Chapter Three: Rumble at the Pao Pao Cafe
One of Southtown's most famous (or in some cases, infamous) establishments was the Pao Pao Cafe. It had good food, the atmosphere was friendly and there were fights there on a daily basis for cash prizes. The owner, Brazilian-born Richard Meyer, was also a martial artist, proficient in the art of Capoeira, as was his apprentice, Bob Wilson.
The latter, was watching the front door as Ryu, Ken and Miya approached. Both Ken and Ryu were dressed in semi-casual attire, while Miya changed from her previous outfit into a white blouse, which was hidden by the black vest she wore over it, black denim pants and her Shadowlaw boots. A thigh-length jacket covered most of her outfit as they walked up to the front door.
Bob let them in without any problems...eventhough Miya had smuggled her Muramasa inside, out of pure habit.
The Pao Pao Cafe was indeed big, with two floors, a balcony on one side with a VIP lounge, complete with tables, and a raised platform where several men and women dressed in Capoeira fighting attire stood beside the ring, playing instruments and performing an exhibition for the gathered audience.
Note: The song that they're playing is Richard Meyer's theme from the first Fatal Fury game.
Miya walked down the steps, with Ryu and Ken behind her. "This is my kind of place," the female kendoist said. "I could become a regular here, if I was staying in the city."
The three righters took a seat. Ryu flagged down a waitress and she took their orders. Miya removed her sword from her hiding place and placed it along the table.
Ignoring the looks that her brother and Ken were giving her, Miya shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Force of habit."
As the trio waited for their dinner, several people were watching them from two different tables, and from the bar. From the bar, was the aforementioned owner of the Pao Pao Cafe, Richard Meyer and his protegee, Bob Wilson. From another table, was a Japanese woman, and seated at a third table were three women, the girlfriends of three of Southtown's top fighters.
King looked over to where Miya was sitting and immediately frowned. Mary Ryan followed her friend's gaze. "What is it, King?"
King pointed over to where Miya was sitting. "It's her from earlier. The girl I told you about." She then recognized both Ryu and Ken. "And she's with those two."
Mai Shiranui looked over to where Miya was sitting. "She's with Ryu and Ken. So she probably has ties with the Ansatsuken dojo."
"I've heard about her," Mary said. "She's supposed to be a former operative from Shadowlaw who's an expert with a sword. Terry also told me that that girl is Ryu's little sister and a master of several fighting styles, including Ansatsuken."
"Ryu Hoshi has a kid sister?" King replied. "I'll bet Ryo and the others will have a field day when the'll find out about this," she added knowung full well of the rivalry between the two schools. King had also heard that Ryu was now married and had settled fown in Japan, but continued to travel for various martial arts tournaments all over the world.
Mai took notice of the Muaramasa sword that was perched near Miya. 'Nice sword.'
The three women watched as Richard Meyer and Bob Wilson approached the three Ansatsuken fighters' table.
Miya looked at the two men that stood over her brother and Ken before taking a sip of her water. "Can I help you?" she asked.
Meyer pointed to Miya's sheathed sword. "I hope you don't plan on causing trouble with that weapon of yours," he said in English.
"Only if trouble finds me first," Miya replied calmly. "You need not worry. My sword imtimidates people more than me having to use it. You're the owner?"
Meyer nodded. "I am. Richard Meyer, owner of this establishment." He pointed to his dreadlocked protegee. "My student and co-manager, Bob Wilson."
"You should ask her to leave," Bob said in Portuguese to his boss/master. "We haven't seen her before until tonight. And besides, people with swords scare me."
"You can say I have that effect on people."
Both Meyer and Wilson looked at Miya in shock as she smoothly replied in Portuguese. Smirking at their shocked expressions, Miya continued to speak to them in their native language. Even Ken was surprised.
"Appearances can be very misleading, Mr. Wilson," Miya said. She trailed one finger across the sword's handle. "But rest assure that I won't cause any trouble while I'm here. However, I will be the one that will finish it should trouble finds me."
"You speak Portuguese well," Meyer said in his native tongue. "You've obivously been to Brazil."
"I've dropped by there in my...previous line of work," Miya replied politely. "Very exotic."
"Hmm..." This time Meyer spoke in English. "Enjoy your visit in Southtown." He and Wilson left their table without further incident.
"You never told me that you spoke Portuguese," Ken said.
Miya shrugged her shoulders. "You never asked. Besides, there are manythings you don't know about me. All you knew was that I'm a former Shadowlaw operative who's a motorcycle freak. Speaking of which, you didn't tell me that you taught Ryu how to ride a bike."
Ken remembered Ryu telling him that his motorcycle lessons came in handy when he, Miya and Chun Li chased Doctrine Dark and Cracker Jack through the streets of Tokyo following several attempts on his and Chun Li's lives following the last tournament.
"And to think when you know some people," Miya said.
She was then interrupted when a newcomer came to her table. It was a local fighter and occasional participant of the weekly fights that the Pao Pao Cafe held, a bald Thai kickboxer by the name of Hwa Jai.
With a lecherous grin, he looked Miya up and down, ignoring the death stares of her brother and Ken. "You're pretty," he said in Thai-accented English. "How about a date?"
Miya looked at him and responded in Thai. Whatever she had said pissed Hwa Jai off plenty, since he roughly placed his hand on her shoulder. Before he could get a word out, Miya's hand was on his twisting it from her shoulder, making the kickboxer wince and cry out in pain.
Rising to her feet, she tossed him to the ground. When Hwa Jai got back to his feet, he saw that Miya was waiting for him in the ring, a smug expression on her face. Seeing the veiled challenge, Hwa Jai followed her into the ring.
Bets were now starting to take place. Most of them were on Hwa Jai. Ken, however, knew better. He placed his money on Miya.
"You're going to lose something very importantant tonight, you little whore," Hwa Jai threatened as he went into his stance.
Miya cracked her knuckles and went into her Lethwei stance, saying nothing.
King watched in interest at Miya. 'She knows Muay Thai?' she wondered.
Hwa Jai attacked first, but Miya parried and quickly counterattacked. She punched him square in the face. To Hwa Jai, it felt like he was getting his face bashed in with a brick. Once, twice, three times, followed by an elbow which knocked the male kickboxer to the ground.
As the fight progressed, Miya proceeded to pick apart Hwa Jai when he made several mistakes. From her table, King watched Miya, sizing her up. It had been a while since she had a good challenge and Miya Hoshi looked like she could give it to her.
Meanwhile, a third party numbering six men, attracted by the noise from downstairs, emerged from the VIP lounge and watched from the balcony. They were lead by the 'King of Southtown' himself, Geese Howard. Standing beside him, was his most trusted fighter, Billy Kane. As with his boss, he was dressed in a business suit, only his was brown and he was wearing his red-and-white bandanna. Geese noticed the look on his subordinate's face as he watched Miya fight with nothing but contempt in his eyes.
During the fight, a third kickboxer entered the cafe. Joe Higashi wasked in and what he saw was an angel in the ring, beating the crap out of Hwa Hai.
As for Hwa Jai, he was down and out for the count. Miya stood above him, pratically unscathed. Everyone who had betted money on Hwa Jai was incredibly pissed that they had lost their money. Three men and women a woman entered the ring and surrounded Miya.
From the balcony, Geese turned to Billy. "So...this is the one who bested you?" he asked.
Billy could only nod as the battle played over in his mind. Sometime after Cracker Jack and Doctrine Dark's deaths, Billy was in Japan on vacation when he heard about Miya's unrivaled abilities with the Muramasa and decided to check it out, seeing an opportunity to add another win to his record. Instead, Billy was beaten. He was beaten before by the Bogard brothers, but this loss against Miya was far worse than the pounding he took from either brother.
What made it worse was that Miya wasn't even trying.
As the men surrounded her, Miya shifted her stance. Instead of using either Ansatsuken or Lethwei, she went with Shadowlaw Commando, a style she was also lethal in, but rarely used.
While Billy watched with loathing in his eyes, Geese was watching with general interest. He also noticed that Ryu was among the spectators along with the Masters family heir. He then started to wonder what was the link between Miya and Ryu, until Billy confirmed it for him.
"Ryu is Miya's brother, and trained in the Ansatsuken style," Billy deadpanned.
Geese folded his arms across his chest. "Hmm...interesting."
Geese had heard about Ryu and of the Ansatsuken style, whose power rivaled that of the Hakkyokuseiken. The killing ability of Ansatsuken had intrigued Geese, having seen Ryu in action and knowing that he was a master in both the light and dark sides of the aforementioned fighting style. He also heard rumors about a relative of Ryu's who was the master of the ultimate killing technique. Billy confirmed one of the rumors concerning Miya's lineage, but the ultimate killing technique was something that had to be looked up at a later time.
But he put those thoughts aside as he watched Miya fight her new challengers.
Joe watched from his place at the bar. As Miya fought and knocked out her opponents one by one, it was like she was performing a martial arts ballet for the Japanese kickboxer.
Right now, Miya wasn't even breaking a sweat as she thrashed the newcomers. Even Richard Meyer and Bob Wilson was impressed and in awe by her skill. Some of them had gotten their shots in, but Miya powered on through.
King on the other hand, had seen enough. Once the final fighter was down for the count, King stood up from her seat and jumped into the ring.
"Not bad," she said. "Or was it just luck?"
Miya turned to face her new challenger. "Oh. It's you."
King smirked as she went into her stance. "Those guys were nothing. Let's see how you do against a fighter like me."
"Ooh...Muay Thai. This should be interesting." Miya grinned from the challenge as she went into her Lethwei stance. Actually it was a Muay Thai stance taught to her by Sagat back when she was in Shadowlaw, but it was something that Miya used.
Miya held her stance for several minutes...then lowered them, provoking King to attack. Her bluff worked as King threw a straight punch at her head, only to see Miya dodged it. King threw out several more punches, but Miya dodged them all, bobbing and weaving like a boxer would.
Miya swatted King's next attack aside and landed a backhand to the side of the French martial artist's temple. She then followed with a hard elbow to the gut, knocking the wind out of King. King recovered and landed a cross on Miya's face. King then proceeded to tag Miya with several bows, but was shocked to see that they didn't even faze her. When King moved in, Miya grabbed her and began to knee her repeatedly.
Then Miya kicked King with her left leg, spun around then stuck her with her right foot, lifting King off the ground and into the air, until Miya was doing a vertical split. Then she slammed King to the ground and kicked her away.
Mai and Mary winced at the move Miya performed on their friend.
The fight continued, Miya clearly gaining the upper hand on King, landing blow after blow on her without mercy.
King, on the other hand, was hurting all over. But she still had one last trick up her sleeve.
As Miya moved in, King executed her final attack: the Illusion Dance.
King backflipped and lunged into Miya, unleashing a torrent of kicks upon the younger woman. But if King had noticed (but everyone else did), was that Miya was blocking and parrying every one of her blows.
Then Miya caught her leg, just as its foot was about to connect to her face.
"Wha--" King gasped.
"My turn," Miya replied as she knocked King's leg aside.
King was hard pressed as she blocked a volley of Miya's kicks and punches. To King, it seemed that they were coming from everywhere. High, low, left, and right. King managed to get her in a hold, but Miya slammed her head into hers, forcing King to break the hold.
"The hell!" King shouted. "Muay Thai doesn't allow headbutts!"
Miya smiled evilly. "But Kachin Lethwei does."
'Lethwei?' King thought.
From the sidelines, Joe was also thinking, 'Kachin-style Lethwei? That's Burmese kickboxing!'
Thirty seconds later, King was left stunned from several connecting blows. Miya looked at the sight before her and instead of knocking her out, simply gave her a little shove, making King fall over. King, fortunately, was unconscious when she hit the ground.
As Mary and Mai rusged over to their unconscious friend, Miya turned to exit the ring, but a final challenger had leapt in.
"Stop right there, you little tart."
Miya turned around. Billy Kane had entered the ring, his trademark six-foot red pole in hand. He had discarded his suit jacket and tie.
"Billy Kane," Miya replied without missing a beat. "So nice to see you again."
Billy twirled his staff. "You were lucky the last time we fought," he said. "You won't get lucky a second time."
Miya shrugged her shoulders as she motioned for Ryu to hand over her sword. "Who said it was luck?" the former Shadowlaw operative replied as she caught her sword from the air after Ryu tossed it to her. "I defeated you fair and square. You're just a sore loser, Kane." She pulled out her sword. "But if you want a rematch, then I'll guess I'll have to oblige." She raised her sword in a formal salute before shifting into a classic kendo stance.
Meyer and Wilson had some trouble in taking all of the bets, most of them for Billy. They knew the pole master both by his reputation as Geese's right hand man and fighter, and thought that he wasn't going to lose to an upstart like Miya.
Billy attacked with a series of staff swings. Miya calmly played defensive as she parried and dodged the Englishman's staff attacks. Miya counterattacked by launching a series of precision strikes with the Muramasa sword, forcing Billy on the defensive. One thing about Miya was that she had embraced various styles of Asian and even European swordfighting, such as Épée, Iado, Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, Escrima, Ninjitsu, Kenjitsu, Akido, Kendo, Koryu bujutsu and various others, and that made her swordfighting much more dangerous.
The fighting, meanwhile, had went outside the ring and was currently, heading up the stairs and onto the second floor balcony, the patrons getting out of the way, lest they end up being part of the battle in a most bad way.
Miya had flipped out of the way of Billy's staff, which had amazing range when broken into three parts, and had landed on the second floor railing. Her center of balance perfect, Miya beckoned Billy to follow. Billy purused his opponent, only thing was his balance wasn't as perfect as Miya's.
Miya used that to her advantage. After several intense minutes dueling on the balcony, Billy was sent down the stairs and back into the ring. Miya, on the other hand, simply slid down the stairs' railing, and gracefully somersaulted into the ring.
Billy scrambled to his feet as Miya slowly advanced. "Typical. Have you learned anything new, Billy?"
"How about THIS!" Billy yelled as he began to spin his staff, creating a circle of flames.
Miya readied her sword...
Billy flung the projectile at Miya...
...who swung her Muramasa at the circle of flames, directing it back to Billy, forcing him to block his own move. It was, however, too much for Billy, as the force of his own technique sent him sprawling to the ground, his staff breaking upon impacting with the move.
It was over. Miya had won. Billy was unconscious from taking his own move.
And everyone that had betted on Billy Kane to win the match ended up losing a lot of money.
Miya turned from the downed fighter and walked away. As she picked up her scabbard and placed her sword inside, Geese Howard stepped into the ring.
"Stop right there."
Miya turned around, and found herself face-to-face with the Southtown mobster himself. Placing her sheathed Muramasa sword on one shoulder, she looked at Geese without a hint of fear in her eyes.
Geese looked at Billy, who was being tended to by two of his henchmen, then back at Miya. "That was my best man," he said.
"If you say so." Miya sized the older man up. "You're a lot taller than you look in the pictures, Mr. Howard."
"And you're fighting styles are most impressive indeed. I hope for your sake that you didn't kill Billy."
"I was lenient," Miya replied. "I don't kill without provocation or cause."
"A code of honor, coming from someone of your...remarkable talents. No wonder they call you the 'Muramasa Emperess.'" Geese thought for a moment. "Hmm...I could use a person like you working for me. So what do you say, Miya? I could use you as an enforcer here in Southtown. Maybe as a bodyguard. And the rewards working for me will be extremely great."
Miya thought about it for a moment. "My answer is no, Mr. Howard," Miya replied. "I serve no master but myself."
"Pity," Geese said. "Such a waste of talent. You could have been somebody, Miya."
Miya had read the profile on Geese Howard. She knew that he was one of the best fighters in the world. But Geese also knew that his counter moves would not probably work on a woman wielding a Muramasa sword, after seeing her beat Billy without breaking a sweat.
"She IS somebody, Howard."
A third person - a woman - stepped into the ring. She was Japanese, older than Miya, but younger than Geese, probably in her mid-to-late twenties and smartly dressed in a women's business suit with skirt. Following close behind, were two of her loyal bodyguards.
"In fact, that's the reason why I had her to come to Southtown," the woman finished.
Geese turned to the smaller woman. "Just because your father's a big-time Yakuza chieftain doesn't mean that I could squash his daughter like a bug," he threatened. "So back off, Sakamura."
Eimi Sakamura merely smiled. "Quite the contrary. I bought her here to Southtown to challenge her to a duel. So if you want Miya, then you'll have to get in line, because I'm first." Her smile then took on a steely hardness. "You know what my father is capable of, Geese. I may not be Yakuza, but I'm the only thing that's keeping my father from making a hostile takeover of your territory, and you know it."
Geese knew that she was right. Her father was one of the most powerful Yakuza chieftains in Japan and he had his eyes set on Southtown for a long time. Geese had spent nearly fifteen years securing his position as the head of Southtown's criminal world and the last thing that he nor anyone else needed was a bloody gang war that was to surely leave Southtown in ruins and many people dead, himself probably included.
"This isn't over, Sakamura," Geese threatened.
"For now, it is," Eimi replied flatly.She pointed to Billy. "See after your man."
Geese left the cafe, his men carrying Billy out. As the Southtown mobster passed Ryu and Ken, Geese locked eyes with the Japanese Ansatsuken fighter, Ryu looking back without a sense of fear as Geese passed.
Once Geese was gone, Eimi turned to Miya. "That was fun," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Your reputation proceeds you, Miya. You're everything that my brother told you to be."
"So you were scouting me?" Miya asked.
"Not really. I like coming in here when I leave work." She looked at Ryu, who approached the both of them. "And this is your brother? The Ansatsuken fighter that brought down Shadowlaw?"
Ryu nodded. "I am."
"A great honor to meet you in person," Eimi said inclining her head. She then turned to Miya. "Not everyone could beat Billy Kane the way you did."
Miya shrugged her shoulders. "There were some rough spots in the end, but not too tough."
Eimi eyed the Muramasa on Miya's shoulder. "May I?" she asked.
Miya handed over her sword to Eimi. The Japanese businesswoman slowly pulled out the blade and inspected it. "This weapon is very exquisite, Miya. Very balanced indeed." She sheathed her sword and handed it back to Miya. "Word of advice, Miya. You should watch yourself in this city. People tent to try and make a name for themselves by taking on the strongest fighter. And aside from Geese, you and your brother are most likely it."
"Thanks for the advice," Miya replied.
"That's free, but I don't want nothing to happen to you before our match. I want you at the top of your game when we fight." She then turned and walked out, her two bodyguards following close behind.
Meanwhile, Ken was busy collecting his winnings. Approaching Miya, he handed her the majority of the cash. "Here you go," he said. "Consider this a gift for your kendo school, courtesy of the Masters Foundation."
"Thanks," Miya said as she pocketed the cash. Meanwhile, King was being carried out by both Mary and Mai.
-Kyokugenryu School/Sakazaki Family Home, later on...-
Ryo Sakazaki's voice was heard throughout the house. "WHO DID THIS!"
"We were at the Pao Pao Cafe when it happened," Mary replied as she and Mai tended to King. "There was this girl who came with Ryu and Ken--"
Ryo cut her off. "Ryu and Ken? Those two from the Ansatsuken school?"
Yuri Sakazaki looked at King's injuries. "Ryu's student couldn't have done this. I've seen her fight before. Someone else had done this."
"It was his sister," Mary replied.
Ryo and Yuri looked up. "Sister?" they both repeated.
Then Ryo remembered the girl that had been checking out his bike earlier that day. He then put the two together. "That girl..."
Mai looked up. "What girl?"
"There was a girl that King and I met earlier today," Ryo explained.
Mary looked at Ryo. "Was she about five-feet-six, brown hair tied into a ponytail, likes motorcycles?"
Ryo nodded eagerly. "That's her. Who is she?"
"Her name is Miya Hoshi," Mary explained. "Her specialty is swordfighting. She is also an expert in hand-to-hand combat as well, from what we saw."
Yuri scoffed. "She can't be that good."
"She took on Hwa Jai, beat him, then several more fighters lost to her," Mai explained. "Then King challenged her and you see the results."
"Then Billy Kane challenged her," Mary cut in, "And we all know that Billy's tough as they come. Even Andy had trouble defeating him. Miya fought him and beaten him."
"She's pretty amazing with that sword of hers," Mai noted. "I noticed that she knew several styles of swordfighting, Ninjitsu included."
"From the moves she showed," Mary said, "She could probably give Geese a run for his money."
"She can't be that good," Ryo said.
"Yes she is," both Mary and Mai replied.
"Whatever," Ryo replied. "I'm going to see them tomorrow. And I want an explaination as to why she had to beat King so badly."