By Matt Lawson

Cammy sat in her chair, thinking about past events that had just occurred. Shadowloo was dead now, there was nothing that could deny that. After Bison was killed (she was especially proud about how Chun Li was the one who killed him), and the main base was destroyed by its own weapon, there couldn’t be much left of the power that was once Shadowloo. The only members alive were some stray groups of drug-gangs, which would easily be crushed, and Dan, who had left them back at the airport and technically wasn’t a member anymore, but she could always pretend, couldn’t she?

But there was something nagging her at the back of her mind. That strange guy that Ryu and Chun Li were facing when she came to save them. Who exactly was he? They had explained to her that he was behind the whole thing, that he was responsible for bringing Bison back that caused the resurrection of Shadowloo, that he had killed Ryu’s sensei, his father-figure, and pretty much everything else about him, but she still didn’t understand everything that they told her. Whoever he was, she knew that he was nothing to do with her. That was Ryu’s problem, not hers.

She looked round her. Everyone was pretty much asleep, Guile sleeping a couple of chairs away, Ryu and Chun Li sitting beside each other, Chun Li’s head resting on his shoulder. But Ryu wasn’t asleep. She stared at the concerned look on Ryu’s face, looking out of the window. What was he thinking about? Akuma? It would have to be him, wouldn’t it? Why else would he be staying awake after such a hard time?
She could tell from his eyes that the battle for him was not over yet…

She found herself suddenly walking towards Ryu, wanting to talk to him. He looked like he needed someone to talk to, and he certainly wasn’t going to wake Chun Li up.

“Are you okay?”

Ryu’s head jerked towards Cammy’s in surprise. “Uh…yeah…I’m okay…”

“Really? You don’t look it.”

She leaned against the back of one of the chairs, concerned. She pushed one of her blond pony-tails away from behind her as it became uncomfortable squashed between her head and the side of the head rest. “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

Ryu sighed as his head turned to look out of the window again. “I don’t know how you would understand…”

“Maybe I won’t. It’s not like I’ve ever lost a father-figure before…considering I’ve…never really had a father in the first place…”

“Then maybe you’re the lucky one…”

She didn’t reply. In a way she was hurt by the comment, but she did understand that Ryu had to go through the pain of losing someone at an age where it mattered. In her case, she didn’t know that Shadowloo had killed her parents after kidnapping her until after she had recovered…
“It’s not just your Sensei this is about though, is it? You’re going to face Akuma on more than just revenge, aren’t you?”

Ryu looked at Chun Li, still sleeping beside him. “I failed to protect someone from Akuma before. I won’t let that happen again…but I’m afraid of telling her, Cammy…”

“Well I guess that’s understandable,” Cammy said, crossing her arms. “You two have only just found each other, and now you have to leave her again to face your own battles.”

“So what do I say? How the hell can I tell her how I have to do this…”

“Listen, Ryu. You’re going to tell her that this is the best thing that you can do to protect her. If you stay with her to defend her, you’ll only place her into more jeopardy than if you go out there and face Akuma. It’s been like that with several missions I’ve gone through, and every time, they ended in success with no casualties. Take the fight to the enemy, you’ll have less of a chance to get hostages killed, that’s a pretty important rule.”

“Yeah, but do the hostages know about that rule.”

“Not really, so we force it into them…”

Ryu chuckled at the thought. He couldn’t exactly bring himself to force anything into Chun Li.
“Do you think she’ll understand?”

“Maybe...maybe…” Cammy turned and walked back down the aisle. Ryu turned to look back out of the window. In his mind, there were too fights he now had to face. The physical fight would be hard enough, but he wasn’t afraid of that. It was the emotional fight that he had difficulty facing…

It was night time when they landed at El Toro, but that didn’t exactly stop the soldiers from staying up to congratulate them when they walked out of the plane. Cammy and Guile greeted the cheers enthusiastically, walking down to shake hands with the same soldiers and airmen who had risked their lives in the battle against Shadowloo. Ryu and Chun Li were a little more hesitant, merely standing at the doorway holding each other in their arms before walking down.

They relaxed when they realized that for the most part, the soldier’s attentions were mainly focused towards Guile and Cammy. To them, the two lovers where just civilians, no matter how important the part they played in the battle. Chun Li looked out at the crowd of soldiers and pilots that were cheering. It was definitely well deserved, they had just won a major victory over the biggest crime syndicate that had ever made an appearance on Earth, and despite the destruction that it had caused, Shadowloo’s death was a clear warning to other Bison wannabes that were out there.

It didn’t feel right that Ryu and her weren’t getting as much notice from the crowd, even though the parts that they played in the battle were pretty damn important to her. She would have least liked some reward for the way she killed Bison.

Only one guy greeted Ryu enthusiastically. “So this is what happens when I’m not there to babysit ya!”

“Ken!” Ryu said joyfully, embracing his longtime friend.

“How’s it going, muscle man? You know I was getting kinda worried about ya.”

“About me being captured?”

“Hell no, I knew you were gonna get out of that one. I meant being a wandering bachelor all your life. Guess I shouldn’t have bothered, huh, you seem to have pretty good taste to me.” he said with a laugh, nodding his head towards Chun Li.

“What the…how…I don’t know what you…” Ryu stammered at Ken’s ‘accusation’, in a vain attempt to evade embarrassment. It wasn’t working though.

“Don’t play dumb with me, pal. You’re just lucky I haven’t raised my voice so high so as to attract attention away from Guile. Although if you want it, that can be arranged.”

Ken immediately swung an arm around Ryu’s head and gave it a noogie, rubbing his knuckles against the top of Ryu’s head, like they always did back in their sensei’s dojo. Ryu responded by throwing Ken over.

Chun Li looked at the two friends playing like young lion cubs, play fighting and laughing as they rekindled their old friendship. She smiled. After all the fighting, the suffering and pain she had endured, he found what she wanted. Peace. Friendship. Happiness. A life with the man she loved. Everything she had pushed away in her goal to destroy Bison after what he did to her. Now that she had achieved that goal, her soul felt empty. She needed something to fill it. Ryu was the answer.

She walked towards the friends, and made her presence known, much to the relief of Ryu and much to the annoyance of Ken, who had gotten Ryu into a second and particularly good headlock…



“What do you mean you have to go?”

“I need to face him Chun Li. I can’t just leave him alive. I have to find out why he has tried to convert me all this time…”

They were alone together, outside the base, the only other company being a lone army jeep that Chun Li borrowed. Ryu needed to tell her, and he didn’t really want anyone else to hear.

“But Ryu, you could get killed! I know you’re good, but Akuma’s grown far more powerful than we ever saw.”

“I have to go. He’s calling me…”

“Calling you? He’s luring you into a trap, can’t you see that?”

“Maybe. But it’s the only way I’m going to be able to finally fight him and defeat him. It’s the only chance I have.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry Chun Li. But if I don’t face him now, then…I don’t know what he’ll do to us…”

She remained silent. Ryu put a hand to her face.

“I’m sorry Chun Li. I promise that I will come back. Once this is over, I’ll remain with you for good. I promise.”

“B…if you don’t return…then i’ll happen all over again…and I don’t know if I could handle it again…”

He knew what she meant. The trauma of losing her father. The same trauma he faced when he lost his sensei. He hugged her tightly, as several tears started to stream down her cheek.

“Then I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

Chun Li pulled back slightly to look at Ryu. She saw the determination in his eyes, and knew that whatever she could say would not change her mind. They simply looked in each others eyes for a moment. At that point, the cell-phone in the front seat of the jeep rang. Chun Li walked to it to pick it up, leaving Ryu sitting there on the ground.

“This is Chun Li…yeah, he’s with me, Ken…”

Ryu looked up at Chun Li when he heard Ken’s name.

“Yeah?…You serious??…okay, I’ll pass it over to him.”

Chun Li threw the phone to Ryu, which he caught. “Hey Ken.”

“Ryu, I’m at Huntingdon East Valley hospital. You’ve gotta get over here right goddamn NOW!”

“Huh? What’s up?”

“It’s Eliza, she’s gone into labor, she’s about to have this baby!”

“What?? You’re serious??”

“Yeah, I’m friggin’ serious. You have no idea what Eliza’s going through!” A noise in the background could be heard, the sound of a woman screaming, “WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU KEN, YOU BASTARD!!!”

“Oh shit…” Ken mumbled quietly. “I’d rather face Bison than being alone with Eliza the way she is. You’ve got to get down here!”

“Okay Ken, I’m coming. Just tell Eliza to hold on and…”

“D*mmit Ryu, just get the hell down here before I suffer a permanent hearing disorder from Eliza’s screaming, okay?!” The phone clicked off. The next noise Ryu heard was the jeep’s engine roaring to life as Chun Li started it up.

“Come on, let’s get to Huntingdon East Valley hospital!” Ryu said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

“Okay…how?”

Ryu stared at Chun Li, stunned. “You mean you don’t know?”

“No, I’ve never been to this area before.”

“Well, I don’t know where it is. I thought you did.”

“Hey, just because I’m with Interpol, it doesn’t mean I know every single corner of the world.” She said as she drove off in a completely unknown direction.

“Okay…Ken’s dead…”