Ultimate Street Fighter

Lesson 1: Orientation

My name is Makoto.

"Hiya!" Makoto thrusts her fist into her opponent's face, causing them to stumble.

It's only been a few years since the third tournament. I really didn't care much about it after my match with Ryu. It turned out I wasn't very strong at all.

"Hadoken!" Makoto is struck by Sakura's hadoken.

Even his apprentice can withstand my attacks. She's only half as powerful as he is.

"Have you given up yet? I've been trained by Ryu, so there's way you can win without fighting to your full strength." Sakura boasted.

She's right. I've been fighting in my weakest state this entire time. I did defeat Ryu, but it turned out he went easy on me. A few months before this fight, I was nearly killed in battle. One man, who thought I was the most powerful warrior alive, challenged me. Of course I held my own. The problem was when he used a dark technique of unrelenting power. Almost every bone in my body was broken and Rehab was a must. I still remember his name today.

"Of course I can't give up yet. I still have to own up to my rematch with Akuma." Makoto retorted.

At that moment, Sakura executed a cartwheel towards Makoto. Once she got back on both of her feet she swings her fist a few times against Makoto, but Makoto is able to dodge them. She counters it with a powerful knee strike which sends Sakura back a few feet. However, Makoto begins to fall to the ground in pain. Her attack strained the injury in her leg.

"This match is over. It's time for you to return to the Rehab center, Makoto." One of the spectators was a Korean woman with backbone length hair. She was in a nurse's uniform indicating that she was there to supervise Makoto's condition.

"Ah, nurse Juri don't intervene. I can still use one more move." Makoto explained to her nurse.

"The Seichusen Godanzuki will destroy your body at the first strike. Don't even think about." Juri instructed. "Now, let's go."

Makoto rises from the ground holding onto her waist. "That's not the technique I was talking about. I've been working on something new."

Instead of her usual explanations, Juri gave Makoto a cold stare with her fierce violet eyes. Makoto knew that her nurse meant business, so she decided to leave. As she walked away, Makoto looked back at Sakura.

"When this Rehab is over, we will resume this match. Until then, I advise that you train harder." She said.

"Fair enough; I want to see this new technique of yours." Sakura told her as she gazed into the clouds.

After a while, Makoto and Juri arrived at the H.O.P.E Rehab Center. As they both enter the center, they noticed that no one was there. In all actuality, it's a place where they've been living since Makoto's fight with Akuma. Along with Juri, Ibuki was also a resident of place. The months between now and rehab were hard. Training was cut down to only 1-3 hours of practice a week. Makoto's recovery was funded through Juri's Corporate Business in South Korea and the secret World Tournaments she'd been hosting. Makoto's recovery is almost complete, but she still requires one more week until full recovery.

"It seems Ibuki is out running errands still." Juri remarked.

"I can't believe she had time to run errands all day, but no time to fight me. How boring can a person be?" Makoto remarked as well.

"In your condition, she probably knew how the match would end." Juri teased. Makoto gave off a face of anger and sadness as Juri laughed. "Anyways, what's this new technique you were talking about?"

"Oh, you'd completely lose it when you see the technique in action. It's something similar to the Seichusen Godanzuki but it's more powerful." Makoto explained with excitement. "When I recover completely, I'm going to fight Sakura in another match and use the technique against her."

Juri walked towards Makoto slowly with a sinister smile on her face. "In the weakest form of the attack, please show this 'technique' to me." Juri requested.

"Are you sure? Even when I'm weakened, this technique is powerful. It doesn't even require a lot of power." Makoto explained thoroughly.

"Knock me dead." Juri responded as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Alright, first the opponent attempts to attack me with a straight forward attack." Makoto says as she gets into her defensive stance. "Then, the fun begins."

Juri attempts a backflip kick on Makoto. At the moment of impact, Makoto dodges the attack by moving to the left. "(She was able to move at that speed while in that much pain?)" Juri thought to herself. Of course, she was still able to hit the tip of Makoto's forehead. As her left foot touched the ground, Makoto appeared under her and used a powerful rising punch into Juri's stomach. Juri's expression was dull as Makoto's injuries ended her technique earlier than expected. "It looked like it was going to blow me away, but tell me if this was how the technique should have been."

Juri grabbed Makoto's fist and tossed her in the air. As Makoto began to fall, Juri's left eye began to glow purple. Before she strikes Makoto, she loses focus as she dodges an incoming Kunai. A shadowy figure quickly grabs Makoto and safely sits her down on one of the beds. Juri smiled as her eye returned to normal.

"What were you thinking Juri? You could've killed her." The shadowy figure was Ibuki. She was a great friend to Makoto. She had a secret grudge against Juri for an event that occurred 4 months ago.

"I guess I just got into the moment. I'm sorry." Juri apologized as she performed an honorable bow to Ibuki. She then walked off into the outside world.

Ibuki shook her head slowly as Makoto began to slowly pass out.