Ryu was exercising at Chun Li’s house several days later. He had thought about what Gen had said. He was scared. What if he had to use the evil intent? What then? He had trained so hard to suppress it…now he may have to bring it back again, when he vowed to never use it. Then there was Chun Li. What had Gen meant by asking if she was involved in his future? She was his friend, of course she would always be a part of his life. But Ryu instinctively knew that is not what Gen meant. Exactly what, he wasn’t sure.

A knock came to the door. Ryu went over and opened the door. He was surprised to see Ken, Sean, and Alex standing in the doorstep.

“Hey, buddy!” Ken greeted.

Ryu smiled at all of them. “Hi…I’m surprised to see you.”

Ken gave him a pat on the back. Sean bowed to him. Ryu and Alex shook hands.

"It's good to see you," Ken said. "You look healthy."

"I feel great," Ryu responded.

"Still training right?" Ken asked.

Ryu nodded. Sean grinned.

"Cool! Maybe we can spar together," Sean offered.

Ryu nodded again. "Anytime. So what brings all of you here?"

“We have to talk,” Alex announced. “But I’m hungry. Any food here?”

“Chun Li runs a restaurant several blocks from here. She just opened, so we should be able to get food right away,” Ryu supplied.

“Great!” Ken exclaimed.

Awhile later, they arrived at the restaurant. The door looked as if it had been trashed. The four men knew right away that something was wrong. Ryu hurried inside. The dining hall had tables turned over, holes in the wall, lamps scattered across the floor. He caught his breath. In the middle of all of it, Chun Li stood, staring at the mess.

He walked over to her. “What happened?”

Chun Li shook her head, her eyes wide. “I…I don’t know.”

Ken, Alex, and Sean walked up.

“Are you okay?” Ken asked.

Chun Li nodded and smiled faintly. “Yeah. It’s good to see you, Ken…”

Ken put his arm around her. “You, too. Do you know who could have done this?”

She took a deep breath. “I…I don’t know…I don’t have any enemies.”

Ryu took her hand and patted it comfortingly. “I’m sure we’ll find out what happened…”

“D*mn…”she said softly. “I got here half an hour ago…and I found the place like this…My staff is cleaning out the kitchen. The kitchen was even worse…Pots and pans everywhere…food thrown on the floor and the sink…”

“What the h*ll happened here?!” a teenager exclaimed.

Everyone turned. At the entrance of the restaurant, Gen stood, his arms folded. Yun was beside him, one foot on his skateboard, the other braced on the floor. Yang was beside him, arms crossed, wearing his rollerblades.

“Yun…Yang…Gen…” she began, “I’m glad you’re here…”

“Who did this?” Yang asked. He pointed to a hole in the wall. “That looks like someone just punched through it…barehanded…”

Gen examined the hole. “Indeed…” He noticed the electrical wiring was pulled apart. “Someone ripped the wiring as well…”

“D*mmit!” Chun Li exclaimed.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Yun assured. “We’ll help you clean up.”

Yang nodded. She smiled at them gratefully. Ryu noticed a white object pinned on the wall. Walking closer, he noticed that it was a note. He pulled it down and read the words. Chun Li walked over to him. She leaned in closer to read the note, after noticing Ryu’s shocked expression.

“ ‘In two weeks time, meet him where you last fought. I will be watching you. If I see any sign of resistance, the restaurant won’t be the only thing that’s destroyed. Urien.’ Who?” Chun Li’s eyes were wide.

Alex smiled sheepishly. “Well…Ryu, that’s what we wanted to tell you. I received some information that Gill is coming back to Earth...I didn't know where you were, and I knew that you would want to know. So I found Ken and Sean, and they brought me here.”

"Who is Urien?" Yun asked.

"He's Gill's lackey," Alex answered. He looked at Yang and smiled dryly. "Hey...I remember you...Keep working on those fighting skills...”

Gen looked at Ryu, who seemed to be lost in thought. “Ryu…what will you do?”

Ryu looked away. “I don’t know.”

“Whaddya mean, you don’t know?!” Sean blurted out. “You’re gonna fight him, and Alex and Ken and I are gonna help you.”

Ryu looked at them squarely, untapped anger in his eyes. “I don’t think the four of us is enough. One of us could possibly get rid of him, but…”

Chun Li reached out and touched his arm. “You mean…you’re going to use it, aren’t you?”

Ryu sighed. “I don’t want to…but I may have to…” He looked at his friends. “I don’t want to put any of you in danger. You don’t know what you’re going up against.”

Ken seemed taken aback. “We want to help you. If you’re worried about…that…then if it’ll get rid of him, use it! We’ll draw his fire or something.”

“He isn’t Bison, Ken. I fought Gill before, and I barely won.”

Ken now knew that this individual was the one Ryu fought before he came to Hong Kong. “We’ll help you. Friends stick together.”

Ryu smiled faintly. “I appreciate it, but I can’t bring any of you along. If something happens to you…”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Alex declared. “Don’t worry. You just train hard these two weeks.”

“Hey, quit standing around!” Yun called out, pushing a table upright. “Shut up and get to work! Before you guys go off, we gotta help Chun Li fix this place up.”

Ken grinned. “Okay, okay. The kid’s right.”

“I’m not a kid!” Yun retorted.

Yang started picking up the fallen lamps. “What do I do with these?” he asked Chun Li.

“Just throw them away,” Chun Li said. “I’ll have to buy some new ones.” Impulsively, she gave him a hug. “You guys are so sweet…Thank you for helping me…”

Yang smiled at her. “We don’t mind helping.”

Yun grinned at her. “You’ve always been there for us. Now it's our turn.”

Chun Li smiled and gave him a hug, too. “Thanks, guys…”

Ryu smiled to himself. Chun Li had been angry, but she seemed much better now. He was glad that she was back to her cheerful self. He, on the other hand, had a lot on his mind...