By Canice Gustave
The emerald coloured leaves swayed to the strength of the
morning breeze. Streams of sunlight shone through the gaps onto
the dirt trodden path. The birds had just started their daily
chirps, its significance being an illustrious one. The pure,
aromatic smell of fruits lingered through the air of this
inhabited forest, providing many homes to gentle, joyous wildlife
as they went through their daily routines.
Atop a plateau overlooking this natural paradise sat a young
warrior, deep in meditation. His light red coloured gi ruffled as
the wind flowed through it but he still kept his focus. He
remained in this position for what seemed like hours, the only
sound being the warm, carefree cries of the wildlife below. His
mind leapt through the never ending halls of memory and training,
pooling on what he knew, felt, thought, and what he had learned.
Dan remembered the life he had with his parents. He remembered
that fateful day when his mother died of an unexplainable disease
when he was about six. He remembered the pain he endured and yet
also how he and his father had bonded closer as a result.
He remembered how his father had began to train him the basic
moves of Shotokan, how his father had entered the first official
Street Fighter tournament and rose as far as the quarter finals.
He remembered how the day his father lost was soon to be his last.
His opponent was a seven foot monster, the Muay Thai champion
known only as Sagat. His body was surfaced with muscles, and he
had a look of pure abhorrence as well as arrogance upon his face.
His father had fought well, but Sagat’s strength and power
had made him the dominant fighter. At some point during the match
Sagat’s weak spot was discovered, thus Go Hibiki was
starting to make a comeback. Leaping high into the air, he came
down with a kick aimed directly for Sagat’s eye. The force
of the move was so strong, that Go took out his eye in the
process. However, he had made Sagat angry and in consequence
became the victim of his rage. Go had no time to retaliate as
Sagat seized his head with his colossal hand and pulled him in
towards the force of his knee forcing themselves into his abdomen.
Go was starting to lose consciousness and could no longer feel
the crushing pain inflicted on his limp body. Sagat attacked
without mercy, without remorse, without sorrow until his leg grew
tired of this repeated exercise. Holding Go by his long brown
hair, Sagat threw him upward and launched the most vicious rising
knee that Dan would remember for as long as he lived. Go’s
body soared vertically into the sky and spun lifelessly where it
landed face first into the gravel. The damage had already been
done before the final blow Sagat executed.
His mind showed him more memories. How Gouken, his father’s
former master had took him under his wing and looked after him,
continuing what Go started. Dan had become a friend and training
partner to Ryu and Ken, but he mainly secluded himself from them,
trying to suppress any pain he felt. Despite Gouken’s
influential training of Shotokan, Dan’s rage for Sagat
ceased him from reaching his chi. Abruptly deciding that Shotokan
wasn’t for him, he left the dojo, to create a new style, a
new fighting technique to which he called "Saikyo Ryu,"
yet at the same time retaining certain forms of Shotokan to use.
Dan slowly opened his brown eyes, his meditation complete. He
could reach to his chi once again, his anger would be sustained
for the period. He stood up and walked over to a nearby tree, the
marks obviously stating that Dan used it as a training post.
Standing in front of it, he shut his eyes, reaching, grasping for
the chi he needed. He found it. Channelling it from the soles of
his ground trodden feet, he gradually sent it up through his legs,
into the upper half of his body. It now flowed down his arms onto
the ends of his fingers. It screamed at Dan to release its power,
its energy and without hesitation, he did.
At a speed almost blurry to human vision, Dan hurled in total a
blend of a dozen punches and kicks onto the tree in utterly no
rhythm or grace. Dan rose up into the sky to finish his
desperation technique with a dragon punch, his whole body
becoming engulfed in a bright flash of white. Dan landed and
looked at the wreckage. What remained of his training post lay
broken, splintered on the grass. Extending his right arm, he
quickly flexed it into a right angle and shook it violently. As
Dan cried out his father’s namesake, there was one thing
that he couldn’t deny to himself.
He was ready.
"TIGER!!" the surge of orange chi flew and met with
precision on its target. There was an explosion of chi, leaving a
pile of sand and fragments of brown leather on the dojo floor.
Standing was an unimpressed Sagat as he surveyed the damage. The
effect of Ryu’s dragon punch had been destructive. It had
penetrated across his chest, leaving behind an extensive scar
which would forever remind him of his defeat. It was miraculous
that he remained alive. The more he stared at it, the larger his
lust for revenge grew towards Ryu. Before he could do that,
however he needed a move to counter Ryu’s Shoryuken.
"What will pose a threat to Ryu?" he questioned himself.
He trailed his fingers along the source of revenge hoping to find
some inspiration. A grin slowly crept to Sagat’s face.
Curling his hand into a fist, he knelt down to the floor and
leapt upward, with his fist extended. He landed on his feet, yet
he still felt dissatisfied.
Sagat knelt to the floor once more but didn’t leap up
immediately as before but instead channelled his anger, rage and
humiliation into his already summoned chi.
"TIGER BLOW!!" he yelled as he vaulted his huge
physique upward. His internal chi exploded, sending a burst of 7
sparks to journey along the side of his body. He spun in mid-air
and landed gracefully. He looked at his hand to see only sand
pouring from the dummy he’d just obliterated.
"It’ll do… for now" he thought. Suddenly
breaking into an almost evil laughter, Sagat brushed off the
sediment that remained on his fingers believing to have found the
technique possible to end Ryu’s life and exact his revenge.
That technique was just the beginning of what Sagat had yet to
discover…
A glacial chill paraded through the dark, ebony night. Streams
of moonlight provided the only light for two shadowy figures as
they dashed through the thick, green Thailand jungle. The only
sound produced could be the dry vegetation crunching under two
pairs of footwear as they continued their course through their
jungle prison. Though they were friends, not one word was spoken
between them, their ambition to somehow get out of this place
alive.
A gunshot was heard, breaking the silence yet causing the second
figure to fall. The first person immediately stopped and rushed
over to his friend, who assured him that he was fine and so they
continued.
Their running came a abrupt stop when they noticed the dirt
trodden path gave birth to two new ones, each leading to their
own destinies.
"Shit!!" the second figure spoke. "How fucking
lost are we gonna be?!"
"We’ll have to split up before Bison’s men catch
us" the first, and obviously calmer of the two replied.
"There they are! Waste ‘em!" a voice screamed as a
herd of footsteps drew towards them. A flash of lightning chose
to illuminate itself at that very point, highlighting four
Shadaloo soldiers. Their blue-grey coloured uniforms would have
almost camouflaged within this ebony if not for the intermittent
moonlight. At the command their leader just cast, they withdrew
their machine-guns and without any second thought in their
victimised souls, they fired.
"Get outta here Nash!" the second figure yelled as they
dove to avoid the spray of bullets. "I’ll distract
these assholes."
"But Guile, you’re in no position t-"
"Don’t worry ‘bout me, I can handle ‘em"
Guile interrupted giving a reassuring grin surprising his friend
who rarely saw him smile.
Always one never to argue with his best friend, Nash obeyed and
he sped down the right path. Guile watched him run out of sight
before he turned to his enemies, a sneer on his face.
As Nash pursued his escape, the last thing he heard was the yell
of his friend before the gunfire ceased.
That was the last time he ever heard from him again.
The commander known as Charlie Nash clutched the dog-tags which
he normally wore around his neck as he revisited his memories. He
had escaped, but how he had still remained a mystery to him. All
he remembered was the last cry from Guile before his body had
given up to the intensity of the arctic blast. He had thought he
had been next to follow his friend’s footsteps as he faded
into blackness, but when his eyes opened, he found himself lying
on a bed. When he asked how he got here, a villager explained how
he was found half-dead and taken here. Some villagers had gone
further and discovered a pool of dry blood in the area where
Charlie remembered where he and Guile was. He had escaped Bison’s
capture but Guile had lost his life. It was here he’d heard
of the Street Fighter Alpha Tournament and of Bison’s
existence within it. It was here he decided he would avenge Guile
and end the terror Bison’s organisation was causing. That
was, if he could get past his first opponent…
Inside a developing crowd stood Chun Li. It was just two days ago
since two warriors fought on this pebbled street with the martial
artist Ken emerging victorious over Guy. Now, she had to prove
her skill and training in order to obtain what she wanted.
"Bison…" she hissed as if the name was a
curse. Millions of innocent lives had suffered by his evil
ambition for world domination using his organisation known only
as "Shadaloo." The key behind his dominance was due to
an ominous power he wielded called "Psycho Power" to
which made him practically invincible. Few had tried to stop him,
but suffered the consequences.
One of them, was her father…
A sudden sense of chi caused Chun Li to return to reality and
look around for its source. Towards her right hovered a woman,
two orbs of energy present as she continued what Chun Li assumed
was meditation. Her long purple hair began to flow out in all
directions due to the wind that had just slowly picked up. The
bottom of her pink-purple hued dress started to ruffle to the
seasonal breeze, exposing long, slender legs. The last thing Chun
Li noticed was an extensive, yellow shawl swathed around her neck,
cascading itself around her shoulders. Her opponent descended to
her feet, and the spheres of chi dissipated whilst mystic eyes
turned to where Chun Li stood.
"I am Rose" she spoke. "Fate has linked our paths
together Chun Li, and it is her who shall decide the victor."
"Umm… hi" Chun Li replied, unaware of what to do
with the situation.
"I see you are eager to start the fight" Rose said.
"then prepare yourself! I won’t go easy on you."
Chun Li gave a slight smile before she went into her fighting
stance. The crowd, who had already been bewildered by Rose’s
debut entrance, now began shouting anticipating for the fight to
begin.
Charlie wasted no time as he leapt to strike with a kick targeted
for his opponent’s face, or at least the samurai mask that
concealed it. As he approached the fighter, Charlie drew his leg
back to build up the force of his attack. So focused on his
attack, he failed to notice the smirk that surfaced on his
adversary’s face…
Where Charlie’s kick should have hit home only met a pair of
hands, that had reached out and intercepted the blow. As fast as
it connected, Charlie felt the rush of air as his body soared
across and onto the solid ground. Cursing himself for his mistake,
Charlie leapt to his feet but went on the defensive, in an
attempt to force his combatant to attack. His opponent suddenly
hunched himself forward, with his hands outstretched, as if to
summon some form of chi towards them. Charlie braced himself,
waiting for the moment to advance. Suddenly, two fork-like
objects shot up from underneath the sleeves of his foe. Within a
second he propelled the things between his fingers, eventually
drawing his performance to a halt. Charlie remained his composure,
as his competitor rose from his arched position and held what
Charlie realised were weapons, and went in what could only be a
fighting stance.
"Foolish American!" he finally spoke. "Did you
really think your skills could beat I, Sodom, master of the
katana, jitte…" to add emphasis, he brought the weapons
into Charlie’s field of view, allowing him to see the glint
of light along it’s fork-like edge. "…and the
Kabuki arts of Jap-" his words were interrupted by a fist to
his face. Sodom staggered back under the blow and felt his legs
kick out under him as he became the victim of a leg sweep.
"Hmph! Some ‘master’ you claim to be."
Charlie mocked "Such weak blows were able to send you flying
on the concrete." He blew a long strand of hair that fell
across the middle of his face, but fell back anyway due to his
unnatural looking hairstyle.
"You won’t be so cocky when I defeat you and move on to
carry out my vengeance!" Sodom retorted.
"Vengeance… is he after Bison too…?" those
words ran through Charlie’s mind. Could this samurai, like
him both want Bison’s death? Though their reasons were
probably different, they had the same goal. The only difference
was that he had to go on to Bison, no matter what the result. Not
only was it his mission, but it was he desired in revenge.
Charlie knew his soul would not rest unless he exacted what
happened to Guile on Bison.
"Are you after Bison?" Charlie questioned. "If so,
then I’m afraid I’ll have to stop you at all costs!"
His expression almost became a sneer as he realised his opponent
was grinning at his remark.
"I do not desire this ‘Bison’ you speak of"
Sodom answered relieving Charlie’s thoughts though he didn’t
show it. "The person I long to defeat is the Bushin warrior
Guy" he hissed at the mention of the young fighter. "Now
let’s finish this, American!" And this time he rushed
forward…
"She’s fast…" Chun Li muttered as Rose easily
parried a multiple of kicks she’d thrown. Chun Li tried a
roundhouse, but Rose ducked and placed two rapid jabs to her
exposed stomach, causing her to stagger. Rose rushed forward,
hoping to assault the vulnerable Chun Li, yet failed to realise
her opponent’s quick recovery rate.
Li’s senses alerted her of danger, and she acted in reflex
with a burst of abnormally fast kicks. Hazed images of multiple
kicks stabbed at Rose’s body. Though Rose did her best to
protect herself, her attempts were in vain and so her body took
the abuse. Chun Li ended her Hyaku Retsukyaku technique with a
spinning side kick and watched her mystical opponent fall to the
pavement.
Upon impact with the ground, Rose rolled to safety, keeping her
distance from Li and to catch her breath. Chun Li blinked once,
and within that time span she saw a blurred image of Rose coming
towards her and it was then Chun Li realised that she had
multiplied herself.
Four images of Rose sped towards Chun Li, each one discharging an
identical chi source, granting difficulty for the Wushu Mistress
to locate her true combatant. Taking an almost estimated guess to
Rose’s correct position, Chun Li took a step backward, her
hands cupped together and her head lolling back. Her eyes focused
forward, Chun Li in a quick, whipping arc launched her hands
forward open palmed. A cry of "Kikoken" escaped her
lips as a cerulean bubble of energy expelled from her palms and
raced with immense speed to the image Li chose.
The fireball immediately connected with Rose’s chest and
dissipated upon contact. For a split-second it seemed like she’d
found the true Rose, but the image continued its rush along with
its lineage and Chun Li was sure she’d noticed a smirk on
what could be the real Rose before she struck.
As the real Rose attacked, Chun Li expected the illusions to
vanish but to her dismay, they remained and threw attacks of
their own. Li’s body became infested with pain, as Rose and
her duplicates launched a chain of devastating blows from all
sides, each more effective than the previous. They now changed to
punches, first throwing a chi swarmed jab then landing an
uppercut connecting twice simultaneously under the chin and the
back of the head forcing her upwards. The illusions finally
vanished and Chun Li could no longer feel four akin chi sources
anymore but was too weakened to retaliate to the assault. Rose’s
hands grasped themselves around her opponent’s torso and
with help from her spiritual power, her encircling assault was
ultimately completed with a throw that hurled Li back down to the
harsh, pebbled asphalt.
Charlie crouched low under Sodom’s intended attack and threw
a vicious uppercut under his chin, snapping his head back and
forcing his body to take to the air. He gritted his teeth, as a
shot of pain surged along his forearm due to Sodom’s attempt
to threaten his face with one of his jittes earlier and waited
for his next attack as Charlie noted, never took long as far as
Sodom was concerned.
As he expected, Sodom rushed forward again but as he neared him,
he leapt upwards. Charlie did the same and it wasn’t long
before they were beginning to approach one another. It was then
that Sodom carved through the air with a downward slice of his
jittes, the forked edges about to cause a scar to be embedded
across his exposed chest.
Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise at Sodom’s sudden
attack and raised his arms, in an almost involuntary action to
shield his fragile chest area. Sodom’s jittes pierced and
slashed along the length of his forearm, yet at the same time not
penetrating too deep below. Charlie fell back down below but he
managed to gain equilibrium and land on his feet. Upon his soles
touching the pavement, his adrenaline took over and he leapt
again toward the descending Sodom.
Positive that the slice had placed his opponent out of commission
for the moment, Sodom was oblivious to the arrival of Charlie’s
hands in a grab from behind. Launching himself further to the sky,
Charlie used his momentum along with an assist from gravity to
submerge, and placed the samurai’s body across his left knee
as one leg assured his safe landing.
The sound of the snap of his opponent’s spine simultaneous
to his scream was all too familiar to Charlie as he threw Sodom
off his knee and to the ground. He stood up, ignoring the pain
along his arms and blinked in disbelief as Sodom slowly rolled
and hoisted his body off the concrete ground, and staggered into
his stance.
"Y…You impress me American…" an arrogant
smirk crossed Sodom’s lips. "But I am far from being
beaten!" He quickly advanced on Charlie, in what appeared to
be an all or nothing attack.
Charlie instinctively threw himself on the defensive, but
realised that he wouldn’t be able to defend himself due to
his weakened arms. He only had one chance, but it was almost
suicidal yet he had to honour Guile’s death with the death
of Bison at his hands. Summoning the much needed chi to his being,
Charlie lunged forward to his charging opponent, releasing the
energy he’d just manifested in a final gambit.
"CROSSFIRE BLITZ!!!"
Sodom looked in horror as he rushed into the path of Charlie’s
onslaught. In almost blinding motion, Charlie threw forth a shin
kick followed instantly by a high side kick. Sodom reeled back
under the blows and Charlie introduced a leaping roundhouse
linked into another high side kick. The First Lt. Commander
placed all his chi, power and adrenaline into a side backfist and
ended the invasion of strikes with a devastating uppercut. An
uppercut so powerful that Charlie’s whole arm was engulfed
in an aura of chi, leaving behind a trail of the path his arm
travelled, connecting with thunderous force and hammering the
already unconscious Sodom into the air.
As his limp body collapsed onto the ground, Charlie gave a smile
but immediately gave a cry as he almost followed Sodom’s
dark world as the pain he’d shut out returned. Charlie,
victorious held up the dog tags with a blood drenched fist, that
would forever remind him of his friend’s loss, knowing that
he’d made one step closer to Bison. The shiny, metal tags
reflected glints of the high-noon sun and it shimmered along its
flat base.
Flecks of light which Charlie saw as hope.