RANKED 2nd BY VOTERS IN CHARACTER CREATION CONTEST #7!

Tubacca ran through the forest, a band of Ewoks chittering behind him, not really keeping up, but trying to corral him with their numbers. He made a wide jump over a deep stream - a jump the Ewoks would not be able to make with their short little legs. Tubacca arfed with laughter and growled triumphantly at having lost his pursuers. Another step of this training gauntlet complete. He'd done well, so far.

A sound from above caught his attention, and he caught site of some training spheres dropping down towards him. He snarled as he deflected lasers with his lightsaber, returning fire with a blaster, and taking out one of the three spheres. The other two dropped in closer, firing continuously. Tubacca deflected the blasts with his lightsaber, then stabbed a hand forward, and jerked it to his right, causing one sphere to jerk to the right as well, crashing it into the other one. There was a bright burst of sparks, and then Tubacca slashed through them as they fell, destroying them completely.

The band of Ewoks chittered loudly from the other side of the stream, some throwing spears that landed nowhere close to Tubacca. He threw his arms in the air and yelled back at them, causing them to jump up and down and shake their fists. It made the wookiee laugh, and then he turned and continued through the forest.

He was headed for the next obstacle when something whined by him on his left. He turned his head towards the noise, only to have something whine by on his right, and before he could look back there, another whined by in front of him. Speeder bikes! These weren't part of the training! He'd been found by Imperial stormtroopers - he was now being hunted!

Tubacca quickly scaled a tree, a laser just missing him, as a stormtrooper zoomed by again. The wookiee snarled and fired his blaster, causing the trooper to veer at a crucial moment, crashing bike and rider into a tree.

He leapt at the next rider, knocking the trooper off of the bike, which continued on until it met an obstacle and exploded. Before Tubacca could hit the trooper again, the third speeder bike shot by him, and he was knocked off his feet by a blow to the shoulder. Tubacca got up and ran, the trooper giving chase, until he cornered the wookiee at a sheer dropoff, that ended in a tumultuous river, far below.

The young wookiee was huffing deeply, but turned to face his pursuer. Rather than drive him off the cliff, the last trooper slowed, landed, and dismounted the bike, about twenty yards away from him. "Drop your weapons!" commanded the stormtrooper.

Tubacca growled defiantly, but when the trooper said, "I won't tell you again! Drop your weapons," he snuffled indignantly and dropped his blaster and lightsaber to either side of him. The trooper lowered his gun a little, and Tubacca chortled as he put his hands out, and knocked him over backwards with the Force.

He was still chortling when there was a sound of jets, and he was suddenly knocked down from behind. The flyer landed as Tubacca picked himself up. "You are ordered to surrender to Boba Fett, in the name of the Empire," said the bounty hunter.

Tubacca's hand shot out, and his lightsaber started to slide towards him, only to be shot away by Fett's blaster. Tubacca looked up at the hunter and growled. Fett tossed his blaster aside, and said, "You think you've got what it takes, padawan? Let's see."

Recovering, the stormtrooper warned, "Be careful, sir! He's a skilled jedi!"

"Nonsense!" said Fett. "There will never be a jedi wookiee. I don't care how many lightsabers he holds. You know why?" asked Fett, as he dodged a lunge from Tubacca.

"No, sir," answered the trooper.

"Then just watch," answered Fett. The wookiee and the bounty hunter circled each other, and then charged. Armor met heavy wookiee limbs, and the two traded punches, until they both stumbled backwards and fell down.

Tubacca got to all fours, shook himself, and growled. As he started to stand, Fett got to his feet, weilding a tree branch. The wookiee cocked his head to one side, and whined slightly.

"You like this?" asked Fett. "C'mon, you want this?"

Tubacca took a couple hesitant steps forward, raising one hand slightly.

"You want this?" Fett said a little louder, waving the branch back and forth before him.

Tubacca's growl got a little louder, and he jumped up and down a couple of times.

"You want this?!" shouted the hunter.

Tubacca snarled and ran forward.

"Then go get it!" Fett declared, and he hurled the branch beyond the edge of the dropoff.

Tubacca lunged forward, soaring off the edge of the cliff, a frustrated howl trailing the falling wookiee and tumbling branch.

As the stormtrooper joined Fett at the edge of the dropoff, looking below, Fett said, "That is why there will never be a jedi wookiee. Let's go."

Story, original characters and content are owned by Chris Bishop. Copyright Chris Bishop 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.