The Queen of Fighters Tournament
Author's Note: This story has no particular time frame, because it features dead characters (like Shermie), but I guess it's after the events of KoF XI (because it features characters introduced in that game, like Elisabeth). Of course, it's AU (with that 'all the dead becoming the living again' thing and all…) It's a play on SNK Gals Fighters (I refuse to type that unnecessary apostrophe in), but this time, it's just KoF girls – no characters from other SNK games. I'm mainly writing this for my own (and hopefully somebody else's too) amusement, so, it's not meant to be serious, or have a greater purpose. Words in italics represent a character's thoughts.
Disclaimer: I don't own The King of Fighters, or any of the characters I use in this fic. And if I happen to mention some other game, or something like that, I don't own that either. Just to make sure…
It is the year of our Lord… Which one exactly? It doesn't matter. But anyway, once again the invitations to the most prestigious fighting tournament of the year find their way to the world's greatest fighters. But, this time, it's different than before. Only former female KoF contestants are invited this year. A total of 23 invitations were sent to the addresses of the following fighters: Athena Asamiya, Yuri Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui, King, Leona Heidern, Kasumi Todoh, Mature, Vice, Chizuru Kagura, Blue Mary, Shermie, Whip, Li Xiangfei, Vanessa, Hinako Shijou, Kula Diamond, May Lee, Foxy, Angel, Malin, Momoko, Bonne Jenet and Elisabeth Blanctorche. They all read the same: "You are cordially invited to this year's The Queen of Fighters Tournament. The winner will be granted a special prize. The rules of the Tournament are somewhat different from the standard rules that applied to The King of Fighters Tournaments. However, all the details will be thoroughly explained once you arrive to the Southtown Arena where the Tournament will be held. You are expected to be there exactly 7 days after you receive this invitation, at 15.30 sharp. With hopes to see you there, yours sincerely, SNKP staff."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the appointed day, all of the invited fighters were making their way toward the Southtown Arena. Yuri, Mai and King were walking together.
"Ryo was so jealous that he wasn't invited this time.", Yuri laughed. "I guess being on the roster each time spoiled him a little. I'm so glad I'll finally get a break from him. So, guys, if there are teams of three again, do you want us to be on the same team? It'll be just like the good old days."
"Urm, I don't know, Yuri, a lot of fighters have been on our team since the 'old days', and I'm sure they'll all want to team up with us again. I mean, I don't blame them, we are the best.", Mai said haughtily. "And we need to pick the best fighter available to fill the third spot. We have to be careful who we choose, you know."
"Are you saying that I'm not the best fighter available? How dare you?", Yuri was riling up.
"Relax, Yuri, she was joking.", King interrupted, before Mai had a chance to say anything. I think I really wouldn't be able to stand more of their bickering, King thought tiredly. I was actually hoping I'd team up with someone less annoying this year. They both are pretty strong, but they're giving me a migraine each time I'm with them for more than an hour.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once they got inside, instead of the main hall, they were all led to a room that kinda looked like a classroom. There were three rows of seats, and in front of them, instead of a board, there was a screen. The screen automatically turned on when the last of them took a seat.
Everyone stopped talking and focused their attention on the screen. It showed what seemed to be a boardroom with several men and women wearing formal suits sitting behind a long table. The man sitting it the center seemed to be in charge. After a short period of silence, he started talking:"Welcome, my ladies. I am the director of the SNKP and these are the SNKP's best character designers and story editors. We have invited you here to participate in a special tournament. Since SNK Gals Fighters wasn't as successful as we hoped it'd be, we decided to try with a similar concept, but this time, only with KoF characters. And we opted to abandon the trend of leaving some characters out, so we decided to invite you all. This is meant to be a friendly tournament, where you'll all get to know each other better and spend some quality time with each other."
"This is so stupid", Vice said. "I don't want to get to know any of these losers. I'm just here for the prize."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure nobody wants to get to know you, either. Psycho!", Malin retorted.
"Listen here, you li…", Vice started with a dangerous tone of voice.
"Ladies, please.", the man on the screen interrupted. "I'd appreciate it if you'd let me finish. You'll get to talk and get to know each other as much as you want after I'm done."
"He can hear us?", Jenet asked, surprised.
"Yes, I can hear you.", the man replied. "I can also see you." A few girls looked around themselves at that statement. "There are four cameras.", he explained, noticing the commotion. "Now, to get on with what I need to tell you. As you've all, I'm sure, read in your invitations, the rules are going to be slightly different from the standard KoF rules. The most important change is that, instead of 3 person teams, you will be forming 2 person teams this time. The method of tag-team fighting will be used, just like since the beginnig of The Tales of Ash storyline."
"Uhm… Excuse me?", Hinako raised her hand. "I have a question. You can hear me, right?"
"Yes, I can hear you. What is your question?"
"There are 23 of us here. And 23 is an odd number. We can't form teams of two that way."
"And 23 is also a prime number, so we can't form teams at all.", Vanessa added.
"Ah, yes, I was just getting to that", the director said. "You will form the teams of two and whoever ends up without a team-mate will be labeled 'The Most Unpopular KoF Girl Ever' and will not appear in any of the future KoF games. At least not in the canonical ones. We can make no promises about possible SvC or NGBC editions. If they're willing to hire you, after being banished from the KoF world, which I doubt, we won't stop them."
This caused a huge tumult among the girls and none of them was listening to the director any more. They were all talking about possible team-mates. Because, no matter how cool and detached (like Leona), or how dead (like Mature, Vice, Foxy and Shermie) or how ignored (like Xiangfei) they were, none of them wanted to be excluded from the KoF tournaments forever. Even if they were canonically dead, they still had dream-matches to hope for.
"Ahem… Ladies… May I have your attention just for a little while longer, please?", the director asked. "You'll all be staying at the hotel nearby, throughout the entire tournament. Don't worry, we'll cover all the expenses. You are our guests. Once you settle who'll your team-mate be, just come to the reception desk, and you'll be handed the keys to your room. You will be informed about the time and place of your matches, as well as about your opponents in time. Now, about the prize for the winner…"
This got the fighters' attention again. They were all listening carefully now.
"Much like in SNK Gals Fighters", he proceeded, "where the winner was granted one wish, the team who wins all the matches and defeats the boss in the end, can request one thing from us. Each member of the winning team will be granted one request. You can ask us anything, from giving you a new haircut to determining the details of your ending in our upcoming game KoF XII. And, remember, we are much more powerful than some old talisman.", he finished with a smirk.
"I don't see the point in all this. It looks fishy to me.", Mary said. "Why would they go out of their way just to indulge one of us? Or two of us, in this case…"
"Hm, let me answer that, Ms Ryan.", the director started again. "The KoF XII will apparently not be released any time soon, so we need a game that's easy to produce, but will appeal to the audience to keep them occupied until KoF XII arrives. So, we decided to make you all an offer you won't be able to refuse.", he finished, with an evil smile.
"So, we're basically being used here.", Kasumi said dejectedly.
"What an injustice! You should be ashamed of yourself.", May Lee said, obviously upset. "There's no way Eolith directors would ever do something like that to us."
"Please, Ms Lee", the director said sternly. "Do not compare us with Eolith. If you do not desire to participate in this tournament, you can just leave now, and we'll have our 'MUKoFGE' right away. Now, are there any further questions?", he asked.
"Yes", Foxy said. "You mentioned that the winners will have to win all the battles and defeat the boss. I would like to know who the boss is."
"Oh, well", he chuckled, "we aren't really supposed to tell you that, because according to the good old KoF tradition, the winning team learns the identity of the boss after the last match, but since she's already here… Why not? Ms Bernstein, would you care to join me here and introduce yourself to our contestants?"
Shortly after, Rose Bernstein could be seen approaching the table and standing next to the director's chair. "Thank you.", she said. "So, you've heard it. Whichever of you maggots manages to win all the matches will have the honor of fighting against me. Now, since there will be two of you on the team, I will be using the help of my pet panther, Gwan, so it would be a fair, two-on-two battle."
"Uhm… Is Gwan a female panther?", Kula asked.
"Urrm… Yes, sure he is. …I mean, sure she is.", Rose said.
"Fighting with a panther? That is totally unfair! And the boss is Rose?! Oh, come on, I'm sure even you guys could have found someone better than that. I mean, she's not even a fighter.", Yuri protested.
"Quiet, you little trash!", Rose snapped. "You have no idea whether I'm a fighter or not. And those of you who win, will have the privilege of seeing my beautiful and noble fighting style. Too bad it's going to be the last thing you'll see. For there can be only one Queen of Fighters, and that's me. The Queen has spoken.", Rose finished snootily and walked away out of their sight. The other girls could hear the door open and then slam shut in the boardroom. The director seemed a little embarrassed by all this.
"Uhm… sorry about that, ladies. Since Rugal is the usual boss in the dream-matches and other non-canonical games, we tried to convince him to appear here wearing a dress, but he just wouldn't hear about it. So, we invited his daughter, instead. We thought of it as a way to stay true to the KoF spirit. Now, we shall retire and leave you to decide your teams. Choose carefully, 'cos it just might make the difference between the victory and the defeat. Good luck, and I'll see the two of you with most luck, skill and power in this boardroom in a few days. Goodbye!" The screen went black.
The room was silent for a second. But just for a second. All the women started talking at the same time, barely listening to each other, trying to find the best possible team-mate to team up with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: OK, that was the first chapter. It was basically just the introduction. In the next chapter, the girls will try to form their teams. Each one will try to get the best for herself. Some of them will get just what they wanted, others will end up with unlikely team-mates (although I will try to have all teams make at least some sense). But someone will be left high and dry. Want to know who? Tune in next time, for another episode of 'The Queen of Fighters Tournament'.
Please, review!