Unmasked
By: Youri Kai Kamachii
I've had this fic idea for a while now. I'm a bit upset that the Kings and Julia don't get a lot of attention in the games and from other Tekken communities, so this is kind of the product of it. I'm basing my fic only a little bit off the Tekken plot, but it isn't an alternate universe, just something that has decent continuity. Also for now, this is a friendship fic though I wish the King/Julia pairing would get more popular. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: NAMCO Bandai owns Tekken, not I. And my cover picture (if you can see it) is from ObeYecow from deviantART.
Chapter 1:
In Northern Arizona, winter would soon blossom into spring. The climate was nearly perfect as the chilly wind blew, but the sunlight made the weather a nice balance. For the luchador who often fought in his passed down jaguar mask, King figured this would be the night to drink at the newest nightlife bar. He was maskless and wore a long black trench coat over his light blue shirt and grey pants. As he slowly walks into the bar, King remembers his mentor's last moments.
King needed to prove his training, so he entered a small wrestling tournament. Armor King, King's mentor who wears a similar black Jaguar mask, took a front-row seat to watch the younger luchador; he often cheered King on subtly with a thumbs up or down. While in the arena, King wrestled a mildly difficult opponent but still managed to keep up with him and have the upper hand. He pushes the opponent so hard that he bounced off the arena chords, which gave King an opportunity to knock him out with a punch and deliver piledrive. Then King received a championship belt. His fans screamed for his victory. Flashes go off everywhere. King growls like an actual jaguar to the crowd for his wrestling persona. However, King quickly noticed that Armor King left the arena. Despite the victory, King dropped his belt, ran as fast as he could, and flung the door open to his locker room.
"I wish he could see you right now...He would be proud like I am." King sees Armor King's sorrowful face along with his mask on a nearby wooden table.
Silence.
"You fought just like him in the arena today...Looks like our training's just about done, niño. You don't need me anymore"
"Stop! I need you just as much as he needed you when he was in the alley passed out drunk."
"Don't think I have too much longer" Armor King shows King two x-ray photographs. "That damn Australian kept taunting me until I couldn't take more of it. Obviously it didn't end well" Armor King tried to get a laugh out of his cruel situation.
"He'll pay-"
"Keep up the good work kid. For the orphanage...And for our King."
Now the maskless luchador moves the growing hair from his face and approaches a younger man.
"I'd like a beer please."
He didn't like drinking beer much but the beer wasn't for himself. Armor King's stiff and bloody body in an alleyway appeared in King's mind. The flashing lights. The white walls of the hospital. The words: Lo siento está muerto.
'To my mentor' King started to drink his beer slowly, but it gradually increased.
"You should really slow down"
King looks up to the feminine voice and sees a young Native American woman pouring drinks at a nearby table. She had on a red top that revealed majority of her belly area with a transparent black shirt underneath and jeans while her hair was pulled back in a long braided ponytail. 'It's the woman from the tournament'
King defeated the Capoeira fighter. He thought it was a good match in the end since young man's moves were unpredictable, so he helped him up. The Brazilian man smiled at King, but soon ran off as if he had something important to do. Now King was in the quarterfinals so he wondered who his third to possibly last opponent would be during his break. He saw some really strange characters walking around. Like the mechanized samurai. Though King had to admit in his mind that his outfit was pretty awesome, he wondered why he carried around a katana to a hand-to-hand fighting tournament. He also saw a literal wooden man and someone he hoped was wearing an entire bear costume. He couldn't talk much since he himself wore a jaguar mask that looked so realistic.
King was distracted, so he was very surprised when he heard his stage name being announced "King!" He slowly walked into the large arena with his arms held out and high while the crowd cheered him on. "Verses...Julia Chang!" A young Native American female walked into the arena, patted her face, and put up her fists. The bell signaling the beginning of the fight went off. Julia ran towards King and eventually sent a strong blow to his face, which was covered by the jaguar mask. King could tell she wasn't a naturally violent person, but remembered that not just anyone enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament.
'She must have a good reason to fight in this tournament' King grabs Julia by her legs, spins, and throws her slightly across the arena floor.
Julia appeared not to move at first, so the tournament announcer slowly counted up to ten while King walked towards his opponent. The audience was taken by quick surprise however when Julia spun her leg around and King landed flat on the large arena floor.
King quickly bounces back up and gets into his luchador fighting stance "Looks can be deceiving..."
Julia raises her eyebrow to King's comment and brings her fists back up.
King later prevailed, but lost his next match against the female Irish assassin. He walked out of the arena only to spot his previous opponent from afar, Julia. She had a look of desperation on her face as she asked the tournament's sponsor, Heihachi Mishima, questions only for him to shrug them off. Anger suddenly took over but she stopped herself from striking Heihachi and walked away-
"...Sir? Are you OK?" Julia finally puts her hand on King's shoulder. King could consider her hand to be the most soft and warmest he ever felt.
"Oh...Sorry. I think I had too much."
Julia removes her soft hand. "Sooo what brings you to this bar tonight? Hardly anyone comes lately though we're new."
"Yeah the brawl happened here. I knew the guy who got beat."
"How-"
"He was my teacher. He didn't last long after that fight..." King drinks some more beer.
Julia was speechless and after a while, she started to clean the tables nearby. Though a small group of loud people were also in the bar, Julia felt the silence between her and the lonely luchador. King nearly finishes his jug of beer in only four gulps.
"When I'm done can I have another...Julia?"
Julia pauses. Not at the fact that she jumped inside from the thick Mexican accent saying her name, but the fact that he indeed knew her name when she happened to not wear her name tag that day.
"Wait! How do you know my name?"
A/N: Sorry for the slow start but one of my main criticisms back in the day was that my plots went too fast. I also suck at writing first chapters, so keep that in mind as well. I PROMISE there will be more to this story. I'm nearly done with chapter 2 and some of 3, but I'd like to know what do you think King's ACTUAL name should be? The title IS Unmasked after all (though it's not JUST for King). I will not update until I get at least 5 reviews! And the one Spanish phrase I had meant "I'm sorry, but he's dead". I translated it myself, so if it actually means something else, my apologies; I haven't written/spoken Spanish in a few years, but I'm not too trusting with translators.