A/N: Well, my hiatus from this has gone on for TOO long… it's about time I get this show on the road again! Plus… it's another anniversary! Chapter 50… a sad truth this story will probably be more around 150… Best to make them count, anyways!
Athena sighed happily, resting in a suit of pajamas with pegasi on it next to Kyo, looking forward to the next round of the tournament. "Remind me to thank Iori for paying for our penthouse."
"Sure," Kyo answered, "You know…I got the results for my midterms."
"And?" Athena asked, grinning. Ever since Yuki's… injury, Kyo had seemed to understand life was a lot more fleeting, and it was a miracle if you could just walk out your front door and walk to school without getting killed by one of a billion accidents. Kenny McCormick was the proof of that.
The result, Kyo making a complete 180 in his studies.
He looked her in the eye and smiled back. "Perfect scores. Every single one of them. At this rate, I'll graduate in the top 20."
Athena was overjoyed, moving in and kissing him in celebration. "Kyo… that's just incredible. Let's make the KoF '97 be one for the history books."
"Yeah."
It was painful to see her like this… sedated since she couldn't be trusted with her own mind. Andy hated it, and as he stared at Mai in the bed, the only consolation was that she was sound asleep and looked so peaceful.
He wondered if Mai would be like this the next time she woke up.
"Andy."
He looked up to see Eiji leaning against the wall, stood up… but promptly fell over again.
"My ninja-stealth is superior to yours… I tied your shoelaces together as a joke." Eiji said as he helped Andy up. "How you doing?"
"Pissed, what else?"
"Come on, let me get you a coffee or something downstairs. With any luck, Kim can denounce the overcharged prices as 'evil' and we can get a hundred bucks of store credit." Eiji said, helping Andy go. "Worried?"
"Obviously."
"She had it coming, you do know that. Same goes for your bro-"
Andy turned and snarled, slamming Eiji into the wall. "Finish that sentence only if you don't value your life."
"Why not?" Eiji answered, unmoved by Andy's threats. "Face it. How close do you think you would be with your brother if Geese was dead."
"Still inseparable."
"I don't think so," Eiji stated plainly, not minding at all Andy's fist that was inches away from his face. "I mean, what's the reason you merry little munchkins are all one happy family? Reason being: Geese. Now let's look at another little happy family, the Sakazakis and the people they know. Like you, they were united by Geese Howard's dastardly doings, but they're so much more than just 'The Legion of Geese-Haters.' King and Ryo certainly love each other and keep their doings on the down low, and Yuri and Robert certainly care about each other a lot. Hell, they even respect Geese to an extent nowadays. Their fight yesterday was between people that settled past differences and walked away as friends."
"He killed my father, you know that?"
"Your father didn't leave well-enough alone." Eiji knew these were most likely the most inflammatory words he had said today, and he was thankful he had previously written out his last will and testament just in case.
Andy looked at him once and shoved Eiji away. "Buzz off… I'll see you at our match today."
Southtown was alive again with excitement as the next round for the starting bracket was about to begin, pitting the Japan Team against the Rival Team… with many commentators suspecting the Japan Team would have significant trouble by virtue of the fact that Eiji and Andy were familiar with Iori's fighting style.
The fact that the round was going to be tag-team didn't help any whatsoever. The three Japan Team members looked between each other, and a few words were exchanged that nobody else caught, although it was ended with something along the lines of "Rock, Paper, Scissors doesn't work when there are three people, idiots."
Eventually, however, the three were called back to focus when Kim shouted out to them to come and get the beating they deserved.
Irritable by nature, Iori promptly decided to confront him. Racking his neck and snapping his fingers to literally warm-up his abilities, Iori leaned back and stared at Kim.
"This won't be long," Iori flatly stated. Kim responded by lunging forward, launching a flurry of kicks as usual, although Yagami bent out of the way with a bored look on his face. When he moved to send a stream of flames across the ground, Kaphwan responded as he had prepared to…
His foot slammed the ground, the force of the attack blowing out the fire as Iori looked down in surprise… just the opening Kim needed to hammer Iori with a flurry of kicks to the sides, guts, and chest before jumping in the air and landing one final, photo-worth blow of his heel slamming into Iori's head.
Kim flipped back majestically onto his feet, just in time to see Iori charging right at him.
"THANKS!" Iori shouted as he smashed Kim around, "The fight was sorta being boring, thanks for giving me the motivation to keep focused."
The Korean slid back, panting when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Take a break," Andy commanded, tagging in. Iori, at the sight of Kim, took the opportunity to indulge in a brief but still completely unnecessary maniacal laugh.
"You'll be laughing out your other end when I'm done with you," Andy growled, charging. Iori watched him approach, summoning up a gigantic burst of purple flames on the ground. Yet Iori's eyes went wide as Andy suddenly dashed from side to side, avoiding the flames and hammering a surprised Yagami as fast as he could.
Eventually Andy jumped back and then threw himself forward, slamming his feet into Iori's head as a fiery aura erupted around him.
WHAT THE HELL? Iori thought as he regained his bearings as fast as possible, raised up his defenses, and quickly tried to understand where this new strength was coming from. He… he hit harder than Kyo EVER did during our sparring sessions… true, we both saved the greater extent of our power for our final fight after all of this… but this just makes no sense!
Hidden in the stands, his blonde hair now draped over his face to hide his identity, Terry Bogard leaned back and smirked.
"Well, I'll be damned," he sighed, "Well, I'll be damned! Andy was able to summon up those Shiranui powers again like in '93. And this time… his opponents can't gang up on him. Game over, Japan Team."
In spite of the initial shock at Andy's new strength, Iori fought back fiercely, and Andy was surprised at how well Iori was fairing… the Yagami warrior was keeping up with him! Actually keeping up with him!
Andy flipped away as Iori slashed at him, although part of the ninja's garb was ripped in the process. He slid back to dodge one of Iori's punches, and elbowed him in the face. Iori responded by kicking straight up as he stumbled back, hitting Andy as he recoiled back. And charged again, and Iori was about to return the favor when he heard a voice.
"IORI! TAG OUT!"
It was Athena, and although Iori was tempted to use… IT, he realized Athena and Kyo thought it wise to act out their plan.
A perfect way to have a little surprise next round too.
"Fine."
Iori hopped out as Athena teleported in, narrowly dodging Andy's kick before bluish-purple electricity crackled around her. Then, in a dark and foreboding voice suddenly spoke straight to the younger Bogard's mind echoed inside of him.
You are nothing.
"PSYCHO CRUSHER!"
The resulting scene lasted all but three seconds, yet they were three seconds that would be permanently branded into the memories of the spectators. Athena rocketed forward, hands stretched out, purple energies crackling around her.
Andy raised his guard with more than enough time to spare, but if it really did anything, he had absolutely no idea. It hurt that much.
And yet Athena continued, blowing through the unsuspecting Eiji and Kim, looks of horror on their eyes.
A gigantic plume of energy shot into the sky with the image of a skull on the inside, the destruction made all the more disturbing the complete silence that accompanied it.
Andy, Eiji, and Kim hit the ground hard as Athena landed gracefully, telekinetically restarting their hearts and looking to the ref.
"What? They'll survive."
"You know the deal, I'm the one fighting this time," Clark said plainly as the Ikari jet rocketed towards Japan, although Leona didn't seem to be paying much attention to it all. The horrifying result of the fight had been enough that the Boss Team had been declared the victor of its match against the Rival Team by default.
"Sure enough, man. Just don't blow it. If you're gonna lose, give it your all," Ralf answered. Looking over at Leona, he snapped his fingers a few times. "Hey, Serpent-chick."
Leona turned to him. "Yes?"
"Any idea about all of this?"
"No… not really. But I'm very confident in saying Athena Asamiya is most likely a Serpent God… don't know which one yet."
"Well, we've taken down two on our own… you and Kensou, so one more won't be too much of a problem!" Ralf said while pumping a fist. "We'll bowl over those idiots left and right!"
"Hopefully. If not, we use the fact we'll be on the sidelines to our advantage and take a look into the goings-on," Leona answered.
The mats had been removed, the students of both schools were sitting opposite of each other, and their head teachers were sitting at the front of the groups as Team Kyokugen and Team Fatal Fury approached each other inside the Hakkyokusieken academy's interior.
Considering how much abuse the Kyokugen dojo suffered during most of its fights, Lilly had offered to let the match take place at her school instead, not a problem since Geese could afford to pay for the repairs. Takuma had jumped at the opportunity at free advertising, plus a friendly match between teams… although he had to admit Ryo and the others were still a bit hammered by the abuse Geese had handed them.
Looking back at Yuri and Robert, as well as King, Ryo called out to Billy with a proposition.
"Kane, I know this is supposed to be a 2-on-2 deal, but after Athena's little exhibition and the fact both our teams are beat up, wanna just settle this like men?"
"WHAT?" Joe, Mary, Robert, and Yuri screamed at the top of their lungs, "RYO/BILLY, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
But Billy just shrugged and shook his head. "Why not? You two are beat up from your fight with the Ikaris and-"
"RYO! YOU'RE NO SON OF MINE! LET GO OF ME, MARCO! LET ME AT HIM!" Takuma was flailing madly as one of the higher-ups at the school tried to hold him back along with Lilly and a few other students. "KYOKUGEN IS 'EXTREME KARATE', NOT WIMP-OUT KARATE!"
"I'm not wimping out here, dad," Ryo stated as his father tried in vain with a Zanretsuken flurry less than three inches from Ryo's head, the Sakazaki actually looking a little embarrassed that the other team was seeing all of this. "It's just that I'm pretty beat up as it is, and if we go all-out, we might not have the steam for the final match. That's all!"
"SURPISE ROSE!" King's feet smashed into Takuma's head, the kickboxer dragging the Sakazaki patriarch away. "Ryo, whatever. It makes sense, your dad just has too much old-man pride to accept it. Best of luck."
Ryo nodded and turned back to face Billy. "Well then, we've reached an agreement."
"Sounds great. Shall we?"
Stick fighter and Kyokugenryu master charged at each other, Billy swinging horizontally with his staff. Ryo bent backwards, the weapon coming a hair's breadth away from hitting his gi, but upon the moment passed, Ryo snapped back up, punching at Billy.
The Englishman jumped into the air, but Ryo came at him with a Ko Hou uppercut. Billy barely had time to shoot his staff into the ground and push himself far enough away that Ryo would miss before smashing down with his staff and nailing Ryo. Sakazaki flipped backwards as he fell, springing off the ground and avoiding Billy's follow-up before shooting foot-first at Billy's head.
Billy felt himself being snapped around by the triplet of kicks, but he used his staff to keep his balance and spin around, catching Ryo in the face before he could land a fourth hit. The two skidded away, incapable of believing the other's strength.
"Now I understand how you guys wore Geese down so much," Billy complimented as he dried his sweaty hands on his jacket.
"Thanks, although it's not going to win you any favors in this fight." Ryo answered, firing off a Koah-Ken at Billy. The bodyguard countered appropriately, shooting his staff out and piercing the attack, although the shock of the action knocked the weapon back to its initial length.
Billy spun around again, the staff shooting out in a circular manner, the students of each school backing up so as to not be harmed, although Ryo just held his ground. The Kyokugenryu fighter grimaced in pain as the weapon smacked his side, yet he gripped the chain and pulled Billy in.
"KO HOU!"
In one iconic sequence, he uppercutted Billy hard, Mary and Joe awestruck as their team captain spun in the air from the attack, but at the same time, kicked out with his legs and managed to smash them into the sides of Ryo's head.
Ryo spiraled through the air with Billy, both of them maintaining enough focus to continue the fight, no matter the injuries they sported.
"GO TO HELL!" Billy shouted, smashing his staff into Ryo's face, who countered in the unorthodox manner of firing a Koah-Ken at the ground and letting the recoil cause their still-airborn bodies to hit into the wall, Billy cushioning Ryo's impact decently.
They hit the ground at about the same time, rolling away from each other and the schools cheered happily… the fact that Robert, Ryo, and Yuri were capable of enjoying a quality fight in the center of their former nemesis's influence. Yuri and Robert were cheering as loud as Joe and Mary, and Ryo managed to rise to his feet first and charge Billy.
"RYUKO RANBU!"
Billy was hammered full-force with a flurry of punches and kicks before being kicked away by Ryo. "HAOH-SHO-KOH-"
Billy's eyes snapped open at the last possible second… this was how the fight had gone last time, more or less… and Ryo was about to wipe him out again…
"SOCKET FLARE!"
"KEN!"
Billy thrust out his staff just as Ryo stretched out his hands, the joints of his staff releasing intense fire that matched Ryo's destructive blast, but Billy wasn't done yet. Pulling back his staff while keeping it in motion enough to continue the fire, he spun it quickly and a circular fire erupted from the tips.
"SERPENT HELLFIRE TRIPWIRE!"
Rather then launch the attack at Ryo, Billy instead smashed his staff into the ground, where rings of fire streamed across it and surrounded the surprised Ryo before blasting him up into the air. Just as Ryo was descending, Billy decided to dust off an old attack, rolling under Sakazaki and shooting his staff up.
"NO SMOKING!"
The staff pounded into Ryo's gut before igniting as well, bathing him in flames before Billy finally threw him off.
Falling down to one knee, Billy looked around as Lilly, Joe, and Mary shouted out happily at this most recent victory. Next stop… the finals!
A/N: Next chapter, the Ikari Warriors and the Sidekick Team do all they can to claw out a win and stay in the game. In the meantime, Billy and the others face off Team Japan's seemingly unlimited might, and it'll take everything they have just to stay in the game. Of course, if they push too hard, they might end up with an Awakened Hydra.
