"Start your engines." All the pod's energy beams ignite.

"An dare ovv!" And they're off! Anakin's pod and another are left behind.

"Oh...wait. Little Skywalker has stalled." Shmi, Padme, and Jar-Jar all look worried and disappointed. Qui-Gon and Kanon however stared at Anakin's pod as if their eyes were glued to it. If there had been a Jedi in the arena, they would have felt the force emitting from the spectator's circle. Finally, Anakin found the right switch and took off.

YAY! a new update

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"And there goes Skywalker... He'll be hard pressed to catch up with the leaders today." Kanon went over to Shmi and Padme, who were holding a hand-held viewing screen that displayed the race. On it, Sebulba was in the lead with another pod.

They rounded the first turn in the track, but then Sebulba shoved the other pilot into a rock wall. Anakin is quicker than the other stragglers and catches up quickly.

"Looks like a few Tusken Raiders have camped out on the canyon dune turn," reported the announcer. Shmi nearly fell. Clearly she was worried for her son.

Kanon gazed around the arena, looking for watto. He was laughing and cheering, confident in Anakin's defeat.

The announcer reported on the situation again. "At the start of the third and final lap, Sebulba is in the lead, closely followed by Skywalker,"

On the view screen, Anakin finally caught up with Sebulba. The Dug moved over, trying to cut Anakin's engines with his side exhaust. Anakin narrowly avoided him, but was forced to go up a blocked off ramp. His pod flew off the end and into the air. Qui-Gon wondered what he would do. Then Anakin shut off his engines and seemed to hang in midair. Kanon wondered what the hell he was doing, turning off his engines, when he thrust them back on, landing in front of sebulba.

"Amazing!" cried the announcer. "A controlled thrust and he's back on course! What a move!"

Furious, Sebulba stayed on Anakin's tail, crowding him and pushing him through the turns. One of the parts on Anakin's pod fell off. Sebulba must've lossened it. His pod began to slow, and he almost stopped, but finally flipped the switch, and sped up.

Sebulba hooked part of his pod to Anakin's. Near the final stretch, they both try to undo the joint. Anakin finally breaks away and sends sebulba into a rock mound. Anakin pulls up and crosses the finish line as the crowd erupts.

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Qui-Gon and Kanon head over to the betting windows and find Watto handing out the last of his dues.

"You! You swindled me! You knew the boy was going to win! Somehow you knew it! I lost everything." He moaned

"Whenever you gamble, my friend, eventually you'll lose. Bring the parts to the main hanger. I'll come by your shop later so you can release the boy." Qui-Gon replied

"You can't have him! It wasn't a fair bet!"

"Would you like to discuss it with the Hutts...I'm sure they can settle this." Kanon suggested.

"No, no! I want no more of your tricks! Take him!"

"It's so wonderful, Annie. You have brought hope to those who have none. I'm so very proud of you..." Shmi said, proud of her son.

"We owe you everything." Padme said thankfully.

"Just feeling this good was worth it."

"Padme. Jar-Jar, let's go, we've got to get these parts back to the ship" Qui-Gon said, walking over.

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ok guys. i'm going to DC in 2 days so i dont know if i can update b4 then. but i'll try! otherwise i cant update until saturday. or sunday/friday, depending on where u live.