Anuvuin: episode #29 The
Pod race
Previously: Qui-Gon tested Anakin's midi-cholorian
level, which he found to be extremely high! Qui-Gon now thinks Anakin is the Chosen One from the one
Legend. Then Qui-Gon went to Watto and
made a bet with him that Anakin would win and if he did, Anakin would be freed,
if not then they would lose their ship. The race then starts; Anakin's was not
working because of what stupid Sebulba had done to it.
Anyway,
the gun goes off and the racers start…but Anakin is left in the dust. Anakin
immediately knows that someone had tampered with it…Sebulba probably. Anakin
was mad! It was so unfair!
"This
isn't fair!"
but Anakin knew he couldn't waste time
fretting about it. He got out of the
pod, then saw exactly what had gone wrong, fixed it by replacing the wire with
a spare had had on hand (he had learned the hard way to take such necessary
precautions when racing with Sebulba or any other charter.)
"Why do other people have to ruin things for
everyone else?" thought Anakin as he quickly repaired his pod.
He jumped back in the pod, waited for it to
charge up on power, then he wan off. Shmi, Padmé, Jar Jar, and Qui-Gon had
worried looks on their faces.
"The boy would never win," thought Shmi,
Padmé, and Jar Jar. "He doesn't even
have a change now."
However,
qui-Gon did not give up on him.
"Sure,
it'll just have to be all the hard to win…he'll have to work extra hard, but I
believe eh can still do it. He must
do it."
Anakin could quickly see that his pod truly
was the fastest…he was flying by some of the stragglers. After dodging many rocks, getting shot at by
sandpeople, passing little canyons, and going through caves, Anakin had managed
to work himself to the leader of the race: Sebulba through tricky moves. Along the way, several racers had smashed
into walls and formations and had lost their lives. Anakin was able to avoid these obstacles through his special
instincts. Anyway, the were just
getting to the hardest part of the whole trip: Begger's Canyon. Sebulba was very aware that Anakin was on his tail, so
he tried cutting Anakin off. Sebulba
was low enough that he would stoop to trying to kill Anakin, and that's exactly
what he tried doing. They were nearing the Canyon edge with a deadly rock at
one corner. Sebulba tired to lure
Anakin over to it. That was a very
dusty area…the dust was so think that a person couldn't see the danger though
it. However, Anakin knew it was there
through his Jedi powers…he sensed the danger, and his quick reflexes fell in as
he jerked the pod at the last minute on the service ramp…and with a few flicks
of the controls, Anakin flew right over and ahead of Sebulba in Begger's
Canyon. Sebulba was furious. After they were out of the Canyon and the
finish line was in sight, Sebulba tried ramming into Anakin[s pos. He knew he couldn't get hit without actually
going toward Sebulba because eh impact would be so grate that he would smash
into the wall beside him if he didn't. This move made by Anakin caused their pod wiring to be caught one each
other. Anakin knew they couldn't
stay like that for long so he pulled sharp to the opposite side. Sebulba would have messed with Anakin's pod
more, with all these devices and instruments that Anakin had learned Sebulba
had the hard way, in previous races. So, after pulling hard to one side, it disentangled the pods, sending
Sebulba to the ground. The impact of
Anakin's pod hitting Sabula's had caused Sebulba pod to become seriously
damaged. Anakin's was built much better so it barely had an effect on his won
pod. Anakin's pod crossed the finish
line just as Sebulba's hit the ground.
Sebulba was mad, but not dead or inured. Jabba had been sleeping the entire time, and
Bib Fortuna, had to wake him up. Jabba
announced that little Anakin Skywalker had just won the race and everyone else
could go home. But Sebulba wasn't the
only one angered by the outcome of the race, so was Watto. To Watto it meant
losing one of his best slaves as well as one of his best pod race driver's
Qui-Gon Jinn came back to see Watto after the race. Watto glanced at him,
shaking his fist.
"You know knew that boy was going to win,
somehow you knew!"
Qui-Gon's reply to that was, "Whenever you
bet, sometimes you lose, my friend. I'll bring the boy back here to have his slave device deactivated."
Watto says, "It was unfair you can't have
him."
Qui-Gon looks at him and says, "I could
bring it up with the Hutts…"
"No, that's okay. Fine take him, he's yours."
So, qui-Gon joined the proud group going back
to Anakin's house.
Until
next time!
