Chapter Five: Backup
-Tagawa Corporation-
After seeing how the thugs were not sucessful in their task, Mima had ordered a complete dossier on both Chun
Li and Ryu. It took about a day for the information to come through.
Right now, Mimi was leafing through Chun Li's dossier. She was pretty surprised that the file on Chun Li had
came from Interpol. "Hmmm...Chun Lian Xiang...Chinese ancestry...born on March 1, 1969...twenty-eight years
old...parents deceased...father was a Hong Kong detective, mother was an officer in the Chinese Military
Police...five-feet-eight...sensitive about her weight...trained in Wushu King Fu and Chinese Kenpo...expert
with a Chinese sword...interesting...married Ryu Hoshi in 1993...recently resigned from Interpol..."
She closed the folder and opened the one on Ryu. This file had the insignia of a winged skull on the cover.
"Ryu Shun Hoshi...Japanese ancestry...born on July 21, 1966...thirty-one years old...parents died in a car
accident...trained in Shotokan Karate by his grandfather...defeated the Muay Thai emperor Victor Sagat at the
age of twenty-two...was instrumental in the destruction of the Shadowlaw Criminal Organization in 1992..."
She closed the folder. She sat at her desk for a moment, tapping her fingers for a moment. Then she picked up
her phone and dialed a number. A twisted grin played across her lips as she heard the phone ring. Then someone
picked up on the third ring.
"Hello."
Mimi was direct. "Can I speak to Ryuji Yamazaki?"
***
-Golden Dragon Restaurant-
Chun Li looked around the place. The place was almost packed to capacity. Word travels fast in a small town
like this. After hearing on how she had defied the Tagawa Corporation, the townspeople flocked to the Golden
Dragon to personally meet the sexy martial artist/businesswoman and to eat, drink and to have a good time.
Gen, Yun and Yang had arrived earlier in the day and Chun Li and Ryu had told them what was happening. Chun Li
then sent Gen to work in the kitchen, and made Yun and Yang as waiters. Yun objected to this, but immediately
changed his mind once he saw the Chinese waitresses that worked there.
Ryu and his student Sakura was at the airport, picking up Ken and Sean, and would drop by shortly. Fei was at a
table nearby watching the clientel walk in and out.
'So far, so good,' she thought. 'No thugs.'
"Excuse me, Miss Hoshi?"
Chun Li spun around, preparing to fight. When she saw who it was, she calmed dowm. "Oh...Kyo, wasn't it?"
Kyo nodded. This time, he was alone. "You remembered, Miss Hoshi."
"Call me Chun Li."
The Magatama expert nodded. "I heard about what's happening here, and I came to see if there was any way that
me and my buddies can help."
Fei saw the two chattering and had moved over to them, preparing to defend his friend. Chun Li held him with
a look. "It's okay, Fei. He's a friend."
Kyo looked at Fei. "Hey...you're the action star Fei Long, right?"
Fei nodded.
Kyo's face was alight. "Wow! I love your movies! I especially liked 'Revenge of the Dragon,' man! That movie
was a classic!"
"In the making," Fei corrected him.
Before they could continue the conversation, the door opened and several well-dressed men came in. Chun Li
excused herself for a moment and approached them. She flashed them a smile and bowed. "Welcome to the Golden
Dragon," she said. "Can I help you?"
She looked at the men for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed as she recognized the leader from when he had asked
her to sell the restaurant.
"I know you," she said.
"You remembered," the leader said.
"What do you want?" Chun Li asked.
The leader pulled out a gun, but kept it concealed to keep the patrons from seeing it. "Would you be so kind as
to step outside, please?" he asked.
***
Fei saw the men and Chun Li walk out of the restaurant. He stopped Yang, who was on his rollerblades serving
the customers, and said, "Get Sifu out here."
Yang rushed off to obey.
***
The men stood in a circle around Chun Li. "What do you want?"
The leader brought his gun out in full view. "You should have accepted Miss Tagawa's offer, Miss Hoshi."
"So what are you going to do?" Chun Li fired back. "You're gonna shoot me in front these people?"
"I am hoping that it would not come to that," the leader replied. "If have some sense left, then I suggest
that you hand over the restaurant to my boss."
"The only way you'll get mu restaurant is over my dead body."
The leader raised his gun. "That can be arranged."
"Excuse me," an elderly voice said from behind. "Is there a problem?"
Everyone turned around. Gen was standing there, hands in his sleeves. The leader almost laughed at the sight
of the old man. "You have got to be kidding. This has nothing to do with you, old man."
Gen humphed. "Maybe, but I can still beat some sense into you."
The man raised his gun at Gen. Gen took a step forward and threw soething from his hand. The leader dropped his
gun and screamed in pain from the throwing dart that Gen had tossed at his hand. Before the man on his left could
get the gun, Chun Li kicked it out of his way.
***
From their vantage point, Fei, Kyo, Yun, Yang, and the entire restaurant watched the fight.
***
Gen was wasting the men with ease. Normally, under any circumstances, he would have killed them, but Chun Li
had forbid it. So now he was using non-lethal attacks to incapacitate his opponents.
Chun Li was fighting the leader. Even though he had an injured hand, he proved to be quite a challenge for Chun
Li. The guy had technique, but not enough skill. She knocked him down twice, but he was persistient, gettting
back up again, this time forcing her on the defensive.
The leader cocked his fist back...
...and someome caught it from behind. The leader spun around...
...and caught a fist to the face from Ryu, forcing him back.
Chun Li breathed out a sigh of relief. "You're late."
Ryu pointed to the blonde man standing beside him. "I know. It was Ken's fault. He had to change clothes."
Chun Li looked at Ken. He was dressed in his scarlet karate gi and a pair of tennis shoes, while Ryu was still
wearing his white gi and crimson headband, and a pair of sandals on his feet.
One of the men tried to sneak up on Ken Masters from behind. Ken sensed it coming and when the thug got close
enough, he performed a vertical axe kick, which caught the thug n the face, sending him back. "Nice to see you
again, Chun Li," Ken said.
"Chun Li, you and Gen get back," Ryu said. "We'll handle this."
Chun Li and Gen quickly got out of the way, leaving Ryu and Ken to deal with the thugs. The two Shotokan
masters sized up the remaining men surrounding them.
"How long you think it will take to lay them all out?" Ken asked.
"Since it's four of them and two of us, ten minutes," was the reply.
"Wanna bet on it?" Ken asked. "Five thousand yen says it takes longer than ten minutes."
Ryu raised his fist at Ken, who brought his fist up and slammed it into Ryu's. "You're on!" Ryu said.
Then the fight began.
Two thugs charged at Ken. The blond martial artist smirked and somersaulted over them. When he landed, he
quickly spun around and roundhoused the first one, then Dragon Punch-ed the other.
Ryu was facing the man that Chun Li had fought earlier. The man was now throwing out erratic punches and kicks,
all of which Ryu dodged. Ryu came in and landed a few blows in the leader's breadbasket, followed by his
infamous roundhouse kick.
***
Kyo watched the fight between Ryu and the thug with intrest. The Shotokan master's power was legendary, and it
showed that he took great pride in his skill. He had heard about him when he was younger. He had heard about
Ryu defeating the nearly-invincible Sagat in the first Street Fighter Tournament, and of how he was the
reigning champion for the past ten years. He also knew about Ryu defeating the Shadowlaw warlord M. Bison
and that he could control his dark ki. At first, he and the Shinto priestess Chizuru Kagura thought it was
Orochi power, but they were wrong.
Now he was hearing rumors about how Ryu had defeated a man who could control fire and ice and could bring
himself back to life. Kyo himself was no pushover. His team was the reigning champions on the King of Fighters
Tournament. While Ryu was dealing with that being, Kyo had to defeat the supernatural being Orochi.
Kyo was looking for a worthy challenge, and he was looking at it. He would challenge Ryu at a later date. He
would test his skills against the legendary Shotokan warrior, but not now.
***
Ryu saw that his opponent was tiring, and he decided to end this little match. Summoning his ki into his fists,
he ducked under the thug's punch and landed the first blow into his ribs.
"Shin..."
The thug felt a couple ribs crack.
Then Ryu planted his other fist into into the thug's chin. "SHOURYUKEN!"
The thug was sent flying from the impact of Ryu's Shinshouryuken. He landed a few feet away, on top of a car.
Ryu looked at Ken, who was just finished dispatching the last thug. He turned to Ryu, who had a huge grin on
his face. "Eight minutes."
Ken scowled.
As the restaurant patrons erupted in cheers, Chun Li ran over to her husband and hugged him. "Ryu! Are you
okay?"
Ryu nodded. "I'm fine, Chun."
***
Chun Li closed the restaurant down for the night and she and Gen tended to Ryu and Ken's injuries. They had
a couple of bruises, but nothing serious. Fei, the twins and Kyo were standing guard at the windows.
"These guys just don't know when to quit," Ryu said as Chun Li dabbed at his lip. He pulled back. "Ow!"
"Sorry," Chun Li apologised.
"Who's he?" Ken asked, pointing to Kyo.
"Him? He's okay," Chun Li replied. "He's a regular here. Kyo, come here. I want you to meet my husband and his
friend."
Kyo turned from the window and stood in front of the two martial artists. Chun Li coducted the introductions.
"Kyo, this is my husband, Ryu Hoshi, and his friend, Ken Masters."
Ryu and Ken nodded in greeeting. Ryu then looked at Kyo's gloves, and saw the Kusanagi clan emblem--an eclisped
sun on them. "You are a martial artist?" Ryu asked.
Kyo nodded. "How do you know?"
Ryu gestured to his gloves. "The insignia on your gloves. My grandfather once told me about two clans who can
conjure flames from their hands. My guess is that you're one of them."
Kyo nodded. "Hai. The other clan is the Hassakus, but they changed their name to Yagami."
"So why you fight, Kyo?" Ryu asked.
Kyo thought about it for a moment. "To become the strongest fighter in the world."
Ryu chuckled. "You sound just like me when I was you age. I'll bet you're as good as a martial artist as
your father."
Kyo's jaw dropped. "You know my father?"
"I met him when I was at a tournament at Kyoto," Ryu replied. "He told me about you, and your team being the
King of Fighters champions. Defeating this Orochi must have been quite a challenge for you."
"I could say the same for you and Sagat," Kyo shot back, "not to mention destroying Shadowlaw and defending
your championship against a self-proclaimed god."
"Bah. Championships are nothing to me," Ryu replied. "The fight is everything." He heard Chun Li clear her
throat. He then added, "aside from my wife and my children, that is."
***
-Tagawa Corporation-
"It seems I underestimated this woman," Mimi said to the figure in black sitting in a chair before her. "Twice
I have sent men to her restaurant, and they have failed."
The figure leaned forward. He was dressed in a black vest, black shirt, and black pants. The most unsual thing
about him was his hair. While it was black on the sides, on the top it was blond, like he was wearing a toupee.
"So that's where I come in," Ryuji Yamazaki said. "And what do you want me to do?"
Mimi leaned forward in her chair. "Bring her to me. Use any means necessary if you have to."
"And what if someone interferes?" Yamazaki asked.
Mimi's lips twisted into a sneer. "Then you can kill them."
Yamazaki grinned evilly. "I like that part. So what's her name?"
"Hoshi. Chun Li Hoshi. Have her come by tomorrow."
-Tagawa Corporation-
After seeing how the thugs were not sucessful in their task, Mima had ordered a complete dossier on both Chun
Li and Ryu. It took about a day for the information to come through.
Right now, Mimi was leafing through Chun Li's dossier. She was pretty surprised that the file on Chun Li had
came from Interpol. "Hmmm...Chun Lian Xiang...Chinese ancestry...born on March 1, 1969...twenty-eight years
old...parents deceased...father was a Hong Kong detective, mother was an officer in the Chinese Military
Police...five-feet-eight...sensitive about her weight...trained in Wushu King Fu and Chinese Kenpo...expert
with a Chinese sword...interesting...married Ryu Hoshi in 1993...recently resigned from Interpol..."
She closed the folder and opened the one on Ryu. This file had the insignia of a winged skull on the cover.
"Ryu Shun Hoshi...Japanese ancestry...born on July 21, 1966...thirty-one years old...parents died in a car
accident...trained in Shotokan Karate by his grandfather...defeated the Muay Thai emperor Victor Sagat at the
age of twenty-two...was instrumental in the destruction of the Shadowlaw Criminal Organization in 1992..."
She closed the folder. She sat at her desk for a moment, tapping her fingers for a moment. Then she picked up
her phone and dialed a number. A twisted grin played across her lips as she heard the phone ring. Then someone
picked up on the third ring.
"Hello."
Mimi was direct. "Can I speak to Ryuji Yamazaki?"
***
-Golden Dragon Restaurant-
Chun Li looked around the place. The place was almost packed to capacity. Word travels fast in a small town
like this. After hearing on how she had defied the Tagawa Corporation, the townspeople flocked to the Golden
Dragon to personally meet the sexy martial artist/businesswoman and to eat, drink and to have a good time.
Gen, Yun and Yang had arrived earlier in the day and Chun Li and Ryu had told them what was happening. Chun Li
then sent Gen to work in the kitchen, and made Yun and Yang as waiters. Yun objected to this, but immediately
changed his mind once he saw the Chinese waitresses that worked there.
Ryu and his student Sakura was at the airport, picking up Ken and Sean, and would drop by shortly. Fei was at a
table nearby watching the clientel walk in and out.
'So far, so good,' she thought. 'No thugs.'
"Excuse me, Miss Hoshi?"
Chun Li spun around, preparing to fight. When she saw who it was, she calmed dowm. "Oh...Kyo, wasn't it?"
Kyo nodded. This time, he was alone. "You remembered, Miss Hoshi."
"Call me Chun Li."
The Magatama expert nodded. "I heard about what's happening here, and I came to see if there was any way that
me and my buddies can help."
Fei saw the two chattering and had moved over to them, preparing to defend his friend. Chun Li held him with
a look. "It's okay, Fei. He's a friend."
Kyo looked at Fei. "Hey...you're the action star Fei Long, right?"
Fei nodded.
Kyo's face was alight. "Wow! I love your movies! I especially liked 'Revenge of the Dragon,' man! That movie
was a classic!"
"In the making," Fei corrected him.
Before they could continue the conversation, the door opened and several well-dressed men came in. Chun Li
excused herself for a moment and approached them. She flashed them a smile and bowed. "Welcome to the Golden
Dragon," she said. "Can I help you?"
She looked at the men for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed as she recognized the leader from when he had asked
her to sell the restaurant.
"I know you," she said.
"You remembered," the leader said.
"What do you want?" Chun Li asked.
The leader pulled out a gun, but kept it concealed to keep the patrons from seeing it. "Would you be so kind as
to step outside, please?" he asked.
***
Fei saw the men and Chun Li walk out of the restaurant. He stopped Yang, who was on his rollerblades serving
the customers, and said, "Get Sifu out here."
Yang rushed off to obey.
***
The men stood in a circle around Chun Li. "What do you want?"
The leader brought his gun out in full view. "You should have accepted Miss Tagawa's offer, Miss Hoshi."
"So what are you going to do?" Chun Li fired back. "You're gonna shoot me in front these people?"
"I am hoping that it would not come to that," the leader replied. "If have some sense left, then I suggest
that you hand over the restaurant to my boss."
"The only way you'll get mu restaurant is over my dead body."
The leader raised his gun. "That can be arranged."
"Excuse me," an elderly voice said from behind. "Is there a problem?"
Everyone turned around. Gen was standing there, hands in his sleeves. The leader almost laughed at the sight
of the old man. "You have got to be kidding. This has nothing to do with you, old man."
Gen humphed. "Maybe, but I can still beat some sense into you."
The man raised his gun at Gen. Gen took a step forward and threw soething from his hand. The leader dropped his
gun and screamed in pain from the throwing dart that Gen had tossed at his hand. Before the man on his left could
get the gun, Chun Li kicked it out of his way.
***
From their vantage point, Fei, Kyo, Yun, Yang, and the entire restaurant watched the fight.
***
Gen was wasting the men with ease. Normally, under any circumstances, he would have killed them, but Chun Li
had forbid it. So now he was using non-lethal attacks to incapacitate his opponents.
Chun Li was fighting the leader. Even though he had an injured hand, he proved to be quite a challenge for Chun
Li. The guy had technique, but not enough skill. She knocked him down twice, but he was persistient, gettting
back up again, this time forcing her on the defensive.
The leader cocked his fist back...
...and someome caught it from behind. The leader spun around...
...and caught a fist to the face from Ryu, forcing him back.
Chun Li breathed out a sigh of relief. "You're late."
Ryu pointed to the blonde man standing beside him. "I know. It was Ken's fault. He had to change clothes."
Chun Li looked at Ken. He was dressed in his scarlet karate gi and a pair of tennis shoes, while Ryu was still
wearing his white gi and crimson headband, and a pair of sandals on his feet.
One of the men tried to sneak up on Ken Masters from behind. Ken sensed it coming and when the thug got close
enough, he performed a vertical axe kick, which caught the thug n the face, sending him back. "Nice to see you
again, Chun Li," Ken said.
"Chun Li, you and Gen get back," Ryu said. "We'll handle this."
Chun Li and Gen quickly got out of the way, leaving Ryu and Ken to deal with the thugs. The two Shotokan
masters sized up the remaining men surrounding them.
"How long you think it will take to lay them all out?" Ken asked.
"Since it's four of them and two of us, ten minutes," was the reply.
"Wanna bet on it?" Ken asked. "Five thousand yen says it takes longer than ten minutes."
Ryu raised his fist at Ken, who brought his fist up and slammed it into Ryu's. "You're on!" Ryu said.
Then the fight began.
Two thugs charged at Ken. The blond martial artist smirked and somersaulted over them. When he landed, he
quickly spun around and roundhoused the first one, then Dragon Punch-ed the other.
Ryu was facing the man that Chun Li had fought earlier. The man was now throwing out erratic punches and kicks,
all of which Ryu dodged. Ryu came in and landed a few blows in the leader's breadbasket, followed by his
infamous roundhouse kick.
***
Kyo watched the fight between Ryu and the thug with intrest. The Shotokan master's power was legendary, and it
showed that he took great pride in his skill. He had heard about him when he was younger. He had heard about
Ryu defeating the nearly-invincible Sagat in the first Street Fighter Tournament, and of how he was the
reigning champion for the past ten years. He also knew about Ryu defeating the Shadowlaw warlord M. Bison
and that he could control his dark ki. At first, he and the Shinto priestess Chizuru Kagura thought it was
Orochi power, but they were wrong.
Now he was hearing rumors about how Ryu had defeated a man who could control fire and ice and could bring
himself back to life. Kyo himself was no pushover. His team was the reigning champions on the King of Fighters
Tournament. While Ryu was dealing with that being, Kyo had to defeat the supernatural being Orochi.
Kyo was looking for a worthy challenge, and he was looking at it. He would challenge Ryu at a later date. He
would test his skills against the legendary Shotokan warrior, but not now.
***
Ryu saw that his opponent was tiring, and he decided to end this little match. Summoning his ki into his fists,
he ducked under the thug's punch and landed the first blow into his ribs.
"Shin..."
The thug felt a couple ribs crack.
Then Ryu planted his other fist into into the thug's chin. "SHOURYUKEN!"
The thug was sent flying from the impact of Ryu's Shinshouryuken. He landed a few feet away, on top of a car.
Ryu looked at Ken, who was just finished dispatching the last thug. He turned to Ryu, who had a huge grin on
his face. "Eight minutes."
Ken scowled.
As the restaurant patrons erupted in cheers, Chun Li ran over to her husband and hugged him. "Ryu! Are you
okay?"
Ryu nodded. "I'm fine, Chun."
***
Chun Li closed the restaurant down for the night and she and Gen tended to Ryu and Ken's injuries. They had
a couple of bruises, but nothing serious. Fei, the twins and Kyo were standing guard at the windows.
"These guys just don't know when to quit," Ryu said as Chun Li dabbed at his lip. He pulled back. "Ow!"
"Sorry," Chun Li apologised.
"Who's he?" Ken asked, pointing to Kyo.
"Him? He's okay," Chun Li replied. "He's a regular here. Kyo, come here. I want you to meet my husband and his
friend."
Kyo turned from the window and stood in front of the two martial artists. Chun Li coducted the introductions.
"Kyo, this is my husband, Ryu Hoshi, and his friend, Ken Masters."
Ryu and Ken nodded in greeeting. Ryu then looked at Kyo's gloves, and saw the Kusanagi clan emblem--an eclisped
sun on them. "You are a martial artist?" Ryu asked.
Kyo nodded. "How do you know?"
Ryu gestured to his gloves. "The insignia on your gloves. My grandfather once told me about two clans who can
conjure flames from their hands. My guess is that you're one of them."
Kyo nodded. "Hai. The other clan is the Hassakus, but they changed their name to Yagami."
"So why you fight, Kyo?" Ryu asked.
Kyo thought about it for a moment. "To become the strongest fighter in the world."
Ryu chuckled. "You sound just like me when I was you age. I'll bet you're as good as a martial artist as
your father."
Kyo's jaw dropped. "You know my father?"
"I met him when I was at a tournament at Kyoto," Ryu replied. "He told me about you, and your team being the
King of Fighters champions. Defeating this Orochi must have been quite a challenge for you."
"I could say the same for you and Sagat," Kyo shot back, "not to mention destroying Shadowlaw and defending
your championship against a self-proclaimed god."
"Bah. Championships are nothing to me," Ryu replied. "The fight is everything." He heard Chun Li clear her
throat. He then added, "aside from my wife and my children, that is."
***
-Tagawa Corporation-
"It seems I underestimated this woman," Mimi said to the figure in black sitting in a chair before her. "Twice
I have sent men to her restaurant, and they have failed."
The figure leaned forward. He was dressed in a black vest, black shirt, and black pants. The most unsual thing
about him was his hair. While it was black on the sides, on the top it was blond, like he was wearing a toupee.
"So that's where I come in," Ryuji Yamazaki said. "And what do you want me to do?"
Mimi leaned forward in her chair. "Bring her to me. Use any means necessary if you have to."
"And what if someone interferes?" Yamazaki asked.
Mimi's lips twisted into a sneer. "Then you can kill them."
Yamazaki grinned evilly. "I like that part. So what's her name?"
"Hoshi. Chun Li Hoshi. Have her come by tomorrow."