Recalled to Life... Ch.1 (Part 4)
By Pearl/Bean

~~~ Flashback~~~

Master Gen and Chun-Li stepped out of their complementary limo arranged by Master Kim, the owner of this new school who had obvious connections throughout Seoul. Master Gen noticed Chun-Li, she hated these fancy formal parties. She hated dressing up and forcing on a smile. She most of all hated seeing all the masters and skilled fighters walk around patting eachother on the back. Master Gen put his arm around Chun-Li and squeezed her shoulder,

"Come young lady. Occasions like this is where you see the nicer side of your average warrior," He led her in. Chun-Li noticed elder women, probably wives of the warriors all wearing their beautiful dresses and jewelry. She saw one lady, in particular wearing long dangle earrings. She felt her ears seeing how they weren't pierced and imagined the pain it would be to put holes in them just for another fashion statement.

Chun-Li was so caught up in her flashback and relaxing she didn't hear how quiet the noisy shop had quickly and mysteriously grown. She was too caught up in her memories…

Chun-Li sat down at a table full of the wives and the girlfriends of the masters. They were all bragging of their husbands/boyfriends and how they were so proud of them. Chun-Li, herself, felt like she was going to puke from such superficiality and excused herself to get some more punch.

Ryu, sitting in a corner and bored out of his mind looked at his Master Gouken talking with Master Gen across the room. He sighed and got up. How he wished Ken was here with him to keep him company instead of visiting his family back in the United States. He reached up to take a sip of his punch and realized he had drank it all. He slowly walked up and made his way to the punch bowl not really caring about all who was around him because everyone was caught up in telling their adventures and tournaments. *I wonder if I'll ever compete in a tournament?* He thought to himself. *They seem very mature and action packed. The best of the best fighters.*

Chun-Li started to make her way back and saw one of the wives flashing around her wedding ring. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the table completely unaware of the young boy, whom she was to battle with years later, was beside her attempting to just get some punch to take up time. The young man noticed the young Chinese girl. He saw that she was as completely bored as he was, but all he wanted was something to drink.

He didn't want to bother her by asking her to move so he tried sneaking to pour the punch in his cup. Chun-Li took a huge gulp of her last punch and turn around quickly and gracefully. Too quickly, it surprised Ryu and he accidentally jumped and spilled some punch on her dress. she gasped while he stood shocked. She paused in surprise not knowing what to think. She then slowly looked angry up at him.

Ryu forced a grin, "Hey, sorry about that." "Oh your sorry?!" "I was having a terrible time and thanks to you it's even worse!" She quickly crushed her plastic cup, threw it to the ground and left toward the bathroom. Ryu felt she was some-what rude… after all he did apologize, "Girls… I'll never understand them." He was about to sit back down, but his master one of a million sayings to never cause a stranger unnecessary frustration interrupted his direct thoughts.

He sighed and waited outside the ladies bathroom for what seemed forever. He checked his watched and yawned every now and then. Sooner or later Chun-Li came out and immediently saw him. Ryu quickly sat up, "A- Are you ok? -Or your dress atleast?" Chun-Li glared at him not saying a word and whirled by him quickly.

Ryu sighed annoyed, "You can atleast have the patience and tolerance to treat me with manners. After all, you don't want to disappoint Master Gen." Chun-Li stopped and lowered her head in humility. She clenched her fists and slowly turned around looking at him her attitude altered, "Sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you after your decency." Ryu joked, "You just don't want me to tell Master Gen, right?" Chun-Li cracked a little grin at the edge of her mouth. "-That too," she freely admitted. "Just don't tell Master Gouken I was careless and spilled the punch on you. He'll make me run five miles every day around the mountain for a month," Ryu embarrassingly spoke.

"It's a deal," Chun-Li nodded holding out her hand. Ryu stared oddly at her hand. He raised an eyebrow back at the younger girl. Chun-Li cocked her head to the side, "It's a Westerner's way to close a deal." Ryu reluctantly slipped his hand into hers, "Owe! Why are you squeezing my hand?" "I'm not squeezing it, you always shake the person's hand firmly like this," Chun-Li mentioned as she bobbed both their hands up and down. What the two didn't realize was, give it a couple years time, and the two would be in full combat to be the world's best fighter and face the ruthless overlord, Bison.

~~~ End Flashback~~~

Chun-Li remembered they talked for the rest of the night about their masters and how they are both father-like figures because their true families weren't really there for them. She remembered also reluctantly fighting with him in the tournament. She didn't wish to, but he was in her way to get to Bison. She remembered her saying to Ryu the night before their fight that if she couldn't bring Bison down, she trust Ryu would. She was certain he was the right man to do the job. When he did defeat Bison that's when she came home and the emptiness began to fill her.

Suddenly Chun-Li heard a loud shriek and a gun shot coming from a different room. Her eyes shot open and she looked at the door and then at Liz. Liz, frightened, looked at Chun-Li scared. Chun-Li broke her way out of the box-like structure and leaped out ready to see who was causing all that noise, "Liz, aren't you coming?" Liz, somewhat embarrassed blushed, "I'm not wearing anything under this." Chun-Li nodded looking in her reflection quickly seeing a new swim-suit she bought a couple days ago. She tossed Liz a towel, "Hurry and get your clothes on."

She quickly opened the door, looked around carefully and paced slowly toward the front where she last heard the scream. Liz tried to break out of the machine, but just kept hurting herself. She moaned and groaned, "Great, I'm stuck in this!" Chun-Li, still feeling hot and sweaty, looked carefully around the corner.

The man that they met when entering the shop the shot in the head and he was lying in his own puddle of blood. She was shocked at the sight for it brought back old memories she longed would go away. She shook her head to be more alert and glanced out seeing it was only two men holding up the store for it's money. They spoke a different dialect Chun-Li didn't understand, but she knew one thing for sure, *I've got to bring these robbers down!*

She saw a door leading to the other side closer to the robbers and silently crept in. She picked up the phone and called the police. She notified them of the robbery, where it was, and the situation. She quickly hung up when she heard more gun shots. She carefully went through the other side and saw the robbers.

They were untrained, nervous, and only their weapons opposed a threat. Chun-Li took a deep breath, kicked down the door posing as a barrier between her and the robbers and jumped in the air using her Hazan Tensho Kyaku toward the one closest to her. He fell on the floor knocked unconscious before he could even see who attacked him. Chun-Li sighed internally happy that she took him down quickly. The second robber saw this move causing him to drop his bag with the blood money inside. "You are under arrest!" She yelled.

Speaking in a different dialect and unable to comprehend her, he point the gun at her. She quickly dove under him, tripped him, grabbed the gun and turned it around on him. She spoke again, "Repeating myself… You are under arrest!" She saw the fear in his eyes and let her guard down, "Desperate..." She saw some excess rope hanging out of a tool kit under the desk and casually reached for it. How foolish that was.

He quickly grabbed his pocket knife, sliced her shoulder and punched her across the jaw. She fell with a loud thud hard on her elbows. He quickly raced for his gun. "Kikoken!" She yelped as the her fireball escaped from her hands. She knew her classic chi fireball would take him down… or she thought when she saw the fireball escape her hands. It was small and it quickly disappeared.

She was in shock, "What?!" The man that just had cut her saw the sight of her fireball and froze; it seems that alone shocked him. Chun-Li couldn't think about her Kikoken right now and used her Kikosho on him. The 2nd robber went down before uttering a cry for help. Chun-Li paused looking at her palms, "W-What happened?"

Just then Liz jumped out from the opposite direction holding a huge stick, "Chun-Li, I'm here." She saw the sight and saw Chun-Li standing over one of the robber's bodies and the man that greeted them when they walked in. As she walked by him, she shuddered at his dead, bloody corpse. She saw Chun-Li's blank expression. "Chun… it's ok. They're all down. You put them down all by yourself."

Chun-Li didn't hear Liz; She felt so far away. "Chun?" Liz put her hand on Chun-Li's arms shaking her. The pain brought her back to her as Liz had grabbed her cut shoulder. She quickly grabbed it in slight pain gasping. "Are the police coming?" Chun-Li nodded. Liz, shocked, saw her hand covered in blood apologized for touching Chun-Li's shoulder, "I'm calling a paramedic."

Chun-Li totally forgot about calling them and barely motioned for her to do so. She was too deep in thought. Her Kikoken… what had happened to it? Was it because she didn't have enough reaction time to concentrate? *No way! I've been in situations ten times as bad and a perfect Kikoken came just in time.* She then realized that she was becoming weaker. Not only did her rage and determination toward the fight vanish leaving a feeling of an emptiness, but so did her power she worked so hard for her entire life.

This left a feeling of doubt in the Chinese fighter. A feeling she's never experienced in a long time. She felt like crying; She couldn't show such weakness. She promised herself shortly after the tournament she wouldn't cry anymore.