Episode XVI: General Creasous Strikes Back

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
By Tommy

After filling in my friends about General Creasous’ most recent note, I have them a warning.
“Guys,” I said. “I have a bad feeling about this guy. We all have to stay alert. Every one of us. That’s why I’ve made sure all hands are on deck for this one, and I’ve brought in a few old friends.”
Eggbert and Zach walked in the doors, into the already crowded art/music room. “We’re here to help,” they said. “You need anything, just ask.”
They rudely shoved past me, and threw a new binder onto the table at which we were all sitting. It plopped open in front of everybody. In big bold words at the top of the file, it said GENERAL CREASOUS.
“Okay, first order of business…” Eggbert cracked his knuckles. “Someone here must be assigned to go after Grievous. We will all vote for whoever we see fit to go after this guy.”
Mike immediately raised his hand. “Well, dude,” he said, motioning to me. “Obi-Wan Kenobi did battle Grievous in the movies, so what if you and Foldy-Wan stopped Grievous? Plus, he does seem to be singling you out.”
Sara raised her hand. “Sorry, Tommy,” she said in a really sweet voice. “But Mike’s got a point. Besides, you’re the leader of the Rebellion. It does sound like your sort of job to do.”
Harvey stood up from his seat. “This is outrageous! This is unfair! I should be the one going after Grievous!”
I glared at him. If Harvey really was the General like I’d speculated he was, this would be the next step of his plan. Making sure nobody was actually looking for him.
“No, Harvey,” I said. “Remember your place.”
Harvey sat back down. “Well,” he sighed. “I guess I can always comment as usual…”
Eggbert asked Mike to document everything in this case file, seeing as he’s the Rebellion’s Holocron keeper. So in a way, this is mainly his case file, since I’ll be too busy going after General Creasous to write out everything that’s going on during school. It still made me pretty mad that I didn’t get to do what I do best. I’m a writer, not a fighter.
“Master Foldy-Wan, a moment have you?” Origami Yoda perked up. Dwight walked over to me, looking me straight in the eyes. REALLY bad sign with Dwight. He made Origami Yoda whisper in my ear, which was a little weird, but not unexpected.
“The beginning of the end, this is…” Yoda said. “Great care we must take, when battling the General. Our enemy he may be, but formerly a friend, he was….”
Dwight sat back down, and I instantly felt a whole lot worse.
My speculation about Harvey was looking more and more convincing.

Chapter 2: The Second Graders
By Mike
Harvey, me, Kellen, Sara, and Murky were chosen for this volunteer program. Y’see, we were chosen to help out these second graders with their skills.
Kellen taught the kids how to draw, Harvey taught them how to fold origami, I taught them how to write, Murky taught them grammar (or, well, Murklish), and Sara taught them how to make duct tape creations!
But GUESS WHO the self-elected leader of the second graders was? That’s right! The Skate Brat! I got to talk with him and hang out and such, and he’s actually matured a lot!
Harvey handed everyone a sheet of paper. He told them to fold origami Jedi Padawan versions of themselves. It was awesome!
A week later, we came back to help the second graders on how to fold Origami Cranes. When we came back, all of the second graders were crying. Sara asked the Skate Brat what happened.
“Someone destroyed all of our origami while we were taking a bathroom break!” He started sobbing. Like, REALLY sobbing and wailing.
I felt pretty awkward being in that situation, especially since I’d only recently overcome my boo-hoo/angry tears myself, so I kinda let Sara take the lead. She helped them re-fold their Origami Padawans, and she even used her old Five-Fold Yoda that Dwight gave her to teach them! But that doesn’t change the fact that General Creasous is still out there, and this time, he was mean to little kids. That’s just evil. And I did want to mention something…Harvey helped the kids fold their “Pad-awans,” and made them happy. But what if later, just to crush their spirits, he ripped them up? It’s totally cold, but it sounds Harvey-ish. I think you’re right, Tommy.

Chapter 3: The Plot Thickens
By Kellen
Okay, something strange happened today.
We were watching a video about the crusades in history class, when we heard a loud CRASH from the next-door classroom. We saw five kids run out of the room, and we recognized two of them as Sara and Harvey. But we had no idea who the other three kids were. At lunch, we confronted Sara and Harvey and tried to make them tell us what happened. It took a while, but they cracked.
Their confession is as follows….
“The other day, we were confronted by this guy from the high school,” Sara said. “He wouldn’t tell us his name, he wanted us to call him Chippy. He and his two friends all had origami Star Wars puppets, which were Keyan Farlander, Pilot Luke Skywalker, and Wedge Antilles. Chippy had the latter. He said that the three of them were part of the SuperFolder Protection League, and that he reported directly to Zach. But apparently, one of his friends named Aiden—who wielded an origami Dash Rendar—was part of the Bounty Hunters. At first, he thought it was another undercover job like Zach/Lawrence did, but soon enough, he found out that Aiden really had gone to the Dark Side. In fact, that’s why we had to leave our classroom this morning. Aiden had tied a string from the door handle to a portrait of our three past principals, so that it crashed all over the floor. Now someone’s cleaning it up, but it was totally a vandal-ish move.”
“Okay, I know this might sound obvious,” I said. “But could General Creasous be tied to the Origami Bounty Hunters and Separatists?”
“Dude, I don’t think Creasous is just part of the vandals,” Harvey said. “I think he LEADS them.”
I paused. Maybe Harvey had just made a good guess. OR MAYBE…….
“Alright, Harvey,” I said, using both of my hands to pin Harvey’s arms to the table. “Why are you using General Creasous against us??”
“What?? Me?” Harvey gasped. “I’d never! Seriously, you really think I’d try and vandalize this school? I just wanna get you weirdos to calm down! I’m trying to HELP the school!”
I eyed him suspiciously, but I couldn’t do anything about him yet. I needed proof.
“Alright,” I said. “You can both go.”
Harvey and Sara walked away. Suddenly, Mike ran up to me.
“Kellen!” Mike cried. “I was writing down kids’ chapters for the case file, when I realized a common thread!”
I sat down with him, and heard him out.
“Every time we go somewhere and do something, there’s always four constant people who show up: Sara, you, me—since I’m writing the case file—and….Harvey. I have to conclude that Harvey MUST be General Creasous.”
I sighed heavily. “Then we must talk to Tommy. It’s time to end this war, once and for all.”
Mike whipped out Origami Mace Windu. “May the Force be with us all.”

Chapter 4: The Truth Revealed
By Tommy and Chippy

CHIPPY
Now that our worst fears were realized, I reported in to the leader of the SF Protection League. It was my first time doing so, and I was really nervous. I didn’t even know who he was, other than he was a student at McQuarrie Middle School.
“Um, sir?” I slowly made my way inside the room, and found a lone student sitting at his desk. He lifted his head.
“I already know. I sent Tommy and Foldy-Wan to dispatch of Harvey and the General during lunch. He should be returning any minute now, with evidence, AND HARVEY, in tow…..Now, go back to Zach and Eggbert. They will be pleased to hear the news.”
I began walking away, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. I turned around, wanting to find out the identity of this student to whom I’ve pledged my allegiance.
I watched as he began scribbling furiously in his notebook. Under closer inspection, I recognized the notebook. I gasped. He was scratching out different chapters of the Grievous case file.
“Don’t want anyone to see these,” he said. It might tip them off to my identity.”
“…General?” I cautioned a guess.
He nodded. “You were supposed to be out of the room….Oh well. I guess this was inevitable.”
He held up General Creasous from his pocket, and tilted his face into the light.
I stepped back. “Oh my gosh.”

TOMMY
I was sitting at lunch, trying not to draw any attention to myself, as I scanned the group of students for Harvey. Kellen was off somewhere else, and Dwight was playing Flappy Bird with his nose over at another table, so I was all alone. Sara walked up to me.
“Tommy,” she said. “I’m worried.”
“What is it?”
“I used to think Harvey was the guy with Grievous…” Sara took a shaky breath. “But I really don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
I blinked. “Why? Did something happen?”
Sara glanced around our table, I guess she was looking to see if anyone was listening. She pulled me in close. “I just got a text from Chippy. He knows who the General is.”
“…And?” I wasn’t fond of being held in suspense.
“He didn’t tell me. He just told me to meet him this evening at Billy and Dom’s Pizza Parlor.”
I eyed her curiously. “You two aren’t….y’know….?”
“Oh my gosh, Tommy,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m NOT dating Chippy. He gave me his number so that I could contact him if I needed help.”
“Oh? So he wants to be your Superman now??” I shouldn’t have been making such a fuss out of things, but I admit, I felt pretty cheated by the SF Protection League. I mean, THEY put together this case file. THEY appointed Mike instead of me to write it. And now Chippy starts flirting with my girl?? Nu-uh!
I stood up from my seat. “I see Harvey.”
Sara followed my gaze, and we both watched Harvey step into the lunch line.
“I still think he’s behind all of this,” I said.
“Tommy,” Sara spoke with an edge to her voice. “Did you not just hear what Chippy told us??”
“Oh, you think Chippy is trustworthy??” I said. “Puh-lease. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chippy and Harvey were working together. I mean, maybe he’s trying to throw us both off track?”
“That’s not like him, and you know it!” Sara’s voice grew louder.
“Shh!” I put a finger on her lips. She gave me a death glare. I ran over to Harvey, who was reaching into his back pocket to grab some sort of origami finger puppet, and only had enough time to give him a sneer before Sara held me back. She was really strong.
“Tommy! Stop!” Sara tried to calm me down. “It’s not him.”
I settled down. Harvey gave me a puzzled look, and held up an Origami General Grievous. It was really lame, even for Harvey. He definitely didn’t fold it. It must’ve been sneaked into his back pocket earlier.
“I’m being framed!” Harvey said. For once, I agreed with him. Sara walked away, and I sat back down in my seat. Alone.

CHIPPY
“Mike?”
He lifted his head up from his work. “Chippy, I’ve been running my own SuperFolder Protection League since that kid with the Fortune Clone showed up. I never thought I’d get so many people at my disposal.”
“But, this means…”
“I lost my friend. Vanessa O’Brian. She joined the Bounty Hunters. Initially, she’d captured me against my will. But when she was defeated, I was approached by V.”
“But,” I interjected. “Vanessa WAS V.”
“That’s the beauty part,” he said. “The leader of the Bounty Hunters known as V was not a singular student. Vanessa was being blackmailed into covering for the REAL leader of the Bounty Hunters. The wielder of Cut Bane. Anyway, I was approached by V. He, or she, offered me the position of a lifetime. I could hang out with Vanessa as much as I wanted…We were going on dates, I guess…and all I had to do was wield an Origami General Grievous and write a few intimidating notes to my friends. I even hid an origami Grievous in Harvey’s pocket. Tommy would catch Harvey, save the day, epic fanfare…and I would still get to hang out with Vanessa, without even hurting any of my friends.”
“Harvey will sure get hurt,” I said.
“Okay, that’s one problem…” Mike sighed. “But oh well. That’s for another day.”
He reached over to a walkie-talkie on his desk.
“Commander Aiden, the time has come,” he proclaimed. “Execute SPL Operation…Yavada.”
“It will be done, sir.”
I ran out of the room before Mike could stop me. But as I walked out of the door, two figures loomed over me, casting their shadows over me. Eggbert and Zach.
“Sorry it had to go down this way,” Zach said with false pity. “But this school is under the SPL’s control now.”
I ran back inside the room with Mike, and found him talking on the phone.
“Yes, Mrs. Yavada,” he said. “Thanks for the help, ma’am.” He set down the phone.
“Long story short,” he started. “Sweet old Principal Yavada was warned by the SPL a few weeks ago, back when we got the first note from General Creasous. We decided together that if any more vandals made their way into the school, that it would be the SPL’s job to defend the school. Of course, what Mrs. Yavada doesn’t know won’t kill her.”
Tommy burst in through the door. “Where’s the SPL leader??” He demanded. “I have a bone to pick with you! I believe that one of your own may be planning to vandalize the school…..” He paused.
“Where’s the SPL leader?” Tommy asked. I pointed to Mike.
“Time to abandon ship,” Mike ran out of the room. Zach and Eggbert stood in front of the door.
“Stand down, vandals!” Eggbert said. “I should have known it was Tommy all along! He started all of this when he stood up to the FunTime education system!”
“What??” Tommy cried. “I didn’t do any of this? What’s even going on??”
I had no idea what to do next. I didn’t know what would happen with Operation Yavada. I didn’t know how or why V was able to trick Mike and the SPL into assisting the Bounty Hunters. But there was one thing I did know. There was still good in Mike, and I was going to help destroy the Splinter of the Mike’s Eye.