"Tell them our objective, you shall."

The girl turned to face the group. "While the other groups battle in space or undertake an espionage mission, we will buy them time by convincing Ozai not to side with Dooku."

---

Doba watched as the three groups entered her ship. In order to be able to differentiate between them, the groups occupied different parts of the ship.The space squadron camped out near the hangars, the strike force near the bridge, and the delegate team occupied the crew's quarters. The objective would be to deliver Yoda Obi-Wan's group to their respective positions before they took the battle to the skies.

" Tell your fellow droids to fire the engines!" Doba ordered a Protocol droid.

"By your command!"

The droid left to relay the order. Soon, the mini-cruiser rumbled as it started to rise above ground level. Out of the window, the large warehouse, paling in comparison to the small cruiser, started to become a dot as they shot upward toward the cosmos.

"Excuse me, but what world were we just on?"

The Gurlanin whirled around to face Kortana. "I believe it is called Sol 3."

Doba made her point by showing the world on a datapad. Kortana's jaw dropped upon seeing the planet's hologram.

"So we were in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle?"

-----

"Fire Lord Ozai, please here us out."

Zeera sat between Yoda and Zuko across the sleek wooden table from the Fire Lord himself. With the exception of a blue-clad woman, Ozai was flanked by several of his firebenders who were tasked with defending the Fire Lord. Behind her stood fifteen individuals who had accompanied Yoda, Zuko, and Katara. She knew them as Howard, Zymar, Sanjira, Mos, Mithra,Svanhilda, Thomas, Shaymus, and a few others she whose names she failed to recall. No matter their differences, they were all victims of Sargon's cruel games.

"Well spit it out!" Ozai snapped. "I don't have all day."

Yoda lifted his head to lock eyes with the bearded man. "Dealing with the Separatists, you have been. A counteroffer, we have."

"So you summoned me here due to a baseless claim?" Ozai glared at everyone. "You are wasting my time here."

"We actually have evidence that you conspired with Count Dooku." Katara spoke up."Otherwise we wouldn't be making a strong accusation against you. Was the reason for your collaboration due to power?"

"This is outrageous!" Ozai slammed his fists on the shiny brown table. "How many times must I reiterate that I had no involvement with these Separatists?"

We need to tread carefully. Ozai has quite a volatile nature.

"How about in exchange for breaking your alliance with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, you can ally with the United Republic as well as the Galactic Republic?" Zeera suggested.

There were mixed reactions to her proposal.

"Pssh!" Zuko rolled his eyes. "Ozai would never side with us."

"We must give diplomacy a chance!" Zeera insisted.

---

"What are their defenses, Kody?"

Everyone who was huddled behind the boulder turned to the clone commander.

"I spotted electric wires above the wall as well as a ray shield in front of the gates. Furthermore, there are clankers and men in red robes patrolling the vicinity. How shall we proceed, Master Kenobi?"

Heinrich scrutinized the base from where he crouched on the wet grass. What met his eyes was a fortress-like enclosure with wires brimming with purple electricity while a red glow pulsed form a heavily guarded gate. Beyond that, a three story building with a metallic blue-gray color scheme caught his eye. That must be their destination.

"I say we charge the line and bulldoze our way inside," Heinrich suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Animal's eyes widened in glee.

"Not a chance!" Sokka retorted. "That is suicide. Besides, that would only attract more attention. In order to avoid incurring the enemy's full power, we need to go stealth on this one."

Commander Cody concurred with the boy. "Let us split into two teams. Eight of you will stay with Obi-Wan and Sokka while the other eight will accompany me and Toph. All of us charging at once will only end in failure."

Soon, the teams were created and everyone planned to move out. With Obi-Wan and Sokka were Tiger,Nica, Jahar, Drake, Jenna,Deadpool,Zack, and Animal. Commander Kody's squad contained Nayelli, Heinrich, Mo, Kizuna,Nathalie, Nala, Koyomi, and Liane.

The blind girl Toph faced her own team. " Just to make it clear. No funny business, alright?"

"Question." Kizuna raised her hand.

"Hm?" Toph responded.

"This is a stealth raid, right?"

"Of course." Cody was the one to respond.

"Since I am Kunoichi, let me handle the sneaky business."

Before anyone could object, she darted off.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Obi-Wan sighed.

----

" Prepare your starfighters!"

Wedge glanced curiously over at his red and gray V-19 Torrent inside the cruiser's hangar. It was surreal to see a relic of the Clone Wars right in front of him. As a veteran X-Wing flyer, he had seen two Death Stars destroyed, but now he it was time for him to fly against the Separatists he had heard a lot about as a child.

"Wow, these are some nice looking spacecraft!"

Wedge craned his neck to the right to see Purhaena step into her ARC-170. The rest of the pilots, which included Adlan, Strygar, Lazhar, and Xhanna , were fastened into their starfighters. As soon as Wedge fitted on his helmet and closed the hatch, they received the order to launch.

"Woohoo!"

Wedge felt the familiar ecstatic thrill as his fighter zipped through space. His knuckles white from the high-speed endeavor to regroup with his squad, Wedge positioned his V-19 on the left flank of Anakin's Jedi Interceptor. He also noticed a second starfighter pull up alongside Anakin's.

"Nice of you to join us, Snips!" Anakin remarked.

"Save the greetings for later, Master Skywalker. Admiral trench's ship has just pulled out of hyperspace!"

Wedge felt a chill go down his spine as he saw the infamous Separatist commander's dreadnought materialize in front of them. Around the sleek blue shape, various swarms sped toward them. Upon closer inspection, Wedge noticed that they were droid fighters and gunned the throttle to meet them in battle. Squeezing the trigger, he let a few red lasers streak across the sky which resulted in explosions and scrap metal.He then reflected back to when he destroyed his first TIE fighter.

Who's next?

He turned to defend the flank of his squadmates.

----

" Ach! This is so boring! Why can't we just fight the bastards?"

I second that.

Eric and Senji glanced over at Shaymus before they exchanged glances. The tributes have all been reduced to being background decorations in an ornate red room designed for political meetings.What irritated Eric was that the color scheme of the banners, decor, and the wall ranged from deep crimson to bright scarlet. They could only stand and watch the political exchange between Ozai and Yoda.

"Perhaps it's because of the fact that we are outclassed and it's bloody suicidal." Alyssa rolled her eyes. ""I figured you pirate-types lacked brains."

"He's right about this being pointless." Ruby cut in.

"True, but I would rather not take on those firemen."Charity cut in.

Eric sighed as he viewed the political stalemate between Ozai and the green troll. Yoda's companions, Zatara,Zuko, and Zeera would occasionally chime in to bargain with the despot, but Ozai would have none of it.

"This is going to last forever."

Eric glanced at his right to see a tattooed man with an eyepatch over his right eye join him. This must be Senji.

"Tell me about it," Eric said. "You got a lighter."

"Of course."Senji smiled and started to take it out. Before Eric could retrieve it, Ozai stood up and started laughing hysterically.

"I don't find the offer of a high position in the Republic funny." Zeera frowned. "You have a more desired offer in mind?"

"Fools!" Ozai smirked. " You can offer me various titles and trinkets in the Galactic and United Republics, but I have already made my alliance."

The doors burst open to reveal a tall man with a grey beard flanked by weird robots. He entered the room, flanked by a two hooded figures.

"Knew it, we did," Yoda stood up and activated his lightsaber. "With the Seperatists, you side."

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something important?" Dooku sneered, activating his red lightsaber. "Avek, Assaj, spare no one in this room."

---

Get them, Drake!"

Jahar watched as his dragon companion pounced onto the nearest firebender,spitting poison on his face. Kizuna had dispatched the patrols using her powers with wood while the rest of the team had dispatched the remaining droids and firebenders.

"So much for a stealth mission." Sokka grumbled under his breath.

Kizuna pouted. "Hey, the least you can do is thank me for eliminating the guards and destroying the shield."

"She's right-"

Before Zack could finish his sentence, a blaster bolt shot through his chest. Startled, everyone glanced up at the roof to see a commando droid sniping at them.

"Take him out before he alerts the others!" Commander Cody shouted.

A crack of a rifle resounded across the vicinity as the droid fell of the roof.

"Got that sucker."Animal chuckled.

"Yet we have our first casualty." Mo lamented, gazing at the bloody corpse of Zack.

---

"That is my seventh kill!"

Uh, no one cares.

Purhaena only felt exasperation by the two Fantine pilots as they boasted about their kills although she had to admit that they were sensational aviators. Two droid fighters swooped down on her. Cursing, she pushed on the controls of the starfighter as she employed evasive maneuvers. One thing all pilots in her realm knew was to never fly straight. You might as well paint a target on yourself if you do. Waiting for the right moment, she pulled up as one fighter overshot her. With a burst of her trigger, Purhaena converted it into a flaming meteor.

" A-2, watch your back!"

Startled, the aviator noticed her radar convey a red dot zooming in on her and was about to make an evasive maneuver when a loud explosion lit the space behind her. The dot faded from the radar.

"Thank me later!"

A-4,also known as Lazhar, shot past her canopy in order to engage more enemies. Eager to rejoin the battle, she came behind another ARC-170 which she recalled Strygar had occupied earlier. Their previous air engagements running through her mind,Purhaena leveled her plane and took a breath. Time to settle an old score. The ace flyer steadied her starcraft until she heard the target lock beep. Before she could squeeze the trigger, many red dots littered her radar within her vicinity.

"The Separatists have brought in reinforcements!"

Purhaena's heartbeat kicked up a notch upon seeing the area swarmed with droid fighters.

If I ever fall in a dogfight, let me go down with glory!

Biting her lip, she prepared to engage the insect-like starfighters. Suddenly, a few of the attacking droids blossomed into fireballs, signalling the arrival of reinforcements.

"Blue squadron, glad you could make it!" Anakin cheered. A whole squadron of starfighters had appeared in their midst, bulking up their ranks.

A new voice piped up over the radio. "Sorry for the delay. We were held up. Now we are here, let the bombing run commence!"

---

Adlan held his breath as they positioned themselves in order to bomb the first dreadnought. He was surprised to see a couple more flanking the first. The pilot swore that they hadn't been there before, but knew he couldn't dwell on it.All that mattered is providing these so-called Y-wings for the bombing run.

A few droid fighters came down on them, filling the cosmos with red lasers. Adlan broke off from his assigned bombers and met the enemy as the Y-wings struck the first dreadnought. The Fantine pilot couldn't help, but feel captivated by the bright lights as the bombs made contact with the enemy ship. After taking out two fighters, he turned to evade the last one in order to rendezvous with his assigned bombers.

"Adlan, heads up!"

Taking Strygar's advice, Adlan glanced up to see the tail of the dreadnought rise in front of him like a dolphin's tail.His heart beating wildly, he pulled on the controls until his knuckles turned white. He could hear the faint screech as the ventral side of his fighter as he narrowly avoided colliding with the behemoth's tail. Underneath him, the pursuing fighter slammed into the tail, resulting in a bright flash and chunks of metal drifting off into space.

"Why am I not taking a desk job instead?" Adlan wondered as he recovered from the adrenaline rush.

"Prepare for a second run!" Anakin ordered

Suddenly, the sky was filled with green lasers. Several made their mark on the strike team's starfighters, turning them into fireballs. Adlan himself felt his fighter jolt from the ferocity of the attack as he started taking damage. Craning his head backwards, he noticed in stark horror that the dreadnoughts were firing indiscriminately into the battleground. Enemy as well as friendly ships took heavy fire.

" Scratch that! We need to fall back to protect the cruiser."

Heeding Anakin' s orders, Adlan turned his Z-95 starfighter a full 180 degrees to see a pack of Vulture bombers converge on the cruiser used to bring them here. Its loss would cripple the Kortana squad. Wasting no time, he gunned the engines and sped off to engage the bombers.

---

Back on the star cruiser, Iadugith viewed the space battle with interest. She, Kortana, Morgan, Sentery, Zayda, Aang and a few others had stayed back on the ship to assist Doba. As the space outside was streaking with red and green lasers, the Andalite captain then noticed a swarm heading toward them. Narrowing her four eyes, she shifted her position in astonishment as she recognized them as the aircraft that had demolished her fleet.

"Incoming!" Zayda screamed nearby.

The cruiser shook violently as the bombs made their mark on the ship. Iadugith had to grab onto the railing to avoid falling of the bridge. Glancing around nervously, she was surprised to see that there was no damage to the ship despite the heavy bombardment it took.

"Don't worry!" Doba announced form the center of the bridge. "The shields are up! However, I don't know how long they can last under intense attack."

Amazing, Iadugith thought in awe. If only my ship had that kind of power.

Outside, three red and white starfighters streaked past to engage the attackers. Flash of lights in the deep vacuum of space dotted the area as the air battle raged on. A damaged droid began its hurtle toward the modified star cruiser after taking a hit to its wing. Iadugith couldn't help but flinch as it made contact with the shield, becoming obliterated upon impact.

"Woah!" Lance the Earthling jumped back in shock. "This is insane!"

All others on board murmured in agreement. Doba then ran out toward the deck with a frantic expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Kortana asked.

"The sensors are picking up something of large proportions in hyperspace." The girl ran a hand through her hair.

Before anyone could question her further, a massive blue cruiser appeared between their ship and the battle. The immense size of the newcomer captivated the tributes. Iadugith noticed Doba's look of terror and felt something was wrong.

Is there something we should know about that ship? Iadugith asked in thought-speak.

"That is the Malevolence!" Doba clenched her fist. "That's Grievous's flagship. We are all in trouble."

Before anyone could question her, a bright purple light started to take form from the middle of the Malevolence. After about a few minutes, a circular purple blob shout out of the enemy ship and headed their way.

"Can't you move us out of the way?" Aang asked.

"I gave my droids the order, but I doubt they can accomplish it on time." Doba answered. Before the cruiser could budge, the blob overtook the ship.

---

Mithra felt her blood boil at the sight of the men who had abducted her and Mo from their home. Letting out a shriek, she activated her lightsaber, the same color as the room, and charged Dooku where he crossed blades with Yoda. Dooku, or Tyranus as he was also known, smirked at her as he aimed Force lightning at her, sending her flying back. Yoda had turned to address her.

"Interfere, do not. Take out the reinforcements, please do."

Irritated at being ordered by a Jedi, she knew he had a point when she spotted droids and firebenders enter the room. Sanjira engaged the hooded figure , Katar and Zuko faced off against Ozai, while the others took care of the droids and firebenders. Nearby, Zeera and a couple others whose name skipped her mind engaged the dark-haired woman who had accompanied Ozai. She watched her brother charge at Avek, only to be pushed back by the Force. Zymar stood between them.

"This is my fight." Zymar's eyes burned like a wolf's. " Got it?"

Sighing, the two Dark Jedi set off to fight two droidekas and firebenders.

---

Sanjira snarled as she cross blades with Assaj Ventress. It had been a while, but she still wanted to exact vengeance for the death of her apprentice.

"Not bad." The Sith assassin smirked. "I suppose this is in response to the event on Byblos?"

"I will not rest until I have killed you." Sanjira ducked a blow before returning it.

"I thought vengeance wasn't the Jedi way?" Assaj sneered. The duel continued as lightsabers and other weapons were the only sounds heard in the room.

----

"Darth Zaratte, we finally meet."

Zymar cackled as he faced off against the Sith lord.

"I suppose you are the one they call Avek?"

The red Togruta chuckled. "You are quite observant. Now, I have chosen to fight you as I deem you the strongest of this bunch."

" I am flattered." Zymar smirked. "Shall we begin?"

"With pleasure." Avek drew his lightsaber.

"Scream, Anguista!" As his blade hummed red like a lightsaber, the Arrancar lunged at the other Sith. Avek parried all of his blows before returning his own blows. Zymar hissed in pain as the lightsaber made contact with his wrist.

"You seem to only possess brute force." Avek informed him. "While that has its own advantages, it will get you killed if it isn't complemented by skill."

"Save your breath." Zymar snarled."I was only getting started."

Using Sonido, he appeared behind Ave and swung his blade. Surprisingly, Avek stretched out a hand and Force pushed Darth Zaratte against the wall. Stepping up from the few droids that he had fell on, he was soon met a lightsaber pointed at his throat.

"I must say that I am disappointed," Avek said."I had such high expectations for a Sith."

"Did you just assume I was finished?" Zymar's claws grew out as he started to activate his Resurreccion. " Now you will face my true power!"

Zymar then startled the other Sith by slashing his arm which resulted in Avek dropping his blade. He then came at his foe from all sides, scratching up Avek and sending him slamming into the wall.

Zymar, in his red and blue Hollow form , stood over the Togruta.

"I have to admit, I am really grateful for your gifts. Don't take this personally." The Arrancar raised his blade to finish the job.

"Wait, I have something to tell you."

Zymar lowered his blade, intrigued. " Spill."

"If you want to escape the premises, I can tell you how." Avek informed Zymar in a whisper.

----

"Hey, this place is off limits!"

Inside the blue-tiled hall, Deadpool whirled around to face the firebender.

"Oh,I thought the bathroom was here."

From behind the man, the mercenary spotted Obi-Wan's team sneaking across the hall. His role was to distract any guards within the vicinity while they infiltrate the room.

"I am afraid I am going to have to take you in." The firebender grabbed Deadpool's arm.

"Don't touch me with those burning hands!" Deadpool took out his katana and ended up beheading his foe with a swift stroke.

"What's going on here?"

A couple battle droids walked toward him.

"Oh, nothing much." Deadpool chuckled."Could I ask you a question? How does it feel to be on the receiving end of my katanas?"

He punctuated the statement by cutting off the droid's head. The other droids responded by blasting at him.

"Have you forgotten that I have tissue regeneration?"

Deadpool finished off his two other foes.

"Who's next?"

Suddenly, he felt an intense burning sensation shoot through him. It took a moment for the mercenary to process the fact that he was on fire.

No!This can't be happening!

This is his kryptonite. He could heal using tissue regeneration, but if all of his tissue burned off at this rate, he wouldn't have any left to heal himself. In pain and terror, he could only gaze at the firebender who had blindsided him until he succumbed to his fiery end.

---

Zeera turned to face Ozai's attendant Zai.

"Why are you serving the Fire Lord?" Zeera asked .

Her fellow Southern Water tribe member smiled at her. "It is nothing someone like you would understand. The joy of seeing the suffering on one's face as-"

Zeera then cut her off. " What has he offered you that the United Republic can't?"

"Power." Zai smirked.

As she said that, water started to form in front of Ozai's attendant. Then, some of the water turned into ice shards before raining over Zeera and anyone within five feet of her. Thinking quickly, Zeera used some of the water from a nearby fountain to create an ice shield over her which defended her and the nearby tributes from the ice shards. Suddenly, a blast of fire incinerated the shield, causing Zeera to fly back several feet. The waterbender glanced up to see Ozai joining the fray as Katara and Zuko lay wounded on the floor. She could only look up in horror to see Zai sneer as she came over the diplomat with an ice spear.

---

"What happened to the power?"

Doba just turned to face Zayda. "That is the Malevolence's power. My droids are working really quickly in order to restore it before"-

Suddenly, the shrieking of droid bombers were heard and loud explosions were heard from the side of the ship. It was apparent that the enemy fighters were taking advantage of the fact that the shields were down. Suddenly, the port side exploded, leaving a large hole sucking anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby into the vacuum of space. Zayda grabbed onto the railing of the bridge to avoid being sucked out. In about a few minutes, the chaos died down.

"What happened?"

Eager to know the answer to that, Zayda glanced over to see a large circular piece of air patch the damage.

" Your welcome." Aang answered everyone as he gritted his teeth in concentration.

"Where are Rick and Jahalis?"Kortana asked.

It then became apparent that those two weren't so lucky after all.

----

"There you are!"

Lazhar glanced over at a group of men in blue and white armor approach them at the airfield. The battle in the stars was originally in their favor until the Separatists turned the tables. Taking heavy damage and losses to their starfighters, they had landed in an abandoned airfield as part of a tactical retreat.

"Rex, we need to move now!" Anakin ran over to the men.

Suddenly, pilled robots rolled out of nowhere and started firing on them.

"Prepare to fight your way to Yoda and Obi-Wan's group!"

Lazhar drew his blaster. He had special training to deal with similar situations.

---

"Here we are.This should be the room where the information on your families' whereabouts are located."

Every operative stood behind Obi-Wan the other three overseers of the operation as they came upon a steel gray door. If everything they were told was true, Jahar knew he would be one step closer to exiting the games. Patting Drake's head while holding Jenna's hand, the prince watched as Nathalie walked up to the door to press a weird-looking button. Suddenly, she was hewn in half by a red laser to the horror of the others.

"They must have rigged the door with booby traps!" Sokka surmised."We mus-"

Pushing Jahar and others within his proximity aside, Heinrich blew out the button, causing the door to slide open.

"You can thank me later, comrades." Heinrich made a show of bowing.

"Will we find our families?" Jenna asked as they entered the room.

"I hope so." Jahar smiled at his companion. He also patted Drake on the head. Jahar intended to take this dragon with him and give him a home along side his own dragon. After all, he is the dragon prince.

"The information must be somewhere here." Toph explained.

Jahar scanned the room and noticed a dark green vault against the steel gray room. "Is it in there?"

"Yes." Sokka confirmed. "Now,we can't just"-

Drake had already clambered up the wall and spat his poison on the beams. In response, the vault gave away and a rectangular object slipped out. Commander Cody caught it with one hand and handed it to Obi-Wan.

"This is it." Obi-Wan activated the device. "Now let's see where your families are hidden."

Jahar noticed Jenna tense up in anticipation. In fact, everyone else was feeling the same way. However, everyone's hopes seemed dashed once Obi-Wan frowned.

"What's the deal?" Heinrich asked.

"It appears that this doesn't hold the location of your families as we had initially thought." Obi-Wan stopped for a bit to let the news sink in."Rather, the data reveals that we need a key in order to access them."

"Where can we find this key?"Nala asked.

"According to the data, it is with King Sargon." Obi-Wan explained. "If we only knew Sargon's whereabouts."

Then, the alarms blared and red lights flashed.

"We got company!"

All eyes turned to see droidekas roll inside and concentrate their fire at the strike force.

Jahar drew his sword and charged, but then felt a blaster bolts rip through his chest. The prince gasped as he fell on his knees.

"My prince!"

Jenna came to his side immediately and grabbed his hand. Drake let out a whimpering sound and nuzzled Jahar.

Jahar struggled between breaths. " Don't...worry....you...won't..lose..me."

Then, darkness engulfed his vision.

---

"Augh!"

Shaymus gritted his teeth as he felt the intense heat in the air. He, Mos, and Senji were in the literal heat of a struggle against the Fire Lord until Katara and Zuko could regain their strength. Nearby, Zeera had activated an ice shield around Shaymus and his fellow combatants to guard against Ozai's attacks. Seeing the girl falter, Shaymus decided to repay the debt by attacking Ozai's attendant with his battleaxe.

"Fast, but not fast enough." Zai parried with her ice blade. As she and Shaymus exchanged blows, Senji used his blood magic to trap her. To Senji astonishment, Zai giggled and freed herself from the blood binds.

"It didn't occur to you that waterbenders can bend blood as well?"

Suddenly, Shaymus felt himself whirl around.

What's going on?

Before he knew it, he was standing over Ruby, who was nursing her wounds near a fallen table. Startled, the pirate glanced up at her friend.

"Whad'ya doing?"

No! This can't be happening!

Shaymus could only watch in horror as his arms involuntarily swung his axe down multiple times. Once he regained control of his senses, his friend was left in a pool of blood.

----

"Do you really think that you are not anything but expendable to Ozai? Look at how he kills his own servants!"

Sighing, Zai faltered in her attack for a second.

Zeera stuck out her hand. "You don't have to do his bidding. If you join our Republic, you will find that you aren't prone to do anyone's biddings and you will have freedom and the power you desire."

Zai sighed, "Perhaps you are right although"-

"Gran Rey Cero!"

The room suddenly flashed a blinding red and before she knew it, the diplomat was engulfed in the bright light.

----

Zymar stood in front of Avek, smirking at his handiwork. Once Zai was distracted, he had used the chance to charge a Cero and use it to kill Zai along with Zeera and a few droids and firebenders that were unfortunate enough to be in the way. The force of the attack was so powerful that it destroyed the furniture and caused crevices and fissures along the wall. Only Yoda was fixed in a struggle against Dooku and Ventress while most tributes occupied Ozai.

Now is our chance to escape.

However, instead of getting any expression of gratitude or even a chance ot hear out the escape plan he had learned from Avek.

"You dare kill another innocent life, Sith?"

Sanjira relit her green saber as she led the few tributes who were not occupied at the moment toward the Sith.

"Ungrateful as usual." Zymar sighed as he prepared for battle.

Sara_R_Stark

Anakin, Legolas and Darius found themselves camping out in an empty office room above the warehouse they were situated in. They could hear the other tributes talking quietly in the rooms to their right, though nobody was making a real effort to communicate with anyone but those on their teams. Darius felt guilt that he was the reason neither Anakin or Legolas would have any teammates, though the two men didn't seem to mind. Anakin appeared to be completely fine quizzing Darius about the Empire from Darius' time.

"Is the Emperor still alive?" Anakin questioned, propping his legs up on one of the dusty conference tables at the center of the room.

"Thriving," Darius rolled his eyes. "He lost all hope when you- you know what... I don't think I should say."

"What did I do?!"

"Nothing wrong, I promise."

Anakin crossed his arms, pouting childishly as Darius yet again refused to answer a question related to him. He wanted to know what happened to him in the future. Was he even alive in Darius' time?

"Am I still alive where you're from?" he questioned finally, his fiery eyes uncertain but curious.

"You're still alive," Darius admitted, leaning back against his comfortable chair, "though I don't really know where you went. The Emperor refused to say after you..."

Darius paused, his eyes narrowed. There was a brief shift in the Force, and both of the Sith felt it clearly. Anakin shot up out of his seat, his eyes blown wide. Both stared at each other, sensing three familiar presences approaching their building. Legolas glanced at them, confusion in his icy glare.

"I thought we agreed you would talk outside the Force so I could understand the situation," Legolas narrowed his eyes.

Darius could barely respond before his legs shot him out of the room and down the stairwell leading to the main storage area of the building. He sensed Anakin sprint after him, Legolas grudgingly following behind. Once he'd made it to the large empty space, his eyes focused on the small group approaching them from the dazzling sunlight beyond the building. Footsteps thundered behind their group as the rest of the tributes joined them, probably alerted by the only other Force user in their ranks. She seemed in awe too as she stepped forwards to meet the eyes of the people entering their building.

"No way," she breathed.

"That's impossible," both Darius and Anakin murmured. Darius tentatively reached out through the Force, feeling Anakin's feelings spiraling out of control. The new group stopped mere feet from the tributes, and Darius nearly choked as he recognized the figures leading their rescuers.

"Hello," Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled warmly.

Darius nearly passed out right then and there.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Legolas didn't have to be Force sensitive to sense that his companions were awestruck and incapable of greeting their guests, so he sighed quietly and stepped forwards. The leader of the newcomers raised his hand in greeting, and Legolas clapped their hands together in a firm handshake. He smiled as he stepped backwards, subtly glancing to his right to see Anakin and Darius trapped in a silent argument.

"I'm sure our coming wasn't expected," the ginger man towards the front smiled apologetically, "but it was urgent we made it quickly. We'd gotten word that you were in need of desperate help. Reports said your group was taken captive and your families taken directly after. New information says that it's possible to get your families back."

Gasps were heard echoing throughout the room. Legolas glanced back towards his Sith friends to see them no longer staring at each other, but at a figure towards the back of the new group. They, to his annoyance, still seemed incapable of communicating effectively, so he rolled his eyes as he faced the new group once again.

"Your presence is appreciated," Legolas grinned. "Though I do wonder how you've gotten this information while it has taken previous groups this long to discover the locations of their families."

"We weren't sure if our reports were true or not," the robed man at the front shrugged. "This is a planet we tend to stray from. Though one of our clones managed to infiltrate a large group of droids loading up onto a ship which was preparing to be sent directly here."

"That must be a sure sign," Legolas nodded, though he inwardly cringed as he realized he knew nothing of droids or ships that could travel across planets. He would have to question the Sith on that later. "How can we help? All of us are desperate to end this as soon as possible."

"Step in, may I?" a small alien creature asked from the back of the group. Legolas watched with wide eyes as a creature dressed in similar robes to Anakin hobbled to the front, smiling warmly up at him. He numbly smiled back. "A plan, we've created. Three groups, there will be."

The man from before glanced towards Legolas, noticing how lost the elf looked before stepping in. Legolas' shoulders slumped in relief as he realized he wouldn't have to decipher the alien's odd language.

"We're splitting up into three groups," the man began. "One group will distract the enemies using a political meeting while another flies up into space to take down the enemy's large warships. The last group will search the base for a hidden datapad containing the information needed to discover your lost families. I will be leading the group searching for the datapad, while Yoda will cover the political meeting. Anakin will be fighting the warships up in the sky."

Anakin?

Dead silence fell across the room as everyone finally realized what had the two Sith transfixed. Towards the back of the group seemed to be a perfect replica of the Anakin who had recently joined their group. The only difference was their eyes. The new Anakin's eyes were a beautiful sky blue, while their Anakin's eyes were the colour of fire. The green creature chuckled under his breath as he watched the group's slow realization.

"A predicament, we have," he chortled.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Obi-Wan was feeling so much uncertainty and confusion that he was sure even the young Sith next to Anakin could sense it. His apprentice was powerful, sure, but he couldn't possibly be on the dark side... not even with whatever magic allowed there to be two of him in the first place.

"Anakin explain," Obi-Wan demanded.

"I don't need to explain anything," Sith Anakin growled, his voice filled with more anger and remorse than Obi-Wan thought possible. His eyes filled with tears as he stared down at Yoda who happened to be smiling creepily, though he couldn't find the words to voice the amount of betrayal he felt towards himself. How could he have allowed Anakin to become this?

"I would never turn to the dark side," his Anakin gasped, his voice thick with tears. "I couldn't."

"Surprised, you would be, if the same thing I told you," Yoda murmured. "Changed, a person can become, if the right cocktail of pain and greed they are given. But worry not. A mission we have."

Both Anakins seemed ready to argue, and Obi-Wan almost smiled despite the horror of the situation. He would have to deal with two hot headed 'twins' whose egos were almost as large as the levels of midichlorians inside them. He cast a sideways glance to the Sith Anakin whose head seemed to be dropped in shame, and he could feel guilt resonating through the Force. Anakin seemed to be too conflicted to properly raise his shields.

Obi-Wan fought an internal battle with himself, his instincts screaming at him to probe his apprentice's mind and learn what truly happened to cause such a bubbly young man to turn to the dark side of the Force. But he told himself not to. This was still his Anakin... the child he'd been with for as long as he could remember. Sith or not, Anakin was his closest friend and ally, and he wouldn't allow this mission to change that.

"No time, there is," Yoda murmured. "Go, we must."

"May we gather our things?" the Sith asked.

"Quickly," Obi-Wan said, listening to the retreating feet as his group was once again alone. He turned to the group of benders hiding out behind them who had been watching the whole encounter with wide eyes. He sighed, his eyes trained on nothing in particular. If only Qui Gon could see him now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Anakin, who's that?" Darius asked once they were back in their conference room.

"Me..." Anakin trailed off, sounding uncertain. "But from the Jedi."

"That's quite obvious, isn't it?" Darius blurted. "It's been years since I've even heard Master Kenobi's name, and seeing both him and a clone of one of the most powerful Jedi ever is surprising, to say the least."

"But who else was with them?" Legolas questioned from across the room as he settled down in one of the chairs. "They didn't look like your people."

"I have no idea," Anakin murmured. "I've never seen clothing like theirs. Do you think the others will know?"

"Most of the others are against us," Darius scoffed, running hand through his hair thoughtfully. "Though there were two of them that seemed to wear similar clothing."

"Oh!" Anakin exclaimed. "I remember them. Their names are Ashlyn and Declan. Those two are obsessed with each other."

"Should we try to form a team with them?" Darius wondered aloud. "They seem like strong allies to have in these games, especially if they have any relations to some of the newcomers."

"That is not the best idea," Legolas commented. "If most of your teammates are already against you for the death of the girl's friend, collecting allies would seem like a futile attempt to regain the power you had in the beginning."

"I agree," Anakin nodded. "They aren't worth your time. We're fine enough on our own." He reached out through the Force, sensing most of their group down by the Jedi already. "Everyone's leaving. We should hurry so we don't get left behind."

Everyone scrambled to collect their limited supplies strewn about the room before clambering down the stairs leading to the main storage room. Obi-Wan was pacing impatiently, and Yoda had his eyes closed, the Force swirling around him strongly. They all looked up as the trio entered the room, and Darius smiled sadly as he saw a small spark of joy in Obi-Wan's eyes as he spied his old apprentice.

"Is that everyone?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I think so," one of their older group members, a female with dark blue hair and a calming presence, spoke up from the back of the group. "Shall we go?"

Yoda nodded, hobbling in the direction of their previous exit. Everyone followed silently, the fear and exhilaration of yet another adventure clouding all thoughts. Darius took one final glance back at the warehouse that been serving as their makeshift base since their last mission. A pang of guilt ripped through his heart as he realized that he was living behind the corpse of Victoria, the only teammate who had made a legitimate effort to connect with him. Her body was still out in those woods, hidden underneath the large roots of the tree she died against, her blood still staining the wooden stake piercing her heart.

Darius jumped when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was the newer version of Anakin, his crystal blue eyes sparkling with sympathy. Darius felt his lips curling up into a small smile, realizing how starved of physical contact he was. His master wouldn't be pleased with this realization, but at this point, Darius found that he didn't care. He was alone in these games, and if connecting with his fellow tributes was the way to survive, he would gladly do it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Before we go," Obi-Wan called, halting the group in its tracks, "we need to split you all up into teams. It's your decision who you go with, but please consider your personal strengths, as this mission is much more challenging than any you have faced before." Everyone nodded slowly, so Obi-Wan decided to continue.

"The first group will go with Master Yoda to participate in a political meeting with Fire Lord Ozai. Your goal is to persuade him not to side with the Separatists. This meeting is only a distraction. Anakin's group will take Jedi fighters up into the sky to take out the Star Destroyers hovering above the planet. This should make it easier for us to escape once we complete our mission. Lastly, my group will be infiltrating the base and searching for an important datapad containing the information leading to your lost families. Does everyone understand?"

There were echoes of 'yes' as the tributes began slowly dividing themselves into groups. Both Anakins, an airbender named Aang, the Sith, and another girl who looked suspiciously like a Jedi would be flying out to take down Dooku's ships. Obi-Wan smiled, knowing that with two Ankins on the same team, they were sure to complete their mission. Yoda's group looked much larger. He had about 7 tributes, all who looked determined to assist him on this task and free those who had been taken captive.

Obi-Wan then took the time to assess his own group. He also had about seven tributes, all of which were sitting silently by themselves or separated in pairs. Obi-Wan could feel Sokka judging the group from behind him, peering cautiously over his shoulder and almost silently reporting back to Toph. Originally, Obi-Wan remembered stressing out about having a blind girl on his team, as he worried she wouldn't be capable of navigating the halls as well as the rest of them, though he was quickly proven wrong when Yoda introduced them to their teams. He was confident this mission would be a success.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"Alright," Anakin clapped his hands. "We had our troops bring just enough ships for the five of us. You all know how to fly, right?"

"Not well," the girl replied, "though I have accompanied my father on business trips where he taught me the basics."

"I've been trained to use Imperial fighters," the Sith boy shrugged. "Those should be similar."

"And I'm you, so..." Sith Anakin grinned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's going to be interesting," Anakin rolled his eyes. "We landed the ships just behind the warehouse. The transport ship is for Yoda's team.

"Are we supposed to meet up with the rest of the teams after this?" the girl asked. "I have friends with both Obi-Wan and Yoda whom I'd like to see again."

"Unless we all die in a fiery explosion somewhere up in space, then yes, you'll see the rest of your teammates again," Anakin grinned, ignoring the snort of amusement that came from his twin. The Jedi lead the group down a gravel path and towards the back of the warehouse, where six different ships lay surrounded by clone troopers.

"Is this my old ship?" Sith Anakin gasped, his eyes locking on one of the five fighters. "I remember flying that-"

"On the mission to save the Chancellor," Anakin cut him off with a smirk. "Yeah, it's mine."

"What?! It's my old ship! I should be the one to fly it!"

"It's your old ship," Anakin responded sassily, "but it's my current ship. I get to fly it."

"That's unfair," Sith Anakin sputtered. "I've lived longer and therefor I have more experience. I should fly it."

"But you turned to the Dark Side," Anakin grunted. "This is a Jedi ship."

"We're all flying Jedi ships!"

"Okay!" the Sith boy shouted, shoving both Anakins to the ground with the Force. "We get it! You're both the same person. Neither of you are going to be flying your ship if you keep arguing like this!"

"Yes, mother," Sith Anakin rolled his eyes, pushing himself up off the ground.

"Ugh, fine," Anakin grumbled. "Let's go. We can't take too long or Obi-Wan's going to kill me."

Everyone hopped into one of the fighters, the Sith boy taking Anakin's ship. Both men weren't willing to argue anymore, knowing that this mission was too important to mess up. Anakin felt a familiar rush of excitement as his hands ghosted over the controls of his ship, remembering the times when flying something like this was no more than a dream of his. His stomach flipped as the ship rose off the ground, and everyone piloted their fighters into a loose formation behind him. Anakin smirked. He could get used to this.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ashlyn started out at the crowded conference room, casually bending the water in her glass into shapes above her head. No one seemed to be watching her, as they were all caught up in a heated political debate. She sighed, allowing the water to plop back into her crystal glass.

"Dangerous, it would be, if you were to side with the Separatists," Yoda argued from across the table. "Too different, your paths are."

"The Fire Nation is losing its power, Master Yoda," Fire Lord Ozai responded shortly, his voice prickling angrily. Partnership such as this could return it to its former glory."

"Former glory," Zuko scoffed from next to Ashlyn, Katara silently smacking his arm afterwards. "Don't deny it, Katara. Their glory days are over."

"Can you be quiet? Zuko, you've been grumbling snide remarks throughout this whole meeting, and someone is bound to notice. You two are here to help," Declan growled from Ashlyn's right. "Don't let us down. Our families are on the line, here."

"A problem, is there?" Yoda asked suddenly, startling Ashlyn out of her bored slump. The four quickly made panicked eye contact, shaking their heads nervously.

"Of course not, Master Yoda," Ashlyn responded, fighting to keep her voice steady. "I apologize if we disturbed you." The little green alien nodded once before turning back to the Fire Lord silently fuming in his chair.

"My mind is set, Master Yoda," Ozai said firmly. "If this is the only way to return power to my people, I will gladly take it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Blake, a tribute from Dauntless, responded quietly.

"Excuse me?" the Fire Lord growled, his amber eyes glittering dangerously.

"I apologize if my claim disrespects you," Blake's voice shook as he lowered his head nervously, "but I fear you do not grasp this situation. Your world is not meant to be introduced to the advanced technology the Separatists have access to. You being able to attend this meeting is surprising enough to me, even as someone who wasn't a part of your world in the first place."

"And your point is..?"

"Siding with these people will give you too much power," Katara finished for him. "Innocent tribes will fear you and your technological advancements. Yes, siding with them will give you power, but it is power only gained by working with the bad guys."

"Aren't the rest of the fire benders already considered to be the bad guys?" Zuko asked, instantly silencing the rest of the table. Yoda gave him a look somewhere between panic and disappointment. Zuko had been instructed to keep his mouth shut during this meeting, due to his former ties with the Fire Lord.

"I know that voice," Ozai growled, standing up so fast his chair crashed to the floor, Zuko rising to meet his angered stare. Yoda subtly reached underneath his cloak to retrieve his emerald green lightsaber. "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Zuko growled, shaking his head slowly. "You're planning on siding with people as monstrous as the Separatists just to regain the power you never truly had? Pathetic."

"Enough!" Ozai shouted, the candles illuminating the room flaring up with his outburst. Even Zuko flinched back nervously. "I will have no more of this. You dare bring this traitor back in my presence? This will be the last mistake you ever make."

Suddenly, a large set of double doors opened behind the conference table, and droids instantly spilled into the room. Ashlyn screamed as she ducked under the table, having never seen beings quite so terrifying as these robots. Declan pulled her close to his body as the sounds of fighting began around them. Ashlyn clenched her eyes shut as she heard bodies falling to the floor, droids following. She peeked her eyes open only once, watching as the kind, blue-haired mentor who'd been introduced to these games even later than her, fell to the ground, her eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling as blood flowed through a wound on her chest. Tears escaped Ashlyn's eyes as she looked away once more.

"We need to get out of here," he gasped into her ear, his pleasant voice sending shivers down Ashlyn's spine. She nodded, wincing as glass broke above them. Footsteps thundered by, blasters screaming and fire casting golden shadows on the walls.

"Find them! Murder the others!" The Fire Lord screamed, rapid footsteps filling the room. Another scream ripped through Ashlyn's throat as Declan pulled her out from under the table and quite literally threw her out the doors leading to the main hallway. He turned back momentarily, a shimmering spiral of fire erupting from his hands.

"Declan, what are you doing?" she screamed, struggling to run back the firebender, though someone wrapped their hands around her waist and pulled her backwards.

"Leave him be," Zuko's smoothe voice filled her ear. "You must run."

Ashlyn screamed again, feeling adrenaline rush through her veins as she ripped water out of the air and aimed it at his head. He grunted as he narrowly ducked the shifting bullet, muttering a silent apology as he quickly threw her to the ground, her head hitting the ground with an uncomfortable crack. Instantly, her eyes rolled up into her head as she fell unconscious, so Zuko picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, sprinting towards a waiting Katara as he passed her limp body to another waiting tribute.

"Take her back to Yoda's transport ship," Zuko instructed. "He said there was a medical droid on board. Stay with her."

The tribute nodded, leaving the two benders alone with the rest of the tributes. Zuko cocked an eyebrow, watching as the rest of the them stood frozen. His eyes traveled over to the single firebender blocking the exit, not allowing any of the troops to enter the main hallway. A gasp left Zuko's lips as Declan was struck down by a lone blaster bolt, his body crumpling to the floor in a heap. The tributes all looked traumatised, and Zuko only growled angrily in response.

"What are you waiting for?! Get back in there and join the fight!" He instructed, watching as everyone quickly dashed back towards the room, determined to avenge their friend.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Anakin watched from the sky as fire erupted from the main hall of the building below, though he was too focused on his own battle to put any thought into it. Sith Anakin (who requested everyone to refer to him as Vader to prevent confusion) was directly on his tail, saving his skin once again as he was trailed by three different Imperial fighters. Vader successfully destroyed each ship, aiming his fighter downwards to avoid leading his ship directly into the carnage.

"Nice shot," Anakin commented, his breath catching in his throat as he narrowly avoided a shimmering bolt of energy fired at his ship. "We need to take out the cannons on those destroyers. They're going to kill the rest of our group if we don't."

"What can I do?" Aang, one of the benders assigned to Anakin's team, asked.

"Try to distract them somehow," Vader replied. "Don't let them take out the other two. If only Anakin and I are left, our odds at completing this mission are small."

"What about Edana and I?" Darius asked over the comlink. "We can do more than just fly."

"You two need to follow Anakin and I. Cover us."

Anakin felt Darius nod, so he quickly angled his ship towards their first target. The cannon on this Star Destroyer was much more accurate than the others. It had nearly taken out Edana within the first five minutes they'd been on the battlefield, and it had come close to blasting Anakin into oblivion when he attempted to take it out initially. Now, with Aang successfully shooting out large plumes of fire into the atmosphere, it didn't seem to know where to fire.

Anakin and Vader flew together perfectly, their ships maneuvering easily as they communicated through the Force. They both knew each other perfectly, and were able to anticipate the other's moves long before they even happened. So once they reached the surface of the ship and the cannon was in range, they both knew what to do.

They peeled off into two groups, Darius following Anakin and Edana following Vader. Everyone began firing at the cannon, though with the two groups looping throughout the air, the cannon wasn't able to target anyone. Finally, after many moments of tense firing and no results, they finally felt a tremor, and zipped away just as the cannon exploded into a fiery ball of scrap metal.

"That seemed too easy," Anakin commented once they were on their way towards the second destroyer. "Where are the rest of the fighters?"

"We took them out, remember?" Vader responded.

"Yes, but they should have sent out more."

"Maybe we're just lucky-" the young female was cut off as an explosion rang through the air.

Anakin flipped his ship around, a startled gasp leaving his lips as he watched the remains of Edana's ship floating out into space in a fiery mess. Darius shouted in surprise as a blaster bolt nearly hit his fighter.

"Where are these shots coming from?" Anakin screamed as they were all sent into a frenzy, red beams of light seeming to come from all angles. "This isn't good."

"We have to retreat!" Darius shouted, his voice muffled as his ship zig-zagged through the sky. "They're going to kill us!"

"We can't abandon the mission!" Vader responded. "The others are counting on us taking out these ships!"

"We can't take them out if we're dead!" Aang shouted over the comlink. "I'm going back down! If we're lucky, we can meet up with the others!"

"No!" Anakin shouted, watching as Aang's ship drifted down towards the near planet. "Kriffing- we can't leave!"

"There's no time," Vader cried, his ship quickly following Aang's. "We can rendezvous with Obi-Wan's group later. The ships can't cause too much damage yet."

"Come on, Anakin!" Darius shouted, his ship exiting the warzone with the others. Anakin grunted in annoyance as he quickly followed them, struggling to pilot his ship through the dangerous skies. He was nearly out of the general warzone when he felt something slam into the back of his ship, causing him to pitch forwards dangerously. His heart caught in his throat as he stared backwards, watching as sparks flew from the blaster mark on his ship's side.

"I'm hit!" he screeched, panicking as his ship quickly began to lose control. His stomach flipped as he began hurtling towards the ground, all noises seeming to cloud over as the ground approached at an alarmingly fast rate.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"It should be down his hallway," Obi-Wan whispered, carefully reaching out into the Force. They were still alone, thankfully, so Obi-Wan directed the group around a corner and into another empty corridor. There was only a single door at the end of the hallway, which they quickly approached.

"It requires a keycard," Obi-Wan murmured, turning back to his group. Sokka grunted, and Toph crossed her arms over her chest. The blind girl smiled cheekily, and Sokka gestured for the Jedi to stand out of the way of the door. Obi-Wan quickly stepped to the side, watching as Toph slammed her foot into the ground, cracks forming as a rugged boulder was raised from the floor and into the air. She threw her hand forwards, and the Jedi winced at the large explosion that followed.

"Was that necessary?" he asked, stroking his beard nervously.

"You didn't have the keycard, did you?" Toph asked sassily. "I think not."

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath to keep himself from doing anything irrational. This girl was only helping, after all. He lead the group inside the room, which was filled from floor to ceiling with large desks and filing cabinets spilling over with papers and other pieces of technology.

"The datapad should be in here," Obi-Wan said. "This is supposed to be the main office for the leaders of these games. We must search quickly."

Everyone split off, searching through stacks of paper and scrolling through glowing datapads. Toph stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned up against a wall. Obi-Wan ignored her, fishing through his own desk and throwing piles of papers to the floor. He opened a filing cabinet, fishing through different labeled datapads, though none of them were the one. After many minutes of searching, he was about to call the search off when one of the tributes cried out in surprise.

He raised his eyes, watching as a girl with blue and green hair ran to the middle of the room. She was holding a blue datapad which was showing the names and profiles of their supposed family members. Everyone gasped and approached her, peering over her shoulder as she skimmed through the information.

"It says they're trapped in a pocket dimension," her eyes glittered. "You can only access it with a Portal-Key. But... the person with the key isn't even on this planet."

"What do you mean?" someone else asked.

"He was never here. This is pointless! We're never going to get them back!"

Just then, Toph gasped in surprise as she heard voices down the hallway. Everyone turned to the doorway just as multiple ranks of both droids and firebenders entered the room, looking smug now that they'd caught the other group. Obi-Wan ignited his silver lightsaber, while everyone else pulled out their own weapons, knowing that this would become a fight of life or death. They all charged the new enemies, blaster bolts staining the air red.

There was a scream of pain as one of the females fell. Obi-Wan knew her name. She was one of the tributes who had survived the previous task with the Sith boy. Sadly, he watched as multiple other teammates were quickly overpowered. A young boy fighting with nothing but a dull sword was shot down by a droid. Another girl whose only defense was a puny slingshot was trapped in the corner by a firebender. The man cackled as he raised his hands, and the girl's blood curdling screams filled the room as she was cooked alive. Obi-Wan shouted for a retreat, and the rest of his tributes made a mad dash for the exit, taking down the rest of the enemies crowding the doorway. Toph, annoyed with their lack of progress towards the exit, propelled another boulder straight through the doorway, cutting through at least five droids and opening up the hallway. They all sprinted down the empty corridor, struggling to make their way back to the main hall.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Adrienne was feeling more desperate by the minute. She was struggling to fight off the constant invading droids and firebenders taking over the conference room, though her strength was slowly waning. The rest of her friends were struggling to keep themselves on their feet as they took down constant ranks of enemies. She kept herself close to Legolas, finding comfort in fighting alongside the prince, though the two were constantly separated as the battle grew worse.

Adrienne momentarily ducked behind a piller, watching the warzone through wide eyes. The two benders on their team, Katara and Zuko, seemed to be battling Fire Lord Ozai by themselves. The man was extremely dangerous, quite easily overpowering them, though they never relented. Fire exploded around the room, being combated by hurdling icicles or large watery pillars. Her eyes then wandered over to Master Yoda who was battling someone he'd referred to as Count Dooku. They sparred with glowing swords made of red and green light, and the battles seemed to be getting quite intense. The small alien was having no trouble taking down Dooku, his height doing nothing but infuriate the man he was fighting.

Two more figures stepped through the double doors leading into the battling conference room. Adrienne's heart flipped as she briefly hoped it was Anakin and Darius coming back from their battle in the stars, though these people were completely unfamiliar. One of them, a female with sleek black hair, stepped forwards, assessing the tributes with a smirk on her face. The woman set her eyes on Lauren, one of the rude girls who had sided with the oldest female tribute from the games, Eve.

Adrienne watched in horror as the woman raised her arms, and Lauren froze. The tribute let out a cry of pain, and Adrienne had to force herself to stay behind the pillar, her will to assist the hurting female overpowering her other senses. There were loud cracks as Adrienne watched Lauren's arms twist and pull in ways Adrienne didn't think possible. The same happened to her legs, leaving the tribute a broken, pleading mess on the floor. The other person who had just stepped into the room, a man with red skin and black markings littering his body, stepped forwards, igniting a glimmering crimson blade. Adrienne mentally compared it to the beautiful ruby red of Count Dooku's own saber, though this sword seemed much more menacing.

He raised the weapon above his head, and quickly brought it down upon Lauren's chest. Her screams instantly stopped as the weapon entered her skin, and the two newcomers laughed maniacally. Adrienne screamed and backed into the hallway once again, her eyes haunted by what she had just witnessed. They hadn't even touched Lauren, yet her body was lying broken on the ground. Footsteps thundered down the hall, though Adrienne didn't look up to know that it was the rest of Obi-Wan's group attempting to rejoin the fight. She sank down to her knees, sobbing into her arms as she attempted to rid herself of the image permanently burned into her memory.

"Oh dear, what do we have here?" someone murmured from above her. Adrienne raised her eyes and nearly cried out as she saw the same woman from before. The woman waved cockily, an evil smirk on her face.

"Please stay away," Adrienne sobbed, struggling to bring English words to her tongue. This was not her native language. How would she plead for her survival without communication? She struggled to scramble backwards and escape the woman, though something seemed to grasp her limbs and pull her back.

Adrienne screamed in absolute agony as she felt her arm getting pulled backwards, though the rest of her body stayed frozen. She had no words to describe the pain she was feeling as her arm seemed to collapse from the inside. Tears still flowed from her eyes and cries of pain escaped, though nothing else would move. Her throat constricted as she prepared to release another scream, though before she could, something seemed to grasp her throat, though nothing was there. She attempted to mouth silent pleas, though before she could, there was a sickening crack. Before she knew it, everything had gone black.

Several7s

 We run as fast as we can, but the ship is huge. There was no way we can get out of the impact zone. Pedestrians scream in the streets, terrified. I can't blame them. They think they're going to die. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die. After everything I've lived through, this is what's going to kill me- a spaceship falling out of nowhere.

It occurs to me that I might be able to cushion the landing with my magic. I skid to a stop and begin eating the screams. The sounds of terror and panic taste terrible, but they fuel my determination. I can save some of them. I have to.

"Dragon slayer secret art: Sonic boom!" The wave of sound hits the spaceship. I hold it as long as I can, slowing the momentum as much as possible, until I'm unable to hold it any longer.

Destiny grabs my arm and hauls me back as the ship continues to fall. "Raiden, come on!"

There's a roar and suddenly, the engines fire up. A collective sigh of relief ripples through the crowd as the ship begins to rise. It clears the buildings and heads away from a city. Whoever is piloting that ship doesn't belong here any more than the rest of us to. I have the sudden urge to follow it, if only to figure out who it was that had almost killed hundreds of people.

"Midnight," I begin. She holds up a hand for silence.

"No. We aren't... Where's Natsu?"

Lexi leaps into the air and points in the direction he'd disappeared. "He, Happy, and Lucy followed the ship."

Midnight groans. "Of course he did. Fine, we'll follow the ship, then."

The adrenaline begins to wear off and I feel the effects of using my magic up in such a large attack. Lexi catches me as I fall and everything goes black.

***

Khen stuck the needle through Naoki's skin again and he bit back a cry of pain. She looked up at him with a worried expression every time the needle pierced his skin, but he smiled at her reassuringly and she continued.

"What does it mean?" she asked.

Naoki's brows furrowed. "What does what mean?"

She poked the needle through his skin again and pulled the string taught. "You started calling me Nikkō." Her face reddened. "I don't know what it means."

"It means sunshine. You said your name meant nobody. I didn't think it fit you," he told her with a smile.

There was a stab of pain and then she was tying off the thread. She looked like she was about to say she was nobody again, so he said something first.

"You aren't nobody, Nikkō. Cagan wouldn't have kept coming back for you if you were nobody." Naoki tipped her head up and met her gaze. "Everyone matters, including you."

He thought he saw a hint of a smile on her face, but she looked away too quickly for him to be sure. She grabbed the bandage and wrapped it around his arm. He flexed it when she finished, testing it. Moving it was painful, but she'd done a good job. He wouldn't be able to fight well with that arm for a while, but he would manage with the other.

Now we just have to survive the rest of this.

***

Naoki's words echoed in Khen's mind. "The woman I love." He didn't know she'd heard- she was sure of it. If he had, surely he would have rescinded the statement. That was something she didn't want. He had said he loved her. No one had ever told her that. But... wasn't it the love of a men that had hounded her all these years, when they forced themselves on her?

She looked up at Naoki and decided that was wrong. Maybe she didn't know what love was, but she knew what it wasn't and it didn't cause people to hurt others. Those men hurt her because of her beauty. Her curse. But was that the reason Naoki had said he loved her?

Eventually, her thoughts grew too tangled to make sense of and she gave up. Her head hurt, a dull pounding ache in her temples. She rubbed them, hoping it might help.

A door opened and Khen looked up, expecting to see the others climbing into the car. Naoki pulled her behind a seat, further into the back of the car. "It's not the others," he whispered. "I don't know these people."

Khen's headache intensified. She peeked around a seat and spotted a group of roughly ten people sitting up toward the front.

"When you said we should steal KITT, I didn't expect it to be so easy," a man said. His voice was calm and steady. Khen shivered. That tone was one she knew well. The deadliest warriors in the Hun army used that tone. They were the ones that didn't take prisoners.

"They never leave immediately," another guy answered. "We just have to get out before they decide to come back."

The engine started and KITT's voice echoed within the car. "Akram Arnold, you are not a recognized driver," the car said.

"Midnight just recently approved me," Akram answered. "So take us where we need to go."

"You are the ones that ride in the trunk," KITT noted.

"Let me drive or I'll dump soda on you!"

Khen looked up at Naoki. "They'll strand the others," she whispered.

An red-haired guy stepped into the car. His eyes glowed red, sending shivers down Khen's spine. He looked right at her and she saw his nostrils flare.

"Blood. I smell blood."

Naoki pulled her away, but she saw the man approaching. He was going to kill them.

"If everyone would please take their seats, we'll be on our way." KITT's voice startled her. Naoki's hand covered her mouth, muffling her surprised squeak.

They moved onto a seat, staying low, and waited. The red-haired man came into view and looked straight at them, just as KITT ejected them from the car.

Naoki wrapped his arms around her, cushioning her landing with his body. KITT disappeared from the street before they could be followed. Khen got off Naoki's chest and he climbed to his feet with a groan. Blood had soaked through his bandage.

She was about to suggest replacing the bandage when a shadow fell over them. She looked up and found an enormous ship flying above them. Following close behind were Natsu, Happy, and Lucy. They didn't notice Naoki or Khen staring- they were too focused on the ship. Not too long after they disappeared down the street, Midnight followed with the rest of the team.

"Should we follow them?" Naoki asked.

Khen glanced at the space where KITT had been and nodded. There wasn't much else they could do.

***

"What was that, Xadanar?" Felix demanded. He didn't have to guard the door anymore. A quick check had confirmed that the others were gone. Somehow, they had survived. At least, until the engine cut a second time and they almost crushed a city.

"I'm sorry!" Xadanar said. "I swear, I didn't hit the button that time. It must have been the black hole."

Felix glanced at the button Xadanar had pushed earlier. It was red. A big, red button. He resisted the urge to slam his head repeatedly against the wall. Xadanar was a great mechanic, but he was clearly not cut out to be a pilot. "It's red," Felix said. "A red button. The only red button. Why did you push it? What possessed you to push the one red button?"

Xadanar angled the ship down toward the harbor. It landed with a splash, rocking slightly before settling into place. Then he faced Felix. "We're alive, aren't we?"

Someone knocked on the window, interrupting Felix's response. When they looked up, they saw a winged blue cat hovering at the window, carrying a pink-haired guy. The guy waved and grinned at them. "Where's the front door?" he shouted.

Xadanar shook his head and pressed a button. Thankfully, it was the right one this time and opened the door at the back of the ship. Felix pointed in the general direction of the door. "Back there," he said with a sigh. When the pink-haired guy left, Felix turned to Xadanar. "Being with you is terrible for a person's health, Xadanar. You're going to get me killed."

"Says the guy hated by nearly everyone at the Station. Now come on- we have visitors." Xadanar grinned and opened the door. "We can give them a grand tour."

***

When I wake up, I can tell I've missed a lot. I'm inside some sort of ship, on a bunk bed. No one else is in the room, so I start to get up, only to fall back onto the bed again, exhausted and nauseated. I haven't recovered my magic yet. Something else is causing the nausea though. The ship has me disoriented.

Motion sickness? I've never had problems with it before. Bile rises in my throat and I lean over, puking all over the floor. With a groan, I sink back into the pillow and squeeze my eyes shut. Clearly the fact that I didn't have it before is no longer important. I just hope it's a short trip.

***

Things were progressively getting worse. Nine new people had joined their group, Akram and his group stole KITT, and Midnight was beginning to feel like things might have gone better for her if she'd disappeared in New York when she had the chance. It clearly wasn't her New York, but at this point, she didn't care anymore. The one thing- the only thing- keeping her here was Lily. Midnight couldn't abandon her.

Jenny had been killed, which meant that Midnight didn't have anyone to help her keep an eye on her army of recruits. It unsettled her, being the sole leader of a group containing over sixty people. She didn't work with people, much less lead them. Staying in the shadows was her thing and practically impossible with such a large group following her.

Trevor didn't make things easier. She did her best to avoid him and the uncomfortable situation he represented. It was easier with so many people, she had to admit that, but she would have faced him in a second if it could've saved her from dealing with everyone else.

When the ship, which Xadanar had introduced as Lola, landed, Midnight stepped outside into a familiar warehouse. She recognized the ships, cars, and other various modes of transportation that she had chosen from when she was first 'recruited' to act as a mentor. They were back where things had started.

She didn't see KITT, but she did see a group approaching their team. This, she decided, was probably the reason they were there. Either that, or they were going to have to deal with even more recruits. Hopefully it was the first one.

The others were still on the ship, except for Raiden and Natsu, who had both stumbled off moaning, followed by Destiny and Lucy. Midnight turned to the two girls.

"Get the others," she said. "I think we're about to find out why we're here."

***

"Everyone's eating," Raven said. Her voice startled Khen, who looked up. "Shouldn't you join them?"

"I'm not hungry," Khen said. She was, but her stomach hurt and she didn't want to make it worse by eating.

"You're too thin to skip meals, Khen," Raven said. "Especially in your condition."

"What condition?" Naoki walked in carrying two plates of food. He handed one to Khen, a frown on his face. "Is something wrong?"

Khen looked between Naoki and Raven, confused. "C-condition? What do you mean?" What did Raven know that Khen didn't? Did it have to do with the stomach pain and nausea she'd been experiencing so often?

Raven frowned. "You didn't know you were pregnant?"

The words took a moment to register. For a moment, Khen refused to believe it. She couldn't have a baby. How could she, in a world as harsh as this? She put a hand on her stomach and imagined the life forming there. A baby. A tiny, innocent child. Even if she did survive, she would be sent home, back to the war camps. She couldn't let her child grow up in those circumstances.

"Pregnant?" Naoki looked at her. She wasn't sure what she expected to see in his expression, but he didn't look angry or disappointed or disgusted. He just looked... surprised. "Wait, Raven-san, how did you know?"

"I felt the baby's emotions. It's a bit early to tell, but it feels like a girl."

Khen stared down at the plate of food on her lap and smiled. The news made her happy. She couldn't help it- the idea, as terrifying as it was, excited her. For a brief moment, she forgot about every rational reason why this child couldn't be and let herself imagine a life with her daughter.

A call from outside pulled her back to reality. Lucy walked into the room. In her arms was a white creature with a round face and a long, pointed nose with a black spiral. It was adorable, with its little feet hanging down under Lucy's arms.

"Midnight needs everyone outside," Lucy told them, then disappeared, probably to continue spreading the message.

Naoki stood and held out his hand to Khen. She stared at it for a moment before realizing he was offering her help up. She took it and set her plate on a nearby table. Raven's eyes flicked between them.

"Just kiss already," she muttered.

His face reddened and Khen realized she was still holding his hand. She released it and backed away. "I..."

"Oh... I'm sorry, that was..." Raven rubbed her forehead. "Ignore me."

"We should go outside," Naoki said, changing the subject. "But... uh... let's not tell Midnight-san about Khen-san. I don't think she would react well."

"Fine," Raven agreed. "But the symptoms are getting more obvious. She'll find out eventually."

"Just, let's keep her in the dark for as long as possible. She didn't react well when Wren..." Naoki stopped. "You know what I mean."

Khen stayed quiet, lacing her finger together. Worries and fears coalesced into one crystal clear question: how was she going to have and protect a baby from the same life she lived?

Raven tapped Khen's shoulder. "Don't stress, Khen. You have to let yourself enjoy thing sometimes, despite the fear."

***

"We've come to help you escape," one of the newcomers- Obi-Wan- told them.

"Slight problem," Midnight said. "The Unseelie King has my daughter. If I leave, he'll kill her."

"Know about that, we do," Yoda said. "A plan, we made."

Eclipse watched the conversation with interest. The plan, Yoda explained, involved splitting into three groups. One would go to a political meeting, one would sneak into the base and find a data-pad with the information on the trapped families- Lily and the families of the other tributes, and the last one, likely the biggest group, would fight Dooku's army in the sky. Splitting up, she decided, could work in her favor.

Akram had given her and Vex a simple task. All they had to do was discreetly take out Midnight and the strongest members of her team. The rest would crumble into chaos once their main command structure disappeared. Most importantly, they had to get rid of Dylan.

Eclipse didn't mind doing Akram's dirty work. For now, at least. It gave her a chance to see what she and Vex were going up against. Plus, it allowed her to do something she loved- tear a bunch of people apart from the inside.

"They're a mess," Vex whispered, leaning toward her.

She stole a kiss and smiled up at him. "Of course they are, dear. It's a team with over fifty members, comprised of people who barely know each other. There are some strong fighters, though." Eclipse gestured toward the two groups of people who routinely clustered together. "Those are two teams, there. They could be a problem. Aurora or Aiden could step up to fill the void if Midnight died."

Vex nodded. "I think you should offer to go to the political meeting," he suggested. "If we split up, we'll be able to study them in smaller groups and form a better plan of attack."

His idea was a good one. She could use more practice in political situations anyway. "Let's get started, then."

***

"Naoki."

The voice gave Naoki pause. He should be sticking with his group and going to the political meeting. It was important. But that voice... he was sure he'd heard his name. He glanced down the hall it had come from.

There was nothing there except for more lights and stone. Of course. He was about to continue when the call came again. "Naoki."

A head of blue hair came into view. "Midnight-san?" he asked, heading down the hall toward her. "Shouldn't you be with Obi-Wan?"

"I heard something," she said. She was frowning. "Someone kept saying my name."

"That was me." A tall, pale man stepped around a corner and smiled at them. Naoki noticed the horns first- they were white and curved down around the man's face. The left side of his face was hideous and disfigured, with a missing eye, scars, and ashy skin. In contrast, the right side of his face was normal. Handsome even, despite the soulless black eyes and unsettling smile. A gold band encircled his forehead.

"The Unseelie King." Midnight crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

"I've a proposition for you," the King said. "A deal, of sorts."

"No," Naoki said. "Whatever it is, I don't care and I don't want to know."

"That's a bit rude." The King cocked his head. "You haven't heard my proposal yet. Anyway, you don't know what happens if you refuse."

This wasn't going to go well. Naoki could tell already. "Fine, what do you want?"

"That's better. Now, I have reason to believe that Ozai or Dooku, perhaps both, are planning to betray me. If you two can get me information on this, I'll let you see your family."

"I don't have family," Naoki commented. "Nor do I trust you."

"I do not lie, Hojo. And don't think I don't know about your family. However, there is a certain woman whom I believe you might like to see. I can arrange a meeting with Tatsu."

Naoki's mouth went dry. That wasn't possible. Tatsu was dead. He'd seen it happen. His fingers curled around her poison vial. But if it was possible, could he refuse this offer? What if he could warn her and save her?

Khen. Her name flashed through his mind. Tatsu was gone. He couldn't cling to her forever. Already he had spent too much time mourning her. Besides, if she knew he was even considering this offer, he had the feeling she would tell him not to do it.

"Of course, if you refused, I would have to kill you and the people you love," the Unseelie King added.

"So we don't really have a choice." Midnight glared at him angrily.

"You have a choice, Midnight. You can live and help me, or die knowing that you could have saved yourself and your family, had you helped me."

Naoki couldn't do this. But if the Unseelie King was going to threaten the people that he loved, what choice did he have? Tatsu aside, what about Khen? She wasn't a fighter. For that matter, she was pregnant. The Unseelie King didn't care about any of that. If they survived and went home, he wouldn't care about what happened to the people who had died along the way, or what would happen to the people who didn't have a real home to return to.

"I'll help you," Naoki said. "But not to see Tatsu. I want you to promise that if we live, you'll let Khen choose where she wants to go. You can't send her back where she came from."

The Unseelie King scrutinized Naoki for a few moments before answering. "Bring me my information and I'll consider your request. Midnight?"

"What do you think?" she snapped. "I'll help."

***

Midnight had seemed torn about who to send when they split up. It seemed logical to send the weaker fighters with Yoda, since it was the safest place for them to go. None of them trusted Ozai, though, which made the decision a bit more difficult. If Ozai attacked them, there had to be fighters there to protect the others. But they wanted the meeting to go well, which meant that people who were good with politics would have to go was well.

In the end, along with Yoda, Zuko, and Katara, Midnight also sent Kaylee, Gavin, Naoki, Khen, Raven, Zylah, Yasahiro, Seraphina, and the Aiden that arrived with Yoda. She agreed to let Eclipse join the group as well. Eclipse predicted this decision. The only person she missed was Zylah.

Eclipse wasn't sure what to make of the demon. Zylah was cocky, constantly tried to separate Kaylee and Gage from the others, and didn't like to take orders. Not exactly the best ambassador, but Eclipse supposed that meant she was probably a good fighter. Otherwise there wouldn't be much of a reason to send her.

Naoki had disappeared somewhere along the way. No one seemed overly worried about him, but Eclipse couldn't help feeling his disappearance meant something bad for the team's mission. Since she was currently working with them, she didn't like it.

The room they entered for the meeting was large, with a long table in the middle. A fire burned in the hearth nearby. Eclipse took note of it and the way Katara and Zuko eyed it cautiously as they took their seats. Ozai wasn't called the Fire Lord for nothing, she supposed.

Ozai sat at the head of the table, hands folded in front of him. He looked calm, his black hair combed neatly back. There was a glint in his eyes- a look of evil that Eclipse was familiar with. He looked a lot like Zuko, she realized. Or, rather, Zuko looked a lot like him. His son, perhaps?

"Zuko," Ozai said.

"Father," Zuko answered. He avoided eye contact with Ozai, his fingers drumming the table lightly.

There was a moment of silence, until Eclipse decided she should probably start the negotiations. "Lord Ozai," she said, smiling at him. "We've come to request an alliance with you."

***

Quinlynn was less than enthusiastic about this. A group of six people sneaking around a giant base, sure. Two or three could have gotten the job done, but she understood wanting enough people around so that if they were found, they would have a fighting chance. Still, fifteen people seemed like overkill. If it had just been her team, she would have felt a lot less jumpy.

Breathe, Quin. We've got this. She peeked around a corner and spotted two droids wandering around. Pulling back, she signed to the others. "Two droids."

Sifiso nodded and looked at Aiden. Their leader turned to Obi-Wan. "You're leading this," he whispered. "What do we do?"

"I'll handle them," Obi-Wan said.

He lit his lightsaber and ran out toward the droids. The blue blade cut them down before they had a chance to do anything. Sifiso ran out and caught the body parts. They found a nearby closet and quickly stashed the mangled droid parts before moving on.

"How far?" Quinlynn held up her communicator, the words showing up on a white screen.

"The control room should be close," Obi-Wan answered.

She nodded and slipped the communicator into her pocket. If they got into a fight, she would need both of her hands free. As they slipped down another hall, she noticed Natsu with his scarf around his face, flattened against the wall in a weird pose. What...? Happy sat on his shoulder, an intense look on his blue cat face, copying Natsu's pose.

"What are you two doing?" Cayden hissed, voicing Quinlynn's thoughts.

"I'm a ninja," Natsu whispered back. "Nin-nin."

Quinlynn rolled her eyes, a small smile forming on her lips. Natsu could be a clueless idiot sometimes, but it was hard not to like him. She just hoped he didn't totally mess things up for them.

***

"Xadanar, why would you offer to do this?" Felix asked. "You are putting our way home in jeopardy right now! Lola's going to be the first fighter destroyed. You can't maneuver us around the smaller ships properly."

"Don't distract me," Xadanar said. He was staring at the control panel and chewing his lower lip, something he only did when he was concentrating really hard.

"We haven't even lifted off yet," Felix said. "Anyway, can't you just label the buttons?"

"I found it!"

"Found what?"

"The ignition," Xadanar explained.

Felix slumped into the co-pilot's chair. "We're going to die."

***

Naoki slipped around a corner and flattened against the wall, followed by Midnight. The wall was cold to touch, but he didn't mind. It helped him focus- gave him something real to cling to. All the magic and technology was starting to get overwhelming. More so as they traveled through the maze of corridors that was this base. Every room they passed had panels of wiring, buttons, switches, and blinking lights. At this point, he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to be looking for anymore.

We should have gone to the political meeting and talked to Ozai, Naoki thought. But the Fire Lord wasn't in his room. If there was any incriminating evidence against him, it would probably be there.

"I think I found his room," Midnight said. She pointed through a doorway. "It's clear."

"How do we know it's his?"

"We don't, but it's a room and there's like, three fireplaces in here. He is the Fire Lord. May as well check it out."

Naoki rolled his eyes and followed her into the room. There wasn't much to see in the place. Ozai wasn't the best decorator. Actually, the place lacked almost all decoration. There was a bed in the center of the room and a desk in the corner. Naoki started with the desk while Midnight looked through the rest of the room.

He flipped through the papers in the top drawer, scanning them for anything that might tell them about Ozai's plans. There were a lot of plans for some sort of machine, but nothing that explicitly said 'I'm going to betray the Unseelie King'. He supposed it wouldn't be that easy, though. It never was.

"Find anything?" Midnight asked, poking her head through a door into a connecting room.

"Just a lot of plans for some sort of machine. I think... it's hard to tell." He pulled out the papers just in case and handed them to Midnight.

She glanced through them. "I think you're right. We can't prove what it's for, though." She folded them up and stuck them in her pocket. "Let's see what else we can find."

Voices came from the hall. Naoki held a finger to his lips and moved to the door to listen. He opened it a crack and peered through it. A tall man with white hair and a neatly trimmed beard walked by, followed by a bunch of droids and several other people. They were heading in the direction of the meeting.

Naoki moved away from the door and gestured for Midnight to join him. "I think it's Dooku," he whispered. "He's heading toward the meeting."

She peeked through the crack in the door. "We can't be sure, though."

"Something's going down, Midnight-san. He wouldn't take an army with him otherwise."

"You're probably right." She chewed her lip. "But this means Dooku's room is empty. We can check it."

He stepped away from her, shocked. The people she was supposed to be leading were in danger and she wanted to investigate further? "The papers will have to be enough for the Unseelie King. Come on- we have to warn the others!"

She shook her head and slipped through the door. "Do what you want, Naoki. I'm not risking Lily."

***

"How would an alliance with you benefit me?" Ozai asked.

"Arrogant, Dooku is," Yoda said. "Betray you, he will."

"We can help you take him down," Eclipse offered. "If you ally with him, you'll run the high risk of being betrayed. Allying with us would benefit you more. The risk of betrayal is lower and we'll be of more help."

Khen watched the proceedings, uncomfortable. Everyone was quick to offer reasons why Ozai shouldn't ally with Dooku and why he should join them. She shouldn't be there. She was just another person, sent to the meeting because it was assumed to be the safest place for her. It should have made her feel better, but she felt bare and unprotected.

Eventually, she tuned out the noise around her and tried not to squirm under the gaze of the firebenders surrounding Ozai. Her hand went to her stomach, which, for once, didn't hurt.

"Look, we could be here for hours discussing this," Zylah said. "Or, you could make a decision."

Everyone turned to her, giving her an annoyed look, except Ozai, who seemed intrigued. He stood and placed his hands on the table. "You make a good point, Zylah. I've made my choice."

The sound of feet pounding against the floor echoed through the chamber. A tall, white haired man walked inside, followed by several other men and women and a bunch of droids.

Khen searched the room for an escape, but the droids had covered the exit. Kaylee moved next to Khen and slipped a hand into hers. "Stay behind me," Kaylee whispered.

***

"Guys, they're on my tail!" Iva yelled. Felix could hear panic in her voice. She was new to piloting... and most technology in general, really. There was no way she'd shake a tail on her own.

"I've got you, Iva. Hang in there," Felix told her. He turned Lola's guns on the ships tailing Iva and opened fire. The ships exploded into flaming debris that quickly extinguished and floated away into space.

"Thanks, Felix," Iva said.

Someone yelled something on the mic and Felix jumped as a loud bang followed. In front of him, he saw a ship explode. "They got me," Nolan whispered.

Felix saw Nolan's body drift out into space, still mostly intact. Bile rose in his throat. They hadn't been trained for this- to watch real death. This wasn't something he could joke about, despite how much he wished he could put a lighter spin on things.

"Get your head in the game, Felix!" Xadanar shouted. "We've got incoming." He yanked back on the controls, sending Lola shooting upward. A barrage of plasma blasts passed just underneath them.

Don't think about it right now. There isn't time. Felix redirected the guns and pressed the release, returning fire. The ships behind them exploded. Satisfaction flowed through Felix for the briefest moment. Until he saw the tattered remains of the man who had piloted the ship. There were people on both sides of this thing. He was killing humans. Wasn't that exactly what he had said he would never do? His finger paused on the release button. What made it okay to kill someone?

"It's kill or be killed, buddy," Xadanar said, almost as if he'd read Felix's mind. "Them or us."

"Yeah."

***

Zylah didn't wait for people to start talking again. She'd had enough of the negotiations. This was always going to happen and they'd all known it. All she'd done was speed up the process a bit. She released her demon side. Black horns grew in spirals out of her head and her skin took on a reddish tint. Wings sprouted from her back and she leaped into the air. She squeezed off six shots from the pistol she'd found, but they bounced off of the droids' armor and the Sith just blocked them. Only one hit its mark, taking down a firebender.

After that, things got crazy. Yoda pulled out his lightsaber and attacked Dooku. Their lightsabers clashed, green on red. The little green alien held up surprisingly well. Zylah hadn't been too sure about his fighting abilities, but he clearly knew what he was doing.

Ozai faced off with Katara and Zuko. They danced back and forth, throwing fire and water at each other. Katara and Zuko seemed to be barely holding off Ozai, who blocked their attacks with relative ease. Zylah made a note to help them out if she got the chance. First, she had to figure out how to destroy these droids and Sith, since her gun seemed ineffective.

She landed on the table and dropped under a blast from a droid, sweeping her foot out and knocking it over. It hit the floor with a clash and she grabbed its blaster. This gun was much more effective. It took the droid's head off and left it smoking. Zylah took to the air again and took out several more.

Then she spotted Kaylee, using a chair in a weak attempt to fend off several battle droids. Good grief, how is she Pheki royal? Has she even been in a fight? Zylah dropped out of the air and landed on the droids. The blaster she'd stolen did the rest. She grabbed a second one and shoved it into Kaylee's hands. She saw Khen behind Kaylee and sighed. She tossed her blaster to Khen and picked up another one. "Shoot them. It's not difficult."

Zylah turned and pulled the trigger on her blaster, downing another droid. "See? Simple."

***

Obi-Wan leads us to a room full of odd contraptions I don't recognize. He picks up one of them and smiles. "This is it," he says. "This datapad should tell us what we need to know."

He clicks something and the screen begins to glow blue, reminding me of a lacrima. There's a moment of hushed silence while we all wait for the verdict. Obi-Wan doesn't say anything for a while. Finally, Natsu gets impatient and peers over his shoulder.

"What does it say?" Sifiso asks.

"I know what we have to do," Obi-Wan begins. Immediately, I know it's bad. "It won't be easy."

Great. Sokka reaches for the datapad and Obi-Wan hands it to her. "We can get to where your families are being kept, but we need a portal key. According to the datapad, the key is on kept on King Sargon at all times."

"Let's go get it then." Natsu grins and cracks his knuckles.

"It's not that simple," Sokka tells him. "King Sargon isn't here."

There's a blast outside the door and then we hear the droids.

"Intruder! Intruder!"

"Guys, they found us!" Cayden yells.

"It's a little late to warn us now," Toph says. She runs out the door into the fight, quickly followed by Natsu and the others.

Adrenaline floods my system, burning away the last of my exhaustion from earlier. I eat a quick meal, taking in the sound of the blasters firing and droids yelling alerts. Then I let sound cocoon my hands and jump into the fight.

***

Kiernan directed his ship toward the star destroyer. Kazumi sat behind him in the ship, calmly watching the fight. He wished he felt as calm as she was. The loth-cat amazed him sometimes. It wasn't normal, how dedicated she was to him. Loth-cats were normally so jumpy and unwilling to trust. He wished he'd left her at the warehouse, but she wouldn't stay when he tried. Now if he died, she would go down with him.

"Kiernan, watch the turrets!" Anakin yelled.

The warning made Kiernan jump and pull back on his controls. This worked in his favor, getting him out of the way of a plasma blast that would have gone straight through the ship. "Thanks, Anakin."

Another round of blasts threatened to take out his ship. He maneuvered through them and fired at one of the turrets. A second ship pulled up next to him and he looked over, spotting Vex in the front seat. Vex pulled his ship around in front of Kiernan and fired.

The blast hit Kiernan's ship head on. Fire exploded in front of him. He cried out in confusion and pain as the fire seared his skin. Vex had shot his ship down. Why? Kiernan didn't have time to think about that before he was in was in space and he couldn't breathe. The last thing Kiernan saw was Kazumi, drifting away from him, her body limp. She'd been faithful to the end and he'd failed her.

***

By the time they finally managed to land most of their ships, Felix had listened and watched as, one by one, they lost Strundu'ul, Iva, Trevor, Eris, Demetriot, Dai, and Patsy. He didn't know them, but it still hurt. They were fallen comrades. It didn't affect him nearly as much as it did the people who had become attached to them.

Every time Crystal saw anyone die, she burst into tears. That kind of innocence- the ability to mourn the fallen on both sides of the battle- it was a luxury the rest of them couldn't afford. Felix wished he could stop the fight. What was the point of killing so many people simply because a couple of guys couldn't get enough power?

It was a relief when they finally landed. However, it quickly became apparent that the battle was far from over. When they stepped outside, they stepped straight into a warzone. Blasters fired around them, but everything seemed to curve around them, almost as if they were safe inside some sort of bubble.

Crystal walked through the battle untouched, yelling at everyone to just stop. Felix watched, mouth open in shock, as she fearlessly ran around the battlefield, demanding both sides stop fighting. Droids stopped when she stepped in front of her and Felix wondered if the droids were honestly just confused by the little girl.

He was so focused on Crystal's reckless actions that he failed to see the blaster. Xadanar dove at Felix, knocking him out of the way just in time to save him from being dying right then and there. He got up and ducked behind Lola's landing gear.

It took him a second to realize something was missing. The plasma blast must have cauterized the wound when it hit. He felt for his antennae and realized that half of both was missing.

"Felix..." Xadanar whispered. "Your antennae."

His sense of smell, gone just like that. Where before he'd smelled the burning metal and skin, now there was just... nothing. He couldn't smell any of it. Not the faint scent of oil that always clung to Xadanar or the stale smell of the air around them. It was wrong. All wrong.

He sucked in a breath. It would be fine. He could live without his sense of smell. His food would just be bland the rest of this life. He'd never again experience the smell of fresh baked cookies wafting through the room, or smell bread as it baked in the oven. In the minute that it took him to process what had happened and what it meant, he gained a much better appreciation of his sense of smell.

"We gotta move," Xadanar said. He grabbed Felix's arm and dragged the shocked alien away from Lola and into the fight.

Felix mentally pulled himself together and focused on the fight. He would mourn his loss later. First, he had to survive.

***

Zylah had just shoved a blaster into Khen's hand. She didn't know what to do with it or how to use it. Point and shoot. Khen tried it, but her blasts completely missed. Zylah had made it look easy, but Khen had no experience defending herself. She was used to letting people hurt her. It had taken her years to accept that things were always going to be that way- that nothing she did would make her deserve any better. Now Zylah was literally ordering her to fight back. How was she supposed to manage that?

Khen spotted Yoda fighting Dooku. Their lightsabers moved through the air with incredible speed as they fought. Dooku constantly pressed down on Yoda from above, using his height as an advantage against the little green Jedi, but Yoda didn't seem fazed by it. He feinted left and dove to the right, slicing down at Dooku's legs with his lightsaber. Dooku jumped over the attack and sent lighting at Yoda, who blocked with his lightsaber.

"Gavin!" Kaylee ran to Gavin, who lay in a heap on the floor.

Her skin turned white as she ran and Khen watched pearly white horns grow out of Kaylee's head, pushing up through her blonde hair. White wings sprouted from her back and she dove at the droids surrounding Gavin. Khen watched as Kaylee blasted through them as if she'd been doing it for years.

Two more people entered the fight- a woman with black hair and an alien. Behind them, Naoki ran into the room, sword drawn. He ran toward Khen, slamming his katana into anything that got in his way. She began to move toward him, but something stopped her.

She cried out, trapped in her own body. Her limbs wouldn't respond properly. She couldn't move. "Naoki," she whispered. It hurt. It burned. What was happening to her? Tears dripped down her face. She tried to blink them back, but she couldn't stop.

He stopped in front of her and something told her he was in the same situation she was. The black-haired woman walked between them, a smug smile on her face. "Look at you two," she said. "You're so pathetic."

"Leave her alone," Naoki yelled. His fingers twitched, then released their grip on his katana.

"Please." The woman fixed her eyes on Khen, her gaze cold and calculating. "This is way too much fun. You wouldn't want her to miss out."

The room began to darken around them. Khen struggled to break free of whatever was holding her in place. She just wanted to curl up in a bed and cry. When would all of this chaos finally end?

She took a step forward, toward where Naoki stood perfectly still, and her arms raised the blaster Zylah had given her. She opened her mouth to object. To beg this woman not to make her do it. Before she could say anything, the room went from almost pitch black to bright as day. The change made Khen's eyes water.

The woman controlling Khen and Naoki cried out in surprise at the sudden change. Her hold on them released and Khen collapsed. The pain in most of her body had faded, but her stomach still felt like someone was holding a flame to it.

Naoki didn't waste any time taking his sword back. Raven hit the woman from behind and hand-cuffed her arms behind her back. The Naoki ran her through. She dropped to the ground, coughing up blood. Then the life went out of her eyes and she fell in a heap on the floor.

"Khen, are you alright?" Naoki knelt beside her and she looked up at him.

"I'm..." His face blurred in front of her and everything went black.

animallover1321

Viko walked into the huge room with most of the team, Aang the avatar from current time, Zuko, and a little green jedi named Yoda. In the room the gamemakers and other people from realms had already taken their seats. Yoda hobbled right up to a chair and sat down. His legs didn't even touch the floor. Viko sat by Aang and the team. He could feel the tenseness in the room.

"Join the separatists you should not." Yoda was the first to speak.

"And why is that? Dooku has already proven to be a loyal ally to me and my nation," The Fire Lord asked.

"What happened to being allied with the other nations? Back in my time the four nations were all allies no one ruled over the others." Viko could not believe that the Fire Lord had tried to take over the other nations.

"He is right, father. Why do you need allies from other realms when you can make peace with the other nations and stop the war?" Zuko stood up from his chair.

"The four nations are mine! The fire nation is by far the strongest and that is why we will rule!" The Fire Lord's voice bellowed.

"Many innocent people will be killed. Why not make peace>" Kaisah gestured outward with her hands.

"The four nations have already suffered under the fire nation for too long. Ozai, all we want is peace..." Before Aang could finish the Fire Lord interrupted.

"I will have the four nations. I will be the Phoenix King and none of you will stop me." The Fire Lord pounded his fist on the table. Before the discussions could end the doors to the room opened and Dooku came in with droids and two more gamemakers. Tahnnie walked in with them.

***

It felt good to be back in space. Yahza missed flying.

"This does not look good." Teeko's voice shook.

"Well I mean I guess it could always be worse. We only have a star destroyer, a war ship, two battle cruisers, five gunships, and who knows how many star fighters." Just as Friuss got done talking a Dreadnaught came out of hyperspace.

"You just had to say something, didn't you Friuss?" Yahza turned the steering wheel, tilting the Stricker to the left as a gun ship fired at them.

"Might I say that the chances of us winning is at less than 50%." C-265 walked up with Bop, the newest addition to the team.

"Anybody got any bright ideas!" Tevro yelled from the laser cannon below.

"Well we need to find a way to take out the Dreadnaught!" Reiah yelled as she shot one of the starfighters.

"On it!" Yahza charged for the Dreadnaught.

***

Ayaka was right up her alley, sneaking and getting information. But this by far was the most valuable information she was on a mission to get; the whereabouts of everyones families.

"Alright we need to take the next corridor. That's where the control room is." The man named Obi-Wan whispered as they rounded the corner.

"What's the plan when we get there?" The boy no older than 18, named Sokka, asked.

"Well, obviously we do whatever it takes to get the information," William said sarcastically.

"Well, we know that, but what if there are innocent people in there?" Sokka's sister Katara glared at William.

"We will not harm the innocent people, but we will get the information. Don't worry," Obi-Wan reassured everyone.

"This is the place." Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber. They all entered the room and the men at the control panels all looked up and glared at them. Ayaka was ready for a fight.

***

Vies could only think about keeping everyone safe. He decided to stay with Cadeyrn, Styryn, Keiju, and Wessin to protect the girls that couldn't fight. They piled all of them in the wardrobe just in case there was a fight.

"Do you think their plan will work?" Keiju was leaning up against the wardrobe.

"We can only hope." Wessin was sitting on a create playing his lute.

"That's if your families are even still alive." Styryn crossed his arms.

"How could you say that? Don't you have family?" Vies couldn't keep himself from speaking up.

"No I don't." Styryn furrowed his eyebrows.

"Then why stay here?" Cadryn glared at Styryn.

"They promised to help save my home." Stryrn looked down at his feet. Everyone went silent after that and now they waited to either be greeted by their friends or a fight.

***

"This will be over quickly." Dooku lifted up the team of FBI members and electrocuted them. As their bodies fell to the ground, Jularie, Fintyre, Ujes, Kaisah, Yoda, and Inayva attacked Dooku. Viko jumped up and faced Ozai, who lifted his hands.

Aang joined Viko as Ozai threw a wave of fire at them. Aang used air to blow the fire away. Viko then bended a boulder at Ozai. Ozai hit the boulder with his fist and it smashed it to pieces. Ozai front-kicked a blast of fire toward them. Aang jumped over the fire while Viko bent the fire on either side of him, out of the way.

Ozai threw a fist of fire at Aang, who was hovering in the air above him. At the same, Ozai turn-kicked Viko with flames around his foot. Viko stomped and pulled up an earth wall to block it. Aang bent water to knock Ozai's flaming fist away.

Ozai laughed and wrapped flames around his fists.

***

Jularie flicked her green lightwhip toward Dooku. Yoda jumped and leaped all around him while Fintyre twirled his yellow dual-bladed lightsaber. Kaisah portaled behind Dooku to stab his back, Ujes and Inayva attacked Avek side-by-side together.

Dooku force-pushed Kaisah back and caught Jularie's whip around his wrist and pulled her forward. He blocked Fintyre's lightsaber and made part of the ceiling come down. Jularie and Fintyre jumped backward to avoid it. Kaisah joined Yoda attacking Dooku.

Four battle droids marched toward Jularie and Fintyre, separating them from the others. Jularie flicked her lightwhip to slash one droid in half, while Fintyre blocked their blaster shots.

Avek and Dooku glared at their opponents.

***

Tahnni looked at Zai and pleaded with her. "Zai, please. You don't have to do this."

Zai glared at her. "Yes, I do. Together, you and I can be the two most powerful people here. You don't have to be a prisoner anymore."

"These are my friends! I won't turn against them! But if you help us, we can all make it out of here." Tahnni took a step forward. "Think about all that the Fire Nation has done to you - all that Ozai has put you through. Why work for him?"

Zai nodded. "I'll hold them off so you guys can escape." She held out her hands and bloodbent Ozai, Avek, and Dooku, freezing them in their fights.

Tahnni and her teammates looked at her.

"Go." Zai grunted with effort.

All of the sudden, every droid in the room shot at Zai before everyone could get out. Zai's body fell to the ground, covered in holes from the blaster shots.

Ozai laughed. "You think you can get away?"

With their backs to the wall, the team was surrounded by the Gamemakers. Their evil darkness fell over them and they never thought they could lose it all like they had. Jularie and Fintyre clutched hands.

"I love you," he whispered.

***

Obi-Wan used his lightsaber to kill droids in the room, while William zipped around, breaking them. Katara whipped water while Sokka threw his boomerang. Ayaka came up from the shadows and took them down one by one and Skye threw daggers at them all.

All the while Leilani went to the control panel to figure out how to get the datapad. She pressed on the controls, but a screen appeared, wanting a code. "It wants a code!" she yelled over all the fighting.

William grabbed one of the men and compelled him. "What is the code?"

The man said the code and Leilani typed it in. The datapad popped up and she grabbed it. "Got it. It says that the only way to get to the realm where our families are trapped is to get the Portal-Key. It's with King Sargon."

"I don't think he's here," William said. The group gathered by the door. As they walked out, waves of droids came.

***

Firebenders surrounded the wardrobe. Keiju, Wessin, Styryn, and Caderyn took out their weapons, charging at the firebenders. Flames engulfed them, so Vies called out: "Air Wave!" and a blast of air pushed the fire away.

Keiju went into his fury mode to get behind the firebenders. He couldn't let them firebend again. He slashed two firebender's backs and stabbed the third. Wessin, Styryn, and Caderyn all killed three more.

No matter how many they all killed, more came up. Keiju felt throbbing pain and he collapsed. As his body turned to ash, he saw the firebenders kill Wessin, Styryn, Caderyn, and Vies, but there was nothing he could do about it. His life came to an end and there was nothing left.

***

Navae ran out of the wardrobe. She had to let her negative emotions get to her, so she could kill the firebenders and protect the others. As she finally let her negative emotions in, the firebenders turned to ash around her.

She hadn't seen Melody and Azaeah come out of the wardrobe behind her. They turned to ash too.

Kotomi hurried and shut the wardrobe right as more firebenders burned Navae alive. "Get in the bag!" Kotomi screamed at the others. They hurried and hid in her bag, so the firebenders couldn't find them.

Once they knew the firebenders were gone, Kotomi, Nikki, and Nizari came out of the wardrobe. Nizari ran to her brother's dead body and cried. "No!" She sobbed, feeling her heart break, knowing that he sacrificed himself for her.

***

From inside one of the starfighters, Koetsu stood in front of the large window. Emma drove the ship, while Naolia, Jalace, and Vayla stood beside Koetsu.

"That star destroyer is taking out too many of our starfighters," Emma said.

"We need to take it down." Naolia glanced at Koetsu.

Koetsu nodded. "I'll do it, but I'm going to need more energy."

"Here." Naolia, Jalace, and Vayla all touched his back and gave him their energy.

Strengthened, Koetsu grinned. "Gravity Dragon Slayer's Slam!" Gravity pulled the star destroyer down. It crashed into another ship and there was a big explosion.

They all cheered right as the dreadnaught fired the ion cannon at them.

"We're going down!" Emma screamed. 

wordsmith-

Fiona

Fiona was used to war. She was used to the split-second decision of killing or giving mercy. She was used to losing people and exchanging the grief for anger, for determination, for whatever she needed to keep fighting. She had lived through two wars and had the scars to prove it.

She wasn't sure she had the strength to go through another one.

Every death so far had been hard, each one a reminder that Fiona couldn't save everyone no matter how much she wanted to or hard she fought and bled for her tributes. And, even though each death had been a weight on her shoulders, it was Hiran's that made her wonder if she could continue. He had been her primary link to her old life, a familiar face that had trusted and respected her. And she hadn't been able to save him. Fiona closed her eyes. She wasn't religious, but it didn't stop her from sending a silent prayer to anyone that might be listening for her tributes to remain safe, and for those who were gone to be at peace.

After a few moments Fiona opened her eyes and squared her shoulders. It was time to leave this planet. It took some time to find everyone and make sure they'd boarded their new spaceship—Fiona thanked the Angel that they didn't have to cram into the Impala anymore—and by the time everyone was accounted for she had a headache.

Her gaze lingered on Kaapo and the newly resurrected Matoaka, and Fiona wasn't sure whether to smile or cry. While she was happy to have Matoaka back, the cynical side of her wondered if bringing her back had been a mistake. There was a reason necromancy was banned. Still, she hadn't said any of her fears aloud to Kaapo, though she was certain he could read her well enough to hear them anyway.

Before she could worry any more over the subject the world blurred together, and Fiona heard a few aborted screams as they changed realms. When the unpleasant sensation was gone she opened her eyes, standing and making her way to the ship's door. Her hand grasped the seraph blade at her hip, and she opened the door slowly. What she saw made a small gasp of surprise fall from her lips.

She was back in the warehouse. The one where everything had started. The vehicles of before were gone, but it was the same building. She knew it, the same way she knew that the sky was blue. As the others filed out of the ship, Fiona waited warily. She wasn't sure of what was going to happen, but she knew something was. Her prediction was proven correct when the doors to the warehouse opened, revealing eight people. Behind her she could hear weapons being drawn and could feel magic sparking in the air even as she raised her seraph blade.

"Fear us do not. Here to help you we are," one of them said. He was tiny, with wrinkled green skin and pointy ears that before would have made her gape but now were barely of interest. His odd way of speaking made Fiona raise an eyebrow even as her grip tightened around her blade.

"Why?" she said, voice hard, and this time a tall man stepped forward. His hair was brown but greying, and Fiona eyed him warily.

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said quietly, yet his voice carried throughout the warehouse. "My companions and I received information on a large number of imprisoned people who need our help. Their location is in this warehouse."

Fiona sucked in a sharp breath. Imprisoned people. He can't mean... "Imprisoned people?" she said, and the man-Obi-Wan, nodded. "Who?" she demanded, a little rougher than needed but her heart was pounding in her chest. It was stupid to hope, stupid to think that they might mean Charlie and the others, but Fiona couldn't stop the fierce hope that these people were talking about Charlie.

"We don't know who these people are, just that they're being held captive by Dooku and his allies." He paused and then added, "We believe they are being held to control others, leverage, in other words."

That stupid bubble of hope expanded in Fiona's chest. She glanced behind her and shook her head minutely; the majority of them lowered their weapons, but few put them away. "How are you going to find them?" she asked. There were soft mutterings of disagreement behind her, but a quick glare from Fiona and stern gaze from both Kaapo and Aurei kept them mostly silent. Fiona listened silently as Obi-Wan explained his three-part plan. When Obi-Wan finished speaking, Fiona's seraph blade had made its way back to her side. She inhaled slowly and then glanced again at her tributes.

"I don't suppose you'd be looking for help?" she asked, and Obi-Wan smiled slightly.

"We would be grateful for it," he replied, and a slight smile tugged at the corners of Fiona's mouth.

She nodded and then took a step back, saying, "Let me speak with my... companions first." Without waiting to see the reply she turned back toward her tributes. Already she could see the opposition on many of their faces. Steeling herself, Fiona stood taller, wishing not for the first time that she was taller, more intimidating.

"I know none of you particularly want to go and help these people," she started, and she could see Vida shaking her head, Xi staring impassively, Zion looking skeptical. "But these people, they could be our families, our friends." Flashes of hope and fear flashed across multiple faces, and they emboldened her, made her a little more confident. "We have to help them, we have to. Especially if they're our families," she said, near pleading.

"What if they're not our families?" Rastaz asked carefully, and Fiona swallowed.

"What if they are?" she said softly. "Are all of you willing to take the chance that these people Dooku, one of the people who kidnapped us, has, aren't our families?"

There was silence as they contemplated her words, and Fiona held her breath. What if they decided to leave? What would she do then? What if Charlie was at the location and she couldn't get to him? What if-

Kaapo moved, and all eyes instantly were on him. He walked with steady steps toward Fiona, and she had never felt more grateful for his presence. She shot him a relieved smile, and he nodded slightly. A few seconds later Matoaka was running to stand beside Kaapo, as Fiona had expected, and then more were slowly taking that small step toward her until only ten remained across from her. Fiona tilted her head toward them, for the most part unsurprised as she noticed Vida, Xi, and Moss among them. She turned to face the others, the ones who had chosen to go along with Obi-Wan's plan. Her eyes met Kaapo's, and despite the tension that had been between them ever since Zanna's death, the sight of him still standing beside her gave her confidence as she told them what to do.

Mizlani

Unease crawled over Mizlani's skin as she stood beside Fiona in the meeting hall. She wanted to be with Anakin's group, to fight with her pack and defend them, but her alpha had insisted she come with this group. The redhead had insisted that she was defending her pack here, assisting in the distraction, but Mizlani privately disagreed. Still, Fiona was the alpha, so she had done as she was told.

Mizlani surveyed the hall carefully, taking in each person and assessing their threat level. Her eyes swept over the rest of her pack rapidly; Fiona trusted them so Mizlani did as well. Still, she couldn't help but glance at them. Tikaani, Nanuq, Axel, Ethan, Uriah, and Ennis sat in a row on the left side of the table, each of them there to take notes or profile the others. The two orcs alpha had been gifted were there as well, standing in the background, quiet for the most part. Bidati was also there, his smoky form one that made Mizlani's nose crinkle at the lack of smell.

Runil, Rastaz, Dominic, and Altansarnai were on the right side, each skilled at diplomacy. Dominic was even a diplomat, from wherever he was from. Fiona was seated between the seer Penny, and herself. The other side of the table held the small green man, Yoda. At his right sat Katara and Zuko at his left. She noted that Zuko in particular looked... angry. Ozai sat at the head of the table. Mizlani shifted in her chair, restless.

It was silent for several moments, and she wondered who would speak first. To her surprise, it was Dominic, not the green man, Ozai, or even Fiona.

"Lord Ozai, we believe it would not be beneficial for you to work with Separatists," he said, and Mizlani glanced at Fiona. The redhead was staring at Dominic, her expression unreadable. "They, and Dooku are not the kind of allies you want."

Mizlani stared at the table, uncertain of what to do. She was here for protection; she didn't know what to do. Beside her, Penny suddenly stiffened, and Mizlani hesitantly put a hand on her arm.

"Are you okay?" she whispered as the others continued to speak.

Penny didn't seem to hear her. The Asian girl was gripping her seat tightly, her eyes glazed over. Mizlani reached for the paper she'd been given, scribbling Something's wrong with Penny on it before shoving it toward Fiona.

The redhead read the paper, her forehead creasing as she subtly studied Penny, who was still frozen. She exchanged a look with Mizlani, but before either of them did anything, Penny suddenly slumped in her chair with a loud gasp, drawing the eyes of everyone at the table. Mizlani froze, staring at Fiona uncertainly.

"My apologies," Fiona said after a moment, looking more composed than Mizlani ever could. "It seems Penny is just a bit... dehydrated," she said and after a moment the talk continued, though Ozai was staring at Penny with narrowed eyes.

"What happened?" Fiona asked quietly.

Penny swallowed and then reached for Mizlani's paper. She wrote swiftly, and Mizlani was worried to see her hand shaking. Then the paper was being pushed in front of her and Fiona.

Vision. Dooku shows up. A blotch of ink nearly obscured the next words, but Mizlani could make out the words, fire and blood and water.

She looked at Fiona, who had paled. The redhead nodded sharply and then grabbed the paper. She quickly scribbled out Penny's words and then wrote something before passing it back to them.

Don't let anyone else know. We still may be able to convince Ozai. The future isn't set in stone. Mizlani swallowed, looking back up at Ozai. Somehow, Fiona's words weren't all that reassuring. The man was leaning forward, eyebrow raised, clearly unconvinced of whatever someone had said. He smiled, expression just shy of patronizing. "Oh? What makes you think that? Count Dooku has promised me the assistance I require. Why shouldn't I join him?"

Yoda spoke this time. "He will not protect you. Care about anyone but himself he does not."

"And you do?" Ozai asked coolly.

Aurei

Aurei felt almost at home sitting in the seat of Dorinda's spaceship. She hadn't been in one for years, but the controls felt familiar beneath her hands. She wasn't sure how, but each of the ships had been given a link that connected to ship through magic so they could hear Anakin's orders.

She cared little for the Jedi but she put that aside for now. Aurei may not have any family in the location they were trying to find, but many of the young ones did, and despite her attempts not to get attached, she had. It was why she had chosen to fight on Dorinda's ship, rather than a familiar battle cruiser; here was where all the teenagers were hidden, protected by several of the more powerful tributes. They were all young, too young to be here and too young to die, especially like this.

So, she was going to fight whoever she needed to if it gave them a chance to see their families. The sound of Anakin's voice suddenly filled her ship, and she listened long to know that she was to take out as many of Dooku's ships on the left side as possible. Beside her in the other seat, Dorinda was listening intently.

"You know how to fire the lasers?" she asked, and Dorinda nodded. It wasn't as confident a nod as Aurei would have preferred, but she didn't want to risk switching places and trusting Dorinda to not run them straight into a line of fire. Inhaling deeply, she followed the meager number of ships before her, exiting the atmosphere with the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The exit from the planet was swift, blue sky and white clouds quickly melting into dark purples and blacks, stars glittering around them. Aurei inhaled slowly, rolling her shoulders. She could see the other ships, a motley collection of varying sizes and models. And, even though she had barely been in space a minute, she could already see the distinctive red and green that signaled someone was fighting.

There was a crackle that sounded throughout the ship and then Anakin was speaking, sounding a little out of breath. "Ships on the left, we've got three dreadnaughts heading our way. Get into a shield formation behind me."

Immediately seven ships including Aurei's flew toward Anakin, lining up beside him.

"Shields up?" Aurei asked, and Dorinda nodded. The scientist looked rather pale.

"This ship doesn't have much power-I'm directing power from the food replicator to the shields," someone said over the link, and Aurei frowned. She hadn't realized she'd have to hear every little comment from each ship.

Her eyes flicked back to the space in front of them where three dreadnaughts were headed toward them.

"Fire now!" Anakin's voice was sharp and sudden through the link and three green lasers shot out from three different ships.

"What happened to the rest of you?" someone demanded and there were various replies of "I don't know how to use this bloody ship" and "The control's not working."

Aurei growled low in her throat. The dreadnaughts were coming closer and she knew they'd ram right into her if she stayed put. After a moment she shifted the ship to the side, ignoring Anakin's cry and snapping, "Figure out how to use the controls!" to Dorinda.

Her entire body was tense as she swerved sharply to the left to avoid a battle cruiser. Beside her, Dorinda seemed to have figured out how to fire the weapons, because there was a sudden blast of white light. It shot straight at one of the dreadnaughts, leaving the side dented and blackened.

"Yes!" someone cheered, and Aurei nodded. Her grip on the controls loosened and her movements became automatic as time went on. Left. Straight. Two ships ahead, dive under. Aurei twisted the controls in her hands as she flew past a cruiser taking heavy fire from two of their ships, green lasers lighting up the air. A quick sideways glance showed that Dorinda was firing white lasers with fair aim.

Distantly she could hear people speaking across the link, but she ignored them. Right. Over. Aurei could see a few ships tailing her and she sped up.

"Dorinda, four ships are behind us, you need to get rid of them," she said, words clipped as she darted behind a larger ship, hoping it would conceal them long enough for Dorinda to take at least one of their pursuers out.

Another flash of white. Aurei's hands tightened around the controls. Through the link she could someone screaming before they were abruptly cut off. Dead probably. She could see a green laser headed straight for them and she swerved hard to the right, but she knew it wasn't fast enough. The entire ship shifted to the left with the force of the hit, and a loud curse left Aurei's mouth. She hoped the laser hadn't hit anything critical.

There wasn't any time to check, as Aurei could still see three ships speeding toward her. She inhaled sharply and then sped forward, fast enough that she could hear Dorinda slam into the consul. She didn't bother apologizing; Dorinda would thank her when they weren't dead. Dying wasn't an option. Not with all of the kids onboard.

Aurei sped forward, her heart pounding rapidly. She darted between ships, looping over and under them as she used others for cover. It worked for the most part. But the ship was slowing down.

"What's going on?" It was Satha over the link.

"We got hit," Aurei snapped, shifting the ship to avoid the broken remains of a cruiser.

More flashes of red light behind her. Faster. Faster. Aurei tried to speed up, but it was clear that the hit they'd received had damaged the ship.

"We need to do something before we get hit again," she snarled, and she wasn't sure who she was speaking to.

Silence. Quick glances to the side revealed that some of the tributes were climbing onto some of the enemy ships, wreaking havoc on the metal with fire or other forms of magic, large bubbles surrounding their bodies. Some sort of spell or charm no doubt. A flicker of a smile crossed Aurei's face, but it was quickly wiped away when she felt another jolt run through the ship. They'd been hit again. Harder, this time.

"What happened to the shields?" she demanded.

"The last hit brought them down to 43%," Dorinda said, and Aurei could detect panic in her voice.

"We need to get rid of these ships tailing us!" Aurei snarled.

"I'm trying but they're moving too fast," Dorinda said, and Aurei shook her head. The kids. "Then we have to think of something else, because we won't last after another hit. If we just had a smaller ship," Aurei said, swerving hard to the right again. "It would be so much easier to maneuver."

"Of course," Dorinda sounded almost relieved and Aurei wanted to scream. "I can make us smaller!"

"What?"

Dorinda didn't answer, and out of the corner of her eye Aurei saw her rummage through the bag in her hand. She pulled out a small instrument, a silver twig of a thing, with a single opening at the end. Dorinda pointed the end at the ship and panic flickered through Aurei. She slanted hard to the left and then shot forward, barely avoiding colliding with another ship.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Saving us!" Dorinda snapped and then pressed a small button on the instrument. At once a sensation much like being stuffed into a too small tube flowed over Aurei and her body tingled with sharp pricks of pain. Then the sensation was gone.

When she looked up the space around her suddenly seemed much larger than before, the ships a hundred times their normal size.

"I did it," Dorinda breathed from beside her. She turned to look at Aurei, holding the thin silver twig. "We're small enough that no one will notice us now," she said, and Aurei blinked.

"I hope you can get us back to normal size, because I refuse to be an ant the rest of my life," she said flatly.

Adam

Adam was grateful that he had Kendra nearby—these people were strangers even if they were all in the same situation. He walked beside her silently as they followed the man who'd introduced himself as Obi-Wan, and his two companions, Toph and Sokka. Apart from himself and Kendra, the only other tributes with them were Katrina, Demi and Jenson, the latter two being spies wherever they were from while both he, Kendra, and Katrina were there if anything went wrong.

Katrina had cast a spell that made them inaudible to anyone that might be nearby. Still, Obi-Wan had preferred them to stay out of sight for as long as possible. Which was why the seven of them were taking a long, circuitous route that had so far led them into two abandoned rooms and one bathroom. Frankly, Adam was just grateful Obi-Wan hadn't tried to crawl through the air vents.

"How far away is the datapad?" Kendra asked, her voice loud despite it being a whisper.

"The control room holding it is in the center of the warehouse's top level. The elevator is in constant use, so we're going to get there by using the ladders installed before the elevator was added," Obi-Wan replied softly. Kendra nodded, and Adam moved closer to her.

Without a word he slipped his hand into hers, squeezing it gently. She glanced at him, and even through the stoic mask on her face, he could see that she was afraid. Adam smiled softly at her, and then gently disentangled his hand in order to sign the words, At least Neith isn't here.

His words made a smile flicker across Kendra's face, and in the dim lighting he could see her hands moving, sharp and precise as she said, Well, I doubt we're going to run into that crazy goddess again, thank goodness. Pockets! she signed, and Adam had to stifle a laugh as he remembered how Neith had gone on about taking their pockets.

"Now isn't the time," Katrina snapped in a whisper, and Adam bristled at her words, but Kendra placed a hand on his arm. He bit his tongue and sped up so that he was walking ahead of Katrina. Kendra moved with him, their pace synced after so much time together.

"The first ladder is up ahead," Obi-Wan said quietly. Adam nodded in acknowledgement and for the first time he noticed the strange blue stick the other man wielded, glowing a faint blue that made him wonder about the stealth of this mission. Just as they reached the top of the ladder Demi suddenly froze.

"There's someone coming up," she whispered. Barely had the words left her mouth when a head appeared at the top of the ladder.

Adam raised his staff, but Katrina was quicker than all of them. She had a thin black stick in her hand, and she waved it as she said, "Stupefy!" Red light shot from her stick, hitting whoever was on the ladder. Before they could fall Obi-Wan's arm shot out, and then the person was being lifted into the air.

It was a man, and just as Demi and Jenson were placing him out of sight another figure was coming up the ladder. Kendra was standing nearest to the ladder now, and Adam's heart leapt into his throat.

"Ha-wi," she said, raising her staff. The second person slumped as though someone hit him over the head, and Kendra reached out to grab him before he fell. Adam rushed over to help her, and they gave the man to Demi, who looked surprisingly excited for someone who had just hidden two bodies. Adam barely noticed, reaching and wrapping Kendra into a tight hug and inhaling the scent of her cotton clothes. They had faced far worse dangers together, but something about this place made him terrified that he could lose her at any minute.

"I'm fine, Adam, I'm fine," Kendra said, voice muffled from where her head was pressed against his neck. Adam let out a shuddery breath.

"I know. I know. Just... let me play hero sometimes, okay?" he said, the words I love you refusing to come out of his mouth.

Yet Kendra seemed to understand anyway, because she smiled up at him, amber eyes warm and familiar and the only person Adam cared about in this godforsaken place. Her hand caressed the side of his face as she said softly, "Okay. I love you too."

"Come on, let's go. We still have two more floors to go," said Toph impatiently, breaking the moment. Adam growled under his breath, but Kendra seemed unperturbed, simply taking his hand and once more following Obi-Wan.

Runil

Runil did not trust Lord Ozai in the slightest. Unlike the other leaders at the table, he seemed only perfunctorily interested in the proceedings, as though the outcome would impact him only minimally. He hesitated, and then wrote down his observation on the paper they'd all been provided and then showed it to Dominic.

In return, Dominic showed him notes received from whom he thought might be Uriah. Ozai's arrogant, an ethnocentric man who won't agree to anything unless it's to his advantage. Find what he wants and we may be able to convince him.

It was with this in mind that Runil spoke, keeping his voice calm and even, "Lord Ozai, we only wish to help you protect the Fire Nation and-" He was quickly cut off by Ozai.

"The Fire Nation, I, do not need anyone's help. Especially from such pathetic people such as you. I can protect the Fire Nation, and all the nations when I have them without anyone's help," Ozai sneered, and Runil could feel the anger in the room, an almost palpable thing. He studied the man's expression; it was cold and hard. Ozai was not one to be reasoned with; to convince him, one had to be more powerful or have something he wanted.

Before anyone else could say anything Zuko suddenly stood. Anger rolled off of him and Runil was surprised by the intensity of it. It made the scar on the left side of his face stand out. "You do not want to rule the Four Nations, father. You want to control them," he said the word father as though it was sweet venom on his tongue, and Runil wondered what Ozai had done to so estrange his own son.

"Control, rule, is there a difference?' Ozai said coolly, and the girl a seat down from Zuko, Katara lifted her chin defiantly.

"Yes, there is, but someone like you wouldn't understand that," she snapped, and Runil could feel the atmosphere changing into something more angry, more volatile.

Yoda seemed to notice the change as well, for the green man said in a quiet yet powerful voice, "Help us this discussion does not. Us speak of peace instead let."

Ozai's lip curled into a sneer as he looked at Yoda with contempt. "Peace? What use is there in peace when I can simply take the four nations? Dooku and the Separatists are merely useful, not needed," he said, and there was an edge to his voice that bordered on mania.

"How-" Fiona began, but her words were cut off when the doors of the hall were opened to reveal three figures: Dooku, Zai, and Avek.

Mizlani

Barely had the doors been opened to reveal the three Gamemakers when everyone was out of their chairs and holding weapons. Mizlani could see Zuko and Katara facing Ozai, two boys in similar clothing to the girl coming up behind them. Tikaani and Nanuq, she thought. The little green man was somehow jumping through the air in a way that made him appear to be flying, a green stick glowing in his hand as he landed in front of Dooku. Avek was facing Axel, while Bidati was floating in front of Zai. Mizlani barely had time to register each of them before she noticed the horde of robots and men behind the three Gamemakers, all making their way towards the tributes. Mizlani's lips curled into a snarl.

She had to take care of her pack.

She forced herself to remain still as she shifted. Her bones popped as some grew and some shrank, and Mizlani let out a soft whine as she felt her skin grow thicker and become covered with fur. Then it was over. Everything was sharper, and Mizlani relished in once again releasing the wild part of her.

Mizlani was acting on instinct now, and she sought the scent of her alpha, dropping down to all fours. Without Kaapo, alpha would need a second. She spotted the redhead standing in front of Zai with the flame haired boy. Water was whipping around them, making Axel's cloak flutter and Fiona's hair come loose. As she came closer Mizlani could smell blood in the air—someone was bleeding.

It was Fiona. The water was somehow hardened yet still fluid enough to whip around her alpha, leaving bloody trails along her body. With a rage-filled snarl, Mizlani launched herself at Zai. She collided hard with the other woman, nail digging into her skin before she was being thrown off. Mizlani flew through the air briefly, stomach turning before she collided with someone else. A whimper left her throat and she picked herself up from the ground only to hear the sound of something rushing around her.

Stinging pain suddenly erupted along her back and Mizlani couldn't stop the howl that left her. The same water that had been attacking alpha was now circling her. She could see Axel wielding flames and her alpha holding a seraph blade but neither of them were able to stop the way Zai used the water as whips, leaving bloody skin and welts all along Mizlani's back.

It hurt to move now, Mizlani's entire body on fire. Still, she struggled to stand. She had to protect her pack. Just as she managed to stand, pain exploded behind her eyes. There was something moving behind Mizlani's eyes, and she could feel it tearing through the soft tissue of her cornea. Howling in pain, Mizlani once more fell to her knees.

Red bloomed behind her eyelids, sharp points of pain constantly surrounding her eyes. Mizlani whimpered uselessly on the floor; she could hear Zai laughing but she only wanted the pain to stop. When it finally did, Mizlani registered that her face was wet. She whimpered, and then suddenly alpha was there, that leather and sad smell so much more prominent.

"Mizlani? Can you shift back?"

It hurt to move, but her alpha wanted her to shift, so Mizlani did. The crack and stretch of bones was infinitely more painful this time, her previous injuries no longer covered by fur and left raw and open in the air.

"Mizlani, open your eyes." Alpha's voice was shaky.

Mizlani opened her eyes, but all she could see was red. And it hurt to move her eyelids, the skin feeling heavy and her eyes stinging. A gasp left alpha's mouth and the acrid scent of regret filled the air.

"I'm so sorry. Mizlani, your eyes, they- I don't think you're going to be able to see again."

No. Nonononono. She couldn't be blind. What would she do without her sight? Mizlani could feel panic building in her chest and she howled, lamenting her loss.

Satha

"Nurag," Satha swore loudly as PEB swerved hard to the right to avoid another green laser. They seemed to be everywhere, and the few ships her side had were dwindling. Satha had already seen two ships explode, and Xora knew what had happened with Aurei and Dorinda.

"Divert more power to the shields," she commanded PEB. "Take it from every system we're not using."

PEB nodded, and his fingers danced over the control board in front of him. Two cruisers were in front of Satha and she darted forward. The cruisers immediately spotted her, and she prayed her plan worked. Flying forward even faster, she paused ever so slightly in-between both cruisers. Green lasers shot out from both of them and at the last second she darted forward, leaving the lasers to go crashing into the cruisers.

"Yes!" Satha grinned widely, about to make another turn when a sudden invisible wave washed over her ship, sending her falling back toward the planet. Her attempts to change direction were useless.

Over the link she heard someone shout, "What's going on?"

"Someone's making us crash land on the planet. Force user probably," another one replied, and Satha gritted her teeth.

The darkness of space all too quickly gave way to white clouds and then blue sky. Buildings became visible and then Satha could make out the warehouse just before her ship rammed into the ground. The impact sent her flying forward, straining the belt holding her back.

"Nurag!"

Somehow the link between ships was still working, because Anakin's voice came through clearly as he said, "We have to get to the meeting hall."

A steady stream of curses left Satha's mouth as she disentangled herself from her seat and headed toward the door. That meeting hall better be damned close. Behind her, PEB was saying something but she ignored it in favor of yanking open the door. Fresh air and the scent of burning metal filled her nose.

Reaching for the strange gun she'd been handed earlier, Satha held it tightly in her hand. She could see the outline of the warehouse from where she'd crashed, and she started running toward it only to stop mid stride as she saw a collection of those metal droids that had captured her.

Fear slid through her veins, and her hands tightened further around her weapon. Some part of her said to use it, but the other, larger part of her said to run. So she ran. Back to her ship, back to the illusionary safety that came with hiding.

However, before she'd even gone twenty paces she was sent flying into a tree. A whimper of pain left her mouth, and she looked up to see a man standing in front of her, smiling in that way that meant nothing good was going to happen. Then PEB was in front of her, and Satha watched with wide eyes as the robot reached out and snapped the man's neck.

"PEB? What did you do that for?" she asked uncertainly, and the robot turned to look at her with the same guileless eyes she'd always known.

"You programmed me to protect you," he said, and Satha nodded, relaxing. "Are you going to run again?" No judgement, just that flat tone he always used.

"No. I'm going to stay here and play dead. You hide and kill anyone who comes toward me." PEB nodded and Satha quickly shifted into a position where she could discreetly watch what was happening. She could always claim to have been knocked out. It was through slitted eyes that she watched as the ragtag collection of tributes stumbled out of their ships only to be met by droids or men who wielded fire and strange glowing weapons.

Three bodies already lay on the ground, two of them teens. She watched silently as Aurei fired a blaster into anyone that came too close, Will shouting spells into the air beside her. In fact, many of the teens had come out of the ship, including Aspen, who was fighting a man wielding fire and Tripp, who was standing with a few others all fighting a man who held a glowing red sword.

Someone glanced her way and Satha quickly shut her eyes, praying that she didn't move her leg or that her hand didn't twitch. After several moments she cracked an eye open. Anakin and another man were in front of her now, both holding those glowing swords.

She held her breath as Anakin suddenly leapt forward, swinging his glowing stick and landing a single blow on the other man's shoulder only to be thrown back by some invisible force. The other man laughed, striding forward slowly and Satha wanted to tell him he was being stupid but it was too late. Anakin had already stood, anger lining his features. His sword slashed through the air again, his opponent somehow pushed forward so that the glowing metal cut into his stomach. There was an aborted sound from the man before Anakin quickly drew back his sword and stabbed him in the heart.

Adam

The next two ladders were crossed without incident, save for the time when Demi had noticed someone coming and Katrina had—what was the word—obliviated him. Now, they were mere feet away from the room that held the datapad.

"There will be guards in the room, so we must retrieve the datapad swiftly. We should arrive at the same time a new shift of guards does, so we can get into the room, but we will have to wait to leave until the guards switch again," Obi-Wan warned, and Adam glanced at Kendra, fingers tightening around his staff.

"Can you make us invisible?" Toph asked half excitedly, and Katrina hesitated. She looked at Adam and Kendra, but both shook their heads.

"I can give you all Disillusionment Charms, but even with the other spell, you won't be completely silent," she said. Obi-Wan nodded solemnly.

"Please," he said quietly, and Katrina nodded. She pulled out her stick again and then tapped everyone on the head. Immediately after she did so, Adam felt the sensation of something cold and slimy trickling down from his head, and when he glanced down, his body seemed to have taken on the look and feel of the wall behind him. He turned to look at Kendra but he couldn't see her. She too had simply become the wall it seemed. Then Katrina murmured another spell, and he could see the others.

"You'll be able see each other, but others shouldn't. I don't know how long these spells will last though, I'm not skilled with charms," Katrina warned.

"Let's go now then," Obi-Wan's disembodied voice said, and Adam walked slowly toward the door. As Obi-Wan had said, guards were already starting to enter, and he slipped past one quickly, entering the room.

It was a nondescript room, filled with tiny trinkets. He wasn't sure which one was the datapad. Luckily, Obi-Wan seemed to know where he was going, walking to the side of the room and picking up a smooth tablet. It looked something like the iPad so many of the younger initiates favored, Adam noted.

He pressed a button on it and the screen lit up. Adam glanced up to see if the guards had noticed, but they all seemed at ease.

"Disillusionment Charms can extend to objects too," Katrina whispered softly into his ear, and he nodded.

Obi-Wan searched through the datapad and his features twisted into a frown as he read something. Then he turned it so the others could see. Adam leaned forward. He didn't quite understand how people were in a magical pocket world? But the Portal-Key they needed was clear enough, as was the fact that King Sargon always had it. And judging from the look on the others' faces, King Sargon wasn't here.

He shivered suddenly, a sensation much a warm blanket being removed suddenly crawling over his skin. Adam realized what had happened as soon as one of the guards shouted, alerting the others to their presence.

Obi-Wan and Toph were the quickest to respond, each of them taking on the nearest fire wielders. Sokka, Demi, and Jenson ran toward the strange metal robots, and after a moment, Adam followed them.

He and Kendra stood back to back as they both raised their staffs. In unison, they shouted "Ha-wi." Several droids were immediately stopped in place, falling to the ground. Again and again Adam shouted whatever Divine Words he knew, but he could feel his energy flagging.

After the fifth word he stopped, instead pulling out his sword and slicing into the droids. He could see Obi-Wan and Katrina surrounded by fire wielders and he changed directions. Halfway to them he stumbled, hearing Kendra scream his name. He turned to look at her but then pain erupted along his legs.

Adam glanced down to see that fire was rapidly eating his skin and clothing, his cotton pants catching fire and making his skin bubble with blisters that made Adam yell in pain. The staff in his hands fell to the floor. Red hot pain was the only thing Adam could register, his body burning rapidly.

Then there was a sudden sensation of sweet coolness across his body, thin lines of water extinguishing the fire that had licked its way up to his chest. The smell of burned flesh filled his nose, and tears pricked at Adam's eyes.

"Adam!"

It was Kendra, running toward him. He could see a man watching her and Adam tried to shout a warning but it was too late. Flames wrapped around Kendra's body, and Adam tried to crawl toward her. Each movement caused pain to erupt along his body like needle pricks all along his skin, but he needed to get to her. But it was too late, the flames had covered her entire body, and he watched in horror as Kendra fell to the ground. Adam knew that however long after this he lived, he would always remember the sound of her screams.

Altansarnai

Altansarnai had never before been grateful for her father's lessons, but now as she picked up someone's abandoned sword, she thanked him.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yoda fighting Dooku, flipping over tables and swinging his green sword only for Dooku to counter every movement. Chunks of the wall were being thrown between them intermittently, often crashing into the robots or fire wielders.

Altansarnai's observations were interrupted when she caught sight of something silver in the corner of her eye. She turned and swung her sword on instinct, the metal slicing through the man who had been behind her. A few feet ahead she could see the small dwarf being backed into a corner by several robots.

After a moment Altansarnai ran over to him. She quickly disposed of one droid, but the others were quicker on the uptake. One of them landed a blow to her sword arm, and Altansarnai let out a pained gasp. She switched the sword to her left hand, clumsily hacking at the two other droids. One of them she stabbed in what appeared to be the stomach, and the other was now grappling with the dwarf.

Stepping back a little, Altansarnai cringed as a sudden loud howling noise filled the air. She turned to see that it was a wolf-and when had that appeared-only for it to suddenly transform into a girl. Her eyes were a mess, blood pouring from them and the white of the cornea dripping down the girl's face.

Moving toward the girl, Atlansarnai was surprised to see Fiona holding the girl. Blurred movement flashed in front of her, and Altansarnai blinked as Bidati suddenly grew larger, his smoky blue form infinitely more threatening as he stared down at Zai.

Zai merely laughed, pillars of flame beginning to wrap around Bidati. But Bidati simply disappeared, the flames curling in on nothing. The genie appeared behind Zai, a knife in his hands. Zai turned to look at him and suddenly there was a blindfold around her eyes.

Altansarnai then watched in horror as Bidati sliced off the woman's hands, another shriek of pain filling the air as the flames that had started to wrap around Bidati flickered out of existence. There was a look of deadly concentration on the genie's face. He drew back his arm and then sliced the woman's head off her neck.