Chapter Text
On a cold night, or was it a hot one...ah screw it there is no such thing as weather on a starship. Anyway, one night, five clone troopers were sleeping in their bunks, dreaming dreams of the dreamworld or whatever. They were Domino Squad, sent by the force to change the future and save the galaxy. They've been having some hiccups, but it has all turned out fine so far. Unbeknownst to them, a new player had entered the game, one who wanted to have some fun before Domino was sent back out into the wild reaches of the galaxy and risk their lives again. Suddenly, without warning, all five brothers disappeared.
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A blinding flash of light caused Fives to open his eyes. He looked around, and found he was standing in a white void.
“I must be dreaming”, he thought. If this was a dream, it was quite a strange one.
Nobody else was around that he could see. Until he heard a yelp, a thud, and a groan. He looked over. Droidbait and Cutup were lying on top of each in a heap, struggling to get up off each other. He heard another thud, and found Echo on his back, looking completely confused. Finally, Heavy appeared with a grunt as he dropped to one knee to catch his breath.
“Get off me, DB!” “Move your leg first, you di’kut!” Heavy laughed while Echo gave a tired sigh as they worked to pry their two brothers off of each other.
“Vode. Focus.” Fives said, “We need to figure out where we are.” The five clones wracked as they looked at the white abyss surrounding them. Echo was visibly thinking hard about this more than the other four. “We were all asleep before. Why are we here?”
“I CAN ANSWER THAT.”
The brothers all jumped at the voice. They looked around frantically, trying to determine where it was coming from. “UP HERE, DI’KUTS!” Their heads snapped up to see a giant head! Actually, no, it wasn’t. You thought this was one of those stories, didn’t you? Instead, what looked to be a young man appeared to float down from the “sky”, and landed on the ground. The five clones just stared blankly at him like he was a bantha-sized tooka, or was it a tooka-sized bantha? I don’t know. Anyway, he looked back with a wide smile, “I’ve brought you all together to test your abilities in an unfamiliar environment.”
Cutup looked smug. “Hah! We can take on anything. What can YOU put US in that is worse than the hell we’ve been through?” Droidbait smacked him upside the head. Fives facepalmed. “You had to ask, Cutup.”
The boy looked back at Cutup equally as smug as the older clone. “Oh, I’m sending to a long-forgotten age in a long-forgotten universe...WELCOME TO THE FORGOTTEN REALMS, BOYS!” Suddenly a blue aura surrounded the five clone troopers, and a giant motherf***ing character sheet appeared in front of each of them. “You get to live your lives, but I roll the dice here. Think of me as the narrator. This is my universe, so I will try to make things lenient...”
Character Sheet: Fives
Fives scanned his sheet, looking over each and every feature. He looked at his skills, noticing how they matched his personality. It seemed like this was an exact copy of himself. He saw a hologram of what he would look like and smirked. He could work with this. It was clear he is supposed to be the leader here. He was intrigued by this “Second Wind” feature that he has, thinking that it would come in handy in the future.
Character Sheet: Echo
Unlike his brother, and best friend, Echo was more concerned about his “spellcasting” ability. He wondered what exactly that entailed. Was it like the Force? No, it couldn’t be. There were too many differences, too many separate “spells”. How could he balance all this “magic” at once along with his combat? There were so many questions, but he liked how he was made the smartest of the five. He should learn as much as he could about the world they will be in; he may need the information later.
Character Sheet: Hevy
Hevy looked at his with glee. It was clear he was the hevy hitter, pun intended, though the healing part was a little worrisome. Sure, they learned a little field medicine as cadets but that was always left to medics like Kix and Coric. He had no idea how to handle the tools for operating on wounds or other injuries. AND MAGIC?! Force knows he always wanted superpowers but this was over the top. At least he had something strong and sturdy as his weapon. He wondered what he would be facing and how effective his mace would be in battle?
Character Sheet: Cutup
Cutup was confused: how was he a ROGUE? Based on his sheet, it looked like rogues were used mainly for thefts and assassinations. Sure, he helped Hardcase on some theft pranks from time to time, but he never assassinated anyone, let alone did any stealth missions. That was usually left to the ARF troopers. He also hated poisons after the misadventure with the Blue Shadow Virus, something he immediately regretted remembering. Cutup was always the light-hearted one of his brothers. How was going to be able to carry such cruel acts?
Character Sheet: Droidbait
Droidbait knew he was a good shot. Hell, he was better than Fives in that regard, and Fives was an ARC Trooper. DB had the marks on his armor to prove it. Of course, when he said good shot, he meant good shot with a blaster, not a bow of all things. What the kriff was a bow anyway? What the kriff was a Ranger? What the kriff was any of this?! Oh well, he could always learn on the fly, but that could get him killed. He wants to just leave this place and do this task and finally just get back to the rest of the 501st, and with his skill, this should be quick…right??
“Are ya done looking at your new selves?” the boy asked.
The sheets suddenly shrunk and floated towards the five clones, disappearing as they approached. The brothers felt a strange feeling wash over them, as their armor started to change. They all saw that they were covered in what they were shown, with their blasters being replaced with their prescribed weapons. They all grasped their deadly tools and swung them around to get a feel for them.
“You can’t actually expect to fight with this stuff without any training.” Fives said, “We need to learn how to use these otherwise we’re dead men in a fight.” The others nodded in agreement.
“Eh, you’re arc troopers. You’ll adapt quickly. Besides, you’ll get your chance soon” He had a malicious grin on his face.
Suddenly another flash of light appeared. The clones were suddenly deposited on a narrow, dusty dirt road, next to a cart of some kind, pulled by quadrupedal animals. They all shouted in surprise and anger. Looking up, they saw the boy wave goodbye as he floated into a portal, and shouted curses after him. Calming down, Echo looked at the path in front of them and sighed.
“Oh well, let’s see what this world has in store for us.”
The five brothers began walking down the path, the cart being pulled behind them, without much knowledge of what to expect on their journey.