DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own any of the characters....


Where Did All the Guys Go?

Chapter 7 - Four Letters Can’t Spell Prank…

By Sapphire17


3 days after ‘The Chinese Quest for Dominance’....

Jin now hung up the phone in a chuckle fit after a rather humorous conversation with his father.  Well, they were humorous in Jin’s opinion at least, not really Kazuya’s… but then again, all of the conversations with his father had been for the past several days.  He laughed once more as he sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for Hwoarang to return to the apartment with the dreaded mail…

Hmm, I remember what happened last time he checked the mail....

Just then, Hwoarang came in through the front door and entered the kitchen, with a huge-ass stack of mall in his grasp.

“What the hell, uh, I mean heck is up with all that?!”  My father & Hwo are both bad influences on my language!

“Um, well…”

“Wait, how long has it been since we checked the mail this time?”

“Hmm,” Hwoarang thought, “Since we received the ‘dance’ letter, I guess.”

Hwoarang now set the stack down on the table, as they both began to skim through it, hoping for no bills, as always.

“Hey,” Jin noticed a letter that was rather fancy, “Look at this, it looks like more Tekken information to me.”

“Nah ah!  No way, no more dances for me!” Hwoarang swiftly shook his head.

“It’s not a dance,” Jin replied as he ripped the letter open to unfold it, “It’s about a sparring match.”

“Huh,” Hwoarang’s brows furrowed, “But then who’s holding it?”

“It doesn’t say, but there are quite a few names on this list, looks like all of the Tekken competitors to me.”

“Even those damned Jacks?” Hwoarang asked.

“Yea,” Jin sighed, “I hate those dam-uh, dang Jacks too.  And every tournament they just keep getting weirder…”

Hwoarang nodded, “Like Combot, now there’s a scary sight…”

“Got that right,” Jin agreed, “But hey, at least my father did one thing good for Lee by sending it to a scrap pile.”

“Word.”

“Huh?…”

Hwoarang sighed, “Yes.”

“Oh…  Well, I guess we can expect to see a lot of weird fighters and er, ‘things’ there.  I found the fighting logs kinda scary myself…” Jin then followed this last remark up quickly, “But I didn’t say that!”

ha ha he’s afraid of the logs!! Wait, those things ARE kinda scary... “So, when is this sparring match?”

“Hmm,” Jin read the rest of the letter, before sweatdropping, “Er, five hours…”

“Ah well, I’m in the mood to kick some ass,” Hwoarang declared before coughing slightly.

“Are you feeling ok babe?” Jin asked raising an eyebrow.

Hwoarang nodded.  “Yea, I think I’m just coming down with a cold or something, but I can handle it.”

“Hmp, that’s strange.  My dad just said he thought that Lee may be coming down with one too.”

“Well, you can’t be too surprised when you take a look at the time of the year,” Hwoarang replied.

“Huh?” Jin’s brows furrowed a bit, “But it’s May?”

“Exactly, the time for allergies.”

“But are allergies even related to colds?”

“Yea, I think so.”

“Woa,” Jin replied, “I never knew that!”

“You can learn a lot from me, Jin.”

“More than you’ll ever know,” he grinned before leaning over to plant a kiss on Hwoarang’s lips, which shortly turned into an on-the-table make-out session straight on after.


At this time, Kazuya and Lee were out by their swimming pool, basically basking in the sun and being lazy while drinking margaritas.

“Kaz?”

“Yea?”

“Are you sure this is the best thing to do before the sparring matches today?  I mean, shouldn’t we be training or something?”

“Ok Lee,” Kazuya began, “In my opinion, this is just as good as meditating, which I’m glad you don’t waste your time in doing like Lei and the Laws do, cause’ they look retarded.  I mean, think about it, they meditate to ‘sooth the mind’ and ‘relax the body’, and get in touch with nature and auras and all that crap.”

Lee nodded.

“So,” Kazuya continued, “What I’m saying is, tanning while drinking a margarita is the same thing as meditation, only better.”

“Kazuya,” Lee began, “That was the biggest load of crap I have ever heard.  But, it does make sense, so I amend you for it.”

“Here here,” Kazuya then clicked his margarita glass to Lee’s.

“Yes, a toast to ‘meditation’,” Lee replied before lightly coughing as he turned his head away.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok?”  Kazuya asked.

“I already told you, I’m fine.  But ‘you’ on the other hand, I’m not so sure about.  Those red & purple trunks are…”

“…Sexy?”

Scary.... “Of course hon.”

“Hey Lee, would you want to go have some ‘fun’ in the hop tub?”

Lee smirked, “But I thought we were ‘meditating’?”

“This is meditating.”


Lei was in his office, and he felt like shit……

“Uhh, I spent WAY too much time in this damned office… I’m starting to have trouble even remembering what my apartment looks like these days…”

He sighed once more as he stared at the enormous stacks of paperwork on his desk, before coughing once again.  “…I think whatever I have, is getting worse…”  He groaned as he remembered the sparring matches were only a few hours away, he really didn’t feel like it…

He then heard a knock on his office door.  “Comein…”

The door then opened as Detective Chon stepped in.  “I have the file for that syndicate case you’re working on.”

“Thanks….*cough* *cough*…”

“Um, are you feeling alright?  You’ve been coughing an awful lot these past several days, and I can tell its getting worse…”

“I think you’re right,” Lei replied, “I’ve been having trouble breathing since I woke up this morning too…”

Chon shook his head, “I think you need to see a doctor.”

The hospital of humiliation....  “Um, maybe later.  But I’ve got some sparring matches today to take care of first…*cough*…”

“O—k…”  Chon sarcastically spoke, “But hey, you’re pretty strong and all, do you think you could give me a few tips on… something?”

“Ask away…”

“Well…”

Bryan Fury now entered the police headquarters at this time.  Hmm, at least they fixed the door....

“Wuzup Fury?!” A random retarded man that Bryan had never seen before asked.

These people just keep getting weirder....  No wonder I decided drug dealing and bank-robbing was a better alternative to this....

“Is Lei in his office?”

“Uh, yea, I think so.  He’s in there with Yo’ Chon.”

Weird names too....

Bryan then went to the back of the building, where Lei’s office was located.  He stopped just short outside the door as he heard some rather loud groaning coming from inside… “What the…”  He then leaned his ear up against the door to hear—

“You’re…better…than I thought…”

“So…are…you…”

“Not…being too…hard on ya…huh?”

“I’ve…had…harder...”

Bryan recognized that last voice to be Lei’s, as he kicked in the door, breaking the lock as he did so, only to see—

“Bryan!  What the hell was that for?!”

Bryan had walked in to see Lei and Chon arm wrestling. “Oh…oops…”

Oh, he thought we were—  Lei loudly sighed as he sat back in his chair.

“Well I’ll be seeing you later, Lei,” Chon replied as he got up to exit through the door, “And remember the deal,” he winked before exiting and shutting the door.

Bryan instantly turned his head toward Lei after the guy exited.  “Lei, what the hell was that about?!  Did he just ‘wink’ at you?!  And what deal?!”

Lei sighed once more, “His girlfriend is going to leave him for another man unless he can prove he’s stronger and beat him in a fight, not to mention the other man is also Detective Strain, and Chon doesn’t want this getting around the police station, because he ‘is’ a wimp.”

“Damn right he is!” Bryan smirked.  “So, I see you’re already dressed for the matches today.”

“Yes, my black slacks and my favorite silken blue shirt.”

“Which will be buttoned,” Bryan chose to ‘finish’ Lei’s sentence.

Lei rolled his eyes, “You fight topless half the time, as well as a lot of the other guys, and you’re telling me to keep my shirt buttoned?! *cough*…” Lei replied in a flustered manner.

Uuh, I guess I really don’t want to start up ‘The Chinese Quest for Dominance’ thing again...and ouch...  “I guess you’re right, I just don’t like people staring at you.”

“Well, you *cough * burned several of my more ‘conservative’ outfits already…*cough*…”

“Yes, indeed I did,” Bryan replied, “And I did you a favor too.  And what the hell is up with all of this coughing anyway?!”

“I’m really not feeling so good, Bryan…”

Oh no.... I’m not going for this again!!!  Nah-ah!!  “Sure…” Bryan sarcastically replied, and then walked slowly over to Lei.  “And I see you have quite a bit of paperwork…Would you… like me to take care of it?” Bryan grinned in a dark manner.

Lei arched a brow, “What do you mean?”

And with that, Bryan quickly pushed all of the files and papers aside to where they fell off of the desk, before forcefully grabbing a hold of Lei and throwing him down on it, in one, swift motion.

Lei sighed the moment his back hit the desk, “But don’t forget, my shirt needs to say ‘buttoned’ and—.”

Lei was cut off as Bryan grabbed a hold of each side of his silken shirt at the collar and ripped it straight open, as the buttons flew about the air as they then scattered across the floor.

“Bryan!!  What the *cough* hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“This is what I’m doing my dear Lei,” Bryan whispered in Lei’s ear before beginning to slowly kiss trail down the side of his neck, and then down to his chest.

“Hmmm…but it’s just that this is my… favourite *cough* shirt…*cough*…”

Bryan then halted and shot his head up to make eye contact, “Lei, you really ‘don’t’ sound too good…”

*knock* *knock*

Crap!  There’s NO LOCK ON THE DOOR!!!  Lei remembered before quickly falling backwards to do a back flip and land on the floor in the middle of all of his paperwork, which now flew everywhere.

“Damnit…” Bryan muttered in frustration at the ‘perfect timing’…

Detective Strain then opened the office door, well, ‘swung’ it open, since the lock had been broken off.  Strain looked around.  Lei was on his ass on the floor, his shirt was ripped open, there were blue buttons at his feet, papers were flying around the room, and Bryan was kneeling in front of the clear-topped desk.  Hmm....It’s rather obvious to me what’s going on here...  “Lei! You two really need to stop fighting like this.  Especially in your office, this place is a complete mess now!”

What an idiot...poor guy...  “…Yea, fighting…*cough* *cough*…uuh…”

“Dang Lei,” Strain began, “It’s already gotten around that you’ve obviously got…something…  I also heard about how you were now having frequent headaches and trouble breathing, I really think you should see someone about this…”

Bryan then looked back down at Lei as he began to rise from the floor, as his brows furrowed.

Lei sighed, “I guess I can go *cough* see someone about it *cough* after I fight in the sparring matches today *cough* *cough*…”

Bryan and Detective Strain both gave Lei the ‘you can’t be serious about still fighting you idiot’ look.

“…Anyway,” Detective Strain continued, “I just wanted to give you the syndicate case file from your homeland trip to Hong Kong last week,” He then sat the file on the desk, “Oh, and you better not be helping that asshole Yo’ Chon who’s trying to steel my woman, or I’ll—.”

“Or you’ll what?” Bryan asked as he took a step closer to the man and looked down on him.  Bryan was waaaay taller than this guy…

“Um, I was going to say I’ll be really upset.”  This is weird.  One minute, this guy is apparently kicking Lei’s ass, and the next they’re best friends?  I’ll never understand them Americans...  “…Yeeeaaahh, well, I’ll see you later, Lei,” He then turned around to exit the door.  He really was an idiot…

 “I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you,” Bryan muttered as he cracked his knuckles in response to Strain’s last sentence…  He then heard Lei coughing AGAIN and instantly turned to face him.

“Damnit Lei, why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

Lei sighed, “Because it’s NO big deal, really,” he said in a somewhat sarcastic manner.

“At first I thought you were trying to fool me again, after that whole ‘Chinese Quest for Dominance’ crap, so I pretty much ignored it… but now… I’m not so sure,” Bryan arched a brow.

“Ok, fine,” Lei replied as he looked down at the floor and crossed his arms, “I admit it… you were right, it was another joke…ok…  Happy?” Lei then turned around… (Trying to keep from coughing…)

“That’s what I thought…” Bryan sighed, “This is ‘really’ starting to piss me off, Lei.  First you were in a wreck and got ran over, next you were in critical condition at the hospital’s emergency clinic, then you ‘killed’ yourself, and NOW you’ve got pneumonia?!  It’s NOT funny anymore!!!”

“…I never got ran over…” Lei muttered in remembrance, “Where did you hear that?”

Bryan growled slightly, “You’ve told me before that I needed to ‘grow up’.  Well, it sounds to me like you’re the one who needs to,” he replied coldly as he shook his head before heading for, and then out the door to the office, without looking back…

Lei then coughed once more before leaning back against the desk for support as he brought his hand up to his chest and hunched forward slightly….  He’d lied…  He really was sick…  He just didn’t want Bryan to get all worried about him; also, he didn’t want to disrupt any of the sparring matches that were to take place in a few hours.  Plus, he was a Tekken fighter, and Tekken fighters were supposed to be among the strongest and most skilled fighters in the world.  Tekken fighters didn’t back down because of a little…‘cold’…


“This sucks!!” Forest spat angrily as he made his way down the grey sidewalk of the central park.  He was going to have to set out the sparring matches for sure this time…

“Sorry Forest,” Paul replied, “But remember, if you had of—.”

“Listened to you in the first place, then this never would have happened!  I KNOW already!  Damn!”

“You really are agitated at this, but don’t worry too much, after all, it’s just a little sparring match workout crap thing.  It’s not like this is an actual tournament,” Paul spoke, trying to make Forest feel any better if he could.

Forest sighed, “I’m sorry if I seem so…”

“Pissed?”

“Yea…  I’ve actually never had to use crutches before and don’t you dare say ‘you could have taken the wheelchair AGAIN!”

I actually was about to say that...again...  “I wasn’t going to say that…”

He was...  “Ah well,” Forest shrugged, “Of course I wish you to do well though, and you know that.”

They both stopped along the path as they now sat down on one of the nearby park benches.

Paul nodded.  “Yes, I do know that, and I thank you babe, and if anything ever happens to me, then you should know that,” Paul replied, trying to sound sarcastically romantic in attempts to make Forest laugh.

Forest chuckled before a thought suddenly crossed his mind.  “Hey Paul, I just thought of something…”

“And what’s that?”

“Well you know, about the other guys, I mean, what should happen if they look at the scheduled matches to see Jin vs. Hwoarang, Bryan vs. Lei, or Kazuya vs. Lee?”

“Dang, I hadn’t thought of that yet,” Paul replied, “But if any of that were to happen, then they would probably just go easy on each other because this is just another dumb preparation crap program.”

Forest nodded.  “Or they may just fight it out, I suppose.  And in every fight, unless it’s a draw which doesn’t happen too often, there has to be a winner and a loser.  So, imagine if let’s say, Kazuya had to fight Hwoarang, and ended up whooping him.  How would Jin feel about this?”

“He would most likely want to kick Kazuya’s ass and then they’d have a fight I guess.”

“Probably,” Forest replied, “But I doubt anyone will really get ‘whooped’, especially Hwoarang, or any of the ‘others’ for that matter.”  Forest then turned his head away from Paul as he coughed slightly.

“Are you ok, Forest?”

“Yea,” he grinned, “I think I may just be getting a small cold, or allergies maybe.  This actually started up a little while after ‘The Chinese Quest for Dominance’, so I guess I could have caught something from one of them,” he shrugged.

“Hey,” Paul began, “Isn’t one of them ‘not’ Chinese?  I don’t remember which, though.”

“Hmm,” Forest thought for a moment, “You know, I don’t remember either…”

*Both start to laugh

“Hey Forest, do you want to go down by the lake while I try to be all romantic?”

“Sure,” Forest smiled.

They then rose from the bench, and turned around as they made their way through the trees and bushes to where the lake was.  They were almost there, when suddenly Paul held his arm out to block Forest from going any further.

“What is it?”

“…Forest, look…”

Forest the peeked his head over to where Paul was staring wide-eyed at, only for his own eyes to immediately widen as well…

“Paul?…”

“Yea?…”

“Isn’t that Ling Xiaoyu and Miharu Hirano?”

“Yea.”

 Basically, Forest and Paul had stumbled upon Xiaoyu and Miharu… who had broken from a kiss right as they had walked up.

They were both standing a foot in front of the edge of the lake in their school uniforms, when Ling suddenly turned around.

“Miharu,” she whispered, “Someone’s back there…”

“Uh oh…” Forest muttered, “Paul, you go on ahead and get out of here.  Save yourself, you still have a chance…”

“No Forest, I’m not leaving you,’ Paul replied before putting his hand on Forest’s shoulder, who nodded.

Suddenly, both Paul and Forest looked back to where Xiaoyu and Miharu had been standing only a second ago, to see they had disappeared, just like that…”

“…I have a bad feeling about this…” Paul whispered.

“Hi ya!” Ling exclaimed as she now launched a kick at Paul, seemingly appearing out of no where, as Miharu launched one at Forest from the other side.  They both got hit…

“Ahh!!” Forest exclaimed as he fell back on the cast.

“FOREST LAW??!!”  Miharu exclaimed.

Xiaoyu now took a better look at who she had just kicked.  “PAUL??!!”

“Uh oh…” Miharu muttered.  “Looks like we’ve got some…explaining to do…”

“Nah, that’s ok,” Forest chuckled, “Believe me, you’re not alone…”

“…Oh, so then you know about Jun and Michelle then too, huh?…”  Xiaoyu asked.

“……………Well…actually……”


Four Hours Later...

 

Jin and Hwoarang were now on their way the Mishima Dojos, where the dumb sparring matches were to be held, though, they still had no clue as to who could be holding them…just like everyone else apparently so far…

“Hwoarang, are you sure you’re feeling better?”  Jin asked for the zillionth time as he and Hwoarang walked along the crowded sidewalks to the dojos, they had decided not to take the…car…

“Jin, I already told you, I’m fine,” Hwoarang sighed.

Jin shrugged.  “It’s just you’ve been coughing on and off for the past three days, and it seems like it’s getting worse…” he then face Hwoarang with a concerned look.

Hwoarang grinned and shook his head.  “Like I said, don’t worry about it.”

“But the thing is,” Jin began, “I haven’t been feeling so good myself today…”

 

As they walked further down the sidewalk, they both pasted a newsstand…with the headline “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (A.K.A. SARS) Sweeps across China…”

 

 

A/N:  The idea for this chapter partially goes to my friend Janie out there, who did FINALLY join.  I haven’t known anyone who’s had SARS yet, since it hasn’t really come to the U.S. or to the land down under either, but my teachers and the news have talked about it a lot.  Well, uh, yea…


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