Disgusting.
The word echoed throughout the young man's head as he watched the last of his opponents crash down to the ground after taking the full brunt of his kick. The brutal, unforgiving art of fighting was something that he loathed more than anything else in the world. It was the cause of his father leaving his family to fend for themselves. It was the cause of the premature death of his sweet, innocent older sister. It was the cause of turning him from a peaceful youth into a violent monster.
For Remy, there was nothing more disgusting in this world than a martial artist.
Brushing back his long, teal hair, Remy looked down on the two pieces of trash that had the audacity to conduct a street fight, especially in front of children. The first of the men was a huge fellow, wearing a nylon jacket and red martial arts pants. Fortunately for both of them, he had fallen unconscious and wouldn't give Remy any problems. The second man, a brown-haired Thai sporting green boxing shorts with his fists and feet taped up, was not so lucky, still groaning in pain and rubbing his jaw.
For that lowlife, the thrashing would continue. Remy couldn't show any mercy to his mortal enemy, the street fighters.
Stepping towards the Thai fighter who couldn't have been any older than he was, Remy gazed down at him with his eyes burning with fire. Remy couldn't help but wondering what was going through the mind of his adversary, staring at him with his eyes wide with fear, or anger, or something akin to those. If he knew what martial artists thought about when they were in combat, what motivated them to challenge other people to fights for only God knows what, then perhaps he wouldn't hate them so much.
"How many lives have you ruined with your fists?" Remy asked coldly.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," the Thai fighter said, shaking slightly and giving Remy all the indication he needed that the man lying at his feet was indeed scared. "I…I've never killed anyone: I'm always careful about not getting carried away…and I never fight someone who doesn't want to fight first!"
"I wasn't talking about how many people you've killed, trash," Remy growled, leaning down to grab the Thai fighter by his hair and pull him back onto his feet. "I was talking about how many lives you've ruined. How many times did you leave your opponents a bruised mess? How many times did your opponent have to come home to their family swollen and hurt? How many times did they try to kiss their spouses or children with their faces pummeled like meat?"
Though his voice was as cold as ice, Remy' eyes were burning with a hellish rage, and the Thai fighter started sweating a little bit more as he took notice. Taking the Thai fighter's left index finger and holding it in his hand, the French Savate fighter tightened his grip around it and started pulling back. "I'm going to make sure that those families won't have to worry about their fathers or mothers because of your carelessness. You'll heal, but at least you'll think twice before-"
"Mister, that's enough!"
Before Remy could break the man's finger, the voice of a little girl called out to him, causing him to turn his head and look down at the child. Upon seeing the fear in her eyes, sanity started slipping back into the youth's head. No matter how much he might have hated martial artists, and how he wanted to ensure that at least one of them wouldn't make the same mistakes his father did…he wasn't going to do it in front of children, especially little girls.
Pushing the Thai fighter away, Remy simply left him with a warning. "Next time you start a street fight, think about the consequences of your actions," he growled before turning to the little girl and kneeling down so that he was at her height. "I'm sorry you had to see that, mademoiselle. I can only hope that you don't have to experience the same kind of problems that I have when it comes to people like that."
"It…it's OK," the little girl said with a pause in her voice, causing Remy to frown. There was nothing in the world more sacred than children, for it was them who held the keys for the next generation. Regardless of however pure Remy's motives might have been, the fact remained that he had lost his temper in front of children, and as such became the enemy that he hated so much.
He had to make it up to her somehow.
Putting a warm smile on his handsome face, Remy placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Tell you what: how about if I walk you home? I bet a sweet little thing like you has a family who's waiting for you!"
"Actually, I'm an orphan," the little girl replied with a hint of fear in her voice, causing Remy's smile to disappear as quickly as he put it on. "I live at my teacher's school with some of the other orphans in the area." Seeing the sad expression on the young man's face, this time the little girl put on a smile and placed her own hand on Remy's shoulder. "Mister, I think you should meet my teacher! I bet someone as strong as you would have a lot to talk about!"
"Um…sure," Remy nodded his head once before standing up and holding the little girl's hand. "Please, lead the way!"
Ryu groaned slightly as the beam of sunlight came through the window and brushed against his eyelids, forcing him to awaken from his slumber. Once his eyes came back into focus and he fully regained consciousness, the Japanese martial artist turned his head to see the alarm clock. 10:15 AM, Ryu thought to himself as he lifted himself off of the bed and planted his feet onto the floor. I usually wake up much earlier than this…but I guess having a bed to sleep on makes it easier for me to lose track of time.
As a wandering warrior, Ryu had been fighting for as long as he could remember. In hindsight, he might have first taken up martial arts as a way to ignore the feelings of loneliness he would sometimes have due to never knowing what his parents looked like, but Ryu's reason for fighting has long since evolved passed that. As soon as Master Gouken, a man who was not only his teacher but his surrogate father, told him that he was ready to leave the dojo and go out into the world on his own, Ryu dedicated himself to discovering what it truly meant to be strong.
Due to his vagabond lifestyle, Ryu wasn't able to afford many luxuries, being forced to save what little money he earned on things like food and clothing. It was quite rare that Ryu slept in anything other than his sleeping bag, and he had lost count of the times where he was forced to sleep outside due to either not being anywhere close to civilization or not having enough money for shelter. That's why at times like these, when the friends he'd made over the course of his travels offered him a place to stay for a while, Ryu was grateful.
I guess I can do my morning push-ups outside, after I have some breakfast, Ryu thought as he heard his stomach growl. Reaching out for his gi draped over the edge of the bed, Ryu quickly clothed himself, tightening his black belt and red headband before stepping out of his room and entering the hallway. He could already smell some sort of pastry baking a few doors down, which indicated that it wasn't too late for him to go to the kitchen. Sounds like it'll be one of those rare treats for me…
After following the smell to what he believed to be the kitchen, Ryu opened the door to see that he wouldn't be having breakfast alone. Sitting quietly at the table was his host, the lovely Chun-Li, wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans, sipping on a cup of steaming tea. "I never figured you were a guy who slept late," Chun-Li told her guest as she saw him step into the kitchen. "I always thought a guy like you was up when the sun came up, already getting to work on training."
"That's usually the case…but it's not every day that I have a bed to sleep in and a warm breakfast waiting for me when I wake up," Ryu replied with a smile as he grabbed an apple sitting in a basket on the stone counter before walking over to the table and sitting down. "Usually the only person who gives me this kind of shelter is Ken whenever I visit him in San Francisco…so I can't stress enough how grateful I am."
"I told you, it's not a problem," Chun-Li returned the smile with one of her own as she reached out for the teapot at the center of the table and poured Ryu a cup of tea. "Most of our generation have moved on from their lives of street fighting, myself included. I'm starting to think that of everyone from the second tournament, you're the only one that still goes to these type of competitions."
"Ken was at the last one, too…but I think at this point, he's only doing official competitions," Ryu added as he graciously received the tea from his host and took a sip of it. After taking a moment to savor its taste, Ryu placed the cup down and returned to his apple. "He has a family to look out for, after all: Ken might be reckless at times, but he knows better than wantonly jump into fights that he might not walk away from…"
"Hm…hmhmhmhm," Chun-Li started to giggle a bit at Ryu's comment about his best friend. "I remember when you first introduced me to him: all he would do is flirt with whatever lady crossed his path. I find it funny that a skirt-chaser like him is now happily married with a five-year-old son."
What a nice laugh…like the tinkling of bells, Ryu thought with a smile. Chun's grace and beauty have always been something I've admired from her, and something I've tried to emulate on my travels. Coming here was definitely a good idea: it's good to see her again.
"So, Ryu…how have things been going on your end?" Chun-Li asked as she noticed Ryu smile. "As you know, I've retired from Interpol and now I'm a martial arts instructor. Ken's now a father, Guile is back with his family, Cammy still works with Delta Red…but you seem to still be doing what you were doing when I first met you: trying to discover what it means to become strong. Do you feel like you're making any progress?"
"Actually…no," Ryu replied, surprising Chun-Li with his seriousness and hint of disappointment. "I'm actually getting a little bit worried that I've stopped making progress on my quest…and that I haven't for a long, long time."
"What do you mean, Ryu?" Chun-Li asked with a slight hint of concern. She had expected Ryu to grace her with his tales of battle and what he had learned from them, like he had started to do the day before after the students had left. "You're much stronger than you were when I last saw you: you look absolutely shredded now, to a point where I think even Zangief would be impressed."
"I don't doubt that I'm getting stronger physically: my daily training regimen is a lot more severe than it was back then..." Ryu said as he looked to his left arm on the table, taking a moment to see what Chun-Li was talking about. "…it's just that, mentally, I feel like I've been going in circles. I like to think that every fighter I meet is a new opportunity to learn something…but it feels like I'm not getting any closer to finding the answers I'm looking for."
"What do you mean?"
Ryu paused for a moment as he tried to find the words he was looking for. It was difficult for him to properly convey his feelings: if he had a way to do so, then perhaps he wouldn't be in the moral quarry he was in. "I look at Ken, and see him with his wife Eliza and his son Mel: he's changed so much since we were kids. He's focused now, and he has a definite meaning in his life. He doesn't fight as actively as I do, and yet he's stronger now then he's ever been."
Looking at the finished apple that was now on the table, Ryu held it up by its stem and continued. "It's like I'm trying to eat an apple, but can't seem to get anywhere close to its core. I'm digging and digging away, but I'm not closer to finishing it off than I was when I started. I still don't know what it means to be a true martial artist…and I'm beginning to think that I will never know."
"So what you're saying is that even though you're getting stronger physically, you're in a rut in your training spiritually," Chun-Li surmised, to which Ryu nodded his head. "That's so unlike you, Ryu: I always figured that you'd be able to find an answer to something like that after a few moments of meditation and reflection…"
"At the third tournament, I watched an entirely new crop of fighters rise up and take their generation by storm. A lot of these fighters had families: people who cared for them and waited for them to come home. The fact that I didn't even get to the finals of the tournament was enough for me to confirm something that had been bothering me for a while..."
"And what's that?"
"…that maybe I should reconsider my vagabond lifestyle, because traveling constantly like do isn't getting me any closer to the answer I'm looking for on what it means to be a true martial artist…"
After finishing breakfast, Ryu and Chun-Li walked outside to the courtyard of the school, ready to get the day started. I haven't seen Ryu doubt himself like this in a long, long time, Chun-Li thought to herself as she watched Ryu approach the center of the courtyard and drop to his hands and knees to do his morning push-ups. It reminds me of when I first met him, back when he was struggling to control the Satsui no Hadou. He was questioning himself constantly, worried that one more battle could turn him into a soulless killing machine.
As she watched Ryu rise and fall rhythmically, Chun-Li placed her hand on her chin and smiled slightly. Even after seeing the power of the Satsui no Hadou for myself, I can honestly say that I could never imagine Ryu staying unsure of himself for long. He'll find his answers, I'm sure of it…even if it means that I have to help him along the way.
"…someone's coming," Ryu suddenly spoke, pushing himself completely off the ground and rising to his feet.
"That's probably Qiao," Chun-Li added as Ryu walked over to her, a light coating of sweat covering his face. "She usually goes out by herself to talk to her friends at the marketplace. It's right about the time where she comes back with some rice balls from the Japanese vendor."
"It's not her I'm sensing," Ryu continued, his voice touched with a bit of concern. "Someone with a strong ki signature is walking with her. Can't you sense it?"
"…yeah," Chun-Li nodded her head once once she focused her senses enough to sense what Ryu was feeling. Most fighters who used ki in their attacks, like Ryu and Chun-Li did, could sense the presense of those who used it, as well. Chun-Li once compared it to an internet connection, where all the ki users in the area were connected via a "wireless" link that only they could detect.
And the user that was approaching them was a powerful "subscriber" indeed.
After a few seconds of uneasiness, Chun-Li and Ryu identified the source of the ki as he walked through the entrance of the school, with the little girl Qiao running ahead of him carrying a brown paper bag in her arms. The man was fairly tall, with a red pants and a black leather jacket zipped up to reveal the symbol "Omega" on his chest. His long, feminine teal hair flowed in the wind, revealing a youthful, handsome face.
"Teacher," Qiao called out as she ran to Chun-Li, who knelt down to meet her. "This man walked me home all the way from the marketplace! He came all the way from France to visit Hong Kong!"
However, the foreigner didn't seem to share Qiao's pleasant enthusiasm. Instead, when he laid eyes on the two adults standing in the courtyard of the school, his eyes only widened with rage. "What kind of cruel, bitter fate has God put on my shoulders," he hissed as he started walking towards them. "Why is it that everywhere I turn, I run into my sworn enemies?"
"I…I know you," Chun-Li said as she put Qiao to the side and stepped forward. "I ran into you while I was looking for Urien: you're Remy!" Assuming her fighting stance, Chun-Li's eyes narrowed and her expression hardened. "What are you doing here? Did you come back from another beating?"
"I don't have any business with you, Chun-Li," Remy replied as his pace quickly slightly. "You practice martial arts to protect others, so I'm willing to give you a pass…but him…" Walking past Chun-Li, Remy instead made a beeline for Ryu and quickened his pace, his teeth now bared in rage. "…it's people like HIM that I will never forgive! I've been tracking this scumbag for weeks…and now I'm going to drive his face into the pavement!"
Sensing the youth's violent intent, Ryu threw his arms up and blocked Remy's high snapping kick. Being that Ryu didn't even have his gloves on, the Japanese martial artist didn't expect a street fight, especially in a place like Chun-Li's dojo. Still, if someone like Remy wanted to fight him, then it wasn't his place to try and stop him. Seldom was the occasion that Ryu turned down a challenge, and with a dangerous young man like Remy invading his friend's school, he wasn't going to start now.
After parrying the attack, Ryu countered with an attack of his own: a standing roundhouse kick that stunned Remy momentarily. Sensing an opportunity to continue pressing onward, Ryu followed up with a quick Tatsumaki Senpukyaku-the Hurricane Kick- to knock Remy away and put some distance between them. "I don't know what I've done to make you hate me so much," Ryu said as he tightened the belt of his gi and properly assumed a fighting stance, "but if you really want to fight, you better be prepared for me to give it everything I have."
"Shut up," Remy snapped before charging his ki into his right hand. "You have no right to look down on me!" Swiping the air with his glowing hand, the youth unleashed a wave of turquoise energy that swiveled in the air like a boomerang, surprising both Ryu and Chun-Li. Being that the trajectory of the ki attack was too unstable, Ryu was forced to throw his arms up once again and block, instead of dodging out of the way like he usually would.
Unfortunately, that moment taken to block was all Remy needed to close the gap between them, charging forward as Ryu lowered his arms. With no time to counter or parry, Ryu was swept off of his feet by Remy's low kick. Landing hard on the ground, the wandering warrior groaned and looked up, only to see that Remy was lifting his leg for an overhead axe kick.
This time, Ryu was able to parry the axe kick, lifting both his hands and catching the leg in between his wrists. That move he did might have looked like a Sonic Boom, but it moves too unpredictable and doesn't have the raw impact of Guile's or Charlie's, he thought as he looked into Remy's angry visage. His movements are too flowing and smooth to be the same style as theirs…so I'll need to treat his way of fighting as something I've never seen before.
"SHORYUKEN!"
Lowering one of his hands only to drive it into Remy's chin, Ryu went skyward with his leaping uppercut, the famed Shoryuken that had once been banned by his master Gouken, and took Remy along for the ride. The Japanese fighter had lost track of how many times the technique had gotten him out of a pinch, and that definitely held true here. Ryu landed safely on the ground, but so did Remy, who recovered in mid-air and landed on his feet and hand.
This time, Ryu was the one who charged his ki before firing off his signature technique: the blue Hadoken. The ball of energy rocketed towards Remy, but not fast enough to catch him completely off-guard. Charging his ki once again, Remy cancelled out the Hadoken with another one of those unpredictable waves of ki that troubled Ryu so much. Still, the Hadoken did what he wanted it to do: distract Remy long enough for him to take to the offensive and gain some momentum.
Charging forward, Ryu met eyes with Remy once again, watching him get ready to defend. However, instead of attacking high like Remy anticipated, Ryu instead drove his fist into Remy's stomach, plunging it deeper upon impact for a 2-hit combination. Remy shot out a wad of saliva from his mouth, telling Ryu that he was stunned long enough to another Shoryuken…or so he thought. Recovering faster than he thought possible, Remy was able to block Ryu's Shoryuken, allowing the Japanese fighter to soar into the air alone.
"Got you," Remy shouted out as Ryu continued ascending into the air, leaving him wide open. With both his feet glowing with energy, Remy took to the air in a backflip and struck his mortal enemy with his Rising Rage Flash. As Remy landed gracefully onto the ground, Ryu crashed down hard onto his back. Ryu kipped up back to his feet, but Remy was already waiting for him and he tossed another wave of ki at him, this time having it hover low above the ground like a frisebee.
Seeing the wave come at him just in time, Ryu took to the air and jumped over the attack. He's really strong, he thought as he contemplated his next move. If not for the fact that he seems to deeply resent me for no reason, I might be enjoying this challenge. Deciding to go with a kick, Ryu shot his leg out and struck Remy with a flying kick…but it only hit Remy's knee, leaving Ryu open to a pummeling as soon as his own feet touched the ground.
Attacking with a flurry of kicks, Remy proceeded to wail on the Japanese fighter with such precise footwork that even Chun-Li had trouble pinpointing exactly where Remy's attacks were coming from while she watched from afar. After twelve kicks to the chest, head, neck, and knees, Remy completed his combo with a massive Rising Rage Flash, sending Ryu arcing backwards into the air before landing hard on his neck and shoulders.
That hurt...quite a bit, Ryu grumbled as he returned to his feet, tasting blood in his mouth. Turning to see Remy charge his ki once again, Ryu resumed his fighting stance and narrowed his eyes. At least now I know what his method of attack is: he uses his superior reflexes to force his opponent into making a mistake, and then capitalizes with his more powerful single strikes, like that flip kick or that barrage I just ate. Seeing the French youth rear back for what appeared to be another wave of energy, Ryu exhaled and gathered his own energy. That means I'll have to feint him…just need to figure out how.
Letting out a fearsome shout, Remy unleashed all of his stored energy into a hail of energy waves, hurling them towards Ryu like discuses. Rather than block or jump, realizing that was probably what the young man was hoping for, Ryu instead fired off a fiery red Hadoken into the volley. To Remy's astonishment, the barrage of attacks did nothing to deter the Hadoken's path. Instead, the Hadoken continued to power through the volley and head towards Remy!
Perfect: since he can't put as much energy into each wave, he's having a harder time stopping the Hadoken, Ryu thought as he chased after his attack, weaving out of the way of whatever wave of energy passed by the Hadoken. Now I just need to get in close and capitalize!
Realizing that he could not stop the Hadoken, Remy lifted his arms and blocked the attack…but as soon as he did so, he felt Ryu clip at his legs with a crouching kick! With his footing disrupted, Remy struggled to maintain balance, allowing Ryu to knock him away with another Shoryuken, this one landing two hits in the stomach and chin and causing Remy to go airborne only to crash down on his stomach.
By this point, Ryu was fully aware how dangerous Remy was if given a moment to compose himself, and he wasted no time dashing towards the young man just as he was returning to his feet. Seeing Ryu come for him, Remy took to the air and came down with a swiping kick, but the experienced martial artist saw it for what it was: a desperation strike. He easily brushed the kick aside and countered with one of his own: a standing thrust kick that connected with Remy's stomach and sent him sprawling backwards.
With his blue ki swirling around his fists, Ryu watched Remy crash down onto the ground, only to rise back up. As he initially suspected, the reason Remy was so careful about not letting any weaknesses show was because his thin body prevented him from taking heavy damage. Now that he was actually getting hits in, the young man was stumbling. It's time to end this, Ryu thought as the energy in his hands began to compress into a ball. Maybe then I can get some answers.
"Shinku…Hadoken!"
Unleashing his stored energy, Ryu fired off a thick beam of energy that rushed towards Remy like a freight train. Remy's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the beam coming, and tried to charge his ki so that he could cancel it out, but it was too little, too late. The beam collided with Remy's body and eliciting a roar of pain from the man before he was blown away like a thistle in the wind. When the beam subsided, Remy took deep gasps of air and tried to return to his feet…but just as soon fell down onto his hands and knees, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"Ryu!"
Chun-Li called out to her guest as Ryu breathed heavily and lowered his hands. "Are you all right? You took a bit of a pounding early on!"
"Just a little winded," Ryu answered as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "This is just what I was talking about at breakfast: there's an entirely new generation of martial artists ready to seize the moment. I can't help but wonder what this guy is going to be like with a couple of years more training and experience." After exhaling deeply, knowing for sure that the battle was over, Ryu stepped towards Remy with Chun-Li following close behind. "Now, let's see why he's here…"
"Don't come any closer," Remy hissed the shadows of Ryu and Chun-Li loomed over him.
"You're a very strong young man…Remy," Ryu said after a pause, remembering what Chun-Li called the man. "It was an honor to-"
"SHUT UP!"
Remy's outburst caused Ryu to pause, his eyes widening in surprise. "How dare you patronize me after all of the hurt and misfortune that you've brought me," the young man hissed. "It's people like you…people like you who seek to become stronger that I can't forgive!"
"Why are you being so harsh on martial artists?" Chun-Li interjected, her face stern and slightly peeved. "When I met you a few months ago, you were hell-bent on crusading against street fighters. What did we do to you that makes you hate us so much?"
"It's him," Remy growled, pointing an accusing finger at Ryu. "'To live is to fight, and to fight is to live:' my father became so obsessed with these words that he abandoned my family to try and discover its meaning. Because of those words…because of people like Ryu who live by them…my older sister is dead and my father is missing! You may claim that words like that lead to enlightenment, but I know the truth: all it leads to is heartbreak and torment!"
Ryu was so stunned by these words, shaken up by Remy's resentfulness and sorrow, that even Chun-Li noticed that he seemed as if he had just been shot with a handgun. "I don't want your sympathy or your words of encouragement," Remy uttered with a defeated undertone, still looking down on the ground. "Just leave me alone…"
After what seemed like an eternity of uneasy silence, Ryu got down onto one knee in front of Remy, causing the youth to look back at him and see a sad expression on his face, as if he had been the one who had been defeated and not Remy. "…I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're right to hate us…and I can only hope that one day you can forgive both your father and myself what we've done to you."
Chun-Li was in disbelief as she watched Ryu solemnly return to his feet and walk back inside without saying a word. I don't think I've ever seen Ryu look that…ashamed, she thought as she turned back to Remy, who was rising back to his feet hanging his head down, his long hair obscuring his face. I know Ryu is compassionate…but I didn't know it was to a point where he'd doubt his own convictions because of what someone else did in his name.
