A Street Fighter Christmas Carol Ch. 2
By Elaine
The bells chimed one. Ryu jumped up and gasped for breath. He had just had the
weirdest dream about a girl who looked like Ibuki, who had shown him scenes
from his Christmas past. He groaned and rubbed his temples, trying to figure
out what in the world had gotten into him. And why were there bells ringing? He
didn't live anywhere near bells...
Grumbling, he lay back down, closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.
That's when he noticed how bright the room had become.
"Get back up, you lazy bum!" a voice with a distinctive British
ring to it yelled.
Ryu got up and blinked. His room had suddenly been filled with a plethora of
goodies. In one of the corners was a table decked out with giant puddings. On
another table was a turkey the size of a donkey. His usually bare walls had
boughs of holly and other flowers flowing from them. As he stepped off the bed,
he realized someone had even taken the time to carpet the floor. And in the
middle of the room, dressed in an emerald green robe with fluffy fringes, was a
blonde woman...chewing on some giant grapes.
"C-cammy?" He stuttered.
"Well...yes. But not the Cammy you're thinking about. I am the spirit
of the Christmas Present," She giggled and procured a gift. "Get it?
Present? Gift?" There was no response. She rolled her eyes. "So,
what's a bloody bugger like you going to do this Christmas?"
"Train, I guess..." He automatically answered. He swung to the
side as a giant grape pit flew past his head. "HEY! What was that
for?"
Cammy glared at him. "You are going to waste yet ANOTHER Christmas
doing nothing but working out? What the 'ell's your bloody problem? DO I mean
that little to you?"
"I...I hardly know you! Hey!" He ducked again as one of the
puddings flew his way. "Stop that!"
"Don't know me? DON'T BLOODY KNOW ME?!? I'VE BEEN AROUND OVER THIRTY
SOMETHING TIMES AND YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU DON'T KNOW ME?" She roared and
threw the turkey at him. This one hit it's target.
With an audible OOF, Ryu slammed against the wall. "Ow..."
"You deserved it..." She sniffed. "Every year around this
time, all you ever do is ignore me. Over and over again, each year it comes to
Christmas time and what do you do? Train train train. What kind of unfeeling
lout are you?"
"I'm sorry...you don't have to take it personally..." Ryu muttered
as he shoved the turkey off him.
"Well I do anyhow!" Cammy wailed. "It's like I'm some ugly
hag...the way you treat me..." She prostrated herself on his arm, much to
his chagrin and looked up at him, big brown eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
"Do you think I'm an ugly hag, Ryu? Do you really hate me that much?"
"N-no," Ryu replied, trying to peel her off his arm. "You're
really pretty...now leggo!"
Cammy did, and folded her arms in front of her chest. "Well, you don't
act like you think I'm really pretty...As I said, every time I come around, you
ignore me,"
"I-I'm sorry! Y-you have my attention now..."
"Good," She brightened and gave him a hug. "Now, if you don't
mind, we're running behind on schedule..." She grabbed her arm and snapped
her fingers...
And with a flurry of super cool movie effects like fireballs and what
not...the scene changed.
>> "Where are we now?" Ryu asked. He rubbed his bare arms to
keep himself warm. New York was cold in the winter.
Cammy didn't seem to notice. She motioned for him to be quiet as they crept
upon a small hotel room near Central Park. As he glanced inside the window, he
realized it was the house of his number one fan, Sakura. >>
"I don't see why you're letting this depress you, Sakura. He's just a
big Scrooge if you ask me," Sakura's mother comforted her. Sakura looked
incredibly down...and Ryu knew it probably had something to do with him.
"But maybe it's because I'm not good enough..." Sakura sighed.
"Maybe that's why he won't train me,"
"Oh dearest, you're perfectly good! Don't let him think that you're
not. Hmmmph. Any man who makes my Sakura feel bad about herself isn't worth
chasing after," She patted Sakura's head.
"I'm not chasing after him..." She muttered. "I just want to
learn a few moves from him...and he's a nice guy...I'm sure of it!"
"Well he certainly didn't seem nice tonight when he yelled at you like
that!" Her mother gently pulled the covers over Sakura's body and kissed
her goodnight. "I think that if he won't teach you, perhaps there's
someone out there who's just as good as he is and will. You just have to clear
your mind and find THAT man instead,"
"But he's the best. And he IS a caring person, I'm sure of it. It was
wrong for me to annoy him like that..."
"You didn't do anything wrong, Sakura-chan. Now go to sleep, alright?"
"Alright...Goodnight, obaa-san..."
"Goodnight," >>
"What did you show me this for?" Ryu asked his companion as they
turned from the scene.
"I'm just showing you scenes from this Christmas Eve," Cammy
replied, busily filing her nails. "You do know you were a bloody b*st*rd
to her, donchu?"
"Yes..." He sighed. "But nobody understands. I can't train
her...I'm not good enough myself! I have to..."
"Me. Me. Me! That's all it's ever about isn't it? I used to think you
were a really selfless person, Ryu. But now all I see is someone who's obsessed
with 'is own image," Cammy growled. "The image of the wandering
warrior, the man who needs no one, the ultimate fighter who can't be bloody
bothered to 'elp a lil' girl learn something new,"
"But..."
"NO BUTS!" Cammy yelled. A few streetlamps shattered and Ryu
backed away. "Dear GOD, Ryu? What the 'ell's wrong with you? She just
wants you to take a lil' time out of your not so busy schedule and teach her
how to 'old a fireball. What's so 'ard about that? Why are you so scared to
bring on a student?"
"I-I...I just don't..."
"Don't what? Don't want to 'elp the girl?"
"No...I just don't want her to get any ideas. I mean, if I actually DO
train her...then...well..."
Cammy raised one finely plucked eyebrow. "Are you afraid of actually
getting close to someone? Is that it?"
"Well..." Ryu stuttered. "She might get to close to me. If I
teach her one move, she'll be back to learn another..." He paused. "I
suppose one day, when I've found what I'm looking for and I've settled down, I
could take on students...But I haven't found it yet..."
"And what exactly ARE you looking for, Ryu?"
"The Ultimate Challenge," Ryu answered automatically.
"And what is that?"
"What?"
"What is the Ultimate Challenge?" Cammy clarified.
"Huh? What do you mean...oh..." It suddenly occurred to him that
he didn't really know. "Well...when I find it I'll know it..."
"And what if you never find it, Ryu? What if one day, you realize
you've done nothing but waste your entire bloody life searching for something
that didn't exist? What would you do then?"
"It exists!" Ryu replied, crossing his arms. Cammy sighed and
stayed silent, but he found himself starting to wonder. First, his old master
had told him that perhaps the Fight wasn't all...and then the spirit who looked
like Ibuki had shown him how his obsessions had nearly ruined the life of his
friend. Now, the Cammy look-alike was making him wonder whether he really knew
what he was fighting for.
NO! He knew what it was! The Ultimate Fight would be the one that would
finally satisfy him. And that was all he needed to know now. How could he even
allow anything to persuade himself differently? He shook his head as if to
clear it and turned to glare at Cammy.
"Stop this, I would like to go back now," He told her, curtly.
Cammy sighed again. "Oh Ryu..." She gently stroked his head.
"I suppose even spirits can only do so much. It's time for me to leave
anyhow..." She kissed him on the cheek. "But promise me you'll think
about it. Look inside you, does your heart really, truly tell you that there is
nothing for you but the Fight?"
He continued to glare at her. She glared back. He continued his glare. She
continued hers...
...
...
He turned away, dry eyes blinking. He never had been good at staring
contests, contrary to popular belief. Besides, he was starting to see some
truth in her words...After all, what could it hurt if he just took a few
moments of his time to train her. All he really did was train himself anyways.
If he could arrange it so that she'd just watch or something...
"Glad to 'ear you at least thinking about it, Ryu," Cammy smiled.
"Whatever," Ryu grunted.
"I really must go now. I'm 'fraid my time with you is up...Merry
Christmas, Ryu! And I swear...if you dare to ignore me the next time I come
over, I'll bloody cannon spike you to the next millennium!"
Ryu would have replied, but he was suddenly overtaken by a fit of
drowsiness. The last thing he saw before his world went black was folds of
green velvet flowing on the snow covered streets.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
DING DONG...
The bells announced that it was one o clock, once again.
Ryu groaned as he got up and pushed away the light green blanket covering
him. He could have sworn he'd already waken up twice...but that couldn't be
true, right? As he rubbed his sleepy eyes, he thought back to the two dreams he
had just had.
Or were they dreams?
Of course they were. Even though they did seem rather real now that he
thought about it. He could still feel Ibuki's stinging slap...and the bruise
where Cammy's turkey projectile had hit. Maybe he had just rolled around a
little too much or something. He shook his head and muttered to himself.
"I can't believe this. Thank the Gods I don't have much planned for
tomorrow morning...with all these strange dreams I've been having..." He
checked the small digital clock next to him. It read 1:00. "That's
funny...I thought the bells rang minutes ago..."
Ryu.
Ryu stood up on his futon and groaned. Not another spirit...no wait. The
spirits were only in his dreams right?
Ryu.
His name burned through his head like a hot coal in snow. He looked around
wildly. Near the window, surrounded by a purplish fog was a hooded figure. He could
tell from the curves of the fabric that this spirit was also female.
"Are you the Spirit of Christmas Future?" He asked.
The hooded figure nodded and gestured for him to come closer. He did.
"And I suppose you're going to show me Christmases in the future,
eh?"
The figure nodded and gently embraced him. Winds started up and the purple
cloak blinded him for a moment. When he removed the cloth from his eyes, the
scene had changed to the front of two large French windows on a
materialistically impressive manor. The Master's Mansion. He peered in.
>>>
"A duck!" The young Masters boy Mel yelled triumphantly.
"You got it!" Chun Li laughed and slapped Mel on the back.
"What gave it away?"
"You doing this..." Mel pinched his lips and pulled them outwards,
succeeding in making a really good duck face. Everyone burst out laughing.
>>>
"You want me to watch them make funny faces?" Ryu asked, raising
an eyebrow.
The Spirit of Christmas past motioned for him to shut up and turn his
attention back to the scene.
>>>
"OOH OOH! I got one!" Eliza cried. She jumped up.
"Alright...go ahead," Ken cheered.
Eliza planted her feet firmly on the floor, crossed her arms and proceeded
to make her face as stern and unfeeling as possible.
"A statue?" Chun Li guessed. Eliza shook her head.
"A block of wood?" Another guest asked. Ryu didn't recognize him.
"A pillar?"
"Al Gore?"
"A log?"
"A skyscraper?"
"Well...we know it's something boring," Chun Li sighed.
"Eliza's barely moved through this whole episode..."
"Boring?" Ken thought for a minute. "RYU!"
Eliza nodded. "You got it!" Everyone laughed.
"That was a good one, Eliza," Chun Li complemented, grinning
widely.
"I know. The look on your face was so Ryu-esque, I could just hear you
thinking 'The Fight is All, The Fight is All'!" Ken added. He kissed his
wife on the cheek and she kissed him in return.
"Is Uncle Ryu really like that?" Mel asked, face all aglow with
warm delight. He was a very cute kid and incredibly well behaved, considering
how much his parents spoiled him. If Ryu ever had a kid, he wondered if it
would resemble Mel.
"Oh you don't know the half of it, boy!" Ken laughed. "If he
did a one man act, even the trees would die of boredom,"
"Yeah, especially if he repeats his life history," Chun Li
giggled. She did her own Ryu impression. "I was born. And then I learned
the Fight. And so I trained. And trained. And trained. And trained. And
trained. And trained. And trained..."
"And trained. And trained..." Eliza snickered.
"And trained. And trained. And then I trained some more. Even when my
super cool, super rich friend Ken invited me to a Christmas Party, I
trained..." Ken continued.
"And trained. And trained..." They all repeated and the whole
crowd burst into hysterics.
"Wow," Mel smiled at the chortling crowd. "He must really be
boring then..."
>>>
"I'm not boring!" Ryu spluttered. "I mean, sure my intro and
my ending are never that wonderful but that doesn't mean I'm boring! I've got a
personality...I do!"
The hooded figure rolled its eyes as only a hooded figure could.
"You don't think I'm boring right?" Ryu asked hopefully.
The hooded figure responded only by hugging him again. Once more did the
swirls of her purple coat cover his face...and once more did the scene change
in a very awesome manner.
Ryu blinked his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. They were at the
front of a dance club that had just closed. The hooded one pointed to two
people sitting on the steps in front of the shut doors. Ryu walked closer and
listened in.
>>>
"Wow, I still can hardly believe it..." One of the voices said. It
was feminine, but tough.
"Believe what?" The other voice asked. This one was distinctively
male...and very merry.
"Well, that I spent so many years chasing after the wrong guy...when
you...the answer to my prayers...was in front of me all the time!" The
girl...at least Ryu thought it was a girl...giggled. "I mean, I wasted
five years on this pathetic loser. Why? I'm still not sure,"
"Yep, he was pathetic alright. Though he used to be my friend, you
know?"
"Really? He had friends?"
"Sure," The guy voice told the girl voice. "He had quite a
bunch at first. I mean, he was pretty well respected. But after a while, we all
just realized he wasn't worth keeping anymore. All he did was obsess obsess
obsess about..."
"Ug, don't say it!" The girl voice groaned. "I heard it so
many times during those five years...I think I've gotten sick of it for
life!"
"Yeah. I feel sort of sorry for the guy actually. When he died, he
didn't have anyone left who could be bothered to go to his funeral..."
"Hmmm, I heard that no one found his body until 3 weeks after he kicked
the bucket. I guess that's what happened when you don't have people visit very often..."
"I wonder what it's like...to have no friends, no family...nobody to
mourn you when you're pushing up daisies..."
"Hmmph," The girl voice replied. "He deserved it. He pushed
away everyone who tried to get closer to him. It's not our fault he wasted away
from apathy,"
>>>
"Gods, this person they're talking about...he sounds like such a sorry
person...who is he?" Ryu asked, turning slowly towards the hooded figure.
He had an idea...but he was hoping it wasn't true.
The hooded figure let loose a long sigh and grasped his hand in her cold,
cold fingers. Gently, she led him towards a clearing he hadn't seen before.
Glancing around, he soon discovered that he was in fact in a graveyard. And a
rather spooky one at that. The place was dotted with worn tombstones and a few
marble angels. Dreary blackened trees stood over the graves like mummified
soldiers and through their bare branches, the moon shone through.
The hooded one pointed to the couple from the front of the dance club. They
were examining one freshly dug grave. From their tones of laughter and
amusement, it seemed like they didn't respect it's owner very much.
"Who's grave are they looking at?" Ryu wondered aloud. The hooded
one shushed him. Slowly, he crept behind one of the larger stones and listened
in.
>>>
"Well ol' buddy," The male voice said, a little too happily.
"Looks like you're six feet under!"
"I can't believe someone was actually willing to get him buried,"
the female voice scoffed.
"Well, they had been friends all those years ago,"
"So? Still doesn't mean anything. He was such a b*st*rd during the last
few years..." She growled and kicked the stone. There was a large clunk as
the stone toppled over.
>>>
Ryu crawled closer and tried to get a closer view of the two who were
disrespecting the grave so.
>>>
"Now, now honey. No reason to disrespect the dead," The male voice
scolded. "He really didn't harm you THAT much..."
"He didn't? I'll tell you what he did!" The female responded hotly.
"He was a total b*st*rd! When I was chasing after him all those years, he
totally ignored me. When he finally did bother to recognize my presence, it was
to tell me off! I mean, I used to love this guy for everything he did...I mean,
I worshipped him. And he was the only person who wasn't willing to recognize my
potential," Her voice trembled slightly. "I just needed him to teach
me one thing...ONE thing...and I would be happy. But no..."
The male went over and hugged her. "Shhh, it's okay. You found me
didn't you? I taught you instead. You're fine now..." He gently kissed her
forehead.
"Thanks Dan, that means alot..." the female sighed, hugging him
back.
"No problem, Sakura..." the male replied.
>>>
"SAKURA?!?" Ryu yelled, stumbling back. "AND DAN?!?! YOU MEAN
SHE WENT TO THAT LOUSY EXCUSE FOR A..." Then he realized what this meant.
"If... if...she went to Dan after this guy wouldn't that mean that the guy
is..." He gulped.
The hooded one pushed him to stand in front of the grave. He bent down and
tried to read the inscription of the knocked down tombstone. Lightning flashed
and Ryu's heart stood still.
Ryu Hoshi 1977 ~ 2002
"Th-this is me? Th-that Sakura hates so much? I'm to die and be
remembered as this?"
"What did you expect, Ryu? You barely try to keep friendships now. Do
you expect them to just go on giving attention to you forever?" The hooded
figure asked, throwing back her hood. Long purple hair flowed out and rain
started to pour.
"R-Rose?!?" Ryu gasped.
"Did you think you were cool for slashing all your contacts, Ryu? Did
you honestly think your friends appreciated you brushing them off? It is a sin
to not be thankful for your friendships. Now you must pay!"
"N-no! Wait! I still have a while don't I? I'll make it up I
swear!"
"GO!" Rose roared. Lighting struck the grave stone and it
shattered to pieces. The ground opened up and Ryu grabbed on to a root to stop
himself from falling in.
"ST-STOP! I'll change, I promise..." Ryu cried desperately.
"SOUL SPARK!" Rose replied, and the psychic projectile slammed
into him, sending him tumbling down.
"NOOOOOOOOoooooo!"