Chapter 10: Maria

"AHH!"

"Don't worry," Yellow said comfortingly. "This little guy just snuck up on you, that's all." She held up a caterpillar looking thing with a horn on its head and a spike on its tail that was waving around happily.

"Oh, is that all? I just feel like something is watching me now, sorry."

"How about you try catching this Weedle? Maybe it'll take your mind off the phantom."

"What? Uh… okay. I don't have a Pokéball though."

"Here you go!" She handed me two. "Just in case you miss the first time. And I'm assuming you know how to catch a Pokémon?"

"Yeah, I know." I took a calming breath and opened a Pokéball in my hand. "Ralts, go! Use a light magical leaf!"

The poor Weedle took the hit and tumbled over on its side. I closed my eyes, seeing through the Force, and held the Pokéball out toward him with both hands. I directed the ball to hit him on the stomach, and it did as I commanded. Weedle was captured inside it with a flash of light.

"Yaay!" Yellow cried. "A new friend! And you only needed one Pokéball! Let's start training with him now!"

I sat down against a tree, taking a break from Yellow's training. I glanced over at her, a little girl petting her Pikachu. My Ralts came over to me, head cocked as if asking me a question. "Do you want me to pet you too?"

She smiled with a happy little sound, and hopped closer. I laughed and began to pet her on the head between her horns, the way I would do to a dog at home. She curled up and fell asleep next to me. Weedle crawled into my lap, and promptly went to sleep as well. I turned to my little trainer with a question forming in my mouth, and stopped. Yellow had Chuchu on her lap and both were asleep. I smiled to myself and relaxed, listening to everyone's breathing.

The back of my dress was grabbed from behind suddenly, and I snapped out of my dozing immediately to shove the person backward with the Force. Ralts was instantly awake and on her feet, Weedle was slowly waking up, but Yellow and Chuchu seemed to be able to sleep even through the guy slammed against a tree. He wore all black, even a black cloak with a hood, although it was summer. I held my hand out as a threat to him. "Who are you?"

"Young Jedi, you've improved greatly with your skill, have you not? I believed this training was for beginners, not talents like you." He spoke like an evil guy trying to disguise his voice in a movie, yet I recognized the voice. "However, you still must not be very experienced to try to go up against a master like me!"

I was pushed back, hard, with the Force. I had no intention of leaving Yellow like this, so I pushed behind me, and barely inclined my head. Sparkling leaves shot from Ralts toward the man, and though he pushed most away, one tore through his cloak, exposing his face and breaking his concentration.

I gasped in shock and horror. The man's face had once been normal, maybe even handsome at one point. Now, it was a blackened mess of skin.

"Heh. Think this face is lovely, little Jedi? It was punishment for not fulfilling a mission of mine fifteen years ago on the elven islands to capture a child for training. I burned those annoying elves and their precious little village for refusing to tell me where that little girl went. I received a piece of their fate for my failure, but no, I was too important to my emperor for him to completely kill me off."

I gathered my courage. "Why have you come to me, then?"

"We still need new agents, little Jedi. Why don't you just come with me to the Sith? We'll train you up properly, and you'll be much more powerful than your other puny Jedi friends."

I remembered Ana's words about my prophecy, 'It also hints that you might be one of the most powerful elves of all time.' I laughed out loud, thinking that this guy thought he could make me more powerful than my friends.

"Nothing's funny, you insolent Jedi brat!" he spat out at me.

"Everything's funny! You can't make me more powerful than my friends."

With that, Chuchu electrocuted him with a brilliant Thundershock.

"Hey, thanks, Yellow. I was afraid you weren't going to wake up even after that!"

"No problem! Did you know that guy?"

"Umm… Well, it's kind of a long story… and I'm not even sure if I really do know him or not." I turned away from her innocent question. How was I supposed to tell her he might have tried to come kidnap me in my infancy? "Let's just get away from him and make sure he can't find us again."

"Okay, I know the forest like the back of my hand! We could lead him in circles all day if we wanted to! But we do need to go somewhere!" Yellow was as cheerful as always.

Please review and tell me how I'm doing!