The roar of a custom detailed blue Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike rang loud and proud through the night streets of downtown Tokyo. The bright neon lights formed beautiful but brief lines across the shiny black visor of the riderâ€™s helmet. Eventually the bike took a sharp turn through a dark alley and came to the â€œfront doorâ€ of an underground club. Its dark neon green sign read â€œThe Jade Palaceâ€. Without even removing his helmet, the rider dismounted his bike and strolled past the extremely heavy set bouncer who started to protest but was quickly silenced by the riderâ€™s raised hand. Loud techno music boomed through the second door of the entrance hallway as the rider pushed it open with ease. The club was clearly packed, so much so that there was a group of young girls who made their way onto the bar to dance. A series of â€œbooâ€™sâ€ rang out as the floor bouncers managed to escort the ladies off. The rider, however; was more focused on his walking path. Eventually he eased his way through the tight crowd and approached a VIP table with a few well dressed gangsters accompanied by a few club girls who clearly had no clue who they were with. The rider started to reach into his jacket pocket when two of the gangsters stood up with their handguns trained on the riderâ€™s helmet, but the rider showed he was a little faster as he leaned back grabbing both gunmanâ€™s wrists and gripped them hard, causing them to bend downward. Using the momentum of the force it took to pull himself back towards the gunman, the rider forced the guns to drop to the table and pushed the disarmed gangsters back into the booth. Before they could stand again out of anger, the gangster in the middle held up his hand and they both reluctantly sat back down.<br/><br/>â€œYouâ€™re early.â€ started the middle man who clearly was in charge of the group. Slowly he reached into his sport jacket to remove a stack of money and placed on the table before the rider. He then gestured to the rider that it was ok to produce what he had originally intended to pull from his own jacket. The rider complied and dropped a five gram bag of cocaine on the table. Both men picked up their respective trade items but the gang leader quickly grasped the riderâ€™s hand, placing an extra two thousand yen inside of it. â€œFor such a punctual delivery.â€ The man smiled and sat back into his booth while the rider simply turned and exited the club.<br/><br/>The drive back to the outskirts of the city was long but an enjoyable one as the rider thought back to the club, satisfied that his self defense skills were improving. He felt fluent in those moments, like the energy of it all just raced through him. Then his thoughts dwindled on his secondary delivery of giving the money he picked up from the club to his gang leader, Oda whom the rider could only guess was in a good enough mood to grant him a little extra cash for a job well done. Regardless, he was home now and reality set in. A crumby rundown apartment that was ready to topple over any day but for the rider, this was home and he still had bills to pay. Upon entering his apartment he checked the voicemails of his answering machine.<br/><br/>[<span style="font-style: italic">Kai, itâ€™s your grandfather. I just received a call from your cousin Yumi. Sheâ€™s getting married this weekend and she would like me to attend. Now I know you two never got along but maybe you would like to come with me. I believe the wedding is near that summer camp you went to while you were living in the states; perhaps you could visit it again. I recall you having such a gooâ€¦.</span>]<br/><br/>The message was stopped short by the delete button. Kai sighed to himself as he slowly removed his helmet and placed it next to his answering machine. It had been a long time since that summer camp. He could still remember the friends he made there; DJ, Jon, Jason and Karma. Suddenly he felt surprised he remembered their names and even more surprised that that was all he could remember from that time. The only other things he could remember was that was the single greatest time of his life and yet there was still a shallow sadness picking at the back of his memories. Something of loss but he couldnâ€™t figure it out. His thoughts became so focused on this sad feeling that suddenly Kai felt the only way to remember was to actually go back. He would have to talk to his grandfather in the morning about it, but for now it was time to sleep.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 85%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #FFBF40"><span style="font-style: italic">The water swam through Kaiâ€™s body as if it were his own blood. His steps were light and unhindered as he took his leisurely stroll across the bottom of the ocean. His breathing was steady and eyesight was as clear as ever. Eventually his walk brought him to an underwater cave. One he had never seen before in his dream but felt a vague familiarity with it. As Kai approached though, an overwhelming sense of dread and helplessness surrounded Kai. Suddenly he could begin to feel the weight of the water, the lack of oxygen in his lungs and the burning in his eyes from the salt. But then in the mouth of the cave emerged a ghostly face, familiar in its presence but obscured by the water. Kai mouthed the faceâ€™s name but it went unheard, even to his own ears. As he reached a hand out the face came closer but then was suddenly sucked back into the mouth of the cave. Kai felt the relief of weightlessness and uninterrupted breathing while his vision cleared again, and yet all he could do was stare at the cave entrance. Before Kai could turn to leave another face burst from the entrance with cold skeletal hands that grasped Kaiâ€™s face to pull it mere inches from its own ghastly visage. Its eye sockets were as deep and black as the cave mouth and its mouth hung wide and loose as If it were barely attached by the pale green skin. <span style="font-weight: bold">â€œYOU LET ME DIE!!! YOU ALL LET ME DIE!!! COME BACK TO ME!! COME BACK TO MEEEEE!!!!â€</span> It screamed in a monstrously altered but familiar voice. Kai felt his entire life instantly sucked from his body. He struggled to free himself but found no strength left. Than in a burst of black bubbles, the face vanished along with Kaiâ€™s watery dream worldâ€¦</span></span></div></span><br/><br/>Kai woke up instantly screaming and gasping for air as if he had just swam from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the water. As he finally calmed himself, Kai realized that this dream was no mere coincidence; he had to go with his Grandfather to find out what this feeling and dream are all about.<br/><br/>*****<br/>â€œUncle! Iâ€™m so glad you could make it! Here let me get your bags.â€ The joyful sound of Cousin Yumiâ€™s voice rang out louder than any other at the crowded airport. Kai could hear it from the bridge of the plane. He emerged reluctantly holding both his and his Grandfathersâ€™ travel bags. â€œNo need cousin, thatâ€™s what he brought me forâ€¦â€ Kai spoke sarcastically. His grandfather merely gave him disgruntled smile. Yumi on the other hand had a more surprised look. â€œUncleâ€¦you didnâ€™t mention Kai was comingâ€¦Iâ€™m not sure I have enough room at the house toâ€¦â€ Kaiâ€™s Grandfather waved a dismissing hand that stopped Yumiâ€™s hidden protest to Kaiâ€™s presence. Kai simply walked past them both saying, â€œDonâ€™t worry, Iâ€™m not here for youâ€¦Iâ€™m staying somewhere else.â€ Kaiâ€™s coldness with Yumi was always harsh, but even he felt the sting of his words this time. Perhaps the nightmare still bothered him. No, there was no â€œperhapsâ€ about it. It definitely still bothered him and probably even more so now that he was actually in the States. He wondered how much worse it would feel when he actually makes it to the campâ€¦<br/><br/>*****<br/>He may not have left on a good note with Cousin Yumi for being so coarse with her, and even Grandfather was likely to be disappointed in him but Kai had to let it go. They were still kind enough to drop him off at the po-dunk little motel a couple miles from the campsite, so that said something about their mood. Kai spent his time across the street at the small shopping center. Surprisingly it carried a myriad of different stores for such a rural area; a small grocery store, a fairly large hardware store, an automobile shop, a couple â€œMa & Popâ€ restaurants, and a sporting goods store which made sense to have given it was such a well forested area. After putzing around the sporting goods store, Kai ended up leaving with a<a class="postlink" href="http://mtobikes.com/wp-content/classic-camelbak.jpg">Camelbak</a>water pack and a couple thin extended drinking tubes; figuring he had a decent walk to the campsite and not to mention wanting to look around and possibly trudge through the woods once he got there, he would need all the water he could carry without the burden of a bottle. Kai may have been well versed in the streets but he wasnâ€™t dumb when it came to the outdoors either. After changing out the short tubes for the longer ones that could extend from the pack through the sleeves of his jacket (for convenience), Kai began he trek to the campsite.<br/><br/>It didnâ€™t take long to reach the camp and it was still early enough in the day that Kai could go poking around the woods for a bit. He stopped at the entrance to take in the welcoming sign, hoping for any familiarity; he found none, just the cheesy curved wooden welcoming sign with big yellow letters, â€œWellâ€™s Summer Campâ€.  It didnâ€™t ring any bells in Kaiâ€™s head so he pressed on. The main path was a long dirt driveway that went up hill surrounded by thick foliage. It took Kai a good ten minutes before he reached the peak of the hill and saw that it dipped back down on the other veering off to the left a bit before curving back to the right near the bottom of the hill, next to what he remembered was the main building; a large two story log cabin that was the length of two motor homes. From the top of the hill, Kai took in the beautiful sight; the tree line thinned in front of him allowing him to see the main log cabin closest to him, another fairly large log cabin to its left and a slightly smaller one all the way to the right. All three buildings formed an almost equilateral triangle formation around a very sandy-arena type parking area. In its center was an extremely large bonfire pit littered with tree stump stools for participants to sit on. By far the most breathtaking site was that at the opposite edge of the camp was a crystal clear lake that shined with an unforgettable brightness in the early afternoon sunlight. The far bank of the lake was thick with evergreens and the sunlight played across each and every one of them. Small docks also littered every quarter to a half mile of the lakeâ€™s shore  Delaying the inevitable no more, Kai made his way down the rest of the drive into the open camp area and stood in awe of the giant stack of bonfire wood.