Padme and Captain Panaka continued to lead the others toward the throne room. Except, they only ran into more and more droids firing blasters.

"We don't have time for this, Captain." Padme said.

Anakin, meanwhile, flew with R2 into space. The little boy felt so much adrenaline running through his veins as he was flying by himself in a real starfighter up in space. However, he was also scared because he'd never done this before and he didn't know if he would make it this time. But then again, there didn't appear to be much less danger out here than in any pod race he'd done.

"Look! There they are." Anakin pointed out where he saw some more ships heading…

Towards the droid control ship.

"That's where the autopilot's taking us."

Back on Naboo, just as Qui-Gon predicted, there were gungans shot down by the droids in battle, but none of whom cowered in fear. Although, Jar Jar was doing a lot of jumping and ducking, getting a dead droid's wires wrapped around his ankle and trying to shake it off, but in all his clumsiness, he accidentally made the droid corpse fire two other droids that almost shot him.

The space fighters continued to fire at the control ship, but the deflector shield were too strong; their blasts weren't even leaving a scratch, which also left a few ships to get blasted into oblivion.

Anakin gasped when he caught sight of a ship getting blasted.

"This is intense!" Anakin said. He tried to take the wheel, only to recall that autopilot was still activated. "Whoa! R2, get us off this autopilot. It's gonna get us both killed."

R2 beeped and deactivated the autopilot, finally managing to override it.

"You did it, R2!" Anakin cheered.

But as skilled a pilot as Anakin was, he knew he and R2 would need to work together on this. He instructed R2 to go left. And they did. Except, R2 said they should go back.

"Go back? Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit, so that's what I'm gonna do."

So, Anakin continued to steer the ship.

"I'll try spinning. That's a good trick."

So, Anakin did spin the ship, only to go really fast and make himself dizzy, and R2 spun his dome, also getting dizzy. Anakin shook his head to make his eyes stop spinning around.

R2 beeped again to tell Anakin they were in trouble.

"I know we're in trouble. Just hang on." Anakin said.

R2 beeped to himself. Babysitting was not exactly what he was programmed for, but he admired this kid's spirit.

The battle towards the throne room was still going, and it only seemed to get worse, but Panaka had some of the soldiers blast a window open across the hall.

"Go!" Panaka exclaimed.

All the soldiers split up. Some stayed behind to keep the droids occupied while Padme, Panaka, and a few of the soldiers climbed through the shattered window, carefully walking onto the ledge and shooting grapples onto the roof's ledge, which pulled them high up to another window, which they also blasted and passed through, this time going inside.

Meanwhile, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan continued to fight Maul, who managed to knock Obi-Wan off the runway, nearly falling to his death. Fortunately, Obi-Wan caught himself on another railway, but was surprised to find himself lifted up by the back of his shirt, but he didn't see who or what it was.

Qui-Gon kicked Maul off the railway and managed to get Shmi freed as he fell.

"Go!" Qui-Gon instructed, and Shmi ran.

And Qui-Gon took Maul on his own.

Obi-Wan looked up and saw his master taking on the powerful Sith lord alone. Quickly, he jumped up to try and catch up with the two.

Qui-Gon and Mail's battle led them through a path of ray-shielded doors.

Maul quickly found his lightsaber could not penetrate the shield. The two Jedi and the Sith did nothing at first. All was silent for a while.

Qui-Gon, however, sat and meditated for a bit. Patience was his most important tool at this moment.

The Gungans, on the other hand, were retreating as the droids' attacks got stronger. Jar Jar got so scared he hid under one of the carriages.

"Dis is nutsen." Jar Jar said.

And Jar Jar's hiding spot quickly turned into a ride as he jumped onto the back door, accidentally opening it and unleashing a plethora of big blue balls, which hit some of the enemies like big exploding bowling balls.

Jar Jar, however, found himself hanging off one of the droid tanks.

"Jar Jar! Use a booma!" Captain Tarpals suggested.

"Mesa no have no boomas!" Jar Jar said.

So, Captain Tarpals tossed Jar Jar another small blue ball, which became a game of Hot Potato with himself for Jar Jar until it hit the droid driving the tank and shorted him out, causing Jar Jar to nearly fall off the tank until Tarpals grabbed his leg and told him to jump, only for both of them to fall to the ground.

The Naboo team continued to fight the droids until they ran into some droidekas in another hall.

"Put down your weapons." Padme ordered. "They win this round."

Everyone placed down their weapons as they were quickly surrounded by droids. How were they going to get out of this mess?

Back in space, the fighters continued to fire, but not making music progress. Anakin still wouldn't back down from this fight, but this was no video game, not that he really played any before. Too bad too, because they could really have used some powerups at this point.

R2 shrieked as the ship he and Anakin were in got hit.

"We're hit, R2! Aah!"

Anakin spun the ship again, and this time he accidentally steered it inside the control ship, and he was out of control.

R2 beeped frantically, "Stop, Anakin! STOP!"

"I'm trying to stop! I'm trying to stop!"

Anakin's ship suddenly screeched to a stop, sparking some heat as it hit the floor. Thankfully, both the child and the droid were okay. But it didn't look like they were going back to Naboo anytime soon.

"Everything's overheated," said Anakin.

To make matters worse, some battle droids spotted the intruders and began to approach them.

"Oops. This is not good."

Anakin quickly hit some buttons to try and get the ship running again so he could escape.

Qui-Gon continued to meditate in the ray-shielded room, Maul waiting impatiently to fight him again. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, could sense the doors about to move. And they did!

Quickly, Qui-Gon reignited his weapon and resumed fighting Maul. And as soon as the doors opened for him, Obi-Wan ran to catch up with his master again, only for the doors to close again.

Meanwhile, Shmi found herself only getting lost in this place, and she found herself in the same room as Qui-Gon and Maul!

Shmi tried to run out of the room, but another ray shield appeared, trapping her in the room with Maul, who spotted her, and sought another chance to really weaken the older man. Somehow, Maul sensed Qui-Gon's feelings toward Shmi, and he figured if he killed her, it would make this battle much more painful to Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan, however, was forced to watch as this battle went on.

Maul was about to get a hold of Shmi, when something blue swooped at him! That threw Maul off balance, and it bought Qui-Gon time to get to Shmi first and get her behind him.

Maul tried to strike again, but something swooped again, and again, and that something turned out to be the blue pegasus who'd met Anakin earlier.

The pegasus whinnied as she butted her head in Maul's chest, causing him to fall over. But before the pegasus could do anything else, Maul Force-pushed her into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

And then Maul moved even faster than before, and he charged right at Qui-Gon and Shmi. But just before he could stab the two of them with his lightsaber, there was a blinding light!

By the time the light dispersed, Qui-Gon and Shmi were gone!

Obi-Wan looked around. So did Maul. Both of them were confused. But whatever happened in the room while the light was on, it appeared Qui-Gon might have gotten Shmi out of there. But Maul was far from ready to give up.

The gungans were losing the battle!

"No giben up, Jar Jar." Captain Tarpals said. "Mesa tink of something."

But Jar Jar put his hands up when the droids ordered surrender.

Tarpals, on the other hand, face-palmed.

Caught by the enemy army, Padme and her team were escorted by some battle droids to the throne room to meet with Viceroy Gunray and Haako.

Gunray stood proudly as the prisoners were brought before him.

"Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness. Time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the senate."

"Viceroy!" exclaimed a voice.

It was Padme's decoy. She fired a blast at one of the droids.

"After her. This one's a decoy." Gunray ordered.

While Gunray wasn't looking, Padme retrieved two hidden blasters from inside the throne's arm rests and tossed one to Captain Panaka, the other, she kept and used against the droids.

As soon as the droids were defeated, Captain Panaka ordered the doors to be jammed.

Soon Gunray found himself surrounded.

"Now, Viceroy, we will discuss a new treaty." Padme said.

Obi-Wan was in a stare off with Maul as the ray shields were still up. Both ignited their lightsabers and began fighting as soon as the doors opened again.

By that time, the blue pegasus was awake, and she picked herself up as Obi-Wan kicked Maul to the ground, only for the latter to get up again.

Obi-Wan continued to fight Maul, but the latter was stronger up close. And Maul kicked Obi-Wan into a hole in the floor and made Obi-Wan drop his lightsaber. Fortunately, Obi-Wan grabbed something just in time! But… Maul kicked Obi-Wan's lightsaber over the edge.

Meanwhile, Anakin managed to get the ship working again.

"We have power!" Anakin cheered. "Shields up."

The droids tried to shoot Anakin down, but he already had the deflector shields up. Now, it was time for Anakin to kick some droid chassis.

"Take this!"

Anakin fired at will, getting at least three direct hits on droids, but also hitting part of the ship.

"Oops!"

But Anakin didn't realize that his indirect hit was actually helpful.

"There seems to be a problem with the main reactor," said a Neimoidian.

"Impossible!"

"Nothing can get through to our shield."

The Neimoidians tried to fix the problem remotely, but their efforts were about as useful as a cell phone underneath a concrete bridge.

Anakin steered the ship, ready to get the heck out of there.

"Let's get outta here."

And R2 agreed with the boy. Quickly, Anakin steered the ship out, and just in time too, because inside, there was an explosion!

The pilots outside were quick to take notice that the ship was blowing up from the inside.

"We didn't hit it!" one pilot pointed out.

Anakin, however, was very fast in his steering. He had to race the pod out of there before the whole ship blew up!

"Woohoo! Now this is podracing!" Anakin cheered.

"Look! One of ours! Out of the main hole!"

Anakin whooped happily as he crossed the finish line in this little race, and he followed the other pods, receiving cheers from the other pilots who survived.

As a result of the control ship's destruction, all the battle droids powered down. The gungans noticed this where they were, and they all began to cheer. It appeared the battle was won!

However, it wasn't quite over for everyone.

Obi-Wan was still holding on for dear life as Maul swung his lightsaber. Without his weapon, Obi-Wan had nothing to fight Maul with even if he used the Force to jump back up. But then, Obi-Wan spotted something blue swooping at Maul again. Whatever it was, it made Maul drop his lightsaber.

Quickly, Obi-Wan seized the opportunity, catching the lightsaber, throwing himself up, and striking Maul in the stomach! But not with a stab like you might think. Rather, he literally sliced Maul in half.

Obi-Wan breathed heavily as it appeared the battle was won. He looked at the beautiful horse standing next to him.

"Good swooping there," said Obi-Wan, petting the mare's muzzle.

"You weren't so bad yourself," said the mare, starling Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan felt his head.

"I must have hit my head harder than I thought."

"You didn't. I really do talk."

Obi-Wan was silent for a moment as the mare stood on her hind legs and sniffed his hair, and then the horse trotted over to Qui-Gon's last known standing space.

"Hmm… it looks like your friend dropped something."

The mare picked up the 'something' she found with her mouth. It was Qui-Gon's necklace.

Obi-Wan recognized that necklace; Qui-Gon didn't know Obi-Wan knew, but he'd seen it before. Earlier, when Qui-Gon asked Obi-Wan to take care of Anakin if somehow the oldest Jedi didn't make it out, he showed Obi-Wan the amulet and emphasized the importance that Anakin be its next holder.

"That's Qui-Gon's amulet."

Obi-Wan took the necklace and saw it glowing slightly. Qui-Gon must have dropped it when he fled to get Shmi to safety. But… where was he?

"Hmm… perhaps you best come with me, miss…?"

"Beauty. Sapphire Beauty." said the mare.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Nice to meet you."

Anakin was excited when he exited the starship after the battle was won. The grownup pilots couldn't believe that little boy was so brave and so skilled; enough to help them win the battle.

But when he met with Obi-Wan again, he was also excited to see Sapphire. Except, both of them looked worried when Anakin asked if they'd seen his mother or Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan knelt down to Anakin and said,

"We don't know where they are at the moment, Anakin. But…"

Obi-Wan took Qui-Gon's amulet out from his pocket and held it to Anakin, who looked distraught. Was that necklace all that was left of Qui-Gon.

"Now, don't worry, Anakin. I'm sure they aren't too far off." Obi-Wan then placed the necklace around Anakin's neck. "But for now, I believe you made a promise to keep this safe for Master Qui-Gon."

Anakin looked at the blue heart and kept it close to his heart. Wherever his mom and Qui-Gon were, he was going to keep that necklace safe for him.

A ship soon arrived to escort the Neimoidians to the Senate.

"Now, Viceroy." said the queen. "You're going to have to go back to the senate and explain all this."

Captain Panaka approached the Neimoidians and said, "I think you can kiss your trade franchise goodbye."

And so, the Neimoidians were taken away, while Obi-Wan and Anakin were approached by Senator Palpatine himself. The two Jedi bowed in respect.

"We are indebted to you for your bravery, Obi-Wan Kenobi," said Palpatine. "And you, young Skywalker. We will watch your career with great interest."

Some members of the Jedi council arrived as well.

Palpatine approached the queen respectfully, who congratulated him on his election to Chancellor Palpatine.

"Your boldness has saved our people, Your Majesty. It is you who deserves congratulations. Together, we shall bring peace and prosperity to the Republic."

Whoo! Two chapters in one day! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review