What if the four Padawans met Sora before Order 66? What would happen?
Genre: Comedy
There was an unbreakable bond of friendship and trust between four kids of opposing ages. It was built upon long hours of training and playing together ever since they could count from one to two hundred. The bonds strengthened them as a team, making them virtually unbreakable and unmovable. When they fought together, it was like a hailstorm of destruction. When they fought against each other, the fights usually lasted longer and more intense than most Padawans.
Jaskia was the older of the four. At ten years of age, she had passed into Team Eight by pure skill. She was one of the most advanced students at the Temple, and stood out like bread on a bird. Her spiky blue hair usually impressed the younger students and succeeded in making them jealous. She was truly great, but she had a problem: no one wanted her as an apprentice.
Nait had his heart set on becoming the best Jedi in the Galaxy ever since he was five and saw Obi-Wan Kenobi fight. To his mind, Obi-Wan was just a blur of motion, an extension of his weapon. Nait struggled to be like that, but he was also hard-headed. He was an attention-seeker, desperate for a Master. Giving a bat to Mace Windu for his birthday was not the best way.
Naos’ hair was like hay, as Jaskia had clearly pointed out. Naos enjoyed roaming the place with Nait, sneaking into restricted parts of the Temple. He made it his business to know
every part of the Temple, locked or not. He learned to hack into computers (at a very small degree) and fool around with security cameras. He was the technical person of the group. And, of course, he horsed around. A lot.
Scout, the youngest, was the most pragmatic of the group. She had the stronger connection to the Force, and seemed so
loveable. She packed a nasty punch with those big blue eyes of hers, and she was extremely well coordinated. She usually tagged around with her only friends Nait, Naos, and Jaskia. She, like them, had no Master.
So there were the four of them, the terrors of the Temple. Ten-year-old Jaskia, seven-year-old Nait, six-year-old Naos, and five-year-old Scout. If they were any older or smarter, they would destroy the Temple in two hours tops. They were known as the “Fearsome Foursome.” The Masters on the Council predicted them to have their opponent’s shaking in their boots when they were older.
Jedi Knights would often talk about the antics of the Fearsome Foursome. About how Nait jumped on the table during lunch one day, how Naos rigged the serving droid to serve dessert instead, how Jaskia tricked Anakin Skywalker under a door to poor water all over him. Yoda, of course, was kept very busy. And everyone had heard about the time Scout had filled the swimming pool with blue hair dye.
Laughter could be heard in the hallway as a group of children were being led to the dining hall by a Jedi Knight. A little boy with black hair stepped out of line and started to walk behind a girl smaller than him. He smartly walked behind her a few paces to make sure no one suspected him of any mischief, and accessed the Force, pushing the girl in front of him to the ground. She fell with a cry of surprise and a light thud. She looked up to see who had pushed her while picking herself off of the ground. When the Knight ahead of them heard the cry echo off of the walls behind her, she turned around and began walking towards the little girl that had fallen, but before she could say anything to her, the little girl began to yell at the boy.
“Nait,” the little girl fumed. Nait just stood there laughing at his sister as she glared daggers at him. “You’re such a dork!” she said, trying to get back at him. It worked. Nait began to glare at his sister.
“Am not, Scout!” he yelled. The Knight began to move foreword again: the two had gotten into so many small fights, and she knew exactly what would happen. They would fight over who was right and who was wrong, and they could go on for hours if no one stopped them.
“Are, too!” Scout shouted.
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too, are too, are too!”
“Am not, am not, am not!”
“Are TOO!”
“Am NOT!”
Are TO-“
“Alright, you two, what happened?” The Knight realized her problem right away when they both began to talk at the same time. “Wait.” She stopped them with her hand. “Okay, Scout, you go first.” And so Scout told her what happened, her vocabulary surprisingly accurate for a five-year-old. Then Nait told her from his point of view. Knight Clee Rhara bowed her head to think of a judgement, and she finally looked Nait and Scout in the eye.
“Okay, first of all, Nait, you should not have pushed Scout, and Scout: You shouldn’t have called Nait a name.” They both lowered their heads in shame. “Now I want you both to say you’re sorry,” she said in a firm voice. They nodded their heads and faced each other.
“I’m sorry, brother,” said Scout in a sincere voice.
“I’m sorry, Scout.”
“Now,” said Clee Rhara, “let’s get to the dining hall so we don’t miss lunch.”
--
It was a beautiful day on Coruscant, so Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker decided to take some of the students to one of the large parks near the Temple. For the younger students, getting out of the Temple was a rare thing. Naos and Nait were talking as if the day would never end. Once they were out, the kids were put in four groups: two for Obi-Wan, two for Anakin. They made the mistake of putting the “Fearsome Foursome” in Anakin’s group.
The walk to the park long and boring, but they finally made it and Obi-Wan had already given them all a lecture on staying together. The children went crazy when they were allowed outside. Anakin was sorely afraid of getting trampled to death. It was odd for the other children and people who were already there, because they had never seen the smaller versions of Jedi Knights before. It was kind of a funny sight to see small children use the Force every so often to help propel a swing higher or build a sandcastle.
“Hey Naos, over here!” Jaskia called. She was standing next to a huge slide.
“Hey, Jask!” A small human boy with blonde hair scampered over to her. “Whatcha doin’?” Naos asked in an impish voice. Jaskia smiled and gestured towards the slide.
“Wanna go down this big slide with me?” she asked, and her grin grew wider. “We could use a bit of the Force to make us go faster.” She giggled and began to walk towards the steps that would carry them to the top.
“Sure,” said Naos energetically and the climbed the stairs to the top. They stopped when they reached the enterance and looked at each other one last time before they grinned and sat down. They held hands and when they felt they were ready for some ‘Force Assistance’ they each gave a burst of power and went flying down at top speed. Everything went smoothly until the end, when they shot out of the tube and landed on Obi-Wan.
“Off,” was all he could get out, because Naos had landed on his head. They both quickly got off of the huge Jedi Knight and gave each other a look. They both apologized and ran towards the birdbath where Nait and Scout were playing, firing bursts of water at each other.
It was soon time for the children to leave and return to the Temple for the remainder of the day. They all wore long faces on the way back, but everyone was chatting with the person next to them. The Foursome was in the back, having their own little animated conversation.
“So Bruck got in trouble with Master Yoda today?”
“Yup, I heard him talking in the halls.”
Scout giggled. They had been talking for a while and began to lag behind. They didn’t realize it until Nait looked up and realized no one from their group was in front of them. He instantly stopped his conversation and began to search frantically for any signs as to where the others had gone, but not a single robed figure was in sight.
They searched everywhere and ran as fast as their legs could carry them, but to no avail. They were utterly lost in the big city of Coruscant. They, of course, didn’t know their way outside of the Temple, so they didn’t know which direction to take. Tears were streaming down Scout’s face, and Jaskia automatically picked her up and cooed to her, telling her it would be alright.
“We should ask someone,” Jaskia suggested. “Follow me, and stay with me.”
They searched all day and couldn’t find the Temple. It was close to dark, yet they didn’t know where they could go to sleep. Their small stomachs were growling by now, and even the forceful Jaskia was losing her temper. Naos had the hiccups.
“I’m s-scared,” said Scout, sucking her knuckle.
“Me, too,” said Nait. “What should we do now?”
“Um,” said Naos. “Well, I think we should find somewhere to sleep tonight and we’ll keep looking tomorrow.”
“I’ll think of something,” said Jaskia.
“Okay,” said Nait, relieved. “Let’s go in an alley and sleep.”
“Uh, NO,” said Jaskia.
--
Meanwhile, back at the Temple, Obi-Wan and Anakin searched frantically for the missing children. No trace of them. It was as if they vanished into thin air. One minute they were in line with the rest, and when they looked back, they were gone.
Obi-Wan is going to kill me was a recurring thought in Anakin’s head.
“We must inform the Council so a correct search party can be conducted,” said Obi-Wan, almost to himself.
They practically ran into the Council Chambers and told the Masters what happened. They weren’t happy, but they didn’t have time to reprimand the two on their obvious mistake at the moment. They began to notify different Jedi to start searching. After a few minutes, Jedi piled in the Council Chambers so they could be briefed.
While the Council briefed them on the search, Anakin was having a mental chat with his very unhappy Master.
“Jaskia, Nait, Scout, and Naos, their names are,” Yoda informed them. “Find them quickly, you should.”
--
They ended up going in the alley anyway. No sooner had they entered, however, a large old man stepped out from behind a trash dispenser, shouting at them.
“GET OUT OF MY HOME! I’LL GET YOU DAMNED KIDS THIS TIME!” They screamed as the older man started swinging a stick at them, as if he were half-blind and half-deaf. Jaskia was the one to step out and Force Push the man back.
They all ran about a block away, scared out of their wits. “I’ve seen crazy people like that in movies,” Scout clarified as Jaskia set her back down to the ground. “They do funny things like run into walls and hit themselves.” Nait looked at Scout as if she were lying.
“Yeah, right,” he sneered. “Like you’ve seen a movie like that.”
Scout glared at him. “I have! Me and Kino snuck out of bed and saw Master Clee watching it. The man started shouting about squirrels!”
Nait continued to stare at her, but finally gave up. Naos held Scout’s hand tightly and kept her close. “I’ll protect you, Scout,” he clarified.
Scout rolled her eyes.
They continued down the street, scared out of their wits by the weird people. They held each other’s hands tightly as the sky began to get darker. Jaskia pointed out a lit-up building that didn’t look half as bad as any of the others out.
“Let’s try this place,” she said, though hesitantly. She looked up to see a sign that read Didi’s Café, then pulled her three friends inside. They looked around in amazement.
“Wow.”
They were pushed by someone passing them, and Naos stuck his tongue out at it. They looked around at all the creatures in the café.
“Mister?” Scout asked, trying to get the attention of a large alien that seemed to be in control of everything, but he didn’t seem to see her. She tried a few more times before huffing irritably.
Scout tried to think about a way to get the thing’s attention, when a perfect idea came to mind. She pinched Nait’s arm.
“Ouch, that hurt!” Nait shouted at her.
“Get over it!” Scout’s voice got loud.
“You say you’re sorry!”
“Hey! You say you’re sorry!”
“No! You started it!”
“So? You continued it!”
“No I didn’t!”
“Yes you did!”
“Nuh-un.”
“Yeh-huh.”
Large arms wrapped around the two arguing siblings, startling the twins. Their eyes went big as they stared at the huge man who picked them up. “Do you two need help?” he asked. Nait gulped, and Scout continued to stare.
“Uh, can you help us?” Jaskia asked meekly, and Scout continued to stare… with her mouth open.
The man gave them a friendly sort of smile and placed the two siblings on tall stools. Jaskia and Naos moved foreword to stand next to them, with Jaskia placing a hand on Scout’s shoulder and quietly telling her to stop staring. “Well, where are you four from?” asked the stranger. He held out his hand. “I’m Sora Trok, by the way.” Jaskia shook his hand hesitantly.
“We’re from the Jedi Temple,” said Naos, smiling up at the man. He had a good feeling about him.
“We went to the park and got separated on our way back,” explained Jaskia. “Can you help us find our way back?”
Sora rubbed his chin, grinned, and said: “Yes I can, but I only have one question. Are you four hungry?” Four smiles broke out and Sora got his answer. He called to the waiter to dish them out some food, and she returned with two arms full of steaming vegetables.
“So, what, may I ask, are your names?” His smile just got bigger as they told them their names at the same time. He couldn’t help but laugh at them, but stopped when they gave him confused glances.
“Well, I’ll call the Temple and we’ll get this all sorted out,” he said. Naos yawned, and Scout went back to staring around the café.
--
Clee, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Garen had just begun the search of the ninth level when Obi-Wan’s comlink buzzed. He pulled it out with ease and turned it on. “Yes?”
”Found, the children have been. At Didi’s Café, they are.” Clee snorted as thoughts of Jaskia roughhousing with the tough guys filled her brain.
“How in the Nine Hells did they end up there?” Clee asked.
Anakin just shook his head. “Isn’t Didi’s over on ground level?”
Clee just laughed some more.
“Thank you, Master Yoda,” said Obi-Wan in his clipped Coruscanti tone. “May the Force be with you.”
--
A gruff looking man walked over and sat on the barstool next to the Fearsome Foursome, giving them a brief glance before ordering a drink. Scout looked up and stared at him with wide eyes.
Danger. Guilty. Scout shook the voice out of her head and kept staring.
“What’re looking at, kid?” Scout didn’t answer. “Don’t you know starin’ is rude?”
“Why?” Scout suddenly asked, cocking her head shrewdly.
“I dunno. Cuz it’s rude, I guess.” The man turned back to his drink.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Ask the person who made the rules of manners.”
“Why?”
“Because I obviously don’t know.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not smart: the other person is.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t get a high school education.”
“Why?”
“My sister always got the good grades. Now look what I’ve become: a wallowing baby in front of some kid who’s annoying.”
“Why?”
“Just don’t do drugs, kid,” he said. The man looked like he was going crazy, now.
“Why?”
“Because they give you imaginary friends!”
“Why?”
“I don’t know!” The man rubbed his temples.
“Why?”
“I
don’t know!”“Why?” A voice asked the man again. The man turned to look at the girl again, now starting to get angry, but realized it wasn’t the little girl who had asked this time. It was a little boy. The man made a face and his mouth opened, then he shut it and shook his head.
“I need to stop drinking,” he mumbled and stood. He threw some credits on the bar and left, shaking his head and muttering to himself.
Scout and Naos grinned.
--
Obi-Wan and Anakin were to pick up the children: Clee had to go back and make repairs to the starfighters. As they entered Didi’s Café, they almost rammed into a man who looked very confused. He looked up at them. “Er, excuse me, Master Jedis…” he said. “Those two kids…” He shivered and walked away.
Obi-Wan had a feeling he could guess who those kids were.
Sora had helped himself to another non-alcoholic drink when the Jedi had arrived. Jaskia and Nait looked up at the same time and cringed, waiting for punishment. Naos and Scout, both sitting on Sora’s lap, just stared up at the two calmly.
“Thank you for finding them,” said Obi-Wan gratefully, shaking Sora’s hand.
“No problem,” said Sora. “They’re really good.” He patted Scout’s head. She looked up at him and gave him a big toothy grin, sucking her knuckle. Obi-Wan was confused: Scout would normally detach herself or duck like when he found her in the slave auction on Ryloth. Sora had an effect on her.
“He gave us dessert!” Naos said merrily.
“Really?” said Anakin, leaning down to meet Naos eye-level. “What did you have?”
“We split
chocolate cake!” Naos said it so smugly, Obi-Wan had to smile. Clearly he didn’t know of the delicacies he had tasted under Qui-Gon’s tutorage.
“Wow, that sounds real good,” said Anakin.
“Come, everyone, it’s time to say goodbye to Mr. Trok,” Obi-Wan announced. “I’m sure he has business elsewhere.”
“Bye, sir,” said Jaskia, bowing. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Yeah,” said Nait. He waved at Sora and took his place by Obi-Wan’s side.
“Bye,” said Naos miserably as he slid off of his lap and stood next the Anakin.
Scout looked up at Sora and leaned in closer. “When I’m older,” she clarified, “I’m going to save your life lots and lots of times, and you’ll save mine. We’ll be pilots!” She grinned at Sora and put her knuckle in her mouth again.
Sora smiled at her. “Well, when that day comes, remind me to tell you that it’s too dangerous.”
“Yes sir!” said Scout, mock-saluting. Anakin picked her up and put her on his shoulders.
They left, and the only ones happy were Scout and Naos: they knew they’d see the nice man again. Together, everyone walked towards the sunset.
END