Chapter 15: Black Panties

Disclaimer: La lo lu le li la lo lu le li.

A shorter chapter this time around, but it's mostly a fight scene, and it sets up the next one nicely, I feel. The next one won't be for a while, though, because it will be massive.

Now read, preferably in a silly voice to make it sound twice as funny.

Fist clenched.

Fist unclenched.

Fist clenched.

Morris's fingers imitated his beating heart, nervous and excited. They scratched across the palm every time, trying to turn the softness into a red raw. He had decided that he needed every chance he could pull, and hardening his palms wouldn't be a bad idea, he supposed, so hence his scratching. His footsteps were slower, heavily slamming on the concrete that was beneath his foot. The dark corridor he stood in was walled by steel, almost lightless besides the small, flickering bulbs under Morris's feet, along the side of the corridor. His smile didn't falter, despite the gloomy atmosphere clinging in the air around him as he finally reached the end of the corridor and entered the dark room that would be the final step before his fight with Heihachi and winning the prize money. The room was big enough for the purpose; cramped yes, and certainly a lot smaller than the grand arenas and stadiums Morris had fought in before. He actually felt glad. It reminded him of the streets which he had grown an attachment to. Almost nothing could be seen in the darkness, though Morris had grown used to it, and could clearly see that Xiaoyu and a man were there, waiting. It was a three-sided room, all with doors at each corner, all with each fighter at each door. Morris sighed. I had to be the late one. He barely noticed the corridor seal behind him. He was trapped now. He looked to Xiaoyu. He couldn't actually see her too well. There was only one source of light now, and it barely lit up her at all.

"What's up, bum for brains?" Morris said. She turned her head, noticing him for the first time. He couldn't see her face, though he could tell that she was scowling.

"… you." She mumbled. "I thought I smelt pond scum." Morris sneered.

"Ha dee ha dee ha." He replied. His eyes quickly flashed over to the third man. He was built strongly, wearing nothing besides some Gee trousers and remaining perfectly still. "Do I know you?" The figure turned to him, basking his face in the light and revealing the very image of Kazuya Mishima, besides a more youthful face and a long fringe.

"You should." He said. Morris recognised the voice, smiling

"So you're that prick everyone's been talking about." He said. "May I say that your hair as ridiculous as your dad's?"

"Mocking me is not the best of plans, you little runt." Jin's voice was simple, stating indisputable facts, bored and uncaring, not considering anything worth the honour of even licking his boots. Morris shrugged his shoulders and looked to Xiaoyu.

"You had the hots for this prick?" He asked. "He's a broom handle shoved so far up his arse he's going to choke on it."

"Shut up, Morris!" Xiaoyu suddenly shouted. "Can't you just shut up and look around for a second?" Morris laughed.

"What did I do now?" Morris said. "Are you going to go into a whole 'you've hurt people, you're a bad person' bull-crap, because your granddad did that plenty, and fancying the guy who started World War Three doesn't exactly qualify you to lecture me, so suck my huge hairy juicy bollocks, bitch." Xiaoyu stood still.

"I meant here, moron." Xiaoyu said. "There's two of us and one of you, and I've already beaten you once, so you should just roll over and surrender."

"Isn't this a three way fight?" Morris asked. "Only one of us gets to fight Heihachi… oh you twat-muncher."

"Made sense, Morris." Xiaoyu's voice began to hold certain smugness. "Two take on one and then the other. And as for this so called 'bull-crap', maybe people have a point when they tell you just how bad you are."

"Oh, just bury your head in some candy floss and stop pretending as if you know me."

"I don't have to pretend, Wellington!" Xiaoyu spat. "And I don't have to tell you anything!"

"What do you know about anything?" Morris shouted. "You can't tell that Jin's evil when he practically started World War Three and treats everyone around him like dirt, so what makes you think that you can say anything about how good or bad a person I am?" The walls began to collapse, revealing that they were in the stadium. The night sky was a grand purple, punctured and peppered with spotlights of all colours, as the surrounding crowd filled the previously-silent arena that was now revealed to be a cage with cheers and boos and all a manner of noise. However, the three fighters remained silent. Jin was uninterested in the conversation, scanning the crowd with his eyes, while Xiaoyu's hands clenched into fists, the smugness in her voice already gone but now being replaced with a brutal honesty as she spoke these words;

"Johnny Showdown." She told Morris, as if it were answer enough. "You didn't see the tape he sent, but maybe you should ask Asuka about it and she'll give you a good perspective of what you started." Morris felt as if he was punched. He was shocked at the answer. Where the hell did this come from? "He was after you and only you. I was only dragged into this because you wouldn't solve it by yourself. Asuka an even more pointless reason." Morris gulped, and began to choke. "Johnny wasn't here because he was evil. He was here because you were running from him and whatever other baggage you might have, and it all caught up. And what happened?"

"Look, you moron, how is this any of my…"

"HE BEAT HER!" Xiaoyu suddenly shouted. "He probably spent all day smacking her around like a stress egg and I…" Xiaoyu scratched her arm, wincing. Morris tried to shrug the answer off, but he couldn't. He reluctantly knew that she was right. "I was…" She trailed away, before looking back at Morris with renewed rage. "And you? The person Johnny was after in the first place?"

"Babe, did you see what he did to me with that yoyo? I was his personal fucking scratching post."

"Yeah. Now imagine a whole day of that. That's what happened to Asuka! You got lucky! Compared to her, you came out with a scratch. I'm not telling you if you're a good or a bad person, because I don't know. I don't know what you stand for, or what you want from this world, whether its world peace or just lots of sex. What I do know about you, Wellington, is that you just can't deal with anything yourself. Johnny was your problem, but Asuka and I bared the brunt. Not you. Us." Xiaoyu then finally declared her final ultimatum. "So if the rest of the world's wrong about you, Morris Wellington, why can't you prove it is?"

Morris counter-pointed these words in the usual manner.

"So, when did you grow a brain cell?" He asked. "Do you really think spinning words like that makes you sound like an adult?"

"I don't know." Xiaoyu said. "Do you really think your mother would be happy to see what you are now?" She watched as Morris's head began to turn red.

"Low blow, bitch." He spat. Xiaoyu leered slightly, knowing when she had really gotten under Morris's skin. Another person, she would never dream of saying anything, but Morris was the exception, not the rule. He had humiliated her, then she humiliated him. She wasn't going to keep the score even for too long. And then there was the incident.

"I learnt from the best." She said, dropping suddenly so her head was level with her knees, which too declined in height. Morris snarled angrily, cracking his knuckles, flaring his nostrils.

"Well, clearly you're stronger than me, seeing as you need to ask your boyfriend to beat me up." He said, rolling his neck and shoulders, hearing the crackling of joints. Jin finally took notice.

"I'm not her boyfriend!" He retorted. Morris sniggered, looking to Jin then Xiaoyu once again.

"Wow, just being associated with you is an insult to him. You two clearly share something special!"

"I've beaten you once, Wellington!" Xiaoyu shouted. "I can do it twice."

The bell finally chimed a fairly over-done and melodramatic clang that echoed throughout the stadium, supported by cheers and boos of the audience. Xiaoyu was the first to move, throwing herself in Morris's direction and launching a mid-air kick that landed squarely in his chest. However, as she bounced away to regain some ground, Morris grabbed the offending foot and swung Xiaoyu away in one great movement. He then ducked his head, narrowly avoiding a powerful punch from Jin. He spun on his heel and dropped, smacking Jin's calf and forcing his left arm in-between Jin's legs.

"Say, did you know I fight dirty?" He asked, suddenly bringing his arm up in an almighty strike. He suddenly heard a snap, and felt a rocketing pain across his arm. He looked to his hand, which Xiaoyu had caught before it hit Jin, and had begun to twist it. "If you ever wanted to reach down there and grab something, Xiao, I bet this isn't what you had planned!" Xiaoyu suddenly twisted harder, and Jin pushed his heel into Morris's face, who wailed in pain. The foot pushed him along the hard metal floor, sending him a good few feet. He scrambled his feet desperately for grip, only just stopping himself as he hit the grated fencing. He clambered forward, meeting an advancing Jin. He gave two quick jabs, one blocked and one not. He attempted to follow up the success, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back as Xiaoyu sent an elbow that felt more like a mortar shell to his spine. Jin punched Morris, holding him by the collar. Morris groaned. It was a brick wrapped in barbed wire as far as he noticed. Jin then began to punch him a few more times, each time making Morris think that he was fighting a bulldozer. Xiaoyu also punched him, but not with quite the force, though made up for it with rapid speed. She began to laugh with glee.

"Make a joke now, Wellington!" Xiaoyu shouted, before pulling at the suit jacket and throwing him onto the ground like a hateful child would an unappreciated ragdoll. Morris choked slightly, rolling onto his stomach. He muttered something too silent to hear. "What was that?" She asked proudly. Morris turned his head to her.

"Duck." He breathed. Xiaoyu suddenly did as he commanded, narrowly avoiding Jin's punch. She was stunned, looking at Jin's unfeeling eyes.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "I thought we were teaming up until Morris was out?" Jin sneered.

"Look at him." He said. Xiaoyu turned. Morris wasn't exactly the greatest of threats, it was true, and it pained Xiaoyu slightly. Now for the hard part. The time to prove everyone wrong. She was going to prove that she wasn't just 'Jin's cheerleader' or 'Jin's stalker' or 'some stupid girl who couldn't grow up'. She turned to him, raising her fists. Jin seemed dumbfounded, before guffawing callously. Xiaoyu's cheeks went red as his laughter became louder than even the crowd. "Seriously?" Jin asked. "You? Fight me? Please. Go back to your grandpa and practise for a few years, then I may consider the idea that you might be worth fighting."

"DON'T LAUGH AT ME, KAZAMA!" Xiaoyu suddenly roared, punching Jin square in the face. He was thrown back with mighty force, landing and rolling clumsily, before finally sliding lazily into the fence. Xiaoyu gasped at her own anger. Did I seriously just punch Jin? She almost apologised as Jin rose to his hands. Across his cheek was a nasty cut, bleeding freely. This cut he stroked, observing the blood to see if it was actually real.

"Did you… just…" Jin looked up to Xiaoyu, freezing her with a glare so hateful, so bone chillingly angry and murderous, she was sure that he had become some sort of demon. In fact, he was getting to that stage, as the markings on his right arm suddenly began to move. Xiaoyu watched this, beginning to choke. "… punch me?" Jin's eyes widened as the whites began to yellow slightly. His already messy hair began to contort, as if something was pressing it from underneath, as a red diamond pushed its slow way through his forehead. The markings began to spread across his body in a horrific purple flame. Xiaoyu stammered, dropping to the floor in shock. "HOW DARE YOU!" Jin's sudden rage-filled scream forced all the audience to silence. Dirtied ivory horns began to pierce their slow way through his hair, before two black feathered wings flung themselves out from his back dramatically. Jin looked to Xiaoyu. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN TOUCH ME, YOU LITTLE FUCKING WHORE!"

"Congratulations are in order!" Came a sole, cheerful, tormenting voice. Jin's head slowly, deliberately, turned. Heihachi walked over to the cage, clapping his hands slowly. "Well done, Xiaoyu! You've managed to embarrass my grandson to the point of transformation!" He looked to Jin. "Couldn't handle your little girlfriend, so you had to bring up the devil genome just to deal with her? No wonder I won last time." Jin suddenly smiled horrifically, his teeth yellowed and sharp, forming a disgusting grin.

"Wait for your turn to face me." He snarled as if he were chewing. "We all die in line here." Heihachi snorted.

"Just finish this already." He said, bored and uninterested, turning away. He looked to Jinrei, who had stood up, but was forced away by Tekken Force soldiers. He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll defeat him later."

"W-what?" Xiaoyu murmured sheepishly, almost unable to speak as Devil rose to his feet. His eyes burned with dispassionate loathing. He walked over incredibly slowly, but Xiaoyu couldn't move. Cold fear gripped her, held down her legs and closed her mouth. Devil raised his hands, once mighty and proud fists, now hideous looking talons, and he suddenly clasped them around her neck. He pressed in, squeezing and pushing, desperately clawing for her breath.

"Now, Ling Xiaoyu, you will die." He said as Xiaoyu began to be lifted off the floor. Her legs shook desperately as she clawed at his talons desperately. However, even after three or four seconds, she began to feel her eyes close. She was hanging for a mere few seconds, yet it felt like hours. She was unaware of all the horrified screams and exclamations of 'We're all doomed' as the world became a blur.

"NO!" Came Jinrei's despairing voice.

"STOP!" Came Asuka's angered voice.

"Say, are you still wearing those fur lined panties?" Came a familiar sneering tone.

"What?" A breath accompanied by a gargle escaped Xiaoyu's mouth, before suddenly she felt a sudden wind running along her back and towards her abdomen. The wind gripped harshly at her posterior, before suddenly whirring around to the left of her and roaring away from her. She regained consciousness as she heard a whip crack and felt Devil drop her. She looked to the murderous beast, which was clutching his right eye in pain. She turned her head to the jump-suit orange trousers, the black suit jacket, the flurry of the red tie, and the leering figure of Morris Wellington, holding a small black bundle in his hand. Her jaw dropped opened. "How are you…?"

"You think I'd really go down that quickly?" He asked her. "I knew this would happen at one point or another, so I was just saving my energy 'fore it happened so I could really lay some shit down." Xiaoyu accepted the hand he held out, pulling her up in one swift movement. As she stood, she noticed something amiss. Then she looked to the black bundle in his hands, and her hands raced to her hips, scanning for something, finding nothing.

"YOU STOLE MY PANTIES!"

"I know." Morris said, before suddenly pulling the bundle back with his right thumb, steadying it with his left. "I've boiled it down to an art form." He released, sending the right end slamming into the approaching Devil with a humongous crack like a slave-driver's whip. Devil was forced back once again.

"ARGH! YOU BASTARD!" He screamed, as Morris danced around him, sending crack after crack after crack, turning the greying skin to a bright pink in its wake.

"You should see me with a wet towel." Morris explained to a dumbfounded Xiaoyu. "I'm a killer. Say, are you going to attack him or what? I can't do this forever, you know." As if to illustrate the point, Devil suddenly got a grip on him, ripping through his shirt and digging into his shirt.

"STOP TALKING!" Devil screamed, throwing him off and preparing another punch. However, Xiaoyu intervened, punching Devil again. The action surprised him, and left him open for another strike, as she kneed him in the chest. "Little bitch!" Devil shouted, before suddenly getting rugby tackled by Morris, and forced to the ground. Morris pressed his knees onto Devil's forearms, and began to send a bombardment of fists to his face.

"I told you I fight dirty." Morris said as he wailed his fists down desperately. Devil threw his legs up, pulling his knees past Morris and forcing his feet into his face. Morris was launched off, and landed with a painful crunch, sending a ripple of sound clanging along the metal floor. Devil had only just got to his knee when Xiaoyu came into the fray, throwing every kick, every punch, every strike she could think of and more, desperate to stop this madness. Devil groaned as he was hit in face, groin, stomach, leg, arm and neck. His blackened blood boiled. Being beaten by two mere mortals wasn't enough of a humiliation, no; they had to be a petty drunkard and a squealing schoolgirl. He screamed in anger.

"ENOUGH!" He suddenly rammed his horns into Xiaoyu, goring her stomach nastily, sending the points spearing into her and her blood into his face. He threw her away frantically. She slid along the floor with an almighty screech. Devil expected her to be dead, until she stood up faster than before. A gasp escaped his drooling maw, a momentary pause in shock Morris took full advantage of, punching into Devil like an unexpected wind. Devil got a grip on Morris, locking his forearms. "I'M BETTER THAN YOU! BOTH OF YOU PATHETIC WRETCHES!"

"Who's pathetic?" Xiaoyu asked, slamming her fist into Devil's face. Devil loosened his grip on Morris, and another relentless barrage began, Morris flinging the black panties like a cat-oh-nine-tails with enough force to tear at Devil's bone, Xiaoyu fanatically pummelling away, losing all sense and martial arts training and just letting the desire to hurt Devil control her actions. The Devil began to wane. His sanity snapped.

"NO!" He pushed out his arms, forcing the two away and dropping them to the floor. He looked to Xiaoyu, the closer of the two. "THIS ENDS NOW!" Suddenly, Xiaoyu began to notice that the red diamond in Devil's forehead began to glow rapidly. She became mesmerised, frozen to the floor. Morris watched the sparkle too, gripped by fear.

"So if the rest of the world's wrong about you, Morris Wellington, why can't you prove it is?"

Morris snarled with new found determination, rolling over to Xiaoyu. "Move, you fucking idiot!" He barged her out of the way with his shoulder, and then a red light swallowed him.

Devil had only begun to glow a second ago, but the pain for Morris felt like the lifespan of the Earth itself. It ripped him open and pieced him back together with hot nails, though he did not scream, or moan, or make any acknowledgement of the blast at all. He was in too much pain to. Finally, he moved after what felt like an eon. He stood proudly, turning to a stunned Devil.

"That all you got?" He slurred. He began to walk over to him, but stumbled. "I've had four year olds beat me harder than…" He dropped to his hands and knees. "… harder than…" He crawled his way to the Devil's foot, before dropping his stomach on the floor. He lazily raised his clenched fist. "Take that, you big hairy bastard." He pushed the fist into the sneering Devil's shin. For Morris this last defiant action took all his strength. Devil barely noticed it. "Come on then if you think you're hard enough…" Morris's head rested on Devil's left foot and he closed his eyes. "…just gimme a minute or..."

…and thus ended the short, miserable life of Morris Wellington, leaving behind nothing but a month's worth of memories and a twenty year old corpse.