Mr. H motioned Julia towards an empty table near the front of the room. Twenty-four pairs of eyes burned holes into her as she pathetically made her way towards the table and slumped down. "This day is going to be the hardest…everything else will be easier as time passes," repeated Julia to herself. She dug in her backpack for her chemistry book nervously; she still could feel the stares.

With fumbled movements, Julia accidentally dropped her glasses case on the floor. She turned red and bent down to pick it up. To her surprise, a young man had already picked it up and set it on the table. "Hey Julia" the young man said, "my name's Jin. This is my friend Ling." Jin motioned to the pretty girl sitting next to him. The girl named Ling waved wildly at her.

"Hey…ummm…thanks," fumbled Julia. The beet-red girl quickly turned towards the front of the class, put on her glasses, and opened her chemistry book all in one fluid motion. Maybe Julia was wrong about this whole transferring-to-a-different-school-in-a-different-country deal. The people seemed nice enough…

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"I swear, Xiao, if we're late again today, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp!" worried Jin. Jin always called Ling "Xiao" whenever he was a little moody.

"Fine, Jin, we'll only play two rounds today instead of five." That should give us plenty of time to get to school. We could probably even stop for a bite to eat and still have ten minutes before the bell rings," said Ling.

Jin and Ling were once again in the forest that they passed by as they went to school. Ling was very insistent on them playing paintball again. Jin…not so much. They made their way to the usual clearing…the clearing that they have been meeting and have claimed their own since their freshman year.

Ling opened up her backpack and took out the paintball guns and the protective vests. "Ling, where do you put your books?" asked Jin.

"Hahaha…and you wonder why I need your help in math," laughed Ling. Jin chuckled, "You know, if you took school more seriously, I bet your grandpa wouldn't be so hard on you." "Jin Kazama, don't give me this song and dance," exhaled Ling, "I've heard it countless times before--".

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and the rustling of leaves in a patch of trees to their left. By instinct, Jin took an offensive position while Ling aimed both of her paintball guns towards the sound.

"Wait…don't shoot!" emerged a voice. There were a couple more footsteps, and Jin and Ling could see that the voice belonged to that new exchange student, Julia (also the student who Ling accused Jin of trying to hit-on yesterday in chemistry).

"Oh my gosh…I was about to pelt you with 40 paintballs in five seconds!" exhaled a very relieved Ling as she dropped the guns.

"Sorry guys…I didn't know you guys were here. I was just wandering around the forest on my way to school. It is so beautiful," explained an even-more-relieved Julia.

"Yeah…Ling and I have used this forest as our hangout. It's pretty cool," said Jin.

"Hmmm…I don't think the trees would approve of you guys shooting paintballs at them," replied Julia. Ling and Jin gave her puzzled looks. "Oh…sorry. I'm kind of a nature freak", chuckled Julia, "and my mother is currently researching on alternate ways of rejuvenating infertile soil in reforestation attempts. I plan to do the same once I get out of college."

"Wow…it seems like you've got a good head on your shoulders…more than I can say about myself, school is somewhat of a challenge for me…" laughed Ling.

"Speaking of school," segued Jin, "should we be going?"

"Gahhh…ever-the-cautious Jin…fine," sighed Ling, "we didn't even get to paintball this morning!" Jin, Ling, and Julia walked out towards the edge of the forest and started along the street to school. While they were walking, they discovered that they all had something in common: they were all trained in martial arts by a relative. Jin was trained in Kazama-style fighting by his mother, Ling was trained in Hakke Sho by her grandfather, and Julia was trained in Kenpo by her mother. The group was becoming fast friends.

In the middle of their conversation, a motorcycle zoomed past them on the road, almost hitting Julia. She let out a little yelp of surprise. The driver the motorcycle looked back and turned around, driving straight towards them. The motorcyclist pulled to a stop in front of the group and took off his tinted helmet. The orange-haired Hwoarang wiped the sweat off his brow. He didn't even acknowledge Jin in the presence of Ling.

"Hey Ling, want a ride to school?" He tossed his spare helmet to her. Jin rolled his eyes, and Julia seemed somewhat eager.

"Ummm…err…uhh…hey Hwoarang, have you met Julia? She just transferred and she's from the States," fumbled Ling.

"Hey," replied Hwoarang offhandedly. He then turned his attention towards Ling again. Hwoarang's crush on Ling has always made her uncomfortable…they seemed to have nothing in common.

While trying to reach every corner in her mind to find an excuse not to hop on the bike, she finally realized that she left her paintball guns in the clearing. "Oh crap, sorry Hwoarang, I have to go back to the forest and get something," she explained.

"It's O.K., I can get them," replied Hwoarang quickly, and he swiftly hopped off his motorcycle and ran into the forest.

Ten minutes passed, and Hwoarang hadn't emerged from the forest. Jin started to worry about getting to school, "O.K., now we are definitely going to be late."

"Well…what am I supposed to do?" asked Ling, "he didn't even know what to look for or where to go…"

"Maybe we should go in and look for him…I don't want to give the school a bad impression," suggested Julia. They all agreed, and made their way back to the clearing, taking turns shouting Hwoarang's name every couple of seconds. When they got to the clearing, Ling put the guns in her backpack and continued yelling Hwoarang's name.

After ten more minutes, Hwoarang emerged from the forest into the edge of the clearing, red-faced and embarrassed. Ling saw the disheveled Hwoarang and began to feel sorry for him. "O.K., now that you're here, you can take me to school," Ling said, almost immediately regretting the words as they escaped her mouth. Hwoarang finally lightened up smirked, making her way to Ling, pushing Jin with his shoulder in the process. Jin sighed and went over to Julia.

"Shall we go?" asked Julia, and the four of them turned around towards the other edge of the clearing. Suddenly, a young woman in a white dress appeared from the forest. The four were startled by the sudden emergence of this strange woman, but Jin and Ling were outright terrified. Their backpacks seemed to drop in slow motion as time seemed to stop. "Oh my God," gasped Jin.

"This isn't happening," cried Ling.

"Umm…do you two know this woman?" asked Julia. The woman was just standing there, staring at the group.

"I've…I've only seen pictures of her...but…but…" stammered Ling.

"That's my mom…and she's been dead for six years…" finished Jin.

Somewhere else in the world

A balding man was looking over a computer. Various numerical figures quickly scrolled throughout the screen, and a smile crept over his face. A silver-haired man came up from behind. "Everything is in order. On your word, we will enter our last phase of preparation," said the silver-haired man. The balding man acknowledged him, and the silver-haired man left the room. He exhaled, "Who said world domination wasn't easy?"