Ezra's POV

Walking alone in a dark cave without any weapons and only a tiny force crystal for light can really creep a person out. I had to force myself not to turn around and go straight back to those mushrooms.

A force crystal barely gives enough light to see by. You can't even see your feet while you're walking. That's why I was caught completely off guard when my foot came down on nothing and I tumbled headfirst into a dark pit.

Luckily the pit wasn't very deep and it wasn't a very steep slope. I kept a tight hold on my force crystal as I fell and closed my eyes. Before long I came to a stop on the stony ground. I stood up and walked back towards the wall I had tumbled down. It was a more or less gradual slope, so I would be able to climb back up pretty easily. Instead, I turned back around and started walking in the direction I had been walking before I fell.

The ground was soft here. I bent down and felt the ground. It was covered with a small layer of dirt, which surprised me. Most of the cave so far hadn't had any dirt. Maybe the exit was nearby.

I hurried forward slightly faster. If the exit was nearby, I wanted to get there sooner rather than later.

Something large appeared suddenly out of the darkness. I stumbled back a step or two before realizing that it was the ruins of a ship. I walked around it, examining it.

It was a really old style. I recognized it from holograms I had seen. It was a Republic Gunship, from the days of the Clone Wars. It had been shot down and now was missing one of its wings.

I went inside, hoping that it would be possible to turn on the ship and fly out of here, but it was damaged beyond repair.

I started salvaging for any materials I could use. There were a few old clone trooper helmets and bits of armor, but otherwise no sign of life. I took a small grapple gun and a few tiny ammunition canisters from a cabinet before continuing in my search. I opened the control panel and started pulling out wires and bits of metal that I could use to repair my lightsaber. I even found an old fashioned welding torch which I used to melt the metal together.

When I was getting close to finishing, I realized that I didn't have a power cell. My old one was black and was shooting out small sparks. I didn't know how I felt about using it. It was still working, sort of. But without a replacement it would have to do. I cleaned off the soot and gave it a few new wires.

When I was pleased with the repairs (more or less) I put the force crystal back inside. I held my breath, wished for luck, and activated it. For a moment nothing happened. Then the bright blue blade flickered and appeared completely. The lightsaber blade offered a lot more light than the force crystal, and now I could see a good distance around me. Even though the lightsaber was working, I wasn't yet willing to try to use the blaster setting. I didn't trust that power cell enough.

"The most advanced technological weapon in the universe can also be used as a glowstick," I said to myself.

I exited the gunship and nearly jumped out of my skin. With the added light of my lightsaber, I could finally see what was around the gunship.

Dead clones were lying on the ground. I could tell because they were wearing their armor. Some of them had blaster marks on their helmets or chest plates. A few broken battle droids were scattered farther away. This was a battleground.

"They're just bodies. Bodies can't hurt you," I said as I forced myself to walk past them. Something about being trapped in a dark cave made dead people a lot creepier than normal. I swore to myself that I would never tell Zeb how scared I was down here. He didn't need to know, and he would never let me live it down.

I headed away from the gunship. Before long I came to an upwards slope. I scrambled up, making sure not to stab myself with the lightsaber as I did.

I continued walking. Before long I could see a speck of dim light high above. I hurried forward eagerly. I was finally coming towards the exit!

I reached a yellow mushroom forest and pushed my way through. Some of the mushrooms had already been crushed. I reached a gap in the mushrooms where the dim light was directly overhead. The mushrooms here had been crushed by some powerful force. It seemed very familiar.

I had turned around when leaving the gunship and come all the way back to  where I had started. All of that hard work had been for nothing.

Well, not totally for nothing, I thought, looking at the miniature grapple gun that I had taken from the gunship.