HELLO again!!!! I hope to see more reviews!! (call me crazy; what can I do about that?) Anyways, I don't know which are 'Fatal Fury' characters and which are 'King Of Fighters' so, I might end up mixing the two games' characters, (well, both appeared in each other right?) So, please excuse me for that. Anyhow, enjoy zis fic!!!!!!!!!!!!

The footsteps grew louder and louder and then, the burst open, revealing a tall, blonde who looked to be the bartender of the pub. His face was red and it wasn't of any other emotion but anger. "Mary..." he started, "What happened to my BAR?!" he asked, extra stressing the last word. Mary winced slightly. "I just got this place renovated!!!!" he said, exasperated.

"Hey, uh... Terry, meet King, King, meet Terry." Mary introduced them, smiling a sweatdropped smile. "King's my boss."

"You have some nerve." King replied. "I thought I told you to LOOK after the place! NOT thrash it!!!!" he pulled Mary's ear. Terry didn't like what he sees.

"Ouch!! Stop that King! It wasn't me! There were a bunch of bozos in here. That's why I called your pager!!" Mary explained as quickly as she could but King's grip seemed to get stronger. Finally, Terry stood up and went over to the bartender.

"Leave her alone. She said she was sorry even though it wasn't her fault." Terry squeezed King's hand so hard that he let go of Mary's ear almost instantly.

King held his hand and glared at Terry and he returned it. Mary felt the tension building up and an unnecessary fight will take place if she didn't do something. But, too late. The fight broke out as soon as she finished the thought.

King started his attack with a thousand kick attack and Terry managed to get out of his range before King's legs contacted him. As soon as he was out of range, King attacked with his 'Venom Strike' attack and sent Terry to the opposite wall. Terry brushed himself off and was about to counter when Mary suddenly stood in front of King.

"Terry, please, she did that all the time, no big deal."

"Who asked you to step in, girl?!" King said, ruffling Mary's hair.

"She? You mean... no way." Terry's eyes widen in shock as he pointed to the he-turned-she 'guy' he was attempting to power wave on.

"Terry? You okay?" Mary asked, waving her hand in front of his face.

***********************

"HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!! That's absolutely hilarious!!!!" Joe said, laughing so hard that tears started forming in his eyes and he pounded on the counter to try reducing his laughter which resulted more laughter. Even Max was turning red in his attempt to hide his laughter which was near its point break.

Poor Terry had to sit and listen to everyone around him laugh hys'terry'cally at him. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for that, King." Joe burst out laughing and Max followed suit. Mary on the other hand bit her lower lip, feeling guilty for being the cause of Terry's embarrassment.

"Hey, no problemo, everyone thinks I'm a guy." King replied while drying a glass with a cloth. "I should be the one to apologize for hitting you."

"Don't worry about it." He replied. Joe, who finally settled down, sat and drank the served liquor. Suddenly, his pager beeped.

"Oh, hell..." he muttered.

"What's wrong?" Terry asked his friend.

Joe sighed and said, "someone we knew from a long time ago. He wants to meet us."

"Someone?" Terry asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, but didn't say who it was." He replied simply.

Terry gave it a thought, "Okay, let's go."

"What? You fellas leaving so soon?" King asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry. We'll be back to bring some sunshine to this bar." Joe replied, winking.

"Be sure to come again!" Max said happily.

"Sure. Well, see you again, King, Max, Mary." Terry said before exiting the bar.

Meanwhile, in a high classed restaurant, Mai and Andy's orders just arrived. The restaurant was so romantic and Mai wished they could come again. "Hey Andy, why don't we try doing this more frequently? This place is so romantic."

Andy looked up from his plate and saw Mai's pleading eyes. In front of those eyes, how can he have the heart to say no? As he was about to respond, his pager beeped. He stared at it for a while and then knitted his eyebrows. Mai didn't like the look in his eyes. Something was bothering him. "What is it, Andy?"

"We are to meet someone in a disco outside of this prefecture."

"A disco!? Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's get dressed, baby!" she squealed in delight and pulled Andy out of the restaurant, leaving their food untouched.

"Mai..." He groaned, slapping his face with his hand.

**********************************

Terry and Joe reached their destination. It was a disco, and it took them a few hours to reach it.

"Is this the place?" Terry turned to face Joe.

"That's what this thing said." He replied, looking at his pager. "'Dirrty'" he replied. "Some place, don't you agree?" he said, looking at the signboard which says 'Real nudity'.

Terry didn't say anything but entered the place. Even from the outside, music can be heard blaring. Once inside, the music was deafening. Terry didn't seem to mind the noise but his eyes searched around the place for any sign of whoever invited them over. No such luck. "Joe, you look that way, I'll look the other..." he turned, "way." But see no one behind him. "Joe?" he looked around to find his missing friend.

Meanwhile, Joe was wandering around the place, pushing through the crowd. Somehow or another, he got himself into the dance floor and the guys and girls there were dancing like zombies, On the stage, 5 girls were dancing around slowly but surely, pealing their clothing piece by piece. After escaping from the crowd, he bumped into someone. He looked up and his eyes widen.

Standing before him was a beautiful blonde wearing a barrette, her clothes looked like it has been ripped across from the shoulder down to her waist, exposing fine, delicate skin and a little view of her panties and bra. What made Joe noticed her the most was the bruise she had on her ribs. She looked scared, sweaty and red-faced and seemed like she was escaping someone. It took every drop of Joe's self control to stop himself from staring and a nose bleed. She was about to turn and run away when she was roughly hauled by a man.

"Hey, doll, think ya' can outsmart me, huh? The present ya' gave me was nasty one." He said, holding her hands so hard that she screamed in pain but, with the music blaring like the sound of roaring hell, no one can hear her except for very, very closeby people. Among them was Joe. "Aw... dun cha' worry babe, it'll hurt just a little."

Suddenly, the girl went limp. The man laughed, tucked away something that look like a needle and slung her over his shoulder, heading for the exit. Joe raced to the guy before he reached the exit and grabbed him on the shoulder. "Yo, bud."

The guy turned, "What cha' want...oofff!!!!!!" Joe gave him a good knee attack to the face and sent him flying backwards, dropping the girl. Before she touched the ground, Joe caught her in the most dramatic grace. He shook her, "Hey, you alright?" No response. "Don't worry, I"ll get you outta' here in no time." He took off his jacket and covered her. As he stood up, a number of punks stood around him, each with a switch blade and metal knuckles.

"Looks like you got somethin' our boss' been eyein'" one of the biggest muscle-brains said. "Juz give us the lady and we'll give ya' a ticket out o' ere' alive. Can't guarantee safe and bruiseless though..." he smirked.

"Fuck..." Joe cursed under his breath.

crawling in my skin

these wounds they will not heal

fear is how I fall

confusing what is real



there's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface

consuming/confusing

this lack of self-control I fear is never ending

controlling/I can't seem

to find myself again

my walls are closing in

(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)

I've felt this way before

so insecure

Not only does he have to fight the muscle-bozos, which were around 8 of them surrounding him and the girl, he'd have to protect her by carrying her as he fight so they wouldn't be able to get her; to make things worse, he was still recovering from his injuries he got from fighting Laocorn. 'Well, I wouldn't get anything done just thinking' he thought and stood where he was, waiting for his assailants to make their move.

crawling in my skin

these wounds they will not heal

fear is how I fall

confusing what is real

Suddenly, the macho-man right in front of him gave out a painful cry and fell to the ground, unconscious. "Terry!" Joe's face lit up. 'Thank you god...!!!!' Joe prayed silently and ran to Terry. He gave a little nod and ran out of the disco, to their awaiting car. Terry didn't look back.

"I don't like it when people mess up with my friends." Terry said, glaring daggers to the guys around him. Tension filled the air.

Suddenly, a man walked up to them and instantly, all the bozos made way. '... who the heck is this guy...?' Terry thought. He looked closely at him, 'he looks familiar. But where?'



To Be Continued...





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