In an exercise room inside the Library Arcanium, Kyle was wrapping up a workout. Dressed in his leisure clothes, he also had a towel around his neck and a sports drink bottle in one hand. On his way to his room to take a shower and get changed, he ran into Tash, who seemed to be fretting about something.
"Hey Tash, what's the bum face for?" Kyle asked wonderingly.
Tash snapped out of her thoughts at the question when she turned to Kyle and said, "I just received confirmation that a Mary Sue is currently taking over another Black Listed fandom. With Adrian down and out for who knows how long, this could be very bad."
Kyle seemed to give it a moment's thought before replying, "What fandom is it?"
"I think it had been identified as Street Fighter," was Tash's answer.
Smacking his forehead into his empty hand, Kyle said the first thing that came to mind, "Crap. Not that one!"
"Huh? Do you know something about Street Fighter? I know nothing about it other than its name, so maybe you could explain why it'd be Black Listed," Tash said in a wondering tone.
"I'd be worried if it wasn't Black Listed. Even in the recent games, where one of the main groups of villains is in tatters, there's still a bunch of deadly psychos in there. A Sue/Stu would have a field day with some of the various powers they could get," Kyle took on a serious expression as he continued. "Like the Satsui no Hadou, which translates into Surge of Murderous Intent. Just from the name, you can tell that it's not something you want in a Sue/Stu's hands. One of the main users of the Satsui no Hadou, his English name is Akuma, if he feels like it, he is able to destroy islands with a single attack. Not to mention that he possesses a technique that can send an evil soul to hell, the Shun Goku Satsu. Only three people have survived this attack; Gill, who can revive himself, Gen, who somehow emptied his soul before contact, and Gouken, Akuma's brother who learned the same fighting style as Akuma but rejected the murderous aspects of it. I could go on about it, but I think you get the gist of it."
Tash gave Kyle a look that said 'So much of that went right over my head, it's not even funny'. Shaking her head, she spoke, "Well, since you seem to know so much about it, how about you go handle it while Adrian recovers?"
Kyle recoiled a step, "Me? You want me to go deal with a Sue in a world full of super martial artists?"
Tash straightened herself to her full height, "Is there a problem with that?"
Taking a more relaxed position, Kyle seemed to think for a moment before replying, "Meh, it's not like I have anything better to do right now. At least it's not the Mortal Kombat fandom."
-
Some time after getting dressed in his mission garb, he went through the portal to the Street Fighter fandom, landing in the middle of an empty park, and felt something wasn't right, in a big way. Kyle couldn't put his finger on it, but he got this feeling that big trouble was about to come out of nowhere and bite him in the rear. Unfortunately, he didn't know how right he was.
"Hey you, ninja!" came a mighty shout full of absolute bloodlust. Kyle turned around to find a muscular man as tall as Tash making his way over to him. He was dressed in a black martial arts Gi, but anyone who knew the Street Fighter series would tell you that his Gi was supposed to be white.
"Ryu! Get back here, I'm not done with you yet!" Came a voice from another muscular man, this one dressed in a red Gi. Kyle recognized him immediately as Ken Masters, Ryu's best friend and one of the most well-known Street Fighter characters. Ken tackled Ryu from behind but was easily thrown off by the seemingly possessed man.
After getting to his feet, Ken called to Kyle, "Don't just stand there, help me restrain him!"
"How? If he's under the influence of the Satsui no Hadou like it appears he is, then there's no way I'll be able to match his power." Kyle shot back as he leaped away from an attempted grapple by Ryu and then thought, At least, not without using abilities that I'd rather not use in my lifetime.
"You're a ninja, surely you've been trained to use Ki?" Countered Ken while pulling his hands back in a pose many people would be familiar with. With a cry of 'Hadouken', he thrust his hands forward and released fireball-like blast of energy. Ryu easily leapt over it without even looking.
"Do you know how cliched that's become?" Kyle muttered under his breath, not stating whether he was talking about use of Ki or the Hadouken.
With a sigh, Kyle was about to take a fighting stance when his stomach growled. He smacked his face at his own stupidity. Going into a potentially dangerous world without eating first is not smart at all. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to consider doing anything about it as Ryu was upon him. Seeing no time to dodge, Kyle crossed his arms in front of him to block Ryu's oncoming fist. It connected and he was thrown back several feet.
Ken rushed Ryu, throwing a flurry of kicks and punches to distract the possessed fighter while Kyle got to his feet. Kyle could feel an imprint of the fist on his arm and his chest hurt from the impact. Silently, he was cursing himself for his stupidity of not eating before entering and for the fact that certain skills he uses have self-made safeguards against their use if his body is in certain conditions. Specifically, he can't use his Accelerator, an ability he picked up from the Wild Arms series, while he's hungry because it vastly increases his metabolism, which means he'd be starving himself if he used it now.
"Dang it, me and my stupid precautions. I can't take off the safeguards here. What to do, what to do?" Then he remembered that he always carried ration bars for this kind of thing. Mentally smacking himself, he reached his arm out to access his hammerspace while keeping an eye on Ryu and Ken. It happened in an instant, the moment his hand started to enter his hammerspace, time seemed to freeze for Ken as Ryu spun on his heels and swiftly posed like Ken did just moments ago.
"Shakunetsu Hadouken!" Kyle's eyes snapped open as a large blast of energy headed his way. Pulling his hand back from accessing his hammerspace, he just barely managed to leap to one side as it crashed right where he once stood. Immediately, he looked toward the fighting pair, but it looked like nothing had happened; they were still fighting. Then he looked over at where he had been standing and saw a smoking scorch mark. Kyle was having a hard time understanding what just happened.
Clearing his head with a few shakes, he once again started reaching out for access to his hammerspace. Once again, Ken seemed to freeze and Ryu turned to face him while charging a more powerful Hadouken.
"Shinkuu Hadouken!" An even bigger blast sailed towards Kyle, who was able to immediately scamper out of the way because he hadn't even started the access yet. This also gave him time to watch as the blast carved a line through the spot he had been standing at. Closing his eyes for a moment to clear his mind and think, he then opened them to see Ryu and Ken fighting just like before.
Now I get it. The Mary Sue is watching this nearby. She's using her abilities to keep me from accessing my astral vault long enough to get my rations. Geez, this is troublesome. Even if Ryu is disabled long enough for me to get my rations, Ms. Mary Sue will probably do something a bit more direct to stop me.
Just then, Ryu landed a solid hit on Ken's chest, knocking the breath right out of his lungs. The next instant, the possessed Ryu caught him with a kick under the chin that sent him flying back a few feet and landing on his back, clearly unconscious. This meant trouble for Kyle, as he didn't have anyone left to distract Ryu while he tried to feed himself so he could get out of this situation. Mentally calculating how long he could hold out as Ryu now advanced towards him, he almost decided to just give up when his calculations didn't result in any numbers... it just told him that he was screwed.
"Isn't this the time when the Plot Device or Dues Ex Machina kicks in to help bail me out of this jam?" Kyle muttered almost inaudibly, then mentally kicked himself, I've been studying way too many cliches recently.
Apparently, some deity somewhere heard this and decided to answer his question ironically. That is, it sent him a helper that he would rather have avoided meeting if he could help it. A tanned man with wild, fiery hair tied into a topknot and wearing a similar Gi to Ryu. Any Street Fighter Fan knew and feared this man as Akuma, or Gouki in the Japanese versions. Either way, Kyle was not happy to see him since he knew what Akuma was capable of. Though he did breath a sigh of relief when Akuma tackled Ryu, dragging him back a couple of yards before receiving a headbutt from his "captive" and lost his grip.
Breathing a few more sighs of relief, Kyle watched and calculated as Ryu and Akuma squared off. They fought for several minutes, neither one able to overpower the other. That's when it occurred to Kyle that he still had his Society equipment on hand, inside his outfit. Mentally kicking himself for the third time, he hastily pulled out a Copyright and waited for an opportunity to stick it on Ryu. Said opportunity came when both combatants leapt away from each other and started charging Hadoukens. Quickly rushing forward, Kyle closed the distance between him and them. Akuma was at an angle to see Kyle's rush, then he smirked and stopped charging his Hadouken while leaping away in a manner that said, 'I'll leave him to you, then.'
Of course, this left Ryu to turn and face Kyle while still charging his Hadouken. Mentally cursing Akuma and muttering that he should have known he wasn't going to get support from him, Kyle didn't stop nor change the direction of his rush. When Ryu finally released the Hadouken, Kyle saw his chance.
One of the downsides to using the Hadouken is there's a slight delay between fire and recovery. So, a charging opponent can possibly dodge the attack and get in a hit while the user recovers. He waited until the last possible moment to dodge the blast and then landed a palm strike, which didn't phase the target in the least, on Ryu's chest with his hand that held the Copyright. With the Copyright now stuck to Ryu, he underwent a change. His Gi shifted from its current black to its trademark white and the vicious look on his face was replaced by a look of utter confusion. Kyle fell backwards into a sitting position and panted from his exsertion. Akuma watched this from a distance, seemingly in deep thought at the near instant change in Ryu.
"Do you know what I'm doing here? I don't remember anything after I met up with Ken, " Ryu said in a confused manner, but then seemed to recall something as he looked around. Spotting the unconscious Ken, he ran over while he called out Ken's name. Lifting his friend into more of a sitting position, Ryu turned towards Kyle and asked, "Hey, did you see how knocked him out?"
Kyle, now eating a ration bar he had pulled out of his hammerspace, stood up and answered with, "That would be, you, though not of your own accord. I think you were being controlled somehow."
Ryu gaped in shock at this revelation. Akuma could hear him and nodded his head in agreement, even though the others weren't looking over at him. All of a sudden, to Akuma and Ryu at least, an overwhelming presence was felt nearby. From behind a tree some visible distance away from everyone, a mind-numbing beauty stepped out. Deeply tanned and densely muscled with a violet Gi and short, green-tinted blond hair, Deary Attrim Marie Nastasia Manson Alto Docker definitely seemed like she could manhandle any person who wouldn't fall to her looks. Kyle leaped backwards towards Ryu and landed in an almost shielding gesture while Akuma casually strolled up to stand next to Kyle.
Deary was dismissive of this as she began speaking, "You in the ninja garb, you're Kyle of the Anti-Cliche and Mary Sue Elimination Society, correct?"
Kyle shrugged before replying, "What of it? I don't think it matters at this point who I am, right DAMNMAD?"
Deary's eyes flashed dangerously, "My name is Deary Attrim Marie Nastasia Manson Alto Docker, and don't you forget it!"
"Whateves. So, how are we going to do this? Are you going to come quietly or am I going to have to expend actual effort to arrest you?"
The green blond Mary Sue threw back her head and laughed at his statement. Kyle merely took this stone-faced while Ryu was ignoring them to wake up Ken and Akuma watched on. After several seconds of laughter, Deary smiled savagely as she explained, "I was watching you as you fought Ryu while he was under the effects of the Satsui no Hadou. You rely almost completely on technology to fight with. It's also a well known fact among us Sues and Stus that you are a Hyperspace Arsenalist. That's why I had to interrupt you when you tried to access your Hyperspace. Couldn't have you get out a weapon to make a fight unfair, huh?"
Kyle said nothing for a split second and then plunged a hand into thin air off to his side. Two sets of eyes narrowed acutely as Kyle retracted his arm and then widened in surprise when it wasn't a weapon, but a candy bar he had pulled out. Unwrapping it and consuming it in the space of two seconds, Kyle proceeded to deposit the wrapper into the nearest garbage can before commenting to the surprised starers.
"What? Did you think I only carried weapons in my Astral Vault? Please, I'm not stupid."
The Mary Sue regained her composure after a bit, then said, "Even so, this is a martial arts world. Empty your Hyperspace of weaponry or I'll simply leave right now."
"Umm, there's no real need to do that considering I can't access my astral vault while in motion. Besides, it'd take too long to empty and return them to my astral vault when this is all said and done."
"I said empty your Hyperspace of weaponry or I'll leave."
Sighing in reluctance, Kyle declared over his shoulder to Ryu and Akuma, "You guys better get in front of me. After all, I wouldn't want to bury you."
Akuma just took a few steps forward while Ryu picked up a now semiconscious Ken and ran over to a park bench nearby in Kyle's sight to set him down to recover. Deciding that was enough, Kyle took a deep breath and then commanded, "Astral Vault, purge!"
Purge it did, a deluge of weapons of every kind came out of thin air behind Kyle. Swords, spears, axes, shortbows, longbows, crossbows, pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, greandes and the list goes on and on. Not just weapons either, but quivers, clips, batteries and other stuff for distance weapons came pouring out also. This continued for several minutes until, when the flow finally came to an end, there was a pile that almost completely filled the part of the park behind him while its peak was as high as a skyscraper. The native people were absolutely dumbfounded at the sheer size of the pile. Deary had developed a facial twitch after the first couple of minutes.
With a scowl on her face, she growled, "Are you done now?"
Kyle stood there for a moment with a wondering look on his face. Shaking his head, he held up a hand and his Omni-weapon fell right into it. He set it down on the edge of the weapons pile and then turned to face Deary in a combat stance. While he was purging his hammerspace, he had been thinking about some things, like if he should use his innate abilities to fight with and what abilities would his opponent display. When Deary got into a combat stance of her own, he knew that there was no turning back from fighting this time.
Kyle took first offense, launching himself at Deary and throwing a haymaker. Deary swayed out of the way and then sent a rising kick into Kyle's gut as he passed by. Letting the kick send him away, Deary went into a pose that has been used many times already. Catching himself on three limbs while his fourth held onto his gut, Kyle stood up shakily but was knocked back down when he was blindsided by Deary's Hadouken. He stayed down for a moment to gather his strength and then slowly get to his feet again. Of course, his opponent wasn't about to let him recover at all, so when it seemed that Kyle would stand up completely, Deary executed a move made famous by one of the main Street Fighter villians.
He was hit head-on as he turned right into Deary performing a perfect copy of M. Bison's Psycho Crusher. After laying Kyle flat with her attack, Deary turned to look at him and commented, "Well, this is pretty fun. I've always wanted one of you idiot Society members to beat up on. And with the Satsui no Hadou, Psycho Power, Soul Power, Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Electrokinesis and Metallic Body Change abilities I found in this world, I have lots to beat you with. What do you say to that, Mr. Punching Bag?"
For a few moments, Kyle didn't respond, but he did make efforts to stand up again. It was while he was getting to his feet that he reached into his outfit and pulled something out just long enough to pop it into his mouth. Swallowing whatever he had put there, he staggered to a semi-standing position as he spoke, "I say it's about time I stop being so hesitant about my innate abilities. They all have a hefty price tag to them, but if I don't give my best effort here, then I can't face the Society again."
By this time, he had straightened himself out and took another fighting stance. This time, Deary took the first offensive, her body taking a metallic sheen as she rushed. Kyle saw this change, but instead of trying to dodge, he pulled back a fist. Just when Deary was about to tackle him, he threw his fist forward and shouted, "Deadly Impact!"
The punch connected on Deary's chest, leaving an imprint as she was sent back several yards, however, as she was sent flying, so was Kyle. They both staggered to their feet as Deary demanded an explanation for what just happened.
"That was one of my Innate abilities, the Deadly Impact. It's a punch with incredible force behind it, but after hitting anything at all, it recoils back and hits me just as hard. Most people probably wouldn't consider that a price, more like a drawback, but I consider both the same thing for my abilities. Now then, let's get back to the fight, shall we?"
It continued on much the same lines for several blows, Kyle using abilities that either recoiled back to hurt him or otherwise debilitated him for a minute or two in some way. Not all of these techniques hit their target, but she was getting wary of him because of them.
Finally, after another blow had sent her away, she forcefully rose to her feet and declared, "Alright then, since you so kindly stopped holding back, we've been about equal in our fighting skills. However, I'll let you know that I've also been holding back. Now watch as I combine every power I've acquired from this Fandom."
She became surrounded by an incredibly fierce aura as her body took on an even more metallic appearance than before. Her right hand was engulfed in flames while her left covered in frost and her body visibly surged with lightning. To top it all off, a translucent sphere of ever shifting colors formed around her. When it was all done, she threw her head back and howled in laughter.
"What do you think of this, Mr. Punching Bag? I shall call this my Unified Chaos mode," She stopped laughing, now looking straight at Kyle. "Don't croak before I'm done having my fun now."
Kyle didn't have a prayer, he couldn't even follow her movements as she attacked him. For the next few minutes, he was exactly as Deary had addressed him. Battered, bruised, covered in burns from both fire and electricity, numbed in some places by the cold and was all around in bad shape. Abruptly, she stopped her assault and just watched him flop to the ground like a dummy without support. There she stood, looking at Kyle and gloated that now she had this power, she would do to every other member of the Society that she did to him. She turned away as she was about to open a plothole to leave the fandom.
"Hold it, who said that I was done with you yet?" came a weak gasp as Kyle did everything in his power to stand up. Deary spun around in shock that Kyle was still able to move at all, much less stand under his own power.
"What's keeping you going? I've beaten you within an inch of your life and yet you still stand in defiance of me? Why, do you have a death wish or something?"
With a slow and painful shake of his head, Kyle responded, "Too much is riding on this to simply give up. You Sues and Stus don't give enough credit to the strength of a person's soul. Even one person has the power to change the world. Even one person can help others in need. Even one person will make all the difference to everyone. I will now show you, the true depths of the soul!"
While he was saying this, a gentle aura outlined him. His burns and bruises healed right befoe everyone's eyes.
"Heaven and Earth, Worldly Secret Art!"
Then, the aura began to pulse like a heartbeat. Abruptly, his aura vanished as he stood up straighter.
"Soul of Dragon!"
Behind him emerged a gargantuan form, a near transparent white dragon. Deary held her ground, intimidated by the massive image, but not believing it to be a threat. Gathering all of her power, she launched herself forward to bring an end to Kyle.
"I don't care about souls. I don't care if one person can make a difference. I will not accept that anyone can do what we as Sues are doing to bring perfection to the worlds! DIE!"
Deary was nearing the stationary Kyle when a flash of brilliant light engulfed them. Anyone looking in that direction had to cover their eyes as the illumination could be seen for miles around. Inside this radiance, Deary could feel a mighty pressure on her barrier as she still moved toward her target.
Just then, Kyle looked her dead in the eye and she realized that all of her power was now meaningless.
"Infinite Symphony!"
Deary couldn't see it coming, her mind wasn't even able to comprehend the form of the attack. All she could think before the attack reduced her and her soul to vapor was, Is this the power that's hidden within an imperfect soul?
Just like that, Deary was gone and the illumination faded. The Street Fighter world had been reset when the Mary Sue was annihilated and Kyle had one last thing to do.
"I wonder how long it's going to take me to get all that weaponry back into my Astral Vault?"
-
Back at the Library Arcanium, Kyle had successfully avoided Tash as he settled into his room. He knew that she'd get to him eventually, but for now, he'd prefer to just sit there and wonder in the quiet space. He could always feel it, his Soul of Dragon. The ability to release the binds on an Infinite Soul, that's the Heaven and Earth, Worldly Secret Art. However, to do this means to burn your candle of life at its greatest and that speeds up the melting of its wax. Sighing at the sad thought of a few years taken out of his lifespan, Kyle turned to the desk he was sitting at and started writing his report.
"Hey Tash, what's the bum face for?" Kyle asked wonderingly.
Tash snapped out of her thoughts at the question when she turned to Kyle and said, "I just received confirmation that a Mary Sue is currently taking over another Black Listed fandom. With Adrian down and out for who knows how long, this could be very bad."
Kyle seemed to give it a moment's thought before replying, "What fandom is it?"
"I think it had been identified as Street Fighter," was Tash's answer.
Smacking his forehead into his empty hand, Kyle said the first thing that came to mind, "Crap. Not that one!"
"Huh? Do you know something about Street Fighter? I know nothing about it other than its name, so maybe you could explain why it'd be Black Listed," Tash said in a wondering tone.
"I'd be worried if it wasn't Black Listed. Even in the recent games, where one of the main groups of villains is in tatters, there's still a bunch of deadly psychos in there. A Sue/Stu would have a field day with some of the various powers they could get," Kyle took on a serious expression as he continued. "Like the Satsui no Hadou, which translates into Surge of Murderous Intent. Just from the name, you can tell that it's not something you want in a Sue/Stu's hands. One of the main users of the Satsui no Hadou, his English name is Akuma, if he feels like it, he is able to destroy islands with a single attack. Not to mention that he possesses a technique that can send an evil soul to hell, the Shun Goku Satsu. Only three people have survived this attack; Gill, who can revive himself, Gen, who somehow emptied his soul before contact, and Gouken, Akuma's brother who learned the same fighting style as Akuma but rejected the murderous aspects of it. I could go on about it, but I think you get the gist of it."
Tash gave Kyle a look that said 'So much of that went right over my head, it's not even funny'. Shaking her head, she spoke, "Well, since you seem to know so much about it, how about you go handle it while Adrian recovers?"
Kyle recoiled a step, "Me? You want me to go deal with a Sue in a world full of super martial artists?"
Tash straightened herself to her full height, "Is there a problem with that?"
Taking a more relaxed position, Kyle seemed to think for a moment before replying, "Meh, it's not like I have anything better to do right now. At least it's not the Mortal Kombat fandom."
-
Some time after getting dressed in his mission garb, he went through the portal to the Street Fighter fandom, landing in the middle of an empty park, and felt something wasn't right, in a big way. Kyle couldn't put his finger on it, but he got this feeling that big trouble was about to come out of nowhere and bite him in the rear. Unfortunately, he didn't know how right he was.
"Hey you, ninja!" came a mighty shout full of absolute bloodlust. Kyle turned around to find a muscular man as tall as Tash making his way over to him. He was dressed in a black martial arts Gi, but anyone who knew the Street Fighter series would tell you that his Gi was supposed to be white.
"Ryu! Get back here, I'm not done with you yet!" Came a voice from another muscular man, this one dressed in a red Gi. Kyle recognized him immediately as Ken Masters, Ryu's best friend and one of the most well-known Street Fighter characters. Ken tackled Ryu from behind but was easily thrown off by the seemingly possessed man.
After getting to his feet, Ken called to Kyle, "Don't just stand there, help me restrain him!"
"How? If he's under the influence of the Satsui no Hadou like it appears he is, then there's no way I'll be able to match his power." Kyle shot back as he leaped away from an attempted grapple by Ryu and then thought, At least, not without using abilities that I'd rather not use in my lifetime.
"You're a ninja, surely you've been trained to use Ki?" Countered Ken while pulling his hands back in a pose many people would be familiar with. With a cry of 'Hadouken', he thrust his hands forward and released fireball-like blast of energy. Ryu easily leapt over it without even looking.
"Do you know how cliched that's become?" Kyle muttered under his breath, not stating whether he was talking about use of Ki or the Hadouken.
With a sigh, Kyle was about to take a fighting stance when his stomach growled. He smacked his face at his own stupidity. Going into a potentially dangerous world without eating first is not smart at all. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to consider doing anything about it as Ryu was upon him. Seeing no time to dodge, Kyle crossed his arms in front of him to block Ryu's oncoming fist. It connected and he was thrown back several feet.
Ken rushed Ryu, throwing a flurry of kicks and punches to distract the possessed fighter while Kyle got to his feet. Kyle could feel an imprint of the fist on his arm and his chest hurt from the impact. Silently, he was cursing himself for his stupidity of not eating before entering and for the fact that certain skills he uses have self-made safeguards against their use if his body is in certain conditions. Specifically, he can't use his Accelerator, an ability he picked up from the Wild Arms series, while he's hungry because it vastly increases his metabolism, which means he'd be starving himself if he used it now.
"Dang it, me and my stupid precautions. I can't take off the safeguards here. What to do, what to do?" Then he remembered that he always carried ration bars for this kind of thing. Mentally smacking himself, he reached his arm out to access his hammerspace while keeping an eye on Ryu and Ken. It happened in an instant, the moment his hand started to enter his hammerspace, time seemed to freeze for Ken as Ryu spun on his heels and swiftly posed like Ken did just moments ago.
"Shakunetsu Hadouken!" Kyle's eyes snapped open as a large blast of energy headed his way. Pulling his hand back from accessing his hammerspace, he just barely managed to leap to one side as it crashed right where he once stood. Immediately, he looked toward the fighting pair, but it looked like nothing had happened; they were still fighting. Then he looked over at where he had been standing and saw a smoking scorch mark. Kyle was having a hard time understanding what just happened.
Clearing his head with a few shakes, he once again started reaching out for access to his hammerspace. Once again, Ken seemed to freeze and Ryu turned to face him while charging a more powerful Hadouken.
"Shinkuu Hadouken!" An even bigger blast sailed towards Kyle, who was able to immediately scamper out of the way because he hadn't even started the access yet. This also gave him time to watch as the blast carved a line through the spot he had been standing at. Closing his eyes for a moment to clear his mind and think, he then opened them to see Ryu and Ken fighting just like before.
Now I get it. The Mary Sue is watching this nearby. She's using her abilities to keep me from accessing my astral vault long enough to get my rations. Geez, this is troublesome. Even if Ryu is disabled long enough for me to get my rations, Ms. Mary Sue will probably do something a bit more direct to stop me.
Just then, Ryu landed a solid hit on Ken's chest, knocking the breath right out of his lungs. The next instant, the possessed Ryu caught him with a kick under the chin that sent him flying back a few feet and landing on his back, clearly unconscious. This meant trouble for Kyle, as he didn't have anyone left to distract Ryu while he tried to feed himself so he could get out of this situation. Mentally calculating how long he could hold out as Ryu now advanced towards him, he almost decided to just give up when his calculations didn't result in any numbers... it just told him that he was screwed.
"Isn't this the time when the Plot Device or Dues Ex Machina kicks in to help bail me out of this jam?" Kyle muttered almost inaudibly, then mentally kicked himself, I've been studying way too many cliches recently.
Apparently, some deity somewhere heard this and decided to answer his question ironically. That is, it sent him a helper that he would rather have avoided meeting if he could help it. A tanned man with wild, fiery hair tied into a topknot and wearing a similar Gi to Ryu. Any Street Fighter Fan knew and feared this man as Akuma, or Gouki in the Japanese versions. Either way, Kyle was not happy to see him since he knew what Akuma was capable of. Though he did breath a sigh of relief when Akuma tackled Ryu, dragging him back a couple of yards before receiving a headbutt from his "captive" and lost his grip.
Breathing a few more sighs of relief, Kyle watched and calculated as Ryu and Akuma squared off. They fought for several minutes, neither one able to overpower the other. That's when it occurred to Kyle that he still had his Society equipment on hand, inside his outfit. Mentally kicking himself for the third time, he hastily pulled out a Copyright and waited for an opportunity to stick it on Ryu. Said opportunity came when both combatants leapt away from each other and started charging Hadoukens. Quickly rushing forward, Kyle closed the distance between him and them. Akuma was at an angle to see Kyle's rush, then he smirked and stopped charging his Hadouken while leaping away in a manner that said, 'I'll leave him to you, then.'
Of course, this left Ryu to turn and face Kyle while still charging his Hadouken. Mentally cursing Akuma and muttering that he should have known he wasn't going to get support from him, Kyle didn't stop nor change the direction of his rush. When Ryu finally released the Hadouken, Kyle saw his chance.
One of the downsides to using the Hadouken is there's a slight delay between fire and recovery. So, a charging opponent can possibly dodge the attack and get in a hit while the user recovers. He waited until the last possible moment to dodge the blast and then landed a palm strike, which didn't phase the target in the least, on Ryu's chest with his hand that held the Copyright. With the Copyright now stuck to Ryu, he underwent a change. His Gi shifted from its current black to its trademark white and the vicious look on his face was replaced by a look of utter confusion. Kyle fell backwards into a sitting position and panted from his exsertion. Akuma watched this from a distance, seemingly in deep thought at the near instant change in Ryu.
"Do you know what I'm doing here? I don't remember anything after I met up with Ken, " Ryu said in a confused manner, but then seemed to recall something as he looked around. Spotting the unconscious Ken, he ran over while he called out Ken's name. Lifting his friend into more of a sitting position, Ryu turned towards Kyle and asked, "Hey, did you see how knocked him out?"
Kyle, now eating a ration bar he had pulled out of his hammerspace, stood up and answered with, "That would be, you, though not of your own accord. I think you were being controlled somehow."
Ryu gaped in shock at this revelation. Akuma could hear him and nodded his head in agreement, even though the others weren't looking over at him. All of a sudden, to Akuma and Ryu at least, an overwhelming presence was felt nearby. From behind a tree some visible distance away from everyone, a mind-numbing beauty stepped out. Deeply tanned and densely muscled with a violet Gi and short, green-tinted blond hair, Deary Attrim Marie Nastasia Manson Alto Docker definitely seemed like she could manhandle any person who wouldn't fall to her looks. Kyle leaped backwards towards Ryu and landed in an almost shielding gesture while Akuma casually strolled up to stand next to Kyle.
Deary was dismissive of this as she began speaking, "You in the ninja garb, you're Kyle of the Anti-Cliche and Mary Sue Elimination Society, correct?"
Kyle shrugged before replying, "What of it? I don't think it matters at this point who I am, right DAMNMAD?"
Deary's eyes flashed dangerously, "My name is Deary Attrim Marie Nastasia Manson Alto Docker, and don't you forget it!"
"Whateves. So, how are we going to do this? Are you going to come quietly or am I going to have to expend actual effort to arrest you?"
The green blond Mary Sue threw back her head and laughed at his statement. Kyle merely took this stone-faced while Ryu was ignoring them to wake up Ken and Akuma watched on. After several seconds of laughter, Deary smiled savagely as she explained, "I was watching you as you fought Ryu while he was under the effects of the Satsui no Hadou. You rely almost completely on technology to fight with. It's also a well known fact among us Sues and Stus that you are a Hyperspace Arsenalist. That's why I had to interrupt you when you tried to access your Hyperspace. Couldn't have you get out a weapon to make a fight unfair, huh?"
Kyle said nothing for a split second and then plunged a hand into thin air off to his side. Two sets of eyes narrowed acutely as Kyle retracted his arm and then widened in surprise when it wasn't a weapon, but a candy bar he had pulled out. Unwrapping it and consuming it in the space of two seconds, Kyle proceeded to deposit the wrapper into the nearest garbage can before commenting to the surprised starers.
"What? Did you think I only carried weapons in my Astral Vault? Please, I'm not stupid."
The Mary Sue regained her composure after a bit, then said, "Even so, this is a martial arts world. Empty your Hyperspace of weaponry or I'll simply leave right now."
"Umm, there's no real need to do that considering I can't access my astral vault while in motion. Besides, it'd take too long to empty and return them to my astral vault when this is all said and done."
"I said empty your Hyperspace of weaponry or I'll leave."
Sighing in reluctance, Kyle declared over his shoulder to Ryu and Akuma, "You guys better get in front of me. After all, I wouldn't want to bury you."
Akuma just took a few steps forward while Ryu picked up a now semiconscious Ken and ran over to a park bench nearby in Kyle's sight to set him down to recover. Deciding that was enough, Kyle took a deep breath and then commanded, "Astral Vault, purge!"
Purge it did, a deluge of weapons of every kind came out of thin air behind Kyle. Swords, spears, axes, shortbows, longbows, crossbows, pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, greandes and the list goes on and on. Not just weapons either, but quivers, clips, batteries and other stuff for distance weapons came pouring out also. This continued for several minutes until, when the flow finally came to an end, there was a pile that almost completely filled the part of the park behind him while its peak was as high as a skyscraper. The native people were absolutely dumbfounded at the sheer size of the pile. Deary had developed a facial twitch after the first couple of minutes.
With a scowl on her face, she growled, "Are you done now?"
Kyle stood there for a moment with a wondering look on his face. Shaking his head, he held up a hand and his Omni-weapon fell right into it. He set it down on the edge of the weapons pile and then turned to face Deary in a combat stance. While he was purging his hammerspace, he had been thinking about some things, like if he should use his innate abilities to fight with and what abilities would his opponent display. When Deary got into a combat stance of her own, he knew that there was no turning back from fighting this time.
Kyle took first offense, launching himself at Deary and throwing a haymaker. Deary swayed out of the way and then sent a rising kick into Kyle's gut as he passed by. Letting the kick send him away, Deary went into a pose that has been used many times already. Catching himself on three limbs while his fourth held onto his gut, Kyle stood up shakily but was knocked back down when he was blindsided by Deary's Hadouken. He stayed down for a moment to gather his strength and then slowly get to his feet again. Of course, his opponent wasn't about to let him recover at all, so when it seemed that Kyle would stand up completely, Deary executed a move made famous by one of the main Street Fighter villians.
He was hit head-on as he turned right into Deary performing a perfect copy of M. Bison's Psycho Crusher. After laying Kyle flat with her attack, Deary turned to look at him and commented, "Well, this is pretty fun. I've always wanted one of you idiot Society members to beat up on. And with the Satsui no Hadou, Psycho Power, Soul Power, Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Electrokinesis and Metallic Body Change abilities I found in this world, I have lots to beat you with. What do you say to that, Mr. Punching Bag?"
For a few moments, Kyle didn't respond, but he did make efforts to stand up again. It was while he was getting to his feet that he reached into his outfit and pulled something out just long enough to pop it into his mouth. Swallowing whatever he had put there, he staggered to a semi-standing position as he spoke, "I say it's about time I stop being so hesitant about my innate abilities. They all have a hefty price tag to them, but if I don't give my best effort here, then I can't face the Society again."
By this time, he had straightened himself out and took another fighting stance. This time, Deary took the first offensive, her body taking a metallic sheen as she rushed. Kyle saw this change, but instead of trying to dodge, he pulled back a fist. Just when Deary was about to tackle him, he threw his fist forward and shouted, "Deadly Impact!"
The punch connected on Deary's chest, leaving an imprint as she was sent back several yards, however, as she was sent flying, so was Kyle. They both staggered to their feet as Deary demanded an explanation for what just happened.
"That was one of my Innate abilities, the Deadly Impact. It's a punch with incredible force behind it, but after hitting anything at all, it recoils back and hits me just as hard. Most people probably wouldn't consider that a price, more like a drawback, but I consider both the same thing for my abilities. Now then, let's get back to the fight, shall we?"
It continued on much the same lines for several blows, Kyle using abilities that either recoiled back to hurt him or otherwise debilitated him for a minute or two in some way. Not all of these techniques hit their target, but she was getting wary of him because of them.
Finally, after another blow had sent her away, she forcefully rose to her feet and declared, "Alright then, since you so kindly stopped holding back, we've been about equal in our fighting skills. However, I'll let you know that I've also been holding back. Now watch as I combine every power I've acquired from this Fandom."
She became surrounded by an incredibly fierce aura as her body took on an even more metallic appearance than before. Her right hand was engulfed in flames while her left covered in frost and her body visibly surged with lightning. To top it all off, a translucent sphere of ever shifting colors formed around her. When it was all done, she threw her head back and howled in laughter.
"What do you think of this, Mr. Punching Bag? I shall call this my Unified Chaos mode," She stopped laughing, now looking straight at Kyle. "Don't croak before I'm done having my fun now."
Kyle didn't have a prayer, he couldn't even follow her movements as she attacked him. For the next few minutes, he was exactly as Deary had addressed him. Battered, bruised, covered in burns from both fire and electricity, numbed in some places by the cold and was all around in bad shape. Abruptly, she stopped her assault and just watched him flop to the ground like a dummy without support. There she stood, looking at Kyle and gloated that now she had this power, she would do to every other member of the Society that she did to him. She turned away as she was about to open a plothole to leave the fandom.
"Hold it, who said that I was done with you yet?" came a weak gasp as Kyle did everything in his power to stand up. Deary spun around in shock that Kyle was still able to move at all, much less stand under his own power.
"What's keeping you going? I've beaten you within an inch of your life and yet you still stand in defiance of me? Why, do you have a death wish or something?"
With a slow and painful shake of his head, Kyle responded, "Too much is riding on this to simply give up. You Sues and Stus don't give enough credit to the strength of a person's soul. Even one person has the power to change the world. Even one person can help others in need. Even one person will make all the difference to everyone. I will now show you, the true depths of the soul!"
While he was saying this, a gentle aura outlined him. His burns and bruises healed right befoe everyone's eyes.
"Heaven and Earth, Worldly Secret Art!"
Then, the aura began to pulse like a heartbeat. Abruptly, his aura vanished as he stood up straighter.
"Soul of Dragon!"
Behind him emerged a gargantuan form, a near transparent white dragon. Deary held her ground, intimidated by the massive image, but not believing it to be a threat. Gathering all of her power, she launched herself forward to bring an end to Kyle.
"I don't care about souls. I don't care if one person can make a difference. I will not accept that anyone can do what we as Sues are doing to bring perfection to the worlds! DIE!"
Deary was nearing the stationary Kyle when a flash of brilliant light engulfed them. Anyone looking in that direction had to cover their eyes as the illumination could be seen for miles around. Inside this radiance, Deary could feel a mighty pressure on her barrier as she still moved toward her target.
Just then, Kyle looked her dead in the eye and she realized that all of her power was now meaningless.
"Infinite Symphony!"
Deary couldn't see it coming, her mind wasn't even able to comprehend the form of the attack. All she could think before the attack reduced her and her soul to vapor was, Is this the power that's hidden within an imperfect soul?
Just like that, Deary was gone and the illumination faded. The Street Fighter world had been reset when the Mary Sue was annihilated and Kyle had one last thing to do.
"I wonder how long it's going to take me to get all that weaponry back into my Astral Vault?"
-
Back at the Library Arcanium, Kyle had successfully avoided Tash as he settled into his room. He knew that she'd get to him eventually, but for now, he'd prefer to just sit there and wonder in the quiet space. He could always feel it, his Soul of Dragon. The ability to release the binds on an Infinite Soul, that's the Heaven and Earth, Worldly Secret Art. However, to do this means to burn your candle of life at its greatest and that speeds up the melting of its wax. Sighing at the sad thought of a few years taken out of his lifespan, Kyle turned to the desk he was sitting at and started writing his report.
No comments:
Post a Comment