My poor bby. Why does everyone bully you? come here let me hug u.

terry knoes better :(

Third Street… THERE!

Terry Bogard screeched to a halt and leapt out of his vehicle. Across the street was the park. A crowd of cheering spectators had gathered around the basketball court. Anyone else would have concluded there was an interesting game taking place, but Terry knew better.

They ARE still fighting?! That means I'm not too late!

Terry sprinted across the road. A car honked at him as he ran in front of it. He wasn't really looking at his surroundings. He was more concerned with the flash of red hair he saw at the center of the court. His vision was beginning to tunnel. A singular goal consumed his mind.

That goal was to punch Iori Yagami shitless.

Terry shoved past a line of spectators as he flew at the red-haired man, fist withdrawn. They cursed and yelled at him, but he didn't hear them. Neither did he see that Rock was unharmed and was trying to steal a basketball from between Iori's legs. What he did notice, however, was Iori's expression. He was wearing his horrible grin. A look of triumph flashed in his eyes. Terry was going to knock that look right out of him.

If you wanna bully my kid, you better be prepared to face me! LET'S GO!

With a shout, Terry threw his fist at Iori's head. Iori noticed too late to dodge. His grin became a terrified look. He snapped his arm up to guard and opened his mouth to yell.

… weird. I didn't expect to get the first hit… He's normally better than this. Ha! Lucky!

A single arm wasn't enough to absorb the impact Terry unleashed at it. There was a sickening crunch as Iori's shoulder was snapped out of it's socket. He was knocked off his feet and flew until he was swallowed by the hedge lining the court. He immediately began screeching like a banshee.

That was… easy…

Terry was honestly surprised. Usually, attacking from a blind spot didn't work on this fighter. Iori had some weird battle-sense that put him two steps ahead of anyone he fought, including Terry. Perhaps he wasn't paying attention? Whatever. Terry was relieved to have put Iori down so quickly. He turned to Rock, who was standing beside him.

"Hey kiddo, Are you alrigh-"

Terry stopped talking when he caught Rock's expression. The boy was staring at him in shock and dismay. His mouth was dropped open. A basketball fell from between his hands. It traveled past Terry, tapping against the ground until it lost momentum and hit the grass. Terry watched it roll to a stop.

Oh…

The crowd had fallen silent. The only noise was the low drone of the cityscape and Iori's angry screaming from within the park's prized hedge maze.

Rock worked his jaw up and down a few times before he spoke. His words came out as a little more than a soft whisper.

"Dad… what are you doing…"

"... Well… Mary said…hm... "

Terry rubbed the back of his head. He realized how bad this looked to the spectators. He had essentially appeared out of nowhere and interrupted a basketball game by breaking one of the contestant's arms. It would be a hard sell to convince anyone he had good intentions in mind, much less the famously unreasonable Iori Yagami.

... Damn... I messed something up didn't I?...

There was no foreseeable scenario where Iori wouldn't go batshit on him. Rock seemed to harbor the same worries. He spoke briefly as he pushed past his father and approached the screeching bush.

"... I'll try to explain, alright?… you should go."

But Terry wasn't about to leave his son in the company of an angry pyromaniac, he stayed stubbornly on the court. He noticed the spectating crowd had grown larger. Rock shouted as he stepped into the grass.

"Hey! Are you alrig- gah!"

Rock turned to shield from a wave of heat. The air began to crackle. There was a flash of purple-white light. The screaming continued throughout. It was giving Terry a headache.

"BOGAAAARD YOU FUUUUCK!"

Iori howled from within a growing fireball. The lovingly maintained hedges disintegrated beneath purple flames. Iori staggered to his feet and strode toward them, cloaked head to toe in blazing armour. His right shoulder was wrenched oddly; the arm swung limply at his side. He ignored the injury and stalked toward the court, breathing out threats and murder. His good arm was pointed accusingly at Terry. The grass writhed as it folded up and shriveled around his feet. He left charred footprints in the grass.

"YOU ASSHOLE! I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE! MOVE, HOWARD!"

Ah shit.

Terry gritted his teeth and fell into his battle stance, it looked like Iori was pretty serious about killing him. Those flames were hard to deal with, but they were only in second-degree-burn territory at the moment. Terry needed to end this before Iori ramped up the heat.

If I can land a punch to the head, I can knock him out… wait, but what if I snap his neck?... shit… I feel bad killing him… this is my fault after all…

"YOU'RE DEAD, TERR- Howard! What are you doing!"

"Rock! Get back! I'll take care of him!"

Rock had run up to stand between his father and his potential boss in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. He wasn't doing a very good job.

"Can we please just talk this out?"

"BITCHASS BROKE MY ARM WHAT IS THERE TO TALK ABOUT! MOVE!"

"Rock! I said get out!"

Iori strode up to the teenager and glared down at him. The ground around them was catching fire. Flames licked up around Rock's ankles, but the teenager didn't seem to be feeling any heat. It seemed the musician wasn't quite willing to murder his basketball buddy. Not yet, at least.

Rock, uncharacteristically, glared right back at the red-haired man. There was a snarl in his voice that wasn't normally there. His eyes were shadowed, and a sneer - reminiscent of his biological father - twisted his boyish features.

Geese's blood!

"Back off Yagami! Touch him and I'll make you cry."

Terry tried to approach, but the heat was becoming severe. He cursed himself, then crouched and planted both hands on the asphalt. The ground rumbled beneath his palms as he pulled energy up from the earth. He positioned the force beneath Iori's feet like a loaded gun. The moment the flaming man made any move to attack Rock, Terry would blast him to hell.

"Make me cry?! Hah! I'll take you on, duckling."

"What the hell does ducklin-..." Rage flickered across Rock's features as he caught the reference. He hissed at Iori. "I'm not related to 'that man'. Get Ready!"

"Fine then. Let's go."

Iori seemed unphased by his broken arm. He quickly snapped his shoulder back in place, then pulled off his shirt and wrapped it into a makeshift sling. He stood sideways, his bad arm resting against his stomach, his good arm outstretched toward his opponent. His fingers shimmered with something. The fire on the ground died and the heat lifted. It seemed Iori didn't intend to use his flames for this match.

Unfortunately, Terry was past caring about the details. He was going to save his son, even if it meant blasting a recently-crippled man thirty feet in the air.

This really doesn't look good, heh.

"Get ready to die, How-"

The ground exploded.

Iori began screaming again.

Terry grabbed Rock by the back of his shirt, and sprinted toward the patrol car.

Yag must have a great (singing) range. His normal voice is pretty deep, but he spends a lot of time screaming at stuff.

lol Terry ruined everything. :( poor Rock.

Yag isn't dieded. don't worry. (I'll never kill him. NEVER)

I initially wanted the ending to be some weird, funny twist where Iori just gets his arm popped out of socket, and he gets into an argument with Rock about something stupid. Then he just puts his arm back in, and they continue playing... but Iori's too much of an evil asshole to fit into my plot. So I decided to beat him up a little. (bby nooo, why are you so unreasonable!)

Can we get some Kyo cameo next chapter? This story doesn't have enough sexual tension (KEK)

I THINK story's almost done... I mean, the next chapter should be the last in the 'story' then one more chap for epilogue... but who knows. this thing could carry on for like twenty chapters lol... fk my life.

Shermie's a Baller

Name this chapter - but not Jojo. (fam you got ch2 already. I love you.)