Lesson 14: Advanced Competency

*4 Months ago*

Makoto's body is seen lying on the ground in front of Akuma, whose chi was dangerously powerful. It was motionless and badly damaged. Juri was watching the two of them from nearby bushes. She was impressed by the amount of power that was at Akuma's disposal. She wore a single glove made by SIN. It was a chi drainer that had been in development the year Seth was killed. It was unfinished at the time, but she finished it recently. As Akuma began to leave the area, Juri jumped out of the bushes and used her glove to attempt to drain Akuma's chi. It began working, but the intensity of his power destroys her glove. It also causes her Feng Shui engine to shut down as she falls to her knees.

"Was that it? I thought you were coming to fight." Akuma stated.

"I did, but I wasn't expecting this." Juri responded. "That power…I've gotta have it."

"You can't even handle it. I can see it in you one bad eye." Akuma stated. Juri got upset, but she looked towards Makoto and noticed that she had a similar aura her body.

"Wait, she has the power too?" Juri asked.

"You can take the power from her if you want. Just make sure you do it before she dies." Akuma explained as he continued to leave the area.

"Wait! I won't be able to…" Juri stopped herself as she saw she had no choice. She returned her attention to Makoto and decided it would be best to find a way to keep her alive. For weeks, Juri had been using the technology she recovered from SIN over the years to nurse Makoto back to health. She wasn't much of a nurse, but with the help of Ibuki and a lot of trial & error. Juri only has one motive; use Makoto to draw out Akuma.

*Present Time*

Akuma's body continues to head directly towards Makoto. As soon as he makes it to her body he performs his 14-hit Raging Demon technique. Everyone blacks out for a second. Afterwards, Juri returned her sights to the battle. She tried to squint her eyes to gain a clearer look at what happened. She saw a figure lying on the floor and another figure stand with their back turned to her. As her sight returns, she realizes it is the same scene that she saw months ago. However, this time the roles were reversed. Akuma was the one laying on the ground. Both he and Juri were shocked at the outcome of the attack.

"How did you…" Juri began.

"That's…impossible." Akuma stated.

"I was wondering when you would use that technique again." Makoto mocked. She had purplish chi flowing around her waist. However, it wasn't the Ishi no Keisho. The Feng Shui engine activated the secret safe-guard that was implanted inside of her by Juri. "Thanks partially to Juri's help I was able to read your attack perfectly."

"If won't do much for you." Akuma boasted as he forms dark chi into his hands. Makoto skips away from Akuma as he prepares to strike her using two dark forms of the hadoken. "Feast upon the extension of my power. Gohadoken!" He fires the first Gohadoken at Makoto. She places both of her hands on the ground and hops above the blast, barely dodging it. Akuma then fires the second Gohadoken at her while she's in the air. "How elementary."

"No, Makoto!" Juri shouts as she vainly reaches towards her. However, the malfunction of the engine in her eye causes her to return her focus to her eye.

"Feng Shui Impact Brace!" Makoto shouts as she guards her face by crossing her arms in a defensive style. As the Gohadoken strikes her, she uses her inner power to reduce the amount of damage the Gohadoken would do to her. Without wasting a second, she forced her body to dive straight into Akuma. Before she was able to hit him, he hopped away from where he was standing. When Makoto landed on the ground, she quickly ran up to Akuma. He waits for her to get close enough.

"Tatsumaki Zankukyaku." His spinning leg technique is enhanced by his dark chi. It is definitely powerful enough to take Makoto down, even if she used the Feng Shui Impact Brace. She slyly maneuvers below Akuma's leg and counters him by using her own roundhouse kick. Her attack does some damage to Akuma, but he still has a lot of strength.

"I gotta say I wouldn't even be able to do this without you Akuma." Makoto states.

"What do you mean?" Akuma asked. "I taught you how to harness the full potential of the dark chi."

"No. You actually gave me a full blown look at all of your secret techniques. I can read when and how you execute them and I don't even need the dark chi." Makoto confirmed. "Yes, the Feng Shui upgrade is giving me a slight advantage, but it only makes a 14% difference to the outcome. The rest was from the competency of my own skills and my trust in those who've been around me for the past month." Akuma's chi started to rotate rapidly. He goes into his signature stance and charges up greatly.

"Well then, it seems maybe I should pull out the real deal." Akuma said. He then pulled his arms back like he was about to unleash a hadoken. However, it was about to be something worse.

"Messatsu Gou Hadou!" Akuma forced out a powerful energy beam style Hadoken out of his hands. All Makoto could think of was the Kamehameha from Dragon Ball Z. The beam was way too fast for Makoto to dodge it. Everything in its path was eradicated. After the attack was finished, Makoto was gone. And so was whatever was behind her. Thankfully, her house was behind Akuma.

"Makoto, what happen?" Juri asked. She was so focused on her eye that she was unable to actually pay attention to the fight.

"It seems she couldn't handle the pressure." Akuma stated. He began to lower his guard as he started to go back to normal.

"I can't believe it. She lost again?" Juri stated in disbelief. She was able to take a look at the battlefield for herself again. She realized that he was right.

"You trained her, but it wasn't enough. You'll never be able to replace her fath—"

Makoto appears in front of Akuma out of nowhere. Akuma is shocked by her appearance and so is Juri. Makoto's skin was red and the purple aura that was around her was gone. She used a rising punch into Akuma's gut. The strength of her attack made Akuma's body rise 5 inches off the ground. Makoto then proceeds to strike Akuma three more times raising his body up to 21 feet in the air. Makoto then quickly hopped into the air behind Akuma. She pulled her fist back preparing to finish Akuma off. However, Akuma powers another Gohadoken in his hand. He turned around quickly and fired it towards Makoto. However, Makoto punches directly through the Gohadoken and her fist directly strikes Akuma's chest. The impact caused a small shockwave from her fist. It also forced Akuma into the earth below. A large crack was formed on the ground around Akuma. Makoto landed safely on the ground right next to him. Only one sound echoed through both her mind and Juri's mind.

"KO!"

End of Chapter 14

(Upcoming—Chapter 15: Graduation)