9 Chapter 9

As everyone soon headed inside to rest as the race was tomorrow. Cain decided to stay outside and watched the stars from the roof. With all the excitement from Naboo to rushing to Tatooine, Cain decided to do a Force exercise he made up to calm himself and practice his skills.

Crossing his legs, Cain closed his eyes and focused on all of the tiny pebbles around him. Focusing on the rocks, he levitated them in the air and slowly revolved them around his body.

As the amount of sand and pebbles in the air increased Cain continued to force them to spin faster, creating a perfect ring around his body that caused a sharp whistling sound.

After gaining complete control over the first ring of dirt, Cain forms another, and another and then one more after that. He soon levitated all four rings simultaneously while giving them his absolute full attention, until a voice suddenly interrupted him.

"...That's cool."

Suddenly opening his eyes Cain turned to see Anakin standing in front of him, staring at the cool display of The Force in front of him with wide eyes.

"...Yeah, I'm pretty awesome like that." Cain said while smiling as he slowly made all of the rocks fall to the ground.

"Are you a Jedi too?" Anakin asked as he sat down next to Cain.

"No, though I can do some of the same things as them. I can even do the thing they can't, but you're still too young to hear about that." Cain joked, to the oblivious 9-year-old.

"Master Qui-Gon said I have the qualities of a Jedi. Do you think I could be one? I've always wanted to travel the galaxy." Anakin asked while staring at the stars.

Just as he was about to say yes, Cain suddenly realized just who he was speaking to. This was the Chosen One, the soon to be the fearless warrior whose name was known throughout the galaxy. He would then later become Darth Vader, the right hand man of the Emperor. A barely human-cyborg that killed and hunted the Jedi to extinction for sport.

That horrifying heartless monster deserved to be killed in cold blood.

But, when Cain stared at the clear blue eyes of the innocent young boy in front of him, he only saw the untapped well of goodness that Anakin could bring to the galaxy.

"You would be the greatest Jedi the galaxy's ever seen."

After hearing this Anakin simply smiled and sat in silence with Cain as they stared at the stars. For a while, they just sat together in a comfortable silence until Anakin began to yawn loudly.

Finally noticing how late it was getting, Cain suddenly stood up and stretched his back.

"It's getting late, and your mom would kill me if she knew I let you stay up. Plus, you have the race tomorrow you'll need some sleep." Cain said to the half-asleep Anakin.

"D-do... do you think I'll win tomorrow?" Anakin asked hesitantly as he stared at the ground and yawned again.

"You got this race in the bag. Sebulba won't even know what hit him," Cain said to the sleepy Anakin.

"...Thanks...," Anakin said with a smile as he fully closed his eyes.

Smiling down at the sleepy child, Cain lifted him in his arms and carried him off the roof. He walked back inside the apartment and moved towards Anakin's room. After placing him in his bed and tucking him in, Cain turned around to see Shmi standing by the door.

"Thank you. He seems to always sneak off to watch the stars." Shmi said as she lovingly brushed Anakin's hair.

"He'll do fine in the race tomorrow, I promise. Nothing will happen to him." Cain reassured the worried mother.

"I know, but I'll never truly stop worrying about my baby," Shmi said while caressing Anakin's cheek.

After turning off the lights and saying goodnight to Shmi, Cain found an empty chair and sat down. He leaned back and let out a long sigh as he tried to completely relaxed his body until he heard someone snoring.

"Awoo....awoo...awoo."

Looking around, Cain soon found the snoring Gungan spread out on the floor while snuggling a pillow.

Ignoring the loud Gungan for now, Cain suddenly realized that he didn't see a notification he got earlier.

[Force Level: Padawan(83%)]

Happy that his percentage increased, Cain closed his eyes and fell asleep as he was excited for the race tomorrow and for the excitement to begin.

....

As the twin suns rose, the Skywalker's house was bustling with activity as everyone was preparing for the race. After double-checking and painting the racer Cain, Qui-Gon, and Anakin all transported it to the main hanger of the pod racing arena.

The hanger was a large building with a dozen or so Podracers getting readied for the upcoming race. Different crew and pilots rushed about, making last-minute fixes on their vehicles.

After making sure nothing was wrong, Cain left Anakin in the care of Qui-Gon. He then grabbed a large robe from his inventory to cover his face and then followed the crowd. Following the flow of people, he soon found what exactly what he was looking for.

There surrounded by crowds of people was the betting booth for the race.

Making his way through the crowd, while dodging the occasional pickpocket, Cain finally made to the front.

"Who would you like to bet on and the amount." A banker droid asked.

"20,000 on Anakin Skywalker," Cain said while place down the credits on the table.

After hearing this number everyone in the area seemed to pause and stare at Cain as he if he were crazy. Even the droid in the booth seemed to pause for a second until it accepted the money and placed the bet while giving Cain a card to retrieve his winnings if Anakin won.

Walking away confidently, Cain saw that everyone made way for him as he walked through the crowd. Stowing away the card in his inventory for safety, Cain could practically feel the greed radiating off most of the people in the arena.

After disappearing from watchful eyes of the thieves, Cain took off the robe that covered his features and went back to the hangar.

As he moved towards the group he passed by the laughing fat bug, Watto. Feeling revengeful, Cain sent out a small force blast that sent the fat lard tumbling to the ground while he continued to walk.

"...What did he mean by that?" Anakin asked Qui-Gon.

"I'll tell you later," Qui-Gon said while glancing at Cain then back to Watto who was still on the floor.

Cain only shrugged his shoulders in response and turned back towards Anakin to see if he was prepared for the race.

"This is so wizarded! I'm sure you'll do it this time, Annie." One of Anakin's friends said.

"Do what?" Padme suddenly asked.

"Finish the race, of course!" The little boy replied.

"You've never won a race?" Padmé asked Anakin in disbelief.

"Well...not exactly..." Anakin said sheepishly.

"Not even finished?!" Padme exclaimed.

"...but Kitster's right, I will this time," Anakin said with utmost certainty.

"Of course you will," Qui-Gon said with a wide smile.

"Down worry so much, Padmé. He's guaranteed to win." Cain said while smiling brightly and placing his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

Padmé could only stare at them in disbelief that they could so blindly believe in something.

....

As the racers began to line up their pods on a vast arena in the Tatooine desert. A large crowd with hundreds of thousand people waited for the race to begin in the stands. There were even large viewing platforms that loomed over the racetrack.

Cain stared at the gigantic crowd, as the two-headed announcer began to describe everything that was happening.

Following Anakin and the rest of the group to their designated spot, Cain helped Qui-Gon hook up the power cables to the pod. Double-checking their work and making sure the engine was tuned, everyone backed off for Anakin to prepare himself.

Suddenly, from the crowd, a loud roar was heard as the Hutts finally arrived.

Looking at the fat slug creature, Cain was shocked that something so fat could even move, let alone run an entire crime empire.

Turning away from the fat slugs, Cain looked to see that Shmi and Qui-Go giving Anakin a final pep talk.

"Be safe," Shmi said while kissing Anakin on the top of his head.

"I will, Mom. I promise." Anakin promised while strapping on his goggles.

Cain simply smiled and was going to encourage Anakin, but stopped when he saw Sebulba moving stealthily behind Anakin's pod.

Remembering that the cheater messed with Anakin's pod in the movies, Cain felt extreme rage. The alien thug was intentionality trying to cheat and kill a child for some race.

Enhancing his body with the Force, Cain appeared like a wraith in front of the surprised Sebulba and menacingly stared down at him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothin." Sebulba scoffed and tried to run away but was being telekinetically held down by Cain.

Slowly walking towards the struggling thug, Cain crouched down while staring Sebulba in his eyes and then roughly grabbed onto his shoulder.

"I don't care if you live, or die a horrible death during this race. I wouldn't even bat an eyelash. But if you dare to try and sabotage Anakin, I'll kill you the moment you walk off the track." Cain side coldly while squeezing Sebulba's shoulder so hard that it began to creak.

"I w-won't.." Sebulba stuttered as his face clenched in pain.

"Do. You. Understand." Cain empathize as he added more pressure onto Sebulba's.

The thug could only quickly nod his head, as his entire body felt like it was being crushed.

Letting go of his hold over Sebulba, Cain roughly shoved the alien away and watched him scurry back towards his racer.

Suddenly like a mist dispersing, Cain realized what he just did and was shocked.

He had just threatened to murder someone in cold blood, without even skipping a beat. It was as if all of his emotions become heightened to extreme levels, especially his anger.

[Force Power: Menacing Presence(D)Learned]

Suddenly figuring out why he was so angry, Cain realized that he used a Dark side ability. His emotions and thoughts seemed to be extremely clouded and influenced.

Although Cain didn't believe that there a Dark or Light side, there was just the Force. He knew that when influenced with strong emotions, using certain abilities can lead to rash and horrible decisions.

For example, the entirety of every event that happened in the Revenge of The Sith.

Dismissing the notification, Cain had to admit that the Dark side abilities have their uses. With Menacing Presence, Cain could scare and frighten others into submission, and he wouldn't even need to lift a finger.

Appearing from behind the Pod, Cain saw that everyone had already moved towards their seats and Qui-Gon was too distracted to see what Cain had just did.

Following the group to their seats, Cain saw Padmé give Anakin a kiss on the cheek before he jumped into his pod. Padme smiled and ran towards her seat.

"Hmm....he's a little young for you. But I can see it working." Cain joked to Padme as she sat down.

"What? No, I don't- we're not." Padme stuttered, but finally stopped talking and shimmered in embarrassment.

"Is he nervous?" Shmi suddenly asked as she stared at the thousands of people in the stands.

"He's fine." Qui-Gon simply stared.

"You Jedi are far too reckless. The Queen..." Padmé tried to chasten Qui-Gon but was interrupted.

"The Queen trusts my judgment, young handmaiden. You should too." Qui-Gon said, completely ending the argument.

After hearing Qui-Gon, Cain had to hold in a laugh as he wondered how Qui-Gon would react if he knew Padmé was the real Queen.

Suddenly from the floating speakers, a voice echoed throughout the entire arena that made everyone cheer in excitement.

"Start your engines!"