Meanwhile, above another platform of the Separatist base, Padmé's star skiff approached and hovered briefly before touching down.
Obi Wan who was in the cockpit in the copilot's seat turned to Shaak Ti in the pilot's seat and cried out, "Master Ti, we must hurry!"
Shaak Ti nodded even as Threepio who was sitting nearby in another seat complained, "I have a bad feeling about this place."
The ramp was lowered and Obi Wan ran out of the ship, followed my Shaak Ti.
It did not take long for them to find Padmé lying on another platform, unconscious.
Obi Wan knelt down and held Padmé in his arms even as Shaak Ti knelt down and examined her.
Shaak Ti looked up and said, "She seems to be just alright, but barely. I'll get her to the ship. Go find Anakin. He'll need your help!"
Just at that moment, Padmé stirred slightly and opened her eyes.
As soon as she saw the two Jedi, she gasped and holding Obi Wan's hand, she slowly spoke, "Obi Wan, Anakin, is he alright?"
"Anakin," Obi Wan breathed, and then suddenly, he noticed, far away, a small but recognizable blur of blue and red.
"Master Ti," Obi Wan cried out, "I'm going to help him!"
With that, he slipped off his cloak and dashed off to find and help Anakin, using the force to guide him.
Yoda landed on a pod and looked up at the Emperor who was standing on another pod much higher up, and on the opposite side of the Senate Chamber.
Laughing evilly, Palpatine unleashed two pods towards the Jedi Master, who was forced to jump even as the pods crashed into other pods in Yoda's proximity.
Landing on another pod, Yoda reignited his lightsaber, but Palpatine raised three pods in the air above him and threw them using the force towards the Jedi Master laughing, "Aha!" in an evil twisted manner.
Yoda was forced to jump and dodge once again even as one of them slammed into the one he had been standing on.
Darth Sidious kept on throwing pods towards Yoda, but luckily, despite his age, he managed to dodge all of them and finally landed on the Emperor's podium. He seemed exhausted, but he got up and faced the Emperor.
Sidious smiled wickedly and sent yet another pod towards Yoda, but this time, the latter was ready.
He stopped the pod using the force and set it into a spinning motion before hurling it towards the Sith Lord.
Palpatine, who had been laughing, was clearly not ready when he saw the pod hurtling towards him.
It slammed into him and he fell downwards towards another pod.
He got up, clearly shocked at what had just happened.
And Yoda flipped forwards and landed on the pod before igniting his lightsaber.
It seemed like Yoda had a chance at finishing off Palpatine once and for all.
But it was not meant to be.
Palpatine suddenly unleashed a burst of force lightning that hit Yoda's hand and caused him to drop his lightsaber.
But Yoda himself was able to shield himself with his bare hands, absorbing the force lightning.
Even as Palpatine continued with his force lightning attack, laughing evilly all the while, Yoda closed his eyes and looked away, owing to the intensity of the lightning.
Palpatine got closer and smiled evilly, but then Yoda turned to look at Palpatine head on, with determination in his eyes, and held on.
Palpatine let out an exclamation of fear, fear that it was all over.
But even as they got very close and tried to push forwards, both were blasted in opposite directions.
Palpatine managed to grab onto the railing of the pod, but Yoda fell towards the Emperor's podium, and landed, not inside, but on the sloping part of it.
Even as Palpatine managed to grab the railing of his pod with his left hand, Yoda slid down the slope of the Emperor's podium.
Yoda tried to hold on with his fingernails, but they only left a deep impression on the surface.
At last, with only the nails on the edge, Yoda tried his level best to hold on, but lost his grip and fell down towards the floor, losing his cloak in the process.
He hit the floor rolling, but luckily, was not badly injured.
But he was defeated.
He had lost.
Palpatine let out an evil laugh as he looked down upon the Jedi Master before focusing on getting himself back into the pod.
Yoda slowly got up and looked up to see his cloak falling onto a pole jutting out of the wrecked pods.
Anakin jumped backwards and stood on a pipe that led away from the balcony.
Carefully maintaining his balance, he held his lightsaber at the ready.
Vader jumped from the balcony and onto the pipe, and carefully, but determined to kill Anakin, he moved forward.
With the pipe being thin, and above the lava, maintaining balance was not easy but both knew that without it, they would fall into the lava and burn.
Vader swung out at Anakin, who blocked the swing and jumped onto one of the repulsor field structures, which definitely was much wider and flat where he stood.
Vader jumped after him onto the structure and clashed blades with him.
He swung a blow at him, but Anakin ducked and hit him in the face with his flesh hand.
Vader reeled under the blow but it was only for a moment.
He then glared at Anakin and moved menacingly forward.
They then rushed at each other and grabbed each other's right hands with their left hands. They grappled on even as a huge amount of lava burst forth from the river.
Yoda made his way through the ventilation shaft, made easy due to his small size.
Stopping briefly, he pulled out a communication device and activating it, he spoke worriedly, "Hurry, careful timing we will need."
Bail Organa who was flying his speeder somewhere outside spoke in reply, "Activate your homing beacon when you are ready."
Meanwhile, in the senate chamber, a pod containing a few clones led by Commander Thire approached the pod where the Emperor and Mas Amedda were standing and Thire spoke, "There's no sign of his body Sir."
Mas Amedda concluded, "Then he's not dead."
Palpatine ordered, "Double your search."
"Yes Sir," Thire replied, "Right away Sir."
Even as Thire's pod moved away, Sidious turned to the Chagrian and said, "Tell Captain Kagi to prepare my shuttle for immediate takeoff."
"Yes Master," Amedda replied and turned away to do his duty.
Palpatine then looked away and said, "I sense Lord Vader is in danger."
Obi Wan ran through the command centre and onto the balcony where Anakin and Vader had been fighting a few minutes before.
He looked ahead and saw Anakin fighting someone with a red lightsaber on the shield structure, getting closer towards the end.
He rushed forwards and with a careful leap, he landed on the structure and ran forward to help his brother.
Anakin and Vader clashed their lightsabers downwards but suddenly there was a loud sound.
They both looked away from the end and saw an enormous fountain of lava rising, and some of the lava falling onto the structure, not too far away from them.
They both ran towards the end of the structure for cover even as small specks of lava rained down onto the platform.
Suddenly, there was a loud creaking sound and the next moment, the structure began to break off, tilting downwards.
Obi Wan who was now right on the opposite side of the lava and thus not too far away cried out, "ANAKIN, RUN! REACH FOR ME!"
Anakin rushed away from his cover and ran forwards, trying to get to Obi Wan, even as Vader pursued him.
But the structure only tilted more and creaked more and then, it completely broke off and fell into the lava.
Obi Wan helplessly watched and in despair he yelled out, "NO!"
The structure was floating on its broader side, and Anakin and Vader were hanging onto the metal holds for dear life.
Yoda reached a junction in the ventilation system and with a press of a button, he activated his beacon.
He pulled a lever and a door below him opened up.
He looked down and saw Bail in his speeder hovering below.
Yoda carefully jumped through and landed in the seat next to Bail.
Bail immediately drove away from the place.
As he flew the speeder, Yoda turned to him and sadly said, "Into exile, I must go. Failed I have."
Even as the structure floated along the river of lava, Vader and Anakin clashed lightsabers, Vader intent on killing Anakin.
And then, they both noticed that they were heading towards a lava-fall.
Anakin, normally a reckless warrior, realized that he needed to somehow escape instead of engaging with Vader to kill him.
If he died, what would happen to his wife and child?
Grabbing an overhanging cable, Anakin pushed off and began to swing back and forth. Vader, seeing his prey getting away, grabbed another overhanging cable and swung towards Anakin.
Even as Anakin blocked a strike from Vader, he suddenly saw a repulsorlift raft on the lava nearby and swung himself towards it. He let go of the rope, and using the force to guide himself as he fell, he landed on the raft.
Immediately, the structure collapsed as it sank into the lava, falling over the lava-fall.
But Vader was not going to give up.
Even as the structure tilted and collapsed, Vader ran along the length and flipped forwards in the air towards Anakin.
Anakin saw Vader landing on top of a lava-collector droid.
The poor droid was pushed into the lava and was forced to let go of its bucket, but it was able to hover above with Vader standing on its head.
Even as Vader and Anakin held their blades at the ready, Anakin said, "I should have known Palpatine was manipulating me all this time, using me as his tool!"
Vader cried out, "I should have known how weak you truly are, how naive you are to follow the Jedi that attempted to take over!"
Anakin cried out, "Vader, Palpatine is a monster, and all he ever did was groom me to use me! I bet he's using you too, and he'll crush you if he has the chance, just like Dooku!"
Vader retorted, "Well from my point of view the Jedi are the wrong ones. Dooku's death was necessary so that I could step in, perhaps I should be thanking you for being so foolish not to join my master."
Anakin glared at Vader and declared, "You are a monster, just like him. You strangled my wife, a pregnant woman! You have no heart! And I don't want to be like him!"
Even as Anakin and Vader glared at each other, Vader declared, "This is the end for you, my brother."
Anakin readied his saber for what was to come.
And it came.
Vader jumped forwards and landed on the raft where he and Anakin began to lash out at each other.
It was not easy fighting with very little space. Even Anakin was beginning to tire out, but he knew he could not. He had to keep fighting.
And then, he saw a chance.
He took it.
Flipping off the raft, he landed onto the shore, on a steep hill and standing on the slope, he declared, "It's over Vader, I have the high ground."
Vader stopped the raft in front of Anakin and declared, "You underestimate my power. Do not underestimate the power of the dark side!"
Anakin declared, "There is something far more powerful than the power of the dark side, my love for Padmé!"
At once, Vader leaped forward with a yell of rage, but Anakin was ready.
And as Vader neared him, he struck.
Vader's legs were severed at the knees and his left hand was also severed.
He suddenly found himself on the ground, weaponless, and with no legs, and no left hand.
And worse still for him, he was slowly sliding down towards the lava.
Anakin looked upon his fallen enemy.
Vader looked upon Anakin with his burning yellow eyes and screamed out, "I HATE YOU!"
Anakin felt the desire to just watch him fall into the lava and burn, to run his lightsaber through him, to give him to death that he deserved for what he had done.
But just as he raised his lightsaber, a flashback came to his mind.
Flashback on Grievous' ship…
Anakin was holding his lightsaber and Dooku's lightsaber in a cross pattern, near the enemy's neck.
Even as Dooku looked at him in horror, Palpatine spoke, "Good Anakin, good. Kill him."
And when Anakin said afterwards that he shouldn't have killed Dooku, Palpatine said, "Remember what you told me about your mother and the sand people? He cut off your arm. You wanted revenge."
No, he couldn't, he shouldn't he wouldn't.
Vader, having reached the lava, began to burn.
The stumps caught fire, and with the clothes he was wearing being made of inflammable material, the fire spread easily, and began to burn even his face.
But suddenly, it stopped.
Vader couldn't understand what had happened, except his face and hair were no longer burning, and the fire seemed to be getting doused.
And he could feel himself being slowly pulled up.
He looked up, and saw something he never expected to see.
Anakin Skywalker was reaching out to him, using his right hand to slowly pull him up the slope, and his left hand to douse the flames with the force.
Even as Vader felt the last of the flames die out, he looked at Anakin and shouted, "WHY?!"
Anakin slowly released Vader, and when he was sure Vader would not fall into the lava, he said, "I don't know why I am doing this, but I know one thing for sure. I don't want to be a monster."
With that, he picked up Vader's lightsaber which was lying nearby and threw it with as much force as he could into the lava.
Even as Vader lay there, Anakin began to walk away, towards the base.
Even as he neared the base, as he was walking up a slope, he suddenly heard a cry, "ANAKIN!"
And there, not too far away was Obi Wan, rushing towards him.
Obi Wan ran towards Anakin and engulfed him into a bear hug.
"Anakin," Obi Wan exclaimed, "I was afraid you had died! Thank the force that raft was there for you!"
Anakin hugged Obi Wan and said, "Vader's defeated. Is Padmé okay?"
Obi Wan replied, "She's on the ship. Now come, let us get away from this terrible place. I sense the Chancellor coming."
Soon, Threepio at the entrance of Padmé's star skiff saw Anakin and Obi Wan rushing inside.
Threepio cried out, "Master Ani, wait for me!"
And he entered the ship, followed by Artoo.
Anakin went straightaway to his wife, who was lying down on a bed, with her chocolate brown eyes open, and Shaak Ti sitting next to her.
Padmé, upon seeing Anakin with his blue eyes, reached out for him.
He went and clasped her hands saying, "Padmé, are you alright?"
Padmé held his hands and said, "Anakin, is it you?"
Anakin replied, "I promise you Angel, it's me, Anakin."
"Anakin," Padmé gasped, "I was so afraid, I, I tried to convince Vader to come away with us and leave the Sith, but, he wanted to kill you and take me and our baby!"
Anakin replied, "I will never allow myself to turn into a monster like he is, like Palpatine turned out to be."
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Obi Wan was sitting next to Threepio, with the former in the pilot's seat, flying the ship away.
Even as the ship left the planet, Threepio cried out, "Let us get away from this cursed place."