Kakuto Ryu

Ryu's eyes narrowed with suspicion. In his mind, she was either preparing some sort of ruse, or she was deeply in over her head. He doubled back toward her, pacing around her with a suspicious look on his face. "Before your leap off a cliff to a possible horrible demise, you should probably exhaust other options. Are you sure that there is not an easier path down? Is the cliff top such an awful place? Could you call an aircab? From the sound of it you came from a full service luxury mountaintop and you're leaping to escape boredom." Ryu snatched the datapad from her hand. Still pacing around, forcing her to turn to keep her eyes toward him, he turned it on. Who is this Amedeus anyway? And how did they find me so quickly? Ryu wondered to himself, uncertain if he should know the name or not. He scanned the message contained within the datapad between frequently stopping to make sure Aziza wasn't springing some kind of trap. Frustration, confusion and annoyance flashed across his face as he read through it. He ran his hand across his head, the persistent headache seemingly growing worse by the second. He tossed the datapad back at Aziza, "He must be joking. He wants me to take you as my apprentice." Ryu sighed. He was thinking an assassination attempt was less and less likely, as her behavior just didn't strike him as particularly well engineered to achieve that end. Which meant that the young woman before him may actually be telling him the truth, and in a way he found that to be the most disturbing of all possibilities. She came from a place of wealth, power, and luxury, and had come all this way to speak to a dirty hallucinating lunatic in the middle of a stinking swamp, because of what he could offer her. He was genuinely annoyed by the idea that anyone would choose to be like him when they could live any life they wanted, and a part of him was in fact starting to worry for her. He had fragment of memory, a vague recollection of seeing Sith Apprentices used as cannon fodder during an attack, sent in as a first wave and torn to pieces when other options and better strategies were surely available. He could recall watching them be cut down and passing their broken bodies, but what disturbed hm most was what he recalled feeling. That it was good to see the weak had been purged from their ranks. Ryu thought for a moment about what to do, before ultimately deciding on the same thing he does for every problem he encounters. He fights them. He struck a combat stance in the ankle deep muck, his feet spread apart and his hands raised in front of his chest. A straight line was drawn from the center of her chest to his, and along it he placed open palms, ready to strike or defend. His face grew cold and his eyes narrowed. His body was still as a statue, except for the new mechanical hand which randomly jittered in different directions. "I don't think you're cut out for the Sith, and I don't think I will permit you to go any further. You should turn around and head back to Iziz, and take the first transport back to your clifftop cage. "

"Oh, I see. You weren't content just having unlimited dominion over her dinky little backwater planet. Having power and luxury didn't give you the challenge and adventure you want so you hit the road and decided to to join the Sith. Live hard and die young huh? Maybe if you don't end up coating the interior or a Sith Crematorium you'll rise just high enough to earn daddy's respect?" Ryu's tone was thoroughly mocking at this point. In the distance the first glimpse the manor's exterior came into view, a large old stone fortress barely holding back the encroaching swamp from all sides. "A person like me doesn't get to ruminate on whether a risk was worth while. Risks are taken in lue of imagination or better sense. You end up where the struggle to survive takes you. That's not something some spoiled aristocrat would understand, I'm sure. I bet you haven't taken a real risk in your life, or at least, not one that has truly hurt you." Ryu turned around, halting and facing Aziza. He stood straight, tense, his legs bent. He did not raise his fists to Aziza yet. Emaciated and bony he hardly seemed as imposing as he once was but it belied a sense tension and practice to his stance. "I had you made for some kind of minder or assassin, somebody to keep me in line or take me offline, but you don't have the disposition of either. You're no Sith. You're not even a very good messenger, evidently trekking across the galaxy with no idea who you're looking for." Ryu raised his arms as he sarcastically revealed himself. "You have found the mighty Kakuto Ryu. I hope your task really was to deliver a verbal message, because if you're here to kill me you should think carefully about your next move. I don't think you're prepared for the world you've stepped into."

Ryu continued navigating the forest, never turning back to Aziza. He was soon nearly knee deep in brackish mud, trudging slowly forward. "Nope." Ryu said, dismissively. He didn't know enough about his own history to comment on it at this point, and so he chose to remain obstinate in the face of he questioning in lue of revealing his loss of memory. It was a weakness, and he would not expose it. He had forgotten much of how the Sith worked, but flashes of memory danced hazily through his head. He could remember many aspiring Sith. If not by their names, then by their faces. And by their sorrowed death masks. He knew that few survived their training. "You're a bold one, I'll give you that much. Seems like an awfully dangerous path, if the only thing you can have trust in is that you can trust no one. Knowing that the hornets mean to sting you is only so useful when you've angered the swarm." Ryu climbed atop a fallen tree that blocked the path, stopping to examine the leaches that had latched onto his legs. He took a moment to pluck them off one by one, exposing a slightly bleeding bite to the filthy swamp water. He seemed annoyed. "What is it you hope to gain for this risk? What could possibly be worth subjecting yourself to the casual cruelty and constant peril of working with the Sith?"

Ryu looked over his shoulder before he boarded the taxi, taking a last glance at the statue. He grimaced when he realized it had turned to face him. Nope, still crazy. He let out a sigh and climbed into the vehicle, providing coordinates for a swampy bit of forest in the middle of nowhere. He glanced at his stoic companion before having his attention drawn to his mechanical arm. He pried open a service panel and was poking around on the inside, trying to see if he could identify whatever was horribly wrong with this cursed thing, spending the ride in silence. Immediately after they had landed Ryu got out and began to hurry away the driver. Once he disappeared off in the direction of Iziz, Ryu spoke. "Sorry for landing out in the swamp, Miss. Can't very well take a cab driver straight to a Sith's hidden death fortress can we? Might get us all killed." Ryu began his barefoot trudge in the direction of the coordinates Nyrys had given him, turning his back to Aziza and leading the way. "You can never be too careful working with the Sith right? Wouldn't you agree? Say what do you do for the Sith anyway?"

"There is a bit of resemblance isn't there..." Ryu turned his back on the statue, reassured that he wasn't just imagining it. She was looking for him, but did not recognize him. He considered sending her the wrong direction and bailing, but he didn't like his odds of staying ahead of her. He decided to foster confusion. "I'm Mudd Thundersun. And I have seen the man you are seeking, Kakuto Ryu you said? But wouldn't you know, he just left the city. Said he was heading to some hidden facility outside of Iziz. I was contracted to install refreshers out there but I don't have a ship, or credits..." Ryu trailed off, glancing at his feet. "...or shoes, really. So why don't we make a deal, I'll give you coordinates to where you can deliver your message, and you give me a ride out huh? You look like one of them fancy city folk, I bet you got yourself a real nice speeder or something we could use."

My Lord? His back toward Aziza, Ryu scrunched his face in disappointment. He paused for a long time, unsure what to do next. She called me, 'My Lord?' what does that even mean? How much influence do I have here? Who the hell am I and what has happened since I was imprisoned? Ryu eyes caught on a figure in the distance. His pupils dilated and his heart began to pound as he noticed the 20 foot tall man in armor, swinging a hammer downward with an expression of psychotic rage. Exactly as it had appeared in his hallucinations. He forgot about Aziza for a moment, and wandered closer to the statue. He couldn't be sure that the statue was real, and not just another figment of his imagination. It seemed real, but he had a strong expectation that it would move of attack him at any second. When he finally turned back toward his pursuer, he recalled the question that she had posed. "How I feel is none of your business..." Ryu clutched his forehead again, the new arm feeling somewhat like a constant electrical shock dealt directly to his nervous system. Frustrated that his attempt to pass by unnoticed was evidently so useless, he began to bark back questions. "...Who are you? What do you want? And.... What do you know about this statue?"

Ryu slipped on the generic, state issued one-size-fits-all pair of baggy black pants. The legs barely passed his calf, but it was better than nothing, he figured. He dropped the comm into his pocket. He watched the woman Nyrys had indicated with a sense of dread. For a moment it had seemed like they were going to leave without doing anything to make sure he didn't just run, but apparently he had been appointed a minder. Ryu grudgingly made his way down the stairs from the landing pad, passing by hordes of confused hospital staff bringing patients back into the hospital as he made his way out. As he approached the front door he identified the wandering woman from before, apparently led here in much the same way Nyrys and Delta had. Word of his reappearance was spreading quickly through the Sith Empire. Ryu was unsure why his appearance meant so much to the Sith, but his notoriety was clearly significant. Ryu emerged from the front doors of the hospital, trying to look anywhere but directly at Aziza, He rubbed his temples, half to hide his face, and half because the feedback from the shoddy mechanical arm he was given was making his skull feel like it was going to split open. He thought maybe if he pretended not to know she was here for him, she wouldn't recognize him and he could pass by undetected.

Ryu listened to the case they made for rejoining the Sith. The specter of his former self, the sadistic demon that stalked the shattered halls of his mind; that was who they came here looking for. They wanted a weapon to crush their foes with, but they had found an emaciated drifter with a broken mind. He had little interest in being used in this way, yet he could see little option but to agree to their terms if he'd hoped to leave this place. Ryu watched as the white armor clad specter walked around between his visitors, unnoticed, unreal. He watched the figure in white lift up the female Sith and toss her off the roof. He watched with a mild sense of terror as body plummeted down the side of the building and splatter on the ground. He blinked and found the specter gone and the Sith still standing where she had been before. The hallucinations were getting worse. Apparently his subconscious was making a suggestion as to how he might escape this situation. Dagon you say.... The name he heard a face he had seen in the dark recesses of his mind, but the details were still hazy to him. He avoided the subject, certain that saying too much would expose his condition and risk a change of heart followed by an execution. He couldn't avoid his past anymore. He would have to face it. "You wanna be friends? Fine. Why don't you show me what good friends you are and find me some pants and equipment?" The wind on the top of the building combined with his hospital gown did not leave him with a great deal of modesty. Ryu tossed the broken bed rail over the edge of the building, then raised his arm as if direct them forward. "Lead on."

Ryu ruminated on the words, unsure how to respond. The Sith he had fought was the Dark Lord? And He had Survived? And now they wanted to make friends because he did such a good job of it? This all seemed like nonsense, deception. His knowledge of the Sith order was still hazy at best, but the idea that he might have earned their respect by surviving a fight with the Dark Lord rang true. Ryu knew that he was once a Sith, and for all anyone else knew, he was still the man he was back then. Perhaps the way to survive this situation was to go along with it, feign memory of his past and let the Sith treat him as a lost brother. At very least, it seemed more possible than bludgeoning a platoon of soldiers to death with a bed rail. He watched the soldier approach. If Ryu was going to have to fight him, he would have to do it at close range. And so as Delta crossed the roof to approach him, his hands up in a gesture of surrender, Ryu stood still. He still suspected a ruse, but at least at close range he would would be able to counterattack when the situation turned hostile. "What exactly do you want? Do you really mean to say that you evacuated a hospital and stormed it with a legion of soldiers because you wanted to be my friend?"

Ryu's blood ran cold as he heard a man call out from below, accusing him by name of scaring the staff. "Yes, they're running from me, not the armed death squad that surrounded the building." He wished he had something, anything he could use to slow down the one advancing behind him. Or something to help him ascend faster. All he could do was run toward his uncertain escape. When he finally breached the final door to the roof though, his worst fears were realized. There was no aircraft he could escape with, just an empty landing pad and the perilous fall that surrounded it. Ryu ran toward the edge, looking for any nearby path he could fall to, but saw nowhere he could drop that he could survive. He facepalmed his clunky metal hand for a moment, before turning to face the door he had come in from. He took a deep breath and spread his feet apart, assuming a low stable stance. He was sure that his pursuers could not be far behind, and were likely still in earshot. "Well, you got me cornered now. But you know what they say about cornered animals. I don't know who you're here to avenge, but consider carefully whether or not you're willing to die to have that vengeance." Ryu caught a glimpse of the specter of his past self, sitting above the doorway and sharpening a knife. Despite his lack of equipment, he felt certain that if pushed he would succumb to the madness that had driven him on the Goliath. "I doubt it's worth what it'll cost.."

Ryu's eye shot open with a gasp, the dull pain of consciousness resuming. He was still on the medical bed, where the droid had left him. His chest still felt like a pincushion. As he moved to get up he heard a loud metallic clank, becoming aware of his new mechanical arm for the first time. As he stabilized himself he moved the new arm, and with it got a sort of "buzzing" in his nerves that traveled up his shoulder and took root in his brain. It was a sort of awful feedback from system that connect it to his nerves, static from something not grounded properly. As he went to move it around he was immediately struck by how sluggishly it responded. It was a bare framed metallic arm, the exposed articulated parts having no synthetic skin or external casing to speak of. Ryu sneered and slumped his head. This was only vaguely preferable to not having the arm. But at least I can open jars again. He thought. He stood up slowly, wondering where exactly he was. He had passed out on a ship. Was he still on the Goliath? He recalled feeling the ship enter and exit hyperspace, and seeing a different planet when he had blown a hole in the side of the ship. No doubt the ship had retreated, and he found himself now deep in Sith territory. He walked toward the door slowly, every step he took radiating waves of pain through his injuries. When he reached the doorway to his room he slumped against the wall, sweating bullets. He thought about Jedi and Sith he had been fighting. The power that overwhelmed him then had subsided now, leaving behind only the fragments of memory that he had gained from his other self, and the bitter knowledge that in the end he had betrayed both sides in his maddened frenzy. No matter who lie beyond that door, it would almost certainly be an enemy, seeking revenge for the blood he had spilled. He found himself with nothing, no weapons, no clothes except for a hospital gown, and in a weakened state while facing an approaching foe. Again. Armiena had taken pity on him due to his ignorance the first time, but he had ensured that nobody would see him as being innocent this time. Ryu pressed the button to open the door, and was very shocked to find it slide freely. He really expected to be locked in, given the circumstance. He peeked out into the hallway to find the hall in a state of abandonment and disarray. There was not a soul in sight, and everything seemed dropped in a state mid use, like the inhabitants had made a mad dash to leave. It was a hospital, he gathered, by the variety of medical tools and sensors he saw laying around. He walked past an overturned food cart, stepping in still warm food. He felt a deep sense of confusion. He noted blue skies out the windows, assuring him that he was indeed on a planet now. In the distance he heard a few footsteps, and a door seal shut. He wondered toward it cautiously, clutching his gut with his mechanical arm while bracing himself against the wall with the other. Eerie Silence followed him while he peeked around every corner, into every open and uninhabited room. When he came to the door he though he had heard close, he opened it cautiously, revealing a lift in a transparasteel shaft. From the elevator shaft he had a wide open view of the surrounding area: a large open campus surrounded by other buildings. When he examined the campus his blood ran cold, He saw a stream of doctors, and nurses running out, escorting or carting out patients to be sorted at a picket of armed soldiers, who dotted the building's perimeter. He saw others who seemed to be closing in on an entrance. He ducked behind the doorway and stood flush against the wall, hyperventilatilating for a moment, cursing his fate. "...Betrayer..." Ryu winced, hearing the voice of the demon echo in his head. He began to strategize, desperately trying to imagine a scenario where he survives the strikeforce, and coming up with very little. Only that he needed a weapon, and that if they were below, and that his only option was up. A hospital seemed like a poor place to find a weapon. He began to hobble quickly down the halls, ducking into a patient room to tear the safety rail off of a bed to make a crude cudgel. He stopped at a map and began to study it for a possible escape route. He couldn't take the elevator, he would be spotted immediately in that open transparasteel elevator. He grimaced at the prospect of cornering himself at the top of this building, but he was certain they would have the ground level covered shortly. On the map, he found a staircase on the interior he could climb, and on the roof he found the indication of a landing pad for ambulance speeders. If he was lucky, he hoped, he would find one parked at the top. Ryu hobbled through the halls to the staircase, then set about climbing upward along the long twisting path to a desperate escape route.

Ryu found himself in a dark room, laying on the floor in the fetal position. It was unclear how long he had been there, but it felt like weeks. His eye stared unblinking into inky blackness, his mind filled with an equally empty catatonic void. In the distance he spotted a man who seemed to appear under a freshly activated spotlight. Ryu recognized him, though he was covered in a mask and black robes.immediately as Exodus. "Exodus..." Ryu croaked with a dry voice, a vague sense of hopefulness in the name. He got up slowly, and began approach the lone man, when two more lights clicked on near him. Under them were two more men, One was white White haired in, in the robes of the Krath, the other in plate armor. "Dagon... And Tethyn!" Ryu quickened his pace, though it did not seem to make his approach any faster. More lights kicked on, revealing more black robed figures. "Abaddon... Jareth... Raynuk... Karma... Furion..." Ryu stopped as the motionless figures seemed to surround him. Suddenly furious disdainful voice erupted from behind Exodus's mask. "TRAITOR." Ryu hesitated, trying to recall the events that had brought him here. It was hazy now. He could barely remember anything after boarding the Goliath. "FAILURE." Echoed Dagon's voice. "DESERTER." Added Tethyn. "PATHETIC." "NAIVE" "WEAKLING." "INCOMPETENT" "FOOL." Each figure added recrimination to fray. Ryu clutched his head, trying to process the guilt he felt. Armiena appeared just next to Exodus adding her own judgement. "Monster." Finally, they all cried out once more, in unison. "BETRAYER" And with that, they all burst into flames. He watched the robes on the figures around him be peeled away by fire, exposing charred flesh which quickly erodeded their bodies. They repeated, chanting now. "BETRAYER. BETRAYER. BETRAYER. BETRAYER." Exodus stepped forward, extending a hand with apparent intent to choke Ryu out, but by the time it reached his neck, they were just blackened bones that gripped him. "Betrayer...." ------ Ryu woke up on an operating table, his arms and legs tied down, with a medical droid elbow deep in his open gaping chest cavity. It's droning mechanical voice gave kurt instructions. "Remain calm. You have not been authorized for anesthesia. Increases to your heart rate will accelerate your bleeding out." Ryu screamed in horror as he felt the mechanical arms digging through his intestines and applying crude patches to his exposed organs. He tried to break free, but found himself helpless to do anything but watch as minutes turned into hours, as droid rearranged his insides and shot cauterizing lasers at internal wounds. When it finished with his body cavity, it went on to probe his limbs, stabbing him with narrow mechanical claws, which reemerged seconds layer holding pieces of shrapnel, sealing the wound again before dropping the piece into an alarming full tray. When the droid went for the final piece, it stabbed directly toward his heart, sinking between his ribs. He felt the mechanical glance his heart, a sickening pain that made him nearly vomit. When it emerged, it dropped a silver crystal above the pile. Between his screams he stared at the jagged blood covered crystal, watching as instead of landing atop the other bits of shrapnel, it flew into his palm. He gripped it tightly as the last wound was sealed, and the droid said its final report. "Five Major hemorrhages sealed. Twenty-seven minor hemorrhages sealed. Seventeen broken bones fused. Thirty fractures patched. Seventy pieces of shrapnel extracted, most apparently from old injuries. One stock mechanical arm installed. Arkanian life form stabilized. You will live." The droid hovered into a corner, then was sucked down a chute to disappear from the room. The restraints released, leaving Ryu to shrink into the fetal position while quivering in pain. He wanted to get off the table, but he lacked the strength to. Instead he stared into the crystal, washed in maddening agony. In his mind he could still hear Exodus's voice, echoing his nightmare. Betrayer...

"SUFFERING." Pt 2 Armiena struck a cord with Ryu, drawing the Ryu that had dreaded who he truly was back closer to the surface. The man was sure that this suffering was his own doing, his punishment. And in that moment he knew who and what he truly was. A monster. One who drank deep of the power of this manic rage, one whose only friends were the homicidal maniacs who valued the supreme strength if offered without question, Those who were prepared to live with the immense suffering that it would bring to everyone around, as long as they should live. The friend he would kill her for was another monster. A creature of hatred without mercy or love in their heart. That is what the old Ryu, the specter from his nightmares, was. That is the only kind of person who could call him friend. Those who learned to love the suffering, for it was the only constant in their world. Seeing this, he wanted to stop. To help her escape. Maybe even go with her. He wanted to save her life and get her back to her Padawan, Genesis, and try to make up for all the pain he had caused. But he couldn't stop. It was too late to go back now. That part of him didn't have control anymore. He had given in fully to the Dark side, to the memories of who he once was: the specter who walked the land like a hurricane, bringing sorrow and ruin upon all he came in contact with without thought or remorse. Not because that's what he wanted. But because that's what he was. The Dark Side was a powerful addiction and he had drank too deeply of it to stop now. So as Armiena pressed her hilt to his chest, having had the path to a killing blow but not taking it, Ryu felt a renewed sent of anguish. If she had killed him, she might have been spared him the profound torment he was to endure, both in this moment and for the rest of his days; having to watch as his fury exceed his ability to be to maintain control, having to live with the fact that he will have betrayed all who might have called him friend, and that he could never know true companionship for none would ever be safe in his presence. Because it was already too late. The red blade of transcendence emerged from the back of her chest. Ryu's anguish manifest as a horrible psychic scream, a mournful cry of anger and agony that went on continuously. The walls and floors vibrated, slowly at first, then faster and violently, until the whole side of the ship shook apart, sending her into space along with large mass of twisted steel. He stood on the precipice, his location fixed by the force and his mouth agape. He cried out in agony even as the area depressurized and he was forced to the silence of space. Left standing in empty space, he watching her body drift away. He walked slowly back toward the nearest pressurized door, tears and blood evaporating into clouds of gas and being sucked out into the ether as he moved. As he opened the door he found the red knights staked out to greet him. They were immediately sucked into space by more than just the room depressurization, as Ryu willed them to simply be out of his way. When the door closed behind him, and at last he was truly alone, he collapsed from his many wounds, and fell unconscious, drifting in the corridor.

(( Final Round. OVERTIME: Kakuto Ryu VS Obsidian Knight )) "SUFFERING." Ryu’s arm was blown to pieces by the maelstrom, throwing him back and sweeping him away, only to find himself wedged in an upturned deck plate and buried under even more wreckage while the final moments of the duel played out. He watched as Armiena cut down Exodus, In the last remaining rational vestiges of his mind, he saw her containing her glee in the moments leading up to the death blow, and in those seconds he felt anguished, his paranoid mind interpreting as a sign that he had indeed been betrayed--a sense that struck home when lightning pierced Exodus’s body, and the opportunity to reconnect with what was potentially the last remaining person that he had a bond with. The force storm ended with a jolt as the ship swirling object fell, and he lost sight of Armiena. He lost consciousness for a few seconds, his body riddled with gashes, his bones cracking and organs hemorrhaging from the many impacts he’d endured. He would only have a few minutes of consciousness left. He faintly heard Armiena calling his name, followed by the sound of many bootsteps. Her sudden desire to learn Ryu’s location was answered with a clanking at her feet. It was the lightsaber she had loaned him. The strap that had held it to his wrist was torn. Under the rubble she could hear motion as he worked to free himself. His arm only barely peeked through. Though dissipated, he could still feel the swirling of Exodus’ maelstrom, the motion of his storm echoing thunderously in the force. He could feel it turning around him, and empowered by the profound grief he pulled it inward, letting his spirit become a hurricane of rage. Ryu’s arm disappeared below the wreckage, then burst through again to knock over a large wall panel that had been resting on his skull. His robes were torn to shreds, and the ghostly white figure was now painted entirely in streaks of his own blood. His right eye was filling with blood, a broken artery in his eye washing the sclera in red, meanwhile they gaping socket in his left still shone with a dim spark. He looked at Armiena with a new grotesquely twisted expression, crying blood and showing unbridled sorrow and agony on the right while steeming with psychotic rage and flickering sparks from his socket on the left. Empowered by his desire to avenge Exodus and the echo of his murderous intent, He extended his fingers and the Legendary Transcendance floated to his grasp, Exodus’s own blade acting upon the Dark Lord’s final will by both drawing the very life force from Ryu and, at the same time acting as a focus for the echo of the Maelstrom that would empower him. “I… Remember Gala now… This man, he stood beside me, against you, and those who stood with you. Echos of that day live in this blade, and affirm that they were not just my own fevered hallucinations. He was my brother… and you used me to kill him. You’ve deceived me to kill my Brother… Was this your plan all along? My final punishment, to have me help you hunt down the last of my family, Oblivion having already been dispatched at your hand. Oblivion never returned, did you know that? Would you do that to me again? Deny me the last of those who I loved as brothers, before killing me or consigning me back to the dark pit you pulled me from?” Ryu was shaking with rage, bits of the ship beginning to drift upward as his will to be free began to manifest subconsciously in the force amid his surging power. No longer able to contain it, he thrust his left shoulder into the air and let out a primal scream, which vibrated in the force and made the very ship around them vibrate with his intensity. Coalescing the residual energy of the maelstrom, he pulled down a massive bolt of force lightning, concentrated and focused, yet brief, hammering down from the ceiling directly onto Kakuto Ryu and splitting at his flesh. The shape of a huge monstrous claw was faintly visible in the flash of the lightning, his crude wreckage arm reforming once again. Spliting from Ryu, it surged throughout the ship setting electrical systems ablaze and short-circuiting panels while arcing between the Sith Soldiers and stunning them long enough for him to make his final stand. The lightning must have had far reaching consequences to the ship, as now the artificial gravity abruptly failed, and objects were beginning to drift around the room, dimly visible among smoke, fire, and arcing panels. "GET OUT!" Ryu’s shout was at once a demand and a plea as well, his fractured mind simultaneously begging her to just leave and becoming bent on driving her out of the ship--through the walls and into space. She would escape or he would see her dead, if she didn’t kill him first. He still had doubts in his mind, but those doubts were so quiet now behind the drumming, and worse, the psychotic screams of rage that filled both his mind and his lungs. "GET OUT!" With Both Hands he began to pry the floor panel that had been pinning him up, sparks dancing through the debris that held the shape of his arm by the power of his will. A massive sheet of steel broke loose with a crash, nearly the whole width of the room and at least as long. "GET OUT!" Weighless but inert, Ryu kicked off against exposed ship innards below and began pushing the massive slab, slowly at first, then faster, then at a sprint, until he could barely keep up with it. Smaller debris followed closely behind, caught in a current of the force that was amplifying impact of his effort. Each time he imparted his force onto the wreckage he drifted randomly, alternating between the ceiling, walls and floor as he bounced off his target and then heaved himself forward again. The big object was not difficult to move in Zero G, but had a lot of inertia, and required a great deal of force to gain momentum, becoming harder and harder to stop with each push. Ryu threw his force arm into the floor far ahead of him and used it to pull himself forward rapidly as he kicked off to try to catch up with the wreckage one final time. His lightning hand and stretched out and snatched a force hammer, having been knocked loose from one of the soldiers that he had shocked with his initial volley and drawn into an ever increasing cloud of debris propelled forward at Armiena. Twin Crimson blades erupted from Transcendence, his body spinning as he twisted the blade through the wreckage and cut it into smaller, but still formidably large pieces. “GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!” Ryu shouted, spinning around wildly and swinging the hammer at different pieces deck plate and other debris, shouting his furious demands every time he launched one forward. The pieces of wreckage flew at such velocity that they threatened to tear open the side of the ship upon impact. Close behind the volley, a final swing of his hammer aimed at Armiena herself, with the lightsaber ready to follow up. ((One And done. Thanks for playing with me. No hard feelings no matter what happens.))

"Anger leads to...." As Ryu charged in he could hear Exodus taunting him, his whispers coming in loud even over the relentless drum. “Was his mind truly lost to madness?” Ryu was virtually certain that he had. The lines between reality and his hallucinations had blurred. “ Had the Jedi deceitfully led him to slaughter, and turned him into a doltish marionette for their games?” Ryu didn’t have much time to ruminate on the words, as no sooner than he had been called a dolt did get struck by residual shrapnel from his own grenades. He had overestimated the size of the room they were fighting in, and Draygo’s ability to control the explosion, and in so doing felt the bitter sting of metal shards passing through his left side. One passed through his calf, while another embedded in his skull and a few small shards peppered his left shoulder. It came as a stark notice of how unhinged he’d truly become, too lost in his own madness to comprehend the suicidal danger he put himself in. Even so, despite the intense pain and wounded leg, Ryu’s fervor only intensified. The Red blade intercepted his green one, locking together with a shower of sparks. He hadn’t whiffed the strike entirely as he had before, and though he could get the fearsome Sith to concede ground, he was still not able to make contact. The smoke thinned from compression wave of the grenade, smoke escaping from gaps into adjacent areas. In the mingling lights of their blades Ryu at last saw his opponent, encased in black armor with golden inlay, his helmet fierce visage of wolf. “That is...King Exodus, Brother.” Exodus’s visage felt terribly familiar to him, the fearsome Sith was reminiscent of the dark specter that haunted his mind. And yet, he was distinct. It seemed more likely that the man who stood before him was in fact the successor to that dark legacy. The last word echoed in his mind, growing louder and louder until it was a scream. “...Brother...” In a flash of light, Ryu found himself in a Jedi temple, back to back with two companions, in combat with Jedi. They were three against numerous Jedi, fighting back to back. With him were the two Sith Ryu had sent with Dagon in the earlier vision. They were Exodus and Oblivion-- the white haired apprentice. Lightsabers blazing, they fought furiously against stacked odds. In this moment he felt a sense of kinship with the two he fought alongside of. They were his brother, his equals, those he had revered above all others. They, along with the unseen Dagon, were his first and only kin. Ryu watched a lightsaber blade erupt from Oblivion’s back, felt a sharp pain of anguish running through his chest. As the Sith fell to the ground, his slayer was revealed. Though he did not recognize the faces of the other Jedi, he knew this one instantly. Armiena Draygo In the shock Ryu was mortally wounded by a blow to his chest. He fell to the ground and watched Exodus, only to see him be cut down last as his consciousness faded away. He awakened later in a Sith temple. It’s obsidian walls felt familiar, like it was his home. His and his allies’ bodies were on the floor, arranged in a triangle, having apparently been resurrected by a dark ritual. Ryu stood first, then Exodus. But Oblivion did not rise. He remained motionless. His soul did not return from the force, and his death had been made final. Three brothers had become two. The despair he felt in that moment washed over him, and followed him to the present. All this Ryu saw in the flash of light that connected their sabers, reeling in disorientation the moment after. Ryu saw Armiena close in beside him to try to strike Exodus, but they were both stopped by a sudden explosion. The force erupted from the Sith, creating an omnidirectional wave that shattered Ryu’s bones, tore his flesh and sent him flying ahead of ribbons of blood. The compression wave contorted the very ship around them, buckling the structure and demolishing panels along the surface of the walls. Ryu stopped at a wall, smashing his spine into it with such force to leave a dent behind. He slid to the ground and slumped in anguish. It had become clear that he was hopelessly outmatched in his current state. I can’t defeat him. As Ryu sat bleeding on the ground, his gray hair, flesh and robe each being tainted with streaks of red. His back to the dent in the wall, he saw the malicious spectre appear in front of him, clad in his usual white armor. Ryu knew that this hallucination represented the man he was before his memories had been erased, a terrible demon. I will fight for you. It is the only way to survive. The vision held out his armored hand. If I submit to his control, It would bring back a monster. Would I even exist as I am now? Or would he obliterate what I am now and take my place? For all I know, he may turn his blade on Armiena. Armiena... Was it really her who killed my brother? Is it really my brother who I am helping her to fight now? Would she take them both? Am I being used to kill my kin? Or am I being manipulated now, by Exodus? Is he trying to use me on someone who has shown me mercy despite the beast I once was? Or am I just lost in a fever of madness, and my foe is not Exodus? Are these really my memories coming back? Or Illusions? I can trust nothing to be real. I can trust no one to be my ally. I am only sure that if I continue to fight like this, I will not survive. I am free from my prison, but I am cornered, bound, and alone even still. Ryu looked up at the man in the skull mask, extending his hand to grasp the Spectre’s. I submit. Ryu’s face twisted unnaturally, his expression going asymmetrical as his mind was a real sense torn in half. His right eye and mouth showed anguish and horror, a miserable weeping moan punctuated by genuine tears. And yet, the left side of his mouth was a hideous grin, gritting teeth in anger, beastial and fierce, yet joyous in malice. His left eye lid slid open, revealing an empty fleshy cavern inside his skull. In the center of his eye flickered a tiny spark, which grew in intensity until sparks erupted from his socket and showered his cheek. Broken wreckage from the grenades and Exodus’ force attack began to lift up around Ryu, starting with pieces closest to Ryu. As he rose to his feet the effect branched out. The five throwing knives on his belt were lifted into the air, along with shards of electronics, exposed wiring and arcing electricity from damaged panels. Even the blood that poured from Ryu’s flesh got swept up and began to dribble upward into the air instead of caking his robe. The debris floated aimlessly until another spark, like the one in his eye, formed on the crest of his left shoulder. A spark of electricity erupted and set fire to the tried off sleeve that hung where the severed arm. As it continued to erupt in electricity the floating objects began to draw toward where his left arm would have been. Jolts of lightning traveled along paths that resembled his arteries and terminated where his skin would have been, creating a ghostly image of the arm in the flashes of light.The floating objects began to crudely smash together, starting at his shoulder massing to form an arm out of random shards of metal, blood, and lightning. It was not a mechanical arm, but rather a crude facsimile held together by the force alone. Ryu let out a howl, a horrible layered moan that was at once agony, terror, laughter and rage. He hunched low and threw his new arm forward. The pieces scattered and reorganized, absorbing more of the debris and becoming looser, streaks of lightning passing through large gaps and seeming to hold it all together. About half way between Exodus and KR, the five knives embedded in the durasteel floor, each representing the last segment of his five fingers. It had become grotesquely disproportionate in length and size relative to his body, but the shapes of bone and blood vessels were still visible in the patterns of electricity. Ryu pulled himself forward with the arm, launching through the air like an arrow. As he sailed directly at Exodus’, he pulled the force arm back in towards his body, shrinking it as pieces drifted clumsily in orbit of his body. He twisted in the air, igniting the saber behind him as the force heaved the pieces of his will-powered arm toward Exodus, a knife fingered hand made of twisted metal reaching to grab at Exodus’s chest. A surge of lightning arced the pieces and escaped aimlessly bathed Exodus’s area, ignoring whether Armiena was in the path or not, and growing narrower as he closed the distance between them. He swept the green blade forward, his hideously contorted face mouth still wailing monstrously as he moved to try to slash toward Exodus’ neck. ((3))

"Anger Leads to..." Ryu heard the crackle of electricity and saw flashes of light pierce through the dark. Then he felt an impact from behind, followed by the surge of electricity coursing through his body. He was knocked over by the impact, breaking his fall with his skull and sliding for several seconds on built up momentum. His thumb went limp and released the lightsaber's activator, leaving it to go inactive as the hilt fell to the end of the tether that held it to his wrist until came to rest on the floor. Ryu’s consciousness dimmed, and everything faded away. ----- Standing atop a raised platform, Ryu found himself in a cold, dark Sith temple. Below him was a grand melee with Sith and converted Jedi padawans, each fighting for their life. They were trapped in a ring of slaves standing shoulder to shoulder, weapons drawn to form the outer boundary of the arena. Among the six fighters one stood out as exceptional, a venomous serpent among cattle. He was a Sith Lord with long stygian black hair and intense emerald eyes. He was youthful and lithe, his skin not yet a record of warfare written in scars as most old Sith tend to become. Watching him fight, the young Lord was at once more relaxed and more ferocious than the others, well acclimated and prepared for these barbaric rituals. He displayed no fear from the others he engaged with, nor satisfaction at their suffering, only unyielding disdain. Turning, Ryu found two other sith atop the platform with him. One was an apprentice with violet eyes and white hair. He listened intently, enthralled with Ryu and eager to serve. Closer, next to Ryu was a Sith master in a fully enclosed suit of black plate armor. He wore a horned helmet with a white faceplate. An obsidian throne rested directly behind Ryu, close enough that he might have tripped on it. Ryu faced the Armored Sith. “Dagon…” Ryu spoke involuntarily, his own voice seemingly coming from inside him and somewhere else. “I trust you've spent this time forming grand designs. To aid in your conquest, take this apprentice.” Ryu gestured toward the violet eyed apprentice next to him. His hand seemed to move of its own volition, and it felt like he was trapped in his body as it acted out the scene on its own, no longer able to control himself. A mere spectator watching the scene play out. “Tethyn will make a powerful alchemist. And take another...” Ryu looked down and pointed his finger at the formidable Sith Lord in the pit. The circle around their fight was breaking and the survivors of the melee were being dragged away to face new horrors. “...he has grown much since he was first drug here in that cage…” As Ryu gazed at the Sith Lord he stared back, his green eyes flashing with intensity and hatred. Reality began to distort and flicker, fading to black. The next words he heard came out garbled like a damaged holotransmission. “E̸̡̨̛̮͙͎̙̫̫͙̯͓̫̙̯̬͈͌̒͆̿͋̌̎x̸̢͎͙̰̜̗͔̪͇̞͍͌̓̆́̔͂̑̄͌́̈́̓͐|̸̛͖͇͓͎́͌͐̑̀͋̈̏╚̴̨̺̯̗̜̿̒̋̄̅̾̓̚͠♦̷̧̢̰͓͓̪̼̜̜̬͍̰̫̱͍͆̏̀͗̾̅̃̄͒̓̋̕͜͜͜͠$̶̛̰̹̞͍̭̤̘͙͙̺̪͇͓̈̄͂̈́̕ͅ.̸͈̪͎̒͋̾̽̅͂̉̆̈́̌̄͛̆̃̕ “ When the world came back into view Ryu was looking up at the ceiling, his back on the ground as he stared up at the raven haired apprentice. He felt his neck being crushed, the Lord’s foot planted firmly on his windpipe. The Lord looked down at Ryu with a mixture of contempt and smug superiority, his green eyes piercing Ryu to his soul. The slaves that had formed the pit now encircled them, their weapons all pointed at Ryu. They cheered and screamed, getting louder and louder by the second, as Ryu gasped for air, until the sounds of their cries became an indecipherable drumbeat within his mind. ----- Ryu regained consciousness with his back on the ground, hacking and coughing from the smoke. He stayed low where the smoke would be least dense as he attempted to regain his bearings, making struggling gasps of the thick black air. His attack had failed spectacularly, and he couldn’t see well enough to anticipate his foe’s dodge, to compensate for his speed, or even evade his counterattack. Ryu frustration was boiling at being helpless to defend himself. The intense panic of being in this trap gave weigh to rage. He was angry he didn’t take the escape pod, angry he had walked into this trap, and angry at the Jedi for hopelessly assaulting this fortress. Most of all, he was angry at the man in the dark for toying with them, hiding in the shadows instead of facing him outright. I refuse to die here! Ryu got up slowly, looking around the sightless room. Standing a few meter away he could see the Raven Haired Sith from his nightmare, his green eyes glowing in the murky darkness. It was the only thing he could see, standing firm, his left arm lowering from the lightning attack and his right clutching his lightsaber hilt. Ryu was awake now, though not entirely lucid, and he believed the hallucination at face value. The Sith Lord that Ryu had seen in his nightmare was indeed in reality, standing right where Ryu saw him. Though his sanity was slipping, in the depths of madness he saw through to a truth. Ryu reached into his belt and withdrew the second flashbang grenade. He pressed the activator and threw it vaguely in the direction of his Foe, careful not to be so accurate that he exposed himself as being able to see. “Draygo.” Ryu reached and grabbed the last of his explosives--two fragmentation grenades--and gripped them both in his palm. He pressed the buttons to start the timer with his thumb, small audible chirps and dim red lights acting as a warning that they were armed. In the next instant, the flash bang went off, releasing a light that barely pierced through the haze and creating a pop which replaced all sound with a horrible ringing, though for Ryu it did nothing to mask the rhythmic deafening roar he now heard constantly.. I won’t let him kill me. Not now. Not here. NEVER!. He tossed the fragmentation grenades off to his right and began another charge, veering to the left of the hidden Sith’s location, as if he were going to miss entirely. “You haven’t won this already you skulking cur! You hear me?!” Just as he reached the closest point of his trajectory, right before his back would become vulnerable to his foe, Ryu turned and exposed his feint, facing the Sith head on and leaping toward him. "EXODUS!" He shouted the name he could not understand from the nightmare, as it had unexpectedly come into focus when he reached striking distance from his foe. Ryu activated his green blade mid swing again, bringing the hilt downward for an overhand strike right on top of the Sith’s position. ((2)) _______________________

These are things I intend to add to KR later down the road, none of which I have now. I am submitting them for approval in advance, to be edited into my character sheet upon acquisition at a later date Equipment Clothing or Armor: Ceramic armorplasts over duranium plate armor. Designed to work as a space suit, includes a life support system. Bleached bone colored. The helmet has four red eyes and no other features. Cybernetics: Cybernetic Interface- built into the base of his skull is a small computer with four ports, each housing a retractable cable. He can use this to interface with computers. Fake Eye - Sophisticated Sith Amulet, designed to allow him to see via the force. Alchemic Phrik Left Hand - A weapon unto itself, KR’s mechanical hand has three main features. Firstly, it is made Phrik and treated with Sith Alchemy, making it resistant to lightsabers. Second, it contains a hidden lightsaber(detailed below) which may be ejected from his hand or activated to emit below his wrist. Third, it contains a complex power coupling system. This electrical beam is powered by the arm’s internal generator, but can be overcharged with force lightning. When active, the electrical beam connects his hand to his wrist. The strong magnetic field it creates allows the hand to be launched. He can use his detached hand grab distant objects and pull them closer. Lightning can be transmitted through the hand. Made of dark red, nearly black metal. Weapons: Triphasic Lightsaber - Ryu’s Silver Lightsaber is built with two krayt dragon pearls as secondary crystals, and a specialized emitter. It has three modes. The first is a basic lightsaber. The second is a “wide” blade, which dramatically increases cutting power for durable objects, and the third is a long blade, extending to three meters. These modes are cycled by triggers on the underside of a V shaped emitter. The blade it creates is a pearlescent silver, with small shimmers and explosions occurring along the blade. The hilt is made of platinum and inlaid with bone. Purple Shoto - A Short lightsaber with sensor resistant baffling that makes it difficult to detect when concealed in his arm. This electric purple blade shutters along its edge like arcing electricity. It has a dark Durasteel hilt. Lightning Hammer - A heavy repulsor based warhammer, which creates a concussive force upon impact. It is made of alchemic phrik, making it resistant to lightsabers. It can act as a conduit for force lightning and retain a charge of force lightning within the head for a short period of time. Conductor Knives - KR’s knives are made of alchemic phrik, designed to attract and conduct force lightning. They are resistant to lightsabers. Common Inventory: Comm system in helmet. Ship Registration Name: Mr. Murderbuttons (Placeholder) Class: Bioengineered Murder Yatch (open to suggestions) Model: “Ender” Type Space Draconid Manufacturer: Krath murderbeast scientists (to be located) Length: 16 Meters Cybernetics and Bioengineering: Fusion Organ - The Beast is Powered by a Fusion Organ, which converts atoms directly to energy, allowing it to eat anything, even rocks and metal, for food. On the Chest of the creature is specialized device designed to convert that power into something that can be used by traditional ship systems. It is used to supplement the ship’s mechanical systems, but is not the only source of power. Its hyperdrive and life support are mounted together with a secondary reactor located in an armored spot on its back. Life support - The beast has been engineered with tough, heat and cold resistant skin that is acclimated to the rigors of space travel, offering some protection from radiation and small ship weapons. It can survive in a vacuum. A powerful life support system serves both the cockpit and the beast itself. Eyes - The creature has standard ship sensors built into its armor and fed not only to the cockpit, but to a special holoprojector in the transparasteel shields covering the creature’s eyes, letting it use the sensor data on its own. Cockpit - The cockpit door passes through the base of the creature's skull, where the pilot seat is submerged in liquid. It is a spinal fluid like substance intended to improve neurological signal conduction between the pilot and the creature. The pilot has a small and simple manual interface with a holo-fed screen. It is primarily meant to be controlled through a cybernetic interface which plugs into the back of Kakuto Ryu’s skull. The creature is able to operate independently, and can be commanded via comm or by force remotely, though at extreme cost to precision of control. Engines: The back of the creatures is fitted with two large mechanical wings--articulate mounting brackets for ion engines. It’s slow at sublight speeds, but highly maneuverable. The beast has a natural sense of how to use its body to rotate in space, and can change direction with great fluidity. The wings can fold up tightly on the creature’s back when not in use, or tactically to guard essential systems. Armaments: Heavy Ion Cannons - Mounted on the shoulders of the massive creature are a pair of turreted heavy ion cannons. Mouth - Care has been taken to create this beast a mechanical jaw that will seal out space when closed. Its teeth are made of thick interlocking durasteel and magnetically sealed. It can safely open its mouth in space, but for brief periods. Plasma Breath - The Creature can fire a beam of energy from its mouth which is similar to a heavy laser canon in damage potential, but with low beam cohesion. This results in a wide, spreading beam with severely reduced range Claws and tail - The Creature has tridactyl hands and a massive tail, covered in armor. Its hands are fitted with fearsome durasteel claws big enough to grip a man Armor: Durasteel grafted directly to its flesh, small shield generator, fit together like plate armor over joints.These plates were hand forged by Sith Armorsmiths, and are covered in Sith Runes Anti-Personnel Defenses: It's a terrifying space monster, and it doesn’t obey people who aren't its master. Appearance: The creature is a dragon, resembling Ender, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ender the genetic seed from which it was developed. It is much smaller than the one it is modeled on. It is covered in armor, with two massive wings.

((Duel accepted.)) "Fear Leads To..." As Ryu and Armiena charged through the widening path, he listened to her calling for extraction. Still carrying the dead stormtrooper as a shield, he was starting to become suspicious that he had not taken any blaster fire in some time. That was when the smoke canisters rattled, invisible to his eyes, and began belching smoke. An instant later the door sealed behind them, leaving the party isolated on the hostile vessel. That’s when Ryu knew that the plan was ruined, and this was a trap. They had walked into a spider’s web. He could hear the strange drumming that had been stalking him since before he’d even boarded this ship, now louder than ever before. Every second after that was a further escalation of his panic. The black smoke filled his nose and he began to cough and hack, his eyes burning the gas quickly filled the room. The drumming in his head grew louder. The lights dimmed, leaving him nearly entirely blind. The only thing he could make out was Armiena’s turquoise blade, until that too became lost in the thickening smog. The drumming grew oppressive. Unable to see anything, he heard a noise from Genesis’s direction, like his voice but growing farther rapidly. Just like that, Ryu felt certain he was gone. Definitely beyond his ability to chase. Possibly Beyond Armiena’s reach. Potentially beyond saving at all. Sound was drowned out entirely by drumming. And finally, he heard it clear enough to tell what it really was. Thousands cheering and stomping in unison, one constant drum beat. This was the noise he had been hearing all along, the cheers of thousands in anticipation of this moment, voices blended into a constant booming pulse that assaulted his ears and sundered his mind. Ryu wondered if he had never escaped his cell, if this was just a continuation of his sensory deprived torture and the events leading him here had just been more hallucinations. Regardless, when the voice assured him that this was the place he would die, he sincerely believed it was true. Had the noise been a warning? A warning would suggest that this was avoidable, and though Ryu had every opportunity to go another way, he somehow felt that this was still inevitable. The Spectre of his nightmares--the skull masked fiend that had terrorized him while he sat alone in the dark--had led him here. From the moment this ship had arrived on the battlefield it was creating a sort of magnetism that was drawing him inexorably to this spot, where untold legions assembled to witness what was likely to be his evisceration. In his head he could see the faces of the dead, crying out and pounding their feet in the massive unseen arena, gathered to witness the moment they would be avenged. Soldiers from a dozen armies and civilian militias with their faces and torsos mangled in unsurvivable ways. Jedi, Sith, Civilians and children in endless rows, crying out in unison for blood. And over top of their voices he heard the cold hideous mechanical laughter of the man in the Skull mask, taunting him behind it all. Amid all the animosity he felt swirling around him, he had the notion that the force was bringing down judgement for the crimes he had forgotten but was certain he was guilty of. Amid his unbridled terror, he knew now that this was to be his grave. But Ryu would not concede to death, it would have to take him. Whether it was one man or 100,000 that meant to kill him--he would fight to live. Still retching from the dense smog, Ryu let go of the breastplate of the stormtrooper, allowing the corpse to fall toward the ground. He reached back to his belt and pulled one of the flash bang grenades he'd grabbed off of Armiena's ship. Starting to run, he activated the fuse and overhanded it as hard as he could in the direction of the voice. When the grenade exploded it made a light bright enough to cast a silhouette of the man before him. It wasn't much, but it gave Ryu enough of an impression of his foes' location to know where to attack. Ryu broke into a reckless sprint to charge the malicious shadow. As he approached he pointed his shoulder forward and drew his hand back toward his chest. At the last moment he flung his arm vertically, catching the lightsaber that had been tethered to his wrist as far down the grip as he could manage while still pressing the activation button. At shoulder height for full range he swept the blade horizontally, activating it at the last possible moment. He meant to catch his foe off guard by making an attack at the very edge of his range. He didn't have a perfect impression of where the enemy was, but he was sure he'd be very close. Using the speed of his run, his arm, and the activation of his blade simultaneously to advance the green lightsaber forward at frightening speed, Ryu thought he might hit the foe before he realized that he was within Ryu’s reach. ((1)) _______________________

Ryu followed Armiena deeper into the ship, taking a position behind her as she approached the sealed blast door. He felt a rising sense of anticipation, preparing to proceed deeper into the hostile ship. Before the door would open though, the light in the ship went out, plunging them into darkness. Panic set in and Ryu began to breath heavily. The darkness took him back to his prison cell, were he had spent a decade in sensory deprivation. Suddenly he heard it again--the noise he had earlier dismissed as something mechanical inside Armiena's ship. Now he couldn't write it off as such anymore. It was louder now, like he was closer to it, and growing closer by the second. It was rhythmic a repetitive thumping sound, like a drum or perhaps several drums working in tandem. And he was hearing it from inside his head. The whistle of air came from the direction of the door, and for a moment Ryu thought he saw the skull masked specter that had terrorized him in his cell. He took one step forward and ignited his lightsaber, swing it out from his elbow in a horizontal sweep at shoulder height to maximize his range. When the blade stopped its green light was terminating a few inches past the eye shield of a stormtrooper helm. The drumming grew a little louder as the helmet's occupant went limp and slumped to the floor. Ryu looked down the hall, and down at the dim edge of the light cast by his blade he thought he saw the specter again, disappearing into the darkness. Streaks of red began to fill the hallway, erupting from the rifles of more stromtroopers and exposing their locations for a brief second before blasts sailed down toward Ryu and his companions. Ryu's saber went dark as he leapt forward to roll out of incoming fire, only to have it reignite in just the right spot to pierce the wrist and neck of another stormtrooper. Ryu still kneeling low, he deactivated the blade again and soon after felt the weight of the dead man fall on top of him. He slid his hand under the trooper's breastplate and stood up, lifting the body up and holding it in front of him to act as a shield to block incoming blaster fire. In his mind he was doubting whether he should have come with the Jedi to this place. He was shocked by how quickly the madness he had experienced in the cell was boiling back to the surface. But these thoughts were increasingly drowned out by sound of blaster fire riddling the corpse he was hiding behind, and the now ceaseless sound of the drum. _______________________

"Coming up!" Ryu shouted as the airlock came into punching range of Shippy's arms. The ship's mechanical hands formed into fists and began pummeling the airlock. The Door dented, then crumpled as the giant metal arms battered it, pieces of its frame flying off under the pressure of the now thoroughly mangled hatch. One of the arms shattered under the pressure, spitting throwing off plating and servos, yet undeterred Ryu continued slamming with the broken stump. When the gap was wide enough, Ryu reached good hand in the crack and gripped the edge, then tore it off and heaved into space. Ryu got up and disconnected the cable leading from his neck to the console, then snatched up one of the respirators and ran in the back to grab an adhesive grenade out of the armory. He ran back up to Shippy's own airlock, anticipating Armiena would bring it in view so that they could jump. He tossed the grenade up toward Armiena. "Use this to seal the door when you're inside!" he exclaimed as he put on the mask. Then, looking at the airlock control, he hesitated a moment, the horrible memory of his time in a vacuum making him sweat with fear. It's a horrible sensation, having your tears boil out of your eyes and your body decompressing, the nearest star melting your flesh while your other side slowly freezes. He only had a few memories to call upon, but his experience of the torture he faced if his time in space was not extremely brief was one that haunted him in this moment. Terrified but undeterred, he pulled the handle to open the hatch and rode the pressure wave of air sucking him out of shippy into the gnarled gate he'd torn into The Goliath. He drifted only momentarily in the raw silence of space, grabbing onto the airlock and pulling himself against the flow of air that now threatened to launch him back into the void. Before he cloud clear the doorway he was struck by a flailing stormtrooper on his way to his own icy grave, only barely maintaining his hold and avoiding the same fate. Once inside he trudged against the air currents, which became more manageable as he got farther away from the breach. He secured his footing and death-gripped a support beam on the wall as he waited for his companions to follow.

Ryu pondered Armiena's suggestion that he find a cudgel. It seemed like an odd suggestion, but when he contemplating it he was taken back to the black room, to his hallucinations in the darkness. His mind became washed with the images of blood. He clenched his eye shut and grimaced. "I think the lightsaber will be fine." This too seemed ponderous. A lightsaber? He had asked for it on a sort of instinct, but he knew that such a weapon was not common. This is a weapon for a Jedi... or... Ryu felt a pain in an scar on his chest. He thought of the silver blade of the specter that had haunted him in the dark, who had tortured him and he had, in turn, he had attempted to murder. Though in his dreams he had killed the specter, he felt it was still nearby. Taunting him with a twisted echo of his own voice, and a snarling likeness of his own face. As Armiena promised to talk to him about his past he felt the more unease than the last time they had discussed his past. Somehow it seemed like in gaining knowledge of his history, he risked losing something he had gained in its place. So he again felt a certain sense of dread about the proposition, and decided to try to escape those thoughts by focusing on the mission at hand. He moved his hand to the back of his neck, and pressed lightly on the outline of an irregular pentagon, popping open a small mechanical plate which extended a the end of cable between his fingers. He pulled and an optical data cable stretched out from his neck, which he plugged into a port on the console near his own seat in the cockpit. "I'm... taking to Shippy, to see what she thinks." Ryu mumbled, the cybernetic interface in his brain filling his thoughts with data about the ship. As the craft charged forward toward centerpoint, Ryu was beginning to hear the Ship's voice in his head. "Shippy... Wants to punch them. I... I don't know if my interface is working right." From out of the front view port, Shippy's mechanical arms folded out, its mechanical fingers clenching into a fist as it made a few mock punches. A grin spread across Ryu's face. For the moment, it felt like he had both of his arms again. "Shippy wants you to bring her in close to the enemy so she can hit them with her fists. This interface is probably malfunctioning, but she seemed quite insistent that I let you know." The arms spread wide as if to say, 'come at me, bro', then went into a boxing pose. "Shippy and I are friends now." Ryu proclaimed with a matter-of-fact intonation.

Ryu did not need the force to sense Armiena's internal turmoil. Here was apparently a long imprisoned enemy combatant, asking her not only to arm him, but to let him have back in the coming conflict. This was certainly a very dangerous move he was asking her to make, and other than some anxious ticks she made it without hesitating. Her sense of morality had overridden her doubts, and she was willing to risk her life to uphold her beliefs. Once again, Armiena had surprised him, having been expecting her to say shove him in the escape pod. Nearly as shocking, once back to the armory he gave her what appeared to be a treasured memento of a friend long lost. Ryu held the odd wooden lightsaber hilt in his hand and studied it, pondering its significance. "You... are very honorable, Mrs. Draygo. I will not forget this." Ryu took the lightsaber to a bench and set about preparing for the coming conflict. From her armory he took a six throwing knives, two fragmentation grenades, and two flash bangs. He placed the knives in the front of the belt on his robe, then tucked the incendiaries in the back. He also pulled a small length of liquid cable from a dispenser and with a great deal of difficulty, lifting a foot onto the table to supplement his lone hand, he managed to tie a strap to the pommel of the lightsaber. He slipped it around his wrist and pulled it tight with his teeth, then gave his arm a shake to verify that it would not come loose. He practiced guiding it back into his palm and dropping it a few times, then added reaching to his belt for knives to the motion. Having only one arm made it complicated to use a variety of weapons efficiently, but he was fairly confident that this simple strap would save him valuable seconds in the heat of battle. He knotted the empty sleeve of his robe at the shoulder. In a single fluid motion he twisted his hips to fling the sleeve forward, then ignited the blade of the veridian lightsaber and severed the excess cloth. The blade appeared in just the right spot to begin cutting the sleeve, and then vanished the instant it was cut with uncanny precision. Ryu may have lost a great deal of who he was before, but his ability to handle a lightsaber, even without the force to guide it, had not left him. As he was wrapping up his preparation, Ryu paused and looked around. He had thought he'd... heard something. Something very faint, like a distant echo coming down a long hallway. He couldn't make out what it was, but eventually dismissed it as one of many signs that Shippy McShipface was in serious need of maintenance. Ryu nodded in acknowledgement of Genesis announcing his preparedness, then headed back toward the cockpit.

Kakuto Ryu had disappeared to the back of Shippy McShipface, which he had immediately decided was the most aptly named Starship in all of the galaxy. After a few hours scrapping off a decade of accumulated filth with a sonic shower and combing the knots out of his hair and beard, he donned a fresh grey jedi robe and began the arduous task of navigating back to the front of the ship without knocking any pieces of it loose. It was then that he heard Armiena's echo down the hall, calling his name. He could detect the concern in her voice, and as the primary view port came into view he could tell why. His eyes fixed on the console, and as Armiena and Genesis spoke he found himself unable to focus on the sound of their voices. He studied the patterns of the ships moving, assessing the situation. He barely overhead the conversation, feeling an odd sense of unease. Seeing this battle on a screen failed to tell him what his gut was telling him he needed to know, but he couldn't put into words. His inability to feel the battle around him was making him feel blind, nervous. He really couldn't tell what was happening, beyond that there were lots ships swarming around, posturing for the beginning of a battle. He looked over at Genesis, noting an expectant silence in the conversation. "Genesis is right. I said it already, but running doesn't sit well with me. I'm not hiding in an escape pod or an air raid shelter while this mess blows over. We need each other." Ryu twisted his mouth into a grimace. He did not believe they needed him as much as he needed them, and he found that notion somehow humiliating for reasons he couldn't entirely spell out. "If the Jedi are planning to hunt me down a note from a dead Jedi probably won't be very persuasive. Your survival is my salvation, and so we will fight in tandem." Ryu leaned toward the view port and began watching the ships again, stroking his beard. "Just tell me what your mission is. And if you have one to spare, I could use a lightsaber."

Ryu laid down in the dirt to stare up at the stars. After so long in total sensory isolation this much stimulus was not going to permit him to sleep. He was able to use the opportunity to relax though, feeling comfort in the idea that if the woman wasn't willing to kill him outright, that same instinct would probably prevent her from letting him get torn apart by Kath Hounds in the night. "My instinct tells me that this petition to the Jedi Grandmaster will not end well no matter how polite you are. But I will go with you to try. If anything, it'll be worth it to meet the one who would pursue me face to face. One day of running away from you and I'm already pretty sick of it. Running doesn't seem to agree with me." Ryu closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the fire, and the insects chirping in the brush around him, contemplating Draygo's proposition. He wondered what would become of the person he upon reconstructing the person he was, how it would change him, and whether it would be worth it. Draygo seemed to know more about him than he did himself, and though he was tempted to have her explain what she knew, he felt a strange apprehension about the the idea. Perhaps he would be better off not knowing. At least for now, he decided it should wait.

Ryu let out the laugh that Armiena had imagined Darex trying to stifle. He had considered standing up to defend himself after he'd admitted his name, anticipating that his insistence that he was unworthy of mercy might convince her to put him out of his misery, but remained passive. Now he was glad he did, as her body language told him clearly that she was fully prepared to strike. She recognized him, knew more about him that he knew about himself. Just the sound of his name seemed to expose her fighting instincts. She was prepared to fight him, but at the same time, offer him a place as their traveling companion. The contradiction struck him as absurd, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "And where would we go? I wonder about you, Miss Armiena Draygo, despite your criticisms of the Jedi, you seem to know a lot about their history, their thoughts, and how they will likely respond to my existence. Combined with your lightsaber, the Jedi here apparently sending you after me first, and your friend here addressing you as master, I'm led to believe that my assumption that you are yourself a Jedi was not likely far from the mark." Ryu glanced down at the ants gnawing at his arm. Having only one hand, he tried to remove them by swinging his arm, but they held tight. He tried rubbing his arm on the grass but only a few came loose. Annoyed, he decided to hold his arm in the flame. Some burnt off and rest were driven up to his shoulder, where he was able to pinch them between his fingers and flick them into the fire. "So if what you're saying is that I can either be pursued by the Jedi indefinitely, or come with you and face them directly, then the choice is clear. I will go with you willingly. Running forever doesn't sound that appealing. As long as you're not going to shepherd me into another cage, I'd rather face my fate head on." Ryu tore off a fresh slab of Nerf and took a bite. Then, speaking with his mouth full, he digressed. "Unless you're some kind of Jedi outcast yourself and you mean to say you know someplace we won't be followed, in which case I'm fine with that too."