Chapter 12: Darth Dude
From then on, Damien was much nicer. He did more to help out than Lee did. This was amazing, because he used to be a cheating, lying, stealing, creep. He had also been in an especially bad mood, because one of his Pokémon (Charmander) had been "stolen" (He had actually abandoned it in the rain, though it was a fire-type and almost died. A boy brought the Pokémon to the hospital. Then, Damien decided he wanted the Pokémon back. The two boys told the Pokémon to choose between them. It chose the new boy, so Damien called this stealing, since the Pokémon was originally his.).
The winter lasted a few days more. Then, the snow began to melt. There had been a lot of it. Some drifts were over eight feet high! This caused some flooding. Before anyone got wet, Snowy swooped down.
"Make sure no one gets wet," Snowy said to Sarah, the first person who came outside. "Unlike when you swim in the pond, you will stay wet for hours. You will surely get sick, at least a cold, but as bad as hypothermia!"
So, everyone was sure to stay dry. They used chairs and a table as rafts, and spare wood as paddles.
Damien was sitting on the "deer rocks" and reading his book. Ben came out for the first time since winter had been over. He looked at the pond, which was separated, somehow, from the floodwater. It was slushy.
"The pond is melting," said Ben.
"Of course it is; winter is over," said Damien.
"Not because of that, because you're melting," said Ben.
"Huh?"
"You're not melting, but you're melting."
"What?" Damien asked, but Ben didn't answer. Damien shrugged and went back to his book.
Suddenly, Cathy shouted, "Oh, no!" and ran out of the cabin onto the table that was tied to it.
Damien looked up from his book. Ben, who had been sitting in a chair by the big tree with his eyes closed, did, too.
"What happened?" asked Damien. The pond water got a degree warmer.
"Water's flooding in the house from under the door!" explained Cathy.
"Get out as quick as you can!" Snowy called. "Don't touch anything that's wet!"
Cathy grabbed the lantern and beds and dragged them onto the table. She paddled over to Sarah's and knocked on the door. Sarah helped her drag things in.
When they were done, Sarah asked, "Where's Turtle?"
"Say, where is Turtle?" asked Cathy.
Suddenly, they heard a "Help!" from outside. They raced to the door.
Turtle was up in the big tree, hanging from a thin branch over the water.
"Help!" he called.
"What happened?" asked Cathy.
"I was about to drop down to my raft, but then I noticed that it had come untied and was floating away. I couldn't get back up in the tree," said Turtle.
Ben, who was right under the tree, paddled over to him. Turtle dropped onto Ben's raft, and Ben paddled him over to his own raft. They heard a snicker.
"Hey!" Turtle shouted. "It's not funny!"
Two blue and pink ears popped out of the water. Damien's creature popped its head out of the water. It was laughing its head off.
"Pikablu!" Damien scolded. "That wasn't nice!" The creature hung its head.
"Hey! Is that a Pokémon?" asked Tim, eagerly, from the door of his cave.
"Yeah," said Damien. Tim hopped onto a raft and paddled over to where Damien was sitting.
When Tim got there, Pikablu came up on the rocks to see him.
"What's this one called?" asked Tim.
"Marill, but I nicknamed it Pikablu because it looks like a blue Pikachu," said Damien. He showed Tim the picture of Pikachu in the book.
"How can it stay in the water without getting sick?" asked Sarah.
"It's a water-type. It can stay in the water all its life. It won't be affected by water."
Tim opened the Pokémon book to the index and looked for Marill.
"You won't find it in there," said Damien. "Marill isn't one of the original one hundred fifty. It was discovered after this book was made."
"Oh, cool! Did you discover it?" asked Tim.
"No, some professor did," Damien answered. He began to "melt" some more.
Later that day, everyone was gathered in the cave.
"Show me some more Pokémon!" Tim said.
"Okay. Turtle, hand me my backpack," said Damien.
Suddenly, everyone heard a beeping noise. It was Ben's Comlink. Ben went to into the corner of the cave to answer it, but everyone could still hear it.
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kanobi! You're my only hope!" said the voice from the Comlink.
"Your last name's Kanobi?" said Tim.
"Your name's Obi-Wan?" said Damien. They both fell out of their chairs, they were laughing so hard. Ben ignored them.
"What's wrong Leia?" asked Ben.
"Another Sith Lord. He's more evil than Darth Vader!" said Leia.
"I'll be right there."
"He's on the planet, Clowen."
"Alright."
"Thank you, Obi-Wan."
"Oh, Leia, from now on, it's Ben."
"Okay, bye."
Ben put away his Comlink and walked to the door.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," he said as he left.
Damien, who had stopped laughing now, got up from the floor, grabbed his sack and followed Ben out the door. He wanted to be in on the adventure. No one noticed him leave.
Ben jumped into his X-Wing, which was hidden in the leaves outside the magical clearing, and took off for Clowen. Damien pulled a Pokéball out of his sack and threw it. A large bird popped out.
"Pidgeot, take me to the planet Clowen."
Pidgeot looked confused.
"Just follow him!" said Damien. He pointed to Ben, taking off in his X-Wing.
Pidgeot flapped its wings. Damien jumped on it and it flew behind Ben, making sure not to be seen.
When they got to Clowen, Ben landed his X-Wing and Damien landed Pidgeot.
"What are you doing here, Damien?" asked Ben without looking behind him.
"Following you," Damien replied.
"You shouldn't have come. It's dangerous."
Damien shrugged.
"Leave while you still can," said Ben.
He left and went into a large building. Damien still followed.
In the middle of a long, dark, corridor, Ben noticed Damien was still following him.
"Damien, didn't I tell you not to follow me?"
"Yeah, you did."
Ben sighed. "Well, if you're willing to risk your life…"
"Risk my life? Please!"
Ben kept walking. At the end of the corridor was a door. Ben opened it, went inside, and shut it again before Damien could get inside.
Ben saw a weird guy on a black horse wearing all black. The guy had long, blonde hair and he was very ugly.
"Back from the dead to save you friends?" said the guy. "I am planing to blow up Tatooine next."
"Actually, I was never dead," said Ben.
"What? My master killed you!"
"I'm not aware of that ever happening."
"What?"
"The "me" your mater killed was a projection through The Force. All I needed to do was provide a distraction. The easiest way to do this was to appear dead. A projection did that for me. Your mater should have sensed that."
"I'll do what my master should have done a long time ago!" The Sith Lord drew out his light saber.
Ben drew out his light saber.
At this point, Damien forced open the Force-enforced door and tripped into the room. The Sith Lord and Ben looked up.
Damien looked confused. He hadn't heard the first part of Ben and Leia's conversation about the Sith Lord because he had been laughing and rolling on the floor. "What's happening 'ere?" he asked.
"I'm going to kill him!" said the Sith Lord, jumping off his horse, still holding his light saber. "While I'm at it, I think I'll kill you, too, you blue-haired weirdo!" He cackled.
Damien looked even more confused. "Who are you?" he asked the Sith Lord.
"Darth Dude, the coolest Sith Lord there ever was, and ever will be!" Darth Dude laughed again. Ben and Damien rolled their eyes.
They began to battle. Not a battle like Damien knew, of course (a Pokémon battle), a Jedi/Sith battle. Damien just stood around watching them. They had weird swords. A beam of light came out of a silver handle when they pushed a red button. It was a solid beam, so when they clashed, it made a noise. It was really weird.
Soon, Ben had Darth Dude "pinned", his light saber at his throat, just like with the hunter. Since there was no point in telling stubborn Damien to close his eyes, Ben quickly decapitated Darth Dude, and that was the end of him.
"That was very… appetizing," said Damien.
"Well, I would've told you not to look, but you wouldn't have."
"You're probably right."
They went back to the forest.