It was a sunny morning, as usual on Tatooine, when, as planned, Anakin and I had gone to Watto to tell him that Qui-Gon wanted to support us in the race. At first Watto laughed at us until tears welled up in his eyes, but then he realized we were serious. "The boys tell me you want to sponsor them in the race." Watto asked with furrowed eyebrows and his beady yellow eyes staring at Qui-Gon in disbelief. "How can you do this? Not on Republic credits, I think, huh?"

Qui-Gon just raised an eyebrow while Watto continued to banter, the Jedi reached into his belt and pulled out his hologram before holding it out for Watto to see. He pressed a button and an image of his ship appeared before us. I tried my best to stifle a gasp but my eyes still grew wide. Sure I knew he had a ship, but I didn't know it was that nice of a ship.

"My ship will be the entry fee." Qui-Gon stated and I saw Anakin's jaw drop a little. I felt Qui-Gon lay a soft hand on my shoulder, while Watto eyed the ship like a hawk. "Not bad, huh?" Watto said as he narrowed his eyes at the ship and started stroking the stubbles on his chin as he continued to stare at the ship. "A Nubian, huh?" "It's in good order, except for the parts I need." Qui-Gon explained before mashing a button and the hologram disappeared.

"But what would either one of them ride?" Watto asked with a frown as he then turned to both of us and narrowed his eyes coldly at us. "The boys smashed up my pod in the last race. It will take some long time to fix?" "It wasn't our fault, really. Sebulba flashed us with his vents. We actually saved the pod mostly!" I tried to defened Anakin and myself. "Mmm. That you did." Watto said with a gruff laugh as he wagged a finger at us before he started to chuckle darkly as he turned back to Qui-Gon. "The boys are good. No doubts there, huh?" He said with a shrug.

"I have acquired a pod in a game of chance, the fastest ever built. It's also the first pod that is a two-man craft so both of the boys will be able to race the pod." Qui Gon told as he gave Anakin a reassuring smile. "I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it, huh?" Watto asked with a curious face as he twiddled with his fingers before he let out a laugh. "So, you supply the pod and the entry fee, and I supply the boys. We split the winnings, um, 50-50, I think, huh?"

"If it's going to be 50-50." Qui-Gon said as he then let go of my shoulders and ushered me beside Anakin while he got a stern look on his face and approached Watto. "I suggest you front the cash for the entry." Qui-Gon said as he circled around Watto in a challenging manner before he stopped in front of the Toydarian. "If we win, you keep all the winnings, minus the cost of the parts I need. And if we lose." Qui-Gon started as he circled Watto again and stopped across from where he was without making eye contact with Anakin and me. "You keep my ship. Either way, you win."

Watto thought about it for a moment and I was stunned. Qui Gon had seriously given the ship as a bet? " Hmm..deal! " Watto finally said and sealed it with a handshake with Qui Gon. He seemed satisfied and gave Anakin and me a smile before he left. "Your friend is a foolish one, methinks." Watto grumbled to us in Huttese as soon as Qui-Gon had left the room. Anakin gave Watto an annoyed look while I crossed my arms at the boss.

Anakin and I later made our way to an alley that was in front of our house. In the hollow was a pod racer. It had a small cockpit with an open deck. Anakin had a wrench in his hand and was working in the back of the pod racer while I worked in the front. R2 stood next to Anakin and handed him tools and various parts.

 " R8! "I called out. He looked up and saw me beckoning him. I squatted down between the two machines. Between them were purple bundles of energy. They were barely restrained, zapping and snapping through purple electricity. The droid beeped questioningly. "Can you hand me that wrench?" I asked, pointing to a small red toolbox. He grabbed it and handed it to me.

I slipped back under the engine and tinkered with the engine parts. "Ani! Timmy! "I heard someone shout after a while. I slid out from under the engine. My eyes lit up at the sight of my friends. The older boys were Kitser and Seek, plus the small Armee and Wald the Rodian.

"Wow, two real astro droids!" Kitser wondered as he spotted R2 and R8. "Their name are R2 and R8." Anakin introduced them to Kitster who just continued to stare at the droid in disbelief.  "How did the two of you get so lucky?" He then asked us. I just shrugged with my shoulders. "Oh,that isn't the half of it! We're in the Boonta race tomorrow!" I boasted, whereupon our friends laughed at us. "What?"  Kitser asked us and pointed to the racer. "With this thing here?"

"You're such a joker, Timmy." Wald said in Rodian, which pissed off Anakin and I. "Oh, shut up, Wald! "I hissed angrily and took a step forward, and so did the Rodian. "Timmy! " Anakin warned me, but I ignored him. Wald said something else in Rodian again. The only word I heard was Skywalker.

We both fell to the ground and I clawed furiously at him, screaming insults in the language we spoke here on Tatooine. Wald tried to block my punch and and hit me back,but with his nail-less fingers it didn't quite work.

Anakin was caught in the shuffle trying to pry me off of Wald. "Timothee ,stop it, please!" He yelled at me as he then jumped on my back gripping my neck tightly hoping his weight would pry me off the Wald, but unfortunately for him, it did hardly any difference. "Timothee Skywalker! " I heard someone yell. I looked up and recoiled. Qui Gon stood over us, hands on hips and disappointed from me.

Wald shoved me harshly backward and since Anakin was still gripping me by the neck extremely tight, he managed to fly backward with me and I landed harshly on top of him. Anakin let out a loud grunt as his back hit the ground and me the same size of he laid on top of him before he shoved me off and found Qui-Gon's eyes glued to the both of us.

 Wald, Seek, and Amee ran off, muttering something about playing ball, though I knew they were just afraid of Qui-Gon. But Kitser was Anakin's and my best friend and didn't doubt us,so he stayed behind. "Timothee, why did you do that? " Qui-Gon asked me in a bit loud stern voice and Anakin turned to me questioningly.

I let out a loud sigh and slumped my shoulders with anger. "He insulted my family. My friends. Nobody should do something like that. " I muttered bitterly. A few drops of blood ran down my cheek and Qui-Gon offered Anakin and me his hand to help us up.

 "I'll take care of him next time. All right? " He asked me and I nodded silently. Then Qui Gon went up the stairs to the front of the house,where my mother stood with her arms crossed, shaking her head incredulously at me.

Night fell rather slowly on Tatooine, while Anakin and I got our pod racer back in order. While no one was paying attention to Jar Jar, the Gungan was screwing around with the vehicle. "Hey, Jar Jar!"  Anakin called over to him, causing him to startle and the tool to fall out of his hands. "Keep away from those energy binders. If your hand gets caught in the beam, it's gonna go numb for hours. " He warned him.

Jar Jar nodded and bent down to pick up the tool. When he tried to stand up again, his nose and tongue got caught in the beam. He tried to get words out, but failed miserably. And as stupid as the Gungan was, he just kept looking for his wrench, which is why he reached into the vehicle's engine and got stuck.

I slid out from under the engine again and managed to hop into the pod while Anakin stood next to the switchboard to keep an eye on it while I tried to get the pod working. "You don't even know if this thing's gonna run." Kitster said with a frown as he watched me get comfortable in the seat as I checked all the switches to make sure they were all in their rightful place. "I think it's time we found out." I heard the voice of Qui-Gon say as he was come to us.

 I wasn't currently paying any attention to them though because one of our flaps were open and we were missing our power charge. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned towards the Jedi he was holding out a small red box towards me.

 "Looking for this?" He asked with a sly smile and I soon recognized it was the power charge I was looking for. "Yes, sir." I said with a bit of excited sass and plugged the power charge up as Anakin hop into the pod beside me.

"All good to go?" He asked me as I looked up to find that Padme had helped Jar Jar get his hand out of our engine so now there was nothing that could hinder the start-up. "All clear." I confirmed as Anakin started flicking the power switch while I was watching our engine levels to make sure we didn't have any random combustion or internal leaks going on. "Come on Kitster, let's move away." Qui-Gon advised our friend while he grabbed the boy's hand and led him away from the pod.

After a few more tries with the starting switch, the racer started. "It's working! It's working!"I shouted over the roar of our pod racer, grinning just as wide as my brother next to me. After I flipped the switch off Anakin and I shared a big high five, before we both jumped out of the cockpit and then hurried to our mother, who was standing in front of our house above the hollow. Qui Gon led the others up the stairs while they said goodbye to Kitster.

By now night had fallen on Tatooine, Qui Gon asked Anakin and me  to stay outside with him for a while. I was sitting on a ledge across from Qui Gon, Anakin was sitting next to me. We both looked up at the night sky and watched the many stars, which were so clear and distinct.  

I hadn't even noticed Qui-Gon lifting my sleeve up to get ready to doctor the wound on my arm that I had gotten while I was working on the podracer with my brother. "Stay still, Timmy." He instructed me sternly but softly as he rolled my sleeve up. "Let me clean this cut."

"There's so many." Anakin exclaimed in wonder as he too was staring up at the stars while Qui-Gon worked on his arm first. "Do they all have a system of planets?" Qui-Gon continued working on Anakin's scrape but I saw him look up at Anakin with a smile that showed he was intrigued by his curiosity in the stars. "Most of them." He answered wisely.

"Has anyone been to them all?" I asked, my eyes still intently trained on the sky. "Hmm." Qui-Gon hummed with a slight chuckle as he then looked up at the stars with us. "Not likely." "I wanna be the first to see them all!" Anakin exclaimed with a huge grin.

"Not if I'm the first to seem them all,Skyguy." I smiled at him as Qui Gon finished my brother's cut. "Or we both be the first to see them all,Starguy. "  Anakin smiled back. Qui-Gon gave us a quick smile as he started to work on my cut.

"Ani and Timmy, bedtime!" Our mother called from the house at the two of us and Anakin gave us a quick wave as he then hopped off the ledge and headed into the house since he was all doctored up. Qui-Gon continued to work on my scrape as he gently patted the scrape with a cloth in a very gentle manner.

I then felt a slight sting on my arm and jumped from the impact. "Ow!" I winced as I looked down at my arm for the first time and Qui-Gon wrapped one hand around my tiny arm and dabbed the cut one last time before he returned my arm. "There we are." He said and put a hand on his hip while I pulled my sleeve back over my arm. "Good as new."

"Timmy, I'm not gonna tell you again." My mother quipped at me, but I was too busy examining the new strange contraption the Jedi was now holding in his hands. Qui-Gon dabbed some of Anakin's and my blood on the surface of this contraption.

 "What are you looking for in our blood exactly?" I asked him curiously as I touched the small metal box in his hands. "Checking your and Anakin's blood for any infections." He told me plainly before he held out his hand.

"Go on, you have a big day tomorrow." He instructed as I hopped down from the ledge and Qui-Gon gave me one last gentle pat on my shoulder as I headed inside. "Sleep well, Timmy." "You too, Master Qui Gon." I said with smile at him  and right before I stepped inside I noticed him reaching into his robe and pulling out his transmitter.

I stepped inside as calmly as I could, and as soon as Qui-Gon could no longer see me, I stopped so I could hear everything he was saying. "Maven? Obi Wan? Is one of you around?" I heard Qui-Gon speak into his transmitter. "Yes, Master?" Was the reply of one of the two men, who was still awake despite the late hour.

"I need an analysis of these two blood samples I'm sending you." Qui-Gon then instructed and my eyes widened a little. "Wait a minute." I heard the voice from the transmitter say. "I need two midi-chlorian counts." Qui-Gon spoke into the transmitter while I furrowed my eyebrows questioningly.

 A silent moment passed by before the voice came through the transmitter. "The readings are off the charts." The voice exclaimed in amazement before I heard the voice continue. "The first  is over 20,000 and the second  is exactly 40,000! Even Master Yoda and Maven don't have a midi-chlorian count that high."

"No Jedi has." Qui-Gon answered back. "What does that mean?" The voice from the transmitter asked the Jedi puzzled. "I'm not sure." He whispered  as he then sat there for what seemed like over a minute before  he remembered that the comm link was still open. "Good night,Obi Wan. " He  said quietly and turned off his transmitter.

I stood there for a moment longer until  I made my way to Anakin's and my room. I found him in our bed, already in a half sleep. I lay down next to him. "Good night, Ani." I whispered, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and heard a soft, "Good night, Timmy," before I turned on my side and closed my eyes to fall into a light sleep.

The next morning I got up and stretched before going outside. A light breeze was blowing without sand for once. I looked out at the sunrise. The sky was a glorious pink and yellow color. Twin suns began to rise over mountains of sand, reminding me of Anakin and me. One a little smaller than the other, but both needed each other. With just one, there wasn't enough. With two it was sometimes too much,but most of the time it was just what was needed.

The door opened and let Anakin, R2 and R8 in. My brother handed me a small piece of raw toast before ordering R2 and R8 down to the pod racer. The astromechs left, but not before taking two unseen brushes and giving us racers new coats. Anakin plopped down next to me and, like me, quietly ate the toast.

The door opened again and I looked toward it to see Padme. She leaned down into the sink and moaned. "I hope the droids are ready soon." " They are!" I smiled brightly at her. " Where are Jar Jar and Qui Gon?"I then asked her confused. "Already in the arena with Watto." Padme explained  to me.

" Then we better get going."  Anakin said before he stood up and hurried down into the hollow, I was on his heels. Kitster came with two  creatures. They had a resemblance to a camel, but no fur and a nose like a coati, only not as long.

"Eopies."  Kitster said." They will take us to the arena quickly." Padme nodded. " We have to hurry or we'll miss the race." She said and climbed on one of the Eopies." "Don't worry." I grinned at her while I climbed up behind her. "They won't start without their two best riders."