SF: A Warrior's Path Ch. 4 - Memories
By Gouki
The emerald coloured leaves swayed to the strength of the morning breeze.
Streams of sunlight shone through the gaps onto the dirt trodden path. The
birds had just started their daily chirps, its significance being an
illustrious one. The pure, aromatic smell of fruits lingered through the air of
this inhabited forest, providing many homes to gentle, joyous wildlife as they
went through their daily routines.
Atop a plateau overlooking this natural paradise sat a young warrior, deep
in meditation. His light red coloured gi ruffled as the wind flowed through it
but he still kept his focus. He remained in this position for what seemed like
hours, the only sound being the warm, carefree cries of the wildlife below. His
mind leapt through the never ending halls of memory and training, pooling on
what he knew, felt, thought, and what he had learned.
Dan remembered the life he had with his parents. He remembered that fateful
day when his mother died of an unexplainable disease when he was about six. He
remembered the pain he endured and yet also how he and his father had bonded
closer as a result.
He remembered how his father had began to train him the basic moves of
Shotokan, how his father had entered the first official Street Fighter
tournament and rose as far as the quarter finals. He remembered how the day his
father lost was soon to be his last.
His opponent was a seven foot monster, the Muay Thai champion known only as
Sagat. His body was surfaced with muscles, and he had a look of pure abhorrence
as well as arrogance upon his face. His father had fought well, but Sagat's
strength and power had made him the dominant fighter. At some point during the
match Sagat's weak spot was discovered, thus Go Hibiki was starting to make a
comeback. Leaping high into the air, he came down with a kick aimed directly
for Sagat's eye. The force of the move was so strong, that Go took out his eye
in the process. However, he had made Sagat angry and in consequence became the
victim of his rage. Go had no time to retaliate as Sagat seized his head with
his colossal hand and pulled him in towards the force of his knee forcing themselves
into his abdomen. Go was starting to lose consciousness and could no longer
feel the crushing pain inflicted on his limp body. Sagat attacked without
mercy, without remorse, without sorrow until his leg grew tired of this
repeated exercise. Holding Go by his long brown hair, Sagat threw him upward
and launched the most vicious rising knee that Dan would remember for as long
as he lived. Go's body soared vertically into the sky and spun lifelessly where
it landed face first into the gravel. The damage had already been done before
the final blow Sagat executed.
His mind showed him more memories. How Gouken, his father's former master
had took him under his wing and looked after him, continuing what Go started.
Dan had become a friend and training partner to Ryu and Ken, but he mainly
secluded himself from them, trying to suppress any pain he felt. Despite
Gouken's influential training of Shotokan, Dan's rage for Sagat ceased him from
reaching his chi. Abruptly deciding that Shotokan wasn't for him, he left the
dojo, to create a new style, a new fighting technique to which he called
"Saikyo Ryu," yet at the same time retaining certain forms of
Shotokan to use.
Dan slowly opened his brown eyes, his meditation complete. He could reach to
his chi once again, his anger would be sustained for the period. He stood up
and walked over to a nearby tree, the marks obviously stating that Dan used it
as a training post. Standing in front of it, he shut his eyes, reaching,
grasping for the chi he needed. He found it. Channelling it from the soles of
his ground trodden feet, he gradually sent it up through his legs, into the
upper half of his body. It now flowed down his arms onto the ends of his
fingers. It screamed at Dan to release its power, its energy and without
hesitation, he did.
At a speed almost blurry to human vision, Dan hurled in total a blend of a
dozen punches and kicks onto the tree in utterly no rhythm or grace. Dan rose
up into the sky to finish his desperation technique with a dragon punch, his
whole body becoming engulfed in a bright flash of white. Dan landed and looked
at the wreckage. What remained of his training post lay broken, splintered on
the grass. Extending his right arm, he quickly flexed it into a right angle and
shook it violently. As Dan cried out his father's namesake, there was one thing
that he couldn't deny to himself.
He was ready.
"TIGER!!" the surge of orange chi flew and met with precision on
its target. There was an explosion of chi, leaving a pile of sand and fragments
of brown leather on the dojo floor. Standing was an unimpressed Sagat as he
surveyed the damage. The effect of Ryu's dragon punch had been destructive. It
had penetrated across his chest, leaving behind an extensive scar which would
forever remind him of his defeat. It was miraculous that he remained alive. The
more he stared at it, the larger his lust for revenge grew towards Ryu. Before
he could do that, however he needed a move to counter Ryu's Shoryuken.
"What will pose a threat to Ryu?" he questioned himself. He
trailed his fingers along the source of revenge hoping to find some
inspiration. A grin slowly crept to Sagat's face.
Curling his hand into a fist, he knelt down to the floor and leapt upward,
with his fist extended. He landed on his feet, yet he still felt dissatisfied.
Sagat knelt to the floor once more but didn't leap up immediately as before
but instead channelled his anger, rage and humiliation into his already
summoned chi.
"TIGER BLOW!!" he yelled as he vaulted his huge physique upward.
His internal chi exploded, sending a burst of 7 sparks to journey along the
side of his body. He spun in mid-air and landed gracefully. He looked at his
hand to see only sand pouring from the dummy he'd just obliterated.
"It'll do… for now" he thought. Suddenly breaking into an almost
evil laughter, Sagat brushed off the sediment that remained on his fingers
believing to have found the technique possible to end Ryu's life and exact his
revenge. That technique was just the beginning of what Sagat had yet to discover…