A young and muscular man pounded his fists and feet up against a large yellow sandbag in the weights room of his licensed and owned dojo.

He slammed several punches and kicks at the bag,both using the moves of karate and Muay Thai.

The man had a blonde hair bowl cut and wore a white karate gi,and was the local fighting champion and teacher of San Fransisco and the sensei of the Jade Dragon martial arts dojo.

His name was Luke Charlton,but he was better known as Luke Blaze,martial arts hotshot!
And only just last week,he would've been the champion of all north america,if not the last tournament he was in.

Luke still remembers the day he enetered.

A WEEK AGO,THE US MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT,NEW YORK CITY.

Luke was battling out with a big muscle guy in blue shorts and boots with a bald head in the ring.
The wrestler lunged froward with a spinning lariet,but Luke ducked it and slammed a Rising Knee into his chin and then finished him off with a flying Flame kick.

"WHAMM!"
The bald dope went flying across the ring and fell to the floor in an unconscious state.
The referee announced the winner of the latest elimination round.
"Luke Blaze wins match 11!"he said. "One more and he will go on to the finals!"

"All right!"said Luke as he clenched his bandaged fists.
For the tournament,he was wearing a Muay Thai kickboxer outfit with yellow and red shorts and bandage wrappings on his hands and feet.

Ever since this contest started,he waded through the qualifying rounds as if he was swimming through a pool.
His confidence was gleaming,he knew nothing was gonna stop him from beating Ken Masters and winning the US title.

Or so he thought....
"Next match!"said the referee. "LUKE VS GUILE!"
"All right,so soon after that last one."said Luke as he got back into the ring.

His latest opponent was a man with blonde hair like himself,except it was a strange high flat top,and he wore a military outift of green tank top,camoflauge cargo pants,black hiking boots and a pair of silver dogs hung around his neck.

His musled body was a pound more harder than Luke's and his facial expression was a serious and hardened expression with eyes that bore straight into him.

"Hmmmm...."thought Luke. "...tough guy tpye huh?
Well,let's just see how tough he lasts when I get through with him!"

The two fighters approached each otherin the ring.
The referee stated the rules and had each other bow,and the fight began.

Luke made the first move as he thrust forward with his flying thrust kick.
Guile dodged it and then slammed a hand chop into the back of his neck.
"URK!"replied Luke as he staggered forward.

"Hey,what the heck was that?"he said.
"You got hear buddy,"said Guile. "but you're up against more than you know in this tournament."
"We'll see about that!"said Luke.

The kickboxer then jumped up at Guile and then unleashed a new attack.
He thrust his first punch into Guile's chest and then launched his Lightning Fists attack into him several times.

"WHAKKWHAKWHAKKK!"
After that,Luke then did his Shadow Upper and knocked Guile up against one of the ring poles.
"YEAH-BEAT THAT!"said Luke.

Guile then jumped off the pole and unleashed his own next attack.
"SONIC BOOM!"he said and threw a double swirling fireball from his fists.

"WHAT TH--?"was all Luke could say before he was slammed in the chest by the projectile and fell to the floor.
"Can you beat that,HA!"said Guile.

Luke growled,but kept his cool as he got back up.
The two fighters then thrust at each other and rammed shoulders into one another as the rest of the fight went underway.
Guile swung out his double leg sweep kick,but he jumped over it twice.

Luke then did a pair of spin kicks,but Guile blocked them both off.
The air foce captain then did his Backfist attack,but Luke ducked it and then came at him with a Rising Knee attack.
"KRAKK!"
Guile was hit really hard by the blow and fell backwards.

"All right,now's my chance!"said Luke.
"FLAME THRUST!"

Luke unleashed his Flaming Thrust kick at Guile and slammed him twice in the stomach with it,knocking him down to the floor.

Guile nearly fell on his back,but managed to stop with his hands.
Once he was down,Luke was about to finish him off with his Mallot Mash,but Guile saw a window of opportunity.

The soldier jumped up and did his Double Sommersault Slash!
The first one hit Luke out of the air and the second knocked him to the floor!

Luke landed with a loud thud!
Guile then came down upon Luke with an elbow slam,hitting him hard in the gut!
"OOOF!"replied Luke as the wind got knocked out of him.

He was down,and he was out.
The referee announced the match.

"GUILE WINS THE MATCH! GUILE HIMSELF WILL NOW GO ON TO THE FINALS!"
Luke groaned and rolled onto his side from the pain.
"Man,I lost---I can't believe it..."he thought.

Later on,as Luke rested,he saw that Guile was defeated by the tournament champion Ken Masters in the final match. Once again,Ken had won the US tournament,and his disciple Sean Matsuda had won second place in the fnals as well.

Most fighters would be just satisfied seeing Guile get his butt handed to him after being defeated by him,but Luke wasn't satisfied and vowed to face the Air Foce soldier in combat again someday.

Back at the dojo after Luke finished his flashback of remembrance,he continued to slam the sandbag with many more punches and kicks.

Luke then did his Flaming Thrust Kick and slammed a High Rise Kick into it,follwed y several lightning punches and finished it with a Mallot Mash!

"YAAAAAHH!"
"WHAMMM!"

The fist went right through the bag and piles of sand began to pour out.
"Oop,guess I got a little carried away there."he said. "Ah,hell with it I needed to unleash it."

Luke would clean up the mess later,he then turned to his office and sat down at his desk.
He looked over at the picture of both himself and his old teacher Darren Cho.

"When you retired you left the dojo and your figthing arts to me,Master."he thought. "But,how can I honor and teach your styles if I can't win against a real street fighter?"

Luke weighed his options and thought long and hard about what he had to do.
He then had an idea.

Aside from improving his moves as well as the Thai style of his fighting,he would travel about and find and fight great opponents and masters,until his art was as great and superb as the ones he vowed to fight against,Guile and Ken.

He then returned to the training room,placed a new sandbag up onto the ceiling chain and continued to practice.