Chapter Twenty Two: Strike on Box

Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm writing this chapter on the way to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving (for those who don't know what that is) it's an American holiday where we celebrate how we colonized America by sodomizing a dead turkey with stuffing! For those who do know what it is…I'm having a fried turkey for dinner…never had one…anyway, my whole family is crammed in the car with me, and I figured the only way I could survive this was by writing on my laptop…anyway, I'm in Texas now for Christmas Break…I just got in last night and I'm exhausted so, oh well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh, and officially, we're NOT ALLOWED TO RESPOND TO REVIEWS! I checked myself but apparently, we can respond from some link under our penname's or…whatever…anyway, it's confusing…but hopefully we'll figure it out…well, this chapter takes place immediately after Steve's fight with Grey, and hopefully, this chapter will be a bit longer then normal. Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to two people: Shadowsin (For letting me use some of his info) and JunKing (He made a mix for his OC…It's good!)

The Nephilim sprinted through the woods pumping out full speed…to the untrained eye, he was just a blond blur as he sprinted through the foliage, splashed in the streams, and leapt over the rocks. Overhead, he was well aware of the flapping of wings above him…and he was also well aware that the creature following him intended to mess him up severely.

Jamie wasn't familiar with this particular stretch of woods…Kyo and his family trained here all the time, but Jamie rarely came. He'd often said that it was because it was the Kazama family "special, sacred, training spot"…but it was mostly laziness that he never trained back here…and now he was paying for it severely as he had no idea where he was going.

As he ran, branches whipped past him furiously, but Jamie continued to pay them no mind…he leapt over a rather large embankment and landed smoothly…his legs absorbing the impact with no complaints.

Okay…can't keep this up for very long…getting kinda tired and I lost my damn knife awhile back and…

Suddenly, Jamie heard a loud roar permeate the darkness, and he dared to steal a glance backward…from the creature's hideous face split a rather strange third eye…and a purple beam shot forth.

"Ah crap…" Jamie muttered. "me and my fat mouth."

"I'll take my Nephilim extra crispy please!" The creature cackled evilly.

The creature wasn't that far from the truth…if that laser got him…well, Jamie Parker the Nephilim would bare a striking resemblance to a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Jamie wore a pair of baggy blue basketball shorts and they whipped across his legs as he ran…the creature was gaining fast and already, he could feel the laser begin to singe the hairs on the backs of his calves…this only encouraged him to run faster.

Ohshitohshitohshitohshit….

Suddenly, Jamie began to realize that the scenery was beginning to look familiar.

I passed this rock before…I've been going in a circle so that must mean…

Right around the time this chase had begun, Jamie had wandered in the woods on his routine patrol…it was kind of chilly, so before he braved the woods he had gone to the coffee shop and bought a large cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream (Jamie hated coffee). The fight had begun, and Jamie had set down his drink on a rock…and figured he'd be enjoying his toasty warm drink relatively soon.

That was until this creature sprouted wings and turned out to be a bigger threat then Jamie had anticipated. Sure enough, the steaming hot Styrofoam cup sat at its resting place.

"Betcha no Nephilim's ever attempted this one…" Jamie muttered.

As he ran past the rock he snatched the drink and was relieved to find it still piping hot. He ran towards a tree and began to run up it…the laser beam trailing ever so closely behind him.

Not gonna work…not gonna work…

At the last second, the Nephilim pivoted in the air and stared his attacker in the face…and flung the drink with all his might. His aim was true and the cup hit the enemy's face with an explosion of hot cocoa, whipped cream, and Styrofoam.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" His attacker shrieked.

While in the air…and for good measure, Jamie made sure to add a kick to the face, to ground his enemy…the two landed in a heap on the dried leaves.

Jamie quickly did a kick up, and assumed his stance…panting.

"OOOOWWWWW….HOT…HOT…WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!" The creature screamed as he changed back to human form.

"Sorry Billy," Jamie said with a grin and shrug of his shoulders. "Guess I just had to improvise."

"Well damn man! That shit burns!" Billy asked.

"Okay," Jamie folded his arms and cocked his head to the side. "My 3.75 hot cocoa that's a little above room temperature verses your laser beam with the temperature of a neutron star-" Jamie started as he moved to help Billy up.

Suddenly, a blinding blur bum rushed the Nephilim…and he landed roughly into a tree.

"GAH!" He sputtered as he felt a pair of vice like fingers clamp across his throat.

His captor raised him high in the air and stared at him.

"Looks like you forgot one of the most important lessons of battle Nephilim; never let your guard down. You haven't trained properly…you're getting lazy."

Jamie gagged and coughed as he struggled; but finally, managed to swing a leg around in a fast crescent kick. The blow connected with his enemy's temple and caused him to drop his prey.

Jamie ducked into a roll and stood.

"How's that? Satisfied?" He asked with a grin.

Kazuya Mishima stood and brushed himself off. "You got lucky that time…but remember; I killed you once."

"I was only dead for like a minute." Jamie said accusingly as he dusted off his shorts and coughed lightly.

"Hmph…" Billy snorted as he stood up and dusted the leaves off his jeans. "With that outfit, no wonder you died."

Jamie looked down self consciously at his white SpongeBob SquarePants t-shirt and shorts.

"Hey…" Jamie began before glaring at Billy. "Shut up."

The Nephilim stretched and retied his hair in it's familiar ponytail.

"Okay, so I'm down for a little training session anytime…I mean, it's my job right? Chosen Warrior and all that crap! But why do we have to do it at the ass end of nowhere?"

"The woods…it's not just for Kazama's anymore." Billy said as he gestured broadly to the various clearings and fields.

"You've never been back here Jamie, I wanted to put you in an area that you weren't so familiar with." Kazuya said wisely.

"Okay…I get that." Jamie said. "So who else is here?"

"Jin, Hwoarang, and Kyo…Steve should be here soon." Billy said as they walked.

The relative calm of the woods was shattered with the sounds of vigorous fighting. Suddenly, Hwoarang shot through a patch of trees and landed at the Nephilim's feet.

"What up Jamie…" He said breathlessly as he lay there.

"Hey Hwoarang." Jamie said cheerily as he helped the Korean up.

"I'm good…but I've got a real important question to ask you?" Hwoarang stared at Jamie seriously for a minute. "Do you have any cigarettes?"

"I got gum." Jamie said with a shrug and a sympathetic smile.

"Sparring Kazama…he's only winning 'cuz I'm having a hella nic fit." Hwoarang said.

"Where is Jin?" Jamie asked.

Suddenly, out of the tree's clad in a pair of black gi pants, Jin flew at Hwoarang with his fists flying. The two sparred for a bit longer before stopping to breathe.

"Nice of you to join us Jamie; do you want to spar later?" Jin asked, his face and chest slick with sweat.

"Maybe in a bit sure…I'm still recovering from Billy trying to turn me into a bucket of fried chicken."

The joke caused laughter in the group.

"I've seen you go on patrol before man, don't tell me you didn't bring your throwing stars, your holy water, or your cross bow?" Hwoarang asked.

"Sorry," Jamie patted his pockets. "Those, and my armored car, and my rocket launcher would be in my other pants…all I got with me is some gum and my wallet. Anyway, I think I'm gonna check on Kyo." Jamie waved back to his friends and walked through the woods to where his friend was training.

(New Scene)

"Imma get get get you drunk…get you love drunk off my humps…" Kim Sueng Mina sang softly to herself as she walked down the halls of the Mishima Hotel.

She danced a bit as she walked; her Mp3 player's headphones blasting the Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps". It was late, and Jamie was out patrolling tonight; normally, she'd go with him as usual, or do some patrolling or research of her own, but tonight, Kazuya had explained that he was going to put Jamie in a "surprise situation" and see how he did.

Mina was sure that he was doing fine.

For all intents and purposes…Mina was feeling pretty damn good tonight thank you very much. She had just beat F'eng W'ei earlier in the day and stopped his mad tirade of challenging and potentially killing all the best martial artists in America. Mina was walking towards the lounge…it seemed as if it was a quiet evening tonight, Julia was busy decoding the disk that Jamie and Kyo had taken from Doctor Abel's apartment…and so far, she hadn't been able to uncover a lot…but none of it seemed to make much sense.

Apparently, it was something about a ritual…and three people from ancient times who had died long ago…Mina offered to help in any way she could, and Julia had taken her up on the offer…only problem was that Julia was no longer in her room.

Mina wasn't exactly dressed to go out anywhere anyway…she was wearing a pair of sky blue pajama pants and a black spaghetti strap tank top. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun and she had officially taken her contacts out for the evening. A pair of sleek, black square glasses adorned her pretty face.

The lounge was pretty busy tonight. Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, and Craig Marduk were busy watching a football game and screaming at the tv, while Forrest was playing a game of pool and losing against King…a kind hearted man from Mexico who seemed to never take off his leopard mask.

Julia sat in a corner staring at her laptop and clicking keys…numbers and letters danced across the frames of her glasses as she stared intently at the screen.

"Hey." Mina said cheerily as she took a seat across from Julia.

"Oh hey Mina," Julia smiled and rubbed her temples. "What are you doing here?"

"I said I'd help you didn't I? Believe me, I'm an expert researcher…I've got like, a small P.H.D in Demonology and stuff."

"Really?" Julia asked with a tired smile.

"Yeah…about 45 percent of being an official side kick to a Nephilim is sitting at my dad's karate place at all ungodly hours reading huge books and looking at web sites about demons and curses."

"45 percent? And what's the other 55?"

"Action…fighting for your life…all that fun stuff." Mina responded with a chuckle.

That got a laugh from Julia who took her glasses off and stretched. "I'm so tired…and I've got a fight tomorrow with King that I'm not exactly looking forward too."

"So get some sleep…I'll finish this up. I'm not fighting tomorrow anyway."

"Thanks…you're awesome…but this disk is crazy…after I break one major firewall, I have to deal with five smaller ones…only to find out that the file I've spent the last three hours opening is only for office supplies."

"They really know how to protect their security system's huh?" Mina asked.

"Tell me about it…in all the time I've actually worked on this disk I've only found about three files pertinent to what we're looking for."

"So what have you found?" Xiaoyu asked walking towards Julia's table.

"Just that this Ritual of Triumvarence has to do with three people who had died tragically thousands of years ago…apparently, they're reunion will bring about a great evil…but what kind I'm not sure exactly."

Mina lowered her eyes as she remembered the dream from the night before…it seemed so real…what had it meant? She'd been meaning to bring up, and was about to do just that when Asuka and Kaori walked up to them.

They were chatting and laughing.

"Oh my God…I can't believe you just did that 'Suka!" Kaori said through peals of laughter.

"I know…I can't believe I talked to him…and I was all like 'wanna come to Japan?' and in that completely sexy accent he said 'sure! Sounds awesome!'" Asuka said, acting completely like a girly girl.

"Who are you talking about Asuka Kazama?" Mina asked, a grin playing on her face.

"Only one of the hottest of the hotties that we met all summer!" Kaori squealed.

"Would anyone just explain what's going on before we have heart failure?" Julia asked with a laugh.

"Um…I just got off the phone with…um…Mina's friend…Robbie…" Asuka said, blushing as red as the streaks in Mina's hair.

"And I take it that everything went alright?" Xiao asked. "I mean Robbie's like, such a babe." She said, faking a preppy girl's voice.

"HE SAID YES!" Asuka cried happily.

She yelled so loud that the fighter's in the lounge all turned and looked at her strangely. "…sorry…" She finished sheepishly.

"So when's Robbie coming? I always knew you two'd hit it off." Mina said with a knowing smile.

"Well, he said he could probably come in two weeks because that's when his fall break starts." Asuka said.

"Oh yeah…fall break…" Mina said.

"Did you and Jamie have to drop this semester Mina?" Kaori asked.

"Nah, we're starting the mini semester in October and going from there." Mina responded.

"Anyway, did you guys talk on the phone for long?" Julia asked.

"Not too long…I mean, it was long distance on my cellphone, but we've been chatting online and stuff before…finally, I just asked if he wanted to come and he was all excited…" Asuka stopped and frowned. "Wait a minute…that didn't make me look like an obsessive psycho chick did it? I mean, I don't seem too forward do I?"

"Don't worry about it," Mina said with a chuckle. "Robbie's a cool guy and an awesome friend…he's always wanted to go to Japan anyway, and most likely, the thought never occurred to him that you were being a stalker."

"That's good…but oh God…what am I gonna wear? I don't have any nice clothes…what am I gonna do!" Asuka started to panic.

"Sweetie," Xiao said standing and placing her hands on Asuka's shoulders. "relax…breathe…it's simple, we'll all take you to the mall and get you a make over and some new clothes…"

"Yeah, but let's make sure that Mina and Kaori don't go like last time…" Julia trailed off with a laugh.

"Hey!" Kaori began. "Anna asked for it! She was nasty and mean…and she started it!"

"That only holds up in first grade court Kaori." Xiao said evenly to her cousin.

"And besides…it wasn't just her, but her fatty fat fat fan girls." Mina added. "Have you guys seen that movie Mean Girls? Anna's like the Regina George of the Iron Fist Tournament!"

(Author's Note: Hey, if you've never seen the movie, Regina George is the main Mean Girl)

The girls laughed at the joke, until Xiao broke the silence. "Hey, seriously, have you guys seen Christie lately?"

"She said she was going to wait for Steve at a café after his fight with Grey." Julia said (as the two were roommates).

Suddenly, the doors to the hotel burst open and Christie Monteiro stormed through. She walked towards the lounge where the girls sat…and while she looked pretty, her eyes were puffy from crying, and her eyeliner was running down her cheeks in black rivers.

She wore an off white sweater and a pair of lowrider jeans, a black thong peaked from the waist line of her jeans and she wore a pair of black boots, and gold hoop earrings.

"Christie, what's wrong?" Mina asked.

"You guys…I waited for Steve for an hour…and…and I get…get…this call from the hospital…and he's there! Grey put HIM IN THE HOSPITAL!" A fresh bout of sobs shook the Brazilian bombshell.

"What?" Xiao asked as she rose from her chair. "Is he…okay?"

"What did Grey do to him?" Kaori asked.

"Gave him a nasty concussion and broke a tooth…and the worst part of it is that Steve fell asleep on the way to the hospital!"

"Oh God," Julia put her hand to her mouth. "that's not…good…"

Julia knew that if one fell asleep during a concussion the results could be fatal…but Christie probably knew that already, and didn't need it reiterated.

"Let's get going then!" Asuka said all business.

"Right, but we gotta call the boys."

"Leave that to me. I'll call Jamie and meet you guys there." Mina said already dashing to her room…lamenting the fact that she left her damn cell phone in it's charger on the nightstand in her room.

"I'm not letting you walk downtown alone, I'll go with you!" Kaori said running behind her friend.

(New Scene)

"564…565…566…567…" Kyosuke Kazama grunted as he pounded his fist into the bark of the tree.

Already, he had put serious dents in it, and he was practically half way done with his exercise. At first, he hated doing this…but after the third time, he was beginning to see and feel the results. Punching the tree strengthened his fists, and after awhile it (sort of) stopped hurting.

After this exercise, he might call it a night…he was tired and was ready to go to bed. He wondered if Jamie made it to the training session…and if he had survived his surprise "encounter" with Billy…Kyo briefly wondered if he should spar with Jamie tonight? The two hadn't done so in awhile, and both had grown respectively stronger in the past week of the tournament.

Kyo decided that if Jamie wanted too then he would, and if not then it was cool. He could feel that the two would eventually be pitted together in the tournament…his grandfather could be cruel like that…both his brother and father warned him to watch for it.

Kyo was sure that it would be a great fight…but he wasn't exactly gung ho about wailing on one of his best friends…Kyosuke hadn't had many friends or family in his short lifetime…but in these tournaments he had made some lifelong friendships and Jamie Parker was one person that Kyo had considered to hold that coveted title of "best friend".

Kyo often marveled at how easy going and light hearted Jamie could be…he literally carried the responsibility of the world on his shoulders at times, and yet he would go out of his way to offer advice and help anyone in need…whether it was in a life or death situation…or the simple act of being a good listener, Jamie was always there.

"568…569…570…" Kyo continued.

"Watcha doin'?" Jamie asked casually.

Kyo wasn't surprised of the Nephilim's sudden appearance…he and Jamie could both sense each other from miles away.

"My…training…I hafta punch…this tree 1000 times a day…" Kyo said between pants.

"Ew why?" Jamie asked in mock disgust.

"Makes…fists stronger…and shut…up…" Kyo said with a grin.

"Oh…coolies…figured you'd have some wacky surprise for me like your cousin and father did." Jamie said coolly as he leaned against a tree.

"Guess…you survived it…573…" Kyo asked.

"Relatively unscathed…you won't believe how I beat your cousin." Jamie said.

"How…575…"

"It was totally awesome! I grabbed this coffee cup that I dropped and it was filled with hot chocolate and I ran up a tree, spun, and threw it right at his face!"

"Niiiccceee," Kyo said with a grin. "576…577…"

"So…do you ever lose count?"

"Don't…start…578…579…" Kyo warned.

A mischievous grin played on Jamie's face before putting his next thought in.

"So I go to withdraw money from my account today? And I found out that my brother borrowed three hundred dollars…so now I've got 500 dollars in my account…and so I called him, and he put the money back…because he had to buy an XBOX 360 and it was 300 dollars…and so he put the 300 dollars back, plus an extra 400 so now I've 3000 dollars in it…but it was crazy because I told him; 'you're a famous pro skater why do you need 300 dollars because you totally have 300 dollars to spare'"

Kyo knew what he was doing…Jamie was trying to confuse him by spouting off random numbers…and it was working.

"Jamie…I swear to God…" Kyo warned.

And suddenly, Kyo forgot… "JAMIE I'LL KILL YOU!"

The two ran through the woods laughing and lightly punching and kicking each other…before panting and leaning against a tree.

"And…don't worry…I counted…you're on 586…so go back to hitting your tree." Jamie said with a grin.

"You suck you know that?" Kyo asked.

"Hey, just defending my title as the Prank King."

"Yeah well don't you know never to piss off a Devil?"

"Probably as much as you know not to piss off an Angel." Jamie countered evenly.

"Jamie…" Kyo began. "About the tournament…I know we're probably going to fight…and I just want you to know that…" Kyo looked into Jamie's face. "I'm not going to back down…you're my friend, but I'm not going to go easy on you."

"Good," Jamie responded. "I'm not going easy on you either…I don't think we'd be such good friends if we did that…that's…that's pathetic…"

"Heihachi's gonna do it…I just know…"

"Yeah…no offense, but I really don't like your family."

Kyo chuckled. "Neither do I sometimes so don't worry about it."

"Well, I mean, I like Kazuya and Jin now…even though both have tried to kill me at some point…oh, and Asuka's cool, even though she also tried to kill me once…and Billy's gotten better."

"That's my family…you know we like you when we try to assassinate you."

Suddenly, through the trees burst Jin and Hwoarang…their eyes were wide and panicked.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked.

"It's Steve…" Jin began.

"What's wrong? Is he okay?" Kyo asked.

"He's in the hospital!" Hwoarang said.

Author's Note: Okay…I know…kind of meaningless and senseless…but I wanted to add more of my humor into a chapter so I hope you liked it! Um…what else is new…next chapter will feature Grey and if Steve will be okay or not…and it will also feature Nina! So that's pretty cool! Oh, and a quick question to everybody who play's Resident Evil 4…I'm at this part where I'm playing as Ashley and there's this puzzle I can't solve with sliding blocks…any advice? Anyway, thanks for reading this…MUCH LOVE TO EVERYBODY AND PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!