The location was not good for starters Asuka thought as she arrived at a dark shrine that was lit just barely with torches. The second issue was who she was going to fight in order to advance. The fights against Phoenix and Christie were fun; the kind she liked where her life wasn’t on the line, this would be different.

Asuka wore her bluish-silver leather bodysuit that matched the others; her halter was blue—she looked over to her opponent who was softly singing a Russian folk song…or was it a battle tune?

Asuka’s English was pretty broken, so learning Russian on the fly wasn’t going to happen—but, it wasn’t the songs words, it was the tune itself, it sounded eerie and was coming from SPETZNAZ officer Sergei Dragunov.

Dragunov was something to behold in the light of day, but in the fire-lit night he looked almost terrifying. Standing at over six feet tall with long, straight, black hair; some was gathered back into a ponytail. Dragunov wore a dressy outfit in tan that consisted of pants and a suit-style jacket; a white dress shirt with a red tie, black leather gloves and tall black leather boots.

His face was young and handsome, however his eyes appeared dark, as though he had seen many battles and taken many lives; he was also almost pale in the face, a ghost of war.

Dragunov continued his song and even Asuka couldn’t interrupt, she—for lack of a better word—was actually frightened of him.

Asuka took a deep breath and let it out; she then walked over to Dragunov and said, “Let’s get this over with!”

There was no response from Dragunov, however he squatted into his Sambo stance still singing his folk tune quietly. Asuka took her Kazama stance, however, she looked nervous for the first time in a fight—Nina was an assassin—quick kills in the night… However, Dragunov was a soldier, but along the lines of a super soldier—Russia really put out some scary guys…

“Sergei Dragunov versus Asuka Kazama! FIGHT!”

Asuka looked carefully over her opponent as he was doing the same; he advanced cautiously so Asuka followed suit; this was probably one of the rare times she didn’t want to run in. The combatants met close and the battle began. Asuka was so small compared to Dragunov, so she used high strikes which he blocked easily, so in order to stay ahead she began harder shots with her ‘Minazuki’ which allowed Asuka to get on the reverse side of Dragunov and to end with the ‘Heart Stopper’ which he blocked with both hands grabbing hold of Asuka’s knee and linking his powerful arm behind her leg and taking her to the ground—Asuka stopped herself from hitting her head by landing on her hard plastic elbow pads; however, Sergei lay a hard punch into Asuka’s stomach and then her chest and finally her face. Asuka was getting dizzy and the loss of breath from the blow to her stomach and the pain of the impact against her breasts put her in almost a finished state—every attack that Dragunov inflicted on Asuka was punishing…too punishing; she thought for a moment that he was trying to kill her?

The gold tribal tattoo began to appear and her eyes became gold; she then somersaulted backwards to escape, she then rose to her feet when she gained distance from Dragunov and pulled down the upper half of her bodysuit—the white feathered wings spawned from her back and she looked up at Dragonov who appeared to smile—he began a marching song in Russian and began his assault on Angel Asuka; however, Asuka blocked each strike and countered.

The rounds were gone, the remaining fights were for keeps and Asuka began her lethal assault on Dragunov; however, he didn’t just stand by and let her dominate—even in her powered state—both of their attacks were speedy, and they were able to block each other, however one missed block had caused Asuka to take a shot in the face and this caused the Angel to have enough.

Asuka back flipped to give herself distance from Dragunov and suddenly a golden halo appeared above her head causing Asuka’s mind to instantly become blank; she was aware of what was going on around her, but she had no control.

The Angel began insanely hard attacks on Sergei Dragunov who groaned in pain as each punch or kick made contact with his body; she then successfully struck Dragunov with the ‘Heart Stopper’ which not only sent him into shock, but also into the air where he landed on his back.

Dragunov looked at the Angel as she advanced on him and grinned and said, “I’ve waited for a worthy opponent—I was called an Angel of Death, but it is you little one who truly is death incarnate.”

“Death? No, you are mistaken Russian, for I exist to judge and punish those who have brought malice upon the land—you…Russian, have murdered countless men and performed horrendous deeds that are unspeakable…You have been judged, now you shall be punished,” The Angel said speaking through Asuka in an eerie echo, she raised her right hand and a golden glow illuminated her palm forming a mighty flash of energy—the final blow.

Dragunov rose to his feet with Asuka looking at him, craning her neck upward and awaiting his next move. Sergei quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol and fired it at Asuka who caught the bullet in her left hand between two fingers; she brought the bullet up to her eyes—her right hand still glowing—and looked at it closely and began laughing and said, “How about if I use your own bullet instead of wasting my power on you Russian?” Dragunov looked down at Asuka nervously, this was the first time that he had ever felt like this…

“STOP!!!! NO!!!! No more, you have to stop, please I beg you my Angel, please stop!” Asuka begged to the Angel in her mind.

“Silence Nihon, you have no right to speak; as long as the halo remains, I have full control over you. I’ve said it before, I own you—you belong to me!” The Angel replied, then looked back to Dragunov who dropped his pistol to the ground, he backed up and returned to his Sambo stance and said, “If you truly are a great and powerful Angel, then you will fight me, I apologize for the bullet—it was a gut reaction; there is no need for your death blast either…”

The Angel dropped the bullet and made her golden power vanish, she then pulled back her wings and advanced towards Dragunov and the hand to hand continued.

“I don’t belong to you, I am Asuka Kazama! I don’t know where you came from, but even if I’m alone, I can defeat you and defeat Dragunov; I want the halo to vanish, I want the wings to vanish, I want my brown eyes to return that Miss. Emilie likes to look into as we make love, I want the golden markings gone—I want to be ME!” Asuka cried in the Angel’s mind.

The Angel froze for a moment, just long enough for Sergei to pound her to the ground and take the upper hand…he began to sing another Russian folk song, this one was very gentle and eerie, however Asuka imagined that it was something that he would sing to his children…or maybe his mother sung it to him?

“Let’s see you survive—host, the Russian isn’t worth my time…” The Angel said in Asuka’s mind as the white feathered wings retracted into her back; the golden markings vanished, the halo dissolved and her eyes returned to brown.

Asuka stood up and pulled the upper half of her bluish-silver, leather bodysuit back up and then flexed her arms, gripping her hands together; she said, “Now, let’s get this over with.”

*****

Asuka wore her halter from the fight with Dragunov, there were spots of blood on it, but she didn’t care, she had on blue panties and sat back in a comfy chair with her legs over one of the armrests as she ate green mint chocolate chip ice cream from the container as she listened to the J-Pop group AKB48’s Minami Takahashi sing on the television on the wall of her hotel room—Minami was looking prettier than usual today…

{Dragunov swung at Asuka and made contact with her arm as she tried to avoid it, she fell backwards as her opponent took hold of her and slammed her to the ground, he then thrust his fist into her ribs causing her to scream in horrible pain.

Dragunov raised Asuka from the ground and to her feet, he pushed her back with ease and lay another punch into her face causing her nose to bleed—the blood dripped on her halter and she stumbled as she tried to get her bearings.

Asuka stabilized herself and met Dragunov in his assault and thrust her knee into his chest—having to over-use her ‘Heart Stopper’ was going to bring her a never ending scolding from her father…Asuka forced a double ‘Minazuki’ causing Dragunov to get tipsy in his steps. Asuka performed her ‘White Heron Dance’ and finished with her ‘Spinning Heel Drop’ and sent Dragunov into one of the stone shrine buildings; he hit his head and fell unconscious}.

Asuka took another spoonful of ice cream and then wiped her nose with her hand and looked at the blood on it, it was okay, the Angel would heal her when it felt like it—the broken ribs were kind of painful though.

Asuka’s phone rang and she lifted it and saw ‘Emilie’ on the screen and answered it.

“Asuka, I wanted to get a hold of you sooner, but I was in a meeting—I saw the fight…so, the Angel took over completely?” Lili said.

“It stopped; for now at least…” Asuka said, she then quickly hit the ‘pause’ button on the remote stopping it with a great shot of the singer Minami Takahashi on the screen, some eye candy for her while she spoke with Lili.

Asuka stared at the TV screen and said, “I’m watching Takamina right now…”

“Who?” Lili asked.

“Takamina…Takahashi Minami; she controls part of AKB48; but she has been part of NO3B and she went solo for a few singles, she seems to have aged somewhat from the strain of having to lead so many…I almost killed Sergei Dragunov, the Angel formed a halo and I couldn’t control myself anymore…” Asuka put down the container of ice cream on a table next to the chair and began to cry. “Emilie, I almost took a life…”

“I saw it…but, you didn’t,” Lili said calmly.

“I couldn’t stop it…he was—singing a Russian folk song and almost smiling; I don’t know what he was singing, I’m just not that smart to pick up the language, English is hard enough, but he was singing as I stood there holding a bullet I caught from his gun and charging a blast of energy—two choices to kill another human, in this sick fight for control over such a horrible corporation! I was going to flick the bullet at his head…that’s what I was going to do Emilie; I was going to use the bullet from his own gun to kill him!!!” Asuka screamed with tears flowing down her cheeks.

“It wasn’t you, it was the Angel darling Asuka; I know you would never hurt someone like that…Kill, another—like you said, you had no control over it,” Lili replied.

“I knew what was happening…” Asuka cut off and Lili could hear her drinking something. Asuka was downing a small sample bottle of Sake, the label covered by her hand.

“Asuka, what…” Lili started to say—Asuka could feel lightheaded, she couldn’t handle alcohol, but it was the only way to numb the pain. “It’s better now Emilie…” Asuka sniffed back some blood that still came from her nose, she then moved carefully supporting her broken ribs; the bruising was horrendous.

“Asuka, are you drinking? You are only 17, it’s not good for you,” Lili said sorrowfully.

“It’s okay…Hana Fuji Apple Sake, it hits you like a brick, I need to be hit hard—I’m going to kill Ling tomorrow…oh Kami-Sama, I’m going to kill Ling and there will be nothing I can do about it!” Asuka cried getting up from the chair.

“Asuka, calm down, it’s going to be all right, I promise…” Lili said softly,

“…No it won’t! Nothing will be okay!” Asuka cried and dropped her phone causing it to hang up. Asuka grabbed her pink vinyl shorts and pulled them on and then her Baseball jersey which she buttoned over her breasts, she then left her room and made her way down the hall; her sneakers were on, but not tied.

“Kazama-San!” A familiar voice called from behind her, Asuka stopped and turned toward Miharu who wore her school uniform, her short brown hair was combed down.

“What do you want?” Asuka replied.

“A fight of course—I watched your fight with Dragunov, we all did, it plays for the royals at the Zaibatsu—we watch all the fights…I won’t let you hurt Ling; do you understand Kazama-San?” Miharu said.

Asuka wiped her tears and her nose, smearing blood on the back of her hand, she almost grinned and said, “Okay, when I win…I take your uniform, we are about the same size.

“…And when I win, you forfeit to Ling and go home; is the deal clear?” Miharu said.

“Yes!” Asuka cried and ran at Miharu tripping over her shoe laces, she performed a forward flip that was wobbly because of her reaction to the Sake and made contact with Miharu’s fist causing Asuka to fall to the carpeted floor. Asuka rose quickly and began a series of kicks, most made contact with Miharu and forced her against the walls of the hall and finally Miharu fell to the floor.

Miharu could see Asuka experiencing pain in her side—she was holding her ribs…that’s right, Dragunov broke them…perfect! Miharu got to her feet and dodged a punch from Asuka and then leaned in and struck Asuka’s broken ribs causing her opponent to scream in pain—chatter could be heard from with-in the other hotel rooms, but no one would come out—Miharu then landed several hard and fast blows to the same spot until Asuka summoned up the strength to thrust her knee directly into Miharu’s chest. Miharu stopped dead in her tracks with her breath lost, she bent forward and Asuka thrust her bare elbow into Miharu’s head causing her to become dizzy, she then grabbed her and threw Miharu to the floor and mounted her and leaned in close to Miharu’s pained face and said, “I’m going to send you home naked you haughty bitch! Dumb as a brick and you want to be in the presence of the royals! You are nothing compared to me, you didn’t even enter the tournament—you want nothing out of life and I almost took one in that fucked up shrine! Heihachi keeps putting all of us in nightmarish locations as we face off against a mixture of crazies, sluts, monsters, machines, animals and we are supposed to come out of this like it was nothing! Why is there a fucking Angel in me Miharu, I know you know something, why!” Asuka smacked Miharu in the face and awaited her answer.

“I don’t know, I just hang around Ling and Panda…sometimes Jin is with us; but no one tells me anything, please, you have to believe me…please don’t kill Ling, she isn’t a bad person…” Miharu said weakly.

“I DON’T want to kill ANYONE!” Asuka screamed and got to her feet, she then pulled Miharu from the floor and performed a very close ‘Dragon Wheel Kick’ and put Miharu out; she fell to the floor unconscious.

Asuka began to laugh nervously as she breathed hard looking down at her fallen opponent. Suddenly, Asuka could feel her ribs heal with a swift crack and the blood stopped dripping from her nose. The bruises had vanished and Asuka smiled and said, “It’s about time my mistress Angel, thank you for the privilege of healing…Asuka’s words weren’t sincere, but she knew that it was now time for her to receive her prize.

Asuka knelt down and pulled the sailor top from Miharu’s upper body and then slung it over her shoulder, she then began removing Miharu’s skirt and once she did, she flung it over the top. Asuka lifted Miharu with golden eyes and took her into her hotel room.

*****

What a way to wake up…she thought she would either be in a hospital or on the street naked. If her vision wasn’t still a bit blurry from the knock-out, Miharu would probably be laughing hysterically at what she was seeing.

Asuka wasn’t drunk or buzzed anymore, she was fully aware of what she was doing. Wearing Miharu’s school uniform in a tidy fashion, Asuka was dancing along to the music video she was watching earlier of Minami Takahashi’s “Jane Doe” single, she was also singing the words in proper Japanese.

“Ah, you’re up…come dance with me—it’s just like with Christie-San!” Asuka said cheerfully as she continued the song—she used her cell phone as a microphone.

Miharu was sitting in the chair that Asuka was using earlier, there was a container of melted green ice cream with chocolate chips floating in it with a spoon sitting against the side; she wore a white bath robe—thankfully—and continued to watch Asuka’s performance. Miharu’s vision had finally begun to clear up and she was slowly regaining her energy; she said, “You really like Takamina huh?”

“She’s the best! I’m sorry that I hurt you, I have gotten tired of hearing that I’m going to kill people; especially when I don’t want to kill anyone and I felt so much mental pain from the fact that I had almost killed Dragunov…but, no one gave me the chance to explain—well, Miss. Emilie understands…” Asuka said as she stopped dancing, she looked cute in Miharu’s uniform and it made Miharu smile as she got to her feet.

Miharu embraced Asuka and said, “It’s going to be ok, but please, please, don’t kill Ling, I love her like a sister…we did not want to send you to the bears, but you don’t seem to understand the power that Heihachi has, it’s serious Asuka, its VERY serious!”

Asuka began crying…she didn’t know what to do, but she had to win the tournament; so she would do it right…a fight to a knock-out, the Angel would have to be suppressed, but how?

The girls sat and spoke for a while and finally Asuka relinquished the uniform back to Miharu so she could return back to the Mishima Zaibatsu without the embarrassment of a bath robe.

Asuka then went to bed without bathing, however, this time, she assured that she wouldn’t have to hear the remarks from the Angel and took a mild overdose of sleeping pills—she would have to apologize to Lili in the morning…She would make sure that Ling lived and did not die by her hands, she couldn’t take a life—especially the life of Ling Xiaoyu—her friend.

Next time on Tekken MZ, Asuka and Ling fight for advancement in the tournament, this is the first major round of the finals that will lead the victor towards the royals; starting with Jun Kazama and ending with Heihachi Mishima. Be here next week for Tekken Tuesday to find out!

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