The redhead stood in the center of the elevator as it climbed the floors. Looking through the glass and into the skyline as the buildings were alit at night, Julia couldn't help but think how it added an amount of romanticism to the city. From what her experiences have shown her, a city of crime and poverty to the masses while few live the high life.
"And it's not my city," the redhead thought. "I don't even think it's my world..." she thought sadly, but it was a definite possibility. In her experience different worlds were a reality, and she'd had the time to see everything point to it in the months spent looking for her family, which was nowhere to be reached.
Shaking her head of such notions, she knew she'd find out the truth soon enough. After all, it was why she entered the tournament. She was hoping to win the cash prize to buy a plane ticket back to Atlanta.
The tournament so far had been easy for someone of her ability. While there were some strong fighters she had yet to face a true challenge.
And then it happened. The elevator reached the top floor, where she would be facing the final opponent to this 'King of Fighters' Tournament.
As the elevator doors opened, Julia saw what looked like a slightly posh office space. Plush carpeting, leather arm chairs, and that solid cherry desk with black marble top looked rather expensive.
"But where is the owner of such a place?" she wondered inquisitively.
A young man wearing a black suit approached Julia and bowed politely. "Greetings. Mr. Howard is waiting for you."
"Thank you, Mister..." she stopped, waiting to see who this man was.
The man didn't answer the unspoken question as to his identity and motioned for her to follow him. He walked through a large wooden door that led into an impressive dojo.
Following the man past the doors, the redhead's eyes looked about. Wooden floors and walls with a ceiling at least thirty feet high, and statues of all sorts of Japanese Kami and Youma scattered along the walls, reaching almost to the very ceiling.
And ahead two pyres burned brightly, violent flames crackling with a strength that threatened to consume their wooden bases.
In between said pyres knelt a man around her own age, wearing orange hakama pants and a white dogi top. He had long blond hair and a look of concentration on his face.
"I take it you are 'Mr. Howard'? The redheaded fighter asked as she stepped closer. "I am to assume that you are the final opponent before my victory?"
"Leave us," the blond man commanded, to which the suited man bowed again and left the dojo. Now alone with the redhead the kneeling man smirked confidently. "You're pretty certain of your victory, aren't you? Julia Brigand."
"And why shouldn't I be?" Julia asked as she crossed her arms under her breasts. "My reasons for entering this tournament will not be denied, and I will not, cannot allow myself to lose."
Geese Howard stood up, barely a couple of inches taller than Julia, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Reasons aren't important. Only power and skill are." He gave the redhead a once over and liked what he saw. The woman was a definite looker. She also seemed to be a competent fighter, as evidenced by the ease with which she defeated all her opponents.
Julia nodded her head and shifted into a fighting position, something akin to a classic karate stance, only the right leg was bent at the ready for movement, and the right hand forward in a 'jackknife' stance. "Then let me show you my power and skill and we can be done with it."
Geese chuckled. "And so eager to die, too. A shame we can't exchange pleasantries." With that the man assumed his own stance, a deceptively rigid stance.
Nodding her head, Julia decided to test the waters and lunged forward with a rather quick roundhouse kick aimed for Geese's right temple.
Geese, always a man of extremes and living by the philosophy of giving it his all in a fight, stepped into the move. He grabbed Julia's thigh, robbing the kick of most of its strength, and delivered an elbow to Julia's jaw. He followed the attack up with a knee to the gut and then threw Julia over his shoulder, purposely twisting her leg awkwardly to try and dislocate her knee.
The violence in Geese's assault was only comparable with the battle lust shining in his eyes.
Julia's eyes widened. She felt the rather painful twist and knew if that was broken or sprained early on she'd be done for. So as she was getting the shit kicked out of her in .03 seconds, Julia used her forward motion to land firmly on the ground with her hands rather than travel and used her other leg to firmly kick out at her opponent, returning the favor of smashing him across the jaw, and then used the continuous forward motion to go into a roll, gaining distance form the blond man.
Geese wiped off the blood flowing from his cut lip and smirked arrogantly. The woman was good, very good, but she made a mistake in not attacking him with all she had. That wasn't a mistake anyone could accuse Geese of committing, mostly because his opponents usually ended up dead. "You're weak."
Julia lashed out forward, her movement speaking of a left punch in the works.
Geese charged forward as well, willing for an exchange of blows, kicking Julia's exposed side.
Instead of kicking Julia's side, he ended up smashing his knee against hers. Her body language spoke of a punch, but she had intended to use the same technique Geese had just lashed out with.
"Damn!" he cried out in pain and surprise before instinctively lifting a hand in front of himself. "REPPUU KEN!!!" He let loose with a chi blast at point-blank range.
Geese drew energy from nature, using his dark nature to force the energy under his will, as opposed to his master that used a peaceful soul to work together with it.
Julia's eyes widened in pain as the dark chi collided with her. She wasn't exactly sent flying back, as a much weaker opponent would have, but the blow was still powerful enough to send the Armsmaster stumbling back a few steps, a gout of blood erupting form her mouth.
Geese took a step back and tested his knee. He nodded to himself when he realized it wasn't in bad shape.
Julia stood her ground and watched the man intently as she used the back of her hand to wipe blood from her mouth. "Murder..." she whispered.
Geese caught the whisper and frowned. "What?"
Julia stared hard at Geese. "Murder Fist." And then she rushed at him, willing her own spirit to the fore, her arm held back and glowing brightly around the hand. "LEEP PALM!"
The crimelord's eyes widened and he crossed his arms over his chest for a block.
The open-palm strike connected against Geese's arms and even with the block he could feel a sharp sting of pain go through his entire right arm. He obviously had a good fracture in his arm.
Instead of hissing in pain like vulgar fighters would do Geese bellowed in rage and smashed a crackling with energy first into Julia's ribcage. He had to end the fight soon; having a right broken arm was not a good thing.
This time Julia was sent flying back, landing in an undignified heap. Still, she refused to stay down, forcing herself back onto her feet and in a fighting position.
"Stay down!" Geese commanded with a glare.
The woman refused his command, going back into full stance. "Twisted ankle... Intestinal bleeding... And either about four or five ribs on the right side of my ribcage are fractures or broken..." the woman mentally checked off. "Lovely..."
Geese, in much better shape with only a broken arm, assumed his own fighting stance. "You wanted it this way."
"I think you wanted it just as much," Julia retorted and rushed forward once more.
Geese waited in his position, a smirk formed on his lips at his plan this time.
Julia's eyes narrowed as she got closer and unleashed her attack, her body moving with the inertia across the floor, she went into a sliding kick, intent on knocking her opponent off his feet.
"RAISING TACKLE!!!" Geese used his left arm to propel himself up, intent on shouldering an attack and beating the hell out of Julia. He blinked when he didn't feel a contact.
Just as surprised as her opponent, Julia blinked as he seemingly disappeared. Still she heard his voice and looked up; there he was in the air, looking back down at her.
In that instant their eyes locked. Peace and violence clashed.
Julia worked herself up onto her feet again quickly, ignoring the protest of her foot. She had to take advantage of his vulnerability in the air, NOW! "CRESCENT HEEL KICK!"
Moving her foot in a complete arc moving from behind and above her head, the heel of her foot smashed into the airborne Geese's back, hitting him on the spinal column.
Of course even with her advantage, Julia held back still. She didn't want to cripple the man.
Geese grunted in pain but managed to right himself to land on his feet, he could take much more punishment. "Once again, a mistake," he whispered as he took advantage of the now airborne Julia. He rushed forward and just as Julia landed he lashed out with a kick. The clear sound of two snapping bones was heard as Julia's left leg was subjected to an exposed fracture.
Julia went stumbling a bit, blood splattering across the wooden floor.
The redhead panted heavily, her head swimming with pain that originated form her leg.
"Stupid woman," Geese sneered. "Stay down and I might let you live." Truth be told he was curious about this woman, but if she persisted in attacking him he would kill her.
Panting heavily, Julia forced herself to a standing position, even as a rather nasty flesh-rendering sound was originated from her leg.
The blond man narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Stay. Down."
The redhead defied the man once again. Leaning forward as she stood and grabbing a hold of her lower extremity, Julia suddenly twisted her foot inward, making a sickening snapping wet-sound as she once again broke the bone, this time setting it into place as best she could.
Tearing off the right sleeve of her gi top, exposing her rather muscular, yet still feminine arm, she used the length of cloth to tightly bind the exposed leg as best she could, at least to hold the bone in place. She winced as she got back into her fighting stance. "This will hold me long enough to beat the shit out of you..." she said in all seriousness.
"I admire your tenacity..." Geese started, "... but you're going down." With that Geese assumed his fighting stance.
Staring into his eyes, Julia irritatingly smirked at Geese. "You're lucky your style doesn't require much movement... I can see you're barely standing as well... I must have ruptured a disc in your spine I think..."
Geese smirked and raised his good arm. "Can you dodge around long enough on that leg?"
"I won't have to if I land this last shot..." Julia smiled as she held her arm back in the stance of the Leep Palm again. However, the glowing continued to gather, traveling along the entire length of her arm. And since she had torn off the sleeve, Geese could see as the muscle seemed to strain and practically double in size.
"REPPUU KEN!!!"
The Reppuken his against her bad leg, but Julia held her concentration to a 't'. If she could land this, it would be over... One way or another anyway.
And then Julia lunged forward, her arm crackling with energy as she unleashed the, "MASTER BLOW!"
Geese took the blow in the chest, his ribs giving way at the powerful attack.
But the crimelord was not one to accept defeat so easily. With the last of his energy, and specs of light dancing in his eyes, he reached forward and took a hold of Julia's face with his left hand. "REPPUU KEN!!!" He let loose with his chi blast at skin-range, intent on frying the bitch.
Julia had to shut her eyes as she felt the pain wash over her, lest she go blind. The searing pain was adding too much on her already strained body.
She instinctively thrust her other arm out, hitting Geese's already weakened and broken rib-cage... Or rather rib soup at this point, as she felt him pour on the power.
Geese stumbled back and coughed up blood. His legs didn't have the strength to sustain his body anymore and he landed hard on his back. "Damn... cough... bitch..." the crimelord groaned.
Julia just fell into a crumpled heap as Geese let go of her, blood seeping from her broken leg and staining the floor further. She moved her head to stare at her downed opponent. "Stop... bitching, you whiny... prick..." the woman spat out painfully as she gasped for air.
"Looks who's... talking." Geese Howard was thankful for one thing. He knew the medical wing of the tower was the best in the world. He'd also have to start working on getting the rest of the scrolls. If rumors were to be believed there would be something in them to heal him from injuries. This was the first time he got this hurt in a fight, and if he had any say in it this would also be the last time he was bed ridden.
Breathing deeply to stay conscious, Julia managed to ask, "So... Now what?"
Geese chuckled, which turned into another coughing fit. When he got it under control he answered the question. "Now we heal. That was a... good fight." He loathed admitting it, but Julia had managed to fight him to a draw. He had to respect that.
"Yeah..." Julia admitted. "It was..." She chuckled bitterly. "You may be vicious, but I cannot deny the skill you have."
Geese didn't say more. He simply smirked as the paramedics swarmed the dojo to take care of both of them. As he was dragged away he couldn't help but think this Julia was truly interesting.
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(Posted Thu, 05 Aug 2004 15:49)
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