On the main control room in Bison’s secret base, a scientist was furiously typing computer commands on the keyboard. The huge monitor in front in front of him was displaying the video of the big battle that happened just about an hour ago. One scene that was focussed was where Ryu Dragon versus Sodom. A few feet behind where the Shadowloo scientist sat was the lord of the Shadowloo, M.Bison, sitting on a floating metallic chair. He was recuperating after the big showdown with Sagat, who already recovered after the fight with Iwa, stood solidly besides him. Bison’s right hand was bandaged, courtesy of the energy explosion when he attacked Ryu Dragon.

The fighting scene changed to where Bison sneakily teleported behind Dragon and grabbed him by the neck and attacked him with psycho power. Then a couple of seconds later, an explosion erupted and separated the ASB agent from the grip of the mad warlord.

“Stop.” Commanded Bison. “Rewind and pause at the time where I grabbed him.”

“Yes, my lord.” Replied the scientist and quickly typing a few commands. The movie rewind and paused at the exact moment where Bison lifted Dragon up.

“Began statistic reading on the subject.” Commanded Bison.

As soon as the scientist finish typing the command, a row of numbers appeared in the screen. Then four numbers appeared just a bit away from the left-hand side of the edge of the monitor: MAXIMUM POWER: 3473.

“Hmmm…” hmmed Bison as he thought of something. “Do another reading just a second before the explosion.”

As quickly as you could count one to ten, another result appeared just below the first reading. MAXIMUM POWER: 4392.

“Hmmm…. No wonder…” Bison trailed of as he read the result. “What made the increase of power ?”

The scientist turned, stood up and bowed. “We have no idea yet, my lord. We found this phenomena unusual as usually the power increase would be up to five hundreds point at the most cases, except for Ryu Hoshi when he turned into Satsui no Hado.”

“I know that as well, you wretch !” yelled the warlord.

The scientist cowered in fear. “Forgive me, my lord. But… would it be… by chance that this man… is an Essence bearer ?” suggested the scientist.

“An Essence bearer ?” mused Bison. “I wonder which one it is ?” as he chuckled inwardly.

Unnoted by anyone in the room, there was a faint hint of yellow surge of power – on Dragon’s right hand - amid the purple psycho power that blanketed Dragon’s body in the movie.

**

Drugged and disoriented, Iwa’s eyes opened. She found Kumori sitting next to her, fighting the effects of the drug Astaroth had given them.

“Kumori, wake up. Kumori,” Iwa called out.

Her friend shook her head to fight the drug. “Iwa? What…? What happened?”

“Astaroth…”

The one word said it all. Kumori’s eyes widened. Iwa felt shivers go down her spine. Their location and the beings contained within it radiated a certain…aura that she could detect. It was not a pleasant feeling. It was more powerful and eerier than Bison’s presence. Iwa fought to keep her spirits up, even though she knew exactly where they were.

“He captured us?” Kumori asked. She didn’t want to hear the answer. If Astaroth did, then that meant…

Iwa didn’t answer.

“Naar…is close…isn’t he?” Kumori whispered.

**

Two people were hanged to the wall by the chains on their hands. One was a Japanese man, looked a bit slender, but his strong muscles hinted the power that he possessed. His hair was black, a bit long on the bangs that almost covered his eyes. He wore a set of red martial art uniform, yellow cloth belt, and a pair of red and white sneakers. His eyes were closed, but he was neither sleeping or unconscious, he was meditating.

His companion, had a Chinese look. His hair was the same colour as the other one, but was combed in the middle, parting his hair equally to two sides. He wore a white T-shirt - with a picture of a running black mare on the front part – that burned quiet badly, black jean pants, black belt with small circular brass head, and a pair of blue and white Nike sneakers. His eyes were closed as well, but not because he was meditating, he was unconscious.

Suddenly, the Chinese man stirred up. He groaned from the sharp pain on the back of his neck as he woke up. The Japanese man, hearing his companion got up, ceased his meditation and opened his eyes.

“About time you wake up.” Said Guy, the Japanese man.

“Glad to see you’re awake,” Ryu’s familiar quiet, but assertive voice spoke up.

Still a bit groggy, Ryu Dragon asked. “Where… where are… we ?”

“In an underground cell in Shadowloo secret base.” Replied Guy calmly.

“I gather that we lose to that mad man.” Said Dragon. He shook his head to clear his mind.

“You are very perceptive.” Said Guy without a hint of sarcasm. He has this strange skill of saying sarcasm without hinting it.

Dragon ignored the sarcasm – apparently, he got it – and scanned the cell. They were tied and hanged on the wall on the opposite the door. On a steel peg attached to the wall just beside the left torch were Guy’s yellow wrist protectors and RD’s fighting red and black fingerless gloves. Even in the darkness, they could see on each of the other two walls, a full set of skeleton hanged. The door was made of steel and the walls were made of bricks, which were painted purple. The cell seemed hardly cleaned, from the evidence of moss and black stains on the floor or the walls or the ceiling. The smell in the cell was the combination of the smells of blood, sweat, and human’s wastes. Certainly not the kind of smell that anyone considered attractive or would be made as perfume.

“How long have you been up ?” asked Dragon.

“About fifteen-twenty minutes ago.” Answered Guy.

“Anything happened ?”

“Aside from a rat scampering around your head ? Nope.”

Dragon sighed. “Can you get out of the shackles ?”

“I…”

Guy’s answer was cut off by the sound of the metallic door opened. Standing on the mouth of the cell was one of both fighters’ archenemies, the boxer Balrog.

**

Meliza elbowed her attacker. He reeled back in pain, and she used the opportunity to escape. Grabbing the lid of the trash can, she tossed it like a Frisbee to her attacker, causing it to explode. He had ducked, escaping with his head intact. Ayame was being hustled out the window. Meliza quickly followed, tailed by one of the dark suits. Ayame’s kidnapper ran into an alley.

Meliza fought to keep up, running as fast as she could while trying to avoid getting caught by the man behind her. The man behind her was catching up really quickly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out several cards, transferring a kinetic energy towards them. With a glance over her shoulder, she tossed one, causing an explosion at the man’s feet. He jumped back, startled. She tossed another, and it exploded right in front of his chest, the blast causing him to fly backwards several feet.

When she turned her attention to the front again, she saw that a limo had parked at the curb, its front bumper only in view, apparently waiting for the first dark suit. Judging by Ayame’s form, he had probably put her to unconsciousness.

The suit turned the corner, disappearing from sight. When she followed, she was immediately bombarded by a silver attack of energy that hit her multiple times. Meliza fell to the ground, out cold.

Urien smoothed down his blue tie with his forefinger. He walked over to her form and lifted her up.

“What a troublesome woman,” he muttered, glancing down the alley for his other employee.

Urien strolled to the limo, placing her on the seat first before climbing in. “I take it that Arik won’t be joining us?”

“I don’t know,” Don, the one who had kidnapped Ayame, responded.

Urien shook his head.

“Boss, you might want to tie up that woman’s hands. She did something weird earlier, like she made things explode by touching them.”

“Did she?” Urien reached into an overhead compartment to retrieve a rope. “No wonder she caused you so much trouble…” He wound the rope tightly around Meliza’s wrists to ensure that the only thing her fingers could touch were each other.

**

Bison walked steadily and confidently along the hallway of the second level of the underground secret base. Behind him were Sagat on the right and Rolento on the left. Rolento was the first recovered from the big battle. They walked to one of the medic rooms, which was guarded by two Shadowloo guards, one on each side of the door.

As the three of them approaching the room, the two soldiers saluted and opened the door. The metallic door slid open with a humming sound, and then Bison, Sagat, and Rolento entered the room.

Inside were six beds, placed in three rows of two beds. On their right was a computer monitoring the condition of patients in the room. On their left was a huge cupboard with several drawers filled with various kinds of medicines.

Laid on the beds were Sodom, Adon, and Vega. Among the three of them, Adon was the lighter injured. Sodom sustained serious injuries on the head, courtesy of his opponent’s remarkable kicking technique. Vega, however, was in seriously critical condition, his chest, and shoulder bones were broken and his jaws cracked from brutal punches and kicks of his prey, Crimson. Vega was found about ten minutes after he was defeated, sunk deep in a tree trunk, just in the verge of crossing to the other side of life.

“How is he ?” asked Bison to a doctor who was taking care of Vega.

The doctor shook his head. “It is too early to tell, my lord. Vega’s injuries was really fatal, had it not for his remarkable power and skills, he would have die.”

“Hmmm…” Bison. “What about the others ?”

“Adon will recover soon, in about an hour or two. His wounds were not fatal. Sodom… he sustained quite a fatal wound on his head, it is possible that he either become a cripple at the worst. At best, he would be alright with a week rest, but I’m not sure about the effect of his injuries on the mind-control hypnosis.”

“Make him recover, doctor, I don’t have time to find replacement, and there is still a great deal things to do. Make him recover, or you’ll be sorry.” Said Bison with menacing tone.

“Yes, my lord.” Replied the doctor.

**

Astaroth studied the trails. Shockwave had disappeared. He couldn’t have gone that far…

**

Somehow, he had found them. Shockwave found Volpe, Guile, Dan, and Crimson at the edge of the city.

“Shockwave, are you all right?” Guile asked once he saw him.

The young man nodded. “Yeah…I’m okay. He…He has Iwa and Kumori.”

Volpe’s eyes widened. Crimson struggled to stand, while the pink fighter couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Who, Shockwave?” Guile prompted. “Who has the girls?”

“Naar…”

Volpe felt his heart drop from his chest. He wasn’t able to protect them. He had promised to look after them, even though the ladies proved that they were well able to take care of themselves.

“All right. Who else is missing?” Guile asked in a calm voice.

“I don’t know,” Shockwave answered. “I’m going to start looking for them…”

“I’ll go with you,” Dan offered.

Guile shook his head. “Fine. Let’s move fast. Call me as soon as you find out anything. Anything at all…”

The five men split up and began to search for the other Essences, wishing that they were all safe and accounted for.

**

“Ooofff !” huffed Dragon heavily as his breath was pushed out violently by Balrog’s vicious punch on his abdomen. Another heavy punch landed on his left cheek making him seeing twinkling little stars.

“That’s for the tournament.” Said Balrog, grinning madly.

With a shook of his head, Dragon cleared his mind and the twinkling little stars in his vision. He glared at Balrog with the look that could make a psychotic killer – in some of his cases as ASB agent – recoiled in fear.

Balrog, however, although not recoiled in fear, felt a bit uneasy under the fighter’s predator stare. He gritted his teeth and flexed his muscles to counter the effect. “What are you looking at ?” Then he poised to punch at Dragon again. “This is for at the hotel.” Then he struck.

Suddenly, out of his peripheral vision range, he noticed something flew past his left ear. He instinctively canceled the punch and raised his hands to defend himself. A roundhouse kick slammed to his left guard hand, pushing him toward Guy, who seeing the opportunity lashed out his legs and locked around Balrog’s leg.

The thing that flew past Balrog was Dragon’s glove containing the Soul Gem. Using his unique mind power and connection with the gem, he called the gem, which was tucked in a secret pocket on his right hand glove, thus taking the glove as well. Dragon caught his glove and quickly began to raise his power using the Soul Gem to double up his power temporarily. Meanwhile Balrog was struggling to get free from Guy’s lock, he couldn’t call the guards posted outside because Guy’s legs were neatly and strongly wrapped around his neck and locking his vocal cord as well.

Dragon strained his muscles as hard as he could to contain the rich power that flowed through his body. He grabbed both chains and pulled. His muscles bulged fiercely from the enormous power flowing through his body. He gritted his teeth and groaned painfully as he pulled and pulled and pulled, until finally…

The brick where his right chain was attached to was pulled out and the other chain snapped off violently. Meanwhile, Balrog had managed to break free from Guy’s legs and quickly slid to the side to fought Ryu Dragon, while at the same time called for the two guards outside.

Balrog struck with a right straight charge, but Dragon had already rolled under the attack. As the first guard came in, Dragon was already in halfway standing position. With his right hand still holding the chain, he snapped the chain slashing upward. The brick that was pulled out caught the guard’s rifle and chin, painfully. Balrog, who just recovered from his attack, turned to attack, but Guy’s clumsy kick – as Guy was still chained - toward his face halted his charge. The second guard was about to come in after pushing the downed first guard. With a quick turning kick, Dragon’s heel caught the metallic door, sending the metal door viciously banged on the second guard’s face. Ouch.

“Watch out !” warned Guy as Balrog charged toward Ryu Dragon.

The warning came a second late. Dragon was just still recovering from the kick when Balrog’s powerful punch slammed onto his back, sending him crashing onto the wall, left shoulder first. Dragon gritted his teeth in pain as his left shoulder was dislocated from crashing onto the wall, but there was no time to rest as Balrog was ready to charge again.

Balrog charged, and this time he aimed for Dragon’s head as he was sure that his fist would home in. Dragon, however, out of reflex, ducked to the side and rolled under the punch that would surely broke his skull had it hit. He rolled forward twice and jumped up to face Balrog. Guy was directly behind him.

“You’re dead, kid.” Taunted Balrog, then he crouched into his boxer stance ready to strike.

Dragon was almost out of breath, he was panting and sweating heavily and his adrenaline rush was almost done. His stamina was depleted severely from going berserk to free himself and the dislocated shoulder injury. He got only enough energy for one last attack before going to dream land again, but would it enough to take Balrog down ? That’s when he heard…

(“Dragon, send him to me.”) whispered Guy in Japanese language.

A series of thought passed in express speed on Dragon’s mind, but he got no other plans, he had to depend on Guy and him working together to take Balrog down. He nodded resolutely and stood in his fighting stance, his left side – his injured side – facing Balrog. Then he grinned his vicious wolf grin. This puzzled Balrog, but he told himself that Dragon was only trying to scare or confuse him. He raised his power, focused it on his fist, and charged !

A straight right came in a blur toward Dragon, and would surely kill him if it hit. Dragon quickly stepped back – meaning to Balrog’s right side. The punch safely whizzed passed him as he moved his right hand in circular motion and like a snake coiled its prey, Dragon’s right palm enclosed on Balrog’s wrist. Suppressing the pain, he placed his left shoulder under Balrog’s armpit, pushing, and at the same time pulled Balrog’s right hand to the side.

Caught off guard, Balrog was flung forward toward Guy, who was conveniently waited for the right moment to struck. Grabbing both chains to balance himself, Guy lashed out both legs and viciously caught Balrog’s chin. Balrog involuntarily somersaulted backward from the force of Guy’s powerful kicks and landed very so much painfully on the stone floor. Double ouch.

For half a minute, no one moved, Balrog lay unconscious on the floor, Dragon and Guy waited if Balrog would wake up. When it was clear that the boxer was down, Dragon quickly went to the guards and searched for the keys to Guy’s shackles.

“Thanks.” Said Guy after he was freed.

“You’re welcome.” Said Dragon while gasping for air.

“Are you alright ? Can you walk ?” asked Guy concernedly.

“Just give me half a day rest, and I’ll be fine.” Said Dragon.

“We don’t have half a day.” Said Guy frowning. Then he touched Dragon’s left shoulder to check. Dragon winced painfully as the pain shot up. “Your shoulder dislocated.”

Dragon grimaced. “Nice of you to point it out.” He crouched down, placed his left palm on the floor, held his left shoulder, and then gave a push. With a sickening ‘crack’ that made the Bushin ninja winced, the shoulder was pushed back into its socket. Dragon nearly screamed from the pain.

“You know, if you’ve asked me to help you, I could make that less painful.” Said Guy.

“How’d you do that ?” asked Dragon.

“Well, there are some nerve points that can be use to suppress the pain.” explained Guy.

Dragon sighed. Then something that he needed to ask came up. “Guy, how did you know that I can speak Japanese ?”

Guy shrugged. “I didn’t.”

As if the scuffle disturbed their slumber, the others slowly began to wake up. Guy went over to each of them, releasing them from their chains.

“Nice work, guys,” Ken congratulated them.

“Thanks,” Guy responded.

**

“What do you mean, some of them are missing?!” Bison bellowed.

His subordinate practically quivered at his floating feet. “Last we heard…five Essences missing…”

**

“We’ll need some disguises if we’re going to be walking around here. Bison probably has surveillance cameras everywhere,” Guy suggested as the group began to slowly creep out of the cell.

“Like that one, love?” Cammy pointed to a shiny black object to the right of Guy’s head about six feet away.

Guy shook his head. “Great.”

“How about we run?” Ken suggested.

“Better than being stuck here,” Chun Li murmured.

**

Locke frowned as his cell went off. Who would be calling at this time? He had covered all his bases. The ID displayed an unknown number.

“Yes?” he answered after picking up.

“Mr. Koh, I’m glad you answered,” came a familiar and not so pleasant voice.

Locke’s jaw tightened. “Urien…”

Memphis nearly fell over in his chair. He immediately started making gestures, wanting to hear what their former employer was saying. Locke activated the speakerphone, setting the phone between he and his partner, set at a low volume so only they could hear.

“What do you want?” Locke asked flatly.

“I have something of incredible value…” Urien paused. “I know you can also hear me, Mr. Long.”

Memphis blinked, glancing at Locke who just glared at the phone.

“You gentlemen conveniently neglected to tell me that the woman we found in your hospital room, Mr. Koh, was an Essence.”

The eyes of the millennium assassin grew wider than saucers. Locke silently let out a breath.

“Then you and I both learned something new,” Locke continued in a neutral voice.

“Very amusing,” Urien chuckled. It was obvious he didn’t believe him. “She’s a rather difficult woman…she gave my men quite a hard time while they tried to capture her…”

At Urien’s silence, Memphis thought for a moment that he had hung up on them. Then they heard several shifting sounds.

“Hello?” came a female voice.

Memphis released a breath.

“Meliza…are you all right?” Locke asked.

“Locke?” Genuine surprise filtered in her voice. “I…I’m fine. Ayame…she’s here with me. Why…Why is he calling you?” she asked, referring to her kidnapper.

“I can’t explain everything,” Locke answered. He was a man who prided himself on keeping his emotions in check. But he was fighting very hard to stay calm and not let his former employer detect feelings even he had yet to understand for this complicated woman. “But I have a debt to repay…and you are now part of that debt. I think you know why...”

Shifting sounds again. “Mr. Koh, I understand you have started transferring the generous salary I had offered you and Mr. Long.”

“I have,” Locke responded flatly.

“Good. I trust that things will go accordingly. While I cannot release her anymore since she is an Essence, keep in mind that my men will be keeping an eye on you two.”

Memphis sighed.

Click.

Locke stared onto the street, his eyes narrowed.

“What now?” Memphis asked. He so wanted to throw the table he was leaning on across the street. Maybe hit a few lamp posts while he was at it. “…We got her into this, Koh. I mean, I know that she was friends with all the Essences…and sure…it would have been so easy to get to them through her…but…”

Memphis still couldn’t get over the fact that she was one of the few who had ever given him the brush off. In some weird, twisted way, it had won his respect. But he sure as h*ll wasn’t going to admit that to Locke Koh, of all people.

“I know…” Locke understood exactly what he was saying. In their profession, they had few friends. And they had used several people along the way to finish their missions. But sometimes, things didn’t turn out the way they expected. Locke was hoping it wouldn’t come to this…

“Your wheels are working,” Memphis observed. “What’s up?”

“We don’t have a choice, Long. We have to change plans.”

Memphis studied him. “To what?”

“Plan B.”

Locke’s partner was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Plan B. You mean the plan where we side with an enemy and use him to beat everyone else.”

“Right.”

Memphis propped his chin on his knuckles. “I’m not going to like chosen temporary partner, am I?”

Locke grimaced, not liking the situation either. “No…but neither will I. I think it’s time we go back to where all of this started…”

“With Bison, you mean?”

Locke nodded once.

“I knew you were going to say that…” Memphis grumbled.

**

The technician reeled back as Bison shoved him aside. The warlord pointed on the screen showing the now empty cell. “What do you think you are doing?!”

“I…I’m sorry, sir, I…”

“Find them. Now,” Bison ordered.

He had several Essences to capture.

**

Shockwave and Dan began their search at the inn while Guile, Volpe, and Crimson looked through the local shops and restaurants.

Dan raised his hand to knock on a door.

“Wait,” Shockwave said quietly. Something was wrong. All was quiet. Much too quiet.

They turned just in time to see a figure appear in front of them. Astaroth regarded them with cold blue eyes. Dan gulped. This wasn’t turning out to be as expected…

**

Iwa’s head lifted, seeing a hooded creature open the gate of her and Kumori’s cell. It hissed at them to follow, and the two dark-haired young women obliged. They walked down several long corridors before coming to a stop in a large room.

Kumori kept her sound of shock buried in her throat. An inky, mysterious, and all-powerful blackness stood before them, several yards away. Its evil power slithered through the entire room in tendrils and also crawled over them.

It was the worst feeling in the world. And it was probably only half of what was in store for them…
 
 

~~~
 

Okay, now a brief summary of where everyone is and what happened to characters mentioned in the chapter:

Iwa/Kumori: kidnapped by Astaroth and are now being held as Naar’s prisoners. Shockwave tried to help them.

Natalie/Jin: After being whipped by Jin in front of Naar, Natalie is recovering in Astaroth’s cabin with Jin’s help.

Guile/Volpe/Crimson: Crimson ran from the battle with Bison to inform Guile/Volpe that Ryu and co. needed help, but they never made it. They are now near Fighter’s Inn, looking for other Essences when they received word from Shockwave that two Essences (Iwa/Kumori) are now missing.

Astaroth/Shockwave/Dan: Inside Fighter’s Inn, Shock & Dan are searching for everyone else when Astaroth arrives, hoping to bring Shock to Naar.

Guy/Ryu/Ken/Chun/Cammy/Dragon and anyone else in that fight scene with Bison that I’m missing: After being unconscious for nearly half an hour, the team makes an escape from their cell on the Shadowloo base, but were seen on camera making their getaway.

Bison: After watching videos of Dragon’s fight and hearing that several Essences are missing, he sees Guy and co. escape, orders his soldiers to ensure that they don’t.

Locke/Memphis: are outside at a restaurant when they receive a call from Urien, who tells them that he has Meliza and ‘thanks’ them for returning the money. After Urien hangs up, Locke suggests that it’s time to move to Plan B, which is the ‘side with one enemy so he’ll destroy our other enemies, then we’ll defeat him’ plan. Bison is the one they’ll temporarily side with, hoping it will help get rid of Naar and Urien…or at least Urien. =P

Urien/Meliza/Ayame: Urien’s men tried to kidnap both women, but Urien ended up using one of his special attacks to knock out Meliza. He called Locke and Memphis to inform them that he has Meliza, and because she is an Essence, there’s no more guaranteeing that he’d let her go once the 2 assassins return all the money. Instead, he’ll have his men keep on eye on them so they don’t try anything funny. Urien is holding the two women in his suite, hoping to capture more Essences.

Darius/Acinomia: recently witnessed Bison’s fight and are merely standing around, waiting for all the events to unfold.

Lilly Yin: is at Fighter’s Inn, and was recently contacted by Volpe. She was the only Essence at the inn during his phone call.

Kay Lee: is in Fighter’s Hospital, where he will be slowly recovering from his constant battles, never to be ‘actually’ involved in any scene.

Fighters not accounted for: Shadow Dragon, Victoria, Zero1, Nisshoku/Shizukesa, John Heagy and I know there are a couple more I’m forgetting.