The Path of the True Warrior Ch. 5
By Ryu-san

In Hong Kong…

“Wa chaaaa!” Fei-Long screams as he pulls off the final Rekkaken.

“Hmph. You’ve improved…” the man tells him.

“Ha! I’ll show you even more!” Fei-Long arrogantly taunts.

“I said you improved. I did not say that you could defeat me. Hm…at your best, you could be at my level…no wait…At your very peak, you could just barely touch my level. Let me show you…Zanei!” the man yells.

He leans backwards, then in an inexplicable burst of speed, immediately appears on the other side of Fei.

“That was nothing, sifu!” Fei-Long taunts.

*POW! SMACK! BAM! WHAM! KAPOW!*

Fei is hit with several hits seconds after Gen passed him and he crumples and falls on one knee.

“Hahaha! My stupid pupil! Never underestimate your opponent! You’re lucky I controlled my strength! Now, because you lost, here is a candle, stay in the horse position until it finishes burning.” Gen tells him.

“And here are some cups of hot water, for every cup that breaks, you have to wait another hour. Haha!” Gen tells him. *That stupid pupil actually hit me this time, if only he would lose that arrogance of his, then he might even surpass my skills one day*

“Delivery! For a Mr. Fei-Long and a Mr. Gen!” the mailman informs him.

Gen looks at both of the letters. They are identical with the exception of the names. Then he notices a name on there…

“Hm…How did they know that I was here? Well, well, well. Dying honorably by a worthy opponent is my last request in life…I wonder if HE will be there…” Gen mutters to himself.

In America…

“Young master! The mail has arrived!” one of the butler yells.

“Thanks a lot, G! Hey, Ryu! Check this out!” Ken hollers at Ryu.

“What is it Ken?”

“Look, it’s a letter addressed to me! I’m invited to the upcoming street fighter tournament!”

“Oh, thanks for reminding me. I received such an invitation earlier, before my, er, arrest.”

“Hm…You don’t look the same without the headband, let’s go back to China and get it.”

“You want to go all the way back to China to get my headband!?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered. We’re leaving right now!”

With that, Ken drags Ryu through the door, into the limo and after a twenty minute drive…into Ken’s backyard.

“Ok, there’s my private jet! Let’s go Ryu!” Ken tells him.

After a few hours on the plane, the two head to Interpol to find out Chun-li’s whereabouts.

“Excuse us, do you know the address of a woman that works here? Her name is Chun-li.” Ken asks the registration attendant.

“Sorry, sir. That is restricted information.”

“Hm…must I do this everytime?” Ken grumbles.

Ken makes another phone call and soon they find out the location of Chun-li.

“Ken, you don’t have to do this, really!”

“Ryu. That headband is means more than just a headband.”

“I know Ken but I don’t want to trouble you like this.”

“It’s not trouble at all. Here we are, let’s go and get it!”

They walk up to the door and knock.

“Coming!” they hear her yell.

“………She sure is taking her time…” Ryu comments after five minutes.

“Why does she take so long Ken?”

“Well, women are naturally slower and worse at doing everything compared to men, whether it’s preparing or martial arts or…” Ken doesn’t finish his sentence as Chun-li opens the door, stares at them and kicks them both into a waste disposal unit.

“What the heck are you two JERKS doing here!?” She asks.

The two slowly pick themselves out of the trash. Ken’s gi is now covered in brown while Ryu’s trash-covered white gi looks more like a green gi.

“Ugh…Well, we just came here to get my headband back. I believe that you have it? It is a long red headband.” Ryu explains.

“Oh. Let me think about this. Fine, since I'm so nice, I’ll make you a deal. You fight me and if you win, I’ll give it back.” Chun-li challenges. *This is my chance for revenge, they probably don't think that I am strong and that will be their downfall!*

“Very well, where shall we fight?” Ryu asks.

“Follow me.”

“Um, can we change first?” Ken asks.

“No.” she replies.

They walk into a deserted dojo. Only one room has a light in it…

“Fei-Long! Did you challenge sifu again!? You lost didn’t you?” Chun-li accuses.

“Yea, yea. Hey…are these the two guys that…?” Fei asks her.

“Yea, these are the same idiots.”

“Well, it’s time to fulfill my promise.” Fei-Long tells her, gratefully rising from the painful horse stance.

*SMASH! SHATTER! CRACKLE!*

“Oh man! Grand Master Gen will have my head for this! Three more hours!?” *sighs*

The four fighters line up and bow to each other. Then they get into their fighting stance…

”Ok Chun, you get the guy with the brown gi, I’ll get the one with the green gi.”

"Hey! These used to be red and white until this violent girl attacked us!" Ken yelled.

Chun-li fumes again and hits Ken on the head. Then, she nods at Fei and faces Ken.

"I'm glad I'm fighting you, you chauvinistic jerk!" She tells him.

“Hmph, I’ll go easy on you since you’re a girl…” Ken tells her.

“You’ll eat those words! I’m the strongest woman in the world!” She tells him.

The two speak no further but she jumps and kicks him in the stomach, hits him again in the chin before hitting the ground and finally hits him in the gut. He staggers back and she follows up with a sweep.

“What the!? You’re strong! Heh…Very well! I’m not going to hold back, even if you are a woman,” Ken tells her.

“Fine with me! Now…shut up and fight!” She exclaims.

Ken rushes forward and pulls a sliding kick. Chun-li jumps over it and nails him in the back of the head. Ken quickly recovers and he jumps at her.

“Tenshokyaku!” She screams as Ken is lifted into the air due to her kicks.

“Ugh! Gr…Tatsumakisenpuukyaku!” Ken yells as he spins in mid-air, recovering from the kicks.

“Shoryuken!” he shouts as he jumps fifteen feet into the air striking Chun-li on the chin. They fall down and Chun-li realizes that Ken is not as weak as he seems. *I’d better finish this now, while I still have the advantage*

“Senrestu-Kyaku!” She screams as she charges toward Ken kicking so fast and strong that the movements of the kicks are untraceable to the naked eye.

Ken falls down and does not arise. Chun-li walks over to him and checks for his pulse.

”Good, he’ll be fine. Now how’s Fei doing?” She wonders.

Ten minutes earlier…

“Hate to do this, but I promised Chun-li that I would beat you up if I ever saw you.” Fei-Long tells Ryu.

Ryu stands in a relaxed manner, seemingly oblivious to Fei’s response. Then he smiles and goes into a defensive stance, his left hand in front of him and his right fist by his side.

“You seem like an excellent fighter. I would be honored to battle you.” Ryu tells him as he lightly bounces on the balls of his feet.

Fei-Long charges at Ryu with a quick Rekkaken, followed by a roundhouse. Ryu aborbs all the hits, amazed at Fei-Long’s speed. Fei immediately follows up with a double kick, an uppercut, and a knee to Ryu’s chin. Ryu is hit with the kicks, but sidesteps the uppercut, but is hit by the knee. Ryu then experiments with Fei’s defense. He throws a light jab, which Fei blocks. Then he throws a quick snap kick, Fei defends again. Then unexpectedly, he uses his left hand and fakes a hook. Fei reacts and Ryu realizes that he is weak defensively. He decides to take advantage and presses a real attack. He runs in and gives Fei a few body blows, an uppercut, a left hook, and a spinning roundhouse that sends Fei flying.

“Hmm…you’re quite the fighter. But, you stand no chance against me! Wa cha!!” Fei yells as he jumps at Ryu.

“Shoryuken!” Ryu yells as he nails Fei directly on the chin.

Fei falls down. He slowly gets up. *Hm…Looks like I’ll have to use…that…* Fei slowly spins around, increasing his speed until he nears Ryu at a lightning fast speed.

“Shienkyaku!” He yells as his right foot briefly blazes into a fire, singing Ryu’s skin.

Ryu is thrown five feet in the air but recovers and hits the ground with both feet. He narrows his eyes and then he charges at Fei, with a jump kick, a low body blow, and then an uppercut that throw Fei into the air.

“Shinkuu…Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!” Ryu yells as he spins his body in the air, punishing Fei’s body with multiple spinning kicks that leaves Fei battered and bruised.

Fei falls down, unconscious in mid-air, and he falls on his back. Ryu runs over and check his condition.

“Hm…he’ll live but I should get him to a hospital just in case. Where’s Ken?” Ryu wonders.

“Senretsu Kyaku!” Ryu hears Chun-li say.

He turns around and watches as Ken falls before Chun-li’s onslaught of kicks. She walks over to Ken and seeing that he is fine, looks at Ryu. Then she notices Fei on the ground and she feels an anger surging.

”How dare you! I’ll kill you!” She screams as she runs toward Ryu.

Ryu calmly goes back to his defensive stance. Chun-li rushes at him with a barrage of kicks.

“Hyakuretsukyaku (Lightning kick)! Senenshu (flip kick)!”

Ryu steadily blocks each kick and then on the final kick, he grabs her foot and pulls her to him. He then kicks her ribs, breaking three on impact, and at the same time, pulls back, instantly dislocating her leg. He then jumps over and strikes her on the back of the neck, causing her to faint. He catches her and places her on the ground.

“I’d better get everbody to the hospital too,” Ryu decides.

He manages to borrow a wheelbarrow from somebody and places all three inside as he slowly limps to a hospital.