Yung Lee

Li Santo, a highly disciplined but rage-driven teenage martial artist becomes a hero.

Yung Lee created by: Gio Aranda
Written by: Gio Aranda
Edited by: Gio Aranda

Yung Lee

         It was May fourth, 2023 when Li Santo decided to change his fate.
         "Today, I turn 14 years old, I will become a superhero." He thought to himself.
         Little Li Santo was determined and hopeful. This day is a special day in the universe, not only because it is the birth of Yung Lee, but because later today also marks the birth of real superheroes. "The Dawn of Superhero", as it will later be referred to in history books.
         Li had been training in Martial Arts since he was four years old. He's lived in California his whole life. San Diego, California. Li trains at the San Diego Martial Arts Club, led by Coach David. Li has never known his mother or father, he lives with his grandma Martha. Martha Smith. Li's mother was named Sochi Smith before she married his father, Feng Santo, and became Sochi Santo. Li's mother was fully American, white. Li's father was a brown colored half-Mexican half-Japanese. That's all he knows about his parents. Li himself is part Japanese, Mexican, and American. He has Asian eyes and brown Mexican skin. Li is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at just 14 years old. His other practices are Kyokushin Karate, Boxing, and Wrestling. His Martial Arts Club is not some "McDojo", it is the real deal. Li is the real deal.
         Li is a smart kid. He has straight A+'s in school. He reads a lot. He reads a lot of books and even more comic books. His favorite comic book character is Nightwing. Li looks up to Nightwing greatly. He aspires to be like him. Li also likes Batman. He's always been into darker heroes like Wolverine, Hulk, or Batman. Another hero he really likes is Spiderman. He can't choose if The Spectacular Spiderman or The Amazing Spiderman is his favorite rendition of the character. However, out of all inspirations, Li's main idol is Bruce Lee. He loves Bruce Lee. Li has always wanted to be a hero, and even though he knew he should've waited till maybe he turned 16, when his bones grew denser and his twig arms grew bigger, he knew there was no way he could wait. Not another second. Li was 5'8, 131 pounds at the time in May 2023. He didn't care, he was a great fighter. However, Li never competed in matches or tournaments, or any form of competition besides sparring. He didn't care about that, any of that. That's not what Martial Arts was to him.
         Li worked on his suit that night. He sewed it out of grey spandex. A mask, full face with one long opening for both eyes and a separate opening for his mouth. A long sleeve top, and two gloves that go up to the elbows. Finally, the leggings, they had one zipper pocket. His suit is all grey. He wears white handwraps under his gloves. He wears gray socks and black Converse All-Stars. Chuck 70s specifically. Li had one accessory; a burner flip phone. He put it in his zipper pocket. He put on the entire ensemble and looked in the mirror. He felt like a hero.


         Li wore his suit under grey sweats and put his mask in his pocket. He grabbed his backpack and asked his grandmother if he could head to the "coffee shop" to do "homework". He grabbed his skateboard and skated to a bus stop. He took a bus downtown. Li went into a secret alley and took off his sweats, storing them in his backpack. After some time, Li was walking around when he peeked into an alleyway, only to see eight gangsters harassing one teenager. The gangsters also looked like teenagers. 14-15 years of age perhaps. Li's mood changed from happy to rageful. That was Li's main problem. His rage. His temper was as short as he was and his rage would become uncontained. He could feel a fire of the devil brew in him every time he would get angry. Li quickly intervened. After a 20 second fight, all eight men were unconscious or fleeing in fear. Most of them were armed with knives, but this was child's play for Li. The victim Li saved was frozen in place and incredibly scared.
         "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you." Li said with his hands up, walking slowly towards him.
         "Who are you?" the victim asked.
         "Well, I don't have a name yet."
         "A name?"
         "Yeah, my superhero name."
         "Uhh- okay."
         "How old are you?"
         "Um- 14, how old are you?"
         "Doesn't matter, how old are these guys?"
         "Uhh they're around my age, maybe some are older."
         "What are they doing bothering a 14 year-old like you?"
         "I-well-I-uhh-I posted some videos exposing them online. They all think they're real tough, a part of a "gang" or something, but they live in suburban households, so basically, I posted a video just talking about that. They were here to get me back for it, I'm guessing. You came right on time."
         "Alright, well, leave now. They're starting to wake up."
         "Wait, what's your name? Who are you? I mean-you just show up out of nowhere, save my life and take down those guys with some Bruce Lee moves, who do I thank?"
         "Don't have a name yet. I really like Bruce Lee by the way... Leave. Now."
         "Right, yeah, sorry. I'm Connor by the way."
         Li walked away as mysteriously as he showed up. He made his way to the top of a parking garage and crouched down, watching over his beautiful city. Afterwards, he made his way to the alley where he left his things to put on his regular clothes and grab his skateboard. He skated to the beach and sat as he watched the beautiful sunset. Then he went to the bus stop just in time for a ride.


         When he got back into town, he skated home. He was in love with the feeling of making a change. Helping someone. Saving someone. All in one afternoon. He loved it. He was proud of himself.


         That night Li was online when he suddenly became amazed at what he found going globally viral. He saw a man in spandex. He was baby blue. The article read "The Dawn of Superhero; Roadrunner Saves Civilians!". It was an article about the first ever real superhero, discovered just today. A speed incarnate. Then he found more. Four heroes in total were discovered today. The Roadrunner (wielding super-speed), The Fighter, The Outstanding One (wielding many powers, some include flight and super strength), and the Pen. Two had superpowers. Li was amazed, more than anyone could be. All this happened on the day he decided to become a hero, on his birthday, it could not have been a coincidence. Deep down, he knew it all meant something. Deep down, he knew, he was born for this.


         The next day, a video went locally viral. TikTok and Instagram mostly. The guy in the video was Connor, the 14 year old boy Li had saved from those "gangsters". In the video, Connor says, "This kid moved like Bruce Lee, and I call him kid because beneath the mask, I could tell there was no way he could have been any older than me. He is the real deal. Who is this young Bruce Lee? This 'Young Lee'?" Connor drew a sketch of how Li looked. The caption on the video was titled "Yung Lee saved my life!"
         "Idiot spelled young wrong." Li thought.
         Li was excited and his heart beat fast. Word was going around. That afternoon, Li went downtown with his grandma for dinner. Spending time with grandma was always good. They walked into the restaurant and Li asked to go to the Walgreens next door to quickly buy two Arizona teas for them instead of ordering drinks there. His grandma said yes. He went in and bought the tea. On his way out he saw an old man reading a newspaper before he threw it in the trash can. Li was curious, he grabbed the paper from the trash. He pulled out a San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper that read "Real Deal. Who is the Yung Lee?" with the sketch Connor drew presented large on the paper. Li was shocked. He was officially viral. He dropped the drinks on the ground by accident.
         Li had to buy new drinks because his had exploded when they hit the floor. When he got them, he walked back to the restaurant and gave grandma the drinks while showing her the newspaper.
         "It's crazy, right?" He said to grandma.
         "Li, you silly boy, you can't believe everything you read." She told him.
         As he showed her, a worker called out their order.
         "I put extra pepperoni and parmesan, and here's a family sized Pepsi, all free of charge." said the worker.
         "Oh thank you so much, you're so kind but we've already got drinks." Grandma said.
         "No no, I insist," he replied.
         Grandma looked at his name tag quickly to learn his name.
         "Oh, you're so kind, Frankie."
         Frankie the pizza guy smiled.
         "Enjoy the pizza, big guy." He said, patting Li's shoulder before walking off back to work.
         "That guy's pretty cool." Li said to grandma.
         They went home and ate pizza. It was the best pizza Li had in his entire life.


         After eating, he went to his room and did some work on his suit. He put a symbol on the lower right side of his left pec. The symbol was white. He liked it.

         That night Li searched online about Yung Lee in San Diego. There was a good deal to say about him. All of it gave him an idea. He immediately grabbed an old brown leather back notebook, a black ink pen, and began to write.


"Yung Lee's journal. Saturday, May sixth, 2023, 9:34 p.m...."

Three Days Later

Yung Lee's journal, Tuesday May ninth, 2023, 7:09 a.m.. Five days ago, the world's first real life superheroes were discovered. The public is calling the first one "Roadrunner", a man with super-speed. Then there's "The Fighter", a regular human, but a perfect fighter, perhaps the best in the world. Next, there's "The Outstanding One", a man with multiple superpowers all yet to be known. Lastly, there's the "Pen", also a regular human, untrained fighter, however, still talented. He wields pens that he uses as projectiles, like throwing knives. His aim is impeccable. He is a murderer, however, he doesn't murder with anger, vengeance, or hatred, which is somewhat respectable. There is another, discovered three days, but he is not a hero in the slightest, not redeemable like the Pen. He is a rageful killer. According to chatter online, he also lives where I live; San Diego. The public has named him "The Tiger", he is only locally known in San Diego. Two days ago after school, I asked my kind grandmother if I could go to the "park", she of course said yes. I rode my skateboard to the alleyway between an abandoned high school and a strip mall. Before I entered, I went into an off-grid pocket and changed into my suit. I decided to go inside the abandoned building and kick out any squatters, homeless, or drug addicts. Now I knew this was the only place for some people to stay, but just last week, someone had purchased this property, therefore, it was illegal for them to be here. Not to mention people have been murdered here. Almost every person here was a drug addict. Very few were normal people, just trying to survive. That number decreased every day. People died here. Who knew how many bodies could be huddled up. I had to admit, I was a tad timid walking into this place. I went in there and ordered everybody to leave the building. Some protested and tried to fight or kill me with weapons. They were all weak and nothing to me. Out of nowhere a tanned man with long blonde hair dressed in a white, expensive suit, came out of the darkness and said:
         "Boy, you are good," Chuckling as he said it, "but you interfered with my business."
         I then said, "Who are you anyway?"
         "Why? It's my property, isn't it?"
         "You're insane, you purchased this? You sick bastard, so what now? You're just gonna use this as a hub for murder and drugs?"
         "It's what I do, plus, these guys are lowlifes."
         My voice became quieter, "I'm taking you down."
         He chuckled and responded, "Okay."
         I ordered him to talk. Surprisingly, he did. He told me what he had been planning, who he was, and why he was doing this. In a brief summary, his name is Jack Cuban, 23 years old, he came from a very poor and abusive family, he earned his first profits by selling drugs. He made his millions through drug trafficking. His plan was to conquer this city. He wanted to get so rich that he'd essentially become the "boss" of San Diego.
         "Jimmy Kash won't have this city. I will." He said.
         "Who?" I asked him.
         "Not much of a detective, are you, Yung Lee... Yeah I know who you are. I have social media. Anyone who's anyone in this city knows who Yung Lee is."
         I left, and he didn't stop me. I waited, waited until it was 12:00 AM. My grandmother had fallen asleep. I decided to go back to the building. Jack's place. I went in and searched for him. After some time, I found him in a secret bunker. It was nothing like the abandoned part of the building. It was very nice, new. He was seated at a desk. I looked at him, blank, then immediately charged. It wasn't long until I realized my grave mistake. Jack was a trained killer. Easily the most skillful fighter I have ever faced. It was a grueling fight. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
         "Good morning," he said.
         I tried to attack him only to realize I couldn't because I was in too much pain, tied to the front of his desk, and worse, my mask was off.
         "My associates always say I'm too soft. Maybe they're right, because I'm going to untie you, and let you leave. I will never see your face again. Yung Lee is finished. Throw it away... Or I'll murder your family, and torture you. Once that's no fun, I'll gut you and sell your parts."
         I could tell he wasn't bluffing.
         "Who does he think he is? He will rot in prison. I will put him away and I will do it now!" I thought to myself.
         He untied me. I immediately fought him.
         Yet another long and brutal fight took place. It ended with me being the victor. It was by far the most physically challenging task I had ever done. I broke his leg. He screamed for a moment, then asked me to grab him a small bag from his desk drawer. I did, but made sure to check the bag before I gave it to him. He pulled out a syringe, alcohol, and a cotton ball. He injected himself and his pain immediately faded. It was a heavy pain killer. Narcotics. I pulled my burner phone from my zipper pocket and dialed 911. As the police were on their way, he was sitting there, on the floor, and I asked him a question:
         "Where'd you learn all that?"
         "The fightin'?"
         "Yeah."
         "You ever heard of The Great Feng?"
         "What is that? Some kinda Chinese fight club?"
         I've only heard of two Fengs now. My father who I've never met, and whatever the hell Jack was talking about.
         He paused for a moment.
         "The Great Feng... Is Martial Arts." It was all he said.
         I nodded my head, not exactly understanding what he was saying. We looked at each other with a sense of respect. I quickly grabbed my mask, put it on, and ran off. I grabbed my skateboard from its hiding spot and skated home. Once home, I tended to all my cuts, bruises, and bone fractures. I woke up earlier this morning and opened Instagram to scroll when I saw a reporter standing in front of a familiar building.
         "Police have detained the new owner of this building, a once known 'Green Birds High,' Jack Cuban, for questioning as he is being charged with suspected murder and drug trafficking..."
         I smiled subtly.
         Yung Lee's journal. Saturday, July 29th, 2023. 4:53 p.m.. Jack Cuban was investigated. After many investigations and court hearings, he was found guilty for murder and illegal drug trafficking. He is going to prison.






Yung Lee will return.