Triangle Ch. 10 - Clash
By Shadow Ryu

While Ken was uneasy about Ryu's appearance, Akuma was barely able to contain his elation. All the signs were there: a darkness about his eyes, a visibly unemotional expression, a brooding posture. Ryu, as far as the demon could tell, had embraced the Satsui no Hado! Akuma never expected it to develop in him as quickly as it had but there was a power so evident that it was impossible for him to ignore.

To an untrained eye, powerful was certainly the last word to describe Ryu. His travel-worn expression made it seem as though he was not, in any shape or form, ready to fight anyone, let alone someone as dangerous as Akuma. He had just arrived from Japan in the mid-afternoon from a long sleepless flight in which all he could think about was what unspeakable act he might have done to the schoolgirl that challenged him in the airport. Ryu was not bothered by that episode now. All Ryu could think about was the hatred that burned inside for the dark figure that stood in front of him. It was an overwhelming feeling that he had never felt before. And there was something deep inside him that enjoyed it, thrived on it.

"You look well, boy," Akuma told him bluntly.

Ryu responded with a short look of hatred before taking action. Lunging forward, he threw a punch right into Akuma's chest, knocking him over in a heap. The impact was so hard that it surprised Ken immensely.

"Holy s***," Ken whispered to himself. The changes in Ryu were more evident than ever. Something about him was definitely different. Ken pulled himself to his feet, grabbing his injured neck as he did.

"It's good to see you've been training, Ryu," Akuma told him as he quickly got to his feet. "Judging from that punch you just hit me with, you have a lot more power than you used to."

Ryu responded again with action. Moving forward, he aimed a punch toward Akuma's face. Akuma, calmly caught the punch in his palm and kicked him in the ribs with a roundhouse kick. No pain was shown on Ryu's face as he pushed him off and threw a dashing side kick into Akuma's stomach. Akuma absorbed the pain and the exchange promptly ended when each fighter threw a right roundhouse that hit each others leg forcing each other to stumble back slightly.

"I'd rather not fight you right now, Ryu," Akuma said. "This is not what I came here for."

Ryu would not listen. He pressed forward again, and tried to go on the offensive. With each blow Ryu fired away though, Akuma responded by parrying it off or pushing him aside, avoiding contact and avoiding counterattacking at the same time. Meanwhile, noticing that Akuma was on the defensive, Ken decided to enter the fight again, sneaking up behind him and kicking him in the back. Seizing the opportunity, Ryu threw a punch into Akuma's face. Reeling from the punch, Akuma used his momentum to turn around and punch Ken in the stomach before once again going back to dealing with Ryu's onslaught in a defensive manner.

Ken recovered from the punch and tried to get back into the fight, but not before noticing something. It was the way Ryu was fighting. This was not the same Ryu he had fought before. He used to be a calm, patient fighter, adept at being able to read situations and counter them in appropriate and often simple fashion, using as few attacks as he could to finish the fight; Ken could clearly remember being so frustrated trying to come up with offensive attacks that could elude Ryu's patient defenses. The Ryu that was attacking Akuma now was purely offensive. He was striking at will, seemingly with the intent to render his opponent bloody, or worse. Additionally, there was something about Ryu's appearance that was vaguely similar to Akuma's that made Ken very uncomfortable.

Managing to put his concerns aside, Ken decided to concentrate on much more important issues and moved as quickly as he could to get back on Akuma. He tried to grab him from behind, but Akuma avoided it and pushed him into an advancing Ryu. In an act of uncharacteristic clumsiness, Ken stumbled and accidentally elbowed his old training partner in the face. Ryu seemed angered by his mistake. Capitalizing on the awkward collision, Akuma threw a roundhouse kick across both of their faces, making Ken fall on his back. Ryu kept his balance and countered, dashing toward Akuma again and throwing a stiff elbow into the demons face.

"Enough, Ryu," Akuma said backing off. "Now is not the time."

Ryu was not interested in listening. Akuma decided to abandon the defensive and tried to fend off his aggressions with basic counterattacks. Every time Akuma was able to successfully push Ryu back, the younger fighter just came back and attacked with more aggression than before. Akuma forced himself to resist lashing out with his true power, even though he felt an uncontrollable urge to do so. A fiery look was evident on the demon's face as Ryu's constant barrage continued.

Meanwhile, Ken returned into the fray and threw a kick at Akuma. The dark warrior turned around to Ken and catching it with ease, grabbing his body, and then throwing him over his head and right into Ryu, knocking the two friends down on top of each other. Happy that he had gotten some distance between himself and Ryu, Akuma backed off and tried to think how he could deal with Ken without having to engage Ryu. As he watched on, Ryu got up as quickly as he could, with a look of hot anger upon his face. Turning around, he looked at his old friend with disdain. The anger on his face quickly developed into an obvious rage as he clenched his fists together.

Ken coughed as he slowly lifted himself up, the injuries still nagging him, urging him to stop. As he got to his knees, he managed to catch a glimpse of Eliza sitting on the beach, still gazing out into nowhere. Seeing her again in such a state only enhanced what he was fighting for. Ken stood up on his feet, pushing his body to fight on despite the pain.

Then with a sudden impact, a blow that he could not have expected, Ken fell once more onto the sand. He was taken up into the air from the punch that connected across his nose. Landing face first, Ken managed to turn his head enough so that he could see who had hit him.

It was Ryu.

"Stay out of my way!" Ryu said sternly, standing over his fallen friend, with anger burning savagely in his eyes. "This is my fight."

It took more than a few seconds for Ken to realize it. There was a part of him that perhaps didn't want to believe it. Ryu had struck him! Ken took a second to look at the blood on his hands from his broken nose before rolling onto his back. Exhaustion overtook him and he felt unconsciousness start to overtake him.

Happy that Ken seemed unable to continue, Ryu turned his attention back to his true opponent.

"Impressive punch, Ryu," Akuma said. It was a compliment immersed in cynicism.

Ryu looked back at Ken's prone body for a moment. For a second, he could not believe what he did. It had all happened so quickly. A second later, Ryu pushed it out of his mind and once again moved toward Akuma.

"I wish my brother was here to see you now, Ryu," Akuma commented. "I'm sure he'd be happy to see how much you've improved"

The mere reference to Gouken that Akuma made immediately took effect upon Ryu. A sharp pain invaded Ryu's head. A warm feeling began to overtake his stomach.

"It's too bad about what happened to Gouken though," Akuma said with a smile. "Much too bad."

The beach disappeared from Ryu's sight for a second. Akuma, who had been in front of him disappeared as well. No waves could be heard roaring in on the sand. Now all he could feel was the pounding, throbbing in his head as a thousand images, none of significant clarity, raced through his mind; images of his memories, childhood, and training, of all of the people he had met, of all of the places he'd been.

And it all came down to one particular image in mind. Gouken.

It was the horrible nightmare again. Gouken had attacked him, kicking him from behind. Ryu responded by hitting him with the shoryuken. And then with Gouken weakened, Ryu saw himself grabbing his sensei and tearing him apart in a flash of light, sending blood flying everywhere. It was so vivid, so horrible, and it seemed so real.

The vision disappeared as suddenly as it came. The sands of the beaches reappeared. The sound of waves resumed their noise. Akuma, once again, stood in front of him. Ryu found himself back in reality, on his knees, breathing frantically.

"No," Ryu muttered quietly as the sensations in his body overtook him. His insides felt like it was being pricked by a thousand needles. Truthfully, it seemed as though Ryu was battling himself in some way that did not involve fists or feet, muscles or reflexes.

"You don't look so well all of a sudden," Akuma said as he held out a hand to help him get up. "If it makes you feel any better, Ryu. I know what you're going through."

Ryu looked up at Akuma's hand, with a vague sense of deja vu that he couldn't explain. Then he slowly looked up past his hand, up his arm and into his eyes. Ryu stared into the eyes as deeply as he could, searching for answers to a question he hadn't asked yet. Akuma returned the stare, observing him as if he was merely some kind of experiment. The staring continued for an extended period.

And it suddenly became all too clear to him. Ryu could not believe how foolish he had been to not realize it sooner.

"What did you do to me?" Ryu asked him quietly.

Akuma, still holding out his hand, seemed surprised. His expression seemed a little bit more leery. "What do you mean?"

Ryu suffered through a fit of dizziness. Blinking his eyes, Ryu managed to eventually focus his vision. He turned to where Ken lay, injured at his hands, and then got to his feet, not using Akuma's hand to help him.

"What have you done to me, you b*st*rd!" Ryu yelled, charging in with a punch. Akuma parried the punch and swept the feet out from under him. Ryu rolled quickly to his feet.

"I have done nothing to you, boy," Akuma responded.

Ryu charged again, blindly. "LIAR!" Akuma quickly swept his feet out from him once again. Ryu, again, rolled to his feet.

"I did nothing. You brought your own fate upon yourself, foolish boy."

"It was when I visited you at Gokuentou. You did something to me!"

"Nonsense, boy. I cannot do anything to you that you wouldn't have accepted yourself!"

Ryu did not listen. He ran in and punched Akuma in the face as hard as he could. The blow staggered Akuma and made him stumble backward. Happy with the position he had the demon in, Ryu advanced, focusing his power. Akuma stood his ground and did not try to defend.

Ryu dashed in with a single swift motion and threw his left elbow into Akuma's stomach followed by a quick, powerful right forearm, forcing him to bend forward. After a fairly lengthy pause, Ryu threw a left uppercut into the same spot he threw the last blow. "SHIN--!" Ryu yelled as Akuma seemed more than content to suffer the impact of the blow.

Perfectly set up, or so Ryu thought, he released as much power as he could into a dragon punch. "SHORYUKEN!" Ryu yelled, raising into the air, hoping to take Akuma's head with him. Unfortunately, his punch hit nothing but air. Akuma had managed to dodge the blow by leaning backwards, enabling his body to avoid the shoryuken technique. Realizing his mistake, Ryu tried to recover as quickly as he could when he began his descent, but he had jumped too high with his dragon punch giving his opponent more than enough time to prepare for a counter attack. Akuma patiently waited until his opponent landed and countered with brutal force.

Akuma threw an uppercut into Ryu's stomach and jumped into the air, nailing Ryu with a single hurricane kick, knocking him into the air. Akuma then dragon punched Ryu as he fell to the ground, hitting him in the stomach and knocking all of the wind out of him. Ryu landed face down on the sand in a heap. Akuma finished the attack by stomping on his head, making him eat the sand and ultimately, adding insult to injury. After a few more seconds face- down in the sand, Ryu stopped moving.

As he looked down at his opponent, Akuma admitted to himself that he had been wrong. Ryu's unexpected show of emotion had proved that he had not totally embraced the Satsui no Hado as he first thought. At least not yet.

"You are not ready for me yet, boy," he commented.

As Ryu lay on the ground, Akuma turned and looked over at Ken, who had revived from Ryu's punch and was crawling on his forearms to try and get to where Eliza lay. Ken, barely able to function, was determined to move toward his love and somehow revive her in the hopes he could get her out of there and to safety.

"Looks like I've forgotten some unfinished business," Akuma told Ryu, who was too motionless to hear it.

Ken managed to reach Eliza as Akuma began to make his way over toward them. Using her shoulders to help him get up to his knees, Ken tried to shake Eliza back into the world of the living, only to receive the same blank stare he did before.

"Eliza," Ken choked out. "Come on, girl. Wake up." Ken, then looked behind him to see Akuma advancing toward him. "S***!" he cursed as he forced his body to stand up again in order to put up some form of defense. There was no doubt about the fact that it would take a miracle for Ken to come up with a formidable defense to stop the demon now.

Yelling loudly, Ken decided it was now or never. He leaped forward and threw a roundhouse into Akuma's face which the demon grabbed with ease. Akuma threw his elbow into Ken's knee, producing a horrible crack. Ken screamed in response as Akuma released his leg. Although stumbling clumsily on his leg, Ken refused to fall, knowing that he would likely die if he did. Charging forward, Akuma took the offensive and hit Ken with a series of vicious punches across the face, but Ken stayed on his feet.

"Give it up, Ken," Akuma taunted as he grabbed Ken's hair. "It's over."

"Screw you, *sshole!" Ken muttered.

Akuma once again struck Ken across the face and the immediately somersaulted into the air over his head. In midair, the demon grabbed him by his shoulders and flipped him over upside down, smashing his shoulder into his knee. A horrible sound came from the move as Ken's shoulder was dislocated out of place. Ken screamed to try and release the pain and immediately forced himself to his feet, fighting his body's urges to shut down. He tried somehow to concentrate and fight on, but the pain was too much to bear. Standing on his feet was a miracle in itself.

Akuma began to focus his chi. The demon's eyes became a darker shade of red and his body began to pulsate with an electric force that made Ken's hair start to stick up. Ken, looked up into Akuma's eyes and saw something horrible, something that might be the last thing he would ever see. The energy that circulated Akuma's body raged on as Akuma left his footing and began to float toward the helpless Ken. Just as Akuma was about to reach out and grab his victim, Ryu jumped in between them and threw a powerful roundhouse into the dark warrior's stomach, knocking him over. Ryu stumbled and fell as a strange, seemingly invisible force from his kick knocked him backward. Akuma let out a sigh of pain as he got to his feet. The energy that he had summoned for the murderous technique he planned to use on Ken began to sparkle around him once more and began to accumulate around his body. Akuma began to gag horribly, as if he was choking, as his eyes seemed to be ignited with fire.

Ryu looked at the demon unsure of what was happening. He got up to his feet and backed away. From what he could tell, Akuma looked as though he was about ready to explode.

Smoke came from Akuma's hands as he looked at Ryu. Then, Akuma tensed himself up, with the energy pulsating brightly around him. Without warning, Akuma pushed his palms forward and a wild stream of energy erupted out of them and into Ryu's body. It was a blast so bright and explosive that it seemed to bring a brief daylight to the midnight hour. Ryu was completely immersed in the blast and was taken right off his feet and into the air. The attack blew him like a powerful wind at least two hundred meters, sending him crashing into the oncoming waves that were washing onto the beach with a crash. Ryu disappeared into the water and did not reemerge. After the chi attack from Akuma's hands expired, the demon warrior fell to his knees and began moaning horribly like a mad dog, holding his stomach.

Ken, who had collapsed from Ryu and Akuma's last exchange, looked over to where the horrid moaning was coming from. When he did, he saw nothing there. Akuma had disappeared. Looking out at the lake, Ken could not locate Ryu either. Although he could hardly by any stretch of the imagination be called the winner, he was the only one left. The sound of silence in the air confirmed that the fighting had ended. Closing his eyes, Ken no longer fought the oncoming unconsciousness.

When he came to again several hours later, he initially thought he had died. Soft hands were touching his bare chest that seemed like angels were preparing to carry him to heaven. When he opened his eyes, he found it was not the type of angel he thought it was. They were Eliza's hands.

"Ken?" Eliza said. "Are you alright?"

Ken didn't respond. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even move.

"Ken? Oh god, I thought you were dead."

"Eliza? You're . . . okay?"

"I think so. I just, I don't know, woke up . . . I . . . I saw you lying here. What happened? Are you alright?"

"I need some help," Ken said. It bruised his ego to admit that. "I'm hurt bad."

Eliza was almost hysterical as she gave in and hugged Ken tightly. Ken winced in pain as he tried to get her to ease up on the grip.

"God, I don't know what happened. I just woke up and found myself here," Eliza said, tears in her eyes. "What the h*ll is going on?"

"I wish I knew." Ken whispered to himself. "I wish I knew."