A long white limo sat parked in front of the hotel and the driver was finishing loading Lili’s bags for her in the large trunk. Asuka looked at Emilie and said, “Are you going to be okay?”

“I should be asking you that question Asuka. I’m sorry to have to leave you so suddenly, this wasn’t supposed to happen,” Lili replied.

“Emilie, I love you, don’t forget about me okay?” Asuka said sadly. She stood in front of the taller Lili and looked up at her with her eyes sparkling with tears.

Lili gently held Asuka’s chin, and touched the tip of her nose briefly with her pointer finger and said, “I love you too, very much so…I’ve loved you ever since our first fight; you looked so small and fragile that I didn’t want to hurt you…who knew you would take me down in two rounds, I didn’t see any of the techniques coming—I remember you were dressed in Hakama pants and a…well whatever you call the top, a robe or something, and you took me apart as I tried to dance around you, you were always ready to counter and strike; you had a pretty feather and blue morning glory in your hair too; so beautiful…yet, that mouth of yours, every word that came out of it was like the garbage being smashed in the back of the noisy truck. You made a fool out of me…and then I grabbed your breasts and made you blush after I woke from being knocked out. I smacked your butt too, I humiliated you in public—tournament 6 I think…or was it the second wave of tournament 5? But, look at you now, you are staring into my eyes with your hands folded, relaxed and calm as though you don’t trust anyone else in the world…I love you so much darling Asuka and I will be waiting for your return after the tournament…the Princess of Iron Fist champion as King called you.” Lili let go of Asuka and leaned over to embrace her in her arms, they hugged tightly and kissed; Lili then straightened Asuka’s school uniform and caressed her shoulder length brown hair.

Asuka blushed and then with her hands folded in front of her she bowed to her girlfriend as Lili entered the rear of the long car. Lili said, “I left you a few presents in your closet, I will be watching the tournament on television, I expect to see you wearing them.”

“Yes Emilie, I will; goodbye, I’ll see you soon,” Asuka said still bowed forward.

“I love you Miss. Kazama, I’ll see you soon; until then…” Lili said and the long white car pulled away from the hotel. Lili was gone and Asuka was now alone. Asuka straightened and from a solemn look upon her face, her features changed drastically to anger and focus, it was the only way to survive against her remaining opponents. Asuka’s pride welled up from within and she entered the hotel, she would be facing Paul Phoenix in a back ally brawl in the early afternoon…he was amazing and strong, but she was better—gifted, a Kazama. With absolute focus, she would defeat those who remained and become the champion, no matter what.

*****

In the morning, Asuka awoke to an empty bed, but that wasn’t the point, she had to feel nothing, only victory was on her mind. She got out of the large bed and opened the closet to red, blue and yellow suit bags—Emilie was color-coding things for her? Phoenix usually wore red, so she would too, so she took the red suit bag from the hook and laid it on the bed and pulled the zipper down revealing a glossy black vinyl bodysuit that matched all the others, however, the halter was different, it had a zipper in the front and was striped in red, black and white. Asuka could use her boots, but her gauntlets were destroyed…there was a new pair at the bottom of the bag…and a square jewelry box?

Asuka took off her night clothes and put the halter on, she zipped it up and then stopped and zipped it down to below her cleavage—it was made of vinyl and was very tight on her, so ‘falling out’ wasn’t something to be worried about. She took hold of the jewelry box and removed the lid, inside was a pin or button of the flying bird that was on the back of the bodysuit, she smiled and then pinned it to the left overhang of the halter.
Asuka pulled on the black vinyl bodysuit and secured the belt tightly, it was pulled down so much that the shorts pulled into her groin, but it was still comfortable. Asuka pulled on her boots and finally the new gauntlets, she fluffed out her hair and stood in front of the large mirror; her eyes went directly to the tattoo encircling her belly button, she didn’t care if it was exposed anymore. The build of the halter top would allow the Angel’s wings to spawn without damaging her outfit—Lili thought of everything didn’t she?

With having a little time before she had to leave, Asuka looked around the room for her new CD—she couldn’t remember where she put it? Maybe Lili accidentally took it with her?

Asuka’s phone rang and she answered; greeted by Lili who said, “Darling Asuka, did you sleep well last night?”

“Not without you here, by my side,” Asuka replied.

“It was the same for me…its been tough, in a few days my father will be put to rest and I’ve been running the company since I arrived back home; I was up most of the night working on a presentation where my father left off—I’m sorry, I have your CD…I took it with by mistake,” Lili said.

Asuka laughed and replied, “No, you just wanted to listen to it!”

“You may be right, it reminds me of that night…oh; so which outfit did you choose to wear when you fight Mr. Phoenix?” Lili said.

“The black and red one…thank you Emilie, I really love it, and the button is cute too,” Asuka said.

“Good, I’m glad, do your best and you’ll be victorious; however, don’t be defensive, you are more fun when you enjoy the heat of battle, so fight like you did against Bruce Irvin. Remember Asuka—balance.” Lili said.

“Yes Miss. Emile, I will—I love you…” Asuka said softly.

“I love you more…bye my daring little Tomboy, take down Phoenix and move on,” Lili said.

The phone call ended and Asuka smiled—she had to be obnoxious, it was the only way– no more Lili to keep her in check; she was going to embarrass Paul Phoenix, it was how she would have the balance she needed.

*****

A back alley brawl; it was a pretty large alley, the kind that they walked though to that underground fight with Craig Marduk. The area was blockaded and many bystanders were about to watch this battle

What kept Paul Phoenix from becoming champion of the King of Iron Fist was Kuma…the giant brown bear in which she had to defeat with the Angel holding her hand, so it was not really an embarrassment that Phoenix couldn’t win. In an earlier tournament, he abandoned the final battle against the monstrous Ogre and lost by default. His fight with Anna Williams was not easy, but his size and power overcame Anna’s skill. Now Asuka would have to do better than Anna.

Asuka was much shorter and smaller than Anna, and not as strong, but she had skill beyond Anna’s assassins’ arsenal and would use anything that would allow her to win. Asuka stood with her right hand on her hip and pointed at Phoenix sideways with her left, she yelled, “Are you sure, are you really sure you want to fight me?”

Phoenix wore a red Karategi with the sleeves ripped off and the cuffs of the pant legs tattered, he had on his black belt with stripes denoting that he was at the forth degree. His hair…a yellow mass standing up—a sky scraper—so much gel and hairspray…

He laughed as he came closer to Asuka, and Phoenix said, “This is for Marshall—BEST in the universe; coming at ya!”

Asuka grinned and then took the Kazama fighting stance lowering her already low center of gravity and using knife hands with a precise spread to her arms, she looked forward and as Phoenix spread his stance they waited for the announcer to open the fight.

“Paul Phoenix versus Asuka Kazama! FIGHT!”

Phoenix came at Asuka first, and she blocked his huge arms from taking her down, she then kicked him under his arm and pushed him back, however, she held onto his wrist as best as she could with her small hands so she could forcefully extend his arm and lay a punch into his ribs. This entire action had caused Phoenix to back off and wait for Asuka who performed her double lift kicks and took Phoenix to the ground.

At this point, Asuka turned to the camera and winked with a peace sign and posed for Lili who was most likely watching at home, even with her troubles.

Phoenix pulled himself to his feet and blocked Asuka from using her ‘Heart Stopper’ and then picked her up and threw her towards the ground—she quickly up righted herself upon nearing the street and Phoenix came at her with a powerful kick that she dodged and he made contact with a garbage can; with his leg getting caught in it all the while.

Asuka back flipped causing her hanging bodysuit to drop towards her back and then back to her butt and thighs as she up righted and she charged at Phoenix and used her powerful palm thrust and put him into the wall as he had almost freed himself from the metal can full of trash. As Phoenix slammed into the wall, Asuka slapped her butt and looked at the camera and smiled, she then back flipped into Phoenix and put him to the ground and grabbed hold of his leg and went for the same technique that she used on Law—however, she gently touched the bottom of his foot with her pointer finger and said, “Crunch!”

The round ended and Phoenix let out a sigh of relief as Asuka let go of him and went to her position. Asuka could tell the Angel was angered at her lack of internal fire with this combat; as with her fight against Irvin; but she didn’t care. King had convinced her that she should return to having fun with it, because it would balance her—which it did. Paul Phoenix wasn’t a push over, at least in his younger days, but he had pretty much let himself go to the point where he had become cocky and used cheap techniques and even team-up plans with Law and even the boxer Steve Fox…Asuka wanted to fight the younger Paul, but it wasn’t going to happen this time—however, there was still a maximum of two rounds left to find out.

“Let’s get this over with Phoenix-San, you’re a disappointment!” Asuka said loudly with a grin on her face, she turned backwards and craned her neck to look towards Phoenix who was sweating and becoming filled with anger. Asuka spread both of her hands and kept her arms at her sides with her elbows slightly bent because of the black plastic pads, she then said, “You have some big goals wanting to be the best in the universe—but then you’ll need a spaceship—is that your plan for the money and the company? Seems like a small dream to me when you could do bigger things that people will recognize. “

“You still talk a lot kid; you’re too young to know what dreams are and what to do to make them a reality. This is all fun and games to you all of a sudden—is that the mentality that came out of nearly being killed by King? How about your girlfriend up and leaving so suddenly…” Phoenix said gruffly.

“Stop right there—now we fight, come on!” Asuka yelled with slight anger as the announcer called the second round, she then began a series of kicks that Phoenix blocked most of and retaliated with a very hard punch which sent Asuka to the ground, she then popped up quickly and made a run at Phoenix who stomped the ground and punched her at the same time causing Asuka to fall back—however she used the inertia to back flip and kick Phoenix in the head, she then performed her ‘Dragon Wheel Kick’ and then her double lift kicks. Finally Asuka slammed her right elbow pad into the top of Phoenix’s head, crushing his sky scraper hair-do and performing “The Heavens Hammer’ and taking him down to the ground; she backed up and ran at Phoenix and lay in a drop kick and finally as she got up, Phoenix followed in a wobbly way. Asuka then used her ‘Spinning Heel Drop’ and finished Phoenix once and for all. As he flew into the closest wall that was lined with trash cans he screamed, “I don’t understand!!!” Paul Phoenix finally fell unconscious.

Asuka’s anger faded and she turned toward the camera and leaned forward with her left hand on her hip and she saluted with two fingers with her right hand while winking and said, “That’s the lesson for today!”

The crowd around her cheered and Asuka hoped that Lili too, in her grief was cheering for her. Asuka was declared the winner and Paul Phoenix lay in a pile of garbage cans unconscious and defeated. Asuka really wanted the fight to be clean, even and fair, but that crack about Lili leaving her just put her over the edge; Phoenix should consider himself lucky that the Angel didn’t appear.

Asuka posed for the cameras—still and video, she was very happy—two fights in a row she had performed with balance and pleasure, this is what she enjoyed. Her next fight would be Christie Monteiro, it would be fun, after all, she was not very self-serving anymore to the point where she was always looking for Eddy Gordo, she was now quite happy and fought as Asuka had before this tournament—it was for fun and Asuka was looking forward to it.

Asuka left the battleground leaving Phoenix to his own devices; if he didn’t say the things he said, she would help him up, but she figured that he was injured enough to get a bed next to Law’s so the old ’buddies’ would have company and possibly rethink their way of life.

Asuka loved her outfit, she never wanted to take it off, but this was a special gift from Lili; for the next battle, she would wear the one in the blue suit bag and show the one she loved that she was fighting for her.

*****

Christie…she had defeated Baek Doo San; now how could she win against the man whom had defeated Asuka in an earlier tournament? She was good at her Capoeira; however, she wasn’t as strong as Eddy Gordo, so that made the possibilities of a quick defeat high and much more favorable to Asuka.

Asuka lay in her large hotel bed alone with just her bra and panties on; she was looking at the muted television on the wall and looked at some of the highlights for the day. The Tekken Mishima Zaibatsu: King of Iron Fist Tournament was showing on so many channels that she was almost able to view one fight after the next. She felt that her battle with Phoenix was a laugh riot—it’s been a long time since she had fun in a fight. However, even though it was a fun fight, she was disappointed in Phoenix’s performance; he was once one of the best; a true champion—these days he flaunted his 4th degree black belt and it actually meant nothing…Asuka could picture Phoenix and Law laying in neighboring hospital beds hitting on the nurses—even though Law was married.

Asuka changed channels until she caught the fight between Christie and Baek; it wasn’t a squash match, Christie had to earn the win, but still, she had won where Asuka had lost—she really wanted a rematch—even after the embarrassment.

Christie’s moves were pretty set, she had many and everything she did came as a surprise to her opponent, however, Asuka didn’t care, she would fight and win and then move on. All of the fights were imbalanced, some difficult, some easy, some not even part of the tournament—Asuka knew there would be others that would occur and soon the rounds would be dropped in favor of a fight to the finish, win by knockout or…death.

Asuka turned off the television and then the lights, she snuggled in the bed with a pillow and closed her eyes; she missed Lili, but her real issue was with the Angel which spoke to her as she tried to sleep; letting Asuka know that she was always there and in complete control of her.

Next time on Tekken MZ; Asuka faces Christie Monteiro, will the fighter whom defeated Asuka’s foil do the same to her or will Asuka succeed in defeating Christie and continue on in her journey? Find out next week on Tekken Tuesday! Be here!

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