Notes

Hey, everybody! Turns out I'm not dead! :D I don't know if I'm making a comeback yet, but I do feel more like posting stuff lately. We'll see how it goes when I try writing a brand-new story. In the meantime, here's a very very old story...but I'm just now finishing and posting it, so it'll be new to you! :)

This story is set back in 1999, several months before that year's King of Fighters tourney. If you recall, that was the first one with the Striker format, along with 4-person teams. This is also still early in the series timeline, meaning that for once these people will be acting their age. This mostly affects Athena, an 18-year-old that's just out of high school and still trying to make it as an idol. The others are pretty much the same: young women with proven skills and a chip on their shoulder. ...the chip may've been a little bigger back then, though. ;)

I'm posting all three chapters at once, btw, so no more notes till we're at the end of the show.

Hope you enjoy! (Hee, it's been so long since I've used that tag ^_^)

Gorgeous

"Ah...Ms. Asamiya?"

She was sitting in her hotel room, going through paperwork of some sort. She'd asked for some time alone so she could concentrate, but after an hour and a half she didn't mind the disturbance.

"Please, Jeff - it's Athena. Athena," she said, looking towards the door and smiling. She was still getting used to the personal assistant the studio had sent over, and apparently he was still getting used to her as well. "What's up?"

"The front desk sent up a phone call..."

Her gentle smile turned into an irritated smirk. "Didn't I say I didn't want any calls right now...?" she asked, sounding more annoyed than she actually felt.

"I know, Ms - Athena. But she said it was urgent, and she said you'd know what it was about."

"Oh? Well who was it?"

"Erhm...she said her name was 'King.'"

She blinked. "King...?"

"She's got me on hold," she chuckled, her hand over the receiver.

She, meanwhile, was standing behind the counter of a bar in Southtown, not so many miles away from her target. The pop star was on the last legs of her first American tour, and the bartender knew this would be the best time to contact her. The hour was early, so the rest of the bar was almost empty...but not quite.

"What do you mean, 'on hold'?" said Mai Shiranui, sitting on a bar stool on the other side of the counter.

"What, does she have operators now?" said Yuri Sakazaki, one stool over.

"Well, not exactly," the first woman replied with a smirk. "He called himself a 'personal assistant'."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Mai exclaimed, holding her temple as Yuri laughed outright. "Are you two sure about this...?"

"Oh, come on, Mai. She's not as stuck up as all that," Yuri assured her. "I got to know her a couple years ago, before our match. She's all right. Really."

"And she's definitely strong enough," their companion put in. "Remember, she took out Ryo that year. By herself."

"Not that she lasted much longer..." added a smirking Yuri, who had succeeded where her brother had failed. (...okay, maybe he had worn her down, but still.) "But anyway, who else is there? Now that Chizuru's - "

"Shh," the first woman said suddenly. Then, "Athena, is that you?"

"It sure is, King!" said Athena Asamiya, her face lighting up in recognition. "It's been so long! How've you been?"

"Not too bad," said the woman known only as King, on the other end of the phone line. "Not as good as you, though..."

"Heard about the big tour, huh?" Athena giggled. "The last six months have just been totally bizarro..."

King chuckled a little. "Still behind on your English lingo, I see."

"Hey, don't be that way," Athena pouted, in her best "hurt" tone. "At least I actually know another language. Nihongo o hanasemasu ka?"

"Parlez-vous Français?"

"Nǐ huì shuō zhōngwén ma⁇"

"...okay, okay, I give," King yielded, thoroughly trumped. The two shared a good bout of laughter then, though admittedly Athena was the louder among them.

"So, anyway," said King, after a moment. "About this call..."

"Yes, I was wondering, actually," said Athena. "You told Jeff I would know what it's about, but I don't. What's going on?"

"Well...you've gotten your invitation for this year's King of Fighters, right?"

"Mm-hmm," said Athena, nodding. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to enter as usual. It'll be hard to fit into my schedule...but I really should make an appearance. It's what got me started, y'know?"

"Of course," King smoothly replied.

"And after all the trouble with the Orochi, it kind of seems like my duty, too," the talkative young woman went on. "I mean...I'm a Psycho Soldier, right?"

"...right," King replied, a bit less smoothly. Athena thought she might have heard a chuckle in there, but she couldn't be sure. "At any rate, I've been talking with some of the girls about this year's team. It turns out Yuri's back out of the Kyokugen group."

"Really?" said Athena, her eyes widening a bit. A small flash of irritation went through her at the mention of Yuri's name, but she fought it off; she was still her friend, after all.

"That's right," King replied. "Looks like the original Team Gorgeous is making a comeback this year."

"That's great!" Athena beamed, happy not so much for the news as for the women themselves.

"But...there's just one little problem," King went on.

"Hmm? What's that?"

"You might remember that the tournament's changing formats this year," said King. "Each team is supposed to have four members. The three of us are ready to sign, but we're still looking for a fourth." She paused. "And...we were sort of hoping you could be that fourth."

Athena blinked. "...what?"

"We want you to be the fourth member of Team Gorgeous."

Silence only greeted her for quite some time.

"Ooh...dramatic," Mai eventually remarked.

"Well? What's she saying⁇" asked Yuri.

"Nothing yet," King whispered sharply, her hand back over the receiver.

"Is she that surprised?"

"I'm surprised she hadn't figured it out already," Mai snickered.

"Yeah, well - " Then King cut herself off, as Athena's voice finally came back through the receiver.

"...me?" she was saying. "You want me to be a part of the Women's Team?"

"You got it," said King. "So...what do you think?"

"Oh, King, I...I'm flattered, really - but I don't think I can," said Athena, her voice full of remorse. "I always sign on with Kensou and Master Chin, you know?"

"Yeah. But I've heard Sie's been having problems of his own lately," King coolly shot back. "Something about him losing his psychic powers...?"

"...now how in the world did you hear about that?"

"I have my sources," said King, throwing a wink over to Mai. She didn't know how exactly Mai had gotten the intel, and right now she didn't much care. "But even if Sie turns out okay, what are you going to do about a fourth member?"

"Actually, Master Chin's taken on another student," Athena informed her. "He may be a little young, but - "

"How young?"

"Uhm...11, I think - "

"Bao's 11⁇" King exclaimed without thinking. That got her another wide-eyed look from Yuri, another fit of laughter from Mai...and another awkward silence from Athena.

"...so. Heard about him, too, huh?" she finally said in clipped tones. Clearly Mai's laughter had carried over the receiver.

"Listen, Athena...I know you're loyal to your team. And I respect that," King told her. "But how far do you think the Psycho Soldiers are going to get this year with an 11-year-old, a psychic without powers and an old - " She stopped herself. "...er...no offense, Athena, but Chin is getting on in years..."

"...yeah, I know," Athena sighed, to King's relief. "But the Master thinks we should compete anyway. He says it'll be a good test for Bao, and the excitement might help bring back Kensou's powers."

King raised her eyebrow, not that Athena could see it. "Do you really think that's safe...?"

"...well...not entirely..."

"So let 'em rest," King urged. "If you sign on with us, you can keep them from getting in over their heads and still do your duty as a Psycho Soldier."

"'Do her duty'...?" Mai asked, smirking.

"Shut up," King hissed with a glare.

Athena had paused again, but this time it turned out to be a good thing. "...well...I dunno..." she soon said, in that particular tone of voice that basically means "yes."

"Ah, come on, Athena," King wheedled. "Wouldn't it be fun to get away from the guys for a while? We're all about fun here at Team Gorgeous."

"I'm about to have fun with Yuri right now!" Mai called out, grinning.

"...Mai, what're you talking - "

Mai then snatched the tie from Yuri's braid and started taking it out. Yuri cried out in protest, and soon the two were wrestling over it; King smiled to herself as she heard her target giggling.

"Tell you what, Athena," King went on. "Why don't the four of us meet at the bar for dinner tonight, hmm? It'll be my treat. We can catch up with each other, reminisce about old times...and, maybe, if you're having fun, talk some more about signing up. How 'bout it?"

"...maaaybe," said Athena, sounding a bit playful herself. "I'll have to check my schedule, of course - "

"Oh, for crying out...screw the schedule," King said firmly. "You deserve a girl's night out, and you know it. Now what do you say?"

She could almost hear her resolve crumbling away.

"...okay, I'll do it," Athena happily agreed. King smiled and gave another thumbs-up to Mai and Yuri, who, remembering why they were there, stopped their struggles and cheered. "You said tonight, right? How about 7?"

"You got it," said King. She gave her the address to the bar, along with some vague directions on how to get there from her hotel. "And try not to show up in a limo, okay? It'll hurt my image."

"Ha ha ha," Athena said sarcastically in response.

"Oh - and the dress code's casual. Casual, Athena."

"I get it already," Athena giggled. "See you then!"

"See you," said King, as she hung up the phone. She then breathed a satisfied sigh, turned back to her companions, and grinned. "All right, ladies...time to turn on the charm. We've got an evening to plan..."

"Athena won't know what hit her‼" Yuri cried, raising her fist into the air.

"You bet she won't..." Mai mumbled, smirking to herself.

Athena hung up the phone a few seconds later, her own grin at least as wide as King's. The call had been an unexpected and very pleasant surprise. Ever since her tour had started, she hadn't taken much time off for fun, or anything else for that matter. She was looking forward to a nice, friendly night out with the girls, even if she was going to have to disappoint them in the end.

...wasn't she?

King had a point, after all. This probably wasn't the best year for the rest of her team to compete. Kensou was mentally crippled; Bao was physically untrained. Granted, the Master's age hadn't slowed him down one bit - but the way he'd been hitting the bottle lately, that might not be true come fight night.

But could she really abandon the Psycho Soldiers, even for Team Gorgeous?

She'd just have to wait and see.

"Jeff?" she said loudly, calling him back into the room. "I don't have anything too important going on tonight, do I?"

"Ah...actually, there is that meeting with - "

"Cancel it," she told him, smiling. "I've got a date..."