A Girl Worth Fighting For

[Arage Bao]

Concordia, UFC.
[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

The weight of the gloves felt familiar, felt good, he hadn’t realized how much he missed them until their form wrapped itself around his arms again. Years ago Ronan had fought in the underground fighting circuit of Concordia, shock boxing had always been his favorite part of it all: that feeling of your fist solidly connecting itself with your opponents face, the lights dimming out of their eyes as they were incapacitated by a fethton of electricity running through their bodies… the roar of the public as they wanted more.

Ah, yes, that bloodthirsty crowd.

Ronan Vizsla sat in the backroom of the fighting club. Out there he could hear the accommodating screams of desire as another fighter hit the deck, those shouts crowned the current fighter as their hero. Their God. At least for the five minutes of glory, before it was time to leave the ring again.

"Vizsla?" Beady eyed alien, a Rodian, came into the badly-lit room. Joe, they called him. Even though his real name was something more like Jo’eron’alka. That wasn’t a Rodian name though, more Chiss-based.

There had to be a funny story behind that.

"Yeah?"
"You are up."

The Mandalorian grunted, before standing up. The seat underneath him cracked slightly at the sudden change in weight.

"Who you got for me?"

Jo’eron’alka looked at his scribbling. "Girl called Reyes, new fish."

"Gonna be interesting."

With that Ronan left the backroom, pushing past Joe and into the arena. Some shouted his name, others just shouted to shout and a few here and there were sending him the evil eye.

Not everyone liked him here, but success always bred envy.

Ronan entered the ring and started to warm himself up just a little bit.

 

[Miya Ashera]

A lot of unexpected twists and turns had Saoirse land on Concordia. She had been stolen from, captured, escaped, only to get captured again. Times had been rough, but she was the type of girl who strived against adversity. When times were tough, she grew tougher. The boxing gloves were on. Literally. How she ended up here was the result of another set of unexpected twists and turns. She could use the money, and she wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially not one most thought she had no chance of succeeding at.

"Get in the ring, dead meat" A human-looking male politely informed her. Saoirse returned with a look that could kill. Of course, it didn't kill. In fact, all it did was produce a crooked smile on its target. Well that backfired.

Seems like it was her turn. Newcomer. Fresh blood. No one expected her to succeed. It fuelled her. She would show them all. Light hit her as she walked out from the room she had been waiting in. Some cheered, most booed. They weren't here to see her prevail. They wanted blood. Hers, her opponent, it didn't matter. As long as someone got thrashed, they'd call it a good day.

Her outfit was simple, the standard fighter's gear. Form-fitting shorts, sports bra, all in black. Her blonde hair was tied together in a ponytail. And of course, her hands were decorated by the shock boxing gloves. She felt more powerful already. Could she keep these? She'd totally keep these...

Entering the ring she could see her opponent was already there. Someone clearly didn't like her. This hardly seemed like an even weight-class match-up. Kark it. Regardless of its weight, as long as it had a face she'd wreck it. This would be no different.

Saoirse didn't say anything. She simply did a little walk back and forwards on her half, getting familiar with the feel of the floor against her feet. She glanced over at her opponent with an intense glare, but she didn't put too much effort into it. As she had learned, looks could not kill. If her eyes hadn't been able to eviscerate the guy from before, she had no shot at damaging this guy.

[member="Vassik Kilvaari"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

He didn’t pay attention to the girl.

His entire focus was on the here and now, on the subtle shift of his weight every step he took, on the roll of his shoulders and the warmth of his shoulders. Ronan breathed in quietly, filtered and brought into his lungs by the mask: sometimes it was difficult not having a functional jaw, but it brought its own advantages in situations like these.

Forty-five degree turn and Vizsla was suddenly facing Reyes.

The observation was quick: he noted which leg she favored, the way her head shifted and how quick her response time was, the realization settled quite quickly that this one wasn’t trained at all.

As green as grass.

Though that didn’t always mean much in the heat of battle. The greenest of grass can be just slippery enough to send you crashing to the ground, a fact that Vizsla knew instinctively.

There would be no playing around.

The crowd was growing unruly. They had come here to see blood, not to watch the two combatants walking around and eyeing each other, but that was fine. Ronan didn’t care about the favor of the crowd, hadn’t for a long while.

He took one step forward, but kept the distance up.

No point in taking the first swing, that would only give her information to work off and Ronan wasn't planning on giving her that.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Vassik Kilvaari"]

She paid attention to the man. And his mask. Would it be painful if she tore it off? Probably. She'd try smashing it in first. He was tall, but her fists would reach.

Saoirse knew she was in for a tough match, but she was not experienced enough to know just how much trouble she was in. She did not have the self-insight, nor the self-restraint to avoid this even if she knew. So it didn't matter. She would fight. Victory or defeat was an afterthought.

She tried to shut out the loud crowd. It was a distraction, but not one she could afford. She eyed him, carefully. First phase of every duel was a staring contest, right?

Vassik stepped forwards, as did she. Backing up wasn't even a consideration. He was moving in, but not making the first strike. Fine. She dropped into a stance that felt natural and comfortable to her, lifting her hands to serve as a guard. Her eyes stuck to him like glue, ready to react to the slightest hint of movement. So far nothing. Good thing she was patient.

Oh wait no, she wasn't. Saoirse stepped in quickly, first with a left hook towards his JAW, expecting him to react to that. It was a quick feint, followed up by her right punching for his stomach, while her left retreated to her guard

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

His reaction was crisp and to the point.

Twenty-two degrees step into her reach and to her side. This bypassed the feint to his face and brought him within her guard, her right hook caught him in the stomach, but was brushed off by the motion. No words were spoken, no amusement or bloviating, no threatening Well, hello there’s.

Just his left fist twisting, closed palm aimed at the roof and knuckles currently speeding at the speed of a freight train towards her gut. His legs accommodated the shift in weight with most of the kinetic energy steering off from his left leg, into his left fist and the core of his weight center now focused on his right leg.

The common reaction of one of his punches in the solar plexus was to buckle over.

His common reaction to that was to follow up by once again shifting his weight over to the left leg, his knee bending and hooking her in the jaw with the pointy end of his right elbow.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Vassik Kilvaari"]

The opening to their little bout hadn't gone fantastic. What threatened her next was even worse though. He stepped to the side and she had to adjust. Her rear leg turned in opposing direction to that which he had moved in, squaring him off in front of her. He was counter-attacking, putting her on the defensive. She wouldn't be free to let off more shots at him at this moment in time. She would have to bide her time, but time could be painful.

She didn't really read his move and react to it. She simply reacted. Her reaction rates had always been good, like a part of her instinctively knew which place to be in - or rather, which place you really, really didn't want to be in. It far from kept her safe from his attack. She was not so fortunate.

Saoirse took a step backwards, her left hand lowering from a high guard to guard her core. Her right was retreating to do the same, but it did not make it in time. Her arm absorbed the brunt of his punch. Far favourable to her stomach, yet it still provoked a pained gasp from her. It was almost more from the surprise at the power behind his punch, than the actual pain that followed. She'd become aware of that in a moment.

Not keen on more pain at the moment, she took a sharper step backwards, withdrawing and getting herself out of reach from any follow-up punch. Saoirse needed to re-evaluate her opponent, allow herself to process the speed and power he had behind him. Her left arm felt sluggish.

Saoirse didn't counter attack, not yet. She wasn't too eager just yet. It hadn't worked out too great last time. She needed to find another way. Perhaps he would be so kind as to provide her with one.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

Hmm.

Usually he only really needed one punch to have someone crumble, but this girl had been quick enough to stave off immediate KO and actually managed to take a punch of his to the arm with said arm breaking in the next moment. This surprised Ronan a little bit, though not enough to make it show.

So either she had gen-splicing, cybernetics or wasn’t as human as she looked like.

Any of those could be relevant, but it all boiled down to the Mandalorian becoming more cautious instead of less. A young buck full passion and fury might have immediately leaped in - seeing wounded prey and going immediately for the kill, Ronan ignored that leaping desire in his throat.

Instead he breathed in and out.

Any warrior worth their blood would tell you that there were two core principles that made someone a capable fighter.

Footwork and breathing.

It wasn’t as easy or clear-cut as that, of course. But breathing could strengthen you and it kept your head clear in the face of angst and footwork… well, nobody wanted to land face first in the dirt during a bout.

Point was, Ronan took it slow, took it relaxed and simply circled around her. One step after another, baiting her, prodding at her mentally.

Goading her into attacking him again.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Vassik Kilvaari"]

The beast didn't charge her. Convenient. He circled her, she mirrored his moves. She tried to portray strength, but it was hard to hide the fact that her arm was throbbing with pain. It wasn't the first time she'd gotten herself bruised up. Her kind had a way of dealing with these things. They were resilient. Give it a minute or two, and her arm was sure to feel better. If he wanted to provide her with the time to recover she wouldn't object.

The crowd on the other hand objected loudly. They were none to pleased that the fight had so far only displayed a quick exchange of blows, and now taken on a slower pace. There was no blood. No broken bones. No projects of art where someone's structure got restructured.

Saoirse had a fairly nice tan skin, bordering towards the golden. As she observed him, circled him, trying to figure out how to assault the fortress, her face remained cold and expressionless. This she could control. Her tan skin slowly taking on a more silverish hue, she could not. It was in her nature, her species.

Her arm was feeling better. She could keep this up for however long she needed. Good thing she was patient. Oh wait...

Saoirse stepped in quickly, stopped, then took one back. Did he flinch? Was he unresponsive? Another moment the two circled each other before she stepped in once more. It was the same move as before, or at least that's how she wanted to signal it. Instead it was a more low-pressure attack. Instead of a punch, her front leg went for a quick leg-kick to the inside of his front leg, aiming for his inner thigh.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

Her skin… I see.

From years of experience Vizsla could tell feint from actual assault. The first one was a feint, but there it was: that particular twitch of a leg muscle that all but announced to the world you were about to pounce someone. An experienced fighter would have tried to obfuscate the leg entirely, line up their legs so your opponent couldn’t see what was happening.

But still, if he was right? This just got a whole lot more interesting.

Then again.

She tried to karking kick him in the shin. Maybe she wouldn’t live long enough to get interesting.

Ronan immediately went down on one knee, his arms snapping up and catching the offending leg. Before she could try and escape, he yanked her closer by and hopefully putting her out of balance.

Then using her own momentum against her… his grip around her knee tightened and with one fluid circular motion the Mandalorian would snap her leg, breaking it just below the knee.

She would heal, if he was right. If not? Pity.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

Ronan's reflexes were off the charts. Even Saoirse could see that at this point, she was outmatched. It wasn't a fight for victory, it was to see how long she could hold out. Perhaps he'd get sloppy, arrogant, underestimate her and allow her to take advantage, but her position was certainly that of the underdog.

He had her bouncing on her last leg. The other he held firmly in his grasp as he pulled her towards him. Not good. He had her where he wanted her, but she wasn't one to go down easy. As she came back towards him, she angled her elbow up, slamming it towards the big man's face, allowing his own strength to push up the momentum of her counter. Then he took it one step further. His grip tightened. The large man twisted. The loud cracking noise of something snapping was accompanied by Saoirse's scream.

The collapse came quick after, as she was brought down to her knee. Her other leg was twisted in a seemingly impossible angle. Okay. She wasn't going to win this fight. She was just going to kill him.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

Ronan grunted at the sudden elbow ramming itself into his face. It brushed past the metal contraption and hit him in the corner of his eyebrow, which caused blood to spray.

But his momentum was still in motion and her leg snapped regardless.

A scream from her, followed by the bubbling screams of their crowd, but Vizsla didn’t care about that anymore. Instead he was focused on her eyes who had quickly adapted to the pain.

That was enough for him.

Before Reyes could recover completely the Mandalorian jumped up to his feet, took one step back for more momentum and then his leg came crashing forward towards her head.

Quick but heavy kick to her leg would send her unconscious.

From there he could figure out what to do next.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

The pain coming from her leg was intense. It seemed to overwhelm all other senses, all other priorities. At least she could take some measure of comfort in the fact that her elbow had connected to skin and metal. It had hurt. Whether that made him more angry or not remained to be seen. Though considering their circumstances not a lot would change. They were still fighting. The crowd still wanted more blood. They weren't here to see people beaten, they wanted them broken. Saoirse wasn't there yet.

He dropped her. More pain, more agonized sounds escaping her lips. Then as she turned she was already faced with an attack. Her arm raised. It wouldn't have been enough even if it had made it. It didn't. Ronan's leg collided with Saoirse's head. She didn't feel the impact, she only registered the fact that her head was moving from a half-seated position to being completely level with the floor. She thought she heard crunching noises. Certainly there would be blood. Then the crowd's cheers got further and further away. Then her eyes closed.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Saoirse Reyes"]

"That battle was too quick, Ronan."
"I won, didn’t I?"

The avalanche of sound died down once the doors closed down behind them and the arena started to get further and further away from them. Ronan had her in his arms, bloody, broken, but still breathing and every now and again he had the distinct feelings she was about to crash through the darkness of her mind shutting down.

Never quite got there, though.

Her body kept her from waking to speed up the healing progress, but he hadn’t reset her leg yet, that could become a complication if he didn’t do it fast enough and it healed wrong.

"The crowd wanted blood."
"The crowd can go kark itself."
"You ain’t the one having to go back there and calm them down, vod."

Outside the dressing room Vizsla halted and sighed softly.

"Come back with me."

The Rodian made a sound that approximated sarcastic snorting.

"I got a job here."
"I have a clan out there needing to be rebuild."
"I don’t-"
"At least consider it, Joe. I am gonna be in town for a few more days, you know where I will be hanging out."

Ronan didn’t leave his vod with time to reply, instead he entered the dressing room and shut down the door behind him with his leg. It was time to see how bad the damage was and see if this was going to be worth the trouble.

 

[Miya Ashera]

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

Saoirse pulled the duvet over her body. She was cold. Why was it so cold? The soft bed comforted her however. Saoirse could feel the warmth it offered, yet it never seemed to fully embrace her. She wanted to sleep, but she couldn't. She was still in the fighter's ring. Oh kark! She wasn't in her bed, she was in the fighter's ring! Her eyes shut wide open after the sudden realization.

Her eyes met with the roof of a dimly lit room. Where was she? Slowly she sat herself up. "Ah-" she winced. Pain, coming from multiple places in her body. Mostly it was her head that was still pounding with the aftershock of the pounding she had received earlier. Disoriented at first, she soon realized what had happened. She had been knocked out and now she found herself in the locker room. Great. First day had not gone great. Of course they had put her up against some beast of a man. Next time she'd crush it. And she knew there'd be a next time. She wasn't the type to give up, her pride wouldn't allow her to leave this with defeat being her last act.

Her foot twisted around in circular motion. Then she stretched out and bent her leg. Everything seemed fine. Sometimes it felt really great to be Firrerreo. Oh, who was she kidding - it was always pretty great to be Firrerreo. Think of those pesky Humans who actually have to live with their injuries for months. Pathetic. Weak. Saoirse wasn't weak.

How keen she was on standing on that leg just yet, she wasn't sure. Perhaps not put all her weight on it, but hopefully it'd be fine. She didn't really know how long she'd been out either. At least the leg appeared to have grown properly. Things would've gotten awkward otherwise. Saoirse was still too preoccupied getting her senses back and examining the damage done to her body to realize she wasn't alone.