Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken.
A/Note: Thanks for all the reviews. I truly appreciate all the constant feedback; you've been great to me. This is the 30th chapter and I think the story will end soon…thank you so much.
Karisan
Chapter 30 – Now or Never
Ling and Julia searched everywhere but they didn't find Jin. Tired, both girls ended up in Julia's room, after lunch.
-'What are you going to do now?'-Ling asked.
-'With or without Jin, I need to go to Heihachi's room and try to get the codes from his laptop. I'm no expert but I think I can crack down some of his passwords.'
-'In that case, I'm going to help too.'
-'You better stay out of this…'
-'But…'
-'Sorry…believe me, this is the best way.'
-'Yeah…right. Anyway…isn't there a special dinner tonight? I mean to announce the next matches?'
-'I don't think so. Heihachi is probably too focused on his own problems. To deal with Toshin is not easy.'
-'How does this monster look like?'
-'I don't know…I only know that he's an evil spirit.'
-'How do we kill him?'
-'Only a really powerful fighter can kill the Toshin…the God of fighting…'
-'Do you think you can do it?'
-'I don't think so, but I'll try my best. Heihachi must have restrained him so I hope I can destroy him without fighting face to face.'
-'What about Jin? Will your mother be able to help him?'
-'Being Kazuya's child is not easy. If I'm not mistaken…Jin will face his father very soon.'
-'Why do you say that?'
-'Since the Toshin's release, Kazuya has been hiding…besides he's too weak after losing against Heihachi. He must be planning something big to return…and now that Jin is strong enough, I'm sure he's going to demand his powers back.'
-'So you think that Kazuya is going to return to kill Jin and have his powers?'
-'Yes. I'm afraid that's nothing we can do about it. He must be waiting for the right moment.'
-'When will that be?'
-'When the Toshin and Heihachi get out of his way.'
Half an hour before Yoshimitsu and Heihachi's fight, Julia was forced to ask Ling her assistance. Ling was delighted when Julia asked her help.
-'You have to watch Heihachi's match closely…in the meanwhile I'll be in his room. When the fight is over call me to my mobile so I can get out without being caught.'
-'Ok, you can count on me.'
-'Thanks. It's now or never!'
-'Do you honestly think that Heihachi is capable of things like this?'
-'I'm sure about it, and I'm sorry for you…I know you trust him.'
Ling lowered her eyes. It was still hard to believe that Heihachi was responsible for Julia's mother kidnap. But since Jin needed help, she would forget about the good things that Heihachi had done for her and see him as an enemy.
While Ling was paying attention to the fight, Julia was hoping that Yoshimitsu would be a fair opponent to Heihachi; otherwise she wouldn't have time to find about the codes.
She entered Heihachi's awesomely clean room and had to reboot the system on his laptop. After a few minutes, she started to study several files. None of them had what she was looking for, so she entered directly in the database.
Back at the arena Ling was holding the mobile that Julia had given her. Her hand was sweating. The fight had started and Heihachi was starting to feel a bit angry because Yoshimitsu was giving him a hard time.
-'Where's Chang?'-Ling recognised Jin's voice immediately and turned around.
-'Where have you been? Are you ok?'-she asked. Jin noticed concern on her voice.
-'I'm ok…really. But I thought I told you to leave while there's still time.'
-'I'm not going anywhere. Actually I'm helping Julia in this moment…'-Ling lowered her voice and explained Jin what Julia was doing.
-'She's all by herself?'-he asked.
-'She has be discreet…'
-'I know, but it's dangerous, Dr. Abel may be around.'
-'Julia can manage…she's a fighter.'
-'She's not as though as I thought she was.'
-'Are you saying that because she lost against that retarded redhead?'
-'Well…she lost…'
-'You're being chauvinistic…Julia is a great fighter.'
In that moment, Heihachi was on the floor after being hit by a powerful high kick. Yoshimitsu was preparing his blade when his opponent got up and threw him a punch in the jaw.
-'I don't like to be on the floor Yoshimitsu…you know that very well.'-Heihachi smirked, watching Yoshimitsu get back on his feet.
-'I guess I'll have to change strategy…'-Yoshimitsu said.
Ling was amazed, because for the first time she had seen Heihachi on the floor.
-'He's going to win anyway.'-Jin said turning his back on the arena.
-'How do you know?'
-'He trained me for three years…I know exactly what he can do.'
-'Wait…Jin!'-Ling ran after Jin. Now that she knew that he was ok she wanted to be sure that he would stay that way. For a couple of minutes, Ling forgot all about her mission to help Julia and kept on Jin's pursuit.
-'Where are you going?'-Ling asked.
-'To see if Chang can manage.'
-'Of course she can manage. She said she knows a lot about computers. Are you angry because I'm still here?'
-'No…it's not that I'm angry with you…It's just that I'll be worried about you…'
-'Really? You're worried about me?'
Fortunately for Jin, he didn't have to answer that question because back at the arena the crowd exploded in excitement.
-'Oh no! What happened? I can't see anything from here!'
-'Heihachi won…Yoshimitsu is on the floor.'-Jin answered.
-'What about Heihachi?'
-'I can't see him.'
-'Oh no! I've got to warn Julia.'
Julia was already saving the data she had collected when she got Ling's call. Ling was very succinct.
-'He's on his way. Get out of there!'-that was Ling's warning. Julia waited five minutes to save all the data and she only had time to jump out of the balcony the very same minute that Heihachi was opening the door.
Fortunately, she managed to jump to the balcony on the left and then from balcony to balcony she got to her own room.
A few minutes later, Ling and Jin joined her. Julia was already studying what she collected from Heihachi's computer.
-'I'm sorry…I was distracted…'-Ling apologised.
-'It's ok…I wasn't caught and that's all that matters.'
-'Something useful?'-Jin asked.
-'Yeah. I've got the codes. And some stuff about what they're doing with the Toshin, who is referred as Ogre.'
-'What is it?'-Jin asked.
-'I think Heihachi wants his powers and in order to inject Ogre's blood in him, he needs blood from someone who has the devil gene.'
-'So that's why he wants to kill me.'
-'He needs your blood, but that doesn't mean he wants to kill you.'-Ling said.
Jin and Julia looked at her as if they were punched in the face.
-'How can you still defend him?'-Jin asked.
Ling lowered her eyes and sat down on Julia's bed.
-'Jin…I was wondering…when do you think I should go search for my mother?'-Julia suddenly asked.
-'I don't know yet…the next two matches are very important. If I get to fight Heihachi, I might be able to hold him down for a couple of hours and you'll have time to go there and get your mother…'
-'But you can also fight against Ling or Hwoarang…'
It was in that moment that Ling realised how hard her next fight would be. Suddenly she felt like she had been hit by a hammer on her head.
-'I'm going to my room…I'm not feeling very well.'-she announced and left. On her way, she could only wonder who would be her next opponent.
