It’s a slow day in Dewford. Blessedly slow. Slow days are the best. Peace is what warriors strive for. It gives Navy time to catch up on some light reading. Nominally, the gym’s open. Anyone can come in and challenge him. Kyle wasn’t lying. Sometimes, it slows down.[break][break]
Oh well. He has enough to pay the bills. There’s victory in that.[break][break]
His eyes shoot up when a giant of a man walks through the front door. Beside him is a legendary just as eye-catching as the man he shadows. Navy can’t resist grinning. The two don’t meet up much, but there are few people he enjoys the company of more than Kaz.[break][break]
“Well well well, Kazimir Wynter? In my little town? Just don’t shoot my deputy.” Standing up, he jumps the counter. Raising his voice, he shouts out to someone unseen.[break][break]
“Yo, Shuwen! You’ll like this.” Shuwen, an Urshifu much like Kaz’s own companion, walks out of a nearby room. The stoic bear has an apron on. He was in the middle of some meal prep. A proper diet is essential for a warrior.[break][break]
Shuwen cracks the faintest hint of a smile when he sees Domon. Nodding, he takes off the apron and cools the oven. There will be time for that later.[break][break]
“Alright, Kaz. Normally, I do my gym battles in the room back there, but let’s have fun with this. Follow me.” Navy waves Kaz out of the gym. He leads him down to a battle pitch by the seaside. Inevitably, a crowd forms. Two legends are about to do battle.[break][break]
“Humor me real quick before we start. Guy like you, been around for so long, you must have seen a whole lot. Why d’you do it? Fight, I mean.”

[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“I feel ya, man. That’s exactly how I feel. Once you’ve seen how things go around here, it’s hard to close your eyes to it all.” His own eyes had been opened in these very sands. Shuwen walked into Navy’s life scarce miles from where he stood now. It began in Dewford. It continues in Dewford.[break][break]
Bear and human both crack their knuckles. People cheer when they realize this is, in fact, happening. They scramble for the best seats on the benches.[break][break]
“Shuwen n’ me gotta fight the best. That’s how you become the best. What warrior worth his salt wouldn’t wanna tussle with the legendary king of fighters?! Lopez told me all about it.”[break][break]
Shuwen falls into the loose, flowing style made famous by the rapid strike. His steady eyes look to Domon, waiting for the challenger to make his move.[break][break]
“You’re the challenger. Your move, Kaz.”


[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Shuwen’s eyes shoot wide as Domon comes right at him. Such speed…! It is truly worthy of the King of Fighters. There’s barely time to brace. It’s not a matter of getting hit. It’s a matter of weathering the blow. The aftershock of Domon’s blow sends wind flying across the beach. Onlookers cover their eyes to keep sand out. In the eye of this fresh hurricane stands the two bears.[break][break]
Shuwen has taken a few steps back. Even the lowest of Urshifu would not be taken out in one blow. They are no mere Kubfu. They have studied their ancient arts. Their fighting spirit is second to none. Resolving to return blow for blow, he steps forward.[break][break]
“C’mon, Shuwen! Let’s show ‘em how we do it! Dewford style!” Shuwen doesn’t look back or even acknowledge the words, but he steps forward, tracing a path towards Domon.[break][break]
“ORAAAAAAAA!” It’s a haymaker that could even make a single strike Urshifu blush. Close Combat, done with reckless bravery and precision.[break][break]
The crowd is absolutely losing their mind.



[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter [break]
Shuwen uses Close Combat!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Shuwen blinks. His fist should have crashed into Domon’s head. Instead, the King of Fighters listed to the side with supernatural ease. Navy swears he hears his Pokemon say something that sounds like ‘wha’. It must be his ears playing tricks on him. Other than his war cry, Shuwen never talks. It’s part of his charm. Ladies dig the strong, silent types.[break][break]
“There’s plenty more where that came from. Watch your shoulder there, Shuwen.” Navy’s seen that haymaker be thrown enough times to know the hell it plays on Shuwen’s back. When his Urshifu walked into his life, he wasn’t a young bear.[break][break]
“Stay on the offense!” Shuwen sees the faint hint of a smile on his opponent’s lips. It’s infectious. Skipping forward, his hands glow with red energy – condensed fighting spirit. He aims to knock the air out of the other bear’s lungs with a lightning quick barrage of drain punches. Urshifu of the Rapid Strike style are not prone to doing things with one blow.




[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter [break]
Shuwen uses Drain Punch. Mechanically it's one hit, but this bear likes his stand rushes.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

They say pride goeth before the fall. What happens when both sides are prideful? What Shuwen does next, Navy doesn’t expect at all. They’ve been together ever since April. They’ve eaten together, protected Dewford together. His Urshifu and him are close as bosom brothers. They shared twenty years of woe in Galar.[break][break]
So, when Shuwen stops to flex as well, it blows the gym leader away. Shuwen looks as serious as he’s ever looked. Beneath his fur is copious muscle. Shuwen is not the sort of creature to rest on his laurel. Every day begins with training, climaxes with a nutritious meal, and ends with meditation. He endeavors to keep his body in peak physical condition.[break][break]
He, too, has something to prove. He wants to bulk up before the King of Fighters. As his biceps bulge, riddled with veins, he yells the same cry he always yells.[break][break]
“ORAAAAAAAAAAAA!”


[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter [break]
Shuwen uses bulk up[break]
You know that one scene in the Pokemon anime where the two Metapods use harden and stare at each other?[break]
We're doing that, but gayer and cooler.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Boom goes the fist.[break][break]
Boom goes the hearts of the crowd.[break][break]
Boom goes Navy’s smile as it shoots to the edge of his cheekbones.[break][break]
Shuwen is knocked off his feet, clean into next week. In his time fighting with his fists, Navy has only seen one blow to equal the one Domon just delivered onto his partner in crime. Shuwen skids to a stop amidst upturned sand, leaving a trail of skidmarks in his wake. Navy kneels down by his Pokemon.[break][break]
“Damn…that guy hit you hard, huh?” He teases his Urshifu. Only a man who’s been hit that hard has the right to make a joke out of the matter. Kouji Matsubara’s fists were no joke. Kouji’s partner could use a turn with the king of fighters.[break][break]
“You can stay down if you want. That’s always an option. Kaz’ll get the badge. Hell, I think Domon and him deserve it, but…” He reaches out a hand to his partner in crime. “where’s the fun in that?”[break][break]
Bones pop in Navy’s finger when he pulls Shuwen back up like some ancient soldier pulling forth a sword from a stone. Shuwen flies back around, looking to Domon.[break][break]
Navy’s never known Shuwen’s life story. It’s shocking just how little of his past he knows. Vortigern’s he knows from fragmented dreams. Hattori he found when he was a baby. Shuwen is an enigma. Yet, by all rights, he must have studied as other Urshifu did. He must have fought, bled, lived, cried, longed.[break][break]
His heart must have burned for something. It burns for victory now. Water gathers around his fists.[break][break]
“Better watch out, hero! Looks like Shuwen’s gonna show you some moves!”[break][break]
Each individual fist is nothing. It’s a shred, a strand, a small piece of a larger puzzle. One fist leads into the other, the blows flowing, weaving, conducting. His fists weave a tapestry intricate enough to make the greats cry. They’re invisible from the sheer speed.[break][break]
“We’re gonna show you why the rapid strike school’s no joke!” Navy declares, thrusting a fist out in solidarity with Shuwen.



[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter [break]
Shuwen uses bulk up[break]
You know that one scene in the Pokemon anime where the two Metapods use harden and stare at each other?[break]
We're doing that, but gayer and cooler.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Something changes. It’s subtle, and Shuwen notices it before Navy. Domon’s stance changes. That should be impossible. It takes careful study of a scroll for a kubfu to evolve. Their evolution is a commitment: they choose their style, which defines the rest of their life. In all things, Shuwen flows like water. His brother, wherever he is, strikes with one definitive hand.[break][break]
Domon is doing both. The power of the younger Urshifu takes Shuwen by surprise. His fists try to keep up, but to no avail. Again, and again, and again he is hit. Fist meets fist. Shuwen and Domon look armless to those watching the fight, so quick are their blows.[break][break]
“Oh, you’re good!” Navy doesn’t mask his admiration. It’s a rare thing, a fight this pulse-pounding. Looking at his watch, he resolves to go all out. Even if Shuwen is fighting the king, he can go down swinging.[break][break]
“Shuwen! We’re gonna give ‘em hell right up ‘til the very end! You hear me?! Going down swinging…that’s the Navidson way!” Shuwen is enveloped in light and still he doesn’t stop swinging his fists. His body changes, bathing in the power of infinity energy. Water spurts from his fists. He is a conduit of his school, a paragon of his kind.[break][break]
But what is a paragon to a king? His strikes flow, but the flow is not enough. Shuwen is the river, and Domon is the ocean. His body breaks, he crumples, and Shuwen is the first to fall.[break][break]
The crowd cheers, and none louder than Navy. Everyone likes watching a good hero fight the powers that be and win. When caught against an impossible tide, a true warrior grabs his oar, rows, and does the impossible.[break][break]
“Damn if we still don’t have a long way to go!” Navy laughs.




[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter [break]
Shuwen mega evolves[break]
He punches some more[break]
He goes down.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]