Armed.
Reunion
Location: Oricon
Notable Equipment: Jedi armour, other items
Tags: Cadere
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He was moving towards Cassie. The Kiffar held both of their weapons. Perhaps the blue blade would have a calming effect? Maybe it would remind his friend who he was fighting? Regardless, Mathieu would continue. Whether it be with his own weapon or the green blade he recovered on Onderon. Before he drew it, however, the fallen Jedi returned the light sider's weapon to him.
Without hesitation, Mathieu reignited the weapon, intent on continuing. Cassie, however, had other plans as two large monstrous troopers appeared by his sides. His old friend was behaving like so many others who had fallen from the light. They always tried to justify their actions, without exception. They tried to see the big picture but never realised that they themselves were only perceiving the world from the lens of a microscope. "Instead of fighting each other..." he begun speaking, pausing only briefly when noticing his friend letting the two troopers attack him. He quickly finished his sentence whilst dropping into a defensive guard "we could've fought the Sith"
He was prepared for the attackers that were sent at him. The airborne one would be neutralised immediately as he cut their limbs off while underneath it and then he would only have to deal with one of them. But as he prepared to strike, Cas broke into his mind once more. Horrendous thoughts started to fill his mind and he started to dodge away from imaginary attacks, allowing the airborne foe to land safely as its companion attacked. One attack was blocked but with the two troopers working in unison, he was hit by an electrobaton by the second, causing him to let out a loud pained noise whilst stumbling forth. The Jedi's eyes were fixed on Cassie's back. Ignoring the immediate threat, he started to run towards his old friend "Cassieaahhh!" another pained scream erupted from him as a staff came from down low, sweeping him off of his feet whilst sending electric shocks into his being. Crawling back up onto his hands and knees, Mathieu tried calling for the Kiffar once more "Come bahhhck!!" another sentence that turned into a pained grunt as one of the soldiers kicked his side, causing another wave of pain to ripple through his body.
When he looked over to his side after landing, Cassie's image had already disappeared. His best friend had left him to fend against the two troopers alone with a mind that was filled with horrors.
Mathieu raised his blade to defend against an attack but received another kick from the other trooper, causing him to tumble even further than he did from the first kick. The two attackers were relentless and came at him fast. Just standing back up was hard. His success in doing so what a testament to his incredible physicality and almost limitless endurance. What followed was a series attacks from two well coordinated and well rested foes against a severely weakened Mathieu. In normal cases, he would have been able to hold his ground steadily with a well-practiced Soresu defence - but with his mind filled with demons, he had to contend with both the real attacks that he faced and imaginary ones along with horrid thoughts that almost made him freeze up.
In his desperate defence, constantly on the backfoot, Mathieu eventually found himself out in the open where Cassie's extraction shuttle had exploded. What remained of the main wreck had ignited in a violent fire. Away from the protective jungle that the battle against the Death Troopers had started in, Mathieu thanked his lucky stars that his own armour protected against the heat.
In a surprising turn of events, he managed to land a powerful kick at one of the attackers' core, sending it flying back. Naturally, this did not come for free as the other trooper was then presented with the opening to once more strike the large Morellian with his electrobaton. As Mathieu recoiled away with a pained grunt, he could see how the kicked trooper had crashed into the burning wreckage with major parts of his armour melting. Drips of molten matter from the meat-like plates started running down the protective gear, covering the visor whilst boiling the poor trooper inside. The other pressed the attack but it was far easier for the Jedi to fend against only one foe.
The death of the kicked trooper was expected. The resurrection that followed was not. Mathieu saw how the burning trooper came rushing towards him and did not like it one bit. Its mouth had opened but it seemed to only be guided by sound since it slowed down - confused - whenever the clashing of electrobaton against lightsabre were covered by another volcanic eruption. It made sense, seeing how its visor was now covered by what used to be part of the upper plates on the helmet.
Keeping both foes on the same side, being pushed back by the one who was still very much alive and chased by the other, Mathieu let out a sigh of relief when he saw the blind zombie-like one sink its razor sharp teeth into the neck of the other. Capitalising on the opening that presented itself, Mathieu swung his blade quickly, cutting the zombified trooper's head in half whilst decapacitating the other.
His wounds were severe and his stamina low. But even then, he turned away from the two bodies. Fighting the nightmarish thoughts that Cassie had cast upon him, Mathieu pushed on, back into the forest and towards the direction that his old friend had disappeared to. He moved slowly and the hopes of ever catching up to the Kiffar were non-existent. But even then, he didn't give up and would continue until he would either collapse from wounds and exhaustion or caught by Chaussidier's evacuation team.
Meanwhile, the Concord forces had started to focus on the second Sith shuttle. Their own ship was firing on it until they landed. After a quick sortie, the squad opened fire, both with small arms and ion-loaded MEAT launchers. The team leader reported what she saw to Chaussidier over the comms. Once she had received more specific instructions, she nodded and brought out a tracking device from her bag. After loading it into a MEAT launcher, she fired it at the Kiffar's shuttle. While most of the attacks would miss, hers seemed to strike true.
/End thread