I don't own Star Wars

Prologue

Padwan Padme Naberrie walked into the light saber training room. Fighting had alway been her least favorite class and along with flying her worst.

The class she really excelled in was Diplomacy thought she was top of the class at almost everything. She could even beat most of her class mates at swordplay. Someday she wished to be the padwan of Obi-Wan Kenobi who had just become a jedi knight. He was known as the negotiator and used words more then his light saber. She wanted to be a jedi just like him. She knew that if he picked a padwan it would most likely be her after all her mediclorian count though only at an above average rate for jedi was much higher than her classmates.

She noticed a new boy standing uncomfortably off to the side of the classroom. He looked to be about her age much to old to start training yet it was clear he was. The teacher spoke to him for a moment and then walked to the front of the classroom where he began to pair the young padwan up so they could spar. She listened to all of her friends be paired off and then she heard her name.

"Padme Naberrie and Anakin Skywalker"

The new boy walked up and put up his saber in the customary salut before pulling it down to attack.

Though she might have been the best sword fighter in the class the class was full of very very pitiful sword fighters.

In seconds the new boy had her unbalanced and struggling to defend her self. He twisted his sword and the green light saber she had been using flew into his hand.

"Anakin," the jedi master who had been teaching them saber fighting called out. "That was very good but you were holding back."

Padme gasped in astonishment. This new boy who had bested her in seconds had been holding back.

"Come up here I want to try something."

Padme and the rest of the class of padwans who couldn't saber fight to save their life watched in amazement as this new untrained boy, at the age of nine disarm their sword master.

"Do you know what your mediclorian count is?"

"Master Kenobi only said something about it being higher than Master Yoda's."

Everyone in the classroom gasped. I t was clear that this boy didn't know that Yoda had the highest mediclorian count every recored now second highest.

Next class was flying and Padme knew what was going to happen. Once a month the jedi master who taught it had then go through an obstacle corse if you completed the fist obstacle then you could move on to the second. There were ten in all and the best anyone had ever done was to reach six.

Padme had only completed five and from what they had heard the only ones to have ever come close to completing the corse where the full jedi knights, no padwan had ever done it.

She smiled and started up the training Delta 7 that they flew. The first task was easy you had to do a full mile lap in two minutes. Then she moved into the shooting task she knocked down the necessary five out of ten targets she dodged the ten bullet sent at her and then tried to land in the small circle that it was almost impossible to put the ship in. And as every time before she failed.

She sat back to watch her classmates, none of them reached level five as she had. The last to go was the Skywalker boy.

Everyone watched as he did the lap in thirty-seconds and then shot down all ten targets. He seemed to be one with the ship as he dodged the blaster shots and moved on to the next task.

Padme watched as he went into the tenth task. The task only three people had ever been able to complete to satisfaction. Anakin pulled into a steep nose dive and pulled out centimeters from the ground right into a tight flip.

Padme turned to look at the jedi master but he was only gaping at the boy. Anger filled Padme this boy had to come and now had ruined everything she was the most popular padwan but then this desert boy had come and done what only three master jedi and expert pilots had been able to do and better than any of them at that.

"What flying experience do you have."

"I pod raced."

"You were the slave boy who won the big race a month ago and won his freedom."

"Yes, master, that was me."

"What is so big about pod racing," one of Padme's class mates asked?

"Anakin here is the only human ever able to do it and he won a very big and important race only a few weeks ago."

Padme was furious, this new boy had all the teachers wrapped around his finger and now all of her class mates would go to him for help not her.

Their next class was history of the jedi and Padme was very pleased with the face that the new boy knew none of the answers. She was enjoying herself until the teacher asked, "Who has the highest mediclorian count ever?"

"Yes, Erk, who is it?"

"Anakin Skywalker"

"I'm sorry, the right answer is Master Yoda."

"No, it is Anakin," one of the other padwans called out.

"Then let me check that."

He poked Anakin and put the drop of blood he drew forth onto a data chip and then loaded it into the data base. When the numbers came up he yelped, "Over 20,00 it appears you were right Erk."

Padme gritted her teeth and hoped that the cut the master gave Skywalker hurt as much as a light saber cut.

Outside she confronted the new padwan.

"Now you have all the teachers wrapped around your fingers what are you going to do now?"

"You are just jealous because you were the top of the class before and you want it back. Jealousy and possession are the path to the Dark Side you know."

"Oh I hate you."

"Hate and anger are the path to the Dark Side as well. I expect to be battling you as a Sith at some point."

"You know that you can't only fight with your light saber. You will never become a jedi knight because you can work things out peacefully with words."

"I can learn that but you can never learn how to sword fight with a chance of winning or fly without killing yourself."

And from that day on they were Rivals.