Chapter 15: You Can't Stop Me Now

I began my tenacious training regimen for the Sixth King of Iron Fist tournament. My excessive training reminded me of the time when I first self-trained myself back at home. This time around, I noticed something peculiar – My strength increased significantly, my agility and speed further developed. The additional sparring with my bodyguard Mercy helped me greatly. She did not take it easy on me and that didn't detour me.

I charged at Mercy with a mix of kicks. I spun up in the air into a feather landing, making her crouch down low. I finished with a cyclone kick, knocking her down to the floor.

"Where... did you learn that from?" A winded Mercy questioned, slowly getting back to her feet.

"My father."I rolled my eyes with a grunt. I still had an inexplicable hatred for my father, but he was the one who trained me - I can't take that away from him.

"I think you're more than ready for this tournament, Miss Rose." Mercy bowed.

I felt a sense of accomplishment, reaching out for a towel to wipe off the sweat from my forehead. There were many bruises and cuts upon my body, I ached from head to toe but that didn't bother me. The saying goes, no pain no gain.

"Oh, I know I'm ready." I responded firmly.

I exited the foyer of the Sea Horses Grand Hotel with Mercy in tow. We walked down the stairs, towards the colourful geysers coming up from the ground repeatedly. A smirked came upon my face when I spotted my first opponent – Christie Monterio. A South American woman, with red-brown hair tied up in a pony tail and her Capoeira outfit leaving little to the imagination. She must have a super double-sided tape to keep that outfit intact.

"Where is Eddy?" Christie caught sight of me and sprinted towards me with distress in her voice.

I crossed my arms, surveying this woman demanding to know where Eddy Gordo is. I knew perfectly well where her little boyfriend was, but there was no chance I was going to tell her that he is working with the Tekken Force. I'm not the type to give out classified information about whom and what is going on within the Mishima Zaibatsu.

"Why are you so amped about knowing where your little boy toy is?" I let out a chuckle. "Maybe you should be worrying about something else, other than your vagina."

"How dare you."Christie took offence to my comment. Not like I thought she would take it lightly anyway.

"Hey, I'm only telling it like it is. You see, you shouldn't be chasing Eddy like a lost puppy dog, begging for him to give you some sweet lovin."

"This is rich coming from you."Christie put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyebrows.

"I'm not the one chasing the boys to give it to me." I continued with my mean girl act.

"Weren't you the one whoring it up with Hwoarang last tournament?" Christie fired back with that statement, sensing she had one upped me in my game.

I tilted my head in confusion - the name Hwoarang didn't seem familiar to me at all. I had no idea who Christie was referring to.

"Liar." I spat out in rage.

I was furious that Christie made up something so ludicrous. I've never heard of the name Hwoarang in my life and if he was a fighter in this tournament, I had never met him. I retaliated, charging towards Christie and smacked her across the face with a closed fist.

I kicked Christie in her mid-section and crouched down, grabbing hold of her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about you little slut."

I shoved her face down into the hard ground and got back to my feet. I prepared myself into my fighting stance, waiting for the fight to begin.

"My grandfather is ill, he is going to die. I need to save him. I have to win." Christie whimpered, holding on to her face whilst she got to her feet.

"It's not my problem."I harshly criticised.

Christie growled, spinning towards me with a series of spinning kicks. I swiftly did a hand-spring, dodging her moves. I ran down low, sliding across the ground to knock Christie off her feet. While Christie got back to her knees, I stepped upon her shoulder and gave her an enzuiguri kick across her face. I moved away, circling around Christie to give her space to get up. Christie spring up and attacked with her boomerang kick that knocked me down to my knees.

Christie spun around in a handstand and alternating between kicks to knock me down fully. I instinctively grabbed one of Christie's legs, making her lose balance. I hastily got back to my feet and yanked Christie's arm behind her and adding pressure with my foot on the back of her neck. I didn't let go of the hold, adding more pressure to her arm - I wanted to dislocate Christie's shoulder. Christie screamed and cried out in pain. I laughed evilly, not stopping my torture.

"I gimmvveee uaapp."Christie's voice muffled from underneath.

"Say that again."I slightly moved my foot so her voice could be projected more clearly.

"I..." Christie took a deep breath. "Give up..."

"Not so strong aren't you" I dropped Christie's limp arm.

"You bitch."Christie grunted, bracing her shoulder to numb the pain I caused her.

"There is no time to play the nice guy around here. I did what I had to do to win."I raised my eyebrow with a smirk, proud of my actions with Mercy standing beside me, towering over Christie.

"You look ravishing."Jin proclaimed when he saw me enter the exclusive room set up for us.

"You look great yourself."I complimented on the savvy dressed Jin in his black overcoat, dark purple button up shirt and black slacks.

After my first victory in the tournament, I got word that Jin Kazama wanted to see me in private and to wear my best dress. I took the word of advice and wore a regular fit black bandeau mini dress with red pumps. I fully expected this private meet would include his bodyguard, Nina keeping a watchful eye on us, but this wasn't the case. It was just the two of us, like it was a date. Not like I was complaining or anything, but I didn't want it to seem that I was trying to get into the pants of the boss.

"Here is something for you."Jin graciously handed me a purple rose stem.

"Wow, this is beautiful."I inhaled the smell of the exquisite rose.

"I would guess every man has given you a purple rose as a gift."

"You're actually the first to give me such a rose. No man I've ever met has been smart enough to articulate the meaning of my name."

I gently smiled at Jin, blushing slightly. I couldn't understand how this courteous man could get such a bad reputation from the public. The sad reality, so many people wanted him dead all because of his devil gene.

Jin poured champagne in two glasses and handed me one to drink.

"Do you treat all your employees like this?"I slyly asked, taking a sip of my champagne.

"You could say that."

Jin inched closer to me, but I didn't want to overstep the boundaries, Jin is my employer. I had to change the mood before I caved into the advances. I moved back slightly, taking a large sip of my drink to ease me.

"I'm just curious" I paused for a moment to gather a random question to ask. "Do you know a fighter named Hwoarang?"

Christie's claim of me sleeping with Hwoarang bothered me to no end and I was eager to find out who this Hwoarang guy was. The only person who could know who this man was would be Jin, since he is running the tournament.

"Hwoarang is just a guy who is having a one-sided rivalry with me. I have no problem with him - he is merely just a fly on the wall."Jin spoke with indifference.

I figured that the rumour of me and Hwoarang simple was a ploy to gather me a bad reputation. That's the only possible reason, but I still didn't understand how it came about. I never met the guy, or maybe I did before my accident, I just couldn't remember.

"Are you okay, Viola?"A concerned Jin asked, resting his hand on my shoulder

"I'm fine" I took a last sip of my champagne, giving him a reassuring smile.

I looked down to the floor feeling troubled that my memory wasn't all there. My mind muddled with thoughts, I didn't know who and what to trust. I contemplated that my perception of reality isn't what it seemed anymore.

Jin gently touched my chin with his index finger and thumb, raising my head. I looked into his sparkling, almond orbs - something about Jin's demure made me trust him. I closed my eyes, sensing Jin inching closer to me with his soft lips meeting mine.