Lightside Sith 042

Kaine didn't have much time to collect himself as the royal barge plowed forward. Its gilded ram shoved a broken skiff aside, and rushed through the water via a motor, leaving the gladiators fresh for the fight. 

‘Historically accurate my ass.’ Kaine thought to himself, glad he had the foresight to send Team Renstar out ahead of time to infiltrate the palace. 

Meanwhile, Grakkus's six-legged droid mount unfolded beneath him, lifting his broad shoulders above the rail. The Hutt settled his ancient mace across one palm and looked Kaine over like a butcher examining a bovine. 

The royal barge did a small victory lap around the broken ‘Sith’ wargalley, and the big slug flexed, savoring the attention of the jeering cloud. Eventually he grew weary of the adulation, and directed his ship to gently pull up besides Kaine's. 

Twenty-four gladiators filed out in close formation. Their gear looked almost ceremonial, but their equipment definitely didn't conform to the previously agreed upon rules. A copper-studded baton spat blue sparks, another warrior carried a net gun, whilst someone else had a sonic emitter. 

Kaine glanced at the ‘injured’ or ‘dead' clones, and waited for the enemy to advance. 

The first gladiator came at him with the shock baton raised. Kaine turned the blow aside with his warblade and struck the man across the mouth with the pommel. The gladiator crashed into the one behind him, making them stumble. Kaine used the opening to vault over a spear thrust, and used his superior physique to drive his blade through a shield, resulting in a brutal squelching noise. 

Then the net gun fired, and he shoulder checked the dying goon towards the net, making his corpse tilt over uselessly, feeding the waiting maw down in the depths. 

Grakkus slapped his thigh, delighted at the act. “Yes! Make them work for it!”

“These weaklings are hardly worth my time.” Kaine flashed him a bloody grin.

+1LP +1LP +1LP 

Just as he was showcasing his dominance, a thin, needling whine cut through the clash of weapons. It seemed to come from inside Kaine’s skull. His vision lurched, and in that moment, he felt queasy in the stomach, like he was about to barf. Although he could've reacted with the Force, Kaine took the next hit all to lull the big bastard into a false sense of security. 

The next moment, a baton cracked across his ribs, and an electrical current crawled over the gold plates, making his muscles spasm. 

A second gladiator swung for his head, to which Kaine caught the man’s wrist and dragged him across the sonic emitter’s line of fire. The gladiator was not as impressive as a Sith, and when his ears started to bleed, the big muscular warrior started to scream like a baby. Kaine flashed a pair of sharpened white teeth, disdaining the weakling, and then he telekineticly tossed the 7ft tall+ man at the one wielding the sonic emitter. The duo crumpled like a car meeting a boulder, and went screaming over the rails. 

Jamming his blade into a dying gladiator to recover, he began to utilize Soresu to survive. Allowing himself to be pushed back by over a dozen spears, Kaine used his super human reflexes, and small amount of Force-based future-sight to survive against these drugged up, cybernetic foes. Although they were no General Grievous, fighting against these guys was genuinely difficult without his lightsaber, or a large area to maneuver around. 

They drove him toward the mast where a handful of men were attempting to pin him down with heavy whip-like ropes. 

He seized one line and wrapped it around his forearm. The man holding the other end wanted to release his grip, but Kaine was too fast. Whipping the heavy rope to the side, he dragged the man into a waiting spear, and then lashed another combatant across the face with such force, it caved in a portion of his skull, revealing a cybernetic face. 

There wasn't much time to celebrate this minor triumph, as Kaine scrambled along the bench when yet another net gun unloaded towards him. A baton spun away as he wrenched it out of someone's grasp with the Force, and flew towards Grakkus. The big slug snorted, and swatted it away with a backhand. When the current sent a shock into his body, Grakkus's eyes became slits as he found pleasure in the pain. 

Another two sonic emitters were raised at him, but this time Kaine wouldn't allow them the satisfaction. [Inflict Pain] made both gladiators pass out, foaming at the mouth. 

A broad shouldered alien bulging with muscle, and sporting a prickly tannish face, a Nikto, advanced with a shock pike aimed at Kaine’s throat. Flanked on all sides, several truly elite cyborgs rushed at Kaine with speed that wasn't inferior to his own. Sending out a small pulse in the Force, Kaine determined it was time to spring their little trap. 

“Up!” The clone Commander shouted at his men. 

Wielding their weapons, the men of the Republic formed a phalanx around their hated enemy-the Sith-and fought for their freedom against the Hutt. 

One clone vaulted over the barge’s stern and drove his shield into a net gunner. Another helped Kaine block the oncoming shock pike. The rest came aboard in a rush of spears and warcrys. 

For a time, these most bitter of enemies fought shoulder to shoulder. The gladiators tried to turn their gadgets on the clones, but the troopers worked in pairs. A shield caught a net while its owner dropped it and thrust past his brother’s shoulder. One clone managed to wrench a shock baton away and introduced its owner to a painful lesson. 

As Grakkus’s laughter died, the cheers of the crowd seemed to grow ever more fervent. Republic & CIS teaming up seemed unimaginable, but if there was anyone the denizens of the galaxy wouldn't mind suffering, it was a Hutt! At that moment, almost everyone in that crowd were secretly cheering the clones & Kaine on, not daring to openly mock Grakkus, lest he order the entire stadium massacred. Because the slime had done so before! Yet even so, this was their deepest, darkest wish. 

“You. What other tricks do you have for me?” Grakkus asked in curiosity, not at all flustered. 

Kaine pulled his sword free of a fallen gladiator, and chuckled, then looked at the Hutt in disdain. “Wouldn't you like to know?” 

The next second, the Hutt tapped some buttons on his droid mount, and several things occurred. For one, a series of giant buzzsaws started to come down from the ceiling, on the arena edges, a wave of arrows started to shoot towards Kaine's ship one after another, and even a droid sniper on a jetpack had him in his sights. 

“I built this arena. The blood and sweat of more than 300 years was put into this passion. And you think to take it from me, boy?” Grakkus condescended, and let loose with a deep belly laugh. “Oh hoh hoh. I haven't laughed so richly in many decades. I will enjoy feasting upon your skull.” 

“Down, everyone down!” The Commander shouted.

Grakkus looked on in amusement as several of his own elites were skewered, or sliced in half by a buzzsaw. Even the one who took a hit from the droid sniper-who had been body blocked by the Sith-earned a rich laugh. However, that laugh was cut short as all of his traps suddenly stopped working, and the droid was blasted out of the sky. Before he had time to retreat, the large pool of water began to form a whirlpool, and the royal barge started to twist, turn, and groan whilst sinking deeper. It was as if the drain of a bathtub had been been unplugged, and everyone was going down! 

It was then that the orange-skinned alien, Nahdar Vebb, surfaced beside the barge, standing on the head of a sea creature. Water poured from his robes, and a brilliant light flashed in his big eyes. 

“Typical of a Jedi. Arriving late to steal all my credit?” Kaine snorted. 

“Nonsense. A Jedi arrives precisely when he is needed. Not a moment too soon, not a moment too late.” Vebb simply, and calmly stated, truly embodying the ideal warrior-monk aesthetic. 

Grakkus lurched upright as his spider mount struggled to maintain balance due to the drain. 

“A clever trap, wormlings. Clever indeed.” Grakkus said with narrowed eyes. “Whatever my ‘sibling’ promised, I shall offer triple, and a gift of a holocron of your choice.” 

Vebb narrowed his eyes, obviously tempted, but he was a Jedi Knight through & through. Shaking his head, the Mon Calamari wordlessly denied the offer. 

“I doubt you could triple your connection.” Kaine sarcastically remarked. 

Grakkus didn't say anything, but if the flick of his tail, and rapid +1LP +1LP +1LP was anything to go by, he was nettled.

Vebb sprang for the deck, and with the clones keeping the remaining gladiators busy, both Jedi & Sith moved to confront the Hutt. 

Grakkus's mount bounded towards them at incredible speeds. Its six steel legs struck the deck hard enough to send a tremor throughout the entire structure. Kaine rolled beneath the mace as it smashed through the mast’s lower railing. Vebb vaulted a stabbing mechanical foot and drove his trident toward Grakkus’s side. 

The Hutt caught the weapon against an armored bracer and punched Vebb square in the chest. The Jedi flew backward across a bench, barely mitigating the power behind that attack with the Force. 

Kaine's warblade hammered against a bracer, rang off the mace’s shaft, and came around again & again. Grakkus met every blow with strength enough to drive Kaine a step back.

The droid joined in too, and wasn't remaining idle. One leg hooked behind Kaine’s knee while another stabbed for his thigh. Vebb jammed his trident between the moving joints, stalling the machine just enough that Kaine could not only escape, but retaliate! Gathering his power, the Sith warrior sheared straight through the metal leg with his runeblade. 

The mount shifted its weight to stabilize, and Grakkus wordlessly bellowed his challenge. The Hutt's tail swept Kaine across the waist and sent him over the rail. Kaine caught a hanging rope, his shoulder nearly wrenching from its socket. He swung above the water like a pirate, and swooped back down for a slash at the slug's head. 

Meanwhile, Vebb was giving ground beneath a storm of mace blows. He caught and diverted them with the trident, but each impact drove him another pace toward the stern. Grakkus lifted his weapon for an overhead strike.

Then Kaine came down like a bat out of hell, and hit the Hutt’s shoulder with his blade. The mace smashed into an empty bench as Grakkus momentarily lost his grip. Vebb darted beneath Grakkus’s arm and drove his trident into the mount’s exposed hip joint.

Kaine landed, and cut at another leg, and just as he sensed danger the Hutt moved with a speed that defied reason. Built like a gym rat, Grakkus seized Kaine by the breastplate, and held him above his head with both hands, as if he would rip the Sith in half. 

Right as Kaine felt his muscles tear, Vebb struck Grakkus’s wrist with his trident. The Hutt recoiled, and Kaine rolled forward, gasping in pain. His warblade had fallen into the water at some point, and his body was gassed after so much continuous fighting. The Sith runes may have acted to healing him, but they did not entirely relieve his fatigue, or fix every problem. At that moment, his entire skeleton ached. 

Vebb was putting up a desperate fight, but was ever so slowly being pushed back. Meanwhile, Grakkus’s wounds quickly scabbed over, and his speed was supernatural. 

When Kaine tried to unleash [Inflict Pain], the Hutt simply treated it as the finest elixir. He was a true masochist through and through! 

Gritting his teeth, Kaine desperately searched around him for a weapon that could injure this big bastard, when his eyes settled on a big ass chain. It turned out there really was a plug to this pool, and Vebb-or someone from Team Renstar-must've pulled it open. And leveraging it was a massive chain! Thinking of what Leia did to Jabba in Episode VI, he was inspired. 

Putting every last ounce of strength into the Force, Kaine willed the chain up out of the depths, and whilst Vebb was about to be smashed into pieces, the Hutt was restrained! 

Flexing his muscles, Grakkus nearly broke it all, when Vebb suddenly darted forward, and stabbed him. Trying to swat the Mon Calamari away, the slug couldn't get enough leverage due to the chains! 

Treating this like a dance, the fish-man rapidly stepped forward, stabbed, then ran back. Blood & wounds of all sizes began to spread across the buff Hutt's body, and his movements became increasingly haggard! 

On their own, the chains would be broken, whilst by himself, Vebb would never be able to land so many stabs…but when working together, a miracle was happening. 

“I. Refuse!” Grakkus roared, unreconciled, and foaming at the mouth, his tail flicked left and right, nearly taking Kaine's head off. 

Raising his sword from the water with his mind, the red-skinned Sith telekinetically plunged it into the slug's tail, pinning it in place. The rune'd blade greedily drank his blood, eagerly awaiting the soul of a great being to be bound to its form. 

“THROUGH VICTORY, MY CHAINS ARE BROKEN, SETTING ME FREE!!!!!!!!” 

Kaine's chains finally snapped under the immense pressure, but in doing so, completely and totally crushed Grakkus like a soda can, exploding purple blood as far as the audience stands. 

+100LP

+100LP

+500LP

~~~~~

AN: What will the tabloids say about this Jedi x Sith team-up? The horror!