Tekken Fan Fiction ❯ The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 ❯ Cycle of Hatred ( Chapter 23 )

 

 

 

 

Heihachi Mishima left the elevator and entered the lobby of the hotel as he finished off box of cereal he was holding. He had just had breakfast with two of the remaining competitors, Doren Sharon and Asuka Kazama, as well as one of the newcomers, Kenichi Masamune. He was certainly glad that he did, because he didn't realize how much this new crop of fighters realized the importance of the martial arts.

 

Asuka and Kenichi had been rivals for the longest time, always trying to get an edge over the other. Their rivalry wasn't limited to the martial arts, but in school, athletics, and even when helping break up fights in their neighborhood. But when tragedy had touched both of their lives, they realized how much they had in common, and offered to help the other.

Heihachi was amused by this, because he had often said that one does not truly know someone unless they have fought them in battle. These two teenagers had fought one another since they began elementary school, and realized how much they have in common.

 

Heihachi was particularly impressed by Doren Sharon. The first lieutenant was a lone Israeli soldier. He walked with joy his body and his heart, but few would know of the years of his past. The years of blood where saw his fellow man killed: the years of blood where he killed his own fellow human beings. The killing had almost destroyed him, but he chose a path of peace and to become different. Hatred only begets more hatred, and Doren chose to end that cycle of malice. By seeing death, he learned the value of life.

 

When Heihachi heard the man's story, he let out a hearty laugh. The man's father had died protecting the Japanese man when he visited Tel Aviv during his World Peace Crusade a year after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. He had actually met Doren previously when the Israeli was a small boy mourning at his father's funeral. And his first words to him were not words of comfort: Heihachi had slapped the boy in the face that day and said, “Get a grip on yourself, boy! Your father fought so that others may live. If you want to honor him, get up off your ass and do the same!”

 

The sheer coincidence of the situation was certainly quite humorous.

 

“Through strength, learn gentleness, and through gentleness, strength will prevail,” Heihachi recited in his mind as he entered the weight room of the hotel. Only a year ago, I would disregard such talk as utter rubbish. Now that I've focused my mind, I'm finally beginning to understand what these kids are talking about…

 

This way of thinking would certainly be put to the test later that day: Heihachi Mishima was scheduled to fight his ungrateful wretch of a son: Kazuya Mishima. This would be their fifth battle.

 

When son Kazuya first usurped the Mishima Zaibatsu from him at the conclusion of the first King of Iron Fist Tournament, the calm temperament of Heihachi's mind became overridden with vengeance and hate. He tore his way through the competitors at the King of Iron Fist 2 and fought his son Kazuya. Upon realizing that Kazuya was too consumed by darkness to rule the Zaibatsu, Heihachi took his son's fallen body and tossed it into the mouth of a volcano. Once he had done that, Heihachi organized the "Tekken-shu ", the Zaibatsu's private corps, and dispatched them to settle disputes and bring wasteland under cultivation to feed the poor countries of the world, in order to gain the support of leaders worldwide.

 

For a while, I actually enjoyed myself, Heihachi reminisced as he picked up a pair of barbells and began his session,…watching the sparkle in people's eyes when I gave them food, shelter…but old habits die hard: I could not let go of my ambition…

 

Fifteen years after Heihachi won the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, his Tekken-shu were excavating a Central American archeological site when they discovered a mysterious life form. Heihachi later discovered that it was the God of Fighting, the creature called Ogre. Upon realizing just how much more powerful he would be if he captured the demon, Heihachi's dream of world domination came rushing back to him.

 

Shortly after Ogre was discovered, Heihachi learned that he had a grandson, Jin Kazama, who had come to him at the will of his mother, Jun Kazama, who supposedly died at the hands of Ogre. Heihachi knew Jun from the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2: she had tried to save Kazuya's soul, and though she managed to unlock the minutest hint of humanity, she ultimately failed. Though she didn't have the soul of a fighter, her spirit was one of the strongest he had ever known. He reasoned that Ogre was looking for strong souls to consume, so in order to draw it out; Heihachi would make preparations train Jin in Mishima-ryu and use him to lure Ogre.

 

On Jin's 19th birthday, Heihachi started the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3. During the tournament, he managed to collect tissue samples from Ogre to experiment with. But he couldn't do anything with them unless he had a key ingredient: the Devil Gene. Being that Jin was Kazuya's son, he would have some trace of that gene.

 

The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 helped me re-acquaint myself with the martial arts, Heihachi thought as he put down the barbells and went to a nearby stair machine to begin the next part of his exercise, but it also re-awakened the demons in my heart…demons which held me back from my true potential.

 

As Jin finally slew Ogre, Heihachi shot his grandson in the head with a pistol. The Mishima's cursed destiny had come to an end…or so he thought. As Heihachi turned around, Jin rose back up and struck down Heihachi, sprouting black wings and taking flight. Heihachi had just unleashed another Devil upon the world.

 

If I had just left things as they were, Jin's Devil Gene might not have been unlocked and he would have lived a normal life…and I wouldn't have gotten my ass handed to me by him last year, Heihachi muttered to himself as he got on the stair machine and began his exercise, it's funny how the best-laid plans seem to always blow up in my face…

 

A year after Jin's disappearance, Heihachi discovered that Kazuya's body was being held by G-Corporation, and he began taking steps to obtain his son's corpse and his Devil Gene. But when Heihachi's Tekken-shu raided G-Corporation's lab in Nebraska in hopes of finding Kazuya's remains…they were thwarted by Kazuya Mishima himself.

 

After his resurrection, Kazuya offered his body as research material to determine the true nature of the Devil that resided within him. Kazuya's goal was to unify his two selves into one. Kazuya theorized that if he unified his body with the Devil, he would be able to truly harness its powers. He could then finally take revenge against me. Pshaw! Real warriors don't make underhanded deals: they forge their way relying on their fists…and their soul! But then again, I myself had forgotten that when I opened the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4…the tournament where I suffered my worst defeat yet…

 

In order to lure Kazuya, and possibly Jin, out in the open, Heihachi held the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 a year after he discovered Kazuya's existence and put his Zaibatsu on the line. Heihachi and Kazuya fought in the finals, and Heihachi emerged victorious. After defeating him, Heihachi felt that his son should have one last look at his grandson, who was captured earlier in the tournament. When the two fighters reached Honmaru where Jin had chained to the ceiling, however, Kazuya revealed his true intentions: to strip Jin of his Devil power so that he could add to his.

 

That's when the truth dawned upon Heihachi: their ambitions had grown so great that they were no longer afraid to exploit their own kin. They had completely forgotten what it meant to be a martial artist…

 

After Jin beat Kazuya into unconsciousness and defeated Heihachi by transforming in a devil once more, the two losers were attacked by the Jack-4 robots. And at that moment…Heihachi and Kazuya were faced with a common enemy: G-Corporation. Even though Kazuya betrayed Heihachi so that he could retreat from Honmaru, Heihachi had to admit that they worked well together.

 

 

G-Corporation is far too powerful an enemy to fight alone, Heihachi thought as he got off the machine and went to the bench to sit down, if the Zaibatsu is to survive, then the Mishimas must stop their blood feud and band together! The cycle of hatred and corruption will not end until someone makes a stand…and that someone is me! As the man who began the cycle, so I shall be the one to end it!

 

Heihachi looked out the window as his resolve strengthened, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and G-Corporation is my enemy, thus that lowlife son of mine is an ally. I shall have to beat this fact into Kazuya tonight, and end this silly feud of ours once and for all!