Street Fighter II Victory Fan Fiction ❯ The Whirled Warriors ❯ Chapter 1

Ryu had to have come this way. She'd just seen him walk around the bend a second ago...but he wasn't there. Sakura exhaled in frustration. She'd known he was good, but to pull a disappearing act like that...

"Don't waste yer tears on a mook like that." said in irreverant voice from above. Sakura glanced up to discover a skinny fellow with blue skin and fiery red hair grinning down at her. Where his eyes should have been white, they were black, and his pupils were red. He dropped from his treetop perch, somersaulting once before landing on his feet with a grace that belied his lanky frame. "Look at you, you spend all yer time moonin' after the lone wolf type an' yer neglectin' yer own skills. If ya wanna get his attention, ya gotta prove yer worthy by kicking his holier-than-thou tushie from here to Shangri-la." Sakura glared at the stranger.

"What do you know about Ryu?" she demanded. "You haven't spent your life studying him like I have."

"Maybe not, but I know a cold shoulder when I see one." the stranger replied. He extended a hand in friendship. "My name's Caldy, an' I promise you, sweet piece, I ain't never gonna leave ya out in the cold."

"My name is not 'sweet piece.' My name is Sakura."

"Just tryin' ta be friendly..."

"And you failed." Sakura replied. "HaDOken!" she exclaimed, focussing her chi-energy into her hands to form a fireball that flew at Caldy...and dissipated before reaching him.

"That's a pretty good size fireball ya got there, kiddo, but ya ain't got the focus yet to make it count." Caldy said.

"Like this?" asked another voice. "Hadouken!" A powerful fireball, twice as big as Ryu's and many times swifter, knocked Caldy through the underbrush and into a stream somewhere on the other side. Sakura peered into the shadows from which the Hadouken had come, trying to see who had thrown the impressive fireball. A figure stepped out of the trees. Shapewise, his facial features were similar to Caldy's, but his skin was tan, not blue, his hair was blonde instead of red, and it was tied back into a short tail. He was as tall as Caldy, but more muscled. His sky-blue eyes peered knowingly at Sakura as though reading her very soul. It gave her the shivers. He was wearing a pair of denim jeans bleached white, and a matching shirt, unbuttoned yet tucked into the jeans. The sleeves had been cut or ripped off, but were kept free of annoying strings by means of a pair of scissors. "You should go." he said. "Caldy is not the kind of master you want, and it is not wise to be around him when he is angry."

"Who are you?" Sakura asked.

"It is a question for another time. We will see each other again. I promise." With that, he was gone, his departure masked by the windblown dust of a whirlwind. Sakura left the way she had come, but faster.

Bison twisted his neck to the side, vertebrae popping audibly. Since discovering this temple, he had been working long nights. Spying on the world's governments without their knowledge was the biggest rush he had had since childhoold. What a wonder this temple was. He wondered why modern science had never been able to match the wonders of the ancient peoples who could build a temple capable of focussing one's psychic energy--or in Bison's case, his Psycho Power--as long as they sat on the throne. Falling asleep on said throne, however, was a pain. Literally. He stretched, working the kinks out of his back. Why did the damn thing have to be so stiff? He sat back, extending his consciousness, sending a command to the cooks in the camp outside. Ten minutes later, a hot tray of food was brought to him. He stood, leaving the throne in favor of a chair brought in by two scantily-clad female servants. He had learned the hard way that stray thoughts such as the thoughts he tended to have while eating could have a profound and sometimes undesirable effect when one was sitting on the throne. An entire platoon of Shadowloo soldiers had paid the price of that discovery with their lives.

As he ate, he thought about how best to destroy those who had bested him in the past. Guile deserved a slow, painful death. Ryu should die knowing the anguish of defeat, that he would never achieve the perfection he sought. Chun Li, that would-be Special Agent, would not be killed. Instead, she would live out her life as his plaything. He would break her will slowly, torturing her until she begged him to do whatever he wished with her. Cammy...he stabbed the table at the thought. She would pay dearly. The human mind had not yet conceived a punishment suitable for her. But Bison would, and when he did, her end would serve as a lesson to all who dared oppose him. He stabbed the table again, this time pinning the hand of one of the cooks, who had moved to replace the dinner roll he had just eaten. No longer hungry, Bison rose, pacing about the chamber. He glanced up, at the odd crystal in the ceiling which made the whole thing work. Situated directly above the throne, its nexus pointing at Bison's skull as he sat in it, the crystal had been found to posess remarkable electromagnetic properties, which allowed it to focus and amplify similar energy. Energy such as that produced by the human brain. Once again, he sat on the throne, clearing his mind so he could return to the task of spying on his enemies. Enemies like Cammy. A flash of anger rose in him at the thought, but he quelled it. For now.

Six weeks ago, Cammy's head had started to hurt. Bad. The doctors could find nothing medically wrong with her, but the pain was no less real. It would come on her suddenly, without warning, and pitch her into the dirt, blocking out everything but the pain.

Her eyes fluttered open as another wave passed. She wiped muddy tears from her cheeks. It had been the worst episode yet. Her vision was still blurry, her limbs still wobbly. She felt hands on her, helping her up. She supported herself on the stranger, who found her a rock to sit on. She opened her eyes a slit, but the dazzling light around her forced them closed. The stranger pressed something into her hand. Sunglasses. She unfolded them and put them on. Relief showed plainly on her face as she opened her eyes. The shades reduced the light to a manageable level. The face before her was not one she had seen before.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Someone who wishes to help you." the stranger replied. "Bison has discovered an ancient temple which focusses psychic energy. He has been using it to spy on the world's nations, but his anger and hatred toward you causes his subconscious to lash out at you. He doesn't know the power he's unleashed."

"How do you know this?"

"Because my clan have been the protectors of the temple for thousands of years." the man replied, sadly. "Now only I remain, because I was in the city obtaining supplies and delivering a petition to the government to stop the loggers' encroachment on our lands. I must atone for my failure to protect the temple by retaking it and making the interloper pay for what he has done, but I cannot do so alone."

"When do we leave?" Cammy asked.

"Not yet." the stranger replied. "The two of us cannot take on a thousand thousands of trained military men armed with weapons capable of large-scale destruction."

"One thousand times one thousand is one million." Cammy said. "And I like long odds."

"Bison is not our only enemy."

"Oh?" Cammy asked. The pain in her head had subsided to a dull, throbbing ache.

"The other is known as Caldy, a name which means 'lanky.' He has stalked me since I was young, seeking to undermine my efforts and undo my works."

"Sounds like Evil Twin Syndrome to me." Cammy remarked.

"He's not my brother."

"It was just an expression." Cammy said apologetically.

"I know." the stranger replied. "It refers to the way one out of every two twins is portrayed as being evil in American pop culture. I am no stranger to the television."

"Then why do you talk like some old kung-fu master on...shoot!" The stranger was smiling.

"It's what people expect when you're delivering exposition which pertains to ancient artifacts." he said with a wry grin. "Besides, people take me more seriously when I talk like that. You coming?" Cammy staggered a little as she left the rock, following the mysterious stranger, who, she realized, hadn't given her his name, but she managed to keep up. He held her hand and they walked through the bark of a tree into a dark, formless void. After a moment, they reappeared from another tree and walked into a clearing in which sat a recently-finished cabin and a jeep. "Welcome to South America." he said.

"We just skipped across the ocean by walking through a tree?"

"Not just any tree." the stranger said. "A gate-tree, blessed by the Ancients with the power to bridge the gaps between distant places. It has long been my clan's responsibility to care for them, keep them alive and maintain their power. One time we let loggers cut one down, and it nearly brought down the whole network. Nobody knows how to bless the trees anymore to link them to the network, or make a new network. A loss like that would have been devastating."

"Yeah, airline ticket prices are skyrocketing." Cammy said. The stranger actually laughed.

"Are you always this funny when you don't want to deal with something?"

"Keeps me sane." Cammy replied. "I don't think I could have lasted this long if I didn't have a sense of humor." She sighed. "Amnesia's not one of those things they talk about in basic training." Pain once again stabbed through Cammy's mind. She cried out. She felt arms around her, stopping her fall as her legs turned to rubber under the Psycho Power assault. She passed out in agony.

Ryu rounded another bend to discover a lanky man with fiery red hair, blue skin and black eyes with red pupils. The man stood in his way. Ryu approached the man, keeping his face passive.

"Ah-ah!" the man said, holding up a finger. "It's very rude to come at somebody like you're going to try and kill them. I would be forced to defend myself."

"Then do it." Ryu replied. The man's brow furrowed until he caught fire. He began to spin, becoming a fiery tornado. As his rotation became less stable, he began to move forward like a top on an inclined plane. Ryu tossed his Hadouken, but it was absorbed into the fire surrounding the blue stranger. While this was certainly interesting, Ryu had no time to fight a cocky blue scarecrow. "Shinkou Hadou-Ken!" he exclaimed.

"We've just received word that M. Bison has taken over a temple in South America. Sources within his organization tell us that he's using it to spy on the world's governments without their knowledge."

"How is that possible?" Guile asked.

"Who knows?" the general replied. "The government has sent a special team which will accompany your team and make sure Bison is stopped and the temple is dealt with."

"A demolitions team?" Guile asked. "We could do that ourselves."

"Not a demolitions team, Colonel." someone else said. "Our specialty is magical items, and if the things that have been secured over the years are any indication, certain sectors of the ancient population had everything figured out. They even invented the security system. My advice is not to mess with anything old unless you know how to use it."

"And you are?"

"Samuel Wraith, at your service, Colonel Guile." the man replied. There was something about this man that Guile didn't trust. He looked like he should be in Hollywood playing the part of the devil or something. He had straight, black hair parted down the middle, cold, black eyes that sent an involuntary shiver up Guile's spine, a goatee and a cold grin. One of the rescue dogs which was being walked to a medivac chopper for a search and rescue mission in the Rockies began to bark savagely at the stranger, snapping and foaming at the mouth as it strugged against its leash. The image brought back memories of his grandmother telling him that animals could sense evil.

Ryu rolled out from under a vicious dive-kick. His lanky opponent was better than he had thought. This would be interesting. The man's long legs allowed him to get very close very fast. Before he knew it, Ryu was on the receiving end of a fiery version of his Shoryuken. He rolled as he hit the ground, distributing the impact along his body while simultaneously putting out the fire. His foot caught the spidery youth in the chin, sending him spinning. He caught sight of the young man's angry expression. The youth caught fire. The fire turned black, as though it had charred itself with its own heat. Soon, the lanky stranger was nothing more than a jet black silhouette of a man on fire. With blinding speed, this being of black flame charged.

"Kuroi Kumo Kesu!" he exclaimed.

Sakura took the time to catch her breath. Blue flame behind her ended her brief interlude. Akuma crashed through the brush, glancing this way and that. She sat behind a large rock, being as still as she could. She could sense his evil intent if she focussed her chi, but she dared not, for to do so would alert him to her location. He had been learning since the last time she had faced him. Caldy's words burned in her mind. "Look at you, you spend all yer time moonin' after the lone wolf type an' yer neglectin' yer own skills." She felt a change in air pressure and left her hiding place, just before Akuma would have stomped her. She dashed away. He knew all her tricks. She wished she had trained harder in the intervening months, but instead she had chased Ryu all over the archipelago. She slowed to a stop as she rounded a bend in the path, and caught sight of Ryu, chained to a large, steel cross. He was battered and burned. She caught a glimpse of blue skin out of the corner of her eye and dashed for the trees. Akuma crashed into the clearing, pausing as he took note of the scene before him.

"You must be the mook they call Akuma." Caldy said. Akuma grunted once in reply. "Man of few words, eh? I can live with that." Sakura parted the limbs between her and the battle, watching, focussing so she could see how the chi-force flowed. This was one trick Sakura had picked up watching Ryu practice. Akuma charged up and prepared to destroy his foe with his infamous Raging Demon. Sakura watched as Caldy divided into two beings, the one in front taking Akuma's punishment. The false Caldy faded out as Akuma destroyed it. The true Caldy lashed out with a flurry of ki-blasts. Akuma took a few of them and managed to avoid the rest. A flaming Shoryuken followed. Sakura watched, desperately learning all she could from the encounter. She felt Caldy's rage build within him, and he caught fire, attacking Akuma with flaming fists and feet. As his rage grew, the fire turned black until he was only a dark shadow. Then it happened.

"Kuroi Kumo Kesu!" Caldy exclaimed, his fiery shadow-form taking the shape of a mutant spider and performing a six-fisted hyper-combo that put the Raging Demon to shame. Akuma teleported out of the attack (a trick Sakura hadn't known he could do) and counter-attacked savagely. Focussing as much as she could, Sakura chucked a twin fireball at the chains on Ryu's hands, allowing him to drop to the ground. She emerged, glad the two combatants were to busy with each other to pay her any mind. She managed to get Ryu into a fireman's carry and leave the clearing with him.

"What happened?" Sakura asked after Ryu had awakened.

"I...underestimated the lanky one." Ryu replied.

"His name is Caldy." Sakura said. Ryu raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

"I...was not prepared for such a powerful and swift attack." Ryu said.

"Do you remember anything after the battle?"

"No." Ryu replied. "Why are you here?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Sakura said. "I've been following you, trying to learn from you, but you keep running off. I didn't know Akuma was following me until it was almost too late. Seems he's taken a vow to kill me."

"Then you shouldn't slow yourself down with a wounded warrior." Ryu said. "Go."

"What could I learn from a dead man?" Sakura asked. "Besides, you know the expression 'United we stand, divided we fall.'" Ryu chuckled, then groaned as a bruised rib protested the action. "Think you can walk?" Ryu grunted as he got to his feet. She offered her support as they walked on, finally coming to a road. The lights of the city in the distance beckoned like a siren's song. They had only been walking half an hour when a car stopped for them.

"Need a lift?" Chun Li asked. Sakura smiled, hardly believing her luck. She got Ryu into the back seat, making sure his bare feet were fully inside the car before she closed the door. She climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Thanks." Sakura said.

"Where are you headed?" Chun Li asked.

"As far away from Akuma and Caldy as we can get." Sakura replied. Chun Li took them to a snug little dojo on the outer fringes of Kyoto. A kimono-clad servant brought herbal tea for Ryu. Sakura watched as Chun Li sparred with the men. Noticing a punching bag over in a corner, she began to practice with some swift kicks. Chun Li appeared at her side, demonstrating the technique.

"It will take time for you to build enough strength in your legs to move your feet as fast as I do." Chun Li said. "But you are doing surprisingly well for a beginner." Sakura smiled. They moved to the ring and began to spar. Sakura caught Chun Li on fire when she tried the beefed-up Shoryuken. Apologizing all the way, she splashed the woman with cold water from a pitcher. "Where did you learn that?" Chun Li asked.

"I was watching Caldy and Akuma fighting." Sakura said. "I picked up a trick from Ryu that allows me to see the chi-energy released during a battle."

"Ah, I see." Chun Li said.

"Let...let me see you do a Hadouken." Ryu said, clutching the ropes. Sakura turned toward the punching bag again, throwing her Hadoken fireball. It dissipated halfway there. "Focus." Ryu said. "Like when you did the fire-Shoryuken." Sakura nodded, took a deep, cleansing breath, and tried again. This time, her Hadoken reached its target, knocking the punching bag off its rope, despite its much smaller size. "Better. The more you focus, the less diffuse it will be, and the faster it will travel. It will get bigger as you begin to put more energy behind it."

Sakura smiled. Ryu was teaching her!

Sakura awoke to the sound of the door closing. Ryu had slipped out of the room. She followed after him, her shoes squeaking on the floor as she ran. She caught up with him as he reached the door. Chun Li was waiting in the car.

"Don't you have school?" Ryu asked.

"It's summer vacation." Sakura replied. "How do you forget a thing like that?" Ryu climbed into the back seat, and Sakura got in with him. It was then she noticed that the passenger who was in the car with them was the same stranger who had taken out Caldy during their first meeting. "You again!"

"Don't act so surprised, Sakura." the man said. "I told you we'd meet again." He looked back at Ryu. "Feeling better?" he asked. Ryu grunted in response. The stranger gave Chun Li directions to what he called a "special place," and she drove, looking back at Sakura questioningly. Sakura merely shrugged. They arrived, and Chun Li parked the car in a clearing.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Chun Li asked, looking around.

"Quite sure." the stranger replied, pulling a necklace out of concealment. It glowed as he approached the tree near which Chun Li had parked. "This is going to sound hokey, but I would like everyone to form a chain. These gate-trees were created for use by my clan, and technically I shouldn't be showing them to you, but it's the cheapest and fastest way to get where we're going. They're activated by my medallion, and I don't have medallions for all of you." Sakura took Ryu's hand in hers. He looked at her strangely, but did not resist. Chun Li took Ryu's other hand. The stranger took Sakura's left hand, and he walked into the tree, pulling Sakura and the others behind him. They emerged in another clearing. This one was occupied by a cabin and a jeep. It was dark, and moonlight illuminated the clearing.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have tree-lag?" Chun Li asked.

"You haven't even told us your name." Sakura remarked as the stranger released her hand.

"Yuji."

"What do you know of this Caldy person?" Ryu asked.

"Caldy is a thorn in my side that I have not yet been able to pluck." Yuji replied. "He knows I have taken an interest in Sakura, and wants to use her to get to me. If he cannot manipulate her directly, he intends to use others to get to her, and through her, me."

"Oh, so that's why he attacked me." Ryu mused.

"Yes." Yuji replied. He turned toward Ryu then. "I'm warning you, Mr. Shotokan Karate expert, if you see Caldy coming, you run. Run like the wind, as if you were being chased by a thousand devils. Akuma has trained hard, and become even better than you, but he soon took your place on the cross. Caldy may be arrogant, but he has the skill to back it up. Better men than you have faced him and died."

"How far away from him are we?" Sakura asked.

"We are in South America, but that doesn't matter with Caldy." Yuji said, holding up his medallion. "He has one of these, too. We should go in now. My other houseguest will be worried." As they approached the house, a blood-curdling scream came from within. Yuji quickened his pace, and the others followed. He burst into the cabin, lit from within by the fire in the hearth, and ran to Cammy's side. She was holding her head in her hands, and tears streamed down her face. Yuji closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating quite hard indeed. Sakura focussed herself, watching the chi, just as she had learned from Ryu. He seemed to be forming some sort of barrier around her. Cammy slumped, relief plain on her face, despite the shades she wore. Sakura also saw something else, battering at the shield, like a hammer of pure, animal rage. It was soon gone, however, apparently having given up.

"Thank you." Cammy said, weakly. Yuji and Chun Li helped her to her feet, and sat her on a woven mat. The group formed a circle, beginning with Cammy, with Chun Li on her left, Sakura beside her, followed by Ryu and then Yuji to Cammy's right.

"So, mind telling us why you brought us here?" Chun Li asked. Yuji told of how Bison had sacked his village while he was in the city and captured the temple they had been guarding--a temple which could focus psychic energy. He also told them that Colonel Guile was coming, though he had failed to contact him before the Colonel had been sent off to stop Bison, along with a team of "special operatives," whom Yuji had not been able to see clearly from his hiding place, but there seemed to be an aura of darkness about them that unnerved him.

"So we can't count on Guile's help." Ryu said.

"From what I saw, Guile doesn't like them any more than I." Yuji replied. "Even the dogs barked at them with such ferocity that said that if the other base personnel hadn't been holding them back, the dogs would surely have killed them. Or vice versa."

"The trouble is getting a message through to him." Sakura said.

"That's my problem." Yuji said. "Your problem is preparing for the battle to come. We have little time. You, especially, Sakura, must work on your focus. Ryu is right when he says he is not ready to teach. If my visions are true, you will have surpassed him by the time he is." Chun Li chuckled a little at this. "You all have a lot of training to do, and very little time to do it in. I suggest we get started at dawn. I have some tea which will help with the time-zone change and help you sleep." Yuji rose and made tea for the others. Ryu needed a second cup, but eventually he, too, drifted off to sleep. Yuji quietly went outside and planted four sticks in the ground around the clearing, with elk-hoof rattles tied to them and small bundles of sacred objects netted securely at the top. With these in place, he began a slow chant which built in tempo and volume until the sticks and their attendant paraphenalia began to glow. Briefly a circle of soft, blue light appeared on the ground, instantly becoming a glowing, blue dome, like a giant soap bubble. It faded from view then, and only Yuji's chi-sensing ability told him it was still there. Then he returned to the cabin and he, too, went to sleep.

As Bison awoke, an odd feeling of frustration ate at him, as though he hadn't accomplished something he should have. He couldn't quite place the feeling, though it wouldn't go away. He hadn't remembered any of his dreams since finding the temple. Perhaps that was it. Or maybe he wasn't achieving R.E.M. sleep at all. Perhaps he should ask the camp medic about it. He stretched, both mind and body...and sensed something from afar. Guile was coming!! He was unhappy about something...the others who rode in the chopper with him. He could perceive them only as holes in the surrounding mental ambiance, or through the minds of Guile and his team. Was this what had frustrated him in his sleep? Had his sleeping mind reached out and try to identify the approaching invaders? Perhaps, although the theory didn't seem to satisfy whatever hidden subconscious urge had been frustrated. He sent word to the Shadowloo army at the base of the temple that company was coming.

Cammy awoke to the smell of frying bacon. She felt better than she had in months. The headaches had not come upon her again in the night, and the tea had been so relaxing. She didn't even mind that it wasn't even dawn yet. She opened her eyes and, for the first time since coming here, felt good enough to take off her shades. Yuji was cooking a hearty breakfast, and the smell had awakened everyone else. He placed the fried eggs and bacon atop bowlfuls of rice. Chun Li was squeezing oranges to make juice.

"Sorry I don't have milk for you, but with all the chi-energy I kick up around here, I've spooked sour every cow within ten miles." Yuji said.

"It's alright." Chun Li said as she brought the decanter to the assembled group, accepting a cup of tea from Sakura while pouring juice into the empty glasses before her. With everyone refreshed by a halfway decent night's sleep and a good meal in their bellies, Yuji took the group outside. The morning air was crisp, though it was mid-July. Cammy had to remind herself that they were in the southern hemisphere now.

"First I will need to guage your abilities." Yuji said. "So to begin, we will have a series of sparring matches. Chun Li, you first."

Somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico, Samuel Wraith watched the scenery fly by through the window of the helicopter. They were due to land on the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman soon, which would take them to South America. From there, it would be an hour's flight to the Shadowloo camp, and the Temple of the Soul-Flyers.

At long last, it will be mine! Wraith thought. And with it, the world!

To be continued...