Author's notes: Hey there. Update time again! Goodness I just love writing this story! On with the chapter!
Lei Fang perceived Jann's words as only empty threats from a beaten man living in a realm of his own ridiculous fantasy. She believed that he was in no position to make such claims, but when she glared deep into his fiery burning eyes something immediately ran up her spine like a cold shiver. The ground beneath her feet suddenly began to shake like a trembling earthquake, and as she looked up at Jann Lee she could see wrinkles popping up all over his scrawny figure. Monstrous laughter was exhaled from Jann Lee's throat as he bent down and started to glow with a dark swaying aura surrounding him, the exact same aurora Kasumi had seen when she saw him in the woods a while back.
His rapid ear piercing screams sounded haunting, as if he was being tortured to near death with his skeletal joints popping and bubbling underneath his skin. He appeared to be suffering so much, but yet was actually enjoying the pain and giving Lei Fang the front view of an awkward smile. In seconds, Jann Lee's body began to revert back into its normal state. But not stopping there, his muscles exceeded their usual size and grew inches larger.
The crowd was shocked by what they were witnessing first hand as were the fighters seated behind the barricade. They didn't know what to make of it, and as they watched, Shen and Jann Lee could only laugh at their confusion.
"What the heck is…going on?" Lei Fang shouted, shielding her face up from the eye blinding light being emitted from Jann Lee's glimmering body.
The crowd also shielded themselves to protect their vision from being blinded by the light, as did Kasumi, Zack, Ryu, and Hayate. "What is Jann Lee doing?" Kasumi wondered as she tugged on the sleeve of Ryu's uniform.
"I foresaw this happening. Its just as I thought!" Ryu screamed.
"What are you talking about, Ryu?" Asked Zack.
"You'll see…"
Shortly, the ground beneath the arena trembled even harder and the rain from the sky poured down below even faster. Lei Fang could feel the feet beneath her sliding across the ring toward the outside from the radical winds being generated from her opponent's direction, and before she knew it she was pushed backward, falling to the outside.
Various pillars above the crowd layered around the stadium became unstable and started to break down into large chunks plummeting to the floor. Hundreds of people ran for their lives as they saw the arena beginning to collapse on top of them. The camera crews, fans, and anybody else within the falling stadium were forced to evacuate.
"Head for the hills, she's coming down!" yelled one of the spectators.
Kasumi and the other former participants leaped over the barricade and moved closer to a safer spot, evading the raining hunks of the once large structure.
Within minutes, the entire stadium crumbled into piles of fallen debris. Luckily, everyone that evacuated had managed to make it out safely through the multiple emergency exits before it was too late with only acquiring minor scars and bruises from the fallen rubble. But aside from the people, Kasumi, Zack, Ryu, Hayate, Shen, Lei Fang, and of course Jann Lee stayed their ground.
Finally, the light surrounding Jann Lee died down into a small flicker before disappearing completely. Lei Fang lowered her hands from her face and looked up, seeing what was her rival, transformed into what looked to be a hulking monster. Jann Lee's ripped muscles had expanded tremendously and his height had grown a few inches taller from his normal size. Lines of sparking electricity circled his body with long tattoo markings covering his naked backside, no longer appearing human. As she looked on, Lei Fang could not believe what she was seeing.
"Jann? What's happened to you?"
"This Lei Fang is the full power of the Kagai!" Jann Lee growled, proudly. "I hold ultimate power at my disposal. For days I've been waiting for this moment to show it to you. Remember when I said I was only using but a fraction of what I could really do? Well, you haven't seen anything yet!"
The transformed Jann Lee gave a quick demonstration by striking his foot into the dirt and sending a massive shockwave in Lei Fang's direction. Unable to dodge it in time, she was knocked back into a pile of debris. She struggled to get up as she tried to move out of the wreckage. Jann Lee slowly made his way toward her and smiled as he looked down at his petite opponent.
"Was that too hard? Here, let me help you up."
He wrapped his large hands around Lei Fang's throat, pulling her up from the ground. With great strength, he flung her toward the other direction and watched as she made a loud crash into a patch of dirt.
"Man…. he's strong. Where… did he…. get this kind of power?" Lei Fang said, struggling to speak.
Inches away from the ring, Ryu stood by Kasumi with Hayate and Zack behind him."Its just as I thought," he mumbled.
"Ryu, you must know what's going on! Something I don't. Please, tell me!" Kasumi demanded.
"Yeah fool, tell us," Zack piped.
Ryu cleared his throat before speaking. "This is the work of Kagai," he said.
"Kagai? What's that?"
"The Kagai is an evil Japanese spirit that possess the mind of human beings. After the Kagai possesses a human, all that individual's abilities become dramatically enhanced. Being possessed by such a spirit, a human will experience various negative reactions and emotions to just about anything around them.
"Like what?"
"If you are possessed, you will feel nothing but evil thoughts and commands roll and loom throughout your mind and body, telling you to do things you probably wouldn't want to do. You experience anger, jealousy, and hatred toward just about anything. Trust me, I've dealt with this Kagai before and I know what its capable of."
"Then you mean, this whole time Jann Lee has been used as some kind of puppet?"
"Yes, now all we need to do is find out who's pulling the strings."
A cackling laugh echoed through the wrecked stadium. It was Shen, laughing as he listened to their whole conversation. "a ha! Well, it seems we have a winner here, ladies and gentlemen. Let's give young Ryu here a prize," he joked.
Ryu leered his eyes at Shen.
"Jann Lee is a work of art, my friends. His skills are incredible and should be pushed as far as they can go. A young fighter like him needs someone to teach him and show him the ropes, and I intend to be that teacher!"
"You!" Kasumi hissed. "You're the one behind this, aren't you?"
"Yes, little one, I am. It was Jann Lee's strength and determination that attracted me to him. I believed he could do so much more after the impressive skills he demonstrated during last year's tournament. With the right push, I was able to convince Jann to come back and hire me as his trainer. He would return to the tournament a new man."
"New man nothing!" You turned Jann Lee into a monster!" Hayate screamed. "Scum like you deserve to dry up and die!"
"Oh, big words from such a weak ninja. I helped Jann Lee become better than he was, mind you, and realize his true potential. Like him, I acquire many fighters and do the same to them. I could see so many big things for Jann Lee. I have high hopes for the kid. In little to no time at all Jann Lee will squash your friend Lei Fang like a bug. And I will be looking forward to witnessing that myself."
Kasumi tried to grab the sword from her hilt, but Ryu retrained her hand from pulling it out. "Why would Jann Lee accept help from you? It's not like him," she replied.
"Convincing works, child. You just don't know. Well, with a little convincing Jann saw the light and accepted me with open arms. I gave him a gift, the gift of Kagai and he proudly accepted it. With the Kagai, Jann Lee will have no fear. He won't fear killing anybody, and in order for him to succeed in life, he must first kill his rivals, including Lei Fang in the process."
"Man, that's whack!" Zack said. "Old man, you got problems."
"I agree with the American," Ryu stated. "You are not giving Jann Lee a gift. Judging by your standards I can tell you speak with a serpent's tongue. Jann Lee is a slave to the Kagai no matter what you say, and that is in no way what I consider to be a present of acceptance. You, Shen, are truly pathetic."
"Ha! Say what you will, but in the end I know I am right. Without strength you cannot survive in this world and that's what I expect Jann Lee to have. He will do well in this last fight and when he does, he'll come after you four next! Now, if you'll excuse me I have a match to watch," Shen said, bringing his attention back toward the battle.
Kasumi gripped onto her brother Hayate's clothes. Her friend was now in trouble and she hadn't the slightest clue what to do.
"Hayate, we have to do something."
"I'm already on it. We'll help Lei Fang in anyway we can, but what about Jann Lee?"
The fighting continued with Lei Fang recovering from the ground and taking rapid swipes at the transformed Jann Lee's body with her fists. Each of her punches felt it as if they were hitting solid steel instead of flesh. She was then beamed to the floor by Jann Lee's forearm before she could get another punch in. As she fell, she saw an object coming down toward her in the form of a fist. Quickly she rolled out of the way and witnessed Jann Lee creating a massive crater in the ground right where her body used to be. Sitting up, she backed away and tried to get an idea on how to handle the situation.
"Come on, Lei," she commanded herself, "think! There's got to be some way to beat this."
Shen's voice then called out to her. "Having trouble, Lei Fang?"
"You. What's going on with Jann Lee?"
"It's the Kagai, like he said, my dear."
"There's got to be a way to stop him and revert him back to normal."
"No, I'm afraid there isn't, too bad for you. Jann Lee will never return to his original form unless done so by his own will. But then again…there is one way."
"What Shen? Tell me!"
"In order for Jann Lee to return back into normal and have the Kagai removed from his body…. death is the only answer!"
"What?"
"Face it, dear, you have two choices. You either kill or be killed!"
My response to reviews
x-Red Eye-x: that was really creepy. The change of body type thing was a definite twist, and just when I thought I was getting everything, you go and change things up like that:P
Although the anorexic thing may have been a little overboard, it really set an image in my mind and made it that much more realistic. Can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter.
Thunder's reply: Yes, I do my weirdness well, don't I?wink Thanks anyway. I'm glad your still looking for more action, and I hope I'm delivering.
Scrooge: The match isn't over yet, JungKing. In fact it looks like it's just beginning. Way to go thunder. :-D
Thunder's reply: Thanks. I'm loving the way this is turning out. Don't you?
Licking Pennies: Wow. Now I wanna write a DOA fanfic. And now i'm goin' to. Thanks! Three days of not being able to keep my eyes away from this, craving for the nearest computer in my spare time, just to read this. I'm even in study hall right now, submitting this review. Don't leave me hanging in the end. And help me too, if you can. Well, thanks for the awesome read!
Licking Pennies (Da Fuzz '05)
Thunder's reply: Wow! I actually got someone inspired, cool. You really like my story that much? Whoa, didnt know my story was that interesting! Well thank you. I'm very proud of that. I'd like to help you in anyway I can when you decide to write a story, just send me in an email and we'll work something out. Thanks!
New animator: great story so sweet! i mean lie fang was my first fav chracter as well but then it changed to hitomi so... oh well cool fic keep it up!
Thunder's reply: Thanks. I will.
JunKing: Cool chapter! I'm so happy that Lei-Fang won:) Besides Lei-Fang, I also like Helena very much, it's cool how in Tag Matches, the two of them can be joined together as a special team. Well, I'm off to write some more of my stories, since you've inspired me so much. I'll read more soon, don't forget to update:)
Thunder's reply: Hey, thanks. I'm liking your story too. Read on when you got the time. Later