| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 15th, 2003Preshow: "Conflict" Ryu pounded his fist into a row of lockers again. He left two more holes in the tapestry of indentations. The flame flared up again in his mind. Ryu collapsed to the ground and clutched his head. The laughing began inside his skull again. The laughter of his counterpart Evil Ryu, the laughter of Akuma, and the laughter of someone else he didn't quite recognize. It was driving him insane. He plowed his fists into the wall of lockers and the connection between the lockers and the ground finally severed. The lockers crashed onto the floor with a loud, metallic clatter. Ryu slammed his head into the concrete floor as the pain flared up in his mind once more. The voices were starting again. "Kill them, kill them all!!!!" "He'll pay later" "Show me the evil inside you." The voices shot through his heads, corrupting his thoughts. He brought his head to the floor again, and then again, attempting to silence the voices with pain, but it did nothing. There was only one way he could stop the pain. Ryu tried to collect himself. He sat back up, ignoring the burning in his body, and began to meditate. He entered his own mind. He walked through the darkness trying to find what he was looking for. He heard a faint crashing sound, he went over to investigate. Suddenly a great wall came into view, with a figure clad in a dark gi and a red headband bashing it repeatedly. "Hello, Ryu," the dark figure said. "Have you come into the dark recesses of your mind to escape the pain?" "What....are you doing?" Ryu asked as Evil Ryu fired a hadouken into the wall. "Simple, once this wall has been destroyed I will have complete control of your body, not this partial control," Evil Ryu said as he delivered a powerful side kick to the stone wall. "No!" yelled Ryu. He ran and attacked his evil counterpart. Evil Ryu easily dodged Ryu's initial punch and elbowed him in the stomach. Ryu fell to the ground and Evil Ryu kicked him away and returned to tearing down the wall. "You always were weaker than me," he said delivering another hadouken into the wall. "Now get out of here, our match is beginning soon." He whirled around and fired a hadouken at Ryu, knocking him out into reality. Ryu snapped back into himself. The fire inside his mind was gone, but his head hurt from slamming it into the ground. He collected himself and left for the battle field. Battle: "Inner Demons" Dante laid back against the wall. He put his forearm over his eye's to block out the blaring sun. It was a hot day, the hottest yet in this tournament. Dante had come out earlier in his Alastor form. A blaze of lighting shooting down from the sky had marked his spectacular entrance. But that had been 20 minutes ago, and Dante was getting bored. Dante had brought his Ifrit Gauntlets again for this battle. He figured the fire of Ifrit, plus the heat of the sun, would give him an advantage. Also he didn't feel the heat when he was using the demon mode of Ifrit. He hadn't brought his guns, but he had brought his force edge. When he used Alastor and Ifrit together the two demons clashed and his power was drained. So there he sat, wearing his Gauntlets, his sword lying next to him, waiting. Then his wait was over. Ryu came bursting through the doorway, exhausted. He was bleeding from his head and fists, and the blood was mixing with his own sweat to cover his face in red. Dante stood up and looked over at his opponent. "You okay, man?"The demon hunter asked. "Yeah.....I'm.....fine," Ryu managed to say through deep breaths. The silver haired fighter raised one eyebrow, and looked at his battered opponent. "Listen, if you want to push this back a few hours while you stitch yourself up, I'm fine with that. I mean, I don't want to fight an already weakened opponent," Dante said. Suddenly Ryu's face hardened and he growled in a deep voice, "No, we fight NOW!" Dante stepped back, very confused, but hardly scared. His confusion turned to annoyance, "What's wrong with you, man?" Suddenly Ryu fell to his knee's and clutched his head again. He screamed out in agony. Dante took a few more steps back, the confusion returning to his face. Dante had fought some pretty sketchy characters, but this guy was flat out nuts. "Listen Ryu, you're not well. Get yourself to the medical center and get back here as soon as you're done. You're in no shape to fight." Dante turned around and began to talk to the announcer. "Don't turn your back on me half-breed!" Ryu roared, still on his knees. Dante ignored him and continued relaying a plan to the announcer. Shut up Ryu told himself He's right I'm in no shape to fight. Get out of my head and let me get to the medical ward. If I'm at full strength I can beat him. The dark voice echoed a dark response No, you're in no shape to fight, I could stamp this bug out in five minutes. Release your pitifully weak hold on me and allow me to take care of this battle, since you're clearly not capable. A burning fire seared through Ryu's body. He collapsed to the ground and started twitching. Dante looked at the announcer and motioned over to Ryu. The announcer gave a grunt of approval. He moved over to the announcement system to declare the decision. Before the announcer could reach his microphone, Ryu began to speak. "So, you're willing to fight and kill your own brother, but not me?" Dante raised one hand motioning for the announcer to stop. "How do you know about that?" Dante responded, the kindness gone from his voice. "It doesn't really matter," Ryu said, lifting himself from his knees, and beginning to walk to the medical ward. A few moments later the demon hunter spoke up. "You know, on second thought, I think I'll just take you out now," Dante responded annoyed. He looked at the announcer and motioned over to the gong with his head. "Do it." An evil grin spread across Ryu's face. You first, hahaha said the dark voice in Ryu's head. Suddenly Ryu had full control over his body again, he hadn't had that in a long time. He turn to began to try and apologize to Dante, but the gong sounded before he could. "Listen Dante, I..." He couldn't finish his sentence as a flaming gauntlet crashed into his face. He flew through the air several feet, and skidded several more on the ground. He reached up to feel his face. It didn't feel good. Ridges on his face from various burns and cuts, weren't a pleasure to feel. He began to plead to the demon hunter again. "Please, Dante, it wasn't me, something is...." Once again his begging fell upon deaf ears. As Dante delivered a powerful kick to Ryu's stomach. Ryu flew back along the ground and clutched his stomach, coughing up blood. "Please if you keep doing this, something terrible will happen." Ryu said with a mouth full of blood. "I gave you a chance to patch yourself up, but you spit in my face. Now you're begging for mercy? I don't know what kind of clown you take me for, but I'm nobody's fool." Dante said, dancing back and forth, seemingly debating which move in his arsenal was proper for finishing the job. Ryu began to get angry at Dante. Why couldn't he see what he was trying to do. There was no honor in fighting now, he had been given a fair chance by a fair opponent. It wasn't like it was his idea though. First he suggests the idea and the smacks my hand away. That fool just let his emotions take control of him, like a blasted animal. That filthy half demon scum couldn't do this to him. He was Ryu, the champion street fighter, nobody treated him like this. The flames began to burn the inside of his body again. The burning tore at his very soul, but rather than try and escape the flame, he began to embrace it. A drop of blood escaped Ryu's lips. He was slouching over on his knees in the middle of the field. Suddenly he chuckled. Dante raised one eyebrow curiously, and stopped dancing. The chuckling grew to a soft laughter. The crowd began to silence as Ryu's laughter grew louder and louder. Inside Ryu's mind was a tempest of emotions. Ryu couldn't concentrate with everything that was going on inside his mind. All his memories, good and bad, were rushing forward at terminal velocity. Each making their own sound in a tapestry of ear-piercing screams. Then one noise prevailed over all the rest. The crumbling of a wall. Ryu's maniacal laughter stopped in a hearbeat. He slouched over motionless for a moment or two. Dante looked on curiously, wondering if his opponent was dead or not. Then the motionless body of Ryu leaped up into the air. The audience oo'd and aa'd as Ryu soared 20 feet up in the air and came speeding back down to earth. His landed softly, barely making a noise. He rose up, faced his confused opponent, and spoke, "Let's go half-breed." Dante looked over at Ryu, or Evil Ryu as it had become, and began to laugh. "Hahaha, I was beginning to think that you were just gonna let me kick your ass all day. Not that you actually trying is gonna change anything." He resumed his dancing back and forth and raised his gauntlets. "You were only winning because he wasn't trying, and even then you weren't doing very well. Let me show you how real men fight." "Enough talk. We fight now." "You talk like a cave man." With that Dante charged at Ryu with a powerful flaming punch. "Too slow," commented Evil Ryu as he calmly moved out of the way at the last moment, leaving Dante over extended and out of balance. The coalescence of evil brought his knee up into the demon hunter's chest. A gasp escaped his lips as he fell to the ground. Evil Ryu whipped his leg up into the air, and brought his heel crashing down on the back of Dante's back, flattening him on the ground. He kicked Dante in the side and sent him rolling away. Dante leaped up and charged forward again. Fire began to accumulate at his hands. Ryu looked on apathetically as Dante leaped up into the air and turned into the demon Ifrit. He descended upon Ryu from the sky, and brought the fires of hell with him. His fist contacted the ground and an inferno engulfed the two of them. Fires of 500 degree's burned through the ground. Dante stood up and surveyed the wreckage still under the protection of Ifrit. To his great surprise he was looking Ryu directly in the face. Dante took a few steps back in disbelief. Ryu gave a great yell, and unleashed a wave of ki that extinguished the fire completely. Dante looked upon his opponent. Ryu stood there, burn's covering his arms and chest. Nearly all the right leg of his gi had been burned off, and the top half was ablaze. Ryu calmly removed his tunic to reveal more burns. Yet his face was calm, in fact the burns and cuts from before his transformation seemed to have begun to heal. He looked upon his seemingly inferior opponent, and dropped into a back stance. He cupped his hands behind them as if holding some invisible ball. Then the invisible ball in his hands turned blue. Dante looked on in shock, Ryu grinned an evil grin. "HADOUKEN!!!!!!" yelled Ryu as he thrust his hands forward. The small blue ball grew several times larger as it flew towards Dante at incredible speeds. Dante was too taken aback to dodge it, by the time he came to his senses it was too late. He put his gloves to block the attack. A blue explosion rocked the stadium. Dante flew back into the wall behind him, and lay there motionless. Ryu snorted and began to walk away from the battle. A bloody cough halted his victorious retreat. "Don't turn your back on me, freak." Ryu turned around and looked at the fallen Dante. His crimson clothes were tattered and torn, blood trickled from his lip. While from afar Ryu clearly had the advantage, in terms of pure physical damage, Dante was still significantly better. Grudgingly, Dante rose to his feet. "Ha," chortled Ryu. "You intend to fight me now? You can barely stand on your two feet, how can you hope to stand against me?" "You'd be suprised," said Dante picking up his sword. "Let's go." "If you insist," Ryu shrugged. After a few moments of stalemate, Ryu shrugged again and dashed forward. His speed was excellent, Dante barely had time to leap out of the way of the flying side kick. Dante jumped in behind him with a downward slash. Ryu smiled, and without looking leaped up and kicked the sword away. He continued his motion like a cyclone and delivered several more speeding kick into Dante's left arm and face. Dante spun around in the air, and landed face first on the stone ground. "Is this all you can do?" Ryu asked as Dante began to rise up from the ground again. "You haven't seen the first thing of my power," Dante managed to say. Dante began to improvise, he clasped his gloves onto the handle of the Force Edge. Suddenly, the entire sword burst into flames. Dante charged at Ryu and lunged forward with a stab. Ryu ducked under it but Dante was prepared this time and kicked him square in the face. Ryu let himself fall onto his back and then kipped up and head butted Dante in the face. Dante slid back a few feet and felt the blood coming out of his nose. What the hell is wrong with him, I kicked him right in the head with steel tipped boots. He should be dead, or at least out cold. "Are you done yet?" asked Ryu casually. "Never!" roared Dante as he advanced again with a tremendous downward slash, his sword ablaze. Ryu drew his breath and then in two simultaneous arc's brought his hands up to catch Dante's sword in front of his face. He pulled the sword and Dante toward him, and then thrust the sword back. The handle drove deep into Dante's stomach. Dante collapsed to the ground and held his stomach. Ryu tossed the sword away, and shook his head at the fallen demon slayer. "I won't even waste my time finishing you," said the evil incarnation of Ryu. He turned around and began to walk away. A fireball slammed into his back, and he fell forward. "Giving up never was my style," chuckled Dante. He rose from the ground clearly in a great deal of pain. Flames erupted from Dante's body again. Ryu shook his head, as the flames were clearly much weaker than they were at the start of the fight. In desperation Dante jumped into the air and came flying down toward Ryu with a burning gauntlet aimed right at him. "Enough," Ryu declared. He took a quick breath, and leaped into the air to counter Dante. Ryu's own hand erupted in flame to meet Dante. The two fiery hands met in mid air, and a burst of fire blasted across the arena floor. The two powers were seemingly even, for a moment. Dante gasped as he heard a loud crack. He watched the Gauntlet of Ifrit on his right hand split down the middle, and disintegrate against the heat of Ryu's attack. However, Ryu's hand continued it's ascent. It crushed Dante's hand breaking his wrist. Then moved to the inside and connected with Dante's sternum. Dante screamed in agony as he was hurled through the air. With a loud thud he landed on the ground next to his Force Edge. Ryu began to charge his ki for the kill. Just before the fatal words escaped his lips, Ryu's body cramped up. Every muscle in his body seemed to flex to its fullest. The muscles forced Ryu's body onto the ground. "What's going on," said Evil Ryu angrily. The light voice of Ryu rung through his mind--I won't let you kill him. "Arrgh," yelled Evil Ryu through clenched teeth. "You don't have a choice!!!!" Evil Ryu released a great scream. Slowly he got up and dusted himself off, "Now, where was I?" "Hahahaha," said a voice from behind Ryu. Evil Ryu whirled around to see Dante standing, resting on his sword. "I get it now. You're a demon, possesing Ryu's body. That's why you didn't feel pain, because it isn't your body, it's his. He feels your pain. I think that's a little unfair don't you." "Very good, but what do you intend to do about it?" Evil Ryu asked casually. "Let's just say you're not the only one here with an inner demon," Dante replied. He took his weight off of the sword and then held it high in the air. Then he reached into his back pocket and removed a silver and ruby amulet. The amulet removed itself from his hands and began to float up to the sword. Then a bright light burst out of the amulet. Everyone was forced to turn their eye's away, but then when they looked back, Dante was holding a brand-new sword. The double sided blade had lost one sharpened edge, but that was hardly the only change. The sword had grown larger, also it seemed skin had covered all non-metal parts of the sword including the handle. Dante smirked as he stretched his previously broken wrist, "It looks like I'll have to go for the kill to get to you." Dante charged at Ryu again. As he ran the sword began to extend. After it reached a length of 20 feet it stopped growing, and the blade turned sideways turning into a scythe. He swung his new extra large sickle at his opponent. Ryu dashed forward to get out of the path of the blade and held up his forearm to block the oncoming stock of Dante's new toy. The blow went right through his defense with little detrition. The shaft of the sickle contacted with the side of Ryu's head and he flew across the field. Right before he contacted with the ground, he planted his hand on the stone tile, and pushed himself up. He landed on his feet and skidded back a few feet. Ryu scowled at his now grinning opponent. He wiped some blood off of his lip, and dropped back into his fighting stance. Dante grinned again and charged forward. He struck out forward with his new sword. Ryu jumped back to dodge, but the blade shot out of the shaft again and connected with Ryu's stomach. Dante pulled his hand back before the blow became lethal. Evil Ryu fell to the ground and looked down at his slowly reddening white gi. He concentrated his energy and unleashed a blast of fire onto the wound. The bleeding stopped, he looked up and smiled at his opponent. "Your skills have improved greatly," Evil Ryu complimented. Dante shrugged his shoulders in gratitude, and began circling around his prey. Ryu smiled, "But you're still too slow to beat me." "Yeah, why don't you come on over and prove it, tough guy," Dante retorted. Ryu grinned and rushed towards the crimson warrior. Dante lashed out with a lengthy sword, but Ryu simply leaped over it, and landed on the shaft. As he ran down the shaft it withdrew under his feet, and he fell to the ground, but landed running. As the blade reached the hilt, Dante spun around slashing at Ryu again. Ryu ducked under the sword in the nick of time, but a few stray hairs weren't as lucky. Dante was wide open now, and Ryu wanted to finish it. He performed his trademark move, the one that had Sagat lying on the ground in pain. "SHORYUKEN!!!!" The fist drove into Dante's stomach, he felt the skin tearing under the enormous pressure of the fist. He felt himself being pulled into the air, and spinning around. He flew into the air and came down to the ground, with a satisfying thud. Ryu grinned and began walking off of the field. He stopped after hearing a now familiar chuckle from behind him. He turned around annoyed to see Dante already on his feet. "Is that all you got?" asked the demon hunter. Ryu looked on at his seemingly invincible opponent. There was something about him now, something completely different. A crimson glow emanated from his body, and then for a flash he changed. He was the same height, but clearly all demon now. Two ram-like horns curled from his head, and two leathery wings spread from his back. "Who are you?" Evil Ryu asked him. "I'm Dante, Son of Sparda. If you don't know what that means, your welcome to find out," Dante raised his hands out, beckoning for an attack. "Very well then," Ryu said. He began to charge his energy in his palms again. Dante smiled. "Hadouken!!!!" Ryu yelled and unleashed a ball of blue energy. Dante pulled on hand back and thrust it forward. A crimson bolt escaped his open palm and flew directly at the blue energy ball. The two energies clashed in an short battle resulting in a duality. "Is that all you got?" repeated the Dante. Ryu growled and began charging up more energy, this time the ball glowed red in his hands. "Shakunetsu Hadouken!!!!!" Evil Ryu yelled, even louder this time. A large orange ball flew from his hands toward the confident half-demon. Dante yelled and began to charge up energy in both palms. He released the two crimson bolts, as one large one, and once again nullified Ryu's attack. "I said, Is that all you got!?!?!?" Dante yelled at his opponent. Ryu grimaced, he was getting angry, it was time to end this one way or another. Evil Ryu moved back into the hadouken stance. He began to concentrate all of his dark energy between his palms. All of his dark physical energy, and all of his dark mental energy. All of Ryu's deepest darkest desires began to swim forward. All of his repressed emotions, all of his repressed actions, would be repressed no more. The large blue orb, Evil Ryu held in his hand began to swirl with black. The power of the greatest street fighter, plus everything that was evil in the world began to animate inside of that orb. He could feel other beings adding their power too. He felt the power of Akuma, which was incredible, adding fuel to the unstoppable fire of the evil inside Ryu. He felt another force adding power to his own, that was unlike anything he could have possibly imagined. Finally the dark swirling erupted inside the orb, and the energy turned completely black. Ryu smiled at his opponent, "Ready to die, half blood? SHINKUU HADOUKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dante looked as the enormous black orb the size of an SUV careened toward him. He roared with power as his entire body ignited in a scarlet blaze. "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!?!?!?!?!" screamed Dante. With that he released all of his energy, all of his fathers energy, and all of everyone that had ever helped him's energy into a crimson blast. It flew down the field to meet with the dark power of Evil Ryu. The two powers collided in mid air. A sphere formed around the area of impact. Inside the sphere the two powers battled an epic battle. Battle after battle happened in mere seconds, but to the two fighters each second seemed like an eternity. The mass of the energy inside the sphere became greater than that of the earth. The stone tiles lifted off of the ground, and raced into the black hole of energy. Ryu tried to fire another blast into the swirl of energy, but he found he could not. I must have exhausted all of Ryu's power, he's probably out cold inside me. Dante found himself in a similar predicament. Too tired to help his energies fight, but he didn't need to for long. The swriling inside the orb stopped and it began to flash black and white rapidly. Both fighter's looked puzzled for a moment and then realized what was going to happen. They braced themselves, and just in time. As the two energies detonated. The blast rocked the arena. Both characters flew across the field and into the walls on either side. When they came to, a crater marked the center of the ring. Once again, Magus had risen to the challenge of protecting the spectators. He heaved a sigh of relief as he let down his magical barriers on either side of the field. Everyone relaxed and got back to watching the epic showdown. Dante tried to rise, but felt an incredible pain in his right shoulder. He looked over to see a piece of rebar penetrating his crimson trench coat. "Ah crap," Dante muttered to himself. "Did I win?" An evil voice penetrated the dust covering the field. "No, Dante. You lost." Ryu flew out of the dust and grabbed a hold of Dante's leather vest. He ripped him away from the rebar, tearing more flesh in the process, and threw him down on the ground. Dante reached for his pistols but couldn't find them. Oh yeah he remembered I didn't think I'd need them. His thoughts were interrupted as a calloused heel rubbed into the wound on his shoulder. "You lose, scum," Evil Ryu said looking down on Dante. Cloud looked on in disgust. This was the second time the audience had nearly been obliterated, because of evil forces in this tournament. It was pitiful, but also suprising. Dante certainly wasn't the type that would want to bring innocents in on his fights, and Ryu had seemed like a very nice person, that is until he had wigged out in the elevator. He looked on to see what other people were thinking, but saw something very strange. Sephiroth had cupped his hand over his mouth to prevent people from seeing his lips move, but Cloud was at just the right angle to see through his hands. He watched as Sephiroth's lips began to move again. A voice came from the field, "You should learn to respect your superiors, fool." Cloud gasped. Those had been the exact same words Sephiroth's mouth. He looked closer. Sephiroth began to mouth out words again. Evil Ryu spoke on the field, "You still don't see it do you? I will win this tournament, you can't stand in my way, no one can." "Hahaha, you think you can beat the likes of Snake and Megaman? Don't make me laugh, you barely beat me, and you're seriously injured. You don't have a chance against those two, and what about that Sephiroth guy?" Ryu grinned and chuckled at his fallen opponent, "You don't see it at all. Time to die, scum." Ryu pulled back his hand and drove it into Dante's chest. Dante gurgled in pain, as blood splurted out of his mouth. He began to feel weak, his vision began to blur, but he could still make out Ryu's figure, holding something red and moving. Dante realized it was his heart. Just as his eye's began to close a vision began to flash before his eye's. The vision of a white haired man, holding a silver stone, laughing into a sea of corpses. With his last breath Dante choked out, "I see it now." Then his eye's shut completely, and the fight was over. Aftermath With an expression on his face that was far more sullen than usual, Solid Snake shuffled the cards. Even thought Max Payne had left for good, the poker game still continued on. Tommy Vercetti, Samus Aran, and Solid Snake had tried playing a game with three players for one night, but they realized very quickly that it wasn't enough for a good game. So, almost by default, Vercetti had brought Mario into the game, to the dismay of Snake. But to the three holdover players' surprise, Mario hadn't acted in his usual immature way during poker. He actually took it seriously. The tournament has a way of doing that to you. At this point... Everyone was taking things seriously. Snake and Samus always had, of course, but after the match he had just seen, Snake was even more grim about his impending match. He had seen Dante, a demon whose power was not lacking, and who had gotten through his first match in ease, utterly demolished by the street fighter, Ryu. "There's something wrong with that guy." Without realizing it, Snake had muttered his thoughts out loud. Quickly, he realized his mistake. Great. More ammunition for Vercetti. But on this night, even Tommy Vercetti wasn't in the mood to respond. He too, though he wouldn't admit it to himself, was very nervous. The contestants in this tourney had all changed, over the course of this few months, and some of that had been evident in matches. Link had been surprisingly vicious. Bowser had eaten his opponent. Zelda had retreated to a different personality. And most recently, Ryu had turned away from the calm, decent person that everyone knew him as. What'll happen with the monkey? Will he get bulletproof fur? Will he turn evil and start shooting thunderbolts at me? This is ridiculous... I came here expecting normal fights that I can win, not battles with living Hadeses, Heras, and Poseidons. Vercetti sighed. His thoughts were so involved, that he had not even noticed the game start up. This really wasn't like him. He took a quick look at his cards. Lesse... Jack, Ten, Three, Four, Ten. Great. All I can draw for is a chance of getting three tens.. Samus opened up the bidding. As usual, she was clad in her battle suit, with only her usual helmet missing. "Twenty." "Thirty-a!" Vercetti shot a quick look at Mario. Is he ever going to behave like a normal human being? I thought he was from the Bronx, not Sicily. Crazy accent... Vercetti folded, as did Snake, after a few moments of thought on the part of the soldier. It was obvious to Vercetti that Snake, too, was a little preoccupied tonight. Can't blame him. That was a match between two more of those damn demigods... I wouldn't want to face them. Mario won the hand with three fives, and the game continued. Tonight, the bidding never went high, as it had in the past games... Things were not energetic tonight. Poker was more something to do, rather than something to get money by. Even for Tommy Vercetti. ---- The game only lasted a half an hour, today. Realizing the negative vibes coming from everyone, including himself, Mario had suggested a shorter game for today, and they all had agreed. In the end, the plumber probably regretted shortening the game, as he had had a good night, gaining more than any of the other three. But he wanted to think, too. He had a big match coming up... A rematch with a man that he had only defeated by the slimmest of margins last year. Vercetti, amazingly, had went off to sleep early. For a man who was basically nocturnal out in Vice City, where nighttime was the best time for the operations that he supervised, he rarely went to sleep before midnight... But tonight, it was only 9:30. The contest had a way of doing that to you. Your routines in your dimension, the way you lived... Once you came here, it changed. Good became evil... Evil became good. Nothing was predictable. Snake knew all this. He knew it better than anyone, really... He was perhaps the smartest of the remaining contestants, and he definitely took the most time studying that area of knowledge than anyone else... Well, anyone but Sephiroth, that is. There weren't too many areas where you could beat Sephiroth. As Snake got up to leave, still lost in his thoughts, he heard Samus's voice from behind him as he slowly walked away from her. "You're unusually thoughtful today, Snake." Snake grunted, noncommitally. "I'm always thoughtful. I thought you knew that already?" Samus knew about this, of course. Sure, he was thoughtful... But what did he think about, really? Snake's greatest strength was his intellect, and the fact is, THAT was what he focused most of his training on. Scouting his opponents. But you could only do that for so long. "Those other times, you only thought for the sake of thinking. Tonight... It's different. You aren't bored tonight." "Bored, Samus? When am I bored?" "When there's nothing going on that catches your interest. Ryu caught it today, because of what he did out there. Nothing else will for a while, I'm sure." Snake shrugged. "Hey... Some interesting things are going on. Look at this thing with the turtle king, Bowser..." "I KNOW his name, Snake. I'm not an airhead." "Anyway, that's interesting, at least. The match today was interesting. There's always something going on... I'm just not always involved." "Why aren't you?" "...Cause it's not my fight." With that, Snake strode out the room... But not without misgivings. Samus watched him leave, silent, with a depressed look. Maybe it isn't his fight. But as that old man would say... If we stay here long enough, what happens here becomes our stories. Next Entry Back |