Chapter 2

(A/n- I just came up with an idea for a new character. His information is below.)

Puppetman

Age- 25

Nationality- USA

Fighting Style- Puppetry and Kung-Fu

Occupation- Puppet Artist and Puppeteer

Height- 5'9

Weight- 157 lbs.

Special Moves-

Double Lightning Kick

Kikuo-Burst Kick

Holy Knight

Dark Knight

Twin Dragons

Jolly Pirate

Wild Cowboy

Spiritual Tribesman

Dark Jester

Puppet Shield

Pike Squad

Sparkling Ballerina

Toy Soldiers

Marching Nutcracker

Puppet Bomb

Puppet Trio

Harlequin's Dance

Flaming Dragon Hand

Raging Marionette

Super Moves-

Puppet Parade

Raging Marionette

Wizard Arm

Twin Harlequins

Puppet Psycho Crusher

Iron Golem

A talented puppet artist and puppeteer, who goes by the nickname "Puppetman". Learned the craft of it ever since the age of nine. Owns his own shop and works animatronics for many different companies. His fighting style combines the style of Kung-Fu and the craft of being able to control puppets with many strings. He uses his skills to entertain the kids at many centers during his freetime. A good and long time friend of T-Bone. His weapon of combat consists of the uses of many puppets. Many have special abilities.

Manhatten, NYC

Puppetman's Shop and Apartment-

It was a whole building. It looked very old but nicely furnished. On the outside, it looked like as the original design from the late 1800s. The outside was never changed and was constantly being maintained. The building was about three stories, with a workshop and store on the first floor. The store and workshop were placed in the same area.

A young man, in his mid twenties sat on the stool at the front. He could look outside the window to see the pouring rain. His name was Nicholas Miller, nicknamed "Puppetman". The reason for his nickname was due to his craft, which was crafting and using puppets. He was orphaned at a young age and was taken in by a world famous puppeteer and ventriloquist. The man's name was Phillip Miller and Nicholas adopted the name of Miller. Phillip was a kind old man in his eighties, who only cared about making the kids happy.

Learning the skill of puppetry at a young age from Phillip Miller, Nick learned the full art of puppetry. But, he decided to extend his further knowledge. With school and books, Nick learned how to make and build his very own puppets. Constantly training in this art, Nick literally poured his entire heart and soul into this craft. Many years of blood, sweat, and tears, Nick made his own workshop and went to college to study animatronics. He extended his skills to the making of mechanical puppets for many movie studios.

All around the shop were many numerous puppets. Many of different shapes and sizes. Each one was made with the same or very different material. When Phillip died four years back, Nick decided to carry on his surrogate father's legacy. Now Nick's slowly becoming a world famous puppeteer. Many themeparks in Japan and Europe ordered copies of models crafted by Nick.

But Nick has done something that other puppeteers could not accomplish. After eight years, Nick had learned to control numerous puppets at the same time. It resulted in many great puppet shows for the city. Many young children wanted to be like him. But there was more to it. Six years back, Nick studied the art of Kung-Fu. There, he met a fellow student and soon to be good friend, T-Bone.

Mastering the potential of ki, Nick became an extremely skilled martial artist. He became more formidible combine his martial arts skills with that of his trademark profession, puppetry. Using ki and precise body movements, he was able to use his assortment of puppets, dolls, and marrionettes as weapons. In martial arts magazines, he was dubbed the "Fighting Puppeteer".

Nick sat there on the stool. He was carving a wooden arm for one of his puppets. Sitting next to him was a basic looking wooden puppet without its right arm. "Don't worry, you'll get your arm soon" Nick said to the dummy. To him, they weren't just objects. They were like his own children or pieces of work. It was like each one had a part of him inside.

A couple with two kids walked by the shop. All four of them were wearing raincoats and were headed towards their car. The two kids stopped in front of the store, where they saw Nick carving and sanding the arm for his puppet. Placing the arm down in front of him, Nick stood up and pulled down one of his recent works. A puppet that looked like a little princess. The young girl in a raincoat stood in awe as Nick gave a demonstration of his talent.

Immediately, the parents stood there and watched Nick give a demonstration. Even the parents were amazed at Nick's talents in puppeteering. Taking out some more puppets, Nick continued to demonstrate what he could do. In an instant, the family entered the store. Putting the puppets away, Nick approached the family. He stood there at five foot and nine inches. Nick was a slender built man.

He didn't look like a fighter. Nick was dressed in his black work khakis, black work shoes, a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and suspenders. He had short dirty blonde hair and a short trimmed goatee. Adjusting his glasses, he looked at the couple. "Welcome to my store", Nick said and he pointed around, "Feel free to look around."

After twenty minutes, the family made their decision and looked at the little princess puppet. "Our daughter seems to like this one", said the middle aged father. He gently held the puppet in his arms. Nick looked down to see the daughter's joyful expression on her face as he simply smiled.

"Good selection, sir", Nick stated as he went to the cash register. The man's wife looked around and saw pictures of Nick and many different people. She then recognized who Nick was. "That'll be $25 dollars, sir", Nick said to the man.

"A remarkable piece of work you have created, young man", replied the man. His wife then elbowed him some; "What?", asked the man, looking at his wife.

"You have any idea on who that man is? He's Nick Miller", she said to her husband. "One of the world's most famous puppeteers."

"Yes I am. Just don't tell anybody else. Don't want reporters flooding my shop", Nick replied and laughed a bit. Taking he money, Nick placed it inside the cash register. "Have a nice-", Nick said before he was cut off. He could hear several screams coming from outside.

"Young girl's gettint attacked, call the police!", yelled the man. Looking out the window. Nick could see three women being surrounded by a group of thugs. Instead of reaching for the phone, Nick reached for a few bags.

"Call the police, I'll handle the thugs. If we just wait for the police, who knows what's going to happen to those women", Nick stated to the man. Outside, the three young girls stayed together. They were really scared to be surrounded by several armed thugs.

"You're going to be good little girls and come with us?", asked one of the thugs. Suddenly, they could hear footsteps spashing against the water. The group of thugs looked to see Nick standing there ready for combat. "Go away, this doesn't concern you", said another thug.

"Oh, but it does. You see, you're scaring away the customers. And that's not good for business. You see there's young children inside. So, they shouldn't be exposed to this stuff. If you would kindly leave-", Nick said before being cut off by one of the thugs.

"Looks like we'll have to make an example out of you", said an angered thug.

Nick just shook his head. "That's the second time that somebody cut me off...", thinking to himself. Around his arms were many strings. The thugs noticed the strings and other stuff and simply laughed.

"What's with the strings, Puppetman?", said another thug, laughing afterwards.

"It's a surprise...", Nick calmly stated. He then added, "Please, if you would leave the area."

"Get him!", yelled the leader. The first three thugs ran at Nick. Standing his ground, Nick waited as the first thug got several inches in front of him. Calmly, Nick executed a powerful front snap kick to the thug's gut. Feeling Nick's kick, the thug stumbled back. A second later, he followed up with a spinning hook kick to his head.

Crouching down, he attacked the other thug with a spinning footsweep and then followed up to hit the other thug with a back thrust kick. Raising his right foot up, it started to emit electrical energy and lightning bolts started to hit his foot. Looking at one of the thugs, Nick unleashed one of his special attacks.

"Double Lightning Kick!", yelled Nick as he attacked with a jump spin kick and followed up with an axe kick before landing. Sending electrical energy through the thug, Nick landed as he fell to the ground. The thug was slightly dazed. One of the thugs immediately got back up and charged at Nick, wanting some more.

Jumping at the thug, Nick attacked with a scissor kick that sent him back to the hard ground again. Two more thugs charged at Nick's direction. "Kikuo-Burst Kick!", yelling as his foot gathered energy. Repeatedly, Nick sent a barrage of kicks at the thugs' direction. The downed thugs got back up. They were more pissed off than ever.

Three of them immediately surrounded Nick. Looking at the odds, Nick knew he would have to unleash his arsenal or weapons. "Twin Dragons!", yelling out as he immediately pulled out two puppet-like red dragons with the strings attached to his fingers. Spinning around, he had the dragons breath out small flames.

"Gah, it burns!", yelled one of the thugs, trying to fan his ass, which was on fire. The other two thugs immediately jumped away in fright.

"Get him! We won't let some puppetman humiliate us!", yelled the leader. The rest of the thugs immediately rushed at Nick, who would have to show more of his skills.

"Wild Cowboy!", he yelled as he pulled out a medium sized puppet that looked like a cowboy. Keeping his distance, Nick used his puppets to fend off the other thugs. All of the cowboy's strings formed one string that was attached to the middle finger of Nick's right hand. Wiggling his middle finger, Nick had the cowboy fire rounds at the thugs.

"Wild Cowboy!", Nick yelled again as he summoned up another cowboy. This one was armed with a miniature shotgun. Controlling both puppets, Nick used them to fend off the thugs. At the same time, Nick used fast and powerful kicks to ward off thugs that attempted to attack from front and back. Both puppets fired off small bursts of energy at the thugs.

"What is he?", asked one of the thugs, who immediately ran off.

"Jolly Pirate!", Nick yelled, using one of his puppet strings to send out another puppet dressed as a pirate. This one was armed with a cannon. Having the pirate fire off the cannon, it sent a metal ball that connected with the groin of one of the thugs.

"Uggghhhh, fuck!", yelled the other thug, running off. Seeing how skilled a fighter with the puppets Nick was, the leader immediately gave the command to retreat. Afterwards, Nick packed up his puppets and walked inside the shop. Instead of watching Nick fight off the thugs, the young girls were looking around at the puppets.

"Wow...you did all this?", asked one of the girls. Nick nodded. Immediately, the other two girls came up to Nick holding puppets, they took a liking too.

"Ahhh, I worked several months on each one of them. I know you'll give them a good home", Nick said, going to the cash register. After taking the money, Nick put it in the cash register. After the customers left, Nick went back to his stool. He then looked at his puppet. "Oh, I haven't forgotten about you", he said to the puppet and continued to work on its right arm.

Several minutes later, a young African American man entered through. He was drenched from the heavy rain water. The man was a few inches taller than Nick. He had on black loose fit jeans, black street shoes, a white short sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There was a black T in the front of the shirt. He then looked at Nick. "Hey, Nick", replied the young man.

Nick simply shook his head. "T, don't drip on the floor. I just had it dried off", he replied to his friend. The man in front of him was his long time friend, T-Bone. Looking away from T-Bone, Nick continued to carve and sand the arm. "Ah, perfect", Nick said as he got a hook and attacked it to the end of the hand area. Slowly, he attached it to the puppet's body.

Tying strings together, Nick gave the puppet life as he started to move around and play with it. "Nick, you're a genius", T-Bone said. Drying himself off, he took a seat.

"So, what's up?", Nick asked, continuing to work with the puppet.

"Yeah, there's a tournament going on. I was wondering if you'd be interested...", he replied to Nick.

Looking up at T-Bone, Nick gave it some thought. "Eh, why not? I'll enter. When is it?", asking his good friend.

"This Friday", he replied to Nick. "Don't forget your little friends, Puppetman", he added. "Anyway, I'm hungry."

"Yeah, same here. It's getting late. We better get something to eat", Nick added, rubbing his tummy. Slowly and delicately, he placed his newly made puppet up on the wall.

"In the mood for Mexican?", T-Bone asked as Nick immediately shook his head.

"No, I was in the bathroom for the whole night. How about some Italian?" Nick offered. T-Bone shook his head at the thought.

"I've had Italian for the last few nights. How about some Korean?" asking. Nick refused.

"No, I can't stand the smell of kim-chi. Ick...", Nick said to his friend.

"How about that new sports restaurant in the heart of NYC?" he asked. Giving it some thought, Nick agreed.

"Good idea, I always wanted to try that place.", replying back to T-Bone. "Get dressed, man..."

Going upstairs, T-Bone got dressed and headed back down. Removing his plaid work shirt, Nick put on a black vest and got ready. Both men left the shop and locked up. The two of them immediately got on the bus, heading towards the restaurant.

At a distance, Chun-Li Xiang held some binoculars and kept an eye on both Nick and T-Bone. She knew of both the fighters. Hearing about Shadowlaw's latest activities, she was assigned to look over the numerous fighters that resided in the city.

There are many great fighters out in this world. There are those, who travel around the world, and there are others, who stay around these areas. Cities have the most well trained fighters. She remembered seeing pictures of Nick Miller aka "Puppetman".

"I'm going to have to keep close taps on those two...", Chun-Li said to herself. Calling it a night, Chun-Li stepped into her car and drove off.