The wind… Such a poetic concept, so simple, yet so hard to understand. Many could feel it, but few could truly make anything out of the wind. Elena wasn't one of those people. She could the wind blow, flow and whistle. It pulsed with its own rhythm, a catchy rhythm that she alone could dance to, a rhythm that guided her steps, her journey and her dance.
This time, the wind had brought her to a rather strange place, she had to admit. An isolated forest, close to no city or civilization, dark with the twisted, tall trees with opaque leaves, and the dark green grass standing, tall and proud on its simple beauty.
However, there was something wrong about that place. It was a strange presence nearby, a presence that had scared the animals away since a long time ago. No birds chirped, no insect crawled beneath her bare feet. There was no living animal here.
Which was precisely the reason she came here.
The dark-skinned one took a deep breath, feeling both excitement and a tad bit of fear boiling down within her. That presence wasn't unfamiliar. She knew the owner of that presence, and she knew how grim things would be were he to decide that her presence was too much of a nuisance.
Many had warned her against the decision she had made to befriend the man – if he could be called a man anymore – that lived around there.
"You are a good girl, Elena." Ryu had said, with a look of worry and shock on his face. "You believe that everyone is good, deep within, and that is a good thing. However, that man… He is an exception. He is a sadistic murderer, someone who will fight anyone who possesses the talent to challenge him, or those who dare to defy him. He doesn't fights for fun, honor, respect or anything. He only fights to death, only wishing to die at the hands of someone stronger than him."
"Thanks for the tip, Ryu." The Kenyan princess smiled cheerfully. "However, I've felt something on him. Some emotion, beneath all the layers of darkness. Honor. Decency. I must try to make him understand that life can be more than just fighting!"
"Then I wish you the best of the luck." Ryu said, still looking worried. "Just… Be careful, please."
Elena had nodded, understanding what Ryu meant. Very few things scared Ryu. In fact, it could be argued that only one thing scared him, and that thing was no one less than that man. The man who strove to make Ryu's Satsui no Hadou flourish. A man who desired to twist Ryu into an unredeemable evil, only for the sake of an equal match.
And now, Elena sought him.
She had to admit, it was awfully easy to find him. Even without the guidance of the wind, nor his murderous aura, one could easily track his path of destructions, as he ripped the forest a new one whenever he trained.
At first, the wind guided her, showing her the path. She relied on her innate senses, agility and intuition to look for clues, whilst also following the murderous intent that only seemed to grow closer – albeit slowly – the more she went deeper within the woods. But then, she started to find clues of his passage. Boulders reduced to rubble. Whole patches of forest transformed into smoldering craters of fire and rock. Trees knocked in half.
The more she advanced through the forest, the greater the aura became, and the more she saddened, as she saw the destruction caused by the demonic man.
"I pity you, Mother Nature. " Her voice seemed to be both soft and sad. If there was one thing Elena disliked, it was the destruction of life. Whether artificial or natural, all were worthy to live a good life, full of friends! It just wasn't right to see so many things being destroyed.
But then, she came to a halt. She had found her objective.
She didn't saw him, but she knew he was just up ahead. The murderous intent that the man had was obvious by now, and even those without the talent to feel auras could just see that the demonic one was nearby – and wanted to cause destruction and death upon those that interrupted him.
The thundering sound of explosions echoed through the forest, as occasionally flashes of purple energy seemed to appear and disappear at random, from the spaces between the trees and their leaves.
She took a deep breath, before walking towards him.
Towards Akuma.
(…)
Four hours.
He had been training for four hours, straight.
His muscles were worked with sweat, as he charged more of his chi, and tapped within the power of the Satsui no Hadou.
The moment he did, he felt his inner demon trying to clasp him, trying to take over his body and mind, but Akuma brushed him off once again. He couldn't allow himself to lose himself, lose his very code and personality, to the Satsui no Hadou. There were limits to how much one should give themselves to the Satsui no Hadou, and Oni was a definite limit. No restraint, no honor, no remorse. Oni didn't care about from where the blood flowed, as long as it flowed. It disgusted Akuma. Killing people who couldn't defend themselves… Simply despicable!
His right hand torched itself in purple, ethereal flames that seemed to pulse violently. He quickly made a palm strike motion with his right hand, and he shot a wave of pure energy and Satsui no Hadou flame, and struck boulder.
The Hadouken exploded, and on the middle of the boulder, there was a perfect circular-shaped hole, as debris started to fall from the boulder.
"Good enough." Akuma thought, as he raised his hand once again, and it crackled with energy, receptively. "Now, let me try to explode the rock with a single-"
"Hello there!"
Akuma's arm whipped around on a sudden motion, the purple flame on his hand glistened as it was launched, akin to a missile, towards the direction of the sound.
(…)
When the purple sphere of energy came crashing towards her, Elena didn't think twice. With a gracious, yet agile and fast jump, she evaded the Gou Hadouken and landed in between the trees, finally revealing herself to Akuma.
The red-eyed one entered on a fighting stance, as his expression contorted into pure rage. He prepared himself to charge in for the kill.
"Nice move!" Elena complimented him, with a flashy smile.
Akuma stopped on his tracks upon hearing her voice. He looked at the figure, and frowned. Before him, the one who had interrupted his training… There was a girl. And from what he saw, she didn't have enough power to challenge him. She didn't have killing intent, nor any traces of Satsui no Hadou.
It was just a girl.
He growled to himself. He didn't want to waste time – nor his energy – on weaklings. In fact, anyone who couldn't provide a good challenge wasn't someone he even wanted to meet.
Elena took Akuma's sudden stopping as a good signal, and walked towards him, with a wide, toothy smile.
"Good to see that you returned to your senses!"
"Go away." Akuma's response was sudden, as he glared at her.
For a moment, Elena's smile seemed to fade, as if she were hesitating, before it lit up once again, bright as ever. She couldn't back now.
"I must stay here! Isn't training much better with a partner by your side?"
Akuma didn't respond. His vigorous, angry glare was enough response for anyone who kept bothering him.
But not for Elena.
"I know! How about we spar, so we can both practice at the same time? Plus, we might get to know more about each other!"
Akuma's patience was quickly slipping, and he was running out of options. He should do something before he ended up killing her or running away out of there due to sheer annoyance.
Perhaps, beating her senseless would make her realize how big of a mistake was crossing Akuma's path?
"If you wish so." Akuma said, and entered his fighting stance. Elena did so as well, excitingly so. Her eyes glinted with the prospect of facing Akuma.
The Supreme Master of the Fist would teach her to fear him.
He was the first to charge, and his speed caught up Elena by surprise. He was about ten feet away from her before she reacted, twirling and delivering a gracious, wide kick towards Akuma's head.
He raised his arms to block it, and the impact of her kick sent slight waves of pain through his muscled limbs, but that was it. He kept rushing, having blocked the impact of the kick, and quickly retreated his left arm.
Whereas Ryu or Ken would proudly declare the name of their attacks, Akuma merely grunted. The Gou Shoryuuken wasn't an attack for showing. It was for killing.
And the raising dragon punch hit Elena straight on the chin.
The girl was pummeled two, three meters into the air, momentarily dazed out of reality due to the sheer amount of pain and shock, alongside Akuma, who was still in the air, on the same pose of when he was on the ground.
However, she quickly regained her composure on the middle of the air and spun, landing on her feet, as Akuma descended and landed smoothly.
"Wow! Your rhythm is very aggressive! I barely can keep up with it!" She said, in admiration. Akuma frowned once more. Did she actually like fighting him?
He leaped towards her, and launched a flying kick. She swiftly ducked whilst raising her left leg, hitting Akuma on the ribs as he passed over her.
Although the pain flared on his ribs, the demonic fighter didn't show any expression besides his usual, grumpy face.
He rushed once again, and this time, they made a short exchange of blows, but despite Elena's agility, Akuma's experience and might prevailed: He punched her on the gut, and when she leaned, due to the pain, he elbowed the side of her head, before leaping on the air.
"Tatsumaki…" Akuma let out, on a deep and demonic, yet low, voice "Senpuukyaku!"
He spun on the air like a rotating blade, his extended leg hitting Elena one, two, three, four times in a row, and counting. He pushed her as he kicked nonstop, as she tried to desperately block.
After the sequence of kicks, Akuma finally stopped stopping, already charging purple energy on his hands. Unfortunately for him, Elena had recovered sooner than expected.
She jumped, and jerked her body to the side, kneeing Akuma on the face.
He growled in pain and – especially – surprise, with the purple energy dissipating, but Elena wasn't done yet.
She had landed with her back towards Akuma, and quickly twirled with a spinning roundhouse kick, scoring another hit on Akuma, and knocking him away from her, giving Elena some time to breathe.
He looked at her, his eyes flaring with anger and… Something else. Something most people would call enjoyment, although Akuma was far too simple, yet too complex to be defined by mere enjoyment. Perhaps sadistic passion would be a more suitable expression.
A passion for fighting. A passion for finding opponents.
A passion for hurting others.
He roared, when he charged again.
(…)
Akuma was sitting on the grass, silent and gloomy as ever. His nose was bloodied, and he had several bruises on his body. While nowhere as bad as he would prefer to be, as in a fight against a truly good enemy, he had to admit that it was better than what he expected.
Behind him, Electra washed the sweat off of her face in a small puddle of water, silent as well, although her heart beat furiously with adrenaline and enjoyment, and her body ached on every minimal centimeter.
Even though, as expected, the ultimate winner was Akuma, she managed to hit him not only once, but several times. She had done well, in all senses!
She wiped the sweat of her face with one of the towels she had brought on a duffel bag especially prepared for this trip, and after looking at Akuma, she grabbed another one and wetted it.
Elena waltzed to Akuma, and offered him the towel.
Turning his head to glance at Elena, from his back, he stared at her. For five seconds that seemed like eternity, his glare burnt through her soul and mind, and made Elena think that, perhaps, it wasn't a wise idea.
However, unexpectedly, he grabbed the towel and wiped his face with it, before throwing it backwards, and Elena caught the towel in mid-air.
She smiled, and on the inside, she was laughing.
It wasn't much, but it was progress.
The depths of her soul gleamed with a new flame of hope.