Ryu and the other street fighter contestants sat down on a long plastic and wood bench that was affixed to a wall,and watched as the other fighters battled it out with the rest of the competition.

Ken saw Steve Darren,AKA the Grey Wolf step up the ring and face his opponent.
The fighter he faced was a man with a bald head,wearing a pair og blue gi pants with black belt and black gloves stood against him and was ready to fight.

"BEGIN!"said the referee.

The bald man thrust at Steve,and did a spin kick.
Steve blocked it off and then slammed a spin elbow into the side of his head.

"WHAAKK!"

The bald man was dazed,but still standing.

Steve then thrust at the man and did a jump kick to his chest,knocking him out of the ring.

"THE WINNER,THE GREY WOLF!said the referee.
Ken whistled.
"Man,he's more of a legend than I remembered."

"Not bad for an old guy."said Guile.
"You just wait till any of us fights him,Guile."said Ken.

Steve looked over at Ken,and nodded to him and then walked off the ring.
"He's eager to face me as well."thought Ken.

The next fighter in the ring was the warrior monk of the Shaolin temples,Tung Lo.

He was facing a masked ninja dressed in a black facial mask,long black hair,matching pants and boots and carried a pair of nunchukas.

"BEGIN!"said the referee.

The ninja jumped at Tung and swung his weapon at him.

Tung ducked the nunchuka and then slammed the ninja in the face with an open palm strike and then slammed him in the chest with a thrust kick.

The ninja then slid to the floor and knocked Tung off his feet with a fast leg-sweep.
Once Tung was down,the ninja came down on him with an axe kick.

Tung siderolled from it,and jumped back to his feet again.

The ninja fighter swung his weapon all over the place,trying to intimidate his opponent.
Tung smirked and then swung out a roundhouse kick into his hand that was carrying the weapon,knocking it out of his hand.

The ninja was enraged and he then tried to lunge at Tung.
But before he could do so,Tung slammed a pair of punches into his chest,and then did a spin kick right into the side of his head,knocking him across the floor.

He was next to be out.

"THE WINNER--TUNG LO!"said the referee.

"Pretty good kung-fu he has there."said Li. "We may have some competition huh,Fei Long?"
"The art of the Shaolin is good,"he said. "but he has yet to know the power of Jeet Kun Do."

Tung looked at some of the fighters he would face,especially Fei Long.
"I shall face you in the ring,Fei Long."he thought and then stepped down.

"NEXT---NADJI VS THE BUSTER!"said the referee.

"Nadji..."thought Ryu.

The vengeful warrior woman stepped up to the ring,she was still carrying her tonfa rods.

She took a quick glance at Ryu.
"I shall fight my way through--and kill Ryu Hoshi!"she thought. "One way or the other!"

Her opponent the Buster was a large and muscular man with pale blonde hair and wore a set of red shorts,knee pads and a pair of white fight gloves.

"Oh,a chicky for me to fight huh?"he said. "This should be good."
"Huh,typical macho man."she said. "Let's get on with this."

"BEGIN!"said the referee.

The Buster charged at Nadji and swung a spinning lariet at her.

Nadji ducked it and then slammed one of her tonfas into the side of his body.
"Unh--playin'rough are we?"said Buster as he swung his right arm and knocked her down.

Nadji fell on her back,but flipped back up again.

The Buster charged at Nadji again and stuck out a low kick at her.
Nadji jumped over it and then slammed a kick of her own into his chin!

Buster rubbed at his square chin,grinned and then began to bring down his massive arms upon her.
Nadji dodged out of the way just as his fists crashed through the floor's surface.

The philippine woman then twirled her tonfas and went for a bold new atttack.

Buster swung around just as she hit him in the face full blow with her right baton and then began to slam him in a rapid fire motion with both her tonfas.

"WHAKWHAKWHAKWHAK!"

"Wow,lookit a that!"said DJ.
She then charged up both her batons with a fiery orange energy.
"TONFA STORM STRIKE!"

She placed them both together,jumped up at the big grappler and slammed him in the head full force with them.

"THUD!"
Buster was the latest to be down for the count.

"THE WINNER--NADJI!"said the referee.

Nadji stepped down from the ring and looked at the fighters along the bench.
She particulary gave Ryu an evil look.

"Whoa mon!"said DJ. "Looks like she got an 'eye' for you eh,Hoshi? HAHAHA!"
"That's no evil eye."thought Ryu. "She still intends to murder me. But how can I convince her otherwise that I wasn't the one she thinks who killed her father? I've got to find Bison and stop him,it may be the only way to end this madness before it spreads!"

The latest up to bat was Bael Hoswang,the Korean Tae Kwon Do expert.

He was facing a young fighter who had long red hair and wore a yellow set of shorts,elbow pads and red sneakers.

"C'mon man!"he said clenching his fists. "Show me what you're made of!"

"BEGIN!"said the referee.

The youth made the first move as he sprinted at Bael and did a rushing leg-sweep on him.
Bael jumped over it and landed a kick into the punk's chin,knocking him down.

The youth who was actually a Capeoria fighter of sorts.
"Lucky so far."he said. "But you won't get me in the end!"

"We'll see."said Bael.

The youth shuffled his feet and began to do a cartwheel kick at the Korean.
Bael dodged it and once the punk was back on his feet,Bael thrust a spin kick to his ribs.

The man howled in pain as he fell on his knee,but quickly got back up again.
"You sonuva---!"he snapped.

The youth charged again and this time did a Handstand kick at him.

Bael got kicked in the side of his right leg,but managed to jump away in time.

The youth then spun his body around several times at his opponent and then spun into a full roundhouse.

But just as he did it,Bael ducked it and then came up at him with a hard and fast flip kick to the chin!

"SMAKK!"

The capeoria was knocked backwards and fell hard and flat on his back from the impact..and of course was down and out.

"THE WINNER--BAEL HOSWANG!"said the referee.

Bael stepped down and joined the other three winners.
"Huh,I thought only militart types could do flip kicks."said Guile.

"We all share some moves one way or the other,Capt.Guile."said Dhalsim.
"Maybe."said Guile. "But if I go up against him,he'll see what real Flash Kicking is all about."

The rest of the matches poured on as Nadji and the others decked it out with the rest of the competition.

When it was over,the four of them along with seven other fighters were gathered at last for the third and final row of the preliminaries.

Ryu and the others were lined up in row across from the fighters while Nadji and the others were lined up across from them as well.

This was to be the start of a fatal final showdown as to who would go to the tournament finals.

And all the while Bison and another evil set of eyes were watching them all.