The Battle Against Kazuya
Kazuya Mishima has invaded the Mugen Tenshin Clan with the intention of absorbing Kazuki's Devil Gene powers that he has to awaken. Kasumi, Hayate, and Ayane are all that's standing in his way and are aware of his intentions but Kazuki is the only one who doesn't know.
"Kazuki, stand back," said Kasumi. "This fight is too dangerous for you."
"That's nonsense!" said Kazuki. "I'm ready for him this time."
"It's not that. It's just that you're the one who Kazuya is after. We can't risk having you and him fight each other right now."
Kazuki is confused. He's unaware of the Devil Gene and therefore, has no idea why Kazuya is after him. He does, however, remember Jin telling him that Kazuya and Heihachi will both be after him for "their own reasons" now that they know the truth about him.
"Don't worry," said Hayate. "We don't doubt you one bit but if there's anyone should stay on their feet right now, it's you."
"Just let us handle this, Kazuki," said Ayane.
Kazuki doesn't argue and lets Kasumi, Ayane, and Hayate fight against Kazuya.
"No matter what, nothing will ever stop me from getting what I want," said Kazuya. "Now come!"
Hayate starts off with fast attacks and the two start having some fast exchanges. It appears to be even until Kazuya manages to land a punch to the stomach. Hayate responds with a two-handed palm attack to the chest that knocks Kazuya back. Hayate attempts to follow up by dashing forward with an elbow attack but it only clashes with Kazuya's. Kazuya then lands another punch to the stomach, followed with a kick to the face, knocking Hayate down.
Ayane rushes forward and does a jumping kick but Kazuya catches it and throws her into Kasumi, who catches her. Both sisters dash forward toward Kazuya, who blocks their attacks. He then throws a punch but Kasumi catches his arm, giving Ayane an opportunity to land hard kick to the stomach. Hayate seizes the opportunity to land a hard kick of his own to Kazuya's face, knocking him down.
Kazuya stands up and after he chuckles, lets out a long laser-like blast from his forehead. The ninjas, including Kazuki, barely avoid the attack. Hayate then contemplates using the Torn Sky Blast but changes his mind, believing that their power in numbers would be enough. Ayane once again tries to attack Kazuya but is unable to land any attacks and is eventually knocked down by an uppercut and kick. Hayate runs to her side, knowing that she's not in the best condition to keep fighting.
"Ayane…!"said Hayate.
Kazuki is angry at this and, clutching his sword, appears ready to attack his grandfather. Before he can, however, Kasumi steps in front of him.
"I'll take him on myself now," said Kasumi. "You just stay back there."
"I'm not going to stand here and watch him hurt you!" said Kazuki.
"I will not be defeated. When I'm fighting for my family, nothing will ever stop me," Believing his mother's words, Kazuki lowers his sword and steps back.
Kazuya looks at Kasumi and says "I know about you winning the first Dead or Alive tournament, but you'll soon realize that such accomplishments are not enough to prepare you for me."
"I've been through many battles and I know that I'm ready for you," said Kasumi as she assumes her fighting stance. Kazuya does the same.
She quickly dashes forward as Kazuya anticipates a rushing attack but instead, Kasumi jumps over his head and kicks him in the back with great speed. Kazuya attempts to fight back but is unable to keep up with the faster Kasumi. She manages to land to some fast punches and kicks that keeps catching Kazuya off-guard. When he tries to land a punch, Kasumi catches his arm and lands a jump kick to the face, knocking him down. She leaps to land a flying stomp but he moves out of the way, and after getting up, he quickly lands two hard shots to her face, knocking her down. She rolls her to feet and anticipates Kazuya's next attack, which is flying kick attack. Kasumi back-flips out of the way to avoid it. She tries to counter with a dashing elbow attack but Kazuya ducks under it and lands an uppercut, sending her down again.
Kazuki looks in anger, almost ready jump in, but remembering what his mother said, stays out of the fight.
Kazuya attempts to finish Kasumi off with a stomp but she quickly rolls out of the way and, after getting up, she quickly dashes by with an elbow attack that he doesn't see coming. She then does backflip, teleports out of the air, and appears in front him before landing a powerful elbow that knocks Kazuya far away. Kazuya is affected by the attack and is not quick to get up, signaling that the fight is over. Kasumi then runs to where Hayate is standing up Ayane, while Kazuki stands highly impressed by his mother's skills.
"Damn it!" said Kazuya as he slowly stands up. "You're Kazuki's mother alright. He takes a lot after you. But just remember that this is not over yet! I swear we'll meet again!" He then heads to his plane along with the remaining Jack robots and flies off.
Afterwards, Kazuki and Kasumi checks on Hayate and Ayane.
"That jerk!" said Ayane. "He's going to pay for this!"
"Yes, he will!" said Hayate. "We'll get him for this eventually, but right now, we need to focus on our village at this moment. I'm glad that our mother is okay."
Kazuki looks at Kasumi and say "You were the winner of the first Dead or Alive tournament?"
"Yes," she responded. "Your uncle Hayate was seriously injured by that monster Raidou so I entered the tournament to avenge his defeat."
"Raidou?" Kazuki is familiar with who Raidou is. He remembers hearing about Raidou attacking the village years ago before he was born, but not much else other than knowing that he was a former member of the Mugen Tenshin clan and Shiden's brother.
This recent attack by Kazuya triggers many people's memories of Raidou's attack years ago.
"We don't have time think about that, Kazuki," said Hayate. "Let's put this fire out and help the others here."
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry."
MIST
At the headquarters of a dark mysterious place known as MIST, a woman with white hair and in a black and white jumpsuit walks into the office of the mysterious and sinister Victor Donovan, the CEO of MIST.
"Anything to report, Christie?" said Donovan.
"Yes sir," said Christie. "G Corporation just attacked the Mugen Tenshin Clan yesterday but they failed and were forced to retreat."
"And just why would Kazuya be after the Mugen Tenshin Clan?" said Donovan.
"It turns out that his grandson Kazuki is part of that clan."
"Hm! Well, things have gotten a whole lot more interesting, hasn't it?"
"Yes, especially when you consider the fact that he's also Kasumi's son."
Donovan turns around with an evil smile and says "Then he's more than worthy of my next project. If his mother was a success, then certainly he will be as well. As of right now, trying to get him would be very difficult, but something like another tournament will flush him out easier. So, Helena Douglas or Heihachi Mishima, make your move…and then we'll make ours."
Mishima Zaibatsu
Heihachi Mishima has also received news from Nina Williams about Kazuya's attack on the Mugen Tenshin Clan. He laughs at Kazuya's failure but now he also he knows where Kazuki resides. Still, he is very cautious about making his own move on the clan.
"That fool!" said Heihachi. "It seems he had underestimated the Mugen Tenshin Clan. Had he known about them as much as I do, he wouldn't have gone there unprepared. Now that he has failed, it's time for me to handle this my own way."
"With something else other than a family reunion?" said Nina.
"Ha! That's pretty obvious."
"All three wiped out at once? Now that's quite an accomplishment."
"That will be the only way to destroy the Devil Gene at this point. Dealing with Kazuya's mother Kazumi was bad enough but now it's time to finally end it with her son, grandson, and great-grandson."
G-Corporation
A month later, not to the surprise of anybody, the next King of Iron Fist Tournament is announced. Warriors from all the world prepare themselves once again for the next big tournament. Kazuya, still furious over his defeat at the hands of Kasumi and his failure to capture Kazuki, pushes himself harder as he practices against numerous Jack robots in his training room to prepare him for the tournament.
"That damn Kasumi!" he angrily says. "I see why she won the first Dead or Alive Tournament. She's far stronger than I expected…maybe even stronger than the others."
Despite his ever-growing hatred for Kasumi for interrupting his plans, however, there is something about this whole thing that makes him laugh a little bit.
"So, it seems that I not only have to go through Kazuki's father, but his mother as well? Ha! This will be a long battle. But as long as Heihachi hasn't gotten to him first, I still have a chance at this thing."
Mugen Tenshin Village
After Kazuya's attack on the Mugen Tenshin Clan, the village has since been repaired from all the damages that was done during the attack. However, this does nothing to improve Kazuki's reputation with the clan, who now blames him for the whole attack and believes it would have never happened had it not been for the fact he's related to the Mishimas. Therefore, Kazuki remains isolated from the clan most of the time with only his family supporting him. However, this does motivate him to enter the new King of Iron Fist Tournament, which is what he discusses with Hayate and Ayane in the woods.
"Look, I don't have a choice this time," said Kazuki. "This battle means more to me than either of you can ever imagine."
"We understand how you feel, Kazuki," said Ayane. "But it's not worth going there all by yourself."
"Don't ever think that this is just your fight," said Hayate. "We're all in this together."
"Neither of you understand!" said Kazuki. "This whole village has turned their back on me all because of what those guys have done! You two have no idea how…"
"Kazuki!" said Ayane as she angrily slaps her nephew in the face. This shocks both Hayate and Kazuki.
"Ayane?" said Hayate. As he gets a closer look at Ayane's face, he can see her eyes watering.
"That man Raidou attacked our village a long time ago and the reason this clan hated me was because I was his daughter. He was the reason why I was an outcast and for years I had to deal with that. So don't ever tell me that I don't understand!"
Kazuki didn't know that Raidou was Ayane's father until now. Still, already angry at his current situation, Kazuki slowly stands up and says "Raidou was your enemy…and the Mishimas are mine. It's as simple as that. I'm going to enter this tournament, no matter what. Maybe then, this village will accept me again. There's just no other way around it." He then walks away.
"He's not ready, Hayate," said Ayane. "And yet, there's so little time."
"He's right about one thing; there is no other way around this." said Hayate. "We just have to do our parts and…that's it."
Violet Systems
Jin and the others hear about the announcement of the next tournament and are not surprised. But now that they know that Kazuya and Heihachi are both after Kazuki, the stakes are pretty high for Jin, who has more reasons to stop them now.
"I have to end this now before Kazuki gets dragged into this again," he says to Lars and Lee. "I can't miss this opportunity this time."
"But what if Kazuki enters the tournament again?" said Lars.
"Then I just have to do what I can to make sure he stays away from Kazuya. I don't care what I have to go through in order to do that. This may be my last chance to do this."
"You should let me handle this," said a male voice. Standing next to Alisa is Ryu Hayabusa. "You're not the only one wants to do this."
"Ryu?" said Jin. "I didn't expect you show up."
"I'm not sure if you're aware of this but Kazuya attacked the Mugen Tenshin Village a month ago, trying to look for Kazuki."
"What? Was everybody okay?"
"Yes. He attacked the village but Kasumi managed to defeat him and forced him to leave. Kazuki was safe."
"Kazuya is trying absorb Kazuki's Devil Gene before it's unleashed. That has to be the reason for why he would attack like that."
"So Kazuki is well-protected after all." said Lee.
"But the real reason I'm here is to let you know that Kazuki will be entering the tournament again." said Hayabusa.
"Why would he do that?" said Jin. "Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?"
"The Mugen Tenshin Clan has turned their back on him ever since they learned that he was your son. Now he plans on destroying both Kazuya and Heihachi and win the tournament to prove himself."
"How does Kasumi feel about this?"
"She's worried…but I told her that I'll be watching over him to make sure he doesn't cross paths with Kazuya."
"That's what we planned to do as well," said Lars. "If at least one of us can get to him first, then Kazuki won't have to fight him. As for Heihachi…"
They all look in silent, as if they're not sure what do with that situation.
"Maybe Kazuki can defeat Heihachi?" said Alisa. "He did make it far in the tournament after all. He's probably more prepared now, isn't it?"
"We can only hope," said Hayabusa. "Kazuki is a strong warrior but he has to stay focused. That's my only concern right now."
To Be Continued.
