"We're going to the Mishima Zaibatsu," repeated Jin, his voice hard and absolute.

Suddenly, Julia and Ling found the ground very interesting. They refused to make eye contact with Jin. Hwoarang, on the other hand, rolled his eyes at him. After a minute of silence between them, Hwoarang decided that it was his turn to speak.

"You're not serious, are you? You expect four high school students to travel across Japan to go to the headquarters of a multi-billion dollar corporation?" Hwoarang's voice started to escalate. "Fine…let's say ya do. What do you think is going to happen when you go through the front door? What are you gonna do next, tough guy? Are you going to ask the receptionist if your ghost mommy left you a message? In case you didn't notice, she wasn't very specific about the whole thing. About anything, for Christ's sake."

Jin glared at Hwoarang. "Are you suggesting that we don't do anything about the Zaibatsu? That we forget everything that we saw and heard? Forget the hour as if it never existed? Well, sorry, but I can't."

Hwoarang continued, "Well, I think I can. I'm just going to walk out of this forest, go to school, and life will be as normal as today should have been. Whatever "shadow" she was talking about, the military has a better chance of handling than four kids."

Jin opened his mouth to reply, but Ling quickly interjected to change the subject. "Umm...I think this is where Jin grew up. That house over there looks like the one that you've shown me in the photo albums at your place." Jin nodded quickly in reply.

"Yeah…so? What's your point? Do we need to get Jin his pacifier?" Hwoarang replied irritability.

"Well," Ling said, as equally irritated, "if I know the geography of Japan, then that means that school is about 200 miles that way." Ling pointed south, in the direction of some mountain range."

"Tch" was Hwoarang's only reply as he kicked the dirt.

Julia broke her silence. "I, for one, will see this thing through to the end. I think that we have witnessed something miraculous. I do believe that Jin's mother contacted us somehow, and she wants us to do something involving the Mishima Zaibatsu. Didn't you all feel the overwhelming terror that seeped into your bones when we were in front of it?" Ling folded her arms and shivered, as she remembered the vision. Hwoarang simply looked away despondently. "I hope that the spirits of my ancestors will visit me some day. I attribute all of my strength to them," she added silently. She walked over next to Jin. Julia noticed out of the corner of her eye that Jin's expression had softened as she walked past him.

"Unbelievable…this is just unbelievable," Hwoarang muttered. "Seriously, think about it, guys. We're just kids from rural Japan. We don't know anything about…anything outside of our homes."

"Actually, I'm from the Sta-" Julia began.

"I can't believe that I am going to say this, but Hwoarang might be right," interrupted Ling. As she finished this last comment, Jin's face cycled through several emotions as he looked at his closest friend. First, Ling noticed shock, then anger, and now Jin's mouth was twisted in a way which she knew that meant that he was disgusted with her.

"I mean…yes, I agree, I saw Jin's mother. We all saw Jin's mother. I don't think anybody denies that." She looked around at their faces. Nobody was willing to say that they weren't visited by Jun Kazama. "And yes, I think she was trying to tell us that the Mishima Zaibatsu is bad. I'm guessing we have to figure out what they have been doing that was so horrible. But with a multi-billion dollar industry with secrets comes a multi-billion dollar maximum security force that wants to keep those secrets hidden from the public, if they have anything to say about it. That is their entire purpose in life. If we try to do something, anything, we can get hurt. Or worse." Ling quickly shifted her eyes to the other three, cycling through each of their faces trying to pin whether or not her words had any effect.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Hwoarang, "that is what I have been trying to say! Even if it is my destiny," Hwoarang tried to imitate the voice of Jun, "I don't think I'm willing to die for anything, especially not some dead girl who thinks that she can just command four kids around, one of them being her own son no less, to go on a suicide mission. She can go ahead and screw herself in hell for all I care."

Jin walked up to Hwoarang with clenched fists. He grabbed Hwoarang's school uniform shirt and pulled him close. Their faces were literally centimeters apart. "You take that back, asshole" he said through clenched teeth.

"Get your damn filthy hands off me, pretty boy," Hwoarang said coolly as he pushed Jin away from him. As Jin was pushed back, he took one large step toward Hwoarang and punched him square in the jaw.

As Hwoarang reeled back from the punch, stunned, Jin ran up to his staggering body and tackled him to the earth. Hwoarang felt his legs give out from under him, and he suddenly found himself on the ground with a loud thump. As quickly as the initial punch was thrown, Jin was on top of him, throwing punches successively with both of his clenched fists. Hwoarang tried to block and counterattack, but his attempts were futile against the furious Jin. He took Jin's punches with full force. Hwoarang looked into Jin's eyes and saw ferocity in its purest form. "Take…it…back…asshole!" Jin said after every strike. Jin grabbed a nearby rock and wound his arm back to bash Hwoarang's skull in. Jin hesitated one moment and looked into Hwoarang's scared eyes. Pure, unadulterated fear…good. I want him to die with fear on his pathetic face; with that stupid look on his damn face a dark voice within Jin said.

"Jin! Stop!" Ling shouted. Jin hadn't realized that Ling and Julia had rushed up before Jin could deliver the fatal blow. Ling knocked the rock out of his hand with one swift kick to the wrist. Jin howled in pain as the rock flew several yards behind the fight. Regardless of the pain that he felt in his wrist, he punched Hwoarang one more time with his left fist. Julia pulled the feral Jin off of the immobilized Hwoarang, and Ling quickly joined her in her efforts. As the girls held Jin back, he struggled with all of his strength against them. He wanted to finish the job, but the girls were definitely stronger than they looked, and they held their ground. Let me go, you bitches! I want to kill that shit-talker! said the unknown voice within Jin.

"Jin, calm down," Julia repeatedly whispered directly into his ear. "Please, empty your mind. You've made your point. Calm down," Julia continued. Jin's breathing slowed, and he stopped struggling. She felt his muscles under his school shirt slowly relax. The tension began to ease; the anger began to subside. Jin suddenly cast his eyes down on the ground, ashamed at the realization of what he had just done. What's wrong with me? I've never actually wanted to kill somebody before. I let emotion control of me. 'Never let emotions cloud your vision' Jin remembered his mother saying.

Hwoarang slowly sat up. He began checking his face with his hands, instantly regretting it as he touched areas with too much pressure. He winced as intense pain instantly shot throughout his face. There were blotches of blood scattered on his school shirt and on the ground where he lay. Along with the blood stains on his clothes, there were dirt stains all over his body. A portion of his left sleeve was somehow torn off, and his left eye was almost swollen shut. Areas of his face were quickly turning purple, and there were open cuts littered throughout his face pouring out blood. More crimson blood trailed down his face from his nose and mouth. He looked like a mess. As soon as Jin saw his victim, he quickly turned away. Jin couldn't look at him. He couldn't see what his own hands had done in a moment of weakness.

Look what you have done! Jin thought

I kind of liked it, though… the dark voice rang through his brain again.

Don't you get it? He didn't deserve it.

Are you kidding? You know he had it coming.

Even if he did, it definitely didn't need to go that far.

Heh…at least he knows his place now, that stupid asshole.

"You're fuckin' crazy, Kazama!" he shouted angrily. As Hwoarang yelled, more blood welled up in his mouth, and he turned his head and spit the globule of crimson red liquid out on the ground. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill you!" he screamed. More blood oozed from his mouth and fell from his chin onto his shirt.

"Come on Jin, let's get your wrist checked out," Ling said. "Do you remember the way to the closest city?" Jin nodded his head absent-mindedly. "All right, lead the way."

Jin silently turned around and walked away from Hwoarang, nursing the wrist that Ling injured. Even though this wrist hurts like hell, I can't thank Ling enough for stopping me.

"Dammit, Kazama! You're fuckin' crazy, ya hear me?" Hwoarang continued his verbal assault.

Julia turned around and hushed him, "If you want to get your injuries checked out as well, you better come with us. You'll get lost in this forest."

Hwoarang yelled back at her, "Are you nuts! I'm not gonna hang around him one second longer than it takes to crack his skull. Why the hell are you following that lunatic?"

Ling and Julia encouraged Jin to ignore him as the three walked away. The shouts from the angry Hwoarang continued

"You're fuckin' crazy, man! You're crazy!"

Soon, Hwoarang's shouts died down as they got deep enough into the forest. The three of them were silent as they walked through nature. Usually, all three would admire the way that the sun shone on the forest floor; how the trees grew so tall; how the plants were like nothing they had ever seen before. But this time, they paid no attention to the natural beauty in front of them. All three had solemn looks on their faces.

Jin's mind was racing. His movements through the familiar forest were automatic and robotic. His brain was on overload; it was going a mile a minute.

What was that voice in my head? How come I couldn't control my body when I was attacking Hwoarang? What if Ling and Julia weren't there? What if they hadn't intervened? What would I have done? Would I actually have killed him? Murder him? Jin paused and shuddered at the thought.

Is Hwoarang right? Am I going crazy?