Chapter 19: You're Not, But You Are

*Note: Some of this chapter was written by M. Skywalker.*

Ben was healed in a few days, the only few days which could be counted as normal in a while. Damien went off and caught a new Pokémon. It was a small, egg-shaped creature with red and blue markings all over its off-white shell. Its little head poked out, along with its arms and legs. It was called Togepi.

When, he got back from the woods where he had caught it, he was in a bad mood. As you could have learned from his experiences with Charmander, he didn't like weak Pokemon. In fact, he hated them. He thought training Pokémon was a waste of time. All he wanted to do was win in battles with them. He though Togepi would be stronger, but he was wrong. It was so young, it could barely walk.

Damien rode into the forest on his Ponyta and dropped Togepi off. It rolled over and crashed into the pond rocks. Pikablu went over to it.

Damien rode over to his cave and withdrew Ponyta. He put the Pokéball on his bed. Anakin was playing with his food, trying to make Jaina and Jacen laugh.

"Stop acting stupid," Damien said, angrily.

"I'm not stupid!" shouted Anakin.

"You're not stupid, but you're stupid!" said Jacen, meaning that Anakin was not actually stupid, he just acted like he was.

Damien scowled at him. He had heard almost the same sentence before, from Ben. Must be coincidence, he thought. Anakin jumped up out of his wheel chair, flipped, and landed back in it. He did it five times, then finally messed up and fell on his head.

"Anni, are you okay?" asked Damien, not too concerned.

"Sure," said Jaina for him. "He's not well," she said pointing at his head, signaling he was crazy, "but he's well." She meant physically.

Damien went outside and sat on the "deer rocks". Turtle and Tim were swimming.

Luke was standing in the middle of the forest, mumbling something under his breath. Anakin came outside. "What are you doing?" he asked his uncle.

"I'm talking to Anakin," Luke replied.

"How? He just came out here. You were talking before he came out," Damien said.

"Oh, not Anakin, but Anakin," Luke said, then went back to mumbling. He was talking about his father and Anakin's grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, whom Anakin had been named after.

"Am I missing something?" Damien asked.

"You're not missing something, but you're missing something. So am I," commented Anakin. He turned and went back inside.

Damien was getting really annoyed. He was so annoyed, he started to freeze the water again.

"Is the water getting cold to you?" asked Tim.

"Yeah," said Turtle.

"Oh, well. No reason we should get out."

Ben came outside. He could get around now, because he had healed himself using The Force. He was tired, though, so he had to rest a lot.

"You're freezing," he said. "You're not freezing, but you're freezing."

That pushed Damien over the edge. He had heard too many of these Jedi sayings. The water froze hard as rock.

"Help! I'm stuck!" shouted Tim.

"I guess we should have gotten out," said Turtle, sadly.

They could not get out of the solid ice, and Damien was not changing. They stayed there all night.

The next morning, Damien woke up. He had cooled off bit. The water was slushy. The boys got out as quickly as possible. They went to Ember, who warmed them up with this flame.

Damien stood by the edge of the water. Anakin raced around in his wheelchair. He knocked into Damien, pushing him into the water. Before he could get out, he froze the water and was trapped.

Being so angry at being in the water, he couldn't unfreeze the water. He stayed.

Back in their cabin, Ben was monitoring the young Jedi. He had to figure out whom to train. He was pretty sure he would only be training two, Jaina and Jacen, but he had to give Anakin a fair chance. For once, Anakin behaved almost normally. He really wanted to be trained. It wasn't worth a trick to be teased by his brother and sister when they were Jedi and he was not.

Days later, Damien was still trapped. He took a deep breath. He was really cold. He tried to keep his temper. He finally got out of the water. He didn't think of drying off, though. The water was gone, but the coldness remained.

Ben, Anakin, Jaina, and Jacen were talking.

"I've decided to train all of you," Ben said.

"Yay!" Anakin shouted.

"However," Ben continued, "one step out of line and you can kiss your training good bye."

"Ha, ha!" said Jacen.

"That goes for all of you, not just Anni," Ben said.

"Ha, ha!" said Anakin. Ben gave him a look.

"When do we start?" asked Jaina.

"Now!" shouted Anakin.

"Good idea," said Ben.

As Ben strode through to the back of the cave, his bed opened up and three things floated out of it. Ben stopped at the back of the cave and the three objects from his bed landed at his feet.

Anakin, not willing to risk doing something bad, ran up and sat with his back against the stone. Jaina, who was tired, lay down to get some rest before she went. Jacen picked up an object from the floor. It was a silver handle with a red button on it. Ben reached out, took it, and turned it around so it was facing the opposite direction. Jacen looked at Ben quizzically.

"What'd you do that for?" Just as Jacen said that, he noticed a silver handle that looked a little like the one he was holding, hanging on Ben's belt.

"Incase you turned it on," Ben said, like it was obvious.

Jacen realized what he was holding. Jedi-in-training weren't allowed to use the real thing of course, but it was a training saber, almost as good. Jacen pressed the button and watched as a blue stick of light came out of the handle.

Even though Anakin knew that Jacen was holding a training saber, and that it would only give him a burn, and a burn hurt considerably less than Damien, he slid over a few feet. Jacen could be trusted, he thought, but I don't trust him enough to stay within range. Just then, one of the other objects rose. Anakin wasn't sure if Ben was controlling it, or if it was controlling itself.

Jaina watched as the ball shot off energy bolts. Her twin brother wasn't doing a good job of blocking them. 24, no 25 bolts and he hasn't blocked anything, Jaina thought. I hope I do better.

Jacen, you're not using The Force. Don't attack with frustration. Ben sounded strangely patient, despite the force behind his thoughts.

Jacen was startled. I'm trying! he thought-snapped, but you interrupted my concentration.

Ben reached down with The Force and turned off the ball. The he reached down and picked up a bucket.

"Why'd you do that?" Jacen protested.

For an answer, Ben put the bucket on Jacen's head.

"Hey! Now I can't see!"

"Your eyes can deceive you, The Force cannot," Ben said.

Jacen sighed. He wasn't too sure about this. He felt lonely; he couldn't communicate with anyone, well, not the way he was used to. He tried to picture his sister's face. Keyword: tried. Jacen then saw everything around him in detail. He was about to ask about the bucket, he didn't see it anywhere, but then he realized that he couldn't see inanimate objects that well, and that he, his sister, and Anakin were glowing. Ben was almost too bright to look at, but as soon as Jacen did look at Ben, he could stand it. He couldn't explain or understand it. It's likely that no one could. Not even Ben.

He saw Ben reach over to the ball. The ball had ripples for stands, and a brightly glowing switch. Ben flicked the switch, and the balls caused ripples as it started to move.

That's a talent I certainly didn't expect, Ben thought-said.

"What?" Jacen got hit. "I didn't see that at all, Ben."

That's because you're a selector. That, what you are in, is a talent that helps you select people to train. It won't select weapons and things like that. Most people have to learn to do that.

"Well, how do I…" Jacen began, not sure how to end.

Stop wondering about who is strongest in The Force and wonder about what you are doing.

Okay, Jacen thought cautiously. Jacen felt a ripple coming towards his shoulder. A ripple? I'm not swimming, Jacen thought. He wasn't looking for ripples, he was looking for lasers. The ripple hit him. It hurt. The ripples cause the ball to shoot, Jacen thought. Or the lasers cause the ripples. Oh, well. Either way, the ripples accompany the bolts. Jacen felt a ripple headed at his chest. He pulled the training saber down and neatly blocked the bolt. He deflected the next ten bolts, then he lost his concentration and Ben, sensing this, reached out through The Force and turned off the ball.

Are you okay? he asked.

Jacen, who was so disturbed he didn't realize that Ben was think-speaking, said, "I'm fine," in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Anakin looked at him funny. He had heard a sarcastic sounding, "I'm fine." Ben only raised an eyebrow. Jacen tore off the bucket. His eyes were wide, and all the color had drained from his face. "I…I...I."

"What?" shouted Jaina and Anakin in union. Ben, however, knew that Jacen would talk when he was ready.

"I…I saw Uncle Luke…and," Jacen whispered into the cave, "and…and…and Mara J…J…Jade."

"What happened?" prompted Jaina.

"M…M…M…Mara k…k...killed U…Uncle Luke." The three children looked at Ben to see his reaction to the news. Ben looked pleased.

"Two things," he said. "Okay, three, but one is a question. What color was your uncle's light saber?"

"Blue."

"Alright. That was the future, the future is unset, in perpetual motion. I saw that vision also, but I saw two of your uncle, Jourus C'boath, and Mara. I felt the buzzing in the force for Luke, and I felt his relief when Mara 'killed' him."

"Relief?" Jaina practically screamed. "How can, and why should, he be relieved that he is dead?"

"The Luke who is killed was in service of Jourus C'boath. He was a clone of your uncle."

"Who is Jourus C'boath? Clone?" Jacen was full of questions.

"Clones feel compelled to use clones," came Ben's cryptic answer.

"Oh, well. Hey Jacen, I think it's my turn now," Jaina said to her listless twin.

"Oh, right, here," Jacen said as he handed her the training saber. "Good luck. I think you'll need it."

"Thanks. I think I will, too." Jaina replied.

Stop thinking that way, Jaina. Jaina laughed.

"Ben," she said, "you can't control how I think."

"Uh, Jaina," Anakin said, confused. He didn't understand where Jaina's words came from. He hadn't heard Ben say anything.

Jaina didn't reply. Ben had turned on the ball. She saw the bolt. She brought the training saber into position to block that one too late. In fact the next one had already been fired. Jaina saw it milliseconds before it hit her arm. She sighed and flicked off the training saber. The ball paused at the deactivation of the saber. "I can't do this," Jaina said.

"Why not?" Ben asked as he placed the bucket over her head. "You just need to calm down and focus."

Jaina sighed. She felt strangely cut off from the world. She wondered where the ball was. All of a sudden, Jaina felt water flowing through her. She wasn't surprised. She hadn't known what to expect, but it felt she had known what it felt like all along. She felt something, and unconsciously moved her training saber up to deflect it. Without realizing it, Jaina blocked bolts for two minutes. Then she collapsed. Well, she didn't collapse, but she sat down and took the bucket off her head. Her eyes betrayed the fact that she was still lost in thought.

Anakin jumped up and grabbed the training saber. It was on. He hit himself with it because Jaina just let go. He almost hit Ben, too, if you can "almost" hit a Jedi. The blade stopped inches short of Ben.

All at once, a shot was fired. Anakin jumped. He didn't jump to avoid the bolt; he jumped because the bolt had hit him. Fifty shots, one bucket, and much advice later, Anakin blocked ten shots.

Damien walked over just in time to see Anakin getting hit again. He started laughing loudly. Anakin got mad. Ben said nothing, but, at once, the training saber turned off and flew to his outstretched hand.

Damien was still laughing.

"Time to stop," said Ben. "That's enough for today. Jacen, go set the table."

"Do I gotta?" whined Jacen.

"Yes, you…'gotta,'" said Ben. Jacen went, muttering under his breath.

The others went to help him, and Damien went to bed. He was cold and was starting to not feel so good.

When dinner was ready a half an hour later, Damien was asleep.

"Isn't Damien coming to dinner?" asked Jaina.

"He's sleeping," explained Ben.

"Why don't we wake him up?" asked Anakin.

Ben projected a thought into Damien's head. Wake up, Damien.

Damien stirred and sat up, groggily. "What?" he asked, sleepily.

"Want dinner?" asked Jacen.

"No, not really," Damien said, crawling back into his bed and falling asleep again.

A minute later, the water was frozen again.