Chapter 54 – First Trial *Rancor*

Three days later, Lyn was with Layan, discussing in front of a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport about the first part of her trials.

"Like I told you before, you will have to kill a Rancor to succeed your first trial. You can do it however you want. A fair and square fight; a surprise attack during his sleep; use poison, explosives; or even using native's help. The goal is to succeed"

"Not so complicated."

With all the options mentioned above, it shouldn't be difficult to kill a savage beast as strong as it may be. Biology wasn't her forte, because if she knew about something like the Zilo beast, she would change her mind.

"Wait to be in front of the Rancor first. You can use this ship as your transport. Now go."

"Wait, you don't go with me? How will you know I succeeded? I won't have to bring back the stinky severed head of a monster.?"

"I'll know, you don't need to bring back anything or even to come back. Once you'll have accomplished your first trial, I'll contact you."

"May the force be with you little girl."

After Lyn departed piloting the ship, Ood came to Layan with a reproachful expression.

"You sent a 15 years old girl kill a Rancor. It's pure suicide!!"

"She was trained, I believe in her and I'm not completely irresponsible. HK-47 and the HK-61 took the other Kom'rk-class fighter/transport and are following her using a cloaking device and will act in case something happen, I can use Similfuturus to help her as well."

"I still think this isn't worth the risk."

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LYN – POV.

My destination was Felucia, a world covered by a strange jungle, and from what my master told me was the house of one of the most dangerous species in the galaxy, the Sarlacc. Apparently, the one on Felucia was also the oldest and biggest of the few Sarlacc sighted in the galaxy.

"An hour left before starting my trial. I'll finally what he is hiding."

I muttered while being a bit lost in my thought as I left the piloting of the ship to T3, which was loaned to me by my master for the occasion.

I was watching my lightsabers while thinking to what was to come. I've checked the data in the library's books and on the holonet, the Rancor wasn't a cutie.

Master told me to bring a second lightsaber, even if I was fighting with only one as from what he says, Jedis have the bad habit to lose their lightsaber during the fight and found themselves unarmed after this. It appeared to me a bit stupid that they never thought to bring a spare weapon, but maybe he was joking and I didn't understand.

"So, this is how looks like Felucia. Now, I just have to find a Rancor."

I landed my ship in one of the farming settlements of the planet, and what I felt ever since I entered the atmosphere of the planet stunned me. The force was permeating the ecosystem; it was incredible, every plant were basked in the force. It was if the planet was one and only living being.

"Do you know where I could find a Rancor?"

Walking into the streets of the settlement, I saw the felucians. A reptilian species, of short statures with thick legs and a head looking a bit like a turtle, and were pretty cute to look at contrarily to my target.

The male felucians I was talking to was selling fruits on what I assumed to be a marketplace frequented by other felucians, some humans and Twi'leks.

"You want to die? We flee the Rancor's; you should be an idiot if you want to see one on Felucia. You should go to a zoo."

"I don't want to see one, I want to kill one."

He was talking with a bit of concern for me in his voice and wanted to make me go back where I came from.

"Listen, little girl, a rancor could swallow you up in a bite. I don't know if you think yourself to be some kind of adventurer, but you should go back home, you will worry your parents."

"My parents are dead, and I'm not a kid playing around. I came here to kill a Rancor. Tell me where to find one."

I didn't want to lose time for my first trials, so I had to put a little trick and the felucians felt his throat becoming tighter.

"In the forests of fungus in the southern part of the continent, Jungle rancors are often sighted over there."

The man saw my expression and came to the realization that I was the perpetrator of the pressure he felt on his neck. He said nothing else and I neither, I boarded again my ship and searched a settlement at the south of the continent to land.

After this, I traversed the jungles of Felucia riding my speeder bike I loaded into the ship before departing.

The native plants and fungus were dominating the environment. It was as if the world was glittering and the colorful animals were giving an even more exotic vibe to this world already unique.

I saw nothing, but I heard something. Big impacts, as if some sort of giant was walking on the ground. And after the researches I've done the holonet, I'm saying to myself my target may be near.

Speeding toward the source of this huge noise, I was it. A mountain of flesh and muscle, a bit above 5 meters in height.

I don't know its weight, but it was massive. The ground was shaking at each step it took. It wasn't a normal rancor, but a jungle rancor as the felucian indicated me.

They were unique to Felucia and the most notable distinctions from the rancor was its skin color, its sharp spine running along his body, a blue carapace, and most importantly the huge jaws.

Jungle rancors were living in hordes, so it was strange to see one alone, but he may have been excluded, or the rest of the horde may have been killed as their meat, bones, teeth and pretty much every part of his body was selling at a high price.

Going down from my speeder bike, I took the bag I brought with me. Inside was stuffed all the equipment and weapons I prepared for this hunt.

Killing such a beast, a mass of muscle with a natural thick skin, wouldn't be an easy feat. The best way would be either to smash him under a heavy weight or pierce his eye to his brain with my lightsaber.

"May the force be with you, Lyn. May the force be with you."

I encouraged myself a few times before walking stealthily toward the blue and gigantic creature.

After putting detonators on a few fungi and sonic detonators at the four corners, I ran north his position. He was walking toward this direction and climbed one of the fungus, which reached a height even superior to the rancor.

The gigantic beast was slowly nearing the trap I improvised. Soo, he walked past the fungus with the detonators on them.

I pressed the detonator on my wrist bracelet. A second later, explosions occurred and made fall the giant fungus on the head of the beast and blocking his way, even if only for a few seconds.

The beast seemingly angry by the fall of the fungus caught them in his claw and threw out of the way, destroying a few other funguses under the force of the throw.

I jumped down on the back of the beast with my lightsaber in hand, the orange blade stabbed in the meat of the beast.

"ROOARR!!!"

The beast felt the pain and started to stir, and destroying everything in its path, I had to take out my second lightsaber and stab it to stay hang at the back of the beast.

It lasted only for a moment as the blade started to go down because of my weight, creating a big cauterized wound on the back of the beast. I fell toward the ground but put myself in a good position to land with an acrobatic in midair.

"Maybe you will like my music."

I pressed once again my wrist bracelet, and a deafening sound originating from the 4 corners echoed across the jungle. The effects on the beast weren't what I expected, the beast didn't become mad or searched to destroy the origin of the noise. The rancor totally ignored it, as if he didn't hear it to begin with.

"That's not possible! Rancor are sensible to sounds!"

I was pretty pissed off as my best diversion just proved to be useless and intrigued as to why this rancor was insensible to it.

"Is he deaf?"

It would explain everything, but it doesn't give me a new plan of action, and the attention of the rancor was on me as I just stabbed him in the back with my lightsabers.

The rancor raised his gigantic palm high in the air before forming a fist and smashing it my previous position I just moved off using force speed and force jump.

When he raised his fist from the floor, I saw a big hole in the ground.

"Don't slap me, please."

I have no ways to use range attacks as blaster fire wouldn't too much to such a thick skin and mass of fat, let's not even talk about the carapace.

I run at him to engage in close combat. With his long limbs and huge body, it was the safer way to fight him for the time being.

I was a dwarf compared to the colossal beast. Before he could raise his foot to step on me like I would step on an ant, I cut his toe, and the one next to it, and the one next to it.

The use of lightsaber makes it clean, not a drop of blood was spilled. Under the pain, the rancor fell with his face toward the ground. I jumped on his back and run toward his head at full speed, ready to stab my blades in its brain.

Before I could, he turned his body, making me fall on the side, but his moves didn't stop here. While turning around, he throws his arm toward me. As an emergency countermeasure, I created a force shield around me, but the impact sent me collide with a fungus in a tower shape.

The beast wanted to get up, and I was still groggy from the impact. I telekinetically threw one of my lightsabers while he was getting up, it created a small slash on his leg and made him fall as he was surprised.

"This is the end."

Raising up despite the vertigo and the pain from the impact, I run at the beast and stabbed my lightsaber left into his right eye, until my arm holding my lightsaber was half-inside the eye of the beast.

This time, he was dead. My blade stabbed his brain.

"Perfect plan, perfectly executed."

"I wouldn't say it like that, but it was good for a first time against this type of enemy."

I turned around and saw him here, standing before with a smile on his face. He was looking at me, covered with the sticky substance that came out of the eye I stabbed.

"Master? You followed me? Wait, you're not here."

"Good, you saw through it. I'm on Ossus and using Similfuturus to talk with you, I saw the entirety of the fight."

It was the ability also known as Doppelganger; we found the manual during our first exploration of the ruins of the Great Jedi Library.

"What do I do now?"

"First, you will scavenge the fangs, teeth and horns from the beast. It can be used to build lightsabers, and pretty rare and costly. Then, you will take a shower and sleep."

"I'm talking about the second trial."

I was pretty tired and was still suffering from vertigos. I wanted him to hurry and give me my next assignment.

"You will go on Yavin IV to retrieve a part of the knowledge taken out of Ossus before the cataclysm. Be mindful of traps or dangerous beasts."

His presence slowly fades in the air after giving me my next destination.