Bad Dreams Ch.7
By Morlock and RC

He followed the old scientist down the hall from the room where he dressed. The scientist stopped in front of a door that looked like it was off a bank vault and punched a few keys on a security key pad beside the door. The pad beeped a few times and there was a hiss of released air as the door opened.

The old man beckoned him into a room. It was big. It was dark. It was cold. There was a big metal object in the center of the room with light shining down on it. He stepped closer and saw what appeared to be some sort of futuristic electric chair. The old man gestured towards the chair.

"Sit."

He frowned, but did as the old man asked. The chair was not comfortable. He sat for a few moments and saw the old man walk into the shadows. He heard the "click" of a switch and the "hum" of electric machinery being started. He heard a "beep" behind him and then some kind of metal mask slid down over his head. He was about to reach up to pull it of when metal cuffs slid out of the steel armrests and snapped over his wrists.

"Hey, I thought you were going to help me get my memory back!" He yeelled out, hoping the old man could hear him.

More metal cuffs snapped over his neck, upper arms, waist, thighs, and ankles. He was completely helpless.

The old man stepped out of the shadows. His appearance seemed to have changed. The elderly air about him had changed, replaced by maliciousness and a wicked gap-toothed smile.

"Oh I will. I will." He said in a voice that set his teeth on edge.

The scientist tapped the metal contraption over his head and said, "You're going to be put to sleep now. I should warn you that there is a slight chance that you will experience a few nightmarers, but nothing you can't handle."

He pushed something on the helmet then and the room burst into light.

The screaming began.

*************************

"Are you sure that's the place?" Chun Li asked in disbelief.

"Yes...I think it is, but..." Ken trailed off.

"That is definately not the way you described this place Ken." Guile said quietly as he scanned the scene from the helicopter window.

Ken shook his head.

"Tell him to land this thing."

The helicopter landed near a pond. They all climbed out of the side door of the helicopter and looked at the chaos surrounding them. The trees that surrounded Ken's former training grounds were either gone or had become blackened stumps. Most of the grass was burned. Boulders that had been used for the "Hadouken" were completely shattered, with their charred fragments lying about on the grass.

The stone pillars they had placed boards between to practice their "Shoryuken" had all been toppled and destroyed. There had been a stone sculpture of two men fighting near the dojo that was crushed...and the dojo...

"My god..." Ken gasped at the dojo's remains. So many years had been spent here. The dwelling place that he had done so much growing up in was scattered across the ground in a wide circle surrounding a larger pile of debris. Ken knew of one thing that could throw about wreckage like that.

"Super Hurricane..." he mumbled to himself.

The other two looked at him, but he didn't acknowledge them. He spied the stairway behind the dojo. Or what was left of it. As Ken approached it he saw that the sturdy wooden railing was shattered everywhere and the stone steps were crumbling.

Ken looked down the crumbled stairwell and saw who they were looking for.

"Ryu..."

It was a whisper, but his two companions heard him and came up behind him. They saw Ryu hunched over on both knees. Even from the distance they were from each other he could hear his friend's labored breathing. Ryu's face was buried in his shaking hands. His clothes were ripped and shredded and he was covered in cuts. Ken stumbled down the steps, holding his hand out behind him, signaling for the other two to stay where they were. He descended the ruined stairway quickly and stood over Ryu.

The fighter was whispering something. He was saying it over and over like a mantra. Ken leaned in close and listened.

"Leave me...Leave me...Leave me...Leave me..."

Ken reached out to touch his friend's shoulder, but Ryu's head jerked up and faced him. The look he gave Ken chilled his blood like nothing he had ever seen before.

Twin red orbs bore holes into him, freezing him in place. One word passed from Ryu's cracked and bleeding lips.

"Bison"