Persistence
by Bug-chan
Chapter 4-2 - The most obvious ones part 2 of 2
Meanwhile, over at the tournament grounds...
"Bad news. Blanka and Honda have been caputured," Chuns Li broke the news amid shocked and surprised faces.
"So what do we do?" asked Sakura, somewhat worriedly. The Chinese inspector gave the Japanese adolescen a comforting look, like how a mom tells her child not to worry. Sakura's worries went down but worry was still etched on her face.
"We should just go on and do as planned," Guile suggested.
"For now," Gen added. The group reached the fighting grounds soon after. It didn't exactly look like a fighting tournament, but more like a bazaar. Kiosks were all over the place, selling things ranging from carpets and small furniture to swords and daggers to electronic gadgets of all kinds. The people mingling weren't all the locals, which surprised the Street Fighter veterans; there was a mix of Caucasians, Africans and Hispanics among the Asian locals. Soon, Ryu spotted a table that had "Registration" written in front of it.
"OK, obviously, we all cannot participate in this tournament. Some of us must mingle with the spectators, given the variety of it this time around and look around," said Guile. The moment he finished saying that, a hand shot up. "Yes?" the American army man asked, looking at the source.
"I wanna fight!" said Sakura, like a giddy schoolgirl. Guile could only shake his head and sigh. 'Girls,' he thought. "All right, Sakura shall participate. Who else would like to join her?" he asked, then noticed Gen's head go up. "Very well, another?" he said and Ryu's hand went up, much to the happiness of Sakura, finally able to see her idol and teacher fight. "One more," and Zangief's hand was seen in the air. "OK, that's the fighting group. The rest will stay and look around in the audience." Just then Chun Li came back with a bunch of electronic gadgets. "What'd you get there?" he asked, curious.
"I got some microcommunicators. Surprisingly, these kiosks have some interesting goods. I wonder where they got all of them," Chun Li replied, then took out a small black bead-like object. It was as big as a dime and as thick as a sheet of paper. "These communicators fit right in the ear and you can easily cover them with your hair. I bought them with different colors so please pick out the right one. They are also capable of picking up what you and only you say so keep that in mind. Any questions?" There was no response. Chun Li nodded, then the fighters picked out the communicators of their color of choice, Sakura and Ryu picking out brown ones and Zangief and Gen picking out peach ones. Soon the others picked up communicators and the fighting group then headed over to the registration table to sign in while the others joined the crowd, browsing and occasionally talking to each other, trying to look as normal and nondescript as possible. They even went as far as buying some other clothes and changing into them. A few minutes later, a chime was heard and all kiosk activity stopped. "The tournament will begin in one minute," said an announcer, and all spectators gathered near the fighting ring, as big as 4 sumo circles.
"The first match of today's Street Fighter tournament shall be...Ha-Doh Lee of South Korea," stopped the announcer to let a fighter come out and prepare, "and Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" Sakura came out and tried to look for the rest of the group.
"Where are you guys?" she harshly whispered. A second later, she saw a head bob up and down, somewhat like the moles in a Whack-a-Mole game. The Japanese schoolgirl noticed that and was somewhat surprised for a second to see Chun Li wear a tank top and denim hot pants, along with the fact that her hair was done in a ponytail instead of the trademark buns, before she continued walking. She stood about a yard away from the Korean fighter, clad in a white gi with a black belt. He stood roughly 5'9" and had a somewhat chiseled face that didn't seem fit for anger or fighting. Both faced each other and bowed towards each other in respect, then assumed fighting stances.
"Ready...Fight!"
The fight was on and the Korean fighter dashed towards Sakura. She was prepared for a dash of some sort and twirled around the rushing fighter, giving her school uniform a slight rise, and started after him with her fist out. It connected. "Sho~ken!" she shouted and punched him a few more times before taking him up into the air with an uppercut and bringing him down hard on his back. He immediately got up and instead of dashing into her like before, he stayed back a bit, apparently contemplating his next move and sizing up his opponent. 'Heh, thought a schoolgirl would be a piece of cake eh?' Sakura thought. He then made some fake dash-ins, just dipping his upper half of the body towards the schoolgirl, which slowly started to frustrate her. Soon, she had enough of it and dashed towards him but instead of just running into him she stopped a foot or two away, turned a leg around and went towards him, leg outstretched and ready to deal damage. "Shunpuuyaku!" she shouted as the leg connected, knocking him over. This time, the Korean fighter got up more slowly, apparently not being able to snap out of some sort of dizziness brought on by the kick. She took this opportunity to back off a tad bit, run in, shouting "Midare Zakura!" and proceeded to give the unfortunate opponent a flurry of kicks and punches and a merciful uppercut that took him to the peaceful land of unconsiousness. Sakura backed off a bit, bowed down to him once more and walked off the ring. "The winner of this match is Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" exclaimed the announcer, evoking a large amount of cheer from the crowd.
"I thought she was just a lovestruck girl who only admired Ryu for his looks," whispered Chun Li, still in awe over Sakura's skill at martial arts.
"Indeed. I have underestimated her as well," Guile added, next to the Chinese inspector. Dan stayed there, silent and only looking on. The ponytailed man then looked to his right to see someone else looking at him intently.
"Umm...Chun Li? Guile?" Dan called, somewhat nervously.
"Hmm?" asked Guile, looking at Dan.
"I think you should look at this..." Dan trailed off, his normally happy face replaced by nervousness and fear. The other two looked at what Dan was looking at.
"Don't tell me," Chun Li first said.
"Bison's androids," Guile finished. "I'll go after him, you and Dan stay in the crowd," he said before heading towards the mystery man. When the American major got within strking distance, the mystery man started to walk away as if he didn't do anything. Guile slowly and stealthily followed him aound before he got to one of the stalls, got on all fours and disappeared into one of the stalls. "Damnit," he growled softly. "Chun Li, Guile. I lost him. He just disappeared into one of the kiosks," Guile said dejectedly.
*Rodger. Come back into the crowd. Bison probably has more of those androids around the place anyway,* Chun Li replied back. Guile then headed back to the crowd and disappeared. The android got out of the kiosk it was hiding under and made its way back to Shadaloo.
"Sakura. Ryu. Zangief. Gen. Do any of you see suspicious activity back there?" asked Guile.
*Sakura here, nothing that I know of," she replied, looking around to see nothing but fighters warming up.
*This is Ryu. Everything's normal," the warrior answered back.
*This is Gen speaking. I see no sign of abnormalities," Gen said. Then in place of Zangief's gruff tone, there was absolute silence.
"Zangief? You there? Say anything," Guile said. No response. "You guys, look for him there," Ryu, Sakura and Gen started to look all around backstage, Sakura even popping out her head outside to look for the Russian muscleman. 'With a body like that, he should be easily recognizable,' Sakura thought, still looking around and not seeing any hint of him.
Ryu kept on walking and observing the fighters, hoping that he didn't mistake Zangief for anyone else. Then he stepped on something, breaking it with a "crunch" and followed by an extremely high-pitched sound that nearly made his ear deaf. After he gathered himself and changed ears, he looked at the thing he broke and paled. "This is Ryu," he started, the paused. "Zangief's caught also."
MEANWHILE, RIGHT OUTSIDE THE FIGHTING GROUNDS
Sagat and Barlog both dragged a large bag while breathing hard and sweating under the tropical heat.
"Man, who thought dragging a body would be this much work?" Barlog grumbled.
"You idiot, this one is different from usual!" Sagat exclaimed back at the Chicago boxer.
"True but it's still hard work nonetheless," he countered back at the tall, eye-patch-clad Muy Thai ex-champion. Both proceeded in silence towards Shadaloo, dragging Zangief's unconcsious body.
TBC
A/N - Sorry for the long long delay, I got carried away by READING, as opposed to WRITING fanfics for a while. I'll try to keep this coming at a stead rate. Remember readers, REVIEw!!!!
by Bug-chan
Chapter 4-2 - The most obvious ones part 2 of 2
Meanwhile, over at the tournament grounds...
"Bad news. Blanka and Honda have been caputured," Chuns Li broke the news amid shocked and surprised faces.
"So what do we do?" asked Sakura, somewhat worriedly. The Chinese inspector gave the Japanese adolescen a comforting look, like how a mom tells her child not to worry. Sakura's worries went down but worry was still etched on her face.
"We should just go on and do as planned," Guile suggested.
"For now," Gen added. The group reached the fighting grounds soon after. It didn't exactly look like a fighting tournament, but more like a bazaar. Kiosks were all over the place, selling things ranging from carpets and small furniture to swords and daggers to electronic gadgets of all kinds. The people mingling weren't all the locals, which surprised the Street Fighter veterans; there was a mix of Caucasians, Africans and Hispanics among the Asian locals. Soon, Ryu spotted a table that had "Registration" written in front of it.
"OK, obviously, we all cannot participate in this tournament. Some of us must mingle with the spectators, given the variety of it this time around and look around," said Guile. The moment he finished saying that, a hand shot up. "Yes?" the American army man asked, looking at the source.
"I wanna fight!" said Sakura, like a giddy schoolgirl. Guile could only shake his head and sigh. 'Girls,' he thought. "All right, Sakura shall participate. Who else would like to join her?" he asked, then noticed Gen's head go up. "Very well, another?" he said and Ryu's hand went up, much to the happiness of Sakura, finally able to see her idol and teacher fight. "One more," and Zangief's hand was seen in the air. "OK, that's the fighting group. The rest will stay and look around in the audience." Just then Chun Li came back with a bunch of electronic gadgets. "What'd you get there?" he asked, curious.
"I got some microcommunicators. Surprisingly, these kiosks have some interesting goods. I wonder where they got all of them," Chun Li replied, then took out a small black bead-like object. It was as big as a dime and as thick as a sheet of paper. "These communicators fit right in the ear and you can easily cover them with your hair. I bought them with different colors so please pick out the right one. They are also capable of picking up what you and only you say so keep that in mind. Any questions?" There was no response. Chun Li nodded, then the fighters picked out the communicators of their color of choice, Sakura and Ryu picking out brown ones and Zangief and Gen picking out peach ones. Soon the others picked up communicators and the fighting group then headed over to the registration table to sign in while the others joined the crowd, browsing and occasionally talking to each other, trying to look as normal and nondescript as possible. They even went as far as buying some other clothes and changing into them. A few minutes later, a chime was heard and all kiosk activity stopped. "The tournament will begin in one minute," said an announcer, and all spectators gathered near the fighting ring, as big as 4 sumo circles.
"The first match of today's Street Fighter tournament shall be...Ha-Doh Lee of South Korea," stopped the announcer to let a fighter come out and prepare, "and Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" Sakura came out and tried to look for the rest of the group.
"Where are you guys?" she harshly whispered. A second later, she saw a head bob up and down, somewhat like the moles in a Whack-a-Mole game. The Japanese schoolgirl noticed that and was somewhat surprised for a second to see Chun Li wear a tank top and denim hot pants, along with the fact that her hair was done in a ponytail instead of the trademark buns, before she continued walking. She stood about a yard away from the Korean fighter, clad in a white gi with a black belt. He stood roughly 5'9" and had a somewhat chiseled face that didn't seem fit for anger or fighting. Both faced each other and bowed towards each other in respect, then assumed fighting stances.
"Ready...Fight!"
The fight was on and the Korean fighter dashed towards Sakura. She was prepared for a dash of some sort and twirled around the rushing fighter, giving her school uniform a slight rise, and started after him with her fist out. It connected. "Sho~ken!" she shouted and punched him a few more times before taking him up into the air with an uppercut and bringing him down hard on his back. He immediately got up and instead of dashing into her like before, he stayed back a bit, apparently contemplating his next move and sizing up his opponent. 'Heh, thought a schoolgirl would be a piece of cake eh?' Sakura thought. He then made some fake dash-ins, just dipping his upper half of the body towards the schoolgirl, which slowly started to frustrate her. Soon, she had enough of it and dashed towards him but instead of just running into him she stopped a foot or two away, turned a leg around and went towards him, leg outstretched and ready to deal damage. "Shunpuuyaku!" she shouted as the leg connected, knocking him over. This time, the Korean fighter got up more slowly, apparently not being able to snap out of some sort of dizziness brought on by the kick. She took this opportunity to back off a tad bit, run in, shouting "Midare Zakura!" and proceeded to give the unfortunate opponent a flurry of kicks and punches and a merciful uppercut that took him to the peaceful land of unconsiousness. Sakura backed off a bit, bowed down to him once more and walked off the ring. "The winner of this match is Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" exclaimed the announcer, evoking a large amount of cheer from the crowd.
"I thought she was just a lovestruck girl who only admired Ryu for his looks," whispered Chun Li, still in awe over Sakura's skill at martial arts.
"Indeed. I have underestimated her as well," Guile added, next to the Chinese inspector. Dan stayed there, silent and only looking on. The ponytailed man then looked to his right to see someone else looking at him intently.
"Umm...Chun Li? Guile?" Dan called, somewhat nervously.
"Hmm?" asked Guile, looking at Dan.
"I think you should look at this..." Dan trailed off, his normally happy face replaced by nervousness and fear. The other two looked at what Dan was looking at.
"Don't tell me," Chun Li first said.
"Bison's androids," Guile finished. "I'll go after him, you and Dan stay in the crowd," he said before heading towards the mystery man. When the American major got within strking distance, the mystery man started to walk away as if he didn't do anything. Guile slowly and stealthily followed him aound before he got to one of the stalls, got on all fours and disappeared into one of the stalls. "Damnit," he growled softly. "Chun Li, Guile. I lost him. He just disappeared into one of the kiosks," Guile said dejectedly.
*Rodger. Come back into the crowd. Bison probably has more of those androids around the place anyway,* Chun Li replied back. Guile then headed back to the crowd and disappeared. The android got out of the kiosk it was hiding under and made its way back to Shadaloo.
"Sakura. Ryu. Zangief. Gen. Do any of you see suspicious activity back there?" asked Guile.
*Sakura here, nothing that I know of," she replied, looking around to see nothing but fighters warming up.
*This is Ryu. Everything's normal," the warrior answered back.
*This is Gen speaking. I see no sign of abnormalities," Gen said. Then in place of Zangief's gruff tone, there was absolute silence.
"Zangief? You there? Say anything," Guile said. No response. "You guys, look for him there," Ryu, Sakura and Gen started to look all around backstage, Sakura even popping out her head outside to look for the Russian muscleman. 'With a body like that, he should be easily recognizable,' Sakura thought, still looking around and not seeing any hint of him.
Ryu kept on walking and observing the fighters, hoping that he didn't mistake Zangief for anyone else. Then he stepped on something, breaking it with a "crunch" and followed by an extremely high-pitched sound that nearly made his ear deaf. After he gathered himself and changed ears, he looked at the thing he broke and paled. "This is Ryu," he started, the paused. "Zangief's caught also."
MEANWHILE, RIGHT OUTSIDE THE FIGHTING GROUNDS
Sagat and Barlog both dragged a large bag while breathing hard and sweating under the tropical heat.
"Man, who thought dragging a body would be this much work?" Barlog grumbled.
"You idiot, this one is different from usual!" Sagat exclaimed back at the Chicago boxer.
"True but it's still hard work nonetheless," he countered back at the tall, eye-patch-clad Muy Thai ex-champion. Both proceeded in silence towards Shadaloo, dragging Zangief's unconcsious body.
TBC
A/N - Sorry for the long long delay, I got carried away by READING, as opposed to WRITING fanfics for a while. I'll try to keep this coming at a stead rate. Remember readers, REVIEw!!!!