Chapter 77

Mister Big opened the fight, dipping down with his right-hand Escrima stick, swiping underhand at the floor with a rising blow, and pulsing Chi into his weapon. From the tip of his Escrima stick, a blue, crackling, energy wave raced along the floor toward me. It forced me to jump over it as the energy wave instead destroyed a table and chair set behind me with enough voltage to kill an elephant. Unfortunately, as I was airborne, Billy Kane pulsed Chi into his staff, thrusting out at me to slam the end into my stomach in mid-air. Kinetic Control absorbed the physical force of the blow, only for a pulse of Chi to send a jet of flame racing along the length of Billy's staff to blaze into me, burning through my expensive silk shirt and scorching my chest.

I slammed into the ground through another table, feeling second-degree burns forming on my chest where I'd been lit on fire. Fortunately, my Natural Regeneration was already working on healing that. As I stood up, I looked down at the blackened ruin Billy had made of my expensive silk shirt and growled. I looked back up at Billy and fixed him with a glare.

"That was a two hundred dollar shirt you just wrecked, asshole." I scowled.

"I'll wreck your face next!" Spat Billy Kane.

With a mystic incantation and a somatic gesture, however, casting a Fourth Circle Flame Shield Effect on myself. Billy Kane wouldn't get me with that same trick twice. Mister Big, on the other hand, well, I couldn't cast a second such effect except for lightning instead of fire on myself. The protections wouldn't stack, at least, not using the mystic tradition that Penny Halliwell had taught me, and my fundamentals still very much used the Wiccan Priesthood Style of Magic, even if I'd long since diversified to include spells from Outworld, Ancient Rome, Edenia, Zakhara, and Faerun. As the fight continued, that weakness of style would come into play more often.

Regardless, Billy Kane rushed in twirling his staff around before snapping it out in an extended thrust, turning it into a Sansetsukon with a pulse of Chi before setting it alight. The kinetic energy was absorbed by my Kinetic Control and the Chi-based flames were deflected by my Flame Shield as I blocked the blow on my forearm. I then rushed in and managed to lash out in a Shoryuken that caught Billy Kane by surprise, dumping the energy I'd absorbed from the last two blows into the technique. The Ansatsuken Technique caught Billy right under the chin as my leaping uppercut slammed into him. The height and distance he got from the excess energy was impressive and Billy Kane smashed through the front window of the Gden Dragon to land next to Hwa Jai on the street.

Unlike Hwa Jai, who was busily moaning in pain and clutching broken ribs, however, Billy Kane kipped to his feet. He was a tough bastard, I'd give him that. He was bruised and battered, bleeding and busted open, but still very much able to fight. He scooped up his staff from where it'd fallen and leaped back into the Golden Dragon through the same window he'd crashed through to exit. He flourished his staff in a spinning pattern that caught my attention. Unfortunately, it proved to be a trap, as Mister Big had taken the opportunity my tunnel vision on Billy had provided to flank me. The first I realized that they'd suckered me was when Mister Big pulsed his Chi to fire a crackling blue ball of electricity at me via his Escrima sticks from my right flank.

I immediately stomped the ground, channeling my Chi into a last-minute Kongoshin of the Ansatsuken. Fortunately, the defense worked well enough to avoid major damage, the Diamond Body Technique of the Ansatsuken protecting me from the worst of the electric onslaught. Bolts of electricity still got through, here and there burning into and through my right shoulder, left thigh, and elsewhere, causing electrical burns and brief muscle spasms that slowed my reflexes. Mister Big took the opening provided to launch himself at me, leaping horizontally toward me and spinning around in a corkscrew fashion, Escrima sticks out front. His technique, combined with the electric havoc in my muscles finally managed to break through my Kinetic Control.

I was blasted back through an interior wall, smashing through brickwork into a storeroom through a stack of metal crates, and through a reinforced concrete wall leading to the alley outside. The sound of tearing metal could be heard as I tore through the crates, revealing them to be full of temperamental spices imported at from Potusan that needed a specific climate to be preserved. As I stood up in the alley and dusted off the spice mix from what was left of my outfit, I frowned. This was looking like it was going to be yet another expensive fight, with me paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for damages. It couldn't be helped though, these assholes had come gunning for me. I briefly considered making the Howard Connection pay the damages before discarding the idea. A Company like that could tie any payment up in court trivially. That's why they had a Legal Department.

"You took your eye off the birdie, mate." Smirked Mister Big.

I frowned taking stock of my injuries. A burn on my chest from Billy Kane smashing me out of the air, smaller electrical burns on my shoulder, thigh, and calf from Mister Big's Electric Chi Blast, and a bruise on my chest from that corkscrew attack breaking through my Kinetic Control. All told, only moderate damage, I can still fight. On their side, Billy Kane had been busted open, had a bruised Jawbone, a split lip, and cracked teeth from my overpowered Shoryuken while Hwa Jai was out of the fight. They were grinding me down, but I could still win this. I made my way back into the building through the storeroom to face off with Mister Big and Billy Kane once again.

As I did so, I noticed one of the waitstaff had been cowering in the storeroom behind a large drum of plum sauce. I shook my head at him before gesturing to the hole in the wall. He nodded before scampering out into the alley, escaping via the hole. Regardless, I re-entered the main dining area and nodded to Mister Big to acknowledge his point. He was right, I had let myself be distracted, after all. It wouldn't happen again and I told him so. He simply grinned a feral-looking grin and let out a dark chuckle at that.

"We'll see." He smirked.

The Battle recommenced as Mister Big and Billy Kane rushed me, weapons trailing electricity and flames respectively. With a grunt of effort, I ducked away from a series of staccato strikes from Mister Big's Escrima Sticks as he struck for my head and chest with both sticks like he was playing the drums, sticks sparking with electric Chi as he did so. That put me in position for Billy's attack. Pulsing Chi through his staff, he created dozens of Chi-based constructs of multiple staves, all sprouting from the same staff he was wielding. He must have realized that fire wasn't working and Mister Big had drilled through my defenses already. I was forced to dip, duck, dodge, and dive away from the three dozen flailing staff heads, even as they smashed through tables, broke through brick and reinforced concrete, or otherwise wrecked up the Golden Dragon's main dining room.

"I hope Old Man Chin has insurance." I grunted as I made space away from the staff of doom.

I'd been forced to make space, only for Mister Big to rush in, spinning like a top and lashing out with his Escrima Sticks trailing wisps of electric, blue, Chi. I tucked myself into a shoulder roll, dodging under the spinning Escrima Sticks before channeling my Chi and lashing out into Master Gen's Jyasen Technique. The rolling series of kicks followed by the two-fingered pressure point strike had me duck under Mister Big's attacks and hit him with some of my own that blasted him backward through the brick interior wall to crash into the bar area. As he tried to get up, Mister Big found one of his arms refused to obey, courtesy of the Jyasen's pressure point strike.

In came Billy Cane, forcing me to dodge away from another series of multiple, Chi-constructed, staff strikes. One of the staff constructs clipped me in the head, busting me open above the right eyebrow and causing me to bleed, but that was it. In return, I channeled my Chi into a Flying Dragon Kick of the Great Kung Lao that smashed Billy Kane back out onto the street through the broken front window and set him ablaze. I felt Billy's ribs creak from that and one of them had to be bruised, even as he hit the pavement in a roll to extinguish the flames. Serves him right to get a taste of his own medicine like that. Billy struggled to get back to his feet, leaning heavily on his staff to do so. I could win this!

The fight wasn't over yet, though as Mister Big came charging in toward me with his single working arm swinging an Escrima Stick for my side. The blow slipped past my defense as I turned to face him just in time to brace for impact but fortunately, the strike only bruised my floating ribs on my right side. In exchange for that, Mister Big took a Shou Ha to the face, Master Tung Fu Rue's standard Chi Blast slamming into him at point-blank range and launching him out of the same window Billy'd been thrown through. As I followed them out onto the street, I realized that while none of the enemy was looking too hot, I wasn't exactly fresh either. My natural regeneration was healing me, however, while the enemy would require hospital care to heal up.

"You're not looking too hot. You might want to surrender." I intoned.

"Bollocks to that. If we look like shite, then so do you." Retorted Billy.

"Yeah, but I'm not the only Combatant. Chin Gentsai is still in there, fresh as a daisy." I pointed out.

"Hwa Jai's been useless. We might have to try plan B." Mused Mister Big.

"The Boss isn't going to like that." Reminded Billy.

"Fuck what Geese likes, this is survival here, Mate!" Growled Mister Big.

"Fine." Snarled Billy.

And with that, Billy Kane thrust his staff in the air and let off a plume of fire. Suddenly, a black van pulled up and a number of black-clad men stepped out wielding a mix of KF-Seven Soviet Assault Rifles and older, Drax Industries Military Lasers. I had just enough time to cast a Resilient Sphere on myself before the group opened up, bullets pinging off my resilient sphere and laser beams burning into the magical shell of force. As soon as the KF-Sevens clicked empty and the Military Lasers indicated overheat, however, a Man in a uniform I thought I wouldn't see again stepped out of the van. He wore the blue dogi and mask of a Foot Ninja, though the Foot Clan Sigils were patched over. Had the foot scattered enough after our assault on the Hudson block that a year and change afterward the remaining factions were losing members to freelance work? That could be an issue.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to dwell on that as the Ex-Foot Ninja pulled an Utrom Plasma Grenade from nowhere, pulled the pin, and tossed it at me. My resilient sphere was suddenly bathed in the bright light of a plasma wash, melting the pavement around me into a cherry-red puddle of molten concrete. By the time the light faded, however, Billy Kane, Hwa Jai, Mister Big, and all the others had piled into the black van and were already speeding away. I managed to reach out with Megakinesis and stall the van temporarily while I charged a Denjin Hadouken, but it took too long for me to draw on the Chikara no Hadou while also holding onto the van with Megakinesis. After all, a van like that weighed a bit over five tons fully loaded, and I was still a novice with my psychic powers.

My Denjin Hadouken missed the van, which went squealing away, having broken free of my megakinesis just a few moments earlier. The van rounded the corner and my Denjin Hadouken passed by its bumper by inches. The car coming the other way also just barely missed the attack as it flew through Chinatown, gradually losing steam and cohesion before ultimately dissipating just before reaching Center Street three blocks away. As I huffed and puffed out on the street, I realized that I had beaten a pair of powerful combatants and one less powerful, but still skilled one all on my own. Sure, I'd taken a beating doing it, but my natural regeneration would heal that in a few days.

"I think you're ready for the Tournament." Grinned Chin Gentsai wryly from behind me.

"Yeah. Sorry about your restaurant." I apologized.

"Don't worry about that. Insurance in this town covers things like acts of gang violence. Nobody got hurt, and that wouldn't be able to be said if you weren't here." Waved off Chin Gentsai.

"What about you? You're no slouch yourself." I pointed out.

"No, but I'm an old man and can't be everywhere at once. Meihua would try to help with her Ling-Sheng Su Techniques, but she's barely on Raiden's level, let alone Hwai Ja's, to say nothing of Billy Kane or Mister Big. I couldn't beat Billy Kane and Mister Big while guarding her and getting the staff to safety. I don't have that kind of stamina anymore." Retorted Chin Gentsai.

"Well then, I'm glad I could help." I nodded.

"So am I. You should head back to the Apartment, I'll handle the police report. Better the report comes from the victim than anyone else." Advised Chin Gentsai.

"What about contacting your students?" I questioned.

"We might have to push that back till tomorrow, time zones being what they are. It depends on how long the Police Report takes." Answered Chin Gentsai.

As it happened, the Police Report took six hours as Chin Gentsai was grilled by a detective who was sympathetic to the Howard Connection for two hours before his partner called him off and got on with the real interview. By the time everything got squared away on that front, not only had no charges been filed, but it was currently midnight, which meant that while it wasn't exactly the all-night thing that Chin Gentsai had feared, it was still too late on our end to call his students. It would wind up having to wait until the next day. When it did, the word was that Chin's Students would be flying out the day after that.

And I would be meeting them at the Airport. . .

XXXX

Geese Howard, CEO of the Howard Connection and Emperor of South Town's Criminal Underworld gazed at the forms of Billy Kane and Hwa Jai, both bound in bandages and being seen to in hospital beds. Mister Big had arranged for his own care to be provided by doctors he trusted out of his own pocket. The Mafia Kingpin and former rival for power of Geese's still didn't trust him even after working for him for a few years already. That was a pity, of course, but it was hardly the only one to come out of this debacle.

The Howard Connection had always prided itself on its ability to draw in powerful fighters to work for them. They were in the business of private security, after all, at least publicly. Accordingly, they boasted the largest, best trained, best equipped, staff in all of the Southern United States. In large part, that was thanks to the Chi Adept Training that he gave to his top agents and executives. Most of the agents working under Billy would be considered quite skilled and powerful compared to the vast majority of humanity. Unfortunately, because of one incident based entirely on poor timing, a significant chunk of that Chi-trained Talent was unavailable to him.

"Raiden I could deal with. Even Hwa Jai I could continue running things smoothly without. But Billy and Big? That is a major blow." Mused Geese.

"And all cause of some punk teenager. Send me out. I'll handle the Kid." Boasted Wolfgang Krauser.

Geese's mustachioed, German-born, half-brother was eager to fight strong opponents as always, but Geese couldn't afford to lose Krauser too. From what he'd heard, this Boy had done all this damage by himself, without the help of Chin Gentsai, who could have joined in at any time. That indicated that he was at least as strong as Krauser was, which in turn meant that the potential for his Half-Brother to be beaten badly enough to require a hospital stay was there. It's better to send in someone more expendable.

"No. We can't afford the damage you'll take putting him down with so many high-level assets out of commission. On the other hand, we can't let this go unchallenged." Frowned Geese.

"What are you thinking?" Queried Krauser.

"I'm thinking we send an expendable third party after the Boy. Send for Yamazaki, my plans for him have been scuppered anyway thanks to Billy's injuries." Intoned Geese.

Krauser nodded and moved to carry out the plan. Ryuji Yamazaki was a wildcard in most situations. The man was insanely powerful and often just plain insane as well. If he perished fighting the Boy, nobody would bat an eye or shed so much as a tear. Now that Geese's plans to infiltrate Yamazaki's organization with Billy and take over from within had to be put on hold, this was the best way to deal with that psychopath. If he could kill two birds with one stone so much the better. Who knows? Perhaps Yamazaki and the Boy would take each other out and solve both of Geese's problems at once? Probably not, but you never knew.

Meanwhile, the Howard Connection would be waiting to sweep up Yamazaki's Organization after Yamazaki's defeat. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the fight with Billy Kane and Mister Big. Both were B+-Tier Threats while Hwa Jai was a C+. However, there were a few things that let Ulysses gain the advantage over them, Psionics and Magic being the big ones. Meanwhile, we see Geese Howard is plotting something with the Yakuza Syndicate run by Ryuji Yamazaki and also get our first hints of what happened with the Foot Clan since Ulysses left NYC.

Other nineties stuff this chapter includes mentions of the Dragon Kick and the Great Kung Lao of Mortal Kombat, while the Kongoshin, Denjin Hadouken, Chikara no Hadou, Shoryuken, Jyasen, Ansatsuken, and Master Gen are from Street Fighter. The KF-Seven Soviet Assault Rifle and Drax Industries Military Laser is from Goldeneye, while the Foot Clan and Utrom Plasma Grenades are from TMNT. The Ling-Sheng Su Style of Swordsmanship is from Soul Caliber while Megakinesis, Resilient Sphere, Flame Shield, and Kinetic Control are all from Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Everything else is from King of Fighters.

At any rate, the next chapter will be Ulysses meeting his new teammates.

Stay tuned. . .