PHOENIX REBORN by Victar (vctr113062@aol.com) http://members.aol.com/sglkht Prologue: The End of Life AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: Toshin Expedition, section Alpha Tekkenshu Corps files X35728-AB Mishima syndicate phonic records tag 12486-CD May 15, 2013 6:04 p.m. [begin recording] YAMADA: Testing, one, two three. The date is May 15, 2013. The time is 6:04 p.m. Will replay this sample at once. Y: Excellent. All equipment is in serviceable order. This is Junior Officer Yamada of the Tekkenshu Corps speaking, accompanied by Senior Officer Kobayashi and a Mr., uh, Guatemala. Sirs, please make a statement in order to identify your voices for the record. KOBAYASHI: Kobayashi here, as if it matters. GUATEMOC: My name is Guatemoc. Mangle it again, and you will invoke the wrath of the War God! Y: Correction noted. This statement remarks the inception of the first officially recorded Mishima syndicate excursion into the Toshin ruins, which we discovered in the Valley of Mexico three days prior to this time. It is speculated that within this subterranean tomb lie relics of the ancient Aztec civilization. Our mission is to survey and report its contents. Mr. Guatemoc, whose unearthing and deciphering of ancient writings helped lead us to this monumental discovery, has consented to serve as our guide. Glory to Mishima-sama! K: Yamada... Y: We begin our journey in a long, narrow brickwork hall, consisting of cinnamon-red stones mortared with the crusty remnants of a decayed organic substance. Each brick is approximately twenty centimeters wide and eight centimeters high. The floor is approximately four meters wide where we are standing; twelve steps further down it narrows to approximately two meters. The ceiling is approximately- K: Yamada, shut up. Y: But sir, we have orders. K: You know damn well no one is ever going to listen to this thing. It will just sit in a file until a team of real archaeologists can make a competent analysis of this miserable hole in the ground. The only reason we're here is because the brass wants me out of the way while they're in summit with the Yad Vashem Self-Defense Force. Y: Sir? Were you told that? K: Not in so many words, but you know the score. Damn Jews have been clamoring for my head ever since the little incident at New Gethsemane. G: So, you consider the slaughter of eighty-seven prisoners of war to be a "little" incident? K: Oh, you've heard of me? G: Personally, I would think that one would transcend the definition of a "little" offering once one has procured the blood of a mere dozen souls. Eighty-seven belongs more in the range of a "moderate" sacrifice, while a truly divine blood offering would present hundreds or even thousands of- K: Don't get sarcastic with me. I will not hear of it. G: I speak my mind. You hear what you will. K: You need to be taught a lesson, do you? Then- Y: Sir, may I humbly remind you that future expeditions and translation efforts will require his services. K: Shut up or I'll give you a black eye. Y: I'm sorry, sir. K: Wait a minute - you already have a black eye. How did you get it? Y: An accident, sir. K: Never mind. How far is it to the inner chamber, anyway? Y: Echolocation projects approximately one-tenth of a kilometer, sir. K: Then move. The sooner this farce is over with, the better. Y: Let the record reflect that these internal walls have gained numerous copper ornamentations as we progress. They are hammered into a variety of stylized animalistic decorations. And now we have reached the final door; it is of solid stone, with pictographic runes carved upon its exterior. There are approximately twenty lines of one hundred symbols each. Posted on either side of the door are two extraordinary, primitive mannequins, composed of wooden blocks connected in the rough shape of a man and a woman, respectively- K: Yamada, I told you to shut up. I'm sick of your prattling, I'm sick of your rigid-ass obsession with trivial details, I'm sick of your fawning attempts to gain a promotion, and most of all, I'm sick of _you_. The next time I tell you, it will be with my combat knife in your gut. Y: I'm sorry, sir. K: We've done our job. Let's go back. Y: But- G: Don't you wish to know what the ancient writing says? K: What? You can read it? G: It is a highly archaic variant of the Nahuatl tongue of my ancestors. I am the sole living man who has fully deciphered it. It speaks of Toshin, the great God of War, who sleeps beyond this gate. He is Strength. He is Immortality. His very composition is the elixir of the Divine; to partake of him is to transcend mortal being. Only blood can call him from beyond this ancient seal, freshly spilled blood, offered with reverent desire to gain eternal Life and absolute Power! K: You can't possibly be reading all that off the damn door. It's too dark in here. G: If you take a step closer, you can see the floor basin meant to collect the requisite bodily fluids. K: I don't see any- K: What the HELL!? G: Although I must confess that in this poor light, I can repeat the inscription only because I took the time to study it when Yamada and I came here yesterday. K: What's making those dummies MOVE!? Yamada- UGH! Y: You made them move, Kobayashi. When you approached them. I found that out the hard way. K: AH! Get these things - AHGK - away from me! Yamada! Ah - argh! AAH! K: They... they stopped? I thought they were going to beat me to death, and they stopped? Y: Of course. K: Yamada, I - I can't move my arms. Or my legs. Help me up... Y: Guatemoc will help you. G: Yes. K: What? Yamada, you whimpering, sniveling little snob, _I'm_ giving _you_ the orders! If you don't obey _now_, I'll - I'll - Guatemoc! My god, NO! G: For Toshin, the God of War! K: AAAAAAAAAH-! Y: Heh. Heh-heh. Senile old fool. You never even realized, did you? Never realized how earnestly the Mishima syndicate desires an alliance with the Yad Vashem Force? Never realized that your head would be an infinitesimal price to pay for it? Never realized HOW MUCH I HATE YOU!? G: Rest well, honored one! Your noble sacrifice will bring forth the Divine, and earn your place among the Gods! Y: What-? Guatemoc, what are you doing? G: Bringing forth his heart, and pouring free his blood. Y: You mean, you're really following through with the second half of our orders? But that's insane, I thought it had to be a sadistic joke- G: Only blood can open the way to Toshin, and his Elixir of Immortality. So it has been written. So it must be. Y: You're sick. G: Oh, Toshin! Manifest, and let us bask in your Divine Power! COME BEFORE US, O GOD OF WAR! Y: Wh-what? Did you activate some kind of hidden catch? Why is everything- Y: My... my god! H-how... who... _what_ are you? UNKNOWN VOICE: +YOUR SOUL IS WEAK.+ Y: Get back! Get back or I'll shoot! Y: AAAAAAAAGH-! U: +I MUST HAVE STRONGER SOULS.+ G: All praise the Divine Toshin! O God of War, I beg of you, honor your reverent follower! Yes, yes, take me in your celestial embrace, and give me the gift of Immortality! U: +I MUST HAVE SOULS WITH GREATER POTENTIAL.+ G: Ah-ahgk, Divine One, your embrace is too tight - I can't - can't... aaaaaAAAAAAAH! U: +I MUST HAVE SOULS OF POWER!+ [end recording] AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: Toshin Expedition, section Beta Tekkenshu Corps files X35728-AB Mishima syndicate phonic records tag 12486-CD-2 May 16, 2013 11:48 a.m. [begin recording] ISHIDA: Excellent. All equipment is in serviceable order. This is Ishida of the Mishima syndicate speaking, accompanied by Kimura and honored with the noble presence of Heihachi Mishima-sama. Glory to Mishima-sama! Sirs, would you please make a statement in order to- MISHIMA: Forget the formalities. Just tell me what happened here. KIMURA: We're, uh, not sure, Mishima-sama. Something seems to have provoked a massive cave-in. We've just now managed to clear the greater part of the wreckage. Nearly all the artifacts inside the tomb have been damaged or destroyed, except for two wooden mannequins- M: I already know about that. Did you contain the wooden people? K: With great difficulty, Mishima-sama. M: Go on. K: But I'm afraid the three members of the initial expedition are dead. Their bodies- M: I can see their bodies. Did you recover the recording log? I: Yes, Mishima-sama. It survived intact by a stroke of good fortune. We have kept it safe as per your orders. M: Give it to me. Now.