(NJO) (Meego) The Hunt

The two hunters came across a rocky dell covered in sparse grasses, a small clearing in the dark, wind-rustled boughs of the forest. One had experience, the other - well, pretty much none. Lynus didn’t know much about the young Rodian – he had only brought hot chocolate to him on a cold night once, after a session with the prickly Jedi Master Aemos – but this adventure had taught him one thing: Meego was infuriatingly clumsy. 

Personally, if the Rodian tripped and fell into the small vale, never to wake again, this hunting trip would be much easier, Lynus thought to himself as he huffed along - though he truly had no wishes for Meego to get hurt. 

The trip was long and animals were scarce and were oft deformed on Ator Hollos-- increasingly so, in the older man’s 20 years of experience on the planet. This made it tiring enough as is, but it was much worse with a companion who nervously tested the ground and was looking around in fear every few seconds as if the dark side incarnate was going to rise out of the surface and harass  him. 

On the other side of the dell, the pair discovered twin corpses that lay rotting on top of dead grasses. A putrid stench rose from them, so much so that even the flies fled. Meego’s eyes darted and his snout twitched nervously as he saw them. 

“Stay back,” Lynus warned. Meego didn’t need any warning. The older man stepped closer and knelt, muttering to himself. He then stood.

Meego stared at them. “Who… who were they?”

“Who knows?” Lynus grunted in reply. “Remains like these be all o’er the planet, I’ve seen ‘em as far as Hangman’s Creal. Best I can tell, they’re  casualties - forgotten from an old strife. Serious one, from the look of things. C’mon, let’s get a move-”

Suddenly, a lean creature hurried past them. To Meego, it seemed like a small Orrllgg but with more legs.Being curious, the Rodian initiate followed the creature, leaving a confused Lynus in the dust. The Rodian stopped as the animal drank from a murky stream, whose waters looked more like ooze from a sewer. It glanced up at Meego, hearing the young initiate’s heavy feet, squealed, and then ran for cover in bushes across the creek.  The wind howled, like a fierce storm akin to the one’s in the atmosphere were going to descend to the clearing.  Lynus finally caught up, wheezing, and prepared to yell at the Rodian when from behind he heard stomps. Did Orrllggs come in a less cute and larger size?! 

It wasn’t monstrous Orrllggs that appeared, instead it was the corpses that Meego and Lynus saw earlier. They limped across the clearing, their limbs dragging along the ground, the grass decaying at the touch. Meego tripped on a pebble as he attempted to flee. Lynus grabbed the petrified Rodian and pulled him onto a boulder and then left him to cower as he shot at the festering skeletons. But Lynus was too slow and the scattergun fell from his hands as he was knocked off of his feet, left to defend himself with only his walking stick. The withering beast's maw widened, fetid slime oozing from its rotten gums, as it prepared to eat the old man. Meanwhile, Meego hid. He reached out with the Force towards the monsters, they were dark. He shrunk back in greater fear, but behind his panic, he knew that if he hunkered down, Lynus would die, or become a wither version of himself.  So grabbing what very little courage he could muster, along with the thin vibroblade that he’d been given by Jun just in case, he charged towards the twin brutes. Of course, even in his heroics, he was still clumsy, and tripped over Lynus but managed to stab one in its rotting paw. It yelped and then snarled as its attention was drawn away from the prone man and towards the Rodian. Meego weakly smiled, he’d drawn one away, now what? He attempted a few jabs, making sure to watch his footing, but no avail. The monster continued to advance, a few more holes in its hide meant nothing to it. 

Meego was running out of options and rock. His eyes darted back and in that second as he was preparing for a last minute strike but then, he slipped, his mind caught up with his quarry rather than the terrain. The beast stood proudly over him, a thin, mutilated tongue dripping ooze from the gaping void of its mouth. It roared. It was unnerving, unnatural. Even the trees surrounding the clearing could sense it. The monster went for the kill, done with its revelry. But another cry called! Meego could hear it as the rough, dagger-like teeth fell upon him. Lights flickered off the beast’s hide, as repeated blasts hit it. It snarled, distracted from its kill, and then, was no more. It lay like a rug on the dead grass and slimy rocks. The other corpse ran in an awkward, limping gait, seeing that its companion had fallen.

Lynus, who had shot the undead monster with his scattergun, panted, then slung his gun behind his back and rushed over to Meego, who lay prone on the edge of the boulder.

“They’re - they’re gone?” he stammered, as Lynus helped him to his feet.

“Yeah. Hey, thanks for, um, what you did back there. You’re eh, normally clumsy. Glad ya pulled through for me, I’d be dead, or worse, otherwise. You’ll make a good Jedi,” Lynus said, patting the young Rodian on the shoulder. His eyes lit up at the compliment. 

“I… I guess we should go back to the temple and let the others know,” Meego replied. “Th-thank you.”

Lynus gave a slight smile, something he rarely did. 

“You’re welcome. Now c’mon let’s get out of here.”

Then he bent down and cut off a part of the beast’s flesh, wrapped it in rags, and then placed it in his satchel. 

I’ll need to clean this out double after carrying this smelly thing around. Maybe I was wrong about him, the Rodian. He’ll come along and be a fine Jedi… at his own pace. 

Both of them looked around, or felt with the Force in Meego’s case, to verify that nothing dangerous would attack them and set off at a brisk pace back towards the Grandmother.