Master of Bushin, Student of Bushin - Chapter One
Crimson's eyes stared hard at his foe, searching for some sort of break in his opponent's defenses. He waited as patiently as he possibly could, but Crimson wasn't a fighter who was much for waiting for an opponent's first move. Suddenly with a shout, Crimson thrust his foot forward, trying to crush his opponent's guard. Still nothing, as his opponent simply parried the attack. Crimson then tried his hand at a forward palm thrust. Missed. His opponent easily blocked the lazily thrown attack, and countered with a blow to Crimson's abdomen. Staggering, Crimson fought back the hurt. His opponent took this time to somewhat gloat.
"You know, you could be a bit more smarter in your attack strategy..."
Crimson burned with anger. It had been months now that he had been training with Guy, and Guy still was giving him the business in terms of fighting. Crimson, with another karate yell, rushed Guy. Guy sat there in his normal stance, seemingly more than ready for Crimson's attack. Crimson ran at Guy, and as Guy prepared to counter, Crimson jumped and somersaulted over him gracefully, his chain glistening about his neck in the sunlight. Guy watched as Crimson sailed over his head, and quickly turned around to face him.
"How was that?", Crimson asked, smirking. Guy looked at him disapprovingly.
"Not only did you not capitalize off that move, but I heard you land. You would've been dead if you were fighting Ibuki..."
"But...", Crimson started, "...I'm not fighting her, am I?"
Guy nodded. Then with unnerving quickness, Guy seemingly vanished to the human eye. Crimson hesitated, waiting for Guy to appear. A blow to the back of his head sent Crimson whirling to smack back at the unseen fist. Suddenly a kick from behind him directed at his head. Crimson could practically hear Guy's foot cut the air from behind him. Quickly ducking underneath the blow, Crimson thrust his left elbow out backwards and hit something solid. Suddenly Guy reappeared, staggering backwards. Crimson whirled around, and ran towards Guy. Jumping through the air once more, Crimson thought he had this victory.
"*This one's MINE!*", Crimson though triumphantly. Just as quick as Crimson had hit Guy, he was back on his feet. Crouching slightly, Guy jumped high into the air, twirling with his leg extended.
"KI-YAHH!"
Guy's Bushin-Senpukyaku sent the young Bushin crashing back into the cold ground. Crimson coughed, then spat upon the ground angrily. He didn't hesitate any longer, and quickly got to his feet, only to see Guy rocketing towards him in a super move. Crimson blocked the kicks, and parried the punches without too much damage being done to himself. Thrusting his left fist outward once more at Guy, Crimson had an idea. As Guy took the fist in his hand to block, Crimson's face broke into a grin. Suddenly with chi energy rising from his right hand from his arms to his fingertips, Crimson gathered his energy, and flung his super fireball, the Bushin-Hadouryuken, directly at Guy. The Bushin's master's eyes went wide as the projectile hit him square in the chest, knocking him down. Crimson thought he would be able to capitalize on Guy's fallen form, but Guy quickly got up.
"That was impressive. But it's not strong enough."
Crimson looked at Guy with an incredulous look on his dark-skinned face. "Not strong enough? What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said...", Guy said plaintively. "...The move *looks* dangerous, but it's far from being at it's full potential."
"Whatever...", Crimson said. Getting back into his fighting stance, he added: "You wanna' continue this?"
Guy didn't answer. Instead, with another burst of speed, Guy rushed at Crimson. Crimson ran towards Guy, and prepared for confrontation. Crimson then kicked outwards, directed straight at Guy. He missed. Guy became a blur again as he practically warped THROUGH Crimson. Crimson's eyes went wide as he tried to turn around. Too late. Guy skidded to a stop and decided to end this bout.
"Hissatsu...!", Guy exclaimed. Thrusting out his left arm, Guy's hand found Crimson's right shoulder, grabbed it, and spun his student to face him.. Guy's eyes went white with chi energy as he initiated his attack to his student.
"BUSHIN MUSOU RENGE...!"
Crimson saw everything within his eyesight go black as he saw only flashes of Guy's fists and feet hit him with deadly mastered precision. But without warning, Guy stopped the super attack before he seriously injured his student. Crimson hit the ground on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. At the most, the wind was knocked out of him. Guy waited patiently for his student to catch his breath with a slight smile across his lips. Crimson finally, but shakily, got to his feet.
"HOW in the heck did you do that?", Crimson asked in sheer awe. Guy's expression stayed the same.
"When you truly master Bushin, you'll know how..."
Crimson cringed. He hated when Guy kept secrets from him. "Fine, fine. Don't tell me."
"Don't worry, I won't...", Guy said crossing his arms. "That's it for today, Crimson. You did good, but not as well as you could have."
"I'll do better next time, Guy. Trust me on that.", Crimson said. Bowing to each other respectfully, Crimson shook Guy's hand afterwards. A sudden thought manifested itself in Crimson's mind.
"Hey, Guy...", he started, "...How come you don't make me call you 'Sensai' or 'Master'?"
An unusual question, but Guy had an answer for it nonetheless. "Simple... I don't consider myself a true master of the art of Bushinryuu yet. Many others do, but I know I'm not up to the level Master Zeku had reached before me. He was definitely a true master of the Bushin technique."
"Ah. I get it", Crimson said, nodding for effect. He remembered Guy talking of a warrior of Bushin named Zeku who was one of the greatest masters of the art. When Zeku was nearing old age, he selected Guy to be his successor. Training Guy in the ways of Bushin, Zeku prepared for the day Guy would become the next master. When that day came, Guy fought Zeku for supremacy of the legendary title of 'Bushin Master'. It was a hard-fought battle, but Guy was the victor. Zeku was never heard from again, which made Crimson wonder: To become the master of Bushin, you have to fight your teacher to the death? Maybe he'd ask Guy about it later...
**************
(The Next Day)
****************
Crimson walked through the busy streets of Japan with Guy, observing the sights.
"*Man, I've been here six months, and I'm still amazed.*", Crimson said, looking upwards at the sky. He just remembered that Guy hadn't told him where exactly they were going.
"Um, Guy? Where are we going?"
"To see a friend.", Guy simply said without much emphasis. Crimson nodded, and the two continued on their trek. As they walked, they noticed commotion from not too far ahead of them. People shouting and yelling.
"Something's up!", Crimson said to Guy. Guy nodded, and both walked a little bit faster to the destination of all the ruckus. When they got there, they weren't surprised to see what was going on. Some thugs trying to push up on a store owner. But what the commotion was about is that one was brandishing a gun. The leader of the ruffians was yelling at the store owner.
"What did we TELL you! We wanted the protection money from your store, and NOW! So, hand it over quickly, or Bison won't be happy with me, and I won't be happy with YOU!"
"We don't want or need any 'protection'!", the store owner said to the leader of the group. "We're perfectly fine! And, besides -urk!"
The leader picked up the frightened store owner by his shirt collar, his legs dangling in the air. "Listen, twerp. I won't stand for anymore of this garbage. Now, cut the bull and hand over the cash!"
"NO! I won't!", the store owner said. The leader of the thugs then called for the other ruffian who was carrying the gun. The gun-carrying thug then took the scared store clerk, and then turned him around to the frightened onlookers.
"Let it be known that THIS is what happens when you cross Balrog of Shadaloo!", the gun-toting man said. As he put the pistol to the owner's throat, the gun disappeared from his grasp.
"What the...?" The thugs all looked around, searching for the person who stole the gun away.
"Looking for this?", Guy said, twirling the gun. Crimson got into a fighting stance next to him. Guy recognized the leader of the ruffians as Shadaloo's number one boxer Balrog. Why was Guy not surprised that the least important out of the three grand masters would be taking money in Shadaloo's name from decent innocent civilians? Meanwhile, Balrog saw the red fighting garb of the man with the gun and instantly recognized him.
"You? The Bushin twerp? Boys, get those two!", Balrog said pointing at the Bushin duo. Guy with a shrug, threw the pistol high into the air. The thugs, stupid as they were, looked up at the spinning firearm. Guy used that opportunity to run towards two of the thugs, and knocked them both to the floor with his 'Dashing Crescent' attack. Crimson flipped over one of Balrog's lackeys, and thrust his arm forward, neatly catching the thug in the back with his Hadouryuken projectile. Staggering slightly, the gangster turned around to face Crimson. With a scowl, the thug charged the Bushin student.
"Toro!", Crimson exclaimed, stepping away avoiding the charging ruffian. As the thug went by Crimson, Crimson then did a rising spin kick, causing the man to crash into his own squad. Guy jumped off the wall of the store, and with a "KI-YAH!", thrust his elbow downwards, catching one thug on his skull, knocking him out quickly and effectively.
"This grows boring...", Guy muttered, dusting off his hands. But at that moment, his student called out.
"Watch out, Guy!", Crimson exlaimed, pointing momentarily before continuing to fight. Guy turned around, and saw one thug approaching him with a garbage can raised high over his head. Flipping over and past the thug, Guy thrust his foot down in mid-air, kicking the garbage can onto the thug's head. Crying out in pain, the thug ran crazily, straight toward Crimson. Crimson tensed up, then with a karate yell, promptly used his Hassouken attack to send the thug upwards into the air, and crashing down towards another one of his own men.
"Damn it! Get off me, you goof!", Balrog said angrily, shoving his lackey back into the fray. The ruffian was sent back towards Balrog in a heap as Crimson smacked him with a Hadouryuken. The boxer watched in resignation as his lackey staggered backwards past him and fell out. As Guy and Crimson stood back to back in their ready stances, they realized all of Balrog's thug were downed. Guy looked up momentarily, and the gun came back down into his hand. Tossing it aside, Guy looked at Balrog, and simply said:
"One minute? Shoush (Pathetic)."
All the people who were watching clapped and whistled as Balrog's thugs all got up and ran for it, but to no avail. The police soon arrived on the scene, and caught them all before they could even get far enough to split up. Crimson smiled at that, and Guy turned back to Balrog, who was enraged.
"There won't be any more 'protection money' coming from this man, so you'd better get out of here if you know what's good for you."
Balrog looked at Guy with a smirk. "What's good for ME? I'll show you!"
With a grunt, Balrog's attire busted off of him, revealing his fighting attire of a blue tanktop and boxing shorts of the same color.
"NOW let's see if you're as good with the real deal, punk!", Balrog said. Guy didn't make a move towards Balrog to confront him. Instead of doing just that, Guy turned to Crimson.
"You're going to fight him.", Guy said. Crimson's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"Me? Fight him? That's BALROG, not Dan!", Crimson said, pointing. Guy looked at Crimson as if disgusted.
"You can gain experience by this... Are you willing to fight or are you not?", Guy asked his student. Crimson gulped, then nodded.
"I understand. I'm ready...", Crimson said quietly. Stepping forward, he stared hard at Balrog and got into his fighting stance. "Ikuzora!", Crimson said with a come-here gesture directed at Balrog. All Balrog did was laugh.
"Hey, Bushin. You're sending your little toy soldier here to try and beat me? You're dumber than you look! Then again, maybe not. I guess you're too scared to fight me, and would rather see your little punk friend here take the beating for ya'!"
"Enough talk...", Guy said quietly. "...Will you fight him, or not?"
"Oh yeah...", Balrog said with a chuckle, "...I'll fight him all right. Hey kid, prepared to get pummeled!"
Crimson stayed in his fighting stance, preparing himself mentally for his first tough fight. He knew Guy believed in him, but did he believe that he could win?
Crimson's eyes stared hard at his foe, searching for some sort of break in his opponent's defenses. He waited as patiently as he possibly could, but Crimson wasn't a fighter who was much for waiting for an opponent's first move. Suddenly with a shout, Crimson thrust his foot forward, trying to crush his opponent's guard. Still nothing, as his opponent simply parried the attack. Crimson then tried his hand at a forward palm thrust. Missed. His opponent easily blocked the lazily thrown attack, and countered with a blow to Crimson's abdomen. Staggering, Crimson fought back the hurt. His opponent took this time to somewhat gloat.
"You know, you could be a bit more smarter in your attack strategy..."
Crimson burned with anger. It had been months now that he had been training with Guy, and Guy still was giving him the business in terms of fighting. Crimson, with another karate yell, rushed Guy. Guy sat there in his normal stance, seemingly more than ready for Crimson's attack. Crimson ran at Guy, and as Guy prepared to counter, Crimson jumped and somersaulted over him gracefully, his chain glistening about his neck in the sunlight. Guy watched as Crimson sailed over his head, and quickly turned around to face him.
"How was that?", Crimson asked, smirking. Guy looked at him disapprovingly.
"Not only did you not capitalize off that move, but I heard you land. You would've been dead if you were fighting Ibuki..."
"But...", Crimson started, "...I'm not fighting her, am I?"
Guy nodded. Then with unnerving quickness, Guy seemingly vanished to the human eye. Crimson hesitated, waiting for Guy to appear. A blow to the back of his head sent Crimson whirling to smack back at the unseen fist. Suddenly a kick from behind him directed at his head. Crimson could practically hear Guy's foot cut the air from behind him. Quickly ducking underneath the blow, Crimson thrust his left elbow out backwards and hit something solid. Suddenly Guy reappeared, staggering backwards. Crimson whirled around, and ran towards Guy. Jumping through the air once more, Crimson thought he had this victory.
"*This one's MINE!*", Crimson though triumphantly. Just as quick as Crimson had hit Guy, he was back on his feet. Crouching slightly, Guy jumped high into the air, twirling with his leg extended.
"KI-YAHH!"
Guy's Bushin-Senpukyaku sent the young Bushin crashing back into the cold ground. Crimson coughed, then spat upon the ground angrily. He didn't hesitate any longer, and quickly got to his feet, only to see Guy rocketing towards him in a super move. Crimson blocked the kicks, and parried the punches without too much damage being done to himself. Thrusting his left fist outward once more at Guy, Crimson had an idea. As Guy took the fist in his hand to block, Crimson's face broke into a grin. Suddenly with chi energy rising from his right hand from his arms to his fingertips, Crimson gathered his energy, and flung his super fireball, the Bushin-Hadouryuken, directly at Guy. The Bushin's master's eyes went wide as the projectile hit him square in the chest, knocking him down. Crimson thought he would be able to capitalize on Guy's fallen form, but Guy quickly got up.
"That was impressive. But it's not strong enough."
Crimson looked at Guy with an incredulous look on his dark-skinned face. "Not strong enough? What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said...", Guy said plaintively. "...The move *looks* dangerous, but it's far from being at it's full potential."
"Whatever...", Crimson said. Getting back into his fighting stance, he added: "You wanna' continue this?"
Guy didn't answer. Instead, with another burst of speed, Guy rushed at Crimson. Crimson ran towards Guy, and prepared for confrontation. Crimson then kicked outwards, directed straight at Guy. He missed. Guy became a blur again as he practically warped THROUGH Crimson. Crimson's eyes went wide as he tried to turn around. Too late. Guy skidded to a stop and decided to end this bout.
"Hissatsu...!", Guy exclaimed. Thrusting out his left arm, Guy's hand found Crimson's right shoulder, grabbed it, and spun his student to face him.. Guy's eyes went white with chi energy as he initiated his attack to his student.
"BUSHIN MUSOU RENGE...!"
Crimson saw everything within his eyesight go black as he saw only flashes of Guy's fists and feet hit him with deadly mastered precision. But without warning, Guy stopped the super attack before he seriously injured his student. Crimson hit the ground on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. At the most, the wind was knocked out of him. Guy waited patiently for his student to catch his breath with a slight smile across his lips. Crimson finally, but shakily, got to his feet.
"HOW in the heck did you do that?", Crimson asked in sheer awe. Guy's expression stayed the same.
"When you truly master Bushin, you'll know how..."
Crimson cringed. He hated when Guy kept secrets from him. "Fine, fine. Don't tell me."
"Don't worry, I won't...", Guy said crossing his arms. "That's it for today, Crimson. You did good, but not as well as you could have."
"I'll do better next time, Guy. Trust me on that.", Crimson said. Bowing to each other respectfully, Crimson shook Guy's hand afterwards. A sudden thought manifested itself in Crimson's mind.
"Hey, Guy...", he started, "...How come you don't make me call you 'Sensai' or 'Master'?"
An unusual question, but Guy had an answer for it nonetheless. "Simple... I don't consider myself a true master of the art of Bushinryuu yet. Many others do, but I know I'm not up to the level Master Zeku had reached before me. He was definitely a true master of the Bushin technique."
"Ah. I get it", Crimson said, nodding for effect. He remembered Guy talking of a warrior of Bushin named Zeku who was one of the greatest masters of the art. When Zeku was nearing old age, he selected Guy to be his successor. Training Guy in the ways of Bushin, Zeku prepared for the day Guy would become the next master. When that day came, Guy fought Zeku for supremacy of the legendary title of 'Bushin Master'. It was a hard-fought battle, but Guy was the victor. Zeku was never heard from again, which made Crimson wonder: To become the master of Bushin, you have to fight your teacher to the death? Maybe he'd ask Guy about it later...
**************
(The Next Day)
****************
Crimson walked through the busy streets of Japan with Guy, observing the sights.
"*Man, I've been here six months, and I'm still amazed.*", Crimson said, looking upwards at the sky. He just remembered that Guy hadn't told him where exactly they were going.
"Um, Guy? Where are we going?"
"To see a friend.", Guy simply said without much emphasis. Crimson nodded, and the two continued on their trek. As they walked, they noticed commotion from not too far ahead of them. People shouting and yelling.
"Something's up!", Crimson said to Guy. Guy nodded, and both walked a little bit faster to the destination of all the ruckus. When they got there, they weren't surprised to see what was going on. Some thugs trying to push up on a store owner. But what the commotion was about is that one was brandishing a gun. The leader of the ruffians was yelling at the store owner.
"What did we TELL you! We wanted the protection money from your store, and NOW! So, hand it over quickly, or Bison won't be happy with me, and I won't be happy with YOU!"
"We don't want or need any 'protection'!", the store owner said to the leader of the group. "We're perfectly fine! And, besides -urk!"
The leader picked up the frightened store owner by his shirt collar, his legs dangling in the air. "Listen, twerp. I won't stand for anymore of this garbage. Now, cut the bull and hand over the cash!"
"NO! I won't!", the store owner said. The leader of the thugs then called for the other ruffian who was carrying the gun. The gun-carrying thug then took the scared store clerk, and then turned him around to the frightened onlookers.
"Let it be known that THIS is what happens when you cross Balrog of Shadaloo!", the gun-toting man said. As he put the pistol to the owner's throat, the gun disappeared from his grasp.
"What the...?" The thugs all looked around, searching for the person who stole the gun away.
"Looking for this?", Guy said, twirling the gun. Crimson got into a fighting stance next to him. Guy recognized the leader of the ruffians as Shadaloo's number one boxer Balrog. Why was Guy not surprised that the least important out of the three grand masters would be taking money in Shadaloo's name from decent innocent civilians? Meanwhile, Balrog saw the red fighting garb of the man with the gun and instantly recognized him.
"You? The Bushin twerp? Boys, get those two!", Balrog said pointing at the Bushin duo. Guy with a shrug, threw the pistol high into the air. The thugs, stupid as they were, looked up at the spinning firearm. Guy used that opportunity to run towards two of the thugs, and knocked them both to the floor with his 'Dashing Crescent' attack. Crimson flipped over one of Balrog's lackeys, and thrust his arm forward, neatly catching the thug in the back with his Hadouryuken projectile. Staggering slightly, the gangster turned around to face Crimson. With a scowl, the thug charged the Bushin student.
"Toro!", Crimson exclaimed, stepping away avoiding the charging ruffian. As the thug went by Crimson, Crimson then did a rising spin kick, causing the man to crash into his own squad. Guy jumped off the wall of the store, and with a "KI-YAH!", thrust his elbow downwards, catching one thug on his skull, knocking him out quickly and effectively.
"This grows boring...", Guy muttered, dusting off his hands. But at that moment, his student called out.
"Watch out, Guy!", Crimson exlaimed, pointing momentarily before continuing to fight. Guy turned around, and saw one thug approaching him with a garbage can raised high over his head. Flipping over and past the thug, Guy thrust his foot down in mid-air, kicking the garbage can onto the thug's head. Crying out in pain, the thug ran crazily, straight toward Crimson. Crimson tensed up, then with a karate yell, promptly used his Hassouken attack to send the thug upwards into the air, and crashing down towards another one of his own men.
"Damn it! Get off me, you goof!", Balrog said angrily, shoving his lackey back into the fray. The ruffian was sent back towards Balrog in a heap as Crimson smacked him with a Hadouryuken. The boxer watched in resignation as his lackey staggered backwards past him and fell out. As Guy and Crimson stood back to back in their ready stances, they realized all of Balrog's thug were downed. Guy looked up momentarily, and the gun came back down into his hand. Tossing it aside, Guy looked at Balrog, and simply said:
"One minute? Shoush (Pathetic)."
All the people who were watching clapped and whistled as Balrog's thugs all got up and ran for it, but to no avail. The police soon arrived on the scene, and caught them all before they could even get far enough to split up. Crimson smiled at that, and Guy turned back to Balrog, who was enraged.
"There won't be any more 'protection money' coming from this man, so you'd better get out of here if you know what's good for you."
Balrog looked at Guy with a smirk. "What's good for ME? I'll show you!"
With a grunt, Balrog's attire busted off of him, revealing his fighting attire of a blue tanktop and boxing shorts of the same color.
"NOW let's see if you're as good with the real deal, punk!", Balrog said. Guy didn't make a move towards Balrog to confront him. Instead of doing just that, Guy turned to Crimson.
"You're going to fight him.", Guy said. Crimson's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"Me? Fight him? That's BALROG, not Dan!", Crimson said, pointing. Guy looked at Crimson as if disgusted.
"You can gain experience by this... Are you willing to fight or are you not?", Guy asked his student. Crimson gulped, then nodded.
"I understand. I'm ready...", Crimson said quietly. Stepping forward, he stared hard at Balrog and got into his fighting stance. "Ikuzora!", Crimson said with a come-here gesture directed at Balrog. All Balrog did was laugh.
"Hey, Bushin. You're sending your little toy soldier here to try and beat me? You're dumber than you look! Then again, maybe not. I guess you're too scared to fight me, and would rather see your little punk friend here take the beating for ya'!"
"Enough talk...", Guy said quietly. "...Will you fight him, or not?"
"Oh yeah...", Balrog said with a chuckle, "...I'll fight him all right. Hey kid, prepared to get pummeled!"
Crimson stayed in his fighting stance, preparing himself mentally for his first tough fight. He knew Guy believed in him, but did he believe that he could win?