This will count as both this week's ep and next week's because this weekend I'll be going to Cincinati to watch the Bengals take on the Carolina Panthers. Last weekend I had a fun time at anime-con: there someone there dressed up as freakin' DOGGY CRUGER!

Consider this a prelude to Jin's "Battlizer," for anyone who knows that term. Enjoy!

--------

Tokyo, Japan

13th day since Astaroth's attack on Marunouchi

6:00 PM

The first aquarium in Japan was opened at Ueno Zoo in 1882 and there are now more than a hundred aquariums in the country. During the period, the facilities and capacity of aquariums have been enlarged and the purposes of display have been changing from just showcasing various fishes to presenting environments surrounding marine creatures.

The Epson Aqua Stadium opened in 2005 at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel on a prime piece of real estate located a mere two-minute walk from Shinagawa Station. As well as families, the complex is attracting couples and groups of adults keen to experience Tokyo's latest fun night out. The aquarium tanks at the ¥9.2 billion facility ($87 million) hold a total of 4,130 tons of water and are home to about 20,000 sea creatures of 300 different species. Besides the aquarium, Aqua Stadium boasts a variety of other facilities. There is also a concert hall, restaurant, café, and even an in indoor roller coaster. One of the central attractions is the circular dolphin pool, which has a diameter of 25 meters. Its 1,350 seats are laid out to encircle the pool completely, making the dolphin shows all the more exciting for the audience.

With so much to do, and conveniently located near the Bay area, it was the ideal place for just about anyone's idea of a romantic evening. In the case of two young people by the names of Ling Xiaoyu and Jin Kazama, it would seem that the sentiment was shared. After a long string of battles, Jin had felt that the Tekkenshu Sentai Shinkenger could use a well-deserved break after so many days of fighting it out with the mysterious enemies while simultaneously trying to dig up clues as to the enemy's true identity.

Asuka and Kenichi were on what the former claimed to be a date, while Hwoarang and Steve were off bar-hopping. Jin, however, wanted to be with Xiaoyu to do whatever she wanted to do. Xiaoyu was easily Jin's closest friend, and because of that, she had to endure most of the threats that Jin's many enemies issued. Perhaps the one that Jin dreaded the most was how Jean Sorel, the vice-president of G-Corporation and a certifiable madman, had sworn in the previous tournament that he would take Xiaoyu and slowly drain her vital fluids out of her body just to watch the Japanese youth squirm.

Xiao shouldn't have to suffer through all of this because of me, Jin thought to himself as he waited for Xiaoyu to get out of the bathroom. This is the least I can do to repay her for staying with me all this time, even though it probably isn't safe to be around me…

After a couple of minutes, a lithe Chinese woman dressed in a white t-shirt and yellow sleeveless jacket with matching sweat pants walked out of the bathroom, with her long back hair tied back in two pigtails. Once she spotted Jin, the woman came running towards him.

"Hey there, Jin," Xiaoyu returned the smile with a heart-warming one of her own as she slowed her run until she was standing in front of her friend. "Are you ready to get going? I want to go to see the sea lions!"

"Hm?" Jin's train of thought was broken as Xiaoyu's voice rang through his ears. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, Xiao. I guess I was just thinking…"

Suddenly, Jin felt two hands gently wrap around his muscular arm. Jin's face reddened slightly as Xiao gave his arm a tug and pulled him along. "We can talk about it during the show. Now come on! I don't want to miss a thing!"

-----

5:20 PM

While the sea lion pool's seating was dwarfed by that of the larger dolphin pool's seating with a ratio of 393 to 1350, it had a sellout crowd on almost every show. Even though sea lions were not as generally loved as dolphins, it was an interesting alternate and the charm of the water mammals was apparent to all to witness them.

Jin watched the show quietly as Xiaoyu cheered while the sea lions performed various stunts at the behest of their trainers. After Xiaoyu sat back down into her seat, she saw the distant look in Jin's face and finally steeled her nerves. "What's wrong, Jin?"

"…I'm just thinking about how far we've come, Xiaoyu," Jin replied without breaking his gaze on the sea lions in the center of the ring. "It's been almost two weeks since Astaroth first appeared, and we've had quite a few rough spots since we began chasing him across the city. First Hwoarang's friends were killed, then that artifact from the British Museum was almost stolen. Let's not forget the time where his lizard-people raided the airport on the day that the world leaders were arriving for the conference…"

"Oh yeah," Xiaoyu giggled as she reminisced. "That was when we first did our trademark poses. We all got a good laugh when Hwoarang-"

"Xiaoyu," Jin interrupted as he turned to face his friend, "are you bitter towards me?"

"What?" Xiaoyu's eyes widened in surprise and she straightened her body in astonishment upon hearing Jin's question. "Jin, what's gotten into you? What made you think that I'd be bitter towards you?"

"During the last King of Iron Fist Tournament, I purposely invited that maniac Sorel so I could beat my mother's whereabouts out of him. I thought he was nothing but an arrogant weakling who was nothing but talk…and I paid for my mistake with your pain. Because of my foolishness, I almost lost you forever…" Jin's voice trailed off while he lowered his head in shame.

"Jin, you shouldn't blame yourself," Xiaoyu ducked down slightly to follow Jin's gaze as she gave him words of comfort. "Lunatics enter the tournament all the time: if you weren't going to invite, he would've been in the tournament anyway by applying himself." The Japanese young man's head lifted as she said that. Xiaoyu smiled as she continued. "Jin, you know I could never hate you for something like that."

Jin smiled lightly and nodded his head. "Thank you, Xiao…I'm glad to hear that." Turning back around to watch the sea lion show, the couple remained silent for the remainder of the event. After the trainer thanked the crow and asked that they enjoy the rest of their time at the Epson Aqua Stadium, Jin broke the silence. "What do want to do next?"

Xiaoyu paused as she pondered where the two would venture next. After a few seconds, she gave her usual smile and got out of her seat. "Let's go on the roller coaster!"

-------------

8:00 PM

In the two hours that followed, Jin and Xiaoyu enjoyed the many sites of interests that the Epson Aqua Stadium had to offer. They went on the famed indoor roller coaster, attended the dolphin show, and jammed at a rock concert at the Epson's music hall. At seven o'clock they left the stadium to head for the Tokyo Bay area to conclude their day off: an hour cruise through the bay.

The Moderna was created as a sister ship of the original "Symphony" (currently Classica) in 1992. The Moderna, initially named the "Symphony 2", was reborn as the "Symphony Moderna" on April 1st, 1998. The Moderna's interior has the distinct atmosphere of a luxury liner and blends in perfectly with the Tokyo Bay scenery and provides an elegant and luxurious cruising experience.

Xiaoyu and Jin were standing on the top deck of the ship admiring the night sky, with the former leaning on the latter's shoulder as he stood over the railing. What a beautiful night, Jin thought while he shifted his gaze to the ocean. There hasn't been one call from anyone involving Astaroth, Lizard-men, or bizarre-looking monsters that know martial arts: it's almost too good to be true…

"Jin?" Xiaoyu removed her head from Jin's shoulder and looked up to his handsome face. "Thanks for spending all this time with me. I had a fun day today…"

"It's nothing, Xiao," Jin said as he turned around to meet her gaze. "Compared to everything you've done for me, this is but a trifling-"The Japanese young man stopped in mid-sentence while his cheeks reddened as he realized that Xiaoyu's face was gradually becoming closer to his. I see…so that's how it's going to be, Jin thought to himself as he admired Xiaoyu's intense beauty in the moonlight, I won't deny you this time, Xiao…you deserve better than that. Steeling his nerves, Jin slowly moved his face closer to Xiao's with the realization that this would be his first kiss…

"DOSOKOI," A loud bellowing voice spoiled the moment as Jin and Xiaoyu turned their heads in surprise while boat began to rock violently. Jin barely had enough time to get away from the railing as someone or something burst forth from the ocean beneath them like ash from a volcano and few past Xiaoyu and Jin to land in the middle of the deck with a loud thud that rocked the large boat.

The nine-foot-tall creature resembled a blue humpback whale, except his fins moved like human arms and had a thumb on each fin. Another unusual feature was that he had humanoid legs and feet, which were covered with red sandals. His midsection was clothed with a crimson mawashi with a design of a white skull on it, and his gaping mouth was lined with teeth. "I am Shamutori, the Sumo Whale," the bizarre sea creature said with a deep booming voice while stomping his foot in the ground. "I hereby challenge you to a fight to the bitter end!"

Whereas everyone else on the top deck panicked and retreated for the stairway that led to the lower levels, Jin and Xiaoyu instead ran up to the whale and confronted him. "You picked the wrong night to mess with us, weirdo," Xiaoyu pointed an accusing finger at Shamutori as she and Jin crackled with their ki while their morphers glowed in unison. In a flash of light, their ShinkenYellow and ShinkenRed suits formed on their bodies. Shamutori tried to attack them with a head butt while they transformed, but he was sent back with a pair of punches as their helmets materialized over their faces.

"On the contrary, ShinkenYellow," the sumo whale resumed proper footing as he got into a fighting stance, "I picked the perfect day to attack. Out here in the bay, your comrades cannot come to your aid! Perhaps if you had opted to go on land to conclude your evening, you might not in this predicament!"

"What predicament are you talking about?" Jin and Xiaoyu assumed a fighting stance as they and Shamutori slowly circled the deck, their gazes on each other remaining unbroken. "Are you saying that you're going to be the one to defeat us? There are two of us and only one of you, and some of the monsters we've faced were defeated one-on-one!" As Jin said that, Shamutori leaned down so that his blowhole was facing the two Shinkengers. Scalding steam erupted from the hole, causing the air around them to be veiled in a cloud of steam. Once he had felt that the steam was sufficient, Shamutori began to attack the blinded Shinkengers.

The Sumo Whale attacked Xiaoyu first, being she was the first to make a threat towards him, with a powerful ramming head butt that caused her to crumple over in pain. Once he did that, he picked her up by the neck with one hand and slammed her onto the deck. "You need more meet on your bones, girl," Shamutori commented as he prepared to crush Xiaoyu under the weight on his legs. "And in a moment, meat will all you'll be!"

Unfortunately for Shamutori, his voice was all Jin needed to pin-point his location through the steam. Jin pounded the whale in his large face with a powerful Omen Wind Hook Fist, but the whale did not move from his spot. Brushing off the blow as a person would if he were bitten by a fly, Shamutori turned away from Xiaoyu to confront Jin, who continued his assault with a flurry of punches and kicks that concluded with a low kick to the creature's shin. Shamutori felt the blow this time, and leaned down to grip his foot in pain. However, the opening he left wasn't big enough for Jin to add in yet another attack, and the whale countered by grabbing Jin and tossing him downwards.

Coming to her friend's aid by identifying where Jin had landed, Xiaoyu found her way through the steam to finally knock the behemoth whale off of his feet with a powerful one-handed thrust: her signature Storming Flower technique. The Chinese woman continued the assault with an aerial flurry of kick to the top of the whale's head, bouncing of Shamutori after the fifth head and causing him to take a few steps back. Xiaoyu saw that she did some sort of damage and let out a quiet cheer before attempting the maneuver again. This time, Shamutori grabbed the lithe girl from the air and began to swing her around until finally tossing her into Jin.

Shamutori's eyes widened in surprise as Jin caught Xiaoyu and gently placed her back on feet before the two attacked the sumo creature simultaneously. The whale swatted away a forward kick by Xiaoyu and then grabbed her to get her in a crushing bear hug. Before he could break the girl's back, Shamutori was forced to drop her at the behest of a roundhouse kick to the back of his massive head from Jin. The sumo whale countered the attack by shooting steam from his blowhole and blasting Jin into a table.

The whale turned his attention back to Xiaoyu and bombarded the girl with a wide array of hand slaps. However, this was not the kind of technique that Xiaoyu was used to seeing from a rikishi. The palm thrusts came at her like lightning, bombarding her body and soul like hammers. After a couple it seconds, the whale's hands were a nothing but a blur to the naked eye. "It is hopeless, little one," Shamutori resumed taunting Xiaoyu as he contined his assault, pushing her closer and closer to the railing on the deck. "Now I shall push you out of the dohyo!"

However, just as he was about send her over the edge, Xiaoyu grabbed Shamutori by his outstretched arm and twirled him around, causing him to land flat on his back. As Shamutori flapped around to regain his footing, Xiaoyu gracefully flipped back to Jin's side as the steam finally began to subside. When Shamutori finally lifted his massive body by using his tail to prop himself up, he noticed that his fog was gone. The Sumo Whale narrowly sidestepped Jin and Xiao's kicks and backed away to create more steam…

…but all that came out of his blowhole was weak sprinkle of cool water. Blinking his eyes in surprise, Shamutori tried again and grunted in exaggerated effort, but all that came out was a comical puff of steam. "It would appear that I have been out of the water too long," the sumo whale nodded his head in approval of his own theory while his two opponents continued to maintain their fighting stance. "However, I shall not retreat. There are alternative methods for recharging my steam!"

Running at the two Shinkengers with surprising speed for someone so large, Shamutori sent Jin flying backwards with a shoulder tackle and grabbed Xiaoyu before she knew what was going on. "Hey, what are you doing? Put me down," the Chinese girl protested as Shamutori held her over his head and tilting her upside down. As he did that, Shamutori's large mouth opened wide like a humpback whale feeding on planckton.

Then, once it had fully opened, Shamutori shoved Xiaoyu into his gaping mouth. Xiaoyu kicked wildly as she entered the whale's gullet, screaming Jin's name in hopes that he would rescue her. Her screams became gradually quieter and quieter, though, as she sank deeper and deeper into Shamutori while he tried to swallow her whole.

As Jin shook off the dizziness that Shamutori's ramming had given him, he quickly scrambled back onto his feet upon hearing Xiaoyu's screams. However, when he laid his eyes on Shamutori, it was too late: he only had time to watch Xiaoyu's boots sink into the whale and disappear from sight. "W…what have you done?"

"What does it look like I have done, ShinkenRed?" Shamutori replied arrogantly before letting out a loud belch. "I have just consumed your friend, of course!" The whale's underbelly glowed for a moment before a yellow "4" tattoo materialized on it. "And thanks to her sacrifice, I am once again fully charged!"

"…" Jin was silent as he realized the atrocity that Shamutori he had committed. Xiaoyu was his closest friend, and not two minutes ago she was going to become so much more. Now, all of that would come to a tragic end inside the digestive bowels of this creature. Jin carelessly let his guard down by allowing the Shinkenger a break, and paid the price with her untimely demise at the hands of their mysterious enemy. My cherubic Xiaoyu…gone? I refuse to accept that!

Suddenly, Jin's body began to radiate a dull red aura that burned off of him like liquid fire, and his breath became haggard. He emitted a low, canine-like growl from the bottom of his throat while he slowly approached Shamutori with his ki crackling across his body. The aura surrounding Jin intensified, and seemed to darken the lighting around him, exclusively blanketing him in an eerie darkness.

"Interesting," Shamutori stroked his huge chin in curiosity. "Your ki has risen greatly. However, it shall avail you not!" The sumo whale leaned down and once again fired off a blast of steam at Jin, attempting to blind him so that Shamutori would have the upper hand. However, as the burst of vapor came it Jin, it instantly dissipated and failed to stop Jin's slow advance. When Shamutori realized this, he stopped spraying…and saw that Jin's appearance had changed.

His platinum vest was now adorned with black spider-like markings with the jewel on his chest oozing a crimson liquid, his while gloves had become black with claw-like appendages growing from the fingers, and a glowing red dot had appeared on the silver trim just above his helmet's black visor. "You monster," Jin said just loud enough for Shamutori to hear. "I will never forgive you…"

Suddenly, Jin's speed fluxated while he went from a slow walk to a fun run, catching the whale off guard. In almost an instant, Jin was directly in front of Shamutori. "Shi-ne," The Japanese youth snarled while attacking the Sumo whale with a right cross to his stomach. "Shi-ne," he repeated while following up with a left straight to the chest. Finally concluding with a powerful right-handed uppercut that sent the creature into the air, Jin repeated his command once again with a powerful, piercing shout, "SHI-NE!"

Author's Note: "Die, die, DIE!"

With his opponent now off the ground, Jin juggled that gargantuan behemoth around with a blinding flurry of punches and kicks that defied any possible human speeds. After what must have been the twentieth hit in accordance from the number of times Shamutori grunted, Jin finished his barrage with a powerful standing roundhouse kick that left a dark red streak of ki in its wake. The Sumo Whale spiraled down to ground and dented the metallic floor of the top deck and he landed.

Shamutori slowly propped himself back up and barely had enough time to bump Jin away with his chest when the Japanese youth tried to continue his assault. The Sumo Whale watched as he landed on his feet and prepared to strike again. He instantly knew that there was something seriously wrong the instant he got a better look at his head: Jin's eyes were glowing red to such an extent that they shone through his visor. It would seem that he is no ordinary human, Shamutori thought as he charged at Jin with uncanny velocity by using his steam as propulsion. I shall end this now, before he inflicts serious harm!

Grabbing the feral youth, Shamutori rammed Jin into the railing of the top deck, which bent from the collision of such weight. His victim roared in pain and clawed at the whale's face to try and set himself free, but Shamutori endured the pain while crushing Jin with a powerful bear hug. Even with Jin's demonic rage fueling his strength, Shamutori's raw bulk still had an advantage. Little by little, Jin's flailing decreased and his snarling quieted as his vision began to blur…

…until the whale suddenly released Jin from his crushing embrace and gripped his stomach in pain. Shamutori groaned while his belly suddenly seemed to gurgle loudly. When the sumo whale noticed that there was a handprint popping out from his belly, he realized what was going on. "Are you still alive in there?" Shamutori said out loud. "Maybe I was too lenient in swallowing you whole! Be quiet and digest while I devour your friend!"

This did not escape the intention of Jin, however. Even though his vision and rational thought was being drowned in a sea of crimson, he could still see that his Xiaoyu was alive and well, but she wouldn't be if he did not make haste. The Japanese youth let out a primal howl and barest claws. "I think it is time..." Jin stated as he ran towards Shamutori and pounced upon the gargantuan creature, "…that you lost some weight!"

Jin cackled with sinister glee as he began to dig his claws into Shamutori's belly, tearing away at the whale's blubber. Shamutori roared in agony as he shot out sparks from where Jin was scratching at him. The sumo whale tried to defend himself by bashing Jin's head with a pair of hand slaps, but the Japanese youth would not be deterred by something as trifling as pain. The blubber and sparks contined to fly out of the creature's body, but Jin was making very little progress: it was as if the belly was regenerating itself.

Finally, Jin noticed the yellow "4" on the belly, and began to change his course of action. "You have something of mine, bloated one," Jin said with a cruel glare while his left hand began to glow bright red. "I believe it is far past time that you returned it!" Once his raised left hand was shining brighter than the moon, Jin plunged the hand into the tattoo and waited until it began to crackle against it. The Japanese youth jumped off Shamutori as the whale got back up and howled in pain. The whale heaved and shot out a ball of yellow light from his mouth, while seconds later took form and materialized into Xiaoyu, still in her ShinkenYellow suit: she was covered with mucus and was visibly shaken, but she was still breathing.

Now that his friend was out of the way, Jin ran back up to Shamutori and sent him spiraling high the air with a powerful standing uppercut. "You will not survive this," Jin shouted as both his hands and the newly-formed jewel on his head crackled with dark red ki. "It's time to die! SHINKEN FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE: TEKKENSHU INFERNO!" As he gave name to his technique, Jin's head and hands shot out three massive beams of ki that hit Shamutori in the air with explosive results. The Sumo Whale exploded in a ball of orange fire while raining down blubber and sparks into the sea.

As Jin watched his enemy perish, he suddenly began to feel his head spin while the markings on his vest and jewel on his helmet vanished as the ShinkenRed suit began to take on its original appearance. Once it had done that, the suit vanished completely in a flash of red light, revealing Jin's tired face. That bloodlust...it hasn't been that strong since I faced Sorel, Jin thought as he started to lose his balance. Whoever this new enemy is, he or she was able to draw out the devil within, but at least Xiaoyu is safe now. Hearing the sound of footsteps, Jin looked up and saw Xiaoyu running towards him with her helmet off but still covered with mucus. Xiaoyu…I don't what I would do without you…

"Jin!" Xiaoyu shouted out her friend's name as he passed out in her arms. Feeling in forehead, the Chinese girl realized that Jin had a fever. "Oh Jin," she whispered as she held him close as the boat finally pulled into the main dock. "Don't worry about a thing…I'll take care of you…"