SF: A Warrior's Path Ch. 3 - Separate Paths
By Gouki

The red ribbon which Ken always wrapped around his prolonged, blond hair was now trapped between his fingers, gracefully swaying to the warm summer breeze. He hadn't found Akuma, yet the rumours which spoke of a demon indicated that he still existed in the tournament. He hadn't won any matches yet, but he was determined that this streak would end with this match he was soon to have. Standing a few feet away from Ken with a sombre look to his face was his opponent. Brushing the bangs almost covering his brown eyes, the warrior known only as Guy stood almost still, his crimson gi almost matching that of Ken's. The crest bared along his gi, which Ken read as Bushin seemed to sum it all about this person. Tying the ribbon around his hair, Ken stood into his stance ready and poised for the fight to begin.

Running at a near inhuman rate, Guy sped towards Ken who anticipating him to attack effortlessly took to the air to land just where Guy had stood.

"Impressive" he thought. "I may have underestimated him" Ken remained in his stance, keeping the same composure on his face.

Dashing forward, Guy wore a look of utter confidence as he rushed towards Ken again, who stood standing with a grin on his young face.

"Shoryuken!" the Shotokan warrior cried as he rose into his blazing dragon punch. He connected three times with Guy, who flew backward to the pavement. Leaping high into the air, Ken came down to earth with a kick, aimed for Guy's chest. However, he had foreseen the attack and raised his hands to block. A sweep kick by Ken made no contact as Guy leaped over behind him.

A barrage of blows made impact on the back of Ken's body followed by a high spinning roundhouse aimed at the back of his head, forcing him to fly onto his chest.

"Not bad" uttered Ken as he wiped the blood trickling from his lips. "Then again, not good either. Now it's my turn!"

Charging forward with speed almost equal to Guy's, he threw a jab, followed by a gut punch, and an elbow. Leaping high into the air, Ken spun his body round with his left leg tucked in before he extended it as he went to end his assault.

"TATSUMAKISENPUUKYAKU!" the young fighter yelled, making full collision with the face of his opponent. The match was in Ken's favour, for the moment.

Recovering from Ken's blows, he leapt backward towards a lampost to leap back forward. Leaping up to meet his adversary with another dragon punch, Ken realised his mistake as Guy leapt again in mid-air, well over the move and was waiting for him to land, giving a sneer before he struck.

At almost the same time, Ryu ducked as his opponent reached out to grab him. Tripping him to the floor, he quickly rushed forward and struck out with an axe kick to the side of his head, sending him back to the ground. Slowly rising to his feet, Ryu took the time to fully examine his huge challenger. His head was shaved, except for a blond, blade-like hairstyle which carried a hole in the middle. Coiled around his wrists, up to his elbows were rusty, leaden chains, it's weight being the reason for his drooping, slouched stance. He donned fingerless gloves, which he now curled into a fist obviously angry at failed attempt to attack. He had no name, but on the streets he was mentioned only as "Birdie" Withdrawing a small blade, Ryu watched as Birdie raised it to his hair and ran it through, as if he was sharpening it. Questions flew through Ryu's mind why he was doing this. Then, he knew why…

Almost cursing himself for not preparing for an attack, Ryu's body flew across the air and smacked the ground under Birdie's Bullhead technique. He was down but not out, at least for the moment. He kicked himself up and quickly leapt to the side as Birdie rushed past and into the wall that stood in front of him. It exploded into a cloud of dust and bricks to eventually clear and show an unfazed fighter, casually brushing the debris off his face and blade-like mohawk. A grin formed on his face, showing crooked, deformed teeth its colour matching that of his hair.

Using his speed to close in on his adversary, Ryu lunged in two strikes to the chest area. Followed were two gut punches, a blow to the head and a rising roundhouse aimed directly for his neck. Blood flew from Birdie as he stumbled, but the force of gravity plus the weight of his coiled chains caused his muscular form to crash onto the ground. Taking to the air, Ryu leapt forward to connect with a kick to the head. However, Birdie had recovered much quicker than Ryu had awaited and was defenceless to the chains that entwined themselves around his leg.

Ryu gave a cry as his body was yanked down to earth, and sent upward to be sent back down. With one movement of his arm, he threw a bruised and battered Ryu once more to the pavement.

Ken was sure he heard his ribs shatter as Guy unleashed a flying roundhouse, the completion of the technique called the Bushin Hassoken. The unholy mix of saliva and blood flew out of Ken's mouth, simultaneous to his body hitting the firm pavement. Across stood his swift opponent with that serious look to his face, yet as if to show his dominance over him. Gritting his teeth, Ken rolled into a crouching stance and braced himself for Guy's next attack.

He didn't wait long. Overconfidence clearly showing on his face, Guy charged towards Ken who remained in his crouching position. Keeping his gaze on his adversary, Guy smoothly turned and launched himself into a sliding thrust kick. Then, he realised his mistake.

Ken had been summoning his chi to him, and was now directing it along his arm, to the edge of his fist. He continued until his whole fist was radiating with energy. His eyelids shut, Ken kept his concentration as he spoke the words of his self taught technique…

"SHINRYUKEN!!!" came the sound of Ken's voice as the chi within him exploded. He spiralled into a vertical dragon punch, the internal chi so powerful that a vortex surrounded him, forcing the Bushin Ninja who now stood within its radius to be vacuumed into the middle of it. 15 rapid strikes were forced upon Guy's upper body until his body gave in and went into unconsciousness, spiralling back down where it hit hard on the asphalt. A smile crept to Ken's face as he felt no presence of his opponent anymore and fell slowly to his feet. The pain he had temporarily defeated struck one last time, and Ken was the next one to fall.

An eye slowly cracked open and squinted as the whitish beams of sunlight entered it. The second one made an attempt but to no avail. Ryu slowly got to his feet, placing one hand to stop the blood that trickled down his nose and again used his eyes to gaze over to Birdie. He took a step forward, only to fall onto his chest. Ryu yelled as his ribs smashed the blood covered ground creating more blood to fly from him. His hair had a new crimson colour, the liquid flowing along the side of his face. Looking down to his leg, he saw that it was wounded. Bloodstained, in fact with a lineament of the chain Birdie had damaged him with.

"Still breathing punk?!" Birdie said "I'll have to stop that…"

"Speak for yourself" Ryu replied with one of the phrases he'd heard Ken use. Birdie just grinned.

"I'll make you choke on those words" he smirked and went to throw the chains once more. Ryu let his feet do the talking as he leapt over and took advantage of Birdie's mistake with a kick to the face. Upon touching the ground, Ryu threw a knee, a gut punch finishing with a backfist to the side of his head. Ryu wasn't finished, however. Three lightning-like punches were sent, connecting with their targets. An overhead smash came next, and Ryu ended his assault with a dragon punch, sending a bleeding Birdie quite a distance.

"It ends now…" Ryu muttered to himself. He brought his arms down to his sides and slowly shut his eyes. All around him seem to go silent until he heard nothing but the whisper's of the calm breeze. Ryu began to call his chi to him. His body started to give off an azure aura as he commanded it from all areas of his body, bringing all this energy towards his chest. With the first stage complete, Ryu slowly brought his hands together, as if he held a spherical substance. Casually sending his arms towards his stomach, the aura which surrounded him began to change its sapphire colour until it was a seraph white.

"Shinkuu…" he whispered. Suddenly, the air around him started to darken. Ryu's hands began to glow a blinding white and bolts of chi flew out until it metamorphosed into a vast orb of electrical energy. A strong wind emerged, an obvious effect to the summoning of Ryu's chi. His eyes still remained closed as he brought this chi infested sphere backward, and finally thrust it forward…

"HADOKEN!!!" Ryu finished. A thunderous crack was heard, as the super fireball screamed through the air, where it connected with swift speed into Birdie's chest. It struck five times before it dissipated, its effects devastating.

Ryu opened his enclosed eyes, and surveyed the damage. On the pavement was an obviously beaten opponent. Around him lay a pool of blood, but he would live. His condition didn't seem to matter to Ryu, considering the events he'd experienced. He turned to walk away, celebrating his victory.

Standing camouflaged within the darkness it emitted, the eyes that belonged to Akuma looked towards Ryu. They flared its trademark colour as they found their target.

"His power… it equals mine, but how?!…"

Then he realised.

"Could he be…?!" was all the demon murmured before he disappeared into the cloud of his own evil.

Into the darkness.