The Hit and the Target
The current match of the tournament is Kazuki vs. Bruno. They both have made it far in the tournament and now their progress has brought them face to face with each other.
As they both enter the DOA ring, they know this fight would bring them one step closer to a possible match against Heihachi Mishima.
"Well, it seems that neither one of has fought Heihachi yet," said Bruno. "So, I guess that means that this fight will determine who truly earns a shot at him."
"I've been training for a long time to make sure he falls by my hands," said Kazuki. "I can't afford to let anything stop me from doing that."
"You better be careful. I am not someone you could just overlook. So, if you underestimate me, then you might be in for a surprise."
"I've been prepared for tournaments like this before. I know not to overlook any opponents, especially if I want to win the tournament."
"Then let's see if you're prepared for this one. Because you have yet to fight someone like me. Come on!"
They both get in their fighting stances.
Kazuki starts off with a combination of punches and kicks. However, Bruno calmly blocks and parries them before darting out of the way. As Kazuki comes forward, Bruno lands a leg kick to Kazuki's knee, which halts his movement for a moment. Bruno then lands a hard punch to Kazuki's face, sending him backwards a little bit. Bruno attempts to follow up with a combination of punches but Kazuki catches his arm and does jumping double kick that knocks Bruno down. After getting up, Bruno throws a punch that gets blocked but quickly lands a kick to Kazuki's liver. The pain momentarily stuns Kazuki, giving Bruno an opening to land a roundhouse kick that knocks Kazuki down. Kazuki is surprised at the speed and precision of his opponent. At that moment, Bruno leaps into the air and comes down with a punch but Kazuki quickly counters with an elbow strike to the stomach, followed by an uppercut to the chin, knocking Bruno down.
Crowd roars in excitement at what appears to be an even match. Among the people in the crowd is Hayate and Ayane, dressed in civilian clothing. They both look in suspense as well as surprised as they watch their nephew hold his own in another tough match.
"He certainly looks like he has improved," said Ayane. "Maybe our training finally pushed him over the edge."
"It's that determination he's got," said Hayate. "He definitely got it from Kasumi. Just as long as he doesn't lose control of himself."
After getting up, Bruno runs forward and catches Kazuki with a scissor takedown. He tries to go for a leglock but Kazuki quickly rolls out of it and back to his feet. Bruno comes forward with more punches and kicks that Kazuki avoids. He eventually dashes behind Bruno with great speed and lands a kick to his back. Now it's Bruno who is surprised at his opponent's skills. They circle around for a moment before exchanging more blows. During the exchange, Bruno lands rapid session of punches to Kazuki's chest but it only pushes a back little. Kazuki counters with a palm strike to the stomach that causes Bruno to back off. The two fighters pause for a moment to catch their breath.
The crowd continues to cheer for the two fighters.
However, off in the distance in the entrance to the arena, Bruno can see a female figure who appears to be preparing to throw something at them.
"Let's see if it runs in the family," said Christie as she raises her arm with a knife in hand. "I should have done this when I first tried to kill him. After all, this is how I killed Maria."
"NOOO!" yells Bayman as he runs to stop Christie with Rig following behind him.
Bruno quickly yells for Kazuki to get down as he runs to tackle him to the ground. Christie throws the knife and stabs Bruno in his right arm.
The crowd look in shock and horror as they see Bruno clutching his bleeding right arm in pain.
"Bruno!" yelled Kazuki. Many people ringside doctors and officers come inside of the ring to check on Bruno while Kazuki looks ahead at the entrance to see who the knife thrower was. Instead, he sees Bayman running down the ring after a grueling battle with Rig and Christie.
As he looks at the ringside doctors around Bruno, Bayman, realizing his failure, looks down and says "I was too late!".
Hayate and Ayane look with great concern on their faces, seeing that Kazuki was almost hit by the knife and would have had it not been for Bruno.
"What does all this mean?" said Ayane.
"I don't know, Ayane," said Hayate. "But I have a feeling that we will find out sooner or later."
A few hours later, Bruno is the hospital getting treated with Helena in the room with him. The stab wound takes him out of the tournament but the injury is not too severe.
"Bruno…" said Helena as her eyes start to tear up. "I am sorry, Bruno. I thought you were going to be safe. I don't know how this happened. This is all my fault."
"Please, don't blame yourself for this," said Bruno. "All that matter is that I am alive. You do not have to feel about this."
"I do. You are my son and it is my responsibility to make sure you were safe. If anything happens to you…! Please understand, Bruno. I lost my mother…your grandmother…the same way. I do not want to lose you too."
"Nothing is going to happen to me! It's going to take more than just a knife to take me out."
"Whoever is targeting you will probably be waiting for you to return. I am going to cancel the tournament and see what I can find."
"Wait!" yelled Bruno. "Don't cancel the tournament! Let it go on!"
"This is more important than the tournament, Bruno," said Helena. "If Donovan is targeting us, we must defend ourselves from his next attack."
"But you were supposed to be helping Kazuki, remember? Do you really want to cancel the tournament after it's gotten this far?"
Helena thinks for a moment about her conversation with Kazuki and the others about the tournament.
"Right now, we have our own problems," she said. "Kazuki will have to deal with the Mishimas on his own."
"Mother…!" said Bruno as he sits up. "Listen, everybody fights for different reasons. For family, for revenge, and for power. That's why they enter this tournament. Please, do not stop them from doing that. Whatever happens to me should not stop them from competing."
Helena pauses for a moment and closes her eyes to think about her decision. After making her decision, she opens her eyes.
"Alright, Bruno," she said. "The tournament will continue. But I will make sure that you will not be harmed again. I will not leave until then. You stay here and rest and I'll handle everything else."
"Right," said Bruno. Helena then walks out of the room. Bruno makes a fist and says "Who on Earth could be doing this?"
As Helena walks down the hallway, she walks into Bayman, who was patiently waiting for her come out of the room.
"Bayman?" she said.
"Donovan is the one behind the attacks on Bruno. If we don't do anything soon, he'll eliminate either you or him."
"Then I must find some more people who can help. Maybe Lars can help us."
"Lars?" said Bayman with surprised look.
"Yes!" said Helena. "I trusted Lars to protect me and he did. I am sure he will do the same for Bruno."
"There is more to it than that, isn't it?" asked Bayman.
"It is," said Helena. "Perhaps it's time to tell Lars the truth. I just didn't want Bruno to know just yet. But now…it's time. I was afraid it would burden Lars if I told him at the time. That's why I quickly returned to DOATEC after the war was over. Now, I have no reason to hide it any longer. I will let him know after the tournament."
Helena walks past Bayman who looks on. He starts thinking about the similarities between Kazuki and Bruno and says "Those two have more in common than anybody thinks. But how much? That is the real question."
Soon afterwards, Helena stands in the middle of the Dead or Alive ring with the crowd eagerly waiting to see what she is going to say. Most of the people expect her to cancel the tournament to care for her son.
With the microphone in hand, she raises it up to her mouth.
"As everybody know, one of our contestants, Bruno Douglas, has been seriously injured and will not be competing again tonight. However, his injuries are not severe and he will make a full recovery soon. Originally, the tournament was going to cancelled until we can find the culprit behind the attack was but at the urging of Bruno himself, the tournament…will continue!" she says as the crowd erupts with excitement.
Kazuki sits in his locker room, thinking hard about his battle with Bruno and the incident that interrupted it.
"I would have liked to finish our fight," he said to himself. "I hope we will some day but right now, there's another battle I must finish. A far more personal battle."
To Be Continued.
