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ASUKA

Dad, Scorpion and I had been searching for Jin and Julia for hours. As night began to fall upon us, Scorpion led us to a city called Lin Chein. It was there we found Nina, Paul, Bryan and Yoshimitsu. They had been there ever since leaving the Living Forest, but haven't seen others either. Nina was starting to freak because her son, Steve, was amongst the missing. Every time Paul would try to console, she would freak out more and begin pacing, ignoring us all

The ruler of the city, Hotaru, had allowed us to stay in the city, as long as we followed the rules he had placed on the city. It was afterwards that Scorpion told me Hotaru was a Seido Guardsman and had taken over the city after defeating the Tarkatan armies that had camped outside

I went to bed thinking about my brother, hoping he was still alive. Jin was tough, I knew that. He had the Devil Gene, so he should be fine. I wondered about my own Devil Gene. Despite living with Father and Jin for three months, during which my Gene should have reacted, nothing has happened. I was beginning to wonder if I even had a Devil Gene. Then I realized I did because Ashe had tried to siphon it from me. I think that's why my powers haven't developed because of that. His attempted siphoning must have damaged my Devil Gene, making it slower to react

My eyes grew heavy and I dropped off to sleep

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"Asuka, wake up, now!"

I opened my eyes and sat up, as Dad was ripping my blankets off me

"What's going on?"

"We're under attack!"

I could hear fighting from next door and jumped out of bed. Dad had drawn his sword, as I did the same. The door burst open and a group of Tarkatans poured inside. Dad lunged and began fighting. A Tarkatan saw me and lunged. I stepped back and slashed. He blocked and spun, swinging his blade at my head. I stepped to his left and slashed at his waist. The Tarkatan blocked me again and kicked. This time, I dodged his foot, stepped forward and impaled him. He groaned in pain, as I removed the sword. Two more Tarkatans came at me. I fought them both and cut them down, before joining Dad. We pushed the beasts back out of the bedroom, as Paul went flying over the balcony. He landed on the floor below, as a few Tarkatans leapt over the balcony to fight him. Nina, Bryan and Yoshimitsu had joined us on the second floor landing, as more Tarkatans came charging into the house and up towards us. Dad stood in front of me to fight, as I took out any Tarkatan that got past him and Nina

Bryan grabbed two Tarkatans by the throat and slammed them against the wall, knocking them out, before throwing them over the balcony and leaping over to join Paul. Yoshimitsu slammed his shoulder against a Tarkatan, creating a domino effect, with Tarkatans falling down the stairs, one after the other. Suddenly, a Tarkatan burst into flames, as Scorpion appeared in a whirlwind of flames, knocking several of the creatures back, forcing a few through the balcony. Dad fought his way down the stairs to the ground floor, as Scorpion followed him. I went after them, but suddenly, I tripped. I twisted my body and saw a 'fallen' Tarkatan had tripped me up. I fell down the stairs and knocked Scorpion over, who in turn bowled Dad over. The Tarkatan came flying down at me. I kicked him back and scrambled out of the mess, coming face-to-face with a grinning Tarkatan…

I looked down and saw that my hands were stained in blood. My own blood! His blade had penetrated my stomach and exited through my back. He removed his blade; as I fell to my knees, blood gushing out of my wound. I felt light-headed, as darkness overcame me. I fell over, my vision blurring. The last thing I saw was my father beating the hell out of the Tarkatan who had stabbed me

And then, all…went…dark…

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