Chapter 57: 58. Chapter

From the perspective of Rika.

After Aomi and Nizzal left in sudden haste, I realized that I was left alone with a somewhat grumpy Ahsoka and an outraged Anakin. I also realized that Equ also left at some point. Most likely followed Laora back to the ship to scan the samples of that weird creature. I... I probably should go too... The atmosphere is quite heavy around the jedi at this moment... I gulped a bit, fearfully... I was not like Master Nizzal or Aomi, nor Eqomu... I am like a newborn compared to each of them. Eqomu had at least ten generations before his current life. I don't even know how many lives the ancients must  have had, or if they strenched out their lifespans to the extreme, they might not even have had that many... Well, it doesn't matter. Their experience is what counts the thousands of years of experience and knowledge. 

It was incredible to see them, and live near them for so long. The purple lightning that Master Aomi just unleashed in a matter of seconds still makes my hair stand up on my skin. It was beautiful how finely she controlled the entirety of the technique. After that mimic creature died she immediately channeled the excess energy into the ground. It was so cool. 

I was so lucky to manage to get myself into this mission. I had the fortune to befriend Master Nizzal in such a way that she didn't realize that I was actually one of her comrades. She is surprisingly kindhearted. I... I don't know if I could still call her a friend. I will go after her and ask if it is alright! 

I stood up after making my new decision. At that point I completely forgot about the extremely annoyed two-jedi sitting right in front of me. They also realized that everybody basically ran away while they were mulling over the new information. Therefore, when I also stood up, they immediately followed my action. 

-Where are you going? 

Asked Anakin in a kind of aggressive tone. I flinched unintentionally, I was submerged in my thoughts, and his sudden grunt made me forcefully jump back to reality.

-Yeah, are you planning to ditch us too? 

Ahsoka added that as she furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms while looking at me, daring me to try. 

-I.. uhm... 

I tried to find an excuse, but since she accidentally hit the nail on the head, I didn't know how to react... 

-I didn't forget and I didn't forgive you for lying to me for years! Put your ass down and ask for forgiveness in a proper way at least. Don't you dare to run away again, this time I won't let you!

I froze, I never saw Ahsoka this angry before... What should I do!? She might just attack me if I don't say something soon, but if I say the wrong thing, that will make this even worse!

You fool, what if she attacks you? You can beat her ass whenever you want to! It is true, that we can't reasonably fight with Revan or Bastila, nor Jadus! But as far as we are from them in experience, so are these foolish jedi behind us. Don't you dare to humiliate my heritage by seeking forgiveness from the likes of them! Remember, you are the holder of the line of Teron the Great. For once, act like you deserve to hold that title!

But.. but I don't want to fight with Ahsoka, and-and Master Anakin is really powerful, back in the temple. Everyone referred to him as the child of the force behind his back, and such...

HAVE YOU GONE MAD!? He is a child compared to us! It doesn't matter how much power he has, you have knowledge that far surpasses his meager understanding. Use it!

But...

If you dare to further humiliate me, I will become your worst nightmare, quite literally, mind you. When you fall asleep, I will constantly haunt you with absurd nightmares. Do you hear me? I will make you turn into fishfood and feed you to a giant tuna. Then I will turn you into grass, and a horde of sheep will nibble you to death hahaha... oh yes, that's quite alright.  Let's see then, I will...

Nooo!!! I won't listen to you anymore!

You dare to talk back to me? Then it is decided, it will only help you to strengthen your mental fortitude in the long run. Anyway, you should be happy since I spend my precious time teaching you! Humph!

 Wait... No, just not that, anything but that! I am sorry!

Master, I think you are going too far, again; she is still young. You need to refrain from doing that. I will interfere if you try to act irrationally. 

Now I am the one who acts irrationally, but I remember that you were the one who caused this entire situation. You useless piece of crap! You couldn't even find someone, who can properly use the archive! 

Oh, yeah? You say it as if that is the easiest thing in the world! But I remember, that you also almost run out of time! Did you turn senile so much that you forget about that small insufficient detail!? 

Ha! We are not talking about me! And even if we would, I still managed to do my duty not like you! Dumbass!

Also, Rika! I hope you are about to warm up to the idea of becoming a grass-like plant on a pasture. Your face seems kind of green already! 

NOOOO!

---

While this internal battle played out inside the mind of Rika, Ahsoka lost her temper and shouted at her. This shout accidentally occurred at the same time as her memory's originator barely contained consciousness inside Rika's mind threatened her to turn her into grass in her dreams. 

---

From the perspective of Ahsoka.

-Don't just stand there, say something!

I shouted at her. To my complete shock, Rika immediately dropped to her knees, while hugging her head with a horrified expression. Then she began to apologize. 

-He-hej Rika I... I was just joking, there is no need to... 

She flinched again, but it was strange... as if she wasn't listening to me at all... She didn't even turn towards me, or could it be that I scared her that much? But... she always came to me, when she had bad dreams? That makes no sense... 

-No, please. I am sorry! I am really sorry! I don't want to experience THAT, not again!

-...

What? Wait... if you say that... in that way... I will... 

-...

-Ahsoka... 

Anakin asked ominously, he was standing a few steps behind me.

-Yes ma-master? 

I asked back, stretching the time since I already sensed in his tone, that he must have misunderstood the whole situation.

-What did you do with her?! Answer me! 

Anakin shouted, this time I was the one who flinched away.

-I didn't do anything! She is my best friend remember?! 

I pointed out the obvious, while I also felt confused and was on the brink of panic.

-Then why is she acting like that, were you bullying her, all this time? 

-NOO! Why would you even suggest that?! I never... I don't know, why she is acting like that out of nowhere!

-There must be some reason, look at her, she is practically shaking!

You are reading story Star Wars: The Way of the Grey at novel35.com

I looked at Rika, who was really shaking, but her expression... was not of someone who is afraid... quite the opposite, she seemed extremely angry. I watched as a cruel smile appeared on her face. What the... it seemed so out of place on her... 

-Ma-master... do you see her expression... she is smiling... 

-What? 

Anakin turned back to Rika, and saw the maniacal grin that was plastered over her face. Her eyes were turning yellow right now... 

Master looked at Rika and he weakly shook his shoulders. 

-She is at it again, yeah? I am beginning to think that the whole Gray Order is nothing more than a gathering place for force-sensitive lunatics. 

-You probably shouldn't say that while one of them is here... master... 

Even if I am beginning to agree with that statement.

It was at that time, when Rika practically screamed at us. We both flinched from the power of her voice, that was heavily reinforced by the force.

-SHHUTTT IT! YOU DIMWITS!!

The very air around her body began to twist as it formed a powerful vortex that picked up the extremely fine sand and threw it into the air in large quantities. Soon we couldn't see anything as a small scale sandstorm appeared around us. 

Luckily, Rika quickly gained back control over her emotions, as the storm began to calm down and the sand fell back towards the ground. When the air cleared out enough to see, we found Rika sitting in the white sand. She was partially buried in it. This time she was genuinely smiling at herself. She seemed relieved and happy, that level of extreme mood swing was even more concerning. Why is she so relaxed now, what  has changed?

-Silence, at last. Bless the force, I managed to banish them, for now. I can finally sleep. 

Saying that, she closed her eyes, and soon her head lolled to one side as she quickly fell asleep while still smiling lightly.

-What, she wasn't even speaking to us, what a let down, I was getting ready for a warm-up, haha, oh, and what the hack is that thing? 

Asked Anakin looking towards the place just behind Rika. I turned towards the strange shadow that appeared in the sandstorm. 

As the air continued to clear, a shady silhouette of a pyramid still partially hidden under the sand appeared. It was created from a glowing gold like material, which I would think to be actual gold, except for the fact that it is unlikely that such a structure would ever be created from pure gold. It was too big, half as big as our ship, and that was just the part that we were able to see! Who knows how much of it is still hidden under the sand. How did anyone manage to build this thing here? In an environment like this? I can't even grasp the possible difficulties...

-I see, she has won the battle, but the war is not yet over. 

Both me and my master turned back to Rika as a new voice appeared. There was the form of that weird boy called Equ, kneeling next to her sleeping form. I saw as my master, if only for a second, reached for his blade, when his voice appeared. That made it clear to me, even master didn't realize when the boy came over. He was appearing and disappearing without any sign. It has happened on many occasions already. It was getting on our nerves.

Master asked a question from the boy. 

-What sort of war are you talking about? And what was her problem in the first place?

The boy stood up, and turned towards the pyramid. As he began to speak.

-It is the same, always. There is no other. A war for survival. 

-Sigh, I expected too much when I hoped for a straightforward answer. 

Stated Anakin sarcastically. The boy didn't react, but he continued his explanation a bit clearer still in his usual dreamy tone. 

-Three personalities, one body, fighting for dominance. Her will needs to get stronger, or she will lose herself. A heavy burden that could not be shared recklessly, not without paying a price, was given to her. She volunteered to accept the task. No one forced her, quite the opposite, in fact.

Said the boy still looking at the pyramid. 

We heard the sound of someone running towards us and turned towards the sound just when Aomi broke through the cloud of sand that was still obscuring our vision. She looked around quickly assessing the situation, and when she realized that there was no danger, she immediately fell back into her lazy ways. 

-Oy-oy, and I was even worried that another one of those mimics appeared, to make such a ruckus. 

-Where did you go in the first place?

I asked her curiously. 

-Where indeed, I just gave Nizzy some of Rika's... cough... I me...an... cough... 

Her eyes widened with a spike of fear that she almost immediately covered up with a neutral expression. She also seemed a bit short of breath suddenly... I saw as her hand reflexively reached towards her neck, then stopped halfway. Then she closed her eyes. I sensed a powerful shift in the force, and... I think I heard a scream from somewhere in the distance, but at this point I wasn't even surprised anymore.

A few seconds later, she seemed to turn back to normal as she lazily moved her neck a bit left and right, then said. 

-I strained my neck a bit a while ago. It happens with the best of us. It's better now. Oh! I see, you have found the gate! I was worried, for nothing, since I didn't remember where the hack it was exactly buried. Thirty years is a long time, after all, hehe... 

Anakin's chin almost hit the floor after he heard her saying that. When he managed to shook off his momentary brain freeze, he spoke up.

-What? That thing is supposed to be the star gate you mentioned earlier? I thought you were joking! How, since when and sigh...  there is no known teleportation technology in the galaxy... You mean to say, that we will use that to travel between planets? Something that was buried under the ground for thirty years, in an underwater cave? Seems legit to me. 

-Yeah, that is exactly what I am implying here. But first we need to uncover the rest of it. Was it you Equ who found it? 

Eqomu turned towards Aomi, shook his head, then he pointed towards the sleeping Rika. 

-Oh, did she now, well that's alright too. Would you pick her up and lay her down somewhere out of the way, please? 

-Yes. 

-Good, I need to focus on raising the building out of the sand and I would like to do that before it sinks back again if possible.

Equ quickly picked up Rika's body and walked away. 

Aomi turned to the two jedi who were still standing nearby and said coyly. 

-Do you wish to join in, or are you planning to leave all the heavy lifting to little old me? 

-Lets help her master, she seems to have a hard time lifting that thing out of the sand. 

-Heh. I won't deny it, kiddo. Let's do this then!

You can find story with these keywords: Star Wars: The Way of the Grey, Read Star Wars: The Way of the Grey, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey novel, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey book, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey story, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey full, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey Latest Chapter