Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I now have more reviews than chapters! Just one note, I realize now that I wrote "Bonta Eve Classic" and not "Boonta Eve Classic." I apologize for the spelling error. Anyway, here is the next chapter.

And yes, this did take a long time to update, I'm sorry. I will try to update more often if I can.

ENJOY!

Chapter 5: The Boonta Eve Classic

Early the next day, Obi-Wan returned to the Queen's ship because the ship received a transmission from Naboo and wanted the opinion of the Jedi. Qui-Gon went with Anakin and Padme to tell Watto that Anakin was going to enter the Boonta Eve Classic using "Qui-Gon's" pod racer. Anakin had run far ahead of everyone else, leaving everyone behind to walk in silence. Upon reaching their destination at Watto's shop, Padme turned to talk to Qui-Gon.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, putting our trust in a boy we hardly know? The Queen would not approve…" Padme started.

"The Queen doesn't need to know." Qui-Gon interrupted.

"Well I don't approve." Padme muttered.

Qui-Gon walked into Watto's shop only to have the blue form of Watto come flying right at him.

"The boy tells me you want to sponsor him for the race. How do you plan to pay for the entrance fee? Not with Republic Credits." Watto asked.

"My ship will be the entrance fee." Qui-Gon said, pulling out a mini hologram device to shop Watto the ship. "It's in good order, except for the parts it needs." he added.

"And where do you plan to get a pod from? The boy crashed my pod in the last race." Watto mentioned.

"It's not my fault, really." Anakin said. "Sebulba flashed his engines on me on the last turn. I actually saved the pod, mostly." he finished.

"Haha, that you did." Watto agreed.

"I was able to acquire a pod in a game of chance. One of the best in the world." Qui-Gon bragged.

"Ok. So, you supply the pod and the fee, I supply the boy. We split the profits, um, 50/50." Watto offered.

"If you want a 50/50 split then I suggest you pay the entrance fee. If Anakin wins, you keep all of the winnings, except for the cost of the parts we need. If he loses, you get to keep me ship." Qui-Gon offered.

Watto seemed hesitant to accept, so Qui-Gon added, "Either way, you win."

At this, Watto yelled, "Deal!"

Qui-Gon walked back outside with Anakin. Once outside, they headed off towards Anakin's home to work on his pod so he could actually race in it.

Back on the Mouseketeer, the game of Risk was moving along way quicker than expected. It turns out that alone, everyone is equally matched. However, with two of the five friends on the same team, then the others had no hope. Julius was completely destroyed in about three hours, with Kythe being defeated an hour later. So now, only seven hours into the game, Jasmine was the only person left to stop the combined power of Firefox and Blaize.

"Ok, you two are never allowed to be on the same team ever again." Kythe complained.

"Like you have any room to complain, I was out an hour before you." Julius responded.

"Both of you shut up! I need to focus if I am to have any chance of winning." Jasmine said.

Jasmine looked around the board. She was almost completely surrounded by Firefox and Blaize, and her only hope to escape was to fight through their slightly weaker flank. It was her turn, so she sent ten of her remaining 40 troops to attempt to break through the flank.

"I hope this works…" Jasmine thought.

Back at Anakin's house, everyone was working to get his pod finished for the race. Anakin was running around explaining how the pod worked so that his new friends would be able to help him. Sora and Riku had worked with mechanical parts before, so they were having no trouble fixing up the pod racer. Kairi wasn't as mechanically inclined, so she stuck to the simpler jobs with Padme. Everyone else just did whatever was needed of them. A short time later, some of Anakin's friends from around town stopped by, and saw all the people and droids helping him with his pod.

"You're so lucky Anakin." one of them said.

"That's not the half of it. I get to race in the Boonta Race tomorrow." Anakin replied.

"With this thing? But you've been working on it for years. How do you know it will work?" Another one asked.

"Come on, let's go play ball. Have fun racing Anakin." A third friend said as he walked away.

Anakin wasn't worried, and instead went back to work on his pod.

"Hey Jar-Jar." Anakin said as Jar-Jar dropped a tool. "Stay away from those energy bonders. If your hand gets caught in there it will go numb for hours."

"Ok." Jar-Jar replied. He reached down and picked up the dropped tool. On his way up, he got his tongue stuck in the energy binder, causing it to go numb instantly. As he complained about his tongue, everyone just sighed and looked away. As he went to retrieve the tool from where it now was in the one engine, he got his hand stuck. Jar-Jar tried to get help, but no one could understand him enough to realize his problem.

"You know, I find that Jar-Jar creature to be quite odd." C-3PO told R2.

"So, will it run?" Anakin's one remaining friend asked.

"Only one way to find out." Qui-Gon replied as he walked over. "Here, try this power source."

"Yes sir." Anakin eagerly responded.

As Anakin started to flip switches, Qui-Gon pulled Anakin's friend to safety. Only Jar-Jar remained near the pod since he was stuck. Padme and Kairi both noticed Jar-Jar, and walked over to free him. With one solid yank, he was free, and joined everyone else. Anakin fired up the pod, and the engines roared to life.

"It's working! It's working!" Anakin yelled in excitement as the pod lifted off.

Everyone was glad to see the pod lift off, especially the people who needed Anakin to win if they ever wanted to leave Tatooine.

Later that evening, Anakin was outside his house with Qui-Gon, who was taking a blood sample from Anakin.

"Ow! What are you doing?" Anakin asked.

"I'm just taking a blood sample to make sure that you're healthy." Qui-Gon replied.

"Anakin! You should get to bed young man!" Shmi yelled.

"Ok, mom." Anakin responded.

"You better get some sleep. You have a long day a head of you tomorrow." Qui-Gon said.

"Good night Qui-Gon." Anakin said.

Qui-Gon pulled out his comlink. "Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Yes master?" came Obi-Wan's response.

"I'm sending you a blood sample. I want a midi-chlorian count." Qui-Gon instructed.

"Ok, I got it." Obi-Wan said. There were a few moments of silence before Obi-Wan's startled reply came. "This sample has a midi-chlorian count that's off the charts. It's an even higher concentration than master Yoda's!"

Qui-Gon was shocked. He had discussed with Shmi earlier that day that Anakin had a strong connection with the force.

"What does this mean?" Obi-Wan asked, breaking Qui-Gon's train of thought.

"I'm not sure." Qui-Gon said.

Shmi walked out, and noticed that Qui-Gon looked surprised.

"Do you think he will win the race tomorrow?" Shmi asked.

"I believe he will, as long as he trusts his instincts." Qui-Gon replied.

King Mickey walked out of the house at this moment, and realized he walked in on a private conversation.

"Hello King Mickey. Is Anakin asleep?" Shmi asked.

"Yes, he just fell asleep a minute ago." Mickey replied.

"Qui-Gon, do you think you can help my son?" Shmi asked, turning towards Qui-Gon.

"I will see what I can do. After all, I didn't come here to free slaves." Qui-Gon answered.

"He does have a great potential to do good." Mickey added.

"Let's all get some rest. Tomorrow will be a big day for us all." Qui-Gon said.

Back on Mouseketeer, the Risk game was very close to the end. Jasmine's attempt to break through Blaize and Firefox's flank failed epically, and was pushed back. However, she made a second attempt, and succeeded. She was able to move away a bit and regroup her troops. Right now, she still only had 50 troops split into five groups of ten, but wasn't giving up. Blaize and Firefox were ready to finish this, so they launched attack after attack at Jasmine.

"Oh come on. You're sending 23 troops at my 10! That seems a little cheap." Jasmine stated.

"And I care why?" Blaize asked.

"Fair enough." Jasmine said.

They rolled their dice, and Jasmine lost some troops. More dice rolling, more troops of Jasmine's killed. Once that group of ten was defeated. Blaize and Firefox moved on to the next group. It seemed like they had a near infinite supply of troops, while Jasmine only have 40 left. Next thing she knew, Jasmine was left with 20 troops. She was against 60 of Firefox and Blaize's troops that were in the area, with another 100 waiting to move in if necessary. Everyone knew what was going to happen.

"You know what; we all know how this game will end. Let's just say you two won and call it a night." Jasmine offered.

"Sure, I'm tired. How about you Firefox?" Blaize asked.

"Yea, I agree. Good game though." Firefox said.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Good night everyone." Kythe said.

"Yea, I'm tired too." Julius agreed.

"Same here. Good night people." Jasmine said.

"Good job Firefox. Well, I guess I better get some sleep too. Good night." Blaize said.

"Yea, good night." Firefox replied.

Everyone was going to sleep on Mouseketeer, even Donald and Goofy in the communications room.

Everyone may be sleeping at Anakin's and on Mouseketeer, but there was one life form who had no intentions of sleeping yet. He had just arrived on the planet and still had work to do before he could rest. His name was Darth Maul. He knew the Queen was on the planet, but he didn't know where on the planet she was.

She shouldn't be too hard to find. Darth Maul thought. There are only so many towns she could be in.

Darth Maul went outside his Sith Infiltrator so he could send out some probe droids. After releasing three and sending them to the closest settlements, Maul decided to relax in his ship. He probably wouldn't sleep though, he was thinking a lot.

So, my master wants me to corrupt Sora and Riku to Darkness. Maul thought. If what I've read is correct, then Riku already fell to Darkness and should easily be corrupted. Sora might be a problem, with that cursed Princess of Heart with him.

Maul pulled out the vial his master had given him, and stared deep into its contents. He wondered just how powerful it would make him.

I guess I'll find out soon enough. And the Sith will have our revenge.

Early the next morning, everyone was getting up in Anakin's home. There was tension and nervousness in the air, everyone could feel it. The race was going to determine a lot of things. For starters, if Anakin did not win, then the Queen would not even have a ship. But there was another bet about to be made on this race, one that could lead Anakin to his destiny.

Qui-Gon had gotten to the race area first, where he took the pod to meet Watto. While he was alone with Qui-Gon, Watto began to brag about how he was betting on Sebulba to win.

"I don't think the boy will win. I have MY money on Sebulba." Watto said.

"And why is that?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Because he never loses!" Watto exclaimed.

"Hmm, I'll take that bet." Qui-Gon suddenly said.

"What? And what are you going to bet with?" Watto asked.

"If Sebulba wins, you get my pod. If Anakin wins, you free him and his mother." Qui-Gon said.

"No way! No pod is worth two slaves!" Watto yelled.

"Fine, the boy then." Qui-Gon stated.

Watto smiled. "Let's let fate decide, shall we? I just happen to have a chance cube. Blue, the boy, red, his mother."

Watto threw the cube. As it traveled through the air, Qui-Gon waved his hand slightly. The cube landed on blue, and Watto glared daggers at Qui-Gon.

"You may have won this little dice roll, but you will not win this bet!" Watto yelled.

As Watto flew away he went past Anakin, Shmi, Anakin's friends, Jar-Jar, Padme, Kairi, Sora, Riku, and King Mickey walked in. Watto looked at Anakin and said something in Huttese. Qui-Gon was unsure what he said, but he was willing to bet it was about the bets he was making.

"What was that about?" Anakin asked as he walked towards Qui-Gon.

"It's nothing to worry about. Now, let's get you ready." Qui-Gon answered.

As they walked towards Anakin's pod, Sora leaned towards Riku and said, "I think Qui-Gon made another bet."

"Can you say gambling addiction?" Riku asked jokingly.

Back on Mouseketeer, everyone was slowly waking up. Donald and Goofy were up fairly early. They knew that they had to be ready in case the King needed them, so they were ready for anything earlier than anyone else on the ship. Blaize was also awake. He had gotten up shortly after Donald and Goofy, and was staring out a window in his room. He had a lot on his mind. He could feel himself zoning out when he suddenly heard a knock on his door. He stood up and walked over to the door, and opened it to see Firefox standing there.

"Hey Firefox." Blaize said in a tired voice.

"Morning Blaize. You sound exhausted. Did you sleep ok last night?" Firefox asked. She had a concerned look on her face.

"Not really." Blaize replied. "I was having an odd dream. And when I say odd, I mean ODD. There was this odd dude with a bunch of horns sticking out of his head and he was laughing as I saw blackness surround me. I woke up, laughed at my dream, and tried to fall back asleep. But then…" Blaize trailed off.

"Then what?" Firefox asked.

Blaize started moving back towards the window, and started staring out it again. Firefox went over and sat next to him.

"Then I started thinking about home, and my family. After laying there for like an hour, I gave up trying to sleep. So I walked over to the window and started looking out it, just thinking. I've just been wondering what happened to them all. I don't think they could have just vanished. I miss my family so much. I was so happy when I heard that their were people from Sullust in the prison camp back on Naboo. That's why I went with Sora to check out the camp. I had hope that it was someone I knew. I was glad when I saw that you guys were ok." Blaize finished.

"We were equally glad to see that you were ok! When we woke up and didn't see you, we feared the worst." Firefox replied.

"I wonder where everyone else is. I hope they are all ok." Blaize said.

"I'm sure they are. Come on Blaize, let's go eat breakfast. I think you need to eat." Firefox said with a smile.

Blaize looked over at her and smiled. "I like that idea." he said.

Firefox walked over to Blaize and gave him a hug before they both walked out of the room and towards the kitchen area.

Back at the Pod Racers, all of the racers were going over their last minute preparations for the race. For Anakin, that meant getting hugged by his mom. For Sebulba, it meant "fixing" his opponents pods. As he walked by Anakin's, he "accidentally" broke a piece of his engine. Anakin and Sebulba exchanged a few insults in Huttese, before Sebulba walked away to his own pod.

"All set Anni?" Qui-Gon asked as he walked towards the pod with King Mickey.

"Yep." Anakin replied.

Qui-Gon lifted Anakin into his pod, causing a startled "Whoa!" to come from Anakin.

"Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Follow your instincts." Qui-Gon said.

"And follow your heart. It'll never lead you wrong." Mickey added.

"I will." Anakin said.

"May the force be with you." Qui-Gon said as he walked away with Mickey.

As they walked away, a two-headed announcer said something in Huttese, and a big, slug-like thing came out of a room and started announcing something. The people who couldn't understand Huttese had a feeling that the race was about to start. The engines of the pods all started up, and the energy beam formed between the engines. Qui-Gon and Mickey joined their friends in a stand and it rose up a pole to give them a good view of the race.

"You Jedi are too reckless. The Queen wouldn't…" Padme started.

"The Queen trusts my judgment." Qui-Gon replied. "And so should you young handmaiden."

The big slug-like creature, Jabba the Hutt, bit off the head of a lizard creature, and spit it at the gong to start the countdown. The green light turned on at the gate, and every pod sped off.

Except Anakin's and a green alien's.

Anakin's family and friends gasped while the entire stadium erupted in laughter. Anakin was frantically messing with the controls, and was able to get the engine going and sped away after the other pods. The green alien was still stuck.

"There goes Skywalker." The announcer said. "He'll have to work hard to catch up to the leaders."

The leader was Sebulba, who had already caused one pod to crash into a rock. The other racers were able to get around the wreckage, including Anakin, who was already starting to pass some people. He was maintaining the pace of the other racers as he entered the cave.

Anakin had amazing reflexes and dodged the rocks easily. The racer behind him wasn't so lucky, causing a fiery explosion that Blaize would have enjoyed seeing. When Anakin and the other racers got out of the cave, they were faced with a new problem, Tusken Raiders.

Tusken Raiders were nasty sand people who lived in the desert and enjoyed attacking people. These ones were here to shoot at the pod racers. Anakin's pod was hit a few times, but he made it through, and came through the arena to start lap two.

Just before the racers came through the arena, the green alien, who was still stuck, watched as his engines exploded, leaving him defeated.

Anakin was towards the back of the group, but that wasn't going to stay that way.

Anakin was a great pilot, and was able to move past the other racers despite their attempts to stop him.

Sebulba was still in the lead, and made sure things stayed that way by throwing a piece of metal behind him, which got into the engine of another racer, exploding that engine.

Anakin was able to dodge the explosion, but soon faced a new problem when the cable connected to his right engine broke away. As racers went past him, he flipped a switch to stop the spinning of his pod caused by the cable. Then, using a magnetic pole, he pulled the cable back in, reconnected it, and sped away to catch up. He passed everyone who had passed him, and was now in second heading into the cave.

The Tusken Raiders were still waiting for the racers, and another shot hit Anakin's pod. There was no damage, and he was able to fly on. The racer behind him wasn't as lucky and took a shot to the engine, exploding it. Now, heading into the stretch leading to the finish, it was all about Anakin and Sebulba.

Sebulba was right in front of Anakin heading into the third lap. Anakin tried to pass Sebulba in a canyon, but Sebulba slammed Anakin off a ramp and into the air. Even though he was in the air, Anakin kept his cool, and used his controls to angle the pod downward, and ended up in front of Sebulba!

Anakin was maintaining his lead, but suddenly his left engine caught fire. It slowed him down and Sebulba took the opportunity to pass Anakin. Anakin's family and friends watched in horror as Anakin messed with his controls, trying to fix the problem. After a few moments, he was able to extinguish the flames, restart the engine, and keep flying.

Anakin had caught up to Sebulba and was in the home stretch. He sped up beside Sebulba, who started ramming into Anakin's pod, trying to make him crash. Instead, it caused Sebulba to get caught on Anakin's pod. They tried to pull away from each other, and eventually, they separated. Unfortunately for Sebulba, his engines then exploded, and he crashed to the ground.

Anakin sped ahead in triumph. He had won! He could not believe it!

Everyone was smiling. Shmi was so proud of her son. He had not only won the race, but had helped out his friends.

Qui-Gon went to go see Watto, who he knew would be unhappy.

"You!" Watto yelled when he saw Qui-Gon. "You knew the boy would win! You must've! I lost everything because of you!"

"You can bring the generator to the main hanger. We'll be by to pick up the boy later." Qui-Gon said calmly.

"No way! You can't have him!" Watto yelled.

"Do you want to get the Hutts involved? I'm sure they could help us settle this dispute." Qui-Gon replied.

Watto hung his head in defeat. "Take him." was all he managed to say.

It's time to leave this place, Qui-Gon thought as he left Watto.

Author's Note: Woo-hoo! I finally wrote this chapter! I'm sorry that it took so long, but I'm easily distracted. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Please leave me a review! It's your kind reviews that make me want to write this story!