CHAPTER 17 - Saving The Children

Chinatown.....Southern district Kentucky....

~Bam~

~Slam~

Mocheda and master Chang exchanged a couple of blows — as they seemed to be on par with one another.

In truth — master Chang was struggling to keep up with Mocheda — as he felt his body aching due to the intense movements that he had to execute to counter her attacks.

He couldn't believe that the intriguing lady that he met years ago had actually become such a martial arts prodigy!

~Bam~

After exchanging blows for sometime, they both disengaged and stood some meters apart — while panting and staring at one another.

Actually, master Chang was the one who was panting heavily — as for Mocheda — she showed little signs of exhaustion, which shocked master Chang.

As he was breathing heavily, master Chang stared at his hands — which seemed to tremble slightly.

He never expected that after all this years — he would such have an intense combat experience like he was having now.

Within him, a certain feeling swirled.

He had never felt this way in a long time — ever since his daughter's death.

And most especially — it was a feeling that brought great and familiar excitement to every part of his body.

The very same excitement he felt when he first discovered the Tai Chi scroll — many years ago.

He could feel the energy within him churning.

"From the look on your face — it seems you are beginning to remember the feeling" Mocheda said with a broad smile.

She knew that — in order to get what she wanted — she had to bring back her old master.

That is — the master who taught her the wonders of martial arts

"Yes" master Chang nodded in reminiscence.

"And I have you to thank for that"

"Don't thank me yet master" Mocheda said as she took another battle stance.

"The duel isn't over yet and you are yet to defeat me"

"That may be true but you should be aware of the fact that I will not hold back my strength this time around" Master Chang said.

"Oh you were holding back?" Mocheda asked with a sarcastic smile.

Master Chang chuckled at Mocheda's sarcasm as he dashed forward.

While she was preparing to counter his attack, she suddenly spasmed — as her body stiffened.

Her eyes were wide open — as she stared into nothingness.

Unfortunately, master Chang hadn't noticed this — as he appeared before her and swung his fist.

~Bam~

Mocheda received the full brunt of his attack as her body rocked violently before falling heavily to the floor.

Master Chang was taken aback — as he didn't expect that his attack would be successful.

For the past few minutes of their duel — he had been able to gauge Mocheda's overall strength — and he was greatly shocked by his conclusion.

He was able to discern that Mocheda had reached a level of strength that was far greater than what he had accomplished for the past forty years.

He was not sure how she did it but he knew one thing;

If she fights at the martial school contest — it would cause an uproar among the martial art masters.

While he wondered why she refused to block his attack — a scary aura struck him, which made his body tremble involuntarily.

Staring at Mocheda in shock — master Chang could feel that the scary aura was emanating from her!

~Whoosh~

The sound of rushing wind filled the training room — as master Chang saw cyclones swirling around Mocheda — who stood up from the ground and turned to face him.

"Heok!" He gasped in shock when he saw that Mocheda's eyes had become enveloped by a whitish glow.

*************

The woods at the south park area...

Brody had already gotten all the much needed documents, tools and weapons into the vehicle — followed by his right hand man.

As the vehicle left the building area — Brody heard the sounds of gunshots which pervaded the atmosphere.

Followed by eight of his lackeys — driving two cars, front and back respectively that would escort him out of the forest — Brody turned to look at his right hand man.

"Did you plant the explosives?"

"Yes boss"

"Good" Brody replied as he collected what looked like a trigger from his lackey.

His plan was simple — since he had to leave the base in such a hurry — he would destroy all evidence of their criminal activities and in the process, if possible, kill the invaders with the explosion.

There were bombs that were placed all over the internal structure of their base.

So all he had to do was press the trigger and the entire base would be destroyed.

Though — the only flaw was that the trigger could only operate within a given distance — anything beyond that and it's connection to the bombs in the base would be cut off.

Brody knew by now that the invaders would already be close to the base — as he began to activate the trigger.

~Boom!~

A freakish explosion followed by a great tremor erupted from behind them.

"What the hell?!..."

His lackeys exclaimed in shock as they saw a rolling wave of cloud and dust heading straight for them.

"What in f**k's name is that?!" Brody exclaimed in shock when he saw the cloud of dust through the rearview mirror.

"I guess it's the bombs" the bushy haired lackey said.

"What bombs? — but I haven't even activated the trigger yet"

"Uh...."

While they watched — the rolling wave caught up with the car behind — and to their shock, the car was thrown off balance, which caused it to capsize.

"Shit!" Brody swore in surprise.

"Drive faster!"

But no matter how fast they drove their cars, the rolling wave caught up as it threw up the truck that Brody was riding in.

~Bam!~

~Crash!~

The truck crashed against a tree — while the escort car in front capsized immediately.

Brody automatically lost hold of the trigger — as his head, which was bashed against the front glass began to bleed profusely.

Meanwhile Peter, Catherine and Geoffrey rushed to the scene of the accident — as Peter pulled the back door of the truck open to reveal a group of children.

These children were mostly in their early teens — with few of them in their late teens.

"It's okay now — you're all safe" Peter said to comfort the children — whom were already in tears.

Geoffrey and Catherine pulled out the criminals from the truck and capsized cars — and tied down the conscious ones.

"Call the precinct"

Catherine said to Geoffrey — after which she turned to Peter — whom was helping the children out of the truck.

"Hey kid — don't go anywhere — you and I have a lot of things to discuss"

"But I have to get home" Peter quickly protested.

"You're not going anywhere until am through with you" Catherine declared adamantly.

Sigh.

Peter knew it would come to this — as his earlier display of freakishness was too mind-blowing to ignore.

***************

Chinatown..... Southern district Kentucky

Mocheda dashed forward — bringing with her a force that was too terrible to ignore.

Master Chang couldn't comprehend why the aura of Mocheda changed so suddenly — and also what's up with her eyes?

Though it was quite mysterious, he felt that he had seen such an appearance before.

~Bam!~

He saw her fist coming and tried to block it — but to his shock, when her fist came in contact with his arm — it was like coming in contact with a speeding car!

He was automatically sent flying — but while he was still in the air, Mocheda appeared above him.

~Slam!~

He felt his internal organs shifting painfully as he was struck to the floor.

"Hark!" Droplets of blood jumped out of his mouth when he crashed.

Painfully raising up his eyes, he saw Mocheda's glowing eyes staring at him with coldness.

His body shook as his eyes widened in recognition.

Yes! — he had definitely seen this before!

Standing up with difficulty, he gazed at Mocheda in apprehension.

Without hesitation, Mocheda dashed forward again.

"Mocheda that's enough!"

Master Chang forcefully yelled — which brought Mocheda to a halt — as her fist stopped just few inches from his face.

**************

The woods....South Park area....

The entire forest area was crowded with police vehicles, reporters and broadcast networks.

The unveiling of a large criminal base in the woods was a huge news that every reporter and news channel wanted a scoop of.

Peter was so uncomfortable seeing all these police agents and news casters.

If he was caught on camera and seen on television by his mother — he couldn't imagine how she would react.

He was huddled together with the children and being watched by closely by a police officer whom Catherine had assigned.

'I have to get out of here!'

He glanced around anxiously while planning on his escape — when suddenly the ethereal voice came with it's floating words.

_{You will be summoned in the set time below.... prepare yourself}_

[00:01:02]

He had one minute left!

At this moment, the officer whom was watching over them became engaged in a discussion with a sexy reporter.

That was his chance!

Peter quietly sneaked out from in the midst of the children as he was about to run past the officer — when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist.

'Shit!' he cursed.