Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to Capcom.
Chapter 6: More Odd Meetings
Kanzaki Estate…
Sakura and the others weren't able to believe what they had just witnessed. Just mere moments ago, they had seen people just disintegrating into dust in the wind, including family and friends.
"This… has become much bigger than I could ever imagine..." said Dhalsim.
"Bigger!? I just lost my family!" shouted Ken.
"Calm down, Ken!" said Guile. "I lost mine as well, so I can sympathize, but we need to have a clear head on this."
"Sean..." said Laura.
"Mama… what happened to mama?" said Blanka, now worried for his mother, who might have met the same fate as all these people. Dhalsim also feared for the safety of his wife and son. Alex couldn't help but think about his own adopted family, Tom and Patricia.
Ken looked down in shame. "I'm sorry. I've forgotten I'm not the only one in pain here..."
"It's fine, Ken. It's only natural you'd react that way." said Chun Li.
"So what is our next move?" asked Sagat.
That was when Ryu's danger sense went off.
"We've got trouble." said Ryu as he took a fighting stance.
Suddenly, shadows formed on the floor, which then elongated to take the shape of humanoid beings. A huge number of the creatures appeared before them, but what got their attention was that their hands suddenly shaped themselves into what looked like spiked mace heads.
"What… are they…?" asked Cammy.
"They don't look human..." said Elena.
"I have a feeling they're not here to say hello." said Ibuki as she tensed up.
"I don't care!" said R. Mika. "I've got a lot of pent up stress and I need to take it out! These things will suffice!"
"Damn straight!" said Ken as he got into a stance. "Whatever you guys are, you caught us all in a really bad mood!"
One of the macehands lunged at Ken with a hand reared back, but was immediately kicked away.
"Big mistake!" said Ken as he and the others charged.
"Looks like there's no choice." said Elena. In an instant, she threw off her clothes and shoes, now clad in her tribal capoeira wear which could only be described as a white thong bikini with multi-colored bands around her shins, wrists, upper arms, and neck.
It soon became a free-for-all.
Ryu knocked a macehand back with a punch then struck another with a spinning reverse roundhouse kick. He side-stepped a macehand's attack and hit it with a body blow before slamming it into the floor with a judo throw then nails another one with an uppercut. Ryu then cupped his hands to his sides as he focused his ki before thrusting his hands out.
"HADOU-KEN!"
A blue ki projectile was launched from Ryu's hands, taking out three macehands as it impacted hard on them.
Ken struck down a macehand with a jumping spin kick before sending another flying with an uppercut. He then grabbed a nearby macehand and knee kicked it a few times before kicking it away. Turning, Ken punched a macehand in the face followed by a kick in its gut. He managed to duck another macehand's attack in time where he took it down with a foot sweep and gave it a downward punch in its face to make it stay down. Two more macehands charged at Ken, who then twisted his body before launching himself at them.
"TATSUMAKI SENPUKYAKU!"
The two macehands were taken out by the rapid spinning kick.
Chun Li nails a macehand in the head with a spin kick when another one comes at her but was knocked away by a high kick. She then flips over a macehand's punch where she then kicked it in the back of its head. Then Chun Li dodges another macehand's attack before hitting it with a double palm thrust, knocking it back. She cartwheeled forward and brought her heel down on another macehand's head. A macehand tries to get her from behind, but Chun Li brought her hands back and thrust them out at its chest.
"KIKOKEN!"
The macehand was blasted back by Chun Li's ki projectile fired at point blank.
Guile knocked down a macehand with a hard straight punch, spun around to hit another down with a spinning backfist, then followed up with taking down a third with a jumping spinning back kick. The next macehand gets hit with a lunging knee kick followed by a front kick to down it. Guile weaved around another macehand's attack to get in behind where he grabbed it and slammed it into the floor with a German suplex. Quickly getting up, Guile hits an incoming macehand with a spinning high kick before throwing his fists back.
"SONIC BOOM!"
Swinging his fists forward, Guile fired off his boomerang-like ki projectile at a macehand, taking it down.
Cammy knocked down a macehand with a jumping spinning backfist then gave a high kick to the next. She doubled over to duck a swipe at her head where she went into a handstand and kicked upwards with both feet at the offending macehand. Once it was down, Cammy jumped at another macehand where she wrapped her legs around its neck then flipped backward into her frankensteiner, slamming it into the floor. Bouncing back onto her feet, she then ran towards three more macehands charging at her,
"SPIRAL ARROW!"
Cammy shot herself forward feetfirst while spinning her body, plowing through the macehands.
Blanka let out a roar as he scratched down at a macehand then delivered a drop kick to another that slammed it into the wall. He looked up to see five macehands jump and dogpile him. However, moments after getting engulfed by them, a yellow flash caused the macehands to get blown back after being subjected to over a hundred volts from Blanka's electrical discharge.
Dhalsim threw a stretching punch at a macehand seven feet away from him while giving a stretching kick to another in the opposite direction. He suddenly vanished from view just before a macehand destroyed the ground he was on a moment ago. Just as quickly, Dhalsim reappeared above the macehand and dove into it feetfirst in a drill kick. He give a double fist stretching punch into the chest of a macehand and a stretching spinning roundhouse that took down two more. Dhalsim's upper body suddenly swelled up as he inhaled some air.
"YOGA FIRE!"
A searing fireball was spat out of Dhalsim's mouth which enflamed a macehand.
Sakura struck down a macehand with a spinning overhead kick then laced her fingers together to give a double fist swing punch to another. She grabs a nearby macehand and kicks herself off of it then comes down on another with a double chop. Turning, Sakura delivered an upperkick to the jaw of a macehand knocking it back before bringing her hands to her side to focus her ki.
"HADOU-KEN!"
Imitating her master's technique, Sakura shot a ki blast that struck the macehand before her.
Alex gave a hard overhead punch on a macehand's head, slamming it into the floor then lariat punches the next behind it. He jumps to deliver a drop kick to a macehand rushing at him. Getting up, Alex grabs a macehand and hurls it into two more, knocking them over like bowling pins, then charged forth to floor another macehand with a hooking elbow strike.
Ibuki took down a macehand coming at her with a jumping axe kick then flash stepped to get behind another where she hit it with an elbow strike into a backfist. She gives a high spinning reverse roundhouse kick at a macehand's head, knocking it to the side, then jumps up to stomp on the next macehand's head before springboarding off of it where Ibuki threw out three kunais that each scored a headshot on those before her.
Elena lashed out with a spinning kick followed by a body thrust kick that took out two macehands. She suddenly does a handstand and kicks at the next macehand over its head before launching herself into a flying kick at another. When she gets surrounded by three macehands, Elena ducked down and lashed out with her long legs while holding herself up with her hands, taking them out with what looked like a break dance.
Laura did an elbow hook to elbow uppercut on a macehand then gave a lunging kick at a second one. She jumped forward to nail a third macehand with a vertical reverse spin kick then quickly foot sweeped another and hit it with a palm strike before it hit the ground. Then Laura grabbed a nearby macehand and put it in a jujitsu hold before slamming it into the floor. Laura stood up and held her hand behind her head where electricity began to gather.
"THUNDER CLAP!"
She thrust her hand forward, firing a slow arc of electricity that electrocuted the macehand in front of her which she quickly kicked away.
Rainbow Mika ran forward and caught a macehand by the throat with a running western lariat before going into a drop kick on the next one. Flipping back on her feet, Mika jumps at another macehand, hitting it in the face with a jumping hook punch She jumped back in time to avoid a macehand trying to bellyflop on her, which she then jumped on with a double dropping knee. Mika then low kicks a macehand causing it to trip, then quickly grabbed it by its legs where she put it in a giant swing, batting away two more nearby macehands before throwing it away.
Sagat delivered a fierce punch at a macehand's face, knocking it down, then gave a hard body blow kick to another. Due to his height, Sagat managed to pluck a macehand jumping at him out of the air before knee kicking it three times in rapid succession, the third blow sending it brought his elbow down on the head of a macehand, dropping it like a rock, then reared both fists back.
"TIGER!"
Sagat punched both fists forward as he fired a crescent-shaped ki projectile that took out three more macehands.
Finally, all the strange creatures had been dealt with.
"Well that was a good workout." said Alex as he rotated his arm.
"Where did they even come from?" asked Cammy.
"These creatures… they don't seem to be of this world." said Dhalsim.
"So what are you saying? That they're aliens?" asked Ibuki.
"G'huh!? Aliens!?" said Blanka in shock.
"That wouldn't be too far off, actually." replied Dhalsim.
"It troubles me how these things appeared sometime after everyone else vanished..." said Chun Li.
"You suppose there's a connection?" asked Ken.
"She's got a point. It's too much of a coincidence." added Guile.
Elena looked at all the beaten bodies of the macehands they've all defeated and was taken by surprise by what happened next. "Hey! What's happening?"
Everyone looked to the African girl and also became surprised when they saw the macehands melt away into the ground, erasing any trace of their existence.
"Okay… that's not natural..." said R. Mika.
"So where do we go from here?" asked Sagat.
Ryu looked out towards the sky. "We follow Rose's request." Everyone turned to the world-traveling martial artist. "She said the source may be at Shadaloo's old island base."
"It's a good plan, but how are we supposed to get there?" asked Laura.
Ryu then looked to Sakura. "Sakura. I noticed Karin tossed something to you before she vanished. What was it?"
Sakura gasped as she had forgotten about it due to the fight they were in. "Oh right!" She pulled out the key she had. "It looks like a key to a vehicle, judging from the tag."
"May I see that?" asked Guile.
Sakura gave Guile the key. He glanced at it and seemed to recognize where it goes to. "Everyone, let's head for the estate's garage."
Sometime later, the group of street fighters arrived at the large garage of the Kanzaki Estate. Inside were many sportscars and other large vehicles, even small planes.
"Man, she's got serious wheels in here." said Ken.
"No kidding…" said Ibuki.
"Must be nice to have money." said Laura.
"So which of these vehicles does the key belong to?" asked Dhalsim.
Guile scanned the area until he came across a certain vessel.
"It's for… that."
Everyone gathered behind Guile and looked in awe at the vehicle.
"Is this girl crazy-prepared or what?" said Blanka.
Unknown place…
It was a dark and barren landscape, where everything was dead or decaying. Rock jutted out of the ground and patches of blackened grass littered the area. The sky was a dark purple with black clouds that occasionally thundered. To add to it, there were bones and corpses scattered about, most looked non-human.
This would normally be a sight most people wouldn't be able to stomach. For the lone man walking the barren wasteland, it was all too familiar for his liking. He continued on his way, his silver armor glinting in the moonlight.
Arthur didn't know how long he had been going through this unknown land ever since he got swallowed by that black blobbish substance, just after witnessing what had happened in his kingdom, but to him, it felt like a lifetime. He didn't want to think his kingdom and his Queen Prin Prin were gone, clinging to any hope of undoing what had happened. Still, it was nothing like how Arthur had braved through the Demon World multiple times to rescue his beloved in the past.
Unsurprisingly, when Arthur touched down in this strange land, he had been accosted by its demonic denizens. Arthur was no stranger to being attacked by monsters and responded in his usual way of fighting them off with his assorted armory. He's just glad the Goddess Bracelet he holds within himself also granted him an infinite amount of weapons for him to materialize and throw. Any monsters he came across would be met with a barrage of lances, arrows, daggers, axes, sickles, and torches.
"Please wait for me, my Queen..." said Arthur. "I will not rest until I can restore you and our kingdom..."
Arthur then stops when he heard sounds before him. Suddenly, ten monsters appeared, blocking his path. They appear to be disgusting humanoid ant monsters with sharpened claws and small wings on their back. Their enlarged grotesque heads resembled that of an ant with large pincer mouths and multiple short spikes coming out of their heads like hairs. Upon closer inspection, Arthur couldn't help but gag when he noticed the heads of each of these monsters looked like a combination of three human heads.
"What manner of beasts are these?" asked Arthur. He didn't have time to ponder it further as he leapt back before one of the monster took a swipe at him. "No matter! Have at you!"
Arthur threw three daggers in rapid succession at the attacking monsters head, killing it. The next monster was met with a thrown lance right through its torso. The third monster jumped at Arthur, who quickly shot it down with a double arrow from his crossbow. Dodging a swipe from the fourth monster, Arthur counter with his broadsword, slicing its arm off before stabbing it through its head. Without missing a beat, Arthur took out and threw a sickle that boomeranged around to take down two more of the monsters. He then took out a holy torch and crashed it into a line of three more monster who writhed after getting burned by the holy flames. Finally, Arthur throws an axe that smashed right into the last monster's head.
"No different from the monsters I usually fight back home, but they're more troublesome..." said Arthur. Up until now, he had been fighting off familiar monsters that attacked him since arriving in this place, but this group was a new one for him. They looked a lot more horrifying for starters, but luckily Arthur wasn't that easily scared.
The silver armored knight had no time to rest, though, as suddenly more of the ant monsters appeared, burrowing out from the ground. They were a bit larger than the last batch and numbered at least fifty. Arthur cursed under his breath at the odds clearly stacked against him.
"This doesn't look good, but I must persevere..." said Arthur as he made ready with his lance.
To the knight's surprise, several of the ant monster got diced to bloody pieces after getting engulfed by a light blue globe of light followed by the distinct sounds of sword slashes that vanished the moment it appeared. What Arthur saw next he could only discern as a blue blur followed by several flashes of sword swings. The blur stopped to reveal a man with his back turned as he sheathed his weapon, a long katana. As soon as the sword clicked into its scabbard, the monsters behind him fell apart into bloody chunks.
The man turned to look at his handiwork with a disappointed gaze. He had pale skin with white slicked back hair, wearing dark brown boots and fingerless gloves, black pants, and a dark blue layered vest. He also sported a long dark blue coat with three coattails and white serpentine patterns on the sleeves. In his hand was a white-handled katana in a black scabbard with a yellow tie on it.
"Hmph… weaklings..." said the man.
Arthur was shocked at the casual way this man killed the ant monsters. Before he could say anything, another monster tried to blindside him, but was shot out of the air. This was followed by a spectral blue demonic arm stretching out to grab another, crushing its head before slamming it to the ground. Another young man blurred in, slashing down more of the ant monsters with a large single-edged sword with some kind of mechanism built into the hilt.
"Hey old man! Don't get carried away and save some for me!" said the young man. Like the older man, he had white hair but shorter, wearing a tattered dark red shirt, black pants with combat boots, and a dark blue hooded jacket with the sleeves folded. He had a black fingerless glove on his left hand.
"Then I suggest you start catching up, Nero." said the katana-wielding man. He hits another monster in the head with the scabbard before drawing the katana to slice it in twain then stabbing it into another behind him. Several blue spectral swords appeared on either side of the man, who then shot the swords into more of the monsters. Next, he swung his katana with an inhuman speed that his arm looked like a blur as he rapidly sliced apart ten more monsters.
"Whatever!" said the one called Nero. He cut a swath trough the monster horde with his large sword, which he handled with just his left hand. Nero then twirls out a large double-barrel revolver and shot at more of the ant monsters, scoring headshots on all of them. One monster that got too close for comfort was shot point-blank in the face, blowing it back. He jumps up to dodge an ant monster's attack, coming down on it with a downward stab with his sword. With the sword still stabbed into it, Nero activates the mechanism in the handle, causing the blade to glow red, then suddenly took off riding the impaled monster like a motorized scooter, ramming through more of its kin
Arthur could only watch the spectacle in stunned silence as he never witnessed such a sight before.
'I've never seen such a form of fighting before...' thought Arthur.
The silver knight was snapped out of his daze at a loud sound heading their way. He was taken even more by surprise when a modified RV suddenly flew through the air and crushed three ant monsters on landing. One was unfortunate enough to have its face grinded off under one of the RV's rear tires as it drove off to slam the remaining ones to death. It skids to a stop near the two white-haired men, showing a light blue neon sign on the side of the vehicle reading 'Devil May Cry'. The door opens, and out comes a young tanned-skinned woman with red-framed glasses and black wavy hair done up in a wild ponytail held by a plaited hairband. She wore brown cowboy boots, blue shot cutoff jean shorts, and a short yellow sleeveless buttoned jacket top that bared her midriff. The striking thing about her was that she had numerous tattoos on her arms, right thigh, and around her stomach.
"Nero! Vergil! You guys are real impatient, you know that?" said the woman.
"Sorry, Nico, but it's not my fault." said Nero before looking over to Vergil. "He's the one who went off on his own."
"It's not my fault you people are slow." said Vergil as he ran his hand through his hair.
"My word! I've never seen such prowess!" said Arthur.
The trio finally noticed the armored knight.
"Huh? A human down here?" said Vergil.
"Hey! You're right!" said Nico. "First one we've seen who isn't one of those freaks frequenting this place, anyway."
"You all right, buddy?" asked Nero.
"I'm quite fine, young man." replied Arthur. "You dress in strange garbs. Are you all knights as well?"
"Uh… something like that..." replied Nero, recalling his time as once being part of the Order of the Sword. Vergil thinks about his status as being the son of the legendary Dark Knight, Sparda.
"Well it's good to meet a fellow warrior! I've been accosted by monsters ever since I've arrived in this place! You're the first humans I've seen in what seemed like forever!" Nero could only give a light chuckle while Vergil gives off a low grunt. "Oh! Where are my manners My name is Arthur. And you are?"
"I'm Nero. This is Nico, and he's Vergil."
"Well. Sir Nero, Sir Vergil, Lady Nico, it is nice to meet you, and I thank you for coming when you did. I wasn't sure I could've handled another wave of those strange monsters." said Arthur.
"Please, just Nero is fine. I don't care much for formalities."
"Yeah, same here, honey." added Nico.
"Formalities are useless." said Vergil.
"Well if you insist so." said Arthur before turning to look at the RV. "By the way, what manner of chariot is this? It's not pulled by horses?"
"What? You've never seen an RV before?" asked Nico.
"R… V…?"
Streets of Japan, present day…
The streets were devoid of life, with a few cars littered about. A grunt was heard as a humanoid blob with hammerheads for hands was knocked to the ground, dissolving into nothing a moment later. A city bus was driving down the road as it avoided any abandoned cars in the way. Inside were the teachers of Justice High and the students of Taiyo and Pacific. Some time ago they managed to find the empty city bus with the keys still in the ignition and decided to make use of it. In any case, no one else in the area could.
Hideo was currently at the wheel with Kyoko sitting directly behind him. Sitting in the other seats nearby were Batsu, Hinata, Roy, and Tiffany.
"Dammit! We haven't seen a single person aside from these freaks!" said Batsu in frustration.
"It really does feel like we're in a zombie apocalypse!" said Tiffany.
"It's been nearly an hour since we left the stadium, too." said Roy.
"Well I'm just glad we came across this bus." said Hinata. "We were able to use this as a moving shield."
Kyoko looked out the windows, seeing the occasional humanoid blob they've fought before wandering about. "So what's the plan, Hideo? Do we have a set destination?"
"I honestly don't know, Kyoko." replied Hideo. "Going by the assumption that this will be like everywhere else, it feels it doesn't matter where we head to. All we can do is hope we run into someone human sooner or later."
"Not sugar-coating it at all, are you?"
"I'm just being realistic here."
POW!
The whole bus jerked at the loud noise, causing everyone to be jolted around before grabbing on to something.
"Hey! What just happened!?" asked Tiffany.
"Oh no! One of the tires must've blown out!" said Hideo as he tried to keep control of the bus. The large vehicle swerved around a bit before skidding to a stop.
"Is everyone all right?" asked Kyoko in concern for the four students.
"Ugh… I guess so..." replied Roy before turning to Tiffany. "You, Tiffany?"
"A bit shaken, but fine..." said Tiffany.
"Damn! That took me by surprise!" said Batsu.
"Well, it was good while it lasted..." said Hinata.
Everyone exited the bus and saw that one of the tires was indeed blown out, making it useless to drive without a replacement, which unfortunately won't be getting anytime soon.
"Just our luck..." muttered Roy.
"Looks like we're on foot from here." said Batsu.
A humanoid blob lingered out from behind the corner of the bus. Roy punched it out in annoyance where the blob dissipated upon falling to the ground.
"And whatever these things are still wandering about somewhere." said Roy as he flexed his hand.
"Well everyone, we'd better get a move on before anything else happens." said Hideo.
No sooner than he had said that, something that looked like a black portal appeared ten feet off the ground some distance ahead of them.
"Huh? What is that?" asked Hinata.
"You… don't suppose more of those things will come out of there, do you?" asked Tiffany.
Everyone winced when they heard that and reflexively got into fighting stances to prepare for what might come out. What came out was something they didn't expect.
From out of the hole in the air, some screams were heard as a small group fell onto the ground just before the hole vanished. There were five people in all, dressed in clothes that looked to be from the 19th century. The sudden visitors slowly stood up after their fall. From the students' and teachers' viewpoint, they appeared to be a pilot, a belly dancer, a samurai, a yukata girl, and a kung fu practitioner.
"Man, I thought we were gonna die!" said Falcon.
"Well at least we're out from that dark place." said Ryoma.
"But we've wound up somewhere strange." said Ayame as she looked about the deserted city they found themselves in.
"Rouge, do you know where we are?" asked Wang Tang.
"I'm not sure, but I can tell you this isn't in our time or even our world." replied Rouge.
"Wait, what?" said Falcon in shock.
"Hey!"
The five Power Stone users turned to the voice and saw the group of students and teachers.
"Are you all human?" asked Batsu.
"Huh? People?" said Ayame.
"So you are, aren't you?" said Kyoko.
"Despite the fact you all literally fell out of the sky." said Tiffany.
"That's… a bit hard to explain..." said Falcon. "Ahem! In any case, I'm called Falcon."
"I am Rouge."
"Ryoma."
"Name's Ayame."
"Call me Wang Tang."
"So then who are you guys?" asked Falcon.
"Well then, my name is Hideo, and this is my wife, Kyoko."
"Hello."
"And these young ones are students we're acquainted with." said Hideo as he gestured to them. "Batsu, Hinata, Roy, and Tiffany."
"Well its good to see someone who ISN'T one of those blob freaks." said Batsu.
"Wait, you fought them, too?" asked Ayame.
"Huh? You also..." asked Roy.
Before they could ask any further, they all heard some snarling sounds. Looking about, they saw more of the humanoid blob shadow monsters rising up. The group was soon surrounded by the creatures, about thirty in all. Half of them had sharpened points for hands while the other half had what looked like crab pincers for hands.
"Are these what you were talking about?" asked Tiffany.
"Sort of, but their 'weapons' are different here." replied Ryoma.
Everyone braced themselves for the fight about to happen.
"I guess there's no choice, is there?" asked Hinata.
"Everyone, be careful." said Kyoko as she held her pamphlet.
That was when the spearhands and pincerhands attacked.
Batsu sidestepped a spearhand that tried to stab him before counter-punching it away. He then delivers a spin kick at a pincerhand's head, knocking it down, then uppercuts another back. The Taiyo student ran and plowed into three spearhands with a flying kick then kicks up a pincerhand into the air before jumping up and punching it down at a spearhand below it.
Hinata ducks a pincerhand's swipe and tripped it with a spinning foot sweep then quickly stood up to axe-kick it in its chest. She jumped up to avoid a stab from a spearhand and stomped on its head before leaping to another with a flying hammer fist punch. Upon landing, Hinata knocked away a pincherhand with a double fist punch then turned to side kick a spearhand in its gut, knocking it down.
Roy knocked down two pincerhands and a spearhand with a running shoulder charge then backfists another spearhand away. He grabs at a pincer hand and knees it in the gut, causing it to double over before flooring it with a hammer punch. Next, he turned to front kick a spearhand away, knocking it into another.
Tiffany nails a pincerhand in the head with a hard right cross followed by a shoulder charge. She then delivers a reverse spin kick at a spearhand's head, then rushes into a charging uppercut on a pincerhand. A nearby pincerhand tries to take a swipe at Tiffany's head, but she quickly did the splits, dodging the attack before quickly countering with an upperkick. The cheerleader weaved in and out from a spearhand's attack then threw a left hook right straight combo to down it, followed by a back cartwheel kick at another spearhand that tried to jump her.
Hideo parried a stab from a spearhand then struck it in the head with a high kick. He delivered a backfist punch to a pincerhand behind him, then jumped forward with an axe kick right on another's head. Hideo then sidesteps a spearhand's thrust before quickly grabbing it by the wrist and shoulder throwing it into a pincerhand. Another pincerhand leapt at the language teacher, who knocked it out of the air with an uppercut.
Kyoko sidestepped a pincerhand's attack before smashing it in the head with the edge of her pamphlet. She hopped forward to give a hard side kick into the gut of a spearhand, knocking it into another. Another spearhand gets knocked up into the air with a rising knee followed by an axe kick, knocking it into the ground. Kyoko does a flip over a pincerhand, landing behind it where she grabs it by the neck and kicks into its back, breaking it. She spun around and knocked down a spearhand with a spinning roundhouse kick to its head.
Falcon knocked down a spearhand with a dashing straight punch, then dodged a swipe from a pincerhand before hitting it with a hard right cross to the face. Another spearhand stabbed out at Falcon rapidly, who weaved in and out to avoid the strikes then drew in close to take it down with two body blows. Falcon jumped to avoid a swipe from a pincerhand where he stomped down on its head with both feet on landing, then jumped forward into a flying kick at a spearhand. He sidestepped another spearhand before doing a spinning low kick that knocked its legs out from under it then punched it into the ground before it could fall.
Rouge twirled out of the way from a pincerhand's attack and lashed out with a flame kick to knock it back. She jumped back from another's downward strike before holding out her hand and threw a fireball at it. A pincerhand and a spearhand attacked Rouge simultaneously, but she was able to use her bellydancing movements to avoid their attacks then knocked them both away with a spinning flaming kick. Rouge then grabbed a pincerhand by the face and set it on fire before kicking it away into a spearhand.
Ryoma charged with his katana drawn past three spearhands which then fell apart. He turned to use his katana to block a pincerhand's attack then kicked it away before slicing it in twain. Without looking, Ryoma stabbed his katana being him, impaling another pincerhand that tried to blindside him. Pulling the blade out, he stabbed at a spearhand in front of him before kicking it off the blade. Then Ryoma jumped to bring his katana down on a nearby pincerhand, downing it for good.
Ayame whipped out a kunai in each hand and cross-slashed at a spearhand. She backhand slashed at a pincerhand followed by a spinning roundhouse to knock it back. Then Ayame flipped upward before coming down on a spearhand's head with a double foot stomp. Not moving from her spot, she sees two spearhands and a pincerhand charging at her, but the circus kunoichi downs them with headshots from thrown shurikens.
Wang Tang struck a pincerhand with a charging elbow strike going into a punch. He knocked back a spearhand with a quick triple punch combo, then hop kicked another into a wrecked car. Wang Tang knocked out a jumping pincerhand out of the air with a jumping flip kick, then upon landing struck a spearhand away with a double palm strike. Seeing another spearhand charging at him, Wang Tang leapt forward and knocked it out with a flying dragon kick.
Finally, all the humanoid blobs were defeated as the group stood victorious yet a bit winded.
"Yeah! How do you like that, you freaks!?" shouted Batsu.
"Yeah! What he said!" added Falcon.
Like before, the creatures melted away into the ground.
"Whew… I'm glad that's over..." said Hinata.
"I have to agree." said Ayame. "You all fight well."
"Yeah, same to you guys!" said Tiffany.
"I have to say, this is a strange world." said Ryoma as he sheathed his katana.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" asked Roy.
"It's just things look more… advanced here." said Rouge.
"Well, it's the 21st Century." said Hideo.
"Wait, what?" asked Wang Tang. "It's the 19th where we're from!"
"Hold on, did you say 19th Century?" asked Kyoko.
"Well that would explain their appearances..." said Batsu.
"No way… did we fall through time?" asked Falcon.
"This gets more interesting by the minute..." said Roy.
"So first nearly all the population vanish, then these weird monsters, now people from the past?" said Tiffany. "Just what is going on!?"
"Wait, what did you just say?" asked Rouge.
"Rouge?" said Falcon.
"Did you just say people vanished!?"
The students and teachers were a bit perturbed at the bellydancer's reaction before slowly nodding.
"Rouge, wasn't that part of your prediction?" asked Wang Tang.
"It's just as I had forseen..." said Rouge.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Batsu.
"Rouge here happens to be a master fortune teller." said Ryoma.
Rouge nods before pulling out her Power Stone.
"Oooh! That's a beautiful jewel!" said Tiffany. Hinata and Kyoko had to agree.
Rouge held her free hand over the Power Stone, causing it to glow and emit the same cryptic images her comrades saw back in the shadow area they were at before.
"What… the hell was that?" asked Batsu.
"What could be all of our futures..." replied Rouge. "Unless we put a stop to it. I'm afraid this incident was only the beginning."
"Hold on! Are you trying to tell us the apocalypse is about to happen?" asked Roy.
"No… it can't be!" said Hinata.
"You mean our friends, our families, and other people, just vanishing was just the start?" asked Kyoko fearfully.
"If that's the case, how are we still here?" asked Hideo.
"Perhaps fate has something in store for us." replied Rouge.
"I don't suppose you can forsee a happy ending in that jewel, do you?" asked Tiffany.
"I'm sorry, but that part is clouded for me."
"In any case, as long as those monsters are around, I think it would be best if we all stuck together." suggested Wang Tang.
"I have to agree." said Ryoma. "We could need all the support we can get."
"Great! The more the merrier, I suppose." said Batsu.
Suddenly, a loud humming was heard followed by a strong wind, grabbing everyone's attention. They looked up to see what looked like a large private passenger jet coming down. It slowly descended to the ground in a harrier jet fashion before the startled group.
"Whoa! I've never seen a plane like that before!" said Falcon.
"Is that… a harrier jet?" said Roy.
Everyone was on guard as the jet touched down and the door opened. Hinata's eyes widened when she saw who it was.
"Sakura?"
"Hinata? Is that you?"
To be continued…
So now the crews of Street Fighter, Rival Schools, and Power Stone meet up while Arthur hooks up with the other part of the DMC group.
Next time, we'll have more fun in Makai! Stay tuned!