Built from the shell of an ancient foundation, the Arx Colosseum has undergone renovations to allow multiple new configurations for battle. Its spectator setup remains largely the same, with high walls, tall enough for even the most savvy Jedi to find unscalable that lead up to spectator chairs which are divided into nearly organized sections to accommodate several thousand people. At the center, an elongated platform “box” contains a central throne of stone with various seats of smaller scale lined beside it in both directions. Two large holo-projection screens are set up on each side of the Colosseum, offering different angles of the match bia holocam drones.

Today’s setup is known as The Shanty Town.

Hundreds of shipping containers line the arena floor, some stacked tall, others singular obstacles forming the walls of a complex maze. Each has been converted to function as housing, windows, doors, even furnishments added to further sell the illusion of it being a living town.

While the only real life contained within is today’s combatants, that is far from the only level of danger found within.

Dozens of armed and battle-ready droids hide in wait. Turrets and barricades line the narrow passageways of the town. Expertly hidden mines wait to trigger with every step. Make no mistake, the Shanty Town is ready to kill all who enter it. Embracing its chaos, and surviving is no easy feat.

Zuza’s smile was from ear to ear.

“So! I get to grab my weapons ri—”

“You start now.” The man pointed his thumb behind him.

Zuza blinked. “Oh.” Her hands patted downwards to make sure she had everything. Lightsaber? Check. Beskar? Check. She felt her maroon-colored Cythraul named Frond, nuzzling his cold nose against her hand and panting happily.

“Let’s go!” With that, she jogged her way towards the center, oddly and carefully guided by a droid. When they got closer to an open space, surrounded by shipping containers and houses. Further beyond the walls there was a crowd of people and gigantic holonet screens for the crowd to closely watch what’s going on below. She saw a familiar woman.

“Evelyn! Hey!”

Evelyn turned to meet her, her eyes narrowed at her set up. At least both women were not entirely prepared. Her gaze moved to Frond, her brows slightly furrowed for a second before she regained her neutral expression. Evelyn’s BB unit, called Thirteen, beeped curiously behind her legs.

“Thirteen, please give us some space. Ms. Lottson, take off your jacket.” Evelyn started to shrug off her Envoy jacket, revealing a skin-tight black tank top underneath as Thirteen beeped and whirled away.

“W-what?” Zuza asked, confused as she watched Evelyn start to tie her jacket as a makeshift belt around her hip. She gestured to Zuza to follow with her jacket.

“I would hope you would not want to kill or maim me. So this way, we can use our swords or your lightsaber, if you prefer. The winner is determined by whoever gets the most fabric removed.”

“Oh! So it’s like a game!”

“I just hope it is approved. Or we will have to fight for one of us to go down…”

“Yea but not in a dead way,” Zuza nervously laughed but stopped when saw that Evelyn was being serious. Evelyn drew her Sith sword and started to run towards Zuza. Quick and compact as she was, Zuza brought her own Beskar Beskad to parry with Evelyn’s sword. A soft clang could be heard as the metal met metal and a distant roar rose from the crowds. Zuza swung around to Evelyn’s left as she barely blocked it. There was a small hint of surprise on the hybrid’s face.

“You are fast,” Evelyn leaned her body forward, forcing Zuza to mess up her footwork. Evelyn countered with a jab in which Zuza stepped away from.

“Thank you! Are you really still married to Anders!?” This threw Evelyn off guard and Zuza took her chance and sliced towards the makeshift belt. A small piece of her Envoy’s fabric got sliced as a piece of blue slowly floated to the ground. Zuza gasped, as she had felt like something dangerous was going to happen and stepped back. Frond started barking frantically. Evelyn too, stepped back, but her bad feeling was much slower-

“How did you—”

BOOM

Both women were sent hurling back. Zuza landed swiftly, but Evelyn did not. Zuza winced as her ears rang and Frond braced protectively in front of her. He was barking, but she couldn’t hear him. Then she saw movement at the corner of her eye.

Droids.

“Did you send them!?” Evelyn shouted, wondering if this was part of the competition. Her grip on the hilt of the blade tightened. The battle droids raised their blasters at the four of them.

“I didn’t— ”

“MOVE!” Evelyn shouted as blasters went after both women. Zuza, on the other hand, leapt over a window and ducked down as the blasters left singed marks onto the walls in front of her.

Evelyn made her way behind a shipping container, but found herself face to face with a turret. Her heart skipped a beat as Thirteen beeped frantically.

Evelyn rolled forward toward the turret. Her back impacted the duracrete stand it was built into and her cheek grazed the dirt as blaster bolts boiled the air above her. Yet, they didn’t come any closer.

Stationary turrets could only point so far down. Usually. Still, even with her luck, the Shaevalian hybrid was pinned down beside it with the beeping communications of droids approaching. She looked up, emerald eyes peering at the turret from below, before her Envoy Glasses highlighted a panel. It drew her notice and confirmed what she already suspected; an access point. Evelyn twisted in place, careful to avoid the constant barrage of blaster fire overhead and drove her dagger deep through the panel and into whatever was behind it. Sparks flew, electricity crackling as if enraged before the turret’s barrel came to a wavering stop.

Instead of the chorus of pew pew pews, the footsteps of the droids were now audible. Evelyn rolled up to her knees, rising up in time to spot Zuza.

Admittedly, she heard the other woman first. The hollering whoop echoed from a nearby house before Zuza slid down a roof with her Beskar sword pointed toward the droids. The trio of battle droids turned in time for the short Human to land feet first into the closest one’s torso, sending them both crashing to the floor. Driving the beskad into the droid’s cranial unit, Zuza just as quickly pushed herself back to her feet without the blade, drawing her lightsaber in time to quite literally disarm the second droid and ducking behind it as the third opened fire. The improvised shield-droid staggered, wavering in place before collapsing forward and relinquishing Zuza of her makeshift cover.

“Uh oh.”

Zuza dipped into a partial crouch, diving to the side to avoid the fresh set of blaster fire, which prevented her from witnessing Evelyn charging into the fray, swinging Momento Mori into the hip joint of the droid. It fell backward but still fired on the two women, Zuza zipping forward to pin down its blaster arm with her foot as Evelyn cut through its torso.

Not that there was any time to celebrate, as Evelyn spun on her heel and immediately slashed open the back of Zuza’s jacket. Karking suns, that was fast! It was just a jacket to Zuza, but the determination Evelyn held caught the Human off guard. Evelyn deflected the following blows of Zuza’s response, but missed the incoming feint and fell for it. She leaned over too far, letting Zuza in, though the Consul didn’t slash her jacket.

A length of her trousers was cut away, exposing Evelyn’s left leg to the elements.

“What are you doing, Ms Lottson?!” Evelyn called, parrying the next blow and watching as Zuza’s face creased in confusion.

“What?” Zuza rubbed her ear as Evelyn repeated herself, raising an eyebrow as soon as she processed what was said. “I’m removing fabric?”

The women stopped in place at this response, looking at each other in confusion before Evelyn sighed deeply. She closed her eyes for a moment, reestablishing her surroundings afterward before answering.

“The jackets around our waists. Not all of our clothing.”

Zuza wrinkled her nose. “Well, that’s not as fun.”

Evelyn’s response was cut off by the warbling screams of Thirteen. As the pair had finally stopped duelling battle droids, the BB-unit had begun to approach, only to be stopped by Frond. The Cythraul's teeth were hooked over the edge of its head carapace and he had lifted Thirteen by it like an oversized throwing disc.

Mere inches away, a mine was covered by shingles and dust, barely visible. Evelyn’s gaze narrowed as Frond continued to carry Thirteen away, even after they had passed the mine.

“Put Thirteen down. Now.”

Frond grumbled from deep within his throat, yellow eyes glancing between the two women before turning and dragging the whirling, beeping Thirteen away from the chaos.

“Frond, mate, ya can’t just nick ‘em—” Zuza laughed, in the midst of brushing her hair back out of her face, when Evelyn struck again. “Woah!”

The hybrid stood back in her fancy stance, having sliced a sleeve off of Zuza’s jacket.

“Rude!”

Zuza shuffled back again and again, retreating into a corner, yet a grin flashed across the Arconan Consul’s face. She ducked beneath a precision slice, but Evelyn’s focus on her fencing form left her too slow to snuff out the smaller womans plan was before—

Dust.

Evelyn spluttered, flinching away in surprise at such a low blow. Dirt? Really? Though that was a problem in itself, who knew what pathogens had reproduced here. Not that Evelyn exactly had time to simmer on that notion, as she tried to swing blindly on instinct as she heard Zuza’s steps slip behind her. She was grabbed by the back of her shirt, and a loud riiiiiiiiiiiip following the opposing momentum of Zuza yanking Evelyn and Evelyn’s own swing, rending a large chunk of fabric free.

Evelyn’s shoulder blades were now blatantly exposed.

Zuza laughed, but didn’t hesitate to begin a clamber up onto a roof where the crowd was visible in the distance. The indignation that made up all Evelyn's body language was what kept her moving up there, not entirely sure on how her hopefully still friend would retaliate.

Evelyn removed the glasses from her face as she started to rapidly blink to help lubricate her eyes to remove the particles that Zuza had thrown at her. As luck had it, her Envoy glasses helped partially protect her, but some still found their mark. She could hear Thirteen beeping angrily from the distance.

The crowd watched the odd pairing of the furry canine and dome-like droid as soft whirring sounds emerged from the unit. Thirteen got out one of the many lockpicks it had in its arsenal, more specifically, a rake pick, and started to threateningly jab at Frond, who finally dropped it. Frond started barking and growling as he ran away from a BB Unit that was now hot on his tail and hellbent on getting revenge. Some laughter erupted from the crowd at the amusing scene.

Zuza watched the exchange unfold and laughed alongside with the crowd, not at all concerned because while the jab may be irritating for her friend, it would not harm him and surely, while Thirteen was annoyed, it wouldn’t go far as harming a friend.

“Oh- ah! We got some droids incoming!” Zuza shouted from above as Evelyn exhaled sharply under her breath and slipped her glasses back on. Her eyes burned and slightly blurry but she can still do this.

“We cannot always have chaos, Zuza. Rules are everywhere—” Zuza rolled her eyes at Evelyn, “—for a reason.” Evelyn made her way up to the roof and quickly ducked behind a shipping container with Zuza. The hybrid made sure there was enough distance between herself and the freckled face woman to keep anymore clothing from being cut off because someone cannot follow rules. Evelyn noticed sudden movement from the petite woman and brought up her sword.

“I’m just gonna get on your shoulders, we need to see the surroundings,” Zuza declared.

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed, unsure if she was bluffing. But then she nodded as she squatted down and intertwined her fingers between her knees. Zuza placed her foot onto Evelyn’s interlaced hands and stepped up onto Evelyn’s shoulders. She peeked over the container, her brown eyes quickly scanning the scene as Fond and Thirteen were nowhere to be found, which meant they were hiding. That was good.

“What do you see?” Evelyn whispered to the Human.

“Droids,” Zuza hastily whispered back, “They are looking for one consul and the other very boring- HEY!” Zuza yelped as Evelyn dropped her on her ass. “What the kark is wr—”

“Language, young lady!”

“What?” Zuza giggled as she found it humorous that she had found another person who did not like cursing? Evelyn and Anders had a lot in common after all. “Just because you can’t play dirty- Yelp” Zuza cried out as she held her bleeding nose after being elbowed by Evelyn. Her brown eyes widened in shock and brows furrowed in anger. What the kark just happened?!

Evelyn looked exasperated for a moment before it was replaced with her usual stoic expression, “I just do not wish- STAY PUT.” Evelyn yelled once again as the droids had found them after Zuza’s rather startled yell. Evelyn ran out right into the opening as the sounds of blasters blazed by her and drew the droids' attention away from Zuza.

If Evelyn hadn’t elbowed Zuza in the face, she wouldn’t have yelled in pain and without that noise the droids wouldn’t have been able to find them. Evelyn maintained her calm, of course, taking one breath and then the next in steady rhythm. She had a duty and while this match required defeating Zuza, getting her killed wasn’t right. The Shaevalian-mix crossed the open space of a narrow alley, lingering long enough to be spotted before diving into a container-house, which had a window that allowed the droids’ shots to follow her.

Evelyn drew her pistol, raised it up, and fired blindly back at the droids, hearing one of them cry in binary—

“Gerald Four Two Zero: Noooo!”

They made no tactical commentary, so she just tried to tune them out. Eventually they’d come back into view, and that’s when she could strike at them.

Or at least that’s what Evelyn thought. She had missed one detail: Zuza’s inability to sit still. The Human had watched her run out, blinking a few times and tearing a barely attached chunk from her jacket’s sleeve to deal with a painful problem. She pressed it on her nose, breathed in, pinched and then-

Crunch.

“Kaaaaaaaark!” The groan was filtered through clenched teeth, but her nose wasn’t misaligned anymore. It hurt more, a dull incessant throbbing, but whatever. Evelyn. Ouch. Evelyn ran out, told her to-

Wait. Evelyn told her to stay put. Zuza cursed again, following the ongoing noise of blasters. She was Evelyn’s boss, not the other way around! Either way that’d be boring as kark and if she got hurt then- Well. That’d be a schutta-move.

Blinking away more tears from the impromptu realignment and wiping the rest of her face dry, Zuza walked out into the alleyway. The flashes of red immediately highlighted the droids’ location. It wasn’t difficult to work out what had happened in the scant few seconds she’d spent fixing her nose.

Nor was it difficult to work out a better plan besides waiting in a box to die.

The Arconan Consul focussed with Phausis gripped tight in her hand while the Force coursed through her muscles. She inhaled, energy flowing freely, power from the tips of her toes to the very core of her being. Zuza exhaled and charged.

There were half a dozen droids still standing, two crashing to the floor before they realised the gambit at play. The Force tugged at Zuza, who followed, flailing out of the way of a blaster bolt and using the twisting leaps of Ataru to press forwards past their projectiles. With a cyan slash up, she sliced one droid in half and used her rising momentum to twirl to the right and amputate another droid’s foot.

Evelyn hopped through the window of her hiding place, her face a storm of frustration, but drew her own blades and drove them through the joints of those left standing. With more cries for mercy, they fell. She exhaled heavily, turning a sharp green glare onto her Consul, “Miss Lottson, I told you to stay put.”

“Technically, ya can’t actually do tha- WATCH OUT!”

Evelyn had felt the warning in the Force a half-second too late, reacting only as Zuza spoke and stepping back in hopes of only alleviating the damage. Instead, however, she found herself being kicked directly in the hip. The Shaevalian-hybrid fell sideways, further than she would have been able to with her own strength. The bolt gilded between her and Zuza’s foot before they both thudded onto the duracrete floor.

The last droid rolled, missing its foot, but furiously intent on firing again. Zuza pushed and lobbed her lightsaber at the damn thing, sighing in relief as the still-lit blade made a cavity of the droid’s torso.

“Okay, just jackets.” Zuza commented, still on the floor

“Excuse me?”

“Y’know, our fight thing?”

“...Yes. Just jackets, ma’am.”

Zuza chuckled before rolling up onto her feet and collecting her lightsaber. Evelyn got up in a slower, less hasty fashion. It took a moment for Wyvern to focus and let the pain fade away to the back of her mind, regaining her senses and control as they prepared to finally finish this duel.

“Kist, I don’t have my beskad. I left it in a droid’s skull somewhere,” the Consul muttered, patting her belt. Alas, it didn’t magically appear.

“You can use your lightsaber.”

Zuza frowned, but as Evelyn raised a Sith Dagger, imbued with alchemy, it made sense. She nodded, confirming she understood before charging forward. Evelyn deflected the blow, a graceful parry that got the human’s back to her and allowed her to carve away a large chunk of the jacket.

Zuza turned on her heel, catching a sleeve off of Evelyn’s cloak, but in trying not to burn Evelyn with the lightsaber left herself open to more attacks. Her momentum couldn’t be utilised to its fullest, leaving swings without deadly follow-ups to close off any gaps. After a few seconds of this, Zuza forced a block. Evelyn reacted well, raising her dagger up and pressing against the lightsaber but they were evenly matched.

Except for one thing. Zuza took the moment of contested might to focus her mind, the Force flooding her once more and giving her the boost to shove.

The dagger was forced from Evelyn’s hand. Zuza reached forward and grabbed the knotted fabric holding the jacket to the other woman’s hips and tore it free, tossing it aside and through her lightsaber’s blade. The scent of burned armorweave filled the air.

Evelyn raised her hands, palms up and flat, though shaking her head and still on alert. Until Zuza grinned and let her hold through the Force drop. Exhaustion hit her like a speeder-bike throttled at full burst, and she tipped forward. Evelyn dipped down, stretched her arms out, and caught the shorter woman.

She lowered to one knee, getting them both sat on the floor with Zuza laid on her side as they waited for the judges to realise the match was over. “Well. I would have said you won that. Do you think you still did?”

After a long moment, a grumble rumbled from the form of Zuza beside her, “Not my job to judge who won.”