Chapter 10: More Familiar Faces
It was a cool night over in upstate New York. The night was rather quiet and pleasant in contrast to the noisy hustle and bustle of the big cities. Numerous crickets could be heard chirping and the roads were rather vacant as the cool breeze continued to wash over the area.
In a nearby forest, a group of people was huddled by a campfire roasting weenies and talking about many different things going on in their lives. One of the people was a middle-aged man, with short black hair and a somewhat shaggy beard and an average build. Right beside him was a young woman with long flowing strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she was a rather petite girl and seemed to be rather cheery. The other man was a buff blonde guy with his hair tied up in a red bandana; he sat down on the ground with a grim face.
"Ah, it feels good to get away from the raucousness of the city for a while don't you think so Patricia?" asked the black haired man to the woman.
"Indeed it does Father, plus I'm happy Alex came with us, we hardly ever get to see him anymore," chimed Patricia.
"Well, I am out here mainly to get my mental focus strengthened for the tournament, but I won't pass up an opportunity to be with you guys," piped Alex as he placed his frankfurter into a bun and began to eat it.
"That's understandable Alex, the serenity of a forest makes it an ideal location to train your mind which is just as important as training your body, especially if you run across that guy with the red headband you told me about," said Tom, the black haired guy.
"Although I would enjoy squaring off with that Ryu character once more, I still cannot shake the uneasy feeling I get from the host of the tournament Zephyr," remarked Alex.
"Indeed, he gives me the willies also, he does seem to be a lot more malevolent than Gill," responded Tom.
"Gill, was that the red and blue guy that Alex faced thirteen years ago?" inquired Patricia.
"Yes, that is the same we are talking about, for some reason I think he wasn't fighting me full strength, he was reserved during our match, he told me that there was something special about me, but yet I can't quite put my finger on why I'm so special to this guy," pondered Alex.
"Maybe he's in love with you," joked Patricia in between bites.
"No, it's not like that, I mean as far as my fighting skills, am I supposed to do something with my skills in the near future?" asked Alex.
"Hmm, could be, the stuff he speaks of is almost prophetic, I suggest you speak with him during the tournament, maybe you'll find some of the answers you're looking for there," advised Tom.
"Yeah, I will do that, but first off I have to make sure that Zephyr does taste defeat, because I know that his vision of this world's future is a lot more dark and evil that Gill's was," said Alex.
"I know, his means of luring fighters to his competition were quite suspicious, I think he might be trying to bait them into some kind of a trap," stated Tom.
"No, I don't think he's trying to do sabotage the actual tournament, but I don't question the premonition that he does have ulterior motives, I'm certain he has those," replied Alex.
"Exactly, I've heard many things about him wanting to end the era of humans, and from the looks of the guy, I'd believe that," said Patricia.
"Looks can be deceiving, but in Zephyr's case, he most likely is an evil hearted person of whatever the hell he is," remarked Tom.
"That is why I must fight, to protect you guys, and to finally find out why Gill let me win the fight with him!" exclaimed Alex.
"Ok then, but right now I'm getting sleepy, I'm going to turn in for the night," announced Tom.
"Me too," added Patricia.
"I'm staying up for a while, I think I'll meditate for a bit and reflect on all of the things that we know," said Alex.
"Well then good night my friend," spoke Tom in a low tone as he crawled into his beige colored tent.
"See you in the morning Alex," said Patricia as she walked over and hugged Alex before retiring to her tent.
Alex just sat staring straight at the flames in front of him. The fire that burned bathed his face in an orange glow as he contemplated over the things that have been happening over the past thirteen years, about how after his victory over the mysterious Gill he met the vagabond warrior known as Ryu. Although the Japanese man beat him quite easily, Alex felt and adrenaline rush like no other one during his battle with him. It was the desire to become stronger that led Alex to travel the world and learn new skills so that way when he met Ryu again, he would do better in their next match. Yet the prophecy that Gill told Alex about his future still lay embedded in the blonde haired man's mind and the ominous threat of Zephyr kept those words throbbing in Alex's brain.
"I have so many questions that I don't how to ask them all, but finding the answer to them will make me a stronger person, I wonder where those answers lie," thought Alex.
Alex rose to his feet, picked up a bucket of water near him and extinguished the campfire; he stood staring at the cold ash for a few minutes, brushed off his pants, and breathed a deep sigh before heading over to his tent.
On the other side of the world in Kyoto, Japan, a young woman was busy mulling over some designs for men and women's clothing. She scratched her head as she sat at her desk eyes fixated on the picture of the clothes in front of her. The woman was Japanese; she had a wild black hairdo and piercing brown eyes. She was quite a curvaceous woman clad in a gray business suit that draped over her sexy figure well. She was the famous fashion designer Ibuki, who was also secretly a competent ninja warrior.
"Hmm, these designs are nice, but I think they could use a few improvements, let's see what I can do to spice it up," Ibuki said to herself.
In the midst of her brainstorming, a slender blue haired Japanese girl in a suit similar to Ibuki's ran into Ibuki's office and broke her train of thought. She was Ibuki's best friend, Sarai Kurosawa.
"Ibuki, I need you to come with me right now," stated the blue haired girl.
"What is it that is so important Sarai?" asked Ibuki.
"The master wishes to have a word with you," answered Sarai.
"Ok then, let's go!" exclaimed Ibuki.
Ibuki and Sarai left the building and ran all the way over to Ibuki's village, which was in a rural area of Kyoto. As the two women entered Ibuki's domicile, they found an elderly gray haired man draped in black ninja garb sitting cross-legged on Ibuki's floor. Ibuki and Sarai walked over to the old man and knelt down before him
"Sensei Meiji, what have you summoned me for?" asked Ibuki.
"I have another mission for you my faithful student," responded Meiji.
"It's been a while since I've been on a mission, so what is it that you need me to accomplish this time?" inquired Ibuki.
"I need you to obtain something from the Illuminati again," answered Meiji.
"The Illuminati, didn't we find out all about Gill's plan for a utopia from his G File already?" questioned Ibuki.
"Yes, but the Illuminati has a new leader, a enigmatic entity called Zephyr, I need you to obtain a file called the Z File from him, it has information about a project entitled the Z Project. That information is vital to the fate of mankind, can you acquire this file for us Ibuki?" interrogated Meiji.
"Yes sensei, I will do my best to get this file for the Tanooki ninja clan," said Ibuki boldly.
"Arigato, well in order to get the file you'll need to engage into the Street Fighter tournament he is holding, good luck," said Meiji.
"Arigato," responded Ibuki.
As Ibuki and Sarai headed back to their place of business, Ibuki started to mull over her mission.
"What is this Z Project that the Illuminati is taking into effect? Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until the tournament to find out," mused Ibuki.
Up in another area of Kyoto, in the prestigious Rindoukan karate dojo, another young Japanese female was busy practicing a series of moves on a dummy that was hanging in front of her. The woman was short, average build, brown eyed, with black hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a baggy white karate gi; it was the sensei of the Rindoukan dojo, Makoto.
Thirteen years ago, after her father Masaru passed away, Makoto became the new leader of the Rindoukan dojo, her martial arts skills were remarkable and she was able to attract many students to the dojo to train in the art of Rindoukan karate. However as of late, the reservoir of eager students had begun to dry up as people were slowly becoming less interested in Makoto's brand of karate. It was becoming more difficult for Makoto to pay the bills for her dojo and she knew that she needed to find a way to get people interested in taking up Rindoukan once more.
"Damn, I can't believe that I'm losing students, I don't know why people wouldn't want to learn some form of self defense, it just doesn't make sense to me," thought Makoto.
As she focused on her troubles more the combos she was unloading on the unlucky dummy began to increase in intensity eventually Makoto unleashed a very powerful move on the dummy.
"Seichusen Godanzuki!" bellowed Makoto
The sheer force of the super move blew the dummy to pieces; Makoto's training came to a halt.
"Damn it, that's one thing I don't need right now is to have to replace something!" grumbled Makoto to herself.
Makoto wiped the sweat from her forehead and slowly placed herself down on the ground and began to meditate until an elderly bald monk in black and white robes walked into her dojo and sat adjacent from her.
"Are you Makoto?" asked the monk.
"Yeah, who might you be?" asked Makoto.
"My name is Retsu, I was a friend of the old master of Ansatsuken karate, Gouken, I fought in the original Street Fighter tournament," answered the monk.
"Ah, I've heard of you, you're a great fighter Retsu, but why are you here to see me?" asked Makoto.
"Simple, you want people to become interested in Rindoukan once more don't you?" inquired Retsu.
"Yes," answered Makoto.
"Well, then you should enter the upcoming Street Fighter tournament, even if you don't progress far, if you show how good of a fighter you are, I'm sure people's interest in your fighting style will be rekindled," suggested Retsu.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Makoto.
"Yeah, you won't believe how many people came up to the competitors of those tournaments wanting to train under them, even I had my share of people wanting to learn my style of fighting," said Retsu.
"Ok then, I'll do it, thank you, you've helped me take a step in breathing new life into the Rindoukan dojo," cheered Makoto.
"Now it's up to you to carry the rest of the load," piped Retsu.
Makoto and Retsu began to meditate together. Meanwhile, in the country of Brazil, city of Rio de Janeiro, a young Brazilian man was playing basketball at his house. He was dark skinned, had long black dreadlocks, and was clad in a basketball jersey and shorts that were the colors of the Brazilian flag, he was the first student of Ken Masters, Sean Matsuda.
Sean was handling the ball really well as he played around with it, after a short while of dribbling though, he decided to take the ball to the hoop, running at the basket full force he then leapt high into the air.
"Dragon Smash!" he screamed as he dunked the ball into the hoop.
Sean continued to play against himself for a while until a postman walked by.
"Mail call for Mr. Matsuda" called the postman.
"Oh hey, thanks," said Sean.
Sean skimmed through the mail until he found something that made his eyes light up in wonder, a letter from his sensei.
"Hey, Ken sent me a letter, I wonder what he has to say this time!" exclaimed Sean.
Sean hastily opened the letter and began to read it to himself. The letter said as follows
Hey Sean, it's your old sensei Ken. Are you staying on top of your training because although you have become a powerful warrior and have won some big tournaments, you cannot allow yourself to slack off. The reason I am writing to you is because I'd like to participate in a Street Fighter tournament that's being held two months from now, it's for something much bigger than a trophy though; you're fighting to save all of mankind. Mel is already going to fight, and I figured you might want to show some of the fighters there that you're no longer a novice. Show them how great a fighter trained by Ken Masters is. If you'd like you can come over to San Francisco so I can assist you and Mel with preparing for this major event. I hope to see you soon my friend. Later, Ken.
Sean gazed at the letter for a while, going over it a few more times and then took a deep breath.
"The fate of the world, that's a huge burden right there, but I'm game, plus it'll give me an opportunity to show how badass I truly am now. I better go get ready to head out to California," said Sean.
Sean sprinted into his house and prepared to pack for his trip out to San Francisco to see his sensei.
Author's Note: I made up the name for Ibuki's sensei because I don't know what his name is. Plus if you don't know, Tanooki is Japanese for raccoon and Rindoukan is Japanese for bellflower. Next chapter is the story for Ryu. So please read and review.