Adele Valreyes vs. Mistress Tahiri Thorn Morte Tarentae

You had arrived on Arx after hearing word of a fighting tournament. It had been set up by the Combat Master and had been advertised as a Revival of the long held tradition of naming a Champion of the Antei Combat Center. As you had arrived at the signup table after waiting in line, you were met by a Trandoshan who looked you up and down, said nothing, and slid a form attached to a clipboard to you. A cheap chain linked a pen to the clipboard.

You read it over and it was a standard legal waiver noting that you could not hold the Combat Master or the Brotherhood liable for any injuries or even potential death that occurred during the tournament. You were entering this tournament of your own free will. Any and all repercussions of doing so were at no one’s fault but your own.

You signed, and the Trandoshan hissed with delight as he pointed to a door behind the table. A cheap paper sign was taped to the door that read “ACC Championship Introductory Meeting” in what looked to be felt-tipped black marker. You stepped inside the dark room and that is the last thing you remember until you woke up just now.

The world around you was dark… and soft. The area that you lay on felt just a bit more firm than a standard pillow. A quick check of yourself revealed that you still wore and carried everything you had when you had signed the waiver. While vision was extremely limited, you could tell that someone else was in the room with you. Four ceiling lights clicked on, one at a time, giving the room a bright glow beneath the four lights, but an eerie darkness outside of their radiance. You were in a padded room with a barred and sealed door. Every surface of the room was covered in thick, firm padded square tiles. You lay on a bed made of the same material in one corner of the room, while someone laid in another bed in the opposite corner. It was too dark to make out their figure well.

A holoprojection dropped from the ceiling, giving the room a pale blue glow. It was Combat Master Vincent Brujah. The Sith smirked as he began speaking.

“So, you’ve signed up for the tournament? Where I come from, that makes you a little crazy. I’ve taken you to a more appropriate environment for someone with your condition.”

As he smiled, pink mist began spraying from the ceiling at the same location as the lights. Slowly, what little you could see of the full room began to tint pink. The Combat Master’s smile grew wider.

“And if you weren’t crazy before… well… we can fix that. The effects of this drug will be pleasant… at first. You must be careful, though. Take too big of a dose and things can get downright terrifying, or so I’ve heard. Prolonged exposure will result in death.”

He shrugged slightly.

“The only way out of this room and into safe air is when I tell my crew to open the door, and I’m only going to do that when there is one of you left capable of walking away. Until then, enjoy the ride.”

The holoprojection blinked away. There was no starting whistle. No horn. No audience. Just silence, dim light, and the realization that the longer you sit there, the closer you would come to death.

“—enjoy the ride.”

The holoprojection vanished, leaving the room in silence. But the pink mist continued to seep in via nozzles that were set in the same panel as the lights. Adele wrinkled her nose, detecting a faint, sweet odor. With it came a rush of giddy euphoria.

Not good. The padded room they were in was small and already beginning to take on a pink tint from the gas. They probably had a few minutes at most before it reached a deadly level. Adele found that thought to be amusing, and covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Stay focused. Remember why you’re here.

Adele called upon the Force to slow her breathing, hoping to delay the negative effects as much as possible.

“This Dark Brotherhood is so strange,” she said as she rolled off of the bed and onto the floor. The padding had a slight give to it. She jumped up and down a few times, testing the way it sank beneath her feet and calculating how she would need to adjust her fighting style to accommodate it. “First glitter bombs, then an entire war, then giant electricity-eating lizards. I thought a combat tournament would at least be straight forward, but no, it seems I was wrong.”

Not that Adele was complaining. Once, she had been the Princess of Embers, heir to their family’s criminal syndicate. She had been respected, feared, busy and useful. Now, she was a refugee, an outcast from the very group she had once called her family. Ever since she and her brother had joined Arcona to escape their father’s wrath, her life had been reduced to a listless monotony. At least the glitter bombs, wars and electricity-eating lizards gave her something to do.

“At least it’s never boring!” chirped the person in the other bed.

Adele’s heart sank when she realized she recognized their voice. The other figure got up off of the bed and stepped into the dim circle of light created by the overhead fixtures, revealing herself to be Tahiri Thorne Morte Tarentae, the Shadow Scion of Clan Arcona.

“Hi Adele. What a nice surprise that we’re paired off together!” she said with a beaming smile. It was impossible to tell if it was the result of her naturally positive nature or an effect of the gas. Probably both. She tilted her horned head to look up at the gas that was still spraying into the room, before falling into a wide stance with her hands raised in a guard position. “Well, I suppose we should get into it before it gets too gassy in here.”

She laughed as if those words were the best joke in the galaxy. But Adele’s euphoria had evaporated somewhat at the Togruta’s appearance.

Adele scowled, pushing back the sickly euphoria that tried to reassert itself. “Sure, good idea.” But instead of drawing her own weapon, she stood with her hands extended slightly from her sides. “Go on then. Let’s get this over with.”

Tahiri’s yellow eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. “What’re you doing?”

Adele laughed, but there was a bitter edge to it. “Losing.”

Tahiri cast her confused expression upward, perhaps wondering if Adele’s behavior was an effect of the mist. “I figured that. But why?”

“Because you’re the Shadow Scion,” Adele said curtly. “If I make you look bad, then someone might decide that my brother and I are a problem. My brother’s life depends on staying with the Clan. He likes being here. I’m not going to jeopardize that.” The euphoria came surging back, causing Adele to smile despite the growing ball of ice in the pit of her stomach. Talking required breathing, after all.

The Togruta’s hands dropped slightly as she stared at Adele in shock. “You think I’d have you two kicked out of Arcona if you beat me?”

“Well, maybe not you, but someone might—”

SMACK

Adele stumbled backward, her hand instinctively reaching up to touch her cheek where Tahiri had slapped her.

“First of all, that’s really insulting. I’m here to test myself, and I think you are too. So stop with the stupidity and fight me properly!” There was anger in Tahiri’s voice, though it trembled as if she was holding back laughter.

Adele looked slowly up at the Shadow Scion and smiled, a slow, razor-sharp grin that did not touch her eyes. “Okay, then.”

She pivoted quickly and lashed out with her leg in a sudden roundhouse kick. Despite her speed, Tahiri leaned away from the attack. Adele continued her spin on her lead foot as she dropped to the ground. She kicked out her leg once again. This time, the attack landed, sweeping the Togruta’s legs out from under her.

The maneuver left Adele feeling dizzy and gasping and she hurriedly stood back up. The heavy gas was accumulating in a thick cloud close to the ground, creating a dense pink haze at their feet. Eventually, one of them would fall, and the gas would ensure that they would not get back up.

But not quite yet. Tahiri laughed as she leapt to her feet, though she swayed slightly as she reset her stance. “That’s more like it!”

And then she vanished.

Adele threw a punch where Tahiri’s head had been a moment before, but found nothing but air. She cursed under her breath. Pain exploded at the back of her head a moment later, followed quickly by a blow to the back of her knee. She dropped into a kneeling position, her sudden gasp of pain causing her to breathe in more of the sickly sweet pink mist.

“I don’t think you need to worry about purposefully losing the fight,” Tahiri’s voice said, though she could not quite discern the source. There was an almost apologetic note to it. “You’re very good, but I’ve been hunting a lot longer than you have.”

Adele narrowed her eyes, forcing herself to focus. She could faintly make out a translucent shimmer, eddies of the pink mist swirling around it. “You’ve convinced me,” she growled. Reaching out with the Force, she focused her will on one of the beds. It flew across the room to slam into the faint shimmering form. Tahiri reappeared, even as the bed drove her into the padded wall.

She still had to lose to Tahiri. She had not changed her mind on that. But she at least had to make a good show of it to avoid insulting the Proconsul. Anything less could put her brother at risk, and she would not allow that to happen.