Chapter 38: Wulong's Twelve
Only one demon chi was remaining and both the good and evil forces were looking to obtain that last one which was lying dormant in the city of Las Vegas. The Lei Team and Dark Hand had barely left the airport whereas Jinpachi and his minions were already scouring the city.
"Only the thunder demon chi remains free, so let's cause a massive thunderclap in this city and find that demon chi before Lei and his pitiful sidekicks get a hold of it!" ordered Jinpachi to his lackeys.
"Oh yes, they're bound to get a painful jolt from us this time!" exclaimed Eddy.
"I hope they're ready to cash out finally, because it's been a long time coming!" added Bryan.
"Yes it sure has, they're sure in for a shock," replied Feng.
Elsewhere, the Lei Team and Dark Hand were busy checking into a room at the Bellagio hotel, although they were happy to be in Vegas, they were a bit disappointed they were there to do a job.
"I've always wanted to visit Vegas, but damn it I wanted to have some fun here," pouted Xiaoyu.
"What's it matter, you're not twenty-one yet so you can't gamble anyways," stated Lei.
"Still, I can go and get me a nice young lady since it is legal here," chimed in Wang.
"I don't want any gross images in my head so please don't talk about that!" shouted Asuka.
"I just want to hit one of those awesome buffets later on," piped up Ganryu as he patted his belly.
"Or maybe go see a show here," added Steve.
"Now let's not gamble with our chances and let's try to find that last demon chi before Jinpachi does," said Raven.
"Agreed amigo, now the only question is where to find it in this place," pondered King.
"I say we take a shot on finding them in the casino," suggested Hwoarang.
"Take a shot, we can't have guns in a casino, we'll get arrested," called out Dragunov.
"Police officer disarms armed robber!" shouted Paul as he smacked Dragunov.
Lei and the others groaned at the comment Dragunov made and just began their trek over to the casino area where they saw numerous people milling about trying to win a big fortune and dropping money into slot machines and onto card tables without a second thought.
"The atmosphere in here is sure electric, fitting place for the thunder demon chi to be sleeping in," remarked Lei.
"Yup, I agree with you there honey," said Lee.
"Unless you're Asuka or Xiaoyu, you can't call me honey," retorted Lei to Lee.
As the Lei Team and Dark Hand continued to traverse the perimeter of the casino, they soon came across Jinpachi and his lackeys roughing up a few of the other gamblers as they also searched for the whereabouts of the demon chi.
"Hey boss, look over there!" called out Feng.
"What is it this time?" asked Jinpachi.
"Those guys are back to try and steal your thunder," answered Eddy pointing over to where the Lei Team and Dark Hand were.
Bryan shot a blast of fire in their vicinity barely missing them, but it was enough to make Lei and company take notice of Jinpachi and company's presence.
"You know how they say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place," started up Raven.
"Yeah, why do you say that?" asked Steve.
"How the hell have we been struck eight times in eight different locations?" inquired Raven.
"You know, that's something I ask myself every time I see these clowns," answered Ganryu.
"Who are you calling clowns you worthless piles of excrement!" growled Jinpachi.
"How about we skip the smack talking and just get to smacking each other around like we normally do," suggested Eddy.
"Gladly," replied Asuka kicking Eddy in the groin.
"Whew, finally someone else gets hit there besides me," said Hwoarang.
Just then, Feng slammed Hwoarang down and punched the Korean fighter in the groin.
"I spoke too soon," whined Hwoarang.
"Ai ya, we don't want to hurt bystanders, we fight somewhere else!" cried out Wang.
"Grandpa is right for once, let's ditch these dodos," called out Xiaoyu.
Raven then threw a smoke bomb down making everyone around them cough and gag while stumbling around disoriented while the Lei Team and Dark Hand made their escape. They soon found themselves behind a backstage area and walked into a nearby door where a young woman of Chinese descent had just finished changing into her showgirl outfit; she was slim in build and had short brown hair.
"Hey, what are you doing back here?" asked the girl.
"There's some crazy stuff going on outside and we just needed somewhere to hide," answered King.
"Ah, well, go right ahead and hide in here, I'm Chai Xianghua, I'm a showgirl here, I'll be glad to let you hide in here for as long as you need to, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get out there and entertain the folks," replied Xianghua.
"No way, it's too dangerous! You can't go out there!" exclaimed Asuka.
"Then who will do my job?" asked Xiaoyu.
"You stay put, we'll put on a show, after all, it's us those people are looking for," answered Lei.
"Ok, you be safe out there," called out Xianghua.
"You got it, and you be safe as well," replied Raven.
As the Lei Team and Dark Hand headed out onto the stage, they contemplated what they would once they got outside.
"Great, I said I wanted to see a show, not be part of one," grumbled Steve.
Soon, they found themselves standing on a stage with a bunch of onlookers watching them.
"Hey Lucky, what do you suppose these guys are gonna do?" asked a dark skinned man with an odd haircut dressed in a yellow karate gi to his dark skinned friend who was wearing a red backwards baseball cap, a purple basketball jersey, purple shorts, and black sneakers.
"I don't know Sean, hopefully it'll be entertaining though," answered Lucky.
"Yeah, I came to Vegas to have a good time, this show better be worth it," responded Sean.
"Well isn't that lovely, professional basketball stars Sean Matsuda and Lucky Glauber are in attendance, what now?" groaned Xiaoyu.
"Let's just improvise, and step on it!" ordered Lei.
"I got just the song for us," said Lee plugging his iPod into the speaker system as "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred began to play.
"Are you freaking serious Lee," groaned King.
"Just go with it," said Lei.
Lei, King, Raven, and Steve all stepped to the front and began to dance in sync with one another as the ladies in attendance began to whistle and howl.
"I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt so sexy it hurts!" the four sang as they tore off their shirts making the ladies go even crazier.
"And I'm too sexy for Milan, too sexy for Milan, New York, and Japan!" Lei, Steve, King, and Raven continued to sing as they continued their somehow choreographed dance.
"This is…amusing," remarked Lucky. Just then, Hwoarang, Dragunov, Paul, Ganryu, and Wang walked out all wearing disco suits with lampshades on their heads.
"I'm too sexy for your party, too sexy for your party, no way I'm disco dancing!" they sang along with Lei, Raven, King, and Steve. At that moment, Asuka and Xiaoyu walked on stage both bikinis with the design of their country's flag on them.
"Now that makes this worth watching!" exclaimed Sean as he, Lucky, and the other men in the audience ogled the two sexy women.
"I'm a model, you know what I mean, and I do my little turn on the catwalk," sang Asuka and Xiaoyu. Lee then burst out dressed in drag wearing a blonde wig with a purple dress and matching stiletto heels.
"Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk babe I do my little turn on the catwalk," he sang as the others just gazed at him in disbelief.
"Now this just went back to being awkward," grumbled Lucky.
"But it's still funny watching this unfold!" laughed Sean.
The Lei Team and Dark Hand continued on with their show until the song ended, the crowd applauded as most of them found their performance somewhat funny.
"Well that went better than expected," commented Asuka.
"Still, did you have to dress like a girl Lee, I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight," moaned Raven.
"Ha, now we see who the real clowns are!" exclaimed Bryan as him, Feng, and Eddy appeared from out of the crowd.
"We're not clowns, we don't have clown makeup on," replied Dragunov.
"Clown gets pie in the face!" yelled Paul as he once again smacked Dragunov in the head.
"You better not run from us this time, otherwise I'll strike you worse than any lightning storm ever could!" roared Jinpachi as he appeared in front of his minions.
"Well, we already electrified the crowd, let's keep this power surge going," suggested Lei to his comrades.
Everyone else nodded in agreement as they took their combat pose. The song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys began to play as Lei and company prepared to face Jinpachi and his henchmen once again.
"This is one gamble you shouldn't have taken," commented Bryan as he grabbed King by the throat and tried to slam him, but King reversed his grab and threw him onto a blackjack table as Hwoarang leapt into the air and tried to strike him with a kick but Bryan rolled out of the way just before Hwoarang could connect. Lee then slapped Bryan across the face and the white haired dragon man was too disturbed by Lee in drag to notice Xiaoyu run up behind him and deliver three flying kicks to his back sending him crashing to the ground.
"Time for a royal flush you bastards!" shouted Eddy as he spun around and sent Steve flying with a mini tornado. Raven leapt into the air and punched Eddy in the gut sending him staggering back, Eddy retaliated with a flip kick to Raven's chin however Wang grabbed Eddy by his shirt and pushed him into Paul.
"Poker player gets bad hand!" yelled Paul as he smacked Eddy with a powerful punch sending Eddy crashing into a slot machine and breaking it. A bunch of quarters rained down on Eddy.
"Man I want to hit an arcade after this!" remarked Xiaoyu as she saw Eddy covered in quarters.
"Forget about it, it's game over for you right here!" roared Feng as he breathed fire at Dragunov who ducked under it and then grabbed a deck of playing cards from a nearby poker table and started throwing the cards at Feng who looked at him with disbelief.
"What, it worked for Gambit," said Dragunov.
Feng then rushed at the Russian right as Asuka swept the Chinese fighter, Lei smacked Feng with a hard roundhouse kick and then hit Feng with a palm strike that sent him staggering back into Ganryu. Ganryu then slammed Feng onto the ground, sat on him and let one rip.
"That's it, I fold," groaned Feng.
"I'm going all in, place your cards on the table!" yelled Jinpachi as he stepped into the fray and began to attack the Lei Team and Dark Hand.
"Still no sign of the demon chi at all, this is weird," thought Wang to himself.
At that moment, a bolt of lightning shot out from one of the slot machines and struck Jinpachi leaving him twitching on the floor.
"It's in a slot machine, quick let's claim the jackpot there!" exclaimed Lei.
"Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao!" chanted Wang and Ganryu in unison frantically. Lightning bolts continued to shoot at as Wang and Ganryu chanted striking others unlucky enough to get in the way. Soon however, the demon chi shot up into the air and Wang opened his demon chi container and caught the thunder demon chi and promptly sealed the container.
"Jackpot!" cheered Wang.
"Argh, that does it, you may have them all now, but believe me I'll get them back in my possession where they rightfully belong! You better watch yourself!" roared Jinpachi as he teleported away with his minions.
"Finally, we got all eight of them! No more globe hopping!" said King.
"Well that was fun, but remember what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," replied Steve.
"Too bad I didn't have my camera, otherwise it would be on the internet," said Xiaoyu.
"I don't wanna do anymore gambling for now, I just wanna hit a buffet now," piped up Ganryu as he took off towards the nearest buffet.
"I hear there's a boxing match going on, I feel like going to see that," chimed in Raven.
"Now that's up my alley!" added Steve as he walked off with Raven and King.
"Hey, Hwoarang, wanna play strip poker with Paul and Dragunov?" asked Lee.
"Are you crazy, heck no, go find yourself an escort to do that!" exclaimed Hwoarang.
"Thanks for the idea though. C'mon Asuka, Xiaoyu, let's go do that back at the hotel room," suggested Lei.
"Oh yeah baby, sounds fun to me," said Asuka as she walked off with Lei and Xiaoyu back to the hotel room.
"Let's just get drunk you guys," said Wang.
"Soldier fills canteen!" yelled Paul as him, Lee, Dragunov, Hwoarang, and Wang headed towards the bar to go drink.
Ask Lei segment
"Hey Lei," says some little kid.
"Yes?" asked Lei.
"Where's the rest of the Mishima family?" asked the kid.
"Don't know, don't care. They have enough stories about them; let the rest of us have our time in the sun. Besides, I'm sure Jin is too busy cutting himself," answered Lei.
"Hey, shut up about that, I'll kill you right now!" yelled Jin Kazama as he stepped in ready to punch Lei.
"Yeah right you little crybaby," replied Lei flicking Jin on the nose.
"My beautiful face, you ruined my face, now the ladies will think I'm ugly, WAAAAAHHHH!" cried Jin as he ran off crying.
"Ha! Ha! Does the baby want his pacifier!" taunted the kid.
"Yeah, you tell him kid!" said Lei as him and the kid continued to taunt Jin.
Author's Note: Another chapter in the bag. But we're not done yet; Jinpachi and company still have one final card to play. Next chapter begins the start of the two part finale to this story, man it's hard to believe it's almost over. Anyways, I'm heading off to go work on the finale now so until then, please read and review.