Author's Notes: This is the last chapter, you'll have to say good bye to this, unless there's a sequel… So, I really need to know what you think. I've gotten one opinion of what I should do with this story, so far.
Joey/Mai fan15: Well, the Shinobi is aware of Kisho's strength and knows that it outmatches his own. Are you sure the Shinobi is dead? Anyway, I'm not trying to kill you. I wouldn't because then I wouldn't be able to read your new fanfic. I've read it and it seems great. AU fics are really hard to write, but they're interesting. I understand the whole 'Everything's so similar, yet different' thing. I think it's original to have your story set along time, ago. BTW, will you write a sequel to OPOF? I really think you should.
The angel of mercy: Thanks. Glad you like it. You're the first person, who's told me to write a sequel.
Wolf Runner: Thanks. Well, the Shinobi knows of Kisho's strength and thought to be effective by shooting him and disposing of the gun, shortly after. This would clear him from all suspicions.
* Watch the time go right out the window,
Trying to hold, but didn't even know
Wasted it all, just to watch you go
I kept everything inside and even though I tried it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time I tried so hard….
I tried so hard, and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to loose it all….
But in the end, it doesn't even matter*
- In The End, Linkin Park
Epilogue
The final fights were very interesting. Danger lurked behind the tournament and the intentions of it, which explained the occurrence of fighters receiving certain injuries outside the tournament, being killed and in rare cases abducted. But then again, this happened at every tournament.
The case of the final fights, were very unique; the end of the tournament was shocking and it was impossible to guess what would happen next. Who knew of the outcome?
The bottom line was that the Dead or Alive World Combat Tournament 4 was an extraordinary one. It truly followed the theory that was based on the words "survival of the fittest". There were six fighters left in the end. Each one of them, had potential to be the winner.
Yuki Hayabusa; The daughter of Ryu and Ayane and who may I add… was just as dangerous as her parents, Shoma Takamouri; An unknown fighter, who coldly fought his way through the tournament, Suma Osagawara; The cocky Japanese and Egyptian kick boxer, Jim Fury; The lone fighter with combined fighting styles of Ninjutsu, Takai Fujimoto; Who fought inspirationally and last but not least, Guan Yin Moon; The teenage girl, who conquered the battlefield with strength and grace.
These fighters were "The Chosen Ones", the fighters, who would conquer all obstacles and win; the obstacles were ninety other fighters, who foolishly thought they would win or entered for various selfish reasons.
If not winning the tournament, each of the fighters would get a large amount of money to compensate for it, or just to give DOATEC a good reputation. The final fights went on......
¤
As the Dead or Alive Tournament was drawn to an end, it left many fighters disappointed and depressed at their lost. But all they could do was return home and move on with their lives and wait for another challenge as suspenseful as the tournament. That was what they lead themselves to believe, even though, deep inside their hearts they knew that there was not a lot of challenges that could compare to the combat tournament.
The winner and ultimate champion of the tournament, who had defeated the best of fighters, had been a young man. A young man, who went by the name of Takai Fujimoto. He had defeated a young kuniochi with the name of Yuki Hayabusa, and the mastery of his fighting style that disturbingly matched the one of Mugen Tenshin Tenjinmon Ninjutsu combined with Karate. There was something strange about his mastery of Ninjutsu, because he was not a ninja and that type of Ninjutsu was usually taught only to ninjas of certain clans.
This fighter fought many gruelling battles and truly was the ultimate champion. Another strange occurrence followed, promptly after the tournament.
After the tournament, Takai Fujimoto had disappeared and after his final fight, he was no longer seen by anyone.
No one knew the truth; except for two people.
¤
The news of the mysterious disappearance was spread quickly, they continuesly showed pictures of the teenager on TV and the news of this strange event was now broadcasted worldwide.
The strange news of the eighteen year-old's sudden disappearance shocked many, especially since the fighter took no recognition or praise for his fighting before this strange event occurred. Suspicions of this event, having anything to do with the Helena Douglas murder and the assassination attempt against a man, who went by the name of the Shinobi. However, the suspicions of the fighter's disappearance having involvement to the assassination attempt were cleared, when the Shinobi gave his statement. He claimed that he did not see the person, behind his assault.
The suspicions of the Helena Douglas murder and the disappearance were never cleared and the case of the murder went unsolved…..
But then again, these occurrences were bound to happen since there were many entrants, whose pasts had remained an entire mystery to DOATEC.
The fighter, Takai Fujimoto was believed to have been abducted. But the suspicions of that were cleared, after the Japanese police went around looking for clues and which obviously was to find nothing and lead them nowhere. The rumours that spread, shortly after the news of the disappearance had stopped broadcasting, speculated around that some anonymous person had paid the news network to stop airing the news of that particular event. Of course, no one knew who the anonymous person was….. But many suspicions circled around DOATEC. Who knew what the cruel intentions stood behind the famous company were?
¤
Two years passed by slowly, Yuki Hayabusa had recently finished her ninja assassin training and was going to start with her missions. During her training and trials to see whether she was able to carry out her missions given to her by the elderly ninjas, she studied the arts of the Hajin Mon magic carefully and reached a high rank, within the clan.
In other words, the kuniochi was now stronger than what she had ever been and felt as if, she could take on any challenge or get rid of any obstacle in her way. She might have seemed normal, to anyone around her…. But the truth was that she was unhappy.
As much as the ninja tried to block her unhappiness out and replace it with other feelings, she couldn't. Every day, she was turning more and more into a bitter and cold person. She was turning into the bitter person; her mother was nineteen years ago. The one person, she never wanted to be. But she knew was that a person could not change their past. The only thing, they could do was running away from it.
With some people, their worst memories were blurred out and faded- with her, it was the opposite.
And nothing ever stopped her from remembering the end of the Dead or Alive tournament and nothing ever stopped the pain behind the thoughts and memories. She was not depressed about loosing her final battle; she was depressed about knowing the truth behind Takai Fujimoto's disappearance.
She remembered how she and Takai fought their final fight. She remembered how she looked up after being knocked unconscious and saw Fudoki; the demon, who was after her. She felt memories, coming back to her; Memories of the pain and torture, her opponent went through.
Regret. That one word explained everything, she felt. She regretted lying on the ground, pretending to be unconscious, while knowing someone was taking her fall for her. She regretted not telling the Japanese police about what she had seen. But most of all, she regretted being who she was. Yuki forlornly gave into her feelings of remorse, but there was nothing she could do.
Or so, she thought…..
That was until, she heard of the upcoming Dead Or Alive tournament. She decided to enter and secretly, find out the truth behind the event. Even though, her parents protested against the idea strongly; the female ninja entered.
¤
Shoma Takamouri was successful in the tournament. But when his success had reached a final destination, a tremendous downfall came. He had won his semi-final fight and was about to fight his final fight, when he was attacked by some gang members paid off by an anonymous source. He fought these hoodlums, bringing scores of them to the ground with bleeding and broken bones…. But unfortunately, he was defeated.
He was sent to the hospital, where he had to spend the night. One of the doctors, who examined him, told him about his severe injuries. Shoma had to withdraw from the tournament, the day before his fight and settle with a third place. The prize money, he received was quite consoling. He wasn't depressed over not winning the tournament, but of the way, he had to leave. The way, he had to leave was surrendering. But that was better than leaving the tournament, broken and battered. Like most of the fighters did.
But that was the past; Shoma was focussing on his future. A future, which he was determined to make a bright one.
After getting out of the hospital, Shoma had nowhere to go and was forced to go back to his childhood home; the home, he had once run away from. He ran away, when his father died in a car crash.
He continued his College studies, which went well. Shoma did a wise decision; He used his prize money on rebuilding his father's old Kendo Dojo, which was burnt to the ground and used his life savings on his education.
As soon as the word came out that the famous fighter owned the Dojo, many students came rolling in every month. He was happy to teach the classes and pass his knowledge onto people, who wanted to learn the rare and unique art of self defense. Even though, Shoma was quite withdrawn, his students liked and highly regarded him.
The Takamouri Dojo was run very well, by the young fighter. After a while, Shoma decided to have Jujutsu classes at the Dojo as well. Even though, he had got a lot of fame and was ranked as one of the world's best fighters, he often wondered what would have happened if he fought his final fight. Could he possibly have won?
That was the reason of his entry to the fifth Dead Or Alive World Combat Tournament. But there be something behind that? A reason, no one knew of?
¤
Guan Yin Moon had also finished her college studies. She wanted to fulfil her dreams, but first she had to find out about her past; which was an obstacle in her way.
One day, the young girl came across a letter. The letter came from the orphanage; she lived at when she was younger. It gave her, a legitimate birth certificate and other various information.
Nothing was as interesting, as the real names of her biological parents. She knew that her mother was dead and she had never known anything, which remotely had anything to do with her father. She decided to find out if he was alive. Guan Yin was determined to do so, and start to dig deeper into the information of her bloodline. Shocking secrets were revealed, as she went further into her research.
Guan Yin found out about her past, which helped her move on with her life.
The female fighter was however shocked about the contents of the information and wanted to know whether it actually was true. She wanted to know whether the part about her being of ninja lineage was true.
She had always been fascinated by ninjas, and had always wanted to seek the truth behind her past; which she knew almost nothing of. And if it were true, she wanted to be a part of the clan and learn about the art of being a ninja. If that was true, then this was something she was entitled to do. Guan Yin had to find a way to seek the truth, behind the information.
She entered the Dojo; she usually trained at and started to train until she was out of breath. She trained every day and saw improvement in her fighting. She heard about the fifth Dead Or Alive combat tournament, from some people, who trained at the Dojo with her and decided to become an participant.
¤
In the Yokohama Mountains, one man lurked. Not many people visited the area, and it was known for being secluded place.
Footsteps; He heard small footsteps, from behind him. He looked up, before reaching for his Katana. Any other person wouldn't have reacted at this, but he was a ninja. A ninja, who haunted by his clan. A ninja, who was destined to live his life alone.
This ninja was Kai Oprime; A ninja, who was banned from his clan for helping a run away ninja. The punishment for that was to be banned from the clan, then to be haunted for life. He had managed to escape the dreadful fate; he would face by running away and going under the name of 'Jim Fury'.
After entering the Dead Or Alive tournament, his life took a turn. He heard rumours of that famous female ninja, Kasumi was dead. Killed by several ninja assassins, she met along her way of escaping her past.
Kasumi was his companion, she was the run away ninja Kai had helped and the one person, he actually had loved. Now, she was dead and had left behind her son, Ken; the son, Kai promised to protect and take care of as if he were his own son. He broke that promise, as soon as the tournament was over, Ken left to confront his mother and to find out the truth about who his father was.
Kai did however know that Ken would be entering the upcoming combat tournament. It was would be an opportunity, a chanced for him, to keep his promise. Afterall, he was a person, who always kept his promises and never made promises he couldn't keep.
Realizing this opportunity, Kai left of to Tokyo, once again.
The tournament was yet to start and getting to Tokyo earlier, could let him train and prepare for the tournament.
¤
Suma Osagawara returned to home to Egypt, disappointed and depressed. She wasn't happy with being sixth place, at all. But it was her fault; she had set her mind to that she would come further than that. She was too arrogant, and that was what caused her downfall.
Suma wanted another chance, to prove herself. As time went by, she trained and completed her business studies. She had decided to open her own company, and had proceeded in that.
Her business was going very well. She had found herself, receiving checks with a lot of money. She had not covered insurance, for her company and when a fire accident happened. Her business was burned to the ground and she had lost all her life savings, along with her dream. Suma decided to put her past, behind her and move to Japan.
After a few months, Suma had settled down in Tokyo. The young woman had started to work for a famous company, who made technologic merchandise. She often reflected over her time at the tournament and how she could have done things differently. She believed that she did have a big chance of winning and was still upset over her lost.
She wanted to defeat the fighter by the name of Guan Yin Moon, who had defeated her and took her chance of winning the tournament away. With those thoughts, she entered the Dead Or Alive World Combat Tournament 5.
¤
A man awoke in the shadows, of the DOATEC laboratory. He got up from the metallic hospital bed-like furniture; he was lying on and looked around, wondering how he came there. He didn't know where he was and didn't even know who he was.
He couldn't remember anything. Even his memories, were blurred out or had disappeared. His dark eyes drifted over to the table, he saw all the tools and pieces of latest technology used in there.
He walked towards a big and bulky machine. It was shaped like circle and had some sort of cover. He looked into the machine and saw something, which was shocking. Very shocking. He saw a young woman, who was lying in the machine motionless. She had long auburn hair and brown eyes and was wearing a blue silk kimono-like dress, which looked like something a ninja would wear. He looked at her arm, which was drenched with blood. On her wrist, there were letters engraved into her skin. It looked to be painful.
" Experiment 0223, Version 2," He read, looking at the wrist. He looked at his own wrist, seeing numbers on his own.
He turned around and looked around. How could he have came here, without even, knowing about it?
What could possibly have happened? And why didn't he remember anything?
¤
Author's Notes: The end. What did you think? Sequel or no sequel?
I'd like to thank everyone, who's read, reviewed and everyone, who's supported me and this fic. Well, all things have to come to an end. So, well, the end.