STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Runaway

"Isn't it marvelous?" Friste shouts, now laughing.

Xavier attempts to stand.

"So this was part of your plan all along. To twist our mind into something you could use, but..."

He still needs to die by our hands, for our glory. Please tell him Xavier.

"It would seem our other half doesn't deem you worthy to live either."

"I don't even care!" Friste says as you stand and tell him what your other half thinks of him. "I will strike you down as easily as I always have! And this time, I will finish the job!"

He unhooks his lightsabers from his belt, the straight-hilt blue and the curved-hilt red, and performs a brief salute.

"Have at thee, villain," he says with a smirk.

Xavier retrieves his saber slowly. He does return Friste's smirk as he activates his green saber.

Xavier looks at Master Cabas sees how they are doing before returning his gaze.

"You are right Friste today this ends."

Cabas and Stathos are having a spot of trouble, having to split their attention between the whirling blades that Xorn is swinging at them and the varied archaic arsenal of the zombie army.

Off to the duel, then...

Xavier returns to this thread victorious... but now having tapped into his emotions, gaining a quick and easy path to greater power. Having cut out Friste's piping from under him, the Dark Jedi has fallen in a heap into the tunnel of pipes. Before he can recover, Xavier sets upon him with both his lightsaber and his opponent's. As they come down, Friste unleashes a torrent of lightning to hold them back, the lightning crackling and arcing about the pipes of the great machine.

"Xavier!" Friste calls out. "I only meant to distract you and frustrate you with the Dark Side... not make you stronger! I yield, I yield!"

Xavier, you cannot. It is too late for you, and far too late for him...

"NOW YOU BEG NOW YOU CHOOSE TO SEE YOUR FAULT! NO MORE FRISTE TEM!"

Xavier pushes against the lightning some more forcing towards pipes hoping it busts and destroys them. He reaches forwards until he knows that the fallen one can not hold him back any longer.

"NOW FRISTE LOOK INTO OUR EYES AND TELL OUR YOUR NOT WORTHLESS"

And Xavier plunges the twin sabers into Tem's chest, and then regaining some of his cold nature Xavier returns. He leans down and whispers into his ears as life leaves him.

"We told you Friste Tem you were never our rival only an obstacle. Now your glory be ours."

Friste is unable to hold back the lightsabers bearing down on him as the lightning falters and flickers from his hands. But when it finally stops and the lightsabers descend, things do not go quite as planned. The blades strike the Key of Mortez forcefully, causing its draining energies to begin coursing up Xavier's lightsabers and into his arms, while also shocking Friste. It prevents the lightsabers from passing through.

The Key... it needs to be destroyed along with its owner! The pain it causes you furthers your rage, and you press your sabers down harder into the Key. Friste starts to yell out in anguish as the red energy begins to drain his body of its essence, the Key turning on the closest flesh to it and leaving Xavier be...

"Power from the outside consumes those who try to use it. That is why strength from within is the key." Xavier attempts to say while everything is going on.

Friste answers with mortified screams as he realizes what is happening to him. He stares wide-eyed with fear into your eyes, trying to claw at you to make you stop... but before your eyes, you watch as the Key drains the Dark Jedi of his life force. His body glows from within as the red energy crackling across his bones, and his flesh decays rapidly. Soon only skeletal hands are reaching for you, and skin retreats and leaves him merely a skeleton, uttering an unearthly scream. His eyes are the last thing to go, staring blankly at you before shriveling and vanishing, and his bones collapse into dust.

The scream seems to linger and echo in the cavern for a moment before dissipating.

The Key of Mortez, however, still remains and resides in the pile of ash that was Friste Tem. It glows vibrantly as you try to push your lightsabers into it, the tips of the swords inching closer and closer to its metal frame...

Xaiver watches as Friste receives what he took, before returning all his efforts to his last burden.

He sees the Key and wills himself to continue to push deeper and deeper. Xavier knows this thing must be destroyed.

Finally, as Xavier drives himself to withstand the pain as the Key begins shocking him again, trying to drain him, the lightsabers touch the Key and cleave it in three.

This is promptly followed by the release of all the energy it withdrew from Friste, meaning a massive explosion rips through the tunnel of pipes and propels Xavier off the top of the now flaming wreckage of the machine.

He lands heavily in the aisle before the machine, surrounded by the Sith zombies that Friste created. His lightsabers clatter to the ground just out of reach...

Get up we are not finished yet, GET UP

Xavier hears the voice and tries to reach for the sabers with everything he has left despite the beating he has just taken.

Xavier rises and calls for his lightsabers... but there is no need. With the Key of Mortez destroyed, the creatures stumble forward and collapse into dust once more... meaning that the battle is over! You have foiled Friste's evil plot and prevented his planned invasion!

Not far from you, Cabas and Xorn are finishing their duel. Despite the loss of his arm, Cabas is fighting brilliantly; Xorn had been relying on the Sith zombies to aid him in his fight, but your timely destruction of their source of life means that he is no longer assisted. Cabas manages to stab cleanly through his leg before smashing him in the face with the pommel of his lightsaber. The Dark Jedi falls unconscious to the ground and Cabas stands over him, extinguishing his lightsaber.

Xavier walks over to Master Cabas and tells him what happened to Friste Tem.

Cabas studies your face long and hard, then closes his eyes.

"Xavier... you have succeeded your mission, but at a horrid cost," Cabas says, slowly. "The threat posed by Friste Tem no longer exists. It has been replaced by a new one. You gave in to the Dark Side, Xavier, I can feel it as surely as you can feel pain. You let your emotions drive you! Do you remember nothing I taught you, boy?"

"Master... I have never forgotten your teachings, but look at Friste's plans he had to be stopped."

Xavier says while the thought of letting down his master enters his mind.

"The ends do not justify the means, Xavier," Cabas says, sternly. "You know this! One does not combat evil by allowing oneself to become evil as well! There is no turning away from the Dark Side once you have started that journey, and I'm afraid you have. You will NEVER be a Jedi Knight now! I'm sorry that I have failed you."

Xavier feels his Master's words echo in his ears.

"Master my whole destiny is to become a Jedi it is my only logical reason for being. If I can not be a Jedi then what am I to become?"

"That fate has been denied you by your own actions and inability to control your anger," Cabas says. "Even so, you have directly defied the will of the Jedi Council and the Senate! The Order is no longer chasing down criminals like Friste. I'm sorry, Xavier... but you have chosen the Dark Side. I must take you to the Temple for rehabilitation..."

Your mind wanders back to when Cabas showed you the Temple's dungeons, where Dark Jedi that are captured alive were put away for eternity. 'Rehabilitation' is rare and normally impossible; once you start falling to the Dark Side, there is no going back.

We cannot accept that fate, says that sinister voice in your head. We are destined for greater things. Our Master would stop that... he MUST be destroyed!