A short trip back to Game Central Station had Sora and the guys instantly confused. Because aside from Ralph, who was grumpily stomping off towards his game, the station was practically empty. Just a few stragglers here and there, with even the cliched tumbleweed blowing past in a mesh of pixels.
"S-so this Coin Duty thing must be happening right now?" He supposed.
"Looks like?" Goofy shrugged. "So we're s'posed ta check these here other games, see if there's any bad guys?"
"I think-ink-ink-ink so." Sora juddered.
"Hey! You gotta learn to control that!" Donald scolded.
"Mind telling me exactly how, Donald?" Sora frowned back at him.
Donald folded his arms in response, and grumbled something to himself.
"Alright so... which one?" Sora asked of his companions. The station was built like an enormous waiting room. Or station, he reminded himself with a palm to the forehead. A huge oval shape, with rows upon rows of uncomfortable looking chairs through the centre, and a plant and a water cooler every other ten chairs or so to make the place look at least a little friendly.
"Well, Calhoun said this one wus infected?" Goofy was the voice of reason. "Maybe we should check this one first, and just go clockwise?"
"...good thinkin' Goof." Sora nodded in approval. His body still juddered about a bit with his movements, but they were far less jerky now than they had been. Maybe that meant he was getting the hang of it?
But just as confidence began to creep in, his hand flailed of its own accord and slapped him in the face. Maybe not. Donald cackled in laughter, and Sora was ready to backhand the duck when a shock of electric blue zapped past the three of them, barring their path.
"Now wait there just a second eh?" The blue figure raised a hand. He straightened his tie, and consulted a clipboard. "Just makin' sure everything's secure. Do you have clearance?"
Sora flashed the keycard that Calhoun had given him.
"O-oh wow," the security guard threw a quick salute. "S-sorry to question ya sir! Please go on through."
Quick as a flash, the little blue man dissolved into a stream of lightning and bounced back down the station.
"Huh. That was easy." Sora frowned. Stowing his keycard away again, he beckoned the guys forwards, and the three approached the giant archway. The moment they had passed the threshold however, Game Central Station's clean and friendly aesthetic had been lost for more of an... 'aggressively homeless' ambience?
"Man, talk about a fixer upper," Sora scrunched up his nose at the stench. The only other time he'd come across a smell this bad was when he found Cid asleep under a park bench in Traverse Town. With his eyes watering, he dashed through to the little train thing. It chugged along at a desperately slow pace, as if it knew he couldn't stand the smell. But thankfully his nose was spared as the three continued through a dark tunnel into the first game they were to explore. Check for Heartless, or... Cy-bugs or whatever, and make sure there were no other bad guys loitering around. Calhoun was trusting him, and she didn't seem like a lady who trusted anyone easily. So he couldn't let her down.
"Alright guys, I dunno what we'll find when we go through this tunnel," Sora explained to the others, as the light at the end of it grew closer. "So we're just gonna have to trust our gut, and g-whoooa?!"
With a sudden lurch, all three companions were hurled from the train, and onto a solid concrete floor.
"Oww...! Wish someone warned us about that..." Sora rubbed at his jaw. With a stumble, he helped Donald up, and took a good look around this new world he was in.
Temples and statues. Lots of temples. All pointy and old fashioned, like in a ninja movie or something. Sora also found that the three of them were a lot more pixellated than before, rather than just vague blocks of colour. They weren't detailed, but he could flex his fingers again, and Donald's face actually had definition to it.
"Def-f-finitely an improvement, huh guys?" He spoke, and noted the different tone in his voice. More metallic, almost... robotty.
"You did that thing again!" Donald was a lot more monotone too.
"I know, Donald...!" Sora groaned. "I'm tryin' to control it, okay? Quit bugging me ab-"
"Who... are... you?" A voice. Sora span around to confront it, and locked eyes with an overtly muscular man garbed in what looked like an orange military uniform of some sort. The man had already taken a fighting stance, with one arm arcing above him like a claw from a prize grabber, and the other low and defensive. Probably not a guy with a sense of humour.
"Coin Duty'll be here any moment, and now I gotta deal with some kid goin' Turbo in my game? Where you from anyway, virus?"
"Virus?!" Sora muttered to himself. What even was a virus? Like a cold?
The man's body language told Sora he should keep his distance.
"H-hi, I'm Sora. These're Donald and Goofy." The boy bowed low, because that was polite. "S-s-Sergeant Calhoun sent us out here in her place, to make sure the games were all... s-safe and sound, y'know? Have you seen any weird little-"
"Kid. Stop." The man in orange beeped one hand shut, and Sora followed suit. "Now listen carefully. You are in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Coin Duty is here in less than three hundred seconds, and we are not getting unplugged because of some uppity brat thinkin' he's taking over for Calhoun. So unless you turn around and walk away, we'll be forced to kick your butt in ninety nine. So you just take your little virus buddies with you, and go someplace else. You hear me?"
As usual, the threat flew straight past. "...so I'll take that as a no?"
"Ugh..." the man pinched his nose. "Fine then, we'll have to do this the fun way."
He punched one hand into the other, and suddenly the backdrop of temples and things had levelled out into a giant square. Just when Sora thought it couldn't get any weirder, six names 'blorped' up on a nearby wall; Donald's and Goofy's he recognised, but there were three he didn't.
"Who're 'Bison', 'Zangief' and 'Blanka'?" He squinted at the blocky writing on the wall.
"And what's wrong with your name, Sora?" Goofy pointed out. Indeed the boy's name was looking a bit funny, as just the letter 'S' and a few pixellated blobs.
"You better get yourself ready, kid," spoke the man in orange once again. Sora span around to address him, only to find out that he'd been joined by two others. One was about seven feet tall, bearded, even more stupidly muscular, and wearing only bright boots and spandex. The other crouched down more like a gorilla, but had weird greenish skin and an orange sort of mohawk thing. The green one howled, and flexed its claw-like fingers.
"I crush you like sparrow's egg between thighs." The bearded one sure had a heavy accent. He slapped his leg, and let out a deep laugh.
"...uh oh." The gravity of the situation had finally gotten through. A cheesy wrestling bell sounded three times in the background, and an enormous number ninety nine began counting down.
"A-Alright guys, pick a guy and fight!" Sora instructed, and his 'colleagues' leapt into action.
"Who-oa!" Sora leapt out of the way to avoid an electrified fist, and then again as an enormous boot slammed down where his head would've been. A timely handspring had him swerving around and striking the orange man in the side of the face with his keyblade.
There was a beeping up above them, and Sora allowed himself to get distracted by it, noticing that 'Bison's HP bar had decreased. That was one mystery solved.
"Thunder!" Donald squawked, and showered a flume of lightning bolts across the green guy. It just howled again, not seeming fazed by the electricity at all. With a snigger, the green thing tucked itself into a ball and launched itself at Donald, dealing heavy damage.
"Is good to see you again, Comrade Goofy," the big beardy one had wrapped his arms around Goofy's shield, crushing it out of shape. Even despite Calhoun's reinforcements, the thing just was not standing up to beardy's brute strength. "I thought you were unplug year ago!"
"H-how'd'ya know m'name?" Goofy's resistance was crumbling on the other side of his shield.
"How I know you-" the bearded one guffawed. "A-HAH! EVERYONE know Comrade Goofy in arcade. Mister Donald too!"
"W-what about me?" Sora had to evade an elbow drop from Bison.
"You... are stranger, small pointy man." The bearded one squinted his beetle black eyes. The warmth in his conversation had disappeared.
But on the bright side, it gave Goofy a chance to counterattack. His shield met the big man's chin, who recoiled just a little from it, as if hit by a water balloon.
"Zangief, we're here to crush these intruders, not make friends with them." Bison shoved Sora out of the way, and shook his head disapprovingly at the taller man.
"Why not both?!" Zangief grinned, knocking Goofy's shield to the ground and bear hugging him.
"Fine..." Bison grimaced. "Just make sure you w-ungh?!"
Bison's distraction cost him, as Sora hit him in the side of the face with his keyblade. A fresh scar was torn across the man's cheek, and a ribbon of blood surged.
He grit his teeth, "I'll let you have that one for free, virus."
And without even changing his stance, Bison simply launched his entire body forwards. It was coated in some weird sort of energy, and Sora couldn't react nearly fast enough to avoid it.
"Unf...!?" Sora was knocked several metres backwards, feeling as though something had just burst through his stomach. He clattered to the ground, and could taste the metallic sting of blood in his mouth. His vision blurred, and he could just about piece together that Bison's attack had shaved his HP bar clean in half.
Donald wasn't faring much better either. With his Thunder magic useless against the green guy, who must've been Blanka, he had no choice but to try and aim Fire and Ice spells. Which Blanka avoided easily.
The ape like creature zipped between the projectiles like they were nothing, and Donald couldn't defend against its sharp claws for long. With a fierce uppercut the duck was launched, and he gave out a wailing, slow motion, over the top shriek of pain as he fell to the ground. Donald's entire HP bar was depleted, and the duck fell unconscious.
"D-Donald...!" Sora tried to wrench himself upright. The pain in his middle was immense, but Donald was in much worse shape. If only he could get to-
"-too slow, kid." Bison interrupted. A sharp elbow to the head had Sora seeing stars next to Donald, followed immediately by Goofy as Zangief released him from the bear hug.
"YOU, LOSE." Came an automated voice from seemingly nowhere. Some local spectators cheered for the three victors, who wasted no time with their celebrations.
"Not bad for warm up, small man," Zangief offered Sora a hand up. "But you pick wrong target. Comrade Bison is strong against-"
"Zangief, why are you helping them?" Bison glared at the wrestler.
"Because bad guy can also be good guy, Bison." Zangief gave his 'comrade' the brightest smile. "Fight is more fun with real competition, nyet?"
Bison glanced up at the wall above, as all the HP bars and timer were reset. "...I suppose."
Another countdown presented itself on the board, and the automated voice rang, "Round, Two! Fight!"
"Oh gods, again?!" Sora yelped.
"Yes, small man. This time I fight Mister Donald!" Zangief chuckled, and leapt at the duck without warning.
"Whah?!" Donald flailed out of Zangief's grip, and started flapping around the arena as Bison and Blanka bore down on Sora and Goofy.
"Well..." the boy grimaced. He wasn't about to trust a complete stranger, but something about the simply spoken giant seemed pretty believable. With a nod to Goofy, the two stared down respective opponents.
"You think I won't crush you just as easy?" Bison taunted, and launched an electrified fist into Goofy's shield. It rang like a heavy bell though, and Sora could've sworn that Bison was hiding pain beneath that angry expression he always seemed to carry.
Meanwhile Blanka was fast, zipping about almost as fast as Sora's eyes could follow. His reflexes acted before he could, and blocked a strike from the creature, sparing his face from two inch claws.
"Hua?!" The beast howled in confusion, and sprang away like a jack in the box. Sora took his chance and jumped forwards, keyblade in hand. Meanwhile Donald was still evading Zangief.
"I make you into Pirozhki!" There was a manic glint in the giant's eye as he failed to ensnare the duck yet again.
Donald countered with a Fire spell, "You can't eat me! I don't taste good!"
"But you will when I cook you!" Zangief's enormous fists clutched at feathers, and was met with a freezing Blizzard spell as punishment. The goliath yelped in pain as his fingers were frozen solid.
There was another loud clang as Bison's elbow clashed with Goofy's shield, denting it but not breaking his defence. Goofy glared at the man in response, and tucked in tighter, bashing his advances away.
"Got any attacks other than a dumb shield bash?" The military man growled.
"Aw, you bet!" Goofy was suddenly cheery again. With careful aim, he flung the thing, scything between Bison's outstretched arms and thumping him in the stomach.
"Ungh..." Bison slipped to one knee. Goofy wasted no time in collecting his shield and bashing Bison in the side of the head with it.
Then there was a sudden power surge as Blanka dug its claws into the ground and loosed a flare of electricity across its body. Sora was moments too late with his attack, and sunk his keyblade into the nova. The electricity surged through his system thanks to the two feet of metal he was holding.
"Nyaj-j-j-j!" Sora juddered, before shooting off in the other direction. He tumbled across the ground, smoking and jerkier than ever.
Blanka howled in laughter as Sora staggered back to his feet. With a flail in his step, he again readied his keyblade and attacked, dodging around Blanka's legs and striking the thing across the back. Blanka recoiled from pain, and Sora followed up with another gouge to the side.
Meanwhile Zangief couldn't get close enough to Donald for any grappling moves. The duck simply kept firing off magic spells to wear him down. Goofy's shield was proving too tough for Bison to break through as well. His spinning charge could knock Goofy back, but charging headfirst into a heavy shield only did more damage to Bison himself.
"Rraaaooow!" Blanka howled, and covered himself in another layer of electricity. Sora was once again in mid-jump, and had his keyblade prone, ready to strike.
But he cracked it into the ground with a dulled thud, and used his momentum to kick Blanka from the ground. With another roar, the best fell onto its back, and Sora's momentum carried forwards. He wrenched the keyblade back out of the floor and slashed it across Blanka's vulnerable chest.
"Ragh?!" The creature gasped out, spitting up blood. Sora leapt with the Keyblade in hand one last time to finish the job, and-
"TIME, OUT." Came the automated voice, at literally the worst time possible. Sora and the guys watched with baited breath as the game calculated results...
"YOU, WIN."
The handful of spectators cheered for Sora, Donald and Goofy this time, and the young man literally fell out of mid-air with a heavy crash.
"Whew...!" He gasped. "Th-that was a close one!"
"You got lucky, kid," Bison growled. "If it weren't for that last hit, you would've lost."
"Bah! Stop your complainings, Bison. That means we get round three!" Zangief ground his knuckles. But the smile was wiped from his face as an all consuming white light flared up on one side of the 'arena'.
"Hurry small man! Be hiding now!" Zangief gasped, literally shoving Donald behind a nearby pillar. Goofy had scrambled into a tree, and Sora was forced to hide behind Blanka, because he simply didn't have enough time to get anywhere safer.
The green creature huffed and growled, but remained painfully still as the sweeping white light sailed across. It got to Blanka and slowed down, probing his location with extra care. And then a second time, and even a third.
But eventually, it seemed satisfied with the findings, and swept all the way through, eventually dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared.
"That... was too close." Bison rest his head in his palm. "Satisfied kid? Nothin' to see here."
"Huh..." Sora muttered. "So that big light thing... that was Coin Duty?"
"Are you tellin' me that Calhoun seriously sent a noob to-"
Zangief elbowed him.
"Fine..."
The military man lowered his cap, and instead offered Sora a salute. "Thank you for the fight. It was good to have some new opponents for once."
"Come back for round three soon, yes?" Zangief looked hopeful. Sora couldn't help but grin in response.
"You got it guys!" He gave them both a thumbs up. "C'mon Donald, Goofy, let's get onto the next one!"
Goofy fell out of his tree with a yelp, and the three friends departed from Street Fighter. One game down, four to go!
Hey guys. An update for you.
My Street Fighter canon is rusty at best, but hopefully this made for a good chapter. It was fun to write at least.
Feel free to guess what game's coming next!