The first thing he saw was a bright light. It was bright enough that he had to squint and wait for his eyes to adjust. After that, the first thing that came to mind was, “Where am I?” Ryu looked around and saw he was in a bed, next to a rather large window. On either side of the bed were two chairs. After a few seconds of thinking, Ryu realized he was in a hospital.

The memories of what happened the night before came to him and the realization hit him like a sledgehammer. “I lost.” At that moment, Ryu felt very small in such a large world. The disappointment he felt was like someone gave him a backpack full of rocks and told him to hike to the top of a mountain. His heart was just as heavy.

Ryu lay there, thinking one thing in his mind. How. Ever since his teacher had died and he left, he never lost a fight. Then, out of the blue, a Chinese man comes from God knows where, and mops the floor with him.

Ryu, not being able to hold it any longer, did a backfist to the wall. “I’m not paying for that.” Ryu looked up and saw the man who beat so easily. Fei-Long. He felt ready to strike at him, just standing there, leaning against the wall like nothing happened.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Ryu said, with venom not just dripping in his voice, but also flowing from it.

“With two cracked ribs, I don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what to do.”

Ryu looked down and saw that his waist was wrapped in bandages. When Ryu twisted his body, a sharp pain raced through his body, but his didn’t show it.

Fei-Long just stood there, watching him. Ryu looked up with such a fierce glare that made him take a small step back, in case Ryu leapt at him. “What do you want?” Ryu said, with such anger that it out did his glare and would have made the devil himself tremble.

“To help you.”

A silence fell over the room, thicker than the densest substance known to man. Ryu was the one to break the silence. “Why would I need your help? I already know what I must do. I must train harder. I appreciate the offer but I don’t want your kung-fu lessons.”

“I’m not offering you kung-fu. I don’t use that. You’ve been around. You know that my style is unorthodox. I offer you a chance to express yourself more fully.”

Ryu was surprised. “Express myself?! What do mean?”

“Ryu, has ever occurred to you that Martial Arts are more than a means to fight? It is an art, a way to express yourself.”

Ryu, utterly confused, was able to sputter out, “Wha… Express myself. Art. What are you saying?”

Fei-Long shook his head and walked over to one of the chairs and took a seat. After thinking for a moment, he looked over at Ryu and said,“You and Ken Masters were taught under the same sensei, right?”

Ryu was shocked at what he said. “How do you know Ken?”

Fei-Long just grinned. “About five years ago, we had a street fight. He won, if you’re curious. I wasn’t as good than I am now. Any way, you were, right?”

“Yea, how’d you know?”

“He spoke of a fellow student who was better than him. You are the only other person I’ve met who seems to have the same style. Well, now that I think about, seven years ago, a man in a bright pink gi fought with me. I lost that one too.”

Ryu, who knew what he was talking about, burst out laughing. Fei-Long was able to make out some speech, each word choked with laughter. “You lost to Dan Hibiki! I know dead men who could beat him, while still in their grave.”

After Ryu settled down, he asked him to continue. “Well, when you first left Gouken, your style was exactly the same, yes?” Ryu confirmed this. “Well when I compared what I saw when you fought, and when I fought him, the basics were almost the same, but the styles you have are more different now then they were before.”

“Your attacks changed because you fitted the particular style of Shotokan you were taught to fit you. When you lack style, you can express yourself more fully. And fighting also improves. You just go with the flow and adapt to anything your opponent throws at you. Think about. In seven years, I went being Dan’s throw pillow, to beating you.”

Although Ryu didn’t like the reminder that he lost, he was right. It was an astounding rate of growth in skill.

“What is it going to cost me?”

“Your style and some of your time. If want to just leave if you don’t like it, you can.”

Ryu thought for a moment. What would his teacher tell him. Suddenly, he remembered something that his teacher told him years ago. “Follow your heart, Ryu, and you can never go wrong.”

“When do the lessons start?”