Hey guys, I just wanted to say again Thank You so much. Your love and support has truly inspired me to continue. Now don't worry. I know what you're thinking. But I can assure you I ain't one of them ungrateful pricks who strikes gold with their story and then abandons it completely just when it was getting interesting. I've read one too many fics that were so damn good and haven't been updated in years. The only excuse you should have for not updating should be that you're literally dead. lol. I'm dead inside, but that doesn't mean I'm quitting. I will never quit. Every single fic on my page will be completed in due time. A hiatus should only be necessary if you intend to finish it. Be that as it may, know that if I haven't updated any of my fics in a full year. I'm most likely dead. So yes. As I've probably mentioned before, I have no consistent schedule, so updates will be on random days.
Anyway, enough of this.
Footrot Flats:
I guess we will ;) Btw I checked out your Eye of the Tiger fic. Really interesting stuff.
Ke-Pa: Personally I'm not much of a comic book/MCU fan, but I'm sure Tigress would probably like Batman.
Guest: I plan to continue this story until it's finished. Mark my words.
Starless Echoes: Thank you. Your comment was well written. Might have to check out some of your fics later. Btw when searching for new fanfics to read, in my experience the more well written ones are usually M rated. :)
zykwuanmartin: Haha yeah, didn't notice that before.
HanMan99: Thank you very much.
On with the next chapter!
CHAPTER IV: The Matrix
Tigress was sitting on the living room couch. It's material felt rather weird to her, yet oddly comfortable. Ryan had said it's a leather couch. When Tigress asked what leather was, he simply said:
"I dunno."
He was lying of course, but Tigress couldn't tell.
Ryan was fiddling around with the cords. Plugging in the 60 inch Panasonic with built-in home theater speakers. He plugged in his Blu-Ray/DVD player and popped in the disc. He took the remotes for the TV and Player and took a seat next to Tigress. A part of him still couldn't believe he was about to show a Chinese Kung Fu fighting anthro tiger one of his many favorite films.
The player made a few mechanical whirring noises as the disc began to spin inside it. Then.
Clouds. A piano tune. And finally the WB Shield appeared on screen.
"What is that?" Tigress asked.
"That's the company that owns this film. Warner Brothers. Or WB for short."
"I thought you owned this so called movie?"
"Heh, well no. I bought a copy of it, so I can watch it at home."
"I don't get it."
"It's called copyright. To be honest, I don't get it either, but I'll explain what I know later."
"Okay then…"
For Tigress, this world will definitely take some getting used to.
Then green code rained down on the Television screen.
Then flashes of various scenes from the film began flooding Tigress' field of vision as her eyes were glued to the screen. Her jaw slightly opened.
Then a voice came out of the TV.
The voice of Morpheus.
"Welcome...to the real world."
"The Matrix" logo appears on the middle right of the screen along with green text.
SCENE SELECTIONS
SPECIAL FEATURES
LANGUAGES
PLAY MOVIE
And a montage of one to three second long clips from the movie played alongside swelling music and acapella choir choruses.
Ryan stares at Tigress, who still hasn't taken her eyes off the screen. He examines every reaction. Her facial expressions and reaction to what's being shown on screen is as fascinating to Ryan as this experience is to Tigress.
The Main Menu screen has been on it's 7th loop already and Tigress is still awe-struck by everything she sees.
Ryan decides to push enter on his remote as he was getting impatient.
The screen goes black for two seconds then the film fades in with a green WB Logo and music.
The movie is begining.
Green code rains down.
The Matrix
"Now, watch carefully and pay attention to what goes on. If you have any questions, I recommend you save them until afterwards." Ryan whispered to Tigress as the first line of dialogue was spoken.
The entire movie was amazing for Tigress. She had never seen anything like it. Her fascination mostly came from the idea that in the world of The Matrix, one could master Kung Fu in a manner of seconds. That and the other fighting styles that she had never even heard of. Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Karate, Drunken Boxing, it fascinated her immensely.
The film was how Po would've described it:
Awesome.
But what fascinated her the most was Trinity.
She couldn't help but feel a striking similarity between herself and that character. And of course the similarities between Po and Neo.
She even felt a small similarity between Master Shifu and Master Oogway with the character of Morpheus.
After the film Tigress definitely had many questions. Ryan had to explain a lot of things to her about modern human ingenuity, copyright, the film industry, how cameras work, inventions like the automobile, mobile phones, helicopters, planes, and of course the guns. The lots of guns. And Ryan knew his firearms.
When explaining the brutal simplicity of a pistol, Tigress practically froze up. It reminded her of Shen's weapon. A machine that breathes fire and spits metal, except much more compact and lightweight. In the wrong hands, this weapon could spell chaos. She thanked her ancestors that none existed back home.
Then it got horrific for her when he began to explain Shotguns and Rifles. Especially the Semi-Automatic Rifles. The thought of a madman like Shen with an army of rifle armed wolves was a dark thought indeed. It sparked a question from her.
"Why would one need such a weapon?"
"Well, not everyone here is a master at fighting. So it's much more easier to use a gun. There's a lot of people in this world who own one. And there's a lot of bad people out there. Hell, 200 years ago, everyone used to have one."
"Owning a weapon for your protection is one thing, but using it? Why would you need to kill someone?"
Ryan felt a bit taken aback about that. Has she never had to kill anyone? Probably so, considering her world is a PG rated children's cartoon.
"Sometimes...you just don't have a choice."
That statement only infuriated Tigress.
"Ridiculous! You always have a choice!"
That statement only infuriated Ryan.
"Oh really? Then let me give you a scenario for you Master Tigress!"
Ryan was visibly angry. A little voice in his head told him to shut the fuck up, but what Tigress said felt personal, and he couldn't help himself.
"Say some bastard has someone you love and he has a gun pointed at her. What the fuck would you do then? Hmmmm?"
"I wou-"
"Or what if it was your child? Would you not kill to protect the one's you love?"
"I wouldn't need to!"
"WELL I DID!"
Tigress stood up from her seat and stared at Ryan.
"What do you mean...you did?"
Ryan's eyes go wide as he realized his slip up.
"I mean...uh...I…"
Tigress lifts her finger up in the air giving the motion for Ryan to shut up.
"Choose your next words carefully human. Your well being depends on it."
Ryan looked up at her... he's tried so hard to repress his bad memories, now he has to explain himself to a tiger woman…
He sighed…
"A few years ago...I had a girlfriend...her name was…"
Ryan holds back the salty discharge that threatened to escape his eyes.
"Her name was Sylvia...she was...very beautiful. One day...I had planned to marry her. I had a wedding planned out and everything. It was going to be a surprise...but then…"
TWO YEARS AGO
"Sylvia...I love you and I know you love me...so... let's make it official."
Ryan goes to one knee and pulls out a beautiful green emerald encrusted ring. A look of shock and surprise goes to Sylvia Takamoto's beautiful angel face.
"Ryan...I…"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"I...should probably get that first."
A slight look of disappointment befelled Ryan's face. Had he just been silently rejected? No. Perhaps she just needs to think it over. Sylvia then walks over to the front door as Ryan gets back up to his two feet.
"Who is it?" Sylvia asked.
"Maintenance."
She opens the door and it is violently kicked open throwing Sylvia off balance. She's then grabbed by a big guy wearing a black ski mask. Another man wearing a white ski mask also enters. Both men are armed with Glock 19's.
Sylvia is then put in a chokehold by her captor.
Ryan looks on in horror and runs to her only to have a pistol aimed at the front of his face by the assailant in the white ski mask. The black ski mask then aims his at Sylvia's ribs.
"Chill mothafucka chill...We ain't gonna hurt her. But a pretty lil' bitch like that is bound to own a lot of pretty pearls n' shit. And a lotta pretty pearls means a lotta pretty paper. So you just give us all your fuckin' money and we'll be on our way."
No.
Not a chance in hell.
"Did you just call my woman a bitch?"
"Yea I did and I'll call her a bitch again. Now gimmie your fuckin' shit now!"
As White pressed the barrel of the gun harder on Ryan's forehead, he looked at Sylvia. He gave her a reassuring look. As if to say:
"Do you trust me?"
Sylvia gave a reluctantly accepting look as if to say:
"You're crazy...but I trust you."
If you blinked you would have missed it.
Ryan grabbed a hold of the top of White's Glock, pulling back the top and placing his pinky finger in between the hammer. Jamming the gun. Ryan then quickly whipped out his 9mm from the back of his pants and fired at the thief's midsection. All hell broke loose after that. Ryan was gonna find out if that military firearm training would finally pay off. Black Ski Mask immediately returned fire after throwing Sylvia to the ground.
Ryan used White as a literal human shield as he fired back at Black. Not a single shot from Black hit Ryan, it only tore through White's back instead. During the shootout, a 9mm round eventually landed a direct it in Black's neck causing him to drop the gun. As the Glock hit the floor, it discharges it's last round.
And as Black hit the floor, he discharges his last breath.
Ryan then dropped a deceased White and immediately ran towards Sylvia...who was... clutching her side.
"Oh God, SYLVIA!"
Her breathing was faint... because as soon as the shootout began, Black had already emptied a round in her before throwing her to the floor. The bullet hit her in the lung. Ryan didn't notice til now.
The tears flowed through his eyes as he began to sob. Sylvia looked up at Ryan, who was on top of her, desperately trying to stop her bleeding.
"Sylvia... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry…"
Sylvia placed her hand on his cheek which caught his attention.
She could barely talk, but only two words could escape her lips…
"...I...do…"
Her hand then falls to the floor and she goes silent…
"Sylvia?...Shit! Sylvia!... Sylvia wake up!...No...no no no no nononononono no no NO! SYLVIA PLEASE DON'T! PLEASE…."
The crying was uncontrollable now…
She was gone….
Forever….
PRESENT DAY
"Is that a good enough story for you, Tigress?" Ryan said with a venom in his words.
Tigress saw that his eyes no longer held back his stream of tears.
"Ryan...I... I'm sorry…"
Ryan doesn't know what surprised him the most. The fact that Tigress finally called him by his name or the fact that she said she was sorry.
"What?..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Please forgive me."
…
…
…
Ryan then got up from his seat and immediately pulled Tigress into a tight hug.
"I forgive you."
Tigress' eyes went wide. She didn't expect this. She also didn't know what to do. She looked around to see if anyone else was watching, which was a little silly considering she knew no one else was there. But still, even though it was just those two, she was still embarrassed. She eventually brought her arms up and wrapped around him in a kinda tight hug.
They both eventually stopped and Ryan then wiped off his tears.
"Heh...so...uh...what do you wanna do?"
"You're asking me?"
"Yep, What would you like to do next?"
Tigress thought hard...what could she do?...She couldn't train, the apartment wasn't as spacious as the Jade Palace's training hall. Inside she couldn't train...but...she wondered…
"I…"
Before Tigress could finish her sentence. There was a knock on the door.
And just like that, Ryan's face went pale.
AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Plenty more to come.
Special thanks to Footrot Flats, Ke-Pa, Starless Echoes, and that one guest who always comments on every OCxTigress fic with "Please let there be a happy ending where they get married and have children." Your comments and your love mean a lot to me.
Currently working on Chapter V, and I suspect you'll all love it.