Fartes Fortuna Juvat:
Author's Note: Hi! I'm back after a couple of days of a hiatus…anyway, how's everyone been? Okay, translation time! This chapter is called Fortune Favors the Brave…how might you ask? Read and find out! Oh, and this chappie takes place when Hwoarang and the others are fighting the power source…
Kim Seung Mina sat down on a discarded stone block…she had a dull headache and her eyes were puffy from crying. She watched General Hamilton conduct his business as he walked from the communication station to the medic station and back. He checked on the wounded and dying soldiers while Julia and the others helped.
For awhile, Mina did the same…she tried to busy herself with work…that's what she always did whenever she was disappointed or anxious.
"Nothing like work to get over a disappointment." Her mother always used to say.
This was how Mina always dealt with her stress…she never confronted her emotions head on…rather she tried to immerse herself in various jobs and tasks until eventually she forgot about them.
She was the girl who always got the A's on her homework; she was the Dojo master's daughter, and one of the fiercest competitors at the karate school. She was one of the best dancers in her class…she wasn't valedictorian, but managed to rank number three in her class…she did everything by the book, and always turned it into the library on time.
Jamie and his friends had brought her out of her shell a little bit…she had definitely changed a lot from two and a half years ago when she had walked into Beach Cove High for the first time.
She owed so much to Jamie…
And now she might never see him again.
She didn't want to seem like to much of a bitch by not helping…she wished she could be like the other girls…she wished she had Christie's confidence…Julia's rationality…Xiaoyu's beauty…and Asuka's bravery.
But she didn't have any of that…and while the other girls were calmly doing their part…Mina sat here and cried like a wilted lover…why the hell was she so special? After all, their loved ones were in the same boat…why did she have to be so damn emotional.
"They must hate me now…" She mumbled to herself.
Mina buried her face in her knees and clenched her hair in her fists.
"No…I don't hate anyone…"
Mina felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Xiao's reassuring face.
The other girls quickly rushed towards Mina.
"I know it must look like I'm a real bitch…I want to help…I really do it's just that-" Mina began.
"You miss him don't you? It's alright sweetie." Christie said with a smile.
"How do you guys do it? I mean, I know I'm acting like a baby…but you guys seem so…cool…"
"You've gotta believe Mina…don't worry, Jin, Kyo, and Billy won't let anything happen to Jamie." Asuka said.
"I'm not just worried about Jamie…I'm worried about everyone…" She sighed angrily. "It's so annoying…I hate waiting like this…back home…we…me, Robbie, and Maureen always fought with Jamie…whenever some great evil came, we always stopped it together…and now…well…I feel like-"
"There's nothing we really can do right now Mina…I'm all about feminism and stuff…but logically, all we can do is wait." Julia gave Mina a reassuring hug. "We haven't really gotten used to it…we just…we just kind of deal with it…and we wait until they come back to us."
"And besides," Christie said with a grin. "The sex afterwards is great!"
That broke the ice a little bit and everyone laughed.
"That was disgusting Christie!" Asuka said.
The moment of brevity was short lived however, when the doors opened. Expectedly, the girls looked to the door…only to find wounded and dead soldiers.
"Where are the others?" General Hamilton asked.
"Sir! They told us to go back! The Keepers tore through our ranks!"
"Those idiots!" General Hamilton shouted. "The Keepers will keep coming…they're controlled by a bigger one…we've managed to decrypt some of The Keeper dialect…they receive orders telepathically by something called The Ultima."
"The Ultima?" Xiaoyu wondered.
"And it controls those things?" Julia asked.
"So…" Mina began. "If we take that thing out then all The Keepers are dead?" She finished.
"Yeah that seems to…wait…what! WE!" Asuka shouted.
"So now…now I can return the favor…" Mina muttered.
She ran towards one of the weapons stations and grabbed a rifle…she had no idea how to really fire it…but how hard could it really be.
Every fiber of her being was screaming for her to reconsider…but for once in her life, she stopped listening and this time…she shut everything else out but her heart. Mina heard the other girls call her name but they sounded distant…far away…she ran through the door before it closed and into the Amenes fortress.
I was never one for the whole 'damsel in distress' thing…they've saved my life so many times without even asking for a favor…well I'm going to find that big beastie and I'm gonna bag it and tag it! Hmph…damsel in distress my ass…
(a half hour later…)
Mina walked cautiously through the Amenes halls…she took in the dark beauty of the glittering halls and the silent horror of the corpses littering the crystalline floors. Some had bullet wounds in them…but others…others looked as if they had been disemboweled…
"What could've done this…" She murmured to herself, crouching low to check out the body. "Was it one of those Keepers?"
Mina had never really seen them before, but she had certainly heard about them…cruel, heartless, faceless entities made entirely of crystal with blades for hands. They were fast and tough…these are what must have killed these men…she was sure of it.
Mina sighed as she continued down another hallway…this one, featuring a whole new image of fear and terror. She came to a bridge and all around it, were littered corpses…they weren't those of the US military though…the bodies on the ground were those of the Tekken Force, and judging by the smell, they had been here for awhile.
Mina knelt down and gingerly examined one of the bodies…they had been dead for three days, and the wounds were similar to those that The Keepers generally inflicted.
"It's kind of sad that I know the smell of dead bodies and stuff…but…I guess it's times like these that it comes in handy."
Suddenly, Mina became aware of eyes watching her several of them…cold, calculating, and unfeeling eyes. A metallic "SKREEEEEE" filled the air and crackling lightning bounced off the walls as blurry portals opened.
In horror, Mina saw five of The Keepers run at her with their bladed arms glinting. Quickly, she suppressed her fear and stood her ground. She aimed the rifle and fired…the bullets bounced uselessly off the crystalline bodies…and in an instant they were on her. Mina smacked the leader in the face with the rifle and ducked another one as it swiped towards her head.
While on the ground, she lashed her foot out, and shattered one of the creature's ankles…it screamed as it fell, and she quickly got up and flipped one of them over her as it attempted to swipe her from behind. The Keeper hit the ground and shattered against the one with the busted ankle.
This only left three more…but Mina was still vastly out numbered. One let lose it's bladed hand in a sweeping arc towards her stomach…quickly, she jumped back…but not before the creature managed to scratch her on the stomach.
"Ooohh" She grunted.
The wound hurt…but it wasn't fatal…however, her body, in force of habit caused her to back up…into another Keeper! As soon as her body hit the crystalline flesh, she whirled around and give a punishing roundhouse kick to its face. The blow shattered its blood red eye…and while the creature was stunned, she shoved it off the bridge.
"Two more…I can deal with this…just like sparring back home…" Mina muttered.
Her wounds hurt, but she didn't have time to stop and react. The remaining Keepers screamed at her in a challenge.
"Thought you'd never ask." Mina said with a grin.
She ran at The Keepers and at the last second she leapt in the air, spun, and shoved her foot in one of the creature's faces…it was a complicated move, one she'd been working on for awhile…it was a spinning running jump kick...and as she perfected it she smiled.
I did it! I really did it!
She landed in a smooth hapkido roll, before getting up and axe kicking the downed Keeper in the face…shattering it.
"Check it out, 'twas beauty who killed the beasts!" Mina grinned.
Her elation was short lived however when the final Keeper lashed it's bladed arm out and slashed at her back.
"AAAGGGHH!" She shouted as she fell.
This wound was a deep one…it wasn't like the scratch she had gotten earlier…this one hurt, and it was bleeding profusely. She whirled around and tried to stand…only to sink back down…walking was not an option, and she slowly inched herself away from it. Mina looked down at all the rotted Tekken Force soldiers and knew that she'd be joining them soon.
The creature roared in delight at it's captured prey…and Mina stared in revolting fascination at it. This one wasn't like the other Keepers…it was bigger, it had a longer neck, a mouth, and several crystal spikes jutting out of its head that Mina could only guess must have been hair. When it roared, Mina watched as it lifted its bladed arms…and separated into five different blades…just by wishing it!
"The..Keeper…Ultima…" Mina breathed.
It towered over her, and was about to bring its bladed arms down on her and in the last instant Mina screamed…but the blades never came. A loud ki-yap echoed off the walls, and Mina watched as Xiao ran towards the Keeper leapt in the air, planted her feet at its head, and using it as springboard, flipped off.
"The Keeper Ultima I presume?" Julia asked.
She ran towards the stunned beast and lashed her open palm at the creature's center…it was a simple move, but Julia had focused all her strength and energy into this striking blow…when it hit…the Keeper actually doubled over in pain!
"You gotta stop doing this sweetie…otherwise we'd have a pretty pissed off Nephilim to deal with!" Christie said as she helped Mina up.
"Asuka, finish it off!" Xiao called.
"Got it!" Asuka ran ahead, and pointed at the creature. "You're about to get hurt!"
Asuka ran at the creature and performed two fast side flips through the air…her powerful legs hitting the creature every time…upon landing after the second kick, she performed a jumping double snap kick to The Keeper Ultima's chin…before the blow connected, it shrieked for more backup, and it's followers came…but once the blow hit, the creature stumbled towards the side of the bridge and fell.
The Keepers were about to attack when suddenly, the shrieked in pain and agony and fell…their leader was dead…and it looked like they wouldn't have any more problems with the crystallized abominations.
"Watch that last step, it's a humdinger!" Christie called.
"Wow…the coyote always got up." Mina added.
The girls laughed as they headed back to base, and they wondered what they were going to tell the general.
"He is going to freak out when he hears that a bunch of girls took down the big bad menace that Jinpachi's goons couldn't even touch." Asuka said.
"I think we've struck a powerful blow for women's rights for next couple of years…what do you guys think?" Julia asked.
"I don't know about that but it was pretty awesome that Mina took out all those other Keepers." Xiao marveled.
"Thanks guys." Mina responded.
That's when she realized that she didn't need to worry about Jamie anymore…if these girls were anything like their loved ones then she didn't have a thing to worry about…he'd come back…and they'd take care of him.
Author's Note: Alright, what didja think? I hope you guys liked it PLZ READ AND REVIEW! MUCH LOVE TO EVERYONE!