Lost in the Shadows

Chapter Eight: Boonta Eve Podrace

The Boonta Eve Classic podrace. It was finally time for the epic race that was destined to change Anakin's life forever, and Henry was still on the fence about it.

His mind flashed back to the previous night, after Anakin had finally finished his racer. He and Anakin had been sitting outside, talking with Qui-Gon. The Jedi Knight was both patient and kind as he answered their questions; never seeming as if he were getting annoyed at anything.

When Qui-Gon had noticed the cut on Anakin's arm and had cleaned it up, Shmi had come along and called both boys to bed. At Qui-Gon's bidding, both boys hopped up and went back inside, but Henry made sure he forgot something which gave him an excuse to return later once he was all ready for bed.

Smoothly he took off his boots, combed his hair and made sure his teeth were clean before he snuck towards the rear entrance. He heard Qui-Gon on his communicator with someone, but Henry knew that someone to be Obi-Wan.

"The readings' off the chart! Over twenty thousand! Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midichlorian count that high!" Obi-Wan had said.

"No Jedi has..." Qui-Gon replied. "What does that mean?" came the next question. Once Qui-Gon had replied that he wasn't sure what it meant, Henry did a quick forty second countdown in his head. Once that countdown reached zero, the young lad walked outside to rejoin Qui-Gon.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, Henry?" Qui-Gon had asked.

"Yes, sir..." Henry had replied with a nod of his head, "I was just...I forgot this!" He went over to the wall where he had been seated earlier, bent down and retrieved a little trinket. It was circular and black with a metal swan set in it's middle, and a simple, black string around it. The swan had been part of a keychain that Neal had given to Emma around the time they first met. Emma had given the keychain back to Neal, who had then given it to Henry after he found out that Henry was his son, and it was the only thing that Henry hadn't buried; well, besides his iPod Nano, of course.

"What's that?" Qui-Gon had asked.

"It belonged to my mom," Henry explained. "It's the only thing I have of hers." Walking the few steps over to Qui-Gon, Henry held out the necklace, which Qui-Gon took and looked at with interest. After a few moments he said, "It's very beautiful. I'm sure you must miss her greatly."

"Yes. It just pains me that I'll never see her again. I do my best to accept it, but some days it is difficult," Henry replied. He did his best to sound brave and accepting but he wasn't sure if Qui-Gon had bought it or not.

"Why do you think you will never see her again?" the Jedi asked. Henry had sighed and looked behind him to make sure that Shmi wasn't there. Not seeing her, he turned to look back at Qui-Gon. "Because..." he began, "because I'm not originally from this realm. Months ago I was taken away from my home and made to jump through a portal that was created using magic. The only way back is through another portal but there's no way that I know of to create another one and...if my mom had a way of creating one from her end, she would have done so already. When I got here, Raiders found me, but they didn't hurt me. They killed my kidnappers and then let me go. Anakin found me and...they pretty much adopted me. I don't know where I'd be without them." Henry looked up at Qui-Gon, seeing the other Jedi pondering something very hard.

"You...don't know anything about portals, do you, Master sir?" he asked, trying to be polite.

"No, I'm afraid not young Henry. But don't worry. I have a feeling that you will see your mother again..."

Henry had smiled at that, nodded his head and had begun to turn back towards the hovel, but Qui-Gon had suddenly snaked out his hand and gently grabbed Henry's right arm.

"When did this happen?" The Jedi asked. Confused, Henry had looked down at the arm in question to see dried and drying blood soaking in to the outfit where his forearm was.

"I dunno..." Henry said, not remembering ever injuring his arm. Now that he actually saw it and knew the injury was there, that was when he had become acutely aware of the burning sensation. Great! Now it was going to make trying to actually sleep, difficult! Smoothly, the Jedi Knight had cleaned and dressed the injury with a cloth bandage and once he was done Henry had gone straight to bed. He thought about hiding just within the doorway, wondering if Qui-Gon would contact his apprentice for another midichlorian count on his blood, but then he figured he was better off not knowing yet. All that mattered was he knew he was sensitive to the Force. That was enough for him.

Removing the fuel nozzle from his pod, Henry rolled up the hose while a droid came out and took the rest of the assembly off the course. Smoothing his racing tunic, Henry looked over and saw Anakin with Sebulba. He thought about mentioning the Dug's sabotaging of the podracer, but then thought better of it when he remembered that even when the piece failed, Anakin still managed to pull off the win.

Once the wily Dug had finished his insult and walked away, Henry jogged over before Qui-Gon could reach the blonde boy.

"Good luck out there today, Ani." Henry said, gripping Anakin's shoulder for a moment. Anakin smiled at him joyously. "You too! See you at the finish line!" he replied.

Nodding at Qui-Gon who had already reached the two of them, Henry smiled once more at Anakin before he returned to his own pod and climbed in.

The restraints were already warmed up thanks to the planet's twin suns. Still, slipping in to them and tightening them up was easy. Next came the helmet. It was much like Anakin's own, save the color was different and the shape of the attached goggles was different. Finally, Henry slipped in to his black gloves and rested his hands in his lap.

"Remember," he whispered to himself, "Feel, don't think, Use your instincts." It was exactly what he knew Qui-Gon told Anakin, and it was sound advice. Noticing everyone else firing up their engines, just as the order to do so came over the loudspeakers, Henry reached down, took the black lever in hand and pushed it up several times and just like that his engines roared to life; the power coupling linking the two together holding steady.

The field cleared agonizingly slow, but once all of the blasted flags were gone, Henry's eyes flicked up to the darkened display which, when lit would signal the start of the race.

"Come on, come on..." he whispered, hands hovering over the controls. All of a sudden the light flashed on, a brilliant green color. and the race had begun!

Immediately, Henry pushed the button on his podracer and the entire thing shot forward, picking up speed immediately. He flew right by his brother who was still on the starting line, along with Ben Quadinaros.

First came the Flats. It was one of the easier parts to the course and one of the only parts where it was 'safe' to challenge the other racers for position. Tightening his grip on his controls, Henry rocketed forward. He stretched out with all of his feelings; all his concentration, becoming a part of his pod. Every knock and shimmy, every gust of wind that tried to whip it around; he felt it all and corrected for it. Catching up to some of the racers, Henry tried to pass them but was only able to shoot past one before he had to tuck his racer in behind the others as they all entered Waldo Flats and Mushroom Mesa.

Seeing Metta Drop just up ahead, Henry positioned himself behind Ebe Endocott and just as the Drop came upon him, Henry boosted and managed to frog jump over Ebe. It was a risky gamble; one that Anakin said not to try too many times or the other racers would get wise to it. Still, it was a gamble that paid off that time.

Flying through Beggar's Canyon, Henry decided not to go on the offensive yet, but to just keep his place in the race for right that second; given what was coming up. The Whip and Jag Crag Gorge flew by but when Henry saw Laguna Cave coming up, he gulped a little.

The sun disappeared when his pod entered in to the cave. There was hardly any light in there at all save the light from the engines of the other racers. Henry used those as well as his feelings through the Force to guide him through. He didn't exactly close his eyes, but he concentrated on what he was feeling flowing through his fingers and then just like that he shot through the cave, narrowly missing the last stalactite hanging from the ceiling.

As usual there were Tusken Raiders camped out on the Canyon Dune Turn and several did take pot shots at him. One shot hit his pod but caused no damage at all.

Getting through Bendy Bind was a bit of a challenge; more than once he almost hit a huge rock boulder, but the Force warned him in time to avoid it. Finally, he emerged on to the Hutt Flats, the last straightaway heading back towards the arena.

Within thirty seconds he entered the area and just like that the first lap was done, leaving two more to go.

Henry was getting so in to the race that he almost forgot about Anakin. That is until the silver and blue racer blew right past him. Inwardly grinning, Henry thought 'Now it's a race!' He zipped by Gasgano, hot on his brother's trail.

The two of them flew by Teemto Pagalies and Aldar Beedo; both racers giving the two brothers a little bit of trouble. Teemto had tried to cause Anakin to crash but the blonde had managed to get past him on one side and Henry the other.

Soon, Henry found himself in fourth place, right behind Anakin. That was when he saw it: Sebulba took out one of Mars Guo's engines! The engines exploded and Mars' pod went flying off; Anakin almost hitting the thing! Henry swerved his pod away from the damage, managing not to get hit as well.

Just like that however, Henry found himself in third place! Passing through the arena, Henry didn't even hear the race announcer stating their positions. Instead, he was focused on the race, because it was now or never. He could play it safe and just stay behind Anakin and come in third...well...second once Sebulba crashed, or he could be the jerk and fly by the two of them at the end...or...

Henry sat up straighter, an idea suddenly coming to him. If only he could get away with it...! Inwardly nodding his head, he increased his speed, making sure to stick fairly close to his brother. He watched as Sebulba forced Anakin on to the service ramp and the blonde's pod shot up straight in to the air. Keeping his speed steady, Henry waited until Anakin came down in front of Sebulba before he sped up a little, knowing that the Dug would be more focused on Anakin than him.

He almost pulled up along side but was forced to slow down when he got a face full of black smoke from Anakin's engine which had suddenly caught fire due to the Dug's earlier meddling. Having no choice, Henry flew right by Anakin's pod, taking second place while his brother made on the fly repairs to that damaged engine of his.

Not daring to challenge Sebulba yet, Henry moved his pod to Sebulba's left, letting his brother rocket by him on the right after a few moments. Seeing Anakin's damaged engine which was still in operation, Henry saw that the fire was out. It had been a close call, but neither boy was out of the race yet!

Henry waited, biding his time. Once he saw Anakin and Sebulba's pod become tangled together, he knew that was his que. It was now or never. Increasing his speed a bit more, he drew up along Sebulba's pod on the left, watching Anakin and the Dug seemingly battle their controls; Sebulba more than Anakin. Remembering which way the engine and pod would go once Anakin boosted, Henry allowed for the room as his left hand went down to the boost lever.

'Three...two...one...' he counted down in his head. Once the counter reached zero he pushed the lever down and his boosters came to life, rocketing him forward at the same time Anakin boosted, breaking his own pod free and sending Sebulba's pod flying off in several directions.

The two boys were neck and neck flying through the Hutt Flats, racing towards the area. Out of the corner of his eye, Henry saw Anakin glance at him, and he did the same to his brother. An unspoken understanding passed between the two of them as they entered the arena, their engines side-by-side as they passed the finish line. It was a complete two way tie! At first there was a moment of complete silence from the crowd; no one obviously expecting that sort of race result. Once that moment passed however, the crowd irrupted in to a chorus of cheers.

Bringing his pod to a halt, Henry killed the engines, undid his restraints and took off his helmet and his gloves before he jumped out and ran over to Anakin's pod.

"Mom!" Henry heard Anakin say, "We did it!" Grinning from ear to ear, Henry started to clap as Anakin caught sight of him.

"We did it!" Henry declared, ecstatic for the both of them. There was no way that Watto would be able to not free Anakin and there was no way that Deak and Lyam could be furious at him; technically he still won even though it was a tie. At that moment, Henry felt on top of the world. He just never thought how quickly that feeling could change.