Author's Responses to Reviews
Edgar: Thanks! I'm really trying to get these chapters out as fast as I can. But you know, can't do it too fast or it'll start to look rushed! And then the quality of the writing will go all downhill … every writers worst nightmare.
XZanayu: What happens next? I'll try to deepen the plot more by adding more secondary plot and characters, of course. I'm trying to get the plot to become progressively complicated with every chapter.
Chan: I'm so sorry you went out with a six year old boy - mentally anyway, haha!
Vammy: Shakespeare? Thanks for that comparison. A very complimentary one, may I add. Hope I can keep this up!
Jami: Don't worry, Guy and Maki are pretty good fighters. I tried to make them shine a little more in this story. The Final Fight characters just don't get enough publicity!
Kikoken: Thanks a lot! I'm always sure to update my story at least three times a week. Maybe if enough people appreciate this one, I could write a sequel. Ah well, it's a little too early to tell right now.
Maki pulled a lock of blonde hair away from her face as she laid the young boy onto the hard, cold steps of the Osaka Dome. The ground wasn't comfortable, but it would have to do. At least the boy would be safe. A few meters away, she could hear the shouts and screams from an intense fight going on.
After making sure the boy was okay, she turned around to face the other warriors. She saw Guy, her friend and partner, flying through the air, expertly aiming his kicks at strategically placed areas on Akuma's body. Despite Guy's precise, powerful flows, the demon continued to continuously block and counter his attacks. Guy had hardly gotten any successful blows and with each counter punch or kick Akuma performed, Guy always took the blow with full force to his body. Despite the powerful looking attacks he suffered, he always wiped his brow, and continued fighting again. Maki admired his spirit, wanting all the more to be like him.
Ryu and Ken, the ethnically oriental, conservative warrior and the blonde hair, blue eyed martial artist respectively, fought in a different style altogether. Maki had studied the basics of the Shotokan martial arts before, but never had she seen it performed in real life. The two of them fought with quick, fluid motions, almost as quick as the Bushin style. The only difference was that the Shotokan style seemed to have more power behind their movements, and the only parts of the body that struck the opponent were fists and feet.
But the Bushin style used more than just punches and kicks. Guy had thrown his entire body at Akuma, maneuvering around the man's strikes, attempting to grab his waist and throw him to the ground. In Bushin-ryuu martial arts, in addition to punches and kicks, the warriors also used speed to throw their entire weight and along with strength behind their strikes. They learned how to move around attacks thrown in their direction, grab their opponent's body and throw them to the ground, no matter what the size of their opponent. Maki was exceptionally good at throwing, but upon watching the way Akuma fought, she questioned her ability to cause bodily harm to him.
Shrugging her gut feeling off, Maki stood up and cracked her knuckles. She ran towards Akuma at full speed silently, hoping he wouldn't anticipate her approach. She kept an eye on his rapidly approaching body, but at the last second, the demon threw his fist forward, intending to catch her in the jaw. At that exact moment, she jumped up, tucking her feet under her body, over the punch. Her body was now directly over Akuma's. Maki extended her leg again, and shot her heel forward, feeling it impact against his forehead. While Akuma was momentarily stunned, she flipped upside down and let her body drop head first until she was level with his waist. Using her momentum, she grabbed his waist and flipped over once again, smashing the demon head first into the concrete. "Kudabare!!" Maki cried in victory.
Akuma rolled backwards as he collided with the ground, trying to soften the impact. From behind him, Ryu, the Shotokan warrior who was expertly trained in the Hadouken fireball skill, shot one at full force, aiming at the demon's head. But Akuma's reflexes were too quick as he skillfully blocked the attack and countered with a three hit dragon upper cut. The first smashed into Ryu's abdomen, then into his chest, and finally, up into his jaw sending the warrior flying into the air. He was able to catch himself in midair, landing perfectly on his feet when he touched the ground.
As Akuma landed from his powerful uppercut, Ken strategically placed himself under the descending demon, and just before he touched the ground, Ken charged up his chi, crying, "Shinryuuken!" Ken lunged upwards fist first with all his strength, enveloping Akuma in a pillar of light. Fire seemed up erupt from Ken's fists as he twirled gracefully in the air as countless solid hits battered Akuma's body. The final blow was so powerful, Akuma flew through the air like a rag doll and collided with the side of a brick building and fell onto the floor with a thud.
Akuma was starting to get up when Guy started running at him, just as quietly as Maki had done. Perhaps Akuma had suspected that since Maki had approached him in a similar fashion, Guy would perform the same move she had, jumping over his head, grabbing him and throwing him to the ground. The demon lunged into the air, performing another dragon uppercut but instead, Guy dodged it by ducking low, and using his speed, bent down and shot his leg forward, catching Akuma's ankle. Again, the demon hit the ground but recovered quickly. He swung around and threw his foot in the air, knocking Guy in the back with full force as the Bushin warrior recovered from his move.
Ken, Ryu, and Maki lunged at Akuma, one after the other, each one delivered timed flying kicks at the demon. But instead of blocking their moves, he warped away safely behind them, shadowy images trailing behind him. Ken and Ryu spun around to face him while Maki helped Guy up. They had landed a few good hits on Akuma but he was able to fight quite well with the four of them teamed up on him.
"This isn't the right time or place," he growled. "I have reserved my power, reserving it for the Alpha 2 tournaments that begin tomorrow. I will see you all again there and then you will face the Shun Goku Satsu." He then teleported away and retreated into the darkness without another word.
"The Shun Goku Satsu?" Ken asked, wiping a forearm across his lip.
"The Instant Hell Murder," Ryu replied, translating it. "Gouken sensei told us about it once."
"Every blow performed by the Shun Goku Satsu is aimed at a critical part of the body," Maki continued. Her usual neat, blonde hair now hung is wisps around her head, messed up from the fight. "The combined damage of the strikes, in theory, will be too much for the human body to withstand, killing the victim instantly."
A moment of dreaded silence fell on the group for a tense moment. Each of the warriors came to the realization of what they were up against. It was obvious Akuma had planted the Satsui no Hadou in Ryu. He was the only practitioner of the art. He wanted to spread its power, and what better host than Ryu, who had a nearly perfect mind and body to host it?
"Whatever Akuma is trying," Guy said, breaking the silence, "we'll fight it. You won't have to go through this by yourself, Ryu."
The street fighter champion gave Guy a look of gratitude. "Thank you," he replied. "To tell you the truth, I don't know if I can make it through this by myself."
"We have faith," Maki said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"We better get back and get some rest," Ken suggested. "It's getting late and we've gotta be up early tomorrow morning."
"Good point," Guy said. "Do you need someone to help with the kid?" He cocked his head in Kenny's general direction.
"No," Ken replied. "I think he'll be fine tomorrow. Ryu said he's got no broken bones or anything. Don't worry yourselves. We'll take care of him."
Ken headed over to where Kenny lay and hoisted his body over his shoulders. Him and Ryu bid the Bushin fighters goodbye and headed back for the hotel suite.
* * *
"Damn it!" an attractive woman said, throwing down a pile of papers violently onto her giant hotel king sized bed. She threw herself into the soft cushions, letting it catch her as she fell into it. She ran her delicate fingers through her shoulder length brown hair in frustration, took out her wallet from her breast pocket and threw that on the bed too.
It flopped open, revealing her ID, catching her eye. She saw the picture of herself, now two years out-dated, with a million dollar smile. The name read Chun Li. Nationality, Chinese citizen with "law enforcer" labeled under occupation. She scoffed at the title.
"Try a member of Interpol," she whispered under her breath. The term "Law Enforcer" felt so degrading. But right about now, she deserved nothing more. Today she had failed again, failed in her quest to stop the ever elusive M. Bison, the crazy dictator of the world wide crime organization, Shadowloo.
She had received the word earlier this morning through a fax from one of her partners in America, just after arriving in Osaka. Her purpose was to hunt down the evil dictator and put a stop to his reign of terror. Chun Li's biggest lead was the rumor that he was funding the Street Fighter tournament this year. She had no evidence to support this theory, but it was a lot more than any other leads they've gotten. Chun Li reached into her pocket. Feeling a piece of folded paper in it, she took it out and unfolded it. It was the fax from the U.S. military, bearing a picture of the missing boy she was ordered to look for. His statistics read that he was around four feet five inches tall, and around eighty two pounds. He had medium length black hair, about three inches long that fell just above his eyebrows. Chun Li filed the image in her head, but finding the boy took secondary priority. Bison's presence here in Osaka was the biggest threat.
She arrived in the morning, tired from the five hour plane ride from Shanghai, China where the Chinese Interpol main headquarters were located. She'd hardly been in the bustling Japanese city for an hour when the fax came to her from the hotel's main lobby.
Bison had struck again. The most recent incident was about a week and a half ago in this very city. A house had caught on fire for no apparent reason. Rumors spread like wildfire, but the most well known one suggested that the house had been the home of a well known Shadowloo scientist and his family. The organization was famous for terrorist attacks, but this time it was on one of their own - assuming the rumors were true. The adults of the household were confirmed dead, but they had a six year old son who was deemed missing.
"That sick bastard," Chun Li spat, "now he attacks one of his own workers and his innocent family?" As if what happened to her own father, dying at the hands of the evil dictator, wasn't enough. Her heart went out to all those that had their lives torn apart by Shadowloo, and that was what fueled her in her mission to stop the crime organization once and for all. "How am I ever going to get to him by myself?" Chun Li's heart sank. There were times when she almost felt like giving up her chase. But she knew that she really wasn't alone. Colonel William Guile, a strong, talented fighter of the United States army and his partner, Lieutenant Charlie Nash were also supporting her along the way, each one with their own personal vendettas against Shadowloo.
Chun Li glanced at her silver watch, strapped to her fragile looking wrist. It was quickly approaching eight o'clock in the morning. What time was it they said to be at the Street Fighter arena by? She remembered it being nine o'clock but she wasn't too sure. Just to be on the safe side, Chun Li packed her fighting attire, a lightweight bodysuit and a vest with running shoes, and prepared to dash out the door. But she hesitated, remember that she'd forget to do up her hair. Being quite long, it tended to get in her face when she fought. Before battle, she tended to do it up into two buns, each one sitting at the sides of her head but right now, there wasn't enough time. Settling on doing it when she got to the arena, Chun Li dashed out the door, almost forgetting to lock her room before leaving.
* * *
Sakura's eyes fluttered open. She had trouble adjusting her vision at first. Her eyes weren't expecting a sudden amount of light. Oh god, it was bright in here. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, realizing she had been lying down the whole time and the blood circulation resumed regularly in her body, making her sick.
"What happened to me?" she wondered aloud. She looked around the room, to find out she was lying on a large, very comfortable looking bed. There was an elaborately carved gold plated coffee table to her front right, in front of a thirty two inch television set. There were giant bouquets of flowers and elaborate Chinese vases decorating the corners of the rooms. "I've got to be in heaven."
The last thing Sakura remembered … she had a hard time recalling the events. She was in Osaka to meet Ryu. Did she end up meeting him? Yes! He was walking with that kid … oh yeah, something happened to Ryu and they took him to the hospital and then she and the kid went out to dinner. What was his name? Kenneth? No, Kenny! That was it. But then … Sakura's heart sank. She remembered everything clearly now, how Ryu tried to attack her on their way back to visit him in the hospital. Her lip started to tremble.
"I came all the way here to see him," she said, choking back salty tears. "I spend one week's worth of my allowance to afford to come here. And he tried to kill me!" Sakura buried her face in her hands and began moaning. Hot tears stung her face, but it was nothing compared to the emotional pain she felt inside. She didn't know if she was more disappointed that she didn't get to tell her idol her true feelings, or the fact that he had tried to kill her. "Oh God, and all that money I spend to join the tournament just to see him…"
Oh shit. Sakura had forgotten about the tournament! She glanced at the grandfather clock, just beside the elaborate glass doors leading out to the balcony. She had five minutes to reach the Osaka dome. There was no time to even ponder when or how she got into this lovely room. Judging from the view she had from the suite's giant window over looking the city, if she got to the lobby quickly and ran the whole way, she would be at the very least, five minutes late. Better to be five minutes late than lose the opportunity to meet Ryu. Only this time, she wasn't sure how much she really wanted to meet him.
* * *
"No," Kenny protested weakly, "I don't want you to go!" He held onto Ryu's wrist with both hands, digging his heels into the pavement. His brows wrinkled, his lower lips began to tremble and he started shaking his head.
"Kenny," Ryu replied in a gentle, sympathetic tone, "we need to go. This is the Street Fighter tournament. It's what we came to participate in. Ken already bought you a ticket in the front row."
Ken moaned. "Yeah, and it cost me a fortune to buy a front row seat from someone who already had the ticket. The guy jacked it up to twice the price!" Ken clenched his fist. "So you better appreciate it, kid!"
"We'll meet up again after today's fighting is over," Ryu continued. "And here's two thousand yen for your lunch and dinner today." He handed the boy two thousand yen bills. Kenny hesitated. "Come on, you'll be okay. We'll meet here at ten o'clock tonight sharp."
"But…" Kenny didn't know how to put his thoughts into words. It was as if the thievery skills learnt during his time spent on the street left his mind completely. Meeting Ryu and Ken made him realize just how much he missed his parents. He wanted them to come home from their vacation. But if they didn't, Kenny didn't want to be left by himself on the streets. He wanted someone to talk to. And now, the only grown ups besides his mom and dad to care about his well being was Ryu and Ken. He didn't want them to leave now. But they had to go and he tried to understand that. "Do you promise?"
Ryu smiled and nodded, "Of course!" He rubbed the boy's head, ruffling his soft hair under the weight of his palm. He headed off with Ken, leaving Kenny behind waving goodbye with the tickets in his little hands.
As soon as the boy was out of view, hidden behind the hordes of people, Ken turned to Ryu and expressed an enveloping concern. "You think it was such a good idea leaving Sakura alone back at the hotel?" he asked.
Ryu shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she'll be alright," he said. "It's not often people wake up in a luxurious hotel room after being nearly murdered."
Ken chucked. "Yeah, I wish I could be there to see her reaction when she wakes up."
"I don't think you have to," Ryu replied.
"What are you talking about?"
Ryu grabbed Ken's wrist and pointed to a girl just a few feet away. She seemed to walk with confidence, although looking a little lost. She turned her head in every direction, reading the signs as the tails of her headband whipped around her.
Headband? "It's her!" Ken cried, pointing. He walked towards the girl, stretching his arms out in front of him and cracking his neck. "Stay back, Ryu. Leave the charming to the expert."
* * *
"Oh no, where am I?" Sakura asked herself. It was a stupid rhetorical question, she knew she was in the Osaka Dome. But among all these people who stood a good head taller than her, it was getting difficult to read the signs. She pulled out a watch with a broken band from the pocket of her blue school uniform skirt. She was three minutes late for the meeting. She ran both hands through her short brown hair and scratched her head in frustration. "I can't believe I pain over five thousand yen to get lost!"
"Hey there," a deep, gentle voice said from behind her. The girl spun around, to see an attractive American man staring at her with crystal blue eyes and blond hair. Any one of Sakura's classmates would've continued gazing at the handsome foreigner, but Sakura already had someone to look for. If it wasn't for quest to find Ryu, she would have immediately responded with a shy giggle.
Sakura opened her mouth to say something to the man, but something - or someone standing behind him caught her eye. "Ryu!" she squealed without even realizing it. She darted past the foreigner, her feet flying under her body until she reached the world warrior. She'd succeeded in catching his attention as he now look at her with deep brown eyes, anticipating her arrival.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Ryu asked. He cares about my well being! Sakura thought to herself.
"I'm fine," she said, her face turning completely red. But then she remembered. This was the man that tried to kill her last night. But now he seemed so… different. What was going on? "I just wanted to ask you …" What was Sakura to say? She couldn't bring the nerve to confront him on what he did last night. She started to break into sweat, worried about blowing her first meeting with the man she idolized.
But Ryu spoke first. "About last night," he said, "I must apologize for my actions." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know what came over me, but as far as I know, I don't think I've hurt you. Have I?"
Sakura's eyes widened with joy. He really does care about me! "Oh, haha! Don't worry about it!" She waved a hand at him. "I can understand why some people might wanna take a chunk outta me! I guess I can be pretty persuasive." Way to go, girl. Let's make ourselves seem more pathetic in front of our idol, shall we?
Ryu shook his head. "No, it's not that. I wasn't acting quite … myself last night. It's way too long and hard to explain but I just … I want to apologize." He placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura's voice cracked at the touch, an icy chill going up and down her spine.
"S…sure," she stammered. "No problem."
"Way to just ignore me like that," a third voice said. It belonged to that American man Sakura had seen earlier. "I've never been snubbed like that in my life!"
Ryu chucked. "Hail the master of the charm," he said sarcastically. Sakura was taken aback. Did these two know each other? Where they responsible for putting her in that nice hotel room?
"I'm sorry," she said, "I was about to respond but then I saw Ryu over here, and I really wanted to talk to him. I didn't mean to be rude and ignore you like that."
"I hate to interrupt," Ryu said, glancing at a digital clock hanging from the ceiling. "But weren't we supposed to be down by the locker rooms six minutes ago?" The other two looked at the time.
"Oh no!" Sakura cried. "We're late!"
"What do you mean, WE?" Ken asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "Are you participating too?!"
"Forget it," Ryu said, "she can explain later. We have no time, hurry!" The three of them darted off, running and disappearing into the mass of people, and out of sight. The second Alpha tournament of the Street Fighter organization was about to being and they were about to arrive fashionably six minutes late.