Gamble? Gamble on what?
A podrace, of course!
According to Josh's plan, just like in the original story, Qui-Gon Jinn had no choice but to follow Anderson's suggestion and bet on a podrace to get the ship's engine parts quickly. With the enthusiastic help of young Anakin, he eventually won the race.
During this time, Qui-Gon also took the opportunity to confirm Anakin's incredible Force talent with a blood test, and eventually used a wager to win Anakin's freedom.
Of course, with Qui-Gon's wisdom, he suspected it might be a trap, but Anakin, who was smart from a young age and grew up in a rough place like Tatooine, acted even better than Josh expected.
And from the beginning, Anakin genuinely helped Qui-Gon and his group with kindness, without any lies or tricks—everything he said about his childhood was true. He just carefully omitted the changes of the past month.
What Qui-Gon heard about Anakin from others in the city matched his own story completely—the truth that Anakin and his mother were already free was only known to Anderson, Anakin and a few others. To everyone else, Anakin was still a slave boy.
So Qui-Gon had no reason to doubt such a helpful child, at most he became more suspicious of Anderson's true identity.
But he couldn't investigate.
Anderson and his group had arrived a little over a month ago, before the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo—at which time Qui-Gon and the others were still training Jedi apprentices on the Republic capital, Coruscant.
They didn't even know they'd end up on Tatooine, which was a total accident.
So how could anyone have come up with a plan a full month in advance?
In the end, after getting the ship parts and finishing the repairs, Qui-Gon took Anakin on the trip to Coruscant, just like in the original story.
The only difference this time was that someone else joined them—Anakin's mother, Shmi.
Anderson never really treated her like a slave, so he didn't want to separate them, and Josh definitely didn't want the tragedy of the original timeline to happen again.
Besides, Anakin was still young and needed his mother to take care of him.
But Josh, as the main planner, didn't forget one more important thing.
At the landing site, just as Qui-Gon, Anakin, and Shmi were about to board the ship, a small plane suddenly flew toward them at high speed. It was the attacker from the original story—Darth Maul, the Sith Lord and direct student of Palpatine!
"Go now! Tell them to take off quickly!" Qui-Gon shouted as he drew his lightsaber to face the enemy. What shocked him was that the enemy also used a lightsaber—and clearly knew Jedi fighting techniques.
Seeing the danger, Anakin and his mother didn't hesitate. They ran directly to the ship, leaving Qui-Gon to stop the attacker.
But just as Qui-Gon Jinn was fighting the pursuer, several bullets suddenly flew in from different directions, forcing the attacker to divert some attention to block them and making it harder for him to fight at full strength.
"Projectile weapons?" Qui-Gon, relieved by the unexpected help, was surprised to see that the attackers were using old-fashioned weapons, but he was also a little happy.
In the Star Wars universe, energy weapons such as blasters are widely used, and real bullets are considered outdated, though not entirely extinct. They are still used in many distant regions.
It's important to note that compared to energy blasts, which Jedi can easily deflect with their lightsabers, real bullets can actually be harder to deal with.
It's not that bullets can't be blocked—Jedi and Sith can handle them just as well; the problem is that energy blasts bounce off cleanly, while bullets are cut or melted by lightsabers, turning into metal shards or liquid that can splatter. These may not cause serious damage, but they do force a Jedi to use more concentration and effort.
Normally, this small difference doesn't matter much, but in a high-level battle like Jedi vs. Sith, it can make a big difference.
"A Sith Lord? Looks like you've gotten yourselves into something big!" said the man who fired those bullets—it was Anderson and his group.
"A Sith? You mean he's a Sith Lord? But the Sith were wiped out a thousand years ago!" Qui-Gon was shocked to hear this and took the opportunity to step back and catch his breath.
The Sith didn't rush to attack again either. He watched Anderson and his people carefully.
"A fire that's been put out can still come back if a single spark remains... As the dark side of the Force, do you really think the Sith can be extinguished so easily?" Anderson replied.
"Who are you? How do you know all this?" Qui-Gon asked, now even more confused.
"We're just a group of travelers who don't belong in this world. Now go, Jedi—your ship's about to leave," Anderson said, pointing at the ship getting ready for takeoff.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Qui-Gon asked, looking at the ship.
"Hmph, asking a man if he's up to the job is the greatest insult—even for a Jedi!" Anderson snapped back, glaring at him before drawing the long blade at his waist. "Let's see how strong this so-called Sith Lord really is!"
As he spoke, the eight warriors surrounding the Sith also drew their weapons.
Using metal weapons against a Sith's lightsaber? Were these people crazy?
But Qui-Gon was not one to hesitate. Knowing he had more important things to do, he turned and ran toward the ship.
As he jumped onto the ship, Qui-Gon Jinn saw something incredible.
He saw the nine strange individuals skillfully fighting the Sith Lord in a coordinated, powerful way—and surprisingly, they were even gaining the upper hand.
Even more shocking, their ordinary-looking metal blades weren't being shredded by the Sith's lightsaber, as he had expected. No—not only were they not cut, it was clear that the lightsaber could do nothing against these swords. In fact, every time the lightsaber struck the blades, the metal seemed to absorb the energy and even reflect it back.
What kind of metal was this?
But Qui-Gon didn't have time to find out, because the ship's doors closed and the ship blasted off into space.
And it wasn't just Qui-Gon who wouldn't know the outcome—even Josh, the mastermind behind the ambush, and Anakin, his partner in the plan, didn't know what happened next.
Because Anderson and his group of nine were never meant to be heroes—they were always "tools," maybe even sacrifices.
No matter how the battle ended, they would remain travelers from another universe, stranded in the world of Star Wars.
What became of them would only be revealed when Anakin, having grown up and become a true Jedi, returned to Tatooine.
But as long as Anderson and his group survived this encounter with the Sith Lord, life on Tatooine wouldn't be a problem. Josh had already helped them prepare a large fortune through Anakin.
Over the past month, they had spent quite a bit of it buying up all sorts of technology available on Tatooine, but there was still enough left for nine people to live comfortably for decades—waiting for Anakin's return. That is, if Yuri, Josh, or Anakin remembered them at all years later.
While Anderson's group faced Darth Maul, and Anakin began his Jedi journey...
Back in the main Marvel Universe, Josh stood on top of a flat-topped mountain, visiting the Jurassic Park he was building on Native American land.
"The project's moving fast. These robots are amazing—at this rate, the park will be ready to open in less than six months!" said Aldo, CEO of Blackwater and part-time manager of the Jurassic Park project, excitedly pointing to the busy construction site below.
Although there were plans to replace workers, due to various restrictions, intelligent robots were not yet on the market—the leap was too big, and the right timing hadn't come yet.
That timing would come when a major crisis hit—when the riots started across the country. That would be the perfect time for these clean, polite, obedient, 24/7 robots to appear in contrast to the chaos caused by angry, reckless mobs.
Any sane person would know who to choose.
And the preparations for that future had already begun—through movies.
Of course, if they wanted to sell robots later, they couldn't make movies like Terminator or The Matrix about AI rebellions.
Instead, they would make uplifting, positive sci-fi movies about helpful, friendly robots.
For two years in a row, Josh's DreamWorks studio poured massive investment and cutting-edge technology into reimagining classic robot movies like WALL-E, Bicentennial Man, Big Hero 6, and A.I.—bringing them back to the big screen in a whole new light.
And sure enough, these movies created a worldwide sensation.
But behind the success, only DreamWorks and the core members of the Continental Group knew the truth: despite their popularity and huge box office numbers, these films were financial sinkholes.
Why? Because the technology used in these movies was far beyond what was available at the time. Even though it was Josh's own technology, internal policy required that all use of technology be properly billed and accounted for. Nothing was free, even within the group.
On paper, the losses were staggering.
But Josh—and the Continental Group—had deep enough pockets to absorb it all, treating the losses as a form of long-term marketing expense.
And the losses had one bonus side effect: no taxes.
Though the robots hadn't been officially released to the public due to various restrictions, they were already being used in several of the Continental Group's secret operations—especially on big projects like Jurassic Park. There, they dramatically reduced labor costs and accelerated construction timelines.
If the park had been built the old-fashioned, human-only way, it would've cost a fortune and had countless security vulnerabilities—just like in the movies.
And because the park was built on Native American land, with Aldo's Blackwater Group running a secure base as the outer guard, there were no concerns about leaks.
"Very good. I look forward to hearing more good news from you," Josh said after touring the site, clearly pleased with the progress.
Pleased with the praise from his boss and old friend, Aldo beamed with joy.
But then he noticed a sudden change in Josh's expression.
"Boss, is something wrong?" Aldo asked immediately.
"No, nothing is wrong. I just remembered something. Get me a quiet room. I have to take care of something," Josh replied, shaking his head.
He had just received a call request from Abbendis.
Under normal circumstances, the young Abbendis—still just a child—would never take the initiative to contact Josh. If he was contacting him now, something serious must have happened... or he must have found something of value.
"Of course, boss. Use my office. It's completely secure and completely private," Aldo replied without further questions and quickly drove Josh to his office.
Once inside, Josh activated the power of the Sword of Rupture to scan the room for any anomalies. After confirming it was safe, he finally accepted Abbendis' call.
But as soon as the system screen turned on, Josh's expression turned grim.
Abbendis was locked in a cage.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Josh, but I really need your help right now... as you can see, I've been captured," the young Abbendis said with a pained expression.
"Who did this to you?" Josh asked, frowning.
"Not a person. It was those damn trolls!" Abbendis said bitterly.
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