Dr. Maeva vs. Adept Raiju Kang

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.

Maeva rolled her eyes at Vincent’s long monologue. She made small and slow movements to make sure whatever he had used on her to get knocked out was out of her system. She glanced towards the other bed and saw a shape. It was too dark to tell who her opponent was. The nauseating blue glow - or was it because it’s Vincent - did not help her any. Ideas ran through her head and she considered to see if her enemy would be willing to work with her to find another way out but she was here with a purpose.

The Nautolan steadied his breaths the moment the pink gas had started hissing. All those years he had spent cleaning up his old habits, here was his test. His hand clenched into fists while his heart was rapidly beating and sweat started to form. Maybe he could talk his opponent into trying out something instead of them damaging each other. He squinted towards his foe, it looked like they were rummaging through a bag, he couldn’t tell for sure. While he scooted down the bed to get up from it, he could’ve sworn he watched her place something on the floor. He got up from the bed and watched his challenge get up from her bed too. His lips curved into a smile as he saw that it was a female. She started to talk first.

“The bag has medical stuff in it. I don’t know about you, but you have my word I will try to help you the moment we get out of this room,” a small thud landed by the bed and it was a backpack. Maeva watched as the Nautolan raised his ‘eyebrow’ and he crossed his arms. Maeva opened her jacket slightly and put on her glasses. Her brows furrowed into immediate concern.

“Wait, you’re a bit more pale-”

The Nautolan chuckled and waved it off, “How about I know your name?” The medic blinked in confusion at Raiju, wondering if this was some kind of trap. She started to walk around the bed and positioned the bed between herself and the Natuolan.

“... Maeva.”

“A fitting gorgeous name for you. Raiju Kang. My friend here is Wilburp.”

Maeva cringed at first when she saw it, having never seen it before. The creature wasn’t little but he wasn’t massive. There was a massive pool of saliva coming out of the edge of its mouth. They watched as Wilburp was just starting to wander around, leaving trails of pool. He went behind Maeva as she kept her eyes on Raiju.

“He’s... kind of cute.”

“How about we work together to get out of here? And I can get you in with someone and you can have your own blarth. The place I got him from was a lovely area. Great people. Amazing food. I would be happy to show you a good time…” His eyes lingered on her, “a really good time.”

Maeva started to feel relaxed. Her shoulders weren't as tense. For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t crossing her arms in a stranger’s presence. She smiled at Raiju. It sounded nice. Didn’t she need to try to make friends?

“I guess we can try something-” She gasped as she saw someone familiar from her past standing right by the Nautolan. She reached for her blaster and got it out as she started to fire at the figure that was by Raiju. Whatever she had hit had faded into mist.

It didn’t hit- hallucinations! Frack. Maeva needed to move faster. She had a reason to sign up for the tournament and she was going to see it through. The blaster audibly clicked as it switched to stun. She started to fire at the Nautolan.

Raiju was guided by the Force as he harrowingly dodged the plasma bolts. He gathered the energy to the palm of his hand. His hand made contact with the floor. A blast of Force sent everything but himself and Wilburp away from him.

Maeva gritted her teeth as her back hit the padded wall. She laid low, using the pink gas to help keep her concealed. Maeva scrambled to get between the mattress and wall as a barrier.

“I guess that’s a no on the date?” Raiju questioned while watching as the pink miasma slightly shifted from the Evereni's movement. He could hear his heartbeat pounding louder. He wouldn’t be surprised if the other could hear it too.

Maeva let out a startled squeak, “That was a date request?!” She crawled to keep hidden under the mist and tried her best to breathe as slowly and shallowly as possible to try to minimize the effects. What a joke. She’s a medic. This wasn’t going to work.

She managed to put her body between the wall and mattress. Her hand landed on something damp. It must’ve been Wilburp’s saliva.

At least that was what she was hoping. She cried out in surprise when Walburp’s tail wrapped around her arm. Her blaster fell onto the padded floor.

“Lock a fella in a room with a svelte woman and two mattresses, he’s gonna get ideas…” Raiju chuckled as he imagined the Evereni blushing behind the mattress. Then he proceeded to mutter under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. “Pressed against a mattress with a pink mist in the air…”

For a moment, he simply stood there.

As time ticked on, the Nautolan waited for his double entendre to deliver but as time continued to tick on his smile began to fade. All the while, the room continued to be pumped full of the gas. It was heavy, falling to the floor before it curled around his legs, thickening with every moment. Yet, Raiju kept his stare on the mattress; awaiting whatever response.

“Did you know,” A meek voice came from behind the mattress. “The heart keeps beating even if it is disconnected from the body?”

A smirk returned to the Nautolan’s mouth as he turned away from the mattress and proceeded to kick the woman’s blaster away. He raised his voice to mask the sound of it being flicked away by his foot.

“Did you know, Nautolans have two hearts?” Wilburp gave a wet, unimpressed gurgle to the fact somewhere to the right of the mattress, his tail still wrapped around Maeva's arm.

After several more awkward moments, Raiju realized that the mattress wasn’t going to answer him again.

"Okay," Raiju called out, raising both hands despite knowing she probably couldn't see the gesture. He wanted an air of drama while he backpedalled. "Let's all take a moment to acknowledge that Vincent is the real asshole in this room."

No answer.

Raiju slowly stepped toward the mattress. "Maeva, there’s gotta be a way for us both to leave."

The only response was the faint rustling of movement.

"I mean it. You want to win the tournament? Fine. I respect that. You want to prove something? Also fine. We can figure out the rules when we're breathing something other than weaponized perfume."

He crouched slightly, taking a moment to gauge his own being. Sweat beaded across his brow and his eyes felt shifty as shadows formed on the walls behind the pink haze. For a moment, he felt woozy and fell forward while turning his back against the mattress. There he rested seated on the ground against the mattress and the woman it pinned against the wall.

"Let’s work together, get the door open, and then—"

A hand shot out from beneath the mattress and Raiju barely managed to jerk away from it but took note of the knife in Maeva’s hand. So, too, did Wilburp - whose squeal announced his retreat further into the room.

The blade sliced through the space where his throat had been a fraction of a second earlier. It plunged into the mattress with a fury Raiju had seen before, from the many women he had scorned.

"—we can discuss the whole 'trying to murder each other' thing afterward." Raiju again muttered to himself as he crawled away from the danger.

Maeva emerged from behind the mattress with considerably more focus than Raiju had hoped to see. Whatever hallucinations the gas was feeding her, whatever promises of friendship or escape had briefly softened her expression, they were gone now. Her eyes locked onto him and it was clear to the Nautolan that she was done talking.

Raiju's expression fell. "For forcesake."

Maeva lunged in attack, but Raiju felt himself move outside of her range as if guided by the pink mist itself. Pivoting around her first strike, he caught her wrist before the second could come. The padded floor gave beneath their feet as they struggled, neither able to gain proper footing on the ridiculous arena.

As the pair toppled, Raiju first and then Maevae following, she drove her shoulder into his chest. A painful gasp came from Raiju before he rolled out from beneath her and inhaled deeply. If his anatomy had allowed it, the Nautolan would have been tearing up at the strained breath he made. Yet, again the mist willed him to move and he poorly crabwalked away from the cursing Evereni and collapsed just outside her range once again.

Yet, the bitch pressed her attack.

Raiju twisted away from another slash and swept his hand outward. The Force shoved Maeva back several feet—not enough to hurt her, but enough to send her sliding across the padded floor. "That was your final warning!"

Maeva recovered quickly, too quickly, and a lump formed in the Nautolan’s throat. Raiju watched her rise through the pink fog, and for a brief second, his stomach dropped. But then she backed away, as if embracing the cloud that swirled between them. Once again dark shadows played in the dancing mists, but he didn't see Maeva.

Instead, he saw someone else.

Raiju blinked hard and the figure was gone. Nervously, he called out to the room. "Last chance, we can still make a deal."

For several two-hearted beats, Raiju peered into the haze and wondered where the woman went. But the sound of fabric straining announced the charge of the creature. Raiju stepped toward it, one hand raised, while the room seemed to tilt slightly beneath his feet.

Just then, the lights brightened impossibly overhead and Wilburp emerged from the retreating gases. Raiju blinked hard and rubbed at his eyes. For a moment, the room returned to normal.

Then Wilburp looked up at him…except it also wasn't Wilburp. Raiju shook his head, but felt his stomach drop as he felt the familiar rush of a narcotic-fueled trip about to happen. He smirked and shrugged at the Blarth, as if to say ‘why not?’, before kneeling down to his friend.

Wilburp stared at him and Raiju stared back.

The Blarth then opened its mouth and for one horrifying second, Raiju saw rows upon rows of human teeth inside the creature's maw. Behind them was a bright, all consuming light that spoke with an angelic tone. It promised a power the Nautolan had never had before, if Raiju would just lay down…

Then Wilburp sneezed.

Raiju recoiled as saliva splattered across his face. A cackle announced Maeva’s presence from the far side of the room, where she lay propped against the corner. Raiju was aware that she had made a jest at him but all he could take note of was that she, too, was now sweaty, pale, and muttering to herself.

From overhead, the annoying sound of the Combat Master filled the room with taunts again.

“Tick-tok, combatants…you don’t have much time left…”

“Vincent!” Maeva shouted angrily as she rose from her corner with her hand on the padded walls. She glanced around for the cameras and ignored the sweat trickling down the back of her neck. With the fogginess of the mist, she couldn’t see any of the recording devices, so she just flipped the bird in a random direction.

“Was that a promise?” Raiju called out as Maeva let out a startled gasp. Her hand went to the hidden sheathe in front of her belt and her heart skipped a beat when she couldn’t find her dagger. She had completely forgotten she used it. She looked at her own hands while her lips curved into a frown. Somewhere in the midst of her fighting him, she'd thought she had seen something that made her drop the dagger. That dagger was a gift.

Panic fueled her heart as she knelt down to feel around the padded floors with the hope of finding it. Her hand landed on something solid, so she grabbed it and gave it a squeeze. A shriek filled the room, and Maeva practically jumped out of her skin.

“By the Force!” Raiju yelped when Maeva gripped his foot. He brought his knee to his chest and high knee marched backwards from her. He cursed his hearts for a moment as their rapid separated beats made it harder for him to focus.

Raiju saw movement in his peripheral vision as he turned and saw the schutta once again. He grabbed her by the wrist. With a rough pull, he threw her to the padded wall. She landed on the floor with a barely noticeable thump. Raiju wasted no time, quickly making his way right while she was getting up, and pinning her to the squishy cushions. He felt movement from her hips. In a split second, he slammed her thigh down with his hand.

“No. No! Absolutely not my goods-” Raiju cut off as Maeva was going for one of her blasters on her thigh. He shoved his body up against hers to minimize movement and his hand fumbled to grab her wrist. His head pressed to the sides of her head to keep her from headbutting the frack out of him. HIs other hand was now trying to get the stuncuffs.

“Seriously, final warning. Work with me to get out of here. Please,” Raiju spoke very clearly and sternly. He paused at hearing the pitch change in his voice.

“Was that my voice?” Raiju forehead creased.

Maeva saw her chance. She opened her mouth and chomped down onto his shoulder, nearly missing his head tendrils. She heard Raiju yell in pain as the irony taste filled her mouth. He ripped his body from hers as she spat out as much blood as possible. This was going to be a costly doctor visit after this to make sure she didn’t get anything from him. The effects of the drugs had her panicking more as her hands started to shake, “Do you have any diseases?”

“...What?” Raiju asked, astonished. “Maeva, you bit me and now you are worried about if I have anything?!”

“I did?” Maeva asked, confused and it was like she was retasting the iron in her mouth. What kind of drugs were in this gas? Was she losing time?

“Oh, that explains the taste,” she took a step forward and kicked something at her foot. She squatted down and started to feel around to figure out what it was.

“I hope I tasted good.” His hand went to the slick bleeding skin as he tried to gauge how bad the wound was.

Maeva started laughing hysterically as his blood ran cold. She was holding the dagger she had lost moments ago.

“Raiju! It’s so flabby!” The Evereni started to move the dagger left and right, her dilated eyes watching her dagger becoming like a playdough, “it’s like a flaccid-” Wilburp loudly coughed and gurgled. Her sentence wasn’t heard over that noise.

“It doesn’t even work anymore! Look!” She stabbed herself with the dagger at her forearm and didn’t feel any pain as it pierced the flesh. Instead of black blood coming out, it was black bubbles as Maeva’s hysterical laugh was becoming stronger and more uncontrolled.

“Bubbles!” Maeva shrieked in delight as she tried to pop them with her dagger.

Raiju watched her. The lights shone brightly in the room again, forcing him to squint. The lights suddenly rotated and all directed to the middle of the room, leaving the rest of it in darkness. The gas was gone as the supple female was kneeling on the mattress in the middle of the room. She was no longer wearing the bounty hunter getup that she was earlier. Instead, she had on black lacy bra with matching underwear and thigh highs stockings. Maeva smirked, her hand rose as her finger curled in a movement for Raiju, who returned the smirk.

“Come here, big boy,” Maeva cooed.

Raiju hastily removed the vest. Maybe with the skills of his tongue, that could be a way of a ‘defeat’ in a battle. He heard a gurgling sound and turned to see Wilburp running up to him and took a leap. Raiju opened his arms to embrace his buddy, only for his buddy to engulf Raiju’s head into its mouth. Wilburp’s tongue was pressed up against Raiju’s face. Oddly, the saliva was helping Raiju breathe through it. He started to try to pry Wilburp off of his face. A slew of curses that would make a Hutt blush was muffled by Wilburp’s body. Suddenly, he felt the air around his body move in such force it felt like a vacuum. Wilburp had opened its wide maw and fell to the floor with a plop.

The Nautolan rapidly wiped the saliva from his eyes and squinted at the bright lights. The pink gas was gone because it had been vacuumed up. He looked at the door and saw it was open. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maeva lying immobile on the ground with a small pool of black blood beneath her, created when she’d herself for more “bubbles.”

Raiju stood there and stared at Maeva's unmoving body in silence. He could feel his hearts slowing down and his body starting to shiver. The drugs were wearing off, which meant that this wasn’t a fluke or an episode from the drug-fueled haze. Then, he chuckled and shook his head with a sly smirk. He pushed himself up and grabbed the bag Maeva had mentioned earlier with medical supplies in it. He then saw the Echo Grenade that was by it. He glanced over to Maeva who was still wearing the glasses.

“You clever schutta. Alright, Bubbles, let’s get you healed up.”

The Combat Master’s words faded into the hiss above, where more gas was being pumped into the room. Raiju had expected another cackle or taunt from the corner, instead only a dull, wet fit of coughing came. When Raiju looked back at the woman this time, he noted her pale, sweaty complexion also contained a sense of tiredness to it.

It wouldn’t be long for either of them now…

Raiju remained on one knee, one hand planted against the padded floor while the other wiped Wilburp's saliva from his face. His vision swam; everything was pink - the walls, the floor, the lights.

Even Wilburp looked pink…Or maybe purple. Raiju tilted his head in confusion and stared at the Blarth for several seconds. An aching tiredness could be felt behind his big, black eyes.

“Don't take this personally,” he muttered, “but I don't trust anything I see anymore.”

Wilburp answered with another wet gurgle.

“Fair.” Raiju forced himself upright, but his legs immediately protested. He stumbled sideways but caught himself against the wall, where he turned to press his back upon and slide back down to the balls of his feet. Crouching against the wall, the Nautolan turned his focus to his breathing. At first, it felt ragged, each breath scraping against his throat. Sweat ran down his face and neck, soaking into his clothing. His hearts were hammering inside his chest as his body protested the environment he was in.

Raiju strengthened his focus on the two hearts, at first just listening to the two rhythms and hearing how they both were stressed. But yet, still beating. The Nautolan felt himself sway as he rocked on the balls of his feet and fought to borrow a calmness from the universe to slow their rhythms along with his breaths. Remembering a grounding technique from his time with Odan-Urr, Raiju closed his eyes and concentrated on the simple act of counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

In a prior lifetime, Raiju had spent years abusing his body. Spice, alcohol, narcotics, and sleepless nights making bad decisions with worse company. It had all taken a toll, but he knew exactly what it felt like when his body was begging him to stop. But a few years of peace under Jedi instruction had given the Nautolan the knowledge to both control and heal his body.

He couldn’t heal everything in that room, though.

A sound from across the room announced that Maeva moved, Raiju opened his eyes and searched frantically for the woman in the haze. She was barely recognizable. Her normally controlled movements had become sluggish and uneven. One hand pressed against the wall while the other hung loosely at her side. Her head dipped forward as she fought to stay upright.

“Maeva…” The Evereni raised her head at the sound of Raiju’s voice. Her eyes found his and at last Raiju knew there was no chance for a deal. All he saw in hers was the cool, calculating thoughts of survival.

For a moment neither moved.

Then Maeva pushed away from the wall and charged. Not quickly, not cleanly, but with enough determination to make it dangerous. Raiju raised his hands and stepped backward. His instincts screamed at him to strike first, but his body felt woozy from the sudden movement. The room tilted beneath his feet.

Maeva swung.

Raiju ducked, barely in time. Her fist passed over his head, and Raiju stumbled sideways. He tried to pivot into a counter, but his knee buckled causing a curse. Wilburp let out a whiny squeal, he often had sensitive ears…

Maeva, however, ignored it. She lunged at the Nautolan with the ferocity of an animal corner, but Raiju threw both hands forward and focused on the distance between them.

The Force erupted between the two combatants.

Maeva was shoved backward, her boots scraping across the padded floor before she slammed into the wall. Collapsing into a puddle of limbs, she stayed there. For a second, Raiju thought she would stay there… then she pushed herself upright to her feet before pausing to rest against the wall.

Raiju struggled to regain control of his breathing, and sighed deeply.

“You are,” he wheezed, “ridiculously stubborn.”

Maeva tried to answer but whatever she said was lost beneath another coughing fit. This time, her body violently shook with each cough. In the midst of the fit, she dropped to one knee and Raiju watched her struggle to rise again. Another fit of coughing brought the woman back to her rump.

Something inside him softened.

Guilt had started to settle into the Nautolan. The feeling was still strange and unnatural to him, a curse the Jedi instruction had left upon him. Raiju knew he could finish this, here and now, but he didn't want to kill her.

Not like this, what would Ji say to all this? But as he debated internally, it seemed like the room would do the deed for him, as the woman’s coughing fit dimmed.

“Maeva?” His two hearts thundered in his chest as he looked at her. But there was no response. Again, he tried, even just to soothe the memory of his friend. “Maeva!”

His chest burned, demanding he allow it more air, but he was still focused on Maeva. Her fingers twitched in response to his call. She was still conscious, barely. Raiju dragged himself across the floor toward her. Each movement felt like hauling a durasteel boots through mud. The gas had become almost solid around him, curling across the floor and climbing toward his face.

Again, his lungs alerted him to their burning and his muscles trembled. Whatever energy he could draw from the universe felt tapped, but his hearts kept beating and he returned to his ground technique and counted between breaths.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

As he counted, his body slowed moved. He reached Maeva and stopped beside her. She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes.

“You win,” she whispered.

“I'm not sure I'd call this winning.” Raiju gave her a crooked grin. Then he turned to the ceiling with all his fury. “Vincent!”

Silence.

“Answer me, damnit!”

The Combat Master's voice crackled through the speakers.

“Tick-tok, Raiju.”

Raiju laughed, feeling the defeat of the no-win scenario. Then he felt his voice strain into a coughing fit of its own. When he emerged from the fetal position it threw him into, the Nautolan pushed himself straight to his feet. Survival now override his guilt.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Very funny.”

Raiju looked around the room, trying to find the door. No longer were his eyes simply tired, his vision was fading around the edges. Raiju spun twice, unsure of where the exit was, until another wet burp grabbed his attention.

Wilburp danced excitedly by a panel in the wall.

Raiju threw himself forward with all his energy, charging towards the sealed exit. Once against it, he planted both feet beneath himself and hung against the frame waiting for Vincent to fulfill his promise. But for several long moments, nothing happened.

Raiju stood firm, refusing to believe this was all for nothing.

Then, the entire room seemed to spin.

Holding onto the wall for dear life, Raiju felt his hearts ring in his ears. Thundering, yet still beating. His Nautolan physiology had bought him something Maeva no longer possessed.

Time. Not much. But enough.

“Open the damn door, Vincent.” For several seconds, there was only silence.

Then, the locks disengaged.

Fresh air rushed into the room, Raiju inhaled deeply while thrusting himself through the doorframe. His knees immediately buckled, and he collapsed forward to the haze-less ground and gave another fit of coughing as his lung purged the fumes from the room before.

There was movement around the Nautolan, strange hands grabbed him and checked his senses. However, Raiju paid them no attention as he strained to look back into the room he came. For one final moment, he caught sight of the woman laid out on the floor and prayed to the force for a sign of movement.

Before the door closed, Raiju could’ve sworn her foot twitched.