Wang scrutinized his surly reflection in the mirror. He slapped his thigh with frustration and sighed.
"Oh great, another liver-spot has appeared on my forehead. Hope it doesn't disgust the ladies."
He caught a sniff of Xiao's delicious cooking coming from the kitchen and turned towards the door.
"Xiaoyu? When is dinner ready? I'm starving," he complained while rubbing a hand over his rumbling belly.
Xiao replied with an irritated growl.
"Grandpa, you promised to take out the trash this week!" she called. Wang fingered the bald patch on his wrinkled forehead. He shrugged and headed outside.
"Young people nowadays...Always pushing their elders around..." he muttered as he dragged two large black sacks towards their wheelie-bin.
Wang noticed a red lump lying in the front lawn of their rented house.
"What do we have here?" he asked himself while adjusting his glasses. The old man stopped in his tracks and squealed. The lump in the lawn seemed to be a dying man with golden hair. The top of his hair was hardened into a crescent. He held a knife limply in one hand but showed no sign of consciousness.
"Dear heavens, I hope he's not dead."
Wang rushed to the stranger's side and implored his grand-daughter to help him take the man in.
Xiaoyu came out wearing an apron covered in vegetable soup. She gasped in shock at the pitiable sight.
"Grandpa, who is that?" the Chinese girl asked frantically. She checked the man's breathing before letting out a sigh of relief. The man would live.
"He's face looks hunger-stricken. I don't think it'll hurt to have a guest over for dinner tonight," Wang replied with a warm smile.
Mooney's eyes fluttered open. He was lying in a bed. The lunatic sat up feebly and moaned, raising his hand over his face. It had been over a month when he was travelling onto the boat until a storm at sea knocked him out. He didn't remember any more than that.
He paused when he realised someone else was in the room, holding a book.
Mooney blinked a few times. The figure that came to focus was that of an old man.
This can't be happening! How did I end up in Japan? Wait...That's my journal in his hands!
He threw the blankets off, ignoring the raging cramp in his gut and extended a hand towards the aged man.
"I believe you have something that belongs to me. Return it and you shall not be harmed."
The old man glanced at Mooney with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmph," he uttered and turned over a page. Mooney growled irefully and dashed towards the elderly man, his fist raised in the air for an imminent attack.
"Grandpa!" a female voice yelled. A young woman was standing at the threshold with a bowl of soup in her hands. She seemed pretty with her dark hair and traditional Chinese outfit. Her lovely face caught Mooney off-guard.
Grandpa caught Mooney's wrist before any blows and twisted the younger man's arm.
"You're too weak to fight, Mooney. Relax and take some soup first," he said with a chuckle before thrusting Mooney back towards the bed. Mooney let out a groan before collapsing back onto the bed.
"I'm Wang Jinfrei and the lady you can't keep your eyes off is my grand-daughter Ling Xiaoyu. You, my friend would be deemed as an illegal immigrant," Wang suggested as he walked towards the psycho patient with his arms behind his back, nodding all the while.
Mooney whimpered. He blinked through his misted vision and joined his hands.
"Please, don't send me back to that place. It was hell. I beg of you," he sobbed. Xiaoyu stole a look at her grandfather.
"Grandpa, let him stay..." she suggested. Mooney turned to her.
"Oh sweet Angel, you are too kind!" he cried. A prominent blush appeared on Xiaoyu's cheeks. Wang merely laughed.
"As long as you learn some manners, I'll let you stay and if you be even better than that, then Xiaoyu could use another cook in the kitchen."
Mooney nodded gratefully before prostrating on his knees.
"I'll do anything."
"First, get something to eat," Wang smiled.
The dinner was long but satisfying. Mooney had never remembered tasting anything so nice for a long time. When Wang retired to bed, he decided to help Xiao with the dishes. The old man's snores could be heard from upstairs.
"So, this Tekken tournament, does it not sound hard? I mean, a sweet girl like you shouldn't be joining something so rough like Tekken," Mooney cooed.
Xiaoyu giggled and shook her head.
"I'm not the only girl in the tournament. It's so famous that a company called Namco decided to follow our lives and make Tekken into a video game," she replied.
"Wow, so you're famous?" Mooney's eyes widened. Cupid's arrow had arrived too early.
"You can say it that way but hey, Mooney, don't be worried about me. I have a bodyguard," Xiao answered.
Mooney was taken aback.
A bodyguard! And I wonder who this bodyguard is? A handsome male perhaps chosen by the sun? I must find out!
"Do you have a list of all the participants for Tekken Six?" he asked. Xiao washed away soapy liquid from her hands. She wiped her hands with a small towel and gestured Mooney towards a computer in the living room.
Xiaoyu sat on the chair while Mooney leaned his elbow against the desk beside her. The girl clicked through a few websites that Mooney had no clue how to do on his own for he never surfed on the internet before.
"Ah-ha!" Xiaoyu exclaimed and stopped on a page with many different profiles of well-built people. She stood up and told Mooney to search through the participants while she finished the dishes.
Mooney held the mouse nervously. When he tried to click, another window kept opening and telling him to copy and paste and whatever crap. It took the lunatic awhile to realise that he was clicking the wrong button on the mouse.
The first participant that aroused his interest was a giant panda bear that wore large bracelet's similar to Xiaoyu's. Mooney snorted. It would be hilarious to find out why a panda wanted to enter the tournament but he needed to know who Xiao's body guard was.
A name caught his eye: Leo Kliesen. It was hard to make out whether the latter was male or female but there was something attractive about him/her. Mooney came to the conclusion that Leo was a male just so his own theories are suited.
Darn you, Leo. You must be the chosen one of the Sun! But never mind, I, Mooney the chosen one of the Moon will find you, kill you and take over your place as Xiaoyu's bodyguard!
Thunder suddenly bellowed in the distance as Mooney thrust his head back and laughed. He resumed checking the other participants.
"Ha-Wah-Rang? What kind of bloody name is that? And what's with the cowboy attire? Jerk!"
"Nigh-Na Will-Ams, she's hot but I hate blondes. I like little Chinese girls that wear large bracelets and have the name of Ling Xiaoyu!"
"Hi-Chih- Mish-Ma...Why does my blood boil when I look upon his face?"
"Ah there's Wang...Waang? Why is his name spelt as W-A-N-G? Shouldn't it be W-O-N-...J?"
(Indeed, being stuck in an asylum for so many years, Mooney has forgotten how to read and spell. His memoirs were filled with atrocious mistakes but the author of this story has corrected them for understanding purposes.)
"Oh sweet Luna, this is the worst name of all! Laayrs Al-Ex-An-Der...Lars! That's him! He's in the tournament!"
Mooney pushed the chair away from the computer screen. His face contorted in horror.
"So, my brother is in the tournament...I must find him..." he spoke incoherently and opened a window.
The moon was very silver tonight. Mooney sniffed the air around him. He smelt 'Mooney-Will-Find-Lars' before jumping out.
Mooney's memoirs:
Wang and Xiao are the kindest philanthropists I've ever met. Actually, they are the only philanthropists I did meet.
I do not like Wang though. He infuriates me like the rays of the sun. He's a pesky, meddlesome old man who intrudes on other people's lives. He read my journal and I would have twisted his head down to his spine if Xiao didn't bestow her delicate beauty in my presence.
But I do fear that Xiao is in love with this androgynous man who bears the name of Leo Kliesen. His hair is as fair as the Sun, the Moon's ultimate rival and so it is destiny that I should one day face Leo in a battle. Surely I will win for I, Mooney, chosen one of the Moon has the strongest of all powers!
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I've found out where my brother Lars is. He's in the Tekken tournament. The bad news is that I'm too late to register but nothing shall stop my intentions on finding him for I, Mooney, chosen one of the Moon, has all rights to illegally enter Tekken.
The road is long ahead of me but the shine of the moon will guide my dark path. I am off to search for Leo Kliesen and my brother by blood, Lars...
Author's notes:
Thank you to those for your kind review on my previous chapter. Anyway Mooney is based off of Lar's third costume. When I first clicked I thought, hey! That can't be Lars! So I called the Mooney because of the crescent on his head. And thus did the inspiration for this story start. :)
Thanks for reading!
