The Path of the True Warrior Ch. 14
By Ryu-san

"Sifu…what on earth happened to Ryu? He's acting like nothing happened…" Chun-li asks Gen.

"I'm not too sure…what I am sure of is that we should mention nothing of this incident to him," Gen tells her.

"ALL FIGHTERS PLEASE ENTER THE ARENA!" a voice announces.

"Gen-sama! Li Chun-san! Iku de gozaru yo!" Ryu tells them.

At the arena…

"Will our first contestants please enter the arena? Sakura and Charlie!"

Sakura runs in and drags herself to a screeching halt. Charlie turns and faces her after putting away his glasses.

"I'm honored to ight you, sir," Sakura says.

"I'm sorry to have to beat you, but nothing will get in the way of justice," Charlie replies.

The two fighters then begin, dropping into their stances. Sakura rushes at him and tries to sweep him with her right leg. Charlie easily jumps over it and he thrusts his knee forward, connecting with Sakura's shoulder. Sakura backs away, then waits for Charlie. Charlie jumps toward her and Sakura smiles.

"Shouoken!" Sakura says as she lunges forward with her dragon punch.

"Huh?" Sweat drops from Charlie as Sakura runs underneath him and misses him completely.

"Oh boy…I don't feel good doing this…Somersault!" Charlie says as he flips around, hitting Sakura in the back. Sakura glares at him and then she charges her chi, projecting it towards Charlie.

"Hadoken!"

"Sonic Boom!"

*Crackle!*

The two projectiles cancel out, leaving behind a small residue of power.

"Huh!? What was that?" Sakura wonders as she stares in disbelief. Charlie, already rushing forward, punches her in the abdomen and follows up with a with a knee to the chin, causing her to fall backwards.

"I'm not through yet…" Sakura says as she hits Charlie in the ribs with her fists interlaced. She runs forward and performs her Midare Zakura, striking Charlie head on with her fists. At the second shouoken however, Charlie punches her in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her.

"Somersault, Somersault, Somersault Justice!" Charlie yells as he hits hear head on with his flip kick combo.

"THE WINNER BY KNOCKOUT…CHARLIE!"

Dan, Ryu, and Blanka rush over.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" Dan asks.

"Ugh…I'm…fine…" she says as she coughs up blood.

"Know when your opponent is stronger and recognize mercy. That man was holding back until you forced him to unleash his control. Rest now," Ryu tells her.

"…Ok…" she says, passing out.

The paramedics carry her to the infirmary.

"Next, Guy vs. Thunder Hawk!"

Guy runs forward and slides to a stop.

"Ikuzo!"

T. Hawk jumps into the air and dives straight for Guy. Guy dodges and launches into the air with a senpuukyaku. T. Hawk falls on his back. He quickly rises and into the air and aims a kick at Guy's head. Guy ducks under and prepares to counterattack but T. Hawk grabs guy by the back of his neck and spins Guy in a circle while jumping high into the air, ending with a final slam to the ground. Guy rolls away and then he runs toward T. Hawk with a turn around jump kick. T. Hawk deflects the kick and prepares to grab him again. Guy, not wanting to make the same mistake twice, jumps away and then flips in the air towards T. Hawk. T. Hawk tries to grab Guy but Guy puts his hands around T. Hawk instead and slams him to the ground.

"Hya! Hya hya! Hya hya hya! HYA!

T. Hawk groggily gets up and the first thing he sees is a fist heading toward him and two more follow. He is hit by Guy's high kick to the side of his face, and then Guy flips striking T. Hawk in the process and then he dashes very quickly towards T. Hawk and ends it with a final kick to the face.

"Kore wa, Bushin Goraikyaku. Ware ku omo," Guy says as he turns his back to T. Hawk.

"THE WINNER BY KNOCKOUT…GUY!"

Guy checks on T. Hawk, feels that he will recover normally, and bows to him as they place his body on the stretcher.

"Alright, Jimmy! Good luck!" Dan yells.

"Uwoo!"

"You're welcome!"

"The next fight is between er, Blanka and Zangief!"

Zangief throws his cape over his shoulder and into the audience. He then slowly looks at Blanka and smiles. Blanka lurches his way to Zangief. He then jumps back and rolls his entire body, flinging it at Zangief. Zangief blocks it but the momentum drives him back. He then walks to Blanka. Blanka quickly launches his fists and connects with Zangief's chest, and then Blanka rolls to Zangief. Zangief, prepared this time, grabs Blanka in mid-spin and he jumps into the air spinning high. Blanka lands on his back and jumps backward. This time, Blanka rolls, only high in the air, and lands on Zangief's back. He starts biting Zangief in the shoulder and the shoulder starts bleeding. Zangief, enraged, thrusts his elbow backward and tries to fling Blanka from his shoulder. Blanka notices this and he charges up his body.

"UWOOOO!"

"Hi…Ya ya ya ya!!! Ya ya ya!" The electricity courses through the blood of Blanka and Zangief.

"Ugh…" Zangief collapses.

"THE WINNER BY KNOCKOUT, BLANKA!"

"Way to go, Jimmy! Osha!" Dan yells.

"The next match is between Dan and Rainbow Mika!"

Dan rolls onto the arena, stands up and taunts.

"Rainbow!" Mika yells as she jumps down to face Dan.

"Hey you! Your friend just hurt my idol! Now I'll have to avenge him!" she yells.

"Go ahead and try! I'll show you how my 'saikyo' style earned its name!" Dan yells.

Mika runs toward Dan and flips her body around. She flips her body around and utilizes the flying peach. (author's note: um…sorry but this battle involving R. Mika…will not be descriptive for certain reasons…that's all I'll say about that. ^.^;) Dan quickly sidesteps but Mika follows up with a shooting peach, hitting Dan. Dan, stunned, does not expect Mika's follow up with the double neck breaker. Dan rolls away, grabbing at his neck, and them motions her to come at him. She runs toward him but this time, she uses the shooting peach. Dan, expecting this, utilizes his Gadouken. Mika is sent flying backwards but she quickly rises and charges at Dan again. Dan jumps in the air and performs his Dankukyaku, striking Mika three times in the head. He then follows up with a Hissho Burai Ken, striking Mika over and over, ending with a final koryuken.

"Rah chu!" Dan says as he stands over her unconscious figure.

"OSHA! You were to easy to beat! Anybody can fight, but who can show off like I can?" Dan asks.

"THE WINNER..DAN!" The voice announces.

"The next fighters are Ryu and Balrog!"

Ryu tightens his headband and gloves and then looks at Balrog. Balrog punches his gloved fists together and then turns around and punches the air behind him, smiling. Ryu bows and Balrog laughs.

"Grrr…" Balrog growls as he remembers Bison's words…* you must all train hard, for failure means death, even to you…* the words echo through Balrog's mind.

"Ha ha! I didn't become the heavyweight champ with all that bowin' and stuff! Take this!" Balrog yells as he dashes straight for Ryu. He punches straight and Ryu merely ducks under it.

*BAM!*

Balrog delivers a smashing hammer punch as he hits Ryu with a downward punch. He then delivers a quick uppercut, bringing Ryu to his feet, and then battering Ryu with body blows before hitting him with a hook. Ryu's body hits the wall of the arena with a sickening thud. Balrog bends over and pushes a button, concealed from view.

Balrog then runs after Ryu. Ryu tries to dodge but he feels his feet stuck to the floor. He looks down and notices that his feet clamped down by metal restraints. Balrog rushes in and pummels Ryu into submission. Ryu manages to block a few hits but eventually is literally dying on his feet, unable to move to dodge the blows or perform his own blows.

"Ugh…hadok…" Balrog finally hits Ryu with a hook and Ryu collapses to the floor.

"THE VICTOR BY DEFAULT IS BALROG!" the announcer yells. "TODAY'S FIGHTS HAVE BEEN CONCLUDED, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR ROOMS."

The crowd erupts with outrage.

"RYU!" Ken jumps forward, with Guy, Gen and Chun-li all following close behind.

"Hoi, hoi (hey). I'm sorry I lost, I don't know…what…happened…" with that, Ryu's head falls to the floor.

"Everyone. Give me room," Guy says. Reluctantly, they move away. Guy closes his eyes and feels the chi emanating from Ryu. Guy feels a steady reverberation as Ryu's chi beats to the rhythmic melody of his heart. Guy probes carefully with his own chi, searching for the deficiencies, the malignancies that would cause Ryu trouble.

"Nani…?" Guy asks himself as he discovers something. He feels a frightening yet dormant fighting power within Ryu.

"Nan da itsuki (not sure about spelling, but basically means wtf)!" Guy yells as his eyes feel as if they are about to pop out of their skull. Another dormant power is wrestling with the other, both fighting to dominate. Then they detect Guy's presence and kick him out of their path. Guy, banished from Ryu's inner turmoil, decides to dwell upon this later and focus now on Ryu's physical condition. He detects that there is a lack of energy in addition the bruises and internal injuries, probably spent earlier, and that he has taken no serious damage.

"He is as hurt as to be expected but otherwise fine …" Guy says.

"Let's let him rest then!" Ken says.

Guy apologizes but he makes an excuse to go and meditate upon the events he saw. Ken puts Ryu in room 210. Chun-li and Gen follows while Ken returns to his own room.

"We must rest, Chun-li. Worry not about Ryu, he will be fine," Gen tells her.

"HA! I'm not worried about him, I'm just irritated that he's taking up so much space in my room!" she defiantly tells Gen.

"Is that so?" Gen asks her.

"YES!" she yells. "I'm going to bed."

"Good night and rest well, for you have your own fight tomorrow," Gen tells her.

"Of course! Good night sifu," Chun-li replies. After Gen leaves, Chun-li double checks on Ryu.

"I wouldn't worry about that one, luv, he's a big boy, he'll live," Cammy says.

"CAMMY! I wish you wouldn't do that!" Chun-li tells her.

"Why's that?" Cammy asks.

"I was just, uh, just startled. Don't spy on me!" Chun-li says.

"Ah, so you're afraid I'll see that you are worried about him…" Cammy says.

"Hey! That's not true! Who cares about a jerk like him anyway!" Chun-li says as she storms off to her room.

Later that night…

"Whew! How did you win that fight Balrog!?" a lowly recruit of Shadaloo.

"Welp, I jusht preshed a button that stuck hish feet on the floor! Hahaha!" Balrog admits in a drunken stupor. He leaves and begins to walk back in a deserted area.

"Haha! *Hic!* That was too easy!" Balrog says as he makes his way through the deserted arena. A pair of eyes follow him, studying his movements, their vision covered with red. They zoom in on Balrog and start rushing towards him at an unprecedented speed.

"What? Huh? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Balrog yells.