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 underlined, then it is Devil and Angel.

Generally, if it is in italics and has singular quotation marks ( ' ' ) then it is Mental Speech.

Don't own any characters except Razer, Detective Burton and the rest of the gang (excluding Hwoarang).

All other characters belong to Namco.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Switch

"Hey…?"

"What?"

"Why did you keep going…? He damaged two of your ribs. If you had stopped then… Well… You'd be… alright."

Hwoarang sighed, still looking at his hands that were sitting on the top of his stomach. He turned his head to his right, to Razer, still tapping his fingers. His voice was gentle and soft, "I think you can figure it out."

She smiled again, realising it was for her, then kissed his cheek, standing to leave, "Thank you."

He managed to smile a little in return, though his body was in a terrible amount of pain, and could easily tell she didn't want to leave his side again. He wanted to reach out and keep her here himself, but if he did that, then… well… he just couldn't. The smile morphed from a happy one into a sad one, "I'm sorry I can't be there."

"Do not worry about it. Just get better."

Silence ensued, aside from the small footsteps that reached the door.

The Blood Talon spoke up once more, "Good luck. Be careful out there, alright? It's the third round. You know that things get tough here."

"Jin's cousin will not win this match."

­Do you know who Asuka reminds me of, in terms of energy?

Razer's eyebrows furrowed, this morning's memory cruelly interrupted. She crossed her arms across her stomach and sighed, swallowing, No, I don't. So then tell me… who does Asuka remind you of, in terms of energy?

Your Mother.

The Greek youth growled quietly and then sighed, realising it was true as the Kazama youth came towards the jungle arena. She remembered her Mother's energy, and it was so similar to Asuka's that it wasn't funny. They had the same attitude, though her Mother's diminished severely over time due to her Father, they both had a happy feeling deep, deep down… and they both reminded her of the light.

Do you know what else?

Athane rolled her eyes and sighed, Mmm?

Look up and behind her.

She refused to.

Come on. You know you want to, monster.

Tell you what, the day you successfully take over my body, then I'll look up and behind her.

Bitch.

Asuka strolled up and stood directly in front of Razer, looking at her up and down. The Greek was about six inches taller than her, looked a little stronger than her, but still showed signs of being fairly thin. Probably from her time on the streets. Her hair was longer and a little lighter than the photograph her cousin had shown her. Then again, that was over two years ago. She was also thinner in the image… Probably because the time on the streets at that time was really bad, or something.

"What're you looking at?" the 20-year-old inquired warily, her voice having the inner Hwoarang edge through in defence.

Asuka's brown eyes narrowed angrily as she took two steps back and slid into stance, "The whore who broke my cousin's heart."

The Japanese youth noticed something break in her forest green eyes. A slight smirk appeared on her white face as the Greek's eyebrows furrowed, as that… thing that had broken in her eyes remained there, even as she too got into stance, fists loosely clenched, tapping her feet. This was going to be a very fun match indeed.

"21 vs 23. 3, 2, 1, FIGHT!"

The corrupt angel within forced Razer to launch the first attack in defence of being called a whore. Two, quick Eruption Kicks ensued, which caught Asuka off guard with the speed of them. The kicks had connected with her upper arm, leaving a stinging sensation in its wake. The 17-year-old raised her arms, blocking the Machine Gun Kicks and Hot Feet kicks that thereafter came her way.

The Greek reared her left leg as high as she could, before bringing it back down, breaking the Kazama youth's guard. Her hand shot out and seized her wrist, using it for control for the Pick Pocket throw. With a small cry, the girl was kicked into the ground, her face scraping along the dirt of the jungle area.

Asuka smirked to herself, conducting a sweeping kick, which connected, but only had her opponent buckle a little. This was going to be an interesting match, because unlike the other opponents she had fought over time, whether they were in this tournament or not, she felt they were under-skilled compared to her. This woman wasn't. She was her equal, at least.

The Japanese youth dodged an incoming high kick, and parried, grabbing the leg by the ankle and carelessly tossing it down, almost sending her foe off balance. She countered with a swift shoulder to the head, sending Athane far back and into the ground, groaning in pain.

"Holy shit…" She muttered, feeling dizzy from the blow.

"Get up," Asuka drawled, still in stance, "You can't be that crap."

The 20-year-old complied mindlessly, her hand darting out to grab her opponent, but missing entirely. The Kazama girl laughed, and attacked her lower legs, knocking her over. She quickly manoeuvred into position, grabbed her right leg, and pulled. To her surprise though, her opponent didn't scream or whimper, though she did hear teeth press together.

Asuka stood up, but was attacked by Razer with a sharp kick to the shin. She hissed, knowing that that little attack was going to leave a rather large bruise. Another two low kicks came her way, however she sidestepped, clearing them all together. It was the third kick that she should've paid attention to – the one that was delivered directly to her midsection with the left leg.

The Japanese youth already knew her style was Tae Kwon Do, mixed with something else. What the something else was, she didn't know, but she did know that her strategies consisted of mainly kicking combinations. After all, that's what Tae Kwon Do was. With a slight smirk, she started to push away all kicks that came her way. The moves, whilst difficult to predict, soon became redundant. Kazama had the upper advantage now.

Soon enough, Athane's eyebrows were intensely pressed together, wondering why the hell nothing was working, yet every strike that failed to hit, she was receiving two back. She would switch to one stance, and her Back Lash kick would be parried, throwing her off balance, followed by two spinning kicks, sending her to the ground.

She would get back up and attempt to make Asuka buckle by lashing out with her left leg. Sometimes it hit, and other times it was simply blocked, but the two Tsunami Kicks that followed in her strategy were immediately parried. One such incident resulted in her head slamming into the pavement with force, blood trickling down.

What the hell is going on?

Ah, she's clever…

The attempt to make her foe airborne was easily predicted. She had side-stepped and pinned her arm painfully behind her back, and tripped her over with one of her feet. The Greek groaned in pain and rolled over, feeling a leg catch her side.

What the fuck is wrong with me?! She's predicting every move!

Perhaps if you made an attempt to switch up your strategy, she would not stop your attacks every time.

With a slight nod, acknowledging the entity's remarks, she tried a different kicking combination – one she had rarely used in this match. Fortunately, most of the kicks connected, though there were some attacks that were still very easily blocked. The 20-year-old growled in agitation, head breaking to the left to concentrate on speech, She still stopped it!

If you made that move again and successfully executed it completely, what combination would you use thereafter? Oh, and step to the right.

She did so, feeling a punch brush by her. Razer stayed on the defensive as the attacks continued, I… don't know…

Exactly. Stop sticking to one style. You have another, so use it.

Asuka's left arm darted forward, hoping for the open palm to attack her. She darted off to the side again, before hurriedly placing a tight grip on her forearm with one hand, and just above her elbow with the other. She made a few more adjustments before managing to throw her opponent over her shoulder, the painful thud ringing clear through her ears.

Good, good.

The 17-year-old stood quickly, expecting a barrage of kicks to come her way, only to find tightly clenched fists instead. Within that barrage, though she only barely managed to block a few punches, she identified a Laser Cannon attack, something she must've picked up from Jin. The next move she tried was Savage Sword, but the Japanese girl stopped it from occurring, forcing her into a different variety of punches.

A breather was soon needed, and the Greek woman soon found herself on the defensive against Asuka once again. It was like passing a torch between one another, or the flip of a switch – one would attack mercilessly, whilst the other guarded against it, and then they would change over. It was repetitive, like a cycle, and unlike the previous exchanges, the Japanese girl was struggling to connect a majority of the attacks.

Switch.

She was attacking again, watching Asuka's slowing attempts to defend herself. She had thrown in a few more kicks in this strategy, as opposed to the last one, slowly pushing the youth away from her, keeping her at a safe distance. She'd be damned if she got back into the personal space. Those throws really hurt.

Switch.

A parry had resulted in the swap, and fists galore came her way. Razer leant back, avoiding another elbow, and then forward, avoiding a shoulder. Three low Leg Cutter Kicks caught her shins, but she jumped over the final one, and once again, the Greek was put back on the offensive.

Switch.

This was a test of endurance and patience, one the Kazama youth seemed to be losing. The creature within noticed the 17-year-old's eyebrows furrow closer together, her teeth grit harder, her offensive and defensive attacks become sloppier, and her footing slip all the more. She could hear the ragged breath, and the occasional Japanese curse tumble from her mouth. A punch went astray, missing completely, throwing Asuka off balance.

Switch.

Razer reared her right leg up for a quick Nose Bleeder kick, wincing as it smashed across her face. The youth fell to the floor with a growl. Athane was about to attack lowly again with a sweeping left kick but stopped when she was contacted.

'Please… go easy…'

'I have to win.'

'You have already won…' Jin murmured.

She stopped for a moment and actually looked at the Japanese youth, seeing how her arms were shaking as she tried to lift herself up and off the muddy ground of the jungle floor. Her face was smeared with blood and mud, her hair was disarrayed, and her clothes were crumpled. There was some swelling on her forearms from all those blows, and her ankle didn't look too good.

"Asuka, maybe you should just give up…"

"No! I'm not quitting!"

"But look at yourself… You can't even stand up anymore."

It was true. She had gotten to her feet, only to fall back down. With agitated sigh, she tried again, only this time to land on her sore hip as opposed to face down in the mud. The rain that lightly began to fall was making everything slipperier. She tried one last time only to fail, and heard the referee declare Storm Wind as the victor.

The 17-year-old bowed her head down, one hand holding her sitting form up, the other resting in her lap, a hand weakly clenched into a fist. She stared at it, seeing the blood drip from her nails and down her fingers. She saw how it shook slightly, and felt the strength of the pain inflicted on her. She sighed quietly, "I'm sorry, Dad…"

A hand clad in a black glove appeared in her field of vision. Asuka looked at it for a long moment, following it up the person's bare arm, coming to a shoulder and a sliding strap of a black tank top. She turned her head to the right, still following the right shoulder, and saw Razer smiling a little at her. She did not look too well either from their little scuffle, and spoke lowly, "Come on. Let's go get fixed up."

The Kazama youth grabbed it and pulled herself up steadily, brushing some dust off of her legs. The 20-year-old had slung her arm across her shoulders, adding support, helping Asuka, knowing she couldn't stand well enough. They began to leave, and as they did, the Japanese girl tossed her head over her shoulder to see Jin turning away and leaving.

She didn't miss the small smile.

Stages:

Razer Athane v.s. Asuka Kazama: Jungle, Tekken 4