Alas mother nature is a fickle bitch, whose temper is only exceeded by her wrath. With only one minute on the clock until I was supposed to bail the missiles suddenly entered a massive thunderstorm while my playlist continued onto the next song, the familiar twang of a electric guitar playing as the "Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane" began to echo in my ears.

With black clouds blocking my sight and lightning raging all around me I felt my blood run cold as I instinctively sensed immense danger. Unfortunately the lightning was much faster than I was and a massive bolt struck me head on rapidly depleting most of my Ki while bouncing across both missiles. this first bolt was followed by a strange second even stronger green bolt which finally pierced thru my Ki Guard.

As the minuscule bolt of pure green energy entered my body I felt my vision grow dark as I barely remained conscious. Unfortunately my time was up for the course change timer I had set activated and the missiles began to rapidly ascend once again.

A few seconds later the missiles erupted from the dark storm clouds as they headed full-speed ahead for the outer atmosphere. Despite the massive drag factor of wind and gravity, traveling at mach 10 which is faster than the speed of sound in less than a minute both missiles entered the stratosphere while the temperature began to rapidly plummet, a thin layer of ice already forming on the noses of both missiles.

Barely conscious, after being struck by a powerful bolt of strange green lightning it was a miracle I was still alive let alone conscious, yet my situation continued to look grimmer with each passing second as I travelled farther and farther away from the planet's surface while the meager amount of Ki I had remaining which incidentally was the only thing protecting me from a variety of deadly factors was also rapidly being depleted.

A minute later the missiles exited the mesosphere and entered the thermosphere officially reaching outer space and it suddenly grew eerily silent yet I could still feel their engines continue to roar as they rocketed towards the exosphere and then the depths of space.

As I gazed down upon the entire planet, my earpiece suddenly glowed to life as the last song I would ever hear in this life, "Europe - The Final Countdown" began to play and as I listened to the lyrics which oddly resounded with my present situation I had to admit that as far as last things to see go it was by far the most beautiful thing probably anyone had ever seen ever, for what filled my eyes was a heavenly vision of the entire cosmos with the moon on my left, the sun on my right and earth like a glistening jewel in the heart of this breathtaking sight.

It was at this moment that I realized I wasn't going to make it back home, not that I had resigned myself to my fate for I would never lose hope nor stop striving my utmost to survive but I had done the calculations and in less than nine minute when my Ki depleted I would either suffocate, explode or turn into a popsicle however any of these would kill me almost instantly with my current injured state although I figured all 3 would happen simultaneously to me.

Worst was that I had no strength left in my body so removing my arms which I had pierced quit deeply in to the missiles metallic shell during the thunderstorm was impossible meaning even if I had more Ki I would still die from the nuclear explosion.

Still my mind raced with thoughts as i desperately tried to find any chance to survive. Yet once again fortunate seemed to favor me poorly for tragedy befell me once again in the form of a small field of space debris which traveling at the speed of 17,500 mph was literarily a "field of death" to me.

As I mustered what little will remained within me to survive I braced myself for what I figured was the end. when the space debris finally collided with the missiles it was like being in the middle of an intergalactic warzone with various sized pieces of death hurtling by from every single direction simultaneously, sparks shooting up from every place the missiles were struck by debris.

Yet as soon as it started it suddenly ended and I had somehow survived what should have been my end. However it seemed I had spent the last of my luck surviving the debris field for unbeknownst to me a piece of shrapnel had damaged the missiles detonator causing the countdown to accelerate exponentially.

The last thing I remember was laughing as I gazed down at the world which had been my home while the faces of everyone I had ever loved or known flashed thru my mind culminating on a vision of my parents, my grandfather, Grandmaster Long and all of my lovely ladies carrying my unknown unborn children waiting for me back home, then a flash of blinding light and heat covered me then.....nothing, the missiles had detonated and I had died instantly.

Yet he now recalled that at the moment he had died he had felt some sort of residual lightning leftover from the huge strange green bolt that had pierced his body stir within him as though it was struggling to escape. However as he quickly went through his memories again he suddenly realized there was one very important thing missing from his memories.

"Wait.....what's my name, I can't remember my name?"

Despite the eerily strangeness of being unable to recall what his name had been it seemed that it was the only thing he could find missing from his memory as he went thru them for a final third time.

"Well it looks like I lived a pretty good life, made no major enemies and even managed to leave behind a considerable genetic legacy so my lineage will continue and my parents will be happy, still I must admit I was really looking forward to raising all 15 of them."

"So as someone that lived then died I believe all in all I did rather good, living quite the fulfilling life before I died. But as far as regrets go I figure the only true regret I have is that I will never managed to fulfill my hearts deepest desire which is to discovery what is the true pinnacle of Martial Arts and how far I could have climbed thru effort and diligence."

Having come to terms with his former life he now began to examine his unusual present state as a bodiless consciousness floating amidst a sea of twinkling stars. But now that he was apparently dead he wondered where he was for this peaceful dark place certainly didn't look like heaven nor did it bear any resemblance to hell.

As an active catholic he remembered hearing Father Sebastiano's sermons every Sunday morning about the fate of those who died and the boundless mercy God gave to those who truly repented from the heart.

Which now caused him to wonder about last rites since he was pretty sure his entire body had been disintegrated instantly by the explosion.

Unsure of where he was or what had happened to him he decided it was best that he just focused on dealing with his present condition and dealt with these questions later.