• Published 8th Dec 2018
  • 1,997 Views, 144 Comments

The Muay Tiger - Onomonopia



Rainbow has been beaten. She's been broken. Now, she will be reforged.

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Tiger

Everything on Rainbow hurt. Her arms hurt. Her legs hurt. Her head hurt. Her body especially hurt. She was certain that even her bruises had bruises from all of the abuse that she had taken in the past three days. She should be relaxing in a hot sauna to cure her aches and woes. Yet here she was, staring down the seven-foot man with her forearms raised in a defensive stance, ready for him to make his next move.

Sagat didn’t keep her waiting. His leg lashed out and aimed a kick straight for her head, forcing Rainbow to duck down low to avoid being hit. Sagat snapped his leg back and planted it down, using it as an anchor so he could step forward and drive his knee towards the crouching mare. Rainbow leapt back to avoid being hit, hating how much ground she was giving up. She never retreated, never gave up. Always fought to the bitter end. Yet n their first day of training she had tried that and ended up the bruised mess she was now.

‘He has no openings,’ Dash thought grimly. That was what she had learned about Sagat. He never left himself open, never revealed a moment when he could be counter attacked. Once his knee attack missed, she lunged forward to try to counter, but Sagat’s other leg came up and nearly kicked her head off. She rolled to the side to avoid the blow, but when she got back to her hooves he had already guarded again.

His limbs were the problem. With their length and precision he could strike her every time she tried to get in close to hit him. His arms were twice as long as hers and his legs were even longer, forcing her to get through them before she could get to him. And each time those limbs hit, they hurt. A lot.

‘He’s different from Zangief. Hell, he’s way different than Ryu,’ Dash thought. ‘He doesn’t want to get close to me. He’s perfectly fine at keeping me at a distance. And without my wing, I can’t get in close. Geez, this is so unfair. If only I could fly, I would-‘

In a blur of motion Sagat lunged towards Rainbow Dash, who had been so focused on her thoughts that she had never expected Sagat to go in. She raised her forehooves to defend herself, but it was too little too late. An elbow crashed into the side of her head before a rising knee ripped her off the ground. Rainbow Dash had just enough time to process how bad the blows hurt before a palm strike connected with her back and drove her into the dirt below.

“You were feeling sorry for yourself again, weren’t you?” Sagat asked. Rainbow Dash spat up some blood in response, getting Sagat to narrow his eye. “How many times must you learn this lesson? If you keep your sight on the past, you will never see what is right in front of you. All of this pain you feel right now could be avoided if you simply focused on the here and now.”

“Thank you sir, may I have another?” Dash spat with a laugh. Sagat snarled before he grabbed the back of Rainbow’s neck and hoisted her onto her hooves. He then returned to his starting position and took up his stance, waiting for Rainbow to do the same before he spoke.

“This time, do not focus on the past or the future. You try too hard to predict my movements and because of that you are easy to fool. If you cannot adapt to my attacks in the middle of battle, then you shall never be able to defeat your demon. Now come kitten, let us try this again.”

‘What should I do?’ Rainbow asked herself. ‘I can’t get past his limbs and every time I try I get beaten for it. It’s like this guy can counter anything in his line of sigh…sight. That’s it. That’s how I’ll get this punk. Can’t hit what ya can’t see!’

This time Rainbow didn’t wait around for Sagat to start. She kicked off the ground and hurled herself at him, watching his body careful. She saw the sigh escape his lips, a slight shake of his head and then his leg lashed out, ready to knock her into the dirt once more and be done with her. Yet this time Dash pushed off and leapt to the side, dodging the kick, before she flapped her solo wing with all she had. It wasn’t strong enough to create rainbooms like it had once had, but it was more than strong enough to blast a wave of dust and dirt into Sagat’s one good eye. The human snarled as he staggered back, Dash delighted to see that his one eye was now closed. With nothing standing in her way, she hurled herself at Sagat, ready to finally bring him some pain.

“Nice try.”

Sagat sidestepped as Rainbow descended, causing her to miss her strike and tumble across the ground. She snapped back up to her hooves and turned to face Sagat, whose eye was still closed. With a snarl she resumed her attack, throwing punches and kicks with a speed that would be hard to keep up even if you could see her. Yet even with his one eye closed, Sagat easily dodged and weaved around her moves, with the same precision and grace he had even when he could see. Rainbow let out a roar of frustration and leapt into the air, bringing both hooves over her head as she planned to crack his bald head open. And then Sagat smirked.

“TIGER UPPERCUT!”

A fist consumed with fire struck Dash in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and knocking her out of the air. With agony searing her body she tumbled head over hooves, before she crashed onto her back. Her strength left her as she lay there, with only the agony that was burning in her chest to keep her company. Sagat opened his eye and walked over to her, looking down at her with the same expression he always wore.

“Can you move?” he asked her. When she shook her head, he sighed before crossing his arms. “Trying to blind me. Not a bad idea, but you are hardly the first person to have tried it. As such, I have trained myself to be able to still fight even without my ability to see.”

“That’s not fighting while not being able to see. What you did there was fight better than you did when you could see,” Rainbow spat weakly. “You danced around me like I was standing still and then somehow you managed to knock me out of the air despite being blind. And what the hell was with that flaming uppercut?”

Sagat closed his eye and seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment, before a smile crossed his face. “In truth, I could not see you with my eye closed. Your physically attacks were a mystery to me. But I could still sense you, your intent, your desire to harm me…and all of it allowed me to figure out what your next move would be. As such, I was able to counter and dodge with the same skill as if I could see.”

“So you can see the future?”

“I can see what you’re going to do next. You are too direct, kitten. You think in a straight line so therefor you fight in a straight line. Even without my sight, I know what you will do. Thus I am able to counter it.”

“So I can’t stop you when you can see more or when you can’t. All I can do is get my flank whipped. Tell me again how this is training?”

“Because you are soft. I will make you strong,” Sagat replied as he uncrossed his arms. Then he brought those arms back, before thrusting them forward with a yell.

“TIGER SHOT!”

A colossal burst of fire erupted from his fists, roaring with power as it sailed over the trees. The fireball then exploded with an intensity and heat that Dash felt despite how high up it was. She gulped hard at the explosion, before she looked over at Sagat, who was staring down at her.

“First I shall strengthen your body. You have spent so long in grief and self pity that you have allowed yourself to go soft. Then we shall strengthen your skill. Create not a mewling kitten, but a fierce tiger that can defeat any foe. Finally we shall strengthen your spirit. Remind you why you used to be called the best in this land. That is what I have instore for you, Rainbow Dash. Now then, can you move?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Dash grunted as she stood back up.

“Good,” Sagat said, before taking up his fighting stance. “Again.”

“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow muttered, before a blast of fire sailed past her head.

“No mewling. Evil Ryu will not tolerate you whining and neither shall I. If you have the strength to complain, you have the strength to fight,” Sagat snarled. “Now then, come!”

Rainbow had barely gotten back to her hooves before Sagat was on her once more, throwing out elbows and knees that could easily send her to dream land. She dodged and weaved as best she could, but every time she got clipped or stumbled back she felt her strength failing. He was pressing far harder than he had before, not even giving Rainbow Dash a chance to breathe.

“You are weak. You are a quitter. You spent your days bragging about how great you were and then gave up when the universe decided to knock you off your throne! That is who you are!” Sagat scorned, striking harder and faster. “A mare who thought she deserved it all and then quit when she realized she was owed nothing. It’s pathetic.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow roared in reply.

“Finally, some defiance. After what I have seen from you, I thought you might jut roll over and allow me or Ryu to kill you,” Sagat snarled. “Too bad that defiance did not come when you needed it most. Like when you gave up.”

“Shut…UP!” Dash bellowed.

“Do you hate me for speaking the truth? Do you have what the universe has done to you? Or do you just hate yourself for being so weak?!” Sagat roared, kicking Dash hard in the chest and sending her skidding backwards. “Which is it, quitter? Which part of this do you hate the most?”

“I…hate…all of it!” Rainbow bellowed, rage fueling every part of her body.

“Yes, I can see that. You feel that rage burning in you, do you not?” Sagat asked. “Now take that rage, take that anger and helplessness and channel it. Channel it to where you most desperately need it.”

Despite all of her rage, the piercing tone of Sagat’s voice got through to her. She used what little concentration she had left to channel her rage into her arms, planning on using what strength it gave her to beat Sagat to a pulp. Sagat noticed what she was doing and nodded in reply.

“Yes, it seems you understand this rage all too well. Now take all of that rage in your arms, thrust it towards me…and then let it go. Let it leave your body.”

Dash, who could barely think straight, let out a roar as she thrust her arms towards Sagat. Every part of her wanted to destroy him, wanted him to burn in the same fire that he used. But the fighter in her knew to listen. That he was trying to teach her something. So right when she felt she could no longer control her rage…she let it go. Let it go through her arms.

A blast of rainbow energy erupted from the ends of her forehooves, sending a rainbowball of destructive power towards Sagat. The human sidestepped the attack and watched it sail into the forest, where it exploded with the roar of a tiger. Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock at what she had just done, while Sagat turned back to look at her with the hint of a smile on his face.

“To be able to duplicate it after seeing it only twice. Yes, there is a great deal of potential in you,” he said with approval.

“What just happened?” she asked.

“You have taken the first step. For too long you have allowed anger and pity to fuel your thoughts and actions, making you weak,” Sagat said. “You angrily lashed out at friends, you allowed pity to chain your spirit and in doing so, you became a caged beast. Today, kitten, you have tugged against that chain for the first time.”

“Was that…all of my anger…?”

“This is the true power of the tiger spirit, as I call it,” Sagat continued. “Anger is not evil nor something to be avoided, as a certain headband wearing wanderer believed. When we allow it to control us, it weakens us, obstructs our thoughts and makes us sloppy. But when used as power, and nothing more, it makes us strong and gives us the strength that we may not have otherwise.”

“All of my tiger techniques come from taking all of the anger from the pain and anguish I have suffered and expelling them from my body,” Sagat told Dash. “The tiger shot you just performed was you doing the same. Taking all of your anger and releasing it as pure power. Anger does not control us. It is our greatest weapon.”

“So that’s why…you never let up on me,” Dash gasped, before she fell to a knee. “You wanted me to build my anger…so that I could learn how to be rid of it.”

“No. I wanted you to be angry so you could so how being controlled by anger would cause you to fail, just as I did years ago,” Sagat corrected. “Anger is your tool. It is not you. And when you use it properly, it can best any foe.”

“Okay…I think I get it…can I take a break?” Rainbow asked, falling onto her face. “My body’s going number.”

“Five minutes.”

“Only five minutes?!”

“Two minutes.”

“Okay. Yep. Two minutes sounds good to me.”