A Deadly Merc.
The time has come. It was now time to get payback on the empire after what they did to Jared. The group spent some time to get ready. Fort Vaullerey casts an imposing shadow over the Lucian countryside, making it an ideal target for the group as they seek to avenge Jared's death. Busting into another base wasn't something they could do unprepared so they made sure everyone were on full strength. After a few hours of preparing, they began heading towards the base. They hired some chocobos to make the trip faster, as Iris stayed behind. She was a tough girl in her own right, but attacking a base with her was risk neither Asuka or Gladio was willing to take.
"Surprised to see 'em this far out" Noctis said.
"Leave no plot of land unconquered" Prompto said.
"Those aren't conquering numbers" Gladio pointed out.
"Likely building a supply line it would behoove us to cut" Ignis said.
"Or smash" Asuka added.
As they got closer, Prompto studied the base for a bit "Looks the same as before".
"Looks can be deceiving" Ignis reminded.
"We beat 'em once. They won't make it easy this time" Gladio said.
"And neither will we" Noctis declared, earning a nod of agreement from Asuka.
"You think Iris is doing alright?" Prompto asked.
"She is all alone" Ignis agreed.
"She's a big girl. She'll be fine" Gladio assured.
"Still, I don't like leaving her alone for to long. We need to wrap this up as quickly as possible" Asuka said.
"Iris isn't exactly a bring 'em on backstreet brawler, is she?" Prompto asked.
"She's tough, but I'd feel better if we got this over with and got back on the road" Gladio answered.
They got as close as they could with the chocobos without risking to draw attention to themselves. But after that they had to leave the birds behind and sneak over to the observation level of the watchtower overlooking Fort Vaullery.
"So, what's our plan?" Noctis asked.
"Find the base commander and take him into custody. Targeting metal men will yield little in the way of reconnaissance, but bones bend easily" Ignis explained.
Asuka smirked a that "I like how you think sometimes, Iggy".
Ignis nodded at her "We'll split into two groups. Asuka, Prompto and Gladio will generate a diversion".
"Aw, yeah—making a scene is what I do best" Prompto said in excitement.
"I'm happy as long as I get to punch something" Asuka said.
"Noct, are you prepared?" Ignis asked.
Noctis nods "Yes, lets wait until it gets dark and then we head inside".
Ignis smiles in approval that Noctis had learned the importance of attacking under the cover of darkness. With that they waited for the night to arrive. The waiting felt like forever as all of them where eager to make the Empire pay for all the lives they destroyed, including the one of an innocent young boy. While Noctis and Ignis went to capture the commander, Asuka along with her brother and boyfriend worked on the distraction.
Asuka was growing more restless by the second. She was really eager to get the payback mission started. Once she and others got in to position, they waited for the right moment and then they struck, triggering a large explosion which quickly alerted the nearby enemies to their location, but more importantly, kept their attention away from Noctis and Ignis. With the attack underway, all three of them charged in, with Asuka punching her fist clean through an Trooper's chest, while Gladio grabbed one trooper and tossed it in to another, allowing him to destroy both with a single overhead strike with his large sword. While they did that, Prompto scored a perfect head shot with his gun, before avoiding a strike from the side and kicked the trooper down before finishing it of with another perfect shot to it's head.
"Bo Yeah! Who else wants some?" Prompto called out, before a Magitek Armor showed up.
Gladio glared at him "You had to ask?".
Prompto laughed sheepishly before Asuka pounded her metal gloves together "I don't care how big it is. It just gives me more to hit".
"You guys doing alright?" Came the voice of Noctis as he landed near them.
"Nice of you to join us Noct. We were just about to turn this scrap heap in to a pile of junk, and we were beginning to wonder if we had to split in three ways" Asuka said.
Noctis smirked "Wouldn't want to miss out on that. Let's show this scrapheap with legs what royal revenge feels like".
Asuka smirked too as everyone got ready for some sweet revenge. The Magitek Armor fired a barrage of bullets at them, but the group had learned by now how to take down these things. So they avoided the shots and targeted it's weak points. Prompto aimed at the missile launcher and managed to fire a shot that hit a missile before it had been fired, which triggered a chain reaction and completely destroyed the weapon. Noctis used his warp ability to target the Armor's other weapon, and managed to cut it of. Without it's weapons, the Armor was less dangerous as Gladio used a lot of his strength to attack it's leg, causing so much damage it ended up collapsing. Asuka moved in to finish it of and began to deliver hard punches until she managed to rupture it's internal system and everyone jumped back as the large weapon exploded. And explosion which also took out the generator, rendering the base useless.
"Hell yeah! That felt good!" Asuka cheered.
"Ha! Yeah, it did feel sweet" Gladio agreed as he and his sister fist bumped.
"Glad to see you lot were successful" Ignis said as he rejoined the group.
"Does that mean you weren't?" Noctis asked.
"I placed our captive into the Hunters' custody, but I've just been informed he's fled. He lives to die another day" Ignis answered.
"And I'll gladly help him with that" Noctis declared.
"Either way, we kicked some empire ass today. So I say the satisfaction of getting at least some revenge made this attack worth it" Asuka said.
"Indeed, but this will be enough for now. Let us leave" Ignis said.
As the five prepare to depart, an armored woman wielding a lance leaps down from a position high above to clash her weapon against Noct's sword as he raises it just in time to lock weapons with her.
"Hey, pretty boy" She said as she flips backward away from him, then takes up a fighting stance "Let's see what you can do!".
"Who's that?" Asuka asked.
"Her name is Aranea. But she is not the only concern you have" Came another voice of a younger girl.
They looked and saw a girl who wields a kodachi and a tanto. She has long black hair with a full fringe streaked with red and purple, and a high ponytail with the tips also dyed with red and purple highlights. She has purple eyeshadow and two purple-red markings under each of her eyes. She has gray eyes, and if one looks closer, she appears to have a beauty mark on the right side of her lip. She wears a purple sleeveless garb with a black breast plate, and matching dark purple and white leggings that reach to her feet. She is also equipped with knife holsters where she keeps her kunai. Beneath her garb is an indigo and white, skin-tight turtleneck which is connected to her hands, resembling gloves, and is adorned with brown straps on both sides. She was also wearing a large purple scarf sewn with a pink cherry blossom design that is frayed at the edges. She was holding a white modified half-kitsune mask with red and black markings on, and has a sheath for her knife and kodachi. At the back of her outfit, she is also adorned with two brown and red fox tails.
"Alright Kunimitsu, you asked for a chance to test yourself against real opponents. Let's see how much you've learned" Areana said.
"I will not disappoint you, Master. I want the girl, you can have the boys!" The girl now named Kunimitsu said as she threw a smoke bomb among the group.
Asuka lost sight of the others and was kicked from the side, sending her out of the smoke, Asuka slides to a halt before avoiding another sneak attack "That was a dirty move! Guess you don't have any honor!".
"Honor? Sweetie, honor is for those so called warriors. I don't care about honor, I only care about getting the job done. So I get to sue any dirty tactic as I see fit" Kunimitsu said as she readied her blades.
"Shame you reject honor. Without it, you loss will be much more humiliating" Asuka said as she got ready to fight.
Kunimitsu smiled "I'm not about to loose to a city girl who spent most of her life behind the safety of a magical wall".
Asuka glared "You will regret saying that!".
Both opponents ran towards each other, Asuka attempted to hit her new foe with a right hook but Kunimitsu slid under her. Asuka quickly looked back at Kunimitsu who did a spin and managed to hit her with a couple of kicks, sending Asuka back a short distance. Asuka quickly regained her footing to see Kunimitsu throw some knives before leaping high in the air toward her. Asuka quickly blocked the throwing knives with her armored gauntlets and managed to block Kunimitsu's incoming sword strike before sending her in to the air. Before Kunimitsu can touch the ground Asuka gave a strong right hook to her stomach sending her flying into across the ground and into a wall.
Kunimitsu staggered a bit to get up from the attack, when she looked up she saw Asuka speeding towards her. Kunimitsu quickly jumped over Asuka which caused the fighter to miss and hit the wall. This gave Kunimitsu the chance to kick the back of Asuka's head staggering her a bit. Asuka recovered quickly and attemptted to wheel kick Kunimitsu, but the ninja anticipated an attack and leaned back to avoid it. Kunimitsu then tripped the young fighter and quickly backed up as Asuka kicked at her before leaping back to her feet.
"Alright you are a little better than I expected" Asuka said.
"So are you. Maybe you will be a proper test for my abilities after all" Kunimitsu said before getting ready again "But I am not loosing. My mom would be dissapointed if I lost against my first worthy opponent".
"Your mother?" Asuka asked before blocking kick from Kunimitsu.
Kunimitsu swings her blades so fast that Asuka was barely able to block them with her gauntlets. Asuka managed to break Kunimitsu's momentum and unleashes another attack. Kunimitsu counters, and begins kicking Asuka back. Asuka throws another powerful punch, which Kunimitsu blocks. The two spar briefly, armored gauntlets vs swords, before Asuka grabs Kunimitsu's leg, and pulls her closer to throw her, only for Kunimitsu to perfectly land on her feet, before leaping and grappled Asuka with her legs and using her momentum to throw her into the the ground.
Kunimitsu landed on top of Asuka before she could get up and got ready to stab her in the throat with her sword, before a voice rang out "Kunimitsu! Come to me now!".
"Yes master!" Kunimitsu said before leaping up to a higher position where Aranea was waiting for her.
"Aw, is it that time already?" Aranea asked, sounding disappointed.
"Looks that way, master" Kunimitsu answered.
"What time?" Noctis demanded.
"Quittin' time. Sorry, but these girls doesn't work after hours. We could, but there wouldn't be a single gil in it for us. We should play again sometime, pretty boy" Aranea said.
"You got lucky this time sweetie. Until next time" Kunimitsu said before she and Aranea vanished.
"Who the hell were they?" Noctis asked.
"That younger girl was good. Easily more skilled than any of the drones we face" Asuka said, feeling a little mad that she once against lost a fight. It seems whenever she goes up against another properly trained fighter, she was at a disadvantage. She was so used to being more skilled than almost everyone she fights, so she lacked the experiance to fight more worthy foes. She needs to train more.
Regardless, their work here was done so they headed back to Iris who asked to hang out in their room for a bit. They needed the rest, because tomorrow, they journey continues.
.
Yup! Kunimitsu has joined the story! And this is the second Kunimitsu from Tekken 7, the daughter of the original. Picked her because being younger made her a better rival for Asuka, and giving Aranea and apprentice sounded to good to pass up.
.
Tell me what you think.
