Chapter Four: Early Life II

Tannen slowly opened his eyes again; he recognized this wooden ceiling. It was his home. His head began to pound as if someone was hammering a nail into his brain.

"What happened?" He sat up on the bed.

His whole body was sore. He tried to recall the events that happened earlier, but Tannen couldn't remember anything at all. He only remembered his mom being dragged away by those two men. Everything after that was a complete blur.

Tannen looked around the room. Familiar blue walls, action figurines and a TV with the new N64 console. Yep, he was back in his room.

"You've slept for two days," an old and coarse voice caught Tannen's attention. "You went wild and nearly exhausted your Ki. Fortunately, I stopped you before things got worse."

Tannen whipped his head around and spotted an old man with long, white hair and a stern visage that was enhanced by his lengthy beard. He wore loose, traditional purple robes and red flat sole shoes.

"Who are you?" Tannen asked. He didn't even notice him there.

"The guy who just saved your ass," the old man answered bluntly. "The name's Gen - a good friend of your father's."

"Your my dad's friend?" Tannen asked. "But, you're so old, though."

"What are rude tongue you have," Gen snorted, pushing himself off of the wall. "You were lucky to be alive, boy. You would have nearly died by Ki exhaustion. You should thank me."

"I don't even know what that is."

"Has your father not taught you anything about Ki?" Gen questioned him. Tannen shook his head.

"Interesting, so you were able to harness your Ki without prior knowledge," Gen contemplated for a moment.

Then, his eyes widened a bit. This boy he was looking at was an unpolished diamond. If he were to train him to properly harness his Ki, there was no telling how strong he would be in the near future.

That was it. He was going to take him in as a disciple.

"I'm having trouble following; what the heck is Ki?"

"It's something powerful, mystical; an energy in which all life possess. When one is able to harness it, one can do all sorts of extraordinary things," he explained. "Yours, however, is quite the menacing one; never seen anything quite like it."

"Menacing?" He understood somewhat about his explanation of Ki, but why would his be menacing?

"Yes. Menacing, though not inherently evil. You would need to properly control it, otherwise that power could endanger innocent people including the ones close to you."

Tannen frowned. He vaguely remembered the feeling of overwhelming rage. He'd never felt that angry before in his life. It was the first time that he wanted to kill somebody.

"Did... did I do something bad?" He asked nervously.

"You almost killed someone, kid, if that's what you wanna hear."

"What! Who?!"

"Don't worry about it; he was the same guy that tried to kidnap your mother," he reassured him. "But, that doesn't mean that anyone else would be killed by you in the future; it could be someone innocent if you're not careful."

"How should I control it, then?"

"Then become my disciple," Gen said. "I will teach you how to control it."

"What about my sister?" Tannen asked. He didn't want her to be left out as well.

"She's already began training under me about two days ago," he answered, stroking his beard. "That little girl begged me so many times to teach her."

Suddenly the door slid open as Chun Li burst into the room. She wrapped her arms around Tannen in a tight bear hug, "Tan-Tan, you're awake!"

"Ow, you're hurtin' me!" Tannen cried out in pain.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she let go of him. Chun Li tried to wipe them away, but they kept falling, "I-I thought y-you were gonna die."

"Pfft- you really think I was gonna die from this?" Tannen ruffled her hair. "I can survive way worse than this. You better drop a nuke on me if ya want me to die."

"Really?" She asked.

"Hell yeah!" He confidently said.

"Like hell you are and don't swear in front of your sister," Dorai said, walking into his room with Meilin. His face was bruised and band-aided up.

"Oh, Tannen..." His mother came up to him and gave him a motherly hug. "My baby, are you alright? Are you still hurt?" She brushed his hair to the side.

"Yeah, I'm fine, mom," he answered then glanced over at his father. "What happened to you, dad? You're hurt."

"Don't worry about it; I just had some business taken care of," he said, arms at his hips. "More importantly, how were you able to use Ki? I clearly never taught you that."

"I'm not sure," he answered in uncertainty. "One moment, I was angry; the next, I blanked out. I don't remember anything that happened after that. It was super weird."

Dorai frowned and looked for his old friend for answers, "Gen. Explain."

"Hard to say but from what I could tell, he has an enormous amount of dormant Ki hidden in his body," Gen explained. "That small portion of his Ki was only unleashed due to his rage."

"It was all red and scary, too!" Chun Li chimed in.

"So, he was born with it?"

"What else do you think it is?" Gen crossed his arms. "Some random master transferred all of his Ki into your son's body?"

"Then, can he control it?"

"With training and time, yes. He would become dangerous if we let him be; so I want to personally make him my disciple."

Dorai pondered for a moment. He knew Gen was an incredible master, especially in Ki Manipulation. Although he, himself, was a martial artist, he wouldn't be able to hold a candle to him.

"Dad," Dorai was snapped out of his thoughts. "I want old man Gen to train me."

"It's master Gen to you," Gen quickly corrected him.

Dorai nodded, "I think It's necessary. Gen is a martial arts master, so you'll be able to learn a lot from him."

"And I expect nothing but perfection," Gen stated. "We'll begin training a week from now so be ready." With that being said, Gen left the room without saying another word.

"Wah~ we're gonna train together again," Chun Li said excitedly. "Don't think for a second that you're gonna surpass me. I'm gonna train extra hard so you won't get ahead."

"C'mon, Chun Li, let's leave you're brother alone; he needs some rest," Meilin grabbed her daughter's hand and dragged her out of his room. Soon, it was only him and his dad left. Tannen felt a bit awkward at the sudden silence between them.

"Tannen," Dorai was the first to speak.

"Yeah?"

Dorai kneeled down and rested a hand over his son's shoulder, a prominent smile made its way to his lips, "I'm proud of what you did; you're a hero to your mom and sister, and I couldn't be more happy."

Tannen's face flushed red with embarrassment. His father rarely gave out compliments and when he did, it was always genuine. Dorai then raised out his pinky.

"I want you to pinky promise me something," his face grew stern.

"What's that?"

"Promise me that you'll get stronger and keep protecting your mom and sister."

Tannen stared at his father's hands. Could he really do it? It really was a big promise to make, and his father seemed serious about it. But, that just means that he needed to train hard, and be the best he could be. He couldn't back down now.

"Yeah, I promise," he pinky promised him.

"Good," Dorai stood back up. "Now get some rest, champ. You earned it."

Dorai closed the door and made his way back into his office room. Gen was waiting for him there. It was small and cozy; everything around was personalized just for him. He had shelves behind his leather chair filled with books that were related to his work - criminology, psychology, criminal investigation, etc.

"Thanks for waiting," Dorai closed the door behind him. Gen stood near the desk with his eyes closed, almost meditatively. He slowly opened his eyes when Dorai appeared.

"Anything for an old friend of mine," Gen responded.

Dorai made his way over to his seat. In one of the drawers of his wooden desk held a secret stash of cigars. He had kept them hidden from his wife. It was a blessing that she hadn't found out about them already. He pulled it out, stuck it in his mouth and lit it up.

"I did a little investigation - found out who attacked my family," smoke trailed out from his nose.

"I'm listening."

"It was a criminal syndicate known as Ashura; They've been behind all of the drug shipments in Hong Kong," he continued, tapping his cigar on the ashtray. "We've been trying to stop them for quite a while now."

"If I remember correctly, they're an organization based in Thailand," Gen said. "I ran into them a couple of times before years ago; way too crass for my tastes. Did you find who is behind it?"

"Not yet. My team and I are still trying to track down their operations in Hong Kong."

Gen frowned, "What do you suppose you do now?"

"I'm going to keep investigating - find out who runs all of this mess," Dorai said. "I might not be in Hong Kong for much longer."

"You don't need to do this, Dorai. It's too dangerous."

"No, I have to," Dorai firmly said. "Now that they've targeted my family, all gloves comes off. No more playing nice."

"You're going to end up dead. As a friend, trust me, it is not worth going down this deep rabbit hole," Gen argued, trying to get him to back down.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take; and if I do die someday, can I ask you, ask a friend, to protect my family while I'm gone?"

"You're always a stubborn bastard," Gen sighed in frustration. "Then all I wish for you is to come back safely. You still have family."

"I will."

• • • • •

A week had passed now. Tannen's body was finally healed, and he was ready to rock and roll. Old man Gen had taken him and his sister outside the city of Hong Kong, and they were currently walking through a quiet forest.

"Where are we going, master?" Chun Li asked curiously.

"You'll find out soon enough," he answered.

After a couple of minutes of trudging through tall grass and thick bushes, they finally made it to a river with a tall waterfall.

"Here we are, children," he said, dropping a small bag of supplies down.

"Woah~ are we here to swim, master?" Chun Li grew excited as she gazed around with happy eyes.

"No, you buffoon. We are here to train."

"Why are we training here?" Tannen scratched his head in wonder.

"To harness your Ki, why else are we here?" Gen began to grow frustrated with these kids. "Now, enough useless questions! It is time to begin training!"

Tannen and Chun Li sat down on the ground before their master. Instead, their master was sitting down on a log that he had cut down earlier with his bare hands. It was a testament to his skills as a martial artist.

"Now, can you tell me what you know about Ki?" Gen crossed his legs.

"Oh, I know!" Chun Li raised her hand. "It's that spiritual thingy-majigger that everyone has! You told me that you could do cool stuff with it."

"Right, but Ki also comes with many elements - fire, lightning, wind, water and many more. Humans can only manipulate three at most - any more than that is deemed impossible."

"So, how do we harness it?" Tannen asked.

"Through strict meditation. You will need to concentrate and gather the energy around you; Ki is universal, so you can gather them from anywhere to your disposal. Allow me to demonstrate."

Gen closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing. His body was extremely still, and he seemed to ignore all worldly affairs around him.

Suddenly, Tannen's jaws dropped as a purple aura radiated from his master's body. Soon, a blast of air pressure shot out from Gen, blowing the kids' hair back. His purple aura slowly died down as he opened his eyes again.

"That's so cool!" Chun Li yelled out. "I wanna do that, too! Teach me!"

Tannen couldn't agree more. That was the coolest thing he had ever seen. He'd always thought powers like that only existed in video games. But, he was actually seeing it in real life.

"You think It's that simple to achieve this level of manipulation? It takes years of dedication to achieve the level that I am at right now. You on the other hand will be learning the basics starting today!"

And thus, Tannen and Chun Li began their grueling training.