Inheritance (Flashback)

[Wit]

Ronin's eyes were glued to the krayt dragon, he just couldn't bring himself to look away. The giant beast was looking straight at them now, there was no doubt that it had noticed them. Ronin kept on trying to think of ways he and Val could get out of this situation but for some reason his mind came up blank, completely devoid of ideas.

Then he heard Val's suggestion that they could play dead, and despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of it. But the suggestion at least drove out a little of the fear that had been gnawing away at him and enabled him to think a little more clearly.

As Val suggested they run for it, the dragon began moving towards them, slowly descending the dune. "I doubt we could outrun that thing, I suppose the only thing to do is to face it."

As he turned to look at Val he could sense through the Force and from the set of her face that she had also come to that conclusion. As the dragon came closer, they slowly began stepping back, keeping a constant distance from it until it had completely descended from the dune and stopped right in front of them, letting out a mighty roar, most probably claiming its meal.

An idea had started to form in Ronin's head, one that played to their individual strengths. "Two pronged attack, I attack from the front and distract it while you circle around it and move in from behind. No matter how big it is, a lightsaber through the skull ought to do the job." With his Force skills and Val's saber and acrobatic skills, they just might be able to pull this off.

 

[Sreeya]

Val stared at Ronin incredulously.

"Since when did you become so brave? You used to cower behind me back in-"

ROOOAAARRR!

Deciding now was not the time to reminisce, Val quickly darted out to the left, the dragon charging right at Ronin. She had a real saber, as opposed to a training one, which granted her an upper hand. Val came up behind the dragon, using the Force allow her to jump onto the tail. Though it swayed from side to side, Val expertly ran up the length of it, driven more by fear than anything else. Val came up on the dragon's back, slamming her saber down. However, she lost her footing as the dragon abruptly spun around. Val switched off the emitter, grabbing a hold of a spike protruding from the dragon's back to stay on. She grimaced as she attempted to regain her footing. Though she was in a mess, this allowed Ronin an opening. Val's voice projected loudly from the top of the dragon.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, IDIOT, DO SOMETHING!"

 

[Wit]

Ronin hadn't really thought much about standing all alone in front of a Krayt dragon, but standing there, looking into its eyes as it came straight at him almost sent his mind reeling. This wasn't him, he was more used to standing in the back and cheering on the stupid fool who faced the krayt dragon, not the one who volunteered to distract one. He was starting to have doubts about his ability to deal with such a situation when he suddenly heard Val's shouts.

Looking up he realized that this was different from all the times when he had chickened out, shied away from fights. Val's fate was also tied to the actions he took here, if he faltered here it could be the death of both of them.

His resolve restored, he reached out to the Force and catching a large stone, sent it flying straight at the side of the krayt dragon's face. He immediately located a smaller, much more pointed stone and floated it in in the larger stone's wake. As the first one smashed into it's face it started turning towards him when the other stone came in, its motion being controlled by Ronin, and flew right into its eye.

As the krayt dragon began thrashing around in pain, Ronin reached out through the Force and grabbing hold of its head, smashed it down to the ground, using all of his strength and control in the Force to keep it pinned down in that position. Not knowing how long he could keep it down, he shouted out to Val, "DO IT NOW."

 

[Sreeya]

Val almost flew off as Ronin smashed the dragon's head into the sand. She held on, knowing that Ronin was counting on her. Val was determined, using the momentum to haul herself up on top of the dragon once again. She ignited her saber and slammed it down, finding to her horror, that it did little damage. The dragon began to rear its head out, beginning to break out of Ronin's grasp. Val knew she had to act fast. The adrenaline rush overwhelmed her, taking over her completely and brushing her fear aside. Val rose up to crouch, tilting her torso forth. She let go of the spike and the curve of the dragon's back allowed her to 'skate' down its body.

Val finally arrived down at the head and grabbed a hold of a horn, twisting her torso to flip over and jam her saber up into its head, right into the fleshy part that was its weakness. The dragon instantly reared back in pain, but Val hung on. She followed through with the motion, moving under the dragon and neatly cutting through the underside of its neck. Blood splattered on her arm, but she knew the job was done. Val barely managed to roll out of the way before the dragon collapsed on the sand. She remained on the ground, blinking up at the glaring sun and breathing heavily. She switched off the saber and looked up at Ronin, wide eyed.

"Did we...did we just do that??"

 

[Wit]

Ronin did his best to keep his hold on the beast, but it was slowly starting to break free. He was counting on Val to finish the krayt dragon off, but he needed to give her as much time as he could. Finally, just when he thought he could not hold on any more, he sensed the dragon's resistance begin to wane and then vanish altogether. He finally opened his eyes, letting go of his hold over the Force, and looked up at where the krayt dragon had been.

It's beaten body lay lifeless on the sand, blood pouring out freely. Lying next to it on the sand, some blood splattered on her but looking unhurt, was Val. Ronin walked over to her and as soon she spoke the reality of the situation came crashing down on him.

"Yeah... yeah we did, didn't we?" As he slumped down onto the sand, a wide smile began forming on his face which slowly expanded into all out laughter. After his laughter finally subsided, Ronin suddenly remembered something he had read somewhere a long time ago.

Pushing himself off the ground, he walked over to the prone body of the mighty beast and crouched next to its stomach. Pulling out his lightsaber, he plunged it into its belly and made a long slash along its length. Sticking his hand inside he began fishing around for a few minutes before he finally located what he had been looking for. Putting his other hand in as well, he slowly pulled them out with a handful of stones and pebbles covered in slime in his grip. He then tore off a small part of his robes and began rubbing off the slime from the rocks one by one. Throwing away all but two, he got up and walking over to Val, and flopped down on the sand in front of her.

"Ever seen one of these?" He picked up one of the rocks and wiping it clean held it our in front of Val. In his hand was a lustrous blue pearl the size of an eyeball. Handing it to Val he wiped the other one clean, this one a pearly white in color, and began examining it in the sun. "Krayt dragon pearls, very rare, very beautiful, very expensive."

 

[Sreeya]

Val rose to sit as she heard a sickening noise. She realized Ronin was cutting into the krayt dragon. She grimaced, biting back the urge to vomit.

"Christ, Ronnie, I know you're hungry but damn!"

She watched him curiously as he dug in elbow deep, as if searching for something. It didn't register at all till he withdrew from the dragon, bringing over two orbs. Val watched as he cleaned them up. Her eyebrows rose as he explained.

"Oh yeah!! I was told about this before I made my saber. Lucky for you, we can take these back. When you make yours, put it in your saber."

She sat and examined the pearl for a long moment.

"How can something that hideous make something so beautiful.."

Val let the thought linger before rising to her feet. She used her outer robes to clean off the blood. She sniffed herself and her face contorted in disgust.

"At this rate, I'll chase away any bad guys with my stench alone."

Val looked all around them. The scenery was the same, endless desert and now with the addition of an eviscerated krayt dragon. What a beautiful sight. On top of that, she was even more thirsty and exhausted, the heat causing her to sweat profusely. Val glanced over at Ronin, squinting in the sun.

"So um..you had the map last..right?"

 

[Wit]

Ronin gazed at the pearl in his hand, silently admiring its beauty, "Yeah, I guess that's how the world is. There's beauty everywhere, you just have to look deep enough. In this case deep inside a hungry krayt dragon's bowels."

Getting up from the sand, he wiped his hands clean on his robes. As Val commented on the stink from her hands, he brought his own hands close to his nose before almost barfing out everything he had consumed in the morning. "That's just disgusting. I think I just lost my appetite forever."

Ronin fished out the map and opened it up in front of him. But one look at the map let him know that they were on trouble. A large part of the map was a complete mess, soaking wet and everything printed on it undecipherable. He realized then that while wiping his hands clean on his robes he had inadvertently ruined the map as well. "Um, I think we might have a problem."