Happy 36th Anniversary, Street Fighter! It's astonishing to see that this franchise has managed to remain strong after all these years, now with the latest installment, Street Fighter 6, been out in stores for a couple of months. A couple weeks ago, I had uploaded the compilation Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection on my laptop and began experiencing many Street Fighter titles, such as Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III: New Generation (as well as its follow-ups) and Street Fighter Alpha. It was awesome, as it got to experience other Street Fighter games other than the first one and 3rd Strike. Personally, in terms of fighting games, I grew up on Tekken and Mortal Kombat, since they were my favorites growing up, but I've got to experience other franchise such as The King of Fighters and Street Fighter this year, but I don't consider myself a huge expert of the genre.

I've heard a lot of good thing about the latest installment, Street Fighter 6, such as the World Tour Mode, the arcade mode artwork and the general aesthetic. I even think the World Tour theme, "All Over The World", slaps hard and gives me 3rd Strike vibes. I would love to actually play this game, but one of my main gripes of the games is the roster, as it basically relies on Street Fighter II's roster again. I get it, since the original eight warriors are the face of the franchise, but they could have switched the roster a bit by including Street Fighter III characters like Dudley, Makoto, Elena and Sean, and even some other fan-favorites like Sakura, Fei Long, Sodom and Hugo, but that's just me.

This fic takes place ten years after Alex's 3rd Strike ending, where he loses against Ryu, and is set around the same time as the latest game, Street Fighter 6, presumably after the World Tour Mode.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Street Fighter series. It belongs to Capcom.

Genbu Temple, Honshū, Japan

It was a peaceful spring morning in the small island of Honshū. Located across the mountains of the island was an ancient temple, where a martial artist was seen meditating on the grounds of the temple. The temple held an ancient martial arts shrine and it was decorated with two Kitsune statues and three wooden red torii gates around the entrance. The springtime wind gave warmth to the place and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom during this season. The older martial artist, clad in a red headband, white gi pants, brown kasuya on his left shoulder, brown gloves and wooden sandals, was sitting in his meditating position, sitting on his knees and taking heavy breaths as he reflected on his life.

The man, Ryu, had spent the last ten years following the defeat of the Illuminati practicing his body and soul and push himself to his limits. Having overcome the Satsui No Hado with the help of his master, Gouken, a long time ago, Ryu had been training with his master to improve his skills and learn new techniques, such as the Shin Shoryuken, and even helped him running his dojo. However, Gouken became ill during his final years and entrusted his disciple to take over the dojo and pass his teachings to the next generation. Following Gouken's death, Ryu took over the dojo and was joined by his master's old friend, Retsu, in searching for new disciples, while continuing to train himself.

Ryu had been reminiscing about his past journey and his previous encounters with many warriors in his search for "true strength"; his first encounter with Sagat during the first World Warrior tournament, his confrontation with M. Bison and his battle against Shadaloo, his rivalry against Ken Masters and his struggle against the darkness within himself. He had made friends during his journey, such as Chun-Li, Guile, Sakura, Dhalsim and more recently, Sean and Oro. However, times have changed since then. While he had continued his journey to hone his skills, Chun-Li had retired from fighting to teach martial arts for orphans while trying to balance her work as an Interpol agent and Ken had been busy with his company while trying to spend time with his family. Other warriors, such as E. Honda and Dhalsim, had also retired from fighting and focused on their personal lives.

Unfortunately, things changed when Ken was framed for the Nayshall bombings by a mysterious organization connected to Shadaloo called Amnesia, led by a man named JP, who had manipulated him into funding his criminal activities as well as killing his business' partner, Albert Jackson, and kidnapping his son, Mel. Ken surrendered himself to the authorities, but was eventually released two years later and went into hiding to track down the man who ruined his life. Having heard about this situation, Ryu searched for his friend everywhere, as he was concerned about him, but to no avail, as Ken had cut ties with friends and family to keep them safe, including Ryu. Ryu began lamenting for his friend's disappearance and wished he had helped him earlier.

As he was reflecting on his past battles, Ryu had also questioned himself in if he could still continue his journey to become the greatest martial artist in the world, as he was reaching his mid-40s and had sought to pass his skills to the next generation of warriors. In his youth, Ryu didn't find a problem in searching for strong opponents all around the world and cleansing his mind and soul, but with his newfound responsibilities in taking over his late master's teachings to others, he would not have the same amount of time as he had during his youth. Could his days of travelling the globe and seeking the true meaning of strength be over?

"I've finally found you, Ryu!"

It didn't take long for these words to reach Ryu's ears and cut him from his thought bubbles. As he opened his eyes, Ryu saw someone familiar to him standing towards him. The man standing at Ryu was taller than Ryu and had a heavy built upper body, as well as long blond hair and blue eyes. His hair was now cut to his shoulders and had a thick beard and red marks on both sides of his eyes. The man was clad in olive green overalls with one strap hanging down, as well as a long red bandana that kept his bangs out of his eyes, open-fingered MMA gloves which had the name "TOM" on them and brown lace-up combat boots. His body was filled with red war paint across his chest and forearms, though he was now wearing a brown bomber jacket, which covered the marks.

Upon getting up from his meditating stance, Ryu gazed at the warrior and immediately recognized him as Alex, the young warrior from New York whom he hadn't seen in ten years. Alex entered the previous World Warrior tournament to gain revenge against Gill for attacking his adoptive father, Tom. Upon defeating Gill, Alex became the World Warrior champion, but that mattered little to him as he never saw himself as legendary warrior. The tournament had changed Alex's viewpoint in life and turned him into a much more humble person, as he sought out to challenge the greatest fighters in the world and test his skills. Afterwards, Alex encountered Ryu and suffered a humiliating defeat, which made him obsessed with fighting him again.

Alex would eventually gain his chance to fight Ryu again and, much like their previous encounter, he lost. Upon defeating him, Ryu advised Alex to hone his skills and seek out worthy opponents. Taking this advice to heart, Alex would improve his skills over the next ten years, becoming a well-known fighter on his own, winning MMA competitions all over the world and earning the nickname "The Awakened Lion". Still, Alex didn't allow his newfound fame overwhelm him, as he maintained his humility and often encouraged his opponents to improve their skills after their defeat. He also had time for his adoptive family, as he had been running Tom's gym alongside him and used the money he earned from tournament winning to support it, as well as being present at Patricia's high school graduation alongside Tom and supporting the idea of her joining the gym, much to Tom's dismay, as he wanted his daughter to be a lawyer.

Seeing himself worthy of defeating Ryu once again in a fight, Alex learned about his whereabouts and headed to Japan for his long-awaited rematch.

"Didn't expect seeing ya around here, but I've been waiting a long time for this." Alex admitted. "So whad'ya say we throw down right here, right now?"

"Indeed. Much has changed since the last time we met." Ryu nodded. "It would not be acceptable for me to turn down a fight, especially from a worthy opponent."

Ryu then tightened his headband and readied himself into his fighting position, while Alex took off jacket and prepared himself to fight against his old rival.

"Now, show me everything you've got, Alex. Do not hold back this time." Ryu told Alex. "Let us begin."

"Now that's more like it." Alex declared. "Ok, let's do this."

Ryu charged at Alex first and attempted to punch him, but Alex was able to evade some of Ryu's punches, before Ryu launched a kick that hit Alex in the face. Alex then charged at Ryu and swinged his elbow at him, striking him in the right cheek and sending him staggering to the ground. Ryu got up and blocked Alex's attacks before charging his chi into his right foot and launching a hurricane at Alex, sending him to the floor. Alex got up and saw Ryu charging at him, blocking his attacks and delivering an open-palm horizontal chop at him. As he got back onto his feet, Ryu focused his ki energy into his body and unleashed a fireball out of his palms. This was his well-known "Hadoken" attack.

"Hadoken!" Ryu screamed as he unleashed the fireball at Alex, sending him lying to the ground.

Ryu unleashed another Hadoken at Alex, who had gotten up to his feet and parried the projectile. Ryu tried to attack Alex, but Alex jumped at him and grabbed him by the neck, whipping him around and pulling him down to the ground. After getting up to the ground, Ryu attempted to attack Alex, but Alex evaded some of his attack before attacking on his own. As Alex was trying punch him, Ryu took the advantage of the situation and launched an uppercut to his chin, sending him lying to the ground.

"Shoryuken!" Ryu screamed as he launched the uppercut at Alex.

As he tried to get up on his feet, Alex wiped the saliva out of his mouth and looked at Ryu standing at him. He began to relive the exact same moment ten years ago, when he fought against Ryu for the first time.

"Damn! He's still strong. He's not gonna make it easy for me. Looks like I'm gonna have to find a way to beat him." Alex thought to himself as he thought about how to defeat Ryu.

"Is this the best you can do?" Ryu taunted Alex.

Alex chuckled. "No way. I'm just getting started! Bring it on!"

Alex charged at Ryu, before he could do something, he found himself hit by Ryu's hurricane attack again. Alex jumped back at his feet, determined more than ever to defeat Ryu, and parried Ryu's Hadoken before jumping up and kicked Ryu in the face. Having anticipated Ryu's movements, Alex grabbed Ryu and leaped into the air, lifting him up to his shoulders and slamming him to the ground. Alex warmed up his arms before seeing Ryu getting back onto his feet and firing a Hadoken at him, which he jumped from. However, Alex couldn't expect Ryu launching an uppercut to his chin again, which sent him lying to the ground. Alex got up and charged at Ryu, using a variety of kicks and punches at Ryu, who managed to evade some of these attacks, before Ryu took the advantage of Alex's attacks and punched him in the gut with his right fist, before striking him in the chin with his other fist, striking his abdomen and finishing the uppercut by striking him to the chin, sending him flying skyward. This was the "Shin Shoryuken", a more powerful version of the "Shoryuken" that was taught by his master years ago.

Deciding not to hold back anymore, Alex charged at Ryu, who tried to attacked him, but Alex was able to think quick and evade some of his attacks, though he managed to receive some of his punches, yet they didn't held him back, as he later blocked Ryu's kick. He then managed to overwhelm Ryu by delivering punches and backhand chops, before delivering his horizontal chop at Ryu, which temporarily stunned him.

"And now for the finale!" Alex declared before grabbing Ryu by the waist. "You can't escape!"

Alex then lifted up Ryu and slammed him down to the ground before doing another supplex on him and leaping high to the air. Alex then spined around and fell back down, slamming Ryu onto the ground. Alex got back up on his feet and breathed a sigh of relief as panted on his leg. He finally had done what he never thought he could do ten years ago; he finally defeated Ryu. All of these years of hard work and training had paid off and yet, Alex couldn't help but feel that something was just off.

"I'm impressed." Ryu complimented Alex as he began getting up on his feet. "You've grown a lot stronger since the last time we've fought."

"So, you..." Alex wondered, coming to the realization that Ryu allowed him to win.

"Yes." Ryu assured. "I had only wanted to fight you to see if you can stand a chance. I had no intention of defeating you. My mentor once told me that a true warrior lets his opponent live to fight another day."

"So... You seem to live for the fight." Alex figured.

"True. I only fight to improve my skills and find out my true strength." Ryu told Alex. "What about you? What do you fight? What is your purpose?"

"I..." Alex swallowed before he began to speak. "When Gill ambushed Tom years ago, I wanted to kill him. I wanted to make him suffer. These thoughts clouded my head for a while, though I began to realize it felt empty. It wouldn't have made up not saving Tom in the first place. Now things have gone a bit better. Tom and I are still running the gym and Patricia is also helping us. Both Tom and Pat are the closet thing I have for a family. I would do anything to keep them safe."

"I see." Ryu nodded. "I understand what is like to be consumed by the darkness inside. Perhaps we have something in common."

"Yeah, maybe." Alex smiled. "It's been fun."

"It was honor fighting you as well." Ryu told Alex. "We will meet again."

Ryu then began walking away from the temple just as Alex grabbed his jacket and put it on again, before looking into the sunset and reflecting on his fight with Ryu. Though he still thought Ryu let him won the fight, Alex knew he still has a long way to go on his journey as a fighter and decided to continue to hone his skill and challenge the world's greatest fighters.

Tom's Training Gym, New York City

The next day, Alex has ticketed a plane ride from Japan to New York, deciding to return home and talk with Tom and Patricia about his encounter with Ryu before he continued his training. Alex opened the door to the gym and saw both Tom and Patricia waiting for him.

"Welcome back, Alex." Tom greeted.

"Hey, Tom." Alex greeted back and smiled at Tom.

"Where have you been?" Patricia asked.

"Well, um.. I had to meet up with an old friend." Alex told Patricia.

"Really?" Patricia curiously asked.

"Yeah, it's a long story..." Alex said.

And that's the end of the story. You'd think since Street Fighter 6 takes place after Street Fighter III, we would've actually learned what characters like Sean, Dudley, Elena and Necro have been up to, but so far, we don't know anything about them after Street Fighter III, so by having Alex in this fic set during the events of 6 could tie III more to the story and pay-off his rivalry with Ryu in 3rd Strike, which we still don't know what happened in their final fight. Granted, Ryu obviously won, but according to the Street Fighter Wiki, Alex got to fight against Ryu again, but the outcome is unknown.

Another thing that bothered me about Street Fighter 6 is Ryu's lack of reaction towards Ken's framing for the Nayshall incident. Ken and Ryu have been long-time friends and rivals and even trained under the same master and yet, we don't see Ryu learning about the situation with Ken and JP and doesn't even try to find him or help him. Granted, he might be bust with journey, so I understand, but at least have him lament Ken's framing.

As for the timeframe, Street Fighter 6 takes place eleven years after New Generation/2nd Impact, ten years after 3rd Strike and two years after Ken's framing for the Nayshall incident, detailed in the tie-in comic, Days of the Eclipse.

Let me know your thoughts on the first chapter of the story and I hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe everyone and take care.