"Get ready to feel the bruise if you see a battle rockin'

Guaranteed to lose, if you're caught up shadowboxin'"

- Twista, "Shadow Boxin'"

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"GAAAAAHHHH! That stings!"

Sakura rolled her eyes in exasperation as Ibuki recoiled over-dramatically from the healing ointment making contact with the fresh scar on her chest. Over an hour had passed since the fight at the convenience store, and the subsequent arrests of Sean and Enzo. During said fight, Sean's shoryuken had managed to leave a massive scar across Ibuki's entire torso; tearing through her clothes, in the process. Despite everyone's protests, Ibuki refused to go to the hospital, and the girls had to settle for buying ointment at a store to soothe her pain at their hotel penthouse.

Or so they thought it would. Between the ride back, arriving back at the penthouse, and getting into more casual wear, Ibuki screamed every time the ointment made contact with her scar, though Sakura and Elena thought she was overdoing it.

"Yes, I know, but it's either deal with temporary pain, and heal your scar, or let it get infected with something, and die," Sakura replied a bit sardonically as she gently rubbed the ointment on the kunochi's scar.

"I still - AAAHHH! - can't believe that son of a bitch had the nerve to hit me like that," Ibuki seethed as she squirmed in the recliner she was laying back on.

"And exactly who is to blame for that?" Elena asked rhetorically. The Kenyan princess was curled up on the couch, not taking her eyes off the novel she was reading. "I personally think everything could have been defused non-violently, but when you call someone's sister a whore, restraint and respect goes out the window."

"Hey, I wasn't lying!" Ibuki replied defensively. "Laura gets around like she's at a buffet! One time, she even- AAAAUUUGHHH!" Ibuki screamed in pain as Sakura deliberately slapped ointment on her tender scar harder than normal.

"It's still disrespectful to say to her family," Sakura said firmly. "Even if there is truth to it. Besides, you should be the last person talking about getting around."

"I've never slept with anyone," Ibuki retorted weakly.

"Not for a lack of trying," Sakura chuckled, causing Ibuki to snarl under her breath.

"Also, there was no point in adding fuel to the fire," Elena added, still not taking her eyes off her book. "It was bad enough Karin started hurling epithets at them, which I can't understand why she even did that."

"Me either," Sakura replied, frowning. "She's arrogant, but I've never seen her act racist like that."

"You two are really surprised a silver spoon-fed heiress who- UGH! - thinks the world revolves around her has ignorant views?" Ibuki commented.

"For as long as we've known her, I can't say I've ever heard her say anything like that to anyone," Elena said. "Honestly, she's lucky I have more restraint, or I'd have beat her up myself."

"You chewed her out pretty bad in the store and on the way back, though," Sakrua said.

"Because she deserved it," Elena finally put her book down, got up from the sofa, and began to stretch her legs. "I may have been collateral damage, but you still don't call anyone any type of slur. She should be happy she only walked away with a few bruises."

"At least they'll heal. Now I have to spend the rest of my life looking like Sagat!" Ibuki complained.

"Once again, who is to blame for that?" Elena replied, causing Ibuki to snarl in annoyance again.

Sakura giggled at the exchange, but as she examined Ibuki's scar, she couldn't help but think about how apt the Sagat comparison was. Her mind drifted back to years ago, when she first witnessed Ryu in action in the first World Warrior tournament, where he had scarred Sagat's torso with a shoryuken in a successful, but desperate attempt to win the match.

It wasn't until much later that she found out that Ryu had been temporarily possessed by a dark force near the end of the fight, and the particular shoryuken Ryu performed was actually a deadly variant fuelled by it. Since then, Ryu had been constantly plagued by that dark force, and continuously fought against it. So when Sakura saw Sean do that exact same shoryuken to Ibuki earlier, she immediately became worried that Sean was starting to succumb to the same force, but didn't voice her concern, since she was one of the few who knew about it.

Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the door to the penthouse open up, revealing an annoyed Karin walking arrogantly into the suite.

"Welcome back, Lord Freiza," Elena greeted in a mock haughty accent. "How did 'negotiations' go?"

Karin glared at Elena, but decided to choose her words carefully this time. "Those morons rejected my offer," she responded. "But it's fine. They'll regret it by the morning."

"What did you do?" Sakura asked warily.

"Nothing illegal," Karin said casually.

"Seriously, what did you do?"

"Relax, I didn't send assassins to his house or anything like that," Karin said.

"Not a bad idea though," Ibuki chortled darkly, prompting Sakura to slap her scar again. "OOOOOOOWWWWWW!"

"Seriously, Karin, why add fuel to the fire?" Elena said. "You pissed them off, you fought, but managed to get off the hook while they got punished. Is that not a victory to you?"

"A pyrrhic victory," Karin corrected. "The fact that I couldn't knock out that m... oron easily is a disgrace to the Kanzuki name, and I must rectify that at once!"

"If fighting to a standstill is disgraceful, then I hate to think how all the times I beat you to a pulp must make you feel," Sakura replied, earning a laugh from Elena, and even Ibuki. Karin, irritated, simply huffed, and immaturely stomped to her room.

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"You mean to tell tell me you put a hole through the store wall, and you don't remember how?!"

Sean groaned inwardly, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. When he and his family arrived home from the police precinct, he just wanted to go to sleep and forget the night even happened. But Kinjiro, his grandfather, and creator of he family's jujitsu style, who elected to stay behind when the rest of the family went to the precinct, insisted on grilling him about the fight. Sean, knowing "no" wasn't going to be an answer, sat down in the lounge with the rest of the family, and told him about the fight. It was only when Sean admitted he couldn't remember how the fight ended that Kinjiro got skeptical about Sean's tale.

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"I'm telling you, Papa, I honestly don't," Sean said to his grandfather. "I remember getting up from Ibuki's attack, but everything else after is hazy. I wish I did, though. Enzo said I pulled off a wicked shoryuken when I knocked her through the wall." Sean paused for a moment, before adding, "And before you ask, no, I didn't use Matsuda Jujitsu in the fight."

Kinjiro, though a bit disappointed at Sean's last statement, nodded understandingly, and smiled proudly at his grandson. "Regardless, I'm proud of you and Enzo for putting that Kanzuki brat and her friend in their place," he said. "I've fought her father many times, and she's cut from the exact same cloth."

Hearing this, Sean perked up. "You fought her father?"

"Indeed," Kinjiro said, a smug smile forming across his lips. "While 'punk' wouldn't be fair to describe him, he was definitely more bark than bite, even when he had the advantage of being younger and stronger. I bet he wishes he trained harder these days."

"Why's that?" Fabio asked curiously.

"Because a few years ago, his own daughter ousted him out of his own Zaibatsu by buying out nearly all the shares," Kinjiro explained. "Since then, he keeps chasing her around the world, trying to get his position back by fighting her, but no matter what he does, he always keeps losing to her." he chuckled a bit before turning serious again. "Honestly, I don't think Sean or Enzo should be punished for the fight itself. While I don't normally condone fighting women, what they did and said was dishonorable to Sean, and by extension, our family."

"Then what about the property damage caused?" Brenda interjected, audibly exhausted. "The Kanzuki's might be covering it, but that's still unacceptable!"

"I was getting to that," Kinjiro said calmly. "He shouldn't be punished for the fight, but he should put in some hours at the store as penance for the damages. I assume Pedro and Luzia are doing the same with Enzo, correct?"

"They are," Laura said. "They've docked his pay for a month, too."

Kinjiro nodded. "A tad harsh, but understandable." He got up off the sofa, and smoothed out his pyjamas. "In any case, it's been a long night for all of us, Sean especially. Let's get some rest, and we can talk to Pedro about it tomorrow."

Sean nodded in agreement as he got up from his chair. "I need a good night's rest after that mess. I'll see you all in the morning."

"Rest easy, Sean," Kinjiro said. "You've more than earned it."

Sean nodded, and made his way towards the staircase to his room. He had gotten halfway up, when he felt something tugging on his shirt. Sean turned around to see Laura giving him a concerned look. Sean sighed, more out of exhaustion than the usual annoyance that comes with dealing with his sister.

"Can it wait 'til morning, Laura?" Sean asked. "My bed is calling me."

"I understand, but I just want to make sure you're really okay," Laura responded seriously. Genuine concern had replaced her usual bohemian cheeriness. "I'm not surprised about the fight, but putting someone through a wall? That's really out of character for you, Sean, justified or not."

Sean snorted. "Afraid I'll finally be able to beat you in a straight fight?" he asked half-humorously.

"I'm serious, Sean!" Laura said. "I'm not trying to downplay your skills, but the only mortal man I personally know that has raw power like that is Ryu, and even then, he shows restraint. What really happened back there?"

Sean groaned and rolled his tired eyes. "I already told you I don't remember. If I did, I wouldn't stop talking about it. Now, can I please get some sleep?"

Laura wasn't entirely convinced, but relented, and let go of her brother. "Alright, just don't be afraid to talk to me or Fabio if you need to, okay?"

Sean nodded wordlessly, and retreated upstairs to his room. Laura watched Sean as he retreated upstairs, wondering what was going on with him.

Meanwhile, Sean simply walked into his room, threw himself onto his bed, flicked on the fan sitting on his nightstand, and shut his eyes; not bothering to even change into more comfortable sleepwear. As he drifted off to sleep, he tried to wrack his brain for memories of the fight with Ibuki, but everything remained fuzzy.

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When Sean finally opened his eyes, he found himself staring at a row of bright stage lights. Confused, he pulled himself up into a sitting position to look around. To his surprise, he was inside Madison Square Garden; the same arena that hosted the U.S. martial arts tournament he lost at.

"What am I doing back here?" Sean wondered aloud. "Better question, how did I get here?"

Sean got to his feet, and surveyed his surroundings more. It looked exactly the same as it did during the tournament, except it was completely deserted. Not a soul outside of himself was present, and outside of the hum of the lights, it was deadly silent. Sean was perplexed; normally these dreams usually had him fighting the guy who beat him in front of a crowd, and losing in some embarrassing fashion. Now, the arena was eerily devoid of life.

Suddenly, Sean felt a cold chill go up and down his spine, and the hairs on his neck stood up. Before he could fully register what was happening, a red blur flew past him, knocking him over. He quickly rolled back onto his feet, and turned around to face his opponent, but immediately went slack-jawed at what he saw. Standing in front of him was a dark-skinned man who was even more muscular than he was, wearing a tattered black karate gi, with a yellow belt wrapped around him. Glowing red eyes that matched the crimson dreadlocks flowing around him seemed to stare right into his soul.

In short, this opponent was a completely twisted version of himself.

"What in hell!?" Sean exclaimed, not believing what he saw. "The hell is going on here?! Who are you?"

Sean's apparent doppelganger didn't say anything. Instead, it rushed at him at seemingly lighting fast speed - so fast, that Sean barely managed to roll out of the way. Sean quickly got back up into his fighting stance, but his doppelganger was faster, hitting him with quick, but powerful punches that made short work of Sean's defense. Sean attempted to retreat and create space, but his doppelganger was relentless, battering him with combinations he thought not even Ken could pull off.

Sean, panicking, barely managed to duck under the boom of another punch, and attempted to grab his opponent's legs to take him down, but was met with a knee to his face. Sean immediately recoiled and covered his face, leaving him open to a multi-hit shoryuken that sent him clean off his feet, and out of the ring, landing onto an announcer's table, crushing it from the impact. Sean, now bloodied, struggled to get back up on his feet. Meanwhile, his double leaped over the ropes, and landed on the surrounding mats in front of Sean, causing the arena floor to shake.

Sean huffed and puffed as he pulled himself off the remains of the announce table. His body ached, his ears were ringing, and blood was gushing out of his nose, but he somehow managed to stay conscious, and get back on his feet. He shifted back into his fighting stance, and faced his doppelganger with brave face, despite his knees threatening to buckle from the pain.

"That all you got, son?" Sean taunted, though his bravado was diminished by his obvious exhaustion.

The doppelganger didn't respond. Instead, he got into a stance, and proceeded to glide at a breakneck speed towards Sean. Before the young fighter could do anything, his double had already grabbed him by his gi. Sean, now face to face with him, could only stare in horror at the murderous glare the double gave him with their crimson eyes.

"MESSATSU!"

Sean's vision immediately turned white just as he was about to get hit.

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"Yo, Sean! Wake up, man! Wake up!"

Sean began to stir in his bead, feeling somebody shaking him furiously. Slowly, he rolled over onto his back, and opened his eyes, and was greeted by the sight of Enzo looking down at him in visible concern.

"Man, what the fuck...?" Sean grumbled irritably as he fumbled for his cellphone on his dresser. Managing to get a grip on it, he turned on the screen, and the clock showed 11:05 AM. Not unreasonably early, but he was still tired from last night. "What're you doing here, man?" Sean asked, stifling a yawn. "I figured you'd be forcefully chained to the store counter for the next month, anyway."

"Thankfully, my days off aren't affected by my punishment," Enzo chuckled lightly, before quickly turning serious again. "But even then, I'd have skipped my shift to come here anyway, considering the circumstances."

Sean looked at his cousin confusedly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Enzo sighed, and pulled out his phone as he sat down next to his brother. "Well, to be blunt, that Kanzuki bitch got us good." He handed Sean his phone, who looked at it curiously. On the screen, there was a YouTube thumbnail of a teary-eyed Karin, superimposed between screenshots of CCTV footage of the last night's brawl, complete with the clickbait-y title, "BRUTALITY IN SAO PAULO!" Sean groaned, and facepalmed in frustration, already picturing the inevitable fallout.

"Lord Jesus, have mercy on my soul..."