//------------------------------// // Parted // Story: The Wandering Warrior // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// With a bellow of pain Ryu was sent hurtling across the forest clearing, smashing through stone pedestals before he finally skidded to a stop on the ground. He gritted his teeth as he kicked himself back to his feet, just in time to see Evil Ryu lunging towards him with a bloodlust in his eyes. Ryu swung his arms up to defend himself, blocking Evil Ryu's kick with his forearm. The strength of the kick was enough to blast Ryu's arm to the side, staggering him as his arm went numb. "How?! How are you free?!" Ryu roared as he cocked a fist back and hurled it at Evil Ryu's head, only for the demon to weave out of the way before driving his fist into Ryu's stomach. Ryu spat out blood before he collapsed to the floor, clutching at his stomach as pain overloaded his senses. Evil Ryu kicked Ryu right in the jaw, snapping his head back and sending him rolling across the ground. "I freed him. Of course, I needed you to succumb to your desire for power so that I could separate the two of you and you were kind enough to oblige," the hermit said as Evil Ryu crashed down onto Ryu, punching him repeatedly in the face before grabbing hold of Ryu's gi. With a roar of absolute rage Evil Ryu lifted Ryu over his head before slamming him through the stone floor beneath him. Ryu screamed in pain as the ground shattered beneath him. Ryu forced himself back to his feet in time to dodge a punch thrown towards his skull. Ryu counterattacked with a swift punch to Evil Ryu's abdomen before catching him in the jaw with a palm strike. Evil Ryu staggered back and gave Ryu an opening. With a bellow of his own Ryu drove his right fist into the jaw of Evil Ryu, snapping his head sideways before the rest of Evil Ryu's body was sent spiraling sideways. "You monster!" Ryu roared as he spun on his heels and lunged at the hermit, diving down towards him with a foot extended. The hermit snickered as he swatted Ryu's foot out of the way, before grabbing the warrior by the throat as he came crashing down. "Monster? Perhaps. But I prefer the term scientist," the hermit replied as he began to choke the life out of the wandering warrior. "I like to learn. I like to see what would happen if, say, Twilight was never born in an Equestria. If Sombra did defeat Celestia and Luna, only to have to face all those other evils himself. What would happen...if you were forced to do battle with your evil self?" The hermit then hurled Ryu back into the battle and right into the fist of Evil Ryu, who drove Ryu's skull into the ground. Ryu roared as he swatted Evil Ryu's arm to the side before cracking his skull against Evil Ryu's, causing the both of them to growl with pain. Ryu kicked back up to his feet and took up his fighting stance, while Evil Ryu bellowed with fury and began to stalk around Ryu. 'This is bad. I am already weakened from my fight with the demon internally, but now for me to fight a physical manifestation of him? This may be my last battle,' Ryu realized as Evil Ryu lunged at him. Ryu parried the first hit before driving his fist into the gut of Evil Ryu, causing the demon to cough up blood. Ryu then followed up with a haymaker to the face. "WEAKLING!" Evil Ryu bellowed before he whipped back around and slammed his clawed hand into the face of Ryu, causing him to flip backwards three times before he crashed into the ground. With another roar Evil Ryu leapt onto the chest of Ryu, driving his knee into the center of Ryu's sternum. Ryu screamed with pain as he felt his bones break under the impact, blinding him with pain and leaving him helpless as Evil Ryu grabbed Ryu by the gi. "You have contained me for too long. Now I am the true Ryu," Evil Ryu snarled in a voice devoid of any emotion aside from unstoppable rage. He brought a hand back and took aim at Ryu's chest, while the wandering warrior lifted his hands in an effort to defend himself. "And I will slaughter any that stand in my way!" "No," Ryu grunted before he planted his fist into Evil Ryu's chest, stunning his evil half long enough for Ryu to get a foot free. He planted his foot into the chest of Evil Ryu and kicked him off with all of his might, sending the dark warrior skidding backwards. With the chance he was given Ryu pushed himself back to his feet, holding a hand to his chest as agony seared across his mind. "I...will not let you hurt anyone! If I am to die today, then I promise I will take you with me!" As Ryu said this he closed his eyes and began to concentrate, banishing away the pain that consumed him along with the feelings of rage and terror. After a brief couple of moments Ryu's eyes opened once more, eyes that were filled with a white power that radiated strength. Evil Ryu bellowed before he lunged at Ryu once more, his footsteps causing the ground to shatter with each step. Ryu took up his fighting stance with a look of pure concentration on his face. Ryu blocked Evil Ryu's first strike before countering with an elbow strike. Evil Ryu ducked underneath of the elbow strike before throwing out a kick aimed at the back of Ryu's knee. Ryu leapt over the kick and drove his foot into the face of Evil Ryu, who snarled as he was staggered by the blow. "I am impressed Ryu, I rarely see a version of you that has learned this power at such a young age," the hermit interjected, causing Ryu to glance over at him. "Of course, very few of you actually make it to an older age. Most of you are consumed by the dark hado and then either destroy all or are killed by your friends. It is tragic, in a way. But I must confess, I am curious to see which of those paths claim you. Do you triumph and destroy the darkness? Or do you die to it?" Ryu narrowed his eyes at the hermit, but the moment he took his attention away from the battle Evil Ryu took that chance to attack. With none of his usual screaming Evil Ryu lunged at Ryu. Ryu caught the moment and turned just in time to catch Evil Ryu's fist with his chest. "GO-SHORYU!" Evil Ryu roared as he uppercutted Ryu with a fist consumed by darkness. Ryu roared with pain as his ribs were shattered even further and unfathomable agony blasted across his mind. The white aura of nothingness faded as Ryu lost control of himself, releasing the rest of the pain that Ryu had been blocking with his mind. Ryu crashed into the ground and writhed in pain, fighting through the agony to try and move. Yet before he could even move an inch Evil Ryu was upon him, lifting him up with one arm and glaring down at the warrior with hate filled eyes. "It is over," Evil Ryu stated as he brought a hand back and clawed his fingers, taking aim at where Ryu's heart was. "Now die." Evil Ryu lashed out and Ryu closed his eyes, waiting for darkness to take him. But instead of the silence of death, Ryu heard Evil Ryu roar in agony. Ryu felt himself hit the ground, causing him to open his eyes to see what had happened. Evil Ryu was staggering backwards with one of his arms dangling uselessly at his side. He turned his head with a roar, which in turn caused Ryu to turn his head to see what had happened. What he saw was Zecora standing across from Evil Ryu with two very thin blades grasped in her hooves. Ryu glanced at Evil Ryu's arms to see two puncture wounds in his left arms, wounds that matched up perfectly with her blades. Evil Ryu roared and lunged towards the zebra, who waited until the last second before she spun out of the way. She struck Evil Ryu's right arm three times with her thin blades as he passed, causing his right arm to go limp as he skidded to a stop. "So you are what he has been trying to fight. I will admit...that you fill me with fright," Zecora whispered as she crouched down at prepared to strike. Evil Ryu bellowed with rage before he glared down at his arms, tightening his fists and screaming in fury. The black and red aura that surrounded him exploded with power and through sheer will alone Evil Ryu forced his arms to move. He spun around and lunged at Zecora, reaching her almost instantly. Zecora slashed at Evil Ryu with her blades, but with speeds that surpassed hers Evil Ryu caught the blades and shattered them with his grasp. Zecora had just enough time to gasp before Evil Ryu drove his palm into her chest, sending her hurtling backwards into a wall. She coughed up blood as she fell to her knees, her breaths coming in weakly as she lifted her head towards the evil warrior. "You cannot win," Evil Ryu snarled before he lunged at the zebra. A smirk crossed Zecora's face before she clasped her hooves together, causing a cloud of white smoke to envelope her. Evil Ryu roared as he slashed through the cloud with his hand, but the zebra was gone. "Defeating you was not my goal. I came her to save his soul," Zecora said from behind Evil Ryu, who spun around to find the zebra standing next to the motionless Ryu. "And now it is time for me to depart. Any further conflict would not be smart." "NO!" Evil Ryu screamed as he lunged towards Zecora, but with one last smile the zebra clasped her hooves together and created another wall of smoke. Evil Ryu leapt into the smoke and blew it away with a Tatsu kick, but when the smoke cleared both the zebra and the warrior were gone. Evil Ryu roared with a fury so intense that the whole forest shook in terror. "Hmm, seems she had been helping them leave from the sidelines," the hermit noted as he glanced over to see that Filthy and Tiara were gone as well. Upon hearing his words Evil Ryu turned to face the hermit, bellowing with rage before charging towards him. The hermit noticed Evil Ryu approaching out of the corner of his vision and snapped his fingers, causing a vortex of shattered magic to appear before the warrior. Evil Ryu roared just before he fell into the vortex, which closed a moment later. "So they got away, did they? No matter. They cannot hide for long. And soon enough I will see how this Ryu's story ends. Either the darkness falls...or he does." The hermit snapped his fingers and vanished into nothingness. →↓↘ + P Ryu's eyes snapped open with a start and he sat up with such speed that the filly that had been watching over him fell back with a yell. The very first thing that Ryu noticed upon awakening was that he couldn't feel his chest. The second thing that he noticed was that he was lying on the floor of the carriage, with moonlight shining in through the window. Finally he glanced to his side to see Diamond Tiara looking up at him with a smile of relief, one that caused him some concern. "What happened?" he asked in a deadly serious tone, one that caused the smile to vanish from the young filly's face. "You lost," was all she said, but Ryu didn't need any more information. He rose up and glanced down at his chest, finding it bound in bandages with strange marking on them. Contributing the bandages to why he couldn't feel his chest, Ryu headed towards the door, not caring that Tiara was following him. Ryu opened the door to the carriage to see Zecora sitting on the ground in the center of the moonlight, her markings shining in a strange way under the beams. "I am glad to see that you are alive. I didn't think you would survive," Zecora said with a nod of her head as she heard Ryu approach, yet she never opened her eyes even as he sat next to her. "You have gone through quite an ordeal. Please tell me how you feel." "I feel like I was split in half and then beaten within an inch of my life," Ryu answered honestly, holding up a hand to his face as he did so. "Like my worst nightmare was finally brought to life, given physical form and then nearly killed everyone here that I care about." "Well...that's what happened," Tiara explained as she rubbed the back of her head, before forcing a smile upon her face. "But look at it this way! The evil side of you is finally gone! That's means you no longer have to worry about it consuming you again." Ryu glanced down to see her smiling face, almost wanting to believe her. He then lifted his hand towards his face and closed his eyes, able to feel the blazing fury of the Satsui no Hado deep within him. And it was still waiting, still waiting for the chance to destroy his soul. "I am sorry Tiara, but that is not the case. The Satsui no Hado is still within me, still waiting for it's chance to take my soul. All that has changed is that it was given a physical form to destroy me as well, one that, master help me, is far stronger than I could be," Ryu admitted before he hung his head and let out a sigh of weakness. Tiara's eyes widened for a moment as it looked like Ryu shrunk, like his entire body had lost its strength. "How is Ra-Lor?" "I do not know. I had to take you and go," Zecora whispered in a concerned voice. Ryu the closed his eyes and felt a wave of regret and hatred wash over his heart, before he forced those emotions out of his mind. Ryu then rose up to his feet and began to walk off. "Where are you going?" Tiara asked him. "I am going to finish what Ra-Lor started. I am going to finally master the power of nothingness, the only power that can possibly defeat the now physical form of the Satsui no Hado," Ryu replied in a whisper, one that was filled now with doubt and uncertainty. But when he turned to look back at Diamond Tiara, she saw the eyes of the warrior who would not be stopped. "I am going to train."