Ask Rattatak Rumble

[Curse]

​

Sometimes actions had consequences one could never expect. How was Curse supposed to know the owner of the star yacht she so painstakingly sabotaged beyond repair was one of the most powerful warlords on Rattatak? Well actually the probability was quite high considering how few people on the planet could afford said yacht, but that was besides the point. She wasn't supposed to get caught. And the warlord really took things far too personally. As if he couldn't just buy a new one with the hoards of credits at his disposal. At any rate, she really couldn't be blamed for the outcome. The outcome of course being her and Eisa thrown into a massive gladiatorial arena to fight for their lives.

And the arena was truly massive. The Rattataki loved gladiatorial combat, making the blood sport the most common form of entertainment on the planet. As the buzz droid and her master were forced out onto the sandy colosseum fighting pit they were faced by an entourage of brutal looking fighters. There were humans and Rattataki and other near-humans of course. But also Gamorreans, Trandoshans, Kaleesh and all manner of terrifying looking aliens. There were even several different models of battle droids thrown into the mix. And if the duo wanted their freedom they would have to fight their way to it.

As the gathered gladiators stood staring each other down the crowd cheered hungrily. A broad Rattataki man covered in elaborate tattoos and piercings sauntered out into the center of the pit, holding a clunky comlink to his mouth and spreading his free arm wide as he addressed the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen!" His voice boomed out across the colosseum. "Are you ready for action? Are you ready for bloodshed? Are you ready for the most anticipated event of the year?" He paused to let the audience scream in approval, soaking in their applause. "We have assembled for your viewing pleasure the most vicious, ruthless, despicable, unmitigable fighters in all of the galaxy! The only rule? There are no rules!" Again he paused as the crowd's cheers drowned out anything else he might have tried to say. As the announcer smiled and laughed at their enthusiasm he showed off more golden teeth than regular ones. "For the thousands watching here tonight, and the millions watching around the world... Ladies and gentlemen... LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUMBLEEE!"

As the crowd went mad in the stands and the other gladiators around them prepared to fight Curse leaned in close to Eisa's ear and chittered out //You know so long as you're the only Force user our chances of survival are actually quite high. At least 41% from my calculations...// Eisa would of course be doing most of the fighting. Curse would be there for support. And to burn people's toes with her plasma torch. With their combined strength surely they would be unmatched.

@Topher @Isen

 

[Eisa Wex]

Staring out towards the cavernous sand and dust filled amphitheatre, the fiery haired spacer's gaze narrowed as it panned over the thundering crowd that was perched up above the arena - the sole thought running through her mind being directed towards the sabotage droid that was perched up on her shoulders. A bemused expression lingered over her features as upon the conclusion of the announcer's grand standing, Curse chirped away into her ear, highlighting the calculated odds for their survival based on the fact that she was a force user. Shaking her head as the prediction brought her mind back away from the thunderous crowd and the announcer's hyping up of the main event that was about to unfold - Eisa redirected her attention towards the buzz droid.

"What would have been the odds if you didn't decide to trash a warlord's ship?" Eisa questioned as she cast Curse an inquisitive eyebrow, before pursing her lips into a pout. "You know, we are going to have to set some more ground rules when we get out of this" she added before turning her attention over towards the other combatants, her eyes narrowing in a degree of slight caution as she regarded the various armnaments that the more seasoned of fighters had been equiped with. Many wielding the traditional vibrosword and riotshield combination, some carrying various pike like weapons - all respectively clad in various articles of armour covering dotted about their bodies, each of them unique in their hastily daubed paint schemes and markings, but all of them similar in the fact that the armour had clearly seen better days.

It seemed that being the last minute additions to the gladiatorial event, the choice of weapons and armnaments were sorely lacking. Clad with little more than a crudely fashioned metal sleeve and pauldron over her remaining natural arm, her hands tightening around the one of the few remaining items that posed as a serviceable weapon, a long winding length of chain that at each end had a large cylindrical handle made of metal fusion welded at each of the ends. It was by no means suitable for any of the forms of combat she had been trained or even grown accustomed to, but when it came to blood sports when your life was now on the line - beggars can't be choosers.

Yet then again, whilst the little almost literal devil on her shoulder had pointed out, the fiery haired was a Force user, and a formally trained Jedi padawan. Whilst she didn't have the means to fall back on her lightsaber forms with a bladed weapon, she did have the Force to help guide her and manipulate the weapon she had been lumbered with - doubting it would be wise to openly start throwing Force powers about in the middle of the arena.

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo Sauvage stood in the arena looking over the other competitors. This was a step up in danger, no doubt. He had been in more no-holds-barred fights than he could count against some nasty brawlers, even killers, but this was different. Many of the fighters in the arena today had debts to pay, some were criminals, and some, like Poffo, had entered themselves for payment or glory.

Sauvage was feeling himself a little after his first escapade into bounty hunting. His body and foot had healed nicely thanks to some surgery and bacta tank treatments, and he was starting to feel like his old self. Poffo had overcome insurmountable odds with the help of a new friend, and probably to his detriment, he was feeling pretty invincible. Poffo would set out to start his own bounty hunting career, but first he needed some galactic cred. Winning some fights in a place like this might just add to the old resume.

He had bested Trandoshans and bigger, stronger species in his past. But, it had almost always been bare-knuckle, weaponless brawls. Here, you had warriors, soldiers, mercs for hire, assassins, and career violent criminals. This was a different animal. These killers were wearing armor and had weapons. Some of it ragged, some of it new. Poffo, however, came in just some leather pants, high boots, a form-fitting sleeveless shirt, and spiked brass knuckles tucked into his pockets.

It was a dangerous and unnecessary risk, but the payoff...well, the payoff may just make it worth it...if he survived. Many of the gladiators looked at him quizzically, not sure if they should be intimidated by his lack of armor and blades, or if they should pity him for not bringing a knife to a...knife fight. A lean Zabrak with an athletic build narrowed his eyes at him. He was covered in leather armor and holding a techblade in his left his hand. He deftly twirled it in front of Poffo and smirked. "You come a little....light to a fight, don't you?"

Sauvage shrugged. "Oh, yeah, brother. I'm real light. I'm so light, I might just float away," Poffo said with his fingers wiggling and seemingly floating in the air. "I'm easy pickins', no doubt about it. And let me tell you, you scare me real bad. I'm downright petrified like one of these stalagmites, yeah. "

The Zabrak snarled a bit and continued walking. Poffo took a chance to take in the crowd. Poffo loved an audience, and he knew how to play to the crowd. In a setting like this, getting the crowd behind you could be the difference between leaving alive and leaving a corpse. If the promoters thought you could draw a crowd, that was more credits in their pockets, and they might be willing to....bend the rules or provide certain advantages from time to time. There were two things that came naturally to Sauvage- fight and gain a fan base. Those were the two skills that the gladiators in the arena needed the most.

@Reyn @Topher

 

[Curse]

Curse's shell casings drooped as her master chastised her. It was understandable, she had gotten them into this mess after all. It was rare to see the human upset by her antics, normally she was just as eager to get into some trouble. Maybe she had gone too far this time. Well, she would just need to prove she was sorry by helping Eisa win this fight with as little damage as possible. To that end she immediately began surveying their gathered opponents, trying to find an easy match. As all the combatants were stalking about and sizing each other up she spotted one human that stood out to her. He was big, but wore no armor and carried no visible weapons. From Curse's calculations they would have a 98% chance of victory against him.

//Don't worry, we'll get through this.// She assured Eisa, and pointed in Poffo's direction. //Target that one first. He should be a relatively easy opponent, you won't expend very much energy against him.// Whether or not she was correct would be seemingly irrelevant though. As the bloodsport was beginning in earnest gladiators began to pair off to fight one on one. Perhaps this was a custom designed to show off everyone's abilities and give the audience favorites and underdogs to root for. A snarling Nelvaanian warrior stepped in front of Eisa, presumably wanting a fight. He was armed only with an electrostaff, and was bare chested. The only armor he seemed to wear was on his boots and knees, as well as a pair of spiked gauntlets. He wasn't much taller than Eisa, but had a murderous gleam in his eyes. He growled out a few words in a language Curse didn't recognize.

//Oh, never mind. It looks like we already have an opponent...// Curse beeped out. //Be flashy, look cool. Get the audience to pay attention to you.// She offered some advice. Meanwhile the announcer was still hyping up the crowd.

"It looks like everyone's found themselves a dance partner!" He shouted with a wide smile, gaining some laughs from the audience. "Remember! You down your opponent, you deal with them as you please! Let them live or send them to the afterlife! No one's gonna hold a little murder against you here are they? Haha!" The crowd roared again and the announcer brought his hand down forcefully. "BEGIN!"

@Topher @Isen

 

[Eisa Wex]

With a thunderous roar that echoed throughout the arena, the blood sports appeared to have come to a commencement, the near fever pitch cheering of the crowds downing out the attempts of the announcer to hype up the crowd and run as the master of ceremonies for this little spectacle. But then again it could just be that the auditory senses of the fiery haired spacer were collectively on the fritz, the earlier roughhousing from the warlords thugs rattling something loose in her cranial cybernetics, leaving her to just rely on her barely functional natural hearing. What she could make out of course was the chirping of the buzz droid perched up upon her shoulder, Curse's attempts at assisting and making the ordeal less of what it was by selecting the other combatants that they should square off and would hold higher odds against surviving against.

A light smile curled at the edge of the spacer's lips, as much as she enjoyed the quirky amusement brought on by her companions artificial and calculated logic behind the majority of her statements, Eisa figured that despite the near lethal situation they were now standing within the centre of - this could be a teachable moment! An opportunity to try and coerce Curse in breaking her programming away from calculated odds of survival, most efficient way to reduce this vessel into scrap, but rather to learn and live in the spur of the moment.

Her gaze moved away from regarding curse, and focused in on the snarling Nelvaanian warrior that appeared to have singled the two out as his target, the snarled worlds in the foreign tongue going well and truly over her head, but the one thing that was clear was the fact that the murderous intent that was held in the predatory eyes. A hearty chuckle escaped through Eisa's lips, as she just stared down at the approaching warrior. Before rolling her head from side to side to loosen up her neck, before she shifted her gaze away from the murderous Nelvaanian and towards her companion. "I think you might have some more over there Bud" Eisa spoke out as lowered her cybernetic arm down to the side for Curse to scuttle down towards her waiting palm.

Allowing for Curse to get into postion, the fiery haired spacer eased the outer casing of the Buzzdroid shut with her opposing hand. Before coiling the metallic arm back, preparing to launch the droid. "Go play with those battle droids, show them your nice new tools" Eisa added as she cast the buzz droid a quick wink, and with a compilation of the robotic strength of her arm and the Force, launched the balled up droid towards the fanning out battle droids. Even if Curse didn't make much of the opportunity to think on her toes and think outside of her programmed responses and learned to 'wing it' at least for the time being hopefully the Buzz droid would have got her fill of mass sabotage from the battle droids.

Once Curse had been sent to play with the other droids, Eisa shifted her full focus onto the warrior that was closing in on her, eyes narrowing as she allowed the Force to flow through her body. Dropping one end of the chain onto the dusty ground below, allowing it to rest at her feet for a moment before, with a sudden tug it was pulled backwards as Eisa started spin the chain around like a flail, gradually building the centrifugal momentum until it appeared that there was a metallic blur spinning at her side.

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

The crowd really came to life when the fighters were given the go-ahead to start the violence. Poffo cracked his neck and found the Zabrak that had the techblade. He was snarling at him. Poffo snorted a smile and slowly slid the spiked brass knuckles onto his hands. He met the Zabrak's eyes and motioned for him to "bring it" with just his fingers. The Zabrak began to sprint, but he was knocked off his feet by a nasty looking Britarro with a staff. The Britarro spit at the Zabrak and said, "What are you doing? I saw him first!"

The Zabrak stood quickly and pointed his techblade at the blue bully in front of him. "Bah, you know that's not true! I had him pegged as my kill first!"

Poffo looked around. Most of the fighters had paired up with somebody. The Zabrak and the Britarro got into a heated argument, and Poffo didn't understand why they didn't just take on each other. The more they talked, however, the more Poffo came to realize that these two had pegged Poffo as an easy mark. True, he wasn't wearing armor and he didn't some fancy weapon on his person, but this was damn well insulting. Poffo listened and got angrier and angrier. He couldn't take it anymore and tapped the Britarro on the shoulder. When he turned around, Poffo gave him a hard hook right on the cheek. The spikes were sharp and with Poffo's power, they ripped the cheeky teal flesh of the fighter in front of him. He screamed in agony and swung his staff wildly at Poffo. Poffo ducked under it delivered three sharp uppercuts to the Britarro's torso. He was wearing thick hide-skinned clothes and a duster, but the spikes of the brass knuckles still found some flesh, though not as deep if there weren't some protection. The force of the punches, however, took the air out of him and fell to the dirt, gasping for air.

From the Zabrak's perspective, he couldn't tell if he had been gutted or maybe he had broken a rib and punctured a lung. The look in his eyes was a little different now as he looked at Poffo. This wasn't the easy mark he thought it was going to be. Poffo pulled on the brass knuckles for effect and slowly made a few steps toward the Zabrak, and the Zabrak retreated the steps with him.

"Where you going, Spikes? Huh? You see, you just made me mad. Real mad, yeah!" Poffo said. "You know why?"

The Zabrak stammered and shook his head. "I don't kno...I...no."

"I'm getting a little older, yeah, and I know my ears ain't what they used to be, no," Poffo said. "But if I understood the conversation, the two of you thought that I was an easy target, and you called me your kill." Poffo tutted his tongue and started walking toward the Zabrak.

The Zabrak new he had to stop retreating or he would lose the crowd, so he dug in. "Well, if the shoe fits..."

Poffo again checked his surroundings. The Britarro was about to get over his coughing. Sauvage would need to deal with this Zabrak and then be ready to finish off the Britarro. Poffo bent down and grabbed a handful of Rattatak dirt. He pretended to rub it on all his hands. Poffo rose, secretly with a handful of dirt in his hand. "The only shoe that is going to be fitting is the one I wear when I stick my foot up your shebs."

The Zabrak twirled his techblade and Poffo squared up. Poffo was about to find out what this Zabrak was made of....or himself.

@Reyn @Topher

 

[Curse]

Curse had expected to be fighting at Eisa's side. She calculated that their chances of survival would be higher when working closely together after all. But she had to admit a certain level of excitement when her master pointed out the squad of nondescript battle droids entering the fray, each armed with a different type of melee weapon. Curse quickly analyzed each and matched them with their manufacturers, nothing special, but still entertaining to turn into scrap. As Eisa presented her palm to prepare for a fastball special the buzz droid didn't hesitate before getting into position.

//Acknowledged.// She replied simply to Eisa's order, a sadistic eagerness present in her tone. Pulling in her shell casings she transformed into her ball form in order to be launched towards the enemy. The red-haired human's cybernetic appendage fired Curse off like a bullet, the Pistoeka hurdling towards the nearest combat droid before suddenly popping out of her shell casings and latching onto it's face like some kind of parasite. The battle droid's programming was clearly a bit lacking, because it immediately swung it's spiked club at it's own face in an attempt to hit Curse. The Pistoeka merely crawled down the machine's back as it smacked itself in the face, shattering one of it's own photoreceptors.

Destroying droid's like these was child's play for Curse, the Pistoeka immediately identifying the power pack on the droid's back and starting to cut it open with her saw. For it's part the battle droid dropped it's weapon and tried to reach behind it's back to grab her, but it's bulky design left it unable to reach her. Unfortunately before Curse could even rip open it's power pack one of the other battle droids came charging forward, swinging a vibroblade at her. Curse was again forced to evade the attack, crawling all around the droid's body as it's ally hacked it to pieces trying to hit her. As she fell to the dusty ground with the pieces of the droid she looked up at the other and chittered angrily. //Hey! That's my job! You're making me look bad!//

The droid didn't listen, instead opting to take more swings that the little Pistoeka was easily able to avoid. Meanwhile the crowd was going insane as the battle went into full swing, with several combatants already on the ground and bleeding to death. Oddly enough though those that had defeated their opponents were instead opting to hang back and let the others finish their own bouts. Perhaps the organics were waiting for their opponents to tire themselves out. Or perhaps the colosseum had more challenges in store?

@Topher @Isen

 

[Eisa Wex]

Now that her crew mate was safely away, to go an make friends with the other droids in the fashion that would be expected for a weaponised sabotage droid. The fiery haired spacer sighed a breath of mixed relief and resignation, whilst part of her was glad that she would be able to 'let loose' without running the risk of accidentally smacking Curse with the spinning chained weapon as it was spun about her person, but also not having to run the risk of Curse being thrown off from her perch on Eisa's shoulders as she fought with the advancing Nelvaanian. The Droid had only seen snippets of how the former Padawan had fought, and often from an distance. Whilst the spacer was sure that Curse would probably take every effort to stay rooted on her perch, Eisa wasn't too keen on the thought of having those little pincers of the buzz droid dig into her shoulder - especially not after she knew for a fact that her metallic companion had only just recently had full service and replacement!

A broad grin crossed the spacer's features as the Nelvaanian proceeded to rush in towards the fiery haired female, his shock staff swinging in for a downwards diagonal strike towards Eisa's right hand side. It seemed that the warrior must be clued up enough to know not to strike at the spacer's cybernetic limbs, any impact would have little to no effect other than carrying the force of the impact - but to swing the shockey end at flesh? that is where the pain comes from

With a degree of ease, Eisa leant her upper body out of the way from the swinging strike, her emerald eyes narrowing as she raised an inquisitive eyebrow towards the Nelvaanian, who only just snarled at the spacer who was now in his eyes visually mocking and goading him. Carrying the movement of his missed strike into momentum, the warrior turned to lay a spinning swipe towards Eisa's position.

Only to find that his feet had been suddenly pulled from under him, in his eagerness to land a hit on the cybernetic spacer, as he had moved round to land his follow up attack, the chain that Eisa was wielding had wiped round and cut along the dusty ground, the metal bar at the end of it snapping off to the side as the chain rapidly wrapped around his legs and binding them tightly together. The Nelvaanian warrior's momentum now with no means of being carried by his legs rose upwards and threw the furred man off balance and sent him crashing down onto the floor with a snarling grunt.

Paying little attention to the crowd's reaction the fiery haired spacer quickly seized the brief window that had opened to her and lurched down, thrusting her cybernetic hand down towards the Nelvaanian, it's metallic fingers balling into the fist before it connected with the side of his head, cold cocking the man with a sucker punch that knocked him clean out from the impact of the metal fist. As she reeled herself back upright, the cybernetic hand snatched the shock staff out of the unconscious warriors hands, a grin curling on her lips at the satisfaction that she now had a weapon that thanks to her Jedi training she would be proficient with.

As for the chain, well that would still have a purpose. The Fiery haired spacers eyes shifted over towards the battle droids that she had sent curse to play with, her eyes narrowing as she watched the little buzz droid scurry around the larger droid as another came lunging in with a vibroblade and plunging it where Curse had been. With an rhythmic thumping sound, Eisa span the chain around to once again build up some momentum, as she ran towards the battle droids and her crew mate. "Oi Curse, Think fast" Eisa called out, before what could be described as a metallic whip crack could be heard as she launched the weighted end of the chain towards Curse - figuring that if Curse could catch onto the projected metal weight at the end then between them the two could deal with the droids, then again she could always whip it back and then use the combination of the chain and the droid as a flail of sorts. A flail that had a wide multitude of sharp spinning blades, drills and plasma torches built into it.

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

The Zabrak charged at Poffo with the techblade in position to strike. The horned humanoid leaped with the blade over his head and brought it down sharply. Poffo sidestepped and gave the Zabrak a fair slap on the back of the head. The sound of his hand on the back of the Zabrak's skull made a nice pop, but it wasn't designed to do damage. It was designed to humiliate and for the crowd's amusement. The two were squared up relatively close to the arena wall, and the fans nearby cheered and laughed. Poffo twirled around slowly, one hand extending in the air, his fingers motioning for the crowd to cheer louder, which they did.

The Zabrak, infuriated by being mocked, charged again, this time sweeping the two-handed sword in a wide arc around waist high. Poffo Couldn't jump it on account of his foot, but instead stepped inside the arc and delivered a massive, bulked up shoulder into the nose of the Zabrak. The Zabrak dropped his blade and stumbled backward. Blood began to flow freely from his nose. "Oooooh, Yeeeeah!" Poffo shouted and twirled again with his fingers motioning for more crowd noise. They did not disappoint. He was quickly becoming a fan favorite in his neck of the arena. The fans were his secret weapon. If they loved him, they would protect him. They would let him know when danger was lurking. They would give him a boost when the chips were down. He knew the game.

Poffo pointed a big, stubby finger at his opponent and started to stalk him, mumbling incoherent things that were really more for show than anything else anyway. For the first time, the Zabrak no longer looked concerned, but fearful. He had severely underestimated Poffo. The Zabrak, terrified at the look in Poffo's eyes- a look he had perfected to get the crowd riled up in pit fights back home- took off at a sprint for the wall, with Poffo giving chase. The Zabrak got to the wall and started to climb, but the crowd anxious to see Poffo do some work, stomped on his hands and forced the Zabrak to fall back into the arena. He landed with a thud on his back, and he felt the air leave his body. Wheezing, he looked up to see Poffo's head atop his massive neck looking down at him. "Well, well, well," Poffo said. "Looks like Spikes didn't get the respect of the crowd. Let me show you how it's done, yeah." Poffo delivered a sharp stomp on the chest, further taking the air out of the down man and dragged him to a spot about seven or eight feet from the wall.

He looked up at the crowd. "You want to see a show? Huh? Because I'm the man to give it to you, yeah!" The crowd roared, and Poffo used the rocks and crevices to climb the wall. Instead of sending Poffo back to the arena like they did the Zabrak, they helped him to the ledge. They patted him and reached out just to say they touched this budding superstar of the arena. Sauvage raised both hands and turned to face the crowd. He asked for their cheers, and he received him. His fan section was growing, and with him on the wall, he had gained the attention of many spectators not directly in his area. He turned to face his downed opponent, prepared to leap from the wall and drop a signature elbow on him to finish the contest with a crowd-pleasing high spot. Maybe it would be such a highlight the crowd wouldn't even demand that he kill him. Poffo, pragmatic and willing to do what needed to be done to survive, didn't take any pleasure of ending another's life. But, then again, everyone knew the score when they entered this contest.

Before he made the leap, however, a kilter staff found the chest of the Zabrak. The Zabrak's eyes bulged. He coughed a few times, and went limp. Poffo followed the staff to its owner, a hulking Tunroth covered in blood. He had been ravaging people indiscriminately, and the Zabrak was just another body on his kill count. He looked up at Poffo and snarled. Sauvage pointed at the Tunroth and said, "Oh, now that has really got me sideways, yeah! Me and you, we got a date with destiny, yeah!"

@Topher @Reyn

 

[Curse]

Curse continued to skillfully evade the fumbling attacks of the battle droid, scampering around near it's feet, waiting for an opening to launch into an attack. Then she looked up as she heard the voice of her master, noticing Eisa running forward to aid her and hurling the end of her chain weapon in the buzz droid's direction. Without missing a beat the Pistoeka leapt up, grabbing the metal weight in her pincer arms and then immediately scuttling towards the battle droid once more.

While the machine continued to swing it's vibroblade at her uselessly Curse circled around the droid several times in quick succession before looping the chain around itself and turning towards Eisa. She gave a quick burst of fire from her plasma torch, a signal for the human to pull the chain taught. While Eisa neutralized that one, Curse would rush towards the last remaining battle droid. This one was armed with some kind of staff with what looked like some kind of saw attached to the end. Curse made the mistake of charging right towards the machine, but this one seemed to be a bit more intelligent than it's comrades.

It immediately held it's foot up as Curse tried to leap at it, catching the buzz droid and stomping her down into the dirt. Danger alarms immediately started going off in Curse's head as she struggled not to get crushed underfoot. Then the battle droid brought down the buzzing saw end of it's staff. Thinking fast Curse adjusted one of her shell casings to catch the saw, the tool screeching horribly as it scuffed the paint and tried to slice through the plastoid. Curse let out a mechanical wail, starting to panic as her chances of survival dropped further and further. She wasn't built for this kind of battle, but she tried to keep in mind Eisa's words about improvisation and bucking programming. Trying to find a solution by looking at her current situation from different and unconventional angles something came to her. With some considerable effort the buzz droid adjusted her shell casing one more, causing the saw to slip off the rounded surface and plunge right into the battle droid's own foot. The tool worked quickly, slicing through the machine's ankle with ease and causing it to tumble to the ground.

Curse's counterattack was fast and efficient. While the other droid struggled to get up she scampered up it's back and brought out her hacking probe, jamming it right into the machine's head. The battle droid jerked and reached back to try and grab the Pistoeka before suddenly stopping. Curse chirped deviously. This droid may have had more sense then the others but it's internal defenses were still pathetic. She had broken through it's firewalls and wiped it's programming with ease. Of course in it's current condition this battle droid would be of no use to her or Eisa, so she decided to simply fry it's systems rather than waste time reprogramming it. As she did so the droid gave one last involuntary jerk, hurling it's still buzzing staff across the arena, right into the back of the Tunroth facing Poffo. The alien cried out in pain as the saw tore into his back before the weapon fell finally to the ground. Growling the gladiator turned his back to Poffo to try and find where the attack had come from.

@Topher @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

The opportunity was too good to pass up. The Tunroth was the perfect distance away for an aerial assault, a top rope attack if you will, and his back was turned. The ugly beast had turned his back to Poffo to see where the saw originated from that dug into his back. Poffo turned to the crowd and motioned for some noise. He yelled to the crowd, "Who wants to see Mr. Macho take to the air? Yeah!" Sounded good to the spectators, and they responded with a large pop. Poffo turned around to see the Tunroth still with his back turned, scanning his head from side to side, still trying to see where the attack came from.

Poffo, still on the edge of the wall, some 8 or 9 feet up, raised his hands and clutched them together into a massive club. He calculated his distance and approach, lept and yelled, "Ooooooooh, yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!" The Tunroth heard the approaching scream, and turned around just in time to get a massive double axe-handle fist right to the bridge of his massive nose. The Tunroth let out a brutal scream in pain and collapsed to his back. Poffo immediately jumped on him and straddled him and started a face pounding with his spiked brass knuckles. Poffo was in the process of making ground chuck out of the alien's face, but the Tunroth turned the tides with a bit of an adrenaline-spiked surge of strength and used his bloody and mangled head to headbutt Poffo in the face. It was a brutal strike, and Poffo stumbled backward, literally seeing stars as his vision flooded with sparkling white floaters.

Poffo had to take a knee for a moment, and he heard the Tunroth scream in anger as he got back to his feet. Blood was streaming out of Poffo's nose, and he was dizzy. Maybe it was Poffo that did the underestimating this time.

@Reyn @Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

Well it seemed that despite the earlier annoyance and irritation that had been directed towards her crew mate for landing them both in this situation to begin with, there was a softening in the spacer's mind in her thoughts towards Curse's ability for landing them in trouble - despite the fact that even though it was the Buzz droid's wanton sabotage and destruction that had caught the ire of the warlord that had thrown them into the gladiatorial pit to begin with, it was reassuring to know that regardless of how they both ended up into hot water they would be able to hold their own between themselves.

Now if they could only put their combined ability to survive and wreck their own flair of recking havoc to get out of this arena in once piece. The battle droids were now taken care of, and left as inoperable piles of scrap. All that from what she could see from the remainder of the various skirmishes that was taking place within the arena, was a few paired off warriors who were still fighting tooth and nail for survival and seeking to land the killing blow on the other and a nearby bearded man who had narrowly avoided a bladed staff that had been vaulted in his direction by the remainder of the battle droids that Curse had finished off.

From what she could see the man was very uneasy on his feet, and if she wasn't mistaken it did look as if his face was bloodied and beaten. Her gaze moved away from the dizzy man, emerald hued eyes tracking back across the dusty arena passing over the Tunroth and onwards the other fighters figuring out who they were going to square up against next. Biting on her lips, as the thought of bothering to interfere weighted over her mind, after all keeping out of it would make their life easier in this duel to the death, but then again that was being countered by the sense of decency that the Jedi had instilled in her.

"Curse, on me bud" Eisa spoke out as she spun her head around to face her crew-mate, before spinning her staff round as she readied herself, before sprinting off towards Poffo and the enraged Tunroth, looking to put herself in between them. Whilst it probably went against everything that this blood bath was standing for, but Eisa couldn't willingly stand by and let someone who was for the best part incapacitated get cut down - the years of being brought up within the Jedi Order, certainly wasn't going to be easily forgotten any time soon.

As the bloodied and beaten Tunroth had picked up and reared the bladed weapon that had been launched into its back by the Battledroid Curse had decided to reprogram. Bringing the bladed weapon down in an attempt to cut down the dazed man, Eisa came skidding to a halt infront of the attacking brute, the blade of the Tunroth weapon coming crashing down onto the shaft of the fiery haired spacer's staff. "Oi Lard arse, no picking on the wounded" Eisa spoke as a fiery glint flashed over her eyes, a broad grin forming on her features before she thrusted the staff forwards and shunting the Tunroth back a few steps, before following up the knock back with a quick side ways swipe and lungeed jab of one of the crackling ends of the shock staff she had acquired off from the unconscious Nelvaanian

 

[Curse]

Curse looked up from the body of the latest destroyed droid as Eisa called out to her, chirping out a quick acknowledgement before hopping down and scampering after the human. She wouldn't have suggested fighting a Tunroth, even an injured one, but her master seemed to be acting like a Jedi and trying to help the needy again. And the buzz droid figured she really wasn't in a position to be chastising her poor choices at the moment.

Eisa did well enough as she jumped between the hulking alien and it's prey, staving off his attack before pushing onto the offensive. As she jabbed the end of her electrostaff into the Tunroth's midsection he jittered from the shock and grunted before stumbling backwards. Curse took the opportunity to jump in, curling into her ball form and placing herself right in the large alien's path. The Tunroth stepped on the metallic ball as he backed up, slipping rather comically and coming crashing down on his back. All of this was to the delight of the audience, who roared with a mixture of cheers and laughter. Perhaps some of them had an appreciation for the 'noble hero' type. Or maybe they were just happy Poffo hadn't been killed.

At any rate while the Tunroth struggled sluggishly to get back on his feet, stumbling a few times as he did so, Curse would pop back out of her shell and skitter over to Eisa's side. //Chances of survival are now at 57%.// She informed her master cheerfully. //See? I told you not to worry!// Curse naturally kept her calculations conservative as to not invite overconfidence, but the more she witnessed Eisa's abilities the better her understanding of the human's combat effectiveness became. Even though she had never completed her Jedi training she was much stronger than the typical combatant, and none of the other gladiators she had seen so far had particularly impressed the Pistoeka. Although she was somewhat surprised that the bearded human, whom still had no melee weapon to speak of, had managed to last this long. As the continued the buzz droid would keep an eye on the brawler, now recognizing him as a potential threat to his master. She might have just saved his life, but that didn't necessarily mean he would be grateful.

@Topher @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

The cobwebs were still heavy in Poffo's head and the stars were still circling, but he could see that he was saved by...by a girl? And what's worse, the crowd was cheering for her. "Oooooh, damn," Poffo mumbled to himself. Sauvage took some deep breaths and stood upright as we wiped some blood trickling from his nose and lip. The brawler took a long look at the Tunroth who was woozy himself, stumbling around thanks to the girl and her droid. Poffo cracked his knuckles and popped his neck as he power-walked toward the alien. He stared at Eisa as he walked by, pointed a finger at her, and said roughly, "You and me, yeah...we're going to have a little talk."

Poffo walked quickly and with purpose toward the Tunroth who was shaking his own head to get his equilibrium back. Poffo picked it up to a jog and then a sprint. The Tunroth scowled and readied himself. Sauvage went with his old tried and true, his Mr. Macho punch. He gave every impression of a flying left knee to the gut or chest, but at the last minute, he flung left leg behind him, using the torque to unleash a powerful right hand to the eye of the beast. Again, Poffo had knocked him down, and again Poffo lept on him and straddled him. This time, he started pounding the massive nostril that rested on top of his head with the spiked knuckles.

The Tunroth's body limped to near death and Poffo stopped. He stood and raised his hands questionably to the crowd. The crowd started chanting, "Fin-ish! Fin-ish! Fin-ish!" Isen used one hand to lift the Tunroth's head off the ground and raised the other fist. The crowd roared with anticipation. Sauvage smiled and slowly waggled his finger in a "no-no" fashion. Instead, he sat the Tunroth's panting body up and plopped down next to him, threw the Tunroth's arm over his shoulders as if they were old friends. Poffo waved to the crowd. He reached over made the Tunroth wave as well. The crowd seemed to get a kick enough out of it, and Poffo was hopeful that this would placate the masses enough so that they didn't care to see this opponent dead.

Poffo looked over at Eisa and waved her over to join in the pose. "Come on, Sunshine. Come let the crowd see you with your two new BFFs, yeah. The crowd will love you for it, and maybe they'll like us both enough so that I don't have to feel bad about messing up that nice red hair of yours, yeah."

@Reyn @Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

Her eybrow arched up into an inquisitive arch, as the bearded brawler rose back from his dazed state, popped his neck and knuckles and made a bee line towards the dazed Tunroth before pointing towards her and stating that they are going to have a little talk. All that the fiery haired spacer would do is offer a polite nod and slight grin curling at the edge of her lips in response, all the while internally groaning at the propsect - not another Kriffing talk! Why is everyone hell bent on spouting out a lecture.

Her attention moved away from the brawler and the Tunroth who looked like he was about to drop any moment now in his current state, emerald hued eyes panning over the crowd that seemed to be all to interested in the demise of the Tunroth. Her eyes narrowing as she kept her thoughts in check, although the crowd chanting was to a degree infectious, killing someone for the purpose of entertainment wasn't exactly something that she was all to pleased with - kicking someone's ass was something, but when like herself, Curse, Poffo and presumably the rest of the fighters in this hell hole were either here to earn a few credits or they had been thrown in as part of the whims of the Warlord that control of this world.

Speaking of which, as the spacer's gaze panned over the crowd, her gaze narrowed as it focused in on the warlord. A bulky Quarren, sat within the shade of a marquis, surrounded by his personal entourage of goons and thugs. Her teeth chewing over her lips as her mind dwelled on what to do to get close enough to exact some form of payback - even though she knew full well that it was Curse's antics that had drawn his ire, but regardless having one less warlord in the galaxy was possibly a good thing to bring about.

Her thoughts of how to get back at the warlord was cut short by Poffo calling out and beckoning her over to join him. Mentioning something about posing with him for the crowd. Shrugging in response, Eisa stepped forward and beckoned for Curse to follow, offering a slight que with her cybernetic fingers to give warning for the Buzzdroid to be on her guard - though she could sense that Poffo seemed genuine, with the air being so rife in bloodlust she couldn't help but not trust the atmospherics. Coming to a stop beside Poffo and crouching down beside him, a wide grin forming over her features as she guestured a pair of "bunny ears" with her fingers behind the Tunroth's head, and then sticking her tongue out as she struck her pose.

As the crowd reacted to the addition's to the impromptu pose, Eisa turned her head slightly towards Poffo's ear, tilting her head slightly to obscure her lips from the eyes of the crowd. "The Quarren Warlord, what's his deal?" she asked, before pursing her lips slightly before turning her attention and gaze back towards the crowd and cracking a wide cheesy grin, before speaking through her teeth. "Cos' got a score to settle with the Kriffer"

 

[Curse]

As a lull in the fighting seemed to be upon them Curse climbed Eisa's leg to take her usual spot back on the spacer's shoulder. While her master seemed to be forming an alliance with the bearded human the buzz droid scanned the battlefield. A good number of the combatants were dead, with those who had been spared being dragged unceremoniously off the field. Of those that remained were a trio of Rattataki gladiators sticking close together, most likely veterans of the ring, a Trandoshan and a Tiss'shar that seemed to have made an alliance, another trio consisting of a Pantoran, Zeltron and Mirialan, and finally a Mantellian Savrip that was keeping to himself. Looking at the remaining gladiators Curse calculated that there would be no more easy fights. From here on out they were going up against the best the fighting pit had to offer.

Before the Pistoeka could make an assessment on who they should engage next however the Rattataki announcer returned. Only this time he hovered over the pit on a small platform, presumably to remain safe from harm. "Well now THAT was an impressive first course was it not?" He shouted merrily, raising his arms high in the air. "Why don't we give a round of applause for our conquering heroes?" The audience immediately burst into cheers of approval, clearly having enjoyed the show thus far. The announcer laughed. "Now that's what I like to hear! But it's not over yet ladies and gentlemen, oh no! This is only the beginning! An appetizer to whet your bloodthirsty palates! As you can see our combatants fight with the ferocity of the most vicious beasts! But how will they stack up I wonder? Against the true monsters of the galaxy!"

In response to this several doors opened on the perimeter of the fighting pit, and the creatures within charged forth into the light. From one end came a pack of Corellian dire-cats. From another came a pair of Onderonian Bomas. And finally from a third door came the largest gundark Curse had ever seen. All of the animals appeared starved and ravenous, and charged at the gladiators without hesitation. //Recalculating chances of survival...// Curse chirped out frightfully as she moved to hide behind Eisa's head.

@Topher @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Sauvage turned around hearing the doors open and saw the beasts starting to come out of the shadows of their cages. Poffo was now completely out of his element. He would fight men. He would fight Trandoshans. He would fight just about any sentient on the planet in hand to hand combat, but wild beasts were a different...uh, animal. The pro fighter/bounty hunter in the making had a feeling that his spiked brass knuckles weren't going to cut it. And when all the animals came sprinting toward various remaining gladiators, Sauvage KNEW his brass knuckles weren't going to be enough. The gundark looked to be focusing in on the Rattataki trio while the pair of bomas seemed intent on the Mantellian Savrip. The other two trios were looking at each other, considering to take each other out or start working on the beasts with the others.

Poffo looked down at the barely breathing Tunroth and quickly began looking around. Where was it? Finally, Sauvage located the big bladed kilter staff on the ground about a dozen feet away. He sprinted to it, slid, and gave it a wide sideways swipe just as one of the dire-cats was about to lunge in on him. The feline got a long look at the blade and held up on his pounce. He started to stalk, but the brawler kept him at bay by jabbing the bladed staff in his direction. The bearded prizefighter swung the staff in a large circle as two more of the pack of cats circled him in. Poffo looked over at the red-haired girl and shouted, "You don't happen to be a cat-whisperer, do ya?"

@Reyn @Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

Crazy Mode!

Before the bearded brawler could be afforded the opportunity to respond to her queries about the local War Lord that had orchestrated this spectacle, the announcer had came back into the picture, appearing atop of an hover platform, calling out to the crowd that the blood match wasn't over, no it was seemingly only just getting started. As the reveal of the next stage of this blood sport was announced, the fiery haired spacer, audibly groaned in annoyance as her shoulders dropped and her head rolled back in resignation. "Right Settling that score is gonna more than a talking to.... I'm gonna kick seven shades of Kriff out that Quarren Shutta" Eisa cussed, before her eyes opened in reaction to the panic ridden chirps of her droid companion.

"Oi Bud... forget calculations" Eisa spoke out, as she cast the droid a quick glance through the corner of her eyes as she twisted her head around to try and get a peak of where Curse was cowering in a spot between her shoulder blades - Her eyes narrowing as she turned her focus onto her surroundings, looking for something that was outside of the arena and more precisely outside of the box as to how she was going to deal with these creatures. Her Lips pursing in thought as her gaze focused in on some large black cylindrical vessels perched up above the stands and the arena, wondering whether they were used as some form of fire suppression or for hosing down the blood splatters at the end of the gladiatorial events such as these.

"I'd go and check if there's a leak in those big storage vessels... won't want there any spills on this arena now" Eisa spoke as as a wild grin formed on her features, before she flashed the buzz droid a playful wink. Turning the electro staff off, Eisa held one end for the droid to climb onto. "Here hold onto this end, when i say now, you let go.... kay?" she added, whilst affording Curse the opportunity to scramble onto. Once the buzz droid had got onto the end of the deactivated electro staff, the spacer would lower Curse so that she was closer to the ground before starting to spin around on the spot, using the centrifugal motion to lift curse off of the ground as if she was mimicking some Olympic type hammer throw, using the remaining time until the newly introduced animals came close enough to cause some trouble. The momentum was building, as Curse and Eisa circled around eachother before off a sudden, Eisa shouted out "Now" before coming to a swift halt after she had launched the buzzdroid skywards towards the upper levels of the arena pit.

Her attention soon shifted back towards the bearded brawler as he called out, questioning whether she was a cat whisperer by any chance ... Well that might of been an idea! Use the force to try and placate the beasts, whilst the idea had its merits, she'd imagine that it would gather more unwarranted attention and possibly force the the organisers to up the game and pull out the heavy hitters if they knew there was a Jedi in the pit. Shaking her head as she turned her attention towards the Brawler as he tried to fend off the circling Dire cats with his newly acquired weapon, a wild grin and playful flash shone on her emerald hued eyes - the look of someone who had formulated a wild and more likely mad idea!

Breaking into a sprint as she ran towards Poffo and the Dire cats, the spacer held her staff as if she was charging them in an attempt to run through, before at the last moment plunging it into the ground and using the sudden change in direction to vault over the rear of the circling cats, over Poffo before landing boots first onto the head of one of the dire cats before springing forwards and quickly jabbing the now re-ignited electro staff into the dangling expose groin at the rear of the stunned cat. A chuckle escaping from the fiery haired spacer as the Dire cat let out a pained snarl before rounding its attention on the spacer, along with the others in the pack - most of which seemed to now give chase to Eisa as she broke out into a full sprint, luring the Dire Cats into giving chase,

 

[Curse]

Curse crawled back onto Eisa's shoulder and followed her line of sight to the tanks up in the stands. Running through some scenarios in her head the buzz droid was able to put two and two together fairly quickly. An interesting strategy, and just like the mad ex-Jedi. //Understood.// She beeped out mischievously in reply to her master, and scurried onto the end of the staff, curling up around it.

Once again the spacer wound up and hurled the buzz droid up into the stands, drawing some awed exclamations from a few members of the audience and screams from a few others. Still in her ball form Curse bounced off of the tank and smacked a hapless onlooker in the head before falling to the floor. Immediately she popped out of her shell and went straight for the containers, but it wouldn't be that easy. There were Rattataki security guards arrayed all around the arena, likely to stop gladiators from trying to escape, and they didn't appreciate a buzz droid in the stands. Two of them approached, stun blasters in hand, and ordered the little Pistoeka back into the pit. Curse, of course, ignored them, and slipped between their legs to make for the tanks.

The guards turned around, one dove to try and grab her, and the other raised his weapon. He fired a shot, only to hit another bystander and have him collapse on a few more people. Panic erupted in that section of the stands, and soon everyone was screaming and stampeding away. Well, almost everyone. A few of the audience members seemed quite thoroughly drunk by this point, and only cheered on the little droid. With the guards still firing at her Curse climbed up onto the tanks and got to work. Analyzing the metal she quickly gathered that it wasn't that strong, and her saw should be enough to get through it. Spinning up her circular saw she dug into the metal of the tank facing the arena.

"What are you doing!?" One of the guards exclaimed in panic, both began waving their arms to try and stop her. "Stop! Don't!" But they were cut off as the tank suddenly burst open, sending both them and the Pistoeka tumbling over the side in a wave of water and back down into the pit. Curse curled into her ball form again, harmlessly bobbing along the current. One of the Rattataki managed to grab onto the railing and held tight, hanging over the pit. The other wasn't so lucky. He tumbled down into the arena with Curse, finding himself surrounded by some very wet and very angry dire-cats. He scrambled to his feet and attempted to shoot them with his stun blaster, only to find the water had short-circuited it. He cursed and dropped his weapon before running for the wall, the animals turning to chase him. Meanwhile Curse was scrambling to get clear of the soaked area, so Eisa could proceed with her plan.

@Topher @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

The brawler kept an eye on the girl as much as he could while the cats were circling him. She was the closest thing he had to an ally. Unfortunately, at the moment the cats had nearly all of his attention. As one would dive in toward, he'd lunge with the business end of his weapon and then while around just in time to do the same to another cat that was trying to take advantage of Poffo's attention being elsewhere.

Sauvage did not see the droid getting launched into the stands. He did, however, see the girl charging his position with the pack of dire cats, and he was as surprised as the tom she vaulted on top of. The brawler's jaw dropped at the sight. She landed soundly with both feet and with perfect balance on the head of one of the cats. "What the hell?" he thought to himself. He didn't see that one coming. From there, she leaped to his backside and gave the cat a shocking welcome right to the nads. He grimaced noticeably at that, unsure that even one of these cats deserved that sort of treatment. It yelped and the other cats surrounding Poffo immediately gave their full attention to the girl.

To his surprise, she was laughing maniacally. In decades of fighting in the Curoscant underground, Poffo Sauvage thought he had seen every level of crazy one might find on the crazy spectrum, but this one may have topped the charts. She took off at a sprint and all the cats took off after her, leaving Mr. Macho without an immediate opponent. His body relaxed for a moment and he stood upright, wondering what he should do exactly. He heard a loud rumbling and a splash onto the arena floor as one of the large water tanks burst open and a tide of water made it's way onto the arena floor. Everyone in the arena's eyes turned toward the water, except for the beasts. The trio of Rattataki gladiators had surrounded the Gundark and had a pretty good gameplan.

The beast was tuckering out, but the gladiators were distracted by the tidal wave. The Gundark took advantage, and grabbed one of the distracted Rattataki and took a monstrous bite out of his neck, ripping out most of the insides. Blood spurtted out like a melon hit with a sledgehmmer. The remaining duo together working over the beast together, tired but still fierce. Poffo walked in behind the Rattataki pair and with his spiked brassed knuckles, drove a devestating overhand right onto the nape of the neck of one of the remaining gladiators. The partner snarled, confused why Sauvage wouldn't help with the beast. Sauvage shoved the now immobile gladiator toward the gundark which the monster was more than happy to start devouring. The only living Rattataki looked at Poffo and roared as he lifted his Vibro-ax. Poffo lifted an index finger and waggled at him. "You can come after me, yeah, but Fido here is going to be looking for another meal. Ooooooooooor, you can whack his head off right now, yeah!"

It was true. The gundark's head was burried into the gladiator's lifeless corpse, tearing apart the inards. It would be an easy kill...but only momentarily. The gladiator narrowed his eyes at Poffo. "I'll deal with you later. I assure you of that." Sauvage watched him turn his attention to the devouring gundark and raise his axe like an executioner would next to a hooded criminal awaiting his last moments. Poffo didn't wait to see, he took off at a run toward his one and only ally...wherever she may and whatever she may up to.

@Reyn @Topher