Rex groaned low under his breath, feeling tight cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Opening his eyes, he saw he was chained to a wall. Looking further, he saw that he was in the same room where the Commander was being held, along with Fives and Kix. 'Any of the others awake yet?'
Ahsoka tipped her head to look over at Rex. 'No. But I only woke up a few moments ago.'
Both quietly looked around, trying to assess the situation they were in before the last two started to wake.
"I see we're all awake."
Rex turned and looked over at the figure that walked into the room. They almost looked like a frog.
"What was the aim of kidnapping us?" Ahsoka asked.
"You can get us whatever we want!" The frogman said. "You'll fetch a pretty credit on the market."
Rex stayed silent, watching as the others swore and tried to get them released. He knew it wouldn't work, and they'll be fighting their way out.
-----
Cody hissed, reaching for his comm as it went off.
Obi-Wan snatched up the comm. "You are not to be doing any work; you got shot."
"It was a glancing blow at best; it hardly got my ribs," Cody muttered before holding his hand out to Obi-Wan, "anyway, that wasn't a work notification; the alert sequence was wrong."
Obi-Wan sighed before handing over the comm. "You're meant to be on bed rest, remember."
"I'm in bed," Cody said, motioning to the cot he was resting on. He opened up the message sent through, feeling his blood drain from him.
"Cody?" Obi-Wan asked, leaning forward as Cody went stark white, his signature shrivelled in fear.
"Rex has been kidnapped," Cody whispered, "Commander Tano, Rex, Fives and Kix disappeared post-battle. There are signs of a struggle in their last known location. The area has been checked, and they cannot be located."
"Have they received any word from their presumed kidnappers?" Obi-Wan asked, staring at Cody.
"No," Cody said, "they're scouring the planet, but there are no signs of them."
-----
"That one's stayed silent," one of the frogmen pointed out, "something to share, clone?"
Rex watched as the one that spoke approached and reached for his jaw. Seconds before, he snapped his jaw open, digging his teeth into the frog's wrist, feeling the burn in his jaw soothe.
He let go, watching the person stagger back, clutching his wrist, green blood oozing between their fingers. Rex could feel that same blood dripping down his chin.
"What was that?!" The frogman shouted, glaring at the other, "I thought you said they were human!"
"They're clones; they're human," the other said, "maybe he's a bitey human?"
The first frogman shoved his hand into the face of the other, "I have puncher wounds!"
The other shrugged, "they have teeth. Remember, mammals are strange."
Fives stared at Rex in confusion; the Captain was staring at the frog person he bit in a way it almost looked like he was waiting for something to happen.
-----
Obi-Wan was startled to his feet, "what are you doing?"
"I need to help," Cody said, hiding his pain as he untucked himself from the covers and swung his leg over the cot's edge.
"No, you don't," Obi-Wan said, holding onto Cody's shoulder to stop him from getting up, "you need to rest."
"He is my vod'ika," Cody growled, "let me help."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened as Cody's eyes flashed gold, "you'll do more help by resting and getting healthy again."
"Let me go."
-----
"I don't feel so good," the injured one said, holding their head moments before their legs gave way beneath them — their breaths coming in significant coughs.
-----
The hanger came to a standstill as the Commander marched into the hanger. The General shortly behind.
"Disable all starfighters," Obi-Wan ordered.
"Sir?"
"Do it," Obi-Wan said sharply, watching Cody turn to face him, teeth-bared. "Don't do this."
"He is my vod'ika," Cody said, clenching his hands.
"And you're meant to be on bed rest."
"And now I'm standing," Cody huffed. He looked up, noticing that the hanger was open.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he realised what Cody was looking at. "Cody, don't do this," he said, staring at Cody, "we're in space."
There was a flash of movement; two gunships were flattened as a ball of blue and gold crashed into them.
Obi-Wan pinned Cody to the floor, holding him down by his chest. Cody growled, moving his head to find it partially restricted by a hand holding a chunk of his neck to the broken ship.
The vode were silent, backing away from the two giant dragons as the growls filled the air. The red warning light and alarms were almost drowned out.
"Don't do this," Obi-Wan warned, hearing Cody's growls increase, his eyes almost shining, "don't make me do this."
"He is my vod'ika," Cody growled. "Mine."
"And so is Ahsoka," Obi-Wan stated sharply, using more weight to pin Cody in place.
"Then let me go," Cody said. Trying to struggle free. "You know what the instincts are trying."
"The instincts are trying to keep you safe," Obi-Wan growled before increasing pressure on Cody, holding him to the floor. Obi-Wan snarled, shifting to stare at Cody's face, "you're mine!"
-----
"You, you did this!" The other said once the first stopped breathing. Only when he turned, the clone was gone — their restraints still in place.
-----
Cody went still, looking up at Obi-Wan with wide eyes.
"You are mine," Obi-Wan said, lowering his head to look Cody directly in the eyes, "my instincts want you safe, want to keep you here, where I can protect you."
"I don't need protecting."
"But you do," Obi-Wan said, spotting the black scorch marks across Cody's gold scales, decreasing the pressure he was restraining him, "I wasn't protecting you, and you got hurt. I left your side, and you got shot."
Cody took a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he continued to look at Obi-Wan. "That wasn't your fault."
"I wasn't by your side when you needed me," Obi-Wan said, his voice coming down to an almost whisper, "stay here, where I can keep you safe. Let me protect you, please."
The vode were silent as they watched their commanding officers fight, their grumbles and growls echoing around them.
"Rex is mine," Cody whispered, "I left him, and now he is gone. He could be bleeding out or, worse, dead. Please, let me find him; let me protect him."
Obi-Wan looked down at Cody. "But if I allow that, then how can I protect you? You're hurt; heal first. Rex would rather you heal than push yourself and cause permanent damage."
The vode watched as the two dragons went silent, staring at each other. The alarm cut off, finally getting disabled, causing the room to become deafeningly silent.
Obi-Wan released Cody, stepping back and watching the others slowly reach their feet.
Cody looked at Obi-Wan, seeing the dragon staring at him carefully. "I'm sorry," he whispered before taking flight out of the hangar.
"Cody!" Obi-Wan shouted, reacting too slowly as the gold dragon disappeared into space. He shot up, trying to catch up to Cody, only to shoot out into open space, with only himself and the Negotiator in sight. "Cody!" He roared, even knowing the sound wouldn't carry.
Cody hovered closer, noticing that Obi-Wan's eyes brushed over him, not seeing him. He stayed for a second, watching Obi-Wan's mouth open in what looked like a shout before flying off.
-----
Ahsoka watched Rex jump at the other, mouth wide, to reveal his fangs and teeth.
Rex jumped, biting hard into the man's neck. Jumping back, he crouched, ensuring they could not reach the others.
Echo watched as the skin flaps around Rex's neck spread, revealing a large hood.
"He's like a cobra!" Fives exclaimed.
Rex noticed one of them reaching for their weapon.
-----
Cody slowed, staring at the planet ahead. It had Rex on it; he just knew it. Flying quickly, he landed on the marshy land, mud splattering up his body.
His body felt on full alert, jittering the same way a stim made him. The place was rotten, half mouldy logs in muddy waters, the smells filling his nose instantly.
He scanned the tops of the trees, trying to find anything that looked odd, like it didn't belong. He almost started to look lower when he felt the wind change, the smell of burning filling his nose. Quickly turning, he looked closer, trying to find the source of the scent, before seeing small billows of black smoke in the far distance.
Cody returned to the air, quickly covering the distance and noticing that it was the 501st doing the last mission clean up. He promptly landed, making sure not to crush anything or anyone. He heard the shouts of surprise and different vode darting behind their cover.
Anakin stared up at the giant gold dragon in shock; last he heard, the 212th was deep in space. He looked at Echo, "was Commander Cody meant to turn up?"
"No, sir," Echo said, staring as the giant dragon seemed to scan through the camp before scanning around above the top of the tree line. "You're as surprised as we are. The 212th was last recorded over 5AU away from this planet."
"Then how is he here?" Anakin asked.
"I have no idea," Echo said, "but he looks angry, like the first time he appeared in dragon form, like he—"
"—like he knows Rex has disappeared," Anakin whispered.
-----
Ahsoka watched as Rex sprayed a black substance, some landing in the frogman's eyes, resulting in them falling to the floor screaming. "A spitting cobra," she corrected. Quickly, she followed Rex's idea, shifting into her dragon form and quickly slipping out of her restraints.
The remaining frogman let out an ear-piercing scream before collapsing.
"Ow," Rex said, shifting back to his human form.
Ahsoka nodded, changing back to her human form. She searched the bodies until she found what looked to be keys. She grinned, quickly running over and freeing the locked-up vode. "Ready to get out of here?"
Fives grinned. "Always."
-----
Anakin watched as Cody's ears flicked, his force presence snapping into sharp focus and fury.
Cody snarled, hearing the strange scream echoing around his head. He launched into the air, following and landing where he thought the cry came from.
He scanned around, not finding anything different except a larger body of water than the muddy puddles he was standing in. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out what was around him, before snarling again when he recognised the smell he'd started to associate with his vode.
He looked around closer, trying to locate where they were, snorting as he only found their smell close to the ground but not a trail he could follow. Just as he was about to look back up and around, he thought he heard someone speaking, his ears twitching as he recognised the tone of Commander Tano's voice.
Cody lowered his head, hearing a muffled reply and smelling their scent even closer. He growled, realising why there was no trail to follow.
-----
Ahsoka peaked around the door, spotting that the hallway was clear. She signalled to the others that it was clear, and they followed her into the corridor.
"Any idea where to go?" Fives asked.
Rex looked down in both directions, moving away from the others until he could look down both sides without looking around his vode. "That way," Rex said, "the air smells cleaner."
Kix eyed up Rex. "Your sense of smell has increased?"
Fives sniggered as Rex froze.
"Surprise?" Rex offered sheepishly, "I did think you already knew." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously at the look he got.
-----
Cody looked around, his tail swinging around and uprooting multiple trees around him. He tried to locate a secret entrance and was half tempted to start digging, but he didn't want to risk berrying his vod alive.
He sniffed, smelling something that somehow felt slimy in his nostrils, and looking, he saw some frog-like men running at him with staffs. He growled, realising this was likely the people that kidnapped Rex and Ahsoka.
-----
Rex slowly led the group down the corridor, finding it went up and around, almost atop the room they were locked away in. The air felt much cleaner, so he hoped they were going in the correct direction as they continued.
"Do you hear that?" Ahsoka asked, looking up at the roof.
Rex tried to strain his ears but couldn't hear, "no." He frowned as Ahsoka continued to look up. Taking a gamble, he shifted into dragon form. Suddenly the sounds of crashing and trees breaking filled his ears. He shifted back, eyes wide, "I heard it then."
"Heard what?" Kix asked.
"There is something, very angry, tearing things apart up there," Rex said.
"Whatever it is, it is large," Ahsoka added, "huge even."
They all jumped as suddenly bells started to ring in the wall.
"Do you think they have discovered we have escaped?" Fives asked.
"Beast above land, all hands to protect the base!"
Rex's eyebrows shot up. "No, but they are reacting to what is happening above. We could likely escape easier now."
"The place does seem more empty, although this world is still muffling my capacity to read life forms," Ahsoka nodded, "we should be able to get through without detection."
-----
"Sir!" Echo shouted, "a section of the forest looks to have burst into flames! It is in the direction that Commander Cody disappeared in."
Anakin looked over at Echo, glancing over the datapad report. "Prepare a gunship; we'll go investigate."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
-----
Anakin's eyes widened as they came into view of the location. Trees were on fire; even some were knocked completely down. And in the middle, Cody spewed fire from his mouth towards something on the ground.
He waited until they were closer before jumping from the gunship, hearing the others follow with their jet packs.
-----
Cody roared as they continued to attack him. He felt his chest heating again and released the spew of plasma towards the attackers.
He continued, even as the 501st appeared, assisting in taking down the frogmen. He scanned the forest floor, spotting an opening the attackers were coming out of. He crouched above, scratching at the ground, flinging the attackers away as they went to poke him with their staffs. Now the tunnel system was open; he was able to sniff down it directly, smelling the earthiness of Commander Tano and Rex down the tunnel system.
Anakin watched as Cody dug, revealing an underground tunnel. The fire was shining so bright against Cody's gold scales that he almost missed when Ahsoka poked her head out of the tunnel if it wasn't for the way Cody shifted to start protecting the tunnel.
Ahsoka's eyes went wide as she saw the destruction that was the surface land. There was fire everywhere, and they were standing underneath the golden scales of Cody, who was spewing the fire from his mouth.
Rex's eyes went as wide as Ahsoka's. It was total devastation like multiple flame bombs had gone off. He was surprised to see Cody standing above them; he was meant to be on bed rest with the rest of the 212th.
Even when the frogmen were all defeated, Cody stayed defensive, hardly letting the 501st get close to Rex and Ahsoka. The vode watched with baited breaths as the gold dragon looked up towards the sky.
The ground shook as a blue dragon landed hard into the muddy pool, sending brown water into the air around them, dousing out a lot of the fire. The vode's mouths dropped wide as they watched General Kenobi approach Cody without being growled at by the defensive gold dragon.
Obi-Wan approached Cody, seeing the golden dragon standing over Ahsoka and Rex, and the 501st was a reasonable distance away. He sighed, realising Cody might still be stuck in his instincts. He was cautious as he approached, not knowing whether Cody would allow him close. If the fire and smoke surrounding them was anything, then Cody suddenly learned he could breathe fire. "Cody, you found them, let the medics check them over," he said, watching as Cody didn't move away, but didn't try to stop him from getting closer.
Cody watched silently as Obi-Wan approached. He felt part of his instinct calming now that he knew Obi-Wan was fine from his trip in space and that he had more protection over both Rex and Ahsoka. His tail twitched nervously as Obi-Wan approached, not making it clear whether he was angry about him running off like that.
"They're safe now," Obi-Wan whispered. "Let me see, I need to know if you pulled on your wound during space flight," he said, motioning to where the injury should be.
Cody frowned; his side didn't hurt, not like it should do for straining the muscle that much. He lifted his wing from the floor and from sheltering Rex and Ahsoka, revealing what should have been black but was instead a shining orangy gold.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he saw that Cody's side was unblemished. "It healed?" He whispered, running his hand across Cody's side, hearing the medics run towards Ahsoka and Rex. As Cody started to growl, he shifted his talons, pushing at Cody until they had moved enough that Ahsoka and Rex were underneath him where the medics could get to them.
The vode watched, confused at the interactions and how General Kenobi and Cody were on the planet instead of in the middle of space. Anakin watched silently, wanting the shift and understand what was being said but not wanting to break the two's privacy.
Rex and Ahsoka realised that, somehow, they were part of the reason for the strange behaviour and interactions between the two dragons. They didn't know how they were, but it was clear that Cody wasn't happy letting anyone but himself and General Kenobi near them.
Cody dug his claws into the soft ground, tail thrashing side-to-side unhappily as they looked over the two. He stumbled as Obi-Wan shoved him, staring at the blue dragon. He stumbled back again as Obi-Wan pushed him again.
"They are safe now," Obi-Wan said, "you do not need to shield them from their vode." Obi-Wan stood, watching Cody slowly calm down, and his eyes lost their glowing edge. Taking a deep breath, he shifted, knowing Cody wouldn't do the same due to his lack of armour.
"What are you doing here?" Anakin asked once Obi-Wan was human again.
"Cody received a transmission that Rex had been kidnapped without a trace, and due to being injured, his instincts took over hard enough to fight me and fly through open space in what must have been quicker than hyperspeed due to how fast he got here and how he disappeared the moment he entered the open space," Obi-Wan explained, "my instincts took over after watching an injured Cody disappear, and I flew through open space to reach him."
"You're injured?" Rex asked, looking up at Cody.
Cody rolled his eyes; he could hardly explain to Rex in this form. He nudged him, careful not to knock him over.
Rex took the hint and shifted.
"He got shot in the chest; luckily, it hit nothing major. Hence him not being in armour and shifting back," Obi-Wan explained.
Cody huffed. "It was a glancing blow at most."
Rex's eyes went wide. "You got shot in the chest?" He asked. "Why are you not on bed rest?" He got shot in the chest before, which took him out of action; he was hardly able to get out of the cot for hours, let alone fight his General.
Cody rolled his eyes. "I told you, a glancing blow hardly got my ribs," Cody said, "nothing like how yours was." He knew what Rex was thinking about, and Rex's injury was nothing like his. "Besides, it has healed now."
"Where is the 212th now?" Ahsoka asked. "Surely they'll be here by now?"
Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head. "Our engines took a beating last battle, and The Negotiator cannot jump into hyper speed."
"How are you making it back?" Anakin asked. "Our hanger has not been adjusted to fit a giant golden dragon."
Obi-Wan glanced at Cody before turning to look back at Anakin. "We'll fly," Obi-Wan shrugged, "we made one space journey; we'll be able to make another. Besides, not sure how Cody will react."
Cody narrowed his eyed, bumping Obi-Wan with his snout. "I heard that."
Obi-Wan chuckled. "Good to see you're starting to be able to retake control." He patted Cody's head, stumbling as Cody huffed in his face. "We best get going and leave you to clean up," Obi-Wan grinned, shifting before Anakin could argue. He walked back into the water before jumping and retaking flight, heading straight up.
Cody watched Obi-Wan head up into the sky, slowly growing smaller. He nudged Rex once more before walking out into the large puddle. He crouched, opening his wings before launching himself up into the air. He shot up before suddenly stopping as he heard a yelp. Looking down, he saw that Rex had been thrown from his talons but was waving him on anyway. He continued up after Obi-Wan.
Anakin spat out the water that was in his mouth. "I don't think we have to worry about the fires anymore," he said as he stared at the empty lake.
Obi-Wan barely had a second between hearing Cody launch up and the golden dragon flying next to him. As they breached into space, Obi-Wan felt his chest tighten as he could no longer pull any more oxygen in.
Cody frowned as Obi-Wan paused. He looked over at the blue dragon as they shook before continuing.
Obi-Wan decided to ignore the sensation and see if it would disappear. As they continued to fly out, he watched as Cody slowly started to fade the further they got out into open space. 'You're invisible.' Obi-Wan stared, eyes wide in wonder.
Cody frowned, looking at Obi-Wan. 'What do you mean?' If he looked back, he could still see his golden scales.
'You disappear the further we get out.' Obi-Wan reached towards Cody, only grasping at space.
Cody frowned as Obi-Wan reached for about a meter above his tail. He brushed his wing against the blue dragon's wing, watching as Obi-Wan nearly jumped out of his scales in fright. 'Interesting that I disappear.'
'Space must be your environment!' Obi-Wan's eyes widened further. It was so cool that Cody was designed for space of all places.
'I doubt that.' Cody snorted, frowning at the feeling of nothing coming back into his chest after pushing out all that air. 'Besides back to the ship, then geek out about dragon habitats.'
Obi-Wan threw a look at Cody before shaking his head and speeding up so that they caught up to The Negotiator quickly.
Cody easly matched Obi-Wan's pace, almost wishing that the blue dragon would speed up.
-----
Anakin stared at the returned men and Ahsoka, "how did you get yourself free, or did the Commander's little show cause enough of a distraction?"
"Rex's has venom!" Fives grinned.
"He has what?!" Anakin shouted.
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