Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or the characters within the series. This awesome series and the wonderful characters within it are the property of Namco. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

Journey Inside a Dangerous Mind
Chapter 8: Attacked On All Fronts
By: Kadeana

At first Jin Kazama did not recognize the man waiting for him in the area that would serve as their ring. They were in the middle of an actual forest. Jin felt that this gave him somewhat of an advantage over his unknown opponent. An advantage that he actually needed because of the injuries he sustained in his previous battles.

His mother trained him for years in a forest such as this one so he was in his element.

Jin's opponent wore camouflage clothing from head to toe which suggested he was in the military or a hunter. His opponent's powerful arms were crossed and he seemed to be peering at something on the ground so his face was partially hidden by the camouflage cap on his head. Instinct told him that this man meant business and Jin felt himself anticipating the battle.

When Jin got a person's length away from the powerful man, his head snapped up, he grabbed the hat off his head and slammed it on the ground. Jin assumed he stomped the camouflage cap to make sure it was dead. He presented Jin with an almost feral grin.

Simultaneously, horror and adrenaline coursed through Jin's veins. The horror because his opponent was a man who found great pleasure in insulting him. The adrenaline stemmed from the heady feeling of a great battle ahead. Only Hwoarang had been able to match him move for move and now Jin wanted to use his new kata on his old rival.

Jin would never get over the fact that Hwoarang was in the military or at least appeared to be so. If Jin was a high ranking officer, he would have thrown the troublemaker out on the first day. It would not have mattered to him how skilled the younger fighter was. His attitude was not worth it.

"Miss me?" Hwoarang managed to ask through his smirk.

Miss me? Jin thought a smirk forming on his lips as well.

When Hwoarang had realized that Jin had completely changed his style, he attacked in a powerful blitz of kicks at Jin ruthlessly searching for a weakness he knew had to be there somewhere. As Jin had to spend a lot of time learning this new technique of his, Hwoarang had been fine tuning his own skills. There was no way Jin could beat him now!

"My spirits, pardon me for using your precious spirits, but I hate that redheaded bastard," Devil muttered in distaste. "Rival my ass."

Julia Chang made a note to laugh at that later. "Why do you despise him so?"

"No one is my rival," Devil said his voice low and calm. "No one on this planet is greater than I . . . or equal to me."

"Jin thinks highly of him."

"Jin's a doofus." No insult intended.

Right. "It disturbs him when someone surfaces who gives us a challenge," Jin explained calmly. "That is why he resents Hwoarang. That is why he resents Steve. And that is why he resents my Otosama."

"Everyone of them are stinking bastards," Devil muttered.

"Of course neither man is a match for us now," Jin muttered. "They would fall to their knees from just coming into contact with our aura."

"Isn't that funny . . . because I am not," Julia replied.

"In casual situations, I restrain my power," Jin admitted.

"The only reason we would want you on your knees in front of us is a little more vulgar," Devil declared wiggling his eyebrows. He grinned in amusement. "Catch the sexual innuendo in that, Princess?" She seriously walked right into that one. He shoulders shook in his silent laughter.

"Hush," Julia commanded this aloud and Jin commanded this same silently.

I know you were thinking it, Devil thought as he laughed evilly. He was too amused over his clever joke to care about them ordering him about.

"You won that match against Hwoarang," Julia said determined to stay on subject. It was in absolute waste of time to try and make Devil to respect anyone or anything. And who knew when Devil would fly off the handle and cause them to have to postpone this interview?

"Yeah but he was happy at the conclusion of the match," Jin muttered. "I did not know why at the time but during the next tournament, the answer became obvious."

"He lost but he gained some valuable information during that match," Julia prompted. Hwoarang had defeated Jin in the fifth tournament. She remembered because she was Hwoarang's next opponent, but he had never shown for their match because he was locked in a life or death struggle against the irate Devil Jin.

"He learned how to defeat Jin making it the worse day of my life!" Devil exclaimed almost letting the shame he felt in Jin's incompetence be known in his voice. "I tried to kick that redheaded creature into outer space." As a result of the battle, Hwoarang was hospitalized.

"You need to learn to lose gracefully," Julia replied.

"I didn't lose, Jin did," Devil muttered. "You got her thinking I am a loser like you, you simpled-minded asshole."

"I wonder who is the culprit of my ultimate defeat?" Jin muttered. "I never got any sleep because when I tried someone thought it was vacation time for them. And as a result . . . my body was too tired to keep up with Hwoarang in a match." Devil used to cause all sorts of mischief when Jin went to sleep in those days. He seemed to love to use the time destroying Jin's favorite hangout spots.

"Good times," Devil said smiling evilly.

"Why blame Jin for something that you caused?" Julia asked.

"He is the asshole that lost," Devil muttered. "I am a winner." He would do anything to win. Since he was the most powerful fighter this side of the universe, cheating wasn't a necessary fun time anymore. Not that he had to cheat much back during those times. It was just a added perk. Hell yeah!

This conversation is going no where fast, Julia thought. "Did you meet Xiaoyu-san in the fourth tournament?"

"She was looking for me but we never encountered each other," Jin replied honestly. "She started to suspect that something sinister happened to me because I sent her an anonymous email, warning her of danger. Somehow she knew it was from me." It was a mystery to Jin how Xiaoyu-chan figured it out.

"Who else would send her an email, Dumbass?" Devil asked rolling his eyes heavenward. "I would've sent her a bomb."

"To hate Hwoarang so much . . . you two sure are alike in your likes and dislikes," Julia said thoughtfully. Before he could reply she charged on, "What of Yoshimitsu-san?"

"He was my next opponent," Jin replied slowly. "I could not put my finger upon it but something was much different about him . . . ."

". . . Other than the fact that he was even uglier?" Devil prompted.

Before he could go into detail of the meeting . . . something hit the prison with such force that both Jin and Julia were propelled sideways. Jin held his arm out toward Julia using his power to stop her in mid-air before she slammed into the stone wall. He also created a transparent shield, strong enough to withstand a nuclear bomb, around her.

The prison's sirens started to wail their, too late, warning.

He let himself slam into the lead door. His whole left side left a massive imprint in the door. "Jin!" Julia. He slammed his right palm on the door, and used his hand as leverage to pull himself from the door. He tested his arm as he looked at her still encased in the shield he put around her.

She watched as he snatched off his shirt and assumed that he did this so it would not get in the way of his wings. They started to slowly grow out of his back between his shoulder blades. The wing on the left was made out of black feathers and his right wing was made of pure white feathers.

"What is going on?" Julia asked. Her voice echoed around her. He didn't reply. "Let me out of here." He was ignoring her.

Julia watched him jump gracefully off the ground. His powerful wings flapped once propelling him through the air, with both fists extended out in front of him he slammed through the wall and flew upwards out of sight. She wondered when he would realize that he just shattered the illusion that he gave to the world's leaders that he was really imprisoned by them.

Did he even care?

Julia seriously doubted it because Jin was incensed and whoever pulled this stunt was about to feel his wrath.

Who would have the nerve to try and infiltrate this fortress and why? Jin had made the decision to let himself be imprisoned here because of a collaboration of being bored and his conscience coming back after a very long hiatus.

Who would want to provoke him into ruling the world with an evil iron fist again? Man should know better than to mess with Jin. Man's weapons could not kill him. Julia did not believe anything could.

The aerial chase was for several miles but soon Jin was close enough to use his power to stop the F-16 Fighting Falcon in mid air. He was flying at an accelerated rate so when he landed on the F-16, he almost skidded off of it but Devil dug his talons into the top of the aircraft to stop himself.

He tore the top of the cockpit back like it was a top of a can of sardines. He looked down at the pilot out of narrowed eyes. "What the hell was that?" Jin asked. The pilot could only move his eyes. He stared at Jin from behind his helmet, a sheen of sweat fell down his brow. Jin moved his hand in front of his face to allow him use of his mouth. "Who sent you?"

"You might as well kill me now." He would die before he would give the name of his superior officer to this creature.

"I don't kill . . . anymore," Jin replied smiling wickedly. "But soon you will wish that I had not made that oath." He reached out his hands, grabbing the man's shoulders. His talons easily tore through flimsy barrier of the man's uniform and into the flesh of his shoulders. Jin let just enough poison enter the wounds from his talons to intensify the pain. The man who had been nobly holding in his scream let it go in one torturous breath.

The pilot's brain focused solely upon the pain and all his mental defenses went down. Jin had given the man a chance to talk and he had refused it. Jin started to read his memories to see who this idiot worked for.

The pilot's name was Lewis Jennings. He was once a first sergeant in the Air Force but Jin skipped over most of the aspects of the man's life. When he tried to find the information he was looking for, he was blocked by some unknown force. Interesting, Jin thought intrigued.

He released the pilot. He used his powers to slowly bring the levitating plane to the ground. "You inform whoever it is that sent you that it will take a lot more than any human can dish out to kill us. And if they launch another attack while any of our friends are visiting . . . we won't be so agreeable the next time."

Julia wished she knew what was going on. Jin still had her encased in some kind of energy field. If someone were to enter the apartment by way of the huge gaping hole Jin created, she would be completely defenseless.

Well maybe not defenseless but completely dependent upon his power to defend her which she disliked.

She knew that some of the highly trained prison guards were trying to get inside the apartment. The door had obviously malfunctioned, but they were speaking through the speaker trying to get either her or Jin to answer. She could not do so and Jin was gone to corners unknown.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Jin returned. He had used his brute strength to shove the heavy door aside. His little apartment was a complete mess. He started muttering his displeasure in Japanese as he started to clean up.

The guards, more afraid of him than any attack on the prison, started to drift away. They would not dare to cross the threshold of his domain. The commanding officer went to inform his superiors of the attack and the others went to access the damage.

"Hello, do you mind?" Julia inquired still encased in her bubble.

The shield around her dissipated and she fell the short way, landing on her feet. "What happened?" He didn't answer he just silently went by the business of fixing his home. "Should I leave?" she asked. When he did not reply she started looking for her belongings.

"Why are we bothering to do this?" Devil demanded. "We are a sitting duck here and it is so pointless. No one will ever forgive you for your past deeds."

"I don't care what the world thinks of me," Jin muttered. "I am trying to forgive myself . . . that is all."

"Relent on the no kill ban," Devil commanded. "That stupid pilot should be dead." If Jin would have let him, Devil would have caught the plane and threw it into outer space.

"There is only one way that I would ever lift that," Jin admitted.

"What is it so I can do it?" Devil asked deviously. He dropped what he was holding, to rub his palms together gleefully.

"That is none of your concern."

Devil tried to search through Jin's mind for the answer. "Son of a bitch . . . you have figured out a way to block me out." Twice this had happened to him today. "You would not be hiding the identity of the villain who attacked us would you?"

"Of course not," Jin muttered. "Your enemies are my enemies."

"Remember that . . . bastard," Devil commanded.

"Can I leave?" Julia asked startling him out of his conversation. Devil looked at her blankly but then a sinister looked crossed his face. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Why don't you stay here with me?" Devil asked. "It's much safer."

"No thanks," Julia said. Judging by Devil's expression she felt she would be safer vacationing with hungry sharks and rabid wolves. "I can take care of myself."

"Not from a missile," Devil declared. "Which would have destroyed this place and you, if it wasn't for the force field surrounding it. A force field that we created . . . I might add." He posed as if he was trying to sell a product.

Apparently, he thought she was stupid enough to fall for that but she had other things on her mind. So a missile is what caused this, Julia thought her eyes narrowing. "How reckless! Everyone could have been killed!" Innocent people just doing their jobs.

"Have you ever heard of collateral damage?" Jin asked. "My enemies do not care who they hurt as long as I am dead."

"Collateral damage? There are innocent people here with families that depend on them for their very lives!"

"In the name of revenge many could care less about the innocent who get caught in the crossfire," Jin replied simply. "It is the way mortals are. It's the way that I am because I was once mortal. I cannot honestly say that I am above revenge . . . because whoever decided to plan this while you were here will face the consequences."

"Don't make this about me!"

"They made it about you," he replied.

"You have to protect these people," Julia said softly.

"And here I thought they were supposed to be protecting me," Devil replied. One just can't find good prison guards these days.

"Protecting you?" Julia repeated. "There is nothing on this planet that can kill you. And if there was something that could . . . I hardly think that the guards and warden here could stop it."

"They all probably were in on this," Devil muttered. "I trust no one."

"Of course you don't. You have set such a shinning example on how to betray people . . . that it is quite obvious that trust is not in your vocabulary." This seemed to amuse Devil whose shoulders shook in silent laughter. "I really should leave."

"How can you?" Jin asked. "It will probably be hours before anyone is able to leave here . . . but you are more than welcome to jump out my new balcony, to bypass the guards. I highly doubt you will stick the landing, though." They were many stories high and no one but he could possibly stick the landing and live to tell the tale. She gave him a cross look.

"You have three options . . . you can help Jin clean up, entertain me, or shut the hell up," Devil said honestly. Jin went back to repairing his demolished apartment.

She did not trust the being inside the room with her as far as she could throw him. Who knows what he had decided to do now that there had been a direct attack on his solitary prison!

That was probably why law enforcement had not come to this location, yet. No one knew what Jin would do. "I hope you do not blame the innocent for something that they had no control over." Julia rushed to the opened door. She hurried to see if any of the guards needed medical attention. Once she helped with the injured she planned to see if they would let her leave.

He looked at where she once stood frowning. He wasn't the only one that had a problem with trusting.

Honestly, she would be foolish to trust him after all the things he had done, but he had given his word that he was finished with being the evil dictator. But that sure as hell didn't mean he would let a slight such as this go unpunished.

"There is no innocent. There is only random people who have not made their evil move yet."

"Devil, you should really learn to trust," Jin decided.

"I don't even trust you, you bastard," Devil snapped.

"We have to be on one accord to reach our fullest potential."

"They destroyed my PlayStation, man!" Devil ranted. "Do you know how rare an original PlayStation is these days? That's a death sentence."

"We will get them!"

"And what will we do once we capture them?" Devil inquired. "Take them to dinner and a movie?"

"Remember there are some things worse than death," Jin replied solemnly.

"Whatever," Devil muttered. He dropped what remained of his precious PlayStation. He walked over to the gigantic hole in the side of the building that he had created earlier. His force field was keeping all of his stuff from being sucked out of the room. "It is time for a serious reality check for you." He sat down and looked over the horizon. "She is never going to forgive you. She will never trust you."

"You do not know that for certain."

"Jin." Damn . . . he used my name, Jin thought. That usually meant Devil was about to drop a pearl of wisdom that was very close to a truth that Jin did not want to accept. "You gave Princess the illusion that she was your entire world. You then brutally shattered that illusion. Do you remember how she looked when she discovered the truth? I remember because I thought it was hilarious as hell . . . and then it hurt like hell when she punched the living shit out of us."

"Yes," Jin muttered. She briefly looked as shattered as the symbolic illusion Devil was referring to. He had the startling feeling that she just may react as badly as Hwoarang when he was presented with the truth. When she lashed out with her fists, hitting him in the chest—shattering his sternum—it had been a welcomed lethal attack and very painful.

"Hearing your tale of woe is not going to erase what happened . . . so you are going to have to up your game or cease this nonsense."

"We have to up the stakes," Jin muttered.

"Duh, Dumbass," Devil muttered.

"Why are you talking to me about this?" Jin asked. "I was under the assumption you would like my plan to maybe win her back . . . to fail."

"I want out of here," Devil admitted. "She is one of the reasons why you put us here so . . . you resolve this situation and then I tackle the next one."

"Even if I make the decision to leave here, it doesn't mean that things will be the way they were before," Jin warned.

Julia arrived home late and tried to explain to her new ward why she was so but he was just as indifferent as her animals that he was tending to for room and board.

She would have figured that he had heard about the attack on the prison, either by the way of television, the Internet, or by radio but apparently during the long day, he had used neither.

Apparently, he had no use for modern conveniences. What was even more astonishing to her was the fact that Gabriel seemed to never have even heard of Jin Kazama or of his once dictatorship of the world.

She decided then that Gabriel had to have suffered some kind of trauma that caused him to forget some things.

She turned on her small television set so she could hear news about the attack on the prison. She already knew that the United States was denying and condemning the attack and so were many of the other likely super powers.

It was disturbing because it meant that another threat was out there and whoever it was had targeted her too. What if they came here for her?

While she made a quick dinner she listened to the news. Fear was the prevailing emotion that people showed on the programs. They were afraid that Jin's retaliation would have something to do with conquering the world, once again.

Some of the reporters and interviewers were apologetic and even worshipful of him hoping against hope that Jin was watching and that they were somehow appeasing him.

Even the President of the United States would say a speech to publicly condemn the attack. He would also relay a message to the world from one Jin Kazama. There was no telling what kind of warped message Jin had concocted to terrify the populous.

Gabriel—who was apparently immune to the news—soon left the house to be in the company of her animals. The man was a strange one. He actually reminded her of herself a few years ago. The only thing mattered to her at that time was her project to reforest Arizona and maybe the world. Anything that was going on the world around her was ignored until her data was stolen.

As Julia was finishing dinner the president's speech started. She was uninspired by his words as she was sure about everyone else in the world—who was listening—felt the same exact way. The words and actions of one Jin Kazama was the only words that mattered.

He was the one who held all the power.

His letter started with a greeting that had to come from Devil and the president reddened as he read it. "My fellow Assholes." Julia could not help but laugh softly over the greeting. Devil had no respect for anyone or anything.

"I welcome any and all opponents who feel the need for revenge to come and try to get it. It serves for great entertainment for an otherwise dreary existence. I will not tolerate actions such as these while my friends are visiting here. I suggest you learn my schedule and live by it. You error greatly if you believe that I will not retaliate. My revenge will be absolute. Bother my friends in any way . . . in revenge against me, then . . . I shall crush you. Sayonara, you weaklings."

Julia shook her head as she turned off the television set. Obviously, the speech was not meant for staying the fears of the populous of the world. The way Jin phrased some of his words probably scared them even more. It was a warning and his enemies would do well to heed it.

She fixed two place settings for dinner and then called Gabriel inside. Julia decided she would use dinner to get to know him better. There had to be some reason that the spirits had led him to her door.

Julia was called back to the prison the very next day. Jin had been moved to another side of the massive facility. He was in an apartment that was an exact duplicate of his last one.

He also had another visitor. Well, actually, two visitors. A woman and one of the prettiest little girls Julia had ever seen. She was enchanted by the child and by comparison Devil looked at the little girl as if she were an atomic bomb about to detonate or something.

"I'm sorry, Kazama-san," Julia said. Her eyes strayed from the girl back to him. "I did not know that you had company. I could come back at a later date." Her eyes naturally went back to the little girl who was studying Jin with dispirited brown eyes—eyes that were a lot like his.

"You may not leave me alone with these two." He sounded as if the woman and little girl was a direct threat to his very existence. Which was completely absurd.

"Excuse my rudeness but, who are they?" Julia asked.

"My worse nightmare," Devil muttered. "Witch, this is Julia-san. Julia-san . . . Witch."

"My name is not Witch." The woman was tall skinny and had long red hair. "My name is Stacy Hart and I was introducing Jin to a new occupant that will be added to this facility."

"This innocent child?" Julia asked appalled.

"Innocence is in eye of the beholder," Devil muttered.

"Why would a child be brought here?"

"She has the same powers as Jin. We can no longer control her so we are leaving her in the custody of the only being who can."

"How is something like that even possible?"

"Look at her closer, Onna," Jin commanded. "Then you will see."

Julia's eyes traveled from him back to the little girl. She had long thick hair, the color of a raven's wings. Judging from her height, she could not be no more than four or five. Her face was oval and shape, but most importantly she had Jin's eyes. Everything about her reminded Julia of a very feminine version of Jin.

There was nothing in this little girl that reminded her of herself but she still knew who she was.

Jin watched her face as the realization came to her. Julia's soulful eyes widened and her her hand covered her now gaping mouth. "Isabella," she whispered through her fingers.

"The elephant crap has hit the fan," Devil grumbled. Things were about to change. He could sense them shifting within Jin. What could the devious being be conspiring now?

Author's Notes: First of all, I would like to say, thank you for the reviews in the patience. I actually finished this chapter before I was officially supposed to. That means, that more likely than not, the next chapter will be published sooner than you think.

There is another villain out there somewhere and he is behind what happened to the prison. He is meddling with this dimension like Jin meddles in the affairs of the other dimension. He is trying to achieve a more sinister plot than Jin is. It is a Mishima but it is neither Heihachi, Jinpachi, nor another version of Jin. It is the original Mishima-sama in purple. In one of my previous chapters Jin mentioned to Julia that the third dimension being a few years behind there own but what became of the second the dimension? Answer is: For a later chapter.

Edited: November 3, 2011