Disclaimer: This fight's opponent is brought to you by Timothy Zahn, a guy who wrote fanfiction about George Lucas' Universe and got it published. Kudos to him.

[A/N] Visit Aelsthla Mental's profile to read their version of this match.

Black Mamba vs. Joruus C'Baoth

The Jedi Master

The man sat quietly under a large tree with his eyes closed. Black Mamba had no delusions that his old age would give her an advantage. If she had forgotten the lethal technique of her ancient master, this man's long white beard and slightly Asiatic robes would have reminded herof Pai Mei. The man's meditative posture did nothing to ease her worries; she knew that meditation only enhanced one's senses. Since he was meditating in plain sight it was obvious that he thought himself capable of defeating any opponent that might attack him. He probably was. It was possible that he was already aware of her presence and if not, she had little time to act before he noticed her crouched in the bushes.

She drew the gun she'd taken from Harry and aimed it with the steady hand and eye of a trained assassin. She prayed for a quick kill and pulled the trigger. The shot cracked through the forest, but the bullet somehow missed the man as his eyes suddenly opened. In another second he was on his feet. Mamba's gun was torn from her hand and sent flying by an unseen force.

She ducked and rolled to the left to avoid further attacks but none came. Her hand hovered near her knife. She glanced in the direction her gun had flown and decided against drawing her only other weapon. She peered through the branches of the brush and found the man was staring directly at her. She flinched, then stepped out of the bush's shelter to meet his gaze, slowly moving into a beginner Kung Fu fighting stance. No need to let him know how proficient she was. She watched closely for information he would give away as he moved to fight her, but no preparation came.

Instead he said, "Stupid girl, you face your death with the confidence of the ignorant savage."

She returned to standing again, still ready to attack, and replied, "I'm learned in many areas and ignorant in far more. For instance, I'm ignorant of another way to get off this island except through you, but I'm willing to listen to suggestions. Got any?"

"As soon as you decided to fight me you death was decided. Defeating me would be the only way of escape but, you have no chance against a Jedi Master."

"We'll see about that." Black Mamba replied, jumping forward and double kicking to the Jedi's chest. The man moved swiftly out of harm's way, then side-stepped again as Mamba struck at him with a quick succession of tiger claw strikes. Next she tried crane hand strikes to his knee and solar plexus but he spun again out of the way.

The old man laughed. "You have no hope." He said whilst dodging her next succession of attacks. "Compared to me you are an insect."

Finally he had left himself open. Black Mamba jumped forward to strike his chest, just above the heart. She was thrown backwards against the ground before she came close to hitting. The man hadn't moves, but an invisible force had shoved her away from him.

The assassin stood and shook herself to clear her head. Then she launched at the old man again, trying to attack with even more rapid strikes and kicks to throw him off guard sooner. The Jedi continued to dodge gracefully out of harm's way, laughing every time she came close. Each time she found an opening the invisible force would throw her back again. She didn't know how he was controlling it, but soon realized that he was toying with her. The realization didn't help much. There was nothing she could do to get through the force, and if she let on that she knew he was playing he might move onto seriously fighting back. As hopeless as playing his game seemed, she would have even less chance to win once it was over.

For an eternity of futile efforts game stretched on. It felt like she was a fly banging repeatedly against a glass window with no idea where the opening was or if it even existed.

"You are like a pathetic animal trying to attack with nothing but its claws." The Jedi said scornfully. Finished with his game, he drew a small metal device from his belt. "Let's try something new."

Mamba jumped back a step, and looked with her peripheral vision for shelter while keeping the old man in her sights in case he threw what she assumed was a bomb. The metal cylinder thrummed and a blade of crackling white light appeared. The man swung his sword in an arc over his head and around to catch her in the side. Black Mamba dropped flat on the ground, the blade passing above her felt like a wave of raw energy. She swept her leg around to knock the Jedi over but he stepped quickly out of the way. Before she could get up he was bringing the energy sword down on her again. She rolled to the side and somersaulted into a standing position. He ran forward and swiped at her neck, but she managed to move out of the way before the sword hit. She snap kicked at his knee but missed as she tried to twist out of the way of another strike. The sword hit her shoulder and she cried out as the energy bit, burning into her skin. The Jedi raised the sword for another strike, but Black Mamba fought through the pain and moved to get a further distance between herself and the man. He continued to close in on her, twisting his sword to stop her from moving to far in any one direction.

Abandoning the plan to get away, Mamba crouched under the next sweep of the sword and stepped forward instead of back. She stood up quickly facing the Jedi nose to nose and head butted him as hard as she could. As he fell backward, she caught his hand holding the sword and twisted it sharply. He managed to stay on his feet and pushed her back with another blast of the force, but she successfully wrestled the sword from him and managed to keep hold of it.

As soon as the weapon left his hand, though, it went out. She chanced a look at it and tried to make it turn on again, but couldn't make it work. The Jedi laughed harshly.

"Did you think that someone like you could wield a lightsaber? Again ignorant one, I tell you that I am a Jedi, I control the Force. You can't even feel the Force! I alone know what true power is!"

Mamba backed up, but he didn't move to pursue her. She moved the lightsaber to her left hand and drew her knife with her right. She wanted a weapon she could actually use, but didn't want to discard the lightsaber since she was sure the Jedi could make it work again if he got it back.

Ignoring that his right hand was slightly out of alignment, the Jedi stretched his hands toward her. White-blue lightning burst from his hands and hit Black Mamba in the chest. She was knocked down and screamed as the energy tore through her body. Her hands convulsed to tightly grip the hilts of both weapons and her body twisted as she tried to escape the pain. Her eyes saw nothing except the brilliant light and her body felt like fire was flowing through her veins. She heard only the crackling of the raw power.

Finally it stopped. She lay panting on the ground for a few seconds before she thought to escape. Trying to rise, however, she found herself pinned by the Jedi's force. Her arms were pushed out to either side as the force pushed her entire body against the ground.

The Jedi was standing next to her and kneeled down now. "Can you hear me?" He asked. She glared in response. "Good." He continued, "I've seen that you are performing well in this tournament. It is unfortunate, and unforgivable, that you chose to challenge me. In the end, you are really no different from all of the other contestants here. Brute force is the only power you understand, you cannot begin to fathom the true depths that the mind can reach. Only the enlightened truly understand…"

She was losing focus. The pain was trying to push her into unconsciousness. The warm, healing embrace of sleep seemed the best thing in the world. Why not sleep? The pain already felt further away. She could almost feel the softness of cotton sheets around her. B.B. would be wrapped up in her arms and they would curl up in a warm ball of comfort.

Black Mamba's eyes fluttered open. "B.B." she whispered. She needed to get out of here and get back to her daughter. She needed to stop this man before he killed her and any chance she had at holding B.B. again. In her return to the present she was wrapped in a new determination and a certainty that she could win this, she felt an overwhelming confidence in her own power to survive and to win her freedom.

For one second, her will surged within her. For one second, the force pressing her into the dirt was pushed away. For one second, the lightsaber still clenched in her hand sputtered out the smallest beam of light.

The Jedi Master glared at the sword. "No-" He snarled.

With the speed of her namesake, Black Mamba dropped the lightsaber and snapped her hand forward to grab a handful of the Jedi's hair. She pulled his head roughly down and drove the blade of her knife through his forehead with a thick crunch.

The old man's eyes dimmed and he collapsed on top of her, crushing her into the dirt. Breathing harshly, Black Mamba squirmed out from under him and forced herself to sit up. She quickly ascertained that he was without a doubt dead, then retrieved the lightsaber and quickly checked his pockets. The Jedi had no other weapons, but she did find a small keycard that looked important.

Black Mamba retrieved her knife with some difficulty and frowned when she saw the blade had taken some severe damage. Of course, knives weren't meant to cut through bone regularly. She sighed and, after cleaning it of the blood, replaced it in her leg holster.

She remembered what he had said about her performance in the tournament. Could he have been working for BORED? Was it too much to hope that the key card would give her access to their base?

The only way to find out was to continue on.

A/N: My apologies for being late. I hope that you enjoyed the fight though!

Let me know what you think.