But, someone above me mentions a Shadow Falls story.
There are a number of things that could have been done differently obviously.
Warning, this spoiler is a little bit long-winded. It is composed of alternative version of the “Shadow Falls” storyline.
- Necalli would have served as a distant but direct accessory to the Illuminati who poses a direct threat to Ryu. The first time they fight, Necalli defeats Ryu with relative ease in an attempt to “eat” him and absorb the Satsui no Hadou. It takes Dhalsim to interrupt and stop this from happening. They both fight valiantly until the authorities in India arrive in an attempt to put down Necalli and settle the street fight. Things got really dirty during in the street fighting scenario with a life form that they know absolutely nothing about. This Necalli thing just came seemingly out of nowhere and started practically smacking an unprepared Ryu around.
Necalli vanishes, still very incomplete, despite being strong enough to fight both Ryu and Dhalsim.
After asking and answering questions with the local law enforcement, Ryu and Dhalsim leave on a journey in hopes of doing more research. Dhalsim accompanies Ryu out of curiosity after he tells him of a rumor of some other force causing abnormalities and manipulating events aside from just Shadowloo (alluding to the Illuminati). Dhalsim also warns Ryu that is going to get even more difficult to control the powers in alignment with his assassination techniques.
Ryu and Dhalsim greets Ken at the same forest-based stage. Ryu and Ken fight just out of novelty. Ken ekes out a victory and quickly notices something wrong with Ryu. To Ryu’s agreement, Dhalsim explains the situation about Necalli and an unknown force that he seems to associate with (Illuminati). Ken states that he is starting an international martial arts tournament soon for live stream events and for different programs to offset the events of SFII and SFVI. He invites Ryu and Dhalsim to event which will take place within a few days time frame. Ryu obliges believing that he’ll figure out a lot more by then but he tells Ken to be really careful and watch for any shady activities.
- Karin Kanzuki’s role would change significantly. Sakura and Karin being the friendly rivals that they are trade information on what took place in the events of Street Fighter VI.
Karin recognizes some of the problems that have been going on between the tournaments and the Shadowloo. She ignites a plan to begin a martial arts tournament, free of any corruption.
This would allow Karin to kill two birds with one stone: Clean up the martial arts sporting events and tournaments systems while also furthering benefitting her family business from its sponsorship. Karin will be able to further spread her own influence in her own knowledge of martial arts in this manner while appealing to her idol Ken Masters.
Now we get into the perspectives of Ken Masters and Karin.
They both contact each other over a large international martial arts tournament in an effort to rise spirits and generate necessary funds for different charity programs. Something of the opposite effect of what the Shadowloo has done in the background when they made the tournaments for accomplishing far more nefarious goals.
Ken and Karin rendezvous with each other, accompanied by Birdie and Ibuki and they travel around the world to gather and invite other fighters, much like how Ken was trying to do with the likes of his brother in arms Ryu and then Dhalsim himself.
First they go to New York, where they meet Alex and Tom. Getting to know each other, Ken asks Alex to participate in the tour, to which he does not mind. Alex gets on board after becoming fascinated with the idea of traveling around the world again, much like how he would do in the military service. In addition, he already made an impact in the martial arts world before as man who participates in wrestling tournaments and (possibly) underground matches for the sport of it.
Unknown to the others was a mysterious group of individuals watching them closely. On their communications systems, one of the men speak.
“Lord Urien. There is something odd going on here. They are apparently planning a tournament event!”
“Is watching a bunch of rats really that complicated for you fools? Track their locations! The purpose here to bring about the fall of Shadowloo and the rise of a new leaders, yours truly! Dismiss. For I have another matter to take care of, involving two little lab rats of mine and this little prophecy.”
“Yes, Lord Urien!”
(The motivations behind the Illuminati to gradually reveal themselves to the public and fulfil the prophecy of Bison’s downfall to rise in his wake as the primary savior. This obviously involves Necalli, Nash, and the manipulation of three forces:
1). Strongest Martial Artists in the world
2). Law Enforcement or Government (including Interpol, Military Branches, and even Intelligence Agencies).
3). Manipulation of criminal organizations (mainly Shadowloo, who are functionally rivals to them. It by some implications, even Mad Gear).
Urien is obviously on his own agenda. Purpose: To seize the Illuminati from his brother to become its rightful leader in order to implement actions in relation to totalitarianism.
But, what is Necalli’s role in this?
Urien alludes to Necalli and Nash when he says “lab rats.”
Necalli’s role is given a change: Again, Necalli has a direct yet somewhat distant association with the Illuminati. But, he also a subject of a scheme involving the Illuminati’s (specifically Urien’s department) attempt at replicating the Satsui no Hadou. Necalli himself is still a being that seeks to absorb the strengths of the strongest fighters (instinctively. Think Jenovo from Final Fantasy VII).
And, now? Ryu has become a primary target of Necalli’s thirst for blood and power. Insult to injury, in this alternative plotline, it could be implied that Urien made a passive attempt at having his scientists reverse-engineer the Satsui no Hadou for a secondary project, though he may or may not have put too much thought behind it, considering that he knows the risks behind such unstable power.
–Back to Ken and co.
Ken, Karin, and co. stop to Russia and manage to encounter Zangief. They tussle with Zangief, alongside R. Mika and Nadeshiko both whom were conducting muscular endurance assessments. Zangief hears Ken out on the international martial arts tournament and asks if he would like to participate. Delighted at the idea, Zangief tells R. Mika. They both promise show up later. Zangief then suggests that there should be a pre-event tour, to which both Ken and Karin agree upon. They take time to set up the tour and begin traveling around to carefully select their fighters and send their invitations in order to further augment the fighting tournament experiences and entertainment.
They head to Brazil and find Laura, Blanka, and Sean at a massive fighting ring.
Laura, getting a boost confidence in winning the small tournament asks “Who else wants to be my next grapple bud?!”
… To which Alex, Zangief, R. Mika, Birdie, and Nadeshiko respond. They spend roughly two hours brawling it out, delaying Ken and Karin on their efforts. However, a mysterious group of thugs start causing major trouble when they begin chasing Sean out of the general area of the underground ring. Laura madly chases the thugs, with the others following suit.
The player primarily utilizes Laura and Blanka to deal with a group of odd like thugs (whom were not necessarily “thugs” in a traditional sense. This will become a lot more relevant later).
Ken and Karin inquire to Blanka and Laura as to what was going on and they say that the thugs were after “pieces of the puzzle” which turn out to be mechanisms for them to cause destruction.
Both Sean and Laura are more confused than anyone because the object the thugs were after looked like a piece that belonged to a board game.
Upon receiving an inquiry about the new tournament, Laura and the others agree. Blank figures he could participate in an effort to promote his own business in… dressing up as a doll-version of himself and to further contribute to the happiness of his mother. Laura obviously obliges cause she figures she would make a name for herself in Matsuda-Martial Arts while teaching her little brother Sean a thing or too. Sean himself was already hyped about being in contact with the famous Ken Masters himself.
Because of the craziness of the SFII and SFVI events in their tournaments, security levels have increased. Ken apparently took Ryu’s warning to heart and used a large sum of his budget for a personal security service. Among such securities were characters such as…
Zeku, Lucia, Cammy, and E. Honda.
Zeku purpose is molded into being motivated by a degree of righteousness… and the same suspicions as the likes of Dhalsim.
Lucia, being in the law enforcement herself, figure that she participates in a gig in hopes of uploading the law and representing the city which she normally resides in.
Cammy actually has her agenda. She saw an online posting by Ken Masters and Karin Kanzuki.
The real reason why Cammy is here will be revealed in a short while.
E. Honda is involved because it is implied that he won SFIV (or one of the tournaments during the events), so he figures he continues his obligation as a champion while earning extra funds in showcasing his own skills.
(Notification: A lot of characters that were supposed to show up at a later date as DLC make early cameos and may even participate in fights at certain points in the narrative).
Involved in this tournament would have been Birdie, Sakura, Ibuki, R. Mika, Ken (himself), Laura, Karin (much like Ken, in her own tournament), Zangief, Alex, and other noteworthy characters.
The tournament itself will come into play at a later point where all the character intersect, leading to another confrontation with the Illuminati and Shadowloo.
In the background while the tournament is set up, Ken (and a select group of characters within the security team) encounter a bunch of suspicious individuals. Each of them having something to do with Mad Gear. Ken and Karin manage to defeat scores of them.
E. Honda, Cammy, Zeku, and Lucia also put in some work against the gang members in an effort to keep hold of the tournament properties and protect them.
Cammy does a data scan through a information link:
Guile.
Through Cammy’s information link, she communicates with the Lumo Task Force (Lumokinesis, has to do with “Light”, contradicting the Shadowloo’s association with “Dark”), subsidiary of the Interpol that temporarily possesses the same jurisdiction as the likes of a countries intelligence agency through specific contract.
Members: Chun-Li = (Interpol), Guile = (American Air Force - Rank: O4/Major), Abel (UC = Undercover), Cammy (MI6 and Former Shadowloo agent).
Number of agents, including NPC’s: 122 individuals. The individuals listed above are “prominent” figures, specifically assigned to
But, why would their be people from the American Military in on this? Why cooperate with the Interpol or other groups of different countries and jurisdiction?
Guile himself is on TDY. His unit gave paperwork, orders, and clearance for participating in this mission.
Chun-Li is obviously an Interpol agent who already won more than a few disputes with the Shadowloo in the past, despite her difficulties in the Alpha series and is also the one who directly landed a Kikosho on Bison for a final hit before he disappeared in the events of SFII (if the Capcom-sanctioned anime is to be taken seriously).
Now we move on to Juri, Rashid, Kolin, Urien, and Nash.
The role of Juri and Kolin remains mostly uncharged.
So boom. Nash is given the resurrection treatment and is exceedingly pissed.
In this narrative context, Nash would have had a lot more interaction with Guile. Nash is part of the very reason why Guile had to take action against the Shadowloo in the first place. They fight each other at least twice.
Kolin’s group gets together. Juri proceeds to rough house with the others for the sake of messing with them and due to her generally chaotic nature. She settles down when Rashid fends off her attacks. They discuss their plans to conduct countermeasures against Bison’s plan. Context is given behind both Rashid and Juri: Rashid just wants to find an old friend of his and Juri wants to grind her heel upon Bison’s face for what happened in her own past as a child.
Nash would have also put up a far better fight against Urien, just enough to actually piss the latter off when Nash’s obsession with killing Bison is put on full showcase (the idea behind this is make Nash still appear as a strong character to fend against Urien’s onslaughts and his tests).
They fight to a stalemate. Nash REMAINS STEADFAST (he is not visibly injured) in this narrative! Urien on the other hand, while unscathed becomes increasingly furious at Nash’s insistent behavior.
Urien: “Idiot! Concentrate on the battle or I will kill you where you stand, you worthless doll.”
Nash: “Worthless doll, huh. Didn’t you say you wanted to test me out in combat? And, now you are pissed because you are getting your ass kicked. What the hell are you even on about anyway? My argument isn’t even with you!”
Urien: Performs a Chariot Tackle “WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOUR TALKING TOO?!”
Nash: Performs his V-Trigger teleportation "Like I said, I have a score to settle. It’s as simple as that. You should know everything about holding grudges, considering your… relationship to your boss.
Urien: “WHAT?”
Nash: “I said, your boss. Gill, was it? What’s up? You missed a few hugs as a child?”
Urien: “YOU INSOLENT SCUM!”
Urien proceeds to deliver a violent barrage of punches. Nash falls under a lot of pressure but he is able to parry a good portion of Urien’s attacks, while landing a couple of his own. Nash’s speed was able to offset Urien’s raw power.
Urien: “Rats. Nothing but a bunch of useless rats.”
Before things could escalate, Rashid grabs Urien by the shoulder, only to further annoy Urien.
(The context behind this banter is to play into Nash’s background in psychiatry. He proceeds to insult Urien through riddles and mind-games while Urien tries to crush him. Nash manages to defend himself. This highlights how strong Nash still is while keeping Urien a major threat).
Urien attempts to kill Rashid for his interruption and for merely touching him. Kolin appeases Urien.
Minutes pass. Urien leaves while ensuring that he makes his threats clear, specifically pointing at Nash for his own behavior.
Kolin tries to chastise Nash for his deviations and his general behavior, in spite of his resurrection. It is shown that Nash’s body is subject to power leaks and that there is a chance that he may not stay alive for too much longer. Kolin continues to chastise Nash.
But, instead of kissing Kolin’s ass or resigning, in spite of his physical condition, Nash casually questions Kolin on her attitude.
Nash: “… You angry?” I can’t help but notice that you acting a little too aggressive. Does it piss you off when people don’t follow your orders, even with how potentially unethical they may be? And, speaking of orders… I heard a story about a little girl once whose town fell to a group of service members…"
Nash showcasing a larger degree of rebellious tendencies, considering his past experiences, provoke Kolin about her own past.
They both fight to a stalemate. Juri sits in the background laughing at the whole ordeal. Rashid, being the only sane man tries to stop them both from arguing with each other.
They go over the plan for their group after things settle down.
Just as they talk about their plan in putting Shadowloo out of commission…
Bison himself is slowly revealed… working on his new scheme involving the same piece that his men were after earlier when they were going after Sean. Alongside Bison, are F.A.N.G., Balrog (Boxer), and Vega (Claw).
It is revealed that there are kidnapped subjects that were unwilling working on Operations: C.H.A.I.Ns which involves launching satellites known as the Black Moons cut off electrical power sources of other countries and then augment the said satellites with Psycho Power to arrange for a doomsday.
Among those subjects are…
Li-Fen and an old friend of Rashid whom is desperately crying for help…
There are four keys that will allow Bison to control electronic systems and override global computer safety protocols and antiviruses to allow him free reign. He has one (from Sean).
His next target is a bank in New York City.
The purpose of Kolin’s Group, the Lumo Task Force, and the rest of the Illuminati is to intercept and face off against the Shadowloo before they can set up Operations: C.H.A.I.N.S.
Meanwhile, Necalli is on the loose and is currently gunning for Ryu’s life.
A massive tournament is underway by Ken Masters and Karin Kanzuki. Despite their good intentions, this is not likely to last.
The remaining three… Macguffin keys are allocated with 1). Ryu’s scroll…
2). The New York City Bank where the current Mayor Cody keeps his treasures in a safety deposit box, which happens to be one of the keys that were initially in Mad Gears possession (hence, Poison and Abigail’s eventual involvement in the plot).
3). With Karin Kanzuki’s residence in a massive computer server room where her family stores financial and government information of Japan from their significant connections.
… To be continued.
Why some things were changed:
1). Ryu and Dhalsim simply travel together in order to find out the mystery behind Necalli, the Satsui no Hadou and the connection to the unknown organization that Dhalsim mentioned through his own readings and his connections…
The Illuminati.
Dhalsim already being a friend of to Ryu and a excellent spiritual guide accompanies Ryu, as Necalli made an attempt on his land. Based his ability to read the minds of men and having a (possible) connection to Rose over the course of SFII~SFVI events (it is never implied that do know each other but it would be logical to assume so in this case because they a few things in common).
This is likely a chance for Ryu to settle the score with Necalli and enhance his ability to adapt under any circumstance as a true martial artists… and hopefully defeat Gouki at his own game one day as the evolutionary master of the fist in his own way.
A brand new opponent in the eyes of Ryu, one that is far more unpredictable and unstable than Sagat… Bison… and even Gouki in his current state! A killer!
This conflict will soon lead to him discovering the existence of the Illuminati and their hidden conflict with Bison. Ryu and Bison will have an epic showdown. However… RYU IS NOT THE ONE WHO FINISHES THE JOB. The context here is when they do finally confront each other after their trials and tribulations, they reveal themselves as the anti-thesis of each other. They will end up fighting a very rough match with each other. In an explosive power struggle, they realize that they are each others equals. Both taken a major beating from each other.
Ryu and Bison.
2). Nash’s characterization.
I have not seen Darkness Falls in a while. Nash is a man whom is still gunning for Bison. Being resurrected, he is still somewhat thankful to Kolin… But, not necessarily submissive. Plus, Nash’s MOS in the Air Force (aside from being able to pilot airships) is that of psychiatry. He is incredibly bitter from these transgressions. And, is also assumed that Kolin filled in the blanks and allowed Nash just enough time to digest the information.
The reason why Nash provokes Kolin in this narrative I’ve chosen is because at some point before he was going after Bison directly, he may have read up on the events of Kolin’s past, hence why she does not like folks in uniform. Nash probably stood at one of Kolin’s residences in which he would find out about the incident in a hidden file after some random meddling in the area. Nash also uncovers some hidden bio-experimentations with a report that reads “Satsui no Hadou” with an electronically written signature belonging to “Urien.”
Nash starts getting very suspicious as a result. What the hell is going on? Who are these people? Where is Bison exactly? What has Guile done to address the issue of Bison? Where is Chun-Li? Who the hell is Urien? Isn’t Satsui no Hadou an application for martial artists who give in to a source of power through obsession and deadly training assessment?
Nash: “What the hell is going on here?”
(This will take place after Nash and Kolin have their initial talk when he is bought back to life).
Afterwards, Kolin drops in on Nash through the door, assuming he just recuperated. Noticing nothing suspicious, she assumes that Nash is compliant. Nash himself fears that he may be involved in yet another conspiracy, not so different from how the Deus Ex series is set up. Kolin and Nash go to rendezvous with Juri and the others in the group designated for intercepting Bison’s operations.
And, of course, he has his little confrontation with Urien and then Kolin, poking at their mental weaknesses and insecurities. Rashid tries mitigate this, being the voice of reason. He reminds them that they are there to hunt down Bison. It is through this process, one of the following locations of the keys for C.H.A.I.N.S. is in possession of the Kanzuki clan…
Coincidentally, where that very same tournament is bound to take place…
Thus putting Ken and Karin’s motivations in jeopardy.
3). Necalli?
Necalli will operate as a recurring villain but his characterization and his feats will make seem as a far more menacing figure whom is actively murdering strong martial artists and augmenting himself. He is also actively gunning for Ryu, due to both of them having something in common: The Satsui no Hadou. In this case, Necalli outright defeats Ryu and knocks him out completely!
The only reason why Ryu is alive is because Dhalsim was able to come in the last minute to fight against Necalli. Ryu comes to and notices Dhalsim fighting the very enemy he fell to and tries to help him, only for it to appear as if Necalli was just getting started.
The authorities try to control the chaos, eventually causing Necalli to leave, due to his fatigue and the sheer number of men caught in the frenzy.
Now this is where the conflict between Ryu and Necalli start.
4). Who will defeat Bison in this narrative?
After all that happens in this alternative narration, the one who “physically” beats Bison is Nash and Guile. SNK Boss Style. It becomes a ugly brawl between the two combatants and Bison, no different from the Raid series. Bison madly overwhelms both of them, but after more than a few struggles, Nash performs an energy chainsaw onto Bison, slicing him into submission and paralysis. Nash chokes Bison and proceeds to self-destruct, just as he did in the original narrative.
Except this time, the context is a lot more obvious and Bison is visibly pissed off: Nash neutralized Bison and is now the same as he was before. Bison and Guile are left in a critical state. From there it becomes a desperate struggle between two extremely skilled martial artists. Guile vs Bison. A fated encounter.
Guile delivers a fatal Somersault kick (alluding to his Ultra I Combo Finisher from SFIV). Thus… “physically” defeating Bison.
Key Word: “Physically.”
But, even then, Bison is not done. Chun-Li is in the middle of rescuing Li-Fen from the computer room she was trapped in, only for it to be shown that Bison is still active through an automated system that had parts of conscience uploaded through one of his Psycho Power adapters from the technology he used to create the Black Moons. Think Sigma from Megaman X where he lives as a sentient virus who can infect Reploids.
A ghostly version of Bison appears within the computer room to seemingly prepare to continue Operation C.H.A.I.N.S., despite Rashid hijacking his software.
At this point, Chun-Li had already witnessed the battle between Ryu and Bison at a far earlier point, even inquiring to Ryu about where he got all of that strength from to fight Bison directly by himself.
Mu. Nothingness. The main idea of Ryu’s newfound strength and his answer to Necalli.
Chun-Li trains on this for a while with Cammy, Ryu, Ken, and Karin herself, and then utilizes these functions against Vega, F.A.N.G., Juri, and other assailant (without losing anywhere near as many fights as she did in the original Shadow Falls storyline).
Then she tries this again, this time against Phantom Bison (alluding to SFEX series). Confusion, angst, turmoil, and destruction. Phantom Bison continues to fight Chun-Li viciously in this ghastly form, even provoking her about her late father.
Chun-Li ends up seeing through this and begins to change her approach with smaller strikes to interrupt Bison and slowly cause pain. A slow and gradual process where Chun-Li has to avoid getting hit at all costs.
Chun-Li throws large objects at Bison (alluding to the scenario between Vega and Chun-Li in the SFII: Animated Film) in this vicious “street fighting” scenario, but Bison continues to punch and kick her around, no different from how Broly had done so with the likes of Goku before he could even go Ultra Instinct.
Driven by the will to protect Li-Fen and others so that they do not end up as lost as she once was as a child, Chun-Li uses a variation of the power of “Mu” and applies it to her Kikosho VTII…
She performs an elaborate combo through VTII to finally defeat Bison…
Providing closure to Chun-Li’s legacy… and establishing her as the “Strongest Woman in the World” in a slightly literal sense. This is also based on Urien’s encounter which he mentions that she was the one who faced down Shadowloo before her retirement.
… More to come.
Some of these ideas may sound ridiculous but Capcom storytelling… tend to be kind of odd at times.
” or use them as narration devices to make Hero look Hero… see Ryu saving Chun from flames at the end lol
