//------------------------------// // Fighting Yourself // Story: The Dragon and the Force // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Spike let out a whooping cheer as he corkscrewed through the air, speeders scattering out of his way as he barrelled through them. Most of them were barely larger than his fist, and he could have easily swatted them aside, but he contained his feelings of power, instead relishing the feeling of the air hitting his body for the first time in years. Well this is…unexpected, Moonstone mused, appearing beside Spike as her own wings unfurled from around her body. “Nice wings,” Spike smirked, lazily flipping onto his back, still powering away from the temple. Aren’t they? she smiled, the act bringing some warmth to Spike’s hearts. I’m as surprised as you are though. “Guess we need to work out what’s happened,” Spike laughed, his voice echoing around the spires of the tallest buildings as he easily banked around them. “Maybe…” Spike snapped his mouth shut as a military speeder zoomed past him, another two forming up behind him in standard pursuit formation. “Stand down, now! We will open fire if you do not comply!” came a voice from the leader speeder. “Maybe not here though,” Spike rolled his eyes, relishing the feeling off both of them doing the same motion once more, before twisting his body and shooting upwards, the speeders struggling to keep up with him. “This is your last warning! Halt, or we will be forced to open fire!” Any ideas, Spike? Moonstone asked, effortlessly keeping pace with him. “Get to an access shaft, lay low in the lower levels?” Spike suggested, barrel rolling as he continued to fly upwards, a shot flying past him. And now they’re shooting at us? Great, Moonstone said dryly. If you want to get us out of here, now would be the time. “It’s not actually as easy as it looks,” Spike grunted, trying to roll away from the speeders, only to find that they were blocking him in every time. If he had been willing to destroy them, then he would have no problem getting away at all, but the men and women in their were just doing their job. Glancing behind him, Spike could see more speeders joining the chase, most of them small police cruisers like the three currently around him, but off in the distance he could see a few much bigger ones, military grade weapons mounted on them, giving them squat, tank-like appearances. He wasn’t really in any rush to see what his new scales could and couldn’t withstand, and his options for escape were fast becoming limited. You know…surrender may be an option here… Moonstone said through gritted teeth. Atris was out of line calling for execution. Maybe the senate… “I am not giving her the satisfaction,” Spike grimaced, pounding his wings harder, and starting to pull away from the speeders. The air was getting thinner now, their engines starting to choke as they tried to take in air that simply wasn’t there anymore. Spike however barely felt the change, his eyes narrowing as a plan popped into his mind. You’re crazy, you do know that, right? Moonstone asked him, catching the gaze, before moving over and disappearing, her voice still in his head. I hope you know what you’re doing. “Not a clue,” Spike admitted, before pumping his wings harder than ever before. He could feel gravity working against him now, trying to tether him to the planet as his wings fought to do the exact opposite. The speeders were already far behind him, forming a perimeter as best they could beneath him, but Spike had no intention of giving himself up. He would either punch through or fall like a comet. As suddenly as a blaster bolt, all sound disappeared from around Spike as the cold suddenly hit him. He had felt the kiss of the void before, but this was different. It was still cold, but it didn’t strike at his very soul like it had before. He didn’t feel like this was a death sentence as he had every other time he had flown through space, now he felt like he almost belonged here. There’s a blockade runner, turning towards us now, Moonstone appeared again, floating beside him and pointing off into the distance. “I see it,” Spike thought rather than spoke, no air passing over his vocal cords as he moved his mouth. “It looks like it’s…” He trailed off, moving to focus his rangefinder on it, before realising that organic eyes didn’t have that feature. It’s… Moonstone encouraged him. “Approaching long distance firing range,” Spike guessed. “Maybe, I don’t…” Spike was cut off as a turbolaser shot flashed through the void between the ship and Spike. Spike barely had a second to bring his claws up, instinctively channelling the force and his magic into them as he did so. He had never been an adept when it had come to Tutaminis, his scales or more traditional armour always keeping him safe. Now wasn’t the time for half measures though, and he pushed everything he had into the shield. It was only just enough, the massive blaster bolt slamming into his palms and exploding, the two opposing reacting violently against each other and sending Spike careening backwards, before he could finally focus on his magic enough to stop his summersaulting. May I suggest that we don’t do that again? Moonstone grunted, her mane now unkempt and slightly ratty from Spike diverting power away from her. “You think?” Spike thought back sarcastically, before twisting around and propelling himself forward, using magic to create at least some form of air around him so that his wings could find something to push against. It was slow going, and Spike could almost feel the other ships in the Home Fleet turning and giving chase. The first shot was a Light turbolaser compared to what most other ships packed, and he couldn’t survive a heavier one. “Moonstone, suggestions,” Spike grunted, sensing another shot and only narrowly avoiding it. Go back to the planet? Moonstone replied instantly. “They’ll find us, we can’t hide down there anymore,” Spike shook his head. Get in close so they can’t fire at you properly? “Not fast enough, I’ll be shot to pieces, and risk innocent Republic lives.” Keep running? “Can’t do that forever. Give me something I can use, Moonstone.” Moonstone stammered for a few moments, coming up with a dismissing hundreds of potential plans, before she finally vocalised one. Ummm…Purrgil and Oswaft both have some sort of natural Hyperspace capabilities. Maybe we can do something with our magic… “And get the hell out of here,” Spike nodded, pushing himself hard as he angled towards one of the system jump-point buoys. “I’ll get us there safely, you focus on finding anyway to make a short range jump. Just get us to anywhere that isn’t here.” On it. Moonstone faded from his mind as she devoted herself to finding anything, while Spike put everything he had into moving away from the fleet. The cold was starting to set in now, chilling him deep to his bones, and while it wasn’t stopping him doing anything, it was starting to get uncomfortable, closing into the unbearable. Ok, Spike, give me control, Moonstone appearing beside Spike as she spoke. “I hope you know what you’re doing, otherwise we have no other options,” Spike grunted, before emptying his mind, allowing Moonstone to merge with him, and becoming a passenger in his body once again. Spike tried to keep track of everything Moonstone was doing, all of the subtle incantations and mental twitches that she was doing, but soon lost track, unable to keep up with her. Suddenly he felt a huge bolt of energy shoot up his spine, Moonstone twisting his head to look back at it. The green scales along his back were now glowing brightly, the magic radiating out from them. Let’s do this, Spike thought as Moonstone turned his head back forward. “Already there, Spike,” Moonstone replied, before releasing the magic she had been channelling. Spike wasn’t a stranger to odd sensations as of late, but this one felt strange even to him. Time seemed to slow to a standstill as the stars in front of him began to stretch out, giving Spike the familiar view of Hyperspace, before he shot forward, the blackness of space being replaced by the blue tunnel of Hyperspace. *** “Sir! Massive energy surge off the starboard bow,” a man called out from across the bridge, the rest of the crew of the Hammerhead Cruiser busying themselves with their tasks. “Divert shield power to starboard-side just in case, and get me a firing solution on that creature. I want it gone, now,” the captain replied, almost dismissively as he looked over his crew. “Sir…the creatures gone. No signature’s left in that quadrant save for the buoy,” someone else called back. “Impossible, it’s tricked the sensors,” the captain shook his head, leaning forward and placing his hands on the command table, squinting out into space. “Rescan and begin moving to visual range. Things just don’t disappear way out here.” “Aye, sir. But…I have rescanned, sir, twice already and scanning for a third time. There’s nothing out there anymore.” “Just get us in visual range,” the captain scowled. “Master Gunner, you have leave to fire when possible. XO, you have the bridge.” “Where are you going, sir?” the XO asked as the captain turned to leave the bridge. “To talk to the damned Jedi,” the captain scowled once more. “I want to know just what the hell that thing was, and why it was such a priority to kill it.” *** Spike let out a soundless scream as he tore back into Realspace, his entire body feeling like it had been dipped in acid, but he was alive, and more importantly, he was away from the fleet. “Nice going, Moonstone,” he chuckled, heading towards the looming planet, albeit at a far more leisurely than he had been flying before. I don’t know where we are, Moonstone pointed out. It was just a blind shot in the dark, luck that we arrived near a planet at all. “There’s no such thing as luck,” Spike pointed out, smirking slightly. Well then let’s hope that your scales hold up to this too then, Moonstone replied, fading from sight as Spike approached the planet. A few moments later, Spike was engulfed by a red glow as he sped through the atmosphere of the planet, his scales glowing as they resisted the heat, Spike barely feeling a thing, before just as suddenly he was through, breaking through the cloud cover of the world and landing heavily on a mountaintop plateau. “So, where do you think we are?” Spike asked, surveying the mountain range he was in the middle of. Still in the core, Moonstone shrugged. We didn’t go far enough for that. “Well, it’s a start,” Spike sighed. “That was good work, Moonstone. Now we just need to work on being able to go further and move faster. I don’t think many ships are going to be able to transport someone of my…” Spike was cut off by a roar, before being flung forwards, something massive striking him in the back and sending him sprawling. Spike was instantly ready, spinning around, only to be met by a huge fist to the face, pummelling him back into the ground. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” Spike didn’t need to look up to know who the voice belonged to as heavy footsteps began to walk away from him, but he looked up anyway, his eyes falling on a huge dragon. He shared the same colours as Spike, but that was where the similarities ended. While Spike now certainly had four legs, pushing himself off of the floor and coiling into an attack position, this one still had two legs and two arms, towering over Spike, his muscular tail flicking through the air. His arms were likewise massively muscled, almost stretching down to the floor, and covered in vicious looking spikes and thick armour. All in all, the dragon before him looked closer to when Spike had been controlled by his greed than anything else, right down to the lack of wings, but this wasn’t greed, this was… “Rage, is the word you’re looking for, Spike,” the dragon snarled, baring his teeth. “I remember,” Spike snarled back. “Desolation.” “Feels good to be back,” Desolation laughed. “You seem to have got a bit bigger since last time. Doubt any stronger though.” “I seem to remember the last time I saw you, I beat you,” Spike sneered back. “So I don’t think strength was the problem.” “No, clearly it was brains, you had to claw me out of yours. You can’t do that this time. Maybe try clawing out everything, I’ll watch.” “How did you come back?” “Forcibly regrowing your brain brought back everything, not just the good stuff,” Desolation snorted. “And me? I’m all the bad stuff rolled into one.” “Let’s finish this then,” Spike prepared himself to bound forward. “Finally,” Desolation growled, before beginning to run forward, using his arms to move forward quicker. Spike let out a roar as he sprang forward a few moments later, moving far faster than Desolation was as the pair collided in the centre of the plateau. Spike’s claws raked across Desolations chest, but they barely even left a scratch, before Desolation wrapped his arms around Spike midriff. With a grunt of effort, Desolation threw spike backwards, sending him flying off of the plateau and smashing into one of the opposing mountain peaks. Before Spike could regain his senses, Desolation was on him again, leaping from his perch and landing on Spike, raining blows down on him, Spike managing to avoid a fair few of them as they carved out massive craters in the rock. Spike managed to get off a few blows of his own, causing Desolation to grunt in pain slightly, but Desolation had raw power on his side, and Spike was in a very bad position. With another roar, Desolation struck forward with both hands, and Spike felt energy surge through them, as well as the sheer force of the blow. Both combined sent Spike flying backwards once more, rock splintering behind him before he emerged on the other side of the mountain. Spike barely had time to twist and unfold his wings before he hit the other mountain, flapping his wings hard and managing to push off the rock face, carving out huge chunks before he sped upwards. “You’re not getting away that quickly!” Desolation roared, Spike turning his head back just in time to see Desolation scrambling up the mountain as well, before leaping further than Spike had thought possible, managing to grab one of Spike’s legs. Spike let out a roar as Desolations weight was suddenly hung from one of his legs, but continued flying, his huge wings providing him enough thrust to keep powering upwards, smashing through the clouds as Desolation tried to claw at him, ripping into Spike’s scales. “You don’t deserve this power!” Desolation roared, swiping at him again. “You should be running the Jedi, not running from them!” “That’s the Sith way you idiot,” Spike struggled to speak, fly and block out the pain at once. “It’s the dragon way too! The strong rule the weak! Or have you forgotten your heritage?! You’re a dragon, Spike! And no amount of anything will ever change that!” “I’m not like you!” Spike roared, trying to kick Desolation off of his leg, still rising as a plan began to form in his mind. “I never asked to be a dragon! I never asked for you! Now just, die!” “You couldn’t kill me if you wanted to!” Desolation roared, louder than before to make himself heard over the wind this high up. “Thanks for the lift! Think I’ll take your wings once our little flight’s over! “Sorry buddy, this is a private airline,” Spike grunted through gritted teeth, before punching Desolation in the jaw over and over again. He managed to take the first few blows without so much as flinching, but after the third he began to show signs of pain. Then, on the sixth blow, Spike felt something splinter under his fist. Blood spurted from Desolations face, and he let out a gargling scream, and finally let go of Spike’s foot. Spike watched as Desolation began to fall away from him, his arms flailing as his eyes filled with pure rage. Then he was too far for Spike too see him, and a few seconds later, there was a huge erupting of dust, as Desolation presumably hit the ground. Folding his wings, Spike dived towards the ground, quickly locating the place where Desolation had crashed down. It looked like it had once been the side of a mountain, but something Desolation’s size, falling from near orbit, made it almost impossible to tell that. Desolation himself was sprawling in the centre of the crater, all his limbs bent at odd angles, and blood beginning to pool around him. “Oh, Desolation. Not so cock sure now, are you?” Spike smirked, landing next to him and advancing towards him, placing one of his claws around Desolation’s throat. “Couldn’t…kill me. Let…gravity…decide?” Desolation coughed through broken teeth. “Did enough…damage on you though. Bastard.” “Oh, what? This?” Spike gestured to his back and chest, rearing up onto his hind legs to show off the numerous rocks imbedded in between some of his now broken scales. “I survived a nuke to the face, I survived Malachor V, I survived two wars, months of torture, everything this universe has thrown at me, and you think a few injuries like this are going to put me in the ground. You an idiot, but then I guess I always did have the brains. You just had anger, and it wasn’t enough.” Before Desolating could begin talking again, Spike clenched his claws into a fist, first simply tightening around his neck, then ripping through it, his claws tearing out the fallen dragons throat. Desolation’s eyes went wide, as if he still didn’t believe Spike would do it, before he started weakly convulsing, before finally lying still, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Check mate,” Spike snarled. “I win again.” With that, Spike took in a deep breath, before unleashing flames across Desolation’s body. It took a while for the flames to take hold, but it seemed the only thing that could beat the fire resistance of dragon scales was dragon fire itself. After almost half an hour, Desolation was ablaze, most of his body melting away, before Moonstone appeared beside him. “Of all the people I didn’t want to ever see again, he’s in the top five,” she muttered. “Really?” Spike snorted softly. “He doesn’t even make my top ten. Although to be fair a lot of them are dead. Real dead, not Desolation dead.” “He’s real dead now,” Moonstone pointed out. “Well, I hope he’s real dead now, he’s kind of…” “What the hell is going on here?” a voice came from behind them. Both of them whirled around, only to see a young human girl standing behind them. She could only have been sixteen or seventeen, her face still bearing a few spots that had yet to go away. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, clearly to make sure it didn’t obscure her face, and in her hands she held a blaster rifle, military issue. “Well? Answer me?” she said again, brandishing the rifle. “Miss, put down the gun before you hurt yourself,” Spike chuckled, rolling his eyes. “I know how to use this thing, so I won’t be hurting myself with it, thanks,” she retorted in a clipped voice. “You can’t hurt me with it,” Spike pointed out. “Less than an hour ago I was shot by a turbolaser, you think you can do better?” “Against you? No,” she shook her head, before pointing the gun directly at Moonstone. “Against the smaller one? Yeah, I think I can.” “You…you can see me?” Moonstone asked, disbelief written across her face. “Of course I can,” the girl didn’t move the rifle. “So you two are going to…” Spike stopped listening to the girl, turning to face Moonstone, his own eyes wide. “If she can see you, can I…” Spike trailed off, reaching out a claw to place it on her shoulder, only to find it going through her just like always. “No such luck,” Moonstone sighed. “Maybe I’m just a hologram now, not a figment of your imagination.” “What the hell is going on?!” the girl roared, firing the gun into the air a few times for emphasis. Spike rolled his eyes, before knocking the gun from the girls hands almost lazing, her finger instinctively tightening on the trigger, sending a single shot into Spike’s chest. He didn’t even feel it. “There we are,” Spike smiled. “Now, I’m going to tell you what’s going on, then you’ll answer my questions. Ok?” “Y-Y-Yes,” the girl nodded. “Don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you,” Spike assured her. “Now, as for what’s going on. A few hours ago I was both a Jedi master and a Republic General, I’m now rogue because they believe my actions warrant a death sentence. I’m the only one of my species ever documented meeting the Republic, and the creature behind me was my own manifestation of rage, who I fell out with, hence the fight and the few destroyed mountains. Sorry about that. The pony that you can now apparently see is called Moonstone, she’s the personification of my magic, and until recently she couldn’t be seen by anyone but me. Anything else you want me to explain?” “N-N-N-No, that’s…that’s pretty much everything,” the girl stammered. “Good, now onto my question. There’s only one, but it’s a pretty big one. Which planet are we on?” “You don’t know that?” The girl scoffed, before remembering that she was talking to a huge dragon and stammering again. “T-This is Graola.” “So this is Graola?” Spike asked, looking round. “Don’t know why, but I always imagined this world to be an Ice World like Hoth or something. Strange.” “We haven’t had snow here in my lifetime,” the girl shook her head. “Oh lighten up, I’m not going to hurt you,” Spike rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m Spike. You are?” “Alumna. Alumna Cradu .” “Nice to meet you Alumna Cradu. Tell me, what’s a young girl like yourself doing way out here in the mountain ranges by yourself, and with an old military issue rifle no less.” “I live up here with grandfather, the rifle was my fathers.” “Did he die in battle?” Spike asked. “Three months ago,” Alumna sniffed. “He’d be proud of you, your father,” Spike assured her. “Not many people would have approached me, let alone with a weapon drawn and demanding answers.” “Thanks,” Alumna smiled weakly. “I should probably get going, my grandfather, he’ll be wondering where I went.” “Get back to him then. And Alumna? Don’t forget the rifle. Pays to have a good weapon on hand.” “Yeah, thanks,” Alumna nodded, hurrying over to the rifle and grabbing it. “Well…goodbye I guess?” “I won’t be here for long, so yeah,” Spike nodded. Spike watched as Alumna walked away for almost half an hour before he finally lost sight of her, turning back to Moonstone and the now charred remains of Desolation. “Well?” She asked, looking directly at Spike. “What’s the plan?” “You know, I don’t know,” Spike admitted. “But first, you and I are going to have a chat, and we’re going to figure out just what the hell we can do with this new body of mine.”