Chapter 13

Ryu made his way to the Demon's Battle Cave Sector. It wasn't actually called the 'Demon's Battle Cave Sector' but it was the more widely known name for that area of Coruscant. Even though he had not competed since his GFC days, he had decided to wear what he always wore from those days, a gi with the sleeves neatly removed and matching gi pants. He wore one of his father's belts with its strange, to Ryu, symbology and a red headband. His father had said the symbols on the belt were four of the five elements in the cycle of nature to be found on what Ryu knew now to be the Federation homeworld. Even with the passage of so much time, he still knew where the fights were to be found. He had acquired that knowledge when invitations to the fights had started to arrive at his dojo, or a fighter would enter the dojo to challenge Ryu to a fight. He never accepted these challenges as that he knew he had nothing to prove to anyone and simply told them to leave.

His first hurdle came in the form of the security goons that stood guard on the main entrance to the arena that was controlled by Xoran. A touch of the Force in the form of the usually effective 'affect mind' and he was past them. From there, he simply followed the crowd noise that steadily grew in volume until he found himself standing before the Registration Desk.

A three-eyed Gran looked up from the terminal he was working at with all of his eyes before pointedly ignoring Ryu by focusing back on his screen and said, "What do you want human? Come for the fights? Humans aren't usually allowed here at the Demon's Battle Cave so you had better leave."

"Xoran is expecting me, so I think it's safe to say that the 'No Humans' rule does not apply here." Ryu said,

The clerk raised one eyestalk, keeping the other two on his work, and said, "You still here? Are you altered or something; sniff a little spice? I said, GET LOST!"

Ryu said, "You're being rude now. I've come to compete, now register my name and let's be done with it."

The clerk rolled all three of his eyes and said, "Enough of this tauntaun spit", and pressed a control on his console. A moment later, a red-eyed, green skinned Neimoidian armed with two blasters in quick draw holsters on his hips, at least two sheathed vibroblades that could be seen and a bad attitude came out of an adjoining room.

His Basic was thickly accented but still intelligible as he said, "You got a problem Acks?"

The clerk, Acks, pointed at Ryu and said, "Yea I do Grogge, this human germ says he's here to compete and now he won't leave even after I've told him that humans aren't allowed."

Ryu interjected, "You said humans are usually allowed. There is a difference between 'not allowed' and 'usually not allowed'."

Acks snapped, "Don't split oxygen molecules with me human!"

At this moment, a pair of Neimoidians entered the room from a different entrance. They were both dressed in the more elaborate robes and headpieces of the wealthy versus the first one, Grogge, who was clearly a thug for hire. The slightly taller one said in a more cultured tone, "What seems to be the problem?"

Acks's voice immediately took on a more civil note and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt your wagering on the fights sir, but we have a human who wants to compete and I'm trying to tell him that humans don't get to compete here at the Demon's Battle Cave but he's not getting the holopicture. Grogge here was just about to persuade the human to leave."

Ryu finally grew tired of being talked about as if he wasn't there and said, "I have a name and once you hear it, I think you'll let me register."

Acks said, "I don't give a krayt dragon's dropping what your name is human! Grogge, escort this pile of poodoo out."

As Grogge came to stand in front of Ryu, the shorter of the two gamblers could be heard to say, "500 credits says that the human won't be 'escorted' out."

The taller one said, "You're on, 500 credits it is."

Ryu dropped his bag from his shoulder as he became one with the Force and let his hands hang loosely in front of him. Angling his forehead, he shifted his weight to the balls of both feet and jumped forward slightly.

Even though Neimoidians don't have noses, they do have a skull wrapped in connecting facial muscle covered in soft skin tissue. As Ryu's forehead connected with Grogge's face, the crunch of bone and bruising skin was heard. Grogge's head rocked with the impact as Ryu landed. Grogge stood there momentarily and then keeled over to lie on his back, eyes half-closed with visible fluid leaking from both eyes.

The shorter one said, "500 credits please", to his companion.

The taller one took a small hand unit out of a pocket in his robe, pressed a button and said to the shorter one, "Double or nothing," as another Neimoidian thug for hire came out of the same room that Grogge had emerged from barely two minutes previous.

The shorter one said, "You're on."

The second thug came forward in a fighting stance, ready for action.

Ryu spun on one foot and connected with a spinning heel kick to the face of the new challenger. The second one never even saw it coming and ended up unconscious and on the ground a few meters away from Grogge.

The tall one pressed another control and this time two thugs, a pair of Zabraks, came out. "Double or nothing," he said in a more nervous tone.

Ryu took a breath and fired off a deep side thrust kick that connected with the one on the left as soon as he got into range. The solid smack of Ryu's foot as it impacted against the Zabrak's chest was heard clearly and this one went down. His partner tried to grab Ryu from behind but caught a spinning left elbow in the gut followed by an upward elbow smash to the jaw from Ryu's right elbow from a deep zenkutsu-dachi. This one too, was done.

Almost frantic now, the taller one pressed one last control stud on the control unit, and three Weequays came into the room; "Double or Nothing!" he said yet again.

By this time, several people had shown up and a small audience had formed with wagers being made hand over fist or their equivalent appendages. The three Weequays moved in a line at Ryu. Ryu moved into the three by going to the ground and rolled sideways with one hand covering his face as well as helping roll with a fair amount of speed. The three tripped over Ryu's rolling body. Ryu recovered to his feet first and slid in on the first Weequay to get to his feet and delivered a left-right combination to the body capped off with a standing uppercut that caught the first Weequay square under the chin and sent him sprawling. The second Weequay only got up to one knee when Ryu grabbed him by the sides of his head and delivered a standing knee thrust to the head, sending the second Weequay back to the ground to lie there. The third one had recovered to his feet completely and fired off his own right-left combination with a right round kick tossed in for good measure. Ryu slapped both punches down and away and raised one leg to block the kick on his shin. With the blocking leg, Ryu lashed out with a knife-edge kick that hit the Weequay at the top of his ribcage, causing him to step back. Ryu followed up, "Tatsu-Maki!" and connected with his other foot by using a short duration hurricane kick to cause the third to go down. This one did a backward roll and tried to get up but Ryu was already standing in front of the downed man. Ryu arched one foot up, his shin practically touching his shoulder and started an axe-kick when a voice from above called out, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ryu stopped his foot just as it touched the back of the Weequay's head and stood there on one foot momentarily before shifting his weight on his supporting foot to bring his kicking foot back to the floor.

Looking up to the source of the voice, Ryu saw Xoran standing on a balcony leaning on the rail with both hands looking down into the Registration Area. His clothing was made of shimmersilk and custom-made. His boots were polished to a bright sheen and his hair veritably glowed in the light from where it protruded in an immaculate topknot.

Xoran looked down at Acks and said, "Its clear how it has finished, but what started this?"

Acks looked up at his employer and said, "I'm sorry to have disturbed you Master, but this human wouldn't leave when I told him he couldn't register to compete. Grogge was called in to escort him out but before he could, the Namor brothers came in and placed a bet on whether or not the human would leave. It kind of got out of control from there."

Looking over to the two Neimoidians he said, "I only heard the 'double or nothing', how much is owed and to whom is it owed?"

The short one spoke, "Master, I offered the first bet, but instead of paying out on the first fight and letting it go, my brother kept offering double or nothing until it came to your attention. The bet on the first fight was for 500 credits. Double that for the second fight made 1000; double that for the third fight made 2000, and the last fight with the three Weequays went double or nothing and ended up at 4000 credits."

Shifting his eyes to the taller of the two, Xoran said, "Pars Namor, ordinarily I would overlook a minor side bet such as has just transpired here today, but since you could not be a graceful loser and since you already owe your younger brother Torse Namor 4000 credits, you will now pay the sum of 10,000 credits for violating my rules concerning large stakes side bets outside of the Demon's Battle Cave,." The taller Neimoidian took a breath to speak out in protest when Xoran cut him off with a gesture, and said, "If you wish to continue betting here in the Demon's Battle Cave, you will pay the 10,000 to your younger brother. Torse Namor, you will pay 2000 for the inconvenience to our newest entry into the Cave, a man you should have heard of at some point, the retired Galactic Fight Commission Champion, the man who took the title of 'Galaxy's Strongest', and newly promoted Jedi Master, Ryu Jayks."

There was an audible gasp from several spectators around the room as Ryu's name circulated. Even Acks appeared chagrined.

Ryu's eyes met Xoran's. He said, "You know why I'm here and it's not for your money."

Xoran motioned with one hand to take in the entire arena and surrounding area, chuckled and said, "Indeed I do Master Jedi, but you will have to work your way up through the tournament just like any other fighter. Your first fight will be tomorrow. I am fully aware of the limitations the Jedi voluntarily placed themselves under when the Charter for the reconstituted Jedi Order was drafted. Since you cannot arrest me until I knowingly act directly against you or you have better proof than the notoriously low resolution quality of an astromech's holographic recording, you must comply with my rules. I control everything here in the Demon's Battle Cave, and I have something very special planned for you for your fights in my Cave. Comply with the conditions I set, and if you make it through my tournament to face me in the final, and if you defeat me, then and only then will I give you what you want."

Ryu nodded and said, "I figured that would be your thoughts on the matter at hand. So be it. I'll play your game for now."

Xoran simply said, "Yes, you will."