Hong Kong Shopping District
"Dor jea lay sai" Dan Habiki fumbled in his best Cantonese as he thanked the
taxi driver. The driver smiled and opened the door for him seeing as he was a
stranger doing his best to be polite. Dan smiled and got out and looked around
his new home. A strong musty stench hit his lungs as he looked around.
Surrounding him was the most traffic he had ever seen , the air was thick with
exhaust fumes from the many motorists , buses and other motor vehicles
congesting the roads. All around him were shops and street vendors all hawking
cheap wares , from pirated computer games to fake watches. The footpaths were
no different to the roads with hundreds of people cramming into the walkways.
Eccentric shops lined the sides of the roads , with accompanying soft drink
and electronic billboards bombarding the average pedestrian, high rise
buildings threatening to reach the heavens towering above them.
Dan turned to the driver and asked him if there was someplace he could get a
meal and a good drink "uhhh... gnor yu.... sek fan.. , yum jaou.. ah" Dan
said thumbing through his English/Chinese dictionary. The driver flashed an
even bigger grin , one that threatened to rip his cheeks off as he tried to
contain his laughter as he pointed to a restaurant down the street and said
"gaw bein yao charn goon , hoai day ga-chow fan hai ho ho sek" (over
there is a restaurant , they're fried rice is delicious) Dan thanked the
driver again and headed down the road. Man were there a lot of people he
thought , he smiled as he passes an old chinese man selling a 'genuine' Rolex
watch to some American tourists, briefly overhearing that the warranty would
be 'sent later'. Suddenly a small chinese girl with purple hair?! flew past him
at breakneck speed , yelling "AAaaaiiiya!!!" clutching a pair of pom poms , as
her mother attempting to chase after her screaming "Xian Pu!!!" Yes, Hong Kong
sure is weird Dan chuckled to himself.
The restaurant wasn't what Dan expected. Back in the States at least they had
health inspectors , this place doesn't even look like its ever been cleaned.
The entrance to the restaurant was through a flight of stairs leading to the
basement of the shop above. In there were the dropouts and lowlifes of Hong
Kong society , drunk men were huddled together or slumped up against the walls.
The place in general , looked like it survived many a bar-room brawl but not
particularly well , there were little to no tables or stools lying around
except at the bar. Dan shrugged his shoulders and headed off to the bar for
a drink , he wouldn't have wanted a meal in a place like this anyway , he
shuddered to think what he'd be served anyway. Pulling up a stool at the bar
and ordered "something strong" , luckily the bartender spoke some rudimentary
English and went away to fetch him a drink. Dan thought to himself , what will
I do here? I'm going to need some work if I plan to hide out here, he was
certain that Sagat's men were still after him. "Hey! You know where I can find
some work around here?" , the bartender shrugged his shoulders and shook his
head , Dan persisted "ahh... wan gung jo", the bartender turned around and
slid his drink right across the table, Dan caught the grimy cup firmly.
"You from America , not Japan right?" Dan nodded "Ok , no worry drink first"
Dan sculled the pungent drink in one gulp and suddenly felt very disoriented.
Sliding off his stool and collapsing onto the floor, the last thing Dan
remembered was that he never really could handle alchohol.
"ICHI!" "NI!" "SAN!" Go Hibiki called. A young Dan Hibiki , aged 14 stood
confused as the rest of his father's afternoon Karate class continued with
their routines. Go Hibiki was a large , built man who showed remarkable
health for a man of his age. He had a white beard and eyes that showed the
wisdom of the sage , and the spirit of a seasoned warrior, he was extremely
muscular for a medium sized man barely 6"7. "Danny!" his father called as
Dan stood embarassed, as the whole class turned to him, some of the senior
studnets chuckling under their breath. "Dan! What is wrong , why aren't you
following along like the rest of the class?" Dan lowered his head as his
father came around "I'm sorry dad , I just don't know what you mean when you
start shouting in Japanese" "Danny , I know we are living in America now , but
you must remember and be able to understand your mother tongue, you must know
all the techniques not only in English but their original Japanese names as
well. Now start again , we are doing Upper Block , Knife Hand block , lower
block , please try to follow along and stop watching so much TV" his father
grinned "Ok dad , I'll try" and straightened his stance shouting "Yes Sensei!"
"Good-" Mr Hibiki paused in mid sentence as out of the corner of his eye he
noticed a huge hulking man , flanked by two body guards enter the dojo , and
sit down, bigger man especially placed close attention watching the class.
"All right , three step sparring , remember to practice your combinations ,
make sure you use both your hands AND feet and try to pick your targets.
Remember to look for openings in your opponents defense and USE them"
"Hai! Sensei!" the class shouted. Sensei Hibiki smiled and left the supervision
to some senior black belts as he crossed over to the waiting room.
"Are you for a free lesson?" he enquired , while noticing that the large man
had extremely built shins and heavy callouses on his fists and elbows.
"HA! , Hibiki , you have such a sense of humour" the large man boomed , the
deep resonance of his voice unnerving Go for an instant. "You may have
heard of me , I am Sagat , Thailand's Muay Thai national champion, ah.. I see
word of my talents have still yet to reach you , but I have heard of you
Hibiki , I can see the rumours are not unfounded, I have heard you are a great
fighter and I wish to test my skills against one such as yourself, would you
indulge me in some friendly sparring?" , Sagat smiled at such a mere formality
he knew that Go Hibiki always enjoyed a good spar. "Yes Sagat , I think I
will , please excuse me for a moment while I finish up with my students" Sagat
chuckled as Sensei went about his business.
"Class , that will be all for today , I'm pleased with you performance today,
you are all improving , work hard and nothing will stop you from achieving
your best" He waited till his students had cleaned up and left before turning
to his son "My son , you are already very skillful for your age , but you must
concentrate harder on your training , particular your knowledge of your
techniques, it has since been tradition for karatekas all over the world to
address their techniques with the Japanese names, it is no different for you.
Go to the back and practice your kata" "yes sensei!" Dan shouted before
running off to the back room. "Taiqu qu Nidan" his father added. Sagat was
already waiting for him in the main training hall "Now the time has come to
see if old age has hampered your abilities!" yelled Sagat throwing off his
trenchcoat exposing a huge man with every muscle in his body rigorously
conditioned , some so hardened Dan's father had to wonder if they still felt
pain. "All right Sagat , your Muay Thai against my Kyokushin Karate, which is
superior? I am ready"