Description: Time, travels, and concerns bring the Boxing Psychic and the World Warrior to Sunshine City. Random chance, or perhaps fate bring the two together. Both men are in search of answers.
Ah, Sunshine City. A little slice of America right here in Japa-- wait, what? It's where now? I see.
[TAPE-REWINDING NOISE]
Sunshine City, a bustling metropolis and the gateway for much travel coming from Asia in the western United States, where Sunshine City has been this entire time, for reals.
Here in downtown Sunshine, a city bus that runs shuttle service to the airport is just now letting riders out. This wouldn't be a particularly notable situation if it were not for one rider stepping off in bare feet, which is a rarity for a city bus, even in California. Surprisingly, despite the barefoot traveler's other attire -- a dusty white gi and a red hachimaki with two long tails -- people don't seem to pay him all that much attention. This means that Ryu can walk unmolested through the crowds and off into the city with his white knapsack slung across his shoulder. A few people point and nod, or whisper, but none bother to walk up and accost him; there's an excellent chance that most people think he's a cosplayer.
But he's not. In fact, the recent winner of the Devil's Tournament has come to America to look for a few specific individuals. Having expected to find the 'Devil' Akuma as his opponent and instead being accosted by a crazed criminal in a gaudy suit, Ryu's aims in the US are twofold. One is to find Ken and ask his thoughts on the matter; the other is to look into the identity of this 'Hyena' and find out if the man in the awful outfit actually knows something ABOUT Akuma. Even if the Devil wasn't part of the tournament, the tournament itself is Ryu's only lead.
And because he's Ryu, he's going to walk everywhere. Hence why he orients himself in a general northerly direction, and starts walking.
Most people will look at Ryu and think cosplayer. Some people are a bit more... savvy.
Zach Glen was out for a run, trying to get his head cleared after his fight with Adon. The fight, in and of itself, was not the cause of Zach's... confusion. The events surrounding and leading up to it? Have everything to do with it. The psion wears fairly standard gym sweats advertising a boxing gym in Southtown.
Zach is, oddly, not even doing typical 'boxer roadwork'. No jabs or practice punches or anything along those lines. Partly out of concern for the people on the street, partly because his heart wouldn't be in it anyway.
Zach, despite knowing exactly where he is on the planet, might be a bit lost.
The flipside might apply to Ryu. He knows that somewhere north of here is Seattle, and where he currently is happens to be Sunshine City, but there is a tremendous amount of 'there' between here and there and some of it is filled with things like mountains and sand dunes and scorpions and maybe Oregon. But despite his relatively dim sense of 'where he is' physically, the World Warrior is never lost. If anything, the craziness that was the Devil's Tournament has filled the wandering fighter with resolve renewed. His eyes had been so fixed on finding 'Akuma' that he almost didn't see the fights that brought him there... valuable battles on his road of continual training. Hyena's duplicity only served to remind him of that fact.
This may be why he is not exactly hurrying his way north; in fact, Sunshine's city center has plenty of things for foot traffic to do while they're visiting, and one of those is eat. Approaching a cart that sells, of all things, crepes, Ryu slings the white knapsack down to the ground, undoes the string, and withdraws a... well, a surprisingly normal-looking wallet. Inside are currencies of various countries, with an emphasis on the yen and the US dollar, and it's the latter that he withdraws, paying the vendor for a bottle of water and a sweet chocolate crepe wrapped in wax paper.
Stowing his wallet in the sack and pulling the drawstring taut, the World Warrior continues this most pedestrian and prosaic show of... stuff... by waltzing over to a streetside park bench and having a seat. The crepe is slightly unwrapped as Ryu takes a bite, then lets his brown-eyed gaze sweep over the panorama of downtown Sunshine. A jogging man does get a moment of additional scrutiny compared to the people around him, so Ryu is looking in Zach's direction, at any rate; his brow furrows briefly in the international sign for "that face seems familiar."
Zach /saw/ Ryu. His mind, half a planet away for alll intents and purposes, logs and notes the fact that 'Holy crap! It's Ryu!' Ryu is a famed fighter, known for fighting simply for the sake of self-discovery. In a lot of ways, Zach took that as something of an example to follow.
It takes a second for this to sink through to the boxer, whose pace slows, and then stops. He turns, and finally /sees/ Ryu for the first time. Zach takes a long moment, as if trying to make sure that he is, in fact, seeing what he sees. Zach's response is eloquence itself.
"Holy crap," he says half to himself, "It's Ryu."
Normally sweet food isn't really Ryu's favorite; he deals in bulk carbohydrates and meat for the most part, the sort of food that will either keep him energetic for an entire day of walking or provide valuable protein. For some reason, though, that particular crepe cart looked interesting, and the chocolate one smelled particularly good, and so he indulged. And because he indulged, he's sitting at that very spot in this very place and time. If you want, you can call it fate, or coincidence.
Either way, the Wanderer is just about to bring the bottled water he'd bought up to his lips when he is relatively sure he hears his name, but from a voice he doesn't recognize. Raising one eyebrow, he glances in the general direction of where he thought he heard his name, adding on, "That's right. Can I..." Eyes dart left and right, again, before settling back in the middle. "...help you?"
At this point, Zach is having to fight down something of a fanboy reflex. Despite his now regular dealings with Ken Masters, Zach just simply does not know how to handle himself around this fighting legend. He looks left, then right. His mouh opens as if getting ready to say something, then seems to think better of it.
"No I..." Zach finally says, as if /already/ getting ready to apologize for taking some of the man's time. "That is..." Zach blinks, forcing his brain back into gear. He slaps both sides of his head, not to hard, but more as if he is trying to stop things from spinning.
It may of helped. He's not sure if Ryu /can/ help him. That would require admitting that he needs help, and Zach's not really to /that/ particular point either. 'Keep it simple, stupid,' Zach thinks to yourself.
"Hi," he finally says. "I'm Zach Glen." Introductions. Simple. Ryu will either recognize the name or he won't.
The hesitation gives Ryu a chance to take a surprisingly deep chug of that bottled water, at any rate, something he's grateful for after the crepe and in the bright sun of a near summer day in southern California. By the time the bottle's come down from Ryu's lips and has had the cap screwed back on, Zach has reached some sort of internal equilibrium and actually introduced himself. That's helpful, at the very least. There's a moment while the Japanese man considers carefully. After all, the world is full of fighters, and Ryu is used to recognizing them by style or affectation more than names by and large. He doesn't bother disguising the appraising look he gives Zach as he processes all this.
"Ah, wait... yes. I think I know the name. I watched one of your bouts in the King of Fighters tournament." An image comes to him; mostly of punching techniques and big gouts of energy. Beyond that, it's a bit of a blur, but at least he knows enough to give a reasonable response. He takes in Zach's outfit, particularly the gym shorts, and clears his throat. "Getting in your workout for the day, I take it? Do you live here?"
Zach lets out a very light snort, "Then you saw the only one," Zach says dryly. "We didn't get past that round." Zach doesn't sound all that shamed by it. His team was up against a superior opponent, and given everything that /had/ happened... perhaps the first round elimination was for the best.
He nods once, "I am getting a run in," Zach says. "I was just coming through to sign up for that upcoming tournament. Taking a plane back to Metro tomorrow." Given what had happened with King of Fighters and the Devil's Tournament, one would think Zach would have learned something by now. "I've jumping between Southtown and Metro City a lot lately, though."
"King of Fighters can be... unforgiving," is Ryu's response to his perception of the rue in Zach's voice. Certainly, Ryu's own past experience with KoF was... interesting. They always seem to end with power-mad dictators with supernatural powers trying to kill an awful lot of people. For a moment he considers trying to express this sentiment to Zach and decides better of it. It'd probably be cold comfort indeed. "Even being invited to compete is an accomplishment you should be proud of."
He hadn't heard of a tournament taking place in Sunshine; perhaps the cost of his nomadic life without a smartphone or a permnanent address. There is a raised eyebrow of interest at that, and he is obvious about his ignorance. "I hadn't heard. Maybe I'll register before I leave the city..." He shrugs, uncaps the water, takes a sip, and then recaps it as he continues to chat with Zach. "In any event, good luck with your matches."
"Thanks." Zach accepts the praise with a slight nod. He knows Rust holds some serious regrets about that tournament; it's hard not to get pulled down by it. Zach's brow furrows, he is obviously struggling with some thought or another. It might not be hard for Ryu to guess, battles seeming to follow The Wanderer wherever he goes.
Zach finally takes a long breath. No guts, no glory, right? Zach looks at Ryu with a fairly earnest expression; the psion knows that the odds of a chance like this happening again are minimal at best. "If..." Zach pauses, doubts creeping in for a moment.
Just /say/ it, he thinks before suiting action to deed. "Could..." Pause. "Would you be willing to favor me with a spar?" Zach finally asks. "As much as Ken talks about you, I think I would regret it if I didn't at least ask."
Fighting, true fighting, is as much intuition as it is combat acuity. Not just intelligence, though that figures in; you must be smart and quick thinking to be a fighter. You have to have power and speed. But you also need to be able to read the moment and read people, and this is a skill which Ryu has cultivated. Looking at Zach, he can sense a great many things about the young fighter. Eagerness to engage in his profession, nervousness at meeting a public figure with a larger-than-life public presence, even if his everyday presentation is more understated. But there is something else hiding behind Zach Glen's eyes, that Ryu can feel. Something... else. And perhaps it's that knowledge, the belief that something is gnawing at this young man, that drives the Wanderer's response.
"If you like," Ryu says, with an ease that might surprise Zach. The Japanese man polishes off his bottled water, disposing of the bottle and the crepe wrap in a nearby garbage can before turning back to the young psychic. "If you're about to enter a tournament, I'm sure you'd want all the practice you can get, and I..."
He pauses. There ARE so many things to do. So many fights unfought, people unmet, places to be visited. But that's tomorrow, and the next day. In this moment, now, there's a battle to be fought.
"I'm in no hurry."
The man in the white gi stands up, leaving his knapsack on the park bench, and stepping a few paces away from Zach before turning back and getting into stance, one fist up, the other near hip height, legs spread slightly apart. "Now... show me what you can do."
COMBATSYS: Ryu has wandered into a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ryu 0/-------/-------|
And there it is. Just like that. Zach has a spar with a legend. A legend that is NOT about to try and rip his face off. There is, in the wake of Quon's death and his match with Adon, a great deal of doubt in Zach's mind. He was not able to help Quon, and there was a lot Adon said at the end of that match that was accurate. Or at least accurate enough to bother the young man. He slides out of the sweats, revealing shorts and a tank top.
"Thank you," Zach says, unable to keep the nerves out of his voice completely, as he slips into an orthodox boxing stance. People, realizing what is about to go down, start to give the two fighters room. Amber light starts to wrap around the smaller man as Zach rapidly considers his options.
In a normal fight, Zach would try speed first. A quick strike to gage his opponent's defenses. Something tells Zach to discard that idea. Instead, Zach charges in, slipping low and to his left to try to get past Ryu's optimal striking distance and into his. The movement is crisp, practiced, but still shows signs of being only recently acquired. Zach plants his feet, channelling that golden Soul Power down his arm and into his fist as he throws a basic right straight. The punch is fairly textbook, but there /is/ a goodly amount of energy gauntlet he is suddenly wearing.
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Ryu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zach
COMBATSYS: Ryu dodges Zach's Straight Punch.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Ryu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zach
More contact area can be good, particularly when you don't know your opponent's evasive capabilities; you can count on that striking surface to give you the edge. At least, that's Ryu's evaluation of Zach's punch. Though he knows many fist strikes himself, Ryu is not necessarily a boxer; where someone employing boxing technique would try to minimize foot movement and weave around the blow, Ryu sees the incoming punch and hops sideways in a full-body step, the energy-wreathed punch shearing the air where the Wanderer once stood. There's a moment where he glances at Zach and says, not without a trace of sympathetic humor, "Relax. Just... step into the moment of the fight. Let everything else fall away."
It sounds like silly pie-in-the-sky advice, but boiled down, it's an important truth of battle. You have to know where you and your opponent are at all times, need to be able to see small openings to take advantage of them, and so on. Moving your body, timing your strikes, they need to become second nature in a very real way. Case in point: Ryu doesn't wait long after his admonition before he steps in and fires off a shot of his own back at Zach, giving the psychic precious little time to put this into action or not. The Wanderer's fist swings forward, looking to slam into Zach's stomach and send him reeling back a step or two.
COMBATSYS: Zach blocks Ryu's Weakened Medium Punch.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zach
Zach's mind might be a bit cloudy at the moment, but his eyes are apparently still sharp enough. Zach is already trying to turn to face Ryu as the Wanderer jumps away. Ryu, with that simple step, has already removed himself from counterstriking range. Zach twists a bit, his lower body dipping slightly to catch the punch on the V-shape of his upper and lower arm. That... diffuses the strike at least.
The boxer regains his stance, watching Ryu carefully. The man simply does not have any openings, it seems. Not in his stance, or his apparent mental posture. Zach relaxes his stance a bit, pointing at Ryu with both fists before pointing the index and middle fingers of both hands like a gun.
Without much more warning than that, Zach is already moving laterally, holding not only Ryu's position in his mind, but as much of the crowd as he can. The need for this becomes readily apparent as Zach starts firing off small bolts of pure soul power at Ryu in rapid succession. In addition to the 'bullet path' many of the shots take, several arc out and away before swinging back in.
Despite the seeming lack of fire control not a single bystander is hit by these bolts, the exercise in control taxing the psion's mind dramatically.
COMBATSYS: Ryu blocks Zach's Homing Shots.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Zach
Ryu DID ask to see what Zach could do, and so when the younger fighter decides to open up with a salvo of energy shots, the Wanderer decides to stand his ground. Arms come up, forming a rough X shape before Ryu's face, the gold bolts slamming into his guard. That numbing-burning feeling he associates with psychic energy is telltale, which causes one dark brown eyebrow to go up for just a moment, but in the end he finds he's not surprised by this development, particularly after the apparent ease with which Zach wrapped a simple punch in an aura of that power. The psions Ryu knows -- both the good and the bad -- seem to all have been driven to learn to fight because of their power; it is natural, then, that their styles would focus on its use.
Deciding that one good turn deserves another, Ryu's hands drop to his side, palms held neatly apart with fingers curled in. A swirling sphere of blue-white erupts into being, a resonance with Ryu's chi creating the air disturbance that is his most iconic of moves, perhaps even moreso than the rising dragon punch... and now it is Zach's turn to either fight back or get out of the way, as Ryu thrusts both palms forward and shouts, "Hadooooooukennnnnnnn!"
COMBATSYS: Zach overcomes Weakened Hadouken from Ryu with Blast Punch EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Zach
Zach's eyes go wide as Ryu hurls that sphere of chi at him. He plants his feet, mind racing through options. Dodge? No time. Block? Zach knows he suffers a seriously adverse reaction to chi attacks. Best to take the advice of Frei:
Use energy to cancel energy.
Zach skids to a halt, drawing on his will even as his mind scribes the line that he needs to follow. The psion pulls back a fist, as if he plans to simply /punch/ the Hadouken out of the air. His motions, the fist coating with soul power even as the punch is thrown, seem to line up with this impression.
Except Zach /doesn't/ punch the fireball, but sends his own shining sphere of energy out to meet the blast. The spher of soul power slams into, and then /through/ the Hadouken in an explosion of blue chi-fire and golden motes of psychic energy before continuing on towards Ryu!
COMBATSYS: Ryu fails to slow Blast Punch EX from Zach with Weakened Shakunetsu Hadouken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Zach
It should be obvious that Ryu is keeping a degree of his strength in reserve in this fight; Zach asked for a spar, after all. Still, Ryu takes every fight seriously, and this exchange of energies proves that to be true. There's no time for a moment of surprise when Zach's return shot overpowers the Hadouken he'd thrown out; instead the Dragon goes with his instincts, which perhaps he should have re-examined. He's unlikely to throw another full-power Hadouken fast enough to counter that incoming shot, but he MIGHT be able to simply overwhelm it. Hands up again, twisting and shaping the air, but *now* they ignite it, the blue-white ball suddenly burning a fiery crimson.
Sadly, the incoming shot is a little too quick, and Ryu's response a fraction too late; even as he shouts "Shakunetsu!" and hurls the ball of fire, the incoming burst of psychic energy flows around it, hitting the Wanderer square in the jaw like a firm slap. Skidding back a step, Ryu shakes his head a moment to clear it, then gets back into stance and gives Zach a wan smile. "Well fought," he offers, before making a beckoning gesture with one hand, a mannerism he appears to have picked up from Ken Masters.
Zach circles Ryu, calming his already rapid breathing as he shifts from orthodox to Detroit style back to orthodox as he moves. The only acknowledgement of the praise Ryu gives is a slight nod. Sometimes there is banter, even conversation in a fight. But Ryu is coming at this seriously. Talking... just doesn't /feel/ right here.
Zach's left hand dips a bit before Zach hurls himself into the fray once more. The boxer dips low and to his left before springing upward in a motion Ryu will no doubt find similar to, but not precisely like, that famed Shoryuken technique.
Zach drives the soul powered fist upward at Ryu even as his legs fling him skyward. "GAZELLE PUNCH!"
COMBATSYS: Ryu dodges Zach's Gazelle Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Zach
The similarity does bring a slight smile to Ryu's face, if only because the Wanderer secretly enjoys noting the similarities that crop up between vastly different styles. Part of learning, in his eyes, is noting the principles behind strikes and grapples and techniques, the core ideas that different fighters express in different ways. This is a textbook move, after all; the uppercut is one of the most fundamental punches, and the notion of giving it extra heft by using pushoff from the legs -- or even adding an aura of energy -- is solid. This is also a pretty good indication on Ryu's part that he doesn't want to be HIT by it, and so when Zach springs upward, Ryu fades backwards, a pair of short backsteps causing the psychic youth to rise into the air before him.
However, this also presents an opportunity; without waiting a beat, Ryu steps forward, lashing out with an arm to try and catch one of Zach's extended limbs on his way down -- an arm, a leg, anything handy. If he can get that grip, Ryu uses gravity against his opponent, effectively flinging Zach to the ground in a forward shoulder throw.
COMBATSYS: Zach fails to interrupt Weakened Power Throw from Ryu with Uppercut Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Zach
Zach sees Ryu start to reach for him. His eyes go wide, before narrowing quickly. Got to stop that. Can't let Ryu grab him. Zach does something he would normally never do in even a spar: Try something he hasn't really practiced to some extent. Part of that self-inhibition is simple. Despite the desire to teach others, there is still a lot Zach has to learn himself about the ins and outs of soul power and one can't be sure when an experiment will simply blow up on you. Or anyone nearby.
That said, perhaps as if being drawn out by Ryu and his one-ness with the battle, Zach tries it anyway. He flares energy around the punching limb, the soul gauntlet roaring almost like a rocket. Which is kind of becomes, spinning Zach 720 degrees as the psion prepares a sort of "gazelle punch double".
Sadly, it was not meant to be. When the punching fist comes back around, Ryu simply snatches the limb out of the air and flings Zach to the grass. Zach rolls over, staring at the clouds. The look of surprise on his face should not be at all surprising. It takes Zach a moment to gather himself back together before regaining his feet.
Sadly, Ryu spends that moment pressing the attack. He's seen plenty of what Zach is capable of on the offensive, by now; how about a picture of the defensive? This is why the Wanderer's movements forward toward Zach are not rapid -- a step every moment or so -- but they are filled with small probing blows intended to pepper Zach's defense with things to react to at every level. They're not inentded to deal crippling damage; in fact, if he devotes even a little bit of his defenses to the situation Zach should come out unscathed...
...right up to the point when Ryu suddenly twists and lunges forward, snapping a turning roundhouse kick right to the bottom of Zach's jaw, intending to bring the psychic right off his feet and onto the ground. Hard.
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Ryu's Weakened Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Zach
Zach blinks the stars out of his eyes just in time for Ryu to start his offensive. Zach slips the probing strikes, perhaps overactioning things a bit. He's still certain he doesn't have a grasp for Ryu's speed. Best not to take the chance. The roundhouse comes scything in, and Zach drops into a fast crouch, eyes following the kick before he regains his stance.
Everything about Zach's posture indicates that the psion would normally launch back to the offense. In fact, Zach's whole style seems to start from an agressive offense. Something holds Zach back for just a moment. Zach takes a deep breath, launching upwards towards Ryu, driving a shoulder into the larger man. As he rises, Zach tries to grab one of Ryu's arms to deliver a rapid shoulder throw of his own before following the throw up with a hammerblow of soul energy!
Zach blinks the stars out of his eyes just in time for Ryu to start his offensive. Zach slips the probing strikes, perhaps overactioning things a bit. He's still certain he doesn't have a grasp for Ryu's speed. Best not to take the chance. The roundhouse comes scything in, and Zach drops into a fast crouch, eyes following the kick before he regains his stance.
Everything about Zach's posture indicates that the psion would normally launch back to the offense And yet he hesitates. Most of the people around the pair wouldn't notice, but it all but screams at Ryu.
Zach drives upward with his legs, driving a shoulder at Ryu's torso before trying to grab an arm. The arm grab is going to, hopefully, lead to a shoulder throw of his own that will be followed up by a sizeable soul powered strike!
COMBATSYS: Ryu blocks Zach's Charged Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Zach
There's a slight "oof!" as Zach's impromptu, short-range shoulder charge slams into Ryu's stomach, having been too swift to avoid, but the rest of the complicated technique is sadly lost, as Zach doesn't get the easy grip on the Wanderer that he'd hoped, Ryu interposing a hand between Zach and his own gi. There's a momentary struggle for momentum that Ryu eventually wins, pushing off from his opponent and causing the energy-imbued strike to go wide. The clash is quick and brutal, but Ryu is able to turn it to his advantage in the end.
Stepping back once or twice, Ryu takes a deep breath and evaluates the situation. He's been throwing primarily big, heavy strikes; Zach has the capability to nimbly step out of their way. How will he fare against faster attacks, however? "En garde!" the Wanderer shouts, before making a slight charge forward and then a simple right cross to the jaw. Old school is sometimes the best school.
COMBATSYS: Zach blocks Ryu's Weakened Jab Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Zach
Old school is sometimes the ONLY school. Zach raises his left elbow, catching this punch in the that same V that caught Ryu's first punch. Zach backs off for a moment. Realization plays at the edge of his mind. He'll /never/ beat Ryu. It just won't happen. Even in the face of the ultimate opponent, though, Zach still has a goal.
One clean hit. Ryu has dodged, blocked, or otherwise mitigated everything Zach has thrown at the World Warrior so far.
If he gets /that/, Zach feels like he'll have accomplished something. Zach backs off a couple of paces, examining Ryu carefully. He doesn't press the offense just yet, clearing his mind just a little bit in order to line up the next punch.
Hopefully, it might be enough...
COMBATSYS: Zach focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Zach
Zach doesn't remain on the offense, but that sudden change in momentum is a sign to Ryu, reading the tenor of the fight. Someone prepared to give his opponent a sudden opening if it means he can land a telling blow. As far as Ryu's concerned, that's just not going to happen, at least not without a fight. He's relentless, continually pushing forward with those small jabs and pokes, trying his damndest to wear Zach down. It's not just good strategy, however; it's also good practice. When it comes time for whatever tournament he's about to enter, it's the Wanderer's hope that having faced down Ryu attacking with no small amount of aggression will serve him well against other opponents.
But then there's another lull, as Ryu stops with the small probing shots. Is this Zach's chance at an opening? Or will he succumb to the reason Ryu stopped: to bring his leg up toward his chest and then extend it outward in a viciously powerful pistoning kick right to Zach's solar plexus?
COMBATSYS: Zach fails to interrupt Weakened Joudan Sokutou Geri from Ryu with Dynamite Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Zach
Zach slips the jabs and pokes, waiting. Watching. Then it comes. Ryu pauses to chamber that kick. Even as the leg is rising up, Zach is hunkering into an astride stance, weight evenly distributed between both legs as Zach rotates his torso to drive a three-quarters punch with his left hand. The course is good, the timing almost perfect...
...unfortunatly, against Ryu 'almost perfect' ain't gunna get it.
The punch falls just short, the burst of soul power failing to catch any part of Ryu as the kick catches Zach in the ribcage with bonecrunching impact. The force of the strike sends Zach slamming into a nearby tree, where the psion slumps for a moment. Zach's breathing in ragged gasps now, trying to get oxygen into his lungs, trying to slow his breathing and heart rate enough to help calm down.
This is Ryu, he thinks as he takes a wobbly stand. He still wants that clean hit, even if those odds get longer by the passng second, and that shows in his eyes. Whatever was gnawing at him before seems to have, finally, taken a back seat to that one desire. "Not..." Zach gasps. "Done... yet."
The impact from that one is enough to blunt Ryu's furious onsault, the man in the white gi backing up a few steps and taking a breath himself as Zach recovers. "Good," the Wanderer says to Zach with a nod, acknowledging the youth's desire to keep fighting despite having taken heavy blows. However, at the same time, Ryu has been at this crossroads moment in a fight many times in his life, *especially* as a youth. "But remember," Ryu says guardedly, even as he gets back into stance, ready to continue the spar until the end, "don't keep going just to win. The answer to... many things... lies in the heart of battle, not its conclusion." Cryptic advice, but then, so many things Ryu says can seem cryptic and old-fashioned.
There is precious little time to contemplate that advice; this may be Ryu's fault as a 'teacher', though he doesn't consider himself as sensei as such. Still, that was Gouken's style, and it's carried over. The speech, the verbal instruction, is only a gateway to the practical. And the 'practical' in this case is a vicious right cross. It appears boxing is part of Zach's milieu, and so Ryu decides to try it out for himself.
COMBATSYS: Zach fails to counter Weakened Medium Punch from Ryu with Light Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/--=====|=======\===----\1 Zach
Zach's expression breaks for a moment, all but screaming "The hell does that mean?" No time to actually /ask/, though, as Ryu is already up in Zach's personal space. Part of Zach actually approves of this. Ryu throws that right cross.
Zach's boxing coach, when first training Zach, had the brilliant idea of trying to train Zach to be a counter-puncher. Zach's temperment, plus his short arm length, proved to be effectively insurmountable obstacles. The results, at least for the crowd, were hilariously horrible. The next day, after Zach slept off the beating, he started learning in-fighting.
Something about this fight, though, brings those memories out. Zach has /never/ had anything really approaching formal instruction before signing up at the Dynamite Glove gym in Southtown.
Zach's response to the right cross is a rotating right cross of his own. Only one punch strikes true, and Zach slumps to the ground after the exchange. Keeping his footing, nevermind breathing, is getting difficult.
Difficult, but apparently not impossible. Zach drags himself back upright, the fire still clear in his eyes.
You'd be shocked how infrequently Ryu gets that question. He will offer some proverb or piece of cryptic advice and people simply nod their heads and go 'oh okay' and act as if they've understood it. Some may indeed have! Some... probably have not, but don't want to sound as if they didn't. And then there are people who take the wise path and, when they don't understand something, they ask. "I mean," Ryu says, withdrawing his fist and getting into stance, "that persistence is important, but persistence only for the sake of winning may blind you to important lessons. I do not necessarily think that is what is on your mind," he adds, smiling faintly, "but it is a challenge all fighters must face, myself included."
He doesn't attack, this time; he's put Zach on the defensive for long enough. Now he's going to stand back and react once more. There is something interesting about the young fighter's style, something Ryu can't put his finger on. He needs to see more.
COMBATSYS: Ryu focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Ryu 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Zach
The secret to Zach's style, is that it isn't really a style so much as an amalgam of techinques that he's picked up over the (compared to Ryu) short time that he has been fighting. The boxing, as diligently trained as his techinique seems to show, is a recent addition to that particular collective.
Ryu is, as far as Zach can tell, saying that the journey is at least as important as the endpoint. And that focusing too much on the goal can, in some cases, be detrimental. Now Zach's expression conveys comprehension. And more than a little pain.
Zach starts a slow weave, testing things out just a bit. The ribs hurt like the dickens, and his head hurts but that is nothing new either. Facing Ryu, Zach feels, is like facing a cliff face. Despite knowing that at some point you are going to have to scale the thing, it still remains daunting.
Zach decides he has just enough flexibility. He needs to make the best use of what remaining stamina he has. He drives in once more, again dropping to Ryu's left flank. Instead of firing off another Gazelle Punch, the psion plants his feet, rotating at hips and waist to drive another soul gauntleted fist at Ryu's liver.
COMBATSYS: Ryu interrupts Liver Blow from Zach with Weakened Shoryuken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Zach
There is actually quite a crowd gathering for this, now; considering that exchange of brightly colored energy on a city street beforehand, it's no surprise that a number of passersby have noticed a battle going on in their home and have stopped to watch. Usefully, this means the crowd is creating a sort of impromptu ring for Zach and Ryu, keeping everyone at a safe distance. And as good old fashioned American fighter, Zach is getting a good share of applause. After all, Americans love a scrappy underdog, and they like it even better when he's making a good showing.
They're cheering and pointing as he drives in to attempt a blow on Ryu's right side, and then they gasp when the blow somewhat lands home... on his left, as the gi-wearing fighter suddenly shifted his weight at the last second, pushing ever so slightly *into* Zach's blow, in order to deliver his own: fist raised to the sky, body spiralling in a singular corkscrew pattern, Ryu lifts himself off the ground in the rising retaliatory punch commonly known as "Shoryuuuuuken!"
When he lands, Ryu drops right back into stance; he'd have felt the fight leave Zach after that and he doesn't think it has, not quite yet. There might be more in store.
Zach crumples under the legendary fist, staying down for a long moment, but Ryu's intuition proves accurate. Zach is showing no sign of getting physically calmed down. In fact, it seems to be a safe bet that the only thing keeping Zach staying is his willpower.
He eyes Ryu warily for a moment, soul power wrapping around the psion in prepeartion for one last effort. Another... innovation, one would suppose. Zach's worked out the logistics of the thing, but has no idea as to whether or not it would be anything approaching practical in a fight.
"Please," Zach gasps. "One more time." This was, apparently, not an invitation for Ryu to try to hit him again. Zach is already closing in, reaching for the first part of Ryu he can grab. A limb, the gi, anything.
If Zach manages the grab, he will turn. The turn will turn into a spin, followed by another rotation. Zach will try to build enough momentum to fully hurl Ryu away, and follow up the fling with a basketball sized burst of soul power. Even if this /works/, Zach will be about spent. It's not the best chance that he has, but it might be the /only/ chance he has at this point.
COMBATSYS: Ryu blocks Zach's Meteor Shoot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Zach
It... sort of works, and for a first run of an untested technique against an experienced opponent, Zach's attempt could have gone significantly worse. Where it goes wrong for him is the grip; Ryu resists far too strongly on the attempt to hurl him away, and in the end he is only sent stumbling a few yards away rather than being hurled, which gives him time to turn and bring up his guard against the massive sphere of power headed his way. There's a *CRUNCH!* noise as Ryu's pushed across the gravel a few inches, and some appreciative oohs and ahhs from the audience on the visual fireworks of it all. Ryu, for his part, slumps forward a little, grimacing at that numb-fire feeling in his arms, before he stands back up and nods at Zach once. "Interesting technique," is all he offers. Given that Ryu is fairly laconic even when he's at his most gregarious, it's hard to tell if this is politeness or high praise.
He doesn't attack; instead, he holds his ground and asks a question of his opponent. "Would you like to keep going? Or have you found what it is you were looking for?" It's not as if they're out here to beat each other bloody, but Zach's energy appears to be flagging. Still, he wouldn't want to insult the boxing psychic either.
COMBATSYS: Ryu takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Ryu 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Zach
Zach wobbles, and then gracelessly falls on his behind. Zach's spent. He takes a long moment, trying to catch his breath. Give his considerable powers time t start patching him up so that he can at least get back to the hotel room. He stares at Ryu, etching the not-quite results of the prototyped technique into his mind. Clearly, there were things that needed work.
He stares at Ryu, still a bit numb from exhaustion and not all of it physical. "I suppose it'd help," Zach says between sharp breaths, "If I knew what I was looking for. Things... haven't been right." Zach stares at the grass in front of him. "Not since Quon died. And all I know... is that I won't find it... /whatever/ it is... if I stay still."
A momentary grimace; Ryu does not keep in touch with current events in the way that people would traditionally consider 'keeping in touch' thanks to his being... uncomfortable... with most technology. Still, news like the death of Quon gets around, especially since one of the individuals peripherally involved -- Adon -- was also recently on Ryu's radar. It's clear that these two used to be friends, and perhaps even teammates at one point. Never mind the fact that after hunting the mysterious man with the 'Ten' mark, as the Devil's Tournament so recently highlighted, Ryu understands all too well what the impact of a friend's death -- or a parent's -- can be on a person. Walking over to where Zach is sitting down, the Wanderer is pensive and quiet for a moment, and then he extends a hand to help the young man up, if he desires to get up.
"I have been where you stand right now," Ryu says patiently, and then he finds the park bench he was on before and has a seat. How rarely does he ever talk about things like this with anyone? Ken, of course, and in her own way, Sakura had a talent for worming this sort of talk out of him. Yet the Dragon seems to recognize that in sharing from his own past, he might save Zach some future trouble. "You could be looking for a lot of things. Justice... revenge... even understanding. Death came from Quon before his time. It's natural to want to know 'why'."
There's a pause, as Ryu relives memories that have been all too salient lately. Crying, denial. A frenzied demand of Retsu that he make things right somehow. The dreams where Gouken's death is all his fault. The stages of grief playing out on the back of his eyelids like some sort of terrible cinematic nightmare. But then he opens his eyes and fixes them on Zach. "If moving forward helps, then do that. But if you'll take the advice of someone who's been there: make sure you're moving toward the future and not running from the past. In the latter case, you feel like you're moving away, but you're only heading backwards."
Zach stares at Ryu for a moment before taking the offered hand. He still is a bit unsteady on his feet as Ryu walks over to the bench, Zach opting to sit at the other end of it. Where Ryu might look somewhat relaxed, Zach is slumped and still breathing a bit hard.
Zach listens to Ryu talk, taking in the words as he rests for a bit. "So that's what Ken was after," he says quietly as he stares at the ground. "Pushing for it like he did." The psion looks at Ryu for a long moment. "There's no justice for this, no revenge. Wouldn't bring Quon back. I kind of realized that when I fought Adon." Zach looks away, a slight frown on his face. "I think..." The frown deepens. "I think Adon needs help." Something in Zach's tone suggests that not only might he be serious, but that he is not referring to needing some kind of attitude adjustment.
COMBATSYS: Zach has ended the fight here.
That actually startles Ryu, visibly; the Wanderer's brown eyes open wide for a moment, and then drop back to normal at speed, more or less. But it's there, a moment of shock that can't be explained away or rationalized, lying on the page of the conversation like a big blot of dark ink at the start of a sentence or letter. In his own mind, Ryu is struck by the idea that Zach's concepts about revenge have been impacted by Ken in some way. Deep down, Ryu had always hoped that Ken's anchors to life -- the woman and child that he loves, truly -- would perhaps heal the wound that the loss of Gouken left in both their hearts. If anything, it is something Ryu has envied, as the Dragon's obsessive focus on self-perfection is perhaps in some way fueled by wanting to be good enough to get the revenge he knows he desires, deep down.
When he speaks again, however, it is in a clear and unwavering voice. "Ken and I, we had... something taken from us both, something important. We've both had to deal with our feelings toward the person that took it from us, in our own way, at least." Is it just a fact, dropped into the conversation for the sake of being there? Or an explanation for what might be Ken's otherwise-inexplicable behavior? Who can say? Once it's said, Ryu adds no more to it, leaning forward to continue talking, elbows on knees, about another subject entirely.
"You only need to look at Sagat," Ryu says carefully, turning toward Zach, "to understand that there is something missing from Adon's life. But 'help'? I'm not so sure." There's a pause, and Ryu thinks back to his very recent bout with the 'real' Muay Thai Emperor, the mountain of a man that is Sagat. Compared to the relatively easy-to-read Adon, Sagat's motives -- beyond a desire to challenge himself, and Ryu in the process -- are as opaque as ever, particularly his association with Shadaloo. "You might not think it to look at him, but I believe Sagat tries every day to improve himself. He's an amazing fighter, and a proud man. But Adon... I think Adon is happy where he is, or at least he THINKS he's happy. Until he realizes otherwise, he is probably beyond help."
Zach blinks. Ryu? Confused? He /feels/ it almost as if it came from inside of him. He stares at Ryu, wide-eyed for a moment before blinking rapidly. He rubs his head tiredly, partly to try to ease the headache from the beating he just took but also partly to try and block out the strange perceptions he is getting.
"What? Sorry," Zach says. "I think I confused you," Zach says, trying to replay in his mind what he had said.
"Ken didn't push me to fight Adon," he says quickly. "That was my bright idea, for all the good it did." Zach decides to tackle Adon first, at least conversationally. "I think Adon... might be heading the way Quon did. Or he was, and isn't sure how to back away from that ledge." Zach frowns. "It... Adon reminded me of me... when I was about Quon's age. I had just come into my abilties, and I had no control over them. People had... gotten hurt because of it. Badly. I..." Zach frowns, staring down the memories. "I didn't think I could live with that." He looks at Ryu out of the corner of his eye. "Obviously, I didn't follow through on it. I wasn't sure that my dying wouldn't result in another flare-up."
"So I know a bit," the psion says tiredly, telling this stranger something he has not mentioned to his best friend, or even his family. "About what it is like, a bit, to go through what Quon must have gone through. What I think Adon might be facing right now."
Wanting to die... he keeps the fact to himself, but Ryu has never had such an impulse. It's hard for him to even fathom, but in deference to the situation he simply nods in answer to Zach's description of the situation. It's a lot to take in, all things considered. Eventually, he says the only thing that comes to mind: "Hence you wanting to keep moving forward." That seems reasonable enough.
There is a long and somewhat uncomfortable silence after that, before Ryu picks up his knapsack and stands up, turning around to face Zach. "I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. I do know, though, that if you want to improve yourself, it always has to start with your own mind and heart. No matter how much anyone tells you that change needs to happen, if you can't see it -- if you don't feel like you need to change -- then nothing will happen. Make of that what you will."
There's a pause, and then he extends a hand. "You fought well. Good luck with your training... Zach."
"Or keep climbing," Zach says with a trace of a smile, "As Quon would have put it." Zach pulls himself to his feet. "As for the thing Ken pushed me towards," Zach says. "I think he wanted to make sure I had something to move towards." He smiles.
"And I get that," he says as he scoops up his sweats. "Maybe just lost sight of it for a bit." He takes Ryu's hand and shakes it firmly. "I still didn't get that clean hit I was after." He smiles a bit. "Maybe next time."
Log created on 18:02:16 05/31/2012 by Zach, and last modified on 21:51:56 06/01/2012.