Hero of Heroes Ch. 21 - Don't Give Up
By Night

Sitting quietly... patiently... Ryu meditated... resting himself as he let the rain slowly extinguish the wall of fire that separated him from his rival...

Akuma continued pacing back and forth... tightening the length of rope that held his dark gi together... and kept his glowing eyes on the young warrior...

Ryu could still felt the heat emitting from the flames as the endless minutes went by... the minutes seeming like hours... but he didn't mind. He will wait. The battle will go on... but for now... he will wait. His breathing slowly came to its normal pace as well as his heartbeat. Through the intense, vigorous fighting, he finally had a moment of peace... The rumbling in the air was quiet, and the rain continued to fall... Ryu wished this moment could last forever... but there was a battle to finish.

The demon on the other side of the burning tree trunk was equally as patient. Pacing slowly... he studied Ryu... calculating his power... He smiled, knowing that unimaginable power was yet to become tapped... but he was in no hurry. A cat can wait for as long as it needs to catch its mouse...

Will this inferno ever die...? The young one pondered... he could still see the light of the fiery blaze through his closed eyelids... and he could still feel the demon's presence shifting left and right... feeling the evil smile... Sensei... give me the strength... to fight well... He continued breathing steadily... and even though he could feel an evil smile upon him... his mind wandered... and he could feel another smile... a sweet... warm... loving smile...

Ch... Chun-Li... He couldn't hold the feelings back... he enjoyed them... he felt warm through the cold rain drenching him... In his mind... he could see her... standing... the wind blowing across her light bangs causing them to gently sway... and also causing her small pony tail to flow... a pony tail tied back by his red bandanna... She was smiling... the smile of a woman relying completely on her man... And her lips moved... Be strong, Ryu... don't give up...

Ryu's eyebrows lifted... And you Chun-Li... you too... give me the strength... so that I can see you again... He could see her still smiling... and she was slowly fading away... Don't give up... ...and as she faded... he could feel the searing flames in front of him fading with her... and both were completely gone...

Like a bolt of lightning, his eyes instantly flashed open... and he catapulted towards the fallen tree trunk... the demon doing the same. Both saw each other launch... and both extended their fists to punch... and their two fists collided with one another... At last the battle had resumed...

Upon hitting each other's fists, the warriors flipped away from each other and stood on top of the fallen trunk, which was still warm from the fires recently burning it. Eager to continue, Ryu ran forward and vaulted towards his opponent with a flying side kick. The demon waited for the attack to come... and as Ryu kicked, he grabbed his outstretched leg... tossing him to the side.

The falling warrior managed to find his bearings in mid-air as he was thrown... and he flipped himself upright so that he safely landed on his legs onto to the soft grass. Akuma leered at him and leaped off the trunk... Ryu leered in return... and found Akuma diving down at him with tremendous speed... Tenma kuujin kyaku... must retaliate NOW!

Ryu brought fist backwards a little bit and used his forward foot to propel him skyward... "SHOOOOOORYUKEN!!!" Akuma was struck right in the gut, knocked clearly out of the sky... and Ryu twirled himself, landing gracefully on his legs, while his opponent landed on his back.

The demon spat blood from his mouth and quickly shuffled to his feet to counterattack. Upon reaching Ryu, he delivered a straight punch which was blocked and raised his other arm... straightening his hand and sent it crashing down towards Ryu's skull...

After blocking the first punch, Ryu knew he needed to raise his arms to block the incoming zugai hasatsu... but he soon realized it was a fake! Seeing his opponent's knee rise... he tried to move his hands to try to block it... but it was too late. The demon impacted the knee deep into Ryu's gut, and uses the momentum to follow up with a tatsumakizankuukyaku...

With a grunt, Akuma spun like a top, connecting his outstretched leg with Ryu multiple times, keeping him in the air with each hit... and when he landed, he had no intention of letting his opponent land just yet... "SHOSHI..." Immediately after landing, Akuma propelled himself upwards, planting his fist into Ryu's tortured midsection and took both of them into the sky with a power-packed gou shoryuken...

They both landed simultaneously, the demon on his feet, the younger one on his back. Ryu slowly stood coughing up blood and spitting it out... and faced his opponent once again... Mustn't lose... mustn't give up...! The young one quickly placed his hands near his hips, collecting a small amount of energy, and released it... "HADOKEN!"

As the blue sphere sped towards the demon, he merely brought his arm in front of him... and snapped it back, swatting the ball of energy away. He bared his sharp teeth as if he was disappointed. "Enough holding back, Ryu."

Thunder roared in the air... "Just fight, demon." Ryu rushed forward and swung his arm forward to deliver a punch to his opponent's face... but the demon faded away... and teleported behind him. "SHINKUU..." Ryu knew he needed to cover all sides... "TATSUMAKISENPUUKYAKU!" ...and he leaped up and spun with the power of hurricane. His leg caught the demon right after his teleport, and hit him repeatedly over and over... until the final kick sent him flying into the trunk of a standing tree. Leaves, bark and splinters fell from the impact, and Akuma bent forward to rest his arm on his knee. Both warriors used this time to catch their breath... but neither was running out of energy.

Ryu stood, soaked in the water from the rain, but didn't feel cold at all. His heart was raging, and he could feel his blood rushing through his entire body in a way he's never felt before. The adrenaline rush was fantastic! He breathed steadily, waiting for the demon to recover himself so that they can continue...

Akuma spit out more blood, and he finally stood erect. Growling, he stomped into his horse stance... nearly shaking the earth beneath him. Ryu could feel heat emitting from him... and he saw the demon collecting energy in his palms... finally releasing it in the form of a fiery shan kunetsu hadoken...

The ball of fire approached, and Ryu swung his arm forward... snapping it back... just like how his opponent did... and the fiery sphere was deflected into the sky. But upon swatting... Ryu felt his opponent's evil presence rushing closer to him... "MESSATSU..." ...and he saw the demon charging forward with his fist...

He was wide open. Ryu didn't have time to block... and he soon felt his gut meet with the demon's fist... and he felt his feet leave the earth as his opponent launched into the air. The demon continued the massive attack... and juggled Ryu with another uppercut... and finally ended with an uppercut so powerful, he launched to an unbelievable height...

Ryu screamed in pain... and he felt himself fall back down towards the earth... crashing into it with his back... Looking up... he saw that the demon was still in fact, ascending from his uppercut... he let his attack take himself too high upward. Th-this is my chance... Ryu knew he must take his opportunity to retaliate... but his body was weakened from the power of Akuma's attack. He struggled to get up... but couldn't... until he heard a small, sweet, familiar voice in his head once again... ...Don't give up...

He growled as he fought his back up... and looking into the dark, lightning filled sky, he saw Akuma beginning to descend. ...Please... don't give up, Ryu... Ryu was now roaring... and he finally began to stand... ...please... don't give up... I love you, Ryu... Howling out to the sky... Ryu stood fully... his arms outstretched in front of him... and he screamed out loud... "NO!!! I'LL -NEVER- GIVE UP!!!"

And as the demon finally reached the towards the earth... Ryu brought his fist to his hip... "SHIN..." ...thrusting it straight into the Akuma's gut... and using his forward foot to catapult him skyward... bringing his other fist to slam his opponent in the gut... scrape up his chest... and smacking his chin... "SHOOOOOOOOOOORYUKEN!!!!"

Both warriors were in the air... and hung for moment before finally heading back down... Ryu landed on his feet... and was already back in fighting position... breathing heavily... The demon landed on his back... not getting up... but breathing raggedly. Ryu just stood, watching if his opponent would get up. He was almost out of breath... the shin shoryuken drained a lot of energy from him... and he just stood... slowly rejuvenating himself...

He looked over at the fallen demon... and finally, Akuma slowly began to rise. He got back to his knees, and planted his palms on the grass, still huffing loudly. "It appears... that you've... improved much beyond... what I have expected..."

Ryu didn't interrupt, and let the demon continue.

"But... unfortunately... the limits of your power... have not yet been seen..."

His eyes narrowed...

"And if I... must force it from you... by showing you MY limits... so be it..."

His narrowed eyes widened, giving Akuma a questionable look.

"Our battle... was only test... to see how much power you can summon now... but now... I must show you the TRUE definition of power!" The demon stood up... and arched himself backwards, stretching his arms to the side... his body began to glow a fiery red... his eyes glowed like fire... and each muscle on his body was pulsating...

Ryu could only stare... the power he felt coming from Akuma... was beyond anything he's felt before... and he could only stand there... stunned...

The demon's mouth opened, and he roared as he let his energy collect. His body seemed to be in flames... the jacket of his dark gi combusted, disintegrating instantly... and on his bare back... the symbol representing heaven, was now burned into his skin... The small rocks on the ground began to rise into the air... lifted by the waves of energy going riot.

So... so much power... this can't be possible... Ryu jaw dropped... he couldn't believe the power he felt...

Akuma looked at Ryu with burning eyes... the ends of his rope belt danced in the flames of energy emitting from his whole body... and he finally spoke... "Show me... YOUR TRUE POWER."

The young warrior's open jaw closed... and he clenched his teeth, narrowing his eyes... His fists tightened, and he deepened his stance...

"Very well then... I shall enjoy forcing it from you... or destroy you trying..." The demon slowly walked forward...

Ryu was ready... ready for whatever this being was going to deliver... and he could hear the warm, loving voice inside his head assuring his readiness... Don't give up...