Wow, I didn't take so long to update this time! Or at least I don't think so…which is good. But I have another announcement to make. The beautiful but elusive idea of internet at my house is gone. Looking around, I realized that the place lacks the proper plug-in's for it…meaning that construction would have to be done, or something like that. Not to mention, we're about to move…again, for the umpteenth time since we've lived in New Orleans! You'd think we were in the army or something! So, with a heavy heart, it hurts me to inform you that I'm really going to have to cut this story short. Like, in the next two chapters will be the ending. So sorry guys…but read this chapter, maybe it will help to brighten your spirits…though it didn't for mine.


Dinner and a Mishima

(partially!)

Around seven that evening, Hwoarang left his room again. He strolled the streets, making sure to wear a cap over his head to hide the hair that seemed to upset everyone. He had started in the direction of the Best Buy, but thought better of it…no sense risking the old guy and his wrath.

He chose a location about a block from the store, heading toward the more outskirtish part of the village. It seemed a likely area that Jin would live in, so he posted himself against a wall and waited. Ten minutes later, a figure walked toward him at a leisurely pace. Hwoarang didn't even wait to see who it was. He reached out a hand, grabbed the guy by the shirt, and spun him around, slamming his back to the wall.

"Hey, dude, I just want to get this prune juice to my grandma!" The guy shouted, throwing his hands up in front of his face. Hwoarang froze.

"Say what? Prune juice? Ugh!" He released the man and took a step back. "Um, damn, I'm sorry about that…thought you were someone else…" He looked away with a shamed expression on his face. The other guy didn't notice it for he had run off down the street at breakneck speeds, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Damn, about scared the guy shitless!

He had turned to lean against the wall again, when he saw out the corner of his eye the unmistakable peaked hair of Jin. The youth was talking on a cell phone and seemed worried about something.

"Xiayou, just give Panda the ice cream, you can always buy some more! Okay, well then if she's lactose intolerant, give her some sherbet instead, it's still a frozen treat. Oh, she won't take any substitutes? She sounds a little hormonal, sure she's not in heat?" Hwoarang's face crumpled in disgust at hearing that. Stepping away from his place, he stood in front of Jin, blocking his way.

"We need to have that rematch," he growled in his ear. Jin held a finger to his lips for him to be quiet. "What Xiayou? Did you tell her there's no such thing as bamboo flavored ice cream? Um…try just putting some bamboo leaves in the ice cream, that'll do it. Alright, call me back if you have any more questions." He flipped the phone shut and turned to Hwoarang. "Now, what where you saying?"

"I said that we need to have that rematch," Hwoarang stated again, but Jin had walked on, as though not interested.

"Uh, yeah, I know, I know," Jin said over his shoulder. "But can I eat real quick first? I'm starved; you kinda interrupted my lunch break at work you know." Hwoarang stood there dumbfounded. They were about to engage in an epic battle and this nimrod wanted to eat?! He followed after him.

Jin didn't seem to mind that he had led his enemy straight to his house. It was a small cottage, comfortable for one person, two at most. As he unlocked the door, something small and yellow rushed past and out the door. Jin seemed unfazed by it, but Hwoarang about had a heart attack.

"What the hell was that?!" he yelled. Jin gave him a nonchalant shrug.

"Gon. After the third tournament, the poor guy had lost his home due to deforestation. He had tagged along with Julia for a while, waiting for her to come up with a rejuvenation process to bring the forests back, but his flatulence was screwing up her concentration. She was about to put him out on the interstate when I stepped in and saved him. So, he's been living with me for the past two years."

Hwoarang blinked. "You mean you actually took that thing with you when you traveled? Didn't anyone wonder what the hell a dinosaur was doing alive?! He's a miniature T-Rex, for God's sake! He had to have raised more than a few questions!"

Jin shrugged again and headed into the kitchen. He flipped on a light and rummaged round in the freezer. "Not really. Seems the world is having its fair share of supernatural beings and experiences. Like when Ogre had sucked the life force out of the martial arts masters—oh, sorry…" He glanced at Hwoarang to see that he had tightened his jaw, a stony expression setting on his face.

Jin busied himself with the freezer again. "So, uh, hungry? I got some ribs and Salisbury steak. Take your pick." The Korean came a little closer to peer inside. The freezer was stacked from top to bottom with frozen dinners. TV entrée's in various colored boxes made an impentatrable wall that seemed almost intimidating.

"Jin, tell me this isn't all you have. Tell me you at least have taken some initiative to buy real food." But when he pulled open the fridge, the same sight greeted him. He gasped in horror.

"Where the fuck is all your food?!" He grabbed a box of the ribs and examined the picture on the front. "You call this ribs?! It's made from…" he peered closer at it, then gave an outright scream.

"IMITATION MEAT! THIS SHIT AIN'T EVEN COME FROM A REAL ANIMAL!! YOU'RE EATING PROCESSED PLASTIC FOR ALL YOU KNOW!!" He threw the package so hard across the room, it made a dent in his oven and stayed there.

Jin still looked as calm as ever. "I've been eating it for two years now, and I'm perfectly fine. Besides, I'm no longer made of money and food isn't cheap." He went over to the stove and pulled the ribs from the dent. Then he opened the oven door and gave a hard bang on its back, popping the dent out again.

Unwrapping the food, he put it in the microwave. "Set it and forget it," he muttered to himself, remembering the phrase from an infomercial advertising some cooking device. He turned back around to see that Hwoarang had left the room.

He found him in his living room, head leaning against a window. "I couldn't stay in there, man. All that fake food and stuff...imitation meat…" He shuddered at the thought of it. Jin nodded. "It's not as bad as you think," he told him. "But anyways, want a tour of the place?" The redhead thought about it, then simply agreed. There would be plenty of time to fight later, now that he knew where he lived.

Jin showed him around the room they were in first. "This is my father before he went totally berserk in the whole kill your own family way." He pointed to a picture of a very young Kazuya, perhaps no older than nineteen. Except for the hardened look on his face, they looked almost the same. Also there was the issue of—

"What's up with the winged eyebrows?" Hwoarang goffed. "Looks like the guy is about to do an up-and-away just by using his face!" Jin made a noncommittal noise in his throat, then led him to another picture.

"This is my beloved mother, may she rest in peace," Jin said softly, bowing to the picture. Hwoarang openly stared at her. "Uh-huh…I see what your father saw in her…she's like, what, eighteen here? She has no ass, but I can work past that…" Jin grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the next frame.

"Here's a picture of my adopted uncle, Lee. Whatever compelled my grandfather to adopt is a mystery unto the whole world." The man in the photo was silver haired and pale, but unlike the Mishima's, he could smile without that hint of menace being in his eyes. Hwworang snickered at him. "He sure loves purple, doesn't he?" Jin nodded. "It's something both he and my father shared." He pointed to another picture across the room where Kazuya was sporting a purple Armani suit.

They crossed the room to some more pictures. The first one Hwoarang saw was of Heihachi. "Man, your whole family must wish to fly, huh? Check out the Goodyear shoe hair!" With only a bald streak down the middle of his head and one straight peak of white hair on either side, it did look like Heihachi somewhat had wings.

"Yeah, well," Jin said, "He's the only one on the Mishima's side that didn't have a power. Even my great grandfather over here—" he pointed to another frame—"Had weird abilities." This photo was of a burly, bearded man, also with little hair on his palette. "He was the weird last guy you fought in the fifth tournament," Jin continued. "His name's Jinpachi…I supposed that's partially where I got my name from."

Hwoarang stepped closer to get a better look. Suddenly, rage consumed him. "This is that guy with that huge mouth in his stomach, right? The bonehead who decided it would be lovely to spew fireballs at people, freeze them in their tracks in the middle of fighting, then commence to beating the shit out of them! Yeah, I remember this dude. Pussy ass fighter, he wouldn't last fighting me straight up!"

He was about to say more, but the microwave beeped, startling them both. Jin went back into the kitchen and pulled the food out. "Ah, looks done. Let's chow!" Hwoarang followed him only to the doorway.

"Let's? As in us?"

"Yeah. Hungry, right?"

"Not that hungry!"

Jin frowned. "What's wrong with it?"

"Dude, it's not real! Im-i-ta-tion! Ring a bell?"

Jin sighed, setting the tray of food down on the table. Then he grabbed some bread out of a bread box on the counter and set that on the table too, sitting down in a chair himself. He kicked a chair out for Hwoarang.

"When they say imitation, that's not what they mean. No, it's not ribs as in the actual pork kind. This one is made from beef, pork, and chicken. It's real meats, just not the rib, get it?" Hwoarang gave the food a skeptical stare, but sat down and dug in.

Okay, so maybe this completely strayed from his original plan, but you had to start somewhere. Just as he was about to take his first bite, a yellow blur shot in from a pet-slip at the bottom of the front door and crashed into his chair, knocking him to the ground. His first start would be by killing that damn dinosaur!


After reading another Tekken fanfiction, I realized that Gon had once been a character of the games. I had completely forgotten about him! Oh, and Ninnis, I agree with you that Gon made a better animal character than Alex or Roger…I'm not a huge fan of lizards, and kangaroo's are cute, but miniature dinosaurs are hilarious! And as for Jin's explanation about "imitation meat", I really don't know what it is, so I made something up. If you know, tell me! If imitation meat is a real thing…