Author's Note: Okay, as a forewarning, this is purely crack, so there is a lot of humor. :') I can't even remember what, exactly, inspired this, but here it is anyways! Enjoy! :D
~ Amina Gila
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan Kenobi exclaims, marching into the main room of his apartment where his former padawan and Ahsoka Tano are sitting on the couch, chatting with each other, "Did you seriously turn off my alarm this morning?"
"Maybe you forgot to set it last night," Anakin Skywalker offers cheerfully, giving him a far too innocent smile.
"I can sense you were in there after I went to sleep," Obi-Wan retorts, "And I know I set it. I have an important Council meeting to attend this morning, and it's probably already started by now."
"Well, you could hardly only sleep a couple hours," Anakin argues, "You were up most of the night."
Ahsoka chuckles as she watches them. "Perhaps you should attend the remainder of the Council meeting, then?" she offers, "If it was so important that you be there, they may still be waiting for you."
Obi-Wan resists the urge to groan, but quickly heads out of the apartment. Hopefully, he's not going to be too late for this matter. Among other issues, they were supposed to be investigating an ancient Sith artifact that was discovered on the last mission he was sent on; it was the reason he returned to the Temple so late the previous night.
Minutes later, he's approaching the Council chambers. For some reason, the Force is humming with a sense of wrongness. Something is off, but he can't quite put his finger on it. He steps up to the door and as it slides open, he freezes in disbelief.
At the front of the room, an all too familiar, but much too tiny, green figure bounces up and down on the seat Yoda used to have. A sudden squeal of glee draws his attention to two younglings running around the room, a green Nautolan and a tiny red and white Togruta.
A dark skinned human four-year-old boy is sitting in the center of the room, sobbing about nothing apparent. On the chair that once belonged to Jedi Master Depa Billaba a dark haired four-year-old human girl is sitting, a way too innocent expression on her face, which makes Obi-Wan wonder if she wasn't the culprit for whatever the human boy is crying about.
A gleeful squeal draws Obi-Wan's attention to right around the corner from the door to see an orange skinned Kel Dor running for the now open door.
And finally, in the center of the room sits the sparkling silver Sithly orb. The disturbance in the Force appears to be centered around the artifact.
What is going on here? Why in the world are there a bunch of younglings in the Council room? Where did all of the Jedi Masters go?
Shaking his head in confusion, he quickly backs out of the room again, letting the doors slide shut before the boy can escape the room. Maybe Obi-Wan's just dreaming, and everything's actually fine. He stands there staring at the doors for a long moment, willing everything to look like it should when he steps into the room again. No such luck.
The younglings – who he just realized are all the same species and have the exact same looks as the Council members are – are still continuing their activities, oblivious to his presence. The human girl has run to join the race around the room. This does not look good. At all.
Did the artifact do something to them? That doesn't even make sense. How could it have de-aged all six Jedi Masters who were present to four-year-olds? But six identical younglings ending up in the Council chambers by accident doesn't make any sense either. Especially considering, as far as he knows, there aren't even any younglings of Yoda's species right now. However it happened, it appears the orb has, in fact, de-aged them all. And this is definitely not a situation he can deal with alone.
Obi-Wan quickly steps out of the room again, closing the doors behind him before making his way back to the apartment level to find Anakin and Ahsoka. They're the only ones he's even sure how to begin explaining the situation to. Besides, considering the whole alarm scenario, this is all Anakin's fault, so they'll have to help him clean up the mess.
"Done with the meeting already, Master?" asks Anakin with a smirk as Obi-Wan steps into the room, eternally grateful that they are not four-year-olds as well.
"In fact, in my absence, it appears that a group of younglings has taken charge of the Jedi Order," Obi-Wan explains hastily.
"Excuse me?" Anakin exclaims incredulously.
Ahsoka raises an eye marking. "What do you mean?"
"All the Council members who are currently on Coruscant – except me – seem to have regressed to being four-year-olds." He gets straight to the point.
Anakin stares at him for a moment before saying, "You need to go back to bed." Does he? That's a far more desirable option than trying to deal with six de-aged Jedi Masters, but they need to take care of the situation before it gets out of control.
"I'm serious," he retorts, "It looks like a youngling playground in there." He's pretty sure he'll never be able to unsee Yoda jumping up and down on his chair.
"So, assuming I believe you, how would such a thing have even happened?" Anakin demands.
"I don't know," he states flatly, "But we need to get down there before a further disaster ensues."
"I'm not sure if you're pulling a very bad prank or have gone completely insane but let's get going," advises Anakin.
"Well, if something really did happen, it's probably a good thing Master Anakin turned off your alarm clock. At least you didn't become a toddler too," Ahsoka replies with a smirk. He decides not to comment that if he had been there, this may never have happened in the first place.
***
Feeling more than a little disbelieving, Anakin and Ahsoka follow Obi-Wan to the Council chambers. Really, what Obi-Wan is saying happened doesn't even make any sense. The door slides open again, revealing complete chaos. Five of the six younglings present are running in circles around the room. And yes, Ahsoka knows exactly Obi-Wan means now, as much as she wishes she didn't.
With a squeal, Plo suddenly runs over to Ahsoka, wrapping his arms around her leg as he tries to hug her. She shifts uncomfortably as she stares down at the little child who was once a sort of father figure to her. How is someone even supposed to react to this?
She extricates herself as quickly as she can from his grasp before kneeling down in front of him so that they're at a similar height. "Plo? What happened?" she questions, carefully neglecting the 'master' part of his title. It would seem completely inappropriate to call a four-year-old that, and she really has no idea if he even remembers anything from his former life.
"Big bad ball," he mumbles unhelpfully, his eyes wide as he points towards the orb at the center of the room, "Scary."
"That's what I thought," Obi-Wan murmurs.
"You understood that?" Anakin asks, "Because it sounded like nonsense to me."
"We were supposed to be discussing the Sith artifact we found," Obi-Wan explains. "Since I was late, they must have begun investigating without me. But the artifacts did not react anything like any of us were expecting."
"I can see that," Anakin replies dryly.
"Only I don't know how to undo it," the Jedi Master concludes.
Great. So apparently, half the Council has been turned into a group of younglings. Obi-Wan definitely needs to contact the masters who aren't on Coruscant. "... Now what do we do?" Ahsoka inquires, turning to Obi-Wan. "We can hardly leave them all here." Plo finally lets go of her, moving back to stare up at her with wide eyes in a way that gives her a very strange up sense of déjà vu back to one of her first memories, when she first met him.
"If that... orb is really what made this happen, I would think we should get them out of here. And then we'll have to figure out what to do about this," Anakin interjects.
Obi-Wan seems to think for a moment. "Move them to an unoccupied area where younglings stay."
"And hope no one wonders where they all came from," Anakin adds.
Someone crawls out from behind a chair, who Ahsoka is pretty sure is Windu. Considering how they're all acting, she doesn't think they really remember anything. She really hopes for their sakes they don't remember any of this after being returned to their normal forms – assuming there's a way to reverse this. It would be truly embarrassing.
Yoda squeals something unintelligible, darting around the seats and coming to a stop a few feet away in front of the three as he suddenly registers their presence. He stares up at then, yellow-green eyes wide, with a similar expression to Plo's. One by one, the other former Council members start joining him.
"Where are we?" asks Shaak Ti, speaking in Togruti. She's clearly too young to remember Basic. Great, so apparently, they must not have their memories.
"In the Jedi Temple," Ahsoka responds before reverting back to Basic, "Let's get you all to your quarters. Stay close to us." They turn, exiting the Council chamber with five of the six children trailing close behind. Everyone decides it's best not to comment on Yoda hitching a ride on Anakin's shoulder.
***
"Okay, first things first," Anakin declares, crossing his arms as he looks down at the four-year olds. He's still annoyed that Obi-Wan decided to abandon him and Ahsoka all alone to look after them, but hopefully while he's gone, he'll find a solution to this. "Turn over your lightsabers to me." All of their lightsabers seem to have shrunk during whatever happened with the orb, but that doesn't mean it's safe for them to keep them.
Yoda stares at him almost in shock before adamantly shaking his head, clutching the tiny hilt to his chest. "Our lives, these are! Over and over, Dada tells me that." ...Dada? Is Yoda talking about his father? The thought of Yoda even having had a father is weird, and how would he even have known him in the first place?
"It appears teachings haven't changed much over the past eight hundred fifty years," Ahsoka mumbles under her breath.
"Well, it's not safe for you to have them until you know how to use them," Anakin replies completely undeterred.
"Know how to use it, I do!" shouts Yoda angrily.
"Mine!" insists Shaak Ti, looking close to tears.
Anakin groans. He should have expected such a reaction, but he didn't. "What if you accidently damage something?"
"We be careful!" Fisto promises.
"I pwomise not to damage anything," Plo offers. Great. Just great. This isn't working at all.
"Fine," Ahsoka sighs, finally deciding that perhaps she should try to intervene before the situation gets worse, "Whoever gives me theirs immediately will get ice cream."
"For real?" squeals Depa. She scarcely waits for Ahsoka to nod before tossing her lightsaber to them.
"That's what I meant," mutters Anakin, picking up the tiny weapon.
"Unhealthy ice cream is," grumbles Yoda, still refusing to part with his lightsaber, even as the other children quickly begin dumping theirs in a pile on the floor.
Anakin quickly collects the lightsabers, depositing them safely in a cabinet far out of their reach. Ahsoka heads out of the room to get the ice cream for the others.
The children scatter, running every which way. Windu and Plo climb onto the dining room table, using the chair to help them get to the top. Depa crawls under the table squealing about playing hide and seek. Shaak Ti is running around the room screaming about nothing apparent.
Windu runs to the center of the table, standing on his tiptoes in a desperate attempt to grab ahold of the light fixture. But fortunately, it's too high.
"Watch! I can fly!" shrieks Plo, jumping off the edge of the table.
Unfortunately, gravity doesn't agree.
"Owwww!" wails Depa as Plo lands half on top of her.
Fisto suddenly runs over to Anakin and wrapping his tiny green arms around him. Anakin sighs, fixing Yoda with a stare. After this ordeal is over with, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to take the Council seriously again. Why did he have to get stuck dealing with this again? "Your lightsaber." His tone is commanding.
"No!" If this is how Yoda really acted as a child, he feels bad for his master.
"Fine." Then let the child be stubborn. He holds out a hand, using the Force to pull away the lightsaber.
"No!" wails Yoda, reaching out in a spectacularly failed attempt to catch it before trying to yank it back with the Force. And failing again. "Know how to use a lightsaber, I do," he sulks, glaring at Anakin.
In his moment of distraction, Fisto suddenly reaches up, yanking Anakin's lightsaber off his belt and then takes off running, squealing gleefully.
"Catch or catch not, there is only failure," giggles Yoda and runs after.
Just then, the door to the apartment swings open, and Ahsoka steps inside as Anakin deposits Yoda's lightsaber with the others and goes in chase of Fisto and Yoda.
They race down the hall, into one of the bedrooms at the end of it. Suppressing his irritation at the situation, Anakin runs after, stepping into the room to see Fisto lying on the floor beside the bed with a pillow over his head. His lightsaber and Yoda are nowhere to be seen.
He walks over to Fisto, pulling the pillow away from him. "Where is my lightsaber?"
"Tell him, do not!" cries Yoda, poking his head out from behind the bed. He can fit back there? Well, it shouldn't be too surprising. He is tiny.
"Where is it?" Anakin asks exasperatedly. No answer. He groans, turning to Yoda.
"Lookie for it!" squeals the former Jedi Master gleefully.
Fine. If they really won't cooperate, he'll just have to search the room himself.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka hurries into the dining room at the rising sounds of a squabble. Plo and Depa are sitting on the floor next to the table, hitting each other while Windu watches.
She marches over to them, pulling them apart. "What's going on here?"
"He started it!" cries Depa.
"It was an accident!" wails Plo, "She hit me first."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did n-!"
"That's enough, both of you," she groans, "Regardless of who started it, neither of you should be hitting the other." She tries not to remember getting literally the same lecture from Plo ten years ago when her and another youngling got in a fight.
The two continue to glare at each other. "Now," she declares, standing up, "All of you come to the table if you want that ice cream."
The reaction is remarkably swift. Moments – a few tipped over chairs and tripped and wailing younglings later – everyone is seated at the table. Fisto runs into the room a moment later to join them.
"Wanna have an ice cream eating race?" Windu suddenly suggests before the others can practically pounce on their cones.
***
"How are you holding up in here?" Anakin hears Obi-Wan asking from the doorway. He spins around to see him standing there, watching with amusement as the six children run about the room playing.
"So, you finally arrived," he states flatly.
"At least they're not fighting or running around nonstop or breaking things or screaming about nothing right now," Ahsoka sighs, looking up from where she sits on a nearby chair, observing, "Who knew younglings could be so hard to deal with?"
"Did you figure out anything to turn them back to their proper ages?" queries Anakin. He really hopes so, or he's going to be looking into hiring a new babysitter.
"Not yet," Obi-Wan declares, "I'm trying to keep the word from getting out. With the Council practically non-functional, the Separatists could try and use the situation to their advantage."
"True," Ahsoka agrees.
"The Force is moving differently around the orb," informs Obi-Wan, "If I meditate on it, I may be able to figure out what to do. But for now, I'll have to double the amount of Council work I usually do to keep up."
"Why do I feel like that's an excuse to get out of helping us?" Anakin mutters. Just then, Shaak Ti plops down in the middle of the floor and starts crying.
"Oh great. Now what?" Ahsoka groans.
"I don't know. Maybe she's hungry," Anakin offers.
"It's probably time for them to eat anyway," Obi-Wan remarks, glancing at the window. It is already afternoon.
"Wait, I don't have different species' eating habits memorized," Ahsoka worries, "How are we supposed to get the right food for them?"
"We could just ask what they want to eat," Anakin points out, "Anyone else volunteering?"
"Well, before I go..." Obi-Wan says, before walking over to them. They stop the races, turning their attention to him as approaches. "What do you want to eat for lunch?" he queries.
"Frogs!" Yoda squeals, "Frogs, I want!"
"Ewww!" shrieks Windu.
"Yummy, yummy!" Fisto insists.
"You boys are so gross," Depa whines. Fisto sticks his tongue out at her.
"But frogs I want!" complains Yoda.
"If that's what you want, that's what you'll get," Anakin reassures him, hoping to end the argument before it degenerates into further madness.
"I want candy!" Plo declares emphatically.
"Me too!" exclaims Windu.
"Me twee!" squeals Shaak Ti, apparently able to understand at least that much Basic.
Depa makes a face at them. "It's not even healthy."
Windu reaches over, yanking one of her braids. She slaps his hand away, glaring at him. "Meany!"
If Anakin had any delusions that lunch time might be a little less chaotic then having to babysit then while they're playing, he quickly finds himself totally wrong.
Shaak Ti seems to me making it her job to the make the biggest mess possible, dripping food all over her arms, chin, and clothes. Maybe they should've gotten her a bib.
Every time Plo is certain someone isn't looking, he flips a spoonful of food into the air in an attempt to get it to the hit ceiling. And then one spoonful lands on Fisto's head who glares at him, throwing a fish in his face. Seriously, did their parents not teach them anything about the importance of food? Or the crechemasters?! How can a person even do something like that?
Depa spends half the time lecturing Windu on manners – actually, she's the only one who's eating even remotely neatly. And then the boy promptly spills his glass all over the tablecloth, right into Depa's space. Anakin still isn't sure if that was intentional or not.
Yoda eats all of his food as fast as he can, using the Force to get it into his mouth instead of his claws. And then he tries to steal some off Fisto's plate using the Force but gets caught immediately since the Nautolan is sitting on the other side of the table from him, so everyone notices. He probably only chose him, since he's the only one who eats food that Yoda might find edible.
And Anakin is still highly annoyed with Obi-Wan for promptly deciding that has more important Council work to do and leaving him and Ahsoka all alone again.
"I think we need to give them something to do... or take them somewhere," Ahsoka remarks as she works on cleaning up the table.
"Like where?" Anakin sighs.
She shrugs. "What about the Room of One Thousand Fountains?"
"That's –" Both a bad idea and a good idea. "It'll probably keep them distracted," Anakin agrees. And distract everyone else they run into, too. But it's better than trying to keep them in the apartment that's definitely not meant for six children to spend running around in. Yes, that's probably the best option.
***
"You know we aren't allowed to be here alone!" Ahsoka hears Depa scolding as she and Anakin look for the rest of the younglings. It's getting late in the day, and probably time they head back to the apartment.
There's a suspiciously loud splashing from around the corner. "No one will know!" Fisto protests. At least he's pretty sure it's Fisto. It's still taking time to get used to remembering what the former Jedi Masters sound like as toddlers.
Anakin and Ahsoka circle around the last of the trees, approaching one of the fountains. Depa is standing with her hands on her hips at the edge, glaring at Windu who's splashing around at the very edge of the fountain, and Fisto, who promptly lets out a startled yelp upon seeing Anakin, ducking below the surface. Yoda sits observing, a far too mischievous glint in his eyes.
"I'm letting you handle this," Ahsoka decides, before scurrying away. She still needs to find the other two anyway. Thankfully, that doesn't take long.
"Plo!" Ahsoka exclaims, running to the base of a nearby tree, where she finally spotted the orange Kel Dor. "Get down from there!"
"Why?" he pouts, looking back down at her, nearly losing his grip on the tree. How did he even get up that high when she wasn't looking? And since when did Plo's species know how to climb so well, anyway? If this has anything to do with his apparent obsession of literally flying, Ahsoka is going to go insane.
"It's not safe that high up."
"But she's gone up higher!" protests Plo. Wait, what?
"Who?" Ahsoka demands, suddenly worried. She doesn't need them falling out of trees and hurting themselves. He points to a nearby tree where Shaak Ti is pulling herself up the trunk, already quite a bit higher than Plo.
"Oh... great."
Shaak Ti lets out a startled yelp as her grip seems to suddenly slip on the trunk. Togruta or not, she's still only three, after all. Ahsoka practically teleports to the other tree, catching the formerly respected Jedi Master before she hits the ground. She's half expecting the Togruta to cry or something, but she only takes off running and giggling, the moment Ahsoka sets her back on the ground. Well... okay.
"Catch me?" Plo asks, scooting to the edge of his branch.
"I don't think –"
He jumps. "– that that's the best way to get down," she finishes under her breath, catching the child she once thought of as a father.
With that taken care of, she heads back to find Anakin. At least everyone is out of the fountain now, but she does have one question.
"Skyguy, why are you dripping wet?"
"Don't ask, Snips. Don't ask."
***
Obi-Wan might have intentionally spent longer than he absolute had to taking care of Council work, in the slim hopes that the younglings will be sleeping by the time he goes back to check on how Anakin and Ahsoka are managing. The last thing he's expecting is to see all eight of them gathered at the dining room table, eating ice cream at top speed. (Again.)
"What in the name of the Force is going on in here?" Obi-Wan demands incredulously.
"An ice cream eating race," Anakin says cheerfully, shoving another bite in his mouth.
"... and you joined?"
"Why not?" asks Ahsoka innocently.
"Because you're not younglings anymore?"
"Maybe that's what makes babysitting difficult sometimes," Anakin shoots back. What has his life come to? If he's going to have to babysit the former Council members and Anakin and Ahsoka, he might just fall on his own lightsaber. It would be a far more merciful death for him.
"I just don't see how you can turn eating dessert into some kind of game."
"It's just a little friendly competition, Master. Nothing to worry about," Anakin chirps.
"If you're quite done here, it's time to put the children to bed," Obi-Wan sighs. He's currently 500% done with life.
"I don't want to go to bed!" protests Fisto.
"No! Not bedtime yet," whines Windu.
"I'm not tired!" insists Plo.
"Well, it's getting late," Obi-Wan reminds.
"Couldn't you have waited a few more minutes to ruin the fun?" mumbles Ahsoka under her breath.
Ignoring everyone's grumbles, Obi-Wan helps usher the younglings off to bed... which isn't working at all. Yoda starts jumping up and down on the bed, definitely just to be stubborn. Plo falls on the floor in the doorway to his bedroom and refuses to move to actually get in bed. Fisto starts singing at the top of his lungs every time they leave the room. (He can sing? All this time Obi-Wan had no idea.) And then Depa from the next room covers her head with her pillow and screams. For the sake of making noise too, Obi-Wan's pretty sure. And Windu stubbornly refuses to brush his teeth, so they can't even try to get him to go to bed yet.
"Fine," Anakin says finally, "I know how to solve this."
"Then please do," Obi-Wan nearly moans. Because he's at his wits end right now. He really hopes he didn't used to be this much of a handful.
And minutes later six of the younglings are running races up and down the hallway. Because this is Anakin's brilliant idea. He'll just trust that this is going to help, because he's almost too worn out to care right now even though he's only been in here for fifteen minutes.
"Unfair this is," Yoda grumbles as he runs as fast as possible to keep up with the others. Although somehow by the end of the ten minute look race – more like stampede – he manages to be the first to the end. And a few minutes later everyone is heading off to bed, quietly this time.
"Wait!" calls Windu as he and Anakin prepare to head out of the room.
"What?" Obi-Wan asks, glancing back. Please don't ask for a bedtime story.
"Can you close the closet door?" ... Um?
"Why?" asks Anakin.
"Cuz monsters might come out," he mumbles, pulling his blanket tighter around him. Windu is scared of monsters?!
"What makes you think they couldn't open the door?" Anakin smirks slightly.
Windu eyes widen in a panic, and he instantly disappears beneath the blankets.
Obi-Wan couldn't be more relieved when he finally gets to lay down on the floor next to Anakin in one of the other rooms in the apartment. Ahsoka took the bed since there was only one. Maybe they'll finally be able to sleep in peace. And he's just not sure what to think or how to react or feel or anything when Windu tiptoes into the room, crawling in between him and Anakin so he does absolutely nothing, choosing to pretend he's already sleeping.
***
Anakin jolts awake as something... or rather someone lands hard on him. "Sorry," Ahsoka mutters, her montrals flushing in the darkness, "I forgot you were right next to my bed."
"What are you even doing awake?" he asks, pushing himself into a sitting position in the dark room. It's way too early to be getting up, right? And he's trying very, very hard not to think about the fact Windu is right next to him. The far too reserved Jedi master, who seemed to carry a serious grudge against him. And unnecessarily be as difficult as possible whenever he's around.
A sudden high-pitched screeching fills the air for a moment. "What's that?" Anakin hisses, his hand instantly reaching for his lightsaber as he jumps to his feet. But it stops a moment later and he doesn't sense any threat.
"I don't know," Ahsoka huffs, "That's what I'm trying to figure out!"
"Monsters!" squeaks Windu and grabs Obi-Wan.
Another high-pitched shrieking fills the air as the two slip out into the hall. Anakin can feel the other children panicking in their rooms, but he focuses on following the source of the noise instead, tracing it to the kitchen.
The noise promptly splits the air again, and he would have jumped at the loudness if he hadn't been expecting it. And suddenly Anakin is very suspicious as to what the noise is. He marches over to the sink where it's coming from, and sure enough Yoda is sitting hidden inside, looking far too smug.
"Just what do you think you're doing in here?" Anakin demands.
Yoda just looks back at them with a far too innocent smile.
"You know, scaring everyone to death in the middle of the night is very unnecessary," Ahsoka deadpans.
"Scared, Jedi should not be!" insists Yoda brightly.
"That hardly makes it better."
"Now come on back to bed," Anakin says, picking up the former grandmaster, "And no more screaming in the middle of the night."
"Almost dawn, it is," Yoda contradicts. Okay this is it. He's never going to be able to take Yoda seriously again. And he almost feels bad for him if he remembers this when – if – he gets re-aged.
***
Obi-Wan is really hoping that when he opens his eyes, everything of the previous day will have simply been a nightmare. But any hopes are promptly dashed when he sits up to see Windu is still sleeping on the floor next to him. It's wearing him out before he even gets started, which is absolutely ridiculous. He can take on hundreds of battle droids and even Sith Lords, but he can't handle six younglings?
Still, he has an idea which will hopefully limit the chaos for the day. "We need to give them something to do. And maybe separate them," Obi-Wan tells Anakin and Ahsoka.
"Sure," Anakin agrees, "Maybe I can take two of them to the Senate."
"And I can take two to see the clones, maybe," offers Ahsoka, "How about Plo and Shaak Ti?"
"Maybe I'll take Mace and Depa to the archives so I can research for a solution."
"Weren't you like doing that all day yesterday?" Anakin asks.
"No. There's still an Order to run, even if half the leaders are toddlers," Obi-Wan sighs.
"Well, let's hope they don't disturb everyone in the library," chirps Ahsoka.
"Without the mischief ringleaders –"
"Who you're both leaving me to babysit," Anakin cuts in.
"– they should be fine," Obi-Wan finishes. Hopefully. Or he's not sure what he's going to do next. There's a sudden crash from the next room. "Come on. Let's go see what's going on before they burn the apartment down."
At least the knocked over dining room chairs are an easy fix – he'd been afraid it was something far more catastrophic – so each of them head off shortly with two of the younglings in tow. "Make sure to stay quiet," Obi-Wan warns as leads Windu and Depa into the library.
The duo start wandering around in between the shelves and after a few minutes, Obi-Wan completely loses himself in his research. There's not even much information about Sith artifacts available, and to his frustration, he sees nothing at all about strange things like this happening. Not that that's a surprise, but they'll never be able to undo it if he keeps just running into dead ends.
The only other thing he can do is go to the part of the archive only for Council members. But then there'll be no one to keep an eye on Windu and Depa. Obi-Wan looks up. And speaking of them, where are they?
He stands up from the computer, going in search. Voices from around the corner promptly catch his attention. "No, wait! I don't think we're supposed to go in there!" hisses Depa.
He hears the sound of a door opening and scrambles around the corner in time to see the two of them running into the part of the archive that's only meant for Council members.
"Stop!" calls Obi-Wan, hurrying in after them. Windu promptly takes off running down the hall in between the holocrons, Depa scurrying along behind, both ignoring him when he calls them. Fine. He runs after, weaving his way in between the rows and rows of holocrons. Skidding around the last corner, he slams to a sudden stop when he sees the younglings have stopped to and are looking at the holocrons. Catching his balance on one of the shelves, he nearly knocking one of the holocrons to the floor in the process.
The Force seems to suddenly nudge him. To open the holocron. Which is more than a little unusual, but it would hardly be the most unusual thing that's happened in the past two days. Fine, then maybe he'll check it out.
***
Plo is practically bouncing with excitement as Ahsoka lands the shuttle in the 501st main star cruiser. Shaak Ti is just looking around in wide eyed awe.
"Are you sure this is a place for younglings that age, Commander?" Rex asks, looking mildly amused as Ahsoka walks up to him, setting the two children down on the floor.
"Oh, it probably isn't," she agrees cheerfully.
"Or are they here because you and the General are planning on taking padawans?"
Ahsoka snorts. "Thankfully, no. I'm here because I'm stuck babysitting them for the day, and I didn't want to stay cooped up at the Temple."
"... Oh."
"And something else you really ought to know, though you probably won't believe me," Ahsoka announces, smirking slightly. Honestly, the only reason she's bringing this up at all is to see the look on his face when he hears.
"What?" asks Rex dubiously.
"Strange things were happening at the Temple and all the Council members present except Obi-Wan somehow were turned into four years olds." She can't help but laugh at the disbelieving look on Rex's face. "I'm not joking, so stop looking at me like that! You can call and confirm it with Anakin if you don't believe me."
"How's that even possible?" he inquires finally.
"I don't know. I've been asking myself the same question," she huffs, "Something to do with an ancient artifact. Anyway, those two younglings actually happen to be Masters Plo and Shaak Ti."
"Well, Wolfpack is here. They might like to hear what's happened to their General," Rex comments.
Ahsoka giggles. "Let's take Plo to meet them!"
It takes a very long time for them to convince Wolffe and the others that no, they are not in fact pranking them, and this four-year-old actually is their general. Plo finally gets bored of them debating it, and grabs Wolffe's hand, dragging him off chatting nonstop about something Ahsoka totally loses track of. Poor Wolffe looks like he has no idea what to do now.
By the time they head back to where Shaak Ti is, she's busy poking around with Hardcase's blaster. And he seems intent on actually showing her how it works. But at least she's distracted, so maybe Ahsoka will finally get some peace and quiet. Maybe.
***
"I'm supposed to be on meditative retreat," Anakin says, pacing back and forth behind Padme's desk as she works on Senate matters, "But all I'm doing is babysitting the Council. Literally."
Padme chuckles. "That still doesn't make any sense to me. It's hard to believe that the two younglings you brought here are seriously Masters Yoda and Fisto." He left both of them playing in the next room, and since there's no crashes or screams yet, everything is probably okay for now. So, he finally gets a chance to talk to his wife in peace and quiet, though of course he has to keep his voice down so neither of the children overhear anything.
"You should have seen them last night," Anakin mutters.
"I think I'm glad I didn't, from the way you're describing it."
"I wish I could be using this time for something other than babysitting the Council. We could be using it to go somewhere together." It's what he wants, really. Having time off is so incredibly rare, especially for him, something he only gets as a routine because all the Jedi get it on occasion. He has no doubt he'd be too... valuable to take off the front, even temporarily, otherwise. He's supposed to be taking this time to help rebalance himself, to find peace, something he can only do with Padme.
"Well, there's an important bill in the Senate I need to work on anyway," replies Padme.
Just then, Anakin suddenly hears someone approaching. Well, he is allowed to be here right now, so it should be fine if he's seen, even if he usually tries not to be. The door opens moments later, Threepio and Bail Organa stepping into the room. Bail gives him an odd look but calls Padme off for something about a privacy invasion bill that feels highly appropriate at the moment. Anakin keeps his complaints to himself.
Anakin has just headed out into the hallway with Fisto and Yoda – neither of whom seem very happy that their play session was interrupted – when the lights in the hall promptly flicker and go out. "What's happening?" Fisto asks worriedly as the red emergency lights flicker on.
"Something's wrong," Anakin replies immediately, going tense. He doesn't know what. That shouldn't happen, unless there's an emergency or the power randomly died, and that couldn't happen. Some sort of attack? He doubts a riot could be that damaging, even if that's what protests against the war often turn into these days.
Still, he can feel danger humming in the Force, and it seems to be centered around wherever Padme was headed.
"Stay calm," he instructs, because he really doesn't have time to be handling two panicking younglings and keeping Padme safe at once. Ugh, if only Ahsoka were here too. He needs to get Fisto and Yoda out of here, but he can't leave until he knows what's happening. "Stay close to me and stay quiet," he adds as he slips silently down the halls, reaching out with the Force to try and determine where the danger is coming from.
He rounds a few more corners before he hears faint talking coming from one of the nearby Senate meeting rooms. He moves over soundlessly, peaking over the edge of a railing up above.
A group of Senators, Padme included are gathered in the center of the room, surrounded by a group of bounty hunters. Bounty hunters. How did they get here?! Fisto lets out a squeak of alarm and Yoda shushes him.
"The Galactic Senate will not make deals with terrorists," Padme is saying to Bane, who stands in front of her. Thankfully, there's enough noise down there that no one heard the younglings' exchange.
"Aren't you awfully young and pretty to be a Senator?" Bane says, rudely grabbing Padme's chin as he points a blaster at her. Anakin really wants to run him through with a lightsaber right now. Padme looks past Bane, gaze falling on Anakin for a moment.
The bounty hunter promptly notices, whirling around and firing. He needs to get the bounty hunters away from them. He ducks away from the opening and takes off running, dodging the blaster shots as he goes. "After him!" he hears Bane yelling as he takes off down the hall. Just what he was hoping would happen. Now just needs to get Fisto and Yoda somewhere safe.
He runs around another corner in the hall, right as two bounty hunters – one droid and a Weequay – sprint around the corner. They instantly start shooting at him, but his lightsaber is already activated, deflecting the blaster bolts. "Run," he calls to the younglings, who surprisingly do. Yoda even manages to beat Fisto in a dash to race around the corner.
He charges at the bounty hunters, one of the deflected shots hitting the Weequay who collapses to the ground. He slashes the assassin droid in half as he reaches him, turning away as the pieces clang to the floor.
Anakin takes off down the hallway again, sensing another bounty hunter nearby. A blaster shot is fired straight for his head as he steps around the corner. Aurra Sing leaps out of the shadows, shooting with two blasters. He deflects the bolts away, but she always manages to avoid getting hit by any of them.
He sees a sudden movement down near the floor, and glances down to see Yoda scurrying up right behind the bounty hunter. What does he think he's doing?! His moment of distraction is enough to make him narrowly avoid being shot, and he probably would have been, if not for the fact that Yoda suddenly jumps forwards and sinks his teeth into her leg.
Aurra releases a very undignified yelp, looking down, the same moment another shot rings out. She doesn't manage to duck the stun bolt in time and collapses to the floor. Yoda scampers out of the way to avoid getting crushed under her. What?
Anakin turns around to see Fisto standing there holding a blaster and looking very proud of himself. He tosses the much too big weapon on the floor, looking up with an innocent smile. "Did you get that from one of those bounty hunters?" asks Anakin suspiciously.
"Of course!"
"Stay here while I handle the rest," Anakin orders, deciding it's the best option. It's too dangerous to just let them come.
"Help, we can!"
"No. Stay here." Anakin doesn't wait for their arguments, instead sprinting back to the room the Senators were being held, cautiously looking down over the railing. Bane is the only bounty hunter in the room, and there's another small being there as well who's carrying what looks like might be bombs. Another bounty hunter possibly?
He jumps over the railing, landing in the middle of the room. Bane instantly whirls around and begins shooting. Anakin deflects the shots, taking out his blasters with the deflected bolts. Bane promptly lunges at him, diving aside from his lightsaber as he knocks him to the floor. He throws the bounty hunter off of him, and just as Bane tries to charge at him again, a stun bolt strikes him, and he collapses to the floor.
Anakin looks up, half-expecting to see Fisto standing there again, but this time it's Padme who's holding the blaster. "We'd better call security," Padme declares as Anakin stands up, glancing up at the railing to see Fisto and Yoda peeking down watching. So much for staying safely away. Not that he really expected them to listen.
***
This better work. If it doesn't, Obi-Wan has no idea what he's going to do now. And maybe he should wait for Anakin and Ahsoka to get back with the others, but at the same time it might be safer to only try it on Windu and Depa first. So, he does, hoping that what the holocron he found said about this kind of thing is accurate. (Also, it was good to know from reading the information on that hologram that ancient Sith skilled in dark magic could do things like this, but really he hopes he'll never have to deal with it again.)
There's a surge in the Force, and blinding flash of light fills the room. When it fades, a fully grown Windu and Depa are lying on the floor of the Council chamber. Obi-Wan lets out a sigh of relief. It worked.
Both of them sit up, looking around, seeming a little disoriented. "Master Kenobi? What's going on?" asks Depa. Umm... oh no. They better remember what happened because there's no way he wants to have to explain.
"You remember what the orb did, right?" he asks awkwardly.
"Yes, I do," Windu says, and Obi-Wan could swear he hears a hint of embarrassment in his voice, "Now where are the others? We need to finish... rectifying the situation. There's important Council matters to attend to."
Final Notes: If you want to join our Discord to receive updates or just hang out, here's the invite link, and please delete the spaces! :) discord . gg / nqSxuz2
We also have a tumblr account (and delete the spaces): fanfictasia . tumblr . com
And! We have a YT channel for tributes! Please delete the spaces in the link. :D youtube . com / channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA
Finally, if you're interested, you can submit a SW gift fic request via the following form (delete the spaces): forms . gle / rmXWtRomMMaULuPa6