Shin-Dan Ch.12 An Uneasy Partnership?
By Dan

The four warriors scrambled out of the copter, and ran for the mouth of the cave. " I still don't like the power that I feel from the cave..." Ryu said uneasily. Chun-Li asked " Do you think it's Shin Akuma's power you feel, Ryu?"

" It's a possibility, but it's much different..." Ryu, Guy, Ken and Chun-Li ran for the cave. After running over a large hill, they finally reached the mouth of the cave. Ken put his arm foward, pointing to the cave. " It's there! C'mon!" The foursome finally got inside, and was surprised to see Dan, who was obviously awaiting them.

" I was wondering when you guys were gonna' show..." Dan said quietly. Ryu finally realized all the energy he felt was obviously coming from Dan. " Dan?" Ryu asked, " Where did you accumulate all that power?" Dan snorted. " I ALWAYS was strong. You four NEVER gave me the chance to prove it. And now, with the Satsui No Hado at my disposal, I'm stronger than even Akuma!" Ken looked around. " Where IS Akuma, Dan?" All four warriors got into their fighting stance, expecting a sneak attack. Dan laughed scornfully. " Akuma wont be attacking annoying anyone soon..." Chun-Li eyed Dan. " What do you mean, Akuma wont be attacking anyone?" Dan pointed to a nearby pit. He lead the warriors over to it. All four gasped.

" You...killed Akuma?" Ken said, eyes unblinking. " But...how?" Dan's eyes turned a bright pink hue. " How, you ask? I did the Shun Goku Satsu, and did it right. So, now that there's no more Akuma, how about letting me back in the group?" Ryu and Ken shook their heads no. " Look at you, Dan. You're too much of a threat. You didn't need Akuma's energy to be a strong fighter, you just needed-"

" Ohhhh, I SEE. You four are all jealous of me now that I'm the strongest!" Chun-Li spoke up. " No, Dan. We aren't jealous of you. We are afraid of you. you've gone insane with power. You don't know what the evil intent does to you." Dan growled, prompting all four to take a defensive step back. " I KNOW what it does. It makes ME STRONGER!!!" Ken looked Dan in the eye. " It might, for now, but soon you'll realize it's going to override your thoughts, and you'll have no control anymore." Dan had had enough! These fools didn't know what they were talking about! It's time he had disposed of them all... " Fine then... If you're not with me, you're against me! FUKAI-GADOUKEN!!!"

Dan blasted all four back with an extremly powerful Gadouken. Chun-Li tried to reason with Dan. " We don't want to hurt you, Dan! We-"

" That's funny." Dan said. " I want to hurt YOU..." He warped over to Guy, who still hadn't recovered, and kicked him. Ken rushed to Guy's aid, but soon was confronted by Dan. " YOU aren't helping him..." Dan tried a short uppercut, but missed. Ken blocked, then countered with his strongest uppercut. "SHORYKEN!" Ken moved back, and allowed Ryu to step in. Ryu knew that each would have to wait for an opportunity to attack while he took Dan one-on-one. Dan regained his composure. He saw Ryu a few feet in front of him, and chuckled. " Ryu? It doesn't matter. I can defeat you too." Ryu tensed up. " We'll see." Dan somersaulted into the air, and tried to overhead-punch Ryu. Ryu easily dodged, rolling backwards, then got to his feet and blasted a fireball straight at Dan. "HADOKEN!" Dan blocked the attack. " That's not your best, Ryu! Hurt me!" Dan sensed someone sneaking up on him from behind. "KORYUKEN!" Dan knocked Ken into the air. But he wasn't prepared for another attack! " HAZAN-TENSHO KYAKU!!!" Chun-Li surged into the air with a multiple barrage of spinning air kicks directed right into Dan's chest and abdomen. " ARRGHHH!!!" Chun-Li landed safely, while Dan crashed to the floor next to the pit where he left Akuma. Guy saw a flash of lightning from just outside the cave. " Guy!" Ken yelled. " We've got to double-team Dan! C'mon!" Guy nodded. " Right!" Guy and Ken rushed Dan while Ryu and Chun-Li surrounded Dan on the other side. The candlelight from the cave began to flicker, because the winds from outside were picking up speed. Another thunderclap, and rain soon began to pour down. " KYAH!!" Guy attempted a dashing kick that Dan blocked. " HADOKEN!" Ken's fireball also missed it's mark. Dan warp-flipped over the length of the pit, just about four feet wide. " Ha! Attack me now!" Just then, a huge thunderclap tore through the sky and a gust of wind blew out the candles in the cave. " Wha?" Guy looked around for the others. He and the others couldn't see a thing! Nothing except for Dan's glowing eyes... Dan laughed. " HA! Now that you can't see me, I'll dispose of you even quicker..." Another flash of lightning. BOOM! Another thunderclap. Dan felt something tug him. "Hey? What the h-" Another tug. " Get off!"

Now a pull. Ken was puzzled. " What's going on? Can anybody see anything?" Ryu answered him. " No, but something has got Dan spooked..."

" You thought you had me, didn't you?" Dan heard. That same voice that started the whole thing... Dan's head was spinning. " I thought... you..." Ken finally saw something besides Dan's eyes... ANOTHER set of red eyes... A flash of bright lightning revealed who it was. Ryu already knew. "Akuma..."

It was Akuma indeed. With a loud grunt, he tossed Dan through a wall. Light filtered in through the hole. Ken ran for the hole. " Guys! C'mon, we gotta' stop Akuma!" They ran for the hole. Guy was impressed by Akuma. " Evil just doesn't die..." he thought. The four ran to the hole. Dan was staring at Akuma and Akuma was staring back. " I... killed you."

" Bah! I was merely resting..." Akuma jumped up, and Dan jumped up as well. Akuma warped foward in mid-air, but Dan warped backwards. He then did a mid-air Gadouken, which hit Akuma. Akuma hit the ground. Dan landed and laughed maniacally. " I don't care if you've rose from the dead or whatever! I'm STILL stronger!" Akuma got up. " You don't know the meaning of strong, Dan Hibiki." Ken, Guy, Ryu, and Chun-Li all surrounded Akuma. " You can't kill Dan, Akuma", Ryu said. Dan got into the conversation. " He can't, nobody can! I am invincible!" Akuma angrily whirled around and spoke to Ryu. " LISTEN CAREFULLY. I KNOW HE CAN'T BE KILLED. What has to be done is..." Akuma stopped. He didn't know if he wanted to go through with it. " Well?", Ken said impatiently. Akuma knocked him to the floor. " Hey!", Ken said, scrambling to his feet. " WE MUST BAND TOGETHER..." Chun-Li was genuinely shocked at the implication of Akuma teaming up with them. " What?" Akuma's eyes burned red. " You can't stop him, and neither can I. But what I CAN do is reverse his evil intent." Ryu shook his head. " That's a lie, Akuma. You can't rid someone of Sasui No Hado..." Akuma glared at Ryu. " FINE! Believe what you will. Consider my offer. I want Shin-Dan as bad as you do..." All five noticed Dan had dissapeared from the cave. " I'll be here if you do consider my offer...if not, I'll go after him myself..." Then Akuma dissapeared as well, leaving the four warriors to think about his offer. " Guys, should we team up with him?", Guy said. Ken shook his head. " I think even if we do team with him, he'll betray us..."

Chun-Li nodded. " Not to mention kill Dan in the process." All three turned to Ryu. Ryu was actually considering it. " All of those points are true, but the question is, do we have a legitimate choice?" The four warriors looked around at their surroundings, then headed back for the mouth of the dark cave.