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| A month later.
Nina's progress in the tournament was better than average. In just the few 4 weeks, she had eliminated 6 opponents easily. It would've been more, but there were only 2 bouts a week in the preliminaries. Up next were the quarterfinals; her next fights would be against a mystery opponent and Paul Phoenix, but there was a confusion in all this. Contrary to the tournament rules, her fight against her mystery opponent would be unsanctioned by the Mishima Zaibatsu, meaning all the rules went out the window and into the front yard. Only one rule was kept in, no weapons. She felt this unfair as she saw a robotic ninja nearly slash someone to death with a big glowing sword. But she didn't care about winning, all she cared about was getting rid of the entity plaguing her mind, the God Of Fighting, or whatever he called himself. She worked out what the "god" meant by the 'Land of Wood' just as she received the invitation envelope over a month before. In the past, Japan was a hard place to build stone buildings, so traditional houses and pagodas were made out of wood. She knew the tournament was the key, but to what door was still a mystery. A way out for her? Or a way in for the green man?
She was sat in her allocated room, the room she unknowingly had been in about 20 years before. There was no trace of her first entrance there; when she got there it was bare. Now it was like a little home. As she looked out of the window on that rainy day, watching a fight in the distance, she remembered her first day at this tournament. She, along with the other fighters, were directed to a vast hall, like the ones you get in schools, only it was much bigger, and was built like a theatre. The wall behind the stage was curved so that sound would seem louder and wouldn't bounce back, the stage and the walls were brightly coloured, with various artworks displayed along the sides, including a very curious one of a cliff painted red under a dark cloud and with a gloomy background. It didn't say the artist's name. She was surprised that such a business conglomerate as the Mishima Financial Empire, concentrating in the most analytical and technological, would bother with art and tradition. Just then, a voice spoke through some hidden speakers
"Fighters, please take your seats. Mr Mishima will be here shortly"
It was the voice of Mr-X, the man who had de-briefed her and her 'sister' Anna on the cryogenics situation, and had given them a new life in Florida. She took her seat, as did the other fighters. She looked around the crowd and could see the colourful backgrounds they all came from. Many of the fighters seemed to be from the local area, a few were from odd places, the biggest minority were the ones she couldn't pinpoint, and the rest were from the West. She was in a good mood that day, didn't know why though. Was it Mr-X? Seeing new people? The beautiful artworks surrounding the hall? Or the tournament itself? She looked to the stage and saw him, Heihachi Mishima, CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu and Owner of the Mishima Financial Empire.
"Greetings Fighters from all over the world!" Heihachi said in his thick Japanese accent, "Each one of you is obviously strong, but who is the cream of the crop?"
"Just get to the point old man!" cried out a brash voice
Nina turned to where the voice came from and saw another blast from the past. She saw a man dressed in a black leather biker suit standing up out of his chair. His looks showed that time had really wanted to make a face that cried middle age. The thing that stuck out the most about this man was the tall tower of blonde hair that shot out from his head. From her angle, it looked like a giant cube, but when the man sat back down (after being chided by Heihachi), it took on a different shape. She turned away from the man just before he could recognise her stare, and looked back at the stage, listening to what Heihachi had to say. After he went through the basic terms and conditions of the tournament, he then went on to announce something special.
"And the person who successfully beats me," Heihachi declared (though obviously didn't want to happen), "Will face a surprise opponent, of whose identity I will not declare."
This caused a spark of chatter from the crowd of fighters. Now all talking with acquaintances or friends they made along the journey to the tournament, or like Nina, were quietly thinking about the subject.
'Could this surprise opponent be that boy?' she thought, as a slow breeze flew past her. A loud voice screamed out through her head.
'The gift of the Evil Mist!' it cried, then disappeared as the breeze died down
Later through the tournament she would find out what the voice meant by the gift of breath. The 'god of fight' had given her the power to make a smokescreen of purple gas to weaken her opponent's guard so she could be ready to retaliate with a move, but at the time she had been caught off guard. The voice made her jump, getting a couple of stares from the fighters sitting beside her and the fighters in the chairs in front of her and behind her. She shrugged it off; they'd be eliminated shortly anyway, either by her or someone else.
Nina looked away from the window when the fight ended and stop reminiscing. The man who won the distant fight was an oriental guy who hung out with the brash middle-aged biker. She was bored, and her fight wasn't for ages. What else could she do? Apart from continue her mission. Find the boy and 'terminate' him, it was the only way to go, and the only move to make.
She got dressed in a tight purple suit, not dissimilar to a past purple suit. This one covered more of her person. It was hardly to put on, the legs of the suit were easily put on, like tights, but the material the suit was made from didn't make it an easy ordeal. From then, you just had to put your arms in the shoulder straps and zip up round the back. It had an odd zip, it didn't go straight down the back, and it went around the sides under her bustline, from front to back.
'What has the fashion world come to?' she thought to herself in disdain, resting her face in the palm of her hand, shaking her head. She zipped up and sighed in relief.
After moving around in the suit to get used to the feel of it, she strapped a makeshift backup weapon on her left thigh in case things got brutal, and her trademark stiletto's. Ever since Nina have seen them for the first time in 15 years in Florida, they were her main shoes, and nothing would replace it. She took a deep breath, and set off on her mission. She walked out from her room and headed down the numerous stairs and out of the room complex. As she headed for the main Zaibatsu building, she heard something in another building.
"YAH!"
'THUD!'
She looked through the window of the building and saw the boy, just as he was in the 'god's' visage. He was thumping away at a sandbag with powerful blows, whacking the big heavy sandbag nearly right off its chain.
'Impressive' she thought, and then she felt the breeze again, growing into a gale. She looked around defensively, trying to find who or what was making the gale. She knew nothing on Earth could speed the winds this fast. She turned around and saw him, the green man, The God Of Fighting. The green man glared into her eyes deeply with his red glower. Nina tried not to look back, but succumbed eventually, her eyes dilating, with the pupils glowing bright red like 'her god of fighting'.
"KILL THE BOYYYYY!" the god growled and broke the windows to the nearby building. Then the god did his disappearing act again, leaving a dishevelled Nina on the ground. The boy looked through the broken frames and saw her. He gasped and leapt through the hole to check on her.
"Hey, are you Ok?" he asked politely in near perfect English, "You seem hurt."
Nina coughed and got up from the wet puddle of rainwater she dropped in. Her golden hair stained with mud from the gutter.
"I'll be Ok, just leave me-" she replied, and then stopped. Her mental repose glowered back up again, with the eyes glowing red. The boy looked back in shock.
"Wh-wh-wha?" he stuttered.
Nina growled an unearthly growl. She bunched up her fists and shot them right into the boy's stomach, sending him through the wall and back in the building. She had lost control of her own body and mind. The thing that controlled her now was the God Of Fight, The Toshin.
The boy got up painfully, clutching on the opposite wall to drag himself back up to his feet. The possessed Nina walked into the building through the hole she made and looked upon the wounded boy.
"What are you doing?" he said in a strained voice, Nina's double-fist strike had winded him badly.
She growled and ran towards the boy, tripping him up with a heavy sliding kick to his ankles, knocking him off his feet and sending him to the ground once more. Nina, with eyes of fire, glowering upon the struggling boy again.
"Weak child." She said in the unearthly voice, "You will never defeat me!"
'Toshin!' the boy thought, 'It can't be!'
"It is young Jin," she boomed, "I merely got this woman to eliminate you and so far she's proving to be a success."
The boy, Jin, got up, his face screwed up in anger. His fists were shaking and his breathing was heavy, he knew he was going to have to fight.
"Are you really going to hit a poor, defenceless woman?" she taunted
"No, I'm goingTO HIT YOU!!!!" Jin growled and hit the possessed woman with two stinging jabs to the face, followed with a sweep. Nina rolled up on her feet and raised a strong Nicolella kick at her adversary, smacking Jin right up the jaw, into the air, and back down to the ground. Nina mocked the grounded Jin by grinding her heel into his chest.
"Would you like to be my next sacrifice?" she chuckled
Jin groaned in pain, then grabbed her foot and brought her down to the ground with a heavy crash. Jin leapt up on his feet and looked on at his opponent.
"I'll only fight you in your true form Toshin!" he stated, "Leave the lady out of this!"
"No, I'm not going to give up my latest slave to you, child!" the Toshin within her growled at Jin, "I'm going to dispose of you and her right now!"
Nina rushed at Jin and gave him a powerful kick to the head, and then landing alongside his prone form, she clutched his right leg with her left arm, held him down with her left leg and pushed away his left leg with her right leg. She gripped his right leg tight and tugged at it sharply, throwing her upper body back for extra force, making Jin growl in pain. Then Nina got up and twirled around Jin's already painful left leg and clutched her arms and legs around it, pulling it round the wrong way. Jin growled even more in pain, the pressure on his leg was mounting up so far that he was sure that his kneecap had already broken apart. Jin looked at the malevolent Nina, and decided that he had to retaliate in a way that would be dirty fighting
He poked Nina in the eyes, disabling her long enough for Jin to break free of her hold.
"I'm not playing this game with you, Toshin!" he replied, "I will get revenge on you!"
Just then, an army of Tekkenshu soldiers stormed into the building and surrounded Nina, with guns aimed. Nina looked around the Tekkenshu, looked at Jin one more time, then lapsed into unconsciousness.
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