From her perch across from where Ryu was being held by the Shadowlaw dolls, Cammy White watched as Ryu litterally fought his way through the dolls through the pair of binoculars and listened in on their dialogue with some field equipment (namely, a directional microphone and a set of headphones), she couldn't help but to be impressed at the Japanese martial artist's resolve.
As she watched him disappear around the corner, the former Shadowlaw operative-turned-British agent pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number. After a few rings, someone picked up on the other end. "Hello."
"It's me," Cammy replied.
"What you got on Ryu?"
"You won't believe what he just did."
"What? What did he do?"
"He was tranked by Juli and the other dolls," Cammy reported. "And when he came to, he literally fought his way through the dolls, and they were dressed in lingerie. I don't know about you, Chun Li, but fighting your way through a dozen half-naked women earns brownie points in my book."
The Chinese woman sighed. "So he's still loyal to me. Thanks, Cammy. Keep me informed, okay?"
"Will do."
Ryu's POV
Those damn Shadowlaw dolls sure can hit hard, even without those heavy gauntlets they wore. I took several shots to my chest, arms and torso. Like I couldn't help but to be distracted by several women dressed in Victoria's Secret underwear.
Got to find a doctor to bandage me up. Fortunately for me, I was close by Justice High School, where a childhood friend of mine worked at.
Sure enough, carrying a bundle of books in her hands was Kyoko Minazuki, the aforementioned childhood friend and former surgeon, now Justice's resident nurse, as well as a martial artist. I've heard from Sakura that she was brainwashed by the school's class president, along with several other students and teachers from other schools, but I was out of the country at the time, competing in the World Warrior tournament. From what I've heard, she was engaged to a teacher who was also a part of Justice High's faculty.
Kyoko turned in my direction, then stopped when she seen me. "You don't look too good, Ryu."
"You think?" I sneered.
Kyoko sighed. "Come with me. I'll fix you up."
Inside the nurse's office...
Kyoko ushered me inside and sat me down on the edge of the bed. "Take your shirt off, Ryu," she said as she gathered some bandages and some rubbing alcohol.
I complied as she sat down next to me and begin to work on the numerous bruises that were on my upper body. I smelled the scene of alcohol and my face winced slightly at the sting of the alcohol on my shoulders.
"Sorry," Kyoko said. "I should have told you about the alcohol."
"Give me a verbal warning about the alcohol next time."
She worked on my injuries. "I haven't seen you in a while," she said. "How you've been?"
"I've been doing good," I replied.
"So I've heard from your student," Kyoko replied, as I felt her trace one finger along my bicep. "I've treated her for some injuries some time back. You're a great teacher."
"I got a great student."
"Is there anything that you are not a master of?" she asked.
"Why you ask?"
I should have seen it coming. Next thing I know, Kyoko had swung herself around and was currently sitting in my lap, her legs wrapped around my waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck as her eyes glinted with mischef through her eyeglasses.
Aw, crap.
"Maybe I can show you something new," she replied softly.
I looked at her as if she lost her mind. "Aren't you engaged?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Hideo is not a real man...unlike you." She removed her glasses.
"You know," I replied. "I've heard of bedside manner, but this is a little too much. Besides, I'm already spoken for, Kyoko. You're a friend to me. Nothing more. Infidelity is not my thing, really."
She smiled at me. "What's wrong, Ryu? Why not show me your love like you would a real woman?"
"If I did that," I replied, "then I'd be a real dead man." I then heaved Kyoko off of me and grabbed my shirt. Turning to face her, I added. "Take a shower. A cold one."
I then left without another word. I slipped on my shirt and exited the high school.
As I walked down a deserted street, the two sides of my mind were currently at war with each other over my actions. One side was my, well, 'hentai' side, while the other was the more pratical one.
"RYU NO BAKA!" my hentai side was screaming. "What the hell is wrong with you! You were pratically given the keys to the Shadowlaw dollhouse and you rejected them!"
"I'd rather have one good woman rather than a whole harem of them," my rational side replied. "Besides, I'm not a ladies' man. It's just not me."
I then stopped in my tracks when I saw that someone was waiting for me at the corner.
Vega. The self-proclaimed Spanish Ninja.
And he was looking for a fight. He was dressed in his usual matador pants and loafers. In one hand was his mask that he used to cover his 'perfect' face, and strapped to his other hand was the infamous three-pronged claw he uses as a weapon.
Looks like this could be a blessing in disguise. I need to let loose some steam. But I also had to be careful. Vega is not the most stable fighters I had the chance of facing.
"I came to Japan to look for you," he began in Spanish-accented Japanese, "and lo and behold, you come to me."
His Japanese was terrible, so I reponded in English (fluently, of course). "Don't you defile my native language with that foul tongue of yours, Spaniard."
Vega complied and switched over to English. "Ever since the last World Warrior tournament, all I hear from the Shadowlaw dolls were how the great Ryu Hoshi was so handsome." He trailed his claw along the side of a car, scratching the paint job. "They used to say that about me...but then..." He pointed his claw at me. "YOU showed up! You rarely do anything and you have all of them swooning at you!"
Uh-oh. This looks bad.
"What do you have that I don't!" Vega ranted. "You are nothing! A pig! I am of noble birth!"
"And a complete psycho," I added under my breath.
He then set his mask onto his face. "No matter. You'll tell me your secret...after I stain my blades with you blood."
Oh, boy. Vega's gone bye-bye. I went into my stance, just as Vega leapt into the air.
I rolled out of the way of his claw, but he managed to plant a foot to my back. Cheap shot. I turned around, and not a moment too soon. Vega pulled his clawed hand back and took a swipe at me. Missed.
Unless I wanted to look like Bruce Lee from 'Enter the Dragon,' I got to get rid of of that damn claw. When Vega swung at me again, I sidestepped the blow and he ended up embedding part of his weapon into the side of a wall. While he was trying to yank his claw from the wall, I nailed him with a hard kick to the side. That did the trick and his claw was still sticking in the side of the wall.
With a small grin, I grabbed his claw and yanked it from the wall. Tossing it into the air, I used a Shoryuken to break the deadly weapon to pieces.
"You bastard!" Vega seethed. "I'll kill you with my bare hands!"
I then noticed that he had filed his fingernails into sharp points. Looks like I'll have to be careful. And at the same time, I'll add insult into injury by going for his face.
I fired off a Hadouken. He backflipped out of the way. He then jumped and bounced from the wall and sailed towards me in a swan dive. I hopped back and Vega landed in front of me.
I threw a combination of punches and kicks, most were aimed at his face. I faked a blow and nailed him in the gut. Then I spun in a roundhouse kick, my foot connecting to the side of his masked face. The impact of the blow had knocked Vega's mask from his face. The mask skittered along the street and I watched as Vega tried to chase after it, but unfortunately for him, it had fell into a storm drain.
"Tough break, Vega," I sneered. Then I moved in to attack.
Too bad he was more focused on blocking my incoming blows to his face, because I was raining blow after blow onto his chest and legs. When I finally broke through his guard, I lambasted him with my Shakunetsu Hadouken. The blast of ki sent him flying though a display window of a deserted store.
He came out of the display window, his face covered with several cuts from the broken glass, his hair in disarray. I looked at him and grinned. Chun Li would give anything to see the look on his mangled face.
Vega staggered out of the window. "My...my FACE! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
With a howl he charged at me.
I planted a Shorryuken onto his chin.
Vega goes to night-night land.
I kicked his unconscious body for good measure. "You have to beat my Shoryuken to stand a chance," I said, "and from your performance, you pretty much failed."
I walked off from the battle scene.
The air was getting more and more colder, and since I lost my jacket from fighting the Shadowlaw dolls, I entered a small shop and since they were out of jackets, I bought a trenchcoat instead.
At least it was worth the yen I paid for it.
When I got outside, I looked at the clock. It was already too late. The train station was too far for me to make from where I was at and I guess I'll have to make it back home on foot. Oh, well. I've been through worse.