Ryu looked up
at the three-floored mansion in San Francisco. He had been to it two other times before, but it's been 2 years since he's
last seen it. Recently, he received a letter from his best friend Ken to come to America again.
The last time Ryu was
here, Ken got married to his love Eliza. Ryu was his best man at the wedding of course. The other time he was here was seven
years ago when Ken asked him to come to America. That time, it was Ryu's first time in the States.
I wonder what
Ken's up to now? he thought.
Then, the main doors of the mansion opened. Standing there was a man about Ryu's
height with shoulder-length red hair.
"Hey buddy," he said. "Long time no see."
Ryu smirked. "Yeah, it's been
a long time, Ken."
Ryu walked up to the door. Their right hands turned into fists and they lightly punched each other's
fist like it was a high-five.
"Come on in," Ken said. "Things have been pretty good around here. How about you?"
"Yeah,
things are good too," Ryu replied.
"You don't sound sure," Ken said.
"I'm pretty sure."
They entered
the huge hall of the mansion. Ryu looked up at the Chinese chandelier (the ones you see at Chinese buffets) in the middle
of the ceiling.
"Ken, is he here?" called a female voice. Stepping out of a room stood a young woman. She was very
pretty with long wavy blonde hair that fell to her hips and sparkling blue eyes.
"Hi Mrs. Masters," said Ryu bowing.
"It's
good to see you again Ryu." Eliza went up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Then, Ryu noticed that her stomach was
a little bigger than it was the last time he's seen her.
Ken smiled as he noticed this. "Ryu, we're going to be parents
this winter."
Ryu smirked. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Eliza said with a small smile and holding her stomach.
"Now,"
Ken said. "I'll show you to your room."
"Mr. Perez informed me that dinner will be ready soon," Eliza said.
"All
right," Ken said and gave Eliza a quick peck on the lips.
Ryu followed Ken upstairs to the second floor.
Ken
led him to a room that was as big as a regular house. It was painted blue and the ceiling was high up. There were a few draws,
a big screen TV, a desk with a computer and a triple king-size bed covered by white sheets and pillows.
"Wow!!" Ryu
cried out. "This room is a lot bigger than the last one you put me in."
"I figured I'd put you in the third best room
in the house."
"Third best? What about the best and second best?"
"The best one belongs to Eliza and I and the
second best will belong to our child." Ken went towards the door. "I'll be checking on a few things right now. Why don't you
make yourself comfortable?"
Ryu nodded as Ken closed the door behind him.
Ryu settled his duffle bag down and
rested on the bed. He began to think about what happened one night in San Francisco seven years ago...
(Flashback)
Ryu
and Ken had just beaten up a few military guys and were about to settle themselves when a big man with mohawk-style blond
hair popped into the bar suddenly.
The man looked around and saw his friends lying around in pain. He noticed Ryu and
Ken sitting happily drinking bottles of water.
"Hey!" the man said. "Did you two do this to my men?"
Ryu and
Ken did notice the man come in the first time. Ryu smirked and said, "Hey Ken, looks like their friend over here wants a challenge."
The
man groaned but smirked. "Shouldn't you two be at home doing your homework?"
"Sure," Ryu said. "Let me show you what
I've learned!" He darted at the man and tried to throw a few punches but instead grabbed the man's jacket. He took the jacket
off revealing the man's big muscles and American flag tattoos, one on each arm.
"Get him, Guile!!" one of the military
men cried out.
Ryu darted at Guile again. Just when he was about to punch him, Guile slugged him in the gut. This caught
Ryu off guard and soon Guile was beating the crap out of him. At one point, he threw Ryu at the drinks display and knocked
everything over and all the glasses broke. Ryu still went after him and then Guile threw him at a table, but Ryu still stood
up. After a few more beatings, Guile finished off with his somersault kick hitting under Ryu's chin. Ryu flew back and landed
hard on his back.
Guile knew that Ryu was beaten. "Let's go fellas," he said.
Then, some of the women in the
bar screamed in terror. Guile looked over in shock. Ryu slowly got up and stood in his fighting stance. His face was blown
up and he was bleeding from the head yet he still wanted to fight.
Guile only sighed and said, "I gotta hand it to
ya, kid. You got guts." He and the military walked out of the bar. As soon as the door closed, Ryu fell forward in pain.
(End
of flashback)
Ryu sighed at the memory. He and Ken did see Guile at another point that year in a bad situation. I
wonder what he's up to now?
After a huge dinner, Ryu and Ken hung out at Ken's dojo in the backyard, which was
the same replica of the dojo they trained in years ago. Ryu did some meditation while Ken practiced his moves as quietly as
possible.
"Hey Ken," Ryu said after a while. "Remember how we traveled the world to look for other street fighters?"
Ken
stopped what he was doing and looked at Ryu. "Yeah, I was thinking about that just now." An evil smile spread across his face.
Ryu
didn't like it when he did that. It meant that he had a plan. "Umm, Ken?"
"How about we go for it again," Ken said.
"Travel the world and look for other street fighters. Maybe we'll even see Chun-Li and Fei-Long again, I haven't seen them
since we came back to America that year."
Chun-Li came to Ryu's mind. He remembered all those times with her during
their travels.
"After all that's happened, you want to go for it again?" Ryu asked.
"Of course," Ken replied.
"I promised you we'd go for it again. There are still strong fighters out there waiting for fighters like us. It's been seven
years, let's go for it again, starting with Hong Kong again."
Ryu shrugged. "All right, let's go for it again."
Ken went
on his cell phone. A minute after dialing, the person on the other line picked up. "Jeeves, get my plane ready for Hong Kong."
He got off the phone. "Let's get going."
Two hours later, Ryu and Ken stood in front of the big jet with Eliza. "Make
sure you're back in time to see your child."
Ken laughed. "Eliza, you two months into your pregnancy, I'm pretty sure
we'll be back by then." They pressed their lips together for a brief moment.
Ryu sighed. He wondered if he would ever
go through what Ken was going through now, being a loving husband and a soon-to-be father.
After the kiss ended, Ken
said, "I'll be writing to you."
Eliza nodded and smiled.
Ryu and Ken walked into the plane. The plane went through
the runway and soon it was up in the sky.
Eliza sighed as the plane began to disappear from her view. "Why do I have
a bad feeling that this trip will turn into a disaster?"
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