[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/fWyAGfR.png[/img] "[i][b]OLD PEOPLE KICK TO HARD[/b][/i]"[/Center] "Get up!" She heard the voice the way you hear someone screaming underwater. Muddled, bubbly sounds that made little sense. Voices that swam in and out of her comprehension,a kaleidoscope of noise and dissonance. Her head hurt as she staggered back up to her feet. "AGAIN!" The sharp voice of a elderly woman cracked like a whip across her aching mind and brought her back to clarity. She blinked away the sweat and the tears. Opposite of her stood her teacher and confidant. The elderly woman was all virey strength, and despite her advanced years nothing so much as hinted to weakness. How it was possible to be so powerfull so far into your years was beyond Kaya. Instead she focused on putting up a proper guard, squaring her shoulders and lifting her left knee up in the classical muy thai pose. [color=6660CC]"Ready!"[/color] She bellowed back and they were back on. Her opponent shot forth, breaking the muy thai stance suddenly to shoot for her legs. This caught Kaya by suprise and her kick went wide. She danced away, but a lighnting quick leg sweep kicked her leg from under her. She fell hard onto her side. She gritted her teeth as she landed and rolled to the side, avoiding a soccer kick aimed at her temple. "Ready you are not child." [color=6660CC]"That wasn't Muy Thai."[/color] Kaya said as she resumed the guard again. "Correct. That was Burmese Bando. Did you know Thailand and Burma have a long history of claiming the others martial art is inferior? Like the Thai King who walked into burma and beat five masters. It is all jingoistic bullshit if you ask me." She said with a cheeky grin that made the old woman seem that much younger. Kaya could not let go of the fact that all this time, her teacher had a whole bag of tricks she hadn't showed her. [color=6660CC]"But.. I never knew you trained other diciplines."[/color] Kaya said, sounding mock hurt. She lounged,leading with her right, trying to get her powerfull left hook lined up but the old lady weaved and moved like she was in her prime. Each punch missed or scored glancing blows, each time Kaya was tagged with a shin kick or a foot stomp. "Girl. I taught you all you know. I didn't even teach you half of what I know." Her teacher smiled wryly as she checked the shin kick and and nearly took Kayas head off with a elbow strike. The woman, in a show of immense flexibility for her age, followed it up with a so called scorpion kick, a move that would make a ballet dancer cringe. That was Muy Thai however, and Kaya knew the tells well enough to roll away and getting a body shot in with a nasty low hook. Her teacher didn't so much as flinch, and instead drove the heel of her foot down onto inside of Kayas thigh. Forcing the younger woman to be momentarily flatfooted, she grabbed Kaya with both hands and drove her Knee right into her sturnum. Making her collapse. Letting out a wheezing cough, Kaya sunk to her knees. "Good hook. But you drop leg down and forget to pivot into it. That is a karate thing is it not?" [color=6660CC]"Yes..."[/color] Kaya hissed as she got back up. "No martial art is superior. Always discard what you cannot make work. I know the army taught you to fight dirty and effeciently. But the world changes constantly, you got to adapt or you is drawn down under the surface." She tossed a pair of gauntlets to Kaya. They reached all the way up to her elbows. Made of some sort of metal, yet decently lightweight. Before she could ask, Bak May picked up a unsharpened but none the less metal blade. "Adapt" She said simply and took a stance that was startlingly similair to that of the old man and his freak daughter that almost killed Kaya months back. "Or Die." Kaya gulped and set herself in a firm stance. [color=6660CC]"READY!" [/color] --- Somwhere in the depth of china town. "Seems like the Yakuza are moving more agressively." A young man spoke, eyes downcast. He was on one knee, and bowing to a handsome chinese man lounging on a chair adorned with jade spider. Hau Lang Koo was the undisputed leader of the Lost Haven contingent of the Jade Spiders. Everywhere their web spreads, his influence grew. [color=a2d39c]"They feel emboldened by the presence of their enforcers no doubt."[/color] The young man spoke as he barely stirred. "What do we do." The young officer asked, not daring to look upon his leader. [color=a2d39c]"Is Eng back?"[/color] Hau asked as filed his nails. "Yes. He arrived this morning from Hong Kong." [color=a2d39c]"If the Yakuza want a war. They have one. Send The Syndicate a message. Let them know that I will take care not to damage their operations. But that I cannot let agression go unanswered[/color]." As he said it he rose and a woman in red moved up to take his arm. Madam Zhau was his right hand. Where Eng was his attack dog, Zhau held mystical powers and entranced his followers. Imbuing the chosen ones with powers of their own. [color=a2d39c]"What of the vigilante? Still silent?"[/color] He asked without sparing his magician a glance. The woman didn't seem to mind his cold, buisness like demenour. She answered him as soon as he was finished talking. "Yes. It seems our japanese enemies did manage to take her out of the picture somehow." Her voice was honey smooth and full of confidence. She somehow matched the young leader perfectly. Yang to his Ying. "I believe her to be alive. But for whatever reason, her trail is foggy. Even with a puddle worth of her very blood, my magic cannot grasp her identity or indeed if she is even alive." She sad it with some concern. "[color=a2d39c]Doesn't matter, the problem now is the Japanese. They grow bold with success. Time to make an example out of them.[/color]" He said as they exited the inner chamber. Before long, they had a small honor guard following behind. Heavily armed, heavily tattoed men and women wearing enough weapons to make even the NRA nervous. [color=a2d39c]"Send Eng to their little casino down at the Japanese riverfront. Tell him I want blood. Lots of of it."[/color] War was coming to Lost Havens streets.