As Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn leapt down the ventilation shaft, they had to be careful as to not be spotted. They crept up behind two cargo boxes to survey what was going on.

Without much reaction, Qui-Gon said to his Padawan, �Battle droids.�

�It�s an invasion army� Obi-Wan whispered.

Still hiding, Qui-Gon replied, �This is an odd play for the Trade Federation. We�ve got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Valorum. Let�s split up. Stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet.�

With a smile, Obi-Wan joked, �You were right about one thing master. The negotiations were short.� The two Jedi went in opposite directions with a closing of �May the force be with you.� Obi-Wan went down a short corridor and spotted a MTT Multi-Troop Transport still loading the battle droids. He thought about sneaking inside one until they landed on Naboo but then noticed how little space there was. He would also have had to move fast in order to make it before they went into the Trade Federation Landing Ship. �That�s it�, Obi-Wan thought. He could hide in there. There would be plenty of room. Getting to the Landing Ship without being seen by the patrolling Security droids wasn�t going to be an easy task. The young Padawan was terribly nervous on account of him never being on a mission without Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan stood out of view and meditated for a moment to calm himself.

When ready, he ran to the side of a MTT and followed it on its path to the ship. He had his hand on his lightsaber constantly just in case something unexpected happened. The transport he was hiding behind was moving unusually slow which led him to believe that he may have been discovered. All of the sudden, the MTT stopped and a hidden door swung down nearly crushing him. Two battle droids walked out with their blasters tucked into the backpacks so Obi-Wan figured they hadn�t come out for a fight. He was safely behind the transport now so they couldn�t see him. He was going to wait until they passed but the one in the back stopped and signaled for the other to wait. Obi-Wan now realized what he had done. His foot had struck a piece of scrap metal. The droids whirled around pulling their blasters out. With a movement of Obi-Wan�s hand, the piece of metal flew off the ground and at one of the droids, knocking its head off. He then pulled out his lightsaber instantly and deflected the other battle droid�s shots. All missed the enemy but he spun around with his lightsaber extended slicing the droid through the middle. To avoid arousing suspicion, he used the Force and tossed the two piles of metal into a hidden area so they wouldn�t be found.

The MTT quickly started up again after dropping the two battle droids off. Obi-Wan pulled in his lightsaber and ran back to the side. The transport was starting to go up the foot ramp of the Landing Ship. He still had to follow it onto the deployment ramp before he could leave the side. Once in safety, Obi-Wan reached out to the Force to see if he could feel the presence of Qui-Gon on this ship. He didn�t feel anything so that means that they were successful in splitting up on separate ships. Obi-Wan found a safe place in the Landing Ship that he could ride to Naboo. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized he was surrounded by AAT Battle Tanks. He pulled out his lightsaber with such speed that it looked like a blur. He chopped off the gun turret of one tank before he noticed that they were not active. He was in the upper AAT garage. Obi-Wan then just sat down and focused his mind on the force. His remembered Master Yoda always telling him that some moments a Jedi has to spare should be spent meditating. So he kneeled on the floor and cleared his mind.

In what seemed like in instant to him, was the entire ride down to Naboo. He was awakened by the siren alerting all the droids that they were getting ready to land. They were right above one of the many swamps of Naboo. Obi-Wan quickly jumped up totally refreshed. He ran out of the AAT garage as fast as he could because he knew the droids were going to be coming in soon to activate the tanks. He charged out the door and found a deserted area to wait until they land. Once the sound of the Landing Ship�s repulsors stopped, he knew they were on the ground. He ran through many corridors until he found a way out. Obi-Wan looked around to see if there was any watching droids. When all was clear, he went down the deployment ramp before all the large ships exited. All of the sudden, a MTT Transport started coming down. Obi-Wan knew he only had a minute to react before being discovered. He grabbed his A99 Aquata Breather out of a pouch in his robe and put it in his mouth. He then dived into the water off the ramp only then realizing the dangers in the swamps of Naboo.

At first, his body felt tingly until his skin felt like it was being burned off from the bacteria known to be in some of the swamp�s waters. He wanted to scream out but that would reveal him plus Qui-Gon always said a Jedi should not express extreme emotion. Instead, Obi-Wan focused on the Force and cleared himself of the mind-numbing pain. He managed to stay underwater for about a half-hour until most of the Trade Federation ships passed by overhead. He slowly rose up to see if it was safe to leave the swamp. The only things left were some STAPs that were already way ahead of him. Obi-Wan rose out of the murky water and waded to the shore. He crawled up onto the grassy land and started walking despite his exhaustion. Because his clothes were wet and sagging, one of his food capsules fell out of a pouch in his Jedi robe. He went down to pick it up, but in an instant, a group of nuna surrounded the food and took it away running swiftly on two strong legs. As they ran, their heads bobbed up and down on their almost non-existent necks. Soon they were gone and there was no way to get the food back now. Obi-Wan was incredibly angry with this mostly because that was the last of his food and he still hurt from the bacteria. There was nothing he could do about it now so he just continued walking and searching for Qui-Gon. He couldn�t sense his presence so that meant he had quite a way to search.

The trek through the thick brush of the jungle wasn�t easy and Obi-Wan was walking on an empty stomach. Then his foot struck a large stone and made him topple over it. When he looked back at the rock, he noticed it was some type of egg. He wouldn�t normally eat something he found in the woods, but he was just so hungry. He cracked off the top neatly to prevent mess. Since he had nothing to cook the egg with, he just shrugged his shoulders, picked up the egg, and drank the liquid inside. He only got about a fifth through before realizing the dangers up upsetting a nest. All of the sudden, right in front of his face, a giant hoof stomped down shaking the soft earth. Obi Wan looked up and figured out that he had invaded the nest of a falumpaset. He knew that he should have considered the consequences of eating the egg first. The falumpaset charged at him on all four legs as thick as tree trunks. Its hanging lip flaps flailing in the air as it dashed towards Obi-Wan. He had a split second to think about how to defend himself without killing the creature. It was too late. One of the falumpaset�s hooves caught Obi-Wan in the waist and flung him into a tree. He was going to be safe up there for a while but he would have to come down eventually. Obi-Wan stayed up in the tree for what must have been an hour until the creature was distracted by the bellowing call of a Mott. The falumpaset had his head turned listening to the noise. Obi-Wan knew this was his only chance to escape so he had to do something fast. He started to jump down the tree and planned cut the trunk with his lightsaber so that it would fall onto the falumpaset. Unexpectantly, the tree started to bend and pull out its roots. It fell onto the monstrous beast anyway causing it to be stuck under the trunk. He went over to the falumpaset to observe it. It would survive but it wouldn�t stay trapped for long. He then ran off and continued on his journey. As Obi-Wan walked, he couldn�t help but laugh when it occurred to him that a falumpaset was a mammal that didn�t lay eggs. It must have been planning to eat the soft saago grass surrounding the nest. It probably would have destroyed the eggs unknowingly anyway while feeding. He smiled about his mistake and kept going.

Soon Obi-Wan could hear the buzzing of a flying STAP. He cleared away the brush in front of him and peered out over a rock. What he saw almost made his heart leap out of his throat. Down on a plain, there were hundreds of MTTs and even more AATs. There were also uncountable amounts of battle droids being prepared and set into troops. He never knew what he was getting into before now.

Obi-Wan whispered to himself, �I wonder if Master Qui-Gon knows about...�

�Halt!�

Obi-Wan recognized the voice behind him to be an Officer Droid. He could see its blaster next to his head.

�Stand up�, the droid ordered. Obi-Wan slowly reached for his lightsaber and pressed the button. Nothing happened. He felt his forehead get hot in fright. He just remembered that he left the power on when he was in the swamps. He shouldn�t have been so careless about his weapon. Obi-Wan thought back to his training in unarmed combat back at the Jedi Temple. He was taught a more modern form of the teras kasi fighting style. He quickly spun his leg around the shins of the droid and swept its feet out from underneath it. The Officer Droid fell to the ground but was not broken. Obi-Wan picked up a large stone and dropped it on the droid�s chest hopefully destroying it. It lay motionless in a pile of sparking wires and bent metal. When the young Jedi looked back up, he saw something he wished he hadn�t. He was surrounded by battle droids from every direction. He made a quick estimate that there must be about twenty of them. Some hovered above on STAPs with twin blaster turrets aimed right at him.

Three droids in front of him raised their blasters and prepared to shoot. Obi-Wan was so terrified that his knees gave out underneath him and caused him to collapse. They fired but missed because of his sudden fall. The blasts zoomed over him and hit two other droids behind him. He regained feeling in his legs and leapt up. He knew that it was going to take a miracle to fend off the enemy without his lightsaber working. More fired but this time Obi-Wan jumped into onto a tree branch and avoided the shot. A STAP flew towards him and fired but Obi-Wan managed to climb onto another tree limb. The laser blast broke off a branch and fell on a battle droid below causing it to misfire and shoot down the attacking STAP. He felt that he was very lucky but didn�t have the time to care. He now knew that the best way to defeat this army was for them to accidentally defeat themselves.

All of the sudden, the brush and vines of the forest started to clear growing closer to the fight scene every second. Obi-Wan expected a Battle Tank or possibly even a MTT when the falumpaset came charging through the trees. Its legs rampaging through at least five droids. They crushed under its massive hooves and were pressed into the swampy ground. Other battle droids fired at it but the blasts did little effect on the falumpaset�s thick leather skin. It let out a bellow of anger and swung its head towards the attacking droids. They smashed into several pieces under the force of its power. The remaining battle droids started to retreat back into the woods when Obi-Wan made a motion with his hand and tossed them into the roots of an upturned tree.

With that threat neutralized, the falumpaset turned its head towards Obi-Wan and stormed across the land into the tree that he had taken refuge. The young Jedi was knocked from the branch onto the ground. He hit the ground running to escape the beast chasing after him from behind. As if this was not enough, he could hear the buzzing sound of STAPs getting closer. He looked behind him and saw that the falumpaset was loosing speed yet there were three STAPs rapidly gaining. High in the trees, a screech could be heard. Obi-Wan once again had to look behind him to see what new threat he was up against. What he saw made him believe that this was not a danger to him now. A large indigo Peko-Peko came swooping down and grabbed onto a STAP crashing it into the ground. Droids were not often seen in the Naboo swamplands and that Peko-Peko must have thought the STAP was just another meal. Obi-Wan was relieved partly because of that and also that the furious falumpaset had stopped chasing him. The brush continued to get thicker and was too much for such a large creature to pass through.

He was still being followed by the remaining STAPs so he could not rest just yet. One fired from its twin blaster turrets directly at him but the agile young Padawan was able to dodge it. Ahead he could see a bit of a clearing and sensed the Force. Master Qui-Gon was near. He kept running and rushed into the clearing only then realizing that his followers had a clear shot at him. The closest one fired three shots directly at him and just missed his head. He could then see Qui-Gon talking with some odd humanoid amphibian creature but stopped when he heard the shots fired near. He pulled out his lightsaber and deflected the shots that the STAP was now firing at him. The blasts returned to it and caused it to explode in a fiery ball. The next tried to attack the lightsaber wielding Jedi but suffered the same fate as its partner. The droid was thrown from the explosion and tumbled down a hill as a crumpled mess of metal. Obi-Wan ran to his Master and looked at the creature in a puzzled way.

�What�s this?� Obi-Wan asked as it smiled at him.

�A local. Now let�s get out of here before more droids show up� Qui-Gon said quickly.

The Gungan spoke up and in a frightened way and said, �More? More did you spake? Exqueze me, but da mostest safest place would be Gunga City. It�s where I grew up. Tis a hidden city.� Qui-Gon turned his head towards him.

�A city? Can you take us there?�

�Uh, on second thought, no. Not really, no.�

�No?� Qui-Gon asked questionably.

�Dis embarrassing, but uh. My afraid my�ve been banished. My forgotten. Da Bosses would do terrible things to me if me going back there.�

�Do you here that?� Qui-Gon asked the Gungan as it lifted up its floppy ear. �That is the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way.�

�If they find us, they will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces, and blast us into oblivion.� Obi-Wan said in attempt to persuade their new friend.

�Ah, yousa point is well seen. Dis way, hurry!� the Gungan said as it started down a path back into the thick forest. They traveled for some time as it became darker and the sounds of elusive animals could be heard. Eventually, Qui-Gon became anxious.

�How much further?�

As they came to a murky pond, the Gungan said �Wesa goen underwater now, okeday? But my warning you. Gungans no liken outsiders, so don�t spect a warm welcome.�

�Oh, don�t worry. This hasn�t been our day for warm welcomes.� Obi-Wan commented as the Gungan dove into the water with a splash.

He soon popped back up and said �Yousa follow me now, okeday?� The two Jedi reached into their robes and pulled out their A99 Aquata Breathers. Obi-Wan had hoped that he wouldn�t have to use that anymore. They both slowly waded into the water and began their swim under to the hidden city of Otah Gunga.

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