A day later...

- COF Arena, Oahu -

"What?!" Jin blinks with obvious surprise. "You mean she told you?"

"Well, more like she showed me," Fei recounts. "But, pretty much, yeah."

Kushina nods in response as he quickly slips into thought. He hadn't imagined Natalie letting anybody else know such a secret, but as he reflects more on the thought he then realises the possibility of her not having had a choice at the time.

"So she was on-duty when she told you?" Jin questions, before adding another. "How is she?"

"To the first, Yes," Long answers. "She was fine when I spoke to her." He mentally wrestles on whether or not to tell Jin about "that redhead" Natalie had asked him to keep an eye on for her. The decision not to tell is what prevails, and so Fei keeps it to himself.

"I see. That's good." Jin says, diverting his gaze to one side yet not really focusing on anything in particular. With Natalie's line of work, the both of them had become increasingly distant from each other over the past couple of days, much to his chagrin. Fortunately, she was scheduled for a match tomorrow, whereas he was free for that day, so he would be able to spend some time with her then. He looks back at Fei Long. "I'm guessing you have a couple questions about all this, huh?"

"Yeah, a few." The action star/martial artist gives an easy-going smile. "But I'll save them for-"

"The following match will be the team of Fei Long and Jin Kushina against... Dan Hibiki and Aaron Volpe!" proclaims the perfectly anonymous voice announcer from the speakers.

"-later, after this match," he finishes. All four fighters present stare up at the giant screen, waiting to see who would be selected to fight first. Seconds later the faces of Fei and Aaron flash up onscreen.

At almost the same time, both fighters walk towards the stage. Fei tenses and relaxes his form, drawing attention to an impressive musculature much to the appreciation of several females in the audience as it ripples and tightens. The easy-going smile the action star/martial artist wears soon gives way to a hardened and serious façade as Long enters into his stance.

Volpe, in contrast, merely smiles coolly before entering his stance. A light, warm breeze passes between the two, blowing the Italian's Hawaiian T-shirt, worn open, to one side.

"Round 1! Ready... GO!!"


- Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, Oahu -

"Where is she?"

One of Umbrella's scientists smoothed his slicked back hair and cleared his throat. "She's...playing, Mr. Romanov. And I'm sure you have work to do. But first...One of the other doctors needs to take a look at you...just to check up on things."

"What the hell for?"

"It's...standard procedure." He pointed down the hall. "Fourth door on the left."

Romanav rolled his eyes before walking down the corridor.


- Several miles northwest of Diamond Head, Oahu -

"I wish I had been there to see it," Meliza said to her friend who was retelling the story of her match.

Finally having some free time and thinking it would be good to catch up, Meliza had given Victoria a call and the two women had gone to an outdoor mall just a few miles away from The Makai. It was a large enough establishment to satisfy any female shopper, and far away enough from the Waikiki tourists, so shopping traffic wouldn't be an issue.

"I'm sure you've been busy," Victoria responded. "Besides, you can always come next time. Sean and I aren't out of it, yet."

"You two weren't injured too much?"

Victoria set her fork down after finishing her dessert. "Actually, we're both pretty sore." She shrugged. "But that comes with the territory. Anyway, how've you been?"

"Busy," Meliza admitted with a wry smile before taking a drink. "It doesn't stop. It's what happens when you take on a lot of responsibility, I guess."

"Well, I'd think taking over a company would do that," Victoria agreed with a grin. "How you stay sane and have a personal life..." She took a sip of her drink. "Speaking of which, how's the boyfriend?"

"Um...he's here, actually," Meliza admitted.

"What?"

"Yeah, he flew in a while back to surprise me and hasn't left yet."

"Like this is a bad thing..." Victoria nudged her friend.

Meliza grinned. "I never said that."

Shortly after she and Locke started dating, Meliza had mentioned to Victoria that she was seeing someone. Having communicated frequently enough over the past few years, Meliza had no problem sharing any information about her personal life with her friend. And vice versa. They'd talk about family, work, friends, clothes, shoes, hair...just random things in general. However, out of respect for Locke's wishes, Meliza had kept his real identity a secret and had creatively weaved a story about how they first met.

Leaning back, Meliza crossed one leg over the other. "Speaking of important men in our lives, when do I get to meet Riq? He's here, right?"

Victoria smiled slightly. That was just like Meliza. She made it her business to know who was staying in her hotel. "Well...even if he is...I don't see him as much as I do at home." She sighed, staring at her drink. "He didn't really tell me, but I have a feeling he isn't here for tournament fun..."


- COF Arena, Oahu -

With his last wind, Fei Long leaps forward, with his elbow soaring to meet Aaron's midsection. Volpe parries the initial strike and just manages to absorb the hidden palm strike that followed using his forearms. The last strike forces him to take a step back in order to regain his balance, and the Hong Kong native quickly closes in for the finish.

Long goes into a jab, except his entire forearm becomes nothing more than a momentary blur. The Rekkaken strikes the vulnerable Volpe square in the chin, whipping his head back as Fei continues with a second Rekkaken, this time to the gut. The third and final Rekkaken comes in the form of a blurred forearm strike directly to the chest, matching the blow with an emphatic cry as the breath is driven out of Volpe's lungs. It connects with a thunderous crack that sends the Italian reeling as a thin trail of blood escapes his mouth, which trails the arc of his descent to the ground.

Stay down this time... Fei thinks, gasping for breath whilst clutching his injuries. A referee and crowd count to five soon confirms his hopes.

"KO! The winner of Round 1 is... Fei!" the voice announcer states. Aaron Volpe is able to get back to his feet with a kipup soon after, which Long notes as another example of his opponent's resilience, despite his defeat. After giving him a small nod, Fei heads over to his partner's position, whereas Volpe does the same.

"For a minute there, it looked like he had it won," Jin says. "Glad to see I was proven wrong, though."

As if on cue, the voice announcer broadcasts the fixture for the next Round Match: Jin Kushina versus Dan Hibiki.

"OSSHHHHHAAAAA!!!!!" Dan yells, leaping triumphantly onto the stage. He then points his finger towards Jin with a wide grin. "YOU!" he booms. "Hurry up so you can take your beating like a man, Saikyo style!"

Jin merely stares at Dan blankly while he holds back a sigh. You mean I actually have to fight someone like this? He thinks.

"Good luck," Fei encourages.

"Thanks," Kushina replies. "But I don't think I'll need it. I'll make this one quick." Jin then strolls toward the stage, where Dan has now broken out into a varied series of taunts. Geez... is he always this annoying? He wonders.

"Rakushou! Ikuzora! Yahooi! Osh-" Realising that his opponent is now approaching him, Dan comes to a stop. "Good! Now it's time to show you the power that... is... SAIKYO-RYUU!!" He accentuates those words by dropping into his fighting stance, but not before throwing in a quick taunt prior.

Jin continues to look on, clearly unimpressed. Saikyo-ryuu? Is this guy serious? Kushina soon meets Dan's fighting stance with his own, as he waits for the fight to begin.

"Round 2! Ready... GO!!"

"HERE I COME!" Dan yells. He breaks off into a breakneck dash to initiate his attack. Rather than assume a defensive posture, however, Jin rushes forward in kind in an attempt to counter Dan's tactic with readiness and anticipation.

That is, until Dan suddenly slips on some small pieces of debris, now hurtling towards Jin not unlike a human missile, along with a near-girlish scream. With lightning reflexes, Kushina leaps over the flying Hibiki who somehow manages to land into a roll, stopping into a crouching taunt for the crowd.

Baka... he's left himself wide open! Jin notes, still airborne, as he quickly draws upon his chi. "Kuutotsu... KYAKU!" he yells as he falls back down, except now with an outstretched leg shimmering with a faint, ebony aura and toward Dan's position, who is still crouched with a tight, quivering fist.

"KORYUKEN!!"

"What?!" is what a visibly stunned Jin utters as Dan suddenly ascends into the air with an extended fist, colliding into his gut and cutting off his technique. Both of them land almost simultaneously, Dan first, then Kushina a second later, who gets back up in half the time. That technique... for a brief moment, his entire body flashed white with energy. Jin recounts. I should've still been able to hit him, yet he completely nullified my attack. He then allows an amused smirk to appear on his face briefly. "Maybe this guy's not so-"

"You'll have to do better than that to defeat me, loser!" Dan interjects, snapping Jin out of his thoughts and cutting him off.

"Jama nan da yo..." (You're a nuisance) Jin mutters silently. The Kushina returns back into his stance and slowly shuts his eyes as he begins to make a circular motion in front of him with his hands. He then cups them together before him, just as a globe of energy begins to shimmer into existence within them only to dissipate just as quickly.

"I dunno what that was, but my Saikyo-ryuu cannot be defeated by loser techniques like that!" Dan comments. "If you thought my Koryuken was deadly enough, wait until you see the new moves I've invented that I'm gonna beat you with!"

Jin doesn't respond with words this time, but simply snaps his eyes open and dashes forward a second time, deciding to measure up Dan's defensive skills with two testing jabs and a cross. Dan leans away from the jabs and blocks the cross with one arm, just as he draws his other arm back to gather energy into his right hand to perform his signature move in response.

"Gadoken!" Hibiki yells, slamming the projectile directly into Jin's chest. Rather than immediately follow up, however, Dan briefly takes the time to showboat before then launching into the Dankuu Kyaku. It proves to be costly to the Saikyo fighter, for a now fully recovered Jin easily blocks the first two strikes and parries the third kick as he steps to the side to create an opening. Kushina's retaliation comes swift, and strong.

"Hageshii Ken!!" Jin booms. Dropping his arm low, he quickly executes a standing uppercut with a flame-empowered fist as a vertical, comet-like trail of fire bursts up from the ground to the air. Hibiki takes the blow to the chest and is launched off-ground to land just as harshly. By the time that the referee counts to three, Dan is soon back up on his feet.

"Not a bad attack from a loser!" Dan says. "I might have even underestimated you a little."

Jin simply stares at Dan with a grin. "Part of your gi's on fire," he comments. As Dan hurriedly reaches to put it out with a shriek, Jin speaks on. "By the way, that "loser technique" you saw earlier... that's a special technique I call the 'Gyounen', which allows me to enhance the power of some of my techniques, like the one that just hit you." Jin's grin widens before adding a parting shot, "You're not the only one who has some new moves to show today, either."

"That move you did may have been strong..." Dan admits, "...But Dan Hibiki of the Saikyo Groove is far stronger!!" Dan replies.

Jin, despite wondering on whether or not to take Dan's statement seriously, refuses to let it go unanswered. "Prove it. Or should I expect you to waste time talking?" he teased.

"What I won't waste time doing is beating you into a pulp!" Dan retorts as he goes to back up his words, beginning by crossing his arms in front of him.

'He's like a big kid,' Jin notes. 'I figured saying that would get him to act more serious, at least.' The sudden rise in Dan's chi force causes Jin to take notice and leaves him wondering what Hibiki is about to do.

"Prepare yourself..." the Saikyo Master states with a sudden ominous tone. "Saikyo Ougi! Gado... SHOKOU KEN!!"


- Several miles northwest of Diamond Head, Oahu -
       

"I'm finished here!" Yvette announced as she exited the women's lingerie shop.
       

Pablo turned to his companion for the day...and night...with a smile.
       

"I can't wait to show you what I have," she practically purred.
       

"I look forward to it," he said before they began walking.
       

On the left side, by a kiosk selling assorted jewelry trinkets and necklaces, he spotted two attractive women pouring over the items enthusiastically. One particular woman he recognized immediately.
       

"Ooh, Pablo, do you mind if I go in this shoe store! I'll be real quick." Yvette touched his arm.
       

"Not at all. Maybe you can buy something to match the outfit..." he suggested, running his fingers up and down her arm.
       

While his companion turned to enter the shoe store with the purpose of buying some tall and slinky heels, he focused on the kiosk again.
       

"Meliza, how about these? They look really pretty," Victoria was saying as she held up one item close to her ear.
       

The other woman peeked around the corner of the kiosk and said, "I think so too. They go nice with your skin." She then picked up an iridescent shell necklace.
       

Pablo took the opportunity to sneak up behind Victoria for...the umpteenth time since they came to the island. "I see you're keeping better-looking company now, preciosa."
       

Catching his reflection in the mirror, Victoria whirled around, barely concealed fury in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
       

He glanced toward the dark-haired woman before saying, "Same as you. Shopping with a friend."
       

"Hey, what about...?" Victoria's friend was holding up her wrist, which had a bracelet made of delicate white and pink shells before she glanced back and forth between him and her friend.
       

Smiling at her, Pablo gently took her hand, tugging the bracelet lightly before it settled back on her wrist again. "It suits you." He felt the tension in the woman, and she tried to pull her hand back, but he kept a firm grip, the index finger of his other hand lightly tracing the shells.
       

"I'm sorry, you are?"
       

He chuckled. "You may call me Pablo." He felt the tension ease in her, but she watched him carefully. Odd. Most women easily accepted his attention. How unfortunate. This had to be what? Number three? Five? On this island?
       

Just as Victoria lifted her foot - no doubt to give him a good kick, he released Meliza's hand.
       

Pablo reached into his pocket, turning to the clerk before giving her two twenties. "This should cover what the two lovely ladies are buying."
       

The kiosk clerk, a woman in her fifties, smiled knowingly, her eyes sparkling at him in admiration. "Of course..."
       

Victoria quickly turned as Meliza took off the bracelet to put it back. "We don't need-"
       

"Who are your friends, Pablo?" another woman spoke up.
       

Victoria and her friend turned to see Yvette, her arms crossed over her ample chest, animosity clearly reflected in her green eyes. Her tone of voice had just a hint of possessiveness.
       

"Ah, this one," Pablo placed a hand on Victoria's shoulder, squeezing ever so slightly before moving away and towards his companion. "Remember how I said that I was here for that tournament? Well...she is, too...in fact, her teacher and I are...old friends." He then took Yvette's hand and placed it on his arm before turning to the other woman. "Meliza, was it? It's always nice meeting Victoria's acquaintances." Pablo then cast a smile toward the Hispanic woman before looking her up and down. His smile widened as Victoria's right hand curled into a fist. "I'll see you around, chica. Take care..." And with that, he walked away as Yvette shot them a look of triumph over her shoulder.


- COF Arena -

"Saikyo Ougi! Gado... SHOKOU KEN!!"

Dan throws out his arms outstretched in front of him to accompany the outcry of his technique's namesake, directed at his opponent. Jin, with widened eyes, immediately raises his arms over his face to block the immense, impressive-looking orange-white projectile Dan has just produced, mentally preparing his body for the wave of energy's impact...

...which doesn't happen.

Now bearing a near-confused look on his face, Kushina lets his arms drop in time to see Dan's arms also fall as he draws deep breaths into himself. It's not this display that draws Jin's attention though, but the collective, residual particles of energy in front of Dan instead, not only letting him know that Hibiki's projectile has just dissipated, but...

That move... it stopped almost as soon as he launched it, he concludes. It had no chance of actually hitting me from that range, yet he used it anyway, thinking that it would. Jin shakes his head. Baka...

Golden-coloured eyes soon become narrow as Jin begins his counterattack. As before, Jin's retaliation comes quick and strong, this time with a short volley of punches before he finalises the assault with a roundhouse kick to the jaw. Dan sails through the air helplessly and skids along the ground. By the time he gets back up Jin is already closing the gap between them, his fist aiming towards Dan's temple and possible victory. 'Time to finish this,' Jin thinks.

That is, until Dan suddenly unleashes a wide grin at him.

"Gotcha!" the Saikyo Master says, showing more resilience than Jin had expected for he raises his left arm in time to cut off Jin's strike. "Saikyo Ougi..." Dan almost whispers before using that same arm to clamp his hand onto Jin's wrist. "KYUKYOKU TENCHI GADOU ZUKI!!"

With a glowing right fist drawn back against his waist, Dan takes a single step forward, using the momentum of that step to piston that same fist forward directly into Jin's chest as he lets go of the grip on Jin's wrist. Hibiki remains in that position, as if frozen, and observes Jin's body as it soars and spins uncontrollably through the air with a satisfied glee. "How'd you like that move, KuSHEna?" he mocks. "It's not too late for a big loser like you to give up, y'know! OSSHHHHH... aaaugh...!" Dan's grin suddenly turns into a pained grimace as he collapses to his knees, clutching his fist at around the same time that Jin slowly rises back to his feet.

"An interesting technique..." Kushina comments, keeping his expression neutral to mask the pain from his opponent, in contrast to Dan's current expression. "But I see that it's also damaged you as much as it hurt me, maybe more." As Dan returns back to a standing posture Jin takes the opportunity to perform a second Gyounen, before he continues, "You may have surprised me back there, but now it all ends here."

"I don't think so, KuSHE-" Dan is cut off for the first time in this match as Jin leaps into the air and closes in on Dan's position again with the Kuutotsu Kyaku. As before, Hibiki reacts with the Koryuken, except that, to his horror, he completely misses Jin, who lands on the ground unharmed. Jin merely grins all-knowingly as he stares up at Dan's descending form. His hand begins to erupt into flames, which Kushina snuffs out with a clenched fist, before he hurls that same fist skyward at a diagonal angle.

"HAGESHII HINOTE!!" Jin shouts. Dan can do nothing more than absorb the blow as a surge of ebony flames bursts into existence from and around the impact of Jin's colliding fist. "Baka... you took the bait," Jin says, although Dan doesn't hear it due to lying face-first on the ground, unmoving. 'That last move wasn't meant to hit you... but to make you do your Koryuken technique so that you would fall into my trap!'

"KO! The winner of Round 1 is... Jin!" the voice announcer confirms. Jin takes some time to absorb the cheers of the crowd, and then heads over to Fei Long whilst a medical team rush to carry a damaged, burned, but otherwise conscious Dan off the battlefield.

"Nice," Fei Long comments with another easy-going smile. "But I'm surprised you let your opponent trash talk so much."

"Well, let's just say a part of me felt like giving the audience a show," Jin responds. He wipes off a trail of blood from his mouth. "Right now I could do with a drink."

"Alright," Long agrees. "But it's on you this time..."


- Elsewhere, another COF Arena -

"C'mon ref," Reno implored. "Just give us the win already!"

"The rules state that if a team member or a whole team fails to attend a scheduled match by up to ten minutes after the assigned time, they are forced to forfeit their match," the referee replies coolly. He looks at his watch, and back at Reno. "There's still five minutes left."

Tseng mutters something inaudible under his breath, but otherwise heads back to his team's side of the battlefield. They ain't showing up, he concludes to himself. Hell, if I had to fight against the baboon I probably wouldn't show up either...


- Executive Offices, The Makai -

Of all the things to happen today, he didn't expect this. It was a wonder Meliza was able to get any rest around here.

Raquel, Meliza's assistant, had called him, practically frantic and in tears - 'I don't know what to do...I don't know where she is...please, please, please help!' - because Meliza was nowhere to be found and not answering her cell phone. All because of a bossy blonde who insisted that she was 'in the middle of a crisis' that needed tending to. NOW.

He pushed open the door and spotted Karin Kanzuki sitting on the couch of the reception area, tapping her foot impatiently, a pink scarf wrapped around her head and tied beneath her chin.

Putting on the persona he had used for customers and strangers, Locke gave the heiress a friendly smile. "Miss Kanzuki?"

She stared at him for a moment. "You're not Meliza."

"No," he agreed. "She has the day off and can't be reached by cell phone."

Karin turned to Raquel. "Why isn't she here? This hotel-"
       

"I told her to take today off," Locke interrupted.
       

"What are you, her boss?" When that got no response, the other woman sighed. "I'm in the middle of a crisis!" She pulled off her scarf, causing her blonde hair to tumble down her back. It stuck out in different directions, curls uneven - some were small curls, fat curls, and none of them looked the same. She looked like a seven-year-old girl's experiment with a curling iron. "The stylist in the salon is new...and she messed up my hair! This is what I get for not bringing my own stylist with me to this tournament!"
       

"Excuse me." Locke turned away and began to cough uncontrollably to cover up any laughs that were bound to come out while Raquel had gasped and quickly excused herself to the bathroom, leaving him alone in the office with Karin.
       

Who was glaring at him, her hands fisted against her hips. "Are you laughing at me?"
       

"Do I...sound like I'm laughing?" he choked out.
       

"I have a fight scheduled in four hours. I'll be on camera! This needs to look right."
       

He thumped his fist against his chest, coughing one last time before heading towards Meliza's office. "I think I might know someone who can help you..."
       

Karin promptly followed him inside. He took Meliza's Rolodex and quickly began flipping through it as Karin stood beside him, occasionally taking a peek whenever he'd stop at a name.
       

After about the third time, he stopped and looked down at her. "You looking over me isn't going to make me find this faster," he said.
       

Karin cleared her throat delicately and stepped away. "Right. Of course." She turned away, her eyes taking in the items on Meliza's desk. Computer, keyboard, small tray of office supplies, and three photographs.
       

Carefully, she picked up one in a fold out frame. On the left side a photograph of the man sitting in front of a large, marble-looking fountain in front of the Forum Shops in Las Vegas. On the right side, a photograph of Meliza and the same man on a building overlooking a large green park. Empire State Building?
       

"You're her boyfriend," Karin stated, glancing at him.
       

He paused while flipping through the cards on Meliza's desk. "Do you like stating the obvious or does bad hair make you do that?" he asked with a wry smile. At the evil eye she gave him, he went back to looking through cards.
       

"Do you like seducing rich woman or is she actually attracted to peasant boys?" Karin retorted. She sent a scathing look at his clothes, while decent looking enough, weren't recognizable designer brands.
       

As if a person with money had to wear designer brands.
       

His eyebrows lifted slightly. "Do you want help or not?"
       

She sniffed. "If Meliza was here-"
       

"She's not, and even if she was," he continued, "she'd be doing the same thing I am."
       

"And what's that?"
       

"Finding someone who can fix your hair."
       

"Fine," she huffed. "But what are you looking for, exactly? A better stylist?"

Instead of answering, he stopped at one card and picked up Meliza's desk phone, quickly dialing a number, waiting as it began to ring. "Hi, Auntie Jo, it's Dev...yeah, I'm fine...yes, she is...No, I'm staying with Meliza...I know, I keep telling her we should visit...Yeah. No, I will...I'm sorry to bother you, but..." He glanced at Karin. "Do you have time to do someone's hair? One of Meliza's work friends needs her hair fixed right away...Okay, okay." He grabbed a sticky notepad and pen from Meliza's desk, writing something down. "Ready...okay...got it. Thanks, Auntie, we'll be right over."

"We?" Karin asked as he hung up.

"Yes." Locke set the Rolodex in the exact spot it was before. "If you need your hair taken care of by a professional, I have to go with you."
       

"What? Why?"
       

"It's just what I'm supposed to do." He shrugged. "I don't ask a favor from Meliza's aunt and send you there without me."
       

"Again, why?"
       

"You don't ask your significant other's family to do something for you and not do something nice in return." He shook his head. "In this case, my visiting her is enough of a thank you."
       

"Hmm. Small gesture, but adequate..." Karin mused. Then she shook her head, "You are not going with me to this stylist."
       

He sighed, massaging his temples briefly before saying, "Look, Miss Kanzuki." He pointed at her hair, "If you're willing to find some random stylist out there to try and fix that, be my guest. Or...we could do it my way and you'll be ready in two hours."
       

"Do you always analyze everything so a person has no choice but to see things your way?" she asked suddenly.
       

"No. Ninety-nine percent of the time, my way is usually better," Locke responded with a smile.
       

Karin's eyes widened a little before she turned to exit the office. "So she not only finds peasant boys attractive, but arrogant ones, too?"
       

"You'll have to ask her that," he said smoothly, grabbing his cell phone as they exited the office to send a quick text message to Meliza. She owed him for this one. And he already had a few ideas in mind that she could use to show her appreciation for his generosity.


- Elsewhere in the COF Arena -

Reno walks over to the referee with a satisfactory smirk. "Well? It's been over ten minutes now, right?"

After another look at his watch, the referee gives a nod. "Yes."

"About time," the guitarist responds. "Now make with the victory announcement, yada-yada-yada..."

The referee frowns at Reno's comment, but complies regardless, quickly pressing one finger against an attached earpiece and muttering a few words. Seconds later, the voice of the match announcer reverberates over the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the team of Iwa Hoshi and Vega failing to appear for today's scheduled match, they are thereby forced to forfeit this match. The winners of this match, therefore, are the team of Reno Tseng and Hugo!!"

"Damn waste of my f--king time," Reno grumbles. He shoves his hands into his pockets and trudges past his partner, and towards the arena exit. "Still, a win's a win, so it wasn't a complete loss..."




- The bar lounge at the Makai -

"So that's pretty much the story, huh?" Fei Long asked as he downed the rest of his drink.

"That's it." Jin sat back in his chair.

"Pretty interesting how she got into her line of work..." Fei Long shook his head.
       

Natalie's past life seemed so long ago, and it wasn't something she shared with other people. It had seemed that she had moved on. Then again, with Parker...he wasn't going to make it that easy for them.
       

Jin's eyes moved up to see a familiar face make his way across the bar before the person sat in a seat across from a blonde, ten feet to Jin's left. He immediately recognized the pair...the man had been Natalie's opponent a while back. Jin had stopped the match before it escalated too far. Not wanting to recall everything in detail of that day, he focused on the present time, noticing that the pair had kept their voices to a low conversation volume, and yet they were loud enough that he could hear.
       

"How did it go?" the blonde asked her new companion.
       

"No one showed up," he responded.
       

"Really?" Her eyes widened ever so slightly. "I'm surprised, considering..."
       

"Yeah." The redheaded man gave her a smirk and signalled for the waiter. "Did you talk to him?"
       

"Yes. He's wondering what we're doing here when we could be working."
       

Jin watched as a young woman, probably nineteen, accompanied by another girl, also in her teens, shyly went up to the two, giggling nervously all the while.
       

"Hi...I'm sorry...can we have your autographs?" one asked, looking wildly between the two.
       

The blonde and redhead glanced at each other then at the girls.
       

"You know who we are?" the blonde asked, shocked.
       

"Yeah," the other girl giggled. "You guys are such inspiration...I mean, I've been practicing so hard because I want to be just like you guys..."
       

The other girl held up what looked to be a small notebook with a rainbow tie-dyed hardcover. "This is for all the autographs I ask for...do you mind?"
       

"Nah, of course not..." the redhead took the book and flipped to find an empty page. "Wow, you even got athletes' autographs in here..."
       

"She's such a groupie!" the other girl teased.
       

"No, I'm not! Shut up!"
       

The redhead signed his name and gave the pen to his companion, who signed her name next to his.
       

"Can we take a picture?" one girl asked, waving her digital camera up in the air.
       

"Sure," the blonde agreed before suggesting to her companion, "Why don't you pose with them first and I'll go next?"
       

Jin turned back to notice that Fei Long was watching the exchange. "You know who they are?" he asked.
     

Fei Long quickly looked away, shaking his head. "No, no idea."
       

"You sure?" Jin pressed.
       

"Yeah. I was just thinking that guy's hair is way too bright." He blinked at the odd look Jin gave him. "What? It is..."


- Several miles northwest of Diamond Head, Oahu -
       

Victoria peered around the corner of the store, her eyes set on her target. She had spotted him about ten minutes ago. After telling Meliza that she'd be right back, Victoria managed to follow her target into one of the nearby shops. Seeing him rifle through some clothing racks before going through a doorway, she quickly followed, but he was nowhere in sight.
       

She froze in shock.
       

A man, probably about her age, was in front of a three-way mirror, shirtless, his jeans gathered down to his ankles, his boxers riding low, flexing his non-existent biceps in front of the mirror. He grinned at her in the mirror.
       

"Hey, sweetcheeks."
       

Victoria took a step back. "Oh...I'm...sorry. Wrong...Wrong room..."
       

"Victoria?"
       

The young woman's eyes widened at the sound of his voice. Thinking quickly, she snatched a few clothing items off a nearby rack just as he appeared within her peripheral vision from one of the dressing rooms.
       

"Um...hi!" Victoria greeted as naturally as she could.
       

He emerged from the dressing room wearing a black button down shirt with some subtle gray design on the lower right side. A price tag was attached to it.
       

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone indicating he was surprised to see her.
       

"Shopping, of course," Victoria responded. "Trying on clothes, and...stuff." She cleared her throat. "But...I guess...I got the dressing rooms wrong..." She pointed out the door she had entered. "I'll...go to the other side...that must be the women's. See you around!"
       

"Victoria."
       

She turned slightly. "Yes?"
       

"Since when were you interested in trying men's clothes?"
       

Immediately, her eyes dropped in horror to see that she held a men's shirt and slacks in her hands, nearly twice her size. She hadn't even paid attention to what she had grabbed?!
       

How bad did this look? Her, in the men's dressing room, holding men's clothes?
       

Victoria threw the clothes onto a nearby chair, mumbling an "excuse me" and quickly exited the dressing room.
       

"Victoria!" Riq called out.
       

Oh my...could I be any more obvious?? Victoria scolded herself, threading her fingers through her hair in mortification. How about I just write 'stalker' on my forehead?? She tugged on her hair lightly before exiting the store.

"Victoria!"

Oh no...

She turned a corner and hurriedly walked down the aisle in the mall, practically colliding into Meliza, who had just emerged from the ladies' room.

"Hey," Meliza greeted. "Everything okay? I went looking for you-"

The other woman was cut off as Victoria grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the women's bathroom.

"What-?!" Meliza's eyes widened in shock as the door swung closed behind them.

Victoria pulled Meliza away from the powder room and into the main restroom containing the stalls and sink before turning to her friend.

"I need a huge favor," Victoria announced quickly.

"Um...okay..." Meliza blinked, noting her friend's appearance. Victoria seemed...edgy. Nervous. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to distract someone," she said.

Meliza frowned slightly. "I'm not sure what-"

"I need you to distract Riq."

The other woman's brown eyes widened. "What? Wait...he's here?"

"Yes." Victoria's fingers curled into fists and she fought the urge to twiddle her fingers. "I saw him wandering around about twenty minutes ago and I wanted to see what he was up to, so I followed him into this one store and then I ended up in the men's dressing room and-"

"You what??"

"Please, can I finish?" At Meliza's nod, Victoria cleared her throat and continued breathlessly, "And then he asked me what I was doing and I told him I was trying on clothes, but I was actually holding men's clothes because I just grabbed anything so I wasn't paying attention, you know? So he caught me and I just ran."

"I'm confused..."

"I know, but basically, he just caught me doing something dumb and I'm too embarrassed to tell him what I was really doing-"

"Which was following him, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, that I got..."

"Okay, so I think now he's the one following me and I'm not ready to explain what I was doing."

"So you want me to distract him?"

"Yeah. This is a big mall. We can meet at Victoria's Secret...no, he might check for me there...what about the most manly place...no, he might think I'd do that too if I'm not at Victoria's Secret..."

"How about that Hawaiian shop when we first walked in the other side of the mall?"

"Okay, that will work," Victoria nodded.

Meliza bit her lip. "Maybe he's gone and we don't have to do this."

"I know he was following me. I'm sure-" She paused as a young woman walked in. "Excuse me...um...this sounds like a random question, but are there any hot guys standing outside?"

The redhead nodded. "You bet there is. I just saw one, built, tan, green eyes. He doesn't look like he's from here. Looks...like a mix of something...but...very nice on the eyes." She sighed wistfully. "He looked like he was waiting for someone, though."

"Okay, thanks." Victoria turned to her friend as the woman entered a stall. "You remember what he looks like?"

"Yeah. You sent me a few pictures of you, your grandmaster, and Riq a while back." Meliza pushed back her hair. "All right...give me five minutes and you can head out."

She went to the exit, cautiously opening the door, leaving it ajar, catching sight of the man about thirty feet away to her left side. The men's bathroom door across from her opened, and out walked a teenaged boy, probably no older than sixteen, skateboard clutched in his hand.

An idea quickly appeared in her head.

"Excuse me," she spoke up.

The boy stopped short, glancing around.

"Yes, you with the skateboard." Meliza waved her hand, gesturing that he come closer.

"Me?" he whispered, pointing at himself, looking at her in surprise.

"Yes!" she hissed.

He jumped and took a few steps towards her.

"How'd you like to make a hundred and sixty dollars in cash?" Meliza asked.

==

Where was that girl? Riq surveyed the area that she had gone. In all honesty, she could have gone to any of these stores. Just as she had been running outside the dressing room, he'd quickly managed to take off the clothes he'd been trying on, change back into his regular clothes, and follow her into the mall.

He turned around, shaking his head.

A female cry could be heard just as the sound of wheels crunching against concrete echoed in the outdoor mall.

"You jerk!"

Riq turned his head to see a dark-haired woman sitting on the ground, her knees bent to one side, and her small straw purse tossed haphazardly a few feet away. And quickly speeding away, a young man on a skateboard who turned the corner before disappearing.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he moved towards her.

She leaned over to grab her purse, grumbling about reckless teenagers on skateboards before noticing his presence. "Oh...yes...thank you."

He offered her a hand to help her up, but as she grasped it in an effort to pull herself up, she let out a hiss of pain and immediately let go of his hand to touch her left ankle.

"Ow..."

Riq looked in the direction that the teenager had disappeared before turning to her. The woman hadn't lucked out...no doubt thanks to the collision with the skateboarder...and her high sandals...she must have gotten a sprain. "Here...let me help you up..."

"No, it's okay...I don't want to trouble you..."

He squatted down slightly, placing her arm around his shoulders. Bracing one hand at her waist, he moved to a standing position as she made sure to keep the weight off her bad foot.

"See? No trouble. Let's find you a place to sit..." He surveyed the area before seeing some benches a good twenty feet away.

"Thank you so much for doing this..." she said as he guided her to a bench.

"You're welcome."

As she sat down, Riq took the time to study her. There was some nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him that he'd seen her somewhere else before. His intuition told him that they'd never met...but her face...He just couldn't place it. Or maybe she just had that look. A good portion of the locals were Asian or Polynesian. Maybe he was just placing her face with some of the locals he'd seen.

He bent slightly to examine her ankle. "It doesn't look swollen."

"That's a good sign, right?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, so far. Normally ice keeps the swelling down. But you shouldn't walk on it for a while."

Suddenly, she grabbed his shirtfront, clinging on for several moments. A couple seconds a little too long, in his opinion. "Could you get some ice? Just in case?"

He hesitated for a second.

"Please?" she begged. She looked away and tucked several hair strands behind her left ear. "I...If I don't take care of this...I may not be able to dance tonight. If I don't dance, I don't get paid. The money's really good, and-"

"Right," he responded quickly. "I'll...go get you some ice." He hurried away towards the closest food stand.

There had to be other ways a girl could make a living in Hawaii other than...dancing, right?

       
- COF Arena -

"KO! The winner of Round 2 is... Makoto! The winners of today's match are the team of Ryu and Makoto!"

Makoto lets her arms drop against her with a relaxed sigh whilst breathing heavily from the expenditure of her chi energies. That was a close fight, she thinks as she stares over at her defeated opponent. She's strong... I actually feel even stronger just from fighting her!

"I didn't win..." Karin utters to herself, rubbing her left shoulder with one hand whilst falling to her knees from exhaustion. Fortunately for the Kanzuki heiress, it wasn't as damaged as she'd originally thought. "I was sure that my 'Shinpikaibyaku' attack would defeat her move back there, but-"

Karin doesn't get to finish, for a shadow suddenly appears over her that causes her to look up and realise that Makoto is now standing in front of her. The two fighters stare at each other for several seconds, until Makoto breaks the silence.

"You fight well, Kanzuki-sama," Makoto says with a short bow. She then extends a hand to Karin who takes it and pulls herself to her feet.

"Thanks, you too," Karin responds. "Oh, and you can just call me Karin..."


- Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, Oahu -

"I'm sorry...repeat that."

Romanav, standing with his arms crossed over his chest as he stared through the large windows, spoke again, his voice deadpan. "Get someone else."

"But Eleonore-"

"-is a pain," Rez concluded, glaring at the child who merely stared at the pattern of colored lights dancing in the room. "I've met practically dead soldiers who are better help than her."

"But your cover-"

"As if anyone would believe that," Rez interrupted again. "People staying there are onto her now." Just as John Heagy was a thorn in his side.

The scientist sighed. "Sending someone else is not an option at the moment. And even if she stays low for a while, this isn't something you can do alone."

"It's going to be a while before you and your other weirdo work friends can get the samples and info of the people you really want." He changed the subject, ignoring the scowling face of the child beyond the glass. No use arguing with these people. For whatever reason, they thought the kid would be of good use for the time being. Even though he had his own opinion.

They were technically paying him.

To babysit.

Maybe he should look into other lucrative options. There was always something out there.


- The Makai, one of the fighters' rooms -

"Umbrella Pharmaceuticals has appointed a new president in this time of tragedy..." the television news blared with the latest story.

"Pick up, pick up," Guy chanted into his phone as he dialled Ming's room number.

"Please leave a message after the tone," the automated voice greeted before activating voicemail recording.

"Ming, it's Guy. I wanted to get some practice in... Not sure when we'll be scheduled, but I thought it'd be a good idea to plan ahead. Give me a call." With that, he hung up.

"In other news...Coast Guard found the body of a young man yesterday afternoon several miles off the coast of Hawaii. The man was believed to have been dead for several days, due to a stab wound to the back. The body has been identified as Ming Croft...his sister, while refusing interviews, has released this statement to the press..."

Guy stared in shock at the television. It all seemed...unreal. Ming...was gone???