Chapter 5: A Familiar Challenge

Ryu spent the night on couch of the hotel room Chun li was staying at. She insisted, believing that leaving Ryu to wander off so soon would be unwise, especially when the place he was staying at was destroyed. The Japanese warrior was too dispirited after losing his master's dojo to argue against her.

The interpole agent was washing up in the shower as the grief stricken Ryu continued to get lost in his own thoughts. Chun li was a little conflicted as to what actions she should take. If she let Ryu travel on his own freely, it'll only be a matter of time before Shadaloo or S.I.N. discovers her friend's location. If she didn't let Ryu continue his travels, he may resist and as talented of a warrior as she is, she has yet to best the World Warrior.

As the hot water sprinkled over her curvacious body, she decided as to which course of action to take. She would try to talk to him as a friend. It wasn't much of a chance he'll listen, and if he doesn't, she'd try to follow Ryu and keep tabs on him the best she can. If Bison or Juri try to make their move on him again, she'd be able to at least try and apprehend the criminals.

Stepping out of the shower Chun li wrap a light blue towel around her waist barely managing to cover herself completely. Leaving the washroom into her room in such an exposed state with Ryu in the room never troubled her. She knew the warrior was an honorable man and never even think to do anything unquestionable. Such a sense of trust in a man is a rare thing for a beautiful woman such as herself.

"Hey Ryu," she said softly as she dried her long brown hair with another towel. "How are you holding up."

The Japanese warrior was found sitting on the couch hunched over as he stared in the center of the floor. His deep thinking caused a delay reaction from Chun li addressing him for a second time.

"Uh...sorry Chun li, I...I guess I'm still getting over it" he said softly as he looked over to see the beautiful Chinese wet woman, only covered in her towel. He stared at the wonderous figure and caught himself and quickly turned away.
"I am sorry that you lost your master's dojo." She apologized softly. "I never knew how important it was to you."

"It was a place of many fond and valuable memories..."

Chun li thought she'd give Ryu some more time to think as she changed into something a little more appropriate.

Ryu could hear the agents footsteps entering a room farther down the hall. He then glanced over at the phone in the hotel and thought about calling his best friend. After all, it wasn't just Ryu who spent well over a decade training under master Gouken in that structure. Ken Masters deserved to know.

"Chun li," The warrior called to her in the other room. "May I use the phone to make a long distance call?"
"Sure!" She responded from inside the bedroom.

Ryu punched in Ken's number on the phone. The dial tone began to ring, and it wasn't long until someone picked up the phone. "Hello?" A woman's sweet voice answered.
"Hello Eliza," He responded poorly masking his depressed tone. "It's me, Ryu"
"Ryu! How are you doing?"
"I am fine, is Ken there?"
"Sure, just one second, he's training outside again. I'll go get him."

Eliza set the phone down on the table and headed outside of her large mansion. Loud impacts could be heard from the small dojo that was built next to the mansion. If was a near perfect replica of Master's Gouken's dojo. Ken insisted on making it identical when he asked his father to make it all those years ago.

When Eliza stepped in she could see Ken had already gone through two punching bags so far. He was wearing his traditional Red gi, and his hair was a little damp from the sweat of his workout. Each of his techniques were executed with such speed and flare. His moves were almost identical to that of Ryu's if not for the bit of style and creativity he added to him himself, but the power and focus behind them faltered in comparison to Ryu.

"Ken! Honey!" She called out over the sounds of Kens rapid kicks hitting the bag.
The martial artist paused in mid kick and looked over. "Huh? What was that babe?" He asked.
"Ryu is on the phone, he asked for you."
"Yeah? I wonder what he's up to"

Eliza followed Ken out of the dojo and the two made their way towards the mansion.
"Ryu sounded kind of down." Mrs. Masters said looking down at the ground.
"Hmmm...it's not like him to call over the phone. Usually he's a little more old fashion at sending letters or coming personally." Ken said in response as he put his arm around his beautiful wife. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

They entered the mansion and Ken picked up the nearest phone. "Hey, Ryu?"
"Hey Ken," Ryu greeted. "I'm sorry for disrupting your training."
"Don't worry about it man. So what's up? Everything okay?"
"The master's dojo has been destroyed."
"Wai-What?! What happened?!"
"Shadaloo attacked me at the dojo. Vega and Balrog blew it up to make their escape."
"Those bastards...!"

Ken recalls what Shadaloo is capable of with his own personal encounters with them. Ryu was once brainwashed by M. Bison, but was strong enough to break free, barely. It was a tough encounter from years ago. The next encounter in the second world warrior tournament, Ken had to fight Vega, another one of Shadaloo's blood thirsty soldiers. The battle almost cost Ken his life.
Whatever the reason they tried to apprehend Ryu it wasn't good, and Ken was worried. He knew that his best friend usually took it on himself to handle these types of situation and seldomly asked for help. "You going to be okay?" is all Ken could think to ask.
"I think so..." Ryu said looking down to the carpet floor. "...I am just frustrated at myself."

"Ryu," Ken called out. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah..." The Japanese friend sighed.

The American martial arts champion thought that it'd be best to put down the current discussion and bring up another to better lift his friends spirit. "Say Ryu," Masters said. "You haven't seen my son yet, come over and see him. I'll have a ticket ready for you"

Ryu's eyes widened. That's right! the warrior thought to himself. Eliza was heavily pregnant last I heard. The Japanese man wasn't too experienced on the topic of children and babies, so he hesitantly asked. "W-whats the child's name?"
"Mel," Ken said happily. "Mel Masters. And guess who's going to be his Godfather?"
"Guile?"
"No! Eliza would kill me! You!"

Ryu was already feeling better speaking to his best friend, and a soft smile went over his face. "Okay." Ryu answered.
"Alright! I'll have a ticket ready for you for a flight tomorrow. We'll see if we can finished settle the score between us. I look forward to seeing how much you've improved!" Masters said excitedly.
"I look forward to seeing your progression as well, Ken."

Ryu hung up the phone and stared down at it fondly. That call was just the therapy he need at that moment. It was a rare gift Ken had to crack through Ryu's hard shell and get through to him.

"How is Ken doing?" Chun li asked in stepping out of her room wearing a light blue night blouse that hardly managed to reach below her waist. The fabric was made of a sleek silk that glistened when the light hit the surface just right. She looked stunning in it.

Ryu did his best to keep his eyes locked in on hers and to not let them wonder instinctively. "Ken is doing well. He invited me to see his newborn son."
"That's wonderful!" Chun li said excitedly. "When are you leaving to America?"
"Tomorrow."
"Wow, I guess it's nice to have a rich friend, huh?"
"I've given up trying get him to let me pay for my own tickets a while ago."

Silence fell between the two and they found themselves staring at each other. Ryu's eyes started to wonder, but he caught himself and turned away.
Chun li noticed what happened and blushed a bit. Ryu was an honorable man, but he was still a man. She reached over and gently place her hand on his muscular arm. "It's really good to see you again Ryu. Good Night."

Back in the Shadaloo facility a helicopter landed on the helipad. Stepping out from the aircraft was a beaten Vega and Balrog, bearing the bruises and cuts from their previous encounter in Japan. They had a distasteful look on their faces and stayed quiet. Reporting failure to Lord Bison was never a fun thing to do.

Entering past the advanced automated doors the boxer and the ninja made their way into the facility. The soldiers patrolling the halls stood at attention upon their passing silently. Bison's quarters were in the deepest parts of the facility. If the two warriors of Shadaloo didn't know their way around the complex as well as they did, they'd have take an abundant of wrong turns through the complex structure.

It was then a soldier hustled towards Vega and Balrog. He saluted the two and began to make his announcement. "Lord Vega, Lord Balrog. Master Bison wishes you two to meet in lab 6 immediately."

The two exceptional fighters didn't like receiving orders from a little grunt like him, but they had better walk on eggshells for now since they failed to apprehend Ryu. Vega and Balrog glanced at each other and made their way to laboratory 6. It was only a little farther down the corridor and the automated door to the room opened.

Entering the room they saw the boy Balrog brought in strapped to a large machine. Psycho energy was being released from the contraption in abundance. The whole room was being lit with this negative force. They were so distracted they didn't see their master standing with the scientist with a menacing grin.

"Excellent!" Bison said excitedly. "With this child and his psycho essence attached to this machine, the psycho drive's power with amplify further, and multiply my own power!"

The boy looked as if he was writhing in pain. It was most probable that his screams could've be heard if it wasn't for the mouth piece that covered his face. Vega smiled from the beautiful spectacle of the dancing lights of the psycho energy. Balrog simply stared at the boy and shrugged, not understanding what's going on.

Bison turned to his subordinates. "You two have failed me." He said, his smile fading. "Had you acquire Ryu, my plan would have been complete!"

"Juri intervened, Lord Bison." Vega announced, still hiding behind his mask. "She must have followed us. To make things worse, Ryu has grown even stronger it seems."
"I do not see Ryu increasing in strength as a problem, but as a benefit. For his body will soon be mine, which will drastically augment my power to limitless potential! Now if you two cannot complete your mission then perhaps I should find means of replacing you both."
"What about that wench, Juri," Balrog said. "She beat the pants off Vega without breaking a sweat. How can we get close to her when YOU couldn't even beat her."

Bison turned to face the machine. "Because now I have the boy! The sole purpose of his creation is to amplify the psycho drive with his own spiritual energy. I already feel my power stronger than ever before. Prepare to move in on Ryu, and if Juri tries to get in my way, I will crush her myself!"