CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ruthless
Ken knew something was wrong the second the static cut in and drowned out Saya's voice. He tried calling the hotel again, but he received no reply.
"Damn…I hope she's okay."
"Ken?" asked one of the small boys. "There's a weird-looking lady coming up the driveway. Should I let her in?"
There was no chance that Aiko had come back from her trip just yet, and judging from the child's tone, he didn't recognize whoever it was approaching the orphanage. Ken, however, did recognize the woman all too well when he looked out the window.
"Oh, crap…" he muttered. "What in the world is she doing here?!
"Ken, what's wrong?" asked the boy.
"Kids! Get in the basement and lock the door! Quick!"
It seemed that the children had done so just in time, for Juri had kicked the front door off its hinges seconds later only to find the house completely empty. She could at least give credit to the kids for being smart enough to hide, but it wasn't like that would help them.
Now you're probably questioning how Juri could be cruel enough to harm innocent children for seemingly no reason other than they had some relationship with her organization's target. The answer to that is quite simple and rather obvious. Her head simply wasn't screwed on right, and she seemed to both know this fact and disgustingly enjoy it to a great extent.
"Alright. Now where are you?"
She stalked up the stairs, kicking open each and every bedroom door and looking for any signs of life or movement in them. At last, she spotted a shape under the blankets of one bed and smiled.
"Aww. Sleeping so peacefully. I almost feel bad disturbing you…almost."
Of course, she was in for a terrible surprise when she ripped the blanket off and…
"SHORYUKEN!"
Ken's fist slammed into Juri's face and knocked her back into the hallway where she skidded to a halt on her backside, oddly smirking the whole time.
"Well, well, Ken Masters. You're looking good."
"I'm happy I can't say the same for you." Ken growled with his fists raised. "What the hell are you doing here, Han?"
"I thought I'd just pay your little joint a visit. This is where Saya lives, right?"
"How do you…forget it. She's not even here."
"Oh, I know. She's having a little fun with the devil himself right now."
"What?!"
"Scared you, didn't I? Knowing her, she's probably fine. You've got nothing to worry about…well, except me having a playdate with all of her little friends here."
She licked her lips and sunk into a crouch, spreading her arms out like she was about to rush forward and bear hug him.
"You first."
"With pleasure. HADOKEN!"
The azure sphere of energy launched from Ken's hands and flew through the air at high speed, Juri simply curving her body away from it and launching forward with a high kick. Ken blocked with both of his hands, pushing her backward and palm-striking her forehead before she caught him in the stomach with a sudden knee.
"I thought Ryu would have gotten you to think harder about counterattacks. Y'know, you being an inferior clone of him."
"For the record, we trained under the same master. That's why we use the same fighting style."
"Hm. That makes sense. Of course, Ryu has that one part about him that I absolutely love…well, love to see come out. Getting hit by it burns like a mother."
"Provided he doesn't tear your heart out in the process…but I get the feeling that a sick part of you would really want that to happen."
Juri cackled and launched forward with a series of punches and kicks, all of which Ken either blocked or dodged.
"Think about it. It would be kinda cute if he ended up with me instead of that goody two-shoes Chun-Li."
"No. It would be boring."
"Why's that?"
"Because Chun-Li's actually a challenge."
Juri growled and seemed prepared to redefine "challenge" in Ken's mind, throwing a sharp and fast punch to his head before back-flipping out of the way of another Shoryuken. Then came the part that really hurt: upon reaching the apex of her jump, Juri suddenly rocketed back down at Ken with her foot outstretched, slamming it into his chest and sending him sprawling backwards. Unfortunately, he ahd been standing right in front of the stairwell when he had been hit and thus began tumbling down, hitting every soft bit of him as he did so until his back slammed into the wall.
Juri saw her chance for another blow and attempted another dive kick, only for Ken to strafe out of the way at the last possible moment and force her foot through the wall. Ken smirked.
"Here, let me give you a hand."
By "giving her a hand", he meant seizing her from behind and yanking her foot free before flipping her over his shoulder and slamming her head into the floor. As she got to her feet, Ken reared back and shot forward.
"TATSUMAKI SENPUU KICK!"
"Oh, no you don't! FUHAJIN!"
Using her leg, Juri sent a violet-hued wave of energy shooting up into Ken's groin, crumpling his legs as he came at her with a series of kicks. As she reared her leg up and stomped down at him, Ken rolled out of the way and got to his feet, throwing at another Hadoken and successfully hitting Juri in the back, only for her to run up the wall and come back down with another dive kick.
"Better try and new trick, sister, 'cause that one's getting old! SHORYUKEN!"
Ken's fist and Juri's foot slammed into each other, sending shockwaves through both of their bodies, Juri harmlessly dropping back to her feet and launching a kick at Ken's face that was too fast for him to dodge. The strike forced him backwards where she seized him and pinned him against the wall, headbutting him once before vaulting him over her shoulder. Once Ken was on the ground, Juri was on top of him in an instant, licking her lips before repeatedly pummeling him in the head and chest, dodging any escape punches he made during the ordeal.
"I'll stop when you admit I'm a better fighter than Chun-Li."
"Not a chance."
Juri struck him again, this time hard enough to knock a drop of blood out the corner of his mouth.
"Admit it. She wouldn't have pinned you down this quickly."
"I'll give you one thing…" Ken panted. "You're definitely more determined to win than she is…at the cost of being flat-out insane."
"Stating the obvious isn't what I wanted to hear."
Juri's eye glowed and she raised her fist again…
…only for a vase to shatter over her head and knock her off of him.
"Leave Ken alone, you monster!" shouted the same little boy who had seen Juri approaching the house in the first place.
Juri sucked in a pained and angered breath and clutched at the spot where the boy struck her, prepared to lash forward until she saw what she was dealing with. At that point, she smiled evilly and began stepping toward the boy, though not before heaving the severely weakened Ken off the ground and putting in one more strike to his head to send him into a dizzied state.
"You've got a lot of guts doing a thing like that, honey." she hissed, never once taking that frightening smile off of her face. "What's your name?"
"Who wants to know?!" the boy shouted back, looking fully prepared to start punching away if need be.
"Sweetie, I don't know if anyone's ever talked to you about respecting your elders."
"Oh, so you admit that you're an old bag."
Juri's eye flashed and her lips curled into a snarl.
"I'll teach you to call me an old bad, you wretched little…"
"HADOKEN!"
Juri went flying off to the side and into a wall where she crumpled to her knees temporarily, leaving the boy confused as to what just happened until he felt a hand lay itself on his head. He looked over his shoulder and spotted his rescuer garbed in a white karate gi and pants, a black karate belt, a red band running through his hair, and two red fighting gloves. Not to mention an encouraging smile on his face.
"You've got guts, sport, but you've gotta leave the brawling to the professionals, alright?"
The boy smiled and nodded.
"Yes, sir!" he replied before running back through the basement door and locking it behind him.
Ken staggered to his feet, still having no idea what was going on until Ryu pressed two points on his lower back. All at once, Ken snapped back to reality, his dizziness having faded completely and smiled at his friend.
"Just in time. She really is off her rocker."
"See? What did I tell you?"
"Going off-topic for a sec, what was that thing you just did?"
"Acupressure. Pressing down on the right spot relieves all sorts of ailments…and all sorts of pains if you get that one particular spot."
"Nifty. You learn that from Dhalsim?"
"Actually I learned it from a manga. Hokuto no Ken, I think it was called."
"Huh. Sounds worth a read."
"It is, actually."
The pair wasn't surprised when Juri began cackling as she got to her feet.
"Ryu. How nice to see you again. Your inferior clone here hasn't been giving me much of a challenge. You wanna help flip that around? Sneaky little spiders love a good challenge."
Ryu cracked his knuckles and neck and clenched his fists, sinking into a fighting stance.
"Fine. I hate spiders, anyway. Ken! Let's show her who's boss!"
Ken nodded and stood alongside Ryu as Juri lunged at both of them.
"FUHAJIN!" she hollered.
"HADOKEN!" they retaliated.
The energy projectiles collided and dissipated before their firers lunged inward and struck, Ryu catching Juri's leg as her foot was an inch from slamming into his face…only for her to giggle and coyly stroke her toes against his cheek.
"Tickle tickle."
"Punchy punch."
Ryu shifted his head to the side and dragged Juri forward before delivering a strong punch straight to her face, only receiving a kick to his chin when she flipped backwards. Thankfully, Ken was waiting for her as she landed and plowed her back with a Tatsumaki Senpuu Kick, driving her forward into Ryu's Shoryuken.
Sound one-sided? Not nearly so, because once Juri had managed to break free of their onslaught for even a second, her eye flashed repeatedly until it practically blinded the two for a brief moment. She let out a loud battle cry and flexed her fingers before her entire body was surrounded by a violet aura. Ryu sighed.
"Great. She still has that Feng Shui Engine stuck in her."
"And she's about to rip the two of you apart with it!" Juri cackled before diving at them again.
Unfortunately, she wasn't lying. She was now a lot faster and a lot stronger. Even blocking her attacks brought the two warriors injury as she struck as hard as she possibly could. For whatever reason, she seemed to be targeting Ryu more than Ken. Ryu and Ken knew perfectly well why, and they of course knew that it would take a lot more than an angry sadomasochist to unleash what she had been hoping for. Nonetheless, she proceeded to taunt Ryu after sweep-kicking him to the ground and back-kicking Ken for good measure.
"C'mon. We both know you can do better than this."
Ryu smirked as rolled backward and to his feet.
"So can you. HADOKEN!"
Juri let loose with a roundhouse kick and cut through the sphere of energy like butter and balanced herself on one foot before a buildup appeared on her leg and…
"FUHARENJIN!"
Her leg began lashing forward over and over again at lightning speed, launching several of the energy waves straight at her two opponents. Ryu blocked to the best of his ability and made an attempt at parrying, but only succeeding in pushing Juri an inch away from him before she came back and landed the kick on him anyway. He went sprawling backwards, still on his feet until she rushed forward again and balanced herself on one hand, spinning and kicking both him and Ken in the stomach and forcing them both to their knees.
"Caught in the spider's web, eh, boys?" she cackled before seizing Ken's neck and hauling him to his feet.
To her surprise and moderate anger, Ken simply laughed.
"Lady, that was bad. Like that was Batman and Robin bad."
"Like you can do better."
"I can. Lights out!"
She had forgotten to pin his arms and she paid the price for it when Ken brought his hands up and jabbed his fingers straight into her eyes. The aura vanished and Juri let out a loud shriek of pain before releasing Ken and shielding her eyes.
"Alright, Ken!" Ryu shouted. "Let's juggle her straight out the door
"You got it! TATSUMAKI SENPUU KICK!"
The kick sent Juri flying toward Ryu, who launched her back to Ken with a Shoryuken. Ken bent his knees and focused in what seemed like a nanosecond, but that was all the time he needed. As Juri's limp form approached him, he shot towards her, spinning like a top at lightning speed with a strong aura circling his legs.
"GUREN SENPUU KICK!"
Juri let out several small cries of pain but otherwise remained limp as she flew back toward Ryu, who positioned himself in front of the doorway, seized her and threw her outside, but he didn't stop there. He sank backward and clamped his hands behind him, opening them to reveal a massive buildup of energy before he launched it as a massive beam.
"SHINKU HADOKEN!"
Juri skidded across the pavement on her front, the energy lingering on her body for a few moments before dissipating. Then came the truly shocking part. She got to her feet as though nothing had happened. Granted, there were bruises and cuts all over her body, but in just a matter of seconds, an aura from her glowing eye had wrapped itself around her and healed them.
"What in the name of…" Ryu started.
Juri clenched her teeth and seemed ready to lunge at them again when she heard that god forsaken noise that was the absolute last thing that she ever wanted to hear: police sirens.
"Shit…" she growled.
She seemed ready to pounce away as the cop cars started coming around the corner, but she took the last few seconds to menacingly point at Ryu and Ken.
"This ain't over, you two! And Ken, let me be perfectly clear that Saya wouldn't be safe from us even if you got her off the damn planet. We're gonna get her before long!"
With that, she ran off at lightning speed, leaving the police to give chase while Ryu and Ken looked on in confusion.
"Ken…" Ryu said. "Who's Saya?"
"Huh? …well, that came outta nowhere. Saya Kusanagi. She's one of the orphans here. The caretaker sent her to live in Osaka with a friend of hers for a little while, but it doesn't sound like she made it there. I tried calling her but…I guess Juri or whoever must have jacked the line. Why do you ask?"
"Any idea what Juri would want her for? By 'we', she must mean S.I.N., right?"
"Okay, where are you going with this, man?"
Ryu cracked his knuckles.
"Call me a wandering knight or whatever. I'm going after her."
"Dude, just call Chun-Li and let her handle it."
"Chun-Li probably already knows about it but that's not what's gotten to me. It's the fact that A: Juri's after a young girl, and B: that little fiasco we saw before she left."
"She's got that thing stuck in her eye. She can do weird things, Ryu."
Ryu turned to Ken with a very stern look. Ken knew Ryu enough to know that he'd never joke about anything. He was too serious and level-headed for that.
"Ken, the Feng Shui Engine couldn't have done that. It makes her faster and stronger. It doesn't heal heavy wounds, especially not that quickly. I need to find out what's going on and put a stop to it before someone gets hurt."
As Ryu stepped out the door and prepared to leave, Ken sighed and smiled before clapping a hand down on his shoulder.
"You're just doing it so you can get some good thrills out of it, aren't you?"
Ryu looked over his shoulder and smirked at his American friend.
"What can I say? I love being challenged."
"Alright. Good luck. Sorry I can't go with you, but I got a house full of kids to look after."
"Don't worry about it. Tell Eliza I said 'hi'."
"You know she worries about you almost as much as I do?"
"In that case, tell her I said 'thanks', too. People worrying about me…people that care about me…they're what makes me want to fight further."
Well, that's one of two company mascots down (if you consider Ryu to be Capcom's mascot, anyway. Either him or Mega Man, which...hey, we got X, so either way, one of two down). Might please you to know that Mascot #2 (and his brother and dinosaur buddy) are coming next chapter.
And I know what you're thinking: "Where the ass is Captain Falcon?!". Hold your horses, folks! He'll be Falcon Punching his way in before long...speaking of which, Sakurai? He's in Smash Bros. 4, right? Also, I'd like to take the time to address a review submitted by pichufan101. She requested two characters, one of which was Mascot #2 that I just mentioned. The other one...hm. That could be interesting. Stay tuned, folks! ;)
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Saya, Ness, and Lucas- "Pollyanna" from Earthbound (SSBM)
Marth to the rescue- "Together We Ride" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (SSBM)
X and Zero versus Kirby and Meta Knight- "Meta Knight's Revenge" from Kirby Super Star (SSBB)
Link versus Morrigan- Morrigan's theme from Marvel versus Capcom 3
Link versus Dante- "Never Surrender" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Krystal and Trish versus the Moblin horde- "Lock and Load" from Devil May Cry 1
Krystal versus Mewtwo- "Poké Floats" from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Saya versus Ghirahim- Ghirahim's battle theme from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Frank versus Ghirahim- "On a Mission" from Dead Rising
Courthouse caving in- "No Redemption" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Samus escapes- Metroid Prime main theme
Chun-Li versus Samus- Chun-Li's theme from Street Fighter IV
Standoff on Mount Fuji- "Douchuumen" from The Mysterious Murasame Castle (go on Youtube and look for a version by a group called ysk1210)
Saya and Lucas- "Love" from Mother 3
"LET'S ROCK!"- "Devils Never Cry" from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
The Devil Trigger- "How Old is Your Soul?" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Ryu and Ken versus Juri- Ryu's theme from Street Fighter IV