Moving Forward

It was a new day. As Haggar got ready for another day at the office, he walked by Carlos's room and saw that he was still asleep. It was his day off, but he looked out like a light. On most days, he would already be up, likely doing his morning workouts even on his days off. This was something different.

Probably worked out too hard last night. That was the only thought Haggar had in mind seeing his boarder/bodyguard. He hired the young man to be his bodyguard after seeing what he was made of as a martial artist. He trusted him enough to move in to his house. Whatever it was, Carlos needed a rest.

One thing that caught Haggar's attention was when he woke up, the news reports on TV suggested that vigilante justice had risen in the past week. In fact, there was a live report at around midnight about how some criminals were restrained when found by police. If that was not enough, the bruises and blood on the criminals' faces were evident in that some people had allegedly assaulted them. Haggar was puzzled at this. Police lieutenant Mark Abrams raised a concern about this but when some citizens were interviewed about these acts of violence, they were relieved that some people came to their aid.

All Haggar thought was that with the police likely on the take and not doing a damn thing about the crime element, then maybe taking a stand, whether it's in justice or self-defense, wasn't a bad thing.

Sometime soon, he had to talk to Cody about what had happened. He needed to hear the young man's side of the story. After what Jessica told him, it became apparent that the police had only complained about alleged assaults but these were not innocent people but rather ruffians who may have been assaulting innocents, whether it's for money to survive or just for fun, though the thought of the latter sickened him as there were people like that out there.

It was now time to get to the office. All he could do was await any complaints from the MCPD about the vigilantes out there, when in Haggar's mind, they could be doing the right thing, even if they were breaking the law.

Kyle had arrived at Metro High School with a bodyguard behind him. The bodyguard was Agent Summers. He was accommodated with this that he would follow him to his classes but the teachers would not pay him any mind as he was mainly there to protect Kyle from any riff-raff. However, it was going to be hard as Kyle had problems of his own with school rivals and such.

It was before school and the moment a black 1987 Ford Mustang pulled up, he went to a stop and faced that car. It took a few seconds and then saw a young light-skinned African-American girl get out. Seeing Vanessa gave him a sign of relief but she still looked down, as he didn't get a look at her luminous blue-green eyes. He wasted no time in walking to her. From a distance, Paco, Celeste, and Lou all got together and looked on as Kyle approached her.

"Vanessa." The moment she heard her name uttered, she looked up and rushed towards Kyle who gave her a hug.

"I was so worried about you." Kyle held onto her. "Are you okay now?"

Vanessa nodded. "I just had a lot to think about ever since…you know."

"You're safe now. You're here with me. You're here with all of us."

Vanessa nodded again. "I missed you, but please, don't ever do that again, okay? If you have to defend me or yourself, but don't ever start anything like that again."

"I won't and I will never let anything happen to you." Kyle looked and saw his friends approach them. "Come on, let's get going."

However, from a distance, Vito watched as Kyle walked Vanessa, along with their crew. Vito stood there with his crew. Something must be troubling him. Was it what happened the previous day?

It was now lunchtime. Kyle walked Vanessa to the cafeteria after he met her after the class before lunch. Vanessa looked down some more while Kyle looked at her. He then stopped her right before they entered the cafeteria.

"Hey, look, I know you're still shaken over what happened but just know that I would never let anybody hurt you."

Vanessa took a deep breath. "I know. I was just afraid of what those guys would have done to all of us. To me and Celeste, to you and Paco, just to think that we all wouldn't be here if your brother's friends didn't step in."

Kyle hugged her once again. "We'll figure something out to help you get through this. Come on, let's go eat."

The two walked and walked towards the table where Celeste, Paco, and Lou were sitting. The three had bought their lunches while Kyle and Vanessa brought their own lunches to school.

Once Vanessa sat down, Celeste immediately said something.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm getting better, just had a lot on my mind," Vanessa said.

"I tried calling you this weekend. Your mom said you weren't feeling well."

Vanessa sighed. "It's been rough. I got to thinking about stuff."

"What's that?" Kyle cut in.

Vanessa said, "Maybe you guys should teach us how to fight."

The three guys looked at each other.

"Are you sure?" Kyle said.

"It's hard enough living in this city," Vanessa said. "You never know what could happen."

The other four in the group looked at her and nodded their heads. Vanessa's older brother was a policeman, so they knew he had to face a lot of thugs and riff-raff throughout the city. Kyle and Paco knew they were outnumbered when they faced that clown and his goons. The type of training those two martial artists had to take them all down was impressive but it was likely they all had trained their craft for years to get that good.

There had to be a way to teach them how to fight.

Suddenly, Kyle looked up and noticed Vito and his crew entering the café. He rolled his eyes and sighed at the leader's presence when he looked right at him with a venomous expression. Much to the group's surprise, they went towards another table that was close to a young redheaded girl who sat at a table all by her lonesome.

Through his eyes, he had a feeling what they would and stood up.

"Kyle?"

When he heard his name, he faced Vanessa.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I just needed to stand up for a sec."

Vanessa saw that Kyle's attention was away from her and faced the gang of bullies and that young girl. In many cases, a girl would be jealous at her boyfriend looking at another girl. This was different. She knew those other guys. She saw a skinny guy approaching that girl at the table.

"Will you look at that?" Vanessa scoffed at what she saw. "Can you believe that weasel?"

The entire crew's attentions shifted over there now.

Nicholas Wissell, who was often called "Weasel," approached the young redhead and set one knee on the bench and looked at her in a pathetic attempt to look smooth. In the eyes of Kyle and his friends, this guy was a wannabe compared to the likes of Vito, Stiff, and Blades.

"Hey, Patricia," Weasel said.

The young girl looked up and her eyes gave off an annoyed expression with a sighed added in for bonus. "What do you want, Nick?"

"Hey, that's 'Weasel' to you. So listen, me and the boys were wondering if you wanted to sit with us."

"Sorry, I'm waiting for someone, now go away."

"Oh, come on, you're sitting here by yourself. I think you could use some company."

From a distance, Kyle looked like he was about to walk but Vanessa stopped him.

"Don't go over there," Vanessa said.

"But that asshole is…"

"You don't want to get in trouble again, do you?"

Kyle breathed. As much as he wanted to help that poor girl, the last thing he needed was another suspension. He had been suspended multiple times. If tried anything again, it was possible an expulsion was in order.

When Weasel tried to grab her, Patricia quickly shoved him aside. Before that he had tried to put his arm around her but she blocked his attempt.

"Oh, so you want to play like that, huh?" Weasel looked towards his crew and signaled to them to come on over there.

Once again, from the distance, Kyle, Paco, and Lou looked on and stood up. In any situation, Kyle would likely throw down but he wanted to maintain composure and use non-violent means, at least while on school grounds. Vanessa and Celeste looked around. No campus security was present.

When Vito led his other two friends towards the girl, a male voice behind them said, "Back off!"

Vito turned around and saw a teenage boy with long blond hair and a muscular build. He had a T-shirt that said "Eleanor Roosevelt Wrestling" on it.

"What did you just say?" Vito said.

"I said back off, she's with me," the young man said.

Vito walked closer to him. "All we're doing is having a little chat with the girl."

"And she is not interested, now fuck off."

Vito threw a punch but the young man quickly ducked and grabbed and took him down. While Vito was bigger and a little taller, this young man was muscular and a little quicker. Stiff and Blades tried to attack him but Blades met another slam to the ground. Stiff tried to punch the young man but he blocked his punch and twisted his arm and then shoved him. His attention shifted to Weasel

"I said leave her alone, now go."

Weasel glared but nodded his head and walked around. The young man looked on as the group of bullies walked away but not before some of them looked back in anger towards him.

"Alex?"

The young man turned towards Patricia. "Oh, hey."

"You know I could have handled Nick."

"Yeah, but then those other guys got involved, I couldn't let them…you know."

"I know."

Patricia and Alex, the young wrestler, looked up and saw Kyle and the crew approaching them.

"That was some impressive shit," Kyle said.

"Thanks, have we met before? You seem familiar," Alex said.

"Nah, but I think you're new here, right? I'm Kyle." He then introduced the rest of his friend to the two.

Patricia looked closely at Kyle. "Wait, I think I've seen you before. You're Cody's brother, right?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"He works at my dad's gym. I think I saw you over there and I saw you around school but I never put two and two together."

"That's cool," Kyle said and turned towards Alex. "Listen, you guys want to sit with us?"

Alex turned his attention to Patricia, who nodded. "Sure thing."

Alex and Patricia joined the crew at their table.

At Guy's dojo, Maki and Carlos engaged in yet another training session. Maki wanted to work with a katana, so Carlos brought his and Guy provided one for Maki to use.

Carlos put on a blindfold and unsheathed his katana.

"What are you trying? Do you want to get sliced?" Maki chuckled.

"Watch the master at work." Carlos raised his sword in a stance.

Guy stood there with a straight face and arms crossed. He watched as Maki swung and swung but were met with the steel touching each other.

KLANK!

KLANK!

No matter how good Maki was, she should know never to underestimate an opponent. Carlos knew different styles to Bushin, but no style is ever superior to the other as they all have different qualities.

"Not bad." Carlos pulled up his blindfold. "Now let's see how you can do blindfolded."

Maki smiled at that remark. "Bring it on."

Instead of using sharp blades this time, Carlos used a couple of kali sticks while Maki brought out her trusty tonfas.

The same process was done this time. Maki blocked each attempt as Carlos swung the sticks. The young woman was light on her feet, enough that as she held onto the stick, she flipped and did a handstand and moved her body in a circular motion. All Carlos could do was tilt his backwards and strafe towards his left. Maki wasn't done, however, as she pushed herself up towards a different direction to where Carlos stood.

Guy looked on and shook his head.

Maki was back to her feet and pulled the blindfold up. "What?!" She saw that Carlos stood elsewhere and that Guy approached them.

She stood there in confusion as she came to the realization that Carlos evaded her last attacks. "How the…? What did you do?"

"Nothing, just pure skill."

Maki gritted her teeth. "Right, you just got lucky."

Guy stepped in. "Maki, don't take this personally. You are good but cannot let your ego get in the way."

"Why? I know that ranking will be mine. Just wait," Maki said.

"Guy's right," Carlos said. "There is a lot more to it than just showing off cool moves."

"Want a bet?" Maki said and shifted her attention towards Guy who put up a stance. In any situation, Guy often knew to be prepared for anything, whether it was an impromptu sparring session or a fight.

Carlos watched as the two Bushin ninja sparred. He knew that they were good. While he got along with both of them and had been getting to know Maki more lately, he saw that she was cocky. Although she could back up a lot of what she says, her ego could get the best of her sometimes, leaving her to suffer the consequences as a result.

Guy and Maki had been at odds for the next Grandmaster ranking of the Bushinryu art. Maki sometimes wondered why Guy was so calm and stoic in the matter. In her eyes, he should do whatever it takes to achieve that goal, but she always knew that Guy was just a calm and quiet type who didn't always like to expression his emotions. She sometimes wondered what her sister saw in him, even though she could admit she had a crush on him at one point.

Then something hit Carlos.

"Hey, have you two thought about fighting for money?"

Guy and Maki's sparring session went to a screeching halt.

"What?" Maki said.

"I'm serious," Carlos said. "Cody and I fought at this place recently and I thought you two should try it. They host fights on Fridays."

Guy remembered the place now. It was the same place Cody got into a fight. In fact, it was not too far from the dojo.

A smile rose on Maki's face, while Guy looked away. Just the previous week, he and Cody were approached by a couple at Tom's Gym talking about this opportunity.

"I don't know about this," Guy said.

"Oh, come on, Guy," Maki said. "A little extra money won't hurt. Besides, wouldn't you want to save up for a vacation with Rena, or the wedding?" She said with a playfully-mocking tone.

Guy had wanted to propose to Rena but it hadn't happened yet. However, his would-be sister-in-law had a point.

"Besides, if we go out and kick some butt on the streets, what's so different about making a few extra dollars?" Maki asked.

"She has a point," Carlos said.

The previous night, the three had gone out to clean up the streets a bit. They all met up at some point. Maki joined Carlos while Guy did things on his own at some points in the night.

Guy thought it over. "Okay, we can do this."

Maki and Carlos nodded and smiled at Guy's agreement. Guy then walked away to start practicing his own moves until his next class starts, while Maki shifted her attention towards Carlos

"One more thing, Carlos, how about we make a bet?"

"Okay, what do you have in mind?" Carlos said.

"Because I think you got lucky, if you lose the fight on Friday, how about you clean my apartment?"

The smile on Maki's face said a lot. She didn't deny Carlos's fighting skill but in some ways she felt it was pure luck that he dodged her attacks.

Carlos, on the other, smirked at that remark. "Okay, you're on, but what about if I win?"

"Oh yeah? What do you got?"

"If I win, I will have to take you to dinner sometime."

Maki's eyes widened at that remark. Her jaw dropped, too. Was he asking her out? She saw that the man was handsome, with his brown skin and his mixed look about him being half-Japanese and half-Brazilian, and that hair, the length just looked right on him. On top of that, the man was muscular and kept himself in shape. Aside from his external appearance, she respected his martial arts prowess and that was one thing she shared with him.

"Okay, you're on." Maki let out her hand and Carlos shook it while she gave off a flirty smile to him.

At Tom's Gym, Cody walked around and made sure that any gym members needed help on machines or with their training. A lot of them were fine, so he thought about using some time to some training of his own. He had already done some strength-training but wanted to train his fists for any upcoming fights he wanted to do.

After the previous night he had, it probably would have been better to call in sick, but Cody didn't want to do that. In fact, the fight he had was just the beginning. It was possible that he would take part in another fight later that week.

Once again, he saw Lucia working out, but this time she was working her legs. Given that she was wearing shorts, her legs were well-defined. It must have been leg day.

"Hey, Lucia."

She looked up when she heard her name.

"Oh, Cody, hey. What's up?"

"Nothing, just checking on some of the people to see if they need help. Besides, I need to train myself."

"Yeah, well, me, too." She got off her machine as she was done with her reps and headed towards the bag. She glanced at Cody's face. There appeared to be cuts and some bruises. It was amazing he came in to work today despite that.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," Lucia said. "What's this I hear that you were arrested last night?"

Cody froze and slowly turned his head towards his friend. "What do you mean?"

"Cody, I'm a cop, remember? I hear shit all over the station. I also have to deal with some assholes I work with. You can't fool me."

"It's more than you think." He turned his head towards the bag. "Come on, you go first."

"Okay, but after I'm done, you better tell me what happened."

Was it worth knowing, though? In Lucia's case, she could try talking to her superiors but her captain won't do anything. He didn't want to hear anything from her and her partner. What could she gain from this?

Lucia kicked the bag multiple times and let out a few punches.

From a distance, two women saw her kicking the bag. One looked like she had her hair dyed white and the other had a strawberry blonde shade to it. They were Mary and Elissa, respectively. They both looked over at Cody and Lucia talking.

"That girl is good," Mary said.

"Yeah, but I think I've seen her before," Elissa said.

After Lucia was done with the bag, it was now Cody's turn.

"Wait, weren't you going to tell me?" Lucia said.

"Let me vent some of my rage first," Cody said.

Cody took a deep breath and laid out a few jabs, which after a few of them, he then started laying out some harder punches than before. The harder they got, the look on Lucia's face grew to be more concerned. Even the two ladies from a distance noticed this, as well as some of the other patrons.

When Cody finished, he wiggled his hands after punching the bag.

"Damn, what happened?" Lucia said.

"I just hit the bag hard." Odd that Cody answered that question directly.

"No, what happened last night?"

"I'll tell you. Let's go outside."

Cody led Lucia to the outside of the gym. He didn't want to worry the patrons much with what he was about to say.

They were right by the front door. Cody looked away and took another deep breath. "You want to know? Fine. Last night I got jumped by some bikers who were about to kill me. I messed them up, but then a couple of cops just arrested me without asking questions."

Lucia's eyes widened. "What did they look like?"

"One was a fat and black, had a big beard. Another was not that much older than us, but was more buff and had a beard. I remembered their last names, too."

"Who were they?

"Can I trust you?"

"You and I go way back. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't care."

"Okay, their names were Evans and Walker."

Lucia's eyes widened. Just then, she knew her intuition about those two was correct.

"Do you know them?" Cody said.

Lucia scoffed. "Yes, I do. Evans, he is a respected cop, but I knew something was up. Walker, don't even get me started on him."

"What are you going to do?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago. I saw Mayor Haggar at the station yesterday. He looked pissed. I think I need to talk to him soon."

"I need to talk to him, too," Cody added. "Jess was worried about me. Shit, I almost got killed."

Lucia's suspicions about the Metro City Police Department were now confirmed. It was now time to bring down the corruption.

It was now evening. A meeting was called in Uptown Metro City. Inside a tower at the top floor, some of Mad Gear's lieutenants, along with soldiers and enforcers were called for meeting. Not everyone, but a good amount.

Inside an office, Belger sat at his desk and looked at a photograph of Mayor Mike Haggar and his daughter Jessica that was on tacked to the wall. That meeting with the mayor had him wondering what ways there could be to get him to play ball. He didn't win the mayoral election. The previous mayor played ball with him before. It was still early in Haggar's mayoral run, yet somehow there had been problems in the organization.

Belger held a knife in his hand and stared at the photo and then threw it as the blade punctured into the photograph.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Come in."

The door opened and in walked Rolento and Freddie.

"They're here," Rolento said.

"Good," Belger said.

He got up from his desk and sat in his wheelchair and started it up. Rolento and Freddie paved the way as Belger rolled out of his face and towards an area that overlooked the rest of uptown. This penthouse suite had open space with a long orange and red rug, chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, pillars with statues of naked women, and to top it off, stained-glass windows in that particular section.

"Hello, everyone," Belger said. "Nice for some of you to make it."

Author's note: I am stopping right here. You'll see more soon.

I changed the name of one of the girls from Eliza to Elissa. I found out Capcom had brought back a character from "Final Fight 2" and used her in a cutscene for "Street Fighter VI." My guess about the name being changed is to avoid confusion from Eliza Masters, Ken's wife.

As for Alex and Patricia, yes, they are supposed to be the characters from "Street Fighter III" onward. I thought "why not" when including them. Because this is an adaptation, I changed up their ages a bit. I had read that Alex was supposed to be 17 in "Street Fighter V" but even I think that is unlikely. So I think maybe him being around Kyle's age (at least in this story) might be plausible.

I have some more ideas for the next couple of chapters. Stay tuned.