Chapter 4
It will be a hard life; one without reward, without remorse, without regret. A path will be placed before you; the choice is yours alone. Do what you think you cannot do. It will be a hard life; but you will find out who you are."
~ Qui-Gon Jinn
**********
Sunrise on Tatooine -- the spaceport Mos Espa slowly began to wake up, and Anakin went to work at Watto's shop, thinking about his future in podracing. The swoop rides were fun, and there was plenty Noko could teach him. The only bad part was the exhausting ten laps a day through Beggar's Canyon. He wasn't sure how he could expect to memorize the canyon path that way. But still, Noko had warned him that the training was going to be hard, and she wasn't going to hold back on Anakin for a moment. It was just a step towards becoming a podracing champion.
Anakin entered Watto's shop, and the "customer detector" made his presence known. Watto and a lucky customer were chatting away over a podracer coolant when Anakin came in. Watto turned his head to his slave boy, and smiled warmly.
"Ah, Anakin," Watto greeted. "I need you in the back to take a look at the new pod, see what's wrong with it, eh?"
"Okay," Anakin nodded, heading for the junkyard. He wasn't sure what Watto meant by a "new pod," but he still had his orders. He looked around the junkyard until he came to the spot where Sebulba's pod was once parked. Instead of the Dug's prized possession, there was another pod. It was a JAK Racing type, painted green and orange, and about half the size limit of a podracer.
Overseeing his pod was a Xexto. The little creature was about a few inches taller than Anakin, had a long neck, pale white skin, four arms, and no nose. It looked something like a cross between unbaked bread dough and a spider standing on its two hind legs. It was wearing a brown cloak over its skinny body and a cap over its tiny, bald head. It was shaking its four arms around at various pit droids trying to fix it and find its problem. Anakin approached carefully.
"No, no, no!" the Xexto shouted at the pit droid balancing itself on the top of the engine. "Get down from there! I'm not paying you to play around! Go find out what's wrong with my pod!"
Suddenly, Anakin realized who that pod belonged to and who the Xexto was. The voice was a strange squeak when he yelled, but a quiet drone when he spoke otherwise. The pod was one that won hundreds of awards around the galaxy's Outer Rim, and the colors were unmistakably those of the most famous, most whispered and rumored name in podracing next to Sebulba
In awe, Anakin slowly walked up to the pod and got to work. He carefully inspected the hull of the engines, and looked them over. It seemed fine, just furnished and polished, Anakin could hardly make out the fixed dents and scratches in the hull. He took a look at the exhaust burners, and they seemed okay. He checked the exhaust intake, those looked okay too. There was certainly an internal problem with it, it was the only explanation.
"Nothing wrong with the engine," the Xexto listed to himself, "nothing wrong with the intake, nothing wrong with the after-burners, nothing wrong with the power charge, nothing wrong with the brakes -- there's something wrong with this pod! I just know it!"
"Did you check the coolant?" Anakin asked the Xexto casually.
"Hmmm," the Xexto thought to himself, crossing his lower pair of arms, and stroking his "chin" with the other. "I think I did. I'm not sure."
"I'll check for you," Anakin offered, looking by the nearest engine. "Hey, DUM-9, could you open the exhaust hatch for me?" The little dull crimson pit droid nodded and squeaked, then lifted a latch by the middle of the engine. Anakin cautiously peeked inside the engine, then pulled himself in so that he was half-way into the engine. Anakin switched on a glowrod, and took a look around. He could see the coolant right in front of him, hooked up to the rest of the engine. Anakin inspected the hull of the coolant, seeing nothing wrong. Then he carefully disconnected the coolant from the pod, just as he was trained to do by Watto. Ever so gently, Anakin brought out the coolant from the engine, and showed it to the Xexto. "Well, I don't see anything wrong with it so far. Can I take it into the shop and look at it?"
"Sure," the Xexto nodded. Anakin bowed his head politely, and ran back into the shop, heading for the back rooms just behind the counter. Anakin kept a stash of tools and equipment in the backrooms, and in the backrooms Anakin would fix up and clean parts and equipment so Watto could sell them later. Anakin always did his best, since working parts were well-priced parts. Anakin took out a few tools, and opened up the hull of the coolant, and tinkered with everything inside.
Then he found the problem: a motorized fan was missing. It was almost completely unnoticeable if Anakin wasn't so good with mechanics and parts. Without the single motorized fan that circulated inside the coolant, the engine part wouldn't work, the pod would overheat instantly, and explode. Strange, how could such a small yet significant part be missing? Anakin quickly replaced the missing fan, and put the coolant back together. That was when he noticed a strange slash in the hull. It looked exactly like the one Sebulba had on his broken coolant! Anakin suspected a pattern, and took the coolant back to the waiting Xexto.
"You were missing a component on the coolant. I had it replaced though," Anakin reported, then he ran his finger down the gash so the podracer pilot could see it. "Can you tell me about this here?"
"Oh that," the Xexto nodded. "Someone had snuck into the pod hanger last night and tried to sabotage my coolant. I had that slash plastered back together. It should work properly now."
"Okay, let me try something," Anakin nodded. He went back to the open hatch in the engine, and carefully replaced the coolant back in the engine. When he was finished, the pit droid helped to close and seal the hatch. "Okay now" Anakin ran up to the cockpit, and started flicking a few switches on the control panel.
"No, no, no, no!" the Xexto panicked. "Don't start the pod!"
"I won't." Anakin shook his head at the Xexto. "I'm just taking a look at the settings, just to see if the coolant responds." The Xexto couldn't help but smile.
"You sure know your podracers, kid," he approved. "What's your name?"
"Anakin."
"Nice to meet you, Anakin. Well, what did you get?"
"Hold on," Anakin said, taking a look at the Huttese glyphs on the control panel screen. "Yep. It's all fixed. It's in racing condition, Mr. Gasgano."
"Thanks a bunch, Anakin." Gasgano smiled. He reached into his wupiupi pouch, and produced ten whole trugguts. "Here."
"What's this?" Anakin asked.
"Trugguts. What does it look like to you?"
"What are they for?"
"Tip."
Anakin blinked in shock at Gasgano.
"I can't take it, Mr. Gasgano," Anakin denied, trying to give the money back to the racer. Gasgano just crossed his two pairs of arms, refusing the refund.
"You deserve it. If you didn't find that out about the coolant, my pod would have exploded in the next race, and I would have died. You, overall, saved my life, and a big tip is the only way I can thank you at this time."
Anakin looked back at the money in his hand, and back into Gasgano's purple eyes. "Thank you so very much, sir."
"Yer welcome." Gasgano smiled. "And thank you, Anakin, again."
**********
The rest of the day was watching the shop for customers, since Watto was busy with another customer that needed a lot of parts for a podracer. Anakin didn't catch the name of the podracer; he probably get yelled at if he asked Watto. Anakin sat on the counter, replacing the power charges to three pit droids. Dreams of winning pod races went through his head, and being famous. Anakin wanted to go down in podracing history, like Gasgano and Sebulba.
Most people became podracers for money, like Sebulba. Others became podracers for the thrill, like Gasgano and Wan Sandage. Other became podracers through family heritage, like Ark "Bumpy" Roose and Mawhonic. Others became podracers to show off to females, like Dud Bolt did before Sebulba came to Tatooine. Not one podracer Anakin knew of didn't podrace for the fame of it. Anakin wanted to go for fame, and hobby. Anakin didn't care about the money; Watto could have it, if he wanted it. Anakin would just give money away for who needed it most, like Jira.
Ding dum!
Anakin looked up from the pit droids to the door. He saw a man dressed in dark clothes and robes walking into the store with a little girl trailing behind. Anakin looked at the young girl for a moment. She was about four, with short blond hair, and a face covered in soot. She was dressed in crimson red rags of a chimneysweeper. However, Anakin could tell that she didn't clean out chimneys by the color of the soot on her face. The soot was too dark. She did something else that involved getting covered in soot.
"Hey," the man barked at Anakin. He jumped and looked at the man. The man had pale white skin, and a deep black beard that fanned out on all sides. He wore brown and black robes over his tall, powerful body. He must have been a semi-important person in Mos Espa.
"Y-yes?" Anakin answered, nervously.
"Where is the owner of this store?" The man had a voice like a struggling speeder engine: rough, scratchy, and badly needed an oil change to clean off the rust.
"He's busy right now," Anakin calmly explained, "but you can wait here for him when he's finished."
"You don't understand." The man shook his head. "I'm Lepin Xerx."
"I'm sorry?" Anakin blinked in confusion. He never heard of anyone named Lepin Xerx.
"I am the Mayor of Mos Espa," The man growled through clenched teeth. Anakin looked at the man's teeth, seeing that they were all vibro-knife sharp. Anakin gulped.
"Uh, I'm sorry, sir. I thought Jabba the Hutt was the mayor of all cities on this side of the Dune Sea."
"Stupid boy," Xerx barked. "Get me the owner or merchant right now!"
Anakin hesitated. He had gotten in trouble once for handling a customer while Watto was on his lunch break. Anakin wasn't a merchant, he was a slave. He was not allowed to handle customersor else Watto wouldn't pay him for the day.
"Uh, he's busy," Anakin cowered in fear of the man.
"I don't care. Tell him who I am, and get him over here now!"
"Can I help you?" a voice from the back answered the man. He and Anakin looked to see, not Watto, but -- "My name's Noko Mooncrystal, and I'll be happy to help you with anything."
"Finally," Xerx sighed. He turned to the girl behind him. "Amee, stay here. Don't touch anything." Amee, the four-year-old girl, nodded, and sat down on the floor. Xerx walked up to Noko, and she took him out back.
"The Mayor of Mos Espa, the largest city on Tatooine? Very fascinating," she began to ramble as they walked out into the junkyard. "I'll see what we got for ya"
Anakin looked over at Amee, who just sat there, staring at the floor. He figured that she was trained to look at anybody during her duty. Whatever that was included soot. Walking away from the pit droids he was working on, he knelt by her.
"Hi," he greeted cheerfully. She was still as stone, staring at the floor, as though he didn't hear her. "Hello?" he asked her. She didn't respond. "My name's Anakin. What's yours?" He had figured out her name, but he wanted her to talk. She still didn't respond. He put a hand on her shoulder, and that got movement out of her alright. She raised her head angrily, and slapped Anakin's hand away.
"Doooon't!" she moaned angrily. Then she got up and moved to a darker spot in the shop.
"What did I do?" Anakin shrugged. "I just wanted to say hi." He walked up to her again, but kept his distance this time. "Oh wait, I know, you were told not to talk to strangers, huh? Yeah, me too, but I don't have a lot of friends. Uh, you're Amee, right? I'm Anakin Skywalker."
"I'm not supposed to talk to anybody," Amee said in a small voice. Anakin nodded.
"You can talk to me," Anakin assured. "So, are you a slave too?"
"Yeah," Amee nodded, growing a little more trusting.
"Is he your master?" Anakin looked to the junkyard entrance.
"Yeah," Amee answered, but she seemed sad when she answered, she lowered her head further, and put her hands on her dress-covered knees.
"So, uh, what do you do as a slave?"
"Not nice stuff."
"Like what?"
"Work."
"What kind of work?"
"Coal mining."
"Really?!" Anakin blinked bug-eyed in shock. Little kids would mine coal here on Tatooine? Well, he had heard worse "work" stories.
"I don't like it," Amee said a little more quietly. "I get all dirty, and I cough a lot, and I do it all day. But daddy says I have to, or he'll leave me."
The fiend, Anakin thought. What kind of guy would do this to their child?!
"Who's your daddy?" Anakin asked.
Very shockingly, Amee looked over to the junkyard entrance.
"Your master is your father?!"
"Yeah," Amee sighed.
Just then, Gasgano walked out of the junkyard and into the shop. He looked over at Anakin and smiled.
"Hi Anakin," he greeted, waving a hand. Anakin looked up at the podracer.
"Oh, hi Mr. Gasgano," Anakin smiled. "Thanks again for the tip."
"No problem." His neck curved slightly to look at Amee. "Who's this?"
"Oh, Watto has another customerthe mayor of Mos Espa. This is his slave, and his daughter."
Gasgano nodded.
"Xerx, right? Yeah, he's one of the biggest slave drivers on Tatooine, but not the biggest. He doesn't have that much money, so he sold everything he could to keep himself alive -- even his family." He waved his hand at Amee. "Poor kid, living the life of a chimney sweep."
"Uh," Anakin was about to correct when Watto and his customer, a Quarren, walked out of the junkyard.
"Glada to be doin business with ya, heh heh." The Toydarian chuckled as the Quarren left with a bottle of pod fuel. Watto's attention turned to Gasgano and Anakin. "Ah, Gasgano, how's your pod coming along?"
"Great, thanks to your genius over here," the Xexto referred to Anakin. "Hey, give him a raise for me, will you?"
"I'll think about it," Watto chuckled. "Anakin, you still have these pit droids to work on over here."
"Oh, shoot." Anakin almost smacked himself on the head. "I almost forgot." He got back on the counter, and went back to work. He was too busy to see what was going on in the room, but he listened carefully.
"Here's what I owe you. Keep her safe for me, my racing record is in your hands, old man."
"Don'ta worry about it," Watto chuckled. "It's in good hands, your podracer. Good day to ya."
Anakin heard Gasgano's footsteps go out the door.
"Eh? Boy, what's this?"
"Huh?" Anakin looked up from his job to see Watto hovering over Amee.
"Uh, that's a slave."
"It's not my slave, whose is it?"
"Uh," Anakin grew nervous. "Um -- that's, that's -- uh --"
"No holding back on me, boy," Watto snapped. "Whose is it?"
"Glad to do business with you," Noko said to Xerx as they walked out of the junkyard into the shop. "Have a nice day." Xerx completely ignored her, and headed for the door.
"Amee!" Xerx called over his shoulder. Amee quickly got up, and ran to her master. They disappeared out the door and into the city.
"This is yours." Noko put one hundred truggets into Watto's three-fingered hand. "Mr. Xerx was sponsoring a podracer, and he needed an energy binder for the pod."
"You," Watto angrily pointed with his free hand, "you handled a customer without my permission?"
"Well, you were busy, and customers are against Anakin's policy, and I had nothing better to do."
"That could get you fired, Mooncrystal!"
"It would if you were my boss," Noko smiled. She looked down at her crono on her wrist. "Oh, look at the time, I've got a lunch meet to go to."
"Take the rest of the day off, you ignorant bimbo!" Watto shouted after her as she headed into the city. She stopped at the doorway, and looked over her shoulder at Anakin.
"See you tomorrow, 'Walker," she said with a wave, then left the shop.
Anakin smiled after her. She was definitely a person with guts.
**********
Anakin walked home with Kitster and Wald after work. Wald liked Mos Espa "better than the other places I've been." Anakin and Kitster nodded, knowing that the places they heard about were sometimes not as good as Mos Espa.
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Wald said a few moments after an ended conversation. "Why don't you guys come to my house for dinner?"
"I can't," Anakin sighed. "I have to be at my house to help my mom. She works too."
"Oh, sorry Annie," Wald apologized sadly.
"That's okay." Anakin half-smiled. "Maybe some other time, like when I have a day off."
"When's that?"
"Uh," Anakin tried to think. He had a day off every two weeks. "Um, about another week."
"A week? But that's forever!"
"No it's not." Anakin giggled. "It's okay, I'll see what I can do."
"Okay!" Wald chirped. "I want you to meet my mom and dad, Anakin! They're really wizard!"
"Sure," Anakin nodded, grinning at Wald's attempts at local slang. "Like I said, I'll see what I can do."
**********
"So, when's the next podrace?" Anakin asked Melee, looking over her shoulder and at the view screen she held.
"I'm getting there," she sighed in annoyance, pushing a few buttons and small panels on the screen. Finally, an ad lit up on the screen, showing a podracer, and huge basic word all over the brightly colored ad.
"What does it say?" Anakin wondered.
"It says," Melee began, "Donic Derby, come one come all. Sebulba's in it...this Gasgano guy you mentioned is here...who's this?"
"Who?" Anakin peeked over her shoulder.
"This." She touched a small line of Basic script, and a profile came up, showing the headshot of a Bith, and a blue and red pod that resembled a strange insect. Melee read a little of it. "His name is Rimkar, a beginning podracer sponsored by Lepin Xerx."
"So that's who he was sponsoring!" Anakin exclaimed. "Wow! This Rimkar must be really good."
"Have you heard of him?"
"No, but if the mayor is sponsoring him, he must be good at podracing."
"There you go again about podracing," Melee smiled, turning the view screen off. "Really, Anakin Skywalker, you're too little to podrace."
"Well, that's good." Anakin smiled skeptically. "The smaller you are, the lighter your pod will be. I have to race while I'm still short."
"You are so weird, you know that?" Melee grinned. "You were weird from the start."
Anakin smiled at Melee, then looked back over her shoulder.
"So, who else is in the Donic Day?"
"Anakin," Melee moaned, turning the view screen back on. "I just turned it off, now you want me to find that place again..."
Chapter 5
"Annie!" Shmi called into Anakin's room. "Time to get up!" Anakin moaned awake, and sat up in bed. His nose caught the scent of warm breakfast, and he rubbed his sleepy eyes with a fist. He heard Jaike's Gwadapa's squeak a yawn, and shake the sleep off them. Anakin looked down at the brown grubs sleeping on his blanket, and he gave them a few pats, and climbed out of his bed.
"Hey Jaike?" Anakin asked, looking over to Jaike, who was curled up like a sleeping cat on the blanket placed on the floor. "Are you awake? It's breakfast time." Jaike didn't answer; he was in a deep sleep. Anakin looked over at Juub, Juke, and Tumm, the Gwadapas. "Can you three wake him up? His breakfast is getting cold." Juke hopped off Anakin's bed, and trotted over to Jaike to wake up his master. Anakin walked out of the room, giving his tarped droid a quick glance before heading to the kitchen.
Breakfast was a warm bowl of staki soup. Shmi had gotten a basket full of staki grass as a gift from Watto, and used it to make a spicy soup for herself, Anakin, and their guests. Anakin took his seat at the table.
"Good morning, Mom," Anakin smiled as Shmi put a bowl of soup in front of Anakin.
"Good morning," Shmi smiled, handing Anakin a spoon. As Anakin started eating, Jaike walked out, looking very puffy eyed.
"'Morning, mates," Jaike yawned his greeting. His grubs came out squishing and squigging their greetings to Anakin and Shmi, and Jaike gave them all hard glares.
"What are you three so cheerful about?!" he muttered grouchily.
Anakin put a hand over his mouth to keep from giggling. Watto asked Anakin that morning grouch question every morning.
**********
The streets seemed more crowded than they usually did, and that signaled the coming event of a podrace. Posters were being plastered to the adobe walls, stores advertised sales, newer and better bands were showing up in cantinas and bars, and the crime wave went up by a little more. He noticed more and more outlandish dressed folk walking around the city, and the air traffic above the city was growing steadily worse. None of this would effect the noise pollution, which was almost always hard on Anakin's ears. He could only imagine how loud the crowds were going to be at the podrace.
Anakin walked past a pouch snatching in progress to get to his workplace. Of course, the crime was always bad in Mos Espa, since there was no law enforcement. There were only a few laws in Mos Espa, and they happened to be the laws of survival. Anakin was quick to learn these laws, and he walked the streets as safe as he could. He had never been robbed, but he had been hurt a few times by rough passerbyers. Besides, Anakin was almost too small to pick on in the first place.
Ding-dum!
"Watto?" Anakin called into the shop, hearing that the Toydarian didn't notice him immediately. Anakin looked to the counter, and saw nobody there. That was weird. He looked around the room, and gasped at the far end of the room. There stood the tallest man he had ever seen: six foot seven! The man had pale skin, and black hair that seemed to shine purple in the light behind him. His bright colored clothes clearly marked that he was an outlander, since almost no native on Tatooine wore bright colored clothes (especially red, like the man's top) unless they wanted to get shot. His pants and boots were black, which made the illusion that the man's torso was floating in mid air. Anakin eyed the man's face, which was long and sharp. The man had two primary blue eyes, and silver face paint encircling one eye like a black eye with spikes running down the bottom. Anakin froze in fright at the man's height. It was when the man looked down at Anakin did the boy even make a whimper of fear.
"Hi," the man said in a quiet, eerie voice.
"C-c-c-can I help you?" Anakin asked nervously.
"Do you work here?"
"Yeah." Anakin's voice was slowly gaining high pitch to an squeak. He wasn't sure if Wookies were this tall.
"Where's the owner of this store? He should be at the counter."
"I-I-I'll go look for him," Anakin offered, heading for the junkyard entrance. "If you'd be kind as to wait here."
"What's the matter?" the man grinned, showing two very sharp fangs at the edges of his toothy grin. "You look like you've seen a monster."
"Aaa!" Anakin yelped, running for the junkyard. He heard the man chuckle as he ran practically for his life into the junkyard. He hid behind the container bins, and caught his breath. He had been more frightened in his life, but he was too scared to remember it. What was that guy? And what planet outside the galaxy was he from?
"What's up?" Anakin heard Noko's voice from around the corner. He instantly relaxed.
"Walker!" Anakin squealed, running to her. "The scariest guy is in the shop right now!"
"Whoa, calm down," Noko calmed as she put two hands in front of Anakin. "Now, what happened?"
"Wait, where's Watto?"
"He and Gasgano have been haggling over new podracer parts for over two hours now, and there's no sign of stopping. Why, does he have a customer?"
"Yeah, in the shop, right now. This guy is soo scary, my heart feels like it's going to pop out of my chest!"
"Calm down." Noko got down on one knee. "Don't get exited. He's probably just nothing. Now, what does he look like?"
"He's humongous! He must have been taller than a Wookie! He's all pale, and he wore bright clothes, and he's got fangs, and long hair, and he's got this thing around his eye, all silver stuff --"
"Wait a minute." Noko stopped. "Silver thing around his eye? Like paint?"
"I guess," Anakin nodded.
"Oh gods, I can't believe it!" Noko cried happily. She got up and ran for the shop. Anakin ran after her.
"Noko, what are you doing?! This guy is scary! Come back!" He was hardly able to catch up to her, and she completely ignored him. She disappeared into the shop, and Anakin stopped to catch his breath outside the doorway. What he heard next completely surprised him.
"Vim!"
"Walkaru!"
Happy laughing followed.
"Oh, I am so glad to see you!"
"You've gotten a lot taller, and a lot prettier. How've you been?"
"Great! Wow! I can't remember the last time I've seen you."
"It's been nine years at least."
"I can't believe it's been that long."
Anakin peeked into the doorway to see the most shocking thing he had ever seen. Noko and the scary man she called Vim were in a tight hug, looking and talking to each other like they hadn't seen each other for centuries. Noko had to hug the man by standing on her toes, since she wasn't as tall as he was. He was all smiles, showing his fangs and his other flat teeth, and Noko didn't seem to care. Anakin gulped, hoping that the man wouldn't bite her neck like the other monster stories that Anakin had picked up from spacers and outlanders. Suddenly, Noko looked over at the doorway to see Anakin peeking out at them, and smiled.
"C'mon out, Anakin." Anakin promptly hid his head against the wall. "It's okay. He's an old friend of mine."
"It's alright, lad," the man named Vim insisted, in a more louder, and friendlier voice, "I didn't mean to scare you. C'mon out." After a few moments hesitation, Anakin walked out of his hiding place, and into the shop.
"Anakin Skywalker," Noko introduced the slave boy to the old friend, "this is Vimmai, my surrogate father."
"Hello there." Vimmai extended a hand down to Anakin, who finally regained some courage to shake it. "Sorry that I scared you. It happens often."
"That's okay," he decided, then he looked at Noko. "What's a surrogate father?"
"He raised me as a father, but he's not my father," Noko explained calmly.
"But why --"
"Let's not get into that," Vim decided. "Where's the store owner?"
"You'll have to be patient with the old man." Noko smirked and looked back to the junkyard entrance. "It's best not to stop him once he gets started haggling. So, what brings you to Tatooine? Podracing?"
"I just wanted to check up on my pupil, and see if he really has learned from me after all those years." Vim smiled at Noko.
"You bet he has," Noko grinned. "There isn't a podracer alive who hasn't heard of him. He's been winning races since he got here."
"That's good to hear."
"Who is it?" Anakin wondered. Apparently, he was ignored.
"Well," Vim sighed, "I guess I have to go get the storekeeper, and see if I can get some service around here." He looked down at Anakin. "Unless, of course, you can help me find some upgrades for my pod."
"Pod?" Anakin blinked, then he answered Vim's question. "Uh, sorry, I got in trouble with Watto for helping customers once. I'm just his mechanic."
Vim blinked in confusion.
"We'll go get Watto," Noko insisted, weaving her arm through the crook of Vim's elbow joint. "Anakin, just sign in for work, and we'll start our podracing lesson as soon as I'm done, okay?"
"Podracing lesson?" Vim wondered as Noko took him into the junkyard. Anakin hopped onto the counter, and looked around the store. The strangest people kept popping into Watto's store for podracer parts
**********
"You're doing great, 'Walker!" Noko grinned into her headset comlink as Anakin piloted his swoop in front of her. "You almost have this track down."
"Almost," Anakin nodded.
"Keep it up, kiddo. Pretty soon, I'll teach you how to drive that pod Watto is giving you."
Anakin's hands sweated underneath the handlebars of the swoop. He couldn't wait to pilot his own beautiful pod.
"How soon, Walker?"
"Don't think about that now. Concentrate on the track."
"Okay." Anakin kept his eyes focused on the track as his ears were keeping focus on all sides. Noko had trained Anakin's ears to be eyes in the back of his head for sounds like coming podracers. No pods have rear-view mirrors, since looking at them could easily break a racer's concentration, and cause him to crash. Anakin had to hear pods behind him, and on the side of him. After all, Noko wasn't exactly teaching Anakin how to win a podrace, she was teaching him how to survive a podrace.
The arena was directly ahead of them, and so was a podracer lined on the track. Anakin hit the breaks, trying to pull into a repair pit.
"Anakin, what's wrong?"
"There's a pod on the track."
"What? Which one?"
"A green one."
Anakin pulled into the closest repair pit, and killed the engine while Noko zoomed past him, and pulled up to the pod. The pod's engines were massive, probably the size of Sebulba's: illegally big. The engines were green with white and purple designs, and were configured into a cone shape that ended in a box. The paint was brand new, and there was no sign of a dent anywhere on the engines. About six meters away, and attached to a sturdy cord was the unusual pod cockpit. The cockpit was a swoop bike, similar to Anakins! Handlebars, pedals, laid back seat and all, the swoop was painted green with the silver symbol that looked like the one on Vim's eye. Also, the swoop was a dangerously open cockpit for podracing. Vim could get killed just sitting in that thing and working the controls!
Standing by the engines was the tall not-so-scary man himself, checking them to see if they complied with the new parts he bought from Watto. Noko marched off her swoop like she was about to give her fake father a piece of her mind. She probably was by the look on her face.
"Vim," she said simply to him. Vim looked over at her, and smiled.
"What's the matter?" he asked, looking somewhat playful. "You look angry."
"The arena's closed until the Donic." Noko put her hands on her hips. "That's a little over a week from now."
"Oh, you haven't heard," Vim's eyebrows went up.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, apparently, Jabba's schedule changed." Anakin heard that Vim pronounced "schedule" as "shed-ual" like the people on Coroscant did. "The race won't be happing on the day of Donic."
"Oh?"
"It's tomorrow."
Noko's eyebrows went up, and her eyes bulged in surprise.
"What?!"
"Apparently so."
"What the heck?"
"Well, the race is tomorrow, so I'm getting ready by trying out the track."
"Well, I was training Anakin here, so I don't think you should."
"You were?" Vim shook his head with an amused chuckle. "But I thought the arena was closed."
"I work here."
"A likely excuse."
"Vim just put your pod in the hanger, it can't be out here."
"Trust me, Noko, I won't get caught."
"Okay, I'll trust you, or else, I'll tell the arena owner."
"Look at how scared I am."
"Just be careful. Beggar's Canyon is the most dangerous track in the Outer Rim."
"And it's about to meet the most dangerous pilot in the outer rim. Step back." Vim went back to his work. Noko sighed and walked over back to Anakin.
"There's just no reasoning with Vim when he wants something done," she murmured, then looked up at Anakin. "Looks like we're done for the day. Racing through the canyon with him test driving is just going to be impossible."
"Okay." Anakin nodded in understanding.
"C'mon, let's get back to Watto's."
**********
"You've got tickets?!" Noko blinked at Watto's three-fingered hand that clutched a full quarter inch of ticket chips for the Donic Day.
"Yep." Watto grinned with a chuckle. "And justa'n time too. These are the last ones they had."
"Wow." Anakin gawked at the tickets like they were a rare treasure.
"So, your bets are on, then?" a human next to Watto named Ny Connie asked.
"Of coursa," Watto nodded at his friend. "But I warn you, prepare to lose. Sebulba always wins, isn't that right, Mooncrystal?"
"To my knowledge," Noko nodded, "yes."
"Can I come?" Anakin asked as politely as his excitement could allow him. "Please, please, please Watto?"
"Sure," Watto chuckled at Anakin, handing him a ticket chip. "Don't lose it, or you're out of luck, okay?"
"Okay!" Anakin agreed, holding the transparent, yellow chip the size of a coin between his fingers.
"So," Watto turned to Ny Connie, "you and the others will meet me in the usual seating box tomorrow?"
"I'll be there, since I have my own ticket, and you have everyone else's." Watto glared at the tickets in his hand while Noko snickered.
"Justa get everyone gathered outside the arena when it opens," Watto replied dryly to Connie, "and we'll discuss the bets. Fine with you, Connie?"
"Fine," the ebony-skinned human nodded his hairless head. He tilted his head slightly to Anakin, and snuck a wink at the boy. "I'll be there. You be there too, Anakin."
"I will," Anakin nodded.
"Well, I be off now," Connie announced. "See you all at the arena."
"I have to get going too," Noko also announced. "My work day's over, and I need to get up super early tomorrow."
"Wish Sebulba luck for me," Watto called to Noko as she and Connie left for the door.
"When has he ever needed it?!" Noko called over her shoulder to Watto. "Hey 'Walker, see you at the arena tomorrow."
"Bye!" Anakin waved his friends out the door.
"Anakin," Watto called attention to the boy, "clean up for the day, and I'll close the shop."
"Yipee!" Anakin cheered as he went to get the sandstat to clean up the floors.
**********
The next day, the streets were being emptied of all occupants, and headed to the arena for the Donic Day race. Small booths and stalls selling various odds and ends were opened to attract customers to them on the way to the event. The enormous arena loomed over uptown Mos Espa like a mountain, acting as a homing beacon to the spectators and racers alike. Chatter, laughing, screaming, threats for money, all sorts of noises and conversation filled the streets. All were excited about the race, and the possible events to come.
Anakin, Jaike, and his grubs hurried through the streets, constantly wiggling through several crowds of spectators to hurry to the arena and get to their seats. Only, Jaike wasn't exactly going to the arena to watch the racehe was mostly following Anakin, and complaining.
"How come you didn't give me tickets?" Jaike moaned as he dodged an elbow about to shove him aside.
"I forgot to ask, sorry Jaike." Anakin breathed as he ran.
"No problem, I guess, Anakin. However, I'm not sure how I'm going to get the grubs and myself free seats."
"Why don't you perform your tricks?" Anakin asked, looking over his shoulder momentarily.
"Cause I forgot my rug and coin cup," Jaike explained, stepping around a Mon Calamari to catch up with the boy.
"Well," Anakin sighed, "I dunn--" Suddenly, he bumped into someone, and fell over onto the ground. He looked up at the person he bumped into to see that it was..."Amee!" Anakin cried, looking happier. He instantly got up. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
"Anakin!" Amee cried happily, with a giggle. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to watch the race."
"My daddy's taking me to watch the race too."
"Amee!" The sharp voice of Lepin Xerx stabbed into the reunion. "Keep up, or I'll leave you behind!"
"Coming, daddy!" Amee ran directly to her father, staying close. Anakin noticed how the old man refused to hold his daughter's hand as they walked. By her father's side, the slave couldn't say goodbye to her new friend; all she could do was look behind her and at the slave boy. Anakin waved to her.
"See you later, Amee!" he called. "Hey, Jaike, let's keep going. We're almost there!"
**********
"PHWEEEEEEEEEEET! Anakin!"
Anakin turned his head to the whistler. He saw the tall, not-so-scary man in a tan racing outfit leaning against the wall of the stadium entrance.
"Hi Vim!" Anakin called, running over to him. Vim suddenly laughed.
"And I didn't scare you that time. Came here to see the race?"
"Yep. I've got my own ticket. See?" He held it up for Vim to see. The humanoid smiled at it.
"Yes, I see. Who are you betting on?"
"Uh, I'm not old enough to bet."
"You aren't?" Vim blinked. "You're a mechanic for a parts salesman, and you can't bet on a race?"
"Well, I kinda don't have the money."
"Oh, I see. The old man doesn't pay you very well?"
"Not really. I get three to six truggets a day."
"Not bad, I guess. I'm not good with the currency around here." He shifted slightly, revealing the helmet cradled in the crook of his right arm. "Hey, why don't you come inside the hanger with me? Check out a few pods, see what it's like behind the scenes?"
"Okay!" Anakin eagerly accepted. "C'mon Jaike!"
"Something tells me I should wait outside," Jaike half-frowned, looking up at Vim. "I'll see ya later, Annie."
"Okay, later." Anakin waved as he followed Vim inside the hanger.
**********
"Can you do me a favor for a minute, Anakin?" Vim quietly asked Anakin as they walked through the pod hanger.
"Yeah?"
"I can't read these glyphs they put on my helmet." Vim looked a little embarrassed as he pointed to the Huttese numbers painted red onto his white helmet. "What do they say?" He knew that he was supposed to know the written language before he came to Tatooine, and his lack of knowledge of the planet was making him embarrassed. Anakin looked at the numbers, and read them aloud to Vim.
"68."
"Thanks."
"Sure," Anakin nodded. Then he spied Vim's pod, and he saw the rust-painted pit droids fine-tuning and preparing Vim's prized pod. Vim guided Anakin over to the pod, where an empty chair waited for the racer. Vim took a seat, and waved a hand at some nearby idle women. The four, human women walked over and stood behind him, as if ready for a command. To Anakin's surprise, Vim did give them a command.
"Get this boy a chair, if you please," he quietly ordered the women. They bowed, and promptly left.
"Who are they?" Anakin asked Vim.
"Servants," Vim answered. The women later came back with a small foldout chair, and folded it to a stand before Anakin. It was then that Anakin noticed that the women were dressed in exotic, revealing clothes made of cloth tightly wrapped around their bodies to hide their woman parts. Anakin couldn't help but stare; he had never seen anything like it, even at the weekly slave auctions.
"Uh, Vim?" Anakin said shakily as he sat down, and the women moved over to the humanoid podracer. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Ask as many as you like," Vim invited as the woman surrounded him, and one gave him a massage.
"Well, uh -- what exactly are you?"
Vim smiled with a strange specie of sigh. He seemed to have been asked that question a lot in his life.
"If you want to know my profession, I'm a podracer, and a manager for a pod manufacturing company. If you want to know my specie of alien origin, well, I am known as a Nagai Warrior from a system outside the galaxy you live in."
"Outside the known galaxy?" Anakin blinked in surprise. He could believe that easily enough.
"Is there an echo?" Vim smiled. His voice became a little quieter, and gained a soothing sound to his voice, like he was lulling a baby to sleep. "My people are a warrior race where we gain a thrill through fighting or dangerous sports. I found podracing to be a good pastime for myself, and I still do to this day."
"So, what planet are you from? How did you get here?"
"Obviously, I left my homeworld for the thrill of adventure -- podracing, of course. My travels took me to Malastare, where I discovered and raised an abandoned human child: your friend, Noko. After becoming a professional podracer in the Galactic Podracing Circuit, I also became the podracing champion of Malastare."
"Wow," Anakin breathed.
"This is where my servants come in," Vim explained, taking one of the women's hands, and bringing it gently to his lips. "My fame and, I'm also afraid to say, my good looks attracted many females into my," then he whispered, "reluctant" then went back to talking, "service. They aren't slaves, they work for me by will, and I do pay them for what they do."
"Oh," Anakin sighed, looking down at his shoes in worry. He didn't know what to make of Vimmai at all. He was a strange guy; he seemed okay at first, and now he was getting very very strange, and a little scary too.
"Something wrong, Anakin?" Vim asked, a little concerned.
"No." Anakin shook his head. "Hey, I've got to get going. Thanks for inviting me over here."
"A friend of Walkaru's is a friend of mine, Anakin. You're always welcome to anything of mine. Say hi to Noko for me, and beware the Dug while you're over there."
"Why's that?"
"Well, Noko told me a little story about you and Sebulba's most prized possession that happened a few weeks ago. Sebulba's still not happy about that little joyride you took." He grinned, showing his fangs. "That Dug holds grudges with an iron fist, so watch yourself over there."
"Okay," Anakin smiled. He jumped out of the chair, and headed over to Sebulba's pod. "Bye, Vim. Good luck."
"Not that I need it, Anakin. Take care." Vim waved, then his attention wavered to his servant women. Anakin spied the bright orange pod easily, since it was one of the largest pods in the hanger. Anakin walked up, seeing a huge mechanic crew of Barada and a few humans no younger than twenty making last minute tests and preparations with the pod engines and attached cockpit. Sebulba was overseeing them with a short female human with long, blond hair and a black jumpsuit. The female, in a high, casual voice would instruct the Barada in most of their work, while looking to an in-hand data pad of unknown contents to Anakin. Occasionally, the podracing Dug would bark and hiss at the Barada in a sharp, quick, and harsh language that was like hearing a Tusken Raider with sinus trouble. Anakin walked around them, past their backs so they wouldn't notice him.
He spotted Noko nearby, talking back to a tuniced man wearing a red hat with yellow flanking. Noko spoke angry Huttese to him, telling him bluntly and profoundly to go away and leave Sebulba and his pod alone. Anakin watched in horrified surprise as Noko used every profound and vulgar Huttese word to the man known to even a Hutt. With each word, her voice gained volume, until it became loud enough for Sebulba's ears to start flicking in annoyance. Taking his leave from supervising his pod, he walked over past Anakin, ignoring the boy, and to Noko.
"What is the matter with you?" he asked calmly to his mechanic.
"Safety inspector." Noko pointed her thumb to the man in the red and yellow hat. "Enough said." Sebulba looked up at the man, who was at least twice the Dug's small size.
"I won't be as blunt as my chief mechanic here," Sebulba growled up to the human, "but I will be a little saner about it. I've told you time and again that my pod meets conditions satisfactory. Is this understood so far?"
"But," the man stammered, looking over his datapad nervously, "according to my records here, your pod hasn't seen an inspector for over three years."
"That's because I have an expert working for me," Sebulba answered a little tougher, glancing up at Noko for the inspector's reference. "She would know if my pod meets standards, and it does; it meets every standard imaginable."
"But the Tatooine officials of the Galactic Podracing Circuit are --"
"Are you new to this job?"
"Excuse me?"
"Let me repeat myself, which I don't like to do. Are you new at your job?"
"No, not exactly."
"Very interesting. Check with your fellow inspectors when you have the time. They will tell you, most from personal experience, that it isn't wise to question a Dug's motives. Isn't that right, Noko?"
"It isn't wise to question a Malastarian in general," she nodded. "Especially Sebulba."
"I see." The inspector nodded, a little frightened.
"Now," Sebulba clapped his feet together and rubbed them slightly, "why don't you move along to the next pod."
"Absolutely." The inspector nodded again, as though he had given Sebulba's pod a thorough check, and tapped in a small command into his datapad. "I just need your racing number"
"32."
"Thank you, sir. Good luck in the race." With that, the inspector left. Anakin watched the inspector walk over to the pod next to Sebulba's as though he wasn't even intimidated by the Dug's threats combined with a cool head and attitude.
"An absolute loser, isn't he?" Sebulba's voice asked from behind Anakin, making the boy jump and turn around in surprise. The Dug was standing right behind him, legs crossed over his chest, and smiling through his thin lips. "Inspectors are a complete pain in the career. You'll understand one day." He gave Anakin a very evil grin. "Hey there, how goes it?"
"Oh, h-h-hi Sebulba." Anakin smiled nervously. "G-good luck in the race."
"Never needed it." Sebulba shook his head. "C'mon. What are you really here for?"
"I-I-I-I just wanted to, uh -- I was --"
"-- wanting to see Noko?" Sebulba attempted to finish Anakin's stammerings. "What a coincidence, she's been seeing you a lot lately, I wonder why." It wasn't a question; he knew that his most trusted friend was holding something out on him, and Anakin was in the dead center of Noko's view of the picture. Anakin began to grow nervous.
"Anakin!" Noko's surprised cry suddenly broke Sebulba's attention from the boy. Noko walked up from behind Sebulba, and looked down at Anakin. "What are you doing in here?"
"Vim invited me in," Anakin answered, losing his fear of Sebulba. "He just wanted me to see his pod. He says hi."
"Okay." Noko nodded. "Well, you better get going before someone from personnel finds you. Besides, the race is going to start soon, better get to your seat. Still got your ticket?"
"Uh-huh!" Anakin held it up for her to see.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Noko smiled. As Anakin started to say "bye," Sebulba caught the boy's shoulder, and whispered crudely into Anakin's ear in his best Basic:
"Nho yhu won't." Then, Sebulba trotted off and back to his inspections.
"Bye, Walker." Anakin waved to Noko, then ran for the hanger doors and for the arena seating area. The race was going to start in twenty minutes!
