❝𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔... 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒓❞ -- 𝑨𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒌𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒓
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Sebulba was waiting at the starting line set before the empty stands of the grand arena when they arrived. His two lackeys from the alleyway stood on either side of him, and behind Sebulba sat his podracer.
Anakin felt a flare of anger as he realized it was the same model as the podracer he had raced when he had won against Sebulba. The cheating Dug creature had built an exact replica of Anakin's podracer after their last race caused Sebulba's podracer to crash at the finish line.
From beside him, Astrid shifted uneasily, and Anakin dared a glance at her. Her face was livid as she stared at Sebulba. Their trio stopped before Sebulba and his lackeys about six feet away.
Obi Wan and Astrid's skippers and Anakin's podracer sat waiting twenty yards behind them.
Sebulba smiled with satisfaction as he told them, "To make this short and sweet, we will be doing only two laps instead of three around the Ben's Messa."
Anakin crossed his arms and nodded as he asked, "Are we ready to start then?"
Sebulba eyed Anakin's podracer before nodding. "Let the games begin," he announced with a vicious smile. He glanced to Astrid and Obi Wan and suggested, "I think it would be best if you wait in the stands with my two friends here."
His two friends didn't wait for a response from Astrid or Obi Wan before they jostled forward and grabbed the two Jedi. To Anakin's surprise, Obi Wan didn't resist as the one holding his hands behind his back snatched his lightsaber from his belt.
From beside Obi Wan, the other lackey did the same to Astrid, who seemed to be looking to Obi Wan for guidance, and therefore, was simply copying his example.
Anakin's eyes flicked towards Sebulba, and he inclined his head to the creature before he walked back towards his podracer. He was hyperaware of how vulnerable his backside was to attack as he walked to his podracer.
When he reached his podracer, he quickly swung himself into the cockpit, and a sense of calm washed over him as his hands curled around the yoke. In the pilot's seat, there was no uncertainty, only surety and confidence. Here, in the cockpit, he knew what he was doing.
He was the greatest expert.
Anakin pushed the throttle forward just slightly, and his podracer began to ease forward until he was right beside Sebulba and his podracer. Anakin slung his pilot's goggles over his eyes and looked to the left at Sebulba.
He was already looking at Anakin, his narrowed eyes visible through his pilot's goggles. Anakin gave him a mocking salute.
The horn sounded.
Anakin instantly pushed the throttle down as far as it could go, and he shot forward with blurringly fast speed. His back pressed against his seat at the force of the pod racer's speed.
Within a few seconds, Anakin was shooting across the Starlite Flats, and he could see the small opening of the skinny canyon looming closer up ahead. Anakin needed to get ahead of Sebulba so that when they had to move single-file through the canyon, he was first.
Anakin pressed his throttle forward more as Sebulba's podracer sped beside him parallel to his podracer. Anakin clenched his jaw in concentration as the small opening loomed closer. If he didn't do this right, he would crash headfirst into the cliff face on either side of the narrow opening.
He would most definitely die instantly at such a crash.
Hoping Sebulba would call his bluff, Anakin turned the yoke to the left towards Sebulba's pod. He heard a screech as the metal of his engines scrapped against Sebulba's engines, forcing Sebulba to drop back to avoid getting run over.
Anakin zipped through the canyon in front of Sebulba, but he realized his mistake when Sebulba shot flame at Anakin's podrace with his flamethrower. Anakin had judged right; he knew the cheating Dug would have added a flamethrower to his podracer.
Anakin pressed a series of buttons, and he heard a whine as his flamethrower emerged from on top of his own two engines and blasted a plume of red hot fire at Sebulba. Anakin was so distracted by his flamethrower that he wasn't aware that his Podracer had drifted to the right side, and the sound of metal screeching against rock forced Anakin's attention forward.
He quickly jerked his yoke to the left.
Anakin shot through the opening of the canyon that lead them out onto the Mushroom Mesa, and Anakin put some distance between him and Sebulba as he swerved to the right across the expanse of desert. He glimpsed flashes of Sebulba racing parallel to Anakin between the towering rock formations in-between their two podracers.
Anakin wove between the immense rock formations with expert finesse as he pushed his throttle forward even more. He began to gain on Sebulba, and the fire of competition took over his mind as he urged his podracer faster and faster.
His stomach dropped as his podracer suddenly hurtled over the slope right before the steep Metta drop escarpment, and his podracer banged against the ground as it came back down to hover three feet above the air.
All of the pod racers were designed in a way that forced the shipcraft to remain low to the ground at all times.
Within an instant, Anakin and Sebulba were zooming through Ebe Crater Valley, and Anakin quickly dodged a crater as scorching hot steam suddenly shot out of it. He expertly swerved through the pits and craters, knowing that if he passed over any of them, no matter how small they were, his podracer would get stuck inside the massive craters.
Anakin found himself focusing on the racetrack rather than Sebulba, and when he bothered to try and find the other racer, he discovered with a jolt that Sebulba was nearly twenty yards ahead of Anakin.
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Astrid wrung her hands nervously in front of her as she stared at the Dune Sea to the left of the starting line from where she stood in the stands next to Master Kenobi. The Dune Sea and Starlite Flats were the only part of the racetrack they could see from the stands.
One of the lackeys behind her and Master Kenobi jabbed her in the back for no particular reason, and Astrid resisted the urge to snatch her lightsaber from him and... well, dispatch him.
She suddenly noticed two dust plumes moving across the Dune Sea, and she realized it was Anakin and Sebulba. She could easily pick out Anakin's podracer since it was red, which meant the podracer in first place at the moment was Sebulba.
She supposed that was good since Anakin was supposed to lose, after all, but she couldn't help her jolt of dismay. As Anakin and Sebulba tore through the starting line and back onto the Starlite Flats, Astrid released a shuddering breath.
One more lap and then they would finally know the location of the fake droid factory. Astrid inhaled another deep breath. Everything was going as plan, so why did she feel as if something was about to go wrong?
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Anakin dodged to the side right as the rock formation toppled over into Anakin's path. He gritted his teeth as dust plumed into the air, blocking his view momentarily.
This was the worst place to lose sight of his surroundings because he was in the Mushroom Mesa, and there were rock formations everywhere to crash into. Finally, the dust cleared just enough to reveal the rock formation through which Anakin was about to crash straight into, and he quickly yanked his yoke to the left to avoid it.
His right engine still scrapped the rock formation, though, and Anakin winced as his right flamethrower tumbled off of his podracer and onto the packed-dirt ground.
Thankfully, Sebulba was still within reach-- only ten yards in front of Anakin-- but Sebulba was making it difficult for Anakin to catch up by knocking the rock formations down in front of Anakin with his illegal blaster gun on his podracer.
When they reached the Metta Drop once more, Sebulba suddenly swerved to the right towards a hidden shortcut. Anakin noticed it too late, so he was forced to continue into Ebe Crater Valley.
"What a cheater," Anakin seethed as he quickly dodged a wide pit and then another. While Anakin was forced to dodge the craters and therefore slow down his speed, Sebulba was able to widen the distance between them with his straight, clear cut shortcut.
Anakin thought he saw Sebulba's podracer racing along the top of the cliffs running along the edges of Ebe Crater Valley.
Anakin's podracer zoomed through the tight-fitting opening, The Notch, that led him into Beggar's Canyon. His podracer zipped through the skinny, winding canyon, his eyes narrowed and face set with focus and determination.
Suddenly, Sebulba's podracer dropped down in front of Anakin from above, surprising Anakin enough that his left engines scrapped against the left side of the canyon. Anakin gritted his teeth as he quickly recovered his podracer.
Suddenly, blaster fire from Sebulba shot in front of Anakin's podracer, causing dust to plume up into the air and obscure his vision. Desperate, Anakin pushed his throttle further forward, hoping that if he went faster, then he would clear the dust quicker.
It worked, and Anakin had just enough time to swerve to the right of the canyon wall as the canyon wound sharply to the right. He let out a breath as he shot onto the Dune Sea. Anakin could see the arena and the finish line about three hundred yards away, and Sebulba was only thirty yards in front of him.
Suddenly, a projectile hit one of Anakin's engines, and his podracer shuddered as the damaged engine struggled onwards, smoke beginning to plume from the impaired engine. When another projectile hit the ground before his podracer, Anakin realized it was a potshot-- a solid projectile wrapped in energy, unlike a blaster shot which was a pure energy bolt-- characteristically used by Tusken Raiders.
Anakin swerved to avoid another potshot, and he spotted eight Tuskens huddled on the cliff edge above him to the right. From in front of him, Sebulba's left engine was shot by two potshots, and his engine came apart in a fiery blaze as his podracer careened to the left, caught off balance as it scrapped against the ground.
Anakin zoomed past Sebulba with a grin, but when he glanced behind him he saw that Sebulba's podracer had come to a stop. And that was when Anakin remembered his mission; Sebulba was supposed to win, not Anakin.
Anakin quickly yanked back his thrusters as he pushed down on the rudder petals with his feet. His podracer whined in protest as his momentum fought to overpowered his brakes. Anakin shoved his feet down harder on the petals, and his podracer came to a slamming stop.
Except, his Podracer's momentum carried it into a flip, and Anakin's vision whirled as his podracer flipped three times, the glass ceiling of the cockpit cracking at each impact the podracer made with the ground before shattering completely. Anakin's podracer skidded along the ground about twenty yards before it came to a halt upside down.
Anakin's ears rang as he hung upside down in his pilot's seat, and he touched a hand to his head as pain seared there. His fingers came back red with blood.
"Kriff," Anakin groaned as he fumbled with his seatbelt harness.
He unclasped the harness, and he realized his mistake when he tumbled the four feet to the ground head first. Glass crunched beneath him as he landed with a thud, and he struggled to righten himself, his head throbbing. Anakin's vision was a little blurry as he maneuvered himself out of the cockpit.
He collapsed onto his back on the dirt-packed ground when he managed to free himself from the cockpit and shattered glass, and he stared up at the blindingly bright, blue sky.
"Kriff," Anakin grumbled again as he turned his head to the left to see Sebulba's podracer was still stopped in the middle of the track. It was now about sixty yards away from Anakin.
He made to get to his feet, but suddenly another potshot rang out, and it hit the ground about five feet away from Anakin's head. His eyes widened before he quickly rose to his feet, lightsaber raised to block any more potshots aimed his way as he limped to the other side of his podracer for cover.
He slumped to the ground behind the furthest engine from the cliff where the bloodthirsty Tuskens waited, and his jagged breathing filled the air. This was not good.
Sebulba needed to win, and with both of their podracers out of commission, nobody was about to win. Anakin raised a hand as he channeled the Force through him, and Sebulba's podracer began to tremble as it inched forward.
Anakin hoped Sebulba was still trying to get his podracer to move or else it would be obvious that Anakin was the one making it move. If Sebulba wasn't trying anything, then he would know Anakin was helping him and purposefully trying to get him to win.
Sebulba needed to think his podracer was moving because of his own efforts, and Sebulba needed to think he, himself, was the reason why he had won. That way his ego would be soothed, and he would tell them the Sith's location.
Sebulba's podracer picked up speed as Anakin channeled more energy into the Force. Anakin pasted a disbelieving look on his face and hid his hand behind his back as Sebulba's podracer shot past Anakin and his smoking, wrecked podracer.
Only when Sebulba's podracer was far enough away did Anakin allow himself to lift his hand up again, making it easier for him to channel the Force. Anakin's energy flagged as he shoved Sebulba's podracer forward, the growing distance between the two of them making it harder for Anakin to control the podracer.
When Anakin thought Sebulba had crossed the finish line, he dropped his hand and allowed himself to slump to the ground on his side, his energy thoroughly sapped.
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Astrid watched as Sebulba's podracer miraculously began to move towards the finishing line, despite having only one engine left. Although it was still moving forward, the podracer was tilted precariously to the left side where the one engine had once been.
"How?" Astrid whispered in disbelief. "How is he moving?"
"Anakin," Master Kenobi answered so quietly that Astrid almost couldn't hear him. Astrid dared a glance at the two lackeys behind them, but they were so engrossed in watching Sebulba's podracer that they weren't taking much notice in the two Jedi in front of them.
"What do you mean?" Astrid asked, leaning towards Master Kenobi discreetly.
Master Kenobi nodded his head towards Anakin's crashed, smoking podracer. "He's using the Force." There was an impressed hint to Master Kenobi's voice, and Astrid thought she saw pride glinting in his caramel colored eyes.
Sebulba's podracer shuddered to a stop the instant it crossed the finish line. Astrid looked to Master Kenobi and said, "You get the information from Sebulba while I go retrieve Anakin. He's probably injured with a crash like that."
Obi wan nodded in agreement before turning to Sebulba's two friends and suggesting, "Shall we congratulate the winner?" He waved a hand to Astrid as he added calmly, "My Padawan is going to check on Anakin Skywalker if that's alright with you."
The two lackeys exchanged looks before nodding begrudgingly. "I don't see why not," one of them said before jerking his head at Astrid. "Go on, girl."
The other grabbed Master Kenobi's arm and began leading him down the stand's stairs towards the racetrack below.
Astrid didn't waste a moment before she hurried to the side of the stands and leapt the fifteen feet to the ground. She landed in a crouch before immediately rising to her feet and racing towards her skipper off to the side of the stands.
She slung herself onto the skipper in one fluid movement before revving the engines and bursting across the expanse of desert towards the stream of dark smoke rising from Anakin's wrecked podracer.
Judging by how he had crashed, Anakin must've realized he was about to win and had put the brakes on too suddenly, causing his podracer to flip forward. Except, his podracer had flipped a total of three times, which was three times too many.
Worry coursed through Astrid as she raced across the hard-packed ground of the racetrack. The ground was so dry that there were deep cracks running through it like a spider web or a mosaic.
Suddenly, some sort of shot or blaster fire hit the ground ten feet in front of her, and Astrid let out a yelp of surprise. One of her hands moved from the skipper's handle bars to her hip, searching for her lightsaber before she remembered one of those lackeys still had hers in their possession.
Astrid growled with annoyance as she moved the skipper in a zigzag pattern towards Anakin's podracer. Shots hit the ground behind her, some missing her by eight feet, others by mere inches. Astrid's gaze followed the trajectory of the shots, and she saw eight figures crouched at the cliff's edge ringing the racetrack.
Tusken Raiders.
Astrid's heart raced faster at the realization, and when she neared the podracer, she slung herself off the skipper before it had even stopped moving. She sprinted the rest of the way to the podracer and skidded onto the ground behind the cover of the podracer. She peeked inside the cockpit from where she sat slumped against the side of the podracer and noticed it was empty.
She stared at the empty, mangled cockpit in confusion, wondering, where did Anakin go?
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