All of the toys duck, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan pull Maul off the windowsill at the last moment. Within seconds of being lit the bomb explodes and sends dirt, debris, and remnants of Mace raining down. Some pieces fly throw the open window and land on cowering toys.

Sidious' voice rings out. "Yes! He's gone! He's history!"

The toys approach the window again to see Sidious dancing about the yard, the long, black robe dancing at his feet with him. Maul looks down at the scene.

"I could've stopped him, Qui-Gon."

"I would love to see you try. Of course, I'd *love* to see you as a crater."

******

Charlene's voice filters up through the partially open bedroom door. "I am Darth Maul, Dark Lord of the Sith," she voices for the action figure who is pummeling Qui-Gon.

Her mother's voice interrupts her playing. "Oh, all this packing makes me hungry. What would you say to dinner at, uh, oh, Pizza Planet?"

"Pizza Planet? Oh, cool!"

"Go get ready and wash your hands, I'll grab the keys."

Charlene soon bounces into the bedroom, dropping the toys onto the window table. She quickly changes her clothes and is bouncing back down the stairs. She stops halfway down.

"I gotta go get some toys."

Her mother calls after her, "Just bring one, things get a little out of hand when you bring more and we're going to a *public* place."

Charlene groans but complies. "Okay, just one, then."

"Wash your hands first or you'll forget."

Charlene mumbles a reply and heads to the bathroom.

As soon as Charlene leaves the room, Qui-Gon and Maul spring to life. Maul immediately goes back to what he was doing before being picked up for playtime. Qui-Gon stays put, mulling over the conversation.

"Just one toy? One toy?"

He then notices he is sitting next to a Magic 8 Ball. He grabs it and whispers into it, almost confidentially, "will Charlene pick me?"

He shakes it and waits for the answer to pop up.

"Don't count on it?"

He stares at it in a mixture of disbelief and anger. The anger wins out and he throws the toy down and watches it roll off the back of the table to the floor below. His stands and peeks over the edge at it, sitting in the dark shadows. Suddenly, an idea pops into his head. He'll just have to make sure that Charlene has only one choice to choose...him. He looks thoughtfully, with a hint of sneakiness in his eyes, at Maul, who is too busy with his current project to have noticed anything. Soon, Qui-Gon has a plan as he spies the remote-controlled podracer next to Maul.

"Ohh! Maul! Oh, Maul! Darth Maul! Darth Maul! Thank goodness," Qui-Gon shouts as he runs towards a surprised Maul.

"We've got trouble!"

"Trouble? Where?"

Qui-Gon points to the spot where the Magic 8 Ball fell. "Down there. Just down there. A helpless toy! It's trapped!"

As Maul goes to check it out, Qui-Gon is inching his way toward the podracer controls.

Maul looks down into the abyss. "I don't see anything."

Qui-Gon shakes his head. "Uh, he's there. Just uh...keeping looking." He picks up the controls and turns the podracer on. He pushes the button and sends the toy into gear, pointing it at Maul. The podracer is bearing down on Maul at full speed when he turns around. Maul just barely jumps out of the way and the toy crashes into nearby bullentin board, filled with tacks that rain down on the Sith Lord. The bullentin board soon starts to topple over, hitting a globe out of its holder. Within seconds Maul is in his own version of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark as he runs to stay ahead of the rolling globe. The sphere catches up with him quickly and he jumps onto the windowsill to avoid being run over. Soon, it's Qui-Gon who must get out of the way as the out of control ball continues towards him. He jumps to the side and the globe rolls past, knocking the swiveling lamp into action.

The lamp head swings around and knocks Maul off the windowsill as he stands up...out the open window.

Qui-Gon lifts his head from the ground where he had flung himself. After checking to make sure the coast is clear he gets up. Watt, who saw Maul knocked out the window is capturing everyone's attention with his yells.

"Maul! Maul!"

Soon, all the toys are running to look over the windowsill. The last to come running are Obi-Wan and Sabe, whose faces are pretty flushed for toys. Obi-Wan makes his way to the front where everybody is talking at once. (AN: Just chill, there's more Obi coming.)

"I don't see him in the driveway."

"I think he bounced into Sidious' yard."

Obi-Wan turns to his master, "Did you see what happened?"

Qui-Gon doesn't say anything. He still can't believe what he just did really. Watto can always be counted upon, though. "This was no accident," he hisses.

Obi-Wan turns a blank look towards him. "Huh, what do you mean?"

"I mean Humpty Dumpty was pushed."

The young Jedi gasps with astonishment, "No!"

Watto nods his head as everybody else eagerly listens in. "By Qui-Gon!"

Obi-Wan looks from Qui-Gon to the windowsill to Watto. "By Qui-Gon?"

Upon hearing his name mentioned in accusation, Qui-Gon snaps out of his daze to defend himself. "What? Wait. Wait a minute. You don't think I meant to knock Maul out the window, do you? Now, it was an accident guys. You gotta believe me."

Obi-Wan couldn't believe his master was capable of such a thing. "We believe you, Qui-Gon, right guys?" He looks around. "Master Yoda?"

Yoda doesn't agree but nor does he say anything against Qui-Gon and Captain Panaka takes the argument up. "Where is your honor, Jedi scum? You are an absolute disgrace! You don't deserve to... Hey!"

Panaka's insults are cut short as Qui-Gon yanks his hat down over his head, giving him a different problem to focus on for the time being. Watto takes up where he left off.

"You couldn't handle Maul cutting in on your play time, could you, Qui-Gon? Didn't want to face the fact that he was becoming Charlene's new favorite toy. So, you got rid of him."

Watto was flying closer to Qui-Gon, making him back up close to the edge of the table.

"Well, what if Charlene starts playing with me more? You going to knock me out of the window, too?"

Captain Panaka jumps back in, having solved his hat problem. "I don't think we should give him the chance."

With a flick of his wrist, Panaka waves his men into action and they swarm around Qui-Gon, attempting to wrestle him down.

"Let's string him up by his pull string!"

Amidala tries to intervene. "Would you boys stop it. Stop it!" It does no good.

It's Charlene's voice that breaks up the conflict as she nears the bedroom. "Okay, Mom, be right down. I've gotta get Maul."

"Retreat!" Everybody is rushing back to their places. Qui-Gon drops where is he, motionless.

Charlene comes through the door, stopping near Qui-Gon and looking around. "Mom, do you know where Maul is?"

"Nope, haven't seen him. Come on, let's go."

Shrugging, Charlene picks up Qui-Gon and heads for the car. Once she gone the toys scramble back up to the windowsill to look for Maul on the ground below. Captain Panaka's men form a chain as Obi-Wan, Watto and several others help lower them out the window. They are not enough men to make it to the ground, though.

Obi-Wans calls down to Maul, who still has not been seen. "Hang on, Maul, we're forming another plan! This one isn't working!"