"Our carriage has everything in it. A bathroom, plenty of space to put stuff and it's all pulled by our very well paid muscle," Diamond Tiara informed Ryu as the group reached the carriage parked close to the stadium. Ryu raised an eyebrow when he spied the carriage, which was far larger than most of the cars that were in his world. It was a ruby red and had eight sets of wheels. At the front of it was a team of eight horses, each of who seemed pretty strong.
"It is...certainly something," Ryu said politely.
"If you think it's impressive from the outside, you should see how it looks on the inside," Filthy Rich added as he bounded up the steps and opened the door for the warrior. "By all means, go in. Our honored guest should see where he will be staying after all."
Ryu sighed before he walked up the steps and into the carriage. One of his eyebrows went even further through his head band when he saw the interior of his new place of residence. Every inch of it was covered in images of Diamond Tiara's family, be it portraits, paintings or photos. He spied a tub in the corner of the room and his eyebrow went even further up.
'A tub in plain sight? Strange,' Ryu thought before he glanced at the ponies that walked by him. 'Right, they don't wear clothes.' Ryu began to take a step into the carriage, but before he could put his foot down Spoiled swatted his leg and gained Ryu's attention.
"What, were you raised in a barn like that hick Applejack? Wipe your feet!" the mare yelled at Ryu while pointing to a welcome mat. Ryu did as she asked, not feeling very welcome. Once he was allowed to enter in, he found a corner in the room that had nothing in it and dropped his bag down there. The ponies all let out small yelps as the carriage shook from his bag hitting the floor and all of them gave him looks.
"What?"
"What? What do you have in that bag, that's what?" Tiara asked with amazement.
"My things."
Content with his answer, Ryu sat down in his corner and crossed his legs before resting his wrists upon his knees. He stretched his back as straight as he could make it before closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. He began to exhale lightly and then inhale deeply, loosing himself in his-
"Hey Ryu!"
Ryu creaked his eyes open to glance down at the tiny pony that was staring up at him, a piece of rolled up paper clutched in her hooves. She unrolled the paper and hoofed it to Ryu, who glanced over the writing.
"That's our contract, in case you were wondering," she said in a matter of fact tone. "If you want to be sponsored by us and fight under our name, then I'm going to need you to sign here, here and here. Here's a pen and you can get started at any time."
Ryu took the pen from the filly, who sat down next to Ryu and waited for him to start signing. The carriage then bucked slightly and told Ryu that they were starting to move. Ryu then glanced down at the paper again for a moment, before he placed it to the side and resumed his meditation.
"Um, what are you doing?" Tiara asked him.
"Meditating. I will look at your...offer later."
Tiara tried a few more times to get Ryu to sign the contract, but when he began to tune her out was when she finally realized that he would not be kept from meditating. So with a sigh she walked over to the rest of her family, who were sitting upon a couch reading the paper.
"He's really stubborn," Diamond said to her parents as she hopped up in-between the two of them.
"Well, as long as he fights for us I could care less about his personality," Spoiled Rich said with a sneer, but when Filthy gave her a look she stopped.
"Dear, please try to remember that this is the brave warrior who so kindly helped us when we were at our lowest," Filthy reminded her before flashing his best businesspony like smile towards Ryu, who was still ignoring all of them. "We should treat him with nothing less than the utmost respect."
The Rich's went back to their reading, leaving Tiara to entertain herself. At first she tried reading some of her books, but the longer she stared at the words on the page the more and more she thought back to the match Ryu had with the Black Bull.
'What was that thing he did again?' she asked herself as she balanced on her hind hooves. She then placed her forehooves together and brought them to her side, before thrusting them forward with a yell. "Hadouken!" Nothing happened and she let out a growl of frustration, bringing her arms back before trying again.
"HADOUKEN!"
Again she was met with failure and she let out a groan of frustration, bringing her arms back one last time. But as she crouched down she caught the reflection of Ryu in a mirror hanging on the wall and saw that one of his eyes was slightly open, watching the filly as she tried to do his move. A smile crossed her face as she spun around and yelled,
"Hadouken!"
She had only a second to look at Ryu, but when she saw his face his eye was clearly open. He shut it in a moment, but her smile became more devious as she walked over to the warrior. "I thought that you were supposed to be meditating, not watching me try to copy your moves."
"I am meditating," Ryu stated, but even when he closed his eyes could he feel the gaze of the pony burning into him. After a few moments he cracked his eyes open to find the filly staring into his face. "Do you need something from me?"
"Actually, I wanted to ask you a few questions since my dad won't," she began before poking the muscles in his arms with her hoof. "Sweet Faust they're like rocks. My first question is where are you from?"
"Japan."
"Japan, huh? Is that a place in the other world?" Ryu raised an eyebrow at her question before nodding. "Okay, second question. What are you doing in this world anyway? I thought that you had to be blown up or something to end up here."
"No...I came here because I was told that there were many foes in this world that would be able to challenge me, to help me find the meaning of the fight," Ryu answered as he lifted his hand before his eyes. For a brief moment the two of them could see what looked like an aura of pure purple glowing from his hand. He then clenched into a fist and the aura vanished. "And perhaps find someone here that would help me to finally defeat my greatest foe."
"Now I have a few questions for you. Your world seems to be inhabited mainly by horses, yet none of you seemed even interested by me when you met me," Ryu asked her.
"Oh please, we've seen way weirder things in Equestria than you over the past couple of years. You seen Discord? That guy is weird," Tiara replied with a smile. "My turn again. What do you mean by the meaning of the fight? And who was it that sent you here?"
"If I knew the answer to that myself, I would not be searching to discover it," Ryu replied. "And the one who sent me here was a wizard or hermit. He did not specify, but he had powers that made me wary of him. He did transport me here like we agreed, so I suppose he was trustworthy. My next question is why are there so many fighting tournaments going on in this world? The hermit told me that this world didn't care much for violence aside from its greatest fighters?"
"You really must be new to this world, then. For the past three years professional fighting has been the biggest source of money and entertainment," Diamond Tiara corrected Ryu. "There are tournaments all across the world, not just in Equestria. The dragons do it, the zebras do it and the changelings are the three time champions of the world. It's actually easier to name all the nations that don't participate. It's all in good fun, though."
Ryu lowered his chin onto his chest as he heard this, wondering why the world was so different from what the hermit had told him. He stopped his train of thought when he glanced down to see Tiara staring at his hands.
"I was also wondering, are you capable of magic?"
"No, I cannot use magic. At least, none that I know of."
"Huh, then how did you throw that fireball back in the fight?" Ryu rose to his feet as she said this, gaining the attention of both of Tiara's parents as he did this. He then slammed his feet onto the floor of the carriage and brought both of his arms back, placing his hands close together. All three sets of pony eyes widened as a sphere of blue and white energy began to form within Ryu's hands, causing pieces of paper to start flying around the room. Ryu then exhaled and closed his eyes, causing the white ball of energy to dissipate.
"That is the hadouken. A technique taught to me by my late master, Master Gouken," Ryu told Tiara, but she was able to pick up the traces of sadness it the warriors eyes.
"Late master...so he's dead?" Tiara asked. Ryu nodded somberly before walking over to the nearest window, gazing out of it towards the heavens above.
"He taught me everything that I know. How to fight, how to think...how to live," Ryu revealed to Tiara before he face seemed to harden and he turned back towards the pony. "And yes, he is gone. But I will never forget what he taught me. Now for my final question. How soon until we reach this next tournament?"
"That will be about a week from here, Mister Ryu," Filthy Rich butted in as he walked up with a map in his hooves. He offered the map to Ryu, who took it and glanced over the land. Ryu found that he raised an eyebrow at some of the names of the cities, but the next destination was circled and easy to find. "This is going to be a big one. It's one of the biggest tournaments in the world."
"There are a lot of fighters there?" Ryu asked. "And they all fight to be the best?"
"Well, yes and no. See, this tournament is a free for all, so all of the combatants will be in the arena at the same time," Filthy Rich explained. "The champion of the world will be in there as well and his title is on the line as well. It's one of the largest draws out of all the tournaments. It really rakes in the dough."
"Yes, but the champion of your world must be a truly fierce warrior if he is still champion after fighting in a battle of one hundred foes," Ryu observed. "I look forward to the challenge."
"Well don't be too disappointed if you lose. Last year the champion took on all one hundred of those challengers by himself and won," Filthy Rich said with a smile as Ryu's face went blank. "But don't worry, there are a few small fights inbetween here and there that I'm sure we can use to rank you up."
"Rank me...up?"
"That's right, you don't know the rules. See, at the biggest tournament, only the top of the top can make it in. Think the top sixteen best fighters in the world, if you will. The champion gets in automatically, but the others have to prove how good they are." Rich then pulled out a point card and hoofed it to Ryu, who saw that he had a hundred points on the card. "That's for how quickly you beat down Black Bull at the previous fight."
"I...see," Ryu replied, but it was clear to the two ponies that Ryu didn't understand what they were talking about. "That means that if I wish to fight the best this land has to offer, then I will need to fight in as many of these battles as possible. It seems...that I will need to travel with you all a little longer than I originally thought."
"Splendid! I'll pick up a bed and some supplies for you at the next town we stop at!" Filthy Rich exclaimed happily. Ryu tried to tell him that the gesture was not necessary, but the pony was no longer listening and instead was talking to his wife about future bets.
"Your father is...very enthusiastic," Ryu said to Diamond Tiara, but when he glanced at the filly he found that she was trying once again to mirror his hadouken.
"Wow this is hard to do. Hey Ryu, can you teach me how to throw fireballs like you?" she asked him.
"I am sorry, but I am still learning. I cannot teach someone while I still have so much to learn," Ryu tried to decline, but Tiara then gave him a look.
"You know more than me, therefor you can teach me. I look forward to learning from you first thing tomorrow." Tiara then walked to the front of the carriage and started to talk with the ponies that were pulling the carriage, leaving Ryu to his thoughts.
'What have I gotten myself into this time?' he asked himself as he held a hand to his head. But he found that he couldn't help but smile at the thought of the warriors in this new land and what he might learn while he was there. 'But what I must truly learn is a way to fight the demon within. For if I cannot defeat him, then I will never be the warrior I want to be.'