Lesson 12: Advanced Teamwork

Makoto moves in as she joins the fight against Sagat. Fei Long is exhausted, but he knows he has to keep on his toes. Ibuki is still trying to cope with the fact that even her most powerful technique couldn't take Sagat down. However, he was still beyond fighting condition.

"I'll take it from here, you two should rest." Makoto Stated.

"That's not happening. I've got this." Ibuki responded.

"We can't take a chance…that you'll be victorious. We…have more experience with him." Fei stated as he was barely able to breathe. Makoto knew they were lying.

"You two are really bad liars." She firmly stated.

"You're right, Makoto. They ARE really bad liars." Sagat commented. His chi was growing stronger as he began to fully power up his dark chi. "Fei Long, I advise you to surrender and take a rest."

"You already know my answer." Fei responded. He stumbled toward Sagat, barely able to stay on his feet. As he used a weak straight punch to Sagat's chest, Sagat's doesn't flinch. Instead, he lightly pushes Fei to the ground. Fei attempts to rise up, but his body automatically gives in.

"Finally he stopped. Now, I'm coming for you Sagat!" Makoto shouted as she got into a defensive stance. Sagat's chi finally peaked. Unlike Dee Jay, it didn't seem to make him more evil. He was the same.

"When I got this power, I knew no one had a name for it. So I gave it one. I'm calling it the Ishi no Keisho." Sagat claimed. "And before you ask, it has no meaning, at least, not that I know of."

"I actually could care less about what it means. I just want to win." Makoto states as she brushed aside Sagat's speech. She then rushed towards him and used a barrage of punches against him. He seems to soak in all of her punches as if he felt nothing. Ibuki came behind her and distracted Sagat using her kunai. He is quick to dodge them and clothes lines Ibuki.

"Black Panther Shot!" Sagat creates a dark red version of his tiger shot and blasts it directly at Ibuki. Before it is able to reach her, Fei jumped in the way with his hands and feet spread apart. The power of the blast was enough to cause Fei to pass out and suffer heavy burns. Makoto starts to get angry and attempt to use a small amount of her power to strike Sagat with a straight forward punch. However, it produces the same effect as her regular punches.

"How is it that you can ignore my attacks?" Makoto shouts.

"The power of the Ishi no Keisho still has limits. And it seems you've reached it." Sagat responds as he kicks Makoto away from his position. Ibuki rises back into the action and attempts to use the same technique as before. As she launches herself at Sagat, he crunches over his knee. "Black Panther Raid!" He then delivers a barrage of kicks to Ibuki and finishes with a powerful dark-red flying side kick. Ibuki was sent flying away unconscious.

"No, you took out Ibuki!" Makoto shouted as she fully powered her Ishi no Keisho. "I won't let you get away with that."

"You'll continue to use your power. And you'll continue to lose your way. You can't win that way." Sagat explains. "This power has lots of benefits…" Makoto doesn't give him the time to finish his sentence as she starts to use another barrage of punches against him. Although they do cause a bit of stumbling for Sagat, this till can't do much to stop him. "Are you really going to keep up with this?"

"Shut up and fall already!" Makoto uses one final uppercut into Sagat's chin. However, he isn't even fazed.

"I guess it's my turn." Sagat warns as he crunches over his knee once more. This time, the dark energy that surrounded him all drew towards his legs and fist. He focused his only good eye at Makoto. "Dark Panther Uppercut!" Sagat then knees Makoto and the stomach and follows up with a flying uppercut, sending her 9 feet in the air. He then finishes the technique off by performing one more dark-red uppercut into Makoto's abdomen. The power of the attack seemingly knocks her out cold as her eyes become duller. Also, it seems that Sagat's attack caused him to completely drain her dark energy.

"So…it seems you were able to beat them after all." Juri commented stalely. She still hadn't taken her eyes off of her book.

"Still not impressed?" Sagat asked rhetorically. "You already knew they couldn't stop me. No amount of training can compete with experience. None at all." Sagat's words don't move Juri at all. But they've seemed to have moved the now awakened Makoto. He return from the short slumber greatly surprised Sagat. This is especially surprising seeing as the Dark Panther Uppercut was the most power most in Sagat's skill set.

"You're wrong. Weeks ago, I learned about inner strength. Our bodies are programmed to only use a certain amount of our strength. However, when our lives are threaten to the highest levels…" Makoto's eyes connect with Sagat's. Fei and Ibuki slowly start to rise up from the ground. "…that's when the human body begins to unleash its full potential."

Makoto grabs Sagat arm and maneuvers herself to land on her feet. She then proceeded to strike Sagat in the abdomen with her fist. It proves to cause some minor damage to him, much to his own surprise. However, his surprises weren't over as Fei rose back to his feet and also struck Sagat in the abdomen. Their combined strength forced Sagat's body to soar 13 feet vertically into the air. Juri released her eyes from her booklet to see how the three of them would fair against Sagat. She was surprised by the amount of teamwork that was put into attacking him, but she had not seen anything yet as Ibuki hopped directly about Sagat holding eye contact with him.

"Did you miss me?" Ibuki mocked. Sagat tried to punch her, but she blocked his fist with her bare hand. She then proceeded to turn his body in a 180 degree angle and kick the right side of his abdomen. She followed up with a swing to the left side of his abdomen and a reverse elbow strike to his right rib cage.

"Heh, I gotta say…you three…make a pretty great team." Sagat complimented. Although Ibuki was wearing a face mask, Sagat could still tell that she was smiling. She proceeded to finish her attack with a leg drop directly to Sagat's spine. At the impact of the strike, Sagat's body crashed heavily into the ground below, ultimately defeating him. Makoto hops in the air with joy as they have defeated the only other fighter in her tournament that was in the way of her getting the chance to face Akuma. Ibuki and Fei, however, weren't as enthusiastic. Their bodies had given out as they had used the last of their energy on their final attack against Sagat. Makoto was about to worry, but Juri interrupted her.

"You can't worry about them right now. We've finally arrived to the moment we've been waiting for." Juri announced as she pointed towards Akuma. He stood atop of their house and watched the two of them. Usually, he'd smile at an opportunity like this. It's too bad, because this time he's not smiling.

End of Chapter 12

(Upcoming: Lesson 13: Advanced Inner Strength)