"He has some very strong stances and he seems to show no fear in battle. He doesn't hesitate...that is a very good quality to have. He's really fast considering the style he's using. Although there is something unusual about his eyes..."
Lau watched intensely as the monk fought in the first round of the Virtua Fighter tournament. The monk's opponent was simply no match for his abilities. The round ended within seconds. As the two men shook hands however, Lau's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of the arrogance in the monk's eyes."That is a bit unseemly for a monk to show such haughtiness. He holds himself in such high regard. So much pride...so much spite is in his eyes."As Lau continued to gather more information on this unseemly man, the monk walked away to his next match, slowly disappearing into the crowd.
It was the beginning of the Virtua Fighter 4 tournament and the turnout was larger than the last. For most of the participants, this was there very first time in a tournament and it showed in their fights as Lau observed. They fought with fear and anxiousness with lead them to make careless mistakes and caused them to look very sloppy. It was a disappointing sight to behold considering that he was looking for a successor among them. To him, they were beginners who haven't mastered themselves or their fighting styles; they weren't worthy of being taught the truest form of martial arts, the Ko'en-Ken.
His disappointment continued until he witnessed the match with the Isshin-Ryu student and the Shaolin monk.The way the monk fought, to him, was truly a sight for sore eyes. The fluidity of the movements, the careful articulation and execution of his many stances, the power and elegance behind each strike was awe-inspiring. It was obvious that the monk had trained for many years and was highly disciplined. The Isshin-Ryu student was no match. Surely, Lau thought, that this monk would make an excellent successor. Perhaps, he could take the Ko'en-Ken style to higher levels than he himself could.
But as he looked at his eyes, he began to feel otherwise. His eyes spoke of pride, arrogance, and a thirst for immense strength, feelings that a monk should be without. Lau was greatly concerned by what he had seen as he watched the monk disappear into the crowd. He didn't want to believe what he had seen. He had seen that in many students and it never guaranteed the proper use of any form of martial arts. Students with that look never use the arts to better themselves but to accomplish their own selfish goals. But, he reasoned with himself, maybe with rigorous training, he could diminish that fire burning within him. He had also seen that happen to students.
He decided to keep that man in mind while he watched for more potentials even though he doubted that he would find someone better. Without warning, he broke into a severe coughing fit. He made his way through the crowds and reached a restroom where he began to cough blood. He fiddled in his pockets and pulled out a few dark-green leaves. As he chewed the leaves, the coughs began to subside.
"I have to find a successor ...soon..."
The tournament area began to empty out as night approached. People began to retreat to the hotels that the Virtua Fighter committee had provided to its combatants. The hotels were of a very average quality but what it lacked it made up with the view of the river and the shopping center that was within blocks of it. Lau gazed out into the night sky while the moon's rays sparkled over the river. He reflected over all the people he saw and how the monk was still in the top running for the role of the apprentice. He decided to wait until after the tournament to make his final decision; it was too early to say. In the meantime, he prepared himself mentally for his upcoming matches.
As the days moved on, the matches became more grueling as many of the weaker fighters were weeded out. Lau began to see many familiar faces as the fights raged on. Kagemaru, the man that defeated him in the last tournament, was slated to fight Akira Yuki. Yuki's moves were powerful indeed but that same strength made him slow. Akira's strength versus Kagemaru's speed would be a great match. While those two were fighting, his daughter, Pai, entered the ring with Brad Burns. His daughter's skills were vastly improved and very similar to his own.
"Would she make a good successor," he thought as she fought. After the tie-breaker match, Pai came out victorious.
"Lau Chan and Goh Hinogami to ring 4, Lau Chan and Goh Hinogami to ring 4," the cool female voice announced over the megaphone system. As he made his way to the ring, he saw a bit of the match between the shaolin monk, known as Lei-Fei, versus the Aiki Ju-Jutsu master, Aoi Umenokouji. He was curious how this match would turn out considering how knowledgeable Aoi was of many styles and how devastating her reversals are. Lei-Fei, on the other hand, is very unpredictable because of his various stances but his strikes are very linear, which would make them easier to reverse. Unfortunately, he had his own match to concern himself with. He would simply have to see that match another time.
Lau stepped into the ring. He had seen Goh many times in this tournament; he could recognize his sickly blue face anywhere.
"You again? I'm surprised you haven't died yet..," Goh said while he shuffled his feet on the ground with his hands in the pockets, seeming more interested with the ground than with anyone at the moment. He stared at Lau with indifferent eyes. Lau shifted into his stance, ignoring the man and his talk.
"Ready? GO!"
Lau had walked out of the ring victorious but not without sustaining some injuries. The worst was the dislocated shoulder he received by a failed attempt from Goh of breaking his arm. He was lucky that he got out of the hold as soon as he did. Any moment longer and his arm would have been broken. As he stood trying to tend to his wounds, he saw an ambulance near ring 5. Eileen was being carried out of the ring on a stretcher. Her opponent, Jeffrey, looked on with satisfaction.
"Better luck next year! Bwahahahaha! Jeffrey screamed at Eileen's passing stretcher. Jeffrey continued to laugh even after the ambulance drove off. "That was too funny!" Jeffrey gasped between each laugh until he felt someone tap him from behind. His happiness shifted to belligerent rage within seconds.
"What do you want!!" Brad stared up at the giant.
"You know you didn't have to go overboard like that especially to a petite girl like her." he said coolly. Jeffrey began to crack his knuckles as he looked down on Brad.
"You got a problem wit' how I do things bitch?" There was special emphasis placed on that last word and Brad knew it.
"Yeah...," Brad cracked his neck from left to right while cracking his knuckles,"...and I'm all about solvin' problems." "Why don't you guys save your energy for your next match?" Aoi asked as the two men prepared to kill each other.
"Shouldn't YOU prepare for YOUR next match," Jeffrey said in a mocking voice," Oh! Wait a minute? YOU don't have another match 'cause you got beat by that bald dude that was flyin' around the ring like a FAIRY!HAHAHAHA!"Jeffrey broke into a laughing fit while Aoi and Brad looked on.
"You got beat...haHA…by...a gay guy .HAHAHAHA!" At this point, Jeffrey was on the floor in the fetal position, still laughing.Brad and Aoi looked on until...
"Maybe I should say something to him," Aoi thought. Unfortunately, as soon as she opened her mouth, Vanessa walked in to observe the commotion.
"What's goin' on?" she asked.
"Don't worry about that douche. I'm more worried about what's goin' on between me and you." Vanessa stared at Brad. Brad stared at Vanessa's body. Aoi screamed on the inside. Jeffrey laughed. Lau shook his head disapprovingly.
The last match of the tournament started as Vanessa and Kagemaru entered the ring. Vanessa was determined to find out what happened to her during the memory blackout and she was sure that winning the tournament would help her find out.
"I've come too far to lose," she repeated to herself as if it were a mantra. Kagemaru, on the opposite side of the ring, was determined that today will be the day he saves his mom from the clutches of J6. He was confident that Vale Tudo was no match for him. She wouldn't be able to keep up with him he thought. Then, out of nowhere, Dural, the product of misguided science, appeared. Vanessa and Kagemaru looked at each other, knowing what they had to do. The two teamed up and fought the monster. They were determined to destroy the one that stopped their fight. The crowd of people that witnessed the match saw this as the highlight of the tournament.
Lau was about 2 blocks away from the tournament site while that was happening. He had already lost to Shun Di and Lei-Fei had already lost to Akira so there was no point to sticking around. The only thing on his mind was on how to locate Lei-Fei. As Soon as he reached the hotel however, He spotted him walking out in front of the building. He was easier to find than he had thought. Lau approached him immediately.
"I've decided to make you the successor to the Ko'en-Ken style. What is your decision?"
"I would be honored to be your apprentice."
After that, Lau told him where to be and when to be there. He didn't specify how long so Lei-Fei assumed that his abilities would determine how long his training would be. With that said, Lau left as soon as he came. Lei-Fei smiled to himself.
During his time in the monastery, he had heard many stories about the sheer power of the Ko'en-Ken style which made him lust for it. He was also rarely given missions and the ones he was given weren't worth mentioning. They usually had something to do with making deliveries to the village and things of that nature. To him, these tasks weren't worthy of his abilities. When he confronted his masters about this, they would answer him with questions and riddles. Eventually, Jing-Cheung, a fellow monk told him that the masters didn't like the pride and lust within in him and that he had to cleanse himself of such things before they saw him as worthy to carry out missions with more merit. That had angered him. Why should something like that matter, he would ask himself. Shouldn't the fact that he was more skilled than any of the monks there show them that he was worthy?He decided that if they wouldn't give them the opportunity that he felt he deserved then he would have to trick them into doing so. He would give them that image of the perfect monk that they were looking for.
In a matter of a month, the masters spoke of Lei-Fei's change into a man worthy to do Buddha's work. The masters now saw him as a kind, benevolent soul, free from worldly vices after making a few changes.
"Who would have guessed that a little bit of acting would get him so far," he asked himself as one of the masters offered him the mission of destroying the Ko'en-Ken style. He thanked his master and left the room with a smile on his face.
He had come to the tournament unsure on how to proceed with his goal of learning Ko'en-Ken and killing the master without arousing too much suspicion. Then, Lau came out of nowhere offering him the chance to be his student. He simply couldn't believe his luck.
"Such a foolish man," he smiled as he walked away from the hotel.
A week later, Lau and Lei-Fei began their training. Things were going pretty well; Lei-Fei was an obedient student. Lau was impressed with the progress they were making and he was happy to have chose him to be his predecessor. As the weeks wore on, Lau's condition continued to worsen. Sometimes, the chronic pains that his illness brought immobilized him to the point that he would be unable to train Lei-Fei. All he could do was instruct him and let him do the rest. The pain got to the point where he had to stay in bed for weeks at a time. He was thankful that he had Lei-Fei to help him during these agonizing times.
"Thank you," he said as Lei-Fei fed him the herbal concoction that he was instructed to make. After he gave him the medicine, Lei-Fei left outside. He sat on the stairs of the temple, angered with his lack of progress.
"If this gets any worse," he thought bitterly," Lau will die without passing his knowledge to me." He hadn't like how thing had been for the past three months. He was only taught the very basics of the Ko'en-Ken style, a few punches here and there. What Lau was basically doing was making him unlearn his Kung-Fu to start off fresh with the Ko'en-Ken. In a way, he was getting rid of something he no longer needed and he was content with that. However, for the past few weeks, instead of training, he was playing house with a dying old man. He cleans, cooks, caters to his every whim and even bathes him for god sakes! He felt his pride and skills diminish with every batch of dumplings made and every bath administered.
" Maybe...he will recover. I must be patient," he thought spitefully.
His patience went unrewarded as Lau continued to lie in bed.
One day, as Lei-Fei began to prepare dinner, he heard a knock on the door. Curiously, he answered the door only to find Pai behind it. They stared at each other as if they were analyzing each other with unseen scanners.
"I am here to see my father," she said coolly. Lei-Fei, after casting another look, moved out of her way as she passed.
Pai had promised her father that she would at least visit him 3 times a year and this was her second. Luckily for her, her new movie, "The Shadow's Mark", was being filmed in the area so it wasn't to difficult to get there. She sat by her father's bed with sympathy in her eyes. He had not realized she was there; he was still asleep. She pulled a small bag of various berries, twigs and leaves and placed them on the table.
"He has been like this for days," Lei-Fei said with his arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe. She had turned to look at her father's student in disbelief that he would choose him. "Why father?" she thought to herself. She had tried so hard to impress her father in the tournament in hopes that she would be his student. Of all the people, he would pick a man with such a strong aura of deceit and untrustworthiness. She especially didn't like the idea of him being so close to him while he was like this. She was disappointed with her father's choice but maybe there was something about him that he liked. Whatever the case, she knew that he would have to keep an eye on him for her father's sake.
"Here." She tossed Lei-Fei the bag full of herbs. "Boil some water and this into it." He glared at her. Who was she to give him orders? This only added to the anger that was already burning in him. To avoid making a scene, he left the room.
When Lau was awake, his daughter and he had a little conversation about her career and the tournament while Lei-Fei stood over them. She mentioned her co-star, Tina Armstrong, was a new action-star from America who was very loud and obnoxious and how she felt that this movie will help her international appeal. While they talked, Lei-Fei began to serve dinner.
"The monk's food is horrible," Pai said as she spit out the food into a trash can while Lei-Fei was there. "How do you eat this every day? This is only suitable for animals! How could he mess up such a simple recipe!" Lau simply continued to eat the food; food was food to him.
"I guess the best way to eat this is to try to ignore how bad it is."Lei-Fei watched on angrily as he and his cooking was disrespected. She had left later that evening with Lau in somewhat better condition. He had also seemed a bit happier. He read a book in bed while Lei-Fei sat outside.
"He isn't getting any better...I will just have to face the facts..." Lei-Fei's patience was wearing thin. Lau has a terminal illness; he won't get any better. His plans were ruined. He wouldn't be able to learn Ko'en-Ken after all the effort, after all the trouble. All of it went in vain and that is what frustrated him the most.
"The only thing I can do now is fulfill my original mission...and this is the perfect time to do it." Lau was still reading a book when Lei-Fei entered the room.
"What do you want?" Lau asked as he closed his book. Then Lau heard the door being locked by his student and he knew that something was amiss. He rose out of his bed immediately and slid into his fighting stance.
"I've should have know."
"I am glad that you were to foolish to follow your instincts. I wouldn't have such an opportunity if you had," Lei-Fei spat. "How well do you think you will fare against me in your condition? Would you like me to give you your medicine before you engage in such strenuous activities?" Lau stood there in his stance, staring daggers at his student. He should have known from the beginning. He should have listened to his gut. He had known that there was something wrong with the monk. Lau had felt horrible from the sickness and his unwise decision. Without warning, Lei-Fei lunged at Lau and the fight for his life began.
Pai was currently on the set for the movie's third fight scene. This fight scene called for her and Tina to work together to fight of the horde of undead fighter. Pai was never happy about pairing up for a fight scene because her partner, without fail, will always make things harder than they had to be. They would always ask for things, to be added, to be taken out and basically giving the choreographer a hard time just so that they can look better.
"Sigh...what time is it?" She looked around in her bag searching for it but to no avail. Then she remembered that she had left it at her father's temple. "Damn it!" She went to her director and asked him if she could leave for a minute. He let her go under the condition that she h to be back in 2 hours.
When she arrived, she knocked on the door but no one answered. "Hmm...what's going on?" she pondered. She walked around to the other side of the temple to see if she could find another way in. Then, she heard a loud noise, as if someone were being thrown out of a window. She ran towards the sound and saw Lau in a pool of broken glass and blood. He stood up but from the way he moved, he seemed to have broken his leg. The monk flew out of the window, landing a reverse butterfly kick to Lau's head. Lau was down. Lei-Fei walked to his body with a look of disappointment.
"Is that all? I'm almost embarrassed that I thought your abilities exceeded mine. Heh heh-ungh!".Lei-Fei's body was flung to the ground by the force of Pai's flying kick. While Lei-Fei was down, Pai got into her fighting stance in front of her father's body.
"How dare you fight him as he is now you disgraceful coward!" she screamed. The monk brushed bits of glass from his clothes and looked at his new opponent.
"Do you really think that you can take me, woman? Your father is truly a pathetic man to need protection from the likes of you," he spat." I suppose you would like to die by your father's side?"
"You have no right to talk so big! With tactics such as yours, you are the pathetic one!" Lei-Fei shifted into his fighting stance.
"Very well."