THE SKYWALKERS: book one

CHAPTER FOUR - Defeat

Anakin, unwilling to wait any longer, used all his strength to jump from repulsorpod to repulsorpod, getting closer and closer to Palpatine.

Palpatine, however, had other plans. He raised his arms over his head and sent a repulsorpod flying at Anakin. Anakin dodged it, falling down several yards to a pod below, and upon looking up, he realized he hadn't needed to jump anyway. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan had used the Force to push it away from him, which resulted in it being broken in half.

Palpatine laughed, and Anakin watched as Obi-Wan did a similar thing to what he had done, jumping from repulsorpod to repulsorpod. While Palpatine was distracted throwing more pods at him, Yoda summoned his own saber to his hand and climbed, attempting to reach Palpatine.

Anakin couldn't just stand there at the Chancellor's podium any longer. He ran to the side and jumped, grabbing onto one of the lower pods and flipping up onto it. He panted and thought, that wasn't too bad.

Then Obi-Wan cried out in pain, which only made Anakin more desperate to reach the skirmish. As soon as Palpatine's pod was in sight, he jumped.

"Anakin...n-no!" Obi-Wan shouted from where Palpatine was shocking him.

Anakin ignored his former master and lunged at Palpatine, who finally gave Obi-Wan a break as he was distracted.

Obi-Wan, however, had taken all that he could. He tried to stand but only stumbled backward and fell. Anakin sensed this, but he could do nothing, as Palpatine's blade was against his, and if he disengaged, the red plasma would go through his neck.

Yoda hurriedly held up his hand, slowing Obi-Wan's momentum and allowing him not to hit the ground so hard, but Obi-Wan's eyes had closed. He was still alive, Anakin noted, which allowed him to focus his full attention on the task at hand for the time being.

Yoda joined in the fight so that Palpatine was being attacked from the front and behind, but, of course, he fended them both off with expert precision. The three of them became a flashing blur of red and green and blue.

Anakin lost himself in the fight, much like he had on the battlefield during the war. He wondered if the Clone Wars would be over; certainly, nothing would ever be the same after this, and that was partially his fault...

A jolt of electricity forced Anakin back so that he almost fell off, and he was hanging by his robotic hand, which was slipping. He tried to get a grip with his other hand, but he kept falling short.

"Your guilt makes you weak, Darth Vader," Palpatine cackled. He wheeled on Yoda, who was now alone in fighting him, and sent him flying backward, off the pod.

Yoda hit a pod below them with a painful thud and rolled off onto the ground.

"You were foolish not to join me," said Palpatine, shocking Anakin again.

Though he tried his hardest, Anakin couldn't hold on any longer. He tumbled down toward the ground at rapid speed, and though he was able to land on his feet, they collapsed like jelly beneath him so that he was on his knees.

Palpatine laughed and easily glided down to where he was attempting to regain his footing. "Don't you see, boy? You don't stand a chance. Not if Master Yoda and Master Kenobi did not."

"You underestimate my power," Anakin snarled. He jumped forward and his saber once again clashed with Palpatine's. They became nothing but flashes of red and blue once more, but this time, Anakin didn't lose himself.

He thought about the two Jedi masters that lay not far from where they fought. He thought about all the other Jedi who had lost their lives because of this monster. He thought of Padmé and how he couldn't lose her. But most of all, he thought about the child she was carrying and all its potential. He couldn't let that child be brought into a world where Palpatine lived.