THE TOURNAMENTS

Nine years ago, a Street Fighter tournament was held in Osaka, Japan, the third and final bout of the Alpha series. The tournament involved combatants called from all corners of the globe battling each other in a no holds barred competition for the title of champion Street Fighter. It seemed like a simple straight forward competition. But beneath its sportsmanship surface laid a far darker secret.

SHADOWLAW

The tournaments were secretly funded by a crime organization that went by the name of Shadowlaw. The true purpose of the tournament was to gather physical information on each of the fighters and determine which of them would best serve as brainwashed, Shadowlaw agents, and which would serve as live, human batteries for the ultimate weapon of mass destruction – a satellite controlled laser based weapon disguised as a reclining statue of Buddha, situated in Thailand.

THE DOLLS

Shadowlaw had one of the best scientific and technological divisions in the world, far superior than that of rival organizations, equaled only by an American based, pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Incorporated. The Shadowlaw scientific branch was responsible for creating technologically brilliant yet inhuman projects such as the "Doll Program." This involved the abductions of thirteen girls similar in age and build and putting them through a mentally torturous memory erasing procedure. The result was thirteen mindless bodies ready to be programmed to serve as Shadowlaw's elite forces known only as "The Dolls." The Doll Program met its end after the third Street Fighter Alpha tournament, and all thirteen members of the squad returned home with their memories restored, with the exception of one – Cammy White of a branch of the British Special Forces, Delta Red.

THE SHADOW TECHNOLOGY

Another of Shadowlaw's projects was a technology that worked with the biological makeup of a subject, enhancing physical capabilities while simultaneously shutting off and individual's mind. Spear headed by a Shadowlaw scientist named Dr. Feng, the Shadow Technology was similar to the technology behind the Doll Program in that it also provided well trained soldiers with enhanced fighting abilities and blank minds for which to upload commands to. The Shadow Technology has been tested on both Charlie Nash of the United States Air Force, and Agent Chun Li of Interpol's Chinese division. The subjects displayed superior fighting abilities but the technology eventually crashed in their bodies, due to the efforts of the original Shadow Soldier, Kenneth Feng.

KENNETH FENG

He is the son of the scientist who spearheaded the Shadow Technology Project. Upon completion of the technology, Dr. Feng experienced an ill-timed change of heart – realizing that his work would rob people of their own bodies and use them to serve Shadowlaw. His morality taking priority over his sense of duty as a scientist, Dr. Feng attempted to rid himself of the Shadow Technology by selling it to a company rival to Shadowlaw, Umbrella Incorporated. But before the transaction could be completed, Shadowlaw caught onto his actions and ordered Dr. Feng's assassination. In a last ditch attempt to keep his work from them, Dr. Feng embedded the Shadow Technology in a single data chip and hid it inside his six year old son, Kenneth. But he didn't expect the technology to manifest itself within Kenneth who became, by pure accident, the first Shadow Soldier.

ACT 1: THE SUCCESSOR

Shortly after the assassination of Dr. Feng and his family, authorities confirmed the dead bodies not only of Dr. Feng and his wife, but the assassins as well. Kenneth was nowhere to be found, and the authorities alerted Interpol, placing him on the international missing persons list. Shadowlaw was aware of the developments as well, after a failed mission. Only one of their two objectives had been met. Dr. Feng had been killed, but the Shadow Technology was not procured. Details of the bodies found at the Feng residence as graphic – the bodies dismembered, and charred, as if sliced apart neatly but powerfully, just before a huge fire ravaged the building and its dead occupants. And the fact that Kenneth seemed to have escaped with his life convinced Shadowlaw's leader, M. Bison that there was something suspicious about the child, and ordered his kidnapping.

Kenneth, meanwhile was stranded on the streets of Osaka living as a thief under his newly adopted older brother, Craig Crankurt. The two, in a matter of days, began addressing each other as Kenny and Cranky and Kenny's life had begun anew.

Meanwhile, during the developments of the Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament, twin Shotokan masters Ken and Ryu had just arrived in Osaka – the former from the United States, the latter from a rural part of Japan. The two friends were meeting up after years apart when they discovered Ryu was being stalked by a third practitioner of their martial art, the only practitioner who had mastered the dark side of their art – Akuma. Akuma, due to his aging body, was looking for a successor to the Satsui no Hadou, a murderous energy inside his body that allowed him to endure the dark Shotokan arts. He had deemed Ryu worthy – but Ryu was all but willing to accept it.

From there, Ryu and Ken encounter Kenny, a six year old thief trying to stay alive on the streets and take kindly to the boy – and then Shadowlaw caught up with him. Caught between the struggle of fighting the Satsui no Hadou and preventing Shadowlaw from harvesting the Shadow Technology in Kenny's body, Ryu and Ken enlisted the help of Interpol Agent Chun Li, Air Force Pilot William Guile, Bushin Masters Guy and Maki and their Metro City hero friend Cody, and various other significant faces in the Street Fighter circuit to help bring down Shadowlaw once and for all.

The result was a deadly explosion at the base of Mt. Fuji, the source coming from deep within the Shadowlaw base. Charlie Nash died that day. And for the second time, Kenny was nowhere to be found, believed to have passed on in the explosion.

ACT 5: RETURN TO THE SHADOWS

And the story continues …