~* Several days ago at Bubba Gump, a table by the window. *~

Two glasses of blueberry smoothies stood side by side, one half-full the other completely empty. Ping Pong shrimps are more than enough to make a girl break her diet, not that she's on one. Dressed in casual jeans, a vest over a t-shirt, her black matte clamshell cell phone was hanging from the strap around her neck as she fiddled around with it. She took a break now to grab another shrimp.

Things are going on well it seems. The intended ones should have no problem making it. Her Master seems to be rather fond of Japanese fighters considering the list she currently has. As for the fights in Hong Kong, she has no worries at all about the pair getting in. It would be a huge disappointment for the Master if they didn't.

Her squirrel wandered off again but she ignored him, idly picking up another shrimp in boredom wondering which of her former allies would be the first to get a taste of the new tricks she learnt. She was getting bored of not having someone to fight.
 

~* Elsewhere in the restaurant. *~

Young Mel was surveying the area hoping to find a choice seat that would allow him the view of the ocean. His mother is currently in the ladies and therefore handed him that task. Something furry darted by the corner of his eye, a rat in here?! It made him wonder. The unusually furry tail caught his attention and led him to seek it out. What is a squirrel doing in this establishment?

At the end of the chase, the squirrel twitched its annoyed whiskers at him and leapt up a table. The hair on the back of Mel's neck stood, he felt someone watching him with cat like interest. Looking up into a pair of brown eyes, he throws his little fist towards her and she caught it easily, a smile of sorts greeted his recognition.

Reaching up to her ear she switches off the ear-piece and puts her cell phone into her vest pocket. The Master needs not know about this particular run-in.

"Sit."

He obeyed her hopping up a chair. His heart was thumping away as he hadn't seen her for over a year and when he heard that she had dropped out of existence, he was worried when his father didn't tell him much.

So many questions indeed. Won't his father be proud to know that he was the one who finally found her. To be able to see the look on faces of Uncle Ryu and Auntie Chun Li when he brings her home to them. In some technical sense of the word they are the children of the two legendary Shotoken warriors even though she was adopted.

"Iwa-jie," he beamed, accepting the breaded shrimp she offered him. "Where have you been all this time? Shouldn't you be coming home? Everybody else is so worried when you were gone! Daddy didn't say much when I ask him where you gone. Did you argue with Uncle Ryu? I'm sure he would have simmer down by now."

"Your Uncle Ryu and I have some issues. He's not particularly happy with the fact that I can't do much in the Shotoken discipline. I'll come home when the time is right. Don't worry your pretty little head over this"

Iwa ruffled Mel's flaxen hair. An odd little smile on her face as she kept one eye on the alarmed Eliza standing there trying to stifle her scream. Apparently nobody ever told Mel the truth about things. "Sit and order something to eat. Aunt Eliza. I didn't expect to run into him this soon." She did as she was told. Iwa motioned the waitress over and a glass of water was poured for Eliza while Mel studied the menu.

"What are you doing here?" Eliza finally asked when the waitress left them.

"Lunch." Iwa puts her elbows on the table to rest her chin on the pedestal created by her hands.

"I don't mean this."

"Prelims?"

"Iwa, please. Stop playing this game." Her eyes darted towards Mel who was still engrossed in playing with the squirrel.

"Prelims is a fact."

"Then stop this game and come home. I'm sure Ken can pull a few strings. As could Guile and Chun Li. We can help you break his hold over you. Just come back."

"You should stay out of this for his sake. The less you know the safer it is. The Master has a very strong interest in our family. The daddies and my mommy, the tougher kiddies. The Master is pulling a big one and I need the family in the right place at the right time. And in time we would be together again serving the Master." Iwa laughs and take another sip of her smoothie. There was silence on Eliza's part.

"You're buying time for Uncle Ken to make it here and kick my sorry ass. Maybe bring in back up and haul me home screaming and kicking. An awkward little scene and the Master will not be please with such failure on my part."

The smile turn wider as she rummages through her vest to produce a tiny little gift box the length of her thumb and half in width. She placed it into Eliza's open palm and made her close her hand over it.

"A little gift of something from my Master. Although Sifu would be the only one who knows the password. Some people would love to rearrange my face for that little thumbdrive. But I rather it be family." She laughs again as the nervous Eliza kept the little package.

"Mmm... Ping pong shrimps..." And she went on to continue her lunch. Leaving the pale face woman wondering about the sanity of the streaky hair young woman.
 

~* Honolulu, Hawaii *~

"Nice weather." Reno commented as they stepped outside the hotel, he pulled out a pair of black Ray Ban Predator sunglasses. Cana did the same with a pair of Aviators.

The trip had been pretty pleasant if he said so himself, the iPod managed to keep him tuned out from the screaming children enough lest he strangled one of them. The two had stepped outside the airport now and found two cagey looking men standing there with Reno and Cana's names scrawled on them.

His face had an expression of bemusement as they stepped up towards the two.

"I didn't know they were having an anime convention in Hawaii." Reno quipped.

"Watch yourself!" the taller of the two men spieled in choppy Japanese. "This armor I wear is proof of my pride as a warrior!"

"Oh, yeah. You're an awesome warrior." Reno said sarcastically. "You lost to some clown in the prelims!"

"Well, that just means there's more responsibility on you." Rolento said coldly. "You know 'he' doesn't like failures."

"Exactly, this is why he gave us the tickets and not you two losers." Reno grinned.

"I have my orders." Rolento said stiffly.

"Whatever." Reno shrugged and his features sharpened. "Where's my car?"

Rolento handed him a ticket with the location of his vehicle on it.

"I swear if there's even a single scratch..."

"Nothing happened." Rolento made an about face. "Remember why you're here."

"... I'll track you down and hunt you like a dog if I even feel the slightest suspicion..."

"You're not listening are you?"
 

~* Nearby... *~

The weather in Honolulu was pretty cool yet sunny, but for some reason that didn't stop a certain suspicious character from bundling herself up in a red jacket with the collar turned up and a baseball cap with the bill pushed low and sunglasses.

That was Linda Cath.

Being something of a celebrity Linda was familiar with keeping a low profile and it was more important than ever that she keep a low profile around here. It hadn't been too long ago since she had a concert here and already she saw a faded poster announcing her arrival to Hawaiian shores in the midst of her worldwide tour.

And so Linda, heart pounding, took careful measured steps pulling her luggage.

"Miss! Excuse me, miss!" someone called.

Linda felt like her heart was about to run out through her chest and leave the rest of her body just lying there as she forced herself to turn carefully and look quizzically at the panting young man.

"You dropped this," the young man panted, holding out her purse.

Linda gasped, letting out the breath she had been holding, "... thanks."
 

~* Arriving in Honolulu *~

"I'm actually shocked and disappointed, chica." Pablo said idly as he gently swilled the wine in his right hand. "I didn't expect you to lose because of a... sprain."

"It's the rules." Juli glared in the seat next to him. "I had that match won."

"I'm sure you did." Pablo replied dryly as he reached out to gently touch the attractive stewardess. "I would like a little more, Pamela."

"I'm sorry, sir, but we'll be arriving in Honolulu within the next ten minutes." Pamela, the buxom blonde with the slender legs replied huskily.

"I told you, you can call me Pablo," he murmured, "and I wasn't talking about the wine."

Juli fought to hide her distaste as the stewardess pulled out a pen to write her number on a piece of tissue. She gave Pablo a smile filled with secret intents.

"Tonight will be a good night." Pablo toasted Juli and drank the rest of the wine down before seat belting himself for the landing.
 

~* The Makai *~

"Well, did something come up?" Meliza asked Locke at the breakfast table that morning. Ever since Meliza had asked her boyfriend to look into the dossiers of everyone involved in this tournament he had wasted neither time nor effort in doing so. He had stayed up so late last night that he had forgotten to cook them breakfast this morning, but that was alright, they were staying in a hotel after all.

"There are too many well dressed men involved this year." Locke muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, but here's one that caught my eye," he passed a folder over to her which she opened.

Meliza's eyes widened, "Oh my goodness!" she fought to keep herself from bursting out in laughter. "I never thought he'd turn out like that!"

"He didn't." Locke said, sounding troubled. "He's in China right now, seems to have settled down with someone."

"Long lost brother?"

"He never had one in the first place." Locke shook his head. "Check out his background, what do you notice?"

Meliza was silent for a moment as she tried to see what he wanted her to see. After five minutes of silence with only the sound of Locke chewing into his toast in the background Meliza suddenly realized what was the problem.

"He's too boring."

"Exactly."

Reno Tseng's background was a little too boring for the person he had become at the present. The only son of an immigrant couple from Taiwan, his grades were a little above average and the schools he had gone to were moderately well-regarded or had closed down. He had had no previous trouble with the law, strange considering the man was moderately well known in the street racing circuit of Japan.

"His band mate is the same." Locke said, passing another folder over to her. "They're almost a carbon copy of each other."

"What the hell's going on, Locke?" Meliza whispered.

"I don't know," Locke's countenance was grim, "but I'm definitely investigating this one some more."

"We should tell 'him.'"

"Why?"

"Because he should know someone's running around with his face."

"Last I checked he didn't want any part of what happened last time anymore." Locke said firmly. "He even did a good job of hiding his tracks so that none of us would find him again."

"You found him." Meliza accused.

"That's because I'm good." Locke said with an absolutely straight face.

Meliza tossed a piece of banana at him.

"He's not the only interesting one." Locke said casually as he placed another folder in front of her. "Apparently I'm not the only one who's switched sides."

Meliza flipped through this dossier in mild disbelief, though she hid it well.

"Her legal guardians reported her missing a while back and now she's turned up again." Locke said idly as he cut a cantaloupe. "She's turned up, but quite a number of agencies have been looking for her and she hasn't made contact with any of her friends or legal guardians."

"This is too much." Meliza breathed.

"It's almost ten; I'll have everything ready for you on your desk by your next break." Locke said. "There's still a lot I don't know, but I'll make sure that changes."

"Do that," Meliza said, standing up, "I don't want what happened four years ago to happen again."

"That might be too late." Locke whispered. Meliza probably wasn't meant to hear that, but she did and she left the room to manage the hotel with a knot in her stomach.
 

~* Makai Lobby *~

"Oh, this is certainly a good place to find a tag team partner!" Hugo smiled as he stood like a tower with his manager, Poison, in the lobby as people milled about.

Hugo had made it past the preliminary rounds in San Francisco, overpowering each and every foe as he showed the crowd new and creative ways to turn the human body into a pretzel. He had good reason for joining this tournament as well, because unlike previous tournaments he had been to, the Champion of Fists would allow him to observe how other fighters work in a tag team and possibly find the perfect partner for himself!

"Hey, lardy, move it or lose it," someone said irritably behind him, "Damn, it looks like you got plenty to lose."

Hugo spun around abruptly and peered down at a mop of red hair. Its owner wore a dark blue sports jacket and pants carrying a guitar case behind him with a bellhop nearby pulling his luggage. The bell hop seemed to wish he were anywhere but here.

"Strange... is suicide a popular activity where you come from?" Hugo rumbled.

Something seemed to flash in the young man's eyes before he turned coldly to Poison and said, "Nice trick, lady, can the baboon juggle, too?"

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" the concierge appeared with a concerned furrow in the brow.

"No, there's no problem." Poison said quickly. "We were just starting to move along." Poison knew that if something were to happen here right now Hugo might not be allowed to participate and his dream of finding a tag team partner would be placed on hiatus... again.

"Punk." Hugo muttered.

"Baboon," the red-head shot back.
 

~* Nearby... *~

"Man, look at all these weirdoes." Rez yawned as he scratched his nose, it was probably the jet lag, should pass soon. He nodded towards the huge monstrosity in pink and some punk pretty boy with a guitar on his back. "And things looked like they were about to get interesting, too..." Well, can't have them all. He glanced down in distaste towards his young care who was busy cooing as she moved her little box around in her hands. It had been a pain getting that box through customs but they somehow managed.

Rez and Eleonore had arrived earlier after a quick transfer from San Francisco, no one really wanted them to be out there in broad daylight but in order to slip in before all the rooms would be filled the two would have to masquerade as a loving father and daughter. Oh yeah, that had the two of them rolling on the floor for hours. They only stopped laughing when they realized their employers were being serious.

Rez hated it when jokes like these turn out to be true.

And so, he patted little Eleonore on the head as any proud father would, though few fathers would tighten their grip on their daughter's head as if to crush it and few daughters would smile so sweetly at their fathers while they drilled the heel of their shoes into their father's left foot.

Ah, such a happy family.
 

~* Towards the elevators... *~

"What the hell is going on here?" Reno muttered. "We've been running into weirdoes ever since we stepped off the plane."

"Maybe it's the water." Cana suggested.

"I guess I'll be having my drinks neat, then." Reno said dryly as they made their way towards their suite.

Pablo and Juli finally managed to make their way to the elevators through the bustling crowd. The marketing behind the Champions of Fist must be very good as representatives of broadcast channels from all over the world were on hand to have a look at this national event, they even had to limit the amount of people allowed onto the island.

"Oh my, que bonita." Pablo murmured when he caught sight of the blonde, buxom goddess standing at the elevators. Perhaps Pamela could wait just one night... Pablo checked himself in a small mirror he carried with him and straightened his shoulders as he drifted over to the young woman as he reached out to touch her hair...

"Beat it." a hand caught his forearm... hard, Pablo turned to see a red-headed man looking blandly at him.

Ah, a boyfriend, well, he should be no problem to steal her from. After all, he was El "Diablo" Pablo. Pablo smiled charmingly at the young woman despite the crushing grip on his forearm, "It must be so tiring to be such a beautiful flower unappreciated by such crude and barbaric hands."

"Drop dead, @#%$." Cana said indifferently, she had been through this many times before, it was better to just cut to the chase.

Pablo's smile became more forced and he grimaced slightly as Reno tightened his grip. Well, this was an unfortunate turn of events. Pablo decided enough was enough and worked to counter the hold the other man had on him but the next thing he knew he found himself on the floor staring up at the ceiling in a daze.

"You shouldn't have left yourself open like that." Reno said dryly as he and Cana stepped into the elevator.

"I never really liked any of your songs anyway." Cana commented as the elevator doors closed.

Pablo sat up straight smiling, holding his right arm. This was much more interesting than he had anticipated. He turned irritably towards Juli who was trying to stifle her laughter.

"What?" he demanded.

"She thought you were Ricky Martin." Juli chortled.
 

~* In the Owner's Office *~

"Man, I really wish we had switched," a man's voice declared through the phone line.

In her office, Meliza cradled the phone against her ear, absently scanning her emails on her computer. "Why's that?"

"Paradise, come on...who wouldn't want that? All I've got here is cold weather and your occasional freaks..." he trailed off.

"You're the one who wanted San Francisco, Ry..." Meliza grinned before her smile faded. In a way, maybe it was a good thing her vice president wasn't around. With even the small amount of information Locke had given her, it was enough to make anyone apprehensive.

"So are you relaxing in paradise or working hard?" Ryan asked. "Wait. Never mind...I already know the answer. Anyone ever tell you that working too much is bad?"

"So you've told me many times," Meliza responded. "I am trying to relax."

"Good. But...I thought you should know...our marketing director quit on us."

"What?" Meliza sat up straight in her chair, her attention now on their conversation.

"Yeah." Even through the phone she could tell Ryan was scowling. "He called me earlier this morning, saying that he fell in love with the stripper at his friend's bachelor party and now he sees a new calling in life."

"As what?" Meliza demanded.

"An exotic dancer."

"A what?"

"I know, I know...Apparently his lady's really good friends with the hiring crew at Male Fantasy in Vegas..."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this..." Meliza wrinkled her nose. "I can't have marketing quitting on me now. The tournament starts soon."

"Tell me about it," he responded. "The PR department's willing to pick up the extra work for now. They're all up to date on what's going around the properties and the tournament in Hawaii. I'm flying out to Las Vegas tomorrow to interview a few people in-house who are interested in the position. I'll be there for a few days, then I fly out to Atlantic City for more interviews. I'm hoping in about a month we'll have someone."

"Two weeks, Ryan."

"You got it."

"I'll talk to you later then." Meliza promptly hung up before responding to an email her assistant had sent about a fundraising event.

Talking to her VP for a little while had served as a good break. Except for the part about their employee quitting. She did feel a little bad about keeping quiet about the odd things she had discovered about the tournament, because she knew that he'd want to be informed. But for now, until Locke discovered more, she'd stay silent.

Her phone rung twice quickly, indicating that her assistant outside her office was calling. Meliza pushed the speakerphone button.

"Yes?"

"Erica and Sam will meet you in the kitchen in five minutes," her assistant's voice carried through the room.

"Thanks."

She was scheduled to see the preparations that had been made for the tournament kickoff party. Meliza quickly grabbed a notepad and pen, making her way outside of her office.

Since fighters had arrived, her event manager had done an excellent job of greeting their guests, sponsors included.

Once she reached the kitchen, Erica was already there talking to the head chef, Sam.

After greeting the two, Meliza was taken to a table on the far side of the kitchen that featured small plates with samples containing the different menu items that were planned for the party. Considering the amount of guests going to be at the party – tournament participants, sponsors, tournament staff, press and all – everything had to be planned well.

"This luau is supposed to occur from four p.m. until the guests leave," Erica spoke up as Meliza sampled some items. Since it had been a while since they last discussed the party, Erica figured she'd refresh her boss' memory. Food was really the last item on the list. "So there will be plenty of live entertainment – I've already spoken to vendors...and I've arranged for a band, hula performance, and a DJ for post dinner dancing. We plan on giving them the full Hawaiian dinner experience..."

"Good. The menu needs to be modified," Meliza announced. "Roast beef and cocktail shrimp and all that is fine, but it needs a little more...dazzle."

"What were you interested in adding?" Sam picked up his pen and paper.

Meliza gave him a list of several items she had seen at other hotel luaus. Because the Makai was a new hotel, a regularly scheduled dinner luau had not been incorporated yet into its form of entertainment. Most hotels in Waikiki already had luau dinners scheduled several times a month.

"And I like the kalua pig, that's always a good item," Meliza pointed to a small plate containing shredded meat.

"I talked to the chefs at the other restaurant, and they're willing to loan us their ovens to bake the kalua pig," Sam spoke up.

Meliza paused. "You're going to bake the pig in a kitchen oven?"

Sam's smile faltered slightly. "Yes...is...something...?"

"Why not do it the traditional way?" she asked. "It adds to the luau experience."

"Buried in the sand wrapped with leaves, chicken wire and surrounded by hot rocks," Erica whispered for the chef's ears.

He cleared his throat. "I've...never had the pleasure of that experience yet..."

Meliza blinked, pausing in her drink of water. "You're serious."

"Yes, ma'am. My previous employment...I never had the opportunity to learn."

Meliza set her cup of water down. "At nearly all luaus on Oahu, guests are shown the pig as it's cooking in the ground. This usually happens at the beginning of the luau and about two or three hours later they're actually served shredded pig." Then she added with a small smile, "There are a lot of people that are going to be at this event expecting a full island experience. The press especially. I refuse to be one of the hotels on Oahu that hosts a luau by a beach and not serve kalua pig that way."

"Of course," Sam nodded.

"Does anyone know how to bake a pig without using a modern oven?" Meliza asked.

"No, I don't believe so," Sam answered.

Meliza sighed. A Hawaiian hotel kitchen staff with limited luau menu knowledge? As if she didn't have enough to worry about. In her mind, even the little things counted.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. Meliza reached down to pull the phone out of the pocket of her thin blazer to check the caller ID, 'Cooper, Ryan cell', and frowned slightly.

He'd call her assistant first. Unless it was important.

She then turned to Erica and Sam. "See what you can come up with for the pig...if nothing, I might know a few people. Let me know as soon as possible."

"Right away."

Meliza then exited the kitchen, answering her cell and placing the phone next to her ear. "Hello."

"You away from your desk?" the young executive asked.

"Why?"

"I sent you an email."

"I'll be there in a few minutes...just came from catering."

"Oh. Just got a call from the general manager in Las Vegas. Late last night some guy tried to steal from us. He sold his story to the press about how 'excessively' abusive our security is. Made it sound like the guys gave him the beating of a century. He has a neck brace and everything."

"How nice." Meliza took the stairs to the floor leading to her office.

"What the press doesn't know is that he tasered our dealer when he tried to steal all the chips at the table. He has this desperate back story making our security look like the bad guys."

"What else can go wrong?" Meliza murmured as she entered her office suite, greeting her assistant with a nod before going through her office door.

When she finally sat down, she scanned the email containing the story said conman had released to the media. "What kind of crap is he spouting?" she demanded once she read it. "And which idiotic reporter believed this?"

"My favorite part is how all security at Rinaldo Hotels are all trained ex-military, therefore able to the kill ten thousand different ways," Ryan spoke up and she could hear a trace of amusement in his voice. Now that she had time to really digest everything, it was kind of funny how sensational the story was. The man would get his 48 hours of fame and then be forgotten. "I'm having PR work on something to tone things down..."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

He hung up and she put her cell phone away.

Sighing, Meliza got up from her desk, plopping down on the couch next to the wall.
 

~

From his position on the couch in the penthouse suite, Locke surveyed the information he had found on his laptop's screen.

Not good at all.

General information could easily be found on the person he was currently investigating...but something bothered him. Something seemed...off. He began doing a search on Reno Tseng and Cana Verdandi's last known whereabouts for the last few weeks.

The last time he did some research of this magnitude was two years ago. Someone had been trying to buy his friend's sushi restaurant using intimidating methods of persuasion. Locke was a little out of practice, but for the most part, he was able to find a decent amount of information he needed on the fighters listed.

Even when he gave his findings to Meliza, he still would keep looking.

From the coffee table, his cell phone began to ring. Locke reached over with his left hand, already knowing the caller's identity.

"What?" he asked, placing the phone against his ear.

"You always sound like you're in a crappy mood, Dev."

"I'm busy right now," he explained.

"You're supposed to be on vacation," Tanaka reminded.

"Tell that to Meliza. Kind of difficult to vacation when the girlfriend's working," Locke muttered, skimming through the articles on his screen.

"She put you to work, didn't she?" At Locke's silence, Tanaka groaned. "What is with you two? You both can't seem to understand the concept of 'couple time'."

"You were the one who pointed out Umbrella's suspicious reputation. Now she's being more careful by having me research fighters."

"All right...Whatever works for you guys. It's better to be careful than not, but try to have fun. You remember what that is, right?" Tanaka then said, "Tina and I want macadamia nut chocolate candy. Bring us twenty boxes."

"What for?"

"For us," Tanaka responded. "You know how much a box is here on the mainland? In Waikiki you'll find shelves full in stores every block and a half."

"Fine. Anything else?"

"No, I just wanted to tell you about the candy. And if you need me to look up anything for you, let me know. Kozue's bored. He could use a good computer hacking session."

Locke paused in his reading, swearing inwardly once the information registered. "I'll call you later if something comes up."

He quickly ended the call and shut his laptop. Grabbing the dossiers and tucking them with his small laptop into its case, he made his way to the elevators that would lead to Meliza's office on the second floor.

Once he entered her office suite, her assistant, Raquel, looked up from her typing. Then she shook her head, her strawberry blonde ponytail swinging.

"She's having a bad day...Mr. Cooper called twice with bad news..." she informed him. Then she smiled, "But I'm sure she won't mind seeing you."

The first morning after he arrived, Meliza had introduced him to her assistant, telling her that he was the only one allowed into her office without appointment or announcement.

When he opened the door, he saw Meliza leaning back on the plush leather sofa that was pushed to one side of the wall, her eyes closed. After quietly closing the door behind him, Locke set the laptop case on her desk and made his way to her side, crouching down beside her.

"Bad timing?" he asked.

Slightly startled, Meliza's eyes flew open and her fist lashed out. Locke neatly caught her wrist, watching as recognition entered her eyes. Her fight or flight response while asleep actually wasn't bad. For a moment, he sympathized her assistant if she was ever in the position to wake her up.

"I didn't think you were going to sleep on your next break..." he commented, lowering her wrist as she got into a sitting position.

"It just happened..." Her eyes flicked to her desk, seeing his laptop case. Turning back to him, Meliza asked warily, "Am I going to like what you have to say?"

"Probably not."

"I knew it..." Meliza made her way to her desk, settling in the chair.

After pulling out several folders from the laptop case, Locke set them down in front of her on her desk before opening the dossier on Reno Tseng. "I found more information you should know..."

He watched as she studied the photograph. Apparently, she couldn't get over the resemblance the man had to her friend from long ago.

"One of his schools recently held a reunion...but there's no mention of him in any of the information about the event." He frowned. "Usually...whenever alumni meet up again, they don't hesitate to share who in their classes became rich, famous, or both."

"No kidding," she murmured. "I'm up for my high school one soon..." She blinked. "Am I that old now?" She grimaced. "Oh...that's depressing..."

"What's wrong with that?"

She shot him a look. "What do you mean 'what's wrong with that'? Where has the time gone?"

Which he replied, "To your work."

"Yeah...most women in my class are married with kids or planning to get married...not travelling several months of the year around the world."

He understood Meliza better than anyone. In spite of her comment about her classmates' relationship status, he knew that she wouldn't trade her job for anything. Her company was very high on her list of priorities. It was difficult for others to comprehend sometimes.

He pulled his laptop out of his case to turn the unit on.

"Anyway...what else?" she asked, smoothing back dark wisps of hair that escaped from her pinned up twist.

"I recently found out that during his last day in Japan...this person was seen coming from his hotel..." Locke quickly typed in a few letters on his laptop keyboard which led him to a login screen, commands, login, before a picture of a white muscular form took shape on her screen, adjacent to some vital stat information. He glanced down to see the questioning look in her eyes. "His name is Twelve. He works for Urien, the man who kidnapped you four years ago."

"Wonderful...I feel a headache coming on..." she muttered. Those were days she definitely did not want to relive. "Wait a minute...what is this, anyway? Some private information database on shady individuals that exist in this world?"

"Yes."

"Oh. How do you know where to find this?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Right. Moving along...Do you have anything good to tell me?"

He was quiet for a second as he typed in a web address, pulling up another site before casually saying, "Coconut suits you."

It took her a few seconds for her to realize that he was referring to the scent she had sprayed on earlier that morning. Meliza turned slightly to her right side to punch his upper arm with her fist.

"How about anything related to this tournament?"

"I wish I could," he said quietly. "And I'm still looking into Tseng's background. Something doesn't seem right..."

"I thought you looked everywhere."

"Not exactly," he hedged. He hadn't tried his last resort tricks just yet.

"Meaning what?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"You're right, I don't."

A ghost of a smile crossed his face as he said, "Why do you ask then?"

"Because it's fun."
 

~* Lunch time in the hotel's restaurant *~

"My goodness that was long." Victoria breathed.

"Yeah, those airport lines are crazy." Sean agreed.

Victoria chatted idly with Sean sitting on the window side with a pretty good view of the outside of the island's flora. The two had arrived yesterday on the Masters' private jet, Eliza would be arriving with Mel a little later to at least make it on time to the luau, citing sickness as the culprit. Well, she had looked quite a bit pale, Victoria recalled.

Victoria internally whistled appreciatively of the food in front of them, food that she may not otherwise freely enjoy without the aid of the Masters. All tournament participants were allowed to eat freely in the hotel, so long as they had their tournament entry pass on them. She smiled whimsically at the thought of one particular fighter four years ago who would have appreciated such a gesture.

"Are you two ready to order?" the waiter inquired politely at the next table.

"Yeah, do you have any hamburgers?" a familiar, yet not so familiar voice asked.

Victoria's eyes widened. No, it couldn't be, but why not? It seemed like almost everyone else from four years ago had re-appeared, why not him? Because the last time she had seen him he had been dead set on never entering a tournament like this again. And this voice... it had a certain tinge of confidence, haughty perhaps and desperation.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can ask the chef if you wish..."

"Oh, that's alright, I was just kidding," the customer laughed, "The damn things would just clog up my arteries anyway..." He then made his real order from items on the menu and asked for two cups of warm green tea.

Victoria turned her head as casually as possible and froze when she saw him looking at her. He smiled and waved hello with his fingers.

"K-Kay?!" Victoria gasped, her eyes narrow a bit and she smacks her head. "Oh my god, Kay is that you?!"

"Huh?" Reno blinked, and scratches the back of his head and grins wickedly, "Oh no, I'm not him, but I wouldn't mind getting to know you a little better," he chuckled.

"No..." Victoria looks again, shakes her head and sighs, "You're not him."

"I guess I just got one of those faces." Reno laughed and shrugged. "Someone's always confusing me for someone else."

Victoria felt that the similarity was too uncanny, except for the hair, the style and the attitude this was her old friend's exact face. And his vibe... Victoria had to be careful here.

"I'm Reno," he offered and motioned towards the beautiful woman sitting across from him, "this is Cana. We're musicians from Japan but we made it into this tournament as fighters somehow."

"Oh," Victoria blinked, musicians? "I'm Victoria and this is Sean, I guess you could say we're both just fighters." She laughed.

"Well, that's okay, I'm sure that means you're both very good fighters. So take it easy on the two of us if we ever fight, okay?" Cana winked.

The two groups arranged for the seats to be closer together so they could chat more. Victoria and Sean had ordered their food earlier so finished sooner and left after exchanging contact information with promises to meet up again sometime.

"So, what did you think?" Reno said casually in a low voice that no one else but Cana could hear as they ate their lunch.

"They're pretty good," Cana replied indifferently, a sharp contrast to the easy going façade she had put up earlier. "I'm not sure how far they'll go, though, especially with him on the team."

"He's not that bad." Reno laughed. "Besides, who says they'll be on the same team? They said our partners are randomly picked."

"That can be fixed."

"That's true."

"... Why did you chat with her?"

"Heh... because she reminded me of something." Reno chuckled.

They stopped after that and reverted back to their outside façade of a pair of band mates with good rapport. When they finished the two of them noticed something.

"What the hell is that?" Reno muttered.

"What?" Cana turned to where Reno was staring outside the window and spotted what caught her band mate's attention. A pink figure was trying to make its way through the foliage near the hotel covered in camouflage that didn't really do much to hide it, it also happened to be driving the wildlife around it crazy as the locals stared in bewilderment.

"It must be the water." Reno rubbed his forehead. "No, it has to be the water..."
 

~* Outside... *~

"Be careful of those two, Sean." Victoria shuddered when the two were far enough away. "I got a really bad vibe from them."

"Hey, they seemed nice enough." Sean protested. "It's pretty cool to meet musicians who can fight."

"Not everyone is who they seem..." Victoria whispered.

"What?" Sean blinked, why was Victoria acting so weird?

"Never mind." Victoria shook her head; he probably wouldn't get it no matter how much time she tried explaining it to him. "Come on, we should go and get ready to greet your master and his family when they arrive."
 

~* In a helicopter above... *~

"This appears adequate for one of my stature." Karin Kanzuki laughed haughtily into her hand as she looked down upon the Makai. She had wanted to build a hotel on the island for the tournament as well but the Rinaldo family had managed to outbid her and now she had to stay in a hotel that was not her own.

Karin smiled slyly; well at least she had managed to secure herself one of the more luxurious suites in the hotel at no cost to herself due to her family being one of the main sponsors of this tournament. Co-sponsor, Karin grimaced at the thought of sharing the limelight with others, the cost of running this tournament so far was enough to make any one of them go bankrupt. At least that's what she told herself at night to allow her to sleep.

"Miss Kanzuki, please secure yourself, we're landing!" the pilot shouted over the sound of the rotors.

"Quiet, knave!" Karin snapped. "A Kanzuki stands tall and proud in the face of her enemy!"

As they landed, Karin really wished she hadn't said that.
 

~* Makai's Private Beach *~

"Are you at it again?" Jin grimaced.

Natalie sulkily looked away.

Jin sighed and crouched down as he gently pushed aside her left bangs to examine the damage. "I think it's about time you gave up on that."

"Easy for you to say!" Natalie accused, he realized that she was looking balefully at his own nicely tanned skin. Well, it couldn't be helped that he was blessed.

"Come on; let's get you indoors before you burn away what's left." Jin chided as he helped Natalie up and placed a towel and large sunhat over her head, the two steadily made their way back towards the hotel with some odd looks along the way.

Along the way the two passed a street peddler with various bottles laid out on top of a large red cloak, the couple stopped when they noticed that these were actually ointments and the fairly harmless looking peddler had a sign in front of him with such words as "Aloe Vera," "Sunscreen" and "Super Duper Suntan lotion for the Untannable." The street peddler didn't glance up as Natalie eyed the lotions hungrily wondering which of them was the third magical elixir. He wore a Chinese-styled straw hat and despite the heat had on a light grey long sleeved mandarin shirt, black slacks and sandals. He appeared to be sleeping as the piece of straw in his unseen mouth lied motionless.

"That's a pretty terrible thing you've done to your skin," a cruel voice chuckled from the side. The couple turned to see a tall man dressed in of all things a tailcoat suit with a frilly dress shirt and a... tie string?

Natalie glared hatefully at the stranger and Jin inwardly grimaced again. Maybe he should just let her loose on the poor bastard that way she wouldn't take it out on him later... wait, this guy wasn't normal.

Jin's eyes narrowed and his hand tightened on Natalie's shoulder trying to warn her that this man... was dangerous.

"Well, it's quite obvious what you were trying to do," there was a very faint accent in his voice which managed to make him sound more... cultured if possible. "No one should be that foolish to allow their skin to go through such damage unless..." The man laughed and placed his hand in his pocket.

Jin immediately moved in front of Natalie.

"Relax, young grasshopper," the man grinned and he pulled out a wallet, "This isn't New York City." From his wallet he pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill which he neatly folded in half, he held the twenty with his two forefingers and flicked his wrist... towards the street peddler.

Natalie gasped and Jin stared as the twenty dollar bill dug in deeply at the wooden post right above the street peddler's head, the man just sat there unbeknownst to what also became of him.

"Those look like good products," the man in the black suit commented off handedly, "Why don't you sell that Aloe Vera and suntan lotion of yours to the young lady here, she could certainly use it."

"No." Jin replied flatly.

"Oh, don't be so pessimistic," the other man chuckled, "They're good products, and hand-made I bet."

Several seconds passed by before the street peddler slowly moved. Without moving his head at all, only his arms, first he yanked the twenty dollar bill above his head to pocket. He slowly leaned forward to grab two distinct looking bottles, one tall and one wide. He held out the wide one first.

Natalie looked at it dubiously.

Jin shook his head.

"Don't worry," a soft, kind voice reassured her, "This will help you, even if that man's a villain."

Natalie realized the voice came from the peddler himself, who opened the bottle and motioned her to come forward. Natalie tentatively dipped her finger into the lotion, this man felt... trustworthy, compared to the other man anyway. But that probably wasn't saying much.

Much to Jin's dismay Natalie applied a small portion of the lotion to her face and she gasped.

"What's wrong?" Jin murmured.

The pain had subsided.

The peddler closed the lid on the flat bottle, stacked the tall bottle on top of it and placed them in her hands.

"I suggest you run the hell out of here," the peddler murmured, "Thanks for the business but if you haven't noticed this guy is pretty dangerous."

"Well, they have nothing to fear from me... yet," the man laughed and bowed, "I am Shing Tao, remember that." And with that he turned around and walked off just as a breeze came by and kicked up the tailcoat of his suit.

"What a ham," the peddler muttered.

"He was toying with us." Natalie breathed; she didn't realize she had been holding her breath.

"And we weren't good enough for him to ask our names." Jin glowered.

"But who-" Natalie turned to the street peddler when suddenly...

"Hey you, no street peddling allowed!" a hotel security guard shouted.

"Whoops, that's my cue to go!" the street peddler yelped as he hopped onto his bicycle which had been leaning nearby.

He was awfully fast, Natalie noted.

Suddenly a public announcement blared from the speakers. "Attention, attention. Please be advised that there will be a luau for all participants and patrons of the Makai. The luau will begin in approximately two hours we hope everyone will attend and enjoy themselves."

"Well... we should go and get ready." Jin mumbled.

Natalie only nodded and the two walked back to the hotel.