A/N: Well, here it is after quite a bit of a wait… the next part of Fatal Fury 3 and the beginning of the King of Fighters '96!

(Insert disclaimer here)

"Boss, she's back," shouted Clark as Leona again walked onto the grounds of the base in civilian clothing. Clark and Ralf hadn't seen her since the Wyler incident, and even though she seemed to have regained some of her composure, Leona was still seemed less than at ease. She smiled and waved at them as the two crack-shot mercenaries walked up to her. Before yawning… it was getting dark out and the jet-lag from flying from Japan hadn't been fantastic.

"You okay?" Clark asked.

"Enough of it," Leona answered, "There's a few things I still need answered about… well, what happened, but that'll have to wait for a little longer. All I can really focus on now is the tournament… after all, Todoh is going to be one of our first opponents."

"See anything weird down there?" asked Kevin Rian as he and his partner, Leon S. Bluefield combed the grittier streets of Southtown in hopes of tracking down Ryuji Yamazaki.

Leon shook his head when he looked around the corner. "Nothing serious…"

"Alright, I'll contact that Hon Fu guy… let him know it's clean here," Kevin said as he flipped open his radio holster and reached for it.

Clink. Clink.

Leon turned back to where he had been a minute ago, drawing his sidearm at the point of the sound… and was completely dumbfounded by who he saw walking towards him.

"Kevin… we got a clown here…"

White looked up at them both with an amused look. "What are you doing here?" he asked almost jovially as he looked at the two.

"Tracking down Yamazaki, now what about you?" Kevin asked.

White just chuckled as he removed his hat and sarcastically bowed to both of them. "Me? I am merely a free man in this corrupt world. And as for being here…" he checked his watch, "There's going to be an air-drop here in roughly two minutes. Now I would greatly appreciate if you two would scurry off and do your gumshoe 'cop thing' someplace else. Otherwise, I'm going to kill you."

Leon and Kevin opened fire without a second thought, although White casually spun his staff around like he was in some sort of Broadway musical before the guns were out of bullets.

Kevin and Leon went to reload…

… and then White was in front of Kevin, smashing him in the gut with his cane and then dodging Leon's shots and then doing the cruelest thing White could do to the man.

Touch him and then kill him.

Kevin knew police officers and detectives that had lost partners before… but he had only been regaining composure and focus when Leon just burst… showering both he and White in blood.

That was it… Kevin just lost it… how could he not? Powerhouses like Geese Howard and Takuma Sakazaki were one thing…

… this "Free Man" just walked over to him and smeared a single scrap of skin in Kevin's face, enjoying the well-trained and disciplined man just scream like a baby and run away.

White then wiped the blood from his watch and looked down and smiled. A small package was drifting down via a small parachute, and White casually opened it up and then took out what was inside…

… Two of the Jin Scrolls.

"The ultimate slap in the face," Iori muttered as he sat in his dilapidated apartment, clenching his fist as he looked at the tournament brackets. He would be slated to fight Team Psycho Soldier tomorrow just down the street… an easy win considering his growing Orochi strength and that of Vice and Mature… but on the other side of the brackets was Team Japan, which would be fighting against two of his old teammates in Japan as well.

Yet the way the fights had been determined made it so Iori would have to wait until the final round to fight Kyo, his likely gay friend, and some virgin Judo fighter.

Iori got up, however, upon hearing his door knock, and opened it to see Vice and Mature there, the latter leaning against a wall.

"You know… you never answered that question about if you were planning on raping Kusanagi," Vice said with a sadistic smirk.

"No," Iori said as he walked past them off to his first match, "When I'm done with him I'll just tie him down and sick wild pigs on him."

"Uh… Athena," Sie started to say as he looked around the street they would fight in, "I think all these people would be a pretty big security risk…"

"Oh nonsense," she said, "The authorities will move them far enough away when the fight comes and all…" Athena then looked down to see a very young boy with a yellow outfit standing behind Sie. "And who's that?"

Sie looked down and immediately stepped aside. "Oh, him? This is Bao… he's a new student that Master Chin took up… he likes to keep to himself a lot…"

"Well, hello anyways," Athena said as she stretched out her hand. "And how are you?"

Bao hesitantly reached out and shook it. "I'm okay… I just came to see you and Sie fight… I've heard a lot about how good you are. You placed second in the King of Fighters '94, right?"

Athena confirmed that, thinking back and realizing both of her defeats had been by the same many she had quite the crush on… Oh well… she thought. It could be worse.

It was now past midnight in Southtown as Geese walked out of his house, pausing and turning back on more time before truly setting out. The Metatron Foundation's truck would be reaching Southtown within the hour, and he had a tight window of opportunity…

Unfortunately, a particular pair of demonic twins had something else in store as they watched from above…

"Handle him first, Chonshu?" asked Chonrei as they both stood on the rooftops.

"He's weaker than Sakazaki… but I guess he's still quite respected among mere mortals…"

"He stood up to Goenitz, so I hear."

"That's not impossible, mind you…"

"Oh well," Chonrei said as he again looked at the hapless fighter. "Five… four… three… two… one…"

Before Geese knew what had happened, a ball of light suddenly appeared around him and then he vanished. "Well then… back to meet our guest at the East Side Park?" Chonrei asked.

"Certainly!"

BRRRIIINNGGG!

"Hrmmffr?" Lilly muttered as she woke up from her phone ringing. She quickly grabbed it and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Miss Kane, is that you?" came Hon Fu's voice.

"Just call me Lilly," the Hakkyokusieken master responded.

"I apologize, but I'm calling for a very important reason."

"Where's Geese? Weren't you two going to handle this scroll thing with that mystery phone person too?"

"That's the problem," Hon Fu answered. "We were going to meet up… but Geese is twenty minutes late."

Silence.

"Hello? Lilly, are you there? Lilly!"

"What? Oh, sorry, I was getting dressed. West end of town?"

"Northwest, by the railroad tracks."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Until then, get there and keep an eye out for any psychos."

To be fair, White didn't really prefer just waiting for the truck to come… but he knew that if it came this way, which he knew it would, so would Yamazaki.

The plan was simple. Lure the Orochi's vessel here with a bait too tempting to pass up, capture it, and then use the Orochi as a pawn, with the Jin Scrolls and their power as leverage against the snake.

White didn't expect to see the truck come rolling at him so soon.

No… he didn't expect to see the truck come rolling period, let alone in a crumpled up ball.

"I believe you posses the other two scrolls," came a fierce Japanese voice. "I cannot permit you to hold them."

"Oh?" White asked as he saw the man come into view with a staff in his hand, "And who might you be?"

"Merely a simple protector of the planet," Sokaku answered.

White looked at the man again before taking out his two scrolls and casually throwing them on the ground between them. "Fine… you seem like a very powerful man… I probably wouldn't stand a chance against you…"

Sokaku looked at them and then at White. "You made a very wise choice."

White waited, flexing his fingers… the distant light from town was enough for him to pin down where Sokaku was… he was waiting for the opportune second…

Sokaku looked at White and then reached down for the scrolls…

"DIE!" White snarled as he sprang into action with outstretched hands. Sokaku looked up quickly and caught them, at which point White grinned.

But nothing happened.

Sokaku then slammed his fist into White and sent him flying away, the Addis sub-leader utterly horrified by the attack.

"You… the… I… touch… how… can't… dead…" White began babbling in confusion… Sokaku had no aura to repel physical contact… how?

"Any man can overcome such a force as your own," Sokaku stated as he readied his staff and slammed it into the ground, "All it requires is a disciplined mind!"

A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, electrocuting White without mercy.

It had been dark, but as Terry and his troop of ninjas had been moving towards Howard residence, a lightning strike caused them all to turn at the sight, and then Terry looked down to see… her…

Terry turned to his underlings and waited until they were all looking at their master for command. "Check that out… it might be something notable." Without another word, Terry dropped to the ground as the Shiranui ninja turned and went the way they had come…

Terry ran with towards them for a hundred yards before stopping and jumping down into the dark alley. He waited… waited for what seemed hours before turning and flinging himself at her.

"BUSTER WOLF!"

The illumination of his fist let him see the shock in Lilly Kane's face right before it plowed into her, sending the bitch spiraling away.

"You…" the Hungry Wolf growled as he clenched his fist, "YOU ROBBED ME OF KILLING GEESE HOWARD FOUR YEARS AGO!"

He came down on her like a pack of wild dogs, ruthlessly overcoming her shoddy excuse for the Atami Nage and buried his fist in her gut and sent her into the wall.

Lilly looked up and got to her feet as quickly as she could and looked up at Terry, his blonde hair loose and hanging down before she sprang back up and charged.

"Child's play…" Terry taunted as Lilly swung a fierce backhand at him. Terry leaned out of the way and blocked Lilly's follow-up with her other hand jabbing at him… but he didn't expect her to simultaneously kick into his kneecap. That slut! Terry winced as he slammed his hand into the ground and blasted her away with a Round Wave.

Lilly managed to flip back to her feet and duck Terry's Crack Shoot, her hands catching Terry's strike and then letting her slam him into the wall.

Did I… Lilly thought as she stood in wonder.

No.

"TRIPLE GEYSER!"

The three destructive blasts of energy shot into Lilly, but she did manage to summon up a dark red Raging Storm as a means of protection… but Terry just kept pouring energy into the attack.

"Come on, girl… you can't keep it up forever," he prodded as he saw Lilly also tried to keep up the attack…

Shoot! Lilly thought… This can't…

WHAM!

Her strength gave out, the attack ravaged her. Terry raising his hand up for the killing blow…

Sokaku looked at White's electrified and ruined body before walking up to it. This could easily be an act. He struck the killer several times with his staff to be sure… it looked like White was incapable of withstanding the abuse he could deliver.

Sokaku turned and began walking away, only to stop dead.

Literally.

"It's the world's best acting," White whispered in Sokaku's ear, the pale-faced man's cane having been driven through the monk's heart. His hand drifted to Sokaku's, taking the three scrolls and letting the man's body fall down, dead.

Victory…

But White could hear something… something close…

He quickly spun and bent out of the way of a lethal attack by a Shiranui ninja, immediately tapping it with his finger and causing it to burst before turning to the others.

Terry suddenly stopped cold.

Lilly could wait… there was someone bigger to worry about…

For one last hurrah, Terry kicked Lilly in the face until his shoe had a nice layer of blood on it and then took off.

When Geese recovered consciousness, he found himself in a burning wasteland filled with gigantic draconian skeletons… he knew what this place was… the East Side Park or whatever was left of it.

A red blur suddenly dashed around Geese before finally stopping in front of him, a feminine looking child standing there.

"Hello, Geese Howard," Jin Chonshu said. "I'm sure I know what you're thinking…"

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

Chonshu suddenly looked rather flustered before regaining his composure. "No! And besides, you should show more respect and fear for the last person you will ever see in your pathetic existence!"

A/N: Geese finds himself stuck in the middle of hell… and the only way out is through. When the Jin twins unite their power, can even Geese overcome the force? What's more… Hon Fu is heading to a literal battlefield where he must face the power of White, Terry, and an arriving Yamazaki at the same time! And amidst all that… The King of Fighters '96 rages in Double Raging Storm.

Eiji's Doppelganger -or- "STRIDER CAME OUT IN 1988, DAMMIT!"

As Eiji stepped off the plane back into Japan, he looked at his two teammates again. He had a level of familiarity with Andy… that happens when you get beat up by a psycho with somebody… but Kim was just plain weird.

As they got off the airplane, however, they saw someone was standing a triplet of fighters standing there too.

The first wore a purple ninja outfit, with a flowing red scarf covering his mouth and a weapon that was the mix of a tonfa and a sword. The next was a brown-haired ninja wearing a red gi, and the third was somebody that Hon Fu would recognize being a pin-up in the Hong Kong police department.

"YOU!" Eiji shouted as he pointed at his rival and ultimate enemy… Strider Hiryu. "FOR TOO LONG HAVE I BEEN RIDICULED BECAUSE SOMEBODY THINKS WE LOOK ALIKE!"

"YOU!" Andy shouted as he pointed at his original Capcom character… Guy. "FOR TOO LONG HAVE PEOPLE BEEN COMPARING ME TO YOU JUST BECAUSE WE'RE BOTH NINJAS!"

"YOU!" Kim shouted as he pointed at the main kicker of Fatal Fury 2's rival game (Street Fighter II)… Chun Li. "FOR TOO LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A FORCE OF EVIL IN THE WORLD!"

"SHUT UP!" Everyone else shouted at Kaphwan.

"I WILL NOT!" Kim yelled as he struck a dramatic pose. "I alone am-"

"ZAN'EI REPPA!"

"RAGNAROK!"

"HAZAN TENSHOU KYAKU!"

"YAMI KARI!"

"BUSHIN MUSOURENKA!"

"THE WORLD!"

Everyone turned and looked at Dio Brando, the central villain of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure hovering up there in the air, a steamroller about to crush Kim.

"Uh… no," Eiji said, "We still need three members, after all…"

"Oh," Dio said as he vanished.

Strider then glared at Eiji and Eiji glared at Strider.

"You've ruined my life!" Eiji and Strider shouted in perfect unison, pointing accusing fingers at each other. "What? What are you talking about? AND STOP SAYING WHAT I'M SAYING RIGHT AS I SAY IT! SERIOUSLY! I MEAN IT! … BOOBIES! DAMMIT!"

"I'll take care of the talking," Andy said. "Look… the fact is Hiryu… you came second and everybody thinks Eiji's copying you when he hasn't!"

"But that's insane!" Guy shot back. "The Art of Fighting 2 was made in 1994… yet the original manga of 'Strider' was made in 1988 by Kadokawa Shoten and it was popular enough to spawn a couple of games!"

Eiji was shocked when he heard that… "But that means…"

"Hey, it's not the first time SNK has stolen character appearances," Kim pointed out, "I mean, Jhun Hoon, Kain R. Heinlein, and Young Geese all look like Andy, after all…"

"Sad but true," Andy muttered in a dark and secluded corner.

"To be honest though," Chun Li said to try to pick up everyone's spirits, "Strider and the rest of us are trying to track down the ninja that truly DOES deserve our retribution!"

"What? Who?"

"HIM!" Shouted Guy as he pointed to a particular Dead or Alive ninja named Ryu Hayabusa… "THE DEAD OR ALIVE BASTARD THAT'S GIVING US ALL A BAD NAME!"

"What?" Eiji asked, "How come?"

"Just listen…"

Then… using his superior ninja ears which were obviously superior to normal people ears… Eiji heard… it.

"Hey look! I'm Eiji or Strider! I'm a crappy 2-D ninja that didn't get his own 3-D game!"

Eiji's face ran red as he and Hiryu lunged.

This wasn't even a matter of honor…

… I was a matter of 2-D honor.