Part six: breeze

Kazuya licked his chapped lips and smirked at the man crumpled on the floor. In the years that he had been missing Kazuya would have thought that fighters might have gotten better. But all those he had faced in the preliminary rounds so far didn't even deserve the title of competition. With a sigh of satisfaction Kazuya left the ring as the match was called to his favour. No one applauded his victory but they stared at the tall stranger, the man that had just beaten what they would have classed as some of the best fighters in the world in a breeze.

Qualifying for the tournament had been much easier than Kazuya had expected. But that had worked out to his advantage. The qualifying matches were going to be held the next day. But in Kazuya's opinion there had been only two other fighters that looked fit enough to participate. Out of the two one of them had caught his eye. A young woman of Native American origin. Julia Chang was her name. Kazuya recognised her name. Chang… hadn't there been someone of the name Chang in the second tournament? Michelle? It all rushed back to him. The woman had had a pendant of some significance. But the details remained hazy. It seemed a little too coincidental that the girl had the same name. Kazuya needed to check what had happen within the tournament while he had been gone. It seemed there was more going on than he was aware of.

One man sitting along the edge of the ring had stared at Kazuya in what looked like fear. Kazuya simply raised his eyebrow at the man and dismissed him. Could it be that the man had actually recognised him? It was bound to happen sometime. His father already knew of his return. The tournament itself was obviously a trick…a trap. Kazuya had walked right into the mouth of danger knowing full well the intentions his father had. The whole tournament had been set up to lure him out. It had worked but Kazuya didn't intend to lose. He pulled out a cell phone from his duffel bag and dialled a number.
"Hello?"
"Can I speak to Edward Smith please?"
"May I ask who's calling please?"
"Kazuya Mishima…" there was a gasp on the other end of the phone. A different voice answered this time, angry.
"Who is this? And what kind of stupid joke is this?" Kazuya smiled at the response. No one would believe he was alive right away. But he had plenty of ways to convince them…
"Joke? Why I wouldn't do such a thing to you Edward. However, you had better watch what you say, your words tend to get you into a great deal of trouble." He threatened lightly.
"You…you can't be, you're dead!" the voice spat unconvinced.
"If I was dead Edward I wouldn't be on the phone. Now listen and listen well. I want you to meet me at the Yardly warehouse. We have much to discuss. If you choose to decline my offer I'm afraid I'll have to take extreme measures. Maybe you might have to be subjected to a freeze experiment…and don't you remember how that turned out? Mission Cryos #1?" this time the voice on the other end was gagging. Still refusing to believe what he was hearing. But what he was being told confirmed all his fears and he was forced into going along with the plans being recited to him. The pieces of this building were fitting together quite nicely… slowly but surely, Kazuya was getting there.