Street Fighting Rage in the Big Apple
Shadow is seen inside a large white empty room meditating to train his mind to be ready for any sort of mind tricks or to rely on his instinct when he brain can't prosper things normal, quietly setting his mind on only himself and appears to be waiting for something to happen though nothing so far as Shadow continue to meditate.
Until Kasumi drop from the ceiling and ran up to Shadow from behind at blinding speed with a kunai in one hand then suddenly disappeared into a few sakura petals and reappeared in front of Shadow swinging her arm with the kunai right toward Shadow's face, but he instantly shot his eyes open and jump above Kasumi. Shadow rolls flip forward for a drop kick to the head as Kasumi quickly moves back to let the kick hit the floor, Shadow charge with a punch that Kasumi blocks with her arm and the two engage in close combat as they counter and dodge each other's strikes. Shadow move around Kasumi grabbing her arm with one hand and her waist with the other to throw her across the floor and follow her as he jumps high and strike her with a dive punch only that Kasumi use her ninja teleport to dodge the attack. She appears several feet behind Shadow and start throwing her shurikens at Shadow, he saw them coming and ran fast to dodge them and manage to grab at least three and throw them at the other shurikens to stop a few each. Kasumi ran in the opposite direction to meet with Shadow as they clash their fist creating a shockwave from the collision, Kasumi jump a little to throw a roundhouse kick to Shadow's head but he reacted enough to grab her leg and slams her to the floor though she managed to stop herself with her arms as her face is an inch away from making contact to the floor. Kasumi twirls her body around forcing Shadow to let go of her leg and dodge the upside-down spinning kicks before setting herself upright and charge at Shadow with some punches and kicks while Shadow counters them with his own and kick Kasumi in the stomach pushing her ten feet away.
Kasumi look down with a hand on her stomach where Shadow strike feeling the pain though kept her strong face as she ready herself for one last attack, Shadow ready himself for that as well looking like a runner waiting for the signal to start the race. They stare at each for a moment or two, one of the shuriken Kasumu threw earlier piece a wall and fell off hitting the floor, the two charge at each other at blinding speed going pass each other.
Five second pass and Kasumi fell on one knee while Shadow stood up strong with his arms cross and his eyes close.
"Well done, Shadow, you're getting better with your fighting skills every day." Kasumi complimented as she gets up.
"Thanks, I still feel strange that I know how to fight like that and knowing better of how to control my superspeed too." Shadow said, walking to one corner grabbing two bottles of water and toss one to Kasumi who caught it.
"I believe it must be you're a born fighter with talented fighting skills even before being experimented on by MIST which will be use against them." Kasumi stated knowing Donovan will be defeated by her and the boy he tried to turn him into a living weapon.
"Yeah, probably…" Shadow said, not sure if that's case yet he feels it's true from Kasumi's words.
"I hope you mind me asking this of you, but do know any other ninjas? Maybe a clan of sort?" Shadow asked curious which causes Kasumi to be sad for a moment.
"…I used to belong to a ninja, along with my older brother, Hayate, and my young half-sister, Ayane." Kasumi revealed.
"Hair-sister?" Shadow wondered about that.
"We have the same mother, but Ayane's father is an evil man and a rogue ninja, Raidou. Because of that, Ayane was mistreated by the clan for most of her life and I try to be there for her, but she grew to hate me a little. And Hayate was challenged by Raidou and was defeated leaving him in a critical state, Hayate was supposed to be the new leader of the clan, but because of his injuries I was named the next leader without any knowledge of the incident." Kasumi explained.
"I bet they were desperate to find a leader after the old one passed away, right?" Shadow guessed; Kasumi nodded.
"They thought Hayate wouldn't recover, it was then Ayane told me what happened, and I decided to go after Raidou to avenge Hayate by killing him. But that would also mean leaving the village without permission and becoming a nukenin, a runaway shinobi, and marked for death. Just when Ayane tried to stop me, Christie saved me, and she told me about Raidou participating in the Dead or Alive tournament." Kasumi mentioned.
"Dead or Alive?" Shadow confused.
"It's a fighting tournament where all the best fighters come to see who is the strongest. Anyway, I entered the tournament to fight against Raidou, I won the whole and fighting Raidou was difficult, especially when Raidou had his body enhanced, but I was able to beat him with some help from a ninja from another clan, Ryu Hayabusa." Kasumi recalled how tough that battle was back then.
"Avenging your brother must've felt good." Shadow commented.
"It was, but my victory was short-lived when I was kidnapped by Donovan and the man was in charged of the DOATEC at the time, Fame Douglas who was Helen's father, and Donovan. They experimented on me which would lead to the clone I told you about, I was able to get out of there because of Ryu and learned that Hayate was taken for experiments too, I went to rescue him though he lost his memories and the only way for him to get them back was to fight him. We fought and I lost, after that I ran away." Kasumi finished her story.
"I bet it must've been tough on you not seeing your family again and wanted dead by your own clan." Shadow said, feeling sad for Kasumi.
"It hurts me that my clan would turn against me because of the ninja code, but I don't hold it against them for they're trying to follow the rules as shinobis. I continue on living my life the best I could while trying to find Donovan and end Alpha-152 once and for all." Kasumi determined crushing the empty water bottle.
Shadow can now understand more about Kasumi as she told him her life story of being a runaway ninja and wanting to stop an evil man from taking over the world, it's also sad that Kasumi has no one to turn to kinda like how he doesn't have his family anymore and no memory of his former life too. However, when he's with Kasumi it's like his soul is at ease and his heart beating a little faster than normal almost feeling a strange connection to her.
"Shadow, Kasumi, would you two please come to my office." Helen asked over the speakers.
"Let's go see what she wants." Shadow said and the two leave the training room.
(Helen's Office)
"This was taken by one of our spies in New York." Helen showed them a picture of a business-looking man talking to another man.
The man has tawny skin and is of slightly above average height. He is notably muscular, having defined abs and pectorals. He has sharp facial features, brown eyes, light stubble and bears some scars on both his body and face. He wears his brown hair in a faux hawk type hairstyle and has a piercing on his right ear. He wears a pair of ripped jeans with a yellow graphic t-shirt that reads "GOT GUTS", over which he wears an open red leather jacket. He completes his look with a pair of black and dark green sneakers, white hand wraps and a chain accessory on the right side of his jeans.
"Who's that?" Shadow asked.
"His name is Diego. He's an American street fighter and he fights for money to provide for his ill mother." Helen answered.
"He was spoken by one of Donovan's men, probably trying to recruit him." Helen said.
"They're probably using his mother to get him to do whatever they say if he doesn't want anything bad happen to her." Shadow guessed.
"My thoughts exactly. I want you to go to New York and find out if Diego has accepted their deal or not, hopefully he as not." Helen ordered.
"You want to send him alone this time?" Kasumi asked, a little worry for Shadow to be on his own.
"I'm sure he'll be fine; he did managed to beat Christie during their encounter last time, and I believe he should see more of the world a little." Helen stated.
Shadow thought about that white-haired woman, Christie as it's been one month since he met that woman working for MIST and got away, he has the weirdest feeling that she may have found something she was looking for and knowing the beautiful fighter, they'll surely meet again.
"(Wait, why did I think she was beautiful?)" Shadow thought confused.
"Make sure to contact us if you found any valuable information from Diego when you meet him." Helen said.
"Alright, I'll leave right now." Shadow nodded before turning around and walking toward the door.
"Be careful, Shadow." Kasumi called out. Shadow gave her a thumb up without looking back.
"Don't worry, I'm sure your love will be back in one piece." Helen teased.
"M-Miss Helen!" Kasumi blushed.
(New York)
"Okay, so this Diego guy should be around here somewhere." Shadow said looking around seeing he's at the street where Diego usually hangs out.
He turns to his right at a corner and suddenly got bump by someone who was running.
"Oh, sorry about that." A girl apologized.
"It's fine, I should've got out of the way." Shadow said, looking at the girl.
She a young Spanish woman with slightly freckled pale skin and amber eyes. Her hair has been cut into a spiky crop which just reaches her shoulders. The color is a subtle mix of dark red and black; most likely dyed due to having medium dark eyebrows. Her red appears to be "pop-ish," and flashy, due to the neon color. She wears a red sports bra with "VICTORIA" (Spanish for "victory") on the front, black shorts with a bee logo and "The Sweetest Sting" on the left leg, foot grips, and a pair of MMA gloves. Breasts sizes: E-cup.
"Hmm, are you new around here?" The brawler girl asked.
"I am, my name is Shadow." Shadow introduced himself.
"I'm Milia, I'm training to become a strong MMA fighter." Milia said.
"I can tell. Do you know a guy named Diego; I'm looking for him?" Shadow asked.
"Diego, yeah I know him, you could say almost the whole city knows him as the street fighting hero." Milia mentioned.
"Do you know where he lives?" Shadow asked again.
"Yeah, and I know where he usually hangs out right now. You looking to fight him?" Milia asked curious.
"Not exactly, I was told he was with a businessman before and I wanted to warm him." Shadow explained.
"Oh, I see. Follow me, just try not to anger the guy." Milia warned as she led Shadow to where Diego is.
A minute later, Milia and Shadow walk through an alleyway and look behind a wired fence as is the very man Shadow has been sent to meet taking a nap on a broken-down car.
"That's him, Diego the Raging Brawler of New York." Milia pointed out.
"Thank you, Milia." Shadow thanked before he jumps over the fence and land right in front of Diego which the landing woke him up.
"(Whoa! How did he jump so high?)" Milia thought asked.
"Huh, who the fuck are you?" Diego demanded for he did not want to be woken up from his nap.
"My name is Shadow, I come to ask you about the man you were talking with. Was he with a group called MIST?" Shadow asked.
"MIST? Oh yeah, the guy mentioned something like that, said he wanted to hire me as an enforcer or something." Diego remembered.
"I should warn you those men from MIST are NOT to be trusted, they'll use others for their own personal gain and make you their puppet." Shadow warned.
"Whatever, I already said no to the guy and gave him a knuckle sandwich too." Diego pounded his fist to his palm.
"Don't be a fool. Those guys are dangerous, they'll do whatever it takes to get what they want including using your mother as their hostage." Shadow stated.
"If they even try touching my mom, I'll put them in a coma!" Diego threatened.
"(Hmm, I'll need to see if this guy can defend himself.)" Shadow thought.
"I'm not sure if you can protect your mother, being so weak. I bet she feels ashame having a weak son." Shadow mocked.
"Bastard?! Nobody talks about my mom like that!" Diego sprinted with a straight punch to Shadow's face, but he remains firm on his ground.
"You call that a punch, no wonder your mother is sick. I think she's better off dead for holding you back!" Shadow punched Diego away crashing on the car.
"Alright, now you've really done it!" Diego angered.
Diego and Shadow started throwing strong punches at each other without even blocking them as they want to feel the power in their fists while Milia watches this in both amazement and worry for the two. Shadow seem to have the upper hand with having more strength in his arms consider he has super strength though he's surprise that Diego is able to tank all of Shadow's punches and give just as much despite taking more damage than Shadow, the punches gets more brutal with each strike and little blood from their faces splat on the ground around them.
Shadow caught both Diego's fists and landed a powerful headbutt that force the American street fighter to stumble back then he fell on his knee.
"Is that all you got; I was hoping more from the strongest fighter in New York." Shadow disappointed as he wipes the blood off his mouth.
"Wow, I never seen anyone take on Diego like that. Shadow sure is one strong fighter." Milia amazed of Shadow's strength and blushing a bit
"Well, guess I'll be taking my leave." Shadow said, thinking he seen enough of Diego's strength and about to walk away.
"…I'm not done." Diego muttered.
"Hmm?" Shadow turned around seeing Diego slowly getting back up.
"I'm… not… DONE!" Diego shouted in rage.
"What?" Shadow shocked and suddenly got punched back several feet by Diego.
"Okay, maybe there's more to you than I thought." Shadow smirked.
Shadow charge as he and Diego ready their fists for another clash of power.
(With Three Hours and Three Minutes Later)
"Oh man, this is really intense!" Milia excited as she watches the fight between two men.
Shadow and Diego both look like they're about to collapse from exhaustion at any second now with the bruises on their bodies and all, they charge at each other one last time throwing their fists into the faces then they fall on their backs panting.
"Dude… I can't move." Diego said.
"My body hurts so much; I'll have to call Helen to pick me up." Shadow panted.
"Sorry that I made fun of your mom, I was trying to make you come at him full power to see if you can handle yourself. You've definitely proven yourself to be strong and kind-hearted too." Shadow explained his reason.
"You could've just told me you wanted to fight. You certainly gave me more than I hope for." Diego smiled.
"You know, when our fists connected, it felt like we became friends." Shadow stated.
"Friends, huh? Yeah, I'd like that." Diego nodded.
"Wow, you guys were amazing! That makes want to train extra harder so I can fight one of you two!" Milia excited.
Shadow and Diego share a laughing moment before Milia helped them up and took them to the diner she works as her part-time job offering them some ice for their bruises.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Shadow has certainly made two new friends in one day and got to see how strong Diego is in a fight, especially when he goes full-on rage and it would seem Milia may have started a little crush on Shadow too. He also got to learn about Kasumi's past and hope to help her get through the tough times and probably more than just support her.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!