Chapter Twenty-Five: Duck Duck Goose

Xiaoyu wasn't sure how she felt, fighting under these conditions. The verdant forest she was standing in was lovely, she was sure of that, but she had an odd feeling that she couldn't see anything that was happening around her. Having an assassination attempt made on her definitely changed her perspective on things. For the first time, Xiaoyu understood how Lincoln felt.

The announcer was an intercom. The crowd? No, there were just cameras. This was high stakes now, the periphery of the entire ring was wired, guarded and watched. There was no way anyone other than her opponent and her could get in here. With Bryan competing, however, she wasn't comforted. "He's just a scary ugly guy," she coached herself, ignoring the cameras. "Just a scary, ugly guy with a bad temper and absolutely no skills in public relations."

Someone laughed behind her, and the hair stood on end. It wasn't Yoshimitsu's laugh-of-many-voices, either- it was a deep, rich sound of a man with just a touch of insane. And there was only one person who could possibly be here. Xiaoyu knew that, and she turned around quickly.

There Bryan stood, all of his pasty, pale glory, a wide scar traced down the side of his face. From the thick gashed scar on his chest, it looked to the entire world like he had been cut completely open from shoulder to hip, and was somehow pieced back together. His eyes, cold and mechanic, were ethereal and bright. There was an odd sensation, looking at him in the dark forest. His white hair and skin shot out to the eye from the deep and green backdrop. Just looking at him, one might think that without the scars he could resemble handsome.

But there was something else about him that jumped out. As rich as his laugh had been, so rich was the aura of evil that hung on him like a stench. All happiness tumbled out of her system, just looking at him.

"BRYAN FURY, LING XIAOYU. ROUND ONE!" the speaker screamed.

She had to throw every ounce of speed she had to dive past him and avoid his impending fist. Winding up in a fortunate place behind him, Xiaoyu kicked from behind her, launching him into the air. When she curved her arms and hit him in the stomach, he grunted. Grunted. That's it. She had just hit him with two of her signature moves, and all he did was grunt.

Curving his hands behind his shoulders, he kicked up to his feet in an instant. With nearly military precision, he hit her firmly with two fists and two kicks. Xiaoyu swayed, watching the leaves spin. Oh, wait, her head was spinning. No, wait, heads can't spin, necks don't let that happen. Bryan went for a low kick, and Xiaoyu managed to get the presence of mind to leap up. Landing, she grabbed onto his shoulders and ran up his chest, firmly hitting him with each stride. He fell back- and got right back up.

When she saw his punch pushing towards her again, she dodged less enthusiastically. Her lungs were just beginning to complain about being under too much stress; but Bryan seemed just a nonplussed has he had when he walked up. Oh, wait. Two of his hairs looked a little helter skelter. Somehow, Xiaoyu didn't feel like she had accomplished much.

Crouching down, Bryan plowed upward towards her stomach. Her tender organs panicked, pushing her muscles into action and she dive rolled out of the way. With a quick peg leg kick, she landed a blow on him and turned around, bouncing from foot to foot to orient this. She was doing it. She could do it. With a surge, she plowed forward into Bryan, pounding him with all her petite form had- which was surprisingly more than anyone would know just by sitting next to her on the bus.

Bryan wavered and fluttered, and he lay there on the ground. You would swear he had just been unplugged the way he laid down, completely devoid of energy.

"ROUND ONE, LING XIAOYU!"

Heihachi was a man of luxury. You could look at every bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and broom closet in his house and understand that. It's unfortunate that his opulence and luxury stops before his "guest rooms." The prison bars were old school, standard steel poles from ceiling to floor like a stalactite and stalagmite met in a cave. That was all Julia could think of. Hwoarang ? He was less distracted by the cave-like appearance. This was practically home for him.

"Your selfishness never ceases to amaze me," Julia muttered.

"Oh trust me, I've got more," Hwoarang replied caustically.

"I've never met someone more in love with themselves than you are!" she exclaimed.

"Haven't you heard of Narcissus?" he chided.

"What did you say?" she said, surprised.

"Narcissus. You know, the guy who like, fell in love with his reflection 'cause he was THAT hot, and then he wasted away and turned into a flower or something girly like that? Geez, I thought you nerd-types were supposed to know that crap."

"I know who Narcissus is, you ass. I just can't believe you knew a word that wasn't a monosyllabic four letter word," she snorted.

"Yeah yeah yeah," he muttered, curling his fingers around the bars pensively and leaning back. Julia was sitting on the floor; there weren't too many options. It was either sit or stand on the floor, and Julia was feeling a little too floored to keep standing much longer.

Things had gone downhill so fast. All she could think about was her poor friend, tagged by Tekken Force and marked for destruction. Friend… Curious word to use.

"It's all because of you and your stupid revenge," she suddenly burst out. Hwoarang didn't even turn his head. Jumping to her feet, she came up behind him. "This is a lot bigger than just you, the world does not REVOLVE around you and you have absolutely NO idea what the hell you just did, just because you're too chicken to own up to your responsibilities or admit that you. Are. Not. Strong. Enough."

"Too chicken?! Pardon me, but this chicken doesn't want to wind up deep fat fried. At least I'm not acting like a chicken running in circles with my head cut off!"

"At least I had a head to begin with," Julia snapped.

"Yeah, right. Well, I know a number of polysyllabic words, bitch, ones that you don't even know! How about communization? Socialization? Ever heard of a Communist take-over? No, because you were too busy frolicking with Bambi in the forest!"

"What does this have anything to do with ANYTHING?! Bambi, I lived in a DESERT, we didn't even have tumbleweeds to cavort with! My homeland is disappearing-""Cavort means frolic, right?!" Hwoarang shouted back.

"YES, it's a Verb!" Julia replied in shout speak. The two made eye contact, and there was a brief moment where the two of them almost laughed at their own obscurity. Unfortunately, the seriousness of the moment was overwhelming.

"North Korea is no desert, we have men with guns and mines, we have bombs and nuclear weapons and other things that go bump in the night. Did they teach you 'fission' in Save-The-Trees 101?! That's my backyard-!"

"My backyard is the crap that no one wanted, so they gave it to my tribe! We had NOTHING, we grew our own food and caught our own game!"

" I got OUT of there, that doesn't HAPPEN! People don't escape, they don't leave, they're trapped, and there is no way under the greatest powers of HELL that I am going back." His tone was empty and furious; she could sense something much more powerful than his normal arrogant outbursts, and somehow it frightened her more. "I would lie, cheat and steal if it kept me out of there, and you have no right, no basis, no KNOWLEDGE to even begin to judge me. Step off- I have some planning to do."

He turned around back towards the bars, his knuckles turning white has he gripped them and surveyed the empty, sterile hallway outside. Julia felt like she had just been slapped. Taking a few steps backward, she sank to the floor and watched her feet for a while.

"Here, in this cursed Zaibatsu, is where all the problems start and people start betraying each other and calling it "life," saying "that's just life," and "life's not fair."

"We all have problems," Hwoarang remarked.

"Yeah, well, I intend to be a solution," Julia replied.

Hwoarang laughed shortly. "No band-aid is big enough for North Korea…"

"Who knows, maybe you can do some good," she said.

"Yeah, well.. it's not happening in their military," he said finally. "Whatever.""So…" Julia paused. She didn't want to prod; she had a feeling she had learned more about him in two minutes than she had in all of the other years she'd known him, and maybe a certain level of "Too Much Information" could be breached at any minute. Still. They seemed to briefly be at some sort of understanding. "What are you planning?""A way to get out of here and give Kazama a hand," he answered softly.

Julia paused, before laughing out loud. "You don't know ANY allegiances, do you?"Hwoarang smirked. "Just to me, myself and I… oh, and Baek. He's pretty cool too."

"Ah, it warms the deepest parts of my soul…." Baek said with a slight smile as he appeared around the corner. Hwoarang's eyes widened and he stepped back from the bars.

"Woah man, that's just freaky, that kind of stuff doesn't happen in real life, that's movie-type crap right there-!" Hwoarang stammered in his most eloquent speech.

Fidgeting with keys in his hands, Baek smiled wryly. "Well, I admit to waiting for the opportune moment… I would have interrupted your wonderful sob story if I just came up the moment I got here," he explained, nonchalantly unlocking the door.

"You've been around since- Rrrgh!" Hwoarang fumed.

"You guys were having a touching moment, I dared not interrupt," Baek said with a smile.

Julia laughed a little uncomfortably. "Well, I for one am glad that someone showed up, even if he did have a flair for the dramatic and a penchant for eavesdropping."

"Your welcome milady," he replied, easing open the bars for them to exit.

"Cut the bullcrap," Hwoarang said as he kicked open the door brusquely, causing Baek to stumble back. "We have some sorting out to do and it's not getting done by itself."

"Who are you and what have you done with my thoughtless, foolhardy and rash Hwoarang?" Baek asked incredulously.

"What are you calling me now?!" Hwoarang demanded.

"Thoughtful, foolhardy and rash," Baek observed.

With a laugh, Julia pushed past both of them. "Sorry guys, but I have to go to the lab," she said, dashing forward.

"Wait up, what for?" Hwoarang asked.

"I left my TV behind."

"BRYAN FURY, LING XIAOYU. ROUND TWO!"

Xiaoyu barely had time to sidestep his first strike, but it was futile anyway, because he swung his arm and elbow into her chest. She was reminded of metal by the firm, solid hit she suffered, and she lost footing and dropped to her knees. Bryan didn't hesitate, he didn't consider- he simply punched her full-force. Right in the face.

Whiplash is painful. For a minute, Xiaoyu seriously thought she broke her neck. For some reason, her mind convinced her that it would be a good idea to stand up and try and figure that out. Burning sensation in the neck? Check. Taste of blood in her mouth? Check. Bryan's fist coming straight at her? DUCK!

Xiaoyu dropped briskly to the defensive position, ignoring that tinge in her neck and dropping to her hip to try and trip him with her legs. People say that in times of crisis, the world slows down. Sometimes, that may be true. But at this time of crisis, the world started spinning fast, so fast, and in an instant Bryan had changed positions and she could practically see all of his muscles shift into place to deliver a powerful blow as she oriented herself.

Oh crap.

Flying back two yards looks like a lot of fun. Flying back two yards with Bryan's fist in your stomach and your back against the sharp bark of a tree was just pain, pain and danger pulsing from every poor. It wasn't like a roller coaster- that whiplash came with the sensation of free fall, adventure- not intense pain. Just pain.

Her lungs were shouting at her. Her heart was pounding in her throat. And, worst of all, her hair was an absolute nightmare. Lying back onto the ground, Xiaoyu listened to the speaker as the count trickled by. Tears burned her cheeks as the horrible scenario by scenario flashed through her mind. What could she do? Forfeit at life? She had never experienced anything that strong and fast. She looked up at Bryan. Cold, calculating, his lifeless eyes and tense muscles challenged her to try anything.

Maybe next time.

Coming out of the cell was the easy part. For some reason, the guard had been called somewhere else, and the hallway was filled with nothing but the escapees. Julia ran up to the door to the hallways, looking up and down the halls. She didn't see anyone. Hwoarang was close behind her; she could hear him breathing. And Baek- well, Baek was casually strolling down the hallway.

"Wait a second, you don't know if that's safe," Julia whispered furiously as he passed her.

"Seriously, this place could easily be crawling with Tekken Force snipers or the boogie man or other scary things!" Hwoarang snapped, trying to keep his voice low and his patience high. He was failing miserably, for the record.

"Since when were you scared of the boogie man?" Baek asked.

"Since he and Chuck Norris started their own late night comedy show," Julia muttered. Hwoarang couldn't help but laugh, stepping back to press his back against the wall.

"Relax," Baek assured them. "I walked right down here no problem. The entire Zaibatsu, I walked right through it without running into a single soul in order to spring you guys. There's absolutely no one here except us ducks."

Somewhere behind him, guns clicked into place, and Baek's face turned white. Hwoarang winced angrily, resisting the urge to slap a hand to his forehead. "Remind me never to play duck duck goose with you…" he muttered.

"Is there a worse sound in the world?" Julia whispered to herself.

"Well, that has to be the worst prison break ever," the familiar voice of the Officer chided from his invisible hiding place.

"That one's worse…" Hwoarang replied, stretching his hands. There would be some serious butt-kicking that would happen in about three minutes, and frankly he wanted to be on the right side of the scoreboard this time.

Xiaoyu realized could easily be staring into the face of her death. It wasn't hard to imagine, that's for sure. Bryan could be the grim reaper on the weekends; all he did was hang up his black cloak and put down his scythe to pound people into the ground, before getting back to guiding the beaten souls down to Hell.

Okay Xiaoyu, don't think like that…she thought to herself. The fifteen minutes between rounds was ticking by, and she could scarcely look at the beast. Looking at him, she was reminded of a younger Rutger Hauer, from the "Bladerunner" and "Ladyhawke" days of the 80's, just barren of human compassion and Hollywood handsomeness. Kind of like Hannibal Lecter, now that she thought about it. He did seem the type to be a closet cannibal.

Xiaoyu-! This isn't helping! Xiaoyu knew it was no use trying to calm her inner turmoil. He was under her skin as quickly as Hannibal could have been. Her confidence and sense of self-security had been shaken alongside her ribcage, and as her organs reorganized themselves, they were a bitter testament to the strength he had trapped in there.

He watched her as steadily as a statue. He moved once, to flex and kill a mosquito that had tried to stop and feed. He killed a mosquito by flexing. He's just a man. He can be beaten like any other man. I have to find a weakness. How did I beat him so easily the first time? She did it the first round and she could do it again. Even if he didn't seem tired, or phased, or injured, or breathing heavy, or at all threatened by her. She would have to prove him wrong.

A buzzer beeped somewhere far away. That was there call to resume positions. Every muscle in her body resisted, they all pulled her back, far away from that thing that watched her so steadily. No, she would have to do this. For herself. For her dream. And even for Jin. Just a little bit for Jin.

"BRYAN FURY AND LING XIAOYU, ROUND 3. FIGHT!"

A/N: I LOVE BRYAN!!! I'm so happy to bring my scary ugly baby into this :-D He's probably my favorite character in Tekken, and I just wanted to say that I'm infinitely happy that he found a place in my story to kick some serious butt. He got gyped in Tekken 4 as far as story goes, that's for sure...

Thanks for reviews and support. The story is coming to a close! It won't be much longer, but believe me: there's a lot more that's going to happen between now and the finale:-)