sparky // a padawan story

chapter 37. an enemy's revenge.

It's been a few weeks.
I've had my doubts about staying, along with a few breakdowns over it, but Obi-Wan's been there by my side to help the whole time. Which is probably because I didn't exactly let him leave me.
If I had attachment issues to begin with, this was a new level. I don't know exactly why, it's almost like I'm scared that he's gonna magically disappear if I leave him. I feel bad for acting like a 5-year-old when I'm almost 16, but Obi-Wan, of course, is as understanding as ever.
"You can follow me around like a little porglet for as long as you need to," he told me one day as we walked to the library, "but we still do need to work on this whole 'letting go' thing, eventually. I told the Council I would."
I rolled my eyes at the mention of the Council. "You know I—"
"I know, Arlo, so don't get started. But I told them I'd let you take your time with it, so no need to rush."
We currently sit in his quarters. He sits cross-legged on his couch, sipping his tea and reading one of his books, while I lay on my stomach on the floor, working on some of my homework.
I groan as I look at the paper in front of me. "I don't understand why you can't just excuse all of this work. All it is, is a pain in my rear."
"I'm your master, not a free homework pass, little one."
"But Anakin is. Maybe Ahsoka and I could trade masters for a day so I can get off the hook for all this work."
He rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "Well, when you become a master, you can make the rules."
"Yeah, right. I probably wouldn't even be able to follow my own rules."
"Oh, I'm sure of it. Now maybe if you stopped complaining and started doing your work—" He's cut off by... a disturbance in the Force. "Do you—?"
"Yeah, I feel it too. What could that be?"
"...I need to see Master Yoda." He sits down his tea and book and starts out the door. I follow close behind. "Oh, Arlo, you don't have to come, I'll be right back—"
"I wanna know what it is, though."
"And you're sure that's the only reason you're following me?"
"Sure, we'll go with that."
He sighs in defeat. "Very well." We approach Yoda's usual meditation spot and enter. "Master Yoda?"
"Feel the disturbance in the Force, do you?"
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan replies.
"Fear you are in danger, I do. Possibly, your padawan, too. From the dead, an old enemy has awakened, seeking vengeance."
Obi-Wan walks towards the window with his hands behind his back. His face scrunches with confusion as he turns to Master Yoda. "An old enemy?"
"Killed your master many moons ago, he did." My eyes widen at Yoda's words. It can't be...
"How can this be? I killed him myself," Obi-Wan says in shock.
"It is so, I fear."
"...Darth Maul, alive?" He strokes his beard and gazes out the window. But if he really is alive... why would he be out to get me, too?
—
I stand at a holotable next to Obi-Wan and holograms of other masters the next day. And, Force, the sight is terrifying. We watch a hologram. People are screaming and wailing. A few citizens stand in a line as Darth Maul paces in front of them menacingly on a pair of robotic legs. By the maker, he actually lived.
"There will be more innocent blood on your hands, Kenobi," Maul threatens, "unless you come here. Face me. Come alone, and if you do not..." He ignites a red lightsaber and slices it through four heads at once. I look away. Obi-Wan looks like every emotion combined. Fear, anger, confusion, regret. His hand rests on his chin. "...this world... will burn." The recording ends.
"I have to go," Obi-Wan says.
"Not alone, you're not," Master Windu tells him. "We'll send a task force with you."
"No. You see what he's capable of. He's a broken, unbalanced monster. I've dealt with him before. I can do it again."
"I disagree," Master Windu says. "This is clearly a trap."
"Against my better judgement, agree with Master Kenobi, I do," Master Yoda says as he hobbles into the room. "Finish what he started long ago, Obi-Wan must."
Obi-Wan nods. "I am off to Raydonia." He turns and leaves, and I follow close behind him through the halls. "You do realize you're not coming, right, Arlo?"
"Oh, no, I'm coming."
"Oh, no, you're not." He stops walking and grabs me by the shoulders. "I understand why you want to come, Arlo, I really do. And I want to give you all the time you need to get to trust leaving me again. But I have to draw the line here. This is far more dangerous than any mission we've ever been on. And if Master Yoda is right, if he's possibly after you too... that's not worth the risk."
"He doesn't even know who I am!"
"We don't know that. And if he finds out about you, I can guarantee he'll do anything he can to hurt you."
"Well, obviously, he's a psychopath, that's what they do—"
"It's not that, Arlo. I can guarantee you that he just wants to see me suffer."
"But how would that make you—? Wait. Ohh."
"Yeah."
"Maybe you're not the best person to teach me about attachment. I don't know, just food for thought."
"I admit I can work on it too. But we're still going to work on it, so don't go around thinking you're off the hook. But it doesn't matter, because you're staying."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are, that's an order."
"What if we compromise?"
"No."
"I'll stay on the ship while you go kick his ass again?"
"Watch your language."
"Right, my bad, I forgot he doesn't have an ass anymore, because you cut it off, along with the rest of his lower half—"
"Arlo."
"Okay, okay."
"You're not coming."
"But what if something happens to you? No one is gonna be there to save you. I'm serious, Obi-Wan."
"Arlo..." he sighs. "Okay. You have to stay on the ship, though, and I mean that."
"Got it."
—
The ride to Raydonia is completely silent. I can sense Obi-Wan's anxiety just by sitting next to him. We enter the reddish-purple atmosphere, and Obi-Wan looks worriedly at a column of smoke in the air. We land nearby it, in between different glowing and exotic flora, right by a town.
Obi-Wan takes a deep breath. "Stay here. I'll try and make this quick."
"Be careful, Master."
He chuckles. "You're the one to talk."
"I'm serious. Obi-Wan, if he's half as horrible as you say he is, he's probably far worse now. He'll stop at nothing to make you regret everything."
"I know. But you know I have to do this. I'll be right back."
"If you say so." He exits the cockpit, and I take the pilot's seat, in case we need to escape. I mindlessly bounce my foot up and down while I wait for him. I feel around the Force for his presence. I feel him and another, which I presume is Maul, but then there's someone else, and I can't think of who it could be. After a while, something feels wrong. He's in trouble, I'm sure of it. I debate whether to go find him or do as he said and wait on the ship. He won't like it if I leave, but if he gets killed by some crazy horned guy...
"Arlo!" Obi-Wan suddenly contacts me through the Force. "Arlo, I know I said stay on the ship, but I'm in a bit of a situation."
"What is it?"
He coms me, and I listen to the conversation through my arm guard.
"Still as weak as ever," I hear Maul sneer. I hear a smack, and Obi-Wan grunts in pain. Then I hear a few more grunts, and a crash. "And they call you 'Master'."
"You know, when I cut you in half, I should have aimed for your neck instead," I hear Obi-Wan retort.
I end the call and speak to him through the Force again. "I'm on my way."
"Try and be discreet."
"Oh, you know me, Obi-Wan. I won't. At all."
"I don't even know why I bother saying that anymore." I rush out of the cockpit and use the Force to search for him. It leads me towards the city, until I suddenly feel a fourth presence... somewhere in front of me, heading Obi-Wan's way. I look around and see someone headed in the same direction as me. I creep towards them and take my lightsaber from my belt. As soon as I ignite it, pointed at their neck, I find myself in the same exact position, the tip of the red blade just inches from my neck.
My eyes widen at who it is. "Ventress?"
She chuckles. "Well, well! If it isn't Kenobi's protégée  that he speaks so highly of. Don't believe I've gotten the pleasure of meeting you quite yet, what is it, Just?"
"Yeah. So you're coming to join the party, too, then? Because I can put a stop to that."
"What in the galaxy are you talking about?" she asks. Every word that comes from her comes out cooly and almost in a slur. It's actually quite intimidating. But I stand my ground.
"Don't play dumb. You're here for Obi-Wan, too, aren't you?"
She chuckles once again. "You're so protective over Kenobi, it's almost heartwarming. But no, I'm here for Savage Opress." She holds up a hologram of his bounty.
I think Obi-Wan's mentioned the name Opress to me before. "So that's who else is here," I mutter to myself.
"I certainly hope you're not going to take my profit away? Because I can put a stop to that, too."
"We came for Maul, not him," I tell her. "So since when are you a bounty hunter?"
"Since Dooku tried killing me."
"Really? Were you not his most skilled assassin?"
She rolls her eyes. "Don't flatter me."
"Trust me, I'm not."
"Well don't ridicule me either."
"No clue know why you're so worried about Dooku to begin with. He's nearing retirement anyway."
"I'm not worried... but that was pretty funny, Just. You sound like—"
"My master, I know. Look, we have a common enemy, so if we agree to get our weapons out of each other's faces, maybe we could work together?"
She retracts her saber and hooks it back on her belt. I do the same as she holds our her hand. "I suppose you've got yourself a deal, then." I take her hand and shake it. "Lucky for you, I've got a location on them. That ship, over there." She points to a large freight ship in the distance.
"If only there was such thing as luck," I say as we start towards where she pointed.
She scoffs. "Shut up. I can call off this deal at any time."
"As can I. But I think you'll find that you're gonna want my help. And Obi-Wan's, if he's not dead yet." I shudder slightly at the thought.
"Right, sure I will. I can hold my own, Just, thank you very much. I think you just need my help."
"Ugh, someone needs to humble you up, Ventress."
"And you won't be the one to do it."
"I'm sure. As for needing your help, I won't deny that I probably do. I know when I'm overpowered."
"Good to see you have some common sense."
"Yeah, well, one of us has to if we want to stand a chance."
"Give me one reason right now why I shouldn't why I shouldn't feed you to these two monsters right when we get there."
"Because you think I'm kriffing hilarious."
"An actual reason."
"Because you hate them more than you hate me."
She rolls her eyes. "Hardly." Just as we approach the ship, it lifts off.
"Looks like our queue, then."
"If you wanna help, do some damage on the way up, would you?" She ignites her two blades and jumps up, slashing the bottom of the ship, then Force leaps inside. I ignite my gold saber and do the same, landing next to her. We turn of our sabers as we enter quietly and creep towards where all the ruckus is coming from.
"Anything more to say?" I hear Maul say from below. I peek from behind the hall above him and see Obi-Wan practically cowered below the monster.
"I like your new legs," Obi-Wan retorts. "They make you look taller." I cover my mouth with my hands and hold back a laugh as I move back behind the wall. Ventress flicks me in the head.
"You're gonna get us caught," she mouths to me.
"Isn't that the point anyway?" I mouth back. She rolls her eyes. From below, Obi-Wan groans in pain as Maul pulls him up with the Force. He grabs Obi-Wan by the face and ignites his red lightsaber right by his neck.
"I will make sure you stay awake long enough to feel every single cut," Maul threatens. "Your death will be beyond excruciating. You will suffer as I have suffered."
Ventress steps out from her hiding spot and motions for me to stay hidden. "What a surprise," she says, feigning surprise. "My former servant, still an animal?"
"He was your servant?" I whisper to her, quiet enough so Maul and Opress don't hear.
She doesn't respond, but she continues. "And you have a friend now."
"My brother," Opress says as him and Maul glare at her.
"A brother? Looks like he's half the man you are, Savage," Ventress retorts.
I stifle a laugh. "Good one," I whisper, once again so they can't hear.
"How unfortunate. I was looking for a challenge, not some wretched castoffs from the Nightbrothers clan." Ventress begins to back away towards me. "What a disappointment." She laughs menacingly as I follow her through the halls down to the lower level. We walk up to Obi-Wan, lying unconscious on the ground. The two of us kneel down to him and Ventress flips him over onto his back. "Kenobi, don't tell me someone's finally knocked the fight out of you. Wake up!" She smacks him across the face, and he jolts awake.
"Maybe don't smack him across the face right now?" I say, gesturing to his beaten and swollen face.
"One more won't hurt him," Ventress says while Obi-Wan looks at me as he sits up.
"Hey, Master. I made a friend," I say, nodding to Ventress.
"More like I got the pet I never wanted," Ventress retorts.
"Nah, you love me, Ventress."
Obi-Wan finally seems to comprehend what's happening. "Ventress?"
"It looks like I'm here to help your kid rescue you," she says as the two of us pull him up off the ground.
"When did you become the good guy?" he asks as he brushes himself off.
"Don't insult me," she retorts.
"Ah, what a lovely sight to wake up to," Obi-Wan says sarcastically as he moves his jaw around in discomfort.
"Don't flatter yourself, Kenobi. You've never been much to look at, especially now," Ventress tells him.
"More like don't flatter yourself, Ventress, he's obviously talking about me. I'm quite the sight for sore eyes, if I do say so myself," I chime in.
We suddenly hear a voice from above. "The witch and the Jedi," Opress mocks.
"Here for our taking," Maul adds as he ignites his saber. "And what's this? Who's child?"
"Well... I call him 'Master'," I say, repeating Maul's words from before as I nod in Obi-Wan's direction.
"Ah, a master and an apprentice. Just like how it was back on Naboo, right, Kenobi? Maybe we should keep the cycle going."
"...You do realize that means I'd cut you in half again, right?" I ask with a smirk.
"Clearly your master hasn't taught you how to shut your mouth quite yet."
I chuckle. "What, and you think you can? Wow. Obi-Wan never told me how funny you were!" I mock. Maul growls at me.
Ventress hands Obi-Wan one of her red sabers. He takes it. "I want that back," Ventress tells him.
"That's fine. Red's not my color." The three of us stand with our backs to each other and ignite the sabers as they hop down from the upper level. "Ready?"
"Always," I say.
"Like you even have to ask," Ventress adds. Maul swings at Obi-Wan while Ventress and I take Opress. We block one of his staff blades at a time. I Force leap over a blade while Ventress ducks under the other, blocking a blade from Maul as she stands, and Obi-Wan moves to help me with Opress. Ventress and Obi-Wan switch back, and they kick both of the brothers back. Opress then pushes Ventress into the crates and knocks her saber from her hands, then chucks her across the room like a rag doll. Ventress manages to jump on to of his shoulders while I go to help Obi-Wan with Maul. We go back and forth clashing blades with the Sith, then overpower him and push him back with the Force. Both of us take notice of Obi-Wan's saber on his back. Maul gets right back up and charges at us. I block his blade in order to let Obi-Wan roll over his back and grab his saber. The two of us parry with him until I lock blades with Maul, allowing Obi-Wan to help with the struggling Ventress for a moment.
"Ventress, catch!" he calls over as he tosses her the borrowed saber. She catches it and blocks the blade that Opress swings down at her. Meanwhile, Maul pushes down on my blade so hard that it forces me on my knees.
"You know," I grunt out as Maul pushes a little harder, "Obi-Wan's never mentioned how tall you are, Maul... I think it's the legs." He growls, and I somersault backwards to avoid his blade and push him back into a pile of crates with the Force. Obi-Wan ignites his familiar blue blade as Maul runs back up to us. We block his blows, the he does a roundhouse kick at both of our heads with his robotic foot that looks like a crawl. I barely manage to duck under, but it does hit Obi-Wan, who ducks as Maul swings at his head but is kicked backwards into crates by him anyway. Obi-Wan climbs up the crates as I try to distract Maul from him by slashing at his back. He easily avoids it and picks me up by the throat, then slams me down, flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me. He steps on me as he stalks towards Obi-Wan on top of the grates. Maul Force jumps up after Obi-Wan. To my surprise, Ventress breaks away from her duel with Opress for a moment and offers me her hand. I take it and she pulls me back up.
"I won't lie, Just, you've lived up to your reputation. Take the compliment and run with it," Ventress says.
"...Thanks?" The two of us hold our sabers out towards Savage as Obi-Wan is kicked back down into the ground. I help him back up and we find ourselves back in the position we began in, in the middle together with our blades pointed at the brothers.
"We're outmatched," Obi-Wan states the obvious.
"Clearly," I huff out.
"You want to run?" Ventress asks us.
"I learned from watching you," Obi-Wan jokes.
Ventress rolls her eyes. "Funny. The cockpit?"
"Where else?" I question as the brothers jump at us again.
"Now!" Obi-Wan and I begin to parry with Opress as we try to get to the cockpit. We each duck under one of his blades and open the door to the cockpit "Come on, come on!" Ventress acrobats through the brothers and over to us, then pushes them backwards with the Force. We rush into the cockpit and close the door shut as Maul and Opress start to cut through the door. Ventress and I stand by the door as Obi-Wan starts up the pod.
"Hurry, Kenobi!" Ventress says.
"I'm working on it," Obi-Wan replies as he fiddles with the controls.
"Could you work faster?" I question.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?"
"Come on, hurry!" Ventress yells as they get closer and closer to cutting through. "Now would be a good time!" Finally, the cockpit detaches from the freight ship, and we fly away from the ship that's now in space. Maul and Opress don't get sucked into the vacuum, however. Ventress and I gaze out the window as we escape. "That was cutting it a little close."
"You do know it's not over," Obi-Wan tells her.
"I know," Ventress replies.
"They'll be after all three of us now," Obi-Wan then says.
"Well great. Now I always have something to look forward to," I say as I plop in the seat next to him.
"I am never pet-sitting for you again, Kenobi," Ventress tells him. "Her attitude just might be worse than yours."
"She does give me a run for my credits, doesn't she? And I believe those two thought so, too. I think they liked you, Arlo, don't you?"
"If you call the murderous glare of two horned psycho bastards as 'liking' me, then yes. They absolutely loved me."
"How many times must I tell you, language!" Obi-Wan scolds.
"How else would you describe them, then?"
"Hm... well, I'm not sure."
"While your childlike bickering is fairly amusing, you two are gonna give me a headache if I'm stuck with you much longer," Ventress interrupts. Obi-Wan and I share a look, then look back at her.
"Who's the one talking about bickering, again?" I mock.
"I'm serious, Kenobi. Never again."
"Come on, Ventress, I know you like me. You even said I lived up to my reputation earlier."
"And I told you to take the compliment and run."
"Oh, I'm running, alright. Running while waving said compliment around in the air so everyone can see."
"Why did I agree to help you, again?"
"Because you would've died without me, and vice versa."
"...Fair."
"See? I told you that you would need my help, Ventress."
"And at this rate you're talking, I'm never gonna want it again."
"Fine with me. Just don't miss working with me too much."
"Oh, I won't. At all."
—
guys... this is the last chapter of part 4... we're really zooming through this book. how time flies 🥺 i'm thinking part 5 is gonna be a lot longer though, so we've got that to look forward to. and i finally got to write ventress, which i was very excited about, along with maul and opress. maul is definitely arlo's most intimidating rival yet, so this should get interesting...
as always, thanks for reading! -a 🪐