Once upon a time, shortly before the first King of Iron Fist Tournament, I ran into a 24-year-old street fighter with a fetish for knives while sitting at a pub in Kyoto. He recognized me as a warrior, and asked me what my name was. I told him it was none of his concern, but this brash young man was persistent. After a minute or two, I told him that if he could last ten seconds with me in a fight, I would tell him my name.

He lasted three minutes.

As per our agreement, I told him my name, and then I decided to make another wager with him: if I became head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, he would have to join my personal guard. Most other fools would think that being able to topple Heihachi at that time was preposterous, but he responded with, "you might as well hire me now then." Thus, after I emerged victorious in the King of Iron Fist tournament, the street fighter became one of my most trusted aides, and he traded his knives in for swords. It was fitting, to say the least: he claimed that he could trace his ancestry back to the historic samurai Masamune Date.

The man's name was Takeshi Masamune, the last remaining member of my circle from the Zaibatsu that remained loyal to me even after my demise. After G-Corporation breathed life back into my charred body, the first man I called would be Masamune, and he told me that everyone else in my circle had either joined with Heihachi or had gone their separate ways. Seeing that he was the only one who knew of my revival, I told him to keep it a secret until my return to glory was at hand.

During that time, he married one Miki Namikawa, a voluptuous female street fighter who hailed from Tokyo, and she bore him a son…and this son's name was Kenichi Masamune. As luck would have it, Kenichi would find himself meddling in my affairs eighteen years after his birth as ShinkenSilver.

A sixth Shinkenger…even though I had a feeling that the first five Shinkengers wouldn't be the last, I was still surprised to hear that the only reason Kamikaze had been defeated was due to a shifting in power with young Kenichi's arrival. Now I had to deal with yet another costumed cretin. Before I did that however, I would have to gauge the power of ShinkenSilver so that I could update my battle strategy…

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The Shinkengers' trip to Kyoto had been, to say the least, quite productive. Jin's investigation of Geneset had yielded some interesting results: one of Geneset's major partners was G-Corporation, the genetics organization was not only responsible for the revival of his loathsome father, but his beloved mother as well(although in her case, she was stripped of nearly all her memories and turned into an emotionless doll.)

However, when the Jin inquired to the Geneset president about G-Corporation, he became uncomfortably silent. It was apparent that he either didn't know about G-Corporation's war with the Mishima Zaibatsu, or he was simply afraid to mention them. Fortunately for Jin, he was confronted by another employee on the way out who wasn't frightened of their partner's wrath. She told the youthful karateka that there was someone in Tokyo who could tell them what they wanted to know, provided that they do it in private.

Once the Shinkengers returned to Tokyo, along with their newfound ally Kenichi Masamune, Jin arranged for the anonymous informant to meet with the latest addition of their team. Out of all of them, Kenichi seemed to have the most level head: he should have had no problem getting the informant to tell him what they wanted.

Although he could have just as easily sent Xiaoyu, Kenichi thought to himself as he arrived at the door of the place where he would meet the informant. Then again, I doubt he would allow her to be in this part of town. Kenichi was wearing a gray tuxedo over a white knit shirt and a pair of gray dress pants: an appearance that fit this part of Tokyo, with the exception of the gold mouse-sized device with the two kanji "Tekken" written in silver that was strapped to his left wrist. Knocking on the door, Kenichi waited until a small slit in the middle of the door opened to reveal a pair of scowling eyes. The owner of the eyes asked a question in a rather unfriendly tone of voice, "What's the password, kid?"

"'JAKQ'," Kenichi answered. Immediately after he responded, the slit in the door closed and was followed by a few clicks. After a couple of seconds, the door opened to reveal a large, muscular man dressed in a tuxedo and a pair of shades. After giving the man a quick nod in thanks, Kenichi casually walked into the exclusive club known as "the Pit."

"The Pit" was a notorious dance club that was available only to the social elite. Even though the law had designated it as an illegal clubhouse, the many crime families of the Yakuza made sure the police never muscled their way into the club, lest their own families would be forfeit. When the dance stage was used as one of the locations for the previous King of Iron Fist Tournament three weeks prior, Jin had hoped to turn the questionable club into something much more legit.

However, as Kenichi looked around the dance floor, he saw that it was still a long way from "family-friendly." As he came in, he was confronted by an obviously drunk woman in a red dress whose breast size couldn't possibly be natural, asking him if he was looking for a "good time." What a disturbing place, the young man thought to himself as he shook the woman off. I'm glad that I didn't have any fights in this whore house…

"Hey, pretty boy!"

Kenichi slowly turned around and raised his eyebrow at the man in a red business suit getting up out of his seat and lifting up his bottle of alcohol. "What do you think you're doin', messing with my girl just now?"

"…you are mistaken," Kenichi replied with his usual calm demeanor as he turned back around to find his informant. Before he could continue on his way, though, the sound of shattering glass rang through his ears, followed by rapid footsteps approaching him fast. The youth turned around again to bend backwards slightly to avoid a forward stab with the red-suited man's jagged weapon. Grabbing the man's arm as it whizzed passed him, Kenichi tossed his attacker over his shoulder and then punched him in his chest with a downwards blow. The man dropped the weapon and gripped his chest in pain. "A word of advice, sir," Kenichi bowed slightly before stepping onto the dance floor to cross over to the other side of the club, "do not run with sharp objects."

However, the attacker was not about to let Kenichi off the hook so easily. After the youth let him get back up, he put his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. Suddenly, the dance music that was playing in the club stopped and everyone cleared the stage while numerous Japanese men walked onto it brandishing metallic knuckles. "So you think you can be a wise guy, eh kid?" The man in the red tuxedo chuckled a bit as Kenichi looked around the dance floor. "Maybe you won't be so tough after my friends mess up your pretty face!"

Kenichi shook his head a little bit after counting the number of men approaching him. Five against one, he thought to himself as he got his arms into an "x" formation before assuming his fighting stance. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. Battles like these are what my martial art excels at…

However, before he could engage in combat, one of the men held up his hand and told his comrades to lower their weapons. "Hey boss," the man walked past Kenichi and to the man in the red tuxedo. "I don't mean to make waves, but I know that fighting stance anywhere. That's the Namikawa-ryu stance, and we respect it here in 'the Pit.'" After he said that, his younger comrades put away their weapons and went back to whatever it was they were doing.

…what was that all about? Kenichi asked himself as he continued on his way through the stage to reach the other side of the club. Has my appearance in the previous tournament made that much of a mark? Looking around the club, he spotted something walking towards him: he was a muscular African-American man with a black goatee and mohawk with dreadlocks coming from the back of his head. He was wearing a lavender muscle shirt with a bull head on the back, and a pair of black jeans. That's Bruce Irvin, the Muay Thai guy from the tournament, Kenichi thought to himself as he stayed where he was and resumed his fighting stance, what does he want?

"Easy, kid: I'm not here to fight you," Bruce held up his hand and stretched it towards Kenichi. "I'm Bruce Irvin: I'm the anonymous informant."

"…not so anonymous anymore, I see; my name is Kenichi Masamune," Kenichi shook the man's hand and walked over to a table. "Pardon my rudeness, but I do not wish to be here any longer than I have to be. However, I am curious as to how you would know about G-Corporation."

"Heh…I see there's no beating around the bush with you is there?" Bruce chuckled as he took a seat at the table Kenichi had just sat down at. "You probably don't know this, but I used to be a mercenary: I may be out of the field now, but I always keep in the loop about job offers in case I need something to keep me occupied. It seems that G-Corporation has their eyes on hiring some muscle for the coming war with the Mishima Zaibatsu…and with these new power players that have been roaming around the city."

"'New power players?'" Kenichi repeated with curiosity. "Are you referring to the Shinkenger?"

"Nah, I'm talking about those guys in rubber suits who follow around that ax-wielding maniac who trashed the Marunouchi building: they seem to have it out for G-Corporation by taking out their subsidiaries. In fact, most of the people who were attacked at the airport raid either worked for or had strong ties with G-Corp."

'Guys in rubber suits'…he must be talking about those monsters that Asuka told me about, like that ninja in Kyoto, Kenichi rubbed his chin as he pondered what Bruce had said, so our enemy is also G-Corporation's enemy? I have no love for Sorel's little organization either, but who else would want G-Corporation gone aside from the Zaibatsu and Yoshi-sensei? "...thank you very much, Irwin-san," Kenichi bowed his head in thanks as he prepared to get out of his seat. "I'll be sure to tell Jin what you've told me."

"Before you go, son, I've got a question for you," Bruce stopped Kenichi by grabbing his hand before he could get out of his seat. The Japanese youth stayed where he was as Bruce let go of his hand and asked, "Is your sensei by any chance Miki Namikawa? That's pretty much the only person I could think of who has that fighting stance…"

"…as a matter of fact, she happens to be my mom. How is it that you know of her?"

"Ah, so Takeshi tied the knot with her, after all," Bruce nodded his head a little bit as he answered Kenichi's question, "I used to work with your father: we used to come here all the time back when this place was a fight club. Your mom used to frequent this place, too…"

Kenichi turned around and looked at the woman across the club who made a pass on him earlier. My mother used to be part of this crowd? What sort of family do I come from, anyway?

Bruce let out a loud, hearty laugh as he saw the look in Kenichi's face after his question was answered. "Don't worry, kid, she didn't do THAT kind of work around here: she was a fighter herself, and a damned good one at that. Your dad took a real liking to her…didn't expect him to get the nerves to pop the question to her, though…"

"Hmph…so my father met my mother in a night club," Kenichi shook his head in disgust as the revelation struck him. "How very unromantic…"

Bruce paused for a moment, and then continued speaking even though he knew Kenichi had heard enough. "Listen kid, here's a piece of advice: you can't let the sins of the father get to you. You're your own man, and nothing can take that away."

"…that seems a little out of the blue," Kenichi raised an eyebrow after listening to Bruce give a seemingly random (but eerily appropriate) piece of advice. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You just have that look in your eye, plus I heard about your scuffle with Raven in the last tournament." Bruce reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, which he used to light up the cigarette in his hand. "Your dad was a good man who was with the wrong crowd, that's all. We all make bad decisions in life, and sometimes they can get us killed. Is that really worth hating someone over?"

"…he was part of a major weapons trafficking ring: I do believe that's good enough reason to be resentful," the Japanese youth retorted with a hint of guilt as lowered his head slightly. Even though his father was the only one in his family at fault, the shame that his family received the week of his death would never be truly erased. "Don't worry about me though: one day, I'll find it in my heart to forgive him…"

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Ugh, I'm finally out of that horrible place, Kenichi thought to himself as he gratefully left the uncomfortable club known as "the Pit." He rarely wore his tuxedo, but when he did, he treated it as if it were priceless silk. Thanks to the "activities" that were rampant within the club, his clothes had acquired an unpleasant odor that Kenichi could only describe as "sexually explicit." Asuka-chan is going to kill me…

At the very least though, I had an interesting conversation with Irvin-san, the Japanese bishonen put his hands in his pockets as he began walking towards where the car that Jin loaned him was parked. Yoshi-sensei has been telling me the exact same thing that Irvin-san told me: maybe after all of this has blown over, I can bring flowers to my father's grave like I was supposed to while I was in Kyoto two days ago-hm?

Kenichi stopped walking as he suddenly felt like he was being followed. The young man closed his eyes and listened carefully to his surroundings with the hopes of pinpointing where his stalker was. After a few seconds, Kenichi heard a soft whistling coming from the air. However, the whistling grew increasing louder, and the tone of the whistling became proportionately lower. After another second, the boy realized that something was plummeting down towards him. He barely had enough time to jump away from the object that fell from the sky and landed where Kenichi was originally standing with a loud slam. What on Earth is THAT thing?

"Ah've been wonderin' when you'd get out that whorehouse, pilgrim," a voice called to the boy through the large dust cloud that was created when the object fell. When the dust settled, Kenichi saw that what fell from the sky was not just any object: it was alive. The creature's body was dark gray in color and over seven feet in height, with such a ridiculously muscular build that it put even Jin's to shame. His underarms were lined with features, making it seem like that his arms were actually wings, with the exception of his large humanoid pink hands. Even more peculiar about the creature was that he was wearing nothing but a black thong with a giant golden "V" written on it. His feet were clawed blue talons, and his head was pink and resembled that of a vulture. "Ah'm Scrapnel, the Vale Tudo Vulture, and mah boss has told me to kill ya!"

What an interesting creature: he looks a little bit like a sports mascot. He's nothing like Kamikaze-san, Kenichi mused to himself as he bowed his head politely before assuming a fighting stance. "I'm assuming that you work for the enemy. Very well…I accept your challenge." Kenichi's morpher crackled with power while his dark red ki swirled across his body, which soon began to lose its pigment until it became pure white light. The light consumed his body as Scrapnel assumed his own fighting stance while watching Kenichi in amusement, and when the light faded, his winged ShinkenSilver suit had formed across his body. Once his helmet had finished materialized over his head, Kenichi outstretched his hand and motioned Scrapnel towards him. "Ikuzo, hagetaka."

Author's note: "Let's go, vulture."

"Here ah come, pilgrim," Scrapnel jumped up and down and flapped his wings before making a violent dash towards Kenichi with such speed that the Japanese youth didn't have time to avoid getting tackled by the gargantuan fowl. Scrapnel mounted the boy and began to punch him in the face with wide-arced blows. After the fourth blow crashed down upon his abdomen, Kenichi struggled free and scrambled away to catch his breath.

Kenichi quickly resumed his fighting stance as Scrapnel got back onto his talons and ran towards him again. No longer surprised by the vulture's speed, Kenichi jumped over Scrapnel as if they were children playing leapfrog. Taking advantage of Scrapnel's surprise, Kenichi struck the fowl in the temple with a powerful horizontal hand chop, his ki streaking across his hand as he made contact. The vulture squawked as he backed away and rubbed where he had been hit. "You little varmint," he yelled as he shook his fist at the boy. "I'll git you for that!"

Scrapnel began to make a gurgling sound while his neck began to inflate and deflate up and down. Kenichi raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet as he tilted his head in curiosity. What in the world is doing? I've only hit him once so far, so I doubt he's tiring already, Kenichi thought as his opponent clutched his stomach. Suddenly, the vulture's breathing became loud wheezes, and Kenichi realized what he was doing. Wait a second: when vultures want to mark their terrority, they do so by-

"BLECCCCCH!"

After one last heave, Scrapnel vomited from his beak a disgusting light-gray colored substance that soaked Kenichi's suit. The young man groaned as he inspected the vomit and tried to shake if off his hands while spraying sprinkles of the substance to his surroundings as he did so. "That is disgusting," Kenichi commented as Scrapnel cleared his throat and resumed his fighting stance. "How would you like it if I vomited on you?" Kenichi was about to step out of the puddle when he noticed that his feet seemed stuck, almost as if it was glued to the ground. Using all of his mighty strength, Kenichi pried his left foot off the ground and took a step, only for that foot to be stuck once again.

"My boss told me about yer speed boost, pilgrim," Scrapnel ran up to Kenichi and sent the boy flying with a powerful headbutt, "so before we got this party in full swing, ah decided to slow ya down enough for me to keep up!" Running after the boy, the vulture grabbed Kenichi in mid-air and began to spin him around wildly. After the fifth revolution, the Japanese youth was tossed into a nearby mailbox.

Kenichi landed on his back and grunted in pain while he struggled to get back up. Unfortunately, Scrapnel's vomit was proving far more adhesive than he had hoped. He couldn't even regain his footing properly as he pried himself off the ground and stood back up. The young man saw the vulture coming, and reared back his fist in preparation for a counterattack. Once Scrapnel was in range, Kenichi sent the fowl sprawling backwards with a forward punch. That was just a lucky shot, Kenichi thought worriedly. I doubt he'll fall for it again. I need to get free somehow…

To Kenichi's dismay, Scrapnel righted himself in midair by flapping his wings and landed gracefully. Once he had regained proper footing, Scrapnel granted Kenichi's wish and yanked him free from his vomit, and then slammed him back on the ground with a devastating one-handed power bomb. Kenichi tried to roll out of the way, but the puddle of vomit under him kept him lying on his back. "The boss told me you'd be better than this boy," Scrapnel taunted as he stomped on Kenichi's chest with his talons before going down and flinging him high in the air. "Give me some kind of ruckus!"

As if to answer Scrapnel's challenge, Kenichi righted himself in midair using the power of his wings, and then swooped down to crash into the vulture's chest with a powerful diving kick. With his foot now stuck on Scrapnel, Kenichi landed with his leg outstretched and then pulled it back as hard as he could, with the vomit stretching like a rubber band as Scrapnel tried to pull himself loose. Finally, elasticity got the best of the vulture and he went running right into the heel of Kenichi's boot like he was a yo-yo coming back to the finger of his owner. Not wanting to fall victim to that tactic a second time, Scrapnel used his beak to bite off the long thread of mucus connecting his chest to Kenichi's foot, inadvertently freeing the boy's foot from its adhesiveness.

"Now that was both disgusting and uncalled for, boy," The vulture jumped up and down in rage as it began running to the boy whose other foot was still glued to the ground. However, one foot was all Kenichi needed. Waiting for Scrapnel to come into range, Kenichi bombarded Scrapnel with a quintet of left-handed punches, and concluded by sending the vulture spiraling away with a high-striking roundhouse kick with his free right leg.

The Vale Tudo vulture once again righted himself in midair with the aid of his gray wings, and ran back to hit Kenichi with a devastating elbow to the face. Once he did that, Scrapnel reared back his fist white raising his knee, and then lunged forward with lifted talon shooting backwards like a horse and his fist pounding Kenichi's abdomen so hard that the boy lost his balance and fell on his back, freeing his other foot from the adhesive…

…and this was just what Kenichi had been waiting for. Now free from the sticky vomit that was gluing his feet to the ground, Kenichi flipped back onto his feet and kicked Scrapnel away with a high leg thrust that sent the monster screeching across the ground. Not giving him a chance to recover, Kenichi used his impressive leaping ability to pounce on Scrapnel and hit him in the stomach with a flying hand chop. Scrapnel rolled away and clutched his chest where had been stuck, only to have his hand get stuck to his chest as it was still covered in his own vomit. "Well, I be molested in a schoolyard," The vulture chuckled to himself as he ripped his arm off the smear of vomit. "You outsmarted me, pilgrim. But that don't mean I'm gonna let you live!"

Suddenly, Kenichi reached behind him and pulled out his flame-shaped katana from the sheath across his back. "My apologies, hagetaka," he said solemnly as he got his sword into a ready position. "If I let you live, you will certainly attack my friends, and I cannot allow harm to come to them." Kenichi lowered his head slightly as he slowly walked towards the vulture. "I'm sorry…but I have to strike down: forgive me, worthy opponent."

"HAHAH!" the vulture let out a laugh as a spiked purple club materialized in his hand with a puff of smoke. "I wanna see you try, pilgrim!" Pouding his chest once (but making sure he didn't touch the part covered with his vomit), Scrapnel brandished his weapon and ran towards Kenichi wildly. As he did so, Kenichi rotated his katana slowly rotated his sword clockwise, which glowed a bright green once he completed the revolution. His wings proceeded to glow a bright blue, and then Kenichi suddenly burst forth with a rush of speed as he dashed towards Scrapnel with his wings accelerating him. The two fighters passed each other, with their weapons hitting their opponent in the abdomen with a spray of sparks.

The two combatants screeched to a halt and seemed to stand frozen in time for a few seconds. Then, Kenichi put away his sword and gripped where he had been struck with one hand while putting his other hand's index and middle fingers together and holding it in front of his face and saying, "Arukyo…tai san!"

Small explosions of sparks riddled the vulture's body as he squawked in pain and agony. "Dagnamnit," Scrapnel said he dropped his club while sparks spewed forth from his abdomen. "I can't believe my feathers were plucked by a kid!" Falling flat upon his face after releasing one final deathcry, Scrapnel exploded in a fiery plume of smoke…leaving only a small metal object that hit Kenichi as he perished.

Kenichi turned around and looked down to see the object. Warily picking it up, Kenichi inspected the object carefully. What is this…looks like some kind of speaker…

"Hmph…I didn't expect him to defeat you, and he didn't really surprise me."

Kenichi jumped slightly upon hearing the coin-sized device utter words. Once he realized that what he was holding in his hand was a miniature radio, Kenichi pressed a small button on it and said, "Who are you?"

"…I am the one who created the creature have just defeated, of course," the voice said with its voice garbled by what Kenichi guessed to be a sound distortion device. "It's remarkable just how much of your father you have in you…"

"My…father…" Kenichi repeated the words in bewilderment. Apparently, their enemy had ties with his father. Just how many of my father's friends were fiends? "What would you know about my father?"

"I knew that he was someone who would strike someone down with no remorse if he felt they would be a threat to him or his allies later on," the voice laughed with an eerie distorted chortle before continuing. "You are just like him, Masamune…and I look forward to seeing how you and your friends will progress in the near future…" After a couple of seconds of silence, the radio fizzled out with a spark and died.

Kenichi was silent for a few seconds after the radio short-circuited, and then used his wings to take flight and start heading home. …you are wrong, the boy thought to the mysterious voice's words. I am nothing like my father…because I am my own man…and nothing, not even being related by blood, can change that!