Part 3
(someplace quite unpleasant)

Iwa screamed in an animalistic growl, both from rage and pain as blood slid down her face and neck, bleeding from both ears and nose as the most horrible, immense psychic power flooding her mind to an excruciating degree.

Kumori was held with her back against the cold stone wall, Iwa with her front against it. Her fingers dug into the rock as she tried with all her might to push herself back. She could feel the Essence inside her try to surface and give her the much needed power, only to be forced down by the overwhelming evil emitted from the dark being in this dreadful place. Forcing her eyes open, even as her vision blurred with blackness, she looked over and saw Kumori, her breathing irate and her face twisted in pain, somewhat bloody as well as she murmured frantically to call forth some kind of spell. But unfortunately, her power was not enough either.

The pain briefly stopped, as it had a few times before, allowing both women to attempt at regaining their strength or try and attack one of the physical beings in the room, all of whom were laughing in hellish glee at their captives’ torment. In their minds, Iwa and Kumori could hear Naar laughing as well.

”It must be true that you are Essences, few have survived my power for that long… it’s a pity you continue to oppose me. Oh well, it’s only a matter of time before I enter Daziarn… unhindered thanks to my loyal servants.”

As Iwa and Kumori slumped on the floor, breathing raggedly, Iwa slowly raised her head and glared hatefully at the evil she saw, spitting at it, “You’ll never get what you want… pitiful demon…”

Naar’s displeasure was immediately known as both were slammed forcefully into the wall once again, the psychic pain exploding twice as strong as before. Both women shrieked for a split-second, until suddenly sound would no longer come from their throats. Iwa was vaguely aware of the sensation of being struck several times, but nothing compared to the pain in her head and mind. Kumori had given way to unconsciousness seconds before, and soon, Iwa felt herself being overcome by darkness as well…

(More booty-kicking)

The sword slashed the air as the target ducked under the sword. Chun Li then stepped back to avoid a punch coming from her side.

“They worked so well… It’s gonna be a hard fight.” thought Chun Li about her two opponents, Satsuki who used sword and Decapre who wore mask that reminded her of Vega. Seeing the mask made her chill a bit.

As she evaded and blocked attacks from her opponents, she began to make plans to take her opponents down. Both assassins were fast in each ways. Satsuki’s advantages were the reach and of course, the sword. Decapre seemed a bit faster and her techniques were like Vega’s, which could be distracting since she would come from different angles.

Satsuki came with a three-way slash attack, which aimed to the head, chest, and abdomen. Chun Li quickly evaded to the side, but could not avoid being swiped off her feet by Decapre. She fell down and hastily rolled to the side to avoid Satsuki’s repeated stabs. She jumped up and readied her stance. “That was close.” Thought Chun Li.

Satsuki came first again with a double-diagonal-cross slash. Again, Chun Li evaded to the side. This time, however, she knew the pattern and where would the next attack coming. As soon as she evaded the slash, she turned half a circle to her left and evaded Decapre who came to her with a jumping kick. She quickly elbowed Decapre on the side and followed with a backhand fist to the face.

As the assassin reeled back from the attack, Chun Li followed her to get cover from Satsuki. She grabbed the front uniform of Decapre to use her for shield, then pushed to Satsuki. Satsuki leapt above the thrown partner and prepared for a three sideway slash. Chun Li moved forward to evade the slash, and quickly jumped upside down for her spinning kick technique.

Satsuki was hit three times and fell down. As soon as the technique was done, Chun Li somersaulted back and high and landed behind Decapre who tried to sneak attack at her. The sneaky assassin spin kicked back, but Chun Li ducked under the attack and did her anti-aerial attack, Rising Bird Kick. As she landed, Satsuki already come at her and slashed, the blade caught her arm as she pedalled back.

She bit back the scream and quickly sidestepped the incoming thrust. Just as the thrust reach the full length, Chun Li placed her right hand on top Satsuki’s wrist pushed her elbow with her left hand, hard. The assassin’s arm was cracked from the force of the technique, and the sword fell clattered down. Not wanting to lose the advantage, Chun Li channelled her energy to her hands and…

“Kikosho !!”

The full force of the chi technique hit the assassin on her chest and blown her away. The assassin was already slipped into the darkness before she hit the floor.

Just when the chi technique finished, Decapre had come and attack the Interpol agent with a series of punches and kicks. Chun Li managed to block a couple of attacks, but were not able to defend against the last two kicks on the abdomen and chest, and a punch to the face. She fell on the floor painfully. The Kung Fu master rolled to the side to avoid Decapre’s axe-split kick. She tripped the assassin, and as Decapre still in mid-air, she kicked her on the chest.

The assassin and the fighter faced up again, this time, Decapre stroke first. Chun Li evaded the first punch and was hit with the next elbow attack. She reeled back a bit, then caught the next incoming punch on the wrist. She pulled down and kneed the assassin on the face. Then she threw her to the wall, stunning Decapre. She then charged toward the assassin and unleashed her lighting kick technique.

“Hyaku Retsu Kyaku !!”

The assassin was hit repeatedly on her face, chest and, abdomen, then Chun Li finished it with a double jump-kick, sending Decapre to the dream land (déjà vu ?)

Meanwhile...

“This must be one of those bad hair days for me.” Thought Cammy as she ducked under Juni’s kick. The fight had been hard and furious. As to her memory, Jun and Juli had never been this hard to fight, even if they worked together. Bison must’ve upgraded their powers.

The ex-Shadowloo assassin fought as hard as she could, but both Juni and Juli were too overwhelming for her. When she managed to get in an attack to one, the other would quickly stepped in and countered. It was not a wonder that she was on the losing edge.

Cammy Cannon Drill-ed Juni who was just got up, the assassin blocked, and her partner Juli, came in with the Spinning Back Fist, driving her back. They fought again some more, and finally, Cammy decided to risk using her super. She already low on stamina, and she had not completely healed from the previous fight, the only way if she was to have a chance at all was to take down one.

Juli leapt and kicked at her, Cammy rolled over safely and evaded the straight punch from Juni. “Here’s my chance.” She thought.

“Spin Drive Smasher !!”

The move started with Canon Drill that hit Juni hard on her stomach three hits, then finished with Canon Spike moved that hit the assassin four times. The assassin was blown away, and landed unconsciously on the cold floor.

And just as soon as Cammy landed…

“Spinning Back Fist !”

The similar technique as hers hit hard on her chin and abdomen, driving her back a couple of paces. Still stunned from the blow, Cammy couldn’t avoid the next coming attack.

“Reverse Shaft Breaker !!”

Juli crouched and spun her legs in break-dance style kick and tripped Cammy off her feet. Then she kicked Cammy upward, and then pushed herself upward, kicking Cammy multiple times vertically. The British agent screamed in pain from the blow after blow that hit her all over her body.

She landed on the hard and cold floor nearly unconscious. The last thing that she saw before slipping into the dream land was Juli’s stony statement face.

Having searched all the usual places to hang out, the group of seven left the city area to head for the nearest cabin, which was Victoria's. Oddly, no one had seen her around much lately.

All unaware of being watched and followed, they took the van they had rented to carry them all. Guile drove them, quite quickly, to the the area the cabins were spread somewhat sparsely over. Pulling up to the first one, they all got out of their vehicle. As soon as they were several feet from it, gunfire broke out, several rounds of bullets embedding into the van.

"SH**!!" Crimson exclaimed as he and everyone else ducked. Miko ranted about getting her clothes soiled on the dirt but was drowned out by the sounds of the guns. When a bullet struck the gas tank, effectively blowing the van up, the gunfire stopped.

A deep laughter was heard as Sagat emerged, in more casual attire than usual and unarmed, from behind a tree, "Finally, the boss stopped screwing around..."

Guile narrowed his eyes at him, "I take it you're not alone..."

Sagat chuckled, "My, how'd you guess that?" he asked mockingly as more than twenty gunmen emerged from the forest, weapons trained on the small group. All heroes grudgingly raised their hands, unable to fight the old fashioned way against so many guns surrounding them. Bison was finally serious, it seemed. Sagat pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and hit a single button, "Master Bison, we've got them..."

"Excellent..." Bison's voice said on the other end, followed by manical laughter. Sagat smirked as he hung up.

Guile cursed, "Damn.... this just gets better and better..."

(back at the very unhappy place)

Had he been in physical form, Naar would have smiled at seeing the two Essences being dragged back to their cells, unconscious and in bad shape. He would continue their torture another time, he thought.

Suddenly, a fat, ugly little critter, much shorter than most of the other physical creatures in the room, ran in, panting and what one would suppose was grinning, “*wheez* Master…” it rasped, “Astaroth has capture another Essence for you… *pant* He said he believes it is the Essence of Power!”

”Excellent… Tell him and the Kushina to come to me at once, they have done quite well…”

The ugly little thing looked perplexed, “Master, I told Astaroth he should report to you but he said he had something to do before that…and I did not see the Kushina with him…”

Naar hmmed darkly, something was amiss… ”Check Natalie’s cell, if she is not there, capture Astaroth and Jin on sight, if they resist, kill them…”

The creature nodded and scurried out of the room, almost bumping into a much larger, more warrior-like skeletal figure as it hurried into the chamber.

“Master Naar! Strange clouds are forming just North of here with huge spikes of energy! We believe a Shadow Gate is forming!!” it said in a deep, gutteral tone.

Naar’s attention was quickly drawn as the blackness that he was almost stopped moving completely, ”Are you certain?? By itself?”

The creature nodded, “Yes, sir. This Shadow Gate is taking an unusual ammount of time to form and an abnormally large amount of energy… more than I have ever seen, it could support an army at the least! Perhaps luck is on our side and this Gate will lead to Daziarn!”

For a moment, everything and everyone was silent, all creatures staring on in shock at the thought that what they’d been waiting for had suddenly arrived. Then slowly, in all minds, perhaps to an audible extent, Naar’s voice bubbled in a deep, chilling chuckle, then louder, and louder as he began to laugh maliciously.

”Finally! It has begun…”

(more fighting, happy happy, joy joy…)

“You don’t possibly hope to defeat me with those little toothpicks, do you?” Zorkaan uttered mockingly as he used the weight of the blade to push Shadow Dragon back. The dark one then swung his blade, aiming to decapitate the Kai master.

Shadow Dragon lifted both daggers and blocked the blow, though the momentum behind it sent him staggering slightly. Zorkaan was right, a dagger was indeed not the best choice of weaponry against a broadsword, but Shadow Dragon was not about to let that discourage him and made a mental memo that he needed to get close to Zorkaan.

Zorkaan tried to impale Shadow Dragon with the long blade. Shadow Dragon managed to turn sideways and spun around with the motion, bringing both blades across Zorkaan’s back. Pain invaded Zorkaan as he growled involuntarily, his shriek-like scream deafening and dizzying as he rose to his feet, fire in his eyes as he growled and approached Shadow Dragon with a angry lunge.

Zorkaan slashed at Shadow Dragon in an wide and vicious arc, the blade cutting through the air it seemed, and leaving a dark ripple in its path as it aimed to cut his waist. Shadow Dragon stepped back only to have Zorkaan leap with what was all but blurry speed once the arc was completed and bring his blade downward in intent to cleave him in half as he descended...

The blade exploded into blackish energy, the dark one fusing it with his own psionic force, expanding its diameter frighteningly with searing and intense flames. The fiery onslaught approached the Kai lord below Zorkaan.

Shadow Dragon could not possibly hope to block the momentum and black energy behind the blow and instead rolled aside, the blow missing. Yet, he had not escaped peril and harm as the moment the blade hit the ground the rock cracked and was charged by the intense temperature.

Suddenly, the energy swirled around Zorkaan as he manipulated it to his will and forced it to swirl around him, coiling around him and then charging up the blade as Zorkaan turned and swung the blade at Shadow Dragon’s direction.

Shadow Dragon couldn’t dodge everything, though he tried, he was lucky and managed to summon his power to surround him in a somewhat protective shield as he was deprived of an opportunity to use his Shadow Matrix and protect himself fully from harm.

The huge bolt of dark energy caught him and launched him off his feet, sending him catapulting backwards and skidding across the terrain. His vision turned black and liquid fire filled his veins it seemed, as he grit his teeth hard. His body quaked and rocked with intense pain, his lungs burning and his body being dragged painfully against the terrain, bruising and tearing the fabric of the cloth and skin beneath it occasionally before he came to a halt and lay on his back.

Zorkaan was left winded and dizzy, the usage of power and strain on the host body was getting intense and the body was slowly becoming numb and heavy. But if the need would arise, he was more than ready to battle onwards, his will power enough to push the exhausted body beyond normal limits.

[Zorkaan! Where are you? I require you…] the dark voice of his lord boomed within his mind. Zorkaan’s eyes strayed upon the slowly rising Shadow Dragon, [I am slowly overwhelming the very annoying Kai lord who has time and again troubled you, master…] Zorkaan replied in a humble mental tone, rising to his feet as well.

[Leave him be, Zorkaan! There are more pressing matters to take care of…] Naar’s voice commanded silently. Zorkaan felt rage boil up inside him, this wasn’t some meaningless bout, and this was a long since postponed chance for wreaking vengeance on the pest who had defeated him.

[But…Milord, I can kill him now! Nobody will have the power to threaten you! It’s a once in a life ti-…] Zorkaan tried before pain erupted in his mind and he held his temples, blood ringing through his ears as his body convulsed, his muscles cramping painfully under Naar’s will.

Shadow Dragons saw that this was his golden chance and hoped to take advantage of it as he began collecting his power and preparing to unleash it viciously against the occupied Zorkaan.

[But NOTHING! Obey my commands at once!] The dark god’s voice erupted in his mind, echoing painfully in octaves impossible for human comprehension, causing Zorkaan to become dizzy and weak, and his host body pained by the godly power influencing him.

Just as Shadow Dragon’s power manifested itself in the shape of a huge beam of silvery blue energy, a vortex suddenly opened up behind Zorkaan, the space and time continuum being disrupted and shaped at the dark god’s will. Zorkaan was pulled through like a rag doll, his limbs flailing about as he was swallowed up by the abysmal gate.

The void blinking out of existence soon after with Shadow Dragon’s blast passing harmlessly through the terrain, hitting a boulder and incinerating it, quickly being cancelled by the Kai lord as he gazed tiredly and wearily at the landscape…

(And while we're in a fighting mood...)

The punch got in, and Guy followed the punch with elbow attack on Jianyu’s abdomen, and kicked high to the chin. The assassin fell back, but soon her partner replace her place and drove Guy back with her double nunchakus.

Guy evaded the whirling sticks a couple of times then crouched down and tripped Xiayu off her feet. The assassin fell down, but she tried to trip Guy using her nuchaku. Guy jumped up and was meet with Jianyu’s quarterstaff.

The Bushin ninja was hit on the arm and almost fell down the floor. As he landed, Jianyu followed the attack with a couple of sweeping motions. Guy sidestepped or ducked to evade the attacks. Xiayu came to Jianyu’s aid, and together they kept the Bushin ninja on his toes just to evade their attacks.

Guy, gotten cornered between the two assassin’s attacks, tried to keep his nerves calm to find holes to counter. As soon as he evaded the staff thrust and double swing, he caught Xiayu’s left wrist and used her hand to block Jianyu’s incoming swing. The hand and the staff collided hard, and Xiayu was forced to release the nunchaku. Guy caught the nunchaku in mid air and jumped back a couple of steps.

Now, having the nunchaku, Guy became more confident. Using his magnificent skill with nunchaku, he fought the two assassins furiously. The three of them became a whirlwind of sticks. Blows after blows collided making furious clacking sounds over and over again.

Xiayu swung her nunchaku low and Jianyu swung her staff high, hoping to catch Guy. Guy leapt and placed himself in between the two attacks, he swung the nunchaku hard downward, catching Xiayu on her right shoulder. The assassin cringed from the blow and she quickly stepped back to avoid low swing from Guy.

While Guy lying on the floor after sweep attacking Xiayu, Jianyu came with a crushing vertical slash toward Guy. He rolled sideways and spun a full circle and caught Jianyu’s right ankle with his nunchaku.

The nunchaku cracked from the hard blow, but so Jianyu’s ankle was broken. She fell and almost released the quarterstaff. Xiayu came to aid and drove Guy back a couple of paces. The assassin and the ninja fought furiously, but it was a no-win fight for Xiayu, Guy’s skill with nunchaku was just too much for her, just after 10 seconds nunchaku-fight, she already got 7 hits around her head and body, while she only managed to score in 2 hits. At the eight hit score for Guy, the nunchaku broke apart, but the target, which was Xiayu’s head, was cracked. She fell on the floor, unconscious.

At that time, Jianyu’s staff hit the unaware ninja on the left leg quite hard. Guy cringed from the pain, but he forced himself to ignore the pain and continue to fight Jianyu. The staff swung a couple of times before finally, Guy blocked with his hand filled with ki power. He pulled hard, causing the already limped assassin to lose her balance. Then, he punched her on the face, then a hook on the abdomen, and finally threw her over the shoulder to the floor. Just to make sure that she was down, he elbow-drop her on the abdomen. As soon as he was sure that the assassin was down, he released a heavy sigh.

(Guess what?? We’re going to another Cabin! Yay!)

Upon Natalie’s insistence, they had taken her to her own cabin for her to change into a more fitting shirt and get some things. Astaroth sat on the couch and Jin stood by a window, watching the area outside while Natalie was in her room preparing. Astaroth exhaled softly; all this teleporting was beginning to really drain his energy… and he guessed it was the same with Jin, though both of them were quick to hide any signs of fatigue.

As Natalie walked out, now wearing, surprisingly, a white and light blue shirt with half-sleeves, a knock sounded on the door. Instantly, Astaroth rose as both he and Jin bristled, preparing for combat…

Natalie rolled her eyes and walked to the door, ignoring their glares. “Oh relax guys, it’s just some friends of mine…” with that, she opened the door to reveal Nishoku and Shizukesa standing there, looking somewhat serious. Jin and Astaroth seemed less apprehensive, but regarded the two warily none the less. Natalie smiled at her visitors gesturing for them to enter. “Hey… I take it this isn’t a social call?”

Zuke shook his head as they walked in. “Afraid not… actually,” he gave a small sigh before continuing. “We’re here to see those two...” he said and motioned toward Jin and Astaroth, who merely registered the statement with apathetic eyes. This was getting a bit weird…

“Thanks to you, Astaroth, Naar has three of the Essences.” Nis-Nis spoke. “Just so you know, Urien has two and so does Bison, leaving only us and the Essence of Emotions free. Now tell me, how are we going to be able to stop your ‘master’ from entering and destroying this world without all the Essences?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“You can’t.” Astaroth answered bluntly. “Even if they all tried to stop him, it would just prolong the inevitable…”

Nis-Nis huffed. “Do you really know that? How do you know we don’t have a chance? If we’re really not a threat, then WHY is Naar so hell-bent on getting us out of the way?”

Astaroth blinked. He’d never really considered that, he thought a bit sheepishly. “Perhaps… but what do you do now? They’re already out of the way…”

“Not entirely, that’s why we’re here… we need your help to free the Essences from Naar and Bison. Urien isn’t as pressing a matter as them, but we have a sinking feeling that we’d better hurry with the other two... and as much as we hate to admit it, we can’t do it alone,” Zuke said. Jin and Astaroth briefly glanced at each other, before Astaroth spoke again.

“We can’t help you… Naar is…”

“...is going to kill a lot of innocent people including your sister if he invades this world!” Nis-Nis quickly interrupted, halting whatever line Astaroth had in mind. The dark-haired warrior sighed, unable to argue. He knew somehow he’d made a terrible mistake in giving the Essences to Naar, and this was the only way to correct it. He frowned slightly. This damn growing conscience of his was becoming somewhat frustrating. He looked at Jin for a moment, and the latter nodded slowly after a long, thoughtful pause.

“We can’t take her with us,” Jin stated, with a small gesture towards Natalie. The young woman rolled her eyes, but knowing that he was right soon nodded in understanding.

“Then I’ll stay here. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine while you’re gone. Naar’s probably too busy to do anything about me now, right?"

Reluctantly, Astaroth nodded. “Fine, then Jin and I will get the three I’m responsible for whilst you can find Bison.” His attention then shifted to his sister. “Natalie, if we’re not back soon, leave this place and hide yourself…”

Before she could argue, the four would-be enemies vanished…