Soon the time had come, People from all over Mos Espa and beyond packed the seats as the Podracers lined the track, to the sound of grandiose music.
"Welcome! To the annual Boonta Eve Classic!" Announced a two headed alien called Fodesinbeed, the green head, whose name was Beed was the first to speak. "The most dangerous of all Podraces!"
"That's absolutely right Brother." Said the Fode head. "And with a big turnout with attendees from all corners of the Outer Rim territories! I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid!"
Anakin and the others hauled their pod to the starting line as the two headed Troig went on.
"I see Ben Quadinaros of the Tund System.
"Gasgano in the Ord Pedrovia!"
"Two time winner, Boles Roor!"
"Not to mention the reigning champion of Pixelito, Sebulba!"
The Dub in question mounted his pod, basking in the adulation from the audience.
"And in the front row, nearside pole position, Mawhonic!"
The Garn Podracer bowed respectfully to the crowd as they cheered.
"A hearty hello to Clegg Holdfast and his Voltec KT9 Wasp!"
A regal looking Nosaurian stood proudly as he showed off his pod.
"And back again, It's the mighty Dud Bolt, with that incredible racing machine, the Vulptereen 327!"
The crowd cheered as Vulptereenian's crew made final adjustments to his pod.
"And hoping for a big win today, Ody Mandrell and his record-setting pit droid team!"
The Pit droids in question began bickering among themselves.
"And look at that! Elan Mak always a threat to the course!"
The Fluggrian waved to the crowd.
"A newcomer! Moving up from the minor rim leagues, first time, big time, Mars Guo!"
The Bardottan came up to the crowd and saluted.
"This strappy little guy is not going to win with fear, It's Ratts Tyerell!"
The Aleen quacked back at the crowd as his family watched from afar.
"His whole family is here to cheer him on. We understand that Mrs. Tyrell just got out of the hospital, So we wish her and her family the best of luck today!"
The mother pulled her two children close as her baby squealed in her arms.
"He's not good looking, but he's not shy, Ark "Bumpy" Roose!"
As the crowd cheered once more, A Quartet of musicians played a song in his honor!
"And finally, the late entry, young Anakin Skywalker, the local boy!"
The cheering continued as the flags began moving out onto the track, Threepio was carrying Anakin's flag, Shmi came up to Anakin and held him close.
"Be safe." She pleaded.
"I will Mom." Said Anakin. "I promise."
She smiled and left to join the others.
No one noticed Sebulba as he crept up to Anakin's pod and pulled down a switch on Anakin's thrusters, before addressing the boy himself.
"You won't walk away unscathed this time, slave boy." He snickered.
"Don't count on it slimo." Anakin retorted in Huttese.
"You're bantha fodder." Sebulba snapped, before returning to his pod.
Qui Gon and Justin came up to him.
"You all set Ani?" Qui Gon asked.
"Yep." Said Anakin.
"Right." Qui Gon said, as he lifted Anakin into his pod. "Remember, concentrate on the moment, feel, don't think, use your instincts."
"I will." Said Anakin.
"May the force be with you." Said Qui Gon as Anakin put on his Helmet and he himself went to join the others.
"Good luck out there." Said Justin as he followed.
"And now!" Declared Beed. "Presenting our gracious host, his all glorious majesty, Exalted lord of the sands, Jabba the Hutt!"
The crowd roared as the Giant slug-like alien known as Jabba the Hutt, arrived on an isolated balcony, accompanied by several female slaves, A few female slaves, A few other Hutts, and a couple guards.
"Welcome!" Jabba said. "Let the race begin!"
And the racers began to fire up their pods, all crew teams and flag holders quickly made their way to the pits, While Qui Gon, Jar Jar and Obi Wan joined Padme and Smhi in the stands, while the Power Rangers and Alpha, joined Kister, Wald, R2 and Threepio in the service pits.
"Racers!" Declared Fode. "Start your Engines!"
As the Racers revved up, the Crowd held their breath as they waited for something to happen.
"Ohh, Dis is gonna be very messy." Jar Jar Dreaded.
Jabba bit off the head of a creature's head and spit it into a gong! The first light activated and the race was on!
All the Pods zoomed off, except for Anakin's, which started up at first, but then shut down.
"Oh no, No!" Exclaimed Anakin as he desperately tried to start up.
"Oh look at that!" Fode laughed. "Little Skywalkers having engine trouble."
Everyone laughed at Anakin's misfortune, Evan Watto. While the others just had looks of concern on their faces, Shmi especially until Qui Gon put a hand on her shoulder.
"Looks like Quadinaros is having Engine troubles of his own." Said Fode, as he noticed the Toong, fiddling about as his own pod was stalled too.
"Come on… Come on…" Anakin flipped the ignition switch again and again, hoping to get going again. Then suddenly, the engines came back to life and he took off, pushing the controls into overdrive!
"And there goes Skywalker!" Fode proclaimed.
"Go Ani Go!" Cheered Jar Jar.
"He'll be hard pressed to catch up with the leaders." Said Fode.
Meanwhile,
Sebulba sped forward, passing other racers until he got right beside Mawhonic and pumped into him, The garn racer shook his fist at the Dug, who responded with more bumps and crashed him into the rock wall, destroying his pod in the process.
Anakin quickly caught up with the racers, he sped past most of the stragglers and entrenched himself within the ranks of the lead Racers, They all formed a single file line as they entered a narrow canyon, where they were stuck with no way to get in front of each other.
As this was happening, Aurra Sing was watching from a nearby observation deck, watching as the racers passed by.
"Now to get to work." She thought as she nodded at one of the Sith Probes and it took off after the racers.
Meanwhile,
The race soon led the Racers into a cave, It was dark and full of stalactites and stalagmites jutting out from everywhere, And unknown to the racers, the Sith Probe was inside with them, keeping an eye on Anakin, He shot a bolt out and hit the racer in front of Anakin, Ratts Tyrell, sending his Podracer crashing into a Stalactite, causing it to explode with him inside, But Anakin avoided this, just in time.
As they came out of the cave, A band of Tusken Raiders were lying in wait, they aimed their rifles and took shots at the racers as they passed.
"Uh oh!" Said Fode. "It looks like some Tusken Raiders have camped out on the canyon dune turn!"
The Tuskens roared as they shook their bantha sticks, oblivious to the Sith Probe that floated behind them.
Meanwhile,
Back at the Arena, Quadinaros continued to try and get his Pod racer running again, But when he did, The engine's power couplings suddenly turned off, and went flying everywhere, ripping themselves from the main pod and leaving the stricken Toong effectively out of the race.
"Oh! There goes Quadinaros power couplings!" Exclaimed Fode.
The poor Toong sighed in defeat as the other racers sailed past him.
"And now taking first place in the first circuit, Sebulba!" Proclaimed Beed. "And in record time!"
Sebulba waved to his adoring fans as he kept on racing, While Qui Gon & Co. searched for Anakin, elsewise, Ody Mandrell was making a pit stop ordering his pit droids to perform quick maintenance, one droid however, wound up getting sucked into the turbines, causing the engines to spontaneously combust.
"Oh no!" Moaned Mendrell.
"Where is he?" Obi Wan asked, as he scanned the horizon.
"...Here he comes now!" Said Padme.
And sure enough, there was Anakin, leading the stragglers as they passed through the arena, and went onto the next lap.
"Looks like Skywalker is moving up the field." Said Kode. "Sixth place ain't too bad."
"Yay! Yipee!" Cheered Kister and Wald.
"Yeah! You can do it, Anakin!" Called out Justin.
"Kick ass!" Added Carlos.
"We may just win this yet." Ashley said to T.J.
R2 then beeped something.
"He still has to complete two more circuits?" Asked Threepio. "Oh dear."
In Watto's balcony, A shaggy looking Human whispered something to Watto.
"Eh, Boss, I just had a thought." He said. "What if Anakin wins?"
"Oh he probably won't." Said Watto. "Sebulba will see to that."
Meanwhile,
Anakin zoomed onwards, finding himself behind one, Gasgano, who was Anakin coming and move to block him from advancing, eventually, Anakin got beside him, causing Gasgano to try and shove Anakin in the cliffside, But Anakin flipped his pod over Gasgano and pressed forward.
Elsewise, Seblubla still held first place, before finding himself neck and neck with Clegg Holdfast, the Nosaurian looked to Sebulba, who pulled back his engines, and revealed a hatch in them, Out came a jet of flames, setting Holdfasts pod on fire and sending him crashing into the cliffside, after that, Anakin soon found himself in third place, prompting Sebluba to send a piece of metal flying back and getting caught in Mars Guos engines, causing them to explode and sending the debris of Mars pod flying back at Anakin who swiftly dodged them.
Unfortunately, it also caused one of his engines to disconnect, sending Anakin spinning out of control.
Meanwhile,
"Skywalkers spinning out of control!" Fode exclaimed.
The others gasped worriedly.
Meanwhile,
Anakin did his best to remain calm, flipping a switch on the console, then pulled out a magnet and aimed it at the stray flapping cable, pulling it over and swiftly reconnecting to the pod, Anakin then chase after Sebluba, sailing past the remaining racers and ending up right behind Sebulba, ending up right beside him.
Sebulba saw this and knocked Anakin aside again and again. Until the boy was on the side of the track, running over several posts and wound up on a service ramp, the people there quickly moved out of the way as Anakin crashed through the barrier.
"Skywalkers bean knocked onto the service ramp!" Kode called out.
Sebulba cackled at his handiwork. "Bye Bye!"
At the speed he was going Anakin flew up into the air, as he started to descend, he flicked some switches off and let the pod glide over Sebulba, then with a thrust of the engines, he landed back on the course and in front of a shocked Sebulba.
"It's Skywalker!" Exclaimed Kode. "Amazing! A quick control thrust and he's back on course!"
Sebulba and Anakin clear out of the Canyon and made their way to the finish line, None of the other racers mattered, It was all about the two of them now, Sebulba closed in on Anakin, Just as the part he messed with started to fall off, which Anakin quickly noticed.
"Oh no…"
Suddenly, it tore off completely, causing the engine to catch fire. It forced Anakin to take power off the engine before damage could be done, Sebulba then sped past Anakin.
Meanwhile,
"Skywalkers in trouble!" Fode reported, Sebulba takes the lead!"
Shmi and Padme watched worriedly from the viewscreen.
Meanwhile,
Working fast, Anakin cut the power from the damaged engine, extinguishing the flames and allowing him to switch to the auxiliary power, once that was done, he tried to start up the engines again, until eventually allowing him to re-engage controls and zoomed after Sebulba.
Meanwhile,
"He's catching Sebluba!" Reported Fode.
"You can do it, Anakin!" Said Justin.
Meanwhile,
Anakin and Sebulba reached the final stretch of the race, neck and neck, causing Sebulba to knock into him again and again, tangling up their engines, Sebluba tried to pull away, but as he did, Anakin thrust the engines forward causing Sebluba to lost control and sending his engines crashing into the rocky ground, and the main pod sliding to a stop, leaving Sebulba helpless as Anakin sped away.
"Poodoo!"
Meanwhile,
Cheers erupted as Anakin crossed the finish line.
"Skywlaker wins!" Declared Fodesinbeed. "And the crowd goes wild!"
Soon enough they were celebrating themselves, Kister, Wald, R2, Threepio, The Rangers and Alpha 6 all crowded Anakin among others as the boy was lifted from his pod by Cassie and Carlos.
Qui Gon, Obi Wan, Padme, Shmi and Jar Jar quickly joined them.
"I did it Mom!" Said Anakin. "Yeah!"
Watto was exclaiming in outraged tones, While Bib Fortuna, Jabba's young aide, quickly awakened his master, The Hutt crime lord prepared a speech, but saw that the race was over.
Aurra Sing meanwhile, saw that her attempts had failed and quickly left the Arena.
Later.
In the hangar, Anakin's friends all congratulated Anakin on his win.
"Good going Ani!" Said Jar Jar.
"Well done." Nodded Obi Wan.
"You were great out there!" T.J. Added.
"Yo Yo Yo, You really knew your stuff." Commented Alpha 6.
Padme knelt down and gave Anakin a kiss on the check followed by a hug.
"Thank you Anakin, I… We owe you everything." She said,
Then Shmi embraced her Son. "It's so wonderful Ani, You have brought hope to those who have none, I'm so very proud of you."
"Thanks Mom." Said Anakin, as she kissed him on the cheek.
Meanwhile,
Qui Gon entered Watto's platform as he said bye to one of those he owed many to, He let out a rage upon seeing Qui Gon.
"You!" He wrapped. "You… Cheated, You swindled me, tricked me! You knew the Boy would win, Somehow you knew! All along! I've lost everything!"
"That's the sad story of gambling my friend." Said Qui Gon. "Whenever you do, eventually you'll lose. Bring the parts to our hanger, I'll be at your shop to sign the warranty required to free the boy."
"You can't have him!" Watto protested. "It wasn't a fair bet!"
"Perhaps you'd like to settle this with the Hutts." Said Qui Gon. "They'd expect you to honor your debts, of course, would you like to "gamble" that too?"
Watto grumbled, and then relented. "Take him."
To Be Continued.
Merry Christmas Eve everybody, I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas day tomorrow.
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