Episode 5: Mr. and Mrs. Ibuki-Chan

Within a few days of searching, the mystery behind Gon's disappearance after the third King of Iron Fist Tournament was slowly coming together. Many numerous clues came into focus, but Jin, Nina, and Detective Pikachu were still nowhere near finding the small carnosaur-like creature.

Let's recap those clues:

Clue 1: He used a VT watch to transport himself to many places
Clue 2: He has "extremely personal reasons" for leaving
Clue 3: He gives substantial relationship advice every now and then
Clue 4: The advice has given him a 100 percent success rate
Clue 5: It's been confirmed that he's in an actual relationship
Clue 6: Proved he has a heart of pure gold by attending a funeral
Clue 7: It's a possibility that his mate isn't the same species as him

They were all very crucial and they never left their minds as they just arrived at The Bronx, New York, but within the peaceful suburbs. Pikachu didn't waste any time pointing that out as he spoke:

"Huh! Alex and Ibuki are living the good life here." He started as he made a graceful leap off of Jin's shoulder. "Last time I heard from Alex, he was living in an apartment in Downtown New York City with Patricia and Tom. Now that he's married to Ibuki, all of them decided to live the luxurious life. What the hell happened here?!"

"You just can't believe it, can you?" Nina asked with partial humor. "First you were completely flabbergasted at the fact that the Powerpuff Girls are married to their Rowdyruff husbands. Now this?"

"I've heard of this rumor." Jin admitted. "At first, I was like Pikachu: I didn't want to believe it. They're an unlikely pair, but somehow, they've connected so much that they're married. We'll not only get to the bottom of this, but also see if we can get closer to finding Gon in the process."

"I've gotta see this for myself." Pikachu continued to complain as he remained on the son of Kazuya's shoulder while he and Nina walked towards a very expensive two-story Cape Cod house in an exterior color scheme of tan with brown shutters and even darker brown front double doors. The two human warriors got up the flight of brick stairs and Nina volunteered to ring the camera doorbell. They waited for about a full minute before Tom answered the door with a friendly smile, despite the fact that he was dressed in a tank top and comfortable grey sweatpants.

"Jin Kazama and Nina Williams." He greeted with open arms. "Good to see you two. It's been a while."

"Thanks, Tom." Jin replied as he and Nina walked right in to see how expensive the place looked, leaving Pikachu completely speechless. "I see you all are living the good life right now. Is this retirement I see?"

"For me, yes. For Alex and Ibuki, no. Those two are still being the best Street Fighters they can be. It's all to protect us in this household."

"That's good to hear, but we're here under much more serious circumstances. You see, Nina, Detective Pikachu, and I are trying to find out where Gon rushed off to after the third Tekken tournament came to an end for him. So far, our clues are getting us closer, but we're much farther away from actually finding him. Has he been here?"

"Oh, of course! He recently paid a visit here just last year, just to check up on us after the first eight years of Ibuki and Alex's marriage. He just had to make sure this couple was for real."

"He was just as skeptical as I am now?!" Pikachu asked with total disbelief. Unbeknownst to them all in this conversation, however, Ibuki within Alex's arms were standing at a good distance away, watching it from just in front of the flight of stairs with compassionate smiles on their faces, even as they were dressed in identical green tank tops and black sweatpants.

"Heh, heh, heh… yep, and he wasn't so shy to admit it either." Tom continued.

"How did they even get together in the first place?" Nina asked as she and Jin were writing all of this down.

"Oh, it's a long story…"

"But, we can shorten it for ya." Ibuki came in with her signature cute voice as she and Alex finally approached them after a full thirty seconds. "Hey, Jin and Nina. Long time no see!"

"Ibuki! Alex!" Pikachu exclaimed as he jumped off of Jin's shoulder and landed on the soft tan carpeting at the same time the married couple kneeled down simultaneously to meet him. "…I just can't believe it! You two?! MARRIED?! That's crazy!"

"Believe it, Pikachu." Alex replied as he and Ibuki showed their rings together with confidence in their smiles. "It ain't no joke."

"…wow. I'm just beside myself right now. Give us the small details, then. What the hell led up to this unlikely marriage?"

"We played a small, sexy game of Truth or Dare at a reunion ten years ago, news on it caused Alex to break up with me for a while, which made me plan a brutal revenge lay on him by sleeping with Yun and Dee Jay." Ibuki started.

"I took that shit with a grain of salt for a while, but after a while, I begged for forgiveness and she accepted it, but her ninja masters kept us apart for two weeks." Alex continued. "It was a serious punishment for everything that happened between that game of Truth or Dare and the forgiveness itself. By then, I finally man up, confess my true love to her, and we got engaged after a steamy night of passion in her room to prove it. Now, we're ten years in love and we couldn't be happier." The two were in a passionate embrace by the last syllable of that last word, making the others around them smile in awe, including Patricia with the happy-go-lucky pet tanuki, Don, within her arms, who just arrived at Tom's right side. Pikachu's skepticism was completely gone at that point and he admitted it with an embrace towards Ibuki alone.

"Awww, that's very romantic." Nina commented. "So, why did Gon stop by here last year?"

"He just wanted to check up on us." Alex replied. "Ever since he heard about our relationship, he was just curious and became just as happy for us as you all are now. I can tell ya one other thing, though: Our sex life is off the charts."

"Ain't that the truth?" Patricia asked with sarcasm. "There's literally not one night that goes by without hearing them having sex."

"I can imagine." Pikachu agreed with humor as his heartwarming embrace with Ibuki ended. "So, what exactly happened with Gon while he was here?"

"Something you wouldn't believe…" Ibuki replied.


(Flashback – one year ago)

"Gon! Good to see you." Tom greeted as he had just opened the double door entrance, seeing the short yellow dinosaur as he walked inside. "I see all those hundreds of millions of billions of years have been extra careful with you."

"Eh, I goofed back then, okay?" Gon replied with his usual humor. "I heard Alex and Ibuki got married nine years ago. Somehow, I knew that would happen."

"Really?" The two ended up walking upstairs, having the bearded man carry him like he was a koala. "How so?"

"Well, when Third Strike came around and saw the two of them sparring together, my gut kept giving me that feeling that these two should be officially together like Chun-Li and Ryu. Know what I mean?"

"Oh, definitely. Something about those two just clicked when they're in each other sights. I've heard that a steamy version of Truth or Dare brought them together at the Third Strike Reunion."

"That's exactly what happened! It must've been really hot, then. I'm just here to see how they're doing and I kinda need their help, too."

"You do? For what?"

"I can't discuss it with ya, Tom. I'd love to, but I can't. I promised Stephanie I wouldn't speak a word of it."

"I see, but you gave me her name. That's all I'm gonna get, huh?"

"Yeah. That's it." The two arrived at the bedroom of Alex and Ibuki, but what Gon saw as he was still nestled in Tom's arms nearly made him fall out: "Whhhat the…?"

"Heh, heh. Aww, they're playing the very game that brought them together with their twin boys." That was indeed what they were seeing. On the soft carpet floor at the foot of the California king sized bed were Ibuki and Alex using a fidget spinner to pick a random person between those two and their eight-year-old fraternal twin boys. One looked just like Ibuki, down to the not-too-long version of her ponytail, while the other looked just like Alex, except without his famous red tattoos on his face and slightly shorter blonde hair. They were having a wonderful family time together and Gon had silently commanded Tom to put him down so he could approach the small family quietly. The Alex-looking twin was the only one to notice him as he got excited.

"Mom! Dad! There's a really cool dinosaur in here!" He exclaimed in an adorable voice. "Can we pet him?!"

"That's Gon!" Ibuki replied sweetly. "Of course, you can… if he'll let ya."

"Awesome!" Both twins replied as they both paused the game to allow the yellow carnosaur to approach them and they were able to pet him for just a few seconds.

"Heh, heh. And I don't usually get this much attention from kids nowadays." Gon confessed with humor as he just sat down in an adorable manner before the entire family of four. "Where did these two come from, eh?"

"I gave birth to them eight years ago." Ibuki replied. "It was a rough pregnancy, but I got through it, thanks to Al-chan."

"She was a trooper, too." Alex added. "What's your short-ass doing here?"

"Hey-hey! Language!" Gon exclaimed. "You've got your kids in here."

"They know not to repeat what we say." Ibuki replied with no worries. "By the way, this is Totanuki and Thomas."

"Awww, nice to meet ya, boys. You two are really cute!"

"Thank you, Gon." Both boys replied together like the twins that they are as they just ended their petting session and decided to leave the three alone by heading towards the 60 inch TV to play a video game together.

"They truly are, ya know. Now, I've seen everything. First you two hook up, then get married, and now you have the most adorable pair of twin boys I've ever seen in my entire life. Now, that's something to be proud of."

"Glad you feel that way." Ibuki replied as she playfully reach over to the dinosaur and pulled him closer to her and Alex as they all remained on the soft carpet. "Now, what brings ya here? Surely not to just pay us a visit."

"Well, that's one reason, yeah. I've heard from Ryu that your relationship was thriving a lot more than the rest of the street fighters anticipated. So, I wanted to see this for myself. I'll bet they don't know about the twins."

"Not yet." Alex admitted. "But, at the next Street Fighter Reunion, we're gonna blow their minds with 'em. It's gonna be hilarious as shit!"

"Tee-hee! Yeah." Ibuki agreed. "Anyway, why else are you here?"

"I need your help." Gon replied with a serious tone in his semi-growling voice. "My girlfriend, Stephanie's, relationship with me is not really going well with everybody and, even though she's keeping herself positive in every way possible, she's just begging me to come back to her. I tried asking her why, but she wouldn't tell me. I need to know what to do when I do eventually get to her."

"I figured that would be your role, smart-ass." Alex sarcastically taunted. "Since you've been living a whole lot longer than all of us humans on Earth combined, you've oughta know what to do in a situation like that."

"Yeah, but ya see, it's not the type of relationship you think it is. This is different and I love her so much. She's the only one who treats me like I wanna be treated. I'm trying to hurry back to her with a plan already prepared for us to make it right."

"Hmmm…" The married warriors hummed together as they looked at each other with deep thought for about five minutes. Gon clasped his tiny hands together in deep prayer as he watched this with extreme anxiety, so much so that he started to shiver after the first three minutes. After the silent brainstorming session, Ibuki came up with the answer:

"Okay, Gon. This is the only advice I can give ya and keep it in mind on your way back and it'll be like butter: Go back to her with utmost reassurance that, no matter what people say, your relationship with Stephanie will thrive, and if they still don't get that message, then do whatever you can that will make it physically stand out. No matter what, keep your love alive and don't let others kill it."

"(sniffle)…that… that actually makes perfect sense." Gon replied through his tears as he tried so hard to wipe them away with his scrawny arms. Alex volunteered to wipe them away for him with a tissue. "Thanks, Alex. Anyway, I said that because that's exactly what you two are doing! Many people think that your relationship shouldn't even happen because of the slight age differences and skill sets, but you proved them wrong all these years by keeping your passion alive without letting others lynch ya over it on the daily. And even the fact that you two have kids now makes it even more convincing."

"There ya go. That's basically all you have to do, but under your own creative circumstances." The kunoichi then gave the crying dinosaur her most heartwarming embrace and Alex joined in just seconds later.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Ibuki-babe." Alex agreed within the group hug.

"Thank you both so much." Gon added. "I'll take this advice very seriously and it'll make everyone shut the fuck up about our relationship." The hug lasted for one more minute after that statement and Ibuki gently placed the now overjoyed carnosaur-like creature upon his feet on the floor with glossy reptile eyes that were full of hope. "As a reward for your very helpful advice for me for once, I'll gladly tell you all who Stephanie is." This made everyone give him his undivided attention, including the twins who paused their game to listen from their current location. Even Patricia, Tom, and Don came in the room right on time to see this, having the tanuki stand on his hind legs before Ibuki. "Her full name is Stephanie Veronica Fredrickson. She's a 20-year-old brunette and college student from America that I met when she was a freshman at 18. You'll know more about her later."

"…wwwwhat?!" Everybody exclaimed, including Don, who spoke perfect human speech in a young male voice. Gon blushed with embarrassment before casually walked out and, before he activated his VT device, he had just one more thing to say:

"By the way, I'll be on my way to the Galar region to see if I can get that change that I need to do for Steph." After that was said, Gon was on his way there in a literal flash. Everyone in the room was still left completely speechless for the next ten minutes.

(End flashback)


"…Gon's in love with a human?!" Pikachu, Jin, and Nina asked with utter disbelief simultaneously. Ibuki and Alex nodded simultaneously as they were all now gathered in the living room with their twins wide awake from their nap and playing with building blocks with their tanuki uncle Don before the adults in the room on the floor. Jin was the only one who was able to write this newest development down.

"At first, we didn't get the jest of the whole idea, but I gave him the best idea I could and it turned out to match the type of girlfriend he has." Ibuki finished. "It was a total shot in the dark and it turned out to be very helpful and he was so thankful that he gave us that crucial evidence you needed."

"And then he tells ya that he's heading for the Galar region next." Pikachu pointed out. "That's the newest region of Pokémon and I've actually been there already. It's full of the sweetest people you'll ever wanna meet and with brand new pokémon on the side. He said he was going there to 'get that change'. What does that mean?"

"Couldn't make heads or tails of it." Alex replied. "But, I'm sure that, whatever it means, it's something good."

"Enough said there." Nina agreed. "Jin, Pikachu… we better head for the Galar region now. We're getting closer now." At that last word, the three detectives stood up, having Pikachu retain his usual position on Jin's right shoulder, as the two warriors shook hands with Ibuki and Alex. "Thank you both so much for everything you've given us and it was truly a pleasure to meet your children. They really are as cute as Gon said they are and here's hoping that they'll follow in your street fighting footsteps."

"Thank you!" The couple replied in unison before detectives teleported to the Galar region to see if they'll finally find Gon or find more clues. At this rate, they were definitely getting closer to finding their long lost contender.

To be continued…


(Just a small fun note here: I've started writing this chapter on the same day ten years ago as when I wrote the first story of my Dare Ya series of Alex and Ibuki fanfics (January 7, 2010). This was perfect timing to write this as way to remember when I first discovered Alex and Ibuki as the perfect couple from Street Fighter!)