There's a certain energy that develops and builds as one gets closer and 
closer to finishing something. In my case, I felt this energy months
ago, when I finished what would become "Declaration." I'm feeling
energetic again as I come ever closer to delivering the final two
chapters of "Declaration" to the FFML. As always, comments are welcome.

Chapter 13

"Hey, Rolento? You up in there?" he asked, knocking loudly on the door.
Dan was standing out in the hall outside Rolento's room. He was knocking
with his left hand. His right arm was bound up in a sling, wrapped in a
cast. He'd broken it the day before--after the fight, by tripping down a
set of stairs. He hadn't seen Rolento since they'd returned to the hotel
after leaving the hospital. Rolento had gone straight to his room
without a word, leaving Dan to his own devices.

It had been okay for a while. Dan had found plenty of sympathetic people
to sign his cast, and Bombay was quite a fun city away from Rolento's
baton. The trouble was, Dan had ran out of money after the first hour of
revelry and he'd wound up spending most of the night trying to wash
dishes with only a single arm to pay for his dinner. And then in the
morning he'd... Well, he was certain that Rolento would have the money
to pay for _that_.

He knocked on the door again. "Rolento? Come on, you're up right?" A
sinking feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. Taking a deep breath, he
twisted the doorknob. To his surprise, the door opened, and he breathed
a sigh of relief. Rolento hadn't left after all. Dan swept inside the
room. The room looked like it had gone through a battle; the sofa was
ripped and torn, the table lay in pieces, and there were large holes in
many of the walls. 'Wow,' he thought. 'Rolento sure is a slob. You
wouldn't think a guy like him would be so messy.'

Dan proceeded through the wreckage. "Rolento?" he called. "You in here?"
He looked through the entire room. The wreckage extended all the way to
the bedroom and he noticed for the first time that the carpets were
littered with droplets of red. Then he spied a bottle of wine lying
broken near the foot of the bed. He nodded, understanding. Rolento was
obviously a very messy drinker; he'd probably drunk too much wine and he
obviously didn't believe in recycling.

Dan left the bedroom and continued his search for Rolento. He saw his
sponsor's baton lying on the carpet, outside the door to the bathroom.
It had probably rolled off the overturned dresser and landed there. Dan
approached the door and he heard running water, the sounds of hundreds
of droplets landing with light force against tiles. The trail of wine
led into the bathroom. Dan shook his head. Drinking all around the hotel
room was one thing, but taking the drink into the shower...! That was
something else.

"Well," he said aloud. "I guess he didn't hear me. Ah well." He looked
around and saw an envelope lying near the dresser. Curious, the young
fighter picked the envelope up and opened it. Inside he found a plane
ticket and money, lots of it. He looked towards the bathroom door,
guiltily, and he took several of the bills and gingerly stuffed them
into his pocket before putting the envelope back.

"There," he said, in a whisper. "He'll never know." The young fighter
turned and walked away, whistling as he walked out into the hall. He
winced when he stepped into a particularly large puddle of still wet
wine. The bottom of his sneaker was red, dark red, and the wine ran down
sluggishly. Swearing, he walked lightly into the hall, leaving a trail
of red right footprints behind him.

A little while later, a maid happened upon the trail of red footprints.
It had been a fairly promising day of work for her up until that point.
None of the rooms had required much in the way of cleaning: just a
little sweeping, and a change of the sheets and the rooms would be good
as new. This, though... It would take hours of work to get the stains
out of the carpets and if she couldn't get the stains out, the cleaning
bill would likely come out of her paycheque.

She nearly fainted when she saw the room. It looked like a hurricane or
something worse had struck just the one room, and the guest hadn't even
bothered to lock his door. There were sure to be legal troubles in the
future, despite the fact that the hotel made it very clear that
valuables were not to be left inside the rooms and that the hotel would
take no responsibility for stolen items.

She shook her head in dismay and proceeded to survey the extent of the
damage. She clucked, she sighed and she invoked God's name as she
catalogued the furniture that had been destroyed, the holes that
decorated the walls, and the carpet that had been stained beyond
cleaning. But as she walked through the room, it became increasingly
clear to her that something had happened. Nobody had ever done this much
damage to a room, except for a couple of rock stars once, and the wine
stains were a little strange: they were darker than they should have
been.

She heard the shower--the pitter-patter of water being sprayed against
tiles. She went to the bathroom door and knocked. There was no response,
so she tried again and when that didn't work she raised her voice.
Receiving no reply, she twisted the knob and opened the door. The trail
of stains continued on across the tiled floor, into the shower stall.
She felt an inexplicable fear as she slid the shower door open...

* * * * * * * * * *

She didn't answer for a moment and when she found her voice, it was weak
with thinly veiled disappointment. She said her goodbyes and hung up the
phone, her hand remaining for a moment on the receiver. Ryu was still
standing near their luggage. His head was bent down in thought, as it
seemed it had been for most of the day. She studied him from afar. Ryu
was healed now, whole, and he had been presented with a clean bill of
health from the doctors at the hospital. Almost the moment they had
returned to the _dojo_, Ryu had changed into his _gi_ and begun to train
again.

There had been something very different about this training, though.
There was a terrible precision to his movements, a mechanical way of
going through the motions. It was a very different Ryu from the one who
had almost effortlessly evaded his student's attacks, who had taught
with a great deal of humour and levity beneath the severe tones of his
lectures. At first, she had thought that this change had come around
after Rose's appearance, but after careful consideration she'd changed
her mind. This Ryu had appeared after the death of his teacher.

"Miss?" said a man next to her.

She started. She'd been so intent on Ryu that she hadn't noticed the
stranger's approach. He was a tall man, but very thin, almost emaciated.
The plain white shirt and dark jacket he wore hung from his shoulders as
they might have hung from clothes hangers. His head was bald and the
smooth dome was as round as a melon. A single large hoop hung from both
of his ears and a gold band encircled his neck, just above his
collarbone.

"Are you finished with the phone?" he asked, in a low, kindly and
patient tone. There was a quiet humour in his voice and his eyes were
bright with amusement. "Perhaps you're merely trying to remember the
phone number...?"

She shook her head, her cheeks crimson stained. "No, I'm sorry for
keeping you waiting. Please, go ahead." She stepped awkwardly away from
the phone and glanced furtively over her shoulder to Ryu. The black
haired fighter was still meditating, his head bent, eyes closed and
unable to see.

"Your husband?" asked the tall thin man.

"No!" she blurted, a hand going to her mouth to mask a chuckle and a
smile. "He's a friend."

"Ah! I'm sorry. It's just that many people come to Thailand to vacation
and there is a great deal here for newly wedded couples to do. My wife
and I came here when we married and I must admit that I quite enjoyed my
stay here. The jungles are beautiful, as are the temples and shrines to
Buddha."

Chun Li nodded, interested in the man's story. She looked at him closely
and realised that he was familiar. She'd seen his face before, in
documentaries on CNN about the growing popularity of yoga. He was a
famous teacher, and a world famous advocate of peace, too. His writings
had been translated into dozens of languages and she owned a copy of his
first book and had actually planned to read it on her return from the
mission.

"Aren't you...?"

He nodded. "I am. How do you do?"

"It's an honour to meet you, sir. I..."

Dhalsim smiled and shook his head. "No, no. It is as much an honour to
meet you. Think nothing of this. We're just two travellers going in
different directions who met at the telephone. It is of no consequence."

She nodded, returning the smile, and glanced back towards Ryu, who was
still deeply ensconced in his thoughts. A shadow of her anxiety
returned. What exactly was worrying her friend so much? She wished that
he'd tell her, or that he would at least speak to Ken about it. There
was something wrong with his penchant for silence and darkness. It was
unhealthy.

"That friend of yours... I must say that I know him; or rather, that I
know of him. He is a famous figure in these parts. People flocked to the
temple just to see the spot where Sagat had been dethroned. It was a
most chaotic time and it lasted a full year before people tired of it.
That was a few years ago--three years, I think." Dhalsim gazed at Ryu,
his dark eyes serene and calm. They widened--in surprise or shock, she
couldn't tell which--and then they smoothed over and order and harmony
reigned once again. "You've picked a strange friend, to be sure,"
Dhalsim said at last. "It is a difficult path that he walks."

At that moment, Dhalsim had sounded almost exactly like Rose, as if he
believed that something infinitely stranger than reality could be going
on. "What do you mean?" she asked him, turning back to Dhalsim. But he
was gone. Chun Li looked about, and she even ran a ways down the hall to
see if he had somehow walked away without her knowing. But she didn't
see him anywhere. "Did you see a tall, bald man with earrings walk by?"
she asked of her fellow travellers. But none of them had and she
wondered if she had imagined the whole encounter.

"You're a long way from the telephone."

She stopped and whirled around. Ryu nearly collided with her, stopping
only a few hairbreadths away from her. She breathed a sigh of relief and
then she playfully slapped him lightly on the cheek. "Never do that,"
she admonished, waggling her finger in his face. "Don't ever sneak up on
me like that again."

"I'll remember," he said. He paused. "You took a long time on the phone.
Important news?"

She hesitated. Then, "Yes..."

* * * * * * * * * *

She wasn't looking at his image. In fact, she was doing everything she
could to avoid looking at him. His voice--a mellow, mellifluous
baritone--sent cold shivers up and down her spine. But what disquieted
her more was her inability to remember the reason she had for fearing
the voice so much. She could not remember anything, anything at all
except that the voice's owner was her master and was owed her loyalty.
So instead of worrying, she resolutely concentrated on packing her
duffel, rearranging her few possessions so that they fit inside the
small bag just so.

"Cammy, what is the status of your mission?"

She stopped and turned around very slowly, her eyes downcast. The scar
on her cheek throbbed with an old, half-remembered pain as she knelt
down at his projected feet, her head even with his knees. "Terminated,"
she said. "The target was terminated as you ordered, my Lord, and the
room was left as you ordered it to be left."

"Exactly as I ordered?"

"As close to your wishes as I could manage, my Lord. His body has been
discovered already, and the other man has already been arrested. The
police will come for me very soon. Do you have any further instructions?
How do you wish to deal with Nash?"

The cloaked man considered her question for only a very short time
before he gave her an answer. "Terminate him before you are apprehended
by the police. He's outlived his usefulness. I needed him only to defeat
that joke of a fighter and humiliate Rolento before his death." Here he
chuckled, his mouth opening to reveal perfectly white, pearly teeth. "In
his next life Rolento will know better than to try and usurp the place
of his betters."

There was a long silence and then Cammy spoke again, lifting her head so
that she could look into the face of the man she called lord. His face
was pale, sallow, as if he rarely saw the sun. His eyes were just milky
white spheres, without pupils or irises, but he wasn't blind. He saw
through shadows, sunlight, truth and lies as easily as she discerned
colour and very probably better. "When should I expect to be freed, my
Lord?"

Bison bid her rise to her feet. A hand wreathed in blue and purple light
escaped from beneath the folds of his cloak and touched lightly down on
her cheek. His touch burned, but she didn't flinch. She hadn't flinched
since the first time, and there had been many times, but she couldn't
remember when the first time had been, or where it had happened, or who
she'd been at the time. It was all gone for her, burned away at his
touch.

"Your orders are to kill Nash and await the arrival of the police."

"Yes, my Lord," she said, turning her face away. "I will obey."

When she looked again, Bison's image was gone, but his command remained.
She walked woodenly to her duffel bag and reached inside. Her gun was
cold, but familiar, its weight comfortable in her palm. She reached
inside her duffel again and pulled out a single clip. The clip was
heavy, full of bullets, and unlike the gun it was warm. She opened the
clip with a flick of her fingers and allowed the bullets to fall out,
one by one, until only a single bullet remained. That single bullet
would be the only one she would require.

She slid the clip inside her gun until she heard an audible click. She
cocked the gun with a flick of her wrist and placed it inside her
pocket, flicking on the safety with another flick of her fingers. She
left her room, not bothering to lock the door, uncaring of what anyone
might see, and she proceeded down the hall to Charlie's room. She found
the door locked and, hesitantly, Cammy rapped thrice on the solid oaken
door.

"Adon? That you?" came the American's voice.

"No," she said in reply. "It's me. Cammy."

He opened the door and ushered her inside. His bags were packed. They'd
heard the news in the morning and she had listened in to his
conversation with his allies. He was leaving, and would take the next
available plane to London, then the concord to New York and debriefing,
then home. She looked at the bags. He had two: the backpack she had
rummaged through and a suitcase filled with clothes.

"Adon's already gone back to Thailand," said Charlie. "He left pretty
much after the announcement. I'd thought that you were going to go,
too."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Why did you think this?"

"It just seemed to me that you worked for the same guy," replied the
pilot, who turned away and sat down at his table. He raised a glass of
water to his lips and took a long, long sip.

She was a little shocked by his pronouncement. It was the closest thing
to an admission of his true purpose in entering the tournament that she
had ever heard pass his lips. She wondered if he knew what she had done.
She wondered, too, if they had a file on her, a history--something that
would give her back her identity. Something that would give more than a
face to the woman whose name was Cammy White.

She reached around her neck and undid her necklace. She cradled the
small silver cross in her hands and grasped it tightly before draping it
around his neck. He started at the touch of the silver against his skin,
but relaxed. Her hands were warm and soothing. The Englishwoman's
fingers lingered a short time on his jaw, lightly tracing a path of
swirls and loops before falling away.

"Charlie?" she asked. "Do you have a family in the States?"

"I don't. Never got around to it. I have a friend who has a family
though. I visit them sometimes."

"I'm sorry," she said. "Please forgive me."

And she pulled the trigger.

* * * * * * * * * *

"It's over," said Eliza, breathing a big sigh of relief. "We can go home
now and forget about all this. It's been such a long time. The office
tells me that I have mounds of paperwork to go through and that my
father and mother have been worried sick about me. It's going to take me
weeks to get through it all and to sort everything out." She sighed
again and snuggled closer to him. "But it'll be nice to be home again,
to be away from this. Don't you think so?"

"Ken?" she asked again, when he did not reply. She rolled over onto her
side and leaned up on her elbow. His eyes were open; he was staring up
at the hotel ceiling. She gently turned his head to face her. "Ken? Are
you listening to me?"

He replied, "Yes, yes I am, Eliza."

"Aren't you excited about going home?"

"I'm not going home yet, Eliza. You can go back if you want. I still
have some things that I need to do."

Her eyes narrowed and she slipped out of the bed, her feet heavy on the
carpeted floor. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, her body
shaking with sudden anger. "The tournament is over, Ken. Chun Li told us
when she and Ryu got here and your agent said the same thing. I was
there--both times--and I heard it. Didn't you?"

"It's not over," he said. The blond martial artist spoke calmly. He
hadn't turned to face her and was still staring straight up, his eyes
boring holes into the ceiling. "I have to win. I have to beat Ryu and
show them all that..."

The door slammed and startled him. Eliza was gone. He chuckled. She'd
see things differently afterwards. First Sagat would fall, and then
whatever it was that Rose was worried about--well, he'd fall too. If he
played his cards right, he'd never even have to fight Ryu and if he
did...? Well, guaranteed wins were always good. His agent had showed him
that.

And soon he'd show everyone.

Chapter 14

The sunny, cloudless skies of the previous day had given way to a dismal
mass of grey and dark grey. There appeared to be no end to the clouds,
which stretched far away, to the limits of the horizon, despite a heavy
wind that was blowing towards the west. He thought, or imagined, that he
could hear the distant rumble of a storm. But he couldn't see anything
coming and the air didn't smell like rain. It smelled of the grass, the
trees, and the birds. And the massive temple that loomed over him.

Ken tightened the straps on his wrist guards again, cinching them in
tightly as he contemplated the temple. It was old, maybe ancient, and
covered with vines. He was sitting with his back leaning against a the
slim trunk of one of the native tree, in front of a set of stairs that
led up to the temple altar. On either side of the staircase were
carvings. The carvings on the left were all but gone, worn away by time
and the elements. But the carvings on the right side of the staircase
looked intact. He could see the face of a Buddha behind a net of leaves.
The blond martial artist had been staring at that carved face for the
last hour, wondering how the artist who had carved that statue so many
years ago would feel if he could see his work now.

He stood up, bored. The carving had occupied his thoughts for an hour
already, and before that he had spent an hour admiring the play of
shadows across the temple's stones. Before that he had watched the
steady progress of a group of ants and so on and so forth until his
reserves of patience had run dry. He walked towards the Buddha's face
and pulled the vines away that were covering it. The stones comprising
the face were covered in tiny little cracks. Ken concentrated for a
moment and then, gathering his strength, he punched the face. The stones
crumbled around his fist and showered him with a cloud of gritty dust.

"I will ask you once," said a deep, basso voice that came from above.
"Why did you destroy the carving?"

Ken looked up and saw the shadow of a giant standing above him, in front
of the temple altar. The giant stood within a shadow and the blond
martial artist could see only that a dark cloak was wrapped around the
giant's shoulders, covering his awe-inspiring girth. Everything else was
unclear. "I was getting bored and a little tired waiting. I thought I'd
keep myself loose. Do you have a problem with that?"

"A small problem, yes, but no matter," answered the giant, after a
prolonged pause.

"Why did you come to this place?"

"Why does anyone come around here, eh Sagat?" retorted the blond, who
vaulted onto the staircase. He made his way very quickly up the steps
and stopped at the top. Sagat was huge, much larger in life than any of
the accounts he had ever heard. For a moment, a trace of fear touched
his spine and he suppressed a shudder. Then, mastering himself, he
placed his hands on his hips and grinned. "You're pretty big, but I
guess you hear that a lot."

Sagat remained silent, betraying no emotion or sign that he was even
paying attention to Ken's words.

Ken pressed on. "You know any fairy tales? Ever heard the one about Jack
and the Beanstalk? Jack climbs up the beanstalk and takes the giant's
harp, his golden eggs, and the egg-laying hen. I especially liked the
part where Jack takes the giant down. What about you?"

"Is this the extent of your ability?" asked the one eyed man,
contemptuously. "Did you come to do battle? Or to prattle on all day and
all night?"

Ken smirked. "Just telling you what will happen, is all," said the blond
in reply. "I think I'll finish the 'x' that Ryu started on your chest."

This drew a response from the giant, who stepped forward and shrugged
away his cloak. The scar caught Ken's eyes first, as it would catch the
eye of anyone. The scar was a livid red, and it spanned an arm's length
across Sagat's abdomen and chest. The giant traced the scar with a
single finger, from one end to the other very slowly. "Brave words," he
said at last, as he approached the smaller fighter. He stepped within a
pace of the blond and let his hands fall to his sides. "Let us see if
they are only words."

Ken smiled and, without a pause, he leapt to the attack. He let loose
with a fierce barrage of kicks and punches. But the giant eluded all of
his strikes with what appeared to be the greatest of ease, showing
surprising agility for a man of such massive size. The smile on Ken's
face grew wider and he redoubled his efforts as he realised the calibre
of the opponent he was facing. He launched punch after punch, kick after
kick, and still he made no progress against the one eyed giant.

"You're better than I thought you'd be," said Ken, who stepped back a
moment, to catch his breath.

It was then that Sagat began to attack. It was an experience that was
quite unlike any encounter that Ken had ever had with another martial
artist--in its one sided nature, that is. Sagat struck again and again,
always landing his hits and only rarely missing. It wasn't quite as if
he knew what Ken would do next. It was more like it didn't matter; the
attacks would just keep on coming. Ken was able to land a few blows of
his own--a smattering of punches and a solid kick or two--but that was
all, and Sagat always managed to retaliate.

A particularly vicious kick sent Ken sprawling onto the hard stone
blocks. Though only a scant few minutes had elapsed, Ken felt exhausted
and he was certainly battered. His arms, which he'd used to protect
himself from Sagat's onslaught, were beginning to swell and his ribs
felt bruised and cracked. He vaguely sensed that Sagat was approaching
quickly, and the blond looked up in time to see his gigantic adversary
leap high into the air. 'Now,' thought the blond, as he concentrated his
strength and pooled it into his right fist.

Ken waited and waited till the giant would have no escape and then he
leapt up to meet the giant, his fist outstretched, charged with energy.
The blow struck true, smashing into Sagat's forehead and knocking the
bigger fighter up and away. The giant landed a fraction of a moment
after Ken's feet had touched down, kicking up a cloud of stone dust as
the giant's great weight cracked the ancient stone's beneath his body.

Ken stared at the cloud of stone dust and paused, waiting. Nothing was
visible behind the dirty brown cloud, and nothing appeared to be
stirring. He'd won. Ken laughed and began to brush the dust off his red
_gi_. The aches and pains of the combat were fading as the rush of
adrenaline brought on by a hard fought win coursed through his veins. At
no time had he ever won a harder battle and he knew that Ryu had not won
this fight so easily.

Unnoticed, a small point of red coalesced in the centre of the cloud of
stone dust. The red was dull in colour, like rust, and dirty, but the
point expanded steadily into a compact sphere of red fire that burned
with crimson light. Then, without warning, the sphere of fire roared
through the dust, devouring it. Ken was caught completely unaware and
the sphere struck him square in the back. Ken's scream of pain caught in
his throat and then, for him, there was only darkness.

Sagat watched the young fighter struggle with the energy that had
engulfed him and that ultimately bested him. The giant watched the
struggle dispassionately and approached only when the blond fighter lay
unconscious in a smouldering heap. "I have him," he announced, picking
up the blond with the ease that an adult lifts a child.

A mellifluous baritone filled the temple environs. "Good work, Sagat.
Bring him inside."

Sagat paused before carrying out the order. "He is coming, is he not?"

"In due time, Sagat. In due time." And then the baritone voice was
silent.

Sagat suppressed a grimace and fingered the scar that divided his chest.
Then, with a dismissive snort, the giant slung the blond fighter onto
his shoulder and entered the temple's hidden bowels.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Ryu, you're certain that Ken came here?" she asked again, for what must
have been the tenth time. Ryu, Chun, Eliza, Rose and Sakura were all
inside a rented jeep that bounced and slid on the mud of the jungle
path. That morning they had all risen from their beds to find the blond
martial artist missing. At first it hadn't been a cause for concern, but
as the hours passed Eliza had become increasingly distressed, and it was
then that she'd told them of her conversation with Ken the previous
evening. A quick search, several questions and a trip to the car rental
had supplied them with the jeep. Ryu had supplied them with a probable
location.

"Turn left here," he said to the Interpol agent, who was driving. Then,
turning to look over his shoulder, he answered Eliza's question. "I'm
fairly sure that this is where Ken would have gone. It's the place that
I fought..."

"Sagat, right?" supplied Sakura, eagerly.

Ryu nodded and turned his attention back to the jungle path. The temple
loomed ahead of them, towering high above the trees, silhouetted by a
grey backdrop of clouds. The clouds were darker than they'd been when
they'd set out and the air was heavy with the scent of ozone. Distant
thunder rolled over them in steady waves, bringing portents of the storm
to come.

They ducked briefly beneath a panoply of leaves and, for a moment, the
temple was gone. But they emerged from beneath the panoply and there it
was, bolder than life and dark as night. Chun stopped the jeep a few
yards away from the same stairs that had witnessed a battle just a few
scant hours before and the five of them climbed out. Rose spoke first.

"They were here," she said aloud, as she wrapped her shawl more tightly
about her slim shoulders. "The air is crackling with energy--they fought
perhaps an hour ago, but no more than two."

Ryu walked slowly up the stairs, remembering with each step the battle
that he had fought here. The stones at the top were covered with a fine
layer of dust, and the body of a giant had been imprinted into the
stone. "Ken fought here, all right," he said at last. "He fought Sagat."

"Did he win?" asked Sakura, who had walked up behind him. She looked at
the imprint the giant's body had left. She placed her hand in the
depression that had been left by one of the giant's fists and saw that
it barely filled a third of the volume.

Ryu didn't answer her question immediately. Instead, he stepped away to
inspect an irregular dark blotch that had been left on the stones. An
intense heat had scorched the tops of the stones, staining them with a
layer of black ash. A scrap of red caught his eye. The edges of the
fabric were singed, but the weave and material were unmistakable. The
fragment had come from Ken's red _gi_. Ryu held up the scrap of cloth in
answer. Sakura looked at the cloth in stunned disbelief, while Eliza
turned away, suppressing tears.

"Look over here," said Chun, taking their attention away from the red
scrap. She was pointing to one of the temple walls. Quizzical glances
prompted her to explain. "There are footprints leading to this wall,"
she said, indicating very faint tracks of dust with a finger. Someone
walked inside the temple here--but I don't see a way to get in. Any
ideas?"

"I will examine the wall," said Rose, drawing Eliza and Sakura with her.

Chun nodded and stepped back, letting the three ferret out the wall's
secrets for themselves. Satisfied that they were engrossed with that
puzzle, she motioned for Ryu to join her. "This is risky, Ryu," said the
investigator in a whisper. "Sagat is a known member of Shadowlaw and
I've a bad feeling about this place."

"I didn't know that," said Ryu in reply, in a quiet voice.

Chun Li glanced again towards the three at the wall and reached inside
her purse. She pulled out her gun and loaded it. "Do you remember the
American pilot that I told you about? This was one of the last places
that he visited in his investigation and it's where he made contact with
Sagat."

"You believe Shadowlaw is here?"

Chun Li put her gun into a pocket in her slacks and chewed on her lower
lip. Finally, she stepped back and crossed her arms in front of her
chest and looked away. "You're going to get Ken and get out, right?" she
asked him, her gaze on her feet. "Well, I have a golden opportunity
here..."

A loud grinding noise interrupted her words. She and Ryu glanced towards
the wall and saw that a doorway had opened up. Rose, Eliza, and Sakura
were standing away from the doorway and the surprise on their faces
indicated that they hadn't opened it. Coming closer, the two saw that
the doorway had revealed a set of stairs that led down into the temple.
Lights had been set into the walls at ankle level that showed the way
down and a faint hum, like that of a computer fan, was audible.

"Ken's down there, isn't he?" asked Eliza. There was steel in her voice
and her red rimmed eyes were the only sign of any previous emotion.

Ryu nodded. "Probably. He wouldn't be in very condition to get anywhere
himself after a fight with Sagat and Sagat wouldn't have left him here
to die."

"Let's go then," said Sakura, excitedly. She would have dashed down the
stairs first if Ryu had not caught her shoulder in a steely grip. She
turned to the man who'd been her teachers for close to a month,
wondering if he would not allow her to go.

Instead, Ryu nodded at Chun, who proceeded down the steps first. Ryu and
Sakura followed and Eliza went next. Rose stayed at the entrance for a
moment longer. The stones of the temple--indeed, the very air--was
saturated with power, _his_ power. He was strong, much stronger than she
had thought he could possibly be, and Ryu... Something was wrong with
him, she was sure, but she didn't know what.

"Rose?" called Eliza, her voice coming up through the gloom like a shaft
of light. "Are you coming?"

"Yes," she said. She hoped that the blond woman hadn't heard the note of
uncertainty that had permeated the single syllable.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Lord Bison," said Adon, standing up and turning to face his employer.
"They're inside the compound; they came through the eastern entrance--as
you ordered. What do you want me to do now?"

They were inside the control room, deep inside the compound secreted
inside the ancient Buddhist temple. In contrast to the ancient
appearance of the rest of the temple that had hidden them for so long so
well, the control room was a technological marvel of display screens,
touch screens, holograms and other wonders that could have easily found
a comfortable home on the bridge of the star ship _Enterprise_. There
was even a command chair, placed on a raised dais in the centre of the
room under a ring of bright white lights. Seated in that wealth of light
was Bison.

The lord of Shadowlaw was a tallish man--though in comparison to Sagat
he was only of moderate height--and he was fit and well muscled. All of
this was hidden beneath the sable cloak and the angry red baggy uniform
that he wore. A billed cap wreathed his brow in shadow, but his
eyes--pupilless spheres of white--burned through the darkness. It was
quite a disquieting sight.

"You will take a small group of guards and meet them at M.O.S. 8.6."

Adon nodded and struck one of his palms with his fists. "It will be a
pleasure, Lord Bison. I owe Ryu for the last tournament." Adon turned to
go and moved towards the weapons cabinet. But when he reached it, he
found that it would not open, despite his best efforts. The cabinet door
handles and hinges were sheathed in a pink nimbus and for that there
could only be one source.

"No weapons, Adon," said Bison in explanation.

The redheaded kick boxer frowned. "My Lord, Ryu is very strong..."

"As well he should be," replied Bison. The lord of Shadowlaw swivelled
on his seat and fixed his cool, white-eyed gaze on his subordinate. His
eyes were tinged with pink. "Adon: do you have any further questions
that you would like to pose?"

Adon gulped and shook his head, no, and backed swiftly away. It was only
a minute later, when he thought he was out of earshot, that the kick
boxer found his voice again. The words the kick boxer used were
unflattering to Bison's ear, but Adon would be allowed to continue in
Shadowlaw's employ. For the moment.

"Bison. Xanadu is complete, the charges are set, and the ship is ready
to depart." The voice came from behind him and Bison swivelled his chair
around to face the giant Sagat. The one eyed man looked none the worse
for wear after his fight. There was only a slight swelling on his head
and a trickle of blood had dried at the corner of his mouth.

"Efficient as always, Sagat."

"Yes," said the giant in reply. Then, "If I might ask, what will _you_
do?"

"I will wait for our guests here, Sagat."

In response, the giant nodded gravely and turned, returning to his post
aboard the ship that would take them far away. Bison activated one of
the screens with a word. The image that appeared was dark, but that was
fixed with another spoken command. Ryu, Chun Li, Rose and their band
came into sharp focus. The lord's gaze rested for a time on each of
them, but it lingered on the wandering fighter's face the longest.

* * * * * * * * * *

It moved in the shadows, unseen by human eyes, mechanical eyes or
magical eyes alike. Its hair was dusky red, its skin stained a dark
walnut, and its eyes were the ever-shifting colour of fire. It had
gained a semblance of physical form for this confrontation that, if it
had any say at all, which it did, would be the very last time that Ryu
would meet the demon known as Akuma.

Regards,

DucThe Truong
DWC @ <http://welcome.to/dwc>
Thinkin' different.