The Path of the True Warrior Ch. 23
By Ryu-san

Dan looks around the hospital room as E. Honda paces around the room. The constant beeping of the monitors, the inane chattering of nurses and doctors, and the constant bustle of hospital reminds Dan of the situation.

"I can't believe it…Chun-li, Cammy Ken, Ryu, and Rose are all injured…" Dan mutters as he shakes his head. His eyes look over to Chun-li, who seems to have taken no superficial damage but is strangely unconscious. Cammy and Ken are both covered with burn marks, bruises and scrapes all over their bodies. Strangely, Ryu seems to have taken severe burn injuries to his back and to his chest. Meanwhile, Rose lies on the bed in a comatose state.

"Man, what happened to them…?" Dan wonders. "It's been two days since I found them."

"How DID you find them?" Honda asks.

"I have no idea, they just all appeared right in front of my dojo…" Dan tells him.

"B…"

"Hey! I think they're starting to wake up!" Dan shouts.

"B…is…on…" Rose mumbles.

"Rose? Are you awake?" Honda asks.

"B…iso…n…" Rose repeats over and over again.

"Sigh…no, she's just talking in her sleep…Bison…what connection does he have to what happened?" Dan wonders.

Bison stumbles into his fortress, limping very badly. His body is badly burned and he is bleeding in many places.

"Lord Bison! What happened!?" Balrog asks.

"Nothing of your concern," Bison tells him. He summons a great deal of willpower and teleports into his Psycho drive. His entire body quivers as he waits for the healing process to begin.

"I never expected…that…" Bison mumbles as he sleeps, his body replenishing itself.

Balrog rushes into a room where Sagat, Birdie, and Vega are all in. Vega sits in a corner by himself, admiring himself narcissistically with a mirror. Birdie polishes his chains with oil and he pauses for a moment to comb his hair every now and then. Sagat stands with his arms crossed, looking out the window, lost in his own thoughts.

"Guys! You won't believe dis but Bison came back and he looked like %#$! It was like he was almost dead or somethin'!" Balrog tells them.

"WHAT!?" Sagat yells. "Bison stumbled in here on the point of death!? What monster could have done this to him? Bison has incredible power…who could have done this to him?"

"All I know is I saw what I saw," Balrog replies.

"Don't you think this is the opportunity of a lifetime?" Vega asks as he slowly puts away his compact mirror and stands up. "With Bison gone, any one of us could seize power."

"Don't be a fool, girly man," Birdie says as he continues to polish his chains. "Bison is the glue that holds this organization together. Without him, there'll be nothing but chaos."

"What?! Girly man?!" Vega shouts as he places his claw on his wrist. "Tú quieres a morir, verdad? (You want to die, right?)"

"You wanna fight, then you got a fight!?" Birdie yells as he rises to his feet.

Sagat stomps his foot on the ground, hard, shaking the metallic floor of Shadaloo's main headquarters.

"ENOUGH! What we need to do is plan our next move, NOT argue amongst ourselves," Sagat commands.

"Hey! Don't tell us what to do!" Birdie yells.

"Pero, él tiene un buen pienso (but, he has a good idea)…" Vega says thoughtfully.

"I'm on whichever side pays more money and Shadaloo always has the most money," Balrog replies.

"Bah! Who needs you anyway?" Birdie tells them disgustedly as he walks away.

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"Uuhhhhh……" Ryu mumbles as he awakens.

"Ryu! You're finally awake!" Dan says.

"Where…am…I?" Ryu wonders as he looks around the room.

"You're in a hospital, Ryu. What happened to you guys?" Dan asks him.

"What…happened…?" Ryu asks as he looks around the room.

-!-

A few blurry images rapidly replay themselves through Ryu's head. One of Ken lying on the floor, another of Cammy bloodied on the ground, another of Bison's smiling face, another of Ryu's own bloodied hands, another of Chun-li slumped forward in his arms…

"AAAAAHH!" Ryu yells out as his body radiates a fearsome red glow. His primal scream abruptly ends as he teleports out of the room.

"Ryu!……what the…" Dan stop in shock.

"Come on, we have to go after him!" Honda tells Dan.

"His eyes…they were red…" Dan says, still shocked. "Didn't you sense the evil from him?"

"Yes, Ryu is coping with another side of himself. Just as there is a yin to every yang, so does Ryu have an evil side to him," Rose tells them as she begins to rise from her bed.

"Rose?" Dan asks as he turns around. "Are you okay?"

"I am…fine. I just need time to recover. We have much to talk about, don't we?" Rose says as a smile filled with sadness touches the edge of her lips.

"Hai…" Dan mumbles as he shakes himself out of his reverie.

"Both of you, sit. I'll start at the beginning…" Rose begins as she sits down in a chair of her own.

It all started when I was fighting Bison…

"There's no escape...for either of us...." Rose told him.

"A rose without thorns means friendship.... Come now.... I should never have allowed you to grow thorns...." Bison replied.

No! That obedience is what caused all this tragedy.... The game is over.... Let's finish this now!" Rose yelled.

"Prepare yourself! Soul Throw!" Rose yelled as she ran forward, punching Bison and then uppercutting him into the air, as she jumped up after him and then threw him to the ground. Bison teleported and landed on his feet. He brushed off the soul flames from his clothing.

"That's it!? Nuruyu wa! (Pathetic)!" Bison yelled as he dashed along the ground, sweeping Rose. He jumped into the air and with both feet, stomped hard on her head. He then flipped his body around and used a double-fisted attack to punch Rose in the stomach.

"Psycho Crusher!" Bison yelled as his entire body resonated with Psycho power.

"HA!" Rose said as she split into four illusory figures. "You'll have to guess which one to hit Bison and if you miss, you pay for it…with your life!"

"Hehehe…hahaha! Watch and die!" Bison said as he jumped past all of them and then used the rebound off the cliff wall to hurl his entire body past all the Roses. Rose screams as the psycho power filled her senses and she fell to the earth, scorched by the power.

"Haha…two separate fates are now to be one…I didn't expect it to be this way…Bison…" Rose said as she lay on the floor.

"What are you babbling?" Bison asked. Rose said nothing as she rose and then spun her body and shawl into Bison's heart.

"Ugh…Ha!" Bison said as he slapped her away. Bison clutched at his chest but after a few seconds, nothing, not even a wound was apparent. "It's over…"

Rose's lifeless body lay still on the floor and Bison laughed as he teleported away…

"When that happened, my body was left lifeless because it was without a soul. My soul, however, had fused with Bison's as I attacked at the very end. I was merely a spectator from the depths of Bison's corrupt soul, yet, at the castle, somehow, I was given freedom..."

"Hoi! Anta…so no te no ka yo (you…is that your best trick)?" Bison said, his voice filled with disappointment. Ryu tried to get up but he falls down. Bison walked over to Ryu and raised his foot high in the air.

"This is the end…how disappointing," Bison muttered as his foot dropped from the air.

"SENRETSU KYAKU!"

Bison was flung backwards as his body was racked with pain from the multiple kicks. He fell on his back as the final blow hit him on the chest. He shook his head as he slowly rises to his feet.

"Nan da kore wa!? I thought I killed you back there…" Bison said as his mouth gaped widely at Chun-li's renewed vigor. "However, this is all for naught. You will perish for sure this time…Shi ne (die)!"

Chun-li slid and kicked Bison, tripping him. She flipped her body around and kicked Bison in the chest as he lay on the floor. Bison teleported and appeared behind her. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and threw her across the room, forcing her to slide across the floor. She jumps back up and aims a kick at Bison's stomach but Bison teleported out of the way.

"Game over little girl," Bison whispered as he charged his psycho energy. His entire body resonated with power as the room filled with blue soon intensifies tenfold. The entire castle was filled with the blue aura as Bison charged his psycho power.

"PSYCHO CRUSHER!"

A figure immediately teleported right in front of Chun-li and shielded her from the attack of the psycho crusher. He turned around and brushed his clothes off. His eyes began glowing faintly with a red illumination.

"Nani ka!?" Bison whispered as he beheld Ryu's evil side. "Satsui no hado ni mezameta Ryu…"

'Ryu' remained silent as he cracked his knuckles. Chun-li stared in terror at 'Ryu's' metamorphosis and she slowly backed away. 'Ryu' tightened his headband and his belt as he slowly faced Bison.

"Ryuuuuuu! You are destined to be my next host body! Take this!" Bison yelled as he flung an odd purple projectile at him. 'Ryu' finished tightening his belt and he swatted away the projectile.

"Anta…so no te no ka yo?" 'Ryu' asked as he narrowed his eyes, sizing up his opponent. "Kutabare…"

He walked over slowly toward an astounded Bison.

"Shin ne…" 'Ryu' muttered as he began to teleport towards Bison.

All of a sudden, another figure teleported in and flung Bison backwards. The figure continued to teleport toward 'Ryu' and the two figures met.

"Messatsu…" the two figures whispered. The crackling of energy filled the air between them as the two began the deadly Shun Goku Satsu. Both their blows met with the other's own blows and the ensuing build of energy caused a backlash of power, causing the two to fly away from each other.

"Ryu…you are now ready to fight me…" Gouki told him as his aura of power and evil emanated from his body.

"Ready? I am more than prepared to defeat you…" 'Ryu' replied as his own aura resonated with Gouki's.

"Hn!" Akuma yelled as his entire body shook with energy. He slammed his foot to the ground, which caused the floor to shake tremulously.

"Kakate koi…" 'Ryu' taunted as he prepared to fight.

"Stooop!" Chun-li shouted from behind 'Ryu'. She ran in between the two fighters. "Ryu, this isn't like you! Please stop fighting!"

All of a sudden, Chun-li slammed into 'Ryu.'

"Chun-liiiii!" 'Ryu' shouted as he saw Chun-li collapse into his arms. He looked up to see Akuma's outstretched hands, still sizzling from the shakunetsu hadoken he had just fired.

"Kusou!" 'Ryu' shouted as his red aura of anger glowed even brighter. He charged at Gouki and threw a punch at his face. Gouki dodged underneath the blow but fell flat on his face. He turned around to see 'Ryu' behind him, only to see him disappear. Gouki stood up and looked around, trying to feel a kenki of some sort. Gouki slammed into a wall as 'Ryu' kicked him in the ribs. 'Ryu' teleported behind Gouki and kicked him in the back. He teleported again as he uppercutted Gouki into the air, high above the castle's roof. He threw a flurry of punches at Gouki but this time, Gouki blocked and dodged the attacks. Gouki teleported behind 'Ryu' and punched him into the side of a mountain.

"Messatsu…" Gouki yelled as he brought his hands back to fire his Messatsu Gou Hado. The entire mountain crumbled to dust as he released his beam of energy. When the dust cleared, 'Ryu' stood as if nothing had happened.

"Chikusho!" Gouki yelled as he fired more Messatsu Gou Hados at 'Ryu.' 'Ryu' teleported through the beams and grabbed Gouki's hands, crushing the bones into fine powder. He then threw Gouki into the moat of the castle and fired many of his own Hados. The ground underneath the castle lay burned and no sign of Gouki was to be found. 'Ryu' teleported back up to find Bison standing.

"Karae!" Bison yelled as he began projecting his chi inward, strengthening his own body.

"Hn!" Ryu grunted as he ran forward punching Bison in the abdomen. He repeatedly punches over and over again and Bison began to bleed from all of the hits.

"Urk!" Bison yelled as he fell backward. As he fell backward, suddenly Rose ripped out of his body and fell down beside him. Bison's blood covered the castle's floor as the ever-increasing crimson pool stained his matching general's suit.

"Heh. Hehe. Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!" Ryu began to laugh maniacally as he blasted random parts of the castle quite offhandedly.

"No! Satsui no hado!? Now!? Bison you fool! What have you done!?" Rose yelled. Rose leapt in the way of one of the beams and gathered the energy into her shawl. She then projected the beam into 'Ryu,' who immediately fell over and collapsed. Rose fell on her hands and knees, exhausted from the effort. She focused her energy and threw a tarot card into the air, creating a large explosion of soul energy. With that, Rose teleported the group out, leaving Bison to die in the castle.

"After that, we ended up in your house. Ryu cannot deal with the fact that Chun-li may be dead and that he killed Bison with his own hands. I fear that we may have to kill him…" Rose mumbles. She slumps in the chair she is sitting on and Dan rushes forward to catch her.

"What are we going to do…?" Dan despairs as he places Rose back on the bed.