The note left attached to her door was one that she couldn’t turn down, was it Miharu looking to get her ass kicked again…? No, that would be too simple, the writing was older and this was a challenge to a duel; Asuka was intelligent enough to know that there would only be two people left who would try to stop her fight with Ling and that was Wang Jinrei and Jin. Jin wouldn’t challenge her; he was part of the final rounds. So it had to be Ling’s grandfather Jinrei. Asuka had lost to Wang before–that would be unacceptable this time.
Asuka wore a tight feminine cut “Jane Doe” tee shirt which had a shot of Minami Takahashi on it and over it a tight fitting black velvet jacket with a hood that was lightly trimmed in black fur. There was sequined “Jane Doe,” “Minami” and “Takamina” wording and even an “AKB48” between the sleeves, the back and even across both sides of the front. Asuka wore matching pants with sequined lettering down the left leg of “Minami Takahashi”—at the waist were strings tied in a bow. Asuka had a theme- matching black cap that she wore to the left and her short hair was twisted and tied on both sides towards the back of her head.
Asuka wore her gold sneakers and a gold AKB48 pendent that was quite large on a gold chain around her neck. If it wasn’t known before, the secret was out that she was a fan, and what better way to drop a perverted old man then being dressed in her favorite famous girl’s promotional style outfit.
The sky was clear and Asuka arrived seeing the short and bald old man who somewhat raised Ling Xiaoyu until she stowed away on a Mishima craft and became Heihachi’s student and honorary grand daughter. Wang Jinrei had a long white beard and he was simply old, however, he wasn’t a pushover so Asuka had to be ready for him.
“I knew it was you old man; so many risk their well-being to protect Ling…do you all assume that I will let the Angel take full control and kill her?” Asuka said.
Wang approached Asuka and stood in front of her; he looked her over and said, “My, my, what a pretty little thing you are!”
“That’s so sick you perv…I already have a girlfriend and she really loves me, so if you don’t want Miss. Emilie to get angry at you, you’ll fight me now…what are the conditions?” Asuka said with a frown on her face.
“Conditions you say? If I win I get to grab a handful of goodies—make that TWO handfuls!” Jinrei replied happily.
“And when I win, I get to kill you—deal,” Asuka replied harshly.
Jinrei decided to stop playing games and said, “I wish for my grand daughter to live; its obvious that you will do something unspeakable to her this evening on the orbital platform; I don’t want her to die at the hands of her friend over a misunderstanding Kazama-San…The conditions are, if I win, you will back out and I will take your place; I will then defeat her in battle and you will move on…”
“And if you lose to me; to her?” Asuka asked.
“If I lose to her after that, then I apologize—if I lose to you, then I will only ask this: Let Ling live; injure her as much as you like, but don’t take her life,” Wang replied.
“You and Miharu both…you really care about Xiaoyu. I did once, I thought she was my friend; she didn’t even protest Lili and I being ‘fed’ to the bears. But…I understand, and I’m sorry; I’m going to knock you out; hard…it is vengeance for taking a win from me in the earlier tournament. As for Ling, well; I don’t want to kill her, but we’ll fight in the end and I will win—she is one of them, one of the royals of the Zaibatsu and she cannot be allowed to win the prize under any circumstances. Prepare yourself,” Asuka said and formed a loose version of the Kazama stance with her arms low and her hands open; her stance was correct with her feet spread and her grounding strong.
Wang pulled back raising his arms and even his foot to steadying on the ball of his heel.
“Asuka versus the old pervert, fight!” Asuka screamed and ran at Jinrei and landed a hard palm thrust into his upper body sending him to the ground where he almost avoided a triple sweep from Asuka, but the teenager was just too fast. She had vengeance in her heart, she had lost miserably to Wang a few years ago, and she wasn’t going to lose again.
Wang got to his feet and began a multitude of attacks that Asuka couldn’t have imagined from this old geezer. Asuka back flipped and landed her ‘Dragon Wheel Kick’ and then a roundhouse kick and finally she went in for the big finish, she sent multiple kicks at Jinrei, making contact with each one and finally grabbing hold of him and slamming him to the ground; his head hit hard and he passed out.
The fight was short and Wang was trying, but she had to move quickly and finish him before the Angel came out. Any pain she felt from Jinrei’s assaults had vanished thanks to the Angel, but that was just the beginning; she still had to fight Ling and she would put her out—Asuka was tired of saying that she didn’t want to kill anyone, it seemed that only Miharu believed her after she woke up to Asuka’s embarrassing display.
A park was a horrible place to fight during the day, it was so full of people, but on the other hand, Asuka could find a blanket that a couple would be willing to lend to raise Jinrei’s head off the ground, she stood over him after making him comfortable; the old man wasn’t dead, but he was out and would be in a lot of pain when he awoke.
Asuka fixed her cap and then bowed to Wang and made her way from the battleground to the hotel, she had to get changed and get to the Mishima Orbital Elevator, it would take a good amount of time to get to the platform in space—what a crazy place to fight; but, it also showed the extent of what the Zaibatsu had control over.
*****
Asuka had seriously changed her appearance for this fight with Ling, she wore the same outfit, the bodysuit and halter, gauntlets and boots, however the outfit was all black leather with the halter being red vinyl–and the details of the rest having red–her hair was still brown, however, she considered putting color in it—which she nixed.
The Mishima Zaibatsu orbital elevator was before her, it was a gigantic tunnel built into the Earth and curved upwards; it had a lot of glass that was very thick to take the weight of the entire structure. A huge cargo elevator ran the track up to the orbital platform which was actually in space. There were shuttles everywhere and Asuka could now finally grasp the weight of power and money that Heihachi controlled and why his own son and grandson would go after it at all costs.
Asuka stood at the entrance which was wide open; she looked at Ling Xiaoyu who wore her school uniform, she always appeared the same for some reason, as though she was trying to represent the Zaibatsu by dressing and acting properly. With Ling were the camera crew and judge/announcer. The group entered the orbital elevator with an operator and the doors closed slowly, sealing them in. The elevator had felt like the atmosphere inside had suddenly changed, which it did; there was now artificial air on the inside and it was pressurized; there would also be artificial gravity as they neared their destination.
Asuka leaned against a wall that was away from Ling and rested her right foot against the glass and folded her arms in front of her chest, she looked down at the glass-lined floor and the elevator began rising slowly at first and then started to speed up. The traveling in this elevator was nerve racking…
“How long is the ride?” Asuka asked the operator.
“It takes about a half hour to reach the orbital platform,” The operator replied.
“I see…Well, then…how about if we get this over with; whoever is left standing when the elevator reaches the platform is the winner—do you agree Ling?” Asuka said.
“We should really wait until we arrive at the fight ground,” Ling replied; which was strange, she would usually be up for something like this.
“Are you afraid your ‘grandpa’ will disapprove? Don’t be a coward; you know what kind of viewership this fight will get for your ‘grandpa’ Ling? How much longer?” Asuka said.
“About 25 minutes now—if you look out to your left, you’ll see the sky…where planes fly, its amazing to be at such a height and in the safety of the elevator,” The operator replied.
“The guided tour is nice, but this is the King of Iron Fist Tournament…your grandfather Jinrei challenged me this morning, I put him down, don’t worry, I was respectful and let him rest on the grass—doesn’t that piss you off ‘Xiao,’ don’t you want a piece of me for knocking out your perverted grandfather?” Asuka said with a taunt.
One of the camera crew said to get the live feed ready in a whisper; they wanted to see Asuka’s challenge.
“Last night I took Miharu down too, did she tell you or was she too embarrassed to? I stripped off her uniform and almost kept it for myself; I still don’t know if knocking out two people that you care about is equal to being fed to killer bears though…” Asuka said and Ling finally agreed to the challenge and formed her stance, however, she didn’t set her standard stance, she leaned down low with both of her arms in the air spread apart. “That’s more like it…last one standing when the elevator stops is the winner,” Asuka tightened her Kazama stance and the announcer called, “Asuka Kazama versus Ling Xiaoyu! FIGHT!!!”
Asuka knew what Ling was doing, in her low stance she had a lot more control and could counter almost everything at least for a short time; she couldn’t stop everything–but most assaults would be defended against. Asuka advanced because Ling’s stance was defensive and Asuka was mostly always offensive.
Asuka lay in a few fast kicks with them all being rejected by Ling who easily blocked them, she then quickly changed her stance to almost match Asuka’s except her hands were higher. Ling countered Asuka’s attacks but was finally overcome by Asuka’s skill and greater power, however, in her current condition; Asuka was slowly revealing that the Angel would take control soon. Asuka had golden tribal markings on most of her exposed body and her eyes were golden.
The girls fought hard, hitting each other with everything that they had—the operator kept announcing the time to arrival every so often and as they got closer and closer, the changes became more prominent in Asuka and finally she pulled down the upper half of her black leather bodysuit and the white feathered wings sprouted from her back, it was horribly painful this time for some reason and then her silence began as the golden halo appeared above her head.
Ling kept attacking and attempted to throw Asuka, but the Angel was much faster and stronger and easily blocked Ling’s most powerful assaults. Finally, the Angel smiled and grabbed hold of Ling and slammed her against the glass wall of the elevator causing it to rattle on its tracks; the operator cried out as he saw the glass begin to crack, “You mustn’t break the glass we have entered space, we’ll all die!”
The Angel turned to the operator with a smile as Ling’s blood began to fill the crack in the glass and she said, “…but, I’ll live and that is all that matters, so not everyone will die…”
All assembled were horrified and in shock of the Angel’s words. Asuka began a rhythmic assault on Ling and slammed her into all of the glass walls causing her skin to open and for blood to flow, finally, to make things more fun, Asuka took hold of Ling’s left arm and reversed it with a loud crack as it broke at the elbow. Ling screamed in horrendous pain and the Angel took her to the floor and took hold of Ling’s right arm and did the same thing; after the crack, Ling screamed and as the world became quiet and blurry Asuka performed the same break that she did on Marshall Law to both of Ling’s legs. The Angel then picked Ling up from the floor and slammed her face into the glass just as the elevator arrived at the sealed orbital platform and broke Ling’s jaw; blood just poured from Ling Xiaoyu and those watching the impromptu battle stared in horror at the ‘work’ in which the angel-possessed Asuka Kazama had performed.
Ling slid down the glass smearing blood all over it and to the relief of everyone; the announcer called out nervously, “The winner…Asuka Kazama…”
*****
It was amazing, but the structure was still stable except for the last panel of glass in which Asuka broke Ling’s jaw. The cracks on all of the walls were sealed with foam and epoxy and the elevator slowly made its way back to the Earth; it would take longer this time due to the care being taken by the operator who was watching all of the repairs.
Asuka sat cross-legged on the floor with a pile of rags that were torn into strips. She had broken 80% of Ling’s body when the Angel possessed her; however, Asuka would take the credit for everything that she had done because unlike with Dragunov, she didn’t try to stop it.
Ling was in shock and she was crying and breathing very hard, she had never had anything like this happen to her before. The first thing that Asuka did was ball up a rag and carefully pack it into Ling’s mouth, she then wrapped a longer swath around her head and mouth to support her jaw.
“I was in the Girl Scouts until last year—I had joined to have more of a female influence on me…I grew up with my father, taught to fight at a young age, couldn’t do anything though…I wanted to be able to care for my father like a girl should. He never remarried because he loved my mother greatly, we have an alter set up like in most homes—I know you’re Chinese, but you’ve been here long enough to see that…” Asuka said softly as she bound up the rest of Ling’s broken Jaw to keep it still—her eyes were still exposed along with her nose which was broken; Asuka had taken a straw from one of the film crew’s water cups and severed it and put the two halves into Ling’s nostrils so she could breathe.
Asuka took hold of the boom from the microphone that the sound operator held and separated it as much as she could and then forced Ling’s arms and legs into straight positions—her screams were silent from the temporary jaw repair—Ling’s eyes grew wide as she felt the horrendous pain. Asuka began to wrap up Ling’s arms and legs with the poles to keep them straight with make-shift splints.
“I learned a lot in the Girl Scouts, it was interesting that they are world wide…although, there were a lot of things I didn’t believe in that they teach, I still took a lot of time to learn first aid—advanced aid too; I never actually used it…till now…I met a girl who I became friends with, she was pretty and had long straight hair and was always looking at me, the Tomboy; I was always getting merit in sports—don’t know why there would be merit in that? I can cook a little, just enough to make my father happy; I could clean…it sounds like it’s the 1950’s doesn’t it? A woman should cook and clean, but we Japanese are pretty clean; probably because of the dust storms, the allergies—when do you see so many people out wearing medical masks so they don’t breathe in any of the particles? Oh, so, this girl, her name was Yuumi and I could tell that she liked me; now, granted every so often I would be fighting with Lili on the street and my alone time would be ruined with her. We were both 16; the Senpais of the scouts, I was about to enter tournament 6 and we were going out to have some fun and out of nowhere, Lili comes and attacks me…Jeeze! She had these really technological opera glasses and she would just watch me all the time—turns out she was jealous of Yuumi and I being together. Yuumi and I didn’t go to the same school, we barely saw each other, except on a few days and the scout meetings and trips where we did get to be together—so this story is getting long huh? Well, in the end, Yuumi went to Tokyo and I still write her, but she is gone, my oldest friend; eventually we will part ways completely and it’s a sad thought…” Asuka stopped for a moment and then moved closer to Ling and began to massage her to relieve her of some of the pain, they were almost ten minutes away from touchdown.
“We met each other in tournament 5, both young and dumb, we were a perfect group, Ling and Asuka…you introduced me to Miharu and then Panda—I freaked a bit at first, but then realized that she was really harmless except as an entrant in the tournament. I found it strange that bears were fighting people, but so were robots. Between late tournament 5 and tournament 6 we were able to avoid most conflict with Lili and were able to go to amusement parks and have fun and all; and I enjoyed it so much, but then this one, the MZ tournament; everyone had changed, the stakes were so much higher. Jin had been overtaken as the ruler of the Zaibatsu and his world war had ended. The conflict between Uncle Kazuya and Grandfather had finally come to an end also and Miss, Jun had come back from who knows where…everyone had united and even you joined along with them even after all of the warnings that Jin gave you in tournament 4 not to trust Heihachi, yet you didn’t listen—you cried when Heihachi was falsely declared dead and now I did something horrible to my friend…I’m sorry Ling, I love you like a sister, but I let go and let the Angel do as she wished, but I realize that the power is just too much and it has to be restrained; I need to find a way in which to do that. Tomorrow I fight Miss. Jun and she isn’t a pushover, she has a great and dark power that I can’t go up against without the Angel’s power, but I’ll be damned if I let her control my actions,” Asuka said.
Ling lay still and all aboard could feel the elevator come to a stop, the huge doors opened and an emergency crew retrieved Ling. Asuka got to her feet and walked away, she would have to find a way to suppress the Angel, her goal was not to kill Jun or the others; her goal was to save them.
*****
Wearing her same black outfit as she did against Jinrei—minus the cap–Asuka made her way to a shrine at the edge of town; this was her only option; if anyone would know how to suppress the Angel, a temple Priest would.
Asuka had her hood up due to the on-coming chill of the night, the thin black fur trim blew around gently and her hair poked out from underneath. Asuka had her hands in the side, slit pockets and walked quickly through the gates and towards the main building where she could see a Miko or Shrine Maiden wearing red hakama pants and a white haori with white ribbons in her hair which was shiny and black—long and beautiful. The Miko was using a straw broom to clean in front of the offering box and turned when she could feel Asuka’s presence.
The Miko bowed and Asuka quickly followed taking her hood off quickly, she said, “Good evening, may I speak with the Shinto Priest?”
“He is away performing a ceremony; how may I be of assistance…oh…you are possessed by an Angel—Asuka Kazama, you are ranked number one in the Zaibatsu tournament,” The Miko said and Asuka nodded.
The Miko leaned her broom against a post by the offering box and made her way towards Asuka and said, “I can help you, you don’t need the priest…come, follow me, I’ll get you started…oh, and just so you understand, I don’t just sell charms, I am a trained Shaman; so listen to me and do everything I tell you; do not question me…and what is it that you wanted to do with the Angel?”
“I want to suppress it Miko-sama,” Asuka replied.
“You just want to suppress it, not remove it from your spirit?” The Miko asked.
“I need the power to survive the final battles, but if the halo appears like it did earlier, it means that I have no control over any of my actions—I am aware, but the Angel has possessed my body,” Asuka said.
“I understand…first, you must choose a strong branch from the Sakura tree; be sure it’s not too big, and it must also have blossoms; do you understand?” The Miko said.
“Yes Miko-sama, I understand,” Asuka replied.
Asuka looked up at the beautiful cherry blossom tree and chose a branch that was low, it was a good medium size and had a decent amount of blossoms on it, she touched it and the Miko said, “Now break it off at the closest point to the trunk as you can…give me your hand first.”
Asuka obeyed and put out her right hand and the Miko wrapped red and white beads around her wrist and palm and then instructed her to remove the branch by saying a prayer. Once the task was done, the Miko wrapped the beads around the Sakura branch and said, “Okay, go to the offering box, put in 3000 Yen and ring the bell 30 times, then pray for the suppression of the Angel’s halo. I will return in a half hour, do you understand?”
“Yes Miko-sama, I understand,” Asuka replied.
They bowed to each other and Asuka started to dig through her pants pocket for 3000 Yen or about 30 dollars, when she arrived at the offering box, she tossed the paper money in and rang the bell from the thick rope 30 times and clapped her hands together twice and then began her prayer.
The half hour lasted a long time and the Angel was screaming in her mind—little did Asuka know that the Miko was performing a ritual on the Sakura branch at the same time causing the Angel to become affected by the ‘spell.’
As Asuka continued to pray with her eyes closed and looking down, she could feel her hair being touched—she was told to be still by the Miko in a whisper and obeyed. The Miko began to style Asuka’s hair around the Sakura branch; securing it tightly into Asuka’s brown locks; when she was finished, the branch jutted out on the left with the flowering blossoms above her face and the severed end towards the right at the back of Asuka’s head.
The Miko gently touched Asuka’s chin and she looked at her, and said, “The halo is now suppressed, however, if the Sakura branch breaks, you will once again lose control, so you must protect it. You cannot remove the branch from your hair, however, with care, you can wash around it. If any cracks occur, you can mend them with white or red ribbon, but if the branch snaps into two separate pieces, then it is useless. Do you understand everything in which I told you Kazama-san?”
“Yes Miko-sama, I understand…thank you,” Asuka replied and bowed, she then put up her hood carefully and left the shrine. In the afternoon, she would face her Aunt Jun, the sister of her father; she would be facing someone with the same fighting style and a dark, dangerous possession—nonetheless, she had to defeat Jun and save her…
Next time on Tekken MZ, Asuka faces Jun in a mirrored battle—both with the Kazama-style martial arts; will Jun break the cherry blossom branch before Asuka has the chance to see its effectiveness or will something even worse occur? Find out next time on Tekken Tuesday!
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