Bring out the Demons, Game

[Flamjetxx]

Bring out the Demons, Game​

There was something disturbing about a bunch of Sith playing... Games. It may have just been because most cannot imagine a bunch of Sith frolicking about, playing games, and with good reason too; They weren't about to skip through fields, picking daisies and playing tag. They were about to play a game in which dead was extremely common. It was the kind of game, where the last team of Sith standing wins. It was a game that drew upon exhaustion, the very limits of one's abilities, and the physical endurance of the individual.

Needless to say, the people who tended to play the game didn't do so more than once, even if they survived, and they most certainly didn't take it lightly. Then why play such a game in the first place? To prove they're the best at what they do, to take a giant leap forward in their training, to learn something new, and, if you're truly disturbed, just for fun. For Ark and Javik, it may have been a combination of two or more of those reason, maybe even another reason, but it was mainly to learn something in a way that the ability would make perfect sense to them, that they'd never forget the ability, and so that the ability was truly seen as one of their most hard-earned skills.

Ark, somehow, managed to find out about this game upon his search of the Academies for someone to teach him a pair of Force abilities that are invaluable to a dualist, Battle Mind and Force Body. Both abilities dealt with enhancing the user, but one dealt with the body as the other dealt with the mind. And to Ark's surprise, it was a pair of abilities that was rather difficult to come by, so much to the point that Ark determined that one of the only ways to learn the ability was through a death game.

Ark was no stranger to danger, nor was he afraid of any of the stern faces that filled the room. Ark could even sense that some of them were even beginning to only just now realize what they'd gotten themselves into. When you stand in the same room, examining the same people they were meant to compete against, it really puts your task in perspective. Ark was certain that he could handle himself, despite some of the reputations he's heard of some of the participants. The only possible issue he had was that he doubted he could trust some of his eventual teammates. It was actually the reason he'd recruited Javik for the game, is because he was one of the few Crusaders that Ark could trust to watch his back. Their multiple experiences together proved that much.

"The rules go as followed. There are two teams, Five versus Five, Team Red and Team Blue. There is no pacing yourselves. You have no boundaries to confine what you do to achieve your goal, and your opponents will not stand in your way. Death is enabled, though we will not tolerate killing your own teammates. If you've come here to get revenge on someone, you'd best hope they are on the other team. If your pace drops too slow, or if you don't encounter your opponents, we will create an obstacle for you," and elder-looking Shistavani man begins to explain. The man next to him, a Mon Calamari, continues the rules with a rehearsed sound to it, "You will navigate the Cliffs, racing your opponents to the Hidden Temple. When you enter the Temple, you will be forced to seek out your opponents' flag, and raise it to one of the three spires of the Temple. When you hold the flag up for Fifteen Consecutive minutes, you win the game. However, the flag must be raised alone, without your flag, raised by your opponent, in one of the other two spires. If your flag is raised by your opponents, you must cause that flag to fall, before you can win."

The rules alone indicated that the game wouldn't be easy from the moment they will have stepped into the cliffs. The rules were simple enough to remember, the difficulty lied within completing the tasks.

"There are no lightsabers and no time limit. If you kill your entire enemy team, then there is nothing stopping you from completing the task; However, there are plenty of other dangers that lurk within the cliffs and temple. Just because you don't see your opponents, doesn't mean they aren't there. You are your own biggest enemy. Your endurances and skills in the Force will determine your own survival," the Shistavani states, allowing the Mon Calamari to wrap it up, "You were each given a parcel upon entering the transport. It contains your color, in which you MUST wear at all times, for recognition. There is also a earpiece inside that you MUST wear at all times. Red team is with the Shistavani, blue team is with me."

With that wrapped up, the Mon Calamari ushers the blue team into the next room of the shuttle that was flying them to the remote location on Ziost. They'd been flying for a few minutes since hopping onto the vehicle, and the explanation of the rules took up a very minor period of time in travel. Ark opened his parcel to find that he and Javik had vest in red, in which Ark was rather quick to dawn the new apparel. Ark wasn't always found wearing anything over his chest, but a vest was what Ark would ordinarily choose if he had to. It was the least limiting of apparel, generally allowing a fuller range of motion that other shirts. The communication device was indeed an earpiece, but there was an odd piece hanging from it, that looked like it actually hooked up somewhere on his neck or shoulder.

When the blue team had cleared out of the room, the Shistavani began to speak in a slightly more hushed tone, "Put on the vests now, so that it's clearly recognizable as red. The ear piece too. The part hanging down will monitor your vitals, indicating to us how you're doing without needing to keep a visual. It will also tell us who is dead and alive. I am the monitor for the Red team. I'll give you pointers and guide you when absolutely necessary. I will not strategize for you, as that will be up to you to do, should you choose. I will simply keep you reminded of the rules and direct you towards your objective when you need it. I will also warn you when your flag has been raised by your enemy," He begins explaining in a fast paced detail.

"I decide you've taken one too many breaks in achieving your goal, I'll be the one to send in the Demons, or as we call it when we give you something else to worry about. Now, many of you have come here under the pretense that you will learn two Force abilities under my guidance during this game. The first one is Battle Mind. I will teach you it before the game starts. However, the other, Force Body, I will be unable to teach you until late in the game. But when you get to that point, I'll be certain that you learn it if you're still alive by that point," he discloses, "If you have any questions before we land, now is the time to ask them. The last thing you need is to ask me a question in the middle of a game. It will be hard enough on you with what you already have to worry about."

He looks around, patting down the participants and examining them, while he waited for any possible questions. What he was doing was checking that none of them had any blasters, lightsabers, vibro swords, or any other kind of possible weapon. The only weapons allowed was their own bodies and their grasp on the Force. They were all experienced Crusaders here, and they all had the tools to kill without the use of such weapons. Besides that, weapons only make things easier on them.

Ark couldn't help but to smirk in anticipation of the upcoming game. Ark was actually quite excited for it, and he had been anticipating the game since he'd heard about it, and with a mental message, he couldn't help but to say something to Javik, "You ready for this?!"

 

[Phoenix]

game as the gladiator “games” he had taken part in growing up. Although he didn’t really admit it, somewhere along the line he had become very fond of the feeling of victory, maybe even going so far as to say that it was addicting.

The thrill of victory, the utter domination. It was part of the reason that he had joined the Sith and specifically the Warriors. He loved physical domination over an opponent. So it had brought him here, to a “game” where once again the losers may very well end up dead. And yet again he had found himself next to Ark on this little trip. He was glad that regardless of what happened, he had at least one person that he could trust to have his back.

It sounded like the game was something similar to capture the flag, though not exactly, and of course because it’s the Sith there was an extremely high chance of death, but then that was the best way to push yourself past your conventional limits: put yourself in mortal danger.

Well if he survived, it would look good on his proverbial resume and he would have a new skill set. If not, it would be a nonissue. Then again, he didn’t plan on losing. He hadn’t trained 14 years to die now. He hadn’t killed countless people to die now. He would win this little game and not die trying.

He slid on his vest and put his earpiece in place. Well, he found out it was more than just an earpiece but also a transmitter that sent his vitals as well. He awaited his turn to be patted down for weapons. He hadn’t brought anything of the kind but, to be honest, he had seriously considered it. It would give him an edge in the fight, but then again so would his knowledge of the Force and his training in martial arts. He was confident he would be just fine.

He could feel his gut begin to churn as he sat in the shuttle. It was called so many things: adrenaline, fear, apprehension and more, but it was a feeling he was extremely familiar with. The calm before the storm. He could feel it in the others sitting in the shuttle as well. It was that sudden realization that it would soon be kill or be killed, but this was Ziost wasn’t it? These people here were Warriors, the combatants of the order. Surely they wouldn’t be afraid of a little blood shed.

These thoughts and more filled his head until something else did: Ark’s voice. The right side of his mouth curled up slightly at the comment, this time fully visible as he hadn’t been allowed to wear his customary plastoid armor. I was born ready for this! Then on a more serious note added, I’ve got your back out there.

The shuttle stopped a moment later, though instead of setting down on the ground, it remained in the air as the ramp extended downward. Javik peeked over the edge of the ramp as the voice of the Mon Cal roared behind him over the whipping of the wind. Outta the ship! Of course from what Javik was seeing, that was slightly easier said than done. The shuttle was floating nearly 50 feet in the air still and below was a small pathway with cliff on one side and a sheer drop on the other: the type that would kill you, even if you were a Sith.

No point in starting things off too easy for us. The race was afoot then. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to the other Sith on their team, Watch your drop! and a moment later he took a step off of the ramp, careful of his trajectory so as not to miss the small path.

Gravity took over as his body plummeted toward the ground below. He was certainly glad that he had looked before he leapt. He let the Force grab him and slow his descent until he made a relatively graceful landing on the path below. The path was thin and it didn’t look very sturdy either. Only time would tell what else was still planned for the poor Sith here.

 

[Flamjetxx]

"Battle Mind is simple boys. You simply need to channel The Force through your mind and back into your body. It's a cyclical motion of Force energy, and as it filters through your mind, you must connect it to emotions and memories of motivation. The ability is purely your mind feeding your body, as the proverb would say, 'mind over matter'," The Shistavani instructor said with a hint of urgency in his voice. They were nearing their destination sooner than he'd expected, and they could sense it, if not by the Force, then by the urgency in his voice, "Whatever emotion or emotions motivate you best, whatever memories motivate you best will essentially be carried along in the flood of the Force, as it cycles into your body, and when it returns, it will be refreshed, bringing those emotions or memories to the forefront of your mind. These should motivate you to your fullest capacity without hindering your ability to think. When these thoughts reemerge upon the cycle of Force energy, it will essentially remind you of your motivations and keep you going as if feeling brand new and refreshed. This, in turn, with cycle into your body, reenergizing your body, and strengthening your body with your will power. It will, however, be up to you to determine what it is exactly that motivates you to such an extent. And remember that this is Battle Mind, and not Battle Meditation, and so it effects you and you alone. This is personal fortification. Does anyone have any questions?" he asks while the door to the shuttle cracks wide open, allowing a burst of icy wind to fill the cabin of the shuttle.

They all gave him blank looks, but not a word was spoken, and finally, one hand went up from one of the guys closer to the door of the shuttle. The Shistavani looks at him and force pushes him out of the door, "Motivate yourself and cycle it through you, it's simple. There are no questions. Now go and play the game," he finishes while throwing another body out the door, in which Ark and Javik were both quick to find themselves leaping out of the door themselves.

Clearly the instructor was a firm believer in the sink or swim methods of teaching, and Ark cold respect that, because it was exactly how he'd taught his own apprentice, Jorath Baylor. If he didn't succeed, there were severe consequences. This was no different, except he'd taken it to the next level of life or death in every minor decision. And it was then that Ark found himself gliding along the thin air of the arctic wasteland.

Looking out over the cliffs, he could see how the narrow pathways crissed, crossed, and intertwined the entire way towards the temple. Some of them were dead ends, and others lead over deep ravines that went much deeper than the rest of the pathways. But ultimately, the hidden Temple could be seen peaking out over the cliffs, where the three spires were the only visible parts, and it only gave anyone, paying attention, a general heading... forward. Ark looked over to his side to see that the Mon Claamari's team was also being pushed out of the shuttle, but on the other side, and they were all grouping up in one pathway, where their team seemed to be scattered away in one particular direction, but still more or less away form the Blue Team. Ark followed the red vests, and even recognized Javik as Ark fell.

Ark used the Force to slow his descent as he fell into the cliff's pathway, where Javik, and another human fell in various locations along the pathway. The other two Red members seemed lost, but Ark could soon feel the Force signatures of not only the other two Red members, but of every single Blue member. It figures that everyone would survive the easier task of landing. And the moment Ark's paws touched the ground, his feet were already on the move forward towards where he'd seen the temple. His mass was easily shifted forward, where the pathway filed them forward, and Ark's senses flared as he listened, looked, and tried to feel anything he could, but there as nothing other than the simple presences. Otherwise it was eerily silent.

But almost moments after thinking that everyone had survived their falls, Ark felt a pang in the Force as there was a spike of Fear that radiated somewhere from where he'd seen the Blue Team landing. And then a screech as a life was snuffed out of the Force. And in Ark's ear, the communicator sounded the Shistavani's voice, "One Red Team member was killed. He was killed when the Blue Team caught up to him after he was separated during the free fall. If you want to stay alive, I'd say that sticking together is smarter than spitting up.. for now anyway."

"The temple was this way, try to stay close to each other, where we can watch each other's backs," Ark said through telepathy, with an annoyed tone as he tried to split his attentions to focusing on the new ability while heading through the paths of the cliffs. However, there was still one Red Teammate not accounted for, and he likely knew that he had to regroup with them unless he wanted to suffer a similar fate.

Digging into ARk's memories and emotions, Ark could find a lot of things that motivated him, but the Shistavani said the emotion and, or Memory that motivated him most. And Ark knew exactly what those were. There was moment in his entire life that has motivated him throughout his entire career as a Sith. And it was driven in itself by a single emotions or idea. Loyalty. The very last request was that Ark ascend the Ranks of the Sith, serve the Sith, and carry on his legacy by improving himself to the absolute best he could manage. The memory was the last time he'd seen his father, the only one Ark felt complete allegiance to for the longest time, and he was the only one Ark truly felt loyal to. It was Ark's every reason for training himself to the peak of his physical capabilities, to widen his ability to manipulate the Force, and it was the reason Ark had become a Master Combatant, was for his Father's last request. The mere shadow the loyalty to that mission that Ark felt was more than what would be needed to sustain Ark in the toughest of situations, and now Ark could use that motivation as a very real tool.

 

[Phoenix]

It was clear from the first moment that he set foot on the ground that there were others around him. While he could certainly see Ark and one of the other teammates, he could feel the distinctive Force signatures of not only his other teammates but also his enemies.

It was funny how this game perfectly exemplified the Sith society: ascension through the subjugation or even execution of one’s competitors. Then it happened: the first competitor snuffed out of the competition. It was really disconcertingly early to already be down one teammate and to have another one still missing, but that was the nature of the game. The problem with that was that with every teammate he lost, his odds of dying increased significantly. It was in his best interest to keep the others alive, even if he didn’t have any particular attachment to them beyond the most basic of pragmatism.

The icy wind of the planet tore at him as he began making his way down the path in front of him. Portions of the path were slippery with ice while others were covered in snow that looked solid but upon setting your foot, it would give way, leaving the unwary to plummet to their deaths. This was nearly the fate that Javik suffered but managed to come up short of actually falling by grabbing hold of a nearby outcropping. That was the danger of going too fast, but then if they went too slow, their opponents would beat them to the temple. It was a balance that was nearly as precarious as the trail they traversed.

The fact was though, that he wanted to win. He always wanted to win, but the desire to win wasn’t really his prime motivator. It was a byproduct of a much more basic instinct. He hated being helpless. Too much of his life had been spent without any control of his own destiny and it nearly drove him mad. Not only had it cost him his love, it had nearly cost his own life. Victory was simply a means to control his own destiny and path. Every victory he achieved brought him one step closer to control. The ability to defeat anyone was a powerful tool in the arsenal of ascension.

It was this emotion, this basic hatred of helplessness that drove him to victory today. It would push him further than anyone else could go and although his opponents would be tapping into the same techniques, they didn’t know the pain and suffering that Javik did. Truly it hurt him every time he thought about it as if a gnawing at his heart. But it wouldn’t happen again, he was sure of it.

4 vs. 5 he thought to himself as his mind turned back to the games at hand. Did anyone see the direction of the path during the fall? he sent out to the minds of his teammates. The other human projected back, I did, follow me.

He set out following the other man. It was strange putting your confidence in someone you didn’t know, and frankly it left him somewhat uneasy. When fighting alone, you had no one to blame for failure but yourself and no weak link that could get you killed save your own actions. That was why he always wanted to fight with reliable people. But then, this guy had as much reason to perform well as Javik did. They all risked death.

He realized as they traveled forward that his mind was surprisingly clear despite the wave of emotions feeding his mind and body. His senses seemed enhanced and his connection with the Force seemed almost clearer than normal. It was this that caused him to notice the sudden disappearance of one of their competitors from the Force. The trouble was, there was no indication of death. He didn’t know if they would be alerted of an enemy’s death or if the man had simply concealed himself from the senses of the others. Perhaps even more disturbing, there was still no physical signs of the fourth member of their team. Though he could be felt some distance away, it was almost as if he were closer to the other team than his own. He just hoped they weren’t going to be down to 3 members before even reaching the temple.

The sudden appearance of the missing enemy was no shock, but it was still surprising. A Defel dropped from a ledge above and landed on the poor human in front of Javik without warning. He must have been the missing opponent, though to Javik it didn’t seem to make any sense. Why would a lone fighter attack three others? He was either incredibly self-confident, incredibly stupid or not alone.

He didn’t really have time to muse about the issue at the moment though as his teammate had an angry Defel trying to bite his neck open. Calling a nearby rock to his hand, he charged at the nearby enemy and swung with all of his strength. Unfortunately, the Defel managed to block it with his forearm, but at least it prevented him from killing the other Sith, and the shattering of the Defel’s ulna was quite obvious to anyone listening. Apparently realizing his mistake – or trying to lure the others into a trap - the Defel began to flee.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ark was quick to add distance on the others, but with a sense of emptiness, Ark looked back to see that he'd gained more distance than he'd intended, essentially missing the fact that humans couldn't traverse icy terrain even a fraction as well as Ark could. Ark's white, snow leopard-patterned fur was an indication of his ancestor's homes in the snow, and with that, Ark had an innate ability to traverse icy surfaces with minimal issues. His massive paws kept him from sinking in snow just as well as it stopped him from losing as much traction o ice, and with his claws out, he had even better grip on the ice. And Ark found himself forced to actually slow down so that he didn't end up being ambushed alone by the other team. And it was with good time too, because Ark felt a Force signature drop out of existence, that wasn't too far from Where Ark and his hum companions were currently located.

It begged a good question to Ark, why was he broadcasting his position to the rest of the Force Sensitives anyway? And with that, he to dropped out of existence. Then, the Defel dropped form the cliff, and he was rather difficult to see at first, until Ark's rather keen eyes narrowed in on him. Unfortunately, Ark was a bit ahead still, and wasn't near enough to do any real help, leaving it up to Javik to save the other human. And surprisingly enough the human, managed to get up with a few cuts on his arms, but not too much else wrong with him. In a fury, he leapt up to chase the Defel off, where Ark roared his displeasure, "Leave him, we have bigger issues to deal with," but it was too late, and he'd rounded a bend with the aid of the Force, too fast to stop him. Ark, leapt to Javik's side, allowing his larger paws to slip a bit on the landing, but only enough to barely inconvenience him as he placed a large paw on Javik's shoulder to prevent him form chasing after him if the thought was really on his mind, "Let him go. We have an objective to complete. This isn't a death match. He'll figure that out soon enough," Ark warned, while pulling on Javik's shoulder into the direction of the hidden temple. Unfortunately, chasing after the human would be back tracking away from where he'd seen the temple ahead, and they couldn't afford to waste any time.

Fortunately, Ark could pinpoint the last Red Teammate's position now that they were making headway through the maze, and he was on the other side of them as the Blue Team, and he was en route to meet them at the next intersection. And then it happened again, the pang of Fear shooting through the Force, and the scream to accompany it. And as Ark waited for the ear piece to announce his death, it never came, but instead, he felt the pain-filled voice of the human ring in his head as the telepathic message whined at him, "Help me! They ambushed me, and they're about to kill me."

They were setting traps, luring them into ambushes, and they knew they had the upper hand too. And with all but two of their Force Signatures having dropped off Ark's radar since the Defel's attack, Ark figured that they already had two or more of them running ahead to try and beat them to the temple. Ark would allow Javik to come to the same conclusion. Cut our losses, ditch the bait, and try to save their only other teammate. At least Ark was feeling good, motivated, and surprisingly energized. It must have been the Battle Mind ability's effects kicking in, and it was exactly how Ark felt it was too. The same notion, not at the forefront of his mind, of making his father proud flashed into his mind, and was recycled in an energizing manner into his body before it reminded him again.

 

[Phoenix]

With the Defel’s sudden disappearance around the corner the other human took off after him but Javik felt Ark’s paw on his shoulder, holding him back. He didn’t like leaving their teammate on his own but then that was just part of the game. The man had committed to his path and they couldn’t help him now. Hopefully he would make it out or they would be down one more teammate in this fight.

With no more nearby enemies, Javik pulled the Force around him, withdrawing his Force signature into himself and dropping off of the OpFor “radar.”

They turned back to the path and continued toward the temple and Javik, despite his agility, wasn’t able to keep up with the Kushari whose body was more naturally built for the snow. The sudden pang of pain and torment shot through the Force once again and he knew that it was going to be the end for their teammate. Except moments later, the man’s begging came ringing through his mind.

He chose to shut out any pity from his mind, preventing him from feeling sorry for the teammate who would likely be put through an excruciating execution at the hands of their enemies. Instead he focused on the what information he could glean from their teammate. He tapped Ark’s mind with his own. He said “they” so that means at least two of them are back there and they had to go in the opposite direction of the temple. That means 2-3 ahead of us. If we can rally our other teammate we can have any even fight with their runners

Their pace managed to carry them ahead at a brisk pace until they finally came to the cross-path where their teammate was. The man was a Trandoshan who looked angry and ready to kill someone. You heard our teammate, I assssssume. he half hissed to the two Sith.

Of course, we need to make our way to the temple and beat out their runners. The sooner we can get there the more time we can rack up for our flag before them, but we need to keep moving now.

Internally, Javik was worried about the new Sith’s ability to keep up as he looked quite strong but slightly lacking in the fleet of foot area. Hopefully that wouldn’t be the case. Despite the exertion so far, Javik didn’t feel worn out yet as the desires and drives to succeed and win flooded through his body repeatedly refreshing him as the thoughts lingered in the back of his mind.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Javik was on the same page as Ark. He tended to know how Ark operated after participating in a mission, a few duels, and several training sessions with him. It was what made them so potent, was because they already had a rather intimate knowledge of each other. However, Ark had never even seen any of their fellow Crusaders, not the Blue team's Crusaders nor the other three crusaders. Ark couldn't even remember what species the first of the Red Teammates was, who'd died only moments after landing. Unfortunately, this potent knowledge and trust that Javik and Ark had of each other might not have been the only ones. The other team was working too smoothly for them to all have met only minutes ago. This may not have even been some of their first times playing the game.

They've already landed together, teamed up on their first teammate, killing him only seconds into the game, ambushed one of their other teammates, set a trap for him to run into, then took him hostage, setting another trap for the rest of them to fall into while they had a few runners undoubtedly heading for the temple! It was an awful lot for the first few minutes of the game. Ark didn't even know why he was still so optimistic... oh, wait.

Thankfully, they ran into the Trandoshan at the end of their path. Just ahead of them was a deep crevice with a very narrow pathway along the side of the bottomless pit. The planet seemed to run deep with such pits, and Ark even wondered if his "Broken Dragon" was somewhere down there. Regardless, Ark could see, in the distance, something that looked like the beginning of a set of stairs, and it was likely a way directly into the temple, and Ark wasn't about to be convinced by the Trandoshan to go back for the other guy, "If he was foolish to run off on his own, he'll be foolish enough to die on his own. Javik is right, we need to get to the Temple as soon as we can if we don't want them to win the game. Not only that, but these guys seem keen on setting traps, and if they get there first, we might very well walk into another trap," Ark said while he led the way across the crevice.

The Trandoshan smirked a little as if he was about to say something similar enough to Ark, and Ark figured that the Trandoshan was beginning to turn the same pages as them. It was only sad that two of their teammates were too stupid. It was a curse of the Sith to think they were invincible. They were certainly trained to be, but when everyone is invincible, it all came down to simple math, two versus one had a very likely outcome. That meant that they needed to stick together so that it would always be three versus them. They were already outnumbered, but they hadn't lost yet. All they had to do was be smart.

Ark was a firm believer in one thing, that the absolute highest tier of combat was the mind. Strategy, using the environment to your advantage, and generally being smart would allow you to conquer any enemy no matter how much more experience, training, and power they had over you. Ark was certain that he was well-versed in that final tier of combat so that situations like this, where he was clearly outmatched, would fall in his favor. Ark had fought a former Sith Master, multiple opponents, armies of blaster-wielding opponents, and even monstrous Rancors, coming out alive with ease. Ark wasn't about to let five versus three defeat him.

The Crevice would certainly slow them down, but they most certainly go back and take the other route. It would not only force them to back track, but it would walk them right into the potential trap set by the Blue team, and Ark wasn't keen on letting Fate decide whether they came out of the trap alive or not. Besides that, they were likely expecting all three of them anyway. So traversing the crevice was their only option, and with good reason too, because of the stairway leading right up to the temple. And Ark's suspicions had been confirmed when he approached the staircase after the crossing. Ark looked up, but never proceeded, because the Trandoshan and Javik were still crossing. He wasn't about to abandon them nor think that he was invincible enough t o potentially combat three of their enemies alone.

"Quickly," Ark said in a slightly hushed tone. Ark sometimes found it annoying how a species like a Trandoshan could move so comparatively slowly to Ark, but again, numbers were better than solo in this case. And when they were finally across, Ark put a claw to his mouth as if to hush them. Ark didn't know why, but he could hear something. Rocks falling. There was something ahead, and Ark didn't know what it was, but his suspicions were the Blue Team setting a trap for them.

Suddenly, the earpiece in Ark's ear buzzed to life, "Members of the Blue team have been stagnant for too long, and the entire Red Team's heart rates have fallen too low. Bring out the Demons."

"What the...?" The Trandoshan said, out loud, in response.

"They warned us that going too slowly would provoke them to get us moving," Ark started, referring to their slowed crossing of the crevice. It didn't really seem fair, but their lack of speed seemed to aid them form falling feet first into the bottomless pit. It was likely the trap the Blue Team set, that as the ultimate trigger for the 'Demons to be sent in'.

And before Ark could finish explaining his thoughts, a larger rock fell, and a bark echoed throughout the cliffs. And suddenly, several Akk Dog sprang from the cliffs. They had heavily armored skin, and their teeth were bared for the three unarmed Sith climbing their way up the stairs. Ark hesitated. The stairs were completely blocked off by the dogs, and the path was narrow enough that they would have a very hard time fighting them off, especially considering only two of them could stand side by side on the stairs. They were in a pickle, and the application of the Force was an inevitability. The three jaws of the dogs snapped at them as they crept down the stairs, and Ark, foolishly leading them, was the first in their way. Backing up wasn't much of an option in the first place, even if he didn't have two other Sith behind him, because of the crevice behind them.

Ark's approach almost slowed to a stop as the three dogs came within snapping distance, and as one of them lurched forward, Ark placed a paw on his snout as he used it as a style to bound over it, up the stairs. Then, using the Force, he rendered a loose brick, from the temple ahead of him, and smashed it into the tail of one of the dogs, causing it to yelp and turn around to face Ark; Unfortunatley, the armored skin of the dog was far too thick to be truly damaged by the stone, even enhanced by the Force, let alone a lightsaber. Then, Ark tossed the brick down to where the Trandoshan was, and lifted the yelping Akk Dog into the air, where he tossed it down the stairs, towards the crevice.

And suddenly, the earpiece sounded again, "Red Team Member died to Akk Dog."

Seeing both Javik and the Trandoshan behind Ark, Ark knew that it was the other team's prisoner. At least they didn't have to worry about him again.

 

[Phoenix]

As soon as Javik saw the Akk dogs, his heart almost sank, but was stopped short as it was reinvigorated again by the emotions filtering through his mind once again, focusing him on the task at hand. One step at a time, then.

The sudden realization that Akk Dogs had eaten their other teammate was disturbing, but Javik was just hoping that maybe the dogs would catch some of blue team as well.

Now onto the other two dogs in front of him. While Ark had managed to spring over them by actually vaulting off of the creature’s nose, Javik didn’t feel like sticking his foot anywhere near the thing’s mouth. Instead, he took a step forward and placed one foot against the nearby cliff and, using the Force to propel him, launched himself upward in a “tic tac” over the heads of the creatures.

Now on the other side of the dogs and free to move toward the temple a very dark thought crossed Javik’s mind. I could just leave them to kill the Trandoshan. Give us both time to escape. It was a bit of an uncharacteristic thought for him, but he had no loyalty to this other person. It wasn’t like it was Ark down there. It was some Sith that he didn’t even know.

No, he wasn’t going to do that. Besides, they could still use him for the coming fights. Instead, Javik turned back, looking to the dogs that were behind him and needed to be addressed. The rocks that had been falling earlier, before the release of the dogs signified something significant: parts of this cliff weren’t stable. It had been demonstrated when the rocks fell away to reveal the Akk Dogs and even before that. Javik wasn’t sure what the ramifications for bringing down part of the cliffs on the stairs were, but if it was between answering to someone for that or being ripped apart by these dogs, he would choose the former 8 times out of 8.

He looked to the cliffs above and searched for anything indicative of a weakness. Then he spotted it: one area of the cliff where a large rock was jutting out further than the others. His mind raced as he thought of the best way to bring it down. Ultimately, his mind settled on a plan. He was vaguely aware of the Trandoshan making his way over and around the remaining two dogs and as the lizard did so, Javik made his move.

He brought a solid telekinetic blow down on the end of the jutting stone. The edge of the cliff itself acted as a fulcrum and when the blow came down on the end of the stone, the stone tore free and came falling down. The rock itself was large enough that, though Javik may have been able to lift it, he wasn’t really sure, but he didn’t have to. All he had to do was let gravity do its work. Although the stones fell on their own, Javik continued letting that TK energy flow downward accelerating the stones even faster than gravity would normally carry them.

The crashing sound of stone on stone was actually pretty stunning and it managed to crush the two dogs still on the stairs. That at least bought them some time to cover what distance they could to the temple. I guess those were the demons. The ones that got our other man must still be out there. I’m still more worried about our opponents, though.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ark didn't waste much time, and took a few preemptive steps up the stairs, allowing the Trandoshan and Javik to deal with the other two. And while Javik helped the Trandoshan with a miniature avalanche of rock, Ark went as high as he could to see if he could see anything useful; Unfortunatley, the cliff walls were a bit too high to offer Ark anything to view, and instead, a stone archway lead into a deep, dark cave that didn't quite look like it was a part of the actual temple, but perhaps something below it. They seemed to be far from their objective, of the Temple, but according to the rules, when they did get to the temple, they'd find the Blue Team's flag hidden somewhere inside.

Ark heard a grunt from the Trandoshan behind him, and Ark looked to see him beat one of the dogs down, before he used a Force leap to bound clear over them, just in time for the giant stone to crush the Akk Dogs nipping behind him. Wasting no time, either for the purpose of their objective, or to keep the 'Demons' from being released again, Ark didn't want them standing around too much, and he ushered everyone into the pitch darkness.

The light from the doorway was minimal. Ziost didn't get much light in the first place, but the clouds above them blotted out what little sun they would have gotten that day, and it didn't reach very far into the caver. For Ark, he was best off leading, as his natural low light vision kept him from drawing on the Force until they rounded their first corner. Finally, Ark slowed down as the Force adjusted to his vision, and he allowed Javik to take the lead, as he was likely already using the Force to see. But even with the Force, Ark could see the skeleton, smack dab in the middle of the room. It was at some sort of alter, and the tattered cloth on him must have been a vest. Blue or Red, it didn't matter. Point was that he'd died there, and he was almost certainly a victim of the game. However, in his skeletal hand, he had a piece of what looked like some sort of rebar clenched. At the end it was barely sharpened, as if he tried, but didn't have a whole lot of time to do so. Upon closer inspection, Ark realized he had a hole, likely from a similar weapon, clear through the side of his head.

"Who wants it?" Ark asked. Ark was personally fine without a weapon for now. He was a hulking monster with claws on each digit. The Trandoshan looked like he could manhandle someone coming along, and Ark would have opted to leave the weapon for Javik, but that would be up to them to decide. Ark knows that Javik happens to be a practitioner of Teras Kasi, though he hadn't a clue of what the Trandoshan was capable of with his bare hands.

Jogging around the alter, Ark saw an exit in the distance. It was another set of stairs leading upwards, and Ark supposed that it must have led into the temple above them. Unfortunately, it seemed that the moment he'd reached the stairway going up, the earpiece lit up again, "Blue Team has located the Blue Flag."

"Blue flag?" Ark said out loud, "Aren't they supposed to retrieve the Red Flag, and we're supposed to located the Blue Flag?"

And almost immediately, the Shistavani's voice responded, and Ark didn't even realize he could actually hear them, "The rules don't say they cannot take their own flag with them. It just means you have to either find their flag so that they don't have both flags, or you simply retrieve your flag from them."

"We better get moving then," Ark said with a low growl. It seemed that nearly every step of the way, the Blue Team seemed to be one step ahead of them. There was certainly something off about them.

 

[Phoenix]

Javik retrieved the small spear-like piece of rebar. It was about 18 inches in length and looked like it could be used as a rudimentary piece at least. The overall darkness of the room was quite extensive and he was quite happy that he had the Force to help guide him, lest he be stuck in a maze of darkness until he was killed.

Javik passed Ark and led the way down the tunnel, ever adept at seeing what lay ahead. He could see the opening stairwell to go up and began his ascent when the announcement came over the earpiece. It seemed that despite having found their teammate, they couldn’t seem to catch a break. Now they were going to have to hunt down the blue team member that had their flag and take it from him, that was assuming blue team hadn’t further hid it.

The stairs went up sharply and if one wasn’t careful, they could easily slip and fall down the steep steps, risking serious injury. Eventually, Javik came to a small area where the stairs emptied onto a small platform. To the right was a door that appeared to lead further into the temple, while a second passage contained stair that continued to ascend. Javik could only assume that the stairs went up to one of the spires and left the others to realize the same. Before they could ascend, however, they would need to find the flag.

He paused for a moment and rather than reaching out to feel one of the other contestants, he reached out with both eyes and ears enhanced by the Force to attempt to pick up any sign of their opponents: a shifting rock or scraping sound could be indications of sentient presence that couldn’t be felt while the fighters masked their signatures.

Initially there was nothing. No sound, no movement, but then he saw it. The slightest shifting of stones on the ground as one of the other contestants kicked them out of the way in his haste, unaware of his carelessness.

There’s one. Two passageways over that way, he sent to the minds of his teammates, pointing with the piece of rebar in his right hand. No way to tell how many though, I only saw movement, but I can’t imagine they’d be keen on splitting up if there’s only two or three of them.

He wondered what led this particular team to be so good at this game or if they were just exceptionally bad. He doubted the latter, at least on Ark and his part. He tried to guess how long this had been going on already. Despite seeming like it had been going quickly, he guessed that their navigation to this point had to have been at minimum and hour and he could feel the high exertion and stress begin to wear on his body. This time instead of letting his motivation filter at the back of his mind, he brought it fully to the front and let it reinvigorate him. He wasn’t sure that it was the best way to go about using the skill, but it seemed to work quite well, at least for the moment.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ascending the stair case, Ark was certain to keep the omnipresent reminder that slowing down wasn't an option, unless they find the Demons sent after them again. It wasn't a disadvantage they needed at the moment, though it wasn't like keeping a non stop high speed was of particular benefit to them either. Coming to a branching off of three corridors and a column of stairs that continued up, Ark allowed them to slow down for a moment while choices were made. Though they needed a flag, even if it wasn't their own, they also need to pick the best direction to travel. Ark's ear's peeled forward from their position, formerly pressed to the side of his head, and focused on the corridor to their far left, where Javik focused on one of the other two corridors. However, to Ark's dismay, a loud cracking sound tore through the hallways from behind him, as Ark turned angrily to the monstrous Trandoshan stood with a wooden chunk held in his arms.

Giving him an annoyed look, as if the lack of noise would protect them better, and Ark received an annoyed look in return and a hushed response, "The human got a weapon, and I figured I needed a shield," he said, holding up the wooden chunk as a makeshift barrier that actually covered most of his torso. Unfortunately, the damages were already done, and there would be wasted breath in scolding him, besides that, Javik, maintaining focus on his own task, interrupted any thought ARk had of punishing the Trandoshan with his own findings.

They could hope that it was the flag-bearing group of the Blue team, instead of the other pair of the Blue Team that was, without a doubt, making their way into the temple as they spoke.

"Keep an eye open, and ears open," Ark stated, "They've probably heard us, and will be expecting us. They're in the habit of setting ambushes, so stick to the edges of rooms as we cross them. We're more susceptible to traps in the dead center of a room," Ark said as he ran down the indicated corridor, leading them through. Ark's large paws acted to dampen the sounds of his footsteps as he lightly traversed the old, stone floors. His eyes, now working off of the lower lights of the sunlight that reflected into the building, scanned every inch of the hallways, as Ark opened himself to the Force completely in order to feel any approaching dangers.

With the Trandoshan's latest slip up, Ark wondered if it was even worth keeping him with them if he was going to be such a danger to them. Maybe he should allow him to lead and trigger any traps. At least, he'd serve an actual purpose that benefitted them. Ark removed the thought of sacrifice quickly though, aided by the returning notion of motivation that cycled through him. No! The Trandoshan was a benefit to them, if not by strategy, then it was by his manpower. It was inevitable that they were going to encounter the enemy team eventually, and when they did, they'd certainly need every ounce of manpower they could gain, and that's where the Trandoshan would serve his purpose. Though Ark was arrogant, he knew that simply him and Javik mightn't be enough to fight three, let alone five enemies at once.

Suddenly, Ark's sensitive ears picked up the natural acoustics of the hallway. It almost seemed to funnel down the hallway. They came, at first, as whispers that were incapable of translation, but they quickly grew into an actual conversation, "No! We should check the sacrificial alter. It was there last time."

"Which is exactly why we should check the dungeon. Do you really expect them to hide it in the same place every time?"

It was to different voices, and as Ark came into the room, there was a pair of them seeming to argue in the middle of a barely-lit room. One held a flag in his hands while standing in the middle of a singular pillar of light. The rest of the room, scattered in skeletons, rubble, and parts of stone pillars, was blanketed in thick shadows that hid their contents to the incapable eye. Though there was nothing particularly revealed, it was obvious that there were plenty of hiding places for a third to hide within. And there was a smell to the room. It was thick with the smell of blood, dried and wet. Wet blood, it indicated that there was something freshly cut in the room, and yet neither of the two, as far as Ark could tell, had blood on them. There was a third.

"There is another in the room. Make sure that you don't leave your backs unguarded," Ark warned them while he strode into the obvious trap. The acting wasn't even believable. Ark smirked as he entered ahead of both Javik and the Trandoshan, allowing them to each make their own presences known whenever they wanted to. Ark was the trigger for the trap, and he trusted- Javik anyway -to have his back as he entered.

"I'm afraid I'd have to agree with your friend. Why would they hide it in the same place twice in a row? However, I don't know that for certain. What I know for certain is where my flag is located," Ark motioned towards the flag in the hand of the human Crusader on Ark's left.

With the attentions felt on Ark, they both looked at him, and the other almost whispered something while the other rolled his eyes in response, "Told you so," and as he said it, they both pulled on something off to each of their sides, causing a metallic scraping sound as two pieces of rebar flew into each of their hands. It was almost an uncanny sight that they'd both have the exact same weapon as Javik. They must have left several of the around the temple for them to pick up later. It was aggravating that they were put at such an obvious disadvantage. Javik and Ark were both brand new to the game, and Ark doubted the Trandoshan knew anything about the game or else they would have heard his expertise by now.

However, this revealed more to Ark than they'd even anticipated. It wasn't their first time playing the game. They were experienced, and they certainly knew what they were doing.

 

[Phoenix]

As Ark made his way out into the presence of the other team it became very clear that they had already been planning for this. The “no weapons” rule had clearly been bypassed previously, as the other team had obviously hidden weapons here at an earlier time. Unfortunately for the OpFor, Ark and Javik were not going to simply roll over and die for them.

As Ark made his way more to the center of the room, Javik skirted to Ark’s right side, concealed by shadow and stone. It was here that he stumbled across the third man. His leg had been torn open and there was an ever-expanding pool of blood around him, though he was still very much alive.

He opened his mouth to cry out to his teammates, but as he did so, Javik thrust his own rebar down. The piece of durasteel passed through his open mouth, up at an angle and out of the back of the head and the brain stem. A sickening gurgling sound escaped his mouth, but try as he might Javik was unable to kill the man before his cry reached the ears of his teammates. As the attention of at least one of the men was drawn away from Ark and to the spot of their now deceased teammate, it would provide Ark with the perfect opportunity to make his move.

The sound of their announcer filled Javik’s ear yet again. One blue team member killed. Four to go, he considered to himself. Then in an instant he was on to the next man. The fight now was 3v2, which were the first favorable odds that they had had all day, but those could change in an instant. They needed to take the advantage that they had quickly.

Vaulting over the waist-high wall that had concealed their teammate and Javik, he closed the distance to the man closest to him, each step quick but measured as he came within striking distance, never taking his eyes off of that rebar spear in his opponent’s hand.

The opening swing told Javik more than he had hoped about the man’s fighting style. It was a quick and short jab, as if to simply keep Javik at bay. The man had little strength, but made up for it with speed. Apparently he assumed that Javik lacked the same speed he did. An assumption that would likely cost him his life.

Before Javik managed to disarm him, however, the Trandoshan arrived. Their species really did tend to be blunt instruments. Using the wooden shield to cover his body, he gave the opponent a fully on body slam, knocking him completely off of his feet and onto the ground. Apparently the man had fixated too much on Javik, though he wasn’t sure how one could fixated so much as to miss a huge Trandoshan coming towards you.

Javik wated no time on such thoughts, but instead fell upon his enemy with great speed, delivering a downward kick to the face that shattered the jaw and maxilla, followed by several thrusts of rebar to the throat, leaving another to bleed out on the ground.

 

[Flamjetxx]

They were all Crusaders. Highly skilled combatants, tacticians, and users of the Force. For their plan to fall through, though slightly surprising to them, wasn't completely unexpected, seeing that the other two members of Ark and Javik's team were foolish enough to get themselves killed right off the bat. The injured one was dumb enough to sit so close to the entrance to be found right away. He was likely present to support them with the Force. Unfortunately for the Blue team, Javik had discovered him before then. Ark had meant to be the focus of attention, allowing Javik and the Trandoshan the element to surprise the other team, but that fell through when Javik discovered the injured Sith. All eyes had darted to where Javik had been, and the Sith died instantaneously.

Though Ark's own planning also fell through, he was able to catch a glimpse of something. They weren't worried by the death. In fact, they seemed to half expect it. Allowing a weak link to die? Use him to reveal the other combatants accompanying Ark while letting loose a liability? These guys played the game I a rather sick way, and it seemed that though most of them knew what they were doing, not all of them were in on every little secret.

The two armed combatants in the light of the room made no hesitation to draw Ark and Javik in, where Ark promptly engaged the flag bearer with his bare paws. It was obvious that he was enhancing both the rebar and the flag as he wielded them, because every missed strike against Ark created miniature craters in the stone floor where Ark had once stepped. At least Ark still had the Trandoshan to surprise them, and in a nearly blinding speed bestowed to him with the Force, the Trandoshan pummeled the non-flag bearing Blue team member, knocking him to the ground, where Javik finished him off.

However, at the same time, Ark was Force pushed back wards by a powerful push, throwing Ark back too far to protect the back of the Trandoshan from the flag spearing him right through the spine, and incidentally, partially piercing the upper thigh of Javik, standing front of him. Javik would remain slightly injured, slowed at best after a quick healing, but the Trandoshan, would remain barely alive, where if Ark and Javik chose to bring him with, they'd have to pull him along. He was paralyzed. Ark recognized the wound, and knew that even paralyzed, he was out of the fight for the time being.

And then it happened, "NOW!"

It wasn't Ark, Javik, nor the Trandoshan.

It was the flag bearer, and almost before he said it, stone, fist sized and even larger, crossed the middle, where Ark, Javik, and the Trandoshan were. The Trandoshan caught a rock on his shoulder before he fell to the ground onto his face. Shallow and irregular gasps escaped him. The rest seemed to be aimed for Ark and Javik, where the flag bearer veered off to the side the moment he shouted the order, catching both Ark and Javik in the crossfire. And it was the precise reason that they weren't afraid of the single wounded man dying. They were all 5 present in that room, and they must of have regrouped only moments before their little scheme. Javik, suffering the stab to his leg was the more vulnerable target of the two remaining Red Team Members, and so Ark was bombarded with less stones as they were making an attempt to finish Javik off because of his lack of an ability to outmaneuver the stones.

Using the Force to warn him of the incoming missiles, and the speed to outmaneuver them, Ark leapt to Javik's side, and with a massive outward push, Ark repulsed around both himself and Javik, causing the bombardment of stones to cease and redirect outward. And with a free hand, Ark used the Force to rip the Flag from the stumbling Blue Team member.

And just as Ark did that, he needed Javik to be useful despite his injury. If they were going to escape, they weren't going to do it by Force. The other two still had yet to reveal their positions, and rightfully so, giving how lethal their positions were from their hidden locations. The bombardment returned as Ark raised a barrier, calling upon yet another Force ability so quickly he didn't even realize just how draining it really was. However, the barrier didn't hold back everything as the stone were hurled at great enough strength and frequently enough that Ark's barrier couldn't hold everything, even letting on past to strike Ark in which his only defense was his outstretched prosthetic. The blow, however was strong enough to knock Ark to one knee.

"Javik, that pillar in the center is loose. I need you to bring it down, and the resulting collapse of the roof should allow us a way to escape. I we try anything now, given your current condition, they'd strike us down in an instant," Ark said through the Force, praying that Javik wasn't injured enough to be unable to utilize the Force. And with his flesh arm, Ark reached down, lifting Javik up to face the broken pillar despite what groans he'd have of the puncture in his leg. There would have been no time for him to heal it yet, so Ark would have to help him out of the room when the time came... if the time came. The Trandoshan, unfortunately, lay on the ground struggling to get breaths in as the flag seemed to have pierced a lung as well as his spinal chord. He was useless and brely cpable of even looking at Ark and Javik with a look of despair, "Heeeelp *COUGH, COUGH* Meeee," he'd groan in a blood-gargled voice.

Although Ark didn't say it, he knew the Trandoshan was a liability and that Ark couldn't carry him as well as Javik. Ark had enough issues of his own to deal with, let alone needing to help Javik out. They had their flag, but the more they were trapped in that room with the other, full health, Blue Team members, the more it looked like it was their last stand. And Ark knew the Trandoshan wouldn't survive the next few minutes, if not from his injuries, then from the collapse of the room. There was simply no way that he could get out of the room like the other three Blue Team Members could do.

As Ark replayed the events in his head, sure it certainly seemed like they had the advantage, but isn't that what such traps were supposed to display? In fact, even if the Trandoshan would have kept to the shadows until last second instead of rushing out to kill that one combatant, would he have been enough to combat the extra two Sith hiding away in the shadows? Would Ark have made it out of the trap alive, if both of them hid away until last second? The odds had been stacked against them from the start, and Ark was left to wonder, was the extra dead team member and an injured Javik worth the killing of the wounded member and the other member? It would have to be, because, they now had their flag, and all they needed to do now was post it up in one of the towers, and pray the other team doesn't find the Red Flag in the next fifteen minutes. If Ark could show it, his face would fall into a grim look. It was going to be a death match after all. And every odd was against them.

Yes! There was every reason for them to come out alive! Ark and Javik worked well together. They'd managed a, albeit small, victory. And The other Team's latest ambush was thwarted, which might even begin to cause doubt that they could pull it off in the first place. The effects of Battle Mind were taking its toll on Ark along with the multitude of other Force powers Ark railed out previously had caused him to feel the immense drain on him. Never had Ark been so carelessly radical with Force powers before, and the toll it took on him was evident. That on top of the avoidance dance and the futile attempt at hand to hand combat with the flag-bearer had also taken a physical toll after all their running around. Ark was, on all levels drained, and he still had yet to sprint away from the scene with Javik; At least until Javik could heal himself of the considerably minor wound.

Ark could even count himself lucky- perhaps another effect of Battle Mind in effect -that Ark was left with Javik the injured one instead of dead. If Ark was stuck with the trandoshan, not only would he be much more difficult to lug around, but Ark wasn't nearly on the same page as he was always with Javik. Besides that, the thought of Javik having died under Ark's watch seemed to tug at him the wrong way. Ark didn't often feel angry or sad about the loss of another Sith, but when it happened, it was a noticeable event. Ark actually wanted Javik to live, as much as he wanted to live himself.

 

[Phoenix]

Javik had barely had a chance to finish off the Red team member when he felt something pierce his leg. Javik let out a groan of pain as he fell to his knee. He took quick stock of his injury in order to determine how badly he was hurt. The rebar had passed through his outer thigh, which all in all was actually quite lucky for him. It had managed to miss both the bone and the femoral artery in his leg so at least he wouldn’t bleed out within the next 5 minutes. Of course, he might die to other means but who could really see the future?

As the stones came down on them, he, for the first time, had the thought that he actually might not win this one. And that would almost certainly mean death. A sudden pang of fear struck through him but he punched all of that energy straight into his desire to survive. Between that and the fact that he was just pissed off that someone had just shoved rebar through his leg, his connection to the Dark Side actually felt stronger than normal. If a near death experience wasn’t the right time to feed on your own emotions, Javik didn’t know what was.

A quick barrier protected Javik from most of the rocks coming down, though he didn’t know how long he would be able to hold it. Just as he nearly gave way, Ark sprung to his aid protecting him from the remainder of the stones.

As if in slow motion, Javik saw their wounded teammate sprawled on the ground, his spine punctured, his body broken, it was the end for the man. While Javik didn’t enjoy death like some did, it did little to affect him when a stranger died, which in reality was exactly what this Trandoshan was: a stranger. He considered putting the man out of his misery, but there was no time. He needed to save his own skin, and what he did next would likely kill their teammate – who was as good as dead anyway – soon enough.

Pouring all that fury, fear, and emotion into the Force, he let a Telekinetic blast emanate from both of his arms and into the pillar in front of him. Apparently rage was a great fuel because despite his injury – or perhaps because of it – the blast was even more powerful than he had hoped. It didn’t just knock the pillar over, it splintered the cracks and shattered the pillar into a half dozen huge pieces and sent them flying across the room.

Even as that happened, the roof above began to come down. There was no indication of the hidden Sith, or even the third man who had been in the room, but now the entire room was filling with naturally falling rocks instead of propelled ones and a thick, rocky dust was filling the room. Using what energy he had left, Javik leapt to his feet, the pain shooting through his leg, he began to make his way, with Ark’s help, out of the killzone.

Had they not been playing from an already disadvantaged position following the death of their first two teammates, Javik would have said that that actually wasn’t the worst engagement: two enemies dead and a flag recovered in exchange for one ally dead and an injury. Unfortunately they were already at a disadvantage so they really didn’t have the men to spare.

He limped further down the hall, ever aware of what was behind them lest their enemies emerged from the dust until they came to another room. Taking the moment to catch what breath they could, Javik focused on healing the injury to his leg. It wasn’t the best patch job as he wasn’t the most proficient with healing, but it would do at least to get him walking for now.

Well, we got the flag. Now we just have to defend it and get it hoisted. He could sense that Ark was nearly as exhausted as he was and that they both had barely the strength to keep going. But then, quitting wasn’t really an option. Couldn’t that rebar have hit my prosthetic, he mused to himself about his rather unfortunate luck, though it could have hit something much more vital than just some muscle.

Then his earpiece crackled to life. One blue and two red killed. Javik could only hope that perhaps one of the other three red had been injured by the cave in as well.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ark could feel himself on his last leg as he wiggled his body jus out of the way of a huge stone that made it past his barrier, and it shattered on the wall behind him where the resulting pellets sprayed his back. It was only then that Ark realized his fur was wet, soaked with sweat. The physical toll having been taken on him ran just as deep as the toll on his usage of the Force, and though Ark had been using a lot of Force abilities, he could feel his grasp over how they worked and how they effected his body. The game was more than just survival, but it was the ultimate form of training, and though Ark wouldn't even notice the effects, he'd certainly know them when... if he survived.

Finally, the pillar shattered and the ceiling crumbled. Ark could hear some whoops as he'd left the room with Javik on his side. Ark didn't even know where he was getting the extra strength from in order to carry the extra weight, but it seemed that the adrenaline seemed to be keeping him going... for now. It must have been the only drive that physically kept him going, and it was bound to wear off the moment they sat themselves down, and that was going to be soon, seeing how there was a small, dusty, blood trail dripping form Javik's leg. It was an open wound, and there had been only the pressure applied form Javik's free hand that kept it from pouring blood. They'd have to set him down at the risk of drawing the Demons again. Whatever they did, it would have to be very fast, because the Demons were the last thing they needed...

Ark chose a random path, completely undetermined by anything but the will of the Force, through the labyrinth-like corridors of this section of the Temple. It would hide them from any of the Blue Team member that may be trying to track them while they made amends to Javik's leg. Javik, keeping hand to wound, began to make his amends, and almost instantaneously, the bleeding stopped, but it was taking too long, and so Ark bent his paw to hover over Javik's hand, and a concentration of orange energy convulsed over the wound.

Ark was familiar with his own work. It was efficient enough, due to his study of anatomy- through text or through his combat training -, but Ark found himself to be negligent to numbing the pain of a wound. Most times there was no time, and other times he simply didn't have the energy to spare, but for now, Javik would know Ark's skill by the pain that accompanied Ark's healing touch. The two parties healing Javik would make it seem almost as if he had a brand new leg in a fraction of the time as it would ordinarily take, but when it was all said and done, and if they survived the game, he'd certainly need a medic, because the dark energies that Ark focused into Javik were a temporary fix, just as all forms of Dark Side Healing was.

While they focused on the wound, the announcement came, indicating the death of the Trandoshan and the two other Sith that were killed by Javik. It was the tiniest bit of satisfaction they had all game long, and for the first time, Ark felt that they were actually on the path to winning the game. They simply had to keep their heads on straight. And almost as soon as the indication of the deaths being announced, the voiced turned to a familiar tone, "Your vitals are off the charts boys. If you keep going on at your current rate, something will explode inside of you. That coupled with how often you're calling upon the Force makes it difficult for you to even draw upon the Force anymore in the first place," he said. If it weren't for the active Battlemind, Ark may have simply given up right there. The vote of confidence simply didn't help their cause despite the instructor simply being honest with his evaluation of their current condition.

"That being said, it's time you call upon Force Body. You must first call upon the Force during your time of need. When you most feel the need for the Force's aid, you will call upon it, and it will channel through you. You must focus , not on the power of the Force, but on the Force itself and the connection you have with it. Force body is more of an active meditation technique than it is a power that can be called upon by your mere whim. In fact, you can most often not even control how you call upon this ability, because it calls upon you," he explained over the headset. Of course, Ark realized that he was giving a tutorial for when he could call upon the ability. He couldn't actually use it now, because the circumstances haven't yet arrived.

He continues, just as Ark's ears begin to perk up to a singular set of footsteps that, though feint, were running nearby. One of the Blue members made it through the rubble towards them? Or perhaps he climbed over the rubble? "In that moment of dire need, you will feel the Force come to your aid, and instead of using that last reserve of Force energy to funnel it into a blast of telekinetic energy or in using lightning, you will concentrate it into yourself and allow to to flow. Mind you that this is not Force repulse, and so you will be able to feel the difference between allowing it to blast outward and to use that energy to fuel your body, to strengthen your connection to the Force, and so on. This ability is an augmentation of your physical self, and it will manifest itself when you can physically feel you cannot continue on. It will augment your connection to the Force, and will only manifest itself when your connection to the Force is most needed, allowing you the strength to call upon strength from the Force that you didn't think you could muster only moments before," he explained.

In truth, despite how precise he spoke, Ark found the ability itself incredibly vague as to what it could accomplish. The Kushari had read countless texts on Force abilities, augmentations, and even on Force Body, but he always knew that reading and performing were two very different things. There was no way Ark could actually know what the ability was capable of, nor could he know what extent the ability took a hold of until he actually used it for himself. However, the feline had no time to wonder about that, because he'd realized that during their confrontation, they'd dropped the useless protections as to their whereabouts in the Force, in favor of calling upon Force barriers and massive telekinetic blasts and such. The pair of footsteps were growing nearer, knowing precisely where they were until they seemed almost as if on top of them before they simply disappeared in midstride. HIs presence in the Force was never revealed the entire time he was on his way, and Ark was simply too tired to raise up his own stealth techniques, let alone to make any attempt to actually hide form the approaching attacker. Besides that, he seemed to be alone. Perhaps it was an attempt to lure them out, or flush them out. Everything seemed to be a trap these days, so making a run for it wasn't at the forefront of his mind. Besides that, Javik seemed to be healed more or less, and they would have the temporary advantage until all enemies were revealed.

And in a flash, the blur of a being appeared with a piece of rebar in each limb. He was moving fast enough that neither Ark nor Javik could get a fix on him, but not nearly fast enough for either of them to be unable to defend themselves against the attacker. The technique was incredibly passive-aggressive. He must have known that he wouldn't get anywhere with these burst attacks. He'd have to confront them directly in order to get anything done, but he simply maneuvered, outmaneuvered, and kept Ark and Javik calling upon the Force to avoid and defend the incoming strikes without much success at a counter attack. He was draining them, slowly. He must have been able to feel their connection to the Force subtly draining. There wasn't much that either Ark nor Javik could do bout it either. Risk the ambush by trying to escape the draining attacks? The amount of energy this man must have had, must have been kept at full since the beginning of the Duel, and Ark couldn't imagine him even slowing down until both Ark and Javik were out of energy completely.

Finally, Ark could feel his knees weak enough that they felt as if they'd simply drop out from underneath him. Ark could barely must the speed to instantaneously dodge an incoming swing of rebar that seemed to hum as it whooshed past his folded ears. Finally, as if some sort of spider or insect crept up his spine, Ark cod feel this presence It wasn't an enemy, but rather, it was something else completely. IT was his last hold on the Force. 'That is it!' Ark thought to himself. The moment couldn't be passed up, and Ark did exactly as he was told moments earlier, allowing the Force to not be focused into a final Force attack, but rather into augmenting himself, concentrating and flowing the last bit of energy instead.

Suddenly, Ark could feel, almost as if he were kneeling in meditation. It was the Force. He could feel it stronger than before. He was almost meditating while dodging an incoming strike. And Suddenly, Ark's limbs seemed present as they carried his body out of harm's way, stronger than ever. The Force sustained him as he leapt to a nearby ledge. And just in time, Ark was able to feel the Force connect with him. It flowed through him just as much as he flowed through it. Ark was right, feeling it was completely different from reading about it or hearing about it.

Ark activated a Force ability on the dusty floor of the room, picking up pieces of sand and gravel around Javik, in an almost literal whirlwind of telekinetic energies that formed around Javik, but never touched him. It wasn't thick enough to not be able to see through, but it was certainly layered enough so that anything moving, covered by the Force or not, would become visible. There he was, and Ark could feel in the Force that he knew he'd become visible at that moment, because a pang of fear shot through him as he formed a defensive posture instead of the offense he'd utilized the past few minutes.

And in Ark's ear, he expected some sort of commendation from the Shistavani for successfully utilizing the Force Body ability, but instead, Ark heard something he dreaded to hear, "Blue Team attained the Red Flag."

Ark's heart sunk and rose in an instant, as the effects of Battlemind seemed to return in full swing. The attacker's speed didn't fail him as he defended himself in the whirl wind, and at the exact moment, Ark realized his purpose, to delay them while Blue Team found the Red Flag, and it was with absolute success too. A smirk formed on the creature's face as he ran from the scene, but Ark wasn't about to let him escape this time. His job wasn't done until Ark was satisfied that he'd served his purpose. Time was already wasted enough, and if time was already wasted, Ark was determined to ensure that they gained something out of the wasted time.

"Stop him Javik," Ark said as he leapt from the ledge towards the creature.

 

[Phoenix]

Javik’s leg was feeling better but his body was racked by exhaustion. His Force reserves weren’t totally drained, but his physical exhaustion was certainly affecting his ability to work at full efficiency. At least his leg was functional for now, even if it wouldn’t last forever. In the back of his mind, as he tried to get his feet under him, his mind flashed briefly back to the demons and the hope that they wouldn’t be coming out again.

At least on the bright side, they had eliminated two of their five opponents now, leaving only a three on two situation. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by the fact that they were both bordering on exhaustion.

His heart was pounding like a jackhammer in his chest and his breathing was deep and heavy. Even given his exceptionally athletic and enhanced body his heart was working overly hard and his lungs were filling and emptying with as much efficiency as possible. His body was covered in sweat despite the cold weather outside and he could feel his muscles tired with every movement.

He tried to pull his mind away from the current state of his body, but it was getting harder and harder. He knew he’d be paying for this exertion tomorrow – if he survived that long. For now though he tried to focus on the words of their announcer, hoping to be able to keep his mind off of his pains.

It was a strange description that the man gave. It felt very abstract, not at all physical in its description, even by Force terms. With the appearance of their new enemy, Javik sprung to his feet. At least his adrenaline was keeping him fed for the moment, but that would wear off soon. It took most of his not inconsiderable effort to just avoid the attacks of their enemy, which were soon to be revealed as a distraction.

He grimaced at the idea that Blue team had managed to find their flag. Once again it was a race to finish and he didn’t know that he had it in him to finish, though he wasn’t going to just give up until his body actually decided to quit on him.

He used the last reserves of his strength to juke to his left and dodge a spear-like blow from that infernal dual-rebar wielding soldier. In that moment he felt that he would collapse and then he felt it. Almost as it was when his muscles filled with the Force in order to increase strength, he could feel the Force almost as if it had been injected directly into his muscles. The burning subsided slightly just as the Blue-man began to run off toward the safety of his teammates. It kinda pissed Javik off that he had had his time wasted and he was going to mount this guy’s head on his own rebar. With a burst of speed that could have only come from the Force, he lunged forward and placed his shoulder squarely into the back of his opponent.

The man’s body flew forward as his face planted into the door frame of the hallway and a nearby door. He began to turn around, blood pouring down the side of his face where the impact had happened. There was a raging look in his eyes of pure hatred. Apparently he hadn’t appreciated that and his next action really showed that. The man had only managed to hold onto one of the pieces of rebar through the blow and he used it to swipe at Javik, but his Teras Kasi training kicked in first.

He was certainly thankful for Force body or he wouldn’t have been able to generate the kind of speed required for the next thing he did. Gripping the man’s hand, he twisted his whole wrist forcing the blade end back toward the man’s belly. For a moment they were locked in a near stalemate of strength until Javik got wise. Releasing his grip with one hand, the man was met with no resistance and was carried forward slightly. As that happened Javik brought a sweeping kick under his legs, sprawling the man onto his back before finally managing to force the rebar into the man’s stomach causing him to send a howl of pain.

Backing off he called the other piece of rebar to hand and backed up slightly. We need to go for the other flag. It has to come down. Then he moved forward and rammed the other rebar through the man’s throat. Blue team member killed.

You want one? He held out one of the pieces of rebar out to Ark, ready and willing to give it up, though he’d keep it if his mentor declined.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ark leapt down from his perch to where Javik sped up to the enemy. And where Ark was about to dig his claw into the bottom jaw of the man, and rip it up and back over the head -as if a mask-, and take the head clean off, Ark quickly realized that Javik had the situation under control after having found his own strength out of the Force Body technique taking control. And instead of sticking around for the inevitable to happen, Ark decided he'd best use his time more wisely, in order to plant the flag where it was needed, at the top of a spire.

By the time Javik was done and offering the piece of rebar, Ark was long gone in the wind, a mere blur in the distance as Ark quickly traced his steps to the last place he remembered seeing stairs leading upward, "Javik, I'm heading up the stairs around the corner, through the sacrificial room, and down the right corridor. Keep a small distance behind me, just incase someone meets me o the way, you can jump in unexpectedly and we can overwhelm them."

And as Ark finished, he was already half way up the stairs to the top, where it was only a matter of time before he'd plant the flag. When Ark reached the top of the pillar of stone, he burst out onto a small circular shaped, stone floor with a hole in the middle, where Ark assumed the flag would be planted. It was easy to see where it belonged, and Ark was quick to throw the blue flag into the mound, but what Ark heard next was baffling.

"Blue Team Mounted the Red flag," the sound rung in Ark's hear. What?! They got it wrong, Ark mounted the blue flag... but as Ark looked out over the temple, Ark saw a red flag fluttering at the top of one of the spires, just in time for the microphone to sound that the Red team mounted the Blue flag. A deep growl sounded in the back of Ark's throat as he locked eyes with one of the two Blue team members from way across the upper limits of the temple. In a quick reaction, Ark could see him making physical motions to someone only just below him, in which Ark could only assume was an order to go get the flag pulled down at any costs. But the original man stayed.

IN turn, but without removing his eyes fro the red flag wavering in the violent wind, Ark sent a mental message to Javik, "This is it. They're sending one of them to our flag, but staying behind to guard their flag. Bring it down, and I'll keep our flag up. Can you do it Javik?" Ark could recall that Javik had access to a pair of rebar spears, and that he was likely able to more than handle himself, and so Ark could assume that Javik would respond with a prompt yes.

Then, Ark closed his eyes as he walked down the stair ways. There was a multitude of paths that both Javik and the other Sith could possibly take, and the likelihood of them crossing paths would be rather unlikely, and so Ark prepared himself for the final showdown in which Ark and Javik would each have their own fights to finish off.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't very long before Ark heard something. Tapping. What on Earth? It wasn't footsteps as Ark had anticipated, but it was unsettling. Pebbles perhaps? Ark was at the doorway of the spire, waiting for the arrival of the other Sith, and there was nothing at all within sight... Nothing.

 

[Phoenix]

I’ll make it happen. Watch your back. Then he was gone. Rebar in hand, he set out along his excursion to the other tower. The entire temple was something of a maze and it was going to be difficult to make any kind of good time. Javik had every confidence in Ark’s combat ability, but he suddenly wondered what would happen if Ark were killed back there. 1v2 and they would be able to lower their flag without resistance. On the flip side, Ark could think the same about him. They were both putting a lot of faith in one another, but then he knew first hand what Ark was capable of. He needed to focus on his own task. He trusted Ark. That was a strange realization, trust wasn’t a common thing for him, but he thought he might just trust Ark.

The stone on the floors of the passageway seemed to be more uneven along the path he had chosen and he had to be careful not to twist an ankle or the like on his little trip. He reached out all of his senses to the tower ahead. He knew for a fact that his enemy was up there; the only issue was that he wasn’t sure exactly where or how tired the other man was.

Despite knowing for a fact that his body was worn out, he didn’t feel it. It was almost as if the Force was blocking communication of his nerves to his brain, allowing him to keep going despite the physical toll that it may take later. He took one final deep breath before making the plunge up the stairs. He pushed his Force energies within him and covered it up with the energies of his surroundings, concealing himself from the prying senses of his enemy and although his opponent would undoubtedly know he was coming, at least he wouldn’t know exactly where from.

Get in, kill, lower the flag. That’s all you have to do. He put his foot on the first step and started the slow plod upward. He was being as quiet as possible so as to avoid giving away his position, though if he were his enemy, he would be waiting right at the top of the stairs. After all, there was only one way into the top of this tower. Or was there? A sudden thought leapt into Javik’s mind as he continued his ascent. There had to be another way to get up there. Even if it wasn’t a good one he had to have some other means to get to the top, he just needed to figure out what it was.

He knew he had at least a little bit of time as neither side was gaining time at the moment, but he didn’t want to take long. In truth he really just wanted this “game” to be over. He wasn’t really sure why people played more than once and then it snapped in his head. If he had been playing from this kind of an advantaged position he would have liked it too. Although increasingly their advantage was being worn away in the face of a more skilled pair of foes.

His mind was brought back to the task at hand as the battle mind swept his hopes and fears back into his mind. He had a job to do and there was no time to wait. Then an idea slowly formed in his head. Why go on the offense when he could play defense? The red flag had to be raised if they wanted to win and put off defeat, why not force him to chase that flag.

As he came to the top of the stairs just outside of the door to the roof he stopped and listened. There was no sound of anything. His Force vision allowed him to see through the walls as if they were transparent and although he couldn’t see his opponent who was concealing himself still, he could see the flag planted firmly in the center of the circular spire.

He focused on the flag and in an instant the flag was ripped from the ground and hurled over the edge of the spire. Red flag has been dismounted. A slight smile crept up the side of his mouth and as it did he counted to five and burst through the door on to the top of the platform. There he was. With a panicked look on his face the fourth Sith, a Weequay, was peering over the edge of the spire attempting to recall the flag to his hand.

Javik charged him, rebar in hand but was cut short by a sudden blast of energy emanating from the enemy. It knocked him back and almost off of the tower top but he was stopped short as he was smacked into the wall of the tower. In reality, he didn’t even have to kill the guy, just keep him from mounting that flag for 15 minutes. That being said, he doubted that was possible without killing the guy, which he would readily do.

The Weequay gave one final look over the edge after his beloved flag before throwing himself over the edge. Javik knew it was coming before it happened and in that moment unleashed it all. The hatred of having been knocked around by these fools, ambushed, stabbed, nearly killed, the execution of his teammates, and all of the very same things that had been flowing through his mind throughout his use of battle mind. He had plenty of reasons to be angry and he focused them all right through his hand, giving into his rage it burst forth as a red and black lightning that struck his opponent just as he disappeared over the edge.

The blast itself wasn’t quite enough to kill, but it would do some serious damage and Javik wanted to take advantage of it while he could. On his feet in an instant, he covered the distance to the other wall in no time, and peered over. His opponent looked like he hadn’t been able to fully get his feet under him before landing after the blast of lightning and was now sprawled on the ground below, just climbing back to his feet but not moving very quickly, splotches of blood showing near his leg.

Two thoughts went through Javik’s head: his opponent was injured and was an almost easy kill at the moment, and although he had the ability to kill the man at this moment, he didn’t want to go down the stairs and give the Weequay time to heal as Javik had done earlier, but he also didn’t want to simply leap over the edge and risk the same injury.

Then he laid his mind on a solution. He moved to the other side of the spire and leapt over the edge, slowing his descent as he hit the ground. It was a short run to the position his opponent had just landed and he could see the trail of blood through the snow where he had landed. There was no hiding now, but his opponent didn’t seem to be trying. Instead, he let out a burst of his own lightning. Javik wasn’t the most experienced with Tutaminis, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter. He reached his hand out and let the lightning flow into his hand.

From energy it came and to energy it would return. The Force flowed through his body and he let his opponent’s lightning energy absorb into his own. Despite that, he could feel the burn from the lightning not only in his hand but also in his legs and chest as the little fingers of energy wrapped around him. He could only withstand something like this for a moment, but how long would his opponent be able to keep this up in his current state? Zapped and with a broken leg that stuck out through the skin, there was no way he be able to unleash his full potential, and it was a good thing or else Javik likely wouldn’t have been able to stand under it.

As the realization that he may actually die here settled on his mind he had the briefest flash of something else: Tara. Out of place and time, her face lit up his mind only to be snuffed out by the memory of clutching her in his arms as she bled to death. He wouldn’t let that happen again. Weakness led to loss and he would not be weak again. With the last reserves, he closed that distance to his opponent and buried the spike in the man’s good thigh, where it would be difficult to defend. With his other arm, he reached up and around the man’s neck. Locking his hand around the arm placed behind the Weequay’s neck, he pulled with all of his might with both arms.

With a sickening and wet popping sound, the man’s neck snapped leaving both combatants lying on the ground still. One dead, one beyond exhausted. He heard word over the radio that Ark had also achieved victory and he just lay there for a moment. Not moving, not saying anything. To the external observer, he may have even looked dead he lay so still, but his heart still beat hard. Every muscle in his body hurt and his mind felt nearly exhausted, but they had won. A smile crept across his face despite his exhaustion he rolled over onto his belly and got his feet under him, and began limping off to find his mentor.

I'd say it's been a pleasure, but I'm not sure that's the right word for it. I'm glad I was working with you though, he projected to Ark from across the battlefield. Medic, shower, eat, sleep. In that order. That was his agenda now.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Ark couldn't say how many times he'd been mistaken for a Cather, but here he was, staring one in the face from the rafter beam above Ark. A sharpened piece of rebar in his paw twirled just as he dropped from his perch, obviously caught in his act. It was actually quite lucky for Ark to have noticed he was up there, based upon the sneaky action, he was likely about to pounce on Ark, giving Ark almost no time to react effectively. Either way, he was upon Ark with a weapon, and what was Ark going to do in response?

"How's that shoulder Cat?!" he said as he leapt upon Ark with a flicking tail. He must have been the other Sith hiding and hurling stones that Ark had earlier deflected with his Force Barrier, and one of his projectiles must have been the one that hit Ark's mechanical shoulder. Surprisingly enough though, despite the pain indicators being sent to Ark's brain, it seemed to be fully functional, and it was proof when Ark deflected the swipe of the rebar with the mechanical gauntlet.

Ark, revealing his own claws from his flesh paw, swiped at the Cather's face, intending to cut into the face, but the feline bounced out of the way with a bobbing motion that used its entire torso. And as it stood to full height, Ark was Forced a step back as the rebar swiped out at Ark again. Finally, Ark got a good view of him, and he almost seemed to be an exact Cather-style replica of Ark. Similarly built, perhaps a bit taller but lighter. If it weren't for the weapon in his hand, Ark would assume they were on even grounds, but for now, Ark was stuck bare-handed.

Ark found himself backing up into the spiraling staircase as the Cather swiped once, twice, thrice, forcing Ark back with each swipe, until they were both on the stairs, where Ark found the elevation advantage. There, Ark made his move, using Teras Kasi to avoid the strike, making an instantaneous counter-strike s he avoided the first. A few close quarter blows were exchanged as Ark found the pair of big cats stumbling up more stairs. Ark's jaw dropped open, as his instincts and Kushari-combat techniques took hold, where he attempted to spear him with his canines. Unfortunately, for Ark, he seemed to have the same idea, in which Ark's mouth took a canine in the roof of his mouth, causing him to bleed and shut his mouth. However, when Ark finally got a clear view of the same damages he'd done in return, he noticed a fresh gash along the cheek where one of Ark's canines must have caught him. Tit for tat, and they were both bleeding, with their blood mixing within the cage of Ark's teeth, clenched.

Somehow, in their struggle, They managed to make it half way up the tower... perhaps further, before the rebar fell toe the stairs with a tinging and clanking as it fell from one stone stair to the next. And finally, Ark was on even ground with him, if it weren't for their claws digging deep into each of their skin, causing them to be hesitant to rip each other from their own possessions. And finally, an explosion of Force energies repulsed from the both of them, where the stone of the tower crumbled where bricks didn't already go flying out in while to skip over the stone roof of the rest of the temple. The tower tilted slightly as it actually began to slide, taking a fair chunk of roof from next to the tower with it as it began to actually slide down the rest of the roof.

It was certainly one way to bring down a pair of fighting cats apart, in which Ark almost instantly recovered, almost feeling as if he hadn't lost a single breath during the explosion of Force energy. The stone walls of the staircase seemed to still be collapsing in one way or another, but at least, Ark managed to stay on the upper side of the explosion, where he continued to climb the stairs to eh upper level where the flag was planted. If Ark had to do anything, it was to remove the flag, and plant it in the other remaining spire.

Ark got tot eh upper floor, where the platform was exposed to the violently blowing wind, and it certainly didn't help that the tower was slowly vibrating while it slid down the side of the roof. However, Ark could feel the Cather on his heels as Ark managed to arrive at the top. The wind whipped Ark's fur about as they each seemed to stand within a few paces of the flag from the side of the platform they were standing upon. The unstable ground, caused them to lean and keep bent knees, to prevent the tower from knocking them on their tails.

Ark took a step forward, realizing that the tower leaned just a bit further towards tipping over and crushing them both, and quickly retreated. The Cather smirked as he realized their issue. Neither could remove the flag without tipping the entire tower, and so Ark prepared to leap for it and make some sort of an attempt to ditch the tower with the Cather till atop it, but before Ark could do anything, the Cather created a flash of light. It was bright and directly in Ark's eyes as the booming thunderous sound accompanied it, and Ark immediately knew what it was exactly. Lighting.

Quickly, Ark focused inward as he allowed the energy to coarse through him like a river, and he absorbed the energy almost instantaneously, engulfing the energies in waves. The blue arc traversed the platform, sparking when it connected briefly with the flag, but transferring almost immediately to Ark where the overwhelming control of energy exploded from Ark's paws in sparks derived from deep within him. The blue lights intensified as Ark redirected his own lightning into the Cather, sustaining a constant flow of energy that quickly drained the both of them. Oh, how beautiful it was from a distance, to anyone who caught a glimpse of the show from the other tower.

Locked in the constant flow of energy, Ark knew they'd have to break it off eventually, and so Ark leapt to the side, where the tower began to tip fully, with both cats on the tower. And though, Ark wanted desperately to remove the flag, Ark was pounced on by the quickly recovered Cather. And a claw landed across Ark's flesh arm, leaving two streaks of blood to seep through his white fur, but it left the Cather open form his center in which Ark delivered a force-enhanced palm strike into his chest. However, it wasn't all, with the strike landing, Ark released some of the extra pent up energy in the form of Pyrokinesis, where the strike turned potentially deadly, causing severe burns on the Cather's chest in the shape of a paw print.

Ark could felt eh platform turning almost sideways, where the Cather, having flown off Ark from the strike landed on the bottom wall, and Ark was quickly moving toward him along with a few fair-sized bricks the feline avoided narrowly without being able to actually pick his tail up off the leaning platform. Ark could feel the entire spire, bricks and all, crumbling below him as the bricks shattered, causing the tower to fall even faster.

HIs spare amount of concentration to cause the bricks next to the Cather to explode, Ark landed in a ball of quickly shifting dust that engulfed the Cather as Ark landed. And when the wind blew through the falling platform again, the dust cleared revealing a bloodied paw with the throat of the Cather in Ark's paw, the corpse at Ark's feet battered and bloody as Ark stood on the wall that was 90 degrees to the floor of the platform.

Ark wuickly drooped the flesh from the dead cat, and looked up at the flag, seeing that the flag was still, somehow mounted, but out of Ark's reach, and just as Ark had the idea ot jump for the flag, a sound managed to crackle through his headset, "Blue flag has been mounted for 15 minutes...*crackle*"

It seemed that all the action has damaged the headset, perhaps even indicating that Ark's vitals were unreadable in the falling dust of the tower. Javik might be hearing at that very moment that Ark had perished. Knowing that the flag had actually remained mounted in the tower, Ark realized that the flag mounted in the tower, didn't require the tower to be I place, if it was falling down the side of the temple, and Ark leapt out of the side of the tower to the roof below, gaining some distance on the falling tower, bricks and all.

Ark quickly lost his footing, managing to slide on his tail in a storm of dust that accompanied the tower. Ark hooked his claw onto a loos stone, stopping his fall just short of the edge of the roof where there was simply a steep drop off into the sharp rocks of the cliff below him. Ark looked up to the see the entire tower staring at him as it fell almost directly onto Ark, in which Ark send a massive Force push out on the surrounding structures of the falling tower, sending dust flying every where with huge chunks of stone hidden deep within it. In the center and after the explosion, Ark raised a barrier with both arms raised in anticipation of fall out that came down the side of the roof after Ark, and Ark held the barrier as long as he could, even as chunks of stone battered it and rested upon the border of the barrier resting on the roof.

Ark dropped his barrier from exhaustion to let the stone fall away and around his feet as the last piece of stone happened to be the erected flag, lodged in a chunk of stone that was the only remaining, in tack piece of the platform of the tower, in which Ark stopped it from falling off the side of the roof with his paw. Then, Ark realized that the flag was still erected after everything, still technically mounted in what was left of the tower.

With a mental call, Ark sent out a message to Javik, "The Blue Flag is still up, tell me you took down the Red flag..."

The dust was still thick, preventing Ark from looking up towards the tower Javik had gone to, but Ark assumed that Javik was either already successful and his earpiece was broken too much for him to hear the victory call, or that Javik was about to be victorious.

 

[Phoenix]

Javik could feel Ark’s presence though he couldn’t see him through the clearing dust. Somehow they had managed to bring down the entire tower. Maybe they would go down in history as “the game that destroyed the spire.” Living legends. After all they had managed to defeat a team of enemies who were clearly more experienced than them.

There was nothing left in the area save their two signatures and a whole lot of rubble. Javik finally found Ark amongst the rubble and ended up just sitting down, not so gracefully, onto a nearby boulder, letting out quite a sigh as he did so. Well, that was a little bit tiring. In reality that was quite the understatement. He couldn’t remember being this tired in 3 years. We won though. Another win under our belts. I think it’s in my best interest to find a medic though, he said peering down to his leg. The wound had begun to open up again, though only slightly, following his leap from the spire.

He considered making a joke about how he didn’t want Ark to invite him to anymore games but given how his last attempt to make a joke had gone over like a lead balloon, he opted not to. No need to have it taken the wrong way.

As he took in every little feeling in his body, he noticed that he was absolutely ravenous, followed shortly by a wondering about how long it had been since they had started out here. Red Team is victorious. Congratulations gentlemen, come play again sometime. Javik let out a small laugh only to be cut off by the pain it caused. He didn’t think he would be coming out to play again, but it was a nice offer. This was a day he didn’t really need to repeat.