STREET FIGHTER 3:METRO CITY MAUL

CH.22:FINAL MATCH/CONCLUSION!

The next few hours were spent for the police to mop up the remaints of the mess that Belger and Urien caused earlier.

Belger's own remains were scooped up into a forensics body bag while the rest of his goons were rounded up and hauled away in the paddy wagon.

Urien unfortunately was nowhere to be found,but the police sent out an APB on him.

Alex,Cody and everyone else were resting up against a police service wagon,chugging coffee or cocoa after the night of the long knives.

"I figured that Urien wouldn't stick around."said Alex. "I guess jail time doesn't suit him."

"I have a feeling we'll be hearing from either him or Gill again,Alex."said Dudley. "Evil such as theirs doesn't remain buried for long."

"Yeah,but it's up to guys like us to make the world a little bit safer for street fighting."said Cody.

"Indeed it is."said Guy.

"Miss Ringwood called me up and told me that she was able to shut off the power to the building momentarilly."said Haggar. "If not for her,we wouldn't have broken free of Urien's mind control. She definitely deserves either a promotion or a raise in pay. I just can't figure out which would be better for her."

"Well,please tell her,we're indebted to her."said Alex.

"You bet."said Haggar.

"So...what's next?"said Sean.

"Now?"said Haggar. "I think we've all earned a good night's rest,is what should be done now.

But--tomorrow,I want to see both you Cody,and you as well Alex back at City Hall first thing tomorrow."

"Sure thing,Mr.Mayor."said Alex.

"Yeah,it's gonna be for the final match,isn't it?"said Cody.

"Very much so."said Haggar. "The unfortunate sidetrack of our old enemies has forced us to hold and broadcast the supreme final match of the tournament tomorrow."

"Yeah,but where will it be held at?"said Yun.

"That would be telling."said Haggar. "But I promise,we'll reveal everything tomorrow first thing,so if you could all try and stay for just one more night in Metro City and be there to witness amongst the masses,we'd very much appreciate it."

"We'll be there."said Yang and the rest of the street fighters.

"As will we."said Guy and the rest of the Final Fight crew.

"All righty then."said Haggar. "Please return to either your homes,or the hotel you're staying at and have a good night's rest. We'll resume this tomorrow."

Everyone then parted and headed back to their own pads for a well-deserved rest.

Cody and Alex took one good last look at each other before returning to their own place of rest.

"I gotta admit,it was great while it lasted."said Alex.

"Same here."said Cody. "You'd make a crime fighter in Metro."

"I get enough of that in the big apple."said Alex. "But unfortunately for us,we'll be back to 'rivals' at the tourney tomorrow morning once again."

"Don't I know it."said Cody."Well...may the best man win!"

"You as well!"said Alex.

The two fighters shook hands tightly and then both went their seperate ways for the time being.

THE NEXT DAY...

The rest of the street fighters and Metro warriors gathered with the rest of the masses who re-gathered in front of Metro City Hall to listen to what Mayor Haggar had to say about the remainder of the tournament.

He was back in his two-piece duds once again and stepped up to the microphone podium.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen once again for coming."he said. "We apologize for not completing yesterday's events due to--complications. But..we are now prepared to complete the final match that will determine who is the champion--OF THE METRO CITY MELEE!"

Everyone cheered to the Mayor's words and were getting quite excited as to what was going to happen next.

"If you'll look on the viewscreen above,we will reveal where the final match is taking place."

The video screen blinked to life and revealled a large football stadium.

"This---is the local football stadium."he said. "And built in the center of the field as you can see is a giant steel cage ring."

The cage was similair to the ones where the semi-finals took place at the hotel yesterday,except it was one large steel cage with a white tile floor and cameras were built at all corners.

There were also large colorful flyers all decorated across the stadium that read:

"METRO CITY MELEE,SUPREME FINAL MATCH:SF VS FF!"

Yun whistled.

"They sure know how to make it look festive around here."he said.

"Indeed they do."said Dudley.

"The final match will be held this evening at 7pm."said Haggar. "Admission is free,but there will be no final broadcasts on any local television this time,so if you're interested in seeing this one time event,come to the stadium for the match of the century! Thank you,that is all."

Folks cheered and rambled for the upcoming match to be seen.
"Well,I guess this is it."said Maki.

"Yeah,"said Guy. "Cody's going to be in for the fight of his life."

"Aw,he'll beat ol'goldilocks,no problem."said Dean.

"This is gonna be quite a match for Alex."said Sean.

"Oui,he is a great fighter."said Remy. "But this Cody is as great as he is. It may be a toss-up as to who'll win."

"We'll have to hope for the best for him."said Dudley.

HOURS LATER...

Many locals far and wide from Metro City gathered in the football stadium to see the supreme finals take place.

There were flashing strobelights shining across the field and the ring,helicopters flying over the stadium and cheerleaders doing a half-time show for the tournament.

The Street Fighters and Final Fight crew were gathered in the bleechers amongst the rest of the spectators to see the show.

"It's a good thing we all came early."said Yang."I hate crowds."

"Same here."said Necro. "I was afraid i'd accidentally use my electro charge in panic."

Jessica was watching with the Final Fighters to see Cody.
She prayed that the love of her life would win this.

Haggar himself then walked up to the front entrance of the cage ring and spoke into the microphone once everyone was gathered.

"THANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN FOR COMING TO THIS FINAL EVENT!"he said. "THIS IS THE SUPREME FINAL MATCH OF THE METRO CITY MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT!"

Everyone applauded one again.
"IN THE LEFT CORNER,FINALIST 1--HE IS A ROUGH AND TOUGH STREET FIGHTER FROM NEW YORK CITY AND WINNER OF THE RECENT STREET FIGHTER WORLD WARRIOR TOURNAMENT! THE HYPER BOMB HIMSELF--ALEX!"

Alex emerged from one of the entrances of the tunnel where the football players emerge.

He was greeted with cheers and boos at the same time,but his fellow street fighters cheered him the most.

"COME ON ALEX!"said Sean.

"WIN THIS ONE FOR THE WORLD WARRIORS!"said Ibuki.

"AND IN THE RIGHT CORNER,A LOCAL OF METRO CITY AND ONE YOU'VE ALL KNOWN FOR YEARS!"said Haggar.

"THE HERO OF METRO CITY--CODY!"

Cody emerged from the second tunnel and virtually everyone cheered him,especially his friends.

"COME ON CODY!"said Dean. "WIN THIS FOR METRO!"

"GIVE IT YOUR ALL CODY!"said Guy.

"CODY!"said Jessica standing up.

Cody waved to the crowds.

"Well,it looks like Cody's won round one for the popularity contest."said Yun.

"Just you wait,he'll win."said Sean.

"He'll try you mean."said Dudley. "Having faith is good,but too much can lead to disaster sometimes."

The two fighters then walked up to the ring and entered on opposite sides,and then faced each other.

Haggar stepped up and adressed the pair of finalists.

"All right boys."he said."Rules are simple,no hitting below the belt in any way,and make it a good fair and clean fight.And whoever is left standing--is the winner.Understand?"

Both Alex and Cody nodded.

"All right then,take your positions."said Haggar.

Alex and Cody then took their fight stances,ready to combat for the final time.

"Ready?"said Haggar.

"READY!"said both men at the same time.

"ALL RIGHT THEN----FIGHT!"said Haggar.

And the match began.

Cody made the first move as he thrust himself forward and did his Criminal Upper.

Alex blocked it and then did his Flash Chop,but Cody dodged it.

Alex then did a shoulder ram,and knocked Cody a few feet away,giving Alex a chance to dash and do his Slash Elbow on him.

"KRAAKK!"

Cody was knocked sideways by the blow,allowing Alex to grab him and do a german suplex move.

Cody was slammed down on his head and back by the move,but managed to roll sideways away from his opponent and get back on his feet again.

"Urrrhh.."replied Cody rubbing at the back of his head.

"Boy,fighting alongside and against Alex are definitely two different things.

I've gotta get more defensive and give him some offense in return."

Cody then saw that Alex was about to do another move.

Alex ran at Cody,jumped into the air and was about to do an Air Stampede.

Cody then had an idea.

Once Alex was close enough with his landing feet move,Cody then grabbed both of his legs and then swung

him into the side of the cage.

"KLANG!"

"Whoa,what a throw!"said Carlos.

"Yeah,ya got him so far,keep at it Cody!"said Guy.

Alex then jumped back to his feet and rubbed his back.

"Not bad."he said. "But let's see what else ya got!"

Alex then jumped into the air and did a cross arm dive,hitting Cody in the head.

"WHAK!"

Cody nearly fell down to the floor.

Alex then landed on his feet and then made another move.

He grabbed Cody by the top of his shirt,and slammed a fast and hard Head-Butt to his head!

Cody fell down on his knees from the blow,but he was far from losing conciousness as he just clutched his forehead in pain.

"Huh,that was my best head slam."said Alex. "His stamina must be a lot more than my own."

Cody then cleared his senses and then lashed out a hard leg-sweep,tripping Alex to fall on his back.

Alex fell right on his back,giving Cody another chance to for a new attack.

He then jumps into the air and slams an elbow right onto his abdomen.

"UGHH!"cries Alex as the wind gets knocked out of him.

Cody then flips back to his feet,ready for some more dishing out.

"Beat that--HAHA!"he says.

"YEAH,COME ON CODY!"shouts several of the fans.

"Yeah,in our out of the ring,he's the best!"said Haggar. "But he still has yet to face what else Alex has in store for him. I learned that part firsthand--literally!"

ALex then jumped back to his feet,rubbed at his stomach and was ready to fight once again.

"Come on goldilocks."said Cody beckoning him. "Let's see what else ya got!"

"You ain't seen nothin'yet!"said Alex.

The two titans then charged at each other.

Once they were close enough,Alex made the next move.

He jumped at Cody and did a Spiral DDT,literally nailing him to the floor with a body slam to the floor.

Once he was down,Alex got him in a lethal arm lock,and applied a great deal of pressure in a game of uncle.

"Hey,what gives here?"said Cody.

"Just a little something Tom and me used to play when I was a tyke."

"Well,if you think i'm gonna cry uncle,you got another thing coming,Al!"said Cody.

"Well,it was worth a try at any rate."said Alex as he let go of Cody and shoved him across the floor with his boot.

"Now you're asking for it."said Cody annoyed.

He then jumped back to his feet,ran and jumped right in front of Alex,and unleashed a super move of his own.

"FINAL DESTRUCTION!"

Cody slammed several super-fast and hard punches into Alex's face and chest,rocking his entire body where he stood.

"Oh my!"said Dudley. "I've never seen anyone punch quite like that before."

"He must've learned it from the streets himself."said Remy. "You learn a lot about street fighting from there."

"I just hope Alex can take it and counterrattack."said Yun.

Cody then finished the blow with a criminal upper that sent Alex staggering away from him.
The Metro fighter then rushed in to finish him off,but before he could Alex regained his senses and unleashed his own super art.

"BOOMERANG RAID!"

Alex slammed Cody with a few hard punches and slammed a Flash Chop across his face!

He then finished the move with a German Suflex and brought Cody down to the floor once again!

"CODY!"said Jessica.

Cody clutched his sides from the pain Alex gave him,but managed to get back up again.

The battle went on for minutes as both fighters continued to deck it out.

Alex did his Stun Gun Headbutt on Cody and slammed him to the floor even harder with it.

Cody then jumped back up and did his Dead End Irony,slamming several fast paced spin kicks into Alex's head.

Alex fell to the floor,and gasped for air,while Cody fell on his knees again doing the same.

"They're both wearing out."said Guy.

"Yeah,but who'll be the winner?"said Yun.

Alex then managed to get back up and saw an opening chance.

He thought of his last super move that would no doubt deplete Cody of all his strength and win him the championship.

He would use---his Hyper Bomb!

Alex then ran at Cody and thrusted both open palms toward him.

Cody saw Alex coming and sprang back into action.

He launched another Criminal Upper and slammed Alex''s chin even harder than before!

Cody then slammed a Ruffian Kick into his stomach and then finished off the blow with a hard roundhouse kick to the head!

"KRAKKK!"

Alex went flying across the floor and crashed landed on his back,he was down for the count.

The computrized meter counter then launched a 10 second countdown on the cage,it would count from 10 to 1 for the knockout.

"10-9-8-7-6--"

"COME ON ALEX--GET UP!"said Sean.

"GET UP MAN,YA CAN'T LOSE!"said Yun.

"ALEX--WAKE UP!"said Ibuki.
"YOU CANNOT LOSE!"said Remy.

But it was too late,the meter reached 1 then 0 and it was over.

Haggar then ran up to the cage ring and spoke into his microphone.

"ALEX IS UNABLE TO BATTLE ANY FURTHER,"he said. "THAT MAKES CODY THE CHAMPION OF THE METRO CITY MARTIAL ARTS MELEE TOURNAMENT!"

"ALLL RIIIGHHT!"shouted Cody as he jumped into the air and launced an uppercut.

"YEAH!"said Dean.

"All right Cody!"said Guy.

"HE WON,HE WON!"said Maki.

"I knew the hombre would do it!"said Carlos.

"Oh Cody...you did it!"said Jessica.

"Aaawww man!"said Yun ripping off his ball cap.

"He was so close!"said Necro. "If Cody hadn't did that uppercut,Alex could've finished him off."

"We all do the best we can."said Yang."At least Alex went the distance."

"Yes,and a bloody good one,they said he even beat Mayor Haggar. So he should get plenty far more fame than his victory over Gill."

"I guess so."said Ibuki. "But having the Street Fighters mark their terrority on Metro City would've been super!"

"Yeah,we need to be as great in the US as my master Ken."said Sean.

"There'll be other tournaments and other chances,lads."said Dudley. "But for now,I think we've all earned a long good rest."

"You said it."said Yun. "I think Yang and me are ready to head back home."

"For once,we're in agreement."said Yang. "But I think we'd better see to our man Alex."

The crowds roared the name of their champion.

"CODY--CODY-CODY!"

Alex then woke up in a groggy manner to see what happened.

"Uh--what---who won?"he said.

"I'm afraid I did,Alex."said Cody standing over him.

Alex was a little bummed,but he knew that it was a good fight for both of them.

Cody then helped Alex up and brought both of their fists in the air together.

"AND LET'S NOT FORGET OUR COMPETITOR ALEX LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"said Haggar. "WHO MADE IT TO THE VERY END AND DEFEATED YOURS TRULY,THE MAYOR--LET'S GIVE HIM A HAND FOLKS!"

The masses cheered for Alex in response.

After that,Alex shook hands with Cody and then left the stage.

Haggar's daughter Jessica then entered the ring,carrying a large solid gold trophy on a wheel cart.

"Hey,I didn't know Jessica there was part of the ceremony."said Sean.

"Sure she is."said Guy. "She's the mayor's daughter--and of course Cody's girl."

"Lucky stud."said Yun.

"AND HERE TO OFFER OUR CHAMPION THE TROPHY AND PRIZE MONEY IS MY LOVELY DAUGHTER JESSICA HAGGAR!"said Haggar.

Jessica picked the trophy up and handed it to Cody.

"AND WITHIN THE TROPHY IS AN ENVELOPE FOR 5,000 DOLLARS!"said Haggar."HE'S EARNED IT!"

Jessica then leaned in towards Cody.

"Congrats,champ."she said and kissed him.

There were hoots and cooes from the audience as they saw what happened.

Cody then raised the trophy high into the air as the audience continued to cheer him.

"LET'S GIVE OUR CHAMPION A GREAT BIG HAND FOLKS!"said Haggar. "THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT!"

A half hour later,the masses of Metro headed home in groves while back at the bus station,the street fighters themselves packed up their gear and began to part ways.

"It was great while it lasted."said Sean. "I've got quite a tale to tell Master Ken and my folks when I get back to New York."

"Yeah,and wait till we tell our girlfriends about going to Metro,the city of warriors."said Yang.

"Even though I didn't win either,I did manage to learn to improve more of my ninjitsu skills for the situations I was in."said Ibuki. "Grandpa Geki should be pleased."

"I had a grand time in one of the US's finer cities."said Dudley. "Even though it was only for a contest,but I look forward to the better sights and sounds next time. Wait till I tell my old chap Eagle about this."

"My girl in Russia will be worried about me as well."said Necro. "But she will be happy to see me as well."
"I unfortunately have no family back in Paris."said Remy. "But I made some friends back at Club Metro,coincidence on the name by the way who will be pleased to see me back."

"And i'm sure they'll be pleased more as to your progress to your handling of your rage next time,Remy?"said Alex as he stepped up next to him.

"Oui,monsieur Alex."said Remy. "Thanks to you and the others,I have found a greater reason to live--and to fight of course. But now I must begin my own journey and life. Till we meet again."

The two shook hands and Remy was the first to leave for the bus terminal.

"There goes a changed man."said Dudley.

"He'll turn out all right,i'm sure of it."said Alex.

"I hope so."said Ibuki.

"Well,Alex..."said Yun. "..how are ya feeling?"

Alex rubbed at his head.

"Physically,not so bad,but...man I was so close myself."he said.

"Winning isn't everything my boy."said Dudley. "This should only help you train better for next time."

"And that I will,I promise you."said Alex. "Whether it be for the next Street Fighter or Metro City tournament."

"As will we all."said Yang.

Just then,Cody,Guy,Jessica and Haggar came up to them.

"Hey,hey,if it ain't the Metro Champion."said Sean.

"I didn't come here to brag."said Cody. "We just came to see you all off."

"That's very couteous of you,Cody."said Dudley. "But is that really all?"

"Well no."said Cody. "Alex,I came here---to give you the trophy and title."

"What?"said Alex.

"It's just---you were better than me than I expected. You've done greater things than I ever could.I feel that you earned it,not me!"

"I--apprecaite the gesture,Cody."said Alex. "But--you need an icon,a better reminder of the person you are now to your people here. A fighter,a hero,not some recently convicted felon from years ago. You earned that title better than I ever could,and that's a fact. So,you place that trophy proudly in your home,and use the prize money for those who need it more than you. And I promise you,the next time we meet,it'll be an even greater match than we had before."

"I will Alex,I promise you."said Cody. "And thanks."

The two heroes shook hands and Alex was off.

As did the rest of the fighters who waved goodbye to the Final Fight heroes and went off for their departure buses.

"Well,there goes the finest warriors to ever set foot in Metro City."said Guy.

"Yeah,i'll miss them myself."said Jessica.

"They'll be back."said Haggar. "I intend to make the next tournament as great as the first."

"Aw, you mean it Haggar?"said Cody.

"Absolutely!"said Haggar. "I think everyone would want to see that rematch you and Alex want to have the next time don't you?"

"Sure,why not?said Cody.

"Well,let's all get something to eat,it's on me."said Haggar.

And with that,the Final Fight crew went off for a well-deserved rest as well.

That night,all was peaceful in Metro City,as well as the rest of the world..at least until the Street Fighter's next grand adventure!

STREET FIGHTER VS FINAL FIGHT:
METRO CITY MAUL!

THE END!