Tournament Of Champions:Fringe!

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Dak Canton"] [member="Nickolas Imura"] [member="Vilox Pazela"] [member="Fatty"]​

The Cauldron of Rattatak. Home of Bloodsport, death, and slavery of beast and man alike. This was the scene of the first round of the Tournament of Champions. The Tournament that would pit the Champions of each and every faction against one another. The Tournament that would find the best warriors in the galaxy, and throw them into the same ring.​

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Of course, first one had to find the Champion of each Faction.​

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It had not been difficult to persuade the Fringe to go along with this little scheme. After all those in the Fringe were famous for their slaying of monsters, fighting in wars and battles, and doing all sorts of dangerous things. A tournament to decide which of them was the best? It was almost like taking candy from a baby.​

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So Nemene and Evelynn had hosted their new tournament, and hundreds had appeared. Dozens upon dozens of famous, and not so famous Fringers ready to take to the sands in a bloody free for all in the Famous Cauldron.​

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There Nemene now stood with her Sister, above the bloodied sands and boulders. Dozens of contestants stood in the massive ring, each and every one of them brandishing their weapons. She smiled, looking down at them all, then spoke. “Begin!”​

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There would be no big speech, no, This was only the first round after all.​

 

[Garza]

Once more I was in a battle for my life. Facing up against men that had many years of experience over my head. Though my Master had spoken to me about possibly becoming a Knight. I knew that I was more prepared for this battle than the last one. I was as ready as I could get. Knowing that anything can change in the blink of an eye. Really all I had to do was somehow survive the rumble like fight against two Masters of the force, A soldier and what looked to be a snowman? I had no idea how he had gotten his name thrown in here, but I was letting nothing to chance.

I calmed myself. This battle was crucial for me. If I wanted to advance in the force and in battle itself. I needed to train. And as my Master had made me spend hours upon hours, days upon days fighting against droids and dummies. I wanted something real. And to evade my masters eye for now, I came under a different name. "The Crimson Rose" A beauty that had a hidden talent. Only my body and mind were the reverse. Using the ugly and the power talent on the outside to hide my hidden beauty. Well that's the thought I had about it.

Carrying my rifle, a DD-12 blaster rifle during the time of the SIth empire, I now could use almost all the Ammo I wanted. having two extra clips of ammo, as well as three extra grenade shots. I pulled the slide on the grenade launcher letting the Chuck Chuck echo in the ring. Though it was hardly heard over the sounds of the crowds. Time seemed to slow down. and my heart raced. It sped wanting to send the adrenaline throughout my body.

With a single word. the Lady of the Cauldron rang out with her voice, "Begin!" And I moved.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

Y'know publicity isn't really my thing. Fighting though? I like to think I do it pretty damn well. As a Commando for the Fringe its my job to do a lot of that fighting. Normally, they - meaning the brass - don't want us to get out into public. Too much valuable intel at stake. But for every rule there's an exception. Just so happened I got to be exception Numero Uno. I came under an alias because they demanded it. Here I was Kad Cantoo. Get it? Can Too. Ha. Ha ha.

... I thought it was funny anyway. Naw, just messin'. I came under the call sign of Akk-Akk. For all intents and purposes I would be the faceless symbol of an 'average' soldier in the Fringe. No interviews. No special treatment. No nothin'. Just another assignment... and just the way I like it.

I thought I'd enjoy it, because beating the bantha crap out of people gives me the thrills, but the moment I stepped out onto those arena sands and heard the thunderous roar of the crowd... well, I started to have second thoughts. Anyone would, see? Freakin' scary as hell. Exciting too. I won't say I didn't have a grin on my face. Not that anyone in the crowd could see it.

I wore a suit of ICA-AEL TCA. The stuff was made from phrik and had a black reflec coating that gave the armor a pretty dark n' scary appearance. The body glove was terentatek, good against Forcers. The kama, also terentatek leather, weighed down on my hips as I stomped out onto the sands. It gave me a little unintended swagger. I don't normally, y'know... 'cause I'm a professional and all. In addition to the armor I wore... well, I wore quite a bit. I had on AEL leviathan bracers and a taozin amulet, which made me invisible to Forcers, or so they said.

Oh, you thought I was finished listing equipment? Nope. I was just getting started. Weapons... Oho. Oho boy. I brought in a lot of weapons.

I wore two thigh holsters and a shoulder holster. Each held a pistol of a different make. On my right hip I had the BTI Ripper. On the left I had a Czerka machine pistol. It was loaded with 9mm FLARE slugs. Nasty things. I had a series of clips on my belt of different ammo types. They were highlighted and color schemed so that I didn't frak it up. In the shoulder holster, underneath my left arm, was my weapon of last resort. A disruptor pistol, acquired at pretty damn high cost to my finances. It was pretty failsafe. Even beskar armor couldn't stand up to a good disruptor hit. In a calf sheath I had a big ass knife made of alchemized steel. It'll stop a lightsaber blade cold. On a shoulder sling was the BTI Hyperion rifle.

I leveled the weapon at my nearest competitor as soon as Nemene Talith said the word "Begin." I took a good grip on the weapon to make sure some forcer didn't rip it out of my hands, then I aimed down the scope at [member="Nickolas Imura"]. Didn't know him too well, and honestly I don't care too much. This wasn't for guts or glory. Ok, maybe a little. But it was mostly for the cash. And some good ol' fashioned pride. I'm a loyalist. I'm straightforward. I follow my orders. I'm going to win for the Fringe, but ain't nobody gonna stand in my way while I do it.

I squeezed the trigger. A solid composite beam of green energy leaped out of the barrel and straight for the kid. This wasn't some one shot affair, but a three second continuous burn that I could sweep back and forth and more or less cut people in half. It could melt into armor and cut right through flesh. Maybe it couldn't melt through the harder metals, but it would heat you up enough to give you some pretty bad burns. I had a few contingency plans for what was coming. Launch a grenade? I'll burn it out of the air with the Hyperion. Force shove? Try it. See what happens. Lightning? Oho boy. Be my guest.

I'm ready for anything. It's my job. So bring the heat and let's get this show on the road.

 

[Garza]

Already a man was firing on me. Right from the get go as I had anticipated. With the way that I was not so heavily armored nor was I all that great against others in the force, I was a prime target to hit on. I should have realized that from the beginning. But there was nothing to do now. All I could do was react to whatever was thrown my way. My only hope for that was my body could sustain the stress that had been put on it. as well as the first battles that I happened to have with my boss. Well more so she was the boss then.... oh forget it. Long story short, I fought a master, busted up my knee, gave her some of my skin, and done.

These two fights were different. In the one with the Jedi Master, I had a possible advantage of attacking from a distance with a speeder, as well as a blaster rifle, specifically designed to take down Force users. I remembered as one of the first things I did, was fire my rifle from the handle bars of the speeder. But I could have also let the woman become ran over by one of the speeders. Instead I had shoved a pillar from behind her to shatter the pod racer into billions of shreds of metal. If I let the pod racer hit her, I could have won, but something had told me not to. Here was a different story. Here is where i would be on an equal plane with everyone. Well, almost everyone.

While I was one to have lesser armor, I could move faster, One advantage for me. I also had less gear. Less switching between weapons, and a better use of them. A man with a thousand guns is a good shot, but a man with one gun never misses. An old saying that I heard on Nar Shaddaa. The moral was that a man with one gun knew his weapon so well, that he would never miss should he need to take a shot. I was probably closest to this by having very little gear. And what would all this amount to? Almost nothing. This was a rumble. A fight where a dozen or so people are thrown into one place, and fight till there is a winner.

And I had to move fast to survive. To first come up with a way to protect myself, I needed a barrier for now. Something to stop the blaster fire that came straight for me. With the upward pull of my left hand. A boulder was yanked from it's position on the ground, to roll right to a stop at my feet. I crouched down behind it as blaster fire erupted over the arena. I could not stay here for long, and I would have to use a mix of my force powers, and rifle to get out of this. Peeking over to the left I fired back at the man with a rather large rifle. Sending what looked to be a stream of plasma at me. Red blaster bolts flew at him from cover as his own shot scraped the top of the boulder.

I had to move faster. A man who stood in one spot during a fight was a dead man. And so I moved. Rolling to the right I came to my feet and began to run. Firing back at to the man once more. Using my movement, and his standing as a possible uptake against him. However, how this man was armored, I doubted that my blaster bolts would do anything against him. I was firing more so to keep him busy from firing that longer blast at me again. With the way that it was built, I was sure that he could hit many people if they did not see the shot coming. Literally shaping the bolt to "cut" people, or take a wide range where it would force a corner of the arena to duck or defend against the blast. Once again, I fired three more shots at the man.

[member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Matreya]

Prison sucks, that is one thing most apparent to 'Kasamann'. He had spent many months secluded and locked away in a Protectorate prison, drivin further insane by lack of well...everything. Inside the mutant Andolith's broken mind lay three different beings, all having shown themselves in one way or another; Zaiden, of course, as he is the primary. Kasamann, a being driven by light and darkness, peace being his goal. Then there came the bad one, Tenebrae. The voice that whispered inside Zaiden's mind, telling him to destroy the Fringe and everything within her borders.

It was this entity that allowed the being to escape with little trouble. During a routine check of cells, the guard would happen to find Kasamann's empty. Tenebrae had broken his massive tail free, and with a few strikes had himself entirely unhindered. After which came the probing of a guards mind before gripping it like a vice to make him open the door and lock himself inside. But instead of leaving on a good note, the being cut down nearly 25 men on his way out - the entire time hidden from sight, sound, sensors, and the Force alike. It had simply been something to amuse himself on his way.

Before long it was apparent though that Kasamann wanted control back. Barely a few days passed before the first episode: Tenebrae was attempting to steal a ship to get out of Omega space, when suddenly he found himself shouting words at the loudest his telepathy could carry it. He instantly stopped speaking, doing his best to cut Kasamann off from use of the form.

They did succeed in the end, thus when told of a tournament to decide the strongest of the Fringe, he got himself ready. Armed with both Amphistaff and Tsaisi, his father's lightsabers as the gift from Ashin came up missing, and several other weapons, he stepped onto the field. Hidden in the open, the being knew only one of better stealth would have a chance to find him.

Swiiish, glancing behind himself with his stalk eye, Kasamann was surprised to find that his tail was flicking on it's own. The huge scythe shined brightly in the son, the blade new and undamaged after regrowth.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

So, as predicted this guy was some sort of forcer. He freakin' grabbed a boulder and put it between him and my composite beam. Not that that was much of a problem, see? The solid line of green burned right through the top of the boulder, lopping it off like it was a melon. I don't know why, but blowing things up feels incredibly cool. But this gun? Man. I could do that all day. I guess that's what Jedi feel like with their plasma swords. But then I don't have a personal indestructo-weapon that can slice through anything and block any projectile. What I do have is equipment for every scenario. It's not just about having the equipment though. It's about knowing when to use it.

Sure, I felt like shooting all day with the Hyperion. Didn't mean I could. Fire it too much and the weapon would melt in my hands. A weapon's malfunction in my opinion is just about the scariest thing that can happen in the middle of a firefight. And I sure as the nine hells wasn't about to intentionally do that. So, while the hostile ran around like a monkey-lizard with its head cut-off, I lowered my weapon and moved for some cover. Blaster bolts pinged off my armor as the hostile scored a few hits and left some unsightly charred burns on the surface of the TCA's breastplate. Those shots he fired from behind cover were all he managed to land though, because the next flurry he fired at me went completely wide. Running and gunning, which is what he was doing, had an accuracy of pretty damn near zero. It wasn't really meant to hit though. It was meant for suppressing fire. To make people say "Oh crap!" and get down, because inaccurate or not, nobody likes bolts of searing plasma headed their way.

I went into a sprint toward the nearest cover, a big ol' rock. Most people think that in my armor I'm slow. They'd be wrong. Soldiers train to run in full body armor. Running in my full TCA gear, I'd be way faster than an average human wearing nothing. Believe it, or don't. I always like surprising hostiles. Makes it easier to kill 'em.

Blaster bolts slapped the ground around my feet, turning chunks of sand into glass. Heart racing, I slid, shock-ball style, sand spraying everywhere. I came up on one knee behind the boulder and peeked around the corner, aiming at the running kid, [member="Nickolas Imura"]. I lined up the scopes' sights with the kid's trajectory and put the shot not where he was now, but where he would be in half a second on his current course. Slowly, I depressed the trigger. Another green composite beam shot from the weapon. I placed the shot so that it would land at the center of mass. The big rule in a firefight is that you don't aim for the head. Sure it's preferable, but it's too small to hit on most species with quick accuracy. Aiming for the upper torso is better as the shot is either be fatal, or take the hostile out of action. I just wanted the shot too land.

If he zig-zagged to the left I'd just drag the solid line of green into him. Zig-zag to the right, same thing. Jump in the air? I'd follow his trajectory up with that solid green line and cut him in half while he was doing his fancy acrobatics. Duck? That'd be even easier. No matter what way he tried to jump, roll, or otherwise take evasive action I'd have him cornered. Dodging a blaster bolt isn't as easy as they make it look on the holovid. Dodging a Hyperion? Good luck. I hoped he'd put another one of those boulders between me and him. That way he wouldn't even see the thing coming when it punched through the boulder and right into his body. The shot might be lessened, maybe even non-lethal, but it would still put him on the ground.

 

[Garza]

This man was clearly better equipped for this battle than I had thought. First off, he almost completely shrugged off my blaster rounds. The rounds were of a much higher power than that of a normal blaster rifle, and were made to go through armor. So this man had either very thick armor, or a very blaster resistant material, such as Phrik or Songsteel. However, songsteel was thinner and lighter alloy, meaning that he would have at lease reared back from possible burns. However he did not. So it was Phrik, or he was really good at hiding his pain.

I knew that my shots would not hit the man. it was a simple tactic used to force people to fall to the ground to prevent from a stray shot hitting them. I was wide on his form, and even from the way that he moved, he was fast. I should have expected that. he was trained to run miles on end in heavy gear. meaning that he was used to this kind of punishment on a daily basis. I was wrong to underestimate his skills as a soldier. yet once again, he popped up from behind his own boulder. Bringing the same "Ray weapon" up at me. I would have to avoid him, and with his skills, he probably knew how to "lead a target" meaning that he aimed ahead of where I was running. I needed a way to protect myself while hiding in plain sight.

My body reacted before I came up with the idea, and it was already being put into action.

The stream of green plasma could be be seen as it was being aimed at me. With a pull of my left hand, A wall of earthen material rose up from the ground to be about 3 meters tall. and 3 meters wide. Where as it was not a wide wall, it would serve its purpose to hide me from his vision. With how the blast last time cut through the rock that I had been hiding behind last time, I knew that if I was just standing there it would go through, and still injure me severely. But too bad for him, that I would be no where near there. During my run, I had stayed close to the wall's of the arena. and using that to allow myself room between the man, [member="Dak Canton"] and myself. As it turned out to be a good idea for me, be cause with a simple leap, I started to use my momentum to wall climb up the 3 m2 wall. Only to rebound off with a light push of the force to bound up to the ledge of the wall on the arena. Completely leaping over where the possible shot of the ray beam was, and keeping myself hidden per the man's vantage point.

but I could not stay still. I had to keep moving to survive. And with another light push of the force, I propelled myself up in the air over my own earthen wall, to land on top. With a quick aim down the sights, I fired on the man down below. By the time this was over, I was really hoping for my promotion, or be scorned for going into battle without my Masters approval.

 

[Arage Bao]

Cloaked by… well quite literal shadows, Jared stood and waited. See here is a little theory for you guys, sometimes it was just better to wait out and see. Get a grip of your opponents, figure out their strengths and weaknesses while they were fighting the good fight. Besides, while they were fighting and wasting their energy at each other, you could just sit there and relax.
Better that way. Sure, it did not bring a lot of glory to the table, but who really cared about Glory. Or songs for that matter. Going back to the basics, Jared was not clothed in badass armor, just a simple black robe and masked as always. The Mask of the Glory-Song.

The crowd had not yet picked him out, they were far too busy following the laserbeams and boulder-throwing of the other two contestants. One of them was quite literally a danger, he was a walking arsenal it seemed. Besides that… it seemed hard to track him through the Force, as if he wasn’t there to begin with.

Seemed the guy was all kinds of fun, besides the obvious expertise he had with all those guns, guns and more guns. The man he was fighting against did not seem like a lot of trouble, standard Sith. Then again, he was holding his own for now. Could go both ways, really.

So where was Jared while the action was happening, well.. he sat on top of one of the pillars that surrounded the arena. Quite literally making himself invisible with mental suggestions, of course if you were immune to such things because… well genetics; it wouldn’t work. But really, with all the boulder tossing that was happening. The man really should pay more attention to that, then a dead, then alive again Sith Lord who loved theatrical names like the Glory-Song.

Munching on the apple he had brought with him, the Glory-Song regarded the fight with some satisfaction. Good fight, much strategy. God, this apple was a gift from the Based Gods themselves.

Now.. you could ask how it was possible that the man was eating an apple, while wearing a mask. Wasn’t it -really- uncomfortable? Maybe, probably. But the answer you would probably get was something in the lines of, watch the karking fight. It’s more interesting than a guy, whose form was flickering slightly once in a while, sitting on a boulder and munching an apple.

Kids these days.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

"Son of a bantha!"

Okay. So apparently not only could this punk move boulders around like skipping stones he could also pull up walls of earth taller than a Wookiee and thicker than a Herglic. I don't know a whole lot about the Force, but what I do know is that if somebody can do that it means he's either really powerful, or he just used up a whole lot of energy. My jaw dropped a little as the guy disappeared beneath a barrier of earth and sand. For a couple of heartbeats he was just plain gone, then he reappeared on top of his not-so-little wall of packed dirt. He raised that blaster rifle and opened fire.

I crouched behind my rock and started counting. On top of that wall he had a pretty good vantage point, but his shots hammered the rock, some skipping past to sizzle into the sand just near me. He didn't have a clear shot at me. I took a deep breath and exhaled. The whine of that rifle was familiar. DD-12, sounded like. Became standard issue for the Empire toward the Fall. Back when there still was an Empire. The main battle rifle could pack a punch and it was pretty long ranged, but I was wearing phrik. Duraplast alone could shrug off those rounds. My armor could do a whole lot more.

My count reached three. The Hyperion took three seconds to cool down in between its three second burns. Two shots fired, eight shots left. I breathed, trying to calm my racing heart, then I embraced the adrenaline and the fight. See, to most people this is terrifying and don't get me wrong, I was terrified, but there ain't nothing like the rush of battle. To me this was fun.

Pivoting around the rock, I aimed up at him and squeezed the trigger. A solid line of green leapt out and went straight for his legs. If he backflipped or attempted to jump down behind his wall of earth I'd just move the line a bit and cut him in half. If he flipped up I'd move it up and cut him in half. Flip forward? Even easier. Of course, he could just put another big rock in between me and him, but that would exhaust some of his energy. The kid looked young. I was betting he wasn't a master of the Force. Those guys all looked old. I put my faith in judging the book by its cover. He'd start to get tired, start to make mistakes... and then I'd put him down.

[member="Nickolas Imura"].

 

[Garza]

Already I had expended too much energy for this fight. As an apprentice I had an unusually high amount of force power. Even untrained, I could last a pretty long while in a battle with someone of my skill. I was more force eccentric and oriented. Meaning that I could last much longer than most with force powers and skills. However, Calling up a wall large enough to protect myself like that, followed by two force pushes, even at a small level, taxed me. I was no Master of the force. While I may have been close to a Knight rank as per an earlier discussion with my Master. it does not mean that I could best everyone. No where near that. I still had to learn more. and battling this man made that very evident. He was skilled in fighting people like myself. While I had waned in fighting others. Where most of my training was just trying to get better at Lightsaber forms, I wished that I could go back in time to redo all of those lessons.

My blaster shots rained down on him. I could feel the but of the stock kicking back on me as I fired down at him. Keeping him under cover. However, he stood up. Taking on the shots as though nothing phased him. Pointing out that he had superior armor to that against my blaster. I smiled and shook my head as he raised his own weapon at me. he may have been ready for the blaster fire, but he was probably not ready for a propelled grenade.

As it happened to be, My rifle, A DD-12, was equipped with an undercarriage that could fire an explosive. While he was bringing his weapon up to be pointed at me, I fired the first round at him as I dropped back away from the top of the Earthen berm. The Grenade would force him to deal with an explosive instead of firing his beam weapon at me. Providing myself time to get rid of the gun. As I fell down, I twisted around to let my back almost rub up against the wall of stone and dirt. As I was close to the ground I rolled to lessen the impact, and move myself out from behind. Running again, The second round was already prepped as three rounds were loaded in the secondary barrel before the match even started. As I could see him across the field, I brought my weapon up for a second time, and fired. Letting the second grenade to be lobbed in his direction as I ran to him.

To add to the madness, I fired my blaster rifle. I was running low on the clip, but what I had planed, it was just enough to work. With the addition of Two grenades, and firing from a blaster rifle, he may have a lot to handle with. Even if a shot would not kill him, He can be hit back from the sheer power of a bolt hitting his body. i was getting close to him. And firing the last and final grenade in the chamber, it was sent to him trying to unnerve him from firing at me. I needed to get in close to him to get rid of this composite beam weapon. And to make it even harder to fire on me, I spent the last rounds of my rifle on him. Rushing in on him. Using the force as an aid, I propelled myself at him. Intending to hit him with the stock of the rifle against his own weapon.

That stupid beam was just messing up my whole day. I mean, I was coming here expecting a huge lightsaber fight, Instead I was faced with a heavily armored and armed non force user, that could very well give me a run for my money. And that is not what I wanted. I came here to become a Champion for the Fringe. Though It could very well be a livid dream of mine, I intended to fight for that spot. Even if I didn't reach it. I could possibly earn respect as a Sith Warrior, and as a Individual. Because one thing that went around more often than Credits, was words. And if word about me spread, then maybe I could get my name out there.

My purpose for fame, was not the money, or the idea of having girls chase me everywhere. No. I wanted Fame so possibly my lost Brother Morna could hear about me. I knew that he was alive, and I knew that if he heard about me, Then maybe he could see me. But that was one hell of a longshot.

[member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Marcus Tritum]

Still in a crouch after pivoting around the rock, I wasn't too exposed to his counter shots. Countless drills had beaten into me the importance of exposing only as much of your body as is necessary when firing back from behind cover. I already felt uncomfortable with my arm and head stuck out from behind cover. That didn't stop me from seeing the kid level his rifle at me and pull a secondary trigger.

Thunk.

The DD-12 had an underslung grenade launcher. Three micro rounds if I remembered right. They could be anything from cryo to frag. I didn't plan on sitting there and finding out. I'd already squeezed the trigger on the rifle. I couldn't take back the shot that was in progress. The upside? The shot was three second burn. Now, I'll repeat what I said at the beginning of this fight. Launch a grenade? I'll burn it out of the air with the Hyperion. I dragged the composite beam into the grenade as it flew through the air. The shot connected and the sky lit up in a brilliant fireball. Bits of metal rained down on me, plinking of my armor. A bit of shrapnel found its way into the gap beneath my pauldron and helmet and lodged itself into my body glove like a big metal splinter. I could feel warm blood starting to well up beneath the body glove, but wasn't too concerned. Non-fatal injury. Not life threatening. The pain still caused me to wince.

I swung the Hyperion toward where the kid had landed, but the shot ran out just before it could connect with him, leaving a trail of glassed sand.

"Frak!" Cursing, I dived behind the rock as he launched another micro grenade at me. The explosion rocked the ground and I could hear and feel the rock at my back shatter under the impact. I pivoted out from behind what little cover I had left - the rock formation had been shattered to close to nothing, counting in my head. I was kneeling, body crouched - as I had been for most of this firefight - with my left leg up. The kid was running straight for me, firing on full auto. Blaster bolts spattered around me, several slammed into my breastplate, nearly knocking me over. Another smacked into my helmet and whipped my head back. Made me feel like I'd been knocked in the face by a wampa. But we Epicanthix are made of pretty stern stuff, stronger than humans. I could take the punishment and you bet I could dish it out.

The kid leapt straight for me, raising the butt of his rifle like he planned on giving me a good old whacking. Groggy from the whiplash, I grunted. My count had reached three. The Hyperion was recharged. Time to 86 this punk.

I didn't even really need to aim. Point blank, I squeezed the trigger.

[member="Nickolas Imura"]

 

[Garza]

This man was taking hit after hit. He had gotten rid of my first grenade with the beam. But that forced him to recharge. Giving me ample enough time to get to him. And to keep him low, my shots did exactly what I wanted. And everything seemed to be going my way. My face was almost in a smug look as I brought the rifle down on him. Only this would turn out bad.

As I brought the butt of my rifle down on him, he pulled his weapon up to fire at me. People say that when you are about to die, your senses kick into overdrive, and I could attest that this was true. I could see his finger pull on the trigger at the barrel was pointed straight at my chest. And once more, I contradicted my thoughts. I rather liked the fact that I trained with lightsaber forms. Because with a lightsaber, you had to learn how to feint your attacks and moves. And should that go wrong, you can change in the blink of an eye. Instead of aiming the blow to rain down on his body physically, I brought it down on the beam rifle just as the green plasma shot out.

The beam cut down from the left side of my chest as the butt of my rifle hit the upper of his. An oh like bloody hell did the beam burn through my side. It cut down through the cloth of the robes that I wore, but most of the energy was absorbed by the Ironskin that I wore underneath. As said earlier The Chaos robes that I wore, were made to protect me against blasters. This weapon was partial blaster rifle. ANd was made to blast through armor, but for a glancing burn to the side of my chest and abdomen, it took most of the shot, making a hole in my armor to reveal badly burned skin.

In a Fight Adrenaline rushed through your bloodstream. Dulling pain, and producing superior strength. Stories of average men lifting a 2 ton boulder off of him before he was crushed to death had been heard by my ears. After on the Holonet, there was a story about how the man felt very little pain during the event, but as soon as the rock was off of him, He felt immense pain as many of his bones were broken. While I could be in the same, or even more danger than that man, Adrenaline came to my aid to slightly dull the pain. But only slightly as I winced past the bashing of our two weapons.

I had to stop this man from using the blaster again. And to do that, I would have to destroy it. My left hand reached out with the force around the weapon, Utilizing Force Crush, a move that was taught recently to me by my Master, I crushed down on the weapon. Should I hit the evident cooling pack, or even the energy cells for the weapon, It could but it out of commision for a time. As I crushed down on it, I let the DD-12 blaster rifle drop from my grasp and reached for my lightsaber. Activating it without a glance. Quickly followed by a force push.

If I was to outlast this guy, I would have to use some energy of my force powers now. Because no matter how good I was at the force, As long as [member="Dak Canton"] had the composite beam rifle, I would literally become toast.

 

[Matreya]

Stretching for what had to be the hundredth time since his arrival, Kasamann thanked no one in particular. Being able to move his body as he saw fit, rather then hang suspended in mid air chained by his opponents. Stifling a mental yawn, Kasamann swiveled an eye to slowly scan the environment. Something was different then when he first arrived...

A small haze of what could be described as Shadows...and he paused there. Why did this seem so familiar?

Aaaaah, Kasamann thought silently. Someone hid there. And considering he was the only true Shadow Master among the Fringe, he instantly deduced someone was using the Shadows to aid in a form of stealth. And now it was to figure what kind of stealth it was, from which he could conclude whom it was and whether they were dangerous enough to confront.

He was extremely fluent in stealth materials, and the only one he would use shadows to enhance would be Pyronium, and from within there wasn't a glimmer of light. Thus no metals. Mentalism mayhap? Using his other stalk eye he scanned the crowd, and noticed that not a single person seemed to look in the same direction. Yep, someone with power over the mind.

Clearly a Master, Kasamann chalked the location up to be remembered.

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Marcus Tritum]

A grunt escaped my lips as the stock of his weapon connected with the Hyperion barrel. The composite beam tore through his side, then went wide. I expected to be looking through a new window in the kid's body, but his skin - though a ragged mess of burnt and torn flesh - was still mostly intact. He musta been wearing one helluvan armor, 'cause the Hyperion was made to rip through armored vehicles. I'd watch the replay tapes of what exactly went down later. Y'know, if I survived. The likelihood of which looked pretty tenuous just about now.

The next couple of movements happened so fast I could barely follow them. The kid reached out a hand and his fingers curled. The barrel of the Hyperion bent like play-doh. Even through the proofing of my helmet I could hear the groan of metal. Holy crap. This kid could bend metal with his bare hands! I let go of the Hyperion, moving into immediate counteraction at the same time as the kid brought a cylindrical device out and activated it with a snap-hiss.

Aw kriff.

A push radiated outward from the punk. I'm guessing it was a Force Push, wasn't sure. The terentatek hide in my armor dulled or negated Force abilities. So what might have been a full strength push became more of a light shove that nearly knocked me off balance. I don't respond well to shoving. Still at point-blank range, I was close enough to hug the kid. I wasn't goin' for anything so friendly.

My left hand went out, trying to grab his arm - the one holding the lightsaber. I slammed my head forward, attempting to headbutt the kid in the face with the fore of my phrik helmet. Even with the strength of an Epicanthix behind the blow I doubted it would kill him. What I was hoping it would do was break his nose. The subsequent pain and tears - like it or not everyone tears up when they get whacked in the nose - would hopefully blind him. I brought my right fist forward at the same time as my headbutt, trying to slam it into his gut and activating the knuckle blade as I did so. The blade was a little like the kind in those hologames the kids are always playing these days. Assassin's Code or something like that. Except this isn't a long, thin thing and it doesn't come from under my wrist. It comes out just above the knuckles and has a wide, fat blade with a short length that could cause gaping wounds. Again, probably not mortal in this case, but if it punctured it would cause a lot of unpleasant bleeding.

As for that lightsaber of his, well at melee range lightsabers are great. They can block pretty much anything, cut pretty much anything. They're just about the world's greatest weapon. Only problem is that they're still swords. And when you get into close-quarters combat - which is what was happening now - lightsabers don't do so well. Better to bring a dagger... like my knuckle blade. I was inside his guard, his lightsaber was to my left and to his right. In order to actually make a good chop at me with the meter or more long blade he'd have to back off a bit.
[member="Nickolas Imura"]

 

[Garza]

At this close of a range between us, I was expecting some kind of hit from him. A punch most likely. With an armored fist it was sure to get at me. He had a grip of my right wrist where my lightsaber was being held. However, he was grabbing my weak hand. While I was ambidextrous. A good thing to have when you were training with lightsabers all the time. As he was sending his fit towards me, I could hear the mechanical shink of a knuckle blade slide out. While his head reared back to come come down at my own head.

With the natural instinct of a Warrior, it was to just send my elbow into his face but that would leave my stomach open from my entire side. I needed to get a way to negate both attacks coming my way, and what best to do than to make him hurt himself? My left arm was stronger than my right. Many times more because of the Sith Alchemy that had been given to me as a Child. It had over 20 years to slowly grow on my arm. While I was only 19, Most people forgot about how I was stuck in a cryochamber. Regardless, I moved.

My left hand did a circular motion coming from the outside of my body to the inside and up. Using the webbing between my thumb and index finger to push up at the man's wrist that came for my stomach, and send it up into the man's upper chest and head as his body would be bending slightly forward to deliver a headbutt. Regardless if it hit or not, The top portion of the dome hit my forehead instead of my nose. With an attack that was coming for the head, it was best to lean your head down, and let the natural integrity of your skull, where it was most strongest, take the blow instead of your nose, where if it was hit hard enough, could possibly kill you.

And oh I never thought that headaches would come so quick. While he had an armored head, I was not. The best I had was a hood to hide my face. Not very good considering this man had a Phrik helmet. I was slammed back away from the man and the force push that did hardly anything did not escape my notice. Somehow I could not directly act against him with the force. I guess that all I could do was use a form of the force on something else to harm him as a result.

[member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Marcus Tritum]

The punk tried to grab my arm and turn the knuckle blade back on me. I'd give him one thing, he was strong. The phrik blade grated against my armor plating, sending up sparks as it squealed dangerously toward my neck. It might have worked. Might. But I felt my helmeted head connect solidly with his skull. Maybe not bone-shattering, but there was enough blunt trauma behind that headbutt that I could hold out hope for a concussion, or at least some sort of disorientation. The kid stumbled backward, away from me. I wrenched my arm free of his grasp. He might be strong, but hey, so was I. Epicanthix n' all.

I also let go of his arm. The one holding the lightsaber. Not such a great idea, thinking back on it, but I didn't have a whole lot of options. I retracted the knuckle blade, then took a step backward and used the space created by my head butt to shrug out of the Hyperion rifle sling. The bent and now useless weapon fell to the sand with a thud. With that no longer hindering my movements I felt quite a sight more free. My hands dived for my pistols. I could draw fast, like real fast. Faster than you could blink.

Before he could so much as say "The Force," I had the two pistols in my hands. In my left, I held the Czerka Machine Pistol. It had a twenty round magazine. VENOM 9mm slugs. Each bullet was hollow and filed acid. The metal of the bullet could still pierce through flesh and bone easily, but then the acid would be released. That stuff would slowly eat through cloth, skin, and even armor. The more rounds I pumped in the more acid there was and the faster it would eat away. In my right hand was a Blas-Tech Ripper. It was a full auto blaster pistol with 150 rounds inside the plug n' fire cell.

"Neu na!" I grunted in Huttese. For those of you who are illiterate, that means "See ya!"

With only a couple feet between us, I opened up with both weapons. Full auto. Rounds barked from my machine pistol, zipping through the air, while the blaster pistol whined as it spat forth lancets of red plasma.

So here's the skinny about Force Users. They're really good at blocking stuff and even throwing stuff. Some Forcers could stop my bullets mid air, others could deflect all my blaster rounds without so much as batting an eye. But this kid didn't look like a master of the Force. What he looked like was somebody who had a ton of power, but not a whole lot of experience using it. Even if he managed to block the bullets shot from the machine pistol, the acid inside would bust open and spray all over him. Meanwhile, the blaster pistol would rip his light armor to shreds. Iron Skin doesn't deflect direct shots, only glancing blows.

Best guess? He'd try to put another rock in between me n' him. Good luck doing that faster than a speeding bullet.

[member="Nickolas Imura"]

 

[Arage Bao]

A far-away view would reveal 8 distinct pillars, each.. holding a man eating an apple. So there were two options here, go around throwing kinetite balls and hope that they would both die in the explosion. A worthy strategy, but tiring.

Then there was a second option. Jared had been trying to get a grip on [member="Dak Canton"] for these past few minutes and… came up empty. The man was a damn void in the Force, at least in terms of mentalism.

No way, he would be able to influence his mind in some way.

Left only that other kid, who was throwing around walls of earth and the like. Possible to just let them kill each other, but the apple was finally finished.

Boring to just sit and wait.

So… Jared directed a full-frontal assault on [member="Nickolas Imura"]. The lad was probably tired, was still an acolyte; even if his Master thought him a Knight, and most of all. He was at the moment busy dodging gunfire.

This would get interesting.

The full might of a Mentalist Master.

This gon be gud.

 

[Garza]

As i was getting my bearings, The man had drawn two pistols. I knew one to be a blaster pistol called "The Ripper" Called that because 150 rounds of blaster bolts was in there and could fire at full-auto to literally rip a guy to shreds. And that was not good. However much that it was a fast firing weapon, it was not as powerful as it could be. With a lightsaber in my right hand.it shut off as I brought both hands up. While it may have taken a longer to cover my body as it was standing, Crouching was easier. I let my body drop as the wall of earth came up. But even then I was still to slow. A slugthrower round had grazed the top of the berm that was rising from the ground and slammed into my left arm. While the first blaster rounds were smashed into the wall.

I already has sith poison in my left arm. The black substance that took the place of blood in my arm boiled even more as the round went through my arm and let some kind of toxin be released inside. And oh did I scream. it hurt like none other. And because I was in pain, I decided to go only defensive for now. I raised my hands once more as a circular wall formed with the already built one. Encompassing me in a Earthen dome. As it was taking effect, I could feel a mind shove a spike into my mind. I gripped my head trying block out the man's attack. I don't know who was doing this. it was clearly not the Soldier.

I could not hear myself scream as I tried to fight back against the man. Not by attacking him directly. I put up blocks by using images of my brother from holovids. I used thoughts of lessons that I had learned. hell even lessons on how to drink tea the correct way! I could not hear a sounds but past my screaming in pain from the combination of a acid slughthrower, and a mental assault, I spoke without hearing my voice, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Sent both though verbal commands and through Telepathy. I knew that everyone could hear me, Wherever they were.

I was tired, and used up a ton of energy. To fight this man, who had probably not fought at all yet. I was losing. And this was not good.

[member="Dak Canton"], [member="Jared Ovmar"], [member="Kasamann"]

 

[Marcus Tritum]

"Woah," I took a few steps back as the kid created a dome of earth around him. I could hear muffled screaming from inside. I'd thought one of the VENOM slugs had hit him, but I didn't know they hurt that bad... unless... unless it was something else. I glanced around, scanning for something out of the ordinary. A bunch of other competitors were all embroiled in their own duels. I couldn't see anything. Nah, better just to finish the kid off and make sure he was down for the count.

With care, I approached the earthen dome like an EOD guy would approach a bomb. Strike that, like anybody would approach a bomb. Hooboy. If this thing exploded outward? Not good. Well, time to make the kid bite the big one. I reached behind my back and pulled out a Class C thermal detonator that I had strapped there. The cylinder didn't look very impressive, but it had a friggin' big blast radius. Now, if you're not caught up on how thermal detonators work let me explain. Once you've pulled the pin, hit the button, and done whatever you need to do to activate the baradium the thing explodes. But it's not a frag grenade. It's an expanding particle field that atomizes anything and everything. So that earthen dome the kid was hiding behind? Gone. I don't mean just blown up gone, I mean gone gone. Like, vaporized. The dome, him, and everything underneath. It'd probably leave a huge floor in the arena.

I twisted the cylinder to arm the thermal det and then slapped it onto the dome. Then I started running. I sprinted so fast, you'd have thought a terentatek was behind me. And believe you me, those slavering jaws and poisonous tusks are just about the most terrifying sight to see behind you in the galaxy. My arms pumped, my legs flew, and I sprinted like the wind away from the blast.

3, 2, 1.

Boom.

[member="Nickolas Imura"]

 

[Matreya]

Kasamann offered a smirk - rather the Andolith equivalent, which was a sharp draw up of the cheek flesh solely - as he watched the Acolyte fight like a bat out of hell. He was doing ok, but that was it, and at this level he was unlikely to succeed. Arching a brow for a second, he listened as the boy yelled about someone in his head....

Returning his gaze to the prior location, he threw up some mental shields..and there he was. Jared Ovmar. An old ally of Zaiden's, and an undeniably powerful man. When their battle came, it would be a difficult one. Thus it was at this time that Kasamann deduced staying hidden the entirety until just before the very end. It was somewhat the idea the whole time, but now it wad official. He wanted to face Jared, allow the man to know that he yet lived and now even wished to right old wrongs.