Chapter 1: Fight in the Dojo
The sun shone brightly though the window of the high school building where students were busy taking their final tests before the summer break. One student in Particular was anxious to pass her test so she can start her Journey. Her name was Asuka Kazama. Asuka was struggling with the last question that involves an English polysemy, or a word that has multiple uses when it is spelled and sounds the same. The word was mole, but she quickly figured out it was referring to the animal. She quickly rose for her desk and gave the teacher her exam.
"Perfect as usual, Kazama-san." The teacher said. "You know, you should go to America and be a teacher there."
"Thank you sensei." She bowed. "But I have to take care of the homestead until after college. My father wants me to go to Tokyo University."
"Fair enough, parents know best. Now enjoy your summer, Asuka." The professor smiled.
"I will. I will."
Once out of the building, Asuka stretched her aching body from that sitting position. English class was her favorite class. Xiayou, standing at the gate saw her and waved.
"Asuka-chan!" Xiayou said as she ran towards her. Asuka gave her a cool wave of her hand.
"What kept you so long? I was bored." She stated.
"English exam." Asuka dragged out. "But I made perfect marks on it as usual."
"Lucky." Xiayou pouted. "I can never get the marks I need in that subject."
"Oh well, just study a bit more at it." Asuka said.
"All right, now hand it over." A voice both girls heard and ran towards.
Xiayou and Asuka approached a scene in an alleyway where some kids were bullying a smaller kid. The skinnier teen was being pushed and kicked around by the four bullies. The one with the leather jacket noticed their visitors watching them and gave a horny grin.
"Oh look guys!" He shouted at his goons. "We got ourselves a couple of idols. Care to have some fun with them." The other three laughed and made fondling gestures with their hands. Asuka looked disgusted and exasperated at their actions. Xiayou was smiling at them.
"So what's your name?" the Leader asked them.
"I'm Asuka Kazama and this is Ling Xiayou." Asuka introduced themselves pointing her thumbs at herself and Xiayou.
"B-b-bo-Boss! She's the champion of the Iron fist Tourney they just had last week." One goon cried.
"Champion? More like Chumpion." The leader sneered. "I don't care who this chick is, but she's going to taste my…" He lost control of his breath to a palm strike Asuka did to him. Asuka stared at him with disbelief and embarrassment. She has fought bears, robots, and ancient Egyptian monsters tougher than this street rat.
"Xiayou, take care of the woman." Asuka said as she cracked her knuckles. "I can handle these chumps."
"Who the hell you calling chump?" the leader yelled as he charged at her. His two goons that were not scared joined in. Asuka took a deep breath and did a sweep kick to the first goon, who fell on his back. The second goon tried to punch her, but Asuka parried his attack and performed her White Heroin technique. She gave him two blows to his body, a low punch to his solar plexus, and a two kicks that lifted him about eleven feet in the air before he was out cold. The Leader pulls out a switch blade and dashes towards Asuka.
"Watch out!" Xiayou cries out.
Asuka sees the blade, but it was too late to parry it. Then a small blue fireball came into light of a dark section with a voice that yelled:
"DUCK!"
Asuka gracefully ducked as if instinct for the fireball to make impact with the thug's chest. The blue flame gave the man a small first degree burn between his pecs. His shirt was burning at the point of impact. His body fell with a loud thump on the soft dirt. To their surprise, the young woman they were saving, shot the fireball from her hands. Asuka stares in disbelief at what she has just witnessed.
"Grab the Boss and let's skedaddle!" One bruised goon said as he dragged his leader by the shoulders and ran away.
"And stay gone!" Asuka yelled back at them. "More importantly, how come you didn't do that when they cornered you?" She asked the girl. She was wearing a sky blue shirt and khaki Bruma shorts. Her pixie hair matched her hazel eyes.
"Because I didn't want to destroy them badly enough." The girl smirked. "Besides, I'm not allowed to perform the Hadouken on normal humans."
"Oh you mean like the World Warriors?" Exclaimed Xiao. "Jin and I have read about them, similar to us, the Iron Fist fighters; we have similar engagements, though our styles are more realistic."
"You mean to tell me that you're Asuka Kazama and Ling Xiayou?" The girl cried out. "It's an honor to meet both of you." She bowed before the two girls. "I'm Sakura Kursanago."
"So you've heard about us?" asked Asuka.
"I've always wanted to fight you…for fun of course." Sakura said. "Sadly, these guys caught me off guard when I was ordering some food." Sakura gave a warm hearted laugh.
"Well I am the champion of this year's tournament." Asuka said proudly.
"Well I have survived Akuma's Raging Demon at least thirty-five times, which is a feat that is legendary in itself." Puffed Sakura. Asuka stares blankly at Sakura.
"Akuma? Never heard of him." Asuka says. "Doesn't seem too tough to me."
"Well it's almost time for training; you're more than welcome to come Sakura." Xiao said to lighten the tension between the two girls.
"Yea, I'll take you up on that offer." Sakura says.
On their way to Asuka's dojo, Sakura explains to them who are the World Warriors. She lists them off with their unique fighting skills.
"Vega's claw is legal?" screams Xiayou. "Doesn't that count as cheating?"
"Yea and No. Weapon usage is legal is in our system. But Vega is a douche bag. Besides y'all have that ghostly samurai specter." Sakura says.
"I don't want to fight this guy one on one." Xiayou says with childish flailing.
"Ahh, Asuka, there you are. We have a special guest today." Mr. Kazama greeted the girls. "And who is this?"
"Sakura Kursanago, sir." Sakura bowed and delivered a beaming smile. "Pleased to meet you."
"Well now, you're meeting two of the finest world warriors today my daughter." Mr. Kazama said. "Ryu and Ken Masters step forward.
There in front of them. Asuka observes them individually. Ken, the blond haired guy was built like a rock. Typical American hair cut and his dashing smile. But something about Ryu's appearance bothered Asuka. Much like Ken, he was a tower of muscle, but his stoic nature scared Asuka. Sakura blushed a bit at the sight of Ryu. She senses an evil lurking beneath his smile. Much like the feeling when Jin goes into Devil mode.
"Pleased to meet you both." She nervously bowed. "I guess we can begin a training session."
"Hey Ryu, you think she can beat Sakura?" Ken whispered. "Sakura has mastered a lot of moves since the last time we fought with her against Seth."
"Sakura still needs to control her Hadou more." Ryu spoke calmly. "I believe these Iron Fist fighters are as equally strong as the World Warriors."
"You think so?" Ken chuckled. "The last dojo, I scorched a guy with my flaming uppercut. What makes this school girl so special?"
"Just watch their fight. Sakura, catch and change." Ryu said has he tossed Sakura her duffle bag. She nodded with a serious smile and when into a back room to go change.
A few minutes later Asuka came out in her traditional gi and hakama with the floral leafy print on the torso part. Xiayou noticed that Sakura had changed into a different school outfit.
"Where are your fighting clothes?" Xiayou asked.
"I'm wearing them." Sakura winked. She wore a white sailor shirt with an orange compression shirt underneath. Her tops accented with a blue frilly skirt, red compression shorts and red canvas shoes. She grabbed a white headband and tied it to her forehead. She looked like a traditional high school student, though she's older than she appears.
"Both of them have similar tastes with headbands." Ken noticed with Asuka doing the same thing.
"The the fight will last for three rounds, each lasting sixty seconds. Ready?" Mr. Kazama said gravely standing between the two girls. The girls nodded and focused on each other. The air was thick and cool. Asuka forms her fighting stance waiting for her father's signal.
"Round one, FIGHT!"
As soon as Mr. Kazama said that, both girls rushed head on. Asuka knees Sakura in the stomach hard. Sakura winces at the blow and performs a hadouken. The fireball comes in too fast for Asuka to dodge it. The fire ball hits her in the chest as she falls to the ground. But to everyone's surprise she springs back up.
"Damn. That thing takes the wind out of you for a second." Asuka thought as Sakura is standing stunned by her recovery. Asuka moves to the sides a delivers a sweep kick to her ankles, but Sakura notices her movement. Sakura does an one-hundred-eighty degrees bunny hop to miss the sweep kick and counters with a charging uppercut. She screams a battle cry as four to five hits connect Asuka's face. Asuka flies off the ground and moves with Sakura as they are airborne. Once the final hit is taken, Asuka crashes back to the earth while Sakura drops down as if she was floating.
"Asuka!" Xiao screams. "Please get up? I feel bad losing to you in the finals.
"I'm up. Just not used to these new movements. They are damn near superhuman." Asuka smiled though her face was lightly bruised. "Now it's my turn."
Asuka quickly rushes in, but does a backflip kick to knock Sakura in the air; therefore, Asuka does a falling windmill kick that connects twice to Sakura's body. Sakura gets up and fires another fireball towards Asuka, but Asuka ducks the blue fireball. She feels the warm energy sliding by her face and lands an elbow straight to Sakura's face with force to send her head first to the ground.
"Round over." Mr. Kazama says as his daughter removes her guarded stance.
Asuka pants as she assesses the damages to her. Her face is a little bruised, but she'll live. Sakura pops right back up and smacks herself in the face.
"I guess I lost that round, but I got another trick up my sleeve." Sakura gleams as Ryu nods.
"We'll see about that." Asuka says as she warm up her legs with a stretch.
"Fighters ready? Round 2!" Mr. Kazama says.
The sun sets in the open large window of the dojo as the two girls charge at each other in battle. Asuka noticed Sakura's breathing changed and a slight slow feeling she can't shake off. Next thing she notices is Sakura spinning on one toe in the crouched position connecting fast sweep kicks at her ankles. On the fifth kick, Sakura rises at kicks Asuka hard in the cheek that launches her like a rocket. Asuka floats high in the air stunned, but Sakura comes in and reverse volleyball clenches her in her skull sending her crashing into the wooden floor. Chunks of the wood fly up on the impact. Asuka lies facedown motionless. Sakura finishes with a double footed stomp on the back of her neck as she lands. The attack generates a small, but powerful surge of air emitting from their fighting area.
"Asuka!" Xiao cries as Ryu holds her back from the arena.
"She's okay, I promise." Ryu reassures her. "Watch."
Asuka staggers up right and has blood dripping from her forehead. Her eyes are blank and cold. She runs towards Sakura, who decides to throw a left hook. Asuka welcomes the fist and palms it. She twists her left arm and pins her to the ground with her knee. A large cracking noise came from their area. Asuka releases her arm as she gets up. The look on her anguished face is cold and serious. Sakura yelps as Asuka stares at her opponent.
"That's different from our chokes and grabs." She whines as she snaps the arm back into place. Tears come from her face.
"I actually broke bone." Asuka said, breathing heavily.
"Round over!" Mr. Kazama said. "Do we need to end this fight?" His expression changed to soft as he stared at his badly bruised daughter. Her gi was tinted with her blood and torn in a few places. Sakura's appearance wasn't that much different.
"No, father, I got some energy left for one more round." Asuka smiled as she sat and mediated.
"Asuka is a lot like her, but more controlled. However, Sakura won this round." Ryu spoke as he looks at Asuka analytically.
"If she's able to withstand Sakura, she'll easily take on me or you." Ken said. "These Iron Fist fighters truly have iron fists and bodies."
"Uncle Kazama, have you seen Ling and Asuka? They were supposed to…" Jin walks in and noticed the scene. Jin and Ryu glare at each other as Xiayou runs and hugs Jin romantically.
"Jin, these are the fabled World Warriors we hear so much about. Right now is the last round of Asuka's fight. She's gotten beat up pretty badly." Xiao explains.
Jin bows to the others as respect and much like Ryu, he sits and watches.
Asuka open her eyes. She entices herself in a Zen trace with cool eyes staring at Sakura. Sakura squats down to stretch her quads one last time.
"Final round! Fight." Mr. Kazama said.
In a flash, both girls strike each the face. Sakura's fist connects while Asuka's palm pushes Sakura's face in. Both backflip back and trade blows quickly. Asuka blocks and parries Sakura's combos. Out of thin air, a fireball comes out and strikes her. Asuka lets it hits her as she uses her inner energy palm technique to strike Sakura in her stomach. Sakura winces at the pain as Asuka cracks her knuckles. Steam comes from both fighters as Sakura feels empowered.
"One more time!" Sakura says as she crouches down to perform Haru Ranman* again.
Asuka notices the change in aura and time this time and crouch blocks all the kicks but gets hit by the launching kick when she rises too soon to counter.
"She's done for." Ken smirks.
Asuka is in full control of her body this time around as she notices Sakura leaping for her to perform the volley ball clench again. She blocks the attack and grabs her as they fall towards the floor. Asuka reverses their positions and elbows her in the face, and follows up with a griping palm to plant her cranium into the floor. Cracks formed from the crater where the impact happened from. Asuka recovers slowly, but hears:
"SHINKU GODU HADOUKEN!"
A larger, orange fireball engulfs her body and shoots her back across the room. The pain of multiple hits from this larger fireball taxes her body to beyond exhaustion. She notices Sakura smiles and falls first before she faints from her own feeble standing position.
Silence fills the room as both girls are motionless. The dojo looks like a warzone as the tapestry has embers on them, burning the edges black. The floor appears as if two Gods have been clashing. The audience is stunned beyond belief. Xiao clings to Jin crying her eyes out. Jin cannot believe his eyes for what he has witnessed. Ryu and Ken nod in unison.
"These iron fist fighters are interesting. But how did she perform two special attacks back to back?" Ryu asked with a puzzling look on his face as Mr. Kazama held up both his hands.
"Double KO!" Mr. Kazama declared as sun completes her departure into the horizon.