If it is in normal style, then it is speech.
If it is in italics, then it is thought.
If it is in bold, then it is the individual's natural tongue.
If it is in underline, then it is Devil.
Don't own any characters except Razer, Detective Burton and the rest of the gang (excluding Hwoarang).
All other characters belong to Namco.
Chapter Seven: Adrenalin Rush
"What are you doing here?"
"Found you passed out on the floor…" Hwoarang stated a matter-of-factly with a worried face, "You okay?"
"Never better," Razer lied, sitting up, realising she had been moved to her bed, "Thanks."
He looked out to the night time sky through the window, "S'okay. Found out the number you're up against."
"Oh do tell."
"7."
She blinked repeatedly at her opponent that was standing opposite her in the ring, unbelieving, and unhappy. She did nothing but stare, her eyes wide, surprised, annoyed and confused, "Why you?"
"I don't know, love," Steve said sadly, looking at her with a small smile, "But it is definitely crap."
"Oh bollocks," She teased, slipping into her Tae Kwon Do stance, "Good luck, 'kay? And sorry."
He fell back into his own boxing stance, nodding, his eyes then suddenly focusing, "Same to you."
"Number 7 v.s. Number 20. 3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" The announcer screamed, eager for the first battle to begin.
Steve immediately attacked, seizing the initiative for his own, staring with his Bar Brawl attack. Two of the hits caught Razer, the third blocked. She winced as she blocked, feeling his knuckles collide with her wounds.
He took this opportunity to throw the Stun Gun punch, but it never connected. He found Razer had moved to the left side of his body, and had grabbed him, and was now kicking him in his side, his face and his neck – her Bring It On throw. The final kick tossed him to the ground. She winced as he spat up blood.
"You're a strong one," Fox remarked, standing to his feet, "Most of the girls are simply quick. You're both."
"Why thank you," Razer drawled, letting him slip back into his stance before punching him with the same hand twice, followed by kicking him with the same leg twice. As her foot returned to the ground, her British opponent suddenly whipped out a million small yet hard punches to her stomach – Gattling Gun, before delivering one harder, final one, sending her back to the other side of the arena.
Steve ran across as quickly as possible, watching her carefully as she attempted to stand shakily. He noticed some of the wounds on her arms had cracked and began to bleed. He charged into her unbalanced form, knocking her off her feet once more. He span around and took a swipe at her legs, before pausing to breathe.
Athane unsteadily stood to her feet, slipping back into her stance, seeing unhappiness written all over her friend. He didn't want to do this. Still, she applauded his moves. They were interesting. No kicks whatsoever.
She ran towards him and decided to look to Jin's moves, performing Rising Sun, knocking Steve over, catching him in the side on the three ground kicks. Razer shifted back to Tae Kwon Do, into Right Stance and did Chain Saw Kick, both kicks catching her opponent on his lower back. She started Firecracker, kicking his body lowly, but he rolled out of the way before the one intended to send him higher was executed.
The next thing she knew, a Cyclone Punch had smacked her in the face. Razer's eyes clouded with tears as she stumbled backwards, attempting to see through the water, only to have the British Edge Combo come at her, the first punch connecting, the next ones being blocked. She again fell back into Jin's stance, clenched her fists tightly, and performed Laser Cannon, as she had done to Heihachi two years ago. All punches connected.
Xiaoyu sighed as she watched Fox fly backwards yet again. She wondered how the Greek knew her old friend's moves. Did he teach her, or did she just pick it up? Maybe both? Aside from the one against Paul Phoenix, since when did she go to his matches?
"It's good to see she still has her fighting spirit intact…" Julia said with a smile.
Miharu nodded, spinning her wrist watch around her hand repeatedly, "Yeah."
"Are you worried about your match against number 13?"
"DUH! I'm in like, two hours!"
Lei re-crossed his legs and leant back in his seat, "They say number 13 is a dangerous opponent."
"Yeah, you'd better be careful, Mi," Chang replied.
A Spinning Left Axe Kick smacked Steve in the stomach as he attempted to roll out of the way yet again. He cried out, realising she had stopped there afterward. He seized this opportunity to stand up as quickly as possible, and get ready to fight back, despite his body screaming for rest, begging, pleading.
You fight much more brutally than you once did. Excellent.
Razer faltered at the end of her missed Torpedo Kick, almost falling over. A fist smashed into her back. She gritted her teeth to cope with it. Her back had been in enough damage of the last two years than in the rest of her miserable life.
'Pursue onward.'
Eyes drifted from Steve to scan through the crowd, looking for the hooded man once again, who she eventually found, watching her with his hands shoved in his pockets. She had assumed he could only communicate with her with a few words through her mind. If it was Jin, then she knew how – through Devil, seeing as that connected them. But if it wasn't… then it scared her.
Another sweeping punch knocked her off her feet. Razer heard Hwoarang yell at her, "What the fuck are you staring at! You fucking know better than to turn your back on your foe! Baek would harass you like fuck now!"
And you're not harassing her like fuck?
She stood to her feet once again, her eyes still glued on the person ahead of her, but right in the background. She sighed and wondered how she could 'talk' back, wanting to establish contact –
She wondered if he could hear her thoughts –
Steve cleared his throat, still in his stance, "Razer, c'mon, if I'm going to fight you, I'd like a proper match."
Athane scoffed and turned back to face Fox, who moved one of his feet backwards, falling into his Flicker Stance. She approached him and watched as his right fist attempted to pummel her into the ground. It missed by a long shot as she moved to the side again, having already foreseen the move, and took to Laser Cannon again. The third punch collided with the opponent's neck, and he let out a gurgled cry, falling to his knees.
You are so cruel. Oh, I am so proud of you!
A scowl appeared on her face as she retreated from going to attack him again. She looked down.
"Why are you stopping? Just finish it already. You're giving the opponent more opportunities to hurt you."
"But I've hurt him enough…" She muttered, about to go help her Korean adversary stand with a busted leg.
"Sometimes you'll have to fight someone you care about, Razer, and they may not show sympathy for you."
The Greek girl sighed, closed her eyes briefly, heeded Baek's words of wisdom, and opened her eyes once again, waiting for Steve Fox to stand up once again. When his blue eye stared back into her green ones, and he knew it was over. But even with that knowledge, he still stood and ran at her for one last attack, his hopes resting in a swift smack to the head, which missed seeing as his vision was disorientated.
And then he was airborne with his foe, a kick sent him further along his way, another one sending him higher, before the final one came down onto his rib cage, slamming him back into the concrete floor, finishing the Hunting Hawk attack, throwing him into darkness, a final sigh of pain and defeat leaving him.
"Number 20 wins!"
"Yay Razer!" Xiaoyu cried, jumping out of her seat, her two tiny fists flying in the air.
"She's just as she was! Forget the media, she hasn't changed despite what happened!" Lei yelled, grinning.
The 20-year-old overheard that and looked down, swallowing, staring at her friend's unconscious body. She hasn't changed? If anything, she's changed so much, that fucking Hwoarang, her best friend, her metaphorical brother, who has known her for eight years, didn't recognise her wholly, and doesn't understand her anymore…
No. She had changed. If Jin did come back, if he did speak to her… he wouldn't be familiar with her either.
"Hey… C'mon, let's get him to the infirmary."
Hwoarang's voice brought her back to her senses. She looked to the body, then to the Korean, then back again, gathering up the British boxer's heavy form, slinging it on her back. Hands came to help, but she battered them away. Sienna eyes pierced her being. She avoided looking into them, speaking, "Please leave me alone."
He blinked for a moment before frowning, turning away, unsure of what to say, of what to do to make the hurting just cease. Once upon a time he knew, and he no longer did now. It cut him deeply, knowing there was no way to keep her stable, to keep her completely happy like he once could. A piece of her had died, "…Alright…"
Sniffling caught his attention. He looked up to find Miharu almost in tears, but trying to blink them away, in the steady arms of Xiaoyu, and being comforted by Lei and Julia. A weak voice soon followed, "I'm so scared…"
"You'll do great! You'll kick the guy's ass. Don't worry Miharu," Wulong replied, patting her back.
"No I won't be! You've had experience in this! I can't even do the Mistrust kick properly… I'm fucked!"
The Korean sounded, "Hey, I haven't been around you enough to have you swearing, young lady. Get a fucking grip."
"I think a month and a bit is enough, Red," She growled, standing up, wiping tears from her eyes.
Hwoarang addressed the disruption of her make up on her face, "…You look like Benji Madden."
"Benji is so hot…"
He grinned a little, realising it was helping, "It doesn't matter if you lose. Why are you fighting again?"
"I'm helping Xiao find Jin."
"Even if one of you fail, the other one will still go through. Razer's keeping an eye out as well. Don't you see? It doesn't matter if you lose here. You're covered by two different people. Kazama will come, whether it's by being found or he flushes himself out…"
Sienna eyes drifted further to his right to see that same hooded man that had been looking at Razer the day before standing there with his hands in his pockets, far but not too far off to the side in the slowly dispersing crowd, as if wanting to interact, but terrified to do so. The Blood Talon furrowed his eyebrows angrily and defensively, "What the hell are you looking at, asshole?"
That seemed made him jump, adrenalin pumping through his system, and look away, turning to leave with a sigh. The person forgot why he decided to stay here in the first place. But if they were just going to push him away, then… No. They wouldn't. Only Hwoarang would. Even if he knew who he was. Still, he needed to prepare for a task…
The person turned away, seeing Razer not too far off, the one person who would welcome back with open arms, almost at the hospital, still carrying her opponent on her back. He turned away, returning to the gym to train for the next two hours or so to kill time, his resolve burning, but failing.
"Dear, you didn't have to drag him all the way here," the receptionist commented.
"Shut up and fix him," Athane growled, walking down the corridor, looking for an empty room.
A nurse came out of no where, leading her down the left, "This way, Miss Athane."
She followed the nurse, keeping an eye on her dark brown hair, until they finally arrived to a spare room on the third door on the right hand side. The nurse opened the door and moved aside, watching as the fighter placed her friend on the bed. Dull green eyes turned from the body to the employee, "I'll come back later, okay?"
"Would you like me to treat you before you leave?"
"It's nothing bad –"
'Yeah. Just give me some pain killers, it'll make it better!' Devil taunted.
Her face turned into a scowl, as she span around and left, "- it'll heal on its own."
The nurse nodded and closed the door behind the fighter, turning to bandage Steve Fox.
