| After The Fall Part 1 |
| The first thing Dan noticed upon awakening was a fuzzy taste in his mouth� the second, a throbbing headache. He slowly began to take stock of his surroundings, trying to figure out how he had come to be here. The last he had remembered, he had been preparing to throw Argyyle over his shoulder onto the waiting stun blade� It hit him then. He had been stunned. Somehow, he had gotten KO'd by his opponent's blade, which meant he'd been unconscious for the last five minutes or so. This was quickly verified checking his chrono. Dan lay there, amazed. He had dropped his guard, and he had been hit. Had this been a true battle, Dan would never have awakened, he would be no more than free-floating atoms right now. Argyyle�s return was neither slow nor luxurious. The world crashed upon him far faster and heaver than his foe had. His head thundered, and his left side burned with the fires of hell itself. He seized the force, twisting it brutally to his ends. If he could inflict agony on others, and block his awareness of pain as it happened, could he not then erase pain that was already there? Argyyle flooded his body with the force, sending his awareness inward. When his awareness reached his battered kidney, he viscously shredded the source of his pain, not healing the damage but removing it from his awareness. He did much the same all along his nervous system, erasing the effects of the shock his system had taken. This was not nearly as potentially dangerous as no damage had actually taken place. Finally, his awareness swept up and into his head. He grabbed his brain mentally, stilling its throbbing pulsing rhythm, soothing the tortured organ with the darkness of the force. His headache subsided, but did not disappear completely. Argyyle groaned shifted, trying to push his massive opponent off of him. Dan felt Argyyle move under him, and only then consciously realized he was still lying atop his foe. He rolled off to the side, taking the mental steps required to ignore his throbbing headache without even realizing he was doing it, and slowly worked his way up onto hands and knees. Argyyle thumbed the switch on his sword, deactivating it. His hand had clenched around the hilt when he had fallen. He released the weapon, and carefully rolled over to his right, pushing himself to his knees. Dan climbed to his feet, still trying to get his mind around what had just happened. Running through a few mental routines to clear the last cobwebs, he spotted his stun sword lying on the ground, and picked it up, casually deactivating it before placing it back on his belt at his hip Activating his internal comm devices, Dan then quickly played back the holovid of his match, particularly the last few seconds, to figure out precisely what had just happened. Argyyle pushed himself to his feet, his head still aching mildly, in spite of his efforts. He knew he would still have to get medical attention, but that could wait. He saw Danthros standing there, apparently staring at nothing, and wondered if he�d hit Dan harder than he thought. He thought of his last maneuver, and smiled harshly. Dan watched the last of the footage flow by, sending him tumbling onto Argyyle, then shut it off as soon as it became apparent that they had both been knocked out. Smiling slightly and shaking his head almost imperceptibly, Dan turned to Argyyle, who had just regained his feet. "It would appear that our match is a draw. You have fought well, and I congratulate you. As you have neither won nor lost, the original prize money shall be yours." Here Dan�s grin widened into its typical shape. "You have indeed proven yourself a worthy opponent." Argyyle�s grin was feral and cruel, but quite genuine for all that. �I had proven myself worthy by defeating all your champions. It is you who have proven yourself a worthy foe. I have never been fought to a standstill. �I would ask a boon, Danthros Avantrix. Would you have the weapons my foes used in this tournament delivered to my ship, properly identified?� Dan chuckled, shaking his head. "I shall see what I can do. I don't know that the weapons were tracked once they were defeated, but if they were I would be happy to make a gift of them for you." Dan straightened, thumbing a hidden button on his arm that sent his cybernetic inhibitors clattering to the ground. "But now, it is my honor to present you with your prize." Dan snapped his fingers off to his side, where a door promptly opened in the wall and a droid strode in, carrying a cloth-draped box of some sort. Argyyle straightened, all expression removed from his face. He snapped to attention, bowed a half bow, eyes on Dan's, straightened slowly, and snapped into an "at ease" position, right hand held in left at the small of his back, feet shoulder width apart, eyes locked straight ahead The droid stopped beside Dan, who turned and whisked the cloth off, revealing a durasteel strongbox, which Dan quickly punched the access code to, and opened, drawing out a small electronic wafer. "Argyyle Cartagia Zantor. You have proven yourself to be a most superb fighter, and have defeated all opponents in single combat. It is therefore my pleasure to present you with this credit chip, which contains the first place winnings." Dan offered the card to him, waiting for it to be received before continuing on. Argyyle reached out and took the chip, tucking it into a small pocket inside the breast flap of his fighting cloths, then resuming his "at ease" stance. Argyyle�s eyes stayed locked in place, his vision expanded to take in the entire scene at once. Smiling slightly, Dan placed his hand within the box once more, withdrawing an Aing-Tii Blade, what Dan considered to be the real prize of the tournament. "I now have the honor of presenting you with this Aing-Tii Blade, personally forged by myself in this very facility. Its edge is true, its cut virtually unstoppable." Dan flipped one of the switches, filling the large arena with the dull hum of vibration generators. "Armed with a weapon of this stature and your own ability, I foresee very few opponents you will not be able to defeat." Dan tossed the blade up into the air then suddenly, letting it twirl around rapidly for a few seconds before catching it in a reversed grip as it began its fall, jamming it hilt-deep into the solid rock floor of the arena in front of Argyyle. "Claim your prize." |