Scarlet Lightning

Chapter1

Escape

The morning was bright and warm, trees and grassland for miles with a river running through. It was a typical day in the forest. Not so typical for the young man lying like a dead fish on the forest floor. As he woke he revealed his physical appearance to the sun that seeped through the trees. His skin was a soft tan his hair jet black, his muscles very large and only wore a pair of dark tracksuit bottoms with a flame design on one leg. He looked tired and his whole body ached as he stretched towards the sun. He was alone and unaware where he was.

It took a minuet or two before he realised what had just happened, the night before he remembered his grandfather shooting him. He thought he was dead, he should have been dead but he remembers then rising up and throwing his grandfather through a stone wall. Then he jumped into the sky and flew with a newly discovered pair of black feathered wings. "I remember feeling pure rage and extreme power what happened to me" he thought to himself. "That beast I killed it and granddad he shot me". "How did I fly? Could it be the devil gene that my granddad spoke about my father having? Do I possess such evil? ". He looked at his chest " no bullet wound" he examined his back "no wings either". " Why did granddad shoot me? Who was that blonde woman before that? She tried to shoot me too!". "Unnngggh such a beast my grandfather if he where here now I'd, I would, I want him dead! As the young man became angry at the thoughts of his grandfather a strange metamorphosis began with his body. His back began to arch and a strange circular opening with a red glow became apparent on his forehead. " What! What's happening to my". Noticing the immediate changes the Young man became scared and as his mood changed so did his body as it returned to its original state. Overwhelmed with everything, the man began to get emotional and found himself very weak and hungry. As these thoughts plagued his head he fell asleep with fatigue.

Still even in his sleep thoughts came through but in the form of nightmares. As he tossed and turned in his sleep with anger and resentment for his grandfather his body started to change again. In this particular dream his grandfather came up to him with a large hammer with intentions of smashing his head to bits. But before he could do this the nightmare ended and everything was calm. The young man could hear the sounds of leaves rustling, water gently flowing and an all-round calm in the air. He saw himself sitting on a log, now petting a fox, he felt at peace. Then he felt someone touch his shoulder, so he turned round only to be face to face with his mother, Jun.

"Mother" he said as he fell to his knees holding her arm at the same time. How can this be your d..?" said the surprised Jin

"Do not be alarmed Jin" said Jun softly

"I am here to help you. I know you have been through a lot lately and trust has been broken, but you need to overcome what has happened and recover for your life's sake". You have so much to do and life is too precious to be spent worrying about things like this you have to get out and do something about it". Jun advised

"You are right mother, but I have nowhere to go now and nobody to help me" he sighed.

"That's where you are wrong Jin I am here for you always and so long as you don't forget that, I will always be here to help you" she said reassuringly

"Mother, thank you for your help, and I could never forget you" Jin said his voice with a shaky as he felt like he could cry.

"Now Jin it is time to go you have things to do and there are questions to be answered I have fulfilled my job now wake! " she instructed

" I don't want to go I want you to stay with me" Jin pleaded.

"I already told you I am with you all the time in spirit, now wake up Jin! ".

Jin wakes up and for once in a long time a smile of true happiness came upon his face.

"I have to get out of this forest and find out where I am" he thinks to himself. As Jin walks blindly through the forest he hears the sound of water and immediately goes to the source of the noise. He comes upon a river slow moving and not very deep. He decides to have a quick wash before he went any further so he stripped and went into the water. He was enjoying the refreshing cold water when he heard a noise. It was very faint at first but it started getting louder and louder. Jin could not believe his eyes when he saw what was approaching him. It was a large, brown, hungry looking bear. He wasted no time in diving underwater and swimming furiously down stream.

"Shit can bears swim, I better keep swimming he looked like he was searching for food".

"Its getting very hard to swim I need to come up for air I hope he doesn't see me. Huuuuuuuuuuah" he gasps as he rises to get air.

After about three minuets of swimming for his life he could not go much further and was very tired now but the water was picking up tempo and getting rough. Jin out of energy passed out and was carried by the current down the river.

About a kilometre down the river at the bottom of the waterfall an old man was fishing. He looked up and seen the unusual sight of a helicopter flying off into the distance, he shook his head and got back to concentrating on not scaring the fish. A big trout approached his hook and the man got excited as he saw a potential dinner. Just then the water broke and a large splash startled everything in sight as well as the man's dinner. But the man was not concerned about this anymore as he saw the body of a young man floating down the river towards him. He jumped into the water and grabbed hold of the body and dragged it ashore. He started trying frantically to revive the young man, before long the young man from the river started coughing and spluttering.

He rose up slowly and said " I must have passed out or something, you saved me sir thank you, but I must go I am being hunted by a wild bear. You should go too" "Woooow you are not going anywhere in that condition you have no energy to even walk let alone start swimming" said the old man

"If i can save my life I will swim" Jin said breathing heavily.

"I don't hear any bear and besides bears don't swim too well so I guess your safe enough here" said the wise old man.

"Oh, thank god " said Jin.

"Anyway " said the old man as he tossed Jin a blanket " you will want to get some clothes before you travel any, further don't you think?".

Jin suddenly realising he is naked gets embarrassed and quickly wrapped the blanket around him .

" You should come with me to my tent and get dry and put some clothes on" suggests the old man. Jin willingly accepts the offer and they head back to the tent. When they get there Jin hears something in the bushes. "It must be that bear again " he thinks to himself.

At that thought a rabbit hopped out of the thick hedge and ran off into the woods. Jin smiled to himself at his own overreaction.

"I have very little food in here. I will have to go and get something in the woods" yelled the old man from his tent.

"Sir I thank you for helping me but I can see that I am trouble for you so if you could kindly give me some clothes to wear I will leave you in peace" Jin said so as not to disturb the man any more.

"I would like to help. You need not go until you are properly back to full strength." insisted the old man.

" Thank you sir I am very grateful" said Jin accepting the man's offer realising he hadn't a clue how to get out of here.

"That's ok and you can stop calling me sir my name is Frank. He pokes through a bag beside him and takes out some clothes "here put these on then you can join me for something to eat"

"Thanks Frank."

Later beside a fire the two men sat at opposite sides of it talking while eating bread and fried pigeon.

Frank: "So if you don't mind me asking what is a young man like yourself doing out in a forest like this on your own with no food or the means of catching any?"

"I can't remember exactly what happened. It seems like such a long time ago and I don't know how I got here. This may sound stupid to you but I remember killing the Ogre and then my grandfather shot me, I thought I was dead" explained Jin

" What did you say" said Frank now wide eyed.

" He shot me " repeated Jin.

"No, You say you killed the Ogre" said Frank astonished.

" Yes, I did kill him. He killed my mother when I was very young and I wanted to avenge her death from that day onward. You seem to know about it Frank"

"Yes I have heard about the legend of the God of Fighting but never thought it was true. You must be a very skilled fighter to have defeated it" Frank asked still in astonishment

"My mother and then my grandfather thought me how to fight and protect myself. But I hate that I know his style of fighting and carry on his teachings I hate this Mishima blood in my system; I hate everything about him." growled Jin

"I may be able to help with some of what you talk about if you don't mind the suggestion. I can help you forget the Mishima fighting style and keep your mothers teachings and give you a fighting style of your own. If you are willing to learn from an old karate master like myself" offered Frank .

Jin Thinking to himself "what have I got to lose and if this man can teach me how to fight differently the next time grandfather and I meet he wont be expecting me to fight differently and then maybe I will stand a good chance of defeating him and putting his lights out for good".

"Yes Frank I think that would be a great idea, but how will I be able to pay you for such a favour. I've been nothing but a nuisance to you for the last few hour's that I knew you" said Jin with a smile.

"Well I have this business I have been running for the past few years in Sydney, I could use some help in the store if you like" said Frank

"Thanks Frank, your a very kind man. Why do you trust me so much even though we've only just met" asked Jin.

"Don't mention it besides it would be good to have some company around the place it gets lonely sometimes you know! And about trusting you that comes with age. I've seen many people of all sorts and judging them has become easier as the years roll on. You will understand as you get older yourself" Frank explained

"Yea lonely. Anyway what is it that I will be helping out with ?"

"I run a plant nursery"

"???? I don't really think that I would be really suited for that kind of work " said Jin unsure.

"Sure you would, anyway the plants help to relax the mind and if you learn to be in harmony with nature your soul will be free, free to allow your true self to be revealed and thus allowing you to be at peace with yourself"

" That would be good for me I think, I need that" said Jin accepting the offer now.

Jin thinks to himself "my mother was a woman of nature and a true martial arts expert, maybe that was her secret to her success. If I can follow my mother's way of life I cant go wrong. And maybe if my soul is at rest the devil will be overcome and I will be free from it forever" .