Chapter 3: Chapter Three: Early Life I
[Ten Years Later]
"C'mon, keep goin', you lazybone!" Dorai yelled out with arms akimbo.
Sweat trickled down as Chun Li kicked the kicked the sandbag several times; each kick drained her out of her energy reserves. When she couldn't kick anymore, Chun Li dropped to the floor with haggard breaths. She was too tired to move.
Chun Li was ten years old by now; a little rose bud that will soon bloom into a beautiful flower. She was currently learning martial arts outside of her house which was considered both a temple and a dojo.
When her father was not working as a cop, he would train both her and Tannen, along with other students, in martial arts.
Chun Li had been inspired to learn the ways of combat when she saw her father and Tannen train a few months ago. She wanted to be like them.
Chun Li had begged her father to teach her until he finally agreed. Although, her mother had her concerns, but as long as Chun Li didn't get herself injured she would be okay with it.
However, she realized just how hard it actually was. Many of the techniques that her father tried to teach her were hard for Chun Li. Moreover, her body was incredibly sore, and she could barely move a muscle. Chun Li couldn't stop here now; she had to catch up to him or else she would fall behind.
There was no way she would give up now.
Suddenly, a large shadow loomed over her, blocking out the sun, "You did good, sweetie." Dorai handed his daughter a bottled water.
Chun Li swiped the bottle and chugged the water down in one fell swoop. Then, her eyes wandered towards the boy whom she was training with. She clenched her fists as she watched how better he was than her.
Meanwhile, Tannen struck against his own wooden training pole several times. Not only was he perfecting his technique, but he was conditioning his legs as well.
Tannen was the same age as Chun li, had short, black hair and a pair of sharp, obsidian eyes. He was a bit muscular for his age due to martial arts training and wore a black, sleeveless Gi.
For some reason, Tannen seemed to have a knack in martial arts. He hadn't begun training until a couple months ago, but it felt like his mind was already somewhat used to it.
However, his body was still lacking a bit and couldn't keep up with his mind, so some of the techniques he tried to perform were clumsy. But, it was normal since Tannen was still a beginner.
His father said that he was a prodigy - someone who was born for it. He just needed to train more to become the best.
Recently, strange techniques began to surface in his memories. He clearly never learned them before, yet they were somehow deeply engrained in his mind.
Some were fists techniques, others were kick techniques and there were many that involved the use of Ki - something he had never heard of before.
It was weird - like a piece of memory that wasn't his.
"Hey, Tannen!" Dorai yelled out. "Take a breather; we'll start another round of training tomorrow!"
"Okay," Tannen nodded, wiping the sweat away from his forehead. He knew his father would have to go to work soon. Afterall, he was the breadwinner in this household.
Clicking her tongue, Chun Li stood up again and began kicking the wooden pole with greater intensity. She wanted to at least last longer than her brother in training.
"Chun Li, that's enough," Dorai raised hand over her shoulders.
"No," she ignored her father's command. "I can still keep going."
Dorai suddenly caught one of her kicks in mid-air as a frown marred his face, "You need to rest; you're going to injure yourself if you keep going on like this."
"But-"
"No, buts," he interrupted Chun Li, making her pout. "Besides, your mother needs you and Tannen to help out with shopping today. You don't want to upset her, do you?"
"Nuh-uh," she quickly shook her head.
"Then go to her; she's waiting for you," he ruffled her dark brown hair. Chun Li nodded her little head and ran back into the house to find mom.
"You too, Tannen," Dorai glanced back at him. "You know how impatient your mother is."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Tannen said, following after Chun Li.
As Tannen stepped inside the house, he noticed his mother in the living room all dressed up and ready to go.
"Are we going now, mom?" Tannen asked.
"Not in your current state, mister. Go and take a bath with your sister; you reek," she said adamantly. "I can't have everyone in the neighborhood think that my son always stinks."
"It's not that bad, mom. I can just cover it up with deodorant," Tannen argued.
"Bath means bath," she stated, drawing her absolute boundaries. "Now go wash up."
"Fine..." he groaned up, trudging his feet along the stairs to his bedroom.
Tannen grabbed a pair of clean clothes and head for the bathroom. He could already hear the bathtub running as he made it to the door. Seems like Chun Li was already taking a bath ahead of him.
"Hey, Chunners," Tannen slid the bathroom door open and stepped inside, covering his lower half with a blue towel. Steam swirled past him and escaped through the little cracks of the door as he closed it.
"What do you want?" Her brows furrowed when Tannen walked in.
"Mom said to take a bath with you," Tannen answered, walking to the bathtub where she was at.
"I don't care what mommy said," she angrily blocked the bathtub with the shower curtains. "Get out!"
Tannen raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why was she so mad today? Did he do something wrong?
"C'mon, Chunners, let me in," Tannen demanded, pulling the shower curtains away.
"No!" Chun Li spread her whole body out to cover the entire space of the bathtub. "And don't call me Chunners ever!"
"Well, if you're not gonna give me space, I guess I'll just sit on you," Tannen shrugged his shoulders, stepping into the bath much to her shock.
"Wait, stop!" Chun Li quickly moved out of his way, sliding close to the edge. Tannen ignored her as he soaked into the nice, warm bath, leaning back in a comfortable position. Man, he needed that.
He lift one eye up and noticed Chun Li's angry, little face, "What's up with you today?" He asked.
"I told you not to get in, but you didn't listen to me," she answered with crossed arms.
"Don't we always take a bath together?" He splashed a bit of water on his sweaty face. "What changed?"
"Maybe because you gotten fatter, fatty!" Chun Li quickly turned around, facing the other way.
Tannen had an uncontrollable twitch in his eye. Somehow, that word really bothered him. Glancing at her pale, smooth back, Tannen smirked to himself. He slowly snuck up behind Chun Li and launched a surprise tickle attack against her. He aimed for her armpits and her ribs for maximum damage.
"Pfft- hahaha, stop!" Chun Li yelled out as she tossed and turned, splashing water all over the floor.
"Why are you so mad, huh? Why are you so mad?" Tannen continued to tease his sister.
"S-stop it!" She suddenly jerked her head back and smacked him right on his nose.
"Owie!" Tannen fell backwards and into the water. He quickly came back up for air, rubbing his nose hard to soothe the pain. "That hurts!"
"Hmph, that's what you get," she gave him a mischievous smirk.
They both looked at eachother silently for a moment. It was like a staring contest between them. Chun Li couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing. Tannen laughed along with her.
"C'mon, lemme wash your hair," Tannen made Chun Li turn around with her small back faced towards him. "Y'know, you're supposed to put your hair down when you're washing yourself."
"I like them on; mommy likes them on, too," she argued.
"Don't tell me that you're going to keep it on for the rest of your life? He slowly undid Chun Li's odango buns. Tannen grabbed the shampoo bottle and poured it over her long, dark brown hair.
"So? What does it matter you?" She asked.
"Whatever," he rolled his eyes and scrubbed her hair into a bubbly, white cloud.
Now that he thought about it, Tannen had been washing her for many years now. Well, it wasn't that surprising; they had been close to eachother afterall. He knew Chun Li wasn't his real sister; he knew that this wasn't his real family. His adopted father had no reason to lie to him about that fact and told him everything.
Tannen had grown upset about it at first and wanted to know where his real parents are. But, over the years, he came to realize that his real parents were already here. It didn't have to be biological. His family loved them, and he loved them, too.
Tannen didn't want to break that bond.
"Ow, you're hurting me, Tan-Tan," Chun Li winced in pain.
Tan-Tan was a nickname that she had given him since she was around three years old and kept calling him that ever since. Tannen hated that nickname, but he wouldn't argue with her about that. He did always called her Chunners, so it wasn't much different than Tan-Tan.
"Whoops, sorry," he pulled his hands back. "I kinda got lost in thought."
"What were you thinking about?" She asked.
"Just how much I love you, mom and dad."
"Wow, you could feed a family of rats with all of that cheese," Chun Li quickly made fun of him.
"Now I'm starting to like you less."
Chun Li blew a raspberry at him.
• • • • •
Tannen and Chun Li had just finished bathing and were walking with their mom to the store. The streets of Hong Kong were always crowded with cars and people, but the city had its own unique charm to it.
"Mommy, look!" Chun Li pointed at the stall just up ahead. "They're selling crepes over there! Can we get some, please?" She begged.
"Alright, just one," Meilin couldn't say no to her cute daughter. She walked over to the crepe stall with her two children. "Which one do you want?"
"Gimme the chocolate one," she pointed at the display.
"What about you, Tannen?"
"I'm good," he refused. "I'm not that hungry."
She nodded and ordered a single crepe dessert for her daughter. As they walked through the crowded streets. Tannen glanced over at his sister who was chomping down on her dessert like a pig. Gross.
She quickly noticed his gaze and hid her crepe away, "No, you can't have any."
"I didn't say I wanted any, dummy," he retorted.
"Don't lie, I saw the way you looked at it," she argued back.
"You're delusional."
"Well, you're-"
"Both of you, knock it off," Meilin sternly said, quickly shutting them both up. "I don't want to hear any more arguing from the both of you."
"Sorry, mom," they said at the same time. Both of them glared at eachother instead. Chun Li stuck her tongue out in mockery. Tannen stuck his tongue out at her back.
The family soon veered off from the main road and into another street. This was the way to the grocery store which was only a ten minute walk from their house.
However, two men suddenly stopped them. They towered over them and had muscular physiques. One stood in front while the other stood behind, blocking their path of escape.
They were Hui Long and Juru.
Tannen didn't understand what was going on or who these two strange men were. However, he could instantly tell that they weren't here for any friendly chat.
"Who are you guys?" Meilin grew nervous and quickly brought her children close to her.
"You're Dorai's wife," Hui Long's menacing black eyes bored into her. He had a red dragon tattoo that extended past his shaven head. "Yeah, you look just like the picture."
"W-what do you want with me? My husband's from the HKPD, so don't try anything funny."
"Oh, we know. But, that husband of yours has gotten himself in a lot of trouble lately; sniffing his nose where it doesn't belong," he said. "We can't have that anymore. So, here's the deal: you either come with us, or we can kill you right here along with your kids."
"Leave my kids out of this," she said.
"You don't get to choose here; It's either with us or with King Yama."
Tannen immediately stood between the man and his family. His eyes narrowed in anger, "I don't who you are, but you're messin' with the wrong family here."
"A little cub trying to play hero? How cute," the thug laughed at this kid's pitiful the attempt of false bravado.
Tannen took this small opportunity to charge at the thug while he still had his guard down. Then, he threw out a hard punch with the full weight of his body right into the man's family jewels.
A good ol' nutcracker.
"ARGH!" The man roared in pain as he clutched onto his nuts, falling down to his knees.
It was dirty and cheap, but who said there had to be rules in a Street fight? With their life on the line, all gloves came off.
"You little bastard!" The thug swung out a straight right.
Tannen couldn't dodge it in time, so he had to raise his guard up to block it. Unfortunately, his little body couldn't handle the brunt force of a full grown man and fell to the ground.Hui Long wasn't doesn't done yet. He grabbed Tannen by the neck and threw him to the wall. Tannen couldn't do anything against Hui Long's bear-like strength.
"Ahh!" Tannen cried out in pain.
"Tan-Tan!" Chun Li cried out. She wanted to help him, but there was another man blocking her way. Rough, tanned skin and long, black hair - almost like a lion's mane.
"Get out of my way!" She yelled out.
"Why don't you make me, little girl," Juru scoffed at her. Not one to back down, Chun Li charged at Juru.
"Chun Li, stop!" Her mother cried out, but her words unfortunately fell on deaf ears. Chun Li leapt up and threw and threw a high kick.
"How amateurish," Juru caught Chun Li's leg and lifted her up upside down.
"Let me go!" Chun Li swung her arms wildly.
"Quiet, you little mutt," Juru threw a gut-wrenching punch right into her stomach. Chun Li coukdn't handle the sheer pain and immediately threw up the crepe that she just had eaten. Right into the man's face.
"Urgh, you gross bitch!" Juru tossed her away like a bag of trash.
"Stop, please!" Meilin couldn't stand to see her children hurt anymore, begging and pleading. "You only wanted me, right? Just take me and leave them alone. Please."
"You shoulda done that earlier," Hui Long finally released Tannen by his neck. He plopped to the ground, gasping hard for air.
Juru quickly grabbed Meilin and picked her up over his shoulders.
Tannen watched as they dragged his mother away. He felt an indescribable rage; a pent up anger that he didn't know he had before. Soon, a bloody red aura seeped out from his body - one that felt murderous and vengeful.
Hui Long felt a cold chill ran down his spine. It was like he had stepped one foot inside death's door. He quickly turned around and noticed the menacing red Ki leaking out of the kid.
"What the hell," he muttered out in disbelief. In an instant, Tannen sped towards Hui Long almost like a piercing arrow.
"Shit!" Hui Long barely had time to react and hastily shielded himself with a thin layer of Ki wrapped around his arms. Hui Long suddenly felt his one of his arms cracked as he flew backwards. He quickly stabilized himself.
"Agh, fuck!" His left arm was bent backwards. "Juru, help me!"
Juru tossed Meilin aside and bolted towards Tannen. As he came close, he quickly threw a flurry of punches. A right hook, a left straight, a bodyshot and a devastating uppercut. All of them landed, yet Tannen barely flinched as blood trickled from his mouth.
"What the hell is this kid?" Juru threw each shot with allow his strength, but it did nothing to phase him. He instantly noticed the kid's pupils eyes, "He's not even conscious!"
"Tan-Tan..." Chun Li muttered. She didn't understand what was happening to him. She was scared.
As Juru threw another punch, Tannen immediately caught it and twisted it.
"Agh!" Juru screamed out as his wrist broke. Tannen immediately shut him up with a kick to the jaw, knocking him out cold.
It was over.
Hui Long knew he wouldn't be a match for that little monster and quickly made a break for it. He didn't care if he left his partner behind; he just wanted to save his own life.
Tannen glanced down at Juru. His consciousness was long gone, but his body still reacted on its own. It intended to finish the job by killing him. He reached a hand out towards Juru's neck.
"I think I've seen enough already."
An old man suddenly appeared behind Tannen and hand chopped him across the neck. The red aura dispersed, and Tannen dropped to the ground blacked out.
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PullUpinaChoppa
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