Indeed, ‘what the f*ck’.

It certainly explained why she felt a kinship to the girl: seems the poor girl when under some kind of genetic experimentation.

Like her.

Asri shuddered at the sudden memory of the horrors that were done to her. The fear….the pain. Worse though was the betrayal by a member of her own family that ‘put’ her in that….that….place in the first place. Granted it wasn’t nearly as bad consider she expected that kind of backstabbing from her race but still…

“Seems I have more in common with her then I realized.” She said softly, mainly to herself but was loud enough for Maskis to hear. “If what you just said means what I think it does…gods…the betrayal she’ll no doubt feel if she discovers it. By someone she trusted and considered a father figure on top of it….”

Whatever was done to Lavality it must have been a by a similar means as how it was done to her. Thinking about it though reminded her of the ‘things’ in her own bloodstream. Oh gods the pain she felt when they were initially…

“Can we change the subject to something pleasant?” She said, whining faintly as she wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to drive away the chill in her spine.

Her glanced away. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to stair up bad memorys or..." he said then kept his mouth shut for a few. "Want to check on Silonik and see if him and his friend are ready to go?"

"It's alright...you couldn't have known." Asri said calmly, still shivering slightly from the memories that had surfaced. A part of her was afraid she had revealed too much about herself to him, but what's done has been done. "Yes, lets go see if those two are ready."

It was a short walk to Silonik's room and as just as they reached the door it opened to reveal Silonik in normal clothes rather then standard padawan clothing. Mortor was dressed similiarly, but when he saw her he took a couple of steps back: Asri could already guess why.

"I change my mind..." The younger Trandoshan muttered. "I don't want to go."

"But Mortor." Silonik protested, puzzled by his friends sudden change of heart. "You may not get another chance to go."

"Don' care." Mortor said, backing up even more, his eyes afixed on Asri, particuarlly her white scales.

Skrag...even kids this young our taught to... Asri thought with a sigh before kneeling down in front of Mortor and looking at him in the eyes. "What did your parents tell you about people like me?" She asked gently.

"Bad." Mortor said simply. "That you're bad."

"And what reason did they give for that?" She asked, having to fight hard not to snap at the lad. "Have they ever met me? Did they know me?"

"I...I don't think so...."

"Then they are judging me solely by the color of my scales rather then the person I am within. You're training as a Jedi would have taught you otherwise."

"Jedi don't judge people by their looks." Silonik said. "Looks mean nothing when it comes to a persons intent and character."

Asri couldn't help but smile. Barely three years old and he has the wisdom of a Jedi Master. "Appearances are decieving." She added. "The cute and cuddly can be the most deadly things in the world, while the ugliest creatures in the galaxy are as gentle as a tame tusk cat. With that in mind young Mortor, do you still want to stay here and skip a chance at a day of fun?"

Mortor stared at her, briefly looking at Silonik who had a pleading look on his face. The conflict between what his parents taught him and his Jedi training was very evident in his eyes. Finally, his Jedi training won out. "Alright...I'll go..." He said softly.

Again Asri smiled. "Then lets get going." She said. "The carnival won't wait for us."

Maskis was watching the ordeal, his hand's clasped behind his head; he was quite enjoying the conversation. He was going to get involved but decided Asri had taken care of the problem

Akisi..... she doesn't seem to be one though, she doesn't act like one, or rather, from what I was taught, he thought to himself as the two kid's walked out of the room. Young ones... much like Lavality... well.. she's 10-11 year's older... but still there the same.. he smiled briefly, a cold chill had gone down his spine and he was very worried about Lavality, granted she was a tough girl; but he knew her curiousity was very strong, but her since of willingness was fragmented in several area's

What perhaps worried him more, was not her in general, but more of what had happened to her before. She was a girl not born from a woman's whom, and he knew that by the medical record's they had recovered from that scene, the lab had been destroyed upon Fikan's order, the orbital republic destroyer didn't waste a shot in destroying the lab... Fikan didn't want to remember that day.. that curse... it had been a job by an unknown cliant to elimanant the lab and it's occupants.. but.... Wait.. the scar's on the walls... they match the scar's that where on Lavality's wall when she defended herself from Ruse, the gears in his head began to turn, so much so that he stopped following Asri and the others and just stood there. Could she... have used the force back then to defend herself?

He didn't know the straight answer to his question, only that what had occured was evident in what had happened at the lab. He had a reason to go back to, the lab's 1st and 2nd floors where destroyed, but he had actually violated Fikan's order and sealed up the underground portion, there was no doubt in his mind that the lab's underground had still been penitrated by the republic destroyer's weapons; but perhaps there was something left that can help link what happened to Lavality to whomever owned the lab

That caused another thing to occur. It hadn't been no more than a month after they rescued her when bounty hunter's started chasing her; that always got to him though, why was someone so interested in an innocent child? It was... strange... odd.... perhaps misleading? He didn't know the answer and his brain was a mess of information that he couldn't really put together, only that something big was going on and he needed to find out what. He continued to think about it, so much so he didn't notice a few looks going his way.

Silonik was gleefully skipping as they made their way out of the Academy, while Mortor was following slightly behind Asri, still not complete sure about the white Trandoshan. Once out of the Academy, Asri had to ask for directions to where the carnival was at, as the directions had simply said 'main plaza' and not being a native to Theed, she had no idea where the 'main plaza' was. Turned out though that all she had to do was walk out a bit and look up, as the tops of the tallest rides could be seen above the buildings, then just head in that direction. Asri didn't notice Maskis stop and plunge into a state of deep thought, nor did her two young charges, as they approached the carnival grounds.

She ended up being as awed as the kids by the sight of the carnival grounds. So many different colors and lights adorned the pitched up tents, competing to grab your attention. The attendants were just as as colorful, though Asri didn't care much for their costumes: they looked more like they belonged to a clown show then ordinary booth attendants. There was a good sized line ahead of them and Asri worried about the patience of the kids wearing out, but they were either too busy ogling at all the pretty colors or their Jedi training taught them patience young Trandoshans normally didn't have at that age. She knew for sure that if Trissan was with them, she would be forced to hold his hand tightly to keep him from running off.

It was finally when she reached the ticket agent that she noticed that Maskis wasn't with them. Looking around she didn't see him anywhere: just where did that male disappear too? Must have gotten lost. She thought.

The attendant cleared his throat, getting her attention and her white scales flushed briefly in embarrassment when she realized she was holding up the line. "Sorry." She said apologetically. "One adult, two kids under five." He'll just have to pay for his own then. She thought, not wanting to hold up the line any more waiting for the slow poke.

The attendant rang up the cost and Asri passed the appropriate number of credits in exchange for the admittance tickets. Now it was another line of those waiting their turn to enter the grounds itself, but thankfully this line went fast and within a moment they were inside.

"Well kids." She said to Silonik and Mortor, pausing to the side of the main 'plaza' of the grounds. "What did you want to do first?" The two kids looked around, eyes wide and obviously overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds, thus couldn't answer. "Ok, how about this. We'll walk around and do things as we see them ok?" Two Trandoshan heads bobbed in acknowledgement. "Oh and...any games we play...no cheating by using the Force, got it?"

"Awww...." They both said in unison. "O...k...."

Not that I would know if they used the Force or not. Asri thought with a chuckle, knowing she'll just have to hope their training made them honor bound to keep their word.

The carnival had your typical booths and activities, ranging from the standard food and game booths, to the house of mirrors, rides of various types and so on. The rides the kids wanted to go on they were too small for, which Asri was thankful for as they intimidated even her. She jokingly wondered if Trazu would be tall enough for any of these rides, pity he wasn't here to test the theory. Then again, it would probably be a good thing he wasn't here as knowing how sensitive he was about his height, he'd probably assault the attendant when the lad told him he was too short for the ride. An amusing event to watch, but one that would get them kicked out for sure.

The kids hit the game booths next and as far as she could tell neither of the pair cheated by tapping into the Force to help them guide the various balls, darts, and what not to their targets, the fact they barely won anything was a good indication. Asri joined in on the fun, though she did about as bad as the kids. It was all in good fun though, so she didn't mind. At least it was fun until a Trandoshan booth keeper caught sight of her.

"My my, where's the head master." The male said scathingly. "I found a new side show attraction for him to display for mocking." Asri ignored him, but this guy wasn't going to be put off. "Or perhaps a new victim for the dunk tank? Or how about as a pie throwing target? Oh! I know! A target in the shooting gallery!"

He was getting loud and people were starting to stare at her. The Twi'lek that was manning the booth she was at while she was trying to throw a ball at a pyramid-style stack of bottles, shook his head helplessly and apologized for fellow carnie's behavior, siting that he was normally a very friendly fellow. Still Asri's skin was crawling at the insults this male was spewing and the kids looked nervous and disgusted. Oh how she wanted to punch him in the snout, but she didn't want to totally ruin the kids day of fun by getting them kicked out for her actions. Yet she didn't want to just walk away and give him the impression he had won. Looking at the ball in her hand, she got an idea.

"Silonik." She said quietly in Clan Dialect so the male wouldn't understand her. "Jast this enco, aso tho Force te gaido this bull right inte his sneat."

Silonik glanced at the jeering male and back at Asri, considering if this was a good idea or not. With the male's insults getting to him as well, he smiled and nodded, readying himself for the right moment.

Obviously, the male continued to taunt her as she pretended to continue to ignore him and size up the distance to the bottle pyramid. Asri suddenly sharply drew back her arm releasing the ball when it was at the point of her motion where she would have normally started her forward throwing motion. As requested, Silonik seized the ball with the Force and hurled it at the male, smacking him hard in the snout before he could even react. With a cry of pain he held his snout, backing into the targets of his own throwing game and knocking them over.

"Oh my goodness..." Asri said, turning around with one hand over her mouth in mock embarrassment...and hiding the smirking grin she now bore. "I am so sorry. Are you alright?"

The male snarled, growling a few swear words at her. Asri put on an appalled expression.

"My word!" She said exaggeratedly. "Such language! And front of the innocent children!" She gathered Silonik and Mortor close to her, as if to shield him from his foul language: the pair were doing their best not to giggle out loud. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

People were glaring at him now, including attendants at neighboring booths. Suddenly aware he was made a fool, he seemed to shrink in size as he tried to hide behind his counter. Feeling the man had been 'punished' enough, she looked down at her two charges. "Come on you two, we know which booth won't be getting any of 'our' hard earned credits." She said as she picked up the ball and handed it back to the Twi'lek, who simply smiled and winked at her knowingly. Considering how vocal the exchange had been, there would be little surprise if that male got much business for the rest of the day.

Maskis had found his way to the carnival and had bought himself a ticket. Telling by all the action he knew exactly where Asri and the others had gone, it didn't take him long to figure out WHAT had occured. A trandoshan with a snout beat up, yep, Asri was here he thought; he wondered around a little more

"Hey! You!" Came a shout from a trandoshan, in fact, the same trandoshan with the beat up snout. "Want to do me a favor?"

Maskis glared at him. "That depends... I don't do favors for those who mock others."

"Who? That Akisi?!" He snarled. "She did something, I know it!.. I want you to get one of those kids."

He stood there, playing along. "And... do what exactly?"

"I have a wookie on the grounds, I'm sure he'd LOVE to have some fun with a little k-" Maskis sprang from his feet, the blade that was hidden under his cloak instantly connected with the trandoshan's neck, although he didn't cut it, a slight line appeared with blood on it. The trandoshan had been loud enough to actually be heard by another booth attendent, and that attendent had called security

Maskis was down on one knee, and something caught the key of the trandoshan attendent. The attendent had began to us his hand's and Maskis was wondering WHAT he was trying to do, a look up told him everything, he swrang backwards just as a large object fell flat on the ground, just missing the other trandoshan by a fraction of an inch, and the smell told Maskis that the other had just soiled his pants to. Pathetic.

"What a pity...." came a voice from the object that had just fallen from the sky. The door's opened and Maskis tensed. A large human appeared from the object, it must've been a drop pod that the Mandoloreans use for there entry into planets

The Human streached his arms then looked at Maskis; and at the ground. "Shall we have some.... fun" the human smirked

Fun? This guy is a bounty hunter... he said, but a smirk appeared on his face to; might as well entertain the people, because apprently the crowd had been mumbling to one another, thinking this was a new event

In a low tone, however, told Maskis that this bounty hunter was after. "If you lose... I get the kid and the Akisi.. you win... well.... you just win...." the bounty hunter said in a very low tone so that only Maskis could hear

He shrugged and took out his Vibrolance; thats when the fight started. Both of them where on even ground, blocking, counter attacking, counter blocking, parrying, the battle kept up and up. But something caught his eye, he saw a shimmer of some sort go past him. CLOAK?! he said to himself. Impossible, personal cloaking device's don't exist..... he said. He passed it by when it suddenly it occured him: The Sarendives use personal cloaking device's for there recon troops.... they also used it for there elite assassin units, and he DID get word that a unit had gone missing several weeks ago

He turned around but the hunter had already anticipated the move. "No... no... no... your fight is with me" he grinned at him

"Errrrr.... coward....." Maskis snarled and continued to fight

Asri and the kids actually hadn't gone very far when they heard the crash, a faint cloud of dust drifting toward them as a result. Looking back, Asri pondered the source of the sudden noise.

"That sounded like it came from Mr. Foulmouth's booth." She muttered, the kids giggling at the nickname she had given him. "He piss someone else off now?" Considering the male to be no longer of her concern she turned her attention back to watching a male try his luck at the strength test game and whom failed miserably. Asri was next in line and had just handed the attendant her credits when Silonik suddenly visibly stiffened.

"What's wrong hun?" She said, looking down at him. Worryingly Silonik didn't answer, instead looking around nervously. On top of that Mortor was now acting the same way. She gathered the Force must be warning them of something, but what?

She looked around for signs of a threat. There was the sound of a fight nearby, but with a line of booths between them and the skirmish it was doubtful that was what was bothering them. Instinctively she gathered the kids closer to her, a faint snarl on her lips as she tried hard to sense what was making the kids nervous. Unfortunately the sounds of the crowd around them made it next to impossible to hear anything unusual and the nearby fight didn't help any.

"Mam." The attendant said, getting her attention. "You going to play or not?"

Asri turned around to respond when she saw the shimmer briefly and knew immediately what it meant. The kids reacted quicker then she did though, the pair of them blasting the cloaked figure a Force push the instant she had recognized the shimmer for want it was. It was rather humorous, seeing 'nothing' slam into the strength tester device, sending the weight skyrocketing to the top and ringing the bell. Even funnier was when the weight came back down again, smacking the already dazed, now de-cloaking, figure in the head. The revealed human just had 'Bounty Hunter' all over him and with a growl, Asri walked over to him and punched him in the face before he could recover, knocking the man unconscious.

"Bounty Hunters...." She growled. "Can't have a day of innocent fun without them."

"Uh..." The stunned attendant looked at the downed Bounty Hunter and back at Asri. "What prize did you want?"

Asri blinked confused for a moment, the laughed when she realized she did pay for play and won...albeit unusually so. "Let the kids chose. They are the ones that deserve it." She said.

While Asri and the attendant called security, the kids argued over what prize they wanted. Silonik wanted the plastic sword, while Mortor wanted the plastic helmet that was modeled after a Mandolorian helmet. After several minutes of arguing the attendant had enough and just give them both a prize and by that time the Naboo Police had arrived to take away the still unconscious Bounty Hunter.

The appearance of this Bounty Hunter though worried Asri and she found herself looking in the direction of the still ongoing fight, of which security looked unwilling to get close to. It was quite likely there was more then one Bounty Hunter around, but who was their target? Was it her or Silonik? Either way, she knew Trazu wouldn't take the news that his son had been targeted again very lightly. She had a feeling the fighting nearby was due to another Bounty Hunter, but if that was true, who was he or she fighting?

She got her answer right then when the form of Maskis came flying through the canvas of the booth between her and the fight, his vibrolance tearing the fabric to shreds as he went. He landed unceremoniously on his back, skidding to a halt right beside her.

"Having a fun filled day too I see." She quipped. "Need any help there? I already took care of your opponents partner...or should I say...the kids took care of him."

Maskis was seeing stars for a couple seconds, before finally coming back to reality

"Having a fun filled day too I see. Need any help there? I already toko care of your opponents partner...or should I say... the kids took care of him."

He got up but the bounty hunter had done something to his sight and he had a terrible time seeing. "I can't see....." Maskis said, his vision was very blurry, and he had blood coming from both side's of his eyes

The bounty hunter walked forward, he was about to attack when he heard to children laughing. "Huh? Hey! These trando's are mine!" the bounty hunter yelled

A little girl appeared near the bounty hunter, she was sitting on what remained of the booth that Maskis had gone through, crosslegged and her head on the palm of her hand. "Awww... and I was hoping to have some fun.. seeing how Lavality isn't here"

"Yea.." A little boy suddenly appeared, he was standing near the girl. "You failed ... although from your cliant thats only natural, seeing how they've sent nineteen bounty hunters after her and not one has succeeded."

"Shut it.. children shouldn't talk back to there masters." The bounty hunter snarled

Both kid's shrugged, and then vanished. The shimmers where present in the air again. "Don't worry... ASRI....." a girls voice spoke from around them. "Your lucky.. your not our target, nor are those kids, so dont' worry about us... however do us the favor of taking care of this ... hunter... he's not worth the time and money that his client paid him"

"errrrrr..." the bounty hunter gritted his teeth. "Damn them... such degenerates..." he said and looked at the Trandoshans. His instincts where telling him to not go on, that there was better prospects elsewhere. But the site of two more drop pods caused him to rethink that, but when he saw who appeared from both pods, his instints instantly caused him to put his swords away, put on his jetpack, and flee real quick

The two pod's doors burst apart, and Maskis could finally make them out. "Someone doesn't want us to have ANY fun today...."

Two figure's appeared, both cyborgs. "Ummm.... Asri.. not sure if this is your department.. but I don't have ANY weapons to deal with THOSE!!!!" he said

“I’m getting sick and tired of this…” Asri growled. She was tired of being jeered and taunted by her own kind just because of her scale coloration. She was tired of being a target for any reason for that matter and she was sick of those she cared for being targets. Her temper rising, she looked at Maskis with a hot look. “Do I look like I am capable of taking those things out with my bare hands!? I’m not a cyborg…or a robot!” What she didn’t say was that she hated those two particular terms as well, for very specific reasons she wasn’t about to reveal. She was in such a sore mood that she just folded her arms and stood there, glaring angrily at the two cyborgs approaching them. A part of her was screaming that she should be running, but she completely ignored it.

Suddenly one of the drop pods rose up into the air, then smashed on top of the head of the cyborg closest to her. The other cyborg looked at it’s now flattened partner in shock, only a twitching hand able to be seen from underneath the pod. Asri looked equally as shocked, but had an idea of what caused it. Looking down she saw Mortor glaring at the remaining cyborg menacingly.

“Go away.” He hissed at it. “Go away and stop ruining our fun or I’ll do worse to you.”

“Mortor…?” Silonik looked surprised at how threatening his friend was being. “That’s not…”

“I don’t care!” Mortor snapped. “They hurt people. Hurt people that have done nothing to them! They are bad. They need to go away!”

“Mortor that’s enough.” Asri said, forgetting her own anger for the moment. “Acting violently will only make things worse. You keep this up and we won’t be able to continue to enjoy ourselves here.”

“We’re not enjoying ourselves now are we!?” Mortor retorted. “Because of baddies like him!” He pointed sharply at the remaining cyborg, who suddenly went flying back a few feet. “We done nothing wrong to deserve this!” Suddenly, the other drop pod came flying at the last cyborg, only to be halted inches from it’s target by Silonik, who strained against Mortor’s anger driven power to keep his friend from needlessly taking another life. Fortunately he didn’t need to hold it for long as Mortor lost any sense of control as he burst into tears, releasing his hold on the drop pod.

Now sole controller of the pod, Silonik used it to contain the last cyborg. He made it scoop up the cyborg back into it’s container and manipulated the Force in such a way as to cause the opening to not only close, but to fold inward in such a way that the cyborg was pinned with no way to free itself without outside help. Silonik then set the pod back down and leaned against Asri, his head throbbing with a headache now from using such an advanced technique so soon in his training.

Asri meanwhile had knelt beside Mortor, scooped him up into her arms and was now rocking back and forth whispering comforting words to him as he sobbed. Oh how the Jedi were going to have a field day when they heard about this event, but right now both kids just needed actual TLC.

Maskis stood there, he had already put his blade away and was thinking about what had occured. That girl mentioned Lavality... but for what reason?

Suddenly he heard a roar, and a crowd started clapping. Several people there started yelling

"Good show!"
"Do it again!"
"That was excellent!"
"You rock!"

He smiled briefly, the people where so interseted in the fighting that they didn't even know it was a real fight. In fact, Maskis was rather pissed. The two cyborgs were planned as part of the show by the Sarendivas, a thing the fleet did every year, but those bounty hunters where NOT part of the show and Maskis decided it was best he left those little details to himself; knowing if he told Asri those cyborgs where apart of the show, after all they had mock weapons; they weren't even real, that she would most likely use him as a bunching bag for several months. "Seems they enjoyed it." He finally said. "They don't know it was a real fight," he said to the kids. "Baddies they are, but hey, no one got hurt, and in fact, the people here enjoyed it."

He turned back toward the crowd, still clapping and yelling. Maskis placed his hand on Silonik. "Lets get you something for that headache, that I'm sure you have." he smiled at the kid. "lets see if the near by hospital has some medicon they can let us use, then, we can come back and have some fun. At least we know the people here at the carnival are ok....", he said. well.. except that trandoshan, wonder what happened to him. he grinned at the thought but quickly went back to his counciling

He got up and looked around. A couple naboo police where straching there heads, the fleet often did this show and the crowd knew it, but thanks to Mortor, they had properitie damage now and more than likely, it would come out of his pay check, he just slapped his head at the mere thought; oh how his superior would be asking how THIS occured