Chapter 27: Angel of Treachery notes
November 7, 1999

Three weeks exactly for this chapter. 3-4 chapters left. One for the
fight against Heihachi, one for the fight against the Toshin (and the
aftermath), one for resolution. Perhaps a fourth if the other three
run long (I really hope they don't), though I may end up writing a
very lengthy epilogue instead.

This chapter begins Part VI: Absolution, the last section of
"Phoenix Reborn." The end is near...

The title of this chapter, and in a way its whole theme, comes from
a pencil-and-paper RPG that's been in stores lately. It's called "In
Nomine," and it's a system of role-playing angels, devils, or mortal
servants of good & evil in the modern world. I first started picking
up its books for ideas on my angel Lee Chaolan, and got some very
interesting ones. In particular, the whole concept of angels (or
demons & Devils) being Word-bound.

I started reading these RPG books long after I decided (in Ch. 2 of
"Phoenix Reborn") that Lee's first name had come to be synonym
for traitor. Still, if Lee were to be bound to any Word, it would de
facto have to be the Word that his name embodies, making Lee the
Angel of Treachery. (Though Lee would call himself the Guardian
of Treachery, in the rare cases that he would refer to his Word.)

Lee is not ashamed of his Word, but he is not particularly proud of
it, either. It is partly because of his Word that he has never been
promoted in rank among the Grey Kingdom's Guardians, despite
his numerous exploits on behalf of mortal souls. After all, would
*you* want someone who embodies Treachery to be your
lieutenant?

The epigraph is also this chapter's off-format piece of text, i.e. it's
patterned after my paperback dictionary's definition of "quisling."
There was just so much else to set up in this chapter, that I didn't
have room for a long off-format piece or a long epigraph.

Very little about this chapter has been planned from the beginning.
Certainly not Lee's Word, or Shingo's aspect either (though he is
steadfastly loyal to Kyo Kusanagi in the KoF video game). The
scene where Lee has to break Kimura has been very powerful in
my mind, but only since about one-third or halfway through the
novel. I knew from the beginning that Nina would be fighting with
our heroes somehow, but it wasn't until recently that I realized
Bryan (himself dragged kicking and screaming onto the side of the
good guys) would drag her kicking and screaming onto our heroes'
side.
    Overall, this chapter is setup work for the big showdown, and
since I had only a general idea of the big showdown at the very
beginning, I didn't think too much about how to set it up until I'm
here. There was really only one thing set firmly, and that's that our
heroes have to crash the ritual right at it's peak - just after Heihachi
commands Jin to sacrifice Julia. Why? Um, the plot needs it.
Except that "the plot needs it" is a ROTTEN excuse for why our
heroes should bust in at *just* the most climactic time... it's a
stupid TV/popular entertainment cliche, and as much as I need it, I
can't have it here without some justification.
    That justification is given here: our heroes have to let Heihachi
go ahead with the ritual, because it's Jin's best chance of freeing
himself from the bloodslave curse. But at the same time, they have
a backup plan (I have to write a backup in, because our heroes are
not careless and they're not idiots. :)

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Lei's TK2 punch-button outfit, revisited (I think he should've
kept it as a Start outfit for TK3 & Tekken Tag).
    - Shermie's chatty, airhead personality prior to her Awakening
into a Lightning Devil
    - that Shingo is extremely loyal to Kyo Kusanagi...
    - Shingo's fight intro pose quote ("Stay cool, Shingo!")

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - Lei's past clash with Hwoarang is something I made up on the
spot.

You might notice that the lists of stuff connected with the video
game storylines are short. That's because this chapter delves mostly
into the histories and personalities I've created for my characters -
Mitsurugi, Lei, Lee/Bryan, and Shingo especially.

The chapter starts off with a look into Heishiro Mitsurugi's
personal history.
    One thing I've realized, working on this, is that it helps the story
that I've taken the time to flesh out the major characters. Even
though there are a LOT of major characters. In particular, I wanted
the nine characters who narrate scenes from their own POVs
brought to life...
    So, Jin tells of his background in Ch. 1 & 2. Julia in Ch. 1, 7, &
14. Xiaoyu talks about herself in Ch. 1 & 6, and Anna showcases
herself in Ch. 5. Lee doesn't go into detail on his background (and
"Ashes" was a little sketchy on him), but Bryan details many pieces
of it in Ch. 12. Ch. 25 was about Bryan's background. Lei actually
had all of "Ashes" to spell out his history, especially "Ashes" Ch.
17, so there isn't much point in rehashing it all over again. Now it's
Ch. 27, and Mitsurugi's turn...
     ...in fact, the one main character who hasn't had his background
explored in detail is Heihachi Mishima. However, one of the last
chapters (probably Ch. 29, we'll see) will fill in a little more on
him, particularly with regard to his wife Kazumi. 
     As for the other characters, Shingo's background is probably the
most strongly established (particularly in Ch. 14 & 22). Nina's
background was recapped from Anna's POV in Ch. 5, thought not
as closely, and Taki has had only a few bits revealed of her history,
but I think both them need to be kept a little more mysterious.
Ishida and Kimura get some focus here; there might be a little more
later, depending on how my ideas work out. Everyone else is a
relatively minor character.
   Looking back at "Ashes," though, I do have one regret. I never
went into that much detail on Jun Kazama's background. Just a
quick gloss-over; there was never even any incorporation of
Namco's storyline about Jun seeing her father's ghost.

     Usually late at night, when they thought I was asleep. I
could hear, though. Sometimes I'd just lie awake in bed, hearing
their yells, and trying not to see their shadows through the thin
paper screen.
    - I see those indoor-Japanese-home paper screen things all the
time in anime, especially Ranma 1/2. I wonder how they're made?
Don't they wear out real fast on humid days?

     He wanted to marry a traditional wife.
     He wanted someone who would cook for him, three meals a
day. Who would keep our home immaculate at all times, who
would run the household economics with exacting precision, who
would never stay out past dark, who would always carry herself
with the dignity of a noblewoman, who would center her entire
purpose around being a wife and mother.

    - Japanese tradition places major importance on the wife's
cooking, from what I see in anime. MAJOR importance. The rest is
mostly my extrapolation; however, I have read that the wife is
traditionally responsible for household economics in Japan.

However, I think - I'm pretty sure - that Mom wanted to believe she
could be the perfect, traditional wife. That she could learn to cook,
clean, entertain guests, take care of Dad and me, love her husband
and love her son, and just blend into a completely fulfilled life,
nurturing a happy home in the nation of her ancestors.
     If that really is what Mom believed, then she was wrong.

    - this is partly based on a book called "The Awakening" that I
had to study for an English class. It is not a very good book - it's
rather tiresome, actually - and I wouldn't recommend it. It's about a
woman who drowns herself because she can't deal with being
married to her husband and raising two kids.
   One key idea from the book, though, is that perhaps not every
woman is meant to fit into the perfect traditional role of
wife/mother/homemaker/nothing more. And for some women, the
process of discovering this can be very painful. The idea is NOT
that the traditional role for a woman is bad in and of itself, it's that
some women just can't spend their lives that way.

"You are Heishiro Mitsurugi now. You are the legend. Legends do
not cry."
    - Mitsurugi's old last name (Satou) is something I made up for
this chapter. I was just thinking about a Voyager episode (titled
"11:59") about Captain Kathryn Janeway's ancestor. Her ancestor
was a woman, who married a Mr. Janeway hundreds of years ago.
And isn't it just convenient that the modern-day Voyager captain is
descended from a long line of Janeway sons (or daughters who
kept their last names?) so she could still have the Janeway name?
    While possible, I got to thinking about this, and figured that
maybe my Mitsurugi isn't descended straight from a line of sons
from Mitsurugi himself. Maybe some of his ancestors were women
who married into other family names...
   The above quote from Mitsurugi's father is something I've had in
my head for a long time, now. However, it makes more sense in the
context of Mitsurugi's last name having been changed.

He's my father - there's no way to express it any more strongly than
that - but he's so taciturn with me, sometimes. And indirect.
    - Indirectness tends to be much more common among older
generation Japanese, or so I'm told...

I don't think it's always a good thing, to see an angel. Is it? 
    - this idea was discussed in my English lit class, when we were
studying some turn of the century poems about angels.

     Think about it. If any kind of police officer has to talk with
you, let alone Super Police, then what does it mean? What does it
really mean?
     I'll tell you what it usually means. At best, it means that
something horrible has happened to someone you know. At worst,
it means that something horrible is happening to you.
    - this is my own personal paranoia, flavored with a dash of
N.Y.P.D. Blue (when the TV detectives have to talk to some John
Doe, it almost never means anything good for John Doe...)

 It's funny; even though Wulong starred in lots of action movies
since he was hailed as a war hero, he never agreed to do any
movies about the Invasion he helped turn back. All the Great
Invasion movies ever made had other actors playing his part. I
think they cast Jackie Chan as Lei Wulong, for the one that I saw.
    - Lei Wulong had mentally locked away his secret shame over
failing to save Kazuya (as he confessed in Ch. 21). So of course he
never wanted to part of anything that would make him relive that
shame; certainly not starring in any movie about the Great
Invasion. Of course, Jackie Chan was a natural to fill Lei's role...
^_^

     I don't think it's an accident that Detective Lei Wulong
chose to dress as he once did, twenty years ago.
    - when Jin saw the past vision of Kazuya dying in Lei's arms, Jin
felt as though it were a prophecy... a reflection of the future. It was,
though not in any way that Jin suspected...

     "The young master is a bloodslave, isn't he?" I softly asked.
   - I didn't have Mitsurugi say this in the final draft of Ch. 26
because that means I can have him set it up here... I'm still trying to
make chapters independent enough so that anyone just joining in
won't be completely lost.

     Because of what Mishima-sama did to me, I have the
fighting skills of a 400-year-old vampyre hardwired into my blood
and brain. I still wouldn't be in any hurry to test those skills against
Goro Daimon.
    - this is an intentional rework of Bryan's description of Daimon
in Ch. 25. Daimon's great Strength isn't just for show - he should
have a chance to test it next chapter.

     Not because Shingo had deduced the purpose of his war
council, I think. No, Wulong became startled at the precise
moment when Shingo addressed him by name.
     I'm not sure why that would startle him, but...
    - Because Shingo has been calling Lei "otou-san" for the past
few weeks, as recounted in Ch. 21.

     "Wait a minute," Anna interrupted, worriedly. "I assume
we'll try to capture Heihachi alive, but what if we can't? What if
he's killed? Is there anything we can do to save Jin?"
    - the whole sidebar about Jin's death-link is something I added
for the final draft, because it fit better here than cluttering up a later
chapter. And I did need to get this information down somewhere.
It's also nice to finally state flat-out why neither cryogenic
suspension nor Jun's stasis spell could have saved Lee's life in
"Ashes."

     "But Ishida and Kimura are almost inseparable..."
   - OK, so they split up to hunt for Jin in Ch. 4. They're not quite
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are always together whenever
you see 'em in "Hamlet." Have Mitsu say "almost" and it's close
enough.

Deep down inside, I'm scared out of my wits that I'll fall asleep one
night, and wake up the next morning as I was.
    - My ripoff of the chapter, from a Deep Space Nine episode. The
genetically enhanced woman Serena is cured of her autism, but
fears that one night she'll go to sleep and wake up again as she was
before.

"Shermie appeared to be nothing more than a chatty, fun-loving
fashion designer, until she awakened to her true nature as a
Lightning Devil-"
   - In KoF '97 & '98, regular Shermie is this talkative fashion
designer, who made up the outfits of her evil team. Her taunt is to
pull out a cell-phone and call up one of her friends ("Hello? Let's
talk later.") Orochi Shermie is regular Shermie's awakened form -
the bad-news Lightning Devil woman.
    Ironically, it's regular Shermie who is more dangerous in the
hands of a skilled player. Regular Shermie has the really nasty
grappling attacks, with cancel abilities, while Orochi Shermie just
has electric projectiles.

"Jin Kazama is a Devil, and he could break free of the bloodslave
curse at any time. He chooses not to do so now, because he is
playing both sides against the middle. Us against Heihachi; may
the strongest win. He doesn't care who suffers or dies, whether it's
his girlfriend, his grandfather, or any of us. As long as he gets the
most Powerful allies to use against the Toshin. As long as it is
destroyed before it can threaten his own life. That's all he cares
about."
   - Taki's summary is a perfectly accurate description of Devil Jin,
except for two things. One, Devil Jin does care about other things
than his own life (he's more fond of Julia than he'd be inclined to
admit), it's just that he cares about his own life the most (he is
VERY SCARED of being Toshin-kibble). Second, this is just Jin's
Devil side. Devil Jin believes that his 'personality camouflage
program' is gone for good, but that doesn't mean he's right...

"The reason why it's rarely used isn't that it's hard to do. The reason
is that a death-link ties up a massive chunk of its caster's Power
until it's triggered, or until the victim dies of other causes."
    - I also wanted to slip this fact in somewhere - it's the reason
why Devil Kazuya only planted two death-links in Lei and Lee,
instead of one in every person who worked for him.

     I really didn't know what to say.
     It was Anna who spoke for me.
     "Is Jin in love with Julia Chang?" she asked.
    - originally, Anna wasn't going to say too much in the war
council, but the idea of using Love against Heihachi would of
course be hers. 

BTW, my original idea for the war council was that it would be all
the Iron Fist Tournament characters gathered at Kagura's Temple,
and that it would degenerate into virtual chaos. But I haven't gone
into any detail on most of them as characters; as I was working on
this, I realized it pretty much had to be the characters I'd
established. Besides, Lei wouldn't want or allow his war council to
degenerate into chaos.
    So, Lei just invites the people who have the most insight on
supernatural phenomena and tactical planning - Taki, Lee/Bryan,
Goro, Mitsu & Anna because they've experienced both sides of the
bloodslave curse, and Nina, because she's been possessed (and she
is a masterful assassin). Just happens to be the characters I know
well, too. :) Also, Shingo has found out about the war council (if
asked how, he'd say "the will of Kusanagi-sama") and joins in.
    Xiaoyu is not in on the war council because she really is still a
child, in many respects.

     Bryan muttered, "Too bad he never loved his sweet little
'virgin innocent' enough to get her in the sack - ahh!" He pressed
his hand over his forehead, warding off a renewed headache.
    - Lee normally tries to avoid violence, but sometimes Bryan's
comments are just way out of line... ^_^

     "It's our best bet. If we launch an attack before the young
master has a chance to break free, then Mishima-sama can use the
young master's Power against us. Our odds of success will be much
higher if the young master reclaims his free will first."
    - and this is my justification for why our heroes won't barge in
on Heihachi's fortress until the blood sacrifice has reached a
turning point...

"It should be within our Power. Kazama-san is young, and he isn't
a necromancer; he hasn't enslaved any souls to magnify his own
strength. If we put the strongest possible blessings on our
ammunition..."
    - I need some justification here to clarify why, even though Jin's
bullet shield can be penetrated, Kazuya's bullet shield wasn't as
easy to beat with just a few spells.

Now, for Bryan's browbeating of Nina.
    This worked out way better than I originally envisioned. And
since Nina has been going after a new member of the House
Mishima with every Iron Fist Tournament, Bryan also takes it on
himself to make sure that she finally quits - Bryan doesn't want to
be next on her hit list.
    However, Bryan doesn't try to ban her from all assassination,
because he knows that's one promise Nina will never hold to...
unless she so chooses. 

     "I don't understand," Anna piped up, helplessly. "Nina, did
Bryan do something for y-"
     "SHUT UP!" Nina screamed.
    - Anna doesn't know that Bryan freed Nina from the Toshin's
control. Anna doesn't find this out until the interviewer tells her,
over a month later.

"Unless," the cyborg contemplated, "you're no different from dope-
fiend street punks who'll murder anyone for a fancy pair of shoes.
Then you can do whatever the fuck you want."
    - loosely taken from "Azure Bonds," a TSR fantasy novel by Jeff
Grubb. Our heroine Alias subdues the red dragon
Mistinarperadnacles, coercing her to hold by the code "unless you
are common dragon. Then you can do what you will."

"He's married, and h-he dearly loves his wife Mariko..."
    - It has since been pointed out to me that Mariko is the name of
Wolverine's wife/one true love in the X-Men comics. So that's
where my subconscious dredged the name up from...

     When he talked, his voice was much gentler than before.
And his eye color had changed from green to auburn, as if I needed
that extra detail to know Lee Chaolan was speaking now.
    - loosely taken from "Athyra," where Savn sees an embroidered
jhereg on a nobleman's collar... as if he needed that symbol, or
even the noble's colors, to know that an assassin from the House
Jhereg was speaking now.

Now for a scene that has been vivid in my head for months (at
least). Lee's interrogation of Kimura.
    A lot of this has been borrowed from N.Y.P.D. Blue. In
particular, the show's core format (it almost *never* varies from
this) that starts out with a hostile perpetrator refusing to cooperate,
and (usually) ends with the perpetrator breaking down & giving a
statement.

BTW, Ishida's & Kimura's first names (Mantarou and Masahiro)
are from the credits of KoF '98. Masahiro is actually the first name
of Kyo Kusanagi's voice actor. No symbolism intended; I just
needed names, and these names sounded cool.

     *You did not cry, but Mantarou was crying, and I could see
how afraid you were. I tried to comfort you, with one of Jun-chan's
favorite melodies...*
     Lee started to sing.
     His music was haunting, and wordless. I felt a pang,
listening to his celestial voice resurrect it from the grave of lost
regrets.
    - Lee's singing is the same tune that Jun used to calm demon-Lei
in "Ashes." It's the melody to Devil/Angel's rearranged PSX TK2
theme.

     "Kill me," the bodyguard mouthed. "Please..."
    - also from N.Y.P.D. Blue, I think an episode called "Lost
Yisrael." When the detectives finally break down a murderer, this
is what he says...

*Your master is very sick.*
    - this is the real key to subverting Kimura's loyalty... convincing
him that it is in Heihachi Mishima's own best interests if his evil
plan is stopped. BTW, Mitsurugi also believes this - he wants to
stop Heihachi's evil, in hopes that the good side of Heihachi's
legacy won't become any more corrupted than it already is.

     "Opposite alignments, Lei-san. Contrary aspects shape our
respective Powers. As a lifelong follower of Kusanagi-sama, mine
is the aspect of Loyalty."
   - this was a spur-of-the-moment tack in response to Lee being the
Angel of Treachery. Shingo is not Word-bound (only
celestial/diabolic beings can be such, not mortals), but he can still
be aligned with the aspect of a word. This is why Shingo couldn't
be part of breaking Kimura; Shingo is too Loyal by nature.
    And as the lifelong, semi-fanatic follower of Kyo Kusanagi,
what better word is there to describe Shingo than Loyalty? (Unless
you count Lunacy... :)

One of the unfortunate things about "Phoenix Reborn" is that Lei
and Hwoarang never meet. There just isn't room for it, on the pages
or in the plot. Yet Lei & Hwoarang form a special team in Tekken
Tag (Lei likes to lecture poor Hwoarang, who sits & sulks with his
arms folded). It seemed like a pity for them to never encounter
each other...
    ...so what the heck, I decided to throw in a past encounter. After
Hwoarang's disastrous run-in at the Temple of Light, but before the
Toshin arrived. It was Hwoarang's first attempt to make Wang's
prophecy come true by hooking up with a gang. When Lei Wulong
busted Hwoarang's Hong Kong gang, Hwoarang fled to Japan, and
eventually took control of his current gang. And then he met
Yukie...

     The angel sighed. "Ishida, Kimura, Yamada, Satake,
Shiina... twenty years ago, I put them all to sleep in the syndicate's
cryogenic vaults, promising them a better world when the New Era
dawned. Did all the children I tried to protect grow up to be
victims, or killers?"
    - Lee knows about Ishida & Kimura from Kimura, of course. He
also picked up on Satake's & Shiina's fates when Kimura opened
his mind to Lee's telepathy. Lee saw Yamada when he was setting
souls free from the Toshin, before Jun's arrival.
    As for Heihachi's other two honor guards, well... they were older
guys; not among the children Lee put to sleep twenty years ago.

     "And if _you_ are not careful to balance your aspect of
Loyalty with your secondary commitment to Tolerance, your
worship of Kyo Kusanagi will escalate into fanaticism and
madness."
    - There must be balance - Lee must balance his innate Treachery
with Honor; and Shingo must balance his innate Loyalty with
Tolerance.
    This conveniently ties into why Shingo is extremely tolerant,
never pressing his religion on anyone, always treating everyone -
even deadly enemies - with polite deference. He must keep his
commitment to Tolerance, or else the consequences could be dire.

     "Stay cool, Shingo," the handicapped professor muttered to
himself.
   - from Shingo's KoF '98 fight intro pose. He actually says "Cool
ni ikoze, Shingo," but it's translated for your benefit. Shingo's
gestures prior to a fight have already been written into Ch. 18 (just
before he takes on Julia).
    Incidentally, Shingo does not call himself -san (like he addresses
everyone else) because you're never supposed to use -san after your
own name.

     "Kusanagi-sama is not an agent of Destruction; he seeks to
bring change! He is the first god of Light who dares to champion
the rights of demons and Devils!"
    - the Grey Kingdom currently does not allow demons or Devils
in except under strict guard, for very specific purposes. Demons
and Devils are generally not permitted to be reborn. And no one
has ever heard of a demon or Devil being admitted to the Paradise,
though there is no law against it...
    The problem with Kusanagi-sama's crusade to bring equality for
demon and Devil souls is that a lot of demons and Devils *are*
rather nasty critters... not all, but very many. So, despite Kusanagi-
sama's efforts, they are largely confined to Hell... so far.

     "A Devil destroyed my brother!"
     "A _rogue_ Devil, and I was referring to your nephew."
    - The Devil that possessed Kazuya was a creature that, instead of
doing its appointed duty to help break & cleanse the souls of
sinners in Hell, escaped to the mortal world. There it found
Kazuya, and well, havoc reigned.

Detective Lei Wulong is calling in favors from Interpol, and
something known as the Outworld Investigation Agency. They will
show up and arrest Mishima-sama, after we're done. Neither
organization can fight with us, though, because of some
international law thing.
    - this is a deliberate piece of setup - Catsclaw (from the OIA) is
going to show up for a cameo, in Ch. 29 or 30.

Although Lei Wulong gets a postscript to this chapter, it's really the
next best thing to Mitsurugi having a whole chapter to himself.
Heck, Julia has had "whole chapters" that were shorter than the
amount of text Mitsu had here...

Finally, there's a few Lei/Shingo scenes that I wanted to get in. I
built up a reference to how Lei doesn't want Shingo to get hurt
back in Ch. 21 (even though Lei knows Shingo isn't his son). That
had to be played out. Plus, I wanted some reference in here to the
fact that Lei knows his son is a Devil (demon senses don't lie). And
I've had the scene in my head where Shingo says "_You still need
me_" for some time now.

And so ends the last calm-before-the-storm chapter. We're coming
up to the big two-part final battle (vs. Heihachi, then vs. the
Toshin) followed by the fallout, and the resolution. THE SAGA IS
ALMOST DONE!!!!

Next up: Heihachi's blood sacrifice ritual doesn't exactly turn out
as planned - not as planned by Heihachi or Devil Jin, and not as
planned by our heroes either...
Chapter 28: Blood Sacrament notes
December 3, 1999

Twenty-six days for this chapter, almost certainly three chapters
left to write, and less than a month left to write them... I don't think
I'll be able to beat Y2K. However, I do think I'll be able to finish
this novel by sometime in January, hopefully before my next
college semester starts.

And who knows... I *might* be able to finish the last three
chapters in a blinding burst of unprecedented speed (without
sacrificing quality!) We'll see.

The title is a suggestion from my father. I originally had "Blood
Ablution," but that didn't have as good a ring to it, and "Blood
Sacrifice" was too generic. "Blood Atonement" was "Ashes" Ch.
14, and besides, no one is being atoned here (yet). I wanted
something with blood in it, though, since plenty of blood is being
splashed all over the place; and Heihachi's ritual approached a sort
of perverse sacrament...

The epigraph is from my favorite comic books of all time, Vicky
Wyman's "Xanadu" anthropomorphic stories. I used a quote from
her one-shot special about an immortal phoenix queen for "Ashes"
Ch. 25; here, the quote is from an evil, disembodied griffin
sorcerer, who is making a pact to inhabit the body of an evil living
griffin.

Only the most general things about this chapter have been planned
from the beginning. Namely, that Jin would be controlled and
about to sacrifice Julia, when he starts mumbling "This is wrong..."
under his breath. That Lei Wulong & our heroes would crash
Heihachi's sacrifice, and that Jin would take the knife to stop his
grandfather from killing Julia... and then, to everyone's horror, the
ritual to summon the Toshin would succeed. After I had the idea to
write Shingo Yabuki into "Phoenix Reborn," I thought that he
would use his Power to cover our heroes when Lee failed, and
since started setting this up. It wasn't until very recently that I had
the idea for Julia to unexpectedly meet Ishida's ghost.

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Ogre-1's TK3 background
    - Heihachi's ceremonial swords (from his action figure, and
some rendered art pieces)
    - Heihachi's abusive contempt for Lee
    - Shingo's shield incantation, a variation of "SHINGO
KIIIICKU!"
    - Goro Daimon's victory pose (sandal stomp, wordless cry)
    - Nina/Anna Tekken Tag intro pose #1 (Nina scolds, Anna
shrugs)
    - Paul's TK3 intro pose (running a comb through his hair)
    - that Forest Law is scared spitless of riding on Paul's motorcycle
    - Nina/Anna Tekken Tag intro pose #2 (Nina scolds, Anna
kneels & sobs)
    - that Jane wants the right combat data to restore Gun Jack's
personality
    - that Yoshimitsu wants the Toshin's blood for Dr. Boskonovitch
    - that Eddy Gordo was framed for patricide, and wants the
Mishima syndicate to catch his father's real killers
    - that King the Second wanted revenge on the Toshin for
murdering King the First
    - that Armor King was King the Second's teacher
    - Tiger's quotes (from the Official HardCore Tekken 3 Gaming
Guide)
    - Ogre-1's fight intro pose, & general description
    - The TK3 scene where the Toshin tries to absorb Heihachi's
soul

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - that Forest Law decided to quit riding on Paul's motorcycle
(he's still riding on Paul's motorcycle in his own TK3 ending)
    - that Forest Law has a girlfriend (Namco never says that he
doesn't, but...)
    - that the Mishima syndicate took over King's religious charity,
and King the Second wants it back
    - that Armor King is in the shape to do any fighting around the
time of the TK3 Tournament
    - that Heihachi is wearing his Armani suit, instead of his
hakama, with his swords when he takes on the Toshin


Okay. This is probably the last all-Julia chapter. I'm not done with
Julia's POV by any means; the last three chapters will probably
switch between her and Jin, until they conclude with an epilogue
by the interviewer. However, with all the interim plot threads
coming together and being fused/resolved one way or another, the
viewpoints of everyone except Jin & Julia seem to have taken their
course. Jin & Julia are the main hero/heroine of this novel, so it
seems only fitting that they pretty much wrap it up.

The off-format piece of text is the Mishima syndicate memo. Jin
sent the interviewer a written message because Jin has had some
frustration tracking down the interviewer of late, and Jin didn't
completely trust himself not to black out in the middle of a face-to-
face conversation. Of course, Jin avoids telepathic contact with the
interviewer or (almost) anyone else except in emergencies, because
most people find telepathy disconcerting at best.
    This memo's main purpose is to set up Ch. 29, which should
feature another interview with Jin & the conversation where Jin
confronts Lee and Julia about his memory lapses. Jin's memory
block has been a running subplot throughout the novel, and needs
to be brought to at least a semi-satisfactory conclusion.

The sacrificial chamber was a wide, circular space, within
Heihachi's gold-plated reconstruction of the Toshin's Temple.
Burning torches lightened the room, and dark archways surrounded
it. There was an overhead balcony, an especially grand arch leading
outside, and a vast hole in the ceiling. The rising full moon
hovered past the hole's apex.
    - this is a rough description of Ogre-1's TK3 background. The
hole in the ceiling is especially important for setting up next
chapter, where I intend to write the Toshin's ending in. Some
aspects of the background are modified to set up the story, i.e. the
balcony, the altar, the blood-filled depression, etc.

I recognized them. One was the syndicate servingwoman who used
to attend me, and the other was the servingwoman who used to
attend Xiaoyu.
    - this was a spur-of-the-moment idea - Heihachi would probably
arrange "bridesmaids" for Julia, and would make them people she
knew. I've referred once or twice to the syndicate servingwoman
who looked after Julia's needs, and Xiaoyu presumably had a
similar servant. Of course, once I've mentioned these women I can't
just forget about them; there's a few lines of them being protected
by the crossfire, detoxified of bloodslave poison, and sent away to
safety before the Toshin's arrival.

     His grandfather scrutinized him closely. For a moment,
Heihachi's right hand rested on the hilt of the longer of his paired
ceremonial swords.
     - In Ch. 26, I mentioned that Heihachi is wearing his green, fur-
lined Armani suit from Tekken Tag. Though I don't repeat the
description here, it still seems more appropriate than his blue
hakama (or his gold hakama from Tekken Tag). Heihachi wouldn't
want to be shirtless when presiding over his own grandson's
wedding.
    However, Heihachi needs to be carrying his swords, because
they will figure significantly in Ch. 30. Also, it was set up way
back in Ch. 2 that Heihachi planned to use these weapons against
the Toshin (before he came across Heaven's Dagger). So, um,
Heihachi is wearing his Armani suit and his swords. Because I say
so.
   BTW, this is a deviation from Jin's & Heihachi's TK3 endings. In
both, Heihachi is wearing his shirtless hakama outfit vs. the
Toshin. (In Jin's ending, Heihachi is also packing a pistol, but hey).
Though in Heihachi's ending, Heihachi has changed into his red
Armani suit for the helicopter ride home...

     Heihachi removed his hand from his sword hilt. He
withdrew a grey book with a leather binding from inside the vest of
his fur-lined dress suit, instead.
    - there's nothing special about Heihachi's book. He just wrote
down the appropriate incantation in Japanese. He has memorized
it, but he wanted the book as backup just in case... old age can
wreak havoc on anyone's short-term memory. The incantation was
originally in Nahuatl (Aztec language), but Heihachi has correctly
assumed that the desire of the speaker is far more important than
the language spoken.

BTW, the scene of the terrible sacrifice interrupted by a last-minute
rescue is, admittedly, something of a cliche. It's certainly been used
countless anime (including 3X3 Eyes, one of my favorites). Also in
one of my favorite novels, "Azure Bonds" by Jeff Grubb (in that
one, it is the paladin Saurial Dragonbait who is almost sacrificed
by the innocent Alias).

Mitsurugi and Taki flanked him on either side, dressed like legends
from feudal Japan. Ling Xiaoyu and Anna Williams were right
behind them.
    - these four are actually forming teams of Mitsurugi/Xiaoyu one
side, and Taki/Anna on the other. After all, Mitsu is good friends
with Xiaoyu, and Taki is good friends with Anna, whereas Mitsu's
current relationship with Anna is strained at best, and Xiaoyu never
quite got along _that_ well with Taki or Anna.

Here is where all the Tekken 3 characters I've been pretty much
ignoring until now show up in cameo roles. BTW, with this chapter
every Tekken 3 character has made an appearance except Gon (and
Gon is not going to show, since he has his own manga stories that
are much better suited to him). The only Tekken 3 characters who
are not actually fighting somewhere in this battle are Doctor
Boskonovitch, who is too sick/feeble to fight (he's back at Kagura's
Temple), and the Mokujins & Kuma/Panda, who are all back at the
Mishima syndicate (and too nonhuman to sensibly write in).
   The down side of putting in so many Tekken 3 characters is that
it's a pain to keep track of all of them. Especially since there are
Soul Edge, King of Fighters, and a couple Tekken 2 characters to
worry about too...
    BTW, Lei's strike force has a total of nineteen people on it, and
only fourteen of those are actually taking on the Tekkenshu hand-
to-hand. Since they're going up against fifty Tekkenshu, they're
pretty outnumbered... but they do have a couple advantages to
compensate. They're protected by Lee's/Shingo's shield, and Nina
Williams is covering them with well-placed sniper bullets (she
alone is responsible for most of the Tekkenshu fatalities).

     "You are no son of mine," growled the old man, pressing
one of the box's buttons.
     - this box is the weapon that Doctor Abel created for Heihachi,
to use against Prototype Alpha (Lee Chaolan's host). Ch. 20 had to
set this scene up, so that Heihachi wouldn't be too shocked at
confronting Lee. Also, it enables the setup from Ch. 27 to kick in,
as Shingo takes over with a shield spell when Lee fails.
    I really wanted to have Lee appeal to Heihachi one more time,
and I set up Lee's desire to talk to his father in Ch. 11. Of course,
Heihachi ignores Lee's warning even as he ignored Wang's.
Originally, Lee's appeal was going to interrupt/preempt the rescue
mission, but I changed my mind, realizing that Lee would never
deliberately jeopardize the crusade to save his nephew. Instead, it
is Heihachi's weapon that makes Lee fall from the sky...

     -and jerked back, spasmodically, as two <crack> noises
coincided with spiderweb patterns bursting onto their faceplates.
They dropped dead. I didn't know it then, but I can tell you now
that the hidden sniper was Nina Williams, the Silent Assassin.
    - since Nina saves Bryan here, she considers her debt to him to
be effectively paid up (though she is grudgingly obligated to her
promise to leave the House Mishima alone... as long as they do not
move against her, in any case). As a result, she has no qualms
about taking her injured sister and ditching everybody else when
the Toshin shows up (Nina was motivated as much by self-
preservation as the desire to save her sister when she fled).

     Fresh blood spilled on the altar.
     I could feel it splash, soaking through my white wedding
dress. When I dared to crack open my eyes, I saw a thin red stream,
staining the altar's side. A rivulet of bright crimson began a slow,
winding descent to join the stagnant blood-pool in the ditch below.
    - this is the prophecy of Julia's grandmother back in Ch. 11. Mrs.
Chang saw that 'Kazuya' would hold the knife over Julia, and that
fresh blood would spill on the altar... what she did not see was that
the prophecy could come true in more than one way. 

     "Grandfather - the Toshin is making you do this, isn't it? It's
using you to summon it back from the void! You have to resist it. I
love you, Grandfather; I won't let it take your soul!"
    - Jin still hasn't recognized his grandfather's evil. Instead, he is
speculating that the Toshin is influencing/controlling Heihachi,
perhaps in a way similar to how it controlled Nina. Jin will
probably learn the bitter truth in Ch. 30...

     Heihachi reacted far more quickly than I could have
guessed possible. He slammed his right fist into Daimon's sternum,
in a supremely powerful shove.
     The Titan didn't even flinch.
    - Heihachi tries to knock Daimon out of the way with his Heavy
Power Punch (qcf + 2), one of his deadliest and most effective
moves in the whole game, because of its speed, massive damage,
and the fact that it's hard to retaliate after blocking this. But Goro
Daimon is using his Root Puller super move, which is to say, his
multi-hit throw with autoguard. Autoguard means that if he gets hit
during the warmup of this super, he takes damage but HE WILL
STILL GRAB YOU!!! (The only way to escape being grabbed is to
jump).
    This scene is the payoff of several instances of setup. Ever since
Ch. 25, when Goro Daimon was first introduced, various characters
(Bryan, Anna, Mitsurugi) have been highly respectful of his great
Strength... and he wasn't able to thrash Nina solely because of the
Temple wards.

     Goro Daimon stomped one of his wooden platform sandals
on Heihachi's abdomen. Flexing his arms and throwing his head
back, he proclaimed his triumph with a wordless victory cry.
    - this is one of Daimon's KoF '98 victory poses. If you space
yourself right when you win, you can make it appear as though he
is crushing his enemy's head under his wooden sandal...

     Lee made Jin lie on the floor, and elevated Jin's injured
arm. Wulong raised Jin's legs. A silver needle with sparkling
thread appeared between Lee's fingers. With the swiftness of a
celestial being, he used the thread to sew Jin's gashes closed.
   - making a bleeding person lie down & elevating their arms &
legs is a standard first aid procedure. The idea is to keep the blood
closer to the central system, and decrease the likelihood of bleeding
out.

     "-and Lei almost _didn't let me fight_ for you he wanted me
to stay behind where it's safe I was so mad he knows I'm a fighter
he knows I'm trained and he almost didn't let me fight but I didn't
blow up I kept my cool I explained how I had to help save you and
Jin especially you because-"
    - I basically ran out of room to include a Xiaoyu/Lei dialogue
scene anywhere in the last couple chapters. However, Lei
evidenced reluctance to put Xiaoyu in danger in Ch. 15, so that he
probably needed some persuading to let her fight with the strike
force. So, I put in a quick reference here for the sake of continuity.
In the end, Lei gave in to Xiaoyu's request mostly because he was
desperate for fighters.

Nina was angrily shaking her index finger at Anna, who lifted her
shoulders in a helpless shrug.
    - this is one of the Nina/Anna team's fight intro poses, in Tekken
Tag. The second one (shown later) has Anna on her knees,
sobbing.

     "As soon as we get out of here, the first thing I'm going to
do is call Dad. The second thing I'm going to do is get myself a
driver's license. No more riding on the back of your motorcycle.
Ever."
    - this whole scene is actually the first point at which Forest Law
is quoted in this saga. I'm not going to write Forest's ending per se
(in a way, I already did a variation of it during the Nina/Bryan fight
scene, when Bryan tried to do a flip kick and failed). However, I
did want to set up a little closure with this character, who has pretty
much run away from his father. So I mention here that he plans to
call his dad Marshall Law, and that he's giving up riding on Paul's
motorcycle (a slight creative license - Forest rides Paul's
motorcycle home in Forest's TK3 ending).

"Hey, if you get to stop being 'polite,' then _so do I_! I'm sick of it,
dammit! All the time, ALL the time, 'Oh, I miss her, I want to see
her, you don't think she'll take up with someone else because I'm
gone for a month, do you?' Goddamn it, can't you shut up?"
     - Paul knows better than to let himself fall in love with Forest,
especially since Forest isn't gay. However, Paul does find it
irritating to hear Forest prattle about his girlfriend back home... salt
in the wound, and all. 

     "THE PAPERS TO MY SWISS BANK ACCOUNT ARE
IN THAT HOUSE! If the syndicate has found those, then they -
they - am I FLAT BROKE!?"
    - I originally had Heihachi take over the Williams' estate as a
spur-of-the-moment thing, and to leave Anna with few options
other than to sign with the Mishima syndicate. However, it also
worked well here as way to set up yet another nasty argument
between the sisters...

"You foolish child; you have damned yourself with your love! The
House Mishima is cursed. When you become part of it, the curse
will embrace you. If you give yourself to my grandson, and
perpetuate the doomed dynasty, then you will ensure everlasting
misery for yourself and all your line!"
   - I'd wanted to refer to a curse on the House Mishima for some
time now, but never actually got the chance until here. The curse,
BTW, is suicide... that all members of the House Mishima will, in
one way or another, be driven to sacrifice their own lives. This will
probably be referred to again in Ch. 30 or 31.

Incidentally, King the Second was by far the more loquacious of
the two. Armor King spoke in short sentences, when he had
anything to say at all. 
    - I had a Native American character in a book in mind, when I
wrote the description of Armor King. This character "never spoke
two words when one word would do." Wish I could remember
what the book was.
    BTW, if you look at Armor King's hands in Tekken Tag, you can
see that he is a dark-skinned black man (though he might have
Hispanic or mestizo blood mixed in there, who knows?) In King's
TK3 ending, Armor King is dark-skinned, but he also has straight
black hair, implying that he either underwent a cosmetic treatment
to straighten his hair (used to be called "conking," dunno if it still
is) or has a mix of enough other types of blood to offset the African
curly-hair gene. Armor King's Tekken 2 bios always list his
country of origin as "Unknown."

The woman introduced herself as Jane. I don't know exactly what
her tie to Gun Jack was, but she referred to him like a big brother.
It was her hope that the right combat data simulation would help
restore Gun Jack's 'soul.' 
    - Jane is from Namco's TK3 storyline; she appears in Gun Jack's
TK3 ending. In that ending, her data and making Gun Jack the
"King of Iron Fist" restore the personality of her dear friend, fried
by a satellite a long time ago. Gun Jack's ending probably won't be
literally written in, though I might have something more about him,
later.

Well, one look at his hideous orange disco shirt, garish gold neck-
chains, white-framed lawnchair sunglasses, and tacky finger-rings
almost made me swoon. But not the way he intended. Is it true
people really used to dress that atrociously?
    - Tiger's TK3 ending is NOT going to be written in. It's just not.
:-P

Specifically, Wulong now had a videotape of the ritual to summon
the Toshin, and an informant who could implicate his former
master in countless murders and scandals.
    - Jane made the videotape of the ritual to summon the Toshin
(the camera is still running), and the witness who can implicate
Heihachi is Masahiro Kimura.

     Lee was saying something like, "He is in the care of
Kagura's Temple. They will do what they can to help him, as will
I."
    - Lee is reassuring Ishida's shade that Kimura is alive and in
good hands.

     "A soul? You mean like a... a ghost?" 
    - one of Rumiko Takahashi's original short stories is about a
female spirit who has currently been forced out of her body. "Is she
a ghost?" someone asks. "Technically, she's a soul," someone else
answers.

     Perhaps Lee did know this, about my tribe. Perhaps it was
why he refrained from mentioning the ghost's name, even as I
refrained from asking it.
    - in fact, Lee does know this about the Navajo tribe; he once
heard Jun refer to it, when he and Kazuya were spying on her
patrol in "Ashes."

     "Oh." Note to self: remember to ask what he meant by
'Word of Treachery,' later. "What about the Guardians of the Black
Abyss? Are they stronger than you?"
    - Julia is actually more focused than I am; I get sidetracked more
easily, while she can make mental notes and go back to them later.
A useful trait in this fanfic, for it keeps her from requesting a
rehash of what was just covered in Ch. 27.

     "Imagine having your soul shredded into thousands of
pieces."
     "Oh."
     "It is not necessarily a permanent state. That which is rent
apart can be reassembled. If a soul's will is strong enough, it may
even be able to reincorporate on its own, given enough time."
    - I've wanted to mention this about disincorporation for a while
now. After all, Jun's soul got disincorporated in Ch. 8... but that
was four and a half years ago, Earth time.

     "You're scared of the Guardians of Paradise, aren't you?" I
softly inferred.
     "I was impudent once," admitted the angel. "I paid the
price."
    - loosely adapted from Steven Brust's "Orca," in which a
telepathic mind-healer is scared of entering Savn's autistic mind...

     "What if a Guardian of Paradise didn't report in?"
     "Unbelievable." Lee's denial was completely automatic.
    - Lee is driven to respond by his programming, which has
conditioned him against even suspecting that there could be
something wrong with any Guardian...

     "Vivarexis was Word-bound to Eternity," he reasoned.
"Now that you suggest it... perhaps a measure of his essence could
have survived Entropy itself."
    - Vivarexis has been called the Dragon Eternal (not Eternal
Dragon, since that's the critter from Dragonball Z) ever since he
was first referred to in Ch. 21, so Eternity seemed an appropriate
Word for him.

     In split-seconds such as this, life-shattering decisions are
made.
     "Uncuff him, Daimon," Wulong instructed, tossing the
necessary keys to the mortal Titan. "And return his swords.
Yabuki, you heal his injuries."
    - I needed Heihachi free to fight the Toshin and for later
chapters, but at first I wasn't sure how this would be. I later realized
this would make the most sense if Lei Wulong directed his release,
in order to get his help against the Toshin.

The one time a voice did answer him, all I caught of it was, +-only
two choppers remaining-+
    - I'm setting up the Toshin's TK3 ending, where he blasts apart
two Tekkenshu helicopters, for next chapter. However, I can't
really have the Tekkenshu en masse clouding up the big fight
scene, any more than I can have the Temple sorcerers en masse, so
they cancel each other out. The Temple sorcerers have teleported
Heihachi's Tekkenshu out of the picture, and as a result the
sorcerers are too exhausted to fight (borrowed from Steven Brust's
"Phoenix," where Sethra wipes herself out with a teleportation
spell, and is too tired to teleport our heroes back from Greenaire).
    BTW, the Temple sorcerers didn't teleport away Heihachi's inner
guard of Tekkenshu at the sacrificial ritual because a) the plot
called for a good, rousing fight, and b) our heroes needed Jin to
break free of the bloodslave curse - which meant that Heihachi had
to be allowed to proceed with his ritual undistracted by
disappearing guards.

So it was that, amid all the chaos, all the panic and omnipresent
evil, when there were a thousand other things I should have been
thinking about... I turned to Jin and whispered, "You're a virgin?"
   - This is a twist/punch line that's been in my head ever since the
conception of "Phoenix Reborn." ^_^

     (You said... you said we needed its true name before we
could use Heaven's Dagger against it... didn't you?)
    - Ch. 26 repeated that the Toshin's true name was critical to
controlling it. Devil Jin claimed that he could learn the Toshin's
name from its mind, so that has to be played out. Unfortunately, the
Toshin has forgotten its own name...

Now, for the biiiiig mass fight scene: everyone vs. Ogre-1.
    It was a tactical error for Lee to lead everyone against the Toshin
at once, because it knocks everyone down with a souped-up
version of its Ancient Power attack reversal (b+1+2 as opponent's
attack connects, unique to the Toshin's Ogre-1 form). Goro
Daimon is the first to fall to its Bear Hug throw (2+4, from Kuma),
which actually looks like it cracks one's thighs instead of one's
back. Anna comes to Daimon's rescue with her Bloody Scissors
unblockable (d+1+2). The Toshin takes her down with its Body
Slam throw (1+3, from Jack-2). Mitsurugi attacks it with any
combination of sword swipes (perhaps even a Critical Edge, I'm
running out of room to go in depth). It takes him down with
Serpent's Venom (f, F+2, unique to Toshin). Then it turns on Taki
with the Killing Blow unblockable (B+2+3, from Bruce Irvin). It
turns on Heihachi with the Bloody Scissors unblockable (d/b+1+2,
from Anna Williams); the Toshin hasn't absorbed Anna's soul, but
her use of the attack was all it needed to learn and copy the move.
     King and Armor King have their turn, and they catch the Toshin
with their special Tekken Tag team-throw (Armor King does
D/B+2+4 [~5] from a full crouch - works only if his tag team
partner is King). But the Toshin recovers, and knocks them away
with its Windmill Kick to Tooth Fairy (u/b+3, 2). Now Lee and
Shingo hit the Toshin by combining their Power - though the attack
Lee copies from Shingo is in fact Kyo Kusanagi's powered-up
Serpent Wave super move (qcb, hcf + A or C). This injures the
Toshin enough so that it reaches for Heihachi's soul...

     *There must be _something_ that can hurt it!*
     "There is. How desperate are you?"
     *Desperate enough.*
    - this is something of an in-joke (set up in Ch. 27, when Lee says
"We would have to be extremely desperate before..."). Super
moves in KoF are also called Desperation Moves, or DMs.

     "...aaaaaAAAAAAHH... KURA-IYAGARE!"
     - this is what Kyo Kusanagi yells during his Serpent Wave
super move, according to my KoF '98 Technical Manual. It roughly
translates to "I HAVE COME TO DISLIKE YOU!" but that just
didn't have the same ring to it, so I left it in Japanese. Of course,
Shingo learned this super from his idol Kyo, but was unable to
duplicate it because he couldn't throw flames. Even now, Shingo
can't use it as an attack spell (his gloves are for defensive magic
only), but he _can_ use it to combine his Power with Lee
Chaolan's... with devastating results.

     "I can't be in a dream! How can I be here, dreaming all this
while it happens!?"
     "Well," drawled the voice, "you are lying in my blood, and
holding the weapon that killed me. I suppose that has something to
do with it."
    - Heaven's Dagger has taken control of Julia's dreams before,
after all (in Ch. 7).

His skin was so anemic as to be almost white, and I could see why:
spirit-blood dripped endlessly from his wrists.
    - The idea of a spirit bleeding endlessly is loosely taken from a
ghost in the Gen 13 comic - a female hypersensitive telepath who
committed suicide because of mental overload. When asked about
her bleeding, she says she doesn't know, it has something to do
with her state of mind...
     Lee would say that Ishida's bleeding (and his chains) are a
metaphor. In any case, Ishida looks similar to how he died...
Kimura used Heaven's Dagger to cut open his arms, and it took
him some time to bleed to death.

     At the same time, the Toshin reached the fallen King of the
Iron Fist. Its hand closed six inches away from Heihachi's chin; the
monster hefted him overhead with telekinetic force.
     Heihachi was only semiconscious. Though his eyes drifted
open, he could make no effort to resist the God of War.
     +I WILL HAVE YOUR SOUL!+
    - this is, of course, the TK3 cut scene between stages 9 and 10
(unless you're playing Heihachi, in which case the Toshin drains
Jin). However, Jin stops the Toshin before it can take Heihachi's
soul, with a running battering ram (f, F from far enough away). The
Toshin retaliates with its Deadly Slash unblockable (f, f, N+2 from
Kunimitsu). Jin goes down.

     "I've got to wake up from this dream," I whispered,
carefully avoiding eye contact with Ishida's specter. "I can't just sit
here; I can't be a shadow on the wall while everything happens
around me!"
     "Welcome to my Hell," growled the ghost.
    - I really liked this last line for the chapter. I liked it so much
that I was sure to put the Mishima syndicate memo first, so as not
to detract from it.

Next up: The Toshin changes! Our heroes must fight for their lives
against its TRUE form...

Chapter 29: Closing the Wound notes
December 26, 1999

Twenty-three days for this chapter; only two chapters left to go,
both of them resolution (this chapter is the big climax!) I won't
finish this novel by Y2K, but I do intend to get it done sometime in
January - hopefully before classes start. So I'll be writing almost
every night during winter break. :)

The title is pretty simple, basically taken from Jun Kazama's &
Wang Jinrey's prophecy of Ch. 2 & 3, respectively. Yes, this is the
ending I've had in mind since Ch. 2... I'm not sure I was certain of
the Toshin's true identity when I started on Ch. 1, though. In fact,
my original version of the prophecy was that *Jin* would be the
purity without (while Jun was the purity within, of course). Only
later did I realize Jin wasn't quite pure enough on his own - he
wanted revenge too much.

The epigraph is a climactic quote from a massive fantasy epic by
Tad Williams. His enormous novel trilogy is in fact even greater
than my humble efforts - I've got 1000 pages here, but that's only
the length of his final volume. And he made up whole cultures,
languages, etc. etc. for his story. Like "Phoenix Reborn," he also
had like 50 different plots going on through his novel, which is part
of why it's so huge... he was also pretty vicious on his female
characters, with most of 'em ending up dead by the end (not all
though, and his male characters got killed off a lot too).
    In this quote, though... when our hero learns that the prophecy
that led him to the final showdown was nothing but a trap of the
bad guys all along... he finally understands the truth of the evil
monster before him. And by freeing himself from negative
emotion, he turns the sorcerous trap around and saves his world.
    Same basic idea here, I guess (who me? Have original thought?
Naaah... too much work. :)

Aside from the true nature of Vivarexis, and that our heroes would
heal it, the only thing in this chapter planned from the beginning
was that EVERYONE would take on the big, bad Toshin. Well,
almost everyone. And some of them would die. Especially Paul
Phoenix. I hate that overpowered @#$%... oh, and I also had
planned from the beginning that Heihachi would try to murder Jin,
even before I saw Jin's TK3 ending...

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Ogre's TK3 ending (complete with doomed helicopters)
    - the Tekken Tag losing pose for the King/Armor King team
(King shakes his fallen teacher's shoulder)
    - Yoshimitsu's TK3 intro scene (materializing out of thin air)
    - Forest's victory pose with 2
    - King's nickname ("Anger of the Beast")
    - Armor King's TK2 ending (Armor King spits up blood)
    - King's TK3 ending (Armor King without his mask)
    - the blue energy shield from Gun Jack's TK3 ending
    - part of Heihachi's TK3 ending - the gold fire coating the
Toshin
    - part of Jin's TK3 ending - Heihachi sitting up in the light of the
full moon

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - the deaths of Paul Phoenix, Armor King, & Tiger Jackson
    - the Shao Kahn's origin - MK: Annihilation makes him
Rayden's brother

Okay. Now for the BIGGEST damn fight scene I've ever written. In
fact, it's SO big that I'm glad I had the idea to alternate scenes of it
with comments from Ishida's ghost. I wanted the ghost to say a
whole lot, and I felt obligated to give (almost) everyone in the Iron
Fist a rousing good fight; either sequence might have been lengthy
and tedious by itself, but I think they work pretty well switching
off. I especially like places where the ghost's comments have an
intentional or unintentional irony on what's actually happening.

Yoshimitsu has already teleported the badly wounded Mitsurugi &
Taki to safety. Also, Nina has fled with her injured sister Anna.
After the Toshin drains Heihachi - Jin stopped it from eating his
grandfather's soul, but Heihachi has lost too much life-force to
rejoin the fight - it transforms, takes out a couple Tekkenshu
helicopters a la its ending, and then the real battle begins.

    Yoshimitsu is teleporting the injured King of Fighters characters
away (D+3+4, F or B), though since he's actually teleporting them
all the way back to Kagura's Temple, he uses up a lot of strength
doing it. When the Toshin gets too close, Yoshimitsu goes into one
of his easier 10-hit strings: 1, 2, 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1. The Lee
duplicates Yoshimitsu's string from the second uppercut on, just
when Yoshi's string reaches the break point of its spinning high
kicks.
    The Toshin retaliates with a sped-up version of its basic F+2
(from Wang) on Lee, and a nasty combo against Yoshimitsu: Slap
(stuns on counterhit, from Anna), two-hit rising axe kick (from
Lee), or: full crouch, f+2, 3, 3 (the 3, 3 are automatically done
while standing). It's possible to do Lee's Infinity Kick after the
rising axe kick, but you don't get any more juggle hits off it. Yoshi
is already under a strain from the teleports; throw in the Toshin's
nasty hind claws, and Yoshi is out of the action.

     Lee tries an aerial battle with the Toshin, doing something a
little like the Angel's 3+4, 3+4 move in Tekken Tag (where she
flies up for an air laser, then darts around in midair). The Toshin
also tries an imaginary move something like this, but it eventually
gets Lee with a midair version of its Serpent's Venom (f, F+2). The
Toshin chooses not to take Lee's soul, because the last time it ate
the angel, he freed almost all the other souls inside the Toshin.
Still, the Toshin's poison is bad enough that Lee/Bryan are now out
of the action (yeah, Bryan gets a little gypped in this fight scene -
but I figure he already had his big moment against Toshin-Nina).
The Toshin also does its 1+2 aerial fire while it's flying around, but
its targets (King and Armor King) axis-shift to safety.

   Forest Law nails the Toshin when it lands. Forest and Paul hit it
with their special Tekken Tag team combo: Forest's Poison Arrow
(a.k.a. the "one-inch punch"), Paul's Jaw Breaker and Stonebreaker,
followed by Forest's blackout. In Tekken Tag, this special combo is
done with Forest Law, with f+2~1~5, 2, 2, 1 (Paul must be on
team). The victim can dodge by tagging out after Forest's stun
punch, but of course, True Ogre has no tag-team partner here. The
announcer yells "GREAT!" after doing this combo in Tekken Tag;
here, Forest shouts the equivalent in Cantonese (he doesn't really
speak Cantonese, but he does hang out with a lot of Cantonese
friends back home. His girlfriend is also Cantonese).
    The Toshin retaliates while Forest is doing an overly jubilant
variant of his 2 button victory pose. It hits him with another
combo: Buffalo Horn (d/f+1+2, unique to True Ogre) followed by
the Hunting Hawk (u/f+3, 4, 3, from Baek Doo San) as a juggle.
This is nasty enough normally; even worse with a stronger-than-
usual Toshin. Forest is too battered to move when the Toshin goes
for its air fire (1+2, unique to True Ogre). Paul shoves Forest out of
the way with his Phoenix Smasher (d, d/f, f+2), and pays the price.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Paul Phoenix players who
routinely use Tekken's #1 overpowered cheap bastard to kick my
ass. ^_^

    Now King is mad. He gets the Toshin with a special Tekken Tag
multithrow that he only has with Armor King: his Throw Away
followed by Armor King's DDT. In Tekken Tag, the combo is
b+1+2, 5 with Armor King on the team. But Armor King isn't
especially healthy; when he overexerts himself, the Toshin gets
him with its back-throw, the Swing Swung (1+3 or 2+4 from
behind opponent). This breaks poor Armor King's neck.
Incidentally, I do like Armor King as a character - honest! - but an
enemy as bad as the Toshin is going to murder more than two
people, and Armor King was the only character other than
Paul/Tiger that I could bear to kill off. Even then, that was only
because he already seems to be dying in King's TK3 ending...
    Now King is REALLY mad, but when he tries to sock the
Toshin with his rising uppercut (WS+2), the Toshin responds with
its Demon's Feast punch reversal (full crouch, d/f, unique to True
Ogre). Actually, I can't get the Demon's Feast to work on anything
other than a crouching punch, but what the hell, creative license.

    The Demon's Feast actually resemble's Kuma's bear bites, and in
any case, Xiaoyu's attack makes the Toshin drop King - but make
no mistake, King is dying and no longer able to fight. Xiaoyu socks
the Toshin with a simple combo from TK3's Combo Training in
practice mode: Art of Phoenix into the Heavy Wave Crest,
followed by the Art of Phoenix into the Double Scissor Kick. Or,
d+1+2, d+1+2, d+1+2, u/f+3~4. In return, the Toshin gets her with
its left side-throw (1+3 or 2+4 from opponent's left-side), the
Choke Slam. The Toshin smacks Xiaoyu for a loop, and now she's
out of the fight. (I originally thought I'd have Xiaoyu do her Back
Layout catch-throw on the Toshin, but I ended up writing that
move into Ch. 6 instead).

    Gun Jack stops the Toshin from taking Xiaoyu's soul with a new
move from Tekken Tag; I think it's b+2 (Gun Jack fires a bullet).
It's actually a fairly close-range move, but hey. The Toshin
retaliates with an extra-nasty version of its d+1+2 ground fire; this
one's a bit too severe to just duck under. Gun Jack tries to protect
itself and Jane with a blue shield like you can see in Gun Jack's
TK3 ending, but the Toshin's raw Power ends up melting him and
pushing him backwards (a la how characters used to collapse for a
time over loss in TK1) on her. Gun Jack and Jane are out. (BTW, it
was originally Lei Wulong who fires the bullet, but I changed my
mind and decided that Lei should use his Art of the Tiger).

    Now, Eddy Gordo and Tiger Jackson double-team the Toshin
with their 10-hit string: 3, 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3+4, 3+4, 3+4, d/b+3+4,
u/f+3+4 (this 10-hit can't actually connect with all its blows; some
of them knock the opponent down, while others send Eddy/Tiger
too far away). Eddy's fighting style is a pain to describe, so I figure
I'll gloss over it this once, and concentrate on the Julia/Ishida
conversation instead. When Julia looks back, she sees Eddy trying
his Air Mail back-throw on the Toshin (1+3 or 2+4 from behind),
but the Toshin is *so* nasty that it actually slams him in the wall
(creative license - normally, *all* back-throws are inescapable).
Gordo goes down for the count, but Tiger has enough time to
smack the Toshin with his unblockable, the Fruitpicker (d/b+3+4).
The Toshin responds by tearing Tiger apart. Of course, this has
nothing to do with my personal hatred for getting hammered on by
various Tiger players (I hate getting hammered by Eddy too, but I
have more sympathy for Eddy's character... poor guy, losing his
father, locked up for 9 years for a crime he didn't commit...)

    Now, Jin takes on the Toshin's true form. Julia isn't looking, so
we skip over the first part of the fight, but the Toshin gets him with
its Hanging Neck Throw (1+3 or 2+4 from opponent's right side).
While Jin is down, Lei Wulong charges in a desperate attempt to
save his stepson, with his Razor Rush into the Art of the Tiger (f,
N, 1, 2, 1, 2, u). Lei does a combo that only works on big guys like
True Ogre or Gun Jack: Tiger's Strike, Cannonball, Lift Up
Cannon, or: from Art of Tiger, 1, b+1+2, 4~4~3~3. Since this
combo leaves Lei face down feet-away on the ground, the Toshin
responds with its Low Tail Spinner (d+3+4, unique to True Ogre),
which smacks the detective away. He's too sick to fight any more,
for now.

   So, it's back to Jin. His arm is out of whack, but he sets it right a
la an episode of Xena - his healing Power helps him recover fast.
Jin goes after the Toshin with the Heavy Head Blow into the Laser
Cannon (b, f+1, 2, 1). But the Toshin smacks him back with Heavy
Body Blow (WS+2, from Kazuya Mishima), which is pretty similar
to Jin's Heavy Head Blow - both stun on a counterhit. Jin goes
down again. 

    Julia comes to his rescue with a variant of her Mini G-Clef
Cannon (d/f+1); she hurts the Toshin with Heaven's Dagger, but it
smacks her away. When Jin tries to use Heaven's Dagger, the
Toshin gets him with its Double Tail Spinner (d/f+3+4, 3+4).
Normally, both tail spinner hits can't connect unless the first one is
blocked; otherwise the first one hits you too far away. But Jin is
sandwiched against the wall, so he gets the full brunt of the
Toshin's tail. Healing Power or not, Jin is in very poor shape... until
he learns the Toshin's true name, and nails it while it is distracted
into doing something like the Devil/Angel's upper laser of Tekken
Tag (u/f+1+2; the Toshin also does something like this in its
ending). So ends the terrible fight... until Heihachi, furious at being
denied Immortality, seizes Heaven's Dagger from Jin and charges
up his Lightning Hammer unblockable (D+1+4).

Now for the regular notes...

     "I've got to wake up," I babbled, frantically.
     "You'd just get killed if you did. You're better off staying
asleep. Let the real fighters deal with that monster."
    - if Julia had been able to wake up sooner, she might have been
able to team up with Jin and vanquish the Toshin before it claimed
so many lives... but then, we wouldn't have as rousing a fight
scene. ^_^

     +YOUR SOUL IS NOT OF THIS WORLD!+
     - I like having the Toshin pronounce one soul-judgement or
another on almost everyone who goes up against it (it made a
judgement on Nina's & Anna's souls back in Ch. 24).

"I can hardly remember anything about my father, or what he was
like. The worst part is that when other people remember him - if
he's remembered at all - it's as a traitor of the Great Invasion."
    - actually, the original Ishida & Kimura of "Ashes" were pretty
two-dimensional - basically, the obedient men-in-black servants
such as seen on Cage's set in the Mortal Kombat movie, or working
for Sebec in the RPG Persona, etc. They personalities weren't
differentiable in any way until their last appearance in Ch. 22. I had
a lot more fun with the Ishida and Kimura of "Phoenix Reborn,"
which is why it's too bad the plot ultimately required that Heihachi
Mishima literally destroy Ishida, and metaphorically destroy
Kimura.

"She's had to serve them ever since she was thirteen - she ages
faster than human beings, and she looked like an adult even then,
but she was only a child."
     - I've been looking for a place to slip in the fact that Taki ages
faster (and has a shorter lifespan) than ordinary human beings,
because of her mutant blood.

     And Paul Phoenix became his namesake.
    - I think this is my favorite line of the chapter... and not just
because I don't like Paul. ^_^

"Lee says it's because I'm trapped," the ghost sighed, looking at his
chains soaked with spirit-blood. "Like Kazuya used to trap souls in
the Mishima syndicate. The rest is just a metaphor."
    - Heaven's Dagger has trapped Ishida's soul, which in turn causes
him pain, since he is denied the natural inclination to depart. It is
just a metaphorical rendering, made real by his psyche, for the trap
to be expressed as chains and the pain to evidence as endlessly
bleeding wrists (which is how he died).

     Wulong raked his flexed fingers across the Toshin's right
eye. The God of War towered so tall that the detective had to use
an overhead strike, mauling the Toshin's fevered orb like a great
cat batting its prey.
     The Toshin bellowed - from pain, frustration, or outrage, I
could not tell.
     - Lei's Tiger's Strike normally dribbles enemies like a beach
ball, setting them up for juggle hits like the Razor Rush or the Lift
Up Cannon. But that stretches plausibility a little too far, so instead
I express the stun/juggle set up as the Toshin being terminally
irked.

     The God of War actually wobbled. Its wings flexed,
steadying it.
    - The Toshin can get out of some juggles by flapping its wings
("That's quite enough, mortal") if you hit 3+4 while caught in a
slow advancing combo. However, flapping the wings sometimes
just sets you up for more hits...

     All... all right. You have my tentative permission to include
tomorrow's discussion in your record, providing that Lee and Julia
agree. I don't think they'd have any reason to refuse, though.
    - the transcript of Jin's confrontation with Lee and Julia will
probably start the next chapter, and be its off-format piece of text.

     I was the last person standing. Everyone else was injured,
dying, or dead.
    - Paul, Armor King, and Tiger Jackson are dead. Gun Jack is
"dead" in the sense that he's not functioning, though Jane will
probably be able to fix him later. Yoshimitsu and King are dying -
Yoshi from head trauma, King from bodily trauma (oh, don't
worry, they'll get healed next chapter). Lei is also dying, but from
his sickness, not his injures. Xiaoyu, Jane, and Forest are badly
injured, while Heihachi is rather drained. Julia Chang is also
injured, but not as badly, and she is just about to wake up from her
dream.

And if I do not have some idea of what you actually are, inside and
out... then as far as my sorcery is concerned, your name may as
well be a string of nonsense syllables.
    - this is part of why Jin was mildly irritated, when he
accidentally intercepted Mitsurugi's fear of giving up his own name
back in Ch. 13. Knowing just the name alone isn't all that helpful
to sorcery; you have to know something of the person behind the
name, too.

     (Jin, think! Think about what you know! The Toshin is
deathless and powerful; it can mimic people's moves, regenerate its
injuries, control mortal vassals, and it has an abiding interest in
souls! Who else is that like?)
    - Julia's evidence - her logic in figuring out the Toshin's true
nature - is part of why I set her character up from the beginning to
be a puzzle-solver. This was her true purpose all along - not to win
the Iron Fist through a succession of battles (as Jin arguably does),
but to see the Truth that no one else can. As Shingo said, just
because her destiny is different, doesn't mean it's any less
important.

     "By your _own true name_ do I bind you!"
     The Toshin howled an ululating cry.
     "_VIVAREXIS_!" I screamed, and the fire consumed all.
    - my dad didn't figure out that Vivarexis was the Toshin's true
name until this line. However, at least one other person did guess it
in advance; he sent me an e-mail while I was working on Ch. 29. I
don't know whether anyone figured it out before reading Ch. 28 -
the earliest possible point anyone could have guessed would have
been Ch. 21, when Lee first mentions Vivarexis' name.

     I had suffered. My mother had suffered. All the Toshin's
victims, dead and alive, had suffered terribly. But the real Truth -
the ultimate irony - was that the Toshin had suffered most cruelly
of all.
    - this is borrowed both from Tad Williams' "To Green Angel
Tower," where the evil Storm King has suffered most horribly of
all, and from Raymond Feist's "A Darkness at Sethanon" where a
dark elf possessed by the final evil has suffered most cruelly at all.
It's probably a universal concept that the most terrible of all bad
guys can sometimes be the most tragic...

     ...I knew this song. I knew the voice that was singing it. Her
melody was as clear, beautiful, and loving as it had been over four
years ago.
     As it had been a lifetime ago.
     Mother.
    - Jun first began to suspect the meaning of her own prophecy
when she met Lee inside the Toshin. Knowing that perhaps the
only way to heal the Toshin's sickness was to stay inside it until the
proper time, she sent Lee out in her place. Unfortunately, her soul
also got disincorporated by the Byakhee that were pieces of the
Toshin's consciousness. It took her a good long while to put herself
back together, as it were. Since then, she's been waiting. Stuck
inside the monster, until at last she can help cure it from the inside.
    Jun's soul is currently hanging around, BTW. Vivarexis
promised to serve its victims for as long as they need him, but Jun
has decided that she doesn't need Vivarexis' help. As a soul,
however, she can't do anything to affect the living world - the
living can't even see her (unless they are very close to death, like
Lei) - and she certainly can't stop Heihachi from murdering her
beloved son...

     This was a Guardian of Paradise.
     This was Vivarexis, the Dragon Eternal.
    - I finally get my chance to write a real dragon into the story,
instead of just metaphorical dragons. :) Unfortunately, Paul's fiery
demise is the closest I can get to writing a real Phoenix into the
story...

     "I want them back.
     "All of them. All the people you murdered, or that Nina
Williams murdered under your control, or that other people
murdered in your name! I want you to restore _all_ of them to life,
starting with _my mother_!"
    - I can't have everyone brought back to life just like that. It
would make a good enough setup for Tekken Tag Tournament, I
know, but Tekken Tag doesn't have much storyline and I'm not
really writing it in anyway. For the story to have emotional power,
death has to be real and final (the Guardians serve Death, in any
case, so they can't go against her will - and resurrection is
ALWAYS against her will.)
    At the same time, Jin of course is going to want his mother back
- there's no way he'd let Vivarexis go without some demand like
that. Vivarexis' refusal is actually a great lead-in into the origin of
the Shao Kahn...

     Until he used Heaven's Dagger to reach a new source of
Power. A source that promised to end his boredom for all time.
     Entropy.
     The petty lord became the living vassal for Entropy itself.
He became the Shao Kahn.
    - way back in "The Blood On My Hands," I mentioned that the
Shao Kahn started out as a petty lord. In "Ashes," I made him to be
Entropy personified, and it's not until now that I had a chance to
reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements. My origin for
the Shao Kahn is now a lot more detailed than anything mentioned
in the games. The MK: Annihilation movie does give the Kahn a
different origin, making him Shinnok's son and Rayden's jealous
brother, but hey.

*HE HAS VIOLATED THE DIVINE SANCTIONS, AND
INTERFERED WITH THE DOMAIN OF THE LIVING. YET
NOW THAT HE IS PART OF THE LIVING DOMAIN,
REMOVING HIM BY FORCE WOULD ITSELF BE AN
INTERFERENCE.*
    - I wanted to mention somewhere why Lee isn't just forcibly
dragged back to the Grey Kingdom, by Vivarexis or anyone else.
It's because even though Lee has interfered, removing him now
would just be more interference (compounded by the fact that
removing him would kill Bryan Fury). None of the other Guardians
ever went after the Toshin, for goodness' sake; they're hardly going
to bother with a lesser player like Lee. 

*THE GUARDIAN OF TREACHERY SHALL RETURN TO
THE GREY KINGDOM, IN DUE TIME. HE SHALL BE
JUDGED FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE, AND WHAT HAS
COME OF IT, JUST AS ALL GUARDIANS ARE JUDGED.*
    - "in due time" meaning when Bryan dies - whether by natural
causes or not. If Lee's interference in the living domain (i.e. his
second chance at life) has done more good than evil, he'll probably
be forgiven. Since Lee did help our heroes vanquish the Toshin and
save the world (he gave them the Toshin's true name, which is part
of the reason why Heaven's Dagger summoned him to begin with),
Lee will almost certainly get off with just a slap on the wrist.
    Almost certainly.

     My murder?
     Was Vivarexis predicting that I would be murdered, or that
I would murder someone else?
    - Both, actually. However, even the predictions of a Guardian of
Paradise do not always come true... if Vivarexis could perfectly
foresee the future, he would never have created the Shao Kahn to
begin with.

    Last of all is the off-format piece of text for this chapter: another
Mishima syndicate memo, this one from Lee Chaolan. Lee realizes
that Jin has become aware of his memory block, and...

I pray that it will not be the last time any of us see Jin Kazama
alive.
    - Lee is afraid that if Jin completely regains his memories, he
will destroy himself - Lee and Julia barely stopped him from
committing suicide the last time. That's just a worst-case scenario,
though; Lee hasn't given up hope yet...

Next up: Slaughter and death. But is it a double murder, or a
murder-suicide?


Chapter 30: Demons Without notes
January 6, 2000

Only eleven days for this chapter (which is very quick for me),
partly because 1/3 of it is off-format. Only one chapter left to go!!!
I'm not 100% certain I can cram that final chapter into the 33-page
arbitrary maximum, though. We'll see. It may be that, epigraph
included, the final chapter will run a bit longer... but I don't feel as
if the resolution to this saga should be broken into any more pieces.

The title summarizes the theme of this chapter (demons, demons
everywhere, and not a drop to drink :) as well as being a nice
contrast to the planned title of the final chapter: Devils Within.

The epigraph is a quote from another favorite classic of mine,
"Watership Down." Yes, it's the story of the bunny rabbits (also
made into a rather fine animated movie). The only thing that I
didn't like about the book is that it never clarifies what happened to
my favorite character, Blackavar. The movie does write in an
ending for him, though; he gets savagely murdered by General
Woundwort...
    Oh, one other anecdote I heard about "Watership Down."
Allegedly, when Richard Williams was researching the book, he
learned that the doe (female) bunnies actually run the warrens. But
he wanted the boy bunnies to be in charge, so he decided to just
ignore natural biology. Really kind of annoying... though dimly
understandable from a writer's perspective; half the plot of
"Watership Down" was set into motion about the renegade warren's
need for does.

Much of this chapter was planned from the beginning, including
that Heihachi would try to murder Jin, and Lei would die to protect
his son; that Lei's blood sacrifice would revitalize Jin; that
Heihachi would end up trying to kill Jin with Lei's gun, and Jin
would reflect the bullet; and that Lee would save Jin from his own
death-link.
    One part that I didn't hash out until halfway through "Phoenix
Reborn" was that Jin would cast a spell to recreate a vision of
Kazumi Mishima's murder. I didn't start having ideas about this
until I was writing Ch. 16.

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Heihachi's kick-button outfit from TK1 (torn, deep blue gi with
tiger decoration)
    - part of Jin's TK3 ending (Heihachi tries to blow him away with
a gun)
    - part of Heihachi's TK3 ending (Devil marks form on Jin's
forehead)

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - Lei wearing his gun with his azure outfit
    - the death of Lei Wulong
    - that Michelle's father hid the treasure of her tribe from
_everyone_, including her whole tribe
    - that Heihachi murdered his wife (not contradicted by Namco's
storyline, but never expressly stated either)
    - that Heihachi's swords are murder weapons (again, not directly
contradicted)
    - the death of Heihachi Mishima
    - that Jin does NOT change into his Devil form (at least, not
here)
    - how Julia goes home after the Iron Fist Tournament (very
different from her TK3 ending)


The chapter begins with its off-format piece of text, an idea that
I've had for some time now in order to tie up the modern-day
subplot of Jin figuring out his own memory block. It also doubled
in nicely as a leader to the events covered by this chapter. Also, it's
fun to have the interviewer speak in words, as the interviewer, just
once before his identity is officially revealed in the epilogue to Ch.
31. After all, the interviewer's questions/comments have all been
confined entirely to the imagination since the beginning, in my
warped dreamland experiment...
    BTW, I assume that just about everyone has figured out the
interviewer's identity by now - if they didn't know before Ch. 30,
then there are two resoundingly blatant clues here that pretty much
make it obvious. But hey, the official revelation won't be until the
very end...

L: [quietly] Victory Day. It is the anniversary of humankind's
triumph over the Great Invasion.
    - Feb 23, 1997 was the end of the Great Invasion according to
my timeline. This was when Sindel banished the Shao Kahn to the
ends of Time. Lei's defeat of Kazuya was actually a couple weeks
before this.

L: Bryan is aware. As are Shingo Yabuki, Chizuru Kagura, and
Sub-Zero.
    - Bryan did NOT approve of Lee messing with Jin's mind -
Bryan is very big on free will. However, Bryan also grudgingly
acknowledges how much 'the pretty boy' means to Lee, and so
Bryan has willfully decided to overlook the angel's self-
righteousness, this once. Yes, Shingo survived the big Toshin-fight
(though it was close); however, as of the current day, he has retired
as Jin's teacher & Chizuru Kagura is filling in. Sub-Zero was
informed of Jin's memory block so that he wouldn't accidentally
trip it too much while he studied Jin.
    BTW, I never mentioned Sub-Zero's name before in this story...
but I decided that it should be referred to after all, and in the
process turned Jin's previous ignorance of his name into a little
joke. :)

L: I promised your mother, when the two of us were souls inside
the Toshin. And I promised your stepfather, when we were
readying our forces at Kagura's Temple. I promised both of them
that I would take good care of you.
   - Lee's promise to Lei was off-page - didn't have enough space to
squeeze it in, on top of everything else. But it feels very much in
character.

K: Lee, what was it? What was my crime?

L: Being alive.
    - specifically, the Divine Sanctions make it a crime for
supernatural creatures such as demons and Devils to live upon the
Earth.

Now for a quick fight scene: Lei Wulong vs. Heihachi Mishima.
I've never written the two of 'em going at it before, though I did
write Lei reliving Kazuya's TK1 victory over Heihachi in a dream
sequence within "Ashes." Here, Lei's final fight scene is mostly to
show off Lei... including a few animal arts moves I didn't have any
chance to slip in earlier.
    Lei starts with his sweep kick into the Art of the Snake (d/b+4, d
or u). Then he gets Heihachi with his ultra-fast Rushing Snake
punches, resuming the Art of the Snake (from Snake, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
1, u). Finally, Lei does his Out of Control throw (from Snake,
1+3). If Lei does the Out of Control from the Art of the Snake, then
he briefly assumes the Art of the Dragon before he tries the throw.
(If Lei is already in the Art of the Dragon, then he can do Out of
Control with just 1). Lei can chose to take a drink after the Out of
Control throw (1+2 during Out of Control) and regain a little
health; however, this decreases the amount of damage he does to
his opponent (it also puts Lei in drunken stance for a short while).
In any case, my Lei is too sick to do anything after throwing
Heihachi, who promptly murders him. Lei's death is just as he felt
it when he saw the Angel back in Ch. 3.

     In that one moment, he was more than my father. He was
more than a war hero. He was more than Super Police.
     He was the Thunder Warrior Dragon.
     He was Lei Wulong.
    - I do like using the literal translation of Lei's name to maximum
effect, here.
    Lei Wulong's last great battle, and his death scene, have been on
my mind for a long while now. Over two years. Lei is more than
the main hero of "Ashes"; to an extent, he is the one character more
than any other that hooked me into writing Tekken fanfic. If
Tekken 2 had no Lei, then I sincerely doubt I would have spent
years of my life creating novels about these games. So, even
though the plot, tragedy, & pathos required Lei's death (if Lei had
still been around to guide Jin, then Jin would almost certainly
never have attempted suicide), he at least had to go out in a great
blaze of glory...
     BTW, Lei's terminal sickness was also required by the plot. Lei
Wulong, Super Police, is *such* a presence that I needed his
illness to slow him down, keep him housebound & out of the
action for most of the Iron Fist Tournament, and also contribute to
his eventual death.

     "...I'm proud of you... your mother's proud of you..."
     "Father!" I cried.
     "I can see her..."
    - Jun's soul has been watching & waiting, ever since she got out
of the Toshin... she suspected that it would not be long before she
was reunited with her beloved husband.

     I wanted to heal him so badly...
     ...that the azure Power flowed outward.
    - I planned from the beginning that Jin would heal the Iron Fist
survivors, but I wasn't sure how. Later, I figured out that my first
idea - Xiaoyu serving as his reagent - wouldn't work too well. Too
anticlimactic; by the time Lei died, Jin would be in no shape to
heal people, no matter who his reagent was. Lei's gift ended up
working to serve a dual purpose: saving lives and restoring Jin's
strength.

Apart from Grandfather and myself, there were only three others
who stayed awake: Julia, Xiaoyu, and Bryan.
     Well, probably also Lee.
    - of course, Lee/Bryan and Julia had to stay awake because
Lee/Bryan pull out Jin's death link, and Julia is still watching
events. However, it was mentioned in Ch. 6 that Xiaoyu saw
Lee/Bryan take Jin's death-link (not overtly , but it was implied), so
she had to be awake by this time. At least Xiaoyu was spared
witnessing the death of Lei Wulong...

     "You knew?" I gasped, as the monstrous Truth leaked from
his thoughts. "You knew all along that Kazuya had committed
suicide? You _lied_ to me?"
     "Murder or suicide, it makes no difference. Wulong caused
Kazuya's destruction, when Kazuya was _mine_ to destroy! It
should have been my hand that slew my son. _It should have been
I_!"
    - as mentioned in Ch. 2, Heihachi never actually _saw_ Kazuya's
death (his sorcery shielded his battle with Lei from mortal sight).
However, Heihachi blurred the distinction between murder and
self-destruction in his own mind, which was how he could portray
Lei as a murderer to Jin.

     Julia had been right, when she claimed that Grandfather
intended to murder me.
     Was she right about everything else, too?
     I had to know.
    - this leads in to clearing up a few loose threads, left dangling
ever since Ch. 16. 

 Dagger from the very savages that held it, and told no one where it
was! It was TWENTY YEARS before his half-breed daughter
could find it again!
    - Michelle is wearing the sacred treasure as a necklace only in
TK2 (when she was 20), not TK1 (when she was 18). So I assume
she didn't find it until her 20th birthday. Okay, so Namco's
storyline implies that her father gave her the treasure on her
deathbed; what the hell, I've made a tradition of ignoring
Michelle's official storyline since "Ashes," when I made her father
Chinese & her mother Native American (it's been listed as the
other way around-!)

     "SHE WAS YOUR WIFE!" I screamed. "She was the
mother of your _child_!"
     "She tried to steal from me. _No one steals what is mine_!"
    - In the rough draft, I spelled out that Kazumi tried to take
Kazuya away from Heihachi at this point. But I think it works
much better not to over-explain it here, since the whole scenario is
displayed later. Show, don't tell.

Okay, now for the Jin/Heihachi fight. Yes, it's kept brief... I admit,
I have on my website a criticism of the Tekken anime for keeping
its Kazuya/Heihachi fight similarly brief. But I feel I have an
excuse, since everyone has already had lots of fight scenes so far...
    Heihachi starts with a right-handed cut with Heaven's Dagger.
Jin tries to reverse it (b+1+3 or b+2+4), but Heihachi uses an
Attack Reversal Reversal, or "Chicken" (f+2+4 for a right-handed
attack). Then Heihachi tries his Headbutt Carnival throw (f,
F+1+4), but Jin counters (1 or 2) and throws Heihachi across the
floor. The counter to this throw actually does only about equivalent
damage, not twice the damage, but hey. Creative license.
    When Heihachi tries a sword swipe, Jin catches the weapon in a
move that's actually rather popular in anime (I best remember it
from Urusei Yatsura; Ataru is always catching Mendou's sword
between his palms). Then Jin casts his spell, ending the fight.

I don't think that particular hall exists anymore; I think Grandfather
later had it demolished, and the works of art destroyed.
    - if the hall had still existed, Jin might have stumbled across it
and his telepathy may have cued him in... or not, but in any case,
Heihachi would be inclined to destroy it like he destroyed all the
security tapes with Kazumi's image.

Namco's storyline never explicitly states how Kazumi died, or that
she's dead, or even her name. The closest you see is a picture of her
in Kazuya's locket, in the Tekken anime. However, I like what I've
come up with here. Heihachi's obsession with Strength, and his
own bad temper, drove him to be so brutal that he committed a
particularly heinous crime of passion... and it damned him.

He was dressed much more crudely than I might have expected;
maybe he didn't acquire his taste for lavish clothing until late in his
life.
    - certainly, Heihachi's TK3 and Tekken Tag outfits are much
nicer than what he wore in TK1 & TK2. In this past scene,
Heihachi appears here in his alternate TK1 for PSX outfit... the
blue gi with ripped sleeves & leg cuffs. His black gi with the intact
sleeves & leg cuffs was carried over to TK2, but this outfit wasn't;
since it was pretty old, I figured why not write it in (though this is
another 22 years before TK1, and therefore Heihachi still hais
some hair on his head).

     "I had to have Immortality," he whispered. "I had to have it,
at any cost. Any price to escape. She has been waiting for me to
join her in Hell, all these years. She will torment me to the ends of
Time."
    - most of the scenes in this chapter were planned well in
advance; this is one of the few bits of spur-of-the-moment writing.
One more reason why Heihachi craved immortality, though he
would admit it to no one, least of all himself.

     "I love you, Grandfather. It's not too late for you to seek
redemption. It's not too late to accept responsibility for what you
have done, and change yourself on the inside."
    - there is a certain power to the number three. In "Phoenix
Reborn," Heihachi is called on to repent three times, by the three
people who cared about him the most: Wang Jinrey (Ch. 6), Lee
Chaolan (Ch. 28), and now Jin. Yet, because of who he is (and as
stubborn as Kazuya was), he rejects all three calls... and Wang
Jinrey's dark prophecy comes true.

     Grandfather closed his eyes. There was the slightest glint of
reflected moonlight, in their corners.
     It was the only time I have ever seen him cry.
    - Heihachi has cried one previous time in my writing - for his
beloved pet Kuma, in "Ashes." He never cried for Kazuya or Lee,
though.

     "You know not your own damnation," he stated, ruefully.
"Do not pretend to know mine."
    - Heihachi knows that Jin is a Devil, as surely as many others do.
Heihachi is also aware that Jin does not know his own true nature
(yet). In any case, I had to think carefully about what Heihachi's
last words would be, and I'm rather satisfied with this.

     Because you see, it was a humble thrush that whispered
Smaug's weak spot to a man of Dale, telling him about the
unarmored patch of the dragon's scaly hide. And it was a humble
thrush that taught Jin how to reflect bullets on instinct - though I
suppose we should also give Lei Wulong credit for that.
    - I wasn't certain whether I should spell this metaphor out - it
seemed maybe a bit pedantic. But if I didn't mention it, then I doubt
that even people who had read "The Hobbit" would be likely to get
the connection, and besides, a little bit of wordiness is within
Julia's character. Of course, Julia knows how Jin learned to reflect
bullets from the memories she gained from Jin, when she was his
reagent in Ch. 10.

     Of course, if Heihachi truly did want to die, I suppose he
could have just shot himself.
    - I don't think that even my Heihachi knew what he was going to
do, after he killed Jin - kill all those around him, or kill himself.

Renewed streaks of electricity burst from his chest - electricity that
was no longer colored indigo, but rather crimson-white.
   - Changed from indigo for the final draft. It was Devil Jin, with
crimson-white Power, who inserted the death-link, so the erupting
death-link should reasonably be crimson-white too.

     Jin looked down at his shaking hand. His fingernails had
turned stark white.
    - I looked real close at Jin's ending, and the Devil Jin action
figure, and as far as I can tell Devil Jin's fingernails are stark white.
I would've thought they'd be jet black, but hey.

     "What..." he mouthed. "What _am_ I...?"
    - Jin has just realized that he is a Devil.

     "Shut UP, pretty boy!" With the back of his free hand,
Bryan smacked Jin's face. "Lee says this will work!"
    - I love Bryan's character. He doesn't take crap from anyone. ^_^

     But my dreams were not like this. None of them were like
this.
     Not with the Toshin's victims slaughtered before my eyes,
and left to stiffen in its wake. Not with the sacred treasure of my
tribe used to butcher Lei Wulong, Super Police. Not with Jin
Kazama - a good, kind, and caring person - being forced to destroy
the grandfather he dearly loved.
    - at last, I finally get the chance to elaborate Julia's wistful
regrets at the close of Ch. 10.

And now, Catsclaw returns. He is the only character to personally
appear in all three of my novel-length projects: "The Coming of
Winter," "Ashes of the Phoenix," and "Phoenix Reborn." Of course
he has only a *tiny* cameo here; his importance in this story is
more through the influence he's had on Julia's life than anything
else. He was also helpful for wrapping up Julia's return home; at
first, I wasn't sure how she'd get back to her reservation (run all the
way? :) The answer is, of course, that Catsclaw brought her home.

Next up: In the wake of pain, grief, and dark revelation, Jin
pronounces a merciless sentence on himself...

Chapter 31: Devils Within notes
January 23, 2000

Seventeen days for *two* chapters.

The epilogue for Ch. 31 ran so long that it merited a chapter in its
own right, and Ch. 31 itself ran long, at 40 pages. But Ch. 31 & 32
are both resolution, wrapping everything up, and anyone who
looked at Ch. 31 by itself might just see it as a conclusion. So, I
decided to finish and post both Ch. 31 and Ch. 32 at the same time.
Since it always takes me extra time to proofread, post, & write
chapter notes for a fanfic, I don't think I would have gotten the saga
finished by the 23rd if I'd done Ch. 31 & Ch. 32 one at a time.

This title summarizes the chapter theme ("Everyone has a Devil
within!") and of course is in contrast to the title of Ch. 30, Demons
Without. I deliberately wanted to make this chapter "Devils
Within," plural, to distinguish it from a Tekken fanfic with the title
"Devil Within" (go to http://members.xoom.com/BrendenOki_ to
read it!)

The epigraph is from the "The Scarlet Letter," a book that high
school and college kids are forever cursed to study. I don't think it's
a bad book (it achieved the status of literary classic for a reason),
but I do remember that it was awfully slow. However, there was
one chapter in the book that had a strong impact on me, and that's
when Hester meets her ex-husband turned metaphorical hellfiend.
It came to mind when I was thinking about Devils within, and I
looked up the text through the web (you can find pretty much all
the old classics on the web someplace). I really like this epigraph
for this chapter, as it reflects on human Jin's horrified realization of
his Devil self.

Most of this chapter isn't *quite* from the beginning. I didn't see
the Jin's TK3 ending (where he turns into a Devil!) until I was
working on Ch. 4 or so of "Phoenix Reborn." Originally, Jin was
just going to be very depressed about losing his family, and fasting,
when Julia comes to him and urges him to help her create a better
world. "A better world... I'd like that," and Jin was persuaded to
break his fast.
   Then I saw his PSX ending...
   And got a MUCH BETTER reason why Jin might feel driven to
destroy himself after the Toshin Crisis (even though he knows his
parents would never want him do so). That's when I started writing
in the whole subplot of Jin's memory block in the present day, with
the eventual explanation of how he got it here.
    However, Lee/Bryan coming to Julia's home to ask for her help,
and Bryan's line "I used to deal coke to Sherlock Holmes" is pretty
much from the very first concept. It's why Julia first talks about
Sherlock Holmes in Ch. 1. Julia's "motor oil" zinger was also from
the beginning.

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Heihachi's TK3 ending (only Jin is tossing Heihachi out of the
helicopter)
    - Bryan Fury's button 1 outfit in Tekken Tag (light blue marbled
clothes)
    - Michelle's TK2 intro (coming home to a trashed house,
smashing the mirror)
    - Jin's button 1 outfit in Tekken Tag (blue-fire drawstring pants -
reflect his sad mood)
    - Julia's two-feathered headband (here's how she gets the second
feather :)
    - Jin's Devil form from his TK3 ending (illusion only, though)
    - that violent death triggers Jin's transformation (Jin's,
Heihachi's, & Hwoarang's endings all seem to indicate this)
    - Michelle's TK2 ending, with Julia in Michelle's place (again -
Julia throws Heaven's Dagger away)
    - Jin's victory pose inherited from Kazuya/Devil/Angel (fold
arms, look away)

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - Michelle's mother is a sorceress (not stated, but it's how she
recognizes Lee is a "holy spirit")
    - that Jin does NOT turn into a Devil (yet...)
    - the "true" story of Jin's arm-brand (that the Toshin's fire
revealed it, instead of Jin getting it as a Devil mark a la his TK3
intro scene)
    - that Jin cures Doctor Boskonovitch


     The Toshin was gone. Heihachi Mishima was dead. My
grandfather and mother had been avenged.
     And all I felt was _sick_.
    - This last line is a rework of that old, longhand project which
I'm not sure I'll ever dare to finish, for fear of suddenly dropping
dead the instant I have no more writing to do. But I do like the
theme of Julia achieving all she ever dreamed of, and realizing it
wasn't what she thought it would be...

     I was in tears when my grandmother embraced me, at the
door to our home, but I don't think she knew why.
    - borrowed from a line of the Hepcats: Snowblind graphic novel,
a *very* powerful story about a shattered life and hidden demons.
One of my all-time favorite comics, especially for a non-manga
title. I'm sorry that the creator of Hepcats finally had to give it up
(because it wasn't making much of any money). The sad thing is, I
know he put many more years into his comic than I put into my
fanfic, and yet most of his creation can be summed into this
medium sized volume.

     For four days and nights, shamans chanted over me. Sang
over me. They cast drypaintings of colored sand, and enacted the
ancient rituals to purify my illness.
    - drypaintings are a well-known part of Navajo rituals. Other
than that, I wouldn't give many details even if I knew what they
were - such things are not meant to be dissected in a casual fanfic.

Wulong's and Heihachi's deaths were legally ruled a murder-
suicide, largely on the basis of this tape.
    - although I had this idea for some chapters that Lei arranged for
a video to be made of Heihachi's incriminating deeds, it was a last-
minute idea that the camera would have been installed within Gun
Jack all along. But that way, the camera was better protected. :)
    BTW, the contents of this tape Gun Jack made were also
accessible to the interviewer; however, he decided that his
interviews provided a better and closer feel for what truly
happened. He did carefully compare everyone's dialogue to what
was recorded on the tape, though.

"I just took him there by helicopter, and cast him out while we
were in mid-flight," Jin explained, according to what I've read.
    - this is Heihachi's TK3 ending... only with the places of Jin &
Heihachi reversed. Also that the helicopter is flying over a volcano,
and Heihachi's corpse wasn't as intact as Jin's, but hey...

Lei Wulong donated his mortal remains to the exclusive custody of
an unknown man. I don't know his real name, but I can tell you his
alias:
     Sub-Zero.
    - this just seemed so appropriate... Sub-Zero was the one who
obtained Kazuya's cadaver by the end of "Ashes," and he has been
wanting to study Lei, dead or alive, ever since. Now the cold
scientist has the remains of both of Jin's fathers (well, two out of
three fathers anyway... :)

I wasn't sure what the off-format text for this chapter would be -
possibly the epilogue? - until I got to Lee's letter. He would want to
announce his visit somehow, after all. BTW, Lee sent Julia's
package via a syndicate parcel service - one that Lee personally
saw would give it true overnight delivery.

     "But - but she - how did she know you're an angel?"
     "I am not an angel," Lee stated, with a single shake of his
head.
    - Mrs. Chang knew because she herself is a sorceress; Michelle
inherited her Power from her mommy (Bernard Chang was an
ordinary man). However, Mrs. Chang's Navajo tribe greatly fears
and despises "witchcraft," so Mrs. Chang herself never uses it. She
wouldn't even teach Michelle. Julia does not know Mrs. Chang's
abilities, but she has almost certainly figured it out by the time of
her interviews (it's how Julia's mind works).
    Julia does not explain the mystery to the interviewer for the
same reason why Lee did not tell Julia - it's Mrs. Chang's secret,
the concrete exposure of which could hurt her among her own
tribe.

"Don't ask what Sherlock Holmes would do. I used to deal coke to
Sherlock Holmes."
    - Sherlock Holmes was a cocaine addict in some of the stories by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Holmes got hooked through ennui). At
the time, cocaine use was legal. In the stories, Watson eventually
weaned Holmes of his addiction.

It isn't as if Godzilla had blasted the city with his radioactive
breath.
    - I'm not really a Godzilla fan, and I didn't bother to watch the
movie, but I have read several Godzilla comics published by Dark
Horse. Including issues that feature his radioactive breath.

     Lee touched his radiant white feather to my hair. The
feather's glow subsided, and its tip turned as dark as my own
tresses.
    - if you look closely at Julia's TK3 ending, you can clearly see
that the white feather in her headband has a black tip. I've wanted it
to be a feather from Lee's angel wing, earned through Julia's
bravery, since the very beginning.

     Do you know, that red feather isn't the same one my mother
wore during the Great Invasion? Her headband lost its plume in her
last battle. When I turned sixteen, Catsclaw took me on a special
quest to find a new feather, and restore my mother's legacy.
    - I threw this in at the last instant, to reconcile the fact that
Michelle's headband had its feather torn off in "Ashes" with
"Phoenix Reborn."

     "I can't leave." There was a frightening sense of finality to
that. Like sinking a tombstone into its earthly foundation.
    - my first ideas for this chapter involved Julia seeing a
dreamweaving/vision of Jin picturing his parent's grave, and a
grave of his own. But it didn't seem practical once I started writing
(there's already one dreamweaving of Jin turning into a Devil), so
this metaphor is all that's left of the original idea.

Jin's illusionary transformation into a Devil is taken mostly from
this TK3 ending, but also from my Devil Jin action figure
(especially the chest marks, which aren't in the PSX ending). BTW,
the wings on the action figure are VERY large, yet still probably
smaller than the wings depicted in Jin's ending.
    Anyway, I did want to show a glimpse of Jin's Devil form, even
if it was only an illusion, somewhere. Yet, since Jin does not
actually turn into a Devil in this story, I had to give an evasive
answer whenever any of my readers asked me if he would. :)

     "THIS IS NOT REAL!" I scream, standing up.
    - happens to be the same thing that Kitana yelled to break from
Raiden's illusion in "The Blood On My Hands." But just felt like
the right words, so I let them stand.

But Kazuya Mishima was just a genetic template, a basic model for
my phenotype, because the Devil did not have a physical body of
its own.
    - I wanted to include a suggestion that Jin's emphatic
resemblance to Kazuya was a little more than pure luck of the
genetic dice...

"Julia, 'multiple personality disorder' is a human condition. I am
not human. I am not this way through a chance abnormality, or a
history of abuse."
    - true MPD is *very* rare, and usually traceable back to an
extended history of childhood abuse.

"My Devil side was too ruthless to hate its victims, even as it
planned their doom."
    - the idea of being too ruthless to hate (or love) is borrowed from
Steven Brust's "Teckla" of the Vlad Taltos series. A revolutionist
named Kelley is way too ruthless... for the good of the movement,
he must exploit the murders of his followers.

I mean, Jin's reflection did look like Jin - the real Jin, the human
Jin without any forehead markings or eerie red eyes. But the
reflection was standing, instead of kneeling like its 'source.' While
the red-eyed Jin snarled his demand to the mirror, the reflected Jin
just folded his arms and haughtily looked away.
     - I had the idea for the mirror reflecting sides of Jin's self, and
liked it so much there was no question about it going in. I'm kind
of pleased with the duality metaphor.

"Why do you think pure souls are so rare among you humans, even
though you're all born innocent? Because YOU NEED EVIL TO
SURVIVE! If you don't have it in you to be ruthless, then someone
else does, and they will use that advantage to DESTROY YOU!"
    - the idea of needing evil to survive is also something from that
longhand project... which also had a central character being
psychologically (not physically) split into "good" and "evil" selves,
the evil one wanting live, the good one ready to destroy itself in
order to destroy the evil.

"Okay. This was the plan. I was going to cut you, not kill you."
    - from a Simpsons episode (believe it or not) where Moe is
believes Nelson has been humiliating him with phone pranks, and
tracks him down with a big butcher knife. When Nelson pleads for
his life, Moe relents, saying, "I wasn't gonna kill you, I was only
gonna cut you."
    If you look closely to what Devil Jin says to Julia in Ch. 26, you
might note that he never actually says he's going to 'kill' her - "It's
just that I do have to cut you." However, since there was a good
chance that Julia could've bled to death (she's not as resistant to
physical damage as Jin is), human Jin is not cutting Devil Jin any
slack on Devil Jin's intentions.

"I'm sorry I choked you, all right? Is that what you want to hear?
Are you happy to know that it has the dubious value of being
true?"
    - the phrase "dubious value of being true" is from a Deep Space
Nine episode.

"Dammit, Wulong was an alcoholic! His liver was twice as old as
he was!"
    - as Sub-Zero once diagnosed in "Ashes"

     "What more do you want? Blood?"
    - from Phil Foglio's graphic novel adaptation of Robert Asprin's
"Another Fine Myth"

     "You will," he warned, "if you have to."
    - these words (and the idea behind them) are from an episode of
"Brooklyn South," a uniformed cop show by the creators of NYPD
Blue, which folded fast (why?) A man who wanted to die tried to
goad a grizzled old widower cop into shooting him, pointing the
gun at the old cop's head... but the old cop just talked him into
putting the gun down.

     "Stop playing games with me! I want to live. _I want to
live_! No one asked me if I wanted to be born, but now that I'm
here I don't want to die! I WANT TO LIVE!"
    - borrowed from Tanya Huff's fantasy novel, "Child of the
Grove" - "Though the wer did not ask to be created, neither do the
wer wish to die."

     "I... didn't think you would do that."
    - I wasn't sure myself exactly what the fate of Heaven's Dagger
would be, until I was starting work on this chapter.

"Meanwhile, it is far too Powerful for anyone to possess.
Especially me."
    - the idea of something being too Powerful to possess is an old
one, but one of the first places I saw it was in a comic book called
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures," based on the TMNT
cartoon. It had a long run, too - practically 100 issues. I still have
my entire collection. I'm just sorry that they killed off must of the
animal mutant hybrids aside from the turtles themselves (in a
crudely plotted, horribly drawn backup story, no less).

"The taint of dirty blood overrides my existence. Any creature of
Devil parentage is itself a Devil. So it is written, in the Divine
Sanctions."
    - Jin's ending is titled "Dirty Blood." Julia refers to the phrase
"dirty blood" in Ch. 9, so Jin had to use the phrase here.

     "Your mother knew what it truly means to be human," I
told him, gently. "She knew you were a Devil, but she - she also
knew that your soul is more than what's in your blood. It's why she
named you 'Jin.' Your name means 'humanity' because your mother
loved you, and wanted you to see the virtue in your own life!
    - as I was working on this chapter, I suddenly had the solution to
a question I was puzzling over myself: did Jun know her little boy
was a Devil? Answer: yes, she did. It's why she named him
'humanity.'

     "I am a Devil. A Devil can't feel true love. A Devil doesn't
know what love is."
    - a parody of Julia's question in Ch. 16, as to whether Heihachi
knew what love is.

     "Then why," I whispered, "are you crying?"
     He had no answer. He only shook his head.
    - also a reiteration of the scene in Ch. 16, which was in turn
borrowed from a scene in Maison Ikkoku.

     "This dimension magnifies my sorcery," Jin quietly stated.
"I never did tell you that before, did I?"
    - actually, I made that up with this chapter. But it does fit - it
explains why Jin could cast better divination spells in here, and it
helps suggest why Kazuya's sorcery was so incredibly Powerful in
here (though enslaving souls fueled him too, of course).

     I can't pass out! I _can't_-!
    - Julia failed to stay conscious in Ch. 19 - here, she has a chance
to make up for that.

Now for the kiss.
    A kiss is a much bigger deal in Japanese culture than here. In
any case, I wanted to put a lot of import into it - but I also felt that
this should not be the standard Hollywood expectation. Julia is
using this to distract Jin, and Jin is not in the most kissable
condition because he hasn't been looking after himself...

*Demons and Devils are not the only ones known to regard the
soul as 'recyclable.'*
    - one of my favorite lines in the chapter. Though the whole idea
of a 'recyclable' soul is also very strong in the Minbari culture of
Straczynski's "Babylon 5"

     *Laws are written by those who triumph,* he explained,
with a shrug. *The Divine Sanctions began as the peace treaty to a
universally destructive War. It was a War in which the Grey
Kingdom gained the advantage, or so I am told.*
    - Demons and Devils are very much second-class citizens, under
the Divine Sanctions. Though Kusanagi-sama is lobbying to
change that... but I've had story ideas about how this discrimination
and unrest erupts into a war, which angel Lee and Devil Jin must
stop in order to save the known Universe.

     Hey, wait a minute. You're not making a pass at me, are
you? What about Anna? I thought you were seeing her again. Not
that I have any baseline to compare, since you've never told me
anything about your dates with her, and you're still refusing to put
any details about that in your record, aren't you?
     Aren't you?

    - I wasn't sure at first how to end Ch. 31, which contains Julia's
last interview (at 16 interviews, she's a major presence in half the
total chapters!) I like this because it's very true to Julia's character -
always, always curious.


Next up - well, this time the chapter is immediately available; if
you haven't read it yet, you'll see the interviewer's identity
confirmed when you do. ^_^


Chapter 32: Legacy of the Phoenix notes
January 23, 2000

Seventeen days for *two* chapters.

Last chapter notes!

Somehow, I got into the habit of typing up notes after the end of
each chapter of "Ashes," and continued the habit when I was
writing "Phoenix." Summarizing references and details just helped
me keep everything straight in my mind, as I tried my best to keep
track of the plot. This will be my last chapter notes in a while.
Whether it's the last chapter notes ever remains to be seen; if I take
on another writing project, I can't say for certain whether it will be
more fanfic or maybe something that I can actually publish for
money (I would STILL consider all this a hobby, not a career.)

Ch. 32 wasn't originally going to be a chapter - it was an epilogue
that ran long. Way long. Too long to include with the 40-page Ch.
31, so I made it a chapter in its own right. Which meant that this
last chapter needed a title. As a third contrast to "Demons Without"
and "Devils Within," I thought about "Human Legacy" as a title. I
made it "Legacy of the Phoenix" both in reference to the novel's
title, and in parallel to the final chapter of "Ashes," which was
called "Phoenix Rising."
     Then I had the idea for an epilogue to the epilogue, i.e. the
interviewer asking everyone for their final statements. This would
be a nice parallel in both title and format to the prologue (which is
an audio tape of the Toshin Expedition). The epilogue's title, "Life
Goes On," has been planned since the beginning, in deliberate
contrast to the prologue's title, "The End of Life."

The epigraph is actually from the Tekken 2: Strike Arranges music
CD (now long since out of print). The second-to-last song is a
remix of the King's TK2 theme, called "Ring a Bell." There is one
spoken line in this song (in a heavy, throaty whisper): "There is
much to be done." Seemed appropriate for a wrapup chapter that
just touched on our heroes' monumental effort to reform the
Mishima syndicate, distribute a record of the Truth, etc. etc.

Almost nothing in this chapter was planned from the beginning. I
wasn't exposed to any of the incorporated PSX endings until I was
working on Ch. 4 or so. Of course, I did know that Heishiro
Mitsurugi was the interviewer from the very start, and I planned to
close the story with Jin & Julia together, as well as Bryan & Taki
getting back together. One thing that I waffled on was the
Mitsurugi/Anna relationship. Originally, they would get back
together in the end too. But as I wrote, especially in Ch. 24 and
afterward, I listened closely to the characters. Mitsu himself spelled
out the reasons why he would not be continuing his relationship
with Anna.

List of things taken or adapted from video game movies, storylines,
etc.:
    - Julia's interest in archaeology
    - Xiaoyu's TK3 ending made real (and that the part is in the
image of 'Lovely Xiaoyu')
    - Kuma/Panda's TK3 ending (or at least, Xiaoyu's idea that
Kuma loves Panda)
    - Nina's TK3 ending (slapping Anna in a cemetery, and then
Anna smiles)
    - Gun Jack's & Jane's TK3 ending (minus Dr. Abel's satellite
blast)
    - Yoshimitsu's & Dr. Boskonovitch's TK3 ending
    - the Mokujins' TK3 ending (according to Xiaoyu's speculations)
    - Heihachi's gold statue in the Tekken Tag high school
background

List of deviations/creative license from video game storylines
    - that the Iron Fist Tournament ends without a new King of the
Iron Fist (unless you count Jin against his will)
    - that there may never be another Iron Fist Tournament (though
this is hardly set in stone)
    - that Anna had to take Nina to a cemetery before Nina got her
memory back
    - that Anna has hope of rising above her self-destructive
relationship with her sister (you don't get that impression from any
of Nina/Anna's endings)

 If I had tried to turn everything that everyone has told me into a
normal book, it would have taken me years to finish this, instead of
just a month.
    - Although the space of the interviews has been only a little over
a month, it sure as hell took me a lot longer to write this... over two
years!

     She did have a point, though. My identity probably is
obvious, given what I've included in this record, so I may as well
state it flat-out:
     I'm Heishiro Mitsurugi.
     But you already knew that, didn't you?
    - the first correct guess of the interviewer's identity was e-mailed
me around the time of Ch. 17. I always thought it was starkly
obvious since Ch. 4, when Mitsu was first introduced - he's said
from the beginning that he wants to be an editor. Yet, the earliest
anyone has claimed to guess it is around Ch. 9.

Heihachi Mishima, the last King of the Iron Fist, is dead. Yet Jin
believes that he did not truly defeat his grandfather in single
combat - that no one other than Kazuya Mishima has ever defeated
Heihachi in the Iron Fist Tournament - which is an arguable claim.
    - Goro Daimon tossed Heihachi like pizza dough, but Daimon
wasn't enrolled in the Iron Fist. Nor would Daimon want to claim
the title of King of the Iron Fist; he is wise enough to know that
any title is meaningless in and of itself.

     There's no guarantee, of course. There never is, in life. But
Jin and Julia have saved the whole world from the Toshin. If
anyone has earned the right to live happily ever after, they have.
    - if I never write another sequel, you can assume that this is what
eventually happens (though there might be some conflicts and
difficulties en route. :)

That doesn't make any sense to me, though. Kuma and Panda are
different species; neither one would be biologically wired to view
the other as a potential mate.
    - this is, in fact, *my* reaction to the whole concept of the
Kuma/Panda "romance" storyline...

     "Happiness." With a good-natured nod, he added, "Now.
May I help you?"
    - given Jun's inquiry into Lee's happiness in Ch. 8, I *really*
wanted the epilogue to note something like this...

Nina may be a master assassin, but she isn't a master money
launderer.
    - Nina is only 22 (biological years). She just hasn't lived long
enough to be a master at EVERYTHING. She knows how to
commit murder, but there are limits to what she has learned, and
she hasn't learned how to properly hide money - used to be, her rich
clients took care of that for her...

     "Just fine, sweetheart. Better than fine. You see, I was
asking my sister if she would like to be interviewed for your
record-"
     I helped Anna to her feet.
     "-and she he said no," Anna beamed. "Which means that I
get the limelight all to myself!"
    - In Nina's TK3 ending, Anna smiles because Nina has her
memory back. Since Nina never really lost her memory in my
fanfic, I needed a different reason for Anna's smile. I settled on
Anna being secretly glad that Nina had refused to be interviewed.
    Also, Nina's ending is at her father's grave - but that's on the
other side of the world. So, I invoke a little creative license. The
meeting is still at a winter gravesite, but it's a cemetery that Mitsu
picked out, so that he would have a visual reminder of where his
destructive relationship with Anna almost led him.

Anna went on like this for another minute before I interrupted with,
"Thank you, Anna. Would you have a preferred time or place for
your first interview?"
    - Anna's nonstop chatter about Nina was a red flag to Mitsu that
Anna wasn't completely weaned from her destructive sibling yet,
and therefore not ready for a serious relationship.

     "Heishiro..." she murmured, reaching to touch my face.
     Just like the last time.
    - i.e. when Mitsu, controlled by Hwoarang's commands,
mechanically baited Anna into a trap - at one point, Anna touched
Mitsu's face to reassure herself of who he was.

     "Was what we had so horrible that you can't even talk to me
like a normal person!?"
     Damn.
     "No," I sighed, hanging my head. "No. It was... far removed
from 'horrible.'"
    - in Ch. 5, Anna asks, "Did you truly mean what you said
before? About us?" This is what Mitsu said.

Taki also refused. Point blank. The only explanation she offered is,
"I'm not bound to the syndicate anymore. I don't have to do
anything for them that I don't want to do. I don't want to do this."
    - since only 6 people are interviewed, that meant I had to make
up reasons why the other survivors who were major characters
aren't interviewed - particularly Nina, Taki, Shingo, and Kimura.
Some of their reasons are simply left up to reader speculation...

The picture shows Yabuki with Seung Mina, the paraplegic leader
of the Order of Light. His right arm and her left arm are around
each other's shoulders. Both of them are smiling broadly at the
camera, and making V-signs with their fingers.
    - I think that Seung Mina and Shingo Yabuki are beginning to
get a little sweet on each other, but I had no way to directly write
this in without sounding tacky or improper (neither one would be
inclined to volunteer too much of their private lives anyway, not
even to Julia).

At first, Kimura's ending was much darker - with our heroes
refusing to judge him, he judged himself, and imprisoned himself
in his home. It was a rewrite in which I decided that our heroes, in
addition to keeping Kimura under psychiatric care, also let him
return to work as Lee's secretary (only part-time; they don't want to
keep Kimura away from his wife 12 hours a day).

You can watch King the Second wrestle on prime-time television;
just tune in to the latest 'Ultimate Bone-Breaking Rumble,' or
similar event. 
    - the interviewer isn't close enough to King to extract a version
of King's TK3 ending. However, I can visualize a scene where, as
King wins his championship wrestling match, he is haunted by
hallucinatory visions of his slain mentor...

Jane (she requested that I not use her last name) is working for the
syndicate now, as a research and development engineer.
    - I've never seen Namco give a last name for Jane, so rather than
make one up, I take a cue from various newspapers who sometimes
quote people by first name only.

In return for these tapes, Abel was given a suspended sentence for
his crimes. 
    - at first, I thought Abel might be forced into working for the
syndicate again at the end. But I decided to keep my ending more
in line with Namco's, which implies that Abel is free to wreak
havoc (as seen in Gun Jack's ending).

On the bright side, I did enjoy watching Bryan Fury literally turn
Abel upside down, in order to shake loose a couple extra tapes that
Abel had concealed on his person.
    - There is a passage from Ch. 10, where Julia says "Abel taped
[those conversations], didn't he? You must have turned the
syndicate upside down - oh, really? That must have been fun. I'm
sorry I wasn't there to see it." This is what she was referring to.

Eddy Gordo, the son of a wealthy murdered businessman, has
returned to his mansion in Brazil. He is waiting for the Mishima
syndicate's investigative task force to learn who killed his father,
and framed him for the crime. No leads have been turned up yet.
    - this is the first part of Eddy's TK3 ending (he's waiting at
home). The rest of Eddy's ending isn't included here, because if I
ever do write a sequel (NO commitment!) then Eddy's ending will
be the kick-start that gets events in motion...

     Professor Yabuki told Julia of Detective Lei Wulong's
Omega Classification records, and she told me in turn. 
    - in Ch. 2, it was mentioned that Julia first told Mitsu about
Wulong's files. But Wulong never directly told Julia about them.
Oops. I had to cover for myself by having Julia learn about them
through Shingo.

Mishima-sama's statue has no inscription.
    - I honestly could not think of an appropriate one.

And now, for the epilogue - the last off-format piece of text.
    Especially since it was created from a last-moment, I really like
how it wraps things up. In particular, I was having trouble slipping
in how Bryan & Taki have rekindled their relationship, without
getting heavy-handed.

T: I know the way to my mother's home. You don't.
     - from the beginning, I planned to end Bryan/Taki's saga with
Taki taking Bryan to meet her mother... i.e. with them trying to
start up a true relationship. It would be way out of character for
Bryan to tell this to the interviewer, but... Bryan knows he's not
good-looking. He's a recovering drug addict. He's not 100%
human. Half the time, he's not even himself. Taki knows all this,
and loves him anyway. Bryan is beginning to realize that he would
be a complete fool to just pass that up, no matter what Taki's
species.

Sometimes I feel sad because of the bad things that happened. I'm
so sorry Uncle Wang is gone, and I really miss Lei and Heihachi
just like Jin does, but that doesn't mean any of us should stop
having fun forever.
    - I really wanted Xiaoyu to express her sadness over losing Lei
and Heihachi somewhere.

W: I don't care. I don't care what your tape records, or what you put
in your project. Heishiro, are you sure you don't want me to stay?
    - since this final breakup between Anna & Mitsu is very
personal, I realized that Mitsu wouldn't include it in the record
without a direct disclaimer from Anna.

W: Would you rather that I stay, or rather that I leave?

M: I am not going to tell you.
    - Mitsu has actually decided that he'd like Anna to leave - that
way, they both have time to recover from the relationship that
nearly destroyed them. However, Mitsu realizes that Anna's self-
determination and identity are even more important, which is why
he refuses to tell Anna what he wants. On the other hand, Anna's
not stupid; she picked up on the fact that she had blown her chance
with Mitsu (for now, anyway) and she might as well get as much
distance from him as she can.

     To the souls of my natural parents, wherever they may be.
     Mother. Father. I am sorry for the shame I brought, to the
life you gave me. I will not dishonor this second life. This do I
swear.
    - I've been wanting all through this record to slip in somewhere
Lee's thoughts on his biological parents (whose souls he has never
tried to track down, because he brought such criminal shame to the
life they gave him).

C: Jin, I told you he has a phobia.
    - As Julia in implied way back in Ch. 7, Mitsu has a phobia of
limousines, particularly of riding in one. As Julia mentions here,
Mitsu picked it up because his last limo ride was Heihachi taking
him to become a bloodslave.

K: <softly> And in such Life as we are thankful to have, isn't it
possible to find room for compromise, even between diverse
contradictions?
    - This is Devil Jin speaking, as much as human Jin - one day, the
two sides of Jin's personality will learn to compromise and merge.
Not that it will be an easy process; Jin will need help from his
closest friends... but I love these characters, and I couldn't let Jin's
& Julia's story end any other way. ^_^

M: Yes. I do have a final message, to everyone who reads this
record. Here it is.
     Fulfill your dream.
     Take control of your life, and make it into what you want it
to be.
     Life is too precious to do anything less.
    - this statement, very much in character for the stronger,
empowered Mitsu, seemed like the right note to end this monster
saga.

At last, it's done. No more next chapters. At least not for a very
long time...

Thank you for reading "Phoenix Reborn!" :) :) :)