Chapter 13
Like the philosophical debate over the assets of blonds to brunettes, the fight between the Williams sisters was long with no clear side dominating, and had distinctly polarized the men into three groups: one who preferred blonds, one who preferred brunettes, and one that wouldn't mind having a bit of each - probably at the same time. It had begun fiercely and had only gotten worse as it went on. The start of the fight had been filled with very impressive moves designed to devastate their opponent and show their superiority. Now though, with both of them exhausted and battered it had nearly degenerated into the dying spasms of mortally wounded animals chained together.
Julia was amazed at the brutality of a sibling rivalry. Nina, the blond, had a cut over her right eye that constantly dripped blood causing her to blink so often it looked like a nervous twitch, while the whole left side of Anna's face was nearly completely swollen. Yet they continued to meet in the center of the makeshift ring on the beach to exchange blows.
The last flurry had drop Nina to her knees where Anna took the opportunity to backhand her sister. Anna tried to wrap her arms around Nina's neck, to choke her out or possibly snap her neck, but Nina slipped beneath the hold and elbowed her sister in the gut. Anna, gripping her stomach, was pushed face first into the sand where she began choking.
Julia thought she saw a small smile on Nina's face as the blond slammed an elbow down on the back of her sister's head, but it could just have been a grimace from the effort it took to raise her arm. Anna stopped moving, but Nina raised her arm back up and tightened her fist.
Jin was immediately in the ring, pulling Nina away as a trauma team checked on Anna. He lifted Nina's arm in victory to the hoots and hollers of the guys who had taken her side in the fight. She looked out to the crowd once, and then her head bobbed and she slumped to the ground. A snap of Jin's fingers brought two of the medics to Nina.
Julia shuddered as the Williams sisters were carried out on gurneys past her. Only the very shallow rise of the blankets laid over the bodies betrayed the appearance of death. What had she gotten herself into?
"Nina Williams is the winner," Heihachi announced. "She will be given one day to recover - she may postpone any challenge presented to her without forfeiting the tournament during her recovery time."
Jin stepped forward when Heihachi left. "The next fight will be Ling Xiaoyu and Gun Jack. Please proceed to the training hall if you wish to watch."
* * *
As the crowd moved down the corridor to the training hall, Julia noticed that Xiaoyu had grown uncommonly quiet. "Hey," she whispered in Xiaoyu's ear. "Are you okay?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I? I'm just fighting the terminator's bigger, meaner, older brother who probably weighs as much as a car."
The walk to the training hall was shorter than Julia expected and before she could say much more to Xiaoyu, the training hall was coming up on the right. Gun Jack was already waiting in the room, apparently either secure in its superiority or not programmed to take the styles of its opponents into account of its strategy.
Even for a robot, it was ugly looking. A strange dome, resembling a thick, backward shark fin adorned the top of its head. The cheek bones jutted out at nearly unnatural angles and the lips were thick and set in a perpetual scowl. Its glowing red eyes seemed to lock onto Xiaoyu to the exclusion of everything else. Wherever Xiaoyu moved, its eyes followed.
Julia laid a hand on Xiaoyu's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "It looks like it'll be slow, but don't underestimate it. And don't let it hit you."
"That's always my goal, but whatever happened to your pushing everyone away in case you had to fight them."
"I'd rather fight you than that."
"Well, that's comforting. You just save a seat for me at the banquet," Xiaoyu replied, and added in a mock Schwarzenegger voice, "I'll be back."
Xiaoyu stepped onto the raised platform that served as the ring. If she seemed small compared to the other fighters, she was a midget compared to the machine. Xiaoyu circled her hands in front of herself and got into her fighting position. She didn't seem fazed when the robot reared up to its full height and pistoned its forearms with the sound of a unmuffled car engine.
"Fight."
At Heihachi's command, the robot swung its massive right fist at Xiaoyu who easily ducked beneath it. The robot came back around with the left which Xiaoyu sidestepped. A cartwheel brought Xiaoyu safely away from the double-handed strike from Gun Jack. Xiaoyu retaliated with a kick to the side of the robot's left knee and three palm strikes to its hip. It seemed to do little but irritate the machine who tried to backhand Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu crouched in the Art of Phoenix stance. She shuffled close to Gun Jack and speared her fingers at the knee joint before rising up and striking the robot's chin with the inside edge of her left hand as Gun Jack bent down to grab her. As she turned her body, Xiaoyu kicked back with right foot and caught Gun Jack where its gut would have been and toppled the giant. It was back on its feet almost immediately, but there was a collective gasp from the crowd at the skill and power contained in the small container that was Xiaoyu's body.
Again, Xiaoyu squatted down in what she had demonstrated to Julia as the Art of Phoenix style as if daring the robot to approach. Gun Jack paused as if to analyze the next few moves. It must have decided because it barrelled down on her like a car set to run her over and then sidestepped at the last minute to attack her from behind. Xiaoyu shifted out of the Phoenix stance and into a front roll as the robot's foot smashed the tiles she had just been on. Xiaoyu kicked up and back, catching Gun Jack right beneath its chin and sending it off balance to the floor.
Julia let out her breath. Maybe Xiaoyu would be able to defeat the machine. With her speed and flexibility, Xiaoyu seemed able to dodge all of its strikes and score damaging hits from nearly any angle. Now Julia understood why Xiaoyu was in the tournament. She had never seen anybody, especially someone younger than her, move with such fluidity and fierce precision.
Xiaoyu swayed back from another of Gun Jack's wild swings and came back around with the ridge of her hand that struck the machine on the side of the neck in a move that resembled the swelling of an ocean wave and its crash upon the shore. The robot went down again. Xiaoyu's blows were like water, rusting the joints of the machine, slowing it. Compared to Xiaoyu's fluid movement, Gun Jack was like an ungainly toy winding down, but it was still dangerous.
Julia glanced at Jin who was watching impassively from the side. Could he really be any better from Heihachi? He didn't seem the least bit concerned for Xiaoyu who clearly had a crush on him. It was even possible he was using that knowledge against Xiaoyu - perhaps he saw her interest in him as a weakness to exploit. It would fit Heihachi's personality, and despite the fact that Jin was probably close to her age, Jin and Heihachi didn't seem much different to her at this point.
The sound of more tiles cracking brought Julia's attention back to the ring. Gun Jack was still swinging wildly and its awkward steps reminded Julia of a baby first learning to walk. It was clearly on the verge of collapse as its joints and stability had been steadily cut down from Xiaoyu's blows, but while a man would have long been felled, the machine was still able to attack. The robot's swings were getting closer and closer to Xiaoyu as she began to tire. More than once, Julia thought Xiaoyu had been hit and only the fact that Xiaoyu's body hadn't gone skidding across the ring told her otherwise.
"Come on, Xiaoyu!" Julia shouted. "Dig deeper."
Xiaoyu managed to duck beneath another roundhouse punch and drove her palms, one after another, into the robot's hip. The robot turned, throwing out one of its massive fists. The blow clipped Xiaoyu in the shoulder with enough force to knock her onto her back. Gun Jack pointed both hands towards the prone body of Xiaoyu like they were handguns to execute a prisoner.
"Get out, Xiaoyu!"
Julia fought the urge to jump in the ring and either tackle the robot or scoop Xiaoyu out of the way.
Xiaoyu shoved herself off the floor, rolling backwards, as the hands seemed to explode out from the forearms and embed themselves into the ground. As Gun Jack struggled to pull the fingers free, Xiaoyu leapt towards the robot's head and slammed her left foot into it and then shot out her right foot. The second strike had enough force behind it to not only allow Xiaoyu to backflip away from her opponent but to send the robot completely backwards, ripping out the arm from their sockets.
The robot sparked furiously from the destroyed limbs - its whole body convulsed as the motors shorted out and seized. It took one shuddering step towards Xiaoyu and then collapsed onto its face. The red glowing eyes winked out.
Jin stepped into the ring and helped Xiaoyu from her knees. "Winner," he announced, raising her hand. The spectators gave a few murmurs of amazement, but quickly dispersed from the area. Only Julia stepped into the ring to help support Xiaoyu. Jin handed Xiaoyu off to Julia. Julia noticed Xiaoyu give a half-hearted reach back to Jin, but he had already turned away to follow Heihachi out.
Typical guy, Julia thought. Either clueless or uncaring of a woman's feeling. There'd be time enough later to discuss Xiaoyu's relationship with the heir to the Mishima empire. "Hey, you did really well out there."
Xiaoyu gasped for breath. "Thanks. Thought I would die out there."
"You were cutting it pretty close at the end."
"Didn't know that was going to be the end. So, still wanna fight me?"
"Only if I can do it now when you're tired." Julia returned Xiaoyu's smile. "Come on, there's still time for you to get cleaned up before we go to lunch. A celebration for a clean victory."
"Almost clean victory. My knee's a little sore from that last kick. How about you help me back to my room and then we can go hit that banquet. I'm starving."