No more intros or recaps. Let's go.

Chapter 10

He failed.

He couldn't believe it but he failed.

His plan and his empire was crumbling around him.

And, for once, Guerrilla didn't have a back-up plan. He did the only thing he could do: admit defeat, run, and live to fight another day.

Having exited the warehouse, the evil warlord had just gotten into his personal helicopter. He cursed the fact that he was found out and that he would have to start all over again. The helicopter was just taking off when Ryu arrived on the concrete landing pad. Guerrilla looked down at the reason for his organization's downfall and gritted his teeth, "Ryu…"

Ryu charged energy in his hands and released a Hadouken on the copter's blades, destroying them and causing the airborne vehicle to spin out of control. The helicopter started to plummet but Guerrilla opened the door and jumped out just in time before it crashed, landing in a crouching position. Ryu got into a fighting stance as Guerrilla stood on his feet.

Guerrilla stomped toward him, anger and hate raging off of him with every step. "I'm going to rip you to pieces!"

Ryu just stood ready.

Guerrilla swung his fist. Ryu blocked, ducked, turned in a circle, and swept Guerrilla's feet from under him. Ryu flipped and came down with a kick on Guerrilla's chest. Guerrilla groaned and quickly got back to his feet. He got into a boxing stance.

"You didn't beat me last time," Guerrilla taunted. "And you had help. What makes you think you can take me this time?"

Ryu said nothing.

Guerrilla couldn't tell if Ryu was being affected by his attempted mind games or not; so, he charged at his adversary and started swinging again. Ryu kept ducking under and picking his spots to punch and kick Guerrilla. This kept up for several more minutes and Guerrilla, while getting in some shots here and there, was expanding more energy and taking far more punishment than Ryu. Ryu remembered the last fight they had all too well and was careful as to not fall into the trap of being hit by Guerrilla too often. As much as the man was an arrogant blowhard, he was a very hard puncher. Ryu knew was he had to get in as many attacks as he could and stay out of Guerrilla's reach. If he was caught by too many of Guerrilla's strikes, he'd lose easily.

After a combination of a punch and three kicks from the renowned Street Fighter, one kick landing in the villain's gut, Guerrilla stumbled back. He growled at his opponent. "YOU THINK THAT'S IT? YOU THINK I'M DONE? NOT EVEN CLOSE!"

Ryu just held his fight stance.

Guerrilla started gathering energy. The energy grew stronger and more evil. It soon formed a dark green and black aura around his body. His eyes turned pure white, similar to Bison's. He got into a fighting stance. "Play time's over, Ryu."

He rushed at Ryu and punched at him. Ryu dodged as before but even Guerrilla's misses carried his aura with them this time. With every blow Ryu dodged, he felt a little more disoriented. Whatever the aura was, it was strong, even when it missed. Ryu tried to shake off the feeling in time to dodge the next attack but couldn't. Guerrilla caught him with a right to the jaw, followed by a straight left to the chest. Ryu fell back and rolled on the ground. He stopped and got to his knees to see Guerrilla smiling.

"Feel it yet, Ryu? You're not gonna win this."

While he had faced considerably strong opponents before, Guerrilla was different. So very different. Getting back to his feet, Ryu couldn't help but ask one question: "What are you?"

Guerrilla chuckled. "What am I? A valid question, coming from you, I suppose. I'm the results of what, some might call, a horrible childhood." He spread his arms out, "What you see before you is the result of a project of an organization so secret, I don't even know who they are. And don't think I have looked into it. Some say CIA, others say some group out of western Africa, while still others say an Asian syndicate with interest in bioresearch. Must've gotten me from birth." He scoffed, "I don't know and I don't care. What I do know and care about is how they enhanced me. At age 8, I was solving math problems that men with couldn't figure out. At age 14, I could rip a 4-door sedan in half. At 16…" He smiled, "I gave them a whole meaning to the term 'teenage rebellion.' But that's neither here nor there. To go back to your original question, what you are looking at… what I am… is progress. Not perfection, but progress. See, Ryu… I'm better than you. Physically, mentally, even emotionally. To that end, you must know that it pointless to face me. You can't win this fight."

Unfazed by Guerrilla's threats or power, Ryu stood back and resumed his fighting posture. "I've heard it before."

Guerrilla scoffed. "Maybe. But never from me." He charged in.

They entered into a fight for the ages. Every blow was masterfully done in execution, defense, or deflection. Both knew the importance of this fight: Guerrilla needed this victory if, for no other reason, than to do what Bison couldn't and take out the Hadou master and Ryu was going to bring Guerrilla to justice and make him pay for everything he did to Chun-Li. They both fought hard, putting everything they had on the table.

Despite the energy Guerrilla was giving disorienting him, Ryu managed to fight past that and landed crucial blows on the terrorist. Guerrilla stumbled back again. He decided to resort to an attack he was saving for when he absolutely had to. At the rate Ryu was raining down blows on him, he decided he absolutely had to. He lifted his arms in the air, his palms facing inward over his head, and a ball of energy formed between him.

Ryu was caught off guard.

"METEOR!" Guerrilla threw the ball of energy at Ryu.

He dodged just as the ground he was just standing on exploded. The blast forced him higher in the air and caused him to land harder. Ryu got to his feet as quickly as he could and just caught Guerrilla's fist coming right at him. He maneuvered to grab Guerrilla's arm and kicked him in the chest as hard as he could. He did so again. And again. And again.

Guerrilla leaned over in pain once Ryu let him go. Ryu backed up as well, breathing hard. He needed to end this fight and he needed to end it now.

Energy cracked around him in the form of a single strand of lightning.

Guerrilla recognized what that was: Ryu was powering up for a Hadouken. Despite his exhaustion and pain, he lifted his hands up again to power up another Meteor.

Both men formed their hands and got into the stances necessary for their most powerful attacks. Both knew that this was a fight ender, that this was a deciding factor in this struggle and neither was willing to back down. Both men had everything to win… and everything to lose. Soon, they both had their respective attacks ready at the exact same time.

"HADOUKEN!"

"METEOR!"

They both unleashed them at the same time.

The energies went flying at one another.

The blasts collided in a massive explosion. Both combatants went flying back. They lied motionless for several minutes, having spent so much energy, and struggled to get back up. Guerrilla managed to stand up but he was on shaky legs, severely exhausted and desperately trying to get air back. His aura of power had even faded. Upon seeing Ryu getting to his feet, tried to form the energy for another Meteor but he was far too exhausted. Ryu, seeing that Guerrilla was struggling to form the power to pull off a Meteor, ran at him, fierce and furious.

He started punching and kicking Guerrilla with everything he had. Guerrilla would once and again get in a strike or two but Ryu was unrelenting. With every blow connected and taken, Ryu saw images of Chun-Li in his mind. Every bit of pain Guerrilla had put her through, just to break her down.

Ryu was going to make Guerrilla pay for that.

He gave Guerrilla one more punch to the face that sent the terrorist reeling back, dazed.

Ryu's anger was boiling but controlled. There was no evil intent. No Dark Hadou. He wasn't driven by hate. This was about justice. This is about payback.

With a battle cry, Ryu ran at Guerrilla. Guerrilla growled, gritting his teeth. He swung at Ryu once he was close enough. Ryu ducked under and charged his fist with power. Guerrilla looked down in time to see Ryu coming…

…just not in time to do anything about it.

With fist… with his entire body charged, the World Warrior came up. With a single, powerful, Earth-shattering twisting uppercut. "SHOOOOORYUUUUUUKEEEEEEEEEN!"

The energy charged fist came across Guerrilla's chest and right against the terrorist's chin, sending them both rising into the air. Ryu landed in a crouching position as Guerrilla fell a good distance away from on to the sand, landed flat on his back, unconscious and broken. Ryu just stared down at him, breathing heavily. The fight was over. He had won.

"RYU!"

The victorious fighter looked to see Ken, Sagat, and Cammy approaching with Mei and Chow in tow. Ken ran up to him and hugged him, lifting him off the ground. "Ha-HA! You did it, man!" He put Ryu down.

Ryu sighed in exhaustion. He leaned over, placing his hands on his knees. He looked up at everyone, smiling and catching his breath. "Yeah… thankfully…"

"Situation's under control," Cammy announced. "Good plan, Ryu."

"Yeah, it was!" Ken said. "You impressed me, buddy."

He smiled. "Figured I needed to make sure this one was thought out. Guerrilla's not a guy you just go after. Learned that the hard way."

"What made you so sure he'd contact me?" Sagat asked.

"Because he claims he knows so much about us. I figured he'd know all about you, too. And, since I was coming to him, he'd want to make sure I'd have a strong fighter to face when I arrived. If, for no other reason, than to make sure I wasn't at 100% to fight him. I figured Vega would be here but I wanted to play it safe."

Everyone was astonished to say it but Ryu had a brilliant plan going in. He actually managed to stay one step ahead of Guerrilla. In truth, due to the defeated terrorist's arrogance, that was all he needed.

Sagat chuckled. "Well planned. I'm a little surprised by that, I must admit."

Ryu shrugged, "I surprised myself."

Interpol soldiers rushed on scene and handcuffed the unconscious Guerrilla preparing to take him away. Cammy looked all around. "Well, that's that, then. The rest of the forces are going to come in and clean this mess up. But we're done, though."

Ryu nodded then looked at Mei and Chow. "Come on. I think there's someone who's been looking for you two."

Now... THAT'S... what I'm talking about! And, hopefully, the fight lived up to everyone's expectations. So, the battle is done and the war is won. Now, all that's left is to wrap things up.