In hospital, Sakura seems to have recovered quickly, and is playing a fighting game on her WonderSwan. She tries to hide her console when Ken walks in to visit, but he finds it.

He sees she's playing a fighting game. She tells him she has to do something, as she's bored. She then asks about Ryu. Ken says that Ryu he won't eat or drink anything, and it has been days now.

Ryu's like the living dead. Ken warns her that she can fall for Ryu if she wants, but she shouldn't get into the martial arts unless she is willing to go all the way. The pain Ryu is going through right now is a wall all fighters slam into. Thinking about nothing other than fighting and becoming stronger, will doom you to eternal darkness.

Ryu is thinking about what is going on, and wonders if he'll turn into Akuma. Rose then appears. She tells him that she can see that his heart has lost its way, but he will still go on fighting. She says that Shun is wavering, as he is. But, unlike him, Shun does not know how to stop it.

She says that Shun is just waiting to be crushed by the darkness. She asks who may be able to lift the darkness from Shun. She tells Ryu to think, as the power of the dark hadou is his to take. He must choose between the darkness or the light. But then the boy's soul is no concern of his. Ryu gets angry, and throws a fireball at Rose, but she vanishes.

The fireball goes straight through a window, so Chun-Li comes running in. Ryu says it's useless, as if he goes on fighting, he'll just be consumed by the dark hadou. But if that's what it takes... he tells Chun-Li that if he is going to rescue Shun, there is someone he needs to see first. Later on, Wallace talks to Ken over the phone. Ken asks where Ryu is, but Wallace says that's what he'd like to know -and now Chun-Li has also disappeared.

Ken seems to have an idea as to where Ryu would have gone. At the hospital, Sakura is on the roof. She thinks about fighting, and becoming strong, and questions what fighting really is. She heads back inside.

Ryu and Chun-Li travel to an island. Chun-Li is surprised that anyone would live here, but the two walk further on. They come across hundreds of wooden Jizo statues everywhere. Ryu can sense that the one he's looking for is here. He says he can sense his presence everywhere.

Chun-Li wonders what this incredible power she can feel is. Ryu says he can sense the dark hadou, and some of the statues suddenly blow apart. A voice then calls out to them, saying that a true warrior enters the arena with all his powers at the ready. Ryu says it's Akuma, and tells him to show himself. He charges up a hadouken...

...and blows one of the statues apart. Akuma knows Ryu is a pupil of Gouken, and asks if he is heading down the same path he is. Ryu says no, and kicks another statue apart. Chun-Li thinks Akuma is incredible, as his ki is completely masked when he moves.

Akuma repeats what he said about the true warrior entering the arena with all his powers. Ryu finds himself succumbing to the dark hadou once more, and says Akuma's powerful ki is drawing him in. Akuma says that if he has come to fight him, he must awaken the power within him. Ryu says he won't, as he isn't like Akuma.

Akuma suddenly appears behind Ryu, and tells him to leave. He stands in front of Ryu for a few seconds...

...and then starts to walk away. Ryu tells him to answer him this: does he have a family -does he have a son? Akuma says that where he walks, he walks alone, and where he fights, he fights alone. Akuma then asks where is there someone who can stand against him. As Ryu watches Akuma leave, he tells Chun-Li that that was Akuma, the man who mastered their fighting style.

Later on Chun-Li asks Ryu if he could become like Akuma, and become a creature who only fights. Ryu says he doesn't know. But he has to fight -fighting, and becoming strong, and the only things that have kept him going. Ken then appears, saying he knew Ryu would come here. He says Ryu can't seriously think he can beat the dark hadou -even Akuma was completely swallowed up by it. The two then take up stances.

Chun-Li asks them what they think they're doing, and tells them to stop. But they don't listen, and start to fight each other.

Chun-Li watches them, and wonders why they're doing this. At the hospital, Sakura looks at her headband, and asks why Ryu fights. Chun-Li continues to watch the fight, and thinks why is Ryu trying to become strong.

Ryu and Ken successfully batter each other to a standstill, and both of them crash to the ground. As Ken gets up, he asks Ryu if he can handle it -out of all the people who could, it would be him. Ryu gets up and reminds Ken of his word -if he can't break free from the dark hadou, he wants Ken to kill him. Ken tells him he will overcome it. Ryu makes him promise, and Ken eventually nods.

At Sadler's lab, Sadler sits in a chair, which has many pipes connected to it. He says that very soon, the dark hadou will be his, and then the world will be at his feet! Sadler has invited some fighters to his lab, and they are heading to it on a plane. One of the fighters, Birdie, asks if this thing is only open to super first class fighters. He soon gets into an argument with another fighter, Adon.

Ken tells them that they should save their moves until they get on the ground. They sit back down, as Ken asks Chun-Li why she's come along. Chun-Li says she thinks that her father might be there. Her father has disappeared, and she thinks Sadler could be behind it. The plane then lands on a runway.

As it does, a truck comes hurtling towards it. The driver of this truck decides to play chicken with the plane, and races right in front of it.

As the plane stops, the fighters inside it jump out. Ken wants to know what the deal with that truck was, and sees that the driver has gotten out. His name is Sodom, and he says he wants to try it again. Ken thinks he's a loser. The fighters then head inside the lab complex.

Inside, they are surprised by what they see. There are many people out in a field, wandering around it aimlessly, and there is clearly something not right with them. They are then taken through another part of the lab...

...and arrive in an arena. Sadler's voice can be heard, as he welcomes them. He says that today, they will show him all of their moves and powers. He then shows the prize money. Dan says that that money is his, and asks who wants to fight first. He notices one man, Birdie, and says he might put up a good fight.

Birdie tells Dan to take his best shot, so Dan uses his most powerful move: the gadouken! But his short range fireball fizzles out before it gets anywhere near to Birdie. Birdie uses his chain to choke Dan for a few seconds...

...and then slams him into the ground. With the first fight over, some men then take Birdie back into the lab. Ken finds this suspicious, and suggests to Ryu and Chun-Li that they try to sneak in and find out where Birdie went.

Birdie has been led into a room, but then suddenly all the doors shut. He wonders what is going on here, but then a lot of gas is released into the room, knocking him out. As more fights start outside, Sadler is pleased at all the data he is collecting.

Muscular data, brainwave data, cellular data... he collects it one by one. He looks at Ryu and thinks that when he takes the final data, he'll incorporate the data of the dark hadou. When that happens, the world will grovel to him. Back outside, Sodom fights with Ken. The two leap up into the air, but after a couple of moves...

...Sodom crashes, whilst Ken lands on his feet. Ken, Ryu and Chun-Li enter the lab, and come across some guards. Ryu and Chun-Li quickly take down some of them, whilst Ken beats up one and then decides to get some information out of him.

He wants to know what they are doing with the street fighters here, and the guard reveals that Sadler is taking their data, and is using them for research. Ryu realizes that the fighters they saw earlier are ones who have had their data sampled. He then says he can sense Shun's ki. Ken tells him to find Shun, whilst he and Chun-Li find the other fighters.

Ken and Chun-Li quickly find the other fighters. Chun-Li tells them that they've got to get out of here, as Sadler is going to sample their data, then suck them dry. Ken asks where Birdie is, and Dan says he was already taken away.

The two of them head through the lab, and come across a large room. As they head inside it, they soon see Birdie, chained up to some kind of machine! They realize that Sadler is taking his data, and quickly move in to free Birdie from it, despite Birdie telling them to get out of here.

Elsewhere, Ryu heads out to where the other fighters he saw earlier were. He soon finds Shun, but he doesn't seem to recognize Ryu. Shun then suddenly starts screaming and collapses, apologizing to Sadler over and over again.

Elsewhere, Sadler says he can sense it -he can sense the dark hadou growing within Ryu. Meanwhile, Ken and Chun-Li have freed Birdie, and even though Birdie is very weak, he can still walk. As they go down a corridor, Ken can sense someone else. Chun-Li thinks she can sense Ryu's ki, but Ken says that whoever it is, is not Ryu -this ki is pure evil.

Rosanov suddenly appears, and charges through them. He hits Chun-Li first, but Ken then tries to throw him.

But Rosanov quickly turns the tables and comes close to smashing Ken into the floor. He gets stopped by Birdie, but quickly deals with him by kicking him into a wall.

Ken kicks him in the face a couple of times, and he gets sent into a wall. He seems to be down for the moment, so Ken tells Chun-Li to get Birdie out of here. Chun-Li reluctantly leaves with Birdie, whilst Ken stays behind to deal with Rosanov.

Rosanov laughs, and his cybernetic eye suddenly glows. Something happens to his ki, and Ken realizes that something is wrong here!

NOTES

-The WonderSwan that Sakura is seen using is a real handheld games console, which was only released in Japan. The game she's playing, Pocket Fighter, is an actual game released for it.

-The look of Akuma's island was likely inspired by his stage from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, which also features the Jizo statues.

-Rolento is not seen with the other fighters when Ken and Chun-Li find them.

-It's not clear if this Rosanov is the same as the one from earlier or not. The one Ken fights here has bandages on his face and arms, which seems to suggest he's the same guy from before. But the problem with that is that the Rosanov that Ryu fought earlier got utterly vaporized.