Chapter 16: The Tag-Battle

Start from the beginning
                                    

As the pair approached, Steve cracked his knuckles and Hwoarang rolled his shoulder a bit. Raven asked in his typical strict, emotionless tone. "Why did you call us both up here?" Both fighters smirked but it was Hwoarang who answered the question.

"Hey, relax. We just saw the fighter line-up made a connection and decided to make things more fun." I raised an eyebrow before asking "In what way?" This time Steve replied. "Well, two ninjas entered this tournament, both of which with names like birds."

Hwoarang cut-in, finishing his sentence. "We figured it would be more fun, since us two were matched up, to make this a tag-match. Two vs two. With a twist though, once one is knocked down, that's it, that team loses."

Both of them then asked in unison. "So, what do you both think? Think you can take us down?" I thought about this, there was nothing to lose from giving it a go. Turning to Raven, he nodded before turning to our opponent and saying "We accept your terms."

Steve's smirk increased as he stated "Great. Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to it then. Bring it on." He instantly hunched over and raised his fists. The typical stance of a boxer. Hwoarang on the other hand simply began jumping lightly.

Me and Raven got into mirrored stances and for a moment there was silence between us. We each took turns shooting glances between one another. It was unclear at first who'd make the first move. This was kept up for some time before finally, it was Hwoarang that went first, targeting Raven with a kick.

He aimed for Raven's side who was just about able to raise his arm to block the attack. While this happened, Steve rushed forward and tried to land a series of punches in quick succession. I was able to dodge the attacks before countering with a swift punch of my own directly to my opponent's stomach.

Steve doubled over and gasped from the blow's force. I used this opportunity to dash behind him and followed up with a kick to the centre of his back that caused him to grunt and collapse to the ground on all fours. 

I stood over him but allowed him to get back up. He smirked at me again before complimenting "Not bad. You're quick I'll give you that. But I'm not quite done yet!" It was at this point that Raven landed a punch to Hwoarang's cheek, causing him to step landing next to his tag-mate.

Me and Raven kept on our guard, definitely having the advantage. Our opponents rushed forward again. This time though it was in a criss-cross manoeuvre. Hwoarang charged at me while Steve went towards Raven.

I dodged two kicks in quick succession from one another and blocked a third before leaping back. Hwoarang went to towards me again however he was cut off by Raven again and the two engaged one another.

I turned in Steve's direction to be met with a fist colliding with my cheek making me stagger back. I soon recovered and countered with several kicks. Steve managed to block them all the while, commenting "You know, you and Hwoarang would have been a better match-up. With all the kicks I mean."

This caused my to shrug "Maybe. But I don't exactly know who's deciding the match-ups so I can't ask them." Steve just chuckled at my comment before our fight continued. He thrust his fist forward aimed at my face again. This time though, I managed to easily catch it.

He struggled to step back, however my grip continued. It was at this point I noticed something about his appearance. I commented "You seem familiar. And I don't mean your fame as a boxer. I've met someone who looked similar to you before."

Steve just shrugged a bit. "Don't know who that could be." I shook my head "It doesn't matter. Let's get this over with." I landed a kick to Steve's thigh, causing him to stagger back. After that our duel continued. Steve went in for a punch and I raised my arm to defend.

At the same time, Raven was still battling Hwoarang. The latter went in for yet another kick, clearly his preferred method of attack. Raven had only a little trouble either evading or blocking the blows.

He caught one kick and retaliated by sweeping Hwoarang's leg, sending the Taekwondo practitioner to the ground. He did quickly recover though, leaping back to his feet and landing another quick kick that actually caught Raven on his cheek and knocked him back.

It was at this point that seemed to go to a halt once again. Both pairs stood opposite one another, staring. I growled a bit under my breath. Even though it seemed me and Raven were dominating the fight. These two weren't for quitting, still standing ready to go another round.

Looking at one another, there was an understanding. We both wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible and if we played our cards right. We had a way in which we could pull this off. We both knew the idea so we just turned our attention back to our opponents who obviously anticipated a direct assault. What we had planned though was different.

Both of us utilised our speed, rushing to the side and dashing forward. Now we were stood on either side of our opponents, with them in the middle. I was stood facing Steve while Raven faced Hwoarang.

The two stood back to back in combat stances as we rushed forward. Steve went in for a punch however I managed to duck under the blow and responded with multiple kicks. Steve blocked some however the majority of them collided with his chest and stomach.

Raven did the same on his end, he landed a blow that struck Hwoarang's cheek while  following up with another quicker jab that hit his stomach area. We each began forcing our opponents backwards until it finally came time to end things here and now.

I performed a kick and Raven went in for a chop attack. The blows hit their mark and forced Steve and Hwoarang back into one another. Their bodies hit one another making both grunt. They tried recovering, Hwoarang tried to roundhouse kick Raven while Steve tried to uppercut me.

We both stepped back to dodge before both of us landed punches right to both of their faces. They fell back, hit one another again before collapsing to the ground. Me and Raven just stood over one another.

Raven stated "It's over, you've lost. Stand down while you still have the chance." Hwoarang defiantly yelled "I'm not done yet! He tried standing back up only to collapse onto his backside a second time.

Steve simply raised his hands saying "Alright, you've won for now. But next time-." He paused for a moment, muttering "Damn, you're quick." I just smirked under my mask and said "You're tough, I'll give you that. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future." Steve smirked up at me "Sure, why not. Things won't be the same next time though."

Raven then spoke up bluntly. "Let's go. We've wasted enough time up here as-is." I glanced at him saying "Right." I gave a nod to our former opponents before following my ally from the rooftop, we headed inside off the roof and made our way back down to the ground floor.

As we were about to leave though, I got a weird feeling, Raven must have got it as well because he looked up and suddenly said "It seems our fight picked up some prying eyes." I had a hunch I knew who it was so I said "Go back to the hotel. I'll meet you there before lunch, we'll find our next opponents then." Raven said nothing, nodded and left the building. I remained still before saying "You can stop that hiding now. It's getting annoying." I heard the clacking of heeled boots causing me to turn around.

"If you're going to try and stalk my Miss Rochefort, at least be more discreet about it..."

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter. For the time being, my uploads may be a bit uneven, hence why it took me three days to get this uploaded. I really hope you enjoyed it though and as always, thank you for reading.

The Eagle's Watch (Tekken Anna Williams x Male Ninja Reader)Where stories live. Discover now