Chapter 75

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Address that Chin Gentsai had given me. Maybe a studio with an apartment above it, something like that. Whatever it was, it certainly hadn't been an Arcade Center. Ground Zero Arcades was a chain operated out of Detroit that franchised Arcades out across the Midwest and Southern United States. This one had a theme similar to a Supernatural Chinese Temple for some reason, complete with Demon Skull Entrance and Six-Armed Temple Statues.

My downloaded information told me that this sort of decor tended to be used by Jiangshi for their Inner Sanctums. Somehow, though, I doubted the neon accents were standard for them, but then there was at least one instance where that had been the case, though Lo Pan of San Francisco had been dead since Eighty-Six. The various arcade cabinets likely also didn't factor into most Jiangshi lairs, though the teenagers might, depending on the Jiangshi.

"Chin did say that he knew his fair share of hunters." I frowned.

Shaking my head at the eerie resemblance to a Jiangshi Lair, I looked around. This definitely didn't look like a Martial Arts School or a Home. Had I gotten turned around somehow? Better ask someone who worked here. Fortunately, there was someone working at the token counter who was able to direct me to a stairwell leading down to a hallway. The hallway itself connected to another stairwell leading up and into a more proper training hall, with mats, wing chun dummies, and all sorts of equipment. The predominant colors in here were red and brown from the mats and wood. It was about as far from the darkened arcade as you could get.

"Good, you're here." Came Chin Gentsai's voice from off to my right.

I looked and saw the Old Man had just walked through a doorway that led into a traditionally furnished, Chinese-style, apartment. Looking through the doorway, I saw the drawing room was also furnished in a lot of red and brown, with lots of dark brown hardwood and traditional furniture.

"I thought for a moment that I'd gotten the wrong place. You sent me to an Arcade that looked like a neon version of something a Jiangshi would use for its lair." I frowned.

"I figured with a name like Ground Zero, the Arcade should have a more foreboding atmosphere. I felt Jiangshi was a pretty good theme, given where we are in Chinatown." Shrugged Chin Gentsai.

"Somehow, I doubt that most Jiangshi have a Bonestorm Arcade Cabinet in their inner sanctum." I deadpanned.

"You'd be surprised. It's not like how it is with the Demonic or Undead Variety. There's a bit more social mobility with Jiangshi. Why, I've heard of Jiangshi having their own lairs after just a bit over a decade post-death. It's all about how much Chi they can steal how soon." Pointed out Chin Gentsai.

"Jiangshi aside, I didn't take you for someone who'd run an arcade." I remarked.

"My Grandaughter talked me into it a few years ago. I usually invest in things like restaurants and bars. In fact, I own the Golden Dragon a few blocks away from here. It's just that my Grandaughter figured I needed to diversify better." Shrugged Chin Gentsai.

"So you're a Master Chi Adept, a Master Martial Artist, a Restauranteur, and an Arcade Owner? That's a lot of professions, is there anything else you're leaving out that I should know about?" I questioned.

"I'm also an accomplished Psychic. In fact, most of my students are Psychics too." Informed Chin Gentsai.

"Huh. You know, I have yet to meet a Psychic in person, though I know they exist." I blinked.

"Most folks tend to stick with one type of extranormal power. Being capable of two at once beyond the very basics is rare, though it's been known to happen. You've got me curious, though." Mused Chin Gentsai.

"Oh? About what?" I queried.

"You claimed to have picked up what you have from books and instruction manuals. I believe you. Doing that indicates a strong mind, which is one of the hallmarks of Psionic Ability. If you'll allow me, I'd like to test to see if you've got what it takes to use psionic powers." Answered Chin Gentsai.

"And if I say no?" I asked.

"I'll still train you in Martial Arts and Chi Cultivation. It's not necessary for you to agree to let me test your psychic ability to get training in those." Responded Chin Gentsai.

"What would this test entail?" I questioned.

"I'd effectively just be brushing up against your mind with my own. I wouldn't be reading your thoughts or anything, but it's still a pretty personal thing to ask someone." Informed Chin Gentsai.

For a few moments, I was tempted to just say no. The potential he might pick up something that I didn't want him to from my mind made me leery. However, if I could get more power from this and it wasn't something inherently dark, could I afford to say no? My patrons thought there'd be another apocalypse coming down the pike in a little less than a year, after all, to say nothing about various other threats going around. The Black Dragon and Ba'al were still looking for me, even if Wolfram and Hart had agreed to suspend the bounty on my head.

Decision made, I nodded and said, "All right. Just don't go looking too deep."

"Trust me, I could do a simple assessment like this in my sleep. Your secrets are safe." Grinned Chin Gentsai.

Then, he placed a hand on my forehead and his eyes flashed with an inner light. I felt an odd pressure as if someone was poking my brain from the outside before it retreated slowly. As it retreated, I felt some sort of mental energy move with it. Then there was a smell of ozone and the lights in the Training Hall shorted out, plunging the training hall into shadow. As the lights went out, Chin Gentsai's bushy mustache and goatee went even more frizzy as if he'd just been hit by a static wash. Then he let go of my head.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you've got the potential to use Psychic powers. You're actually the second most powerful Psychic I've come across since leaving China. I can definitely train you and in fact, you should be trained, just in case." Intoned Chin Gentsai.

"All right, then what's the Bad News?" I queried.

"The bad news is that a lot of that power's been locked away. I'm not sure what happened to cause it because I've never seen anything like it before. You're a little under half as capable as you should be." Frowned Chin Gentsai.

That was news to me. Had going fully into Chi and Magic stunted my Psychic capability? Or was that just a consequence of the process that had been used to make me? Were all Goa'uld or Goa'uld Hybrids naturally telepathic and I'd been neutered via genetic tinkering? My downloaded information told me that the Goa'uld possessed some innate telepathic ability, but it tended to be used entirely on Genetic Memory, giving every Goa'uld the knowledge of the generations that had come before.

As I pondered the question and Chin Gentsai went to go tinker with the fusebox to turn the lights back on, I realized there might be something to that Genetic Memory thing after all. The Process that had been used to make me had stripped me of the Goa'uld Genetic Memory, which seems to have freed up the psychic capability to allow me to use psychic powers. However, it seems that because of the nature of how I was made, that ability had been neutered, likely because Ba'al refused to have a subordinate who could do something he couldn't. If my psychic abilities were able to advance as far as my magic had, that was something he'd need some pretty serious advanced technology to counter.

The asshole had probably been afraid of a Coup attempt in that event. He'd had my psychic capability strategically blocked up. I was honestly willing to be that only Oma Desala fixing my genes to give me more access to my inborn abilities had given me back what Psychic capability I now had. Another thing to thank my Patrons for. As the lights flickered back on and Chin Gentsai arrived once again, he came over to me and began speaking again, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"So, I was going to start with Martial Arts and Chi, but you seem to have enough of a handle on that to leave them be for now. Developing your Psychic powers is more pressing. Can't have you going around like you are now. As it is, you barely even have a defense against enemy psionics." Intoned Chin Gentsai.

"So where do we start?" I asked.

"With defense, of course. Like I said, you need it. Fortunately, defense is the easiest bit to pick up." Informed Chin Gentsai.

And with that, we began my training in Psionic Powers. Over the next two weeks, I would wind up crashing in Chin Gentsai's spare bedroom as he put me through my paces. I rarely left the apartment during that time. It turned out, that while my Psychic Growth was stunted, I could still learn most of the Psionic Defense Modes. We started with the Defense of Mind Blank, which sought to project an effectively null mental signature as a passive defense to trick enemy psychics into sensing nothing, then moved on to the other four I would be learning.

Thought shield projected a cloud of mental static, effectively acting as a mental version of the ECM used on fighter jets. Meanwhile, Tower of Iron Will focuses your willpower to build an unassailable haven inside your mind. Finally, the Intellect Fortress called forth the powers of both the Ego and the Superego to build an impregnable fortress around your mind. Those last two also could help shield other people, so long as they were standing within three yards of you.

Training those only took a few days thanks to using my various training aids. The rest of the time was spent developing various other psionic powers. I was only capable of learning powers from three of the five Psychic Disciplines with the bulk of my powers sealed away. I chose to learn from the disciplines of Psychokineticism, Psychometabolism, and Psychoportation. From these, I learned four major powers and twelve minor powers.

Major Powers I learned included Energy Containment, which was the ability to absorb a certain amount of energy and release it as harmless light, Kinetic Control, which allowed me to absorb, store, and redirect a certain amount of Kinetic Energy, Summon Planar Energies, which allowed me to pull energy from the various planes to attack enemies with, and Megakinesis, which functioned similarly to Telekinesis but at a much higher level of strength.

In terms of Minor Powers, from Psychoportation, I picked up Dimension Walk, which allowed me to travel vast distances via travel through other dimensions at right angles. I also Dimension Blade, which allowed me to render a weapon absurdly sharp through dimensional shenanigans. Finally, I picked up Time Dilation, which allowed me to speed up or slow down myself or others.

From Psychometabolism, I picked up Enhanced Strength, which functioned similarly to my Chi enhancement, though only for strength, and stacked effects with it. Similarly, I picked up Intensify, which functioned similarly to Enhanced Strength except for my durability, willpower, and intelligence. I also grabbed Chameleon Power, which allowed me to alter my appearance to match my background, including my clothing and equipment. At the same time, I learned Spider Touch, which allowed me to stick to walls and other surfaces. Finally, I also grabbed Accelerate, which enhanced my speed, and Adrenaline Control, which would allow me to enhance my strength, speed, and durability via psionic stimulation of my adrenal gland.

Lastly, from Psychokineticism, I picked Control Flames, which allowed me to control or alter pre-existing flames. I also picked up control wind, which did the same thing for wind. Lastly, I picked up Control Light, which did the same thing as the other two, but for light instead of wind and flames.

By the time two weeks were up, not only had I learned all those Psychic Abilities, but I also had begun learning Chin Gentsai's style of Drunken Boxing. It had only been a single lesson of that so far, but it was fighting in a way I'd never considered before. To celebrate, Chin Gentsai decided to take me out to the Golden Dragon Restaurant that he owned once the initial two-week period was up. He also mentioned he had something he wanted to talk about with me, but that it was better done over a meal.

"You should dress up a bit. The Golden Dragon's a fairly swanky place." Advised Chin Gentsai.

"Oh yeah? I can deal with swanky places." I responded.

"Good. We'll be reserving the VIP lounge so you'd better at least wear a dress shirt." Pressed Chin Gentsai.

"I got it." I waived off.

I headed into the bathroom to shower and change into a pair of black slacks and a black and gold, floral, silk shirt. As I made my way out of the spare room, slipping on a pair of black dress shoes as I did so, I looked over to see that Chin Gentsai hadn't changed.

"I thought you said the Golden Dragon was a fairly swanky place?" I frowned.

"I'm the owner, Kid. I can dress how I want." Smirked Chin Gentsai.

Chuckling, I followed him out the door as we made our way out to the restaurant. . .

XXXX

Hwa Jai had been keeping an eye out for the Kid he'd set eyes on. The past two weeks, he'd barely left the Apartment Complex on Bao Street in Chinatown. Hwa Jai's gone in there once to check the building out and wound up in an arcade with spooky decor after taking the wrong set of stairs. That place had given him the creeps, it reminded him of some of the places he'd seen back in Thailand when he was still fighting in the Muay Thai Tournament Circuit. The sort of places that tended to be fronts for Shadoloo, where he might run into guys like Sagat, who he had no chance in hell of beating in or out of the ring.

Aside from the odd trip outside to the local Maxi-Mart or the odd time Hwa Jai'd caught the kid smoking, the Kid hadn't left the building. Hwa Jai couldn't believe a guy who smoked Red Apples regularly could fight like that, but the Kid had. Normally, that sort of thing would do in a fighter's capability faster than almost anything, but Hwa Jai'd been around the block long enough to know there were ways around it. They usually took a lot longer than the Kid had been alive to figure out, though.

Briefly, Hwa Jai thought back to some of the stories he'd heard from the various underground fighting rings of places like the Dark Tournament of Hanging Neck Island or the Zeltzereich Tournament in Transylvania, where guys like Jon Talbain and Donovan Baine had fought various demons and whatnot for the amusement of some local bigwig. There'd supposedly been things that looked like kids but weren't at both of those events.

Shaking his head at the thought, Hwa Jai brought his mind back to the task at hand. It looked like the Kid was on the move, and Chin Gentsai was with him. Hwa Jai was supposed to find out where they were headed and call Billy with the details. So that's what he did, following the Kid's Camaro in his Toyota Cresta. He shadowed them to the Golden Dragon Restaurant a few blocks away, making sure to keep a couple of car lengths between them to not arouse suspicion.

As the Kid pulled into the Golden Dragon's Parking lot, Hwa Jai hung a left, going around the block and back toward the Maxi-Mart. There was a pay phone he could use in the parking lot to let Billy know what was going down. It would be up to Billy to figure out whether or not they would go in or if they would let the Kid eat and jump him later. That was out of Hwa Jai's hands, but one thing was for sure. If they went in now, they'd need Billy and either Mister Big or Krauser to fight the Kid and Chin Gentsai at once. Hopefully, if that happened, Hwa Jai would be far away from the ensuing chaos.

As Hwa Jai pulled into the parking lot of the Maxi-Mart and dialed Billy's office, he couldn't help but smirk at that thought. Of course, he wouldn't be far from the action if that happened. Geese Howard was going to want his money's worth, after all. A man could dream though.

"Go." Answered the British-accented voice of Billy Kane.

"It's Hwa Jai. The Kid and Chin Gentsai are at the Golden Dragon right now." Informed Hwa Jai.

"The Old Man's with him too, huh?" Questioned Billy.

"Yeah. Should we wait for another shot, do you think?" Queried Hwa Jai.

"No. Geese was clear on this. I've got Big on standby, we hit them as soon as we can. Nobody gets away with screwing the Howard Connection out of payments." Informed Billy.

"Fine. What should I do?" Asked Hwa Jai.

"With two guys of that Caliber, we might need you for backup. Where are you now?" Asked Billy.

"The Maxi-Mart parking lot on Eighth." Answered Hwa Jai.

"We'll be there in a half an hour. You're on standby till then." Ordered Billy before hanging up.

Hwa Jai hung up the phone and sighed. It looked like his intuition was right on the money after all. He was going to be in the thick of it when Mister Big and Billy hit the Golden Dragon. Looking over at his Cresta, he couldn't help but shrug. There was no such thing as a free lunch or free luxury sedans.

"At least I'm getting paid well." He muttered to himself.

Then he got back into his car and settled in to wait for Billy and Mister Big. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the first two weeks of Ulysses' stint in South Town. It was mostly spent training. As for what Chin wants to talk about over Chinese Food, well he wants Ulysses to take his place on Team Psycho Soldier for the upcoming King of Fighters Tournament. Chin had effectively been drawn into his spot on the team against his will in the previous tournament after all. If Ulysses agrees to take his place, then he'll be dealing with the climax of the Orochi Saga with Athena and Sie in Chin's Place.

Other nineties stuff this chapter includes mentions of Shadoloo and Sagat from Street Fighter, Ground Zero Arcades from Robocop Two, the Bonestorm Arcade Game from the Simpsons, Maxi-Mart from Beavis and Butthead, Red Apple Cigarettes from the Works of Quentin Tarantino, the Dark Tournament of Hanging Neck Island from Yu Yu Hakusho, and Jon Talbain, Donovan Baine, and the Zeltzereich Tournament from Darkstalkers. All the Psychic Stuff is from Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons, while all the stuff about South Town, Howard Connection, Chin Gentsai, and the rest is from King of Fighters. Finally, while Lo Pan and Big Trouble in Little China is an Eighties Thing, I have it as something that happened in the eighties in the backstory of the fic.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve Chin asking Ulysses to take his place in the King of Fighters Tournament and the Howard Connection Security Team crashing the party.

Stay tuned. . .