Chapter Four: Boys and Their Toys

“Hold it like this…widen your stance a little…there you go.” Luke had just finished giving a crash course in lightsaber handling to TeenDoc and Marty. He then stepped back and watched them spar.

“Are you sure they’ll be all right?” Clara asked.

Luke nodded. “With my Trainees, I’ve seen everything happen with those sabers. Never anything fatal…or even anything severe. And nothing that could happen is something Medicus can’t fix.”

“He’s right,” said AL. “Best Healer on the planet.”

“Only Healer?” asked TrilogyDoc.

“Nope. There’s at least three including Medicus. There’s his mate, Althea and her dad, Miach.” AL sat back and watched Marty and TeenDoc circle each other. “We’re covered if something happens. Probably won’t even come to that. I have the stuff he makes in the house.”

TeenDoc and Marty had started off slow, effectively blocking each others’ attacks. Then they started to get bold and began reenacting the big lightsaber battle between Luke and Darth Vader from the second Death Star.

“Weird having your own words coming from someone else,” observed Luke.

Parry, dodge, thrust…Marty made a fake kick to mirror Luke’s move so long ago.

TeenDoc played the part of Vader by back-stepping and pretending to fall down imaginary stairs. They stared each other down.

“ ‘Obi-Wan has taught you well’,” said TeenDoc, walking slowly closer.

“ ‘I will not fight you, Father’.” Marty replied softly.

“Did I really sound like that?” Luke asked AL quietly.

She shrugged, snapping pictures with her digital camera. “Beats me…I didn’t come ’til later.”

“ ‘You are unwise to lower your defenses’!” TeenDoc shouted, starting the fight again. The sabers squeaked and crackled.

Marty couldn’t quite do the back-flip Luke had to do to get away from Vader, so he did a funny little back-step instead.

“ ‘Your thoughts betray you, Father’,” said Marty. “ ‘I feel the good in you. The conflict’.”

“ ‘There is no conflict’.” TeenDoc insisted.

Marty side-stepped, watching his opponent carefully. “ ‘You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me before, and I don’t believe you’ll destroy me, now’.”

“ ‘You underestimate the power of the Dark Side’,” said TeenDoc.

Luke suddenly straightened, remembering. “Uh oh…”

“What is it?” Clara asked, concerned with his sudden change in mood.

“ ‘If you will not fight…’ ”

“He’s going to – ”

“ ‘…then you will meet your destiny’!”

Luke’s Jedi reflexes were good and he knew what was coming because he’d experienced it himself, however, when TeenDoc threw the lightsaber, he’d deliberately thrown it wide so it wouldn’t hit Marty. So when Luke intervened with a small Force push, it caused the saber to fly closer than intended, so the blade hit Marty in the shoulder. While the low-powered training weapon didn’t cause a severe wound, it did sting the teen.

“Wow,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “You’re right. They do sting.”

“Are you okay?” TeenDoc asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Neither skin nor clothing was broken, so it was true. He retrieved the saber.

“I’m sorry, Marty,” said TeenDoc. “I thought I threw it wide enough.”

“It’s my fault, actually,” said Luke sheepishly. “I didn’t know you were going to throw it that wide and I ended up pushing it closer.”

“Hey, no problem,” said Marty and exchanged a look with TeenDoc. They both grinned. “You can make it up by joining us.” He deactivated the green saber and tossed it to Luke.

“Yeah, come on!” said TeenDoc, brandishing the saber. “ ‘If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will’!”

Luke paused, shrugged and grinned, igniting the saber. “ ‘Never’!” he shouted and lunged. They sparred with three-quarters of the ferocity that Luke and Vader had, mostly because Luke didn’t want to hurt TeenDoc.

“Aw, come on! Lay it on me!” he said. “Cut off my hand. Er…well, not literally.”

Luke glanced at TrilogyDoc and Clara. The elder inventor shrugged and gave a small nod. Luke shrugged as well and upped the strength of his attacks a little.

“So, when did you come in?” Jesse asked AL. He, Tommy, Adam and Jamie had come to stand by everyone else to watch.

She thought a moment. “Well, I think, by now, Ben and I have reached the Death Star II and we’re halfway to the throne room.”

“You weren’t with him from the start?” asked Clark.

AL shook her head. “He wouldn’t let me. Said it was too dangerous. And look what he got himself into.”

It was now the point of the fight where Luke had started bearing down on Vader, attacking relentlessly, pounding saber to saber. TeenDoc was doing a very good job of playing the part of the fallen Dark Lord of the Sith.

Though he was trying to be careful, Luke ended up nicking the teen’s wrist, but he also insisted he was all right, so the scene went on.

Marty laughed in a close approximation to the Emperor’s cackle. “ ‘Good’!” he said. “ ‘Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place at my side’!”

Just as he did back then, Luke looked to his bionic right hand, then to TeenDoc’s own hand. It had been a sign of just how much like his father he had become. He turned to Marty.

“ ‘Never’!” he said, deactivating the saber and tossing it away. “ ‘I’ll never turn to the Dark Side. You’ve failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi…like my father before me’.”

Marty stood silently for a moment, then said sullenly, “ ‘So be it…Jedi’.” He raised his arms. “ ‘If you will not be turned…you will be destroyed’!” Unable to conjure Force lightning, Marty had to resort to just making zapping noises as he shook his arms for effect.

Luke played the part by falling to the ground, writhing in mock pain. TeenDoc stood and staggered over to Marty’s side. AL winced.

“Damn, he’s good,” she said. “And I’m almost there. We got slowed down because his pain passed to me through the link.”

“Looks painful,” said Tommy.

“You have no idea.”

“ ‘Young fool’,” said Marty, walking closer. “ ‘Only now, at the end, do you understand’.”

“ ‘Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side’,” said Marty. “ ‘You have paid the price for you lack of vision’.”

 “ ‘Father, please…’ ” Luke groaned convincingly. “ ‘Help me’!”

Marty dropped his hands. “ ‘Now, young Skywalker…you will die’.” He raised his arms again and intensified his zapping sounds. Luke screamed in pretend agony.

“Kind of like when I got Abbadon to come after me, eh?” asked Jack.

AL stood. “Kind of, yeah.” She waited until TeenDoc went to pick up Marty – though they had to help each other out because he couldn’t lift him for very long – then shouted “Luke!” and threw herself at his side, protecting him from the imaginary onslaught. Marty screamed as he and TeenDoc mimicked the throwing of the Emperor down the reactor shaft.

“That was so cool!” TeenDoc raved as all the spectators applauded. The four of them bowed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, critters and androids…the Planet Alnilam Players!” said AL, chuckling. “Me as myself, Luke as himself, TeenDoc as Darth Vader and Marty as Luke and the Emperor. Now…let’s eat!”

End chapter four.

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