Chapter Nine





Ken's eyes snap open. Last night, he could've sworn he heard someone lurking around in another room.

"(It was probably a dream)" he thought.

He looked at the time. It was eight o'clock in the morning. He was probably the first person to get up. He knew that Wagner, Veronica, and Jasmine sleep late, Guile would be up within a half hour, Ryu and Fei-Long in an hour.

"(Well,)" Ken thought. "(Might as well make everyone breakfast.)"

Ken sits up from his bed and stretches his arms out. He let out a big yawn before getting up. He puts on a black robe before leaving the room. As he gets out of the room, he heard footsteps down the hallway.

"(Hmm, someone's actually up)" he thought again. Ken started walking down the hallway. When he turned a corner, he spots Ryu a few yards down. His back was turned to him.

"Morning Ryu," Ken said. He starts walking up to him. "I'm surprised you're up. I was about to go into the kitchen and make breakfast for everyone."

Ryu turned to Ken...........revealing something disturbing.

Ken gasp. "Ryu?"

Ryu's eyes were white. The iris' and the pupils were gone.

"Ryu!" Ken cried. He ran closer to him and starts shaking his shoulders. "Snap out of it! What's wrong with your eyes?"

Suddenly, a door nearby flies open. Ken sees Fei-Long coming out of his room.

"Fei-Long!" Ken cried. "Something's wrong with Ryu!" Ken started walking up to him, but then stopped in his tracks. Fei-Long's eyes were just like Ryu's.

"Fei-Long, your eyes!" Ken cried.

Then, he heard a loud smash. Ken turned around towards the noise. One of the other doors shattered into a million pieces. Wagner stood there, his fist engulfed by yellow electric shocks. Ken saw the shattered door. He gasped when he saw that the door was shattered enough to turn into sand.

"Wagner?" Ken said. Wagner's eyes were the same.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Ken asked. "Whatever it is, snap out of it!"

Wagner walks up to him. The yellow shocks were only in sparks. Wagner throws a punch at Ken. Ken flies across the hallway. He hits the opposite wall and becomes unconscious.

***

"Ken? Ken, wake up!" Ken heard as he began to wake up.

Ken slowly opened his eyes and looks up. Guile stood above him his hand on his shoulder. "What happened here?"

Ken looked at Guile's eyes. They were blue like they should be.

Ken sat up a little. "It's Ryu, Fei-Long, and Wagner. Something happened to them."

Guile helped him up. "Rest for an hour or so, then you can tell me what happened." Guile looks around. "Where's Veronica and Jasmine?"

Ken's eyes became wide opened. "I wonder if something happened to them too."

They ran down the hallway. Ken went into Veronica's room. Veronica was fast asleep. Ken touched her shoulder. "Wake up," he said.

Veronica opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Ken sighed of relief as he saw her blue eyes.

"Ken," Veronica said. "What's wrong?"

"Something happened," Ken replied. "We're going to talk about it in the den."

Meanwhile, Guile runs into Jasmine's room. She was snoring away. Guile knew not to touch her, but how was he going to wake her up?

"Jasmine!" Guile called out. Jasmine didn't reply.

Guile shook the bed. "Jasmine! Wake up!"

Jasmine still snored away.

"Damn it!" he cried. He took a pillow and hit her head with it a couple of times. Jasmine still snored away. Then, Guile saw a cup of water on the table. He took it and poured the water on her head.

She still snored away.

Guile growled. He took the alarm clock and let it ring for a minute.

Jasmine still snored away.

Guile turned on the TV and blasted it to the highest volume.

Jasmine still snores.

Guile growled and threw the remote away. "Damn, she's a good sleeper!" He opened the curtains, but that of course didn't help.

Veronica and Ken come into the room.

Guile looks at them. "She's a good sleeper."

Veronica laughed. "I know a trick," she said. She bends towards her little sister and just stared at her.

After a minute, Jasmine's green eyes snapped opened.

"Morning little sister," Veronica said.

Jasmine looked at the time. Then, she took a pillow and hit her sister's head.

"Ow!!" Veronica cried. "What was that for?"

"For waking me up before nine a.m."

"Jasmine," said Guile. "We have important business right now. Something happened last night."

Jasmine stood up quickly. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," said Ken. "Let's go into the kitchen."

As Veronica makes breakfast, Ken tells his friends what happened to Ryu, Fei-Long, and Wagner.

Guile was shocked when Ken told him about the yellow electric shocks on Wagner's fist and the shattered door.

Guile knew his friends would find out about Wagner's powers eventually. "I don't know how he got that. He believed it had something to do with the murderer who killed his family." Guile gasped. He knew that the last sentence he said shouldn't have been said at all.

Veronica turned to Guile. "His family was killed?"

"He never talks about it so I don't know too much about it. I only knew since I had to look through documents about him when I first trained him. Supposedly, a murderer came in, broke his parents' and sister's neck, and exploded the house. Wagner escaped before the murderer saw him. He doesn't know if the murderer was ever caught."

"That's horrible," said Jasmine.

"Yeah, but let's not think that right now," Guile said. "Right now, trying to figure out what happened to Ryu, Fei-Long, and Wagner is important."

"I think there was someone in the house last night," said Veronica. Her sister and friends turn to her. "I woke up and I could've sworn something was going on in Fei-Long's room. I thought it was my imagination so I went back to sleep."

"After what I saw," said Ken. "That was definitely not your imagination." He stood up. "I think they're processed or something, like what happened to Chun-Li."

"What happened?" asked Jasmine. Ken realized that no one knew the story.

"Well, when Ryu and I were on our travels seven years ago, we met up with Chun-Li in Spain when her father was receiving a special award for his investigation against Ashura. Afterwards, we went to a bullfighting show, and one of the fighters, Vega, saw Chun-Li and took an interest in her. That night, he went into her hotel room and put a spell on her. It made Chun-Li fall in love with him. I had to go through a bloody battle in order to save her."

"What happened after that?" Veronica asked.

Ken didn't reply. What happened after his battle with Vega was something he didn't want to tell Veronica and Jasmine, at least not yet.

Guile looks at Ken knowing what did happen after that. He stood up. "All right, I have an idea. How about we go into town and ask around."

"About what?" asked Jasmine.

Guile shrugs. "I don't know, but hopefully, whatever we ask will help us understand why Ryu, Fei-Long, and Wagner are acting the way they are."

***

As the four friends walk out of the lobby, they hear a voice. "Where are you off to today?" They turned around. They recognized their tour guide Rovno from last night.

Ken smiles. "Hey Rovno. Say, are you available to give another tour right now?"

Rovno nodded.

"Great," Ken replied. "Instead of showing us where everything is, how about you tell us about the history of Sylvania."

Rovno's dark eyes became wide opened. "The history of Sylvania? Are you sure you want to know."

Guile, knowing Ken's intentions, nodded at Rovno. "Yes. We really want to know more about this town."

Rovno sighs. "If you say so." He walks outside. The four friends follow him. They walk to the other side of town. They stop in front of a small building.

"The history of Sylvania lies in this museum," Rovno said.

Jasmine scratches her chin. "That's a pretty small building for a museum."

"Sylvania doesn't have too much," Rovno said. "Except for what's in there." He looks at them seriously. "Be prepared. I hope your stomachs are strong."

Everyone nodded. Rovno leads them into the museum.

The museum was only one small room, about 30 feet in length and 50 feet in width. There were pictures on the wall and displays in glasses.

Everyone looked around the museum. There were pictures of vampires sucking mortal's blood, their weapons, and mortal's weapons. Veronica noticed a coffin in the back. She walks up to it and sees a skeleton with fangs. A dagger was placed where the heart should be.

"(No wonder you need a strong stomach)" Veronica thought as she turned around.

"So," said Guile. "I guess you can consider this a vampire town."

"Yes," Rovno said. "The vampires only come out at night......except one. She goes by the name Destiny." He points at a painting of the vampiress. "She's been a vampire for two hundred years at least. Her lover who became a vampire after another vampire killed him killed her. She searches for worthy men every night so they can become her love slave."

Veronica narrowed her eyes. "So maybe that's what happened to the others." She gasped. "If so, then why didn't she get Ken and Guile?"

"I know," said Ken. "She must've been at that strip club back in Paris they went to."

"I told Wagner not to go there," Guile said.

"If so, then why was she there?" asked Jasmine.

"Destiny searches all of Europe and Asia for worthy men. She'll only choose one. Legend has it that she has not found a worthy man yet."

Suddenly, Jasmine screamed out, "I should've known!"

They turned to her. Jasmine was looking at a plaque.

"What is it?" asked Guile.

Jasmine turned to them. "This plaque here is the history of the town itself. This town used to be called something else before they re-named it Sylvania. Sylvania is short for the town's original name......Transylvania."