After minutes of cutting through, they began to crawl back into another air duct, moving forward as quietly as possible.
Through a grate in the air ducts, they found what they had been looking for.
They could see the Mage Orloc in his purple robe below in a brightly lit, high-ceiling room. Ranats and droids surrounded the Mage, ready to do his bidding.
Beside Orloc, still dressed in his brown Jedi robe, stood Uldir. His arms were raised and spread wide. They crowded closer to the grate to get a better look.
"Behold my power," Uldir said. "When I am finished you will go back to your friends and tell them what you have seen."
"What in the universe is he doing?" Anakin whispered.
"That's what we're trying to find out." Ahsoka said.
Glowpanels flickered. The room boomed with the sound of recorded thunder. The Mage toyed with the silver spangles at the edges of his purple robe and watched his student.
Suddenly they heard water running through pipes somewhere nearby. Droplets of water began to mist down through the room from safety sprinklers set into the ceiling.
Below, Uldir closed his hands into fists and laughed. His laughter echoed through the room, growing louder and louder.
"Now tell them about what you have seen. Then tell them to leave." Uldir shouted. "I have no need of their puny powers."
"Who is he talking to?" Anakin asked.
Ahsoka scooted and peeked at one side of the grate to get a better view. She gasped when she saw who Uldir was talking to. "They have Artoo!" She said.
"What?" Anakin asked as if he'd misheard. He followed his master's gaze, at the corner where the little droid was being held captive. "They put a restraining bolt on him! We have to get him out." He insisted.
"Don't worry," Tionne assured. "We'll set him free."
Anakin pushed forward over the air duct grate.
"Wait, Anakin!" Ahsoka warned.
Before she can pull him back, the louvered panel gave way. For the next minute everything seemed to move in slow motion. The grate fell, tumbling end over end toward the floor. Taken by surprise, Anakin fell, too.
Ahsoka mumbled. "Great." She crawled towards the hole where the grate used to be.
"What are you doing?" Tionne asked.
"I can't let him face the Mage alone." Ahsoka said as she jumped down the air duct.
The grating clanged heavily to the floor. Anakin reached the floor, bouncing slightly on a cushion of air. A moment later Ahsoka, Tionne and Ikrit touched down behind him with a soft thump.
"Uldir." Anakin called.
Uldir turned, surprised. "Anakin?" He said in disbelief. "Why are you here?" He demanded.
Before Anakin could answer, Ahsoka crossed her arms and stood beside him. "Take a wild guess, brain boy." She said.
Tionne spoke up. "We're here to take back what belongs to us." She advanced toward one of Orloc's droids that held the Holocron in its mechanical grip.
The droid retreated and raised its blaster arm to point at Tionne. From the corner of the room Artoo shrilled a warning.
"We also came for you, Uldir," Anakin said. "Come back to the Praxeum with us," He pleaded. "You don't belong here."
Uldir sneered. "So, you want to stop me just when I have real power within my reach? Just when I'm starting to use the powers I always knew I could have? I thought you were my friend, Anakin. I thought that you would be happy for me." He stopped to clear his throat, and then continued, his voice came out strong and deep. "Surely you must have seen the storm I called up just a few minutes ago."
Anakin wished Tahiri was here. She always had a way to make Uldir listen.
Ahsoka snorted. "You actually believe that you did all that?" She asked.
"Yes," Uldir said proudly. "I made the thunder, the lightning and the rain."
"That's not real power," Ahsoka said. "It was just glowpanels flickering. And the ceiling speakers made the thunder."
"She's right, Uldir," Anakin said. "None of those things happened because of any power you called forth. Your 'rain'"—Anakin quoted his fingers in the air—"came out of the emergency sprinklers up above. It was just a trick that Orloc played on you. Please listen."
Uldir's face clouded with doubt. He looked at the Mage. Orloc just shrugged.
"They hope to trick you out of the power that's rightfully yours, my boy." Orloc said. "Of course the glowpanels flickered. The lightning you made caused an electrical disturbance. And as for the emergency sprinklers? Why, I assure you those haven't worked in centuries."
While Uldir and Orloc were distracted, Ikrit reached out with the Force and tried to loosen Artoo's restraining bolt.
The Mage chuckled and shook his head sadly. "I did my best to keep these people from interfering, but you must know that we can't just give them my lightsaber and my Holocron."
Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber hung from Orloc's belt.
"Whoa, wait," Ahsoka spoke up. "Since when did it become your lightsaber?" She asked.
"And it is not your holocron." Tionne said. "It belongs to the Jedi." She eyed Anakin, glanced at the Holocron and back at him.
Anakin got the message and nodded.
Orloc turned to Uldir. "I know your training has just begun, my boy. But I'm afraid there's no other choice. We'll have to eliminate them." He said.
"What?" Uldir shook his head. "No! I can't let you kill them, just let them go." He pleaded. "Please. I'll make sure they don't come back."
"Fool!" Orloc scoffed. "Why, I know only one way to be sure they won't return." Orloc reached for the lightsaber at his belt and turned it on.
Tionne ignited her lightsaber. Ahsoka also drew her lightsabers, ready to fight. At the same moment, Anakin used the Force to yank the Holocron away from the droid. He caught it in midair.
Orloc's face flushed with rage. He turned to the Ranats. "Get them!" he yelled, clutching his purple cloak.
"No—don't hurt my friends!" Uldir shouted.
Just then Ikrit succeeded in popping free the restraining bolt that held Artoo in place. The astromech squealed and rolled forward to help defend them. Glowpanels flickered. Water showered from the sprinklers overhead.
One of the Ranats dove toward Ikrit, but the Jedi Master easily jumped over its head to land safely on the other side.
A variety of droids with blasters marched forward.
"There's no way we can keep up with them." Ahsoka said.
"Run." Tionne said.
Anakin needed no further encouragement. He ran and the others followed behind him.
"Uldir, come with us." Anakin shouted over his shoulder as they headed for the door.
Uldir did not answer, and there was no time to wait.
Tionne, Ahsoka and Ikrit were right behind him, but so were the Ranats and the droids. They were soaked by the time they reached the corridor. Still running, they headed left, but stopped when a blaster bolt hit the wall just in front of them.
"Go the other way!" Ikrit suggested. Anakin spun and went the other direction down the hallway.
As they rounded a curve, Ahsoka tackled Anakin to the floor, which almost made him drop the Holocron. "Get down!" Ahsoka said.
They hit the floor same time an energy bolt hustled through the air in the exact place where Anakin's head had been a moment earlier. Before the others could help, Ahsoka and Anakin rolled, jumped back to their feet, and kept running.
"Should we climb to the air ducts again?" Anakin asked.
Blaster bolts hit the ceiling above, spraying sparks in all directions.
"There's no time," Ahsoka said. "They're closing in."
"There's a doorway ahead." Tionne said. "Maybe if we get inside we can secure the room and hold them off."
Ikrit bounded ahead and unsealed the door.
They ran plunging through the opening, and the door slid shut behind them. Anakin turned toward the controls, hoping to lock the door against their attackers.
"How do you lock this?" Anakin asked in exasperation.
Ahsoka ignited her shoto saber and slashed at the control panel. "There. Now, it's locked."
Anakin looked around the room. What he saw filled him with dismay. "Uh, Master," Anakin said. "I'm not sure that this is the best place for us to hide."