"What can I get for you?"
"I'll have a plain old beer, thanks."
A beautiful woman in a purple and white suit retrieves a drink for a paying customer. Nearby, a man wielding a pair of Escrima sticks stands by the exit with his arms folded across his chest, silently observing the action going on inside the recreational lounge.
In the back of the hall there is a stage. A young Japanese girl named Athena Asamiya is performing with her bandmates. Athena is a mildly famous pop singer in Japan, and she is at the lounge performing at the request of a good friend, the barhostess, a woman nicknamed "King".
Not many people are fans of Athena's, as a very, very large man with deep black eyes and black hair stands up, knocking over the table he was sitting at. The man was clearly over 7 feet tall. He was accompanied by a scantily clad, yet relatively manish woman, who decided to speak up for the two of them.
"Get that garbage off the stage! Hugo doesn't want to hear it!"
The music stops and Athena drops her microphone, ready to burst into tears. Athena's never recieved an insult, even from other people who disliked her music. King looks toward the heartbroken Athena, and the Escrima stick-wielding man takes notice.
The large man grumbles and begins to step toward the stage, when from the other side of the hall, another large man stood up, and spoke with a Russian accent.
"That's not very nice of you. Sit back down before you get yourself hurt."
"! Zangief," said the manish woman nicknamed Poison. "The Red Cyclone, in the flesh. My Hugo's always wanted to take your title belt from you. How about we fight, right here, right now?"
Zangief was silent, but anger was rising from within him. He knows who Hugo is. The German mountain of a man hailing from Munich was a very tough competitor. Hugo is the current campion of a Wrestling federation in his country. He's traveled to England to compete as a guest in a British wrestling federation, as has Hugo, but it looks as if something has started between the two giants.
"I don't want to fight you here, but if you insist on picking on a defenseless girl, I'll make you taste that dancefloor."
Zangief takes off his clothes to reveal that he has his wrestling gear on underneath. How odd. The Russian wrestler steps onto the dancefloor and awaits his opponent. Hugo lumbers towards Zangief, cracking his knuckles.
Suddenly, the two enter a grapple. Testing each other's strength, the two fighters attempt to take each other down. Hugo is just too large and manages to grab Zangief, delievers a powerful Power Bomb into the glowing tiles on the floor. Several glowing pink tiles shatter under the weight. Zangief rolls to his feet and sweeps Hugo with his leg, tripping him. The lights in the ceiling shake as though an earthquake has struck the area. Zangief leaps onto a nearby table and leaps off of it, driving his elbow into Hugo's chest. Hugo's eyes briefly bulge from his skull. The wrestlers get back to their feet, and Zangief get's the upper hand by grabbing Hugo. In attempt to win the fight early, Zangief sets up for his powerful Spinning Piledriver attack, but Hugo anticipates the move, and as Zangief brings Hugo up ino the air, Hugo counters it into his Moonsault Press. Several women scream as the whole club shakes.
"Enough of this!"
Hugo gets to his feet and backs away a bit as King jumps from around the bar and runs over to the dance floor.
"Look at this mess! You're both going to pay for this!"
Zangief recovers and crawls back to his table. Hugo turns to leave the club when King runs up and jumpkicks Hugo in the back of the head. It barely phases the giant, and Hugo continues out the door. Poison begins to follow, but turns back around and walks over to Zangief.
"That was a great fight. You were tough enough to stumble away from Hugo's Moonsault Press."
"..."
"We're looking for a few partners to enter a tournament in Osaka, Japan this weekend. What do you say, will you join us?
"Why would I join you after our fight?"
"We have a new respect for you now. We'd like to be your partner."
Zangief sighed. He wanted to check out that tournament anyway to see some of his old friends from the second World Warriors tournament several years ago. He might as well get some training for the wrestling event in England two weeks from now.
"Alright." He extends his hand and shakes Poison's.
"We don't have any idea who our third partner is, so if you know anyone, invite them along. See you then!"
Poison turns to follow Hugo, exchanging dirty looks with King. Zangief goes to his table to get dressed again when he bumps into the bouncer with the Escrima sticks, Eagle.
"You owe King money. I'll join you if you give me a cut of the prize money. King needs it for the repairs."
"I know you. You're Eagle, right? You joined the first World Warriors tournament to find and defeat Sagat. You came close, but you didn't reach him. You're good for getting as far as you have. Alright, welcome aboard. And sorry for the mess!"
Eagle remained expressionless and walked towards King. Eagle whispers into her ear.
"Mark of the Millennium 2001, in Japan? ... And you joined? ... Oh, I see. Good plan! I'll get my team set up. Thanks Eagle."
King returns to the bar and fixes herself a drink. She looks to Athena on stage and nods for her to continue her song.