Lowbacca's Challenge
Chapter one
Jacen and Jaina Solo, twin son and daughter of Han, former smuggler and war hero, and Leia Solo, senator, ran through the jungle of Yavin 4 with no destination in mind. Behind them were Tenel Ka, princess of the Hapes system and daughter of Queen Mother Tenenial Djo and Prince Isolder, Anja Gallandro, former smuggler, and Lowbacca, a tall ginger furred wookie with a black stripe starting above his eye and going down his back. Tenel Ka had only one destination in mind, the river that ran through the jungle. She told Jaina through the Force. Jaina turned onto the narrow path that led to the river. Jacen then knew where she was headed and followed along with everyone else. Something didn't feel right to Jaina. She couldn't hear the river. When she reached the clearing she was running so fast that when she reached the edge of what used to be the river, she couldn't stop and fell into the pit of what used to be the river. Jacen was the first to see her fall. He had stopped at the edge of the clearing.
"Jaina! " some one from behind him yelled. Tenel Ka came racing up behind him along with Anja.
"Where's Lowie? What happened to him?" Jacen asked.
"He went back to get help. Let's find Jaina." Tenel Ka said. The three raced to the edge of the pit. On the way, Anja tripped on a couple rocks and caught her leg in them. When she turned to free herself, she broke her ankle. A jolt of pain shot through her. Jacen was surprised to hear a cry of pain come from her. A loud crashing turned Jacen's attention to the jungle, only to see nothing. Then he saw a streak of red coming from the jungle.
"This is not good." he said to himself. Then the sky became dark with clouds and rain started falling from the sky. There was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder.
"This is not our day, is it?" Tenel Ka asked.
"This is no time for jokes, Tenel Ka! We need to find shelter for the four of us. Now!" said Jacen, a little angrier than he wanted to. Then there was a rumbling of engines coming from the sky. Then the Millennium Falcon appeared. For once Jacen was extremely happy to see the heap of junk. Then for no reason at all, one of the engines burst into flames.
"Dad! Get out of there!" Jacen yelled. He saw that the ship was going to crash were he, Tenel Ka and Anja were standing.
"Get out of here now! I'll get Jaina." he yelled. Tenel Ka ran over to Anja, released her ankle from the rocks, picked her up, and ran toward the jungle. She turned just in time to see Han Solo and Lando Calrissian jump from the ship before it hit the ground and exploded. The explosion shocked all those within eyeshot of the crash. They were relieved that no one had died in the crash. Han had been injured though. He had hit one of the larger trees, broke his left wrist, and was knocked unconscious. Lando had some cuts and bruises but overall he seemed to be just fine. He helped Jacen get Jaina out of the pit and everybody headed back towards the Great Temple.
Chapter 2
Awful things were happening at the temple too. One of the large Massasi trees was struck by lightning, causing it to fall and take out a quarter of the temple, but luckily no one was in the temple at that time. One of the students, a blond haired witch from Dathomir named Lynne, started to have a really bad asthma attack because the pollen of one of the flowers from her planet had been placed in her room. One the other students, a tall, lanky, black-haired boy called Patrick because his name was too long to pronounce, became extremely ill with pneumonia. Then Tenel Ka came in on Lando's back, unable to walk, crying because she had tripped in a hole and smashed her kneecap on a boulder and the pain was excruciating. Jacen and Lowbacca staggered in behind Lando, Jaina in Jacen's arms and Han in Lowbacca's, and Anja limped in behind them. Lightning struck again, this time though it hit another tree and shook the temple. Another young girl named Crystal rushed in.
"The jungle is on fire" she yelled. Everyone started to run out of the temple but Luke stopped them.
"No one will leave. In here is the safest place away from the blaze." he said. Suddenly a loud crash drew their attention to the opposite end of the temple. Anakin stumbled into the hallway.
"Hey little brother" said Jacen. "What happened to you? Did you crash? Hey, where's Lowbacca?" Then everyone noticed the ginger furred wookie had disappeared with Han.
"Maybe he caused these accidents. Maybe he felt so guilty that he went to dig himself a hole to crawl in and die" said Lynne. She had always hated Lowbacca, so she put the blame on him. Others started whispering to one another.
"Maybe she's right. Maybe he did cause the accidents."
"Nah. Lynne would say anything to get Lowbacca into trouble."
"But what if she's not lying. What if she witnessed one of these so-called accidents?"
"I don't know what to believe. Lowbacca has always been friendly to me."
"People change sometimes." That ended the conversation. Then everyone set out to find Lowbacca, some with concern, others with anger.
Chapter Three
"Think you can run? I've got you cornered you stupid wookie." Lynne said, her fire-orange lightsaber drawn. Lowbacca was cowering in a corner, looking for an escape while trying to protect Han from any further harm. Jacen dropped from the ceiling and knocked her to the floor. Fire burned in his raging eyes.
"How dare you talk to Lowbacca like that? You don't even know if he did anything to us. You just assumed. You call yourself a Jedi, but blaming others without proof isn't a Jedi trait." Jacen yelled in Lynne's face.
"Anger isn't a Jedi trait either" she snapped back.
"Lowbacca was with me the whole time stuff was happening here."
"How do you know?". That caught Jacen off guard. He tried to remember what happened in the jungle earlier. It was then he remembered Lowbacca had left the group to get help, but help never came. Then Crystal came running up to them with tears of fright running down her face.
"Patrick has finally snapped. He ran into the burning jungle and died." A hush came over all four of them.
"What did he say before this happened? Did he say anything at all?" asked Lynne, she herself on the verge of tears as well.
"Whatever happens next is not going to happen to me. Tell Lynne I love her." answered Crystal. Lynne started crying hysterically, giving Lowbacca a chance to escape. He quietly snuck away from the dramatics down the hall while Jacen and Crystal were giving their condolences to Lynne. Patrick had been Lynne's only friend in the Jedi temple. Everyone except for Lowbacca felt sympathetic for Lynne.
"I'll kill that wookie if it takes the rest of my life" Lynne vowed to herself.
"Speaking of Lowbacca, where did he go?" asked Jacen. Everyone looked around but not one of them saw him.
"Well, I'm going to be the first to find and deal with him." said Lynne between the sobs and hiccups that overwhelmed her.
"No you're not. None of you are. You least of all, Lynne. You're in no shape to be looking for anyone. You are all going to stay here. I will take care of him." said Luke. He just started walking down the hall when Lowbacca dropped and hung from the ceiling with a holocalendar in his free paw. He walked up to Luke and handed it to him. Luke started giggling to himself.
"Well I'll be. What is today? Isn't it Friday?" he asked.
"Yeah, but what does that prove?" asked Lynne.
"Today is Friday the 13th."
No one will ever know what really happened today
Lowbacca thought to himself that night as he chuckled himself to sleep later that night.