Short Stories of Ezra Bridger

Chapter 3: Loth Cat Attack (3/25/19)

Stormtroopers were everywhere. In the streets, on the rooves, in the parade, and even guarding homes of the civilians. It was hard to go anywhere undetected with all the troopers infesting the city like unwanted loth rats.

Ezra was currently hiding in the dark shadow of a pile of crates full of ration bread. The thought of stealing some never crossed his mind because his nerves were getting the best of him. Only his head with his long navy bangs peeked over the edge of the farthest crate. He had found his speeder bike without too much trouble and was watching it now. The adrenaline inside him was running quickly through his veins. If he was detected now, it would all be over and his birthday would be utterly ruined.

"Why do we have to be here when we could be at the parade?" one of the stormtroopers asked that was standing in front of Ezra's speeder. There were two troopers guarding the bike.

"I wouldn't complain if I were you," the other countered, "I don't like it either, but it is better than being around that crazy minister and her fanatical beliefs,"

The muffled laugh of the other trooper sounded through the amplifications of his helmet. Ezra rolled his eyes, thinking about a way he could start a distraction. He needed his bike, but couldn't do so with the Imperials stationed right in front of it.

Just as he was beginning to think of an idea, one of the troopers said something, breaking his concentration. Focus had never been his strong suit. Ezra squinted at the troopers to see what they were doing now. On the ground at the trooper's feet was a tooka, or better known among the Lothal people as a loth cat. Ezra cringed at the cat. In his past, he had only had bad experiences and memories of the cats. They were a nuisance and always seemed to cause him trouble. Ezra guessed the cat wanted milk, but knew it was making a mistake by begging stormtroopers. They would surely blast the loth cat before it had a fair chance. He crouched lower and awaited the show.

"Look at that thing," the stormtrooper who had laughed exclaimed.

"Those things infest the city. They are gross and feral," the other said.

Ezra couldn't argue with that as he allowed himself a smile quirky smile.

Almost as if the cat had understood the trooper, it hissed and arched its back. The large mouth of the feline opened in an outsized toothy frown as it snarled. The sudden reaction made both the Imperials take an alarmed step back.

"Is that thing part Jedi? I think it understood you,"

Ezra hoped the cat would cause a decent distraction so that he could slip by and take back his bike. Closing his eyes and thinking deeply about his needs seemed to be beneficial to the current situation. After a few seconds passed by, Ezra opened his eyes and blinked nervously at what he saw. The cat was gazing straight at him with its creepy dark brown, almost black eyes.

The next thing that happened, Ezra might someday be able to explain or comprehend, but not now. The loth cat made a nodding motion with its head and then attacked. Ezra watched with wide eyes and surprised, but renewed spirit as he watched the angry feline lung at the stormtroopers. One screamed in alarm as the cat bit down hard on the stormtroopers unarmored neck. The other trooper took out his blaster and started randomly blasting at the cat.

"Don't shoot me!" the trooper who was being attacked called, "Get it off!"

"I am trying!"

The fawn colored loth cat suddenly lunged at the other trooper and landed on his helmet. It scratched and pawed at the man's head with resentment. Soon, the cat had the man's helmet off and both troopers fell to the ground in a heap when they tried grabbing for the cat but only managed to get caught on each other's armor instead. Another fire of one of the blasters went off and the cat jumped a couple feet in the air to avoid the sudden blast.

Ezra knew it was now or never. This was the best distraction he was going to get and he somehow sensed the cat would continue to pester the stormtroopers. He leaped out of his hiding place, secretly sending thanks to the loth cat that had seemed to understand him somehow. Ezra shrugged it off as luck and ran to his speeder.

He ran behind the stormtroopers who were still on the ground groaning. The loth cat sat proudly on their backs licking its front paws. Its furry face seemed to tell the world that he was in charge and would let nothing come in-between him and his prey.

"Thank you," Ezra whispered to the cat as he hopped onto his speeder bike. Maybe they weren't as bad as he and the rest of the city thought.

Ezra punched the "on" switch and heard the engine roar to life as the metal started to warm up beneath him. Then he hit the pedal, turned to the right, and it went racing off past the loth cat and his prey. He waved at the cat before looking ahead to the prairie before him. He congratulated himself for taking back his speeder bike without gaining the attention of the guards. Even the sound of the bike zooming off had not made either trooper look up or move. Stormtroopers truly were brainless.

As he raced out of Capital city and into the tall grass of Lothal's prairie, he sighed in exhaustion. His birthday had been very eventful, but in a way he did not like. He had almost been identified and almost caught by the Imperials, and that was never good. He would be hunted for the next couple weeks until the Imperials got bored and decided to pick on another unfortunate citizen.

Looking behind him, he could not see any pursuers and was thankful for that. His tower home was only a couple miles away and it would not take long to get there using his speeder bike. Although today had been a bad day, Ezra had a lot to be grateful for. The thought of having to walk all the way back to his tower was not appealing.

The wind in his floppy hair rejuvenated him as he made his way back home. It kept him awake and alert as he raced to the safety of his abandoned tower. He even cracked a tired smile as he saw his tower far in the distance. Soon he would be able to go to sleep and dream away his worries, only to be haunted by them the following day. He could still hear the parades fireworks going off in the distance behind him, but he did not look back. Ezra would never celebrate the Imperials victory of the Clone Wars for as long as he lived.

Within the next ten minutes, Ezra made it back to his tower. He parked his bike inside the bottom of the garage and then headed up. Once inside, he threw his backpack on the ground to let it roll away freely. The three jogan fruits that he had stolen that morning came out the top of the bag and rolled under his inventions table.

Although his stomach was growling and he was starving, he let the fruit go and headed for his bed. Food could wait till morning. Maybe he would even have enough energy tomorrow to make his well deserved birthday cake after all.

Ezra climbed the ladder sluggishly and plopped down on his bed on his back. Once his eyes were closed, he was asleep. Although it hadn't been the best birthday, he was grateful to still be alive, well, and un-captured. Another day survived on his own on the planet of Lothal.