Klink

"To victory." Aang said as the trio pushed their cups together.

"To victory." Exar and Jo agreed before taking a sip of their non-alcoholic drinks.

"Even after all we went through, we still manage to come out on top." Exar said.

"At what cost?" Jo asked quietly.

"Well," Aang and Exar looked at each other. "I'm unaware of a 'cost', but we've almost achieved galaxy-wide peace."

        "We were like brothers when we started this journey; but recently, I noticed we've been falling apart. Exar knew of the existence of the sith, yet kept it from us and caused our trust in him to be shaken; now, my trust in you guys has been shaken. The things you've done without me, all these... times off you've had, while I had to stay behind. To be honest, I think you guys don't want to be around me as much. I'd like to know why."

...

"We were different." Exar started. "All that, was before we started going through these life-changing experiences. We weren't as selfless as I think we are now; today, we wouldn't consider going without you."

"That's... a little encouraging. But Aang," He turned to Aang, "What the heck man? I thought you of all people would remember. You're like, seventy years old."

"As smart as I seem, my mind isn't what it used to be." Aang shrugged with a softened -yet slightly saddened- expression on his face.

"At least your skills haven't corroded." Jo mumbled.

The trio finished their drinks and started to leave, but were stopped when Aang's wrist comm buzzed. He looked down to see a message on it.

"It's Master Viran. He wrote, 'Check out the news. Channel 8.' "

Suddenly suspicious, the team slowy made their way back inside the bar and approached the counter.

"Jho." Aang called.

"Aang. What's up?" Jho III asked.

"Could you turn on the news on Channel 8 please?" Aang asked.

"News, huh? Sure." Jho pressed a button underneath the counter, which then turned on the TV.

On the monitor, they saw a news man against a wall, seemingly hiding from something. And whatever it was, the team thought it was loud.

"The storm here is building up, the sky has darkened, and lightning is spewing everywhere-"

"Where is this?" Exar asked suddenly.

"It says... a city away." Jho replied.

        Exar looked outside and saw a clear blue sky, with no clouds. Confused, he looked back at the screen and saw the camera turning to face the crux of the storm. There, the team recoiled as they saw a tornado-like pillar of black clouds. It reached up to the sky, and touched the ground, from what they could see (it was in a spaceport). Lightning was spewing from the pillar in no specific direction or pattern; as if it wasn't bad enough, fireballs began to rain down from the dark sky with the lightning.

"What is this?" Aang asked quietly.

To their convenience, two big, distinct yellow flames opened up, like a pair of awakening eyes.

"Erk." The team mumbled.

        "Citizens of Lothal." Erk's voice boomed loudly, creating a buzzing sound on the TV as he spoke. "Your lives are in your own hands; I am on a mission to retrieve three individuals. One, a human cyborg; one, a Besalisk; and the third, a Zabrak. They will be seen together, so it shouldn't be too hard for you. You have until dawn, tomorrow to give them over. In case the said team is watching, I have one warning: come alone." Then the TV went black.

...

"Are we going to ignore the fact that Erk just shut off the TV from who-knows-how-far away?" Jo asked.

"You know him?" Jho asked.

"Yes. We've encountered him a few times. In fact," Aang said, putting an arm around Exar, "Exar here knows him." Aang said with an obviously unhappy tone. "And an awful lot about him as well."

"Oh. Well you two should get going, if you are to... save us. From what though?" Jho said.

"We're not sticking around to find out. Let's go, guys." Aang said as the three started their way out; Exar let Viran know where they were going, and that they needed him.

"Erk said he wants us alone." Aang said, noticing Exar's action.

"We're not going to be able to beat them alone."

"Exar! We've been over this; by the way, we've- did you say 'them?' " Aang cut himself off.

---

Exar contacted Viran so he could personally give him some extra details. "I know those signature powers anywhere; this is too coincidental to be an inconvenient storm."

        "For real kid, there's no way anyone wouldn't believe you. Of course, there'd be people to call you crazy and what not, but it was caught on the only galaxy-wide channel, and there's no way some kind of elemental cluster could happen just like that. Who are the people you say are with Erk?" Viran asked.

"Well, back in the day, Erk and I were partners. In our highlight, two new students entered our secret academy. One female; one male. One goes by the name Sabby Lomax. Her ability involves fire."

"What is it with abilities and powers?" Viran asked out of curiosity.

        "It does seem confusing. When we expand our knowledge of the force -only very few can do this- we can influence the force to conjur an element at our will. The element is only discovered by your personal self. Erk is, or was, the stealthy type; that's why his ability is to disappear in a puff of dark smoke. He can blend in with any shadow, and can even disappear at will."

"Interesting. Go on."

"When provoked to the limit by an enemy, Sabby can get a little 'fiery' tempered. She especially doesn't like when her friends are threatened."

"Now I'm more curious."

"You and me both. The other associate is called Jay Feara. I don't know that much about him, except that his power involves lightning."

"Right now, we don't have time for a memory jog. I'm heading down there as we speak. Wait for me there."

"I'm thinking we should head on over there, and we'll meet there in the middle of the battle."

"That's a terribe idea."

"I know, I was being sarcastic."

"Okay, just stay, there."

---

Bennar and Calista sent a transmission invite to the Chancellor and awaited a response; they bode in their room for their private meeting. The radio-like transmitter buzzed for a moment before the signal went through.

"I have urgent matters to attend to. I hope this is worth my time." A disguised voice said

"This is Governor Bennar Calfan. I'm here on an urgent matte-"

"Who is with you?" The voice asked.

"Uh- oh. This is my wife, Lieutenant Governor Calista. As I was saying, I'm here on an urgent matter. This new, Imperial-like threat has declared war on-"

"I'm well aware of what's going on."

"Y-you are?"

"What kind of Chancellor would that make me if I wasn't?"

"That's a good point." Calista mumbled.

"We need to create a powerful army to put up against the growing threat." Bennar said.

"Governor," The voice sighed. "Whatever happens, just assume I'm already on the case."

"Well what's going on?" Bennar asked.

"I communicated with a friend of yours, Master Erickson, and we both agreed to produce another clone army from his son, Brett."

"How did that fare with his wife?"

"She's actually supervising here. Once we're done, we'll bring the army to Coruscant to prepare for attack."

"Prepare for attack? Where?"

"All in good time, Governor. Now I must resume my work."

"Yes, Chancellor. One more question." Bennar said.

"Yes?"

"Where is the army being produced?"

"Kamino."

"Exellency, that is a dangerous place to be. The sith are bent on keeping that planet under-"

"I'm aware, Governor Calfan. Remember the reason I'm the Chancellor." Then the transmission ended.

"We must make preparations, Calista." Bennar said, getting up. Calista grabbed his arm and pulled herself up.

"It's a shame we can't have more time together since you got back. This new war may separate us."

        Bennar turned and embraced his wife. "I understand, Calista. I sincerely wish we could spend more time together, but you need to understand what we're up against. I know there are more out there behind all this; with how the sith's knowledge of the force has expanded over the decades, who knows what kind of trap we may be falling into."

Calista pulled back a little and faced him, "You believe this is a trap?" She asked.

"We have many Jedi on our side; if we fall for the trap, there may be a chance at escape."

"You're losing me."

"I mean if we get trapped, and there's a chance we can escape; and we do escape, then we'll have a chance to end this feud once and for all."

"What will stop more sith from coming around?"

Bennar looked off to contemplate her question

---

The Jedi trio met up with Viran and were flying over to Erk's location. Being one city away, it didn't take long to arrive. They reached the edge of the town, but they all felt the force telling them something. Suddenly, they all felt as if a bolt of lightning had pierced them.

"EJECT!" They all simultaneously shouted into their comms before launching themselves into the air. As they looked down, they saw four seperate lightning bolts surging and going right through all their ships. The ships were descending into a glide; they ended up flying over and past Erk, who witnessed the descent.

The Jedi used the force to break their fall, and they all landed in one piece. As they recovered, they saw a helping of twenty-to-thirty stormtroopers aiming their guns at them.

"Don't move!" One of them shouted.

"Oh please." Jo mumbled before igniting his lightwhips and spinning them around with a surprising speed. 'Perk of having non-organic arms.' Jo thought to himself, grinning. The stormtroopers started firing.

---

Erk heard the sound of blaster fire, then said, "Oh they survived the crash. How pleasing." He ended sarcastically.

---

Jo deflected every laser bolt that was aimed at him, while the team and Viran deflected less aimed at them. "You know what? I like the other thing better." Jo said, unigniting his lightwhips and disconnecting his arm compartments, activating their drone mode.

        The six drones speedily occupied several stormtroopers, leaving Jo with only a few. Jo was careful to be speedy, not forgetting that they're clones. The unoccupied stormtroopers started blasting at Jo, while Jo was charging and dodging. Jo then barrel-roll flipped into the air and kicked -with his robot leg- an approaching bullet back at its shooter. Jo landed then launched himself, head-on to the last stormtroopers and kicked them out from under their feet swiftly.

        Not having very strong armor, the troopers got the wind knocked out of them when they landed. Jo then stood over them, saying, "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay down." The troopers raised their hands in surrender as Jo's arms returned to him. Jo looked over and saw every other trooper dead on the ground.

The team caught up with him, and Viran asked, "Might I inquire how kicking a laser is possible?"

"Hey, it ain't just my arms and half my head." Jo shrugged. "Now shall we?" He motioned to the door of the spaceport.

"We shall." Viran said, stepping towards the door. The team followed him, but Exar lingered.

Exar looked at the couple of stormtroopers still alive on the ground, their hands still up beside their heads.

---

"Exar, you coming?" Aang asked, turning around. Exar was already right behind him.

"I'm right here, dude." Exar said, walking along with them. They opened the door and entered the spaceport. Exar looked back again at the now lifeless troopers on the ground.

"Well this is certainly the place we saw. There's a big scorch mark on the ground." Jo pointed out the black spot on the ground.

"Well well!" Erk's voice shouted. The team saw him exit from the shadows and ignite his black lightsaber. "So glad you could join us." He said as three other figures stepped from the shadows.