Star Wars Episode I: The Clone Wars

Chapter Three

"Anikan," said Obi Wan.
"Yes," said the slave boy.
It was still ere the break of day and Watto had not called his slaves to work yet.
"Can you fetch that light for me?" ,
Before Anikan could do any thing, Obi Wan used the Force to lift the light toward Anikan. Then he let go. But instead of dropping, the light continued to Anikan, who handed it to the Jedi Knight. That proved to Obi Wan that Anikan Skywalker could be a Jedi Knight. It also proved that he could be the Chosen One. There was a prophecy long ago that stated that there would be one Jedi that would destroy the Sith, the ancient enemies of the Jedi and bring balance to the Force. But there was also another prophecy.
The Sith had a similar prophecy. The first of the Sith had said that someone deep would destroy the Jedi. The Sith had been thought to have been wiped out, but they were not. They had their base in the basement of a palace somewhere on Coruscant, the capital of the Republic.
"The Chosen One has been found," said a Sith Witch to the leader of the Sith, Darth Sidious. "I can sense it. The boy must be brought to us."
"Darth Maul!" called Darth Sidious.
Darth Maul entered the room. He wore a dark robe, just like his two superiors. He had many small horns in his head and had a face with tattoos of red and yellow. Darth Maul was the Sith assassin. If Palpatine wanted the leader of a planet killed, he would send Darth Maul, who would sneak into the palace and kill the leader. He would escape before anyone could notice that he was there, and more important that nobody would notice that he was a Sith Lord.
"Yes, my lord," said the assassin to Darth Sidious.
He bowed to his master. Every single one of the Sith respected their master, who although old and shriveled was very powerful. They knew why but nobody else did.
"There is a boy of around eighteen years of age in the Tatooine town of Mos Espa. Bring him to me and kill whoever is guarding him."
Meanwhile, Anikan was telling his friends about the pod race that was coming up in two days. Pod racing was a dangerous sport that was held in Mos Espa every year on Boonta Eve. Each of the racers would create there own pod with two engines attached to it. They would then race it three laps. They would have to go through a canyon and a tunnel on every lap. Anikan had entered one for fun before Watto had bought him; his last owner let him do that. Anikan had made another pod racer, for he was going to ask Watto if he could enter it this year. Obi Wan had an idea. He walked up to Watto.
"Hello, Watto," he said. "I am Obi Wan Kenobi and I would like to ask if your slave boy, Anikan, can enter the pod race."
"What do I get?" asked the reptilian creature.
"Oh, I want to make it more interesting than that," said the Jedi.
"A bet as well?"
"Yes. If Anikan wins, I get Anikan."
"And if he loses?"
"If anyone else wins, you have one more slave. I'll bet myself."
Watto chuckled. He thought another racer, a dug named Sebulba would win for sure. A dug is a creature that walks on his hands and uses his feet as hands. They have sharp reflexes, which make them good pod racers. Sebulba also won often because he cheated. He would jam his opponent's engines with rocks to make them crash, or just ram his pod into his opponents.
Finally, the race was about to begin. Obi Wan, Padme, Shmi, Owen, Beru, and Clieg were watching the race. Obi Wan told nobody save Padme about his bet.
"Start your engines," said the official.
Fifteen racers started their engines.
"Go!" yelled the official.
Fifteen pods took off. Sebulba knocked out two pods. The official just chuckled. He did not care if Sebulba cheated. Anikan was not doing well. However, his small pod was able to get through the canyon and the tunnel. After lap one, there were ten racers remaining; Anikan, Sebulba, and eight others.
On lap two, when the racers were going through the canyon, Sebulba slammed two pods into the walls. In the tunnel, he crashed three more. Anikan was always behind the rest of the racers, but at least he did not crash. He finished the second lap in fifth place out of five racers.
He was doing it on purpose, so Sebulba would not crash him. Sebulba noticed this, so he fell behind. He threw a rock into one of Anikan's engine. Anikan's engine stopped. Sebulba zoomed ahead. All his friends and family saw. Obi Wan knew that before the day was out, he would be a slave.
"Well, it looks like I'll be working side by side with you," said Obi Wan.
"Why?" asked Shmi.
"I bet myself on Anikan."
"For what?"
"For his freedom. I believed in him. I really did."
Anikan got out of his pod. He looked into the engine and found the rock. He took it out and fixed his engine. His engine roared to life. Obi Wan lifted his head up. By the time he had fixed it, he was the only pod left save Sebulba and one other. He started the canyon just as the other racers were finishing it. He caught up with the other racer in the tunnel. He used the size of his pod to go around the other pod and take second place.
But Sebulba was far ahead. He turned his engines on as fast as they could go, but Sebulba was going even faster. It was the home stretch. The dug threw a rock at his opponent, but it ricocheted off of his pod. It slammed into Sebulba's engine and the dug crashed. Anikan soared past the finish line he had won the race. Obi Wan was so happy he did not see the probe droid floating around him.