Ch. 19

Palpatine stared at Anakin, and Anakin was quite satisfied with the shock he saw in the Sith Lord's eyes.

"You really thought you had me, didn't you Palpatine," Anakin spat, keeping his light saber raised. "They Jedi are my family. I will not betray them."

"The Jedi don't trust you Anakin! They are afraid of teaching you enough to let you reach your full potential. Only I can help you learn how to use your power!"
"I will never use any amount of my power to aid the Sith in conquering the galaxy. I would rather be a weak Jedi than a powerful Sith." Said Anakin, honestly a bit surprised at his own strength in the moment. As much as he had hated to hear the Masters talk about the fear and anger inside of him, he knew them to be correct. He knew that he had to be careful not to be influenced by the Dark Side, and he had certainly felt himself slipping just moments ago. He was proud of himself for keeping his head together, and he knew now that he would never joined the Sith. Palpatine said nothing, eyeing the young Jedi analytically. "Well, are you going to fight me or just let me cut you down like a droid soldier?" Anakin asked, suddenly wanting to fight the Sith to prove his allegiance to the Jedi and to his family- to the good side.

"If you kill me Anakin, you will have set yourself up to replace me." Palpatine smiled cruelly.

"Never," said Anakin, still holding his light saber. Tired of waiting, Anakin swung at Palpatine.

"Impatience is a great trait of the Sith," Palpatine cackled, meeting Anakin's blade.

Anakin said nothing, but continued with all of his ferocity to fight the Sith Lord. He was holding Palpatine off, and he could see that Palpatine, the one man who had always said how powerful he could be, was actually surprised by his abilities.

"Perhaps you underestimated the Jedi, Sidious," Anakin said. Palpatine looked up at him. "Yes, we know your Sith name. We have been searching for Sidious for some time." Anakin mocked Palpatine.

They continued to fight, and Anakin began to hope that Obi Wan would arrive soon to aid him. He continued to fight impressively with the Sith Lord, but he knew that he was on the defensive, and would need help if he were to defeat Sidious. 'Come on Obi Wan,' Anakin thought, sending as much Force energy to his former Master as he could. But for some reason, no one came for quite some time.

Back at the front of the Senate, Yoda, Mace Windu, and Obi Wan were confused. They had expected to feel a sense of darkness and foreboding long before- what was happening? Obi Wan hadn't let himself worry, knowing that if something was wrong with Anakin he would have felt it, but he now was letting himself begin to wonder if everything was all right.

"Perhaps I should go up there," Obi Wan said. "This is taking too long- we have to end this now- look out at the city. We cannot hold of the clones any longer by ourselves."
The masters followed Obi Wan's gaze and realized that the number of Jedi fighting was dwindling, and more and more Clones seemed to be arriving.

"Go, we all must," said Yoda, and the three Jedi Masters headed up to the Chancellor's office.

When they arrived outside Palpatine's door, they stood in front of it quietly, listening and reaching out with the Force. They could feel the conflict in the room, but it was unclear whether light or dark was prevailing.

"Cloudy, the Force is here," said Yoda, and Obi Wan and Mace nodded.

"I can't tell what Anakin is feeling," Said Obi Wan. "And yet it doesn't seem as if he is giving in to Palpatine."

Looking at each other, they opened the door. The scene before them was cause for surprise for all three of them. They saw Palpatine, complete with Sith light saber, dueling with Anakin, and Anakin was holding him off very well. What was more, the Force, having become clearer as they entered the room, showed no sign of darkness near Anakin. He was fighting only for good.

"I am afraid we underestimated my former Padawan," Obi Wan said. "Perhaps he wasn't so ready to turn to the Dark Side."

Anakin, noticing the Masters for the first time, was extremely relieved. "Obi Wan!" He yelled. "Help!"

Suddenly jumping to action, the three aided Anakin in attacking the Sith.

"Chancellor Palpatine," Mace began, "Or should I say, Lord Sidious, you are under arrest for betrayal of the Jedi and the Republic."

"I am the Republic!" Spat Palpatine.

"No," said Obi Wan. "I'm afraid you are mistaken."

"Oh am I?" asked Palpatine, and suddenly he sprang back to the offensive, with a strength he hadn't even been using before. Though the Jedi surrounded him, Palpatine was able to manipulate the Force in such ways that he could hold even four Jedi Masters off. The Jedi managed to avoid injury for some time, and the battle seemed almost to be a stalemate. Suddenly, Palpatine used the Force to pull out a ceiling pipe, and it came crashing down and trapped Mace. Obi Wan ran to check on him.

"He's ok, just knocked out," said Obi Wan, as he sprung back into action.

Yoda, Anakin, and Obi Wan continued to battle Sidious, and finally had him being pushed back into a corner.

"There is no escape now, Sidious," said Obi Wan, as the Sith seemed cornered by the Jedi. However, with a flick of his light saber, Palpatine sent Yoda's weapon spinning across the room, and began to advance toward the unarmed Jedi. However, Obi Wan was too quick for him and quickly engaged him in battle before he could reach Yoda. Yoda tried to Force-recall his light saber, but Palpatine kicked it away again. As Yoda made his way to physically retrieve his weapon and check on Mace, Palpatine put even more strength into the battle. He sent Obi Wan and Anakin on the defensive again. Suddenly, he pulled the desk towards him using the force, and knocked it straight in to Obi Wan's chest.

Anakin screamed in rage, and rushed to help Obi Wan.

"Turn away, do not, Anakin! Help Obi Wan, I will!"

Anakin turned, all of his anger put into defeating Sidious. The battle raged on, and Anakin was certainly proving himself a noble match for the Sith. Yoda removed the desk from Obi Wan, who remained unconscious, and joined Anakin again in the battle.

Suddenly, Mace regained his consciousness, and Yoda dropped back to give him his light saber and help him free.

Anakin continued to battle Sidious. Suddenly, he heard Obi Wan groan, and forgetting everything, let his guard down to look toward his friend. Taking advantage of this moment, Sidious knocked Anakin's weapon out of his hands. Helpless, Anakin stared at Sidious.

"Well, I certainly can't say I underestimated the Jedi, seeing as I just managed to defeat four of the greatest Jedi of all time," Sidious said evilly.

"You haven't won yet," said Anakin. "You can kill me, but the others are still alive and able to fight."

Sidious began to advance on Anakin, light saber just inches from the young Jedi's neck. "I don't want to kill you Anakin. I think that seeing your Masters killed will finally make you respect me. You're halfway there already."

Yoda and Mace suddenly sprung into action. Seizing this opportunity, Anakin called his light saber to him through the Force. They advanced on Sidious even more ferociously, and finally had him cornered. Anakin knocked away the Sith's light saber, and felt a sudden wave of relief.

"And now, Sidious, you are under arrest." Said Mace.

"Interesting that even after all of that, you aren't going to kill me."
"Need you, we do," said Yoda angrily, "to show the Clones that captured you are, that over, the war is."

They bound him to his chair, and Anakin rushed to check on Obi Wan.

"He'll be all right," said Anakin. "When he comes to."

Anakin stood near Obi Wan, but close enough to Yoda and Mace to hear them discuss what measures to follow next. Suddenly, Anakin got a very apprehensive feeling.

"Something's wrong," he said.

"Feel it, I do not," Yoda replied, eyeing the young Jedi.

"You're probably just feeling the strains of battle, Anakin," Mace confirmed.

"Maybe," Anakin said quietly. However, he looked around the room warily, feeling as if something wasn't quite right. Mace and Yoda continued to talk, paying no attention to Anakin. Suddenly, Anakin realized what was going to happen. He looked at the Sith Lord, sitting with his arms bound to the arms of the chair. He saw him reach out his fingers, pointing them toward Obi Wan.

"NO!" Anakin yelled suddenly, and Mace and Yoda turned to him just as the young Jedi ran in front of Obi Wan, unarmed, and blocked a full blow of Sith lightning with his body to save his friend.