Chapter 9: One Foot Out the Door
"Err..Look! All I'm asking is for one of you guys to train me!" insisted Yeung. For the past thirty minutes, Yeung had been trying his best to coax one of the Z-warriors to take him under their wing as an apprentice. Needless to say, he wasn't having much luck.
Feeling sympathy for the little warrior, Krillain turned to the others. "So, what do you guys think? Who wants to baby sit the runt?"
"Not me!" said Yamacha adamantly. "I've been training now for many years. This is the first time in a long time that I've had the opportunity to just sit back and enjoy life."
"I've always been a student," said Gohan. "I wouldn't know how to go about being a sensei."
"I have some loose ends to tie up with my old girlfriend Launch," explained Tien, "Who knows how long that might take. I've been running from old problems for years."
Krillain put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment before deciding, "Well, I'm not sure Master Roshi even wants anymore students. That and we have too many people living at the kami house as it is."
"I don't know what to say to ya kiddo," said Krillain in a sympathetic tone, "I guess you're just outta luck. I'm sorry but we can't just teach anyone our arts. Maybe if you had come along ten years ago…"
Yeung looked down beaten for a moment before asking again, "Isn't there anyone who can help me?"
A minute or so passed before anyone piped in. Finally…
"Well, there is my Grandpa," said Gohan, "But he's a very important statesman, a king no less, so he's out of the question."
"I've got it!"
Everyone present turned to Tien. Tien stepped up to Yeung and bent down till he was eye level with the little runt.
"Kid," started Tien, "This isn't the best option I have for you, but it's better than nothing."
"Really?! What is it?" asked an ecstatic Yeung.
"I could always take you to the school of thought I was reared up in," said the large triclops.
"What are you talking about Tien?" asked Yamacha.
Turning to his comrade with a big grin plastered on his face, Tien said only one word. "Tsurusinnin."
"What?! Did one of those Cell Jrs. knock your brains out, Tien?" At this point, Krillain and Yamacha couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"You do remember what the Crane Hermit did to you and Choatzu," remarked Yamacha. "They're false masters. They'll just take the kid and fill his head with lies!"
"I'm afraid he's right Tien," said Krillain in agreeance with his fellow student, "The Crane School is bad news. Considering how badly they've been discredited, I'm not even sure your old sensei is even around anymore.
"Still, we don't have many current options open to us," responded Tien. Tien walked up to his fellow human fighters and ushered them behind a pillar just out of hearing distance.
"Listen guys," started the three-eyed warrior, "This kid's the real thing. We can't just pass up this opportunity."
"We understand Tien," said Yamacha assuringly.
"No, I'm afraid you don't," retorted Tien. "Neither of you do! Look at us. With Goku gone, that only leaves seven of us in case something comes up. I'm starting to think that there was another reason for Goku deciding not to come back."
"Another reason?" repeated Krillain, "Like what?"
"I believe that Goku is giving us a chance to start over with not just a clean slate, but a better slate," answered Tien, "Look guys, we're not getting any younger, and we can't just expect Gohan or Vegeta to bail us out all the time. They're not always going to be there. Theycan't be! It's not that I don't have faith in their abilities. It's just that Goku has given us a great gift, and that gift is true world peace. That's his legacy, and it's important that we take that legacy and make it better than what it was when Goku left it."
"Listen guys, Goku is our friend! How's it going to look if some other evil ki user comes along and destroys us in Goku's absence? How will it reflect on us if Goku is left turning in his grave?"
Pausing for a moment, Tien looked straight into the eyes of his comrades before continuing. "There's one more thing. Master Roshi once said to me that it was now my responsibility to provide a litmus test to the next generation! He said 'The world could always use a few new heroes.' We need this to be a vindication of his guiding principles, and I'm going to use this opportunity to create more leadership instead of more followers."
Walking away from his fellow warriors, Tien stopped only long enough to say one last thing.
"I'll be by later to pick up Choatzu. Guys, it's been swell and all but farewell. We'll stay in touch."
"Bye Tien," said Krillain waving.
Tien rounded the corner and approached Yeung with a confident smile.
"Well boy, I've got good news," said Tien.
"That you'll train me?!" responded Yeung enthusiastically.
"No, but I know someone who might," said Tien. "Hop on!"
"Huh?"
"Hop on my back," commanded Tien, "I can fly. We're leaving right now. There's someone we need to find."
"OK…," Yeung climbed onto the bulky triclops' muscled back and wrapped his arms around Tiens' neck."
"Now hold on tight," commanded Tien. "Cause here we GOOOO!"
And with a loud shout, the two of them were on their way. Once in the air, Tien looked back to see how his little companion was handling the ride.
"How you holding up back there?"
"Do you have to ask?" shouted Yeung. "Hey, Listen! There's somewhere I need to go first!"
"Alright, where?!" asked Tien.
"I need to stop by my apartment in Gingertown real quick!" shouted Yeung.
"Gingertown… Alright, here we go!" With that the two of them soared off to their new destination, Tien's energy aura leaving a white vapor trail as they went.
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Little over an hour later, Tien and Yeung touched down in the parking lot of 'the projects' of inner city Gingertown. There didn't seem to be much structural damage to the buildings in the surrounding area aside from the occasional wall that had been demolished in the wake of Cell's earlier massacres, and because of the dragon balls, a great majority of those killed by Cell were resurrected. As such, there were some pedestrians who were out and walking about.
"So this is the place huh?" asked Tien who seemed somewhat mortified at what he saw before him.
"Yeah," said Yeung with a sigh, "This is home sweet home."
"Mind telling me what that is?" asked Tien, pointing at a bunch of dead bodies that were piled up on Yeung's front door.
"That Tien, is a pile of dead ninjas," explained Yeung. "I've dubbed it 'Brokeback Mountain.' I've been adding to it for about three months now."
Yeung absentmindedly walked up to the pile of slain hit men and kicked one of the cadavers at the base of the mound. "Pesky Ninjas."
"May I inquire as to why there is a pile of dead assassins on your front lawn?"
"Let's just say that I had a problem with the local Yakuza Boss and he's been pestering me with yes-men ever since," answered Yeung candidly.
Tien would of let it go at that had it not been for him seeing the single dead police officer behind the pile.
"Hey, wait a minute!" ordered Tien, "How can you explain the dead cop?"
"The Yakuza bribed him to off me," responded Yeung.
"Oh, well that makes since I guess," said Tien unconvinced.
When they finally reached the front door, they found a bunch of papers pinned to the head of the doorframe. Yeung yanked down each paper one by one and skimmed through them.
"Hmm…another court summons in response to robbing the liquor store I see," Yeung continued to read on.
"The rent's four months over due. Damned landlady! I told her never to show her face around here again! OH! And another death threat! Wow! Ain't I special? That makes twenty three in two months."
"God kid!" gaped Tien, "Where were your parents when all this was happening?"
"I'd prefer not to talk about it so let's just drop it tripod!" replied the boy snidely. With a quick strike on the doorframe, Yeung had the door open. What Tien saw next would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
"OH MY GOD!"
Before him was a scene out of Hell itself. Empty beer bottles, cigarette buds, blunts, and soda cans were strung out everywhere, and a barbeque grill had been left on to sizzle out causing the whole apartment to smell like charcoal smoke. Thongs were casually tossed about everywhere and used rubbers littered the corners.
"Oh, I see that the college coeds are done using the place," said Yeung.
"College coeds?!" repeated the triclops.
"Yeah, I let a bunch of college kids out of West City use my apartment as a place to crash in my absence in exchange for a fee," explained the boy smiling. "It gave me a chance to make easy money off those frat boys and a chance to annoy the crap out of my landlady."
"Phew Oh, that's good," said Tien who seemed genuinely relieved, "For a moment, I thought you actually led this kind of lifestyle."
"What are you talking about?" asked Yeung cocking an eyebrow, "Half of this mess is mine."
Upon hearing this, Tein went pale and headed right out the door, Bending down in front of the hedges, he began to vomit profusely.
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It took Yeung about twenty minutes to pack his bags(and about twice as long for Tien to stop puking) and the two of them were once again on their way.
"So, who are we looking for?" inquired Yeung.
"He's an old teacher of mine," explained Tien, "And judging by the way you behave, you might like him."
Tein looked back at the boy and studied him for a moment. For such a small fighter, Yeung at least looked somewhat the part of a martial artist unlike many of his fellow Z-senshi when they were his age. Although only slightly taller than four feet and despite the apparent lack of visual build, Yeung's body was compact and broad. His face was somewhat chunky and his jet black hair was fashioned into a bowl cut. The boy was big-boned and his tanned skin was absolutely riddled with scars that formed a sickening mishmash of patterns.
Of all the features that composed Yeung's appearance, none drew more attention than the bright red spot that seemed as though it had been branded into the boy's forehead. Tien had seen people in the high mountains of his native country wear the spot as a symbol of their faith, and as such, it gave Tien an idea as to where this boy was originally from.
"You're from the desert regions aren't you?" asked Tien.
"Huh?"
"It's the red spot on your forehead," said Tien, "It tells your story for you."
"I was raised in a monastic castle in southern Tibet," answered Yeung. "My father and mother were killed when I was very young. I was taken in by the man who trained me in the martial arts."
"Your story is about the same as my own," said Tien. "My parents were also killed when I was a young child. Like you, I too was raised by my first martial arts sensei. I'm guessing that your early life has been fraught with abuse and neglect as well."
"Most of the abuse I suffered was by my own hands," replied the boy, "My sensei was the only one who kept me from going crazy. He was there for me."
"Then I guess that's where our similarities end," continued Tien, "Because it was my first teacher who tried to destroy me."
"And your first teacher is the one we're going to see now?"
At this question, Tien only nodded once.
"Fantastic," muttered Yeung sarcastically.
The two of them continued to blast through the sky at near supersonic speeds for about two hours until they came upon an isolated mountain valley. All through the valley rested lakes of clear blue water and forests of old growth conifers making it resemble something out of Canada. Off in the distance, Yeung could see a fair-sized town that seemed out of place given the pristine place they were in.
Tien began to bring them down slowly so that the change in air pressure from descending would not accidentally cause his passenger to pass out. As they descended, their view of what was on the ground improved somewhat.
From this vantage point, the layout of a compound came into view. The grounds of the compound consisted mostly of buildings fashioned after an ancient oriental style that harkened back to the time of some ancient Chinese dynasty.
As Tien and Yeung got closer to the ground, they noticed that much of the ground based facility was deteriorated as if from neglect, and the whole place seemed as empty as a ghost town. Most of the windows were boarded up and a 'For Sale' sign adorned the front gate.
The two of them touched down in the front parking lot of the complex. Yeung hopped off Tien's back and strode up to the front gate.
"Man, this place looks even less cheery from the parking lot than it does from the air," remarked Tien.
"Hey, Tien!" mouthed Yeung, "What's the big deal? The place is empty."
"I don't understand it," stated Tien, "Tsurusuma's martial arts studio was throbbing with business when I left it."
"When did you last train here?"
"About twenty years ago I think," answered Tien. "I know that a lot can happen in that timeframe but my gosh."
"Well, the average lifespan of a small business is five years," explained Yeung.
"Thank you for completely useless statistics," muttered Tien sarcastically.
"You're welcome." Yeung reached for the latch on the front gate and to his immediate surprise, it was unlocked.
"Hey! The gates not locked!" declared the boy enthusiastically, "Maybe, someone's still here. Come on!"
"Hey wait up!" shouted Tien. The three-eyed fighter followed Yeung inside, and just as the two of them were in, an aged voice boomed from one of the halls.
"Stop right there intruders!"
Immediately, Yeung and Tien turned to face the voice. Before them stood a half-man, half-machine anomaly, a cyborg no less. It was a man who looked as if he had gotten in a fight with a toaster and lost. His head was covered in a metal skull cap and in the place of his eyes were a pair of bionic optical devices that zoomed in and out methodically like those on a camera. He wore long pink robes with the symbol for 'Crane' blazoned across the front.
"Mercenary Toa!" yelled Tien.
"You know this guy Tien?" asked Yeung.
"Tien-san?!" spoke Toa, "Why are you here? Came to laugh at my misfortunes have you?"
"Misfortunes?"
"Yes," said the old assassin. The disgraced warrior took a seat on a nearby crate before continuing, "In the years since your betrayal, things have gone belly up for me and Shin. My brother got the worst of it though."
"I sense a long story coming," said Tien. "Yeung, maybe we'd better sit down and listen."
"Considering the pain you have caused me and my brother, that's the least you could do!" retorted the aged cyborg, "Ok, Where should I begin?"
"At the beginning would be nice," answered Tien.
"Alright, here we go," said Toa, "After my shameful defeat at your hands in the 23rd Tenkaichi quarterfinals, I couldn't look my brother in the eyes anymore. Not only had I been maimed by Goku years earlier, but I had also lost to my former pupil. So, after I got back on my feet, I left home in disgrace. In my absence, many of my brother's remaining students lost faith in their master's teachings. I guess seeing me go destroyed their resolve as martial artists for if the brother of the sensei leaves than it raises a red flag to the others. Over time, money stopped coming in and the number of unpaid utility bills began to pile up."
At this point, Mercenary Toa was visibly shaking. Still, he continued on…
"My brother got so desperate that he even took out a substantial loan to cover the expenses of running the school while using our old house as collateral. Fast forward a few years, business continued to go into a downward spiral, and as a result, my brother lost his home. He continued to keep the school afloat using his old age pension, but it wasn't enough. One day he just decided he couldn't hack it anymore so he went to his medicine cabinet, grabbed as many pills as he could, and two weeks later he was found dead on the toilet."
"Pai-Pai Sama, I never knew…" whispered Tien, "I'm sorry."
"No you're not!" yelled the old hit man, "Don't hand me that crap! Do you know what it's like to go through life believing you were the best only to wake up one day to find out you've been deluding yourself? Well, do you!"
Toa suddenly jumped up from his seat and threw one of the crates lining the walls across the room in a fit of rage. The crate splintered on impact as though it had been launched from a cannon. His temper partially sated, the old assassin sat back down and continued.
"You were my best thing in life Tien! I thought of you as my best contribution to the future of the Crane School! But then you betrayed the school so that you could roll with Roshi and his turtle turd squad! I was so mad that I told myself that I'd never stop until you were dead!"
Toa paused for a moment and attempted to look away before going on…
"My story is almost as bad as that of my brother's," said Toa solemnly. "In a way, you could say that my lifestyle as a cold-blooded killer had finally caught up to me. Upon entering my self-enacted exile, I had to start over from scratch. I was out of money due to the medical bills inferred from the reconstruction of my body and most of my original clients had been sent to prison. The criminal underworld that I entered after my revival was not the same as the one that I had left. Familiar faces were few and far between. I was forced to rebuild my street cred, but that, like the Crane School, never recovered. Eventually, I was forced to take on jobs as a petty thug cowering at the feet of those insignificant sows in the Yakuza."
Toa looked Tien in the eyes as if trying to convey a feeling had it not been for his old facial injuries.
"I finally understand," said Toa solemnly, "I finally understand why those turtle hermit nitwits lived the way they did. I've come to the conclusion that the more pain you cause others, the more you will receive in full. In a twisted way I finally feel complete. More so than I did before Son Goku crippled me. Look at what happened to my brother! It seems I've finally come full circle."
From their vantage point, it almost looked as though the younger of the Crane brothers was starting to cry.
"Finally, one day recently, Goku came back into my life and caused me to loose face yet again in the eyes of my clientele. It was then that I knew I had hit rock bottom. I couldn't do anything about Goku. I was petrified with fear. I thought he had come to finish the job! It wasn't long after then that I had received a letter informing me of my brother's passing. In his will, he had left to me the one thing he had left to give: This dilapidated dojo."
"Listen to me Toa!" said Tien standing up. "I never officially joined the Turtle Hermit's School! Sure, I consider Master Roshi a spiritual counselor but it was you who taught me my basic fighting style. The hurt I felt when I thought Goku had killed you caused me to go mad with rage!"
"I idolized you old man!" boomed Tien, "I grew up wanting to be as strong and as cool as you, but later on, I realized that I could never be just like you! I couldn't be a cold-blooded murderer! No matter how many times I killed, I never could get over my feelings of guilt from doing it!"
Tien swallowed before continuing, "I came to question Master Shin's teachings for it was those very teachings that were forcing me to give up a part of myself that I just couldn't let go of. Then when I disobeyed him, he tried to have me killed by Choatzu!"
It was then that Tien walked over to sit beside his old teacher. The older assassin hunched over and cradled his bionic head in his hands in an attempt to keep from facing his former student.
"Listen Pai-Pai Sama!" coaxed Tien, "It's tough hitting rock bottom. I know because I've been there before, but that doesn't mean that you should just give up!"
"That's easy for you to say boy," said Toa, "You're still in your prime. I'm too old to start all over again! I have no pension, no plans for the future, no money, not even my dignity."
"It's never too late to start over again sensei," spoke Tien in an attempt to encourage his old mentor, "However, building yourself up again requires hard work. I should know. Even after my transformative experience, I kept on having to climb. In a big way, that's all life is; a long climb in which you're constantly hanging over a deep chasm."
"Why did you come back here in the first place Tien?" asked the old cyborg. "There's nothing left of interest here for you. Surely, it isn't of any entirely altruistic motive!"
Tien smiled to himself before pointing over his shoulder at Yeung.
Mercenary Toa looked back at the boy a few moments before asking, "What's up with the kid?"
"He needs someone to train him in our arts," answered the tryclops. "I don't have time to do it and by the looks of things, you could use a new student."
"Are you sure you want me teaching that kid?" asked Mercenary Toa, "I'm not in the best position to teach anything right now."
"Pai-Pai Sama! That boy may be the only chance you'll have of rebuilding the old school," replied the triclops.
"Is he good?" asked Toa.
"Let's just say there's barely a hairs' worth of difference between his strength now and Muten Roshi's," explained Tien, "Just imagine what he'll be like after the training."
"Hmm…, Alright! I'll do it!" declared Toa Pai-Pai.
"YOU Will!" Yeung was almost ecstatic at this point.
"However…" smirked Toa….
"Huh?"
"I'm not doing it on the cheap!" said Toa crossing his arms, "The boy has a week to pay his monthly fee. Otherwise, I'll drop his midget ass!"
Suddenly, Yeung handed a paper slip to Mercenary Toa.
"What's this?" asked the old assassin scanning the paper.
"Go to a bank!" said Yeung, "You'll find it's the real thing."
"OH MY GOD! WE'RE IN BUISNESS!" shouted the elder cyborg cheerfully.
Yeung simply stood there with a shit-eating grin on his face. He had just handed the 10 million zenni he had hustled out of Hercule Satan earlier that day over to Mercenary Toa, securing his place in the soon to be popular again, Crane School of Martial Arts.
Power Levels:
Rolo Yeung: 119
Tien Shenhan: 8.5 million
Toa Pai-Pai: 180
Krillain Chestnut: 4 million
Yamacha: 2 million