Chapter 9

Zane watched with wide-eyed excitement as the racers and their pilots made their way onto the track and cheered loudly. He clapped his hands as Anakin's name was announced by Jabba the Hutt. When the introductions were finished, Zane and the others went to Anakin to give him more support before the race started.

Shmi bent down in front of Anakin and gave him a hug and a kiss. "Be safe, Ani."

Although his mother looked at him with calm eyes, Anakin could tell that she was worried. "I will, Mom. I promise."

She gave him a warm, reassuring smile, and then moved away.

Anakin watched Jar Jar help Kitster unhitch the eopies and then turned his head down to the side when Artoo bumped against his leg and beeped his reassurance and approval. Threepio stopped beside Artoo, reminding Anakin of the dangers of driving too fast and wishing him well.

After Jar Jar had finished helping Kitster and Kitster led the eopies away, Jar Jar went over to Anakin and patted him on the back. "Tis very loony, Ani. May da Guds be kind, me friend."

Anakin nodded, at the same time spying Sebulba wander from his own racer to Anakin's and examine it. Just as he saw Sebulba do something to his left engine Padme appeared and kissed Anakin's cheek.

"You carry all our dreams," she said quietly, her brown eyes looking at him intensely.

"I won't let you down," Anakin promised, his face serious.

Sebulba came up to Anakin and grinned, wheezing as he spoke. "You won't walk away from this one, slave scum," he said in Huttese. "You're bantha poodoo."

Anakin refused to let the Dug intimidate him. "Don't count on it, slime face."

Sebulba glared at him with hatred and then went back to his racer as Qui-Gon and Zane approached.

At that moment the horn began to blare and a roar rose from the crowd. Jabba the Hutt appeared in the royal box and lifted his thick arms. "Kaa bazza kundee da tam hdrudda! Let the challenge begin!"

Qui-Gon helped Anakin get into the pod and Anakin belted himself in. Taking his helmet and goggles, Anakin put them on, making sure that they were snug.

"Are you all set, Ani?" Qui-Gon asked, his calm voice soothing to hear. Anakin nodded and gazed steadily into Qui-Gon's eyes. "Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Trust your instinct." Qui-Gon placed his hand on Anakin's shoulder and smiled. "May the Force be with you, Ani."

Zane peered into the pod, his eyes sad. "To bad there's no room for me."

Anakin smiled at him. "I need all the space I can get. Besides, I could use extra people cheering for me."

Zane's face brightened as he smiled. "I can do that. I'll be really loud."

Anakin laughed. "Just don't hurt yourself doing so."

Zane nodded his head and followed Qui-Gon to the viewing platform where they were going to watch the race. When they got there, Shmi, Padme, and Jar Jar were already there. Shmi gave Qui-Gon a worried, questioning look.

"He's fine," Qui-Gon assured her, touching her shoulder as the viewing platform began to rise.

Padme shook her head, doubt radiating from her presence. You Jedi are far too reckless. The Queen—"

"The Queen trusts my judgment, young handmaiden," Qui-Gon calmly interrupted her. "Perhaps you should too."

Padme glared at him. "You assume too much."

"What do you mean by that?" Zane asked, cocking his head to the side.

Padme ignored him and looked back out to the racetrack. The engines of the racers were starting up, coughing and sputtering to life, and the crowd again roared in excitement and anticipation. Flag bearers and pit crews moved away from the racers and they prepared themselves for when the red light would turn green.

Jar Jar moved next to Qui-Gon and covered his eyes in dismay. "Me no watch. Dis gonna be messy!

Qui-Gon didn't answer to that, but inwardly he agreed. Steady, Anakin Skywalker, he thought to himself. Concentrate.

The light that hung over the starting line flashed to green and the race began.

"An dare ovv!" said Fode, one of the heads of the two-headed announcer.

Zane looked out over the edge of the viewing platform and watched the racers speed away. "Uh oh," he said when he noticed that Anakin had stalled.

"Oh...wait. Little Skywalker has stalled." Beed, the other head, added.

Padme frowned and crossed her arms and Jar Jar made a disappointed sound.

Qui-Gon put his arm around Shmi to comfort her, feeling her worry radiating in the Force.

"Come on, Anakin!" Zane shouted. "You can do it!"

Anakin's podracer roared back to life and he sped away after the other racers, leaving the other stalled racer behind him.

Fode spoke into the microphone, "And there goes Skywalker... He'll be hard pressed to catch up with the leaders today."

Zane bounced up and down, looking to see if he could spy any of the racers, and then he looked at Shmi, Padme, and Qui-Gon, who were watching the race on a handheld viewscreen. Zane grinned at them, his eyes sparkling, "Isn't this fun?"

Padme sent a glare his way. Zane gulped and looked back at the racetrack.

"Looks like a few Tusken Raiders have camped out on the canyon dune turn," Beed announced.

Zane turned to Qui-Gon, "They watch the race too?"

Qui-Gon looked up and shook his head. "Not exactly."

Zane waited for Qui-Gon to continue, but when he didn't, Zane turned back to examining the parts of the racetrack that he could see.

Meanwhile, Jar Jar was trying to peer over the shoulder of a skinny, sour-faced alien named Fanta. At the same time he was also besieging Fanta with questions, hoping to make friends with him. "Where's Skywalker?"

Fanta was having none of it and kept his back turned to Jar Jar, hiding the viewscreen from him.

In a private box, Watto was laughing and joking with his friends. He made a rude gesture when he saw Qui-Gon look his way and then went back to the laugh he and his friends were having.

Kitster and Artoo worriedly watched for any signs of Anakin.

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and settled into the currents of the Force to track down where Anakin was and see how he was faring.

Ben Quadinaros continued to struggle to get his engines working, and then his engines finally rumbled to life. He locked in the thrusters, eager to get into the race, but then the energy binders completely failed him and his engines exploded into multiple directions. The crowd gasped as one as the remains of the pod and Ben Quadinaros fell to the burning sand.

Beed's head shook. "There goes Quadinaros' power couplings."

"Ouch, that's a bummer. But it's one less racer for Anakin to deal with," Zane commented.

Just then, Sebulba sped into view of the crowd, narrowly missing the flying debris and nicking the broken pod.

"Sebulba! Ka pa me cheespa wata!" Fode shouted as Sebulba made the first lap in record time, followed closely by two other racers.

"Come on, Anakin!" Zane shouted when he saw no sign of his friend.

Shmi and Padme exchanged worried glances at each other and Jar Jar pounded Fanta's back with his fists, causing Fanta to wince and mutter grumpily.

Three more racers sped passed and a fourth racer stopped for a pit stop. Pit droids worked quickly on the racer, but one of the little droids got sucked on, chewed on, and spit out of one of the engines when it turned back on.

The crowd looked back at their viewscreens.

"He musta crash-ud," Jar Jar lamented.

Zane sent a glare at the Gungan. "He didn't. You'll see."

Artoo gave out an excited beep as his sensors detected Anakin's pod.

Qui-Gon's eyes snapped opened as he sensed Anakin approaching. "Here he comes!"

"It looks like Skywalker is moving up through the field. He's in..."

"Steeth pa nagoola!" the head named Fode finished.

Shmi, Padme, Jar Jar and Zane cheered while Qui-Gon simply smiled. Anakin was now in sixth place and on lap two.

Zane squeezed between Shmi and Padme to look at the viewscreen that displayed Anakin and his racer. Three more racers met their end as their pods were damaged and Anakin managed to fix his racer before he joined the other unfortunate ones. By the time Anakin was nearing lap three, he had caught up to Sebulba and was trailing behind him.

The crowd was practically screaming now, and those who had betted on Sebulba began to grow worried. When Anakin managed to get ahead of Sebulba after he was forced onto the service ramp, Zane bumped his fist into the air, almost knocking the viewscreen from Padme and Shmi's hands. "Great move!"

Everyone watched and screamed loudly as Anakin and Sebulba flew side by side, with Sebulba attempting to slam Anakin off course only to result in their pods getting tangled together.

Anakin broke free of Sebulba and sped the final few feet to the finish line while Sebulba lost control of his pod and crashed into a rock formation.

"Yes!" Zane shouted, this time knocking the viewcreen from Shmi and Padme, who were also cheering.

Anakin stopped the podracer and jumped out to meet Kitster, who gave him a tight hug.

"You sure showed them, Ani."

Anakin laughed and relished the moment as he became swamped by cheering spectators.

Qui-Gon looked at Shmi as the viewing platform lowered. She exchanged a warm smile with his, nodding his approval of her son's performance. The Jedi left the platform and headed for Watto's private booth, where he found Watto in a foul mood.

Qui-Gon watched as Watto paid each person their due and waited.

Watto turned dejectedly at the cheering crowd and mumbled something under his breath before catching sight of Qui-Gon. Fury rose in Watto as he angrily flew at Qui-Gon. "You! You swindled me! You knew the boy was going to win! Somehow you knew it! I lost everything this time!"

Qui-Gon smiled compassionately. "Whenever you gamble, my friend, eventually you'll lose. Today wasn't your day." His smile left his face as he spoke of other matters. "Bring the hyperdrive parts to the main hangar right away. I'll come by your shop later so you can release the boy."

Watto pressed his snout against Qui-Gon's nose, desperately trying to get out of the last bet he had made. "You can't have him! It wasn't a fair bet!"

Qui-Gon gave Watto a look he often used when diplomacy wasn't going well between different parties. "Would you like to discuss it with the Hutts? I'm sure they'd be happy to settle the matter."

Watto jerked back, the thought not having occurred to him. "No, no! I want no more of your tricks." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Take the boy! Be gone!" Watto wheeled sharply away and flew from the box, still angrily beating his wings at the air.

~*~*~

Zane helped Anakin, Jar Jar, Threepio, and Artoo look over the pod and engines. Zane ran his hand on the dirt-covered pod in wonderment, tracing the gashes that had occurred from blows of metal with his finger. "This is one tough pod."

Qui-Gon approached Anakin and knelt in front of him. "You're a bit worse for wear, Ani," he said softly, placing his hands on Anakin's shoulders and looking him in the eyes, "but you did well." Qui-Gon pulled a clean piece of cloth from his belt and wiped a bit of dirt off Anakin's face. "There, good as new." He ruffled Anakin's hair and began to clean up a wound the boy had received on his arm when he had been battling Sebulba.

Shmi and Padme joined them and as soon as Qui-Gon finished binding up Anakin's arm. They layered Anakin with kisses and hugs.

Anakin blushed in embarrassment. "Ah, gee…enough of this."

Shmi smiled proudly at her son and shook her head. "It's so wonderful, Ani—what you've done here. Do you know? You've brought hope to those who have none. I'm so proud of you."

"We owe you everything," Padme quickly added, feeling more at ease than she had been a little more than an hour ago.

Anakin's blush turned redder. "Just feeling this good is worth anything," he said, smiling back.

Qui-Gon walked over to where Watto had delivered the hyperdrive parts and checked the straps of the containers. Satisfied that the parts were secure, Qui-Gon walked back to the others. "Padme, Jar Jar, Zane, let's go. We've got to get these parts back to the ship."

"Can I stay a while longer?" Zane asked. "You'll need to return the eopies anyway."

"Well…" Qui-Gon took Zane's request into consideration. "If it's alright with Shmi you can."

Zane grinned and looked at Shmi, who nodded her head.

Anakin had just finished saying goodbye to Padme and giving her a hug when Zane ran up to him. "Qui-Gon said that I can stay with you until he brings the eopies back!"

Anakin raised an eyebrow and said quietly, "You really don't want to go back to the Temple, do you?"

Zane shrugged his shoulders. "You're one of the few friends I have that's close to my age. To bad you can't go to the Temple with us."

The eopies snorted as they moved off. "I'll return the eopies by midday." Qui-Gon called over his shoulder.

Anakin and Shmi waved as they left, and then Zane followed Anakin and Shmi back to their hovel.

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