Passing the Baton

Next Generation

Homura and Ryu clashed in an onslaught of attacks. They'd just fought at the Bed of Styx, but neither of them were satisfied with how it ended. Homura closed the distance between himself and Ryu, and landed a sharp jab right to Ryu's nose. He continued landing blows until Ryu powered through a hit, and hit Homura with a backfist. Ryu started landing hits on Homura, but he started blocking Ryu's blows. Ryu got annoyed by the blocking, and reached through Homura's guard in the blink of an eye. He grabbed Homura's face in a vise grip before twisting his head to the side hearing a small crack. Homura started falling to the ground, and Ryu hit Homura with an axe kick to the side of the head as he fell.

"Damn your boy's a beast. He certainly got your talent." Giichi said as he and Han were locked in a stalemate. Han landed a solid punch on Giichi's face which caused his head to snap back.

"There's the Dragon King." Giichi said as he caught Han's next punch. Giichi pulled his arm back, and punched Han at full strength sending him flying back. Han was in disbelief at what was happening this wasn't the same person who he'd thought died all those years ago. This person was so much stronger physically than what he'd been before. Han swung again at Giichi his punches weren't slow but they lacked his normal technique that Giichi had grown up seeing. Giichi caught Han's arm easily and pulled him towards him before kneeing him in the stomach hard. Han coughed up blood and Giichi looked at him in disappointment. This wasn't the Dragon King he remembered he was certainly strong, and even against a combatant like Homura he'd be overwhelming. However against someone like Kiryu, or Majima he was just simply strong. To Giichi he was weak this man had been the pinnacle of strength to him for years, and now he barely recognized that unfathomable power in him.

"You grew weak in prison Tatsu-chan. Your form's a shell compared to what it used to be. You have all the power and speed, but your actual skills are nowhere to be seen." Giichi said as Han looked at him in anger. It wasn't because of what Giichi said that angered Han. It was because Giichi was right, and fighting him now Han knew it. Against opponents weaker than him he didn't realize his skills were this dulled, but fighting an equal for the first time in over a decade had made his condition crystal clear.

Meanwhile Homura and Ryu continued their brawl just a few feet away. Homura looked up at Ryu who had just delivered his axe kick, and rushed at him in a rage before jumping at him. He grabbed Ryu and tackled him while delivering a hard headbutt to Ryu whose nose was a bleeding mess after he was done. Now it was Ryu's turn to look up at Homura in silent fury. He rushed him, and pushed Homura into a wall before hitting him with hard body punches before pushing his head back against the brick wall as hard as he could.

Ryu turned to check how his dad was doing, and couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Giichi standing over Han. Ryu rushed for the man and tried landing a superman punch, but Giichi sidestepped and landed a strike with the back of his fist to the side of Ryu's head. Ryu stumbled sideways from the hit, but refused to fall over. Ryu kept attempting to strike Giichi, but the difference in ability was all too clear with how Giichi masterfully avoided all of the attacks. Ryu though had one idea on how to land a blow on the veteran fighter he was against. He tried a high kick which Giichi avoided by leaning back, but Ryu wasn't really trying to hit Giichi's head with the kick. The missed kick landed directly on top of Giichi's foot, and without missing a beat Ryu spun his body and delivered a devastating elbow to Giichi's jaw. Giichi hit the ground from the blow, and rubbed his jaw in disbelief as he stood back up. By now they had drawn quite the crowd, and Giichi decided to end this little battle now. Homura stood up finally awake again after Ryu slammed his head against the wall.

"Well I see you've turned into quite the fighter Ryu-san. First you held your own against Homura in the arena, and then again in the street. But I definitely didn't think you'd land a blow on me today. Why don't you and your father train a bit more, and we'll find you when we think you're ready." Giichi said as he ran his hand through his hair. The quick action let a tattoo on his forehead be seen. It was simply the letter H in bold on the left side of his forehead. Han let out a quick sigh as he looked at his old friend with nothing but sadness and nostalgia in his eyes.