Dueling Ring

Rules are simple...

1.) Anything goes in the ring. (low blows, Force attacks, Ewok hostages, etc)
2.) Bring your own weapons. (no weapons are supplied in the ring, bring only what you can carry)
3.) Success is determine by posting skill. (ie. length, big words, creativity, etc, either an opponent admits when he is defeated, or in case of a deadlock, an admin will intervene and declare a winner. If a person fails to reply within 7 days of the last post, then the last one to post will be declared the winner by default by an Admin.)
4.) Do to state of the art simulators and excellent ringside medical teams, all duels are non-fatal unless otherwise stated before the match.
5.) Winners may be awarded prizes by the admins. (Prizes may be showboated in your sig)
6.) All matches are 1-on-1 affairs unless specifically stated otherwise before the match.

Seeing the unsuspecting Arian in the dueling ring, Ixtren quickly jumped into the arena."The Mandalore challenges this meager bat person to a duel."

Zhu E'XingXin saw the Mando sneaking up behind her brother. She was about to send a warning through their Force link when the Mandalore issued his challenge.

Getting a running start, E'XingXin used the Force to assist and speed her jump. Slamming feet first into the Mandalore's back, she backflipped and landed in a ready position by her brother's side.

"I accept, Mando Man."

Ixtren's HUD picked up the motion behind him but not fast enough for him to dodge the blow. Thus his opponent's momentum caught him off guard and sent him toppling forward. Yet the Mandalore was not about to be upstaged so quickly. With equal parts grace and showmanship, he rolled back to his feet, this time fully facing both opponents like nothing had happened.

"So there are two of you. Very well. I like a challenge."

And with that the Mandalore attacked. Firing precisely calculated patterns with his assault rifle in one hand, he closed in to slash with his mythosaur staff. The long axe-like weapon darted in fiercely like a spear, jutting for one of the Arian's torsos.

His attack was extremely sophisticated and complex. His suit allowed him to automatically feed firing coordinates to his weapon while simultaneously plotting vectors for his melee attacks. In a way they fought not only him but his suit as well.

Thus the Mandalore fought with the blazing speed of an assassin droid. His blows were blazing fast, always parrying away the strikes of his foes while trying to slip inside their defenses.

Alas the Arians were fast. Only a Force user could move so quickly. Yet their speed was aided by long practiced experience. Their swords moved in sequence not only with their bearers but between the two of them. Darting in and out, alternating fluently between attacks and parries, the two of them fought almost as one split entity.

Ixtren withdrew his mind from the suit's attack algorithms, letting his instincts take over. Instead he focused on his foes, trying to understand just what they were and what they represented. The flow of battle was too familiar for them. Only people of the same blood could work so well together.

Then again, if they were Force sensitives, they were probably melding their minds.

Zhu E'ren was taken aback momentarily as the Mand'alore issued his challenge, but with his sister at his side there was no doubt in his mind of his ability. He drew his Sith sword, the legacy of Aria's history and the unique weapon most suited to carving through modern Mandalorian iron.

Knowing himself to be the weakest of the three combatants, E'ren made himself into the shield, knowing that he would never be in E'XingXin's way and that she would never find him an impediment. Her sword flashed millimeters away from his unarmored throat after E'ren parried the Mando's weapon and held it away.

He slashed with his own weapon as he brought his arm back, and flipped away before the human could turn the weapon back on him. Before the weapon cut down on his sister, he reflected on his limited Sith knowledge and directed a focused beam of pure anger and will at Ixtren. It materialized into a Force blast, a beam of Dark Side energy radiating dark violet light, and struck Ixtren's weapon, threatening to disarm him of it.

The Arian twins worked in perfect concert with each other. Where E'ren slashed, E'XingXin blocked. It looked like a delicate dance where one miss step could end the others' life.

The three combatants danced and parried, their blades and blaster bolts singing into the air. Such noise was not a distraction to E'XingXin. She had seen the melee battles, had trained en mass with the priests of Aria, and she had the Force as her ally. No sounds would keep her from focusing on the moment. To her, nothing was better than the thrill of the battle, the sweep of her blade cutting it's song into the air. She lived for this moment, and fed her power with her passion.

Using the Force to augment her strength, E'XingXin ducked low when E'ren unleashed a blast of energy. Gauging her brother's attack to not be of sufficient strength to completely knock the Mand'alore down, she brought her grandmother's blade back in a two handed grip and swung hard. Putting everything and more into the swing, she aimed for the small chink in the Mand'alore's armor at his ankle.

The Iron Man now had a choice; face losing his weapon, or face a broken ankle.

The blast of Force energy hit the Mandalore's assault rifle, melting it into slag as it simultaneously flew out of his grip. Then the female swept low and hit the back of his ankle. The blow destroyed his balance. He fell back sharply, landing on the side of his knee and propping himself up with one arm, still clutching his staff with the other. The female was already coming at him again with a bloodlust look in her eye. He feebly blocked her next swing with his staff but the blow had too much against him. She had the high ground, the momentum, the Force...every advantage. Without hesitation she followed with another blow. In that second he saw her summoning every ounce of strength she had, both arms raised high above her head as she brought her sword for a heavy over the top swing. There was no time to block. He simply watched it come.

Angel or demon, the winged warrior brought her sword down in a great gush of air and audible scream of frenzy. The ancient blade rushed down with swift vengeance. A loud ring filled the air as metal crashed upon metal, echoing with a great vibration.

The Arian looked down at her prey laying motionless on the floor. There was a shallow gouge in the forehead of the Mandalorian's helmet. For a long moment she paused looking down at him.

Ixtren looked back.

He wasn't dead.

The Mandalore gave his head a tiny shake as he spun in a circle on the ground, sweeping and scissoring the Arian's feet, bringing her down to the ground with him. Quickly he sprang to his feet, still pinning the Arian down but aware that her partner couldn't be far off in retaliation.

XingXin's eye's were mad with fury as she looked up at the Mandalore. Still clutching her sword, now slightly bent, she stabbed forward. But now the Mandalore had the high ground. With the long swinging arc of his staff, he hit her blade at the base of its pommel with so much force that it flew free from her hand. He longed to finish her here an now with one more blow but his helmet sensors were showing the other Arian going in for the kill.

Thus he rolled away from XingXin, leaving her on the ground, and rolled toward her brother. E'ren slashed at the spinning ball of metal, but Ixtren was already coming up, staff held horizontally as he blocked yet another blow.

However he had already lost his advantage, and the battle was again spilling into the Arian's favor. Once again it was a two on one battle. Only now they were beginning to realize that this Mandalorian was better armored than most.

If only they knew. Ixtren smiled beneath his helmet as he exchanged blows with E'ren. I'm the only being in the galaxy with a full suit of Generation IV armor.

Yes. This was going to be quite the battle. Even the Mandalorians weren't quite sure of the full effectiveness of the new beskar. With only one suit of the new material, it was too precious to be lent to comprehensive testing in the labs. All that was known was Mandalore Beviin once took a blow from a point defense turbolaser and actually survived. For them, it was all the testing they needed.

E'ren wanted to help his sister up, but he knew that he could not spare the attention. Instead, he made three feints with his sword, all in the outer ring of defense, drawing Ixtren's attention and defenses as far away from his body as possible, before dropping low and bringing his leg in for a swipe at his ankles.

The gambit succeeded, slamming into Ixtren and sending him stumbling, but at a price. E'ren was almost sure that he had broken a bone or two in his foot against the man's strange armor, and had to flap his wings twice to maintain his balance. By the time the two regained their balance, E'XingXin was back on her feet and hacking at the Mandalorian, doing little damage but keeping him off balance.

The warlord came in hard and fast, striking at the Mand'alor with the heavy hilt of his weapon rather than risk the blade in ineffective slashes at his armor. He battered Ixtren's temple, aiming for his viewports and sensors as he drove himself into a Force-strengthened battle rage.

E'XingXin saw her brother's attack and suddenly understood. Inside that shell, there was a squishy being.

So it's just a matter of removing/disabling that shell, she thought to her brother. Or, just getting to the being inside, my dear sister, he replied.

E'ren had been doing a good job distracting the Mand'alore, but now E'XingXin came around again to launch another attack. This time she activated her grandmother's lightsaber to add to her defense. Engaging the Mand'alore in an extended series of slashes and parries, E'XingXin studied him.

She had to give him credit, he fought well for someone untrained in the ways of the Force. But that was also his weakness.

Signaling her brother to come and double team with her, she streamed her idea to him. E'ren attacked with powerful swings, demanding the Mand'alore's attention while E'XingXin began a subtle assault into the Mand'alore's mind.

Still holding her ground she attacked both physically and mentally, gradually planting the seeds for doubts and fears to sprout in the Mand'alore's mind when he wasn't paying attention.

Too slow. Loosing ground. Fraggin Force is too fast to keep up with... These thoughts filled the Mandalore's mind as he tried to regain his initiative. They'd knocked him off his feet again. Plus the female had a lightsaber now. The humming beam of light struck his armor with a loud, hissing clash of static.

Watch the lightsaber. Don't let it cut through. Remember what happened to Fett.

Hold it...

Why was thinking this? His armor was immune to lightsaber strikes...

I'm doubting...pessimistic...I'm never pessimistic! What's...sithspit...prugnuficating sithspit...they're using the blasted Force to attack my mind!

Jedi mind tricks only worked on weak minded individuals. Even Sith mind control was only as effective as the amount of will the user poured into it, and right now the only two possible users were still dividing their attention toward physical combat. The Mandalore was barely able to resist the psychological attack, but he couldn't completely shake off its influences.

Have to hit back. He drove into the female Arian with a brutal series of attacks with his bladed staff. Her lightsaber took off his auxiliary antenna, reducing his 360 degree sonar, and adding to the damage already done by E'ren when he bashed the external data feeds on his suit. Her blows pounded him, constantly battering him inside his suit, but he pushed on, knocking her back...then he spun on the other Arian.

E'ren was too far away to simply turn around and swing at. So Ixtren activated his boost thrusters and flew into his opponent like a human missile. The hard beskar plates crashed into the Arian's tensed muscles. The Mandalore's audio pick ups were blown so he couldn't hear if he'd crushed the poor man's bones. Regardless, they barreled across the floor in a tumble.

E'ren battered the off-balance Mando, but when the man turned to assault the Regent's sister he found himself powerless to stop him. He simply couldn't move fast enough. As he prepared himself for a Force assault of his own, something that would hurt the Mand'alor enough to inform him of how poor of an idea that was, the Mando hit him.

He didn't hit him with a weapon, or make an attack. His body simply hit him. Hard.

He heard a crack, and a moment later felt a searing- almost paralyzing- pain jolt him as he hit the ground. Well, at least I don't have to worry about my broken foot, he thought.

Drawing on the same rage he had intended to defend his sister with, E'ren drew the Dark Side toward him. The air collided with a resounding clap, throwing Ixtren off of him in what was tantamount to an explosion of air. The Mand'alor hurtled through the air, where he met the waiting lightsaber of E'XingXin.

XiXi swung her saber in a magenta arc, and E'ren heard the familiar sound of crackling electronics and weaponry. The armor itself, on the other hand, seemed utterly impenetrable, and the Mando hit the ground beneath E'ren at a fourty-five degree angle.

While working slowly with his arms and wings to rise, he focused primarily on the being before him. Your anger is powerful, but it is not enough to complete your desires. Your anger must be given focus- a target. It must be willed to do as you desire. With anger combined with will, you can crush and overcome the vital organs of the weak. E'ren recited in his mind, willing his anger to overcome Ixtren's lungs.

E'XingXin screamed as she felt her brother's pain. Their link stretched more than just into the Force, they were linked mentally and physically as well. She sent encouragement along this same link as well as a reminder that he was not powerless.

She rushed forward in a battle rage, eager to avenge her brother. She was encouraged to see her brother attack the Mand'alore and followed through were he could not. When she reached the armored offender, she leaped into the air corkscrewing her body into a fury whirlwind. Her used her magenta lightsaber to strike at the Mand'alore's back finding a seam in the armor she pressed hard, hoping to melt or break through the armor and reach the man inside.

Moving her body through the corkscrew, she struck the Mand'alore's legs with such a force she heard a crack. Whether that was the Mand'alor's leg bone or his armor giving way to her attack she did not know. Since her body was no longer spinning and she had appropriate leverage, she twisted her grip on her saber's hilts and tucked her legs in allowing her to slam her heels into the Mand'alor's side. Pushing off of his body like a springboard E'XingXin shoved the Mand'alore off of her blades leaving him stumbling for footing once again.

Can't...breath. Ixtren's lungs gasped for air that wasn't there. It was like drowning without water. Relentlessly...frantically heaving for air, the Mandalore began to panic. Blows came at him from behind. He fell, but nothing shook him from the terrified realization that he was going to suffocate.

He had only one last card...

...so he played it.

The Mandalore rolled over on his side as he lie on the ground. With one arm outstretched, he fired the chemical launcher mounted on his forearm. Black spots began to bubble in his vision as his brain starved for oxygen. Yet he still saw the yellow stream spray out toward his target. The half liquid, half gas vapor engulfed E'ren.

Ixtren couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to watch. The blackness was too strong. He started fading out.

But the poison was already working. The thick yellow liquid sizzled as it made contact with the Arian's flesh. Instantly it seeped through the skin and into the bloodstream. Meanwhile the vapor tried to fill the Arian's lungs with liquid fire. It was a fast acting chemical. First it would burn and paralyze, then it would stop the heart and wrench the entire body into convulsions just short of two minutes' time.

E'ren saw the Mando roll over, and he thought that his Force Grip had failed. No, he felt from his sister, the human is desperate. E'ren sent back the emotional equivalent of a nod, and before he could react, the Mando sprayed a yellow cloud at him.

As soon as the caustic cloud began to pass over his shattered feet, he began to discover what it was. His skin began to tingle and then burn, and he quickly ceased his efforts to rise in an attempt to blow the cloud back at the Mando. He only partially succeeded, dispersing the cloud to near-invisibility and inhaling enough to collapse in a burning, coughing fit.

His willpower- and therefore his grip- weakened, but E'ren took a different approach as he spread his telekinetic grip, pinning the Mand'alor's body to the ground without taking any overt offensive action against him. His coughs allowed the enemy to squirm and struggle, but there was only so much resistance left in him.

E'ren looked to his sister, pleadingly, yet confidently. He desperately needed her to end this, yet he didn't feel alone at all.

He was Zhu; he was never alone.

Zhu E'XingXin was enraged. "No one... hurts my family!"

Her anger boiled forth, exploding through her body and out her fingers in the form of Force lightning. Sending the lighting arching across the air and into the Mand'alor's body, she caught him into a Force grip to slam him into the wall hard enough to crate a large dent in the durrasteel wall.

E'XingXin heard a scream that died down to a moan as the Mand'alor surrendered to his injuries and E'Ren's attack.

Rushing to her brother's side, she lifted his head onto his lap. Opening herself to the Force she cradled his presence and assisted him to recover.