Legend of the Jedi Princess 3: Return of the Doresho

Rattle Snake Part 3

Obi-Wan soon appeared with Peppermint in the Temple. Luckily, they didn't land anywhere Rattle Snake could spot them.

Gabby appeared to them, hanging upside down from a vine.

"Uncle Obi-Wan! Peppermint!" Gabby whisper yelled. "Thank the Force."

"We got here as soon as we could." Peppermint said. "How bad is it?"

"Well, the Bad Batch, Uncle Carmine, Aunt Caroline, Grandpa Qui-Gon, Aunt Kara, and pretty much every Council member, including Daddy, has been turned into babies, and so have just about all the other grownups here. The other younglings are okay, though, so we know Rattle Snake doesn't target kids, and we've gotten some of them to help round up the babies. But... we kinda need adult help with them."

Obi-Wan saw what Gabby meant when they entered the nursery. Taking care of babies was not something traditionally taught in the Jedi Temple. Even when the Code was changed, most of the childcare was left to the nannies and nurses. But now they were all babies too! Even the guards were changed into babies.

"What can we do to help?" Peppermint asked.

"Well, Peppermint, since you have a little sister, you know how to take care of babies, right?" Gabby said.

"I do."

"Well, you can give Uncle Obi-Wan lessons right now. He'll play a different role later."

"What kind of role?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I'll tell you that later." Gabby promised before running off.

Rattle Snake slithered across the Temple, looking for a way out. Unfortunately for her, with the lock-down in place, there was no way for her to get out.

"Ugh! There's no way out of here!" Rattle Snake complained to Mariverde. "What do I do now?"

"Go find any Jedi younglings you can find." Mariverde said. "One of them should possess the knowledge needed to open the doors."

"As you wish, Mariverde." Rattle Snake hissed before slithering away again.

But she didn't notice Lamenta sneaking up on her, as she'd turned invisible.

Lamenta carefully touched Rattle Snake's tail, and discovered that the item that was clavatized was the rattle at the end.

"Bingo!" she whispered. Unfortunately, Rattle Snake heard her, and quickly slithered back to constrict the girl.

Lamenta screamed loudly enough to distract the giant snake for a moment, just long enough for Lamenta to flee before Rattle Snake could try anything else.

"Okay, clearly destroying this villain's not gonna be easy unless I can get her to stay in place." Lamenta said.

Lamenta activated her communicator and contacted Gabby.

"Cousin, I found Rattle Snake's source. It's the rattle on the end of her tail."

"That should've been an easy guess." Gabby said.

"Yes, but she won't hold still long enough for us to break it or anything." Lamenta explained. "We need a new plan."

"Well, what do we know about snakes?"

"I don't know much except that some are venomous, some are not."

"Well, there's only one place to get more info. The library."

But with Jocasta turned into a baby too, the kids would have to navigate the library themselves.

"No worries," said Gabby. "I've seen Ms. Jocasta search for things lots of times."