Somewhere underground in Shadowloo's headquarters, Thailand

Seong-Han knew better than to wonder. For years he had served under Bison, and for years he had never questioned anything that happened. Seong-Han knew that this was what kept him alive. But he couldn't help but wonder, just a bit.

Bison was dead now, of course. Six months ago, several fighters penetrated Shadowloo's Street Fighter Tournament, and made it all the way to the top. It was said that they were not a team, did not work together, but they took down all of the top players in Shadowloo. Bison was dead. Sagat defeated once more, and fled to who knew where. Vega scarred and forced into seclusion in Spain. Balrog with a permanent limp, was a washed-up drunk in Las Vegas, just like he was before. There would be no returning to the glory days of Shadowloo.

In fact, it was only the old Shadowloo people that still referred to it as such at all. The newcomer, Max, had moved into Bison's spot easily enough, but the organization that grew up under him was completely different. Nobody knew his real name, but Max was short and anonymous. Once Seong-Han had met him. It was a dark and shadowy room, and his features were indistinct but Seong-Han would never, as long as he lived, forget that glowing stare.

Seong-Han was sure that Max was a "special", like Bison, Sagat, and the warriors who defeated them. Specials were human enough, but they somehow tapped into powers that humans did not have normally. Often specials became different in appearance, and Max's red eyes were surely the mark of a special. Like Bison, Max seemed to want to gather a force of specials around him. An army of specials could challenge the world. Seong-Han definitely understood Max's motive.

But what made him wonder were the people gathered before him. A shirt-less blond American found living as a vagabond in a train yard. A Japanese man, hairless and recently scavenged from some shrine where he had been hiding from the world for years. An Englishman dressed like a butler, of all things, with two metal bars that he juggled casually, one in each hand. Another Englishman, large and colorful, dressed like a punk. Seong-Han had never seen such a pathetic group of losers. What could Max want with them anyway?

Not that they were to be received in style. The place looked dismal and dreary, more like a cave than anything else. Seong-Han had been sent to watch them with a gun; keeping as much in the background as possible, but nevertheless visible to the "guests." They knew exactly where they stood when the were to meet with Max.

There was a bat that flittered about the ceiling, although everyone managed studiously to ignore it. None of the four talked to one another. None of the four moved more than was necessary. None of the four had any emotion whatsoever on their faces. What was going on anyway?

The weak lighting seemed to dim even more, so that Seong-Han had to squint to see anything at all. Suddenly Max was there, just out of sight in the darkness. His red eyes glowed like coals, and he seemed to be wrapped in a dark cloak that shrouded all of his features. Seong-Han shivered. Max spoke to the assembled motley band of vagabonds in a voice that was slow, deep and sleepy feeling. No, not sleepy. The sleep in the voice was the sleep of death, and there was a feeling of power behind his voice. The voice rang out in solemn tones, catching the listeners with its hypnotic power. He spoke with an accent that was strange to Seong-Han, but the voice commanded attention anyway.

"You have all tasted defeat before," said Max. "You have all bowed to the power of those who destroyed the Shadowloo. You have been brought here so that you may have revenge, and so that my ends will be served as well. I do not seek to rebuild Shadowloo, but my own Empire will I forge, and if you serve me well, I will make places of honor in it for you."

One of the gathered bums spoke, for the first time. "What do you mean? I was a flunky for Bison once, but I won't be a flunky again!" This was the English punk. There was a hiss of intaken breath at his words, a long drawn out hiss that sounded like rage, and hate incarnate. The darkness seemed to grow closer, and the Englishman quailed. When Max spoke again, his voice was colder, and more menacing than even before.

"You who are called Birdie, once served Bison in Shadowloo. You thought to make yourself one of the great ones, like Vega or Balrog. But long before Bison's downfall, you had your own, and you have been barely living in the London slums for three years now. Do you think you will ever rise on your own? Do you think you have a chance to reach greatness without me? You do not. I also brought you here, because I know you have no other alternatives."

The American spoke quietly. "I have given up on revenge. Ryu defeated me long ago, in Sagat's first tournament. What if I have no interest in your offer?" There was a pause before Max spoke again. "You will serve me now or die."

All in the crowd gaped and voiced protestations. The other Englishman leaped forward brandishing his bars, as if to attack Max himself. Seong-Han leveled his gun, but didn't know where to point it. All four of them looked very threatening.

Suddenly, Max seemed to have moved. It was hard to see what happened in the dark, but Max seemed to have lunged forward and upward with his fist, spinning madly like a top. He caught the clean-cut Englishman in the chest and knocking him backwards. The man fell heavily, screaming and clutching at his chest. The other three losers stopped their advance, shifting their feet nervously. Max was once again shrouded in shadow. When he spoke, his voice was the coldest, the softest and the deadest sound that Seong-Han had ever heard.

"You will serve me yet, street fighters. Or you will die. If you choose to die, others will take your place. But to you I now make this offer, so think well on what I have said." When Seong-Han looked again, Max was no longer there. All was silent in the darkness. No one said a word. The only sound was the labored breathing of the frightened, the gasps of the Englishman on the floor, and the chirping of the bat, still flittering above their heads.

Temple of Shotokan, Himalaya Mountains

Ryu had never been here before. It was amazing, actually, that he had not made the pilgrimage before now. But now that he had won tournament after tournament, it was obvious that this was the next step. He pulled his coat closer around him absently, but he did not really feel the cold. He had long ago mastered the art of making nature obey him, rather than having his body obey the whims of nature. Ahead of him could be seen the temple, graceful and colorful, even through the snow flurries that partially obscured it. Here he would find what he had been seeking for a long, long time.

He pulled on the long cord that hung outside the ornamental gate and heard the distant clang of flat bells, the sound falling quietly to muffle in the snow. After waiting for at least ten minutes, a robed and hooded figure came to the gate and opened it just a crack. The figure said not a word, but Ryu knew what was expected. "I am a follower of the Shotokan way. I have traveled far seeking an audience with the Master of this temple. I humbly beg his leave to receive me." Ryu chanted the ritual words. The robed figure nodded and motioned for Ryu to enter. The gate closed quietly behind him, and Ryu followed the figure into the confines of the temple. Here was the great courtyard, matching almost exactly the courtyard of the temple in Japan where Ryu had learned from Master Gouken. Not an exact match, though, in Japan, the courtyard was usually green and vibrant; here all was grey and cold. There was no sign of life other than Ryu and his silent guide. The guide stopped before a familiar structure. Here, made of wood, was the Shouryuken practice piece. It was high, about nine feet off of the ground. There were stacks of wood that were used as practice targets for the students who sought to master the Dragon Punch technique. Ryu had broken many such boards in his days as a student of Gouken. The board here was different. In Gouken's temple, the boards had been plain; after all they were only there to be broken. But here, the board was carved with a lifelike face, looking like an old man, with his eyes closed as if asleep. The guide spoke finally, in an old, thin voice. "Here you will prove your knowledge of Shotokan. If you fail, you will be cast out." Ryu was unconcerned. He had done the Shouryuken many times, and had not failed in years. Quickly gathering the energy of the natural world around him, the storm, the cold earth, the grey clouds, Ryu shouted the word that would release the energy and leaped into a perfect Dragon Punch, striking the board square in the carved face. To Ryu's surprise, it did not break, but the face stirred. Ryu landed, and quickly spun to watch. The wooden face opened its eyes, but there was nothing there that Ryu could see, save the grain of the carved wood. The carved mouth opened, and spoke, although Ryu could not hear anything. The robed figure listened intensely, however, and then nodded. The face slowed again, and returned to the quiet sleeping form that it was before.

"You have passed the test, wanderer. I will show you to our Master of the temple." The robed figure walked on again, entering a small wooden door and taking Ryu inside the temple building. It was dim inside, and warm. Ryu didn't feel the warmth much more than he felt the cold outside, but he took off his coat anyway. The interior was wood as well, but ornately carved and painted. Ryu followed his guide further inside, until they came to the center of the temple. This part of the temple matched his memory of Gouken's study, where he went to meditate, and commune with the forces of nature. Inside, Ryu would find the answers he sought.

The guide struck a tiny gong, and momentarily an ancient, withered voice from inside called for him to come. The guide had vanished silently when Ryu wasn't looking, and he found himself alone. Taking a deep breath, he walked inside. There he found what seemed to be the oldest man he had ever seen. His yellowed skin was tight against his skull, and wrinkled like a raisin. His thin straggly beard was snowy, and his head was almost completely bare of hair. He wore humble clothing, a dark gi, similar to Ryu's own white one, but with sleeves intact. The old man was unshod. Ryu knew who this man was, as he had hoped it would be. This was the most mysterious man in the world, known to hardly anyone, but known of by many. Nobody knew much about him, or what he had done, but Ryu knew who he really was. One of the teachers of Master Gouken, who in turn had been Ryu's teacher. Sheng Long himself.

"Why have you come to me, my son?" spoke the old man. His voice was strong now, and his eyes were bright. He peered intensely to Ryu, as if to dig the answer from him before he could even answer. "Master Sheng Long, I am student of Shotokan. Master Gouken was my teacher, as you and Goutetsu were his. I have fought long, and hard, proving myself against the mightiest warriors I could find. I have fought and defeated Master Sagat, the old enemy of my teacher. I have fought and defeated Bison, the leader of Shadowloo, though I had help in defeating him. I am acknowledged the world's finest warrior by those of my generation. But, I know that Master Gouken had not finished my training. I know that I am not the perfect warrior, that my skills are still lacking. Something is missing. I have not found the inner peace of Shotokan. I wander the world searching for the inner peace that comes with victory, but it eludes me yet. I have come begging you to finish my training, and make me complete, Master Sheng Long."

Sheng Long looked at Ryu for a long time before answering. The younger master was about to speak again, to plead his case some more, when finally the old man broke the silence. "Yes, you are lacking, young Ryu. Oh, I know your name, do not look so at me. Stories of your exploits have reached even me, in this secluded temple. But it is not the skills that you lack, Ryu. You have them all. What you lack is an understanding of the heart of Shotokan, of what makes a true warrior. I will instruct you, if I can.

Someone of your fame and skill should not have this emptiness inside that you have. But you will not find that part of you that is missing in battle. Battle is only part of the Way of Shotokan, and only part of the character of a true warrior.

"But before I will speak to you another word, you must tell me of Gouken. It has been many years since I have heard from my favorite, and brightest pupil. He came to me after learning from Goutetsu, and we became fast friends. Surely he has his own temple now, if he was teaching you. Does he prosper? Sit and tell me of him."

Ryu sat, and breathed long before beginning. "Master Sheng Long, I have sad tidings for you. Master Gouken is dead, killed six years ago."

Sheng Long looked hard at Ryu and then sighed. "Such is the way of the earth. Tell me then, how did he die?"

"He was betrayed, Master Sheng Long, by his own brother. He came to him one night and asked to stay with him for a time. Gouken took him in, talked with him, gave him a life and a place to live, but Akuma turned on him, and used the forbidden knowledge to slay him. I have vowed to slay Akuma myself to avenge Master Gouken, but always when I find him, he escapes me. I will..."

Sheng Long interrupted him. "It seems, Ryu, that this Akuma also did not find the true meaning of Shotokan. Beware, Ryu, for I sense that in you is the same flaw that consumed Akuma. Shotokan and the Way of the Warrior does not mean finding the mightiest warriors and pitting yourself against them. Battle can be a trap for the unready, tempting them to use the power of life in ways it was not meant to be used. Such is the forbidden knowledge. You, however, do not seek the forbidden knowledge. That is good. But your focus is wrong. Shotokan is about finding peace with yourself and with your surroundings. Inside that peace, nothing can move you, not even death. But the peace makes you strong. As long as you have that peace, you are a true warrior. You have not found that peace. Stay with me, Ryu, and I will attempt to teach you. It is ill that you have used the Shotokan techniques for so long without first learning that inner peace, and you will have to unlearn much before I can truly teach you. But you have the heart of a true warrior, and we will succeed together, you and I."

The Hwang Xi Hotel, in Hong Kong

Ping Dao crept quietly into the room. It was foolish of the Westerner to leave her window unlocked like that. It was dark inside, but there was a light on in the bathroom, though and the sound of a shower running. Good, thought Ping Dao. The shower victim is such a cliche, but it does give me an advantage. Ping Dao smiled slightly as he drew his knife. What an easy assignment, he thought. This will be just like Norman Bates in Psycho. He silently padded through the motel room to the bathroom door.

This is the hard part, he thought. I have to get inside and close the door quickly, or she will feel a draft. But I also must do it silently, or that will give me away just as surely. But Ping Dao was an expert at sneaking in and killing people. He had first done it when he was twelve, killing a boy who used to fight with him at school. He reveled in the thrill of murder, especially when it was a woman he could kill. Then he would have her fresh body to enjoy. If Ping Dao ever thought his tastes were disturbed, it didn't bother him. It didn't bother his employers from Shadowloo, either. He was no member of that group, but they often employed his services in contract bargains. Now that Shadowloo was gone, there was even more opportunity for work. Organized crime networks had moved in like vultures, hoping to grab a portion of Shadowloo's carcass. The situation in the underground had been like warfare until Max managed to seize most of the power that Shadowloo had had. Still, there were rivals though. This woman must be one of Max's agents. Why else would Sagat's group have hired him to kill her?

Ping Dao slipped inside as silently as ever, and shut the door without a sound. Perfect. There was no way she could have heard him enter. The bathroom was darker than he expected, having only a small gas lantern to give light. It was extremely steamy as well, and Ping Dao could barely make out the porcelain toilet on the far side of the bathroom. He grinned to himself again, contemplating what he was about to do. He barely suppressed a giggle.

Hurriedly he jerked open the shower curtain, lunging in with his knife. Water hit him in the face, but there was no one in the shower. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of movement from behind the toilet. Before he could react, though, he felt strong legs wrap around his body, and the world seemed to spin. He tried to twist free, but his head exploded in agony. He realized he had been thrown, crashing through the door and hitting his head heavily on the floor. His vision was blurry, but he tried desperately to find his foe and defend himself. He thought he saw a blaze of light when suddenly his "victim" came plowing into him feet first, knocking him backwards. A small table crumpled beneath him with the dull sound of cracking wood. He raised his head and finally was able to get a glimpse of the woman he was supposed to have killed. She was stark naked and dripping wet. Somehow she must have known he had entered the room, and she had hid behind the toilet, counting on the steam and general dimness to keep her hidden. Then she had brutally ambushed him when he made his attack.

She was tall, like a westerner, with long blond hair that has pushed back behind her, to keep it out of the way. Her face was round and almost cherubic. She would have been extraordinarily beautiful except for a pair of white scars on her cheeks and jaw. She also had a newer scar on her side, a red, triple line that went from her breast nearly to her back. Ping Dao didn't have long to admire his view of the woman, before she began pummeling him with her fists. Ping Dao seemed to feel detached from the pain, and soon he realized he was losing consciousness.

~*~

Cammy was dressed now. Sort of. She had a robe on , and was towel drying her hair. The strange assailant who had tried to murder her twenty minutes ago was stirring, and would soon be awake for questioning. She was more concerned with life than modesty, but it irked her that the man had seen her naked as the day she was born. She would not be gentle with him. She absently scratched at the scar on her side. Vega had given her that scar, nearly carving her open like a turkey at Christmas. It irked her even more that she had nearly died, unable to defeat him. That honor had gone to that bloody cheap whore Chun Li. How Cammy hated her! It was bad enough that she had hinted that the only reason Cammy was doing so well in the tournament was that everyone was afraid of what Bison would do to his former lover if she were harmed. And then the little chit had gone and defeated the man who nearly had made Cammy shish kabob with that blasted little claw of his. Cammy grimaced to herself. If she kept up this line of thought, the would-be murderer would probably be beaten senseless again before she could even get a word out of him. But how could she and Bison ever have had the past that she had heard about? She still did not believe it, and even if it was true, she had very definately rejected it. MI-6, the foreign division of British Intelligence, had taken her in, and she had proved her worth to them many times. Now she was searching for confirmation that Shadowloo had regrown with a different head. Surely if it had, it would still be in Thailand, not in Hong Kong, but she had her contacts to meet. MI-6 was still a bureaucracy, and things had to be done the right way.

She reached over and roughly grabbed the man's chin. His eyes shot open, and he stared into her own cold, blue eyes. He gasped and almost giggled, looking around wildly. He was tied securely to the coat rack, hanging at eye level. Cammy almost smiled. Whatever had made her put him up there? She guessed she just wanted to make him as uncomfortable as possible. "So, little man," she said in flawless Mandarin, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit tonight?"

The little man was breathing heavily, and Cammy could smell the acrid scent of urine. Good grief, doesn't this man have any self-control? she mused disgustedly. He began babbling and giggling, mixing standard Mandarin with an interior dialect. Cammy could barely make out what he was talking about. "You're supposed to be dead...so lovely...your naked body covered with blood...it's been so long for me...Sagat will not be pleased...I love blond hair, slick with blood..." Cammy spoke to herself in English, cutting him off.

"He's a bloody looney! What a waste. I expect no more answers will be forthcoming." She gripped his head with both hands and wrenched suddenly. There was a sick cracking noise, and the man's eyes glazed, his head flopping at an unnatural angle. The room seemed suddenly silent without the sound of his loud, panicked breathing. Cammy did not look back at the body hanging from her coat rack. She continued talking to herself. "So Sagat is involved somehow. Or perhaps this is a former employee of Sagat's, looking for a little private revenge." She clenched her fists in frustration. "Bloody hell! There's just too much I don't know." She considered for a moment, then made her decision. She quickly donned a dark suit, flexible and covering her from toe to neck. She didn't have time to rebraid her hair properly, but she tied it in back to keep it out of her eyes. She was going out tonight, and her contact could hang for all she cared. There was something going on, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

New York City

Ken rode home impatiently, idley clicking his fingers against the cab's window. He probably wouldn't even be recognized by anyone who had known him before. He wore a dark suit, of conservative cut, with a plain tie. He was working with a laptop computer, putting the final stages of a program together that he would present to the firm tomorrow. The late afternoon sunlight glinted on the gold around his finger on his left hand. And most painful of all the changes (to Ken's eyes at least) his hair was close cropped in a conservative style. He used glasses while typing at the screen, although he could still see anything else well enough. They sat on the end of his nose, and every so often he would absently push them up again. He sighed and closed the computer. He wouldn't get any more work done today. He loved his new life. He really did. He loved Eliza even more. They had been married mere weeks after the destruction of Shadowloo, and she was already pregnant, now that six months had passed. But sometimes, he would think about the old fighting days, and he would miss them. He didn't seem to fit in with his colleagues at the office. For one thing, he was nearly twice as broad as half of them, and twice as thin as the other half. He had never seen such a motley bunch of out-of-shape lumps of flesh. Their petty talk grated on his nerves as well, and he almost missed the days of Master Gouken's shouting, or Ryu's near monosyllabic grunts that amounted to conversation for him. There was no wasted breath there!

The memories had hit him hard today because of a dream he had last night. He blushed as he recalled it. Rose was there, the beautiful and exotic fighter he had once met in a tournament nearly five or six years ago. During the tournament, he developed an enormous crush on her. After all, I was still practically a boy then, only twenty two or three, and, well, there was no need to make excuses for the past. He loved Eliza passionately now, and was never happier since their marriage, but that dream had made his blood boil. What he remembered the most was that she had been trying to tell him something, though. Beware the Demon. Or maybe it was Beware Akuma? Had she said it in Japanese? Akuma was demon in Japanese, and Ken had it all mixed up in his head now. In fact, she hadn't done anything to him like he would have wanted. In the dream, his passion for her seemed to flame up as strong as ever, although she kept fending him off. No, she was here to tell him something, and he must listen. Beware the Demon. Or beware Akuma, or something. Why did dreams always have to be so confused?

Ken sighed again, then glared at the cab driver who kept looking back at this wistful passenger he had. Most of all, he just missed the fighting. Rose and the rest could rot for all he cared as long as he could go back to the wild, carefree lifestyle he had had before. But he did love Eliza, more than anything. He only wished that he could have had both the two great loves of his life at once, instead of choosing one to replace the other. That was one of the reasons he had this job, with the Wuttipong corporation, which was based in Thailand. At first, gossip had been high about the things going on in Thailand, with the destruction of Shadowloo, and speculation on who was involved. Ken always smiled at that. But then the fervor died down, and now office gossip mostly revolved around which Thai movie star was probably the best in bed, or which girl in the office was the same. Ken was disgusted with the petty little people in the office who called themselves men. The Americans were worse than the Thai, however, trying hard to impress Ken with their macho attitudes and jock stories from college. Ken had grown more and more retreated into his shell at the office, and depended more and more on his time at home with Eliza to keep him sane. She was started to show a little bulge in her belly now. In another month or two, she would be so obviously pregnant that she would fit only into maternity clothes. This surely, was what life was all about. When he was at home, or shopping for baby things with Eliza, or doing anything that reeked of family, home, or stability, Ken felt a peaceful calm about him that he had never felt before.

Master Gouken had always talked about that calm. Ken had extreme difficulty with it though. When Ryu and he first entered Sagat's tournament, as mere boys of eighteen or nineteen, he couldn't have cared less for peace. He loved the violence, the feel of blasting through your opponent, and of knowing that you were better than he was. Ken thought that he had been arrogant then, laughing in his opponent's bloody and bruised faces. He had not made it to the very top, however. Ryu had taken down Sagat, and Ryu got the honor. Ken had been furious at him at first. He never had understood that cold-blooded man. They had fought, and Ken had lost. Throughout the entire time, Ryu never showed a flash of emotion. Later they had made peace, and even come across each other several times in the ten years since that first tournament, when they left Master Gouken's tutelage, but Ken never really missed him.

Ken payed the cab driver. While he was lost in his remembrances, they had arrived at his apartment. He smiled in anticipation. Eliza always tried to be the model housewife. She would probably have dinner waiting for him, and Ken would probably eat it and compliment it, even though she wasn't really a very good cook. He shivered as he felt again a wave of love for his wife. She was truly the sweetest woman a man could have by his side. All of his regrets about the fighting were swept away. Ken knew he had made the right choice. He turned the key in the lock and stepped inside the door of his apartment.

The house was trashed. Furniture was broken and strewn around the room. Torn papers and clothes littered the floor. Eliza was nowhere to be seen. Ken gaped for a minute, then rushed inside shouting her name. He dashed from room to room, desperately hoping to find her. Nothing. In the bedroom was her purse, lying on the floor as if dropped, spilling its contents on the floor. Eliza would never leave it like that.

Ken felt a ball of rage boiling up from his gut. He snarled like a beast, and lunged desperately for the power that Master Gouken had taught him to harness. The power filled him, and his rage made it stronger than he had ever remembered. He unleashed some of that power, his body spinning and his feet striking in anger at the furniture, the walls, as he shouted the words that made him do the Hurricane Kick. He landed and his anger made him reach for the power again. The Hadouken welled up in his hands, and he released it, when it was too painful to hold anymore. It slammed into the wall, erupting in an explosion of fire and light, shattering the window and burning the walls. Ken could hear the tinkling sound of glass falling to the street below, and the shouts of surprised passers-by outside. His rage left him, and he turned his feelings inward. He was cold now, and calculating. He would find Eliza, and he would kill whoever had taken her. If she were harmed...No! She would not be harmed. But this I vow, thought Ken. I will not rest until I have found her again!

Hyonsu village, Japan

Edmund had never been popular as a child. Now that he was, he often didn't know how to handle himself. Only half Japanese, Edmund had grown up in Japan, and considered himself Japanese at heart. He was large as a child, and even tons of exercise and fruitless diets had failed to make him lose weight as a teenager. So he did the next best thing: he made his size work for him. Studying sumo until he was proficient enough to fight in tournaments, Edmund's size and power increased. One thing he had discovered during his early attempts to lose weight was that he was able to put on layers and layers of muscle without losing the fat that seemed to be his birthright. He even became quite graceful and agile, after a fashion, and his new sumo techniques revolved around his grace and superior strength. He travelled to Hawaii and fought the sumo champion there. The travelled the length and breadth of Japan fighting all who called themselves sumo. He never lost. It didn't take long for him to be the new Yokozuno, or Grand Champion.

In some ways, he became more theatrical than serious about his fighting, because he always won anyway. He took to painting his face Kabuki style, and executing moves that showed a flair for the stage. He never thought on how it was that he could do the things he did. How he could be so fat, no matter what he did. How he could almost seem to defy gravity at times with his leaps and torpedo head butts. Edmund Honda never imagined that he might be a special, in fact he had never even heard the word before six months ago.

He was entertaining visitors. He often did. He was hospitable, friendly and loved to cook. He was considered quite a gourmet by his friends and relatives, and even by perfect strangers that had sampled his table. This was perhaps Honda's greatest love, even more than sumo, into which he fell accidentally. Tonight he had a critical guest, one of the parents of a student who had applied to learn from Honda. They were critical, but obviously impressed by Honda's table, and by his words. Honda liked them, and certainly hoped they would feel welcome enough to come again.

But they were full of the latest news from the south. After the fall of Shadowloo in Thailand, the world became aware of the specials; people who could channel energy from themselves, the world around them, or some other source and use that energy. The leader of Shadowloo had been a special, they said. Other rumors said that no, those who tore down Shadowloo were the specials. Yet another rumor said that no, the specials were gathering to take over the reins of Shadowloo's underground empire. Honda smiled. He knew the first two of those "rumors" was true, because he was there. He had entered the tournament hoping to gain fame for the sport of sumo. He had done well, but found himself outclassed by some, so he withdrew from the tournament, and stayed only to see what happened.

After the frightening days of fighting, seeing the specials toss energy around at each other, and go through motions that were physically impossible, Honda was glad to be out. He never thought that his own moves might be the mark of a special. But he was there to see the truth about the specials, and what happened to Bison and his cronies. He was there to see it all. And he pledged to himself that he would never tell a soul about what happened when he helped see Sagat fall.

Honda almost blushed at the thought, even though the voices of his guests still droned on in the back of his mind. He nodded, absently at them, as though listening, but his thoughts went back to that day. Honda had fallen madly, and deeply in love. He was sure that he would never see that love returned. That was another remnant of his childhood, he did not have a terribly high self-esteem. He knew the areas in which he was strong, but with women his luck had never been so good. But when he saw Chun Li, he knew he would never love any other woman. He watched while she fought. He watched her when she watched a fight. He saw her looking keenly at Vega that day that he nearly killed the British girl. But not his Chun Li. She had carefully been observing Vega, and had spotted a weakness in his technique. He watched proudly as she defeated Vega, throwing him to the floor, stomping heavily on his head, flashing kicks at the speed of lightning. She was hurt as well, but Vega was comatose. He was scarred, and his pride was overthrown. Honda had wept for joy to see his Chun Li win.

But Sagat was the next one she was to have fought. And Honda knew that she would not be ready, with her injuries. Stubborn woman that she was, she fought anyway, and was hurt badly. Then Honda could watch no longer. Like an express train, he hurled himself forward, and struck Sagat himself in the side, cracking ribs and bruising kidneys. Many said that this helped speed Sagat's downfall to the American Ken Masters the next week--he was not properly healed. But Honda didn't care. He picked up the unconscious Chun Li and carried her from the area where the fight was. Sagat was furious, tossing energy at him that burned and singed. But Honda ignored the blistering burns. He had to protect his Chun Li, and get her to safety before Sagat killed her. Using his own body, he shielded her, and ran from the area before Sagat could truly fight with him. He took her to the nearest hospital and waited outside her door until he was sure she would recover fully. She never knew what had happened that day, merely that she had fought, been beat, and woken up in the hospital. She may never have even known who Honda was. But he would remember that day forever, especially the soft feel of her in his arms as he carried her away from certain death.

He became aware of his guests again. They were done eating, and had to leave, so as to rest well for the night. They had to get up early, you know, and they had a busy day tomorrow. Honda was glad to see them go. His mood had changed, and he now wanted a moment for quiet introspection. He fended off students who came asking questions, and pleading for help. Tomorrow, he would say. Tonight I must be alone.

It was dark by now, but Honda knew every inch of his garden. It was off limits to the students and staff of Honda's household. He only was allowed there, he and the gardeners. He went there tonight, breathing deeply the scent of the newly budding spring blossoms, and basking in the pale light of the moon. He sighed again. It had been a long time since he had thought about Chun Li. His love for her was just as strong as when he had first seen her six months ago. How could he have been such a coward as to have left without talking to her, without letting her know his feelings? On the other hand, how could he have been a fool enough to actually talk to her and leave her with the burden of knowing that one such as himself loved her? Honda lived with regret about that. Always, when he had this argument with himself, he vowed he would write to her, find her address, tell her in a letter how he felt. He had half a dozen incomplete letters to her in his desk. Perhaps it was time to write some more. At least he would feel as if he were doing something.

It was while musing over these thoughts that death took him. He had never heard the soft footfalls of the intruder in his garden. He never heard the tiny click of the hammer being raised on the gun. And because he died instantly, he never heard the shot that took him in the back of the head.

Bangkok, Thailand

Chun Li gazed outside the window of the crowded bus she rode on. She was standing and holding on to the bar that ran across the ceiling, although it was almost out of reach for her. The bus careened through the city, and if not for the press of people, she would surely have fallen down by now. She had only been recovered fully for two months now, and she had immediately began training and practicing her fighting again. She was afraid that her four month hospital stay had made her rusty, but she still seemed pretty good. A little stiffer and slower than before, but another few weeks of training, and she would be literally as good as new. She had finally been told by the doctors at the hospital that she was brought there by a large man speaking Japanese, and very poor Thai. It must have been Honda. She had seen him watching her during the tournament. What a sweet man! She wished she could find him and speak to him. He must be awfully shy to save her life and then disappear. She wished him well, wherever he was.

She had not had a chance to leave Thailand, of course. First, they had been afraid to move her, because her condition was still serious. Later, Interpol told her what happened with Bison's tournament. But her assignment wasn't over, they said: she would remain in Thailand and, with the help of a free-lance operative that they would arrange for her to meet, she would continue to hunt down the remnants of Shadowloo.

She still almost couldn't believe what had happened. The American Guile had defeated Balrog, crippling him and putting him out of the action. It was known where he was, but deemed not worth the effort to arrest him, now. She herself had beaten Vega, leaving him hurt and scarred. He had escaped somehow, but Interpol believed him returned to Spain, and for now, harmless. He would be hunted and arrested. Sagat was defeated by Ken Masters, another American who had been street fighting since he was a boy younger than she was now. She knew him, and Ryu, who had defeated Bison himself, apparently killing him in the end, or at least causing his death. Guile she did not know, but he reminded her of Charlie Nash, another American pilot whom she had met in an earlier tournament. They had similar styles of fighting, and a similar way of speech. Chun Li wondered if they had known each other. She wondered what had happened to Charlie anyway. She wondered if any of the other participants in the tournament were important to what was going on. That snooty British girl, Cammy, was certainly not to be trusted. Maybe she was faking her amnesia, or maybe, if it was for real, her memories would return someday, and with them the motive to betray those she works for. If she ever saw her again, she would definitely keep an eye on her, and hopefully have the chance to thrash her a few times for stepping out of line. Chun Li wondered exactly who it was she worked for anyway.

That is all idle speculation, she told herself. I should be wondering about this contact they have me working with here in Bangkok. Chun Li was used to working by herself, and was not particularly pleased to be told he would accompany her. She was told that it wasn't certain just how able to take care of herself she still was after her recent injury. That made her stiffen her back, for sure. If this contact got any funny ideas, she would have to set him straight. He's probably one of those men who thought that a pretty girl like me shouldn't have a dangerous job like this. she thought wryly. If he was, she would show him a few well placed kicks in the butt. She didn't have patience do deal with someone like that. Not after lying around all day for nearly four months, while the world went on without her. Who knew what was going on with Shadowloo now, after six months? It could have had time to completely regrow under another leader. Or completely fall apart. If it had, she would root out the last of the Shadowloo personnel and see them dragged to justice. Especially if she could do the actual dragging. And especially if they needed a little convincing first. Chun Li was itching to get back to the action.

She climbed off of the bus when she reached her stop, the Bangkok Marriot. She was to meet her contact in Benihana's restaurant, a Japanese restaurant located inside the hotel. She was actually looking forward to that. Hospital food wasn't her favorite, and the idea of Teppan Yaki cuisine made her mouth water. She made her way to the restaurant and tried to see if she could see her contact. She didn't know his name, but knew that he would have a turquoise American cowboy hat on. She figured that there couldn't possibly be another person who would wear something that ridiculous. She was right. In a corner of the restaurant, she could see the man wearing the hat. He had his back to her, so she couldn't see his face, but he did seem to be a smaller man, and there was something about him that seemed familiar.

She asked the waiter to seat her with him, and she slipped into the seat across the table. He raised his head and took off his absurd hat. He was a small man, short and wiry, but with a strong look about him, as if his size meant nothing. He seemed incredibly alert, and ready for action. He had dark hair and eyes and a face that looked like it could be almost any nationality. But it was a face that she knew very well from a tournament many years ago.

"Guy!" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you recognize the hat? I'm your contact. But please, there are too many English speakers here for my taste. I think we'll be safer speaking Mandarin. Is that Ok with you?"

"Of course," answered Chun Li. "It's my native language. But I didn't know you spoke it. How did you learn it?"

"That doesn't matter now," he said. He spoke well, but his accent was still noticeable. "I speak English and Japanese equally well, as a native language. I speak Thai, Korean and Mandarin well enough to get around. We need to decide on a course of action. I was told by the Interpol fellows that you have been injured recently in a fight with Sagat. Is this true?"

Chun Li wrinkled her face. So, he was going to go on about it. "Yes, it's true. But what of it? That was six months ago, and I've been recovered for two months. I'm almost in as good a shape as I have ever been."

Guy smiled. He knew exactly what she was thinking apparently. "Good. Because you'll need to be, very soon. Sagat was defeated, but he is still alive. I have been doing some of my own investigating, which is why Interpol called me to help on this case."

That was good news to Chun Li. Especially that he wasn't going to be making any fool talk about protecting her. She could still show him who the strongest woman in the world was. "What have you found out? What does Sagat want, and who is with him? Are there any other remnants of Shadowloo around? Tell me everything you know."

"I will. I don't know what Sagat wants, or who he has with him. I expect revenge is high on his list of priorities. He is not really a big player in what is going on around here. The streets are buzzing with news of Max, someone who came from nowhere and took over the major portion of Bison's empire. He is running things his own way, but no one seems to know exactly what it is he's after. We'll have our work cut out for us for a while. I hope you didn't think to get a vacation after all that time in the hospital."

Chun Li smiled at his wry humor. "No, I've had enough of a vacation to last me for the rest of my life. I'm ready to be doing something finally."

Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio Texas

There were three uniformed men waiting for him. Three generals of the U.S. Air Force, all waiting for him with stern expressions on their faces. They knew all about him and they knew that he knew. They were determined to make this difficult. That's how the military was. With the three generals was another man, a civilian in a grey suit. A representative from the Department of Defense, here to help adjudicate in today's proceedings. If anything, the Washington bureaucrat would be colder and more heartless than the generals. At least another soldier would understand, in his heart of hearts, what Guile had done.

"Let's get right down to business, Colonel," said one of the mustached generals, General Wainwright, if Guile remembered correctly. "You know exactly why you're here. You used to have a good record. You and Captain Nash were one of the best teams we've ever had in the Air Force. Your service record was excellent. We know all about your crash in the East, and what happened to Nash. Let's review, for the sake of our Washington friend here, what has gone on since then." The general looked pointedly at the bureaucrat with dislike. He didn't seem to notice.

"You stay with us, after you return from the East, but something has happened to you. You don't follow through with your assignments anymore. You become insubordinate. You become bellicose. Nobody can work with you. Your family suffers and tries to avoid you. We take you in for a shrink review, and the results aren't good."

One of the other generals cuts in, with irritation plain in his voice. "Basically, you were a walking fruitcake, Guile. I didn't really like you too much before that, but you were psycho afterwards. Manic depressive, the reports said. Obsessive. Violent. Unfit for active military duty."

Guile stiffened a bit at the charges. Of course he was already at attention, but he remembered well the day that he was judged unfit for active military service. He supposed that he really was, but it was a blow nonetheless. A blow that made him finally crack. He couldn't stand it anymore after that, and he had just cracked. He had had to take care of things the only way he knew how, and that's what he did. These generals made a show of anger, but they really understood. They were soldiers. It was the Washington suit that he had to convince.

The first general began again. "And then, Colonel Guile, you had the nerve to disappear. AWOL for five years...five years!...without a trace of your location. Your family was hysterical, your poor wife was down here every day for six months crying to us and wondering where you were. Your daughter was only nine years old. Dammit, man! Whatever were you thinking?"

Guile didn't know if the question was one that required an answer, so he kept silent. The second general who spoke started again. "And we don't want to hear about you being some kind of hero in Asia now. We know all about Shadowloo and what happened. That wasn't your fight. You're a soldier and you fight where you're ordered to fight. You do not go and pick your own! Is that clear?"

Before he could answer the third general finally spoke. "Frankly, Colonel, I don't believe all that psychological bullcrap anyway. There is no excuse for what you did, even if you were crazy as a loon, which it seems like you were. Let me be be clear with you Colonel Guile. You can be arrested, dishonorably discharged from the service and put in jail if you don't satisfy us today with a good explanation of what you did. You may face most of those consequences anyway. Now let's hear something out of you, man! Unlike General Pattersen, I like you, but I won't hesitate to nail you to the wall if I'm not satisfied with what you have to say."

Guile did speak finally. He told the committee in simple language about Charlie, and how much they had done together. He told them of their record, all of their success. He told them of Charlie's step-sister Jane whom he had married. Charlie had been best man, of course. Charlie had been Amy's godfather, when she was born. Charlie had been his best friend, in every way. Charlie had been his brother in all but blood.

Then Guile told them of their capture in Thailand by Bison and his fledgling Shadowloo organization. He and Charlie escaped, but had gotten lost quickly enough. Charlie had ended up going back to Shadowloo, letting Guile escape. Charlie had fought to bring down Bison, and get free himself, but he had been tortured and killed in the end. Every minute, Guile's conscious seared him for getting out and letting Charlie die. Every waking second was hell for Guile. His dreams were worse, when Charlie spoke to him, accusation strong and bitter in his voice. Guile knew he was going crazy, but he also believed that he had a duty to Charlie, and that fulfilling that duty would free him.

Guile did not tell them everything, though. He did not tell them how he and Charlie had found the ancient temple deep in the jungle. He did not mention the powers that they had gained there. The power to reach into their own souls and produce an energy wave that could be hurled at an opponent. The power to cleave the substance of reality with their powerful flash kick, that created a blast of energy capable of blowing through an enemy. Guile knew that he had become one of the specials, humans with powers granted to them that could make them the best fighters in the world. Guile was determined to leave the Air Force in shame rather than let the government take him for a guinea pig, to me be tested and thrown into every situation that they thought only he could handle. He had finally come home, and he was determined to make it up to Jane and Amy by having as normal a life as was possible. He truly did love them. He remembered so well the feeling that came over him when Bison was dead and he felt the guilt of Charlie's death leave him. His guilt over leaving Jane and Amy was almost as powerful, and he had simply fallen to the ground sobbing with frustration and self-loathing.

But Guile was a fighter, and he put his emotions in order. Now he was having a chance to make everything right again, everything that he had messed up his whole life. Nothing was going to stand in his way about this.

When he finished, the room was silent. He was asked to leave while his case was deliberated. While waiting in a tiny office outside, he could hear the voices of the four raised at times, muted at others, but he never listened to what they were saying. He would find out soon enough. He had made his decision about what he would do, no matter how the deliberation ended. He knew now what he thought was important, and he would not give it up for anything.

After about twenty minutes he was called back in. "Colonel Guile," said General Wainwright, once again the spokesman for the group. "We have reached a decision concerning your extended time AWOL from the U.S. Air Force. You will not be discharged. You will be demoted to the rank of Captain. You will report to duty here on Monday morning. You will, however, be on probation, pending further review. Do you have any questions of comments, Captain Guile?"

Guile took a deep breath. "Generals, I will take this opportunity now to resign from the United States Air Force. I will not come in again on Monday or any other day. I am going to find a different job, and spend the time with my family."

~*~

Jane and Amy were waiting outside for him. They were a beautiful pair of women, Jane his wife and Amy his fourteen year old daughter. He had thought he had lost them for good. He was still surprised that they still loved him or even wanted him in their lives. They were smiling at him now, looking almost alike with pale, big blue eyes and long pale hair. He hugged them both, and his wife asked him quietly. "How'd it go?" Guile hugged her again.

"It went fine. They were going to reinstate me, although as Captain. I resigned. I'm through with the Air Force." He still held on to the two most important people in his life, but he could feel his wife sobbing against his chest, and he saw Amy's smiling face looking up at him. Her big eyes streamed tears of joy at the thought of having a father again.

New York

Ken strode quickly through the airport. He glanced coldly at everyone around him, is eyes never missing anything. He was early for his flight, but he had nothing else to do. Only one thing consumed him, only one thing was ever on his mind. He would find whoever had taken his wife, and he would make them pay. Ken no longer looked like the young yuppie. His hair had not grown back yet, but he had lost the suit, the glasses and the laptop computer. He surely had lost his job as well, since it had been three days since he last went in. He was dressed casually now, he wanted an outfit that would be comfortable and allow him to move if necessary, but one that fit in with the crowd. Sweatpants with pockets for his passport, wallet and keys, and a loose fitting t-shirt. It was close enough to what he wore when he was a Street Fighter, yet it would attract no undue attention. He had only one bag with him, a carry-on. He hoped to make this a short trip.

He had found the note in the wreck of his apartment after he had calmed down. It was written for him, in Japanese, telling him what he had to do to see Eliza again. She would be well treated as long as he was doing what he was supposed to. He had only to come to Hong Kong, where he would be met by someone at the airport. Then he would be told what else to do. Ken had booked a flight to Hong Kong the next day. He was glad, because he could hardly sit still for five minutes as it was. He had to do something productive to see his wife back again.

Throwing his bag down, he dropped some coins into a Coke machine in the waiting area for his flight. There were only two other people there so far, a middle aged Chinese man, probably going to visit family or friends, and a girl with her face turned away from Ken. She had her hair pulled up under a baseball cap, but there was something familiar about her. He took a sip from his Coke, never taking his eyes off of her, while walking to sit down in a chair that would allow him to see her face. She looked young, and small almost, but Ken still couldn't put his finger on what was familiar about her.

Suddenly the girl raised her face and looked at Ken. One side of her mouth turned up in a crooked smile as he gasped. Her eyes were brilliant purple, flecked with gold. Wisps of her hair that came out from her cap were also purple, Ken noticed now. She didn't seem so young anymore, but a beautiful woman, full- grown but showing no sign of age yet.

"Rose!" whispered Ken with surprise. She laughed a little at him.

"Yes, it is I. You shouldn't be so surprised to see me after the dream I sent you. You are a naughty boy! I was only trying to tell you something, and besides you are married!"

Ken blushed and stammered. "Well, I...that is...well, it was just a dream! I don't have control over my subconscious mind!"

"I know, dear. I was just teasing you a little. But we must be serious now. You are heading toward great danger. The area to which you are going is strong in energy, and that energy is gathering for a turning point in the history of this world. You must prepare yourself for the days ahead if you hope to weather them unscathed."

"The only ones in any danger are those who have taken Eliza, whoever they are. And the danger they need to fear is me!"

"Do not be fool!" snapped Rose. "You are in very grave danger, moreso than even your wife. There is something brooding in the East, a demon who will destroy all to see his plans come to fruition. I think it is no accident that you will be going there at this time. Fate is bringing together the world's finest warriors again at a time when they are needed. You must prepare your mind for the days that are coming or the evil will win over all."

"What demon? Do you mean Akuma? He certainly is evil enough, but I can't see him causing any harm to the entire earth. What are you talking about? How do you know anything about Eliza? Tell me Rose, or help me somehow..."

Rose smiled again at Ken, sadly this time, as if knowing of the sorrow that he would have to face. "Do not underestimate Akuma. He is more powerful than you realize now. But I do not mean him. I know many things that happen in this world of yours. My masters have the ability to sense a shadow, or premonition of what is coming, but my ability to tell them to you is often limited. You must accept what I can say for now and be content. I do love this world, and will do all I can to save it, but you must accept my limitations, as must I. I have died in this world once, and my spirit was sent back home. I have found a way to return, now that Bison who killed me is dead, but there is so much less that I can do. Do not despair Ken Masters! I will certainly see you again!"

Ken's eyes went unfocused for a second as if he had almost fallen asleep. When he was able to refocus, Rose was gone. He clenched his fist in frustration. He didn't care about demons or any trouble brewing in Asia. He only cared about Eliza and the world could rot in hell for all he cared as long as she was missing.

Bangkok, Thailand

After paying her bill, Guy motioned for Chun Li to come with him outside. He still spoke Mandarin. At the Marriott, there were always plenty of English speakers, and Guy seemed inordinately worried about anyone hearing and understanding him. "We have a contact to meet, a thief who is connected with the underground organization. He may be able to tell us something about Max and Sagat if we're lucky. I'm glad you came on time, because I need to meet with him in fifteen minutes several blocks from here. You're welcome to come with me." Chun Li nodded and followed Guy outside of the hotel. He didn't make any move to hail a taxi or board a bus, so Chun Li assumed that the meeting place was within walking distance. But the pace that Guy walked at made her doubt. She almost had to jog to keep up with him.

The contact was quite far away actually. They left the nicer neighborhood around the Marriott and still Guy walked at that incredible pace. Soon they found themselves in a park with lots of green trees and spring flowers to provide cover. Chun Li thought that this made a perfect place to meet a contact. But they could have taken a bus; her feet were a bit sore from that long walk. Guy had to slow down a little for her, and now they were a few minutes late. Chun Li glared at Guy's back silently daring him to say anything to her about it. But he didn't. He didn't speak anymore about Sagat or Max either, even in Mandarin. He seemed incredibly secretive around everyone. Chun Li sighed and guessed that it was better that way, but there was still so much she wanted to ask him!

"Keep your eyes open, Chun Li. We should see him any second now. He may not look like what you'd expect." Suddenly a small boy of eight or none years stepped out of the woods right in front of them. Chun Li's heart sank. That better not be the contact Guy's talking about, she thought. He must be going nuts. Nevertheless, Guy strode confidently towards the boy. He smiled at Guy when he saw him and began also walking to meet him halfway. Chun Li merely blinked and wordlessly followed Guy. He was getting his information from an eight year old boy? She nearly spat with disgust.

"Hello, Guy!" called out the boy in Thai. "You're a little late today. Is this the girl you said I could meet? Wow, she's really pretty!" The boy laughed with his little boy's voice. Chun Li's face was turning red, and she was about to give Guy the rougher side of her tongue.

"That's enough of that, Mu," said Guy. "She's an agent of Interpol and a good fighter. You don't need to put on your act for her." The boy looked long at Chun Li, then shrugged. When he spoke again, it was with a man's voice. Chun Li's eyes widened in surprise.

"Allright then, Chun Li. You know my secret now. Guy has known me for twenty years now. We were children together. I was always short, and young looking; I was told that there was a problem with my pituitary gland that caused me not to grow like other children. So here I am today, a man of twenty eight, who looks like a boy of nine. I have used this perfect disguise of mine to infiltrate underground organizations and spy out their workings for Guy for several years now. After all, who would suspect a little boy? Most of the time, they think I can't even undertand what they're talking about. You must never tell anyone of me. Now then. What is it you want to know today, Guy?"

Guy smiled. "Everything, of course. What is going on? Who is moving, and what do they want? What can we use against them?" He walked over to a stone bench that was nestled comfortably in the shade of a large tree near them and sat down. Chun Li and Mu joined him, Chun Li on the bench next to Guy and Mu on the ground crosslegged in front of them.

"A lot of stuff is happening. Sagat's group is still a mystery. All I can tell you about him is that he is still in Thailand, probably out somewhere in the countryside. He has a handful of agents running around doing errands for him. Nobody else can make any sense of what they're doing. The big news lately is that Max is moving out of Thailand."

Guy and Chin Li both gasped in unison and looked at each other. "Where are they going?" asked Chun Li. "Don't know. Leaving Thailand, that much is for sure. At least Max and the HQ is. I think he'd leave behind some kind of presence though, or the other groups will move in on him faster than fleas to a dog. I don't know if I can find out anything about what they're doing. People speak fairly freely in front of a boy, and I've got connections, but I think this is one secret Max intends to keep.

"The other big news I was able to get is that Max is showing a strong interest in the specials that fought against Bison. I don't know if that means anything to you, but I've heard it from a couple of different sources. It's genuine, unless Max is deliberately letting that rumor loose to throw people like us off. Apparently, though, Max is nearly obsessed with the idea. He wants to gather them all in, and do something with them, I don't know what. I think that may even be part of the reason for the move. I just don't know enough about it to say, though. In another week or so, I won't know anything anyway, unless I can contrive some way to tag along after Max. I don't have a very good chance of that, though."

"Don't worry, Mu," said Guy. "You've done well over the years. We can't expect you to maintain a position like this for very long, its too unstable. Thanks for what you've been able to tell us. We can make good use of it.

"Anytime, Guy. You know I would do anything you needed. But you two watch yourselves. Whatever is going on around here, it is weird. To tell you the truth, I'm glad I'm getting out while I can. I hope you can have as much luck." Mu winked again at Chun Li, and giggling again in his little boy voice, he ran off into the woods.

It must have been a measure of Guy's consternation over the news that he spoke in English for the first time since the restaurant. "It looks like this assignment is going to get harder and harder by the minute. We won't have time to sit back leisurely and carefully plan our attack. We're going to have to charge right into this case and figure out what's going on before it's all over."

Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio Texas

"I told you General, I'm out! I have no more obligation to you, and I don't have to even be here if I don't want to be. I'm at home with my family now, and that's what I intend to make the rest of my life about. Now if you don't quit wasting my time and cut to the chase, I'm walking out of here." Guile was amused but annoyed by the General's attitude. He couldn't understand that Guile wouldn't just do what he was told anymore. He didn't have to! Guile had never been happier than he had been for the last few days. His pension was enough to live on, barely, but he didn't have to go and find a new job just yet. He had enjoyed being with his family again. Walking through the park, going out to dinner, watching movies, anything that could be done together, Guile was going to do it. He even thought about doing a double date with Amy and one of her little "boyfriends", but thought better of it. She would have been mortified. "You're right," said General Wainwright, seeming to struggle to get the words out of his mouth. "We're not ordering you to come here. But we...request...that you help us. You have first hand knowledge of what happened in Thailand six months ago, and we don't. Intelligence is worried about some movements that are going on in Thailand and other areas of the East that seem to be connected with what happened. We need information that only you can give us."

Guile grinned at the general's struggle to work with him. "Actually, I don't have that much. Pretty much everything I know has been taken out of my head during debriefing anyway. I told you about my part in the whole thing. I fought against that boxer Balrog, and beat him easily enough. Vega took me out, but I was KOed before I could be seriously hurt, at least. I missed the whole deal with Sagat and Bison, although I heard about it later. I even talked to Ken Masters, the American who beat Sagat. He said he was coming to New York to live. Why don't you go talk to him? He has better first hand information than I do."

"We've already tried that. Ken Masters and his new wife Eliza are missing. Their apartment is trashed, partially burned and thoroughly looted. That's why it's critical that we find out what we can from you while...Guile? Guile! What are you doing? Sit down, man!" But Guile was already running from the office. When the General told him of Ken and Eliza, his heart sank like a stone. He leaped up and left the office, looking for the payphone he had seen on the way in. His hands were sweating and shaking so that he could barely drop the quarter in the slot and push the buttons that called home. He danced from foot to foot while the phone rang.

"Hello?..." It was Amy's voice on the other end.

"Amy? Are you alright? Is your mother there? Is everything OK?"

"Of course, Dad. I'm here watching movies with Mark in the front room. You remember Mark, right? Anyway, Mom's outside watering the garden..."

"Can you see her from the phone? Are you sure she's alright?" Guile's worry must have sounded thick in his voice.

"Of course, Dad. I'm waving to her right now. What's going on? You're kinda scaring me, Dad."

Guile's breath left and he sagged against the wall. General Wainwright was finally catching up to him, still grumbling. "Nothing, honey. Forget I called. I just heard something at the base that worried me a little is all. It's nothing. Go back to your movies. We'll talk about this Mark when I get home." Guile threw that in to hopefully let her know all was well. Her answer was a little unsure.

"Allright, Daddy. You're sure everything is fine?"

"Everything. Bye, now. I love you Amy."

"I love you too." The line went dead.

"Guile, don't do that," said the general, puffing at the recent exertion. "You'll make me think you're going crazy again. We don't think there's any risk to you or your family, but we want to know what's going on. I know you've retired, but your country needs you still Guile. We're not asking you to make any great sacrifice, just advise us on what kind of things could be going on in the Far East."

Guile nodded. He thought the nightmare had been over, left behind forever with the body of Bison. With a sinking feeling in his chest, he realized that it had a long way to go before it played itself completely out.

Hong Kong

Cammy climbed nimbly up the wall and waited on the rooftop. She should have known better than to root out the underground at the bars. What she got was a bunch of drunks trying to pick her up all night. After she had to show a few of them quite firmly that no meant no, she became quite unpopular all of a sudden. A mob of angry bar patrons had chased her for several blocks right up to this building. She was sure she could climb the walls, and fairly sure that none of those chasing her could, so she turned to watch them for a minute. Sure enough, they halted in confusion at the foot of the building she had scaled. With a satisfied smile, she turned her back on them. Time to get off before one of those losers got the bright idea of surrounding the building. Cammy was pretty sure that she could break her way through if necessary, or even wait until they gave up. It was sure to be a short time before they missed their drinks more than they cared for beating up the tall English girl. But she didn't want to risk it and even more, she couldn't spare the time. She had wasted half the night already with these stupid drunks. If only she could know when her enemy would strike again!

She quickly descended from the roof on the other side of the building and melted into the night shadows again. She was going to have to come up with a new line of attack. But where can one find a connection to the underground if not in the seedy bars she had just frequented? That was surely a question that deserved a little thought. She walked quietly for a few more blocks before sheltering herself in the shadow of a fire escape to sit and think about what she could do.

She could always try to look up her contact from MI-6. She had a good escuse for being late--someone had tried to kill her earlier this evening. But the MI-6 boys were all alike, they didn't care about details like that, as long as the job got done. She could look up Bison's old Shadowloo agent. He would probably not have gone anywhere, and he would also most likely still respond to the old passwords and codes to aid another former employee. She was chagrined that the memories of such a thing came unbidden to her head, but she refused to accept that part of her past. As long as she couldn't actually remember it, is was possible to deny it.

While she was pondering, she looked around her, getting a view of her surroundings. She did that out of habit, but her thoughts stopped suddenly as she saw a shadow move above her. She froze, gathering her power inside of her. She didn't remember much of her past, of course, but ever since she could remember, she had been able to harness some power that left her able to perform stunning moves, like the Psycho Drill and Thrust Kick. She gathered all of the energy she could now, ready to release if there was any danger. She couldn't see the movement again, but was sure that it had really been there.

Suddenly she saw motion right next to her. She lashed out with her fist, but found it caught in a grip of iron. Her foot went next, kicking rapidly. That was one technique she had been trying to learn from Chun Li's repertoire, the lightning kick. She didn't have it down very well yet, but she managed to shake loose her assailant and square off against him in the alley.

She could see him now. He was short and dressed in dark ninja clothes, and he had a claw on his right hand, similar to Vega's, but with curved claws that were much shorter. The claw enraged Cammy. Her scar from Vega seemed to itch, and her vision turned red. With a shout, she blasted feet first into the attacker, knocking him down. She quickly recovered, and then using the energy again, she performed her thrust kick, knocking him out of the air as he tried to leap quickly back. Then he recovered, though, throwing small stars at her. She ducked as one whizzed over her head, cutting a few hairs from her ponytail. She jumped forward to attack again, but found that the ninja had disappeared when she was about to hit him. He was behind her somehow, and he quickly moved in to grab her in a position that made it impossible for her to move. She struggled vainly, breathing heavily and trying every trick in the book to free herself. It was all in vain.

"Hold still, woman!" said the ninja. "I only want to talk with you." He spoke in Japanese, which Cammy understood, even though she wasn't completely fluent in it.

"If you just want to talk, then let me go," she said haltingly. The ninja paused for a second, then slowly released the pressure on her arms, letting her come free. She took a hasty step back, and eyed him critically. He appeared to be relaxed, not even watching her even, but she know that that appearance was decieving. If she tried anything, he would burst into action with the speed of a released spring. She decided to wait and see what he wanted.

"Who are you? Why are you spying on me?" she began.

"My name is Geki. I was once a street fighter like yourself. Now I work for a great Lady who seeks to understand what is happening here."

"What great Lady? And what does that have to do with me?"

"My Mistress knows that whatever is happening, it involves specials like yourself. I can see the power in you. It is the same source that fueled the special Bison. My lady has an interest in you."

This revelation rocked Cammy. Her power was the same as Bison's? How could that be? What was the source of her power? She stared at the ninja again. For that matter, can I trust this joker? she thought to herself. If only she could fill in the holes in her memory. She had the feeling, and not for the first time, that if she didn't, she would not live to see the end of the troubles that were brewing here in Asia.

The countryside in Thailand

Wang entered the tiny little bamboo hut sequestered deep in the Thai jungle. He was unperturbed by his master's fall from the top ranks of Shadowloo to a small time independant operator working on his own agenda. Wang's loyalty had always been to Sagat, not Shadowloo, and when Sagat was with Shadowloo, well he was too. Now that Sagat was working solo, he was still with Sagat. That was how it was with Wang. He had pledged his loyalty to Sagat, and with Sagat he would remain.

Inside the hut, Sagat and Adon were arguing. Again. There could never be a return to the old master/pupil relationship that they had before. Adon was simply too skilled to be seen as other than an equal of Sagat's now. Adon had challenged Sagat, long ago, and had earned a measure of respect. Adon was now considered a master of Muay Thai on his own. There had been little rancor between them, however, until now.

Adon had no interest in Shadowloo when it grew. He simply retreated to the countryside, and practiced his arts alone. Pupils came to him, and he taught them, but he had no thirst for power, or revenge, so he had no motive for signing up with Shadowloo, as Sagat had. Now that Shadowloo had fallen, however, Adon was again active. Realizing that the field was open to any player who could grab power for himself, Adon had stepped into the breach. He had approached Sagat, his one-time teacher, then rival, and they had made an alliance. Together, the Muay Thai masters would grab a chunk of the action here in Asia, and carve for themselves an empire to rival Shadowloo.

Only Sagat had no interest in power or empires. He only sided with Adon to fullful his own desires. "No, Adon. I will not rest until they are dead. We cannot use them to gain power; they will not do it anyway. They serve only to be killed. I will not be denied my revenge again!"

"Your revenge!" sneered Adon. "What has your quest for revenge on Ryu brought you so far? Another defeat by this same Ryu! The ruin of your prized Shadowloo. And this latest fiasco--you didn't even face Ryu, and now you have Ken Masters to kill as well. Why don't you just hold another tournament? See how many people can defeat you in combat and then get your revenge on all of them at once? Can't you see that revenge is nothing? Power is all that matters, and power is waiting for us to grab. You are a fool, Sagat. You will waste your life without guidance. I will run this operation, and we will have our power. Then when we have accomplished what we want, revenge will be easy for you to take. Be patient and listen to my plan!"

Adon quit suddenly and looked at Wang with anger in his eye. "What do you want, you snivelling coward?"

Sagat spoke suddenly. "Speak not to him that way, former pupil of mine. We have our differences, but faithful Wang needs not suffer because of your hot-temper. Speak Wang. Tell me that those whose death I thirst for has been arranged."

Wang gave a quick little bow before speaking. "The fat one, Honda, has been killed, Master. There was nothing to trace his death to us. Ryu is missing. He was last seen in Western China heading West. We do not know where he is. The American Ken Masters is missing as well. He and his wife seem to have disappeared, and their apartment is ravaged. It seems that someone else has been there first."

Sagat pounded the wall in anger causing the tiny hut to nearly fall down under the force of his blow. "I must have my revenge! No one may harm Ken or Ryu but me!" Sagat whispered through clenched teeth. "Find them. Tell me where they are, and I will arrange for them to come to me. The Shotokan...boys...will have a lesson in the true meaning of power!"

A country estate outside of Sevilla Spain

Eagle walked up the broad stone pathway that led to the large house. A cool Atlantic breeze blew in from the west, cooling him down. He was already hot and dusty, however from the Mediterranean springtime weather. He was at the top of a hill, and looked down over the sun-touched grape vinyard that spread all through the estate. This was truly a land of poetic beauty, he thought wryly. In rainy England, the climate was rarely so clement.

As he approached the house, two large dark men in suits came from inside the house to meet with him. "Quien es Usted?" asked one of the men. "Respo'ndale ra'pido, o no le damos caso hoy." Eagle didn't speak any Spanish, but he knew what to say, and hoped that they would understand him.

"I have come to take the bison by the horns. The matador must see me." Apparently the two Spaniards did understand, because they nodded to each other and motioned at Eagle to follow.

"Venga, Senor. Le mostraremos ahora a nuestro jefe. Le agradacera' mucho al verle a Usted." Again, Eagle didn't understand the words, but they sounded benign enough. He hoped all would go well.

It was dark inside the manor house. The cheerful day did not reach past the hall at the entrance. The house looked tattered and dusty in general, almost as if nobody lived here. Eagle twisted his mouth in distaste. He was a fastidious soul, and had heard that the master of this estate was as well. If that had changed, perhaps other things had changed as well.

Almost every other light was missing. Eagle did start to feel uneasy. After some of the things that had happened to him lately, he preferred a strongly lit room, without tight spaces. He knew that he was feeling a little paranoid, but he couldn't help it anymore. It was dark enough in the house, and cool enough, that Eagle could even see bats hanging from the rafters high above his head. The master of this house would never have allowed that in the past.

Finally his two guides arrived at a door, and they stopped. "El Vega esta aqui, Senor. Cuidado adentro, el jefe es un hombre bien cambiado. Hoy no es un buen dia. Quizas seria mejor a volver manana?" Eagle didn't understand, but their hesitation didn't bode well. He shook his head and shrugged. The two guides shrugged as well and knocked. Without waiting for any sign that Eagle could see or hear, they opened the door and motioned for him to enter.

The room seemed like a scene from Hell. It had formerly been ringed with mirrors, now every single one was shattered. The glass fragments had not been picked up, and they caked the floor, embedded into the fine carpets. There was blood scrubbed into the carpets as well, as if someone had been pacing barefoot over the broken glass. There was very little light, and Eagle could barely see the form hanging from the ceiling in the lowered chandelier. There was the man he was looking for. Vega, the champion of Bison, hanging from the ceiling like a bat.

Eagle was shocked. He had read briefs on the man, had seen pictures. Truly, the man was a fine speciman, looking more like a classic sculpture representing masculine beauty than a living breathing man. Now Vega was breathing heavily and grinning madly. His blue eyes blazed intently at Eagle, and he involuntarily took a step back. He realized then that Vega was not grinning, but a huge scar ran up his face, pulling one side of his mouth up in a permanent grimace. The man was nearly naked, and scratches and cuts covered his body. His hair was unwashed and wild. His eyes seemed almost feverish, and Eagle knew that the man was completely insane.

Vega started rocking in the chandelier, and when the chandelier was swinging enough, he leaped from it to the wall. He hit the wall at breakneck speed, but gripped it like a spider. He scuttled across the wall until he was directly over Eagle's head. Eagle could hear the click of metal tapping on stone. He realized that Vega had his famous claw. Vega started laughing, sounding for all the world like a raving maniac, and Eagle knew that Vega was about to attack him.

"Wait, Vega! I bring you a message! I work for a new boss, one who has taken over where Bison has failed. He searches for one who can kill Chun Li, and he offers that chance to you, knowing how you must yearn for revenge. Vega, do you hear me? I'm offering you revenge."

Eagle's voice rose in pitch as Vega leaped from the wall and roughly grabbed him, holding him off the ground with one hand, and pressing the claw of his other hand to his neck. Eagle deftly moved his hands to a position in which he could try to defend himself, but he knew that his position was bad, and Vega would most likely kill him easily. Vega held him like that for several moments, his blazing blue eyes as cold as ice, boring into Eagle's head. Finally he spoke, haltingly, as if not used to using his voice for speech.

"You...offer me...Chun Li? The one who...made me like...this?" Eagle nodded vigorously. Vega put him down and whispered to him. "Then we will...talk. I think we...can reach an...understanding about the need...for her...death."

Hong Kong

"What do you mean, Geki? How could my powers be the same as Bison's? I don't understand what you're talking about, but I'm not leaving until I get some answers!"

The blue-clad ninja looked at Cammy for a second; his expression unreadable. "I do not say that your powers are the same, merely that the source of your power is the same as his. You and he tap into the same source of chi to do your special moves. Now that Bison is dead, your own powers should increase as you find it easier to reach into the chi without Bison's influence or interference. You have the potential to be one of the most powerful world warriors ever, if you learn to focus your chi to achieve maximum power."

Cammy ground her teeth in frustration. "What are you talking about? I just want to find out what the bloody devil happened to me before I lost my memories. I want to find out who tried to kill me earlier this evening. I want to know who and what I am!" Cammy nearly whispered by the end of her small tirade. She seemed overcome with weariness and despair. She was so tired of not knowing who she was, or what strange event from her forgotten past would rise to haunt her next. She scrubbed at her suddenly bleary eyes, and caught her breath before she let out an audible sob. But if Geki noticed anything, he gave no sign. "My mistress can help you, Cammy. She has great power with dreams and the subconscious. She can tap into your memory and retrieve your lost past. She can also help you to learn to channel your full potential of chi. I am sure that the price she will ask will be merely a token in light of the immense benefits she can give you. Come with me, and I can take you to my mistress. She can solve your problems."

Cammy snorted. "Who is she, the Fairy Queen of Shangri-La? You make it sound like all she has to do is wave a magic wand, and everything will be fine. I'm not that naive, Geki, so you better come up with a better story than that."

Geki did. "You know about specials, you are one yourself, as am I. We, who have been world warriors and street fighters are mostly close to the same level of power. We can do comparable things, even if our source of chi is very different and the visible effects of what we do seem to look different. My mistress is also a special, but she can do things that even the most talented special you have ever seen cannot even dream of. Bison and Ryu are nothing next to her. But she does not use all of her chi in battle-winning effects. She can do many things, and she is very much in touch with the spiritual nature of the world. She can find your past, if she has not already, and she will help you."

Cammy was quiet for a moment. "What guarantee do I have that she will listen to me, or care about my problem? Just because you think your mistress can help me, how do you know that she will?"

Geki seemed to be laughing silently. "Because," he said, "that's the reason I came looking for you in the first place."

Futuyu, Northern China

Where the Juma River crosses the Great Wall in the Taihang Shan region of northern China is a small town called Futuyu. There is little about Futuyu to make it stand out. The farmers there raise their crops, and the workers work. Life is slow moving, and sedate. But that was what Gen had been looking for. Or at least he thought he had. That was before the old Xiao Li had died last night. Xiao Li was a friend of Gen's. Ever since Gen had moved to this small town, he and old Xiao Li had gotten together and swapped stories, told jokes, even flirted with women nearly every evening. Xiao Li and Gen were both very old men, who knew that they didn't have long to live, so they tried to live the best life they could.

But then Xiao Li had become sick. Gen watched him slowly die for a week, coughing up blood, barely able to penetrate the fever that made him delirious. When the fever had broken, Xiao Li was so weak he could only talk in a whisper. He died the next day.

Gen knew he was old, and that he would face death soon. He had faced it before, when he challenged Akuma, and managed to drive him off. He didn't exactly win that battle, but he didn't lose either. He had faced death when he fought other opponents as well. He did not fear death. But Gen had never faced death lying in a bed moaning for a week, so weak he couldn't move or speak. Gen had never faced what the westerners called a straw death before. Suddenly, Gen found that death could be very frightening after all.

"Master Gen, I don't understand why you must leave us, after only living here for a few years as it is. Can you not stay longer?" This was Gen's neighbor, a friendly young woman who worked in a shoe factory. She had a husband and a beautiful son who was eight years old. Gen was like another grandfather to the boy. Truly, Gen would miss them.

"No, I must go. My time is at hand, and I will not wait passively for death like Xiao Li. I will go kicking and screaming to face death, to grapple with it to the last breath, to spit in it's eye on the day it comes for me. Xiao Li's fate is not for me."

"Where will you go then?" asked the woman softly, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"Wherever I am needed the most. I have heard about these troubles in the south. I must confess I feel something pulling at me, dragging me that direction. Something is happening down there, and I must be a part of it. If that does not kill me, then I must continue searching. It is better to die fighting than moaning like Xiao Li."

"Must you be so eager to die?" the woman was sobbing now, and tears were running freely down her face.

"Death comes for one my age regardless of how eager I may be to embrace it. I simply accept that it is the time for me soon. I can feel the weight of the ages in my bones, even if I don't show it all of the time. I can, at times, feel death peering over my shoulder, as if to say Next time I come this way, it will be for you.' No, I am not eager to embrace death, but I will do so on my terms."

Gen did not say another word. He hoisted his bag over his shoulder, and walked down the road, without looking back at the life he was leaving behind. He ignored the muffled sobs of his friendly neighbor. Truly, he would miss them. But a higher purpose called him. A familiar threat seemed to be pulling him. And so he walked down the road, always heading south.

Hong Kong

Ken was riding in a cab from the airport. When he got to Hong Kong, there was someone waiting for him, a room had already been arranged for, and a key was given to him. He had only to go to his room, which was already checked out in his name, and wait to be contacted later in the afternoon. The messenger had nothing else to say, in fact, he probably didn't know anything else anyway. He appeared to be some street trash that had been talked into delivering the message for a few lousy bucks.

Ken was suprised to find that his hotel was large and actually very nice. There were uniformed bellboys, and valets were parking a variety of expensive cars. Ken hoped his casual clothes didn't look too out of place, because the last thing he wanted to do was stand out. But in the lobby there were several western travellers, many of them wearing clothes as casual as his. He declined the bellboy's offer of help- after all, he was already checked in. He looked again at the number on the key as he got into the elevator.

"Eleventh floor, please." he told the elevator operator.

His floor was quiet and slightly dim. When he entered the room, it was clean, orderly and spacious. He set his bag on a chair, and laid on the bed, with his arms crossed behind his head and his eyes wide open. He had only to wait, said the messenger at the airport, and he would be contacted here on the phone.

But Ken hated waiting. He hated sleeping. He hated eating. Anything that took time away from his search for his young wife was odious to him. He had seen himself in the mirror when he walked into the room. His hair was not combed well, and his face was covered with golden stubble. He hadn't had time to shave. His eyes were sunken into dark circles, but they blazed with fury and barely restrained impatience. No wonder the cab driver had looked at him so funny and driven so quickly straight to the hotel! Ken realized that he looked not only awful, but fierce as well. He had a few strange looks tossed his way in the lobby of the hotel. It was time to take care of himself.

He got up and showered, then shaved. He even opened his bag and got out a nice outfit that was comfortable, but would look like the kind of thing a rich American tourist would wear. He ironed the wrinkles out if it and hung it up to wear when he went out again. Still wearing only the towel that he had dried off with, he willed himself to rest on the bed, and he slept without any dreams for hours. He awoke fully at the sound of the phone ringing. His hands shook slightly as he picked up the receiver and answered in Japanese, the language that the messenger at the airport had used.

The person on the other end laughed slightly, and began talking English with a vulgar British street vernacular. " oo the ell do you think this is, Masters? You ain't in Japan, now, are you me lad?" Ken recognized the voice, but he couldn't remember who it was. He was sure that it would come back to him shortly if he could just hear the voice a little longer.

" 'ere's the deal, Masters. You want your pretty little wife back. We 'aven't done nuthin' to her, but to get her back, you'll 'ave to meet us and do a little demunstrashun for us."

"What are you talking about? What demonstration?"

"You'll see, Masters!" laughed the British voice on the other end. "Don't worry, its not anything you haven't done before. We just want to ave a little look at how your martial arts have been developin' over the years. Y'see, its been a while since I seen y' fight, and I want to see what you've got still."

"You just tell me where to go, and when, and if my wife isn't returned to me soon, you'll see a lot more of how I fight than you'll ever want to. Am I clear? I better see her soon or heads are going to roll."

"Calm down, Mr. Hot-shot American. We've got the upper hand, so you'll do what you're told. Tonight at eight o'clock someone will pick you up in the lobby of your otel. e'll take you to where we need you to be. And don't cause any trouble with im if you want your wife to look as pretty as she did when you saw her last, clear?" There was a click, and the line went dead. Ken hurled the phone across the room.

He looked much cleaner now, and he wasn't the wreck that was drawing all of the attention in the lobby. But if anyone could have seen his eyes blazing in fury, they would have turned around and ran. Ken was finally going to be doing something, and he vowed to himself that whoever had taken Eliza would start paying tonight.

Shotokan Temple, Tibet

Sheng Long sighed again. He was a patient man, and had long ago learned to wait for what must happen, but he was bordering on frustration now. Ryu had come to him three weeks ago, and he seemed solidly resistant to the teachings that Sheng Long had tried to show him. Ryu was a troubled man. He never actually finished his training under Gouken, and as such, he couldn't really be considered a Shotokan master. Ironically, however, he was superior to any real Shotokan Master in the fighting arts. But Ryu lacked the center, the inner peace of Shotokan. He could use the chi power, and he had the most powerful Hadoken that Sheng Long had ever seen. But he was not one with the chi, he was detached from it. In short, Ryu was only a step away from falling from the true discipline of Shotokan despite his mastery of the fighting technique. Sheng Long feared for him, for warrior's such as Ryu were the kind who fell victim to the lure of the dark Shotokan, and the forbidden lore of the Raging Demon.

Any other man besides Ryu should have responded long ago to Sheng Long's training. Ryu should be able to focus himself differently now, and most of all, he should be able to feel the peace and joy that accompany this world. But he did not. He was as cold as the forlorn mountains outside the temple, and he cared for nothing except proving himself in battle against ever more powerful foes. Sheng Long worried that if Ryu ever did encounter Akuma, as he wished, that his defeat and death might be better for him.

Again Sheng Long sighed. He knew what must be done, but was reluctant to go to such extreme measures. But Ryu's lack of progress was reaching the critical stage. He must be properly trained if he is to resist the lure of the dark Shotokan and the Raging Demon. He clapped his hands loudly.

Ryu had been waiting outside for just this signal. He entered silently, treading like a cat and stood just as silently before Sheng Long, seeming not even paying attention. Sheng Long knew that Ryu observed everything that happened around him, however. He was always battle ready, even if the confines of the Shotokan temple. Sheng Long spoke slowly, heavy with the feeling of failure.

"Ryu, we have come to a desparate time. You continue to stagnate, and you are not responding to my teachings. You have all of the knowledge, but you cannot apply it. I am afraid that your years as a world warrior have set you on a path that must be backtracked considerably before you can truly be one with the Shotokan way. I now know what must be done if you are to progress. Come with me Ryu."

Sheng Long rose and Ryu followed him out of the dim room wherethe old master always meditated. Ryu continued to follow, outside of the temple, then outside the gate of the temple compound. Here, the world was white and grey. The air was bitter cold, the wind howled, and snow filled the air, stinging against Ryu's skin and obscuring his vision. Neither he nor the ancient master paid the weather any mind. Ryu was surprised to find that a cave mouth appeared in front of him suddenly, a gaping maw that seemed to lead simply inside a snow drift. The sides of the cave were wind shaped snow and ice, and it looked as though the cave had existed for some time. The only sign of Ryu's surprise was the slight lifting of one eyebrow. Sheng Long led Ryu inside. The cave appeared to be ice throughout. Apparently, there was a glacier beneath this particular part of the mountain, and the cave led deep inside of it. The walls glowed with a faint greenish glow from algae that grew inside the ice. Ryu had heard of such things once, but he certainly had never expected to see it. As usual, he buried his curiousity beneath his outward calm, stifling his emotion before it had a chance to develop. He knew in his head, from Sheng Long's teachings, that his emotions were an important part of his development as a Shotokan master, but he had been smothering them for so long, that he could no longer let them develop as normal. He didn't know how to feel them. Suddenly Sheng Long stopped and Ryu realized that they had come to an end of the tunnel. The light was dimmer here than before, and Ryu couldn't see what was on the wall in front of him. Sheng Long spoke slowly now, the ritual words. "We bring you, Shotokan warrior, to this most sacred site. Here you will show your worthiness and mastery of the Shotokan arts, and here will your needs be shown unto you. Only here may you know the truth about yourself, and only here will the truth be revealed."

Ryu looked in askance at Sheng Long, and he spoke again in a normal voice. "I have begun a ritual that will reveal how to bring you to center with the world and the Shotokan way, Ryu. Simply strike the center of this wall with your Hadoken, and you will be instructed. I give you this warning, Ryu. This is a measure of last resort. You will be facing your deepest fears today, the fears and doubts that make you unable to reach your highest potential. Some have been brought here only to die of fright or go mad contemplating their fears. But in your case, this is necessary if you are to resist the urge of the dark Shotokan."

"Do not worry, Master Sheng Long," said Ryu, his voice as cold as the icy walls. "I am afraid of nothing. I will face what holds me back, and I will conquer it."

Sheng Long permitted himself a small smile, which Ryu surely couldn't see anyway in the gloom. "Brave words, Ryu. Others have said the same. I hope that you are right in your estimation of your abilities. Now begin. We have held up the ritual as long as is wise already."

Ryu drew the energy of his chi, the energy of the Shotokan way, which came from the world around him, and focused it into a small point in his hands. The energy grew, and blazed. Ryu held it, and strengthened it, and finally released it into the wall. As his fireball struck the icy wall, it began to glow. Soon it blazed as bright as a fire, glowing with flickering blue light. Ryu could see that carved in the ice was a face, similar to the face carved into the Shoryuken practice board in the temple ground. As Ryu watched, the eyes on the carved face snapped open, and blinding light streamed from them to strike Ryu square in the face. He held up his hand, but the light was still shone through his flesh, boring into his head. He collapsed in a heap, unconcious.

After a moment, the lights went out, and the tunnel returned to its normal dim lighting of before. Sheng Long walked slowly over to Ryu's motionless body and knelt beside him. Ryu was starting to wake, and Sheng Long hoped that he had retained his sanity. Despite Ryu's brave words, Sheng Long knew that he had faced more today than any student of the Shotokan way had ever faced. Whatever was holding Ryu back was stronger than any fear that any man had ever brought with him to the face on the ice. Sheng Long was relieved that Ryu had even survived at all. Ryu sat up slowly, blinking and trying to remember where he was.

"Ryu, is everything all right?" Sheng Long carefully disguised the slight quaver in his voice. Ryu still did not answer him right away, but Sheng Long was relieved as the confusion on Ryu's face cleared, and he quit blinking and shaking his head. Ryu looked at Sheng Long for a second, then he stood.

"Yes, Master Sheng Long, I am still whole." Sheng Long almost gasped. Ryu's voice was strained, and his face was almost as white as the snow above them. Ryu continued, "I know what I must do, Master Sheng Long. I will be leaving this evening."

"Where are you going? What are you doing?"

"I am returning to Japan." was Ryu's quiet answer. Sheng Long saw the wild look in Ryu's eyes, as a man who is being hunted might have. Whatever Ryu must face in Japan, it must truly be the most frightening thing in the world to so shake the icy calm of the champion world warrior.

San Antonio, Texas

Guile sat in his armchair at home thinking about the things that had happened today. He was worried a little about his family, but he wasn't sure how much he would need to worry. Maybe Sagat and some old friends had come for Ken and his wife. If that was the case, Guile had absolutely nothing to worry about. He hadn't even seen Sagat more than a few times, and had absolutely nothing to worry about from him. On the other hand, General Wainwright had said that rumors in southern Asia spoke of a new boss, who had taken Bison's place, and who wanted to gather all the specials from the street fighter tournaments of the past. If that was the case, then Guile had plenty to worry about. He had made it to the highest levels of the tournament, and his name was well-known among the world warriors. Other warriors remembered good old Charlie, and his name might be connected with Guile's own. Either way, Guile couldn't hope to pass the time in anonymity . "Hey, Daddy." Guile looked over the edge of the chair he was sitting on to smile at his daughter. "What's got into you today? You seem awfully worried about something."

Guile tried to smile reassuringly and play down his worry. "I'm just worried about you being old enough to date, Amy. I think you better tell me something about this Mark who was over watching videos today."

"Well, he's nice. He's just a friend from school really, and we have several classes together. We're not really dating or anything, just hanging around together a little."

"I hope so. The rule in our house was going to be no dating until you turn sixteen, but I can see your mother has relaxed that somewhat while I was gone."

Amy laughed a little and moved closer to her father. "Don't worry, Dad! I'm not the kind of girl who falls in love, elopes or gets pregnant and ends up married by the time I'm sixteen or seventeen. You don't have to worry about me."

"I'm more worried about the guys you may end up dating. If any of them touch you, I'll teach them to just go home and be family men. And they won't like the lesson much at all."

Amy rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, Daddy! I can take care of myself. Mom's had me going to karate lessons for almost as long as you've been gone. No one is going to touch me unless I let them, and I'm not going to let anyone for quite a while."

Guile sat up with professional interest. "What kind of karate are you learning? What's the name of the style?"

"I don't know. Our sensei tells us not to worry about those kinds of things until we're better. He tells us we should learn the basics of fighting first, before we try to compare or analyze styles."

"Well, I guess that sounds like pretty good advice, but I can't believe nobody's ever told you the name of the style you're learning. Maybe I ought to go to your next lesson and talk to the sensei a little just to see what kind of things he's teaching you."

Amy crinkled her nose a little, in a sure sign that she didn't really want him to do that. Her words belied her face however. "Allright, Dad, that might be a good idea. Now if you don't mind, I've got to start getting ready for bed. I've got a track meet tomorrow, and our bus leaves from the school at five to get us there." With a soft goodnight kiss, Amy went to her room, leaving Guile sitting thoughtfully in his chair. She was humming softly while she undressed for bed and began brushing out her hair. Still in her underwear, she began rooting around in her drawer for the pajamas she wanted to wear tonight with one hand while she continued brushing with the other. Suddenly she stopped. In the little make-up mirror on her dresser, she thought she had seen something move. She stood up, the brush now stilled in one hand, and a red nightgown in the other. She couldn't see anything now, but she was sure she had seen something. She whipped around quickly, and had just enough time to see an oriental face on a shaved head before she fell to the ground with a hand at her throat. She tried to scream, but could barely gurgle a tiny call for help. Before she knew it, the blackness came from all around her, and she passed into unconsciousness.

Guile heard a thump come from Amy's room, and what seemed to be the sound of movement. "Amy? Are you all right? Did you fall down or something?" When she didn't answer, Guile stood up and began walking toward her room. Should he just go in? Despite her outpouring of affection, Guile knew that his relationship with his family was still rather precarious since he left them five years ago to pursue revenge for Charlie. He didn't think that walking in on his daughter getting ready for bed would be the best thing right now. She still didn't answer, though. He stood right at the door now, and called again, knocking.

Still no answer.

"Allright, Amy, I'm coming in to make sure your allright." He opened the door and saw a nightmare come to life. There were two men in view, one in the room and one right outside the window. The man inside was passing Amy's undressed and still body outside. Before Guile could react, he heard a shot and saw that the man outside the window had fired on him with a rifle. Guile felt a prick in his shoulder but he ignored it as he called forth the power of the sonic boom with more rage and anger than he had ever done before. The whirling blaze of light dashed through the room, out the window and slammed into the gunman, knocking him down into the bushes. The man on the inside leapt into action. He was a Japanese man, with a completely shaved head. He wore what Guile took to be some kind of monk's outfit, and he moved pretty good. Guile lept forward and attempted to backhand him, but the man ducked underneath him and kicked Guile's feet out from under him. Guile hit the floor hard, but he sprang back up, calling on his chi energy again to Flash Kick the bald man. His foot impacted heavily with the man's chin knocking him backwards. The man recovered quickly and leapt into the air to atttack again, but Guile timed his counter leap just right to catch the man by the waist and bring him crashing down on his shoulder.

Normally, the move would break a man's back, but Guile could feel that it hadn't landed quite right. The bald man was still lying the floor, squirming and groaning in pain, but Guile's vision was starting to blur. He saw that two more gunmen had come in through the window, and he couldn't see Amy anymore. Guile stumbled a little, and heard the men laughing, but it sounded muffled, as if he had a pillow over both ears. He glanced down at his shoulder where he had been shot, and saw a tiny little dart sticking from his skin. He barely had the energy to pluck it from his flesh before he lost consciousness.

Bangkok, Thailand

Guy and Chun Li were sitting in another restaurant. Chun Li was muttering to herself in Mandarin, and Guy was doing a very impressive job of ignoring her completely. "Stupid assignment, all we ever do is eat and walk around, if I were running this, we'd be out beating some punks heads until we got some info..."

"Allright, Chun Li, look alive. See that fellow that just came in? No, the one with the red pants. He's a known agent of Max's. Name's Joe, and he's been around for a while. He was in the very first street fighter tournament, but he didn't get too far. I think Ryu or Ken beat him, and he's been living as a vagabond in the train yard ever since. He's lately been recruited by Max, and he knows something about what they do. We'll wait and watch him, and when he leaves we can get him in one of these alleys and question him."

"Guy, I don't think that this is very good methodology. We'll being playing our hand too soon, and Max will know that we're looking for him. Don't forget that you went up against Bison before too. If this Max gets word that we're looking for him, we could be in real trouble."

Guy's smile turned nasty. "Then I guess we won't let him get word, will we." Chun Li gulped and nodded her head. They kept an eye on Joe for about another hour, sipping their drinks and nibbling at their food. They made conversation, trying to look as natural as possible. Chun Li actually found herself telling Guy about her childhood in China before she realized what she was doing. She stopped and let Guy talk while she thought. She was getting entirely too close to Guy on this assignment. She couldn't believe it, but once you got to know him, Guy was a pretty decent fellow. He was talking about his youth in Japan, and how he knew both Ryu and Ken before they started studying Shotokan karate, and how he himself had learned the bushinruu way from some nameless Green Master, when Joe stood up.

Chun Li hastily cut Guy off and motioned towards the blond American. She was glad to have him stop anyway. When he talked, his mouth twisted up into a little half smile that was so cute...No! He was not her type at all, he was arrogant, and much too confident for her. Besides, he was way too skinny. Chun Li had only ever looked at men who had a little more meat on their bones. Like that Charlie fellow she had met years ago. Now he was a good looking man. Why in the world did she even think about what Guy looked like anyway?

They waited until Joe had left the restaurant, then Guy and Chun Li quickly paid their check and followed him out. When they got outside, they looked around the dim city. The restaurant was certainly in a seedy neighborhood, and the dimness was made deeper by the thick cloud cover that had poured rain all over the city just a couple of hours ago, but they could just see Joe about two blocks away. He had paused to light a cigarette, so Chun Li and Guy walked quietly towards him, hugging the shadows. Joe started up again, but he walked slowly, humming to himself and looking around at the sky as if he were on some kind of picnic. Chun Li and Guy had absolutely no trouble in overtaking him.

"Ok," whispered Chun Li. "What's the plan?"

"Well, we'll beat the snot out of him and bring him with us to our hotel, where we can interrogate him at length. I thought given the mood you've been in, you might like that idea, and it does seem to be the quickest thing I can think of."

Chun Li nodded, but Guy could see the eager gleam in her eyes that said she was really looking forward to a good fight. Joe had turned into an alley, and Chun Li and Guy quickly followed him, calling his name as they entered the mouth of the alley.

To their surprise, Joe was not alone. There was a well dressed European man with him who snarled as they approached. When he spoke, his accent was perfect BBC English. "You've been followed, Joe. Quickly, we must eliminate these two."

Not if I have anything to say about it!" shouted Chun Li as she leaped high into the air to place a well- aimed kick at the European man's head. Joe was shouting now, as well. "Eagle, you handle the girl, and I'll take this one."

Eagle was recovering quickly however, and two metal bars materialized out from behind his vest. "Come, then, girl! Let's see how you can handle a former street fighter!" Chun Li laughed as she spun through the air, placing a multitude of kicks that should have blasted Eagle to near unconsciousness. He blocked them all however, and struck out with one of his bars, bruising Chun Li's side and causing her to fall. Chun Li felt stiff still, from her time in convalescence, and she was having trouble keeping up with Eagle's quick attacks. The bars slammed into her arms and sides, and several times she thought that she must surely break a rib or armbone, yet she struggled to keep fighting. She drew into herself her chi energy and unleashed the powerful Kikkoken blast full in Eagle's face, knocking him back at least fifteen feet and slamming him against a brick wall. That should give her a little time, at least.

Meanwhile, Guy was battling with Joe. He leaped forward just as Joe leaped up, but Guy somersaulted in the air, and grabbed Joe, slamming him to the ground. Guy landed lightly on the other side of him, but quickly followed through with a blazing flurry of kicks and punches. Joe recovered executing a spin kick that hit Guy and knocked him down, but didn't seriously hurt him. Guy jumped back to get some distance and found himself against the wall. No problem! He jumped up and bounced off the wall to elbow drop on Joe's face. Joe fell heavily, bruised and grimacing in pain, but it looked like he wasn't completely done for yet.

Eagle backhanded Chun Li casually with his left hand iron bar. Chun Li was not having the best of this fight. Blood ran from her mouth, and a red bruise was showing under her eye. Her clothes were torn and dirty from her many falls to the ground. She was started to get a little dizzy, but she shrugged it off. She leaped backwards trying to gain some time to think. Eagle came running forward. Chun Li hit the wall and jumped even higher off of it just as Eagle was jumping towards her. She smiled inwardly at the shock on his face as she came over him. She reached out and grabbed his vest, then threw him heavily to the ground. When he was trying to rise, she was already waiting for him. Once again she called on her chi energy, this time to use it to power her leg, which moved faster than was humanly possible, striking Eagle a dozen times. Her lightning kick had saved her many times before, and it now looked to be about ready to finish Eagle off. He was finally thrown back from her whirring leg to slam heavily against the brick wall again. He looked like there wasn't too much fight left in him, which was good, because Chun Li was about done for herself.

Guy slammed Joe down again. "It looks like your years of sitting around the train yard have really paid off, Joe. You're a disgrace to the street fighters. How could you ever have truly been one? No wonder you never rose past the first eliminations." Joe leaped up in pain and rage, shouting some wordless cry. This was his last desperate gamble, and Guy knew it. With a well placed elbow, Guy knocked him out of the air and out of the action. Joe fell once again to the ground, this time unconscious. Guy looked around him. Chun Li and Eagle were still fighting, but just barely. They both looked like they were on the point of collapse. They both leaped at the same time for a final aerial confrontation. Eagle swung his heavy bar at her, and she barely blocked it. Guy heard her grunt as the force of the blow caused another bruise on her already black and blue arms. Chun Li knew what she was doing, however, and right as she landed she released the blue-flamed Kikkoken at point blank range in Eagle's face. He fell loudly to the ground, smoke rising in tendrils from his torn and bloody clothing. He would not get back up for quite a while.

Chun Li swayed however and fell to the ground, breathing heavily and nearly sobbing in pain. Before he knew what he was doing, Guy ran to her side and was craddling her in his arms. "Chun Li! Are you allright? C'mon Chun Li, I need you for this mission. I need you! You've got to be allright! I love you!" Guy stopped suddenly when he realized what he had said. He didn't breathe for almost a minute. He thought desperately that maybe she didn't hear him through the haze of pain, but he could see that despite her bruises she was looking at him with a strange look in her eye. Guy could never explain why he did what he did next. He leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth.

She struggled at first, whimpering slightly, but she didn't have the strength to do much else. It soon became apparent that she didn't have the will to either, because soon Guy could feel her kissing him back. It was unlike anything Guy had ever experienced. Her lips were warm and smooth except where they were cracked from Eagle's blows. Guy had never kissed anyone who was bleeding from the mouth either, but everything seemed to come together to make this the best kiss he had ever had. Maybe it was simply because he had come to fall madly in love with Chun Li over the last few days, while they had been working together.

After a moment, Guy stopped kissing her and looked deep into her clear, brown eyes. She was looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face, and she still looked exhausted and full of pain. "This isn't exactly the way I had in mind to tell you, Chun Li. Despite all that, this is the happiest moment of my life."

Chun Li seemed to smile for a second, then she passed out.

Hong Kong

Ken was picked up promptly at eight, just like the Englishman had told him. There was a driver and a small car waiting for him downstairs. The car careened through the crowded streets, and the driver wouldn't answer any questions, which annoyed Ken to no end. But they soon arrived at an old building in a run down and nearly abandoned industrial district. The driver motioned for Ken to get out of the car and enter the building. For no real reason, Ken flipped the driver a coin and literally stalked out of the car. There was a short dirt space that Ken had to cross, and the doorway was lit by a simple light bulb that swung in the wind from a wire above. Without ceremony, Ken threw the door open and walked inside.

To his surprise, the room was full of people. A makeshift platform was erected in the center, and people sat all around it, on benches, on chairs, on balconies and catwalks; anywhere that a person could possibly be. When Ken came in, the people all began cheering loudly and chanting his name. He saw a few other people at the other end of the platform, and a few of them mounted it in anticipation of him. When he got to the platform, he saw that they were all people he recognized. There was Birdie...that's who called him on the phone!...and Vega was there as well. Vega sure looked different. His face was completely blasted away on one side. The skin and muscles were pulled away to reveal his teeth and gums in a grisly smile. He was unclad except for a white loincloth, and his body was criss-crossed with a network of scars and marks. He still wore his wicked claw on one hand, and the demonic light in his eyes was enough to make Ken almost take a step back.

"Masters! It's jolly great to see you again, old chap!" shouted Birdie in a jovial voice. "Maybe after this is all over we can sit and 'ave a drink and catch up a little." Birdie laughed a little and waved to Ken to mount the wooden platform. Ken was glad that he had worn his gi today. He stood silently in the ready position. This waste of time really annoyed him, but he would gladly kill any man who stood in the way of his reaching Eliza again. Vega and Birdie would fall the same as any other man. In fact, Ken had beaten Birdie once, a long time ago, in Sagat's first tournament. He had seen Vega fall to Chun Li also, so he knew what to expect from him. "C'mon then, Birdie. Let's do this little 'demonstration' and get on with it."

Birdie seemed to be arguing with Vega. Ken couldn't make out very well what they were saying, but the gist of it seemed to be that Ken wasn't Chun Li, and that was the only person he wanted to fight. Finally Birdie seemed to win the argument, however, because Vega turned to face Ken while Birdie stepped off of the platform. "Masters! These people all want to see what you've got. Vega will give you a little run for your money, then you can go back to the hotel. I know that this seems like a waste of time to you, but just do what we tell you, and when the time is right we can quit playing around and get down to business. You'll 'ave to bear with us while we move our offices here from Bangkok!"

"Shut up, Birdie! You're no business, you're a gang of cheap thugs and mobsters. Now tell me how to find Eliza, or you will pay tonight."

Birdie laughed. "No, Masters, Vega will pay. If you can collect from him. I understand that its tough to do but your going to have to try." Birdie backed away. Still laughing as Vega squared off with Ken. Ken could hear him laughing some, and giggling to himself. Vega was always a disturbed individual, but Ken was sure that his defeat had driven him completely insane. Vega's gigglings and mutterings seemed to rise in pitch to match the crowd, until Vega was nearly shouting. Ken didn't understand a word of it, and suspected that it was mostly gibberish, although every once in a while a recognizable Spanish word would come out. When Vega had reached a certain frenzied point, he attacked.

Ken was ready for him, though, so when Vega leaped into the air, he countered with a Shoryuken that caused a blast of light and threw Vega down to the floor of the platform. Vega recovered quickly and scuttled spider-like after Ken, launching himself suddenly straight for him. His claw tore into Ken's side, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Vega pressed the attack by rolling towards Ken, lashing out with his claw at every opportunity. Ken quickly drew the energy necessary for his special move and unleashed a quick Hadouken at the rolling Vega, which he was unable to avoid. Once again Vega crashed to the ground, but he didn't stay down for long. This time Vega leaped backwards, then somehow changed directions midleap to come flying down at Ken at full speed. Ken tried to get out of the way of his opponents claw, but Vega reached out and grabbed Ken, flipping him over and causing him to land heavily on his head. Ken rolled away from Vega's slashing claws as best he could until he had an opportunity to stand and knock Vega aside. Ken was slashed in many places now, and some of his wounds were bleeding heavily. It was time to bring an end to the battle. Ken suddenly dived for the ground and rolled towards Vega. The Spaniard didn't know how to react to this attack, so was unprepared when Ken stopped rolling and stood right in front of him. Ken was smiling nastily as he grabbed Vegas shoulders and threw himself in to a backyards flip. After rolling once with Vega, he tossed the mangled Spaniard back and watched as he flew completely outside of the ring and landed heavily on the front row of spectators.

As Ken stood, the crowd went wild, cheering and shouting his name in unison. Ken wasn't done with what he intended to do, though. He stalked off of the platform to where Birdie stood, amusement and surprise plain on his grizzled face. "Quite a performance, Masters. I guess you haven't lost it much aftAAWK!" Birdie's voice rose in a cry of pain as Ken kicked him square in the face. The spectators nearby quickly left, nearly trampling each other in their eagerness to get some distance between themselves and the angry Ken. "Now, wait a minute, Masters! This isn't going to help anything at all..."

Ken wasted no time in leveling Birdie with a Hadouken blast. When Birdie stood, disheveled and smoking still, his face was contorted with rage and pain. "If this is how you want it, Masters, then let's go!" Birdie came rushing at Ken with the speed of an express train, his mohawk clearly glowing with the force of his chi. Ken leaped aside at the last minute, and Birdie slammed into the edge of the platform, causing a crack that opened almost all the way across the wooden surface. Ken reached over and grabbed the slightly woozy Birdie and pummelled him with his knee while holding him tight. Birdie was finally able to break free, but Ken pressed his attack. The rage and anger in Ken had built to such a level that he could no longer hold it back. Ken unleashed more chi energy than he had ever held in him before and executed a beautiful Shoryu Reppa uppercut. As Ken spun through the motion, he was nearly blinded by the light of his released chi. Birdie's body flew backwards from the blow, and when Ken looked at it, it was obvious that Birdie was dead. His skin was cracked and blistered where it wasn't charred outright, and flames still rose from his clothing. His cracked mouth was open in a silent scream of pain.

Ken felt the rage leave him. Coldly, he walked back outside of the building. The now silent spectators didn't make any move to hinder him, and he found his ride still waiting for him. He sat down in the back seat of the little car, and tore his gi to wrap his cuts. "Allright, driver. Let's go back to the hotel."

Miyazaki, Japan

Ryu had been searching for a few days all over Japan. Finally he had discovered that the person he was looking for had taken a new job and moved to a different island and was now working in the city of Miyazaki. He let out a long breath and finally knocked on the door of the address he had found in the local directory. Could it be that his long quest was finally over? Ryu almost hoped that it wasn't. He was more nervous about what he was now doing than he had ever been in his life. Try as he might, he could not suppress the emotion that threatened to flood over him, washing away the years of iron self-control and calm that he had been building up for so long. He was sure that this was why the icy magic of the Shotokan temple had told him to come here, and face his greatest fear-- because the emotion would be too strong to contain. Ryu would finally be able to release his emotions, which he had forgotten how to do. When that moment came, according to Sheng Long, he would truly be a master of the Shotokan discipline. "A true master does not bury or suffocate his emotions, as Ryu had always done," said the ancient master. "A true master feels his emotions, lets them flow through him, and they can increase his power. Through the control, not destruction of emotions can one grasp the true meaning of the Shotokan school of karate. Inner peace, and outward power are the rewards to one who masters his emotions and can harness them for good." Ryu steeled himself and knocked again.

"Who is it?" called out a woman's voice. Ryu gave his name. The door opened to reveal a young woman in her early twenties. She was pretty, but Ryu never noticed those kind of things. She looked him up and down, frowning slightly. "Ryu, huh? You're pretty cute. Do you work out much?" Ryu answered coldly that he did.

The woman seemed to be waiting for something, but after a moment she merely frowned at Ryu. "Look, Ryu, I don't know who you are, or what you want, but..." Ryu halted her in mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, you are not who I thought you might be then. Is there anyone else who lives here? I was told..."

The young woman rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, you must be one of my room mates crazy fighter friends. Wait a second while I go and get her." She turned away from the door with a wary glance at Ryu. The next face to come to the door was one that Ryu knew already, but never expected to see again.

"Hello, Sakura," he said simply. The girl stood looking at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. No, Ryu corrected himself. She was a woman now. She must be about twenty-one, and she showed the signs of her increased maturity. Sakura had grown to be a beautiful woman, with large brown eyes that retained a look of almost childish innocence. Her mouth was open and slightly turned up in a faint smile, and her red lips were quivering slightly with excitement. Her hair had grown out some in the five years since Ryu had met her, and she had it pulled back in a long braid. Gone was her school-girl outfit; she now wore a form- fitting suit that covered her from neck to foot. Over this black tight suit was a white gi that had the sleeves ripped off, looking for all the world like Ryu's own.

Sakura finally recovered her voice. "Ryu!" she said, with surprise still in her eyes. "What in the world are you doing here? I can't believe your really here! What can I do for you? I can't imagine why you would come looking for me! I..." Ryu thought it might be good to interrupt Sakura before she went on forever. "I'm here to solve a problem, Sakura. Sheng Long, the greatest master of Shotokan karate still living has sent me here to you so that I may learn the one thing that keeps me from being a master myself."

"What? You're the greatest fighter who ever lived. How can you not be a master? You know Ryu, I never did understand you very much. For a long time after we met and you refused to teach me, I tried to understand what it was that I did wrong, and why you didn't accept me. Finally I realized that it wasn't me at all, but you that had the problem. I mean, I'm still your biggest fan, but I realize that you aren't perfect, like I used to think. But what in the world could you learn from me?"

Ryu struggled to find the words he wanted to say. Finally, he was able to stumble through an explanation. "I...am cold. I don't feel anything. I don't know how to feel emotion. Part of a Shotokan master's power is his control of emotion, but I don't have any. I don't know why exactly you are supposed to be able to teach me this, but it was revealed very clearly to me in the temple of Shotokan."

"You've been to the temple of Shotokan? Neat! What was that like? Were there lots of students and fights and ...Oh No! I'm going to be late again! Talking about fights reminded me. C'mon, let's go before we get disqualified!"

"What are you talking about, Sakura? You don't make any sense today." Ryu tried to get her to explain, but she was rushing around the house grabbing keys and her purse and anything else she thought she needed. "There's no time, Ryu! Come with me! Now that you're here, I don't want to let you out of my sight for a minute!" Sakura ran outside and Ryu had to run to keep up with her.

"Maybe the first emotion I feel will be the desire to kill her for driving me crazy!" muttered Ryu to himself, without even realizing that he felt annoyance quite keenly, mingled with fond amusement. Sakura was always his favorite fan, seeming like the cute little scatter-brained sister to him. They sprinted for three blocks until they arrived at a bus stop, fortuitously right as a bus was approaching. "Here, we have to take this one," Sakura told Ryu. "Do you have any money to pay for the ride? No? Well, I can cover for you. I make pretty good money on our side bets."

"Sakura, you haven't told me where we are going." Ryu still smiled slightly at the whimsical girl. Woman, he corrected himself again. She is a woman now, even if she is still very young. Sakura slapped herself on the forehead. "Sorry, Ryu! I forgot you couldn't know! I have to compete in a fight downtown. If I don't get there in about fifteen minutes, my companion will kill me!"

When Ryu asked about the companion, Sakura explained more to him. "Yea, its the newest fad here in Japan, at least on the street fighting circuit. You fight tag team, switching off when things are looking rough, or when you just want to let your companion have a little action. I have this friend who fights with me, and she doesn't like it much when I'm late, which is quite often." Sakura could barely talk as the bus bounced her all over the place. The bus was crammed full and both Sakura and Ryu had to stand. At this point, more people boarded the bus, and Ryu and Sakura got pushed further apart. She tried to keep talking to him, practically shouting over the bustle, but Ryu pretended that he couldn't hear, and she presently stood quietly, just watching him.

Good grief, was this how this was going to end up? She's gotten more clingy than a tick, Ryu thought. At least she's still fighting. We'll have something to talk about.

Soon Sakura motioned to Ryu that they would need to disembark at the next stop. When they were both off, Sakura sprinted again and Ryu barely noticed in time to keep up with her. They were in a poorer neighborhood, with tall tenement apartments all around them. Sakura finally arrived at a rough pavilion area that was covered with corrugated steel. There was a spot in the center that was cleared of people, and Sakura pressed through the crowd of onlookers to make her way to the center. Ryu followed, glaring at anyone who complained about their treatment of the crowd as they made their way through. Many of the audience seemed to recognize Ryu and they quickly made way. The crowd's cheering quieted to mutters behind Ryu and Sakura as the ones who knew who the two of them were told their neighbors. Ryu even recognized a face or two as regular spectators in some of his own fights. The street fighting fans never seemed to change much.

When they reached the center of the crowd, Ryu saw a slender girl waiting impatiently that Sakura approached and began speaking to. She wore baggy pants, and a dark mask that covered the bottom of her face. She had long hair that hung down her back, and her eyes looked almost as young as Sakura's. "Sorry, Ibuki. I had an unexpected visitor arrive right when I was getting ready to leave. You may have heard of him. Ryu, this is Ibuki, my tag-team partner. Ibuki, this is Ryu, former champion of the street fighter tournament until he disappeared into western China. Anyway, you've heard of him."

Ibuki's eyes widened in surprise, partly from meeting Ryu, the former champ, and partly from the offhand manner in which Sakura introduced him. Ryu wondered how long they had been together if Sakura hadn't yet told her about every single instant she had been with him before. Sakura was that kind of fan.

"Who are we fighting today, Ee?" asked Sakura. Ibuki waved to two men at the other side of the clear spot. Both were thin, and looked alike, except for their manner of dress. The also both had on sleevless vests, that were long enough to hang past their knees in the front and back, although they were high on the sides. One had a baseball cap and a braid, the other had wild hair that shot forward from his brow.

"Those two," she said. "Their names are Yun and Yang, and they practice identical forms of Kung Fu. They're pretty quick, I've seen them in action before. But I don't think they're quicker than either of us, and they can't be much stronger either. We shouldn't have to worry too much about this fight. I'll go first, though and let you keep an eye on their style." Ibuki stepped forward, towards the center of the clear area and waited for Yun to do the same. While the fight began, Ryu got a chance to speak a little with Sakura.

"How long have you been fighting with this Ibuki?" he asked. Sakura answered in a vague way, her attention more on the fight than on Ryu's words.

"A couple of years is all. This tag team method of battle is a recent trend, so we ended up fighting against each other a few times before that. We've always gotten along fairly well, though, and we work well together."

Sakura fell silent for several minutes after that, and Ryu chanced another comment. "You know, she doesn't really move like him, but something about her reminds me of Guy. Maybe they had similar instructors in the ninjitsu..."

"Funny you should notice that," Sakura interrupted paying sharp attention to Ryu now. "Don't ever tell anyone, but Ibuki is looking for Guy. She doesn't like to talk about it, but I think they may be related in some way. But Guy seems to be a hard man to track down. He seems to have left the street fighting circuit for a while."

"Guy does that," commented Ryu. "He has his own ends and only enters street fighting when it serves his purposes."

"Well, whatever it is, I hope that Ibuki finds him soon. She tries not to show it, but something is wrong, and she really wants to find him. I'm worried that one day she'll up and leave me to go look for him. Then I'll have to look for a new companion, or go back to solo fighting, which doesn't have the same kinda betting on it, so..."

Ryu interrupted Sakura by covering her mouth with his hand. She struggled indignantly for a moment, then noticed that he was looking past her intently. She quit struggling and joined him in scanning the crowd. "What are we looking for?" she asked with an excited tone in her voice. Ryu didn't answer.

For several more minutes they scanned the crowd. Ibuki was looking their way, ready to tag Sakura in, but they didn't notice her. Suddenly a man next to Ryu was reaching into his coat and pulling out a gun. Ryu reacted instantly, sending a blast of Hadouken energy at the man, causing him to fall backwards, into the fighting arena. More men, dressed identically materialized out of the crowd to surround Ryu. He stepped out into the arena to gain some fighting room, and Sakura came with him. The fight between Ibuki and the Kung Fu fellow had drawed to a halt, as they looked now to see what was happening. Ibuki walked over to Sakura and asked what was going on. It was soon obvious, however, as the men all drew some type of weapon from their coats and attacked.

With fireballs and Ibuki's knives, the enemies with guns were taken down first. There were about half a dozen other fighters left, most of them armed with crowbars. They all rushed in at once, while the crowd either cheered the bigger fight that they didn't expect to see, or jeered the newcomers for stopping the fight they had bet on.

Ryu executed a beautiful Shoryuken, taking the first one of the attackers down. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Sakura and Ibuki were doing their part to even the odds. Ryu faced the next one, blocking his swinging crowbar and kicking him in the face. He followed up with a punch right in the nose, and a foot sweep. While the man was falling, he sent a Hadouken blast into his body, knocking him back more, and putting him out for good. A third attacker was coming at him now, and Ryu barely blocked his crowbar from knocking him in the head. He didn't stop a follow-up kick to the side that nearly knocked him down, but he recovered to grab the wrist of the attacker. He spun, pulling the man's wrist along with him, so that the man flipped over his back. Ryu threw the man at another attacker that was just now coming out of the crowd. When he looked around again, there were nearly a dozen attackers on the ground. The crowd was cheering like wild, but Ryu waved to Sakura and Ibuki to join him. Together they raised one of the attackers to a sitting position and Ryu gruffly questioned him.

"Who are you?" he growled. "What do you want with me?"

The attacker could barely speak out of his cracked and bleeding lips. "Yes," he said. "You should know the agent of your destruction. Sagat has sent us, and he will keep sending more until you are dead." The man laughed insanely as he continued. "There will never be an end until you are dead, once and for all. Dead! Dea..." Ryu elbowed the man in the face, sending him to unconsciousness. He stood slowly, then looked at Sakura and Ibuki. "Or until he is," Ryu said softly.

Somewhere

Guile recognized the signs that his plane had landed. When he woke up, he found that he was in the cargo hold of a large military type plane, similar to a C-130. Jane and Amy were with him, and he looked at them cursorily to see if they were OK. After determining that they were in better shape than he was, Guile tried to check his prison to see if there was anything he could use to escape. His search found nothing that could be used before landing, although his knowledge of planes gave him an edge in knowing what to look for. There was an emergency exit discretely built into the floor of the cargo bay that Guile was fairly sure his captors had overlooked, but without parachutes, he would have to wait until they landed to make any use of it. After his search, he went back and sat next to Jane and Amy, waiting for them to wake.

Amy was first, after about fifteen more minutes. She stretched and moaned, then coughed a little. Guile had seen the bruises on her throat, and he guessed that she had passed out when her attacker had closed off her air supply. She spoke with a slightly hoarse voice. "Where am I?" She moved some more, despite Guile's efforts to talk her into lying back down and resting until she felt stronger. She sat up, causing the blanket to fall from her. With a hoarse squawk she pulled it back on quickly as she realized that she still had on only her underwear. She looked at Guile again, this time with tears welling up in her eyes. She tried to speak, but barely could get the words past her hoarse coughs. "Daddy, what's going on? Why are we here?"

"I wish I knew, honey. But don't give up hope yet. I'm working on a way out of here right now. As soon as this plane lands, I think we can sneak off and find out where we've been taken. I want you to rest until then, so you're good and strong to make a break for it, OK?" Amy nodded and coughed some more, then laid back down, quickly falling into a normal sleep.

Jane woke up later, needing to be comforted as well. "Does this have something to do with Bison, darling?" she asked Guile.

"I don't know. Bison's dead. I did hear at the base earlier that there is some new guy in Thailand who is showing an interest in the specials who competed in Bison's tournament. Maybe that's who I need to look at for the answer. But for now, we'll just worry about getting out of this together."

"Do you really think we can get out of this plane when it lands?" she asked next, holding him close for comfort.

"Yes, I do. Don't talk about that anymore, though. I don't want anyone else on this plane to hear about it. This is a special model, equipped for nuclear warhead hauling. There is a second, emergency exit put into the floor, but it is hard to spot unless you know what you're looking for. I'm guessing that these guys don't know about it. If they do, then I'll have to think of something else." Jane nuzzled him some more, then fell back to sleep. Guile decided that sleep was a good idea. A good soldier knows when he's done all he can to prepare, then he doesn't worry about it anymore, he thought to himself. Within minutes he was asleep as well.

Guile woke up when the movement's of the plane changed. He quietly woke up Jane and Amy as well. He gave Amy his shirt to wear, which was big on her, but covered her modestly enough that even as her father, Guile didn't worry about it. "The plane's getting ready to land in a few minutes," Guile whispered. "I want you both to be awake for a few minutes before we have to run for it, so you won't still be groggy when it is time to go." They sat quietly in the dim light waiting now, for the plane to land. Guile could feel the plane spiraling downward, and knew that the pilot was making his final approach to the runway. "Almost there," he whispered, more to himself than to his family.

With a jolt, the wheels made contact with the ground. Amy almost lost her balance and fell from her crouching position. They could feel the plane slow down now, and turn, soon it was completely stopped. Guile held his breath as he listened to the sounds outside of the plane. He heard some people talking as they disembarked, but nobody seemed to be coming to check on them. He heard the sound of a car or truck being driven up next to the plane, then a clang. "They're refueling," he whispered. "We'll probably just stop here for a few minutes, then be on our way to wherever we're going." He heard talking from the technicians who were refueling the plane, but presently the voices trailed off, and he guessed that only one remained to watch the fuel. "Ok!" he said.

He and the girls leaped into action, Guile quickly pulling aside the panels that revealed the hidden escape hatch. He grunted as he pulled on the lever that would open it, but it seemed to be stuck. What a way for the plan to end! he thought bitterly, but just before he gave up hope, the lever budged. A little more pulling, and it was open. Guile quietly opened the hatch and dropped to the ground.

It was still dark, although Guile could see that the morning was not far off. The airport was not as well lighted as most airports are. Guile suspected that the flight was unmonitored and that his kidnappers were trying to keep a low profile in this part of the airport. He motioned for Jane and Amy to join him, and they dropped down to the ground as well. Guile carefully closed the hatch, so as not to give away the fact that they had escaped for as long as possible. Guile motioned for Jane and Amy to follow him.

He could see on one side of the plane the fuel truck. It was about ten feet from them, and he could also see the legs of the technician who was refueling. He was humming something to himself, and generally not watching very well what was going on. Guile led his family away on the other side of the plane. The sprinted towards the end of the runway, and hid in the bushes just outside of the runway lights.

"Well, girls, I think we're going to make it! Now let's get a little distance between us and this airport, then we can worry about finding a place to stay before the night is over."

Hong Kong

Cammy followed Geki through the old alleyways, dodging rats and other more unpleasant things. She hoped that she wasn't being made the dube of some elaborate scheme, but Geki seemed to be on the level, and she had to take some chances if she ever hoped to find anything out about who she really was, or what it is she needed to be doing to stay alive. Geki was silent, which gave Cammy a chance to make plans for whatever was coming up. Whatever was going on, she was determined not to be caught unprepared. She wished Geki would volunteer some information about his mysterious mistress and where she was hiding, however. She was already sure that she couldn't find her way back here from her hotel room.

Finally Geki stopped at a door that was in the rear of a large and plain brick building. It looked the same as dozens of other doors that they had passed, but Geki listened carefully for a moment, and checked all around for anybody before he tried to open it. Inside it was dark, but Geki entered without fear, and Cammy followed. Geki led her for a short distance in the darkness before Cammy came to a lighted area. By dim lantern light, Cammy could see that she was in an extremely fine room. Gold decorated the chairs and walls, gleaming brightly in the wan light. Silk covered the chairs' cushions, and the finest rugs were on the floor. Geki motioned for her to wait. She sat down while Geki went through another door across the room. She studied her surroundings some more, finding that fine wines were laid out for her consumption, chilled in ice buckets that must have just been placed in the room especially for her. She thought it wise to ignore the wine.

A small man dressed in ancient Chinese nobleman's atire came through the door that Geki had just entered, and spoke to her. "The Mistress will see you now. Master Geki has made a full report of who you are and what you desire. I am here to warn, as well. The mistress is generous, but in return for her aid, she will expect you to help her with her problems as well. Do not expect to be served without payment." The man had a face like a stone, and Cammy didn't realize that he was waiting for some response. Finally she answered.

"I will help your mistress, if I am able to. I would see her, then." The man bowed briefly and motioned for Cammy to pass through the doorway. When she had, the small man shut the door, leaving her alone in the room. At first she could see little. This room was even dimmer than the waiting room outside, and the smoke of numerous censors with their burning incense further clouded the room. She advanced a few steps, and as she got closer, she could see a seated figure on a raised platform in front of her. The figure rose almost as soon as she came into view, and walked partway down to meet her. The mistress stopped at least six or seven feet away from Cammy, however, so that she still couldn't make her out too well. What she could see was that she was a strikingly beautiful woman, with long pale hair and large, shiny eyes. Her every movement was as graceful as a dance; slow and measured and alluring. The woman was fairly scantily clad, as well, with a dark silk gown that left bare her legs. The neckline plunged to impossible depths, revealing her navel before it stopped. She also had dark gloves on, with which she played carelessly while studying Cammy's face.

Cammy felt like she should say something, so she stammered out something nearly incoherent. The woman laughed richly and spoke, in a voice that was as alluring and seductive as her motions and apparel. Cammy found herself feeling nearly hypnotized by the soft beautiful sounds of the mistress's voice. "I'm so glad you have come, Cammy. I have sent my faithful Geki to find each of you who fought in the Great Tournament these last few months. I have urgent words to speak to you all."

Cammy fought the fog in her mind and spoke at last. Her voice sounded rough and uncouth next to the Mistress, but she continued despite the way it jarred in her ears. "I don't want any messages until I get what I came for. Geki said that you could help me recover my memories and know of my past. That is what is most important to me."

The Mistress smiled indulgently at Cammy, as one might to an especially stupid, but lovable child. "You shall know all that you want and more. First I will deliver my message, and name my price." Cammy gulped and nodded her head, hoping that the Mistress could see the motion in the dim and cloudy room. "Very well, then Cammy. My message is this. You know of this Max? Good. He is not as he seems. He is no ordinary man at all, but a fiend who seeks to rule the entire earth. Unlike Bison, Max may have the power to actually do so, if his plans succeed the way he wants them to. Max is much more powerful than Bison will ever be, and he is also much more cunning.

"Bison gathered specials to him, but he didn't know how to use them. Bison played his foolish game, had his tournament, and allowed himself to be attacked directly after his handful of specials was defeated. But Max is different. He is gathering specials to him, and he will wring every last drop from them. They will supply him with the power he needs to conquer, and the protection he needs to stay out of the direct danger.

"The specials that fought in Bison's tournament are known to Max, and he is bending every resource of his underground empire to finding and gathering them to him. What I wish to do is warn each of the specials involved to beware of Max's design, and if I can, I wish to destroy what makes his plan possible. The price that I ask in return for the knowledge of your past, is that you help me in this last task, to infiltrate Max's headquarters, and destroy the danger that he poses. Will you accept my offer?"

Cammy had been listening with amazement at every revelation that the Mistress tossed off. She was suspicious of such an amazing tale, but after her experiences during the last year, she knew that such power was conceivable. If the Mistress spoke truly, then there was a grave danger to the entire world, one that Cammy would be a fool not to investigate further help to stop if possible.

"What guarantee do I have that you will be able to answer the questions I have?" she said finally. The Mistress gave her that superior smile again. Despite the feeling of annoyance that crept through Cammy whenever she saw that smile, she couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the woman.

"Because, Cammy, I already know the answers to the questions you seek. I know much about Bison's former operations, and I knew who you are and where you fit into his past."

"Very well, then. I accept your offer, and I will fulfill my part of the bargain after you have told me what I want to know."

The Mistress didn't say anything right away, but paced slowly in front of her for a moment. "Sit, Cammy. You may not like everything I will tell you, and I want you to have the strength to endure it." Cammy looked around and saw a golden chair with burgundy cushions, covered with the finest silk. The chair wa against the back wall, nearly hidden by the smoke and gloom. She sat down in the chair, and asked the Mistress to continue. She was almost able to get the quaver out of her voice, and she was almost able to keep her knees from shaking with nervousness as she sat down.

"You see, Cammy, the reason you can not remember your past is because you don't have much of one. You are a clone, Cammy, grown in Bison's laboratory and not animated with any real conscious until your body was as grown as it is now." Cammy was shaking like a leaf now, and when she spoke, her voice seemed to rush like water in her ears. A clone! Could it be possible? As she heard the words an image sprang to her of a huge laboratory deep underground, full of large tubes. Each tube held a man-shaped body suspended in amber liquid. She knew it was one of her memories returning. The memory of Bison's cloning laboratory. Tears streamed down her face as she questioned the Mistress further. "Who was I a clone of?"

The Mistress looked at her sideways for a second before answering. "You were a special experiment, Cammy. Bison wanted to make the perfect consort for himself, but he was unsatisfied with any woman that lived. His experts worked for months until they could change the sex of a clone right when it still no more than a handful of cells. After many false starts, you were the result of that experiment, a perfectly cloned female version of Bison himself!"

Hong Kong

Chun Li awoke in her hotel room. She was bandaged, she realized, and extremely sore all over. She rolled over in bed and groaned, and in doing so her eyes focused on the man sitting in the chair near the bed. "Guy! What are you doing here in my room?" she tried to sit up indignantly, but as her aching muscles protested, she decided better of it and laid back down.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, of course. Frankly, I'm just glad you're not hurt worse! I think you did quite well today, considering your long period in the hospital, and I don't want you pushing yourself so hard that you end up there again."

Chun Li wasn't sure that she liked Guy's tone of voice. "Look, Mister! Just what do you think gives you the right to tell me when I'm pushing too hard? Don't you think I can decide that for myself? Anyway, its not like you should care too much..." Suddenly Chun Li remembered what happened right before she passed out. She looked at Guy warily, not sure what to think of him now.

"Umm, I'm not sure what got into you, Guy, right before I went out, but I don't really know if...I mean, I don't know what to say...that is..." Luckily Guy stopped her from stumbling on by speaking himself. "Whatever I said doesn't matter right now. I'm not sure what got into me either, but we've got our mission to accomplish, and that will come first."

Chun Li nodded, but she felt chagrined that Guy could so easily blow off what he had told her. Good grief! she thought. Do I want him to be in love with me? That would be ridiculous, yet I feel incredibly disappointed when I think that maybe he isn't. Chun Li angrily pulled her blankets up around her. She didn't want to ask Guy if he had undressed her and put her nightclothes on, as well as her bandages. She thought it would be better not to know. Rather than stew in her misery, she asked Guy about the people they fought, hoping to clear her mind of thoughts about him. It didn't work very well; she found it easier to watch the way his mouth moved when he talked than to pay attention to what he was actually saying, but she did get some information out of him.

"Sorry, Chun Li. The operation hasn't yielded much fruit yet, I'm afraid. I've taken Eagle and Joe to the Interpol offices here in Hong Kong, and the detectives here in town will try to question them. They seem pretty smug, though, and I don't know if we'll be able to get anything useful out of them. I'm afraid you may have been right, Chun Li. I think we've played our hand too soon. Since we didn't find out about Max, all we've managed to do is give away the fact that we're after him. Hey, what's that smell, anyway?" Chun Li started. "What smell? I don't smell anything?" As soon as she said it, however, she noticed the smell herself. "Wait! I know that smell! It's a sleeping gas! Someone is gassing us!" Just at that moment, the glass in the window broke, and a man with an AK-47 burst into the room. Guy reacted quickly, grabbing his gun before he could use it and throwing it aside. He leaped forward and flipped, grabbing the man as he did it and hurling him out the window. More men were banging on the door, however, and Guy could see others climbing the fire escape to enter through the window. He coughed, as the first effects of the gas were starting to be felt. His limbs felt heavy and slow, but he had to keep fighting.

"We're stuck, Chun Li. There's no way out." By the time the door broke down, both Guy and Chun Li were out cold from the effects of the gas.

Hong Kong

Ken found someone waiting in his hotel room when he arrived, but it wasn't who he expected. He was hidden in the dark shadows before Ken could turn on the lights, but Ken saw the gleaming red eyes.

When he could see, the figure in his room was one that he was all too familiar with. The figure wasn't that tall; about Ken's height, but he had dark reddish skin, and red hair that stuck straight in the air, waving and dancing wildly as if it were a flame. When the figure saw Ken, he grinned exposing sharp teeth.

"Akuma! What do you want with me?" Ken shouted, preparing to sell his life dearly to the twisted demon who was a former student of Shotokan karate himself. Flames seemed to wrap themselves around Akuma for an instant, then he floated quickly over to a room service tray that was waiting on the bed. Akuma, still smiling, poured a glass of wine for Ken and for himself. "Relax, Ken Masters," he said in his deep, cold voice. "You do not have to fight me this day. I come to investigate what is happening in this world, and see if a challenge worthy of my skill will present itself."

"Oh yeah?" questioned Ken. "Then how did you find me? Why did you find me, for that matter." Ken relaxed his guard a little, but not his body. He could never trust Akuma; he knew him to be traitorous and completely self-serving. If it suited Akuma for Ken to die, Akuma would kill him regardless of whatever promises may have been made.

"You drew me, boy. Did you think you could draw that much chi energy and not have it be felt? The rage in you is like a lodestone to me. I saw your work in yon building where you killed the Englishman. You are finally learning to tap into your full potential. You would make a fine disciple, Ken Masters. I can show you how to focus that rage into the Raging Demon, and you will be unstoppable on this world."

Ken gasped in horror. "I would never even want to learn the Raging Demon. Look at you! You aren't even human anymore because of its dark power!" Ken's statement merely caused Akuma to laugh in his drink.

"How quaint! How naive! The rage you unleashed tonight marks you as one with great potential in Dark Shotokan. Not human, you say? Nay, I'm no longer human. As well say that humans are no longer monkeys! Humanity is not such a great thing that it cannot be easily shed for a higher state of being, for the power of the Raging Demon. Don't worry, Ken Masters! One day you will come to me, seeking to learn that which only I can teach. But that is not why I have come today.

"There is a power here in Hong Kong that I cannot identify. It is not a being that is strong in chi, but I sense great power of another type. Perhaps even power to equal my own. This power draws specials like you and Ryu to it. Tell me what you know of this power, Ken Masters."

"I don't know what you're talking about," answered Ken a trifle indignantly. He was no messenger for Akuma! Even if Ken knew what he was talking about, he was sure that Akuma could twist whatever knowledge Ken gave him to serve his own needs. Akuma did not seem pleased at hearing his words. Perhaps it was simply a twitch in the faint smile, or the vague feeling of menace that Ken felt seeping through the room.

"Do not play games with me, Ken Masters. I know that you are hunting this power, but you shall not have your chance to match yourself against it until I have first done so and failed. And I do not fail." Akuma took another sip from his drink.

"No, really. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm looking for my wife. Some gang leader around here named Max has taken her, and is using her for bait to drag me over here and play along in some scheme of his. I don't know who he is or what he wants. But if you want to challenge him, then I would be more than happy to let you."

Akuma looked thoughtful. "Max, is it? Who could this Max be, and why does his power call to me across the worlds? I must know more!"

"Sorry, Akuma, but I'm not going to have anything to do with you. You want to know more, you find out yourself. I don't want to even know what you're doing, you got that?"

Akuma showed his anger openly now. "Insolent pup! Your powers are still child-like next to mine! I would have liked to teach you, so that you would be worthy to fight against me some day, but..." Akuma suddenly broke off and looked to his left. When he spoke again, he seemed hesitant, yet pleased. "What is this? Another power equal to this Max, calling to me for an audience? I will go and speak with this new player. Farewell, Ken Masters! Insolent pup you may be, but I am in good humor today. Do not worry, we will yet meet again!"

Akuma seemed to glow with a purplish light, then he disappeared, leaving Ken staring at the walls of his room. What could Akuma really want here? Could Ken take his words at face value and assume that Akuma wanted to fight this Max, or was it even possible that Akuma was Max? Ken sank to the floor feeling for the first time that he was being dragged into something that he might not be able to handle. This whole situation was going way out of control, and Ken had yet to even confirm that Eliza was here. Ken pounded the floor in frustration, wondering for the first time if he would see his wife again.

Bangkok, Thailand

"I still think we should have made Ibuki come with us somehow. I don't trust those ninja guys she always hangs around with."

Ryu sighed with what almost was resignation. For him anyway. "We're not going over that again, Sakura. Those are her people, and she is better off with them. She's too young to be taken from her parents and her village for long."

Sakura would not be turned so easily, however. "She's not much younger than I was when I started street fighting, and I made it. She's too nice of a girl to end up getting stuck in some political manuovering. She's no cold blooded killer, like those other ninja creeps!"

"Neither was Guy, remember? Now, can we please concentrate on the job at hand? We've come here to find Sagat, and that is what we will concentrate on." Ryu certainly had been annoyed by Sakura's endless prattle. He didn't know if that was a good sign or not, but it was certainly an emotion. He really didn't want his most powerful emotion to be annoyance, though. He sighed to himself, stoically. What a martyr I am, he thought to himself with amusement. Ryu and Sakura left the airport, and Ryu headed straight for Sagat's old stomping grounds.

It didn't take them long to arrive there. The ancient temple outside of town was looking more decrepid than normal. The giant Buddha was worn by the elements, and columns and other pieces of masonry littered the ground. But there was no sign of life anywhere that Ryu or Sakura could see. Ryu carefully searched every inch of the old temple grounds, but concluded that nobody had been here for at least several days.

"So now what do we do?" asked Sakura. "Where are we going to find Sagat now? Thailand is a big country, you know, and I bet Sagat could stay hidden for a loe if he wanted to."

"That's exactly the point, Sakura. Sagat doesn't want to. He wants to find us and now that we've come to Thailand, he will come to us. We just have to wait right here, and one of his agents should be along in a few days at the most. It looks as though they still meet here on a fairly regular basis, although they obviously aren't here as often as they used to be."

Sakura nodded and looked around. "That makes sense, but yo don't really mean to stay right here all the time, do you? I mean it's almost dark now. Shouldn't we find a hotel or something?" Ryu almost smiled. He reached inside his everpresent duffle bag and pulled out a stout wool blanket.

"I think that sleeping right here is just fine. Besides, when Sagat's agents do come around, I don't want to miss them." Sakura shuffled her feet nervously for a minute then spoke up.

"So I guess we'll both be sleeping in that blanket?" she asked. Her face and tone of voice seemed to be a combination of leering at Ryu in a playful way, and nervousness that maybe he did intend just that. Ryu could barely contain his smile now, and had to turn away. He mentally chided himself for playing on the emotions of his young fan. She would never admit it, but she was scared stiff that Ryu would sleep with her in that little blanket. Ryu had never enjoyed teasing anyone before, especially not the way in which he came close to flirting with Sakura. That was always Ken's domain; but then again, Sakura made him feel differently than anyone else he had ever met. After he got control of his smile, Ryu reached inside his bag and produced another blanket. He couldn't resist one final barb as he handed it to her though.

"In my blanket? Why Sakura, I never in a million years would have thought you would grow up to be that kind of girl." Sakura blushed furiously and her face darkened to an indignant scowl.

"I'm not! I've never been... I mean, I don't... Oh never mind!" She turned furiously and stalked away for a few steps. Then she turned to Ryu again. "You were actually teasing me, weren't you? This is too weird." She sat down on the blanket, then pulled it up to her neck. As she continued talking, her white gi, the perfect imitation of Ryu's own came out from underneath to be laid on a fallen column. To Ryu's greater consternation, however, it was soon followed by Sakura's black body suit, which she also placed over the column with a now bare arm. Her other hand kept the blanket closely around her neck. "You know, I'm glad you can tease me. I remember all to well when you couldn't even stand the sight of me. You couldn't have said a civil word to me then if you tried. All I ever wanted when I was younger was to be like you, and to have you respect me as an equal. Maybe the dream isn't so far-fetched as I once thought."

Ryu settled into his blanket, as the last light of the sun faded from view. He left his gi on. "No, Sakura, it isn't far-fetched at all." In moments, they were both sound asleep.

Hong Kong

Cammy woke up in the Mistress's building. She had been placed on a bed, covered with soft blankets and left to sleep. "It must be close to mid-morning," she noted looking at a narrow window that let the brilliant sunshine strike the opposite wall. She struggled through the sleepy fog in her head and tried to remember how it was that she ended up here. As her mind started waking, the events of last night came rushing in on her. The man she hated more than anything else was her genetic duplicate! Her father and lover rolled into one! Tears sprang to her eyes, nd she fell back into the bed, sobbing in pain and horror. It was exactly at this moment that the Mistress came to see her.

Cammy sat up quickly when she noticed that she was not alone. She had never cared much for appearances, but the Mistress somehow really intimidated her. As before, she seemed incredibly alluring. Despite the daylight streaming in throught he window, she was in a dark corner of the room, and shadows kept Cammy from seeing her perfectly, but the perfection of her features was unmistakable. The sexual magnetism that the Mistress exuded seemed to crush Cammy. She was never so aware of her small, hardened body, with it's scars and bruises. She had never felt uncomfortable with her hair being a mess, or her eyes red from crying, but the nature of the Mistress made her feel like a ratty and tousled child, brought in from the street to the Queen's own dining table.

"What do you want," she said in a nearly steady voice. The Mistress smiled slightly. Cammy knew that she was aware of the effect she had on Cammy, and she reveled in the feelings of superiority that it granted. Cammy was so frustrated with herself for feeling that way that she almost jumped up and punched the woman in the nose. But the Mistress didn't only exude sexuality. Cammy knew that if she tried any violence toward her, she would quickly find herself in the fight of her life. The Mistress was a being of power.

"Cammy, it is time for you to play your part in our bargain. Max would use you and the other specials in his plans, but I will stop him if I can find out what it is that he is doing. You and Geki are now going into Max's lair and finding out what it is that he is doing."

Cammy climbed out of bed and rapidly dressed herself in her black skinsuit, again pulling her hair back, and trying to avoid too much looking in the mirror and her red and puffy face. The Mistress was aware of Cammy's avoidance, however, and leaned towards her. "Those are horrible scars, Cammy. How sad that a woman of such potential beauty should be marked by them. I'm afraid they will make you easily recognizable to Max's agents." The Mistress reached up to Cammy's face and lightly brushed her scars with her finger.

Suddenly Cammy felt a jolt from the Mistress's hand that caused her to cry out in surprise and fall to a sitting position on the bed behind her. "What did you do?" she asked suspiciously, feeling her face. To her surprise her face felt smooth, and she couldn't feel the raised scars anymore at all. She quickly turned to the mirror and scanned every inch of her face. It was as smooth as it had ever been, without a trace of the scars that had marked her for years. She could hardley breathe with the surprise; she merely stood staring into the mirror and rubbing her face where the scars used to be. To her surprise, the longer she stared, the more it seemed like there was some kind of new mark replacing it, but it was so faint that she couldn't be sure.

"Come along now, Cammy. I will take you to Geki, and together you will carry out my mission of finding out what Max is up to."

Somewhere

Guile walked back over to where Jane and Amy were hiding in the trees. The look of pure disgust on his face let the two know exactly what he was going to say before he uttered a word. "He didn't speak any English either. I don't know how we're going to ever find out where we are, or find our way out of here without raising such a trail that even the dumbest of Max's agents will be able to easily track us down." Guile stomped off back to the tiny road, and Amy and Jane had no choice but to wordlessly follow. In truth, they were too tired to make any protest or comment on Guile's depressing attitude. They had hardly slept at all that night; they had run from the airport for hours, and when they finally settled in to rest, they were in the middle of the woods. Wherever they were, it was not warm that night, and Guile and his family were not dressed for a night outdoors. Amy especially, with only her underwear and her father's t- shirt, had suffered from the chill. Guile had used all of his tricks from ranger school to keep the girls warm, covering them with leaves and dirt for the few hours of sleep that they were able to get.

Jane and Amy were especially dirty now, their clothes and skin nearly brown with the soil that had covered them at night. Leaves still stuck to their hair and clothes in spots, but they had gamely followed Guile when he woke them and told them they ought to be moving.

That was hours ago, now, and they still had no clue where they were going. They were also extremely hungry, and feeling weak from their ordeal. Only Guile himself walked forward with his back straight and his eyes alert, seemingly with all of the energy he had felt hours ago. They had passed a few weary travellers, rustic sorts with dark hair and colorful clothes. Guile didn't really recognize them; he had never been very interested in any cultures other than his own, but he thought they might be some kind of Eastern European, Hungarian or some such. He really didn't know. His knowledgable wife might have been able to tell him, but he always insisted that she and Amy hide off of the road while Guile confronted the travellers.

But the result was always the same. The travellers didn't speak any English, and they always hurried off, looking at Guile queerly as if afraid of him, or perhaps for him. So Guile and the girls kept on going, into the late afternoon sun, following the small and seldom used road that constantly curved around the next hill, and through the forest. They couldn't see very far ahead of them because of the tall trees on either side, but in a moment of looking up, Amy thought she saw something looming over the treetops ahead of them.

"Dad," she called tiredly. "What is that over there a little to the left?" Guile stopped and stared for a minute. After grumbling to himself for a few seconds, he began climbing one of the trees in the hopes of getting a better view.

"Be careful, Guile!" called out Jane. "If you fall..." Guile cut her off with a fond laugh. He assured her that if he fell, which he wouldn't, then everything would still be fine. But he kept climbing higher and higher, until the girls could barely see him. After a few minutes, he dropped lightly to the ground again with a smile on his face.

"What is it, dear?" asked Jane.

"You won't believe it," Guile answered, shaking his head with disbelief, "but it's a castle! I can't tell if anyone is there or not, but this road seems to head straight for it, and at the very least, we should be able to have some shelter tonight. With only a little luck, we can get a meal as well!" This heartening news seemed to bring new energy to the drained women, and they eagerly followed Guile down the road now. Less than an hour later, they found themselves approaching the huge mansion that did indeed resemble a castle. Their didn't seem to be anyone about, but smoke was rising from a chimney further back. The eagerness had dimmed, though, and for some reason, Guile and his family felt nervous about the castle. It was dark and gloomy, with no lights inside that they could see. The cold grey stone seemed to frown at them, and eyes seemed to be on them every second. Guile shrugged off their misgivings as mere suspiciousness because of their recent experiences, but he too was wary as he approached the front door and pulled on the rope that was for the bell.

The clanging sound nearly caused him to jump. It seemed to silence all other sounds in the woods except the wind, which could be heard keening strongly all around them. Guile waited impatiently, but after only a few seconds, he was about to decide that no one lived here. He started to call to Jane and Amy to help him force his way in so they could at least sleep indoors, but then he heard footsteps walking up to the door.

The footsteps approached slowly, and stately, and when they were right at the door, it opened slowly. The woman who stood there was one of the most amazing sights Guile had ever seen. She was beautiful and tall, dressed in a purple dress. Her hair was lavender as well, and her eyes were a dark violet. Her eyes seemed to bore into him, but she smiled when she saw him. "Ah, Guile," she said in perfect English, "how nice of you and your family to drop by. I'm so glad you could make it."

Guile was instantly wary. "How do you know me and my family?" he asked gruffly.

The purple woman laughed at that, a tinkling musical laugh that partially put Guile at ease. "I know a lot about you, Guile. Your friend Charlie and I were associates. I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Rose, and I am here to tell you why you are being hunted."

Hong Kong

When Chun Li woke up again, she was tied and standing upright. She fought through the fog in her brain and tried to assess her surroundings. Through blurred eyes she could see that she was in a dark room and that she was tied to a strange contraption that looked like nothing she had ever seen before. On second thought, though, she found it reminded her of Stonehenge, but with all kinds of wooden constructs added to it. She looked at the floor and found that it had been carved to display a variety of strange symbols that were unlike any she had ever seen. She looked to her right and saw Guy slumped against one of the stones, tied firmly to it, as was she. The only sound she could hear was the chirping of a bat flittering in the darkness above them.

Despite her predicament, she smiled faintly when Guy started to recover from the gas induced unconsciousness. It made her feel much better to have him around, even if he was just as helpless as she was. He groaned a little and his eyes suddenly snapped open. Like her, she could tell that he was trying to focus on his surroundings and see what chances they had of escape. She called out to him.

As he looked up at her, however, they both noticed the approach of someone else, stepping out of the gloom. They couldn't see him clearly, but they could tell he was a strong and well muscled man. He was taller than either Guy or Chun Li, and the thinkg they noticed most about his was his glowing red eyes. "Welcome, my dear specials. I have been trying oh so very hard to invite you to this place." When the man spoke, Chun Li shuddered. His voice was soft, yet it carried all through the dark room, freezing her blood with its cold emptyness.

"What do you want with us? Who are you?" Chun Li cried trying to assert herself. "We have powerful friends who will see that you come down for this outrage." The shadow-hidden man seemed to chuckle deep in his throat, but there was no mirth in the sound.

"Indeed, I hope they do. Gather all of the specials to my creation, and I will utilize their power. You two will be honored to have played a pivotal role in the making of this world's newest ruler."

"What are you talking about?" asked Guy, glowering at the man. "We play no role in a madman's schemes!"

The man seemed to chuckle once again. "I am glad that you are well enough to chat...it is vital that you be at full strength for what lies ahead. But I do not wish to talk, merely to see that you are fit. Your needs will be provided for until my creation is ready to be completed." The man stepped back into the gloom and seemed to fade from sight. Chun Li called after him, but to no avail. Her voice rang out alone in the room, accompanied only by the sound of the bat.

"It's no use, Chun," Guy said after a minute. "He does not wish us to know what he is up to. Are you hurt in any way?"

Chun Li squirmed a bit, assessing her physical condition. "I seem to be fine now that the gas has worn off, but I have a horrible headache and my arms and legs are starting to get sore already from this position they have me tied in. And you?"

"Never better!" Guy grinned cynically. "At least I'm turned so I can look at you." As soon as Guy said that, however, both of them felt uncomfortable, as if approaching territory that was best left alone.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that until after the mission." Chun Li said finally in drone-like voice.

"We did. But this looks like a tight situation. If we don't get out of here in one piece, I want to at least tell you once while I have the chance."

Guy seemed to struggle with his words now, not sure how to proceed. Chun Li found that she was holding her breath with anticipation; not sure what result she hoped that Guy would come up with.

"Chun Li, what I said last night, every word of it was true! It was not pressure or heat of the moment passion, but real honest to goodness heartfelt love that inspired me to speak. Chun Li, whatever happens, I want you to know that I am madly in love with you."

Chun Li couldn't say anything, but neither could she stop the silly grin that seemed to want to spring out from her heart.

Hong Kong

In the dark of the Mistresses dwelling, a new power was making his entrance. The guards and butlers were flung to the ground, energy blasting holes through their bodies, arms broken, legs buckled, necks snapped. The intruder would not be denied. He forced his way to the Mistresses chambers and stood facing her in the dark.

"Well, well, well!" she smiled at the dark intruder, seductively walking towards him. "What a Power you are! Who are you who comes into my dwelling so easily?"

Akuma looked coldly at the woman who was obviously trying to seduce him. "I have felt the call of your power, woman. It can be no coincidence that you are here at the same time as this Max. I would know what your involvement with him is."

"We are bitter enemies, "she said calmly, smiling slightly at him. Her smile was enough to even ruffle Akuma's stone-like demeanor. "I would stop him from making this world his own. But what is it you seek, Powerful One? Surely you are not of this world?"

"Not anymore," Akuma said warily. He judged that this woman was his equal in strength; a worthy challenge for him to face. "I come to test myself against Max. Pit my power against his and prove my superiority."

The Mistress smiled again at him. "Then we can be allays, Strange One. I know more about Max than any being on the planet save Max himself. For centuries we have fought. I can help you exploit his weaknesses; learn to counter his strengths. Together, we can easily put down his power."

Akuma nodded his agreement.

"Foolish man!" thought the Mistress to herself. "I will use him to defeat Max and save my own power to step into Max's shoes. I can take over his plan without him and take his place as the ruler of this world. To think that we disdained it for so long! With the power that this Akuma will help me gain, I will stand supreme in both my worlds!"

"Foolish woman!" thought Akuma to himself. "She thinks that I will concentrate on Max when she is just as powerful already! Disguised as her friend, I will learn *her* weaknesses and when she thinks I will battle with this Max, I will surprise and kill her first!"

Hong Kong

Cammy stared out over the rooftops as she silently made her way toward's Max's supposed lair. Now that she was away from the Mistress, she felt more her old self-- confident, strong, even arrogant almost. What in the world had made her so weak and vulnerable in the Mistress's presence? Could it have been a spell? Maybe drugs in the incense she always burned. All Cammy knew was that something unnatural had happened, and she was more wary than ever. She thought again about ditching Geki and getting herself out of the situation, but she wanted to know what was going on, and why she had become mixed up in it all. She trusted in her general wariness to alert her to any dangers that might come up, but one thing was for sure-- she would be extremely careful about being in the Mistress's presence again.

Geki flowed silently beside her during the entire run over the rooftops. Cammy had been nervous more than once about the chances they were taking with wild leaps and dangerous climbs. Her pride forced her to follow stoically though; if Geki could do it without complaining, so could she. To her surprise; she actually seemed to be able to match the ninja, if not even surpass him in her ability to negotiate the roof. If Geki was perturbed, he gave no sign.

She realized that for the last few minutes, they had been circling a large building that seemed to be nothing more than a wharehouse. Cammy was no dummy, and she could tell that it must be Geki's destination. She carefully scanned the building for any sign of occupation or hazards. She did see a group of men walking around the building in regular, patrol-like motions. She thought that was odd if the building was really only a wharehouse, but that only confirmed her suspicion that the building was the hideout of Max. Geki wouldn't tell her, of course.

Losing patience with the blue-clad ninja, Cammy decided to split from him and investigate on her own. She silently held back a tiny bit until Geki had leaped to another roof, then Cammy slid down the wall of the building they had been on. She was only a few buildings away from the wharehouse now, and she was behind the main door. She had seen a window up rather high on the wall in the back and noticed that none of the guards outside paid it any heed. She thought it seemed like a better avenue to explore than the main door that had at least three armed guards nearby at all times.

Hugging the shadows, she made her way closer to the building. She had noticed that the guards made regular patrols around the perimeter of the building and thought it would be close to time for one to come by. In any case, it would be safer to make the attempt just as soon as they were past than to try and rush in now before they came around and saw her halfway inside the window.

She was right, for in about thirty seconds, she could hear the voices of the guards as they came around the corner.

"So what does el Presidente expect to gain from this, anyway?" said one voice.

"Is it for us to question? El Presidente was very close to Shadowloo, and it makes sense that he would make overtures to it's successor."

"You seem to know an awful lot about the boss. How long have you been with el Presidente, anyway?" the first voice asked.

"Quite a while. I was even in the Mad Gear Gang with him, before he brought us to greatness..."

Cammy's interest in the two guards faded as they walked out of sight around the other side of the wharehouse. Now that they were gone, she could get to work. She quietly made her way to the wall of the wharehouse and looked at it carefully. The window was about twenty feet above her; the only break in the flat wall. The wall itself was made of cinderblocks which had been roughly mortared together. Cammy smiled to herself. It would be a simple matter to scale the wall, especially with her gloves. She tightened them, and felt the rough fingertips that would help her gain a hold on the rough edges of the cinderblocks. Her boots were equipped with a similar coating making it even easier. She had already climbed smoother surfaces than this wall tonight.

Cammy easily made it up the wall to where the window was. It was a simple matter for one of her training to pick the lock on the window and peer inside. It was dark above her, but she could see lights hanging below her. The warehouse was empty except for a large wooden platform raised in the center. Around this platform were portable bleachers, but not a soul was sitting at any of them. She quickly came inside and quietly shut the window behind her. She didn't want to be caught outside when the patrol came around again.

Once inside, she lowered herself lightly to the floor. She was far enough away from any lights that she could count on the general gloominess to conceal her. She began a more thorough investigation of the room.

While the room had looked empty on first glance, she noticed that besides the bleachers and the raised platform, there were a few other articles in the room that merited further looking into. In another corner of the room was a pile of canvas tarps, apparently loosely thrown out of the way. As Cammy raised one up, however, she noticed that concealed underneath was a trap door. She slowly opened it and peered inside, hoping her eyes had adjusted enough to the dark conditions in the tunnel that she would be able to see any potential threat. Unfortunately, they didn't.

Cammy felt an arm grab her by the neck and haul her downwards through the trap door. She lashed out with her elbows, trying to dislodge her attacker, but found that he had prepared for that and was easily able to avoid her. Twisting her body at an almost impossible angle, she was able to wrap her legs around the torso of her attacker and squeeze with all of her might. This time, the grip on her throat relaxed, and she was able to pull the wrist away from her neck. Her attacker also used his newly freed hand to good advantage, pushing her away and squaring off against her.

Cammy found herself in a dark stone passageway with flowing slowly past her past her ankles. It was even darker here than in the warehouse, but she could see her attacker a little. He was a blond man, with wide blue eyes and black clothing. Over his mouth and nose was some kind of respirator, or gas mask. The man moved in quickly to finish her off, but Cammy was ready for a fair fight. In fact, her anger at herself for falling so easily under the influence of the Mistress made her even angrier than normal, and she leaped forward to meet his attack with a well-placed kick of her own. The black-clad man took the blow to the head, falling sideways into the water, but he maintained control and swept Cammy's feet out from under her as he fell. Cammy fell heavily on her back, and the gritty water of the tunnel rushed into her mouth. She leapt up sputtering and coughing, trying to get some distance while she was recovering. Her attacker didn't let her, however; he came rushing in with a series of quick blows that Cammy could barely block. He penetrated her defenses, hitting her heavily in the stomach with his shoulder. The blow knocked the wind out of her (as well as the water!) but sent her down into the water again. It seemed to Cammy that the water was rushing by faster now, but she shrugged it off, assuming that she was merely getting weaker. She knew that if she didn't gain control of this fight she would soon be unconscious.

Before she could regain her breath she felt a foot kick her in the face, sending her completely under water. This time she was prepared and gulped a lungful of air before she went under. She swung her legs around tripping the black-clad man, and bringing him under the water with her.

Now Cammy moved offensively. She sat up quickly and found wrapped her legs around the man again. This time she lifted him up and slammed him to the ground on the other side of her. The water partially cushioned his fall, but she knew he had been hit solidly in the head. They both stood up and faced off again. Cammy saw him tense to leap at her and rushed to counter it with a foot first leap of her own: her famous thrust kick. She easily swatted the man out of the air with her kick and he fell face up into the water again.

Cammy was certain now that the water really was moving faster than it had been earlier. She could hear a rushing sound behind the man who stood in front of her. It sounded as if the water were falling almost. She pressed her attack, trying to keep the man from having time to launch any attacks of his own. He parried most of her blows, even countered a few with attacks of his own, but Cammy was steadily pushing him backwards.

After a moment, it dawned on him what she was doing. The waterfall could be heard rushing by just a few yards from them, and both of the fighters had difficulty keeping their footing in the rushing water. Cammy suddenly changed her attack plan, gathering her chi power and unleashing it suddenly as a glowing cannon drill.

The man she was fighting was hit squarely in the knees, and he flew backwards to land on his back. Cammy could see him franticly trying to find purchase with his fingers on anything , but the smooth floor offered nothing for him. She smiled slightly as he was pulled screaming over the edge of the waterfall.

Cammy had worries of her own, though. The attack she had just executed put her closer to the edge herself, and she found herself struggling with the strong current. She grasped frantically at the sides of the tunnel, but the smooth bricks offered scant purchase for her fingers. It became obvious that she wasn't going to escape the same fate had plunged her attacker into the dark abyss below her. Rather than continue to fight fruitlessly, she relaxed her body and prepared to land as softly as she could. She sat down and leaned back, letting the flow of the current carry her over the edge. Bangkok, Thailand

When Sakura awoke, Ryu was already up and cooking something over a fire. He was dressed, as always, in a white gi, but it looked smooth and clean, as if he hadn't slept in it at all. Sakura wondered how many of them he had in that ever present duffel bag of his. She stretched and sat up, smiling sleepily at Ryu as the smell of breakfast drifted her way.

"Nice morning, don't you think?" she asked him. He looked ver at her as if he didn't recognize her for a minute, then said coldly. "There are several people just past the tree line watching us. Most likely they are agents of Sagat."

"What?!" she said, glancing around to see if she could see anyone.

"Unless you want to fight in your blankets, you better get ready. I'm sure they will bother us sooner or later. And try not to let on so much that we know they're here. If they think they will surprise us, but in turn we are waiting to surprise them, we will have a significant advantage." Ryu winked at Sakura, letting her know that is cold tone didn't contradict with the fond way he had treated her last night. "Try to act like there isn't anyone there at all."

Sakura slipped behind a rock, and quickly put her clothes on. She found it hard to act as if nobody was watching her, and she found herself blushing to be changing under the eyes of the hidden watchers. She finished as quickly as she could and rejoined Ryu by the fire he was tending. There was a pleasant odor coming from a pot that Ryu had on the fire, and Sakura could hear water boiling.

"Watcha' making?" she asked as cheerfully as she could muster.

"Eggs," he said. Sakura twisted her mouth a little.

"That's all? It smelled so much better than that" Ryu untopped the pot he was cooking, and Sakura saw that there actually was more cooking with the eggs-- meat and vegetable were boiling in the water, and Ryu was just dropping eggs into the soup, and stirring them before they got hard.

"Well, we need something good to eat. Sorry if this isn't really breakfast food, but it'll give us the energy we need to handle whoever is watching us."

Sakura sat quietly for a moment. "Are you sure there is somebody out there? You're not teasing me again, are you?"

The look Ryu gave her changed her mind quick enough. "There out there, all right." he said. "My guess is that Sagat isn't hiding all that far from here, and we won't see anything until he actually shows up, probably not more than a few hours from now. Then we can settle this issue once and for all. I'm not going to let Sagat get away to terrorize and harass me any more. He's going to learn that if he wants to live, he will leave me alone."

Sakura stared in shock at the change that came over Ryu when he spoke. His voice was harsh, and cold, and his eyes flashed with icy anger. She started to feel a little bit sorry for Sagat when they met, unless he could find it in his heart to let bygones be bygones and accept the fact that Ryu had beaten him twice. Yeah, and maybe these Buddha statues will get up and walk around too. Sakura didn't think so.

"Anyway," Ryu continued, his tone of voice back to normal, "a few hours max, and we'll see them." Suddenly a booming voice rang out from the trees, causing Ryu and Sakura to stand in surprise. "A few hours?" it said. "You underestimate my desire to see you fall, warrior!"

Sagat had arrived.

Somewhere

An hour later, Guile and his family were clean, freshly clad in comfortable but fine clothing, eating heartily and feeling much better about the world in general. Rose was the perfect hostess, seeing to their every need almost before they knew they had a need. Jane and Amy were relaxed and cheerful, but Guile was not so easily won over.

"Allright, Rose. You say you know all there is to know about who is chasing us and why. I think it's time to talk."

She smiled indulgently at him. "Not until after dinner, dear Guile. I must show you something as well as tell you, so you understand what it means to go up against this foe. Time is not so urgent that you can't finish this very fine meal I have prepared for you first."

Guile grumbled a bit, but the dinner was indeed fine; lightly seasoned lamb, tender and cooked to perfection, roasted potatoes, seasoned in a way odd to Guile, but delicious nonetheless, a mixture of steamed vegetables, a Greek salad and all served with a very well-aged white wine. Amy didn't drink any of that, at her parents insistence. Guile and his family pushed back their chairs and sighed with satisfaction.

Rose motioned for them to follow. Guile was so stuffed full of food that he almost didn't even want to stand up, but his desire to learn more about his enemy was keen. He eagerly followed Rose, and Jane and Amy did likewise. Before I tell you about your enemy, I wish you to see the master of this castle. He is an old and dear friend of mine, but has become somewhat...incapacitated. It will aid you in your understanding of Max."

"Where is this castle, anyway?" asked Guile.

"It is about fifty miles outside of Satu-Mare in Romania. We are near the Hungarian and Ukrainian borders, and you can see the Somes River from our towers."

Rose led them a little further into the castle, then opened a door for them. "Do not be startled by what you see. You are in now danger if you stay on the near side of the room."

Guile examined the room he was in. It was extremely dark, and bare; cold stones were all that he could see on the floor, walls and ceiling. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that a man was seated in a large, ornate, throne-like chair at the far end of the room.

Suddenly the man leaped at them with amazing speed. Guile tried to prepare himself to fight the man, but to his surprise, the man crumbled to the floor halfway across the room, as if he had struck an invisible wall. He quickly stood again, mouth agape and snarling at Guile and his family. Guile was horrified by the man's visage; it was pale, and cold, as if the man were dead, and his teeth were elongated into horrible fangs. The man's eyes burned as if the fires of hell were contained within him, and Guile stepped back warily, yet trusting the barrier that seemed to hold him in place.

"This is the master of this castle. His name is Donovan, and he used to be a great fighter, like yourself." "What happened to him?" asked Amy in a small voice.

"He had mixed blood, you see. He was partly human, and partly vampire. He was unable to overcome the vampire blood in him, and he has become a vampire for real. His power is now greater than before, but it has limitations. He cannot bear the presence of strong light, for example. He is much stronger than before, and it takes much more to kill him than before. But the transformation left him needing to drink blood. Without it, he will soon weaken and die. And in his case, it has driven him insane."

"Why do you show us this?" asked Guile, disgusted and confused. "Surely Donovan is not Max?"

"Indeed not. But Max is also a vampire. His full name is Demitri Maximoff, and this was once his castle. Demitri is a very old and powerful vampire. He has all the strengthes of Donovan here, but he is cunning and experienced in dark dealings. I can teach you how to defeat him, but you must understand the nature of vampires."

"How do you know so much about vampires?"

"Like Donovan, my blood was mixed as a child. Unlike him, I have overcome the vampire blood and retained my humanity. It gives me certain abilities and advantages, but the price I paid was terrible. I have one more thing to show you, Guile. I don't know what you'll think of it. It is for you alone."

Guile looked questioningly, but Jane motioned for him to go on, and Amy smiled reassuringly to let him know they were allright. Guile told Rose to lead him on, and they left the room with the raving vampire to see Rose's secret.

Guile was surprised to see that Rose led him to a finely furnished part of the castle. Luxurious rugs covered the floors, and tapestries of intricate beauty were spaced along all of the walls. Light spilled from chandeliers on gold furniture. Guile reckoned that this part of the castle was worth millions of dollars. They halted before a mahogany door with gold hinges.

"You go alone first, Guile. I will be in shortly." Rose turned and left him and Guile had nothing to do but open the door and enter the room. He was shocked by what he saw.

The room was dim compared to the hallways-- only a handful of small candles provided illumination. It was obvious that the room was just as finely furnished as the rest of the wing outside, however. Sitting on a plush chair was a man reading a book. He looked up as Guile entered.

"Charlie!" Guile sputtered through his shock. "I thought you were dead!"

Charlie smiled at him. "I was, Guile. I was." Guile looked at him closely now. He didn't look exactly the same. His blond hair still hung crazily in front of his face, and he still had his ridiculous reading glasses on. His fatigues were traded in for a silk smoking jacket, but it wasn't this that caught Guile's attention. His skin was pale and sallow, and his cheeks looked a little sunken. His eyes were surrounded by black circles, and seemed to have sunk into his head. They also seemed to glow faintly from time to time, which unnerved Guile quite a bit.

"What's going on here, Charlie? What have they done to you? And what do you mean you were dead?" Charlie stood up slowly first and walked stiffly over to Guile. "Don't you have a hug for your closest friend?" Guile rather sheepishly hugged Charlie then, but delicately. Charlie didn't seem the same, and he was almost afraid of hurting him.

"Charlie, you're worrying me. What's going on?"

Charlie sighed and sat back down. "I'm afraid it ain't pretty, Guile. Like I said, I was dead. Or at least as good as. Rose saved me and brought me here."

"Then why do you look so bad? Are you sick?"

"You might say that. But it had to be done, you see. I would have died otherwise, if I hadn't had that transfusion. Not just any transfusion, you see; that wouldn't have done it. I needed a special transfusion that made me like them."

"Like who? Rose? Donovan? You trying to tell me you have vampire blood in you now?"

Charlie looked at Guile sadly for a minute. "Yes, Guile, that's exactly what I'm telling you."

Hong Kong

To Chun Li it seemed as if the nightmare would never end. She had drifted in and out of sleep...or maybe unconsciousness...several times. She racked her brain time and time again for a way to escape her bonds. She even tried to summon a Kikokken blast to blow away the ropes, but it had backfired leaving her hands swollen and slightly burned.

Guy had turned silent and introspective doing whatever it is ninja's do when they're tied up, and Chun Li had soon stopped thinking much about him. The reality of her pain and helplessness made her unable to concentrate on much of anything at all. She drifted out of a daze when she realized suddenly that Guy was out of his trance and looking carefully around the room.

"What's going on? You tired of meditating, or are you looking for a place to take a leak?" Chun Li said sarcastically. Guy merely snorted at her and winked. Chunh Li gave a jump suddenly and cried out in surprise when she heard a sharp snap and Guy's arm suddenly hung limp. To her surprise, he slipped out of his bonds fairly easily.

"What most people don't realize," he said to her, "is that you can get out of these kind of bonds if you're willing to dislocate your thumb." Chun Li winced as he popped his dangling digit back into place with a loud snap. "Now let's see about getting you out of here." Guile moved swiftly and soon Chun Li was sitting on the ground rubbing her sore wrists. "We better get a move on, Chun. I don't think it will take them long to find out we're loose, and we're going to want all the distance we can get by then."

Chun Li nodded and stood up wearily. It would be a little while before she would be able to function completely: she was exhausted and without several hours of sleep wouldn't make it far. She told Guy her predicament.

"No problem, Chun. Just follow me and we'll find a place you can hole up. I think we can even find a place to hide here in Max's own lair if we're careful. I'm plenty rested, so don't worry about a thing."

He kept on talking as they walked as swiftly as Chun Li was able away from the room they had been tied up in. "There's something else you should know, Chun. I've been in contact with some...friends... of mine who are itching to get a shot at Max's organization as well. If we can just hang tight for a few more hours- - a day or so at the most-- then they'll be all over this place."

"What kind of friends are you talking about?"

"Just some friends of mine," Guy said looking sideways and trying to blow off the question. For some reason, Chun Li could tell that Guy didn't want to say who they were. "I'm sure you wouldn't know them. There a brother/sister team I've known for quite a while."

"What are their names?"

"Hokuto and Kairi. Like I said, you wouldn't know them."

"Chun Li mumbled back her reply. "No, I guess I don't." She was a little nervous that Guy seemed so reticent to talk about these two. Why couldn't he just tell her who they were? Of course, she had no choice but to trust him for now, though. Until she recovered her strength, she was just going to be dead weight.

Hong Kong

Ken hated every minute of it, but he didn't know what else to do. They were dangling him along like a string, but he had no choice if he wanted to see Eliza again. Every night for a week he had been given instructions to meet at the old warehouse and fight someone new. Often it was some nobody wannabe, but, of course, it started off with Vega and many of his opponents were pretty tough.

For some reason there was a feeling in the voice of the person who told him what time to come tonight. Something special was happening, and Ken wasn't sure he liked it.

"Probably just some local champion they whipped up that everyone around here thinks is pretty hot. I'm sure I can take him, and I'm gonna get some information tonight too!" He said that to himself, but he doubted it. Ever since Birdie's death, he noticed that he never saw anyone who was running the operation. Minor lackey's that obviously didn't know anything would show up to make sure the fight went smoothly, and the bookies and bouncers were always around, but there wasn't anyone who could tell Ken anything about Eliza.

"My own fault, I guess. Shoulda' kept my temper with that fool Birdie."

This time as Ken entered the arena, there was a figure that seemed familiar to Ken. In fact, he was wearing a gi similar to his own, but blue. Ken walked forward to get a better look at the man he was going to fight tonight. As Ken came into the light, the man smiled at him and waved.

"Howdy, Ken! Long time, no see. It's about time we had a reunion." The man was build similar to Ken, but the resemblence ended there. Allen was a hillbilly all the way, the polar opposite of the young and always hip Ken. He had reddish hair that was still shaped from the hat the he must have been wearing all day long up until now. Huge bushy sideburns covered his cheeks, and ran all the way down to his mouth. As Ken walked up to him, he spit a wad of chewing tobacco on the dusty floor.

"C'mon, city boy! We've got an old score to settle. I ain't never gonna live down the fact that you beat me unless I c'n prove that it was a fluke. It ain't never gonna happen again, y'hear? I'm fixin' to pound the crap outta you..."

Allen went on with his quaintly rustic threats, but Ken ignored him. For the last several nights, he had been scanning the crowd; looking for any familiar face. He hoped to find someone who could give him more information about Eliza's whereabouts, but he had yet to see anyone who he knew.

He was interrupted by a rude shove. "I axed you a question, Ken! Where's Ryu? Y'all two were always thick as butter, so he's gotta be around here somewhere, too. Y'all think I don't know he'll probably jump me as soon as I kick your butt?" Ken was tempted to say that he and Ryu had never been that close: Ryu's personality would never have allowed it, but he was out of patience with the crude Allen. Instead of answering him, he backhanded him as hard as he could, sending him reeling to the floor. The crowd cheered like crazy, and most of them stood to see better. The fight was on.

Ken fought coldly tonight. He knew his antics when he was younger were real crowd pleasers, but this was wrong. Being forced to fight so Eliza wouldn't be hurt wasn't like the old street fighting days at all. He never enjoyed it, and he always fought with ruthless, cold efficiency now. He simply turned around and went back to the hotel when he was done, wanting nothing to do with crowds.

But Allen wasn't going to be defeated as easily as most of his opponents recently had been. He was a genuine street fighter, and a champion. At least he had been a champion until Ken took the title from him a few years ago. Allen had been insane with jealousy and envy, and had obviously been training quite hard since then. He came at Ken with a series of quick attacks. Ken blocked all of them, waiting for the right opening. When Allen exposed himself just a little, Ken reacted quickly, elbowing the man in the jaw. He then continued to attack, kicking Allen in the midriff, and legs, causing him to fall to the ground. When he leaped up to come clamming down on his face with his foot, however, the rustic karate champ rolled easily to the side and kicked Ken on his way down.

Allen leaped up, pressing his attack again. He and Ken both scored heavy blows on each other, and soon both were panting tiredly. Allen had a black eye, and blood leaked from his mouth. Ken's left arm was hurt, and he wasn't using it as well as he normally did. Sweat dripped into a cut over his eye, causing it to sting.

"Wha...what are you doing here,...Ken?" panted out Allen, during a lull in the fight. Ken was surprised by the question. Allen had never liked him much; thinking him a scrawny runt who had no chance of defeating him before the match in which they had fought. After the match, when Ken had won, Allen hated him with a passion. He had often foudn Ken at matches, seeking to try his hand again. Ken had never been in the mood to fight him before. But underneath his rude exterior, Ken knew he was basically a good guy. Maybe he could be of some use in finding Eliza.

"My wife..." he panted back. "I have to fight so...they don't hurt her."

"What?!" Allen stood up, relaxing from his fighting stance. "What are you talking about, Ken?"

Ken also relaxed. If nothing else, a little break would be good right now. "Remember my girlfriend Eliza? We're married now. A few weeks ago she was kidnapped and I was told if I ever wanted to see her again, I had to come here. Since, I've done nothing but fight when these jokers tell me to fight, and hope that they don't hurt her. I can't find out a thing about where she is."

"Man, that just ain't right!" said Allen. "They didn't tell me that at all. I can't believe these jokers set me up to fight you like this. Ken, we shouldn't be fighting now." He scanned the crowd darkly: they had started to boo this lack of action. "I'm walking out of here, and I'm going to help you find your wife, man." Allen held out his hand in friendship. After a moments hesitation, Ken grasped it warmly. To his surprise, as soon as he did, Allen punched him heavily in the nose, knocking him down and causing it to bleed. "I still don't like you, though. When this is over, we'll continue where we left off!" Ken grinned in spite of himself as Allen walked off of the arena and out the door.

Near Bangkok, Thailand

Sagat moved slowly out of the woods into the clearing. He never took his eye off of Ryu, and he totally ignored Sakura and the rest of his people who followed him. There were two others, Adon and a man who looked very scared and very out of place.

"So you have come at last!" he said smiling broadly. "I will now have the opportunity to have my revenge for my bitter defeat."

Ryu spoke to him in a calm, quiet voice. "You've had your chance to beat me three times, Sagat. Twice you have lost to me. The third time you lost to Ken before I even had a chance to fight you again. Why would you think that now would be any different?"

"Because now I have leverage!" Sagat nodded to Adon, who rolled his eyes slightly and moved to cover Sakura. "Can you worry about yourself and your new girlfriend at the same time?" Sagat laughed cruelly. Ryu shook his head slightly. "What has happened to you, Sagat? You used to be an honorable warrior. You fought like a true fighter should fight. Now you are reduced to doing anything to say you beat me. Do you think you can be satisfied if you beat me, knowing that you cheated?"

Sagat roared at the accusation. "I do not cheat!" He jumped up in front of Ryu, his eyes blazing and his mouth contorted in a snarl of rage. Suddenly he calmed, and smiled at Ryu. "There is no more honor. There is only victory. Every means available is fair. That is the spirit of a true warrior. Now, boy, you will see defeat and death at my hands. My enemies all around have fallen and you Shotokan children will be the last to fall. Adon will keep your cheap whore busy while I take care of you."

At this Adon pulled out a gun and held it in front of Sakura, grinning evilly. "Let's see how well you fight with your attention divided, karate boy!" he said leering.

Suddenly Sakura moved, running at Adon and kicking his hand. The gun sailed away to land in the bushes out of sight. She punched Adon quickly in the face a couple of times, knocking him to the ground. "Don't worry about me, Ryu! Do what you have to do!"

Ryu turned to Sagat again, smiling. "Now, Sagat, we will fight on even terms once again. This time you will not survive. I tire of your incessant efforts to get in my way, and today will be the last time." Sagat faced off against Ryu, unperturbed by the loss of his advantage. "I have grown, boy. You will not find me easy meat this time."

"In truth, I never did. But meat you will be, easy or not, when this fight is over." Ryu leaped forward, punching at Sagat, blocking his counterblows, sending a kick to his midriff that knocked him back a little, giving them room to face off again. This time, Sagat rushed forward, jumping up with his knee, and trying to sweep Ryu's feet when he was blocked. Ryu tried to counter the sweep, but Sagat was ready, leaping into the powerful Tiger Uppercut. Ryu took the blow in the face, falling heavily to the ground. The blow knocked him far enough back, however, that he was able to easily get up and get into the ready position before Sagat had a chance to press his attack.

Ryu wiped blood from his mouth as he faced off again with Sagat. He had lost track of what Sakura was doing, as he concentrated on his own fight. Sakura, on the other hand, had been trying to fight Adon while watching Ryu, and hadn't been doing very well accordingly. She was a bit battered and bloody, and starting to get really angry. She shouted at Adon and ran forward, rising at the last moment in her version of the Rising Dragon. Her hand moved like lightning, striking Adon several times. She followed this up with a quick attack with hands and feet to Adon, pushing him backwards. Adon blocked well, though, and his evil grin still spread across his face. Quickly he reached forward, grabbing Sakura by the shoulders and spinning kneeing her in the midriff twice. She felt the wind knocked out of her, but she struggled still to get free of Adon's grasp. Adon spun her, though, disorienting her and kicking her still. Then he spun her again, and let go, sending her flying through the air.

To her surprise, she didn't hit the ground quickly. She realized suddenly that Adon had put her in a position where he could throw her from a ledge. She opened her eyes and saw the ground rushing up at her at least fifty feet below her. Frantically she clawed at the side of the cliff, but it was smooth stone, still a part of the temple wall at this point. At the base of the wall, she hit the first part of the rough rock upthrust that the temple was built upon. The jolt stopped her fall, and Sakura was wedged in between two large rocks, senseless and unmoving. Adon looked down at her, disappointed that she didn't fall all of the way down, but satisfied nonetheless that she would not return to the fight. He turned again to watch Sagat and Ryu. Of course, Adon had never held much with Sagat's obsession with revenge, but he figured that if he could help him beat Ryu now, it would be that much sooner that they could move on to other, more profitable enterprises.

Ryu was evenly matched with Sagat. He had a few more good blows against him now, and Sagat's face was cut and bleeding. But the huge man was just as light on his feet and indomitable as ever. Ryu was not designed to fight a battle of attrition: he couldn't take as much as the huge Sagat, so he knew he would have to start fighting more aggressively, dealing more damage than her was taking before Sagat took him down for good.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Adon running towards him, with the obvious intention of attacking him. What had happened to Sakura? He felt himself filling with rage, and the very air around him started to charge with energy. Ryu was channeling the energy of the environment into his hands; a ball of pure chi that he could unleash at his foes. As Adon neared, Ryu shouted the word "Hadoken!" which served to focus the energy. Like a blast of lightning, it flew straight from Ryu's hands and slammed into Adon, throwing him back. Adon flew backwards with incredible force, hitting a tree hard and crumpling to the ground. But no sooner than Ryu had unleashed his chi then he felt himself pummeled to the ground.

"That fool Adon has just enough usefulness to distract you so I can finish you. He should never have presumed himself my equal," Sagat gloated while Ryu writhed on the ground, trying desperately to summon the energy to stand up and stay conscious. He tried to summon his chi power again, but found he was too exhausted to concentrate enough to do it well.

Sakura must have only been unconscious for a minute or two. She woke up, sore and twisted, and wedged in the rocks. Below her, at least forty feet, was the stony ground. If she fell, she would break several of her bones, at best. Most likely she wouldn't survive. Above her, almost twenty feet was the top of the ledge. The smooth surface of the temple wall offered her nothing which she could hold onto to climb. She struggled to change her position and look around. Several of the rocks slipped she was standing on, and she was left hanging desperately by the fingernails of one hand. Slowly she reached up with her other hand, then found purchase with her feet. She was stable again.

To her left, a series of thick vines climbed all the way from the floor of the drop-off, past her position, and nearly to the top of the wall. She carefully made her way to the vines, and climbed them. They were rough, and she found herself cut, scraped an sticky with sap when she reached the end of the vines. To her dismay, she saw that she was just barely out of reach of the top of the wall. She wondered what she could do. With luck, she could make it to the bottom without falling, then run around to the other side of the temple and go back to the top from there. The run was at least a mile, through tangled undergrowth and treacherous footing. In her condition, there was no way she could reach to fight again in time to make a difference. She pounding her fist into the uncaring rock wall in frustration. In so doing, she loosened the belt that held her gi.

Adon stood again. Hs chest burned from the force of Ryu's energy. He had heard Sagat's commentary, and he fumed inside for it. Sagat had played him for a fool all along. He cared for nothing beyond his revenge on those who had beaten him again. No matter. If Sagat didn't care enough to take the helm of the underground in Thailand, then Adon didn't need him anyway. He would be happy to let Ryu and Sagat pummel themselves to death, and then fight the winner. In his tired state, he should be an easy victory for the relatively fresh Adon. If Ryu won, he might not even fight him at all. What grief did he have with Ryu? None whatsoever. If Sagat won, it would be a pleasure to eliminate him personally.

Ryu tried to stand again. Sagat had summoned his own chi, hurling bolts of fire and Ryu. He had managed to avoid or counter most of them, but he still smarted from the blast of a few that had made it through. He had been unable to seriously damage Sagat in return, and the lean giant was smiling at him broadly, anticipating the end of the fight.

"Can you truly be the mighty Ryu who defeated me twice? I barely recognize you today. You fight miserably. My strength has grown beyond yours, boy. Come and feel the end-- it awaits you." Sagat pulled back and gathered the force for another blast of chi energy.

Suddenly a thought came to Sakura. She grabbed her belt as it started to fall. Carefully, so as not to dislodge herself, she tied it into a knot at one end. She tossed the loop up over the edge of the wall. It didn't catch on anything, but she felt pressure as it almost caught between two rocks. With renewed hope she threw it again. It missed. For the third time she threw her belt. This time it caught, and seemed to hold. Holding her breath and muttering to herself she put all of her weight on the belt. It still held. Carefully now, she climbed up, hand over hand until she could grab the edge of the temple wall. No sooner than she had done so, the knot on her belt dislodged itself from the crack that held it, and her belt fell slowly to the floor sixty feet below. Sakura frantically reached up with her other hand and pulled herself up over the edge of the wall. She had made it!

She tried to stand, but nearly felt as an incredible pain lanced through her ankle. Not broken, but twisted badly. She limped toward the sounds of fighting. Her gi flapped in the wind without her belt, so she shrugged it off. Her black body suit and baggy white pants were bloodstained and badly torn, but not quite to the point of immodesty. Sakura almost laughed that she would care at a time like this about modesty.

As she came around the corner, she saw that Ryu was doing badly. He was bloody, bowed and looked like he was about to give up. She ran as fast as she could with her limp and shouted at him. Just as he turned to look, she barrelled into Adon, tackling him and pounding on his face. Adon was surprised, but he recovered quickly enough, escaping from under her and standing to face off against her.

Ryu suddenly felt a surge of energy when he saw that Sakura was back. With another call on his chi energy, he spun in the air kicking Sagat a number of times. He landed close to him, and picked him up, throwing him in the direction Sakura had come from. Another blast of Hadoken energy threw Sagat back even further. Sagat put up a good fight, but Ryu was suddenly more powerful than he had ever been. The pain from his earlier wounds seemed to leave him, and he fought with a strength he had never known he had. He realized suddenly that it was his relief at seeing Sakura again that gave him strength. He had done it! He had overcome his emotional block, and his feelings for Sakura had given him more power than he had ever dreamed that he possessed. In his joy he could have forgiven Sagat for pursuing him so relentlessly.

But Sagat wouldn't stop. He couldn't understand what had happened to Ryu, but he understood that a minute ago he had been winning this fight. He wouldn't let Ryu grab and hold the momentum of the fight. He attacked Ryu again, only to find that Ryu pushed him back further. Sagat now had his back to the same cliff that Sakura had just fallen from. He gathered his final chi for a monstrous attack; a huge blast of fire that would flatten Ryu when it hit. Ryu saw it coming however and leaped over it to stand right in front of Sagat. He gathered his own chi and shouted the words "Shin Shoryuken!" releasing it suddenly. The power of his chi carried him up in the air, and he pounded Sagat first with one hand then the other. On the third blow, Sagat's head snapped back with a loud crack and he fell backwards-- over the edge of the cliff. His pain was intense, but his rage and frustration were even greater, at the thought that he had been beaten for the final time by Ryu. His angry scream ended suddenly when he hit the ground sixty feet below.

Meanwhile, Sakura was doing well too. She concentrated on her own fight; ignoring Ryu for once. Adon couldn't believe how focused she was. Time and time again she threw him to the ground, pounded him down, or kicked his feet out from under him. In desperation, he leaped in the air, flipping quickly like a jacknife in the dreaded Jaguar Kick. But in his confusion, he had done it too close to Sakura, and he went over her head. As he landed, he felt her arms close tightly around his neck, and she jerked off his windpipe. He struggled wildly to breathe, but knew that his fight was over. Finally he broke free, and ran into the woods. Sakura started to chase him, but the pain in her ankle convinced her that it wasn't worth the trouble.

She limped towards Ryu and found him smiling at her. Sagat was nowhere to be seen. She managed to pant out a few words, but found it difficult. Now that the adrenalin from the fight was leaving her, he felt bombarded by pain and weariness. She fell to the ground, unable to summon the energy to remain standing. "Wasn't there...one more?" she gasped out.

Ryu was suddenly all business again. "You're right, Sakura. There were three of them. Where has the last one gone?"

"You won't need to worry about him," said a voice, elderly yet strong. Ryu looked up to see an old man standing relaxed in the brush just twenty feet from them. At his feet, protruding from the undergrowth was the arm of the third man; unconscious.

"Master Gen!" Ryu said in surprise. "To what do we owe the honor of your company?"

"To my old age, young one," chuckled Gen. When Ryu and Sakura looked confused, he elaborated for them. "I am near the time of my death. Yet I would end it fighting, not wasting away. The coincidence is that I have found you two here as well."

"Why wouldn't we be here?" asked Sakura weakly.

"There is a power here. Your work is not yet done, I'm afraid. A dark power that I have felt before had reentered the world. I though it had come here to Thailand, but it has already moved on. You must come with me to stop it in it's plans."

"What power do you mean? Akuma? Can that demon truly have returned?"

"Yes he has," Gen sighed wearily. "But he is only one power in the struggle that is coming. You will be needed desperately if evil is not to take over the world."

Hong Kong

Cammy awoke to find herself sitting half in and half out of the water. She was soaked to the skin and shivering. It was actually amazing that she had ended up with her legs in the water instead of her head. Grateful for her luck, she gingerly stood up and stretched while looking around. There was a little light down here, but not much. She couldn't see any sign of the mysterious attacker who had fought her earlier. One more thing to be grateful for, she thought, although she would much rather have found his broken and drowned body down here with her.

She looked up at the waterfall that came cascading from the tunnel above her. Down here, the cavern was much more natural, although there was some evidence that it was only partially so. Still shivering, she started walking as fast as she could. She hoped she could warm her body up before she got hypothermia, but she knew her only chance was to find a way out of the cave.

The light was coming from very dim bulbs that were placed at odd intervals throughout the cave. This, at least, gave her evidence that she would eventually find a way out, but she was also wary of finding anyone unpleasant waiting for her. The only sound she heard, though, was the steady dripping of water and the faint chirping of a bat somewhere in the cavern. A few times she had to reenter the water to continue as it rose above floor level. For the most part, though, the cave continues on, straight and without forks.

She started coming across occasional rooms on the side of the tunnel. Most of them were empty, but she always looked o make sure that there wasn't somebody waiting to follow her, or even more important, something she could use to help her on her way out. The fifth room she checked looked like it was the one she wanted. There, she found an odd assortment of clothes, many of them looking like ill-fitting old Shadowloo uniforms. She quickly peeled off her soaking clothes and covered herself with as many layers of clothes as she could find until she stopped chattering and the danger of hypothermia was past.

Now, she thought, I can find something dry, and with any luck, can disguise myself as someone who looks like she belongs here. She quickly gave up that notion, however after looking through the material. She discarded much of it as too ragged and dirty to be seriously considered usable anymore. Most of it what was left was a plain grey coverall not too different from her own black body suit. The grey ones came in two parts, though, and she couldn't find any that fit her right. After combing through everything that was there, she finally settled on a top that was very tight, hugging her like a lover. It was sleeveless as well, and so small that she was a little concerned that she might fall out of the top, blowing her cover big- time. The pants were just the opposite, baggy and loose. She found a rope that she could fasten as a belt, tightening the waist, but it slipped to her hips more often than not. At least the ankles were tight and elastic, so the pants wouldn't fall completely off. She thought that it would be better if they did, rather than falling to her ankles and tripping her up, though.

To finish up her outfit, she found a cap that was the same color as her uniform, but had a logo on it in red that read: MAX cpt. She wasn't sure what it meant, but hoped she could figure it out before she had to bluff anyone.

Feeling much better, Cammy started walking again, just glancing in the rooms she passed now, instead of looking thoroughly. She noted that she couldn't hear the bat anymore, but she didn't think much of it. The passageway started to rise slightly, and she was being a little more wary. It didn't take her long to start hearing voices in some of the side passages, but she put on her best face and tried to pretend like she belonged. It would work better, she thought, if my stupid pants wouldn't keep falling down. I don't look like a very good soldier for Max with my panties showing. Sure enough, it didn't take long before she bumped into a little man running down the hallway, who nearly barrelled her over. Behind him was about half a dozen men in uniforms much like hers, and they were looking at her with a face that was half leering and half menacing. Well, here we go! Cammy said to herself.

Romania

Guile walked slowly away from the room where he had seen Charlie. He was stunned that he could still be alive, even if it was this strange half-life. He felt a bit foolish as well, having given up five years of being with his family as well as his career in the Air Force. What was it all for, if Charlie were still alive? Could it be possible that he could have it all back again? His family, his life, and even his best friend? Despite their circumstances, Guile hadn't felt like everything was going this right for him in a long time. Rose approached quietly. "How did you find your friend?" she asked, looking into his eyes with an expression of sympathy at the confusion Guile must be feeling.

"He seems to be well. I can't believe he's really still alive, though! It's almost too much to take in at once." Rose smiled at him. "Well, don't even think about it yet. Or have you forgotten that your family is in some danger from Maximoff and his organization?"

Guile's stunned smile turned cold. "No, I haven't forgotten. What should I do, Rose, to keep them safe?" "Well, what I suggest is this: Maximoff is only after your family to insure himself that he has you. Go to where this vampire is, and your family will be safe."

Guile raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're suggesting I sacrifice myself to insure their safety? Surely you have a better idea than that!"

"No, you thick-headed...man! You won't be the only one there. Many of the old street fighters you know are already there, getting involved with what is going on. Ken Masters is there for sure, and Chun Li and others. You must act together if you hope to stop Demitri. He is at least as powerful as Bison ever was, and much more cunning."

"That sounds like good advice, Rose. But how can I get there in time to accomplish anything?"

"I can get you there," Rose answered. "Here in this castle, I have devices that can augment my powers, and give me new powers as well. One of the things I can do is travel between places by magic. I will send you to Hong Kong, where Demitri is gathering his forces." Rose was silent for a moment, walking alongside Guile. He could sense that she was trying to say something, but didn't quite know how to say it. "What is it, Rose? When Jane gets that look on her face, I know I'm in for bad news."

Rose smiled a little. "I'm just worried is all, Guile. I can't go with you. I must stay here and keep Donovon at bay, as well as wait on Charlie's needs. His greatest trial is coming very soon, and I fear that without help, he may not make it. But Demitri must be stopped. I don't know what he is up to, but I do know that it will be ill for the entire world if he is successfull."

Guile stopped walking and held her hands, looking into her eyes to make sure he had her attention. "Don't worry, Rose. We will stop him. Now let me say good-bye to Jane and Amy, and then you can send me away. You don't mind if they stay here, do you?"

"Of course not," Rose waved dismissively. "There in there through those doors."

Guile gave one last reassuring smile to Rose, then turned and entered the room where Jane and Amy were waiting. He whistled with appreciation. "Boy, she really got you set up, didn't she?" Jane and Amy were seated in an extremely nice room on plush burgundy chairs. There was a fire burning on the hearth and bookshelves along the walls. Both Jane and Amy had been reading.

"Hello, Daddy!" called Amy, closing her book. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, Rose just needed to show me something, that's all," Guile dodged. Jane looked at him funny. She was no fool, and knew that Guile was hiding something from her.

"What is it, Honey?" she asked him.

"I'm going to leave you two here for a little while. Rose will take care of you while I see to some business elsewhere."

Tears welled up in Jane's eyes, and Amy looked worried. "You're going after Max, aren't you?" his wife asked.

Guile was surprised that he had been read so easily; he just dumbly nodded his head. "I have to. Don't you understand? You'll never be safe until he is seen to. As soon as I'm gone, he won't come after you anymore."?

Jane's reply surprised him even more. "You're not going to be gone five years again, are you?"

Guile laughed and held his family close. All three were crying at the bitter parting, but Guile felt so incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful family. "No, dear, I'll be right back this time."

Guile waved to his family one last time as he closed the door behind him. Rose was waiting outside. She smiled and motioned for Guile to follow her, which he did. This time she lead him up, into one of the towers of the castle. The room they ended up in was large and open, with large windows on all four sides. None of the windows had any glass, and a cool wind blew strongly through the room. The walls, floor and ceiling were all painted with sigils and signs, in many colors. In the center of the floor was a large ring, surrounded by what looked to Guile like some kind of hieroglyphs.

"Stand right here in the center of this, if you don't mind," Rose instructed him.

"Rose, how does this work? What's going to happen exactly?"

"When I activate my Soul Power, this ring will amplify the magic, twisting the fabric of space and sending you instantly to Hong Kong. By scrying, I have managed to find generally where Demitri is, and you should be within a mile or two of him. From there on, you'll be on your own. But Guile..."

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"Be carefull. Don't try to take on Demitri alone. He is too powerful for that kind of fight. Look for help before you assault him. Like I said, there are other old street fighters in the area who are interested in seeing him fall for reasons of their own. Look them up before you do anything else, OK?"

Guile smiled and nodded. But to himself, he promised that if he saw Demitri before any of the other fighters, he wouldn't hesitate to attack him then and there. Rose was satisfied with his answer though, and she presently begin to chant and glow slightly. Guile was iintrigued even further when she accompanied her chanting with a graceful dance around the room.

Suddenly the air around Guile seemed charged with electricity. His hair, which had fallen somewhat in the last few hours stood on end again. There was a sudden ripple in space right in front of him, as if looking through a strange lens. The ripple twisted and Guile saw the room disappear in a spiral. He didn't feel a thing, but when the spiral unwound again, he was standing underground in a man-made cave.

Hong Kong

When Chun Li awoke, it was to the sound of movement near her. She thought maybe that it was Guy, but then she saw that he was motionless, just as he had fallen asleep. A closer look revealed that his eyes were wide open, though, and he motioned for her to keep quiet.

Again she heard the noise. It seemed as if someone where stealthily moving about right outside of the door. Chun Li and Guy had fallen asleep in a closet that was inside a small storage room. It seemed like a good place to hide, but now it appeared that they were in considerable danger of being discovered. Guy stood up very slowly, and walked towards the door of the closet. He was listening closely, ear to the door, to see if he could catch any other sounds. After a few minutes, they still hadn't heard anything, so Guy quietly opened the door and slipped out. He motioned for Chun Li to sit quietlyy and wait for him.

The only reason she didn't argue with him was because she couldn't afford to make any noise. Guy wasn't normally bad about this kind of thing, but Chun Li couldn't stand protective men. Unfortunately, ever since Guy's declaration of love, he had been showing disturbing signs of "watching out for her" a little too often. If she were to ever decide and go for him, she would have to clear that up real quick.

Chun Li smiled at the thought. Despite her desperate circumstances, she felt just fine trusting Guy to get her out of them. She was almost scared that she actually really liked the thought of being with Guy. Could it be that she was falling in love with him as well? She felt herself flush a little, and if she could have seen herself, she was sure her cheeks were bright red. She chuckled softly to herself when she remembered that scant days ago she was telling herself that Guy was not her type at all.

He didn't come back right away, though. Chun Li knew that it was smarter just to wait for him and that if she left, the would probably miss each other and waste tons of time trying to figure out where the other had went. However, waiting while someone else went out and had all of the fun was not in Chun Li's nature, and after just a few minutes, she was silently sneaking her way out of the closet as well.

It was obvious that someone had been in the room. The storeroom's contents were disturbed some, and the old clothes and uniforms that Guy and Chun Li had seen on the way into their closet were now strewn all over the floor. There was no sign of Guy, however, so Chun Li walked to the door and looked outside. And nearly ran into Guy, who was standing right outside. She couldn't help squeaking out a small yelp of surprise, then blushing for doing so. "What are you doing? What's going on?"

To her surprise, instead of answering her, Guy grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her as hard as he could. Chun Li struggled for a minute; her feet off the ground and kicking furiously. Soon, however, she relaxed and began to really enjoy the kiss. Of course, as soon as she did, Guy put her back down. She stood there for a moment, with her eyes closed, waiting to see what Guy would do next. "Looks like you have quite a find here, brother Guy," said a strange voice. Chun Li's eyes snapped open and she saw, just beyond Guy two figures. Both were thin and dark and looked very similar. Japanese, thought Chun Li, and similar enough to be brother and sister.

"Chun Li," said Guy, "I would like you to meet two members of my clan, Hokuto and Kairi. They brother and sister, and have come in response to my signal earlier. They will help us escape from Max's compound, then plan an attack to get rid of him for good."

Chun Li looked frostily at Guy. She was really quite embarrassed by the whole situation, but she recovered well, and bowed to Hokuto and Kairi, telling of her pleasure at meeting them. "If you don't mind, though," she said with another quick glare at Guy, "let's figure out what we're going to do, and get out of here. I'm ready to see the sky for a change."

"I think we should split up," said Hokuto, the ninja girl. She was small and almost dainty looking, but had a very dangerous grace in all of her movements. "Four people is just too large a group to effectively sneak around. You and Guy look like you're a little the worse for wear, so you should each go with one of us."

"Yes, that's a good idea," said Kairi, the brother. He was thin and whip-like, just as Guy was. He had a patch over one eye, and Chun Li thought he looked extremely competent. "Ho, why don't you go with Chun Li, and I'll go with Guy. We can be out of here in an hour or two, and meet at the rendezvous that we talked about earlier in three hours at the latest. Agreed?"

Nobody had any objections to the plan, so within seconds, Chun Li found herself walking carefully behind the dainty ninja girl while Guy and Kairi were running off in the opposite direction.

Hong Kong

Ken heard from Allen later that day. "I've found yer woman, Ken. She's being moved into the main Hong Kong lair tomorrow. If you wait at the right time, you can have a chance of getting her back." So that's how it happened that Ken was waiting on a second story balcony in the early afternoon. It was a sleepy and hot day, but Ken was very alert. He studiously ignored the busy throng of vendors and pedestrians that clogged the street below him.

The building he was in was built on the far corner of an L-junction. Allen had told him that a black Mercedes carrying Eliza would come by sometime between two and two thirty. Ken would have to find his own way to rescue her, though. Allen could only do so much without jeopardizing his position.

It was now two twenty five. Ken hadn't seen any cars at all yet. Actually, he wasn't sure how a car could ever hope to drive along the street anyway. It was clearly built for pedestrians. The narrow walls of high buildings hemmed it in like a canyon, and the busy corner would force any cars to slow to a crawl if not stop completely. It was the perfect site for an ambush, but if no car came...

Ken didn't give up hope yet though. His plan was very rough. When the car came by, he would leap off of the balcony and hope that he could grab Eliza and run. Surprise worked in his favor, but there were plenty of variables that could screw the whole thing up. At least he had scouted the neighborhood; looking for a place where he and Eliza could duck and hide, or make a quick getaway. There were plenty of places that looked good, but none that was ideal. Ken figured he would have to just play this part by ear.

Finally Ken could see the glare of sunlight on an approaching windshield. He stood up, careful to keep his face hidden, but able to see what was coming. Sure enough, it was a black Mercedes, just as Allen predicted. Ken didn't trust Allen completely, though. He waited until he could see inside the windows.

The front two seats were occupied by two dark-haired men with black suits and sunglasses. He craned his head trying to get a view of the back seat. He could see a similarly dressed man in one of the seats. He had to run along the balcony a bit to get in a position to see the other seat. When he looked-sure enough, there was the flowing blond hair of Eliza.

With a happy grin, watched as the car ground to a halt in the busy pedestrian traffic. He saw his opportunity and leaped over the railing of the balcony, landing with a thud on the roof of the car. Before any of the men in black could respond, he yanked open Eliza's door and pulled her away from the car, and they escaped into a narrow alleyway, running at breakneck speed.

"Ken!" gasped Eliza. "I can't believe it's you!"

"Hi, honey! Afraid we can't talk, though, we gotta run. Those guys aren't going to wait around to follow us."

"Ken!" she said more insistently. "I can't keep up! I'm five months pregnant, remember?" Ken stopped for a second and realized that the bulge in her belly was a little bigger than before, straining against the confines of her normal clothes. Her face was red and sweaty already, and her hair was spreading in a rough halo all around her head.

"Hmm, I guess you can't keep up. Quick then! In here!" Ken grabbed her hand and led her through a narrow doorway. They found themselves inside a house. Ken excused himself in Mandarin when the family sitting at the t.v. sat up in alarm. They passed through the house and came out on the other side. Ken led Eliza quietly through several more streets. They seemed to have shaken any sign of pursuit, but Ken wanted to make sure they were far enough away that they wouldn't be easily found again. He did make time to flirt with his wife, though; blowing her kisses, and pinching her rear end. They were able to talk quietly, and Ken told her a little bit about how he had come to Hong Kong after her, and how he had been forced to fight in the warehouse while they dangled him along after them. Eliza also told him about her captivity. She had indeed been well treated, but had nothing to do most of the time. Before long, they forgot about being pursued and simply enjoyed walking hand in hand and chatting.

Ken suddenly felt a blow to his head. Eliza screamed as he fell to the ground, quickly losing consciousness. The last thing he saw was the large ball bearing that had struck him.

"Ken!" screamed Eliza. "No, don't take me away from him again!" The dark suited men who emerged from the alleys and shadows paid her pleading no mind. They shoved her roughly out of the way, and picked up Ken's still form, dragging it off. Within seconds, they had disappeared.

Eliza was left sobbing to herself. "They didn't even look at me!" she said to herself in surprise. She realized that Ken had been the target all along. She stood, a little bit shaky, and wondered what she could do. She was stranded, in an alley in a bad part of Hong Kong without a single cent on her. To make matters worse, she didn't speak any Mandarin, and she started feeling cramps. Even without her other worries, her pregnancy was likely to leave her as good as paralyzed. She sank back down to the ground, and put her head in her hands, crying herself to sleep.

Max's Underground Lair

The group of men stopped sharply as Cammy came more into view. The looks on their faces changed abruptly to one of surprise and fear. Cammy smiled a bit, wondering what had made her change in their eyes. The men hastily moved aside for her; falling into attention like postures and calling out something in a language that sounded like German to Cammy.

"What are you talking about?" she asked one of them sharply, deciding to gamble a little and find out as much as was possible from these losers.

The man in front withered under her glare, but she could tell that he was confused; and wondering if he should be as afraid of her as he had been. "Forgive us, Captain! We thought you must be Fraulein Wechsell is why we called out to you in German. If the captain would be so kind, might we have your name? We have not had any reports of any other captains being transferred in."

"And why should I give my name to you? What authority do you have that you can question me?" Cammy shot back. As soon as she said it, she realized she had made a big mistake. The group of men looked at her with sudden suspicion and satisfaction on their faces. The moved out of attention and started to circle around her a bit.

"Because we have the responsibility of patrolling these corridors as you should know full well if you really are a captain. Maybe that explains why your uniform fits so badly, no? Although we really like the way it looks, it obviously isn't standard issue." Cammy was calm in the face of these events, but she knew she was in trouble. Two strong and burly men stood at either side of her, reaching to grab her arms and hold her in place. The lead man was undoing his pants as if to drop them. She realized she better act now.

With cold efficiency she stepped forward and kicked the man who was undoing his pants in the groin. He dropped wheezing and gasping to the ground, his eyes bulging and his face turning red. Equally calmly, she turned to face the two large men who were to have grabbed her. One of them lunged at her with his fist, but she easily sidestepped it, grabbing his arm as it passed and pulling him further along until he was off balance and unable to do anything to her. She kicked his leading leg, causing it to crack loudly and bend at an unnatural angle. The man screamed for a minute until she could grab his head and twist it sharply, breaking his neck. The other big man was just starting to attack, telescoping badly. Cammy ducked under his fist, sweeping his feet out from under him. As he hit the floor, she was already standing, and she carefully kicked him in the nose. Her aim was perfect, and the man didn't get up again..

There were three more men standing nearby, too stunned to have reacted yet. Cammy didn't want any of them to escape and spread word of her here in the compound. She reached into her chi to find the power necessary to perform one of her powerful special attack moves. Her body glowed with a blue flame and she flew feet first into the knot of them, knocking one back against the rock wall. She heard his head crack, and he didn't get back up. She grabbed one of the other two, flipping him around with her legs and slamming him to the floor as well. A kick to the chin while he was down made sure he wouldn't get up either.

The last of them was already running up the passageway, however. Cammy reached deeper into her chi. Always before, there had been a resistance before. She had never been able to hold too much chi before, and she had quit trying, but her situation was desperate. To her surprise, the old resistance was gone. She felt the power of her chi rush into her like a flood, and she almost forgot what she was using it for.

Then she remembered the fleeing man. Without thinking about it, she let go a small bit of her energy, and a glowing purple ball flew from her hands to follow the man. It struck him in the back, and the man fell as if slammed by a wrecking ball. Cammy ran through the passageway to catch him before he got up and got away. But the man was having trouble getting up; he writhed on the ground and pulled and scratched at his back, as if it pained him. She caught up to him quickly enough, ending his struggles with a few kicks. Looking back down the tunnel from which she had come, she noticed that the last conscious man was starting to move again. This was the man who she had kicked at the beginning while he was trying to take off his pants. He was limping slowly, but if she hadn't looked, he could have slipped away. Slowly she walked back towards him. Her body was still full of chi; to the point of bursting. She had never been able to draw this much power before, and it felt intoxicating. What could have happened to change her prior limitation? She smiled slightly at the heady feeling of the raw power of the chi coursing through her. She didn't know it, but her eyes were glowing like a cold blue flame; the coldness and sharpness magnified by the reflection of the chi that filled her.

When the man saw her approaching he screamed. "No! I don't care who you are! Let me live, whatever you are!" he sobbed, falling again to the ground in terror. His wide eyes darted back and forth from her to the bodies of his compatriots, many of whom would never arise again. Cammy was surprised by his reaction, but decided to use it to her advantage. She roughly grabbed the man by the throat and held him up in the air. She was amazed at her strength, augmented as it was by the massive amount of power in her body. Ignoring the man's pitiful pleas, she raised her fist to hit him. As she concentrated, her fist began to glow with a fiery blue light; just like Bison's used to do. Thinking of Bison again made her angry and she punched the man a little harder than she intended, right in the groin again.

She was amazed again at her strength. The man's lower body flew backwards and if she hadn't been holding him by the throat, she was sure that he would have flown backwards to the stone wall, twenty feet behind him. She winced a little as she felt a softening of the man's tissues under her fist. She had hit him a little bit too hard, crushing something important. Well, she thought, at least he won't be going anywhere. She set the man down, waiting for him to recover from the pain sufficiently to be questioned. What in the world had happened to her? She didn't hold onto any chi now, having let the power go. She was amazed by what had happened, scared even, but now that it was gone, she felt light-headed and dizzy. Something very odd was happening, and the similarity of what she was doing to Bison's powers was frightening. If she didn't get a handle on what was happening to her soon, she was afraid it would put her in considerable danger.

A Street, Hong Kong

Ryu was listening carefully to the ebb and flow of the crowd around him. He had arrived with Gen and Sakura earlier this morning in Hong Kong on an airplane. Luckily, Gen wasn't the kind of man to waste time, so the three of them had hit the streets almost immediately upon arrival. Sakura conversed breathlessly with Gen, seeming to never even pause to breathe, but Ryu knew already that something strange had happened in this neighborhood just recently.

People were talking excitedly one to another, and ignoring the day to day business that normally marked this kind of town. Their was a palpaple feeling of tension in the air, and even with Sakura's breathless chatter, Ryu could feel the recent danger that had been in the air. Gen and Sakura ignored him, but he stopped and tried to enter a conversation between a store owner and his friends.

"What's going on?" he asked, smiling his best, most friendly smile. The store owner frowned a bit at him, but he must have been convincing enough for his friends. A woman with a shopping bag answered him excitedly.

"There was a big fight just a few blocks away!" she exclaimed, eager to have a fresh audience again. "I saw the whole thing happen! A man with a red outfit; sort of like yours, jumped off of a balcony and attacked a car!"

"Attacked a car?" one of the men said skeptically.

"Well, he attacked the people in the car, at least..."

Ryu interupted the woman with a brief question. "What did this man look like?"

At first the woman seemed annoyed by Ryu's question, but then she decided that the looks of the man might be an interesting detail to her narrative, so she warmed up to the subject. "Why, he looked odd, now that you mention it! He was a foreigner of some kind, probably American. He had dark bushy eyebrows and big brown eyes that blazed with anger! His hair was as yellow as the sun, and he was about your height..." The woman trailed off as Ryu grabbed her arm, his own eyes blazing intensely at her now. "Where did he go?" he whispered.

"What, you know that guy?" Ryu's blazing stare withered the woman, and her desire to impress everyone with her grandiose retelling of what happened suddenly deflated. "I'm sorry, but he was knocked unconscious and taken by the men in the car. But there was an American woman who ran away. She was blond too, and very pregnant. She can't have gone more than a few blocks from here."

"Thank you!" Ryu shouted as he ran away from the knot of people. He found Sakura and Gen, quite a bit ahead of him, and never even realizing that Ryu wasn't right behind them. "C'mon, let's get a move on! Ken was here just a few minutes ago, and I think Eliza may be here in the neighborhood still!"

Gen and Sakura looked at each other and then in unison turned to Ryu and said, "Who?" Ryu rolled his eyes, however, and pulled them along. "Let's split up, and look for her."

"You know, Ryu that we have no idea what you're talking about, don't you?" Sakura said with her usual scathing sarcasm.

"You don't have to," he answered with a sharp smile of his own. "Just look for a blond pregnant woman who looks like she's really lost. Sakura, you go that way towards the airport. Gen, you take the east side, and I'll go this way. It's really important that we find her."

"But why?" Sakura said again, impatiently.

"Just trust me, OK? There isn't time to lose!"

Ryu, Sakura and Gen split up, each going a different way to look for signs of Eliza. The neighborhood was a big one, however, and Eliza had taken care to hide as best she could. The afternoon dragged onward and it was almost dusk before Ryu walked into an alleyway to finally see Eliza's dirty and bedraggled form laying on the ground, resting on a mound of rags. She was breathing heavily, and looked exhausted. "Eliza?" Ryu said cautiously as he approached. He stooped beside her and raised her tired head in his arms. "Eliza, are you alright?" She opened her eyes in confusion and fear, then when she saw Ryu's face, she calmed somewhat.

"Ryu!" she whispered through her exhaustion. "It's Ken. You've got to help him! I know you never got along that well..."

"Nonsense, Eliza! Ken was the best friend I ever had. I have to admit, I never appreciated him very much, and I probably drove him away, but I want to help him!"

"I'm so glad!" Eliza smiled up at Ryu. "I can't go on much more; I'm so tired! But Ken would like to know that you see him as a friend. It used to mean so much to him to have your good opinion. He really admired you, you know." Ryu hung his head in sorrow. How could he have been so foolish? He had isolated himself from the world so much that his only friend had given up on him and left him. But now was his chance to make it right.

"Where have they taken him, Eliza? We'll get him back for you!" But the relief that Eliza felt at seeing a familiar face had had it's effect. After hours and hours, the poor pregnant woman was exhausted and the only thing that kept her going was her adrenalin. Ryu realized that she had fallen asleep; probably the first relaxed sleep she had had in a long time. He carefully picked her up and carried her out of the alleyway. Ryu was worried though, and anxious to question Eliza more about what had happened to Ken. He was an excellent fighter, and his powerful chi was a rival for Ryu's own. If he had been captured, it meant that their enemies were more dangerous than Ryu had originally anticipated. What was worse, to his point of view, was that they didn't seem to prefer a straight fight. Ryu hurried into the deepening darkness to find a place Eliza could rest peacefully. The sooner she was rested, the sooner he could find out what was going on.

Former Shadowloo Headquarters

Hokuto and Chun Li looked curiously out of the window. They were high up in Max's base, which they realized was built into a hill outside of town. In the distance they could see a row of wharehouses where Hokuto told Chun Li they had entered when she came into the subterranean base with her brother Kairi. They window they were looking through was well disguised, and the base had looked increasingly high- tech and sophisticated as they went higher. However, the two women realized quickly that the base was terribly understaffed. They rarely came across anyone at all, and when they did, they were easy to avoid. "Maybe it's because everyone's down there," Chun Li gestured towards the foot of the hill. In the bright light of the setting sun, Hokuto and Chun Li could see a large number of men working like ants around a caravan of trucks. Huge crates were being unloaded, but from the distance that Chun Li and Hokuto were, they couldn't see anything that might indicate what the crates were for.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Hokuto sighed. "It's still strange that we haven't seen more people here. You think we ought to go check out those trucks?"

Chun Li smiled at Hokuto for the first time. "That sounds like fun!" Hokuto smiled back and they quietly crept away from the window. They entered a long hallway that was brightly lit, and painted in a light grey color. Since they could see so far ahead, Chun Li thought it was safe enough to try and make some conversation with Hokuto. "So, you...umm...know Guy, then?" she started tentatively. Hokuto's mouth turned up in a wry smile.

"He and my brother are very good friends. I haven't known him so long. Frankly, I think he's a jerk." "What?" Chun Li exclamed. "How so?"

"For treating you the way he does. For embarrassing you like that in front of us! I mean, it was cute and all, but the man has very little sense of decorum. I guess that's what happens when he only hangs around with other men, but I truly felt bad for you when he did that. Even he should know better." Chun Li looked at Hokuto with surprise on her face. Hokuto smiled back at her. "Don't worry, Chun Li! I'm on your side. Guy's sort of like another brother to me, and if I have anything to say about it, he's going to treat you well."

Chun Li didn't answer because they had come to the end of the hallway. Once again, it was important to keep quiet and be stealthy. As the two women came closer to the lower levels where the trucks were being loaded, they came across more and more people. They were always hustling to and fro at a frenetic pace, which helped Chun Li and Hokuto slip past them unobserved, but several times, they had very close calls. Luckily for them, the sun had completely set now, and the passageways were ill-lighted. By the time they came to the loading area, it was nearly completely dark.

"Follow me!" whispered Hokuto as she waved Chun Li onward. They kept to the edge of the floodlights that illuminated the trucks and workers. At the far end were several trucks that sat in darkness outside the perimeter of the lights. Hokuto and Chun Li climbed stealthily aboard one of them and peered about inside. The trucks were enclosed with a dark canvas cover that stretched over a metal frame. Inside were boxes and boxes of crates, like the ones Hokuto and Chun Li had seen loaded earlier. They were just about to pry open one of the boxes when they heard voices approaching. They froze in place, hoping it would soon be clear enough to move.

"So all this loading is about done, huh?" said the first voice.

"Yeah, so get going. You're going to be the lead, and you better not hold up the caravan. We're going to be slow moving enough as it is."

"Allright, allright! I'll start moving to the front of the train right now. You just make sure everyone else is behind me like they're supposed to be. I'm not going to be able to pay attention much to the trucks behind me, so they better keep up on their own."

"Look, you do your part and don't worry about anyone else, and you'll be fine. You got that?"

Chun Li didn't hear anymore, because the engine of the truck they were in suddenly sprang to life. The truck rumbled and shook terribly, covering the sounds of the two voices they had heard. It also covered their sounds, and Hokuto had wasted no time in prying open one of the crates. It was filled with a straw- like packing substance. Hokuto dug through the material for a few minutes. Chun Li couldn't see her very well, because of the darkness inside the truck, but in just a few minutes Hokuto stood up and looked Chun Li in the eyes.

"There's nothing here! The crate's empty!"

Former Shadowloo Headquarters

Guy and Kairi soon found that they were headed ever deeper into the compound. Guy suspected that these deeper parts of the caves had nothing to do with Bison's former empire. They were simply too old! These caves had probably been formed years and years ago, some of them natural, some of them not, but Guy doubted that even Max's most experienced agents didn't know anything at all about these deeper tunnels. The two ninjas were trained to be always alert, but they soon relaxed a bit after not finding anyone at all for a very long time.

Soon it was so dark that they weren't sure they would be able to continue at all. Guy could barely see the figure of Kairi next to him, or the sides of the tunnel around him. He tripped once, on a rock that he had no way of seeing. Just when they were about to turn around and backtrack, Guy spotted a faint glow ahead of them. "Let's go see what's going on over there. Maybe we can learn something useful before we have to turn around." Kairi nodded in the gloom, and the two ninjas crept silently forward. Once again, they were totally alert, and coiled like springs to leap into action if necessary.

The light grew brighter and brighter, taking on a flickering orange glow. It was obviously a flame produced glow, but Guy still couldn't see anything that would help identify what lay ahead of them. The tunnel they were in twisted several times before they reached their goal, and a few times, they almost couldn't see the orange glow at all anymore. To make matters worse, the tunnel started branching off and it was impossible to tell which direction led to the fire. Several times Guy and Kairi advanced down one hallway only to find that they were being led further and further away from what they were trying to reach.

Suddenly Kairi held up his hand. Guy recognized the sign and scanned everywhere around him more carefully than he already had. He didn't see anything at first, but the dark sides of the tunnel. They were in a very wide passageway now, with lots of branch tunnels leading off in several different directions. Then he saw it. A flash of movement; a darker shadow against an already dark background. Someone was creeping as stealthily as they were across the passageway. Kairi and Guy leaped towards the silent figure, but it disappeared as quickly as they approached it. With all of the side tunnels going off everywhere, there was no way they could figure out which direction the figure had fled to.

"Who do you think that could be?" whispered Kairi.

"I don't know, but did you notice how he moved?" When Kairi nodded, Guy continued with his line of thought. "He is obviously trained in the ways of stealth and secrecy: the ninjitsu."

"You think he is another ninja? What could he want?" Guy had no answer for this, so they continued down the hallway, still searching for the mysterious source of light that they had seen earlier.

After only a few minutes of moving, they came across another odd phenomenon. Sprawled on the floor of the passageway was a dead body, freshly killed if the still spreading pool of blood was any indication. Kairi knelt to examine him. "He was gutted by a claw," he said after a quick look. "I think our ninja friend must have done away with him."

"Well, that suggests, at least, that we are on the right track. Let's find out what's going on quick before someone investigates this area." Guy and Kairi moved more quickly now. All of their training was being used to try and see what was going on around them as they flew past it. They did not find any more signs of life, however. The glow grew brighter, and after rounding a sharp corner, Guy found himself facing the source of the strange light they had been following.

There was a massive room carved out of the bedrock. Almost completely filling the room was a strange array of machinery and hardware. After looking at it closely, Guy was startled to find that the machinery wasn't very modern looking. Much of it was made of wood, or bronze, and it seemed much larger than what would be needed. In fact, Guy was reminded of diagrams he had seen for Leonardo DaVinci's inventions, only blown up to nightmarish size. But the most intrigueing thing of all was what Guy say tied to the front of the machine.

The front of the room was lit by several candles on top of ornate bronze sticks that held them above head- height. This provided the orange glow that the two ninjas had been following. The candles seemed to be a semi-circle around a figure who was tied to the machine. He was of average height, with blond hair plastered by sweat to his forehead. He was wearing a red gi, and he seemed to be covered with bruises and blood. As Guy walked into the room, the man slowly raised his head to look at him. His brown eyes were tired, yet determined to fight to the last, and they lit up in recognition of Guy. Guy, too, knew exactly who this man was.

"Ken Masters!" he exclaimed. "What in the world are you doing here?"

The Mistresses House, Hong Kong Geki was making his report to his Mistress. As always, the room was dark, and Geki couldn't see her very well through the gloom and the smoke of the burning incense. But the Mistresses eyes seemed to flash as Geki related what had happened. She leaned forward, eagerly listening to every detail of his report.

"So you say there is a huge machine underground? And a special tied to it? Tell me again of Cammy's betrayal."

Geki gave his report and left the Mistress alone. She was outwardly calm, but inside she was fuming. She knew very well what Maximoff was up to. It was, actually, what she half expected, although she didn't think he would have been able to find the plans for the ancient design. It was obvious that she was going to have to see to this plan of his before it came to fruition.

What really bothered her most was Cammy, however. She thought she had broken her spirit with the powerful seductive spells she had used on her, but obviously Cammy was a lot harder and stronger than she had thought. She, too, would have to be hunted down and eliminated.

The Mistress rose from her cushioned bed and walked to the window. It was time to get involved, finally. After months of watching and probing, it was time to gamble all and make her move. She stood in the open window, air blowing her pale hair about her angelic face. Her eyes glowed with a demonic light, however, and raw power seemed to fill her body. Tiny wings rose from her head, and larger, bat-like wings from her back. The Mistress launched her perfectly formed seductive body out of the window, and flew bat-like towards Maximoff's lair.

Demitri's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Kairi and Guy helped the slumped and weary Ken out of his manacles and to a standing position. Ken looked pretty bad; his face was bruised and bloody and he seemed like he barely had enough energy to stand. Guy wasn't even sure that Ken recognized him, but he helped half drag, half support him as they left the bright room and reentered the dark corridor.

"We can talk more safely in here. Are you OK? You don't look so good." Guy whispered to Ken.

"Well, I've had better days. Now that I'm off that machine, I'll be much better."

Kairi interrupted at this point. "What was that machine? What was it supposed to do?"

Ken looked at him for a minute as if trying to judge Kairi before answering. "I don't know what Max wants it for. I do know what it does, though." Ken stood on his own now, looking stronger and animated as his described the details of what he knew so far. "The machine is very odd-it looks like some kind of Renaissance thing that doesn't even do much, but as I understand it, it runs on some kind of spiritual energy, like chi, only maybe more like magic. There's some kind of priest or something that Max has to run the thing- I don't remember his name- but he's crazier than Bison. I also know that Max needs to gather specials to him. The more he has, the better off it works. That's why he has lured me here, and I'm sure he lured most of the other fighters who fought in our last several tournaments. Using it's magic, the machine channels the energy of the specials that are hooked up to it. The thing is, though, that I don't know what all of this energy is supposed to do. I've already been through the thing once- that's why I'm so exhausted. When my energy recovers, Max and his priest will want to use my energy again to charge up this thing. I think they may be very close to having as much energy as they need."

"What in the world could this Max want to do with it, I wonder?" speculated Kairi.

Guy answered quickly. "Does it matter? We know we don't want him to succeed. We have to stop him, and his diabolical machine. Let's let Masters here rest for a while, then we can sneak back into the room with that monstrosity and see if we can't find a way to disable it."

"That works for me," said Ken. "But if it's all the same to you two, I think I might need to sleep for a very long time first. With my chi at an all time low, I don't think I can help you much if Max comes in, or anybody else. And there are people in there almost all the time. If you want to do that, don't expect to be able to without a good deal of fighting."

Kairi and Guy smiled slightly at one another. "That's what we've been trained to do! You sleep and we'll watch. When you wake up, the fireworks are going to start."

Ken tried to get comfortable on the hard, cold stone. He grumbled slightly to himself, even as he was dropping off into an exhausted slumber. "Oh, they sure will. More fireworks than the freaking fourth of July!"

Above Ground, Hong Kong

When Eliza awoke, she was in a large soft bed, with an off-white ceiling over her head. The lights were dim and soft, and she was covered with soft bedding. Looking around her curiously, she was a young woman looking out the window in the room with her. The woman was dressed curiously, as if imitating Ryu's style of dress. Her hair was of medium length, tied back with a long headband. She looked impatient, and Eliza smiled at her. She recognized her as Sakura, albeit a little grown up since the last time Eliza had seen her.

Sakura heard her stirring and quickly turned around. "You're up? Don't move! Let me get Ryu and Gen...I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!" In spite of Sakura's nearly habit of speaking in nearly endless monologue, she did move quickly, sprinting across the room and out the door, shouting Ryu's name as she left. It was only a minute or two before she came back, this time with Ryu and a young man who seemed to be dressed as a doctor.

"Hello, Eliza! How are you doing?"

Eliza was still amazed at Ryu's friendly demeanor. She hadn't ever known Ryu that well, of course, but she had met him a few times and heard Ken talk about him many times. It seems that Ken was kind of bitter about their relationship. Ryu had never been friendly at all, and had consistently brushed Ken off. Ryu only cared about fighting; he didn't care about people. Ryu never did anything for you. Ryu was never grateful for anything you did. Ryu was as cold as a glacier. This was the Ryu she thought she knew, but the Ryu in front of her seemed like a very different person. She wondered what could have changed him so much. Just then, Sakura peeked over Ryu's shoulder to wink at her. She pushed the hair out of her eyes and glanced quickly at Ryu. Eliza saw something in that glance, and knew that Sakura's attachment to Ryu wasn't just a fan's admiration for her role model. She also thought she could guess what had happened to Ryu. Sakura was not beautiful, like a model, but Eliza couldn't think of the last time she had seen anyone so cute! Her rough and tumble nature probably appealed to Ryu too. She was so bemused by the thoughts going through her head, that she almost forgot to answer Ryu's question.

"Oh, I'm feeling quite well. I'm worried about Ken, though. What could this Max fellow want with my husband?"

"Don't worry about him at all. We'll get him back for you. In the meantime, this is Doctor Katagi. He will be seeing to you. He's a little worried; apparently, he thinks you might go into labor anytime now. So don't worry about anything if you can help it- just tell us where we need to go to find Ken, and we'll take care of the rest."

"Well, when we came into town yesterday, it was from the western end of town, and there was a big hill out there. It was all hollowed out, and that's were I was kept prisoner."

Ryu's eyes widened in surprise. "Why, Bison used to have a base of operations there. I know exactly where you're talking about. Now, don't worry a bit, Eliza," Ryu continued as he smoothed Eliza's hair back from her forehead, "we'll have Ken back before you know it!"

Ryu and Sakura left, then, and Eliza was left alone with the doctor, who hooked Eliza up to a few monitors, took her blood pressure and left as well. Despite Ryu's confident talk, she knew he was merely putting on a positive face so she wouldn't worry. They were going to have a very tough time getting into Max's underground base, much less getting Ken out.

Demitri's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Guile quickly got his bearings once arriving through Rose's mystical portal. At this part of Maximoff's lair, the caves were mostly natural and rough. Guile quickly sprinted down one corridor, hoping to find some clue that would give him an idea of what direction he could go to find one of the other street fighters. He soon realized that the caves were a hopeless mess of tunnels and branches twisting off in mazelike intricacy. Still, having no better options, he continued on the same path he had started, hoping it would end up somewhere.

He heard the sounds of someone approaching, so he quickly ducked into a side tunnel and hid in the gloom, hoping he could catch a glimpse of who was coming. Before he saw anyone he heard voices, and knew that a large procession was coming, bearing lights that flickered like torches.

Guile was quite surprised to see two men who were dressed in plain brown robes, with hoods that covered their heads. They were bearing large braziers with flames burning in their bronze tops, and they were chanting to each other. Without warning, one of them shouted, "Make way for the Master Reborn! The Master walks among us yet again!" Guile wasn't sure exactly who was supposed to make way, since no one else was in the tunnel, but before he had time to think much about it, the rest of the procession came into view.

There were many more men and women dressed like the other two advance guards walking in neat rows. Guile estimated that at least fifty people were in the procession. Right in the middle of the group was a huge and beautiful specimen of a man. He was tall- almost seven feet, with flowing blond locks and bright blue eyes. He gazed about in a lordly fashion, as if he owned everything that he saw. Guile thought that he glimpsed something odd in his eyes as if he were somehow different than most people, but it was hard to tell in the glittering firelight. This magnificent specimen was dressed differently than the others, as well. His robes were finer, and much lighter in color. He also wore them open, exposing a smooth and spectacularly muscled body clothed only in a folded cloth loincloth. Guile was sure that he was gazing at the Master Reborn, whoever that was.

The thought crossed Guile's mind that maybe this was Demitri Maximoff, but he doubted that a vampire would look like the strange man he had just seen. After the procession past, Guile ventured out from his hiding place. As he was doing so, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye behind him. He reentered the corrider he had been hiding in, looking for what could have caught his attention. To his surprise, there was nothing there, and the corridor ended abruptly after just a few feet. He looked around him in confusion, and was rewarded with a glimpse of what had caught his attention. In the floor was a trapdoor, and the handle for it gleamed faintly in the dim light. Guile smiled and tugged at the heavy metal door. To his surprise, it opened easily. With a little jump, Guile was through the door and on the floor of a huge room. Everywhere he looked there were huge crystals, attached by cables to some kind of opening in the ceiling. He looked curiously at the nearest crystal and was surprised to feel power in it. What was more, it was power that reminded him very much of the power he tapped into himself when he executed moves like his Sonic Boom and Flash Punch.

"What in the world?" he started. Before he could move, though, he saw a bright light flash at the far end of the room. In the light he could see two women. One normal enough woman, with long blond hair. The other was a strange, beautiful yet horrible form, a gorgeously seductive blond woman with bat-like wings. They looked at each other with hatred in their eyes. "This doesn't look good!" Guile thought to himself.

Outside Hong Kong

Hokuto and Chun Li rode in silence for the rest of that night. When morning came, they had slept, and the slow moving trucks were well away from the city. Finally, they ground to a halt. Chun Li watched the driver of the truck behind her carefully. After stopping, he got out of his truck, walking back to talk with the other drivers. Seeing the opportunity, Chun Li and Hokuto quickly jumped out of the truck and hid themselves in the dense undergrowth that was all around them on the side of the small dirt road.

"You have any idea where we are?" she quietly asked Hokuto. They other woman shook her head, but smiled slightly, gesturing that they should go and find out. They crept together quietly through the trees looking for any clue that would show them why the trucks would come here. It didn't take long for them to find a clearing up ahead.

"Look at that!" said Hokuto in amazement. To Chun Li's surprise, they saw what looked to be some kind of mining operation, with lots of heavy machinery and lots of workers digging and chopping at rough quartz crystals. The quartz looked fairly common, and the girls couldn't think what good they would do to anyone. However, they could see that they crystals were being loaded in huge crates, exactly like the ones they had ridden up with. In fact, they could see the empty crates being replaced with new full ones on the trucks they had come with.

"What in the world do they think they can do with all those worthless crystals?" asked Chun Li. However, Hokuto wasn't looking at her anymore. "What is it?"

Hokuto nodded and gestured with her head at a truck that looked different from the rest. "Do you see what's in there?" Chun Li looked at the truck, and in the shadow of it, she could see that there were three or hour people tied up in the back. While they were watching, four men came up and closed the door. They could here what they said to each other be listening very carefully.

"Take this group of specials back to the base," said one. His voice sneered in contempt as he said the word special. "We'll drain them and throw them out with the rest of the trash." The other men nodded and climbed inside the truck.

"Chun, I think we made a mistake in coming here. That trucks going back to where the action is."

"So what do you want to do? That deal about draining doesn't sound too good either." Chun Li said. Hokuto answered, "Well, then I guess we'll have to come to the rescue!" Before Chun Li could say anything, Hokuto leapt up and ran for the truck, which was just starting to leave. She jumped on the side of it, and hung on while it drove off. Unfortunately, someone saw her and shouted a warning. Before Chun Li could even think of what to do, two jeeps full of workers drove off after Hokuto's truck.

"Kind of impulsive, isn't she?" Chun Li said to herself with annoyance. "Now who needs to be rescued?" Chun Li was moving quickly herself now. There was one jeep left, and she quickly hopped inside, following after Max's agents.

Demitri's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Cammy slept stealthily into another room. This one didn't look at all like the ones she had seen before. To her surprise, it was loaded with crystals, each one pulsing with energy. The crystals were connected via cables to a hole in the ceiling. She was pondering this mystery when a bright light flashed near her. She quickly ducked down low to see what was going on, yet be ready to defend herself if need be. To her surprise, inside the light a woman's form was materializing. The woman coalesced, and the light disappeared, leaving only the Mistress standing there looking with dark eyes right at her.

Cammy felt a strange tugging at her consciousness, but this time she recognized it for what it was-- the subtle effect of the Mistress's presence. She rejected the hypnotizing influence, looking defiantly at the evil woman. "Not anymore, you witch! I know you for what you are now!" she shouted.

The Mistress smirked at this. When she spoke again, she had a strange Scottish accent, that had been concealed before. "Child, ye know nothing. Ye shall pay for this arrogance, and for betraying me. Ye think of me only as th' Mistress, but I am much more than just a Mistress of mortals! I am Morrigan Ansland, Demon Princess of the Dark, and ye will learn, now, the folly of mocking me!" As Morrigan spoke, her bat-like wings unfolding, both on her head and her back. Her eyes glowed with the fires of Hell, and Cammy was forced to take a step back from her anger.

Cammy quickly grasped out with her mind until she held on to her powerful chi. Once again, it seemed to ruch into her like a torrent, filling her with more power than she had ever known was possible for anyone to hold. Had Bison really been able to hold this much power? It was a frightening thought. Her eyes glowed like a pale blue, icy fire, and answer to the Hellish glow of Morrigan's eyes. "I don't care who you are, Morrigan. You won't take me that bloody easy!"

Morrigan answered by swinging her fist at Cammy. Cammy was able to duck it, without too much trouble, but to her surprise, Morrigan's wing swung at her as well; it's demonic claws raking her side. Cammy gasped as her old wound from fighting Vega was broken open again; crimson spreading slowly across her side. Before Cammy could recover, Morrigan pressed her attack, lashing out with her spike- like heel. This caught Cammy on the chin, flipping her backwards over one of the large crystals. Cammy desparately needed to buy some time to recover. Drawing on her experience of earlier that day, she drew her chi into a glowing ball of flame and hurled it at Morrigan.

Morrigan easily countered Cammy's inexperienced attack with a magical fireball of her own, the image of a flaming bat that collided with Cammy's fireball. The two fireballs cancelled each other out, but Cammy had found the time to recover from Morrigan's fierce first attack. Cammy decided to press her own attack, leaping over the crystals that littered the floor and launching herself feet first in a glowing cannon drill attack. The experienced Morrigan threw up her bat wings to block the force of the attack, then she quickly lashed out with her fist, hitting Cammy again. Morrigan moved in relentlessly, punching, kicking and even occasionally slapping Cammy until she fell heavily to the ground. More blood covered Cammy's side, and a thin trickle leaked from her mouth as she looked up from the ground at the shape of Morrigan leaping up in to the air again. Cammy was barely able to roll out of the way of Morrigan's heel, which came down like a missle into the dirt next to Cammy's head. Cammy's shirt caught on the heel, though, and as Cammy jerked away from Morrigan, it ripped.

Morrigan smirked at Cammy's now shirtless chest, and punched her solidly in between her breasts. Cammy was amazed at the strength of the woman: her blow knocked Cammy back into the wall. Her head cracked heavily against the cold stone, and Cammy slumped to the ground, barely conscious. She shook her head to try and clear it before Morrigan could hit her again.

She barely managed to bring herself to awareness before she realized that Morrigan was advancing yet again, this time slower and more confidently, assuming that Cammy was done for. She raised her fist for the final blow, but as she did so, Cammy suddenly raised her head and looked into Morrigan's eyes. Morrigan gasped at the power she saw there. Cammy, in desperation, had pulled every last ounce of chi she could from her new huge reservoir of power. With a snarl, Cammy reached out and grabbed Morrigan, pulling her close then slamming her facefirst into the wall. She pulled Morrigan's bloody face back, and bent her backwards, till her head almost touched the ground. With her chi-driven strength, the dropped her elbow into Morrigan's gut, knocking the wind from her beautiful body. Cammy didn't quit there though, she grabbed Morrigan with her legs, and threw her away from the wall, sending her crashing amidst the ubiquitous crystals. Cammy sent another ball of energy following her, and this time, Morrigan was unable to stop it in time. As the ball hit her, she flew backwards again, but to Cammy's surpise, she caught herself before falling, and hovered in the air with her batlike wings.

Morrigan was no longer as beautiful as she was; her nose was raw and her entire face was blood- spattered. Cuts and bruises adorned her arms and legs too, but she was far from defeated. While still flying, she sent a flaming bat at Cammy. Cammy was able to duck under it, just barely, but as she did so, Morrigan kicked her in the jaw again, sending her sprawling to the floor. Morrigan was on the ground again now, and attacking Cammy with all her speed and strength. Cammy knew that even Bison had not attacked so powerfully, but she was able to deflect most of Morrigan's attacks, if only barely.

Morrigan was a wiley fighter however, and was able to feint a high punch at Cammy. When she tried to block it, Morrigan quickly changed her attack, kicking out with her spike-like heel at Cammy's unprotected and already wounded side. Cammy screamed as the heel stuck several inches into her side, but she was able to grab Morrigan's leg and keep her off balance. Morrigan squirmed, but Cammy did not let her go, even though Morrigan's leg was now wet with Cammy's own blood. With her other hand, Cammy gathered her chi again. Her glowing palm slammed suddenly with incredible force into Morrigan's leg with a loud crack. Morrigan screamed and flew back.

Cammy was sure she had felt the thigh bone snap, but to her surprise, Morrigan stood up with only a slight stagger. "You have indeed grown poweful, girl. If you had time to learn more, you might even have been able to beat me someday. But you have forgotten the scar on your face that I healed." Morrigan stretched forth her hand and Cammy suddenly fell screaming to the ground, her face burning with such a raging heat that she thought it must surely be on fire. Morrigan laughed then and gestured more wildly. "You let me gain a foothold on you that is beyond your power to get rid of! You should never have hit my face! Now you will pay for what you have done. You have earned a lingering suffering!"

Cammy didn't doubt that Morrigan meant what she said. Morrigan's magic was powerful enough to drag her around the room by her face, smashing her into walls and crystals. She knew that only a few more seconds of this and she wouldn't last. She concentrated all of her chi again, trying to find the spot on her body that wasn't hers: the pollution that Morrigan had left when her scar was healed. She found it, but she couldn't make it budge. She concentrated all of her chi at it again.

Suddenly her head banged against something heavy, and to Cammy's surprise, the jolt gave her a sudden burst of strength that ripped Morrigan's presence away from her. She could almost physically feel the departure of Morrigan's spiritual energy, but the effort had exhausted her, leaving her laying on the ground panting for breath.

Morrigan was exhausted too, however. She was shocked that Cammy had been able to cancel her spell and take conplete control of her own chi again. But, she was confident that the hapless woman had taken enough damage to be completely unable to even continue. She stumbled over to Cammy, who was staggering jerkily to her feet again. "What? Have you still not had enough?" asked the astonished Morrigan.

"Just warming up!"smirked Cammy as best she could through her exhaustion. Cammy drew one last time on her chi, taking in so much that her body started to glow. Suddenly, her body flew towards Morrigan feet first again, knocking her into the air. This time, instead to coming to rest on her feet, however, Cammy turned in mid-air hitting Morrigan again and again, juggling her higher and higher into the air, until the limp succubus was slammed into the ceiling. Cammy came to rest on the ground, but no sooner had she done so, then her legs buckled and she fell to the ground, conscious, but so exhausted that she literally couldn't stand. She watched with satisfaction as Morrigan fell unconscious to the ground. To Cammy's surprise, her body started to fade, turning transparent and finally disappearing, returning to her own world.

Cammy simply rolled over on her back, unable to move an more than that. She closed her eyes and relaxed as best she could, trying to recover enough energy to move on.

"Quite a performance, Cammy White!" she heard a strong masculine voice say. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw a huge blond man, shirtless, but wearing camouflage pants and combat boots. Around his neck was a chain with dogtags, and his most distinguishing feature was his wild hair, that stood bolt upright in a huge mane atop his head.

"I didn't recognize you at first, but that Cannon Drill technique is pretty unique, I suppose."

"Guile, would you help me up and quit chatting already?" she asked with annoyance. Guile did so, and she sat weakly on one of the huge shiny crystals.

"I guess after you get some rest, we can move on, right?" he said. "I want to get this whole thing over with as fast as I can, and I'm sure you do to." Cammy was about to reprove him for talking drivel, when she realized that he was purposely trying to distract himself from looking at her face (and her breasts, which were covered only by her bra!) She quickly looked around until she found a facet of the crystal she was sitting on that was shiny enough to be reflective. She gasped at what she saw in her image. Covering her formerly scarred cheek was a finely lined image of a bat burned into the skin like a tattoo or a brand.

Outside Hong Kong

At a gesture from one of the jeeps following, the driver swerved, letting the branches of some low trees scrape along the top of the truck. Hokuto jumped off, barely managing to hold on to the side. She looked forward, and saw the astonished face of the passenger in the side mirror. He didn't stay surprised for long, quickly drawing a pistol and leaning out the window to shoot at her. She managed to duck inside the truck just in time, the bullet grazing her arm; stinging like a brand. Right in front of her where the three specials, bound and gagged on the floor. She only knew one of them, though, a huge bear-like Russian man.

"Zangief! They've got you?!" She could see his face darken in rage at the thought that he had been caught. She quickly loosed his gag so he could speak and started untying his hands as well.

"It is disgraceful!" bellowed the Slavic bear as soon as his mouth was free to open again. "These glupiye ublyudokii have no honor! Now that I am free I will break their arms! I will..."

Hokuto cut him off. "Why don't you just get your feet free and help untie these other two here, OK?" Zangief, properly chastened, quickly untied his feet and helped Hokuto finish freeing the other two specials. One was a huge man, nearly Zangief's size, with a broad moustache. "Thank you so much," he started saying. I am Mike Haggar, mayor of..."

The truck swerved suddenly throwing all of them to the floor again. Hokuto heard a gun go off, and bullets whizzed by her head. Looking out the rear end of the truck, she saw that one of the jeeps had pulled up close, and the passenger was aiming an AK-47 at them. She threw herself to the floor. Mike Haggar, meanwhile, had been untying the last of the prisoners.

"This is my son-in-law, Cody," he said. "Thanks again for rescuing us." His words were punctuated by another burst of gunfire.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're not quite rescued yet. If we can't figure out what to do about that guy with the gun, we're in big trouble!"

Chun Li could see that Hokuto was going need some help quick. She accelerated her jeep, bumping hard the one that was shooting at the truck. The gunman nearly lost his balance and toppled to the road. The other two jeeps converged on her, wedging her in. Just up ahead, the road ran along the side of a large hill, with a steep rocky wall on one side, and a breathless plunge on the other. A desperate plan formed in her mind. She suddenly swerved, ramming one jeep that was trying to point a gun at her. It was knocked into the side of the cliff, catching on the rocks and flipping completely over. Chun Li then swerved towards the other jeep, trying to push it towards the edge of the road.

The jeep anticpated Chun Li's move, though and slammed on his brakes. Chun Li almost flew over the edge herself before she could correct her course. In her rearview mirror she could see the men in the jeep behind her start drawing a bead on her with their guns.

Then Chun Li saw a most amazing thing. Hokuto, taking advantage of the distraction, leaped from the back of the truck onto the jeep behind her. She almost fell off the side, but managed to hold on to the side mirror and pull herself up. With a quick jerk, she grabbed the unsuspecting gunman and threw him to the ground. Despite the driver's desperate maneuvers, she was able to quickly clamber inside the jeep. With a sharp punch to the face, the driver came flying down the road too. Chun Li had to swerve to miss him. By now, the last jeep had approached and was raking both Chun Li and Hokuto's vehicles with gunfire.

Smoke poured from the engine of Hokuto's jeep, but the lithe girl simply leaped back inside the truck. Chun Li could see that Hokuto had grabbed a gun from the jeep. Soon answering gunfire was pouring from the truck, and Chun Li saw the driver get hit right in the forhead. His vehicle swerved, and hit the railing. Chun Li could hear screams as the jeep flipped over the edge and plummeted to the ground below. They cut off suddenly with a loud crash.

She gave a quick thumbs up and a grin to Hokuto, but the latter merely grinned and signaled that she had no more bullets. There was still the problem of the armed truck drivers, and Chun Li decided to pull up further and see if anything could be done about them.

As she pulled up, she could see them jabbering on the CB, obviously calling for reinforcements. That had to be stopped at once. But before Chun Li could decide how to go about it, gunfire raked her vehicle once again. She could see the man on the far side of the truck standing in his seat and wildly trying to keep a bead on her as the vehicles swerved down the windy road. She drove the jeep as close to the truck as she could, wondering what she could do to stop it. Gun fire came again, and this time one of her tires was hit.

Chun Li screamed as her jeep swerved out of control and flipped completely over, catapulting her out. She landed heavily on the hood of the truck. Her inertia kept her going, and she slid along the hot metal surface, crashing through the windshield. Although dazed and slightly unsure of what had happened to her, Chun Li attacked while her opponents were off-balance. She kicked the farthest passenger a couple of times, hard enough that he knocked open the door and fell screaming to the ground. The other passenger pushed her roughly towards the open door. She braced herself with her feet, and threw him towards the shattered remnants of the windshield. He was well braced too, and didn't want to budge. She saw him reach into his boot and pull out a short, thin knife. With desparate strikes, he stabbed at her, cutting her arms badly. After a quick feint, he got through her guard and buried the blade in her shoulder. She wrenched away from him, grunting in pain, and pulled the knife out of his hand. It to fell to the floor and Chun Li kicked it outside. She reached forward again and with I flip of her arm, sent the man flying through the windshield. He skidded out over the hood, managing to stop himself right at the hood ornament.

Chun Li had only the driver to worry about now, so she puncched him in the face. Then she forced her leg in among the pedals and jammed the brake hard. The man on the hood continued his forward plunge, and rolled several times on the road. She then slammed the accelerator, and the truck leaped into motion again, running over the hapless man.

Suddenly she felt a heavy blow in her face. The driver had elbowed her and then punched her again. He slammed on the brakes himself, sending Chun Li flying to the hood. She was able to grab the frame of the windshield though, and stop herself before falling off. The fragments of glass left on the frame dug cruelly into her hands, and gout of blood dripped backwards to splash on the drivers maniacal face. He was speeding up again, trying to make sure she would fall the next time he slammed on his brakes. She quickly spun around and pushed off, letting the speed of the truck itself give her momentum. Like a missle, she came smashing feet first into the driver's face

. The truck ground slowly to a halt, and the driver's door opened. First, the unconscious man with the smashed face tumbled out to lay motionless on the ground. Then, the weary Chun Li limped down to the ground, nearly losing her balance and falling. She was holding tightly to her bleeding shoulder, but her had was stained red from the blood still leaking out of her wound. She had also hurt her foot with the last stunt, and had to hop gingerly towards the back of the truck.

Hokuto ran out excitedly, giving Chun Li a big hug. "That was marvelous, Chun..." she started to say, but Chun Li barely had strength left to stand.

"Hokuto...my shoulder..." she whispered as she fell to the ground.

Demitri Maximoff's Underground Headquarter's, Hong Kong Guile was wondering whether or not Cammy was going to be strong enough to do much even when she did wake up. He had tied up all her wounds from the rags that were left of her shirt, and even pulled a pack of gauze and alcohol from the small first aid kit he had cached in one of his voluminous pockets. With the gauze, he cleaned the horrible cut on her side, then he stitched it closed with some thread in his kit. Now she was sleeping, utterly exhausted after her ordeal.

In any case, Guile decided that it was time he finished looking around. The cables running from the crystals up in to the ceiling looked interesting, and he wanted desperately to find a way to reach whatever was above him. The power he could feel pulsing in the crystals reminded him of a battery for some reason, but he wondered what kind of device would run on chi, or why it would need so many "batteries."

He gently picked up Cammy and carried her out of the crystal room and into the corridor. With a little bit of searching, he found an alcove where she should be able to hide for a while. He laid her back down, slightly amused that she hadn't even stirred from her sleep while he moved her. Then, with Cammy seen to, he went back to the room. The only way he could see to get up there was to climb one of the cables. Without further ado, he hefted one in his hands and began to shimmy up to the hole in the ceiling.

Carefully, he stuck his head through the hole to look around. To his relief, it looked as though he could get into the room without being detected by anyone at all. The room was dark, and very crowded with strange looking machinery. Guile hoisted himself all the way into the room and took a better look around. All of the cables were attached to a huge box on the machine. There were tons of squeaky gears, some of them larger than Guile himself. Pistons pumped here and there and steam blasted out at various points, making Guile have to jump to avoid being scalded. All in all, it was the strangest contraption Guile had ever seen, and he had no idea what purpose it could possibly serve.

He ducked down low again, as he heard voices approaching from another part of the room. Standing not too far away from him was the tall blond man, talking with someone that Guile couldn't see. "It will be ready for you, do not worry! Have I not been preparing for just this very event for over two thousand years?"

"I am not convinced," said another voice, "that you have indeed been reborn time after time for that long. I suspect that you are merely the next in line to seize the name and power of the High Priest."

"Do not question me!" hissed the priest's voice in anger. "I am indeed the same Gill who first discovered your world! And as such, I am the only one who has the power to correctly align it with ours. If you wish my services, you will remember that and treat me with respect!"

Guile shuddered as the room suddenly got darker, and a chill seemed to bite his bones. The air became absolutely still, and there arose a feeling of menace so palpable that Guile could almost taste it. "Threaten me at your peril, foolish mortal!" said the second voice, like a dead wind emanating from a tomb. "I have built the machine that will enable the spell to work, and I can find the spell on my own, if needs be. You and your foolish arrogance are tolerated because you are useful to me, and if you serve me well, you and your society will be richly rewarded. But if you no longer are of any use..." The threat trailed off into silence.

Guile saw the blond man look about wildly, a mad grin on his face, before turning around and stalking out of the room. With him, the second voice, and the feeling of menace left as well. Guile wiped cold sweat from his brow.

"That was an impressive display!" said a voice immediately behind him. Guile spun quickly, cursing and readying himself to fight. "Wait, army man!" said the voice. Guile could see that the man addressing him looked normal enough. He was very slim, but tough and lean. He had a wild mane of hair that fell over his eyes, and he was dressed in a dull red outfit that looked strangely familiar.

"Hey, don't I know you?" he said, relaxing his guard. "You're that Guy fellow who sometimes contracts out with Interpol. I think Charlie and I had dealings with you before some years back." Guy smiled and bowed his head slightly. "Well, Guy, what is going on here? What are you doing here anyway?"

"The same thing as you, I suspect. Trying to stop this Max from doing whatever it is he plans to do."

"You don't know either? And I guess you haven't learned that Max is really Demitri Maximoff, a several hundred year old vampire?" Guile answered.

"Doesn't surprise me a bit. Strange things always happen when Street Fighters gather. I am here with Ken Masters and my clan-brother Kairi. They are...indisposed right now. It will be up to us to stop this machine from working."

Guile and Guy walked out into the light to get a better look at the odd thing. It was huge; nearly as large as one of the hangars Guile was used to seeing back on the base when he was stationed at Patterson. There was nothing obvious that it could do, but there were plenty of things that could break. "Why don't we start my ripping those cords out, there. They connect to some kind of crystals in a room below here, and I suspect they act as a type of battery." Guy nodded, and they moved in that direction.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" hissed a strange sibilant voice from above them. Guile and Guy quickly looked up and were surprised to see a lean yet tall frame above them on the machinery.

"Vega!" said Guile with sudden recognition. The man looked almost like somebody else entirely. His formerly emaculate hair was a feral mane shooting in all directions from his head. His beautiful skin was cut and dirty, and almost completely exposed as Vega now wore only a folded loincloth. Most different of all was the mask that Vega always wore. Instead of the smooth silver surface of a few months ago, Vega now wore a demonic leering face wrought in black iron. Behind Vega could be heard strange chattering noises, and soon red eyes popped open all around him.

"I'm afraid my friends and I need to make sure that you do absolutely nothing to this machine!" Vega cried, waving his arm. To Guile's surprise, Vega didn't have his claw anymore, but his hand had been somehow reshaped. His nails had grown impossibly long and wickedly sharp and curved. When he waved, the chittering horde behind him leaped into action, and Guile could see now that they were dark, scaly creatures, small and agile. He cried out as the first of them attacked him, biting and scratching with needle-like teeth and claws. The mound of demons surrounded him and Guy, forcing them to fight like never before for their very lives.

Demitri's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Ryu, Gen and Sakura found Max's headquarters without too much trouble. They were surprised to find that there were tons of people unloading crates from a fleet of trucks, but they were so busy, that it was easy to sneak into the compound. Arbitrarily, they found themselves going down rather than up, and soon were picking their way carefully through dark and rough corridors. The walls looked like natural caverns in most places, shaped as little as possible to facilitate the passage of Bison's former soldiers. Max's soldiers were much fewer than Bison's had been, so the group rarely met anyone. It didn't take them long to get thoroughly lost.

Gen quickly outdistanced the other two. He had enjoyed helping "the children," but he had come south from China for a different reason. He had felt the resonance of power, even from that great distance. A power so great, and so evil, that he knew it would take the combined might of many street fighters to defeat it.

Following the faint aura he continued deeper into the bowels of Max's mountain. Somewhere down here was a vast reservoir of chi energy. Gen didn't believe it possible that any one being, or even any dozen beings, could possibly contain all the chi that he felt. He had heard, in his youth, of a way in which chi could be stored. If Max had found the way to do so, there was no telling what implications it could have. Chi was a mighty power, much stronger than suspected, even by it's most powerful wielders. If too much were unleashed at once, it could rupture the very fabric of the world. Gen knew that had to be stopped at all costs.

There was a light ahead of him in the tunnel, and Gen hurried to see what it was. He soon found himself looking over a balcony at a large room that was dimly lit by small fires. In the huge room was a vast machine, unlike anything Gen had ever seen before. The power of the stored chi was nearly screaming at him, it was so near. But ahead of Gen on the balcony was a stocky figure, also looking downwards into the room. Although his back was turned towards Gen, he recognized the man immediately.

"Master Gen!" he said without turning around. "How ironic that you should appear. Have you come to try your strength against mine again?" The man turned now, and looked Gen right in the eye. An evil grin spread across his reddish inhuman flesh exposing sharp teeth. His eyes shone bright red against the black silhouette of his face. His wild hair, also red, seemed to dance about his head except for a single tail that was bound and stuck straight up.

"You will not accomplish your designs here, Akuma!" said Gen. "If I do not stop you, there are others here who can certainly make sure you do not succeed in this diabolical plan of yours!"

Akuma laughed roughly, and with little humor. "But my old 'friend,' it is not my plan at all! I am merely an observer this time, drawn by the power that is gathered in this small corner of this insignificant world. And perhaps I will do more than observe when I finally meet the one who is responsible for this 'diabolical plan,' as you call it, for I sense that he will be a true warrior, and a fine trial of my abilities. Indeed, I burn to fight him, and wrest from him this power."

"That will not happen, Akuma!" said Gen straightening his ancient hands into the claw-like shapes that defined the Mantis stance. "You will be forced to return to your demonic home, or die at my hands today."

Akuma laughed again, scornful of the aged master. "So be it, Master Gen. Once again I will show you how pitiful you are against one who has transcended mortality for power!"

Before Gen saw him move, Akuma thrust out with a fireball of chi. Gen was prepared for it, blocking it nicely and dissipating the powerful energy. Even as he did so, Akuma leapt into the air, flipping once and sliding into a kick that swept Gen from his feet. The ancient master sprang to his feet with a grace that belied his age and rushed at Akuma, his hand flying into a multitude of punches, each of which connected and threw Akuma to the floor.

The demonic Akuma snarled as he leapt to his feet again, lashing at Gen with both hands and feet. The old man deftly dodged or blocked all of his attacks. His vast experience made him a formidable fighter, and when he saw the opportunity to attack, he did so with deadly power. Gen raised himself on one foot and chi crackled in his hand. He rushed past Akuma, tapping him lightly in the side. Akuma looked at him in bewilderment for a second, then the stored chi burst through his body, crumpling him in agony. Shaking off the effects of Gen's attack, Akuma roared in anger as he leapt into the airto attack again. Gen planted his hand on the ground and turned nrealy upside down, lashing with his foot at Akuma before he could attack. Gen's move was a fraction of a second too late. Although his foot connected with Akuma and knocked him out the air, the demon had unleashed a huge fireball, the Tenma go zanku. The flaming chi slammed into Gen, knocking him back to the ground, and squeezing the breath from his withered chest. Akuma came at Gen again, laughing as he kicked at him on the ground. Gen rolled frantically to get out of the way, but Akuma was fast enough to hit him several times. Gen finally stood, bloody and battered, but still as precise and perfect in his motions as ever. He raised one foot, moving into the Crane stance. Again, Akuma came at him, but this time Gen dove for the ground and rolled. His hand flashed out of the roll, striking Akuma several times, and knocking him on his back again.

"You still fight well, Gen," called out the equally battered Akuma, "but you are pitifully unprepared for what is still to come." Akuma leapt into the air to kick at Gen, but the wiley old man had anticipated just such an attack. Flipping upside down, Gen locked his legs around Akuma's body and spun, slamming Akuma into the ground. Gen augmented the strength of his attack with his chi, causing the very ground to shake. Gen pressed his advantage, attacking Akuma again. Switching quickly to Mantis style, his hand flew into a blur, striking at Akuma as many times as he could and knocking him back yet again. Akuma was barely standing against the wall, looking like he couldn't stand much more of Gen's punishment. The ancient master leapt into the air again for what was to be the final blow to the demon.

As he came downwards towards Akuma, Gen was shocked to see his red eyes snap open again, and his body tense to counter the old man's kick. Already in the air, Gen was unable to stop his attack, and he was knocked to the ground by Akuma's devastating uppercut.

Demitri Maximoff's Headquarters, Hong Kong

Ken awoke with a start. He was alone in the stone corridor, but not far away he could here the sounds of fighting. He gingerly stood up, and was surprised to find himself feeling completely rested and strong. I should have known, he thought to himself. Once you learn to master it, chi energy returns much faster than physical energy. I guess I'll be able to see some action today after all. He eagerly started jogging in the direction he thought would lead him to the fighting.

Unfortunately, Ken really didn't have any idea where he was going. It took him almost no time at all to become hopelessly lost in the twisted maze of corridors and tunnels. He could feel the floor rising under his feet, and he soon saw a light not far ahead of him. He walked onto a balcony over the very room he had been imprisoned in, and had his chi siphoned into those diabolical crystals. To his surprise, he saw three men, Guy, Kairi and Guile fighting with a horde of small demon like creatures on the floor. He looked around for some way to help them, and his eyes fell on an even more horrifying sight.

Right across the room from him, on a large deep balcony like the one he was on, he could see Akuma. The demon was fighting an old man that looked like it could be Gen, and Ken saw Akuma knock the old man aside with a Shoryuken. Ken desperately cast his eyes about for any way he could help, but he couldn't see how he could get to either fight. He ground his teeth in frustration, eagerly watching to see if Gen could best his foe or not.

Akuma seemed to have come alive again. Despite Gen's best efforts to block, he was hit time and time again by Akuma's powerful kicks and punches. Akuma feinted, then kicked Gen twice with a vicious heel kick that sent Gen falling to the ground. Gen stood up wearily one more time, still moving with perfect precision despite his exhaustion and pain. Blood covered his clothes, and ran freely from his face, but the ancient master was no stranger to the rigors of fighting. His concentration was still on his opponent. Again, he gathered his chi in his hand and rushed past Akuma. This time, Akuma saw him coming and blocked, the chi dissipating before it could harm him. Akuma smiled grimly as he could see that Gen was left open from his attack. Quickly grabbing his head with one arm and locking his foot around Gen's feet, Akuma snapped Gen's back into an unnatural angle.

Gen cried out in pain as he felt several of his backbones pushed out of alignment, but Akuma just threw him to the ground again. "Didn't I tell you that you underestimated me? You had no chance to live through this encounter, old man!" Akuma laughed again, and started gathering more chi then Gen thought possible. The air was charged with power, but with his dislocated vertebrae, it was all Gen could do to rise to his feet at all.

With a maniacal laugh, Akuma attacked floating through the air towards Gen. The old man was powerless to stop his advance, and Akuma grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. A brilliant flash of light obscured what the demon did to Gen, but the amount of chi released was enormous. Ken covered his eyes to avoid being blinded and waited for the awful flare to fade away. When he could see again, Akuma was still laughing, with his foot propped up on the still form of Gen. The old man's eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling, and his mouth was frozen in a silent scream. His body was twisted and contorted into an unnatural angle, and Ken had no doubt that he was dead.

Akuma began to glow again, laughing like a madman and shouting to himself. His fiery red hair and eyes began to burn brightly, now shining like burnished gold. "Now the old master's power is mine!" he yelled. "Once I made the transition from man to a more powerful being, now I am power made flesh! I have become Shin Akuma!"

Ken wasn't sure what Akuma meant be becoming Shin Akuma, but he leapt from his balcony to the top of the machine below. Barely maintaining his balance, he ran steadily and unobserved across the room, until he could reach the balcony where Akuma had just killed Gen. He climbed up and found himself facing the demon. "Akuma!" he shouted.

Akuma turned to look at him, his now golden eyes boring into Ken's own. "Have you come to learn at last, boy? Or do you too seek death?"

"I have come to stop you! You will pay for Gouken's death, and now you will pay for Gen's as well!" Ken readied himself for the fight.

Demitri Maximoff's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Guile punched wildly at the little creatures that swarmed all over him. He soon realized that where weren't as many of them as he had first thought. Kairi entered the room, obviously brought by the sounds, and the little demons found that three was just too many for them to handle. That was when Vega decided to join the fight.

"You should never have come back, Guile! Thanks to Demitri's magic, I am now much more dangerous than ever before!" Guile didn't doubt the Spaniard, who leaped nimbly from above and kicked him in the jaw, sending him spinning to the floor. Vega raked him with his claw-like nails, and Guile was shocked to find that they were hard as steel. A trickle of blood dripped down his shirt where the claws had marked him.

"How can you serve such a monster, Vega? Have you no pride anymore? No sense of duty to humanity?" Vega laughed in an incredibly high-pitched voice. "Duty? Pride? All that was taken from me when I was scarred by Chun Li. I will never again be beautiful, so I might as well revel in being horrifying, no? What else could I do?" Guile could see his eyes darting back and forth while he talked. He had never seen such a dangerous case of insanity before. Without any more words, he attacked Vega, hoping to catch him off guard. He swung around in a powerful backhand, but the Spaniard moved with lightning speed to block. Vega answered with a backhanded blow of his own that moved in so fast Guile didn't see it coming. The claws scored his cheek, and the force of the blow sent Guile backwards.

Guile tried to change his strategy, stooping low and sweeping Vega's feet from under him. Again, the lightning reflexes of his foe proved his undoing. Vega leaped over Guile's leg, and bounced off the machine behind him. Guile tried to block Vega's attack, knowing that he would come flying down on him like a bomb. Vega didn't swing at him, though. He grabbed Guile around the torso, and flipped over, slamming Guile's head into the ground.

Guile stood, but was unable to get his bearings right away. Vega's lightning attacks had disoriented him, and he was unable to stop Vega from attacking again, this time burying his claws in his arm. He shook his head, clearing it for the fight ahead, and grabbed the surprised Vega by the arm. Using a technique he had learned from Charlie many years ago, he unleashed his chi full in Vega's face. Three sonic booms in rapid succession burst into the Spaniard, juggling him backwards in the air until he hit the wall.

Vega was far from finished however. With a mad ululating cry, he leaped into the air to attack Guile again. Guile gathered his chi again, and swung upside down, bringing his leg flashing through the air like a knife, and knocking Vega out of his jump. He lunged forward with his knee, catching the falling Spaniard in the head.

The fight had started badly for Guile, but now that he was used to Vega's speed, he thought he had a good chance of anticipating and countering his moves. But Vega was not so easily dismissed. Since the tournament six months ago where Vega was beat, he had learned new moves; surprising moves that Guile had never anticipated. Guile leaped into the air to attack him, but Vega unleashed his own chi, flying up in to the air and intercepting him. Vega's hands flew wildly, scratching and slicing at Guile with such speed that they blurred.

Guile fell heavily to the ground after this latest attack, and Vega slid along the ground, kicking him while he was down. "I told you, you stupid groncho, that I was much more dangerous than before!" Laughing wildly, he stabbed one of his long nails into Guile's eye.

The soldier screamed, throwing Vega off, and trashing wildly in pain. He wasn't sure how badly his eye had been hurt, but he wouldn't be able to use it again for this fight. He stood slowly, fury smoldering on his brow. He was bloody, exhausted and nearly unable to hold himself erect, but looking into his face, Vega suddenly felt fear. "You should never have done that, Vega!" said Guile with ice in his voice.

With a scream, Vega leaped at him again, desperate now to take him down. But Vega was confused by his fear and madness, and his jump was badly timed. Guile leaped into the air and wrapped his arm around Vega's waist. Using gravity to bolster his own strength, he slammed the Spaniard down to his shoulder, hearing a satisfying crack as his spine snapped.

Vega screamed pitifully now, writhing in pain on the ground. Guile walked calmly up to him and kicked off the demonic mask that Vega was wearing. His real face was even more frightening than the mask; scarred and twisted in fear and pain. "You will pay for this, soldato! I will see that you die screaming..." Guile cut off his raving by kicking him in the jaw. Then he ground his heel into Vega's face until he didn't move again.

Now that the adrenaline was gone, Guile could barely stand. To his surprise, he noticed that he could no longer hear the struggle of Guy, Kairi and the little demons. "Guy?" he called out tentatively. "Are you still there somewhere?" Holding his hand to his wounded eye, he tried painfully to scan to room with his other one. When he turned around, there was someone standing right behind him.

The robed priest of Gill slammed his fist into Guile's face, sending the already wounded and exhausted soldier into unconsciousness.

Demitri Maximoff's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Sakura noticed that Gen had somehow gotten separated from them. She turned around looking in the dark corridors, but she could see no sign of him. She wasn't sure that calling out would be a very good idea, but she backtracked a little. After a few minutes she gave up, but she noticed that she had lost Ryu in the meantime. Now she was getting worried.

Frantically she searched through the halls, but she couldn't find any trace of either of her two companions. Frustration boiled up in her until hot tears streamed down her cheeks, but she still didn't find anyone. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if she hadn't wandered into a natural cave that no one ever entered. If that happened, she thought to herself, I could be lost in here forever, and nobody would ever know. She sat down on the cold stone floor, trying to pull herself together. She had never been claustrophobic before, but the dark hard walls seemed to close in on her with a tangible menace. In her imagination, she heard wild laughter and the pattering of bare feet. She imaged the grunts and growls of innumerable beasts that might live in the dark recesses of the world, but tried desperately to get that image out of her mind. There is nobody here but me, and these sounds I hear are just my imagination! she convinced herself. That was when the sharp blow to her head knocked her out.

* * * * * * *

When she woke up, she was lying in a dim room that was richly furnished; reminding her of a throne room of some kind. There were several men around her dressed in brown robes that covered them completely. Here and there she saw small, dark forms that were too small to be human, but she couldn't make out what they were. One of them turned towards her, flashing it's glowing read eyes and grunting bestially. She gasped in surprise.

At this sound from her, two of the brown robed men roughly dragged her to her feet. Her arms were tied tightly behind her back, and her feet were tied with a short rope that made anything more than a shuffling walk impossible. She found that she was forced to wait more, however, before any attention would be paid to her.

There were two men at the throne. Sakura was astonished by the perfectly formed features of both of them. One was huge, nearly seven feet tall, with long flowing blond hair, and clear eyes that seemed almost to shine. He had a look of incredible arrogance and pride on his face, and Sakura noted a tint of madness in his flickering gaze. The other man was beautiful too, but hard and cold as ice. His light brown hair was pulled up to a point, and his eyes glowed red, like fiery coals. He was the one seated on the throne, while the blond man stood a little in front of him. They appeared to be arguing.

"I tell you, Demitri, that it cannot be done yet. There were three more specials that were supposed to arrive on a truck today, but something has happened, and it has not come. Without their power, it is too risky to open the gate. We will strain the machine to it's limits, and if anything goes wrong, we have no power to fall back on!"

The seated man waved dismissively and stood, straightening his flowing cape. "And I tell you that there is enough. I will not wait on your convenience, Gill, while my holding on this world crumbles. We must open the gate to Hell and allow my armies to enter this world now."

"Why this rush?" questioned the tall robed man called Gill. "Why can we not wait longer until a few more specials can be drained?"

Demitri gestured towards one corner of the room. "That is why." There on the floor were three bodies, covered with blood. "These three were found in the room with the machine. Vega and his patrol found them and stopped them from damaging the machine, but Vega was killed in the process. And now we have this young lady, who also appears to have been found wandering around in the lower caverns." Demitri walked over to Sakura and smiled as he gently caressed her chin, raising her head to look into his eyes. As he smiled, his long, sharp canines showed visibly. He quickly resumed his serious facade, however, turning abruptly from Sakura to Gill again. "My forces are insufficient to protect our operation here. If we cannot open the gate, we will lose all. We must take the risk and open it now."

Demitri laughed slightly to himself. "And once my army of demons is released from Hell, this entire world will be mine. Can the other Lords of the Darkness compare to my might when the entire force of this world is added to my army? Soon nothing will stop me from ruling both this world and Hell itself!" Sakura shuddered at the mention of Demitri's diabolical plan, but she could do nothing but allow herself to be picked up and dragged roughly after Gill and Demitri. In fact, she soon realized that everyone in the room was going with her. There were at least twenty brown robed men marching with her alongside. She could barely keep up with her feet tied as they were, and she stumbled several times. Each time she did, she was roughly hauled to her feet again, and forced to continue walking. It took so much effort that she was unable to pay any attention at all to where she was going, so it surprised her when they finally came to a halt.

Panting from exertion, she looked around her as best she could. She was in a large room, lit only by a few small fires burning atop tall bronze poles. Filling the room completely was a huge machine of some kind. She had never seen anything so baroque looking in her life. This was the machine that was supposed to open a gate between worlds? It was supposed to unleash an army of demons on the earth that would conquer it and drag it kicking and screaming to Hell? Sakura was extremely skeptical. But it was obvious that Demitri and Gill believed it.

"Hook her to the nodes," said Gill gesturing. "We will drain her energy even as we begin the rite. It may be that just the little bit of extra power we can take from her will be enough to make the difference in success or failure." Sakura was dragged again to the machine. Here there were patches attached to wires that ran deep into the bowels of the thing. Sakura was strapped securely in, then her bonds were removed. A patch was attached to each of her temples, then the priest hooking her in ripped her shirt off. Two more patches were attached to her chest. Sakura merely glared at him, certain that anything she said would just be wasted breath. For the first time in her life, Sakura couldn't find a reason to say anything.

Demitri was questioning Gill about the procedure. "The literature tells of opposites being necessary for this spell to work. Explain this to me." Gill looked up at him impatiently, even as he consulted and ancient scroll. "That is true. Two opposing elements are necessary for the spell to work. The magic will bring the forces together, and the chaos that ensues as they try to adjust to each other creates the energy that rips the fabric of the world. Then, the machine you have built gives us the means to control where that rift in the world opens to. It has been carefully set, so that when the energy is released, we will be aligned perfectly with Hell, and your demonic army will be able to march through the gate into our world. That is, if everything works right." "Why wouldn't it work?" asked Demitri darkly.

Gill answered him impatiently, "Because we may not have enough energy! I was counting on three more complete crystals, and I'm not sure that the gate will work right without them! It may not have enough energy to open at all, or it may open, but close again, because we don't have the energy to lock it open. Or worst of all, it may not be able to contain the power of the opposites, and the entire room may explode, as if matter and anti-matter were brought together here. Magically speaking, that is exactly what we are doing, bringing together the equivalents of matter and anti-matter and harvesting their energy." "What opposites are you using?" Demitri wondered aloud.

"Normally we would use light and dark but because of your... ah... preferences about light, we have substituted fire and ice. Now, if you will leave me be, I will begin the spell."

Demitri stepped back and let Gill begin. The mad priest began to chant in a soft, low and sonorous voice. He deftly moved his hands in time to the rhythm of the chant. At certain times in the chant, the other priests in the room joined in, or clapped once, or stomped their feet, or did any number of strange things. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! Sakura thought to herself. This is more like a bad Halloween joke than a serious threat to the world! I hope Ryu and Gen find me soon, so we can all get away from these weirdos!

Sakura was very surprised when suddenly a powerful fire burst forth to her right. It was a good distance from her, but she could feel it's searing heat starting to dry out her skin. She looked into the blazing conflagration, and was surprised to see that their was no fuel burning in the flame.

Gill stopped his chant and gestured to the other priests, directing them towards other spots in the room. "Good!" he said. "The first part of the spell is complete. Now we must create the opposite element, and we will be able to activate the machine. You, Vasily, go to the girl and be prepared to activate the energy drain."

One of the priests scurried over to were Sakura was fastened to the machine, and put his hand on a lever, waiting Gill's signal to activate it. Gill began again to chant; this time in a high ululating voice. Again, the well-rehearsed priests joined in at various parts of the chant. Gill's motions were different this time, too.

He seemed to flow, slowly and fluidly over the floor, moving in strange wavelike motions. Presently Sakura could feel a chill on her left side. The chill grew in strength, until Sakura started to shiver, and if she breathed towards her left, it coalesced into frost almost instantly. Gill stopped his chanting again. "Now, Vasily, it is time to tap our guest's energy. Pray that it is enough to keep the spell working properly. Pull the lever!" The priest named Vasily grabbed the lever with both hands, and slowly forced it down.

Instantly Sakura felt like she was being electrocuted. She screamed and writhed so much that the straps cut into her flesh. She felt as if something were reaching deep inside of her and grabbing her very soul, trying to yank it out of her. The patches on her skin began to heat up, and Sakura could feel her chi energy being siphoned slowly away from her through the wires.

Demitri Maximoff's Underground Headquarters, Hong Kong

Akuma did look different. His hair and eyes now glowed like polished gold instead of red, and he seemed to be giddy on the incredible power that filled his body.

"So you do not wish to learn from me, Ken Masters? Such a pity as you could become a powerful fighter once you gave up your foolish notions of morality. Now you will never have the opportunity to reach your full potential." With these words Akuma launched himself into an attack.

Ken had never seen the demon move so quickly. Before he even had a chance to defend, Akuma kicked him twice, sending him sprawling on the ground with blood trickling from his lip. Akuma leaped into the air, and sent two bursts of chi falling towards Ken. The first one was easily avoided, but the second caught him on the foot, blasting him back to the ground. Ken rose slowly to face Akuma again.

He came slowly this time, almost contemptuous of Ken's abilities. When Ken tried to attack him, he shrugged off his blows; laughing out loud. When he had enough, he easily swatted Ken aside. "Don't you understand yet, Ken Masters, what it is to face power incarnate? You and Gen both were fools. What could you possibly have hoped to accomplish against me?" Akuma charged up his energy again, this time releasing the Messatsu go hadoken. The fireball slammed into Ken, who tried to block it. Most of the energy was harmlessly dissipated, but he could still feel the hair on his arms singe.

"You can't beat me with taunts and derision, Akuma!" shouted Ken as he leaped back into the fray. Using everything he knew, Ken attacked the demon. The speed at which Akuma could move now was incredible, but Ken noticed that Akuma wasn't quite used to moving at that speed yet, and he often times his attacks and blocks badly. Ken double feinted then sent his foot to Akuma's jaw, sending him reeling backwards. While he had the momentary advantage, Ken followed up with more attacks, kneeing Akuma in the gut, and backhanding him wickedly across the face. Shin Akuma was finally knocked down. Ken leaped in to attack him again, but Akuma recovered mush more quickly than he ever anticipated. With a grunt, Akuma flew into the Shoryuken technique, striking Ken in the chest with his fist, and slamming him again to the ground. Akuma laughed again.

"So, you do have a little sport in you after all! But feel now what a true master of Shotokan can do!" Akuma attacked once more with his blinding speed. Ken was thrust into a defensive posture. He tried desperately to block Akuma's lighting-like attacks, but they were simply too fast, and Ken couldn't change his guard fast enough. Akuma attacked high with a flurry of punches, then quickly thrust his foot at Ken's leg. Ken grunted in pain as his leg was bowed inward.

Hopping gingerly, Ken tried to duck lower and block more of Akuma's attacks that way, but the demon responded with a pounding blow that slammed into Ken's head and sent him sprawling on his backside. Akuma once again started the Shoryuken technique, but Ken was able to roll aside and he missed completely. Ken scrambled to his feet to attack while Akuma was vulnerable, but could barely stand. Bolts of pain shot through his leg when he tried to put his weight on it, and he wondered if it were broken. Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and put the pain out of his mind. It would not help him now.

He punched Akuma out of his attack, and stood ready to face whatever the demon would do next. Akuma sneered at him before attacking. "Behold, Ken Masters, the power that you turned down. Behold the might of the Raging Demon!" Ken could feel the chi energy charging like a lightning storm around Akuma. He came slowly, floating towards Ken using the same technique that killed Gen. Ken desperately channeled his own chi in an attempt to stop him.

As Akuma neared him, Ken released his power, spinning like a vortex and rising in the air. "Shinryuken!" he shouted. To his surprise, Akuma was easily knocked out of his attack, and felt the full force of the many blows that struck him. The demon seemed surprised that his attack had not been successful. Ken jumped in kicking him with a vicious heel kick that sent Akuma spinning to the ground. Pain lanced through Ken's leg as his foot contacted his enemy, yet he was pleased to be back in the fight. He attacked Akuma again, surprised that he seemed to have dazed him to the point that he was unable to even defend himself. Ken jumped into the air, usi ng his chi to create a vortex beneath him that sent him spinning like a top. His Tatsumaki SenpuKyaku technique, or Hurricane Kick, hit Akuma several times before the energy was dissipated. When he landed, he found that Akuma was ready for him again. He was unable to block Akuma's fist as it closed in on his nose, and knocked him backwards again.

Breathing heavily, Ken tried to compose himself to face Akuma again. He knew that unless he could beat Akuma soon, he would lose. He had barely enough energy to bring himself to his fighting posture, and his leg burned with agony. Akuma ran towards him again, bowling him over with his shoulder. While Ken was down, Akuma leaped up into the air, and sent his Zanku-hadoken, or air fireball slamming into his chest.

Ken was knocked to the ground once again by the force of the blow. The powerful energy had knocked the wind out of him, and when he could finally breath again, he coughed up a stream of blood. He was sure that his ribs had been thoroughly smashed by the attack, and he wasn't getting enough air. One of his fractured ribs must have turned inward, puncturing his lung.

Fighting the dizziness and nausea that threatened to overcome him, he rose once again. He only had energy enough for one more attack, but Akuma was weakened too, and he prayed that it would be enough. The demon came staggering over to him, his golden eyes burning with rage.

"Truly, you were much more powerful than I thought possible, Ken Masters. It has been a pleasure to fight one with such ability. But it ends now." Akuma was gathering his power for a final Raging Demon, one that Ken wouldn't be able stop. Desperately, Ken unleashed his most powerful attack, the Shoryureppa uppercut, spinning and rising with the energy of his chi.

Every single one of the blows connected; the powerful attack knocking Akuma completely unconscious at last. But even as he started the move, the pain in his chest was too much for Ken to bear, and he lost consciousness as well. The force of his chi kept him moving through the motions of the technique, but when it was exhausted, he fell senseless to the floor.

The Gate Machine Room, Demitri's Headquarters, Hong Kong

Sakura felt as if her body were about to split down the middle. She had never known an agony as intense as having her chi energy sucked from her by Demitri's hellish machine. She could feel the throbbing pulse of the chi as it left her, siphoned off by the patches attached to her head and chest.

"It is working!" shouted Gill, the dim lights accentuating the maniacal look on his face. "The gate is opening!"

Sakura could see it first as a tiny ripple in the air in front of her, right where the ice and the fire met. Slowly the ripple grew, and became a shimmering circle in the air.

"No!" screamed Sakura, forgetting for a moment her pain. "This can't be happening! This stupid ritual can't possibly really bring an army of demons into our world!" The uncaring pool of iridescence pulsed outward again, into an even larger hole in reality.

Sakura struggled with her bonds, but it was useless. Her hands and her waist were bound very tightly, and there was no way she could move. She kicked backwards at the machine with her feet, but it accomplished nothing. She tried to focus her chi, and use the energy to form a Hadoken blast, but it was flowing from her too quickly, and she felt as if she was grasping at mist. Isn't there anything I can do? she sobbed in frustration.

The light from the hole in the air faded, and Sakura gasped at what she could see. The hole had widened into the size of a hangar door, and looking through it's curved edges, Sakura could see Demitri's army. Ranks upon ranks of beings stood ready to march into the world and conquer in the name of Demitri. There were tall, pale men and women, with long fangs and red eyes. There were hunched and furry beasts, fangs slobbering and claws glimmering. Scaly and wrinkled demons, like the little ones that wandered about the base, made up huge regiments. Flying gargoyles, lumbering cyclopeans, fiery dragons, every monster Sakura had ever heard of was poised to enter the world, and her chi energy was making it possible.

Desperately, Sakura looked for anything at all she could do. And her eyes fell on the assistant who had pulled the lever to start her torment. He had foolishly wandered closer to Sakura so he could look better at the army of demons that was about to conquer his world. Sakura swung her legs around, grabbing the hapless man with strong thighs before realized what was happening. Sakura dragged him closer to her. With her hands tied, it was very difficult to maneuver him at all, but she knew she had to find a way to get the patches off of her. She banged the man's head against her collarbone, dragging his face across the patch attached there. It didn't budge. Frantically, she tried again. This time, the patch loosened. The man's struggles actually helped her, and she used her legs to drag his head across the patch one more time. Finally, the patch came off.

In their struggles, the man had managed to grab the metal bond that held Sakura's arms in place, and one of them was loosened. She slipped her hand free, and punched Vasily in the nose, sending him sprawling to the ground unconscious. She quickly ripped the other patches from her skin, sagging relief when the torturous drawing of her energy finally stopped.

"No!" screamed Gill. Sakura looked up, and saw that the gate was trembling. The marching army was almost ready to start filing through, but even as she watched, the gate shrunk, until it was a glowing iridescent orb in the air again.

"We need more energy!" Gill shouted again. He looked at Sakura and noticed that she was no longer hooked up to the machine that drew her energy from her. "You did this!" Gill ran towards Sakura with the intention of putting her back on the machine. "You better pray that we can open this again, or your previous torment will seem like a lover's tender embrace! You will..."

Gill's eloquent threats were cut short as he ran too close to the proto-gate floating in the air. It was still very unstable, and as he brushed against it, it was unable to contain it's energy anymore. Gill was able to scream once more as the gate winked out of existence and the massive amounts of energy exploded all around him. The elemental powers that Gill had magically created rushed in to engulf him with their fiery and icy blasts. Gill was the focal point, the lodestone that drew in all the magical energy until he glowed with energy.

Then it was gone. Gill fell inert to the ground, one half of his body singed and burned, the other half frostbitten and shivering. Sakura didn't think he could possibly still be alive.

"He has failed me at the moment it most mattered!" said Demitri darkly, stepping out of the shadows. My army was at the brink of entering this world, and now the gate is gone. But I have seen how he does this spell. I can recreate what he has tried to do, and I shall succeed!"

"I don't think I can allow that!" said a voice from the passageways behind him. Sakura's heart leapt at the voice. Ryu had arrived at last.

* * * * * *

Ryu walked up to Demitri calmly. "You will never have our world, monster. I will make sure of that!" Demitri laughed in his face. "And who do you think you are to challenge me? I have killed thousands of you pitiful mortals with my own hands, then why not you?" Demitri quickly unleashed a flare of light that formed into the shape of a flaming skull. Ryu countered the attack by hurling one of his own Hadoken, knocking the vampire's fireball aside.

"Very impressive, human!" sneered Maximoff. "Perhaps you will prove to be a worthy challenge for me after all!" Demitri seemed to become insubstantial for a second, then he floated up to the machine, perching himself precariously on a metal pipe. "Come and join me, human, and let's see what kind of challenge you can offer me!"

Ryu had no choice but to comply. With much less grace than Demitri, Ryu climbed up into the innards of the machine. Demitri was perched a good thirty feet above the floor.

As soon as Ryu reached Demitri's level, he felt a powerful blow knock him aside. He barely managed to catch on to a stationary gear and keep from plummeting all the way to the floor. Just as he caught his bearings again, he felt claws raking his back. With inhuman strength, he felt himself pried from the gear, and hurled heavily away. His midsection slammed into a pipe, halting his fall, but knocking the wind from his body. He struggled to catch his breath and find where Demitri was.

He saw a movement flash in the corner of his eye, so he quickly leaped up to stand on the pipe. Just as he did, he felt the wind of another attack, a blow that just barely missed him. Ryu swung around and kicked at Demitri. Slamming into the vampire's body was like kicking at a brick wall, but Ryu did manage to dislodge him from his perch.

Demitri adroitly caught his balance and scuttled up the side of the torturous walls of the machine to face Ryu again.

Ryu could hear Sakura goading the vampire from below. "C'mon, you leech! Quit trying to fight up there like a monkey! Ryu can take you in a straight fight on the ground anyday. Come down and fight like a man!" Demitri smiled at the taunts, but ignored them. Without warning, he flew upwards at Ryu in a spinning attack. Ryu quickly leaped off the narrow pipe he was standing on, and hung by his hands. Because if this movement, Demitri missed him, and slammed headfirst into the pipe itself. However, Ryu underestimated the force of the blow, and the pipe split when Demitri hit it.

A rush of steam made Ryu lose his grip on the already weak pipe, and he fell to land heavily on the top of a box-like part of the machine. He looked up quickly, just in time to see Demitri come at him like a missle. Ryu was slammed backwards as the vampire completed his diving tackle. The power of the blow indented the metal surface of the box he was on, and Ryu found himself pinned under his opponent. His head was jerked back, exposing his neck, and Ryu could feel the first tickle of Demitri's fangs.

Thrashing wildly, Ryu was able to get out from under him and stand again. Demitri merely smiled at him, then leaped up higher into the machine again. Ryu had no choice but to follow.

Ryu was now at least seventy feet in the air. Below him, he could see a tiny hole. Cables came from every direction and plunged down through it. If I fall from this high, it's all over, he thought to himself. Demitri was waiting for him at the top of his climb.

Demonic fireballs slammed into Ryu and the machine around him. Ryu was hard put to block the powerful attacks and still keep his balance high up in the machine. It didn't help that his perch was being steadily destroyed by Demitri's attacks. He hadn't even seen where the vampire was yet.

"You see how weak you truly are, now?" said a voice right next to him. Ryu reacted with surprise to Demitri's sudden presence, trying to smash his elbow into the vampire's face. Demitri expected the move, however, and easily dodged, causing Ryu to painfully bruise his arm on the side of the machine. The laughing demon then grabbed Ryu by the scruff of the neck, and picked him up.

"You were a fool to challenge me," he said. "You and your friends may have put off the day of my triumph, but what hope do you have? I have lived for hundreds of years, and can wait long enough to build up the energy for another gate. I saw Gill open the gate, and I know I can replicate the magic. Even if you have won a small battle here today, you have no hope of winning the war! And this small battle you have won will cost you your life!"

Demitri slammed Ryu against the side again and again until the poor man was nearly senseless. Then, like a rag doll, Ryu was tossed away to fall to the floor seventy feet below. Through the fog of his nearly unconscious mind, Ryu thought he could hear Sakura screaming, and he dimly was aware of the rush of wind. Then all went black.

Ryu had happened to fall through the hole and into a large crystal, one of the storage batteries of the stolen chi. As Ryu hit it, the crystal shattered into a thousand pieces.

Suddenly Ryu was awake again. Chi from the crystal poured into his body, giving him new strength. He could see the energy crackling like pink and blue lighting all around him. Like a chain reaction, the lighting touched other crystals, and when it did, they too exploded, and their stored energy rushed into Ryu's body.

The feeling was painful, yet exhilirating at the same time. Ryu could feel every singel cell of his body, and every last one of them was filled to the bursting point with energy. With a shout, Ryu leaped like a lightning bolt a hundred feet into the air to confront Demitri again.

The vampire was shocked to see his opponent alive and filled with such power. Ryu pointed to him and said, "Do not underestimate us mere mortals, monster! We will not roll aside and let you have our world. It is our home, and you are no longer welcome in it!"

Ryu automatically did the technique for the Hadoken, but the results surprised him. The immense power in his body was screaming for release, and although Ryu intended his Hadoken to only be as powerful as he normally did it, the energy came rushing out like water from a burst dam. A blinding blast of light smashed into Demitri, but Ryu couldn't stop the flow of energy. It grew stronger, brighter, larger, until the machine itself began to disintegrate under the force of his blow. Soon the whole room was afire, and most of the pieces of Demitri's machine were scattered against the wall. Ryu screamed in agony as the energy still flowed from him. He was unable to stop it, it was so much more energy than he could possibly store. The walls themselves crumbled before Ryu's power. Huge chunks of rock began tumbling from the broken room. Ryu didn't know it, but he was releasing more force than a hydrogen bomb. He felt like his entire body was coming apart from the energy that rushed to leave him. The light intesified even more, and a vortex of hot winds swirled around him. Is this what it is like to be a god? Ryu wondered to himself. I never imagined holding on to so much power! The energy caused Ryu intense agony, but at the same time, it made him so very aware of everything around him. He could feel every single hair on his body standing on end, he could feel every cell in his body, he even felt like he could feel each individual molecule of air as he breathed it. "This is wonderful!" he shouted, just as he lost consciousness from the surge of power.

* * * * * *

Sakura screamed again as the energy Ryu was releasing started to burn her. She jumped backwards and tried to find shelter behind a huge rock that had fallen from the ceiling. She was nearly hyperventilating from excitement. A moment ago she though Ryu was dead for sure, then he come leaping out of the jaws of death, with the power of a god. She had nearly fallen to the ground when she saw him again. Her heart leapt to her throat when she realized that he was alive. But now she had to worry about staying alive herself. Ryu's energy was threatening to destroy her and everything else in Max's entire base. She could see huge chunks of machinery, and rock flying past her on either side, but her shield seemed to be intact. As soon as she thought that, it started to tip. She leaped out of the way, and found herself swept away by the strong currents of power. She landed on the ground several hundred feet away, near what was once the corridor leading into the room. There she saw to bodies, which seemed to be stirring slightly.

"Guy! Guile!" she shouted, but her voice was carried away. She was able to make her way towards them and grab them by their shirts just as the poweful winds picked all three of them up and carried them away again.

Now Sakura saw another man. To her surprise it looked like Ken, battered, bloody and unconscious. She was partially sheltered from Ryu's power here, so she dragged all three men with her. "We've got to find some shelter. This doesn't look like it's over yet!"

The floor was loose and crumbly, and Sakura realized that there was another corridor below her. She dragged each of the unconscious bodies into it, then hurled herself in as well, just as the momentary shelter was blown away. A huge block of stone fell on top of them, sealing them into a tiny pocket of rock. Amazingly enough, there was yet another body she recognized here in the lower tunnel. "What is this, some kind of reunion?" she thought as she wearily pulled Cammy's still form over with the others. She could still hear the raging storm over her head, and the rocks creaked and shifted from time to time, but her little hideaway held.

* * * * * *

Ryu awoke somewhat later. The power that had filled him was gone, leaving him feeling like he always did, although somewhat more sore and battered. There was sunlight shining in his face. "Where am I?" he said aloud.

He at up and looked around, and didn't recognize anything. He was no longer underneath Max's mountain, but sitting dead center in the middle of a huge deep crater that was several miles wide. Helicopters buzzed through the air, and he could see the occasional paramedic or soldier sifting through the rubble that littered the crater floor. There was no sign of Demitri or Gill anywhere.

"Ryu! Over here!" he heard, then he smiled. There was Sakura waving to him with one hand. The other arm was in a sling, and she was dusty and battered. Ryu gingerly rose to his feet and walked over to her. "You look like someone tied you to the back of a truck and drug you around for a while. What happened?"

"You did, silly!" she said, smiling tenderly at him. Tears welled in her eyes briefly. "I thought you were dead, then suddenly you came out of that hole blazing like the sun. You released so much energy you turned Max's mountain into Max's pit!"

Ryu surprised himself by taking her gently by the shoulders and pulling her closer to him, holding her against his chest. "I'm just glad your alright," he said. They stood like that as the sun set, holding each other, as Sakura softly cried tears of happiness.

A Hospital in Hong Kong

"Keep it quiet, you two! This isn't like sneaking out on Gouken, you know"

Sakura looked at Ken with annoyance. "No, I don't know. I didn't train with him, remember?" Ryu was pushing the wheelchair, while Sakura was pushing a cart with a heavy machine on it. Ken's leg was up in a cast, cleanly broken during his battle with Akuma. The machine had a tube that went into into Ken's side. He was doing much better, but the tube would have to stay until his lung completely inflated again, and healed enough that he could breath on his own. But despite these difficulties, Ken wasn't going to miss what was happening just down the hall.

"Ok nobody's in the hall, let's make it quick!" Ryu and Sakura walked as quickly as they could with Ken, ducking quickly into a small room in the wing labeled "Maternity." There was a nurse who looked questionably at the small group, but Ryu just smiled and nodded, and kept walking as fast as he could. They weren't stopped.

"OK, you two wait here while I try and find out which room Eliza is in," said Sakura as she dashed off down the hall, looking at the names on the doors.

"Do you think we're too late?" said Ken in an anxious voice.

"Of course not. Have we ever been too late for anything important?"

Ken laughed. "I guess not, but we cut it pretty close plenty of times. I understand you barely got to Demitri on time."

Ryu smirked at his friend and hit him playfully on the side of the head. "Watch you tongue, Masters! Barely is good enough."

Sakura came running back towards them. "Hurry! I found her room, and it looks like we'll barely get there in time!" Ken and Ryu chuckled a little, making Sakura look at them weird, but they didn't waste any time getting to the room Sakura indicated. The three of them burst in just in time to hear the cry of a newborn baby.

"Ken!" gasped the sweaty and exhausted Eliza. "What in the world are you doing here?"

Ken rolled his wheelchair as close to Eliza as he could get. "I told you nine months ago that we were going to do this together and that I wouldn't miss it no matter what, didn't I? I could be dead and I'd still find a way to get here!" The doctor handed the small bundle to Eliza, and she gingerly cradled it in her arms. Ken, Ryu and Sakura's faces all crowded close.

"Oooh, he's so beautiful!" said Sakura. Indeed, Ken and Eliza's baby was beautiful. His curly hair, what little there was of it, was wet still, and dark, and his tiny eyes were shut. His minuscule little hands waved aimlessly about, finally finding his mouth. The baby cheerfully sucked on his fingers, seeming to smile slightly. Eliza handed him to Ken.

"Here, you need to hold him too. I still can't believe you came. If you get worse because of this, and we have to stay in this hospital longer..."

Ken laughed again. "If I do, then we'll stay here together. Just the three of us! And we'll never be apart like that again. Just you, me, and..." Ken looked up with a flash in his eyes and an impish grin on his face, "Kenneth junior, here!"

Eliza's eyes widened, but she couldn't help but laugh, and Ryu and Sakura joined in. "Oh, Ken you promised we would name him after my father Melvin. Weren't you just telling me about how you keep your promises no matter what?"

"I don't care what his name is, he's still the most perfect baby I've ever seen," Ken said with a proud father's twinkle in his eye. "And he's all ours. I can't believe this is actually happening!" A tiny tear formed in his eye and trickled down his cheek, but Ken ignored it as he made faces at tiny Mel, bouncing him proudly and singing to him until the baby fell asleep.

* * * * * * *

Guile was awakened by a bright light that flashed suddenly in his room. He tried to open his eye, but the bandage that covered the eye Vega gouged out was too low, making it nearly impossible to see anything at all.

"Oh, Daddy! What have they done to you?" Guile pushed his bandage up a tiny bit so he could look with his one eye. There in the room with him were Jane, Amy, Rose and Charlie. Jane and Amy rushed up to hug Guile, crying over his wounds.

"Don't worry, girls!" he said, trying to put on the best face he could. "Nobody can hurt me enough to keep me away from you. In just a few weeks we'll be back at home, and we can just forget all about this."

"Oh, honey, how can we forget, when..." Jane couldn't bring herself to finish, but the quick glance at the bandage where Guiles missing eye was conveyed her meaning simply enough. Guile smiled sadly that he understood.

"Congratulations, Guile, on bringing the threat to an end," said Rose, walking up with Charlie. "I know you have made great sacrifices, but the entire world owes you."

"You're mistaken, Rose. I never even saw Demitri. Ryu is the one that you owe." Rose and Charlie smiled a bit to each other. Guile wondered what was behind that smile, and the sparkle in their eyes when they looked at each other. Charlie answered Guile's statement. "That's not exactly true, old friend. Ryu was barely able to stop Demitri, and without the supporting role of each of the street fighters who went into Demitri's lair, he would have failed. What would have happened if Ryu had had to face Demitri and Vega, for instance? Would he have been able to stop Demitri's plan then? Don't be so modest and underestimate the importance of what you, and everyone else did."

"Charlie speaks wisely, Guile," added Rose. "You have done more than you could imagine, and your role in the unfolding of events as they did was paramount."

Guile sighed. "If you say so. But it was a high price to pay. I was just getting back with my family again after five years, and now this whole episode has to happen. I'll literally bear the scars of this to my grave." Charlie and Rose flashed that smile to each other again. "I think maybe we can do something about that!" she said. "You may have noticed that Charlie looks quite a bit different than when you last saw him?" Guile looked carefully at Charlie and noticed that he did. Although still thin, his color and returned, and he looked twice as healthy as he had in Romania. In fact, he was dressed rather oddly, in a colorful outfit that looked, well, gypsy if anything. Guile was extremely curious.

"Hey, you do look different! What's going on, Charlie?"

Charlie took a seat next to Guile and started to tell his story. "Well, I've gone past the test. I no longer have to worry about ending up like Donovon. I'm human again, and don't have to ever worry about becoming a vampire. But my...ah...new heritage is unique, and Rose has been showing me some of the things I can do with it now. We have been practising magic, a little, and I think that together, we have enough power to give you one little gift of appreciation for your part in what happened."

Guile smiled a bit at Charlie's story. It was good he was back to his old self. A little too much like his old self actually, if those looks between him and Rose were any guide. Guile was sure that magic wasn't the only thing they practised together. He didn't say anything about it, but when he smiled at Charlie, he gave him a wink and a grin that confirmed his suspicions. Guile decided to tactfully change the subject. "A gift, huh? What could it be?" Rose walked up and joined them, resting her hand on Charlie's arm. "You'll see!" she said mysteriously, with a gleam in her eye. She turned off the light in the room, letting the small amount of sunlight shining through the narrow window be the only source of light. Guile could feel a prickle on his skin as Rose and Charlie started working their magic. They faced each other, Charlie holding up his hands for Rose to grasp. Guile could see that she was chanting softly to herself, but he couldn't hear what she said. Charlie was watching carefully, trying to learn how Rose worked her spell. Gradually, a small light grew between them. The light grew in strength and intensity, until it was brighter than the flourescent lights that Rose had just turned off. Rose smiled and gestured to Charlie that he complete the gift. Charlie smiled back and walked over to Guile's bed.

"Well, Guile, here it is. I know the sacrifice you made...your eye...was a great one to ask. In fact, we think it was more than you should have to pay, so we've decided to give you another one!" Charlie raised his hand and the magical light flashed in Guile's face.

When he could see again, Charlie and Rose were gone. Amy looked at her father anxiously, and Jane smiled at her husband. Slowly, Guile raised his hand to his head and removed the bandage. And he could see again out of both eyes.

"Oh, Daddy, that's wonderful!" cried Amy hugging her father again. The were interupted by the sound of Rose's voice, calling out to them as she and Charlie magically took themselves back to Romania. "This is our gift to you, Guile. You'll find that this new eye is much more efficient than the one you lost. Use it well!" Guile smiled and looked at his family again. He couldn't get enough of their beautiful faces, and the fact that he was lucky enough to have them with him.

"I will!"

* * * * * * * * *

"You sent Guy to pick out the flowers?" Hokuto cried in amazement. "He'll probably come back with a handful of daisies he picked on the side of the road!"

"Well, whatever he brings, it will do just fine." said Chun Li a bit defensively. "It doens't really matter what kind of flowers we have anyway." A few weeks had passed since Demitri's downfall, and now that everyone was healing nicely, Chun Li and Guy had invited everyone to their wedding.

"Well, don't get me wrong, Chun," said Hokuto again. Iin her role as maid of honor, she was a little peeved that the wedding hadn't been larger, more expensive, more lavish, and most of all, been given more time for her to prepare. "I love Guy like my own brother, but sometimes he has all the taste of a typical man!"

"Well, he did pick out my ring, didn't he? I think it shows extremely excellent taste. It's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen."

Hokuto still felt like grumbling, though, so she didn't let it lie. "Someone must have helped it pick it out. I can't believe he could do that well on his own! Maybe Ken's mother? She has very excellent taste."

"Cut it out, Hokuto!" Chun Li said, throwing her bouquet at the grouchy maid of honor. "At least give him credit when he deserves it! I have to admit, I was shocked that he got me a ring that I not only wouldn't mind wearing, but was actually beautiful. But Guy isn't that bad!"

"Yeah, then why did his other fiance‚ leave him?"

"Because she's stupid, I guess," said Chun Li. "Now let's quit arguing and get my hair done. The last thing we want is to hold this all up because I'm not ready yet!"

* * * * * * * * *

Ryu and Sakura sat next to each other on the front row. Sakura, as normal, was keeping Ryu busy with a constant stream of chatter. "That was sure nice of Ken to call up his family and talk them into hosting Guy and Chun Li's wedding here in Seattle. This is really a beautiful location!" Sakura was talking about the huge gardens behind Ken's parents house. They had been decorated for the wedding in the way that only the extremely rich can decorate. White pillars marched in rows up and down the lawn, and white roses decorated everything. There were probably a million white and gold balloons floating over a pavilion where the four foor cake rested on a white table. "It's incredibly beautiful!"

"When you have your wedding, we'll have to invite you over again!" said Ken to Ryu. Ken still had a cast, but his side and lung were fine now, and he could move easily with crutches. He and Eliza sat next to Ryu and Sakura, and little Mel was sleeping peacefully in a stroller next to her. Earlier, all the women there flocked to see the baby, but now everyone was seated and the music was playing. Guy and Kairi waited at the front in their tuxedos, but there was still no sign of Chun Li and the bridesmaids.

Ryu laughed. "I'm not getting married anytime soon. Who would I marry, anyway?" He was surprised when suddenly everyone got quiet around him. Looking around in confusion, he saw Sakura turn her face away from him. Before he could say anything, the volume of the music increased, and the Hokuto and Chun Li appeared at the rear of the wedding party.

Could it be possible? thought Ryu to himself. I thought of her as a little sister, not a possible...marraige candidate. He tried to look at Sakura again, and thought she may have been crying. He looked around again at Ken and Eliza, but they weren't looking at him either. What had he gotten himself into? Chun Li walked slowly and stately down the aisle. She had never looked so beautiful in her life; her cheeks slightly flushed with excitement, her eyes lowered coyly and her face hidden by her misty veil. Her huge white dress, bunched at the shoulders and pinched at the waist, accentuated every curve of her body. Guy had to remind himself to breathe when he saw her.

Hokuto carried her long train, arranged it neatly at her feet when Chun Li arrived at the altar. She winked at Guy and moved to the left to stand next to Chun Li. Looking back over the audience, she saw that Sakura was crying on the first row, and Eliza had wet eyes too. Why do people always cry at weddings anyway? To her surprise, even Ryu looked like he had lost some of his icy composure. You'd think they've never seen anyone get married before! she thought to herself. Then again, maybe with Ryu's strange background, he never has.

* * * * * * * *

Ryu sat alone at one of the tables near the cake. There was a band playing, and hundreds of guests were dancing, but Ryu paid no attention to any of them. He had watched while Chun Li and Guy had driven off in the Rolls Royce that Ken's parents had provided for them. As they entered the long driveway, fireworks shot out over the sky, very probably reflecting what was happening in the car with the newlyweds. What a morbid thought! Ryu said to himself. He tried to think of Chun Li and Guy's wedding, the smiling faces they had, the giddy look on Guy's face all night as he gazed into the eyes of his new wife...

But he couldn't. One thing had been on his mind all evening. And he had not seen Sakura much all day since the wedding. Could it be possible that she had imagined more? He had never thought of her as his little sister, someone to joke with, to hang around with, to protect. But someone to love? Someone to marry? It had never once entered his mind. But now that she had been avoiding him all day, he begin to think seriously what it would be like to live without her.

What's wrong with that? I was fine for years without her, wasn't I? No, of course he wasn't. That was why he sought out the mysterious Sheng Long in the first place, to find out why Gouken's training had left him so empty, so emotionless. To find out why he wasn't happy. And what had the mystic face told him in the ice cave? That he must find Sakura.

Ryu rose suddenly from his chair, and walked quickly away from the pavilion. Ken saw him go, and noting the look on his face, nudged Eliza with a smile. "Looks like Ryu's finally got a clue. Realized he can't do without Sakura around."

Eliza held out her hand with a laugh. "Pay up, then! I told you it would be less than a month before it came out in the open." Ken's smile faded and he grumbled as he fished in his pocket for the two hundred bucks he had wagered. What was wrong with Ryu, anyway? Can't you ever predict what that guy's gonna do? His grumblings faded again, though. He laughed to himself when he thought about it. Since getting married, there was nothing he wanted more for everyone he knew to get married to, and find out what they were missing. Ryu, his best friend, even when he didn't realize it, was soon to join them. He wondered how long it would be before they had children.

* * * * * * * * *

Ryu wasn't going to put up with it anymore. Sure, he had learned to have emotions. Powerful ones, even, like what he felt for Sakura. But he was unprepared for the pain that emotions inspired. He had never missed anyone before, and he had never felt lonely before. But Ryu had always been very good at one particular habit: leaving whenever his emotions started to get in his way.

He had changed out of his tuxedo, and was dressed once again in his white gi, ready to leave into the night. He glanced out of the window at the party still in full swing outside. Everyone was happy down there. All he could hear was cheerful chatter and laughter. Why did he have to be different? Why had he had to learn to feel emotions?

Face it, Ryu, he thought to himself. The only emotion you're feeling is fear. You don't know how to handle Sakura since finding out how she really feels about you, so you're going to avoid the issue. He thought back to the day he had stood with Sheng Long in the ice cave high in the Himalayas. He had bragged that he had never feared anything, but what a travesty that was turning out to be. He was afraid to talk to Sakura, afraid to deal with her feelings, and most of all, afraid to deal with his own.

But at the same time, Ryu wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready to fall in love, and he wasn't ready to be loved. It was too much at once, and overload of emotions. He should have known that silly girl would take everything too far. Why in the world did he have to have a psychotic fan anyway?

That's not really fair, he thought to himself. She's never been psychotic, just very single-minded. Ryu shook his head in confusion. If he sat here thinking like this, he'd end up agreeing to marry her before he realized what he was doing. So what if he knew all the arguments he was making to himself weren't really true? So what if he knew in his heart that he was only running away because he was afraid? So what if what he was doing made a small part of him feel ashamed and disgraced? He didn't know what else to do. He slipped quietly out of the house, carefully avoiding the crowds of guests. He didn't want any of them to see him sneaking off like this. He decided to cut through the now empty garden on his way out. He should be able to avoid anyone that way. Without any lights, it was quite dark out here. The moon shone brightly, but most of the time, the trees kept its light from reaching the ground. Ryu had been here before, so he knew he could make his way off of Ken's parent's house by following the little trails that zigzaged through the garden. He just needed to find the one big landmark that would tell him exactly where he was. He needed to find the fountain.

Soon the trees gave way, and he looked up to see the open sky. The stars were twinkling even brighter than the lights in the house. How wonderful it was to be out on the road again! Wandering away, without a care in the world! The stars always reminded Ryu of his innocent early years, when he traveled for fun, and for adventure. Before the death of Gouken, Ryu had enjoyed life. And when he looked up into the night sky on a clear night like this, he could recapture just a tiny fraction of the happy-go-lucky boy that he had once been. The full moon was shining so brightly that the stars near it faded into oblivion. Ryu couldn't remember a night so beautiful. And Seattle was supposed to always be rainy!

Pushing his introspection to the background, Ryu looked up at the fountain. It was a massively carved piece of concrete, with a wide circular pool and the images of several dolphins leaping out into the air. The water spurted up behind the dolphins, angled to look like the natural splash that would follow their leaping bodies. The fountain was truly a beautiful work of art, but when Ryu gasped slightly and automatically held his breath, it wasn't because of that.

Sitting quietly on the edge of the pool was Sakura. She was idly stirring the water a bit with her hand, and looking down at her reflection in the water. Her soft silky dress, clinging to her body, shimmered in the soft moonlight. Ryu was spellbound by her beauty. Never before had he seen Sakura as a woman.

She looked upwards towards the sky, and Ryu noticed a glimmer in her eyes and on her cheeks. She had been, and probably still was, crying. Ryu felt a wrentching in his heart that he thought he would never feel. Suddenly all the doubts he had about running away sprang to the forefront of his mind again. How could he leave her like this? He knew they would both be miserable without each other. He couldn't bring himself to move, though. He didn't want her to know he was here; he just wished he could keep staring at her forever. Ryu would have given everything to make this moment eternal.

Suddenly Sakura turned around and looked straight at him. She gasped and started to run away. "Wait, Sakura, stop!" cried Ryu before she had taken more than a few steps. She turned around and looked at him. When she saw that he had changed into his travelling clothes and had his duffel bag, fresh tears sprang to her eyes.

"What do you want, Ryu?" she said softly with her eyes lowered.

"I want to say goodbye, Sakura. What I mean is, I've got to go, and...I mean, I need to...Oh hell, Sakura, I'm going again, but I want you to come with me!" Ryu was sweating from the effort of saying those words.

"Why in the world would I want to do that?" she asked looking him straight in the eyes. Ryu was dumbfounded.

"Because you...I mean...What are you talking about? Why wouldn't you? I thought...you know..."

"That I couldn't live without you?" she finished for him. "I thought so too. But who am I fooling? I can't be happy if you don't love me, and you won't be either. I'm going back to Japan, and I'm going to take my life back up where I left off before I ran away with you. You didn't really think that I was just going to drop everything just because you showed up, did you?" Sakura was yelling now, anger and pain evident on her young face. "You think I didn't have anything better to do than tag along behind you, waiting for something to happen that I know never will? I know that now, it will never happen. You will never love me, so what's the point?"

Sakura did run away now, and Ryu was too shocked to stop her. He sank slowly to his knees, and was surprised to find tears of his own streaking down his face. Sakura was gone.

What have I done? thought Sakura to herself. I must be going crazy! Why would I tell him that? Sakura knew she had spoken hastily. She was right in what she said, but what exactly was Ryu trying to tell her? Maybe he did want to be with her. He asked her to come with him, after all, didn't he? And now she had driven him away for good. How could she ever live with herself again?

But Sakura was all out of tears. She hefted her bag and stood up to get in line. Her flight would be boarding soon, and she just wanted to get back to Japan as fast as possible. All of her grief had happened while on this trip. She should never have left from home. Her mother was right after all, not to mention her father, her room mate, her teachers in high school: they had all been right. She was too impetuous, always doing the first thing that came to her head, and now she was paying for it.

She stuffed her carry-on bag into the compartment above her and flopped down into her seat. A stewardess brought her a drink, which she accepted listlessly, and sipped without thinking about it. I could use a stiffer drink than this! she thought to herself.

The passengers were almost all loaded now, and she estimated that it wouldn't be long before the plane left. She heard a voice from the aisle questioning her.

"Excuse me, miss, but is this seat taken?" She looked up into the eyes of Ryu.

"Ryu, what...?" she started to say, her head spinning in confusion. As much pain as he had caused her, she couldn't stop the flutter in her heart at seeing his face smiling down at her.

"C'mon, Sakura! You didn't really think I was going to let you get away that easily, did you? You said you wouldn't tag along after me because you had better things to do. I thought about it, and realized I can't think of a better thing in the whole world than to tag along after you, then, until you change your mind." Sakura looked at him wryly. "What are you talking about?"

Ryu's reaction surprised Sakura. He leaned over until his face was right next to hers and stared into her eyes intently. "I'm talking about being in love with you, Sakura. I'm not letting you leave me that easily. Especially without knowing that I love you more than life itself. I would travel around the world a hundred times just to be with you, and no matter what you do, you will always have me behind you!" Sakura put her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer. With a giggle she said, "So, you're going to stalk me, huh? You know there are laws against that kind of thing, you know and besides I..."

Ryu laughed and said, "Sakura, sometimes you talk too much!" He silenced her with a kiss.