Tekken: The Tale of two Brothers

by The Secret Judge

The life of an unlucky soul, caught in the crossfire of the Mishima Family may have more to do with them than he may have originally thought. With the one person who made his existence meaningful gone, his so called brother falling down the same path of his father and father before him, and carrying a burden no one would wish on their worst enemy; how will he survive?

26. Raging Protector

Chapter 26 – Raging Protector

It was early morning and up to the final day of the preliminary fights around the city of Tokyo. A press conference was being held in one of the press halls of the Mishima Financial Building in the city and Mr. Mishima was the interviewee in question. No matter how much Heihachi hated having to answer pointless questions to the media, he accepted that today he would have to face the numerous members of tabloid media from around the world. It wasn't a current high point for the head of the Zaibatsu, but Heihachi drew in a deep breath and mentally prepared for the questions to follow. He stood behind the podium, off stage and surrounded by his most loyal members of security whilst his top advisor Harada fielded any early questions that he had the liberty to answer.

"The details on how the finalists will perform is still being kept under wraps." Chimed Harada, answering a question, "All you need to know is that all fights in the finals will take place here."

Constant hands shot up from around the auditorium where the conference was being held, the members of the press were crying out for either their question to be answered or simply for Mr. Mishima to take to the stage. Harada felt a bead of sweat slide down the side of his face under the spotlight, he turned to the back of the podium and looked towards his CEO, hoping that he could take control of this situation. Heihachi noticed Harada's eyes on him and shot back an intimidating stare to whip his advisor back into shape. Harada quickly looked back to the audience and started to take more questions.

Heihachi wasn't quite ready to step out, he was waiting for a report from one of his members of staff. The report would show him several things of interest to him; the status on the current surviving fighters how had won continuously over the past 5 days, the reports from his field agents and his two appointed fighters to track down their specified targets and also, any signs on the where-a-bouts of Ogre. So far, Heihachi hadn't caught a glimpse of the humanoid and only had a sketchy report on a sighting of a figure floating in the sky above Mount Amagi; it was only reason that he truly believed that one of the Williams sisters was indeed possessed by Ogre. He knew that the green brute was in Japan and had been drawn to the energies of the mass amount of worthy fighters. All Heihachi needed now was the chance to get Ogre to compete, should he find him.

Finally, a staff member of the Zaibatsu arrived and handed Heihachi a dossier with a bow. Mr. Mishima opened up the folder and read through the notes carefully, a smile smirk appearing on his face for most of the time but towards the end a grumpy expression came across his face at its uneventful conclusion. Ogre had once again eluded the numerous eyes of his corporation and it was starting to get on Heihachi's nerves who knew that time was running out.

"Alright, it's time." He exclaimed, thrusting the dossier into the chest of one of his security.

A guard quickly took to the stage and whispered into Harada's eye, the man's expression becoming elated at the words he heard, he cleared his throat and spoke into the multiple microphones in front of him.

"Members of the press, I have great news! Mr. Mishima-sama has finally arrived and will now take to the stage!"

The audience went into an uproar of ecstatic jubilance as hands shot up higher than before, the noise of the auditorium becoming an ear-splitting drone of questions and attention grabbing. Harada yelled at the top of his lungs to be heard over the rabble.

"PLEASE! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN, PLEASE! I'LL NEED YOUR COOPERATION! PLEASE SETTLE DOWN AND WE CAN BEGIN!"

The press gradually dropped their volume as Harada started to announce Mr. Mishima.

"Without further ado, the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu himself, Heihachi Mishima!"

At his name, Heihachi strode onto the stage and took to the podium, the sound of the audience went into an uproar once more as he stood under the microphone and looked out to the ants before him. Heihachi had a bemused look on his face as he faced the media with little sense of joy. He wanted this over, soon. He rose his hand up to request silence from the people before him but got no change in the volume of the crowd, feeling himself getting ignored he started to flare at the nostrils and instead slammed his raised hand into the podium, splitting the wood. The audience gasped at the outburst and immediately pipped down at the sudden show of force. Their obedience cause Heihachi to grin.

"That's better!" Mr. Mishima gloated, "Now, you have 5 minutes, I repeat FIVE minutes of my time to ask me any questions regarding the tournament, so it better be a good one. My advisor will point out to the audience and select a member of the press at random, he or she will ask their question and everyone else will shut up when they do so. If you don't comply, you'll be taken out of the conference room, if several of you don't comply, you're all gonna get kicked out of the conference room. I hope I have made myself clear!"

The audience was in a hush, while a few exchanged whispered to one another, no one spoke up and out of line; as much as they need their story, they knew better than to get on the bad side of Mr. Mishima. The man was a figure of imposing stature, he held himself in high regard and would be damned to let anyone condescend him in any way, shape or form. No story was worth their own lives. Heihachi turned his head to Harada who stood like a statue, not knowing what to do.

"Harada!" Heihachi yelled, causing Harada to snap out of his nervous state.

Harada proceeded to take out a laser pointer and looking over the audience of people there, he shined the laser on one of the members of the press who in response stood up and began articulating her question.

"Mr. Mishima," the young lady spoke, "There was so far been no word of your participation in this tournament. Are we to assume that you've indeed declined from fighting in the tournament and are therefore dismissing any future participation for yourself?"

Heihachi cocked his head back and laughed, "GAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you think I'm retiring? BAH! Not a chance! I can assure you all that I'm still as fit as I was 20 years ago and could wipe the floor with any of the fighters present for the tournament! No, I have opted to not partake in this year's tournament for personal reasons that I am unable to divulge to the public. However, you will be fortunate enough to witness my own grandson taking my place in this year's tournament. He will be more than able to pass of as a lesser version of myself, having learned my fighting style first-hand. In regards to future participations, all I can say is don't pass me out as an…old man, a Mishima can fight in his 100s as if he was only shy of 40."

The crowd murmured to one another in a soft drone at the answer but quickly remembered themselves and settled down once more. Harada then shone the laser at another member of the press and a bald man stood up.

"Your grandson, Mr. Mishima, has been unknown to the world for so long and was only caught in the public eye recently. Where did he come from and to who is his lineage besides who many assume to be your late son?"

"The boy's name is Jin Kazama and his parents are two former fighters in this tournament. I'll leave it up you to figure out who."

The room was dead quiet for a brief moment as everyone took in the short but heavy reply for Mr. Mishima. Before long the murmurs from the press grew incredibly loud as everyone eventually pulled the pieces together. Pandemonium took over at the revelation of Jin being the child of Kazuya and Jun, no one could believe it, nor comprehend the circumstances that lead to this. Phones were whipped out and people began clamouring to talk to their superiors and give in the huge scoop. Meanwhile, Heihachi wasn't enjoying the suddenly absence of obedience from the crowd below him and decided to remind the press of his earlier comments.

"Soldiers!" Heihachi quipped.

A loud deafening stomp came from the surrounding Tekken Force soldiers who all stood at the perimeters of the media at the same time. With guns at the ready, the sound of their boots slamming the group simultaneously brought everyone back to attention on where they were at this time. Phones were shut and put away as everyone became silent once more. Heihachi turned his head to Harada once again but this time the advisor was ready and waiting, the laser pointer and shined at another member of the press who stood up to speak.

"Ahem, in the 20 years that has passed since the last tournament, there have been many speculations into the nature of the recent murders of renowned fighters across the globe, one of the most notable is the death of the luchador known as King. Whoever is perpetrating these acts seems to have a thing out for martial artists and there is concern that these murders could culminate here at the tournament. Will your security be on the lookout for any similar occurrences throughout the tournament, and what are your personal thoughts on the matter?"

Heihachi took the time to mull the question over as he worked out a perfect response, it wasn't long before he spoke up.

"The Mishima Zaibatsu is well aware of these murders and will be taking the utmost measure in guaranteeing the safety of its participants…that is, until they fight, hehehehe… Still, this is one of the reasons for our finals being held at our newly erected stadium, the technology in it will be a huge attraction for the tournament and at the same time to ensure our fighter's well-being before and after their fights. As for this mysterious…killer, I have a feeling we'll be seeing him, or her, very soon."

"In the tournament?" the member of the press quickly asked.

"Not your time for questions anymore." Heihachi bluntly replied, causing the man the slowly take his seat once again.

Harada shined the laser at another person in the audience and a female now stood up to speak.

"Mr. Mishima, what are the Tekken Force still doing to Central America? There was to be a withdrawal of those soldiers over two years ago but there are still sightings of your private military in the area. Why hasn't the American government done anything to move your men out and why have you not been personally chastised for this blatant infringement of your powers in the Americas being abused?"

Heihachi's eyes narrowed at the women and held his tongue for a moment, holding back a very verbal response that was circling in his head. After a few seconds a wry smile curled at one of the corners of his mouth and his answer followed.

"My forces are purely there as a peace-keeping force in order to quell recent guerrilla rebels in the area. Several of my men had died tragically at the hands of these naves in recent years and we've been covertly repressing these rebellions in the Amazon. We are well within our rights to remain in the area, nothing more. That is the only question I'll answer that's in no relation to the tournament."

With his answer done, Heihachi looked to his golden wristwatch to see that time was nearly up, he gestured to Harada that the next question would be the last and soon enough a final reporter was chosen out of the audience.

"Will there be any former fighters re-entering the tournament?"

"Hmpf! Yes, we have a couple returning fighters and they are still as deadly as ever. Alright, that's your 5 minutes; any further questions can be relayed to my advisor once again and afterwards I'm sure you'll know the way out of here."

Heihachi turned and immediately strode off the stage to the sound of reporters imploring the CEO to stay on the podium and continue the conference. Having none of it, Mr. Mishima took his place between his security and the imposing bunch proceeded to leave the building. While begrudged by the ordeal of having to do the conference in the first place, Heihachi was still glad that it went by without any problems. The most important questions were answered and further excitement had been garnered for the tournament. Stories on Jin would most likely be on the cover of many magazines in the coming days; while they knew there was a general understanding that Heihachi had a grandson, for the three years that he'd been under his care, Jin had been kept out of the public eye and away from the limelight. With this huge introduction, Jin was going to be a huge selling point for the tournament, that was, until the real guest of honour came out of the shadows.

The head of the Zaibatsu and his accompanying security marched through the halls of the Mishima Financial building and made their way to a side entrance to the huge skyscraper where a personal limo was waiting for Heihachi. All the while, there was a chill going down Heihachi's spine for some reason, almost like a premonition for something. He couldn't put his finger on it and showed no sign of discomfort among his men. Then, as they walked out of the building and stepped into the sunlight of the morning, Heihachi felt a twinge on his right hand, somehow causing it to flex outwards with his palm open and looking up at him. As his eyes darted towards his hand in confusion, a droplet landed right in it; the droplet was a deep red. Mr. Mishima stared at it in wonder, completely perplexed by the strange circumstance on this red drop of liquid landing right in the palm of his hand, as if it was meant to this whole time. He slowly closed his fist and came to a stop, his security halting as well and unsure as to what had caused their CEO to stop just metres from his limousine. With his palm now clenched in a fist, Heihachi looked up to the heavens and transfixed his eyesight to the top of his building. His eyes narrowed in resolve and he quickly turned heel and walked though his men and back to the entrance.

"Mr. Mishima sir? Where are you going?" one of the guards called out to him.

"Remain here! I will be back shortly!" Heihachi commanded, without turning to address his men.

At a fast pace, Heihachi strode back into the Mishima Financial Building and reached the closest elevator to him. Once inside he punched the button for the very top floor and the elevator buzzed to life and brought him up to his desired floor. Nearly opening the elevator doors himself, Mr. Mishima burst out and made his way to the fire escape stairwell and proceeded further upwards. Right now he wasn't thinking about anything but reaching the top floor and finding what had brought this smear of liquid onto his hand. Well before now, Heihachi knew exactly what it was, it was blood and there had only been one time where blood had dropped down on him from above. Heihachi reached the final flight of stairs and kicked the door open with authority. He was now of the roof of the building and looked frantically around him, only to be greeted by the wind and the breathtaking view of Tokyo. To say Mr. Mishima was disappointed would be putting it lightly; his shoulders drooped and his brow furrowed at the sight of no one.

Dammit! I could have sworn…

With a deflated huff, Heihachi turned back to the entrance to the roof top. Upon doing so, a shadow could be seen by the entrance and was slowly coming into focus. Heihachi slowly lifted his head upwards and stared with an open mouth at the figure he thought he saw before silently floating down towards him, as if gravity had no effect on it. The green humanoid that the head of the Zaibatsu had waited years to finally see again was finally back in sight and appearing directly before him. A smarm of unknown emotion resonated within the heart of the Mishima, both positive and negative. He felt in him a sense of purpose was appearing before him and it filled him with joy and jubilation at the sight of Ogre descending almost methodically from the heavens. Feelings of inner happiness could somehow be felt within Heihachi at this time but also there was something even more foreign now flowing within him. Fear. For one of the rarest times in his life, Heihachi was experiencing a sense of fear from Ogre coming down to him and it was a feeling that was practically alien to Mr. Mishima. Never could he remember feeling a fear like this, not even his fight with his son in the second tournament could equal this, for while he wasn't optimistic of the outcome, he wasn't afraid. But in this situation, in front of the God of Fighting itself, Heihachi felt a small part of him wanting to run for his life, a small part telling him that he isn't ready for this and a small part of him thinking that this could very well be the end.

Ogre's feet eventually touched the surface of the rooftop and the two stood a few metres apart from each other in a standstill. A gust of wind swept over the two figures; the long orange hair of Ogre carelessly frolicking in the up-drift and the magenta coat of Heihachi lifted slightly upwards as well. Not a word of spoken as the two stared the other down, and while Heihachi did indeed fear the humanoid before him, it didn't mean that he was going to run. The Mishima blood within him could be felt boiling in excitement and anticipation for what could come next.

"I suspect in your warm welcome that you are here to talk?" Heihachi asked, although he had a strong feeling that he wasn't going to get an answer out of Ogre anyway.

The green brute kept his eyes right on Heihachi's and slowly crossed his arms in a sign of impatience but also as an urge for Heihachi to continue speaking.

"Hmpf! It's obvious you're somehow pressed on time, but so am I so I'll make this quick. I know who you are and what you are. You're not from here, and by here I mean all of this."

Heihachi stretched his arms out to both sides of his body, gesturing to everything around him. He continued to talk, not expecting any interruption.

"You are here for some benign quest of destruction and you're looking for a little, shall we say, juice from the fighters who have gathered here. Well, I want to offer you a place in my little tournament, you'll have the best fighters on offer to you, such as my own grandson should you wish. You'd have to play by the rules however, this way you can further test your own abilities, abilities I'm sure that you haven't flexed for a while now. The whole world would witness the skill of a legendary fighter such as yourself and I wouldn't stand in your way either."

Ogre continued to eye the head of the Zaibatsu and while there was no real change in his facial expression, his head lowered ever to slightly inwards, as if intrigued by the prospect laid before him. Heihachi knew that the creature could understand human speech and he tell that the brute was listening intently. So far, Heihachi was hitting all the right buttons.

"So, what do you think? I know that this is something that you are indeed interested in, after-all, in the time when you last roamed the Earth, you have fought in the similar manner I'm laying out before you. You know you are the greatest fighter and you only wish to reaffirm this claim. To refuse would mean that you are not the God of Fighting as I've been lead to believe."

Heihachi could tell that he was striking a nerve at the brute as Ogre suddenly closed the distance between the two. He now stood less than 3 feet from Mr. Mishima and was glaring at him with a truly sinister look on his face. Heihachi's mouth felt dry at the uncomfortable closeness of the humanoid before him. He wanted to gulp and get some liquid back in his throat but fought the urge to do so. Now was not the time for showing weakness, after-all, such a word didn't belong in a Mishima's vocabulary. Still, he had never had a stand-off like this ever before. Any opponent worth their salt would be inclined to give a rebuttal back to Mr. Mishima but for a creature such as Ogre, retorts were verbally out of the question. His replies to Heihachi's knowledge would only be physical, and right now, the head of the Zaibatsu wasn't in the right place for a scuffle on a rooftop; especially with a being that can levitate.

However, gradually the menacing face of the green brute started to soften and a smirk could be made out on his face. Heihachi saw it as a sign of mutual understanding and more importantly, the desire to participate in the tournament.

That Chang woman was right all along… Heihachi thought to himself. He had been told by his captured informant that the nature of Ogre was to prove his superiority in fights such as the Tekken tournament. It fuelled the humanoid's mysterious ego but Heihachi could sense that it would not be the prime motivation for Ogre wanting to enter, something else was powering his drive for the fight and Mr. Mishima needed to know.

"It looks like we've reach an accord, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hmpf! In that case, I expect you to be present at the Mishima Stadium on Monday evening, you'll know what to do there." Heihachi held his hand out to Ogre, "While I doubt I'll have your word, do I have your compliance instead?"

Ogre looked down to the hand stretched out before him, his expression was already cold and unreadable again and looked as if he was contemplating the true nature of the man before him. Ogre remembered the fight he had with his man several years ago, it was one that lead him to believe that the ultimate vessel was now out there and he would be ready to finally crush the inhabitants of this world and claim it for his forbearers. The old man was indeed powerful and showed the same unwavering brashness he had shown before. While fear could be seen in the man's eyes, the fear was accepted and used as a motivation to continue his defiance as if to prove himself wrong. Ogre knew that the old man had it out for him and would choose to be calculating instead of charging in blindly. Ogre would enjoy making this man suffer in the future to come.

Ogre's hand slowly rose up and grasped at the out-stretched hand of Mr. Mishima. The two held on in a tight grip and locked eyes in a stand-off to display their dominance over the other. Neither flinched, neither moved, and neither were inclined to be the first to let go. Ogre eventually loosened his grip and rescinded his hold on Heihachi's hand and the head of the Zaibatsu took notice and released as well. Ogre then turned and started to walk towards the edge of the building, but stopped when he heard the old man behind him.

"The boy with the long hair and the scar on his face. What is his purpose in all of this? What did you do to him?"

Ogre's head slowly turned to look at Mr. Mishima once more. He then turned back to the direction he was originally facing away from Heihachi and then pulled out a stone-edges knife from behind his back, in full view of Mr. Mishima. The knife looked uncleaned after a prior use as it's edges were coloured a faint red, presumably from the blood it drew. Heihachi could tell that this was the dagger used to give Himitsu the scar that now adorned his face. Its significance was paramount but Ogre's lips remained sealed, not divulging any further information.

Satisfied, Ogre re-sheathed the dagger and started to levitate off the ground. Heihachi watched the humanoid float weightlessly into the sky until Ogre disappeared into the scattered clouds above. He didn't know what to else to do at this point in time and instead felt rather stoic; getting Ogre to partake in the tournament had felt like an impossible task over a week ago and everyday he felt like the chances of finding the green brute was rapidly fading before his very eyes. This quick moment had changed everything, more questions were surfacing and Mr. Mishima was no closer to answering any of them just yet. With a deep intake of air and a slow exhale, Heihachi proceeded to the doorway and got off the rooftop of the Mishima Financial Building.

…

His hotel room had all its windows and curtains covered up as he slept in near darkness. The light of day ever so dimly glowed through the thick curtains and illuminated the area around him in an orangey-brown haze. He slept in the nude with one leg under the blanket and the around bent out on top of it. A pillow was held under his arm to slightly cover his stomach and his other hand was crocked under the pillow where his head rested to give him a little extra lift. His breathing was relaxed at this point in time as his dreams were finally calm and tranquil, however, it seemed like every time he slept he would have a nightmare first before he could sleep peacefully. His long and ridged black hair was in a tangle behind his head and stretched out to the remaining surface of the pillow while his soft, white strands were settled in front of his face, slowly moving in and out in time with his breathing.

Slowly, Himitsu started to stir from his slumber and his eyes gradually opened. He lay there for a minute as his thoughts moved away from his dream and into the present. In a short moment, he had forgotten what he had been dreaming about but could just faintly recall one instance of it which included a woman with long brown hair and a feather in it. Himitsu looked over to the bedside table where his barcode bracelet lay silent, so far it hadn't buzzed with the message of his next fight so the Lionheart figured that his bout would be on later in the day, still it was high time for him to get up anyway. Finally, he sat up on the bed and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the grit around them. He then got off the bed and even thought he was in the buff, calmly stumbled over to the joining bathroom of his hotel room and got into the shower. He spent about 10 minutes simply standing under the warm water and letting his body gel and relax under the calming force of the water hitting his head and shoulders and moving down his body. Once collected, he started to apply shampoo to his hair and lathered it up, also using the suds on his body as well. He washed off the suds and then turned the shower off and picked up a nearby towel to dry himself off.

Exiting the bathroom, Himitsu walked over to the drawer he kept his clothes in. He had bought some new clothes to replace the ones that he sort-of ruined during his last night in Kagoshima. During the preliminaries he had decided to fight in his casual clothes as he had to move around the city to reach the fight's destinations. The first two fights were a complete cake-walk for the Lionheart and were both over in under a minute. While his two opponents were obviously well established martial artists, they had nothing to really bring to the table as Himitsu's incredible strength and determination made short work of the fighters he faced. His third and fourth fights were marginally more difficult however and it was during the third fight had his dark olive shirts was properly ripped. The third opponent was an Israeli woman who looked like a military personnel and was skilled in Krav Maga. While the fighter was able to land several hits at Himitsu and use her thin frame to avoid his powerful strikes, the Lionheart eventually sought to turn the women's skill in grappling against her and once in a clinch was able to land a few devastating knees to her gut and from that point on wore her down and eventually won the fight rather cleanly. His fourth opponent was a 7 foot tall man from Scotland who seemed to fight like a bar room brawler. The man was surprisingly quick for his size and hit like a tank with powerful haymakers and stiff kicks to match. His fighting style lacked a proper defence and Himitsu was constantly landing solid hits but the Scotsman would keep coming back for more and wouldn't go down for the count. Any hits that the man connected were brutally powerful and the man also spent a fair amount of the time tossing Himitsu around like a sack of potatoes; one time he threw Himitsu into a crowd of spectators, taking about 18 people with him to the ground. Still, the Lionheart persevered and eventually his deadly strikes reached the threshold of what the Scotsman could take and after a powerful combination of fists, one final uppercut lifted the man off into the air and he came down like a brick wall, ending the fight and securing Himitsu's fourth straight win.

Himitsu put on his clothes and started to leave the hotel. We wore a chrome silver windbreaker with the zipper undone and no shirt underneath, exposing his chest and abdominal. The windbreaker's sleeves were tightly rolled up to his elbows and on his forearms he wore his Tetsuwa iron bracelets and on his hands were some black and orange combat gloves with padding around the knuckles for protection and the fingers mainly exposed. He wore orange tracksuit pants with a black trim, matching his gloves and finally black, steel-capped boots. On his left wrist he wore the golden necklace with diamonds as a bracelet and on his right he wore the barcode bracelet he had received at the start of his registration into the tournament, still it hadn't alerted him of today's fight. After heading downstairs and having a late breakfast, Himitsu zipped up his windbreaker, pulled the hood of the jacket over his head and set off outside into Tokyo.

He didn't want to draw too much attention to himself as he conspicuously waltzed through the streets in search of any nearby fights. By now, the preliminaries were in their final day and many fighters had already been kicked out of the tournament with their unfortunate losses. Thanks to the early fights that he had, Himitsu had been able to skip a few rounds as according to the Tournament's rules, his skill level amongst the other combatant was too great to be wasted on lesser equals to him. Now that is was the last day, it seemed fitting that today he would fight in his final match-up and progress to the finals of the Tekken Tournament and compete against 15 other fighters for the title of Iron Fist Champion.

Himitsu spent a while moving through the streets of Tokyo and passing by the areas where he had previously fought, hoping that the areas would be used again for today's match-ups. Most of these areas were clear of anyone until he came up to a basketball courtyard in the rougher part of the huge city. A crowd had gathered there and were all circling around two men fighting in the space provided to them. On rooftops nearby, Himitsu could make out a contingent of Tekken Force soldiers scanning the perimeter for any potential threats while the fighters exchanged blows with each other. Himitsu made his way to the other side of a chain-link fence that blocked off the basketball court, for here he could not only make out the fighters but also who the crowd was mainly cheering for. The people who were gathered around had a predominant Caucasian presence and were cheering on their fellow countryman in the fight.

"PAUL! PAUL! PAUL! PAUL! PAUL! PAUL! PAUL!" The crowd bellowed in unison.

Himitsu looked over to the man they were cheering on and focused in on him. The man was a tall, blonde haired American that looked like he stood at the same height as Himitsu. His hair was styled into a flat top, and he had equally blonde sideburns and stubble as well. He wore a black, short-sleeved leather jumpsuit with a flaming skull on the back of it and a white t-shirt underneath. His jumpsuit pants had flames on both legs and he wore black boots. He had black shoulder pads as well as matching knee pads and on his hands he wore black studded, fingerless gloves. The man looked like a straight-up martial artist with knowledge in judo as well. At this point in time, Paul was going toe-to-toe with his opponent who was a man from the Ukraine who fought in the fighting style of Combat Hopak which is a traditional Ukrainian form of fighting. Both men were at times trading blows equally and then would become defensive and look for signs of weakness in the other. Paul wanting to finish off this fight, lunged at the Ukrainian with a combo that saw Paul launch into the air with two jumping kicks in mid-air and once he landed, he finished with a spinning high kick to the temple. The first two kicks were blocked by the Ukrainian and the third kick was ducked under. Now with an opening, a swift uppercut collected Paul's chin and launched him backwards, hitting the ground hard.

The crowd winced at the impact but Paul didn't seem too worse for wear as he almost immediately sat up and rubbed his chin in discomfort. However, the Ukrainian wasn't done there; he quickly ran at the downed Phoenix and tackled him back into the floor and started to wail punch after punch right at Paul's face. Luckily, Paul had his hands free and instinctively shielded his face to weather the blows.

"I could stay down here for fucking days my Russian friend!" Paul yelled, taunted to man above him.

"I TOLD YOU, I'M NOT RUSSIAN!" the Ukrainian yelled back.

Visibly agitated, the Ukrainian opted out of punching and instead locked his hands together and unleashed consecutive hammer fists to the arms of Paul, hoping to crush them. Paul finally saw his opening as the man above pulled his hands too far back. In a quick motion, Paul got one of his legs under the Ukrainian and flipped him over his head with a Foot Launch. Both men, quickly got back to their feet and the fight continued. However, the Ukrainian was notably unfocused and charged in recklessly at Paul who was ready for such an occurrence. The man threw a vicious right hook punch at Paul's head but missed as the Hot-blooded martial artist Swayed backward, just narrowly avoided the fist that sail in front of his face. Paul then countered with a spinning low kick and followed with an elbow striker to the Ukrainian's jaw, effectively rocking the man before him. Paul finished the counter-attack with a crouching uppercut known as Stone Breaker. The Ukrainian did a front flip from the impact and then up on his back.

The crowd started to cheer loudly at Paul's resurgence and now clear upper-hand, his opponent clumsily got back onto his feet and stumbled at Paul with several swinging punches that right now were more like flailing arms. Paul quite easily brushed the attacks away from him and then grabbed hold of the Ukrainian and performed an articulated shoulder check that pushed his opponent away and onto the floor once again.

"You should give up bub, you're up against the toughest fighter in the universe after-all." Paul chimed at his opponent who once more, slowly rose to his feet.

"Koorvya Mat!" the Ukrainian spat back in his native tongue as he rushed back at Paul.

Paul's smirked at the man running towards him and proceeded to finish off the fight with his trademark Pheonix Smasher, a very powerful vertical right handed punch which blasted the Ukrainian away like he was caught in an explosion. The man was launched right into the chain-link fence where Himitsu was standing and nearly broke it from the force. The fallen foe sat at the base of the fence slumped over and unconscious with Paul dusting his hands off and raising his fist in victory as the crowd around him roared and cheered the fan favourite. An adjudicator for the fight came over to the victorious Paul and held his already raised fist in the air and addressed the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Your winner and into the final 16 of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, PAUL PHEONIX!"

The crowd roared in applause once again with Paul beaming from ear to ear. A member from the crowd came forward and patted Paul on the back with Paul turning to give the man a thumbs-up.

"Whatta ya think Forest? Not a bad fighter for a Russian am I right? Hahahahaha!" said Paul to his friend as the two started to walk away from the court side by side.

"I'm pretty the guy was from the Ukraine Paul, he said so about twenty times during your match." Replied Forest, passing a hand through his messy bob-cut and rolling his eyes.

"Oh? What's the difference? HAHAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry about that ass-hat; besides, you've got your final fight coming up as well in a few right?"

"Yeah, it'll be on in an hour's time. Should make it there well beforehand."

"Well, Forest my pal, I don't think I'll need to repeat myself and say how right I was in us entering this tournament. Shame your pops couldn't grow a spine and come along."

"Don't remind me about my dad, Paul. This is my tournament to make a name for myself, I'm not here to be just referred to as 'Marshall's son'."

"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" Paul placed a hand on Forest's shoulder and gave a squeeze, "Don't worry about that, right now you're only known as Paul's good friend. Now, let's get to your fight!"

Himitsu watched as the two men walked away and through the crowd, not taking much notice of the people around them. They both looked like highly capable fighters and would definitely be a pair to watch out for in the upcoming tournament. The crowd either followed the two men, trying to get a picture or an autograph or simply went their own ways to other parts of Tokyo. Then Himitsu felt a vibration on his right hand and noticed the barcode bracelet beeping. On the screen was an address and a time, Himitsu finally had his fight scheduled and had 3 worthwhile hours to make his way to the destination and prepare. With a crack of his knuckles, Himitsu set off for the district of Saitama where his fight would take place.

Passing through the streets, most stores and vendors were filled with items and/or promotions for the Tournament. Merchandise for the known fighters competing were already on display, showing off fighters like Paul Phoenix, Mr. Mishima, a man with a jaguar mask and two slim women; one with blonde hair and the other with brown.

Deciding he had time to waste, Himitsu went to find a quiet place nearby the area he would be fighting in and take some time to meditate. In Saitama, there was a garden rooftop on one of the building complexes nearby. Himitsu made his way up the building and into the garden, despite there being no permitted entry at the time. The rooftop was quiet and the sounds of the traffic beneath were lost in the gentle breeze that travelled through the small patch of Eden that Himitsu stood in. There were no actual cherry blossom trees in this garden, leaving Himitsu to instead sit under a Willow tree that took up the centre of the rooftop. His breathing started to become controlled and his muscles un-tensed and went soft under the serene conditions of the environment around him. Himitsu's mind eventually started to fester and wander around the depths of his subconscious as his meditation started to take proper form. His thoughts were initially of the same thing he saw in almost all of his dreams and in his prior meditations. A huge giant figure could be made out in the darkness and Himitsu felt himself being pulled towards it. As he drew closer, red orbs started to appear, like piercing eyes that stared straight at the Lionheart. So many times before, at the moments the orbs were everywhere and would strike out at him, Himitsu would either snap out of his trance or wake up from his slumber. This time however, while he was just as frightened of the experience, this time, Himitsu was willing to face this fear head on and ride the wave of his vision further in.

Before long, as he got ever closer to the giant, the red orbs had covered practically any capacity of space around Himitsu and at that point with the sound of slithering vipers, lunged right at Himitsu. Red covered everything for the Lionheart was he felt his body spiralling around and around at a rapid pace and hearing nothing but a high tone, ringing in his ears at the highest frequency. The feeling as almost maddening for the Lionheart but Himitsu held-on and refused to be pulled out of his meditation. He needed to know what this figure was in the darkest pits of his mind, especially if he was to ever get rid of it.

Gradually, the red that flooded his vision had started to exasperate and the ringing in his ears began to die down. Before long, everything was dark around him once more, a darkness that was infused with dark green and gold slithers running around the edge of his sight. For Himitsu, he felt like he was back at the start of his vision, at least that was, until he started to hear the faint sounds of a chant being recited. The sound seemed to not come from one direction or all of them, instead the sound reverberated around Himitsu and at different times could be heard at different places in the abyss. The chanting, while faint, was actually recognisable. It reminded Himitsu of the night he last saw his mother in Yakushima, the fire, the pain, the knife. Ogre had definitely planted something inside of Himitsu and even at this point, he had no idea what it was. The only explanation he had was from Sensei Nikibo.

Evil…

Himitsu's eyes snapped open and he was back in the garden. He took a look at the barcode bracelet and saw that his match was on in less than an hour. He silently cursed as he realised that he wouldn't have enough time to perform a proper warm-up. With a shake of his head, Himitsu took to his feet and quickly left the rooftop garden and made his way now towards his match.

It didn't take long for Himitsu to reach his destination and the crowd that were start to mass around the fighting circle was a clear giveaway on where he needed to be. A well-spaced out courtyard in the middle of Saitama would be the place for the fight and Tekken Force soldiers could be seen on the rooftops nearby, surveying the area and keeping an eye out for any irregularities that could take place. Himitsu had taken notice over the course of the week that there were more soldiers at his fights than any other that he watched, the reason being was only guesses to him at this point but Heihachi definitely seemed involved in it. The Lionheart carefully moved through the crowds, the further in he got, the more the people around him started to recognise him.

"Hey- HEY! It's the guy! Himitsu!" one person from the crowd yell out as Himitsu walked past.

People started to clap and chant for Himitsu as he finally made his walk through the crowd and made his way to the adjudicator in the empty centre of the courtyard with enough space to run around. Himitsu immediately acknowledged the man standing there.

"Hello, I'm here for my match." Said Himitsu, holding up the barcode bracelet.

The adjudicator held up a tiny scanner and flashed it over the bracelet and a sound of verification could be heard.

"Welcome to your final preliminary fight Mr. Himitsu." Said the adjudicator, "Winning this fight will have you put into the final 16."

"Awesome." Himitsu replied nonchalantly. "Who's my opponent?"

"On the way, I'm sure."

Himitsu looked away from the man and started to scan the crowd, trying to make any familiar faces out or try to find out who his opponent might be. The edges where the crowd could stand had a couple Tekken Force soldiers on the perimeter, keeping the audience at bay so as to not interfere. The sea of faces were largely unrecognisable as Himitsu looked around, until his eyesight fixed on one of the women in the audience. The woman had blonde hair, tied into a simple ponytail. She wore a sleeveless maroon crop top and tight black leather pants with matching black stilettos. The most striking thing about her were her eyes; they seemed to be going between an icy blue to a misty grey colour constantly and at times, two other colours would flicker in for the faintest second. The woman definitely seemed recognisable to Himitsu but he couldn't think of where he had seen her from before. He was about to walk over to the woman until the sound of commotion came from behind him.

Himitsu spun around to see the crowd in a mixture of cheering and almost terror. Two figures eventually made their way through the audience as the crowd immediately moved around the two to let them through. From out of the crowd came a girl in her school uniform with her hair tied into pig tails and a panda bear accompanying her. Himitsu looked at the girl and could definitely remember this person, her name on the tip of his tongue.

"Oh… hey, umm… you're, uh, y-… Wait! Little Xiao!" said Himitsu, who snapped his fingers as the name came to him.

"Oh, hi Himitsu!" Xiaoyu replied, a spring in her step and her walked over to the Lionheart.

The two looked at each other with a smile on both their faces. There was a sense of understanding and comradery between the two, no matter how short their first and only interaction with the other was. Still, they knew each other well enough and had a mixture of respect and envy as they greeted one another. Then Himitsu's mood hardened up a little as he remembered what he was doing here, he had a fight to win.

"So I guess it comes down to the two of us then." Himitsu exclaimed as he pulled off his hoodie, un-zipped his windbreaker and cracked his knuckles.

Xiaoyu looked at Himitsu with confusion on her face, her eyes squinting and her lips curling in question, "What? What do you mean the two of us?"

"Y-you're in the tournament right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well obviously only one of us can only get through the finals, so let's do this."

"Oh! Oh, no actually I'm already through."

"…what?"

Now Himitsu was utterly confused.

"W…what do you mean by you're already through?" he asked carefully to the pig-tailed girl.

"I'm through to the finals already, duh! Hahahaha, just won my match about 4 hours ago."

"Then why are you here?"

"I brought my friend here to fight, she's the one you'll be facing."

Himitsu scanned through the crowd once again to find anyone sticking out, he even looked back to where the blonde woman was standing and she was no longer to be seen. Himitsu eventually looked back at Xiaoyu.

"I don't see anyone else here, little Xiao. Who's this 'friend' of yours?" Himitsu questioned impatiently.

"Why Panda of course, silly!" replied Xiaoyu emphatically.

P-panda? Himitsu thought to himself as he looked towards the bear. As if the time couldn't have been more perfect, Himitsu clearly saw the adjudicator scan the barcode bracelet on Panda's right paw, just resting over the orange neon band that she had on. Himitsu stared in utter disbelief as the bear had a stretch and then proceeded to stand in front of Himitsu, paws at its sides and on her hind legs.

The adjudicator was already addressing the crowd at this point, "Ladies and gentlemen in attendance. Today's Preliminary match is about to begin between the Okinawan Martial Artist known as Himitsu who will be taking on the only bear to be trained outside of the Kuma family by Heihachi Mishima himself, Panda! Fighters, take your places!"

The crowd started to cheer as Himitsu continued to look on with a blank face at what was transpiring in front of him. Panda, gave a little shake of her body and held a paw up to Xiaoyu who was cheering Panda on as well. Himitsu on the other hand was not getting any of this, nor was he going to stand there and let it happen.

"HEY!" he yelled to the adjudicator, "What the hell is this? Why am I supposed to fight a fucking bear for?!"

The man looked at the Lionheart like he was the only weird one there, "Panda is a registered fighter in this Tournament Mr. Himitsu and will be your opponent today. Only one of you will continue on to the final 16 of the Tekken Tournament, take your place."

"I am NOT fighting a fucking panda bear!" Himitsu spat back.

"On what grounds?"

"On what g-… IT'S A FUCKING PANDA BEAR!"

The crowd had started to quieten down from listening to Himitsu fire away at the ref. They too looked at Himitsu like he was the only weird person there. The adjudicator looked clearly unamused by the tirade.

"Listen here Mr. Himitsu. We have had bears fighting in this Tournament since the inaugural. We have had Boxing Kangaroos, Robots and even a Dinosaur. As long as the combatant has a clear fighting style and can handle common sense in an official tournament, they are permitted entry. As a fighter yourself, you should be aware of such things in this Tournament. Now, are you going to participate, or do you forfeit?"

Himitsu straightened up and held his tongue. The whole idea of having to fight a 9-foot-tall panda wasn't at all an enticing suggestion to come across. To top it off, it would be the only way he'd make it to the finals. It seemed like Himitsu didn't really have a choice in arguing the matter any further. With a casual roll of his shoulders, Himitsu flicked his white hair out from over his eye and took to his fighting stance; one of his hands being clenched tightly and the other held open like a knife.

"Alright, come get some!" he snarled at the ursine.

"Urrrghhr!" Panda responded, her eyes set straight for the Lionheart.

The crowd grew back into a frenzy of chanting and cheering for either fighter as the adjudicator signalled for the fight to officially begin.

"Ready...FIGHT!"

Panda launched in on the offensive, swinging its paws upwards at Himitsu in the form of Uppercuts, all of which were blocked by the Lionheart rather expertly. Himitsu tried to respond with a snapping kick to Panda's leg but the kick wasn't able to get a solid impact on the bear's leg and Panda would then counter with three Hammer strikes. As much was Himitsu tried to block the blows, Panda's swinging paws ended up planting the Lionheart on the ground with the third powerful hit.

"Shit!" Himitsu cursed under his breath as he looked up off the floor to see panda perform a sliding dropkick to his face. In the smallest of chances, Himitsu was able to quickly roll out of the way of Panda's hind legs rushing in to collect his skull.

Himitsu got back to his feet and focused in on his opponent; this was without a doubt, an entirely new experience for him, to have to fight an actual bear in a fighting tournament. There was really not joking around that was to date going to be his toughest fight. The bear clearly had some intelligence about her and while wild in her attacks, they were not sporadic and instead felt like they were from an actual degree of Martial Arts. All this lead to one conclusion; if he was going to beat this panda, it was going to be a massive effort on Himitsu's behalf.

Panda rushed right at Himitsu, looking to waste no time. Himitsu ducked under two swinging right paw swipes and sidestepped the third, downward strike from the ursine. With a clear opening, Himitsu landed a swift combination of body strikes to Panda and finished with an outwards sweeping head kick, completing his Chinto Rush. Panda was forced backwards in a stagger but didn't show any signs of injury from the combination. Himitsu figured as much and went on the offensive, charging at Panda and starting to land multiple vertical fists and snapping kicks to the ursine. Panda was able to either block or weather the blows that rained down of her as her was forced further and further back. The crowd cheered wildly at the amazing display of power and fearlessness from Himitsu as he continued the onslaught, making sure not to give Panda any opening.

"Come on Panda, don't give up! You can do it!" Xiaoyu yelled from one side of the crowd.

Hearing her mistress' voice, Panda felt a spark of courage in her and quickly caught on of Himitsu's fist in one of her paws. Himitsu tried to respond of a sharp kick to Panda's side, but that was brushed off like it was nothing. Panda then grabbed hold of Himitsu's neck and abruptly picked him up and proceed to choke slam him into the concrete ground. Himitsu let out of loud groan of pain and his back slammed into the hard floor beneath him, but that was the least of his worries as he watched in terror and Panda leapt into the air and slammed into Himitsu's stomach with a sitting Pancake Press. All the air left Himitsu's body in a guttural scream and quickly lost all sound to it after all the air expelled out of Himitsu's lungs. He felt like his ribs had been shattered from the hit and he almost slipped out of consciousness. Panda casually rolled forward and off of Himitsu's body and looked at the Lionheart gasp for whatever air he could find on his vicinity. The adjudicator looked towards Himitsu and after a quick inspection to see if he was able to get to his feet, he addressed the crowd.

"Round 1 in this fight goes to Panda!" the man yelled to the audience who started to cheer for the bear, "Should Himitsu be unable to stand in the next half minute, he will be deemed unable to compete and Panda will take the victory!"

Panda started to prance around the empty fighting circle to the sounds of the excited crowd with paws on her sides and skipped backwards. The sounds of her hind legs bounding off the ground hit Himitsu's ears like a jackhammer as he pulled himself off the ground. He gradually steadied his breathing and got to his feet, much to the crowd's delight and got back into his fighting stance. Panda stopped prancing about and got back into hers with the look of victory in her large beady eyes as the two stared at one another with deep focus. The adjudicator went back into the middle of the two fighters and signalled for the second round to begin.

"Ready...FIGHT!"

A straight jab came from Panda and as immediately parried by Himitsu who threw in a powerful jab of his own, this one connecting sweetly and knocking Panda back a step. Himitsu kept up the pressure by advancing with a quick combination of one-two punches followed by an alternating left or right low kick. The One-two Low kick kept Panda defences up as she was forced further and further back from the centre of the fighting circle. However, Panda broke through the endless combination with a Leaping Attack, crashing her body through the attack and into Himitsu, knocking him back. Panda attempted to get into the offensive with a powerful Grizzly Claw strike, her right paw lunging at incredible force at Himitsu's chest. Himitsu was able to just in time sidestep the attack and was able to knock Panda away with a deadly high snapping Right Kick. Panda was knocked aside and off her feet which prompted a huge pop from the audience watching around them. The crowd shook like they were wild, at awe at the display of strength coming from the Lionheart with people starting to believe that Xiaoyu's protector was going to lose this fight.

"Come on Panda, you can still win this!" Xiaoyu called from amongst the crowd.

"Rrraurrrrh…!" Panda roared, determination surging in her eyes.

The Ursine got back into the match with a double claw strike from off the ground, the attack caught an advancing Himitsu off guard and knocked him backwards. Panda quickly performed a forward roll and got on all fours in her Hunting stance in front of Himitsu and then shot him high up into the air with a rising double paw uppercut called Bear fling. The violent attack blasted Himitsu off the ground and caused him to tumble through the air like a rag doll.

"Aaaaarghh!" Himitsu cried in pain as he soared up into the air down to the ground with a terrible splat.

The concrete beneath him cracked was he crashed back to earth. Gasps from all around could be heard from the gobsmacked crowd, all looking at the clearly rocked Himitsu wincing in pain from the ugly drop. His muscles felt soft and like putty, his breathing was thin and his bones felt like they were being grinded to powder. He craned his neck up off the floor to see Panda upstanding and situated a couple feet from him. Her paws were raised up and out wide and a roar could be heard from her. Panda then swung inwards and down with both her paws and followed through with the attack, ending up in a very quick forward roll. The force of her attack had caused her to spin rapidly and right towards Himitsu's body like a speeding vehicle.

Himitsu thoughts went into a rapid spin of its own and time felt like it had slowed down into a crawl. Himitsu's eyes remained fixed on the slowly rotating body of Panda as her attack inched towards him at a snail's pace. In his incredibly long second, thoughts went across the Lionheart's mind. Was he going to lose? Was he truly unable to stand amongst the best in this tournament and fight to its finals? How had he let a panda bear get the better of him? While the first two questions were unknown to him, the third could be solved at least. He realised that he had truly underestimated the skill of an animal compared to himself, thinking that he was the only true beast in this tournament, his first victories had been easy up til the one prior, he decimated the 20 Buster hangout all on his own and had achieved a Dan status in a form of Karate in the span of a few months. Right now, he's not fighting like that man. For once, his feet weren't walking forward. He was stuck and not doing what he knows best; continuing onwards.

Himitsu's mind snapped back into focus and determination of his own swelled within him like a raging inferno. He gritted his teeth as Panda's Rolling Bear attack came upon him and tucked his legs inwards. When the perfect time came, Himitsu kicked outwards and knocked Panda's spinning body up and over him, causing Panda to almost collide with the crowd. People screamed and got out of the way as Panda came to a crash in between a group of the audience. Luckily, on one was hurt as the people around Panda got out of the way just in time. Panda got back onto her feet with a shake of her fur and looked towards Himitsu who leapt off his back and onto his feet with grace and technique. The Lionheart spun his heard around to face Panda with a look that said that he was ready. He slammed his foot forward and into the pavement with a crack as he got into his fighting stance with the demeanour of a true fighter, nothing but the word focus being plastered on his face.

"Let's go!" Himitsu yelled at the ursine, a spark of white lightning shot up from his feet and surged over his head.

Murmurs rang across the crowd and an uproar of cheers and chant rose from all around. Everyone gathered there was fully into the fight now, fans had even gotten into the surrounding buildings to get a proper look at the match, clearly one of the most entertaining so far. Panda reciprocated the challenge and gave over a serious growl of anticipation and advanced into the battle with a Demon Uppercut, with Himitsu blocking over and weathering the hit. Panda would continue her attack with a string of Rushing Uppercuts which caused Himitsu to stay on the defensive by parrying the blows. Continuous left and right uppers soared at Himitsu's face, only missing him by inches as he kept moving back to create space. Panda would then change up her attacks and started attacking from down low with a swinging Hammer Fist Rush combo. Himitsu was put into a low blocking stance as the sweeping paws aimed at cutting his legs clean off like an axe. The low sweeps would then move into low rising uppercuts and then restart the combo with a low sweeping paw. Himitsu kept getting forced back until he was approaching the crowd himself which was when Panda came back up and attacked with a barrage of windmill punches. The swinging haymakers were blocked once again by Himitsu, the paws connecting with his Tetsuwa bracelets with a loud clanging sound. Himitsu's forearms felt raw by the end of the combo as Panda struck out with a fierce back fist. Luckily, the Lionheart was prepared for the attack and expertly ducked under the back fist and countered with a powerful left uppercut called Wind Tempest Fist. White lightning fizzled around the left vertical uppercut as the attack collected Panda and launched her upwards. Himitsu would keep the ursine caught in the air with two strong roundhouse kicks and then sent Panda flying away with a quick dash into her and following with a monstrous left hand lunging jab. The attack which the Lionheart called the Raion no ken sent Panda crashing away and into the concrete hard. Louder gasps resonated around the fight as the crowd was in disbelief at the incredible comeback. Panda lay heaving on the ground and couldn't get up in time for the adjudicator.

"Round 2 goes to Himitsu!" the man yelled, holding up an arm towards the Lionheart.

The crowd went into a wild cheer for Himitsu who stood still, still in the stance of the Raion no ken and breathing heavily. His body felt like it was tingling with a mixture of excitement and bloodlust. He was feeling the same way he did when he was fighting the last members of the Buster 20 gang; his blood felt like it was boiling with adrenaline, putting him into a frenzy that he felt like he wasn't going to be able to contain. Slowly he retracted his fist and remained in a relaxed side-on stance at Panda who was now getting back to her feet, Xiaoyu giving her further words of encouragement.

"You can still win Panda, don't give up! I believe in you!" Xiaoyu yelled over to her protector.

Panda looked at her mistress and nodded silently. She regained her footing and gave herself a few slaps to her face to recompose herself and shake off her cobwebs. She then went into a front facing stance with paws held bent and under her sides. Then came out two kata style fists, ending in a side on position with on paw held up and in front of her face with her other held at her side. Her stance looked much like the stance that you would perform as a student of the Mishima Ryu fighting style, primarily because the Kuma Shinken was tailored as the bear variant of Heihachi's style of Karate. Panda held her stance as Himitsu got back into his, the frenzy was at the brim of the cup now and threatening to overflow for the Lionheart, but Himitsu contained his flying emotions and prepared himself for the final round. The adjudicator looked to both fighters to make sure they were ready and then re-started the match.

"Final round…FIGHT!" the man yelled out.

Both Himitsu and Panda exchanged powerful blows, their attack filled with purpose and intent to leave their opponent in a hospital bed as the two fighters battled for supremacy. Panda's swinging bombs were grazed off by the Lionheart as he himself sent through vicious and quick combinations, meeting Panda in the assertion of dominance in the match-up. Himitsu started to end up on the offensive as his attacks out-sped Panda and put her back on the defensive. Himitsu then came in with his Crippler combination in an attempt to break through Panda's guard. The low sweeping left kick was able to knock Panda to a knee with the devastating overhead chop was just blocked off by the ursine but ended up bringing her to both her knees. However, just before Himitsu could finally wear down his massive opponent, Panda used the pressure of the chop to rise back up with a powerful rising double paw uppercut. The attack launched Himitsu into the air who was collected and flung aside just before he hit the ground by a crushing low right hook from Panda called the Salmon Hunter. Like a fish itself, Himitsu was knocked away and sent reeling.

Somehow Himitsu was still conscious but his vision was in doubles at this point. He clumsily got back onto his feet and saw three black and white blobs come towards him. The next thing he knew, he was scooped up by the ursine and placed into a Bear Hug. Himitsu's eyesight came back into focus as he felt his entire upper body being squashing in on itself, causing him to wail in agony.

"NNNNAAAAAARRRRGH…!"

The sounds of the crowd started to become drowned out as the lack of air was causing Himitsu to go dizzy once more. Under the pressure of Panda's massive arms squeezing him tightly, the Lionheart could feel himself starting to blackout, his world starting to spin.

No! You're not going out like this! Fight back! Do everything! Anything! You have to win and you must! There is NO alternative! FIGHT!

The Lionheart's eyes shot back open with the frenzy no longer in check. Himitsu wriggled his arms free from Panda's hold and started to strike her repeatedly in the face with Double Fisted Punches. Panda winced and cried in pain as the hit cruelly battered her face in, forcing her to let go. Himitsu dropped to the ground and went right into a brutal string of hits. The menacing combination hit like earthquakes as Panda was unable to weather the hits for long. Himitsu roared out a terrifying battle cry as he continued to launch punishing fists and kick into the body and head of the ursine, the crowd feeling a hint of worry by how brutal the attacks were. Panda got knocked back and started to tumble backwards from another Raion no ken but was able to regain her footing. Himitsu rushed into Panda with a Leaping side kick but the attack was successfully sidestepped, giving Panda an opening. Her grabbed onto Himitsu's head and rushed her own head in for a Headbutt. The hit was successful and sent Himitsu into a brief daze which gave Panda the opportunity to capitalise and a strong front kick, launching Himitsu away.

"Urr…Urr…Urr…" came the heavy breathes from Xiaoyu's protector and she focused in on her deadly opponent.

Panda had her fur all ruffled and dusty at this point; one of her eyes was a bit swollen, she had some visible bruises on her body and her arms felt like they weighed a tonne each. Himitsu meanwhile had only a few minor cuts and grazes on his body to take notice of as he stood back up and raised his fists for more, ready to finish this fight. Panda knew that it was now or never to come back into this fight and started to run on all fours towards the Lionheart, just before the point of contact, Panda got up on her hind legs and rushed in with a huge Shoulder Tackle.

"oooOOOOOAARRRHH!"

A mighty yell came from Himitsu as he performed a Dibaingado, a block known exclusively to the Isshin Ryu fighting style. The reversal completely halted Panda's approach as Himitsu's front foot rammed into the ground in front of him and his arms came up and completely neutralised the Shoulder Tackle. Panda was left in a stagger, leaving her wide open for a counter. Himitsu changed into his Seiunchin stance and unleashed a brutal onslaught of punches, each hitting its mark with great efficiency. The Seiunchin Rush didn't last long, but it left a lasting impression on the crowd as the final attack, a powerful rising palm thrust flipped Panda over and backwards, landing on the ground with a thud. The crowd looked expectedly over to Panda who was too tired to continue fighting.

The fight was over.

The adjudicator couldn't move from where he stood, his mouth was open and quivering from the last incredible moments of the match. Himitsu was once again locked in his final attacking stance, his left palm stuck outwards and slightly bent. His eyes were piercing and still focused on the fallen ursine whose chest heaved up and down as Panda kept drawing in breaths.

The adjudicator finally found his voice and spoke, "The winner…and…onto to the final 16 is…HIMITSU!"

The crowd suddenly broke into applause, their cheering as at first was scattered and laced with disbelief over what they had just seen, but it was soon outstanding for the victorious competitor. Himitsu still had not moved, he had heard the announcement from the adjudicator but the message hadn't quite gotten through to the Lionheart. His eyes were still fixed on Panda, who had now started to slowly sit up. As their eyes met, Panda yelped in fear at what she saw, Himitsu's eyes went completely black, a black so dark that it seemed like she was staring into the void. Himitsu suddenly gritted his teeth and flashed a wicked smirk as a faint flash of red went over his eyes. He swiftly leapt up into the air and landed in front of Panda and attacked with a Kirachoppu. Panda wailed in pain from the vicious blow as Himitsu raised his hand again to deliver another powerful chop with malice.

"STOP!"

Xiaoyu leapt right in-between Himitsu and Panda to protect her friend from any further damage, causing Himitsu to stop and hesitate. His eyes had already returned to normal and he had quickly realised what he had done. He was immediately filled with shame for what he had just done after the fight, this was completely unacceptable and he knew it.

"I…uh…shit. I'm sorry… That, well… that shouldn't happen, I deeply apologise…" said Himitsu with remorse in his tone.

Xiaoyu stood silent as she held her arms out wide, still cautious of the man standing in front of her. Her early impressions of Himitsu had deflated at the end of the match, now she herself had doubt about Himitsu's intention in this tournament as this definitely wasn't something that she was alright with. Panda needed attention immediately and the Lionheart knew this all too well also.

"Excuse me sir, can you have the Zaibatsu fetch any medical staff to treat the panda?" Himitsu asked the adjudicator.

"Already on the way," the man replied, "as for you; I suggest you leave for your hotel."

Not waiting to be told twice, Himitsu quickly left the courtyard, strongly walking through the crowd that was still there. What the fuck happened back there? He thought to himself as he continued to trudge past the people gathered in the courtyard and before long was back in the streets with his windbreaker zipped up and his hoodie over his head. He moved through the people of the city like a shadow; silent and unnoticed. Dark thoughts circled his mind as he continued onwards, not sure what to make of today.

Evil…

The words of Sensei Nikibo was stuck in his mind and could not be shaken. If there were any doubts as to the intentions of this thing inside him, Himitsu knew for sure now. This was just one more thing for the Lionheart to have to fight for; not only would he be fighting to free his mother from Ogre, not only would he be saving Jin from falling to Ogre, but he was going to make Ogre get rid of whatever he put inside him 3 years ago. He would have the humanoid expel this evil within him, no matter how brutal his methods of persuasion must be for Ogre to comply. The Sensei's premonition about either him or Jin dying at the conclusion of this tournament was still in Himitsu's mind also but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to tempt fate. Himitsu would fight to save his family, a family that he was very much a part of and still needed in his life. He and Jin could be brothers still and Jun could remain their loving mother. The image of the three of them happy and safe together was the only ray of sunlight in Himitsu's very bleak life. It was his motivation and he would continue to walk forward, to fulfil his goals and aspirations and have his family together once more. Himitsu moved through the city, unnoticed and unseen, the final 16 is all that awaits him now.

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(Hasn't it been a while? Finally, Chapter 26 is done and dusted. I had thought about splitting it into two separate chapters but ultimately decided to have it stick together. Had I actually released this chapter in two bits, chapter 26 could have been out over a week ago maybe... ah well, no harm no foul. The 16 have been decided and the real competition awaits. Enjoy!)