Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  Spear replies, “OK, is that a compliment or a dis? Kinda hard to tell . . . but if you wanna kick it up to the next level, I’m down. But one question.”

  Chen Lou replies, “What’s that?”

  Spear continues, “How many of those special moves you got, Cause it’s making this fight a whole like trickier than I like.” Chen Lou replies, “I guess you’ll have to find out. They both got into their own fighting stance, and then it seemed as if they disappeared and blurs of movement go around the park.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Platinum was watching the whole fight in his office. One of his men said, “Sir, it seems we lost visuals.” Mr. Platinum said, “Don’t worry, right now they’re fighting at a level that exceeds what our eyes can capture.” Back at the fight, the battle was heating up. Chen Lou was throwing an onslaught of chi punches while Spear was doing his best to dodge them while doing front flips and no-hand cartwheels out of the way, causing the trees near him to be split in half by the attacks. The thought then went through Spear’s head that maybe if he gets a hold of the old man’s hands, he won’t be able to attack with his chi punches. Everything seemed to go slow, and Spear made an insane dash at Chen Lou dodging the chi punches by hairs. He ducked and veered to the left then the right, until he got right up to Chen Lou and put his hand over Chen Lou’s left fist. Chen Lou tried to hit Spear with his right fist, but Spear got his hand over that fist too and aimed them down. They then reappeared on the screen that Mr. Platinum was watching the fight on.

  Spear looked Chen Lou in the eyes and said, “Gotcha, old man, now you can’t hit me with your punches.”

  Chen Lou smirked and said, “You are still young, you focus too much on the outside.A true warrior focuses on the inside.” Spear said, “OK, what does that even mean?” Then without warning, Chen Lou twisted his wrist sending out a force of energy that sent Spear flying back toward the lookout point wall, hitting his back and landing on his butt. The wall now had a crack, and a little blood was dripping from his nose. Chen Lou’s hair had come out of its ponytail, and his robe was ripped and damaged. Spear was battered up as well, taking more hits than Chen Lou; his clothes were dirty and ripped. Chen Lou began to walk toward Spear slowly.

  When he got up to Spear who was still sitting on his butt from the last attack, he said, “It’s a shame you chose this path, you show great potential. You would make a great pupil. In fact out of the four, you would have had the greater promise. But I can’t allow a person with evil intents to continue doing as you do.” He then went into a stance to deliver the final blow.

  With his back against the wall, he used his arms to pull himself to his feet then said, “Evil intent? What do you mean evil intent? I just protect the people in my city?”

  Back at the office, Mr. Platinum told his servant to go to plan B. His servant said, “But sir, Mr. Chen Lou is still—” He was then interrupted by Mr. Platinum who asked, “Would you care to take his place?” The servant said, “No, sir, right away.”

  Back at the fight, Spear said, “Who told you I have evil intent?”

  Chen Lou said, “A gentleman you have caused much pain said you have taken away someone close to him.”

  Spear said,“Take away? You mean kill. I’ve never killed anyone before.” Chen Lou said, “But Mr. Platinum said—” All of a sudden there was a huge explosion, causing the whole park to start crumbling and breaking away from the edge of the cliff. The ground was breaking out from under them, and the cliff started to fall. Spear and Chen Lou jumped from rubble to rubble, trees to rocks, sections of the still-standing wall to parts of the walkways in the park. Spear jumped off one last piece to make it back to the top, but the piece Chen Lou jumped off broke underneath his feet and he fell back down. Spear quickly pulled out his grappling hook and threw it around a tree as he jumped over the edge. He saw Chen Lou and reached out his hand, grabbing Chen Lou’s wrist right before the wire ran out.

  Spear looked at Chen Lou and said, “It ain’t time to die yet, we ain’t finish our rematch.” They got back to the top, exhausted from climbing, still on their hands and knees, and Chen Lou said, “Why did you save me?”

  Spear looked at him with blood running down his nose and responded with, “Eh, you remind me of Mr. Miyagi.” Chen Lou said, “This Miyagi must have been a wise man.” Spear chuckled and said, “You never seen Karate Kid have you?” Chen Lou had a confused look on his face. Spear continued, “Never mind . . . Do you still want to finish me off, I think I still got a little fight in me.”

  Chen Lou stood up and said, “It seems I may have been the foolish one the whole time.”

  Spear got up and dusted off his clothes while saying, “So what you gonna do now?”

  Chen Lou said, “Right a wrong.” Then he disappeared from the area before Spear had a chance to look up. Spear looked around at all the destruction and said, “There’s no way I’m staying around to take the blame for this.” Then he disappeared from the camera’s sight.

  Meanwhile at Mr. Platinum’s office, he’s enjoying a cigar looking at the New York Skyline. His servant was nervous as he told his boss, “Sir, we’ve lost track of Spear, and it seems Chen Lou is on his way up to seeyou.” The servant said, “Sir, what should we do?”

  Without turning around. Mr. Platinum said, “Show him in, no reason to keep the man waiting.” Outside the door, men were saying, “Wait! You can’t go in there!” Then bamm! They went flying through the door sliding across the platinum path leading up the steps to Mr. Platinum’s elevated area.

  Chen Lou said, “You deceived me!” Mr. Platinum turned his chair around and took the cigar out his mouth and replied, “Deceivedis such a harsh word. Let’s say I embellished a little, a bending of the truth as it may. And it’s a shame. I had my money riding on you to win that fight. I guess you’re not as good as I thought or as smart.” At that moment, fifty men ran in the room and surrounded Chen Lou.

  Chen Lou looked around, snickered, and said, “You think these men can stop me?” Mr. Platinum said, “Actually I don’t. But they’re a great distraction.” He then pushed a button, making the platinum floor underneath Chen Lou electrified, electrocuting him. Chen Lou screams out in pain. He dropped to his knees, and after about ten seconds, the electricity stopped and Chen Lou fell flat to his face. Then men then picked up Chen Lou smoking body and began to bring him to Mr. Platinum, but then Chen Lou mumbled, “I’m not done yet.” He sent both guys holding his arms flying away from him. The other forty-eight men went after him, and Chen Lou dodged their attacks and sent them each flying one by one. He got punched by one guy, but in return he delivered a palm strike to the guy’s chest, killing him. Another kicked him from behind, sending him stumbling into another man where he rolled over the guy’s back and sent him flying toward the guy that kicked him. Chen Lou then got a roundhouse to the head sending him stumbling then another roundhouse then a kick to the stomach; then they all piled on top of him. It looked like he’s down, then bamm! He used his chi to sent all the men flying off him. Then a gunshot went off. Mr. Platinum was standing up from his chair with a platinum gun in his hand barrel still smoking. He then said, “You guys are taking too long and messing up my office!”

  Chen Lou had his hand out in front of him closed fist seeming catching the bullet. He grind and a look of worry came over Platinum’s face. Chen Lou lowered his hand slowly revealing a hole through the top of his fist. His robe begins to turn red from the bullet in his chest and soon the front of his robe was soaked with blood. He falls to his knees then his drops to the floor.

  Mr. Platinum told his men, “Take the body.” He then told his assistant to make arrangements for the funeral. He had an idea on a way there might be a way Chen Lou’s death could be of use to him.

  TRINITY MASTER KIREI KANJI

  TRINITY MASTER SHIORETA HANA TRINITY MASTER YABAN PAWA

  Chapter 7

  Pupil

  This story started off in Japan at the Chen Lou temple. It’s a cloudy day that looked like even the
sky was about to start crying. The students at the temple were performing a traditional funeral for Master Chen Lou. The students were performing a choreographed form taught by the temple while the elders of the temple walked off carrying the casket of Master Chen Lou. It was a sad day at the Chen Lou temple.

  Standing from a slight distance was Mr. Platinum wearing a black silk suit with a slight metallic shine to it. He was seemingly showing his respect for the death of a man caused by him. The clouds grow darker behind him as he was watching the elders walking off with Chen Lou’s casket. There was a breeze when three mysterious people in hooded robes arrived on the hill behind Mr. Platinum.

  One of the mysterious people then spoke up, “Why are you here? Who are you? This is supposed to be a private funeral.” Mr. Platinum then said, “I could say the same about you.” The mysterious man then said, “We’re former students of Master Chen Lou. I don’t remember ever seeing you here.” Mr. Platinum said, “That’s because this is the first time I’m coming here. I’m here to show my respect to Master Chen Lou.” He was interrupted by a female voice saying, “Sensei Chen Lou.” Mr. Platinum continued and said, “Master, Sensei, it's the same thing. Your former master died over in the state.” The mysterious man in front of the other two said, “How did he die?”

  Mr. Platinum said, “He was killed by a man named Spear.” The man in front said, “OK,” then they all simultaneously turned around to leave.

  Mr. Platinum then said, “Wait, aren’t you going to avenge the death of your former master?” The mysterious man who seemed to be the leader turned his head to the side still hiding his face and said, “We leave for a reason. Whatever happened to the Master Chen Lou has no concern with us.”

  Mr. Platinum then said, “All right, how about I pay you?” The leader was still hiding his face and said, “What?”

  Mr. Platinum continues, “I’ve done my research on you guys. I know about your business. Kirei, Shioreta, Yaban” The leader said, “What’s to stop us from killing you right now?” Mr. Platinum said, “The fact that I’m willing to pay you 12 million dollars to get your former master’s killer. That’s an even split for all three of you.”

  The leader said, “Why would you be willing to pay so much for this one man?” Mr. Platinum said, “Because I was close friend to your former master. There was a business deal that he and I were in talks about when he gotkilled. And if the money’s not enough, I know you must be wondering who’s this person that killed the person that you failed to beat once.”

  The leader in anger replies, “You dare disrespect us!” Mr. Platinum, “I mean no disrespect.”

  The Leader states, “How do you know so much about us?”

  Mr. Platinum replies, “I make it my business to know everything about someone before I meet them.”

  The leader said, “I assume you knew we were coming here.” Mr. Platinum replied, “Regardless of what happened between you and Chen Lou, he was your Master at some point. But enough talk about the past, I like to look toward the future. I will be in Tokyo on business for a few days. Let me know your decision before I leave.” He then reached into his inner pocket and pulled out an envelope. He walked over to the mysterious three and handed the leader the envelope and said, “It seems to me you’re in a win-win situation. Take out the man who killed your master and get paid to do it. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you later.”

  NEXT SCENE

  Nick, Neil, and Von were coming out of the movie theater. Neil said, “That movie was bad ass.”

  Nick said, “I think Assassin Killer is probably one of the best martial arts movies I’ve seen. Plus the girls in that movie were gorgeous.”

  Von said, “One of the girls at the party yesterday looked kinda like one of the girls in the movie.” Neil said, “Yeah, the girls yesterday were hot.” Nick said, “Yeah, I know I got ten numbers last night.” Neil replied, “Yeah, so what, I got five.” Von said, “Me too.” Nick said, “I’ll repeat, ten.”

  Neil said, “Don’t get cocky. First of all, you drove up in your brand-new car, second, you went diesel right before you got to the party.”

  Nick said, “So.”

  Neil said, “You used your superpowers to pick up girls. Who does that?” Nick said chuckling, “Someone smart.”

  Von said, “Yeah, dude, I’d do the same thing if I could.”

  Neil said, “Yea, Yea, I probably would too. Dammit, I hate you.”

  Nick replied, “Anyways, I loved that movie, the fighting was crazy.”

  Von said, “Hey Nick, speaking of fighting, did you ever see that Chen Lou guy again?”

  Neil said, “Yeah, I was wondering about him too. Cause from what you told us, he pretty much handed you your ass.” Nick said, “He didn’t hand me my ass, it was a tie.” Neil said, “Who got the last hit?”

  Nick said, “He did, but that’s not the—” Neil interrupted, “Ass handed.”

  Nick said, “OK, he got the last hit, but I saved his life.” Von said, “Yeah, I find that strange, ’cause parks don’t just blow up.” Nick said, “Yeah, I know, I think the guy that tricked him into coming after me tried to take us both out with that blast. I just hope the old man’s doing OK.”

  They got to the car and drove off.

  NEXT SCENE

  Mr. Platinum was walking into his private jumbo jet in Tokyo airport. As he stepped into his jet, he saw three well-dressed Asians sitting down comfortably, two guys and one gorgeous woman. One of the men got up and walked toward Mr. Platinum.

  Mr. Platinum said, “Nice to see you’ve taken me up on my offer.” When the man got in front of Mr. Pla tinum, he said, “Let’s get this straight. We’re doing this for the money, not for the old man. He didn’t think we were worthy, so he’s not worth mourning.”

  Mr. Platinum said, “It doesn’t matter to me what you tell yourself. As long as you can deliver on your word, I don’t care what your motivation is.”

  The man said, “You say you know everything about us. So you must know we’ve never failed at delivering.” Mr. Platinum replied, “I guess you’re right. Well, enjoy your flight. I’m going to my office. This jet has everything you should need, separate resting quarters if you don’t want to sleep in your chairs, twenty big screen tvs for movies or whatnots, a bar, chefs on hand to make anything you want, and a masseuse, so make yourself comfortable. It’s a long flight.”

  The plane then took off.

  NEXT SCENE

  When the plane landed they were taken to one of Platinums hotels. The three guests walked into a huge condo. The big guy ran over to the theater-sized TV while the sexy woman provocatively walked over to the bar. One of Mr. Platinum’s men told the three that all the info on their target was on the center table, including a clip of the fight between Chen Lou and Spear. The leader said thank-you then closed the door.

  He then said, “Shioreta, Yaban, we’ve had enough time to relax. We should get started on finding out more about our target.”

  The gorgeous Shioreta said, “Why do you always end our fun before it even gets started.” The big guy Yaban said, “Yeah, Kirei, we never get to relax. It’s always training, and practice this formation to make it look beautiful.”

  Kirei walked over to Yaban and said, “Do I need to remind you who got us to where we are today? It was me that came up with the idea of assassins for hire, me that made up all of our flawless strategic plans and formations, me that made us the name everyone fears, and legends, in the mercenary and assassin business.”

  Shioreta interrupted Kirei while sipping wine from her glass and stated, “Isn’t it also you that got us kicked out of the Chen Lou temple?”

  Kirei looked at Shioreta and walked over to her. He angrily muttered, “Do you miss it there, the place where they were afraid of your true potential? They were afraid to let you bloom into the goddess of death you are.”

  Shioreta said, “Save the flattery for later when I finish this bottle.” Kirei took the bottle from the counter and said, “Nope, we ha
ve to get started, 12 million is a lot of money.” Kirei then walked over to the center table and took a DVD out that was labeled Chen Lou’s Last Fight. He then put it in the DVD player. On the screen was Chen Lou standing on the wall facing out; then a man in a hood and cargo pants appeared behind him. There was no sound on the video, but the video was clear. All three sat down and watched the video intensely as their former master fought against this mysterious person. They all agreed that the character Spear was OK, but when he and Chen Lou disappeared from the screen, they realized how good Spear really was. They then saw Spear and Chen Lou reappear on the screen as Spear gets knocked back into the wall. Then there’s an explosion, and the camera shook. They saw Chen Lou and Spear fall down the cliff. The screen then went fuzzy for a second, and when it came back, Spear was climbing up from the fall then Chen Lou after him. It could then be seen Spear pull out a gun and shoot Chen Lou in the chest then get up and run off the screen. All of a sudden, Mr. Platinum came on the screen and said, “Sorry you had to witness that, but I figured you’d want to see how he died. The rest of the DVD shows other fights with Spear so you can see his fighting style. I want you to be fully prepared. Oh, and by the way, if you get him back alive, I’ll give you 15 instead of 12 million. Also he will lie, says, and do anything he can to get away so be careful.”

  After watching the rest of the fights, Kirei said, “It’s too disgusting just watching him fight. His clothes are ragged, his fighting style is sloppy, and his weapons are two poles that look like he just pulled them out of the garbage.”

  Shioreta said, “He’s kinda cute though.”

  Kirei took the glass of wine from her hand and said, “You’ve drunk too much it’s impaired your vision.”

  Shioreta said, “Is that jealousy I hear?”

  Kirei walked off and said, “Get some rest. Tomorrow morning wepractice some formation attacks.” A day or so later Spear was doing his normal run over the city. The sky was cloudy with no sight of the moon or stars. It’s been quiet ever since the last fight with Chen Lou. He saw a gorgeous woman in a long coat walk into an alley and a thug goes in right after her. Spear thought to himself, “What the, why do people still insist on being stupid and taking shortcuts through alleys. Doesn’t anybody watch movies. It’s dangerous to walk in alleys by yourself?” When Spear got to the alley, the guy was lying on the floor face-first.