Y/N POV
The tournament was progressing at a decent rate. Me and Raven seemed to have won match after match, the end was drawing nearer with each fight. My only concern was that we seemed to only be being given weaker opponents.
The only proper challenge I had after starting this tournament was Armor King. Steve, King, Asuka, they went down easily. Aside from Armor King, my only tough fights had been OUTSIDE of the matches. Again, my first skirmish with Armor King as well as my run-in with Anna. This was a concern because it meant I had no idea where the likes of Jin or Lee were in this tournament, maybe they'd been eliminated before I could even encounter them and I just didn't know.
Either way me and Raven rendezvoused after the match and it seemed he'd won as well, defeating a bear by the name of Kuma. Sounded quite funny actually. Both of us received our letters giving the usual shallow congratulations along with the names of our opponents.
When I saw mine, I was immediately interested. YOSHIMITSU! The mysterious ninja who'd ambushed me in the previous tournament. Our last fight wasn't an official match so this would be a good change of pace.
I turned to Raven however my eyebrows raised when I noticed instantly he seemed to be sweating. He just stared at the paper in silence. I asked "Hey, you alright?" This instantly snapped him from whatever stupor he was in.
He looked up and tried to compose himself "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just focussed on reading." I could tell something was up "You sure?" He confirmed "Yeah, don't worry about it." He seemed to change the subject "Your opponent may contact you soon, you should go."
This confirmed things. However I didn't push it further. With a sigh, I commented "Okay, best of luck in your match." I gave him a salute which he responded. I walked out of our hotel room and closed the door behind me.
Raven POV
As soon as the door closed my eyes shot back to the letter in my hand. I should have prepared for something like this happening. I let out a gasp. It wasn't surprise. But for the first time since the tournament began, I felt fear. The name at the bottom of the page, my next opponent.
'Kazuya Mishima!'
Y/N POV
I was concerned for Raven, we'd been colleagues for years and I'd never seen him look so uncomfortable before. I didn't know who his opponent was, maybe that shook him. He acted like he didn't want me to know.
Either way, I soon pushed what had occurred to the back of my mind. Yoshimitsu was in touch via phone surprisingly. Upon answering I heard that distorted yet shrill voice booming in my ear. "Eagle! It has been too long! Our chance to settle our affairs formally has arrived. There is a waterfall outside Tokyo, beautiful sight to behold. Meet me there."
I had no idea what waterfall he was talking about however upon asking around, I got information that could help me in my search. And it was with my car I headed to the site directed to me.
The waterfall was tucked in a cave, away from normal viewing. The cave was short but dark and it eventually lead me out into an opening, and I must admit. The sight was quite stunning.
The cave lead onto a stone circular platform, completely surrounded by waterfalls. I stepped out onto the platforms and took a look around when I finally spotted someone under the waterfall, water pounding down on them. A warrior, clad in bright yellow armour reminiscent of a samurai. Was this Yoshimitsu? The insectoid armour he wore in our last encounter was no where to be seen.
The figure spotted me and abruptly leapt from under the waterfall, he twirled his sword above his head to hover before landing in front of me. Snapping his head up he stared directly at me and exclaimed "Ah! You made it, I wondered when I'd be seeing you again!"
I asked in confusion "Yoshimitsu?" The figure bowed and said "Yes, it is I, Yoshimitsu!" I apologised "Sorry, I didn't recognize your new armour. Looks impressive." To this Yoshimitsu replied "Indeed, it is Manji Clan custom for its leader to constantly change appearance, prevents enemies from knowing which is which."
Image of Yoshimitsu:
That's when Yoshimitsu reached around and abruptly drew his sword, pointing it at me. "Now, we know why fate placed us here. We owe one another one more battle. Our last one was cut short. Are you prepared?"
Right to business I see. I got into a fighting stance opposite my opponent and stated "Ready." Yoshimitsu chuckled simply saying "We shall see." He suddenly let out a shriek and lunged into the air.
He aimed his sword and placed his whole body and its tip causing him to drop to the ground rapidly. I barely had enough time to leap back and avoid the blow as the blade collided with the stone surface.
Yoshimitsu remained perched on top of it, his head snapped up towards me and he asked "I trust you found your father?" I thought back to the last tournament, Yoshimitsu was the one who first told me my father was there. As I was thinking about this Yoshimitsu attacked, spinning himself round and kicking repeatedly.
I dodged the attacks before responding both with a kick of my own, hitting him in the side as well as a verbal reply to his question. "I did find him, no thanks to your words though. You could have told me more.
As we fought Yoshimitsu commented "It was best you find out for yourself. It was not my role to tell you this truth." He lashed out with another slash from his sword. I don't know if this was allowed but I didn't want to be the one to tell him otherwise.
I thrust one of my palms forward to strike him right in the face. His mask protected him from notable damage, but he still recoiled backwards. I stared at him saying "What's done is done." I landed a kick to his stomach that left him stunned for a moment before he recovered and rushed forward.
Our conversation may have ended, but our battle continued. The Manji Clan's grandmaster began spinning around, drawing closer. I tried to put a stop to it with a punch however I heard him let out a grunt.
It was like he'd teleported. He blipped to the right of the blow and used my brief shock to spin into another kick. He managed to catch my chest and knock some of the air out of me. He however left himself wide-open for a counter attack.
Just as the kick landed, I grabbed him and flipped his leg upwards, the abrupt movement made him tumble and slip onto his back. As he fell, I performed a few backflips and somersaults to close the gap between us. Things weren't over yet.
Yoshimitsu abruptly flipped upright and similar to at the start of our fight, he landed with his sword embedded in the ground and his whole body rested on the hilt. The blade pierced the stone beneath as he did something which did catch me off guard.
He began hopping, using his sword like a pogo stick, leaping towards me one bounce at a time. I didn't know what his game was. He wasn't exactly moving quickly. Eventually I grew impatient of his antics.
I stepped forward and moved my hand in a chopping motion, intent on striking my opponent down. Before I could hit him though, he hopped back and out of harms way. He dived forward, attempting to likely tackle me to the ground but I managed to hop back myself.
I quickly did spring back in though and landed a kick that hit the ninja right in the chest. I landed a chop that hit him in the neck and made him stagger. He flipped upright and once again proceeded to do that strange pogo-like movement.
This time though, he used the force of the hop to leap right over me. He landed behind me and I remembered him doing this in our last encounter when he ambushed me in the hotel room. He thrust his sword right into his body in an attempt to get me behind him.
As strange as this attack was, it was easy to dodge. I leapt out of the way, keeping close though so that I could counter. I started with a kick to Yoshimitsu's leg, one of the few parts that wasn't armoured. This didn't knock him down like the others but made him flinch. This allowed me to perform an uppercut that hit his mask making him lurch upward.
He attempted retaliated with a swipe from the hilt of his blade. But I dodged it and struck with a roundhouse kick that knocked him onto the ground again. He tried getting up, using his sword as a crutch.
I stared at him saying "Still ready for more?" I stepped forward however Yoshimitsu raised his hand, exclaiming "Wait!" This caused me to stop in my tracks and stare at him in confusion. Yoshimitsu waited for a moment before saying.
"I concede." As he got back to his feet he continued "You have proven your strength. No need for further fighting." This only served to confuse me more, I asked "So, what happens now?" Again, there was silence before Yoshimitsu finally responded.
"Now, I take my leave, may we meet again Eagle!" I called "Wait!" However this fell on deaf ears, with a laugh, Yoshimitsu took off twirling his blade like a propeller again. I just stood as he disappeared over the waterfall and out of sight.
Unaware that in the shadows, I was being watched...
??? POV
A grin spread across my face. Watching Yoshimitsu forfeit a fight was surprising enough. But seeing it was Eagle, that caused him to do it. It confirmed my thoughts in my last encounter with him. Lee DID have a child. Their fighting styles were similar and I caught their brief exchange about his father at the last tournament, it seems they'd interacted already. How fun. Before I was spotted I turned and left the waterfall alcove.
I had my own fight to enjoy after all...
Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, the Yoshimitsu fight I promised after their last encounter. I sadly won't be able to upload tomorrow or over the weekend, I'm going to be away from my laptop. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, thank you for reading.