Shin Dan Ch.14 A Challenge
By Dan

Akuma shifted into his stance, staring Dan down mercilessly. Dan could practically feel a hole burning straight into his eyes as Akuma saw through him. "You are weak, Hibiki. You have no chance of defeating me, but yet, you insist..." Dan interrupted. "...That's because even though I tried to kill my...my friends, they still backed me up. Unlike you, Akuma, we're capable of caring for somebody or something, and you sim-" "ENOUGH!", Akuma said charging at Dan. Dan tried to knock Akuma into the sky with a small Koryuken, but missed completly and saw himself crushed in the skull with an overhead chop as he came down. Dan hit the floor on hands and knees, waiting for his now-blurred sight to return. Akuma saw an opportunity, and didn't waste it by gloating. He picked Dan up, and tossed him over his shoulder into a wall. Ryu and Chun-Li then charged Akuma, finally jumping into the melee. Akuma warped back, and dissappeared. Chun-Li looked around. "Where'd he..." "LOOK OUT!" Ryu said, pulling Chun-Li to the floor. A roar of natural flame whizzed by them and destroyed a small set of bricks, crumbling them to fine powder. Akuma reappeared, chuckling to himself. "Missed. Still, I'm only showing you a fraction of what true power is..." Akuma then went back into his horse-stance, gaining more energy to disperse his enemies. "Now, I think it's time we take this battle to the next extreme!" Akuma said rising into the air. "Chun-Li, be prepared. He's going to do something serious..." Ryu said. "Gotcha'." Chun-Li replied.

Akuma was at least twenty feet up. He slowly pronounced "Messatsu..." And both his arms glowed like his eyes, which carried the murderous glint of insanity in them. "HMPH!" Akuma shot out two fast-moving air fireballs. "Look out!" Ryu dodged a fireball. Dan dodged the other one. But that wasn't all. Akuma suddenly started launching fireball after fireball, each one coming down faster than the next. Ken, Ryu, Dan and Chun-Li moved as fast as they humanly could to avoid the burst of energy, but all four went down by a bigger burst that left a foot-deep crater in the stoned pavement. "Akuma!", Ryu yelled. "We shoudn't do this here! There are too many innocent people here! Fight us in your domain, and we'll settle it there, once and for all!" Akuma slowly landed back onto the ground. "Ah. It WOULD be more gratifying to leave all of you broken on my territory..."

"NEVER, loser!" Dan kicked Akuma in the back, an obvious cheap-show. "ARGH! Now, Hibiki, you'll suffer!" Akuma warped to Dan at breakneck speed, and in one quick motion, blasted him backwards all the way into a tree on the other side of the road. "You've just lost your chance, Ryu.", Akuma said. "NOW, if you want to beat me, you will have to send...Dan, to do so." Ken gaped. "But Dan wouldn't stand a chance against you! Take me on instead. I'll defeat you, Shin-Akuma!" Akuma looked at Ken, and snorted in pure disgust. "No. Dan will be the one to attack me on my island, not you, Ryu or anybody else." Dan finally got up, and shakily ran from the other side of the road. "I'll take you Akuma, just you wait..."

"So be it. Tommorow. I wouldn't want to kill such a waste of a fighter today anyhow..." Akuma dissapeared after warping away. "Whew", Ken said, wiping sweat off his head. "How DO you talk to Akuma without starting a fight, Ryu?" Ryu simply shrugged. "I don't know. He must think pf it as amusing or something, I really can't comprehend..." Dan put his back against the wall, and let himself slide down. "What was Akuma talking about, "Tommorow"?" Ryu sighed. "Dan, Akuma wants to fight you, to the death if neccessary." Ken interjected. "ALL fights with Akuma are to the death..." Dan's mouth went slack. "But...how can I defeat him without my powers? if you guys didn't notice, I'm not Shin-Dan-"

"OF COURSE we noticed!" Chun-Li said. "You're going to have to find a way to defeat Akuma, Dan."

"But...h-how?" Dan thought.