Description: What happened at that mysterious location just off of Japan is nothing short of incredible - but it remains a fact most of the world will never understand what it is that actually happened there. Especially not one Howard Rust's employers, who have decided enough is enough. As the wandering martial artist Antoine Huang happens upon the now ex-shop teacher, both come to realize there's still a path before them to walk.
A week later following the incredible events at a place of great interest...
Howard Rust knew this day was coming. The bandages over his wounds from tanking, effectively, something almost equivalent to the very sun itself have come off at last. The less said about the interim, the better - and we're not just talking physical pain here.
It's a clear, sunny day over Southtown. A happy sky that many feared they may never see again, the underlying discomfort... no, /fear/, having finally subsided from the human psyche as those who bravely took to the final battleground for humanity's future could return back to society. With those who fought against the very culmination of Goenitz's sick plot, they all knew - on some level or another - humanity has been given another chance. A tenuous chance.
Here on the grounds of Pacific High, there is no joy to be had. Numerous students have gathered out front, murmuring amongst one another as a man stands alone with a cardboard box underneath his arm - a man bearing the toolbelt with a rusted, warped length of pipe awkwardly hanging through a pocket and a very bad combover.
"I'd like to think it wasn't a mistake hiring you those years ago like some of my peers were saying," says a shadowed man in a red suit (yes, somehow in broad daylight his features are shadowed, it's... just a thing), "but I can't ignore your absences and academic performance of your students, Howard, you realize."
Howard, for his part, is silent as he looks away from the school. Perhaps the only reason they're all gathered to say this is because he is still on Pacific High grounds.
"I've given you every chance to shape up. I've given you /every/ bit of leeway allowed within the employment contract. You've done some good things, maybe even great things, here and there..."
"..."
"This isn't working for any of us, Howard, you know that. So I have to ask you, one last time, to please leave the premises like I asked three hours ago!"
"...Couple more... couple more minutes." Howard murmurs, unheard by the rest.
"I, I already know full well, Howard, what'd happen if I called security." Of course they all know. "You're trespassing now. You don't work here any more. You. Don't. /Belong/. Here. Please get off the school grounds... I don't want to have to call the police."
The ex-shop teacher's head droops a little more, to the little chorus of jeers and shouts from some of the other faculty members.
It is strange. Even after saving the world, life continues on. It is unfortunate that heroes are forgotten. Those who rescue the world, those who give people a future, they have to lose something important to them.
Rust is a testament of that.
Watching from the corner is Antoine, who is watching with a frown. It is horrifying to see that despite all that they have done, life treats them this way. However, even the heroes unsung will have to bare the brunt of life.
Sometimes, one wonders if it was worth the world having a future.
However, Antoine should not think that. Everyday is a trial that has to be overcame.
That is why Antoine moves behind Rust, looking ahead.
"I see a man who has done a lot for the people, if not through helping others academically, then by facing the dangers so that no one has had." He considers, "I wonder if you all had to walk his shoes. And if you had the gifts that he does, would you do the things that he had done."
"I see a man who sacrificed a lot to ensure that people could live the life that they live now. These are the same people who jeer and spit at his name."
Antoine's eyes move towards the crowd, still carrying the duffelbag.
Antoine's ability to seemingly come out of nowhere is nothing short of amazing - unpredictable in his wanderlust, and yet, when he's there - he's there. For a moment, Rust wonders if it's someone about to try and lay a hand on him when Antoine comes up behind him, turning his head around and raising up his free hand as if in the beginnings of saying 'back off,' when he realizes who it is speaking by voice.
If the appearance of Antoine alone from behind wren't enough.
"Why the hell was he even hired to begin with?!" Shouts a particularly dismissive teacher back over to Antoine. "The degree he got from a poor college, and yet he gets to be paid as much as /we/ are, running around and treating it like it's a part-time job compared to being some kind of athlete?"
"The hell did he give up and sacrifice?" Another one yells back at Antoine. "Because of him we got our supervisors breathing down our goddamn necks! What the hell do you know about being a teacher?!"
The kids are still murmuring. They're all surprised in some stripe or another, but not one of them - not one of them among them - seem to be moving forward to stand up for the shop teacher. (Marisol or Vince probably would, if they were among the crowd.)
"Antoine," Rust speaks up in his usual tired, gravelly voice, "l-listen, thanks, but..."
"A degree from even the poorest college has a vast number of wealth. No matter your background, knowledge is valueable." Admittedly, Antoine is uncertain as how th world works, as far as degrees. At best, the young man is only abe to give off information of his ideals.
However, this does not help too much. When they mention about their equality, Antoine frowns and he shakes his head. "...He's not being some kind of athlete. He's trying to make a living like the rest of you." He continues, "I am afraid that I have no knowledge as to what your form of being a teacher is like."
Pause.
"However, I do know the importance of being a teacher to a student. A teacher is someone who is vast in their knowledge and is willing to help cultivate the student's mind so that they can comprehend the lesson.
However, when Antoine is stopped, he looks at the old fighter. "...You cannot give up like this Rust, especially all that you've done for the people." His eyes lift up.
"The man has made more sacrifices than what can be accounted for."
There's a lot of uncertainties and divides between the world of the mundane - of everyday people, those not granted the ability to harness the powers of the earth around them or themselves... and those who can. Yet, even those who live among the fantastical and powerful are not so far beyond the mundane that they can simply rise above it and simply make it go 'shoo.'
He shakes his head breifly at Antoine as he expresses his views of the points about 'some kind of athlete,' trying to make a living, as the other teachers continue with their jeers in this brutal excommunication ritual of sorts. Even the principal with the shadowed features has a little trouble trying to get his own staff to lower their voices.
"Antoine, it's... I'll, I'll just tell you while we walk, all right?" Rust says, even as Antoine points out - as the only man in his corner - that he really has given up a lot. "Paperwork's... 's all already gone through, Antoine, I, I don't work here any more. That much... th-that much, a done deal."
Rust gestures for Antoine to follow him, as most of the gathered teachers fall silent in watching what they consider a relatively dark chapter of Pacific High's status as an elite international school come to a close.
"Wh--what?" Antoine turns back, looking surprised as Rust is going to give up on the matter. "But.. you can't---..." And then, Antoine hears he news of the paperwork being done already. With a defeated sigh, the young fighter shakes his head. The situation, especially considering how it all ends, leaves a bitter taste to the idealistic fighter's mouth.
He faces Rust, offering him a nod. The young fighter shifts his weight to keep the duffelbag lifted, he walks along the path while following after Rust.
It leaves him reflecting. First, Quon. Now, Rust.
His eyes focus towards Rust, furrowing his eyebrows, "What will you do now?"
Behind them, Pacific High's Southtown chapter. Home of some of the greatest young fighters in the world - and now, a place he no longer works at. Goodbye, steady and extremely-well paying educational job of sixty thousand dollars a year in United States dollars! And, on a far grimmer note... goodbye, last ten years of his life in trying to turn his disappointment around in making something of himself after he believed his dream was crushed for good.
"B-Before we get to that," Rust says as he walks out further into Downtown, never once looking back at the crowds that dissipate. "When... when I was gettin' ready for the, the King of Fighters, Antoine... I, I wasn't bein' a good teacher to 'em." The older man takes a deep breath as he recounts the little things and compromises he tried to make so that he could take that big, great chance that fell in his lap in the mail one day.
"When, when you teach, you can't half-ass it, Antoine. My kids, they, they scored the lowest in the /entire/ Pacific system, and... and that's a hard truth you can't, y-you just can't ignore. Some of 'em, they, they still fumble 'round like they never held a, a goddamn hammer before."
The older man stops so that Antoine can walk ahead of him. "All that just, just for an old dream. It's, it's like you said about the whole... the whole eye openin' thing, y'know, 'bout the world's miracles. What we, what we saw at that place, what we /did/... 's not somethin' most are gonna get, Antoine."
"What, what they saw, Antoine, all they, all they could see - and I ain't, I ain't denyin' it - was a man who just, y'know, uh, just wasn't doin' the job they were paying him a whooooole lotta money for. And... and I still owe ya an apology."
The man of the bad combover lowers his head to take in another deep breath. One of his knees pops as he flexes it out, as if saying 'okay, you gave me the dramatic silence, you can start being noisy again, goddamn joints.'
"I think, I think I got caught up so much... s-so much in King of Fighters, Antoine, I... failed to keep you safe. Really, j-just 'bout everyone. Especially from, y'know, Yuri's dad... 'n you never got your, your shot against anyone."
Against the runner-up team of King of Fighters 2011, finalists. They were all bested by the team that would go on to make it to the finals, for, er, whatever sort of finals existed. Was it even official when that weird guy on TV arranged it? Everyone seems to be treating it as such, and yet...
"I'm, I'm sorry things went as they did, Antoine. I, I really am. I don't think that, that I'd be able to, ah, face your ol' master... kifu, right, that the word?" He forgets the term.
As Rust goes back from the subject to explain his situation, Antoine turns to face the older man and listens. There is not much for the warrior to do except to listen to the man's tale and process it. So, it is true that he was not the best teacher and they had no choice but to fire him.
"...To chase your dreams, you will sometimes have to abandon everything you hold dear."
Antoine cannot help but to frown, realizing how much Rust had to sacrifice to try to chase a dream.
When he reaches ahead of Rust, the youth turns to face the older man. "That is because it is something that they should not have to see." The smile is faint now. However, Antoine does grow with the smile. "...I have learned something over the time. There are those who corrupt and challenge you. There are those who use your past to haunt you."
Shaking his head, Antoine says, "If anything, I have learned a more dangerous person than anything to me... That would be myself. In my struggles, I had to deal with my past. I had to deal with myself. However, it is a battle that is not over. It is a battle that will never be over, but only forestalled."
Antoine smiles.
"Sifu would merely ask you this, 'What did you learn through this whole chapter?'"
There's no mistaking the truth for anything but the truth in Antoine's words. Years ago, when a job opening came up in the Southtown chapter of Pacific High, Howard would have had to leave behind the sleepy old town in Oregon he grew up in to a new, really dangerous, but great city of Southtown to pursue his new livelihood - but also, that old dream.
Let's just gloss over what it did to his relationship with that lady he was wanting to go steady with.
More recently, with King of Fighters... chancing the educational quality of his students, getting himself in trouble with immigration officers over violating his work permit's limitations, and - in the evening of what could have been humanity's final days on earth - outright walking on the job after tossing all the benches, all of them, out the window.
Good riddance. God damned benches. They will not be missed.
Most profound of all, however, is what Antoine has to say to Howard himself, something that demands, in the big picture, an answer.
What did he take away from all this? The man clears his throat as he scratches away at the side of his head, at a loss for words... but what was it that everyone said when they were trying to encourage him?
Many little voices, one-off bits of encouragement, numerous in his time in Southtown. Many who have since continued on with their lives quietly outside of Southtown, or have since disappeared to the aether. For such a man that would seem ordinary - perhaps even devoid of any greater destiny than that of a man of broken dreams - many had faith in him to, in some way or another, pull through.
Here they are now, all of them here because he - and others - were there. Were any one of them missing, were any one of them not present, it is safe to assume that humanity would have ceased entirely to exist.
"Well," he starts as he clears his throat a second time, "'scuse me, uh, what was I gonna... nah, can't guess at what I learned, gotta... gotta say what I know I learned, and... and y'know, it's... it's a pretty big world out there, I mean, I thought I knew that when, when I went to Pacific, 'n... got shuffled all 'bout the place... Spain. New Guinea, uh... hell, I was in, in Antarctica once. England, but... but shit, more than just, just the landmass, I mean," he waggles a finger in Antoine's direction, "j-just, everything 'bout the... uh, what was it, Orochi? Holy shit, and, and the crane, and... y'know, it's just a lot, that... that maybe, y'know, the way I've been lookin' at things... between m-my job," he lowers his hand and points it out at one side, "and, and my dream," moving the hand to the other, "maybe, maybe I was thinkin' 'bout it all wrong, Antoine, but... I can kiss my job in, in any educational system goodbye." He shakes his head. "Any, any new employer at a school is, is gonna look at my resume, and, and I know Pacific's got a, got a shit ton of pull." And that's years and thousands of dollars in getting his educational degree down the drain.
"Still, y'know, it's... I'm probably thinkin' just too narrow, there's... there's still gotta be something, I mean. Somethin' beyond what I've seen all my life, Antoine, and... dunno how close it is, but, but it's gotta be somewhere."
"Being able to reflect over what you have learned is not an easy task." The young warrior admits, "I take the time to meditate and train. In the course of m traiing, I reflect over what I have learned. Even during the period that I was under control, I was able to gain some knowledge from it. I learned of the greater threats and what I am capable of." His eyes drift over towards the path ahead.% r "It's something you should think about..." He then considers about Rust's fate.
"That, I am uncertain myself."
Shaking his head, Antoine smiles, "All that I can offer you is to trust your gut feeling, sometimes." Antoine is shifting his weight, hefting the duffelbag closer.
"...It's what I've done, which had lead me on the road. You may never know. It could leave you going on the open road again." He laughs lightly.
"Being able to reflect over what you have learned is not an easy task." The young warrior admits, "I take the time to meditate and train. In the course of m traiing, I reflect over what I have learned. Even during the period that I was under control, I was able to gain some knowledge from it. I learned of the greater threats and what I am capable of." His eyes drift over towards the path ahead.
"It's something you should think about..." He then considers about Rust's fate.
"That, I am uncertain myself."
Shaking his head, Antoine smiles, "All that I can offer you is to trust your gut feeling, sometimes." Antoine is shifting his weight, hefting the duffelbag closer.
"...It's what I've done, which had lead me on the road. You may never know. It could leave you going on the open road again." He laughs lightly.
By all appearances, Rust's fate may not be so certain - or so kind. He's already forty years old, out of a job, and still has a fair bit of debt to deal with. What is there left for this man? For all intents and purposes he should be running back home to America, a defeated and bitter man whose own personal dreams have been closed away from him for good.
Nodding along at what Antoine says, one of his shoulders pop (and is immediately met with a brief apology) as he switches which arm he's holding the cardboard box with - but he does have to still have some sort of good feeling that the thing he's really looking for, the thing that'll really bring him the happiness he seeks, has to be obtainable.
"I, I dunno, Antoine, I... I don't really see myself just wanderin' 'round forever with a bag, or... a box, or just my truck." He may have thought the idea extremely cool in his twenties. But here, at the start of his forties? Not... so much. If anything, that sort of idea would be slightly terrifying. He is getting up there in years, after all - the need to settle down, place down those roots.
"Well, uh... Antoine, I gotta ask, I mean... King of Fighters is over, that's, that's obvious, s-so... what're ya gonna do now?"
"...Perhaps not." Antoine frowns. There are those whose dreams die. Especially when an old age hits. Perhaps Antoine is too idealistic. Perhaps Rust's fate is a stumbling block that will never have success. Antoine does not want to believe that at all. That idealistic part of him wishes to see Rust with success in his life.
There is hope for him. Right?
Antoine turns to face Rust, "I will be traveling again." A smile is given. "I will not be going alone. I am going to try to rope Quon in." His eyes shift over towards the sky. "If anything, I can try to see if I can get him into a school in Metro City or something. Give him a second chance. If nothing else, I want him to have the opportunity to travel the world as I will."
It's not a big surprise, isn't it? Antoine's a traveler, always wandering to wherever the next great big fight is in his own path. A pure, noble path indeed for one seeking fighting perfection, to ultimately master oneself... especially after that incident where Antoine no longer had complete control of his mind and body.
Compare this to Mr. Rust, whose own ideas may be more than a little selfish in the throes of one of the world's greatest midlife crises. To, uh, say nothing about his hair, or... steadily decreasing amount of.
"Quon," he utters as Antoine brings him up. "Guess... guess it was, guess it was my turn to, to give it all up to, y'know... do that... do that right thing." Indeed, both have now made what appears to be the very ultimate sacrifices for their continued futures and dreams.
"Y'know, Antoine, I, I haven't seen him 'round lately, but... but if you find him, you, you gotta tell him... I didn't just, just fold a buncha cranes 'n get myself a friggin' tan just so, just so he could keep mopin'."
Re-adjusting the grip of his cardboard box, he grunts quietly. "I ain't... I ain't givin' it up, Antoine, but, I might... might got to say a couple goodbyes 'round town, worse comes to towrse." He's made a lot of friends in his time here, to be sure. It'd be sad to have to leave Southtown. But, it's an expensive place to live, he no longer has a job, and his workplace was covering the rent for his apartment. A rent that is prohibitively spendy!
"But... but I guess, for now, Antoine, might be good bye, huh."
A glance is turned towards the older man. In a way, this trip, or this chapter seems bittersweet. Quon is moping, Rust lost his job... Who knows what is going on with Zach. Antoine can only lok over towards he old man.
An eyebrow quirks for a few moments, "Good."
A smile curls up, "This may be our goodbye." The youthful traveler lifts his head to the sky, staring at the heaven above. Tilting his head over, his attention turns to face Rust. "However, we have a tradition of saying goodbye."
A grin.
"If you have the will for it. Sifu left me this parting present. I figured... this will be our parting present." %
A lot sure has happened for a group of five people who came together. Those who would try and vie for the very title of the King of Fighters, even with their relative inexperiences all put together. Each one of them, assuredly, changed forever.
For the better or for the worse, it is debatable, but this is a chapter in their lives that none would forget so soon... if ever.
Where Antoine smiles, Rust is clearly on edge, on caution. Maybe when the adrenaline fades, he may be assaulted by the weight of the fact that, well, he is now unemployed and about to be very low on money! Two very bad signs in today's flagging world economy.
"A, uh... the tradition?" In theory, if Antoine is suggesting what Rust thinks he is, he might remember from a very long, long time back when he and Antoine's sifu parted ways way way back when. The only time the two ever met, the only time the two ever fought.
The older man clears his throat once more, patting his chest loudly with his free hand. "'scuse me, sure, let's... let's do it."
That's what Antoine wanted to hear.
The ebony-skinned man's eyes light up upon the challenge accepted. It is the chance for the warrior's spirit to ignite. When Antoine locks his gaze towards Rust, he can see his willingness. The warrior lost the last round.
This time, this will be different.
Antoine, with his spirits renewed, takes a step towards Rust.
A thump is heard as the duffelbag releases from his hand and smacks the ground. With a bow, Antoine shifts his right side to a fighting stance.
"For our future."
It takes the older man a little longer to get ready. He has just had a tiring day at the end of an extremely turbulent series of events for reasons that require no further repeating at this juncture, the cardboard box being set down and nudged off to the side with a foot.
"Gotta, gotta be careful with, with this," Rust motions with one of his feet, "'s got some, uh, fragile stuff."
This mundane issue taken care of, the older man can - for the moment - put aside everything else going on around him. The streets of people getting back to their daily routines of being rude and willing to pick fights with just about anyone, the colors of the sky having returned, and that underlying sense around humanity that just about every little thing, for now, is going to be more or less all right on the cosmic scale of things.
His right hand falls upon Ol' Rusty - now warped and, really, very much not really much in fighting shape given the incredible heat it had to survive in that final battle against Brihan. It is unsheathed from the toolbelt pocket with surprising smoothness, given it's not entirely straight in shape anymore. His head is bowed briefly as he holds it before himself horizontally.
"J-Just one thing, Antoine, 'fore we, ah, we start." With that, Ol' Rusty is pointed down and away with a quick flourish (and a pop in his shoulder), leaning forward. The classic stance that they've been trying to get him to dump over at the Kyokugen Dojo, considering they're attempting to get him to be more ready on his feet.
"We, we might be callin' this goodbye, Antoine, but... this ain't gonna be the last one," so says Howard. Sure, last time, he had the upper hand. Antoine has gone through incredible personal growth up to this point, having his horizons expanded by the people he's met and all that's happened around them.
Has Howard kept up in comparison? Guess they're both about to find out.
The two fighters themselves, the skies, and Antoine's own sifu - should he be watching.
Log created on 21:27:14 09/07/2011 by Rust, and last modified on 19:42:21 09/10/2011.