Disclaimer: See previous chapters

AN: A long last, this story can continue. (sigh) Boy do I have a long way to go. Oh, I've also changed chapter 1. This change suited me better.

On with the story now

Chap. 31

Interpol HQ, China

It was the middle of the afternoon when Chun Li entered her office. Taking a seat at her desk, she let out a light sigh. Despite her casual appearance, she wasn't in the best of moods. So far, her latest lead had been a dead end. It wasn't too much of a shock to her, but it was depressing nonetheless. She would have hoped that after all this time; she would be able to get over such feelings of disappointment. Goes to show that even though she was immortal, she was still human.

With a heavier sigh this time, she glanced away, her eyes soon falling upon Ryu's note. It has been a week since he moved on to continue with his wandering. As well as to get out of her way... She felt bad for what had happened, but it was too late for apologizes right now. Maybe, if they met again, she would.

If they met again...

"Detective Xiang."

Chun Li lifted her head to see one of her associates knocking at the door. Forcing on her best face, she smiled her fellow officer.

"Yes?"

"Chief wants to see you immediately."

Moments later, the woman entered her superior's office where he sat speaking to someone on the phone. Waving her in, the chief offered her the seat as he ended the conversation on the phone. Hanging up, he soon addressed her.

"Detective Xiang, I'll cut straight to the point. Given our current status in our efforts against Shadowloo, the secretary general has decided to enhance those efforts with outside help." The chief soon rose up from his seat and turned to look out the window behind him.

"Therefore, in conjunction with the United States, you will be assigned a partner to assist you in the bringing down of Shadowloo and spearhead the taskforce that will soon be in place."

It was that one word that caused the immortal woman to blink. Partner... For her, this was an automatic negative, especially given the past few weeks and she didn't waste time to point that out, tactfully of course.

"Sir. With all due respect, I don't see how a partner would do me any good. On my own, I have been able to make more progress in tracking Shadowloo."

"And I'm not disputing that. However, in this case, we will make an exception. They're sending one of their men down here to start things off." The chief's head turned to the side so that he was looking at Chun Li somewhat. "From what I've heard, he's quite good. It's reported that he has had the same percentage of success in shutting down Shadowloo cells as you have."

"Sir, I can understand how that may be beneficial for us to pull all our resources together, but a partner?"

The chief wasn't surprised by this. Since she came in, Chun Li had just about everything to keep from having a partner. That didn't mean she didn't work with the other agents when the time arose for it. In fact, she worked well with just about everyone in the department and a couple of them have requested to have her as a partner (Most of them, male). But she would politely refuse those offers and continue on her own. The chief acknowledged all of these things in his mind, yet this time was going to be different.

"And I understand that you would prefer to work alone. But the fact is that you have been doing this for years and despite your work, we are hardly closer to bringing Shadowloo down to justice. So, as you said, we pull our resources together and hope for an opening."

"But..."

"Detective..." He cut her off gently, but firmly. "To make this perfectly clear, this is an order. A direct order."

Inwardly, Chun Li frowned. There were many reasons why she didn't want a partner, but the biggest being that if she was somehow injured or killed in the field, that partner would discover her secret, or at least become curious and investigate. And she knew Interpol had some of the investigative agents in the world. Her inward frown turning into a sigh, Chun Li relented.

"...Yes sir."

Great Wall, China

It was quiet here, this place. Ryu found it hard to believe that this was once a place rife with great conflict and war. But then again, that had been the purpose of the wall, to keep out intruders. Now it exists only as a tourist spot and for Ryu, a good place for mediation, which was what he was doing now in the field a good distance away.

Despite what many thought, meditation was not an emptying of the mind, but rather it was a way to focus on whatever it was the mind is set to in order to perfect it and in that does the mind become clear and fresh with thought. In Ryu's case, it was his fighting skills his fights and the lessons he learned in the past.

However, meditation hasn't brought forth any of the desired results and his focus was still off, which also made him rather tense. This wasn't usually a problem for him. Every now and again this would happen, but he would always manage. However, his mind was too jumbled with all sorts of thoughts.

Shadowloo... Their recent attacks...Chun Li...

Straining mentally, he worked to sort through it, focusing his meditative energy on the problems instead. First, what Balrog had said to him... That Shadowloo had been aware of him for some time. Since Balrog was immortal, it was a safe bet that whoever was running the strings was also immortal. But then why come after him now? Perhaps because it was close to the time of the Gathering. That was all he could think of at the time. The Japanese immortal felt a bit of the tension ease away as he continued.

Chun Li...

She was right to have been upset at him. Even though he had wanted to help, he had overstepped his bounds and tried to settle the problem for her. He should have known better than to do so; she dedicating a good five to six hundred years to bring Shadowloo down. In any case, he was gone now, leaving her to continue and perhaps complete her work.

His mind now sorted, Ryu calmly opened his eyes and rose up from the floor. It wasn't a meditation of fighting, but he felt better for it all the same. His mind no longer distracted, he could continue on and renew his training. There were still nagging thoughts in the back of his mind, but they were silent whispers now. He could pick another time to reflex on them.

Right now…

Ryu gazed down at his sword, which was settled in the grass next to where he sat. He thought about taking it up, but decided to train his martial arts skill instead. This said, he settled into an fighting stance and his eyes closed again. His thoughts now focused on the perfecting of the Fight, Ryu let out a swift punch and cry.

"Yaaahhh!"

Unknown

The open seas were often calm and serene, with the exception for two cases. One, when the occasional storm would blow through the skies, causing great waves to swirl, rise and crash upon itself. When such elements are close to land, great destruction follows.

The second case was here, in the middle of the ocean were a mysterious island emitted great waves of energy, causing the waters around it to boil and thrash about. The island itself, seemed to glow in a aura of fire. The reason being, the creature based on the center of the island. A single warrior of great and fearsome power.

The dark immortal...Akuma...

Right now, he simply stood in a single place, focusing his mind on his power. The last few fights he has been in had served to improve him, far more so than in the past. The immortal he beheaded had been a warrior of great strength of spirit. He had been doing this for hundreds of years now, ever since that fateful day of tapping into the Satsui No Hado and unleashing the Shun Goku Satsu. It had torn him to pieces so much that by all accounts, he should have died.

But he didn't...

He returned reborn, an immortal warrior of demonic power. Not only that, but he had successfully mastered the deadly technique of his master and with it, the greatest power in existence. But it had to be proven as much and thus he had to face all the strongest and crush them.

Starting with his master...

His master seemed unsurprised by the strength he had and even at his death at his hand, it did not bother him. If anything, he was probably happy to be surpassed by his own student. And that was the path Akuma had been on ever since, perfecting his skills and slaying those he found worthy. Upon learning of the Gathering, Akuma knew that the path he had chosen was the right one. With the Gathering close, all the other immortals would kill each other off, with only the strongest remaining to be a challenge to him. And when he defeated them all, he would the strongest warrior of all time, without dispute.

This spurred him back to the present, his aura of dark flame shooting outward in a wave. His fists clenched, he settled down into his fighting stance and glared forward. A good foot or two away stood a barren tree, probably the few trees left after he annihilated most of them.

"Shoush!"

His fist shot out in force, destroying the tree completely without him physically hitting it. His power and strength had grown since his last fight, showing that his last kill had been a worthy one indeed. His eyes roved over to another tree, now a good ten to fifteen feet away. His fist reared back and he focused his strength once again.

Another forceful punch... Another tree obliterated...

Airport

The Chinese woman tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the plane to arrive. It wasn't that the plane was late or anything, but she wanted to meet up with this guy and get it over with. Granted, what the chief told her was true and they could use the extra help in bringing down Shadowloo. And she was no closer to getting to those criminals than she was before. But still, a partner would more than likely complicate things.

Experience told her as much...

The plane finally came in from the skies and settled on the grounds below. Turning around, it soon wheeled in front of the pathway and stopped. As the engines died down and the steps brought in, Chun Li moved in front of them to greet the newcomer. At the least, she could put on a good face. Her face brightened a bit, but that was until it came upon her.

The presence of an immortal...

Her eyes did a quick scan around. She did not need this right now. Who was it? Was someone after her? The woman calmed her thoughts, but continued to look around regardless. Chances are, it was just another in the area just passing by. Not every immortal was after her life. Also, they were out in the open. An immortal would not confront her in such a setting. But still, who?

It wasn't until the hatch of the plane open that she realized who it was coming from. Looking up, she saw the person in question. The very person she was sent to meet. The very person who would be partnering up with her to fight Shadowloo. The immortal and he was one and the same person. A muscular man with a brush-style haircut

Colonel William Guile...