A massive cataclysm has struck the universe, and destroyed most everything in its wake. The survivors are now trying to pick up the pieces, and figure out exactly what has befallen them. Gather together, lightsiders!! The darkness has shattered the peace and calm of the galaxy...and they will do anything to stop anyone from finding out exactly what has been done! This is our first sitewide RP plotline. Lightsiders, you are looking for the source of this massive event. Clues must be found, lackeys tracked down, and bits of memory discovered. Darksiders, you guys don't want that to happen....because of the one behind the whole thing is furthering his ultimate goal. Mandalorians, and non-force users, you guys can decide where you stand on this line....do you side with the Jedi, and try to discover the reasons behind the ruined universe, or will you side with the darkness, and protect those secrets. Will the secret of the cataclysmic reaping be kept under wraps? Or will the Jedi and their allies find out the truth? Your RP and writing will decide the outcome!
BATTLE ARENA
Welcome to The Saga Continues. We have a section called the Battle Arena. Here you can use your characters to fight other characters. Hone your skills and see what you are made of. Don't worry, anything that happens here, does not effect your characters in posts, so if your character dies, you can still use them over and over. Have fun and check it out!
The Saga Continues is the product of the mind of ADMIN ADI; all contents are copyright their original owners. All characters belong to their original creators, and may not be used or replicated without permission. All images are copyright their original owners. This skin Operation Mindcrime was made by pharaoh leap of Pixel Perfect and put together by ADMIN KRYSTAL
The two duelists find themselves in a massive hangar, the Main Hangar to be exact. Instead of a Lambda-class Shuttle, TIE Interceptors and TIE/D Defenders hang on racks, and boxes are moved about on turbolifts and repulsor carts. The smell of mechanical fluids linger in the air, and through the view port one can see the blackness of space drifting by.
Combatants, should you have any questions, your assigned judges are @ron and Alkor Centaris . Good luck, and may the best duelist win!
The Executor hung in space over an angry red planet, seeming to float almost derelict. Upon entering or landing in the hangars, it only seemed to confirm scans of both instruments and eye's, something was horribly a miss. The corridors were filled with maddening silence, no boots, no droids scurrying about. Nothing. Attempts to reach anyone on the bridge would fall on deaf ears...or no ears? The only return to any hailing of the ship was static. eventually though, instruments would pick up on activity in one of the hangar bays. A single small ship, with two lifeforms not seeming to move too far from one another. The Darkside was heavy through the ship, not altogether shocking, giving the ravaged dust ball it was floating over, or the historic owner of the vessel, but there was no mistaking the concentration of it in that hangar. At least one of those two lifeforms was a powerful Darkside practitioner.
One could easily land in the hangar, but what was seen would not quite match the scans. A makeshift lab in the hangar. No real walls to speak of, just some raised flooring, and several machines. There was what appeared to be a massive man, easily over seven feet tall, moving between the machines, He was clad in what looked to be much older Republic-issue armor, with the markings of a medical officer on the chest and shoulder pads. He didn't wear a helmet, instead having some sort of scanning visor covering the deep green skin of a Mirialan. The outlandishy large man was moving back and forth between his instruments, and a data-pad that his visor seemed to be feeding data to directly. In the center of the raised floor, and the center of the strangers scans, was a stone construct, covered in runes, and wrapped in heavy chains. Upon getting closer to the man, his equipment, and the structure, one could feel a growing heat, the smell of dust, and burning filling the air. The runes had appeared to be a deep red, as though they were a piece of the planet below. Once close enough, the seam around the middle of the stone was apparent. It wasn't a solid structure, but a container. What sort of thing was pulled from the depths of Korriban that the Sith would lock so tightly? And what was the Mirialan doing with it on a seemingly abandoned dreadnought?
A tip had been passed to Adieumus Matango that the perpetrator of the galactic plague that was ravaging the universe had entered a fighting tournament. This was one of two things. One, it was a legit tip, and Adi could figure out, once and for all, who was behind the universe-destroying virus. Or, the second possibility was that it was a trap. Either way, Matango really didn't have a choice, not if he wanted a shot to get to the bottom of things. Entering the tournament was an easy decision...but, as he approached the hangar from a lower hallway, he was truly hoping it was the former over the latter.
If it wasn't though? It was time to spring the trap.
Matango was familiar with the layout of most of the Executor-style ships....LAN had a few of them over the years, and many battles had been fought from the bridge of various incarnations of the 'Light of the Angels'. He walked into one of the large shuttle hangar bays. Looking around, he wasn't surprised to feel little sign of life on board. Many military vessels had been taken out from within when the plague hit. This appeared to be one of the earlier victims in the outbreak, as it was clear of corpses, unlike many others. Being one of the first ships hit by the plague would explain why there were no bodies. More than likely, there were still enough people to remove them, and they had all intentions of returning the ship to its previous glory in service. Little did they know, it was probably the last time this ship would see any kind of action. The death toll from the infection had done a lot of damage in ships like these, due to the high number of individuals on board, and their close proximity to one another. It wouldn't take long for the entire ship to succumb in a very short time, so if it was clear, that meant that it was hit in the initial wave.
Truthfully, he was kind of happy to see the lack of the dead, though.
He had come a little more heavily armed than he normally would to a fight like this, but not knowing who he may come up against, it was the smart option. Opting to make sure he was equipped for any situation, there was a single black lightsaber hilt, six spherical detonator-style orbs, and a square device on his belt, along with something he -truly- hoped he didn't have to use...a DL-44 blaster pistol, and an extra power pack. The Arkanian hated firearms of any kind...they took any honor that might be had completely out of a fight. They were, unfortunately, becoming a very necessary part of combat as of late, though, so Adi had gone against his normal judgment, and brought it.
Adi felt only two individuals, and one he could actually see. There was a large man in the altered hangar, going about some kind of business, oblivious to the Arkanian approaching from the interior of the ship. Opting to let him alone, as there wasn't a lot of power emanating from him, Adi instead made his way further into the hangar. He had no idea who or what awaited him, but he would bet his Space Force One special edition sneakers that who or whatever it was more than likely wouldn't be friendly.
Step one, complete. Now, all Adi had to to was wait. He took a position out in the open, hoping to draw the powerful darkness in for a confrontation. Slowly, methodically, Adi began throwing various punches, with knees, elbows, and kicks tossed in for good measure. Part warm up, part stretching, and part meditation, Adi drew the power in from around him. The force enrobed him, no darkness, nor light shone through however. It was about as close to neutral in the force as one could get with Adi's life experiences. As it had every single time in the past, it would give him strength, and guide him to victory. He would find the ones responsible for the devastation, and make them answer for what they had done.
The large Mirialan had looked up from his work at Adi when the man walked into the hangar, before looking back down to his work. He began to shut down equipment and move his scanners away from the stone structure, as though he had only been working until someone else showed up. Once everything was moved away, the Mirialan lifted his hand, gesturing to Adi that he should wait a moment. He turned back and began to scan the structure one last time, a final check on the readings.
The Mirialan put his hands on the edge of the structure, and put his weight on it. He would reel back his right foot, before letting it slam forward like a shotgun, colliding against the stone. "Rise and shine, jackass." were the only words that came from the man before the lighting flickered for a moment. When it came back on, the chains holding the stones shut were on the ground. There was a pause in the Mirialan, almost comical in nature as he took the visor off. "...Shit. Shit. Shit!" he exclaimed before he would start to power walk towards his ship, and up the ramp. The power would flicker once again, before there was a rumble of stone on stone. The Miralan was gone, his ship taking off out of the hangar. A Adata-pad fell at Adi's feet as the ship left, 'He's your problem for now' scrolling across the display.
A final flicker of the lights in the hangar were punctuated by the loud thud of the stone hitting the metal flooring. It was a sarcophagus of sorts, but unlike those on the planet below, the occupant of this one looked...well...alive. A man sat straight up, his eye's locked directly on Adi. His features were familiar to the Arkanian. With the exception of his hair being short, almost feathered, and a missing scar on his cheek, the one starring him down was the spitting image of Zik Kine. His silver eye's shimmered as if they were set on fire, before he hopped free of his prison.
"I know they locked me away as a counter measure, but you'd think the fucking bastard could have set something up to let me out every couple hundred years... What year is it...and why are you the only one here?"
He even sounded like Zik, though there was the smooth undertone of a Galactic Cold War era Imperial accent. He wore the robes of a Force-user. Mostly black, with grey accents. there was a few pieces of armor over his left shoulder, and the backs of his hands and forearms. He wore a single lightsaber on his belt, but that seemed to be the only weapon he carried, but there was no telling if there was anything else inside of his sarcophagus. He kept his stance relaxed, feet shoulder length apart. It seemed he was not aware of the tournament, but someone woke him up right here, right now for a reason, and the only one it could possibly be right now was to fight.
Adieumus continued his kata-like movements as the large Mirialan raised his finger. It piqued Adi's curiosity when he talked to whoever...or whatever...was in there, but his focus remained on continuing his warm up. The Arkanian's eyes never left the stone sarcophagus as it opened, and the stone lid slammed to the floor. Something was about to exit, and the large man took off like a shot toward his ship, exiting as rapidly as he could, in true fear.
What, would he now have to fight a mummy? He was handsome and could kick ass and all, but he wasn't Brendan Frasier, for crying out loud!!
Oh, good, it wasn't....but it was nearly as ugly. It looked a LOT like Adi's old friend, Zik....but, there was something off. Well, a few somethings, to be precise. There was no facial scar, the energy was ALL wrong, and he was saying something about 'Every few hundred years'?? Yea....this wasn't Zik. The speed of the arkanian's blows increased, as the kata intensified. It followed a well-practiced pattern of lefts, rights, intermingled with knees, elbows, and interspersed with a pair of rather acrobatic spinning aerial right kicks. The movements would repeat in a mixture, never the same one twice. There were, however, a dozen of them in all. It was something that Matango used if he had a chance, as it used nearly every single fiber of muscle that could possibly need stretched out, and limbered up. It was nothing really taxing, and he hadn't even broken a sweat...yet.
Not breaking stride, Adi answered the strange man in the box.
"I think big homey really had to use the bathroom. He took off like he was poppin' a turtle pretty good. And truthfully? It's time for you to just let me pass, that's all you need to know for now."
It was meant to appear that Adi was about as oblivious as he could be. Sure, he knew it wasn't Zik...but the man seemed to carry himself in a similar fashion. They would have similar strengths and weaknesses to a point, and with the training he had done alongside his old friend, Adi was pretty sure he could figure out a way to take this guy down if he got aggressive.
"You get one chance. Stand down, or I will put you down. I'm not here to fight you, but I won't hesitate, trust me."
Adi's graceful, quick, and powerful movements continued, each punch snapping out so rapidly that they almost appeared a blur. Each move flowing into the next like a dancer's. He was patiently keeping his muscles ready, the force pouring into him like a tsunami. If this guy so much as twitched in any kind of manner other than respectfully agreeing, Matango would make good on the words he had spoken.
He stared at the man for a moment, watching every movement with the keen eye one would expect from any Echani worth their salt. He had noted the mans almost curious gaze of familiarity, and had planned to address it before the man delivered his last line. How annoying. Zik would sigh for a moment, recounting the last few things he remembered before being locked away. None of what he remembered seemed to make sense to what the man before him was saying, but there was no mistaking what was intended. He drew in on the Force. The residual Darkside aura from the ship, the dark tendril reaching up from the surface of Korriban below. An egotistical Sith might have felt they were at the advantage, but that wasn't him.
"Well excuse the ever loving fuck out of me for being awakened right here, right now. On a ship I don't know, by a stranger who has no fucking clue who I am. But let's start with that look you gave when you first saw me, hmm?" *He would gesture a hand out towards Matongo.* "Judging by the look you gave me, and what I know of my master, I am going to assume that I am somewhere in what is the very distant future. Stop me if I get any of this wrong. I ahve been awakened, for reasons unbeknownst to you, for what I again assume is a threat great enough that the Sith want it dealt with. *He brought his hand to his chest.* "I am Darth Akribos. Formerly of the Dark Council of the Sith. Judging by the look before you started tossing out threats though, you likely know me by the shared name of those like me. Zik Kine. But please, for both our sakes, just call me Darth Akribos. I killed a -LOT- of people to get that title. I deserve to be called as such."
*The entirety of his grandstanding was mean to buy him a bit of time. Coming out of a stasis like his was a bit jarring, though he seemed to be handling it well enough. The stasis had left him feeling a bit drained, but he had been lucky enough to be awakened over a font of Darkside energies. Much like his opponent though, he drew in on anything that he could. His stance was relaxed, more stationary then Adi. He seemed to take his steps from side to side, pacing slow, as if working his muscles into a state of alertness. Of course, he had no idea what to expect out of the man, but since Zik wasn't going to budge after being challenged in such a fashion, he was ready for whatever came next. Hopefully, the sluggish, tired movements would buy him the time he needed to study the man more, but if this Zik was anything like the one Adi actually knew, charging just because he was sluggish would not be the wisest course of action.*
Adieumus watched closely as the man cleared the sarcophagus. So, he wasn't Zik....not the one that Adi knew at least. Good to know, kicking his ass wouldn't come with the extra baggage of knowing that it was a friend that he had to cut through in order to find out the perpetrator of the plague. This guy was definitely not the one....hell, he had only been awake for a few minutes....maybe Adi -would- feel a LITTLE bad for what he was about to do.
Maybe. Just a little. He would get over it, though.
The man calling himself "Akribos" sure liked to talk a lot. Hmmm...maybe he wasn't as different from Zik as Matango first thought. At least there were a few similarities. Regardless, he was in the way, and there were bigger fish to fry. Whoever, or whatever was responsible for killing half the universe in one fell swoop lay beyond this round. This Akribos guy was just gonna be a stepping stone. As the one that Adi had now nicknamed "AkriZik" in his head monologued on about who he was, Adi went into one final series of movements...again, twelve in all...the force rolling through him like a raging ocean.
This series started with a right-left combo, followed by a left elbow, right knee, right elbow....
"I have been awakened for reasons beyond...."
A jump spinning left snap kick, followed up by a hard, down-driving left as ZikRibos continued talking.
"Formerly of the Dark Council of the Sith...."
As he watched the pseudo-Zik approach, closing the original thirty-foot distance slowly, methodically, as he continued talking, Adi threw a wicked right uppercut into the air in front of him, followed by a downward driving elbow on the same side....seemingly at nothing....shadowboxing at its best....
"I killed a -LOT- of people to get that title. I deserve to be called as such."
Finishing the warmup combo with a left elbow snapping out to propel another spinning snap kick, Adi answered simply.
"You talk too much. None of it is what I wanna hear."
Snapping into a left-side front stance, Adi grinned, and cocked his head at his approaching enemy. Akribos was about thirty feet from where Adi had posted himself. With the flick of his finger, the trap was sprung. See, there were a lot of tricks Adieumus Matango had acquired over the years, and one of them was one of his favorites...projected fighting. However, being who he was, the Arkanian had taken it to another level. Instead of directly throwing projected blows, Adieumus had learned how to delay their timing, even stacking attacks on upon another....even going as far as to string about...oh, a dozen of them together?
...yet one more potent weapon in Adi's vast arsenal....one of many geared for situations just like this, when time was short, and the mission was at stake. It was a risk to use this much so soon, but it was one worth taking.
Within the span of a half second, the entirety of the last series of twelve kata movements came in, stringing together one right after the other, like a rapid-fire triphammer. First was the right-left punch combo, aimed at the face of Adi's foe. These first two blows would come in at about cheek level, the right attempting to connect to the left cheek, and the left projected punch at the right cheek, respectively. The projected left elbow would strike out at the right side of Akribos' neck in very quick succession, coming down with a hard, sharp blow to the soft flesh that connected to the shoulder. The right and left knees that Adi had thrown? Those two attacks followed up the elbow, aimed at the front of the left and right knees of the approaching Echani, in an attempt to slow down what could potentially be an extremely fast enemy. The first of the jump spin kicks now came in, and it was aimed at right side of Zik's head to knock the other man into the left fist that had been driven downwards, hopefully catching AkriZik on the top of said thick head.
The projected right uppercut? Oh, the uppercut...it was meant to catch the other man in the chin as he was being driven down by the attack before being driven back up into the next projected elbow, also aimed for a chin shot, to really give the shock of direction changing rapidly to the apparently-groggy Akribos. The final elbow thrown was meant to knock him in the right side of his head, followed up by the left projected snap kick, aimed again at the soft flesh on the right side of his neck, where it met the shoulder.
With the preparation that had been allowed, not only were these blows able to be pretty darn accurate, they could also be stronger than they would if they were the real, physical thing, these were landing with almost twice the power they would be, should Matango actually be throwing the physical attacks real-time. He truly meant business, and he wasn't going to allow anyone, or anything, to stop him from his goal.
If the blows landed as intended, Adi could simply sit back and watch after launching the carnage....but he wasn't content with that, no. He wasn't here to play games. Instead of waiting to see if the projected attacks were successful, Adi grabbed the DL-44 blaster from the holster on his right hip, drew a bead center mass on his target, and squeezed off three bursts from the heavy pistol. While the force was his first ally, technology followed a close second. These shots were meant to strike literally as the combination finished landing....an insurance policy to the string of viciousness thrown AkriZikoBos' way.
Sure, it was cold, it was mean, it held no honor. However, right now? It was transcending honor. The situation of the universe was critical, and there wasn't time to waste.
"I warned you. If you are still alive, stay down. This was just a taste of what's to come if you get back up." A sneer crossed Adi's face, as he kept the blaster trained in the general direction of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord. This was not a day to be someone in the way of the former Jedi Master. He was in no mood to play games, nor would he tolerate them. AkriZik had taken what Matango considered aggressive steps toward him, and he had reacted accordingly. He would continue to do so, should the man survive the first barrage.
See, it didn't matter to Zik whether or not Adi wanted to hear it, What mattered to him was the fact that his opponent wasn't listening to what had to be said. <<Go figure the first person I come into contact with wants to fight to the death.>> That was the thought going through his head, of course. Zik hadn't been moving forward, still standing within feet of the sarcophagus he had hopped out of, His silver eye's were peering at Matango, watching him go through his katas. A dangerous choice for a time killer in front of an Echani he planned on fighting. Zik gave a deep sigh and shifted his weight a bit, almost centering himself. Something very odd for a Sith. But he was Zik, this era or another, the name carried an abnormality to it.
As he watched Adi, his scrutinous gaze followed every tendon that went taught or relaxed, every ripple of muscle under flesh. It didn't matter if Adi was wearing clothes or not, Zik could see the movements and what went into them as if he was watching a wire frame. And then those motions began to commit to memory. one of the innate abilities of wel trained Echani was the ability to learn moves almost instantaneously after observing&nbsp;them. He wouldn't be able to use them right away, but it would make pinpointing and avoiding the moves in question much easier for him.
He was still taking his time, setting up his 'sphere of influence'. Every martial artist had a 'sphere of influence' so to speak. For many it was the circumference of the range of their arms, the area in which they could block or parry. For Force users like them, it was far beyond that, reaching out as far as the Force would while relaying information back to the user quickly. This was battle precognition. The projected fighting would be clear as day to him, phantoms of Adi hung in the air like phantoms in front of him. As hard as he worked to sear them into the Force, there was no way he wouldn't see them.
He exhaled as he was mid step, the Force flowing through his body, the world starting to slow down around him. There was no way that the Echani was going to be able to dance around those blows the way they were coming. His only real option was to burst passed them. As his foot hit the floor, the Forced surged inside of him, speeding him narrowly passed the line of incoming phantom blows. He couldn't account for the three shots from the DL-44 in the same manner however. He drew his saber to his hand, the weapon igniting in the distance between, but it wasn't fast enough to block the first bolt, which grazed the back of Zik's left shoulder blade as he turned to face down Adi. A flick of his wrist would block the other two bolts, but it was only enough to send them off harmlessly instead of back to their origin.
He gave off a curse in ancient Sith and threw his left hand out towards his sarcophagus. A tendril of the Force ebbed out, seizing the lid, which shuddered slightly, before he launched it it towards the man. As it flew forward, a flat trajectory towards the man, Zik spun on the ball of the foot he had stopped on, turning to bear down on Adi. The Force surged in him again as he pushed off in an arcing sprint to bring himself in from Matango's right side. He looked like he would come in for a slash of his saber from Adi's back to the front, but it would be a feint, if he fell for it.
The swing of his blade, whether it connected or not, was a distraction from his side spin, trying to carry himself behind Adi for a left reverse elbow, empowered by momentum, aimed at the back of the man's neck. He would allow the momentum to carry him further, spinning to a stop on Adi's left side, his saber and right side forward, as his left stopped behind him, in time to see if the lid would make contact, assuming Adi had not moved. His silver eye's now had a burning orange around the edge of his iris'.
Zik had expanded a lot of his reserves of the Force for such a burst of speed, in both the distance covered, and the speed itself.He would try to continue drawing on the surrounding energies as best he could, but now that the fight had started proper, he could only devote the smallest amount of focus to the draw, like idly taking a sip of drink through a straw. The wound on his shoulder would take a moment for the pain to truly settle in, but it was hardly enough to win this battle.
'Kriffin lucky bastard...' Adi thought to himself as Akribos launched away from the projected attack. Adi had really been banking on the attack landing...he didn't have the time to play around with this guy. Even the blaster bolts were batted away with some apparent ease....Only one of them had even -remotely- struck home, and even that just caused a minor wound. This guy was pretty agile, even for an Echani. If he got through this in one piece, Adi would most definitely have to go back to the drawing board on the delayed projected fighting.
Then, he did something that really ground Adi's gears...he threw the lid of the sarcophagus toward him.
If he wanted to get Adi stoned, all he had to do was ask, for crying out loud...not throw the roof of his most recent home at him....It was irritating, because even though the other man had just woken up, gave a long-winded monologue, and finally began to advance...Adi was kinda starting to like him. Then again, this guy and Zik were the same....In another time or place, they might even be able to get along. Here though? He was just another body in his way. Oh well, maybe if he pulled through, they could burn one later. Until then, it was time to be getting back to the actual action.
As Akribos began to advance directly behind his projectile at a rapid clip, Adi holstered the blaster quickly. As the lid flew toward him, the Arkanian looked closely as possible at the height, and judged the speed.
Waiting until the very last moment, Adi leapt up, and slightly backward, clearing the lip of the sarcophagus by a few feet. Careful to land lightly, landing on the balls of his feet, and rolling his feet down until he was flat-footed, he caught his balance, and began what would appear to most to be nothing short of insane. With its heavy forward motion, Adi, in essence, was 'surfing' the stone lid as the other man moved in an arc out to Adi's left. At the same time as he jumped up to land on the sarcophagus lid to get some distance between himself and Zik-Kribos, Matango had grabbed two of the spheres from his belt in each hand. At the same time, both activators were pressed, and the spheres thrown hard toward the onrushing Echani. If someone would think Matango was crazy before...they would -really- be thinking it now.
The lid, burdened with the extra two-hundred plus pounds, began to rapidly drop to the ground within a second or two of Adieumus landing on it. However, the spheres that had been thrown were set to go 'pop' in a sequence...starting about a second after they were thrown. The first one, a flash grenade, aimed at obscuring the vision of whomever had the misfortune of looking in its direction for a time, barely made noise, but exploded in a bright flash of blinding white light. Knowing the timing of his weapons, Adi closed his eyes for the briefest of moments as the flashbang went off. His right hand shot to his belt as his eyes came open, and he thumbed the activator for the active camouflage. Hopefully, the flash had blinded Zik long enough so that he would lose sight of Adi, and let the active camo do its job. The second one, meant to be the one that actually did the damage, was seismic. It would continue on for another half second, to let the flashbang really set in, then it too went bang. This was a miniature version of the same tech used in naval warfare charges, or mining hard minerals. It went off with a very unique sound, throwing a seismic shockwave out in all directions for about thirty feet.
And THIS was why Adieumus had caught a ride on the sarcophagus lid express...to get out of range of what amounted to heavy impact damage in that thirty-foot range. If Zik had continued on his current arcing path, it would roughly carry him into the very deadly close range of ten to twelve feet. Inside their short range, they were among the most powerful non-explosive weapons available. Outside of that interior blast radius, the impact was still quite powerful, able to do damage to soft tissue and bone quite easily. Even past the thirty foot damage radius, Adi had even seen the shockwave still knock full-grown men off their feet for another meter or two. They were no joke, and to use them effectively took guts, skill, and a lot of luck.
When it went off, the shockwave tore apart the handful of crates nearby, shattering them, and carrying the debris along with the shockwave. If the initial bang didn't manage to get Zik, the secondary shrapnel might. Then again, it would be awesome if both caught him. That would be a pretty effective way of going back to the original idea of ending this duel quickly.
The lid, now growing dangerously close to the ground from the Adi on top of it, was caught by one of the lesser, outer shockwaves, and began to wobble dangerously. Hopefully unseen under the protection of his active camo, Adieumus finally jumped off it to his right when he was about fifty feet from where he had started, and rolled behind some crates. The heavy stone lid crashed to the ground, shattering into thousands of pieces. Matango needed a moment to clear his head from the earlier fog created by the intense concentration needed for the use of the projected fighting. The active camo unit was good for about a minute of continuous use, so if he remained still, hopefully Zik wouldn't be able to see him until Adi was again ready to engage. He had really been hoping that the projected attack would be enough to win this....Apparently, Akribos had other ideas, and came through it fairly well. If this seismic grenade trick didnt do it, Matango would have to go with plan b...
....Now...he just had to come UP with an effective plan b....and fast.
Akribos could only grit his teeth when he watched Adi hitch a ride on the lid of the sarcophagus. Unorthodox counter, sure, but it was hardly the craziest thing the Sith had seen. The worry for him now, were the silver orbs his opponent was pulling from his belt. Grenades. Lovely. Akribos may have been several thousand years removed from this time period, but grenades still looked like grenades. He could hear the voice in the back of his mind telling him to not stop, and he wouldn't.
Rather then the flourish of moves he had planned to strike the Arkanian with, Zik pushed himself harder, each step hardly feeling like he made contact with the ground. There was a small pop behind him, and he could see the flash of light reflected in the walls and floors of the glossy Imperial hangar. But that had only been the first of two, and he couldn't afford to stop now. He poured what little reserves of the Force he could call upon to carry him as fast as it possibly could. The second pop was much louder, but by the time it had gone off, the shock wave sent out by the detonator had merely ruffled the Sith's robes, and made his ear's ring slightly with tinnitus. He took a final step and turned to where the lid had landed, roughly fourty feet away from him now. Adi was gone.
Zik gave a growl at what he saw as an act of cowardice. He would shift his saber from his right hand to his left, reaching his now free hand out towards his sarcophagus once more. He had enough left to draw on the last of his possessions within it. Two Sith swords would spring from his former home m swirling through the air to his hand. They were not as large as many were historically, the blades being no longer then twenty two inches. The hilt of one settled into his right hand, while the other floated around him.
Surely you are the greatest I will find in this time... He would deactivate his lightsaber and put it back on his belt. The second sword was then snatched from the air in his left hand. He would have to rely on martial skill for the fighting itself, as he had to save what little power was left to hone in on where Adi was with the Force. The greatest little derivative pile of blackberry pudding pop fuckery to ever glaze this shitty little galaxy.
Akribos shifted his stance, moving his right foot back slightly. His knees bent to keep himself grounded. His left hand would move out in front of him, holding the blade in an inverted style. His right arm would move behind his back, ready to defend, but also keeping how it would move hidden behind his form. He wouldn't lash out without knowing where Adi was. That would be wasteful. Those projected blows no doubt left the man fairly drained, and attacking from range now would only give his position away. If this fight was going to continue with any true effectiveness, they would have to stop playing games.
You have the stance of a martial artist, but your tricks lack the honor of one. Would your masters be proud that you make a mockery of their craft with grenades and blasters? Can you look my other self in the eye's and hold your head up high while talking about this fight so far? If he is anything like me, I can tell you now. He is thoroughly disappointed.
It was all Adi could do to keep from laughing out loud when he heard "The greatest little derivative pile of blackberry pudding pop fuckery to ever glaze this shitty little galaxy" come out of this man's mouth. He had managed to get clear of both the flash, and the seismic grenades with little effect...probably due to the fact that Adi had misjudged the distance, and pretty much thrown what would end up being -behind- his foe, rather than in front of him.
Hey, YOU try to judge a good two armed grenade throw, all the while surfing a sarcophagus lid thrown by a darksider who appeared to be a grumpy old man....Let's see where they end up for you, eh?
Back to the action, Adi remained hidden, barely keeping Akribos in view as the man's weapons struck his hands. He listened to the man speak, catching his breath from the earlier quick actions. The projected attack had taken some exertion, but after a few seconds of resting, Matango was able to calm his breathing, and relax for a moment. It was annoying, but this guy was absolutely right, Matango was here, regardless of what he was telling himself, for a good fight. As much as he was kind of torn right now. It WAS true that Adi had entered this tournament to find the one responsible for unleashing the virus...but he was also here to test himself as well. It was a toss-up, really...He could easily draw a bead and fire blaster shots until Zik went down, or he could actually be goaded into a head on incursion.
And then...there were two big reasons that reared their ugly heads. Two things that Adieumus had tried to keep buried for a long time...pride, and ego. It was a challenge that had been laid down...and as much as it truly pissed Adi off, he had to agree with AkriZik. The Arkanian had been treating this as a military operation, not a duel. This is where Adi was probably making a huge mistake, but those two problems...erm....'reasons' won out. Emotions were a powerful motivator, even things as different as pride, and ego could be drawn on to elicit connections to the force to be regained. Knowing what was coming, adrenaline began to surge through the former Jedi Watch lead, renewing his vigor from his earlier exertion, and driving him forward.
A few moments after Akribos finished speaking, Adi stood. If ZikRibos wanted this, dude was gonna get everything he wanted, and more. Adieumus stepped out from his hiding spot, roughly 45 feet away from the Echani, and began to walk toward him. He was silent, but he pulled the lightsaber from the utility belt, shoving it one of the pockets right below it in his cargo pants. He unbuckled the utility belt when he was about thirty feet away, and the active camo began to waver. Knowing that he was now visible again, Adi took one more stride, and he tossed the belt to the side *with the blaster, and the rest of his detonators on it, along with the camo unit* snapping back at the man.
"My Master would have broken your neck for talking too much long ago." Another stride and a half, and it carried Matango to within 15 feet of Zik.
"Be glad I'm -not- her." One more pair of steps carried Matango to just ten feet from his foe. He stood, feet shoulder width apart, knees ever so slightly bent. His hands hung at his sides, and his icy blue eyes fell cold upon the Echani standing front of him. Snarling out the last he would say, he waited for Zik to make any kind of move.
"There was no such thing as disappointment. You either succeeded, or you were killed. I'm obviously still alive. I have yet to find anyone to cause my failure...but you are welcome to try."
Maybe I will have to see for myself when this is over. Many a person have tried, and less then a handful have gotten close.
Whether he was bluffing about it or not, it was clear as day that he certainly was no push over. Adi had done well in keeping him from controlling the pace of the duel so far. The projected strikes from earlier would have ruined anyone less skilled in reading their opponent, and the grenades certainly would have ended the day of many. He kept himself away from Zik and let the Sith wear down his reserves, no doubt a plan he had cooked up for dealing with his modern counterpart. But then he allowed Zik to get his hands on his swords.
The nature of Sith swords, through metallurgy, alchemy, and the creators mastery of the Dark side, gave them several properties. Like Jedi katanas, or the use of Force weapon, they could not be destroyed by a lightsaber. They were capable of deflecting blaster bolts and lasers. But perhaps most importantly, they acted as a vessel and focus for the wielders dark side energies. Akribos gave a dark grin as he felt some of his reserves restore from the blades that had absorbed so much of their masters essence over the last few millennia. Adi done goofed. Zik spun the blade in his left around so it was no long inverted. Lightning began to spark and crackle along it's length as he stared Adi down. He would point the tip forward, and a bolt of lightning shot off like an arrow, but it wasn't pointed at Adi. It was sent for his gear.
If Adi did nothing to stop that bolt, it would hit his utility belt, cooking off the baradium primers in his last detonators. The resulting explosions would be too small to harm either of them from where they were, but it would be just enough to destroy the equipment on the belt. The only ranged attack he felt should be made by him at this point in the fight. He would save his restored reserves for amplification. with the focus of his warblades, the use of speed would be far less draining. The wound on his shoulder was an annoyance, but one that was feeding the Sith's growing anger. He would have to deal with it later, but for now, it was fuel for the fire.
Zik let the Force pool in his legs once more before he would take off again, his left arm across his chest. Now at fifteen feet, there wasn't much time to set up a run away. He would try again for another slash at the man's left side, his left blade slicing through the air, followed quickly by the right as he turned to spin around Adi as he had before. Instead of a reserve elbow though, he would lift one of his feet, and attempt to bring a hard left boot down on the back of Matango's knee, followed by a stab with the right blade towards the right side of his neck. Once again spinning from Adi's left side to his right, he didn't plan to pull away. His momentum continued to carry him into a reserve round house with his left leg, aimed for the Arkanian's face.
A bolt ripped by Adieumus, and struck the area where he had thrown the utility belt. No big deal...but those swords apparently were able to channel force....Damn sith weaponry, anyway....they looked so innocent, and tiny. And yet, they could do things that would slag normal weapons. Probably spelled so that they always remained razor sharp, no matter what objects they struck, and all that. Quietly, as the bolt shattered the trigger charges of the detonators, Adi slipped the hilt of his lightsaber out of the pocket he had dropped it into earlier, and blinked...just once.
Just. Once.
When Adieumus' eyes were open, the world appeared as normal, everything moving at proper speed. However, in that briefest of moments, when his eyes closed, they reopened to find the very same world moving far more slowly....How Adieumus loved the many applications of force speed.... The force was filling every molecule of his body, propelling him far beyond his normal limits. However, speed could be applied, even when standing still, to observe things around you at a slower pace. Matango's thoughts calmed, his body poised, ready to move. He fell deeper into the trancelike zen, and concentrated only one one thing...his foe. Zik's body positioning was solid, and strong defensively...but Matango was still studying every twitch of the man's muscles. However, Adi was slightly alarmed to see the other man not really moving as slowly as what he first anticipated....Damn Echani, they were speedy bastards to begin with, and with speed added in, this would get tricky. It only took Zik three steps to get to Matango's distance, but again...force speed had many applications to those who studied it in-depth.
To counter the left to right slashes, Adi's right thumb hit the activator of his lightsaber,and he spun his body ninety degrees as the two sith blades came in. He snapped his own weapon around with him, into the path of first the blade in the other man's left, the one in Akribos' right hand impacting quickly thereafter, both roughly striking mid-saber. If the motion of the weapons was stopped, as Adi hoped, he would pull back slightly to try to release the blade lock between the two of them. Quickly, the blade dropped back into the hilt, and Matango moved it forward, ever so slightly. It came back to life just as quickly as it had disappeared, and growled its anger at ZikRibos. He would then rotate the lightsaber so that the spin would carry it toward Zik's outstretched wrists, hoping to sever them both in one fell swoop. Trakata, combined with pure, blinding speed. It posed a deadly combination.
As quick as this guy was, Adi was pretty sure it wasn't gonna work as planned, though.
Zik furrowed his brow at seeing Adi turn with him in what would feel like real time. To anyone watching, it would seem as a blur, but what kind of sick fuck would be watching this like it were some sort of blood sport? What a bunch of assholes, right? But Adi's plan worked. As Zik's blades came into contact, the Echani was stopped in the split second bladelock, rending his plan as just thoughts floating around his mind.
Zik was annoyed, but it was hardly something that couldn't be dealt with. When Adi pulled back to disengage the blade lock, Zik would shift his weight, turning to spin back to the right as he brought his hands up towards his chest. This move would take the Echani away from the down spin meant to sever his hand, and instead put him on the outside of Adi's right side. Instead of attacking with his blades, he would keep them ready to counter his saber, should the need arise. At the speed the pair were moving, the time it took for the blade to spring to life was normal compared to how quick it would seem to an observer.
What Zik did about this was aim a left kick for the side of the man's right knee in the hopes of taking his leg out. Based on the way he was using his saber, Zik could figure he would shut it off once more. He would have to wait, hoping to time a strike for right after he would deactivate it. If Adi was true to his style, Zik would thrust his right blade towards the Arkanian's throat. His left hand stayed close to him, anticipating retaliation from his opponent.
The man was one of the quickest Matango had fought in a very long time, but his style was filled with more movement that it really needed. The first spin that Adi had parried was a good decision...Added power, and attempted to set the tone. However, after the pull back from the quick saber lock, ZikRibos again started to move into another spin. This one was ill-advised.
To Matango, a fight was two things. Firstly, it was time, and how to best manage every single second. A fighter's eyes needed to see everything around them, notice every twitch, every movement, and every single moment, they had to be searching for an opening to exploit. The other was circles. If there were two fighters, there were two circles...depending on the range, the size of these circles could expand, or close, but there were always two...an inner circle, and an outer circle. To a defensive, counterstrike type fighter like Adi, the inner circle was everything. By baiting Zik into coming at Adi at the range that the Arkanian had picked, he had started this exchange in that inner circle. By parrying the initial double slash, he had defended it, keeping the inside spot.
Now, that well-timed inner circle mentality was about to pay off.
The fighter in the 'outer' circle had to move more in order to keep the attack pressed. This is where searching for that perfect moment was everything. Whereas when Zik started to spin away, he had to go much further in order to bring his attack back around...Adi had to turn about forty five degrees, which, even from his missed strike, would be far faster than a complete spin. From the low position his saber had been in from the missed wrist sever, it put him in a good spot for a bottom-to-top style backhand slash that, at the range he was at, would hopefully catch Zik from the Echani's now-exposed lower left rear abdomen, and tearing upward to the right, ending only when it would clear the man's right shoulder. If he had to take a step to follow the Echani in order to land the attack, the former Jedi would do so. However, from where he was, he didn't think he would have to. This slash wasn't meant to kill, but a deep shiim across the back was debilitating in its own right.
The force enhanced speed began to take its toll on Adi's muscles, having driven them into a frenzy to keep up with the power being fed into them. No sooner had the slash finished its arc, the precious force-boosted speed bled off, and Matango stumbled back a short step. He could not keep this up....not at the level of speed this man was travelling at. He was fast, sure...but he was no Echani. Knowing that a retaliation was sure to come, Adi kept his saber out in front of him, as ready as his vision would allow. The exertion had exceeded the amount of air the Arkanian took in, and now, his vision was fading from clear to fuzzy. He was breathing in deep gasps, each an every single muscle throbbed from overuse, sweat was running down his face....but Adieumus Matango was know for something that was far stronger than anything this speed demon had to throw at him...His will to never quit. This fight would end the same as every single one before it...
....It would end as yet another mission accomplished.
