Mandalorian Riina Wren vs. Ranger Revs

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.

Riina shook her head to clear the drug induced fog as she listened to the maniac blather on from the PA system. “Well, that is just kark lhonu,” she muttered as she swung her feet off the edge of the bed and checked her system's status. The faint amber glow on her bucket’s HUD showed vitals, suit integrity, power cells, etc.

After a momentary analysis, she determined that, besides the slight lingering dizziness from the Symoxin that was quickly wearing off and the lack of connection to anything outside this room, everything seemed normal. However, there was an alert drawing her attention to the foreign contaminant slowly filling the air. “Hmm, looks like things could change for the worse very quickly, She said as she silenced the alarm with a deliberate double blink and slowed her breathing to limit exposure. “As soon as I get out of this, I’m going to get this suit spaceworthy so I can avoid this wapola in the future.”

She cast her gaze at her opponent across the arena (or insanitarium cell from the looks of it) and sized him up. The lightsabers hanging from his waist immediately marked him as one of those mystic space wizards. With the addition of the edgelord assassin armor, she guessed it was one of those sadistic bastards from Plagueis or maybe some Sith wannabe. She also noticed the long hair, relaxed stance, calm face…this was clearly either a seasoned warrior or an overconfident newbie. Her money was on seasoned veteran. Her luck was not good enough for the other. Her HUD estimated the distance between the combatants at a dismal 20 meters. That was less than ideal for her. Revs had already found his feet and looked like he was about to close that short distance soon. It was time to act while she still had the chance.

The floor and walls were covered in a thick padding that made the ground a bit unstable. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. The ten foot ceiling didn’t give enough room to fly out of her opponent’s reach; however, it was enough room to hover and use her thrusters to maneuver. Riina drew both her blaster pistols and loosed a volley of shots at the dark wizard.

Ranger Revs’ dual lightsabers sprung to life with a snaphiss and settled into a low hum. The iridescent green blades displaced the pink mist in mere milliseconds. The aedile was no stranger to fighting ranged opponents, and even at this range, he had no problem batting away a couple of hastily fired blaster bolts. He sent two of the red plasma streaks back towards Riina.

If he could have seen through the T-visor of her helmet, Revs would have seen the Mandalorian’s blue eyes widen just before witnessing the blades making contact. She threw herself to the side using her jetpack thrusters to bring herself back upright as the red plasma impacted into the padded wall directly behind where she had just been. An acrid scent of burnt foam added to the already disgusting atmosphere. ‘Definitely a veteran, not a newbie,’ She thought wryly as she continued firing in unpredictable patterns to hopefully create an opening.

Revs spun his lightsaber in his hands . “Give me a second..” he said, holding up one finger. He rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to get his head to stop spinning. “Drugs are not cool unless consensual.” He grumbled before pointing his lightsaber at the ceiling and screaming. “Dick move man! Not cool.”

“Sorry. My head's feeling a little woozy from that unscheduled black out.” Revs turned back toward Riina. “You know, thinking about it. That smell in here might not be helping. We might want to get this show on the road.” The Miraluka rattled on calmly as he called upon the Force to amplify his movements. With a sudden burst of speed. Revs covered the distance to the Human. He spun to the left as she fired off a blaster shot that whizzed right past his head. Pulling up his lightsaber the Arconan sent another blaster bolt flying wildly into the wall. He brought his foot up, his muscles still fueled by the Force, and delivered a kick to the Mandalorians stomach.

Riina flew back off her feet and slammed into the wall before falling down onto the ground. Revs reached up and put his hand on his head again. The effects of whatever gas he was breathing in were starting to feel worse than any hangover he could imagine. “Look. I'm not digging this anymore.” He said through clenched teeth. “How about you just pretend to be knocked out and then we can go get dinner and drinks on me after huh?” Revs asked right about the time he realized allowing space between him and the woman with guns was a bad idea.

Riina used her thrusters to quickly regain her footing. “I’m all for getting some drinks after, but you know damn well we can’t fake this,” she chided. “But I promise not to kill you or… permanently maim you,” she teased. “Now hold still so I can hit you.” She realized she only held one of her two blasters. She did a quick scan and located the other one near her opponent. She must have dropped it when his foot so rudely collided with her midsection. Squeezing off a few rounds, she circled to the left and then the right firing at as many different angles as she could. Each bolt elegantly deflected away by the blind assassin’s extra wide green blade.

Revs shrugged, “It was worth a shot, I guess.” Only having to worry about one blaster now, he let the Force guide his hand while coming up with a plan. However, Riina left little time for contemplation. While he was lost in thought for a moment, she changed tactics. Placing both feet on the walls and launching herself with a blast from the jetpack, she was suddenly racing towards him. He barely had time to sidestep before she zoomed past. A blaster bolt from a point blank shot left a large carbon score in the side of his armor as he twisted at an awkward angle to avoid the two hundred pound beskar projectile. “Sith spit! I didn’t expect that,” he exclaimed. His armor shielded him from the energy of the blaster bolt, leaving him uninjured, and he quickly retaliated with a clumsy slash of his offhand saber while the other deflected two more shots at point blank range.

Riina used her left arm to redirect the narrow green plasma blade with her vambrace. The beskar easily shielded her flesh from the attack; however, she still flinched away from the heat of the blade. “Damn lightsabers. It’s like bringing a thermal detonator to a knife fight,” she complained as she dropped her remaining blaster and drew her amethyst blade in order to deflect future slashes less painfully. Recognizing her opponent’s Krayt dragon lightsaber style from her training, she avoided taking any direct hits. Dodging, deflecting and slipping between the blades, the human countered with her hands and her dagger. A few harrowing seconds passed before she managed to unsheath her stiletto and jab the Force disciple in the pit of his elbow.

Revs felt the new poison spreading up his arm. “What the kark!” he yelled as he pushed her away. The Force behind his attack knocked her into the wall so hard, even though the duracrete surface was padded, it smashed her jetpack. Sparks flew as the equipment sputtered and spooled down. Riina crumpled to the floor out of breath. The pink mist made it harder and harder to breathe, and she could only slow her metabolism down for a short time before her brain and muscles started screaming for more oxygen. That time had come and gone already, and the time to act was now or never. She took a deep breath and lunged towards the wounded opponent. Revs sidestepped and swung a saber in an upward arc catching the bottom edge of her helmet. The bucket flew off to the other side of the room as she crouched low and slammed her fist into his stomach. He brought an elbow down on her shoulder. Her paldron took the brunt of the impact, but the Force augmented strike still drove her down to a knee.

The mist was now thick in the air as both combatants struggled to finish this fight. Revs plunged down with both sabers, then his left knee rose to impact the mando’s face when she dodged. Pushing the throbbing pain away as the left side of her face started swelling up. Riina grabbed her adversary’s ankle and rolled her whole body into his knee. Both verdant lightsaber blades came down hard on the already malfunctioning jetpack making them irreparably damaged, as Riina bowled him to the floor and clawed her way into a mount position. She grabbed the hilt of her purple crystal dagger with both hands and tried to drive the blade into Revs’ chest.

The Miralukian dropped both sabers and grabbed Riina’s forearms. He used his superior strength, as well as some help from his invisible friend, to wrest the weapon from her hands. Then he bucked and rolled, tossing her to the ground in a guard position. He punched her in the face once, twice– he collapsed on top of her, finally succumbing to the dual poisons coursing through his body.

Riina used the last of her energy to shrimp her way out from under the unconscious jerk. “Took you long enough,” she muttered as she forced her way to her feet. Through eyes swiftly swelling shut, she stared up at the holocam in the ceiling and used both hands to flip off whoever was watching, “Satisfied, winbekhia? Are you not entertained enough yet?” She wobbled and tried to catch herself; however, her knees buckled and, finally succumbing to the poisonous mist, she tumbled to the ground in an inanimate heap of flesh and beskar.

The Force gave Revs a split second warning as the Mandalorian came up off the ground, blaster bolts flying in his direction. The Arconan dove to the side and rolled, coming up batting away more shots with his lightsaber. He rushed forward swatting away blaster bolts, sending them flying off into the walls. Revs sliced one of his lightsabers at Riina’s midsection. The Mandalorian jumped to the side, the green blade cutting a gouge in her armor.

“Yawww!” Revs screamed, spinning with the momentum of his strike. Pulling one hand up he pulled down on the band he had tied around his eyes. He started sliding his feet backwards in a strange way that made him look as if he was walking forward while moving backwards. “Doo do ddooo do doo do doooooo!” He screamed in a weird sing song kind of way. The first stage of the gasses effect were clearly kicking in on the Miraluka.

“Are you freaking tripping right now?!” He heard Riina scream at him.

“Ohhhh yea.” Revs laughed as he danced around. Completely ignoring the extremely dangerous situation he had managed to get himself in. “This is the good stuff.”

The Mandalorian stood there just watching the Miraluka dance around in his armor, like he had completely forgotten that they were in a fight with their lives on the line. Revs movements slowed, his grip on his lightsabers loosened causing them to fall to the floor.

“You know I've always wondered……” He spoke slowly trailing off as he fell to his knees. “Is it still considered blacking out if you are blind?” He asked before fallout face first onto the floor completely unconscious.