//------------------------------// // Sagat // Story: The Muay Tiger // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Rainbow’s eyes snapped open in an instant. She shot up and started to look around, only for a wave of pain and nausea to overtake her and nearly cause her to collapse. She took a moment to stare at the ground, waiting for the wave of pain to pass, before she lifted her eyes once more and took a good look around. She was in the middle of some kind of jungle. The trees that surrounded her on all sides were different than the ones back home and three times as thick, with a mist floating between them that made it impossible for her to see through. Their branches and thick leaves all tangled together overhead, blocking out the sun and the sky. But what grabbed her full attention was what was in the clearing. Two small mats on the ground, a pool of water and the massive, scar covered man that had knocked her out. He sat with his back towards her, hands on his knees in a meditative position, without his body moving in the slightest. Rainbow wasn’t sure if he was awake or asleep. Heck, she didn’t even know who he was. “You’re awake. Good,” the man said. Rainbow let out a yelp he stood up at turned to face her. Now that she had a good shot of him next to another tall object, Rainbow realized that this man was indeed taller than Zangief. Not by much, but he still was. “Now we begin,” he said as he took up a fighting stance. “Wait a moment! Who the heck are you?! Where am I?” she asked as she scrambled away from the man. “I am Sagat, your new master,” Sagat said with a scowl. “As for where you are, this is the Jungle of Loss. A place that I have taken you to so that we may expedite your training. Now enough talk. It is time for battle.” “Battle? Newsflash for you pal, but I don’t battle anymore,” Rainbow said as she indicated to her wing. “How can I, when I can’t even-“ In a blur of motion Sagat was on Rainbow, hurling out a kick towards her head. Rainbow let out a yelp before she rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the impact. Sagat read the roll and kicked off the ground, flying towards Rainbow with his knee outstretched. Rainbow took the knee square in the chest and tumbled backwards, gasping for the air that had been ejected from her lungs. Sagat was on the offensive once more. He hurled a series of punches and elbow strikes at Rainbow, who was forced to block and deflect them with her forehooves. Sagat went low and tried to sweep her legs out from beneath her, but he was a bit too slow and she leapt over the attack. For a brief moment she and Sagat locked eye, before he raised his arm to defend himself from the blow that never came. When she failed to strike him, Sagat lowered his arm and looked down at Dash, who had simply backed away from him. “You had the perfect chance for a counterattack and yet you did nothing,” Sagat said, his voice filled with disappointment. “I know you saw the opening, and yet you did nothing. Explain yourself, if you are able.” “I’m not fighting you,” Rainbow spat. “I’m done fighting. I’m done with Zangief, with Ryu and with anyone else that comes from his world. Let me go home and back to bed. It’s too early in the morning for me.” “Pathetic,” Sagat spat. “I had heard of you, Rainbow Dash, from one of the greatest opponents I have ever known. He called you brave, courageous, an incredible fighter, but most of all, one who never backed away from a challenge. Yet all I see is a mare that didn’t deserve any of the praise she had gotten to begin with. If this is all it takes to get you to give up, then you never deserved any of your titles to begin with.” “Whatever. How do I get out of here?” “Simply go in any direction and you shall find an exit. This jungle is not that large,” Sagat said. He turned around and sat down, leaving Dash to make up her mind. Dash spat at him before heading into the trees. “Stupid Street Fighter. Thinking he can show up and tell me what to do, all because he’s so tall and angry,” Rainbow muttered to herself as she walked. The fog grew thicker as she walked, putting the mare slightly on edge. ‘No, it’s nothing. It’s just fog. You’ve faced world ending abominations. Fog is nothing.’ ‘Rainbow Dash.’ Her soul turned to ice as Rainbow heard the words. It wasn’t the calling out of her name, but rather the voice of who had spoken. Slowly, while praying she was wrong the entire time, Dash slowly turned to look behind her. Standing there, to her utter despair, was Ryu. But not the white clad warrior that the princesses had pardoned. His suit was a dark blue, his hair was crimson and a blood red aura surrounded him. This was him. Her nightmare given form. “No…no it can’t be you. You’re gone! Fluttershy said you were gone!” Rainbow screamed. “I will never leave. Not while my prey still draws breath,” Evil Ryu snarled, slowly walking towards her. He extended one hand towards her, before crushing his grip. “You look so…off balance like that. Come here, little mare. Let me tear out your other wing…and truly cast you out of heaven!” With a bellow of wrath that shook the forest, Evil Ryu lunged towards Rainbow. She let out a scream of terror before turning and racing through the trees, tearing across the ground as fast as her legs could carry her. She flapped her one wing uselessly as she ran, praying that it would give her enough speed to outrun the demon. But like all demons, it caught up to her no matter how fast she went Evil Ryu burst through the trees and hurled a kick at her, getting Rainbow to scream as she ducked the kick. The attack sliced through one of the trees and brought it down, nearly crashing on top of her. She took off running once more, while the mocking voice of Evil Ryu echoed behind her. “Run all you like, Rainbow. Without your wings, you are trapped in hell!” Purple blasts of plasma burned away the forest all around her as E. Ryu shot out Hadoken after Hadoken towards her. Tears stream down Rainbow’s face as she ran, her eyes glancing around desperately for a way out of the forest or a place to hide. The forest gave her neither. She heard her demons cackle and glanced behind her in time to see a colossal dark blast of Hadoken tearing apart the forest as it tore a path straight to her. She threw herself out of the way of the blast right before it detonated, the shockwave catching the mare and tossing her into the side of a tree. Pain wracked her body, terror made her limbs quake and the tears in her eyes obstructed her vision as Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, preventing her from noticing where Evil Ryu was until he was right on top of her. With fear filling every last bit of her soul she gazed up as the demon walked towards her, a smile on his face so disturbing that it contorted his face and made his jaws bleed. “Rainbow Dash. The fastest flier in Equestria,” E. Ryu mocked as he stalked towards her. “You were once so proud. Of your speed, of your skill, of your title of the lands greatest fighter. And now look at you. Crying and shivering like a babe that has seen true terror for the first time. Killing you as you are now will not be a victory. It will be a mercy.” His hand lashed out and grabbed Rainbow by the throat, ripping her from the ground with ease and dangling her limp body off the ground. Rainbow squirmed as best she could, but it was no use. She could not escape. “Twilight…Fluttershy…Zangief…anyone,” she sobbed weakly. Evil Ryu’s smile somehow widened even further and he laughed at her words. “Begging for help? You truly have gone as low as you can,” Evil Ryu mocked. Then he grabbed hold of her other wing with his free hand and smiled at Rainbow. “Do not worry. I will make it quick. But it will not be painless.” “Be silent.” A massive, tree trunk like body slammed into Evil Ryu, driving its knee into the demon’s face. Ryu spat out blood as he tumbled backwards, roaring with rage as he snapped back up to his feet. Dash collapsed to the ground in a heap and weakly looked up to see Sagat standing over her, his eye locked onto Evil Ryu. “Sagat. Come to be bested by me once more?” Evil Ryu laughed as he glared at Sagat. Sagat said nothing in reply. Instead, he slid his left foot back, rose his left arm and assumed a fighting stance Rainbow had never seen before. Ryu bellowed as he lunged towards Sagat, hand outstretched. Dash wanted to look away, but her fear kept her eyes glued to the humans. In a single motion, Sagat swatted Ryu’s fist to the side before delivering three, hard hitting fists to E. Ryu’s chest. Ryu staggered backward with a look of both confusion and pain on his face, before he shook his head and bellowed once more. He lunged at Sagat and shot out his leg, diving down with a knife kick. Sagat stepped to the side and allowed the attack to sail past him, before he kicked Ryu in the back of the head and sent him tumbling through the dirt. “What? How?” Evil Ryu snarled, getting back up to his feet and glaring at Sagat. Sagat had yet to move from his spot. “You are not this strong! I struck you down at your peak with a fraction of my power! You cannot best me!” “Your words mean as much to me as the swaying of these branches or the wind in the trees” Sagat calmly replied. “As for you…you mean nothing to me. Just a face from my past like a memory. A memory of where I used to be. A place I am so far beyond.” Evil Ryu bellowed at his words before lunging forward once more, dashing across the ground with such speed that the jungle behind him was set alight with his movement. Yet Sagat never moved. He never even looked up as the Raging Demon approached him. Right as Ryu reached out to claim Sagat’s soul, Sagat reached out with his own hand and placed it on Evil Ryu’s chest, stopping him dead. “Tiger.” An explosion of fire the likes of which Rainbow Dash had never seen consumed Evil Ryu, burning him away until he was nothing. Sagat then let out a sigh and rose up to his feet, finally turning around to look at Rainbow Dash. “That is the true power of this Jungle of Loss. Those who enter into these trees are hounded by their greatest loss, their greatest failure, until they either overcome it…or are slain by it,” Sagat informed her. “So if you truly wish to leave this place. You must overcome him. You must overcome yourself. Now come. There is much to be done.” And with that, Sagat turned and walked away.