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Chapter 9: A Challenge Answered

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Gokuento...

A cave at the center of the island...

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Akuma's eyes shot open as he heard Elena's challenge. He remembered his challenge clearly, and shivered in fear as he heard the anger in her voice, the sheer power radiating from it.

She's here... And she's much stronger than before... Still not as strong as I was... But much more powerful than I am now...

Despite his intense training, he still grew weaker and weaker, becoming almost fully human in his strength. He could barely throw a Hadoken now, and his teleporting abilities had become extremely limited. He wasn't ready. He WASN'T.

How could I have fallen so far? he thought, trying to think of a way out of this and unable to think of one. He shook his head, and sighed. I have to fight. If I want to stay alive, I have to fight. And by all that's holy I'm not ready to die yet.

Akuma stood up, dusting himself off. He had changed both mentally and physically over the past few months, although he was unaware of the mental aspect. He had gone from confusion over his lost powers to despair, and was finally starting to feel something else: hate. Hate for Gill, whom he had started to realize must have had something to do with his loss of ability. But most importantly, hate for himself, for his growing weakness and coming to such paranoid conclusions. It was still the only one he could think of, though, and Akuma's pride would not let him succumb until he had found out the truth.

He took a calming breath, and stood up, cursing the stiffness in his limbs, and went out to meet her, stepping into the clearing outside of his cave.

He heard the telltale footsteps of Elena and one other coming for him, heard the fury in Elena's voice, her haggard breath as she ran through the forest.

Some part of her is still resisting the Satsui no Hado. Some part of her is keeping her from embracing it fully, Akuma thought, That may be my only chance for survival…

Akuma flinched as he heard a slashing sound, brush surrounding the clearing shredding, revealing Elena. The formerly demonic warrior was visibly surprised at the changes in Elena's appearance. Her body had become more muscular all around, and yet still seemed as lithe and agile as before. The scar on her chest glowed slightly, her single eye a pale white. Her hair had grown longer, now bound into a ponytail, and her skin had darkened tremendously.

Akuma sighed. His own skin had lightened considerably, his hair now cut short. His eyes had turned human once more, and he no longer held anywhere near as much of an intimidating presence. He looked… normal. Like an average Japanese man that worked out and had red hair.

He fully expected Elena to kill him. And strangely enough, the thought didn't frighten him as much as it used to.

"I await you," he said, stepping out into the clearing in front of the cave.

Elena twitched, glaring at Akuma. Something felt… wrong. He was different somehow. She recognized the face and the voice, but everything else about him seemed 'off,' as if something fundamental inside him had changed.

Sakura broke through the brush a moment later. Akuma felt something akin to admiration when he saw her, as the young Ansatsuken fighter had become a powerful young woman, Akuma pleased to see from watching her that she hadn't slacked off in her training or sparring, becoming master-class herself.

Sakura, for her part, stared at Akuma in shock. She turned to Elena, seemed to be about to stop her, when she looked to Akuma again and paused. Her eyes hardened, and she folded her muscular arms.

"You truly wish to do this? To claim vengeance on this man?" Sakura said.

Elena's voice was almost a hiss. "I need this… I need to make him hurt for what he did to me…"

Sakura sighed, her face not losing its icy expression. "Then do so. I will provide the Roda for this match."

Elena nodded, and dropped into her ginga, both Akuma and Sakura noting that her movements had greatly improved, reaching the rank of aluno formado, if not mestre. Akuma knew he was in for a major fight.

Elena twitched again. She had seen concern on the face of her enemy, something that looked strangely alien on his face. This entire thing felt wrong… Her long fantasy of vengeance was starting to unravel, the whispers in her head that assured her of her righteousness faltering slightly.

Elena shook her head, trying to clear it. Best to focus on the fight, and try to figure things out later. She began humming softly, an old tune she remembered from when she had her first serious capoeira match, providing herself with the music that would give her the rhythm for her fight.

Akuma started the match first, dashing in with a series of quick jabs, Elena going into a series of balança feints to dodge them. As they approached the back of the clearing, Elena parried the jab and struck him in just below the ribcage with a benção, a powerful thrust kick.

To both Elena and Sakura's surprise, instead of just wincing and shrugging it off like he normally would, Akuma staggered back, clutching his midsection and collapsing to his knees.

Dammit, Akuma thought, I've become too human, and she's become too much like I was…

Elena blinked, her mind losing focus as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Is this Akuma? Is it? she thought. Her thoughts, once clear and focused, were starting to fracture. The epic confrontation she had been hoping for seemed to be destined not to occur.

Sakura, for her part, was starting to realize what had happened, her mind whirling as she tried to figure out a way to proceed…

Akuma staggered to his feet, forcing himself to smirk. "Not bad," he said, "It seems I may have to withdraw my previous insults to you."

"You'll do more than that," Elena hissed.

Why does he even remember Elena's name? Sakura thought, Someone like her… like me, even, should be so beneath him that he would have forgotten she existed after scarring her like that…

Something more was going on here. Something she didn't understand.

Akuma tried again, this time spinning low into a sweep kick, one that Elena dodged easily. He came up with a Gou Shoryuken, although his fist lacked the blue flames it normally sported, despite having the same speed. Elena barely managed to dodge, his fist brushing her cheek, and did a forward flip into a Rhino Horn, a blade of ki forming around her foot, catching Akuma in the side as he descended. He screamed in agony, blood pouring from the wound as he flew off to one side.

Elena stared at him, twitching in confusion as he landed, clutching his side, visibly shaking as he tried to pull himself to his feet.

"Something is wrong…" she said, "This isn't right… Where is the power? Where is the power from last time!?!"

Akuma shook his head. "I don't know…" he admitted, "Something… happened to me at the last World Warrior tournament… I have lost the Killing Intent entirely… I had become so reliant on it, that most of my power is gone as well…"

Oh Buddha… Sakura thought, So that's it… She was careful not to let her face show her emotions, however. A plan was starting to form…

Elena stared at him for a long moment, her remaining eye twitching. "You… You've lost your power… You've become normal again…"

Akuma nodded, smirking. "And you have gained the power I once had, child… Rather ironic, don't you think?" he chuckled.

For a brief moment, Elena's vision flickered, returning to the nightmare. In Akuma's place, she saw her longtime friend Narumi. Elena gripped her hair and screamed in rage and confusion.

"This isn't RIGHT! This isn't what I wanted! This… this can't be him! THIS CAN'T BE AKUMA!" she bellowed.

Akuma chuckled. "As much as I wish it weren't so right now, I am indeed Akuma. The hands of fate have traded our destinies, child. In fighting you I see what I once was, and am content. Kill me, and become the master of the Fight," he said, calmly holding out his arms.

Elena screamed ferally, the sound more animal than human, and tackled Akuma, knocking him roughly to the ground. She straddled his stomach and held up her hand, forming a thick blade of ki around it, ready to plunge it into Akuma's heart. Her hand shook, sweat pouring down her body as she held her hand over his chest. A single thrust, that's all it would take…

…So why couldn't she bring herself to do it?

"Go on then," Sakura said, "Do it."

Elena didn't move.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What's wrong, Elena?" she said in Kenyan, Elena's native language, "Isn't this what you wanted? To get revenge on Akuma? "

"It is…" Elena said hesitantly.

"Then do it. Kill him. Prove your greatness to him. And you know what will happen then? YOU WILL BE JUST LIKE HIM." Sakura said.

Elena's mind suddenly relived her nightmare from before in full, exacting detail. But now, instead of just the friends she had made from the tournament, but her friends from school, as well as her family. Mixed in with these flashes were all the lessons her parents had taught her, all the kindness they had worked to instill in their little girl. At the end of this vision flashed Akuma's last words to her, the memory of them making her sick.

In fighting you I see what I once was, and am content. Kill me, and become the master of the Fight.

A single tear slid from Elena's remaining eye, the capoeira fighter lowering her hand, the ki blade disappearing. She glared at Akuma, her skin slowly lightening back to its normal shade.

"I am nothing like you," she hissed, "But I will make sure you remember me forever, remember that it was the girl you deemed not worthy enough to be a warrior that bested you."

She formed the blade of ki around her hand again, this time shaping it like a glove, and proceeded to carve her name in Akuma's chest, writing it in English. She dispelled the ki claw, and slapped Akuma roughly, getting up off of him.

Shaking, the realization of what she had almost done starting to hit her, she smiled weakly at Sakura. "I'm ready to go home now… I think I have a lot of apologies to make…"

Sakura's icy expression broke, and she smiled warmly. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

The two women left Akuma to bind his wounds, the utterly defeated Ansatsuken fighter tearing up his gi shirt to bind his cuts, which, while numerous, thankfully weren't too serious. He'd have some… interesting… scars when he healed, but he could live with that.

Sakura and Elena returned to the boat. When they told the Shadowloo trooper what happened, she protested angrily, trying to convince him to go finish him off. She gave up when they just glared at her. She said that she'd finish him off herself, and left the boat for the two of them, not really caring what they did.

Sakura shook her head. "Forget it. She can call for backup if she survives."

Elena frowned. "You really think Akuma's that dangerous?"

"To us? No, not at this point. To be perfectly honest, I think Dan could take him about now," Sakura said, getting an appreciative giggle from Elena, who was familiar with Dan Hibiki's 'unique' style, "But just from watching him I know that even injured and depowered as he is, he's still got enough strength to deal with some Shadowloo thug."

Elena nodded, looking worriedly back towards the center of the island before getting back in the boat, Sakura figuring out how to pilot it after a few moments. The two of them headed home, back to the new beginning that awaited the two of them…