Third Annual BF betleH Tournament

Third Annual BF betleH Tournament (http://www.betleh.com/cgi-bin/b3/YaBB.pl)

Day 1 - Opening Matches >> After morning rounds >> And so it begins...
(Message started by: Verghese Siminway on Feb 12^th, 2005, 1:57pm)

Title: And so it begins...
Post by Verghese Siminway on Feb 12^th, 2005, 1:57pm

It was time.

Although everyone was expecting it, a few had caught gaurd of the

It heralded for some competitors a sense of anticipation; in some others dread; and in yet others nothing but impatience.

For Verghese, it had to be a bit of all the above. It was pretty much a similar feeling to what he had last year, and from the looks of it, it might just be something he'll have again next year.

Standing at attention in his quarters, facing the mirror, he straigtened out the red vest he was wearing. It didn't cover much more than his chest and upper body,leaving both his arms bare. Particularly, it left his right arm bare, and anyone could easily see the full extent of the mechanical arm, extending much like a borg's upto part of his shoulder before thinning out into the skin.

Picking up a red shirt from the bed, he put it on, and studied himself in the mirror, adjusting the beard a bit and tidying it up.

Nodding, he thought to himself Yes....it's definately time. There was no avoiding this, and whatever butterflies that were in his stomach had to be crushed down. Tucking it in, he walked out of the quarters and headed down the hallways to the turbolift, a determined look in his eyes.

Stepping off the turbolift at the proper level, Verghese moved with ease down the hallway and into the arena. Picking up his Bat'leth from the wall, he studied it for a moment. It was plain and featureless, unlike most others that hung up here. Each was ordained with house symbols and each one completely unique and different from the others in some way or the other. In this case, each Bat’leth was truly indicative of the owner’s personalities in some way or the other…

Stepping back, Verghese headed towards the ring where his first battle would take place. It was his first battle this season, and he was hoping not to have a repeat performance of the previous year’s events….

Verghese shuddered a bit, trying to avoid remembering the encounters with that Klingon in the months afterwards. Thankfully, he had managed to settle it…at least, he hoped he had settled it.

His opponent this year was from a different house, thankfully. His name was K’trel Cha'bIp, and from what Verghese had heard, a pretty good master with the Bet’leth.

But when Verghese first saw him standing next to the ring, he spotted K’trel standing towards one corner, Bat’leth in hand. At the same time, K’trel spotted him as well.

Title: Re: And so it begins...
Post by Verghese Siminway on Feb 12^th, 2005, 2:02pm

A sturdy old Klingon with whitening hair, K’trel looked pretty much like most other klingons out there. His beard was long – much longer than Verghese’s, and had several grey and white hairs running through it. Slightly wrinkled, his face showed mostly experience and wisdom of someone who has seen plenty in life. His armor and the chest plating were standard, with the house badge planted on the sash.

And that’s only going to make it harder Verghese thought to himself. There would be no show of overconfidence here, or any of the clumsiness displayed by the youths that joined the tournament these days.

Well, at least it’s going to be challenging. he thought to himself. If he lost this match, then at least he could claim some honor in trying.

“You are Verghese Siminway, the cyborg?” K’trel asked when he came close enough to earshot.

“Yes, and you are K’trel I assume” Verghese replied, his tone level but slightly irritated at the cyborg reference nonetheless.

K’trel in turn nodded. “Excellent! Our battle will come within a few minutes. I trust that it will be a honorable fight.” K’trel paused, eyeing his cybernetic implants before continuing “And a long one at that. I watched you in the previous tournament, and I can promise you, I won’t be defeated as quickly or easily as that.”

Verghese was a bit surprised at this, but really should have expected it. Someone as old as him would have definitely witnessed many Bat’leth tournaments. Nodding, he replied.

“Thank you, K’trel. I have heard much of you as well. You are a good master with your blade, and a very wise member of your house. We shall fight, but if you win this competition, at least I can go back with the knowledge I lost to someone with great honor.”

K’trel nodded his acknowledgement and raised his Bat’leth in a slight salute. Verghese did the same, and as their eyes met, each knew that the other wasn’t going to give up here, no matter what. Yet there was also an understanding of sorts in there. Whomever lost would have no shame in this case, no lost glory or

Nodding to the arena, K’trel spoke up “This battle is almost over, and soon it shall be our turn. I would recommend getting into position quickly. I will see you on the arena.” With that, K’trel turned around and headed to the other side of the arena, where the entry point was. Verghese, in turn, moved to his. He studied the current competitors, recognizing one of them as M’rek from Tapez’s crew. He did not recognize the opponent, but just by seeing the fact that he was Terran – and rather small at that – confirmed to Verghese that this battle would end quickly.

Title: Re: And so it begins...
Post by Verghese Siminway on Feb 12^th, 2005, 2:02pm

Once they were done, however, it was now Verghese’s turn. The judges announced their names and asked them to step into the arena, and he did so. K’trel did the same from the other side, his Bat’leth up and ready for the attack.

First though, they met in the centre of the ring, where an official recited the rules to them. The aim was to disarm. Flood blood drew the victory, anything after that which was on purpose would get them disqualified.

But Verghese was paying little attention. Instead, all of his focus was on the klingon across from him, who did likewise. He was going to have find some weakness to exploit here, otherwise he was pretty much a goner.

Stepping back, he went immediately in a neutral position, with his left leg and edge of the Bath’leth forwards and the mechanical leg of his right one step back. Although this posed his weaker side to attack, he was at least capable of going on the offensive if required. Unlike last year, a defensive posture would have only done him in this time around.

When the official got out of the ring and the signal went out that the match had started. K’trel was in a somewhat similar stance, mirrored to how Verghese was now positioned, and was now starting to circle him slowly. Rather than simply stand there and let it continue, Verghese instead side stepped as best as his uneven feet would allow, attempting to not only keep facing K’trel, but to keep moving and avoid being a stationary target. If he kept moving, then he wouldn’t be hit. At least, that was how the principle worked.

They kept circling each other like this for a few seconds before K’trel made the first move. Feinting right, he charged inwards towards Verghese, swinging his Bat’leth straight towards Verghese’s abdomen. It was a simple attack, one that Verghese managed to block by simply re-positioning the bat’leth to meet K’trels.

But when they met, Verghese instantly realize he had fallen into a trap – a darn clever one at that. To block the blow, he had to raise the right arm and reposition the Bat’leth perpendicular to the ground, requiring in an almost complete twist of his arms.

As the blades locked, K’trel twisted his arms the other way, locking the blades at a angle just offset from Verghese’s blade. This allowed him to force the Bat’leth downwards will little trouble, and Verghese would eventually have to let go as he couldn’t twist both arms that way. Verghese grunted as K’trel put his weight and strength in behind the Bat’leth, forcing his arms closer and closer that way.

Think, darnit think! Got to get out of this somehow! Verghese thought to himself. Then finally, he got it. Just as he was on the verge of failing on the Bath’leth, he did the unthinkable.

He let it go.

Title: Re: And so it begins...
Post by Verghese Siminway on Feb 12^th, 2005, 2:35pm

Or more specifically, he let his left hand go. K’trel was suddenly surprised when no resistance was present on one end of the Bat’leth, but was unable to react in time. His strength pushed the Bat’leth to the right and then downwards and then went reeling forwards as his own Bat’leth slid off of Verghese’s. The inertia took him forwards several steps from Verghese, exposing his back to him.

In the meantime, his right hand was actually still holding onto the Bat’leth. Releasing the grip a bit, he let it roll around his fingers, swinging down and then back up to about waist level, where he caught it with his left hand again. Regaining his posture, he stood back at the defensive, this time his right side facing K’trel, waiting for him to turn around and prepare another charge.

K’trel recovered quickly, and immediately turned around to face Verghese, attacking him with ferocity unlike anything he had seen before. A flurry of blows came his way, trying to reach for either side, looking for a weakness in the mechanical strength that was acting as his armor. The attacks were forcing him to go onto the defensive and pushing him several steps back. He managed to block each blow, but only barely. Sometimes he had to move himself to get out of the way, unable to block it in time. It was mostly close calls, but he managed to get through it unscathed.

“You are good, my friend, but a victor must be decided!” K’trel said as he continued the attacks, pushing Verghese back as far as possible. Then, suddenly, K’trel shifted tactics, conducting a straight-on assault instead of going sideways. It caught Verghese almost entirely by surprise, not to mention off-balance. He managed to block it, but K’trel had thrown his full weight into his attack, pushing the hilt of Verghese’s blade back into his own chest. As the law of inertias carried on, K’trel continued on his vector, toppling Verghese backwards and off his mechanical leg. But rather than go down just like that, Verghese raised his left leg, and planted firmly on K’trels abdomen. Using his own inertia, he pushed K’trel backwards, disrupting the beginnings of a safe roll and recovery.

Time slowed down as Verghese watched K’trel gasp at the pain of the kick. Using whatever energy he had left in the right arm, Verghese helped him along, pushing upwards as hard as he could.

The result was that K’trel flipped over and essentially landed on his back just right next to Verghese’s head at about the same time Verghese hit the ground. Both contestants had the winds knocked out of them and were in gasps within seconds. His Bat’leth was still right next to them and in his hand, ruling out an immediate failure or forfeit of the match.

Verghese was the first to recover, getting up slowly to his feet and wheezing badly, he didn’t feel like in any condition to fight. But he had to get up anyway, and he had to continue.

Rising first to his mechanical foot, and then his real one, Verghese staggered forward. He glanced at the judges, and they all nodded in unision, indicating he was the winner. Surprised, Verghese looked down to K’trel and realized why. His Bat’leth had been knocked out of his hands, around less than half a meter from his current position.

Walking over to him and then past him, Verghese looked down and picked up the Bath’leth. Walking back to K’trel, he bent down and offered him a hand up.

K’trel just sat back and looked up at Verghese. “It appears you are the victor here. Congratulations, at least it was a honorable battle.” He coughed slightly, and then started to wheeze as he tried to regain his breath.

Instead, Verghese just shook his head and extended his hand. “It most certainly has been. You are an excellent fighter, and I bet you are a good teacher in your house too. It is but luck that I won this match.”

K’trel took it, lifting himself up as best as he could. Verghese returned the bat’leth to him once he was convinced that K’trel could stand on his own.

Once standing, he gave a nod of thanks to Verghese before replying.

“It has nothing to do with luck, Verghese. I am simply growing old.” Looking around, he leaned forwards and whispered into his ear. “Thank you for a good, honorable battle at the least. I haven’t had a loss for a long time now, so expect a rematch sometime soon.”

“Well, at least let me treat you to some bloodwine in the legion first. It is the least I owe you.”

Verghese replied. Straightening out, K’trel simply nodded and smiled. “That would be excellent indeed. I believe you humans have an expression…’lead the way’, I think.”

Verghese nodded and gave out a small laugh. “Indeed it is. Come, let us go before the other opponents have the thirst for bloodwine and decide to finish it all!”

Laughing and exhausted, Verghese paused to place his Bat’leth on the wall, moving it one closer to the right side. After this, both men headed out of the arena area and down towards the legion. There was much drinking and celebration at hand!

As soon as it had begun, everything was over.