A/N: Hehe I know it's been months and months since I updated this but I needed the inspiration to strike and well, it did, so here you go!!
-------------------------------------------------------
LING XIAOYU'S LOG 290314
CURRENT LOCATION: ON A PLANE, ON OUR WAY TO CALIFORNIA!
TIME: APPROX. 1:15 AM – WE MADE IT IN TIME!!
NEWEST TRAVELLING COMPANION: DEAR, SWEET HWOARANG HAS JOINED US! YAY!!
OPERATION "X: FINDHWOARANG" WAS SUCCESSFUL! WE COMPLETEED OUR MISSION AND FOUND HIM. BUT TO GET TO POOR HWOARANG, WE HAD TO RESCUE HIM FROM THE EVIL CLUTCHES OF THAT STUPID-HEAD SERGEANT, GRRRRRR, IT MAKES ME ANGRY JUST THINKING ABOUT HIM.
ANYWAY, HWOARANG SAID HE WAS FOREVER GRATEFUL AND PROMISED TO BE MINE AND JULIA'S ETERNAL SLAVE . . ! WELL, MAYBE THAT WASN'T EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID BUT IT WAS CLOSE!
BAD THING IS THAT HE IS TOTALLY BUMMED OUT ABOUT LEAVING POOR CHO-JUNG AND MIN-YOUNG, BUT AT LEAST THEY ARE WITH THEIR BROTHER HWAN NOW (WHO, MAY I ADD, WAS QUITE CUTE!)
ANYWAY, WE'RE OFF TO SEE FOREST LAW NOW. I KNOW HE WASN'T AT THE LAST TOURNAMENT BUT HIS DAD, MARSHALL, WAS. MAYBE THEY KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT JIN'S DISSAPEARANCE . . .
WHAT'S THAT SAYING? "ONLY TIME CAN TELL" OR SOMETHING )
--------------------------------------------------------
LING XIAOYU'S LOG 290314
CURRENT LOCATION: CHINATOWN, LA, USA
TRAVELLING BUDDIES: JULIA CHANG AND HWOARANG (A.K.A. RANGY!!)
SUCCESS IN QUEST SO FAR: DISMAL!!! I HAVEN'T SUCEEDED IN FINDING EVEN A BUTTON OFF JIN'S JACKET! NO ONE KNOWS WHERE HE IS AND NOW IT SEEMS AS THOUGH HE'S VANISHED OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!
OH WELL, THERE IS STILL SOME HOPE. MARSHALL AND FORST LAW COULD HAVE SOME INFORMATION. FINGERS CROSSED . . .
But as soon as our heroine and her companions stepped into "Marshall China", Marshall and Forest Law appeared to be having their own fair share of problems.
"Get out right now!!" Marshall was growling at four young men, "Don't make me come over there and do it for you!"
Laughing, the young men stood. "We'll be back," they said. "We're gonna make sure that 'Marshall China' goes down," smirking at an infuriated Marshall, who was being held back by Forest, the young men walked out.
Marshall was still ranting as he disappeared into the kitchens.
Xiaoyu was first to reach a sighing Forest. He noticed her at once. "Ling Xiaoyu! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.
"Is that the sort of welcome I get?" Xiaoyu pouted jokingly.
"Oh, sorry," Forest hastily bowed apologetically in acknowledgement of her presence. Xiaoyu too bowed in greeting then flung her arms around Forest. "Enough of formalities – hugs are the best way to greet someone!" she let go of a blushing Forest and motioned to her companions, "I bought Hwoarang and Julia with me."
Julia bowed as Xiaoyu had done, smiling as she said, "Hi Forest. You don't look any different since the third tournament!"
Forest smiled and bowed back. "You've changed though; I didn't know you wore glasses."
Julia shrugged. "Yeah. They're not very practical when fighting though."
Forest then turned to Hwoarang who nodded slightly and said, "Hey."
Forest bowed to him as well. "Hey."
"Boys!" muttered Xiaoyu, "Can never express themselves properly!"
"Well you don't expect me to do a running jump and throw my arms around him, do you?" Hwoarang quirked an eyebrow in Xiaoyu's direction, "unlike SOME people!"
Xiaoyu just shot him a glare and turned back to Forest. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk?"
"Sure. This way," Forest gestured for them to follow him. They had to weave in and out of people chatting and enjoying their food at tables across the restaurant before they followed Forest up a flight of carpeted stairs.
They reached a nicely decorated room. It was decked out in traditional Chinese décor and furnishings.
Forest motioned for them to sit and began pouring them some herbal green tea into tiny white cups.
"So, tell all," he said to Xiaoyu, still pouring the green tea.
"Well, I'm just gonna cut straight to it," Xiaoyu took a deep breath, "I need information, you see. Firstly, it all began when Panda told me to go looking for him but I didn't want to go on my own. But then I did, and I went to see Julia and she didn't know where he was! And we went to see Hwoarang and couldn't even find him to begin with. ("This is her way of cutting straight to the point?" Hwoarang remarked dryly to Julia.) When we did find Hwoarang, even he didn't have a clue where he was! And so you see, I'm very worried because he doesn't seem to be anywhere – no matter where I go! It's like a bad, bad nightmare! I really want to find him but no one knows where to look! That's why I need your help." Xiaoyu stopped abruptly, gulped a few mouthfuls of air and looked expectantly at Forest. The poor boy looked beyond confused and had been trying not to get lost within Xiaoyu's non-stop ranting.
"You know when he said 'tell all'?" Hwoarang looked at Xiaoyu, "I think he was just being polite."
Xiaoyu ignored the Korean, her gaze still intense on Forest, who was squirming. "Erm . . . could you start again from the beginning? This time, a little . . . slower?"
"NO!!" Shouted Julia and Hwoarang together as Xiaoyu began to open her mouth a little too gladly.
"I'm summarise," said Julia quickly at Xiaoyu's offended look, "We're on a quest to find Jin as he is missing. We visited you in hopes of gathering information on where he might be."
"Oh!" Forest looked extremely relieved, "I see. But, I'm sorry – if I knew where he was, I would tell you."
"Perhaps your dad would –?" began Xiaoyu, but Forest shook his head. "My dad wouldn't know either, I'm really sorry," he said sadly and began to pass out fortune cookies, "here – I'll give you fortunes instead."
Xiaoyu looked dully at the browned cookie in her hand and snapped it apart, reading it aloud, "A shadow lurks behind you all the time. Be on your guard, for appearances can be deceptive."
"Oh, well THAT'S reassuring!" she groaned and angrily screwed up the little piece of paper.
"What if it's right, though?" Julia looked at her; "I do sometimes get the feeling we're being watched."
Xiaoyu snapped her head up, wide eyed. "You too?! I thought I was the only one and didn't want to say anything in case I looked stupid."
Hwoarang rolled his catlike eyes and looked at Forest. "You into Thai boxing? I hear there's the big match on today."
Julia smacked him. "This is serious, Hwoarang. We really think somebody might be following us!"
"Who," said Hwoarang, "would be crazy enough to stalk you two?" At the pair of highly irritated looks he received, Hwoarang decided to be quiet.
"Not following us for the heck of it," said Xiaoyu; "They might be following us to get to Jin! Like Heihachi or even Kazuya!"
"Yeah!" said Julia, beginning to get swept away in the notion, "Since Jin won the tournament, Heihachi wants to catch and kill him to claim back what is rightfully his! Then, on the other hand, there is Kazuya who wants to capture him for the Devil gene – so he can take on all the powerful qualities of both beings and succeed to be the most formidable force on Earth. He will crush all under his mighty wrath and an age of darkness will follow. May God have mercy on us all!!" Julia realised she was getting three strange looks in the otherwise silent room. The sounds of crickets chirping could be heard in the distance.
Julia cleared her throat, straightened her hair (which had become highly unruly throughout all her hand gestures and arm movements) and said quietly, "Or something along those lines."
"Get real, Julia," Xiaoyu rolled her eyes, "That only happens in video games!"
Julia began to sulk. Hwoarang looked at Forest. "Who were those guys hassling your old man down in the restaurant?"
Forest looked downcast. "My father's rivals. Our restaurant is the best in all Chinatown except for theirs. They want to get us closed down so that their restaurant becomes the most popular."
Suddenly, Marshall burst in. "Forest!! What do you think you're doing up here?! Drinking tea whilst I'm handling the restaurant single-handedly down there?"
Forest rolled his eyes. "Dad," he said, "Don't be so melodramatic. There are like seven other waiters. Besides, we have company." He pointed to our heroine and her companions.
"You were all in the last tournament, weren't you?" Marshall looked at them, "So young to be fighters! That's what I keep telling young Forest here and he STILL snuck off with Paul to the third tournament!"
"Dad! I'm not a kid," Forest muttered, embarrassed.
"Of course not, son," Marshall smiled, "Now get downstairs and help out or you're grounded!"
--------------------------------------------------------