Yoshimitsu
In a blur, even to himself, the blade struck the rest of the men and they fall to the ground like a house of cards whose base had been snatched from under it. He took a moment to watch the men fall and frowned at their weaponry.
"Took you long enough." Kunimitsu remarked; Yoshimitsu turned to her. She was standing in front of the young man and he looked up at the Manji leader from behind her leg.
"I was forced to go on ahead, " He admitted. "Tetsujin is in flames, treacherous raiders have besieged it." He explained, Kunimitsu nodded in her Fox mask; he could tell she was frowning as well.
The people of Tetsujin were the Manji's closest neighbors and since Yoshimitsu had come into power as the leader he made it so that the two people were closely related in affairs. The people of Tetsujin were poor but, a good people and when the Manji received their riches they had no reason to keep it for themselves, so they would take the wealth and spread it to hungry people and bring the lot back to Tetsujin and spread it there.
"How many?" Kunimitsu asked; wiping off her knife.
"I tallied twenty-four." He explained, sheathing his sword. Kunimitsu shrugged.
"Nothing we can't deal with." she commented; he walked passed her to the boy and looked him in the eye.
"Can you uncover you way back to the village?" he asked the boy; the boy nodded. "Good, go back and tell Feng to bring the first to Tetsujin, now go!" The boy ran off and Yoshimitsu stretched.
"Feng?" Kunimitsu asked. "Afraid you can't handle it?" She taunted.
"Not quite," Yoshimitsu denied. "Feng deserves to have some fun too." He added coyly. Kunimitsu smiled and comb her ponytail with her hand.
"Well lets get on with it." She sighed; it sounded annoyed, Yoshimitsu noted this and the two ran off into the wood towards the town.
As they got closer to the village the smell of fire became almost stifling, the smoke was black and the way to the village was obscured from sight. Luckily the two knew the way into the town by memory.
At the entrance the beheld the sight of Tetsujin under siege. Several of the houses were in flames and people were running, laying and passed out in the middle of the pathway. Both Yoshimitsu and his second in command scanned the view for signs of anyone hurt but, for the most part people looked to be displaced rather than damages.
The other thing the two Manji noticed were a large group of liked dressed men, entering and exiting houses. They had known the people of Tetsujin to be poor so the chances of them being from Tetsujin were slim to none.
"I thought you said Twenty-four, Yoshimitsu?" Kunimitsu exclaimed; the Manji leader frowned and but his chin into the palm of his right hand.
"They must have sought allies in our brief absence, " He admitted with somewhat of a boyish disappointment. "How many do you count now?" He asked, Kunimitsu went silent for a moment, her mask moving steadily from left to right as she counted the men.
"Forty-seven" She eventually said; the Manji leader frowned again.
"I tracked fifty-two" he explained, she turned to him and even with the mask on he could sense she was giving him a face of disapproval.
"Meet in the middle?" She asked; He nodded.
"Fifty" He spoke, she nodded and looked away, there was silence for a moment.
"First one to twenty-six wins?" Kunimitsu asked devilishly. Yoshimitsu turned to her.
"This is not some class of contest." He spoke.
"Not yet," She said, turning her whole body to him; playfully she pushed him. "Are you too chicken?" She asked; the Manji leader grunted.
"Twenty-six?" he asked; she nodded. "Fine," he agreed and he looked her in the eye. From within the mask she could make out the faintest hint of a smile. "but don't be upset when you don't win." and with that the Manji leader vanished into thin air. Kunimitsu smiled at this, all the strange powers in the world wasn't going to make him win, she thought. She shook her head tugged on her ponytail and ran into the town.
In the town square Yoshimitsu appeared again in front of some dazed town-folk. They gasped at his sudden appearance but, rejoiced when they saw it was him.
"Oh, thank heaven" one woman spoke.
"Have you acquired any injuries?" Yoshimitsu asked; she shook her head. "Which one of these exotic settlements do you call your property?" He asked.
"That one," she pointed to one with two men going inside. "There are still raiders inside!" she shrieked.
"Wonderful" Yoshimitsu smiled and moved on.
He ran to the house right next to the woman's and climbed to the roof, nimbly he jumped from one roof to the other and inspected it for a way inside.
Inside the house several of the raiders threw things about, clothes, furniture cookware looking for valuables. Every so often they would find something of minor value and stash it into one of their large bags and move on and repeat the process in another section of the house. The man didn't look the same, somewhere brawny some were skinny, others were light complexion and others of a darker tone. This meant they were more than likely not of some clan but, some large crime gang that traveled around causing trouble, somewhat of the exact opposite of what the Manji clan were.
In the main room of the house one raider, a big, rotund man, searched the drawers of a small cupboard next to the meek, fireplace. Inside he found some valuables; an old watch, two gold pieces and an old picture. They were probably all heirlooms and he could use the last to blackmail the owner for more goods.
As he put the good into his large bag (already filled with a good amount of items) and was going to move on, he heard a strange sound come from the chimney. The sound reminded him that some people hid items in their chimney, so he went to it and looked up into it. He couldn't see anything but, the sound occurred again and now his interest was snagged. He stepped out of the cinder and reached his hand into the chimney and felt for something. Blindly he probed his hand left and right until finally he had a hold of something. He tugged on it roughly.
"How discourteous!" A muffled voice said appalled from the chimney. The raider jump back and released whatever it was he was holding and took out a large knife.
"Whose in there?" he asked, also in a broken dialect, as if he had learned the sentence as one misfired word. There was a moment of silence and he put his hand back into the chimney in an attempted to replicate the results but, as he did a voice spoke behind him.
"It is not Santa Claus" Yoshimitsu politely stated; the man spun on his heel to meet Yoshimitsu image and just as he did, the Manji leader smiled and hit him on the forehead with the hilt of his blade. Almost like a cartoon the man stood absolutely rigid for a moment and then slowly fell to the ground.
"One." Yoshimitsu counted; he inspected the man briefly for some kind of clue of identification but, found none. So for a moment he stood over the man in silence. 'What would a fallen miscreant like this say for help?' he thought to himself.
"Man down, man down!" He recited the line with an accent he had heard from a film some time ago. As he said it, he realized how ridiculous he sounded and frowned. It did achieve his goal however, all the other man rushed downstairs or came from adjacent rooms to see either; what happened or who was doing a horrible job of trying to sound like one of them
One by one they piled inside and Yoshimitsu counted them as they did. The warmth of glee filled him as he had another five people in front of him. He surmised there was no way Kunimitsu would be able to catch up to him. The man looked at Yoshimitsu curiously and when they were completely baffled by what they were looking at, they began to close in on him.
"Well then," Yoshimitsu started. "Who wants to be first?"
With a flick of her wrist, Kunimitsu chopped down a man with the palm of her hand. He fell to the ground like crumpled paper. She stalked around for more raiders to deal with and saw a handful exiting another house.
She looked up the road to see there were a couple of men loading the loot into jeeps ready to drive out of the small village. She considered going after them but, they weren't posing a threat to the villagers, so she put it into the corner of her mind for the moment. Without rushing she moved on to the raiders and as she did witnessed an exchange.
A family lay in the street in desperation and fear, a father, a mother and a young daughter. The other raiders walked right by them but, one of the stayed slightly behind and in his hand was a small butterfly brooch. At the sight of the brooch the mother stood up quickly and confronted the man.
"That was my grandmothers!" She shouted more in shock than protest and she ran up to him and attempted to take it back from him. At this the father stood but, the other raiders subdued him with the sight of their guns.
The woman slammed her fist against the man's chest without any result and repeated the action several times, whilst trying to rip the brooch from his hand with her other hand. The man laughed devilishly and watched the woman struggle in vain.
"Grandma's Brooch, eh?" The gruff man asked, he had a strange accent for that region but, he talked with a better dialect than the others. "It should sell for a pretty penny in the city." At that she tried to attack him more violently but, to no avail and when the man got tired of watching her try, he back hand slapped her.
The slap was powerful, so much so that the sound of his flesh hitting hers echoed in the air. The woman was stunned at the attack and it's power but, she didn't fall over, instead she teetered left and right the way a tree does when a lumberjack cuts through its base. This, unintended motion seemed to please the raider and he slapped her again, this time twice as hard and she hit the ground almost quickly as the hand hit her. He laughed again and the others were amused by his actions, it was then that Kunimitsu intervened.
"Hey!" She yelled at the man as he was kneeling over to taunt the woman; he continued laughing and slowly looked up. She paid extra mind to the men with guns, she came mask to face with the man. "I hate a man who hits a defenseless woman." she sneered at him; he seemed lightly amused at her bravery and theatrical look.
"Is that so?" He asked looking right into the fox mask. "Are you defenseless?" he asked; from within her mask and out of sight from the raider Kunimitsu smiled.
"Oh no," she admitted. "I've got a knife." She jerked quickly and the man's face changed from muted glee to painful shock. Kunimitsu took the knife out of his side and took the brooch from his hands. She propped him up for a moment remembering the men with the guns. She timed her action and turned quickly, tossing the body of the man in the direction of the others.
It worked, his body hit the others like a bowling ball striking pins and they all fell. She followed this up by running over to the fallen men and knocking them out on by one until all of them lay comatose on the ground. When this was over she turned to the family and saw the mother had reunited with them and were huddled watching Kunimitsu in awe. She tossed the brooch in their direction and the father caught it.
"Thank you." the father spoke, she turned her head slightly in his direction and nodded.
Yoshimitsu walked outside the house feeling collected, none of them men in the house game him any trouble at all but, on the outside he was confronted by one with a gun. He frowned at the sight of the weapon.
"Such a disgusting weapon." He said to himself. "Young man, would you be so kind as to put your weapon down and fight justly." The man raised the gun in shot in Yoshimitsu's direction, at that the Manji leader teleported a foot to his right missing the bullet. He stroked his chin in thought. "I guess not" he muttered to himself. The man shot again and without moving his body, teleported several feet to the left and forward.
The man seemed shocked at the Manji's power and shot again, Yoshimitsu continued to teleport forward, all the way to the left and then to the right and eventually he was right in front of the young man. "Wrong choice" Yoshimitsu said playfully and bumped the hilt of his blade on the boy's head knocking him out.
It was when he fell Yoshimitsu saw another man trying to escape into the forest with his goods.
"Sneaky little rabbit" Yoshimitsu whispered to himself; so he began to stalk behind the man slowly as if playing a game of hide-and-go-seek until he was right behind him. "Halt!" the Manji leader called. The man stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face him. "And what are you doing?" Yoshimitsu asked the way a father would ask a guilty child. The man didn't say anything, so Yoshimitsu quickly aimed a punch in his direction. To his surprise the man's body flew to the left and the punch missed.
"Hey!" Kunimitsu asked standing over the man's body. "This one is mine!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"Claptrap," the Manji leader cried. "I witnessed him first!" Kunimitsu shook her head.
"No you didn't!" she protested. "I was waiting for him to get closer into the forest before taking him out."
"But had you not interfered I would have vanquished him," Yoshimitsu explained. "He is my rightful seven." Kunimitsu put her hand on her hips and shook her head.
"No," she demanded. "He's my eleven!" she went on.
"Eleven?" Yoshimitsu asked. "By what unit of measure are you counting!" he asked shocked.
"Now don't get sore because I'm doing better than you," Kunimitsu demanded.
"Fine, fine," Yoshimitsu digressed. "We shall take him both and claim half a measure." Yoshimitsu suggested; Kunimitsu thought for a moment, all the while the man laid under her foot.
"Fine," She agreed, they shook hands and the two of them delivered blows to the man and he fell into darkness,
"Really Kunimitsu?" Yoshimitsu asked. "Eleven?" She smiled in her mask and flipped her ponytail.
"Well you know," She started. "I still got it." she said quietly.
The two of them were amused by this sentiment and because they were, neither noticed the car barreling down the dirt road towards them, only a few seconds before a horrible collision did Kunimitsu see the car from thee far reaches of her eye and she darted out of the way, almost being knocked down by the force of the moving car next to her. Quickly she surmised that this was one of the cars she saw being loaded with the stolen goods.
"Yoshi!" she shouted with urgency. "They have stuff in the car." The Manji leader's head turned in the direction of the car and he frowned for a moment.
"I shall return" He sighed and darted off in the direction of the car.
His feet were moving impossibly fast, faster than any man could possibly imagine. His legs a blur against the dirt road, pounding it like two hammers strapped to the propeller of an aeroplane. His focus didn't waver any, he had to catch up the car but, it was moving too fast. Despite his unique powers he wasn't able to run down automobiles at a moments notice. For now he remained five feet behind the car and remained at a steady pace.
He could see the driver looking into the rear view mirror looking at his pursuer and trying to force the car to move faster to lose him but, the car was old and Yoshimitsu resolve hadn't abated any.
The car swerved slightly to the left in an effort to throw the Manji off but, Yoshimitsu stayed right on top of the new movement and managed to close the gap ever so slightly.
"Slow down you brute" Yoshimitsu mumbled to himself and it was then that he knew the car wasn't going to slow down before he had to. Yoshimitsu thought of something to do to get the stolen goods back and he waited until the time was just right and thrust himself forward in a leaping jump before vanishing into thin air.
In the car the man drove, sweating about his forehead and hands, so that it made holding the wheel more of an event than an afterthought. When the Manji leader suddenly appeared in his car and landed in the passengers seat, he was startled but, thought quickly. He grabbed his gun from the dashboard and turned it to the leader.
With that Yoshimitsu blocked his hands expertly blocked the man's hand and the shot was stopped but, the raider randomly moved his hand about trying to find a weakness in the Manji's form and Yoshimitsu struggled to keep blocking.
'Confounded' he thought to himself 'I only remember five of the seven forms". He watched as his hands went through form three, four and five and knew the next time the robber spun his gun around he might not be able to block it.
And he was right.
This time his hand missed the raiders gun and the barrel was pointed right at his side and he took the shot, at first he thought he had hit Yoshimitsu but, after a moment realized it was only an after image from his teleportation.
When Yoshimitsu reappeared it was outside of the car and he landed into a sprint chasing the car again.
"Ok," He said to himself. "Different plan" He ran now with extra effort and took out his blade. Within a few moments he was within reach of the back passenger side wheel and with a pointed stab he burst the wheel open. The car shook as if it were ill and then slowly began to sway left and right as if it were going to fishtail but, before it did the driver caught a hold of it. It did however; cause the car to decrease its speed and with that Yoshimitsu pulled up to the front driver's side wheel and opened it up as well.
This resulted in an almost instantaneous fishtailing, the car spinning in circles whilst going forward. This time Yoshimitsu teleported into the back seat and pulled the loot from the floor before tossing it out the rear window.
"Good fortunes!" the Manji leader called to the thief and teleported back outside, starting in a brisk sprint but slowing down and letting the car continue to careen out of control. He knelt over and sighed, panting to catch his breath before standing up right and picking the bag of stolen items off the ground. He threw them over his shoulder and walked slowly back to the village.
When he returned Feng had arrived with a few others and were tending to the injured people. In the town square the rest of the thieves were tied up together with several Manji standing over them. Feng saw him and Yoshimitsu smiled at him prior to waving at him but, Feng gave him a serious face in return.
"Stop thief!" Feng yelled and pointed in his direction, confused the leader turned his face back to look behind him but, saw no one. when he turned back Feng was only inches away from his face and swinging his staff towards the Manji leader.
As a reflex the Manji drew his sword and blocked the incoming attack, a moment of stillness passed between them.
"Alright," Feng said resignedly "It's only this guy" He laughed and Yoshimitsu cracked a smile under his mask.
"Who do you all insist on treating me in such a manner?" He asked; Feng gave him a hard slap on the back his shoulder.
"Cause we like you!"
It was then that Kunimitsu came into view she walked up to them and nodded at Yoshimitsu.
"Is that all of them?" Yoshimitsu asked.
"Yes, they tried to escape but, ran into Feng in the forest." She explained; Yoshimitsu nodded.
"Good, they shall be maintained here until our next stopover into this city," He looked at the thugs. "and leave them with the police." he sneered; Feng stepped forward.
"But what about the people?" He asked; he gestured to the damaged town. "They've lost everything, it'll take years to rebuild what little they had. It'll take time and money" Feng suggested, The Manji leader pointed his finger to the sky.
"Aha!" He said as if discovering something, the two other Manji next to him looked at him confused. "I have procured a means for us to compose some money to assist the people of this town."
"And what's that?" Kunimitsu asked somewhat incredulously. With that the Manji leader reached in his pocket (an action that surprised Feng as he was unaware that Yoshimitsu even had pockets in his lavish costume) and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"This was in one of the houses." He unfolded the paper and the two Manji came close; Kunimitsu read out loud.
"Come enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament."