Darknet Cage Match Round 2: Sortz vs Thephina Knight

[Jerec Asyr]

[SIZE=11pt]Deep in Sith Empire territory, the government controls the HoloNet with an iron fist. But outside Imperial monitoring, a patchy, furtive network swaps unregulated data, raw footage, contraband, and things that thrive in the dark. Two of those things are the Darknet Cage Match, and the betting attached thereunto.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The arena is a [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]section of industrial hallway with a firmly bolted blast door at each end[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]. There’s a metric heckton of ysalamiri around somewhere, but not reachable. No Force. No weapons. No gimmicks, no gear. And no referees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]In corner one: [member="Sortz"], [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]the she-hulk of the spacelanes[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]! In the other, [member="Thephina Knight"], [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]enforcer of the endless void[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]! And at stake: one customized Gallofree Transports [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]NUM707 HOVERBUS[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]![/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A light goes yellow, orange, red - and stays red.[/SIZE]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

Theph stepped into the corridor.

Another round, another arena vastly different from the last one. She calmly ran her the heel of her boot against the floor. It wasn't great. Last time was better with the rough gritty stones. Better purchase than the brushed industrial metal under her heels. Another issue was the tight corridor. There was just enough room to navigate in, but not enough room to circle comfortably. Theph usually could give a chit about that. Biggest, baddest mountain of muscle in any bar or dark alleyway.

Then [member="Sortz"] stepped on through her side.

Theph's head kept on traveling up to size her up. Dang, she keeps on going, no? A step forward, already rising her fists, while trying to get a good handle on their room.

Another two steps forward. Keeping it light on the balls of her feet. This was odd to Theph to say the least. Usually she just planted herself on the ground. Let them swing at her, 'til they was tired. Then start beating them to pulp. Or push against them hard, if they refuse to move on their own accord like her first match in this event.

This was going to be far more challenging.

Sortz got a quick nod. Firm. Respect from one mountain to the next. It was more than she usually gave to folk.

 

[Sortz]

It had been....

A lot of money.

Like.

A lot.

At least it felt that way to Sortz. When they'd told them the fight was over, since neither of them had technically *won* she hadn't been expecting anything. But apparently it had been amusing enough to have been worth it, and when they'd ushered her to another area, she'd just kind of gone along, bemused more than anything else.

"Uh, can you find my dad and let him know what's going on I guess?"

Somewhere he was wandering around drunk, probably wondering where she was.

The hallway was different. Neither better nor worse, just.... different. And so was her opponent. Still small. So small. But not AS small. Way less delicate looking. The Tro'zet looked around for a minute, catching her nod and giving one in return. Less chatty. Good or bad? Undecided. The last woman had been perfectly nice, and honestly Sortz was just glad she hadn't hurt her.

Sortz didn't do light. Under any circumstances. And just like in the last fight, she didn't start this one out looking to hurt the other woman. Sortz's stance was less of a practiced brawler's, and just solid. Feet flat as her hands came up in front of her. Not fists, half open hands- but for someone with claws that wasn't a huge comfort necessarily she realized.

"I just want to let you know, that I don't intend to hurt you," Sortz said, in as reassuring a tone as an eight foot tall green troll could manage. Moving forward slowly, she lightly swung out- the motion slow, the hand open. More a swat if it landed than anything else, if she judged it right.

[member="Thephina Knight"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sortz"]

The voice was about what Theph was expecting.

Low, rough, like the troll had been swallowing marbles all night long. Now... the words themselves? Feth, no. She hadn't been expecting that in a million years. Maybe if she had watched the re-run of the other match it would have been different. Theph didn't get the chance. Ushered straight from one ring to the other. Just the way things worked here. Made sense. Less chance of the fighters prepping themselves in advance. This way every fight was a surprise.

"You are in the wrong place then." Theph replied impassively.

This wasn't a hard feelings kind of thing, even if she was mildly perplexed. They were here to fight. One would be on the ground, the other wasn't. Just the way things worked. Oh, but now the blood started pumping though, the way Sortz approached.

Steady, slow.

The swat was anticipated. Just as slow as her stride.

There was nothing slow about Theph's retort.

Didn't try to block it, instead she used that slow swing. Stepping a bit to the side and then launching a punch- aimed squarely at the inside of Sortz' elbow. Trying to slam into her joint and at least weaken her arm. See. This was the thing about being the smaller, trying to punch up to a bigger one. Most folk tried to do a death by a thousand cuts type of deal. Problem was? They were only tiring themselves out, while the big arse mountain of muscle took it in. That wasn't the way to go. It never worked on her, so she wasn't even going to try and do it to this giantess.

Desperate measures ask for creative solutions.

Theph hated being creative.

 

[Sortz]

"Well yes, actually I am-"

Sortz wasn't really used to feeling when people hit her. It wasn't that she was immune or her senses were dulled, it was just that most beings that tried weren't big enough or strong enough to be much more than an irritation. Theph?

Theph HIT.

Sortz blinked in genuine surprise as the flash of pain from the strike inside of her elbow lanced up her arm. Would it have seriously hurt in a tougher place? Probably not. But it certainly did there and the Tro'zet had not been expecting it.

"Ow."

There was no alarm or volume behind that word. Just a flat, kind of curious tone there.

Her right arm knocked out wide as the human stepped in, and Sortz looked down, more perplexed and surprised than offended.

With her other hand she reached down- palm open, faster this time. Aiming to clasp the other woman's face in her hand and shove her back. Possibly a touch harder than necessary.

[member="Thephina Knight"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sortz"]

Arm blown wide Theph was about to follow up-

Big ass hand came down into her face. It felt claustrophobic. The way it just managed to encapsulate most of her head. Just a tiny squeeze... and her head would go pop. That mental image was enough for panic. Panic enough to start slamming her fist into Sortz's extended arm. Trying to crack her elbow. Repeatedly. Luckily for both of them Sortz pushed (thrust?) Theph back. If for a moment the woman was happy about the newfound freedom, that swiftly turned into the ol'...

Oh-oh reaction.

"Gah!"

Fresh air and then she was flying backwards. It was all Theph had not to fall on her ass. Instead she managed to grab for a bolt protracting from the wall. Keeping her up. "Wrong place? Left arse cheek, ya jus' in the right place."

Adrenaline replacing the moment of anxiety.

This was it. The fight Theph had wanted since she got out of prison. She pushed herself off the wall, moving in fast (for her anyway). First a feint to her face, before trying to kick her knee inward. The first impression had only solidified itself for Thephina. Trying to heat the wall of meat? No sense in it. No point. It would like trying to smash bare knuckles into literal concrete. All it would leave her were broken bones. Maybe even some broken pride.

Luckily she knew how to fight dirty.