Hey, everyone! I'm back! Fans of the prequels might recognize a certain creature in this chapter, although I'm not really sure if it's native to Dagobah. But y'know what, there's a Sarlacc on both Tatooine and Felucia, and this is my story, so begone, logical arguments.

Anyways, enjoy!

His location was strange and creepy.

Calvin looked around the room that he was in, its walls metallic and cold in nature. There were barely any lights to illuminate the place, save for the dim glow of the white interior of an open capsule, its upper and lower halves separated. Its sharp and angular hexagonal design suggested that it, along with the room itself, judging from the aesthetic, was Imperial.

As he looked around again, slightly disturbed by the unfamiliar and detached location, a sharp, robotic breath alerted him to the dark figure that he had failed to see, kneeling on a pedestal in front of a hologram. The pedestal lit up, and the hologram buzzed to life.

Calvin took a step back in his hiding place when he saw the hologram, which now showed a towering, cloaked creature whose only clear features were his eyes; yellow, beady eyes that spoke of power and cunning. The hologram's blue light served as a means to identify the kneeling, metallically breathing figure beneath it, and Calvin's blood flash-froze at seeing Darth Vader, just as he had seen him in the hangar on Hoth.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" Darth Vader spoke with a deep cyborgian tone. Then, the hologram shifted and to his horror, Calvin recognized the old man in the hologram. With the pale, gray skin of a corpse, and thousands of hundred year-old wrinkles across his hideous face, he knew without a doubt that this was the single-most powerful man in the galaxy: The Galactic Emperor Palpatine.

And yet, as he paled at the realization, fear coursing through him as though electric eels had nestled in his bloodstream, he could not help thinking, 'Wow. What an UGLY 'ol geezer.'

"There is a great disturbance in the Force," the Emperor spoke, his voice scratchy but commanding all the same.

"I have felt it," Vader agreed. Calvin looked on in terrified fascination at the conversation.

"We have a new enemy; Luke Skywalker."

"Yes, my master."

"He could destroy us," the Emperor said.

"He's just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him," Vader argued.

"The Force is strong with him," the Emperor disagreed. "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

"If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally," Vader suggested, and Calvin recoiled at the words. They were planning to turn Luke into… an Imperial!

The emperor seemed in agreement, as if Vader's words had given him a sinister idea. "Yes… Yessss. He would be a great asset… Can it be done?"

"He will join us or die, my master," Vader assured the emperor, and began to rise.

"Wait," the Emperor ordered him, and Vader knelt again. "I understand that you currently seek to capture Skywalker's friends aboard the Millennium Falcon."

"Yes, my master."

"Ah… I see your plan, my apprentice," the Emperor nodded with a cruel smile. "Luke Skywalker, however, was not the only disturbance that I sensed. There is something else… a device that can harness the force like nothing that we have ever known. An engine that can defy space and time itself."

"Such a device exists?" Vader asked.

"Yes… it is in the possession of a strange creature," the Emperor revealed, though Calvin already knew exactly what and who he was talking about. "A creature that is amongst Skywalker's other friends, and who is with him right now."

"Are you certain, my master?" Vader asked.

"I do not see everything," the Emperor said, "but everything that I have told you, I know for certain. Once you spring your trap, make sure that that creature, Skywalker's friend, is caught in it as well."

"As you wish, my master," Vader said, and rose. The Hologram faded, and the room around Calvin grew completely black.

"Ah!" Calvin yelped as he was jolted awake, the asteroid's sudden tremor along with the terrifying dream that he had just had making him jump a little into the air. With panic, he realized that he had just rolled off of the bunk bed.

He hit the floor hard, and for minutes, didn't move, trying to process everything that had just happened. Darth Vader had been there… and the Emperor… no, it was just a dream. Wasn't it? They were talking about terrible stuff. A trap… turning Luke to their side, the DART…

With a start, he realized that Vader and the Emperor had been talking about someone else that he knew… not just Luke, but Hobbes!

And even worse, somehow, the Emperor had picked up some sort of disturbance from the DART. He knew what it was, and that Hobbes knew about it. Luckily, he didn't seem to pick up on the fact that he, Calvin, was the one who currently had it, or that it was on the Falcon.

Hobbes and Luke! He had to warn Hobbes and Luke about whatever trap Vader was setting for them. Leaping to his feet, he raced out of the sleeping area and straight towards the cockpit as another tremor shook the asteroid.

Things had just gotten very, very bad.

Meanwhile, millions of star systems away, two ships exited Hyperspace just outside of the Dagobah system. An X-wing and a Y-wing on a course to the swamp planet of Dagobah, which, according to the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi, harbored an ancient Jedi Master by the name of Yoda. If Luke could find him, then Yoda could train him in the ways of the force and help them defeat the Galactic Empire.

It all would have sounded pretty fantastical and silly to Hobbes if he was still in his own universe. But by this point, something like this was just another Tuesday. That is, if they actually had Tuesdays here.

"No, I'm not going to change my mind about this," Luke was saying after R2-D2 asked him if he was willing to forget about Dagobah and just return to the Rebel fleet. R2 really did not want to do this.

"So," Hobbes interrupted, "do you know where exactly on this planet Yoda might be?"

"...I don't know," Luke replied, looking down at the green, murky world below, shrouded in white storms of mist. "I'm not picking up any cities or technology. Massive life-form readings, though. There's something alive down there…"

"No kidding," Hobbes sarcastically muttered as he looked down at the planet below.

R2 whistled another worried question, to which Luke replied, rather exasperatedly, "Yes, I'm sure this place is perfectly safe for droids."

"Well, I guess we could fly around to the other side of the planet and see if the scanners show something there," Hobbes offered.

Silence.

"Hey, Luke," he said. "You hear me?"

Nothing.

"Luke, answer me," he said again, slightly worried.

"Oh! Sorry, Hobbes," Luke's voice came through the commlink. "I just had this strange feeling. Something was tugging at me, almost."

"Well, you're a Jedi in the making, and this planet looks like it's pretty connected to nature, so maybe it's calling to you," Hobbes shrugged. "Anyways, I was thinking that maybe we could go to the far side of the planet and see if the scanners pick up anything there. What do you think?"

"Maybe," Luke agreed. "Hey, wait a second… wait! I know what it is!"

"What?" Hobbes asked. "The feeling that you just had?"

"Yes!" Luke nodded. "Maybe, if I follow it down there, it will lead us to Yoda!"

Uh, Luke, I'm not sure that that's going to work," Hobbes said, skeptical. "I mean, I know that you're a Jedi and have all of these feelings, but-"

"No, it will work!" Luke assured the tiger. "Trust me. Please."

Hobbes was worried. There wasn't really any place for landing their ships, which could prove problematic. If they didn't find Yoda down there, and he was somewhere else, could they even fly back up into space? And the planet, while smaller than Hoth, was still rather vast. After all, it was a planet, and Yoda could be anywhere if Luke was wrong about his feeling.

Then again, he could just… not go down there. But they needed a Kyber crystal! That was why he came here, and he was not going to pull back, now!

"Alright," Hobbes nodded. "I'll just follow you, then?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded back. "Stay close behind me so that we don't lose each other in the fog."

"Okay," Hobbes said. "Let's go."

"Well, first I've got to see if I can get that tugging feeling to reach me again."

"Oh."

A few minutes transpired as both the X-wing and Y-wing sat motionless, Luke trying his best to reconnect with whatever feeling he had and Hobbes occupying himself by looking down at Dagobah. It looked rather calm and serene from up here, but what sorts of dangerous creatures could be lurking under the tree canopy?

"Okay, got it," Luke confirmed, and his X-wing accelerated. "Let's go."

"Right behind you," Hobbes nodded, and followed Luke down into the atmosphere. The descent took a few minutes, as both of them were going rather slow. Eventually, they broke through the first thin layer of clouds, and dived towards the thick, impenetrable fog below, as if they were flying into a sickly white gas giant.

Both Luke and Hobbes slowed down even further, so as to not be caught off guard by whatever obstacle might be down there. It was then, as they flew into the fog, that Hobbes noticed his canopy beginning to glaze over with a thin layer of vaporized water, slowly obscuring his vision.

"Hey, Luke," he said, worried, and looked up. To his dismay, the X-wing was nowhere to be seen.

Luke's voice came through in short bursts of static. "I know I… All the scopes are dead-I can't…see a-y-thing!"

"Luke, I've lost you!" Hobbes yelled into his commpad. "Do you hear me?"

"Hobbes!" Luke responded. "Jus- follow… chrrzch! Hang on! I'm goin-gto start the- anding cycle!"

"I can't follow you, I've lost you!" Hobbes tried to explain, but nothing but static came through. His gravity sensors were dead, along with most of his other scopes. The canopy was barely see-through, and so he was flying blind.

Suddenly, he saw tree branches in the fog ahead, and opened his landing gear while slowing the ship down as much as he could. But he could tell that it wasn't enough.

"AAUGH!" The ship hit the tree canopy, breaking gnarled branches and getting entangled in dozens of thick, hairy vines. The ship suddenly turned off entirely, due to an in-built protective measure that had just kicked in. Screaming, Hobbes spotted the murky ground, squeezed his eyes closed and braced himself for the impact.

But nothing happened.

Gasping, Hobbes opened his eyes and looked around him. The fog on his canopy was still there, but from what he could see, his Y-wing was entangled in thousands of strong vines and noodle-like branches.

Aw, shoot, Hobbes thought. Reaching up his arms,he pushed with all of his might, and the canopy of the busted up bomber slid forward, allowing him to climb out. The swampy ground was a few yards below him, and he realized that, had his ship continued at the angle that it was going, the nose of the bomber- and him- would have collided brutally with a large, mossy boulder. Luckily, the vines had caught him.

"Well, I've got that goin' for me, I guess," he muttered, and looked down again. The forest floor didn't look too bad. It seemed solid enough, and he noticed dozens of tiny plant sprouts all over the place, meaning that the soil was probably held together better by the roots.

The Y-wing didn't look all that bad either. He climbed around, checking the thrusters, the Hyperdrive, and the frame as well. It was probably operational!... probably. Of course, he couldn't fly away at all if the Y-wing was now stuck in a myriad of vines and branches. So, the first order of business, he decided, was to cut his method of transport loose.

He set to work, using his claws for smaller ones and getting out a small cutting torch from his ship's repair kit for the thicker ones. The torch's cutting power worked just as well on plant fiber as much as it did on metal.

Finally, Hobbes (holding onto a recently cut vine to stop himself from falling), cut apart the main vine holding the ship up, and inhaled sharply in panic as the Y-wing crashed down, the landing gear's shock absorbers now probably damaged by the force. Bits of metal flew off, but other than that, nothing happened.

"Okay…" Hobbes mumbled, nodding slowly to himself. Climbing down the tall, twisted tree that he was hanging from, he inspected the Y-wing and found it still operational. He liked the fighter bomber. It had survived multiple shots from TIEs to its frame and engines, it had survived the EMP blast and debris from a Death Star, and now it was still in more or less of a working condition after crashing down onto Dagobah.

Second order of business, he decided, mark my location and find Luke. He wasn't really sure of what had happened to the young Jedi, but he had seemed to be in a similar situation when they lost contact. Looking in the cockpit of the Y-wing, he discovered that the last reading from his in-atmosphere altimeter, with help from the gravity sensors, showed that he had been only three quarters of a kilometer from the surface.

So, if Hobbes had lost contact with Luke… ten seconds later, and then another ten to fifteen seconds later, he had hit the canopy of the forest, that meant the X-wing could have gone five kilometers in any direction... roughly.

Just great, he sighed. Placing a marker in the cockpit of his Y-wing, he began to gather some supplies in a bag. Food, water purification, a red signal flare, macrobinoculars, bacta, and other first-aid materials.

Making sure that he properly marked his location, Hobbes turned, and draped the sling of his blaster carbine over his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he set out in the direction where he remembered the X-wing had been slightly banking towards the last time he had seen it.

This was not going to be fun.

The swamp all looked the same. At least that's what Hobbes saw. Everywhere, there were huge, twisted trees with large roots reaching up to where you couldn't see the tops through the fog. Smaller trees with mangrove roots grew in small, muddy ponds that were so numerous, Hobbes had to skirt one every sixty seconds. There were so many vines, trees, roots, ponds, and branches that it was just infuriating!

At such a snail's pace, He had only traveled around two kilometers in four hours. Terrible.

Hobbes decided to rest. Setting down his pack, he listened to the strange calls and shrieks off in the distance, and sighed. The marker on his ship was working, which meant that he could find his way back. But at the rate he was going, it could take days to find Luke. Not a very exciting prospect.

Taking a swing from his canteen, Hobbes replaced it and gazed up into the fog above. The view only went up, maybe… thirty to forty feet. A light mist was raining down, covering the leaves and branches with a glistening sheen.

Wait. Why were the branches glistening? The was no-

Snapping his head towards the sky, Hobbes was astounded to find that the fog was lifting, making way for a faint blue sky, up in the air. A weak orb of light… Dagobah's star, was shining down on him!

That was a nice change, he thought, when he realized something else. If he could climb a tree, he'd have a much better field of vision and could locate Luke easier!

Of course, he probably would only see more trees, but it was worth a shot.

Digging his claws into the bumpy trunk of a gigantic tree, he began to clamber up, higher and higher. The action made him think of the Margays, his distant cousins from South America. They were excellent tree climbers, and didn't need any ropes, grappling hooks, or utility belts. They could easily just… walk vertically up and down trees, and for a little while, he fancied himself one of them.

Focus, Hobbes. No need to gush over your cousins' abilities. You're the king of the rainforest.

Higher and higher he went, pushing himself up further and further, until, finally, he felt a light breeze wash over him, driving the mist and the fog away and giving him fresh air to breathe. Looking around, he noticed that a new layer of moisture was already starting to set in. He'd have to hurry.

Looking around hurriedly, he saw nothing, and resolved to go slower. Like a security camera, his eyes slowly swiveled this way and that, noticing trees, trees, trees…

Aha! In a large, green pond far off, east of the direction that he had been heading in, was the sharply edged outline of plated metal; maybe wings! He zeroed in with his eyes, focusing his attention on that particular spot. Yes! There was a large piece of metal that looked like, like… Hobbes realized that the fog had set in again, hiding his view of what seemed to be a ship.

He climbed down, memorizing the general direction of where he had sighted the thing. He dropped to the mossy floor, and slung his pack over his shoulder. With newfound determination, he set off again, sure to find Luke sooner or later.

Thin sheets of mist were falling when Hobbes reached the pond, which, closer up, looked much more like a lake. In the water, a dozen feet from the shore was a wing and part of the cockpit. But it quickly became obvious that this wasn't an X-wing at all.

It was an old, rusted, peeling, green wing. From the shape of the wing and the cockpit's design, Hobbes guessed that it was probably a Delta-class starfighter. They were produced largely during and before the Clone Wars, which meant that this definitely wasn't Luke's ship. He hadn't been here.

But it was a ship, he realized. And that meant that someone else was here… Yoda!

This must have been Yoda's ship when he and the other Jedi went into hiding, he decided. And that probably meant that Lukes sense had been true! Yoda was around here somewhere.

Delighted by his discovery Hobbes turned, ready to keep searching around, but stopped abruptly.

His ears twitched.

The fur on his back rose up in spikes.

A silent flicker of movement appeared just in the borders of his vision.

Conclusion: Ambush.

Twisting, Hobbes narrowly avoided a lethal pounce from his sudden assailant which brought him down on all four limbs. Startled and confused for a second, he noticed the attacking creature whirl towards him with a deep growl, about to pounce again. Realizing that he was on the back foot, Hobbes, instead of fleeing, voiced a challenge of his own, letting a large growl escape his throat.

The alien creature paused momentarily, surprised at this strange prey's fearlessness. The split-second lull allowed Hobbes to get a good look at what he was up against. Large head. Abnormally large mouth and teeth in the shape of a snarling grin. Six eyes. Catlike body. Tawny fur with dark-brown stripes. Hairless rat tail. Grizzly bear claws. Bigger, stronger, but slower.

For another second, both cats sized each other up, looking for weaknesses. Attack points. Gaps in the other's defense, while uttering snarls and hisses to intimidate.

The alien feline restarted the fight by taking a step and leaping, claws extended to dig firmly into Hobbes' flesh. Not one to be slow, however, Hobbes pounced at the same time and both of them rolled across the ground, snapping and kicking and tearing off bits of fur. Whatever move the larger cat tried to make, Hobbes managed to weasel out of it. But this monster of a cat just didn't seem to tire, whereas Hobbes found his energy slowly draining away. He realized that if they continued to fight, his stronger opponent would win.

So he took the other option. With a swift kick to the creature's gut, he reached up and tore his claws through one of its six, red eyes. The action had the desired effect, and Hobbes wrangled himself loose from the distracted creature's grasp. Turning, he launched himself onto the nearest tree trunk and began scrambling up it. An enraged growl behind him served as an indicator that the alien kitty had recovered from the attack.

A climbing battle ensued, Hobbes finding that the cat-like creature after him was a decent climber itself. What was worse was that for months, Hobbes hadn't climbed at all, and this cat probably did this all day. The only thing keeping him ahead was his smaller, quicker frame, but that wasn't enough. Then, as he scaled the towering tree, an idea occurred to him. And seeing no other option left, he let go.

Afterwards, he would look back on the fight and perceive his idea as stupid. But he was quite literally fighting an uphill battle, and he viewed this as his best bet.

He smashed into his ascending pursuer, detaching them both and sending them whirling through the air. For a moment, Hobbes was unable to move, terrified by the ground below, ready to smash them to a pulp. Then, something clicked in him; a memory of a spy movie he and Calvin had watched. Twisting, Hobbes regained his wits and made sure that the snarling, rat-tailed cat was below him to take the impact of the fall.

"Crack!"

His head ringing like an alarm clock, Hobbes forced open his eyes, which he had squeezed shut when they had met the ground. He was in terrible shape, it seemed, as every part of his body was aching and burning. He was certainly covered with cuts and other shallow wounds from the fight with the cat.

The cat. Hobbes looked down as what he was laying on, and saw the cracked, bloody body of his ferocious opponent half-sunk in the mud they had landed in. Its maroon eyes were lifeless, and its blood was all over his paws.

Not that he minded much.

"Heh, heh. Hahahahaah, yes! I beat'cha, kitty! Hey, how's that for a stylish fall, eh, Jason Bourne?" he shouted to the sky, victorious and more than a little proud of himself. Standing up, he noticed that his pack and blaster had been lost during the battle. Glimpsing both near the pond's shoreline, he walked over, still giggling, and reached down to pick up his pack when a voice went, "Hobbes!"

Reaching instead for his blaster, Hobbes turned halfway with it before recognizing the voice.

"Luke!"

:D