| abstract | - The arena here has been modified in order to host Arakyd Industries's latest gladiatorial event which is being hyped as the one Dueling Droids event not to be missed. The arena floor itself has been reinforced as well as the walls. Droids entered into the competition are not your average droids - they have been modified extensively, decked with lots of hidden nasty toys designed only to destroy. Practically impenetrable transparisteel viewports have also been installed for the safety of the audience. Speaking of safety, black probe droids hover over the main exits, most likely in constant communication with the local Espo checkpoints. The natural steep slope has been rounded out into near bowl shape. Tiers have been cut back to accommodate the seating of tens of thousands. The individual seats each have a data terminal inset into the right armrest for translation readouts or recording of the spectator's notes. At pit of the reverse rotund raised platform takes advantage of the natural audio amplification making it easy for a speaker's voice to be heard through out the space. Crowds gather... It is before the real event, the droids to be tested aren't here yet, neither are many of the contestants, but the traps are set up, and one of the contestans is here and this one is being represented by... Himself, yes, this contestant is droid servant and master. Zed is welding some spikes to himself, near the arena. He is finishing the last one, on his forarm. Once this is done he sprays them with the same metallic blue paint that covers the rest of his body. Violet smiles as she enters the Resort. It has been quite some time since she has stepped foot on Kalla, especially on an occasion other than business. Violet had gotten a bottle of brandy from the bar upstairs and was trying not to spill it as she attempted to make her way through the crowd to her seat. The yells and screams from anticipating fans was bringing back memories of her swoop racing days. Finally, Vi found her seat, one section up in the first row. The droid who was preparing himself tests the action on his Axe attachments, his arms flip backwards, and the axes foreward to replace his arms. He flips them back again. And then he stands and heads for the main entrance o the Arena, he steps through the gladiators entrance. The thing had been reconfigured so that the Arena itself attacked the contestant. From somewhere, an announcer yells in Basic, "And the first contestant is the modified 501-Z Series Police Droid, Shen-Lung! This match will pit the mechanical monster's speed and strength against the perils of the Arena itself!" And this announcement brings a roar of cheers from the crowd. The fan's roaring felt as if it was shaking the stadium, but the Droids seemed to be enjoying every moment of it...well, that is if droids had feelings. Violet took a gulp out of her bottle, waiting for the games to excellerate. Violet grins as the blue 501 starts the games. A huge Jawa squeezes her way past Violet...he stops in front of her as she looks down at her ticket. Her basic was awful, but thankfully to the human on Vi's left she addressed, not her, "You seat mine." Violet rolled her eyes and looked up at the Jawa. In perfect Jawa, "May I see your ticket?" She handed over the ticket to Vi. Violet scanned it and looked at the human on her left..in basic, "This is her seat, please find your's" The young man started to disagree when Violet slid her hand up her silt a little and revealed her security ID...This was very startling and the man nearly jumped out of the seat with out further arguement. The Jawa squeeled with joy and sat next to Vi. Vi took another drink and was glad to be able to see the arena again. In the Arena, a rather large blade swings towards Zed only moments after he enters the Arena. The droid rolls to the side, avoiding it with ease. As he returns to his feet, spikes leap fourth from the wall behind him and he ducks under them. After this there is a microsecond respite, during which Zed regains his balance and assesses the ring for threats. The commentator, meanwhile says, "And only seconds into the match, the cleaver swings for our Dragon, but wait, he leaps to the side. Ohhh! Will he be survive the impaler? Yes, he does! This arena is no match for our Shen-Lung!" Violet stands on her feet and cheers as the 501 swiftfully dodges the cleaver. As Vi sits down she feels flushed and takes a sip of her beverage. The Jawa to her left seemed to be quite friendly...which Violet found unusually odd, compared with those that she had met before. She looks at Violet, "Thank you ffor assisting me" (in Jawa). VI nods back to her, but the Jawa continues..."My basic name is Lola." Vi nods at her, "I'm Violet." The two look back anxiously into the arena The droid doeasn't have long; soon several cicular blades come spining towards him and the droid attemtps to leap over them. He fails, this, in a way. he leaps over the first and attempts to roll under the second, but it cuts a rut into his shoulder plate. This seems to anger the droid, as he swings his Axe around, attacking the central pole form which he blades are suspended. 501-Zed rolls a 15 for his MELEE COMBAT skill. An Average roll! 501-Zed rolls a 37 with 7D+1. A Heroic roll! Harli drops Mark X Executioner. The axe stroks the post and despite all odds, it slices into the thing, not all the way through, but far enough to sever controll wires. The blades stop spinning. The droid stands, victorious. Siva sat down near the top seats and kicked back, letting his feet rest in the seat in front of him. It looked like some kind of droid deathmatch of sorts. He recognized one of the droids from CSA, what was his name? Zod, or something. He put both thumbs past his lips and whistled for him anyways. Another set of droids entered the arena, with their masters' faces pressed up against the plexiglass window. The audience suddenly flares up as a Mark X Executioner rumbles in on its tread system. It is bulky and slow, but droid duel connoisseurs know that it carries an array of deadly weapons. It pauses at the arena entrance, slowly scanning the area with its lifeless optical cameras it has for eyes. Much of the arena is barren with the exception of a few rubble like walls for cover. There are three walls - one in the center of the arena about 2 meters or 6 feet high and another two at both the far right and left corners that are half sized. Droids don't tire. This is a good job, as Zed had only recently finished fighting the automated traps and machinations of the Arena. And yet, the droid had his wits about him enough to take the initiative as soon as the lumbering, mindless gladiator droid enters the Arena, Zed moves quickly to the centrall wall and waits. He had only his axes, and the flamer would make short work of him if he attempted a direct assault. The Mark Executioner lumbers towards the center, having acquired its target but too slow to being able to overtake it. Its sensors whirr mindlessly as it approaches the center wall and from its left shoulder, looking like one of those Swiss Army knives from some other galaxy far far away, a vibrow-saw extends into an arm, coming to life, its screeching sound announcing its deadly force. The police droid's aural sensors pick up the noise of the saw bursting into life, and he raises his axes, theyr own blades vibrating rapidly. He doesn't speak, why bother? To taunt the mindless puppet? No point. He spins out from his cover, swinging both Axes in unison at where he calculates the 'torso' of the executioner will be, but leaving little thought to defense. Then again, if all goes according to plan, there won't be any need for defence once the blades strike home. The Mark Executioner tries to lift its vibrosaw arm but Zed is too fast and too deadly. Mark cannot block one axe let alone two. The first vibro-axe blow seems to bounce, and for that briefest of nano-seconds, if the Executioner could feel anything other than pain, it would have felt lucky, but the second vibro-axe blow proves to be practically deadly. As Zed's axe plows into Mark X's main chassis, sparks ignite like a fireworks display and it falls onto the arena floor. It tries to get up, its body wobbling in the attempt. Zed hops back away from the shower of sparks, but he brings both Axes behind Him, and swings them in a massive arc over his head, once again leaving his defence wide open, but this looked like it could well be a killing blow, if indeed the blow does connect. All of the droid's hydraulic might goes into the attack, ready to destroy the damaged Droid. 501-Zed rolls a 15 for his MELEE COMBAT skill. An Average roll! Harli rolls a 44 with 5D+1. A Heroic roll! The crowds literally ROAR. They were expecting a quick end to the Mark X but when it somehow manages to miraculously block Zed's, announced as Shen-Long, axe blows most of the crowds are on their feet. It seems that they're getting their money's worth. The Mark X wobbles back on its tread locomotion system. Its vibro-saw arm retracts and it extracts its flame projector. Perhaps he can get in just one hit instead of being Shen-Long's punching bag. The droid's Axes rebound, but Zed is quick fo a droid of his power, far quicker than any factory model of his series. The moment the chemicals mix, Zed is leaping not away, but around and towards the Mark, with another roar as Zed makes his spectacular dodge, and follows up with two Axe-swings to the lower and middle of the droid's side, going for the coolant lines, controll wires and power cables that filled the narrower section of the droid. The Mark X wields its flamethrower and as soon as the flames die it is suddenly assaulted by Shen-Long. The first axe blow does no damage, but the second sends another array of sparks flying. The Mark X starts to shake as a chunk of its chassis literally falls off causing it to shake as electricity short circuits all systems. After a few seconds it falls to the ground, smoke wafting from it. It is incapacitated. Zed - Shen-Long - is once again victorious. The droid who is left standing, some paint bubbled and charred, his axes coated in oily coolant, and electricity dissapating through his outer chassis. He raises one axe hand into the air, as the other arm reverts to it's normal state. Rat droids start moving into the arena, not to compete against Zed, but rather to clean the mess and chaos of the defeated Mark X Executioner. A lift droid also wheels in, picking up the Mark X onto a repulsorlift stretcher. Those members of the crowd, that betted on Zed, run towards the bookies to collect their winnings. The droid's other axe slips back away, and then he steps out of the ring into the workshop nearby, Ayam would not be pleased he had damaged the paint. But paint could be replaced, and the victory was sweet. Once in the workshop, technicians immidiately begin buffing off the ruined paint. NovaCom Technicians. Ayam drops Arakyd Industries Battle Droids.
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