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.

A bounty of shipping crates lay strewn about the arena. Burnt blue and red hues colored their outsides, choked into sepia by being strewn out into the sun. Yet among them, in a dangerous position, sat a dark brown one. A trained eye could see the difference. Scratch marks on one container with surface level streak marks on another, almost like an oak or a maple. The doors creaked on many of the containers, and yet one of them had no doors, the purely rusted hinges looking tattered, but not metallic. And while some of the shipping boxes had dead flora and fauna strewn about it from trapped or yearning life, this one had a fully grown leaf inside of it.

The dockworkers who made this arena were confused by this box, and some even said it was…alive.

Enzo Dek’s face lit up on the side of the container. The Neti’s eyes widened, giddy from the prospect of meeting old friends in some collaborative lasersword play. Fresh off the boat from Odan-Urr’s system, Dek thought they should explore the capital of the Brotherhood: Arx. Unbeknownst to them, an elegant Nagai had followed them.

Scaled in Suoh Clan armor and peering through BD’s “Survivor Edition” binoculars, Yuki kneeled, scanning the arena for potential traps. The shipping container she was in was safe from enemies. Reaching out with the Force into the arena, the Primarch felt a twinkle of the Force within…no…as one of the containers. She stood up, shifting her foot into a position for attack.

She peered out the side, revealing the tumultuous maze of boxes that lay before her.

“Odan-Urr is better off without this low-life tree,” she spoke quietly to BD, “but they still have to pay their dues.”

Igniting both sabers, and reveling in the power of the Light Side, the 2.6 meter Nagai lept from roof to roof, clanking softly across the metal ceiling and. A turret gained sight of her, letting out a volley of blaster bolts. Yuki was prepared, igniting her oceanic and sanguine blades, deflecting the bolts into one of the containers.

Dek’s face soured a bit, realizing they had been facing the wrong side of the arena. The clanking got louder and closer.

Unfolding from the contorted position, the Neti’s arm ignited their green saber tucked into one of the folds of the threaded bark. Creaking some of the ancient fibers within their body. Still in place from unmolding from the container position, Dek brought up their saber in a basic defensive posture.

The Dragon Matriarch steeled herself. Most opponents are a great head and shoulders below her, but this Sage was easily a meter above her. The tree reached a hand out, and Yuki already started to feel her intense power subsiding ever so slightly. She let out a grunt, feeling like some of her connection to the Force was dissipating. She charged forth, kicking herself off the wall of a nearby shipping container, and slashing herself through one of Enzo’s “walls” of the shipping container. With splinters everywhere, she made out a space where a lower body would be, and sets of legs and branches. One of the legs let loose from the ground, attempting to grip the Nagai.

Likewise, Dek was not used to a near equally tall opponent. She was quick and spry, a true combatant.

Failing to impede her through the extractive abilities within the Force itself, Enzo attempted to wring her with their own limb. Dek spun their body and slashed towards Yuki. Deflecting the blows, Yuki parried with a thunderous crack of her sabers. Dek picked up the Nagai and slung her against the wall. Yuki, predicting the Wrrushi move, absorbed the impact of the container and jumped down to the container below Dek. Enzo pulled themself together on top of the container, slamming their free fist down into the container, leaving a large dent in the top.

Yuki, hugging the ground, saw the metal bend into her path. With a slash, she created a hole in the dent. With the hole in place, Enzo reached into the hole and tossed themself off the edge, using the hole as a handle to move the container off from its place. Unigniting his saber, he reached into his wound through the credits and the tree guts attempting to bring forth the wood fibers back together, twisting and turning them into place and mulling the hole into place.

Dek groaned through the pain and used it to step against the shipping container.

Yuki stumbled inside the box as it moved to the side, having to step and hold herself against the moving walls and roofs. She placed one foot on each side of the floor and walls, but Dek jiggled the container itself, making sure the Matriarch couldn’t get a good grip.

And then the box fell…