ToC:Jared Ovmar VS Hayato

[Lira Dajenn]

The sounds of buzzing words and sparking conversation could be heard in a low rumble in the gladiatorial arena known as The Cauldron. Thousands of people lined balconies, stadium seating, and individual boxes granted to VIP's. The audience lined a large ring in the center of the stadium sheer walls surrounding it and confining anyone who would be trapped inside. Six gates lined the inner walls of the Cauldron, each a heavy durasteel that dropped down from above, each carved with intricate pictures of Gladiators and Beasts alike. The arena itself was nothing but sand, rock, and and small clumps of recently coagulated blood. It was a harsh unforgiving arena, the perfect place for the first round of a tournament.

The sixth match within the first round of the Tournament of The Cauldron began with the doors sliding open again. This time the crowd seemed to be on the edge of their seats. One of the contestants was well known here on Rattatak, he had fought in the pits before, he had in fact fought one of the Sister Queens, many of the audience knew this, and they awaited him patiently. When the man took the the ring they began to roar loudly. The Glory-Song had returned to Rattatak, he had come back to fight once again and this time be crowd as the true champion. The crowd cheered equally for his opponent, though not as loudly. Hayato took the ring, a man with a unique style of fighting and even more unique look about him. Some people in the crowd seemed to positively beam at the mans strange appearance, drinking in the uniqueness.

This time the Queen of Rattatak kept it short, she did not speak long words or platitudes. “The Glory-Song!”

That alone caused a cheer in the crowd, but then she interrupted it and continued. “And Hayato! Both warriors of renown! Both warriors of blade and the Force! Both strong, both here to bring you a fight like never before. Let it start!”
@[member="Jared Ovmar"] @[member="Hayato"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=12pt]The Glory-Song entered the tournament to the sound of cheering. He was well loved here, though that was not as surprising as it seemed. Fighting off a Rancor with your bare hands would do that to your reputation. Yet again he was incognito here, few people would know that Jared Ovmar, Lord of the Fringe, spent his time fighting in the pits of Rattatak. But that suited Jared just fine, his trusty mask was on his face and that too was fine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]He was here to kick some ass and chew some bubblegum, they were all out of bubblegum though. So that would have to be rectified before the next round. As he entered the pit, his left hand slowly raised itself into a salute for the Sister Queen presiding the duel and the cheering crowds. They started to cheer even louder, if that was possible. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]As always the Glory-Song had no armor on, instead he wore a grey robe. One that could hide a variety of different deadly weapons and maybe… maybe even a nuke. Though that was only a small possibility, why carry nukes if you could just blast your enemy with your mind. Seemed to be much easier.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Salutations, worthy adversary. Let us make this a battle for the ages, shall we not?” [/SIZE]

Even his voice was different, a different tone and a different accent. All to provide the crowd and his opponent an.. illusion.

[SIZE=12pt]Then he stood and waited for a reply, his hands crossed behind his back. A pose he was used to practice for a while now. As Jared studied the man, he could not help but wonder if this man would provide him with a challenge. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Or if it was all just a big anti-climax.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]@[member="Nemene Talith"] @[member="[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=georgia]Hayato"]

 

[Atlas Kane]

The sound of cheers could be heard. The cheers for a warrior called ''Glory-Song''. Hayato could only wonder who that man was, as he was unfamiliar with this planet, this arena, this whole part of the galaxy even. As he walked closer and closer to the entrance of the arena, the cheers grew louder and louder. They were almost deafening by now. Then the bright sun blinded him for a second, his eyes adjusted to the light and he could see everything. The arena, the battlefield he would be fighting on, the crowd of people who were all cheering and alas, his opponent. The man was a bit larger than he was. Around five inches, from what Hayato could see. Hayato couldn't make out the man's face, since it was hidden under a mask, but he knew one thing. The man was a powerful Force User and it would take quite some skill and ingenuity to win this battle.

Hayato then lowered his head, watching the ground as he walked towards the middle of the arena, to face his opponent face-to-face. Even though the cheers were loud and distracting, he was completely calm. He was like the center of the storm, an epitome of tranquility. He did not fear loosing this day. He did not fear being injured. He did not even fear death itself. He was ready for almost anything.

His opponent said his salutations and in response, Hayato bowed and said ''Very well. Let us begin then.'' Then a golden blade flickered to light. It moved around for a couple of moments, then came to a halt next to Hayato's head, to form the Ataru opening stance. Shortly afterwards the man leapt forward at a great speed. His blade ready for a diagonal strike aimed at his opponents chest area. This would be the first move of a duel he had to end quickly. Hayato knew that he had to finish this quickly, otherwise the constant exertion of Form Four, Ataru, would end this duel for Hayato.

@[member="Jared Ovmar"] @[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Arage Bao]

And still the man just stood there, waiting for something. It was not quite clear what it was, but a proficient Force User would know that it was power gathering. And that by itself was never a good thing. Then the moment the blade had always reached his torso, a hand appeared almost out of sheer nothingness and... grabbed it.

His flesh sizzled and boiled, but no gasps of pain were overheard. The power of the lightsabre enhanced him, its strength flowing through him and making what he was going to do so much easier.

In the closeness the Glory-Song tilted his head, as he studied his opponent.

“Not what you were expecting?”​

​

@Hayato @[member="Nemene Talith"]​

 

[Atlas Kane]

The blade roared through the air and then just simply ... stopped. Huh. That was unexpected to say the least and the blade seemed to have been stopped by the man's bare hands. Hayato didn't know what was going on for a second, but then he remembered hearing something about a Force Power that could apparently block many, if not all, forms of energy. In the closeness he got an opportunity to examine his opponent and it seemed he was doing the same.

''Impressive.'' He replied to the man's question. ''But that won't be enough to defeat me.''

With that the Lightsaber turned off and one of the hands that had been gripping it shot forward, aiming for the man's chest. The hand was formed into a fist and it would release a Telekinetic Blast when it hit the enemy. It was a technique he had picked up in one of his former duels, though this one was modified. He knew how devastating the technique was when Krest, a Zabrak Templar who was also a good friend of Hayato, had used it in their duel. He had always released a Telekinetic blast at his opponent before the actual fist had hit them. What Hayato was doing however, was he waited until the fist hit the opponent, then he would release the Telekinetic Blast. Granted, it would not be a very powerful blast, since he had only had a short moment to prepare his attack.

@[member="Jared Ovmar"] @[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Arage Bao]

His fingers lost their grip on the Lightsabre, because... well he had turned it off. Which was a smart move, one that few people thought about in the middle of the battle heat. So Jared gave him that, being able to reason properly during a fight was always an accomplishment.

As his hand lost control of the blade, he had expected a lot of things. Except.. being punched in the chest, the moment slowed itself down and Jared could see the fist coming at him with an alarmingly speed. Seems the lad was proficient in Force Speeding his punches, who knew. Then a mischievous smile appeared on Jared's lips, not that his opponent would see it. He still had a mask on. But the fact of the matter was that he did not like close-ranged fights. They were always in his disadvantage.

Therefore he used Hayato's attack against him. The moment the punch landed, and it did hit him, its force was absorbed into Jared's body and then... he flew. In the general direction of the wall behind him. Seems that these days he was hitting walls more often, at least it made his back more durable. Always look for the positives in life. As he gently eased himself out of the stonework, he got himself on his feet again and... waited.

In the meanwhile his strength was still building up. Would not be long now. Then again... his back did start to hurt a bit, maybe he would have to go and hire a masseuse after this.

"We will see."​

 

[Atlas Kane]

The attack hit. Hayato could feel the impact of his fist against the man's chest. It was quite the hard hit and the man's chest did feel kind of ... hardened, similar to steel, though that might have just been the pain of landing a hit at such an high velocity. The moment he felt his fist meet the man's chest he released a Telekinetic Blast to cause even more damage, making the man fly backwards into the wall of the arena.

The first hit of the duel and it went to Hayato. It was a little bit of a confidence boost, though Hayato knew that that would not be nearly enough to defeat the man he was facing today. He had to figure out a way to get past the man's ability to absorb energy, then he would be able to score some hits with his Lightsaber, which was always a good thing during a duel.

Hayato followed the man with his eyes as he flew backwards towards the wall and crashed into it. Hayato only gave himself a moment of rest, tugging his Lightsaber to his belt again, before sprinting after the man, ready to release another strike into the man's chest. He used the Force to assist him in the sprint towards his opponent. He was running at quite an considerable speed by now, then came a jump and Hayato was flying towards the man, foot first, aimed at the man's upper body. This was quite the dangerous maneuver. It could go two ways, either he hit the man and landed another successful hit, or he would miss and waste a lot of energy and potentially even injure himself. Only the Force knew which one of the two options would happen.

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

...and the Force rolled.. another hit! Just as Jared thought the lad would have enough already, he got hit straight in the chest.. again. But this time he did not have a long field to fly off at, it was his back pressed against the wall.

Not that it mattered though, for the past three pos-- for the past minutes Jared was gathering his power and now the man was foolishly enough to get in close. So there you had it, the moment the feet took him in the chest. His hand flew out and... touched his opponent's forehead.

“Gotcha.”​

​

Then he started to attack his opponent's mind with his own. Enhanced through skin-on-skin contact. Let's see how he fairs against that.

"You are weak, pathetic. You lost already, give up. Get on your knees. Beg. Beg. BEG."​

 

[Atlas Kane]

Something hit Hayato's head. It was his opponent's hand. What was he up to? Why would he just grab his opponents head? Did he want to break his skull? Did he plan to ram his head into the ground? Or did he just plan to hold Hayato in a grip while he attacks with his Lightsaber? Hayato didn't exactly know what was going on, but then something started to knock on the edge of his mind. What was that? He had never experienced this before. No ... wait. Was that ... his opponent? Was this some sort of mental attack on Hayato's mind? One similar to what he had experienced back on Ossus, when he was still a Padawan? No, that felt different. Back then he had gone insane because of the mental attack, this time he didn't feel his sanity slip away. He felt more like he was being forced to do something, or rather forced into a state of mind. A state of mind he never wanted to be in. He was forced to feel weak. Weak like he had felt a long time ago, on his home planet. Memories started to come back. Memories of that one fateful night, in which he had lost everything that was dear to him.

Meanwhile, Hayato's body had slumped to the ground. He was kneeling in front of his opponent. The mental stress he was under now made him unable to move properly, so he just kept kneeling. Motionless. Tears running down his face. He was now even whispering something. It was inaudible to everyone. Not even his opponent could understand him correctly. He was pathetic. He couldn't believe that a warrior like him could be forced into this state by one single attack. He didn't want to be in this state. Never. Not again. Anything but this.

 

[Arage Bao]

There were people who would try to end the fight right here and right now. Just cut the.. lad. This was not Jared's way, for one he had no wish to kill the man. That would have been bad form, instead he tried something else.

He immersed himself in the Force and started to dig deep inside of his opponents mind. Thorns embedded themselves into the mind of the man, inflicting excruciating pain.

At least that was the plan. Together with the fact that Hayato had been spending most of his energy waving around his light stick, punching and fly-kicking him. Together with the fact that he was already bowing down to him now.

“What is it you fear? What is it you love? What is it you hide from the world? Tell me. Tell me. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME. TELL ME.”​

 

[Atlas Kane]

''Why?'' He stopped whispering and instead that one word came as his response. ''Why am I so weak?'' His voice was shaky and full of sadness. ''Why couldn't I have protected them?'' Again, though this time his voice was even more pathetic. ''Why didn't I do anything?'' He was now hunched over, facing the ground. Tears kept falling like raindrops. His hands were clenched together to fists, resting on the ground together with the rest of his arm. ''Why did it happen to them?'' His mind was slowly crumbling. He was slowly starting to completely break down because of his opponents barrage of mental attacks. He was unable to defend himself and the pain was just growing and growing. He couldn't stand it anymore, but it just kept continuing, not stopping. Why is the pain there? Why can't it stop? Just for once in my life, why? Why can't I just be happy? Why won't they stop hurting me? Why can't I just live a normal life? Why won't they stop taking away everything I love? Why? Why? WHY?

By now he had stopped talking and was just lying there. Face turned to the ground, tears running down his face. It was a pathetic sight. Hayato didn't want anyone to see him like this, but there were hundreds if not thousands of people watching this duel. He couldn't stand it.

 

[Arage Bao]

This time he started prodding in a different angle. Hayato's mind was crumbling and it laid open for him like a book. From there he took the imagery from his loved-ones and started to work on the projections.

Soon Hayato would be faced with happiness, betrayal and death.

...starting now.

 

[Atlas Kane]

Hayato suddenly stopped crying. Something had changed. He had opened his eyes as well and his hands were releasing the pressure they had built up. He was slowly starting to sit up, then his face was visible. Parts of it were still wet from the amount of tears he had cried, but he didn't have an expression of sadness on his face anymore. It resembled an expression of confusion, with a hint of happiness in it. Only Hayato and his opponent knew why he was not sad anymore. Only they were seeing the things that caused this sudden change in emotions, the rest of the arena could only watch as the man went through this roller coaster ride of emotions. Hayato was looking upwards again, though not at his opponent, he was staring blankly into space, as if he was looking at something no one else could see and that something seemed to make him happy, since a smile started forming on his face.

Shortly afterwards the he stopped smiling. Something had changed. The expression on his face had changed to that of horror and despair. It seemed whatever had caused his happiness was now fading away and making place for something that had caused his initial situation. No one knew if it was the same thing he had been talking about before, or if it was a different thing. No one except for him and his opponent. His hands started forming into fists again. The pressure was building up again and he closed his eyes, though still, tears rolled down his face.

What followed was a complete mental breakdown. Hayato suddenly showed signs of rage and anger. Hate started building up inside him. He had experienced this once before, though not on this scale. This time those emotions were much stronger, much more ... intense. ''You.'' His voice was full of anger and hatred. He gripped his opponents hand. ''You are causing this. You are inflicting all of this pain. You will pay. I will never again be weak. Did you hear me? NEVER AGAIN!'' He had snapped completely. He was no longer able to feel anything but hatred. No mercy, no sympathy, no compassion, nothing. That man would pay for what he did.

Hayato shot forward, one of his hands aiming for his opponent's throat, the other going for his Lightsaber. His face wore an expression of pure hatred and his eyes reflected that. His eyes looked like they had pure fire burning in them. His opponent had pushed him too far. He would not be holding back now. He would do everything to kill his opponent now. The things he had seen today were too much for him to handle.

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

...and there it was, the darkside burning with such a ferocity that even Jared was surprised about it, but only a little bit. There had never been love for the Jedi in his heart, always they pretended to be the noble and righteous guardians. But where had they been when the needy had need of them? They lived cushy lives in the upper levels of Coruscant, while the rest starved to death in the Understreets. But do they care? No, they only were only busy meditating under a damn tree.

This man in front of him might not have been a real Jedi, but he could have smelled the self-righteousness from a mile away.

It mattered not, for Jared had won this day. Maybe not in a physical way, but after pushing and pushing and.. pushing, the noble Hayato had finally broken. Hatred had filled his heart and poisoned the once proud instrument of life. Would he ever recover? Doubtfully, redemption was a long, long path.

For a second he considered pretending to be killed. That would have probably helped to push the lad over the ledge even more. But then again... he had a reputation to uphold.

As such he allowed himself to be grabbed by the neck, the man was fueled with the darkness and it enhanced his strength. Slowly but steadily, Hayato was choking his opponent out. But then it happened.

A smile appeared on Jared's face, though his opponent would not be able to see it through the mask. As Hayato tried to reach for his lightsabre, Jared caught his arm and held it, while the Fallen Jedi was tired after getting one hit after the other. The Lord of the Fringe did not have the same problem.

Jared's other free hand grabbed hold off the arm that was choking him and then... a message appeared in Hayato's mind.

“I have you.”​

At the same time... Jared unleashed a storm of lightning on his opponent through his hands. Red and black lightning coursed and flowed. Skin to skin contact, it did not bode well for Hayato...

 

[Atlas Kane]

''What?'' A surprised word, and then a scream. A scream of pure suffering, agony and hatred. A scream that reflected the true feelings of the young Knight. He was filled with hatred. Hatred for the man who had done this to him, hatred for himself for being weak, hatred for those who didn't protect him, hatred for those who caused all his pain in his life, hatred for everyone. All that hatred had boiled up inside him for a long time now. It had surfaced every now and then, but never as intensely as it had now. Hayato was no longer sure he could contain it. It was all so painful before and now all of the hate was flowing and it felt ... good. It gave him a feeling of satisfaction, something he had never really felt before. A sick sense of satisfaction through the pain he was inflicting and receiving. Was this the Dark Side?

His body tensed up, squeezing his opponent's throat a bit, not enough to inflict serious damage, only enough to maybe not let him breathe for a second or two. It was the last thing he did before his body went limp and he slumped down to the ground, only being held up by the hands of his opponent, gripping his own arms and inflicting so much pain on him, though most of it didn't register anymore. Hayato had lost his connection to reality, he had passed out, fallen into oblivion. Partially because of the immense pain, partially because of exhaustion, but also partially because he didn't want to see himself anymore, what he has become, what his opponent had made out of him. No more.

In his mind he was divided now. Part of him wanted to kill everything and everyone as soon as he woke up again, part of him wanted to continue his ways of peace. It was a conflict of peace and war. The eternal struggle between the Light and Darkness. Between Good and Evil. Love and Hate. Compassion and Apathy. It was a conflict that could never be resolved. A conflict of two opposites which could never co-exist. Never be mixed. And now Hayato was in the middle of that struggle. He feared waking up, because that would be when the decision would be cast and his fate would be decided.

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]