//------------------------------//
// What It Takes 
// Story: The Wandering Warrior 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

The crowd roared in a frenzy as Rainbow Dash hurled herself towards Ryu, practically invisible aside from the rainbow trail she cast behind her. Ryu shut his eyes and focused all of his efforts into waiting for a split second before his eyes snapped open and he swatted aside the punch that Dash had thrown at his head. The mare was close enough for Ryu to see her eyes go wide before he swung his left fist into her stomach, knocking her out of the air and sending her tumbling across the arena floor.

"H-how did you do that?" Dash spat out as she pushed herself back up to her hooves, which shook slightly as she forced the pain out of her mind. Ryu's reply was silence, a silence that only made Rainbow Dash all the more angry. With another snarl she rocketed herself towards Ryu, who shut his eyes once more before swinging his arm out to intercept the blow.

But when the blow never came, he snapped his eyes open to see that Dash had come to a stop right in front of him. "You're not the only one that can learn a few new tricks," she snarled before driving both of her hind hooves into Ryu's nose, snapping his head back with a small spray of blood. The warrior held a hand to his nose to see that he was bleeding slightly. "Neat trick, your little parry. But that will only work on me once."

Ryu responded with silence once again as he clasped his hands down at his side, a ball of energy forming in his grip. Dash narrowed her eyes as she spied the fireball, her whole body tensing as she awaited the next move. Ryu then thrust his hands forward with a roar, letting loose the hadouken and hurling it towards the rainbow mare. Yet in a flash of rainbow light she vanished and the fireball sailed right past where she had been standing, causing Ryu to narrow his eyes before leaping to the side to avoid a blow by Dash.

'Just as I thought, she's too fast to hit with my hadouken. I'm going to have to rely solely on my fists for this battle,' Ryu deduced as he skidded to a stop and raised his arms, focusing as the rainbow blur rocketed towards him once more. Ryu was the only being in the entire arena with the reflexes to keep up with Dash's blows, allowing him to deflect her punches and kicks as they rained down upon him like a storm.

But while Ryu was able to react to the speed of Dash, he quickly found that like before, his body couldn't keep up for long. A swift right hook slipped under his guard and caught him in the rib hard, causing him to lean to the left slightly. That threw off his balance and allowed Rainbow to catch him in the shoulder with a kick that staggered the warrior. Ryu threw up a swift knee in hopes of catching Dash off guard, but in a flash of rainbow she was out of his range and left his knee to strike at empty air.

"And it seems that the Wandering Warrior can't lay a hand on Rainbow Dash. She's known for her speed, but I don't think I've ever seen her this fast!" an announcer who sounded an awful lot like Chrysalis roared over the screaming crowd. "Things might be looking bad for the crowd favorite! Can Ryu make a comeback or does Dash have this in the bag?!"

"As if they need to ask," Dash smirked as she dashed on her hooves out of Ryu's range, buzzing around him like a bee while Ryu remained rooted in place, waiting for Dash to inevitably come to him. "You see how this is going to end, right? You're too slow, old man. You can't keep up with me."

'She's right for the most part. I can't keep up with her speed forever,' Ryu agreed before his eyes rested on one of her wings and he remembered his plan. 'But all I need is one good strike to her wing and then she has to fight me at my pace. And then she's done.' 

Ryu lifted a hand and motioned for Dash to bring it. Dash raised an eyebrow in reply before she bolted forward in a zig-zag, making it as hard as possible for Ryu to track her movements. Yet even with her incredible speed and blaze of color, Ryu was able to keep track of her basic movements. He knew that trying to strike her would be next to impossible. She was ready for all of his tricks. He would have to do what Zecora taught him.

It was only when the rainbow blur was right on top of him that Ryu hurled out a right hook, aimed not at the blur, but slightly above it. He felt Rainbow's two hooves drive themselves into his stomach, causing pain to lance through his entire body. But for a brief moment he knew exactly where she was and he took that moment to strike at her wing for all he was worth.

Time seemed to slow down for Ryu, who watched as his punch slowly headed right for Dash's wing. But in a burst of speed that Ryu didn't know she was capable of, Dash spun her body just fast enough so that Ryu's punch sailed right over her wing. Ryu's eyes went wide before Dash rocketed away from Ryu and skidded to a halt a good twenty feet away from him. The full pain from the blow he had received struck Ryu and he almost fell to one knee, while Dash narrowed her eyes at him.

"You almost had me," she said to Ryu with a nod, as if she was finally impressed with his skill. "You were willing to take that hit so that you could take down one of my wings, huh? Got to admit, didn't see that one coming. But again, you're too slow. If you were slightly faster, you might have hit me. But you didn't."

Dash then zipped towards Ryu again, who forced himself back up in time to be struck in the face by a swift blow. The impact didn't hurt as bad as her previous blows had, but by the time Ryu had a counter attack prepared, Dash had already flown back out of his range.

'This is bad,' he realized when she did the same trick again, zipping in to kick him in the knee before dodging back out of range of his kick. 'She's figured out all of my strategies. I can't trade blows, I can't throw hadoukens and she's too fast to try and straight up fight.'

Dash rocketed in and drove an elbow into the side of Ryu's knee, catching him completely off guard and dropping him to the arena floor. Sensing her chance to do some real damage, Dash immediately followed up by bucking Ryu in the jaw with her hind legs. Ryu felt pain roar through his mind as his head was snapped to the side and he tasted blood.

'I can't give up. I won't lose!' Ryu roared within the confines of his mind. He pushed himself back to one knee and glanced up to see Dash hurtling towards him once more. He tucked his arm into his side and channeled all of his power into his left fist, snarling as purple energy coursed through his body. He waited until she was right in front of him before muttering, "Metsu..."

"SHORYUKEN!"

Ryu then exploded into the air, driving his left fist forward as he propelled himself skyward. His fist burned with purple energy as it tore through all that was in its way...but Ryu was halfway into the air when he realized that his fist hadn't struck anything. He glanced down with terrified eyes to see Rainbow Dash smirking back up at him, slightly out of range of his punch.

"Like I said...too slow," she said before she rocketed backwards, building up speed as she turned herself into a rainbow drill. The drill then hurled itself towards the descending Ryu, who was completely open after trying to deliver a blow such as his Metsu Shoryuken. All he could do was watch before Dash barreled into his stomach, driving both Ryu and herself into the arena wall. Ryu roared with pain as the drill tore through him, driving him deeper and deeper into the concrete.

Dash stopped spinning so that she could pull Ryu from the wall and hurl him into the floor, where he weakly began to push himself up once more. Dash then drove her hooves into the back of his head to keep him down, pumping her fist in the air as she placed a hoof on the back of Ryu's head.

"I don't know about you, my fine spectators, but I think this match is almost over!" Chrysalis roared, but now most of the crowd was cheering for Rainbow Dash. "It doesn't seem like there's anything Ryu can do to stop this rainbow maned blur! Ryu, I have an idea! Try to catch her inside a tornado!"

"Ryu..." Diamond Tiara whispered with horror as she watched Ryu slowly try to push himself back up, only to be kicked down by Rainbow Dash once more.

"Give up. You can't beat me," Rainbow Dash said to Ryu when she felt him trying to get up once more.

"N-never. I will never give up. I swore to my master that...I would...always fight," Ryu spat out with some blood. "He always believed in me. He was the only one who did. I will not let him down!"

"Well, seems he put his faith in the wrong fighter," Dash replied before she rocketed up into the air, driving herself back down a moment later and driving both of her hooves into Ryu's back. Ryu roared with agony before his head fell to the ground. Dash waited for a moment to see if he would get back up, but when he didn't she shook her head at Ryu. "You're strong Ryu and you've got good technique. But that's all you got. If I was your master, I would be disappointed in you. Heck, I'd be disappointed to be your master."

"Zangief!" Dash then roared as she spun and pointed her hoof at the man in the princesses box. "This is only a taste of what I can do! I'm coming for you next," she roared, the crowd roaring with her as Gief slowly narrowed his eyes at the unmoving body of Ryu. A massive smile then crossed the Russian's face as he slowly rose out of his chair, the crowd losing their minds in the process.

'Master...Gouken,' Ryu weakly thought as his conscious began to fade, unable to hear the roar of the crowd or the bragging of Dash. All he could think of was the smiling face of his master, the one who had taken him in when he was abandoned by the world. The one who had shown him the way of the fist...and how he had failed him. Then he remembered what Dash had said about Gouken, how she had dishonored his name. How she had dared to mock him.

'No...I won't let her mock my master like that...she will not get away with this...she will not...WIN!'

"Come on down, big guy! What are you so afraid of?" Dash called up to Gief, who was making his way down to the ring. "That's right, come and face me. It's time for you to-"

Dash's words were cut off as she felt a chill colder than any winter slide down her back. She spun around with a yelp to see that Ryu was getting back up to his feet. He hung his head low and seemed to be breathing oddly, but all that Dash did was smirk.

"So, you haven't had enough of a flank whoopin' yet?" Dash asked with a laugh as she flapped her wings and prepared to attack. "Well don't worry, I promise that-"

The next thing Dash knew, Ryu was in her face and staring right into her very soul. But it wasn't the blinding burst of speed that was too fast for Dash to see, nor was it the fact that Ryu shouldn't be able to move that fast with his injuries that made her quake in her coat. It was his eyes. Eyes that were now a crimson red.

"GGGRRRAAAAHHH!" Ryu bellowed as he slammed his palm into her chest, sending the mare rocketing backwards as she heard her ribs break from the blow. Agony coursed through her veins as she tumbled into the stadium ground, her breathing coming in pained burst as she tried to push herself back up. She fought through the tears to glare at Ryu, who was now radiating an aura that was red and black. His eyes were still the same burning crimson, but the stoic look that he normally wore was now replaced by a glare of hatred so intense that Dash felt herself withering away under his gaze.

"W-what the hell is this?!" Dash screamed out to Ryu, but the moment she uttered a sound Ryu vanished in a flash of movement. She wasn't aware of where he had gotten to before she felt a hand grab hold of her wing and yank it out. She turned her head to see the crimson eyes of Ryu glaring down at her, before they slowly shifted to her wing.

"You are so proud of your speed," Ryu spat in a voice that sounded like a man possessed, but Dash's eyes went wide when she realized what he was about to do.

"Please...don't..."

In the next moment Ryu tore his arm back and ripped Rainbow's wing clean from her body. The scream that left Dash's mouth afterwards would haunt all who were watching for years to come, but before she could start to wail in pain Ryu grabbed her by the back of her head and drove it into the arena floor with such force that it shattered solid concrete. He then pulled the now silent Pegasus free of the ground and held her dangling body before him, scowling at her before he dropped her wing. He then took aim at her heart.

"Die."

"NOT TODAY!"

Ryu hurled Dash to the side before spinning around and slamming his arms into the massive limbs of Zangief, who roared with fury as he tried to overpower the warrior. The two locked hands as they began to push against each other with all of their might, the arena beginning to shake underneath of their combined power. Then, to the absolute horror of the ponies that were spectating, Zangief was slowly overpowered by Ryu. Ryu slowly began to push Zangief back, despite the mighty limbs of the Russian using all of his borsched fueled might to fight back, before Ryu tightened his grip and slowly forced Zangief down to his knees.

"RYU! I know that you are still in there! Do not let the evil of this power take control of you!" Zangief roared to Ryu, his face contorted with pain as Ryu forced Zangief onto his knees, wrenching Gief's wrists back so that his arms began to twist. "You are a better person than this. THINK! Remember who you are!"

"You...are so proud of your strength," Ryu replied in a voice that was as black as an abyss, as he began to channel all of his power into his arms. "Perhaps I should take your strength from you as-"

"RYU!"

Ryu lifted his crimson eyes to see that a filly had entered the arena. She was a pinkish color, with a purple mane and  a crown on her flank. But what drew the eyes of the man was not the mare's cutie mark or that she was in the arena. It was the look of absolute terror that was gripping at her heart. Ryu glared at her with nothing but hatred, but then for a brief moment a flash of horrible realization crossed Ryu's eyes. And Zangief seized that moment.

"Muscles at...FULL POWER!" Zangief bellowed as he broke free of Ryu's grasp and slipped around behind him, suplexing Ryu over his head and driving him head first into the arena floor. Ryu bellowed with fury as he tried to break free, but the Russian had him trapped and had no intention of letting him go. Zangief then powered the might of muscles that had suplexed gods into driving Ryu into the arena, with such force that the entire continent of Equestria shook beneath the impact. 

Yet even with all that power and all that might the roar of Ryu still rang loud over the arena. It wasn't until Zangief put all of his might into driving Ryu even further into the concrete and shattered it completely that the roaring finally stopped. Zangief then let out a tired sigh as he pulled himself back up and turned to look at Ryu, who was buried in the concrete from the chest up with only his legs still visible.

Tiara then raced over to Zangief, terror in her eyes as she glanced from the buried Ryu then up to Gief, her eyes begging somepony to tell her what was going on. Zangief then let out a sigh before he collapsed onto the ground, his impact of hitting the ground the only sound in an arena, filled to the brim with a hundred thousand, that was completely silent.