Half an hour later…

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

Anakin had kept a steady pace towards the wreckage of the Hope, but even though it was only a kilometer away, there had been obstacles in his path. He had had to climb several large rock formations in order to advance in a relatively straight line. To go around them would have wasted precious minutes.

“And that’s why I hate it here,” he said to the landscape. “Nothing’s easy.”

But at least he knew that Ahsoka was all right. Every few minutes, he would stop and make sure that she wasn’t badly injured, or turned to the Dark Side. But thankfully, every probe into the Force came back clear.

As he stood on the top of the last ridge, he felt Ahsoka beginning to tire. He could see her in the distance. She was fighting someone with a red lightsaber, and they were beginning to wear her down. He was certain it was Maul. Based on what the Force was telling him, they were evenly matched. Fighting one so taken with the Dark Side as he was would do that to anybody.

Anybody, that is, except the Chosen One.

His eyes turned white-gold with a ring of blue around the pupils. Igniting his lightsaber, the white beams washing over his face, he channeled to Force towards his legs. Then he began a superfast sprint down the gentle incline of the stony hill.

Anakin could hear his feet pounding against the ground, his breathing picking up, his heartbeat, but everything else became muted. His lightsaber in his had hummed as the pure ray of plasma made contact with the air. He was ready.

The gentle slope would soon drop off into a deep ravine that was well over eighty feet wide. And he was about to reach the edge of the surface he could run on. Bunching the powerful muscles in his legs, he sprang forwards.

Everything was suddenly in slow motion. What took mere instants for his body seemed to take forever for his mind. His senses, which seemed unusually sharp, were providing him with a slower version of the battle. All of this information was really coming to him in the space of a minute, but his mind was slowing it to a speed that would be easier to process.

Anakin saw Maul spin and kick out, forcing Ahsoka violently to the wall of rock. She had nowhere to go. He looked the other way, and noticed that she had dropped her shoto. She was trying to use the Force to bring it back to her, but to no avail. The second it was within range, Maul’s lightsaber flashed out, cutting it in half.

She struggled to stand again. But she was winded from the last attack, and too tired to do get up quickly, and the Sith Lord simply kicked her down again, using the Force to keep her down. He raised his sinister red saber in a killing blow, and she raised her remaining one to block it. But she wasn’t moving fast enough.

Little by little, Maul was pushing his lightsaber further down towards her. Suddenly Ahsoka’s eyes widened, as she realized what he was trying to do. But it was a split-second too late. Maul cut her other saber right out of her grip, and seared the side of her hand in the process.

She screamed, clutching her hand. Fortunately, a lightsaber automatically cauterizes whatever flesh it might hit, so she wouldn’t bleed, but it regardless didn’t take away the pain.

“And now,” Maul said, the words resonating in Anakin’s mind, “a Light will go out. They will all die, Ahsoka Tano. You, and every last person you care about, will perish. The Jedi and Sith ways of today shall fall, and I will recreate the Eternal Sith Empire of old.”

Ahsoka squirmed in his hold, trying to break free. “I… won’t… let you… touch them!” she gasped. “You… You can’t!”

He raised his lightsaber again. “You cannot stop me. Now, young Master Jedi, prepare to become one with the Force.”

As Maul prepared for the killing blow, Anakin was finally within range. He kept clenching and unclenching the hand holding his lightsaber, feeling the tiny mechanics of his prosthetic hand work to fit the movement. It was a habit that calmed his mind when he needed it.

“MAUL!!” he yelled. The Sith Lord looked up, but it was too late. It was the exact moment that Anakin smashed into him feet-first.

*Anakin is on the offensive! The power of the Chosen One is on Ahsoka's side, but will it be enough? Or will Darth Maul triumph with one of the tricks he picked up from Darth Bane? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

YAY!! IT'S OFFICIALLY TIME TO STOP PROCRASTINATING, PEOPLE!!!! Basically, I was making a failed attempt at creating a cache of pre-written chapters. It was a pointless gesture, because I'm practically done this book. 

Become apprenticed to the padawan of the man who found you on Tatooine and may the Force be with you,

Sharron