Tokyo, to me has sentimental value to me. I spent many a night here while Ken was here training with me and Gouken (not to mention all of the underground fights I've competed in, and still do, but I digress).
It was early evening as the metropolis went about their business. I was one of them. However, I had a strange feeling that I was being followed. Maybe because the fact that the last time I was in Tokyo I was being chased by several aroused girls. I shook the feeling off as I walked through downtown Tokyo.
Then as I turned a corner, I ran into someone who I haven't seen for some time.
Rose.
The mysterious fortuneteller was here in Japan. Sne was wearing an overcoat over her clothes and her scarf what she uses as a weapon was draped around her shoulders.
She looked in my direction. Upon recognizing me, she broke into a smile. "Ryu. How nice to see you again."
"Hi, Rose," I replied. "What are you doing here in Japan?"
"Just passing through. Actually, I came to see if I had a word with you."
I blinked. "Me?"
She nodded. "But can we talk someplace warmer?"
I led her to a small cafe that was nearby. We took a seat at a booth and she ordered some tea. I had a glass of water. I watched as Rose slowly savored the cup of hot tea in her hand with a smile. "I love Japanese tea. As much as I hate to admit it, it's much better than the European tea I usually drink."
"So you wanted to talk to me about something?" I asked.
She nodded. "I consulted my Tarot cards and saw something that you should be told about."
"And that is...?" I asked. Eventhough Rose was into those Tarot cards, I really didn't belive in such a thing.
Rose looked at me with a serious expression. "Ryu, today you will face your greatest challenge yet."
Challenge? This catches my interest. "Challenge? Who I got to fight this time? Sagat's in Thailand and Bison's gone, not to mention Akuma."
Rose shook her head. "The fight is not against another person. It is against yourself."
"Myself?" I repeated. "What do you mean by that? Is it my dark side?"
Rose merely smiled at me. "That's up to you to find out. But don't worry. You'll find out soon enough." She pulled out three 1000 yen notes and placed them on the table. "Thanks for the tea, Ryu."
After she left, I was still seated in my chair, still thinking about what Rose has said to me.
My greatest challenge? What could it be?
Night had started to set in as I exited the cafe and walked down the street. The wind had picked up just slightly, but thanks to the leather bomber that Ken had given to me last Christmas I was relatively warm. I got to remember to thank Ken for the gift.
I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts that when I looked up, I saw someone pointing something at me from a second-story window.
Believe me when I say that I knew what the barrel of a sniper rifle looked like.
I felt several stinging sensations in my shoulder. I looked down and saw that I had been hit with several tranquilizer darts. I yanked them out and threw them to the pavement. Unfortunately, it was too late, because the effects of the tranqs were starting to take effect. Next thing I knew, the world began to grow hazy and I fell to the ground.
"God damn it," I muttered. "Not again."
I then blacked out.
I woke up inside a room of sorts. I was lying on a matress and my head was throbbing due to the side effects of the tranquilzers. I realized that my jacket was gone and when I stood up to check the door, it was unlocked. Whoever knocked me out sure as hell wasn't doing a great job in guarding me.
I opened the door and peeked outside. Nothing. There was a window at the end of the hall and I can pretty much guess that I was on the fifth floor of the building. Looks like I'll have to work...or fight my way down.
I began to walk down the hall. I haven't gotten halfway through when two pairs of bare feet smashed into my chest, knocking me to the ground. The two indruders then moved fast. Before I managed to get up, they pinned me down with their feet.
"So nice to see you again, Ryu."
"So nice to see you're awake."
Juli and Juni. I recognized those voices anywhere. When I opened my eyes, my nose damn near erupted in a gesyer of red. Both of them were wearing sexy lingerie, rather than their Shadowlaw uniforms.
"You two don't know when to quit, do you?" I said. "I...have...a GIRLFRIEND!"
"That Chinese woman?" Juli replied. "What's better: twelve of us or just one insignificant woman?"
"We're all here," Juni chimed. "You can't take us all on."
"If you won't join us," Juli continued, as she and Juni grabbed me and hauled me to my feet, "then no one will have you."
While they were dragging me to my feet, I was, in the meantime, summoning my ki and channeling it to my feet.
They were still holding me when they raised their fists in perfect unison. "Goodbye, Ryu," they both said.
I then made my move.
Without uttering the phrase that preceeded my Vaccuum Hurricane Kick, I executed the move. Both women were caught into it as I stuck them numerous times with my foot. To tell you the truth, I think I broke my own record for number of hits delivered.
Both women were out like a light when I landed. Juli was slumped against the wall, while Juni was facedown on the ground.
"Goodbye, ladies," I replied flatly before turning and running down the hall.
From what Guile and Rose had told me about the Shadowlaw Dolls prior to the World Warrior tournaments, each one was named after a month in their native language and all have special talents. They are the pride of what WAS Bison's special forces.
I kicked the door to the stairs and entered the stairwell. The building was designed so that you have to go through a flight of stairs on one end to the next floor, down that floor's hallway to the other end where there will be another flight of stairs on the other end and so on.
I sighed. This is going to take a while.
I reached the door to the second floor and that door received the same treatment as the previous one. I took one step in and saw that three of the Shadowlaw dolls were waiting for me. The first woman was Japanese, while the other two were Chinese. The first woman was dressed in a partially open bathrobe and a pair of panties, while the two Chinese girls were dressed in bras and panties. The Japanese woman was holding a katana in one hand, while the other two were armed with a Chinese broadsword and a fighting staff.
To tell you the truth, I have never been so torn about fighting my way through several waves of scantily-clad women. If I had it any other way, I'd be all over them. But they were blocking my way out so there was no other alternative.
My face set in resolve, I walked in their direction. They saw me coming and they attacked. I have to admit that they were good fighters. Bison had trained them especially well. Maybe some other time, I can pick a fight with any of them. I can also tell that they were trying their hardest in their trying to subdue me, because I've been smacked with the flat side of their bladed weapons.
One of the Chinese dolls then addressed me.
"Resistance is futile, Ryu. You cannot resist us."
I stood ready in my stance. "From what Juli and Juni told me, you can't resist me."
All three charged...while I was once again summoning my ki. This time, I pulled my hands back as I felt the gathered energies began to form. They were hoping that they can knock me out of my technique.
Lucky for me, they were wrong. All three of them.
"Denjin...HADOUKEN!"
I fired off a massive bolt of electrical ki at my attackers. The blast caught all three of them and sent them flying back to the other end of the corridor. Instant knockout.
Five down, three to go.
On the next floor, the next three were the communications expert, the hacker, and the field medic. Apparently, both were not too keen with the idea of dressing up in lingerie to seduce me, eventhough I could tell that they also had the hots for me, but they were dressed in their Shadowlaw uniforms.
The one by the radio saw me first and alerted her friends. All three then assumed combat stances, but I remained standing. Jerking a thumb to the door behind me I said to the medic, "See after your friends."
They both looked at me for a long moment before lowering their stances. The communications specialist nodded to her partner and rushed past me and out the door with the hacker close behind.
"Smart move," I noted as they ran past me. I looked at the other girl. "And what about you?"
The other girl stepped aside. I grinned and began to run past her, but she grabbed my wrist, stopping me. I turned around to face her.
"There are four more girls waiting for you in the next floors," she said. "After that you're home free."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Make no mistake, Ryu Hoshi, that all of us are completely attracted to you, but this is not right by forcing ourselves on you. That is a decision that you must make on your own. Consider this a goodwill gesture."
"How honorable of you," I replied. I patted her on the head as she released her hold on my hand. "Thanks."
The next floor was a challenge. Waiting for me was the dolls' resident markswoman, the same one who had shot me with those damn tranks. She too was dressed in sexy undergarments, not to mention holding a sniper rifle in her hands.
This was going to be tricky. If I don't pull this off correctly, then I'm pretty much screwed.
That's when I felt the barrel of the rifle pressed up against my head. I raised my hands in surrender as the woman clicked her tongue. "Tsk. Tsk. Very sloppy, Ryu," she said in her European accent.
What she didn't know was that Guile gave me some pointers in how to disarm my attackers. In one quick moment, I swatted her rifle barrel aside, catching her off guard. Then I knocked it out from her hand, grabbed her and flipped her over my shoulder.
However, being ever the gentleman, I grabbed her, stopping her fall.
She was most impressed. "My, you're sweet."
I then knocked her out with a chop to the head. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" I said, setting her down on the ground.
After this flight of stairs, I was back on the first floor. And the three remaining lingerie-clad dolls were waiting for me, weapons drawn. One looked Mexican, the other Vietnamese and the other was wearing a mask.
Without even thinking, I walked into them head on. And eventhough I had several more bruises to add on the ones I already had, they were soon beaten.
"Thank you, generous hosts," I muttered as I exited the building.