Chapter 14
The Mos Espa Circuit was packed with people, the stands were filled with cheering fans and the track had a line of podracers with tier pit crews doing a final checks on them.
Renn and Opal sat with Anakin and his friends in the stands excitedly waiting for the race to start. Anakin had introduced his friends to them in the morning and they had made their way to the Circuit together.
After waiting for a little bit, the race finally started, and the children cheered as the podracers accelerated onto the course.
The race was filled with excitement, several of the podracers crashed and lots of the pilots showed great skill when they were dodging obstacles at high speeds.
The winner was a Dug named Sebulba who piloted a large orange podracer. The crowed cheered for Sebulba but Renn, Opal and Anakin booed, as they thought he didn't deserve the win as the dug had cheated and attacked other pilots so that he could win.
After the race the kids headed back to Anakin's house in high spirits, excitedly chatting about the race along the way. The kids then spent the rest of the day hanging out together and Renn and Anakin did a bit of work trying to build Anakin's podracer before Renn and Opal returned to the ship with Alpha.
They stayed on Tatooine for a few days with the kids spending most of their time with Anakin. Renn had helped Anakin with C3-P0 and his podracer, so they were both closer to being finished but would still take a lot more work.
"The podracer should be finished in a few months so I might be able to race in the next Boonta's Eve Classic." Anakin told the others.
"I can see you building it in time, but your mum will never let you participate in the race." Renn said with a smile, after spending some time with Anakin and his mum Renn had learned a lot about them and Shmi would never let Anakin do something so dangerous.
"I'll find a way to join the race you'll see, so you have to come back next year to watch me win." Anakin said.
"Sure thing, you'll need someone in your pit crew who knows what they're doing after you mess your podracer up with your terrible piloting skills." Renn promised before starting a good natured argument with Anakin.
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It soon became time to leave Tatooine and Renn and Opal were now saying their goodbyes. Despite Shmi trying to turn it down Renn had given her some of the credits they had gotten from selling the valuables from the pirate ship as a thank you for letting them stay during the storm.
"We'll try to make it back next year for the next big race, so I'll see you then." Renn told Anakin. Although they hadn't known each other for very long they had become good friends so both of them were looking forward to seeing the other again.
"Yeah, I'll see you then," Anakin said with a smile.
After waving goodbye Renn and Opal walked with Alpha back to through Mos Espa towards their ship in its landing bay.
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After leaving Tatooine the Speedy Vagabond began heading towards the nearby planet Christophsis. While Renn had enjoyed his time on Tatooine the oppressive heat and the sand had made him want to visit a planet that wasn't a giant desert.
Christophsis was covered in forests and was famous for having large turquoise crystal towers all across its surface, giving it a unique and beautiful landscape.
Renn knew that soon they would have two head back to the asteroid base as he couldn't continue his training on the Speedy Vagabond forever, so he wanted to visit some interesting planets before they headed back.
Renn and Opal where currently in the ships lounge playing a game of Holochess and chatting about their time on Tatooine. They kept talking for a while and had fun playing games before they both went back to training with Sapphire and Alpha.
As time was passing Renn and Opal were becoming close friends and both Sapphire and Alpha were happy about this. Renn had grown up with only his grandmother, the droids and Sapphire for company, so Alpha and Sapphire, who had taken over raising Renn after his grandmother passed away, were glad that he was making friends with children his own age.
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Renn and the others enjoyed visiting Christophsis visiting its crystal forests was completely different to the harsh deserts of Tatooine. The Architecture was also completely different, the population of both planets had used the natural materials to build their homes so while on Tatooine buildings were made out of the planets main resource, sand, on Christophsis the buildings had been carved into the huge crystal towers dominating the local landscape.
Going to the large city's made up of crystal towers reaching to the sky was an interesting experience for Renn, mainly from how many people were crammed into the city. It seemed that even the huge crowd from the Boonta's Eve Classic would be swallowed by the crowds of people in the capital city, Chaleydonia.
After spending a few days on Christophsis Renn and the others left and the Speedy Vagabond set course for the final planet they would visit before returning to the asteroid base, Naboo.
Naboo was known for its Idyllic scenery, so Renn and the others wanted to go there to relax for a few days before beginning the journey back to the asteroid base.
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Renn and Opal were currently wandering through Theed, the capital of Naboo, with Bolt. It was decided that Bolt would accompany Renn and Opal through the streets of Theed much to Alpha's reluctance as his robe and bandages disguise would probably have drawn as much attention as a powerful assassin droid casually roaming the peaceful streets.
Bolt was more than capable of protecting the two children and the T7 astromech while still a rare model blended in much easier than any of the other droids would have.
After Exploring the city for a while Renn and Opal realised that there was a celebration going on near the royal palace, so they went to go see what was happening.
Reaching the crowds outside the palace they discovered a parade making its way to the palace steps. Wondering what was going on Renn asked an elderly couple standing nearby.
"The elections for the new queen will be held soon so candidate Amidala is holding a rally to gather support." The old woman explained
Renn thanked her and then he and Opal watched the parade and soon after a young girl who seemed only to be thirteen years old started making a speech about why she should be elected queen.
"That's who wants to be the next queen? She seems so young." Opal whispered to Renn confused.
"Yeah, this planet has a weird governing structure." Renn whispered back with a nod.
The speech went on for a while and although the crowd seemed to be listening intently Renn and Opal soon grew bored and left to browse the market stalls on a nearby street, with Bolt following dutifully behind them.