Disclaimer: See previous chapter

Chap. 1

Osaka, Japan - 1510

A civil war had broken out within the nation and as a result, many suffered and towns had been destroyed. Within one of these towns, a sole figure strode through; a large man bearing prayer bead around his neck and a sheathed sword at his side. The destruction around him gave him no fear, but there was a hint of sorrow in him as he saw there were no survivors to be found. 'Mankind has much to learn', he mused as he strode on.

He had just reached the other end of town when a faint sound caught his attention. It was coming from one of the ravaged house and it sounded like...crying... Moving toward the house, he found a man outside the house, dead, with his body impaled with several arrows and a sword. Despite that, a sword was still grasped in his hand. Returning to sounds within, he entered the structure where he found a small boy in the middle of the room, kneeling down the slain body of an older woman. The child looked roughly ten years old.

"Boy..."

The child stopped crying and slowly turned toward the man. Despite the tears, the child tried not to show any fear. It was remarkable for a youth to have such eyes and that wasn't the only thing. It was faint, but he could sense it clearly now.

The child was like him...

At least, he would be. The boy was lucky not to have been killed in all of this chaos. To become an immortal at his age would have been tramatic, far more so than what happened here. The boy continued to stare at him, trying to hide the fear that was beginning to well up within him.

"Have no fear, child. I will not harm you." His eyes returned to the outside where the slain man was, who must have been the boy's father. 'He must have defended this place with his life.' Turning back to the child, the man seemed to become uncertain. he didn't know much about taking care of children, but he couldn't just leave this boy here. With a sigh of resignation, the man spoke to the youth.

"What is your name?"

"Ryu..."

The man seemed to smile at this. 'Ryu...Dragon...a fitting name indeed...' Lending his hand down, he beckoned the chld.

"Ryu. I will take care of you now."

And so in the years to follow, the traveler known as Gouken raised the boy, Ryu. Gouken soon began to teach the boy the Anasatsuken-ryu; a secret and ancient art where mind and body are forged and trained in order to created ki and channeled through both hand and blade. He was impressed by how Ryu adapted to it so quickly and even managed to reach the level of producing ki when he was only 15, becoming a ture heir to the style.

Ryu of the Hoshi Clan...

But as proud as he was, he knew there was another reason for training him. He knew that the time will come when these skills would save his life and protect him.

"Ryu. A time will come when these skills will be needed to save you. I tell you this because a time may come where I will be no more. Use my teachings wisely. You may be the one."

"The one, sensei?"

"In the end, there can be only one."

In time, Gouken moved to another location; a shrine, and took up dwelling there with Ryu. Also, he had a small group of students to pass this art to as well. But none of them ever came close to the mastery Ryu had.

Except for one person...

Present

Chinggg!

Ryu and his opponent circled each other once again. The Muay Thai fighter, Adon grinned as he continued his barrage of strikes, a few of them scratching his opponent. So far, Ryu had not made a single move to strike back and he only blocked and parried his attacks. Deciding that it was time to end it, Adon leapt high up and planted his feet on one of the pillars.

"Jaguar Kick!"

In a blinding rush of speed, Adon swooped down, leg outward in what would be a devestating kick. Ryu steadied himself and when the foot came in close, he sidestepped the attack. Adon toched down and rebounded, grin on his face as he set up for his true attack..

"Jaguar Saber!"

Adon swirled back, his blade spinning in a 180 degree angl and coming down on Ryu at an even greater speed. But Ryu, still ready after the rebound, leveled his sword to his midsection and concentrated his ki to full force..

'Shoryusen!'

Both the warrior and the blade shot up through the air, while Adon was still in the middle of his technique. Blade met flesh and when Ryu landed, the now-headless body of Adon slumped to the ground. Ryu shot his blade out a bit to wipe of the blood before carefully inserting it in his sheath. However, he did not move as electricity began to crackle around him and an aura-like mist engulfed him.

Ryu's body tightened as the lightning began to strike his body. It grew more intense and the lightning began to flail wildly all over the place, destroying the pillars that surrounded him. Ryu let out an unearthly scream and the lightning gave one finally strike before stopping altogether. Ryu slumped further into the ground, the ritual of the Quickening now complete and leaving his body exhausted. When he managed the strength to rise, he looked over at the slain body of his opponent and gave it a solemn bow.

"You fought well. But in the end, there can be only one."

Now done, Ryu picked up his fallen duffel bag and walked away in silence.