Chapter 3: The Search For A Friend

The Next Day...

Yesterday's match between Ryu and his now brand new fighting partner, Menat, has surely been a tough one and it left a lasting impression on our main hero, as he was convinced, there was way more to Menat, than he initially thought of her... and today was the day, where their journey would begin. Right now, Ryu was in his room, packing in all the stuff he might need for the trip... and before he and his partner went to sleep, he made the first suggestion on where to go and who to find, who could join their cause, before heading straight for Rose... their first destination: America. Where they are supposed to meet up with Ken Masters. Ryu's life-long best friend and second disciple of Gouken.

Ryu is aware, that ever since Ken got married and had to go back home, he has grown busier than ever, but... safety went first. Rose was never wrong, when it came to foreshadowing, the rise of evil itself and he is going to need every advantage he could possibly get.

Meanwhile with Menat, she has very casually decided to put on some hotpants, a black tanktop, including a purple-white jogging jacket and some sneakers with her long purple stockings acting like socks for her... she didn't care all that much with looking fancy in general, she just goes with the flow and wears whatever she finds, that looks acceptable to her... and while she is tying her shoelaces, she had to think to herself, as she felt way more confident than yesterday and it was all thanks to Ryu's encouraging words... it was not very common for her to feel so sure of herself, but this was new to her and she couldn't really describe it with words...

"Man... barely two days have already passed by and only yesterday did I get the privilege to face da man himself... to be honest, I feared that he would be a troublesome and moody fellow, but... he totally proved the opposite to me. That's strange though. When it comes to social situations with other people, I totally suck at making friends or hell, better yet, totally suck at trusting anyone... like a stray cat, wandering the streets, meowing out loud for some food... and he gave me that: Food, in the form of faith in me and my abilities..."

...once the last shoelace was tied together, she then comes to a pretty swift and sharp conclusion, smiling to herself.

"OK, that's it! Ryu is awesome, I got nothing else to say, we might as well play along and leave it at: This will be one HELL of a journey. Heh."

She then grabs her bag, throws it over her shoulder and leaves her room... and once she arrived at the exit, she realized, Ryu was already waiting for her... but this was not the reason, why she was so surprised... it was the fact, that... the Ansatsuken master actually dressed up, like a typical citizen. She then reminded herself, at how he mentioned to her yesterday, that if there is one thing, he truly despised doing... is wearing normal clothes, especially shoes. And yet there he was, dressed in a white t-shirt, blue denim jeans and red-white sneakers... even though, he didn't make it too obvious, just from the look in his eyes alone, Menat was able to conclude: He must be hating his own existence right now. That thought alone made her chuckle out loud...

"Well, well, well, look what Mr. I-refuse-to-wear-normal-clothes does right there... and I thought, I needed glasses."

And unbelievably, Gouken had to laugh with her, since even he was aware of that very obvious flaw of his own pupil.

"Hoho, you should have seen his face, when I left the clothes behind for him. I bet, even a teenager your age would be more mature about this than him... as tragic as it sounds."

All this laughing did not bode well with Ryu and it became quickly obvious, he was slightly turning red, with one of his eye brows twitching in sincere annoyance... and he to respond back to them, one way or another.

"...Thank Chun-Li for that. Thank her, for compelling me into wearing this tacky stuff, against my own will. And you know what? Once we get to her, I think, I may already know what to do. And no... I never said anything about using fists."

But this only made his friends laugh even louder, much to his displeasure.

"Nevermind... let's just go already, before I forget myself."

He then approaches his master, giving him a quick hug, before departure... and before he left with his young bodyguard, Gouken had to give this encouraging message to him, in case, should he worry about him too much.

"Take good care of yourself, Ryu... and may you and Menat succeed in your mission. I will be returning to Japan soon, so don't waste any thoughts about my safety. Make sure that you two remain in good health and with that... good luck, my boy."

"Thank you, master. And farewell."

"See ya!"

And with that, the two set off... the journey... has finally begun.

A little while later, outside of the little town...

Unlike most countries, the airport wasn't too far away from where they had left the dojo and to sort of keep themselves fit, the two agreed on first going on foot, until they reach a train station, that will transport them to their goal... along the way, Menat had to let out a sigh of happiness. She could not explain why, but today, she was in high spirits... the expectations, that Ryu has about her, might be the cause for this, as it felt good to be relied on by someone else for a change, other than Rose... and to keep this trip from becoming too monotonous, she decides to become more social with the one, she wants to protect... and the topic of discussion was Ken Masters himself...

"Hey, umm, Ryu...?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you please tell me a little about this Ken Masters? You said, he was your best friend for a lifetime... at least, that's how I would interpret your vague description of him thus far... how exactly did you two, get to know each other?"

"Heh, I knew, you'd be asking sooner or later... well... phew, let me tell you right off the top of the bat, the story is anything, but short, so... expect this to be lengthy."

"No, it's fine! I am one of those weirdos, that likes to listen about what others have to tell about themselves, I am a good listener."

"OK then, well... where do I start...?"

FLASHBACK

A 12 year old Ken is seen, walking to the bus station with his own little suitcase, feeling slightly nervous, as he waited for the bus to arrive, pick him up and get him to the airport... normally, he would enjoy the luxury of being taken anywhere, just by getting inside the limousine of his father, but on this day, this was a whole different story...

Ryu: "Ken told me back in the day, his life was actually pretty much filled with no issues whatsoever... on a financial level at least. You should know, he is coming from a wealthy family in America, who run a famous line of hotels throughout the United States and... I barely remember the name of them, but I think it went something along the lines of "Master's Den"... either way, his family situation was fairly steady, according to him, but at the same time, his father did not really want him to stay at home all this time and wanted him to mature more and avoid him becoming a spoiled brat later on, that would do nothing, but repeatedly get in the way of his family's successful place in the world... so off Ken goes, on his way to Japan and land straight in the arms..."

Ken is then seen, bumping right into nobody else, but Gouken himself... the young American looked slightly scared of him, before the jolly, middle-aged man starts laughing out and gently touches the youngster on the top of his head, with him feeling totally confused...

Ryu: "...of my master, Gouken."

Frankly, the young Masters did not really want to be here and he especially hated the fact, that he had to come, all by himself, with nobody else, guiding him to his destination and to him, Gouken did not look that trustworthy... so he forced a smile, to hide the fact, that he wasn't really fond of all this...

Ryu: "But believe it or not, he FEARED my master, upon their first encounter. All because, from his perspective at least, he looked like the type of man, that is going to break his bones, should he dare saying something silly... and before you think about saying, how immature that is of him... let me stop you right there, because you need to take in consideration, that he was 12 at the time and because he was anything, but used to going all by himself, into a totally different part of the world with nobody else giving him some emotional support... I cannot really blame him for feeling this way..."

And we now get to see Ken encountering the young Ryu, for the very first time... both looked at one another, merely inches away with comically, angry expressions, with a spark connecting their foreheads in fury and challenge, already indicating, that the two were not that fond of one another... this memory made Ryu in the present laugh...

Ryu: "Oh boy, what I won't hide from you though, is how Ken was not able to stand me at first, the moment our eyes met. Even in the present, he claims me to be the cockier one among us two... and I cannot grasp, why... but who cares, right?"

Menat couldn't restrain herself from cutely laughing along with him, since she felt that memory to be sugar sweet... and we then see a transition from childhood, to young adulthood, where the two Ansatsuken pupils first fight as teenagers... with the years quickly passing by, until they were pretty much almost grown up... and this part was always Ryu's favourite...

Ryu: "You know what, though? I still believe, it was a good thing, that we saw each other as bitter rivals at first, because I needed a counterweight anyhow, someone that kept reminding me, I have to keep myself in shape, otherwise, I may fall behind... we watched each other grow stronger with each training session behind us and as the days went by, we turned from rivals... to friends. And that hasn't changed, since then..."

Ryu's description of that particular memory almost made him shed a tear, as he felt like this was the best time of his life... that he found not only an equal to himself... but also a really loyal friend.

Ryu: "Even now, my bond with Ken, despite him no longer possessing the time to invest in coming to visit me and train once more, just like old times... is that of a friendship, that may last for ages. I just know it. Nothing can tell me otherwise, that is how close we really are."

However... then came the dark times, when Bison first became a real threat to the world... at the time, there was nothing else, that Gouken could possibly teach the two youngsters anymore... he deemed their training to be finally complete and even though, this was a good message for Ken, as he was finally able to return home and see his family again... it wasn't really good news for Ryu, since he has grown so fond of the young Masters and their training and time together, has made them pretty much inseparable. But that wasn't the worst part, it was yet to come... first, we see Ken bidding both Gouken and Ryu farewell, before leaving with the bag of his shoulder...

Ryu: "Of course, nothing can last forever and Ken has made it more than obvious, he was missing his family, despite us having had our golden time under Gouken's protective and guiding wing... and when he left, a little bit within me died... however, that didn't stop me from running after my own goals... and that was to travel the world and become stronger myself... just because, my best friend wasn't there anymore, that was no excuse for me to slack, so I came to the decision to leave and head out for my own adventure..."

Then came a memory, that our hero actually wanted to avoid mentioning at any cost, as it used to give him nasty nightmares... and it was about the message, that Ken has gone missing... by that point, he has become quite the local celebrity in his own state, as he had decided to become fully independent of his family and open up his own Ansatsuken dojo, somewhere in Texas, in his hometown... and when Ryu decided to pay him a visit, he had to realize the hard way... Ken was gone, without a single trace behind.

Ryu: "...and this journey led me back to the United States, where I decided to pay Ken and his own students a small visit. Before he went back home, he had already told me about his own plans by then, how he wanted to be a self-made man, gaining his daily bread by opening up his own dojo, back at home... I was excited, but... this excitement quickly turned for the worse, as I came to the shocking realization... Ken was nowhere to be found. The dojo was empty and looked abandoned... no students were anywhere to be seen and it was then, when I heard of this very man... Bison."

Ryu is then seen, sitting inside a bar, checking the news, while trying to enjoy some chicken wings... and once he saw Bison's face inside the television... he immediately felt danger, emanating from this person... he was accused of being responsible for kidnapping a number of strong martial artists from around the world... it was unsure, what he was plotting at that moment and Ryu didn't pay much mind to it... until...

Ryu: "I should have been smarter... his appearance was a bad omen, through and through... and knowing, that he could be behind the kidnappings... at first, I refused to see a connection between this man and Ken's disappearance, like... what else could I do... the thought was too terrific... unfortunately, that is exactly what I shouldn't have done, looking back..."

Bison, with the backup of his own corporation, Shadaloo, was also the host of the second WFC (World Fighting Championship), in which it became clear... how dirty and rigged this entire game really was... then, the worst of his fears became a reality... Ryu faced one of the opponents, he never expected to be working for M. Bison in the first place... it was Ken. This sight alone... had caused Ryu to completely lose control of himself, as his deep-rooted hatred for Bison at this very moment, flared within a fiery blaze in his heart and the Satsui no Hado came forth... in the form of Evil Ryu... a barbaric carnage began...

Ryu: "...but just as Rose foretold back then... the worst of our nightmares should all end up being true and all too real. When I faced this person, that has previously been my best friend and training partner... was now nothing more than a mindless puppet of Bison himself. I may have managed to get to a draw with him and weaken him enough to make him come back to his senses, but it turned out to be a trap... he knocks me out and runs off... and there I laid, being the failure, that I was for not having been able to save my best friend... I just wasn't strong enough... even with me having succumbed to my Satsui no Hado..."

Since Ryu lost the match against one of Bison's servants, he got thrown out of the tournament... and we now see him, laying in a hospital bed with Chun-Li gently caressing his forehead with one hand, looking sincerely worried about him, while Guile was sitting on a chair, with his head hanging...

Ryu: "Even with my friends having tried supporting me in any way they could, there was no way around it... I screwed up real bad and thought, I had lost Ken forever... my depression, in addition with my severe injuries... it took quite the toll on me in every possible department and for the first time ever, in my entire life, I was finally able to understand... what absolute "failure" was..."

Later, we see Ryu then sitting close to Ken's hospital bed, feeling so relieved to see his friend having returned to his former self... he was hurt, but this pain didn't mean anything to him, as all he could think about, was how happy he was to see his best friend again, after what he did to him... and the Ryu in the present, spoke in a more cheerful tone, comforting Menat...

Ryu: "To my shock though, I had to realize... my words did seem to have struck a nerve within Ken, while we had our match... and we found out later, it was him, who has beaten Bison in the tournament... Guile was the witness, brave as he was, in spite of the danger... I could not possibly describe with words, how glad I was to see my close friend again... and from that day forward, we grew ever closer..."

We then see Ryu, shaking hands with Ken, as the two have a sparring match together, just like in old times, not long after he finally recovered from his injuries... nobody knew, what happened to Bison, but this was not important anyhow... as all that mattered: Peace has returned at last and it would go on like this, for many years from now...

FLASHBACK ENDS

"...and well, this is how me and Ken became friends. Heh, I hope, I wasn't boring you too much with the sentimental details."

Much to Ryu's surprise, Menat was smiling at him, in such a sweet and innocent manner, he could only grin back in glee, as she showed her approval.

"No, you didn't! Not at all, actually... it moved me, deep down... the story of two young individuals, training and fighting together, while also going on adventures, they would never forget... nothing can top that."

"Your enthusiasm is pure gold, you know that?"

That compliment made the teenager blush, while slightly avoiding eye contact with him...

"A-Aside from that... I-I think we can safely conclude, that Ken will be a strong addition to the team, right?"

"Oh, I am sure... I mean, another thing, that deserves to be mentioned... so far, aside from Sagat and Chun-Li... Ken was the only one, who has managed to beat me, more than once, especially during our youth and still, we two have a long way to go..."

However, he grew a little insecure, as he reminded himself, that Ken was now a married family man, having a son to raise, a dojo to run and to partially assist his family with the hotels, as he has grown to realize: Financial support was indeed necessary from the sidelines and he is not going to make the same mistake again twice... it's not wrong to ask for help. Aside from that, the fact remains: Ken is a busy man and the chances of him joining him and Menat are fairly slim...

"I wonder, if he will even agree to this... after all, I don't want to pressure him, it's just not how I run, especially what he previously went through in the past..."

"Hey, asking never harms anyone, now does it? Maybe we are in luck, and he may indeed let someone else take his place to run everything in his absence... it's just a hunch, but it's not implausible, right?"

"...maybe, you're right. Let's just keep our fingers crossed, and-"

Suddenly... they heard screams of panic from up ahead. It came from the train station. They may have arrived at their destination, but it should become far from a "warm" welcome. Menat became alarmed immediately.

"Did you hear that?! It came from the station!"

"I don't like this...! Let's go!"

"Yeah, my sensitive nostrils tell me: Trouble is waiting just around the corner for us!"

Without a further question, both heroes ran as fast as they could to the building, close to the rails.

The lady behind the counter, that was selling the tickets, alongside the other waiting passengers in the room, were all threatened by a group of armed soldiers, who are pointing blank at the defenceless with their rifles...

Woman #1: "Please, please! Don't shoot! W-We will do anything, you want, just- don't shoot!"

Soldier #1: "Shut it, bitch, or you will get a bullet right through your narrow skull, you got that?! You don't want to piss me off, you really don't!"

The passengers were all on their knees, begging for forgiveness from these bitter men, hoping to not be shot.

Man #1: "I beg of you, sir! We will do anything for you! What is it that you need?!"

Soldier #2: "We need information about someone's whereabouts! We were told, that a wandering martial artist was seen around here, accompanied by a little girl in egyptian attire. Can anyone of you tell me, where either of the two are, hm?"

Woman #2: "A wandering martial artist...?"

Man #2: "A girl from Egypt...?!"

Soldier #3: "C'mon people, time is running short, save us the trouble and tell us already where these two are! Our boss has promised us quite the paycheck, should we succeed and we won't let it be ruined by you, low-lives!"

Just when one of the soldiers was about to shoot a man, all because of him having grown tired of his pathetic whimpering... a crystal ball flew through the air, hitting the armed fighter cleanly across the face, making him crash into the bench... this made the rest of the troop immediately turn their rifles and attention to whoever just dared to ambush them like this...

Soldier #1: "Hey! Uninvited guests, I see!"

And that soldier got knocked clean back as well, by a blue glowing Hadouken, smashing right into him upfront, letting the latter crash right into one of his comrades... and as you could guess, Ryu and Menat arrived, just in time, before anything could happen. And Menat was the first one to complain, wiggling her index finger in disapproval.

"Nuh-uh-uh, kiddos. I don't think asking people THAT way, will get you any gifts for your next birthday! I am just sayin'."

And Ryu was next to step forward, with all the soldiers loading their guns with load clacks, pointing at him with angry faces... to which he responds with a shaking head of disbelief, before raising his hands in defence, trying to get this tight situation under control.

Soldier #2: "Well, people! Looks like, your help won't be further needed around here, since the man, we have been looking for all this time, has saved us the trouble of even searching for his sorry ass!"

"Listen, I am not here to cause conflict. Let these citizens go and let us settle this matter like rational people."

Soldier #3: "Listen pal! We are not here for a diplomatic conference, gotcha? Bison has sent us to find you and simply take you to him, dead or alive, no clue. Wouldn't you save us some more trouble and just come along?"

When Ryu heard the man drop the name of Bison, he immediately became alarmed, as he and Menat quickly get into their fighting stance... she was quite shocked herself.

"Say what?! Bison himself?! How did he figure out our location?"

"Wait up! What does he want from me?"

Soldier #1: "Come on, dude! Can't you see, that we don't give a single flying eff about what you have to say about any of this? We were paid to hunt you, truces aren't listed on our schedules, so please be so kind... and come along quietly."

A shot gets fired... with Ryu and Menat dodging, by splitting up and jumping to opposite directions.

"Ryu, just screw it! We have to beat them to it!"

"That's right, if these soldiers really belong to Shadaloo, we cannot let them get on any longer from here on out... Menat, back me up!"

"Roger that!"

Soldier #2: "Don't worry, we will get you quicker than you wish for!"

And with that, everyone in the room, with the exception of Ryu and Menat, duck to avoid an onslaught of bullets from the Shadaloo henchmen... the fortune teller uses her crystal ball to generate a shield around herself and Ryu to block off all the small projectiles with ease and it indeed proved effective... as soon as they were forced to reload, this was Ryu's chance to strike.

"Ryu, now!"

Before the enemies could have any chance of firing again, the Ansatsuken master has already landed in front of them, grabbing the rifle of one of the soldiers, increasing the grip so bad, the tip broke off like an old tree branch. The soldier was cowering in fear, before Ryu throws the rifle up in the air and mercilessly kicks the now useless weapon right at the soldier's face, stunning him enough to perform a painful Spinning Kick combo on him, before then punching him across the face to send him flying out of the window.

Soldier #2: "That's not good, boys! Reload!"

"Hey, watch out!"

"Huh?!"

Since Ryu was too confused to react properly within the very instant second, it was too late, as the shots were fired again and he had no time to dodge... but Menat arrived, blocking the bullets by a hair with her barrier.

Soldier #3: "Boss, I think it's better if we take her out first! That way, this guy won't have anyone to block our rifles out, what do you say?"

Solider #2: "You have my approval!"

"Huh, bite me too, asshat!"

And with that, the fortune teller suddenly teleported right before one of the soldiers, pushing him back, noticing in a flash, that her ball has suddenly appeared behind him and knowing Menat's techniques, within a swift and precise hand movement... her ball retreated back to her hand, hitting right past the soldier's skull in the process, leaving him wide open for more. And she won't even go easy on him and instead fire her ball right at his face, before uppercutting him into the air with her ball from below and to follow it up further, Menat jumps after the flying enemy, kicking him further up in the air... before then sending him flying with a spinning Downward Kick, right in the stomach... sending him flying across the room, before landing right in front of the door, that was the exit.

"Tsk, that wasn't so hard. I'd say for a bunch of soldiers, you are too lame for comfort, like seriously!"

But her overconfidence ended up punishing her real bad, as the soldiers changed their strategy again and decided to play real dirty now, by dropping their rifles and instead focus on physically stopping Menat from using her weapon again... the three remaining soldiers grabbed her, two took her arms, while the last one steals her ball. She began to panic, as she felt like these creeps were planning on molesting her.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Let me go!"

Soldier #3: "Hehe! Not so tough now, aren't you girl? So without your stupid crystal ball, you are just as useless as you look!"

"Don't you dare touching my baby!"

Soldier #4: "But why? It's just a ball, that is tough to crack! What, is that supposed to be your teddy placeholder or something?"

"Please, don't! This ball means everything to me! Don't touch it!"

Soldier #4: "Then what, eh? Will you-"

But the soldiers got careless again themselves, as the thief of Menat's crystal ball gets a clean kick across the face, landing right against the next near window with his jaw dropping... it came from no other, than Ryu... and he shook his head, as he gently held Menat's little friend in his huge hands...

"Shouldn't you feel ashamed of yourselves? She is still young and obviously smaller than you, people of your caliber disgust me to the very core my soul. No honour whatsoever..."

Hearing these deadly and serious threats from the wandering warrior, the two remaining troublemakers cower in fear, as they let go of his little protector and now get what they should have seen coming from miles away... Ryu makes sort of "use" of Menat's firepower and uses her ball to beat these two enemies... he throws the ball into the air, following suit, before charging up and brutally kicking the crystal ball across the room, landing right in the face of one of the criminal mercenaries, with the end result being him flying back, crashing right into a wall, falling unconscious immediately, with the ball flying back to its original owner...

"Heh, while we are already at it of showing off our teamwork, why not let us finish the last one in style?"

"Fine by me... such honourless people deserve some tough love for a change."

The soldier was looking at the two heroes with shaky knees, starting to feel queasy... before being pushed forward from behind by yet another one of Menat's acrobatic tricks with her beloved weapon, before then getting hit upwards in the air from below, once again with the help of her crystal ball, giving Ryu some free range and he indeed followed the signs... as he jumped up in a somersault, kicking the man right in the gut, before doing a Spinning Kick, but this combo was far from over, as the little fortune teller suddenly appeared right behind the Shadaloo fighter, locking him in the air by wrapping her arms and legs around his entire body, basically serving him on a silver tablet for our wandering Shoto Master...

"He is all yours, Ryu!"

"With pleasure!"

...and this awesome display of teamwork ends with Ryu starting to punch the soldier with three, really strong and swift punches across the face, before then pressing his open palm on the enemy's chest... before then sending him flying out of the station, by doing a whole new technique, that he wanted to try out, while using less energy for a change...

"...HADOUKEN PUSH!"

...the open palm suddenly let out a small, yet really strong burst of pressure, followed by a small, blue cloud around his wrist and before he took off into a velocity, so strong and penetrating, it was enough to nearly send him to the moon, Menat gracefully lands on Ryu's shoulder, still on her feet... and both started laughing in a pretty awkward way, with the bystanders standing up and feeling incredibly relieved of the rescue...

Man #1: "You have saved us, thank you so much!"

Woman #1: "I don't know, what we would have done without your assistance! You have my sincere thanks!"

Hearing these compliments from random witnesses, made the generally shy Menat giggle to herself, as she blushes and rubs the back of her skull in embarrassment.

"Oh, shush! It was nothing, really! We... we weren't even trying... hehe...!"

But for Ryu, this was no real moment to be celebrating... his guardian was quick to notice him, kneeling down to check up on one of the now unconscious Shadaloo soldiers... and just to be safe, he even checked their armour... only to find, as expected, the Shadaloo logo on there. A skull with wings and a thunderstrike on the forehead...

"So this wasn't a bluff... they really were working for Bison after all... but... how did they find out our location and more importantly... what did they want from us? ...Were they after me?"

The female Egyptian was quick to follow suit and stop right next to him, to check the soldier out too... her look slightly turned into a sorrowful one...

"I don't get it... I never told anyone shady about what we were planning on doing... and by the looks of it, you never did either... and what's more... it's just as Rose foretold... we are going to become targets soon enough and I think... we should take this first encounter with Bison... as a bad omen. My crystal ball wasn't lying to me yesterday... and something tells me, this won't be the last time, we are going to run across these goons..."

That reminded him... back in the 2nd tournament, after Ken landed in the hospital... he may have won the tournament, but this wasn't satisfactory for Ryu... he wanted to personally face Bison himself, eye to eye and challenge him to a final bout... wanting to avenge his best friend and everyone else, that got in harm's way... but seeing the logo again with his own eyes... it all came flashing back to him and is beginning to realize the bigger picture... and Rose's words in that moment proved somewhat prophetic...

"Certainly not. Knowing Bison and his ambitious attitude... he didn't change one bit from our last battle... he is just as ruthless and unpredictable as ever... I know what I am talking about..."

FLASHBACK

Bison is seen, facing Ryu, during the 2nd World Tournament... at his laboratory... with a grin forming on his lips...

Bison: "Hmhmhmhmhm... very good, you are just as magnificent as I calculated... Ryu."

Ryu: "What do you want from me, Bison...? Why did so many people have to suffer... for what purpose...?!"

Bison: "Oh, fear not, my friend... for now, count yourself lucky... you have claimed victory over me... for now... be warned, that this won't be our last meeting... you possess such power... that would even make the devil shiver before its fearsome might. Just to let you know... that power shall be MINE."

Ryu: "Are you... after my Satsui no Hado...?! Is that the reason, why you had to make my best friend... a mindless slave and killing machine of yours...?!"

Bison: "He was just an appetizer... the true meal, shall be my crowning moment of me finally getting what is living inside you... for now, you may have beaten me... but don't you forget... we will meet again... and once that times comes..."

As he spoke, he slowly fades away in a purple and bright green light, obviously using his Psycho Power to teleport slowly away... and he leaves with that bone-chilling remark and a shit-eating grin...

Bison: "...I will break you, and make you surrender to me soon enough."

Ryu: "Hey! Come back, you coward and face me...!"

He attempted to punch him and charge straight at him... but in the end, he just ends up hitting thin air... he was gone... and all that could be heard, was a menacing and deadly sounding laughter, leaving an injured, younger Ryu behind...

FLASHBACK ENDS

"Ryu...?"

He then snapped back to reality, with Menat patting his head, looking confused and somewhat worried.

"Hello, earth to Ryu! Did you go on a snooze cruise or something?"

"Oh! Umm, no, it's... it's nothing, I... was just sunken in thoughts... don't worry."

Ryu knew one thing... if he was to tell Menat the truth about him and the reason, why Bison could be possibly after him... he would unnecessarily make her worry about him too much... in the end, both were just random strangers, just planning on going to the same place, at the same time... how he found out about his location was not important... the fact alone, that he was able to find him, the moment he left the safety of his master's protective wings... it could mean, he has eyes everywhere... this was his problem, not hers, so he decides to stay quiet about it...

"...are you sure?"

"Yes, I am, don't waste too much thought on me. Let's just buy a ticket and get to the airport already. Ken must be already waiting for us."

"Oh right! We are late! What are we waiting for?! Let's buy!"

She grew excited, because it was a long time, since she had to go on a plane and fly through the sky, free like a bird... she valued her freedom a lot and she couldn't help, but almost childishly jump up and down, as he and Ryu go to the counter to buy a ticket, with him chuckling like a father trying to calm his daughter.

"Heh, easy there, we will get it, hold your horses."

Not long after... both were already in the train, carrying them to their desired destination... the airport of Thailand... and as they got on the plane, Ryu was still reminiscing of Bison's and Rose's words... they added up too much to just coldly give them the shoulder... these men can only be the start of something worse to come... he knew it... and Menat, knows nothing about it... maybe, it's better this way...

TO BE CONTINUED...