A/N: I made a change in the tournament rules back in Chapter 13. The change will reflect starting with this chapter. Previous rules affecting Chapter 16 will be changed a little later as they won't affect the overall results.
Chapter Eighteen
Tulip Field – Sweden
Xiaoyu let out a loud yelp as her opponent slammed her back into the grass. The force of the hit wasn't as bad a the young woman thought it would be, but either way, the landing still knocked the wind out of her momentarily.
Gazing up while catching her breath, Xiaoyu looked at her opponent – a young brunette named Misumi – who was wearing a long sleeved black seifuku outfit with white knee-high socks, black Mary Jane shoes, and a white scarf under the outfit's large collar. A white headband held back her hair. Misumi's partner, Emi, wore the same exact outfit, only her auburn hair was tied back into a ponytail and decorated with a pair of white chopsticks crossing over the other.
At first, Xiaoyu and her tag team partner, her best friend Miharu Hirano, were excited about fighting their opponents. Both of the girls remembered Emi and Misumi from one of their rival high schools and who they ran into every once in a while either in sporting events or outside of school. Nowadays, the girls attended a rival college and from the way this fight was going, things clearly hadn't changed, especially now.
One thing was for sure, however... despite being small in stature, Misumi might as well have the strength of a bull. Xiaoyu had to guess that she was about the same weight as her opponent. After a few exchanges of punches though, Misumi managed to grab hold of Xiaoyu, lift her in the air above her head, and performed a power bomb right on top of the grass amongst the colorful tulips in a field somewhere in Sweden.
"Gee... you're stronger than I thought," Xiaoyu uttered aloud.
Misumi gave her a smug look in reply before she quickly attempted to stomp Xiaoyu with her feet. With a yelp, Xiaoyu rolled away before the foot connect and swiftly got into a crouching Baguazhang stance.
With a yell, Misumi covered the space between them and attempted a left look. However, Xiaoyu was able to crouch low in time before she was hit. Taking advantage of an opening, Xiaoyu immediately performed an uppercut just under Misumi's chin. Misumi's head snapped back and Xiaoyu followed up with four hand slaps before turning herself one-eighty and landing an elbow just below her opponent's collarbone. Xiaoyu then spun herself one more time and performed a roundhouse kick, sending Misumi stumbling sideways.
Meanwhile on the sidelines, Miharu waited patiently as she watched her best friend fight in the match. Personally, she never minded watching fighters compete in the tournament through television, but until now she thought she would never be a competitor in one. Thanks to what she learned from her father growing up, Miharu knew how to hold her own in a fight. However, she never had the desire to make martial arts a big part of her life like Xiaoyu has.
Yet, here she was attending a tournament as a competitor. Initially, she was on Mishima Island as a spectator and to support Xiaoyu, but once the tag team aspect was announced, Xiaoyu begged Miharu to participate. At first Miharu was reluctant and even tried to get her best friend to have her pet Panda compete with her instead. As far as Miharu knew, there was no rule against non-humans signing up. However, it turned out that Panda was even more stubborn with her lack of desire to sign up. So after hearing Xiaoyu beg all morning, Miharu finally relented.
Thankfully, part of the team's strategy was for Xiaoyu to step into each of their matches first. Miharu would stay on the sidelines for as long as possible until Xiaoyu could no longer fight.
However, for this match, their opponents would soon have ideas of their own.
Currently, there was no wind in the tulip field they were standing on, so the whistling sound that was suddenly heard caught Miharu's attention. Her eyes quickly widened in surprise when she saw a pair of what she swore were chopsticks whizzing towards her. With a yelp, Miharu dived sideways and landed hard on her right, the flying chopsticks just missing her. The pair of 'weapons' soon flew back like a boomerang and it wasn't long before their owner – Emi – caught them in her hands and she swiftly placed them back in her hair.
One of the drones on the field spoke up; "Two-on-two battle initiated by Team Misumi and Emi."
"What the-?!" Miharu gasped after getting back on her feet.
Emi smirked at the young woman. "It's been more than five minutes. I think it's time to ease our boredom, don't you think?"
Of course this was Miharu's luck...
With a deep breath, Miharu reluctantly stepped in and Emi met her halfway. Just before they reached each other, Miharu quickly jumped up and somersaulted over Emi's head. Miharu landed on her feet and swiftly kicked Emi's back before the latter had the chance to turn around. Instead she stumbled forward and just barely kept her balance.
Soon, Emi managed to keep herself still right before turning around to face her opponent. By then, Miharu was ready and she attempted a roundhouse kick, but Emi was able to back away. Miharu then spun around and tried a high kick to her opponent's face, but once more Emi evaded the maneuver by ducking underneath the attack.
From there, Emi took a step forward and threw a few punches at Miharu, who at first was blocking her attacks. However, Emi was soon able to break through Miharu's defenses and landed a punch in her face. As Miharu's head snapped sideways, Emi followed with more punches before finally spinning halfway and delivered a kick to her opponent's abdomen. The force of the kick sent Miharu back before the young girl crashed to the ground on her side. Immediately, pain shot through her hip and Miharu was sure that she was really going to feel it once this match was over.
Dammit! Miharu cried out in her head. How am I going to help Xiaoyu win this match?
Meanwhile, Xiaoyu continued to fight against her opponent, Misumi. For a while, both girls traded blows with each other as they both attempted to get themselves on offense. However, Misumi would end up pushing Xiaoyu a few feet away. Seeing an opportunity, Misumi pulled her headband off her head before pressing a button on the side. The headband quickly flattened and shaped into an actual boomerang made of steel. When that was done, Misumi quickly flung the weapon in Xiaoyu's direction.
"WHOA!" Xiaoyu yelled out as she forced herself to roll backwards. The headband just barely missed her head as she got herself underneath before somersaulted low on the ground. The boomerang ended up landing on the ground a few feet away after making it turn and attempted to return to its owner.
She noted how Misumi attempted to cover the space between them, but Xiaoyu was ready. Rolling back again, Xiaoyu twisted her small body into a handstand before swiftly landing an angle kick into Misumi's face. Misumi let out a cry as she was knocked back, the sudden pain forcing her to cover her nose with her hands.
"Gotcha!" Xiaoyu called out proudly as she flipped back onto her feet.
Back nearby, Miharu managed to get back on offense as she performed two punches on Emi's face, causing the girl's to snap sideways in a back-and-forth motion. She then pushed Emi back before jumping forward and landing a flying kick into Emi's chest, forcing the girl to stumble away.
Suddenly after getting her footing, Emi pulled out her chopsticks out of her hair and swiftly threw them towards her opponent. Miharu attempted to move out of the way, but this time, the two chopsticks end up attaching themselves to Miharu's shirt like a magnet. Unsure of what was about to happen, Miharu desperately tried to get the two items off, but they clinged to her like glue. Seconds later, a pair of small caps popped off the thicker ends of the chopsticks and black smoke immediately covered the girl's face and up through her nose, nearly suffocating her.
The smoke caused Miharu to cough uncontrollably and that gave Emi the chance to jump in. Emi ran towards Miharu before jumping up and spinning herself in mid-air before landing a roundhouse into Miharu's face. With a yell, Miharu was pushed away and her body was spun in mid-air before landing hard on her side into the grass. From there, she stopped moving.
Immediately after, one of the two drones watching the match moved over to check on Miharu's status. While this happened, Emi walked over to where Miharu fell to retrieve her chopsticks. After pulling them off Miharu's shirt, she placed them back through her hair at the base of her ponytail.
"Be a better challenge next time," Emi mocked.
"Knockout detected," the drone hoovering over Miharu announced soon after.
Xiaoyu gasped upon hearing that. She knew that Miharu was in the fight at this point, but hadn't worried about her well-being until now due to her focus on her own battle. In a way, she hoped the announcement was concerning Emi, but to the young woman's dismay, she found her tag team partner knocked out and laying on her side in the grass.
"Miharu!" Xiaoyu called out in worry. Despite the drone's announcement, Xiaoyu instinctively went over to see if Miharu wasn't too badly hurt.
However, Misumi took her opponent's distraction as an opportunity and once again pulled her headband off her head. From there, she threw the headband at Xiaoyu like a boomerang. The whistling sound it created caught Xiaoyu's attention and the young woman was able to duck underneath it just moments before it made impact with her face.
Instead, the headband ended up hitting her tag team partner in the back of the head. It only took a split second before Emi was face down on the grass, the heads of the tulips seemingly tilting down towards where she laid.
"Oh no!" Misumi cried out after realizing what she just did. "Emi! I'm sorry! Are you okay?!"
By then, a drone was hoovering over Emi and soon made an announcement about Emi's status. "Knockout detected."
Misumi gasped in horror after that. "What?! No way!"
Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh. "Well well, I bet you and your friend are going to be rivals after that."
That only served to piss of Misumi... which Xiaoyu was hoping for. With a scream, Misumi ran over to where Xiaoyu stood. While waiting for her opponent to get closer, Xiaoyu raised both of her hands before quickly clenching them into fists. As soon as they did, her entire hand began to glow in a yellow aura. It was clear to her that Misumi hadn't noticed as she continued her approach, clearly reach to tear her to pieces.
Once she was within reach, Misumi attempted a few blows, but Xiaoyu was able to move herself away from all of them. Soon, Xiaoyu found an opening and quickly delivered two punches to the chest and followed with a push with both hands, forcing Misumi to
As Misumi stumbled back, Xiaoyu jumped in once more and landed three more punches. Spinning around, she followed with two hand slaps to the face before pushing Misumi back again. Before her opponent could recover, Xiaoyu raised her right leg and kicked forward with enough force to send Misumi flying back before the girl crashed into the tulips that surrounded them, flattening the flowers in the process.
Xiaoyu was just about to approach her opponent, but then stopped in her tracks when she saw Misumi raise her hands to cover her face in front of her as though in fear. At first, Xiaoyu thought it was a trick, but then she saw the tears dripping down Misumi's face. Unknown to Xiaoyu, the girl realized, after seeing Xiaoyu's chi powers emerge from her hands, that her chances of winning were slim.
"Stop... please..." Misumi uttered as tears formed in her eyes. "I concede."
As that point, seeing how sad and disappointed Misumi was in her loss, Xiaoyu wasn't sure how to feel, at least for a moment. However, as soon as a drone said, "Concede announced. Ling Xiaoyu and Hirano Miharu win the match," Xiaoyu couldn't help but feel elated over her win.
Rock Cliffs – Japan
Just yards from the edge of a tall cliff, the Tarkatan Militia General Baraka fought just as wild and ferociously as his masked opponent, who dressed in dark gray armor and possessed a machete blade that attached to his right arm (and definitely didn't look that much different from Baraka's natural blades). With only long black hair being an indication of his opponent's identity (as well as the strong body order Baraka associated most humans with), the masked man only went by the name Khyzhak. Off to the side and away from the cliff, Mileena and Khyzhak's similarly-dressed female teammate, Zhinka, waited (somewhat) patiently for their turn in the match.
Mileena wasn't sure how long the match between Baraka and Khyzhak was going, but she was quickly growing bored and was getting antsy. She also started to wonder how much blood shed she and Baraka could get away with.
Soon however, the long, agonizing five minutes were up. With glee and a big grin underneath her pink mask, Mileena quickly turned to where Zhinka was standing. Seeing that Zhinka was focused on watching the match in front of them, Mileena quickly used chi energy to sink herself through the ground before reappearing in the air just above her opponent's head. In an diagonal angle, Mileena kicked the top of Zhinka's head, quickly knocking her armored opponent back, though
"Let's dance already!" Mileena yelled out as she pulled out her two sais from behind her back after landing on her feet.
"Two-on-two battle initiated by Team Baraka and Mileena," one of the two drones announced.
With a growl, Zhinka pulled out a pair of Gerber Mark II knives from the scabbards next to her waist before swiftly throwing them at her opponent, who blocked them with ease with her sais. With that, Mileena quickly rolled forward to cover the space between them before jumping up and kicking Zhinka's chest, knocking her back. Mileena then tried to throw her sais forward, but Zhinka was able to reflect the weapons with her gauntlet-protected arms.
Zhinka then teleported in a puff of purple smoke before reappearing behind Mileena. From there, she spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick, knocking her half-tarkatan opponent sideways. Luckily, the pink-clad woman was able to keep herself from falling.
With a growl, Mileena quickly turned around and moved so that she was within arm's reach. She then kicked upward and managed to catch Zhinka's chin with the tip of her high-heeled boot. Moving her foot down after, Mileena took another step forward and landed three punches on Zhinka's masked face before following with shooting out a pair of pink projectiles that were shaped into sais. The projectiles crashed into Zhinka's chest and the force of it knocked her off her feet and away.
As Zhinka slowly got back up, Mileena found herself rolling her eyes. "You reek of weakness!"
Unknown to her, Zhinka was able to retrieve the two blades she threw a few moments ago. Grabbing the hilts, she quickly stood back up before she began to run towards where her opponent stood. Remembering where her sais fell, Mileena flipped back a few times until she was within reach of her weapons. Grabbing the hilts of her sais, Mileena straightened back up just in time to block Zhinka's attack. From there, the two women went back and forth with their respective weapons in an attempt to get on offense.
Meanwhile, Baraka was able to push Khyzhak away before shooting out two blue projectiles from the tip of his blades. Jumping up, Khyzhak flew over the first while reflecting the second away with his own attached blade. Somersaulting in the air, Khyzhak twisted his body so that it was upside down before he attempted to lash at Baraka's face, but the tarkatan flipped away before the machete cut him. Khyzhak landed on the ground with his hands before flipping back onto his feet.
Khyzhak didn't hesitate as he dashed towards his opponent, but as soon as he was close, Baraka got down on one knee and lashed his blades in an up-and-down motion, forcing Khyzhak to stop himself
As Khyzhak moved back, Baraka shopped his 'chop chop' move and straightened back up before delivering a downward punch into Khyzhak's shoulder. Baraka laughed as he heard his opponent grunt in pain before he delivered an uppercut under his chin, sending the masked man flying upward. Finally, Baraka spun himself around with his blades out and managed to catch Khyzhak's leg, cutting a gash into it and causing it to bleed.
Baraka shook the blood off his blade as his opponent checked for the damage on his leg. Luckily it wasn't as deep as he initially thought it was, but it was still painful. With a scream, he willed himself to stand on it and then, with another yell, he ran back towards Baraka before lashing his machete in quick motions.
Baraka was able to block the attacks with ease with his own blades. Smelling the blood that seeped from his opponents
It was definitely frustrating to be in a tournament where death would disqualify you from the win, especially since neither Baraka nor Mileena cared at the money in question... being from Outworld, they had no use for it. The reason they were here was to help rebel against Jin's enemies, who sided with their enemies, Quan Chi and the Outworld Forces. Like with the Blood Tournament they attended under Shao Kahn's reign, the more of their people advanced in the tournament, the more their chance of success.
With that in mind, Baraka decided to end his part of the match. He waited until he found an opening before landed a left hook, followed by a right hook, into Khyzhak's face, the force cracking the steel mask. While his opponent was dazed from the attack, Baraka then raised one leg and swiftly kicked his heel into the side of Khyzhak's head, knocking him down to the dirt ground.
It wasn't long before one of the drones said, "Knockout detected."
Licking the leftover blood from his natural blades with his long tongue, Baraka now simply waited until Mileena was finished with her part of the match.
Meanwhile, Mileena continued her battle with Zhinka, using their weapons to try to dominate the other. At one point, Mileena was able to get her foe to take a handful of steps back
Zhinka gasped as she managed to keep her balance before she fell over the edge. Moving her feet caused a few dust and pebbles to tumble over the edge and falls towards the ocean below. While this was happening, Mileena attempted to lash her sais, but Zhinka jumped to the side before she was hit. However, Mileena wasn't expecting this and promptly went over the cliff's edge!
"AAAAH!" Mileena screamed more in surprise than anything. Quickly however, she got her bearings back and, using one sai, stabbed it into the ground and gripped as tightly as possible on the weapon's hilt. Her left arm pulled hard when she successfully stopped herself from falling any further.
There was a brief moment, as Zhinka approached her, that Mileena was sure that her foe would knock her off the cliff, even with the risk of disqualifying herself from the tournament. That alone made Mileena was to rip Zhinka's head off and eat her insides, but she growled to herself in frustration as her current situation didn't allow her to give in to her desires.
Eventually, she'll thrown caution to the wind. For now, she'll just amuse the Zaibatsu until their rebellion against the Outworld Forces was over.
Just as Zhinka reached her, Mileena didn't give her a chance to try anything. Using her other sai, Mileena stabbed it into the side of the cliff before quickly disappearing in a puff of pink smoke. Mileena then reappeared from behind Zhinka, who swiftly turned to face her at the same time.
From there, Mileena attempted a few kicks, but Zhinka dodged and blocked them with her forearms. This went on for a few more moments before Mileena decided to change her strategy.
Using her leg after her kick was blocked, Mileena pushed Zhinka back with her foot, forcing her foe to stumble away. Mileena then closed in on her before delivering two punches to her face, followed by a backhand to her neck, causing Zhinka to choke and gasp before going into a coughing fit. Mileena then lifted her leg and hit her opponent with a roundhouse kick hard enough to knock her onto her back.
As Zhinka tried to sit up, Mileena walked over to where she was before swiftly kicking her heeled foot into Zhinka's face, causing her mask to crack in some places and forcing her on her back. The back of her head made hard impact against the ground, causing sudden dizzy spells as well as excruciating pain that shot down to the base of her neck.
Mileena chuckled at her opponent's predicament. "I'll be honest with you, darling. If there was no consequence in killing you in this tournament, I would eat your face right now, even with the mask! I bet it's delicious, too! Maybe at another place in another time... count yourself lucky for now."
And with that, Mileena kicked the side of Zhinka's head, promptly knocking her opponent out cold. Mileena then pulled down her mask, revealing her tarkatan teeth. She was just about to bring her sai to her mouth, but gazed at the blade in disappointment as she realized something.
"Shame," she said to herself. "No blood to taste."
"Knockout detected," the drone soon called out. "Baraka and Mileena win the match."
Hong Kong Marketplace – China
Before arriving at their destination, tag team partners Ashrah and Li Mei knew who their opponents were going to be. Back at the casino, they observe the pair - a couple dressed in business suits who went by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson – approach the portal that would take them to their match location in another part of the world.
When they were called up to face the couple at the destined location, Li Mei couldn't help but think over one thing. "I wonder what they have in those briefcases."
"Probably some tricks that would give them the advantage in the match," Ashrah replied as she adjusted the buckle of her scabbard that carred her beloved kriss sword. She then smirked and continued, "However, you and I have tricks of our own... and we don't need suitcases to carry them in."
That statement made Li Mei grin. Already, she was feeling good about their chances of winning their match today.
After going through the man-made portal, the two women arrived on a narrow street surrounded by market vendors in the middle of Hong Kong, as the drone stated. The bright sun still managed to shine through despite the tall buildings around them. Although some people stopped to see the event before them, others went about their day.
Ten feet from the duo, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson waited. Both wore dark blue business suits with white shirts and matching neckties underneath their jackets. Barely hidden under their left cuffs were what looked like silver slip-on watches. The only difference in their outfits was that Mr. Nelson wore leather black shoes while Mrs. Nelson wore thick, one-inch heeled boots which were nearly hidden under her slacks. Also while Mr. Nelson had short, sleeked-back black hair, Mrs. Nelson had straight blond hair which ended just above her shoulders.
"You want to go first?" Li Mei ended up asking Ashrah. To her, it didn't really matter who went first, but she figured that it would be polite to ask the former Netherrealm demon just in case.
Ashrah seemed to think about this for a moment before finally nodded. "Sure," she replied. From there, she began to take a few steps forward. Ashrah stepping up seemed to help decide who would face her. Mr. Nelson took a few steps forward as well.
Once the two were a few feet away, Ashrah stood in a fighting stance ready to go. Mr. Nelson was about to do the same but then suddenly stopped as a he gave the white-clad woman a perplex gaze. It was as though he was unsure of what to think of her.
This confused Ashrah. "What?" she ended up asking.
Mr. Nelson ended up shaking his head a little. "Sorry... it's nothing," he ended up saying before he got into his own fighting stance.
Ashrah frowned and could only wonder if, somehow, Mr. Nelson got a sense of what she used to be. It wouldn't be the first time someone sensed the linger effects of her old, demonic nature. It seemed to happen a lot during her time in Keisei.
Within seconds, Mr. Nelson was the first to make his move. Quickly covering the space between them, he began to throw punches at Ashrah, who promptly blocked them. She noted his speed and knew that she was definitely going to need to stay on her toes to keep up.
Finally after what felt like minutes, Ashrah stepped away from one punched. Quickly, she grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled away, forcing him closer to her. Just as he was inches away, Ashrah took her free hand and performed an uppercut under his chin, causing his head to snap back. She then let go of his wrist as he stumbled away.
Ashrah then stepped in and delivered two blows to his face before kicking upward, sending him into the air. With that, Ashrah extended her hands out and shot out a white, glowing projectile from her palms. The projectile hit Mr. Nelson square in the chest, hurling him a few feet away before he crashed into the pavement on his back.
Although dazed, Mr. Nelson managed to get himself back up. Ashrah was about to run towards him again, but then quickly grabbed for his black leather briefcase, which was placed next to where his wife stood waiting. Flipping the case open, he grabbed for what Ashrah soon realized was a whip and he attempted it lash it at her. In retaliation, Ashrah pulled out her kriss sword from her scabbard and used it to block the whip's attack with her sword's flat side. Mr. Nelson then attempted another lash, but unfortunately, Ashrah used the sharp side of her weapon and managed to cut the whip in half, rendering it mostly useless.
"Shit!" Mr. Nelson yelled out as he realized what happened. With a grunt, he tossed his whip to the side out of frustration. He then went back into his briefcase before he grabbed a handful of small, round objects before he swiftly threw them in his opponent's direction.
The objects made small explosions upon impact and Ashrah quickly backed away before she was hit. However, she soon noticed a dark olive green mist rising from the ground where the small devices combusted.
Not wanting to find out what the mist did the hard way, Ashrah focused her powers in her hands before placing her right fist into her left palm. From there, she began to spin her body rapidly all while being surrounded by a white aura. The speed created enough wind to push away from her.
Some of the mist hit Mr. Nelson, who didn't have time to get away, and he immediately began to throw a coughing fit from the emitting stench.
Taking an opportunity, Ashrah stopped spinning before quickly moving back towards Mr. Nelson while he was distracted. Once close enough, Ashrah landed two punches on his chest, followed with a hand striker to the shoulder, a back-hand to the chest again, and then, well... she had meant to punch him again in the chest, but as he attempted to duck, she ended up punching him in the throat. Immediately, Mr. Nelson back away as he choked and gasped for breath while instinctively grabbing for his own neck.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to punch you there," Ashrah said sincerely, feeling bad about her mistake.
"Honey!" Mrs. Nelson yelled out. "Reach your hand out so I can tag in!"
Mr. Nelson did just that and his wife tapped his hand, indicating that it was now her turn to fight. Ashrah knew that Mrs. Nelson would be out to give her a good beating and decided, for now, that she wasn't going to give the woman a chance. Swiftly, Ashrah spun herself again before teleporting herself over to where Li Mei waited.
"Ready?" Ashrah asked her partner as she raised her hand up. Li Mei replied by high-fiving her partner, tagging herself in.
At the same time, Mrs. Nelson grabbed her own briefcase. Pressing a button on top, Li Mei's green eyes quickly widened with both shock and amazement as the briefcase suddenly twisted and transformed until it looked like a sabre sword.
Seeing this, Li Mei pulled out her dao sword from her scabbard behind her back. The two women met halfway before their respective weapons clashed with a loud clang! It didn't take long for Li Mei to find herself on defense. Worse, however, she noted the amount of force behind Mrs. Nelson's attacks. The blond-haired woman's face was written with both determination and anger. If Li Mei didn't know better, it was almost as though Mrs. Nelson had to win this match, no matter what the cost.
Li Mei knew that she had to be careful. If there was even a small chance that Mrs. Nelson will become reckless, she had to watch out for her own well-being.
Their melee went on for sometime before, finally, Mrs. Nelson managed to knock Li Mei's sword out of her hand. From there, Mrs. Nelson began to swing her sword rapidly at the Outworlder and Li Mei swore that the woman was out to kill her. Realizing that this needed to stop, Li Mei quickly shot out her purple projectile, it's sparkles trailing behind. The projectile managed to hit Mrs. Nelson in the chest, forcing her to stumble and lose grip of her sword.
From there, Li Mei covered the space between them and landed a hand strike on Mrs. Nelson's collarbone. She then proceeded with two backhands before spinning herself around and mule-kicking her twice. As Mrs. Nelson stumbled, Li Mei turned to face her again and delivered a lift kick, sending Mrs. Nelson in the air. Then, like Ashrah before her, Li Mei shot out her projectile, which hit Mrs. Nelson's side. The blond woman flew back until she landed on her side near where her husband was standing next to his own briefcase.
"Dammit!" Mrs. Nelson yelled out in both anger and desperation. "I'm not going to lose this match! I refuse!"
"Please calm down," Li Mei pleaded with the woman. "I don't know what's going on, but I can tell that your anger is getting the best of your. You need to keep it at bay if you want to win. Plus, you might do something you'll regret. Trust me on this, please."
"Shut the hell up and mind your own business!" Mrs. Nelson barked as she grabbed for her husband's briefcase. Closing and latching it, she decided to use the case as a bludgeon and, with all of her strength, threw it in Li Mei's direction with an angry scream.
As soon as the briefcase was within reach, Li Mei spun herself and performed a high roundhouse kick, knocking the case away and leaving a dent on it. As it crashed into the pavement, Mrs. Nelson was just a few feet away. Quickly, Li Mei somersaulted backwards, her feet glowing purple as she performed her Carnival Spin Kick. Mrs. Nelson managed to stop in her track before she was hit. Li Mei went for another Carnival Spin Kick, but Mrs. Nelson was able to step back before it connected.
Once Li Mei was on her feet again, she quickly found herself ducking, dodging and blocking Mrs. Nelson's attacks. The more Mrs. Nelson fought, the less her precision as whatever anger she was feeling took over more and more as time passed. Li Mei simple kept her patience and waited for her moment.
Soon, Li Mei found an opening and swiftly delivered a right hook to Mrs. Nelson's face, followed by a snap kick, forcing her back. Then, using her chi energy, Li Mei ran a bit before jump up and flew forward like a bird. Once she reached Mrs. Nelson, she unleashes a flurry of fast punches to her opponent's face and upper chest, never giving her the chance to defend herself.
With one final, strong punch, Li Mei sent Mrs. Nelson flying back before she crash landed into one of the street market's vendor table filled with various fruits and vegetables. The table snapped in half upon impact, sending the produce flying everywhere. Only a few were left intact once the chaos settled.
Mrs. Nelson didn't get up after that.
"Knockout detected," the drone soon said after examining Mrs. Nelson.
"HEY!" the owner of the broken vendor screamed, his clenched fist shaking. "Whose gonna pay for my broken table and lost produce?!"
"We apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Zhào," the drone informed the vendor owner. "You will find your payment for the affected merchandise in your bank account within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. They will be sent to you by the accountants of the Mishima Zaibatsu."
That statement only served to bewilder the vendor.
By then, Mr. Nelson reached his wife to check to see if she was okay despite knowing she was just unconscious. Li Mei began to walk towards them, expecting Mr. Nelson to retaliate at any moment. However, to her surprise, Mr. Nelson looked up at the Outworlder with a defeated look in his eyes.
"Stop," Mr. Nelson requested. He coughed a bit before continuing. "I concede. I shouldn't, but honestly it's for the best." He frowned at he looked down at his wife. "Kind of glad she didn't have to concede though. She's too damn proud, especially now. She was the one who wanted to be there. I was here to support her. I couldn't tell just tell her no."
"What happened?" Li Mei ended up asking him, realizing that whatever Mrs. Nelson's reason for being in the tournament was very personal.
Mr. Nelson was hesitant to answer at first, but soon did. "My sister-in-law – my wife's sister – she died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She ended up right in the middle of a raid from the Mishima Zaibatsu. We were here because we were hoping to face the company CEO and demand answers for his war crimes. Now however... we won't get that chance."
"Not completely true," Ashrah assured the man. "Trust me when I say that you're not the only one investigating the Zaibatsu. Obviously, not all of us will get the opportunity to face Jin, but know this... no matter what happens, in the end, all of us will get our answer one way or another. We'll get the truth about their war sooner or later."
Even as the drone announcement Ashrah and Li Mei as the winners of the match, Mr. Nelson was comforted by the former demon woman's words. He gazed up at Ashrah and gave her a grateful nod.
Bell Tower, New Jersey, USA
"Welcome to the historic Bell Tower in New Jersey, USA, Havik and Kabal," one of the two drones in the area announced. "Your opponents will arrive momentarily."
"Here's a place I haven't been to in a long while..." Kabal found himself uttering aloud.
Havik gazed at his surroundings, noting a large clock with its 'back' facing them. He could just make out the clock's hands and numbers through the faded white fiber glass. Above their heads were a few large, rusted bells. Other than that, the structure was all made of wood including the walls and floorboards.
Havik stomped his foot on the ground once, which caused the settled dust on the floorboards to fly up a bit. "Hmm... I wonder what would happen if someone fell through this."
"Dunno, but if I recall, the basement is rumored to have a spike pit. If some poor bastard fell through all the tower's floors..."
"HA!" Havik laughed. "That almost makes me want forget all about this tournament and see what if this so-called rumor is true. Remember friend, I'm only going along with this tournament for shits and giggles and for your amusement."
Kabal sighed at that. "Maybe we'll come back here later for your amusement."
That was when a blue swirling portals appeared in the middle of the room and it wasn't long before their two male opponents appeared through it. Both men worse black t-shirts that clung onto their muscular forms as well as black finger-cut gloves. However, their respective black and gray camo pants with red stripes on either leg, shiny black combat boots with gold accents, and a red tribal-like logo on their shirts indicated that the two were most definitely soldiers of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
"Welcome to the historic Bell Tower in New Jersey, USA, Shen and Bilguun," the drone said. "You may begin the match at anytime."
The announcement just barely finished when Havik suddenly jumped in, deciding to start the fight right now. He reached for the closest soldier to him – Bilguun – by grabbing his shoulders and toss him halfway across the room, the poor soldier screaming more out of surprise than anything.
Kabal could only sigh in defeat after that. He sat on a nearby wooden box and simply watch the match unfold, at least for the next five minutes as per the tournament rules.
As Bilguun stood up after being thrown, Havik had reached him and landed a few blows on his face before the chaosrealmer literally twisted his torso in a full spin with both arms out on his side. He managed to hit Bilgunn in the face twice before re-twisting himself back to normal.
"What the hell?!" Shen yelled out in shock after seeing that from the sidelines.
"I say that to myself all the damn time," Kabal said to Shen.
While Bilguun was dazed, Havik took his jawline in his hands and twisted his head in such a way that his neck made a loud, wet snap! Seeing this, Bilguun couldn't help but feel alarmed, wondering if his opponent just randomly committed suicide for a moment. That was until Havik seemed to grin at him, waved a 'hello' with this hands, then finally snapped his neck back into place.
"...Okay, I have to ask," Shen soon asked Kabal after witnessing that. "Is your partner a real-life zombie? Because I'm starting to think he's not wearing makeup and that's a real skull we're seeing on the lower half of his face."
"No he's not, but he's from a place called Chaosrealm," Kabal explained to the Tekken Force soldier.
"I've... never heard of that place... but considering everything that happened last year, I'm willing to believe anything related to extraterrestrial stuff."
"Yeah, I've believed that for a while now," Kabal said as he stood up from the box he was sitting on. "By the way..."
The Black Dragon leader suddenly took out of his hookswords and threw it towards Shen's direction, the blade spinning through the wooden floor and creating a long, open lined trail behind it. The Tekken soldier yelled out in surprise as he jumped away from the spinning blade before it was hit, but that gave Kabal the chance to use his unnatural speed to run over to Shen before landing kick to his side, knocking the soldier to the floor.
"Five minutes is up," Kabal finished. "Let's see what you're made of."
"Two-on-two battle initiated by Team Havik and Kabal," a nearby drone said aloud.
Shen immediately got up and pulled out two steel-made batons from his belt. He pressed a button on the side of one of them and a single, thick electric blue bolt appeared in between, seemingly connecting the two weapons. Shen then proceeded to spin them around his body with one hand and it was clear to his opponent that he managed to form his batons into nunchakus.
"I admit," Kabal said to his opponent. "That's a little more impressive than a taser. But can you do this?"
Quickly, Kabal pressed a button on the side of his mask and immediately, a purple projectile shot out from the mouth portion of his breathing mask. To Kabal's surprise, however, Shen spun one end of his batons in a circular motion. Kabal's projectile hit the baton, but Shen managed to send it flying sideways and away from the two... and promptly hit the back of Havik's head just after pushing his own opponent away. The force knock him face first into the floor.
"Hey, watch it!" Havik yelled out in protest as he rubbed the back of his head.
Both Kabal and Shen ignored him as they continued to engage in their own battle. Swiftly, Kabal picked up the hooksword he had thrown and, with the other one in his hand, covered the space between himself and Shen. From there, the two began their melee with their respective weapons.
Meanwhile, Havik was just beginning to get up after being knocked down by, well... he wasn't sure what hit him, but he knew that it came from either his tag team partner or his opponent's partner. He was just starting to get back up when Bilguun kicked him back down by slamming his foot into his back. Bilguun then crouch down and began to deliver blows into Havik's head and face in a back-and-forth motion.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Havik yelled out with each hit.
This went on until finally, after one last punch, Havik went lump and his head fell sideways, his eyes immediately closing. While catching his breath and as a drone began to hover over them, Bilguun sat there with a grin, realizing that he just helped win at least one half of the match. Now they need to beat Kabal and victory would be-
"No knockout detected. The match shall continue," the drone said.
Bilguun gazed down at his opponent in confusion. "What the-"
Suddenly, Havik shot up while yelling, "Gotcha!" and proceeded to slam his forehead into Bilguun's nose, immediately causing it to bleed.
"YEOW!" Bilguun screamed as he held his nose in pain and stumbled back.
Havik only cackled with glee at his opponent's predicament.
Back nearby, Kabal and Shen continued their fight with their respective weapons. Eventually though, Kabal managed to knock the batons out of Shen's hands with his blades. Before Shen had the chance to react, Kabal stabbed the tip of his hookswords into the shoulder pads of Shen's uniform... enough to get a good grip, but not deep enough to actually injure the man. Once Kabal had a firm grip, he twisted his blades as a way to get a good hold before lifting Shen into the air, twist around while sweep him just above the floor, and finally, with another twist of his hookswords, tossed Shen across the room, released him from his grip.
After Shen crash landed into a pile of boxes, Kabal used his speed to cover the space between them before performing an uppercut once Shen was up again. Shen stumbled away before Kabal grabbed his shoulders again before bring him close, jumped up and body slammed him into the ground. Upon impact, Kabal didn't miss how the floor seemed to move downward.
The two-on-two battle went on for a few more minutes with neither team ready to relent just yet. For those viewing the match from wherever they currently were, it was just a matter of which team was going to make it to the top.
It was then that a long, loud, creaking sound was heard around them, forcing the fighters to stop what they were doing. All four felt the floor sink a bit and immediately looked down... and noted the long crack that Kabal created with his hooksword moments ago expanding underneath their combined weight.
"Oh... crap..." Kabal uttered as he realized what was about to happen.
Suddenly, the ground collapsed and all four fighters fell through the fresh hole. Kabal let out a surprise yelp while Shen and Bilguun screams in fright along the way down, crashing through each of the tower's wooden floors. Havik, however, was letting out a gleeful, "Wheeee!" which didn't surprise the Black Dragon leader at all.
Soon, all four men managed to grab hold of the edge of the second-to-last floor from the ground. It was no easy feat either (though Kabal managed to use one of his hookswords to stop his fall), but they managed. Just below their feet, however, the rumor that Kabal had heard years ago was confirmed. And just a couple of yards below were sharp spikes pointing up at them. And just below that were a few scattered human bones of previous victims.
"Oh shit!" Bilguun yelled out in shock. Like the others, he attempted to pull himself up, but it was easier said than done.
Eventually, Havik was the first to pull himself up. He then gazed over to where Shen and Bilguun were hanging on for dear life. "Hmm, I can't help but decide whether or not to let you drop to your doom. I haven't seen a man dropped on top of spike since my death match in Outworld two years ago. It'd be kind of nice to see that again."
"We concede, we concede!" Shen screamed out. "I don't wanna die! Just help us up, please!"
"Tsk tsk, shame to hear that," Havik said to the solider. "After all, death is the greatest of chaos." He seemed to grin over a thought. "Let's face it... it only happens once in a lifetime."
"We'd rather die by our leader's hands than by spikes anyway!" called out Bilguun.
"Considering how we all have the same leader right at the moment," Kabal reminded the two soldiers just as he pulled himself up. "I'm pretty sure Kazama's not gonna care which one of us wins this match. Either way, thanks for giving us the win!"
As the drone announced Kabal and Havik the match winners, Kabal's statement suddenly dawned on Shen and, while mentally kicking himself for calling off the match so soon, he could only scream out one word...
"Fuck!"