TKO High School Shockboxing Rules!

[Jorus Merrill]

The desolate world of Pergitor packed its civilization, such as it was, into sealed domes. Life inside ranged from Mos Eisley to Nar Shaddaa with a stopoff at Ord Mantell along the way. One such dome held a locally famous shockboxing arena, and the Underground had pulled a string or two.

The function was just about private -- you couldn't advertise an interplanetary resistance movement's internal sporting events, after all -- but a few non-Undergrounders were present. Friends, old business associates, the usual. No disaster would result if they saw people's faces. No consternation would result when they got a whiff of how the Underground had fun.

The shockboxing arena held a dozen conductive cages with padded floors, each surrounded by standing room and raised tiers of seating. Brilliant neon holograms and pale spotlights made the arena a riot of colour. Trusted vendors hawked refreshments of every description. Humans were a minority here, and the recently washed even more so. A few of these people were fresh off the Castameer evacuation, still daubed in engine grease and blaster char.

The two-headed announcer kept up a running commentary in both Basic and rubbery, boisterous Huttese -- for each one of the matches. How he did it was a matter of some speculation. Strong in the Force, perhaps. "And none of this Jedi funny business, unga bunga!"

Jorus ate popcorn. He'd done more than his share of shockboxing over the years, but today he was quite content to let the folks get to it without him.

***​

HUTTWEIGHT​

[member="Rekali the Hutt"] vs [member="Julius Sedaire"]​

[member="Jericho"] vs [member="Lysle of the Hydian Way"]​

​

MIDWEIGHT​

[member="Bryce Bantam"] vs [member="Matthew Robinson"] and [member="Aeshi Tillian"]​

[member="Kaili Talith"] vs [member="Fable Merrill"]​

​

NUNAWEIGHT​

[member="Kytra Odran"] vs [member="Lily Hex-Volsh"]​

[member="3X744"] vs [member="Lok Munin"]​

 

[Rekali the Hutt]

Rekali the Hutt punched his fists at a bag in front of him, spots charring as the massive electro-prod gauntlets.

"You know boss, I know you want to get fit and fight ready and stuff, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind." Kijo the rodian said as he handed the slug some water.

"Electricity is a big weapon of the Sith. They chuck it like candy, I need to feel it. Know what it's like. Furthermore our contacts say this is some sort of cell of revolutionaries. We don't know exactly what they're doing, but if I have a good showing perhaps we can sell them some blasters." Rekali retorted, and the rodian just shrugged.

"Alright boss, I'll work the stands. You got five minutes till time. You ready?" Kijo asked.

"No. But on the other hand, who's ready to shockbox with a Hutt?"


[member="Julius Sedaire"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Bryce waited by the door to the arena. His fists were heavily taped under the shock-gloves. His normal red jacket had given way to a simple black undershirt and loose fitting pants. He could hear the crowd as they waiting for the combatants to enter. This was blood sport, pure, raw and exactly the pulse pounding competition Bryce was looking for. Ever since Kal'shebbal he was always looking for ways to test himself. Get stronger and more able to defend those in his care. Today he would go against at least one of his peers. Friendship would by put aside as they met as warriors.

Beside him his faithful astromech was swearing up a storm in binary, commenting not only on the foolishness of the sport but also at the state of his senses. She had a point, going into an electrified ring with the mindset to knock out a possible friend was a ludicrous proposition but that kinda fit those what were drawn to the outback. Smiling Bryce merely put his hand on the dome of his four millennia old friend and said.

"I know Sady girl, but I need to do this..."

 

[Lysle of the Hydian Way]

[ T H E M E ]

Lysle of the Hydian Way found himself strolling down the darkened corridors of a shockboxing arena, none other than in the Kathol Outback. Shockboxing is what Lysle knew most of his life, and he had applied the brutal lessons he learnt as a professional shockboxer into his other jobs, one was as the Vice President of the Red Ravens. Some considered him a living legend for what he did to the Black Sun Syndicate, but most saw him as your common thug, albeit better dressed.

Despite everything that had come and gone in his life, shockboxing had always stuck around. He had learnt the principles on fighting by a pair of Mandalorian twins, and later as he conquered underground boxing rings he went professional, but it didn't last long, not when your criminal record was as long as any given novel. So he fled to Nar Shaddaa, forged his own ring on Antecedant, and when his empire began to collapse, he fled into the Unknown Regions.

Since then he operated from Neos, rarely left unless it was a special occasion. One such was this event. Not many shockboxing events were going around, not when the galaxy was concerned with constant wars, shifting politics and superweapons willing to blow up your home planet. He surmised he was lucky than that he had Neos, about one of the last places that regularly held shockboxing events, not that it was legal. In fact, Neos was a haven for the elite class criminal.

The former crime lord stood at the end of the corridor, his head darted left and right, and strode towards the rings, and the roaring crowd. He held no entourage but his own company, his hands flexed, and briefly before entering the ring he gladly accepted the pair of gloves he was given. He checked the dials and spun them until it registered as a hard shock. He didn't want to cook his opponent. As the volunteer-coach placed the mouth-piece between Lysle's lips, the shockboxer clapped his fists and entered the ring.


[member="Jericho"]

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Not getting stepped on what kind of the focus of Hirou's morning so far.

The Nezumi had never been around this many Too Bigs before. It was more than a little intimidating, and Hirou's laid back ears and tail curled around their midsection gave away their discomfort with the situation. Scampering too and fro, trying an occasional "excuse me" or "look out!" the little creature eventually found their way up to the actual stands around the cages. Much safer than the floor.

So just why was Hirou here? Why, to cheer on their friend [member="3X744"] of course! The Nezumi didn't know what this 'shock boxing', but if it was half as exciting as trying to navigate the event floor, well-

Hmmm. Hopefully it wouldn't be *that* exciting.

 

[Fable Merrill]

Fable was ready. She was so incredibly ready, that she had to keep reminding herself how ready she was, and forcing herself to calm down. This wasn't the small time, her usual circuit of shaded, smoke-filed bars on Void Station. This was the real thing, legitimate shock boxing. They'd weighed her and everything - thanks to mom for keeping her out of Nunaweight, where she likely would have cleaned up. She was going into that ring as Fable, for once, and not the dreaded Fatallica. It was a little strange.

They'd even provided a dress code. Fable approved, especially since she'd invited half the clan, Razelle and Jatie to come see her semi-legitimate semi-debut. A pair of practice gloves - those that weren't live-wired - on her hands, Fable hammered a heavy bag to warm up. Just because she wasn't allowed to use the Force out there didn't mean that she couldn't back here; like a machine gun, Fable fired brutal rabbit punches into a bad that'd done nothing to her, hearing her muscles sing and her skin bead sweat. She could do this. She WOULD do this. It'd be awesome. And she just might win.

 

[Razelle Breuner]

Standing behind [member="Fable Merrill"]'s punching bag, Raz held on tight, keeping it steady to force a proper follow-through. "Your arms are loose. Bring 'em in." She stepped back a couple of feet, holding her own arms in a box guard around her torso. "In here. They move less when you get hit. Lets you disperse more momentum." Also tended to help you grab someone's fist and wrench it until it broke, but that was so very "illegal" in this nonsense little exhibition sport. If she hadn't personally seen Fable put this junk to use in a real fight, she would have wrote the whole thing off as spectacle and leave it at that.

Speaking of spectacle...

The tiny blonde stepped forward after Fable finished another series, a standard-cut smirk on her lips and a stim stick in her mouth, as per normal. The bloodshot look of her eyes and the bags beneath them would have told anyone all they needed to know about Razelle Breuner. "You're in great shape, kitten. You're gonna be fine." She grinned and stepped closer, pulling the busty girl in for a tight hug. "Give 'em your best. They'll see you bleed, but they won't see you beaten."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Matthew Robinson"]

--------------------------

Aeshi had changed clothes for this event, ditching her spacer's gear for some loose pants tucked into boots and a white under-tank. She stood just outside the main floor now, braiding her hair. She considered this as her fingers quickly tied put the braid in place before rolling her neck. There was a punching bag to warm up with and she stepped up to it, wrapping strips of linen tight around her hands before putting on the gloves. She turned them down to a shock- not lethal but certainly noticeable. It wasn't meant to seriously injure anyone.

The young Warden ran through her stretches, starting with the largest muscle groups before working down to even the smallest ones. It was half exercise, half meditation. The motion calmed her mind and eased some of the tension. It had been years since she had fought competitively and nothing quite like this one. Mostly just amateur fights on Coruscant before she had managed to get off world. They'd had no shock gloves then. It had been bare knuckle.

This would be different. She had unarmed training now and experience. Her fists pounded into the bag, striking it at what seemed odd angles to the volunteer coach. They weren't designed to work as punches. They meant as spear-handed strikes with finger tips and edges. Aeshi wasn't sure how well that would go, but it was how she had learned to fight.

She was ready now. Giving a nod to the coach, she strode onto the floor, sifting through the crowd until she found her assigned ring. Without pausing, she pulled herself up in and rolled her shoulders. No environment to help her out. Nothing to really use as advantage or disadvantage. Just her skill in brawling. She could work with that. Especially interesting on who her opponents were.

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili remained seated in her changing room staring at her hands and the gloves that she had covered them with. Her mind screeched at her to get the assigned outfit off. Did it have to be so damn tight? Why was it that it had to hug her chest and stomach like a Hutt on a Princess? Part of her told her she was in over her head, the other part was excited to get the fight underway. Nobody she knew had been made aware of the fact that she was here, even less people could have expected it. In a sense she was out of her depth here, and in another… Well, no that was just about the best way to describe Kaili and the position she had gotten herself into. She was someone who was out of their zone and would either thrive or get the single worst beating of their life as far as egos were concerned.

She got up on her feet and shook herself awake. No pep talk, no brutish jokes about sizes or bodily rewards. No promises of glory, no reassurance that she was about to not-lose.

It was just a girl and her will to survive.

Or, well, will to not get hit or lose. Both. Deep breath, “Oh boy. This was a mistake.”

[member="Fable Merrill"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_rf2d894k

"You sure you should be drinking like that before a fight, J?"

The snark dripped off his trainers voice, a fellow Corellian with skin dark as coal and a reputation shadier than the slums of Nar Shadda. But they had run guns and chased skirts in his smuggling days. And Nigel wasn't exactly the sort you let watch your kids, true... But, if you were fool enough to decide to sign up to shockbox a hutt? Well, he was just the one who might be able to train you up to survive it. Maybe not win, but survive for sure. And really, he had taken Julius' natural combat affinity and honed it pretty well to boxing here and there. Not that Julius was a professional by any means. But he wiped his mouth with the back of a hand and slid his gloves on, setting down the bottle.

"Yessuh I am. Call it preventive pain management. If I'm a little drunk I won't notice it when the slug hits me hard enough I'm spitting molars."

Rolling shoulders, the Corellian assumed an old stance he had seen on holovids, both hands up straight and close(think stereotyped Irish boxing stance), and began drilling into the bag while ducking and moving. His feet never really seemed to stay in one place, nor did his torso seem to move the same direction as his feet. He couldn't out strength the Hutt. So the idea here was to just never be where the Hutt was striking at. Without the Force he wasn't blurring from sight. But he had always been fast. Always.

Slipping the bright green and white robe on and tying the sash for it at his waist, Julius pulled the hood up to shadow his face, cracking the gauntlets together as he bounced on the balls of his feet, psyching himself up.

[member="Rekali the Hutt"]

 

[Jericho]

Jericho walked slowly out to the ring, each step silent under the roar of the crowds of people around him wanting to watch the fights. Though they roared with excitement and delight, for him they were drowned out by his own thoughts. The sounds of screams of thousands of men, women, children, monsters and the like echoing constantly over and over again to the point it made the silent man want to scream. He has been in many battles, wars, he has seen catastrophe endeavors that would make normal men and women insane, though at this point, who said he wasn't? He thought of the most recent of his battles especially that of Korriban, he was the jedi in charge of the battle and thought of the battle as much as the screams echoed through his mind. What could he have done to stop that blast? Could he have done more for those who fell to the monsters? What could he do to be a better leader and uphold his title as as council member? The warrior clenched his fist as tightly as he could angered at how much of a failure he was to his people.

The warrior adjusted his mask to ensure it was fastened and tight and pulled on his own gloves and warmed up with light shadow boxing. The moment he set foot into the ring, he felt at home, his mind narrowed and focused on the task at hand. He was a nobody, aside from Jorus who sat in the stands, no one knew him. He was not a jedi. He was not a leader. He was not anything but a man. He took in a deep inhale and long exhale before facing his opponent and gave him a short bow then raising his hands up ready for the fight waiting for that first bell to ring and initiate the fight.

[member="Lysle of the Hydian Way"]

 

[Matthew Robinson]

"....no, I'm not trying to get into an argy-bargy 'bout it. I'm just asking where's the switch to turn these off?" Matt held up one gloved-hand to the ring attendant, a short little squatter of an ewok. Matt waggled his dark-brows. "It's a valid question, mate."

The little being chitter-chattered at Matt, threw up its paws, and stomped off.

"Well, he was a bit miffed," Matt mused to the air and scratched his stubbled-chin with the non-gloved hand. Mouth-guard went in over his already crooked teeth. A girl entered the other corner of the ring. He caught a flash of red-hair in the crowd.

Probably Brycey.

Oy and great, a blimin' girl! At least it wasn't Aeron. She'd kick his arse. And then some.

He flashed a crooked and mouth-guarded grin to [member="Aeshi Tillian"]. "Namempfffs, Matt." He waved. Then he frowned. If he and Bryce were fighting in here. Who were the medics going to be?!






[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Aeshi Tillian"] [member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

There was no music for fanfare in shock-boxing. Just competitors with a need to prove themselves in semi-honorable combat. Bryce walked through the ropes and calmly took a spot by one of the corners of the ring. As he waited her could hear the sizzle and crack of the metal cage behind him. This was gonna be intense and he strangely looked forward to the challenge.

Closing his eyes he began to relax his mind.

With circular breathing his relaxed he body.

This was a three-way match, just about anything goes. So if he was to win he would need to keep his focus, and try to resist using his force powers...

[member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"]

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

The small Mandalorian boy was a little confused.

Wasn't boxing just about hitting people? What was with the gloves? Or the stuff in their mouth?

The Army combatives training that the Clone Troopers received as part of their indoctrination program was based more on grappling and joint locks. As he watched the matches, this looked more like dancing. And wasn't dancing for girls? Seriously, people were doing all kinds of things with their feet, and being weird with how they were doing these jab things...

What did dancing have to do with fightning?

Maybe [member="Vilaz Munin"] or [member="Lok Munin"] would help explain it to him. Or even Tabi, as the child had seen the mouse-person scampering around the arena.

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"]​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Matthew Robinson"]
--------------------

Aeshi rolled her neck as the two opponents entered the field. Both seemed fairly decent at this sort of thing. Her gloves buzzed with energy as she shook out her arms within the center of the ring. A referee entered the ring, heading towards the center, holding up her arms to a count. Then the countdown hit zero and she stepped out of the way. The match had begun- all that remained was a rather brutal three way fight. That meant she'd have to fight harder and smarter to win.

Use the fact there were two of them against each. She circled off to one side, putting the less gingery one between her and the very ginger. Her mind was clicking through combat forms and techniques, but she had to push them aside as nerves fluttered in her stomach and up her chest. This was shockboxing. Not a life or death battle within the confines of a starship. It took different tactics and techniques.

Rules on the Force were... well... it was frowned on. But if she didn't use anything noticeable, she could probably get away with it. It helped she didn't particiularly do all that much with visible Force powers.

She took a few quick, deep breaths and moved towards the first opponent, bringing her hands up in a high guard. See how he would respond to that before engaging further.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]


Fable was, to say the least, marginally delighted once she was on her way out to the boxing ring. When was the last time she fought in a proper exhibition without thigh-high leather boots and pasties? Maybe never. She was in ACTUAL athletic gear. Her hair was tied back! They'd even insisted she wear a mouth guard, which Fable was quietly resistant to but hadn't wanted to make a big deal about. Also, there was an actual crowd, and none of them would be throwing in chairs or trying to tip her. That was nice, too. Though with a crowd like this, Fable idly speculated - insofar as she was capable of speculation - that there were a lot of tips to be made.

Once in the ring, Fable touched gloves with, and sized up, her opponent. A tall, pretty blonde with a steely look in her eyes. Fable liked that look, or would have liked it a lot more were she not about to punchsport the face that determined face belonged to. A person with eyes like that didn't know how to lose gracefully, and people who didn't lose gracefully tended not to win gracefully, either. Unfortunate for Fable, as she'd have earned someone's ire regardless of how this match played out.

When the bell rung, signaling the start of the match, Fable squared up into a fairly tight, practiced stance, circling her opponent. She was less a disciplined martial artist and more somebody who'd been in a great deal of fights - some of which had just so happened to occur inside a boxing ring - and her footwork showed this. Among the many things Fable had in common with her mom was a tendency to rely on natural ability and talent over honed martial skill.

Fable didn't bother testing her opponent's guard. She opened up with a flurry of vicious jabs, her electrified gloves crackling with power. She wasn't going for vitals, she wasn't being technical, and she fully expected the tall blonde to block - Fable just intended to hammer her guard with hard-hitting electrical punches until that guard broke, either due to pain or to retaliate.

Brute force was her bread and butter, after all, and she'd get to Kaili's jaw if she had to shatter her forearms to get there.

 

[Kaili Talith]

Okay.

Okay. You got this Kaili. No problem.

The girl shook herself awake and readied up. Outfit still too tight for comfort, gloves feeling heavier than she’d expected. The looks from all around the dressing room felt like it said a lot. She was pretty, she was fragile. At least by the standards of those that surrounded her. The boots on her feet felt like they were made of concrete; each step felt like a small earthquake. It was her nerves and it was showing. The women around her seemed to snicker, they knew how unready the girl was.

Girl.

Accurate.

The blonde approached the ring with the look of a frightened kitten, stepped inside the ring as a stale white plate of nothing at all. She could feel her own heartbeat the closer she got to the center of the ring where her opponent stood. It was someone named ‘Fable.’ Kaili put it to memory. Their gloves touched and the two of them sized each other up. There was no denying that despite everything that was going on, Fable looked pretty okay as well.

Wait, was this the ‘pretty’ round?

No. Kaili could not think on that. She took a deep breath and focused on the here and now instead as she assumed her stance. Fable circled her much like Kaili would circle her brother when they were still children fighting in the sand. She knew this tactic. Eyes locked on to the other fighter with renewed confidence.

… Not that there was a lot of it to gain from a simple observation.

Fable took a step closer and then another. Fists began flying in a flurry and Kaili responded with the predicted block. She masked up the initial surprise at the other woman’s strength. They hit good. They hit hard. That complicated things.

An opening showed itself and Kaili quickly grabbed it as Fable withdrew her arm for another punch. She needed to attack, keep the punches away from herself or risk draining herself. There was little time to think, Kaili utilized a quick jab for the brunette’s stomach before trying to follow it up with another for the face.

It’d have to do.

[member="Fable Merrill"]

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]


The pretty blonde had a tight guard, and good instincts. She even, Fable realized, knew how to throw a punch. REALLY well! The first jab slipped under Fable's assault and hit her just above the belly button. The impact didn't hurt as much as the dosage of electricity that the hit delivered to her solarplexus, mostly because the electricity was really gorram painful. Had she not been doing this for a couple years now, Fable knew that the muscle spam that followed would have stood a good chance of forcing her to curl into a little ball of twitch. Not many people worked in fields were they had to develop a resistance to electricity, honestly, but Fable did... And even without the Force, her capacity to absorb punishment was both incredible and unhealthy, just as she'd been designed.

Speculation was a mistake, though, because a half-second layer, the pretty blonde threw a lighting-quick jab at her face. At that sweet spot around her chin, Fable guessed, dipping her upper body down and to the side just in time for the blow to skip off of her cheekbone, leaving a trail of tingling flesh. And maybe some light burns. She was quick, and she knew what she was doing - that slightly lost expression the blonde had been wearing likely had nothing to do with combat.

As though startled, Fable took a small hop backwards like she wanted to regain breathing room, but then IMMEDIATELY stepped in with a massive, powerful lunge of a right straight. The move was unconventional in a boxing ring, maybe, but would be fairly familiar to anyone who'd seen lightsaber Form 2 in action. It was, simply put, a feint to scare her guard down low. At the last moment, Fable brought her fist in and stood upright, her entire upper-body twisting to add power as she brought her left up for a devastating hook aimed for the blonde's temple.

 

[Lok Xiangu]

"Are you sure I'm in the right weight class? I feel like being a Mando boosts me up a level."

"Sorry, kid. Rules are rules."

Now Lok had heard of shock boxing in his life, but he had never practiced it at all. All he knew was that it was like boxing, but both contestants had gloves that discharged electricity whenever it made contact with someone or something. The young Mandalorian wasn't sure if his adopted father had ever done this sport before, but he highly doubted at that thought as Vilaz would try to teach him everything he learned and knew from combat.

"Alright, you're up."

The Munin would step into the playing field and noticed that his opponent was someone from his clan. This was going to be a bit awkward.

"I think you guys have a made a mistake."

[member="3X744"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

It was exhilarating on one end to finally punch someone and get away with it as much as it was terrifying on another. In many ways this entire thing went against Kaili and her belief in non-violent means to end conflict, but sometimes her whims seemed to quite simply carry her in the direction that was the opposite of her beliefs. She would find some solace in the fact that it was all regulated and that at the end of the day it was all just a game or sport.

Not that it would last all that long.

Fist came flying, Kaili moved to block and-

“Kark!” The electricity stung. Kaili recoiled and quickly took a few steps back to let the shock subside. She was used to the sting and burn associated with electricity since she was a kid, but having both a great deal of force behind it as well as the shock… Not so much. Instinct had her trying to absorb as much of it as she could before she remembered the rules. No force powers. She wanted to. Would anyone notice? No. Better be safe than sorry. Kaili stopped herself.

The sparks continued to sting, but the worst of it was gone. There was a new fire in Kaili’s eyes as she focused on her opponent. The orange hue remained the same, but their stare had not. The fire shot out like invisible beams trying to set her opponent aflame with a mere look. This was what she had forgotten to remind herself about. The top of her glove traced along her cheek to wipe at the zone of impact, her nostrils flared.

Kaili wasn’t a sore loser.

She was worse.

With her eyes fixed upon Fable, Kaili launched another attack. A calculated step up to her opponent in which she skipped the theatrics and went straight for the head with a careful blow. She wanted her opponent to taste that same pain that she had felt, she wanted to make this ‘Fable’ understand how this was going to play out.

Kaili wanted to win. Kaili was going to win.

[member="Fable Merrill"]