SNK vs Capcom: Fatal Void
A low humming whirl cracks the silence as the heavy metal door to the elevator opens onto the deck of Master Bison's secondary post; its owner does not turn to acknowlege the two men who step onto the floor.
Bison is a proud man, partially because he had developed within himself an uncanny and almost limitless power and might. He recalled back in his younger days of a woman with purple hair who had trained him in the use of his power, and smirked at where the fates had lead both of them. His stern and cruel face almost cracks a smile when remembering her reason for tutoring him so long ago, as she had seen it in her silly Tarot cards that such a person with immense might would turn to great evil and most assuradly become the world's greatest threat.
He silently thanked her for her naivety for helping to refine his powers, allowing him to, in turn, deal with her in a harsh and efficient manner. Although he knows she still lives, and is no doubt entertaining thoughts of revenge, he smugly doubted that she would be truely foolish enough to face him again.
His might has signifigantly increased since their last encounter, and he was more than prepared to destroy her without remorse.
"What was the waif's name? Petunia, Lily, Orchid......"
"BISON." A voice cried out behind him in demand. The Major slowly turned his head towards the voice's general direction; his eyes narrowed and illuminated with a sample of his great power.
"You dare much to take such a tone with me, you are a partner in this, and though signifigant, but a part in my overall plans," Bison spoke in his low and slow Asian accented voice.
"Of course, but I sincerely hope your plans don't conflict with my own goals, I would hate for our relationship in this venture to....become for naught," replied the dark man who had walked in with Rugal almost mockingly. Bison knew he was being taunted, but managed to restrain himself.
"How is the reproduction of your Psycho drive coming? Is it taking well to the modifications I 'suggested'?" spoke the raven haired man again.
Bison only turned to his lead scientist to allow him to report, "The miniture prototype we've created works exellently," crackled the balding and sickly looking man in a white labcoat, "Though I cannot understand why you would want it to be able to gather such extreme amounts of power so quickly. No vessel could contain it, after we had gathered the energy."
"I do not care for you to 'understand,' I only require for you to 'do'," Said the man with a slight smile across his handsome Nigerian face.
"Well I DO require an explanation, I am exhausting my own men and resources, MY MEN! MY RESOURCES!! I am not a man accustomed to sharing his power; I have still yet to even fathom WHY I am willing to colaborate with you!" Snarled M. Bison.
Yet despite the rage directed towards him, the black gentleman only replied calmly, "And I am greatful for your coorperation, truth is you needed my guidance. Before our encounter, I must sadly admit your previous ventures were...... sorely undermined and unfortunatly unrealized."
Bison couldn't take it anymore. The Major lowered his head and began into a gutteral hum, as he began to viciously vacuum the ambient energy of the room into him; readying himself for his most favored and potent attack.
As Bison's humming grew louder, the other man spoke in an unfoundingly calm voice, "It is sad that you would choose to oppose me in such an early state of this project...."
Bison was almost at the apex of his energy cycle, as everyone backed a distance, including Rugal, away from the two men. "......what is worse is that you do not realize your own limitations."
Bison stopped his energy gathering, and unflexed to calm himself from readying to fight. As Bison did so, he could only glare hatefully at his associate, "Have a care, 'friend', the day will come when we will be on opposing sides."
"I'm pretty sure I will be rightfully weary of that day," mocked the other man.
_____________________________
The air was sweet with the scent of the sakura blossums, as was accustomed for that time of year. The birds could be heard singing their natural melody, while the wind danced through the raven hair of a young lady working.
Tending to her duties as a priestess, Chizuru Kagura was content. All the strife was behind her now, though the two houses of Yagami and Kusanagi were still feuding, the threat of the Orochi was gone. She no longer felt the disturbances that the Orochi blood tainted warriors, or the awakening serpant, at first radiated through out the globe; for that, she was glad, since she could finally sleep in without waking sweaty from a nightmare.
As she was cleaning the stairway to her temple, Chizuru looked up by chance, to see a stranger walking up the stone stairs towards her. A woman with a peculiar and purple quif of hair, dressed rather provocatively, she could probably give her former King of Fighters partner Mai-chan a good run.
"You have come at a bad time to pay your respects to the temple," called out the priestess, "I'm in the middle of my work tending."
"I'm not here for the temple, unfortunatly, replied the other woman, "I'm here to speak with you."
"Well then it truely is unfortunate for you, I plan on being busy for quite some time, now that I can devote myself to my prime duties."
"I'm afraid it's rather dire that I do converse with you. You see it concerns Rugal, and the still present threat of the Orochi."
"Orochi? I have no fear of it's return, that demon has been exorcised for its last time for at least a century," replied the priestess in an unsteady tone.
"You say that, because you cannot feel it's power permiating the air no longer, but I assure you it still exists. Tell me, don't you find it rather troubling that you sense no meta-physical threats, what so ever, around us any longer?"
Chizuru stopped her sweeping. In the back of her mind she knew something was amiss; no matter what there should be SOME tinging of evil around.
"I will make us some tea, then you can explain to me what you know."
_____________________________
Chizuru carefully poured the tea into a cup for her guest, then sat down to pour herself some, "What is it that makes you believe that the Orochi is still a danger to this world? It was utterly defeated after the fall of the Monarchs of Power."
The other woman took a sip of her tea. "My name is Rose by the way, I would not have noticed this world was devoid of evil, if not I hadn't been keeping tabs on one of my.....students. I have, as of late, not come across any information of his activities through my usual earthly contacts, so I conferred with my Tarot cards for his wareabouts. For some reason, they neither could detect his presence or any future surrounding him; it is one thing to hide from me so I could not discover his current practices through my usual network, but it is quite a feat to hide himself from even the all seeing eye of fate."
Rose set her cup down, and continued, "I had to concentrate thoroughly for two days upon my crystal ball, and upon the second eve I came upon a vision of insanity given complete power, then my sight was blocked by a multi-headed serpent writhing in the earth's blood." Chizuru's eyes wided to saucers for a second before returning to normal to hide her worry.
That was the principle vision she had when dreaming about the Orochi serpent, she had told nobody of this, yet this woman she had never met before was describing it back to her.
Rose took another sip from her cup and restarted, "Before I could truly determine who the serpent was, a dark shadow, better yet, a 'void', eclipsed my vision, and I awoke. Upon studying many texts, I came upon, by chance, or maybe by fate, the story of the Kusanagi and the Yagami rivalry, and how the pact with the Yagami ancestry and the Orochi tipped the scales in the favor of the future Yagami generations, and allowed for the potential revival of the demon Orochi itself."
"I already knew from news of Kusanagi Kyo, after his victories in the King of Fighters Tournament that you had also participated in; I had to dig a bit for the Yagami angle, until I came across a musician with a moderate following, named..."
"Yagami Iori," interrupted Chizuru.
"I also found out that you, Chizuru, were a vital player in the slaying of the Orochi beast, since it was with your guidance that Iori and Kyo, the Moon and the Sun, were able to set aside their rivalry and fight together; both managing to wield the orange purifying flame to destroy the threat for what seemed once and for all. Unfortunatly that doesn't seem the case, and this is why I came seeking your assistance."
"Pardon me for saying this, for I do not care to cause you disrespect, but I do not hold as much faith in your practices as you do. Is there any other way you could perhaps prove your claims?"
Chizuru may not had held as much faith in Tarot cards and crystal balls as her guest did, but she also didn't disbelieve them either. She knew the power they held and when used correctly were as informative as any vision. Besides, there was already so much Chizuru herself could not argue against, this woman had the same vision as she did in her dreams, and it was unnatural, the absence of evil in the air.
"As a matter of fact I do, I had already approached an aquaintance of yours, another young lady named Asamiya Athena. An associate of mine, Gen, is on his way to meet with her. We have rendevous with them in Hong Kong, so we can begin to unravel this mystery.
Chizuru could not, did not want to believe this woman's claims. If they were true then that would mean her nightmares could still be potentially realized. She saw the world consumed by fire, lightning, earthquakes, deadly forceful winds and storms, and a blood bathed Hydra creature. If a reincarnated Goddess such as Athena could vouch for this story, then it would be dire times indeed. With a fell-crested heart, Chizuru replied, "when is it we depart?"
_____________________________
Back from his venture in Porteugal, Vega returned to Bison's lair, to discover the drones, commoner workers, all rather frantic. As much as he enjoyed seeing them like frightened rabbits waiting for the jaws of an approaching wolf, he had to wonder what was amiss.
As he walked into the command deck, he noticed Bison was flickering slightly with energy. The Spaniard could easily see that he was in a sore mood.
"You have good news to report I would assume," came a voice sitting in Bison's command chair. Vega was alarmed to the fact that someone, other than Master Bison, was in the vaunted chair; truly this man was powerful, to get away with such brashness against the Major.
"He is now seeking out Iori Yagami as we speak, you were correct about Galeo. He took to the bait and was easily felled."
"Of course he was," chuckled the Nigerian, and turned a sideways glance towards his 'partner', "The most trusted lackies are if anything, predictable."
Bison turned sharply towards the man, "WHAT is that supposed to mean?"
"My dear fellow, you read into things too much, for one thing I do not trust you, nor Rugal, and I would not pick any one who was predictable for allies. That leads to such boredom. Anyhow, now that Demitri's right hand, and voice of reason has been silenced, I say it is time for a tournament, wouldn't you say?"
Rugal, Vega, and Bison looked at each other puzzlingly. "A... a tournament?" Vega enquired.
"Of course," replied the raven haired gentleman, "what other way would you suggest to gather your enemies and fell them in one fail swoop?"
A low humming whirl cracks the silence as the heavy metal door to the elevator opens onto the deck of Master Bison's secondary post; its owner does not turn to acknowlege the two men who step onto the floor.
Bison is a proud man, partially because he had developed within himself an uncanny and almost limitless power and might. He recalled back in his younger days of a woman with purple hair who had trained him in the use of his power, and smirked at where the fates had lead both of them. His stern and cruel face almost cracks a smile when remembering her reason for tutoring him so long ago, as she had seen it in her silly Tarot cards that such a person with immense might would turn to great evil and most assuradly become the world's greatest threat.
He silently thanked her for her naivety for helping to refine his powers, allowing him to, in turn, deal with her in a harsh and efficient manner. Although he knows she still lives, and is no doubt entertaining thoughts of revenge, he smugly doubted that she would be truely foolish enough to face him again.
His might has signifigantly increased since their last encounter, and he was more than prepared to destroy her without remorse.
"What was the waif's name? Petunia, Lily, Orchid......"
"BISON." A voice cried out behind him in demand. The Major slowly turned his head towards the voice's general direction; his eyes narrowed and illuminated with a sample of his great power.
"You dare much to take such a tone with me, you are a partner in this, and though signifigant, but a part in my overall plans," Bison spoke in his low and slow Asian accented voice.
"Of course, but I sincerely hope your plans don't conflict with my own goals, I would hate for our relationship in this venture to....become for naught," replied the dark man who had walked in with Rugal almost mockingly. Bison knew he was being taunted, but managed to restrain himself.
"How is the reproduction of your Psycho drive coming? Is it taking well to the modifications I 'suggested'?" spoke the raven haired man again.
Bison only turned to his lead scientist to allow him to report, "The miniture prototype we've created works exellently," crackled the balding and sickly looking man in a white labcoat, "Though I cannot understand why you would want it to be able to gather such extreme amounts of power so quickly. No vessel could contain it, after we had gathered the energy."
"I do not care for you to 'understand,' I only require for you to 'do'," Said the man with a slight smile across his handsome Nigerian face.
"Well I DO require an explanation, I am exhausting my own men and resources, MY MEN! MY RESOURCES!! I am not a man accustomed to sharing his power; I have still yet to even fathom WHY I am willing to colaborate with you!" Snarled M. Bison.
Yet despite the rage directed towards him, the black gentleman only replied calmly, "And I am greatful for your coorperation, truth is you needed my guidance. Before our encounter, I must sadly admit your previous ventures were...... sorely undermined and unfortunatly unrealized."
Bison couldn't take it anymore. The Major lowered his head and began into a gutteral hum, as he began to viciously vacuum the ambient energy of the room into him; readying himself for his most favored and potent attack.
As Bison's humming grew louder, the other man spoke in an unfoundingly calm voice, "It is sad that you would choose to oppose me in such an early state of this project...."
Bison was almost at the apex of his energy cycle, as everyone backed a distance, including Rugal, away from the two men. "......what is worse is that you do not realize your own limitations."
Bison stopped his energy gathering, and unflexed to calm himself from readying to fight. As Bison did so, he could only glare hatefully at his associate, "Have a care, 'friend', the day will come when we will be on opposing sides."
"I'm pretty sure I will be rightfully weary of that day," mocked the other man.
_____________________________
The air was sweet with the scent of the sakura blossums, as was accustomed for that time of year. The birds could be heard singing their natural melody, while the wind danced through the raven hair of a young lady working.
Tending to her duties as a priestess, Chizuru Kagura was content. All the strife was behind her now, though the two houses of Yagami and Kusanagi were still feuding, the threat of the Orochi was gone. She no longer felt the disturbances that the Orochi blood tainted warriors, or the awakening serpant, at first radiated through out the globe; for that, she was glad, since she could finally sleep in without waking sweaty from a nightmare.
As she was cleaning the stairway to her temple, Chizuru looked up by chance, to see a stranger walking up the stone stairs towards her. A woman with a peculiar and purple quif of hair, dressed rather provocatively, she could probably give her former King of Fighters partner Mai-chan a good run.
"You have come at a bad time to pay your respects to the temple," called out the priestess, "I'm in the middle of my work tending."
"I'm not here for the temple, unfortunatly, replied the other woman, "I'm here to speak with you."
"Well then it truely is unfortunate for you, I plan on being busy for quite some time, now that I can devote myself to my prime duties."
"I'm afraid it's rather dire that I do converse with you. You see it concerns Rugal, and the still present threat of the Orochi."
"Orochi? I have no fear of it's return, that demon has been exorcised for its last time for at least a century," replied the priestess in an unsteady tone.
"You say that, because you cannot feel it's power permiating the air no longer, but I assure you it still exists. Tell me, don't you find it rather troubling that you sense no meta-physical threats, what so ever, around us any longer?"
Chizuru stopped her sweeping. In the back of her mind she knew something was amiss; no matter what there should be SOME tinging of evil around.
"I will make us some tea, then you can explain to me what you know."
_____________________________
Chizuru carefully poured the tea into a cup for her guest, then sat down to pour herself some, "What is it that makes you believe that the Orochi is still a danger to this world? It was utterly defeated after the fall of the Monarchs of Power."
The other woman took a sip of her tea. "My name is Rose by the way, I would not have noticed this world was devoid of evil, if not I hadn't been keeping tabs on one of my.....students. I have, as of late, not come across any information of his activities through my usual earthly contacts, so I conferred with my Tarot cards for his wareabouts. For some reason, they neither could detect his presence or any future surrounding him; it is one thing to hide from me so I could not discover his current practices through my usual network, but it is quite a feat to hide himself from even the all seeing eye of fate."
Rose set her cup down, and continued, "I had to concentrate thoroughly for two days upon my crystal ball, and upon the second eve I came upon a vision of insanity given complete power, then my sight was blocked by a multi-headed serpent writhing in the earth's blood." Chizuru's eyes wided to saucers for a second before returning to normal to hide her worry.
That was the principle vision she had when dreaming about the Orochi serpent, she had told nobody of this, yet this woman she had never met before was describing it back to her.
Rose took another sip from her cup and restarted, "Before I could truly determine who the serpent was, a dark shadow, better yet, a 'void', eclipsed my vision, and I awoke. Upon studying many texts, I came upon, by chance, or maybe by fate, the story of the Kusanagi and the Yagami rivalry, and how the pact with the Yagami ancestry and the Orochi tipped the scales in the favor of the future Yagami generations, and allowed for the potential revival of the demon Orochi itself."
"I already knew from news of Kusanagi Kyo, after his victories in the King of Fighters Tournament that you had also participated in; I had to dig a bit for the Yagami angle, until I came across a musician with a moderate following, named..."
"Yagami Iori," interrupted Chizuru.
"I also found out that you, Chizuru, were a vital player in the slaying of the Orochi beast, since it was with your guidance that Iori and Kyo, the Moon and the Sun, were able to set aside their rivalry and fight together; both managing to wield the orange purifying flame to destroy the threat for what seemed once and for all. Unfortunatly that doesn't seem the case, and this is why I came seeking your assistance."
"Pardon me for saying this, for I do not care to cause you disrespect, but I do not hold as much faith in your practices as you do. Is there any other way you could perhaps prove your claims?"
Chizuru may not had held as much faith in Tarot cards and crystal balls as her guest did, but she also didn't disbelieve them either. She knew the power they held and when used correctly were as informative as any vision. Besides, there was already so much Chizuru herself could not argue against, this woman had the same vision as she did in her dreams, and it was unnatural, the absence of evil in the air.
"As a matter of fact I do, I had already approached an aquaintance of yours, another young lady named Asamiya Athena. An associate of mine, Gen, is on his way to meet with her. We have rendevous with them in Hong Kong, so we can begin to unravel this mystery.
Chizuru could not, did not want to believe this woman's claims. If they were true then that would mean her nightmares could still be potentially realized. She saw the world consumed by fire, lightning, earthquakes, deadly forceful winds and storms, and a blood bathed Hydra creature. If a reincarnated Goddess such as Athena could vouch for this story, then it would be dire times indeed. With a fell-crested heart, Chizuru replied, "when is it we depart?"
_____________________________
Back from his venture in Porteugal, Vega returned to Bison's lair, to discover the drones, commoner workers, all rather frantic. As much as he enjoyed seeing them like frightened rabbits waiting for the jaws of an approaching wolf, he had to wonder what was amiss.
As he walked into the command deck, he noticed Bison was flickering slightly with energy. The Spaniard could easily see that he was in a sore mood.
"You have good news to report I would assume," came a voice sitting in Bison's command chair. Vega was alarmed to the fact that someone, other than Master Bison, was in the vaunted chair; truly this man was powerful, to get away with such brashness against the Major.
"He is now seeking out Iori Yagami as we speak, you were correct about Galeo. He took to the bait and was easily felled."
"Of course he was," chuckled the Nigerian, and turned a sideways glance towards his 'partner', "The most trusted lackies are if anything, predictable."
Bison turned sharply towards the man, "WHAT is that supposed to mean?"
"My dear fellow, you read into things too much, for one thing I do not trust you, nor Rugal, and I would not pick any one who was predictable for allies. That leads to such boredom. Anyhow, now that Demitri's right hand, and voice of reason has been silenced, I say it is time for a tournament, wouldn't you say?"
Rugal, Vega, and Bison looked at each other puzzlingly. "A... a tournament?" Vega enquired.
"Of course," replied the raven haired gentleman, "what other way would you suggest to gather your enemies and fell them in one fail swoop?"