“Hold the line!”
“The Rock shall not be shaken!”
The battle for the fourth city of Kurasa, the city nicknamed the rock stood firm as the droids tried to attack the city’s outer walls but the defenders refused to give a single inch to the droids. The surrounding countryside was a ruin of blasted rock, sprung traps and smouldering droids but the attacks still came as the defenders used the ancient fighting style of their ancestors. The droids however had numbers on their side as the Lord of the city turned to her second in command “We cannot hold the city much longer, we need to find somewhere to fight where we have the advantage and attack, hopefully it’ll be enough! Nurse!” a Torgua woman who was a gentle yellow and pink stood attending to the fallen defenders of the city. The lord of the city approached her with a sad smile on her lips, she was cross but understood the Torgua’s intentions “Nurse Shy this is not the time for this! You need to tend to the injured somewhere else!”
“I…I can’t the hospital is overrun!” Nurse Shy mumbled as she wrapped a strong bandage around the arm of an injured man “This place is the safest because you’re here and thus I need to ensure these warriors are given the best treatment possible” she turned to the lord and matched the lord’s firm stare with one of her own “Now kindly let me get back to work!”
“Um…yes of course” the lord said turning back to the battle and shook her head “Lure the droids to the centre of the city and attack from all sides!”
“As you command!” her second in command yelled over the roar of the battle, the city streets were soon filled with the bodies of defenders, droids and innocent people caught in the crossfire. Overhead the Kurasa air force engaged the droid army’s vulture droids, their fighters were of a design that paid respects to their original space fairing fighters and were nicknamed, Spitfires. However they held many strengths despite their odd design, the vulture droids often struggled to keep up with the intense speed the Spitfires flew at and with the tight formations of the Spitfires, the vultures were soon lying on the battlefield as scrap “Woo hoo! They did it!” the second yelled but his cries were ended by the roar of a weapon the Kurasa defenders simply lacked, a tank and it’s main gun turned the second’s position to a crater.
“NO! You’ll pay for this!!” the Lord cried out as she grabbed a missile launcher launching a missile into the tank’s side blowing it to bits. The Lord however rushed to her friend’s side “Please…don’t, don’t old friend, please, come back….don’t go where I can’t follow….Nurse Shy! Please! Help him!”
Nurse shy looked over the injured second but shook her head “I’m sorry there’s nothing that we can do. He’s already dead” despite the loss of the second in command, the defenders were able to draw the droids to an area where they felt they had the advantage and took pause as the droids marched on their city centre’s castle. However the centre of the city like many cities was build-up of tall buildings, many of which were made of rough stone chiselled into beautiful structures but it was the city’s design that had preserved it through the many internal planet wars that Kurasa had seen in it’s long history. The droids were nothing compared to the other four cities of Kurasa who use to be city states, as such Kurasa had many fighting styles to cause enemy units problems, now as the droids stood in their trap, the Rock’s defenders launched their counter attack and soon the droids were no more.
“We did it” The lord of the city said as she flung the head of the droid commander on the pile of scrapped droids “We held them” she looked up to the heavens thou and shook her head “We have no choice sadly, we need to abandon the city and let the droids have it” there were shouts, boos and screams of anger from this statement but the Lord raised her hand for silence “I know it’s unthinkable but we’re not going to get reinforcements from any of other cities, our number is even fewer than it was....I know the other cities would want to help us but like us they probably need help. However we can’t let the enemy get their hands on our cities riches, weapons or any other prize. Therefore as my last order, as the last lord of the Rock, I order the city to be primed with explosives!”
A few hours later a droid commander, with his army marched into the empty City of Rock and said “The city is ours! Those cowards have fled like the rats they are” there was a cheer of roger roger from the droids around the commander but then the commander asked “What’s that beeping?”
“Oh nothing sir just…….” one of the other droids said as it checked under a pile of scrapped droids and found a large collection of bombs “a few bombs….a few active bombs….Oh no” as the bombs clicked.
“But…I just got promoted!” the commander groaned as the bombs exploded. The city collapsed on top of an entire droid army as the defenders fled for the nearest place of refuge. Nurse Shy was among them as she looked back at the massive explosion and prayed that all those who drew breath had made it out.
Elsewhere the battle took a grim turn, the city of mist was holding but their losses were beyond terrible, the defences were effective against human targets and other lifeforms. However the droids were able to pass through the constant attacks from the city’s outer defences with minimal losses; the Lord of the city shook his head sadly but said in defiance “Retreat! Fall back to the second area!” the defenders all retreated but the droids still came steady and as the old doors to the second area closed, the defenders took to the walls with long range weapons but like the Rock, the arrival of a tank spelled the doom of the second wall “We have no choice! Abandon the city!” the Lord ordered as like the Rock again, the defenders attached bombs to every square inch and fled through underground tunnels. The explosion that followed turned the droid army to nothing but bits of battered metal upon Kurasa's surface.
The lord sighed as he looked at his hands “It’s not like we couldn’t have held but you’re right our losses would have been too terrible for words” he then added “But we’d better head for the city of Cloud, if our airfields fail there….Kurasa will fall” finally they made it to the end of the tunnel and climbed out “To Cloud City!” the lord declared as his army got into transports.
“You heard the lord! Get to it!” the war cry went out but little did they know, the city of Cloud too was on its last legs and their help was desperately needed. As the land speeder flew across the surface of the land, they wouldn’t reach the city of Cloud for another half cycle of the planet “We need to move faster!” all speeders put every drop of power to speeding up but they were still a long way from the city.
Meanwhile, within the city of sand, the Lord stood atop the city’s defences, as the droid attackers tried to cross the sands to get to his city but were repelled by the sands and the traps that lay beneath. Not only that but a powerful sandstorm kept the droids from receiving air support and allowed the Sand City to employ some of the most sneaky ambushes ever preformed. However despite these advantages, the Sand City was still taking losses and unlike the droids, every man or woman lost was another fighter they couldn't replace. After a few hours of intense action, the city’s high stone walls were reached by the droids and the defenders fell to the city’s last line of defence, a narrow pass that could limit the number of droids that got in but also kept tanks out.
“Don’t give an inch!” a man in long black robes yelled, the droids beginning to enter the alley, as the man primed some explosives on the walls of the narrow pass and whispered “This will buy us time if nothing else” he then saw the losses they were taking “No! Don’t fall back! I need just a few more seconds…..” but his orders were cut off as a droid sniper managed to score a hit on him “AHHHH!” the man screamed as he fell to the ground, he wasn’t dead but his right arm had taken a direct hit.
“We have no choice, sir! We’d better activate the bombs and hope they’re enough!” a defender said as the medics got the commander out of the firing line and down the steps from the alley, as they turned they counted down from ten allowing what few defenders remained in the alley to clear out “3…2….1!” the resulting explosion managed to block the entrance but most within knew they’d only bought a few hours at most “Sir, are you alright?!”
“No, I’m not alright…get our injured to the medics and don’t allow another droid in!” the commander snapped as he got weakly to his feet “I need to see the lord and tell him what happened” but before he could turn, there was a earth shaking explosion from the alley as the rocks that had blocked the droids flew clear, crushing defenders right and left. A super battle droid unit stepped out from the alley, most of them armed with arm fitted rockets having cleared the way, they in turn were followed by a few units of B1 battle droids but worst was the come. As the commander yelled orders, another hole in the wall appeared in the east of the city, a large digging droid having created the hole but what followed made the situation a lot worse, seven AAT tanks emerged from the hole. The defenders were split in two but it felt like no matter what they did, their defence was lost. However as the commander looked down defeated, the lord appeared beside him “Lord Gaara!”
“You look….depressed” Gaara said as he looked at the AAT Tanks approaching them “Raise your head high, brother….we’re not defeated yet” the sand beneath the tanks suddenly swallowed one of the tanks in a violet display of power “This city is precious to me and I won’t allow it to fall!” Gaara turned to the droids and said with a deadly cold tone “You are not permitted to enter my city”
“Come on! There are so many of us and only one of him!” a droid commander roared as the droids aimed their blasters at Gaara “FIRE!” the shots rang out but never reached their target, as a curtain of sand appeared around the defenders and the lord “That isn’t possible….oh no!” the sand rushed out and wrapped itself around the droids within the city “He can crush things with sand….I hate this job” the droid commander sighed as the sand completed its job
“Kankuro a little help would be nice…or I may as well win this battle on my own” the lord said dully as he focused on another enemy unit.
“Yeah…right” Kankuro said before turning to the other defenders “You heard our lord! CHARGE!” the defenders finding a new form of courage surging from within them but suddenly the droids were hit from behind. Reinforcements, the Rock City’s defenders had arrived and were attacking the droids from behind “This is the edge we need….come on! Get in there!”
So the battle ended with a victory for the Kurasa, their first since the invasion had begun and hopefully it wouldn’t be last. Gaara stood with the Lord Kurotsuchi, who smiled and she said calmly “Looks like we arrived just in time”
“You being here….means the Rock City has fallen?” Gaara asked not meeting Kurotsuchi’s eyes but noticed her nod “Well that’s unfortunate but we have to hope the republic sends the army we need” Kurotsuchi nodded as she turned to Kankuro who was being tented to by Nurse Shy “I trust this nurse is good?” Gaara asked clearly a little concerned about Kankuro “She is not one of us”
Kurotsuchi turned with a small laugh “Need I remind you that it wasn’t too long ago that we were all at war with one another and you’d have classified me as not one of us?” she said as she looked at Nurse shy with confidence “She is greatly skilled and I believe in her. As we were fleeing the Rock city, she tended to our injured and they were able to fight alongside us just now”
Kankuro groaned as his arm was mended with ease “Damn! You are good” he said as he looked Nurse Shy in the face “Man, who’d have thought someone so….well it’s not important but thank you”
“My pleasure” Nurse Shy said as she looked at Lord Gaara “Um my Lord…you’re hurt” she pointed to a blaster injury on his left shoulder “May I tend to you?”
Gaara sighed as he looked away and at first kept quiet but then said “No, it’s…I don’t need help” he then met Nurse shy’s eyes but that proved to be a mistake as the sharp look made Gaara say “Um on second thought….I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in letting you check me over” Kurotsuchi and Kankuro began laughing as Nurse Shy got to work.
Elsewhere within the walls of the Cloud City, the defenders were receiving help from a division of the clone army led by a human jedi, with bright pink hair but as she jumped over a droid, her captain approached with a full report of the battle and said “Good news, General Pie! The republic is on the way!” as the jedi cut the last droid up.
“That is indeed great news Captain!” General Pie said as she put her lightsabre away and added “Say you know what I’m in the mood for?”
“Um no sir?!” Captain Arrow said as he looked at his general with a small amount of concern as he then quickly tried to change the subject “Um our forces have taken quite high casualties, we may need to consider…” General Pie looked him square in the eyes as she took the report from him “Oh okay”
“I’m in the mood for something to eat” General Pie said as she turned away from the advancing droid army but when a droid raised its hand, she whispered “Oh yeah…um Killer Bee if you’d be so kind”
“WEEEEE!” A man yelled from the top of a building and before any of the droids could respond, they were smashed to bits by the power of an attack but Killer Bee jumped down saying “YO! Pinkie pie! I was all down for this fight but man, those droids are like so weak, yet so persistent!”
“Part of the reason they’re a challenge right?” Captain Arrow said as he then added “But, sir, Bee sir! We have good news, we just got a message from the republic fleet….they’re on their way and..”
However before Arrow could finish, Killer Bee groaned said “Aww snap! I so wanted to show off some more of my awesome moves!” Killer bee then looked at Pinkie “Man, oh man! I could go for some like cake too!” Pinkie and Killer Bee began to walk back to the city.
“Um General, Mr Bee should we really just leave the entrance of Cloud city unguarded?” Arrow asked as he followed the two but a woman placed her hand on his shoulder “Oh um, Miss Samui…are you sure your squad is ready?”
Samui looked at Arrow with a scowl “My squad have had enough watching you two have all the fun…we’ve got this” she said as two more ninjas followed her “Go and enjoy your break, we’ll just…um Lord Bee! Incoming!”
However despite the alarm, the alarm was unneeded as the Mist defenders having finally arrived but their reinforcements were lacking as they had been attacked between the Cloud city and the mist city tunnel entrance “Killer Bee! We’re glad to see you!” Lord Chōjūrō said as he helped his troops into the city “I’m sorry the Mist City is gone”
“That’s not good” General Pie said as she looked down as she then added “We got word a little while ago that the Rock city fell and now the Mist City…that means only three strongholds remain, right Arrow?”
“Um yes!” Arrow said as he looked up “Our fighters aren’t able to fly at the moment either, some are too damaged, some lack fuel and a few have been shot down” he then whispered “Has there been any word from the capital, Lord Chōjūrō?”
“If there has been, I didn’t get it but it’s likely given the weight of the attack…that they’re too busy fighting or they’ve been eliminated” Chōjūrō said sadly but as soon as the words left his lips both him and Killer Bee burst out laughing “Oh dear, I’m sorry but the thought of the lord of that city surrendering is too rich!”
“Amen to that” Killer bee laughed as he then raised a fist “I know my main man, won’t lose to those tinny rejects!”
Arrow smiled under his helmet as he said “Well we’d better take our break or there won’t be fighters to assist the other two cities!”
Meanwhile, standing on the wall of the Leaf City, stood a man with a confident smile on his face and he turned to his friends. As they spoke, the largest droid army on the planet advanced on the walls of the city but the Lord ignored them. He said “Hey, Sasuke…I trust you’re ready for a battle?” the man next to him nodded “Kiba, Lee, Sai and Sasuke…here’s the plan, Kiba you take the first units and engage them on the southern flank! Lee, you take the second units to the north! Sai I want you to take the reserves back and defend the entrance to the city! Sasuke, you and I’ll take the centre with what remains of our forces”
“Sounds like a plan but I wouldn’t mind, a few more enemies to fight…this hardly qualifies as my morning exercises” Sasuke said calmly as the army roared their approval. They were still badly outnumbered but the leaf city was not ready to fall.
The leaf army surged forward as one droid turned to his buddy and said “Well at least there aren’t any jedi?”
“As if that’s an improvement” the droid buddy said as a kunai knife hit the first droid.
As the battles began to intensify, the republic fleet arrived out of hyper space. Rarity said to Captain Spike “I hope no one expected this to be easy?”
“Well where’s the fun if it were easy?” Captain Spike said as the fighters launched to engage the vulture droids of the separatist fleet. As the fleet began to try and punch through the defences, the remaining fighters of the Kurasa air force was launched to engage the enemy but the odds were still stacked against them.