Featuring KOF XV newcomer Isla's first appearance in a published KoF fanfic. Unless there's something else on here or on another fanfic site that beat me to the punch.
4th: Rivalry
Premise: Isla gets salty.
"You're a real piece of crap, 'Headset'."
Isla was quickly getting upset with the advantage her rival held over her.
"Not my fault you can't handle competition without your little fragments."
On the opposite point of view, Shun'ei clearly didn't see a threat before him.
"It's kinda boring me a little bit."
Beyond the obvious tension between the two, the colorful lights and sounds before them were the main source of one's frustration and another's success:
An arcade machine – and the game of choice happened to be the latest of the King of Fighters tournament tie-in fighters, representing the previous KoF tournament in a more digital and interactive form.
And Isla was on the wrong end of 'getting squashed', several rounds in a row. It almost got as competitive as her own real bouts with the Chinese prospect.
"I swear, they made that Terry guy too strong in this – bet that's why you pick him a lot."
"Grandpa Tung told me a lot about him," Shun'ei explained. "I even fought him for real in that last KoF. I'd say it's accurate. You just suck."
"Dare ya to say it again, no-balls." The only things holding Isla back from issuing a beatdown, were the ethereal hands of 'Amanda' handling her shoulders, trying to de-stress the urban artist.
With inner peace maintained, Shun'ei bluntly retorted back. "All I'm saying is, your hands are just more used to spray-cans than buttons on a machine. You should stick to that."
"Nah, I ain't taking it like that," Isla shook her head. "Rematch. Fuck it." Then she threw another couple of coins into the 'Player 2' credit-slot that she had occupied for a good long while by this point.
"You've already sunk a thousand yen on that thing," Shun'ei said, slowly getting exasperated with the girl's persistence. "Might want to calm down before you run out."
Isla's eyes didn't even bother to dart back at the rival.
"I'll calm down when I win."
She did not want to be held down – especially not by another with similar 'strengths'...
5th: Rain
Premise: Mai picked a bad time to be barely-clothed.
If a barely-clad ninja-babe knocked on your door moments after you closed up shop at your bar, would you let her in?
That was the scenario King was dealt with on a rough, stormy weekend at the Illusion – it was pouring like a waterfall over the Southtown night, and Mai picked the worst time to be in her usual shinobi garb...
…
"The heck happened out there?" King asked.
Mai had wrapped herself tightly within a towel, flushed and chilled "Training session with the other girls." She and the other 'Superheroines' were gearing up for the upcoming tournament before shit (or at the least, rain) hit the fan... "No one bothered to check the weather, somehow..."
"And the rain came down when you didn't expect – is that right?"
"Pretty much... ftftftfthhhaaa~"
Mai shivered – despite the towel wrapped around her, she still felt the cold rush down her whole body, intensified by the sudden jump from chilly outdoors to a warm but well-conditioned indoors.
King pondered with a hand to her chin... "Guess a drink is out of a question?"
Mai's head lifted up. "You got anything not cold? Maybe coffee?"
"I think I got stuff that includes coffee, but I can't guarantee if it's going to be hot."
"Mmmn... don't know if I want to take chances with that gamble."
It was extremely easy for King to feel bad – she wouldn't wish such discomfort onto anyone, except maybe her worst enemies.
But before the two could further their rainy-day conversation under the cover of the Illusion, there was suddenly a spurt of pink, not too far from where King and Mai sat.
From within the spark-and-poof emerged Mai's partners, Athena and Yuri – thanks to Athena's superpowered capabilities were now inside the bar-room, both similarly soaked by the weather conditions.
"Oh~ h-hey, girls..." Mai greeted, too mixed in her chills and nerves to have any sort of big smile on her face towards her teammates.
"Mai, we were looking for you!" Athena was especially flummoxed from the moment the ninja dame fled from hers and Yuri's sight out there. "If you wanted to find shelter, you should've given us a chance to catch up!"
"I picked a bad day to wear nothing under these..." Yuri shivered with legs crossed in embarrassment, providing a good example of 'TMI'.
"Mind if we just stay here with you for a little bit?"
Athena joined, "You have more stuff for us to warm up with, right?"
With the karate girl and the similarly-soaked idol closing in on her proximity with hopeful bargaining, King was quite abruptly given three handfuls of responsibility in these after-hours...
It was closing time for the bar minutes ago, but now she has three ladies to help dry up and calm down, and the storm outside would just flush her out like it did with them.
"I guess I could burn a couple more hours here with you guys..." King grew to accept the offer simply because of her good terms.