TOLD YOU GUYS I'D HAVE IT OUT THIS WEEKEND! I JUST FELT LIKE MOVING THE STORY A BIT FASTER SINCE NOT MUCH HAPPENED IN THE LAST ONE. AND WE FINALLY HAVE ANOTHER FIGHT! THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL WHO READ THIS STORY! IT MEANS ALOT AND I CAN'T WAIT TO CONTINUE IT :)

GET READ FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!

"Hwoarang, my mate! How's it hanging?" Steve playfully slugged the man in the arm a few times.

The Korean Treasurer shrugged, "Pretty low, about nine inches from my pelvis."

Asuka chuckled, eyeing the brightly lit boxing establishment, "You should be a comedian, Hwoarang. You sure have a vivid imagination," Kazama barely missed a painter as she struggled to balance the cans in her arms, "Sorry!"

Josie couldn't take her eyes off the British man, her gaze stuck to his rigid arms, "My imagination is pretty vivid too," she began talking to herself, her eyes closed, "Oh yes, punch me more! Gimme a left hook to the face!" Out of nowhere a fist flew her way, knocking the Filipino woman onto one of the training mats, causing a couple of students practicing there to stop their fight.

Steve folded his arms as the student that hit Rizal bowed in apology, "Did she even look ready for that left hook, mate?"

The student shrugged, "Hey, she did ask for it."

Asuka poked Josie like a dead insect, the Lieutenant's eyes in a daze and drool pooling on the mat, "I don't think she's making it to Round 2." The President groaned, "Let's just come back for her."

Steve lifted an eyebrow, his gaze resting on Asuka's injury, "So just the two of you want lessons, then? That's pretty convenient since I have a couple's special going: 4 weeks for $40."

Hwoarang shook his head, "No, we aren't-!" The brunette paused, thinking over the idea, "Wait, how much for 4 weeks?"

Asuka pushed her subordinate aside, "Ignore him. We aren't here to box. We actually need to talk to you about a sponsorship. And please don't ask about my face, I just got in an accident it all."

Steve nodded, leading them to the back where an office awaited them, his name in gold letters above the phrase President: Fox Chapter, "A sponsorship? Didn't know you were the kind to attend diplomatic meetings, Hwoarang."

Hwoarang nodded, folding his arms, "You see, I'd rather be going after Devil Jin, but my fearless leader wanted me all to herself," the man shrugged, smirking at Asuka's cold stare, "It's the price such a sexy and fierce Korean warrior has to pay to please her woman."

Kazama rolled her eyes, "Anyway, now that he's done wanking his own codpiece, how soon do you think you can arrange a little spectacle between a couple of rival companies? You could even get Coco-Cola involved to spice things up."

Steve let them into the office – it's posters and trophies lining the large interior, being topped off with a large boxing ring in the center of the room – where he placed his hands on a few documents with familiar logos on them, "First of all, Coco-Cola is gross, Pepsi is the only soda coming close to this bout, mate. Second, I kinda already have something like that in the works."

Hwoarang placed a hand on his hip, "That's great. Looks like Kazama Organization's got a new supporter," he looked over at Asuka, "See how simple this was? I told you I'd come through for ya."

Asuka rubbed the back of her head, her face betraying her, "I guess you did okay," she then looked up, realizing the perverted word play that almost soared over her head, "Hey, wait a minute!"

Fox lifted an eyebrow, "Uh, who said anything about Kazama Organization?"

Both of the KO representatives looked at Steve with confused expressions, "Pardon?"

"As much as I'd love to help represent you two, I was already approached by another organization," he looked through his documents on the table, "Though I forget the name of the representative that approached me. It, uh, started with a K."'

Asuka's heart rate slowed, "Oh, so it wasn't Halo Initiative. Feng's name doesn't start with a K, last time I checked."

Steve smiled, holding up a folder with a large, gold H on the front, the letter surrounded by a ring of similar color, "Nah, mate, you we're right. She was from Halo. You got history with them?"

Hwoarang slapped himself in the face, swearing in Korean, "You gotta be kidding!"

Fox rubbed his chin, "Right, bad history. Well, I mean, it can't be that bad, right?"

Asuka's left eye began to glow, her body starting to shake, "Not that bad? Their leader tried to kill me!"

Hwoarang took her shoulders, "Whoa, calm down, Asuka. He didn't know."

Steve turned away from them, looking out the window toward his students where they practiced in the field, ate ice cream, and overall enjoyed their youth, "Look…This is gonna make me sound like an asshole, but I can't back out. Now I don't know what happed with you, and this Feng guy, but he isn't even involved in this deal. I don't know too much about Halo, but I know that they helped fun this place…"

He looked back at the posters showcasing his victories in the middle-weight circuits across the world. Steve eyed the various belts and trophies along the walls. Finally, he looked down at his boxing gloves, taking them from the desk and sliding them on his hands, "Triple Threat Martial Arts & Recreation is all I ever dreamed of…It's been my desire to give back to boys and girls that weren't as fortunate as me in the world of boxing…They needed a chance and I needed a way to give it to them…It just so happens that the Halo Initiative got to me first and offered me and my two partners enough money to make it happen."

Asuka shook her head, "Something tells me that they gave you way more than we could give you…"

Steve pounded his fists together, slowly looking up at them, "Five million dollars…"

Hwoarang, being the Treasurer of KO, almost had a stroke and Asuka had to keep him from falling down, "We'd be lucky to make that much overall by the end of the year!"

Kazama's temper hadn't subsided and she roughly placed the Treasurer back on his feet, turning her attention to Steve, "So that's it? It's just about the money with you? You're just gonna drop your friend and side with murderers?"

Steve shook his head, his teeth visible, "Oh piss off, you wanker! You two already confirmed to me that you're working with that knob Jin Kazama, so don't even try to pass off Kazama Organization as squeaky-clean!"

Asuka's body began to heat up, but she couldn't exactly tell Steve that he was wrong – because he wasn't, "Jin is trying to make things better for himself!"

"And that includes destroying restaurants?"

Hwoarang winced, "I'm regretting opening my mouth earlier."

Asuka continued, black sludge crawling up her leg and torso, though her clothes made it impossible to see this, "That's not Jin. That's the Devil Gene! What excuse does Feng have?"

Fox shook his head, "Feng didn't come to me, like I said before. Just because he owns the corporation, doesn't mean he came to me personally. Hell, I'd be surprised if he even showed up."

Asuka let her rage billow down a tad, thinking about how that could make things bad for them. If Feng wasn't at the exhibition, then would it be safe for Delta to go after the Mock Gene. No – she had to make sure Feng was there. Even if she didn't get to fight him, he needed to at least be on her radar. The woman sighed and walked toward the boxing ring, sliding her hand against the rope. She met Hwoarang's eyes and then turned her attention to Steve.

Fox watched her carefully, then noticed a few of the students walking by, watching through the window and open door. He smirked, "What? Trying to prove a point?"

Asuka shrugged, still scanning the area. One of the individuals watching seemed suspicious – she wore a yellow sundress and white hat, while caramel sunglasses rested on her face. The fighter slid over the ropes and jumped into the ring, clenching her fighting gloves, "What? Worried you might get yourself hurt in front of your students?"

Hwoarang also noticed the individual, her gaze locked on Asuka and Steve. He smirked, catching onto taunt, "Yeah Steve, you gonna take that from her?"

The boxer shrugged, walking up to the ring and jumping into it with ease, "Nah, gov, just don't want to break your Barbie doll of a girlfriend here."

Asuka squared up, "Barbie doll, huh? If I'm a Barbie, you're a Troll. Let's get this over with!"

Hwoarang smacked the mat as the two combatants circled each other, both with smiles on their faces, "Final Round! FIGHT!"

Asuka was the first to attack, sending a backhand towards Steve who blocked it easily, though he staggered back more than he was expecting to. She then sent an elbow at him, which was also stopped. Kazama stayed on the offensive, trying to rush him, but ultimately failed as her attacks were far too slow. Steve quickly side stepped and punched her once in the side, making her stagger back a bit. Some of the students cheered and mimicked the moves as they watched the battle. The mystery woman continued watching, her arms folded.

Steve taunted Asuka, punching at the air as he gave himself some distance from his opponent, "Ouch, that one looked like it hurt!"

Kazama smirked, barely registering the pain, "Please, your punches tickle," she stepped back and watched Fox's movements as he sent a few more punches her way, quickly losing focus as his strike speed increased. Though the punches themselves didn't hurt much individually, the boxer made up for that in how quickly he attacked. She couldn't find an opening.

Asuka dropped her hands, one of his punches hitting her in the jaw, causing her to fall over and hit the mat. She used this moment to slide a foot towards his leg, missing. Kazama swore, trying again, and succeeding. Steve fell to the floor, allowing Asuka to roll away. Hwoarang continued watching the fight quietly, taking not of everything occurring during the bout.

"You're pretty speedy," Kazama watched his movements once more, adapting to his patterns as sweat slid down her face. The pain of her injury interacting with the salt water pushed her adrenaline through the roof.

Steve bobbed and weaved, obviously taking notes as well, "And you're legs fucking hurt. But don't count on hitting me again, luv. I've got a remedy for that."

Asuka inhaled and exhaled softly, forcing herself not to heal. She then rushed Steve, sending a furious elbow for his face, which he blocked again. This time after the first strike, she sent a knee to his chest, which he hadn't been expecting. Steve yelled, flying through the air, landing on his head. Kazama took this opportunity to send a quick combo towards his airborne body, finishing it with a kick that sent his body against the boxing ring's ropes. Some of the trainees booed the challenger, not believing their eyes. Even Hwoarang was speechless at the boxer's position.

The woman in the background simply licked her lips.

Steve stayed there, his back against the barrier, shaking his head as he tried to recover. Asuka smirked, punching her fist with her opposite hand, "Pfft – you're all show!" She arrogantly charged him, her attack's trajectory on point with his face as her rage energy locked into her knuckles.

The British man smirked from the ropes, looking up with a glint in his eye as he quickly sidestepped, his fists in front of his face. Asuka gasped, realizing her mistake, but was unable to correct it. How did he jump out of the way so fast? She went off balance as her attack whiffed, giving Fox enough time to wind up a final punch, blue ki surrounding his glove, "Night, night love! Thanks for playing!"

Red essence shot from Asuka's mouth as her spine shifted ever so slightly in her back, a visible barrier of energy shattering as the world temporarily halted its rotation. Steve stood back, Asuka grunting in pain as she tried to keep her balance. Kazama fell onto the mat, her hand immediately going to her back in order to ease the strain there.

Hwoarang quickly stepped over to her position, genuine concern on his face, "Asuka, are you alright?"

Asuka tried to focus on his face, her teeth bloodstained. She smiled, "Oh, who are you? You're sexy as hell…"

The Korean scratched his head, "Yeah, I think she might be out of it. She's never that honest." The Treasurer paused as he looked back towards the crowd – the woman was gone.

Kazama quickly came to her senses after hearing her own voice blurt out such drivel, "Damn it, Hwoarang! I don't need you to coddle me like some damsel!"

Hwoarang shook his head, turning his attention back to the President, "I literally just asked you if you weren't dead."

"Maybe I wanna be dead! I'm an independent Japanese woman, that don't need no man to save me from impending doom!" Asuka slowly rose and held her head, looking up to see Steve offering her his hand.

Fox nodded, "Good match out there, luv. You had me going there for a while. Thought you might break my nose or something."

Kazama scoffs and swats his hand away, proceeding to get up on her own, "Fuck off, pretty boy. You got lucky."

Steve shrugged, "You gotta lose some time, luv. And today was your time to lose. It's not that big a deal, aye?"

Hwoarang watched his boss grab the ropes and jump out of the rings, shoving past him and heading out the office, "She's not really the losing type, Steve."

"No shit? Looks like you two have that in common, huh?" The boxer quickly hopped out of the ring, feeling his face and finding a cut there, "If it's any consolation, though elbows and thighs of hers did a number on my face, they did. I was pretty close to conking out, myself."

Hwoarang slid his hat off his head, fanning himself with it, "Are we still on for that exhibition?"

Steve walked past him, beckoning him to follow, "Oh sure. It'll be fun to study that girl's moves some more. And I never got to see that other girl in action. It'll be a treat."

The Treasurer punched the air, "They'll be glad to hear. I can't wait to bust some Halo Initiative heads," he looked up at his friend, "That includes yours too, I guess."

Steve held a fist out, "You better bring your a-game, then."

Hwoarang met Fox's fist with his own, "Hell yeah…"