[Jedi Mission] Dragons, Danger and Dunes, Oh My!

[Raif]

The Force guided Owyn's movements as he approached the Dragon. He didn't really know what exactly he was going to do, but he knew that he had to get it turned away from Arrl. Lightsaber blazing, the young padawan streaked into action, diving between two of the giant Dragon's many legs. He rolled and came up directly under the creature's belly, and as he brought the green blade of light upward in an overhead slash, he was vaguely aware of Aria's own attack not too far away from him, which succeeded in tearing through the hamstring of one of the Dragon's legs. The appendage would be useless, but unfortunately there were several more so the Krayt was not too immobilized yet.

Also, thanks to his Force-bond with the small animal, Owyn knew what Tikk was getting up to as well. The little guy was not just hiding this time; he had grown to like Arrl just as much as the humans did, and wanted to do his part to save the older man. As Owyn had dashed towards the beast Tikk had crept down and removed the Krayt tooth from where it still sat in Owyn's cargo pocket. Then, as the young man dove through the legs, Tikk leapt up onto the scaly beast and sprinted for its head. Thanks to his primate agility and speed, he reached the Krayt's face just as Owyn and Aria's sabers struck home.

The Krayt turned its head away from Arrl to see where this new pain was coming from, and as it opened its eyes wide to see what was going on Tikk triumphantly jammed the tooth down into the exposed orb. There was a magnificent gout of blood that shot forth like a geyser, and the Krayt immediately shook its head savagely to rid itself of this terrible pain. Tikk lost his grip and went flying, where he landed heavily in the sand.

Owyn was exiting the creature's under-belly when Tikk landed, and he was momentarily distracted by the pain he felt through his bond with the little monkey. As such, he did not move nearly fast enough to avoid the blow that struck him like a ton of bricks; one of the Dragon's clawed feet reached out and slapped at Owyn, tearing open several deep gashes on his chest and tossing him to land in a heap not far from his furry friend.

As the pain overwhelmed his senses, Owyn fought to maintain consciousness. His mind told him that he was out of the fight, but he still wanted to be awake to help his 'team' survive.

 

[Sreeya]

"NOO!"

Arrl cursed out loud as he saw the dragon begin to tear away at Owyn. The older man jumped up from his position, completely blinded by rage at the sight. He hadn't known the kids for long, but he had felt responsible and protective over them. To see one of them injured like this made his blood boil. He ignored the protests of his body, running up towards the ship. He loudly slammed the vibrosword against it, the reverberating noises making the dragon back off instantly and turn to face Arrl in a rage. With one eye bleeding, half its tail missing and sporting various other injuries, the dragon was just as infuriated. Arrl gritted his teeth, anger clear on his face. He called out to Aria.

"LOOK AFTER OWYN! MAKE SURE HE'S ALL RIGHT!"

As the dragon stepped away to make a charge, Arrl lowered his posture, prepared for it.

"Come here, bastard. COME HERE!"

As if on cue, the dragon let out a mighty roar, fueled by pure rage as it dashed towards Arrl. The ground shook and Arrl kept backing away from the ship, away from the two. The dragon came at last, opening its jaws to bite down. Arrl swiftly pivoted to the side, jamming the sword into its shoulder. Using that as leverage, he hauled himself up, pulling the sword out in the process. He slammed the sword down, but to no avail. Blood seeped out, but the dragon was relentless. In the meantime, the dragon hadn't stopped its charge, still gathering up momentum. The dragon shook its head, remembering Owyn and Aria.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Before it could charge in the other direction, Arrl slammed the sword into its head again, guiding its head back the other way. With its feet moving, the dragon retained the direction it was charging. Arrl continued stabbing away, intent on keeping the dragon facing away from the two Jedi. With a jerk, he lost his footing, his lower body slipping into the dragon's mouth. A wave of pain erupted as the dragon bit down. Arrl screamed out various curses, but his adrenaline kept him going. As the dragon opened its mouth, he jammed the sword deep inside, finally hitting something that could kill it.

However, the timing couldn't have been worse. Arrl had pointed the dragon in the opposite direction of Owyn and Aria, which ultimately led to a cliff. As Arrl jammed the sword into the dragon's throat, the dragon lost its footing, plummeting off the cliff. Arrl was stuck in its mouth, though he felt the dragon die as the two soared through the air. He felt no pain at that moment, merely hit with the satisfaction of saving the two kids' lives. His wife would have been proud. Arrl closed his eyes, feeling the wind slapping against his face, his mind far away from the rush of falling to his death. For the first time in his life, he felt like a Jedi.

A moment later, Arrl Venn was no more.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria allowed herself a smile as her saber managed to injure the beast - but that smile quicly faded. She watched Tikk's vicous stab and then the primate get thrown clear, and looked to Owyn just as he got thrashed as well. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened to call out. Whatever she was going to say was stopped as she instead heard Arrl cry out in rage.

She turned to look at Arrl and was immediately wracked with indecision. Should she go help Owyn like he wanted, or stay and fight? The decision was soon taken from her as the Dragon was charging away from her, with Arrl hacking at its head. She felt like time slowed to a crawl as she stood watching, helpless to do anything, all the way until Arrl dissapeared with the dying dragon over the cliff. She knew it was dead - or would be when it landed - but so was Arrl. There was no chance he could live a fall like that after nearly being bit in half.

She stood stock still, too shocked to move for a few moments, then suddenly shook herself out of it. She had to help Owyn, or he'd be dead too! She turned and ran over to Owyn, discarding her unlit saber next to his proine from as she quickly knelt next to him. She glanced at Tikk and was pained to see that he was in rough shape as well, but she had to heal Owyn first. She could never justify saving the monkey first to herself.

"I'm sorry, Tikk. Please hold on."

Tears came to her eyes for her fallen comrades. She hadn't known Arrl very long, but his death still hurt. She had been powerless to prevent it. She hadn't been able to do anything, really - the dragon had all but ignored her feeble cut. She closed her eyes, holding the majority of her tears in as she brought her hand to Owyn's chest.

She hadn't done it before, and deep down she knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn't help herself. She opened herself to the force and channelled all of her grief over Arrl's death and Owyn and Tikk's injuries into healing Owyn. Her emotions ran freely through her into Owyn's wounds, likely enough that he would even feel them through her healing, but she didn't stop. She put everything she had into healing those cuts and the bones beneath them, because she -had- to save Owyn. She would not let up until his bones were fully mended and his cuts healed, though he would still likely be weak afterwards from lack of blood.

 

[Raif]

Owyn snapped back into full consciousness for a moment as Aria began healing him, though it wasn't the healing power of the Force that snapped him awake. It was Aria's grief and emotion, pouring across and into him as she mended his broken body. Though the three diagonal gashes across his abdomen almost immediately began to heal, it was not the most enjoyable of experiences; because of her torrent of feelings, it was like having rubbing alcohol poured straight into a wound. Yes, it would help, but it would be excruciatingly painful as well.

Because of this, he almost jerked upright off the sand, and his large searching eyes immediately found hers. He was extraordinarily weak, of course, so his speech was not the most coherent.

"Aria, no!...not like...emotion...dark side..."

This expenditure of energy was all Owyn had left at the moment, and after his outburst his eyes fluttered shut and he sank into unconsciousness. Nearby, the disheveled form of Tikk crawled over and curled up in the crook of Owyn's arm. He was hurt but would live, having been lucky enough to be hurled against sand instead of rock.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria stopped the flow of the Force through her body as she heard Owyn speaking weakly, her eyes opening to see he was looking to hers. She frowned as he passed out, then shook her head slightly. He was right, that wasn't the way to heal. She didn't know that it hurt him so much, but she did know that it was definetly a path to the darkside. She wasn't sure what to do, though. She couldn't just ignore her emotions at a time like this, but if she didn't heal Owyn he might die.

She closed her eyes again, her hand remaining on Owyn's chest. She opened herself up to the force once again, feeling it flow through her, but not asking it to heal Owyn yet. Frist she lost herself in its flow, letting reality fade away until all she was thinking about was the Force itself, and then she gradually asked it to heal more and more of Owyn's injuries. The healing would take longer, but it would be accompanied with the soothing feeling accustomed to lightside force healing instead of pain.

She didn't let up until Owyn was completely healed, starting with the gashes in his chest and then moving on to any fractured or broken ribs as well. When he was finally healed, her hand would move down to Tikk and she would use the last of her energy to heal what she could for him as well. Having done all she could for them she picked up her lightsaber and stood, looking over towards the crashed ship again. They weren't done yet. If left alone that powerful darkside essence could eventually draw more Krayt dragons here and the problem would repeat itself. She couldn't let that happen.

She left Owyn and Tikk sleeping on the sand and made her way back to the crashed ship. Even that relatively short distance felt far to her - she was pretty beat. She didn't stop, though, and soon was back inside the room and looking down at the long-dead man. She flicked her lightsaber on, then considered what to do. She wasn't really sure what would happen when she sliced its head in two, but there was only one way to find out. If there was to be any backlash from the action, she was confident that Owyn and Tikk were far enough away that they'd be alright.

She flicked her lightsaber on, then in one smooth motion made a vertical slash, blade aimed to cut the dead man right in half from his head to the floor.

 

[Raif]

As Aria's blade dissected the corpse, nothing happened. Or at least, nothing seemed to have happened. But suddenly there was a light breeze, where before there had been only stagnant air; there was the gentle noise of sand rustling against rock, where before there had been utter silence. It was as if the entire area had been holding its breath without realizing it.

~~~

Owyn awoke at that moment, and he immediately cast about to gain his bearings. Though he had seen Arrl and the dragon plummet over the cliff, he had hoped maybe it had been a dream; now, though, he saw it was the truth. A pang of sadness pulled at his heart, almost immediately followed by intense gratitude. The man had sacrificed his own life to save Owyn's, and he would forever be remembered by the padawan as a hero.

Still, though, someone was missing...

"ARIA!!"

Terror gripped Owyn as he looked and could not see her anywhere.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria looked over at the direction she had come as she heard Owyn yell her name. She was surprised he was awake. She hoped he didn't try to move so soon, it might be bad for him. She reached down and unentangled the power pack from the disgusting mass of old dead guy, then piked it up gingerly by ther strap, her other hand picking up the ancient lightsaber.

With those in hand she would make her way back to Owyn and Tikk, setting them down a few feet away before moving closer to kneel next to the two. She looked Owyn over to make sure he looked alright, then would look over at the cliff where Arrl had taken the dragon over with himself. She wasn't sure if Owyn knew what had happened or not.

"Arrl... killed the Dragon." She let out a soft sigh, her eyes closing. "There wasn't anything I could do..."

 

[Raif]

A wave of relief washed over Owyn as Aria exited the crashed shuttle.

"Oh thank the Force, I thought..."

He gripped her hand tightly as she knelt next to him in the sand, and shook his head sadly as she told him about Arrl.

"I know, I saw them go over. He is a hero, Aria, and you did everything you could! You saved me, right?"

As he spoke, Owyn reached up and gently pulled her face down to his. At that moment, he knew exactly what he wanted, and after almost being broken in half and ripped apart by two different Dragons on this Force-forsaken planet, he wasn't going to waste anymore time. His lips brushed against hers as he said another few words.

"You...are amazing."

And with that, he pulled her in an kissed her, deeply, passionately on the mouth. All of the tension, flirting and hand-holding had built up to the moment, and it was like a supernova went of in his mind as their lips met.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled softly as he took her hand, slowly looking back at him before his hand was guiding their heads closer together. She closed her eyes, lips parting slightly - and then he was talking again. She opened her eyes and started to speak, something along the lines of him talking too much when he surprised her with an actual kiss.

She squeezed his hand gently as she returned the deep kiss, her eyes closing again as she melted into it. Somewhere in the back of her mind she though 'about time, Owyn!', but she kept that part repressed and simply enjoyed the here and now.

 

[Raif]

The kiss seemed to last for days....or maybe it was just minutes. Either way, it took Owyn's breath away, both literally and figuratively. He finally broke off to come up for air, and that moment's separation from Aria's lips was enough time for his Jedi duty to come whirling back into the fray. As much as he would like to continue this...whatever this was, there were still things that needed to be taken care of.

Pulling back an inch or two, Owyn looked at Aria's face as he took in several deep gulps of air. She looked exquisite, but she also looked absolutely exhausted.

"Why don't you rest your eyes for a bit? You've been doing all the hard work while I've been napping, it's about time I returned the favor right?"

As he spoke he smiled and reached up to brush back a lock of her hair that had fallen in front of her eyes.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria couldn't help but smile warmly at him as he brushed the hair out of her eyes, then would simply shrug her shoulders. She was tired, but she felt she could wait until they got back to the ship so that she could collapse into a real bed. At least she hoped she'd make it - now that he mentioned it, resting her eyes did sound like a good idea.

"Alright. I can't wait to get back to a real bed..."

She smiled at him, then as he stood to go do whatever it was he had in mind, she would settle into her seat, resting. She didn't close her eyes, because she knew she'd fall asleep if she did and she did not yet want to.

 

[Raif]

Owyn looked longingly over his shoulder as Aria settled in for a rest. He would have liked to have stayed with her, but things needed to be taken care of. Before he began walking, he looked down at Tikk, who was in his normal spot on the young padawan's shoulder.

"Stay with her, and let me know if there is any danger. This is important, Tikk."

Tikk nodded and leaped from his friend's shoulder, and then scampered over to the girl. He would watch over her for the short time that Owyn was gone.

Turning away, Owyn walked steadily towards the cliff over which Arrl and the Dragon had tumbled. Owyn took a deep breath as he approached the edge, then took a look over the brink.

There it was...the body of the Dragon. Even dead, it looked evil, twisted and angry to the last. Next to it lay the body of Arrl, who somehow looked serene - almost as if he was simply laying down and resting his eyes, ready for one more quest into the desert once he had gotten his rest.

Of course, Owyn knew the truth; Arrl had died a hero's death, and it was now up to the young padawan to retrieve the body of their friend and guide. Glancing around, Owyn was relieved to see that not far away was a narrow, winding path that would lead to the base of the cliff. With one last look over his shoulder and a slight wince in pain from the pain in his chest, Owyn set off.

~~~

The path was treacherous, but even recovering from his grievous injuries Owyn was in pretty good shape; he made it down in good time. His eyes focused on the body of Arrl, and they rested there for who knows how long. Suddenly though, as the twin suns peaked out from behind the sparse cloud cover, something in Owyn's peripheral vision caught his attention.

Turning, Owyn was almost sickened for a moment; the gash he had inflicted on the Dragon's belly had burst open upon impact and spewed out the contents of the beast's stomach. Peaking out from the nastiness, however, were two...

Owyn's breath caught in his chest. He had read about these in passing, but didn't realize that they actually existed; Dragon Pearls! Leaving Arrl for a moment, Owyn rushed over and used the Force to call the two gems to his grasp. He ignored the guts and gore and stared down at the two items now in his hands - each about the size of a human eyeball and perfectly spherical, one of the Pearls was a bright silver while the other was a yellow like the twin suns of this desert planet.

Stuffing the 'loot' into his pocket, Owyn turned around and refocused on his much more noble task. He breathed deeply, and reached out to ask the Force to help him in his task.

~~~

It took him about twice as long to reach the top of the cliff (bringing his total travel time to about a standard hour) but finally Owyn crested the top, with Arrl floating steadily along behind him. Wrapped in Owyn's travel poncho, the older man rested on an invisible cushion of air about a meter off of the ground. Owyn was sweating and breathing heavily, not just from the physical exertion from scaling the cliff but also from the mental exertion of maintaining his Force grip on the older man's body for the entire trek upwards.

Moving over to where he had left Tikk and Aria, Owyn waved and set the body down a ways away, then settled heavily into a seated position next to his 'partners.' He took a few deep gulps of air, and then turned and gave Aria a quick peck on the cheek. As he pulled away, he had a big grin on his face.

"I don't mean to take away from the seriousness of the moment or anything, but I wanted to show you what I found down there."

And with that, he reached into his pocket and fished out the two magnificent Dragon Pearls, showing them to the equally magnificent Aria Dran.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria spent the first five minutes tracking down their Eeopies and bringing them over to where owyn had left her, but did then doze off after about ten minutes of Owyn being gone, getting a bit of rest before Tikk's chattering awakened her. She opened her eyes to see that Owyn was walking back towards them, sitting back up and smiling as he approached. Her smile grew as he sat and kissed her cheek, then looked to the strange objects in his hand. She let out a gasp at the Dragon pearls, then looked back to his face.

"Wow. They're beautiful, Owyn."

She smiled warmly at him, then it faded quickly as she looked over at Arrl's body. She let out a sigh as she reached over to hold Owyn's free hand, looking back to him as she squeezed it. She had too many emotions inside of her and couldn't keep them straight.

"I don't mean to overlook them, I truly think they're great, but I just... don't feel right, feeling happy right now, you know? Can we celebrate them later? And... are you strong enough to travel? I would dearly love to get Arrl's body to his family and then be off this rock."

 

[Raif]

Owyn tucked the Pearls into his pocket...how stupid of him to show them at this moment. He was hoping Aria would like them, think they were pretty...something like that. But they definitely had more important things to focus on, and he squeezed her hand back as she spoke. Before he answered, he leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek; kissing her was really nice, and he wanted to do it as often as possible.

"You're completely right, we can look at the baubles later. As for travel, thanks to the attention of this extraordinary healer that I know, I am fit as a gundark."

Owyn hopped nimbly to his feet to show that he was at least mostly healthy, and held his hand out to help her up.

"I'll take care of Arrl, if you want to get the Eopies ready to ride. Since we know where we're going, I think we can make it by nightfall."