The day had at long last arrived,the annual all-american martial tournament was set to begin this afternoon and every fighter in the US and around the world was heading there personally!

Ryu,along with his current team-mates Chun-Li,Ken,Dudley,Makoto,Guy,Sean,R.Mika and Sodom were all lined up in a training room and Ryu stood before them like a teacher about to adress his class.

It was now the middle of the afternoon and everyone had managed to get as much last minute training done as much as they could.

“I take it upon myself to be the wise conscious of this team.”he said.
“That’s cause Ryu’s always gotta be the serious straight man.”thought Ken.
“I learned many things from my great teacher,the late master Gouken,and he taught me there are other things to learn in martial arts besides power and strength.

There is spritual power,wisdom and true enlightement to learn from this. I want each of you to go out and do your best,but do not,I repeat do not let foolish pride or insidious arrogance be your conscious,
and most of all do not make or declare overconfident boasts that you are going to be one to win the tournament,that path leads to downfall….for there is truth to the old addage that pride comes before falls.

Do I make myself clear on this?”

“YES SENSEI!”said everyone in unison.
“Very good.”said Ryu. “So please,be on your guard,we may have become stronger and more skilled than we are,but there’s no telling who or what we may be facing in the contest---so be on your guard. Now—let’s head to the tournament.”

Ryu and the others then exited from the local gym center and found both Charlie and Cammy waiting for them all in front of a couple of black limousines.

“Hey,we get to travel in stlye—all right!”said Sean enthusiastically.
“Ah,I’ve been in a few limos myself Sean.”said Ken. “Even from someone who’s filthy rich,they’re in my opinion—quite overrated.”

“Hard to hear coming from you like that Ken.”said Charlie. “But we with government jobs,get the perks. Nonetheless,we want you all to get there on time,so these were the best on hand vehicles for the job,so let’s get while the getting’s good.”

The team then entered the limos and were taken downtown to where the tournament was taking place.

The destination was a large and wide parking lot and there nestled in the center around green grass and few trees was the collisium and civic center for the arts and events that came to town.

The two limos then stopped at the front gates entrance and Ryu and the others then got out.
Charlie then got out of the drivers seat and adressed the others with the plan.

“Here’s what you’ll all do.”he said. “Register once inside and you’ll be posted for where the matches will begin. And while you’re there,if any of you sight anything suspiscious or unusually not right while there,call us back at Interpol,with the card number we gave you and Cammy myself and some well-armed agents’ll be there to put the snag on this guy.”

“You may have to do it till nightfall Lt.Nash.”said Sean. “What if this psycho nut really is a vampire?”
“There’s really no such thing as vampires,Sean.”said Charlie. “Even though I admit stranger things have occurred in this line of work,this might be some crazy occulitist or something…but either way procceed with caution.”

“Will do,Lt.”said Ryu. “Now,let’s get underway.”
“Right on!”said Mika.

The team of fighters then headed for the center.
“Good luck.”said Charlie. “They’ll need it.”

Once there,the fighters then saw a long haul of other martial artists and fighters lined up to from the door to the gate fences.

“ACK!”said Makoto. “THERE’S A MILLION OTHER GUYS HERE!”
“Calm down Makoto.”said Chun-Li. “Just cause we got a royal ride treatment,doesn’t mean we get a red carpet with it to go in.”

“I’m afriad she’s right about that.”said Guy. “Anyone’s who’s a fighter wants to get in on the action even in America.”

“Tell me about it.”said Ken. “Even when I first competed in this sort of contest,there were as many fighters from around the world as they were from America. I see you a few I know right,Joe,Allen Snider,Mike,Damnd and T.Hawk.”

“Even those we saw in the past World Warrior circuit are here as well as others we haven’t fought before.”said Ryu. “They may have learned some new moves as well,so be on your guard at all times.”

“Looks we may be here awhile is the point.”groaned Makoto.

The heroes all lined up in order from front to back,Ryu and Guy decided to be in the back while Makoto was first up front.

Ryu stood with his arms crossed,his face a stone serious,his eyes closed and his thoughts focusing hard to quell the strange and distant fear he felt in his system.

Guy noticed it standing in front of him.

“Uh..Ryu…?”he said. “Are you all right?”
“Huh—what---oh it’s nothing my friend.”said Ryu. “Just trying to—meditate further.”
“I see that something—is troubling you about this.”said Guy. “I probably should’ve asked you before while we were in the gym,but I thought you’d overcome it. You see,while you were meditating,I noticed your brow was sweating heavilly and the ki of your focus was like an overheated furnace—something is indeed troubling you about this tournament.”

Ryu sighed.
“Be it folly for me to decieve a Bushin.”he said. “I’m afraid your'e right about my inner struggle.

But…the problem is…even I don’t know what it is that’s troubling me about going to this. It all began just a few days before Chun-Li came to see me about helping her in this case involving the contest. Whenever I meditated,or practiced….I would see a strange and dark vision of some…winged creature.

I couldn’t make it out clearly at first…but…it was large,muscled…grey as a rain cloud….and had a pair of…gargoyle wings on it’s back---like a winged demon of some sort.

The creature then spoke to me in a dark and menacing voice. It said---come to me Ryu…come and face me—face me in North America—if you dare. Then,the creature shown it’s face to me—it was horrible,a gruesome face with---pointed ears,vicious fangs---and glowing blood red eyes! And—that’s when I awake---and washed in a deep fear and terror I have never felt before.”

Guy was indeed speechless at first,he would never imagine that the great Ryu Hoshi,the one who defeated Sagat and Akuma years ago would be frightened of anything right now.

Guy placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Whatever this---evil is…you must face and overcome it head on Ryu-san.”he said. “Otherwise,it may devour you in the end if you don’t. But…I sympathize with overcoming the fear of a horrid evil. When I first faced Bison on the battlefield,I sensed a great and disturnbing aura about him. His psycho powers were as malvolent as I had heard.

When I first fought him,he was greater than any criminal or warlord I ever faced back in Metro City. Naturally,I overcame the fear and defeated him at first…but I was unable to destroy him for that would’ve made me no better than he was.

He naturally escaped,but I along with you and your friends knew I would face him again someday.The same fear arose again when the day came that I had to face my sensei Master Zeku in order to succeed him as the next Bushin.

When I fought him,I was nearly overcame and felt the fear of losing and disappointing him. But then I remembered my battle with Bison—and then overcame all as I defeated and made him proud as the 34th Bushinryuu ninja.

My point is,if anyone can do it—I know that you can as well Ryu. When you overcome fear,you stand as tall as a mountain.”

“Thanks for the words Guy.”said Ryu. “I just hope I can do it when the time comes.”
“You will.”said Guy. “I’m sure of it.”

Minutes later,the line up continued to dwindle down till the Street Fighters hired by Interpol were at long last ready to enter.

“FINALLY!”said Makoto. “I thought we’d have to wait forever!”

The karate girl eagery entered through the front doors which were propped open for easy access.
She then entered through and walked across the green tiled floor and came across a long table which had a white cloth drapped over it,and a single entry registration book was open with a ball point pen beside it.

Seated at the table were two men at the table,they were registers for the opening of the tounrament.
“Sign right here man.”said the man on the left.
“You got it!”said Makoto as she picked up the pen and signed her name in the book.

Ryu and the others then signed their names in one by one till it was filled.
“All right then.”said the man on the right. “Just enter through that door on the left and you’ll be with the other fighters that will be adressed the rules of the contest.”

“You heard them.”said Ryu. “Let’s go.”
The fighters all then entered through the door that lead through a pale yellow concrete hallway.

Lined up through the hallway were a few lockers and restroom doors till finally,they came through to a pair of open doors that led into a large conference room with a few couches and a film screen on the wall.

In it was the millions of fighters that were registered for the tournament.
Ken whistled. “Man,a lot more than I figured.”he said.
“I can’t wait to see what these guys have in store for us.”said Makoto.
“Same here.”said Sean hardening his knuckle.
“Ditto.”said Mika.

Suddenly,Tana So Moon and some of the same fighters they met yeserday came up to them.
“Ah,Ken,Chun-Li,Sean,I see you’re all here.”she said.
“It’s her again.”thought Chun-Li.

This time however,the ninja that Guy fought with named Hiryu was there as was the aussie wrestler Rango and the sumo Ugyo as well.

“Hiryu…”said Guy surprised.
“Rango.”said Mika.
“UGYO!”said Sodom in anger.

“Oh,so I see some of you have met the other members of our team.”said Tana. “How so very nice.”
“I didn’t know you were part of this…group,Rango.”said Mika.
“Well,ya didn’t ask now,did’ja darlin’?”said Rango.

“I see we were fit to met again,eh Bushin?”said Hiryu. “I’ve increased my skills a lot more since the last time we sparred.”

“Well,now is your time to prove it then.”said Guy.
Sodom in rage,confronted the sumo who bested him.
“My head still has a few aches in it that even asprarin won’t take away case of you!”he said.

“Now calm down,Sodom.”said Ugyo. “I didn’t mean to hit you like that with my head so hard---I guess I got carried away there. But…this time it’s for keeps if you wanna keep your head on your shoulders. I just hope you’ve trained a lot harder since the last few days we met.”

“You bet I have!”said Sodom. “Just you wait!”
“Same here.”said Ugyo. “May the best grappler win!”
“I see he must’ve had a mysterious encounter with him like the rest of us did with these guys in the past few days.”said Guy.

“I’ll say.”said Ryu. “it’s strange how we keep running into them.”
“So..Tana…where exactly is this…chairman you told us about?”said Ken.
“Here he is now.”said Tana.

A tall and sturdy man walked toward Ryu and the others.
He was wearing a traditional fighter’s togs set of light grey gi pants with black belt,a dark blue tank top,a pair of black leather arm braces with mini-spikes attched to them,protective bandage wrappings on his feet and a white headband wrapped around his forehead,similar to Ryu’s.

His hair was a light black,but it was somehow spiked upward in a back arch that looked strange but stylish. His skin was a light asian and caucasian as was his facial features with slightly slanted eyes of dark blue.

“This is Den Matrimon.”said Tana. “Martail arts champion from Europe,and chairman of our group. Den,this is….”

“The great Ryu Hoshi.”said Den with a romanian accent. “I have seen and heard so much of you and Ken Masters.”
Ryu shook hands with the fellow warrior.
“Nice to finally meet you.”said Ryu.

But while looking into his eyes,Ryu noticed something…strange and familiar about him.
He then suddenly sensed something in the ki….but it went as quickly as it came.

“Uh excuse me…Mr.Hoshi?”said Den. “Something wrong?”
“Uh---oh---oh sorry.”said Ryu as he let loose of Den’s hand. “Just—had my mind on something.”
“It’s nice to actually meet the rest of you even though we’re going to be hard as nails rivals with one another.”said Hiryu.

“That’s right.”said Ted. “So do your best just as we do,and we’ll see you all in the ring. I also hope to go head to head with you as well,Ken.”

“Ditto Ted.”said Ken.”See you there.”
Sean was approaced by the bullysome Aikido fighter known as Chen Wung.
“Don’t tell me the little shrimp wimp is gonna be in this as well?”he said. “This is a game of men squirt,not for you and your little sis there!”

“Excuse me…?”said Sean beginning to lose his cool.
“Who you calling sis,ass face?”said Makoto. “And ya shouldn’t judge people by size either!”
“ Yeah,yeah…so they all say. I’ve taken down thugs twice your size.”said Chen.

“You wanna start something bath robe,we’ll do it here and now!”said Sean.
“Anytime you’re ready—student!”said Chen.

Suddenly,Ken swung his foot out between the three hotheads.
“At it again are we Wung?”he said. “I’ll have ya know we street fighters eat jerk-asses like you for breakfast!”

“Ya wanna back up those words,blondie?”said Chen clenching his fists.
“Sure thing,wang up-chung!”said Ken as he got into fight stance.

“STOP!”said Ryu. “Save it for the matches!”
“I agree.”said Den. “This isn’t the place for it.”

“Very well.”said Chen. “But remember this—we’re gonna own you losers for free,haha!”
“You may wanna keep a leash on your imputent dog there.”said Ryu.
“Duly noted.”said Den. “I think his membership is up at the end of the year anyways. So,see you in the arena.”

“You as well.”said Ryu.

“I say,motley lot aren’t they?”said Dudley.
“When this is over with,I’m gonna put that bath robe guy in a body cast by the time I’m through with’em!”said Sean.
“Just keep it focused Sean,”said Ken. “and remember the moves I taught ya.”

“And you best keep it in check as well,Ken.”said Ryu.
Ken sighed. “Always taking the role of the wiseman.”he said.
“Long as it’s not a wise guy ya mean.”joked Sodom.

After a couple of more minutes,a pair of double doors opened and a plump man in a dark suit with a bald head and glasses entered the room.

“He stepped in front of the viwer screen and snapped his fingers to get everyone’s attention.
“Good afternoon,ladies and gentlemen.”he said. “I am Howard R.Klines,master of ceromonies and head of operations at the civic center. On behalf of the city of Los Angelos,I welcome you all to the semi-annual all-american martail arts tournament.

As most of you are aware,that an american fighter kickboxer named Michael Blaines AKA Blazefoot won the championship already but----he was assassinated by an unknown assailant just last week,losing not only his life,but the actual will not be held unless someone living does.

I admit…we do not usually hold these sort of thigns twice but---we are making a public exception and pray that this does not happen again and hopefully the police will apprahend the suspect who commited such a henious act.

Now—without further due,let’s get on to the rules of the contest—LIGHTS!”

The lights in the room went out and the viewscreen came up,displaying a diagram of the arena which was in the collisium. There were numerous blue mats and numbers of the rings.

“Rules are simple.”said Howard. “Each of you will be assigned to which arena you’ll fight in. Once there,you will both be called upon to fight with your opponent in a simple elimination match. The folks who will come to see this will arrive in droves tonight for the finals,so we won’t be seeing or hearing any distractions from onlookers.

The match is won if either one of you lose consciousness,lands out of the ring or surrenders. But---killing your opponent is strictly forbidden,and if anyone does so will be disqualified. As for weapons,they may be used only for defense and are not tipped with anything metal,sharp or poisonous either.

And lastly,out of the millions of fighters that are in this room---only two sets of exactly 9 fighters will be entering the finals. That will make an exact count of 18 fighters that will face each other in the finals---and only three will come out as the winners,as first second and third.

So fight hard in the elimination rounds—and you might just make it. Now---if that’s all clear enough for you,we will proceed.”

The double doors then opened.
“This way please.”said Howard
The groups of fighters then began to make their way through the doors that led into a vast basketball court.

The court was converted with many long blue mats across the floor and several uniformed referees were posted at them.

One of the referees,a stout man with a beard came out with a whistle and clipboard.
“ALRIGHT FELLAS!”he shouted. “First 100 or so of ya,take the arenas to the left,the next 100 or so of ya,take it to the right!”

The herd of fighters then made their way to the fighter rings to be prepared.
Finally,it was Ryu and the others turns to be part of the action at last.

“This it guys.”he said. “Let’s go!”
The team was lead to a large blue mat that was numbered ARENA 5.

The Heavy Hitters team was located across from them in ARENA 4.
“They’re they are.”said Den. “Now we’ll get to see them in action.”
“That should be interesting.”said Juno. “I can’t wait to take some of them on.”

The first matches began as several fighters both male and female took on and defeated one another in Arenas 1-3.

Finally,after a few tedious fights for the street fighters to go through,it was at last their turn for the match.
“Next up!”said the referee as he looked through a copy of the registry. “Ryu VS Bob Blebolt!”

Ryu stepped upon the mat as did his opponent.
He was a white skinned american fighter with dark brown hair and was a boxer like Dudley.
He wore a pair of electric blue boxing gloves,matching shorts and boots.

“So…”said Bob. “…I get to face Mr.World Warrior here huh? You shoulda stayed in Japan big man,cause I’m gonna be next for the throne as the king of the world!”

“Hoo boy---Ryu’s got a live one here,don’t he?”said Ken.
“Like Ryu said,don’t let overconfidence go to your head.”said Guy. “And that guy is gonna learn the hard way no doubt.”

Ryu got into fight stance as did Bob.

“BEGIN!”said the match.

Bob made the first move as he charged at Ryu and thrust out several punches at him.
Ryu dodged and blocked them off with ease.

Bob then did a wind-up punch and threw it straight at Ryu,but the jap simply dodged it again.
“Man,you either hold still or I’m really gonna get pissed!”snarled the boxer.
Bob then made another move as he swung for Ryu’s gut,but as he did it,the Shoto caught his arm,and with one mighty throw he threw Bob over his shoulder,causing him to fall over and out of the ring.

“Yeah,he did it!”said Ken.
“Fight one goes to Ryu!”said the referee.
“So much for that guy.”said Sean looking at the fallen boxer. “That’s what ya get for being cocky.”
“You made that seem a little too easy,Ryu.”said Guy. “Saving up for something bigger?”
 

“Well,my opponent there did have a strong physical sense about him,”siad Ryu. “But I could not sense any true ki potential from him. So,even despite he was still a bit of an amateur I decided to use the slightest efforts on him."

“That’s all a good thing to use against overconfident opponents sure.”said Guy. “But don’t expect the rest of our competiton to behave that way.”
“Hmmm…good so far.”thought Den. “But we shall still see.”

The next match began with Ken going up against Joe,a kickboxer who fought in the first World Warrior tournament years ago.This time he was dressed in a new set of red pants with a yellow sash belt around his waist and bandaged feet.

“Wha—you again?”said Ken. “Even after the first time we fought?”
“I figured you be in this again Masters.”said Joe. “It’s been a long time,but me and Mike have trained a lot harder than we did before. If I defeat you,I’ll sure to become the next all-american champion—and maybe the next world warrior!”

“Well,let’s see what ya got!”said Ken.
The two fighters then got into their fight stances and the refree sounded the match to begin.

Ken made the first move as he charged up and threw a fiery Hadouken at Joe,but the kickboxer simply jumped over it and went straight at Ken.

Ken was prepared for the worst that Joe was gonna offer.
Joe hopped at Ken and swung out his powerful spin kick.

Ken simply blocked it off with his elbow,but as Joe’s first kick was blocked,he eased off and thrust a high kick into Ken’s face
“UNNH!”went Ken as he bounced back from the blow.

“Yeah,you got some hip moves?”said Joe. “So do I!”
“Let’s see if you can do more than a few feats of fancy footwork!”said Ken.

The Shotokan dove for the floor and did a dash roll right past Joe.
Before the kickboxer could swing around to see where he was,Ken was right behind him and ready to lay out another attack on Joe.

Just as Joe swung around in time,Ken did the famed spin kick he and Ryu always did.
The blonde was hit seveal times in the chest by it.

After the last kick,Ken landed on his feet ready for whatever else Joe had left.
Joe jumped at Ken and did another high kick,but Ken dodged back from it and caught Joe by the foot.

“HEY!”said Joe. “LEGGO!”
“Sure thing.”said Ken grinning.

He shoved Joe’s foot forward,causing the rival to fall backwards onto the mat.
“Poor Joe.”said Ryu. “He still has to be play even in the minors.”
“Just goes to show ya,”said Sean. “you don’t underestimate Master Ken without paying for it.”

Just as Joe got back up,Ken jumped at him and ended the match with a hard fiery Dragon Punch.
“KRAKKK!”
Joe’s head snapped backwards from the blow and fell to the floor of the mat.
“Joe is out cold,this match goes to Ken!”said the referee.
Ken raised his left hand high ito the air and did a peace sign as he always did in victory.

“Alright Ken!”said Mika. “That’s the way to show’em!”

Ken jumped off the mat and rejoined the others.
“Just remember to keep your cool when going up against opponents and use the moves I taught ya Sean.”said Ken.
“You bet I will,master!”said Sean.

The referee called for the next match to begin,and Guy went up against some sort of warriro monk.
“You be ready for your turn to come Sean.”said Ken. “Ryu and me have to check out the fighters of that group we met.”

“Okay,but be back soon.”said Sean.

Both Ryu and Ken walked over to the line where the martial arts society group,the Heavy Hitters was.
“Let’s see just how good exactly these new faces are before we go up against them shall we?”said Ryu.
“I know all about one of ‘em Ryu.”said Ken. “Ted Durst was a great fighter in many torunaments back before I even began training under Master Gouken,but…he disappeared for a few years after we entered Sagat’s tournament.
But,it’s nice to see him back in action again,and I’ve always wanted to get a shot at him for a long time now.”

“Next match!”said the referee in arena no.2. “DEN VS MIKE!”

The american boxer stood to face his opponent,the mysterious chinese-romanion fighter known as Den.
“Let’s see if Mikey there can hold out any better than Joe did.”said Ken.

“BEGIN!”said the referee.
Mike made the first move as he thrust forward and did a dash punch,similar to the ones that C.Jack and Balrog always did.

Den dodged it and slammed his elbow into Mike’s back.
Mike grunted in pain but swung back around for the defense.

Mike did another dash punch,but Den caught him by the wrist and threw him right over his shoulder.
Mike hit the mat floor with a sickening thud.

“Man,he’s good all right.”said Ken.
“Yes,”said Ryu. “but he does it with a brutal efficiency that’s…unnerving.”

Mike crawled back to his feet and tried for a new attack,but Den was way ahead of him as he brought both of his arms back and began to charge up a fiery energy in the both of them.

“Look at that!”said Ryu pointing at his hands.
“HELLFIRE-FLASH!”said Den as he threw both of his hands forward and a large flaming fireball flew straight at Mike.

“WHA—YAHHH!”screamed Mike as he was toasted by the fiery projectile,and fell to the floor.
Mike lay unconscious and slightly burnt by the fireball attack.
“MIKE IS OUT,DEN WINS MATCH 01!”said the referee.

“Sorry,if I got carried away there folks.”said Den to the crowd of the fighters. “But doing what I can to win.”

“Just be sure you don’t kill anyone doing it,okay?”said the referee.
Ken and Ryu were astounded by what they saw.

It would appear that their newest competiton was going to be even more—formidable than they thought.