"I am ready."

"Power is all. Not many people understand that. You are truly unique...my technology will make you unstoppable."

"Would this fact not threaten you?"

"We are both immortal. The only question is where we choose to rule. You’ve already bartered your soul to Hell. The Earth is mine."

"We shall see. Begin the transformation."

The rubble above him crushed, stifled. His lungs began to sear, the agony of bearing the weight of the collapsed mountain beyond measure. The slightest twitch, slightest weakness, and tons of wreckage would bury him.

The fire built within his lungs, his heart, his throat. His entire body burned with flaming energy. In one last defiant burst, Ken released it, throwing his fist up against his tomb. Legs pumping, he exploded out of the rubble, a curtain of flame surrounding him, rocks flying every which way.

"SHINRYUKEN!!!"

Ken collapsed upon the ground, gulping down large swallows of precious air. Though his bones ached and his muscles were weary, the fire within him sustained Ken, gave him strength. Rising, he stumbled after Gouki, knowing that the demon was up to something.

And that it boded no good for anyone.

When the last ray of sunlight disappeared over the western sky, the pain receded. And fresh agony replaced the burning of the sun.

Weakness.

The Oni Messatsu No Shotokan could not abide weakness. It pushed the body to move, to react, but there was too little to sustain it. Wracking the body with horrible pain, it fled.

Alone, unsustained by a host, the parasite would not long remain upon the mortal plane. But it detected a source of energy that it knew well. A simmering kettle about to be brought to boil. It lingered in the air, tasting the deliciously bitter hate emanating into the air around its new subject.

It would remain. And feed.

Ryu’s head ached terribly. He had expended all of his reserves of chi and now was cannabalizing his own body for the energy to continue. As the sun sank below the horizon, he began to feel the chill of the mountain air.

Tired and weak, his body spasmed uncontrollably, his teeth chattered, and his lungs convulsed with every breath. His heart was void, cold with hate. For Gouki. Thinking about his nemesis brought renewed strength to Ryu. He cared not where it came from.

Determinedly, he followed the unmistakable feel of Gouki’s chi.

For he knew it. For he had felt it before.

Vega could not believe the technology he found in the lair of Apocalypse. It was hundreds of years ahead of his time! And he had thought "Poccy" was just a 5000-year old Middle Eastern relic. It was obvious that he did not let his roots prevent him from progress.

Various large vessels lined the walls, suspending mutants in a sustaining liquid. The biochemical experiments being performed were far beyond Vega’s comprehension, and he had seen his share of such projects in the past. What drew his attention was a central chamber, where he saw biotech enhancements being added to Gouki. So this was his goal!

Apocalypse and Gouki...Vega shuddered. Combined, they would have power enough to destroy them all. Such power would be better served in Vega’s possession.

"Admiring my handiwork?"

Vega turned around, astonished that he had been taken so unaware. The "first mutant" stood before him, an unnaturally white grin splitting his face. That’s my grin, he thought.

"You can be part of it. I can work wonders with such a specimen as yourself."

Vega frowned, then responded with a confident grin.

"Truly? I’d be happy to hire you."

"Hire me? Do you know who you are talking to?" Apocalypse roared. His left fist became a large mace, and he swung it at Vega, who disappeared. The crime lord reappeared high above Apocalypse, floating in the air near the vessels.

"Temper, temper," he chided. He casually reached out and slashed his hand across the cords holding one of the containers aloft. Its contents spilled out of the broken vessel.

"Careless of me," he remarked.

Apocalypse teleported next to Vega, who dodged his attacks. The two flew about the chamber, Apocalypse taking the offensive, when Vega tossed out a sphere of fiery energy. Apocalypse took the blow without flinching, but Vega grabbed him and tossed him to the ground, where he rolled into a very surprised Ken.

Carelessly batting Ken aside, Apocalypse renewed his attack on Vega when Ken’s Shoryuken seared him. Without missing a beat, the mutant turned into liquid form and slipped away to reform.

"Your puny attacks cannot harm me!" he boasted.

Vega and Ken looked at each other with ill-disguised hatred, but focused again on Apocalypse.

The mutant laughed, "As you are wont to say, Vega, behold!"

The large central chamber exploded, blinding the onlookers. When their eyes cleared, Gouki stood in the wake of the explosion, unscathed. Outfitted in Apocalypse’s 30th-century technology, he sported extra metallic arms, wings, body armor, and a headpiece. He was hardly recognizable, but when he stomped the ground, adopting his signature horse stance, the whole complex shook, and rifts opened in the ground, expanding, reaching out into the mountains. The whole mountain seemed about to collapse around them. Both Vega and Ken did not doubt then that this was Gouki...Cyber-Gouki.

The laughing Apocalypse stayed only so long as to admire his work before teleporting away.

Cyber-Gouki looked upon his enemies as he would a pair of mosquitoes. "How many times must I kill you two?" he asked.

"What kind of monster have you become?" Ken breathed.

"I AM POWER MADE FLESH!!" Cyber-Gouki thundered.

Ken sank back, nearly falling off the cliff. Vega sagged against the mountain walls, the concentration necessary for him to maintain his flight shattered by the sheer power of Cyber-Gouki’s voice. As he descended to the ground, scraping along the wall, Cyber-Gouki warped in, impossibly fast. Too quickly for eyes to follow, he shot a Hadou-ken at Vega, who managed to counter with a Psycho Shot. The dictator tried to stand his ground, but a second Hadou-ken forced him back and Cyber-Gouki’s fist punched out, flying from his arm, to land against Vega’s stomach, incapacitating him.

Despite his intense hatred of Vega, Ken knew that he would not be able to handle Cyber-Gouki alone. Jumping in, he protected Vega from what would have been a killing blow. Cyber-Gouki merely pushed, throwing Ken against Vega, then launched a series of scrambling punches reminiscent of the Shoryureppa.

Even protecting themselves, Ken having taken a breath to increase his chi’s defense, and Vega projecting a wall of Psycho Power against the Scramble Gou Punch, they were devastated by the powerful, overwhelming technique.

Cyber-Gouki landed from the last punch without any opposition and proceeded to carry out his execution of Vega, a death sentence once avoided.

Having experienced the deadly technique of Gouki, Vega knew what was coming when Cyber-Gouki adopted that floating stance. He had already decided to cut his losses and teleported long before his foe had approached him, despite his amazing speed.

"You’re on your own, young Masters," he called out from above, before teleporting back to his headquarters.

"Ungrateful bastard!" Ken shouted.

"Don’t worry," assured Cyber-Gouki, "I will destroy him right after I finish with you. There is no place he can hide from me."

While his opponent boasted, Ken took the opportunity to blaze a trail with a series of spinning kicks. One after another, they hammered into Cyber-Gouki’s chest, his head, his groin, lifting him into the air as Ken spun around, kicking with abandon. When his momentum ran out, Cyber-Gouki shoved him to the ground, unphased by the technique, though he had taken the hits with full contact.

He released a shower of Hadou-kens at Ken from above, pelting him with a dozen, two dozen, and more, singing Ken’s hair, ripping his gi, pummeling his arms, his already-sore body. Ken decided to withstand the assault, knowing that he had a clean shot at Cyber-Gouki when he was finished.

But the Thunder Gou Shower seemed to last forever with no sign of relenting. Over forty blasts landed against Ken before it finally slowed. Ken readied himself to counter when he realized that the force of the blasts had pushed him back...over the cliff.

Below was at least a two hundred foot freefall. Ken clawed at the cliffside, trying to find purchase. His fingernails were pulled off, hands bloodied, knees cracked against the uneven rock. Just as he was about to give up, he felt a pair of hands shove upwards at his foot, propelling him high into the air. Standing upon a ledge about twenty feet below the scene of the battle, Ryu saved Ken from the plunge to his death and followed him up to battle with Cyber-Gouki.

Ken’s abrupt reappearance shocked Cyber-Gouki, but the demon-turned-cyborg recovered when he saw Ryu ascend to stand next to Ken.

"For a pair of annoying flies, you cling quite stubbornly to your worthless lives."

Without comment, the two Shotokan masters adopted their classic fighting stance and waited for Cyber-Gouki’s next move.