4th Strike: Moving On

Moving On (Part 1)

"If you plan to start from scratch you gotta fight your way up,
It's all about the victory and who's getting ate up
Survivors are always labeled the fittest,
That's why you couldn't win this,
I'm the living legend veteran in this."

- Infinite, "Moving On"

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The streets and beaches of Sao Paulo were bustling with party people, eager to put another week of work and schooling behind them. The night air was warm, but nowhere near as humid as it normally was during the day. People were lined up to get into the nightclubs, ready to dance their stress away. The city glowed with bright neon lights on nearly every building, signalling the start of the weekend.

A particularly grumpy Sean Matsuda was in no mood for the festivities going on, however. Sulking on the roof of his house, he thought about the last few years as a martial artist. He wasn't delusional about his skills; he knew he had so much to learn about the Shotokan style. The issue was getting his "master" to actually teach him the proper style. Ever since he decided to abandon his family's style of Jujitsu in favour of Shotokan, Sean self-taught himself the basic moves by watching Ken Masters' tournament fights and mimicking his moves, while adding in a few of his own. Finding that he was struggling with slightly more advanced moves like the Hadoken and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, Sean decided to seek out Ken himself to teach him the proper skills of Shotokan.

Sean began twisting one of his dreadlocks absentmindedly, remembering all the times Ken had coldly rejected him. The worst, in his opinion, was when he lost to Ken in the World Warrior Tournament, in which the latter had demanded he beat Ryu in a fight before he would even consider training him. Determined to be Ken's student, Sean fought Ryu several times, but only ended up getting a concussion and several broken bones, putting him out of fighting for nearly a year. Looking back on it, Sean wasn't sure if was determination or pure hardheadedness that made him keep fighting Ryu, despite being clearly outmatched.

Then came the U.S. tournament the year after that. Unlike the World Warrior tournament, this one all but cemented him as an international embarrassment. After recovering from the beating Ryu gave him, Sean went back to his usual self-training, pushing himself even harder to prove himself to Ken. When Sean signed up for the tournament, he was confident he'd be going home with the trophy.

Oh, how wrong he was. Sean didn't even make it past the qualifiers, as he was beaten senseless once again, this time by a no-name fighter. Ken, who eventually won that tournament, offered Sean the championship trophy out of pity, but he refused to take it.

Sean released a depressed sigh, and fell back onto the roof. He stared at the starry sky, contemplating his current lot in life. After the U.S. tournament, almost the whole international fighting community made fun of him, and virtually shunned him when he tried to even simply talk to another fighter. Even in his native Brazil, he became known as "The Shame of a Nation", especially in Sao Paulo. Only his own family had shown him any genuine sympathy.

God, that was embarrassing as all hell, Sean thought to himself. I still can't travel around Sao Paulo without getting laughed at all time.

That was nearly three years ago. Now a couple months shy of his nineteenth birthday, Sean found himself at a crossroads in his life. He was offered several basketball scholarships as soon as he finished high school, but he chose to take a year off school to continue honing his Shotokan skills. But even then, Sean found his skills stagnating without a proper teacher; and Ken continued to be non-committal when it came to training him, to Sean's eternal frustration. He wanted to be a successful fighter, but he also didn't want to continue if Ken wasn't willing to teach him anything.

Sean's thoughts then drifted to another fighter, one he personally considered his counterpart: Sakura Kasugano. Like Sean, she was originally trained in her family's style of martial arts, before self-teaching herself Shotokan after witnessing Ryu in action. The biggest difference between Sakura and Sean, however, was their skills and how their respective "masters" treated them.

Despite being notably weaker than Ryu and Ken, Sakura had won several tournaments with her unorthodox style of Shotokan, and was even praised by some of the biggest names in the fighting community, while Sean was treated like a joke. And while Ryu also refused to take her under his wing, he still greatly respected Sakura, and occasionally gave her advice, While the only times Ken ever gave Sean the time of day was when he wanted Sean to run an errand for him. It drove him nuts

I wish I knew Sakura well enough to ask her for some advice, Sean thought to himself. But then again, she probably thinks I'm a fool too, along with that idiot Dan.

Sean let out another sigh, and got up on his feet. I'm not gonna get anywhere just sulking like this all the time. A jog will probably do me some good.

Sean, being careful to watch his footing, walked back towards his bedroom window. Since his room was at the very top of the house, he could easily escape to the rooftop when he didn't want to be bothered by anyone in his family, especially his older sister Laura. Slipping through the windowsill, Sean grabbed a plain black jogging suit off his dresser. He normally would've gone for his custom yellow one, but he didn't want to be recognized by anyone in Sao Paulo.

Slipping on a pair of black sneakers, he put on a hat, his headphones, and grabbed his cellphone. He considered bringing his basketball, but decided against it, because someone would recognize him. and headed downstairs. He had just barely got past the living room when somebody called out to him.

"Isn't it a bit late for a jog, Sean?~"

Crap... Sean stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to see Laura, sprawled out across the living room couch. Unlike her usual daytime appearance, Laura wore a large t-shirt, and uncharacteristically modest shorts. The biggest difference was her hairstyle; normally a split between cornrows and loose hair, was completely unbraided, flowing all the way down to her waist.

"Where you headed off to? You usually don't go out running this late, if at all, after that US tournament."

Sean scowled at the mention of the US tournament, and looked away from his sister. "I'm wholly aware of that, Laura," Sean hissed venomously through gritted teeth.

"Ye-owch, no need to get get all pissy at me!~" Laura said, not losing her spirited attitude. "It's been almost 3 years, for Christ's sake, you've should've moved past it by now!"

"I'll move on when the rest of Brazil does. At least you ain't called 'the shame of a nation' everywhere in Brazil."

"At least try to cheer up a little, Sean!" Laura got off the sofa and approached her little brother. "I get it, you're discouraged to keep fighting because of everything that's got you down, but you gotta look at the positives too."

"What 'positives'?!" Sean cut Laura off in frustration. "I'm basically blacklisted from the international fighting community, and my own home country hates my guts! What fuckin' positives do I have, huh?!"

Laura took a step back, not expecting Sean's outburst. Sean shook his head. "Look, I'm honestly sorry for snapping at you," he said. "But I'm just stressed to the max about everything right now, and I need some air. I'll be back in a couple hours."

Before Laura could say something, Sean opened the front door and dashed outside. Laura looked out the doorway, watching her brother's figure gradually disappear into the Sao Paulo night. After a few moments, she closed the door, and retreated back to the sofa.

"Something has to be done with Sean," Laura said, putting a hand to her chin. "He's still training, but thanks to that tournament loss, he's shut out everyone for the last 3 years, even our family. And that so-called 'master' of his hasn't done much to help him get out of this rut..." Laura plopped herself down on the sofa, thinking of ways to help Sean.

"I really don't know if I can do anything to help him. He never wants to be around me, even before that loss..." Laura's gaze shifted towards the nearby coffee table, covered in magazines. One particular magazine cover caught her eye.

"...Though I wonder if Mr. Masters is willing to take house calls?"