If I Don't Catch You _________ AU, TPM

Thanks Healer Leona! ;-)

 

Yes! Great post, Julie! I understand now, what the title means! YaY me! lol! Anakin and Kaley were very cute, but I am now wondering where the smeg they are! I hope you feel better, but know that your writing has NOT been affected at all!

aa

 

I've already fallen in love with Kaely. She's so cute!

Post soon! I want to know what Anakin's up to.

 

Hope you feel better soon. I wonder what Ani's been doing for the past three years. Is he a slave? Is he working for someone? Palpy? I keep wondering how he felt when he saw Obi-Wan. Does he think that Obi knew the council was sending him to the Agri-corp? I don't blame him for being mad at the council. I'm mad at them too. I hope the Force has been them bad dreams.

 

Oooh, yeah! Definitely AU! I like this twist! So, Anakin is now a 12-year-old burglar and (I assume) safe-cracker, huh? Will Obi-Wan catch up with him? Drag him back to the Temple kicking and screaming? Or will he lead the Jedi a merry chase through the galaxy? I liked the droid Kaely, and the way that Anakin is training "her". Good touch!

 

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If I Don't Catch You
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Part 13
Thoughts are indicated like /this/.
***********************************

Sielilyad was currently a quiet system. Most of its economy relied on tourists who came for its wonderful pink and lilac beaches and warm green water. However, it was winter on the more famous half of the planet Ylil. Cool rain and harsh winds had once again driven the tourists away. Through a gentle drizzle, the Jedi's ship arrived in the night.

"Be alert." Master Qui-gon reminded, perhaps unnecessarily, the two Jedi Knights with him. "This boy can use the Force. We need to convince him to return with us."

For the third time since they began to enter Ylil's atmosphere, Qui-gon searched for Anakin with the Force. /There!/ Finally, he felt him. /And he is drawing strongly on the Force./

"Land in the city in that region of the coast." Qui-gon pointed to an area on the map near the equator that was shrouded in night.

***************

Anakin Skywalker was very happy. /This was nice and easy. And even K-LE1 did well./ he cheered. He'd found what he'd come for without anyone noticing or any alarms sounding. Smoothly, he returned to the window and went out into the night. As Anakin made his way to the roof a feeling of faint unease alerted him. /What?/

He turned to look behind him as Jedi Master Qui-gon Jinn stepped into view on the wet roof.

"Hello, Anakin." he said calmly.

For several moments they looked at each other in silence. The wind began to tear at Qui-gon's robe and the cool air sent chills down Anakin's spine.

"It's good to see you alive and well, Master Jinn." Anakin replied politely. "I'm very sorry I never had the chance to say goodbye."

"Anakin, the Council has retracted their decision to send you to the Agri-corps. If you would just come with me..."

"No thank you. I really don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why is that?" Qui-gon was puzzled.

"They don't want me and I don't want them."

"Ani,.."

"Its true! Besides I'm doing just fine on my own."

"Do you have a job?"

"I do what I need to do." Anakin responded with equal lack of emotion.

"That's not much of an answer."

"It's the only one I can give."

"You will come with me." Qui-gon subtly gestured with his hand.

Anakin did not answer with words, but the look of anger on his face did.

"Who is training you?" Qui-gon inquired with barely concealed alarm.

Anakin bolted.

***********

For just a moment, the three Jedi were too surprised to react. Qui-gon was the first to follow Anakin. The two Knights were shocked to see that this boy could withstand a Jedi Master's mind trick, but they recovered quickly.

"I'll detour to the hanger his ship is registered at. You two herd him to it." Qui-gon ordered and sped off in another direction.

Jedi Knight Ti-ekam T'now looked at Knight Drah Seirt as they ran across the rooftops.

"Any ideas?" Ti-ekam asked. He was a Twilek and frowned as they leaped over a protruding gable and yet still could not see the boy.

"Nope." Drah replied. "There he is!" she exclaimed suddenly. She was of a short humanesque species. Her faintly lavender skin glistened in the starlight.

"At least he doesn't know we were there." Ti-ekam observed.

"Yes," Drah answered. "That should make this easy."

Up ahead, Anakin Skywalker nimbly skipped across roof tiles and skylights. He had known that two Jedi were lurking in the shadows while he was talking to Qui-gon. /They are in for a surprise./

Knight Drah Seirt sensed the danger first. "Stop, Ti-ekam!" she called in warning.

They both halted and scanned the next roof carefully with the Force. "He's left a trap, I think." Ti-ekam said. His yellow eyes narrowed.

Drah nodded. Gingerly, they leapt across and stepped with great care across the tiles. "I think I see it." Drah said. She pointed to a slightly darker patch of tiles that took up most of the center of the roof. They both jumped over it and continued their race to cat

 

I've run out of comments to say how great this story is! It's great, and I really like the way it's going. I'm wondering though, if Anakin is actually using the dark side, or is just toying with it..
More!

 

poor kid, i wonder if he even knows what he's doing! Is he being trained by some mysterious rogue jedi? is he just training himself? GREAt job Julie! You always keep us guessing! And I love how Qui-Gon is all-powerful...very cool

aa

 

Just wanted to quickly stop by and tell you how good this is and how well you're doing. (But you already know that. )

Post soon!!!!!!

 

I'm almost sure now that Palpatine arranged for the pirate attack so he could get his hands on Anikin, but... I could be wrong. ;-) This is such a good story.

 

Come on, Qui-Gon, drag him to Coruscant, drag him, drag him!

You know, I get the feeling that Anakin wasn't on that transport at all three years ago. Maybe he stowed himself away somewhere else, or maybe somebody else took an interest in him and helped him hide while training him to use the Force. Now who could that somebody be?

Excellent action here! The traps that Anakin has set are delightfully devious! What's he looking for, anyway? What's so important?

 

Yhea, who is training you Anakin?!?

 

**********************
If I Don't Catch You
**********************
Part 14
Thoughts are indicated like /this/.
***********************************

/I must be calm. Frightening him will only make things worse./
"Ani, I only want to help." Qui-gon said kindly. "We have all been very worried. I apologize for my behavior on the roof, but you must see I have good reason to be concerned."

He looked sadly at Anakin's stoic face. He studied the boy cautiously with the Force, not wishing to alarm or anger him again. He could perceive that Anakin had suffered greatly in some way that remained elusive to him at present. And, the boy had learned how to use the Force adeptly. /Who has been teaching him?/ Qui-gon understood the great distress and alarm that Obi-wan had displayed in his message now. /The Council will not like this./ It grieved him immensely to see Anakin so untrusting.

"Please, tell me something." Qui-gon entreated. He carefully relaxed and tried to appear as non-threatening as possible.

Anakin didn't move his wary position. "I don't have anything to talk about."

"Will you explain further why you feel you can't return to Coruscant with me?"

The boy thought about it for a moment before answering. "I don't belong there. The Council already views me as *defective*." he spat. "What would they think of me now?"

"What do you think?" Qui-gon responded.

"I think that they wish you'd never found me. And I'm beginning to feel the same." Anakin's expression was cold.

The barb hit home and Qui-gon's brows furrowed slightly. It was very hard for him to not wince. /I will not feel guilty./ He told himself. /I know without a doubt that it was the will of the Force that I find him./

"Taking you from Tatooine was no mistake."

"Well, we'll never know now." Anakin answered bitterly.

"Anakin, your behavior is reprehensible, but not irreparable. We can overcome this." Qui-gon said in earnest.

Finally, Anakin's face softened. "It's nice that you are willing to help me, Master Qui-gon. There is just one problem, except for you, no one else cares about me."

"You know you are wrong." Qui-gon disagreed. "Your mother cares, so does Queen Amidala, and Obi-wan and..."

"Obi-wan doesn't care about me!" Anakin interrupted with a scowl.

Qui-gon puzzled over this briefly before the answer came to him. "It is not Obi-wan's fault that the Council tried to send you to the Agri-corps."

"I know that! But he didn't try to stop them either!"

"Anakin," the Jedi Master scolded him. "He was a Padawan at the time. The Council did not need to consult him, nor would they have. His opinion would have made no difference whatsoever. He did not learn of the Council's decision regarding you until I did!"

Anakin's face fell. A look of guilt flashed in his eyes for a second only to be replaced by implacable calm. Qui-gon sighed. /I miss the child he once was. How will I ever get through to him?/

"Ani, your control of the Force is remarkable." Qui-gon said in an attempt to diplomatically restate his question from earlier on the roof. "How have you been learning for the past three years?"

"I can't talk about that."

"Can not or will not?"

"Both."

"You know that I must report this. If you would just tell me the name of your teacher now..."

Anakin looked Qui-gon straight in the eye. "It's none of the Council's business and I have no reason to tell you."

Master Qui-gon had no response to that, only that his frown deepened. Anakin did not carry a lightsaber or show any of the dangerous symptoms of the Darkside. The actions he had seen Anakin display were unusual, but not as alarming as he's first thought.

"In fact," Anakin spoke haughtily, "I don't see why you don't get off my ship right now! You have no right to detain me. If you would like to talk to me some other time, that's fine. But right now I've got places I need to be."

"If you do not come, the Council will see that as evidence that you are a danger. They will hunt you down and bring you back, regar

 

Has no one caught the name joke?

 

Name joke? Am I just being dense?

Wow, so much to catch up on! This story is just wonderful, Julie! (I know that's a bit redundant but I just had to say it again.)

Somehow, I felt so sad when Qui-Gon thought he missed the boy Anakin used to be. That one line just made me think of Anakin not just in the context of your great story but also the rest of the Star Wars Universe where he turned to Vader from such a trusting, eager boy.

You've really captured the sad turn of events for Anakin really well in this AU. Please keep going so I can keep reading.

 

Name joke? I'm lost sorry (any hints.. I'm slow..) So Anakin is not on the dark side? So who's been teaching him? It's interesting how Yoda and Mace are coming off as the bad guys in this... Keep going!

 

There is a tendancy in the SW books to have a large number of unpronouncable but really neat looking names. I wanted to do something similar, but it was so hard to think up lots of names for planets and those two Knights...

Hint, one word: mirror

 

Ah, names...I still haven't figured out the name joke, but I feel your pain! I named my USJS character after a new nebula or something that NASA discovered! lol

Great post! Anakin sure is a little spitfire! I'm glad Qui and Obi are on his side!

aa

 

Ahaha! Julie!
I just got it! Funny!

 

All hail Lina! :-D

 

Ah, Julie, your readers ... each Tries Hard, but some just Won't Make It.

 

Got it! <I'm slow, so sue me!> What a good naming technique

 

LOL, guess I'm slow too, as I just got it. Pretty funny.