"Dammit, I can't them back much longer!" Zero1, cynical TaiKwanDo master and all around toughguy, cursed. "Any bright ideas there, headgear?"

*WHACK, WHACK WHACK!!!!*

"That's HEAGY!" our tall bedraggled martial artist responded. His muscles were beginning to tire from the relentless strain. "And no. Um... You guys?"

"Nope."

"Nada."

"Nothing, man."

"Negative, good sirah."

*CRUNCH, WHUMP, THUMP!!*

"Crap." The hinges of the massive door Zero1, Crimson, and Heagy were braced against began to rattle and shake due to the tremendous impact on the other end, setting our heroes teeth on edge.

"Then I guess it's fun time." Shockwave grinned, reaching below the nearby table for his trademark shiny stick.

Kay Lee blinked and turned to his streetwise ally. "You're insane."

"What?"

Crimson shook his head knowingly. "It's one thing to take the fight to a normal opponent, but completely different to try to do that to THEM..." His dark features twisted into a lopsided grin. "We're screwed, man. 'Nuff said."

*RATTLE RATTLE CRACK SPLINTER!!*

"Alas, then there is little recourse," murmured the pink clad Volpe, hand on his chin. He turned his head to the table alongside him as it bounced around due to unnatural tremors originating at the door. Wordlessly his gloved hand closed around the handle of a plastic spork from his mighty TV dinner, pointing it ahead of him in a perfect 90 degree angle.

Heagy blinked. "What-?"

Volpe then turned the spork on himself.

"NO! Don't do it-" began Kay.

"DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!" Volpe bellowed to the skies above, bringing the eating utensil blurring towards his chest.

Crimson closed his eyes, recoiling from the scene in horror with a shriek not all that unlike a frightened schoolgirl.

"......." Began Zero1.

"......" Replied John Heagy.

*SLAMMO, BONK, POWZIFFLE KNOCK KNOCK!!*

"Sir Kay, would thou please unhand my chosen item of ceremony?" Volpe's beefy arm quivered directly alongside Kay's who had intercepted the eating utensil with his usual inhuman speed, the object scant centimeters from Aaron's torso.

"I need it for my pudding!" Hissed Kay, straining in response.

"Hello? Guys?" Shockwave shook his head and pointed. "Remember the whole door thing?"

*WONKITY ZONKITY BEAT BONK BIFF!!*

One of the door hinges launched past Crimsons nose with an eerie flash of light. "Aw, crap."

Zero1 turned his gaze to the struggling John Heagy.

Heagy glanced at the straining Zero1.

"I always liked the backstreet boys." Zero1 intoned, tears blurring in his eyes.

"Me too, friend, me too."

The duo of mighty streetfighters embraced in a rather manly Kodak moment, utter and completely prepared for the end. The heavy door was being ripped apart finally by some unseen force, one massive chunk at a time.

Crimson hid behind a curtain, further reinforcing his ninja-like skills of stealth.

Kay Lee and Volpe shielded themselves with the parasol's they had procured from their imitation tropical drinks.

Shockwave just wanted to hurt something.

Then the entire wall exploded, sending massive fragments of plaster and concrete flying about dangerously. Not that an entire wall exploding directly behind you is normally considered safe, mind you, but.. oh, well, you get the idea...

"HHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" chirped Ayame, Victoria, Kumori, Lilly, Meliza, Natalie, and oddly enough even Iwa, in disturbing unison, complete with surround sound and duplex stereo. Swiftly they strode over the inert form of Shockwave (who had been unfortunate enough to be exactly where the door was launched), their radiant faces not missing a single beat. "IT'S TIME TO GO TO THE FAAAIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

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

"I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life....." intoned Zero1, clutching several massive bags absently. "Where did I go wrong?" he lamented. "I basically live a good life. I try to do the right thing." He paused, reflecting while gazing at what appeared to be for all basic intent and purposes a complete, although elaborate, fairground. "Most of the time anyway. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Hiya mister!" Chirped an overly cheerful kid, scampering about in glee.

Zero1 growled, baring his teeth.

"MOMMIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" wailed the little urchin as he fled.

Zero1 almost smiled. "Damn, that felt good." Then he nodded to himself. "That's it, next overly cheerful person that comes this way is getting an earful. Grade-A can of whoopass. I'm no prepubescent baggage monkey, dammit."

"Heeeeyyyy Zero-kun!" Ayame ran to our encumbered dark martial artist, out of breath.

"Yeah?"

Ayame steadied herself on a nearby lampost, panting heavily. "Have.... You... seen... we...were Kay went..?"

"Over there avoiding Victoria while enjoying hotdogs on her extended line of credit."

"Thhaaaaaaaannnkksss." Ayame squeezed Zero1 in a quick hug, dashing away in a blur of scented perfume.

"........"

Zero1 sighed, then smiled. "Nuts."

********

Guy studied the object in his hand intently, examining the surface with practiced precision honed by years of skill. "This is a baseball."

The vender nodded. "Yep."

He pointed at something a short distance away. "That is a green giraffe."

The vender nodded again. "Yep."

"I knock down the target with this?"

"Knock the target over, get a prize. Dollar a try, sir, step right up."

The Bushin master blinked once, testing the weight of the light sphere. Wordlessly he handed the eager vendor a crisp dollar bill, palming the device nimbly. He breathed evenly for a half a second...

*Fwoosh*

..The baseball flew fast and true, shuriken style...

*Chank!*

..A perfect hit, striking the target with enough force to send it reeling...

*Warblewobblewobblewobble*

...spining further and further off balance...

*Whop*

..until it set gracefully back into its original position, with no discernable trace of it ever being desturbed.

"Oh, I am sorry," blubbered the Vendor. "Bad luck, but do feel free to try again."

Guy studied the man through half-lidded eyes. Then he handed him another dollar.
 

***********
 

Lilly breathed the last note through her ornate flute, smiling afterward.

"I liked that." Yang lapsed from his normal nonchalant state and visibly beamed at the young woman. "How long have you been playing?"

Lilly laughed, gazing towards the sun. "For but a few years Yang." She grinned, leveling her brilliant gaze at her boushonen friend. "And thank you."

Yang visibly stiffened, reddening. "It's just the truth. I ... uh.."

"And the heart wouldest gladly sings for ages passed were I to witness that look directed by yonder lass.." Volpe chuckled, jumping deftly to the ground from a nearby rooftop.

"Nice entrance, Volpe." Lilly observed.

"For ye, only the best." Volpe bowed low indeed. He turned to Yang with a large grin and a wave. "'Lo, Sir Yang."

He nodded. "Inspector."

Volpe grinned, waving his hands frantically in the air. "No, negatory good sir. I've been meaning to make amends about that for some time to come. Dost thou see any rank on my most mighty attire?"

Yang blinked. "No."

Volpe laughed, advancing to the spiky haired martial artist. "Then I am just simply Volpe, contemporary Knight of Justice, Happiness, and Custard-Filled Doughnuts of Goodness." He shook Yang's nerveless hand with his own. "Pleased to meet thou."

Lilly didn't bother to restrain her laughter. "What may I do for you, my most capricious lord?"

Our hero rocked a finger back and forth absently. "Simple. I have but one lone question."

"What is it?"

"When thou plays from the flute," he closed his eyes, grinning softly, "do any of thy songs cease to be?"

Lilly cocked her head, grinning. "You worded it strangely. Of course not baka, I would sooner forget my music than stop breathing." Noticing Yang's pained expression she rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

Volpe leaned easily on a nearby wall, chuckling. "Plausibly, but pray tell what YOU mean.."

Yang studied him through half lidded eyes.

Lilly Yin smiled radiantly at both heavily muscled men. "Okay... when I play, the music isn't just sounds, however pleasing to the ear. It becomes me.. and I become it." She chuckled. "Or something like that. You never forget something as important as that."

"And I would never forget them. The songs, I mean." Yang attempted to study his nails and meet Lilly's eyes with his own, and miserably failing at both.

Volpe stood, gazing at the sun. "Memories are indeed strong. In fact, there 'tis strength abound everywhere, ye just have to gaze a wee bit intently." He bowed swiftly, interrupting her confused response. "Thanks. Take many a care." He eyed Yang, removing his shades. "And ye of her."

"Wha-"

Volpe grinned and departed swiftly in the shadows, which is pretty darn amazing considering the colors he was wearing.

"Is it just me or-" Lilly began.

"His eyes just flash?" Yang finished. "I wonder what all that was about.." Then he eyed a note set on the table. "It's addressed to you, Lilly."

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

Meliza gently sipped her anonymous alcoholic beverage, lowering her red tinted shades to more effectively shield her eyes from the sun. Her well toned body was managing to show all the right curves in all the right places due to her light dress she had on. She gazed at the icecubes in her glass, unblinking. "This sucks." She flipped over yet another card for her fourteenth game of solitaire. "I was hoping to make some money down here... my credit's shot, I don't have anywhere to go.... And now I can't risk ducking into a casino without running into Locke.. or that psychotic lecherous partner of his."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Mused the voice behind her.

"Oh God." Breathed our heroine.

"Not quite, but close." Chuckled Memphis Long. "Time to take a walk. Get up. Slowly."

She stood. "Shit. What happens now, you take me to some unknown location to drill me for information or even kill me?!"

Memphis gestured, and the young woman began to walk carefully. "All in good time." He cast one languid look up and down her form. "After we take care of other primary concerns first. Yum." He smiled at her look of absolute horror and outrage. "With a body like that you think I'm just going to let an opportunity like this slip by?"

Meliza's arm lashed outward, palm slapping Mephis neatly across the face, which he then neatly caught by the wrist. "Feisty." He pushed the young woman into an unused tent, cornering her. "I like that." With a sultry lick of his lips the man advanced, chuckling.

Meliza whimpered softly. "You have *got* to be kidding.."

*WONK!*

"Wonk?" Memphis's smiling expression contorted into that of confusion, and following that semi-blissful unconsciousness as his body slid to the earth with boneless grace.

"Now I *know* that's no way to treat a lady." Murmured John Heagy through his massive array of hair, spinning a croquet mallet about in a familiar katana kata form. "Who was tha-URK!!"

"Memphis Long, and we are getting OUT OF HERE!" Meliza broke into a full run, dragging Heagy behind her by his collar.

"Um.. Why the hurry?" John broke into a practiced trot alongside her. "The other guy is kind of well... asleep?"

The duo rounded a corner, dodging passerby's left and right. "You have no idea how dangerous that man is... and he's not the one I'm concerned with right now."

"Then who?" Heagy asked as they ducked into an allyway.

Meliza sighed, pointing.

"Me." Intoned Locke, richly.

"Him."

Locke didn't even blink twice, nor did he bother to reach for his pistol strapped to the small of his back, he simply ran forward and decked John right across the chops.

"HEAGY!" Meliza turned from her prone friend only to get backhanded across the face by a very irate, yet disturbingly handsome, Locke.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble I had to go through to find you again?" Locke asked Meliza's prone form, picking up the stunned John absently. "Should have known Memphis would botch the job. I do believe an example is in order." Locke's fist launched out like pistons, slamming again and again at various parts of John's body.

"STOP IT!" Meliza cried.

*CRUNCH!!*

Within the blink of an eye Locke's powerful arms had slammed John *through* the nearby concrete wall, sending blood and cement flying. "That looked like it hurt, hero." Locke mused. "Any last words?"

John Heagy managed to grin and point despite the fact he was being held several feet in the air by the throat. "Behind... you."

Locke scoffed. "Yeah, like I'm going to fall for tha-"

*WHAMO!*

*Padapadapadapadapada*

"KAY, GET BACK HERE WITH MY CREDIT CARDS!!!!" screamed Victoria Enid, running over something squishy Kay Lee had just ran through, mightily beating feet all the way, both of the two absently waving to John as they dashed by, Kay saluting with a burger appropriately half eaten..

Heagy adjusted his jaw, rubbing the unshaven bristle. "Is he okay?"

Meliza shot him a withering glare. "John, he just bodyslammed you THROUGH a wall! Who cares?!" she leapt over the crater that housed the tenderized Locke and grasped Heagy's hands with her own, pulling him upright. " I'll tell you all about it later, but for now just MOVE!!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&
 
 
 
 

******

*Chank!*

*Warblewarble...whop*

"Eh he he he.." chuckled the Vendor. "Maybe you shou-"

Yet another crisp dollar bill blurred into focus before his eyes.

"Another." Intoned Guy.

*********

The rubber soles of Kay Lee's shoes churned up both large amounts of gravel and smoke as he rounded the corner, panting heavily. Beads of sweat had firmly glued his fine hair to his forehead, not that it detered the boushunen effect of our hero in the least.

"Who.. *Pant* ..budda help me....who'd a thought she could run so fast with high-heels?" Kay gasped while ducking into a nearby tent, closing it swiftly behind him. Wearily he drug out his final cheesburger from his hip sack, collapsing into an undignified heap on the floor with an easy smile. His taste buds quivered with anticipation as the heady aroma emerged from the heavy paper wrapping. Kay paused for a sec, enjoying the brief but wonderous silence. He sighed contently. He lifted the proccessed cow pattie to just in front of his nose, closing his eyes, and prepared for one final moment of pure ecxtasy-- devouring the burger.

"Any chance you could share that, Kay-kun?" breathed a feminine voice next to him.

"Mmmmmm?" Mmmmmd Kay Lee, still lost in the ephoria of the moment. Then he craned an eyelid open and then another.

Ayame set down a very ornate looking bottle of wine between the two, pausing to duck behind a nearby crate and produce a pair of neon plastic cups.

"Huh?" Tried Kay Lee.

"Guh?" Tried Kay Lee, again.

"Gabinkle?" Gabinkle'd Kay Lee, obviously not feeling the most elequent as of late.

Ayame smiled, blushing slightly within the recesses of her amazing purple hair. "Do you like it?" She smiled even wider. "The wine was from Victoria and Ken, the glasses from Dan and Volpe."

"Erp?" He blinked once and wacked himself in the head with his shoe. Then he pointed. "Wha-where did you get THAT?"

And by that, my faithful readers, our heroic Kay Lee can only mean the glimmering white dress the young woman wore oh so well, the very curvature of the dress fitting perfectly to her, diamond collar and wristbands twinkling in the semi lit recesses of the tent.

Kaze blinked again. "Wow." Sure, he was a bit unknowledgable of the further ways of expressing affection between couples, maybe the guy still believed the stork ran around delivering newborns, but he still knew natural beauty when he saw it.

Which, as a certain pink wearing investigator would say, she had in spades. "Um. How could you afford that?" Kay Lee remained steadfast in his attempts to remain a rock, or an oak, or some really, really boring kind of plant. Something had to be going on, but he-

"Kay-kun." She brandished white pearly teeth. "Wai! Wai! What do you think?" The young woman twirled about like a baleriena, laughing.

"Er...." began Kay.

"..Yeees?" She crept a little closer in the darkness, eyes intent.

Wow her eyes are big. Green, too. "I um.. er...yes."

She blinked. "Yes? What's that supposed to mean? ..That doesn't make any sense." She put a lacy gloved hand on his forhead. "Maybe you have a fever?"

"No, no it's not that!" Kay scooted back a bit, unsure why his pulse was racing, and rather unused to the whole proximity of such a dazelling young woman. 'Um.." No. Wait. He tended to socialize with Victoria and Lilly, and they were both astonishingly beautiful. Something was different, then, right? His head hurt. Where was his advil..

"Kay-kun?"

Ayame! Right! "You look.. um.." What would Zero1 say?.. got it! "You look hot, doll! How much for a slice of that?"

........

........

...wait for it....

"GAH!" Kay's mind snapped not unlike an old seasoned twig, recoiling in horror. Of all the things to say, if she was anything like Victoria he will be due to be dining on sweaty socks for an entire month! This was worse than his Coach deciding for him to be the official punching bag of the entire Rival Schools cast! Plus, she hadn't moved. She was probably angrier than Man Sei forced to work at a fast food joint and then given a pay cut for not dumping enough fat into the burgers. Only one thing to do then... "Gomen! Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me!" Out of the corner of his eye the boushonen streetfighter attempted to gain a glimpse of her reaction.

*GLOMP!*

"It's okay Kay-kun, I think I undertand." Ayame murmurred, giving him a fierce hug.

...this was new. Victoria she was not.

"I ... I just want to spend some time with you." She smiled, tears welling in her eyes. Ayame's grip had yet to lessen a fraction of an inch, but for some reason Kay didn't mind so much. "Is that okay?"

Kay Lee looked at her, ruby (yet purple tinted) lips trembling. He smiled, swiftly ripping the still warm burger in half, proffering half towards her small hands. "Sounds like fun." He smiled.

Ayame smiled back, laying next to Kay's slumped form, gazing at the ceiling with him. Then she giggled.

"What?"

"You were wondering how I got this dress, Kay-kun? Well, the truth is..."

&&&&&&&&&&thisspaceforrent&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

*Whoof!*

*CHANG!*

*WHARBLEwablewarblewok*

".........!" Guy slammed a fist down on the podium with blurring speed. His hair becoming matted and unkempt.

The Vedor made the mistake of twitching.

"ANOTHER!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
 
 

"I'll kill him. I'll murder the pretty looking bastard. I'll find out where he's hiding and show him why dogs sulk after being newtered!" Victoria snarled, looking for something nearby to hurt.

"Calm down Victoria-san!" pleaded Kumori, who had latched onto Victoria's arm in the vain hope to gain her attention. "He didn't mean any harm by it, I'm sure!"

" .. then I'm going to borrow Volpe's claymore mines and blow him into little itty bitty bits of kitty litter.."

"Relax already, your getting on my nerves." Iwa adjusted her glasses, looking mature and dignified.. for at least 3 seconds anyway. The fact that Kumori's other free arm was dragging the irate Iwa Hoshi into the building had nothing to do with this however. Honest.

"..and then I'm going to JUMP on the little bits and grind them into an icky powder.."

"Why are we coming here again?" Sakura's white headband fluttered softly behind her as she tapped on the massive door in front of her, some sort of heavy music coming in muffled from the other end.

"It's called 'aving fun, luv." Intoned the heavy British accent of Cammy White. "Gotta learn to relax and cure what ails ya."

"It would be to much work for a simple peasent girl such as yourself to understand!" Karin's massive blond locks jiggled in the air conditioning (along with the rest of her) as soon as she put her palm to her mouth, taking in a deep breath... "OHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO- *cRUnCh!*-GAAAAAHHH!

Sakura blinked, removing her hands from covering her ears as Iwa Hoshi in turn removed her heavy sneaker from Karin Kazumi's right foot. "I wish I thought of that.."

Iwa just grinned.

Karin nursed her foot with a glare directed towards the others with a look that could only be described as nuclear warm.

Cammy White halted the group, poking Victoria in the middle of her rage. "It's time, luv!"

Victoria's rage vanished instantly as she clasped her hands with glee. "Wai!"

Kumori and Iwa looked at Victoria, looked at eachother, and then backed away.. slowely.

"Wai?" Sakura blinked.

"Silly peasent girl, she says that only because it's time.. for.." She assumed a somewhat dramatic pose, pointing at the wall in front of her.

"For..?"

"MALE DANCERS!!!!!" Cheered Cammy, Karin and Victoria, nearly diving into the building, Sakura, Iwa and Kumori hot on their trail.

Instantly the young women's view was flooded with hyperactive strobe lights, insanely loud base empowered music, and lots of male fan service. Wearing very, very little with pretty much no body fat whatsoever. The croud, comprised of easily thirty or fourty young woman with a look that could almost be described as hunger cheered wildly, brandishing dollar bills up high like it was a pass to the very gates of heaven itself.

Kumori grinned seemingly from ear to ear, poking the blushing Iwa Hoshi until she lapsed back into a waking state.

"SHAKE YOUR BON-BON BABY!" screamed Victoria Enid. "SHAKE IT FOR ALL YOUR WORTH!"

"Yahahahahaaaa! Yatat!" cheered an oddly familiar voice in the background.

Kumori blinked. "...Did I just hear Chun-li?"

"Hiya you two!" Beamed Meliza.

"Where's Heagy?" Kumori laughed. "I hope you didn't take him along.."

"Um..."

"ROCK ON!" bellowed Cammy, pigtails flying, tucking several dollar bills in reigons not about to be mentioned by the author, for fear of his life due to the severe lack of the gratitious use of the word 'breasts' in this fic. Whoops. Never mind.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know.." muttered Iwa, trying to hide her beet-red face with a disgusted grimace. "Sakura, Karin, we shouldn't be here, let's g-"

"DANCE FOR ME PEASENT BOY! DANCE LIKE YOU WANT TO EARN YOUR MEAGER PAYCHECK! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!"

"....." Sakura smiled sweetly and began dancing to the music.

"Oh, come on.." Iwa began meekly. "I mean..." Any further protests were drowned out my the music, rythmic bouncing and the small amount of bills that Kurmoi inserted into her hand with a grin. 'Oh, what the hell. We only live once right?"

Kumori grinned as the two joined the fray. "So which one looks the most beefed?"

"Dunno. They are all pretty built, but from a fighters standpoint they are kind of wimpy." Iwa laughed.

Sakura giggled. "Watch what you say or Hibiki might find his way on stage."

"Then I'd just have to bring Volpe-sama in to even the odds!" Countered Kumori. A soft tap on her back brought her face to face with the narrow eyes and slight upturned smile of Lilly Yin, flute in hand.

"Ja!" She waved. "Looks like you both may get your wish."

"Huh?" Sakura blinked, blushing slighty. "I didn't mean..."

"Sssshhh. Watch and wait." Lilly winked and brought the ornate flute to her lips, the punding music instantly dying, the dancers departing, the still hopping audience the only trace the music had ever been.

Before the audience could protest the crisp pure note of Lilly Yin's flute sliced through the air, causing the people to quiet instantly.

"Here it comes.." Giggled some anonymous person to another.

The music of the flute rose up high and danced from note to note, settling into a serene lull. A dull greenish light shown from above in the leftmost corner as the rugged form of Shockwave brandished a simple guitar, slowly picking up the threads of the song as it went along. Off in the distance an electiric Violin began to play in the nimble hands of Ken Masters, roaring merrily into the fray.

Behind the stage a male voice began to softly sing, voice amplifying every second.

"Now is the time baby," sang a base empowered voice.
"The time for our merry cant, let our souls ride as free as the wind purchance," sang another jovial and very male voice.
"As we, the Saikyo-strong men, for you ladies, DAAANCE!! YAHHOIE!!"

Immediately a heavy drum began to sound, beaten by none other than John Heagy in the background, who somehow managed to play despite his unkempt hair seemingly blocking his entire scope of vision.

Immediately the blurring form of Dan Hibiki, Master of Saikyo-Ryuu style karate, rolled on stage, while the Bushin Ninja in Training Crimosn dropped easily from the rafters above. Lastly the somersaluting form of Special Forces trained Volpe flipped on stage, all smiles.

Dan stood flexing a beefy arm, clad only in his bright pink fighting Gi top and a equally bright pink thong.

Crimson bared his massive back while showing off his tiger stripe thong with a massive pelt adorning his chest.

Volpe powerposed for the audience, wearing a neon green speedo and a bright blue tie.

Both were perfectly tanned, gleaming with oil. The music reached it's appex.. all was still... then the world as they knew it exploded into a frenzy of light and sound.

________________________

Black gloved hands examinded the contents of the large manilla folder in set in front of her. Several photographs were strewn about in a dedicated sense of order. The pictures were of many people, and of many emotions. Laughing, smiling. Anger. Honor. And all of these pictures somehow had one man involved. Somehow, some way he had found his way into the hearts of every person involved in this ordeal.. every time another would fall, he would be there to help them back up.
She sifted through the remaining photos. It was a pity, this. Her hand lowered to the massive long barreld sniper rifle below, as well as several other brutal looking weapons. This man was the glue that held them together, or so her superiours believed. Wether this was true or not, she didn't know. Nor did she care. All that was certain was that this man, named Volpe would die in a few short hours. She had a contract to keep.