When we landed on Geonosis, we hid in some columns of steam to hide our ship. Padme and I walked inside after she reminded me to keep quiet so she could “find a diplomatic solution to this mess.”

We walked down a dark tunnel. Padme was beside me and there were no other sounds besides our breathing.

“Wait,” I whispered, sensing something.

Before she could react, I turned around and whipped out my lightsaber. I ignited it at the same time that I swung it, hitting a Geonosian. There were twenty others flying around us. “Go on ahead!” I yelled to Padme, cutting two more. I turned to run after her, but I sensed more of them coming after us.

I quickly turned around and cut another in half, then came back around and cut another one’s head off. With the end of that swing, I cut another one. I swung my lightsaber in a “Z” shape, killing two more of them. I turned back to Padme.

She was at the end of the tunnel, at the doorway. It opened up into a huge factory. I ran through the door onto the small platform beside her. I put away my lightsaber as I finished coming through the doorway. The platform slowly started to come inward into the place I was standing.

Before I had time to react, Padme fell down. “Padme!” I screamed. Then, my feet were knocked out from under me. I grabbed a hold of something above my head. I watched as the conveyor belt she was on moved forward. I jumped down and ignited my lightsaber at the same time. When I landed, I swung upwards, hitting a flying Geonosian. I hit another one and it fell and was crushed by one of the machines. I turned to my right and hit another one.

Just as that one fell, another one fired shots at me from a machine I’d never seen before. I ducked and rolled around backwards, so when I landed I was back on my feet. As that one flew over, I swung and cut it in half. I sensed more behind me so I turned and swung my lightsaber at the same time. I cut two at once that time. I jumped forward and turned back around to cut yet, one more. I jumped off that layer of the conveyor belt and landed on top of another Geonosian.

This part was filled completely with all kinds of machines. I looked behind me and didn’t see any so I looked forward to the direction where I was heading. Then, all of the sudden, a Geonosian jumped on my from above. I was knocked down, but I managed to hold onto my lightsaber. I used the Force to push him away, then re-ignited my lightsaber and swung downward, cutting it.

I cut several machines as I was moved along. I used the Force to guide my jump when there was a machine too big for me to cut down. Off to the distance another Geonosian shot more blasts toward me. I ducked, but it continued firing. There was a line of droid legs hanging just above and diagonal from where I was standing. I used the Force to knock them down and hit the Geonosian.

He fell. Then I flung another thing to hit two more Geonosian’s to the other side of me. I jumped up and did a front flip onto another conveyer belt higher up. I swung to the right, hitting another machine out of my way. I didn’t see a mechanical arm, however and I was knocked down. The fall took my breath away and I groaned. When I tried to stand up, my right arm wouldn’t move. I looked to the side. It was trapped underneath a piece of metal that had been welded onto the conveyor belt. My lightsaber had been in that hand, so I knew I couldn’t cut myself out of it. I tried pulling with my left arm but it was on there too good.

“Not good,” I murmured to myself. I wondered how Padme was doing, if she was okay and how she would get around in this place not being a Jedi. More machines came down adding onto the metal piece.

I looked just ahead.

There were cutters that were as wide as the conveyer belt was. The cutters came down, cutting things up ahead completely in half. The cutters had a rhythm to the way they cut. When one of them came up, the other one went down.

I turned, trying once again to get my arm unstuck. The metal was connected to the belt too hard. It would be impossible for me to pull my arm out. I was going to have to face the cutters. I turned, looking at them, trying to get the rhythm of them in my head. As the one closest to me went back up, I noticed there were other cutters on down the line.

One, two, three, four…I counted in my head. I moved my legs beside me out of the way of the cutter as it came down just inches away from my body. I rolled back the other way as the conveyor belt moved past that one.

The metal piece sizzled when the cutter hit it. I didn’t feel anything in my arm. There were two more cutters just ahead. Again, I moved my legs out of the way, and then rolled over onto my other side as I went underneath them.

That time the force of when it hit the metal piece was enough to free my arm.

But it also cut my lightsaber in half. I stood and picked up half of my lightsaber. The other piece was nowhere to be found.

“Not again,” I moaned. “Obi-Wan’s gonna kill me,” I muttered, looking at the half lightsaber.

When I looked back up I was completely surrounded by destroyer droids and, what looked to be the bounty hunter. Everyone standing there had a blaster or weapon of some sort pointed at me.

The bounty hunter pointed a blaster in my direction. “Don’t move, Jedi! Take him away!”

Two destroyer droids came on either side of me and grabbed both my arms. I dropped the broken lightsaber as they hauled me away. We went out of the factory and up an elevator and then down another hallway and into a big office-looking room. In the middle of the room was a big table. On one end of the table, the end facing me, sat Count Dooku. Directly across from him and closest to me someone sat but I couldn’t see who it was. The chairs were big and the back of the chair blocked my view of the person closest to me. The two droids pushed me in and handed me over to three Geonosians. There were eight more in the room and they all pointed their weapons at me.

The one behind me pushed me forward so I was beside whoever was across Count Dooku.

“Ah, young Jedi. Good of you to join us,” Count Dooku said.

I glared at him and didn’t answer. I sensed Padme’s presence. I guessed she was the one sitting beside me. I glanced over and my suspicion was confirmed; she was there. She met my gaze for a second before we both looked back at Count Dooku.

“I hope, Senator that you can keep your Jedi under control?” Count Dooku asked.

“Don’t worry, Count. He’s tame,” Padme said smugly.

I crossed my arms and continued to glare at Count Dooku.

“You are holding a Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi hostage. I am formally requesting that you return him to me, now,” Padme said. She completely transformed from the laughing girl at the meadow and was the tough Senator now. Her voice was demanding and firm.

Exactly what was needed to stand up to Count Dooku. “He has been convicted of espionage, Senator and is scheduled to be executed in a few hours,” Count Dooku said. He smiled evilly.

“You can’t do that!” Padme yelled.

“We don’t recognize the Republic here, Senator,” Count Dooku said. He paused before continuing. “But, if Naboo were to join our alliance, I could easily hear your plea for clemency,” he said.

“And if I don’t join your…rebellion?” Padme asked.

“The Republic cannot be fixed, Milady. It’s time to start over,” Dooku replied.

“I know of your treaties with the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guilds and the others, Count. I will not forsake all I have honored and stood for and I will not betray the Republic.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Senator. Without your cooperation, I’ve done all I can,” he said.

The Geonosian beside him barked orders and the two behind me pushed me out.

“Padme…!” I started.

“Right behind you,” she said, grunting. I turned my head to glance behind me. Sure enough, two more Geonosians were hauling her behind me. We were led to an even bigger room that held a lot of seats. In the seats sat a lot of other Geonosians. We were in the middle of that room. The walls were seats going up all the way to the ceiling of the room. Three rows up, just above our heads was a little balcony with one big Geonosian.

He started barking things in their language. I never figured out how to understand Geonosian. The language itself sounded like barks, grunts and buzzes to me.

“You’re committing an act of war, Arch Duke,” Padme said. She was angry; her fists were clenched at her sides.

Okay, so apparently she could understand him.

“I hope you’re prepared for the consequences,” she continued.

He barked something else at her.

Somewhere off in the audience someone shouted, “Get on with it! Carry out the sentence! I want to see her suffer!”

I momentarily glanced in the direction the voice came from, but it was too dark to see who it was. I sensed a familiar presence from a long time ago, but the memory was too faded for me to remember. When I looked back in front of me, the Geonosian was barking more words at Padme.

The two Geonosians behind us shoved us forward and out of the room. We walked down more hallways until we got to a room that had a doorway at the end. In the middle of the room was a chariot-looking thing with a Geonosian driving.

One Geonosian came up and chained Padme’s hands together and shoved her into the chariot. Another chained mine together and shoved me in there with her. We stood on opposite ends of the chariot, silent and not looking at each other.

I turned to look at her after about a minute or so. I couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Don’t be afraid,” I told her. No matter what I would get us out of this…..somehow.

“I’m not afraid to die,” she said. Her voice was soft, not quite a whisper, but not in her normal volume either. She looked at me and continued, “I’ve been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life.”

I blinked. I didn’t know what to say. “What…?” I choked. I swallowed and composed my voice. “What are you talking about?” I asked calmly.

“I love you,” she said.

I love you. At first, the words didn’t register in my mind. “You love me?” I asked her in pure disbelief. I blinked. I looked down and swallowed. “I thought we had decided not to fall in love. That we would be forced to live a lie and that it would destroy our lives,” I said. I looked back up at her.

“I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway,” she whispered. She gazed at me with a look of pure love and compassion. “I truly, deeply…love you,” she murmured.

We leaned in closer to each other. Quietly, so her breath was on my skin, she whispered, “and before we die I want you to know.

Then, we kissed. It was different from before. All my love and passion, all her tenderheartedness and compassion…Everything we ever felt showed in that kiss. Even after the chariot started moving forward, we didn’t pull away.

“I love you, too,” I whispered as we separated, only a little. As the chariot moved out into the open arena, we pulled away and looked around us. It was set like an old gladiator arena. Only the seats were filled with thousands upon thousands of Geonosians.

Set in the center of the arena were four large pillars, each about fifty feet tall. Obi-Wan’s hands were chained above him on the first one. As we passed him I noticed the chains from his hands were connected to something at the top of the pillar.

The chariot went all the way to just past the fourth pillar. Padme and I were both pushed out. She was taken to the third pillar; I was taken to the second one. As they connected my chains to the top of the pillar, I heard Obi-Wan’s lecture begin.

“I thought I told you to stay on Naboo. Or didn’t you hear me?” he asked.

I looked down.

“I also was beginning to wonder if you’d gotten my message,” he said. Yes, he was really mad.

“I retransmitted it just as you requested, Master,” I admitted to him. I continued after pausing. “Then we decided to come and rescue you.”

He looked at his chains and then rattled them loudly. “Good job!”

I winced. The same Geonosian who had spoken at our trial was on top of a balcony to the right and over from where we were. Count Dooku and it looked like the Viceroy and the bounty hunter were all with him. He barked something loudly and the crowd’s cheering died down. He said something else that sounded like a long buzz and the crowd went completely crazy.

As the doors to the far end of the arena opened, I got a really bad feeling in my stomach. Three monsters were all entering into the arena and they were heading right for us.

One gate opened and a huge red-ish creature walked out. It roared loud and deafening. It looked like a big rhinosaurus only it had three horns. It had a ring thing in its nose. I recognized it to be a Reek.

The next gate opened to reveal a tall creature that looked like the mix of a dinosaur and a spider combined. It had five legs that ended in claws. It walked on some of them and then lifted the other ones up to stab people with. Its neck was long and ended in a point. Inside its mouth were razor-sharp teeth.

The third one was smaller than the other two. It was purple-ish colored and had spikes all over it. Its mouth was huge and its growl was even more deafening than the first one. It jumped and landed and I realized after a second that it had eaten the Geonosian guard beside it.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I gulped. As the three monsters came toward us I suddenly wished I would get the small one at the end.

I sighed in frustration when I realized that wouldn’t be the case. They had all started to walk over, in almost straight lines. It looked like Padme would get the small one, and I knew it was the most dangerous.

I couldn’t tell if Obi-Wan or I would get the tall one. It was too hard to tell. My mouth opened when I saw the tall one snap at its guard.

“Just relax. Concentrate,” Obi-Wan said.

“What about Padme?” I asked.

“She seems to be on top of things,” he said, nodding in her direction. I didn’t think he meant literally. When I looked over she was on the top of her pillar. One of her chains was undone; the other was still on.

“How…?” I began to ask when a roar cut me off.

“Use the Force. Think,” Obi-Wan told me.

I nodded and closed my eyes. I let the Force clear my thoughts and I could feel it pulsing through me. Just as I opened my eyes, Obi-Wan’s monster reached him. One of its legs broke Obi-Wan’s chains off the pillar.

I looked ahead and the Reek was galloping toward me. When it was seconds away, I glared in concentration. I did a back flip and landed perfectly behind its head so that I faced my pillar. I wrapped my chains around its front horn and kicked it hard in the side.

My plan worked. It took off and its strength ripped the chains off the pillar. They were still on my wrists, but that didn’t bother me.

I rode it around the arena with the Geonosian guards ridding their creatures just behind me. I heard Padme scream and looked in her direction.

That was a bad mistake. That distracted me just enough. The Reek turned just sharp enough when I wasn’t watching to knock me off. My chains were still attached to its horns. I screamed when I felt the pain of the ground tear through my body. I was being dragged wherever it ran. The pain grew so intense I couldn’t think of how to get back on and stop it from running anymore.

Finally it stopped running. At first I lay there, dazed. I used the Force to help the pain subside. I breathed deeply and felt the Force coursing through my veins. When I felt stronger, I got up and walked toward the Reek. I put my hand out. I willed the Force to it, to calm it.

It shook its head back and forth and roared. I stuck my hand out farther and slowly, it calmed down. When I was inches away, I jumped back on and re-wrapped my chains around its horn.

It shook back and forth for a couple of seconds. “Whoa!” I yelled. “Yah!” It shook its head frustratingly and then took off.

I rode it to where Padme was at. She was still on top of her pillar and had gotten the other chain off. The creature was just about to climb up and attack her, when I rode the Reek and it butted it head on.

The other creature was knocked all the way across the arena. “Jump!” I yelled to her.

She jumped down and landed behind me. She kissed me on the cheek and put her arms around my waist. If we hadn’t been in an arena about to die, I would’ve taken in the moment.

I looked across to Obi-Wan. He was on the ground with a spear in his hand. The creature was attacking him. He looked like a dragon-slayer. He dodged every one of the creature’s attacks.

I kicked the Reek and rode it over to him. He speared his monster in the shoulder and I smiled when it shrieked wildly.

Then it ripped the spear out and chomped it in half with its teeth. “Uh-oh!” Obi-Wan yelled. He ran over and I stopped the Reek when he was close enough to jump on.

“You’re late!” he jokingly yelled to me.

“I was busy!” I called back.

I felt Padme shaking with laughter behind me. I stopped the Reek and glanced around the arena to find the other creature.

When I saw seven destroyer droids roll from the opposite end of the arena right for us.

“Don’t they ever stop?” I muttered to myself.

I heard Obi-Wan chuckle humorlessly behind me. The seven destroyer droids surrounded us and all pointed their built in blasters toward us. Not even minutes later, people everywhere were taking off robes and igniting lightsabers.

“Jedi!” Padme yelled.

There was hundreds of Jedi hiding in the stands. They all came out to the edge of the stands. I looked up in the corner to the balcony where Count Dooku was.

There was a purple lightsaber to his neck. “Master Windu,” I murmured. Obi-Wan turned his head to look in the direction I nodded to. He smiled. I looked away when I heard this loud marching sound coming from inside the stands.

More droids.

I looked back up at Count Dooku. Mace had turned around so his back faced us and his lightsaber was no longer at Dooku’s neck. Shots began firing at him from the direction he was facing.

Then the bounty hunter shot fire at him. He did a back flip off the balcony. As he landed, he threw off his robe because it had caught on fire. Then all at once, droids came out from inside the arena. Jedi and droids ran toward one another, blasters and lightsabers ready. As the blasters fired and shots whorled passed, Jedi everywhere blocked the shots, swinging lightsabers back and forth. The Force was strong; I could feel it inside me and feel it inside Jedi in the arena with us.

Two Jedi threw two lightsabers in our direction. Obi-Wan and I ignited them together and hit them together, forming an “X.” His lightsaber hit my chains and burned them off my wrists. I cut his off his wrists too. A blast went off nearby and used enough force to knock a nearby pillar down. The force from the blast knocked all three of us off the Reek. I fell and hit the ground hard. My hand stayed on my lightsaber and never let go. Padme got up and saw a blaster on the ground nearby. She scrambled over there and grabbed it. She stood and fired shots at droids.

I stood up and swung, hitting one droid and came back around and hit two more. A shot went off near me and I swung outward, hitting the shot and bounced it back. It hit the droid.

Padme fired her blaster and hit the two Geonosians riding in the chariot. She ran over there and jumped onto the creature and started driving the chariot. I kicked one droid and it hit a pillar. While I was kicking it, I swung my right arm back and hit another droid behind me. I turned around grabbed my lightsaber with both hands and cut another droid in half.

I glanced at Padme and noticed she was driving the chariot. I ran over there and used the Force to jump in the back when I was still two yards away. I landed in the back of the chariot and reflected shots as she drove along.

Jedi everywhere were hitting droids, knocking them back, cutting them in half, reflecting blaster shots, and fighting together. I noticed Obi-Wan swinging his lightsaber, and then he spun all the way around and hit another droid.

I swung my lightsaber back and forth and reflected shots from every direction. Some of the shots bounced back and hit the droids who fired them; others didn’t.

Padme drove from the front seat and used her blaster to fire to kill many droids herself. I smiled thinking about how brave she was. I cut two droids that were close enough to the chariot for my lightsaber to reach them. Off to the other side of the arena came more droids marching out.

My heart sank when I saw some of the bigger droids getting the upper hand. Several Jedi fell, getting blasted. Their bodies were trampled as the droids continued marching forward, not stopping for anything. Another Jedi fell from the top of the stands.

The Reek ran, trampling over both Jedi and droids. Its roaring was heard constantly over the sounds of blasters and lightsabers. It wasn’t until the roaring stopped that I noticed it had been shot and was lying in the dirt, dead.

A shot went off and hit the creature driving the chariot. It tipped over and Padme and I both were knocked off. I immediately got up and stood in the circle part of the sideways chariot. Padme got up and stumbled over to where I was. I reflected shots back to the droids. One ran over going after Padme as she was running over. I jumped over her and landed just in front of the droid. With one movement, I landed and cut it in half.

Padme gave me a quick nod as we both headed for the cover of the chariot.

“You call this a diplomatic solution?” I asked her, looking at her. I smiled at her.

“No,” she answered, returning my smile, “I call it aggressive negotiations,” she continued.

I chuckled and looked back ahead of me. I reflected more shots, and then cut another droid that had wondered to close to the chariot. From somewhere behind us a blast went off.

“Duck!” I yelled to Padme. We hit the ground together just before the blast caused the chariot to go flying. It landed on a bunch of smaller droids that was marching out from inside the arena.

“You alright?” I asked her. She nodded as we both stood up. We fought side-by-side with each other and with other fighting Jedi. I slowly started to realize that we were hopelessly outnumbered.

After a time that didn’t seem long enough, the Jedi were surrounded on all sides by droids of all kinds. They formed a complete circle all the way around us. What had started off as hundreds of Jedi was now a discouraging twenty or so.

The droids lowered their blasters down to their sides. I lowered my lightsaber, but kept my senses in tune to anything that might happen. Slowly and reluctantly, Padme lowered her blaster to her side. Obi-Wan rose up from checking the pulse of a dead Jedi. 

Two droids pushed Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura and Plo Koon into the circle of twenty Jedi in the middle of the surrounding droids. From up in the balcony, Count Dooku’s voice shouted down to us.

“Master Windu, you have fought gallantly. You are worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order. Surrender and your lives will be spared.”

Mace Windu glared at Dooku with a stern look. “We will not be hostages to be bartered, Dooku!” he yelled.

“Then…I’m sorry old friend,” he said. With that, the droids aimed their blasters at us. I raised my lightsaber over my shoulder so it rested by my shoulder blade. The only sounds were the clicks of ready blasters and the hum of lightsabers.

And then Padme’s voice. “Look!” she shouted. We all looked up in the sky. Over six gunships flew down low, but high above our heads. I noticed Master Yoda close to the opening in the one closest to the ground. Then, all at once laser fire came from every direction.

“Let’s get out of here!” Master Windu yelled. As the droids tried to fire at us and the gunships, I moved my lightsaber, blocking the shots. Padme shot her blaster over and over again.

The gunmen on the gunships shot and killed dozens upon dozens of droids with one round of shots. We ran together, toward the gunships. Padme, Obi-Wan and I jumped onto the same gunship. The gunships took off out of the arena and through Geonosis.

As we got father off, I realized there was a bigger battle going on, just on the outskirts. Thousands of droids and clone troopers were on the ground, fighting. Huge, round starships were stationed on the ground just behind some of the droid army. As we flew we came upon a Techno Union starship, I realized we were going to have to take it out.

“Aim right above the fuel cells!” I yelled to the gunman. He fired and it landed and exploded the starship tower.

“Good call! You’re learning,” Obi-Wan complimented. “Finally,” he added with sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at the ground troops. “We’re pushing them back, Master!” I yelled over the noise.

He nodded. “Yes, it seems that way! The clones are good fighters.”

I nodded in response. We took on some light fire, but our shields blocked any from hitting us. One shot managed to hit just enough to rock the ship a lot.

“Hold on!” Obi-Wan warned us. We all found something to grab a hold of. “Take those command towers out!” he yelled to the gunman. The gunman fired and took out a droid command tower just below us as we passed by.

“The Trade Federation starships are taking off!” Padme yelled.

“Shoot them!” I yelled to the gunman.

He fired toward them, but when the shots hit them it didn’t do any good. “They’re too big, my young apprentice,” Obi-Wan said.

“They’ll have to get it from the ground,” Padme said.

I nodded. We watched as one of the starships taking off was hit down. When it hit the ground it caused a collision so hard we felt it up in the ship. It stirred up so much sand and dust that when we passed by, there was no way to see anything. The sand and dust made it difficult to navigate.

When we flew through it we were all a lot happier.

“Look!” Obi-Wan shouted. We all looked ahead to see a speeder flanked by two others just in front of us.

“It’s Dooku!” I shouted. “Shoot him down!”

“We’re out of rockets, sir,” the clone gunman said.

“Follow him!” I commanded.

“We’re going to need some help,” Padme said. She and I looked at each other and I could see the concern in her eyes.

“There isn’t any time!” Obi-Wan looked at me. “We can handle this!”

“Gladly,” I answered with a smile.

Two of the flanking speeders disappeared. We kept after Dooku. All of the sudden, our ship was hit. Before I had a second to react, Padme was knocked out of the side of the ship. My heart sank and if it wasn’t for Obi-Wan grabbing my wrist, I would have jumped out after her.

Everything I’d ever known, everything I’d been taught, all my loss and memories, everything was lost in that one moment. Nothing else was important except Padme and how I could get to her, to help her.

I wouldn’t let anyone else die. I couldn’t, not after losing my mother. I felt like puking when I realized Padme could die, right now, right in that moment.

“Padme!” I screamed. I turned back to the pilot in less than a second. “Put the ship down!” I screamed.

Obi-Wan yelled my name, but I barely heard. “Just put the ship down! I’ve got to get to her!”

“Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way!” he yelled at me. “Follow that speeder!” he told the pilot.

I couldn’t let her die, I couldn’t. “Lower the ship!” I yelled. I could feel anger and I could hear the fury in my voice.

“I cannot take Dooku alone! I need you! If we catch him we can end this war right now! We have a job to do! You need to focus on the task at hand!”

“No! I don’t care! Put the ship down!” I yelled. We were face to face. I glared at him, but I wasn’t angry at him. I needed to get to Padme and he was stopping me. He couldn’t stop me, no one could.

“You will be expelled from the Jedi Order!” he screamed.

Those words hit me like I was stabbed in the chest. Being a Jedi was my life, it meant everything to me! “I can’t leave her,” I pleaded honestly.

“Come to your senses! What do you think Padme would were she in your position?” he asked, still yelling.

I looked away and thought for a moment. I knew exactly what she would do. I closed my eyes and stretched out with the Force. I could barely feel her, but I knew she was alive.

“She would do her duty,” I replied, almost reluctantly. It didn’t take long for Dooku to finally land inside a nearby hanger. As soon as Obi-Wan and I ran off the gunship, lightsabers ignited and ready, the gunship was blown up by the other two speeders.

We didn’t hesitate. Both of us ran in and stopped, seeing Count Dooku on the other side of the hanger.

“How nice of you to join me, Kenobi,” Dooku said. “And your apprentice as well. I’ve killed many Jedi today; two more won’t be much, but it will do,” he said.

We glared at him. My anger was growing until I had to pace to control myself. I longed to lunge at him.

“You’re gonna pay for all the Jedi you killed today, Dooku,” I spat.

“We’ll take him together. You go in slowly on the left and I’ll—“

I interrupted Obi-Wan. “No I’m taking him now!” With that, I ran forward, toward Dooku, but before I could even get ten feet away Dooku shot his hand out toward me.

I didn’t hear Obi-Wan yelling. All I felt was the pain and I knew it was bad. Dooku shot electricity from his hand and hit me square in the chest. He slammed me up against the side wall and I slid down, groaning. The volts of electricity went through me and I could feel it inside me. The pain got so intense; I just wanted it to stop.

I couldn’t open my eyes, but I listened, trying to ignore the pain and focus on something else. When I heard more electricity clacking I winced. I also heard the hum of a lightsaber, followed by another one.

I knew they were fighting then; I noticed the sounds of lightsabers clashing together, attacking and defending. I tried to push myself up, but that resulted in more pain. I groaned and stayed still. 

When I could open my eyes a little bit, Obi-Wan and Dooku were deep in concentration, fighting each other. As far as I could tell, Obi-Wan met all of Dooku’s attacks with ease. I heard Dooku taunting him.

“Surely you could do better!” I heard Dooku’s voice yell. I heard a grunt and saw Obi-Wan come around and attack for Dooku’s legs. Dooku met Obi-Wan’s lightsaber with his own.

I used my arms to try pushing myself up again, but a hard; searing pain zoomed through my body. I moaned. I closed my eyes again, this time in concentration of my own. I called out to the Force and listened to the Midi-Chlorians inside me, trying to listen to what they whispered to me. I could feel the Force pulsing through my veins, could feel it energizing my muscles.

I could feel Padme and I knew she was alright. Padme, my thoughts drifted away, but I shook them off. Focus on the task at hand, I told myself mentally. I continued letting the Force flow through me.

I could feel Dooku’s lightsaber even seconds before it happened. I could feel it hit Obi-Wan’s arm and then I could feel it slice through his leg. The moment my eyes flew open I heard him groan in agony.

I finally saw him on the floor and Dooku above him lightsaber raised. I pushed myself up, this time completely ignoring the pain and focused full on with the Force as my guide, my shield, my protector.

I jumped and landed just beside them, lightsaber out. Just as Dooku’s strike went down, my lightsaber was there, blocking his.

“Brave of you, boy. But, uh foolish. I would have thought you had learned your lesson,” Count Dooku sneered.

“I am a slow learner,” I snapped at him. Obi-Wan called my name as I spun around to my left. When I came back around to face Dooku, I caught the lightsaber Obi-Wan had thrown at me in my right hand. I spun all the way around and attacked Dooku from above with my right hand and rotated my left hand around to attack him from below at the same time. He caught both attacks and came around to attack me. I caught it with my left hand. He swung back and attacked low, at first from my right and then from my left. I caught both of those attacks. He kept coming low, until he changed and went high. He hit my left hand and knocked the lightsaber out of it. I grunted and put both hands on the blue one Obi-Wan had given me. I swung back and forth, meeting his attacks and he met all mine. I walked backwards and spun around and faced him again, so I was away from him a little bit. I hit the power cords to cut the lights. The lights flickered and went off. Dooku and I both raised our lightsabers up high, above our heads. I swung first to my left, trying to hit his ribs. He blocked that attack and tried to hit the main part of my body. We swung around, not walking anymore. He met all my attacks again and I met all of his. He swung at me after I went for his head. I didn’t have any way of getting around to block his attack, so I jumped back so he missed. I swung around, turning 360 degrees and swung for his ribs again. He met that attack and came around to hit my shoulder. I dodged out of the way and stepped forward into my next attack. I went for his head. He met it again and went down for my legs. I met that one and we were back, swinging back and forth yet once again.

We stepped away from each other for a second, and then we both turned around so that we had traded spots. We swung into our attacks again, neither one of us getting the upper hand. We stepped away and both held our lightsabers up high.

The power cords flickered sparks as we both waited to see who would attack first. I swung down to my right and went for his face. He met it as I went down low. I spun around to my left and came so I was now sideways from where I was just standing. As I spun, he came around to my shoulder. When I finished turning, I flicked my lightsaber up to meet his. As he moved away, I turned back toward my right and met his low attack. We hit four more times before I moved to the side again. I went for his stomach as he came around for my head. He was just far enough away that my attack missed. I moved my head away so that he would miss. I went out for his neck, but he met my attack and held it there. His lightsaber was close to where my hands were. He turned all the way around to his left and swung his lightsaber as he turned. He was too fast for me to see where he was going to attack.

Before I knew it, he cut off my arm at the elbow. Pain seared through my arm and I screamed as he pushed me back using the Force. I slammed into the floor and then my world went black.

When I woke up, Master Yoda was leaning on his cane. I was close to where Obi-Wan was lying and there was a huge pillar just behind us. Obi-Wan was getting up behind me, moving slowly because of his wounds. My head was on his legs. I groaned and leaned my head up.

The room was a mess. There were parts of the ceiling all over the floor and they were crumbled all over the floor. I used my left hand to push myself up. Obi-Wan helped me stand. 

I heard my name called and glanced up to see Padme running toward me. She hit me instantly and we hugged. I put my arm around her and dug my face into her hair. “Padme,” I sighed into her hair.

“Oh my God, Annie! What happened?” she demanded, looking at my right “arm.”

I breathed deeply to keep from groaning. The pain was so intense. “I had to save Obi-Wan again,” I teased, looking at Obi-Wan.

“Well you missed the most exciting part, my young Padawan,” he said, smiling.

I gave him a questioning look.

“While you were sleeping, we were almost pulverized,” he explained, nodding to the big pillar.

Padme’s mouth dropped open.

I looked at Yoda and said, “Thank you, Master Yoda.”

He nodded and walked off, with his cane. “Let’s go,” Padme suggested.

“Dooku?” I asked Obi-Wan.

“He got away. It was either get him or let us die. You can figure out which one Master Yoda chose,” he explained to me.

I nodded reluctantly. I almost put my arm around Padme when I realized the mistake both of us had just made. I looked at her and we exchanged a glance.

She moved away from me and walked in-between Obi-Wan and I. “What happened to you, Master Kenobi?” she asked.

“Dooku managed to cut me. Nothing I can’t handle,” he answered, shrugging. I chuckled and rolled my eyes as we walked out into the transport waiting for us outside.

We got in the transport and rode it to a medical ship. Once in the medical ship, they put my arm in something to dull the pain until we could get to a medical center in Coruscant. The medical center would be able to give me a mechanical arm.

On our way back to Coruscant, Master Windu informed Obi-Wan and I on the current situation. Our troops had put the droid army in full retreat. Dooku’s ship had not been found, but Master Windu seemed to think he went back to his master.

“His master?” Obi-Wan asked.

I winced as they connected something to my arm.

“Yes,” Master Windu answered. “Dooku gave in to the Dark side. The Sith are out there. Whoever this Sith Lord is, he’s the one who taught Darth Maul, the one who killed your old master, Obi-Wan,” Windu explained.

     Obi-Wan nodded gravely.