Returning to the dojo, the three saw no sign of Sensei.

"Where is he?" wondered Marian.

"he must be in the garden." Said Jimmy.

"the garden?" asked Marian

"Follow us."

As the three crossed the bridge into the next platform over, Marian was surprised by its appearance; it was split in half. One side looked like a workshop/potion shop ripped from an MMO, and the other half looked like a makeshift hospital room. Marian quickly realized that the latter was for treating wounds, but on the other side, she wasn't too sure about though she began to take an interest in it.

'what could they possibly be making there?' she thought

As the three crossed the last bridge, she saw an entrance to a smaller cave & a bright light coming from it.

"Wow, that's bright; the city is never this bright, not even during the day." Said Marian

"Watch your step on the stairs." Cautioned Billy

Following them up the stairs, they entered right into a large garden, to Marian's shock. It was an underground garden filled with flowers & plants, some she had never seen before.

"How is this possible?"

"magic…" replied the twins

Marian could not resist rolling her eyes at that.

At the center of the garden was a large tree; under it was Sensei meditating. As the three got close, sensei spoke up about their arrival.

"I see you finally brought your brother back."

"yes, sensei." Said, Jimmy

"I also see you two brought back your friend."

"yes, we did." Said Billy.

"child, I thought I told you-"

"no, old man, you listen to me! first of all, you call me Marian, not child! Second, despite what you said earlier, the Power Corps is not disbanding."

"Why is that?"

"We still know something that you don't."

"Which is?"

"This city."

"I see." Sensei replied, clearly not convinced.

"think about it, Billy & Jimmy left when they were little & you've never visited the city before. On the other hand, my friends & I have lived here for many years."

"you may have lived in this city, but that doesn't mean you know the evil that dwells within this city." Sensei stated.

"Actually, what we do know, despite the lack of successes we've had, we've learned from our failures. We learn how the gangs here work, where their operations are conducted, who's in charge of that operation. And if we don't have that information, we know how to get it. So what's better, having the boys look around for themselves to get that same information, or working with others who can send them where they need to be?"

Getting to his feet, sensei's stern look became softer as he looked at Marian.

"you make a point, Marian, but what do you two think? This is your mission. "Asked sensei as he turned to the twins,

"it's worth a shot." Said Billy.

"I'm game." Said Jimmy,

"fine, if you wish to help then, I will allow it for now. On the condition that this assistance does not prove to be detrimental to our goals."

"Good, now about your approach." Marian continued.

Later That Night

It was a little after midnight & as prearrangement, every shop owner was to leave a case filled with $10,000 in front of their store. Three men arrived in a black & yellow car, behind them were two hummers with the same colors that stopped behind them. The hummers were filled with five men each, making ten men all dressed in camouflage.

"Okay, listen up, head inside the shopping center & account for each case. make sure the full amount is in there, not a dollar short." Said the first man

"Once you make sure each case is present & the amount is there, then radio in to confirm with us." Said the second one

"Then, once confirmed, begin collecting the cases & return to the hummers."

"Sir, what if one of the stores did not meet the criteria?" One of the camouflage men asked.

"if that happens, then use what's in your backpack."

Following orders, the men made their way inside, making their way along the long stretch of stores; each store followed orders, and a case was left outside the door of each store containing the set amount.

"Sir, so far, so good." Said one of the men contacting the others still in the car.

"good, contact us when you're done."

As the three men waited inside the car, they were finally contacted again for what seemed like forever.

"status update."

"Sir, we accounted for all the cases except for one."

"one?"

"yes, that restaurant that is reopening on the other end."

"How disappointing…proceed to phase 2."

Opening the backpack, to the soldier's surprise, it was a large mine before he radioed back in.

"Sir, is this one of Willy's incendiary bombs?"

"yes, a new more effective model. Once activated, it will turn that place into ash in a matter of seconds."

"But sir, if we set this off, it will destroy the whole shopping center."

"Exactly."

"but the other stores have paid."

"no, they didn't."

"What?"

"The deal was all stores must pay. So if one doesn't pay, then they all didn't pay, which means they all must suffer. No one is spared when we come to collect. Now gather up the money & evacuate, or would you rather burn with the rest of them?"

"no…sir, we will go along."

Suddenly the radio went dead, confusing the three men in the car as they tried to call others; all they could hear was the sound of a struggle before the radio went dead. One of the men looking out saw flashes of red & blue.

"Something is wrong; we better check it out."

All three men left the car & made their way inside; walking along the path, they noticed the cases sitting in front of the stores.

"what the hell is going on? Where is everyone.?"

Suddenly, they heard many huffing & puffing. Someone sounds out of breath and is running for their life. Running to them was one of their men dropping to his knees when he was close.

"report what happened to the others?"

"they were…we were…then these…then I..."

"speak English, idiot!"

Before the frightened thug could explain better, something had wrapped itself around his legs, causing him to scream in terror. The three men looked & saw that his legs were now tied up by some fiery blue tendril; before the man could react, he was pulled away screaming.

"HELP MEEEEE!" as he was being dragged away from their sight before suddenly being silenced.

The three men instantly became terrified & were ready to run, leaving the others behind.

"We need to get out of here now; those are the same things I saw when the shipments were destroyed!"

"once we're out, we set off the bomb."

"you're not going anywhere!" said a voice behind them

The three men turned to see someone standing behind them, drawing their weapons; they were ready to fire but soon heard another voice behind them again.

"We have a message to give to your boss!"

Seeing that there were two figures on both sides, two men pointed their guns, covering the one in between. Both men reveal themselves to be Billy & Jimmy, now dressed in costumes wearing katanas on their backs, Stepping into the light.

"Who the hell are you two supposed to be?"

"you can call me Azaka." Said Billy.

"I am Kamidake." Said Jimmy.

Two of the men became less scared & let out a laugh upon seeing them, while the one in between remained cautious.

"gotta say nice costumes." Said the man facing Jimmy,

"a little too theatrical for my taste but hey, who am I to judge?" Said the man facing Billy.

Suddenly, the men fired their guns, but both brothers brought out their swords, slicing the bullets and making them drop harmlessly to the ground in a split second. Shocked at what they had just witnessed, the two continued to fire but with the same results as they sliced through every bullet until their clips were empty. They quickly tried to reload their guns, briefly paying no attention to the twins, who sheathed their swords & simultaneously stuck out their fists.

"OUR TURN…DRAGON SHOT!"

A ball of Red/Blue energy formed before being fired at the men at great speed, striking them in the hands with their fists.

"ah!" the men screamed in pain as their guns were blasted from their hands. Not just that, but their hands were burned and their fingers were bent and refused to move. Right now they looked like they had the world's worst form of arthritis.

"How the hell did they…?" said the man in the middle.

The two injured men then charged at the twins, ready to inflict whatever damage they physically could on their enemies, but they were quickly cast aside as Jimmy knocked his opponent out with one hard blow to the face while Billy dropped his with multiple impacts to the stomach. With both men down, one unconscious and the other wishing he was, the last one was looking for a way to save himself. Seeing none, he quickly pulled out a detonator and held it out.

"Don't move! If either of you come near me, I'll set that bomb off & burn this entire place to the ground!"

"You're not fast enough." said Billy, who disappeared in a blue flash before reappearing the same way taking the detonator from him.

"you little-!"

Before he could do anything, he was caught off guard by Jimmy, who grabbed him by his collar, lifting him up.

"DON'T KILL ME!"

"we're not going to kill you. We told you, we have messages to give you!" said Jimmy

"I'm listening."

"First, tell your boss if he wants his men back; he can pick them up at the Metro City hospital's trauma unit in the morning," Said Billy.

"Second, tell your boss that we're taking back the city for the people. Metro city no longer belongs to the Shadow Warriors, be it day or night!" said Jimmy.

"They're not going to let you succeed." The captive man warned.

"We aren't asking for permission." Jimmy warned.

Tossing the man aside, he jumped to his feet, running as fast as he could, trying desperately to get away until he was out of sight & the sound of a car driving off could be heard.

Moments later…

After the commotion died down, people started exiting their stores to see what had happened. Only to find that the men left behind were now hanging unconscious from the street lights, to their surprise. Bound in both red & blue fiery energy tendrils, the owners were shocked & confused. However, they realized the cases with their money were still there. Taking the suitcases back with one person who ran a diner smiling from what was seen, unknown to everyone the whole thing was being filmed from a roof by Marian who was being watched over by sensei just as Billy & Jimmy appeared.

"did you get it?" asked Billy

"every moment…once I get this out, everyone will see who is fighting for them."

"how do you plan on that?" asked sensei

"I'll use metrotube; it's a huge video-sharing website; almost everyone in the city has an account or knows someone who does…I can post anonymously,"

"Okay fine, then what are we going to do about these?" asked Jimmy, holding up the bomb & the detonator

"give them to me; my friends will look them over & discover their weaknesses. With luck, we can make sure they're never used against us in the future."

"Okay, sensei, I'm going on patrol…" said Jimmy

"then I'll take Marian home & catch up with you." Billy offered.

"go teach the shadows to fear the night just as much as they fear the day." Said sensei

With that, Jimmy disappeared, leaving, watching this Marian smile as she just thought of the video's title.

The Rise Of The Double Dragons

End Of Ch. 4