Passing the Baton

Legends in the Making

The day after Kokoro's defeat Ryu and Han met up at the Sotenbori riverbank. Ryu was actually excited to train with his dad for the first time in his life, but he was also nervous for the same reason.

"Hey. Ready to start?" Han asked his son as Ryu just nodded. Han jogged a little bit away before gesturing for Ryu to follow him. Ryu did so wordlessly they ran in silence for a while. They ran through the entire city a few times, and Ryu was starting to breathe heavily and lose speed. Han never even looked back to see if Ryu was keeping up with him, but if he had he'd see Ryu almost collapsing but still following him.

"Alright good warm up. Time to teach you some combinations." Han said as Ryu looked at him like he was insane. The running had killed his stamina, but his dad looked like he hadn't broken a sweat. Han held up his hands and Ryu weakly put up his fists and started going through the indicated combos with Han. They did that for almost 2 hours with Ryu feeling like his arms were going to fall off.

"Alright let's go eat." Han said as they walked towards a restaurant. It was only about 1 in the afternoon, and Ryu knew he'd probably be training at least a few more hours. They went to a sushi restaurant and Ryu wolfed down the food the moment it was in front of him.

"Geez kid. You aren't that tired already are you?" Han asked his son as Ryu looked at his dad with a fire in his eyes.

"I'm exhausted, but I'll do whatever I need to to get stronger." Ryu said as he finished the last of his meal. Han ate just as fast as Ryu so that they didn't need to wait at all before getting back to training. They went back to the riverbank and Han had the perfect way to keep Ryu focused on training rather than his exhaustion.

"Alright I want you to do image training for the next hour. You need to choose an opponent, and envision they're in front of you fighting." Han explained to Ryu who didn't quite understand why his dad wanted him to just envision an opponent. He could just go out and find opponents to actually fight.

"Wouldn't it be more practical to just go out and find opponents?" Ryu asked voicing his questions. Han just smiled and shook his head. He'd wondered the same thing when Belial taught him this training method, but when done right it could be more effective than battling any opponent you can think of.

"Trust me Ryu if you can perfect this training you can grow in strength quicker than you can imagine." Han said as Ryu decided to just listen to his dad and started thinking about who to fight.

"Well I'd say that Homura is the toughest person I've ever fought. So should I imagine fighting him?" Ryu asked Han who simply smiled at his son.

"Yeah that's a good idea. It might be harder since you don't know much about how he fights, but it'll do for now. Now close your eyes." Han instructed as Ryu followed his orders.

"Imagine Homura is standing right in front of you. Then when you can see him clearly in front of you start fighting." Han continued as Ryu took a deep breath. He saw Homura in front of him and threw a quick punch, but the image dodged it and kneed Ryu in the stomach. Though he obviously hadn't actually been hit Ryu could swear he felt an impact. The fake Homura threw another knee, but Ryu blocked it and punched the image in the stomach causing it to let go. Again he knew nobody was there, but he swore he'd actually hit something. This continued for a while before Han's voice interrupted his concentration.

"Alright that's enough. Not bad for the first time you've tried it." Han said as Ryu opened his eyes for the first time in what felt like hours. He was exhausted both mentally and physically, and he knew there was no way he'd be able to continue today.

"Alright last thing. Let's finish today's training with a little run." Han said as he started jogging away a bit, and waited for Ryu to join him. Ryu just groaned and jogged over to his dad feeling like his legs were gonna fall off. They ran in silence for a while before idly chatting about the situation with the God Breakers.