16 years ago, a story that took place during Katsuya's childhood. While Katsuya's father was overseas due to being asked to teach some Karate classes, Evan Armstrong was in his place to take care of Katsuya.
Katsuya hugs Evan.
- "Young master?"
Evan asks, confused at the sudden hug. Katsuya looks up at his teacher.
- "How are you and papa so strong?"
He asks with a curious smile on his face. The two sit on the floor. Evan puts his fingers on his chin, trying to recall a story.
- "Well, your dad and I have been Karate practitioners since we were kids. You know, we've been through everything together, we're pretty much like brothers. Of course, at the start we weren't very strong, but through constant and consistent training we were able to get to where we are now."
- "Wooooow, so have you stopped training since you're so strong now?"
Evan smiles and pats Katsuya.
- "Nope. Your father and I train every day, even when it doesn't seem like we're doing so. Even now, I am stronger than I was yesterday, and that goes the same for your father. And I have no reason to stop, as there are still heights I've yet to reach."
Katsuya enjoys hearing about his father and Evan's stories about the path to power. Evan closes his eyes.
- "But you know, it's not just the consistent training that got us to this level."
- "Hm? What else is there?'
Evan gets up and sets up a large wooden board to stand. He then shatters it with a straight punch.
- "Trust in your power and your martial art. There's no point in spending all those hours if you don't love what you do. You may still end up very strong, but you will never surpass those who believe in themselves."
He says.
- "Evan-san it's your turn to clean up y'know!"
One of the other students in the dojo shouts.
- "Ack. Alright."
Evan says as he picks up the pieces of the wooden board.
- "Believe in my power and my martial art, huh…"
Katsuya thinks to himself before standing up.
- "I'm gonna go to bed Evan-san goodnight!"
He says before running back to his room. Evan smiles.
- "That kid is going to go far."
He thinks to himself before continuing the cleaning.
Back in the present day, the master and the student enter the arena, facing off as enemies.
- "And now, it's time for round 2, match 2! Katsuya "The God Hand" Masamichi versus Evan "The Bear Slayer" Armstrong!!!"
The two stare each other down.
- "Fighters are you ready!?"
The two bow and get into their respective stances.
Waldemar watches from the stands despite his injuries.
- "Who do you think you're fooling with that?"
He thinks to himself.
- "Then…BEGIN!!!"
Both fighters go for a straight punch, clashing fists together. The force of their punches sends a shockwave throughout the arena.
- "Woah! Such power!"
Evan goes for a Mawashi Geri, but Katsuya ducks under for an Ashi Dori, or a leg take down. The two fell to the floor.
- "A grappling fight between two strikers!?"
Evan kicks him away and gets back up. Katsuya goes into a Shiko Dachi stance, while Evan goes into a cat-foot stance. The two fighters slowly close the distance while circling around each other. They're staring daggers at each other.
- "Oh boy, can anyone else feel the heat!?"
Evan goes for the straight punch, but Katsuya parries and hits him with an elbow to the chest. Evan tries to counter with a front kick but Katsuya dodges and knee kicks Evan in the chest, sending him back.
- "Katsuya's not letting Evan get any hits in!"
Evan takes a deep breath before rushing in. Katsuya readies himself. The two launch absolutely devastating body blows, both aimed at the solar plexus. The two wince in pain.
- "That's going to hurt for sure!"
The two shout their battle cries and start launching barrages of straights into each other's torsos. With each punch, both start coughing up blood as their knuckles get worn down from beating on each other.
- "Holy shit! They may be durable, but those punches are deadly!"
In the infirmary, Petro Volkov watches.
- "Damn these two are strong, I never really had a chance, huh?"
He thinks to himself.
The exchange ends as Evan parries Katsuya's last punch and elbows him in the temple, messing up his balance. Evan then tackles him to the ground.
- "Oh!? Evan's looking to end it early!"
Evan raises his arms for the ground-and-pound, but Katsuya pushes him off his hips and rolls away. Katsuya gets back up and follows up with an Awase Zuki, pushing Evan back. Katsuya jumps up and performs a Quadruple Median Line Strike, which Evan blocks with a Mawashi Uke.
- "Woah! Evan just blocked the Quadruple Median Line Strike!"
Evan goes for an eye poke, Katsuya dodges, but fails to dodge the incoming headbutt. Evan then tackles him once more, but Katsuya sneaks in a straight to the gut. Evan fails the tackle, instead throwing Katsuya across the arena.
- "Looks like Evan is playing dirty now, but there's no rules against it!"
Katsuya recomposes himself.
- "That's right, this isn't a Karate match, and he's given up on Karate…but he's still a monstrous opponent!"
Katsuya is getting into a more relaxed stance now. Evan wipes the blood off his nose and mouth. Evan inches closer. Katsuya readies for the next assault, but Evan halts right before striking distance.
- "You can use anything you want, you know?"
Evan says.
- "I know, but like you used to say, trust in your power and in your martial art. I could be doing those fancy professional wrestling moves, but they aren't my martial art. They aren't my power. I spent my life training in Karate, and that's what I'm going to use."
Katsuya says, before spitting blood.
- "I never thought you'd be the one to stop believing in yourself."
He adds, as he gets back into position. Evan gets within striking range, Katsuya immediately goes through with a Mawashi Geri. Evan parries and goes for a straight to the face. He then follows up with an uppercut, sending Katsuya back.
- "Trust me, this is still my power, but I no longer deserve to be with you guys."
Katsuya rushes in.
- "Bullshit!"
He shouts as he throws a straight punch. Evan ducks under, grabs Katsuya's gi, and throws him over the shoulder. Katsuya winces in pain.
- "Another spectacular shoulder throw from Evan!"
Evan tries to stomp him, but Katsuya rolls away and gets up. Evan takes a boxing stance.
- "Wait, is that what I think it is!?"
Johnny, in the infirmary, is shocked at what he is seeing.
- "I can't believe what I'm seeing."
He mutters to himself. Evan goes in with a jab. Katsuya parries, but Evan follows up with a shovel hook. Katsuya tries to retaliate, but Evan throws an uppercut, landing flush on Katsuya's jaw.
- "A massive uppercut from The Bear Slayer!"
Evan then sweeps Katsuya's leg, grabbing his gi once more to throw him over the shoulder. Massive damage taken by Katsuya.
- "And another shoulder throw! How's Katsuya going to recover from this mixed martial art barrage!"
Evan attempts an arm breaker, but Katsuya rolls away in time. As Evan gets up, Katsuya lands a Mawashi Geri straight to the head, sending Evan back and dealing an insane amount of damage.
- "Those strikes and those throws were strong…but they're nothing like your Karate skills."
Katsuya says, as he gets back into position.
- "What would you know?"
Evan asks.
- "There's no mastery, there's no trust in those boxing moves or those Judo moves. Those straight punches to my torso earlier? They really hurt. You still believe in Karate; you're just in denial!"
Katsuya shouts. Evan looks away.
- "You don't get it. Please, just shut up and fight!"
Evan replies with a shaky voice. He rushes in with a sloppy right hook, Katsuya dodges, but Evan follows up with a nasty knee to the body. Katsuya is shaken.
- "A devastating knee to Katsuya's core!"
Katsuya tries to follow up, but Evan drops down and grabs his gi, throwing him behind.
- "A Circular Throw! Looks like Evan's trying to get some distance here!"
Katsuya lands on his feet. He recomposes and gets back into position. Jack and Leonardo are watching from the stands too.
- "That man is being inefficient."
Leonardo says.
- "Evan?"
- "Yeah."
- "You're right. He's supposedly a great Karateka, but he's been adding other arts' moves to his own. Now, that's not bad per say, but they're much sloppier than his Karate moves."
Jack says.
- "It's never a bad thing to add more moves to your arsenal, but from what I see, that's not what he's doing. What do you think?"
He adds.
- "Hmm, I don't have the full context so I can't really say, but yeah, his non-Karate moves are really sloppy. Let's just keep watching."
Leonardo replies.
Evan rushes in with a front kick. Katsuya dodges and hits him with a straight punch. Evan braces himself, but Katsuya stops the punch before it lands. Evan opens his eyes and backs off.
- "What's this!? Katsuya just stopped himself from hitting Evan!"
Katsuya stands up straight, not even in a stance.
- "Can you at least tell me what happened?"
Evan closes his eyes and winces.
- "I can't, young mast-"
- "NOT AS THE YOUNG MASTER OF THE DOJO, BUT AS ONE MARTIAL ARTIST TO ANOTHER, I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!"
He shouts. The echoes linger throughout the arena.
- "…Fine, but only if you defeat me."
Evan says, with a somber tone to his voice. Katsuya grins.
- "That's all I needed to hear."
Katsuya changes stance, lowering his left arm to his waist, raising his right arm parallel to his head, with his left leg in front of the right.
- "Katsuya's pulling out the Heaven and Earth stance!"
Evan goes into a southpaw boxing stance. The two get within striking distance, but no one makes a move. The tension is building up, as they stare into each other's eyes.
- "I can feel the intensity from here!"
The final exchange starts. The two start launching another barrage of attacks. From straight punches to knifehand chops, to spearhand thrusts. However, none of these attacks are landing.
- "What's going on!? It looks like their attacks are phasing right through them!"
Many of the fighters are shocked at what's going on.
- "They still have enough stamina to do something like that!?"
Norrawich grumbles.
- "What speed! But this late in a match!?"
Miguel exclaims.
It is a combination of speed, timing, and predictions. Both fighters move out of the way at the last second in order to preserve stamina while also countering with their own attack. It takes an extreme amount of concentration to pull something like this off.
- "So fast, yet neither fighter has landed a hit in this exchange!"
Jitae, watching in the stands with Adam and Sang.
- "The first one to break will be the one who's the most damaged…which means…!"
Evan breaks the stalemate with a hook to Katsuya's face. Katsuya's stunned, Evan follows up with a cross, but Katsuya parries and lands a straight punch to Evan's solar plexus.
- "Katsuya counters Evan's cross punch! Evan's in pain!"
Evan tries to raise his guard, but Katsuya hits him with a devastating side kick to Evan's liver. Evan blacks out for a second.
- "It's over, Evan-san!"
Katsuya jumps and kicks Evan's nose, jaw, throat, solar plexus, and abs.
- "QUINTUPLE MEDIAN LINE STRIKE!!!!"
Evan is knocked out and drops to the floor. Katsuya bows, signaling the end of the fight.
- "And the winner is…KATSUYA "THE GOD HAND" MASAMICHI!!!"
Katsuya picks Evan up.
- "I'll take care of this."
He leaves the arena with Evan's arm wrapped around him.
- "A respectful display of sportsmanship from Katsuya!"
Katsuya takes Evan to the infirmary. Evan gets patched up and wakes up. Katsuya is sitting next to his bed.
- "So, tell me what happened."
Katsuya asks. Evan sighs.
- "First of all, you've really grown strong, haven't you?"
He says. Katsuya smiles at the compliment.
- "Okay, listen well. Do you still remember what I said when I left?"
- "Of course. You wanted to find out who exactly murdered your personal student and my senpai, Daniel Karlson, and so you left on a quest for revenge."
- "So, you know what happens next right?"
- "My dad told me about the match between you and Peter Maximus."
- "So, the information really did arrive there. I see. Then you must know that Peter was the one who killed Daniel."
- "Yes, I do."
- "And you also know that I killed Peter during the match, to avenge Daniel."
Katsuya nods.
- "Okay, with that out of the way, let me tell you why I never came back. Before I officially joined your father's dojo as an instructor, I had a little Karate class of my own in America, and Peter was one of my students. I left Peter in charge of that class when I left for Japan. I think…that was my worst mistake."
Evan sighs before continuing his recollection.
- "During our match, Peter told me how he couldn't live up to how I taught them, and so the school closed. He turned to violence, becoming a hitman just to survive. With the money he had earned, he flew to Japan to see me. Instead, it broke his heart to see me having fun with my new class, and especially my new personal student. A few days later, Daniel was found beaten to death, and well, you know the rest."
The two sat in silence for a moment.
- "I'm a failure as a Karate instructor. I let my student down, and he used the techniques I made him learn to do horrible things. I failed to protect both Daniel and Peter, and in the end, it was my fault that both of them died. I never lost faith in Karate, but I lost faith in myself. I didn't think I was worth my techniques, so I tried learning other arts to make up for that, but my body would not listen. You said it best yourself; my non-Karate techniques were sloppy."
Evan sits in silence.
- "Then…come back."
- "Huh?"
- "Come back to us. My words may not be very convincing, considering I am just a kid to you, but come back. We will get you to believe in yourself again. There are still many people who look up to you, me included. I wouldn't be where I am right now without you."
- "No, I…I couldn't."
- "Then, how about you hear it from him?"
- "…What?"
Katsuya opens the door to reveal a muscular man in civilian clothing. He has scars all over his arms and legs. It's Katsuya's father, Mentaro Masamichi.
- "Yo."
He casually says. Evan is in shock.
- "Mentaro..? What are you doing here?"
- "Heh, in case you've forgotten I'm a fighter too. There's no way I'm missing the biggest fighting event in the world, but more importantly…"
Mentaro bows.
- "Please, come back to us."
He says with utmost sincerity. Evan gets up from his bed.
- "Raise your head, I don't deserve your bow."
Mentaro straightens his posture.
- "Maybe, but you can change that. Come back to us, start over."
- "…Can I really? After all these years..? After losing faith in myself..?"
- "Yes. It's never too late to start over."
Evan starts crying. Katsuya and Mentaro proceed to hug him.
- "Okay, I'll come back."
He says with tears running down his face.
- "Welcome back, Evan-sensei."
Katsuya says with a big smile.