Okay, I'm actually pretty proud of this chappie. There's a lot of fOrEsHaDoWiNg...*evil laughter* Also thanks so much for more than 21k reads! I love y'all
Ignoring the pain, y/n extended an arm and pulled his hilt towards him with the Force, rising to his feet. Once more he ignited his blades, like a signal to Ahsoka that he was alright.
The light cast from their weapons illuminated the alleyway slightly, enough for them to make out the outlines of the three bounty hunters.
"I feel sorry for the people who have to work with you," the Togruta scoffed casually at Aurra, her voice echoing through towards them as she walked closer. "They have to deal with your selfish personality, ruthlessness, superiority..."
"You're one to talk," Bon growled back, their voice slightly softer and less powerful from last. They must have been in great pain, Ahsoka observed, though that would make it easier if they were forced to fight. Which, they probably would. "Count Dooku will have your head, Togruta!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, totally," y/n grunted as he slowly stepped closer towards the bounty hunters, weighing his lightsaber in his left hand to get used to it. He winced as pain flooded his right arm, seeing the burnt fabric and seared flesh underneath, but chose to ignore it. The wound wasn't serious, and besides, there were more important things to pay attention to.
IG raised his blaster rifle and Aurra had hers aimed at y/n as he advanced. From behind them Ahsoka did the same, slowly closing the gap.
"You'll regret this later!" Aurra declared as she suddenly whipped around and fired a volley of shots at the Togruta, but Ahsoka ducked and ricocheted the blaster bolts.
And then the bounty hunter was rushing at y/n, a red lightsaber in one hand, a blaster in the other. Paired with her unnaturally pale skin, scarlet outfit and murderous, enraged expression, Aurra almost looked like a Sith. The exception was how she fought.
Their red blades clashed with a deep, resonant hum. The young Jedi felt his arm buckle and then give away. Rarely did any double-bladed user fight one handed, and although he trained with a single lightsaber from time to time, he had never really perfected the skill, and his arms were weak. The alleyway was also too narrow for him to properly use hand to hand combat, and anyways, one limb was wounded.
y/n was half aware of Ahsoka fighting the droid and an injured Bon, the latter which laid on the floor, firing blaster bolts at every chance.
Aurra's strikes were more bite – powerful and relentless – rather than skilful and calculated. He twisted out of the way of her hungry blade as her momentum carried her forward. Dropping down, he stuck out his foot and to sweep the bounty hunter's leg, but she leapt over.
Running onto a wall, she jumped off to send a spinning kick to y/n's chest. He barely had time to leap out of the way, not having expected Aurra to be this fast and acrobatic. Feigning a slice to her shoulder, he then flipped and sent a strike down that would have decapitated her if she hadn't ducked.
When he landed, she was ready, already charging at him with her lightsaber pointed straight at his head.
"You'll die!" Aurra roared, sending a tide of strikes at him with immense strength. y/n was almost permanently on the defensive now, barely holding against her attacks with his weaker arm. He used a Force push to break some of the distance between them, before immediately going in with a hurricane kick that met her arm. Aurra recovered quickly and sliced her lightsaber at his head.
"Kriff it, lady! You need some duct tape over your mouth!" y/n grunted as their blades met in a lightsaber lock. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. He felt Aurra's foot clash painfully against his groin, but took the chance to twist his lightsaber so that the other half cut her thigh. She hissed, but it was more anger than pain.
Panting slightly, y/n backed away, his eyes narrowed with concentration. It must be terrible living like her. He could feel the anger and resentment flooding off her in waves. Under it all, a sense of abandonment, betrayal...by the Order.
"They'll make you fall, the Jedi," Aurra spat, advancing slowly towards him, a vehement fire in her eyes and voice. "Underneath it all it's a society of hypocrisy. Their philosophy of compassion, tranquillity, peace, justice and all that bantha fodder is just a doctrine enforced upon you. Fight, little Padawan, but know that you're part of the mess of this War, of the wickedness in the galaxy. They failed me, and they'll fail you too!"
y/n struck first this time, lunging forwards with a feigned stab and then swinging his wounded arm around for a jab into her face. Aurra didn't expect it, and so was hit, but as soon as contact was made another tide of pain flooded his senses.
"I am a Jedi and my will is my own," he said, defiant.
Backing up a step y/n ran at her once more, but at the last second fell to his knees, skidding across the floor and bowling the bounty hunter over.
As Aurra was knocked over, she lashed out with a leg, attempting to slam it into his head or chest, but it missed him completely. As she landed, she immediately rolled before flipping to her feet, kicking out at y/n again.
He dropped his lightsaber and blocked with his good arm, having decided that his hand-to-hand combat skills with one limb useless would be more effective against her than with a lightsaber.
In the blink of an eye, y/n was up in her face, dodging her lightsaber swings and throwing jabs into her torso at every available moment, but was aware of how much worse his attacks were without his right arm.
And then he made a mistake.
In the dark light, Aurra feigned to the left and he blocked, exposing his weakened side. y/n felt a dull pain in his ribs as the bounty hunter's fist made contact, and then her cold fingers against his neck, pushing him against the wall. The lightsaber was inches from his face and getting nearer.
He was about to punch back, but a metallic clanking sound filled his ears and y/n's eyes flickered down to the ground. An IG droid's lifeless head rolled slowly, stopping when it hit the bounty hunter's boot.
"Kriff-" she cursed, letting go of y/n. Ahsoka's dual lightsabers flickered to life behind her.
A second later Aurra disappeared.
"She's there!" y/n pointed to a random spot down the alleyway once he had recovered from his shock. "She's got a personal cloaking device, but I can sense her!"
He was about to run after her, but stumbled and fell. The sound of a vent opening could be heard as Aurra escaped.
"What are you doing? Go after her!" he grunted in frustration as Ahsoka stopped, kneeling down beside him.
"Shut up. It doesn't matter now. We've secured the bioweapon. Aurra Sing will have to run free for a little more time," the Togruta replied, helping him to his feet. She had extinguished her lightsabers, returning the alley to darkness. y/n hissed in pain as his arm was bumped. "You alright?"
"I'm perfectly fine!" he scowled. "We could have gotten her though!"
"Yeah whatever, but you're injured."
"I said I was fine-"
"What's this then?" Ahsoka asked with a raised eyebrow, pointing at the blaster bolt wound on his arm. y/n glowered at her, pulled the fabric over so it covered his flesh, before exhaling.
"Just a scratch," he replied sheepishly, letting go of some of the irritation. The fact that she had stopped just to check he was okay made him quite aware of how grateful he was feeling.
A glimmer of amusement flickered over her features, a smirk tugging at her lips. "And that?" she inquired, playing along, gesturing this time at the one that had grazed his side.
"A mere flesh wound."
"You suck, y/n," Ahsoka laughed as he bent down to retrieve his lightsaber. "Holy Force, we should have comm'ed Master Secura!" She quickly punched Aayla's number into her commlink, exchanged a few quick words and then turned back to him.
"I've kept the line open so she can track us to our location," the Togruta said. "You sir, are gonna stay right here whilst I retrieve the bioweapon."
"I'm injured, not dying," he grumbled, clipping his lightsaber back into his belt. "Darth Maul got kriffing chopped in half and he survived-" y/n closed his mouth.
"What was that?" Ahsoka raised a brow and turned.
"Nothing," he replied meekly. It was true though, as soon as the words were out he knew that Maul was indeed alive. Immediately something uncomfortable stirred in his gut.
"Come on n/n, cheer up," she smiled at him, seeing his troubled expression and thinking it was because Aurra had escaped. "We fulfilled our mission. We secured the bioweapon and saved the galaxy from another hypothetical pandemic," Ahsoka said, holding up the small rectangular steel box.
He sighed, not entirely convinced, but his mind did turn away from thoughts of the Zabrak Sith. "We could have done better though, catching Sing. It's my fault I got kriffing hurt."
"You're an amazing Jedi y/n. Don't get dragged down by the negative things when there's a good outcome."
He groaned. "You sound like Master Secura," he chuckled, shaking his head. "But thanks."
"Finally! You gave me the credit for saving your butt," she rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough."
"Fine. You get...two percent of the credit."
"The poor guy's feeling a little blue today, so I'll let him take most of it." Ahsoka shook her head and crossed her arms, a small smirk on her face.
"Ugh, when can you get rid of the nanotech? I can't believe I just said thank you to Cora Diis," y/n complained, sliding down against the alley wall until he was sitting on the floor. "Or at least get your voice changed back."
"The facial refiguration will have to wait. There's a droid in my throat that I can spit out, though," she half kidded, sitting down next to him.
He wrinkled his nose. "That's gross-"
"You're gross."
"You didn't let me finish," he laughed. "I was gonna say go for it. I can't stand that nasal tone any longer. I need the sweet voice of Ahsoka Tano," y/n said theatrically, joking.
For a moment she thought he was being serious and smiled in embarrassment, feeling her cheeks heat up from his compliment. Then she realised he was just being funny and punched him lightly on his uninjured shoulder.
Ahsoka turned away from him and carefully removed the voice emulator droid from her throat with the Force, before crushing it as well.
"Better now?" she asked with a smile. Her voice was back to normal now, younger, clearer and filled with the hint of mischievousness that y/n knew.
"A hundred times, Stripey. A hundred times. Holy Force you don't know just how traumatic it is to have your best friend replaced by a creepy evil bounty hunter." He grinned at her and have her a one armed hug.
"Now all we need is to see your beautiful face again." y/n wasn't really sure why he said that, but he could grudgingly admit that Ahsoka was gorgeous.
Thankfully, she didn't take the chance to make him regret saying it, only replying with, "I think you went too far with the drama this time."
He chuckled. "It's fine though. The alley's too dark to see your face, and your voice is enough for now." Fumbling with the burnt part of his tunic, he paused before speaking again. "Wanna play mini Dejarik?" The blue hologram of the game appeared from his wrist computer.
"You're on."
Some last notes (not important though):
'I am a Jedi and my will is my own' is an Aayla reference; she said that once when she was fighting against this Falleen dude.
'What's this?'/'Just a scratch'/'And this?'/'A mere flesh wound' is going to become practically a meme in this story, so keep an eye out for it
Holy Force there is so much foreshadowing in this chapter
There will be one more chapter before the Bio Weapon arc ends
Aurra Sing does have a lightsaber, by the way. And also, Aayla has fought her before, seen in Star Wars: Jedi #Aayla Secura (comic)
And lastly, I have decided to change the shoutouts...I will only give special thanks/mentions to those who have consistently been reading and voting on this story. This saves me a lot of time and just puts the spotlight on the amazing readers who have continuously supported me. Thank you everyone for 21.7k reads though! I hope you have been enjoying XD
Alright, peace out now. May the Force be with you, and till next time!