"Stop." Anakin said as he stopped swimming, and Ahsoka listened to his command, not knowing why he said to stop however, she spoke herself.
"Why are we stopping? It cant be that you are scared of going any deeper are you?" Ahsoka was taunting him and being a little tsun-dere and while Anakin doesn't mind all that much, as long as she didn't verbally and physically assault him then he is fine with it.
No there were much more important matters at hand as there was no fish swimming around them. Not one in sight, or well, not one within the immediate senses of Anakin or Ahsoka, while Anakin would only sense fish staying away from the area they were in.
"Why dont you just be quiet for a little bit and sense your surroundings a little better." Anakin continued.
"I have, and there has been nothing for a while now." Ahsoka replied smugly.
"Yes, and what does that mean?" Anakin asked, seeing as she didn't seem to understand what that meant exactly.
"It means that we scared them away." Ahsoka stated before continuing. "No, in fact it was I who did all of the work to scare the fish away. They were getting annoying."
"I am sure they were... That isn't important because fish would be coming here, check through the Force instead of your montrals." Anakin said giving some advice as they were stopped.
"Ok." Ahsoka was not combative and knew that she may have stuffed up by only relying on her montrals to perceive the ocean surrounding her.
Within the Force Ahsoka was feeling strange as while, yes she could tell that the fish avoided the area the both of them were in, she was more taken by the sensation she had not had a chance to examine ever since it had started. It probably isn't the best time to be taken by the Dyad that she is now aware exists between them.
Something beneath was stirring and it had some Force sensitivity as well, meaning that it could feel Ahsoka pulsing the Force outwards. Unlike Anakin who has mastered the art of the small which did more than allowing him to transform his genetic code.
This technique was primarily used to make sure one remains hidden within the Force and acts like a notice-me-not charm in the Force. Meaning that things might know something is there but are more likely and most probably going to look away and forget there is something there.
It basically meant that while it didn't grant full invisibility or anything like that, it tricked someone's mind into believing that what is there, isn't.
A rumble was felt and Ahsoka couldn't help but be surprised. "What is that!?"
"Something big is what it is." Anakin replied as he knew that there was something down there, but he didn't expect it to be an absolute monster. He should of, but to this extent?
A gigantic monster, a fish of course that looked somewhat like a Chinese dragon, long and scaled, huge and its mouth looked as if it could swallow an entire hill. Not a mountain, but a hill could definitely fit.
'What the hell... What kind of eco-system does this planet have to allow something like this too exist. There must be prey that it could eat to sustain itself at that size, otherwise this thing should be dead.' Anakin thought to himself.
It was somewhat reminiscent of what Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had to face on Naboo when exploring and using the ocean of the planet to traverse towards Naboo's palace.
"What are we going to do? What about my ultima-pearls!?" Ahsoka was quite panicked but didn't seem to be scared for her life because she knew that she wasn't at that level of danger.
"Calm down, lets use the Force to direct ourselves away from this situation." Anakin says using the Force and the bond she has discovered to calm her down. Knowing that she had discovered it, there was no hiding the fact a Dyad had been formed between the two of them and Anakin knew that she might become even more persistent now knowing directly.
"Ok." Knowing the he knows, she knows, that she knows, the he knows is quite confusing and Ahsoka is both happy and anxious about their current situation.
"The chase is afoot." Anakin says as he propels himself, grabbing Ahsoka and pulling her into his embrace as he goes fast, so fast within the water that the larger fish has trouble keeping up with him.
Its massive body is not agile at all but this advantage of being smaller than the larger fish is bad because Anakin is unable to currently lose it. Unluckily for Anakin and Ahsoka however is that their current landscape does not have that many obstacles and it makes it difficult for the both of them.
Well, makes it difficult for Anakin as Ahsoka is having the time of her life just being in his embrace and she doesn't want to leave it. She is clearly in lala land right now, unable to comprehend her situation and it would seem she doesn't want to have her ultima-pearls anymore.
Within the ocean, Anakin doesn't make much underwater waves as he propels himself forward but the larger fish basically pushes everything else out of its way. Any other fish or small protrusion is being destroyed.
Anakin nudged Ahsoka to make sure she is brought back to reality. "Huh? Huh?" She was confused, having being woken up to the reality of the situation.
"Wait! What are we doing here again!? Where are we even!?" Ahsoka exclaimed as Anakin continued forward looking for some sort of crevice deep enough but at the same time narrow enough to not allow the fish entry.
"I am not the one that is meant to guide us on our way to the ultima-pearls. That is your job remember." Anakin said.
"Oh? OH!? That is right..." Ahsoka snuggled closer into him as they were still going. Thankfully she didn't affect his ability to maneuver at all and while Anakin could have dealt with the situation already, it probably wouldn't be good to just kill things willy nilly.
Especially when he had no need to kill the other than survival and he can survive either way if he really wanted to.
No. The reason he was still down in the sea, so deep was because Ahsoka was still yet to find the pearls that she would be using and it would be wasted time if they didn't do it now.
"Hold on. Let me just..." Ahsoka was being a little snake moving her arms all around Anakin seemingly trying to do something but he wasn't having any of it. He used the Force to stop her and whatever she was trying to feel, the little minx.
"I think that is enough of that. You are too young to be thinking about those kinds of things, and the situation we are doesn't really call for stuff like that, now does it." Anakin admonished her at the same time as he was starting to feel a pull behind him.
And it wasn't a pull through his connection to the Force but instead the beast seemingly having had enough of the chase was starting to slow down, which would usually be a good thing in a moment like this.
However...
'Close shut the jaws of Oblivion,' is what Anakin wants to do right now as the beast, utilizing its large capacity to breath inhales by a large amount and if Anakin wasn't holding on to Ahsoka in this moment knew that she would start having to live inside the beast.
Its maws spoke volumes to its size as it opened wide and drew in a large amount of water, seemingly trying to just eat the both of them up. Not that it would be able to but thousands of other smaller fish that were unfortunate enough to be close by got caught and was swallowed whole.
"There!" Ahsoka pointed out somewhere that would enable them to be safe for the moment and Anakin complied as it was a crevice small enough to escape too while out of sight from the sea monster.
The creature was stumped as it didn't know where the two of them had gone and it didn't have particularly good senses in the first place. What right did it have the need for good perception anyway, when it could simply draw in all of the food it would ever need by itself.
The crevice they had gone into was small and claustrophobic feeling as the space was little. Thankfully they both could speak normally again as there was a pocket of air, enough for them to use and breath in normally.
"That was somethin-" Ahsoka was interrupted as there was some rumbling that just further pushed her into Anakin. "Sorry." She meekly said as she got off of him.
There was some space that allowed the both of them to be separated from each other but if they moved any closer they would be able to feel each others breath, if they didn't already.
"It is alright, but you should have been more aware of our surroundings there." Anakin makes sure that she realizes her mistake as even though right now he can protect her, it was best she doesn't get into a situation like that and stuffs up like that.
"I know that, but you..." Ahsoka didn't say anything more as the both of them knew exactly what she was talking about.
Sighing, Anakin begins. "Look, about that connection between the two of us... It is accidental."
"Just like everyone else then." Ahsoka was fully aware of what it meant, not that she disliked it but it only meant that he and she are meant to be with one another. Of course she would be sharing with some other women, not that she cared all too much about that, if at all.
"Yes... Just like everyone else that has had the unfortunate fate of being connected with me." Anakin said as he looked to the ceiling of the small cave outcrop from the crevice they had come into to.
"It wasn't meant to be this way." Ahsoka said out of nowhere slightly surprising him.
"What do you mean?"
"I have seen more than you might think I have. My leaving the Order and you staying, your fall to the dark side and the subsequent destruction and even about your secret relationship with Padme." Ahsoka says stuff that happened, but it didn't happen in this universe.
He just remained silent as she continued. "I have seen it all and what was meant to happen and know that you have caused an incredible change to take place. We were never meant to be in the first place, and I have seen it all." She stated.
"You are correct that all of that was what should have happened." Anakin didn't lie, not because of some noble, 'I wont lie to my loved ones,' but because there was no need to. She had already gotten all of the information she has already from the all knowing Force, something that she had been trusting throughout her life.
A comfortable silence comes between the two as the rumbling above continues and in this situation, while not awkward, there was some words left unsaid.
"Why?" Ahsoka asked.
"Why what?" Anakin replied.
"Why did you do it? I have seen alot through my visions but I never knew why... I couldn't see why and I know that it isn't exactly the you, you are now, but..."
"There are many reasons and I believe that I am stupid in those visions you have seen. Of course, there is alot of blame that could go around but you have to know that I would act in a similar manner if I wasn't like I am now." Anakin said knowing full well his capabilities.
In fact he is stronger than what the original Vader or Anakin could have been. One might think to themselves that there is no way that such a well and adjusted individual such as himself could go so far as to be like the monster known as Vader.
The simple truth of the matter is that people are very capable. Anakin only needed to imagine himself in the same exact position the original was in, and in fact was able to experience what he had gone through when he went to Hell.
It was not something he liked at all and it was incredibly excruciating despite him not saying anything about it to anyone. He not only empathized with his original counterpart but also believed that he would have done the same, considering everything else.
It may not have been the exact same, but close enough that the end result would still be the same.
"You aren't going to be like that, right?" She still remembered seeing behind the mask of Vader, a mask that Anakin had foregone now that he wasn't needed anymore. She felt pain, hurt and suffering like no other and that was from a version of Anakin that wasn't the one he is now.
"I cant promise you anything like that. Just know that what you saw was when I could be at my worst, what you see of me now is when I am at my average." Anakin decided to get over this heavy topic by injecting some humor into the conversation.
Ahsoka, seeing this also plays along. "Average? Then what are you at your best?"
"My apprentice, what you have seen thus far from me, is only 0.05% of my true power. You haven't seen my actual power yet, I haven't even gone over 9000." Anakin said.
Ahsoka has now come over the topic of conversation previously and has had a good chuckle. "Whatever you say, but you will never be able to match me at Mario Kart."
"You underestimate my power, I am just going easy on you and everyone else. I am not a terrible driver."
"No, you are a terrible finisher. You cant manage to hold your 1st place position despite being first all of the time. You somehow manage to always come out last in the end."
"That is because you cheat and so too does everyone else." Anakin had noticed that while he doesn't have the same crash landing weakness that his counterpart seemed to possess, he instead was terrible at video games.
"Whatever you say." Ahsoka finished as the two would stay down there for the next hour or so just waiting for the beast above to go away so they can now explore the new area they have gone into. They dont want to stay in the crevice because who knows if it might collapse in on them, not that it would matter since Anakin could take care of it.
No, it was the time wasted, as Anakin is the last person to get his lightsaber crystals and he may take the longest to do so as well.