Author's notes:Thank you for the reviews, everybody. Here's the next chapter.
Lei Fang didn't see Kasumi in the lobby or anywhere else on the first floor of the eight-story hotel. They were supposed to be going to go to the tournament together, but that wouldn't take effect if Kasumi were not to show. Luckily, Lei Fang was patient enough to wait for her friend to arrive. It was the least she could do for someone who would often do the same for her in advance. She sat down in one of the hotel's comfy chairs while dragging her long fingernail across the armrest and staring up continuously at the shiny gold clock that hung gracefully on the wall, setting off hourly with its ringing chimes.
Neither her nor Kasumi's match was to be commencing anytime soon, but Lei Fang was an on time kind of person that didn't want to miss the beginning of an event or something considered to being important. A number of the other participants in the tournament saw Lei Fang before passing by on their way out the automatic sliding doors and greeted her with a friendly wave and smile while others just turned their noses up disdainfully.
Kasumi finally emerged from the elevator clad in a red and extremely tight full body uniform with arm and shin guards cuffed to her legs and upper limbs. She eyed her Chinese friend sitting in the comfy chair and strolled into the lobby. After rubbing Lei Fang lightly on the shoulder to bring her attention away from the clock, Kasumi smiled.
"Sorry it took me so long. I wasn't satisfied with my combat attire and was in need of change," she forgivingly explained, hoping Lei Fang was not upset with her.
Lei Fang glared at the battle suit and gave a look of approval. The costume was flashy, stylish, and intimidating to say the least. She thought it was more pleasing to the eye than the other everyone else's attire.
"That's nice. I like it better than your old one."
"Thanks," Kasumi replied, bashfully. "I got a lot of complements from people in the hallway. Well, should we go now?"
"Sure."
They both walked out of the luxurious building together and headed on over to the fighting arena. It was quite noisy when they arrived and they could barley hear themselves talk with all the loud commotion going on. Chants and boos flew back and forth like a series of tidal waves brushing across the ocean. Kasumi showed interest in wanting to know what all the noise effects were all about and dashed forward ahead of Lei Fang. Below the barricades she saw a proud Jann Lee standing in the center of the ring with his arm raised in triumph after defeating yet another fighter. His opponent appeared to be knocked out completely and was numb from head to toe, not moving a single ligament. When Lei Fang reached the barricade along with Kasumi, she shook her head disapprovingly at what she saw and walked off in the other direction.
Later, the upcoming fight between Zack and Lei Fang was to begin momentarily after a sudden brief intermission. Lei Fang practiced some of her moves by the entryway for a good warm-up, while Kasumi stretched and meditated in preparation for her upcoming match.
Before long, the announcer called Lei Fang and Zack to the stadium ring. Kasumi watched as her friend left to go compete and wished her luck for good measure. The crowd whistled and cheered as the Chinese student made her entrance through the swaying curtains. She timidly waved at the fans that were in support of her. The reaction and responses she received were bigger than last year's event.
Zack approached the stage after her, wearing black sparring shorts and a muscle shirt for showing off his defined chest. He stumbled to get into the ring and nearly tripped over the exposed tape laced around his legs and feet. A few people laughed and made fun of him as he danced and posed in front of the camera to show out.
"Uh, sir? The match is this way," said the referee, guiding his attention away from the stationary camera.
Zack quit the showboating and brought his way over to Lei Fang with a compelling smirk. This fight between them wasn't a personal one and he wanted to clear that up before his Asian opponent took things out of proportion.
"Look Lei, I don't want to fight a beautiful woman such as yourself, but I have to. This match isn't a personal quarrel or grudge I have against you, so don't get mad when I beat you, ok? No hard feelings?"
Zack extended his hand out with Lei Fang taking hold and firmly shaking it. She understood what he meant perfectly, but his last words didn't fit quite well with her.
"Sure thing, but beat me? Those are some bold words, don't you think? You haven't even fought me yet," Lei Fang giggled. "I might be a girl, but don't take me lightly."
Those last words were a warning to Zack, but he didn't take them seriously. Usually, he didn't take anything seriously or offensively. He was a fun loving guy always in a good mood. But the fun loving attitude would temporarily vanish when it came time to fight. The match started off with Zack using some very strange and funky movements. His stance seemed weird to some, but it always worked best for him. Rather than appearing serious, he appeared to be enjoying himself as he grinned bobbing his head, legs, and arms around in a dancing motion.
"What the heck is he doing?" some of the fighters and people from the crowd whispered to each other.
His movements even had Lei Fang scratching her head, wondering what he was doing. He looked to be fooling around, like always, but nobody knew he was really warming up for a pounding assault. Quickly, he balled his fingers up together into a fist and swung a jab at Lei Fang, wanting to make the first hit. Immediately she caught his arm, but didn't realize it was used as a distraction to throw her off guard of what he really had in store.
Zack readied his energetic legs and multiple times kicked Lei Fang in the side of her hips below the waist. Her hand released his arm as she used it to cover herself after the inducing pain just felt. Zack's kicks were dangerous and were known to be very lethal if on the offensive. His legs were frequently his close and reliable allies in battle.
To add more inducing pain to Lei Fang's body, he delivered a sharp snapping kick that struck above her rib area. The Asian female cringed over and stumped down to one knee.
"Get up, Lei Fang," Kasumi whispered from outside the ring.
Zack had Lei Fang hurt but there was still a lot required to put her away for good. He grasped her head in hand and plowed her face into the concrete slabs the ring was made entirely of and kicked her on the side of the neck. She lied on the floor dazed, trying to get back up as the referee began the count. Her body felt sore, but was willing to continue once she got up.
Zack thought another set of multi kicks would do the trick of punishing her and readied his legs again. He struck Lei Fang in the hip once again but was not so fortunate when initiating the strike a second time after she deflected it with a low counter. His leg paused, unable to do anything while in her grasp. She shoved it out of the way, took one hand and pressed her fingers together all at once, and drove them straight into Zack's torso. Her long, sharp nails pricked his bare flesh and left a scratch mark that was highly noticeable. She spun around the other way and rammed her bended elbow into his stomach and took him down with a hard clothesline that laid him out on the floor.
Zack sat up from his grounded position and grabbed Lei Fang by the legs to restrict her from moving. He scooped the girl off her feet and was looking to do a quick body slam, but Lei Fang's sharp heels rotated their way into the American's exposed chin and loosened his grip. Covering his face from the agony, Zack backed away trying to regroup, but his opponent went right into following him.
"Damn, now I see why she wears those shoes," Zack hissed.
Lei Fang, without delay, approached her eluding adversary and launched one foot into the air while the other did the same into a snapping double kick. Her feet connected with Zack's forehead and sent him sliding into the patch of dirt outside the ring. Another count by the referee started, only making it to four seconds before Zack was on his feet.
He jumped back into the fighting circle and caught Lei Fang with a gut-wrenching uppercut. His legs prepared to go on the offensive again and attack the college student full force with a multiple kicking attack that would guarantee her defeat. He raised his taped feet up into a bending motion and brought together all the strength needed for the assault. In one swift setting, he swung his leg at Lei Fang's hip, but wounded up hitting her arms instead that she used as a guard. She deliberately saw his attack coming and countered the next wave by grabbing hold of his foot and flipping him over and ending it with a stomp to the chest.
The referee began the count another time, and it looked like Zack was going to make it to his feet again, but he surprised everybody when he coughed and collapsed in the middle of the ring floor. Once the count reached ten, Lei Fang's hand was raised victoriously. Immediately she went to go check on Zack and his condition after winning.
"Zack! Are you ok?" She said helping him up.
Zack's eyes were rolling around like a couple of marbles behind his dark tented glasses. It took a few seconds for his vision to clear, before he realized where he was.
"Oh man. I lost!" he groaned in disappointment.
"Don't worry about it, Zack. You still did great, you almost had me," Lei Fang said, trying to make him feel better.
"Well…thanks."
Her words of encouragement were pleasing to hear, but Zack, however, was still sore over his loss. His goal of winning the tournament was now crushed by one of the girls he was attracted to.
Unknown to both Lei Fang and Zack, a speeding attacker dashed into the ring. He targeted Zack from his backside and immediately punched him in the back of his skull. The black American fell to his knees and turned over only to have his ribs stomped by Jann Lee's red tennis shoes.
"Hey! Stop! That's enough, he can't defend himself anymore!" Lei Fang cried.
Jann brushed Zack's lifeless body out of the ring and ejected saliva straight from his mouth onto the losing combatant's back. He directed himself towards Lei Fang and smiled.
"He's history, and you will be soon. Get out of my ring, my match is next and your taking up space!" Jann sniffed.
Lei Fang balled both her hands together and paced up to her rival in an angry manner. She thought it was unfair and unnecessary to kick a man when he was down.
"Jerk! I can't stomach you any longer!" she said, raising her fist up to punch off Jann Lee's cocky grin.
"What are you going to do, little girl?" The spiky haired male chuckled, while bringing his face closer to Lei Fang's.
Now was the chance to strike Jann Lee and give what no body else had managed to give him, but Lei Fang lowered her fist and thought hitting him wasn't the answer.
"Your not worth it," she snorted, walking away.
Lei Fang stepped out of the ring and smoothed out the wrinkles in her flowing skirt, retreating to the entryway. There was no point in fighting and hitting him would have been exactly what he wanted, and she was not going to give that to him.
"That's right, coward. Walk away from me!" Jann boomed as she walked up the ramp.
The crowd was eager to see Jann get pummeled by somebody. They were sick of his cocky evil persona, and upset that he was still a survivor in the Tournament. But no matter how they felt, Jann continued to climb the ladder of success. If he continued on his winning streak, he would be crowned the winner and defeat all that stood in his way and prevented him from reaching the top, a goal he promised to accomplish.
Scrooge: I like how the story has been coming together. The mood between the two main characters are becoming more intense. I especially like the mirror scene.
And I like how Zack was added to make it more entertaining, (to a humor extent). Can't wait to see what happens.
Oh will we hear from Hitomi again?
Thunder's reply: Thanks. That's the kind of speculation from a person I was hoping for with the mirror scene. Glad you noticed. I'll be reading your story soon. Thanks for your review.
Gleeful Melancholy: Hey.
Your detail is getting better and better, I can really see everything happening now. I like how you give us insight into the character's thoughts, which is something good writers should do anyway, and something I haven't mastered yet. Thanks for taking the time to consider my opinions about Kasumi, I kinda saw that in the first paragraph!
I also like the comraderie between Kasumi and Lei Fang. It's really sweet, and though I never saw them as close, very believable.
And ZACK::squeals: You know me! Why do you think I write about him so much! If he's there, I'm there! Can't wait to see him more often. :turns off fangirl mode:
Nice one
Glee
Thunder's reply: Thanks. I think its important that everyone knows how the character feels and thinks in the situation their in. It really pulls you and makes you feel bad or good for them depending on what's happening. Your welcome for the Kasumi part. I thought it over and figured that mistake should be corrected. Nice to see that you noticed it in the first paragraph, I was hoping you would.
I never see people make Kasumi a friend of Lei Fang's so I added the two in as having a strong friendly relationship. I knew you'd like Zack being in there. I thought he'd make a good oppenant for Lei Fang. Anyway, thanks for your review and I hope to read the next chapter of your story soon.