Chapter 19

The Mos Espa Grand Arena was full of people. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement, people were cheering and shouting, venders were selling food and drinks and a band was playing music to the crowds.

Renn was stood next to Anakin as they did last minute checks of his podracer. Opal, Padme, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, C3-P0, and Anakin's mum had gone to watch the race from the stands. Leaving Renn, Anakin, and R2-D2 to do the last-minute checks on Anakin's podracer.

Renn wasn't sure how to feel about the jedi, Qui-Gon. House Dredd had a strained relationship with the jedi as it had been the jedi that had caused the destruction of their home planet Aruum. However, some of the survivors of house Dredd learned later that not all of the jedi were bad.

Renn's grandmother had told him that after Aruum was destroyed a jedi master had sought out her and the other survivors to try and make things right. His grandmother had said that the jedi council had learned the truth of what happened and though most chose to hide the truth one jedi master was so appalled by it she had journeyed to meet with the survivors to help them, even though it had put her at odds with other members of the council.

The Jedi were more of a mixed bag, some were good, some were bad, and others were misguided or just not that smart. From what Renn had seen of Qui-Gon he seemed to be one of the good jedi, but he was still a bit cautious of him.

Renn had seen Qui-Gon in the hangar before the race trying to convince Watto to free Anakin and his mother from slavery. Renn had wanted to do this himself, but he didn't have the money to free them, so he was glad that Qui-Gon was trying to help the boy and his mother.

"Okay, everything is ready. Good luck, me and R2 will be waiting on the side-lines in case you run into problems." Renn gave Anakin a fist bump before going over to the side of the tracks with the astromech following behind him.

The podracers were lined up and waiting for the signal to start the race. The announcers were introducing the racers and getting the crowds excited for the race.

As the countdown to the start of the race reached zero a green light over the starting line flashed on and the podracers accelerated forwards out of the arena and onto the track.

One of the podracers engine failed and all the others left him in the dust. Thanks to Renn's help Anakin's podracer was fully finished and working so he was accelerating past his competition and nearing the front of the pack.

The podracer in the lead was a dug named Sebulba, piloting a large orange podracer. Sebulba was keeping his lead by bulling the other pilots out of the way. Anakin was keeping his distance from the larger podracer after he saw him force another podracer into a cliff wall causing him to crash.

Entering a cave system Anakin raced past some of the other pilots as he dodged the large stalactites that filled the cave. One of the other pilots wasn't as skilled and collided headfirst with a stalactite and was killed on impact.

Exiting the caves, the podracers sped into a canyon. The pilots hadn't made it very far when Tusken raiders camping on the overlooking cliffs began taking pot shots at them. One of the shots hit the right engine of Anakin's podracer but he managed to keep in control and kept going.

Completing the first lap Anakin pulled into the pit stop area and Renn sprinted over to check the engine for damage. Fortunately, the shot from the Tusken raider had been at long range and it wasn't a very powerful weapon so Renn only needed to preform a quick repair before Anakin could accelerate back into the race.

Sebulba was still in the lead and had just used an illegal flamethrower to force another pilot to crash into the cliffs. The fact that podraces didn't have many rules meant that Sebulba wasn't disqualified but his actions provoked a mix of cheers and jeers from the crowd.

Anakin's Friends and family watching from the stands were watching nervously. Only one lap had been completed and there had already quite a few crashes, so his mum and Padme were getting quite worried about his safety. Qui-Gon and Renn while still worried about him trusted in his abilities and believed that he would be ok.

Anakin had dropped a few places during his pit stop but was soon over taking his opponents and working his way back to near the front.

Sebulba threw a repair tool into the engine of the podracer behind him causing it to crash. This caused Anakin to move up into second place right behind Sebulba.

Anakin and Sebulba raced through the arena to complete their second lap and soon were rocketing through the circuit nearly neck and neck.

Sebulba tried using his tricks to force Anakin to crash but Anakin's expert piloting skills kept him out of trouble, and he started to inch past Sebulba nearly overtaking him.

Sebulba was now starting to panic as before the race he had tried to sabotage Anakin's podracer, but Anakin didn't seem to be having any problems. He didn't know that Renn had discovered the sabotage and fix it before the race started.

Anakin pulled ahead of Sebulba while manoeuvring through the caves at breakneck pace and soon accelerated out into the canyon dodging shots from the Tusken raiders. Sebulba pushed his engines to their maximum trying to catch Anakin and his podracer began to rattle from the strain.

The gap between Anakin and Sebulba began getting smaller as they rocketed out of the canyon and towards the finish line. Sebulba had nearly caught Anakin when Anakin pushed his own engines to the maximum and accelerated away. Sebulba's engines then started smoking and spluttering as they overheated until they then caught fire leading to Sebulba crashing into the desert.

Now uncontested Anakin crossed the finish line to the roars and cheers of the crowd. His Friends and family raced onto the track to congratulate him and Qui-Gon pulled him out of the craft and held him up on his shoulder to the cheers of the crowds.

Anakin smiled broadly as he waved to the crowed proudly. This was probably one of the happiest moments of his life so far.