Manga High School
Manga High School
    > Asia
        > Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
New Topic    Add Reply

Page 1 2 3 4 5
<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>
Author
Comment
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 528
(2/28/06 12:37 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Fangmei Chan didn't know exactly what was going on, but she did know that Master Chen had made some kind of deal with her father last night, and her father had told her to come here with these guys and pretend, to these two guys, to be attacked by them so they could... save her? She didn't know what was going on, but had great respect for her father and was certain there was some logic behind all this.

The first man reached Ren with a smirk on his face. He thought he was lucky, to be able to show off for his boss by throwing the first punch, or so it seemed. He drew back his fist. Unfortunately for him, he never had a chance to loose that punch, because Rens fist slammed into his stomach, causing him to cough up blood and fall over unconscious. Flojo performed a similar service for the other man with a snapping front kick to the gut.

Fangmei gasped, having never seen such a thing before. Sure she had seen kung fu; she studied Tai Chi Chuan herself, but she had never seen anyone so fast and strong. Both of these men had taken out their opponents with only one lightning-fast strike, and it didn't seem to require any effort at all. Perhaps they were some of Master Chen's students? But they didn't look Chinese; they were obviously westerners.

Flojo remembered his basic battlefield strategy, and knew that troops would usually flee if their commanding officer went down. In this case the troops were street punks and their commander a gang leader, but the same principle applied here. He teleported behind the gang leader, taking a moment to adjust his balance after arriving. The technique put him badly off balance, which was why his teleportation was nearly useless in battle, but the leader was inept, and had no idea Flojo was behind him until he felt the edge of Flojo's hand slam into the side of his neck, knocking him out.

The other nine men looked at their downed leader, yet they came at Ren and Flojo in fwo groups, one of five for Ren and of four for Flojo. That was odd. They didn't seem to be fazed at all; logic said the gang leader must be the strongest fighter, but they didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he was knocked out. In fact, Flojo noticed that their attack seemed choreographed, as strange as that sounded. He'd noticed that the same four guys had been watching him the whole time, and Ren's five had watched him.

Almost as if they had assigned targets... This was getting strange.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 530
(2/28/06 12:45 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren has many wonderful qualities. He's hard-working, calm, patient, and intelligent. Unfortunately, he has absolutely no tolerance for idiots that walk into extreme danger when it's readily obvious. Ren had stormed out of more than one movie theatre after watching a foolish character ignore the obvious signs of danger and go on anyway. If anyone with half a brain saw a trail of blood leading down to their basement like in the movies, they would not get a flashlight and follow it. They would run to a neighbor's house and call 911. If anyone with half a brain saw their superior fighter buddies get schooled by two skilled kung fu fighters, they would not continue attacking; they would run away. Which is the exact opposite of what was happening.

Ren raised his hand and stretched it out toward his five guys, and made a ki ball in it, firing it, then making another, with blisteringly fast pace, like a ki chain gun. Each ball found its way to the neck of each man and slammed into its left side, knocking him out. Ren put his hands into his pockets and looked over at Flojo, who was surrounded by four unconscious figures. That figured. Flojo usually liked to stick to punches and kicks, and leave the ki for big, important opponents. Strict conservation was his style.

The two walked over to the girl. She was about five-and-a-half feet tall, and pretty, with her black hair braided and wearing a colorful silk dress, probably for that festival. Ren walked right up to do his "ladies' man" thing, but Flojo tarried, his mind working furiously. Those guys didn't act like normal thugs, the fight was pre-planned, and they were conveniently saving a pretty girl their age. The likelihood of this being coincidence was slim. Ren was the more intelligent of the pair, but he didn't figure this out yet, as he was too concerned with the girl. The man was going to turn into his grandfather.

"Hi," Ren said to the girl with a polite bow, "I'm Ren Murasame. I saw you had some trouble with these punks, and figured I would help you out."

"Thank you very much Murasame. I am Fangmei Chan." the girl replied, bowing in return.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 531
(2/28/06 12:49 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
"Flojo Murasame, a pleasure," Flojo said, bowing, "not by the way of being nosy or anything, but why are you out here? I mean, wouldn't you be at the festival?" Ren looked at Flojo with an odd stare for a moment while his brain kicked back into gear and he put two and two together, then saw what Flojo was getting at. This could have been a ploy by their grandfather, but he was usually far less subtle than this. His style was usually teleporting in and grabbing a girl's butt while you were behind her, then disappearing - it worked in the films he liked so much, he would protest afterward.

"My home is actally out of town. I was going to the festival when these hooligans attacked me. They brought me out here, probably so no one would hear the screams," she said calmly.

Flojo knew something was up now. The thugs had been poised for a first attack. Had they already attacked and kidnapped her, she would have been tied up or held down. Besides, if they had really been doing what he thought they were, the gang leader wouldn't have stood back; his senior position would allow him to do his "business" first. That, added with her comlete calm when speaking of her supposed kidnapping, meant that not everything was as it seemed.

"Well," Ren replied, with his best ladies' man smile, "shell we escort you into town then? There's no fear of lowlife scum when Ren Murasame is around!" Flojo groaned. Ren would be married in mere minutes if he didn't grow some brains around girls. Flojo was usually shy around them, but Ren fixated on them too much; he didn't think clearly around women.

"If you would be so kind," Fangmei replied, smiling. She had no clue what was going on, but her father had told her this would probably happen, and that she should go with these guys. Besides, they were kind of cute, even if the one with short hair wasn't exactly sociable. He seemed troubled about something, and Fangmei wondered what.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 532
(2/28/06 12:52 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
The "gang leader" woke up in a daze. He had no clue where he was, and got up slowly, wincing at the pain in his neck. It was just bruised, nothing serious, but that didn't help the pain. He looked around the area for a minute, seeing the knocked out guys around him but not really noticing him, until it finally registered. He was at the place where Master Chen had paid them to act like they were bothering the girl. Chen had told them these guys were good at kung fu, but he'd at least expected to give them some bruises for realism instead of just getting beaten down like that.

He shook his head to clear it, then began walking, away from the mountain path. There was a side road here, one that very few people knew about, and it was a lot more direct than the mountain path, taking you to the village much more quickly. It was also hard to travel, more like an offroad are than a true road, but he'd gone up and down the mountain on this path since he wa a small boy.

He wasn't worried about the other thugs; he didn't even know some of them. They had only been pretending to be a gang, bound by no more than the job they now shared. Perhaps they were dead, but probably just knocked out. Either way, it wasn't his problem. He was going back to that warehouse to get the second half of his pay from Master Chen. He'd known he'd get beat up, but the offer was just too lucrative to pass up, especially with the prestige of working for a kung fu master, even if he couldn't put it on his resume. He stumbled down the path, working his way along the mountain.

He'd been really impressed by those guys. Perhaps he could train and learn real kung fu, not just this streetfighting he'd learned growing up. Obviously he couldn't train with Master Chen; he wasn't that good, but perhaps the master could give him a recommendation to another school. That way he could have a real occupation instead of just running around, robbing people and being a hired thug all the time. Yeah, that was it.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 533
(2/28/06 12:55 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren and Flojo made their way down the mountain by a more conventional means, Ren talking all the while with the girl, Fangmei. It seemed odd that he could be so busy conversing at a time like this, but he was generally different from Flojo, even though he looked the same. Flojo was still getting used to how strange it felt to have someone else who looked exactly like him hanging around, although it was somewhat funny. In the beginning of training at Master Chen's, before Ren had let his hair grow out, He'd played a number of interesting pranks on Flojo, most of which were unintentional and involved the girls in the school coming up to him and slapping him. Flojo wasn't angry about it, although he thought Ren's manners around ladies could use some work.

Ren, on the other hand, seemed jovial, and he was. He had a pretty girl to talk to, and a fastival ahead, even if it was some sappy romantic thing. He could always use that to his advantage with girls. He'd completely forgotten that this was probably an attempt to get him married; it was hard for him to think of much. He'd found out a lot of things about Fangmei already, first among those being that she was a bright conversationalist. Perhaps he'd have some luck tonight; the women at the dojo were all either too old, or didn't care for his advances, although Flojo had conveniently taken the brunt of that assault, before everyone realized that they were actually two different people.

"So, you study Tai Chi, huh? What style?" Ren asked her, noticing Flojo perk up somewhat at the mention of a martial art. Jeez, the guy was hardcore when it came to fighting; he'd use any and all oppurtunities to train or discuss strategy. Even now, he was probably playing a fight through his mind, going ove revery factor, physi;cal and energetic, one by one, and determining the best way to defeat an opponent.

"The Chen style," she replied, smiling.

"Well, that's interesting," Ren said, banking on this to impress the girl, "our grandfather happens to be of the Chen lineage. Master Chen Wailing, from the school on the mountaintop. You know him?"

At the mention of Master Chen, Fangmei started. She'd found earlier through talking with Ren that their parents were dead, and then Master Chen showed up at her house last night, talking privately with her father, and now this? Fangmei could put two and two together, and this, with all the whining her father had done about finding her a suitor, added up perfectly.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 546
(3/1/06 7:03 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Master Chen was sitting on the floor of the warehouse in meditation. It wasn't as comfortable as the training room of the school, but it would suffice for its purposes. Besides, wasn't a martial arts master supposed to be humble?

Suddenly, a door creaked open behind him, flooding light into the dark building. Without turning, Master Chen knew who it was by his chi signature. One of the men he had hired. Interesting that the others were not with him, but not entirely unanticipated. They weren't exactly what you would call a close-knit group.

"I did as you asked, Master," the young man began, bowing very deeply, "I challenged the two men."

"How did you do?" Master Chen asked almost rhetorically, knowing what the answer would be.

"They defeated all of us. Apparently they left with the girl, Master," he answered, bowing once again. Chen found it odd that the young man was being so polite; he had been only another rude punk before. However, he had obviously been different from the other thugs; his heart wasn't in what he was doing.

"Is there something you want to ask?" Master Chen continued, hoping he would get an answer.

"Yes, Master," he began, then took a deep breathe to steady himself, "I want to learn kung fu. I'm tired of robbing people and fighting for money. I want to do what you do, but no school will have me. I was wondering if you could - "

"You're accepted," Chen answered, "I need a new aide anyway, so you won't be getting into trouble outside of training." He knew that this body didn't want to do what he did; that was the source of his indecision. Chen might regret this later, but the young man reminded him of his own youth.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 547
(3/1/06 7:08 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Flojo and Ren entered the town, decorated gaily in red and yellow, apparently the holiday's symbolic colors. It wasn't hard to figure out what they meant. The festival actually looked decent to Flojo; it didn't seem like your average rinky-dink small-town affair. Ren had walked off with Fangmei a little while earlier, where to, Flojo didn't know. Ren was probably tryng to use his charms (as he called them) on the lady. In any case, it wasn't Flojo's problem. Ren was an excellent meat shield for this crazy attempt to get him married.

He stopped at a stand and got a bowl of hot ramen; the food at the school, while filling, wasn't exactly good. It would meet the rigorous taste tests the cooks at Manga High School used to make sure their food was the best it could be. Flojo grinned inwardly at that; Manga High's crappy food had become more or less of an institutional joke. Too bad it was grim reality, as the entire student body was reminded at ever meal.

Flojo sighed. He hadn't expected to miss being at Manga High School so much. It was the only place he'd been to that really felt like a home to him. He liked his grandfather just fine and all, but he couldn't call the school home, and his childhood home, that of Ren's childhood anyway, had been taken away from him before he lost his memory. He wanted to go back, to be with his old friends. But, he had a mission to do, a wrong to avenge, and he couldn't let anything get in the way of that.

He was glad to have Ren as an ally against Clay, although he would never have said it out loud. Flojo had been alone and on his own as long as he could remember, but he had never felt real fear until he had fought Clay. No, "fought" wasn't the right term. It was "beaten". He was still depressed about it, which surprised him, because he expected to feel angry about it, something he could handle. He couldn't deal with depression, it was a new feeling to him, something he could cope with only by numbing his brain with constant training. Now that he wasn't training, he had time to reflect on his defeat for the first time, something he didn't like.

Although he had been beaten, he knew there was only one thing to do: he would train and find Clay again, then give him back ten times what he had gotten. He had sworn over the graves of parents he had never known to get revenge, and until he did, that was his only purpose.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 548
(3/1/06 7:10 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren, on the other hand, was having a great deal of fun with Fangmei. It had been a very long time since he'd been to a festival or anything like that, and he was really enjoying himself. Sure, he'd ridden in Flojo's head at a number of festivals, but it wasn't the same. Flojo always went to those festivals for a reason, and it was never to have fun. Always to meet someone, or track down some kind of clue.

Ren didn't like being part of Flojo for only that reason: he never relaxed. Even when he was soaking in a hot spring seemingly completely relaxed, he was still wound tightly, like a tiger ready to spring. It was like that all the time. When he ate. When he slept. When he trained. It had nearly driven Ren crazy. He couldn't see how anyone could live like that all the time without having a nervous breakdown.

Either way, Ren was having the time of his life. Between playing carnival games, flirting with Fangmei, and eating good food - something he hadn't had in years - it was one of the best day of his life. He was walking down a street with Fangmei, who was holding a large, stuffed teddy bear he had won for her, looking at the exhibits, when he noticed something. It was there, but very subtle. He was being trailed. It was the little details that gave it away. A scrap of paper on the ground behind him in a different position than before, or a shadow where there shouldn't be one. It was growing late, and most of the festival-goers had gone to bed, and there was no wind to disturb anything.

He'd never studied ninjutsu himself, but Flojo had before they'd seperated, so he knew how to find the trail of someone following him. The problem was that he'd never learned to figure out how to shake it. At the time he'd been constructing a soul, and his plan had simply been to fly away in that if someone followed him, so he'd never looked that up in Flojo's mind. He cursed himself for it now as he took a right at the end of the street. Who could it be?

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 549
(3/1/06 7:12 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Master Chen had never been an expert on stealth. He'd heard of ninjutsu, but had never taken the time to study even the most basic of its techniques, although he did have a few skills of his own in that department. He followed Ren and Fangmei carefully, keeping a close eye on them to make sure his plan was working. He had originally expected Flojo to go out with the girl, but considering how against marriage Flojo was, it wasn't that surprising. This entire plan had been thought out in only thirty minutes, so it was rather crude, but it seemed to be working.

Ren was falling into his trap. The boy liked girls a lot more than his brother, and would probably not be too averse to the idea of marriage to such a pretty young lady. Chen had been worried for years that Flojo would be the last of their family line, but now that Ren was here, there was a fighting chance. A great-grandson to continue the lineage.

They'd gotten along splendidly so far, and Flojo was staying out of it. Chen knew that was why Flojo wasn't with the girl; he'd seen through the ploy. Ren, on the other hand, was a lot more like his old grandfather. Little seemed to matter when you had a pretty girl around to kiss. Chen caught a snippet of discussion when they turned the corner, something about taking her home. He was glad this date was over; his knees were acting up again.

He left, off to gather up the young man who had so recently become his student. He'd sent him home to get his things, and he'd probably been waiting at the warehouse for almost an hour now. That was an excellent way to teach humility and patience to a student. He walked toward the warehouse, passing the last closing stands, already congratulating himself for a hard day's work.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 550
(3/1/06 7:13 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Chen was happy with the success of his plan, and Ren was having the time of his life, but Flojo wasn't feeling nearly as good. He wasn't quite sure, but he believed the ramen he'd eaten earlier had played a large hand in it; the stuff had looked kind of funny. He hadn't really cared at the time, simply glad to get his hands on some real food, but now his stomach rebelled against him for his lack of judgement.

He was on the mountain path home, having left the festival nearly an hour ago. It only took thirty minutes to get to the school, a part of him knew, but he couldn't seem to remember the way. He was getting lost all the time, becoming disoriented and woozy. Between that and having to vomit so often, he had his hands full just trying to make any progress at all.

Flojo tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. He tried to push himself up, but found all the strength drained from his body. Even in a sick state, he shouldn't be nearly this tired. He knew that, but his brain couldn't seem to form it as a coherent thought, so he never realized what was going on. He struggled for a few moments, trying to gather strength to get up, then threw up and dropped his head in a pool of his own vomit, unconscious.

After waiting five minutes to make sure he was unconscious, two figures moved out of the bushes and grabbed his body, dragging him off the road. They didn't know who he was or why they were doing this; they simply did what they were payed to do.

After carrying him a quarter of a mile, the two men came to a clearing and dropped him in the middle. The clearing was strange. An expensive dining table sat in the middle of it, with a chair at either end, richly carved and decorated with silver. There was a fireplace a few yards away, a fire roaring away in its depths, somehow heating the entire clearing as though it were a building. At one end of the table sat a tall, blonde man wearing an English suit.

They didn't know his name; they just knew that he was going to pay them a lot of money just to drag this guy here. They demanded their money politely, after dropping Flojo. The Englishman waved his hand, and both of them fell to the ground, dead from cardiac arrest. He didn't need them talking. He finally had his quarry.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 551
(3/1/06 7:14 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
One hour later...

Master Chen was back at the school, ready to see what he had missed that day. Surely nothing important; his students were well-disciplined and more or less took care of themselves. Besides, a lot of them had been in town for the festival, taking a chance to relax and unwind, something rare in the disciplined life of a full-time kung fu student. He walked to his office, in no great hurry, but as he got closer, he heard a horrific noise blaring from it.

He opened the door to find Ren Chen-yu, his assistant instructor, with his shirt knotted up in the middle, wearing short shorts, a blonde wig, and makeup, in his office dancing, singing along to a karaoke version of "Hit Me Baby One More Time".

"My loneliness, is killing me, and I!" he sang in a high pitched voice, then launched into an energetic series of dance moves, all very unskillful and stupid-looking, going "da da da" along to the parts he didn't know the lyrics for.

Master Chen cleared his throat loudly.

Ren spun around, staring wide-eyed. He hadn't expected Master Chen to be back for another two hours. He ran over to the boom box on the master's desk, hurridly switching it off.

"This... umm, isn't what it looks like," Ren began. Master Chen wanted to hear this one, because a forty year old man dancing karaoke in drag could only look like one thing.

"I was trying to ... uhhh... get into the minds of westerners, trying to analyze their fighting systems by understanding their culture," he finished, obviously lying.

"Keep up the good work," Master Chen said, motioning for Ren to leave his office. He didn't want to put the man down. He was really strange, probably even insane, but he was an excellent kung fu instructor.

"By the way," Ren said as he walked out the door, sweeping off his wig, "have you seen Flojo? Ren has been looking everywhere for him and can't find him."

"I'll take care of finding him. Thank you, Ren." Master Chen replied, glad to be rid of him.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 560
(3/2/06 4:06 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
"One hundred years ago, a magical ... hellbeast ... rode out of the clouds and landed on ancient mountain. It then drink up much water, and make dragon pregnant," Clay translated as he read, then suddenly threw the book over his shoulder, "my Chinese skills aren't exactly good. In any case, these local folk tales are idiotic. But you don't really care about that, do you?"

Flojo was sitting in the chair across from Clay's, with ropes tied to him to "help" him keep an upright posture. He was still heavily drugged. He clearly wasn't all there, and couldn't talk coherently, although he was finally conscious again. Sort of. Clay wondered if he put too much of the drug in the ramen for a moment, then realized he didn't really care. As long as this was finally over with, he didn't give a damn how it happened.

He pulled a lighter and gold cigar case out of his pocked, cutting the end of one of the cigars with a cutter that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He lit it and took a draw, then held it between two fingers, waving it demonstrably as he continued his rhetoric.

"You know, Flojo, you've given me quite a fun chase. After luring you to Manga High School, I thought it would be simple to get rid of you any time I pleased, simply by luring you elsewhere and ripping you to pieces," he grinned at Flojo, "no hard feelings, but it's harder for the police to 'piece together' what happened, and their involvement, while not a serious problem, would be quite annoying."

He took another draw, then stood and began walking along the long table slowly, toward Flojo.

"I thought I could simply get you in an alley and kill you. However, this ... double ... of yours stopped me. He was quite formidable, although I could have killed him. It was really the police that saved your skin. I don't need that kind of annoyance," Clay said, taking his time, "so, you got away. And now, here you are."

"Do you know why I sent you to Manga High School? Why I took you to a place where your principal could crush me like a grape? Did you ever even think about it in that hollow, teenage head of yours?" John asked, leaning on the table, his face close to Flojo's, "Do you want to know why?"

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 561
(3/2/06 4:07 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren flopped down onto his bed, worried. Flojo still hadn't come back yet, that much was clear. His grandfather had searched the entire school grounds with ki sensing and found absolutely nothing.

"He can take care of himself," Master Chen had told him, "he'll probably be back in the morning. Don't worry about him.

The problem was, Ren did worry. He felt responsible for Flojo in a way. Besides, it wasn't Flojo's style to simply walk off somewhere without at least letting someone know where he was. When he had asked Ren Chen-yu, after catching his breathe from a fit of laughing at his Britney Spears impression, he'd had no idea where he was. Something just wasn't right.

The last he'd seen of Flojo was when they'd arrived in town at the festival, and then he'd walked off by himself, looking kind of sad. He wondered why that would be so. Was it because he'd had a monopoly on Fangmei? Probably not, he thought. What else could have happened? Well, he could have simply left the school. He'd made some comments about missing Manga High School.

He sat up, trying to think of a way to validate that theory when he realized that Flojo's things were still in the room. He wouldn't leave behind his clothes and things, especially not those God-awful "MAXIMUM" pants he loved so much.

Ren glanced over at the alarm clock. The red digital display red 12:27 AM. He should be sleeping; he'd need the rest when training resumed in the morning. However, Ren knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to sleep.

Ren got up and dressed again, in his black Chinese suit, and left the room, heading for the path down the mountain. He didn't know how to use the ki-sensing technique Flojo and his grandfather used; he'd never thought to ask about it. But he could still use his eyes and ears to try to find Flojo. He might be on the path, or still in town for some reason. He knew he had to find him.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 562
(3/2/06 4:09 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Flojo wasn't really sure where he was, or what was going on. All he really knew was that it was really hard to think clearly. His mind was muddled with thoughts, none of them relevant and very few coherent. He thought he was sitting in some kind of chair. He knew he heard voices, but he couldn't understand them. They were speaking in plain English.

English? he thought, What's that?

"I'm going to tell you why I led you there."

It was Clay's voice. Clay? Who was that?

Flojo tried to shake his head to clear it on impulse, but it wouldn't respond. He didn't know why it should. He was trying to do something that didn't exist to a body part he didn't have. Or did he? He wasn't sure. And he didn't care.

Suddenly, he was sitting on a bed. He looked around, wondering where he was, as Clay's voice played in his head. He was in his dorm room, at Manga High.

"So you would have a chance."

The door opened. Alex Summers walked in, followed by Merciah, and Shiro Takaro, and all his other friends. Friends. Something he'd never had, never even understood before coming there.

"I didn't want to kill you. I wanted you to forget about revenge."

His friends lined up in front of him and he stood to greet them, a smile on his face. He'd missed them a lot.

"But now I will kill you. Because you would have died anyway."

They wouldn't respond. They just looked down at the ground. Why? He lifted Alex's head up with his hands.

"I will kill them all. Your school will be destroyed."

Alex's face was that of a corpse, maggots eating his eyes, and worms boring through his cheeks. Flojo jumped back, shocked, and saw that they were all dead. The floor under them stained with their blood. Now the floor was stained with blood under him. His blood. He was dead. He felt the maggots writhe in his flesh, and dropped to his knees, screaming.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 563
(3/2/06 4:12 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Clay heard Flojo make slight sound, little more than a whimper. He was still staring straight ahead, at nothing at all, with half-lidded eyes. Clay took another pull on his cigar, then turned away from Flojo, ambling slowly down the table again in the opposite direction.

"You see," I needed you little village. That's why I destroyed it," Clay continued, not knowing of or caring about the pain Flojo was in, "and now I need your school. There's nothing really special about it; in fact, that's why I need the places. When they're destroyed, no one cares that they're gone, and no one hears about it, because they're in complete isolation from the world around them. You don't know it yet, but you will have the honor of being the first of the experimental specimins to inhabit the area where your school used to be. Aren't you proud?"

He had a mocking grin on his face. Flojo would indeed make an excellent specimen, from his point of view. Of course, he knew little about the project, besides the fact that weaklings were useless for tests. Only exceptionally strong people could succeed. This was the primary reason he needed Manga High School: a large supply of bodies with the level of strength he needed. Besides, it might make an excellent alternate testing site.

Clay put his cigar out on the table. It damaged th ewood with iits heat, but Clay didn't care. He could get as many more as he would ever need or want. He pulled a cellular phone out of his pocket. It was time to call the Professor; he would be able to tell Clay how to care for the body, something he always whined and coplained about. Well, this time he'd get it right, to make the old man shut up. He looked forward to the day when he could rip Professor Shinji Funakoshi to pieces.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 564
(3/2/06 4:14 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Flojo didn't hear any of this last, however, having been completely unaware of anything going on around him. He wasn't dead anymore; he didn't understand how that had happened. Dead? When had he been dead? His mind was foggy still, and little made sense. He was sitting in the dojo at his family home in Gutenberg, Germany. He blinked, and his father and mother were suddenly there, staring at him with accusing faces for taking their son away.

Blink.

There was his grandfather. Telling him as usal that he was an idiot to continue this foolish quest.

Blink.

Clay was in front of him, giving a speech about making him some kind of experiment, smoking a cigar.

Blink.

Ren was there, hating him for taking his body, his life, away from him. For taking what was rightfully his.

Blink.

He was in ... a clearing? In a forest? Man, it was really cold here. He was sitting in a chair, with ropes holding him, in front of a table. The ashes of an extinguished fire sat in a fireplace to his left. A fireplace, in a clearing?

Blink.

He was in the auditorium at Manga High School, standing on stage, alone, all of the student body looking at him accusingly. They were all dead, rotting in their seats. It was his fault. He could have prevented it. How? Could it be prevented? A part of him believed so, yet another part did not.

Flojo slipped out of consciousness, seeing nothing but blackness, losing his ability to think at all, screaming as the darkness swallowed him up.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 565
(3/2/06 4:16 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren heard the scream. It sounded strange, like the scream of something inhuman. He knew there weren't any demons or anything on the mountain; the school's students would use it as a form of practice, good for their skills, not so much for the demon in question. He ran, following it, hoping he might find Flojo near it, hopefully not as its source.

He ran through the forest, following the direction of the scream, hoping it was the direction of the scream. Noises could do funny things in places like this. He began to hear voices as he got closer to the source of the sound. More accurately, just one voice. With a British accent. He'd heard it before, in the alley. It was Clay. Ren moved closer, stealthily, using the bushes and trees for cover as he slowly crept toward the source of the sound.

He came to the edge of the clearing and hed behind some foliage. Reconnassaince time. He saw a wide clearing, with a long, fancy dining table, complete with candlebras, with two chairs, one on either side, and ... a fireplace? Ren shook his head. British people were really weird. But then again, weren't all westerners?

He saw Flojo, unconscious, tied to a chair at one end of the table, with Clay at the other end, facing away from his direction, talking on a cellular telephone.

"...yes, professor, the subject is unharmed physically. The drugs you gave me were more potent than expected, however, and he seems to be slipping in and out of consciousness. He actually screamed a few minutes ago; I have no idea why. The drug causes bizarre ideation? What the hell does that mean? Oh, it makes him see strange things in his mind. Well, that could explain..."

Ren moved slowly and quietly toward Flojo, banking on the fact that Clay would not turn around. He'd obserbed the area for nearly a minute and he hadn't moved; perhaps it would stay that way. He reached the table and slowly undid the cords holding Flojo, lifting him out of the chair. Flojo's breathing was ragged and uneven, a sure sign of drugging, and probably of an overdose. Ren crept back toward the brush. Clay hadn't moved yet, and he hoped it would stay that way.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 566
(3/2/06 4:20 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren Chen-yu had been sitting outside of the school, meditating, when the scream happened. It sounded so strange, so unnatural. He knew there would not be a demon on the mountain, only one with a death wish would come this close to the school. He decided to check just in case. Master Chen was asleep, and it was his responsibility to take care of the school. He jogged down the mountain path, to a spot near where he heard the scream.

He then stretched out his chi as best he could, trying to sense around the area. He wasn't as good at this as the Master was; even Flojo was better than he was. Chen-yu just didn't seem to have the knack for things like sensing. Even so, he felt two chi signatures, both very faint. He couldn't tell who or what they were at this distance, so he moved off-road, walking through the forest to get closer.

As he closed in on the signatures, they began to feel more solid. He could tell that one was Ren, but the other was so faint he could barely even feel it. Whoever it was would probably be badly injured. Or, it could be his lousy sensing. Trees, bushes, animals, and all other living things had chi, and he was looking through all that clutter for sources of high chi. It could be a small animal, but then why was Ren moving toward it?

For that matter, what was Ren doing out here this time of night? He needed to get some sleep; his grandfather had told him to. Perhaps he'd gone out looking for Flojo. The two weren't all that close, and Ren didn't seem like the type to go out looking for someone this time of night, but it was still possible.

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 568
(3/2/06 4:24 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
"Yes. I will have him to your laboratory by tomorrow afternoon. Goodbye," Clay finished, hanging up on the Professor. The man was far too demanding. He would probably raise all hell if there was a single scratch on one of his precious "specimens". Not that Clay would care; he was the one in charge, not the good doctor.

"Well," Clay began, slowly turning toward the chair Flojo was in, "it seems you'll be going on a little trip now."

When Clay turned, he was shocked to find Flojo gone, the ropes undone. Where was he? Clay knew that he couldn't have escaped by himself; he needed help. Probably someone had passed by and seen him, deciding to be a hero and save him. Then again, not just anyone could pull something like that on John Clay.

A twig snapped to Clay's left, in the brush. A muttered curse had actually come with it, but it was too low for Clay to hear from where he was. He ran into the forest, coming upon Ren and Flojo only a few yards into the brush. He ran to them, and Ren spun around, dropping Flojo, just in time for Clay's fist to slam into his face. He was knocked to the ground, unconscious.

Clay was annoyed that someone would interfere with his plans, and even more so that he hadn't noticed the boy being taken away from right under his nose. Well, at least he now had two specimens. That should be enough to keep Professor Funakoshi from whining about the second boy's broken nose.

It was interesting, Clay thought, that this was the second time the boy had successfully interfered in his efforts to get Flojo. He wondered, offhand, what the boy's name was, and who the hell he was. He knew Flojo was an only child; he'd observed his home for weeks before attacking his village, as well as that of every other potential threat in the area. Most of them were mere weaklings, not even worthy of notice, but he'd paid special attention to this family. He knew Flojo didn't have a twin brother. But what else could this guy be?

_______________
the flojo 
Flojo Murasame
Vengeful Warrior
Vega Tajiri
Ninja With Issues
Posts: 569
(3/2/06 4:28 pm)
Reply

Re: Hong Kong Throwdown! (closed)
Ren had dropped to the ground. This much Chen-yu knew, but he seemed healthy, and there hadn't been another chi signature attacking him. Chen-yu knew something had to be wrong. He began running toward Ren, the twigs and branches tearing at his clothes as he went, although he didn't really care. He had to take care of the school, and that meant its students as well. All of them.

He came closer to find Ren on the ground with Flojo, both seemingly unconscious, Flojo looking very pale. Chen-yu bent over to check their breathing and pulse. Both were fine, although Flojo's pulse and breathing were jerky and uneven. Ren's nose was broken and bleeding, but otherwise he seemed okay. What could have attacked them? There were no other chi signatures anywhere in the immediate area...

Suddenly, a fist flashed out of nowhere, slying toward his face. Chen-yu stopped it with a two-handed palm block, the force sendingf him flying into the air, where he flipped over and landed several yards away from his opponent. He stood up straight and looked at him, sizing him up.

The man was caucasian, with blonde hair cut short, wearing an expensive-looking English suit. He fit the description Master Chen had given him; this must be the John Clay that beat up Flojo. Interesting. He had no chi signature whatsoever. He'd heard of a technique that could be used to mask the chi signature of a person, but he'd never seen it in action before. He ws dealing with someone who knew what he was doing.

"You are the one called John Clay, are you not?" Chen-yu asked, giving the appearance of being totally relaxed and completely at ease. Clay seemed a little surprised at the comment.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter," Clay replied, running his hand through his hair, "because you are now going to die."

Clay raised a hand and fired a blast of ki at Chen-yu. The blast hit him and exploded, sending a cloud of dirt and dust into the air around him. It had been easier than Clay'd thought.

_______________
Page 1 2 3 4 5 << Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Email This To a Friend Email This To a Friend
Topic Control Image Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies Click to stop receiving email notification of replies
jump to:

- Manga High School - Asia - Home -


Powered By ezboard® Ver. 7.32
Copyright ©1999-2007 ezboard, Inc.