Once they reached the Outskirts of Tatooine where the ship was located, they had only a few miles left; however, Qui-Gon started to go into a slow jog causing Anakin to go into a run. Anakin wouldn't have had a problem with it had his body been in prime shape; he was still recovering from the encounter with the bounty hunters. Anakin was about to tell the Jedi Master to slow down when he felt a tremor in the Force. Its presents were dark and menacing as it kept coming closer. He could feel its pure hatred while the presence became familiar: Darth Maul.

Before the words came out of Qui-Gon, he dropped to the ground, lifting his head after the bike hovered over him to see Darth Maul and Qui-Gon now fighting. Anakin was about to join Qui-Gon when he remembered he was weaponless and relatively helpless.

"Anakin! Tell them to take off!" Qui-Gon shouted.

However, the ship was barely in view and Anakin feared for the safety of Qui-Gon; he did not want the Jedi Master dying in this timeline. Instead, Anakin stayed where he was, formulating a plan to help the man. Although, Anakin knew he needed to come up with something quickly as Darth Maul was proving to be overpowering in his offensive strikes; Qui-Gon's defensive blocks were weakening in each blow. Finally, it proved to be too much for Qui-Gon and the Zabrak managed to hit the man with the hilt of his lightsaber, knocking the Jedi unconscious. When Darth Maul was bringing his blade up to perform an Assured Strike, that was when Anakin intervened. Sucking up as much of the Force as he possibly could, Anakin sent a Force push toward the Sith apprentice. Darth Maul flew back in the air but did a back-flip to land on his feet.

The feat obviously surprised the Zabrak, but he was ready to take Anakin on. Anakin called Qui-Gon's lightsaber to his hand and activated it, going into his comfortable Form V. The Djem So was characterized by power attacks and defense immediately followed by a counter-strike. This discipline of the form was made for lightsaber combat. It was perfect for the Form VII that Darth Maul was using. While Mace Windu was a master of the Vappad variation of Form VII, the Zabrak fighting Anakin was using Juyo. Juyo was an aggressive lightsaber form. The form was both chaotic and erratic, with a heavy focus on offense. Few Force-sensitive beings were practitioners of the form as it required great skill and using passion as an ally -something the Jedi were against.

However, as Darth Vader, Anakin was a master of all forms and knew the weakness of Form VII. Djem So worked well against Juyo because a superior power attack and a superior counter lead to an overall offensive approach. Juyo was weak against the counters via blade or force.

Anakin went for a vertical chop at the head, but Maul horizontally blocked it, so Anakin went for the right arm in a horizontal sideswipe, but Maul parried that as well in a vertical position. With Maul switching to an offensive approach, he attempted to sweep through Anakin's legs. Anakin performed a sai, evading the direct attack to his legs, using the fall as a fulcrum for an overhand blow as a counterattack; Maul side-aerial out of the way.

For a moment, both opponents had a second to catch their breaths and to reassess each other. It was obvious that Maul was not expecting a boy to have such mastery with a lightsaber, and in hindsight, Anakin supposed he shouldn't have exposed himself as a warrior before even reaching Coruscant; however, there was no regret.

When Anakin was still a Padawan Learner, he had altered a training droid at the Jedi Temple to take the appearance of Darth Maul. It brought Anakin focus and a clear goal in mind -to kill the Sith apprentice. Anakin would never forgive the horned alien for killing Qui-Gon and now was his chance to kill him, to exact his revenge.

However, for a second, Anakin allowed himself to play with the idea of taking Maul his apprentice. There was no doubt the Zabrak had skilled and the rage that followed through the young Dathomir was unbelievable. It was clear Maul was strong on the dark side with no redeeming qualities. Trained as a child to serve the dark side, Darth Maul was the ultimate Sith apprentice and he could be Anakin's. This time around, Anakin could be emperor and he could be the ultimate ruler of the galaxy. Everything could be his.

No!

That was the dark side talking through him. The Sith was just as bad as the Jedi. He would never associate with one or the other ever again. Anakin was neither on the light or dark side of the Force; he was on his own side. Anakin was the mediator between the two sides. There was no room for him.

At the same time, both individuals held their lightsabers in an offensive neutral stance and began their dance once more again. Darth Maul slashed straight to the torso, but Anakin counterattacked it by performing a dulon: parrying the attack and then bringing the blade around the body to slash at the head in high velocity. Darth Maul deflected the attack horizontally, holding the blade at head-height and angled across the body. Then Maul transitioned into a horizontal sideswipe while Anakin went into a vertical parry position.

Truthfully, Anakin was ready to collapse out of exhaustion. His arms and legs were wobbling uncontrollably, and his vision was beginning to get blurry. Risking a glance at Qui-Gon, he saw that the man was still dead to the world; he was not going to be any help.

As both Anakin and Darth Maul attacked each other for a strike, they locked blades; the lightsabers sizzling against each other. They had locked blades so close to each other that Anakin could have kissed Maul if he so chose to. Instead, Anakin took in the Zabrak's appearance. Darth Maul had the image of a child's nightmare. Between the Sith-eyes, his yellow pointed teeth, and his horns, Maul was a menace just by sight.

"Who are you?" Maul asked.

"Your worst nightmare."

However, as their lightsabers continued to lock blades, Maul was overpowering him, a twisted smile on his face. Finally, Maul broke through his defenses used a shiim move against his face. Anakin screamed out in pain, hitting the ground on all four, fighting unconsciousness. As Anakin was preoccupied with himself, he failed to notice the ship that hovered above him and the Jedi Padawan that just saved his life.

A blue lightsaber was inches away from his body with Darth Maul's clashed on top it. Squinting, Anakin tried to see who the owner was of that lightsaber, but couldn't as the world seemed to spin all too fast. It was the last thing he remembered.

….

After Qui-Gon left them with the generator, it didn't take long for them to assemble it into the ship. While Obi-Wan was nowhere near a mechanic like his former Padawan had been, he still had learned a thing or two about machinery. Because of that, he helped the crew fix the ship. Afterwards, he made round trips making sure everyone was prepared for takeoff. When everything seemed to be in order, that was when he started to get worried that Qui-Gon had not returned yet. It also didn't help that he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong.

"Master Jedi, Ric Ollie needs you on the bridge!"

As soon as the words came out of one of Panaka's mouth, Obi-Wan went into a dead sprint where through the windshield you could see a fight between a red and green glowstick off in the distance. Immediately Obi-Wan took command of the situation, staying calm and collective on the outside. Telling Ric Ollie to fly low where the scene was, Obi-Wan left to open the hatchet where he found that the duel was between Anakin and Maul -not his Master. Obi-Wan was stunned.

While Obi-Wan had to admit Anakin had always been a quick learner, he shouldn't be head-to-head with Maul; Anakin was just a boy with no training. Something was not right, and it made Obi-Wan feel uneasy; however, if it was Anakin who was dueling with Qui-Gon's lightsaber, where was his Master? A second later he spotted the unconscious figure lying a few meters away from the battle. Obi-Wan couldn't even creatively come up with a scenario that led to this battle.

When Obi-Wan saw Darth Maul perform the shiim against Anakin, he thought for sure he was dead. Using a shiim was utterly useless in combat as it was nothing more than a minute wound to an opponent by the edge of a lightsaber's blade. While it does hurt extremely, as Obi-Wan had the first-hand experience from Count Dooku from their very first encounter, it was almost never lethal. The technique was mostly used as a taunt to the other opponent; however, Maul had used it against Anakin's face. If it didn't kill the boy, it would very well scar him physically for life. As Obi-Wan saw Darth Maul winding his lightsaber back to deliver the final blow, that was when Obi-Wan jumped down from the ship, igniting his own lightsaber to counter the attack, locking blades with Maul.

Obi-Wan knew that he could finish Darth Maul without delay; after all, the Zabrak was deprived of a lot of his energy while Obi-Wan had an overabundant stored in him. However, his top priority was not to take down the Sith Apprentice, that could come later. What was important then was that he rescued the boy and his Master. Instead, Obi-Wan Force-threw a handful of sand into Darth Maul's eyes and as he broke the contact with his lightsaber, Obi-Wan Forced-pushed him, and with the aid of the Force and sand around him, created a barrier with the sand to separate them from Darth Maul.

Obi-Wan was beginning to question how he would rescue two unconscious figures and lightly pondered if he would need to leave one behind, when he realized Qui-Gon was starting to rise, in awe of his handiwork.

"Go!" he grunted through his teeth.

Trusting Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon grabbed young Anakin, cradling him in his arms before jumping onto the ramp of the ship, looking back down at Obi-Wan. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan took that as his opportunity to jump onboard the ship as well. Immediately helping Qui-Gon walk on into the ship, as soon as they were inside, the door closed, and they left the atmosphere, leaving Darth Maul far behind.

Padme, still dressed as a handmaiden, soon joined them at the cargo of the ship, quietly examining Anakin. Not feeling the slight worry about the boy, Obi-Wan gave his full attention Qui-Gon, glossing over the bump that was on the man's head. Through the Force, his Master was fine and would make a quick recovery.

"I will take Anakin to the med-droid," Padme announced, scooping the boy into her arms.

Obi-Wan debated his next action, wondering if he should take Anakin himself since he didn't want him anywhere near her (no offense to Padme), or if he should stay with his Master. Obi-Wan decided to pick the middle option.

Shaking his head, he disagreed. "I'll take him. Master Qui-Gon also needs to see the medical droid as well"

When his Master started to protest the last comment, Obi-Wan shot him a glare that Qui-Gon didn't challenge; it made Obi-Wan believed his master was more injured then he was letting on. Padme transferred Anakin over to him, and with Qui-Gon by his side, they walked to the medical room.

...

Qui-Gon insisted that the droid scan Anakin first and Obi-Wan couldn't find it in him to disagree. The boy looked rough; his body pale and his face swelling up. His clothing was dusted with sand and he had various cuts and bruises marked on his body. Alongside his eye was a distinctive vertical mark where the tip of the lightsaber had touched him. As blood seeped out of the open wound, Obi-Wan knew that it would need to be stitched up. Without a doubt, it would leave a scar like his old one after his fight with Ventress.

Although Obi-Wan would have preferred a real doctor, or maybe even a droid that was physically there, the holographic droid still did its job fluently. After the bio-scan was completed, the holographic droid cited his diagnosis.

"It seems the patient is severely hydrated, has several vitamin deficiencies, and is suffering from exhaustion." He paused to open a small, hidden compartment that held different types of medicine. The medical droid gesture to three different ones: one for Anakin's vitamin deficiencies, one for the pain, and the last one for infection, explaining, "Inject the patient with these hyposprays and he should wake up within the next hour. I also advise putting an IV into him. Use bacta patches as you see fit. As for the wound near his eye, it is required that it gets patched up. I suggest contacting a real doctor."

As the medical droid finished his diagnosis of Anakin, he moved on to Qui-Gon. As the holographic droid ran the bio-scan, the man spoke with a frustrated sigh. "He will have to wait until we reach Coruscant before we can stitch him up. I wish there was a doctor present; otherwise, we will have to sedate him, so he will not wake up.

However, as Obi-Wan had spent three, death-defying years fighting in Clone Wars, Obi-Wan had become quite the healer. There had been plenty of occasions where Obi-Wan had to play doctor for either himself or for others. While he couldn't perform surgery, he could stitch something like Anakin's face. All that was required was the right tools. He knew that his "new skill" would sound suspicious to his Master, but it was worth the attention. Obi-Wan wanted to talk to the boy before arriving at the planet capital; he couldn't do that if Anakin was sedated the entire time.

Before Obi-Wan would know anything though, he waited for Qui-Gon's diagnosis which was like Anakin's. Qui-Gon was also severely dehydrated, suffered from exhaustion, but held a grade two concussion; the hit to the head was harder than any of them thought. His master tried to wave it off; however, but Obi-Wan commanded, with respect, that Qui-Gon stayed where he was and to trust his old Padawan in handling everything.

"I will do it, Master" Obi-Wan announced. Qui-Gon just looked at him in confusion. "I know a thing or two when it comes to stitching."

Obi-Wan had truly hope that his Master wouldn't ask him any questions about it and would just accept his skill. For a second Qui-Gon did, so Obi-Wan began acquiring his instruments needed to fix the wound. That was when Qui-Gon spoke up, very cautiously.

"Not that I am thankful for what you did, Padawan; however, mastery of the Force would be required to perform your feat."

Qui-Gon was referring to the shield he had created with the sand to get away from Darth Maul. He knew that the question would eventually be asked, but he didn't expect it to be asked so soon. Obi-Wan was not prepared to come up with a brilliant answer. Luckily for him though, he excelled at talking his way through almost anything.

"I don't think I meant to do that," he lied. "My objective was to rescue the two of you without a duel between me and... the Zabrak." A pause. "Master, do you remember anything about the fight?"

Qui-Gon shook his head, responding, "No. I don't even remember my own battle, just the fact that you saved us." Qui-Gon looked over at him with a smile. "Good job."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but take that as the highest compliment. Oh, how he had missed his Master. However, it was good that Qui-Gon's memory of the fight was blurry; it meant that his Master hadn't witnessed Anakin dueling with his lightsaber. Obi-Wan had a high suspicion what that meant, and it almost made him sick. Obi-Wan only witnessed a small piece of the fight, but it was enough to inform him that Anakin was not a novice with a lightsaber; he recognized the Form V lightsaber combat from anywhere. Anakin had used it against him on their last battle on Mustafar. While Obi-Wan wasn't sure what time Anakin was, it was certain that Anakin had at least reached the rank of Jedi Knight. He didn't believe Anakin was Vader as everyone would have been dead already unless Anakin was playing the part of an innocent boy, so he could invade the Jedi Temple a second time. Obi-Wan knew what he had to do.