Freedom

Enter the Wong Family. Perhaps the richest family in all of China. The religious and traditional Chang Wong, and his snooty, modern wife, "Mary" Wong (as the international trade business calls her.) They had lived their life very privileged, and never worried about anything else going on in the world. They lived in a large lavished mansion, in a protected little part of China, reserved for the rich. Chang loved to buy expensive artifacts with his money, and Mary loved to buy clothing and other items of the sort with her money. That was one thing the Wong's had in common. Their love of money, and just their love of money. But some how or another, they had a child. A boy, that they came to call Brad. Brad was nothing like the two. He had no use for money and expensive things. Brad loved simple things, like star gazing, relaxing, music, and the arts. He showed great talent in his younger years, teaching himself how to play Chinese fiddle. They sent him to school, but he never did well. He always made fun of the teachers, never did his homework or school work, and showed extreme disinterest in what they taught. When his report card came, Chang (being traditional) would beat Brad. This happened until Brad was 13, until one day, Brad fought back. With no martial arts back round, he was able to knock his grown father unconscious. The attendants of the house thought this astounding, seeing as how Chang was a black belt in the Korean Martial Art of Tae Kwon Do. To Discipline Brad, they had hired (a particularly harsh) Shotokan instructor to teach him how to really fight. Every day he would train Brad extensively, yet ineffectively. After a month of training, the instructor gave Brad his first test. He took him into Hong Kong, and found a dangerous part of town. He then started up a fight between Brad and several thugs living on the streets. Needless to say, Brad was beaten half dead. The instructor had cowardly run off during the fight. But before they could finish Brad, another man showed up. A man smelling of liquor and dressed in traditional clothing appeared, and defeated all of the thugs, using a very odd style of fighting. He looked drunk, yet he was able to fend for himself. Brad watched in amazement, and thought that this strange man, must be a master to be able to fight drunk. After the thugs ran off, Brad came to another astounding realization. The man stopped wobbling and slurring his unintelligible words, and stood upright. He wasn't drunk at all! It was merely an act. Brad thanked the man, and offered to buy him dinner. The man happily and thankfully accepted. During their meal, Brad had gotten to know this man. His name was Sifu Chen, and he was a master of Zui Quan, the Drunken Kung Fu. Brad was so amazed by the awkward grace of the fighting style, that he pleaded with Chen. He wanted Chen to teach him. Chen, who was old, and was looking for an apprentice to pass on his style to, told him he would be happy to do it.

The next set of years, Brad had snuck out every day to train off in the woods with Sifu Chen. Over the coarse of five years, he had learned many things about the fighting style, but was missing one thing. He could not gain the meditative state to appear drunk. The fighting style would loose a bit of its edge, if the opponent did not believe that he was drunk. Chen tested Brad in similar ways the Shotokan instructor had. He put him against other local schools to fight. But Brad kept loosing, and with every loss came ridicule of the victor, saying that his style was weak. Chen was convinced it was because he did not appear drunk, and Brad knew this. But regardless of his losses, he was glad to train. He hated being in the mansion, and he hated the neglect from his parents. Training in Zui Quan was almost like freedom for him. Brad still worked, to try and gain the meditation he needed.

Then when Brad had turned 21, a tragedy occurred. While Brad and Chen were training at night, they were both attacked. Unexpectedly, two figures dropped from the trees around them. They were dressed in garb that ninja clans from Japan would wear. Brad tried the best he could to fight back, but he was swiftly defeated, and he watched his master fight. His master was fairing well, and he seemed to know these ninjas…he had said the word "Mugen Tenshin" as they appeared, but Brad wasn't the wiser of what that meant. Chen told Brad to run. As the fight got more violent, Brad, consumed by fear, ran. He hid until he heard the fighting stop. Slowly, and shivering, he crawled back to where the fight was…only to find his master on the ground, with dozens of knifes in his chest. Chen still had strength to tell Brad that they would be looking for him, solely to end Chen's lineage of training. He also told Brad in his last breaths, to keep meditating for the drunken state, to fully master the style. Sifu Chen, then died, in front of his student Brad Wong. Brad had always looked at Chen as his true father. Brad was hit hard by despair and sorrow for his master.

Brad found himself in a bar that very night. With his parents money, he was able to buy many many drinks. He quickly became drunk, and angry. So angry and mean, that all the other patrons moved away from him. After several drinks…the two ninja appeared to him in the bar. Brad was too drunk to understand them, but they were speaking of "ending Chen's training history" and things of "what we were hired to do". This talk only fueled his anger. Every sense in him was burning. The smell…that's what he recognized. He would NEVER forget the smell of a Mugen Tenshin ninja. Without warning the two attacked, expecting Brad to be easy, seeing how drunk he was. Brad automatically defended. His body was moving, and his brain was struggling to keep up. The swift attacks of the ninjas struck fast and hard, but Brad's blocking and swaying made it hard for them to even hit him. His cupped fist had no problem finding their way into the main parts of the ninja's bodies. About five minutes after the fight started, Brad was swinging at nothing but air, and he didn't know it. The bartender, who had been hiding, pulled out a pail of water, and splashed Brad with it. Brad had instantly become sober, and shook his head to see what happened. He looked at his feet, to see the two Mugen Tenshin ninja's at his feet, not knocked out, but dead. In his rage, he had killed them both with his fists. Brad looked in disbelief. He had killed the two warrior who slain his master. And he was drunk. Brad then was convinced, he needed to actually be drunk, to learn how to be a master. But, the main question was burning in his mind, why would the Mugen Tenshin would come for them. Brad thought for a while, and figured that he would never find his answers staying here. He had ventured back to his house, to find that the two ninjas had already looked there. Both Chang and Mary Wong lied dead on their own floor. But Brad wasted no tears for these people. They were soulless, and he knew he had hated them his whole life. He took a handful of money, some clothing, and journeyed off into the wild, and across the world looking for answers. Years later, he started hallucinating from his alcohol abuse. He believed his master was still alive, and Chen had told him to find "Genra" and enter the DOA tournaments. Soon after a meeting with a man named Gen Fu, Brad had changed. Gen Fu knocked a bit of sense into him, and had also gave him information on Mugen Tenshin related to a women named Helena of DOATEC. Afterward, Brad spent over a month in meditation, trying to rethink his life. He had then achieved the "drunk meditation" that his master had spoken of. Brad was ready to look for more Mugen Tenshin clues in this next tournament, under the guise of being drunk. Using a liquor bottle (filled with water…) he was ready to fight his way through and find answers. In the next tournament, Brad had met a very strange girl, named Kokoro. After an unpleasant first impression, with a fight to follow, she had claimed that she knew who he was.

"Your that heir my mother told me about…the heir of the Wong family fortune?" Kokoro looked puzzled for a second. "Why are you….drunk? Out here? Fighting? You could be living peacefully in a good home."

Brad laughed a bit. This girl was young, that was for sure. "Well, you look like your pretty privileged, judging by your clothing…why are YOU fighting here?"

Kokoro thought for a second. "Well, I'm fighting because I have questions…and it makes me feel-"

"Free?" Brad asked, knowing the answer.

Kokoro simply nodded.

"That's exactly why I'm out here. I have questions…and I love to be free from normal life."

Brad still had questions, but felt he was getting closer and closer to his answers. This girl Kokoro had reawaken his proud feeling of his freedom (after giving him a few bruises.) Brad fought his way through the tournament eager to better himself, and to find his long sought answers. But through the whole thing, he had no master, and no better. He was free, and he wanted everyone to know that. Brad Wong was secretly coming.

(Authors Note: hmm….I dunno. This could turn into a multiple chapter thing. If it does, I would be happy!)