It was 6:30 when Fei-Long woke up. He sat up in his bed and lifted his arms up, stretching and letting out a big yawn. Something felt wrong this morning but he couldn’t put his finger on it. ‘Oh well’ he thought as he went to the shower in his bathroom.

When Fei-Long came out with a towel wrapped around his waist, he still had that feeling. Opening the drawer to his to his dresser, he shook it off for now and tried to decide what to wear. ‘I’ll just go with the usual today,” Fei-Long thought as he took out a pair of black kung-fu pants and a black kung-fu jacket that was white at the ends of the sleeves and had black frog buttons. Tossing the towel onto the bed and then putting on a fresh pair of boxers, he suddenly realized what was different. “Breakfast smells different today,” he said as he hiked his pants up so that it was above the navel by bit. Fei-Long hurriedly put on his jacket and rushed down stairs, to see why Chun Li wasn’t making the usual bacon and eggs.

The sight Fei-Long saw before was one he didn’t expect to see again in his entire life. Ryu was by the stove wearing a pair of black karate pants and a white t-shirt. He had an apron on that said, “Kiss the cook and die.” He was making what looked like ham and some weird toast. Chun Li was sitting in a chair at the table drinking some tea, wearing a t-shirt and gray sweatpants.

Ryu felt his presence and turned around and looked at Fei-Long. “I felt bad about you giving me food and lessons, so I decided I’d cook you guys breakfast. I’m real grateful for all you’ve done for me.”

Fei-Long just nodded and walked up to him. “What are you cooking?”

“French toast and Canadian bacon. I had the bacon with me, and you guys had the toast. Ken taught it to me when we were under Gouken, if you’re wondering. His parents taught him how to cook before he came to the dojo, so that he could feed himself properly.”

Fei-Long just nodded and looked over at Chun Li. She just shrugged. “He offered to do it. I didn’t feel like making breakfast anyway.”

Fei-Long just sighed. It wasn’t he was against trying something new, he just didn’t like not knowing what was going on in his own home. He took a seat next to Chun Li. “Is there any tea left,” he asked. Chun Li nodded. He got up and took the teapot and put some facet water. He then put the water on the stove and turned on the gas. He then sat down again and went over in his mind what the lesson plan for the day was.

Fifteen minutes later, Fei-Long was reading the paper and drinking his tea when Ryu put his French toast in front of him. Fei-Long looked at him, then at the food. He never had Canadian bacon or French toast before. He just shrugged off his concern. A reason for living was to try out new things. He set his paper down and took a fork and knife in each hand. He then cut some of the toast off, and was about to put it in his mouth when Ryu interrupted him.

“It’ll taste better if you put syrup on it.”

Fei-Long looked at him and set the fork that had the bread on it. He got up from the table and opened a cupboard. He took out a bottle of syrup and then sat back down again. After pouring the syrup onto the toast, he took the fork in hand again and put the bread in his mouth.

He smiled and looked over at Ryu. “We should have cook more often. This much better then anything Chun Li ever cooked.” A boot was under the table and that conversation was put to a quick end.

1:00 PM

Ryu came out of the house after eating lunch to see Fei-Long standing with his back to him, looking into the woods. After a minute he turned around to face Ryu. “You shall not only be trained physically but mentally and spiritually too. But this you already know. I repeat it so that you will not forget” He then motioned to a near by path. “This leads to a small library I had built in the woods. This is where we shall go.” He then turned from Ryu and started towards the path. Ryu followed him.

The forest was the same as it was before. Soon they came over a bridge, a small one, not like the one from the other day. It was right over the river that came from the falls. It was calm water, not rushing or stopped. The river was clear, not muddy or full of pollution. It looked like it would only go up to his ankles. Looking ahead, Ryu saw a small building.

Ryu pointed at it. “The library?”

Fei-Long nodded. “This is where I keep my books on martial arts, philosophy, and the like.”

Ryu nodded and then they walked up to it. It was made of stone, like the house, but wasn’t quite as big. A path made of stones led up to the door. When they came up to it, Fei-Long bent down and pulled a stone out of the ground. Reaching into the hole, he pulled out a key. Replacing the stone, he unlocked the door and opened it. He motioned Ryu into it and followed after him, closing the door behind him.

Ryu looked around the library. There were ten bookshelves, all filled with books. There were two tables in the center of the building. The bookshelves were all lined against the walls.

Fei-Long motioned towards one of the tables and headed towards one bookcase. Ryu walked over to it and sat down, as Fei-Long gathered several books from the shelves. He then came back and set them before Ryu.

“These are books I would like you to look through,” Fei-Long said. Ryu picked one up and looked at it. It was the Bible. He looked down and saw a version of the Koran. Under that was a book on hop gar gung-fu. He looked back up at Fei-Long. “The religious books are for philosophy. The ones on fighting are for improvement of technique. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Ryu nodded and picked up a book on Western boxing and started looking through it. It talked about setting an opponent with a jab, then following with a cross. It said a boxer never throws a punch without getting ready for the next one. Ryu found it interesting, as it talked about use of the hands that he never gave much thought to.

Ryu thought for a moment, then got up from the chair and took his stance. ‘The book says for attacks to be quick, one must be relaxed and not tense. When one tense’s the muscles, his punch becomes slow and weak,” he thought. Relaxing his muscles, he snapped a jab at such a fast speed, he didn’t see the middle of it. He had seen the beginning and the end, but nothing in between that. Ryu smiled. ‘I could get used to this.’

Two hours later

Fei-Long was walking up the path towards the library. ‘I didn’t intend to be gone for more than an hour. I hope Ryu got along okay.’ He opened the door to the library and his eyes went wide. Ryu was sitting at the same table, surrounded by a wall of books.

Ryu heard Fei-Long come in a turned around. “Hey,” he said before looking back to his book. Fei-Long came up behind him.

“Did you already look through most of these?” he asked.

Ryu nodded. “I looked through one book, and then I just couldn’t stop myself.”

Fei-Long looked at the books before Ryu. ‘Some of these I haven’t even got to yet.’ He looked back over at his fellow martial artist. ‘He has such great potential.’ Putting his thoughts to the back of his head, he turned to Ryu. “Do you feel you understand what I mean by ‘the formless form?’”

Ryu shook his head. “I was taught that it was always important to have a solid style of karate. I intend to stay that way. These books have only strengthened my belief in that.”

Fei-Long just sighed. “Then you still have a lot more to learn. Come. That’s enough training for today.”

9:00PM

Ryu was up in his room, meditating. It was a small and simple room. It had a bed, dresser, bathroom, desk, and a window across from the door. A lamp was on the desk and a chair beside it as well. The bed was next to the desk and under the window. Ryu sat on the floor, in a lotus stance, his eyes closed. He was focusing on something.

‘Just a bit more,’ Ryu thought as he channeled his ki a bit more. Soon he felt his hands go a bit numb. Opening his eyes, he spaced his hands apart. Soon, a bright blue light appeared between his hands. Ryu did not smile, as to keep his concentration. He just continued to meditate.

Chun Li closed the door to Ryu’s room. She had been spying on him, due to her curious nature. “Good thing Siu Long didn’t see me. He’d have a fit,” she said as she walked away.

“A fit about what?” Fei-Long said as he appeared around the corner.

Chun Li was pretty surprised by this but kept her cool. “Nothing really.”

Fei-Long cocked an eyebrow up and it looked like he might’ve inquired her further, but he just shrugged. “Any trouble today at work?”

“No. The children behaved pretty well today. Although one of them put a spider on my chair.”

“Did you sit in it?”

Chun Li shook her head. “I was about to, but a young girl told me about before I sat down.”

Fei-Long smiled. “Sounds like something I would’ve done.”

“Tell the teacher?”

“No, putting the spider in the chair.”

Chun Li smiled. “I think you did do something like that.”

Fei-Long shook his head. “I used fire ants.” Chun Li smiled a bit more. “So how’s our guest doing?”

“Alright, I guess. He seems pretty comfortable here,” she said as they walked out side and looked up at the full moon.

“Good. I believe a student will learn better if he’s in an environment that is like home.” Fei-Long then sighed. “And if he is willing to learn.”

Chun Li looked at her fiancé. “He gave you some trouble again today, dear?”

Fei-Long just nodded. “He seemed liberated at one moment, but that passed. I need to give him an example of what I mean.”

“Don’t worry. It will come and he will understand. I am sure you will succeed.”

Fei-Long nodded. “I’d like to train on my own Chun.”

Chun Li nodded and left Fei-Long alone in the backyard. He slowly unbuttoned the frog buttons on his jacket and took it off, leaving him clad in only his pants and shoes. He started to stretch out his kegs and hands. Then he rotated his hips and knees. Slowly, he went into the southpaw stance.

Fei-Long lashed a right lead to the head. He followed it up with another lead to the body and a cross to the head. After he brought back the cross his right hand came around in a hook to the body and then his left hand came up in a tight uppercut to the chin.

Fei-Long began to dance around on his feet dodging attacks from an enemy only he could see. After he slipped an attack, he came back with a quarter swing to the stomach. He then brought his hand beyond his opponent and brought it back in an elbow to lower back. One foe defeated, he turned to his next invisible enemy. He brought his left leg up to his and simultaneously his right leg came out and whipped a roundhouse kick out to the head. He then leapt back to his former stance. Still concentrated on his opponent, he launched a feint to the midsection, but came up in a sidekick to the head instead. His foe still not defeated, Fei-Long spun on his right heel and brought his left leg up tight to his body. After fully rotating his body, he brought his leg about in a spinning hook kick, letting lose a cry like that of a cat in boiling water.

Chun Li watched all this from the window in her room. She knew Fei-Long was taking this out on himself. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she closed them, letting them flow down her cheeks. “Siu Long…” she whispered.