Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Surging Powers

Amber's eyes were glowing when she arrived at Heihachi's beach house. Dark purple slime gathered around her hands, travelling up her to her elbows as she stood before the house, her eyes filled with hatred. A dark aura surrounded her when she raised her hand, making a large slime hand appear out of the ground.
"Mom!" The hand stopped midway as Amber jumped out of her trance-like state. She quickly turned around to see Jin walking towards her in his Devil Form. "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Ji- Jin?" Amber called, surprised. "But... but how?"
Jin turned back to normal as he reached her. "We tracked your phone."
Amber turned back to the house and gasped when she realised that Heihachi was already outside, staring at the scene in surprise. She spotted a pile of purple slime on the ground and quickly lifted her hands to see that they were covered in the same substance as well.
"My... my powers..." Amber murmured. "They're activated..."
"Yeah," Jin nodded, grimacing when his gaze met Heihachi, but softened when he turned back to her. "We should go. Your powers are still unstable."
Amber closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her eyes were back to their usual green when she opened them again. "How did you know that I'll be coming here?" Amber asked, looking at her hands as the slime disappeared.
Jin frowned. "You ran off as soon as you brought lunch. Usually, you'd join us, but today you left." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Have you eaten?"
Amber shook her head. "No, I haven't."
Just then, Lars and Nina's gang arrived in one of the Zaibatsu's SUVs. The car drifted to a halt in the driveway, and the four of them immediately got out and ran towards them.
"Amber! Amber, are you okay?" Nina asked, running towards them. She turned to look at Heihachi before turning back to her. "Guys, we should get out of here."
Amber turned to Heihachi and shook her head again as she turned back to Jin, pushing him away. "Jin, you better get out of here. Stay away from me."
"But why?" Jin asked, confused.
"I don't want anything to happen to you guys," Amber cried. "Look at me, this power surging through me. It's coming back, I'm corrupt again, Jin." She paused, her gaze to the ground as teardrops spilled out of her eyes. "I'm a monster."
"Mom..." Jin sighed, hugging her. "You're not."
"Even you didn't accept me... all those years ago when you first saw me," Amber sobbed. "I can't bring myself to hurt you, but this... this thing... it doesn't care."
"Amber, come on, you're not possessed like you were back then," Lars added. "Let's go back to the Zaibatsu. You need to calm down is all."
Amber looked at the rest that had gathered there, Nina's family and hers. She sighed and took a deep breath before nodding and following them to the car.
Adam and Steve decided to add something before leaving.
"I hope you're happy with what you've done!" Steve called to Heihachi, who looked at him indifferently.
"Yeah, because it sucks!" Adam added.
Steve grimaced as he glared at Heihachi. "Dad, let's go." He said before turning around.
The blonds left, Nina shaking her head in disgust as she regarded Heihachi for a moment before following her family. They all got into the Chevrolet Suburban and drove right off.
"You're gonna be okay, Mom," Jin comforted. "We'll get you checked, okay?"
"This thing has come back for me, I'm telling you," Amber said. "Please, it's better for me to just leave."
Nina sighed. "We need to talk to Jun."

Heihachi stared after the car in surprise. That was the clone of Jun Kazama he created a few years ago, infused with a part of Kazuya's Devil Gene. It resulted in her powers being so much more elaborate and complicating than Jin's and Kazuya's.
But she was corrupt? What was it that possessed her?
What surprised him more was the fact that Jin and Lars, even Nina and gang, had come for her, so fond of her as they reasoned with her and bought her away. There was genuine love there, acceptance towards who she was, when even Amber herself had trouble accepting that.
Heihachi retreated into his house and closed the door behind him. The sight of a synthetic clone having feelings like that... it was strange. More so when he saw how much Amber was going through, her emotions when she found out what had happened.
He frowned and changed out of his kimono before getting onto his bike again.

"You alright?" Lars asked as Jin helped Amber out of the car.
Amber nodded. "Yeah. But maybe... you should isolate me. I'm a walking bomb."
Adam started laughing, remembering the conversation he had with his family just that morning.
"Adam!" Nina hissed, giving him a light nudge.
"What, I was just remembering what happened at breakfast," Adam chuckled. "You said Heihachi was like a walking bomb, and then Steve... said he was a sitting bomb."
Steve smirked, amused as well. "Well, yeah. He was sitting, right?"
"Imagine, the guy was just having his coffee and then there was us," Nina chuckled. "Adam's parents were worse, actually."
Adam grinned. "Yeah. They were pretty violent."
"Well, they aren't wrong to be," Jin added. He put an arm around Amber. "Come on, Mom. Let's go down to the lab and have Doctor B run some tests."
"Can the tests sense... that?" Amber asked doubtfully.
Jin nodded. "Yes. Let's go." He turned to the rest. "You guys coming as well?"
Nina nodded. "I am." She turned to her people. "You guys?"
"I'll come as well," Adam said. "Maybe I can pay Alisa a visit."
Steve shrugged and turned to Lars. "That just leaves us. You going with them?"
Lars looked at Amber, a concerned look on his face, then shook his head as he turned to Steve. "No, I'll come with you. We need to take care of something upstairs." He turned to Amber. "Amber, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." He touched Jin's shoulder. "Keep me posted, okay?"
Jin nodded. "I will."
The group split up, with Steve and Lars going up to the 70th floor while the rest of them went down to the basement laboratory.
"You think they'll be okay?" Steve asked as he walked alongside Lars towards the lift lobby.
Lars shrugged. "I'm not sure. Jun-Oneesan did say that she seemed quite unaware of herself when she found Amber the other day."
"When was that?" Steve asked, pressing the button to summon the elevator to their floor.
"Last week, the day after the failed party," Lars sighed. "We were all sleepless the night before, Jin slept in quite late that morning too. We were all so tired, and Oneesan went to wake Amber when she found her like that."
Steve sighed and shook his head. The lift doors opened and the two of them got in. "I just hope everything turns out fine. As it is, we're only just starting to have peace in our lives."
Lars nodded. "Everything was fine, and then he shows up again. I feel kinda bad for Kazuya, he had it worst. Even Lee moved on quite easily from whatever Heihachi put them through."
"That's because he barely cared for Lee," Steve added. "He was just a tool to torment Kazuya back then."
"Well, I'm just glad that I didn't grow up with him," Lars smirked. "Even so, he still haunted my life." He sighed.
"All of our lives," Steve agreed.
The lift arrived at their floor and the two of them got out, discussing about their work affairs as they walked towards Jin's office.