Author's forward: Hello, world! I'm so happy to finally upload chapter 6. I know, it's been a while, more than a month, actually, but my life has been such a mess due to the semester at University. I tried to write, but I felt so stressed and guilty for doing something so fun that requires so much time writing that I thought it would be best to not do it for a while. Turns out I was wrong, I wasted so much time anyways that it would have been better to spend it doing more chapters. But well, lessons learned. Thank you to the person who sent me a message saying it was looking forward to the next chapter, you really were the reason I got the strength to write it. I hope you like it!

Chapter 6: Street Tag Tournament

The two Prototype Jacks walked slowly towards the KIS students. The previously lively crow was now noticeably scared of whatever were the things blocking their exit, convinced that if just a normal size robot was that powerful, two of these giants would be just brutal.

"Everybody, stay behind me!" Xiaoyu shouted as she made her fighting pose, ready for another fight. The crow followed her order, not feeling like they were able to pretend they were more capable of dealing with this. Yet despite her determination, the young martial artist was not totally confident about this battle. She was not a stranger to fighting against a Jack Robot, she had done it plenty of times before and she knew how to stop them, but during those encounters she had dealt with one at the time, now it was two against one, so using the same strategy was kinda tricky.

"Yeah, right! You are not fighting alone this time!" Said a voice approaching her. Shin Kamiya stood next to her, doing his karate stance.

"Are you sure you can handle this? You just got out of a heavy battle."

"Don't worry about me, I'm good as new," Xiaoyu was not sure at first about him being ready for another encounter, but after a fast glance she noticed he didn't look exhausted at all. "The way you got ahead tells me you know how to deal with these metal mountains. So, lead the way, I'll keep up." He said with an assertive smile.

For just a second, the act of this mysterious guy depositing his trust in her made the doubtful schoolgirl feel encouraged and full of confidence. It has been a while since the last time some other fighter had given her this kind of respect. She might not know so much about him either, but right now she was sure she could trust him.

"Alright, pay attention," She commanded him. Each one was now facing one of the Prototype Jacks, making the encounter balanced. "There's no one here to give them orders, so they will attack us as soon as they calculate we are a menace. They are stronger than Combot, but also remarkably slower, and their moves are way more basic than the human's, so move fast, look for an opening, and do your best to make them lose their balance. Got it?"

"Sounds easy." Shin said nonchalantly.

"Very sure of yourself, uh?" The petite fighter commented with a low chuckle. Suddenly, The robot in front of her finally reacted by moving towards her. "Let's show them what we got!"

Prototype Jack started with a Granite Stomping, just to be fast avoided for Xiaoyu with a Backflip. Still close to her, it continued with a Machine Elbow, but the Chinese fighter dodged it again by doing a Spinner and took the advantage to do a successful Belly Chop, concentrating her strength on the palm of her hand, which made the robot move back a few steps. Their bodies are as solid as I remembered. I can't do any kind of loose hit or I'll break my fingers.

As if it was furious about the offense of the punch, Prototype Jack charged its punch with a spin and threw it in a Discharger move. Xiaoyu responded to the aggressive attack by launching herself in a Dive Roll Right, leaving the ground to receive it and becoming debris in the process. Having her desired opening, she didn't waste a second and firmly grabbed its right foot with both hands and twisted it with her whole body doing a Crank Up that made the machine twirl in the air and collide loudly on the floor.

Xiaoyu was proudly looking at her work, when a noise behind her made her see the second Prototype Jack was ready to make a Diamond Cutter at her head. She was getting ready to receive it, nonetheless it ended up not being necessary. Shin grabbed the massive enemy's torso from behind and elevated it with all his energy, getting his face red for the heaviness of the not easy task, to then drop it on his knee in an Atomic Drop. While he was still firmly holding his grip, Xiaoyu took the chance to jump and hit it in the head with a Dragonfly kick, sending it to collapse to the side.

The new fighting duo tried to catch their breaths for just a second, unfortunately, due to their guards lowered down, they weren't able to hear the first Prototype Jack standing up, which it grabbed Xiaoyu's right leg in a overly painful lock, and then picked her up while spinning the little fighter in the air as she was a rag doll. The gigantic monster released its Sling Drop precisely to launch her to her partner, who didn't have time to even think about dodging the flying Chinese girl, so he got rammed by her.

They both fell to the floor next to each other. Xiaoyu rubbed her sore head while Shin his beaten chest.

"You are heavier than you look." Shin complained, still hurted by the launch, but mostly in his pride.

"Well, now I'm pissed!" Said Xiaoyu tremendously annoyed by the sneak attack. But they were not able to keep talking. The second Prototype Jack had flown towards them with its arms extended in a strikingly weird pose. When it got exactly below them, the enormous beast released itself for a Giant Foot Stomp.

"Look out!" Shin shouted at the same time he grabbed his partner by the shoulders to throw her away from the landing zone. Xiaoyu rolled on the ground for a few meters until she could stop herself and get back to her feet.

"Shin!" Finding out his state was her first concern. She looked where Shin was, he had barely been able to get away from the bombarding, and it looked like the duck had made him lose energy and concentration. The Prototype Jack had taken the offensive and advanced towards Shin doing Cossacks Kicks, who was merely blocking them while stepping back in a failed attempt to get distance.

Xiaoyu tried to rush to help her troubled schoolmate, but before she could proceed, she found herself doing a Cartwheel to the left to avoid a Megaton Earthquake coming from the first Prototype Jack, which was now blocking her way and demanding for its opponent. As much as the young martial artist wanted to help her classmate, she first needed to put the metallic titan out of the way.

Prototype Jack made a Hell Roller, but Xiaoyu avoided the high move by lowering her stance at the same time she got closer with a Low Back Turn. Now in position, she threw a Peacock Kick straight to the robot's face, yet it got blocked by its arms raised in defense. That's my opening! And she proceeded quickly to do a Phoenix Tail, an extra low kick that got her challenger out of balance and falling. Not losing time, she made a Roll Ball and turned around. She was now facing the first Prototype Jack laying on the ground while behind her Shin was holding the second one. She wanted to help him, but first she needed to contain it with a stronger attack.

Xiaoyu found her chance when the robot started to stand up looking backwards, before it could finish turning around, the young martial artist was already doing her Shooting Star combo, three powerful flying kicks right in the middle section of her opponent with a Backflip at the end. With the first challenger getting troubles to stand up, the Chinese fighter looked at her partner. His opponent was throwing fists non stop. A Megaton Blast followed by a Mad Dozer, and in all that time Shin wasn't able to do anything more than block. The machine was determined in not letting its guard down.

As fast as she could, Xiaoyu ran to give a hand. Jumping in a Front Layout, she landed her knees on the second Prototype Jack's giant shoulders, making it automatically stop its attacks, now trying to get the small fighter out of its head. But Xiaoyu was firmly grabbed and blocking its eyes with her petite hands.

Shin was seeing the scene, looking for air and a strategy. That's when he found the opportunity in the form of the notoriously injured first Prototype Jack approaching from behind in direction to his fearless partner with its hands changed into drills.

"Hold it there!" He screamed at her. Without questions, Xiaoyu obeyed and grasped with both hands the titanic monster's chin, pulling it back to make it stay still. Shin finally had an opening, so without hesitation he went from a hit. "Jump!" He shouted before landing a Flash Punch straight on its chest. His classmate didn't need further explanation, she hopped out of the robot right before Kamiya's punch made contact.

In consequence, the second Prototype Jack fell backwards only to be received by its partner, which accidentally reacted with a Drill Punch. Now one Prototype Jack's chest was perforated and stuck in the other's drill hand, which started spinning and made the machine's gears and circuits fly everywhere until the whole robot was torn apart.

With its companion out of service, the remaining Prototype Jack wasn't able to dodge the upcoming dual attack. As in perfect synchrony, Ling Xiaoyu and Shin Kamiya approached their enemy each one from one side, and at the same time Xiaoyu hitted it with a Step Kick, Shin also gave it a Leaping Sidekick. Prototype Jack Wasn't able to take the damage and ended up splitting in half, the upper body separated from the lower body. The two robots were completely broken and unable to keep moving. The battle was finally over.

The winners looked at the remaining parts of their adversaries spreaded all over and then at each other.

"Nice one." Said the exhausted Chinese fighter with a satisfactory smile. Her mysterious partner returned a small grin, but before he could say anything they were surrounded by the cheers and applause from the group of students left behind, who were extremely happy for not having been smashed by the surprise challengers.

"That was awesome!" Said one excited student.

"I agree, I've never seen someone fight like that." James Kyeon felicitated them while clapping encouragingly on their backs "You guys are on another level."

"Hey, I know Violet left the building, but we still have this big stuff here. Wanna keep this party going?" The faded haircut guy proposed, not wanting to waste the entire night.

But his idea never got to be considered. A terribly loud alarm started sounding in the whole building, stunning the entire crew. A prerecorded voice sounded just a few seconds after.

"SELF DESTRUCTION SYSTEM ACTIVATED. IMMINENT DEMOLITION. EVACUATE THE INSTALLATIONS. SELF DESTRUCTION SYSTEM ACTIVATED. IMMINENT DEMOLITION. EVACUATE THE INSTALLATIONS."

"What!" Xiaoyu screamed, unable to process the message they just heard. Suddenly, the Prototype Jack heads laying on the ground opened to show a big timer in twenty seconds going backwards. She didn't need a further explanation. "Everybody, get out of here now!"

All of the students ran as fast as they could out of the old factory. Now matter how tired they were, the desperation had activated the extra adrenaline needed for the escape. In just a couple of seconds the whole place was empty, or at least that was what they suspected.

Just when they reached the shore of the Katsura River, an extremely big explosion was heard behind them and even from their location they could see the smoke taking place at the old factory.

"What the hell, Matt!" James shouted at his classmate as he grabbed him by the neck. "You tried to kill us!" Two other students throw themselves over his friend to try to stop him from beating the ex elite fellow.

"No, I swear, this never happened before!" Matt begged while he was shaking like a leaf for fear. Unable to take the pressure anymore, he was now bursting in tears. "I'm sorry!"

"Guys, stop it!" A loud and firm voice put an end to the argument. Everyone turned around, surprised to see the one speaking was the faded haircut guy. "There's no time, the police will come any minute and we were supposed to be at the school's dorms."

Everyone looked at each other like they were finding the same thought printed in their faces. They were astonished, scared and very angry, but their friend was right, fighting was only taking time away for them.

"Ok, let's go for now." Said James in a toned down voice. He had released Matt and, even if he still was furious with him, he was choosing to be calm.

"Wanna come with us?" Shin Kamiya asked Xiaoyu. "The cops might find you if you move on your own."

It was a proposal that sounded like an opportunity, especially since she hasn't been able to gather some of his DNA. Nevertheless, the teenage spy was capable of seeing beneath the surface of this chance. If G Corps just wanted to take a sample of Shin, they would have done it a long time ago. Anna instructions were clear, she had to be discreet and unnoticeable. And even if she had ended up revealing her existence to the majority of the honor class and exposing her knowledge in martial arts, she was still undercover and nobody could prove she is a secret agent yet. But if she went back to school with this crowd, they would definitely ask her questions. She could lie, of course, but lying under a chit chat and making a cover under an interrogation were two vastly different situations.

Xiaoyu couldn't risk her mission by getting discovered, she had to take the hard decision to retire for now and make herself sure there would be another chance. That was also the time she recalled she hadn't come to this place alone, but with Panda.

"Oh no, I forgot about my friend! I should go back… Ow!" In an attempt to move fast, the young martial artist tripped with her own left foot and fell hard on the floor. Still on the ground, she rubbed her hurted foot in pain and embarrassment.

"You okay now?" Shin asked her while he extended a hand towards her to help. Xiaoyu took the kind offer and firmly grabbed his hand while standing up.

"Thank you, I forgot how injured my leg was." The clumsy student said with a slightly hurtful smile.

"Shin, come on! We are leaving without you!" One of his friends shouted. The honor students didn't wanna spend more time with conversations, so they were already running north.

"I'm going!" Shin turned to the mystery girl one more time, but she was already gone and he was alone. He couldn't look for her, so he left with his group.

Ling Xiaoyu was running through the district's dark alleys, wondering where her beloved Panda was, what just happened that night, and how she was gonna explain it to Anna without getting murdered in the process. Luckily, her first question was answered when at the exit of an alley she was intercepted by a known limousine. The door opened and Panda was inside, raising her front paws with full joy of finding her dearest friend. Xiaoyu entered and the vehicle moved immediately.

"Where is Anna?" The young spy asked the chauffeur.

"She is waiting for you at the headquarters. We will be there soon." He responded, never looking away from the road.

Great, nothing like getting lectured after the most troublesome night of my life. The tired agent closed her eyes and accommodated her body in the car seat. Right now her only consolation was the softness of the leather upholstery and the head of her friend giving her lovely cuddles, so she wanted to enjoy them while she could.

It was past midnight when the limousine arrived at the classic Japanese residence. Ling Xiaoyu and Panda went straight to the main house. The Chinese student was expecting to be received by a dark and gloomy atmosphere, instead, Anna Williams was waiting for her kneeled in the tatami while preparing a tea ceremony, not showing any kind of resentment.

"Take a seat." Anna commanded her in a very calm voice, Xiaoyu obeyed nervously and waited for her to talk. "So then, I'm guessing you made contact."

"I'd say I made more than just contact." Xiaoyu said as she touched the bump in her head.

"Easy to see, the Kyoto Fireman Station already submitted a report of a fire at a factory near the Katsura River," Anna showed off a folder with the letters "KFS" printed on it.

The young spy's face turned pale and didn't move a muscle. What was gonna happen to me now? But to her surprise, her boss gave her a slight laugh.

"Relax, kid, nothing or no one out of the ordinary has been reported," The deadly assassin threw the file next to her teen employer so she could read it. "The building has been abandoned for years due to the company's bankruptcy, so nobody is claiming retribution nor further investigation. The cause of the fire has been declared a shortcut by old wires."

"What?" Xiaoyu was perplexed as she read the official declaration. There was no way that could be the cause. "But there were robots and stuff from Violet Systems, I swear I saw them."

"Don't worry, I know you are not a liar. You're the one who proved it," Anna snapped her finger and the big screen turned on, showing footage of the fight recorded from Xiaoyu's G Phone. "You have never stopped recording, not even now."

Xiaoyu took her G Phone out of her pocket, it was right, she didn't have time to turn it off due to Combot's surprise attack. Although it turned out to be beneficial for her, she didn't like the idea of her new boss having so much access to her devices.

"It was actually a great idea to use your camera, you are showing to be full of surprises," Anna said with a grin. "Now thanks to you, we have gathered more information about our suspect. Well done."

"But I failed the mission, I didn't get any of his DNA,"

"No, but if you haven't interfered the situation could have escalated to something worse and we might have lost our target. I prefer my men reachable and alive, if I have to say. Even more, now he trusts you," Anna took Xiaoyu's TAC book full of notes and put it in front of her. "And I must admit, your hunch was on the right before, and you showed good judgement when you made the decision to call it a day and come back. So I don't think I have any reason to get rid of a valuable agent like you."

Xiaoyu sighed with relief, yet she tried to not show too much joy. Instead, she rather just focuses on her job.

"So, the official report it's just a lie?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if Lee Chaolan himself was the one paying for that statement. However, we don't know where he is."

"And this student, his name is Shin Kamiya, and he does look like him."

"Indeed, yet his DNA is the ultimate proof of our theory, without it we could still be in the wrong," The water of the teapot started to boil, so Anna took it away from the fire in a delicate move. "And now with all the comotion we can't count with the honor students sneaking out again. So, our man is inside the dorm and we don't know how to enter or where his room is."

"Well, I think I know where he resides," Xiaoyu said while searching for something in her pocket. She opened her fist to show one of her earphones. "When I pretended to fall, I let him help me stand up so I could sneak one of my earphones in the pocket of his hoodie. You put a tracking device on it, didn't you?"

Anna's eyes opened wide with the cleverness of this naive-looking girl. She opened her laptop and checked the signal of the earphone. Indeed, now they have a precise location of Shin Kamiya, plus, she was sure she could use the device to scan the place and have a better view of the dorm's structure.

"Such an amazing job, I must admit." Anna's smile was turning a little sinister again, like she was greedly seeing a pile of gold. There were still a lot of questions going through Xiaoyu's mind after the events of that messy experience, most of them related to Violet/Lee and the Mishima Karate Style. Even so, she got the feeling that, in order to get some answers, she would have to look in another place first.

"I still need to find a way to enter the building, but I'm sure I can figure it out tomorrow."

"I knew I picked the right person for this job. Now.. Tea?"

To be continue…

Author's note: Thanks for reading to the end. If life is still good, I will upload a new chapter in two weeks. Now I'm excited, I really wish I could finish this whole story before new year's eve, that would be a great way to finish the 2021. Bye!

Thoughts during the creation process: It might be kinda obvious already, but this chapter is a tribute to the Tekken Tag Tournament, 1 and 2. I love TTT2, it is such an amazing game, and a more than amazing sequel to TTT. That game really got the message of the first one, it's all about the relationships made between the characters: the relationship with friends, rivals, enemies, people with the same fighting style. And you didn't even need an introduccion of the characters, a lot of them are said during the gameplay. How you chose two characters who make a special attack, their winning poses, it's so full of little details. And the endings, I swear this game has the best endings ever (even better than Tekken 4). The way one fighter's ending includes at least another's participation is the best, some of them make a complete story, and they are all so funny or hearthwarming, it really made it worth it to get to the end.

I wanted to make Shin Kamiya not only someone beyond an emo character, but also a person who made a connection with Ling Xiaoyu, so then it would make more sense for her to get too attached to him and wanted to know more.