At long last,it had happened..
Both men had spent many years of their life fighting the good fight,against opponents,villains and of course each other.
Now it was at last here.
Ryu and Ken were now at last going to fight each other,one on one in a tournament match.
They bowed to the referee,turned to see each other,bowed and the match began.
"I sure hope Guile and the others are watching this."said Chun-Li. "This is going to be the greatest match of a lifetime."
"Sure is."said Sakura. "It's a shame that Sean lost,I was hoping to face him..but hey,you're the next best one to fight,heh."
"And you know it."said Li. "Now..watch and learn young one. Legends here at work."
"You betcha!"said Sakura.
The match then began as both men fired their Hadoukens at one another,causing both of them to explode on contact.
Ken then rushed at Ryu and once he got close enough,he threw a flurry of punches and kicks,all of which Ryu blocked them off.
"Huff--still fighting passively huh?"said Ken. "You never learn!"
"And you still fight just as aggressively."said Ryu. "Some thing never change."
"Just how they'd like us I suppose."said Ken grinning. "Now let's really cut loose!"
Ken launched his Shoryuken,hitting and scraping it against Ryu's chest with it!
Ryu jumped away,and then thrust another Hadouken,hitting Ken in the stomach with it turn.
The american skidded on his feet and then charged at him again.
Ken then did his Hurricane Kick,but the master blocked it off and then did a parry which launched his own Dragon Punch in turn.
"AAAAKK!"cried Ken as he was knocked out of the air and landed on his back.
"Got more?"said Ryu smirking.
"You bet your sweet ass I do!"said Ken as he jumped back to his feet.
Ken jumped at Ryu and did a spin roundhouse,but Ryu dodged it and then charged up a fiery Hadouken,and threw it straight at him.
The US champion then dodged it and then rollerbladed towards him.
Ryu was about to charge another Hadou,but before he could do so,Ken unleashed his most blistering punch attack.
"SHORYUREPPA!" he shouted and clobbered Ryu with his famed Dragon Punch attack.
"WHAMM-WHAMM-WHAMMM!"
"Sensei!"said Sakura.
"Man,he never stops doing that attack--ever!"said Li.
Ryu completely fell and crumpled to the floor from the last punch,it looked like victory was at last within his grasp.
But,at the last minute,Ryu crawled back to his feet,and shook his head a bit.
"Nice try..but it's over."he said.
"We'll see about that--YAHHH!"said Ken as he jumped at Ryu again.
Ryu dodged Ken and then came at him with his Super Hurricane Kick,hitting Ken in the face as many times as he could swing it.
Once momentarily stunned,Ryu went for one final and finishing Hadouken blast.
"SHINKUUU-HADOUKEN!"he shouted and Ken was bathed in a blast of white hot energy!
"FOOM!"
Ken was sent flying across the floor and landed head first against one of the ring walls.
He was at last down for the count,Ryu was now the winner!
"HE DID IT!"said one of the patrons. "RYU IS INDEED THE GREATEST WARRIOR IN THE WORLD!"
The crowds cheered wildly for their champion,and Ryu simply shrugged and bowed to them.
"He's so humble."said Li.
"Yeah,a lot more egotistic assholes could learn from that."said Sakura.
Ken groggily woke up and Ryu helped him up.
"Well..I guess you're the true champion after all,buddy."he said.
Ryu smiled. "We're both the champions of Street Fighter,Ken..always remember that."
Ken nodded and the two of them raised their fists to the crowd.
"Well..I guess we're up next then."said Sakura.
"Yeah,let's make this a good fight."said Li.
The two Shotokans left the ring allowing the two final entries to enter.
"Give it your best,Sakura."said Ryu.
"I will,sensei,promise!"said Sakura.
"Good luck Li."said Ken.
"Ladies don't need luck,but thanks anyways,and tell Eliza I said hi."said Li.
Benson then stepped into the middle of the ring between the two fighters.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"he said into the mic. "WE HAVE NOW DISCOVERED WHO THE WORLD'S LEGEND IS..BUT NOW WE ARE ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHO THE WORLD'S GREATEST FIGHTER IS!
THIS--IS THE FINAL AND ULTIMATE MATCH OF THE SUPER WORLD WARRIOR MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT!
IN THIS CORNER--ONCE A CHAMPION OF THE 2ND WW CONTEST AND
THE WORLD'S STRONGEST WOMAN--CHUN-LI XIANG!"
The crowds cheered in response to her presence.
"AND IN THIS CORNER--ONCE JUST A SCHOOLGIRL FIGHTER--NOW THE STAR STUDENT OF THE GREAT RYU HOSHI--AND SHE HAS FOUGHT HARD TO GET HERE TO THIS POINT--GIVE HER A BIG HAND--SAKURA KASUGANO!"
The crowds cheered for her just as loud.
Her brother and parents were also watching her as well from the bleechers.
"Wow--I never thought she'd make it so far."thought her brother.
"NOW--ARE WE READY LADIES?"said Benson.
"READY!"said Li.
"READY!"said Sakura.
"THEN…LET THE FINAL BATTLE--BEGIN!"said Benson.
The announcer then ran away from the ring,just as the two warriors got into their stances and the match began.
Li made the first move as she fired her Kikoken,but Sakura blasted it away with a Hadou Burst.
"Let's see what you really got!"said Li.
Sakura ran at Li and then did a hurricane kick at her,but Li simply jumped right over her and then slammed a hard kick into her back,causing her to stumble forward.
"This..may get icky."said Ken. "You were right about her beating Yang..but what about..yout lady there?"
"We'll see…"said Ryu.
Ken rolled his eyes. "Man,talk about overconfidence."he thought. "Well,nothing to do but watch."
Li and Sakura collided blows with each other,she whipped out her lightning kicks attack,but Sakura managed to block it off,but the blows stung her arms greatly.
"*@%#,how does she do that constantly?"she thought.
Sakura then swung out another spin kick,but Li in turn blocked it off and then came up at her with a rising spin kick of her own.
"UNNGH!"went Sakura as she fell on her butt.
"Ya gotta do better than that."said Li.
"Okey-doke."said Sakura as she swung out both her legs and knocked Li off her feet.
"UNNF!"went Li as she fell on her bosom.
Sakura jumped back to her feet as did Li and the match raged on.
The pair traded blows at each other with a savage speed and skill that made it look as if a pair of jungle animals were going at it.
Li swung a low sweep kick,Sakura then jumped over it and fired another Hadouken at her.
Li dodged it and then launched into her Spinning air kick.
Sakura ducked and rolled across the floor then fired another Hadou at her,knocking her out of mid-air.
"Errghh..that does it!"she thought. "Time to bring out the big guns!"
Li then charged at Sakura,and then unleashed her super lightning kicks attack.
"YAAAHH!"she cried and then hit her multiple times in the head with the attack.
"MAN!"said Ken. "I should've known she'd do that!"
This time,Ryu was looking pretty concerned.
"Sakura.."he said.
Sakura staggered on both feet,feeling dazed.
"Now,I finish this!"said Li.
She charged up both hands and was about to launch her Ho-Sou attack.
Sakura then shook it off and saw what was about to happen.
"HO-SOU!"shouted Li as she fired away her ki blast.
But just as she did it,Sakura rolled across the floor and then unleashed her Super Hurricane kick,right into Li's stomach.
"YEAH,that's the way!"said Ken.
"Yes."said Ryu nodding.
The last spin kick sent Li flying across the floor.
She then got back up,but she felt her stamina fleeting from all the action they went through.
"Now!"said Sakura as she charged up her own ki and fired off a Shin Hadouken straight at her.
"Uh-AAAAAHH!"cried Li as she was blasted head on by the force and flew right into one the walls.
"CHUN-LI IS NO LONGER ABLE TO BATTLE--THAT MAKES SAKURA THE WINNER OF THE WORLD WARRIOR TOURNAMENT!"said Benson.
"YEEEAHHHH!"said Sakura as she raised a fist into the air.
The crowds all went wild and applauded greatly for the champion.
"SHE DID IT!"said Ken. "Aw,c'mon Ryu--just cut loose for once in your constipated life will ya?"
"YES!"said Ryu clutching the air with his fist. "SHE DID IT!"
"That's my boy."said Ken.
Chun-Li got back up and then walked over to the champion.
"Uh?"said Sakura.
Chun-Li then smiled and bowed to her.
"You earned it,Sakura."she said. "But don't get too comfy,there will be other contests,and we'll all be there."
"Right!"said Sakura.
Benson along with a pretty Japanese girl wearing a red swimsuit then walked up to her.
The girl was carrying two prizes.
One was a large solid gold trophy that read the words WORLD'S GREATEST WARRIOR
And the other was an envelope containing a hefty amount of prize money.
They were both handed to her.
"Congratulations Sakura."said Benson. "You are now the winner of the World Warrior contest--anything to say?"
"Well I uh.."she began. "..I want to thank all my friends,family and fellow fighters in the Street Fighter circuit,especially my sensei Master Ryu--without his teachings,I never would've made it."
Benson spoke into the mic again.
"ISN'T SHE GREAT FOLKS?"he said. "AND LET'S NOT FORGOT CHUN-LI XIANG WHO FOUGHT TO THE END--GIVE HER A HAND AS WELL!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-WE PRESENT YOU-THE BEST OF THE BEST--THE GREATEST OF THE GREATEST-SAKURA KASUGANO AND RYU HOSHI--THE WORLD'S STRONGEST WARRIORS IN THE WORLD!"
The crowds then cheered again twice as loud in response.
"NOW--THERE IS ALSO--ONE LAST THING..ONE LAST SPECIAL ACT TO..COMPLETE THIS GRAND EVENT!"said Benson.
"Huh,what do you mean,Mr.Benson?"said Sakura.
Benson smiled wickedly and then threw down his microphone.
"THIS!"he said.
The announcer floated into the air and then his body began to glow a bright white.
"WHAT THE HELL?"said Ken.
Benson's body was completely transformed by a flash of white and blue energy and his muscle mass began to form twice into what it was,and his clothes changed into a strange red color.
Once it was done,a different person hung in the air,and it was someone they knew very well.
"BISON!"said Ryu.
"WHAT THE HELL--HIM?"said Ken.
"No…!"said Li in shock. "It..it can't be!"
"Hello my dear heroes."he said. "So nice to see..some of you again. I have taken a great deal of effort and patience to see this through again."
Li acted without thinking and jumped straight up at the evil warlord.
"LI--NO!"said Ryu.
But it was too late,Bison deflected her attack with a powerful force field blast and she fell back to the floor and unconscious.
"Chun-Li!"said Sakura as she rushed to her side.
"You bastard!"she said.
Bison chuckled. "All that and more I am my dear."
"What--what are you doing here and what the hell do you want with us?"said Ryu.
"Yeah,and pardon me for asking the obvious…but aren't you dead?"said Ken.
"Smoke and mirrors as they say,Ken."said Bison. "As for what I want--"
Bison then vanished and then re-appeared behind the two karate fighters.
"LOOK OUT!"said Sakura.
But her warning came too late as Bison thrust forward both fists and an explosion of crimson energy knocked the both of them to the floor,and out cold.
"NO!"said Sakura.
The crowds of people were about to make it for the doors,but Bison's minions suddenly appeared at every turn,their weapons drawn.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN."his voice boomed once again.
"YOU ARE ALL HEREBY ASKED AT ONCE TO SURRENDER TO THE POWER OF SHADALOO--OR BE DESTROYED!"
The patrons and other attendants all had no choice,but to surrender.
Bison then turned to Sakura.
"You will do the same,World Warrior Champion."he said. "Or your family and friends up there will pay the price as well."
Sakura huffed angrily,but reluctantly gave in as well.
"Good,very good now."said Bison. "The contest may be over--but I assure you--the night and soon to be dawning of Neo-Shadaloo has begun--HAHAHAHA!"