Palpatine had escaped.
For six months, Yoda and his team had hunted him across the galaxy.
They had scoured almost every habitable planet, expended considerable time and resources, and captured countless space pirates, smugglers, and criminal organization leaders along the way.
The Jedi Order's reputation had been restored to respectable standing after these six months of effort.
But Palpatine himself remained at large.
Yoda was exhausted. That Sith was too cunning.
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Garfield, meanwhile, had a pretty good idea where Palpatine had gone.
As the saying went, the most dangerous place is often the safest.
Palpatine wouldn't abandon Coruscant's generous offerings to run off to some desolate planet. Only a fool would do that.
A desolate planet with few inhabitants would be easily detected the moment it sent communications or received supply shipments.
With a fleet blockade, there would be nowhere to hide.
Coruscant, by contrast, was home to billions of beings from every corner of the universe.
Shuttles flew from Coruscant to every star system daily. Communication signals blanketed the entire planet.
Millions of transmissions were sent to various worlds every single day.
Even a supercomputer would struggle to sift through them all.
Let alone Yoda and his Jedi Knights doing it manually.
Without Garfield's help, they wouldn't even have a fleet, let alone the ability to search for Palpatine in the vastness of space.
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For the past six months, Dooku had frequently visited Garfield.
He tried to instill his political fantasies in the orange cat, hoping to gain Garfield's support for building his ideal nation.
Garfield always pretended to listen attentively, offering his own opinions and suggestions.
Whether Dooku listened or not was up to him.
Perhaps it was his character, or perhaps it was the will of the Force, but although Dooku had changed somewhat after Garfield's lectures, he showed no sign of giving up his political fantasies.
On the contrary, he had become increasingly obsessed with them.
"Dooku," Garfield said one day, "there's not much point in continuing like this."
"Why don't you find a remote, low-level civilization, one that doesn't want to be governed by the Galactic Republic and experiment with your ideas there?"
Dooku frowned. "But the laws of the Galactic Republic strictly forbid this."
"The disasters caused by such experiments in the past are still fresh in everyone's minds."
Garfield knew about those so-called disasters.
A large number of barbaric civilizations had received advanced technology from the Star Wars galaxy, but their cultural literacy had not improved.
They still lived barbaric, murderous lives.
As their technology grew more advanced, they ventured into the universe and wreaked havoc across the galaxy.
"Then don't give them such advanced technology," Garfield said. "Keep the high technology in your own hands."
"Besides, you've been complaining about the current system for years. Rather than getting screwed over by those conglomerates and starting a rebellion later, why not try your experiment somewhere and see how it works?"
Dooku's expression hardened.
Garfield had once criticized the conglomerates that supported Dooku's political ideas.
It angered the Count. He didn't know what they were truly thinking, but at least they verbally agreed with him.
"King Garfield," Dooku said stiffly, "you cannot slander them like that."
Garfield rolled his eyes. "What's there to slander?"
"If it weren't for the current laws strictly limiting their consumption and exploitation, the people living in the lower levels would be worse off than slaves."
Dooku clenched his fists. "I don't believe it."
Garfield summoned his robot dog. "Play this for our lovely Count Dooku. The other day, he went to the Techno Union to visit a certain member. We recorded the whole thing."
"Yes, Master."
The robot dog turned its head. The projection device on its body activated, playing a video.
Dooku stared at the projected image, startled.
It was exactly the place where he had met with a Techno Union member who supported him, just two days ago.
He watched as, after saying goodbye, the other being returned to his seat, picked up a glass of wine, and smiled mockingly.
Then he muttered to himself:
*"Jedi Knight. Naive. Is this how politics is played? Dooku calls himself a Jedi Master, but he's worse than a brainless farm animal. Why do we support him?"*
*"Naturally, to escape this country with its strict rule of law. To establish a regime that *we* can control. As for Dooku? We'll send him a flower when we remember him…"*
Dooku's Force surged, distorting the surrounding air. The windows rattled.
Garfield raised a paw and summoned a magic circle, stabilizing the energy fluctuations before Dooku could shatter every piece of glass in the room. Replacing them would be a hassle.
As Dooku's Force energy gradually subsided, Garfield sensed something beneath the surface of that tranquility.
A dark aura.
Dooku's Force had been touched by darkness. Whether he would succumb to it or escape it was now up to him.
Garfield looked at Dooku and suddenly remembered a word: *fate.*
Could it be that without Palpatine's guidance, 'he' had become the one pushing Dooku toward the dark side?
Oh no. Bad cat.
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Dooku's Force rampage had not gone unnoticed.
Inside the Jedi Temple, Yoda and the other Jedi Masters felt the disturbance. They also detected Garfield's magic, stabilizing the area.
Assuming the two were fighting, they rushed to the top floor~
Only to find Dooku and Garfield sitting face to face. Aside from Dooku being slightly out of breath, Garfield showed no unusual reaction.
"What just happened?" Yoda demanded.
He walked to Dooku's side and examined him with the Force.
What he found made his ancient heart clench… Dooku's Force was chaotic, tinged with an unfamiliar dark aura.
"Dooku," Yoda said softly, "what is wrong?"
Seeing his teacher's anxious expression, Dooku spoke weakly. "My Force went berserk just now."
"Thankfully, Master Garfield helped me suppress it. As for that trace of darkness… I think my mind is simply in turmoil, Master."
Yoda felt a pang of sadness. A Jedi Master needed a clear mind.
If Dooku's mind was in turmoil, his connection to the Force would be significantly affected.
"My child," Yoda said, "rest well, you must. Calm your mind. Expel the dark power."
Garfield disagreed.
"Yoda," he said, "rest won't calm it. It might even make it stronger."
Yoda turned to look at him.
"Thousands of years ago," Garfield continued, "a great man who controlled floods once said: 'In controlling floods, it is better to dredge than to block.'"
"You've blocked the dark Force in Dooku's heart. It has nowhere to go, so it lingers inside, slowly eroding the last vestiges of light. What we need to do is release this power."
Yoda considered this. There was truth in it.
"Then, Master Garfield," Yoda asked, "do you have any good suggestions?"
Garfield smiled.
"Guess."