Does it truly pay to be the Center of Attention?
The main attraction, gettin' all the action
People stoppin' the I.N.I. with question after question,
I spit a few replies, and keep to myself
And never been the weapon carrying type, but I'll incite
A riot organized, and never quiet."

- InI, "Center of Attention"


A half-hour later, Sean was back in his room, finishing up editing the rebuttal video. While he could've finished it in less than half that time, he couldn't help but keep looking over the CCTV footage his uncle had given him, specifically the Shoryuken he delivered to Ibuki. From what he could tell upon closer inspection, it was a perfect Shoryuken, similar to the techniques he saw Ryu use. What still escaped him was how he pulled it off. He was never taught that version of the move, and no matter how hard he tried to remember, his memories of the last half of the fight remained hazy, leaving Sean with more questions than answers, and a splitting headache.

Deciding he was wasting his time dwelling on it, Sean finished the last edit on the video, and began the exporting process. No sooner than the video began rendering, someone knocked on his door. Sean groaned inwardly, already knowing who it was by the rhythm of the knocks.

"It's open, Laura!" Sean called out reluctantly. He didn't want to deal with his sister at the moment, but decided he'd rather not be mean to her.

The door opened slightly, and Laura peeked her head through the gap. "Are you still working on the video?" she asked carefully. Last night's conversations still lingered in Laura's mind, and she didn't want to potentially get on Sean's bad side again.

Sean shook his head. "Nah, it's exporting right now," he replied, swivelling his chair around to face his sister. "'Sup?"

Laura took this as a signal that he was in a good mood, and walked into her brother's room. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. The last twelve hours have been wild, to say the least."

Sean nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he sighed. "Sometimes it feels like God hates me, with all the bullshit that comes my way." Sean rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm grateful for Sakura and Elena helping us out, but what's the point? I don't have the reach or influence Karin does, nobody's gonna hear my side."

"Not true," Laura replied, taking a seat on Sean's bed. "People will listen. Maybe we don't have her connections, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't set the record straight. Plus, people will listen when they see Sakura and Elena taking up for you in the video."

"We'll see," Sean said, clearly unconvinced. Laura, sensing the conversation was about to hit a dead end, decided to change the subject.

"Let's worry about the video later," Laura said, flipping her hair. "Have you figured out what you're gonna wear on your date later?"

Sean jolted upright in his seat, and looked at his sister as if she had lost her mind. "Date?!" he hollered. "Nobody said nothin' 'bout a date! The hell did you get that from?!"

Laura was tempted to tease her little brother like usual, but held back the urge. "I mean, it could be one if you and Enzo choose to play your cards right," she said easily. "Sakura and Elena are nice women, and you both already have some common ground with them, so why not shoot your shot?"

"You mean besides the fact that they're totally out of our league?" Sean replied sarcastically.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Come on, Sean."

"For real, I'm not even on my sad sack shit right now," Sean continued, waving his hands around. "Even if I put aside the fighting records and accomplishments, Elena is literally African royalty, and Sakura constantly has guys pushing up on her; plus she's almost six years older than both of us. Besides, they're doing this out of goodwill, not because they like us like that. Shit, Sakura only knows me from what Ken said about me, so who knows what she actually thinks of me!"

Laura shook her head. "You're not entirely wrong, but think about it: Would she have helped you out, or asked you to go with her if she didn't have a good opinion of you?"

"...I guess not," Sean muttered. He really didn't want to admit Laura had a point, but he couldn't deny it. "I still doubt she'd even be into me like that."

"You won't know 'til you get to know her better, and there's no better time to than tonight," Laura pointed out. "I'm not saying you gotta be all papi chulo, but just be yourself, and talk to her."

Sean snorted in amusement. "I find it funny that you're giving me dating advice, yet whenever a guy that can't bench press five hundred pounds or shoot fireballs out their hands approaches you, you just beat the shit outta them," he remarked.

Laura threw her head back, and laughed heartily. "It's not my fault most of the men who approach me are chumps!"

"I'm just saying-" Sean was interrupted by a notification sound coming from his computer speakers. He swung his chair back around, and saw that his video had finished exporting. "That was fast," he noted. "May as well upload it now."

Laura nodded. "I hate that you even had to do this in the first place."

"I wasn't even gonna do it, until you all insisted," Sean replied as he uploaded the video. "Elena and Sakura suddenly showing up pretty much sealed my fate."

"We're only trying to look out for you, Sean..." Laura started.

"I know," Sean interrupted, not bothering to look back at Laura. "And don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of you having my back, but you don't have the rep I do. You don't get shit on by the entire world everywhere where you go. Hell, you and Fabio bust my chops over my skills most of the time, too."

Laura shook her head. "That's different; you know we don't mean it like that!" she insisted.

"Yeah, but it still doesn't help my mental in the long run," Sean pointed out. "Point is, everyone gives me shit for every reason imaginable. Even if I suddenly had a winning streak overnight, and won several tournaments, I'd still be 'Dan Hibiki Jr.'" Sean rolled the disgraced fighter's name off his tongue with audible disgust.

"I don't think Dan could score a date with a woman most guys would kill to be with with," Laura countered. "I'd say that's a point in your favour."

"It's not a date, Laura!" Sean groaned, rolling his eyes.

Laura giggled, and tousled Sean's dreads. "Not yet. The day is still young, little bro; you don't know what could happen."

"Meh, we'll see," Sean muttered as he finalized inputting the video's metadata. "I'll worry about tonight when it's time to go." With one last click, he swivelled his chair back around to face Laura. "Anyway, the video's up. Not much else we can do besides wait for the reactions. What's everyone else doing?"

"Mom and uncle Pedro are doing up a barbecue in the backyard, since everyone's here, and haven't had lunch yet," Laura said, running her hands through her still unbraided hair. "I know you haven't been up for family gatherings lately, but..."

"Naw, I'll join you guys," Sean replied. "I mean, I'm pretty much the reason the whole fam came over, so the least I can do is join y'all." Sean paused briefly, before adding, "You better not eat up all the meat this time, though!"

Laura just laughed. "I make no promises."


A few minutes later, Sean, Enzo, and Manuela were travelling down the street to the family's convenience store to pick up some extra snacks for the barbecue. On the way down, several people on the street pointed at them and whispered as they walked past, while lurking paparazzos took pictures or videos. Sean just rolled his eyes, having grown used to the constant stares and snide comments, but his cousins quickly grew annoyed by the constant gawking and pictures from strangers.

"I'm starting to see why you don't go out much anymore, Sean," Manuela grumbled.

"This is actually pretty mild compared to the usual bullshit I get," Sean remarked. "Sometimes racist pessoas brancos throw bananas at me and shit."

"What?!" Manuela exclaimed incredulously.

"I'm telling you, it's no joke sometimes," Sean said. "There's a lot of shit people tried to pull on me that I never told anyone about. I never got into fights though, because nobody wanted any smoke from the rest of the family."

"Still, that's fucked up," Enzo interjected. "Fuck anyone on that racist shit, for one. Plus, there's way worse fighters out there than you people should be ripping apart instead of you; especially here in Sao Paulo"

"And it's not even like you're a honest to God bad fighter, either," Manuela continued. "You may be lacking when it comes to Ken's style, but you're a Jujitsu black belt, and you're no slouch with our Capoeira style as well."

"But I'm still not as good as any of y'all," Sean countered as he nonchalantly shoved away a paparazzo that tried to get up in his face. "It took me way longer to get my black belt from Papa because I wasn't as skilled as Laura or Fabio. And let's be real, nobody's touching your side of the family when it comes to Capoeira."

"That doesn't mean you're a bad fighter!" Manuela replied, slapping her cousin's shoulder. "All you need is more training to refine your skills; and if Ken's not going to teach you his style, then forget about him, and find someone who will!"

"I wish it was that easy," Sean grumbled. "Like I told Enzo the other night, Ryu's out of the equation because he's too wrapped up in his own thing, and nobody else comes as close as either of them when it comes to Ansatsuken."

"Ain't there another dude who also uses that fighting style?" Enzo asked as he casually backhanded another paparazzo that got too close.

Sean gagged in disgust. "There's no way in hell I'm goin' to call Dan Hibiki my sensei."

"I'm not talkin' about that clown!" Enzo clarified. "I'm talking about the dark-skinned guy with the red hair you mistook for Ryu one time."

"Oh, him," Sean said in realization. "Akuma."

Like many other fighters, Sean had heard of Akuma's legendary reputation, but had never seen him in action until he had entered his first World Warrior tournament. When Sean first saw him, he thought he was Ryu at first, and challenged him to a fight, but quickly learned his mistake when Akuma beat ten shades of black off of him in less then a minute. Ken later told him he was lucky to have survived the fight, and Sean knew he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest by the way Ken said it.

"I think I'd rather fight Satan himself before I'd ask him to train me," Sean admitted.

"Is he really that scary?" Manuela asked.

"Like you have no idea."

Soon, the cousins made it to the corner store, where several repairmen were furiously working on the hole caused by last night's brawl. Sean quickly noticed that they were almost halfway done repairing the outside part of it.

"How long were those guys here?" Sean asked his cousins.

"I think since around eight-thirty?" Enzo replied. "At least that's what Mom said."

"I'll give that Kanzuki girl this; she certainly didn't waste her money on these guys," Manuela said as she observed the repairmen at work.

"I'd like to give her a broken jaw," Sean grumbled.

"Trust me, we all do," Manuela said. "But ain't much we can do now but let your video do its work, and wait this bullshit out."

"I wish it was that simple," Sean sighed as they approached the store doors. "I wish I could-"

"Hey, Matsuda!" A deep, obnoxious voice called out.

Sean groaned in irritation, recognizing the voice. Dear God, not now...

Reluctantly, he and his cousins turned around, and were greeted by a group of smug jiu-jitsu practitioners Sean recognized from the local Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school. Many of the students from there were spoiled rich kids who constantly took part in street fights, and, due to the Gracies and Matsuda families and schools being rivals, many of them often showed up to his family's dojos and picked fights with them to try and prove the superiority of their jiu-jitsu. In the middle of them, stood Rafael Lopes; an obnoxious, overconfident fighter, who regularly picked fights with his siblings, only to get beat into the ground each time.

"What you want, Rafael?" Enzo demanded bluntly. "We got no time for your crap, so if you came to start something, get off our property!"

"Peace, my man, peace!" Rafael said patronizingly as he walked towards the cousins, arms outstretched. "No need to get all hostile right off the jump."

"Neg?o, please! All you do is cause hostility whenever your narrow behind shows up!" Manuela retorted. "Don't think we're going to entertain you just because you brought an audience with you!"

"Relax, we didn't come here to start trouble, guys," Rafael insisted with a cheeky smile. "We just wanted to give Sean his props for last night's fight. I didn't think you could pull something like that off."

Neither did I, Sean thought to himself, but pushed the nagging questions about the fight to the back of his mind. Out loud, he replied, "Look, I'm already up to my neck in drama, Rafael. I don't need any bullshit from you and your groupies, and I definitely don't need to give the S?o Paulo police another reason to arrest me within a 24-hour span. You're not getting a fight out of me, so get off our property."

"What's the matter, 'Little Dan'?" a heavyset jiujiteiro Sean recognized as Marcelo Souza walked over and got in his face. "You're usually so eager to prove you aren't a punk, and you clearly had no restraint last night, so why are you bitching out all of sudden?"

Sean visibly bristled at Marcelo's words, but stopped himself from hitting him, noticing a crowd was starting to gather. "First of all, I'm gonna to need you and that giant gut of yours to take a few steps back, Piggy Smalls," he spat back, shoving Marcelo away. "And second off, my family ain't a bunch of attention whores like all of y'all. We're out here just tryin' to run errands, and next thing we know, you're all in our faces, trying to ride off some nonexistent juice I got from knocking out one of Karin Kanzuki's friends. A knockout that not only got me arrested, mind you, but also got both me and Enzo publicly slandered by that racist heiress today. We got bigger things to worry about than satisfying your oversized jujitsu egos."

"Come now, Sean; there's no need to insult your fellow fighters like this!" Rafael said smoothly. To the average person, his wide smile and causal demeanor would make one think he was being sincere, but the cousins could easily see the ill intentions in his eyes. "Marcelo's feelings aside, we came here simply to congratulate you, but you and your cousins have been nothing but hostile to us for no reason! I thought your grandfather and uncle would've instilled better manners and discipline in all of you."

The cousins glared at Rafael, but continued to restrain themselves. It wasn't long before the Gracie students had closed in, and surrounded them, ready to leap at a moment's notice. By now, the crowd had filled the sidewalk, and part of the parking lot, and pulled their phones out, anticipating a fight. The Kanzuki repairmen, to their credit, had quickly made themselves scarce to avoid potentially being collateral damage. Among the crowd were two particular Americans who watched the confrontation between the martial artists with disgust.

"This don't look good at all," said one of them, a young man around Sean's age who bore a striking resemblance to a young Roy Jones Jr.. Instinctively, he tucked the gold chain around his neck underneath his Wu-Tang t-shirt, but felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly before he could run into the fray. The teenager looked back, and saw his companion, a bearded older man dressed in a black cap, t-shirt, and shorts, looking at him disapprovingly.

"Hey, don't," the older man said. "We can't afford to get caught up in trouble right before the fight; plus we don't even know what's going on, or what they're saying!"

"I know those guys are gon' get faded if someone doesn't help them!" The teenager insisted. "There's only three of em, and they're hemmed up by at least eight of those niggas; we can't just sit here and let them get beat up!"

"I understand, but you can't just jump in there swinging," the older man pointed out. "The moment you throw the first blow, you're the one automatically in the wrong, and you potentially lose out on a big fight."

"Man, fuck all that," the teenager pushed the man's hand off. "Those guys clearly have bad intentions, and I'm gonna help put a stop to it. I'll deal with whatever consequences that come later."

The teen immediately dashed into the lot before the man could say another word, and immediately got close to the circle of Gracie students. "(Hey, back off!)" he shouted at them, giving them a harsh glare.

Everyone, including the Matsudas, looked at the newcomer in confusion. The Gracie students didn't understand English, but the glare made his intentions clear. Marcelo just scoffed at him.

"Aw, how sweet," he mocked in Portuguese as he looked the young man up and down. "Looks like someone wants to come to your rescue. Not like it'll do you any good; we'll just beat him down too."

"Y'all know that guy?" Manuela whispered to her cousins.

"Nah, I don't," Enzo replied.

"Me either," Sean said. "But I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."

Despite the language barrier, the young man didn't back down, but instead shifted into an Ansatsuken-like fighting stance, and retorted, "(C'mon, then! If you want hands so bad, I got a sale on: buy one, get one free!)"

Marcelo looked at him with scorn, not taking him seriously. "Another Shotoclone?" he said derisively. "You know what, Raf? I'll take this guy out myself; I doubt he's much better than Little Dan, here."

"Just try not to send him to intensive care," Rafael warned half-seriously.

"No promises."

Marcelo got into his fighting stance, and began moving towards the young man, who simultaneously slid off to the side as Marcelo closed in, not letting up on his stance. undeterred, Marcelo followed him, and managed to get within striking distance. He attempted a knifehand chop, but the other fighter slid out of the way once more, and countered with a quick jab to the head, smirking all the while, frustrating Marcelo to no end.

"Dammit, hold still!" the jiujiteiro growled. He had expected this to be quick, but this man was faster than he gave him credit for. He then tried to go for a takedown, but his opponent was much faster, and moved out of the way easily. Increasingly irritated, Marcelo threw a hard slap in his direction. In the blink of an eye, the young man dipped under the strike, and immediately countered with a lighting-fast right hook to the side of Marcelo's head in one fluid motion.

The crowd "ooooh"ed as Marcelo fell down to the ground unconscious, felled by only a single punch. The young man kept up his fighting stance, looking at all of the jiujitsu fighters.

"(Man, I was expecting a challenge, at least!)" he taunted. "(That all you guys got?)"

As if to answer him, another jiujiteiro charged at him, intending to tackle him to the ground. The teenager, of course, saw this coming, and moved out of the way quickly, causing his opponent to stumble, nearly eating concrete in the process. The jiujiteiro quickly recovered, and attempted to attack him again, only to be met with a lightning-fast jab that was quickly followed by another right hook, and a left uppercut to the jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Rafael could only watch in restrained shock as another of his allies fell to the newcomer. "Who the hell is this guy?"

"A vastly superior fighter than all of you, clearly," Manuela replied sardonically.

"I have to agree," Sean said. "Even Dan doesn't have a glass jaw."

Whatever cool temperament Rafael had left instantly evaporated at their remarks, and he lunged at Sean for a takedown. Thinking fast, Sean grabbed onto Rafael's shirt, and pulled both of them down towards the ground. Sean quickly took advantage of the momentum, and used his foot to push Rafael off of him, and into one of his friends, as he rolled over back to his feet.

Chaos broke out immediately after, as the rest of the remaining Gracie students bum-rushed the Matsudas, who quickly returned fire with their respective martial arts. The young fighter also jumped into the fray, throwing quick combos at the remaining students the Matsudas couldn't deal with. They kept trying to grapple him, but he always kept moving just out of their reach, and keeping his distance with straights and jabs, and easily weaving around their attempts at striking. All the while, the locals in the crowd cheered wildly, while the young fighter's friend shook his head in frustration.

It didn't take long for the young fighters to annihilate the remaining Gracie students in the fight. Enzo knocked out one with a spinning heel kick, Manuela took out another with a capoeira roundhouse, and the mystery fighter easily dispatched his opponents with his combinations. The last one that was fighting Sean retreated when it became clear he was on the losing side. As for Rafael, he watched miserably on the sidelines as his friends got their asses handed to them on a gold platter.

"Ugh, it's always the same damn thing with those Gracie clowns!" Manuela groaned as she rubbed her arms. "If they spent more time training than looking for people to piss off, they might actually be able to do something in a fight!"

"For real, though; they need to stop before someone really hurts 'em," Sean replied. He then turned his attention over to their mystery ally, and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for backing us up, by the way, man," he said in English. "You're obviously no rookie when it comes to fighting."

"Naw, I've been boxing and kickboxing for a few years, now," the teen replied, tapping his fists together. "I actually got a big fight lined up tonight at the Giná... Gino...Gee... shit, I forgot what it was called, but I know it's the biggest indoor arena here."

"'Ginásio do Ibirapuera,'" Sean said. "That's interesting, though, cuz we're actually planning on seeing you fight at ringside."

Before the teen could reply, the older man caught up to him, and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Garlend, what the hell were you thinking, man?!" He admonished harshly. "If you got hurt in that brawl, you would've messed up one of the biggest opportunities of your life!"

"I'm sorry, coach, but I couldn't just stand by and watch them all get ganged on!" the boxer protested. "That fight would've been even more lopsided if I didn't do something!"

"Still, me and Sayf already warned you multiple times about doing stuff like this; especially when you got a fight tonight!" The coach retorted. "I'll let it slide this time, cuz the circumstances, but you better hope Sayf doesn't see any footage."

Garlend snorted. "Like that old man be on social media like that."

"Hold up a second, your name's Garlend?" Sean asked, recognition blossoming on his features. "As in Garlend Jones?"

Garlend nodded affirmatively. "The very same!"

"You know this guy, Sean?" Enzo asked.

"I know of him," Sean said, glancing back at his cousin. "He's a friggin' phenom; makes sense he'd be on the event bill. Didn't expect to see you around here, though."

Garlend laughed sheepishly. "Honestly, we kinda got lost looking for a decent spot to eat. We only stumbled onto the fight because the crowd." He gestured to his coach. "This is my coach, Leon, by the way."

"Nice to meet y'all," Leon greeted with a friendly wave.

"Likewise," Sean replied. "And if you're looking for good food, we we originally came here to grab some stuff for a barbecue at my place. You're both welcome to join; it's the least I can offer for backing us up."

"For sure!" Garlend said excitedly. "I heard Brazilian barbecue was bomb!"

"Just remember, you can't have too much before the fight, Garlend," Leon reminded.

"Aww, come on..."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Manuela interjected. "But we should grab what we need from the store and bounce before the cops come around here again."

"True, but what should we do about our resident attention whore, though?" Enzo said, pointing at the still-sulking Rafael.

"Just leave him," Manuela said. "He deserves an ass-kicking, but he's not worth the trouble right now."

"Fair enough," Enzo shrugged.

"While you guys get your stuff, I can get my car, and give you guys a lift," Garlend said. "We're only parked across the street.

"We'd appreciate that," Enzo said, rubbing the sweat off his face. "Anything to avoid those nosy paparazzos on the way back."


"Sheeeit, when you said a car, I wasn't expecting you to be driving a Rolls Royce!"

Garlend chuckled at Enzo's exclamation as everyone packed inside his car. His model was a Dawn with a cobalt blue paint job, and roomy enough to fit everyone and the their supplies comfortably.

"Well, when you invest your cash from prize fights, you can afford to indulge in some of the more expensive things in life you've always wanted," the boxer remarked as he shifted the car into drive, and pulled out of the store's parking lot. "I had to rent this one from a dealership when I came here, but my personal one back home is the exact same model, just with a different paint job."

"Damn, you must make nice money to even be able to rent a Rolls Royce!" Manuela said.

Garlend shrugged. "Honestly, if it wasn't for Leon and Sayf helping me invest, and keeping me in check, I'd have probably blown through a lot of my money already," he admitted. "By the way, where we going?"

"Turn right, it's about ten blocks down, then another right," Sean said.

Garlend nodded, and drove off down the street. "Thanks... By the way, we didn't get your guys' names earlier."

Sean's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right!" Sean exclaimed. "It totally slipped my mind. I'm Sean Matsuda; and these are my cousins Manuela and Enzo da Silva."

"Matsuda? Leon repeated. "The same one who got into that giant scrap with Karin Kanzuki last night?"

Sean and Enzo groaned in annoyance. They should've expected that to come up. "Guilty as charged... and almost literally, too," Sean sighed.

"Hey, don't even trip," Leon said, waving his hand. "I personally think that video is all bull, really."

Both Sean and Enzo looked at each other in surprise.

"Being frank, I can't say I know you well personally," Leon continued. "But I know about your family's rep, and y'all don't be going around picking fights for no good reason. For you to swing at her and her friend the way y'all did, it had to be for a very good reason."

"Well, yeah, they called us monkeys, and said Sean's sister was the locker room bicycle," Enzo said. "We would've let all the other crap ride if they hadn't of said all that."

"And I rest my case," Leon said. "She ain't got a leg to stand on."

"Speaking of fights, the hell happened back there, anyway?" Garlend asked. "There was almost a dozen guys there ready to fade you!"

"Pssh, those kids ain't shit," Enzo said. "They're just a bunch of big mouths from the local Gracie Jujitsu school. They always get into street fights around S?o Paulo, and constantly give my cousin Laura's dojo grief, since they teach their own take on jujitsu, and their granddad was rivals with the Gracie family at one point."

"Their skills ain't worth much, though," Manuela added. "They think they're big shit cuz they win street fights, but anytime they face someone with decent martial arts training, they always get laid out easily, because they're too cocky."

"Yeah, I kinda got that vibe from them, even though I didn't know what they were sayin'," replied Garlend. "By the way, y'all said you had tickets to the fight, right?"

Sean nodded. "Me and Enzo do, yeah. Two of Karin's friends who was with her came and apologized to us earlier, and offered to take us to the event tonight as a peace offering."

"And you trust them?" Leon looked back at Sean with a raised eyebrow. Sean just shrugged.

"Considering that they personally helped us make a rebuttal, and actually treated us with respect, I'm willing to give 'em benefit of the doubt," Sean answered.

It wasn't long before the group arrived at the Matsuda residence. Laura and Fabio were waiting outside on the porch when Garlend's car pulled into the driveway. The siblings were confused, until Sean and their cousins loaded out of the car.

"Yo, what the hell happened at the store?!" Fabio exclaimed as his brother walked up. "Don't tell me those Gracie assholes are back at it!"

"Well, it certainly wasn't a mob of hyperactive fans," Sean responded sarcastically. "Rafael and his goon squad tried to jump us, but we had backup." He gestured to Garlend and Len behind him. "This is Garlend and Leon, by the way. They helped us push all the Gracie students back, so we invited them over for lunch as a thank-you."

"'Sup?" Garlend greeted with a wave.

"Pleasure to meet you," Leon said.

"Likewise," Laura replied. "You two aren't from around here, I take it?"

"Nah, we're from the U.S.," Garlend said, resting his arms behind his head. "Leon's my trainer; we came down here for a boxing match happening at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera... Did I pronounce it right?" He looked at Sean.

Sean nodded. "You got it."

Laura clasped her hands excitedly, and grinned widely. "Oh, so you're a pro fighter! Have you met Dudley, by any chance?"

"I sparred with him a couple times," Garlend replied. "He's a real cool guy. I'm not ranked high enough to fight him officially yet, but I'm working on it."

"I don't mean to be pushy but can we get to the back, and throw some meat on the churrasqueira already?" Enzo moaned. "I'm starvin' after that brawl, and I don't want to miss out on any meat because of Laura's greedy ass."

Laura merely gave her cousin a playful smirk. "Just for that, I'm going to eat double what I normally do, just so you don't get any!"

"AWW, COME ON!"

Eventually, the group made their way into the Matsuda's backyard, where Brenda and Pedro were busy frying the meat over the grill. Kinjiro, who admittedly was not the best cook, sat as far away as possible from the grill, while Luzia got some light snacks ready.

"We're back!" Manuela announced, getting the attention of the adults. "We had a run-in with the Gracie school, but we made it out unscathed."

"So we heard," Kinjiro said. "Laura said those spoiled brats tried to swarm you at the store."

"They did, but we got an unlikely ally at the last second," Sean said, gesturing towards Garlend.

"It was the least I could do, man," the boxer replied, before turning his attention to Sean's family. "I'm Garlend, by the way; and that's my trainer, Leon. We stumbled on the fight by accident, but it would've been wrong for me to just sit there and watch them get ganged on."

"And that's part of why you keep getting into trouble," Leon remarked, playfully slapping Garlend on the shoulder.

"Hey, hey!"

Kinjiro chuckled. "Twice today, someone has helped my grandson and nephew for no other reason besides doing the right thing," he said. "I suppose thanks is in order for your selflessness. I'm Kinjiro; Sean's grandfather, and former sensei."

"An honor to meet you, sir," Garlend replied kindly, taking a seat next to the old master. "And like I said, it was the least I could do. I don't know why none of those other people tried to help."

"Because they all wanted a spectacle," Fabio answered matter-of-factually. "With last night's brawl flowing through the grapevine, they probably wanted to see if what Sean did was a fluke or not."

"First time in a long time anyone in this damn state cared about what I do," Sean remarked sardonically as he sat down the food and buns in his arms on a nearby table. "But it beats being a laughingstock, at least."

"I don't see how you are, considering you managed to put someone through a wall," Garlend pointed out.

"I do," Leon said, settling down next to Garlend. "He took a pretty nasty loss at the U.S. Tournament qualifiers a few years back, and people everywhere still give him grief over it, to the point where he's unofficially barred from most tournaments."

"Don't remind me," Sean moaned.

"I still don't get it, though," Garlend said. "I've lost my fair share of qualifiers too; so why do you get so much scrutiny?"

"Because of Ken Masters, that's why." Sean explained, not even hiding the frustration in his voice. "I'm more or less his unofficial pupil, and actually fought him in the World Warrior finals. So when I showed up to the U.S. Tournament, everyone was expecting big things from 'Ken Masters' disciple.' But the reality of it is that he did nothing to actually train me, and I suffered because of it."

"And now everyone writes you off as a bust over that?" Garlend questioned incredulously. "That's bull! I've seen some absolutely horrendous scrubs in all the circuits I've been in, and you're nowhere near among them. Maybe you're inexperienced, but you're definitely not a slouch."

"Indeed," Kinjiro agreed. "Sean is at a bigger disadvantage without someone to truly teach him his desired fighting style, but he's done more than most people in his position."

"Too bad the rest of the world ain't tryin to hear me," Sean sighed, flopping into a lawn chair. "Especially after the last 14 hours."

Fabio shook his head, and gently placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on, don't start this now, bro. You're gonna get your props from the fighting world sooner than you think. Forget whatever that Karin girl says."

"And you know we'll always have your back, regardless how the rest of the world feels about you," Laura said. "Our family never turns our back on each other, you know that."

"And our family also never leaves each other hungry!" Pedro announced. He and Brenda carried large trays of various steaming meats that were impaled with skewers and knives, as well as veggies and rice. "Lunch is ready!"

"Finally!" Enzo exclaimed. He was certain his stomach was going to start grinding his bones for nourishment if he didn't eat as soon as possible. He quickly made a move for the meat, but suddenly found himself wrapped into a headlock from behind by Laura.

"Ah-ah! What'd I say earlier, Enz?" Laura chided playfully as she held onto him. "I'm getting first dibs here."

"Screw off, Laura!" Enzo complained, futilely trying to break out of his cousin's headlock. "I'm starvin' here!"

The American guests watched the scene unfold in confusion, while Sean simply looked on in bemusement, thankful he wasn't on the receiving end of Laura's headlock this time around. Garlend glanced over at Sean, and asked, "Is this a normal thing between y'all?"

Sean chortled. "Unfortunately, but at least it ain't me getting choked out this time. Come on, let's get some of that grub before Laura actually does eat it all."


This chapter was going to be a lot longer, and feature another set of fights and character building, but some super foul ish happened in the last couple weeks that kinda sapped my creativity, so I decided to slash it in half. Don't worry, though, this isn't going on hiatus or anything like that. Might be a good while before the next chapter drops, though.

Our newcomer to the story, Garlend, is an OC from reviewer "fightingchampion", and I liked his concept enough to add him in. His coach, Leon, is partly based on Coach Anthony, who's coached several world champion boxers and MMA fighters, and definitely knows his stuff when it comes to boxing. If you want to know the many techniques of the Sweet Science, he gives out free lessons and tips on YouTube, and I highly suggest giving them a look, especially if you plan on writing fighting scenes in your story. Knowing how punches, stances, counters, etc. work can go a long way, and they've helped me in writing this fic.

ALSO! I recommend checking out "Street Fighter Adventure" by somedude11. it's still in the early goings like mine, but I think it's gonna shape up to be a great fic.

As usual, I'll see you next chapter; y'all stay cool until then.