I don't own Tekken.

Thanks to all the readers.

Thanks to the reviewers: Asuka-Kazama-Mishima-Doo san, Flaming Fenix, Krappkarmin, art-freak and Lady-Eliwen for their reviews.

Chapter 17

The Iron Fist 5 opening

FUJI-NION

29th JUNE 2014

When Julia woke up that morning, Hwoarang was getting dressed.

-'Where are you going so early in the morning?'-she asked.

-'I'm going to practice with Baek.'

-'Baek? Why?'

-'The starts in two days…I have to be ready, besides, although I'm not a student anymore, Baek is my master and I think I owe him respect.'

-'Are you sick?'-Julia asked surprised when she heard those words.-'What have you done to Hwoarang?'-she joked.

-'Just hang around with Ling and the others…and check out on Kazama…that thing last night was weird!'

-'I think Jin is being affected by his memories of the last tournament.'

-'You mean he's becoming paranoid, right?'

-'No. He's just afraid that something like that may happen again.'

-'Well, just go and see if he's alright, ok?'

-'Are you worried about your rival?'

-'No! But I want to fight him…and I want to win fairly!'

An hour later, Julia joined Ling and Miharu in the hotel lobby. When she was going down the stairs, Asuka was coming down too and both girls recognised each other.

Julia stopped to greet her.

-'Hey…so you came too…'-Julia said.

-'Yes…I suppose you're here with Hwoarang?'

-'Yes. I'm going to meet my friends, do you want to come?'

-'I can't…sorry. Maybe another time?'

-'Sure…'

When Asuka left, Ling joined Julia with an angry face.

-'What do you think you're doing?'-she asked.

-'What?'

-'What did you say to her?'

-'She's just a girl I know…'

-'You know her?'-Ling asked surprised.

-'Yes. She lives in Osaka…'

-'She's trying to steal Jin from me!'

-'What? She doesn't seem that kind of girl! Besides she's only seventeen or eighteen…she's too young!'

-'What Ling is trying to say is that her problems with Jin started because of that girl.'-Miharu explained.

-'What did Asuka do?'-Julia asked.

-'Well…nothing…I guess…'-Ling said defeated. She was being unfair to that girl.-'Jin feels something when she's around…'

-'By the way, how's Jin?'

-'He's still sleeping…'

Jin spent the whole day in his room. Ling tried to take him something to eat but he refused. She was afraid that he could be sick, but he assured her that he wasn't.

In the meanwhile, Steve and Eddie were talking about the Syndicate in the usual bar.

-'So…you fooled Heihachi Mishima and you managed to survive…'-Steve said.

-'I was lucky. The Syndicate was following his orders…Heihachi had everything under control.'

-'Where did you hide?'

-'In a safe place.'

-'So, the Syndicate is not after us anymore, isn't that weird?'

-'I thought that too…but it seems that they lost their interest in Heihachi's old problems, after all Heihachi is finally dead and they can focus on some other important things.'

-'I'm glad they're doing that. My parents had to be put under a special witness protection program and they were always worried about me.'

-'At least now, they're safe…that must be good for you to know…'

-'Yes, of course…they might not be my real parents, but I love them a lot!'

-'They're not your real parents?'

-'No, I was adopted when I was a baby…it's a long and complicated story. I only found out last year that my real mother was an experimental subject.'

-'Really?'

-'Yes. Pretty odd, huh? I guess you don't hear that every day!'

-'Yes, indeed…'-Eddie thought of Nina immediately. He had helped her years ago, and he had discovered that she had been used in Dr.B's experiments and that she had a child.'

Thinking of it, Steve was blonde and he had blue eyes, just like Nina.

-'Did you search for your real mother and father?'-Eddie asked.

-'Yes…but I reached a dead end.'

In that moment, Hwoarang and Baek joined them and Eddie thought that even if Nina was Steve's mother, that was none of his business, so the best thing to do was to ignore that he knew all that.

FUJI-NION

30th JUNE 2014

The fights would start in one day and everyone could feel the tension growing in Fuji-Nion. The fighters were getting ready and everyone was expecting a good tournament. Susume Takani had just bought her card to watch the preliminaries. The new tournament rules allowed a limit of contestants, that number was 256, but this time only 128 fighters would enter. There would be two phases in the tournament. One was the preliminaries and the other the Iron Fist competition with the last 32 fighters.

The preliminaries would take place in three days maximum. The Stadium was ready and so were the ten arenas. There could be ten fights at the same time, things would be very intense.

Jin was feeling much better. He had remembered the strange images he had seen when he had fainted, but he didn't find wiser to tell anyone, not even Ling.

Once again he had a strange feeling about that tournament.

Asuka was also having some problems in her sleep. She had weird dreams and lately she had the feeling that someone was watching her.

She had seen Hwoarang a couple of times, but he didn't even notice her, so she just concentrated in her trainings. One more day and she had to prove her value.

Steve was trying to decide his mind about going to talk with Miharu, but in the end, he didn't go.

The most excited person in Fuji-Nion was Jinpachi, who was expecting that moment anxiously since he had arrived. He wanted to see the Mishima heirs reunited.

It was almost mid-night when Nina and Lee took the elevator to their rooms. They had been together since Nina had arrived, but they hadn't spoken about the future.

When they stepped out of the elevator, a familiar face appeared.

-'Anna!'-Nina whispered.

-'Hey there, big sister! Oh…look…you have found yourself a new boyfriend!'

-'My name is Lee Chaolan…'

-'Well…it's a pleasure to meet the great Mr. Lee Chaolan!'-Anna joked.

-'Go to bed Anna…it passed your bed time!'-Nina replied.

-'How funny…I will enjoy to kick your ass!'

-'You wish!'

-'Mr. Chaolan…perhaps when you're tired to hang around with my bitchy sister, you may consider to enjoy my company!'

Lee looked at her and then at Nina.

-'Don't worry…I don't bite…much!'-Anna added and she walked to her door.-'Night!'

-'It wasn't that bad!'-Lee said once Anna closed the door.

-'Wait until tomorrow!'

-'Take it easy…'

-'I'll clean my old guns…I think I will need them.'

Lee laughed.

-'I'm serious; I think I may have to use them before the tournament starts!'

Hwoarang was opening his door, trying not to make much noise when Baek showed up, almost giving him a heart attack.

-'Don't sneak up on people!'-Hwoarang complained.

Baek had left the bar a few hours ago, but Hwoarang and Steve stayed a bit longer. As usual they had drunk too much.

-'You'll wake her up anyway…'-Baek said.

-'Yeah…if you keep on talking this loud!'

-'Look, I'm not here to lecture you…you're old enough.'

-'Why are you here?'

-'I want to give you this and ask you a favour!'

-'What is it?'

-'Wear this tomorrow…I would really appreciate if we could go to this tournament wearing our old tae-kwon-do outfits.'

Hwoarang looked at the bag that Baek had given him.

-'This is my tae-kwon-do outfit? You kept it?'

-'No…I bought a new one…you're not ten anymore…and I bought one for me too…this way we can show everyone the real and true art of tae-kwon-do!'

Hwoarang didn't want to admit it, but he was touched by his master's gesture.

-'Ok…I'll wear this, no problem. It will be an honour, master!'

-'If you weren't drunk, I would believe your words…'-Baek returned to his room.

Hwoarang shrugged and walked in his room. He was speaking the truth.

FUJI-NION

1st JULY 2014

All the fighters would have to gather in the Stadium at exactly eight in the morning. It was seven a.m. when the Yakusoku hotel regained life. The hotel was full, maybe because it wasn't very expansive and because for a rather normal hotel it had very good conditions.

Only when the fighters went to take the breakfast everyone noticed that there was a quite large number of contestants hosted in that hotel.

Hwoarang run into Ganryu in the elevator. Julia was still dressing up.

-'Tae-Kwon-Do, huh?'-Ganryu said to start a conversation.

-'Yep. My master wants me to dress up like this!'

-'Well…I guess it's better than to use our thong.'

-'You're going to wear a thong?'-Hwoarang asked with a scared thought.

-'Nope…I should…to honour our traditions…but I won't.'

Hwoarang sighed.

-'I'm going to join my friends…see you later!'-Hwoarang said.

-'Where's Julia?'-Ling asked as soon as Hwoarang arrived.

-'She's coming…'

-'Is everyone ready?'-he asked.

Jin gave him a smirk and Hwoarang took that as a "yes". Christie was chatting happily with Eddie when Steve arrived. He didn't seem to be well.

-'Good morning.'-he greeted.

-'What happened to you?'-Jin asked.

-'Hwoarang did…'

-'It's not my fault if you can't handle a couple of beers!'-Hwoarang replied.

-'I know…my head hurts…'

Julia arrived in that moment and after the breakfast they started leaving the hotel.

When they arrived in the Stadium, a huge crowd was already waiting. The number five arena was illuminated which meant that someone was going there to speak.

A few minutes later, a tall man arrived. His skin was a bit darker than the majority of the Japanese people and he had black and short hair. Jin and the others already knew him, but it was Julia who spoke first.

-'He's the Final FX presenter…'

-'I guess he found himself a new job.'-Ling commented.

-'Good morning to everyone. I'm the new presenter of the Iron Fist Tournament. My name is Ghastu Komeru and as you have probably noticed, things changed a lot since last year. The rules remain the same, but since this tournament is not illegal anymore, you will compete with your names and not with your numbers, though you still have them. Remember the registration day? A small paper was given to you…it contains a number and to make things easier it would be good if you could memorise that number, ok?'

-'So…the only thing that really changed is that we are no longer marked like cattle, right?'-asked Miharu.

-'We proceeded with the draw and not all of you will fight today. The fights are going to appear in the screens around the Stadium and you have ten minutes to go to the arena where you have to fight, otherwise you'll be disqualified. I guess it's all for now. Good Luck to all.'

As soon as Ghastu Komeru left the arena, the screens were on and all the 128 contestants looked for their number and name to see when and where was going to be their fight.

In that moment, the seats in the audience began to be filled up with people. Susume Takani was right in the front row, with a paper and pen on her hands.

There was a metal fence separating the crowd from the contestants. Ling felt like an animal in the zoo.

-'I'm going to fight tomorrow…'-said Eddie disappointed.-'My name is not on the screens…'

-'Me too.'-Yuu announced.

-'I'm going to fight on the number four arena.'-Ling said.-'I guess I better go now…I'll be in the third fight.'

-'I'll be in number five arena…'-Jin said watching her go.

-'You haven't sorted things out, have you?'-Christie asked him with a disapproval look.-'Idiots!'

Jin left. He wasn't in the mood to hear a lecture.

In the number five arena, Asuka was already fighting and she had won her first match. Actually it had been quite easy to knock that guy. She had used only two double kicks and a punch.

When she left the arena all the guys stepped away to let her pass. Jin had seen the last moments of the fight, and he could swear he knew her fighting technique.

In that moment Steve was wishing Ling good luck since it was her turn. Jin stopped her when she was going to enter the arena.

-'Good luck.'-he said putting his hand on her face.

-'Thanks.'-she replied.

Jin watched Ling's fight with anxiety. They were having problems, but he cared about her and he didn't want to see her hurt in a fight.

Ling's opponent wasn't very bad as a fighter. He tried to hit her with a right kick but she managed to avoid that with a back flip. Ling watched her opponent and tried to guess what he was going to do. Her intuition was telling her that he was going to try to use a low kick. In the right moment she jumped over his head and grabbed him by his T-shirt in the shoulders and sent him off to the ground. The fight only took five more minutes and Ling won.

Her master was also watching her. He was close to Jin's arena and went to speak with him.

-'Xiao is awesome, isn't she?'-he asked.

Jin turned his head and immediately bowed before master Wang.

-'How are you master Wang?'-he asked.

-'Fine, thank you…I see that you and Xiao are quite close now.'

-'Yes, we are…but I always respected her.'

-'I know you did…I'm not here to punish you. I just want you to know that you control her destiny now and no matter what you do, her life depends on yours…'

Jin wasn't expecting these words so he didn't say anything and watched Wang Jinrei leaving.

After Ling's fight, Steve and Christie fought and both won. Steve had a few problems at first because his head was hurting like hell.

-'At least you can win even suffering from a hang over!'-Baek said.-'I don't know too many people like you…'

-'Thanks. I hope Hwoarang can win his fight too.'

-'Don't worry about him…he wasn't too drunk.'

-'Bastard! Ouch…my head hurts!'

After lunch Miharu, Baek and Jin qualified themselves for the next round as well.

-'Good punch, Kazama…'-Hwoarang said.-'Now it's up to me and Julia…'

Jin and Hwoarang were going to meet the rest of the group when they bumped into someone they knew quite well.

They were both in shock. Bryan Fury was right in front of them.

-'Nice punch Mishima…'-Bryan said with a grin.

-'YOU?'-Hwoarang said, taking his fighting stance.

-'What? This is a free country…oh…wait…you thought I was dead!'

-'Actually, we did!'-Hwoarang said.

-'Well…I'm not!'

-'As long as you stay away from us…'-Jin said.

-'The same goes for you! Now get out of my way!'

Bryan disappeared among the crowd.

-'What the hell is happening?'-Hwoarang asked confused.

-'We just met a guy who was supposed to be dead. It happens to me all the time!'-Jin thought that his dark humour was taking over him.

-'Well…lets not talk about Fury with the rest of the guys, alright?'

-'Why?'

-'Baek might still want his revenge…'

-'Ok…fine.'

Julia was going to fight next. Although she was really nervous, she did well and as soon as she left the arena, Hwoarang hugged her.

-'I told you that you would be alright.'-he said.

-'Now it's your turn…'

-'Yeah…and after I finish with the guy…maybe we could go to our room…and celebrate…'

-'And the others?'

-'Our room is too small for everyone. They'll have to stay somewhere else.'

Julia laughed.

-'Ok…it's a deal.'

Ganryu was watching Julia and he was surprised to see that she knew Hwoarang. He was going to speak to her when Hwoarang came back from the arena. He had won with no problems.

Ganryu stayed in his place and watched with jealousy while Julia and Hwoarang were kissing.

He clenched his fists and swore that Hwoarang would be sorry for stealing his love right under his nose.

All the contestants who had passed their first fights were celebrating in the bars in Fuji-Nion.

Steve was not drinking alcohol, unlike Miharu and Ling. Julia and Hwoarang left early to celebrate alone.

They arrived to their room without knowing that someone was following them. As soon as they closed the door, Hwoarang pulled Julia into a passionate kiss, and undressed his uniform white jacket.

-'Don't you think we should wait until we get into the bed?'-Julia asked.

-'Sure.'

Hwoarang took her in his arms and put her in the bed, and then he started kissing her again. And that was when they both heard a huge noise and the next thing Hwoarang noticed he was on the floor. Something really heavy had knocked him down. When he rose from the floor shaking his head he didn't even know if he had blacked out or not. But his attention soon moved to Julia whose wrist was being grabbed by a huge man.

-'What the hell are you doing?'-Hwoarang asked while Julia was trying to set herself free.

-'This stupid kid won't hurt you…my dear Julia…that's your name, isn't it?'-Ganryu asked her.

-'Can you let me go? NOW!'-Julia was now furious.

-'Ganryu? What are you doing?'-Hwoarang came closer and Ganryu punched him hard in the stomach.

-'Ok...that's it…let her go and I won't hurt you!'-Hwoarang demanded getting up again.

-'She's mine…you knew I was hoping to find someone special and now you want to have her!'

Hwoarang was confused but he remember their talk in the bar a few nights ago.

-'I didn't steal her…Julia is my girlfriend!'

-'No, she is not! She doesn't want to be with you. Can't you see she's scared?'

-'Look, mister…I'm not scared and I don't want to be with you, now let go of my arm!'

-'I'll take you to a safe place…away from this…girl's abuser!'

Julia lost her temper, she grabbed Ganryu's shirt and put her foot on his stomach. She fell on her back and launch Ganryu out of the room.

Ganryu hit the wall and took a while to recover from that sudden attack.

-'Get the hell out of here!'-Julia said.

-'Don't worry Julia…I'll be back to save you from that lunatic!'-Ganryu got up and left. She watched him as he went to the elevator.

-'Ok…this was weird!'-Hwoarang said watching the door on the floor.-'He broke the door.'

-'Who was that guy?'

-'I met him in the bar…we talked for about five minutes…he told me he wanted to find a girlfriend. I didn't know he was going to fancy you…'

-'Great…I'll call the hotel manager…to see ifthey can fix the stupid door.'

Hwoarang looked at her, she was a bit angry, though he couldn't tell exactly why.

The manager promised to fix the door first thing in the next morning. They put the door on its place but it wasn't properly fixed so it was dangerous to touch it.

-'I'm going to get changed and I'm going to bed…'

-'Good, I'll wait…'

-'To sleep!'

-'But we…'

-'Nothing is going to happen with the door like that! I like privacy!'-Julia went to the bathroom and Hwoarang lay down.

He rubbed his stomach where Ganryu had hit him.

-'Stupid fat ass! I'm so gonna kick his butt!'-he said to himself.